Sod's Law.....

Today I needed to get a piccie of me outside my home with my Pickup, for a UK magazine article on my move here. And of course in this article I rave on about how fantastic it is to wake up to the sun most days and how great the weather is here.

So today of course, after days of scorching sun and being in the 80's, it's raining pretty incessantly....bloody typical!

Best marketing move of the decade!

C'mon down Lane Bryant with the new 'right fit' sizing for your jeans for curvier ladies.

Trust me on this, if like me you have spent your whole life trying to fit into size 8 jeans, then to be told you need a size 2 is likely to get your immediate attention!

This happened to me on a recent visit to OKC whilst trying out the newly revamped LB jeans. When the assistant suggested I ought to try a size 2, after assessing my hips and butt, I literally laughed out loud and replied "AWWW HELL YES!" in my Brit' accent which really tickled her!

But joy of joys they were too big, so she said "Oh honey you're a size 1" and sure enough, once she'd helped me back up off the floor where I'd fallen in delirium, this proved to be the case. Well talk about a guaranteed sale, I was giddy with excitement as I paid....LOL!

I told her even if I hadn't needed jeans I'd have bought them just so I could see something with 'size 1' on the label in my closet! I literally left the store grinning from ear to ear :-)

So if you have also always dreamed of fitting into a size between 1 to 8, I strongly suggest you head into your nearest LB store for a morale boost you can't beat.

Handbag of the day....Roma!

Roma was purchased on my first visit to Rome and is a much loved and well travelled, high quality handbag.

She was made by the Italian designer Bruno Rossi from very soft pale chestnut leather and I bought her and another bag from the same store. As is usual with Italian leather, her quality really stands out from my many other bags.

Roma is very large, she has a really big central zipped compartment and then on either side is a large pocket that fastens with a concealed magnetic fastener. Extending out of both these pockets are short handles, in addition to the detachable shoulder strap that extends from the middle compartment. I love this feature of being able to carry her by hand, or sling her over my shoulder. There's also a large magnetic flap that goes across the top of Roma to keep her especially secure. Inside is a matching fabric interior with a large zipped pocket, phone and pen holders.

Roma's only drawback is she has so much space I tend to overfill her and I once weighed her when full, only to find she was 14lbs! So I am now more conscious of not letting her get too heavy for my shoulders' sake and her longevity. She is one of two bags I tend to reach for when I am flying or travelling, as you can get everything you need in her easily. So she has seen many places around the world and also accompanied me to work frequently.

After taking this picture I noticed she looks a bit worn, so I'm going to get the leather polish out and give her some well deserved TLC!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD upon hearing, could make an American man panic!

"Can you knock me up at 7am tomorrow please"

'Knock me up' = Bang on my door
'Knock up' = Wake up

This does NOT mean please can you 'impregnate' me at 7am tomorrow! So no need to panic and scarper if a British woman ever says this to you ;-)

However just to confuse matters we do also use the phrase 'knocked up' to mean someone is pregnant!

Ok the joke is over people....

Rant on.....Jason Castro made a mockery of American Idol tonight and he must now go home. He just seems to think he's 'the Dude' and doesn't even seem to take the judges comments seriously, he was a total travesty. I felt sorry for Brooke having to watch that and think I could have done so much better!

Anyway....rant almost off.... if he stays then AI will probably lose even more viewers and I swear he wouldn't have got this far without the hair that lots of little girls obviuosly think is 'cool'....rant off!

Moving on.... the night belonged to David A' resoundingly (sorry Pam but despite not liking him, surely you have to admit he sang the best?!), but Syesha was a close second and that girl is really giving the boys a run for their money, she rocked it too. David C's weakest night we thought, but we still love him, he needs to start picking popular well-known songs though before he does a Daughtrey! Simon Cowell had them all spot on tonight, let's just hope the fans listened to him.

The final will still be won by someone named David, I like them both so don't mind which....but going on tonight it's David A's to lose now.

*Jason has to go, so tonight I will finally vote - for the other 3!

Let me admit something...

I HATE EXERCISE!

Always have, always will and always lacked the motivation to do any.

We even have a spare room at the back of our garage, all decked out as a small gym with an Ab' machine, Treadmill, Bench, Weights, DVD Player and A/C unit. I also have a lovely mountain bike we bought last year and actually I do venture out on that, as it is fun, but not often enough.

