Victim of Gender Stereotyping...

borrowed from the Internet

A letter arrived yesterday inviting my husband to come and see the new Honda CR-V coming out shortly. Ok, they used the wrong title calling him 'Mr.' while the correct title should be 'Professor' (VERY important these things around here...) and also misspelling our surname, but we are very used to that so I don't get upset about that anymore.

☺

We are not looking for a new car, but the invitation came from the local Honda dealer/garage I had recently taken the car for its annual service to. We used to take the car for service to the garage were we bought it, but this garage is about 45 minutes away from our house. I therefore thought it was much more efficient use of time to use the local Honda dealer's garage instead. The service was efficient and good, so we are good for another year.

 

However, the key fact relating to the letter is that I had booked and taken the car to the service. My husband was not involved in this arrangement at all...

 

But HE is the one that gets the invitation to come and view the new car (in the hope that they can tempt him to buy a new car, obviously)...

 

Now, that is assuming that the decision for a new car lies with a person they have not met nor do they know if he exists... And completely ignoring ME - their actual customer! And I watch Top Gear and everything (Ok, generally forced to when The Professor and Our Boy takes control over the remote...)

 

I would say I am a victim of gender stereotyping here!

 

And besides, how would they know whether he could choose the right colour or not...

?

☺

 

I Am No Expert...

I will say it right away - by no means do I claim to be a coffee expert...

I was over 30 before I started drinking this dark liquid and still today I only drink the milkiest cappucino/latte. Therefore, I never thought it mattered much what type of coffee I drank as half of the drink would be milk...

 

Let me tell you - it matters.

 

While in Venice The Professor and I got hooked on an Italian brand with the very German name Hausbrandt (apparently from Trieste in Italy). It was simply divine... even to my very limited coffee palate. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to get Hausbrandt here in the UK (without paying a small fortune in shipping fees). But I have a cunning plan - I am shortly off to Zurich and I hope they might have Hausbrandt in the supermarkets!

 

Oh, and we have got a new coffee machine.

☺

Again, not claiming to know much about these gadgets, we were sold this Delonghi when we were in our favourite department store. As I had a wallet full of gift vouchers, this machine cost me only £10! A bargain, if ever I saw one! I didn't want a machine that only takes one type of pods so we would be bound to buy from only one company. This one takes any brand and you can grind your own beans. I don't have a bean grinder, so I buy ready ground coffee (might be a gadget on the Christmas wish list...?). So, we are busy testing out the types of coffee available here. We have liked "Black & Beyond", and also "Illy". We didn't care much for Costa's ground coffee (too bland). I don't drink more coffee than before (max 1 or 2 cups a day and still with loads of milk), but I do like a good cup of quality coffee...

 

So, I am hoping to serve my dearest a lovely cup of Hausbrandt next week...

 

Any other suggestions out there for good coffee brands?

Too Much FUN!!!

My mousemat at work...

It is easy to get totally distracted with all sorts of apps on my Iphone...

My tea mug at work

MarbleCamb is a free app that can make normal everyday items...

The old tiled floor in the office building

look rather special!

A Real Summer Weekend

The temperature is telling us it is SUMMER!

It has taken a while, but it looks like it will be 'one of those' amazing weekends

♥

I am looking forward to a rare weekend with The Professor at home and perhaps a BBQ in the garden! (Do I hear anybody mentioning Pims...?) 

Our Boy is still in the middle of his exams and the weekend will be spent revising, but that may now take place in a comfy chair in the shade...

♥

On Sunday we may even have a long leisurely breakfast in the garden with boiled eggs in my new eggcups

☺

Happy Weekend!

Retro Delight

Many memories are connected to 'things' or brought up by looking at 'things. Like this plate from Stavangerflint in the series Master Chef. My mother used to have this in her cupboard and it just makes me think of my childhood when I see it. After mamma passed away my sister got this plate.

But internet and Ebay is a saviour in many instances.

