Home safely

Before I retire to my bed this evening for hopefully a goods night sleep I just had to write a few words in the blog as it has been part of my daily life the past 60 days.

It was wonderful to see Stuart waiting for me at the airport, the flight although not bad did seem to go on and on. It didn't help I did not manage too much sleep on the long stretch - I think my body could adjust to being back in economy with no champagne on offer! I managed to chat to plenty of different folk on both my flights allowing me to exercise my mouth so Stuart was not subjecting to an Emily that hadn't spoken for 13 hours or so! I was meant to get Stuart to take a photo of me with the welcome to Aberdeen sign at the airport, but forgot so not photo today :(

I am sitting in the new house, by myself, having come back from a walk around the block to see the area and try and make myself tired (only early afternoon for me!). I am really noticing the cold I nearly froze off the plane, for my short walk I was wearing a micro fleece and jacket, and I have had the heating on! Going from 40 degC to 12 degC is some difference. The house looks great many hings different than I remembered but all good. Stuart has done a great job in making it a functioning home in the last week and our first two guests are staying tonight and another four tomorrow!

The dress, which I took as hand luggage, has arrived unscathed from its long journey, two x-ray machines and many interested on lookers. It is in the wardrobe and I have given Stuart strict instructions - no peeking!

My eyes are closing which is good so I am off to make the most of it. Sleep well - wedding planning and organising starts again tomorrow.

Two more sleeps

Two more sleeps, but technically this is my last one in the house and you cant really count a night cramped in economy as a good nights sleep! However, I wont have many hours tonight either because it is now twenty to midnight and I need to get this written not to miss Mum's breakfast.

After a relatively busy day at work, I rushed off to pick up my wedding dress. What I did anticipate was all the traffic , but in comparison to Aberdeen , at least it moves here and the lights are all programmed to get the optimum flow. The lady at the shop was just going to put the dress in a bag and send me away, but the angry bride (I cant explain what happens when I enter the bridal shop, but I turn form a nice person into a monster!). Anyway, she said I could try it on - damn right! She said 'you have lost weight!' I said you try doing all the things we have been doing in two months - you loss weight! However, to be honest, it is not that much just puppy fat :) After getting the dress, I had to go and fight the traffic again to go to Crate and Barrel to change out one of our new cutlery sets. But, they did not have any in stock, so now it is on order! Finally, I wanted to buy my laptop one of those neoprene covers as I am not using my laptop bag as hand luggage, instead I am going to throw it in my rucksack. Normally, buying any covers for a 17" laptop is challenging, but the great thing here is there is enough choice so I managed to get on in Office Depot. It is definitely a tight fit, but will do the trick to stop it getting damaged. Important photos on it!

At home, the running around has not stopped! Watering, tidying up paperwork (that I have been meaning to do for weeks and weeks) and packing has kept me entertained. I managed a quick omelette using up a pepper and onion! I don't know why, but when it comes to omelette's I always seem to make them look like a scrambled mess - they taste alright though.

I will be dreaming of home. Good night x

Remember no blog tomorrow evening as I will be in the air.

3 more sleeps

You just know what the title of today's blog has to be - 3 more sleeps:)

I put my first lot of mail in my mailbox to be picked up by the postie. You have a red flag at the side of your mailbox and when you put i up it means there is mail to be posted. It has gone, so I can only assume the postie took it rather than anyone else!

I worked like a trojan today to get what I need to complete for tomorrow's meeting with one of the companies big bosses. I still have some other bits to tidy up, but hopefully I should manage that tomorrow between meetings.

This evening I managed to go for a swim and then go and get a pedicure and manicure. I have never been during the week, but they give you a wax foot and hand bath. It is really hot, but then makes your skin really soft after they peel it off. Today's lady was gentle with the foot grater - thank goodness, so I managed to control my giggles.

I was staving by the time I got home so decided to buy some sushi and I remembered Mum had been asking about it, so I have taken a photo. You have rolls of rice covered in raw fish (mainly salmon and tuna) and filled with cucumber and a crab stick. I also bought some seaweed, which was very nice except for exploding green slim all over my kitchen.

