On the Home Front

Plumber came on Monday to look at my shower which, wonderful as it is being a proper shower and all, had the unpleasant habit of smelling like a sewer whenever I used taps. He was very speedy (and...is this weird of me to say?...smelled bizarrely good) and seemed to have fixed the problem, except, ever since, I have been finding drain parts hidden in bizarre places in my bathroom. It's like an industrial Easter Bunny has come and gone, but instead of bright colored eggs I'm finding drain covers and pipe joints. Why? To what purpose were these left? Am I supposed to do something with them? Can they be combined to form some sort of time machine or anti-gravity device?

The world may never know.

In other adventures of mundane accomplishment, I am once again back on medication! AND IT'S FREE. That's really all I have to say about that, except that it did feel illicit walking out of Boots without paying for my little bag of pills.

Haven't been writing much this week because there is very little to report on. It's Reading Week, so no classes, only lots of library time and time spent at home working on things. Did have people over last night for pizza and the second installment of the Harry Potter pre-gaming movie marathon, and today I took a sick day (lady problems) which was spent happily ensconced in various large, warm blankets, drinking tea and cocoa and watching this absolute wonderful show called 'Downton Abbey.' It's like 'Gosford Park,' only a series and I adore it. Here is the preview:



Sadly, British TV seasons are painfully short (seven episodes, in this one), so I will be completely finished with it by the end of the weekend. Apparently NBC has expressed interest in picking it up? Don't know how I feel about that. And, just so you know, the anachronistic music was only for the trailer. Servants don't randomly start chorally singing 'Poker Face' or other such nonsense.

Finally, received the news yesterday that my supplemental loan was approved! Huzzah! Will loosen up my finances just enough that I can go to Starbucks every now and then or buy school supplies without feeling frivolous and wasteful. It's a big relief.

That's all for now? I think that is.

Responsibility Champion

Sundays, I know, are supposed to be the days of rest, but during London2 it got ingrained in my brain that Sundays were actually days of doing everything you couldn't get to in the week, since Sunday was the only day I didn't have some kind of work. Couple that with the fact that my budget rolls over for the week on Sundays, allowing for errand running, and I'm pretty confident that mindset is here to stay.

So what will a typical Sunday look like? Well, something like today:

• Sleep in later than expected/planned
• Go food shopping (milk, eggs and kitchen/home supplies from Poundland, everything else from Morrison's)
• Come back and put things away, make lunch
• Library for 2-3 hours (Today's reading: Court Culture and the Origins of a Royalist Tradition in Early Stuart England)
• House chores
• Make dinner
• Read or watch American TV

Quiet, mundane, oddly comforting. It helped that today was a drop dead gorgeous fall day, with amazing blue skies and just turning leaves and the autumnal smell in the air, so bopping about the town was a remarkably pleasant experience.

As far as house chores go, I've taken it into my head that I am going to beat the kitchen's cleanliness into submission. At first glance, it's fine, but when you start getting into it, you discover things like an odd stickiness on most drawers and shelves with spilt tea and such.* Bit by bit, I will beat it back to the land of the pristine. I am determined. Also, paranoid about infestation from my time in New York.

Today's challenge? The oven.

I wish I could now pull up "before" and "after" pictures for comparison, but after a half hour of near-scaldings (our hot water doesn't mess around), vigorous elbow grease and the demise of a noble sponge, I was only able to marginally improve its condition. The battle may have been lost, but the war wages on. I will defeat you, oven. Don't think this is over.

Dinner was potato latkes**, and they were delicious! True, I'm more than a little over my food choices being entirely limited to potatoes, omelets and pasta, but working from a recipe (however simple) was a nice change and, thanks to my Gchat consultation with Team Latke*** I now how some frozen as well. And I didn't burn anything down!

Tomorrow on The Continuing Adventures....: The University of Birmingham comes to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Who will be there? What information will they impart? And, most importantly, will they ever be able to entice the non-MASSCHRE students to the Bham campus? Stay tuned!

*Just to clarify, when I talk about the kitchen being messy, I'm referring to slowly accumulated, inherited mess that is no one's responsibility (except time's). If I wasn't using the kitchen so much I probably wouldn't even notice. Deciding to clean it is based on my own personal preferences, not because I feel I have to. No one feels put upon!

**This photo is clearly not mine, as applesauce has a prominent place. Truth is, I took a picture of mine, but as I was avoiding maiming myself with hot oil at the time, it lacked presentation. As my father's daughter, I cannot have that. In the future, I will ensure to properly plate and garnish my meals before photographing them to avoid this happening again.

**Thanks for the help, Rosie, Koop and Leslie!

Virtual Tour of the New Abode [Picture This]

Welcome to my home! Step inside, won't you? You can see the dining room down the hall (but we'll get there in a moment). There is a bathroom down this hall, to the left.

If you turn to the right, you will find yourself in the living room.

The living room also accesses the dining room, as you can see.

And here is the dining room itself!

Turning slightly right (just past that little desk thing) is the entrance to the kitchen (the doorway you see leads back to the dining room).

The kitchen is glassed in, leading out the garden (fun fact: the computer on the table is mine! And you know what's on the screen? The form for this post. META.)

The garden.

(There is also a little patio area, which is where those glass doors in the dining room go to)

If we head upstairs, there are the bedrooms. TX and Chi are the doors to the left, their bathroom is straight ahead and my door is the open one to the right.

My room! With my glorious, glorious double bed. I have a little kind of entrance way, with two closets (two!) to the right of me. The postcards are ones I will eventually be sending state-side, with hopes mail from you fine folks can then fill in the gaps!

Another view.

The light you see to the left of the picture is....my own bathroom! With shower. Amazing.

And there we are! It's really kind of great, and I only hope you can see it in person sometime.