I need to exercise, this is the message we are all being given daily now in the media and our Dr's offices. It's just sooo hard to get started and then keep doing it regularly!

I need help people..those of you that do exercise, how do you stay motivated, what gets you on that treadmill? I need idea's please?

Handbag of the day....Petal!

Petal is another of my bargain handbags, bought from Marks & Sparks about 6 years ago for $10 in a sale. It was the rich pastel pink colour that attracted me to Petal, I have seen roses in this delicate shade of pink and always loved them, so she was irresistible.

She is a good sized bag made from a fine straw with contrasting brown accent stitching, a pink fabric interior and single pocket. Her handles are a nice soft brown leather and she fastens just with the elastic and button. So I tend to only use Petal in situations where I know I won't be in crowds, where a hand could easily reach in and take something out.

Petal is a perfect summer handbag and as I am very much a pink girl she goes with alot of things I wear :-)

One of my life rules...

You NEVER EVER throw even the oldest undies in the trash without washing them first.

The Hubster thinks this is extremely funny, especially when I tell him "just in case anyone gets them out of the trash afterwards to check them out!"

Sorry but I have standards, so I wash them, THEN I trash them :-)

Does anyone else out there have an odd life rule like mine?

Handbag of the day....Samantha!

Well let's start the week with a Top 3 fave' handbag, named for the inimmitable Samantha Jones from Sex and the City.

Samantha, because if you look at the outside there goes Carrie walking Charlotte's little dog and meeting Miranda crossing the street! Then you open her up and raunchy Samantha 'roars' on the inside :-)

I bought Samantha on my very first visit to meet the future Hubster and found her in a stylish local boutique. She was drastically reduced in the sale and cost me just 7 UK pounds($12)! There were 3 on sale there and many times after I wished I had bought the other 2 to give as gifts to friends, because this little bag always gets admired.

What makes Samantha so unique is she is actually a converted cigar box, or made to look just like one. So she is rigid and square, with the original cigar logo and writing on the back and sides and has a bamboo handle. The front has been padded and then had the design placed onto it and the corners overlaid with the silver effect corners. Finally the 'piece de resistance' is the surprise as you open her only to find the furry animal print lining. She is small and I even have to change wallets to use her, but she is well worth the effort.

If for some reason I had to part with all my handbags, Samantha would be one of the very last ones I would give up! I guard this little bit of handbag perfection ferociously ;-)

DHL = Delivery Happens Late!

They may have planes, trains and automobiles all over the world, but in our little corner shipping by DHL means only one thing....Delivery Happens Late!

You see they don't consider us worthy of driving a further 20 minutes from the nearest large town, unlike UPS and FEDEX who have daily deliveries out here. So let me run you through the service 'the world's largest carrier' offers to us.

They get the package by plane into OKC, which is 3 hours drive away. If you are really lucky they might then decide to put it onto one of the occasional trucks that comes to the aforementioned town, but there's no daily service there. More often they just hand it over to the Post Office in OKC and it becomes their parcel to deliver.

Well of course they stick it to the bottom of a large pile of DHL's in their depot. Because you decided they weren't good enough to deliver when you purchased and now they don't give a damn about your parcel. After about 4 days someone notices the pile and gives the parcels a Post Office tracking # and sticks them on a low priority delivery schedule.

By this time you are wondering where your 'next business day delivery' that you paid extra for has got to, after all 5 days have passed! So you call DHL and they tell you what you can already see on their website, that it was delivered to OKC and it's no longer their responsibility. If you get really arsy with them (which I do) then they will take the time to find you a Post Office tracking #, but this won't work on the Post Office tracking site. I also always berate DHL for taking on deliveries to places they don't deliver, but as yet that's made no difference, big surprise!

So luckily because you live in a smalltown, you know the Post Mistress and can call her for help. She then makes a call with your tracking # and gets fobbed off by the OKC depot, who are too busy to give a damn. When she calls you back to tell you this, she also tells you she has to field DHL complaints every single week.

If you are really unlucky, DHL won't use the Post Office and instead deliver to some 'Mom & Pop' franchisee locally and there is no alternate tracking # at all and no way to contact them. My $900 lap-top came by this extremely secure and guaranteed timely method!