My delight knew no bounds when I saw this for sale on Ebay and I was quick to snap it up!

Talk about retro delight!

♥

Hard Water Challenges

Here in our part of England we live in an area with extremely hard water. This means that we struggle with the effects of limescale on our appliances. Limescale leaves a thin whitish film on the interior surfaces of baths, sinks, and drainage pipes. More importantly, it clogs up appliances like washing machines, dishwashers, kettles etc. and seriously reduces their lifespan (we are on our 3rd washing machine in 13 years).

This week two of our appliances decided to pack it in (funny how these things happen at the same time!).

The kettle has served us well for several years and was of a type with a Brita water filter in (I HATE the taste of limescale in my tea/coffee). I was disappointed to see that there was almost no choice in finding a new one that also has this extra filter in it, but a new red one from Morphy Richard's found it's way to our kitchen. It looks kind of funky when it lights up in blue when you turn it on!

The bigger appliance that needed replacing was our electric shower. It was making some worrying noises and I thought it was a good idea to have it replaced before our guests from Norway are coming over for Easter. My night mare scenario is a house full of people and no shower... But that is no longer an issue as the new shower was installed yesterday and is humming softly. And yes, the installation man agreed that it did need replacing - it was only a matter of time before it would pack it in...

Now I just wonder what the third thing to break down will be...

these things tend to come in threes

- don't they?

Did It Work????

I have been struggling for the looooongest time to find a way to turn of the

@&*% word verification

here on the blog and

I THINK I finally managed!

To be honest, I am not 100% sure I managed it - I need YOUR help to verify this...

What I did was that I found a way to turn off the new interface version of Blogger. I have fiddled a LOT to find how to do find the old version - nope, can't say how I found it - I just fiddled around.. and suddenly it was there! 

And in the OLD version you can find the option to turn off this silly word verification!

I generally don't mind word verification on other blogs too much, but lately they have become impossible to read!

So, please - SOMEBODY - leave me a comment so I know whether I managed to get rid of it!

♥

Convenience...

Simply to make it easier for those who read my blog and are Facebook users I have created a Facebook page for the blog. Many thanks to Elisabeth from Innerst i veien for help with some of the technical bits!

If you click on the 'Like' button on the right here on the blog, you should in theory get a notification on your Facebook page when I post a new item.

Any thing to make life easier...

:-)

Full house here this weekend.

The Professor came home last night, so we are full up with the in-laws still with us. They are planning to return home in a couple of weeks after more than two months with us. It will be strange and empty when they go. I am dreading it already.

But first there is Guy Fawkes Night on the agenda this weekend!

The Age of The Apps

picture borrowed from http://www.textually.org/

I was thinking about apps the other day

- as you do

:-)

When I first acquired my IPhone and IPad I was like a kid in a candy store.

So excited about what was out there.

I downloaded lots of 'useful' apps

- for needs I never knew I had -

and organised them neatly into categories

(I like order...)

Now, a few months down the line I notice I don't really use that many of all those I downloaded.

There is the calendar (can't live without it now!), the email, the Safari for internet browsing, the contacts, the iTunes/iPod, the camera, Facebook, Skype, BlogPress, iBooks (not that much used, I must admit), about 8-9 newspapers (wonder how much longer we will still call them newspapers?), maps, train information. Under the category 'Tools' I have a ruler, a spirit level (very handy at times!), a convert units app, a currency converter and notes. I also have an app for Ocado to place my weekly shopping and for Amazon. I am not big on gaming, but there is a solitar game I enjoy.

Actually, come to think of it, that is more than I thought.

Then I had an email.

I am sure many other bloggers also get offered all sorts of things to promote on their blogs but this was different: they wanted to know my opinion on an app they were thinking of developing. This app is about turning living healthy and promoting fitness into a game, where users earn points, and "level up' as they achieve their goals. Everytime they eat something healthy like vegetables, they earn points. Everytime they complete a workout, they earn points.

