Speechless...
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He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young {wo}men will stumble and fall. But those that hope in the Lord {those that wait upon the Lord} will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagle. They will run and not grow weary; they will walk and will not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31
I was driving the car and the nameless faceless passenger in the car was a friend. No, it was an unmarked taxi. There was the driver in his seat and there was me and this nameless faceless friend. She was devastated. I consoled her as best as i could. The car stopped. I gave the faceless person some money and told her to take care...God knew best. I watch as she carried the body of her {brother/sister/mother/father/uncle...} relative. No, she was still standing by me when the body, wrapped in a body bag was moved. And then i woke up!!!
Time was 2:33am, on a weekday three weeks ago. I woke up shaken to the core. I picked up my Bible and ran into the loo and prayed. I had had dreams where relatives died but none left me with fear as strong and as tangible as this one. Probably because, there were usually faces to the dreams and i sorta knew how and to whom to channel the prayers to. This one had no face to it!!!
I chalked it up to the dead body i saw on Ikorodu weeks before but my heart wasn’t still at rest. I called my momma; though her palpitations have subsided to a reasonable extent, i still insisted she had an ECG done! Daddy was fine...healthwise. My siblings were not sick; my inlaws were doing great!
I prayed. I prayed as best as i could. But the fear would not leave me be. Depression, panic attacks, late night drinking...it was just toooo difficult to think about tomorrow.
Somehow, kinds words from friends and tweethearts and no-so-kind words from the hubby, managed to pull me back from the brink! I told myself, “You have prayed. You have cancelled. You are reading the Bible more. God just wanted to shake me up and remind me of whats important”. I made the effort to shake the mood off....
....this was Saturday 24th Sept, 2011
12:03pm Sunday, Sept 25, 2011 @sphinx640 pinged to find out whether we were still on for our retail therapy date at LPM Sept Edition. I replied that we were and that was when i saw the BBM Recent Update that had me rushing back to the brink....
ARIT HAS DIED!!!!
Shock, would be an understatement. I lack words.....totalllllly!!!! Arit was at work on Friday. Infact, i ran outta the office because she was hounding my unit about some accounts she gave us to work on. How is she dead???? HOW THE HECK IS SHE DEAD??????
HOW??????????????????????????????????
She was so strong. In the face of soooo many tragedies and losses, she smiled through. She bore them all; Her faith remained as strong as ever.
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| At a birthday party earlier in the year: L-R Arit, Lauretta and Stella |
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| ARIT |
A Stitch In Time...
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My cousin visited a couple of weeks back and as is the norm with us, we got right down to gisting about any and everything. Nothing was sacred. Ok…almost nothing was sacred. Right in the middle of one particular juicy gist, she says, “Oooh, my hubby bought me this beautiful bra/panties set” and she proceeded to show me the said set on her person. She then made the statement that prompted this post. She said, “This man has never before bought me lingerie of the pant and bra category. After he gave me the set, nne, I read the handwriting on the wall. I went I updated my lingerie wardrobe!!!”
As it with most of us married women, myself inclusive, we’ve become way too lax with certain things that had initially endeared us to our husbands and partners. Back in the day when we were courting/dating those men and in the first few years of marriage before the kids came, we made sure that the panties and attending bras were up to par. No grannie panties; no Coste bra. Twas lacy G-strings and equally lacy matching bra all the way. If you couldn’t afford a matching set, you at least made sure they were colour-coordinated. In those days, our nighties were the sheerest silk, the sexiest shorty shorts and matching tanks….you get the picture. Appearance was everything!!!
Today, we are rocking knickers as underpants; knickers that prolly has a couple or more holes in them. In some cases, the holes are the least of your wahala! Where is your shame when you hang those to dry? Or when the hubby actually helps you to wash them? Until that one bra protests, it is rocked until it is in shreds. Even then, it’d be held together with pins and needles. Bou-bous has taken the place of the sexy night wears. Comfort has become everything. Comfort is dullinq your marriage!!
