GROWING UP

I get excited each time I log on and see a new follower. *dances for a while and settles down*. I will like a say a big welcome to you all. You guys warm my heart. *hugs and kisses*. And to all my other followers: both the visible and silent ones, loads of love to you guys.

To my post for the day. I saw a friend's blackberry display picture and it brought back memories of my childhood days. I quickly saved the image and used it as my display picture: 

As soon as I saw this picture, I burst out laughing because I sooooooo did this as a kid. It was our own interpretation of spiderman. :-).  My siblings and I had fun doing this, but it was always when our parents were not in. You wouldn't dare to do this with them at home for fear of being scolded or beaten. 

Image from Google

How many of you slid down (or still slide down ;-) ) the banister? There was this rush of excitement I felt whenever I did this then. A lot of other kids in my compound used to do this too. It was fun watching to know who slid down the fastest. 

Image from Google

Ohhhhhhhh, the joy of climbing trees. We had an apple tree (the naija kind) and an almond (popularly known as fruit) tree in my compound and we took turns to climb the apple tree to pluck the fruit. It was quite high, but as adventurous kids, it was fun climbing it. It had lots of branches, so that helped. The older kids climbed, plucked and threw the fruits down, while the younger kids stayed down to pick the fruits. After we were done, the fruits would be washed and shared. It was a nice way to learn division of labor and unity. :-). The almond tree didn't have a lot of branches, so we had to pluck the almond using long sticks. I especially liked the nut inside the almond.

Image from Google

I loved the swings and more so because I could do a lot there. We had a lot of swings at the back of the house and the kids would all gather to play. Aside from the normal seat with your bum and be pushed high up (exhilarating feeling i tell you) , I could also hang upside down and then tumble and land perfectly. Sometimes, I would push myself up and hang with my my neck for a while, before tumbling down. At other times, I would turn upside down, hang with my legs and just enjoy the scenery from upside down. ;-). The swing was higher than the one in the picture. Quite risky i know. The amazing thing is that none of us kids had any serious injury from this rather rough plays. I can't even remember I or my siblings having any injury sef. 

A friend of mine saw the picture and we started chatting. She is a mother of two boys and she said she would have a fit if she saw her sons doing the spiderman thingy. I wonder how our parents coped with us. We both agreed that our guardian angels must have always been on their toes looking out for us. 

I also remember tenten, suwe, cooking with sand and leaves, flying from the dining table aka superman, LOL, the fun things we did as kids.

 Feel free to share some childhood games you played. 

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday again. *sighs*. Where did my weekend go to? :-(

Have a splendid week y'all. *hugsssssss*

INJECTIONS.......AAARRRGGHHHHH :-(

I hate drugs, but there is something I hate more than that, and  that is injections. It's funny that I have to say this, because I grew up with drugs and injections all around me. My mum was a nurse and so our home was a hospital of sorts. We had a basket (big hamper basket) full of drugs. We also had a section of the wardrobe in the girls room where injections, drips and all first aid things were kept. Once anyone is ill, be it family, neighbors or friends, they just come to the house and Momsie will administer drugs or give injections or drips. My mum was an extremely caring person and all these treatments were free, so I guess that's why people were always coming to our home whenever they were sick. Sadly though, none of us ( her kids) towed the medical line. I almost did, but changed my mind while I was in the university.

I self-medicate because I noticed that whenever I run a test and go to our family hospital, the doctor always prescribes two injections for me for three days. They always work though, but no, thanks. Since I'm not a fan of the needle, I try to avoid the hospital. I always act drama before I allow the nurses to prick me. It's not as if I plan to, but I always tell them to wait a while for me to psyche myself before they jab me. They are my friends (by virtue of constantly visiting the hospital), so they will just laugh and tell me to inform them when I'm ready. Also, if I notice that I feel extra pain when you give me an injection, I will try to avoid you. :-).

I had been feeling ill for almost a week now. I bought "Artesunate"(a malaria drug), Panadol and some multivitamins. I started taking them, although the effect wasn't as fast as I wanted it to be. I managed to go to work everyday, but was feeling really awful: I was having terrible headache, feeling cold internally, but sweating, joints aching me, loss of appetite and all that. Finally, I felt I couldn't take it anymore and decided to run some tests. I took today off work and did malaria and typhoid tests. The result came out and it read that I had both malaria and typhoid. :-(.

My next line of action was to visit our family hospital. I did that reluctantly. When I got there, I didn't meet my usual doctor. I explained to the doctor on duty *Dr Frank how I had been feeling and showed him my test result. Before he started writing his prescriptions on my hospital file, I asked him if there was an alternative to injections. He asked for my reason and I explained to him. *Dr Frank just sat there smiling and started writing. After a while he showed me what he wrote down. They were drugs. I asked him if they would work fast because in as much as I don't like injections ( and I had taken quite a lot this year), I could take them if they would work faster. Basically, I just wanted something to make me get well quickly.