I tested my sprinkler sysem tonight because there is some large patches of brown grass forming. It appears the water pressure is too low so thelittle sprinkler heads dont rise up enough and are only spraying very little areas. I dont know how to increase the pressure so I guess I will have to call the handy man again! I thought this sprinkler system was meant to help me I feel like it is going to be the bain of my life all summer!

I need to go and get motivated to do some more packing. Stuart told me to try and get in to UK time, but I am too late again to go to bed and get up early!

4 More Sleeps

Only 4 more sleeps until I am home. I am so excited. Last night I did not get to sleep for ages, because I was thinking about all the things I need to do before I go, (not to mention my afternoon snooze not helping!).

Tonight has been a monster cleaning exercise. As Stuart knows I am neurotic about leaving the house clean before going away anywhere. It is so if I am burgled the burglars don't think I am a dirty person :) My little dirt devil worked wonders, although it is definitely cheap. I have to disconnect a hose and re-attached it to the hand nozzle every time I need to pick up all the dead beasties around the corners of the room. I also discovered two plug sockets that don't work (shows how much hoovering I have done!).

I am about to get my suitcase down to start putting things into it. The difficulty will be deciding what clothes to bring home. It will be hard to leave all the sandals and summer clothing from here. I booked my car parking today having found a decent priced covered car park. I can't leave my car uncovered otherwise it will be melted plastic by the time I get back.

I have bought myself two light timers to come on when I am away. I bought the old fashioned dial timers, rather than a digital one and they seems to be working.

Tonight, I have got Norwegian Atlantic Salmon for my dinner! I know it has come a long way but they I really fancied Salmon tonight.

Mmmm! Just eaten my dinner and it was lovely. I am off to my packing now and I am afraid all I have is a hot a sweaty photo of me :)

Bronzing Babes

This morning was a struggle having not gone to sleep until after 3am! At least I was sober last night, otherwise I don't think I would have managed all my phone calls.

It was really hot again, and Sarah and I had breakfast outside in our PJ's before getting straight into the bikini's to do a bit of bronzing. I was taking it easy as I did want to over do after my big session yesterday. I lent Sarah one of my other bikini's and it fitted her so much better than me that I have decided to give it to her! We had fun in the pool, because in this temperature there is no way to survive without it. You can see our handstands, Sarah doing 'bombs' into the deep end, and generally enjoying the weather.

Bloody hell, I just nearly wet my pants - I just had a cat staring through the living room window at me!

Anyway, back to the stories. After a great morning, we had to be ready to leave home by quarter to two to get Sarah to the airport to fly home. She kindly helped me move all my garden furniture into the garage in preparation for my trip home. I have to make sure I don't leave anything that could be picked up by a hurricane, if one happens to come in while I am away.

I got to use my 'EZ tag' to get through tolls all the way to the airport so it was an easy 40 minute drive. The airport is really well sign posted and, although, we missed our turning to the departures terminal the first time, you can just go around again. There was barely an traffic, unlike, trying to do the same thing at Heathrow! So I dropped Sarah at the door and I believe I could pick up visitors at the door as well. It was also nice to do a trial run before I go on Thursday.

When I got home, I made myself some scrambled egg and put on a DVD. However, I did not see much of Lethal Weapon, because I fell asleep. I am just going off to bed after this to try and catch up on some zzzz's.

Houston Hen Party!

A big day sun bathing today, but I only managed to stay outside until 1330 when it just got too hot, even in the pool. So I went off to the gym and went in the nice cold indoor pool there!

This evening we had a girlie night out to say a final farewell to Malene and Madeline, work colleagues, and a Houston Hen party for me. However, I was driving so it was a quiet one for me, but Malene found a great place for dinner in Rice Village, called Benjy's. We ended up staying there all night and Laura met us after dinner so we sat out on the balcony. It had cooled down enough to be comfortable and enough of a breeze to keep away any biting things!

We had a session of trying to take a photo of all of us using Sarah's extra long arms :) You can see the outcomes.

Sarah has now kept me up until 0240 drinking tea, so I am sorry I

have missed Mum's breakfast read!

New home, back home!

