Why does the cat sleep on the dining room table? #AnimalTales

Because the cat does this

I've bought these

To do this

Does you pet keep making bad choices? We thought she'd finally settled after our move almost a year ago, but it would appear the cat is still looking for her spot.

My Sunday Photo - Week 54

Last week I showed you a photo of The Address hotel fire in Downtown Dubai. It was still smouldering almost 24 hours later.

Yesterday we visited the Dubai Mall, it was such a sad sight to see. I am absolutely stunned that no one died or was seriously injured and the fire crews and hotel had one of a drill going to ensure everyones safety. The hotel was evacuated in 20 minutes. Add to that it was New Years Eve and there were around 1 million people there to watch the firework celebrations. It could've been so much work, especially if people on the ground had panicked.

I received some fantastic feedback from my first weeks planning at the school for my new job, I think I'm on top of everything now.

This week I shall be working while my husband and child 3 of 5, The Jamie, visit the top of the Burj Khalifa today, go to the Mall of Emirates tomorrow and I'll meet them in the evening for dinner at Global Village. On Tuesday they are cycling in the desert and dinner is on the beach at a fish restaurant. Jamie returns to the UK on Wednesday, but is back out in March with the #teen and before then we have 3 sets of visitors coming out.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Week 1 - One Daily Positive and Project 366.

Happy New Year and welcome to Project 366 for 2016. This year my SnapHappyBritMums and FMSPhotoADay photos are running as separate posts, as much fun as I had combining 2 photo prompts into One Daily Positive, I'm now teaching full time and just won't be able to keep up. 

Project 366 photos will now reflect what I've actually done during my week, rather than a series of random photo's.

The #teen has returned to the UK, the month has flown by so quickly. Child 3 of 5, The Jamie, is here till Wednesday and both boys are out again in February/March. I received fantastic feedback from my first weeks' planning at school, so I know I'm on the right track and hopefully this week will be a bit easier and I can get some more sleep.

Day 1 ‪
#‎onedailypositive‬ welcoming these wonderful people and making a financial and clothing donation to the victims of the floods in the Philippines ‪#‎project366‬

Day 2 

#onedailypositive #project366 Peter and I being tourists for the day with 2 of our children in Dubai taking the Ferry from the Marina to The Creek. 

Day 3 

#onedailypositive #project366 back at school and little time to take photos. I took 4 of the rain and 2 'back to school' pics and this one. I find it very difficult to unwind and relax if there are chores to be done, although Peter said he'd clean the kitchen after he finished watching Sherlock with the boys, I just couldn't leave it, I then walked the dog and had a bath before watching YouTube vids and blogging. 

My Sunday Photo is of the smouldering Address Hotel 22 hours after the fire started and videos of the Dubai firework displays, we viewed from the beach at the bottom of our road.

Day 4 

#onedailypositive #project366 I have to leave for work at 6.15am Sunday till Thursday, hubby is on leave so I've got into a little routine of getting ready in the guest bathroom so not to wake him, in exchange he's cooking dinner every evening, back to normal at the end of next week once the kids go back to the UK

Day 5

 #onedailypositive #project366 despite the day ending with a migraine and with me working full time I've hardly taken any photos, but I did catch the sun rise this morning at 6.50am when I arrived at work, in bed now with 2 heat pads for my head and the fan on too cool me down, hubby did laugh when I made my requests, it is nice to be looked after

For Animal Tales this week I give you When Bob met Santa

Day 6

#onedailypositive #project366 it wasn't that long ago that the kids would be fighting over this, wanting to take it home and keep it as a souvenir of their travels. Now the #teen hops on a plane on his own for the school holidays. We've hardly seen the 23yo the past two days on his first visit to Dubai as he's out on the town with his mates who just happen to be here at the same time.

Day 7

#onedailypositive #project366 After my first full week in work after 5 years and getting up at 5.15 every morning, all I wanted to do was sleep, but the#teen wanted a walk on the beach before he returns to the UK tomorrow, how could I say no? We live 1km from the beach, we found crabs and shells, we paddled in the freezing water of the Arabian Gulf and made memories.

This weeks HDYGG is the progress of growing seeds in winter in Dubai

Day 8

#onedailypositive #project366 having dropped the #teen at the airport and a tearful goodbye from me, hubby and I walked around Dragon Mart 2, shopping for Minnion's and eating fish and chips for lunch. The #teen is back out end of March. The 23 yo is here till Wednesday then back over end of February and we have 3 sets of friends visiting in Feb and March.

