Friday Five!

They're beautiful!   

We're happy with them. Not sure what's happened, but in the last week they've just gone nuts with the flowering.

The albino corys in our tank have also spawned like mad again!  This time I was able to scrape a few eggs into the fish net and have that floating in the tank, to protect them from being eaten by the other fish. If they survive and hatch, I'll have to get a bigger tank, I guess!   

Apparently they no longer charge to do the ID checks, so we're booked in for next week. Road trip (sorta) time!

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!

1.  Sooooo much work to do.  At home today due to sick boy - who's doing great thankfully.  No idea how I am supposed to get all this work done - at all.

2.  We have something planned every day of every weekend in March.  I just wanna big old nap.

3.  Had parent's evening for my daughter last night.  Got a glowing report (not gonna lie, a bit shocked as her behavior at home is trying most of the time).  But was told she is SUPER engaged in learning and great behavior.  Guess she's just "done" by the time she gets home.  Also got to see the ducklings that are in her classroom that hatched on Tuesday and Wednesday.  One is "at the vet".  Poor Sunny the duckling.

4.  Been so happy to be home this week and have my kitty on me again.  He keeps waking me to thank me for coming home, which is unnecessary though. 

5.  My husband has been ill with a cough and sinus issue since before we left for Florida on February 15th.  He's still refusing to go to a doctor.  Men who are ill.  That is all.

Glad your son is doing great!!! Seriously tell hubby to get to gp I’ve had the cough thing for well over a month, have been on antibiotics, and still coughing away so their doing extra tests. I avoid the GP like the plague but this cough thing that’s gone around isn’t nice

My five:

1.  It's Friday, and when my husband gets off work tonight, it's the start of another long weekend... 4 days!  I can't believe how much time he gets off at this job!  The contrast between last year (and the 14 years before that) and this year is amazing.

2.  My car failed its first MOT since we bought it on Monday, but I brought it in for new rear shock absorbers and a retest on Wednesday, and now we're all good to go.  No advisories, so my cheap-to-run little runaround car continues to be a bargain. (It was so hard to type "it" instead of "him" throughout this item...)

3.  Last week, I spent a ridiculous amount on groceries, not realising my husband had a 4-day weekend coming up.  Wednesday, I went back to the shops to buy a bit more.  By Wednesday night, I realised we were low on a few more things I missed.  I don't know if we'll make it.   

4.  Yesterday, after two weeks, I finally remembered to phone my GP surgery to get the results of my blood work from my hospital appointment.  Everything's normal.  Since one of the things they tested was glucose (and the samples were drawn right after my double-potato lunch!), that means I continue to not have Type II diabetes.  Yay!

5.  Steak and chips tonight!

Other than the food grocery bill yay to all f these!! I’ve got a little runner car and so far it’s been a beast. I’ve replaced tires, some spark plugs and it keeps passing MOT

Yeah, I've just phoned and left a message asking for an appointment for us. Apparently they do them Tues-Thurs, which is ok. They should be phoning us back and then I pay for the appointments. They scan our chips, take our pix, and then we get a pin code to use to finish the application online. Once I know when they are, I'll use my Tesco rewards to book a free bus ticket for the Daughter and we'll go over to Edinburgh for the day. She wanted to visit the yarn shop and there's a new exhibit at the museum, and we are hoping to visit the chihuahua cafe (to try to start sorting out if either of us are allergic to them).

Here's the cayennes. Grew them from seed about this time last year, and they produced heavily. I planted six seeds, thinking I'd be lucky to get half germinate. They all came up, and I've only lost one over the year. So we are well-stocked for cayenne peppers!  As they mature we cut them off the plant and add them to the string drying on the pantry door. 

Those peppers look beautiful

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!  How is it nearly 11am and I'm the first to post?!?!

1.  Pothole season has officially begun.  I'm back to playing a real life video game on my commute trying to dodge the bajillion holes that have opened.

2.  I'm hoping the weather allows me to cut the grass for the first time in 2019 this weekend.  The grass got fertilised last Friday and it's growing like mad now. 

3.  Busy weekend.  BIL, SIL, and niece are giving up on the UK and moving back to Ireland.  Have a family thing on Sunday.  Shame they live 30 minutes away and this will be the third time we've seen them since they moved here in September.  Same BIL and SIL who "couldn't afford" to hire a car at Christmas, thus leaving my husband's aunt alone on Christmas.  She's not starting her new job until June.  Wonder how they are funding that..... 

4.  Board meeting week next week.  One Monday and one Tuesday.  Way too much work to do prior.

5.  My cat and I had a falling out last night.  He chose to sit on my husband's lap instead of mine and seemed to enjoy himself.  We made up at bedtime though.

My Friday Five:

1. After stubbing my toe last week (which is getting better - I can walk properly now - but is still tender), I fell behind on my Falklands Challenge... but I’ve managed to get back in the gym a bit this week. I’ve now cycled 145.5 km out of 574 km and swum 19 km out of 62 km. I have about 7.5 weeks left to go, so fingers crossed!