Dr Frank allowed me to finish talking and patiently explained to me that whichever one I chose (whether drugs or injections), it would work and he wouldn't say that injections work faster than drugs. After we had talked for a while, I left the hospital with the drugs he prescribed and a resolve in my mind to pray and confess God's Word more as regards my health. I'm also determined to take better care of myself and also eat lots of fruits and veggies to build up my immune system.

 Y'all have a beautiful and healthy weekend. *love and hugs*

AVOIDABLE STRESS

One of my relatives *Mr Ike lost his wife some months ago. As is typical in Igbo culture, my father and some of his kinsmen decided to go and pay him a condolence visit. The proposed visit happened today. My younger brother *Obinna went with them because he did his Industrial Attachment (IT) in *Mr Ike's company. When they were almost there, my father decided to call to inform him that they were almost at his house. *Mr Ike responded by saying that he is in South Africa. They exchanged some pleasantries and condolence messages over the phone and my father and his kinsmen reversed and started the journey back to our house.

Obinna gave me the gist when they got home. Apparently, my father and his kinsmen were not happy that *Mr Ike was not in the country when they decided to visit him. They were discussing among themselves and saying things like "A man in mourning should not step out of his house for a period of time, not to talk of travelling out of the country", "It is not proper according to our tradition", "People would say that he did not  mourn his wife well", bla bla bla. All that one did not concern me. *Mr Ike has buried his wife over a month ago and what  if he decides to go chill out and mourn her in South Africa. Whose business is that. What made me laugh and shake my head was the fact that none of them thought of calling *Mr Ike first to be sure he would be at home, before going to pay him a visit. I have seen this happen time and time again and I keep on wondering at people's behavior.

Once I was at home, and a relation of mine came with his wife, their baby and his mother to visit my father. Let me digress a bit. I live in a block of flats and I stay at the topmost flat. You will have to climb about fifty (50) stairs to get to my home. Yep, no lifts at all. It's not as terrible as it sounds :-). I see it as a great form of exercise. I usually run up and down the stairs instead of walking. Okay, back to my gist: When I opened the door and saw them, I felt sorry for them, but at the same time, wanted to laugh. :-D. My dad wasn't home and they were looking tired probably from climbing up the stairs. The following conversation ensued between us:

Che: Ahhhh, good-afternoon, welcome (smiling warmly)
Them: Thank you (They have a seat). Is daddy at home?
Che: No, he traveled.
Them: (Looking crestfallen). Really.
Che: Don't you have his number?
Them: We do, but we thought he would be at home.

I served them drinks, they rested for a while and left.

My people, what is the essence of having a phone if you can't call first before going to visit ehnnnn? I can't believe in this day and age of mobile phones, someone will stress himself (especially in Lagos) and embark on a journey to visit without calling first. It doesn't make sense to me at all. Even if it is a very good friend or family member that you want to visit, put a call through first. The person might have other engagements for the day and you could arrange to visit some other time or the person might just want to rest and not want to receive any visitors that day.

Can you imagine leaving your house in Surulere (whether in your own car or public transport) and going all the way to Satellite town to visit someone; only to get there and not meet the person. Chai, with the traffic and time wasted, that is just crazy. I value my time and hate stress and know people do too, so I always call first before visiting.

FREE ME JOR :-D

My Branch Manager *Bimbo resumed work 3weeks ago after her maternity leave. We were all happy to see her back in the office (well, most of  us were). She resumed on a Thursday and so she joined us for our weekly meeting. After the meeting, I was about to leave to go and sort out some things, when she called me. Apparently, while the meeting was going on, she had looked down and noticed that *Yewande (my colleague) was wearing peep-toe shoes and she felt it wasn't in line with the bank's dress code. Who else to table the matter to than me: the service co-ordinator. *Yewande was all too pleased to meet with me because she knows most of my work shoes are peep-toe. When *Bimbo saw my shoes, she shook her head and said: "You as the service co-ordinator are supposed to lead by example". I explained to her that the shoes are in line with the bank's policy on dressing. *Bimbo looked at me like she didn't believe what I just said, she said some things and eventually left.

This is the kind of situation where my Mum would have said "Ana ko ozo, ndi mmadu ana ko ozo" meaning "We are discussing something important, while some other people are talking about trivial things". In other words, instead of her to think of ways that the branch can make profit and move forward, she is bothering herself with the kind of shoes we wear to work. *smh*. I had written a post on:  THE RITUAL OF WHAT TO WEAR and here was *Bimbo trying to make matters worse for me.

I thought that would be the end of the matter, but *Bimbo didn't think so. Three days later, I had forgotten all about the shoe conversation with her when I saw her approaching. She immediately asked me if I had clarified on the kind of shoes we were allowed to wear to work. In my mind, I was wondering what her problem was. Had she finished thinking of how her new son was coping with the nanny and mummy not been around, had she finished sorting out what her family would eat for the week? Madam, free me abeg. I politely told her that I would do that immediately.

