Starting to look like a home

Yep, I was right, I was bitten by thousands of mosquitoes, but the worse ones are always in the difficult place to scratch - like my big toe - ahhhhh!

I had quite a disturbed sleep last night as I am definitely now conformable yet in the house - maybe I wont be until Stuart gets here. I now know why I wanted a town house in a gated community, however, that went by the way side when I saw the pool here! On Wednesday, I will be fully alarmed and at least that means I will know loud and clear when someone is coming in! I actually got a couple more night lights that switch on in dark, so when I come home after dark they will be on.

I completed unpacking all my clothes, no more suitcases. I am sorry Stuart, I have filled all three wardrobes downstairs, but you have the five upstairs! Dad's Christmas present, wardrobe 'shelves', are excellent and I think we will need some more this Christmas! I bought my first shag pile rug today for my dressing room.

Having decided to to do no shopping this weekend after I went to do something to do with the wedding!, I decided to pop into Ikea for a couple of things I had seen at an unbelievable price! Of course, now I have unpacked I know some of the items I need. I have now hung some pictures, and have some lights - it is looking a bit more homely :)

Did my first household chores - I mopped all the floors! I had been walking around in bare feet and was horrified when I lifted up my foot! I still need some sort of vacuum cleaner to hoover the rugs.

Oh last night I forgot to tell you about the flesh eating spider you get here! Apparently, they hide in you woolen jumpers and then eat you when you put them on! Oh why did I come here - guns, mosquitoes and now flesh eating spiders. At the BBQ yesterday, there was one in the pool and it had lots of babies as well - Lars, my boss, said he didn't think he would be going for his early morning swim!

Diaster! I have lost one of my diamonte diamonds from my sandles!

Saturday's are for sunbathing

I successfully managed to unpack all the boxes of books. I am so glad I chose a house with lots of book shelves as I filled three huge ones, although there are still some more to take all of the ones Stuart buys in the three years! I even found my 'rock samples', as it was labelled, in one of the boxes. It is a shame that the unpacking of my clothes did not progress quite so well! I just had to show you the sorry state my bedroom is still in! That will be fixed tomorrow morning.

Stuart was very patient with me, and we managed to get the wireless router hooked up and working. Hence, I am typing this from my bed. The plan was to do enough to connect to the Internet and then he could remote on to my machine, however, great plans never go quite as one anticipates, and I had to describe every window over the phone. Anyhow, we managed it, and we are still talking :) I gave him a full tour of the house via skype video, whilst also testing the range of my wireless, that appears to be everywhere.

For most of the morning and the early afternoon I spent it by the pool, sun bathing. Taking a dip when I got too hot. I extracted a number of drown beetles from the pool filter, which the birds then enjoyed. I also read some more of my Texas driving handbook in preparation for my test. It is so tough to remember the finer details of fines and precise stopping distances, but I will get there as I cant believe it is so difficult to pass considering the number of Texans on the road.

At three, I went to the Comcast shop to get a new cable box. The lady switched it no trouble and I headed home to hook it up. I am pleased to say it was the box because the new one is working fine, for now! At the BBQ I was at tonight, it seems people have experienced other problems including cables being faulty!

Then at five I went to my bosses who was having a BBQ. It was all families except for me, but good to get out of the house. They have a lovely big garden and the kids were in and out of the pool, while the dog chased squirrels. I have a nasty suspicion I am quite mosquito bitten in spite of spraying on lots of repellent - no doubt I will find that out tomorrow.

Well I am pooped (after a hard day sun bathing!)and it is 2330. Goodnight.

Hacked it!

Well, I haven't done half of what I planned this evening. I got home after going to Target to pick up a router so Stuart can talk me through setting up wireless in the house tomorrow. I also picked up a kitchen bin with lid - there are lots without them and the bins get very smelly, very quickly, in the heat. I was annoyed I didn't bring one from UK, but they would have been too large so I got a $9.99 special! I managed a quick swim as that was on route home.

I bought some bedside lights tonight and a selection of light bulbs. I think I spent 15 minutes looking at all the bulbs trying to decide what I needed. They actually have a lot of energy saving bulbs. Anyhow, I successfully replace the bulb in the garage as I have been having a hard time seeing when I arrive home after dark. I also bought myself a night light, because I am still not comfortable with the dark house at night - what a child, however, it is for the living room, not my bedroom!

I turned on the TV for some background noise earlier, only to discover my new cable box was saying 'boot' on it. I tried the IT special, pull out the plug and plug it in again, but no luck. So I phoned Comcast and you can get your box refreshed, so I tried that! Half an hour still nothing, although they managed to turn on the TV. I phoned them back and this time spoke to someone on the phone. He made me pull out the plug again, I told you that was the fix, but unfortunately it still didn't work. The box has officially gone tits up in four days! Hmm it is nice to know I have paid lots for this service. So I said 'when can you fix it?' - Tuesday next week! I may it take it to one of their shops tomorrow and get it changed out. I did ask if this was common and he said 'no'!

