didn’t keep a record of what happened this weekend as it was not a normal weekend at all (are weekend’s ever normal?).

Basically on Saturday we continued to do the patio which has turned out to be a much more complex project that anticipated (surprise its not as easy as they say on the video!) Next weekend we will get it complete, probably without Alan help much as Gordon knew it would happen. Well, at least it got started, if we waited for Gordon it would still be in the planning stage this time next year. However, he was right, we didn’t plan it out right so its taking longer than it should.

On Saturday evening, Elisabeth came over for dinner with her friend Kelly, so we had a really nice relaxed evening with lots of sounds of activity and joy in the house. I miss that buzz, I must admit.

Alan

Sunday was fairly quiet. Gordon bottled his wine and transferred his beer from the bucket to the demi john. I went to the gym and exercised my butt off for 45 mins plus tried and failed to do a step class. Needs way too much co-0rdination for me. Sunday evening I finally finished the beaded doll I was doing of Alan.

Elisabeth, Alan and Emily.

6.00am Wake up, make coffee, Take pill return to bed

7.45 Get up feed the cats, have breakfast, Watch GMA

8.15 Load Dishwasher, do hand washing, get dressed

8.50 Go to Gym for exercise in the pool!

9.05 Change of plan- saw guys who do gardening service (been trying to catch them for weeks!) to clear up flower beds and veggie plot when Gordon is away in Scotland in 2 wks time

9.30 arrive at class

11.00 dentist

12.25 Off to Lowes for more patio supplies

1.25 Home

2-4pm Help Alan with Patio.

4.00 We really didn’t know what we were doing.  Look up video on internet

4.30 more work on Patio

5.00 Off to Lowes for more supplies and make returns- didn’t need the extra edging stones

5.45 Make Dinner

6.45 Watch some TV

7.00 on PC

7.50 Watch TV  Veg out for the rest of the evening

11.50 Feed cats and go to bed

 

6.30 alarm goes off

6.40 Make Coffee, Take Pill, return to bed

8.05  Get up, Feed cats/dog. Eat Breakfast, Watch GMA drink coffee

8.30 Get Dressed

8.40 Decide what to make for dinner, make shopping list

9.00 Off to gym and then HEB

(10 mins treadmill, 8 mins cross mill?  20 mins cross ramp)

11.10 Arrive home, Bring in shopping, shower, unpack shopping, make slow cook dinner. Make apple and blackberry pie.

12.10 Lunch time, watch rest of “the view” from yesterday

12.30 on PC

2.23  Log off, going to Blanton Museum of Art for Docent training

6.25  Home from Blanton

6.35 Have Dinner, thank goodness for slow cookers!

6.50 Watch TV

7.00 On PC- Gordon asleep

8.00 Log off PC  Gordon awake, make coffee, box up remains of today’s dinner and put in freezer

8.10 Watch TV drink coffee

8.45 Go upstairs to bead

9.40 Watch TV

11.05 Feed Cats, go to bed

read book

12.05 Lights off.

Wednesday 21st Oct 2009

6.00am Wake up (alarm, although I had been awake an hour earlier, bathe in sweat! Will menopause ever end?)

6.13  Make coffee for Gordon and take thyroid pill

6.14 Return to bed!

8.40 Get up (late today – its dark and gloomy.)

feed the animals. Had Breakfast and watch some GMA

9.05  Go to the PC

9.48 Power switches off (this part of the Texas really can’t cope with rain). PC shuts down so I get dressed.

10 am Go to the Gym

10.25 Start Exercise. CrossRamp 35mins

11-11.50am Strength training with personal trainer, Amber. Talk a lot, to much really, must exercise some restraint in this area, sure she doesn’t want to hear all this.  Has 8 other clients today so she is a therapist in training if she get the same from all her other clients.

11.55 Quick look in J C Penney for towels (couldn’t decide)followed by HEB (Grocery store).

12.45 Lunch – watch rest of House episode I was watching the other day.

1.25  Shower

1.35 Back to PC

3.04 Coming off PC – very sleepy – will have a nap and then do dishwasher and lamb curry for the freezer.

3.35  Unload Dishwasher, clean Island, sort out post, scrub labels off beer bottles (for Gordon’s brewing) clean down countertops.

4.15 Patio stuff delivered

4.30 continue general clear up

4.40 Start Lamb curry

5.15 Back on PC

5.45 Make Dinner

6.05 Gordon home

6.15 Dinner

6.30 Watching TV and Gordon is lying down – not asleep yet.

6.38 Gordon asleep and snoring

7.00 Gordon is awake. Make coffee,  Alan comes in for his lunch. On PC after making coffee

7.15 Log off PC  Pour coffee. Fill Dishwasher

7.30 Go upstairs to bead a doll I have been doing for a long long time. Almost finished!

8.40 continue cataloging all the art books I have.

