I want

Oh dear. I am in one of those moods when I want things and I want to change things:

I want to... rearrange the living room lay out. I know Steve reckons the lay out is perfect but I'm bored with it.
I want ..to replace the ginormous settee with 2 smaller settees.
I want ...to get rid of the carpet and replace it with wooden flooring. Its mad having a carpet when you've got a dog. Sod the acoustics.
I want ....a bigger garden.
I want..... the hallway and landing redecorated, new flooring and vertical blinds on the landing window.
I want ...a big, fat, flat screen telly. And I want it on the wall.
I want....a big bedroom so I can put the rocking chair in there.
I want ...a new crisp, clean bathroom.

I don't like myself much when I get in these moods. I feel all antsy and can't settle.

On a different note. I took Tom for a walk this morning and as he "was doing his business" 2 men stopped and stared. It took me a while to realise that they were staring at us. I was confused for a second - why would they want to look at a dog taking a dump. I don't! I stare out in to the middle distance while all that is going on. Then the penny drooped. Holding up and shaking a poo bag at the 2 men I shouted "Its ok !I'll be clearing it all up!" And they walked off. Sad sacks.

Open Plan Rant

One of my property porn faves is The Home Show. Where George redesigns people's houses. George does love his open plan "spaces". One of my pet peeves is referring to a room as a space. Just seems a bit too up yourself. But my biggest peeve is when anyone says "the kitchen is the heart of the home". Its not! The idea that we all spend time giving dinner parties, cook meals every day that means we have to spend ages in the kitchen is a myth. I cook EVERY day (except Thursdays - take away night)and I don't spend that long in the kitchen. It doesn't take long to prep the veg, bung it in the oven, put water on to boil. I haven't got to be in the kitchen all the time I'm cooking. I wander in and out. I put stuff in the oven, look at my watch and think "mmn check this in 20 minutes" and go and do something else. I haven't got kids, but kitchens are not child friendly - knives, boiling water, hot ovens. You want to keep the kids well away whilst you're cooking. And kitchens get messy. I don't want to be looking at that mess whilst I'm eating my dinner. When I eat my dinner I want to be watching telly. I eat my dinner, sitting on the settee watching telly and admiring my dining table that I use about once a year.
If you have all open plan than an utility room is a must. You need to be able to shut out the noises of the washing machine and a place to dump all your crud. Perhaps there are really posh noise-less washing machines I don't know about.
And another thing - these spaces are typically wooden floored, curtainless affairs. The acoustics must be awful- echo, echo. And hard to keep warm.
Aah rant over.

What I watched on telly this week

I spent this week watching Torchwood Don't read any further if you haven't watched it

...So it was a sad ending. I was left thinking "Is that it?" won't they be doing any more series? I liked the fact it was an uncomfortable ending. That Stephen didn't "cough" awake afterwards. It made the story seem more true.

I couldn't believe cry baby Jayne won Celebrity MasterChef. I thought it would be Wendi or Iwan. Wendi was the best cook and Iwan had improved the most. In the team challenges they had both helped Jayne when she couldn't hack it.

The Mentalist - - I know it is supposed to be light hearted but I thought it was just a tad silly this week.

And that is what I have been mainly watching this week. Oh - apart from the Frasier re runs that I have been Sky -plussing. Oh and aside from the property porn programmes that I love.

Nice

Yesterday evening we were invited round Sharon and Tim's. It was their 9th wedding anniversary. Sharon cooked Mexican which was delicious. As it was a warm night we sat out in the garden chatting. And it was really, really nice. We have all been through some pretty hard times ..and as we sat there relaxing and enjoying each other's company I thought how lucky I was. I felt at peace.

Freaky Friday

On the train home tonight(well this afternoon really - I got the 16:45) some "rowdies" got on. They were singing, swearing - even dancing at some points. They were young lads - about 14? 15? And the rest of the carriage completely ignored them. It was like we were shunning them. People talked in their mobiles, gazed out of the windows, read their papers. We all acted as if they weren't there.
I, the other hand, have most definitely not been shunned. I've spoken before about how commuters ignore each other. Well, when I got on the train this morning, a fellow passenger remarked ot me about the weather. The man that always sits beside me said "morning". I almost looked around to see who he was talking to - he has never eve n made eye contact before. The bloke who let me get off the trains said "you're welcome" when I thanked him. ( I always thank people but this is the first response I've had). Lastly in the lift at work (no one ever talks in the lift. I think it might be against the law) the sole other occupant started chatting. Weird!

Back to work

Well today wasn't too bad...even getting up was ok. And it is true - the less time you have got to do things the more you do.
BTW I am NOT going to moan about the weather. It is Summer, is is supposed to be hot.

Holiday

Today is the last day of my week off work. Although I suppose you could say Friday was, as I get the weekends off anyway. I remember when I was younger hearing older people say that it took them a few days to really relax into their holiday. I used to think that was rubbish and that they were sad sacks. Now I realise it it true! Saturday through to Tuesday we did odd jobs that needed doing, were still getting up relatively early. Wednesday...by Wednesday we were completely chilled and did nothing. The luxurious feeling of wasting time and not getting uptight about it. Getting up tomorrow is going to be a shock..

News

Before I went to bed last night there were unconfirmed reports that Michael Jackson had died. When I put on the news this morning it was confirmed...and it has been on the news ALL day. A minute by minute count down of what happened till he died. To be honest, with all his plastic surgery and problems I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. I hope his kids will be ok.