So what should I do for the rest of the evening? Well, I had bought a DVD player that can be hacked to play multi-region DVD's. All the ones I have from the UK are region 2 and the player is set to region 1 . So I went on the web to find out the hack. To begin with I was in despair because I couldn't even get the menu up, but realised I had been a wimpy girl and not pushed the cables in far enough. Anyhow, once that was sorted, it was very straight forward and I am now watching 'You only live twice' - ahh that is what I needed a fix of James Bond :)

It's a hard life!

It's a hard life sometimes! It was such a beautiful day with clear blue skies, I decided I had to go home and sit by the pool, and have a wee swim as well!

I went home at lunchtime to meet the pool man, Mr Lee. He is Chinese and was wearing his pool cleaning uniform in blue trousers and a white tunic top, actually come to think of it, I don't think he would look out of place in the hospital! The pool this evening was lovely and clean and no leaves in the bottom. I managed to save a butterfly that had fallen in, but apart from that I didn't need to fish out too many bugs.

I have been snoozing in front of the TV this evening, because I got up at 5am to talk to Sam this morning on Skype. It was great to see Mariska and Thomas as well. I cant believe it is not too long before I will see them at OUR wedding!

Our mortgage documents have finally arrived with the lender today, so now lets hope they can turn it around quickly because they are having a quiet period! I will give them a call tomorrow to chivy them along. I don't think I would recommend anyone else trying all that we are, in a period of a couple of months!

The wedding reception is now just above 50 people attending! I hope we can all squeeze in! Maybe it is lucky we are slightly short on furniture :) I here it was a beautiful day in Aberdeen today and that is what I am hoping for.

Bugs!

I managed a full day at the office, which is a bit of a novelty! The downside of that is I always feel the blog will be rather dry. I was so excited I got to wear my patent pink shoes to work - it is so exciting to have all my shoes again:) They have got their own wardrobe :)

I finally got the second burglar alarm quote, and there is very little difference between them. I will email the landlord with the costs and see if he will help out. If we are here for three years then I don't really mind the cost, however if we do decide to move or they sell the house after this year then it does seem quite expensive. But I am in no doubt that I want it installed.

Last night I managed to sleep until I drifted off I was straining to hear every creak. Mind you I am certainly not along. I have swept up three centipedes and a number of dead ones. Maybe it will be a nightly activity of collecting bodies. Lets just hope there is none in my bed!

Oh goodness, I got Malene in trouble with her neighbours. I went around there this evening to do a final clean and hang out the washing, however, there was a letter in the door when I arrived! It was from the neighbour asking to only do washing at sociable hours! I have to admit I did do it a bit early the other morning, and I didn't really think about the neighbours! Opps - good thing I am in a detached house :)

I have taken a snap of my bedroom, which looks reasonably lived in and the still empty living room! I still have boxes and boxes of books to unpack, but I will concentrate on that at the weekend.

I am just watching BBC America and they are talking about Texas becoming green, with lots of wind turbines going up. I noticed from looking at the electricity companies that I can use there are a number of green ones that brag about their renewable sources of energy. They had just shown one of the company bosses for a wind turbine company - guess what he was driving? A hummer!!! Couldn't get greener than that!

Arrival of the Container

It was a significant day today - my container arrived. It was quite a little container on a big truck.I was very surprised to see I had only filled half of the 23 footer!

Three guys unloaded it all, getting much hotter than those in the UK. The humidity was higher today and I definitely didn't envy them! I had the important role of ticking off the box numbers and directing them to the rooms. I did end up with two '15' boxes, however it was me miss understanding on the guys accents as they were all quite strong Mexican accents.

As sods law would have it the last item to be unwrapped was my dressing table and it has unfortunately been damaged, and the wood on the legs has been badly cracked. At least it wasn't an heirloom. My most concern was for my Singer sewing machine that is quite old and delicate, but it appears to have come out unscathed. They put together all the furniture that needed to be and told them not to unpack my clothes and books, so they were done by about 1030.

The house at least looks a little better and not quite so empty, but I still have big spaces of nothing! I will show you some photos when I am a bit more settled. I was very surprised that after the delivery I was feeling incredibly homesick, I think rather than joy of my things arriving it reminded me too much of home. Silly or not it was the garden furniture, of all things, that set me snivelling. Possible because it is not only away from home it is also the last time I will see on the veranda in Johnshaven.

I am now hooked up with cable TV, Internet and phone, however, I need to go and buy a router so I can get wireless as at the moment I am attached to a very short cable on the floor! The cable man didn't say much while he was working, but after he had finished I commented on how late it was to finish and he said he was from Florida and his family is still there. He does a full months work and takes a week off every fifth week to see his family. He was saying that cable installation in Florida has dried up and he is planning to move his family to Houston as there seems to be more steady work here.

I have put the car in the garage as one of the ladies at work was saying that her next door neighbours car was on blocks this morning, all four wheels had been taken when the car was parked on their driveway! Amazingly no one heard a thing. She doesn't live too far away from me - these are nice neighbourhoods with security guards patrolling!

