Home Stretch

I'm exhausted! I've been working pretty solidly on getting my house ready to let. The good news is two fold:

1 - I'm nearly done!
2 - I have a tenant moving in on the 13th!

Here's a list of what I've done (or had done) on the house:

Painted the woodwork outside (doors/windows)
Painted the woodwork inside (skirting, windows, doors, railing)
Painted all the walls which didn't have murals
Painted all the ceilings
Installed a bar for wardrobe space
Installed a bar for curtain hanging to hide wardrobe space
Ripped up the carpet
Installed laminate flooring
Cleared excess furniture
Cleared eves
Cleared rubbish from garden
Pulled out a raised flower bed
Put in 2 raised flower beds
Repaired 1 raised flower bed
Re-rocked the patio area
Trimmed all the bushes
Cut the grass (twice)
Seeded the grass
Painted the fence
Painted the shed
Repaired the shed
Weeded the drive and patio
Dug, levelled and rocked the area in front of the shed (it was horrible dirt before)


Ummm... not sure what else, but seriously, do I need anything else?!? I'm shattered. I've now packed my bags. I've got a bit of rubbish left to clear out of the spare bed. I've got one more trip to the charity shop to get rid of stuff. I've GOT to wash my hair! Then I'm off to my friend's house to drop off my car (she's selling it for me), she'll then drop me off at the train station. I'm heading into London tomorrow night to stay with friends who live about 20 minutes (train) from Heathrow. Then, midmorning the next day I'll head over to Heathrow to catch my flight.

Won't do me any good to turn up too early, as I'm flying standby again, so they won't let me check in til the last minute. But, I'm flying to Minneapolis, and the flight looks pretty empty, so it shouldn't be a problem. But, be sure to check out my other blog, High Class Hitchhiking, for all the adventures!

Much as it pains me to leave, I'm really ready to be gone. Being here has been really good for me, but for funny reasons. I've learned that I made the right decision last year in moving back to the US. England and the UK will always hold a special place in my heart, but it isn't home right now. Maybe sometime in the future it will be again. Hope so as I genuinely love the people and the land. But just now, it's time for me to go back to the US. I have a brand new life waiting for me, and I'm really looking forward to getting to it. No idea where the new path will take me, but one thing's for sure.....

I'll always Seize the Day and Throttle It!

Evaporation; Not Just for Liquids!

I've been trying to put my flat together for a couple weeks now.  And, honestly, I've been doing a pretty fair job.  A couple of things have been on hold, though, because the IKEA loft bed that I bought, with attached desk, under the loft, didn't have screws with the desk part.  Or, at least, I couldn't find any.  It's possible, I suppose, that I tossed the screws when I got rid of the packaging.  But, I did try and locate them before I decluttered.  Never saw them.  Nor a hint of them.  So I made a trip down South (IKEA is at the extreme South end of the valley, and I'm at the North) to get them.  No problem.  The attendant went straight back to the spare parts area to locate the missing bits.  And she found them.... well, most of them.  She couldn't locate one screw, of which I needed two.  So so put in a request and had them shipped to my house directly.  That was back on Thursday of last week.  Fast forward to this Friday.  The screws appeared in my postbox!  Yeay!  Now I can complete my desk, right? 

HA!

I go up to my flat, open the package, take the screws out and put them with the other screws, in a Ziploc plastic baggie.  I vividly remember doing this.  I set them down and went to find the screwdriver.  Come back, get the desk bits out..... and the screws have evaporated!  *poof*  Gone.  Seriously.  I took the flat apart looking for them.  I put the flat back together, looking for them.  I've searched for TWO SOLID DAYS for them.  I. Cannot. Find. These. Screws.  (Yes, yes, I know I've always had a few screws loose.  But these ones are missing all together!)

