61/365 : The Lights


These lights on my stairwell are serving two purposes.

1) The obvious... It's Christmas time and even though we just moved in and nothing is in it's place and we are walking around stuff on the floor it is always nice to have a little hint of the holiday.

2) They distract the cats from thinking they can on and thru the railings. It seems to be working. This may become a year round decoration.

I have just noticed in looking at this photo that the bottom light on the right is clear and it appears to be as bright as a spotlight. I'll have to find a color replacement for it tomorrow.

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60/365 : The Fog


The battery in my camera died this morning and everything we own seems to be in plastic shopping bags and for the life of me I can not find the charger yet so this was taken with my mobile phone.

Andy and I walked up to the Council offices to sort our our Council Tax only to find that they were not open on Saturdays. Oh well. The fog was quite dense all day today and it seemed to make everything look beautiful, I love this weather!

We went to IKEA today to pick up a few things. We have an IKEA order being delivered on Tuesday but I have decided to get some more drawers for the bedroom so we needed to get those ourselves since the online order has already been placed. I fell in love with a coffee table and matching side table but everything would not fit into our little car. We ended up getting the bedroom drawers the little side table and tomorrow we are going back for the coffee table. I love IKEA.

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59/365 : Move In Day


Today after work we started to move everything into our new house. We have had the keys since Tuesday night but have not really moved anything. Tonight we moved the bed that Andy's parents are giving us, our clothes, our stuff and our cats.

It took Andy and I thirty minutes at the top the stairs to convince all three cats to come up to the top. Rooney was the worst... he would come about half way up, stop, meow and then run back down. He did this over and over and then finally he came all the way up. After about an hour they were all pros!

I took some more photos and you are welcome to see them here...

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58/365 : Warm Eggs


Andy and I went to ASDA after work tonight to get some groceries to stock up our new fridge freezer.

When I buy eggs they immediately get put into the fridge but it still creeps me out a little to be walking thru the store and see eggs just sitting out on the shelf and not in a refrigerator. I always mention this to Andy and he just says that the eggs are not cold when they come out of the chicken so it must be safe. Men.

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57/365 : Let There Be Light


This is the light in my living room. I absolutely adore it! I love the light it casts on the ceiling, the shape and the color. This was a major selling point when it came to me wanting to rent this place. Andy says "It's okay". He is such a boy.

We went to TJ Hughes tonight after work and bought some curtain poles as well as the curtains for both bedrooms and the living room. While we were at work today our fridge freezer and washer dryer arrived. Andy's dad fitted it all for us while we ran to the shop.

Tomorrow right after work we are going to run by ASDA to look for a few more bits and bobs that we will need like a bin, silverware tray, etc.. However, I did already buy a main necessity tonight .. my kettle!

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56/365 : New Digs


These are my keys to our new house (insert crowd cheering here), for the front and back door.

On November 13th I went for a viewing to a house that is exactly 5 doors down from Andy's parents house and in the same block of homes. I had noticed the day before that a 'To Let' sign had been put out and went online immediately to see the details. I fell in love with the pictures. So I called and booked a viewing and off I went with the in-laws to see it. Andy was at work so he could not go.

Well we all thought it was wonderful so I immediately told the realtor that Andy and I were interested and wanted to start the application process. Since we have been living in the US for 8 years it took a bit longer then normal to do checks but it came back and we were approved. *yay* All with Andy not seeing the inside yet...

But when we went over to sign the letting agreement tonight he got to see it all and loves it just as much as I do.

So everything is signed and we have the keys. We bought a fridge freezer and a washer dryer that will both be delivered tomorrow. I also bought some wardrobes and other bedroom furniture from IKEA but they will not be delivered until next Tuesday. After work tomorrow Andy and I are going to TJ Hughes to see if we can find any curtains that we like. Andy's parents are giving us one of their beds so we are moving it over on Saturday so our first night in our new house will be Saturday. Woo Hoo!

We are very excited to have our own house, we will be forever grateful to both our families for their help ... but we moved in with my mom back in the States in late December '07. Then we have been with Andy's parents since October 1st so we have not technically had our own place for almost a year. During all of this time our cats have been pretty much contained in our bedroom so they are going to be over the moon to have an entire house to run around in.