9.30 Watch TV, an episode of Warehouse 13 from weeks ago and Modern family from tonight.

11.00  Feed the cats. Go to bed to read .

Reading American Visions The epic history of Art in America by Robert Hughes.

11.30pm  Switch off light to sleep.

Just as I wrote that title the power went out and the PC went off. Since then I have been to the gym, done some shopping and had lunch.

Anyway, as I said above I am going to try some time management. Why? don’t have any idea really other than I came up with the idea when yet again Gordon slept for the best part of any hour after dinner, then went on the PC whilst I watched some TV and then I went upstairs to do some beading. As I was beading I thought it would be an interesting idea to actually record what I do each day for the next few weeks.  Its a bizarre idea but you will see the results each day here.

Watch this space!

but this one is quite short as it was as I made myself wake out of it as I realised what it was all about so, only the ending is very clear.

Gordon and I are at some resort or mall.  We have to go up a lot of stairs, as we reach the place we want to get to, there is a catastrophic flood.  We rush to save things, mainly Gordons’  stuff which is put into one of those IPOD storage boxes.  I feel relief as I had wanted him to put all his junk away for ages, it had been getting in my way. I don’t recollect us saving any of my stuff, probably wasn’t important enough.   As the pods are being loaded, the ground beneath us begins to shake.  We start rushing down the stairs.  Because of the flood, the stairs are slippy and I am scared of slipping plus I hate heights, so I close my eyes and gingerly tiptoe down the stairs. Gordon gets impatient and rushes ahead of me.  Gordon jumps into a car but there isn’t room for me so I get on a bus.  As I sit on the bus I look down and notice my cell phone has be smashed and is totally unusable. Just at that point I noticed that the car is turning away from the bus and I have no idea of where it is going.  I look around frantically and gather all my stuff , waiting for the next stop.   It is miles away from when I saw the car turning and I am really panic stricken.  I look down at my phone and try to use what was left of it.  I get through to Gordon but he can’t hear me because the speaker has been damaged.  I throw down the phone in exasperation and look around at my surroundings.  I am in house where a woman is preparing to hold a party and everyone is having a good time.  A person next to me suggest I ask for help from the woman.  The woman holding the party is too busy to be bothered with me and tells me that the phone is being used/damaged ( I don’t remember) and offers me in passing a pen  plus a candle(?).  The candle is one for the cake she is making.  I try to write on the candle but the pen wont work.  I find a magazine to write on but the paper is the glossy kind that most pens don’t work on.  As I write my message is being erased.  I am trying to tell Gordon where I am but then I realised I don’t actually know where I am.  I ask and start to write again. Again the message is disappearing as I write it. Suddenly, it dawns on me that writing the message is useless anyway because I don’t know where Gordon is, so how am I going to get him the message anyway.  I then know that I am truly lost and that I waging a losing battle.

Its at this point I force myself awake I am getting really distraught in my dream.  I know what I think this dream is telling me but what do you think?

which is the reason I don’t post as much these days.

Since my last post I have joined a gym in an effort to get my butt off the ground. I completed the yoga introduction course and I really enjoyed it, however, at the moment I am just going to stick to the gym to get my general level of fitness up.

The weather here in the last 3 wks has really changed and finally we are getting the much needed rain as we are in a severe drought situation.   Actually the  weather is exactly like Scottish weather today, cold, overcast and drab, perfect weather! Temp here 60f  and in Kilmarnock, where is actually night time now, is 50f.

Talking of Scotland, Gordon and Alan are going for week at the beginning of November and I am really really jealous!. If we could move back today, I would  be packed and ready before the weekend finished! However, we are stuck here, so I need to get my head out of my arse and get on with life.

Today we officially decided we were no longer going to try to sell our house for the foreseeable future and reduce the number of years of our loan, so in about 10 yrs we will finally own it outright.   That way when we retire ( God that makes me feel old and technically it will be Gordon retiring as I haven’t really worked) we can sell and plonk ourselves in a part of the world we want to live, rather than the place we need to live.  That might be Europe or it might be in another state who knows but it wont be Texas!

Must admit this decision is tougher on Gordon than me as he is the one who is stuck travelling across Austin which is a nightmare at 5pm. However, we really had no option as the new house builders are under cutting the price of older homes and the banks are selling off foreclosures at ridiculous prices!  I looked into the idea of trading in the house for a new house but doesn’t seem to be done here. I remember there being schemes like that in the UK when the economy was bad in the 1980’s but I suspect the realtors over here have too big a stranglehold on the market with their 6–7% commission.