I remember that one time my baby sister Nikki gifted me this sexky black lace bra with gold trimmings. One word: beauuutiful! The day I wore it for the first time, my hubby nearly hyperventilated. Frankly, if he were a dog, his tongue would’ve been on the floor, all the way to the living room. I rolled my eyes and told him, “Pull yourself together, man. It’s just a bra!” Wrong! It’s not just a bra o! Infact, it’s not even about the bra. It’s about the packaging {of a pair of not so bouncy boobs} and the promise of salacious things to come! The eyes first approve a meal before the mouth even gets to taste it! Need I say more?
Last week, my colleague *Ada mentioned another scenario that sorta buttressed the point of this post. Before I get into the story, I’ll like to just say that this colleague of mine is a hot-ass chic!! Well dressed, swanky bod….and she’s had kids. Anyways back to her story: Her hubby came home from work that fateful day and just delved into the back of their wardrobe, painstakingly looking for something. Countless enquires from Ada to see how she could be of assistance met with silence. Eventually, the man bellowed an Aha…he had found what he was looking for. He then called Ada, told her to sit and proceed to table the exhibits he had found. The exhibits were old pictures of Ada way back when they were still dating. He told Ada to spot the difference between her-picture-self and the person sitting in front of him. The chic of course said she sees no difference…she hadn’t added weight or anything. Oga then said, “Look at your nails; they look like untidy shovels. Look at the picture; well manicured nails…..” and poured out his distress to the wife he perceives as not trying enough to look good for him.
It is the little things. As little as how often you get a mani-pedi; how often you change the chipped polish, how tidy you keep your hair and its not just the hair on your head.
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| My nails used to be this pretty. |
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| These are my nails as at 6:15pm today. I swear, those nails were manicured and polished on Sunday! |
The truth is that unless your partner works with you or works from home or leaves for work late, hardly does he see you all gadged up. You dress up and make up for others to appreciate. He would judge you by your appearance when he can see you and that is usually at home. Its a pity that at home, we womenfolks just want to be comfortable. I count Ada lucky because, at least her man drew her attention to her ‘shortcoming’!
A woman marries a man expecting him to change. He does not. He still wants his meals cooked and served on time, his clothes laundered & ironed, his children well taken care of but most especially, he still wants her looking tres chic as she does all these.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change. She does. So much to do...so little time for self! From one woman to another, biko find time. For starters, go tend to the garden! Tres importante!
My Sister; My Friend
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Growing up, my mother labelled us all. It's usually hilarious when i hear her say this to her friends those days but she was usually right...but of course. There was...
My brother...the heir apparent.
My sister...the owner of the house. Her word was the law; its in your best interest to respect it, parent or no.
My humble self...the bookworm laz ekwueme of the house. Boy, was i lazy!!!!
Belle...the industrious daughter.
Nikki...the daughter you dont wanna cross!
My siblings are special but today is about Belle! She is special squared to me. When we were younger and my mother teased me about my laziness and wondered how i would survive in a man's house as a wife, i used to jokingly retort,"Belle would stay with me the first year to make sure everything runs smoothly". She did more than that:
She taught me how to cook....in my husband's house. I kid you not!
She took care of me while i was pregnant with Chets
She initiated my omugwo {sp?} until Mummy dearest was able to come and she continued after mom left!
She raised Chets for me. I was Mummy in name only by virtue of the fact that the boy proceeded forth from my vjayjay! She loved that boy! {Oh, but she meet her hubby from taking care of MY son! Chuck one up for me...teheheheh}
Belle has been through a lot, fought so many battles, been through grime but has emerged smelling like Chanel No 5. I'm so darned proud of her! I just wanna go on and extol her virtues but i wont...the resultant swollen head might derail her!
I LOVE HER TO BITS!!
A few pictures of the aforementioned chinchi. Enjoy...
When she just arrived the UK. Cold wanna finish the poor girl!
Pregnant Labelle
Cute, aint she?
I swear, i thought that was me in that picture with my Maman! Belle's striking resemblance to yours' truly in that picture was quite jolting!
Her son, David {read his post here}
Bitching Mode Activated
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I had such high hopes for today.
Beddings’n’Beyond is running at full speed, its all i can do to keep up. Not that i am complaining...nevers. I just think i need me an assistant to hold shit together before it hits the fan.
