Friday Five!

We got marshmallows at Tesco!  And lots of ice!

Heading back now and we will see what goodies they have at the shop(s).  The place we are staying is MASSIVE, so I expect we won’t need to leave again unless we really want to.

My wife says there are fireworks, a parade down the Champs elysees and maybe celebrations in some towns. 

How did the camping go KFDancer? 

How did the camping go KFDancer? 

Mixed reviews.  We were in Weymouth, on the coast.  When the sun was out it was glorious.  Too hot for me but I'm a whimp.  But when a cloud came over.  Brrrrrrrrrr.  The weather just wasn't stable.

The bell tent was awesome.  Really warm.  My only experiences of camping in the UK have always left me freezing at night.  My husband thinks that if we invest in a family tent that we should seriously consider a bell tent - I suspect it's the canvas that keeps it so protected.  And it was deceptively large.  Looked small from the outside but held two double beds (air beds) and the travel cot and plenty of room still if the weather was bad and we wanted to be inside. 

The place we went was absolutely enormous.  We were in a relatively secluded spot which was great for peace and quiet - but would have been nice for the kids to have been around other kids.  A family with kids showed up on our last night - literally as we were putting our kids to sleep.  Shame, they were lovely and I suspect the kids would have had good fun together.

They had a barn of hay for kids to go wild in - which mine certainly did.  No doubt they would love to turn the back garden into a massive hay barn.  Great fun for them!

They also had great fun at the beach.  It definitely wasn't Clearwater Beach though.  LOL!  But kids don't care.  They just like to play with the stones/sand/water. 

Fun experiences though - we had family showers.  Literally all 4 of us in a shower together each night.  We fear our daughter is going to tell everyone that was her favourite part.  But it sure did make things easier to be able to fit into one stall!

I got caught peeing outside my tent before bed one night by a neighbor.  Hee hee hee.  The toilets were a long way away.

Overall really good.  Just SO MUCH WORK with all the crap you have to take and then EVERYTHING has to be washed.  But was good fun.  My hair still smells like campfire though....

Oh, and our tent was on a slant.  LOL.  Everynight I woke multiple times because I was halfway off the bottom and had to slide back up. 

Overall, went well and I think we are "good to go" for camping in the future.  Hopefully we can get some friends together next year and not go on our own. 

And it never ceases to amaze me the kit some people have.  As my husband said, for some they will only do camping holidays.  But we saw people with inflatable paddleboards.  I looked on Amazon and the paddleboard alone was £350.  Plus another £50 for the paddle and another £50 for the pump.  And they had 2!  And the tents that were bigger than our house with seperate gazebo's and kitchens.  Even if that is the only holiday people have - still a TON of money and SO MUCH CRAP to store!  LOL. 

We definitely did not have the meals you had at your festival.  I was looking at your photos and drooling!!!

Sounds like a great time!!

1. Settling in at work and it already feels like I've been here ages because I've been able to pick up thr work easily and highlight all the areas if improvement. I'm exhausted though from all the travel this week that ive had to do.

2. Because it's so quiet in the office on fridays, I got to actually park in our car park! Wooo! Haha

3. Definitely need to get some more packing done for the house but I feel like I've reached a point where I'm not sure what else I *can* pack because I have no clue when we'll actually move. But all the boxes need to be moved to our garden room because I need all the space spaces for when my sister comes!

4. 3 more weeks until I'm officially british! Ah!

5. Need to go shopping for a new car because I'm not sure mine (which was my MILs and is pretty old) will be able to handle the jump up to my new drive (I work at least double the distance away now if not triple the distance). Hoping to go used car shopping this weekend just to narrow it down. I'm between a Honda and a BMW just now but ultimately want something that seats 5 people (for visitors), can hold 2+ suitcases (again, for visitors), and is reliable and fuel efficient because of all the driving I do now (and I'm tired of my husband constantly needing to do little fixes here and there). Looks and the "extras" are secondary (but cup holders would be nice as we drink a lot of coffee in the car lol).

