Re-hydrated and Revived

Thanks to the fabulous Amazon and next day delivery, my enforced hot tea drought is over! Behold my lovely new Braun electric kettle. Last time I went for looks over practicality in my kettle, well in the words of Carrie in SATC....could'a, would'a, should'a....gone with practicality. The other might have looked stylish, but it was a bugger to keep shiny, the handle was in the wrong place and it broke.

This one had the top rating on Amazon, was alot cheaper than the stainless versions and is fast and quiet. It also lifts off that base for filling and pouring, it even features a built in filter.

So here I am brewing my first of 2 mugs of Twinings Earl Grey, my tea of choice if it's not my morning PG Tips cuppa. Do you like my antique storage tin? I found it in a little antiques and collectibles store in Cheyenne, it's perfect for air-tight loose tea storage.

The interesting gadget in my mug (sent to me by a friend in the UK who knows me VERY well!) is an individual tea brewer/strainer. We found it at Bed, Bath and Beyond and it's used more than any other gadget we own. Hubster is a big Earl Grey drinker too, but when it's just one of us drinking, the teapot is just too big for the job. This will easily produce 2 cuppa's of perfect strength brew from one scoop of tea leaves.

And the finished cuppa was delicious, I feel restored having been on an enforced 24 hour tea drought.

I am also feeling alot better. Today I have slept on and off all day long, look human again for the first time in a week, and will return to work tomorrow.

Brit' Gal definition of a CRISIS!

I am dying of thirst for hot tea and awaiting the UPS man with my Amazon overnight replacement, with great impatience!

BWOTD Competition!?

Okay so let's see what you've learnt with all these Brit' Words of the Day and reading my blog.

I thought we'd have a bit of fun and see which of my AMERICAN only (note Rob', Stuart, Toni, Janet's etc) readers could translate the following coloured words correctly. There will be a little prize for the reader who gets the most. So please translate the following into the comments, you may want to use your copy/paste!

'I got up this morning and had a bacon butty for breakfast, makes a change from toast & jam, whilst looking at my post. I headed off to work down the dual-carriageway, but noticed my indicator seemed to be on the blink. I pulled over, took a gander under the bonnet and even got my torch out of the boot, but couldn't fix it.

Made it into work and it wasn't long before I was ready for some elevenses. I popped out to the High Street, got some dosh from the hole in the wall and then indulged in some crisps and a pack of biccies.

By noon I was already contemplating lunch and today the bill was mine to get. Should I have some real comfort food like bangers & mash, or pop to the Chippie for some real Fish Fingers and greasy chips! The fair is in town and at quarter past three a colleague decided to make a run for some candy floss. At this rate I'll have gained a stone by bedtime!

Bit like a BWOTD crossword equivalent - good luck!

Tornado time's here again!

Oklahoma had it's first Fall Tornado Watch tonight. Yep it's already that time again, for Brit' Gal tornado paranoia to set in!

I need to check the storm cellar for spiders or worse, make sure there's some water down there and check the batteries in the storm radio. And mentally psych myself up, just in case!

Doctored up

Well after another night of little sleep and constant coughing or congestion, this morning I went to see my doctor. I have a chest, ear and eye infection all caused by a nasty case of the 'crud' as he put it.

I am on antibiotics the size of horse pills, seriously I have never seen such huge antibiotics before! Cough mixture that has a suppressant and would have been $67 without my insurance. You Brit's out there, I nearly died when he told me how much the bottle of cough mixture was, before I remembered my insurance!!

I am also not allowed to return to work until Wednesday at the earliest, dependant on me feeling alot better.

One really cute kitty thing though. Cal-Jo, our middle child, has determinedly slept on my lap in the recliner for the past 2 nights, despite my constant hacking and wheezing. Bless her little heart, she just won't leave me for the bed and is catching up on all her lost sleep in the day, now I'm off to join her.

Porch Pleasures

One of the things I enjoy most about the American home life, is the tradition of decorating the porch. Some might consider it a little 'twee', but I grasped the concept with both hands from the moment I moved here and ran with it.

In the UK most homes really don't have a covered porch that lends itself to be decorated. But here many people take real pride in their porch. I love driving down residential streets and seeing their personally designed porch displays. I am often amazed at how original and inspired they are, I am still a novice relying on Hobby Lobby and Garden Ridge for inspiration.

Our porch is a public extension of our home, it reflects our personalities and our pride in our home. So I embrace decorating it for all the holidays and seasons of the year, I am always on the lookout for ideas or things to add to 'our look'.

We enjoy using our porch to sit quietly and enjoy a beautiful day or just discuss life. We have the modern version of a porch swing, the glider swing, comfortable and practical with somewhere to set your drink. The flag stays all year round and is our personal tribute to the country we are proud to call home. I love to see the patriotically decorated porches and the show of national pride the owners are happy to put out on public display.

Having adjusted to 'porch life', I would now never consider a home without a porch to sit on. I think for a foreigner the American porch and it's swing, is like the white picket fence, a slice of the American Dream. We use it all year round to welcome our guests, on sunny days for shade, stormy nights for shelter as we watch and christmas nights to spread cheer.

Do you have a porch and do you decorate?

And now I have viral conjunctivitis!

Yep, the sickness just goes on in our home. In fact last night I had to sleep on a recliner to ease the coughing and nasal congestion! I am still very coldy, have swollen weepy eyes and I'd say there's a less than 50% chance of work tomorrow.

Last week was just too much. I got run-down, then sick and when you have an auto-immune disease, it's always harder to recover.

Autumn calling

A few brilliant flashes of summer colour remain

Slowly they are starting to wilt and fade

The roses fight on in defiance

The grasses sway a little more in cooler breezes

Buds that will never bloom cling on in hope

The lows before dawn claim a few victims

But the warm colours of Autumn march onwards

As the Cottonwood gives up her leaves and sleeps

It may still be 90 out, but Autumn is calling

Power of four meme

I was tagged by Rob my Brit'/Canuck neighbour.

