Thursday 28 August 2014

If we were playing Bingo we'd be shouting HOUSE

They say that moving house is up there as possibly the biggest cause of stress ever. I think Wavey and I would testify to that. In the last two days the house we were buying was snatched away from us by the sellers who simply decided not to sell anymore, and our own house sale was delayed by at least two weeks. But no-one told us and we thought it was happening tomorrow. So we hired a van. That is now just parked outside of our house. Oh and we already moved at least half of our belongings to a storage container. It's fair to say that we have not had a good couple of days. 

HOUSE!

First up let's talk buying houses. We looked, we viewed, we chose, we made an offer, it was accepted, we cheered. Then we waited whilst apparently the sellers went on holiday for a hundred years. Several frustrating phone calls later, the phrase you don't want to hear: I have bad news...

Thankfully we have been quite cool and calm headed about this house and not gone around declaring our love for it. Even though we liked it a lot (a lot) and were planning where we were going to put things and which cupboards we were going to rip out first. I have to admit I've been tempted to go and throw things at the windows since yesterday, but I'm moving on from that urge. We're back to searching, back to looking at those silly warped photos and trying to figure out exactly how wide the room might actually be. So we're being adults. 

If I had to choose though, being aged 8 right about now would be better, as then the whole house buying thing would be up to my mam and dad and not me making all the awful phone calls and hearing the bad news. Bah humbug to being an adult. 

We spent much of today waiting by the phone to find out if our buyer was okay with the delay. Turns out she, along with possibly the whole world except us, has known about it for quite some time and was more nervous that WE would pull out...are you keeping up? Just checking. But as we were blissfully unaware, we were essentially eating everything in the house so as not to pack it and down to one carefully selected pair of pants and a t-shirt while the rest of our lives was in boxes, at my parent's, at Wavey's mam's...oh to the em gee, it is all just a bit much. 

Now that we also know we are delayed, gee thanks for sharing people, we're all sorted again and have restored some kind of balance to be able to live for the next two weeks in some normality. Like we have unpacked the pants. And I've been food shopping so we have more than one lettuce leaf to share between the two of us and actual fruit, woo! It's the small things...

And so in conclusion: house buying = stress = extreme tiredness = probable high blood pressure and a possible small addiction to vodka. I think that deserves a HOUSE! I don't think it's too much to ask...

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Simples contd.

Continuing the theme of simple pleasures, don't you love it when you've ordered something online, then forgotten you've ordered it, then it turns up and it's like Christmas? Sometimes having a rubbish memory has its advantages.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Simples

Right now it's a bit of a crazy time in Dizz and Wavey land. We've sold our house, and have found somewhere that we are buying, but in true style it's not all going according to plan. Our buyer wants to be in our house by next Friday (!), as in we move out and she moves in. This would all be good, except for the fact that the people we are buying from are not ready to move out. Which essentially means we will be homeless. No biggie or anything...

So during this stressful time (no matter how hard you try to be cool it just creeps up at you and shouts BOO very loudly, evil stress monster) I am celebrating the simple things in life. Little things that make me oh so happy and take my mind off, however briefly, the impending living out of a shopping trolley possible homeless by next Friday issue. 

First up let's talk hygiene. Man I LOVE being clean! You can see how the shopping trolley situation could be difficult...ahem. Truly, one of my most loved things to do is wash my face at the end of the day. I love my nightly ritual with all my lotions and potions that wash away all the grime of the day. I think this love stems back to when I lived in London, where frankly you had no choice but to wash your face as it was almost as black as the snot inside your nose. Yes I said snot. London is a filthy place to live. What with all the traffic pollution and the sweaty armpits on the tube, it ain't pretty. So in concluding this simple thing, let's face wash. Simple but oh.so.good. 

Next up we'll have a bit of teevee. If the Great British Bake Off can't distract you with it's simple baking pleasures then I don't know what would. It's divine watching all the food, even if some of it does make me drool. It's an hour of watching people sit on the floor in front of ovens and dreading soggy bottoms. I heart it so. 

Almost as much as I love cooking up a tasty dinner. Tonight's yumminess was Moroccan chickpea and zucchini (I have to call it that as it's an American recipe book) served up with couscous and lashings of coriander. Yum and more yum. If only I'd have had some of the bread they were baking up on tonight's Bake Off to go with it! 

Finally it's a good book before bed. I made a little trip to the library and picked out some good'uns! I'm currently reading The Night Circus and waiting to give my review to the waiting crowds. So many people have recommended it, I just hope it doesn't turn out to be an epic fail from me. 

So there you have it. The little things I am grabbing onto with both fists as we navigate these tricky tides. Please bear with me if there is radio silence from the blog, I'm not sure you can get a wifi signal from a shopping trolley...

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Dadadada, dadadada, dadadada, WHOOOOOOOEEEEEEOOOOOO!

“I turned up on set and saw the Tardis. I remember touching it … the police box … and I got a little bit teary. I was just so thrilled to be there,”  - Peter Capaldi

Soooo excited!
Fizz

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Between two skies

My town...







And the obligatory selfie in the ridiculous wind:
 

Tuesday 12 August 2014

RIP Robin Williams

This quote expresses how I feel much better than I ever could.

Really saddened to hear Robin Williams has died. He was a Catherine wheel of comic energy - brilliant, irrepressible, inspired. A true genius. His imagination was like electricity - flowed through him, lit him up, sparked wildly, consumed him. He inspired my generation.

- Impressionist Rory Bremner

Goodbye to a wonderful man.