Lois said she'd come help me search on Monday.  Seriously, I really doubt she'll find them.  I've searched every surface, every drawer, every box.  I've even checked the rubbish.  TWICE!  I've looked in all the obvious spots, and started looking in some really strange ones; the dishwasher, the fridge, the bathroom cupboards.... just on the off chance that I wasn't paying attention to what was in my hands.  I have no idea what has happened to these screws!  It's making me crazy.  And, on top of that, it's keeping me from finishing getting my things settled.  I can't set up my office til I get the desk squared away!

Epic Win!

I've decided, when I grow up (ha ha) and am rich and famous, I'm totally having THIS in my house!

Can you imagine?  I'll be the coolest aunt in the world!  My future nieces/nephiews will LOVE coming to visit me!  And, if I get to have kids, they'll be the envy of all their friends.  Heck, I'll be the envy of all my friends!

Jetlagging

I really really really like walking through my front door at the end of a trip. Especially if I can fall straight into bed. That's what I did yesterday afternoon. It was bliss! I had dinner with some friends, here at my house, then went BACK to bed for the rest of the night around . . . 7? 8? Something like that. And it was torture to get up this morning at 10! Pathetic, I know. But I had to get up so I could take the rental car back. I worked out it was cheaper (and so much faster, not to mention less painful!) to rent a car and drive home, rather than taking the train. So, no more dragging bags through the Underground for me! But, it did force me out of my cosy nest to deal with the return this morning. Never mind. I'm currently sitting on my sofa, talking to my Sister on the phone (as if I hadn't just spent the past 10 days at her house!) trying to get up the energy to open the suitcases.

A Little TOO Much Excitement!

This last Monday I came home a bit early from London, intending to get to bed before midnight. Normally on a Monday night I don't get in til gone midnight, so getting home at quarter past 11 was quite good. Unfortunately, the gods were against me. I live on the corner of a street (more or less, it's kind of complicated, because the actual street I'm on is a close, and it's really more of an extended drive than a street. I'm ignoring that for the moment, so you'll have to just sort of go with it). The street my house is on (for the purposes of this essay) comes to a T-Junction, just a couple doors down from me. So, I'm driving up the cross-road (the top of the T) on my way to my road from the Station. At the T, I turn right, onto my road. Up ahead, opposite and a couple houses down from my house, I see an orange glow. And then some sparks. And the top of a flame. And then . . . it blossoms. An enormous housefire. I quickly parked the car and ran up the road to see if anyone had called it in. Someone had, and in fact, the fire brigade was just arriving. We ended up with 6 trucks out there, and they stayed til after 11.00 the next morning. And then came back at 2.00 in the afternoon!

The Fire Photos:


Due to the location (next to an Electrical Relay Station and a Gas Mains) we were unsure if we were going to be evacuated or not, so it seemed a bit pointless to go off to bed if they were just going to come knocking at our door to send us off somewhere! And anyway, who'd want to miss the excitement?

I ended up meeting all these neighbours I didn't know. I only knew the 5 families on my close, and the people I share a back fence with, so there were a lot of unknown neighbours there. Was really quite nice to meet all these lovely people. In fact, I've been bumping into them all week at the Co-Op and the Local (Pub). One of them, Jean, said to me, 'I don't see you for 2 years, and all the sudden, you're around every corner!'

So, it was well after 2 in the morning when I finally got off to bed. Fortunately I didn't have to be up crazy early on Tuesday. However, what I didn't know was there'd been a power cut. Daylight, though, not such a big deal. Except. Except. Except that it's Winter! And winter means Cold! And no electricity means no HEAT! We eventually did get electric back. It wasn't til sometime in the late afternoon, though!

I went round to the house and the owners let me take a bunch of photos. I'd met them the night before. What was tragic about the fire (apart from the fire part, of course!) was that it was the original house to the area. Fortunately the owners had not been living in the house. But, it was sad to see such a piece of Colchester history destroyed. The land has had a house on it since the end of the 13th Century (1200s), and this house since the middle of the 14th Century, with additional bits being added on in the middle of the 17th Century. This whole area was once owned by the author Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe), and his daughter lived in this house.

