Tiles and tiles and tiles and tiles.

Went to a household supply place, a very very fancy pants one....

Went with the architect.

My head is a-spinning....

Found some stuff I like a lot, found some that is OK...

The kitchen stuff...

Meh.....

We'll see.

Flat

Bagged, worn out, flattened, dead, dying, ground down, exhausted, wiped out, tired, bone tired, worn down to the bone, destroyed, pulverised...

but not short of synonyms.

More tomorrow.

ps.  I am basically well, but the batteries are extremely low on juice.

Cheers,

O

gag.

I got sick last night, nasty gastro-intestinal stuff.  Poor Chuck, we have an unspoken agreement that he can get up on the furniture to sleep when we aren't there, which includes at night time. If we get up however, he knows he has to get off.

I don't normally get up to pee in the night so he is not used to the sounds I make in the night including my appearance so he was a little disconcerted by my rather precipitous appearance at 2am.  He looked a combination of indignant, surprised and horrified.....

I too was rather horrified, but not by Chuck.

Today has been a wee bit long but I am on the mend, thank goodness.

Nothing like a long hot bath for making the world a better place.

Biiiiiggg hair, big shoulders, racoon eyed make-up.

Just watched Ghostbusters on Youtube with the kids.

OMG the eighties!

Lord help us, glad THAT style went out.

Mac! Hear me? My toes are cold.

On the purely news front:

• Went to BCN today on that course. It was deeply interesting.  I spent two hours writing up my notes to bring into work. I had to write so fast, if I didn't do it tonight, I wouldn't understand it tomorrow.
• Ended up a little late so I had to catch a cab to the place...that was cool
• Ended up eating breakfast in BCN which was SUPER yummy...warm crusty baguette with a warm truita de patates and tomatoes smeared on the bread with olive oil.  Warm and crunchy and smooth and filling.  Oh my.  That and a coffee with milk....life was SWEET!
• The architect is continuing to be good-so-far, we now have a meeting for next Tue for - get this - 4 hours!!!  We will go over contracts, systems, organisation of the project, and we will take a little road trip to a store in his car to look at and select the installations.  Homework required this weekend.

On to the real blog post.  Well, what constitutes the real post anyway and why is it that I think the news of my day is less important than the inanity below?  Weird blog world values.

Onwards.

It has gotten chillier here.  I am not calling for sympathy or anything because it is a very long way from cold and I will get NO sympathy at all.  That said, at night it is cool in the apartment, and all those lovely cooling giant easily opening windows coupled with the tiled floor (so lovely in summer) make for cold feet when sitting with the lap top at night.

Here is where the mac falls down in relation to the old PC.

You see, the PC runs a little, ah, hot.

We normally keep it on a book so we don't get so sweaty (I dread to think that it may be radiating all over us, I assume not).  It is really just the fan running (I hope), but on a cool - or cold - night my feet stayed warm.  All the blood flowing down there got a little heat treatment for part of the trip and it worked a treat. It isn't even really cold yet and my tootsies are down right chilly.

I wonder if I should contact Mac about the problem.

What do you think?

Termites!!!

NOT in my house, thank GOODNESS!

I was at work yesterday and the classroom stank of teenager and running shoes...we opened a window.  When the teens themselves comment you know it's bad.

One kid in particular was hot and went to sit under the window.

The windows in this room are wood framed and swing inwards.  He made the mistake of brushing his shoulder against the bottom of the frame.  A few minutes later he noticed that he was dirty and there was wood all over him...there was more though...there were bugs all over him.  I brushed some of them off and sent him down to the bathroom to sort himself out....check his hair and all, and spent the rest of the evening going over periodically to squash bewildered termites wandering around on the floor....


EEEeeeeewwwwww.

At least they aren't in our house.

*shudder*

action action action....

Architect update:

We have action!!!

The builder may be able to dig up a friend who can work.

We may be able to start some of the work in as little as two weeks!  OMG!!!!

I am all aquiver with excitement at the idea.

Sometimes it pays to be a b*tch very clear about what you expect.

I keep taking the camera to the house in the hopes that there will be something I can take a photo of, but no major change yet.  My vocabulary however is going up by leaps and bounds.

WOOT!!!

I wish I could quit this afternoon and just go to bed.

Ah well.

What shall I send out today...air kisses????

Nah

Imagine me waving, m'kay?


O

Good, not good.

Met with the builder and the architect today.  That was good.  The builder has another job and cannot start until at least February, that was not so good.  He can however do some of the investigative work that we are need done tomorrow, which is good.  He was honest enough to tell me he cannot start, which is very good indeed because otherwise he might have taken the job and then screwed us around which would have been very not good.  Sad he can't do the work though.

The architect is communicating much better.  That is good.

I have a lead on several other builders, some recommended by the architect (ummm) and some not.