Speaking of cats ... The only thing that is worrisome about the house and I didn't really think about it until tonight but when you are walking up the stairs there is a part to your left that has a landing with some white railing. If the cats decide they want to play on the railing they could fall and probably hurt themselves as it pretty much goes to the bottom of the stairs. I got a sick feeling in my stomach tonight when I thought about it but hopefully they are smarter then this and do not play around on this railing ... I wonder if there is something I could do to keep them off of it. I mean there has to be houses with a landing that owns a cat. I'm sure I am worrying over nothing.

I will take pictures of the new digs tomorrow night and post a link here!

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55/365 : Everton, Everton, Everton


Went to the Wigan v. Everton match tonight. We lost 0-1. *ugh*

We took the train into Wigan and Andy and I met James just outside the station. Andy and I had on our long sleeved Everton kits so there was no way that we would have been allowed into the pub where he was. When we walked out into the street there were hundreds of police. It still amazes me that they get so worked up about football matches.

However .. I did not grow up with Football but I have to say I absolutely love going to matches. This is the fourth Everton match I have been to and it is a lot of fun. I love the atmosphere and it was especially fun last night being in an away stadium but sitting with thousands of other Everton fans. Love the cheering, the cursing and the chants. Great time!

My only complaint is that Wigan's football ground is more than a mile from the train station, it was cold and I did not wear proper walking shoes. Note to self for next time.

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54/365 : The Park


I never had a beautiful park like this to play in when I was a kid!

Andy and I drove back into Bolton today to do a little bit more shopping and every time I go by this little park I want to stop... so today we did.

It was very wet and cold today so obviously we had the place to ourselves. There is this great sponge like floor where the kids play so that it will help them in not getting hurt. Even with the low hanging clouds the view is beautiful.

Well tomorrow is my first day of work. After we get home we will have about an hour to eat and change and then we are off to the Wigan v. Everton match. Wish me luck on all of it!

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53/365 : Seeing The Family


This picture was taken on the fifth floor of a parking garage in Bolton. Andy's dad added him to his car insurance today so instead of public transportation Andy drove us. Woo Hoo!

I wanted to get a bit of shopping done as I do not have a lot of nice work clothes. I was able to find quite a few cute skits and a couple tops. I am going to go into M & S tomorrow to see if I can find a couple more outfits.

After the shopping trip we went and picked up Andy's dad and we went into Liverpool. First we went to see Andy's Nan and there were a few other members of the family there. I have fallen in love with her little Yorkie dog William!

After that visit we went over to Andy's uncle's house (his dad's brother). His wife and kids were there and this was also a great visit. Andy's dad played on the wii with the kids but sorry no funny moments likes the one I posted before.

After we left we stopped by ASDA because we wanted to get one of their fresh pizzas to eat for tea as Andy and I had only eaten a small bowl of cereal all day... We got there at 9:55pm and as we walked up to the door the lady told us that they were closing in 5 minutes. I found this very odd as on the side of the building it says in big, bold, neon letters "Open 24 Hours". When I questioned this the lady at the door said that by law they can not be open on Saturday night all night as they can not work into Sunday Trading". This made no sense to me but I just said okay and we walked in so that we could grab the pizza. They open again on Sunday at like 10:00am. No sense at all.

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52/365 : Another Kitty Photo


Time for yet another kitty photo.

So yesterday morning I ordered Andy an Everton Kit for £44.00 from Everton's website as his birthday is in December and he has been wanting a long sleeved one to wear to the colder matches. Well... this morning he sent me a text from work asking me to go to JJB Sports and pick him up an Everton kit as they have them on sale for £14.99. *ugh*

I immediately got on the phone and called Everton's Megastore asking them if it was too late for my order to be cancelled and thankfully it wasn't! That was a close one.

Andy's dad and I went into JJB Sports and I got him a long sleeved home shirt, a short sleeved away shirt and then I got myself a long sleeved home shirt. For £14.99 you can't beat it! We have tickets to the Wigan v. Everton match for this Monday night so now I have something to wear. Although I plan on wearing like two long sleeved shirts under it.. it's flippin' cold outside at night.

There was something else that happened today but I'm keeping it a secret for now... I will write all about it next week, probably on Tuesday night! So you will have to stay in suspense until now...

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51/365 : Look Who Has A Job


This is where I spent 2 hours today but will soon be spending 8 hours a day, five days a week.

Note: I forgot my camera so I took this with my mobile phone. I was surprised at how nice it actually turned out and then I realized that my mobile has a 3 megapixel camera! Gosh ... I remember my first digital camera and it was only a 1 megapixel. Crazy!

