Sunday 18 January 2015

How to spend a day . . .



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Yesterday began as most every day begins . . .  with doggie cuddles, some prayer and scripture study and then my writing on here, answering e-mails etc.  and then I noticed that when I went into the kitchen that the area of carpet in the dining room which is in front of the kitchen door was literally squelching when I stepped on it.

Twice earlier in the week I had noticed a damp spot there in the morning, and thinking that Mitzie had been a naughty girl I had soaked it up, given her a tongue lashing and gone about my business . . .  but this was more than a damp spot.  Way more than a damp spot.

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I got busy mopping and soaking up.  Five large towels later, Todd got up.  He hates being confronted with a problem like this first thing in the morning, but what could I do?    He had to know.  Pretty much the rest of his morning was spent in trying to sort the problem out.   By about noon and after umpteen trips back and forth to B&Q it was clear that he was not going to sort the problem out and he finally took my advice and called the Landlord who is a pretty handy guy.  Todd, he's not so handy.  He can barely hang a picture.  It's true.  He knows it.  But he likes to try and so I let him.

It was pretty clear  by then that I wasn't going to get any of the things I had planned to do yesterday done and so  . . .

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If there is one thing that men really hate . . .  it's a woman standing around trying to instruct them on how to go about doing something.  I removed myself from the equation.  I took myself off up into my organized and tidy craft room, popped some inspirational music into my cd player and settled in to write.   I have been assigned a talk for next Sunday morning's Sacrament Meeting and I thought I might as well knuckle down and get it done.   An hour or so later and I was finished . . .

So was the plumbing job.  

I knew by then that the window of optimum light for food blog photography had passed and so I shelved my cooking plans for the day.

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I got a new camera for Christmas this year and I hadn't really used it yet.  My old camera had developed cracks all around the casing  and wasn't really taking good photos anymore . . .  I don't know how or why this happened.  It hadn't been dropped or anything.  I can only think it is a fault in the plastic used to manufacture it.   In any case I had wanted a better camera for a long time and this year I got one.  It's a bridge camera, so somewhat of a learning curve.   I have been experimenting with it a lot over the past few days.   That photo at the top of this post was taken with it.   That's an old Birdhouse that I painted about 20 years ago now or maybe even longer and one half of a salt and pepper shaker set a good friend gave me just before we moved back up here to Chester.  It's a blue tit.

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I  practiced taking pictures on the Macro setting.   An old piece of cake . . .

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Some Mayan friendship dolls  . . .  a gift from Doreen . . .

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I took some photos of the lounge in a variety of ways . . .

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I even played a bit with the special effects.   This is the painting one.  Not sure what I think about that, but it's certainly different!!

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The gulls were all inland and flying about the back of the house.  Must have been bad weather out on the coast.  I took a few pics of them flying about.

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And played with them a bit.    I need to learn zooming now.  But these are not too bad considering they were taken through my dining room window.


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I have waaaaaaaay more to learn.   Thank goodness for the internet.  There are lots of tutorials out there to play around with.   Whew!!

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 I washed and hung up all the towels we had used to soak up all that water as well, and by then Todd was making "honey I'm hungry" noises and . . .  we really hadn't had much to eat all day and so  . . .

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I dug one of these out of the freezer and threw some olives on it and banged it into the oven . . .

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Started cooking a package of this while the pizza cooked.  (Yes, sometimes even I resort to drastic measures when it comes to cooking.) Seven minutes later it was done.  I did stir a tin of chopped tomatoes into it to my credit. 

I was in food heaven.   Todd was in food hell.   But I gave him a piece of cake (see above) and it was kind of all better, except for the meringues on top.   He hates Meringues.

Just pick them off.

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I then made up for it all and served him up a Spaghetti Western.   All was well and before we knew it we were heading on up to bed.

And that's how you spend a day.

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A thought to carry with you through today . . .

❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥
“This is a wonderful day. 
And I have never seen this one ever before.”
 ~ Maya Angelou
❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥.¸¸.✿¨¯`❥✻❥

 

Baking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Elizabeth's Date and Nut Loaf.  Can't be bad!!


 Enjoy your sabbath.  May it be blessed beyond measure.  Don't forget
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And I do too!



6 comments:

  1. It's nice to read a slice of real life. :) We all know those kinds of days. At least you got some time to finish your writing and relax a bit while they fixed things. ("They," right. Ha! I know.) :)

    I love seeing a glimpse of your sweet home in these photos too. I vote for a Marie Home Tour sometime on the blog. :)

    Have fun with the new camera!

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  2. What a day for you both. I am happy the problem is fixed.

    The camera looks like so much fun. Enjoy it and I look forward to seeing more beautiful picture.

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  3. OMG but what was it that caused all the wet...you forgot to tell us the main thing !!! Poor wee Mitzie getting the blame for what was not her fault LOL I remember I did that with Masy once only to find out later that it was Mary she had dropped a cup of tea an ddidnt tell me !!!
    Anyway you seemed to be quite productive so maybe it was a good thing that it happened. Just gla d that your landlord came along and fixed it..It is their responsibilty anyway when you pay the rent....
    hope that today goes well. I have a busy one ahead. Away at 9 20ish to collect Margarets friend Ann from Bristol airport then we will take her out for a late lunch. I might also have Beth and Max down to stay overnight...we will be packed in here like sardines LOL...
    won't get on in the morning Marie as so much going on...Please remember us all in your prayers that the day goes ok particularily for Mitch...he will be so sad....

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  4. Thanks Val! I will have to do a tour sometime when everything is neat and tidy! lol xxoo

    All in all it was a lot more productive in retrospect than I had thought Suzan! xxoo

    Sorry Sybil. The outtake pipe from the washer and dishwasher had cracked and so instead of the water going outside it was leaking into the kitchen/dining area! As Todd had done it in the first place (sorry Todd) it had never been done properly anyways. Now the landlord has been and done it, it's been done right. Thank goodness! I expect that you will all enjoy the cosiness of being packed in there like sardines Sybil. It will be nice and comforting. I will definitely be keeping you all in my prayers for tomorrow. Especial you and Mitch. Sad day for all, but especially you two. Love you. xoxo

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  5. I hate being faced with a problem in the morning too..A secret..it's clementine sesaon here and I juice them to add to our OJ in the morning..Ijust with the submersion blender all togther with the juice..delicioso.
    But I can't wait to finish this second crate.
    That's not something I love doing when I get up..after the bed is made and my mascara is on;)
    And that's not a flooded floor.
    Marie..I was tempted by that camera..the zoom is 60!

    It will be ...supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

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  6. Oh that does sound good Monique! Must try that! I really have a lot to learn about this camera! I try to teach myself something new about it every day! In the end I may just get there! Xxoo

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