Here's what it looked like in the cold (wet) light of day:

T Minus 10

I'm heading to my folks' house in 10 days!! But who's counting? Oh...right, me. And my mom. Possibly my dad, too. It's been a really rough term, and every day's been a bit 'just get through today'. Well, this next week looks like it's going to continue in much the same way. I'm going to be working like a mad woman all week just to keep my head above water. As many of you know, I'm a big holiday decoration fan. I always have up my Christmas Tree (usually sometime in November!) and garlands over the windows and down the banister. A wreath on the door. Yummy smellies throughout the house. Not this year. I didn't even dig out the wreath for the door. Yep, that's how pushed for time I've been.

And speaking of time . . . I'm out. Gotta get back to work.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I truly love Thanksgiving. Partly it's the food. Who wouldn't enjoy a holiday where the main component is eating?!? Other holidays include food (4th of July Picnics, Easter Dinner, Christmas Dinner . . . ) but Thanksgiving is food. However, as much fun as eating all that luscious bounty is, I love more than just that. I actually enjoy the whole week. You start the preparations ages before hand.

Here in England I get to cheat a bit. Since there's no competition for the food at the supermarket, I can do my shop on the Wednesday, which means everything's nice and fresh. (I always try and get a fresh turkey from the Butcher, rather than a frozen one, so I don't have to worry about defrosting. But even on a year when I get it frozen, that's still the only thing I get ahead of time. (*Edit* This year's was horrible! There were simply no juices to use to baste. Not impressed. It wasn't dry, but it wasn't up to my usual standards, either.) In any case, the preparations start at least the day before.

Making the Desserts. This year I went with apple pie and brownies with this yummy (and very easy) moose. It's been ages since I made pie, though, so I was a bit worried about the crust. Had a bit of left overs, which I made into a quiche for dinner. Wow. I needn't have worried. Flaky, buttery and soft. :-)

Oh the lovely smells! One of the best bits about Thanksgiving is all the delightful smells. Many times I enjoy that part more than actually eating anything. Oh so yummy. And none of the drawbacks to actually eating it!

Family. I've been known to be terribly homesick for the whole week of Thanksgiving. It's one of the days that I most wish I were with them. Probably mostly because I know they're all together laughing and having fun without me! I've never liked being out of the loop. Fortunately, we've come up with a few creative solutions. The best bit is Clever Endeavour. That's a board game we've had since I was a teenager. Clues are read out and you have to figure out what the object is. You get more points for getting it sooner, but if you guess wrong, you lose points. Points move you forward (or backwards!) along the board. But the game is really all audible, not visible or activity based. So, I can guess, too! So, we always play that or Double Talk (similar idea, but based on Puns). It's great fun, and one of my favourite traditions.

Friends. Since I can't be with my family, I choose to be with my friends. I invite people I love to come share my Thanksgiving Dinner. I choose different people every year (although there have been a few overlaps!) so that as many people as possible get to find out what Thanksgiving means. This year I had 6 guests, only 2 of whom were Americans.

That's what I love about Thanksgiving (apart from eating the food, which obviously is part of the list). So wonderful. A day dedicated to feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Love it!

When Ooops Doesn't Cover It

I think my Grandmother's least favourite word in the English Language was 'Ooops'. I remember as a teenager helping to redo her kitchen, and my Dad told my cousin to say 'oops,' so he did. And Grandma (in the other room) says, 'What?!?' It's one of those moments I'll never forget.

Anyway, I had an 'Ooops' moment today. Except, I'm not sure that 'oooops' quite covers it. I'd made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and had put the cookie sheet into the sink to soak. I plugged the drain, and turned on the water, and made my mistake: left the room. I was sitting down working on my computer when all the sudden I realised I'd been hearing the sound of water, falling water, and loads of it. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen to turn off the water and assess the damage. Fortunately it was really just a bunch of water on the floor, and it cleaned up in a hurry. But it was an impressive mess!