Here are the instructions: What you are supposed to do...and please don't spoil the fun...Copy/paste, type in your answers and tag four people in your lists! Don't forget to change my answers to the questions with those of your own.

A) Four places I go over and over: back to school (for work), the bathroom (well don't we all!?), the library (to bag some bargain books) and my chiropractor (who even emails me jokes!)

B) Four people who e-mail me regularly: Daryl, Pam, Gill and Sharon

C) Four of my favourite places to eat: let me preface this by saying I have yet to find four in Okieland! Curry Garden in Rickmansworth (UK), Charlestons in OKC, Yo Sushi in Harvey Nichols London, just about anywhere in Italy!

D) Four places you'd rather be: Venice, Rome, on a Beach, Old Trafford watching Giggs

E) Four TV shows I could watch over and over: Sex and the City, 24, Boston Legal and All Creatures Great and Small

F) Four people I think will respond: it's late, so if you fancy it, take it and run with it people.

Porch cleaning horror!

OMGG!!

I was just outside cleaning our porch and taking down my summer decorations in order to dress it for Fall, when I found this in my pail of rocks.

Remember I have a severe case of Arachnaphobia and you can probably imagine the piercing scream I let out as it ran towards my hand. I dropped the pail, screamed for the hubster repeatedly and ran for it onto the drive.

Can you believe despite all this racket and me screaming "big, spider, I think it's a Tarantula - hurry", he literally saunters out of the garage, grinning away and telling me to calm down. You won't be surprised to hear I smacked him as he ambled past and gave him a shove to hurry up before it escaped.

I have to say he was a little more cautious as he approached the pail, as I repeatedly said "it really is huge this time" (in the past it has maybe been expanded by my imagination). As I hurriedly headed indoors he called out "it's a Wolf spider and harmless".

Maybe so Mr, but it was bloody huge and about 6 times the size of any spider I've ever seen before! The hubster just came in to see if I was okay and said "yes you can call that a big spider" and now he's laughing at me.

I am recovering before I venture out again.

My first and last book fair

Well after the week from hell for me, and all the teachers struggling to deal with kids over-excited about the book fair, it was agreed we won't be doing it again.

We ended up beating last year by an additional $500, but as our Principal said the cost/stress to all of us was just too much. At one point today as I did the lunch count I actually thought I might pass out, I was feeling that sick and stressed. But I made it, had to take a beta blocker for the first time in a few months and I have an unbelievably red nose.

Apparently one of the Kindergartners was quite upset after seeing me and kept asking his teacher is Miss Sarah going to be okay! We were all worn to a frazzle and agreed we can earn just as many free books from the Book Orders program, hold a fundraiser, or get donations easily from our very supportive community. And none of these at the cost of our health and sanity!

To be honest for me I had reached the point where it was either: A) another book fair or B) new secretary!!

So next week is our homecoming and will without doubt be a whole lot more fun for all :-)

Skywatch Friday

'Nightfall'

If you'd like to join in, go to the Skywatch website.

My new bestfriend!

Brit' Gal bouncing back!

Well last night was a haze of sleep, a 101 fever and generally feeling horrid. Poor old hubster only got about a dozen words out of me all night, but then he might have sneakily enjoyed the peace.

But miracles do happen and this morning I woke up free of the aching head, ears, teeth etc....but with a head cold. I have had alot worse in my time and apart from the fact I am surgically attached to a Kleenex box, I am at work and a little more perky.

Normal service will resume later :-)

** 8 hours later just call me Rudolph!

How long until Monday?

Excuse the pity party my friends, but I have totally had it with this week and just want it to be Monday and a fresh start.

You know all about my massive PC disaster, the full implications of which are now hitting me and depressing me greatly.

What you don't know is on Tuesday morning (the day after PC D-day) I woke up to find I could not stand up straight and my back was killing me. The whole thing seemed to be in spasm and I looked like the little old lady who lived in a shoe!

When I got to work my boss could tell how bad things were and let me leave to go to the chiropracter. His diagnosis being I was a mess with swelling in my lower back, totally turned around from how he usually finds me and so he worked on me for 10 minutes. I then had the tens machine for 15 minutes and had to spend the next day and a half on Aleve and with an ice pack strapped to my lower back as I worked! He thinks I did it unpacking the book fair last week, despite having help and being careful. I have to return to see him tomorrow night.

The book fair is ALOT of work and I feel like I have not stopped running the whole week, so it has been no fun for me, just an additional burden to carry.

Then this morning I woke up with a really bad throat, nose and ears. I assumed it was allergies, as I have not escaped the Okieland curse where allergies are concerned. But by this afternoon I had a fever of 99.6, chills on and off, a stonking headache, ear-ache and that prickly skin feeling you get before sickness. Another colleague was feeling the same way, so I think the lurgy has now struck me, probably because I was so low anyway!

At this point I am getting into bed at 5pm, as I have totally had it up to my eyeballs for this week. Plus with the book fair still going on, being off work is not an option, so I need to do all I can to help me feel better.

So forgive the pity party, it's really not like me and I promise to perk up by Friday!

Getting dressed the hard way!

Victoria Beckham has worn some very odd outfits in the past, many of which I have disliked.

Now this dress is cute, but what is going on with those boots!! And oh boy, how I wish she had been filming one of her infamous 'fly on the wall' shows, when she was getting dressed.

I bet the cuss words and shrieked "Daviiiid's" were heard all over her house. Or I pity the poor assistant who had to help her talc and squeeze her skinny pins into these ridiculous PVC thigh high boots!