Happy Halloween!

Wishing you all treats and no tricks

Opps

I found out last night that I miscalculated my time zone differences.* Not in a chatty mood, but needing to give my mother a message, I opted to leave a message on her home answerphone. To my shock she answered:

Karen "What are you doing home so early"
Mom "Leave work early and got my errands done"
K "What time did you leave work - it's like 3pm your time isn't it"
M "No, it's around 5"
K [light bulb moment happens] "ohhh"

An hour after calling (not in a chatty mood) we hung up. I guess she was in a chatty mood or had just been starved from Karen attention for too long. I was a good listener :)

*Virgina is 4 hours behind, Texas AND Arkansas are 5 hours behind and California is 7 hours behind.

Thank you Mom & Dad

For my birthday in July my parents sent me £25. Yes, they went to the trouble of ordering British Pounds and then sent them to me in the post. I have lovely parents really! I finally spent my birthday money last week. I got a lurverly ring with it! Thanks parents - it's just what I wanted. I couldn't have chosen better if I got it myself [giggle]

Tick tock

Our clocks went back yesterday morning at 2am. This means I'm currently an extra hour ahead of America (6 hours for Virgina, 7 hours in Texas and 9 hours in California.) It also means I got an extra hours' sleep on Sunday :-D

Call me a socialite

My social life has been a bit busier then typical lately. I'm too old to keep this up ... but I'm enjoying trying :)

Friday night I went to Ed's (a mate from work) house party in West London. It was a very good house party. And I knew it was a 'north of the river' house party - canapes as finger foods - nice! I'm glad I put my face on and did my hair! (Actually i looked quite fabulous!) House parties are an odd thing. Some are good, some fall on their face - and it's hard to pin point exactly what makes one work. This one had a good ratio of men to women. Good food, good conversation, good music and no one off their face making a nuisance of themselves.

Ed even treated a few of us to his keyboard and vocal skills.

Saturday I went back to West London for a rugby game. My first ever rugby match. Colm & Eddie* joined a team last week and it was their first match. I'd say they got pretty beaten up, but it was worth it as they won. Eddie left shortly after the game and Colm, Helen and I went for a meal at TGIFridays. Good food and a good crack. I left Helen to make sure Colm survives the night - he's convinced his brain might be swelling due to a hard hit in the game. He was keen on showing off his war wounds from the match :) Get better soon Colm.

Rugby huddle

Someone was injured and parametics called. Rugby is a man's game after all.

*Colm is Helen's man and Eddie a mutual friend of theirs.

Ridiculous!

Last week I broke the antenna off my car off in a £5 car wash. Stupid I know. Expensive mistake - absolutely. Wednesday I called my local Nissan dealership to book it in to get it fixed. They told me to bring the car down. So I did. They then told me they'd need to book it in. Irritated was I but I booked it in for today. Wednesday I was told the price of the antenna and base (it snapped off at the base - yes, more expensive) would be x* amount of pounds and because to fit the new parts they would have to take the inside of the rook off it would cost approximately £40. Now I don't recall whether that included VAT or not, so I was expecting to pay at most £55. After an hour and 26 minutes waiting, I was told that it came to £82 and change. How irritated am I?! There's a big difference between £40 some odd pounds and £82. Was there anything I could do, no. How irritated am I? Extremely.

I did tell the garage I wouldn't be back.

*I forgot the exact amount for each part

Catch up with Karen

So this past week's been busy. And I have lots of pictures for you. Be warned.

Last Thursday I went to see a TV show being recorded. Not the best of shows but it was a night out. And it was kind of interesting to see what all goes into recording a show. It was a panel show called 'And then You Die' - attractive title huh :) It was a comedy show making fun of the horrible things we do and that happen to us. Oh yes, the host was a puppet. Hmm.

This was the stage set

I went with a friend / colleague called Siobhan

(Not the best picture, but it's what I got)

When I got home, Helen's boyfriend was here.

Friday night I drove to Derby. Every year I go to the fair with a friend of mine, Andrew. I'm not sure why I go to the fair. I force myself to ride one ride (don't like fair rides) and I'm not too hot on all the games. But despite it all, I love our yearly tradition!

