All that glitters...

This week has finally lived up to England's dreariness!  I don't believe that the temperature has hit the freezing mark yet but the wind yesterday was brutal, which made for a good day to stay inside.

I'm digging deep here for material:

Richard Clarke called Monday morning to say he was going to drop by to replace my "sink wastes".    What is a sink waste?  I was thinking he was going to clean out the drain pipes since England doesn't believe in garbage disposals.  My drain was running a tad slow and every now and then it smelled like there was a dead animal inside. Who knows how many years it's been since they've been cleaned. But I was wrong:

Old grubby wastes

 

Shiny new sink wastes

I asked him to clean out the pipes and he also replaced 3 wastes in one of the bathrooms. He was here from 10:00 to 5:00, almost killed me!  But like every other job, while you are fixing one thing, something else goes wrong.  After multiple trips to the plumbing supply store, all is well and the sink drains like a charm!

Yesterday Vic was here for at least 4 hours, replacing 2 tiles where the old boiler used to sit.  I'm hoping for a repairman free week next week!!

End of the week bits and bobs

I know, I know, I was supposed to start working out on January 1st but I really do have 2 good excuses:

1.  I was in Houston until the 12th
2.  We had to buy and assemble a treadmill

Today was the day

 So glad I can watch American tv!  Thanks Larry for getting it put together!

It's Anthony Yanez letting me know that it's colder in Houston than it is here in South Ferriby

We had company for dinner last night and I thought it was be nice to bake Penny Aune's famous brownies for dessert.  Here is my oven, it's 47" wide, 7 gas burners,  double electric oven:

Here is the ONLY pan that these brownies can be made in

Doesn't fit sideways or lengthways 

And just for fun, here's a regular cookie sheet

Can't shut the door!

Why would the manufacturer build a monstrosity of an oven with small baking compartments?!! 

Larry won't be getting brownies for 3 years!

This morning we took our new toy out for it's inaugural ride.  It was a gorgeous morning!

Hump Day!

I'm afraid my life this week has been dedicated to cleaning Humber Lodge, nothing else!  Tomorrow the company that manages the house for the owners, is coming by for a routine inspection.  Not sure what they are going to inspect but they won't be finding any dirt.  Maybe they don't want a repeat of the tenants that were here before us.  They obviously never cleaned and Larry said it was a good thing that I did not come to look at the house before we signed the lease.

And the winner goes to

the dining room for being the worst room to dust

It's probably a good thing that I haven't been able to go out and about this week.  The temperatures have struggled to get in the low 40s (still no snow YAY!) and it's been gray and wet.

I do like the fact that the grass is green all year round.  I think the gray skies and brown grass would be too depressing!  One thing that will ALWAYS put a smile on my face:  

End of the week bits and bobs

Tuesday:  I was upstairs in the office working on the computer early in the morning. Had been up for about 2 hours after a rough night sleeping caused by the jet lag and wasn't moving especially fast.  I still had my flannel bottoms and a lovely Gap sweatshirt on.  The doorbell rang, I ran down the stairs with a heavy foot so who ever it was would know that I was at home.  Got the doors open to find a package delivery person.  "Have I interrupted your beauty sleep love?"  REALLY?!!!

Wednesday:  I found that I needed to replace several light bulbs and also needed a few hooks from the hardware store.  "Looks like Larry and I will be making a trip to B&Q (Home Depot) this Saturday."  I realized I had made this trip over the bridge before by myself but I'll admit all the driving confidence I had gained was lost after being away.  I knew how thrilled Larry would be about this trip and decided to get back on the horse.  I got in the car and off I went.  I even managed to change the temperature in the car (since I was sweating profusely from anxiety), turn on the rear wiper to clean the window, pay the tolls and get back home in one piece.

