Sunday, September 24, 2006

Dining Room



We spent yesterday evening and a little bit of this morning building our new furniture, which included the dining room as well as a coffee table for the living room. I am really happy with the result, it is what I had envisioned. We will get at least one more pair of chairs in the near future but for now 4 is good. It looks good and I am really excited that we now have a fully furnished house, ready for entertaining! Now, if only Ikea sold friends....

Friday, September 22, 2006

Now You See It.........Now You Don't

What a day! Today I got fed up with not having a proper dining room set. I was tired of eating on a garden table and chair set. I'd had enough. I took a little trip to Ikea and solved that problem right up. They couldn't deliver today so they are delivering tomorrow, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I would need more than a couple of hours to get the dining room ready for a real table.

You probably don't know this, mostly because I am ashamed of it myself, but our dining room was a mess. We have been living in this apartment for 4 months but I still had heaps of boxes in the dining room, full of junk. It was a real mess, even for me. So, I got home and I started tidying up. I thought it would take me a couple of hours but it actually took me close to 6 hours, including mopping. It was insane and I am exhausted but man, it was worth it.

The dining room went from this:


To this:



I am no longer ashamed of the way my house looks, which incidentally, was another deciding factor in the matter. Matt's parents are stopping by tomorrow morning and I couldn't let them see the pigsty that this place used to be. Now I can't wait to build the new dining room set!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

New Couch!!!


After months of waiting and sitting on Ikea chairs, our couch and chairs got delivered today! We ordered them at the beginning of July and they took this long to come. Now all we need is to get a dining room set, decorate a little and we'll be set. This place is finally starting to look like a home!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Gone And Done It

So, after chickening out last time, today I gathered to courage to show up at a UK-Yankee get together. I don't know what was holding me back, it wasn't bad! I suppose it was the fact that I am pretty shy or maybe that I don't really drink, who knows. The thing is, I keep saying how I am bored out of my mind and I need to get out and meet people, but when the moment of truth comes, I change my mind. It's just one of those mind games we play with ourselves, we complain about our situation but don't do anything to improve it. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't. Well, at least now I can say that I did something. I had a good time, it was nice to get out of the house for once. Maybe I'll even go to the next one!

Monday, September 11, 2006

Where Were You?

My husband came home from work and asked me "Do you remember where you were on September 11th 5 years ago?"

I do remember, I remember every bit. I was in Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Illinois. We were in class when one of our other instructors came in and told us "New York City is being attacked" as he turned the classroom TV on. We watch as the first tower burned, then, in horror, we watched as the second plane. A little while later, we watched as the towers collapsed, first one and then the other. We were stunned.

Then came the craziness. Those who had family in NYC were allowed to call them. Speculations were abundant, all the way from "we are going to war" to "oh god, they are going to bomb the school house". The reasoning behind that last statement was that they figured if someone wanted to weaken the forces, they would go for the medical personnel first and since we were in the spot where said personnel was trained, they'd go for us next. The fact that the school house was round and had a big red cross painted on the roof, made us a bull's eye. I suppose we were just scared and naive and at that point, anything was possible in our minds.

After all the craziness settled a bit, class resumed but we finished early cause no one could really concentrate and we were glued to the TV anyway.

I suppose that is a day that most of us remember quite well. Where we were, what we were doing, what went through our heads. Who could ever forget?

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Strawberries and Lies




A couple of days ago we decided to drive by the pick-your-own farm just a few minutes away from here. They had strawberries but it was just too hot to be in the field. I decided to go back today and get some fruit. It was overcast but I decided to risk it and headed out. As soon as I set a foot on the field it cleared up and the sun came out. It was hot and I was wearing jeans, not a good combination. I picked a small basket full, but quite honestly, I think I ate half as much while picking. They bigger ones were alright but the smaller strawberries were deliciously sweet, like I hadn't had in a long time.

Walking on the field felt a bit funny, I am a self proclaimed city girl and I kinda felt like I was cheating. It also reminded me of the funny way things work out sometimes. In Cuba, during the 7th, 8th and 9th grades the schools takes the kids to the country to work in the fields for about a month. I went when I was in the 8th grade and I didn't really wanna work. Now, twelve years later, there I was, walking into a field of my own free will. There was no one telling me I had to. There was no feeling of discontent or anything of the like. It was just me, just a girl exercising her right to pick her own strawberries just because SHE wants to. Call me a nut, but that's how it felt.

On a different note, I was reading the forums of a website I frequent when I saw this link. I had a look and I was amazed at how much work went into enhancing these images. Really impressive. Then I saw the one of Heidi Klum. I was blown away, I was in shock, I was in awe. Who the heck needs plastic surgery when you have digital retouchers like that??? I is incredibly misleading to have women like this in magazines. It is portraying something that doesn't really exists. They are making an average woman into something most of us will never be and then selling it as being the real thing. The before and after images are the sort of thing that needs to be shown to bullimic and anorexic girls all over the world so that they realize that those models are not real and that women don't' really look like that. This is a very sad situation in my eyes but I guess it pays their bills. Well, at least it makes ME feel a lot better to know that Heidi Klum has saggy boobs.