PAUL:
Well I will have earned my sleepsies tonight! We have experienced our first significant US snowfall and its has been pretty spectacular really. The downside is that Drives need shovelling and sidewalks clearing.
This in itself is not too challenging unless you have only got a normal spade and not a snow shovel. Fortunately the community pulls in the same direction and we got a spare one from a neighbour. By the time I have cleared all the side walks then guess what powers along. A neighbour with a motorised snow clearer. He helpfully shouts to me as he drives over my freshly cleared sidewalk, "should have waited five minutes". Well yes neighbour had I known you had a motorised thingamajig that would clear the pavement in 10 secs rather than the 15 mins of hard labour I just completed the yeah I would have waited!!!.
Still they are a pretty nice bunch round here. Especially when I had to go back out three hours later to re-clear the paths as the snow had been continually falling. Another 30 mins of shovelling (interspersed with a chat with more neighbours) and I return inside. Had a look outside later on and it all needs doing again...harumph!!
The rest of the day has been spent watching movies on the vast 1000 channel TV networks, Shallow Hal, Pitch Black, Fantastic Four movie double. Starting getting worried we would run out of Cheesy Puffs (TM) fortunately the bags are so big that we will keep one specifically as a sleeping bag for small children who visit.
Sof needs to identify that the cats are not permanently wanting to be photographed. In two days sh has taken nigh on 100 photos of the cats in various poses...sat at the Kitchen table, sleeping..dozing...rolling over etc. David bailey she ain't. still at some point one of the cats will throw itself at her like a Panther!! and that will be her comeuppance.
Another snowbound day tomorrow so yet more photos, shovelling, movies and cheesy puffs (TM) to follow. Please don't stop following us if tomorrows posts are just a cut and paste.
love to all.
P
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Sof:
9am = no snow.
10am = 2".
3pm = 8"
5pm = still snowing.........
This is super unusual for DC. They usually have about 2 or 3 snowfalls during winter of a max 4". Only 1 month ago it fell to an amazing 21" where we are staying! This information comes courtesy of Dirk, our across the road neighbour, who very kindly let us borrow his snow shovel to clear the drive/pavement. Else we would have been stuck with a metal garden shovel - not good. (For those who don't know, a snow shovel is a large curved wide plastic shovel.)
I love Americans - when I went over to say hi to Dirk and to ask to borrow said shovel, he says that his fiancee wanted to meet the new neighbours. He then proceeds to get out his "cell" phone and calls her. She was in the house......interesting! Jane is also very lovely, and says we have come to a real friendly nice neighbourhood. She says alot of people are quite active around here (cycling, running, canoeing etc) and there IS a quick route to walk to the metro through the woods - YAY! She'll show me when the weather improves. Deer ticks beware!! Or should that be Beware of the deer ticks??
Bad weather always brings out the neighbours. We then met Chris (couple doors down) who was kindly shovelling Holly's drive (first night neighbour) for her, cause she is unable (LOVE the community spirit), and Mike who was using his snow plow (push along petrol thing) to plough the front of the streets pavements for us! How nice!! I get the sense that this is a close knit neighbourhood....time will tell whether it is a blessing!
So Paul decides to join me, after speaking to Jacob and his sister on Skype, and shovel the drive! I decide to take the snow off the car. I can't believe how deep it is! Amazing - we have pictures! We then decided to go round the back.....i got a snowball in the face from my loving husband. How he made the snowball is any ones guess - this stuff is so powdery! He then got me soaked by kicking snow my way. He is so caring and really takes into consideration my feelings.
Luckily, the landlord had popped round, and has lent us some heaters, as the heating system decided to pack in last night. So at least the house was warm and was considerate of my feelings.
Re the electric shocks - I reckon the carpet upstairs has it in for me - making the beds is PURE HELL!! I think I may allocate that as a Paul job!
So, on that note, I am going to return to the TV and cheetoh's, and say that's snow for now!!
xxxxx
9am = no snow.
10am = 2".