Today, i was supposed to sort out window treatment a.k.a curtains for this client that requested for services beyond beddings: beds, bedsheets, bathroom touch-up, sitting room furniture, wall colours, curtains, the whole works. The deadline is beyond ridic...a few days! My major headache is/was the curtains for the sitting rooms and its doubly so cos the wall colours for that space is being handled by another outfit and i’m supposed to work the curtain colours around the wall paint, as should be or vice versa.
Its so frustrating when you are forced to rely on another person’s vision in order to bring yours to life. And dude is not inclined to share his vision. He just threw “Look for sososos colour” at me and left it at that. I spent the whole day looking for curtains in sososos colour and he vetoes all the samples i sent to him. I swear, it took the special grace of God to stop me from reaching through the phone and wringing his neck!!!
I’ve sorta decided to let him handle the curtains. It’ll be tragic if after all that money spent, the client ends up with an uncoordinated living room because the two people he trusted to spruce up his space could not reach an agreement! I’m pissed tho cos the time i spent on that hunt i could’ve channelled towards sorting out accessories for the other rooms in the house.
There! I’m done. Bitching mode deactivated. It didn’t help much tho. I still feel....somehow.
Introspection
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Introspection
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Morbid post alert!
Of late, i’ve become obsessed with the subject of mortality. Maybe because of the many deaths and natural/unnatural disasters happening the world over. I cant help but think, “If i die today what next? What happens to me? Will the great beyond be like in the dreams? Heaven? Hell? WHAT NEXT?
Im afraid...very afraid...and not just for me. Im afraid for my kids. What happens to them? If they died today, will they make Heaven? Have i taught them enough to guarantee that? If there really is heaven and hell, it would kill me for eternity if they do not make heaven!!!
I saw, really close up, a dead body lying on Ikorodu Road today. It looked like it had been lying there for days. From afar, it looked like that body was beheaded. The head was still attached...just that it was at an unholy/unbelievable angle! OMG!!! *shivers* It was a full grown man, someone’s child, lying on the road like an animal...a road kill!!! *shivers*
Truly, everything is vanity upon vanity! Find Christ today!!!!!
#notetoself: Shake this mood off!!!
Won Him In A Drunken Bet!
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Anniversary Chronicles
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Today is my marriage anniversary! 17th of February is my wedding anniversary. Confused? Read up on Bonne Anniversaire for clarification. So my girl Bid thinks i’m eating my cake and having it and threatened that if i didn’t justify the gifts i get today by working “hard” tonight, i was gonna be sorry. This post is about the only thing that would appease her plus it really would be fun walking down memory lane J
So, did you click on this post link as soon as you saw the title hoping to get the scoop on how a grown man was won in a bet? Hehehe! Aproks is such a sweet pasttime. Now i know why and how gossip rags and tabloids sell so much with their ridiculous headlines meant solely to deceive folks into patronizing them...
Not that I'm deceiving anyone here today! I did win my hubby in a drunken bet. Maybe not the Hollywood kinda betting scenario where someone put him up as leverage and I win him! Nah, nothing so dramatic! All I can say is that there was a bet, and there were alcohol and there was him and then, the start of that journey!
I was in my 2nd year, School of Pharmacy University of Nigeria, Nsukka! Can i get some Lions and Lionesses to roar??? Oohkay...back to the gist! For some reason then, our school calendar differed from that of the rest of the university, except for prolly the medical students, which didn’t matter much because they were in another campus. Anyways, the difference in school calendar meant that we usually wrote exams when the rest of the school‘s on holiday, possibly to minimise distractions...i can only guess. If you were staying in school accommodations, that period sees you getting new Rx roomies....we were all usually holed up in one or two designated hostels for security reasons!
Activity pattern was pretty much a straight line: from hostel room to the classroom for lectures, then to library to study, then back to the classroom for revisions and finally back to the hostel room to sleep the rest of the day away against the night’s marathon reading a.k.a TDB (Till Day Break)! No parties, no hanging outs, no behind-Ziks’ flat fries runs, no drunken truth or dare sessions, no boys!!! Very linear life....extremely boring!! I wonder how we even fed those days. Oh, i remember...die-hard Mama Leke's joint! Without that woman and those urchins that usually assisted her, we woulda been subjected to lemming on okpa or noodles of the boiling ring variety or bread and Coca Cola for survival! UNN was a community in itself...stepping out to town to search for food was seriously looooong thing!
