Making My Day

I was briskly walking down the street and a gentleman stopped me to ask directions.  And I knew what to tell him!  It makes me happy to think I've acclimated to my surroundings.


The other night I was making risotto. I was rummaging for a measuring cup with no luck.  I was wondering if I could just use a highball glass when I noticed the packaging on the rice.

Lord I hope you can see this.  There is a clear strip running down the side and marked off every 75 gram serving.  Brilliant!

I am a Kashi Good Friends cereal gal.  My family refers to it as sticks and twigs which is fine by me...no one else ever steals my cereal.  I'm trying to find a substitute over here.  So far I've come up with Whole Wheat Biscuits.

Basically giant shredded wheat squares.  Not wholly convinced this is going to remain the top choice, but with a little fruit on top it''s not all that bad.

Tomorrow we plan a run to Stonehenge and Bath.  Cheers!

Rhythm

My days have always had a rhythm. Up at a certain time. Exercise. Shower. Start the laundry. Dress. Drive to the office. Work. Come home. Get the mail. Start dinner. Finish the laundry.


Certainly things changed over time. The rhythm I had raising small children was very different from the cadence of my life now. But it soothes me, my schedule. It builds a framework for my days that keeps me on track and allows me to get things accomplished.


Here, I am struggling to find that rhythm. I don't think it's the temporary housing situation. In the hotel for those ten or so days I was fine. I am very much a nester. A sorter. An organizer. Even if I am away for a few days I will unpack my bag. I'll hang clothes in the closet and put t-shirts in the drawer.


I've set up house here on High Street and will settle again at Regents Court. So no, something else has interfered with my rhythm. And I’d like it back please.


So while I wait for my life’s tempo to return? I’m open to suggestions. Oh, and a cup of tea? Didn’t help.

Housekeeping, Part Two (and Lamb Too!)

Meet Henry, Henry Hoover

Adorable, no?

Please take time to admire the selection of cleaning brands available here

Isn't housework FUN now?

On Sunday I caught up with an old friend

She suggested Lamb Stew

Some onion, wine, stock and rosemary

With cubed shoulder of lamb

And a low, slow oven

I decided to serve with potato mash

In a few short hours

Voila!

And just like that it feels like home!

Housekeeping

Laundry, Part 2
How quickly I've fallen from the pampered heights of hotel laundry service.  We moved into our temporary flat.  Like the flat we'll inhabit in March, and typical for this part of the world, there is a tiny washer/dryer combo in one of the kitchen cabinets.

It took me twenty minutes with the manual to figure out how to do one load

Didn't fold itself either

No coffee maker,so coffee:

Plus boiling water

Stir

Press

Ready to pour

Honestly?  Quite a good cup of coffee and due to the kettle very fast!

Wait until you see the hoover (vacuum) - it has a face!

Moving Day

We're leaving the hotel for about a months stay in a short-term let until our flat is ready in March. Oh, and it's also Murph's birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie, isn't moving a GREAT present?

In any event we had beautiful, sunny weather in London last Saturday and here are a few pictures!

Big Ben

The Cloisters at Westminster

Arty shot of Westminster from The Mall

Trafalgar Square

Complete with Amnesty Inspirational protest

It been so cold the fountain started to ice over!

View of St Paul's from Millennium Bridge

Millennium Bridge at dusk

In Answer To Your Questions

I started this blog as a way to keep friends and family back home informed of our comings and goings.  Some of my former bloggy pals (whom I've never met in real life but FEEL like I know them well) have joined the adventure and need some of the back-story.

In December Murph was offered an opportunity to join the UK office of his company.  His job will remain, for the most part, the same.  However his territory now includes western Europe, Sweden, Norway, Finland,... and well you get the point.

We will be letting a flat, paid for by the company, that we were able to choose.  It is in the town of Windsor and is literally in the shadow of Windsor Castle!  It is currently occupied and we won't move in until mid-March.  We are growing weary of the hotel (Murph is now on week four!) and are working on moving to a short-term let ASAP.

I continue to work, remotely, at my former job.  I believe some of you know that I was looking to make a change last spring but this and that and the organization made some changes to keep me around and so I am still with them.  I'll continue to write grants and do the reports, handle much of the marketing and plan to be back in the States for my event on March 1st.  Let's just say e-mail and remote desktop access are a wondrous thing!

So welcome Jenn, Violet, Green Girl and anyone else who happens to find me!

Laundry, How I love It

In true Murphy fashion we've already been to some great pubs; The Swan, Farriers Arms and St George and Dragon to name a few. More on those later because I have to tell you about the hotel laundry.

 You leave things to be cleaned in the morning and they are returned in the afternoon.



Nicely Bagged





Neatly folded and wrapped in tissue

  

Socks, undies and t-shirts


   
 

Dress shirts on hangers





Wait - What's this?



Yeah baby, that's how I roll in the UK!






Who Knew?

So we're staying in a hotel in Reading, UK.  We're looking at flats in Windsor and have narrowed it down to a few choices.  We are looking forward to being settled and enjoying all that Europe has to offer.  In the meantime, as Murph and I are both working, the days are full  and "tourist status" is not exactly where we're situated at the moment. 

Nevertheless I am trying to soak up the local flavor.  Because it was within walking distance of the hotel, I visited that venerable and quintessentially English establishment:

COSTCO!

From the guy checking your card as you enter to the guy checking your receipt as you exit it exactly the same as the US!

Stacks of clothes.

Towers of  dry goods

At check out members on one side, carts on the other .

And please notice the menu board at the top of the last picture. They even have the famous Costco Hot Dog.

What you probably can’t read is the item second from the left – steak and kidney pie. Don’t think that would play Stateside!

So there you have it.  All the cultural wonders England has to offer can be found here!

Cheers!
Karen and Murph

Crazy From the Start

Wikipedia defines Mid-Life Crisis thusly: "Midlife crisis is a term coined in 1965 by Elliott Jaques and used in Western societies to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is felt by some individuals in the "middle years" or middle age of life, as a result of sensing the passing of their own youth and the imminence of their old age. A midlife crisis is experienced by many people during the midlife transition when they realize that life may be more than halfway over." At (very) nearly fifty-six and forty-nine years of age Murph and I are deeply into "middle age".  While my children will be quick to assure you that I will live for fucking EVER out of pure spite assure me I will live a good long life, any way you look at it I'm at least half way through my stay here.  As for Murph? Well let's just say "zip-a-dee-do-dah" and leave it at that. Additionally, it has been medically determined that falling levels of testosterone (Murph) and estrogen (me) indicate our bodies are falling to shit not what they used to be.   These are the same hormones that in appropriate levels keep you for losing both your memory and your sanity. Falling levels?  Not so much.    Nevertheless, our psyches were over-ruling our bodies and screaming "Before you fall completely apart do something extraordinary for the love of all that is holy"! This internal struggle between mind and body caused us to ponder the possibilities.  We considered our options:   A: Take up say knitting and/or shuffle board   OR   B: Spend our retirement savings on a red Corvette/52' Speed Boat/Cruise around the world   OR   C: Move to a new and different place   Ladies and gentlemen?  We opted for "C".   And so we find ourselves (temporarily) in a hotel in Reading, Berkshire, England just west of London.  We are working with letting agents and trying to figure our just where we should live for the next twelve months.   Won't you join us on our most excellent adventure?   Kindest regards, Karen and Murph