Then I usually call the company I purchased from to tell them about how DHL do not deliver in our area and here comes the upside. They start refunding shipping costs, giving compensation and very occasionally assume it's lost and refund the whole lot to you. Over the 2.5 years I have been here that has saved me approximately $350 which is nice, but it doesn't make up for the inconvenience of not getting the thing you wanted on time.

After about 10-14 business days, usually you're package will show up at the Post Office and life is all good once again. Frustratingly though some of the biggest companies insist on using DHL alone as their carrier. For instance Dell, who are the only company we buy all our PC's from after years of great products. Of course usually you need their products fast and so it's incredibly annoying knowing there's no way that's going to happen, despite having told them numerous times not to use DHL out here!

So there you go, DHL doesn't think rural Okieland exists, despite definitive proof of human life forms in this area!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD is for all the occasional gamblers out there:

"Oh I think I might have a flutter on that one"

'have a flutter' = a brief low stake go at gambling

This would be used for those once or twice a year gamblers who might bet on things like the Kentucky Derby here, the Grand National back home or maybe a trip to Vegas.

Flutter also has the usual meaning to do with wings fluttering :-)

Blog into the future!

I just wanted to ensure my blogging buddies are aware of a great new feature offered by Blogger finally.

You can now write your blog posts anytime and then schedule them to be posted at a later time and date! This is what I have been waiting for eagerly, now I can write anytime I feel like it or am inspired to and spread out when the posts will actually appear. This means you can also plan ahead for holidays or busy periods.

The new feature is currently appearing on our 'Dashboard' page when you log in. But if you now look at the bottom right corner just above the 'Publish Post' button when you are creating a post, you will see 'Post Options'. Click there and you can enter a time and date in the future for your post to appear, complete it and then hit Publish Post - job done :-)

Wonderful time saver thank you Blogger, I already have posts done through until Thursday! LOL

There Will Be Blood

This was a good movie, we both enjoyed it and it was interesting to learn about the early days of oil prospecting. We did feel they could have told the story in less time, it runs at almost 3 hours. But having said that neither of us were checking the clock and it kept our interest throughout. There is no dialogue at all for at least the first 10 minutes of this movie, but just the images immediately draw you into the story.

However without doubt this movie owes everything to the mesmeric performance by Daniel Day Lewis, he truly deserved his second Oscar for this performance. It is one of those moments when you forget you're watching someone acting, he is utterly believable and he holds you attention completely. Paul Dano is also very good as the young Preacher he clashes with throughout the story until the last scene.

This is not a thrilling, gripping or fast moving movie, but it is pretty engrossing and it is a masterclass in great acting.

Oh my....

I am so excited and now I have to try and sleep!

Remember when we got to meet some OKC bloggers a few weeks ago and had a wonderful time with them all. Well we planned a summer time visit out here into rural Okieland for them and tonight I heard back from the fabulous Pam and her Brit' 'hooby' John with some suggested dates :-)

They are big Formula 1 fans too and it looks likely we will have them here for the weekend of the British Grand Prix, which also just happens to be the long 4th July weekend :-)

Quite alot goes on in our little town on July 4th, including a spectacular fireworks display over the lake, so I am hoping we get this fixed up as a go-er :-)

Okay - off to bed with a big smile on my face, it's such fun meeting our blogging buddies and getting on just as well face to face :-)

Big gardening weekend....

Well this weekend is the one when we will be doing some major gardening, as the risk of frost should have passed by now. Having said that, typically we had to move a few things in tonight as there is a very slight risk!

The first thing I did in preparation was have a long phone chat today with the lovely Dee of Red Dirt Ramblings, who is my new gardening guru for OK and a recognised expert. She has kindly taken pity on my expat' status in an entirely new climate badly in need of help, on what the heck is good to grow and survives here. So I am now armed with a 2-page list of things to hunt up in our only local garden centre. Maybe I just dream't this, but I used to have 6 or more on my doorstep once upon a time far far away, and even had a loyalty card with one!

Then we will return home, map out our route and the Hubster will breakout the rota-tiller to do all the hard work, before planting commences. In the meantime I will tapping in 'U' thingies on my fence posts and threading fishing line to form a support grid for climbers.