It is going to be my first night in the house tonight - I am a little nervous just because it is somewhere different. Wish me luck!

Memorial Day

Hello shoppers! Memorial Day today, so a day off work. Just a small day shopping, although managed to get myself some cutlery, or rather flatware as it is referred to. After a time and thoughtful time around 'Crate and Barrel' trying out every sofa and chair, I did see a very good sofa, but as with all furniture here it comes at a price. I am not finding thing really cheap, especially when they are classed as European in style!

I am now a member of a third supermarket, 'Central Market'. I don't think there is one near the house, but my goodness it has an amazing cheese selection. Just look at the size the blocks of cheese come in! There was cheese from every country and I even found 'Stinking Bishop', which I remember Stuart subjecting me to one day from Mellis the Cheese mongers!

In the afternoon, I went to the house for my first swim in the pool. And look! I had to share it with someone else!!! The little frog was having a lovely time floating around until he or she got stuck in the filter! I wondered where it went. I empty the filter and I think it managed to hop off if a little dizzy, because the filter acts as a whirlpool! It was great, although, I couldn't stay in too long as the water temperature compared to the air temperature was really cold. I applied my new suntan lotion with bug repellent, so lets hope tomorrow I am not covered in bites!

No more shopping!

I would not believe the day I would be saying 'please no more shopping', but that is all I feel I have been doing for the past 48 hours. After a couple of hours of research last night to locate the last two models of a TV Stu recommended, I decided to get there for the shop opening. So at quarter to ten I was waiting outside 'Best Buy' up the northwest freeway. As soon as it opened people appeared from nowhere! But there was no stopping me, I walked in, grabbed a staff person, and gave them my print out (including shopping list!) and I got it :)

So I rushed back to the house to drop it off and then I was straight out to Ikea for my big mirror I had spotted yesterday. Well I got it in the car, but it was a very close call. It was lucky I don't drive a manual car! I unloaded the monster mirror at the house and waited for the mattress to be delivered. Then off to buy a toaster and iron!

I managed to pick up some of the netting laundry bags. I haven't had those since I was at school, but I am finding the top loading washing machines really hard on my clothes, especially smalls.

This afternoon Cecelia was having a BBQ so I went along. She has two dogs, Rita is a cocker spaniel puppy, about 12 weeks old, and she is gorgeous even if her little teeth are quite sharp. And Lucy, I am not sure what kind she is, but she has the softest fur, and would make an excellent floor polisher :) One of Cecelia friends had brought a 'cowboy t-bone' steak - it was a serious steak. I made him pose with it for scale! I reckon it could have lasted me a week of meals. The dogs were pretty hopeful that he would leave some, but no luck.

Is that a kayak in your ......

This will make you laugh after saying the flat was boiling because I had done something to the air conditioning, I decided to go to bed with it switch on (so not on auto), and I woke up at about 2am, freezing under my sheet and thin blanket! I seem to have got it going back to normal now, which is a relief.

I managed a swim this morning, as I was having withdrawal symptoms having not been since Monday. The pool was actually quite busy for hat early hour, there were five of us! Still only one per lane. Once I got back Stu and I had a mammoth skype session covering all topics from wedding, to new house, what TV to buy etc!

Now I have got the container coming on Tuesday I have to get all the things I need to be able to live in the house that are not in my container.

So this afternoon I went on a big shopping session. First of all Ikea, I was only really going to look and take notes but on thing I need quite soon is a spare bed, as Di is coming for the weekend, and today they had one nice on a serious offer. I took note of its aisle number and bin number and went in search of the bed. Just as I arrived down the aisle there was another lady by herself and so we helped each other lift the two large boxes on to our trolleys. When I went through check out the price was not what the sale price said so I had to go off to customer services. I moaned at the guy and then he turned around and sad the offer is on the queen size bed, not the kingsize. I said I got the queen size, he said 'oh no you didn't!' In my quest to help out the other lady I had failed to notice the size. So I got given a rather large amount of money back in cash and went back to get the right size of bed. This time, there was no one to help load my trolley! Well, let me tell you I was hot after that. My only slight concern was whether it was going to fit in the car, not to mention for those that have never been to an Ikea, Mum and Dad, you have to go and get your car and drive around to the loading bays and self load. In the past, I have always been with someone else. The staff were fab and they looked after the trolley while I went for the car. The car was great, just as it said in the description you can fit a kayak, and it can! The front passenger seat folds all the way down :) I was happy, and even happier when the butch Ikea lady lifted in all the boxes by herself!

Sitting in the car I was considering how I could get the bed back out of the car and into the house. Asking a neighbour was high on the list, however, I popped into Home Depot, their B&Q equivalent, to buy a tape measure and also picked up a little trolley as I thought it may become very useful over the next couple of weeks. Just on the tape measure, I managed to get the only one which has an imperial and metric scale on it - just feet and inches confuses me!

