T'eyla Minh

Our references from our respective employer(s) and landlord have now gone off so fingers crossed we'll have some good news this week about the house, and can start packing... Not a concept I am looking forward to but I won't make the same mistake as last time of filling a large moving box full of books and not being able to move it. :P

Our oven works again; a nice Italian man came out on Saturday eventually, after two deliveries of the wrong part to the shop, and fixed it in five minutes flat. It now heats up in about ten minutes, and I can COOK THINGS again, so hopefully we can stop eating junk food after the gym now. I had lots of good intentions but they were scuppered by exhaustion and a lack of oven. :P

Other than that, this weekend we didn't do very much. Went to Asda on Saturday to stock up and spent about £100, half of which was on booze (several bottles of wine, some beer, three bottles of cider, two bottles of vodka... they had a litre of Russian Standard for £16!!), I watched EastEnders (OMG David Essex!!) and then we went down to see Paul's mum to update on house-type things. We watched Staggered whilst there, a Martin Clunes film from the 90s. Quite amusing.

Sunday it was raining, so we stayed in and did nothing. Paul cooked a roast chicken dinner and we invited Lisa up and then all sat and watched The Kings Speech on demand, which was really good. Hard to explain why it was really good, but we all enjoyed it muchly. I might buy the DVD. :)

Also, I shall share with you my Relevant But Appalling Joke under the cut.

( Really, it's absolutely terrible. Don't say I didn't warn you. )

Gym tonight. I need to get back into the habit of going three times a week and learn to manage my time better. It'll be better for me when we can go on Tuesday nights when choir breaks up as we're currently going on Mondays and Wednesdays, which are both supposed to be my 'early' nights at work. I did gain loads of flex the other week, but not being at home three afternoons a week is making me disorganised (as is having to constantly wash gym clothing and towels, making everything else pile up).

But yeah. I need to get back on track and start eating properly again because currently I'm maintaining my weight instead of losing it (at the first four-week weigh-in I'd put on 1kg, in fact), and I have until September to get trim - before ruining it all by eating junk whilst on holiday, obviously. Although hopefully the moving of boxes in (hopefully) about six weeks will help, too. :P I started my food/calories diary again but the lack of having an oven meant I kept forgetting (and felt guilty about the amount of pizza, etc., we were getting through), so I need to get back on track with that, too.

Okay, that's about it. Hopefully I will post soon with good news about the house...

Edit, 13.30: Refences cleared and offer letters in the post!

I have fallen quite far behind on my Fandom for February posts. I will do an update later incorporating days 13 and 14, as they're both quite small, and then attempt to catch up with the rest over the course of the week. I think days 17 and 19 are both going to be quite lengthy, but there are some less wordy pairings as well. To be honest, it's probably going to run over into March anyway.

For now, here's a general update.

( Thusly. )

So, back at work today. Due to some late nights this week (and late mornings), I had coffee this morning out of sheer habit, forgetting that in fact I've not had any in a week. I have fun jitters as a result (hence the icon). Just as well really as there is a backlog in the typing, and apparently whilst I was off the toilets were flooded, only to be back in service yesterday. Talk about good timing. :)

I think that'll do for now. Much work to do, can't waste time writing LJ entries. ;)

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to commoncomitatus. We will try and find time to come up and visit you, if the birthdays in March ever let up... at which point you will receive a belated card and some variety of present, as I am horribly disorganised.

Well, less kitchen sink and more bathtub, though the kitchen sink is an unfortunate side effect.

You may remember I posted a couple of weeks ago about our bathroom / overflowing basin disaster, as a result of the bath being blocked.

The bath is still blocked. Since that incident we've tried two different types of Mr Muscle - the gel and the foamer.

( In which I am losing the will to live... )

Oh yes. On Saturday we had our second concert of this season (I missed the Verdi thanks to the sprained foot, though apparently it didn't go that well anyway), the Bernstein/Parry/Faure/Durufle one. We had a low audience turn-out (as usual) but those that attended seemed to think it went well. I think the Bernstein Chichester Psalms went the best out of all of it, but probably only because we've rehearsed it to death. The Faure (Cantique du Jean Racine) was pretty, and the Parry was... well, patriotic. Durufle's Requiem is a lot nicer than I remember; in fact I could only recall having sung it with Derby Choral Union but had forgotten it all completely.

