After some time

So, here I am again. I haven't been blogging for a while as I have been dealing with some issues, and it was difficult for me to focus on much else.
It is the first of July today, the new month and hope everything will just get better and better....

Lost weekend

My husband came back from his business trip in Europe and got sick. It seems like it is becoming a "habit" whenever he has to fly. I guess the dry air on a plane and who knows what type of germs everywhere. He has been fighting it for two weeks, and now I have the same symptoms he had a week ago. The truth is that I have been troubled by some sort of sinuses symptoms for a while, it just got worse. Because of that we were not able to do anything on the weekend.
So, my mantra for this week is:

I hope it will work!!!!!

In two pieces

This was one of my favourite decorative items - part of my African scheme which I love. It was on a sideboard and a picture was behind it, only leaning against the wall because I am not finished with painting, so I didn't hang it yet. I was airing the house out, and the draft knocked the picture on my plate which didn't survive the impact :-(
I will try to glue it together and see what happens.

I am back...

I have been dealing with some difficult issues particularly past few weeks, and quite frankly wasn't capable of posting on regular basis. The things are getting better, so here I am again, and let's just say I am going to try the famous:

American Eskimo

I miss having a dog. I used to have a breed that is in Europe called Spitz, but I was told here it is American Eskimo. I am still confused, as you can see from the pictures below they are also called Japanese Spitz. Anyway,  this is how mine looked like. Could you resist this face? I love this breed. But be aware, these dogs are not for everyone, they look like angels, but can be a bit tricky :-) You definitely have to be a pack leader.





via Google Images





via KONALAE www.konalaejapanesespitz.com



I haven't had a dog for a long time. I didn't want to because of our constant relocating. It was unthinkable.
Now we have our own house with a big garden, so it should be perfect scenario for a new dog, BUT... I don't really like to keep a dog inside of a house (most of the time anyway), and after living in Chicago for a while I realized that it would be difficult. I can't keep a dog outside during the extreme weather that we experience here especially in winter and summer. Also, I am used to, from back home, taking a dog for a walk in a countryside where he can run free. Here it is pretty much on a leach or a dog park, behind a fence. The rest of the time inside of a house. I don't know, somehow it is not for me. Will I ever have a dog again?! I hope so, but for now I am still undecided.

my local dog park at Whalon Lake

 

 



Just some thoughts...

I received an email with new year wishes recently that included some quotes I would like to share with you.
I would like to call them 'Words of Encouragement'  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

Fahrenheit or Celsius...

Who cares...it is going to be brutally cold no matter how you look at it. I can deal with 10 C below zero, I got used to it, but minus 28 C ?!
I completely detest the weather in Chicago, it doesn't matter if it is winter or summer, these are basically two seasons here. Reportedly, it is going to be the coldest days in decades.

Let's hope it will be over soon.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/01/03/winter-storm-petersons-newday.cnn.html



This is the weather forecast for my area:

in Celsius

in Fahrenheit

Knitting and driving...?!

Seriously?! Yep. I was sitting in a car with my husband last week (he was driving) and as we are approaching an intersection and stopping at red light, there is a car in the next lane. The driver was a lady in her late fifties and what is she doing? She is winding  a yarn ball by hand - from an old sweater or something. I was just staring at her and at that particular moment just couldn't stop laughing. I had never seen this one before.

Unfortunately, she kept doing that while driving as well. It is definitely not funny.

 

Have we gone completely mad, people?!  OK, so we eat and drive, call and drive, text (sms) and drive, smoke and drive, read and drive etc. , and now we need to do the knitting as well! This is crazy, and it was a "mature" women!

From my experience, the Americans are very sensitive to their -right to freedom-, simply said sometimes I have a feeling that  they would  like to do whatever they want, but in my eyes, certain things should be simply banned.

According to Wikipedia there were over 32 thousand traffic fatalities in the US in 2011. I am sure many of them because of 'knitting....people'.

 

 

After Earth ...Fear

I saw a movie the other day "After Earth". I wanted to see it because it is a sci-fi which I like.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think it was that great, so I will not even talk about it, but....there is a moment when Will Smith talks to his son and this is what he says:

"FEAR IS NOT REAL.

THE ONLY PLACE THAT FEAR CAN EXIST IS IN OUR THOUGHTS OF A FUTURE.
IT IS A PRODUCT OF OUR IMAGINATION CAUSING US TO FEAR THINGS THAT DO NOT AT PRESENT, AND MAY NOT EVER, EXIST. THAT IS NEAR INSANITY.
FEAR IS A CHOICE!"

This is the part that I really recall. I think we all face it time to time ...fear. Let's try to remember these words when it happens next time.