Day 9

#onedailypositive #project366 with Peter and Jamie enjoying a late lunch @thewalkatjbr over looking the sea @thebeachdubai

How do my seedlings grow?

I started the last seed planting on November 30th, it's winter in Dubai, which is very similar to a UK summer but with far less rain.

It took 8 days for the seeds to germinate.

By 18th December nearly everything was on show

By the 28th December, everything that was going to germinate was here, or so I thought

Now

I really need to find the time to split these seedlings up.

At the back left is rocket, centre basil and front nasturtium. The nasturtium and the sweet pea are doing better than last years efforts as they require temps of around 15c to germinate, but it is doubtful that either of them will flower as all their energy in this climate goes into growing, not producing flowers, but I'll let you know.

I've no idea what these seeds are as the pen has worn off the label with the sun.

1 viola

I had an amazing display of marigolds and petunias during the summer months, when temps reached 50c, it would appear that these plants need much warmer weather in which to germinate. I'll leave them for now and see what happens over the next few months when it starts to warm up.

I've been unable to purchase strawberry plants, it would appear I should've bought them back in September and October, but I was travelling quite a bit then so decided to wait until my return. I've tried growing the strawberries from seeds, but no luck so far.

We've had a lovely crop of home grown tomatoes

Hubby decided to trim the tree, as in the branches were over hanging the shed doors and he could no longer get in there.

I stumbled across a lovely little garden centre and reasonably priced on my walk back from the train station, that I'm hoping to explore a bit more this weekend.

12 Day of Christmas

On the 12th day of christmas my true love sent to me.......

12 Panda's partying

11  Chickens cooking

10  Synchronised Seals 

9  Polar Bears posing

8 Pampered Penguins

7 Giraffes a grazing

6 Cats a queuing

5 Rubber Ducks

4 Wonky Zebras

3 Hungry Hippos

2 Grumpy Goats 

and a Camel in a palm tree

My Sunday Photo - Week 53

I'm back in work on Sunday, it's the first working day of the week here in Dubai, a country that I wasn't all that keen on when we moved here, however after a year it has started to grow on me, we've made friends and more importantly I've landed myself a teaching job. I wasn't working when I booked the teens flight out and the 23 year old booked his, so I'm a little sad to be missing out on their last week here, but Peter has taken leave for the rest of their stay and I've hired a car so I can get back and forth to work while they drive off to Hatta, Ferrari World, etc.

We had an amazing New Years Eve 2016 viewed from the beach which is 1km from our home. We are 5 kms from the Burj Al Arab and 9 kms from the Burj Khalifa.

We were without internet on the beach and noticed how the Burj Khalifa was engulfed with what we thought to be cloud, sadly on our return home we discovered it was smoke from the Address Hotel.

This photo was taken at 5.30pm yesterday, 20 hours after the blaze started. The fire damage is much worse than first reported and it's the 4th major fire in Dubai in 2015.

 The firework display from the beach lasted over 40 minutes, starting at the Burj Khalifa, viewed from the back, and the Atlantis. 

Next a huge wall of fireworks were set off up near the Creek

And stretched out into the sea

Finishing with a huge finale at the Burj Al Arab

Hope you enjoyed the show, we certainly did, we thought last years fireworks were spectacular, this year's was just mind blowing, can't wait to find out how we are going to end 2016.

Week 52 and a bit - Project 365

I must sort out my date for posting each week so I only have 52 weeks next year. You can read Week 52 here.

Sunday hubby said he wanted some help trimming back the tree and not to bother showering until afterwards. I didn't shower and get dressed until 7pm and headed off out for a coffee. Hubby got distracted by rising a lock and having to go out to purchase a new lock, fix the bikes ready for a bike ride this afternoon, he never went, although the bikes did get fixed. So while I waited for him to tackle the tree I went back to bed, watched the soaps, wrote thank you letters, blogged and sorted photographs. We snacked on chocolate and sweets during the day and the teen emerged from his bedroom around 5pm to join us for dinner which was a salad with breads and cheeses. When I finally got outside I asked what day it was and he said Sunday. I had no idea, so I snapped a picture for My Sunday Photo. 