There was more to it than described, but it made me think again about the craze of apps. There seems to be an app for just about anything!

Not sure an app will help me get fit and loose weight though.

;-)

So, do apps aide you in your life???

A New Fad...?

For the first time ever,

I see to my interest that Lakeland is promoting Kransekake Pans ,

appealing to those looking to make something 

"a little bit different to the norm"...

Apparently Kransekake is very

"easy"

to make...

Good luck, I say.

I have in the past had a hard time making them with similar non-stick forms.

I think it is like with sandkake pans - you need well used ones for it to be "easy"!

So, maybe this Christmas I will get it right since my Kransekake pans have had some (rather unsuccessful) use...?

Perhaps Lakeland is hoping Kransekake baking will be the new fad after macarons...?

I have borrowed the picture from Lakeland's website.

And another thing:

Excuse me - where are the bonbons and the flags????

It is not right, just not right...

:-)

Doing Without...

Sometimes I think about all the 'stuff' we surround ourselves with to improve our lives. 

Do they always make it better? 

As always, I guess it depends on what we are talking about...

When we were on holidays in France we decided we didn't want to watch TV. There was a huuuge flat screen TV in the flat, but nobody was interested in becoming familiar with French TV. We read, talked and used Ipads for entertainment. 

I felt the evenings were longer and we got so much more out of them.

We have now been without our car for two weeks after The Best Neighbour in the World accidentally backed into our car outside our house (poor thing, she was devastated). It was only a rather superficial scratch with a dent on the driver's door and needed to go into the repair shop to have the entire door replaced! This is where the 'fun' (NOT) started as the company handling the claim (outsourced by the insurance company) would not give me a replacement car as my licence was not EU, but FOREIGN! This has NEVER been a problem before. After discussing, arguing, shouting, screaming, speaking with one supervisor after the other and threatening with NEVER using them again (not sure how worried they were as I hope not to have too many car accidents like this in the future), I was still without a replacement car. To be honest, I think I am loosing my 'touch'...!

So, this means that I have been without a car for two weeks. 

And it hasn't been much of a problem, to be honest. 

Our 'guilty' neighbour took Our Boy to the guitar lesson last week and this week we walked our bikes while balancing the guitar on the handlebar. 

Ok, admittedly it was a bit of an inconvenience, but the sun was shining so not too much suffering. 

Really. 

All right, I know I am lucky as I bike to work and have food delivered after shopping online. 

There are of course friends I can't get to see without using the car and other places I would have liked to go, so it would have been nice to have the car.  

But to be honest apart from this, we haven't struggled much.

Back to my point -
I wonder what else we take for granted and think we NEED that we can do without...?

By the way, the car is being returned TODAY!

(And the Yoga class starts up again!)

Happy Day!!

:-)

Not Just a Pretty Face...

I just have to say it -

I am seriously proud of myself!

I feel like the world of technology might have missed out on a 'genius'...

:-)

It wasn't so easy to see how it all fitted together when they are all in loose pieces!

Among all the things I brought over from Norway last week was my mother's kitchen machine.

I have long been honkering for a new KitchenAid machine from Kenwood, but this Bosch Profi 45 is great and it used to be Mamma's.
I have many good memories of her using and caring for it.

In the confusion of packing and going through boxes, we never found a manual for the machine.

Well, that could be a problem since NOT being a man, I actually read manuals...  

However, I thought it would be fine since I have used this machine many times in Mamma's house,
so how hard could it be?

All WAS fine until I realised I had a number of pieces I had never used before and just didn't understand how they fitted on the machine...

My first thought was that they belonged to another machine we no longer had.

But the color matched too perfectly so I realised that they must belong.

Hmmm.... perhaps I was missing a piece for the machine?

No, I didn't think so...

Then lightning struck - check the internet!

And lo and behold, yes! There were pictures of this old machine there!

And from them I could see that all the pieces I had belonged to this machine.

The challenge was even greater as I now KNEW they would fit somehow!

