Sneak preview

As you can see, we are finally having a bit of sunshine!
I take it as a good omen, since today is also the day our move really started. We got the keys, and went to check the place out without the running commentary of the estate agent.

And I've already told Himself I'm taking over this balcony. The little corner with a bit of light is so going to be my territory!
My mind is already flying into plans of barbeques and nursing the little rosebush back into health. But we're not quite there yet. So I better go and continue packing. I'm hoping to be off from work tomorrow, so that we'd get everything done...

We're both tired, but the general mood is good. Himself is cooking and singing, and I might just let out the little tune that is playing in my head as well... "Lovely day, lovely day..."

My week in pictures

I hope you understand why I've been pretty much out of bloggy-action in the past few days...

I found a dress to wear to the thingy on Monday.
My facial expression wasn't very ladylike, so I left the whole thing out.
Handy that...

The county organized a civic function in honour of the Blizzards, for their work in music and carrying the county's name around Ireland and abroad... (I was thinking aloud, and Himself's comment was: "Straight to Hell?") They got scrolls and pats on the back, we got free glasses of wine and some cheese on sticks. Hooray! And, of course, we got to witness a bit of history in the making.

And once we recovered from that, it was back to business. Mainly packing. The lady in the charity shop was very happy to see me arrive with the two bags above. I think I'm her new best friend... :D

Most of my life in seven boxes.
My drums look like a giant cake, stacked up like that... Mmmm, cake...
Sorry about that, packing makes me hungry. I better have some dinner, before I run into the corner and start nibbling the drumskins.
See you later! (The next time I might be writing from the new HQ)

I'm no Cinderella...

Got my eyes tested yesterday! And I'm getting glasses for reading and other similar activities. I'm not surprised, because I used to wear a pair before. I'm, in fact, quite happy.
They told me I could pick them up today, so I woke up extra early (9.20 am, my personal record lately...). And they told me they had to order something in and it would take a few days. Boohoo.

We visited Himself's parents yesterday and exchanged travel stories. I think I'm starting to learn how to deal with my mother-in-law-to-(hopefully)-be... Yippee! :)

I should start packing, since I have all this extra time in my hands... On the other hand I should really find a dress for tonight. What do you wear to a "civic function"? Argh... With my today's luck in all things glassy, I'll steer away from the glass slipper option anyway. Any other tips and suggestions will be welcomed!

Patter of little paws

I've been babysitting two quite hairy babies since Tuesday. Himself's parents are away, and our help was needed with the dogs. Today is the last day, and I don't want to leave the dogs!

The newer addition to the family just landed on their doorstep one day over two years ago and stayed. We all believe he must've been treated badly in his previous home. Poor fella is scared of lights, noises and isn't too fond of strangers either. For some reason he liked me straight away, and we've been great buddies ever since.

I started teaching him all the tricks in Finnish a little while ago, and he already knows that istu means "sit", maahan means "down" and he also shakes my hand when I say either Hei! (Hi!) or tassu (paw). I was talking to my dad and laughed, that the dog is the only person who understands me. In all fairness though, I sometimes use little bits of bread or other treats when teaching the dog, and Himself gets nothing (except for praise) when he learns a new word... So I can't really blame him.

Maybe I'll make some lasagne for the next teaching sesson.
Have to go and have breakfast. And talk to the doggies.
(Also have to pay the rent, try to get hold of the estate agent, sign the new contract and do another ten or so washes... But don't want to think about it. :) )

Under pressure

We decided to take the apartment on the quieter, more secure area.
(Somehow seeing broken windows while viewing a place isn't the kind of thing that makes you want to move.)

Himself is doing army-things at the moment, so it has been my job to organize everything. I've managed to get references from work and printed out a bank statement, got our passports copied and paid the deposit. I met up with the estate agent who deals with our current place, found out about getting back this deposit and called the electricity company about a strange bill and also moving our account to the new address.