Monday 11 August 2014

This is why Bob didn't like Mondays

It seems a bit crazy to be taking a holiday like 5 minutes after you've started a job, but it was one of those take 'em or lose 'em type deals, and losing them just wasn't going to happen. So I took a holiday. Started out well with a pretty sweet lie in until 8.30am, why thank you. Then I caught up on some serious YouTube time as I am like way behind on my video watching, way behind. I could have just sat on the sofa all day doing just that but I thought, no Dizz, get thee of thine arse and go and do something. So I made a plan to head into town and go and see some art. Well, after a quick diversion to some shops to buy a birthday present for my Ma. 

First up: birthday present buying. I've already got one part via the internetty so this was just a little something extra to put in the gift box. I knew what I wanted and I knew where I wanted to go. Where I went shall remain nameless as I really don't have anything good to say. 3 assistants tried to make me take part in the 3 for 2 offer and then when I tried to pay for my single item, that assistant tried to make me buy extra stuff too. By this time I was pretty pee-d off as it really felt like a hard sell so I informed this assistant that I only had enough money to buy this one item and that they should quit enabling people into debt by making them buy more than they need. Ahem. I really don't respond well to pushy sales people...

Next up art gallery number 1: CLOSED ON MONDAY.

Had to admit to slight feelings of grumpiness by this stage. 

Art gallery number 2: CLOSED ON MONDAY.

What?! I mean what?! Why?! I had a full on battle with Hurricane Bertha to get to the second gallery and for no reason at all. I slightly improved the day at this point by getting a spot of nice lunch at a cafe that I used to go to all the time, but sadly even that has gone down hill and the food wasn't all that.

What is up with today? 

Never mind Hurricane Bertha, Grumpy Gertrude was in full on mode by this time. I should have just stayed slobbing out on my sofa and watching YouTube videos. 

But here are some photos of the arty places. And a crackin' shot that demonstrates quite how rather windy it is today. Enjoy the visuals. 







 

Saturday 9 August 2014

Walk walk walk walk

Apparently Hurricane Bertha is coming tomorrow to steal our summer forever. So it being a gorgeous day today, I took advantage and went for a walk in the countryside with D. Took a few snaps along the way. So here they are. Enjoy!







Thursday 7 August 2014

So far, so improving

I want to talk to you today about bubbles. Until a few weeks ago I had never really realised that I was living in one, as even though I left libraryland what feels like hundreds of years ago now, I actually stayed in the same bubble when I went to the same place, but as a student instead of an employee. Blimey that was a long sentence. Getting back to the bubble. It was safe inside of there. I pretty much knew where everything was at, and even though each day was often endlessly frustrating and almost always dull, I just went about my business all cushioned and protected. 

(It's at this point that a giant pin comes along and bursts the bubble)

I was reluctant at first to talk about the new job on the blog as inevitably there were teething troubles. Big style. Like almost to the point where I considered walking away from it, in all seriousness, in the second week. It's been a twisty, turny, up-py, down-y kind of 7 weeks but I hope that I'm finally coming out of the other side and reaching a more level kind of plateau.

Not too much detail is needed. Suffice it to say that I thought I was going in to do one thing, they thought it was something else entirely, I started stressing that I wasn't the right person for the job after all, had the massively awkward conversation with my boss, sweated for about a million weeks (ok like 3) until they finally made a decision, and we all reached the aforementioned plateau that is not 100% ideal but is a lot better than what we all thought was going on. Confused? Join me for the ride. 

So about that bubble. That cushioned, protected, bubble. Wow. Even though I tell people who still live in the bubble about what it's like out here in the big bad wide world, I don't think they really believe me, cos how can they? They live in the bubble and don't understand the outside harshness. In some ways I don't want them to, they need the bubble. I knew that I needed to be outside of it, but was completely and utterly unprepared for what that might actually mean. 

It's week 7 now outside of the bubble. Some good things happened this week and I hope it will be the turning point of better things to come. I'm slowly adjusting to life outside of the bubble. And I even made the small move away from the bizness black towards more Dizz-like clothing. Small steps. Almost cushioned you might say... 

Friday 1 August 2014

Another week that was

Today is officially August. What?! I can hardly believe it. It's also Friday which means it's the end to another week. Time is truly a-flying by! 

I started the week taking pretty pictures like this one:

I had a meeting at a building that was next door to this pretty park. I arrived a bit early so I sat myself down in the sunshine and read some of my book. Cheeky and sneaky, me likey. 

By Wednesday I was taking photos of beetroot juice that seemed to resemble strange Picasso like faces:

It really even looks like the spooky face is wearing a beret...sometimes when Wavey is away my thoughts take me to strange places...

This week I also had not one, but two conversations, about waxing. In particular waxing of the lady parts. Truly bizarre! This is not at all the normal kind of conversation I get involved in but when you find yourself saying the words 'landing strip' to your hairdresser, it's safe to say it's been a weird old week. 

This week also found me saying another fond farewell to Tizz as she headed back to London town. It's really rubbish whenever Tizz leaves as I absolutely love her being here and miss her completely heaps and heaps when she goes back. COME BACK SOON! This felt even harder as she had been here for 2 whole weeks. 2 weeks! It was just like the old days when we used to spend literally hours drinking tea, and chatting, and watching crap tv. COME BACK SOON! 

Wavey came home from yet another bizness trip away. 

I got my very first pay cheque in 16 months.

We spent a gazillion hours talking about mortgages to people and watching videos about buildings insurance. Ridiculous does not even cover that. 

We started packing up our home. 12 boxes of books. I wonder how many the kitchen will have...?

It has truly been another week that was.