( Choir stuff )

I think I'll post this otherwise it'll never end... I shall put in an early BAH HUMBUG just to get it out of the way. :P

So, today was annoying. I meant to leave at four; I left at six. That kind of annoying.

I was going to rant about it, but I don't have the energy any more. The only snark I can muster is the passive-aggressive message I left for Paul on the notice board in the kitchen* about the fact that he owes me three (underlined several times) rounds of washing up now. He had reduced it to two, but we have the gas man coming tomorrow and in my attempt to merely pile up the dirty dishes for Paul to do them tomorrow I was assaulted by a horrendous smell and decided to do it myself.

Anyway, the work annoying was the same annoying as it always is, revolving around Moany, Forgetful and Demanding, as per frigging usual. I might post about it tomorrow if I'm so inclined, but right now I just want CHIPS and SLEEP. Except CHIPS will entail actually having to move. Can someone email me some chips? Please?

* I bought this notice board back in July with the intention of writing upon it the contents of the freezer / fridge. I got as far as putting the fridge's contents on it but we never actually sat down to note what was in the freezer. The entire purpose of this was so we actually could get organised and get stuff out for tea in advance, like we used to when we first moved in and weren't so bone idle / tired, but then the freezer was empty again so we didn't bother, etc, etc. I wiped it clean the other day because most of the fridge stuff had also changed / gone and, well, at least I used it for something...

Electrics are back on, lift is functioning, heating is (just about) working, though the radiators are lukewarm and they're going to call the engineer out again just to double-check things are actually okay...

...but it did take me an hour and a half to get to work.

Okay. I admit that this more snow than most of us under the age of 30 have ever seen in our lifetimes here in Britain, but... come on! It's been snowing on and off for about three weeks solid, and when it hasn't been snowing there've been sheets of ice everywhere isntead, so why the panic like it's something new? Gah.

I know we're running out of grit and the roads are treacherous and blah blah blah. But the roads would be less dangerous if there weren't so many idiot drivers around making them dangerous.

Anyway, that's enough on that. I know that my opinions on this are unpopular. :P

( Another potentially unpopular opinion )

I wrote down the basic points of my epic dream last night so will attempt to type it up again later on, assuming I can get home tonight without having to walk. It wasn't so much a lengthy dream, or even particularly involved / plot-driven, it was just very detailed and intricate in terms of its atmosphere. So, watch this space.

I also need to update about the weekend just gone...

On Friday night Lisa decided to cook for us, which effectively ended our what-to-have-for-tea conundrum. She made beef curry with wild rice and naan bread, which was very nice indeed. We then stayed downstairs in the warm and had a few drinks (Lisa and Paul considerably more than me and Pete [Lisa's bloke]) before finally going back upstairs at about 2.30am!

On getting home Friday night we realised that the bath contained a pool of water, there being a blockage. So the majority of Saturday was spent attempting to unblock the bath.

( Epic Tale of Unblockage )

On Sunday, due to losing most of Saturday, we did absolutely nothing. :P

And this week, obviously, has been a constant stream of building-related woes. It feels like I've been back at work for months, and it's only been a week and a half. Bloody weather.

Priscilla review is still not forthcoming. I intended to work on my shorter work version this weekend but was scuppered by a horrendous cold and didn't bother.

Hm, I think I need to update from a little earlier...

My mum popped around on Wednesday night to drop off some bits and bobs, including some extraneous birthday cards and my present from my grandmother - a pair of fuzzy Ugg-boot style slippers, which are lovely and warm. I was intending on buying some new slippers anyway, so that'll save me some money. :D

She also brought over my rucksack and sleeping bag (not that I ever intend to go camping again, but it'll be useful if anyone's sleeping over and we run out of beds / duvets), and a full set of good quality saucepans and Tefal frying pans. They're redoing the kitchen again, including a new oven/hob, and they can only use certain types of pans on there, so I've inherited her old ones. We tried them out last night and wow, I'd forgotten the difference a decent set of pans can make. We've been using Trevor's stuff since we moved in in terms of saucepans, and they're rubbish...