Another picture emerged on my internet search and I realised to my delight how the blender and various grating/chopping implements that can be attached to the machine.

I like it even more.

Even if it isn't the Kenwood KitchenAid Apple Red machine...

:-)

Justifying a Summer Gift to ME!

I admit it... 

I was jealous.

The Professor decided he 'needed' an Ipad2. 

I didn't know I had the 'need'. 

Not until we had had the Ipad2 in the house for a day... 

and he then took it with him to Edinburgh and left me with no Ipad.

:-(

It was easy to convince myself how useful it would be when I go on holiday and can have all my reading materials on the Ipad instead of dragging with me heavy books which lead to added luggage charges. 

So, perhaps I can claim it is actually low-cost airlines 'fault'... 

No..???

Anyway, it helped to convince myself of my 'need' when I saw Cath Kidston had a SALE(!) and found a cute cover

Or can I claim that living with two men (three if you count The Cat) 

I can't avoid getting hooked on gadgets?

No...???

Fitflops - This Year's New Shoe Fashion

My new Fitflops are light tan - it was just the 'wrong' light when I took the pictures with the IPhone

This summer's shoe fashion here in the UK are FitFlops.

Actually, I think they made their entry into the market last year, but this year they seem to really have taken off.

'Everybody' has them.

But who can blame them - the logo says:

"Fitflop - get a workout while you walk"!

Apparently, they feature muscle-loading microwobbleboard technology which increase the time your muscles are engaged each time you take a step. These shoes are supposed to give relief from a whole host of pains ranging from heel pain, chronic back pain, sciatica osteoarthritis lower leg swelling and not least to improve your posture, energy, firmness and muscle tone.

Of course, I had to have a pair!

;-)

PS: Blogger seems to be acting up for me again.

I am not able to leave any comments on most other blogs.

So, to my 'regular' blog friends, please note that silence from me doesn't mean I have not 'visited' you!

Rubix Nightmare

Do you remember the Rubix cube?

Well, it keeps making it reappearance!

Our Boy's record is 28 seconds...

Me? 

I get annoyed and can't even do it in 28 minutes!

He claims he is going to teach me this summer... 

Yeah, right...!

;-)

No More Technologically Lazy...

I am completely convinced that the makers of Zits must have a camera in our house...

I am feeling rather good about having overcome my technological laziness...

What I mean is, that having a teenage boy who speaks 'tech-language' like it is his mother tongue I have the last few years left any technological/IT problems in our house to him (and his dad) ...

He is all too pleased to show off his 'superior' skills and knowledge to his mother and I have been happy to let him think he is...

;-)

However, this week I had to install a new TV in an apartment I administrate (as part of my paid job). That was a breeze, but the challenge was that there was no antenna connected to the flat nor cable tv. My solution was to buy a small stand alone antenna which sits behind the TV. I admit it was a little fiddly hooking it up and tuning it in, but I was adamant I would NOT call my son to come and help...

Lo and behold, I managed it all on my own!

I feel sooo proud of myself!

:-)

Well, I should perhaps also mention that Our Boy helped me install the same type of antenna a few days earlier on the TV in my bedroom...

Repair or Renew?

picture borrowed from http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:REA_washing_machine_with_wringer.gif

I spent most of the morning waiting for a repair man for the washing machine...

It is rather annoying that when you book a repairman to come you get a 'window' from "8am till 12 noon" or from "12 noon till 5 pm". So much wasted time!!!

Anyway, the problem with the machine started 11 days ago when it wouldn't spin and it didn't seem to rinse either. This is serious - the machine is in use at least once a day! 

The machine is 4 years old and in this part of the country that is normal time for a machine to need replacing as we have so much hard water (limescale) which destroys washing machines/dishwasher/kettles etc. Bearing this in mind, I decided to be a little savvy and took out an extended warranty on the machine two years ago so all this repair work is covered until next year. The policy also states that if they can't repair it, we get a new machine...

Win, win, I'd say.