This means I only have 6 more days off before I start my new job teaching at a local school and although all my planning is done, I still have prep to do and a million and one other things to get on with.

Day 361 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎WhereIAteAMealToday‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎sleep‬‪ #‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ apart from a bit of gardening I've spent the day in bed, writing thank you letters and catching up with the soaps

Monday we took the car for a service and went looking for a new car for me, the rent/lease costs per month add up to a new car by the end of the first year, so we've decided to buy a 2nd hand car to run around back and forth to work in. The public transport doesn't start early enough to get me into work on time every day. I spent the rest of the day sorting through paperwork updating our postal address and writing thank you cards and letters. We walked back to collect the car, the other side of Sheik Zayed Road. It's only 1km from our house but a 4km walk, using Noor Bank station to cross the road or a 15km drive.

Day 362 #onedailypositive #SomethingAwesome#fmsphotoaday #stripes #snaphappybritmums#project365 my box of awesome, goodies to send back to the UK from Dubai with the #teen to my niece, great nephews and adult children.

Tuesday morning was spent in the desert with Bob, hubby says 'enough photo's' as they all look the same, week in, week out. Hubby had a few work calls while I did the washing and watched my soaps. Then we headed off to Severn Sands at The Beach for a late lunch using up one of the vouchers I won back in July on an Instagram competition. Child 3 of 5 set off from Manchester for his first visit to Dubai arriving on Thursday morning.

Day 363 #onedailypositive #sparkly #fmsphotoaday#8am #snaphappybritmums #project365 the lakes at Al Qudra this morning.

Wednesday started with collecting Jamie from the airport, we drove home along Sheikh Zayed Road for his first view of Dubai. After he unpacked and took a shower we all went to Dubai Mall, had lunch, did a bit of shopping, watched the fountains at the Burj khalifa and scouted the beach for the best place to set up tomorrow night to watch the fireworks. We had dinner, spent some time in the garden, I ironed, the teen played on his computer and hubby and Jamie fell asleep on the sofas. I'm also spending my week writing Thank You Letters, it's important to me to keep the doors of communication open when you live as an expat.

Day 364 #onedailypositive #TheWeatherToday #fmsphotoaday #new #snaphappybritmums #projectthere will be a million people here tomorrow to see in the New Year. @burjkhalifa @atthetopburjkhalifa We won't be part of it, we're watching from the beach, there's no way I'd cope with that many people around me.

Thursday and the last day of 2015. It's been a strange year, our first year completed living in Dubai. I'm now in full time work, something I never saw happening after 5 years of living abroad, I didn't hunk I'd ever pick up my career again. I'm not a huge fan of Dubai in general. It's expensive, over crowed, noisy, looks like building site, too many tourists, but we do feel at home living in our villa near the beach, we know a few neighbours, we have friends, have routines etc. We visited the desert with Bob, Jamie and the teen (he who cannot be named or photographed) in the evening we settled in on the beach at the bottom of our road, to watch the fireworks go off at the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab, the Atlantis and an amazing display over the sea. I don't have New Years Resolutions as such, I have a list of 'things I want to cut down on' instead. 

Day 365 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎celebration‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎clink‬‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ well I've come full circle. My first photo prompts were Sky and One and I posted a picture of the @burjkhalifa lit up against the night sky. This is where we are ending 2015 on the beach watching the fireworks. Children 3 & 5 of 5 are with us. I've enjoyed Project 365 and loved the two photo prompts from FMSPhotoADay and SnapHappyBritMums, linking both the prompts into one photo hasn't been easy some days and has required a lot of imagination and effort. For 2016 I am continuing with the prompts but running them separately, there will still be a weekly round up but it will be with photos that document my actual week rather than the prompts.

I've also loved My Sunday Photo and I'm joining in with Darren's new project on Instagram this year, with a weekly photo prompt. I'm continuing with FMS and SHBM prompts. Visit FMS over on face book you don't have to join the group to see the photo prompts and SHBM at Britmums but as separate photos on instagram and this year I'm going to focus more on my One Daily Positive. 

I've also scheduled through January and into February, posts for HDYGG and Animal Tales and I've got a few travel posts lined up from my trips to the UK, Canada and South Africa this year. There is no international travel planned for 2016, we are both so over travelling after this year, me for pleasure and hubby for work, but who knows?