3pm = 8"
5pm = still snowing.........
This is super unusual for DC. They usually have about 2 or 3 snowfalls during winter of a max 4". Only 1 month ago it fell to an amazing 21" where we are staying! This information comes courtesy of Dirk, our across the road neighbour, who very kindly let us borrow his snow shovel to clear the drive/pavement. Else we would have been stuck with a metal garden shovel - not good. (For those who don't know, a snow shovel is a large curved wide plastic shovel.)
I love Americans - when I went over to say hi to Dirk and to ask to borrow said shovel, he says that his fiancee wanted to meet the new neighbours. He then proceeds to get out his "cell" phone and calls her. She was in the house......interesting! Jane is also very lovely, and says we have come to a real friendly nice neighbourhood. She says alot of people are quite active around here (cycling, running, canoeing etc) and there IS a quick route to walk to the metro through the woods - YAY! She'll show me when the weather improves. Deer ticks beware!! Or should that be Beware of the deer ticks??
Bad weather always brings out the neighbours. We then met Chris (couple doors down) who was kindly shovelling Holly's drive (first night neighbour) for her, cause she is unable (LOVE the community spirit), and Mike who was using his snow plow (push along petrol thing) to plough the front of the streets pavements for us! How nice!! I get the sense that this is a close knit neighbourhood....time will tell whether it is a blessing!
So Paul decides to join me, after speaking to Jacob and his sister on Skype, and shovel the drive! I decide to take the snow off the car. I can't believe how deep it is! Amazing - we have pictures! We then decided to go round the back.....i got a snowball in the face from my loving husband. How he made the snowball is any ones guess - this stuff is so powdery! He then got me soaked by kicking snow my way. He is so caring and really takes into consideration my feelings.
Luckily, the landlord had popped round, and has lent us some heaters, as the heating system decided to pack in last night. So at least the house was warm and was considerate of my feelings.
Re the electric shocks - I reckon the carpet upstairs has it in for me - making the beds is PURE HELL!! I think I may allocate that as a Paul job!
So, on that note, I am going to return to the TV and cheetoh's, and say that's snow for now!!
xxxxx
Friday, January 29, 2010
Versus.....vs.......
Sof:
You know, I have figured out a way to keep me from the horrid electric shocks I keep getting. Paul forgot to tell me that in the US they run on DC, so it only goes one way - OUT!! With the static electricity generated constantly by the carpet upstairs and me being a leccy magnet - OUCH! So I've taken to grounding myself at every opportunity by touching the electric metal light switch covers......small ouch vs painful ouch......
I succumbed to Paul's desire for a GPS. A visit to the local (haha! Nothing is local here) RadioShack meant a GPS reduced from $129 to $49!! And it said reduced to $71 on the shelf so even better! Bought a present for the boy, and also for my Canadian friends little one (It's a Hello Kitty present too - shows how much I love her!!). Actually, I have to admit, and this REALLY does pain me, but this GPS malarky is actually quite useful. Especially around here! I think I will return to good old brain usage and map reading upon my return to Blighty, but for now this electronic American woman is certainly taking us places!
However the cheap GPS had to also have a Vs - an expensive IKEA trip!! But, we did need the items, I am sure our guests would appreciate sleeping on sheets and having pillows/quilts! IKEA is the same worldwide. Yes, it was a fucking maze, yes, the trolleys were downstairs after the showroom, and yes we had to wait for a millenium to get through the checkouts.......but no, we did not sample American/Swedish meatballs. I feel another trip coming up!
We now have our bank accounts - CitiBank Gold account too!! Some benefits to working for the Embassy. And would you believe, EVERYONE over here writes cheques....for EVERYTHING! Most Americans still pay for all their utilities and bills every month by sending off a cheque, every place accepts a cheque and you can even get HELLO KITTY CHEQUES!! I am placing my order ASAP! How very, very exciting! I may order Paul a confederate Civil war one.....
"Meow, meow, mewow, meow Mix! Tastes SO good, Cats ask for it by name!!"