Getting There
My Father-in-Law and I left at 12:00pm and it only took around 8 minutes to get there. The company is only about 6 miles down the road from where we are living and it's pretty much a straight shot. My appointment was not until 12:30pm but this is better than being late. I went ahead and went in and they were actually pleased and wanted to start the assessment right away.

The Tests
I was taken to a little room with a desk and a laptop. The first test that they had me take was for listening and data entry, this to me was the easiest but in the end I found out that it was the one that in my score I had the most trouble with. Turns out that I have not yet remembered how to spell places like Edinburgh and Scarborough yet. She said that with me being from the US they understood that I would not know how to spell all of the cities right away and they would not hold that against me.

The second test was a 10 minute timed literacy test. There were 3 pages and around 20 or so questions. For an example it would have a paragraph with missing words and then you would need to pick the correct word from 4 multiple choice options which were the same word spelt in different ways. Then there were missing commas and apostrophes that you had to catch.

The third test was a 10 minute timed numeracy test. It also was 3 pages and had around 20 or so questions. This is the one I was the most scared about, I am crap with numbers. Andy is excellent at this which is why I always leave the math stuff to him. In the end I did not get to three of the questions but she said I got everything else right so that was a nice surprise.

She then told me that I had achieved the benchmark on each of the tests and she walked me upstairs for the next bit.

Face To Face Interview
This only took around 35 - 45 minutes and the two women that were in the interview were so nice. I always forget that you are asked something like 'What is your biggest fault'.. that is the hardest question to answer! Not that I'm perfect but in an interview you are trying to show your best side and it always throws you for a loop when this question comes up. After the interview was over they walked me back down to the front doors and said they hoped to be seeing me again soon.

Car Park
I called my Father-in-Law to let him know that I was done and he said he would be there in about 10 minutes. I then sent Andy a text to let him know that I was done. I was hoping he would still be at lunch since I was right outside his office building he could come out to say hi but he had just finished lunch and was back at work. I let him know it well well and that they said they would let me know one way or another soon.

Well... About 5 minutes after I had walked out the doors I get a text message from the company thanking me for attending the assessment today that they enjoyed having me and then listed a number and asked me to phone the HR department. So I immediately make the call and after they answer I gave my name and she again thanked me for coming today and offered me the job!! WOO HOO!! She said that they would like me to start on Monday at 9am and to not to worry about bringing my lunch the first day as they will provide it for me. I had not even left the car park yet, how crazy is that?

I am so excited to be working for the same company as Andy. During the training I will also have 9 - 5 hours (same as him) but after that the call centre is open until 9:30pm so there will be some late nights. From what I was told today they do weekly shifts so one week I may have say 9 - 5 and then the next week I will have 11 - 7 and so on but they rotate evenly and I believe she said there are 4 rotations so it's not that bad. They do the schedule six weeks out in advance and if you have something planned (such as a concert) they will work with you and you will be able to trade that night. They do ask that you work one Saturday a week but in that week you can take another day off to make up for it. Can't beat that!

I know for those of you from the UK or those of you who are currently working in the UK the vacation time is not a shock but for those of you in the US ... hold on to your seats. I start off with 20 (yes that is 20) vacation days a year plus 8 public holidays. WOW! I still can't get over this. In the US you are lucky to start out with 5 days but usually you are made to work a full year before you even get that. Simply marvellous.

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50/365 : Wii Love


No I did not buy all of this today but since the last bit of it arrived today I figured it was worth a photo.

The lady that co-owns the pub with my mother-in-law was going to put her Wii up on eBay but when Andy's mom told her we were interested she sold us the Wii and five games for only £150.00! It has only been used a few times and is practically brand new. So after we got it the first game I wanted to buy was MarioKart, I have owned that game on every platform it has been made on and now that you can actually drive with the Wii remote and wheel.. it is even better!

Then started my hunt for Wii Fit. I was able to find it on Argos' website and it was bundled with the Family Ski game and a rechargeable battery pack for the balance board. I also bought the Mini Golf game as I received a game for 1/2 off with my Wii Fit purchase. This is what came in the mail today.

I have tested out the Family Ski game and let me just say it's a blast! I have never been skiing before but have always wanted to try it, this is the next best thing. For those of you who do not have a Wii I say go for it. You will not be disappointed.