This was taken in front o the ride I got on. It was actually a fun ride - and I didn't feel sick after it :) I out-did myself and managed a second ride this year. Impressive. It was only the Ferris Wheel, but that did make me feel sick. The bonus - really cool views :)

This is Andrew on ride number 3. Far too scary and nauseating for me.
Scary ride:

Saturday Andrew and I drove up to Manchester. Andrew was quite fascinated by this building. It is kinda weird architecture and somewhat amazing it's still standing. We then went to a science museum. There was so pretty old stuff in there. Ok, yes I know museum = old stuff on display. There were a few different buildings.

This building had old bicycles and motor bikes and cars...

...and planes There was another building with trains. This was Andrew's favourite I think. He's a bit of a train buff. He's engrossed by an engine here:

And the oldest train station was there. (There were no good photo shots, so I took one of the sign.) Sunday was church and then we went to a beautiful old estate and took pictures. It was a great afternoon out. Sunday night I spent visiting with Patty and John (my second set of parents).

Monday I visited with Ken (a great friend and the minister who married Ben and I). Monday night I went out with Grant, another friend. Then we watched a DVD, Tristen and Isolde.

Tuesday I had lunch with my former boss and then headed back to London. By the time I got to London it was rush hour. It was horrible. SO many people, so many bikes and motor cycles. I'm sure I almost hit at least 3 people on bikes / motor cycles. But luckily no hits.

Look at the left of this picture: see the mass of bike riders? And the blur of people:

When I got back, I noticed the pumpkin wasn't fond of the warmth of the flat. Mould had taken over, and poor Jack met his death.

Today Helen got back today from Ireland and we've been watching DVDs this afternoon. very forgettable ones, but a nice relaxing afternoon.

(Cheryl look in the bottom right of this picture .... can you tell what's on the mug? Your Alma Mater)

The beginning of the end

I guess that statement will never be more valid for me than right now. I started divorce proceedings today.

N.B. Instead of asking why it took so long, just be supportive and say "Well done, I know that was hard".

One of "those" days

Yesterday was rubbish. After school I went to get my legs waxed. I was more than a bit over due for a wax. I am now nice and hairless. After the waxing I came home and the day went down hill. I was hungry but nothing sounded appetising. I was bored but nothing couldn't think of anything to do. Making matters worse or better, I'm not sure, but my flatmate was in the same mood. [sigh]

We ended up watching Two Weeks Notice. A great movie, which I did enjoy. But throughout the whole movie I couldn't get comfortable. Then I went to bed and woke up today with a stiff back. Yesterday was a day not to be repeated. Ho hum.

Happy Halloween!

Yes, even though I'm "grown up" and there are no children to enjoy the efforts, I still carve a jack-o-lantern most years. The efforts this year for your viewing pleasure:

Got to love the slime!

I went to get something down stairs and came back to this.

It was too funny not to capture - knife in the eye, ouch.
The finished product

and of course a bit of fun was had :)
My mother should be proud - even the pumpkin seeds were baked. Yum yum.

Happy Halloween!

Water-logged weekend

My poor ipod! I was taking a bath yesterday afternoon, listening to my ipod (as you do), and then it fell in the bath. Bummer! It wasn't working properly last night - after its' swimming fiasco. Here's hoping it dries out and works fine. Otherwise - great Christmas present idea :-)

That was the exciting part of my weekend. I had a pretty chilled weekend. Friday after work I went to the local for a few drinks - but wasn't really 'feeling it' so I came home. My flatmate and I decided to watch a dvd - Sister Act was chosen. I haven't seen that in years! Saturday morning we carried on with the dvd watching, this time Return to Me was the selection - what a great chick flick! After the movie Helen headed off to watch the Rugby with her man. I stayed behind and did a bit of clutter purging. I ended up going through a lot of old photos. Man, how time flies!

that Friday feeling

..nothing more need to be said.

