Sunday 25 August 2013
Saturday 24 August 2013
Lemonade and bay leaves
Wow, what an emotional rollercoster this week has been.
This week I became a cyclist. The last time I was on a bike was centre parcs in march, before that it was centre parcs 6 years ago and before that I can't even remember!!! So I'm pretty sure I've never cycled on a road before. So I embraced our new outdoor lifestyle by cycling down to musical tots and back. And I actually quite enjoyed it :)
I have also learnt (or is it learned? I never know) how to make lemonade making use of the lemons we found growning in the garden. I can now also recognise an olive tree and a bay tree, thanks to the every helpful labels left on them. And it's been very nice being able to pop out into the garden and pick bay leaves to flavour our rice. Yummy! :)
Also this week I have broken down in tears in the play ground. Broken down in tears over Skype chatting to a very dear friend and cried watching little house on the prairie! I'd love to say that I'm all cried out but I doubt that very much. Although I love it here, I find that I am incredibly emotional most of the time and so spend a lot of conversations fighting back tears. Not that I'm unhappy, just that sometimes its all a bit too much and all I want is a hug and a cuppa with welsh cake and a natter with a friend.
Maybe I'll make some welsh cakes tomorrow!?!
This week I became a cyclist. The last time I was on a bike was centre parcs in march, before that it was centre parcs 6 years ago and before that I can't even remember!!! So I'm pretty sure I've never cycled on a road before. So I embraced our new outdoor lifestyle by cycling down to musical tots and back. And I actually quite enjoyed it :)
I have also learnt (or is it learned? I never know) how to make lemonade making use of the lemons we found growning in the garden. I can now also recognise an olive tree and a bay tree, thanks to the every helpful labels left on them. And it's been very nice being able to pop out into the garden and pick bay leaves to flavour our rice. Yummy! :)
Also this week I have broken down in tears in the play ground. Broken down in tears over Skype chatting to a very dear friend and cried watching little house on the prairie! I'd love to say that I'm all cried out but I doubt that very much. Although I love it here, I find that I am incredibly emotional most of the time and so spend a lot of conversations fighting back tears. Not that I'm unhappy, just that sometimes its all a bit too much and all I want is a hug and a cuppa with welsh cake and a natter with a friend.
Maybe I'll make some welsh cakes tomorrow!?!
Sunday 18 August 2013
1917
Well yesterday I learnt a valuable lesson. Two actually! Firstly my memory can be totally rubbish at times and secondly, google is amazing!
Having tested my sewing machine by starting in my quilt...
(waiting for the wadding to arrive to finish it off)
...I sat down with my son to make a draw string bag out of his fat quarter from nanna. We hit problem no1 straight away when I couldn't remember how to thread our lovely singer handcrank machine. It's only been 3 months, why can't I remember something so simple?!? Frustrated and annoyed I make it up! Then we hit problem no2, which is much worse. The needle isn't winding the cotton round the bobbin, it won't sew! Panic stations!!!
After about 40 minutes I give up and call the man of the house for help. You can tell how desperate I was. And being a man he immediately reached for the iPad and google. It really is amazing what you can learn. We have discovered that this beautiful machine was made in 1917, that there are loads of different models all varying slightly and about 20 other great facts about singer sewers. and eventually on web search no37 we find the problem and hey presto a working sewing machine!!!
A win for google and a win for iPads! :) And maybe next time I wont struggle for quite so long before calling for help?! Maybe.
Having tested my sewing machine by starting in my quilt...
...I sat down with my son to make a draw string bag out of his fat quarter from nanna. We hit problem no1 straight away when I couldn't remember how to thread our lovely singer handcrank machine. It's only been 3 months, why can't I remember something so simple?!? Frustrated and annoyed I make it up! Then we hit problem no2, which is much worse. The needle isn't winding the cotton round the bobbin, it won't sew! Panic stations!!!
After about 40 minutes I give up and call the man of the house for help. You can tell how desperate I was. And being a man he immediately reached for the iPad and google. It really is amazing what you can learn. We have discovered that this beautiful machine was made in 1917, that there are loads of different models all varying slightly and about 20 other great facts about singer sewers. and eventually on web search no37 we find the problem and hey presto a working sewing machine!!!
A win for google and a win for iPads! :) And maybe next time I wont struggle for quite so long before calling for help?! Maybe.
Thursday 15 August 2013
Just keep swimming....
It has arrived! We have our things!
We can now start making our home, after we have battled the tons of paper wrapping that has been left behind. Josh was actually swimming through a pile of paper trying to squish it back into one of the boxes, it was funny to watch. I wish I'd had the camera handy at the time The garage is now full of boxes and wrapping and we still haven't opened all the boxes.
It is so nice to have our own bed again. It has been 13 weeks. That feels like a very long time to be without a home, and especially my bed and sofa and very importantly, my sewing machine. :)
This is my little corner of the house and it makes me very happy! I have a long list of sewing projects to keep me going for a while. It's just a shame I have to finish the unpacking and do all the boring household tasks too.