Oh .. and .. video cameras are not allowed to be in the same room as me when I am doing the hula hoop on Wii Fit. : )

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49/365 : Another View


Yes that is 'My Tree' hanging over me in this photo. Figured I would show you what was down on the ground since I showed you what was up in the air already. Was walking thru here on my way to the Co-Op today and could not resist, everything looked beautiful.

I made fajitas tonight so I had to go pick up some of the stuff. I could not find any Mexican or Spanish rice so I bought the ingredients to make my own from scratch. It turned out really well, but my only complaint is that I bought brown rice instead of white so to me the rice still felt a little hard. It just did not get as soft as what the white rice would have, but it was still yummy!

So I had a call today from the HR department at Andy's work and they have invited me to their offices on Thursday for the assessment tests and hopefully a face to face interview. They said there is a literacy test, numeracy test and a data entry, listening skills test. *whew* I am not very good with numbers so that is my biggest worry, hopefully it's not too complicated.

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48/365 : Phone Interview


Another cold and rainy day .. perfect!

I had my first phone interview today. They said they would pass everything on to HR and if I am successful past this part they will invite me into their offices for a few assessment tests and then if I am successful past that part they will do a face to face interview that day. The best part is that this is the same company that Andy works for. I will be in a different department but it would be great to be in the same building.

I do not have any nice interview clothes so because they may be asking me to come in my father and mother-in-law went with me into Bolton this afternoon so that I could pick me out something to wear. I ended up getting a cute skirt and cardigan from M&S, it was a bit pricey but it's not too fancy that I can't also wear it to work so it was worth it.

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47/365 : Liverpool


Andy went into Liverpool today. He took the train and met up with a couple friends from school and they all went to the Everton match. After that they all went to a pub to do some catching up.

Since Andy's mom had off today his dad decided to take us all into Liverpool to pick Andy up and then we went out for a lovely Indian meal. Yummy!!

After that we came home and were able to catch up on some of our US shows like Top Chef, Survivor and The Office.

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46/365 : IKEA


My father-in-law drove us to IKEA today so that Andy and I could have a look around. We are starting to look for our own place and when we finally get one we will need to fill it up. The only furniture that is coming over in our shipment from the US is a TV Armoire and my glass curio cabinet, both of which I love and could not part with. They are currently somewhere between Houston TX and Felixstowe UK with about 25 more boxes of our belongings. Hopefully they are all still in one piece. They should port sometime around November 23rd and they will actually get to us around a week or two after that.

It was quite funny to see all of the people in the parking lot trying to stuff over sized items into their tiny cars. Unfortunately IKEA does not have free shipping online which is probably why they were trying to stuff.

I forgot how big these stores are! Seemed like we were walking around forever. In the end I came out with quite a few good ideas that I will look more into once we finally find a place. The only thing I actually purchased today was a pretty nice Wok for £2.99. Can't beat that! Having never owned a Wok before Andy asked if this means he can expect a wonderful stir-fry when he gets home from work on Monday. I told him I'll think about it. : )

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45/365 : My Tree


Well technically not 'my' tree but I love it all the same.

This tree is in the cemetery outside St Bartholomew's Church which is about a block from our house. When I walk down to the shops I have the choice of walking down the pavement or you can take the path thru the front part of the cemetery.. which is the choice I always make. It's a beautiful little walk and I always look up as I pass this tree. Although.. as you can see from the picture the leaves are almost gone.

This will be a true test of my love.. will the tree be as beautiful to me when there are no leaves. I shall keep you all posted. : )

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44/365 : Wii Fit


I have never laughed SO hard! Tonight Andy's dad got out his Wii Fit to show us a few of the games on it and I think I got more of a workout laughing.

The picture above is while he was doing the ski jump. This was the 'down the hill' pose. Once he was ready to jump the legs went straight and his arms went up in the air.

Now below I have posted a video of him doing the hula hoop on Wii Fit. This is where the true laughter comes in. I must ask that before you watch this video that you do the following:

1) Turn your volume down because as hard as I tried I could not stop laughing and with my
current cough added in .. it's very loud!
2) Make sure that you are not drinking as the outburst of laughter may make you spit it out
3) Enjoy!

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43/365 : How Smart Is It?


How cute are they? I had to take this picture as I was walking thru Bolton, I love these little 'smart cars', they are so tiny.

I honestly have nothing to report today, it was a very quiet day. Had a walk around Bolton on my own and then came home. That is about it really, boring day!

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42/365 : Meet Lily


This is Lily, my Sister and Brother-in-law's Greyhound. She is such a cutie right? This was taken toward the end of her visit and at a very calm moment. She can not lay on the couch without a pillow, what a diva!