Oh, and by the way, Lemon Curd is SOOOOOOO expensive!! So this will be added to the list of "things you must present before you enter Brycock Mansions" It is like a tax. Tea bags (Fair Trade Clipper or Tea Ditrect only) and Cadbury's Boost bars are a couple of others.
So I will leave you know, and will go eat my Carribean Lime chicken....nice!
Ps 2. HUGE sirloin steaks for $9.50 - will feed 20 people.......
You know, I have figured out a way to keep me from the horrid electric shocks I keep getting. Paul forgot to tell me that in the US they run on DC, so it only goes one way - OUT!! With the static electricity generated constantly by the carpet upstairs and me being a leccy magnet - OUCH! So I've taken to grounding myself at every opportunity by touching the electric metal light switch covers......small ouch vs painful ouch......
I succumbed to Paul's desire for a GPS. A visit to the local (haha! Nothing is local here) RadioShack meant a GPS reduced from $129 to $49!! And it said reduced to $71 on the shelf so even better! Bought a present for the boy, and also for my Canadian friends little one (It's a Hello Kitty present too - shows how much I love her!!). Actually, I have to admit, and this REALLY does pain me, but this GPS malarky is actually quite useful. Especially around here! I think I will return to good old brain usage and map reading upon my return to Blighty, but for now this electronic American woman is certainly taking us places!
However the cheap GPS had to also have a Vs - an expensive IKEA trip!! But, we did need the items, I am sure our guests would appreciate sleeping on sheets and having pillows/quilts! IKEA is the same worldwide. Yes, it was a fucking maze, yes, the trolleys were downstairs after the showroom, and yes we had to wait for a millenium to get through the checkouts.......but no, we did not sample American/Swedish meatballs. I feel another trip coming up!
We now have our bank accounts - CitiBank Gold account too!! Some benefits to working for the Embassy. And would you believe, EVERYONE over here writes cheques....for EVERYTHING! Most Americans still pay for all their utilities and bills every month by sending off a cheque, every place accepts a cheque and you can even get HELLO KITTY CHEQUES!! I am placing my order ASAP! How very, very exciting! I may order Paul a confederate Civil war one.....
"Meow, meow, mewow, meow Mix! Tastes SO good, Cats ask for it by name!!"
Oh, and by the way, Lemon Curd is SOOOOOOO expensive!! So this will be added to the list of "things you must present before you enter Brycock Mansions" It is like a tax. Tea bags (Fair Trade Clipper or Tea Ditrect only) and Cadbury's Boost bars are a couple of others.
So I will leave you know, and will go eat my Carribean Lime chicken....nice!
Ps 2. HUGE sirloin steaks for $9.50 - will feed 20 people.......
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Venturing out...
Sof:
I must point out that I have NOT scrubbed the cats!! Infact the only cleaning I have done so far is sweep the floors and laundry! For those on Skype and who have seen how big this house is, cleaning it would take me about 2 days!!
I managed to find some courage from some deep recess and venture out shopping in the car. Driving is becoming less of a mammoth fear in my head....although the fear beast took over when I realised I had driven too far and was coming up to a huge junction! Luckily, common sense took over and I kept straight, meaning I could turn round and come back. Nothing is bloody signposted! I spend about 15 minutes staring at the cleaning aisle - how many fabric conditioner tumble dryer sheets can there be in the world???!!! Thank goodness they have 'eco' brands (not of tumble sheets - that would be silly!) I picked up some dark beer/porter too, which amazingly I didn't get ID'd for....considering you have to look 30 here NOT to be ID'd I was actually a little pissed!
On return home I was greeted with an electricity bill for $180 (FOR 20 DAYS!!) and the landlord. He is a lovely chappie, showed me how to turn off the water and told me we have a gardener who will cut our grass!! YAY - hayfever free in summer.
We now have patio furniture and a BBQ, so summer time visitors will be happy. So will the mosquitos!