Are you addicted...?

It is said that many women are addicted to shoes shopping, right? Well, not me, I must have a "cups/mugs" addiction. Definitely. I have just purchased more cups. I just couldn't resist.

 

Is it because I like ceramics in general, or maybe because I love to drink tea (and coffee), or am I a 'cup collector'....?! I don't understand, but ask my husband, I am drawn to them...there must be a special force :-)

 

Here is my recent addition...

 

 

 

 

Getting back to the shoes, don't get me wrong, I love shoes, but cups are still winning..., handbags on the other hand, well that is quite a different matter!!! Shall we talk about HANBAGS next time? ;-)

 

 

New entry door

When we were purchasing our house, we knew that we had to replace the front door because of its damage . We ordered it and were told it would be delivered in one or two weeks. It wasn't. As a matter of fact, it was delayed several times and last week - 6 weeks later - it finally arrived at the store where we ordered it.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the end of the story. The door was upgraded (we didn't ask for it)  is of a wrong colour ( ...and the frame can't be painted different colour because it has a special coating) and arrived damaged. Really! Could anything else go wrong?

We were really annoyed and expressed our feelings to the store manager as well as the manufacturer which had the following outcome - the new door will be here in 5 days with 50% discount. I guess I can live with that, but my husband said: "Seeing is believing" :-)

AIR CONDITIONING MADNESS

I decided to write about AC. Moving here from Europe it was something new to get used to for me and to be honest I am still dealing with it. I think that an average American would die without air conditioning :-) Yesterday it was 20 C° during a day and in the evening my neighbour was running his AC. It was 15 C° at that time!!! It is insane.

These pictures are from some previous apartments we lived in (one of the most expensive apartments in the area). It looks very similar where I live now and what you have to deal with is noise. Basically it is a row of compressors next to your window. How would you like to sleep in the bedroom surrounded by this?

It is better if you live in a house. We rented a house before and it is less disturbing because there is just one AC attached to a house (usually on a side) and further from your windows. Unfortunately the units are much bigger and hence noisier. The noise levels depend on an exact location and direction from your house. I have seen houses where the unit was directly on a patio! I would like to meet an architect who designed it that way.

My previous neighbour was running AC at his house basically for 6 months in a year even when it was 18C outside. I don't understand what is wrong with some people!

So, if you have never seen this in your life (like me before I moved here), be aware, especially if you like your peace.

 

House Hunting

Still looking for a house. Last year we decided to stay in Chicago for some time and hence to buy a house. We started our search, but as the suburban area is so big, we weren’t exactly sure where to look. In the end, after many months of research, we decided to stay in the suburb where we were actually renting our house. Unfortunately, we missed our opportunity to make an offer on a house as we were undecided at first, then the market got very quiet and it was the end of the year all of the sudden when the real estate market really slows down.

So, we are hopeful again this year!

 

Morning Surprise

I haven't experienced many winters in the US, but the ones I did weren't the pretty ones. In comparison with an average winter I know from Europe, the winter months have been ugly here. Having said that this winter started really great and we have had quite mild temperatures. Until yesterday. It got cold after several days of rain and I realized it as soon as I walked out of my apartment on Sunday morning. I was just standing there in front of my car and literally didn’t know what to do. My car was glazed over. It was completely covered in a coat of ice.

You need to understand one thing. I am now living in an apartment, temporarily until we find a house, and before we were renting a house and our car was in a garage so, I hadn’t had this issue here before, obviously. On the top of that, I started driving only a couple of years ago, so I don’t have any experience with this sort of situation.

OK, back to my driveway. I am still standing there, thinking if I can actually even open the car door. I tried, the car didn’t seem to be too happy about it, but it survived. It was Sunday morning and I guess I could have just turned around and gone back home, I didn’t really have to be anywhere or did I?  Well, I was on my way to get lunch that morning and was really looking forward to it. I love to cook and I do almost every day, but this week is different. My husband is in Singapore and is enjoying the lovely food there, which makes me really jelous, so I was thinking I could have some sushi today. I was going to get it instead of just rolling it myself. Have I mentioned a dessert? :-)

There was another question, - to scrape or not to scrape- the ice?! Let me tell you, the coat was thick, I was afraid to touch it. All of the sudden I hear this strange noise. I look around and see my neighbours doing exactly that while their cars were running.  Oh, so this is how you do it. I was really determined to get in the car and have that sushi for lunch, so I did the same and started scraping, adding to the noise in the neighbourhood.

I managed to get the car going, but I really had to work hard. On the way back, I was sitting in the car with a bag of sushi next to me thinking – I guess this  is how it used to be hundreds of years ago when you actually had to work to get your food! It felt good!