Today I had my appointment with a nurse down at the surgery so that I can finish my GP registration. I was scheduled for 11:10 and I showed up at 11:00. They did not call me back until 12:05. People came in after me who had later appointments and got to go in before me. I asked Andy about this and he said 'That's the NHS for you, but at least you did not have to pay anything'. I can see his point.

While I was in with the nurse she was asking about my family health history and she seemed shocked that I answered no to all of the questions. She kept asking 'are you for sure?'. Finally when she asked me about asthma I told her that my younger sister did have asthma as a child but eventually grew out of it and she said 'Well I will put that down because that is a family history of asthma.' Crazy.

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41/365 : On My Own


Today was Andy's first day of work and with that it was the first day by myself at home. I ended up staying awake after he left and then decided to venture to ASDA all on my own. I had looked online and found that a bus runs hourly from right outside my house to right in front of ASDA. So off I went.

Here is the pleasant conversation I had with my bus driver:

Driver: Where to?
Me: The Linkway Retail Park
Driver: Where?
Me: The Retail Park by Reebok Stadium
Driver: I'm sorry.. where?
Me: I am going to ASDA

Guy behind me who has a ASDA cloth shopping bag: Middlebrook

Driver: Oh okay, That is all you had to say love that will be £2.50
Me to guy behind me: Thanks

Then after a short 10 minute bus ride we drive right past Reebok Stadium, turned onto a street called 'The Linkway' and then pulled up right in front of ASDA.

What a butt munch of a bus driver.

I took the above picture because I honestly feel that they put these signs on the road for me personally. I do have to admit I am getting a lot better as I have only almost gotten ran over around 4 times. I just find it so hard to look right first, it's like taking everything you were taught about crossing the street as a child and throwing it out the window! I'll get better.

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40/365 : Remembrance Sunday


Today Andy and I were downstairs catching up on some TV and off in the distance we started to hear a marching band. I stood up and yelled "Run upstairs... and please get my camera" (I'm not usually such a boss honestly.. but my back is killing me today and there was no way I could run up there in time).

Today is Remembrance Sunday and there was a parade thru town. I was able to snap this shot toward the end of about 100 people walking by. I'm glad it was not raining on them. A few hours later the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, it started raining pretty heavy and it has not stopped yet.


These are the paper poppies that we bought from the Royal British Legion to show our support.

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39/365 : Curious Village

Andy and I took the train into Wigan today. It was the first time we have been to Wigan and we really enjoyed it there, they have a great market. I bought a bag of honey almonds from a stall and they are so yummy.

So let's play a little game of 'I Spy', how many police officers do you see in the above photo? There are eight! Don't let the guy in the yellow jacket walking toward me on the other side of the street fool you, not a police officer he is just dressed like one. Why are there so many police in one area? There was a Wigan football match going to start in about 30 minutes after this photo was taken. They were playing Stoke and from what Andy says Stoke are really known to have hooligans so it was best to be prepared. He said he has been to enough football matches to know when there is a home match that day based on how many police are around.

While we were there we also went to Gamestation and Game to see what they had on sale. We do not have a lack of gaming systems in our house, we have an Xbox 360, we each have a Playstation Portable (PSP) and we each have a Nintendo DS. We like our video games!

I bought a new DS game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village.
After we got back from Wigan we went down to the pub to watch the Manchester United v. Arsenal match. Andy says it was a great game even though he didn't have a huge interest in who won, but in the end Arsenal won 2-1. I played my new game while the match was on... so far it is great! It's a simple walk thru game but as you walk around the village there are brain-teasers after brain-teasers. It's a lot of fun!

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38/365 : Thirty Minutes Later


Andy and I took the bus into Bolton because he was offered a job this morning (YAY!!) and he wanted to buy some new clothes for work and he starts on Monday.

About a week and a half ago I bought a curling iron that was on sale at Boots. It's the kind that has the heated rod and you can change out the type of curling barrel and it had several sizes and even a flat iron option. Anyway, a couple of days after I brought it home I tried it out for the first time and was very disappointed. To me the iron never got hot enough to really curl my hair. I was using the largest curling barrel and I let it stay on for around 15-20 minutes and yes it was hot but I put my finger on it for a good 2 seconds and it did not burn me.. that is not hot enough! I even did the sizzle test... you know when you lick your finger and touch the barrel and it sizzles.. yeah it never did that!