Anyways, there i was trying to sleep against TDB on that fateful day! Well, i wasn’t “trying” to sleep. I was well asleep but my new roomie and her male visitor chatting up a storm roused me from my slumber. Topic of dispute: Alcohol and their tolerance or is it intolerance for it! Seriously, couldn’t they have had that discussion without raising such hell? Somehow though, i got drawn into the discussion. My roommate has got such a vivacious personality you can’t help but roll with the punches! So, i got embroiled in the discussion and before i knew it, i was boasting of downing three small bottles of Guinness Stout and still stand on my feet {{there’s something wrong with that last sentence but i can’t place it for the life of me}}. As at the time of this declaration, i had never tasted alcohol, except for those sips my daddy allowed me off his beer glass when i was much younger. I figured if it didn’t trip me then, it wasn’t gonna start now!
Like joke like joke, bets were placed and off we went to Ekpo Ref, Njk, Male Visitor and Yours Truly! Was it Ekpo Ref? I forget but the joint was a hub of activity, 24/7. The bet was that if after two bottles of the stout brew i was still standing, i get a certain amount of money. The amount is a bit fuzzy now...this happened nearly eleven years ago! What i do remember was the excitement i felt!!! Kai, a welcome fun change from the dreary routine of exam period!
I learned so much about myself that day. The one glaring lesson, though, was that i do not have a head for alcohol! At all!!! Till date sef! ‘Twas a lesson i learned the bitter way, pun so not intended! I thoroughly disgraced myself. Half way through the first bottle, i was spewing gibberish. My brain thought one thing, my mouth churned out another! I remember Male Visitor asked what 7+7 was. My brain though 14; i answered 49, then 77, then 47! Wow! That wasn’t all! Hand-eye coordination deterioriated to non-existent! Who woulda thunk it possible? Certainly not me! I was so sure i would hold my own, liquor wise! Boy, was i wrong! My eyes wouldn’t stop rolling in their sockets! People, i was half-dragged to my room!
And that was the state i was in when i met the hubby. Male Visitor was his bestie and after he heard the gist, he came to see the pint-sized drunken albeit cute Pharmacy chic for himself. Yes, he thought i was cute. Still thinks i’m cute. Which is sooo cute! The rest....is history!!!
So i lost the bet but i gained me a friend and an amazing man! Totally #winning!
Bid, there you have it! Satisfied?! You best be withdrawing that threat right about now!!!
Comfort Meets Style
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Beddings 'n' Beyond
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I am anal about my space. Ttranslated to, i am anal about my bedroom, especially my bed. After the toils and hustles and drama of the day, my bedroom is the one place i can't wait to get to, to ease off the stress, to stretch and relax and re-group against the next day's toil. I love a neat room. I particularly love a well-laid bed!
The bed is the focal point of a bedroom and whats a bed without a bedsheet?
Have you ever laid on a bedsheet and you have to wake up every five minutes to swat away imaginery ants?
Have you ever laid on a bed and the sheet feels like someone dusted their beach slippers on your bed?
Have you ever laid on a bed and you just feel pins and needles all through the night?
If you are lucky, you'll wake up feeling soooo unrested. If you are unlucky, you'll have a nightmare and still wake up feeling like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.
I love bedsheets...they just transform a bedroom from a space with four walls to a cozy haven!
So, i intoduce to y'all my passion and my business, Beddings'n'Beyond, dedicated to transforming your room to a santuary with swag. The bedsheets are tailored to your specifications: flatsheets, fitted sheets, duvets, duvet covers; whatever you want. The sheets are top quality, washes well with no colour fade. I could go on and on, extolling their "virtues" but i wont...i trial will convince you.
To place your orders, you can contact me on:
email: beddingsnbeyond@gmail.com
phone: +234 803 564 3392
web: diva-sheets.blogspot.com
Prices are from N5000
My vision for this business amazes me but it would amount to nothing without your support. Buy one and tell your friends and family! God continue to bless y'all...x
Think Comfort; Think Style; Think Beddings'n'Beyond
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