You Know It's Time. . .

You know it's time to trim the hedge when . . .

. . . you decide to start using the back door!

Evening Cool

Summer's finally arrived to England. This past week has been truly lovely. Every day has been sunny and warm. I've even had to work to not get sunburnt. It's been wonderful. I've been doing my PhD work outside at the patio table. It's been wonderful to work outside, instead of being cooped up in my office. But my favourite time of day is the evening. Around 8.00 pm, as the sun goes low in the sky, the blackbird comes to perch on the back fence, and starts singing his heart out. As the sun sets, a breeze picks up. The heavy humid air is still warm from the sun, but the breeze is cool as it ruffles the hem of my skirt. The breeze also brings with it the sent of the jasmine growing along the fence. The breeze, warm humid air and sent of jasmine is enough to make you forget that you're in England, and not on some tropical island paradise. Evening is always my favourite time of day, and these have been enchanting.

Home Again, Home Again!

Well, Miss Dorothy got one thing right . . . there's no place like home. I've had a ball over the last 5 months. It's been brilliant. But . . . I'm really glad to be home.

There really isn't much to report about the trip home. It was pretty normal. Got on the flight in Chicago on Wednesday, changed planes in Cincinnati, got off in London at 9.00 am Thursday. Although, for a change, I did actually sleep much of the flight. That was a nice surprise. It wasn't great sleep, but it was sleep. So I wasn't totally trashed when I arrived. And, as a true act of friendship, my friends from church, Claire and Joe, came all the way out to Gatwick to collect me! So I didn't even have to lug everything through the Underground/Trains. Yeay! That was very kind, and totally above and beyond the call.

Friday I got up and went into Uni. Had a quick check-in with my advisor. Things are looking good on the PhD front. Had lunch with Jenny, and took a few photos of campus.



Saturday, I finally got around to to unpacking. Surprisingly, I managed to get everything done, including all the stuff I'd packed away so that my house sitters could move in, in under 4 hours! And no, that didn't mean stuffing everything into the laundry hamper. I mostly had clean laundry, anyway. Then, in the evening, my friend (also from Church) Rebekah came down from Cambridge and we played. Saturday we went to Nando's (one of my favourite cheap and cheerful meals!) for dinner, and watched Sahara at my house. Rebekah started playing with my hair and actually put me to sleep twice! Sunday we went to church, which was great. It was so nice to be back home with them. Then, after church Rebekah made me the most amazing Sunday Dinner. And let me get my head down whilst she prepared it! My body's mostly back to normal, but I am still feeling a bit of jetlag. She made amazing roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and sausages. And then for afters . . . oh my goodness! She's baked these scrumptious chocolate with white chocolate chip biscuits at home and brought them with. She layered them in with cream and cherries and raspberry yogurt for an amazing, light, treat. It was perfect. So we sat out in the garden (rather hideously overgrown) and enjoyed the fruits of her labours. What an amazing welcome home feast!



After dinner we went down to the river. Rebekah's an amazing photographer, (She's just started up a blog of her own, if you want to check out her other work.) and she'd brought her equipment, so she took loads of photos of me. Isn't she sweet? And some of those photos turned out amazing!



I'm now back into normal life. Well, sort of. I'm playing catchup just a bit. The garden had been let go whilst I was away. I suppose of all the things to neglect, that's the least problematic. But when I arrived and looked at it I just though, *sigh* That's going to be a bear to clean up. Fortunately, I have loads of marvelous friends. One of the Youth from church, Elliot, and his dad, David, came round today to help. Elliot cut the grass, David trimmed the edges and raked up all the dead bits out of the grass, and I clipped the hedges back. It's not done, but it's at least usable now. Hooray, and a huge Thank You to David and Elliot!

