Here's what I was up to yesterday

A week or so ago I decided I wanted to soften the look of my main guest room, which is themed as a 'Beach' room, to remind me of the sea that's now so very far away. It has been this rich turquoise since Dec' 2005, just after we moved in here and did all the original decorating. Above is the before photo' which would have been better if I had put the darned light on!

I saw a TV show where a designer had ragged over a darker colour with a lighter shade and decided to give that a go. Well I started ragging with a paler powder blue and instantly hated it! Not good, so I started scrubbing at it like a nutter with paper towel and stumbled upon exactly the look I was aiming for all along! LOL

I had bought a special glove with the rags attached and so I just started putting less of the glaze/paint mix on it and really rubbing it in to the wall in a circular motion. This way I didn't have to mess with the paper towels and the end result looks a bit like marble.

The reason it worked so well though, is that our wall already had a distinct texture to it, so the mix highlighted the texturising.

I decided to leave 2 walls in the original colour as accent walls, one is almost totally hidden by a bed wall unit and the other has a large double window. The Hubster and I both agree by doing this it really highlights the other 2 ragged walls. My vivid imagination also thinks it looks like the sea, with darker deeper water and then the foamy lighter water closer to shore ;-)

Anyway it was hard work but I am extremely chuffed with the end result and we think we will use this technique again in our sitting room, but in much softer colours. I should mention that when we moved in here the whole house was what us Brit's refer to as 'Magnolia' (rich cream). Now every single room is a different colour and we're not talking any of those 'hint of' colours, I like to see my colour!

Brit' Word of the Day....

Todays BWOTD originates from our seafaring history:

"When they showed up, it totally scuppered our plans"

"The whole event was scuppered by bad weather"

Scuppered = obstruct something, throw a monkey wrench in

This term comes from our nations seafaring days, the scupper being a drain designed to allow water to flow overboard from the deck of a ship. To be “scuppered” is to be hit by a wave large enough to knock you into this drain. It is also derived from the obvious seafaring term, where “scuppering” something is to sink it.

Canada here we come

Time for another Formula One race this weekend and this time it's Canada, so we get to have our only lie in this season! The race is on FOX at NOON Sunday, if you fancy watching.

McLaren and Lewis Hamilton are on a roll after his Monaco win and he was quickest in the practice session today, so fingers crossed. This was the site of his first ever Grand Prix victory last year, so the omens are good.

*UPDATE* Boy Wonder strikes again! Pole sitter for the race :-)

Tag catch up - Part Deux!

My Texan neighbour Rhea got me for this one and of course coming from Texas it just had to be bigger!

So here goes...

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was 31 years old and working as a Personal Assistant to the Divisional Managing Director of Beko UK in Watford. This caused an odd coincidence in my life as he is Turkish, so is the company and my then husband was also a Turk! So I was married to my now ex' and this was about the time I had my one and only maternal urge. For a few weeks there I thought about having a baby, but the timing wasn't right (I know it never is) and I wasn't really sure it was what I wanted. Turns out I made the right decision, as I would probably not be here now and I have never regretted it! Oh and I was also about 50lbs heavier, glad that's no longer the case!

Five Snacks I enjoy:

1. Carrs Water Crackers (by appointment to HM Queen no less!)
2. Chocolate
3. Homemade milkshakes or smoothies
4. Hummus on Pita
5. Black Olives

Five Things On My To-Do List Today:

What list!? LOL Sorry but lists are for work or shopping, here's what I plan to do though:

1. Laundry
2. Gardening - feed roses and deadhead
3. Continue to scrape paint or ragging the guest room!
4. Go for a swim at our outdoor pool
5. Clean the tropical fish tank

Things I Would Do If I Were A Billionaire:

First of all I'd probably pee my pants in excitement and giggle hysterically for a few hours! Then I would do the following:

1. Pay off my brother and my bestfriends mortgages
2. Hire or buy a private jet for all travel around the world
3. I would take a month long first class vacation in Italy
4. I would donate $1m to the ASPCA here and RSPCA in the UK
5. I would persuade the Hubster to retire early
6. I would buy equivalent value homes outright for all my stepkids
7. I would buy an NYC apartment for weekend visits and shopping
8. I would make a $100,000 donation to our town volunteer fire dept
9. I would ensure all our family were out of any debt and comfortable
10. I would pay off any debts we had at the time
11. I would buy an apartment downtown in OKC for weekends
12. I would buy all the shoes and handbags I ever desired!