I got to work early this morning to make up for many lost hours yesterday. Not to mention I needed to talk to the computer help desk in headoffice 7 hours ahead! So As I was about to leave the house at 0630, Stuart called with news on the house move. There was a hold up in funds transferring from our buyers, buyer. It was almost amusing as there was nothing we could do and really we are in that situation ourselves. By mid morning Stuart phoned again to say the funds had now all transferred and the removals company was now unloading into the new house - yippee! So, we now have somewhere for the reception!

This evening, my big boss hosted a BBQ as a goodbye party for those leaving soon the office. It was great, as I got to meet new folk who I haven't really spoken to around the office. There were plenty of kids in the pool and the newest arrival to the office, at just 1 1/2 weeks old, was also in attendance. The water guns provided endless entertainment for both kids and adults,with some serious battles taking place.

With three Weber BBQ's the men managed to cook some lovely beef. I am now feeling very full sitting in bed typing this. We also had Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream to follow :) As I managed to convince Danny to give me a lift I could even have a couple of drinks which was a novelty!

I'm a real Texan!

Hey y'all, I am now a real Texan! I passed my Texas driving licence today :)

I arrived at the Texas DPS (can't remember what it stands for, but essentially where you go to get your drivers licence), at 7am. There was already a queue of about 7 folk standing waiting for it to open. You first have to go to a desk where a lady checks you have all the correct documentation, gives you a form to fill in and does the fastest eye test ever. Well, I failed at the first hurdle. I had taken all possible forms of identity with me including birth certificate, passport, you name it, however, they want a letter from my employer on headed note paper. How my employment status affects my driving I have no clue. Anyway, the lady behind the desk said she was from Glasgow, not that you could tell it from her accent, however she was pretty nice and we did my sight test (reading out a couple of letters) and she said I would have to come back with he other documentation. Well, I was determined to do the licence today, my last thing on my list, so I went home and got my letter work had written for my mortgage back home. Fortunately, the DPS don't require it to be addressed to them, unlike Abbey! I was back within 40 minutes. The lady looked at me and said, how did you get there and back so quickly - I said I drove fast :)

So I was now onto step 2 of the process. Someone then records all you details on the PC and takes photocopies of all your identity to be put with your file. You then have to sign on one of those electronic pads with a plastic pen. I don't know about you but whenever I use those things I look like a three year old has signed my name. While my lady was processing my information I had a feeling she was going to do something wrong - just something about her that did not make feel confident in her ability! We will come back to that later.

Now step 3, the written test. Well it is on PC, but you have 30 multiple choice questions and you have to get 21 correct to pass. You can skip any question and come back to it at the end. So off I started, and within the first five questions I answered three wrong. Oh no! I used my skip button for any question about a minor (someone less than 18), or anything I was sure I didn't know the answer to. By the time I had been around all thirty questions, I had only answered 19 correctly, so I was going to have to do some of the more challenging ones - the guesses! My last question to get right was a guess because I just could not remember the distance. I will now never forget that you cant park less than 30 feet from a cross roads :)

Step 4, wait in another queue to get a time to do your practical driving test. I was very fortunate as they had a space to do the test in 45 minutes, so I took it. He told me to go and get a cup of coffee and wait. Instead I went and sat outside to read my book on how to improve your putting!

Outside was great, because the parallel parking bays for the practical test were right where I was sitting, and it was free entertainment. The photo shows the parking bay with two yellow plastic poles either end of the bay. You must not hit these poles otherwise you fail (you can do the test 3 times before you have to start the whole process again and pay again!). Anyway, a lady drove up and you know when it is going wrong, but she just kept reversing and soon she hit the yellow pole at the back, then to make it worse she continued backwards until it was totally flat. Her husband was standing near me with his head in his hands (possibly this was not the first time!). Probably the most ironic thing is that nowhere in Houston requires you to parallel park, so the fact they do it in the driving test is highly amusing.