Thursday:
I had my "driving familiarisation" lesson.  Watched a small computer presentation and then took the instructor on a drive around the area.  We practiced several roundabouts, went through a fairly busy town and came home by way of the motorway (different than the dual carriageway).  He also had me back around a street corner, something that I may have to do for the driving test.  Something I have never had to do in all the years I've been driving and don't see when I will ever need to do it.  Two suggestions he proposed:  1. I should back into my garage and 2. I should try whenever possible to drive through the parking spot at the grocery store!  All for safety.  I argued it's not in my American nature to pull through and it's pretty hard to put my groceries in the trunk if there is a car behind me.  I think a bit of overkill on the safety issue. I'm perfectly capable of backing up without running into something (usually).  He rated me as a "medium" risk driver.  The scale being: low, medium, high and dangerous.  So I think that's pretty darn good considering I had a stranger in the seat next to me, telling me what to do and not being familiar with the area.

I'll see you in Amsterdam! The not so friendly skies...

Everyone who knows me knows that I don't travel lightly!  I was honestly working very hard to correct this problem before I found out we were moving.  But now that I'm overseas, there are US products that I just can't live without out.  And I also found several things that we forgot to put in our shipment that I needed here.  Thank goodness I get 2 free 50 lb suitcases!

Product placement:  this handy tool has saved me many, many times from extra baggage fees and humiliation at the check-in counter.  My bags are always at the correct weight, couldn't live without it.

I'm the first person to complain about other people's carryons.  Well I was THAT person flying back here on Sunday.

It all started because Larry gave me a lovely new roller carryon for Christmas.  There was NO WAY I was checking it and not just because I'd have to pay extra for it. This was in addition to my regular carryon (black bag) that holds all my essentials for a happy flight.  I originally planned to put my purse in my new bag but I totally forgot about it and packed the new bag with very important purchases, which left no room for my purse.  So I have what I like to call my "overflow bag" (the yellow bag).  After I weighed  my checked bags and they each were over 50 lbs (yes I had to leave 2 tote bags full of goodies in Houston), I had to use the overflow bag.  This resulted in no room for my purse.  I was VERY happy that my new bag has a strap that I can hang my old carryon from.  That makes it soooo much easier to get through the airports because I don't even want to admit what each of these two bags weighed.

Anyway time to board the airplane and again, thank goodness I have priority boarding. Not as many people to deal with. I got to my seat, put my old bag under the seat, new bag, purse and overflow bag up in the overhead bin.  By the way, the middle aisle bins are smaller than those on the sides of the plane.  I couldn't believe there was no room for anyone else's bags so I shut the bin.  While I was doing this, a man trying to get around me, lightly brushed me, said excuse me, no biggie.  A man (bald Irish man, BIM) sitting across the aisle from my seat said to me "he needs a driver's license".  I responded "well if I didn't have so much stuff…" and we both sort of chuckled.  I took my seat and put my head down and was preparing my speech to deny any of the bags were mine, in case anyone opened the bin.

A few minutes later a man (American #1, A1) was trying to put his bag in an open space in the overhead directly above BIM's seat.  BIM:  Hey don't move my things.  A1:  I'm just trying to fit everyone's bag in.  BIM:  I said don't move my things.  How would you like it if someone started moving your stuff around?!  A1 is speechless.  Another American man (A2) in the aisle behind A1 said "You need to chill out."  BIM:  Hey I'm fine, I'm all right.  A2: well you need to calm down.  BIM:  You need to stay out of it.  A2: Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it?  BIM:  I'll see you in Amsterdam!!

To my surprise, there were 2 empty seats next to me for the flight.  I'm sure they were the only empty seats on the plane and somehow it was destiny.  I intended to sleep during the flight but found 3 movies I wanted to watch.  I then spent the last 2 hours coming up with a plan to exit the plane.  How was I going to get my old bag attached to my new bag out in the aisle without being trampled!

Happy New Year!!

I can't believe it's 2014!  Why is the passing of time speeding up?!!

I left to spend the holidays in Houston on December 15th and returned this past Sunday January 11th.  It was hectic, chaotic and wonderful!  First a shout out to Larry for "letting" me go, he knows how much I miss our kids.  And to Tyler (Aston and Olivia), Lindsey (Victor) and Jordan (Claire) for giving me a magical Christmas.  I truly enjoy hanging out with you all.  We are so proud of the adults that you have become.  You are smarter than me, challenge me, keep me in line, are more compassionate than me and you make me laugh.  And as much as I miss you, I'm SOOO excited for you to come visit us here at Humber Lodge!!