Lin wrote about banks gone bad; my experience with the electricity place was nearly as horrible. I found the bill, dialed the number. Instead of a person, I got hold of a machine.
"Please enter your account number". Ok, that was handy enough.
"Your account number is xxxxxxx." Thanks, I know. "Please dial 1, if this is correct."
At this point I'm getting worried, that my credit is about to go, so I'm delighted to hear the machine tell me: "I will connect you to someone who will help you" , which, of course, they don't do.

I had to go through thousands of options and press one so many times, that the number on the button faded a little. And when I was about to explode, the machine very politely tells me:
"You are being connected. Please note that this call may be recorded for customer service training purposes." Customer service? Really?

Firstly, I listened to the machine 99% of the call's duration. I don't concider that customer service.
And secondly, I think it has nothing to do with customer service training. I think the mention of recording is there to stop people like me saying things they might regret, in their rage caused by "Please push one if you ever want to get the chance to talk to one of our real, live employees".

Had to get that out of my system. This is why I usually make Himself do these things.
Next time no excuse is going to work.
I can just imagine the conversation:

Himself: "But I have to make sure these people can swim before we bring them to the lake!"
Me: "They'll be grand, just call the damn agent!"

Ok, so maybe I just have to deal with the next two weeks by myself.
Thankfully I don't think there's any more phone calls to be made. The rest I can manage. :)

Finally, maybe, hopefully

A while ago I wrote about wanting to move, and I think the time has finally come.
We've been looking at ads for flats for a few days, and viewed two of them over the weekend. They were both two-bedroom places, and both lovely. But I think we've made a decision.
And I think the place is pretty much ours; all we have to do now is to get the chance to ask a few questions and sign the rental agreement.

...And talk to our current landlord/agency. Not looking forward to that, but it has to be done.

I hope everything goes well, I'm just so excited about the thought of having more space. Obstacle courses are fun, but the novelty wears off if you have to complete one every time you want to plug in your computer or simply go and sit down on an armchair.

I'm trying not to get too excited though, since my experiences with agencies haven't been the best in here. But I woke up this morning from a dream about lovely apartments and my brain was in an overdrive staright away... "What do I need to do first when we move? Clean up the balconies... oh, I'd love to plant some parsley...have to figure out where to put the drums..."

I'm hopeless.
We'll see how it goes. And I'll try to keep my head firmly focused on todays meal, finding dry socks (it was raining the whole day yesterday = about a hundred sock-changes) and going to work.

Milan, part 3 (The food, finally! :) )

Simply: The food was amazing!
I thought I'd had good pizza and pasta before, but I was wrong.


We found this nice little place called The Kitchen. And went there twice. The service was good, food was out of this world and quite inexpensive.

The picture isn't the best, because I was too hungry to concentrate on photography, but that's my new favourite thing; Pizza Rucola. It'll definitely be part of my last meal, when the time comes!

I get a little hungry just thinking about it, so let's move on...







Himself's calzone. He looked pretty happy eating it, so I'll assume it was nice as well.

It might be a while until we have pizza in Ireland. The problem is, that we're not allowed to have wood-burning ovens here. So even a good pizza is always missing that little something.

The pastas were lovely as well. The whole trip really inspired me with cooking. All the fresh ingredients, the simplicity of the dishes and the tastes...
Himself is now fighting a one-man-battle against badly cooked pasta, trying to figure out the best times, temperatures and that extra little bit of love that are needed for the perfect texture.



The ice cream was everywhere. You could be sure to find a ice cream shop in any street and the selection was just mind-boggling; The usual chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, banana, and then everything from tiramisu to green apple and pineapple.

And man, do they like their ice cream! It seemed to be mostly grown-ups who were enjoying these treats, and the shops stayed open until late.

So a nice cone of your fave flavours is a must. :)









And finally: The Bread.

Yes, I am one of those freaky people, who absolutely adore bread.
Little slices of pizzabase for starters, with rucola and cherrytomatoes, dosed with olive oil.
Gorgeous, chewy sourbread to eat with the pastas and use for mopping up the sauce...

Give me any bread, I'll eat it. :)

So now you understand why I had to take a picture of this little display.