I got back to my seat and *Yewande was on chat with me. I told her the latest development on the shoe matter and she suggested that we chat with *Shade (the overall co-ordinator of the service management group). We did, and *Shade took her time to explain what we could wear and what we couldn't wear. At the end of our discussion with her, we realized that we were not wrong to wear the peep-toe shoes (as long as it was fully covered at the back). I quickly saved our chat in my mail for record purposes.

 So far, *Bimbo has not asked me about the shoes again. If she does, I will send her a mail with an attachment of the chat, so she will hear from the horses mouth that we are not wrong. Below are pictures I took of my shoes. I wish I could wear the pair of blue sandals to work, but that one is so not office like. However, I rock the red peep-toe shoes to the office.

I LOVE shoes. ;-D. I'm sure a lot of ladies do. I have a preference for peep-toe shoes. I like the fact that my feet are able to breathe. Oh well, that is all for now folks....... Will be back later with more gists.

MY ABUJA TRIP

I traveled to Abuja last week Tuesday (25th of Oct) to do omugwo for my sister that just put to bed. I hadn't been to Abuja in seven years. I didn't really plan my journey because I wasn't sure if my leave would be approved or not. If I had been sure of my leave, I could have booked a flight ahead of time and gotten it at a cheap rate. By the time my leave was approved, I checked flight fares and it was high so i decided to travel by road. My sister said Ekene luxurious bus was reliable and I bought my ticket a day before. I arrived at the bus park by 6:00am, the bus took their time to  load and we eventually left by some minutes to 7am. It's been a long time since I traveled in a luxurious bus. My last time was while I was in the university.

 I noticed that the bus was just moving jejeli and I didn't find it funny. Before we got to Ibadan, we had stopped more than three times to check the radiator. Apparently, the radiator was overheating and so we couldn't speed and had to keep stopping at intervals to "cool it". I'm sure the transport company knew that the car wasn't in top shape, and still decided to put it out on the road. This annoyed me because they didn't have regards for human life. As far as I was concerned, they were just interested in collecting their fares and hitting the road. By the time we got to Ekiti at 1pm, the driver parked in what seemed to be a car wash and decided to really "cool the radiator". The air-conditions had long been switched off and the heat was unbearable. Most people were muttering to themselves and saying that they would  never travel with Ekene again. I was too pissed to talk and had resigned myself to arriving at Abuja late. I also kept switching my phone on and off to preserve my battery which was running down. We eventually arrived Abuja at 12:05am. I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked God for a safe trip. I was also very glad to see that my brother-in-law *Osaro was already waiting for me at the park.

I had a pretty busy but brief stay in Abuja. My little nephew is an absolute darling. The guy doesn't cry, well except he is hungry, hot or needs a diaper change which is normal. I have met some babies that just love to cry for no apparent reasons. :-(.  I got to visit the Garki Old Market (had to do some shopping for my sis.). The first thing that struck me about the market was that you had to pay a gate fee (N100) before you can drive in. I had never seen that happen in any Lagos market before. The market was also organized and wasn't as razz as our very own Balogun or Oyingbo markets. Items were a bit more expensive though than in Lagos.

On Saturday, *Osaro decided to take me around a bit en route to the market again. Our first stop was the Grand Square. I had already eaten their bread and loved it and also couldn't wait to taste their famous scoops of ice cream. It was delicious and worth the wait. Then we were off to Yahuza Suya Spot. *Osaro said Yahuza has about 7 of such suya spots in Abuja. This suya spot was organized and very different from the Lagos suya spots I had been to. To place your order here, you walk into the building, chose what you want: chicken, gizzard, kidney, liver, beef, etc. from the menu in front of the cashier, and pay to the cashier. The cashier then inputs your order, prints out a receipt and gives to you. This receipt is what you present to the suya man outside who prepares your order. Interesting and organized if you ask me. The suya was spicy and good. Got me licking my fingers. :-). We also bought some bottles of Fura De Nu Nu for my sister. She is quite adventurous when it comes to food.

Our final stop before dashing to the market was at the Shagalinku Shop. I totally love Shagalinku Yogurt. Its creamy and nutritious. I think it's peculiar to Abuja and some parts of the north. My sister always buys it whenever she is coming to visit us in Lagos. You can bet I did the same. My siblings would not find it funny if i came back without it. I also bought loads of Kilishi. My siblings and colleagues had drummed it into my ears to buy enough for everyone.

All too soon, it was time for me to return to Lagos because my leave was almost over. I had sworn never to use luxurious buses to travel again and so opted for a small bus. *Osaro recommended Eagle Line. The bus left a little bit late because they needed more Lagos bound passengers which were not forthcoming. We made a stop at Lokoja to eat and also scout for more passengers. We eventually got into Lagos at 7pm. The trip was ok and the driver was quite fast.

I miss my nephew so much already. And I'm trying not to think of the fact that I have to resume work on Friday. Happy New Month to you all. May you achieve all you have set out to do in this month of November. In Jesus Name. Amen.