Subtle hints

Song of the day: “Superheroes” by the Script. Not a bad song, but annoying to have as an earworm when it is only the chorus repeating itself. *sigh*

So I’m going to pop in a short one, as one of the attempts to revive the blog a little. The way I figure, I’ll be able to do this thing more often if I don’t need to put loads and loads of info into it. So if I do it frequently, there will be less to say all at once…does that make sense? Not to me. Hah.

Well, what to say. Working still…no we haven’t been fired yet. Imagine that. In fact, right this moment big brother is doing over time…again. I have noticed, that when big brother gets tired, he becomes distracted. He hears even less than usual, is in fact far, far away in his head at most times, which makes our communication somewhat one-sided at times. Rather frustrating, if you must know, but you can hardly blame the guy. I mean, seriously, I’m no fun when I’m tired either: I get emotional, cry at the drop of a hat, and get so insecure that I start making mistakes. No fun. But such are the facts. Not much to do about it. Everybody needs to work with what they have.

Got a new watch. Mine died about two weeks ago, and I saw a reasonable one on sale, so I am no longer time-impaired, asking everyone who passes what time it is. I have time! Sorta anyway. Hah. I can hear you think, why not just check your phone. I did! But imagine what happens when you’re scrubbing out toilets with bleach and you reach with your gloves into your back pocket of your black sweats…yeah, not funny.

Big brother had a free day yesterday, and he used it hanging our kitchen cupboard. Yay! So when I got home, we could actually load up supplies from the floor, put them away and create enough space in the chaos called our room that I could vacuum the floor, I kid you not. Hallellujah! Now all we need is some extra closet space and we’re all set. Yay.

What else. Well, I made some soups these past few days. The weather here is rapidly turning into autumn, so sturdy soups are definitely the thing. Tomato and pumpkin so far, which both worked out well, and went down beautifully. I love sturdy soups. They warm you right up. The weather has been appalling, lately. Lots and lots of rain, with fierce winds picking up regularly. Already made our first spinach potato mash, which is genuine winter food for as far as I’m concerned. See loads of that coming in the winter…well varieties of it, anyway. Beet potato mash, carrot, kale, broccoli, leek, sauerkraut…the varieties are endless, which is a good thing, considering we wouldn’t want things to get boring.

Worked at the shop again, which is starting to get to be a regular thing. Not getting paid much, but I am able to get stuff either for free or very cheaply, so that counts. Got rugs, a bed couch, kitchen ware, bed linens, clothes, a fridge and so on. Might not fill the wallet, but it keeps it from draining too fast, doesn’t it?

There have been some issues with our old insurance back in Spain, the power bill, phones bills and so on. Strangely enough all the hassle we went through to arrange all that, didn’t work out, or a lot of them anyway, meaning that there were some hiccups in the payments after all. Don’t get it. They were changed at all locations (drove all over the place to get that done in fact) and yet it still went wrong. Stupid bureaucracy!

Another little hiccup was our driving license. Had to change it to a Dutch one, but no one warned us ahead of time that it would be taken away and that we would have to not only fill in a form at town hall, but also at the big traffic agency in a town some odd fifty miles from here, and that if they found anything wrong, we would actually lose our license. Grrr. So there we went, in a borrowed car, driving the distance and paying ANOTHER 30 bucks for a friggin paper that basically states under oath that you consider yourself fit to drive. Insane, I tell ya. They’re all friggin’ nuts. Anyway, a few days ago we got a letter stating that everything checked out and that we are now allowed to apply for our new licenses. Very reassuring, that, I was worried there for a moment. Already I could see all that money of our lessons and exams go down the drain.

What else…well, I found a very simple red quilt for my bed. It used to be a curtain, but the size is just right for the bed, and it matches those rugs I mentioned. Still not sure about the borrowed zebra print, though. It just isn’t me, I guess. I’m looking for something dark green to add to the mix up here in the attic. That should keep things interesting, or otherwise a bright yellow. Hah.

Visited with grandpa, of course. He’s looking very fragile lately. And not surprisingly the doctor has postponed his operation because he is too skinny and too week. He needs to do exercises and eat more, according to the experts so let’s hope that he’ll start listening to THEM at least. When it came from us, it was easy to dismiss, but maybe some person with a piece of paper declaring them expert will make a difference. I dropped some very subtle hints, in part to make him laugh (but also to get him thinking) that he take up ballroom dancing again, for seniors, or else sign up with some sort of fitness program. At first he was very negative about it, but he did understand that having to go somewhere to do such things might just help him to actually DO it, rather than sit down and dismiss yet another workout, the way he does now. He might not like it, but he needs it. Also, it will allow him to go out every now and then, meet different people. I am much afraid that he is isolating himself way too much.

Went to the woods today with land lady’s pups. Finding these little ones a homes is starting to look like an impossibility, and that while they already cost her a fortune. Don’t get it either. They’re adorable, and they’re vastly trainable. Am struggling not to like them too much, keeping my distance and such. Can’t handle more attachments at the moment. Missing my own dogs is hard enough; having another to miss at some point is not something I’m looking forward to.

Five in the afternoon. Yikes. I gotta start on dinner, maybe go out a little later still. Gotta work tomorrow, so I shouldn’t make it too late. And we do need to get to town hall once again. *sigh* The days are rushing past, that’s for sure.

Which wraps things up for now, I suppose. I’m outta here.