London

I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to take advantage of living in London. SO many things are going on that I don't do. Wednesday I arranged tickets for some friends and I to see the recording of Graham Norton Live. The tickets you get tell you that they give out more tickets than there are places to sit. Well apparently the studio had never had so many people turn up for the show. Bad news is as we were at the back of the queue...we didn't get in. Good news is that we got re-booked to see him later in the series. And this time we have priority seats which means no queueing or first come first serve - our seats are reserved. I ended up having a good evening even without Graham Norton. We had a drink looking out onto the Thames River and then went for an Italian. Very nice indeed.

Thursday I met up with Hayley. A pleasant evening as always - even though I was a rubbish friend (sorry H!) Sometimes friends should just listen to the woes of their friend and tell them how crap it is (that is instead of trying to explain the other point of view.) Anyway. We ended up at this swanky Chinese restaurant. You know that it's going to be a nice restaurant when you use the loo and to dry your hands there are individual cloth hand towels and a 'dirty clothes' shot to throw them in when you're finished. The food was exquisite. The service was attentive but not overbearing. The dinners sitting across from had their noses far to far up their own @sses! So irritating - even their tone of voice made my skin crawl. But it was a great restaurant* and wonderful evening. I love meeting up with Hayley.

As my friend (you know who you are!) has once again canceled the trip down to London, I'm without plans this weekend. But hey ho. I'll find something to do. I want to try out another gym, but not to keen on little kiddies being around. I don't like kiddies in gyms.

*I would highly recommend it: http://www.memories-of-china.co.uk/

More pain

Tuesday night I was at another gym. But this was the creme de la creme of gyms. I drove up and thought I should be in my Sunday best to go inside. Faaaancyy! It all looked state of the art / top notch stuff. Gym, pool, classes, tennis courts, squash / racket ball courts, beauty & spa treatment areas - pretty much everything - even a restaurant and bar. I must say the highlight was the spa. [Jaw drops] It was just, I mean, wow. Amazing. It made the work out worth it. In fact I think I was in the spa as long as the gym :) Come on - look at the picture - you would have done the same!

Voluntary Pain

Please can someone tell me the good aspect of going to the gym. I have booked a few free passes to gyms around my area (I'm trying to see which one I like the best, so I can join a gym). Yesterday was the first time I've been to a gym in several years. There was a 'Legs, tums and bums' class starting just after I arrived. Never having been to a class, I thought I'd check it out. Let me tell you my legs tum and bum felt the 'burn' last night, and my arms. Today, my legs tum and arms are still feeling said burn. Why pray tell do we feel the need to cause ourselves this pain. Why oh why.

Apparently a gluten for punishment, I have booked another trial at a different gym today. [Groan]

While looking for a picture to go with this post, I discovered:

Coffee may help relieve gym pain
Drinking coffee could help reduce the post-workout pain that puts many people off exercise, a small study suggests. The study found moderate doses of caffeine, roughly equivalent to two cups of coffee, can cut muscle pain by up to 48%....

news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/6254731.stm

A busy weekend turned quiet

Friday as I left work I was dreading the weekend a bit. Friday night I was out with work mates, Saturday a friend from Derby was coming down for the weekend, my new housemate was moving in and on Sunday night I was meeting up with another friend. This after a long, tiring week at work and knowing that the next week I was due to be out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. When was I suppose to recuperate?!

How foolish we are to make plans - knowing God just laughs at us when we do! Apparently God agreed with my subconscious and decided I need rest instead of excitement. My friend from Derby cancelled the trip to London. My soon-to-be housemate texted me late on Saturday saying it was a bit late and she would just come on Sunday. So Saturday, other than a last minute tidy of the flat, I spent doing a whole lot of nothing - in my pjs.* (The tidy of the flat also included a bit of handy-woman work. I unplumbed my washing machine, in it's place plumbed in my dishwasher. Put my new dryer (yippee a clothes dryer!) on top of the washing machine on the side of the kitchen. Bad news was the hose pipe didn't reach the new placement of the washing machine.)

Sunday I went into Croydon to get a longer washing machine hose pipe, return a dishwasher (long story...if I haven't told it - I can't be bothered to), get some trainers** and look for cushions for the couch. Success on all accounts. I spent a lot of the afternoon in queues - queueing traffic, queueing to return things, queuing to ask a question about the washing machine hose (to ensure this novice got the right thing), queue to ask for sizes of shoes, and of course queuing to pay for things.

