Halloween 2015

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

Coffee and a chat with the girls today.

It was good to catch up.

Job Hunting

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 someone is suitable for a job 

without even seeing them face to face?

Bring back the old system - Please!!

Goodbye Project Life 2015

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.

We're a bit weird!!

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!!

Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams

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

2015 Line Dancing Jamboree

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 the distance back to the venue 

we would stay put and have our own dance evening.

This included that well know line dance - The Slosh!!

In between dancing there was time for chatting and a few glasses of vino.

For the "Younger" girls there was also time for a spot of head banging.

 After a late night with not a lot of sleep, (due to cold feet for me), we were

up and about ready to leave at 8.30am.

Saturday saw us at the Cowboy Dance Hall.

With smart red t-shirts for the day.

The dance floor was huge but with soooooo many people we chose a spot to one side.

It started at 10am and went on till 5pm.  Lunch was included but Startbucks was sought out

due to the air conditioning only being at 65◦F.

Even with our cardy's on it was freezing. 

One lady had a hoody, her scarf and her gloves on it was so cold.

 They did eventually turn it off/up and it warmed up nicely after lunch.

Later in the afternoon we ended up being the only ones there and had the dance floor to ourselves

By the time we left at 5pm it was a lot warmer!

 Some of us decided to leave after dinner and head back home.  Some stayed and played silly games and had a great laugh before heading home on Sunday.

It was an amazing weekend and I'm definitely going next year.  If I have a job by them I'll just let them know that I have already booked a weekend away.

It's in Lake Conroe, Houston next year so John said he'd come up too but spend the weekend fishing.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Visitors

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?

Making it legal

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.

Hot, Hot, Hot!!

Phew!!

It was a bit hot on the drive today.

You've been Booed!!

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!

Dancing Divas

This is the best bunch of ladies

to spend a line dancing weekend with.

The jamboree was brilliant

But that's for another post.

Prayer Time

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 restrooms!!

We went through to the back of the Mandir to take part in Abhishek.

An ancient ritual of bathing the murti (sacred image) of God to honour him 

and to attain his blessing for inner peace.

 Side view

The Mandir has only been in Houston for the last 11 years and is made up of 33,000

sections.  The internal sections are made from Italian marble

and the outside is Turkish limestone.  

All the pieces were hand carved by skilled craftsmen after the stones were shipped to India.

A man on the roof just so you get an idea of size.  That middle dome weighs a ton.

Once complete they were packed and shipped to Houston where it was 

assembled by volunteers.  It took 11 months to complete and was blessed

by Pramukh Swami Maharaj in July 2004.

 Carvings on an outside wall.

It truly is the most beautiful place I have seen and is a stunning piece of workmanship.

Carved pillar.

Unfortunately photography is not permitted inside which is a shame as the craftsmanship inside is out of this world.  Each of the 27 small vaulted ceiling is a different design.

On first seeing it it reminded me of a very large ivory sculpture.

Which thankfully it isn't.

If you ever get to Houston you should go and see it.

It's amazing and so are it's devotees. 

Mossy is One

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

Third time lucky

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.

Me on Monday

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.

It's official!!!

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.

Comfy feet

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 ♥♥♥