Although I reported it immediately, it took the first repair man 6 days to come and he said 'it is the pump that was faulty' and changed it. However, the first wash proved that it wasn't the pump...

It still didn't spin nor rinse.

So, today - 5 days later the second repair man came out and said 'it is the heating element' which he changed. Fingers crossed - it seems to be working.

 However, I got the distinct impression the repair men were more eager to try to repair it than to replace it since that would be at a higher cost to the insurance company they are working for...Although, it would have been nice to get a new machine, I don't see the point of throwing away a perfectly good machine if it can be repaired so hopefully by changing the pump (probably wasn't necessary) and the heating element the machine has got 'a new lease of life' for perhaps another 4 years...

But it makes me think how many machines might get thrown away because people think the parts can't be replaced and the manufacturers want to sell you a new machine...

I now have to tackle a 'mountain' of dirty clothes - 11 days worth....!

It says something about the amount of clothes one has since we have managed without

a washing machine for so long...

Proof!

I am posting today the phone cover of my new IPhone 4 just to prove

1. I have SOMETHING from Cath Kidston...

(there is now a Cath Kidston shop in town - very tempting and naughty!)

;-)

2. This phone is MINE

- this feminine cover is the best way to defend the phone from prying male teenage hands...

:-)


PS: Both Our Boy and The Cat are doing better
- thanks for all your concern and well wishes!

Organising Recipes Tip!

 I have collected food recipes for as long as I can remember and have several ring-binders full of newspaper/magazine clippings and handwritten notes in addition to numerous cook books...The clippings are a rather messy system and in time the paper they are printed/written on becomes stained and even brittle. They are way too many to keep in the kitchen so many of the books and folders live in my study room - two floors above the kitchen.

All the recipes in this blog have been "Tried and Tested" and are our firm favorites and become a natural reduced version of all the folders and clippings and books.

As I don't have a computer/Ipad in the kitchen (yet)... I found it annoying to have to look them up on the blog each time I wanted to make any of them.

I have ordered a printout of my blog for 2010 and I am waiting in great anticipation to see it! I know you can also choose to have even just certain entries printed from Blog2Print, but as this was a rather expensive enterprise, I have been thinking of a way of collecting my recipes from the blog in a more comprehensive and tangible way.

A few weeks ago I bought a simple laminate machine to make labels for my kitchen jars and this laminate-idea developed into printing off my recipes, laminating them and putting them in a cute ring binder to keep in the kitchen.

Now they are durable, on hand in the kitchen and can withstand a splash or two!

:-)

Gadget Love! And Bad Karma?

I have got a new IPhone 4 and I am in loooooove!

I always laughed a bit of the The Professor and Our Boy who are both serious gadget lovers, but I am proud to say I now have the swankiest phone in the house.

And I love it!

Still not figured out how to update the blog with it (think there is an app for that - does anybody know?), but managed to take a picture this morning of my breakfast (Oatibix with low fat cherry yogurt and fresh mango, for those who are interested ;-) - the bowl is from the lovely Swedish chain Indiska).

On the not so bright side, my computer is acting up and although Our Boy swears he is innocent..., it still needs to go to the shop for repair.

Me not like.

And to add to this, the dishwasher refuses to cooperate - lights are on, but no action as if 'nobody is home'. We didn't notice this until the machine was full, of course. So, back to good old fashioned washing up and waiting for a repair man.

To be honest, I wonder whether they will be able to repair it. We have had it for almost 6 years and that seems to be good going in our part of the country with all the hard water we have... BUT - I need it to work as we are expecting visitors in a weeks time and I am sure we want to do other things than doing dishes...!

The third thing that is not working in my house is the underfloor heating in the kitchen. It has actually been like this for a few months and it is bitterly cold to walk on the tiles. I have had an electrician giving it a 'glance', and he couldn't find anything wrong..., but I guess I need to have a longer consultation on this...

But isn't it funny how several things tend to go wrong at the same time???