When I got back to the flat I had a new flatmate. Helen had arrived. [she thinks] I haven't mentioned a new flatmate moving in have I? Opps. I have a new flatamte. She's a teacher here at school, and needed somewhere to live. I had somewhere she could live. A match made in heaven :) Sunday evening we watched a bit of tv, chatted a bit and had a few cups of tea. I can't remember the last evening I drank 3 cups of tea. Around 2am I remembered why I don't drink tea at night. Caffeine and insomniacs aren't a good combination. Lesson learned - until the next time I forget!
And now its Monday. Work. I need energy.

This is Helen and I
a few months ago on a night out.

*I love "pj days" - days where you stay in your pajamas all day
**I hated having to buy trainers when I know I'm going to the States for Christmas (yet another thing I've failed to update blogworld about - I'm rubbish!) and they will be cheaper there. But I had to bite the bullet. The last pair of trainers I bought was in 2002. They were trainers with the air bubbles in the soles - an although comfortable at first, they were more painful than most shoes when the bubbles burst a couple years ago. This summer I threw them out. As I'm looking for a gym at the moment (and trying to 'get fit' - ok fitter than I currently am) I needed shoes to wear. I didn't think running in flip flops or dress shoes was advisable. The good news is I found a bargain pair marked down from £64.99 to £15 ($132 to $30 for you American types). I reckon I can give my sister a run for her money with bargain shopping! :)

The faces we make

Have you ever wondered what you'd see if you shared an office with me? Wonder no more. A few faces my computer caught as I worked.

I bet you now wished you shared an office with me huh?!

Yes Mother, I know if I'm not careful my face will freeze that way :-)

Another spectacular fall

...this time with spectaters. Friday I went into the music department on my lunch break. There were students playing drums with the teacher so I thought I'd sit out of the way - on the teacher's chair behind her desk. Well apparently the teacher told me she put said chair there cause it was broken. She told me this after I sat on it and promptly made a spectacular fall. I played the brave soldier - 'I'm fine' I say....but it really hurt. My back was very sore after that, but I didn't want to seem the baby. When I was changing Friday night into my pjs I brushed my back and it still hurt ... so I gandered in the mirror - ouch! A nasty bruise covered a nice big knot - now wonder it still hurt!

Getting old sucks! I'm sure a few years ago I wouldn't have bruised!!

NB So this isn't a picture of my back ... I tried but kept getting the ceiling in the photo. Taking a picture of your own back is pretty hard. I found this one on the net, but it's pretty close to what mine looks like...ok mine's not quite as bad - but it hurts just the same!

The Boggie Man

There's many things you see when you're on the tube in London. Yesterday on my way home I got the pleasure of seeing a grown man (of around 35) not just picking his own boggies*, but then eating them. And he didn't seem to just eat them - it was like he was brushing his teeth with them. Even thinking about it now makes me want to hurl!

* boggie n booger. The charming little things everyone excavates from their nose now and again but likes to pretend they don't. Booger sounds too similar to bugger. Bugger is an inoffensive insult in modern terms but actually means something a bit worse - google it if you'd like to inform yourself.

Weekend 'up north'

It used to irritate me when people would say that Derby / Nottingham was in the north - it blatantly isn't. It's the middle of the country - literally. Thus it's the midlands. Now that I live in London though, I find myself calling it the north. I think Londoners* consider anything north of the M25** to be in the north.

That was my tangent leading up to - I was in Derby this weekend. I had hoped to leave work when school finished at 3:30, but I couldn't get away until 4:30. Not 5 minutes on the road and the radio announced the Motorway*** I use was down to one lane int he roadworks because of an accident. Sooo I decided to go to a colleague's leaving do at the local.**** (This was slightly ironic for me because I was heading to Derby because my friend, Jo, is moving and was having a leaving do. I ended up staying behind and going to my colleague, Jo, leaving do.)
Feeling guilty^ that I didn't head to Derby I called Derby Jo to see if she wanted me to head up (This was around 8pm). She said yes, so in my car I got. And drove. I got to Derby around 11:30 - not bad going. I called to say I was in town and Jo asked me to run to the shop and get some stuff. By the time I got to Jo's house (12:30) some people had left and the others were leaving, and Jo fell asleep. Bit of a bum evening - but I was also tired so it was okay.

