Life at the Gables

It's that time of year again. Time to put sweets in a bucket and leave it on the porch. Switch all the lights off and go out for dinner!! Yep.  It's All Hallows Eve.

Coffee and a chat with the girls today. It was good to catch up.

It seems I'm a little out of practice at job hunting. Having left school in 1983 and only having had three jobs since then, I think I've forgotten how the process works. It used to be, you filled out an application (in writing), sent it off in the mail, waited until the closing date and then counted the days until  a letter arrived with either bad news (no interview) or good new (please come and see us on....). Nowadays it seems it's all done on-line with pages and pages of questions  (some relevant some not so).  You submit your application on line,  you get an e-mail - thanks for your application and then you get.............. Nothing!!! No e-mail, no letter, not even a phone call. Not a Dickey-bird! I have recently applied for 15 jobs.  Yes 15. So far I've had one quick chat on the phone followed  a week later by an e-mail saying  "Sorry you are not a fit at this time"!! What does that even mean? How can you tell if s

I made the decision today to stop doing Project Life this year. I am weeks  months behind and have no desire to catch up. I have so much going on at the moment that by the time  I get five minutes to do some PL I'm too tired to think. I found a mountain of photos when I was having a tidy up of my craft space,  most of them of the Teenager when he was younger, and thought I would  use the spare PL pages to make up a photo album rather than a scrapbook one. That's my plan anyway.  It is possible it may turn out differently  but I'll go with that for now.

Hubby thinks I'm weird!! But it's funny how he knows what my texts mean  J He replied "In Specs" It seems we're a perfect match. For those of you in the UK, Specs is the Off Licence!!

What more could you want in a video?  Giraffes and the lovely Scott Eastwood (looking more like his dad then ever).

San Antonio, Texas 9 - 11 October 2015 Line Dancing Jamboree ***** What a great bunch these ladies are.  It was really great to spend the weekend with them. There are some in this picture who won't be here next year, such is the nature of the oil industry. It's a shame Ester and I look like aliens!!  On the Friday afternoon there was a Meet and Greet and of course line dancing. The blonde lady is Kim our instructor.  She's been dancing for about 20 years and there isn't really a dance she doesn't know or can't pick up in five minutes. The rest of us have to follow each other until we remember which dance it is and what the steps are. There were lots of nice comments on how smart we all looked in out matching t-shirts. Probably because with 18 of us we were the biggest group there. After the Meet and Greet there was a two hour break before more dancing but we decided that due to  the volume of traffic and th

I really like having visitors. Unfortunately today's were not welcome. They are about 3 inches long!! We had 15 of them in the garage. We think they are Oak Tree Leaf eating caterpillars which turn into horrid moths. They have now been moved to a new home far, far away from this one. The only Hairy Caterpillar allowed in this house is this cute one. The Teenager in 2002 at his nursery Ugly Bug Ball. Costume lovingly made by me out of one of his Dad's work t-shirts. So cute.  Where have the years gone?

Remember last week I took the Teenager to get a Social Security Card? Well it was mine and John's turn this week. We had to inform them, in person, that we had our Green Cards.  Like last week, we were in and out by 9.25am. Then we had to go and do the same thing at the DMV. Little did we know that it costs another $11 to get the "Limited Time" bit taken off your driving licence.  Unlike our last visit (with the Teenager) we were in and out in half an hour. We are now all legal and above board.

Phew!! It was a bit hot on the drive today.

I opened my front door yesterday and found this on the porch. We'd been "Booed" by one of our neighbours. We now have to return the favour to two other neighbours. All those already "Booed" should have a sign on their door so we just have to pick two that don't have a sign and leave some goodies on their doorstep. Here's what I made. I knew that one day that Halloween ribbon would come in handy. For those with a beady eye you will have noticed that I have also recycled the chocolate as no one in our house likes Hershey's. I also put a U in the word neighbour as I just couldn't bring myself to leave it out!! Hope they don't mind!

This is the best bunch of ladies to spend a line dancing weekend with. The jamboree was brilliant But that's for another post.

Today it was an honour to sit in on prayers (or Arti) at Shri Swaninarayan Mandir. It is the first of five traditional Indian Mandir built in North America.  It is the smallest of the five.  The biggest is in Atlanta. Mandir is a Hindu place of worship. The local "devotees" were only too happy to explain about God and the Spiritual Leader Pramukh Swami Maharaj.   Angie and Yvette A lovely gentleman let us sit at the front of the "women's Section"   Me and Yvette Apparently two things tempt men. Wealth and women. The reflection pool It was a lovely experience.  The devotees all sing the prayers and it was all very calming and serene.   The front entrance  Afterwards a very nice lady told us all about the Gods but in all honesty their names were so long I had trouble keeping up with what she was telling us. But we thanked her anyway for being kind.   The building that houses the exhibition and

I can't believe that I've had Mossy for a year. She's only done 5,100 miles. She's brilliant and so easy to drive. I ♥ my car. 6 October 2014

The Teenager and I went to the Social Security Administration office today to try and get him a Social Security number. (Needed for all those jobs he can now apply for.) Twice before they said no, as he was on a visa and not able to work. Today was third time lucky. Joined the queue at 8.45am.  Doors opened at 9.00am. We were in and done by 9.25am.

After a weekend of excitement (on my part), due to receiving our actual Green Cards on Friday, yesterday was back to normal. I spent two hours learning old dances to new music for the Line Dancing Jamboree this weekend. I took the Teenager to the local college so he could hand in his paperwork. Apologies for the reflection of me driving.  We snapped this at the lights!! I did the ironing. I cooked pasta for tea and I dropped the Teenager off at his Monday night sports. Just a regular Monday really. How was yours? Thanks to Sian at From High in the Sky for hosting Me on Monday again this week.

I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien. I'm a Brit wifey in Texas (apologies to Sting for the above!!) It's official.  We are now legally allowed to live and work in the USA for the next 10 years. All those months of filling in forms, medicals, fingerprinting and waiting have finally paid off.

I don't know about you but the older I get the more I need comfy feet. Being in the warmth of Texas, it's not always ideal to wear slippers, despite how comfy they are. Your feet just get toooooooo hot and you end up taking them off. Imagine having flip flop slippers!! Comfy enough so you feet sigh with the soft, fluffiness of them and open toes so you don't over heat. Foot heaven   J I Love Texas ♥♥♥