Endure to The End

After an entire week of having no kitchen, I'm nearing the finish line. In fact, I'm so close that unless you're really observant, you won't know what hasn't been done. Remember the door trauma? Well, they got all but 2 doors in on Friday. Those two were not in stock, and should be fitted Monday afternoon. Hooray! But, everything else is in and done, so I got to reload the kitchen. I actually have more room than I know what to do with (at the moment). It's great! All in all, it's beautiful:









So, that's what it looks like left to right. This is what it looks like if you stand at the sink and look back, or the door and look up:

Regress

Well, the damage is not too bad. The doors will all be replaced, eventually. I find out tomorrow when the warehouse will be able to deliver them. The problem turned out to be that the designer had not put the order in for the doors I wanted. He'd put it in for the colour, but not the style I requested. The regional manager said, 'If it's not what you wanted, it's not what you wanted. We'll get it right.' Yeay. The fitter said that if the doors cannot be delivered this week, he'll drill the holes for the handles on these ones, and I can go ahead and use the cupboards as normal. Then, when the new ones do arrive, he'll come back and swap them out. So, at least I'm not going to be stuck without a kitchen for longer! But hopefully the warehouse will be able to deliver them quickly, and we'll finish on time (ha ha ha. I'm not holding my breath). These look good, though. I just didn't want the ledge to collect dust and grime. Otherwise I'd be quite happy with them. I'm just ignoring the issue of the sink, more or less. I'm going to put in a mild complaint, meaning, I'm going to tell the store that the designer ordered the wrong sink, but I'm not going to do anything about it. It's not that important.

Congress

As in, the opposite of Progress.

The supply company, who I bought my cupboards etc . . . through? Sent the wrong doors and the wrong sink. Now, I couldn't tell before they got them up because they were all in boxes. The fitter couldn't tell, because the colour does match. Just not the style I ordered. See thing is . . . I ordered the colour because of the style. The doors I ordered had no little ledges to be catching dust and grime. These do. At the time I was ordering, the only colour that they made in that style was the walnut. Otherwise I'd have gone with the (lighter) cherry! So now I've got the style I didn't want with the disprefered colour. My fitter's having a word with them.

The sink's less of an issue. It was supposed to be a textured stainless steel. The one they sent is smooth. I'm not really fussed about it being textured or not, except that the reason I ordered the textured was because it hides scratches and waterspots. The bigger issue is, it's not what I ordered!

Progress

This is what the kitchen looks like at the end of the working day today:

A Day in the Life!

As I type this, a couple of men are demolishing my kitchen. In fact, it was meant to be demolished earlier in the day. They were supposed to have gotten quiet a bit further along than they have today. It's not even their fault! Saturday their van broke down, and had to be towed in to a garage. They couldn't do anything about that till this morning. Of course. Then they had to rent a van. And go collect their tools. And then there was a problem with the splashback I'd ordered. I'd asked for a glass one, but in order to do that, you can't have any electrical outlets or windows. I have both. The fitter had notified B&Q back in March of the problem. B&Q had never got a hold of me. That means that I get a free upgrade on the splashback! :) But it meant I had to run around choosing colours and tiles etc . . . And then there was the snafu over the insulation for under the floor. I'd ordered it, B&Q forgot to put it on the bill, so of course they didn't send it. I had to go round and show them that the mistake was theirs, not mine, so they did actually owe me the insulation. Second trip to B&Q. Oh, and the University is right next to B&Q. So of course I had to go from Uni to my house and back out to B&Q ever time! Yep, owning your own house is quite an adventure!

Back from the Road To Morocco

Phew! It was hard work! My French is bad enough to make a cat laugh (just ask my friend Stephie -- She's French -- She's TRIED to teach me!) and my Arabic is, naturally, worse. Between my Spanish and Portuguese, I just about was able to get the gist of most of what was going on, but it was hard work.

I'm going to be uploading and blogging the photos, but it's going to take a while. Have a LOT to get through! Only want to show the best of the best, you know how it is.