Monday, October 27, 2008

And We’re Back…

Back into the throws of dark, dark winter. Back to feeling like we should be going to bed at 6pm. Back to actually noticing that we are losing between 4 & 5 minutes of daylight each day. The darkness just settles in and makes everyone a little more inward and a little more distant.

All it took was one little time change. One little turn of the minute hand and it seems like never-ending darkness. The sun was long down before I even thought about going home from work today. As I walked home I considered the pros and the cons. The only pro I could think of was that it is much easier to cross the street since I can now see headlights. That’s the only one. I thought of lots of cons. For instance, you just can’t see people in the dark. You can’t share a smile or a chuckle about how your umbrella just blew inside out for the third time quite so easily. And.. because I am who I am.. everything seems a little more creepy and a little more dangerous. That sweet little school girl with her violin that I pass everyday suddenly becomes a little girl with a secret.. a secret that involves a huge plot.. See, see? She didn’t smile today.. and that’s definitely not a violin in that case, it could be anything! Probably a communication device to help execute the huge plot… probably..

According to the weather people, it feels like 2 degrees outside. I know that’s not what I know to be 2 degrees, but it sure does make it seem cold. And dark. Walking around today one sweet little voice kept popping into my head.. Remember the movie 101 Dalmatians? Remember this part?

“my tail's froze...
and my nose is froze
and my ears are froze.
And my toes are froze.”

That about sums it up :)

I think we should all just hibernate. November and December should be declared human hibernation months in Scotland. That would be nice. Maybe I’ll start a petition…

Monday, October 20, 2008

Fly Haven

It all started about two weeks ago when our trash didn’t get picked up. We don’t have a wheelie bin as most people do, so if our trash doesn’t get picked up, it just hangs out with us in the house for another week. Usually we put it out in the stairwell so that if it smells, it at least only smells in the stairwell and not in the whole flat.

Well this trash was particularly stinky because there was a chicken carcass in it – yummy, I know.. So, we had our teeny tiny little window cracked open in the stairwell to try to air it out a bit since we can’t just leave the front door open. The day finally came for our trash to be picked up and when I moved the trash bag to take it down to the sidewalk I noticed little pellets all around it. I called Ian out to look at it and we determined that somehow a very small rodent must have smelled the delicious scent of rotting chicken and climbed in through the cracked window and pooped everywhere. The only question was, where did the little rodent go? It’s a long way down from that window and we couldn’t figure out how on earth it would have been able to climb all the way up the wall to get out the window again. So, we just assumed it had gotten into the trash bag and had been taken away with the smelly carcass.

Well because we are busy and lazy and hate our vacuum cleaner and not easily put off by unsanitary situations, we left the ‘turds’ out in the hallway for a while. The main problem was I would forget about them at all times except for when I was actually in the stairwell, so I just never got around to it. Finally I decided today was the day.. it was time to rid ourselves of the turds.

A few days ago I had noticed we had a few gargantuan flies in the house. These babies were biggies too. Nice meaty flies. I assumed they got there, as they all do, when the windows had been opened on a nice day.

WELL. I went out into the stairwell Saturday morning to assess the situation and noticed there were a TON of flies out there. I was totally baffled as to where they were coming from.. maybe the mail slot?? I wasn’t sure. Then I thought, ‘I wonder if those turds are actually fly eggs!’ I went back in to get the vacuum and jokingly mentioned it to Ian, and upon further thought, he said ‘you know, I bet you’re right.’

Being the manly man he is, he went and got a knife and dissected one to find that, indeed, there were flies inside the little turds. UnbeLIEVable!


So, despite my reassuring Ian they would just be very dizzy and not dead as he supposed, we decided that it wasn’t very humane to try to vacuum up all the flies along with the pupas (or whatever they were) and we ran around our house catching them in tupperware and letting them go out the windows. We caught 17 flipping flies! 17! AND there were still 11 more unborn flies that we also dumped out the window. Do you know how full of flies our little flat would have been had they all emerged before we figured out what was going on!? I think it’s actually significantly grosser than if they had been rodent turds. SIGNIFICANTLY.


(sidenote: this is not the window that was cracked open through which we thought the alleged rodent had come, we have no idea how to open this window.. I think it's just for light.. and for flies to gather around)

As I began writing this I had a flashback to when I first moved the trashbag that had the chicken carcass in it – before it was all tied up and everything. Guess what happened when I moved it.. a FLY flew out! I had no idea what that fly had been doing in there! Apparently sweet little mama fly thought that rotting carcass was a perfect bed for her developing babies. And then the nasty little maggots crawled on out and took up residence in the stairwell until they hatched.

Sick sick sick!

So that's pretty much how our Saturday morning went.

Unbelievable. And gross.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

A New Slideshow!

We've been enjoying this Autumn season, as well as getting to know many new families that have moved here. A couple of Saturdays ago we went over to enjoy the sunshine at the Castle with some friends you'll be hearing about more frequently - Shawn and Sara. We'll try to get a picture of them soon :) It was a beautiful day and I've put up a new slideshow with some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

In other news, I like to claim I broke my toe Friday night. I don't think I did, but it bled and it hurts. I just like to think I'm so tough that I can break things and continue on with life as normal. That's what I like to think...

Saturday, October 18, 2008

New Season, New Look :)

I know, it’s sad. I wanted to sound really cool as if I knew about fashion and all.. that was the best title I could think of.

Anyway. I spent a wonderful hour with a hairdresser this morning chopping of my hair. It was fabuloso! I LOVED her and I love what I came out with…


Yes. I’ve started wearing the glasses again. My eyes have been getting extremely tired after staring at screens all day and I’ve been getting headaches more often, so hubby suggested I bust them out again. I thought since I had a new haircut, I could justify wearing dorky glasses :)

AND. Hubby is letting his hair GROW.