Step 5, I drove to the area to pick up my instructor. I was on time, but third in line. The minutes ticked by and the two instructor came back from their tests and disappeared inside - I don't believe it they decided to take a tea break before me. Thirty minutes after my allotted time, they reappear. 'Who are you?' I get asked. I say my name and I get that distinct impression something is not right - yup in the time from sitting my written test to sitting in my car, my paperwork had vanished! Grrrrrr. The instructor made up a temporary slip so we could get on our way and do the test. I was so nervous, ridiculous, but still nervous. The first thing you do is the parallel park. Well I haven't done one in my new car, ever, and although I could have practiced, I didn't. So I went in the space and hit the side curb with the back tyre. I said 'Oh no does that mean I fail?' and she no only if you mount the curb do you fail. So I went in again and all was fine. I assume the spectators were there watching, but I certainly didn't notice! We drove around the block and that was basically the test. Hurrah I passed, mostly all 'good', but a couple of 'fair' marks on my parking.

Step 6 is to wait back in step 2 line and get the final stamps of approval, including a digital photo, finger prints and another electronic signature. I was glad I started the process in the morning, because by the time I had come back in the building there were stacks of folk waiting. I wont get my actual card for another 8 weeks, but I now have a driving licence number, which is so important here as it forms the main piece of ID for everything you do, buy etc.

I finally got back to work just in time for lunch - perfect. Although I then sloped off a little early to go and play golf back at Willow Fork with Andy. The humidity has started creeping up and it was hot, so this evening we took a golf buggy. My play was a little better than the week before, but I still lost some balls. I did not see the big alligator, only a little one with its head poking out of the water. On one of the tee boxes I had to shoo away some more hens. as photographed

It should only take me 15-20 minutes to get home from the golf course, however driving home we suddenly came to a standstill on I10 with no exit off! So I took a picture in my boredom of us all in a six lane tailback. When we did get moving again I could not tell you why we had stopped.

It is Stuart's last night in The Cedars, he will be in the new house by midday tomorrow all things going well. Good luck Stu xxx

Late night again!

I feel a bit guilty as I am not managing to write long blogs just now. I have been out until too late and it is now nearly 2330!

Tonight, I managed to meet up with Sarah, or should I say Auntie Sarah, from my MSc class. Her brother and his wife had just had a new arrival 5 weeks ago. They live in the most beautiful and enormous house inside the loop. I went straight from work and, as usual, missed my turning. No surprise though, as it involved getting across six lanes of traffic, during rush hour in less than 0.5 mile! However, what it did mean is that I have now found the 'Hood' in Houston! I was praying none of the lights would be red, otherwise I would have to stop and all my tyres would be nicked! I felt like I suck out like a sore thumb - white female! I did manage to get out safely as I am writing you this.

We had a lovely dinner and it was great. It sure beats sitting around the house watching Top Gear re-runs all evening :)

I went and sorted my EZ Tag this morning before work, so I can now drive through the tolls without stopping on the tollroads. Most importantly, so I can get quickly from work to the airport next week :)

I am off to take my driving test tomorrow so wish me luck. I will make no comment on the blog if I fail!!! The pressure :) Must get some sleep in preparation for getting there early to sit the written test and hopefully the practical test at the same time.

Just a short one

I am afraid I have just looked at the time and it is twenty to eleven, so it is go to be a quick fire blog tonight. I have been busy doing wedding things tonight, the parts Stuart wont let me get away with not doing! I have somehow managed give myself cramp in my hand making typing interesting!

I was meant to be meeting up with a friend from Uni who is across seeing her brother this evening, but I couldnt get hold of her today, so I stayed a bit longer at work to complete my compulsory defensive driving lessons. It is online and takes you through a number of modules for example how best to park to avoid having an accident and what to do to prepare yourself when approaching an intersection etc. Each module has a wee presentation, statistics and video presentation, then you have to answer 10 questions. You are only allowed to get one wrong, otherwise you have to try again! It is because I have a company car. I have to say there were a few points that I will take away and do, plus it also added to my rules of the road US style. I have another collection to do soon. I think one was called 'dealing with deer on the road'. I wonder if it tells you to pick it up if you do hit it!

After that I was going to go home, but thought better of it and went to the gym. I managed a work out on the machines before going fora quick swim. There was, surprisingly, no available lanes in the inside pool, so I went outside. However, the temperature of the outside pool was like a warm bath, so I did not manage too many length before expiring with heat! The trauma of living somewhere hot.