2. I was a victim of credit card fraud this week . My mum messaged me on Tuesday to say the bank had called and stopped my credit card due to suspected fraudulent activity and I needed to call them (not easy from the Falklands!). I checked my online banking and there was a pending charge for £12.99 from ‘Holiday Extras’ (usually used for airport parking bookings)... but I hadn’t booked any parking and I hadn’t used my card in 3 weeks! I called the bank from work on Wednesday and they said they stopped the card after that transaction, but someone tried to charge about £2,000 to it! Seems there’s been a breach somewhere because 300+ people in Facebook event groups I belong to got hit on the same day!

3. I just discovered yesterday that one of the annoying pilots from my tour last year is back again . Luckily, he was the nicer of the three of them, but I was hoping to avoid them all again this time .

4. In other news, it turns out my boss back home is stepping down at the end of this month (he was not a very good boss and has been the cause of a lot of stress for me over the last year - I had to put in complaints to his boss about the fact he wasn’t doing his job properly). We’ll have an interim replacement for the next 7 months, and then a permanent boss starting in November. Luckily, the interim boss was the deputy boss here in the Falklands last year, and the permanent boss was one of my colleagues here too, and I got on well with both of them .

5. Work are advertising for people to go back to Ascension Island for either 4 or 6 months, starting from April 2019 onwards. I hadn’t been planning to volunteer again, because the work isn’t exactly taxing, but then again, it’s basically a tropical island... and they’re getting desperate, so I’m tentatively asking about going back in January next year (when they have highs of 32 Celsius and lows of 25!).


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FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!  How is it nearly 11am and I'm the first to post?!?!

I completely forgot it's Friday!  Wow.

5. Work are advertising for people to go back to Ascension Island for either 4 or 6 months, starting from April 2019 onwards. I hadn’t been planning to volunteer again, because the work isn’t exactly taxing, but then again, it’s basically a tropical island...

I just looked at the climate on Wikipedia.  The "rainy season" is an average of 12 rainy days for the month of October?  I'm in.  Just need to spend a few years getting qualified...   

My five:

1.  My MIL sent me some things to add to a website that my husband and I maintain for them.  In her accompanying email, she mentioned and provided instruction for a lot more things than she actually sent, so I replied telling her I'd done as much as Ii could with what she'd sent, but asked for clarification on the rest.   My FIL replied, "Thanks", and I didn't hear anything else.  As my husband was off for four days I just ignored it.  Then this week, I essentially got 'Here's all that stuff I didn't include before, plus a bunch more'.  I'm so done.  But she also said "stop pestering you" multiple times in this one.  Which, of course, makes me feel bad!  So now I have to do the polite thing and say it's no bother at all (and, in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that much work!).

2.  My music theory learning is progressing muuuuch faster than my practical.  I think it's because of my prior limited training in piano and violin.  I know it frustrates my husband.  My ear training is also much further along than my husband's.  He'll name some basic tune, and I can play it almost instantly.  It doesn't take me much time at all to pick out the right notes, starting from virtually anywhere on the fretboard to get the right intervals (if I know the song, that is!).  My husband struggles with this.  Meanwhile, he's soooo far along in rhythm, strumming, and chord changes.  He can actually play guitar.  I should probably practice more, rather than thinking about it and not doing it.  My fingers do feel better since getting the nickel-free strings, so no excuses now. 

3.  Water bill is in.  £435, "discounted" to £430, because I'm paying for the whole year in a lump sum.  Yay.  Council tax is coming up right behind that.  And then in June, my car insurance is due for renewal.  Buuuuuut, no visa fees this year (ever again!), so the rest of my annual non-ISA savings is mine to spend.

4.  Welcome to Booze Corner is looking a bit empty lately.  Gonna restock when my Monthly Saver "matures".  It's long overdue.

5.  Had grilled chicken sandwiches last night for dinner because my husband had a lunch do at work yesterday so didn't need a full meal, so I got to have whatever I wanted (typically, if I suggest something that doesn't involve potatoes, he looks sad until I figure out a way to incorporate potatoes in it).  Seasoned and marinated the chicken in a cajun-y spice blend (ratio of 3 paprika, 2 garlic powder, 1.5 salt, 1 onion poweder/asafoetida, 1 black pepper, 1 cayenne, 1 thyme, and 1 oregano) and a drizzle of Sriracha and Frank's red hot, grilled them on my Le Creuset ridged grill pan, put them on toasted brioche buns with lettuce, tomato slices, and mayo... Mine was really good!  And in a few minutes, I will go attempt to clean said grill pan...

Chicken sandwiches sound fantastic!

My 5:

1) I am exhausted. Going to Edinburgh on Wednesday took more out of me than I realized. Or, rather, the cold wind blowing while we were there did... and the lack of sleep and the stress this week. The coffee isn't working. And my lungs kinda hurt when I breathe. I think a nap is in my near future.

