Sidetracked or You Can Probably Skip This One

There are several things I am meant to be doing right now.  Cleaning my house.  Going to Ghetto Tesco to buy some pasta.  Dishes (which is a separate activity from house cleaning).  Making a list of all the other things I want to get done before tomorrow.  Making a list of all the things I need Tony to get done before tomorrow. 

I even had to cancel a night out with a friend because I haven't gotten enough done.  Which is really too bad.  I like having friends and doing things with them.  Maybe I should have invited her to mine for a crazy afternoon of Dishes!  I could have offered her a warm can of Coke and some Mini-Cadbury Eggs.  It's probably best that she's not coming.  Because I had the last 3 eggs for a snack today.  And all I could offer her would be warm Coke. 

But I'm too excited about my parents coming to town to do anything.  Isn't excitement supposed to motivate you?  Give you limitless energy and drive???  I have none.  I've been sitting.  Almost all day.  And we don't even have cable. 

And now, instead of doing things on my list, I am blogging about nothing.  This will be the most boring post ever.  Ever!  At least it's taking up my time.  I apologize for taking up yours. 

p.s. I find it's always best to end a post with the words, "up yours."  How unfortunate.  

Drier or Dryer?

I know you all want to see some pictures of our place.  And we're getting there.  But today I wanted to tell you all about the fancy clothes dryer we have here in London.  And then...I was confused by the word dryer.  Is it dryer or drier?  Apparently, it's DRYER.  Here's how to remember it: the clothes dryer makes your clothes drier.   Or at least, that's what I learned on the Internet.  And, tell me, when has that ever been wrong???

So...here's ours.  And I know you're jealous.  I can feel it already.  I'll explain how you can get one too below the picture.

Basically all you need is a compression shower rod.  A hallway, preferably with a window, so you have something to look at while you're hanging everything.  And a TON of hangers that the previous occupant didn't take with him.  You might think that's gross, used hangers...but really, what sort of gross things can happen with nice plastic hangers?  It's all about re-using and reducing in our house!  We're Erbalicious!  (note:  they pronounce it Herbalicious here)

So...what can we see out this window when I'm not drying all of our clothes?  Here are some shots from our back window.

Isn't England pretty?  It all looks so, English to me.  Imagine my surprise when upon arrival I found that London pretty much looks like how I'd imagined it.  At least my neighborhood...

And here are some winter scenes.  Same window.  And a couple from our "Juliet Balcony" in our kitchen.  For those of you who don't know, a Juliet Balcony is basically a DOOR that opens to NOTHING...except a 15 foot drop to the roof below.  It's a HUGE selling point here.

See!  It snows here...everyone lied...



And here are some pictures from our living room, excuse me, reception room.  

So, a lot of pictures of the outside.  Maybe I'll invite you in next time...

HASTINGS!!!

After six long months and a very long day for all of us, Hastings is home safe and sound.  Thanks so much to my mom and dad for all their help.  Especially Mom, who now knows more about the PETS Travel Scheme than any person could ever care to know.

He's a little confused and tired (who isn't after a 7 hour international flight?), but I think he knows where he is.  And who he's with.  Lots of meowing and petting.  And shedding.

This is basically how it all went down...

And then this is what happened next...

I'm so happy he's home!

Another Big Deal, But Just to Me

I met a friend of a friend for lunch today.  And...I didn't get lost.  Not once.  I got off The Tube and started off in the correct direction and found the place I was supposed to be.

It's basically the very first time that's happened to me here. 

A Decision

I've stopped doing New Year's Resolutions.  Mostly because I can never I think of anything really interesting to do.  Ummm...loose weight?  Better control of finances?  I do, however; challenge myself in one way or another a couple of times per year. 

Anybody remember, "I'm not drinking Diet Coke anymore"?  That's one of my favorites.  And it was surprisingly hard - every time I did it.  Come to think of it, the last time I really did that was in 2009.  And I've not really had any Diet Coke since.  I decided that if I was going to drink pop (suck it NYC), then I was going to go for the real deal.  I figured that the sugar (corn syrup, whatever) was probably better than the chemical soup that is artificial sweetener.

Now though, I LOVE a cold can of Coca-Cola.  Yum.  But I don't always have it in the house.  And when I do buy a 6 pack, I only put a can in the fridge when I want one.  So, 6 cans usually lasts about 2 weeks.  Blah, blah, blah.  Basically, I wanted to let you know that I'm better than you because I drink less pop than I used to.  Also, I just ended that sentence with a preposition.

But - what I really wanted to tell you about is what I've decided to do today.

You all know that I've been spending WAY too much time online reading crap and checking to see if you've updated anything on Facebook or if Dooce has finally posted another picture of Chuck.  Don't worry - I'm not changing anything about that.  BUT...one of the other things that takes up a ton of my time, and I'm so super ashamed to admit this, was reading Perez Hilton.  A lot.  Checking to see if anything was new.  CONSTANTLY....All.the.time.

I know a lot of you have very strong feelings about his super pink blog.  He used to be very mean and crass; sadly, I didn't really notice that until he stopped.  Which I think is admirable.  The stopping, not the me not noticing.  Apparently, he decided in the wake of all the child-suicides that he too needed to stop being a bully.  And I think he's done it.

But.  I've decided to stop reading.  Not because of anything he's done or said.  But because I realized I don't really care at all about most of the stuff on there.  I have never heard a Justin Beeber song and could not care less who a 13 year old boy is dating.  And I know Lindsay's had a tough time, but I skip everything he writes about her. 

So I think it's time.  I'm giving it up.  I'll let you know how it goes.  And hopefully, I'll come up with something super cool to replace it with.  Like...dishes!    

Happy New Year!!!

A little late...but whatever.  I'm sure it's not like you've been checking my blog every 15 minutes to see if I've posted anything new...Because I never do that.  I never spend entire afternoons reloading pages just to see if anything is different.  Why would that be a productive, fulfilling, edifying thing to do with my time???

Whatever.  I totally do it.  All weekend.  And then I complain at you all when you haven't been productively blogging for my entertainment.  But it's totally cool when I take 3 weeks off.  Is off a preposition?  I think it is.  And I just ended another sentence with a preposition.  My favorite grammatical error!

Well, anyway.  Today is Monday and in the U.K. it's a Bank Holiday.  The day the banks and post offices and other random places get to close because New Year's Day was on a Saturday.  It's Tony's last day of vacation before heading back to work.  And I'm pretending that it's my last day of vacation too, even though I don't have  a job.  But I refuse to do anything work-y.  Like laundry.  Or folding laundry.  Or taking down the tree.  Until I and the rest of the Untied Kingdom go back to work tomorrow.

I would like to take a moment to thank The Queen, Paul McCartney, and Stephen Fry for making this Bank Holiday possible...............................................................thank you.

Totally a Big Deal to Me

They know my name at Perkins Cleaners.  I walked in this morning and they said, "Hi, Jenny!" 

I'm pretty sure I'm their favorite American out of all the Americans in my neighborhood. 

Thanks, guys!