Babies in saloons, Swedish Meatballs and a riot in Home Centre...

We are very much looking forward to the up and coming couple of years of quietness. The last few weeks have been exhausting, in that we have been decking the house out to make it hospitable for our little family.

In the last couple of days we managed to:

• Buy a three seater sofa... one of those seats being a chaise longue, plus a matching two seater.


• Buy an eight seater dining table. It is dark wood, and very high with some comfy white upholstered seats (plus dark wood) which are also high too.


• Buy a TV unit which includes two book shelves (A MUST in our home)


• Buy crockery


• Buy glasses


• Buy two vases to go on to the TV unit

So all in all, it has been productive. Now the sofas, well, they're brown... and leathery. I mean, really? Did I really go for a leather sofa? In a word I am ... surprised! I've never been a big fan of leather sofas and suddenly, 'whoomp there it is'. The sofas were from 'Home Centre'.

The 8 seater, square dining table - really is like, one of my favourite buys. It's just, bootiful. I will have to remember to post a photograph of it once it comes. That was from 'Homes R Us', and to be honest, their sofas are rubbish, but the selection of dining tables are brilliant. That is located next to the Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre and Gold Market.

I also surprised myself again - as the TV unit came from Ikea and is white! I know! Anybody who knows me would say I'm a 'dark wood' kinda girl, but suddenly I just had a penchant for white, and so yes, now we have a white unit to go with brown leather sofas (argh, what was I thinking? The whole combination sounds frightful!)

We went to Home Centre last night and there so happened to be a 25% off Sale. Oh my goodness me, it was a nightmare in there. It reminded me of the riots in England a few months ago, people all looting the place, running around confused, trolleys banging in to old ladies, men and women carrying four or five of the same thing! It was on par with those crazy Next sales in the UK. Or do you remember when Cabbage Patch Kids were all the rage? On the news we would watch crazy parents all drop-kicking each other to get the last ugly Cabbage Patch kid... yes, well, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it certainly could have been! I warn you against going at the weekends...

To buy the TV unit - we had to take a trip to Ikea. But it was past lunch time, and we hadn't eaten and so we thought we would stop and eat in Ikea. What a MASSIVE mistake. First of all, just passing the fridges had my stomach clenching with terror. Everything is as over-processed as their furniture in the Ikea food court. I ordered the Swedish Meatballs, with Rice and some beef gravy. Lets just say... after a few mouthfuls I just could not force my poor stomach to digest anymore. It was wasted - but then again, dog food would have tasted better. I'm sorry Swedish people, I'm sure that homemade Swedish Meatballs must be delish, but Ikea is giving your great nation a baaaaaad culinary reputation.

Today really was an awesome day. We took Baby-Zanga to a saloon (after all that shopping). Now don't panic. I promise there was no alcohol, no pistol loading cowboys, corsetted can-can dancers, or a sheriff ejecting balls of tabacco in to a spittoon. Saloons, incidently, is what they call salons out here. In all the malls I have visited so far there have been Kid's Saloons. I tell you, it always gives me a laugh and a giggle when I come across it. How very ethnocentric of me! So we took Baby-Zanga to one in Al-Mushrif Mall, and she HATED IT. It's a funky little shop, and you know what the best thing about it is? In front of each child's seat is a monitor (in front of the mirror) showing SpongeBob SquarePants... I mean, how indulgent is that? We adults have to sit and watch our own reflections while attempting to flick through a magazine (and getting told off by the hairdresser for continuously looking down), and the kiddies get to watch cartoons?