2) I just siphoned out the rotting bits of food in the baby corys' net enclosure, with a turkey baster. I am now scared to death that I accidently siphoned one of the babies - I can only find one. But, then, most of the time I can't see any of them and only rarely see two at the same time. New food has been given.

3) We both have pre-settled status, officially, now. Woot.    I am wondering if that changes anything as far as what we can and cannot do? The Daughter REALLY wants to work full time, but as my dependent she can't.  Unlikely switching EU resident/dependent of EU resident for "pre-settled" changes anything.

4) The Radiometer has been spinning like mad, on and off today. When it hasn't been completely lead gray and pouring rain, the sun has been shining strongly enough that it's spinning at a rate I haven't seen since last year. The plants must be loving this. I think it's supposed to sleet and snow tomorrow. Oh, well. At least the plants in question are indoor plants.

5) We were going to have curry for dinner, but I am so tired I didn't think I could actually cook it, so we had Dominos sent in. Have lots of veg to put in the curry. Now using a direct-delivery from an organic farm, once every few weeks. They harvest on Thursday, and we get it on Friday. The stuff is absolutely delicious. New thing in our bag that I have learned is celeraic. A great big one. Looks like an alien pod... No idea what to do with it. Pulled out our favorite cookbook to find it had gotten water on it from the fishtank several shelves above, at some point, and it was molded and fungused. Replacement ordered from Amazon US, due in at the end of the month. Celeraic is a very strange looking veg. (Oh, the place. It's Bellfield Organic Farms. Really quite a lot of veg for the money.)

They do celeriac a lot on Saturday Kitchen and Masterchef.  Mostly as a side of mash or puree, but sometimes as a vegetarian main whole-roasted with some kind of sauce.  It's apparently very good, but I haven't actually tried it yet.

FRIDAY!  FRIDAY!  FRIDAY!

1.  Feel like trash.  Sinuses are flaring, desperate for rest, running 100mph at the moment. 

2.  Got an email there is a confirmed case of Impetigo in the baby room at nursery.  My boy's immune system is minimal at best at the moment.  Ugh.  Hoping he doesn't get it.  PLEASE LET HIM NOT GET IT.  He had a bad tummy yesterday and pooped 7 times.  Looking forward to his private pediatric appointment next Friday to see if we can figure out a bit more about his immune system.

3.  April is both kid's birthdays - need to get cracking on gift ideas.  For the girl (the 1st), I've got a butterfly kit to turn caterpillars to butterflies, a craft kit, and sidewalk chalk.  But we have to buy for all the grandparents so will need a couple of more ideas.  The boy isn't until the 27th so I have a bit more time there.

4.  Went to the inlaws on Sunday and my MIL did not look good and kept asking the same two questions over and over again.  Rather worrying.  My husband has had instructions to bring this up to other family members all week and of course he "keeps forgetting".  Man this family put their heads in the sand.

5. We have a "learn ballroom in a day" lesson tomorrow.  For those of you who have met me and my husband in real life - I'm sure you can appreciate our apprehension with this class.  Just a small height difference of 16 inches between us...     We actually hope we will be able to switch partners with someone who has a tall woman and smaller man.     Jimbo - head out of the gutter!

Happy Friday!

KF, at least the dance is ballroom, and not swing. 

My five:

1. I had the car two days in a row because I had stuff to do.  So, on the second day while I was out, I bought a bunch of food stuffs, and was feeling quite pleased with my efforts... I shouldn't have needed to shop again until next week.  Got home to find my tomatoes weren't looking great, so that was disappointing but we'd manage.  Then my husband came home and said his half day would be Thursday and he starts at 2pm, so there's a breakfast I didn't know about (we do skillet toast, home fries, and fried eggs for breakfast pretty regularly)... then when I was lamenting about my insufficient shop, he said, "yeah, and it's three days of breakfast this weekend, too!"

2.  Surprise!  My husband is off on Monday. Again.  I'm always glad when he's home, but I do wish he'd let me know in advance so I don't have to make emergency shopping lists and hope he gets everything on them.

3.  I've been procrastinating a job for my in-laws all week and I really need to get it done today.  I just don't want to do it.  Blah.

4.  I bought a lottery ticket on Tuesday, and spent Wednesday refreshing my email, checking spam, etc., trying to figure out why I hadn't received my notification that I'd won.  For some reason, I legitimately thought I was a winner and I just missed the email.  Finally, I logged in to the site and checked my numbers, and then I let them off the hook.  They were right: I didn't win.

5.  It's Friday before a three-day weekend!  Cheese platter followed by Mexican platter tonight.  Yay!

JF, how do you not weigh 300 pounds?!?!?

JF, how do you not weigh 300 pounds?!?!?

I did gain weight!  I'm 51kg now, according to the weird weighing chair at the hospital.  I was 45kg when I left the US.  But I was also younger, with a more spritely metabolism, back then.  *wistful sigh*

I did gain weight!  I'm 51kg now, according to the weird weighing chair at the hospital.  I was 45kg when I left the US.  But I was also younger, with a more spritely metabolism, back then.  *wistful sigh*

I'm not talking to you anymore.