Anyway I called Boots before we left and explained the situation and the lady on the phone said there was no problem just bring it back in with my receipt and off I went. When I got there I stood in line with my return and again explained everything to the counter girl, she took the box and told me she would be right back. She then came back after about 5 minutes and asked me to follow her over to where the curling irons are. She had the iron plugged in and continued to explain to me that the iron is in fact getting hot and she burnt her fingers on it. I look down at it and it was just the heated rod that was exposed. Okay, sorry for the lack of a better explanation the stupid girl had plugged it in and tried to grab a hold of the heated rod without putting any of the actual barrels on. I grabbed the barrel I was trying before and attached it. After a few minutes I told her as I was saying before it does not get hot. She threw up her hands and said "I'm not touching it again it has already burnt me once" and then went over to a manager and told her I needed help and she walked away.

The manager comes over and I go into my full spill yet again... She then explains to me that the kind that change out never get as hot as the ones that are just by themselves. I tell her it does not say that anywhere on the box so she pulls out the instructions to see if it says anywhere, and of course it does not.

Now mind you.. the iron has been plugged in and on now for at least 15 minutes and she tells me that we need to wait a bit longer to see how hot it gets... It was at this point when I ask her if there is a problem with me returning this item so that I can buy a stand alone curling iron and she says no there is not a problem as long as there is a default in the item. I told her the fact that it has been been heating up for 15-20 minutes now and I can still touch the barrel with my fingers shows it has a default. She said again "Well it is getting hot it's just that these type of irons do not get as hot as the others". I ask her how I am supposed to know that in the store the only way I can tell is if I take it home and try it. She then points out where it is now plugged in and says that is why they have these plugs here. Andy then said "So customers can try things out before buying them? Because there is no sign saying that?" and she says "OH NO I mean this is for us to try the product if the customer says it is faulty, we can't just let customers bring back anything they want.. a company would not stay in business". It was at this point when I told her that I was form the United States and you can pretty much return anything for any reason to any store, and Andy said yeah and those stores are doing just fine.

Finally I told her "Look if you are not going to let me return it I'll just contact the manufacturer directly". She then said she is not saying that if I wanted to get a new one that would be fine.

What did I just spend 30 minutes doing exactly?

Long story short (too late) she let me exchange it for a new curling iron and this one is sizzle hot within 2 minutes, if that. I will make sure from now on I am 100% positive in all of my purchases because I am not going thru that again!

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37/365 : Fun Fair & Fireworks!


Tonight we went over to The Red Lion for the Fun Fair & Fireworks and it was a lot of fun! I even got to eat some candy floss (cotton candy), I was going to get some in Blackpool but never made it around to getting any. Since we did not get to see fireworks last night (except for the couple that we could see over the buildings in Manchester) it was great to watch some tonight.

When we were walking down Church Street we could hear the Fun Fair from pretty far away. When we walked around the pub itself I was amazed at what had been set up in their parking lot. It was a proper Fun Fair like we would get back in the States, the kind that they set up in grocery store parking lots. It was amazing!

I have posted additional photos on Facebook and you can view them here:

The Red Lion ~ Fun Fair & Fireworks

I also took a couple short videos with my camera. This is the first time I have ever posted a video on You Tube but it was pretty easy... Here they are!

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36/365 : Aha!


I know.. I know.. it's Bonfire night, it's my first year in England, and I don't go to one.

Instead we had tickets to see Steve Coogan at the Manchester Apollo Theatre. To be honest when I bought the tickets I did not even think about it being November 5th. Since I'm not used to there being something to go do on this date it was just another day and I picked it. Then last week I realized what day I had picked when I was searching online for a big firework display to go to. Oh well, there is always next year to see my first big bonfire! As far as the fireworks are concerned my Mother-in-Law's pub is having a Fun Fair with Fireworks tomorrow night so I get to watch those.

Steve Coogan was very funny! He did several of his characters but of course the only one I was personally familiar with was Alan Partridge as Andy had me watching those shows years ago when they were being shown on BBC America. Aha!

Now for those of you who have never seen Alan Partridge here are a few clips that I found on You Tube for your viewing pleasure.


See... funny right? : )

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35/365 : History In The Making


Let me just start off by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the British news. But to me finding a live feed of MSNBC Online made my day this morning! I watched it on and off all day and now I have been watching it non-stop since around 11:00pm GMT / 5:00pm CST. I don't even have to watch commercials when it breaks it just goes to a hold screen and then comes back.

