Friday (the 13th!) letters

Hi everyone! I’m very glad today is Friday… this week has been exhausting! So much going on at work, and I haven’t been getting a tonne of sleep either (thanks, boyfriend who grinds his teeth in his sleep!). I won’t have much of a chance to relax over the weekend either… tomorrow we have three flat viewings in Basel, the first of which is at 11 a.m., meaning we’ll be setting off at 8 a.m.. *Yawn*. Anyway… I’ll try and think of some letters for you, even though I haven’t been doing much of interest this week. Most of my free time has been spent scrolling through flat websites trying to figure out whether we’ve already replied to that particular ad (and getting accused of being a robot for my pains!).

Dear tomorrow’s flats. I hope either one of you or last week’s works out because I really don’t feel like spending another Saturday running round Basel (or another week desperately trying to find new adverts to respond to that aren’t only available from 1st May, i.e too late).

Dear boyfriend. Please go to the dentist and get a new bite guard or I may have to murder you in your sleep!

Dear tea. You have been my saviour again this week. Without you, I would either have frozen to death or fallen asleep at my desk <3

Dear weather. I know February is statistically the coldest month, but could we at least have some sun? I’m so sick of clouds!

Dear self. Here’s a reminder: buy stamps! Also, find your customer number and write a termination letter to your Internet provider.

Dear friends/family with birthdays coming up. All of your cards and gifts will be late. I apologise.

Dear fellow bloggers. Once again, I apologise if I haven’t been by to say hello recently, but if you read the introductory paragraph you have your explanation.

That’s your lot for today. It’s supposed to be my lunch break, but I need to cut it short so I can get a translation finished by the end of the day. Have a great weekend, everyone!

A photo an hour: 8th November 2014

On Saturday, I took part in A Photo an Hour with Is That You, Darling? again.It took me a few days to get round to uploading the photos, which is why you’re only getting the post now. (But on our new computer, which I am in awe at the speed of! You’d understand if you saw what I’d been dealing with until now…)

9 a.m. I wasn’t actually planning on getting up for another hour, but bloody construction workers outside the window ruined my lie in!
10 a.m. Starting a new cross stitch image for a Christmas card

11 a.m. Out of the shower – time to get dressed
12 noon. Doing a few dishes before making lunch

1 p.m. A quick trip to the local supermarket
2 p.m. Time for a cuppa, seeing as my morning one went cold before I could finish it!

3 p.m. More cross stitch – nearly finished this one!
4 p.m. Wondering what to make for tea later. Please ignore the state of my fridge!

5 p.m. Time to start hacking up a pumpkin (it always takes me forever!)
6 p.m. Cooking

7 p.m. Wine? Don’t mind if I do!
8 p.m. Watching the first Hobbit film. (I still can’t believe  they stretched out that tiny book to make three films!)

9 p.m. Still watching the film, so here’s a selfie on the sofa!
10 p.m. Watching Jan get our new computer set up.

11 p.m. In bed with a book. And that’s your last photo… I turned the light out just after midnight but didn’t take another photo. I wish I had now though because this has ruined my symmetry ;-)

A photo an hour: 16 August 2014

On Saturday, I took part in the August edition of A Photo an Hour with Jane at Is That You Darling? I am being cheeky and also including this in Amanda’s Day in the Life linkup for August.

9 a.m. I was actually awake at 8:30 (thanks construction workers!), but somehow I find it easier to take my photos on the hour(ish), so I waited til 9 to take my first one. A nice cup of tea to start the day!

10 a.m. Doing a bit of cross stitch! I’m working on something for my kitchen as part of my 35 before 35. Can you guess what it is yet?

11 a.m. I noticed it had stopped raining, so I decided to head into town while I had the chance! (I promise I didn’t go out smelly – I showered and brushed my teeth between the last photo and this one!)

12 noon. Still in town. My dad paypalled me some money for my birthday, so I decided to pop in to Douglas and see if I could find a perfume I liked. (Is to paypal actually a verb? Never mind, it is now!) Am I the only one that would rather browse in peace than constantly be asked if I need help? After two shop assistants approached me, I decide to leave the shop and head elsewhere for my perfume… which turned out to be lucky because I found a special offer with a 30ml bottle of perfume and some shower gel for just €29.95. The perfume on its own would have been something like €45!

1 p.m. Time to head home for lunch. Pictured is the Natural History Museum, which I passed on my way home. (Also, note the grey clouds returning… definitely time to head home!)

2 p.m. Wrapping gifts for a few children whose birthdays are coming up. This one is for a friends son and I also wrapped stuff for my little brother and for my godson (although his won’t be posted til I return from Taiwan).

