Spacing...

Can anyone tell me how to get the spacing to stay in your blog from compose to publish? Each new paragraph is lost and it turns into a giant run on story. Thanks! The American Suburbanite in Rural England

"Character Property"

My husband and I live in a house that is 199 years old. Since moving into the house with him, I have wanted to put my "Stamp" on the house. We have been hesitant to do too much renovation as we know we want to move back to the States and will sell this house at some point in time. Sooner than later perhaps with the potential of his job moving him anywhere in the country with a weekends notice. Last week I decided enough was enough and it was time to change the 'purple room' to the 'Green room' The purple was quite dark and we would have to paint it neutral to sell anyway. I know, in many peoples minds green is not a neutral color, but it is the color of nature and blends in well to the view of the garden (yard, see previous posts). I can say, the green has lightened up the room tremendously and I am glad that I did it. However, it is a 'character propert' which is the salesmans term for a money pit. After prepping the walls and ceiling appropriately for painting with a quick cleaning, I started to apply 'magnolia emmulison' from top to bottom. I double checked with my husband that we were replacing the carpet and pulled that up as well. No I did not paint the floor, but it meant I did not have to worry about drips. One very sore shoulder and a load of paint later ceiling, walls, doors, window frame, skirting boards, the whole load had a nice cover of magnolia. The bright purple was hidden away aside from the drips left behind by the previous painer on the radiator. Very enthusiastically the next morning I opened the can of 'mellow sage' paint and put a rough coat on the walls. I attempted to do the edging free hand but remember, this is nearly a 200 year old house. The angle between the ceiling and the walls is neither sharp nor straight and my wobbly line only made it more obvious. Simple enough, I will mask off all the trim work and ceiling as they are sufficiently slathered in magnolia. Another day of painting, another sore shoulder at the end, but no pain no gain and the room was looking fab. I even taped off the trim in the door to paint a little green trim as there was a few drops of paint left in the can that would have only dried up and gone to waste. Again, the next morning, excitedly went into the room to get the tape down and look at my nice clean lines. My husband had the day off work so it should have been an easy day picking out flooring, go to the gym, nice meal afterwards... No stress right. Wrong! As we peeled away the masking tape, sheets of paint came down with it. Not only my magnolia paint, but the white paint and anything else under it. Bare plaster was exposed on the ceiling! As we took the tape off the door, whole sheets of magnolia and my neat line of green lifted away as well. We were a bit disheartened after the experience but we continued with our plans anyway. We went to 4 different stores looking to see if anyone carried the flooring we already had as we would only need one or two more boxes to finish the room. Ever the environmentalist I again tried to do it with materials we already had. No such luck. We did however find laminate flooring for £4 a box covering 2+ square meters per box. B&Q was discontinueing a number of laminate floors and we took all 6 boxes. Enough to cover our room, however not the exact color we wanted. So we raced to the B&Q store on the other side of town to see what they had. If they had more of the flooring we just purchased, we would have bought that for another room and looked for the darker flooring we had originally planned on for my little green room. We made it to the store 5 minutes before closing, great time to get in and check out the flooring. As you could expect the discontinued laminate we purchased in the other store was not here. They did however have flooring in a different color at a decent price as well. As we only drive a little Audi TT and it was already stuffed full, we would come back another day to purchase this flooring. I have scraped and sanded the ceiling and given it a fresh coat of paint, the door had to come off the hinges as sanding over my head or on a ladder was not working well. I guess it is ok, since the door was in the way for laying the floor anyway! I am trying to lay straight sheets of laminate flooring in a room that has no straight walls. I have made a few cuts and they have worked out pretty well so far. I'll let you know how the last row goes in! Until then, I am off to give my property some more 'character'!

The first blooms...

Snowdrops are blooming, it must mean spring is near. They are a variety of bulb planted in abundance. You can find them on road sides, private and public gardens, hill sides, just about anywhere in the UK. They are just starting to peak out right now, but in soon they will blanket the environment. These tough little flowers will even bloom in the snow. (Thankfully we have been snow free for the most part this year especially after our heavy snow leading up to Christmas). We only planted about 20bulbs in the fall, and they are starting to peak through the ground in the slightly warmer areas (the barrels at the front of the house are slow going, little sunlight and insulation). It is nice to see the promise of warmer weather for it has been quite challenging for me during the depths of winter. Only about 6 hours of daylight has been a drastic change to my Florida weather. Little snowdrops are like little smiles from nature letting you know the reward for winter is coming....SPRING! Daffodils soon to follow!

You win some You loose some

Well, we made it through regular season beyond expectations after the curve ball the off season threw us. We battled through the play offs to make it to "The Greatest Show on Earth" but we did't make it out on top. The English following this blog may not be sure what I am referring to but any American will know, I am speaking of my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers and the Superbowl last night. Excitingly enough the game was televised on BBC 1 for the 4th year in a row. May be American football will catch on here. Once again my husband and I stayed up beyond 3am to watch the action. We were down from the early minutes of the game, and although a valiant effort to come back brought us to within 3 points, we couldn't keep it together. Anyone from Pittsburgh always speaks as if they were on the field as well. We take our football (American football, not soccer) seriously and we bleed black and gold. We love our guys win, loose, or draw (not that we will stop at a tie, that is what overtime is for!) It is disappointing to be taking down our Terrible Towels knowing there is an "L" in the books for the final game, but we are already looking forward to next season and the excitement it will bring. A few less nail-biters of games might be nice!

