Nesting Instinct Gone Awry or Stepford Wife?

I hate dust and it must be eradicated!  I've spent the last three days dusting and vacuuming and dusting some more.  If 90% of dust is dead human skin cells, and we've been out of the house for the last 6 weeks, then where did all this dust come from?  ARGH!  I force myself to lie down and take it easy, but even with my feet up "resting," all I can see is what still needs to be done.  While vacuuming in the bedroom, I managed to pull one of the curtains down.  Well, from there, it just led to getting them all down and washing them, of course!  The bad thing about housework though is that it is never, ever done.  It seems like there's just no getting ahead of it.  From vacuuming every room in the house, to dusting, to washing curtains, to polishing the hardwood floors--is it just nesting or have I become a Stepford Wife?

On a more serious note, Savas, one of Ekrem's very good friends had a heart attack this evening.  We saw him Friday night and he was looking a bit pale, but didn't complain of any chest pain or other anginal-type pain, at least not that I understood.  Apparently his family was confused and didn't know what to do when he keeled over at home, so instead of immediately calling for an ambulance, they called his brother first.  After they called for an ambulance, they walked him down the stairs to wait for it.  I realize that this family is a bit on the simple side when it comes to things like medical emergencies, or maybe I've forgotten what lay people really know about health care, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they would do that.  Instead of keeping him still and conserving the oxygen that his heart muscle needed, they pushed his already oxygen-deprived heart to the limits by walking him down the stairs (3 flights?).  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Turkiye really needs some public health education, especially with the amount of smoking that goes on here.  A stop-smoking campaign would be good, but I think a "what-to-do" campaign would be even better for the time being.  What do you do when someone complains of chest pain?  When one side of the body goes limp or numb?  Things like that.  Of course, lifestyle management goes a long way in reducing risks associated with heart disease and stroke, but you can't convince the Turks that smoking is in any way bad for them.  Many Turks still believe that pneumonia is caused by cold breezes, hence no air conditioning in the vast majority of Turkish homes.  Never mind those pesky little germs, they don't have anything to do with it.  Oh, and my personal favorite is walking barefoot on the floor causes infertility.  My bulging belly shows the error in that thinking!

Now that we have the little fridge, my eating habits are getting better and I've actually lost a few pounds.  Nothing pathological, mind you, but I chalk it up to eating smaller amounts of fresh food when I want it, rather than having to wait and then going to a restaurant and eating a lot at one time (which tends to make me nauseous anyway).  I'm once again enjoying my Turkish breakfast of tomatoes with white cheese, sliced cucumbers, olives, toast, and tea.  A huge change from the all-waffle breakfasts I was eating in the US.  I don't like typical breakfast foods, but you don't get much choice when you eat at Denny's every morning!

Kediler Haber:  I think the stress has caused Afacan to have a nervous breakdown.  She has decided that she doesn't want to live with us anymore, except for the occasional dish of food.  She is much happier outdoors where she can terrorize the neighborhood children and doesn't have to deal with Askim, the new kitten.  As much as we hate to see her go, trying to keep her in the house only causes her to be mean and vicious, attacking us with claws and fangs, so it's out she goes.