Five Jobs I Have Had:

1. Dental Assistant
2. Realtor / Estate Agent
3. Sales Manager
4. Office Manager
5. Human Resources Manager

Five of My Bad Habits:

1. Spending too much time on the computer!
2. Driving too fast, although I am slower with gas prices so high!
3. Eating too fast
4. Going to bed too late
5. Starting but not finishing lots of projects!

Five Places I've Lived:

1. Rochdale, Gtr Manchester
2. Chenies, Herts
3. Little Chalfont, Bucks
4. Watford, Herts
5. Oklahoma, USA!

6 People I Want To Get To Know Better (yep, you're tagged!)

Victoria
A Novelist
Jan
Steamed Sponge
Brad
Tom

Five Random Things:

1. I am very freckly in the summer
2. I prefer stockings to pantyhose
3. I bruise very easily due to Graves Disease
4. I refuse to eat jellied eels or calf fries!
5. I love wearing hats

Ok guys if you made it this far - take note, this Brit' Gal is done with Tags and Meme's for a wee while please!

Bonnie B' made a friend & playmate in Cal-Jo!

WooHoo - officially got 32mpg!

A little less 'ZOOM ZOOM' did the trick ;-)

Batten down the hatches fellow Okies!

I hope y'all are watching the weather or have got your weather radio's handy. It's looking more and more like we are about to have a severe weather outbreak. The TV stations are sending their spotters out our way now, but to be honest it looks like it may be past us by 4pm.

It's the rest of you I am more concerned about, as apparently the conditions are much more conducive than usual for large hail and tornadoes. Right now it's terribly windy here and starting to cloud over, but still 94 degrees which is not a good thing as y'all know!

As Rick Mitchell just said, start thinking now about where to go if it does kick-off like they think it's going to in western and central Okieland. Stay safe everyone.

Well I am off now folks...

I made it to 365 blog posts for this year, so I figure I'll just take the rest of it off and see you back here Jan 1st 2009!

Ta Ta for now ;-)

Confession!

Well I finally fell off the Weightwatchers rolling wagon for awhile there and have spent 5 weeks going up and down like a tarts drawers!

The net result is I am up 6lbs right now, but I have now been back totally 'On Plan' for 2 days and am confessing as I seem to be back on the straight and narrow. I refuse to reverse the 30lbs lost way on down the bottom of the blog, so watch for the slide moving in the right direction again by July.

However, if you still see it stuck on 30 by July 3rd, feel free to abuse me generally and remind me I prefer my butt as non-fat skinny latte!

Tag catch up

Sandi McBride tagged me a week or more ago and I finally have time to catch up! So here goes....

The Rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about you in your blog post.
4. Tag six people in your post.
5. Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

So now I have to come up with six random things that I haven't already divulged to the hungry masses! Okay digging deep:

1. I have a passion for everything Italian and have visited both Venice and Rome. I love the climate, the history, the architecture, the food and the people...if I could live anywhere that's where I'd be!

2. I am a great believer in friendship and seem to have acquired more female friends than average! I also tend to stay close to my good friends for literally years. However I pick and choose my friends carefully mainly because I am blessed with many already. The quickest way to guarantee losing my friendship, is to be two-faced or not put in the effort to maintain the relationship. Friendship is a two way street and just like a marriage it requires work to maintain it.

3. I am still a part-owner in a Fish, Chip and Kebab shop in Hertfordshire run by my ex-husband.

4. I have one brother who is 4 years younger and has his own business as a Dental Technician. I am extremely proud of him as he is/was very dyslexic and he now runs his own highly successful business, built from nothing but determination and hard work. He gets to consult in hospitals helping rebuild people's faces, works abroad and is well known in the industry.

5. I love henna tattoo's, the arty kind and have a kit here to do them and I am about to have a go at doing my own.

6. I am very blessed with my paternal grandmothers wonderful skin and rarely need to wear full make-up (foundation) unless I just particularly want that look.

Okay now I am going to tag 6 blogging buddies for this, BUT I will totally understand if you want to give it a miss :-)

So your number's up:

Pam OKC
It's Just Me Daring to Dream
Chellie
Teresa
Daryl
Karla

My Bugs on 'speed' point illustrated!

So as I was catching up on my blogging buddies I hear an ominous buzzing above my head, look up and see this monster! I think it's a wasp but hell it's so darned big and disjointed, I wasn't at all sure?

