Friday 20 January 2017

One Daily Positive 2017 Week 3 Dogs, exercise and routine.

First full week as a SAH, a housewife. Peter is at work 8am till 6pm every day, so it's just me, Bob and Pushkins. So far, so good. I've established a routine, a daily time table and a list of things to do for the week. In the past when I've been a SAH, it's not been through choice and I've suffered with depression.

The first day of the week in Dubai is Sunday, I tidied up after the weekend, hoovered and put the washing on, after getting dressed I headed off to a local vets to walk a rescue dog, Rory.

Monday was going smoothly, after a few jobs around the house, I set off on a bike ride to the beach, as I posted my photo, I realised the date and had a minor meltdown. I collected Rory for the afternoon and sat in the garden sorting out car insurance. After taking Rory back, I went to the RTA to get the car tested (like a UK MOT) and re register my vehicle for another year. A very efficient process but not easy to work out if you've not had to do it before.

Tuesday and Bob and I went out into the desert, walked round 4-5 lakes and had a picnic breakfast, collected Rory and chilled out in the garden. I walked Bob and Rory back to the vets.

Wednesday had the potential to be a very stressful day, as I had to do the Ejari, which is registering the house contract with the government. I then  In the headed out on my bike to the bank and then for a walk on the beach. In the afternoon I collected Rory again for a few hours. It's nice finding different routes to walk through the streets with the dogs. The evening was spent doing the UK tax return online, as overseas landlord we have to download software off the Government website and after a lot of searching I found another expat in America willing to share her knowledge.

Thursday was my day to get ready for the weekend, tidy, clean, iron and food shop. Now I'm not working I've found the time to shop for what we want to eat each day. I decided to visit the Mall of the Emirates and check the sales out. I've been keeping a close eye on what I'm spending so I can create and stick to a budget of some sorts. I collected Rory again. After posting on my blog about a visit to The Green Planet, Rain Forest, the Project Manager invited me back for a tour to see what else has been added and to explain why certain things, such as seating can't be accommodated.

Friday my friend came round with Jelly for the afternoon and leaving both dogs with Peter we visited Safest Way, an American supermarket I'd heard about. As Jelly's human is American it was a good trip and the cupboards are now restocked. Peter will be working more from home and the aircon in the study isn't the best so we spent the evening, moving his desk and contents into my sewing room and vice versa.

Saturday and my routine is getting interrupted already as Peter heads off to Egypt this evening with work. I'm joining him on Thursday for a long weekend in Luxor and I have Rory till Tuesday, when she is getting spayed, to occupy me and to work on her behaviour. Peter had a hair cut in the morning and we met a friend for lunch.

15/365 Indulgent. Getting things done. 

 16/365 Play.

 17/365 Kiss.

 18/365 Alive. Enjoying living next to the beach.

 19/365 Wake Up. The whole of Dubai was up early and off somewhere.

 20/365 Fur. The cat has been feeling slightly neglected this week with Rory visiting.

 21/365 Little Ones. Celebrating the end of 21 years as a school mum. My Little ones all grown up now.



On the blog this week:
PoCoLo Identifying and managing depression as a SAH
My Sunday Photo Soft Play with Bob
Animal Tales Dogs for adoption




25 comments:

  1. How lovely that you are able to look after Rory. I love the photo of the two dogs together. Lovely collage of your very grown up kids. I can't believe how many lanes of traffic there are on that road!

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    1. Rory is hard work, i may regret this, she's already chewed up my favourite flip flops

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  2. It sounds like a great first week staying at home...
    You are so lucky to live so near to the beach. x

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    1. we are lucky to live so close, but we pay a hefty premium which is reflected in our rent

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  3. Replies
    1. it's been a long time since we've had all the kids together, the bottom left is our daughter, but you're excused, she pulls her hair out, unfortunately, it's part of her disability

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  4. It sounds like you've had a positive first week in your new routine. Must be a nightmare getting to grips with local paperwork and our tax office! Enjoy Luxor, nearly 30 years since I was there #365

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    1. oh it's only uk paperwork, looking forward to Luxor later this week

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  5. I am sure Rory is loving you being a SAH, how lovely of you to devote your time.
    Glad you are managing the paperwork, bureaucracy is bad enough in your own country/language.

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    1. it's only uk paperwork left to do, thankfully paperwork here is in both Arabic and English

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  6. How interesting that the week starts on a Sunday over there! And also strange, my sister's dog is called Jelly too! #project365

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    1. it's because their religious day is a friday

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  7. Good to see all the children together. Sounds like you have been keeping busy with all the errands and paperwork this week.

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    1. I'm really hoping that one day we'll have them altogether at the same time

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  8. The dogs look lovely and I bet they like having you around. Dubai looks quite a busy place with the size of those roads, but the beaches look so quiet!

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    1. the beach is off the tourist run so lovely and quiet for us locals

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  9. Tax returns don't sound much fun but Luxor definitely does. Hope you have a brilliant weekend there!

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  10. your first week as a SAH sounds and looks like it went really well. that must be a great weight of your mind, now you can do what you want, when you want and no stress of work anymore :)
    Boooooo to tax returns, but look at that beach and it is so quiet too. Nice to have someone to meet up with too, and nice that you both have dogs that can be friends too x

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    1. everyone i know in dubai is through meeting them with our dogs

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  11. Sounds like it's going well, having a plan is good! Lunch on the beach - fabulous!!

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    1. hopefully there will be more of that, before it gets too hot

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  12. thank you, hopefully we'll get all 5 of the children together again soon

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  13. Lovely photos, the picture of the children is great, out eldest is 18, youngest 3. so it will be a while until our school days are over!

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    1. hopefully we'll have all the kids together over Easter

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