Tea

I am not quite sure what the fascination of drinking leaves and hot water, but it is a national institution. Everywhere I go, I am offered a "cuppa". Even my husband in an effort to console me after the passing of my grandfather asked if I would like a cup of tea.... Personally, I am a water drinker. Just like a tea drinker can drink boiling tea in mid summer, I can drink cold water in winter. Water is good for you, it doesn't stain the cup (or your teeth for that matter), and it comes ready to drink. No need to boil or dip leaves in it. No need to add sugar or milk. You can drink water straight from the tap. I have tried a variety of tea and I still do not like it. It should not come as a surprise, I do not drink coffee or soda (or Pop). As a child we had to carry water around with us because bottled water was not readily available. I have tried drinking hot water and lemon, but it taste like a glass of water left in the sun in Florida too long. The only hot drink that I like (after it cools a bit) is hot chocolate. I will brew mint tea to make my hot chocolate with from time to time! Unfortunately, if I drank a cup of hot chocolate every time my husband drank a cup of tea, I would be a diabetic in about a week. I am not giving up on my attempt to drink tea, I have just ordered a sample of strawberry/mango tea and cranberry/raspberry/elderflower tea. They may taste better as a Popsicle! Cheers!

A time for reflection

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a joyous New Year.  While my Christmas was wonderful, the week leading up to it was bitter sweet.  A very dear friend of mine lost his battle with alcoholism and the ravages it has on the human body.  It was a harsh reminder to take better care of one's self.  My heart aches for my friends in Florida who were also close to him.   As we often do at this time of year i have been reflecting on the past. This year has been sweet and sorrowful.  A year full of transformation, starting with my engagement in January during my first ski trip.   The next big change in my life, moving myself and six cats to the UK.  In all the transfer went really well if you don't count the fact that the British Airways World Cargo sub contractors at Philadelphia airport forgot to put the first 5 on the plane.  In the end, everyone made it to England safe and soundly. Our next trip to America included my 20 year high school reunion and the wedding of a very good friend.  We spent some time in Florida visiting friends and some of the animals I worked with when I lived there.  We stayed in southwest Florida for several days getting our wedding plans in motion.  It was also the last time I saw Brett, I am thankful I had the opportunity to spend some time with him before his passing.  I had a slightly extended stay in the States while I waited for my engagement visa to come through, but I returned to the UK about two weeks after my fiancé. Our time in the Uk was filled with travel, friends, and family.  In all, we visited Edinbourough and Glasgow, Scotland; the Snowdonia region of Wales; Coventry, Stone henge, Bath, Blackpool, New Castle, Berwick upon Tweed, Sea houses, Farnese Islands, Holy Island, Eastbourne, Brighton, and I am sure many more areas of England.  I am very thankful for my opportunity to take in as much of this country as possible.   Our next trip to the states was to be monumental, we had the most beautiful wedding despite the several snags along the way.  We had a fabulous time in Sanibel and Miami.  We capped this trip off with my husbands second real American Thanksgiving. The glorious Florida weather made the snow and cold a bit more bearable upon our return to England.  The weather did help put everyone in the Christmas spirit as our house became a winter wonderland.  We had some close friends and family over in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  The day after Christmas (Boxing Day) we went to Fountains Abbey and were fortunate enough to catch the Carol service.  My wonderful husband has given us much to look forward to in 2011, a Western Mediterranean cruise with a focus on Italy!  We are both very excited and I have been doing research on our ports of call to make sure we get the most out of our visit. This post is dedicated to:      Michael Brett Stone      Bill Meier       Charlie Houllis      Jeff Peters And all others we lost in 2010.

Married Life

Wow, what a whirlwind! Shortly after my last blog entry, I went back to the States. Spent a couple of days at my parents house picking stuff up for our DIY Beach Wedding in Florida. All the planning and emailing would finally be over and I could enjoy my beach party. It went perfectly! Steel drummer played the right songs... weather was GORGEOUS, and we even had a small pod of dolphins swim by and join in. They must have heard my processional song from the Little Mermaid! My photographer and officiant were fabulous, my flowers were the perfect colors. We even had a classic Camaro, similar to the one my Dad drove, there for pictures. The cake was picture perfect and my caterer was awesome as well. He was also from Pittsburgh and took care of us like family. I don't know how we got so lucky finding everyone and having it come together so well. I can say as much as I would love to hang out and see my friends and family and stay by the beach, I am glad the planning is over! In all I spent nearly 3 weeks in the Sunshine State. We spent time on the East and West coasts. We enjoyed quiet Gulf Coast Island life, and high paced Miami South Beach. We know which we prefer and where we would like to live as opposed to visit. It was just what I needed to face the winter in the UK. My first FULL winter in the UK, I am not sure if I could face it after my winter in PA last year...