Not all days are great, being on the other side of the world from all our friends and family, but today has been a very good day... the sun is shining, I sat outside having a lovely coffee with a very lovely lady, I have washing on the line and I'm wearing flip flops in the middle of winter. All I need now is to unpack the camera and life will be complete!
We can now start making our home, after we have battled the tons of paper wrapping that has been left behind. Josh was actually swimming through a pile of paper trying to squish it back into one of the boxes, it was funny to watch. I wish I'd had the camera handy at the time The garage is now full of boxes and wrapping and we still haven't opened all the boxes.
It is so nice to have our own bed again. It has been 13 weeks. That feels like a very long time to be without a home, and especially my bed and sofa and very importantly, my sewing machine. :)
Not all days are great, being on the other side of the world from all our friends and family, but today has been a very good day... the sun is shining, I sat outside having a lovely coffee with a very lovely lady, I have washing on the line and I'm wearing flip flops in the middle of winter. All I need now is to unpack the camera and life will be complete!
Saturday 10 August 2013
Cheesecake and whisky!
Hooray, it is our last day in the motel!
I can't believe that we've been here almost 7 weeks already and spent this long in a motel. We are finally moving again. I really hope that it's a long time before we move again. Although actually it's a real mix of emotions. I'm so pleased to be finally moving out of the motel and into a home, but that means it's real, we are here to stay. This is not a holiday. This is where we live! Aaargh!
I'm also astonished at how much stuff we have fit into this tiny motel. I know we didn't exactly travel light with 7 suitcases, but we're taking an awful lot of stuff over to the house! How much have be bought since we got here?!?
I've bought cheesecake for dessert tonight for our first meal in the new house. Which is a bad idea as I have a dairy allergy so will regret it as soon as it's eaten, but hey, we (meaning I) deserve a nice treat after living in one room for last 7 weeks! And then once the kids are in bed we'll break open the Balvenie Portwood 21 that has been calling us since we picked it up in Singapore. :)
So this is it... Our new life is beginning... tomorrow morning I'll be getting ready the kids ready for school from our home and walking them to school.
Let the indoor camping begin...
I can't believe that we've been here almost 7 weeks already and spent this long in a motel. We are finally moving again. I really hope that it's a long time before we move again. Although actually it's a real mix of emotions. I'm so pleased to be finally moving out of the motel and into a home, but that means it's real, we are here to stay. This is not a holiday. This is where we live! Aaargh!
I'm also astonished at how much stuff we have fit into this tiny motel. I know we didn't exactly travel light with 7 suitcases, but we're taking an awful lot of stuff over to the house! How much have be bought since we got here?!?
I've bought cheesecake for dessert tonight for our first meal in the new house. Which is a bad idea as I have a dairy allergy so will regret it as soon as it's eaten, but hey, we (meaning I) deserve a nice treat after living in one room for last 7 weeks! And then once the kids are in bed we'll break open the Balvenie Portwood 21 that has been calling us since we picked it up in Singapore. :)
So this is it... Our new life is beginning... tomorrow morning I'll be getting ready the kids ready for school from our home and walking them to school.
Let the indoor camping begin...
Friday 9 August 2013
We have keys!
Well this is the story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down....
If you know this quote you will be smiling :)
In a nut shell, a year ago I was living in Cardiff, Wales with a pretty good life, a great routine and everything just seemed to plod along. I had no idea that I was destined for the other side of the world! Here I am sat pretty much the furthest you can be away from where I call home, homeless in a motel and everything just not quite right. But, I have the feeling that this is exactly where I am meant to be.
I'm going to use this blog to track the journey and share the adventure. I don't know if anyone will read this beside me, but I always find that writing things down helps clarify what I'm thinking and feeling so I'm going to give it a go.
Today we picked up the keys to our new home, in a few days we will move in (to an empty house) and a few days after that our container should arrive to fill the space (it's currently going through customs). We have been in this motel for 6 weeks now, which is not the easiest with 2 children, but I'm glad we made the journey all together, even if it has meant being squished into the motel.
The nicest thing about getting the house is that I finally have keys again!
If you know this quote you will be smiling :)
In a nut shell, a year ago I was living in Cardiff, Wales with a pretty good life, a great routine and everything just seemed to plod along. I had no idea that I was destined for the other side of the world! Here I am sat pretty much the furthest you can be away from where I call home, homeless in a motel and everything just not quite right. But, I have the feeling that this is exactly where I am meant to be.
I'm going to use this blog to track the journey and share the adventure. I don't know if anyone will read this beside me, but I always find that writing things down helps clarify what I'm thinking and feeling so I'm going to give it a go.
Today we picked up the keys to our new home, in a few days we will move in (to an empty house) and a few days after that our container should arrive to fill the space (it's currently going through customs). We have been in this motel for 6 weeks now, which is not the easiest with 2 children, but I'm glad we made the journey all together, even if it has meant being squished into the motel.
The nicest thing about getting the house is that I finally have keys again!
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