Rainy Monday

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Suzanne Schultz Pick
rain by lightknight

Heck, every day here is rainy, isn’t it?

I didn’t go out today. Steve woke up with a cough at 5AM; the same thing I have first thing in the morning. That kind of uncontrollable cough that won’t let go for a while. It’s awful. Plus, my ear is still bunged up and since I don’t want to pass any more or get anymore germs (my main concern), I didn’t go to the gym. I started getting sick on Dec 21st. I’m now on Day 17 of “Why won’t this go away?!”

Anyway, now that I have my new Nook, I’ve been downloading books from the Newcastle City Library. I chose the only book on writing that I could find, simply called Novel Writing. It’s an okay book because it goes through steps on how to set up your story ideas, which are always nice even if you don’t like working with formulas. (I generally keep notes and ideas and then jump in with them to stay afloat.) It’s good to read other people’s ideas on the craft, however, I have a really hard time with the amount of typos there are in this ebook version. It’s not a here and there thing, either, it’s on every other page. And it’s obvious errors like faws instead of Jaws, and capital letters used in the middle of sentences. It’s off-putting, especially for a book devoted to writing well.

Tomorrow we’re going to our appointment to apply for my Indefinite Leave to Remain. I have the form filled out in pencil but this afternoon I have to go over it in pen to make sure it’s perfect before I hand it over. I still have to ask what I put for my monthly income since it’s never stable.

Speaking of which, school started again today. Wonder if I’ll be doing any supply teaching again or if I should give up again. Hhmm…

I also did a factory reset of my HTC Sensation so now it can be sent away. It means no more Instagram but, oh well, one less problem for me to deal with.

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Back to normal

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Suzanne Schultz Pick
Eldon Square, Newcastle – Win 7 camera with auto-fix

Yesterday we eventually did get out and about. We went up the steep hill to the charity shop to donate our old toaster. There isn’t anything desperately wrong with it, aside from it being really over-zealous about toasting. It did not make our smoke detector happy but neither does our oven, grill, or stove top.

We took the bus, went into town, got some decongestants from Boots which are, as the clerk behind the pharmacy counter claimed, “the strongest you can get without a prescription.” When I took them last night it did nothing for my stupid ear. Now Steve and I are just hanging out calling, “What?” to one another because we can’t hear anything. Wish this would just go away. The sneezing and coughing isn’t nearly as bad as it was but it’s still there to remind us that these germs aren’t going away. Steve suggested that we had a cold after my flu. Whatever it is, I’m tired of it.

Since we wanted to find relief from the stuffy head symptoms, we went to Nando’s for hot chicken. It’s always way too busy so when we were on our way to the Chinese buffet and we saw that there wasn’t a long wait for chicken, we took the opportunity to treat ourselves. They have cloudy lemonade that is, by all American accounts, “proper” lemonade. Very tart, non-fizzy and so, so good.

After our chicken dinner, we hit Paperchase where I already ordered sale item notebooks, but this time I found a couple of earbud cord wraps (one spider, one garden gnome) and some pens. I still have yet to use all the notebook I bought previously but I was still tempted to buy more.

Before heading home we went to Krispy Kreme where their prices trick me into buying a whole dozen. The coffee’s awesome and I could eat six maple iced donuts in one sitting but I don’t plan on running a marathon anytime soon, so I have one at a time.

Once we got home we took the Christmas tree decorations down. Sad. It’s especially sad when we were sick all holiday so we couldn’t enjoy it as much as we’d have liked to. Today Steve threw the tree out and I filled in my Leave to Remain form for UK settlement. I’m going to be so glad when that stuff is all over.

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Sniffles Saturday

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

I must say, I am really glad that Santa brought this netbook to us. It’s so much more convenient to sit on the couch with a 10 inch machine and type up stuff. We even used it to order the groceries this week. While I usually work at home on the PC and keep all my files on Scrivener and Word there, but having the ability to type from another vantage point is nice as well.

Today we both slept in but had gotten up a few times through the early morning due to this stupid cold that will not go away. Both of us have pressure in our sinuses, coughing, and plugged up ears. It’s absolutely maddening, especially since we both don’t feel sick, just walking around with symptoms.

Still, we need more medicine and even though the weather isn’t great (wow, January is a depressing month) we’re going to venture out. It’s already after 2PM and I’ve been watching Dirty Dancing in HD from the V+ plus (I really need to buy this on Blu-Ray and get it over with.) But since we’re losing daylight, I’ve got to get moving.

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Empty spaces

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

I decided not to go to the gym today. Instead, I kept my sniffly, coughy, stuffy self on the couch with some Lemsip. Steve is still not feeling well and we’re both totally tired of all this junk.

This means I’ve not gone to the gym. The Couch to 5K will have to wait until next week to pick the routine up again. I’m glad I did one day of it, just to see how it worked. I’ve heard conflicting advice that you should go to the gym when you’re sick. The most compelling argument I read to not go if that other gym goers don’t want germs. I still swear I’ve been sick in the past because I didn’t use the anti-bacterial wipes on the equipment before and after use. Plus, if it’s at all possible to get ill all over again from the flu germs, I don’t want to risk getting them.

Today will be devoted to working on my second Cupcake Witches novel. Plus, I have to phone Parcelforce and complain about the horrible state of the box we received from the US this week. I’ll also have to print out my Leave to Remain application form and get that all filled out. We have all of our necessary papers ready to bring along (plus some smashing ID pictures from the photo booth at Sainsbury’s while we were both in the midst of the flu wrath.) I’m also supposed to be receiving a delivery from Paperchase where I decided to buy some sale notebooks. As much as I want to give up on keeping paper journals, I always get new ones from time to time. The new year seemed like a good reason to have a new one.

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The first week

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

Today I spent the morning on the couch, trying to get this stupid sinus headache/earache stuffiness to go away. I was awakened by the pleasant surprise of my Tassimo delivery, courtesy of my £20 voucher that I received in the box with the new machine. I think I’m set for quite a while. I also came home to a delivery of a Christmas gift that included a ton of Dunking Donuts coffee. My parents had sent me some Barnie’s Santa’s White Christmas coffee as well, so yeah, totally stocked up for months.

My biggest accomplishment today was going to the salon. I decided to ditch the highlights and go for an all-over natural dark brown. I only had my hair dyed at home (and I messed it up really bad on my own, I tell you.) so this was a treat. It was pricier than usual but now I only have to do the root touch ups to keep the tell-tale signs of age from creeping back on my scalp.

I bought Steve some more supplies since he’s still feeling badly. I hope we both get over this stupid flu soon. I’m tired of feeling like an invalid and I know he is too.

I was thinking tonight that after mentioning the blog post regarding how many blogs writers actually need, I’m going to go back to having my author website forwarded to the blog. I may cross post later on, but for now, I’ll just stick to this since my updates are all here.

Tomorrow I plan on going back to the gym for my second jog/walk of Couch to 5K. Wish me luck!

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