Things around the house April 22, 2010

Good news!

We have finally heard that we are getting our shipment tomorrow!! Hooray. I am so tired of cooking on walmart type pans and wearing the same clothes over and over. This is worse for Joe as he has to go to work in the same few outfits. Finally I'll have all my old stuff. You can't imagine what a pain it is to only have what you brought over here in a suitcase 7 weeks ago! Of course we bought quite a few things. Electric things for example we weren't able to ship. But things we knew were heading here we tried to do without. Lotions and creams, shoes, my files, linens, tons of kitchen stuff, trash cans, you name it. I just can't wait.

Joe and I are working very hard on the yard. It is a huge undertaking but little by little it is coming along. He bought a power washer a few weeks ago. Tim the tool man had to have one of the most powerful ones too. He was so eager to use it. He wanted it to clean up all the slate walkways around the yard and house. Boy were we surprised when we saw that the black slate that we thought we had was actually RED with black flecks around the edges! That goes for the bricks around the walkways too. Who knows when they were ever cleaned?

I have a shirt that I like to wear outside to garden. It has wild flowers all over it and is very comfortable. Joe hates it. I tell him I wear it for him. Don't you think its garden appropriate?

We went to Hinckley last Saturday. That is the town where Joe works He wanted to get his haircut. It is kind of nerve wracking when you have had the same person for years doing your hair and all of a sudden you have to start all over again. But he saw a barber there in Hinckley and decided try them. They had a sandwich board outside that said, "HAIR CUT GENTS?" He got a real good cut though. It turned out to be their market day so they had all kinds of vendors set up through the streets selling everything you an imagine. We walked all around and got a few things, Joe got himself a couple of good leather belts and we got some real good produce. They have these markets all over the place here. Another town close to us has markets every single day! They are really big here.

See Joe on the right in the navy blue sweatshirt? He is walking away from me acting like he doesn't know me while I take the picture.

I actually walked into our village and got my hair cut yesterday. The girl did a pretty good job. When meeting people here the conversation always turns to America. People are much in awe of us and love to hear about the US. I spent my time there talking to the girl who cut my hair and the owner about America and the differences between it and Britain. Another thing that happens is when we are walking around and talking, people turn and look at us when they hear our accents. Especially the kids. We were at a dinner meeting for Joe's work the other night. We were talking at our table about places to see here in the UK and some of the people were telling me words to say and then laughing at the way I said them. I keep forgetting that I am the foreigner now.

OK, here is the house. When we get the garden cleaned up I'll send you before and after pictures of the outside.

The entry way. Double sets of doors to enter the house are very common here.

Living Room: Sliding door on left goes to glassed patio, door on right to backyard.

Dining room with doors to LR shut above, and doors open below.

Glassed in patio off LR. Doors to outside to

left and right of chairs.

Kitchen. See my little refrigerator on the left? Dishwasher is to the right.

Opposite view of kitchen. Clothes dryer on  left, freezer we had to buy on right.                                                          

Laundry Room,

two views

Sunday, May 2nd is Joe and my 30th wedding anniversary! Can you believe it? If anyone would of told me we'd be living in England on our 30th anniversary I would have told them they were crazy. Monday, May 3rd is a holiday here. May Day. So we are going to go on another little road trip. I am looking at several options to figure out where to go. There are so many places! We can't leave til Saturday morning as we are going out with his work people Friday night. That should be fun though.

I have had some people tell me that they try to comment on this blog and it comes up that they have to be a gmail member or something. I played with it a little to unblock that. I love to get comments of course and don't want anyone discouraged from leaving them. The only way I can see to do it is to click anonymous, leave your comment and put your name after it. My sister-in-law Irene does it that way every time.