verb.
'adopt a more steady or secure style of life, especially in a permanent job and home.'
That's how it feels. We are incredibly thankful for the people, who in the last two years, have allowed us to stay in their homes - In particular Chris in Manchester, but also Stef and Cindi and Jon and Susan for letting us stay at their houses. But now, for the first time in two years since we left the apartment which is only a block away from our new house, we are settled.
We have been living at the house for about 6 weeks, but in that time there has been so much going on - Dinners, work, the cabin, hiking and actually sorting out the house. It has been great living here, but it hasn't felt 'done' till now. Weirdly, the reason it feels done now isn't because its all done, but the move is completely complete, everyone we know has been around and seen the house, photos have been mounted and it now feels like a home. Even so, the reason it feels like a home is because we have actually started improving it so It feels like 'our place'.
So yesterday we went to program the thermostat for the winter, setting it to turn on before we got up and home from work, so the house is nice and warm - But we were devastated to discover that the bloody thing wasn't programmable - just an off and on switch with a change in temperature. So we decided to buy a new one - this then snowballed into buying a drill, which meant that I could put up a shelf in the back mudroom (known affectionately as 'The Sauna') and build the headboard that we have been planning for a week or two.
So a quick ten minute job switching out the thermostat ended up with the whole weekend spent doing DIY - The new drill is ace - I have just realised its the first drill I have ever actually owned! It even has a light on it so I can drill in the dark (It wont be the first time I have drilled in the dark, if you know what I mean.)
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| The frame.... |
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| Attached to the bed |
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| Buffy likes drilling |
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| She isnt hugging it- shes holding it up! |
There is still a lot of things we want to do - but that proves we are felling at home - because we are planning on painting and decorating - Lots more photos to follow soon probably.
We have also actually had time at home to start baking. Both me and Buffy like to cook, but we do quite different things, which is great as it means we get lots of different meals. It was my turn to take over the kitchen yesterday with an idea I have been wanting try try since I was in Australia. There is a great takeaway food chain called 'Pie Face', which was great. One of my favourites was the Beef Bourguignon pie - A rich beef cooked in red wine encrusted inside a delicious pastry cased pie.
I found an easy recipe for Beef Bourguignon and added some pastry - Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours cooking and it turned out better that I could ever expect - Dee - fucking - licious!! I will definitely be making it again - along with a few others I want to try.... I even had a chance to decorate the pies with the Manchester Bee motif and Buffy's initials!
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| Making pastry |
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| Trimming |
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| Not a dogs dinner!! |
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| 1st attempt at a bee |
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| Good enough to eat |
So that's whats been happening at home - what else has been going on?? Well, I have discovered why there are so many occasions when I seem to be misunderstood or misheard over here.....
It occurred during a simple conversation about a mirror - Now I am used to people who say mirror as it is written - 'Mirror' - or to write it as its pronounced - 'Meer-Roor' where the middle 'R's are actually pronounced. But I noticed that over here it is usually pronounced as 'Miirrrrrrrr.
The Mi, followed by one long rrrrrr.
I began to notice other instance of similar things - 'Orange' is a prime example - When I say it it sounds like 'Orinj' (Rhymes with Syringe. When Canadians say it is sounds like 'orrrnnj'.
Another and very important one is Beer - This is the other way around - as and Englishman I add a 'Y' to the centre of the word so it sounds like 'Bee -Yer' - Canadians say 'Beeeer'. This is probably why there was one time in Montreal when I asked for ' A 'Bee-yer' and the waitress looked at me like I was crazy. Buffy repeated me saying ' Beeer' and was served immediately!
Now, I'm not saying what is correct and what isn't - Its just a really subtle difference and I am glad I have noticed it. However, I find it really difficult sometime with peoples names or companies.
The place where we went to the sensory deprivation pods and floated in darkness for 90 minutes is called 'Float Calm' - but 'calm' over here is pronounced exactly the same as Com - So I heard 'float com' and couldn't find the place when searching the net until I realised the error in my understanding.
Merry sounds like Mary but Ferry doesn't sound like Fairy. Every word is different!
Enough for today - that's it for now - The pie is in the oven, its hot and its time for tea!!
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