Back at the house I had no trouble with the little trolley and successfully moved the boxes from the car to the house. I then simply unpack the boxes and took bits upstairs one by one. I may feel it tomorrow, but otherwise, I think I coped very well. A mattress is getting delivered free of charge tomorrow - there was no way the car was going to manage that!

While I was at the house I managed to put out the temporary sprinklers to give the brown bit of new grass a drink. I am not to hopeful and they maybe too far gone already. As I was watering, the landlord and all his family came around - so I have got some brownie points for making the effort:)

More shopping tomorrow, but going to start as soon as the shops open to avoid the crowds. I walked out of one shop as there was just too many people and not enough staff. So much for a bad economy - you should have seen how many TV's they were selling!

Start of the long weekend

I am not entirely sure what I have done to Malene's air con, but it is definitely not performing like it did when I arrived! The flat is very toastie just now and I have put the fan on and that is working, but the auto setting doesn't appear to be!

After work, three of us from work went to look at the furniture warehouse that was closed on Tuesday. It was a very large warehouse with a lot of very unattractive furniture! There was a lot of faux antique style things. There were also some really obscene sofas. Take a look at Cecelia enjoying the fat boy chair, all it needs is a beer fridge and the phone to order your take out! Even though the sign on the door said open until 8pm, they kicked us out at 6pm. I didn't really see anything I will rush back for.

This weekend is a holiday weekend and the office is closeed on Monday for Memorial Day. Because of that, there are lots of sales on so I will make the most of it. I have arranged for my container to be delivered on Tuesday and I am most looking forward to sleeping in my own bed :)

A Liverpudlian from Aberdeen, living in Denver!

I had my second security company come around and look at the house today. Without any quote yet I know who I would go with based on salesmanship - today's company, but I will have to decide when they send through their quote tomorrow!

I got to meet up with another friend from Aberdeen today. Stu and I worked with Di in Aberdeen, but since KMG was taken over, Di has stayed in the States.

Di and I agreed to meet at Greenspoint Mall, which is up I45, north of Houston. Kerr-McGee used to have their offices there and it had, and apparently still has, a nickname of 'Guns'points. Hmmm! Poor Di had to wait at the mall for about an hour for me, because the rush hour traffic was horrible - I cant believe people do that everyday! Once I arrived we decided not to stay around Greenspoint - not very nice! The original plan had been go to the cinema then get something to eat, but because I was late, we decided to go straight for dinner. We tried to find something just north of Greenspoint, but there wasn't much so we then made our minds up to go back to the Woodlands, where Di is staying, and it is a very smart community. It has even more sports cars than Aberdeen.

In the Market Square in the Woodlands there was a live band playing outside and lots of restaurants and shops, in buildings that made it look like a mini oldie-worldie village (slightly surreal). We had some great sushi - so into sushi!! Following eating, there was just enough time to pop into 'Ross Dress for Less'! It was only to walk off dinner - honestly :)

Di spotted a Porsche 911 to get our photo taken by, and just as we were standing there taking a picture of ourselves the owner appears! Fortunately, he was good humoured and agreed to take our picture with his car in the background.

The way home was not without excitement. There was me thinking I would zip back down the road, but just past Greenspoint turning, I saw massive flames and a big plume of smoke coming from off the other side of the carriageway. The next thing, all lanes are a a stand still. As I got closer you could see police and fire engines everywhere. It was a furniture warehouse that was burning down. It is nice to know it doesn't matter where you are in the world, humans are naturally noisy - yup you got it - rubber necking was causing the jam, and not to mention the cars parking on the hard shoulder to sit and watch the live entertainment! There were families sitting on the concrete barrier! Well I guess I wont be going there to get my new sofa :)

I nearly forgot, I got told my container has cleared customs - yippee!

One month to the day

It is hard to believe I arrived one month ago on 20th April. I am missing y'all lots, especially Stu :( Although, I cant say the time has dragged by, because it hasn't. Possibly moving to a new country, buying and selling a house back home and getting wed is rather a lot to deal with in a month and maybe the reason for time flying by! I would also like to say the bride will now be at the wedding - I only booked my tickets home today! I was ticking off items on the list and that one is now complete!

Tonight seemed to be a night for making me nervous in Houston. The realtor was telling about a lady held at gun point in a supermarket car park along I10, as she was packing groceries into her car and forced to give over her handbag. And then, I had a lady from one of the burglar alarm companies come to do a survey in the house, and she went on about all the extra alarms I should have to be safe! I am always aware, but there is eventually a point you become totally paranoid and may as well stayed locked up at home. However, I am taking precautions in response to what they said.

On a cheerier note, Misty is now officially Texan! She has got her Texas state number plates replacing her New Jersey ones she arrived with. It is good for me, as now, I am less of a police target and it stops people asking if I am from New Jersey - do I sound like it?! I cant remember if I have told you but the reason they target you with out of state plates is because they like everyone in Texas to have a Texan driving licence?! It is like an identity card and far more important than social security - not what I had expected.

I have taken two quick pictures of my temporary new home, and I am very excited as I am getting to type this while in bed as there is WiFi here!

