Life is Good

Been home since 16th and enjoying every minute of it.

I have had all the time for the kitties. All the time with parents too.

Have not achieved much (that was the objective really). Lazy mornings. Slothful days. Lots of snooze. Lots of food. Lots of telly. Lots of lazing about. Lots of playing papparazi to Cleo + Winnie (whipping out camera and snapping away at them much to their annoyance).

Home sweet home indeedy.

It’s been good.

Bargain-Hunters

So we did the car boot sale this morning, but not the Home.

I so love this new found Sunday morning past-time of ours. We always end up with something useful at a very cheap price.

Last week, we managed to find:

• Large sized pet carrier - £7
• Cute cat bed - £3
• Books - £1

This morning, I merely spent £3.80 on the following:

• W H Smith unused watercolour pencils - £1
• Long stand mirror - £1
• Rose decorated china container to store trinkets – 50p
• A brand new novelty 5-piece alphabet shaped dish - £1
• Medium sized white clay vase (to store IK’s loose change that he leaves lying around everywhere) – 30p

I’m well chuffed with my loot!

Let's hope he won't say No

We're going home for two weeks, not one. Yipee. Changed and confirmed flights.

Only problem is big boss thinks it's too short a notice for the extended holiday. So come Monday I need to sort him out. Fingers + toes crossed, wish me luck.

On the Go Go Go

Okay, so now that I have all the time to myself, I'm just too tired to start packing and to rejoice the remaining four days until the time I head home.

There's quite a bit to do as I wouldn't want to leave the house in disarray for two weeks and come back to a mess, whilst battling jet-lag.

I have done two loads of laundry (two sets of bed linen), I have two (daily clothes - colour and whites) more to go and I don’t even want to think about the consequential mount of ironing resulting from it.

I don’t know where IK has been storing his energy, but this morning he woke up at 6am, rearranged the bedrooms and suggests that we go bargain-hunting at the car boot sale (again?) and then maybe drop by Battersea Home to check on Ollie. We've sent an e-mail out to them, but received no reply since and we're wondering what has become of Ollie.

In the meantime, it’s back to more chores (chaos).

TGIF, almost

Since the arrival of the in-laws, life has been manic. I hardly have time to make the obligatory calls home as I normally would first thing on Saturday mornings. There's just always somewhere we need to rush to during the weekends.

Poor mumsy and dadster; all they get are 20-30 minutes of hurried conversations as I make the calls from the office in between meetings, discussion and email-writing. Not exactly the best place to have a mindless chatter about cats + food + to catch up on gossips, is it.

I have not had much time to get excited over our impending trip home either. I am left feeling knackered at the end of each day that I have totally forgotten about my hols. How I long for quiet nights in front of the telly, by my lil ole self, in my comfy jim-jams, without having to constantly make conversations and sporting a fake plastered smile across my face. It's hard work this - playing host and being the good dot-in-law.

Sorry I digress. Back to holidays.

Today we discussed the possibility of extending our hols to two instead of merely one week. Checked with agents but we'd have to incur alot of money should we want to postpone our flights further. We have until tomorrow to decide but I think we're going to stick to the original plans. Although it would be swell to do away with policies, codes, reports, reconciliations and such for half a month.

On Saturday night, the in-laws fly home. I shall begin packing on Sunday morning.

***

Tomorrow the cat's away. Such joy. I suspect it will be a good end to my horrible week, sans big boss. May even consider taking a two hour lunch to look for some skinny jeans. Hmm..now that's a thought.

Markets and Car Boot Sales

Action-filled weekend. Fun for some. Laborious for others.

IK had to suffer six gruelling hours attempting 240 multiple-choice questions at Excel.

Ayah, Mak, Maksu and I were happily traipsing Portobello Market in the morning and Greenwich market after lunch. While in-laws were busy picking out London souvenirs for mates/family, I was ogling the endless rows of funky stalls that had an extensive range of summer-wear and had to refrain myself from shopping. There were tonnes of beautiful summer dresses + vintage tops/skirts on sale at the eclectic stalls in Portobello. Perhaps when the in-laws are gone, I can re-visit and get me some pretty dresses for the summer.

Mak went a bit berserk at the fruit and veg stall; fresh tomatoes, apples, juicy plums, berrylicious strawberries, crisp mint leaves, sweet pears, garlic and onions!

We stopped by Marks+Sparks on Oxford Street where they, not moi, shopped abit and again I had to resist all the gorgeous summer range in store. Everything was just so irresistible – ballerina pumps, flip-flops, beachwear, skirts. It was torture I tell ya, but I had to behave in front of the in-laws; lest I risk revealing that I suffer from OCD. A shopaholic dot-in-law isn’t always a good thing. Wouldn’t want them thinking that I’m exhausting their son’s bank account. Heh.

Not wanting to waste the 1-day travel card, we headed to Greenwich market in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, in-laws weren’t too impressed as there were more hand made, handicrafts and arty-farty stuff on sale here. We then proceeded to the Cutty Sark area abit (pity the ship’s burnt down), walked by the pier and then headed home not long after.

What a long and tiring day; physically for us and mentally for IK.

However, it was not over yet.

We had a dinner invite for 7.30pm. All of us were ready for bed to be honest but we had already accepted the invite (despite the many protests IK made), so we dragged our sorry selves into the car, half chatty (Mak + Maksu), half asleep (IK, Ayah + I)!

But good food (‘masak lemak daging salai’ + salted cod were delicious), and good company was had by all. Had the opportunity to meet new addition to his family too – a cute little kitten named Prince.

Got home by 10pm, washed up and I think I can safely say on everyone’s behalf that all slept very very soundly last night.

***

Spent this morning at a local (kelam) car boot sale, my first ever, and most certainly not my last. It was fab, found some bargains but this requires a separate post altogether.

June brings Tulips, Lilies, Roses, Fills the Children's Hands with Posies

June has finally arrived. I don’t know about you but May seemed to have dragged on far too long for my liking. 1st June, finally.

Two weeks until I fly home. Home sweet home. Huzzah.

Despite wanting to be rid of May promptly, I'm a little wary of what the month of June may bring, work wise. It is already mid-year and yet, no sign of any ‘structure’. Instead, there is more chaos. And less support.

So what's new eh?

Let's not worry myself over this. Can't see it changing anytime soon. Let's focus on meeting all deadlines and getting work sorted by 14th June, for now.

Prepare a travel checklist. Start packing. Buy some pressies and chocs+crisps (Dadster texted for some). Enjoy the warm weather. Smell the sunshine.

Live a little.

Let's enjoy warm June and what it has to offer.