suck it up

i've recently discovered that our "hoover" or vacuum is one of those types that spits stuff out rather than sucks it up. it is only my third time vacuuming, which is why it has taken me so long. i should have figured, since it was covered in dust and left here from the previous renter. maybe the bag just needs changing, but i'm not touching that. i'm married now and i'm leaving that as a "husband duty." he's out at a pub quiz tonight with co-workers. i've left the vacuum in our bedroom, so he'll be sure to ask me about it and either he'll have to put it away or put in a new bag. clever i am.

i've also re-discovered my old "wallflowers" cd. not bad to have on while tidying up around the house and occasionally dropping by the old internet.

crazy

toby and i very much approve of this, i don't what you call it, band i guess. gnarls barkley. coming to the states soon if you haven't heard it already. this picture was found on their website. nice.

Bank Holiday Monday

I like having four days off of work. Why not always work a week on and then a week off. Not like the firefighters though that do that 24 hour type of thing, but just the normal 35 hour work week on and then an entire week off.

We tried to start the day off early-ish and go visit a park. We went a little further out from our comfort zone, which was nice. Instead of Regent's Park, we headed off to Hype Park. Though we only really got to walk around the Kensington Gardens side.

First off...a view of our Easter basket. Those giant eggs are made of lovely chocolate. It's really slow going on the eating of them though. There IS such a thing as too much chocolate.



This one is taken at the building right next to ours. It seems we have a neighborhood cat. Normally comes out at night to scare the crap out of you. I'd say it looks like my mom's cat, dinah, but let's be honest. My mom's cat is the size of a small pig.



You can't see it too well on the photo, but the headline on the back page of the newspaper says "Wham, Bam, Thank you Glam". He was a pretty groovy guy.



Does this look like some kind of a parrot? We couldn't figure out why there were about 5 of these birds in the trees at the park. Okay, maybe a pet parrot got lose, but that many and all hanging out in the same trees?



And finally, a picture of one of many lovely trees we saw on Monday. This one has a cool face with a long nose. Yea :)

The Marshalls

This is my new last name (or surname as you say it). I wasn't going to do another post, since the last one was so interesting, but I was dinking around on the internet (Toby's watching Match of the Day 2...football) and so, I'm, as I was saying, dinking around on the internet.

Did you know that the people of the Marshall Islands speak a special language? It's called Marshallese. There is a language with my new last name. It's great. Looks incredibly hard to learn though. I found a Peace Corps guide, not that I'd have a clue on how to pronounce anything.

Here's a link the the Marshallese people.

my 100th post

had a lovely easter with toby's family. i hear there's a bit of lovely weather in the midwest right now. enjoy that over your holiday weekend!

the hokey pokey

i think i discovered another cultural difference today. the hokey pokey. the words are different over here in england AND toby swears it's called the "okey cokey".

lyrics for the HOKEY pokey:
you put your left hand in,
you take your left hand out,
you put your left hand in,
and you shake it all about,
you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around,
that's what it's all ABOUT HEY!

lyrics for the OKEY COKEY:
you put your left hand in,
your left hand out,
in out, in out,
shake it all about,
you do the hokey cokey
and you turn around,
that's what it's all ABOUT YEAH!
oh, okey-cokey-cokey, oh, okey-cokey, oh, okey-cokey,
knees bend, arms stretch , rah-rah-rah

now, what's THAT all about?

bits

toby's back at work meaning he's less bored during the day and bugging me with emails at work more. just kidding toby, i don't mind the emailing. i missed it while you were gone.

i made banana bread the other night. toby calls it banana cake. yet another cultural difference as been discovered.

the plumber was supposed to come by at noon today. toby had to call him after work to find out that the plumber was not going to come by today.

office space came in the mail today. toby's first viewing of this classic film. i can't wait until i watch the gang beating of the fax machine. i do enjoy that film.

Cheri brought the funk...

...and the funk is saltine crackers. these are the tasty crackers ever because you get to suck the salt off before you eat them. thank you VERY much to cheri paul for the lovely birthday package. the neighbors brought it round tonight after dinner. i was able to enjoy a lovely pepperidge farm milano cookie. that farm makes really good cookies.

i've decided to do a little importing today and so, you get a picture treat! yea for you!

firstly, a mold update



i mentioned that toby's been couped up in the flat. well, he found something new to occupy his time. his brand new rickenbacker bass. notice the track pants...he's been wearing them since last thursday. without a wash *sigh*



next up is a picture of me making some cornbread muffins. we're talking the jiffy mix folks. good old mom sent over two packages. such good stuff!



notice the water coming out of the tap? yeah, it's not supposed to but it WON'T TURN OFF. a major grr there.



have i mentioned the kite? oh dear, the kite. toby's discovered that he loves kite flying. i've discovered that it's not a winter time activity. we had to climb all the way up primrose hill to get it going, but it did fly. look at that grin on toby. he loves it :)



and finally...a look out the window at night. that's what i've been looking at as i've been typing this. well, it's completely dark now (8.34pm...and it's just dark now) so, goodnight all. i'll chat with you laters...abs