I bought some lovely prawns tonight and made a Jamie Oliver pasta dish, which is a top favourite of ours, however, I had to vary it slightly, in one of the main ingredients, as I had to replace the rocket for sugar snap peas! I used quarter of a habanero chilli pepper and nearly blew my head off, not to mention it is still on my fingers! Feeling prawned out now though.

The wonders of living out of a suitcase

I don't believe it I am back living out of a suitcase! It is a month tomorrow since I arrived and when I last lived straight from the case - well, I suppose once they arrived. Due to my now huge collections of shoes 'Emelda', I nearly died lifting the case down the stairs and into the back of my car. Fortunately, Malene's flat is far more posh than my last one and she has a lift - ooh!

Another stunning today to make you jealous. And today I remembered to take some photos from the office - this is only the 13th floor looking towards downtown. I think the 25th floor view would be even better, but I wasn't up there today (you have to take a different lift shaft to get there, which is really annoying!)

I have just seen I have missed a call from my new landlord tonight - surely I haven't done something already! I did manage to set up my direct debit for rent, however, just thinking about it tonight I don't have enough money in the account to pay for it - great! something else to sort tomorrow.

I met up with Laura this evening to go to a furniture place that is closing down near her house and has some reasonable offers on. But first had to face Houston's rush hour on the freeway. Everyone is going at snails pace and as far as I can tell you really want to make sure you are in the correct lane well ahead, because no one lets you in! Apart from that, not too bad. While I was waiting for Laura at the warehouse, I noticed their big sign saying 'open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and now open Mondays' - hmm this is Tuesday and the car park is empty!!! You got it, it was closed so I will have to come back another time, but at least I know where it is.

We went and got some dinner in the vicinity (don't ask me where I followed Laura and we did lots of left and rights and I felt like we almost ended up back where we started). It was a Mexican place that is very famous and apparently, although it is now a chain, we where at the original restaurant. It is called Ninfa's, and I remember the relocation lady telling me the story of why Ninfa was really famous. Apparently, Ninfa, herself, used to cook in her house and the neighbours used to come around with pots and pans and take away food. Slowly word got around how good the food was and friends suggested Ninfa open her house as a restaurant, while she and her family lived upstairs. But the reason Ninfa became a legend was because she went to planning to ask if she could open a restaurant next to her house and planning, said no, because it was residential, anyhow she fought this, on the basis of some obscure clause in the law, and that is why, to this day, Houston has no zoning laws, so you can build a petrol station in the middle of houses etc.

Well, at least that is the story I was told - I see there is no reference to it in Wikipedia!

What I forgot to mention, if you wonder why the photo of Laura and I on a golf buggy, that is because the car park at the restaurant was packed (apparently, folk parked their cars there and get bused to the nearby baseball game), anyhow Laura asked the man on where we could park and he said out on the road. When we parked, he turns up in his buggy and gives us a lift to the restaurant (literally a two second walk), but it was rude not to accept and he took the photo of us. When we came out tonight, there he was again, and again we got give a lift back to the cars:)

Tonight was the last time I see Laura until the 8th June, because she is off jet setting to Rio and then back home on holidays. I am going to be billy no mates :(

Last night at the apartment

Tonight is my last night in the apartment, and I am just back from dropping all my fridge food at Malene's, because it will never last a day in the car (not like in Aberdeen).

This morning I woke to find we were only 3 degs warmer than Aberdeen (well, we were 6am and Aberdeen was midday), but I have not felt it so cool here. It was bliss. The skies were clear blue, also very unusual, because it is normally very cloudy, especially in the mornings. I forgot to take a picture from work across the city, and instead you have quite a boring shot, however, it was taken at about 6:30pm and the sky is still clear blue!

I have to say I am feeling quite pooped after doing an hours round trip there and back from Malene's flat. I am much more accustomed to driving in the dark now, as the street are really dark and all the car lights make it quite difficult to see, not to mention the lack of white lines and cats eyes. The one thing I have learnt from driving after dark is to be really, really careful at lights. You never want to be the first one to go when the lights turn green, as too often cars go through the red lights. Tonight, I saw at least two do it. I cant believe it is the end of my razzing days at lights - that was also great sport in Aberdeen, even with my diesel :)

I notice that Misty has some weird rattles. They seem to be worse at low speeds, and I have a feeling it is from the poor road conditions. Although I attempt to avoid the monstrous pot holes, I am a typical uncoordinated women and when I think I have the wheels astride the hole, I generally hit it dead on! I may have to consider a visit to the car doctor to get her checked out!

As I said, the flat is now almost ready to hand back tomorrow. I have quite enjoyed my time here, but I know I will enjoy Malene's and it close proximity to the Galleria!

Tomorrow after work I am off to have a look at more furniture in a desperate attempt to get a good deal especially on a sofa, one of the biggest outlays.

I must head off for my beauty sleep, but I was very pleased to hear the blog is good night time reading for some of you - sending you soundly to sleep I trust :)

What a lie in!