Today, a lovely lady called Alice came over (she is from the British Embassy Spouses Association) and told me I need to watch out for deer ticks, especially if I go running or walking in the woods. Nice! Apparently those lovely deer I saw are actually considered pests, but squirrels aren't. Wierd! Alice was really friendly - I now have some plans for next week - Pilates on Monday and lunch on Thursday. They also have other things I can get involved with, and she is going to find out about some volunteer work too - boredom beware! She also knows of a Sxaphone teacher!! How lucky is that? So when my horn arrives, Baker Street here we come!
Paul does have tomorrow off too, so Ikea here we come! You wouldn't think we would have to buy a cutlery tray, but yes we do....I hasten to add we are not going to Ikea just for that!
Haha - TV advertising Cheesburger Macaroni!! euughh! These adverts are so funny! The amount of car insurance and medical problem adverts on are amazing! "when I was overweight I was uncomfortable in my skin....I lost xx pounds and I feel so great!....based on 35 years of proven science" Would that be EAT HEALTHY AND EXERCISE??? Jesus!
On that note, I will leave you for now. I may just have a nap.........
I must point out that I have NOT scrubbed the cats!! Infact the only cleaning I have done so far is sweep the floors and laundry! For those on Skype and who have seen how big this house is, cleaning it would take me about 2 days!!
I managed to find some courage from some deep recess and venture out shopping in the car. Driving is becoming less of a mammoth fear in my head....although the fear beast took over when I realised I had driven too far and was coming up to a huge junction! Luckily, common sense took over and I kept straight, meaning I could turn round and come back. Nothing is bloody signposted! I spend about 15 minutes staring at the cleaning aisle - how many fabric conditioner tumble dryer sheets can there be in the world???!!! Thank goodness they have 'eco' brands (not of tumble sheets - that would be silly!) I picked up some dark beer/porter too, which amazingly I didn't get ID'd for....considering you have to look 30 here NOT to be ID'd I was actually a little pissed!
On return home I was greeted with an electricity bill for $180 (FOR 20 DAYS!!) and the landlord. He is a lovely chappie, showed me how to turn off the water and told me we have a gardener who will cut our grass!! YAY - hayfever free in summer.
We now have patio furniture and a BBQ, so summer time visitors will be happy. So will the mosquitos!
Today, a lovely lady called Alice came over (she is from the British Embassy Spouses Association) and told me I need to watch out for deer ticks, especially if I go running or walking in the woods. Nice! Apparently those lovely deer I saw are actually considered pests, but squirrels aren't. Wierd! Alice was really friendly - I now have some plans for next week - Pilates on Monday and lunch on Thursday. They also have other things I can get involved with, and she is going to find out about some volunteer work too - boredom beware! She also knows of a Sxaphone teacher!! How lucky is that? So when my horn arrives, Baker Street here we come!
Paul does have tomorrow off too, so Ikea here we come! You wouldn't think we would have to buy a cutlery tray, but yes we do....I hasten to add we are not going to Ikea just for that!
Haha - TV advertising Cheesburger Macaroni!! euughh! These adverts are so funny! The amount of car insurance and medical problem adverts on are amazing! "when I was overweight I was uncomfortable in my skin....I lost xx pounds and I feel so great!....based on 35 years of proven science" Would that be EAT HEALTHY AND EXERCISE??? Jesus!
On that note, I will leave you for now. I may just have a nap.........
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A different perspective
Whilst Sof has been a lady of leisure, Snigger, I have been earning the dough that wll keep us in twinkies (TM).
I am still a bit startled by the trip in on the Metro. It takes only about 30 mins (with a change of trains) but a 20 minute difference in arriving at the station means the difference between spreading yourself over the comfy seats or playing a game of sardines with either a lithe 25 year old student (good) or a 22 stone armyt guy with onion and chive bagel breath (not good). Still I'll get used to it. Beats the M5 daily beasting anyway.
