Groceries and other stuff.

Song of the day: “Closing Time” by Leonard Cohen. I know, depressing, right? It’s a miracle I didn’t hang myself with his voice in my head. But honestly, it is a rather fun song in it’s own very depressive way. Hah

Like explained the other day, yesterday was grocery shopping day, but first there were the appointments at the bank, and the electricity company. I feel so very boring sharing this crap, but considering there is really nothing more interesting to tell about what is going on over here, so I might as well.

So first there was the slight mishap, of us having forgotten that we were supposed to put the new tire up…had to do that fast, before we departed, took us fifteen minutes…while big brother hurried back down to the house, because he had no idea that it was “that time” already and still had to change into something…ehm clean and whole (i.e. work clothes). So grandpa and I managed the chore in that time. It would have been a lot faster if I hadn’t parked the car’s spare tire on a slight elevation (which meant that we had to bring the car higher than usual, darn it!) and didn’t notice until it was already off, aaargh. But we managed to get on the way in time.

Once at the bank, we waited for a full forty minutes before the manager came out and suggested we come back later, because he’d be busy for a bit yet. And seeing that we had to go to the electricity company anyway and we were running a little behind anyway, we decided to head for Marbella. Once there, parking a long way from the actual office, since the city is always packed, we got to walk to the location instead. It was like a mile going up and downhill, (very funny, grrrr) only to find out that the office closed at twelve, rather than the usual two in the afternoon. Gawd, it really bugs me when all those offices have different times; how’s a body supposed to set a clerical error straight when they seesaw all over the place, huh? Oh wait, that’s bureaucracy for ya. Darn idiots. Wouldn’t want to be open for more than three friggin’ hours to listen to complaints of paying customers.

But anyway, we made it back to the bank in time before closing, only to find out that the bank account change still hadn’t been put through in the Madrid office, so it meant a postponement of what we had the day’s appointment for in the first place. The manager is going to call me as soon as he’s arranged everything, and then I’ll only need to come in to get my information package and sign some papers. Phew. Such a relief.

We got home really late, which meant that we had about an hour to have a quick lunch, do some very necessary chores, and type a quick letter for my pen soldier to put with the care package that should have been in the mail Monday, but couldn’t, due to the holidays over here. *sigh*

Feeling a tad frazzled, we did manage to head out in time for the planned grocery shopping, and got a fun-filled five hours of rushing through department stores, bazaars, supermarkets and anything else that needed to be fetched. I gotta tell ya, I was just about ready to drop when we got home…and then we still had to unload and put everything away.

Suffice it to say that when I did finally sit down, a portion of freshly baked fries, a salad and a drink, I was about ready to hit the sack at light speed. Hah. Of course then I still had to pack the Christmas gifts for the aforementioned care package, but luckily the sisters offered to help with that, so we got it all done in record time and stacked the whole lot inside, taped it shut and shoved it in a bag for grandpa to put in the mail tomorrow (well, today actually). While going over my messages and such of the day, we watched a rented DVD “Fast and Furious”, which wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, but neither was it grand, and then the day blissfully came to an end. Phew.

Which brings us to today: Well, I am not in the best of moods today, I’ll admit. The dogs are irritable too, which could be blamed on the herd of cows at the bottom of our property that are constantly dangling their bells…this in effect irritates me some more, and made today’s outside work a little less pleasant than it could have been.

The weather wasn’t helping much either: an overcast sky, morose lighting, but thankfully not too cold. Considering that, what with the threat of rain predicted by the weather station, we could hardly start pouring concrete in the carport, I decided to start on little brother’s new closet.
The components which I picked for this, are part of an old closet that we found during a scavenge hunt at some point, but, since the old one is almost three inches too deep, I needed to take that amount out from sides, top and bottom. Luckily, both grandpa and big brother pitched in with the sawing, and little sister helped me put it all back together again.

It is strange how my emotional side would title this day as being bad, when technically there was nothing wrong with it. ‘Cause, let’s face it, all in all it was a constructive day, but do the emotions agree with it? Nope. Stupid and annoying, that’s all that sticks. Grrr.

Well, I better stop before I start ranting. Better luck next time.

Care packages!!!

Song of the day: “A song for whoever” by the Beautiful South. Such a fun song, and I really should listen to it some time, ‘cause now only the chorus keeps spinning through my head.