It was great, I had my longest lie yet! I refused to get up when my alarm went off at 7am and the next thing I knew it was 9am - bliss! I decided, since I no plans for today, I would use the time to start packing up the flat, because I need to be out of here on Tuesday morning. I packed up all the things I don't really need and some of my clothes to move them to the new house. Now all I have to move to Malene's is one suitcase, golf clubs and what is left in the fridge.

I got the car into garage at the new house. I wanted to check it fitted - it does! And because it is an electric door, I don't even have to get out of the car to open and close the door!! To my alarm I found another cockroach in my soon to be bedroom. Once again enormous with long antennae!! However, a quick blast with my killer spray soon put an end to it. I then went off to the gym and today decided to face he treadmill - what a bore. However, it wasn't so bad and made up with a quick swim afterwards! I lost all of 1kg last week - err (maybe it was my wet swimsuit and wet hair!!!) I got another - 'where is your accent from? I love it!!' I popped into Malene's flat to pick up her car park bleeper in preparation for moving in on Tuesday.

It was decidedly cold today - I had to wear a cardigan with my shorts and sandals! I took a photo of my temperature display on my central mirror - 74 degF was the the highest it got! And the forecasters are saying we are going to get as low as mid 50's this week - what is going on!

Especially for Mariska, I took a picture of my new very bling sandals - I thought you might approve:)

Fact for the day: did you know a Volkswagen 'golf' is called a 'rabbit' in America!

Stuart and Iain safely made it back over the Lairg Ghru, only it took them longer today because Stu hurt his leg :( Get better soon.

Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for my container to get through customs quickly!

Highland Games!

It was the Houston Highland Games today. I agreed to go along with Laura and help on the competitors registration desk. The only downside was I had to be there for 7am, and I woke up at 6:30am because my alarm didn't go off! My new mobile phone has a default that sets all alarms to pm - why!

It was a lovely sunny day and I sat behind desk signing in all competitors in up until midday, wearing my very yellow volunteers t-shirt. It was so strange to see pipers walking across the car park in kilts! Mind you, there were some in very interesting combinations - cowboy hat and kilt. There also seemed to be a thing for sporrans with animal heads. At the event there were stalls for all different clans - but, I didn't notice any Ferguson's!

Laura and I watch the huge pipe band parade that was really impressive. I almost felt like I was home, if it wasn't for the heat :) There was men's athletics, these guys were gigantic! We watched them at shot putt, but unfortunately, had to leave before tossing the kaber.

To top the day, we ate haggies, neaps and tatties for lunch.

Laura was going off to a wedding in the evening, so I went and got a pedicure while she did the full hog. The tickley feet thing is no better the second time around! After that, I left Laura, and went off to look at a furniture clearance place that was recommended. It was still quite expensive and most of the sofa's were typically large and hot looking. Not the sort of thing I really want. I also managed a bit of shoe shopping, including a pair for the 26th June!

Well, thunder and lightening started again tonight. The poor gardeners at the apartment block have spent the last two days putting more mulch down after the last rain storm washed it away - hope it doesn't happen again! Stuart and Iain walked the Lairg Ghru today and got rather wet, so maybe our rain is in sympathy! I hope they have a better return journey tomorrow. This little bird was taken refuge on my balcony during the heavy rain.

Gas Manie

This morning I had to be at the new house for 8 o'clock to wait for the gas man, who could appear anytime up to 5pm! Since there was not much at the house, actually nothing I took some things to do and water to drink, although the water was on in the house.

I constructed both of my new sun lounges as fortunately they came with their own spanner set. I had to do it inside as it was too warm and humid to try and do even the slightest manual labour outside. I never even sat in the sun instead I stayed under the porch area - Laura commented that I must be becoming a Houston-ite already! Spot the sun lounger near the pool!

Just as I was drifted off on my new sun lounger the landlady appeared with her daughter. I have not meant them until today and they seemed very friendly. They are originally from Canada. They came around as there was a bad stain on a carpet upstairs, however, it still is a bad stain but I am sure a bed can hide it so I am not overly concerned. She told me the pool man is a Mr Lee and Martin is the gardener. I have to keep the drains clear - for the heavy rains and apart from that they said they were pleased to take my money!

I also started the itinerary for the house including photographing any defect or missing items. I am still to test the plug sockets but will do that shortly and also test all the kitchen items, including a new washer and dryer. I still do not see the need for a dryer as clothes here dry within 24 hours!

I have taken a few photos inside the house to show you the large empty spaces I have to arrange with furniture. The room with the fire is the living room that a joins the kitchen and dining area. The master bedroom is the plane square room, however there is an en suite bathroom and a room which also joins on that will become my boudoir!

The gas man finally turned up just before 3pm and by the time he had fitted a new meter and flashed up the boiler it was half past 3. However, I really needed to see people at work so I decided to go in arriving a 3:45, and on a Friday you can leave at 4pm. I did manage to see folk and I agreed to help out by staying on to get something plotted.