Saturday morning I left to get my car sorted. It's been playing up lately. Sometimes I get in it and it's like I have a dead battery, but all the lights and radio work. Sometimes it's fine. A few guys (in my mind all guys know car stuff) said it could be my battery is low, and as it's been cold lately the car is struggling. So off to Halifords I went. I told the guy behind the counter something was wrong with the car - didn't know what but someone said it might be the battery. Outside we went with the battery testing equipment. Battery needs replacing says he. Battery replaced, car started fine, £80 paid. I then went across the car park to do a bit of shopping. Shopping done I walk back to car. Car doesn't start. Irritated I am. I went back to the store to give em h-e-double hockey sticks, but then changed my minding thinking the battery could have been part of the problem. Of to a car mechanic that I know. He listens to problem and says it's the immobiliser, but he doesn't fix those and no one who did would be open on a Saturday. Just don't immobilise^^^ the car and I'll be fine. Cutting this lengthening story shorter. I went back to Halifords and had them put my old battery back in and got my £80 back. When they showed me my old battery - the tester showed it was running at 83% capacity and a 'good battery'. I was sorta cross they took it out and replaced it.
After car trauma took up most of day, I went to a Chinese restaurant with 2 friends and we saw Run fat boy Run after. After movies the friend who I was staying with and I watched a dvd (which one fails me at the moment) and then headed to bed.

Sunday morning was church and then a drive back to London. Got home around 4:30 and lounged around for the evening. And then it was Monday again.

There you have it - you're all caught up with my weekend. Oh yea, I forgot to take any pictures - so it's just a boring long post with no pics. Sorry.

*Not that I class myself as one of those
**The M25 is the ring road around Greater London
***Motorway = freeway ... seriously you Americans need to learn my language - there's far to many of the side notes building up! :)
****Local Pub
^ A mate of mine was meant to be visiting London and staying with me. I asked them to postpone the trip because Jo wanted me to go to Derby. My friend postponed. I felt even more guilty for making them cancel for no reason
^^Halifords is a supermarket type place for car accessories and bikes and bits and bobs like that.
^^^I have a key with a button that locks and unlocks the car. There is not a key hole in my door to unlock the car. When I press the button to lock the car, the car is also immobilised; likewise unlocking it turns the immobiliser off. To lock the car and not put the immobiliser on I have to lock the car inside and unlock it from the passenger side door - what a bother!!!

Got to love Americans!

I am one, and I'm proud to be one. But I still love to laugh at the ignorance!
A website I know publishes overheard comments. This one man me laugh out loud!!!

At the bottom of Grafton St in Dublin there is a small pedestrian crossing.
A couple of years ago my cousin was walking down Grafton St with a mate after
work on his way home. As the lights changed, they made that beeping noise - 2
American girls were standing beside them and asked what the noise was. My cousin
told them that it was to let blind people know that the lights had changed, to
which the American replied "wow, that is so advanced! In America, we don't let
our blind people drive!!

A mother's worry

Seriously. You'd think my mother was happy enough with the information and detail she gets from me about my daily life. I set this blog up, I email her and call her regularly.
Tonight on the phone she says "You hadn't posted on your blog in so long, I check on Friday...I was getting so worried as I hadn't spoken to you in so long..." She checked on Friday. My last post was on Thursday - Seriously?!
I just needed to make fun of her and mock her a little bit. But I am glad to have a mother that cares about me and worries about me - 27 years on.

Ricky Pictures

Not my best look, but it's the only picture I've got. This is outside the theatre.

This is in between the warm up and Ricky Geervais coming on. Adam reckoned my necklace might suit him - what do you reckon?
When Ricky came on he came is a cloud of smoke with a King's crown and red robe. Nothing wrong with his self esteem :)
This was our view. In person is was much clearer than the photo, but we were in the nose bleeds. But what do you expect booking the day before the show, right?