Katy started in on this idea long before I was in a position to make suggestions about Ian’s hair, but I definitely chimed in any time the subject of him letting it get a little longer came up! The only problem is, he doesn’t really know how to style it, and I don’t really either. So, sometimes it looks awesome and he’s totally studly and other times.. well.. let’s just say those are the times he asks me to cut it :)

We’ll figure it out eventually, but we will definitely take any tips you know of on how to style enviously thick, smooth, cowlicky boy hair..

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Let Me Elaborate..

I’m not going to lie to you. This post is mostly for my mom. It kind of relates back to some things I said two posts ago.. kind of.

The three of us were pretty picky eaters as I have mentioned before. I maintained my pickiness for quite a while, only occasionally introducing new elements to my diet. While this was disappointing for Ian when we got married, being the sacrificially loving person that he is, he would just spice his meal of bland (yummy) Midwestern food (starch) separately post-cooking.

When we moved to Scotland, cooking was not so easy. The prepackaged food we were used to was either nonexistent or very expensive and small, and very odd combinations of things to our Midwestern palates, so I had to learn how to cook from scratch. You’ll remember we started with things like CPP and cooking whole chickens, but I’ve got to say, in the past few months, I think my taste buds have gone through puberty. They are CHANGING!!

I always assumed adults (ok ok, and my peers) would eat such a wide variety of things because their taste buds were just dull and I had VERY sensitive buds. I think I’m a super taster. I don’t really know why adults eat such a wide variety of things compared to kids (or at least me when I was a kid) but I’m not afraid, as Ian will confirm, to hold on to illogical and/or disproved theories to answer all of my questions. (That was a nod to you dad. Such a good question answerer. Ian gets that joy now :)

Anyway, I want to mention (again this is mostly for my mom but you can use it as an opportunity to feel better about how un-picky you are), the many things I will now eat that I used to adamantly refuse…

Pepper. I hated pepper. While I still don’t pepper my food, I LOVE the taste of it in a dish.

Peppers. Another item I would pick out or complain about. My mouth now waters just thinking about them. MMMMMMMMM. I drool when I chop them.

Spicy food. Always a no no for me. Just didn’t like it. Now one of our favorites (chicken enchiladas) is super spicy and deeeeeelicious!

Enchiladas. No thank you in so many ways. Not anymore! I love them.. chicken, cheese, whatever. Yummy.

Mushrooms. I am going to, once again, give my mother a moment to climb back into her chair. I won’t eat them plain, but in something, in moderation, I will consume mushrooms.

Squash. Now squash is a little too squishy to enjoy on it’s own, but if you go with the squishiness and enhance it by squashing the squash into a butternut squash and red pepper bisque, it’s pretty darn good. Squash. Squish squash.

Peas. My mom, dad, Ian, and my grandma would be proud of me for my delayed love of peas.

Hold on to your hats for this one.. curry. The word alone made me want to gag. We have my coworkers to thank for introducing me to the wonders of a spicy curry.

Lamb. If my mom had ever offered me lamb to eat, I would have laughed at her I think. And then said, ‘no seriously, what’s for dinner.’ I don’t enjoy a lamb meatball or anything, but I love Shepherd’s Pie.

Onions, of any variety. My motto was just say no on this one. I still don’t love the texture, but I am willing to endure it for the amazing flavour (OH MY, a UK spelling just snuck in!).

Meatloaf. Sure to get significant whining from us. I won’t refuse it anymore. And I will admit that I enjoy eating it.

Gravy. Please serve me everything as dry as possible. While I won’t slather anything, I love our dishes that involve gravy as a main ingredient.

Cheese. I liked cheese, but I would usually want whatever it was without it. No cheeseburgers, no cheese on any sandwich for that matter, no cheese sauce on my broccoli, etc. I’ve moved passed my fear and embrace many-a-cheesy meal, and also my cheese-loving husband.

Sour Cream and Cream Cheese. EW! Ok, so I'm notting putting a dollop of daisy on my Mexican meals or anything, but I will definitely not refuse a dish that involves sour cream anymore. And.. HELLO! Cream cheese makes many-a-yummy dessert! What was I thinking?

Plums.

Crunchy Peanut Butter. Once you switch, you just can't go back.

Any spice not wearing the label ‘salt’ or ‘cinnamon’. Yes, we spice our food together now, while cooking, and I have found a whole array of flavors I enjoy that I had previously shunned.

Dark chocolate. Not joking. I ate a digestive biscuit the other day with dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate on it. I can’t lie. I fell in love. I don’t think I can stand the bitterness of dark chocolate on its own, but a new world of items involving dark chocolate has just been discovered in my tasting realm.

Coffee. Stop. You can’t be serious. CORRIE DRINKING COFFEE??? Gotcha! :) I don’t drink coffee, but I have started craving it and enjoying the smell. This one is huge for me because I usually hate the taste and smell of coffee. I haven’t tried it yet. I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it. It’s such a gross flavor.

Wine. I still can’t stand the flavor, but I enjoy smelling it. Ian is hopeful.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. I also eat lots of combinations of things that I used to avoid, but it would take forever to list them and you might judge me for my former pickiness. To which I would say – I couldn’t help it!! :) I wouldn’t force you to eat brussel sprouts in my house, so don’t look down on me if I ask for a plain hamburger. I just don’t like condiments, ok?

Now I’ll leave you to wonder what in the world we DID eat growing up in the Goshert household.