The handy man also turned at the same time as the gas man, because I noticed someone had driven into the mailbox at the front of the house and it was swaying in the wind. He temporally fixed that then gave me instructions about how to set the sprinkler system. Next thing I know he goes away and one of the sprinkler heads is shooting water vertically in the air! Nothing is ever simple :)

I popped back to the house this evening to check the water had heated up and it has so at least that part is done. Next is all the other things I need like a phone line, Internet and TV!

First purchases for the new house

I now have my social security number so I must be legit now! The next task will be to get my Texas driving licence as that is very important. It is your Texas driving licence that gives you all the identity you need for most of your utilities. However, tomorrow I am getting gas hooked up in the new house as it officially my first day in there. Unfortunately, I am not getting too excited because I wont be moving in yet, not until the container arrives! But I could not resist buying a couple of things for it including two sun lounges - well I have potentially all day to wait for the gas man tomorrow so I could utilise the garden :) I also bought some useful items such as bug killer (to get that cockroach) and loo roll.

I have been a day out this week having played golf on Monday and being so busy with wedding planning, or really I should say consultation, because Stuart is doing all the leg work, so I nearly forgot to pay my deposit for the gas today ad I have remembered a whole heap of things I must do here.

I am still managing to swim lots and it is the one point in the day I can think of everything going on.
Hey just look how big shower gel is in this country. For scale, a normal bottle of cream:) It is difficult to buy anything smaller in the land of the big.

Oh I forgot to mention yesterday, I put the first lasting mark on my car! I did a u-turn at some lights but the road was not quite as wide as usual and I managed a super scrape on the alloy against the foot high kerb! Poor Misty! When I got back to work I discovered someone else had done exactly the same at the same junction! There said 'there is no all terrain car, like a company car'.

I am just watching 'Caddy Shack' for some light entertainment this evening.

PS I have to admit the bottle of face cream is a mini one, but the shower gel is still quite large!

Office Moves

What a day today! We moved offices and I didn't manage to log on to my PC until 5pm this evening! Although, fortunately we did manage to do some constructive work in between time.

Tonight, I met up with our newest arrival from Copenhagen, Danny, and we went for dinner at the Galleria. I think it must have been the busiest place along Westheimer. As we sat outside hoards of people tried to get seated in their small outside terrace. The food was good but the service was nothing to write home about! At Danny's apartments there was a 'wienermobile' parked - just take a look and image seeing a giant hot dog driving towards you.

I was most upset, because I couldn't find a car parking space directly outside the apartment tonight so I had a to walk! That is not very American :)

I am afraid short blog tonight as it is 11pm and I need to sleep.

Threat of car towing

Work today was less than exiting due to struggling with software issues all day - it is one of my pet hates achieving nothing because the software is pants. Anyhow, less said about that the better.

I met up with the realtor at the house today and the grass is now laid on the front yard. It will take sometime to establish, but at least it has a sprinkler system to get watered regularly. A cleaner has been in the house and done a fantastic job. I got a terrible fright when I looked in the kitchen sink to see a huge cockroach starring at me! I jumped backwards, and even the realtor looked concerned by it! I have to admit we were not terribly humane and I am going to buy some bug spray before I move in. It appears to have come up the drain and I don't have an infestation unlike in Italy, if I remember correctly!

So why the threat of car towing? Well, I had a big yellow warning sticker on my car tonight at work to say I had taken two parking spaces and I would be owed if it happens again! In my defense, the reason I had taken two spaces was because the car I parked next to was enormous and was in the next door space so I utilised the two spaces beside it. I wont be doing that again, I will have to find somewhere else to park now. I have tried to peel off the sticker, but it is like the ones Aberdeen University used to stick on your car, and it takes paint stripper to get them off. I am actually just off downstairs with some water and a sponge to see what I can do.

Mosquito bites still itching like crazy :)

Golfing

There is no better way to spend a Monday than on the golf course, especially when you are meant to be at work.

The event was held at Kingswood Golf Club, north of Houston. There were so many people taking part we were using three courses. Just look how many golf buggies there were, and that is only a tiny percentage of them. We were playing a shotgun start with two fours starting at each hole!!!

I was invited along to play with three guys from a company called Spectrum, who sell seismic amongst other things. They were all very friendly and social golfers, which was really nice instead of feeling pressured to perform. Mind you it was a Texas Scramble so less pressure anyway, plus there was no requirement to use a certain an number of tee shots per person. We were playing the Marsh course - not an inspiring name to start with. It was not as bad as the name suggested and we had lovely tree lined holes with occasional evil water features, and the odd marsh.

I am pleased to say I started off better than I could hope, and for the first couple of holes, I supported the team to the green, although my putting was less impressive. It was really hot and sunny to start with, although it was not long before we heard thunder rumbling in the distance. The next thing, the lightening started. Hmm, not too happy standing on an open tee box with a shiny metal club! The course sounded a horn and we all jumped in our buggies and rushed for cover. The rain then started in buckets. But, it passed in about 20 minutes and we all went back to were we left off. The humidity started to rise after the rain and the mosquito's came out! However, after a while the wind started and the temperature and humidity dropped making the end part of the game very pleasant.