Anyway off I run to get my trusty and extremely old bug catcher as the Hubster is asleep and after a bit of jigging around I get him, photograph him and then release him outside. This is such a clever contraption, as being clear they don't see it coming and then you just slide the trapdoor shut on them and remove to the outside.

I have never seen another one again and will be doing everything I can to keep this one in active service living here! But that was a big ol' thingummyjig!

Hey you Brit's reading this...

I hear it's been bucketing down over there now for a few days and last week was like winter all over again. Oh boy do I not miss the English weather ever!

Well you ought to be in Okieland my friends, here are our temps for the past 3 days:

Monday - 107 degrees
Tuesday - 98 degrees
Today - peaked at 102 degrees an hour ago
Tomorrow - predicted 98 degrees

I am sitting in my nice air-con' cooled house with all the curtains closed against the fierce sun and heat, using the lights! LOL

This is not the time for doing what most Brit's would do in this type of weather - lotioning up, lying out in it and turning into a lobster, trust me! Still nice though as we have low humidity and a breeze.

Brit' Word of the Day....

Today's BWOTD is a fun one to try on your friends!

"Can you budge up please"

'Budge Up' = Skootch Over or Move Over

So if someone you know is hogging a little too much of the sofa, then you now know what to say to completely throw them! ;-)

Bonnie Blue progress report

Well she's full of personality, beans and very vocal, she likes to let us know what she thinks as can clearly be seen above!


She loves to have fun and spends hours playing and keeping us thoroughly entertained and occupied, 1.75lbs of endless entertainment basically!

As you can see not only is she outnumbered (Cal-Jo is out of sight under the table) but significantly outsized as well! She has no fear at all of either of them and will run right up to them and has even tried to play with Cal-Jo's tail. Most of the time she just ignores them and prances around them playing under close Hubster supervision.

Sukie pictured above is older and she is going to take longer to thaw and is more put out. But despite them both still hissing if she gets too close, Cal-Jo is definitely showing signs of non-aggressive interest. Bonnie Blue is still living in her own room and sleeping there and is now in a routine. Interestingly her introduction seems to have brought the other two much closer together!

But she still gets tired very quickly and she loves to sleep on the bed next to this big teddy bear. Her day is basically sleep for hours, eat, drink, toilet, play for an hour with occasional snacks and then she gets all sleepy again and we tuck her up!

We are 'in love' totally; she is adorable, extremely affectionate, cuddly, and she follows us everywhere we go when out of her room, prancing around like a bouncy Princess Tippy Toes! :-)

*Click on piccies to supersize them*

Can someone explain to me...

why your week starts on a Sunday!? After all Sunday is the 'day of rest' according to The Bible and so surely Monday is the start of a new week, but apparently not here!?

I find this utterly bizarre considering how religion is such a huge part of everyday American life. Even after nearly 3 years I still have to occasionally do a double take at the calendar to remind myself that the first day of the calendar week is Sunday here.

Were you even aware that in Europe, the first day of the week on calendars is Monday?

Needing decorating help...

So I have a bathroom with paint peeling off the previous layer of paint. The top layer is obviously not a 'bathroom' paint and so it has just not withstood the moisture levels. The top layer has a slight texture to it, so I either have to get it all off (which would be nigh on impossible as some area's are well bonded) or re-cover the whole lot to hide the different textures.

I am scraping off the loosest paint and having a go at everywhere else. My intention is then to retexturise the whole room but I think it will need priming beforehand?

Anyone had a similar situation and how did you do it?

(It's taken forever to type this as Bonnie keeps running across the keyboard!)

I got the job I really wanted!

Most of you know I have been working as a 'freelance' substitute teacher the past 2 years in our local schools. During that time I soon found out there was one elementary school in particular I loved to work in and I felt very at home there. I have also developed some good friendships with the staff in this particular school and liking the people you work with and for, is crucial I think.

I also knew that if the School Secretary ever left it would be my perfect job and all my previous work experience would make it a very comfortable fit. Well 2 weeks ago she quit and so I applied and then kept everything firmly crossed. This is a job I have regularly substituted at both the Elementary and the High School, so I was hopeful I would have a good chance.

I got it! :-)

The new Principal, a very friendly, professional and enthusiastic lady called me this afternoon and after discussion we agreed terms. I am delighted and very excited and I am certain we will make a good team as I think we share similar working ethics and standards. It will also be fun to be working together both new in our roles and being able to change things up to suit the way she wants to run things. Although she is the 'new' Principal, she was promoted from 5th grade teacher, so we already know, respect and like each other.

