While in a taxi the other day I overheard a conversation between the driver and someone on the phone (and yeah the driver shouldn't even be on the phone while driving) but what they were talking about caught my attention. 

He said he just payed school registration for his child and went further to talk about the many mouths he has to feed at home (probably holiday makers). He also mentioned it is not an easy task and wondered how an aunt of his who had a fuller house managed to feed everyone three times a day. 

Their conversation reminded me of the fact that it's not easy to confront this hard economy especially during this back to school period. It's stressful. Overcoming the pressure of this hard economy needs a strong mind that can stay focused and take the right decisions. It also requires you to learn how to deal with stress related to your finances and to make a plan to turn these challenging times into opportunities for real growth and change. 

Most of all you need to calm down and relax to avoid stress related issues. I know it's not easy but you'd have to. 😉

I hope your back to school preparations are going on well and may God provide where we lack in Jesus name. 🙏🏾

I don't know why I take fine pictures and hesitate to post them. Maybe I'm not used to being 'fine' anymore. (Warning ⚠️ This is a Vulnerable post). 

After I became a mother, a lot of things about my body changed. I embraced those changes and applauded my body for the amazing job it did to procreate. My body was even making a lot of effort to heal. But it needed more time to do so. 

And then I felt ok about myself but not 'fine' enough or as 'fine' as I used to be. 

Looking at the mirror these days and seeing a resemblance with the person I used to be before I became a mother makes me feel happy. I'm finding myself again I tell myself. But i still feel scared when I remember it's possible to lose the image of yourself you identified with because of something you wanted to do with all your heart. 

Hopefully I get used to being and looking fine so that I can post more 'fine' pictures of myself. 😉

This morning I read a post about someone who realized he no longer had his good friends around after he made a list of guests to invite to a party he wanted to organize. He said it was due to the exodus of most of his friends abroad for a better life and related the problem to the difficult conditions of living in the country which pushes people to leave. 

I feel touched by his post because it made me remember that I am almost is the same kind of position. My case may be a bit different because I still have some of my close friends in the country but they are in different towns. In addition, most of us have become mothers and also have careers that makes it difficult for us to see even when we are in the same town. Death has even made the distance further for some of us and the circle of friends that once used to be together is now dispersed. 

It can be hard to make new friends for some people and I'm one of them. And when I say friends I mean good quality friends like the one the author of the post I read was referring to. Good friends like the ones I had who are now far away time and distance wise. 

I have never been intentional about making friends - maybe I should. The friends I've had started from being a good classmate or a good neighbor with whom we clicked and with time they proved they were trustworthy. I still love and consider them my friends and look forward to catching up when possible. Building a life is not easy and I believe we still pray and wish each other well as we focus on our busy lives for now. 

I also guess that time where we made friends naturally is gone now. But how do you make friends intentionally? Honestly that's is a million dollar question for me. 

Do you have a circle of friends? How do you relate with them now that you are grown and busy? 

Hi guys, 

How are you doing?  

Last week was a busy week, but I managed to get some me-time. Please share with me how you unwind after a long week in the comments. 

Considering that I was too tired to go anywhere, especially with the kids, I settled for something easy and within my reach - Watching Nollywood movies on YouTube. I do this a few times a week to relax and entertain myself and it's mostly at the end of the day before I go to sleep. But this week I wanted to spend the weekend especially Saturday watching Nollywood movies. Friday was the busiest day of the week for me. I had some maintenance work going on at my apartment so I had a lot of organisation and cleaning to do. The walls in the rooms were repainted, the window/door blind holders and anti-mosquito nets were installed plus other little stuff that had to be taken care of. The workers were not able to finish on Friday and will hopefully finish it today. 

The movie I enjoyed the most was Original Husband Material with Maurice Sam and Ekamma Etim Iyang as lead actors. It's a romance movie and romance movies are my favourite.

Some images taken during the week: 

By the way it's a public holiday in Cameroon today and tomorrow as well. Sunday and Tuesday (is assumption day) are public holidays in Cameroon and a day between two public holidays is usually declared a public holiday. 

How are you spending the public holiday if you are in Cameroon? Is it also a public holiday in your country today or tomorrow? Please share in the comments. 

Ngumabi. 

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Here are a few pictures to further describe my day: 

It was a challenge to keep avoiding the mud at every step.

Another view of the market.

I got fried chicken gizzards. They were so delicious.

Tigger nuts

Oranges

This boboloh was freshly made and it was really good.

I don't know how they call this fruit but they look like cherries and I love them. But I was a little disappointed this time because there were more soft ones in the ones I bought than usual.