In terms of wildlife, I saw quite a bit, including, 1 tortoise, 2 deer, a few herons and plenty of squirrels.

There was drinks buggies coming around all the time, I stuck to water and avoided the beer as that would do my game no favours. I was pleased to say on the last hole, I managed to do a lovely chip onto the green and putted for a birdie! However, we unfortunately came last on our course - but at least we had fun, and I only lost 5 balls!

There were heaps of excellent prizes at the end of the day, but I still didn't get anything in the raffle. Better luck next time :)

Mark, from work, kindly gave me a lift there and back, so I am now sitting in my PJ's typing this before heading for an early night.

Happy American Mother's Day

Happy American Mother's Day Mummy, I got given a carnation in one of the shops for Mother's Day, so I am giving it to you. It is a really big commercial day here and there have been advertising non stop for the past couple of weeks.

Well today has been a buy day of wedding planning. It has been worth it though, because I have achieved a very significant part in the arrangements - I can say no more now :) I have actually celebrated buying a bottle of wine!

I went to search out another shopping mall, called the Mall on Memorial. Unfortunately I got there just as most of the shops were closing, but it looks good and I will have to go back! I also managed to find Mariska's 'Crystal lite' - its on order :)

I am currently dying from a couple of bites on my feet from yesterdays picnic - ohh! I wonder if it was a mosquito or ant. I bought myself some anthersan, but it has helped yet.

The picture of the palm tree is just because I thought it was nice and still shows that I haven't quite adapted to living in a very warm climate.

Picnic at Memorial Park

Feeling guilty about not swimming yesterday I got up at 6am and went straight to the gym. I was one of 15 cars maximum in the enormous multi-storey car park. It is hard to understand why they keep the gym open 24 hours 7-days a week. So I had a love peaceful swim, before making it back to the apartment for 8am to speak to Sam and Stu on skype.

As I mentioned yesterday I had agreed to drive to Laura's house to pick her up for the picnic in Memorial Park. I set off and although a little nervous of the freeway by myself I knew I had to just get on with it. I was lucky that on a Saturday it was quieter than a week day, so I had it easy and I managed to follow Laura's directions perfectly arriving 5 minutes early at hers with no wrong turns - a first for me. Her house is lovely. To me a very traditional American home with sort of tiling on the outside walls, and the whole house is raised up off the ground (sensibly due to flooding!). Laura is doing work to at the moment, including in the granny flat above the double garage that she also owns. In her garden she has a veg patch with tomatoes, onions, yellow courgettes (or as they refer to them as yellow squashes), peppers, peas etc. I will have to try at least some veg as it is amazing to see half of this stuff grown outdoors. Apparently, the tomato plants were over a year old and lasted through the winter.

We headed off to the picnic, which was held in the middle of Memorial Park. Apparently it used to be an army barracks, called Camp Logan during WW1. It is huge, one of the largest urban parks in the US according to Wiki! The picnic was hosted by a group called the 'Neo-Geos', who remit is really geologists and geophysicists less than 30 - hmm I am just about included, and they are part of the Houston Geological Society, that I have joined. It was quite a traditional picnic, but it was fun with burgers served and some home brew made by one of the guys attending. You can see a picture of Laura tucking in to one of the home brews. The first one she tried, I really didn't like, and unfortunately the guy who made beer was watching my face as a took a sip! Luckily his wife she didnt like it either, and I could say I really liked the one called 'Triceratops'! (typical geologist find sch small things funny). He gave me a card for the only place in Houston that you by home brewing equipment - so there you go Stu something else to try and drink at our pool parties! It was nice in the park as they was dappled sunlight through the trees, so even though it was hot and blues skies you could stay out of the direct sun. There were some hula-hoops - but they were kids size. So my attempts a showing off my hula-hooping skills were embarrassingly hopeless. Not to mention I appear to pull very funny photos whilst hula-hooping! We did not leave the park until nearly 1630 - much later than we had attended, really because everyone was very friendly and we all managed, Laura, Malene and myself, to talk to people from different companies.

Malene bravely cycled to the park, so Laura and I left her to cycle home while we went to Ikea to check out furniture, in particular sofas for me. I didn't buy anything, although Laura did! I dropped Laura home and met Chris her man, who had just bought stacks of things for her garden. I disappeared off back to go to see Malene and get a tour of her flat - my new temporary home after the 19th. It is very smart flats, actually nicer than any I saw at the time we were looking at flats. She is away on holiday from tomorrow so I will be easily able to move in while she is away. It also means I will be very close the Galleria shopping mall - I will have to restrict my spending :) We went for dinner at the Grand Lux, a place Stuart and I went on our first night in Houston. It is very good and I had a piece of salmon cooked on a cedar plank - it was good.

All in all a busy day not to mention once more that I accomplished I10, 45, 610 and 59 south (all different freeways!)

Good night