I notice the beetles are all dong backstroke in my pool this evening, so no doubt I will find the filter full of them tomorrow - oh my favourite job.

You have got a photo of me this evening as I did manage to snap anything else today. Good night!

Using my share of water

I had a really productive day today, so I am over the moon -I feel as though I may have earned my pay today! What a novelty :)

I decided to come straight home after work so I could go for a swim, and just generally have an early night. I managed to water the back garden and it far better doing it in a swim suit as I always decide to move the sprinkler and get wet! The ground is so hard and dry most of the water just ponds on top of the grass, it is amazing anything survives. I also used my new spanner to undo the other hose pipe at the far side of the house - very satisfying. I then used my spray gun to soak the areas of dying grass at the front of the house that don't get watered by the sprinkler system. I am still hopeful they will grow, and once established it will get enough to survive. Before I went to the front of the house, I got changed out of my swim suit, however, I opted for trousers, long sleeve top, desert boots and deet! Yes, I was hot, but at least I minimised my chance of getting eaten by the mosquitoes.

I also pumped up my bike tyres. The new pump is like a dream, and my tyres are ready for a cycle. I just have to remember when I go out to be on the right hand side of the road! I am only planning on cycling through the residential streets and on to the Bayou.

The reason my cable TV wasn't working was due to user error! So I am now enjoying more Top Gear repeats, again!

Meeting the neighbours

Di is a hard task master, and following yesterday's gym session I woke up with very stiff shoulders, but we went to the gym again this morning, she made me do more this morning. The step machine is evil, and the cross trainer is wicked, that all that can be said! However, we rewarded ourselves with a monster breakfast from the 'Egg & I'. Di introduced me the wonder of crab cake eggs benedict. Essential, eggs benedict, where the ham (or bacon) is replaced for a crab pattie. I thought they might be too fishy for me, but they were lovely.

I dropped Di up at the Woodlands at about 4pm and it was a relatively uneventful trip there and back, making a change from the previous time I went up! I cant believe the next time I see Di is back home for my wedding!!!

Tonight was our cul de sac BBQ. Apparently, we are the only cul de sac in the area to it and they have about two a year, plus a party to turn on the Christmas tree lights at the communal tree. I went out at 1830 with my chickpea salad, which I thought was quite tasty even if I do say so myself. Everyone was very friendly and wanting to know why I was living in such a big house myself! There was a range of ages, the street has at least one 80 year old, and a mixture of retired folk, folk whose kids have now left home, those with young families, and me! I reckon I could knock on any of their doors and get a friendly face. One lady and her husband said I could come around anytime if I was felling lonely or scared when the first of the hurricanes come through - which was nice. Some people worked in the oil industry, but others worked for banks and many other things. Most them have sailing boats so I dropped some hints that a trip would be great :) I met one other lady golfer but she was a member of a country club and looked very well to do so I think I will have to work on that one for a game!

The BBQ itself was cooked offsite at one of the residents. It was all smoked for nearly 48 hours. It was good, however some of the smoked stuff was a little strong for me, but there was a wide selection of side dishes and I am sure I could be more adventurous the next time.

I am actually going off to write down as many names as possible so I don't forget them!

Lying Like Lilos

This is the latest blog posting to date. It is 0050 and we are just back from having a night out on the town. Well I drove so there was not much alcohol consumption but still good fun. Tonight we meet up with Danny and went to 'The Hobbit' pub. It is an English pub, and there were a number of English accents there as well. We all had amazing burgers made from lean Aberdeen Angus coos! Stuart I know you will love it. They do a Jamaican Jerk burger that I am sure you would like as well as many other variations. The great thing was you could choose, rather than having chips, you could have shredded raw carrot. At least some points towards your five a day!

Following being completely stuffed, the first bar we tried at about 2230 was closed and so we went to quite a fancy, European looking place, on Westheimer near Kirby. We had to queue at the door for no apparent reason, but eventually got let in. They sold cocktails, as well as millions of whiskies, from America and Scotland. As I was driving I had water, and Di followed suit, but Danny had a cocktail that was just pure alcohol. It was awful!