The introduction to the work place has been a bit more bizarre. I have been given a handover of only two days (out of Three weeks for christs sake) and the most wonderful thing is that the little time I havce is punctuated by sitting in BUDGET meetings!!!!! Basically 90 minute verbal fights over pennies (US ones too!) I have picked up a few tricks though but they stay a secret for the time being!
We have been quite lucky in scraping up all the left over kitchen bits that all the other staff in my team don't quite need. This means the measly `get you in pack` of 3 plates/mugs/bowls/mugs has been supplemented by a full dinner service and thank the lord a TIN OPENER (like the Embassy think that isn't totally essential).
The best thing about the day s returning to Brycock Heights/Mansions* to be greeted by a wife who is bored stiff and stood by the door religiously scrubbing a cat because "everything else is clean now". Gotta love her!
Got a few days of special paid leave coming up (to include car purcahing trips and visits to the Embassy for form filling duty so will probably end up using t all up on Skype talking to the boy.
catch you later peeps
*delete as applicable
I am still a bit startled by the trip in on the Metro. It takes only about 30 mins (with a change of trains) but a 20 minute difference in arriving at the station means the difference between spreading yourself over the comfy seats or playing a game of sardines with either a lithe 25 year old student (good) or a 22 stone armyt guy with onion and chive bagel breath (not good). Still I'll get used to it. Beats the M5 daily beasting anyway.
The introduction to the work place has been a bit more bizarre. I have been given a handover of only two days (out of Three weeks for christs sake) and the most wonderful thing is that the little time I havce is punctuated by sitting in BUDGET meetings!!!!! Basically 90 minute verbal fights over pennies (US ones too!) I have picked up a few tricks though but they stay a secret for the time being!
We have been quite lucky in scraping up all the left over kitchen bits that all the other staff in my team don't quite need. This means the measly `get you in pack` of 3 plates/mugs/bowls/mugs has been supplemented by a full dinner service and thank the lord a TIN OPENER (like the Embassy think that isn't totally essential).
The best thing about the day s returning to Brycock Heights/Mansions* to be greeted by a wife who is bored stiff and stood by the door religiously scrubbing a cat because "everything else is clean now". Gotta love her!
Got a few days of special paid leave coming up (to include car purcahing trips and visits to the Embassy for form filling duty so will probably end up using t all up on Skype talking to the boy.
catch you later peeps
*delete as applicable
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Arriving at the house
Sof :
Well - huge is not the word I would use - flippin maahoosive is the word I need. I couldn't believe how big our new pad was. But before we could explore, our first priority was the kitties, and thankfully they weren't too upset by their 14 hour confinement! Our second priority was food!! Paul's predecessor had left us with some bread, milk, jam and tea, but we kinda needed something more substantial! He had no mobile, so left us to it, thinking we could call fro take out using our mobiles......which we couldn't! We had a inpromptu visit to our neighbour Holly (who we haven't seen since.....must bake her some cookies!!) who kindly ket her use our phone.....with her sick mother in a hospital bed (&Hoist) in the other room - we felt awful!!
2 large pizzas really were large - we ended up eating the 2nd pizza the next night!!!
Our house is fully furnished, lovely stuff, all comfy. Stylish too! We have 7 bedrooms (or rooms we can use as bedrooms, we don't have 7 beds!!) 4 toilets, 3 bathrooms, 2 x sofa suites, and 2x dining room table/chair sets. I wish we could upload pictures, but we have to wait for our Mac to arrive....currently still sitting at Romford!! I saw Deer wandering around our back yard today (note use of yard, not garden!), which was very strange!
I'm all alone today for the first day - Paul has gone to work. I am driving the hire car (a HUGE Chrysler go kart machine..ergh!) but keep going to drive on the left. I swear I am gonna cause a pile up. Paul wants me to have a bet on who gets stopped by the police first. He wanted the penalty to be that person cooks and washed up all week. He so KNOWS i will be stopped first, the bugger!! I respectfully declined his bet - cooking with a tiny saucepan, and very limited utensils is not fun!! And we dont have enough crockery etc to use the dishwasher.....which I wouldn't anyway!! Let me know if any of you can think of a FAIR bet!