I anticipate our yard work will continue in fits throughout the weekend, but it will all be worthwhile in a month from now :-)

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD could be essential for UK visitors once they have tried to drive on the wrong side of the street and battle unbelievable traffic, whilst circumnavigating roundabouts everywhere!

"Can you tell me where the closest off-licence is please?"

'Off-Licence' = Liquor Store :-)

This originates from the fact that you have to drink the purchased alcohol 'off' the retail premises, which is licenced to sell alcohol.

You can thank me after your UK visit for this one!

28 days and counting.....

Since the moment it was announced they had finally agreed terms, this is the movie I have been most anticipating for literally years. And now I only have 28 days to wait - the Hubster has already agreed to drive me 2 hours (4hr round trip!) to see it the opening weekend, if our local smalltown cinema doesn't have it on May 30th!

Sex and the City is by far and away my all time fave TV show, I own all 6 series and have rewatched them all in the past 6 months ready for the movie. This also gave the Hubster a chance to see them, as he didn't have HBO originally and I think even he might admit he has also became a closet fan of the show.

Yesterday the movie was featured on Oprah with the cast as guests and the first clip they showed actually made me tear up, so I'm in big trouble and will need kleenex! LOL

Handbag of the day....Tina!

Tina is named in honour of the wonderful and inspiring Tina Turner. I am lucky enough to have seen Tina in concert 3 times at her peak in the late 80-90's during her Private Dancer album success. She is one awesome lady and this bag was with me at one of the concerts!

My Tina shares some of her traits and also packs quite a punch on eye-contact. I got her from a wonderful store in the UK called Accessorize, probably 12 yrs ago at least. She is the size of a large clutch but with short satin handles, inside she is black satin with one zippered pocket and a magnetic clasp.

But it's on the outside that she lives up to her name, with rows of tiny pale gold and black sequins stitched on in a wild animal print style. She is utterly glamourous, catches the eye at every turn and stands out from the crowd with her wild magnetism! Like the real Tina she is also aging with style, beauty and grace.

Tina and I could have parted company on more than a few occasions when others have lusted after her. But I have hung on tight and view her as a classic amongst my many handbags.

I'll be back with another fave handbag on Monday.

C'mon down Janet!

And the Caption winner is....

If she doesn't open this soon, I'm going to 'poop' in her handbag!

Janet, the Hubster and I fell about laughing when we read this caption, not only does it capture the frustration of this photo, but the very current link to me was genius! Excuse the slight 'censorship', but I want to keep my blog family friendly and I have left the uncensored caption in the comments on the original post.

Thanks to all those who entered, they were all great entries and it was a close run thing, but we just kept coming back to this one repeatedly. Janet please email me your name and address, so I can ship your prize to you, good job :-)

And in the meantime......

I will leave you with a few shots from my re-awakening May garden, whilst I have a post Pre-K late start tomorrow....see y'all after my Friday snooze fest!

OKC - Pam, Karla, Brad, Dee, Chellie, Kathy?

Well the weather is tornadic in central and eastern OK tonight, with tornado warnings and alot of circulation and lowerings with potential funnels. I know that PAM, BRAD & KARLA are all pretty close or in the area of the warning, not sure about CHELLIE and KATHY. Now it's all heading towards DEE in the Guthrie area as well. A tornado had just touched down north-east of Stillwater, but there is very strong rotation in OKC now and 4 supercells - it all seems to kicking off.

Just want to let you know I am thinking about you all - please stay safe and stay low.

TERESA - are you ready for tornado warnings, I may have to send you for training with Pam or Karla, they're OKC tornado experts!

Pre-K quote of the day....

During recess I was watching one of the little boys digging in the dirt for ages, and when I called them in he took forever to stand up and I could see him stuffing things in his pocket fast.

When he reached me, with stuffed pockets I bent down and asked him what he had in his pockets. I said "you can't take rocks in the classroom sweetie"

"Miss Sarah they're not rocks they're Seahorse eggs, I have to keep them, can I go bury them" with lower lip starting to quiver.