3 p.m.  Another tea? Don’t mind if I do! And back to my cross stitch while I drink it.

4 p.m. I finally managed to post the last of my Vienna posts. Hurrah! Next up is all the travelling I did with my brother (I’m sooo behind!).

5 p.m. Enough lounging around… time to make a start on tidying the kitchen! Here’s a photo of my hoover, plugged in and ready to go.

6 p.m. Dinner time! Ready-to-roast duck and boil-in-the bag potato dumplings. Also consumed but not pictured: peas and, of course, good old Bisto gravy!

7 p.m. Having made the (possibly insane?) decision to cross stitch all my Christmas cards this year, I got out all my cross stitch magazines and started going through them looking for ideas.

8 p.m. What Saturday evening alone could be complete without a classic film? ;-)

10 p.m. (I missed 9 p.m.!). Still watching the film… nearly finished now!

11 p.m. Off to bed with the final book I need to finish for the summer reading challenge! I’m progressing through it… but verrrry slowly!

And that’s it. I turned the light out at 11:30 p.m. so I never made it as far as a midnight photo.

 

Silent Sunday: Happy St Patrick’s Weekend!

Reinstating Friday letters

I haven’t done this in a while for various reasons – spontaneous trip to England, nothing to say, being too busy to post… but now I think it’s time to reinstate Friday letters!

Dear Deutsche Bahn. I really don’t appreciate you suddenly reversing the order of my train after I’ve been taking it for nearly 5 years! Now, instead of going straight into  carriage and taking a seat, I have to walk through half the train to find one that’s free. And when I arrive at my destination, I’m so far down the train that I have to walk half the length of the platform to reach the stairs – previously, the door I got out of was right next to them so I could go straight down and out of the train station. It may seem trivial to you, but it’s greatly annoying to me. Not cool, DB, not cool.

Dear weather. So, you’ve been beautiful all week while I was working, and now the forecast for tomorrow is cloudy with a chance of rain. I was planning on taking my March trip for the 12 trips challenge, but I’m not sure I’ll bother now. Thanks so much, weather gods!

Dear Sunday morning. I’m very much looking forward to you. Full Irish breakfast at the pub? Yes please!

Dear work. I would much rather be busy than have nothing to do, but I would appreciate it if next week could be just a little less full! The last few days have been crazy.

Dear tea. Once again, you have been my saviour this week. I ♥ tea!

Dear readers. Have a fabulous weekend… and I hope the weather where you are is better than ours is forecast to be!

A lazy Sunday and some good news

Yesterday, I made the conscious decision to leave the computer switched off. I didn’t stay offline completely, but I was limited to sites that my BlackBerry will actually load… so basically Facebook and BBC News/Sport. Instead of sitting in front of the computer, I spent the day on the couch in my pyjamas. Blanket, tea, a box of Maltesers and the TV – the perfect lazy Sunday. And I even managed to find an episode of House that was being shown in English… on a French TV channel. Globalisation at its best!

Not the pyjamas I was wearing yesterday…

In other news, my boyfriend made it to South America without incident and my grandpa was finally released from hospital on Saturday. He is under strict instructions to relax for the next month, so it will be a quiet Christmas, but my grandma tells me things went a lot better than the doctors had expected. Finally some good news from back home!

Tomorrow, I shall have a post for the Dr Who and cake fans among you… stay tuned!

Friday letters (working from home)

Today is a special Friday because I’m working from home. We’re getting new windows put in at work, and that means I can’t be in my office because 1) It will be cold and 2) It will be loud. The good thing about working from home is I get to have a lie in but still start work at my normal time. Also, I can have as many cups of tea as I want! Actually, I can do that at work as well, but I only drink fruit tea there (which isn’t really tea at all!) because the milk we have is UHT milk and tea with that in tatses awful! Anyway, enough rambling… letters!

Photo: Wikipedia

Dear grandpa. I’m so glad to hear your operation went well! I hope things continue to progress positively and you can come home in time for the weekend.

Dear sister. Thank you for keeping me up to date on grandpa’s condition.

Dear boyfriend. I find it very unfair that you get to go to South America for two weeks while I’m stuck here in the cold! Enjoy your conference and (especially) the free week after it. And no getting ill!! There’s been more than enough of that this year!

Dear K (who might even actually read this!). Have fun in Scotland and enjoy Dr Who!

Dear self. I’ve said this before, but seriously… you need to stop eating so much! A whole (large!) bar of chocolate before dinner the other day was neither big nor clever…

Dear New Year. We have finally decided where we’re going for you and booked flights. Madeira it is. I can’t wait!

As always, I wish you all a happy Friday and a fabulous weekend!