Progress is in place.  GOOD!

Work today was utterly MAD, and so a number of things got put onto the back burner....which wasn't quite so good...but they will get done.

This is, I think, a downright boring post.

Let's see what I can do.....

1.  I am developing a tetris obsession.  This in not a good thing for anyone except my youngest daughter who is making lots and lots of kinscash and I am playing it on her webkinz account.  

2.  I am feeling rather impatient recently.  I don't think this is good.  Maybe I am not sleeping enough and I am up writing inane blog posts FAR too late at night.

3.  I have not touched a paintbrush in too long, and I don't really know what to do about it.  That is not good.

4.  The toilet is leaking, that is not good at all.

5.  My bright red cowboy boots have developed a hole in the upper.  Not good.  The world's best shoemaker is nearby, EXCELLENT!!!!  

6.  Still haven't taken down all the decorations, the joy of not living in the house where you throw the party!  Is that statement good or not good, or sort of a grown-up grey area in between.  Also, do you spell grey as gray or grey?  Also, did you understand that last question/sentence?

7.  We are nearly finished the Halloween candy, which is good, but I miss those little individual Reese's peanut butter cups.  Not so good.  I LOVE those and the kids hate them so I get them ALL!!!!  Anyone want to freeze some for me and I'll have them next summer?  Not quite the same.  

Now I know what to ask for when the next Canadian visitor comes.

Hmmmm, what British candy is really good....I'll be going there soon....that'll be good.

A big wave to you all, 

O

Going on some trips!!!! Life is good.

Just booked tickets to go to MADRID!!!




WOOOOTTTT!!!!!!!!


I love me some internet ticket purchasing...so gratifyingly FAST!  IMPULUSE....PURCHASE, You're GONE!!!


(gonna see the Guernica, and Goya and Velasquez and el Greco and Ortiz and Van Gogh and Monet and Renoir and Degas and and and and ooooooooo!!!!!!!)  


Gonna go to the Prado, and the Reina Sophia modern art museum maybe, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza definitely...and we will have to buy lots of icecream to keep youngest happy...but she has GOT to see some of this stuff....they both do....OMGOODNESS!  I am SOOOO overexcited.


Been dying to go...SO sweet.


Still have to book hotels, etc....


but the tickets are bought so we are OFF!


Gonna do me some travelling in the next month...Vic one day soon, I am off to Wales at the end of the month, then Madrid in December, plus we are going to go away for a few days after Xmas.  


OH!


and the architect is making suitably submissive comments, phoned AND left a message, plus two emails and set up an appointment for tomorrow morning.  Let's hope it keeps up.


Fingers crossed.


If nothing else, the travels away will give me a break from wanting to.....well, let's not go into what I wanted to do to him for now.


OOOOHH and triple woot, though this one isn't quite as exciting as trips away and subservient architects, but work is sending me into BCN for two mornings this week and next to do some course work....SO excited.  Maybe that sounds sad, but it should be really neat....plus I am doing prep work for one in house course/workshop we are doing, and presenting the other one.  Gonna have to find time to work that one out, aren't I.


Big fat hope you had a great day...mine was pretty darned good all around.


Cheers, 


O  

Calella

We got out of dodge for the day, and man, did I ever need it. Don't get me wrong, love where I live, but it was super sweet to be somewhere else for a bit.  We had gotten a little too shut in.

We went up to to a little town called Calella where there was an exhibit about traditional Catalan fishing - perfect for us...boats and Catalonia!

Here's some pics!

First from the museum - I'm not sure how many folks would be interested, this is a hand stitched sail,  we wanted to look at some of the detail work of how they did it....I actually have quite a few photos of these, but I'll only post the one.

Below is actually a photo of a photo, but it is not something I would want to try doing....they did it every day.  The boats are sailed off the beach, which is no small thing to manage in a big boat or a small one, and these suckers are heavy.  There was a movie at the exhibit showing how it is done.  Like the ancient Egyptians, they use a series of wooden skids that they move from the back to the front of the boat as she moves up or down the slope and there were systems for pulling the big boats up, the little boats were pushed or pulled by individuals.  Oooooffff.

Floats for nets, I actually found a float very like that in the Bahamas...they are much treasured by beach combers....do you like the cork floats?  Have I mentioned that cork trees grow around here?  Very funky looking plants.

Some seriously heavy short blades to row with....meant for strong short men.

Some of the current fleet in Calella...pretty no?  Please note the Catalan flag flying in the back.

Interesting exhibit, good food in a cafe, pretty(extremely touristy) town), a walk on a beach and lovely boats....

Great day.


Now we are planning a trip to Madrid, a trip to Vic and Xmas.  If we don't book it, we'll never do it.

Hope you all had a great weekend,

Cheers,

O