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Looks and the "extras" are secondary (but cup holders would be nice as we drink a lot of coffee in the car lol).

Ahhh, cup holders.  I miss those.  And the seemingly never-ending supply of Mountain Dew I would use them for.

Love your #3 4, KoD!  Join us... join us...!

My five...

1.  I'm discovering an affinity for (simple) composing... I've finally learned enough chords and put my music theory knowledge together to guide me in which chords to learn next to add to my toolbox, and I've come up with a couple of progressions that really please my ears this week.  Hopefully, I like them because they're good, and not because someone else already wrote it and I'm reinventing the vaguely familiar wheel... again.

2.  Still haven't won the lottery.  I'm starting to think the lottery is broken.  I mean, it can't be MY failure, can it?

3.  My husband has a 3-day weekend.  Next weekend will be a 4-day weekend.  Have I mentioned how much I love his not-so-new-anymore job?  The contrast to his old job is striking.  Yay, life!

4.  My in-laws are coming to visit next Sunday.  I'm not sure what we're going to do about the opened bath side panel and ripped-up floor in the bathroom, or the fact that we keep the water turned off most of the time.  I guess we'll just leave the water on all day and let the leak happen...?  I don't want James's father and stepmother to feel like they need to ask permission every time they need to use the bathroom... awkward!

5.  Grocery shopped yesterday... I didn't bother trying to get there early.  Arrived a little past noon and there were plenty of egg custard tarts still on the shelf... they had the weird look of the new recipe.  Apparently nobody else likes them, either.  I hope Aldi realize their mistake and go back to the old ones.   More likely, they'll just stop selling egg custard tarts altogether.  At 89p a box, and a total of 48 boxes a day, I don't think they'd suffer from the revenue loss.  :/

Good luck on the car shopping  x0Kiss0fDeath

1.  I'm discovering an affinity for (simple) composing... I've finally learned enough chords and put my music theory knowledge together to guide me in which chords to learn next to add to my toolbox, and I've come up with a couple of progressions that really please my ears this week.  Hopefully, I like them because they're good, and not because someone else already wrote it and I'm reinventing the vaguely familiar wheel... again.

Love this!

Ahhh Friday!

1.) Was supposed to be doing a charity cycle today, but it was cancelled due to crap weather. I'm a bit relieved, to be honest.   

2.) Garage needs cleaning. So. Bad.  Uggh.  Plan for the weekend, I think

3.) Been applying for a few jobs. I'm sick fed up with this place. We'll see.  

4.) Need to do a bit of clothing shopping. Ugggh.  All my favourite jeans have mega holes. I guess I could make do and mend, but, uggh.   All just uggh.   

5.) Veggies galore from the garden now. YAY! Yum!!! 

Fingers crossed for you on the new job front PB!

Loving the composing comment JF!

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Good luck car shopping KoD! And I love that you're writing music JFKimberly. Even if it's been done before, as most chord progressions have, it doesn't really matter because it's what you personally do with it

1. Ugh NHS. I sent an urgent message to my GP practice today, after a complaint on Wednesday. Ear pain is the worst. I need steroids, the Dr I saw Wednesday was an ass, so I'm hoping the doctor I usually see will be a bit more amenable. They happily prescribed antibiotics when I have no sign of infection, which was very weird given the usual stance on antibiotics.

2. Been crocheting a lot. Making a blanket for my inlaws for Xmas and that yarn arrives today!

3. I got myself some matcha powder, and coconut milk powder, and for a fraction of the price of premade mixes have made myself a dairy free matcha latte mix. It's so yummy!

4. I still feel very overwhelmed by this country and the politics and brexit. My next visa is in June, I keep reminding myself I can deal for 3ish more years. I'm hoping we can move somewhere a bit more rural with less air pollution.

5. New records make me happy. Hyper-On Experience is re-releasing some music and new remixes, as is Acen, and I'm a happy fan girl.

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Hi everyone  My five for this week (and last!):

1) Passed my theory test on Tuesday!! I can’t wait to be back on the road. I plan to rent a car to practice driving (since my husband has a manual) and pay for a lesson or two just to know what to do for the practical.