(The one good thing is that I now have a large, deep frying pan / saucepan with a lid, so can finally make all those recipes which call for such. Like jambalaya! :D)

On Thursday I had a bad throat, though it wasn't too bad. Then we went to visit Paul's mum of the evening, where my cat allergy kicked in and set the cold off properly.

Friday the cold wasn't too bad. I forgot to change my bus pass datecard and for the first time ever the bus driver actually noticed. He was willing to let me on anyway, but I didn't want to run the risk of there being an inspector on the journey home, so had to buy a Daysaver. The cold wasn't too bad, though was getting worse by the afternoon, and I left at 4.15 to attend my GP surgery at 5.00pm for a 'flu jab and asthma check-up.

It took half an hour just to get out of Digbeth. I have no clue why. The traffic just simply wasn't moving. By 4.45 I was only at Highgate, tried to ring the surgery to tell them I might be late for my appointment (which I'd thankfully already moved from 4.45 to 5.00 in case of traffic issues... pre-emptive much?), except their answering machine message takes forever to finish and halfway through my phone announced "One minute remaining!" and subsequently cut me off, so I just had to pray I'd get there in time. Thankfully it then only took 10 minutes or so to get to Kings Heath and I legged it to my appointment just in time.

The walk home (and presumably the 'flu jab) finished me off. I popped into Wilko for more fabric softener and new toothbrushes and toothpaste, then into Sainsbury's to stock up on juice and get something for tea. I finally got home about 5.30 and promptly put on my pyjamas and wallowed in self-pity for the rest of the evening. Didn't even feel like having the curry I'd bought, but ate it anyway...

Paul rolled home around 11.30 or thereabouts from his night out (somehow going from somewhat tipsy to completely drunk after one more drink), at which point I fed my cold a Benylin night-time tablet and went to bed.

Thankfully the worst of it had passed by Saturday. Paul was in work until about 1.30, and I spent the day working on my Christmas decoration embroideries. I managed to finish a whole decoration over the course of the weekend (whilst watching Oklahoma! on Saturday, heh), and made a start on the first colour of the next one. Three down, seven to go... I'll try and remember to take a photograph tonight.

We watched Teeth on Saturday night, on Filmflex; not 10 minutes into it the doorbell rang, so we unplugged it. Bloody Trick-or-Treaters. I absolutely was not in a Hallowe'en mood this year. Just as well we didn't have a bad movies night because I would still have been full of cold and absolutely knackered. As to the film, it was weird but enjoyable... though I'm guessing the males in the audience would appreciate it less. ;)

Aaand that's about it. Except that it again feels like something's brewing at work. Christmas leave is sorted out; we've now been asked to request our Easter leave! I hadn't even thought that far ahead yet! *depairs*

Over and out...

Yup, nothing much happened this weekend... However, as there's already nothing to do here (10.50am) I shall ramble about it anyway.

( Cut for length. )

Oh yes, we had to put the heating on by Saturday afternoon, and I've left it on since. It's officially winter. I was trying to hold out as long as possible, but I've been cold since about mid-August.

There might be a hen-night-type deal this Friday for my mum but we're not sure yet, as several people are on holiday, so it'll depend on availability. I've booked the day off anyway, initially because I didn't want to run out of energy by 10.00pm, but even if it doesn't happen the day off would be much appreciated.

At some point this week I need to watch Order of the Phoenix and give it back to Gemma at work - on Thursday I ended up embroiled in a rambling conversation which started off about comedy and moved somehow onto Harry Potter, so Gemma lent me the DVD. I had planned to watch it this weekend but didn't find time / forgot, and I don't want to hold onto it for too long...

Choir restarts tomorrow - hopefully I won't be too knackered to enjoy it. Just before the break I missed the final two rehearsals because I was on leave (bad, I know) and because I wasn't feeling any love whatsoever for the two pieces we were rehearsing... I know when things come together it will sound brilliant (I hated the Verdi when we did the opera concert, then ended up liking it immensely once we got the hang of the Italian), but I wasn't in the mood for stumbling over things. I probably should have practiced it over the break, but time has run away with me as usual... I'm muchly looking forward to doing Faure's Requiem in April (finally, something I know!!) and of course there's Christmas to look forward to, despite the sheer amount of hard work in November.