Well having seen 'The Waterhorse' (which I am certain is what he actually mean't), how could I possibly deny such a heartfelt request. So I waited whilst he went and buried his precious 'Seahorse eggs' and got a hug as he went back to class! As we would say "bless his little cotton socks"!

Never a truer word sung.....

“OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain”

Well let me tell y’all, never a truer word was sung in a lyric! I guess I should have paid more attention to this line before I allowed myself to fall hard for an Okie!

I always used to say that I loved windy days and mean it, but that was way back when I lived in that slightly breezy country, otherwise known as England. A windy day here means 40mph straight line winds, with the odd 50mph gust thrown in, and that’s a pretty normal day up here by the panhandle.

Luckily for me I have naturally messy hair being a curly-girly, because if I wanted perfectly coiffured hair I’d be in therapy by now, no exaggeration! So unlike in England where my hair was viewed as unfashionable and unsleek, here it is often admired, I am sure in part because I permanently have the ‘I just got out of bed’ look. In fact on windy days they probably think “awww you can tell she’s only been married 2.5 years” - no actually that’s just “the wind sweepin’ down the plain into my already disheveled hair” look ;-) A cowboy hat is a necessity here not a fashion statement and what’s more, nobody assumes you’re on a hen-night or gay if they see you wearing one!

And thank the lord that I have never been a girl inclined to wear skirts or dresses, because I’d have been arrested for inadvertent knicker flashing by now. You will not see me in anything but trousers unless it’s a perfectly still day, and even then you take your chances with that sudden pesky gust. Oh boy have I seen some sights in Walmart’s parking lot on gusty days and they weren’t all pretty!

Then there are the effects on your senses. You see not only is it windier than you could ever imagine here, but it’s also so dry I am beginning to think I moved to the desert. These things combined mean I don’t need a beauty salon to get micro-dermabrasion, I can just stand in my yard on a windy day and get sandblasted for free!

There are days when the whole sky is a muddy brown colour due to all the dirt flying around, no wonder this area was known as the ‘dust bowl’. It gets in your nose, throat and eyes resulting basically in an allergy effect. Yesterday it was terribly windy, so I had to remove my contact lenses by 11am because my eyes wouldn’t stop streaming and my contacts were blurred to the point where I could no longer see. Not a good thing when you’re responsible for a lot of other peoples precious little darlings! More of the same today predicted.

Luckily though I was wearing trousers and what started off as a bad hair day, turned into a good one for me, but not so good for everyone else! You see there’s always an upside, even when you’re being wind-whipped from all sides.

So consider yourself warned, that lyric is no lie, and if you ever venture into Okieland come prepared in trousers, put down the straighteners and let your hair just go with the flow!

*Last day to enter Caption Competition & win – roll down*

Handbag of the day....J-Lo!

Meet J-Lo a cherished birthday gift from my Aunt Nicki and family a few years ago and named because she ‘glows’ like J-Lo and I could imagine her carrying this ladylike dainty bag. She is an extremely pretty and glamourous handbag for all social occasions. Her small size doesn’t make her practical for everyday use, but something that looks this good needs to be saved for special events.

One of my favourite features of J-Lo is her contrasting tortoise-shell handles against the mother of pearl and seed pearl embellishment. Inside she is white satin with one zipped interior pocket and she fastens with a magnetic closure. I happen to love geometric patterns; I was the kid in class always doodling geometric shapes across all my books! So her pattern is very appealing to this side of me, I also play around with mosaic tiling at times for the same reason.

Her mother of pearl is very eye-catching and her ever changing natural tones also work very well with just about any outfit. J-Lo is a classy little handbag and a keeper I will be using for many years.

*Last day to enter Caption Competition & win – roll down*

AI reality check time......

C’mon American Idol fans, well all those that aren’t under 16 and female, Jason Castro or ‘dreddy boy’ needs to go next week. I like him but he is no superstar and he doesn’t even have a particularly strong or great voice, and that hair is a total turnoff!

It’s time to let him and his Ukulele head off into the sunset, before AI becomes farcical and a mere popularity contest. Good luck to big softy Brooke, you go girl but now was also time for you to head home.

My money is firmly on David C, he’s just in another league.

Oh and absolutely loved the re-appearance of Simon Cowell's first love, highly entertaining and he was almost embarressed!

*Last day to enter Caption Competition & win – roll down*