It was a rather busy day, following a similarly busy day, so I’m (once again, yes I know) in a rush. I would hate to have to start doing the blog every three days, but…well, let’s not think about that yet. I’m here now anyway.

So what all happened…project wise we’re basically wrapping things up at the moment, finishing ongoing ones before we start on a new one. Some stuff just has to be finished and be over with. What got finished was my part of the work on middle sister’s desk. It is looking rather grand, I’ll admit, and the pretty flowery slats that we put on them work beautifully. I am going to have to put up a picture to do it justice, and I will, just as soon as I find a spare minute…somewhere. Hah.

After finishing the desk, I spent about an hour cleaning up tools, wood and whatnot, figuring it was the least I could do, after using so much of it. Then, I decided I might as well try to fix the blasted handles of the furnace. What with the dogs jumping against the big machine (they are under the impression that we actually leave food on it, hah) they tend break the controls, and having two missing, was bugging the heck out of me. So, the other day, during a scavenge hunt, I found two handles from a discarded furnace, and figuring they had the same shape I took them home. They were the same shape, yes, but I did have to scrape the plastic a size bigger until they fit. Then I had to saw them, use glue to put them on the knobs I’d saved and wait to see if I did them right. As it turns out, one fits perfectly, the other will need some fine-tuning yet. Drat.

Lots of chores going on, along with more planning for the future veggie garden, and then a totally failed attempts at an early night because we had to get up early this morning. The flat tire had to be brought to the repair shop. Luckily the problem was found fast, and the guy could fix the perforation (it was a darn nail, of all things) within fifteen minutes, so rather than waiting we headed towards Coin, where we had to pick up a delivery.

Now, this is going to need some explaining, I’m guessing. You see there is this old friend of my mom’s who has been sending us care packages for years, but this time, she apparently went a little overboard. She is a darling, mind you, but there were seventeen friggin boxes waiting for us at the mover company, and we could barely fit it all in the car. We have a big car, Land Rover Defender (as I have spouted a million times, I’m sure. I love that car) but it really took quite some effort to pile it all inside and still fit in ourselves. And they were heavy, Oh my Gawd! Getting them in the car and the out again to haul them into the house (it was like we were moving house, hah) was heavier than working a full day with rocks, I swear.

It is awfully sweet of mom’s friend though, who has always been sort of like an honorary aunt to us all. There were sweaters (wonderfully warm ones, yay), shirts, vests (also warm, double yay) Ts, tops, bed sheets…Gawd, bed sheets, they might give me nightmares now, hah.
Seriously, we could fill a store with them…but admittedly it was getting rather necessary since all the old bed sheets were worn down, torn in many places and more then ready for replacements. It took us a full day to unload all the boxes, arrange the contents between the family and even our tenant and her caretaker, and then spent several hours digging through the linen closet to get all the old worn ones out, and the new, clean, beautiful fabrics in.

And then I’m not even mentioning the towels yes. There were at least forty of them, in practically any color available, and in all honesty, I have no idea where to put them all. Right now we’ve stored anything that we can’t fit in anywhere in the guest rooms by the old pool, and I am going to have to tackle them, sometime in the near future.
The plus side, I’m thinking, is that we won’t need to buy any of that stuff for the next ten years at the very least. Phew.

Like I said, incredibly sweet, and really handy…especially with the economy the way it is right now. Hah…but also rather overwhelming. There was stuff here that she has been gathering for us for the past five years or so, and each time I took out another item, I really wanted to sit down and burry my hands in my hear. Considering that it is really the thought that counts, I can only say that this loving form of charity (albeit a tad much) definitely lives up to the old adage.

There was a slight hiccup during the course of the afternoon, when Amos (mini Boxer) and Prama (crossbreed) got into a fight. Big brother was right in the thick of things, and just when I was about to reach Knight II, so I could drag him away, the idiot bit big brother in the side. A massive bruise, but only a slight puncture, thankfully, but definitely not fun.

But anyway, this explains why today’s activities were limited to lots of hauling, and cleaning out the pigsties hah. Projects just have to wait for a bit, considering that tomorrow will be similarly busy for all parties involved. Yep, grocery shopping day is once again approaching and we need to go to the bank and the electricity company right before it. *sigh*
The only thing that is keeping me from screaming right now is that afterwards we should be all set for at least two more weeks, which means, that with a little luck we can stay at home and just work on peacefully for at least a week. I’m certainly keeping my fingers crossed.