Other big advantages from my point of view are it's just 7 miles from home on empty roads, the office is really nice, I get school hours and holidays, plus a 10mth contract although I can choose to work in June/July if I want to. Considering I need time to return to the UK every few years, or to be here when my mum comes for a month....this works brilliantly.

I will be starting in the next week, just doing half days in June to prepare for the new school year and then I will take July off to be with my mum.

I waited 2yrs before I plunged back into a full time job, but this was deliberate having had the 'big' career back in the UK. This time it was all about a nice job, that was well within my capabilities, with nice people and not too much stress. It took time to find the right thing, but I have no doubts whatsoever this job is it and I am very happy.

So no more substituting puking Pre-K'ers for moi, I will now be the one calling in some other unsuspecting sub' to do the dirty work! ;-)

Bare with me here...

for the next few days, as obviously I am a new mom and life is a bit chaotic to say the least! LOL

What with looking after little Bonnie Blue, who incidentally passed her vet inspection with flying colours, and giving my other 2 lots of attention - I'm kinda busy!

Plus with my mum heading this way in a month, I am trying to strip the bathroom, re-texturise and then paint it before she gets here. As the Hubster needs that done before he can fit the new sink and tap and we have a multitude of other chores around here to do too.

Bloglife should return to normal service within days :-)

Handbag of the day....Miss Match!

I spotted 'Miss Match' in a Coldwater Creek catalogue this spring and wearing so much Blue and Aqua' I just had to have her. So the next time I was in OKC I went along to a store but could only see the orange version out on display. But they went and dug around in the stockroom and found her for me.

Obviously 'Miss Match' is a play on words, as she actually matches just about everything I wear, especially as I'm usually in jeans!

She is made from a woven dyed straw and I love her wavy pattern and shape, which are both unusual. She has a navy cotton lining, is zipped on top and has a few interior pockets. The handles are long enough to use her as a shoulder bag and are made of wrapped leather with the decorative wooden beads. She is a good sized everyday summertime bag and I have already used her alot this year, so definitely a good buy.

Nothing like Immigration...

to test your faith in the government!

Some of you may remember I had to ask for a special stamp in my passport when I went for fingerprinting 3 weeks ago, because we hadn't received a receipt and extension after 6 weeks.

A few days later the NOA-1 or extension letter finally arrived here and so I then had both. Well guess what showed up Saturday?

Yep yet another NOA-1 extension letter with a different later date on it! Kinda makes you wonder if the right hand knows what the left hand's doing? Still now I have 3 proofs of extension for another year whilst I wait on a 10yr Green card, and some poor people still don't have any!

Meet Bonnie Blue (maybe)

We brought her home this afternoon and not long after we got her home the Hubster said "how about Bonnie Blue as she's a cutie with blue/green eyes?". Well right now it just seems to fit her perfectly, as Sherri commented on the other thread, you just know. So for now she's Bonnie or Bonnie Blue.

So far she is settling in fine, she hasn't drunk any water yet but has eaten 3 times, the last lot was the Hills Kitten Biscuits which she acted like she loved going by all the funny mewing noises and crunching! She also hasn't used the cat litter, which she has no experience with, but we keep putting her in it and shuffling her paws. Helpfully Cal-Jo had a tiny pee in one corner, so we have left it as she has sniffed but not hissed and she needs someone to show her!

She is a big snuggler, for the first few hours she slept first on me, then Erin my stepdaughter and then the Hubster. She likes to snuggle right into your neck or shoulder and has been purring alot. I also let her wander around the dining room where she met Cal-Jo who sat watching her at close range for 20 minutes. When Bonnie approached she hissed naturally but no aggression and she had a good sniff of her. Bonnie appears to be oblivious to her being unfriendly and just continued playing with a toy around her. The last hour she has got more confident exploring her room and a bit more vocal, which is all a good sign.

Now she is back in her room sound asleep, snuggled against a pillow. Tomorrow I take her to the vet for a checkup and her first shots. We think she's a keeper :-)

*10pm* We put some soil in her cat litter and it worked, she immediately pee'd. She now thinks I am mom and purrs whenever she see's me, so I have put a slightly warm furry hot water bottle in her bed and my t-shirt from today. Right now she is walking all over me as I type purring up a storm, the girls seem to be settling too.