Hi lovely! Happy Monday! John has a birthday tomorrow, so we are celebrating all week, but at our age…we don’t really do gifts. More on that later.
Only 1 small half hour of line dancing last week, because of my trip to Peterborough last Monday. Still lots of walking as I was able to carefully miss most showers- by accident. I guess I walked to the grocery twice last week. With tiny fridges…and less meal planning these days- just for the 2 of us.
It works.
We did get to host our church group here last Wednesday night, which was fun. I made goodies and enjoyed putting together a nice snack spread. I think we snacked through the rest of the week though. I made good things- cheese, veggies, oatmeal cookies with sultanas(white raisins) and bread sticks.
On Saturday John worked on our taxes, which had to be delayed while we were making the move overseas. I got all my real estate info for him too. He does the rest. He expects to be finished by this weekend. I guess when its all done, it will be time to start on the next one!
On Sunday we ventured to the town of Corby after church. People say about Corby- that its shabby. Sigh, I guess I agree. We went to an auction house to look at a bunch of stuff, and write down numbers of things we were interested in bidding on later in the afternoon. Then we drove into Corby and parked at an outdoor mall. We got lunch and ran a few errands. This outdoor mall was on a couple of levels- and had apartments or condos above it, like the popular Virginia shopping areas have, but it was old and not well kept up. Too bad, as its a popular idea. The wind whistled down the blocks of shops, and started to rain! Yep. It was cold, windy and wet, as we expect England to be.
Back to the auction house, which was in an industrial area. It seemed to be unheated, but there were people milling around everywhere. This auction house famously has 1 pound lots, which if no one else bids…you get a great deal on.
We really wanted some end tables for our master bedroom, but wanted to pay 15- 20 pounds tops. When they came up for auction they had a reserve of 24 pounds, so we didn’t even bid on them. But we did get 2 small lamps for a pound, a large mirror for 2 pounds, and another for 4 pounds, and a clock for a pound.Oh, and a side table for 3 pounds. I will need to sand the top down and paint it, so That gives me a nice winter project! Everything else is already dusted and put up
It was fun, but I had to keep walking around at the auction house, as my feet were freezing! Neither John or I had wool socks on. Won’t make that mistake again.
Another project I need to start working on is adding pre-made blackout curtains to the curtains already hung in the bedrooms. In spring and summer the sun rises incredibly early. I had bought some curtains in various colors and sizes in Virginia- not knowing if they might be necessary. They didn’t cost much and they are multipurpose…as I’ve used them for paint clothes before. Not these exact ones…The curtains here have pinch pleats, so I need to really think out the best way to temporarily add the blackouts for the time we are here- without ruining them for the owner. They match wallpaper in the bedrooms- so I don’t really want to put up others- which would mean getting hardware, making my own pinch pleats curtains…and storing the ones left in the house. Complicated, right? Any thoughts on this? I’ve been mulling it over for a few months…But March is the action month for this!
Jenny and John B. did a short “story” video last week on creativity, and what it looks like in their lives. My John and I have had some discussions also this week, using their video as a jumping off place. Its been really good to talk about what things we each do to be creative- now and in the past, and how that has changed with jobs, and children, and life. We also are talking about dreams we have had, some of which came true, which ones didn’t, and perhaps why, and dreams for the future. Last night we walked to our local pub, The Ship. We got the b birthday week started! I got sparkling water, but I could have gotten a decaf instant coffee. I know- instant coffee is popular here. Weird! John got a nice beer. My Dad would have loved this pub, as the walls were covered with pictures of sailing ships and memorabilia. The nice thing about a pub visit was that the stone walls were so thick we didn’t have cell service, and we sat face to face- instead of as we often do, which is side by side.
It was refreshing. Nice simple times…until I spilled my water .
Though life is simple, I love the connectivity to be able to keep you all nearby even though I’m around the world from you.