Andy says it's silly that I would rather sit in front of my laptop to watch MSNBC rather then just watch the coverage on our TV. I did try to watch the British coverage earlier today when Obama was casting his vote with his family in Chicago. In fact at that time they had the exact same coverage feed as what was being shown on MSNBC but still... to me at least... it is just not the same. I found that they were spending quite a bit of time explaining the overall process of how the voting works, etc... Yes I know the coverage is meant for people that do not know which is part of the reason why I did not enjoy what I was watching.

I have always watched MSNBC, what would I do without Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann or Joe Scarborough? How would I live without Chuck Todd breaking down the numbers for me?

No.

England I love you and I love living here... but when it comes to watching something as important to me as this and in fact history in the making... it has to be MSNBC all the way! : )

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34/365 : Obama To Win


While we were in Bolton today I ran into the bookies and placed a £1 bet on Obama to be the next US President! Seeing as how the odds are 1/12 I think they are pretty much predicting him as the winner just as everybody else is. Yay!

Andy says I should have put a £1 on McCain just in case and I told him it was not worth the money I could possibly win back as I would NEVER write McCain's name down for anything wishing for him to win.... No way.

To be honest my internal clock has just gotten used to the time here and now I have no idea how I'm going to handle tomorrow night. I'm thinking that if I were in the US I would start watching the election coverage at around 7:00pm EST and that will be midnight here. So I can either stay up all night to watch... and then just get some sleep in the morning or I can try to go to sleep early in the day and get a few hours and then wake up at midnight.. To be honest I'll probably just start watching at around 10:00pm and stay awake until it's official then go to sleep. We have a show to go to on Wednesday night but that's okay.. I don't want to miss a minute of this historic moment! : )

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33/365 : White Faced Stripy One



This is our third cat... Rooney. He is from the same litter as Gallagher but they are both still 'true' brothers to Pazzesca as they have the same mom just different litters. Their mom was the neighborhood girl about town (if you know what we mean) and we affectionately named her Hussy. : ) But we finally tamed her enough to where my Grandma and Grandpa were able to take her into the Vet's to get her Spayed.

As with our other cats we took Rooney in when he was a tiny baby, in fact just after his eyes opened. We had to set our alarm every two hours to wake up to feed everybody with a little pet bottle and kitten formula. Rooney was the funniest when eating because he would run up to us and beg for more even when he had just had a full bottle. He was Andy's favorite so he always ended up giving him more. I remember this one time Andy picked Rooney up just under his front arms and his belly was SO big but he was still begging for more. Crazy.



This is Rooney's favorite toy. He loves to fetch them.. we throw it across the room and he runs after it. He throws it up in the air a few times and then brings it back to start the whole process again. You buy them in a bundle of 3 toys.. I was scared that we would not be able to buy any once we moved to England so just before we left I bought 6 packages with 3 toys each so he should be good to go for quite awhile!

Andy named Rooney and he gets his name from the English footballer Wayne Rooney. When we got him Rooney was playing for Andy's football team Everton. Wayne Rooney has been with Everton since he was a little kid and was going to be the next big thing.. well he currently is the big thing but.. Everton sold him several years ago and now he plays for Manchester United but we don't talk about that very often in our house. : ) When he was a baby before we properly named him we always called him the 'White Faced Stripy One'.

Here are some pictures of Rooney when he was a kitten.


See how he is eyeing that bottle he is not for sure if he wants the toy or more food! And yes in the other picture he is in a cardboard tape roll. He loved laying in that thing. He would crawl in and out of it with ease and just fall asleep with it around him. See he is crazy. : )

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32/365 : My Moccachino


Andy and I went down to the pub today to watch Everton's match. This is what was left of the very yummy moccachino that I ordered. Everton ended up scoring a last minute goal and won 1-0 against Fulham. Yay!

We have James and Tracey's dog for the weekend as they are off to see a concert in Newcastle. Her name is Lily and she is a rescued Greyhound. She is such a sweetie! Seems like November 1st is when everybody in Westhoughton starts setting off fireworks in preparation for Bonfire Night on November 5th. She is SO scared of the fireworks going off that she has worked herself up into a little ball in between the love seat and the side dresser. I hope they don't go off all night so that she can get some sleep. I haven't been upstairs to our room to check on the cats but I'm sure they are not huge fans of the fireworks either.

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