On that note though, I have been forced to use the tumble dryer - they dont have radiators here (hot air through floor or wall vents) and I dont have any airers with me yet (loathe to purchase things which are coming soon!!), so the nasty dryer has been on, using up valuable resources!!
I have also found out that I cant work for up to 10 weeks - that is how long the paperwork can take to process, so I seriously have to find something to do - there is a British Embassy Spouses Association which I can become part of, and they do some volunteer work once a week. They also seem to play bridge.....hopefully it is an 'all age' affair!! I need to get routine in my life....
I've just sucessfully used our Skype account with my fab friend, Amy, in South Korea! Everyone else so far hasn't been able to sort out their microphones, so it's been me speaking and them writing!!! So if you want to Skype me, just let me know and we can add each other. Remember, I am 5 hours behind u all in the UK. We also have a phone number too.
Well, I'm not sure what else to bore you with! Let me know if you want me to talk about anything specific. I suppose I can't write evrything down in one go - what else will i have to speak about for the next 10 weeks!!
Lots of love.....not missing you all quite yet........
Well - huge is not the word I would use - flippin maahoosive is the word I need. I couldn't believe how big our new pad was. But before we could explore, our first priority was the kitties, and thankfully they weren't too upset by their 14 hour confinement! Our second priority was food!! Paul's predecessor had left us with some bread, milk, jam and tea, but we kinda needed something more substantial! He had no mobile, so left us to it, thinking we could call fro take out using our mobiles......which we couldn't! We had a inpromptu visit to our neighbour Holly (who we haven't seen since.....must bake her some cookies!!) who kindly ket her use our phone.....with her sick mother in a hospital bed (&Hoist) in the other room - we felt awful!!
2 large pizzas really were large - we ended up eating the 2nd pizza the next night!!!
Our house is fully furnished, lovely stuff, all comfy. Stylish too! We have 7 bedrooms (or rooms we can use as bedrooms, we don't have 7 beds!!) 4 toilets, 3 bathrooms, 2 x sofa suites, and 2x dining room table/chair sets. I wish we could upload pictures, but we have to wait for our Mac to arrive....currently still sitting at Romford!! I saw Deer wandering around our back yard today (note use of yard, not garden!), which was very strange!
I'm all alone today for the first day - Paul has gone to work. I am driving the hire car (a HUGE Chrysler go kart machine..ergh!) but keep going to drive on the left. I swear I am gonna cause a pile up. Paul wants me to have a bet on who gets stopped by the police first. He wanted the penalty to be that person cooks and washed up all week. He so KNOWS i will be stopped first, the bugger!! I respectfully declined his bet - cooking with a tiny saucepan, and very limited utensils is not fun!! And we dont have enough crockery etc to use the dishwasher.....which I wouldn't anyway!! Let me know if any of you can think of a FAIR bet!
On that note though, I have been forced to use the tumble dryer - they dont have radiators here (hot air through floor or wall vents) and I dont have any airers with me yet (loathe to purchase things which are coming soon!!), so the nasty dryer has been on, using up valuable resources!!
I have also found out that I cant work for up to 10 weeks - that is how long the paperwork can take to process, so I seriously have to find something to do - there is a British Embassy Spouses Association which I can become part of, and they do some volunteer work once a week. They also seem to play bridge.....hopefully it is an 'all age' affair!! I need to get routine in my life....
I've just sucessfully used our Skype account with my fab friend, Amy, in South Korea! Everyone else so far hasn't been able to sort out their microphones, so it's been me speaking and them writing!!! So if you want to Skype me, just let me know and we can add each other. Remember, I am 5 hours behind u all in the UK. We also have a phone number too.
Well, I'm not sure what else to bore you with! Let me know if you want me to talk about anything specific. I suppose I can't write evrything down in one go - what else will i have to speak about for the next 10 weeks!!
Lots of love.....not missing you all quite yet........
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