2) My husband proposed 2 weekends ago! 😂 We did the legal bit in the US last summer to get me over here ASAP but he always said he still wanted to actually propose to me. It was very sweet and I definitely cried. And now I have a shiny ring (that belonged to his great grandma)!

3) I found out the other day that Stitch Fix has made it over to the UK!! I absolutely loved it when I was back in the US last year because I hate clothes shopping so I am thrilled. I’ll get my first delivery on the 15th.

4) Rain rain and more rain. I’m over it.

5) My house is slowly being consumed by all the books I’m bringing home from work. I love it but I need about 5 new bookshelves.

1.  Took today off work and am having the girls up to mine for G&Ts and nibbles... they'll be here at 13:30.  We'll have a few drinks here and then head into town to the pub.

2.  Jimmy has lost a tooth!!     I lifted up his lip to put the enzyme gel on his teeth this morning, and his big fang on one side is completely gone!!!  It's been a few days since I put the gel on, so i don't know exactly when or how it happened, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all.  I feel like a terrible mum, though.

3.  Took the hound in to the office yesterday so my colleagues could meet him... he was a big hit! 

4.  Need to get my car looked at next week -- the 'low tyre pressure' warning light came on, so i topped up the air in the tyres, but the light hasn't gone off.

5.  Would it be bad if I make myself a wee G&T before my guests arrive?  I could say it was quality testing...

FRIDAY!  FRIDAY!  FRIDAY!

1.  Ready for the day to be over!  For a short week (I was off on Monday) it has felt very long.

2.  5 year old girl has a nasty cold that I suspect also has a fever involved.  We can't find our thermometer.  She is fine in the mornings but when we pick her up from Holiday Club, she's pretty wrecked.  So today I sent her with some Nurofen in a pot and a spoon and told her to have it with her lunch or afternoon snack.  Not to tell anyone it was medicine.  And to not eat it *before* lunch.  We shall see how this works out. 

3.  If her cough has dramatically improved, I'm going to take her to see the Lion King tomorrow (or Sunday).  Not going if her cough is bad though.  I'm not rude. 

4.  Two weeks from tomorrow is our summer holiday!  Hoping the strikes don't affect us.  But probably will - because me!

5.  My husband is at the Cricket tonight.  If it doesn't rain.  Which seems like there is a good chance of....  But it means I get PIZZA for dinner!  Yippee!  Thinking I'll feed the kids cereal.   

1.  I'm discovering an affinity for (simple) composing...

I read that as composting and was all excited to talk compost with you! 

Arrived a little past noon and there were plenty of egg custard tarts still on the shelf... they had the weird look of the new recipe.  Apparently nobody else likes them, either.  I hope Aldi realize their mistake and go back to the old ones.   More likely, they'll just stop selling egg custard tarts altogether.  At 89p a box, and a total of 48 boxes a day, I don't think they'd suffer from the revenue loss.  :/

Feed back to them in writing, you might be surprised.  I recently did this because the product in question tasted so different and awful in comparison to how it should taste that I thought there had been a bad batch. Turned out they had changed the recipe but enough people had already complained that they had listened and decided to change it back again... happiness! 

I read that as composting and was all excited to talk compost with you! 

But, but... how much is there to say about composting?

My council collects food waste separately to the rest of the rubbish (and also collects single-stream recycling, so recycling is super easy).  Anyway, I've always assumed the food waste is collected and composted.  Am I wrong in thinking that?

Feed back to them in writing, you might be surprised.  I recently did this because the product in question tasted so different and awful in comparison to how it should taste that I thought there had been a bad batch. Turned out they had changed the recipe but enough people had already complained that they had listened and decided to change it back again... happiness! 

When you say "in writing", do you mean an actual physical letter sent through the post?  I used their website's online contact form to let them know how I feel.  But if you think writing a physical letter will carry more weight, I'm willing to do it.  I'm seriously sad about the egg custard tarts (though it was nice not having to get out the door super early just so I had a hope of nabbing some yesterday!).