Other than that, big brother and I decided to do a slight editing detour into last year’s “A Taste of Life”, just to check how things are going there, and to plan a little on additional scenes that will make the story suitable for sending to other publishers. What with vampire stories still being so very popular, we figure we gotta be able to get it out somewhere too. Besides, it is a fun read, and a totally different style from what we’ve been doing for the past year or so. Addie is still adorable, and Rash…well, he’s a dark, handsome vampire: what more can you ask for.

A little vague.

Song of the day: “Haven’t met you yet,” Michael Buble. I know, I never would have thought I’d like his songs but this one stuck around for some reason. Hah.

Regretfully I don’t remember yesterday’s song, darn it. Ah well, never mind.
Let’s see if my memory works better for the activities…I doubt it. Hah.

Yesterday the weather was downright marvellous, I do remember that. Our tenant had a lovely (warm) time on my porch, and her ascend onto the stairs went rather well. She rather enjoys the buzz going on around her.

Middle sister and I worked on her desk, both yesterday and today (today was miserably cold the moment I stepped out of the sunshine, by the way. Gawd I hate that northern wind) and minus a few little cosmetic touches that still need to be done, she should be able to start painting by tomorrow. The new drawers are sturdy, finished and in, yay. The delicately worked finishing slats are up, and minus one little construction error that we corrected today (in a rather cute fashion, I’ll admit) it all worked out splendidly.

It still needs the back cover, and a lick of paint, but what with the new bottom I put in and the sturdy legs, it should hold for at least another decade, or so. It’ll be fun to find out. Hah.

At the same time big brother has put in the drain under the carport, which should be ready in time because the weather forecasts are predicting heavy rains later this week. Oh my Gawd. Please no…though, admittedly it would be great for nature around here. It was a rather dry summer, so it really is necessary, darn it. That doesn’t mean I gotta like it, though.

Little sister reached a milestone today, she put in her first shelve on her own. It looks great, and what with the new doors in front of the cabinet in the kitchen, for which she made it, the kitchen is finally completed. Yay.

Little brother has been tackling the patio inside door, which was looking wretched from intense use for ten years, and lots of dogs trying to get through on a daily basis. Considering that we’re going to put in thick glass this time, it should hold for a bit this time.

The laundry machine is still giving me a lot of grieve. It just doesn’t want to turn on for me, so I’m resorting to calling big brother at ever occasion, who then somehow manages to get the machine on. It’s just freaky. It’s like the bloody machine just doesn’t like me, or something. Hah,

Oh my, how could I have forgotten, we had a flat tire on the Land Rover, so we had our first experience in changing it the other day. It wasn’t all that hard, really, and now we’ve got the spare on, because we need to take the tire to the shop, to see if they can repair it. We would have done it already if the shops weren’t closed again due to a local Holiday, involving Saint Nicholas.

My shiner is…oh wait, I forgot to write about that the other day, didn’t I. Well, I was experiencing a freaky day of clumsiness, that’s a fact. First I got in the car and bumped my head on the ceiling, like, hard. Yikes. Then several hours later, I bent over while we were hanging this humongous board on the ceiling of the carport, and at the same time big brother lifted a chair…which then slammed me right in the noggin’ (forehead, this time) with the stick end of the back. Crap!
And then, last but not least, I was just about recovering from the long day, stretching out on my bed, when Sitabah (Weimaraner) decided she wanted on the bed too and tried to jump over the others to get there. I was only in time to see a flurry of gray coming towards me, and wham: Her friggin’ bony knee slams into my right cheekbone, sending me backwards, wondering whether to throttle her, or just keep quiet until pounding sensation subsided a little. I decided on the latter.
But anyway, the shiner is almost gone again, so it was minor to say the least, and though the other spots are a little tender, all things considered it wasn’t all that bad.

As for today, the fire barrel was burning cheerily most of the day, of course. That wind was a genuine pain in the butt, I tell ya.
I made dinner this afternoon, because let’s face it, when working in the cold a warm meal is detrimental for all concerned.
The dogs would have loved a bite too, but I persevered, and kept them at bay until I had finished my share. They too like the burning barrel, by the way. I swear, if we don’t watch them closely, some of the dogs will actually try to lie against it while the metal is literally scorching their fut.

…And considering I can’t think of another thing to write about, other than that we’re making good progress with the proofreading. Managed to do a total of forty pages in the past couple of days, yay. Which reminds me, I need to get to it, like, right now…