Ah well, at least it'll stop me doing nothing.

Right, that killed an hour or so (with some typing in the middle), so I'll post it and find something else to do.

So, went to Ikea, spent just over £100 and it went on the credit card. Though really, that's not bad considering I got all of the following:

2x DVD cabinets
2x CD cabinets (dunno if we might need another one, though)
1x griddle pan
1x wok (£2.93! Bargain!)
1x lime green bathmat
1x set of funnels for kitchen
1x set of cutlery
100 tealights

My first attempt at DIY is ( under here )

We're going to have to move some furniture.

Well, today wasn't as bad as anticipated. I wasn't insanely tired - not even any requirement for coffee this morning. Let's see how long that lasts.

I had a pleasant surprise on my desk when I arrived, in the form of ( this ).

I had 233 e-mails (whittled down to 43 of any remote importance), which was a lot less than I was anticipating... Have been recounting the Tale of the Foot all morning.

On Friday night, we went out to the Lutley Oak pub for my grandmother's birthday. Despite them not arriving until about an hour after the allotted time, and the food taking ages to turn up, it was very nice indeed. I ended up having a steak with stilton and peppercorn sauce, which was lovely. Seeing as we didn't get back to my mum's until just before 10.00pm, Paul and I ended up staying over for the night, getting up earlyish the next morning to be driven back home. We all stopped off at Moseley village to visit the farmers' market, where we bought two interesting Derbyshire cheeses (garlic and herb, and real ale and mustard - the latter is very interesting...) and some wild boar sausages, after trying some on the stall for breakfast. There was a lot more I wanted to buy and there was a hog roast which looked mouth-wateringly delicious, so we'll definitely be going back next time...

Got back and my mum and David had a look at Lisa's paintings (with the possibilty of commissioning one when the lounge is decorated!), and David gave her some advice on where to get framing materials to make her own canvasses. After that it was a rehearsal for me, and then the concert of the evening, though I managed to get through the majority of Coraline in the break between the two. Concert went okay, though the turn-out was a bit poor...

Yesterday I did more embroidery (scan later, probably), and put up our ( new shower curtain )

As for work today, it's been mostly painless. The backlog is now cleared and that's about it, really. Still half-considering going for the secretarial position (secondment until September, when Marie is back off sick leave, as Gaynor is covering in her absence and thus the post of David's Secretary is up for grabs...), purely because I think Sandra is also considering it and the thought fills me with vague terror... and the rest of our team, too, I would imagine.

The AD wants to know by Friday, so I'll give it a ponder. The extra money would be very much appreciated. Apparently David thinks I could do the job (at least according to Gaynor...) but I'm also their fastest typist and don't want to leave them in the lurch with another Rubbish Temp. We have one Rubbish Temp already, and one of the fee earners in that team already avoids her like the plague. :P

So... watch this space, I suppose.

I think that's about it. I shall post some more photographs on Flickr momentarily.

I don't ordinarily post this early, but hopefully someone might PAY ATTENTION and answer my query by the time I come back to this.

Our kitchen sink is blocked. No idea how or why or what might be down there.

In any event, WE NEED A PLUNGER.

I am calling upon the Collective Brain: where does one buy a plunger these days? (I would normally go to Woolworths, but it be dead.)

KTHXBAI.

Edit, 11.55: Looks like succinct forcefulness works. :P Most comments in one go ever. ;)

Thanks for suggestions. Wilkinson was my first bet but the one in Kings Heath is a bit hit and miss with what they have in, and the decent homewares store has closed down these days, though there are a couple left. Homebase is a last resort really, as it's expensive.

Failing being able to get a plunger (or the plunger not working), Plan C (sink unblocker was Plan A; failed) is to ring the landlord or his handiman mate.

The most annoying thing? I cleaned the kitchen on Saturday and it was fine. The only thing we've even done in there since then and yesterday was Sunday lunch (nothing out of the ordinary...) and dinner on Monday, which consisted of burgers. I have no clue why it's blocked, except possibly to mock me, as I mentioned to Paul on Sunday that we needed to get a hold of some more of the stuff my mum gave me that dissolved blockages in 10 minutes...

Bah, stupid sink.