Adventures in Londonland

So I'm going to start importing my blog entries to Facebook for my friends there to read.

I am ashamed that my last entry was January. I'M SOOOOO SORRY!!! I'll do better, I swear!

So what's new with me? Work is going great, as usual. Did I ever tell that my temporary manager from Christmas became our permanent manager? Well she did. And I have to admit I'm starting to like her a lot more now. I think it was a bit of the stress from Christmas that was making me irritated with anyone new. LOL.

I got a Nintendo DS Lite! I love it! A black one that is sleek and shiny. I love the shine-eeze.

My mom is currently over here, visiting. I hate to say it, but I'm counting down the days til she leaves. I love my mom, don't get me wrong, but we just work better with distance between us. When we are interacting with each other day after day, we get on each other's nerves.

I've read:

And I want to read:

 

So the 4th was our 2 year anniversary and I can't believe it's gone by so quickly. I must say marriage really suits us. These have been the most stress-free years of my life. Being around someone who is calm and slow to temper daily has really calmed me down and has just made life easier. Living with my parents, we were having rows and butting heads daily and it was just exhausting to be constantly rubbed the wrong way. I think I'm more sensitive than most to other people's moods and my mom and dad were always stressed from work and finances and I was always reacting to that.
Not that marriage has been a breeze. I was unemployed for a year and a half so that provided challenges and stresses but by the grace of God, we made it through month after month, sometimes just barely eeking by. But these are supposed to be the lean years anyway, right? Lean but happy.

THings have been going well around here. New Year's I had to work. Then on the 4th, we went down to Pieter's folks for the weekend and had a lovely visit with them.
Work has been good. It's almost strange how quiet it is after the manic rushes we'd get up to Christmas. But we've been consistantly beating target every week which means if we beat it again next week, we'll get a bonus in our next paycheck :0) Always a good thing.

I'm learning to knit with needles. Hazel sat me down while we were visiting and showed me the basics. I'm practicing how to hold everything and keeping tension. It's slow going but I'm persisting.

Books on My List:

 

 

 

 

 

I know I did!

We had a nice big breakfast with our friend Cass (a Canadian) at our place (we're really loving entertaining here!), then we opened our presents, then we watched 2 episodes from House season 3 (one of my pressies),

played a round of Rummikub,  watched the Queen's speech, had a lovely late lunch and just hung out.

 

Work is going great and keeping me busy, especially right now. My temporary manager is bugging me though. She tries a bit too hard to be buddy-buddy and when she does, it makes me see her less as a boss. Plus, she's too similar to me, which lessens her authority even more.

Okay, so hopefully I'll be showing myself around here much more often. It's been hectic at work what with it being Christmas season. Pretty much everyone is working on Christmas Eve and I don't even want to think about how crazy it'll be.

Lately, I just feel a bit spread thin in that I have so many things that come up during the week that have to be taken care of on the weekend so then I'm not really resting.

It's getting late] and unfortunately I didn't write as much as I wanted to...but I'll write more tomorrow!

Finally! Internet is hooked up at the house, which is still frickin awesome!! We had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was my first time making a turkey but it turned out SWEET! And I made candied yams and a green bean and sausage casserole and homemade cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and hot artichoke and spinach dip. ALL delish!

Christmas is coming up quick and so there's plenty of work to be had at Waterstone's. I'm working 7-3:30 shifts this and next week which is both difficult and cool in that I get off early. I have to work Christmas Eve which sucks but I have Christmas Day and Boxing Day off and so does Pieter.

I've got a Christmas work party on the 18th (how weird is it to have it on a Tuesday?) and that's pretty cool. I really love the people I'm working with! They're all crazy just like me d=0P And I GOT THE LAST TERRY GOODKIND BOOK, The Confessor!!! YEAH!! I started it today and am STOKED to have it in my possession. It's so pretty. It's difficult to not just pick one up in the middle of work and continue reading it LOL. LOVE IT!

 

Just dropping a line to let you know I'm not dead. Whatever the newspapers would have you believe. Our internet at home got cut off and so now we're just waiting for the changeover to take effect and then we'll be hooked up again. For now, I'm at the library for a brief moment.

My parents are coming Sunday to stay a week. They're bringing Stove Top stuffing for our Thanksgiving dinner (which they unfortunately won't be attending). I don't know why I wanted to share that... but I did.

Show us a book that scared you as a child.

Man, I used to read these when I 9 or 10 and they weould freak me right out. The stories and the drawings are so creepy!

 

 

 

 

View of the back garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our very spacious (as you can see) kitchen including full size fridge! You have no idea how happy this makes me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome living room!!! We're planning on dying the couch and chairs a mocha color (not feeling the coral)

FINALLY I CAN POST!!! I don't know why but lately when I go to post, the page doesn't load properly so I can't input any text in the text box :0(

But apparently I can now!

So the last week has been crazy getting everything situated in the house. Man, it's awesome being in this house! We've really made it our own place. Julie came by the other day and she was saying it's so neat how it just doesn't look like her house anymore, it doesn't even smell like her house anymore.... not that our house smells.... really.

I had to build 2 wardrobes, a railing bed, and a chest of drawers for us. Man, that was a bit hectic.

And I'm starting full-time work at Waterstone's on Tuesday!!! YEAH!! Kick ass me! But today was Nicola's last day so that was a downer on things. I find it amazing how we have just really hit it off together and how we are so comfortable around each other so quickly bcz that's totally not my style. I take a long time to get comfortable around people. But something in her personality just meshes with me. Scary, eh?

On other news, my grandpa went into the hospital the other day with some sort of a blockage in his arteries. I guess technically it was a heart attack. But he's home now and feeling much better and is all in the clear. But I was seriously scared for a bit thinking I'd be getting a middle-of-the-night phone call from my parents saying I need to hop a plane to California bcz he's either dead or dying. Shudder.

 

So I think I'll pack up and clean the bathroom today, then the kitchen tomorrow and that leaves wednesday, thursday and friday to figure out what to do with the rest of our crap. Sigh. Also I think I'll pick out our clothes for the rest of the week and then pack up all the rest into black garbage bags. Who knew moving involved such strategizing?!

Karen's aunt is moving around the same time and is giving us A LOT of free furniture. We're getting a dining room table and chairs, 4 6-foot shelves, a lounge suite encompassing a sofa and two lovely squishy chairs, curtains, and a smallish table. Awesome, hey?

 

Nicola gave her 2 weeks notice at work and it looks like I'll be taking over her shift. It's awesome because I've been wanting to get full-time hours and quit working Sundays but man, she's like my favorite person there!!! I'll probably be taking over her sections to which is cool bcz her sections are Sci-Fi/Crime/Horror and I am totally into that! Although I will miss my Art section I think. Not A-Zing it though, them art books are HEAVY!
Since I've been working on the first floor, I've been missing out on all the cool fiction coming out. But I've also seen some biographies I'd like to read, and I'm not usually into them so YAY for me broadening my horizons! LOL.

I'm currently reading The DaVinci Code. I avoided it while it was popular bcz stupid people couldn't quite grasp the concept that it was a NOVEL and therefore NOT real. I'm enjoying it so far but Dan Brown's love interests seem forced. I also read his Deception Point and while the general plot was good, the romance seemed too unnatural and quick.