Both of us are feeling tired after what turned out to be busy day. Di had a little late start, however, after some coffee outside we went to the gym and did quite a lengthy workout. To reward us for our effort we went for a pedicure, see pictures of the excruciating pain/tickling we endured. I did a dry run on toe nail colour for the wedding.

In the afternoon, we sat by the pool enjoying the spectacular weather. It did however, hit 102F on my car thermometer! I blew up my new lilo and we took turns floating around. The pool was incredible warm, much warmer than last weekend.

Poor Di has now joined me in being covered in mosquito bites, as there were unfortunately lots at dinner!

Minty Fresh!

Today was a very stressful today with mortgage concerns but we are far from getting it sorted yet. Remind me the next time I say I want to move of the trouble we have had this time!

Tonight I popped to the shops to pick up some food for Di and myself for the weekend. I bought some of the powder mix Mariska had requested,'Crystal Lite'. All you do is mix it with water and it apparently tastes really nice! I thought it might be nice and refreshing as we lie by the pool!

I also picked up some Listerine because Stuart sent me a link to a forum discussing how good real Listerine is for getting rid of mosquitoes. Just by genuine Listerine and decant into a spray bottle, then spray door frames, deck spaces and under the patio table. Apparently it should last a couple of days. I have done my spraying and we will see if it is as effective as the forum says it is! At least my outside space smells minty fresh :)

Di arrived about 7:30 pm, having been left until last to get dropped off at mine by the airport shuttle. We did a tour of the house and then went to the Red Onion on Eldridge for dinner. Stu and I went there when we came over in March. It was good and filled a big hole!

I then treated Di to BBC America - she is very envious :)

Snap Snap!

This afternoon I played golf after work with Andy. It was only 9 holes, but really good to get out - shame my golf was dismal! He is a member of the Willow Fork Country Club out on the west of Houston. Not too far away, only 20 minutes from work.

It was amazing as I had to drive through the George Bush Park. It is so strange as you drive from busy, built up Westheimer (one of the main streets in Houston) suddenly in to inhabited green open area. There are dog walking parks, the American gun club and some other things. But after about 10 minutes of driving you come back to the houses and shops, and normal city life. The golf club is surrounded by houses, but the fairways are wide and it doesn't feel too enclosed.

The best bit was that it was more like a nature hunt. I hit my ball towards the water on the 3rd hole. Andy said keep your eyes open for alligators. So off I went I was keeping my eyes peeled for my ball and alligators, however, Andy then started coming towards me so I walked towards him, he then pointed out the largest gator ever! I totally didn't see it on the bank, but apparently she lives in the ponds on the course and must be over 2m long. I decided to leave my ball and dropped another one on the fairway - only stick it straight in the rough with thoughts of the alligator coming to get me. We also saw lots of tortoises and I got a photo of the sunbathing on the 9th hole.

Andy said that you don't go looking in the rough for the ball because of snakes, also the course has also been having problems with wild pigs coming up the big drainage ditches. They apparently charge!! It sounds like golf is going to be interesting :)

So all in all, I lost about 5 balls, net 4!

On the way home I stopped at my favourite shop - Super Target! I managed to pick up a hoover for 47 bucks. I have to admit it is the first time I have bought a hoover and then had screw together. It is a tad noisy, but it works and my rug in my living room is looking much better. I also managed to pick up a lilo, big bike pump and some bedding for the spare room.

I am now sorted with electricity and water in my name, as I agreed with the landlord that he would have them in his name for two months. Driving licence next.

Oh I forgot to mention, I slept like a baby with my alarm system up and running :)

Alarmed!

I suppose the most exciting thing to happen today was my burglar alarm was fitted. So I will now hear if someone is coming in! It is also a deterrent for anyone thinking of targeting the property, because there is a sign at the front door saying a alarm is installed and being monitored. I have a panic button as well, that goes straight to the police. One of the photos is the siren that is inside - it is one of those that is so loud, it makes you feel sick! I hope I don't set it off by mistake, otherwise I will get in trouble! Lets see if I sleep soundly tonight.

It took most of the morning for them to do the alarm so I didn't get back to work until lunch. I stayed a little later to try and make up some hours. I am finding work a struggle at the moment due to software/hardware prblems. Everyday there is another issue with the PC. and I am starting to feel like a jinx. I am sure I will get there in the end!

I have cut down the amount of sprinkling I am doing, because the new grass is looking good for the most part and I am concerned one part of the grass is getting too much water so it is often standing. Since I am paying for all that water - my grass can become hardy! Actually, I am waiting for a thunderstorm. They keep saying it should be happening on the radio, not to mention the humidity is getting higher, but still nothing. If it does rain then at least I can turn off the sprinklers.

I had a look through my BBQ cookbook this evening for ideas for the street BBQ on Sunday. What about a chickpea salad or a Scottish dish, like Indian spiced rice! If you have any ideas for side dishes, please write a comment!

I am playing golf with Andy from work tomorrow, just 9 holes at his club. I need to go and put out my things, including the DEET!

The photo of the pool area was something I found on my camera yesterday and stitched together. It is quite good :)

Bed Construction

I am just typing this after my dinner - frankfurters and salad tonight! I am just about to go off and start putting the bed together and I will upload a photo to show you how far I get tonight!

I have also managed to set up my lock box for the pool guy with the garage key in it, and I have sorted out the wheel and breaks on my bike. However, the tyres are very flat and my compact pump is too hard to blow them up, so I will have to go and get a bigger one. It is far more humid today, I was amazed at how the sweat just forms on your brow when you do a slight bit of exercise, like trying to pump up the tyres.

Well, the alarm gets fitted tomorrow and the Landlord has agreed to pay half of the whole set up costs which is good.

I must go and start on this bed .....



Ok it is 2220 and I have just finished so not too bad. I am very proud with the result. I have a sore hand as although my cheap screwdriver set from Uni is good it doesn't have the comfiest handle to screw in lots of screws! I also think my forearm will be feeling the effort I had to put in. Now I just need to get some bedding, but that will be no problem.

Oh and just to put your minds at rest, I bought a new battery and fitted it in the smoke alarm upstairs.

It is war against mosquitoes

I am taking no prisons when it comes to mosquitoes. I was even worse this morning with bites. They were still the ones from Saturday night, but they had just had taken their time for revenge. My feet and legs look like I have chicken pocks. So tonight, after a day of using anthisan, and it not really helping, I have now armed myself with repellent containing deet, one small bottle for my handbag, a spray to stop the itching, as well as, Vick's, as mum and Dad suggested. I took two bottles of repellent up to the counter and asked the shop assistant which one she recommended - we both agreed the only way to go is with stronger one!

I have also been looking for those coils we used to burn under the table in Italy, that way you stop the mosquitoes flying under and biting your legs, but I haven't found any yet and probably need to search online from them. When I get one I will take it to any BBQ I go to in the future! Actually, I received an invite to my cul de sacs BBQ next Sunday (evening!). I have to take a side dish and what I want to drink and all the meat is provided?? I don't know how the meat is paid for as yet, but it sounds like fun and a good way to meet the street. Not to mention, it will be the first evening I can walk home, therefore I can drink what I want :)

My house phone number has now got out there, as I have received two sales calls this evening, not to mention the 15 I missed during the day. There is a website I can go to, to de-register my number, so I will get it from someone and work and do it tomorrow. It doesn't totally solve the issue, but it does help.

I have tested all the smoke alarms tonight - I know I should have done this earlier, but, luckily, all bar one works. The one that doesn't work, however, is in one of the bedrooms upstairs which has the hot water boiler. It didn't even have a battery in it! I will get a battery tomorrow and make sure the landlord knows - grrr.

I hung my 'boxing hares' picture with the super strength picture hooks I bought yesterday. It looks good and I even managed to get it straight first time!

I had a treat tonight of sushi - I haven't had it for at least a week and half! I felt like I was allowed it, because at lunch today, I was slightly late and when I got there at midday, all the food was gone so I had to have some fruit salad . I don't know why they ran out of food, I wasn't the only one who missed out. Most of the time they have so much left over. I have a suspicion it was because it was a salad combination, and more expensive to make, so they gave us less than when it is burgers for example. I shouldn't complain as it has been good most of the time considering it is brought in by an outside company.

More driving licence studying tonight I will go later this week to get it over and done with! Going for an early night now.