Leaving for the Antrim coast tomorrow

Before we put the house up for sale, we are taking a quick road trip to northern Ireland. I have only been once (to Belfast, when my parents were visiting). This time we are going to follow the coast north of Belfast, I saw it on TV and it looks absolutely stunning. Plus we are going to Giants Causeway as well. I can't wait. It was the one thing I wanted to see before I head home at the end of September.

Looks like we are going to try and sell the place ourselves for a couple weeks (there's a house down the street going on the market, which means if we get a For Sale sign out, we can take advantage of their traffic!), if it doesn't give us what we want, we'll go to a realtor.

See you all on Friday!

To sell or not to sell, that is the question....

We are finally finished with all the little projects in the house. Which means, we are finally ready to put the house up for sale! Yay!! It looks good, now that we've cleared away the junk, taken away the unused clothes for donation, etc, etc..

So, we are unsure whether to use a realtor or sell it ourselves. Now, it's not like the States... well, California anyhow, where 6 percent is a standard rate for agents to sell. When I sold my condo, which really sold itself, we had to pay my realtor 6 percent (and we didnt even like him at the end, so you can imagine how I felt giving him $17k for one weekend's work..). Here, the standard rate is 1 1/2 percent. Yep, one and a half percent. Same as California, the realtor doesn't really have to do any work - pop the property up on the website, a few flyers and a sign. The place will sell itself in two weeks... But the seller doesn't get raped. (BTW, there's no buyer's agent here either)

M wants to try and sell it himself. The thing we need the most is to get it on the property listing - like the MLS, which you can't get on unless a realtor sells your place. So, that leaves ads in the paper, ads up in the shops, a sign in the yard. We live in a cul-de-sac, which makes it hard for traffic 'going by'. You can't put signs out on the main road, indicating the house for sale in the estate, you get fined. Our biggest concern is just getting traffic, people coming in. That's what the agents here do for you.

That's where we're at. Trying to make a decision. It shouldn't take too long. We'll probably go with trying to do it ourselves fora few weeks, then engage a realtor if it doesn't happen for us.
Wish us luck!

In this day and age...

There's been this story on the news today. It's on $kyNews which is a UK tv station. It's about a kid who was murdered as he was walking his girlfriend to the bus, or something like that. The guys who killed him did it because he was black. Wha-a-a? And it wasn't pretty, they killed him with an axe to the head. I have seen this story the past few weeks, his funeral was today. I just.don't.get.it. Again, I'm wondering how on earth ANYONE can hate anyone so much that they would do something like that. It shocks and saddens me.

It's just one of many things that confuses me about our society.

The funniest show I've seen

Typically, I hate reality shows. Hate is such a strong word but it's strictly true in this case. Crap with a capital C. They seem to love 'em here in the UK. I can't seem to avoid shows like Pop1dol, XFact0r, Amer1can 1dol, Celebr1ty L0ve 1sland... god. It's endless. But yesterday we were flipping through the channels and something drew our eye. It was a show called My B1g Fat 0bn0xi0us B0ss or something like this. It's filmed in Ch1cag0, I don't know when it came out in the States... probably last year since we are always a season off here. Anyhow, it was absolutely hilarious!

For those that don't know the premise, it's like The Apprent1ce meets.. well, I don't know what it meets.. if you lived here I'd say The Apprent1ce meets L1ttle Br1tain or something but nobody know what that is.. or the 0ff1ce. More people know that show. These contestants are supposedly seriously pursuing a career with this D0nald Tru^p sort of character, only this guy is an actor (well, aren't they all?) and he's making all this sh1t up for them to do. It's totally a joke. Only none of the contestants appear to know it. He kicked the first guy off because he didn't like his suit and watch. He just seems to make it up as he goes along, then he gives them these ridiculous tasks... we couldn't stop laughing.

By the way, workouts are going well. Eating seems to be a bit harder - it's easy when I'm at home and I can control it. We went to M's sister's house for dinner one night and his parents for tea the next. I just took small portions so as not to offend but it's hard. These irish mammies are known for pushing you to eat! Ok, not different than my mom but there you go. lol I've decided not to weigh in until a month gone by, mostly because I know it'll change a bit with the water loss, then the muscle gain/fat loss thing. I don't want to get disappointed so currently I'm using my clothes and the way I feel to judge. I feel better and that's the important part. Still got a long way to go though - hoping to lose at least 20 pounds. It's going to take about a year, I'd say! lol
Actually, it's not that funny. It probably will. I'm prepared.

Hobbling along

Well, since my friends left, I have decided (again) that I need to get back into shape. I've let myself go in the last six months. I didn't mean to let it go that long... I just got tired of the workouts I was doing, then I thought having a few extra beers or wine wouldn't hurt, then I spent many months traveling that made eating well and exercising a bit difficult. I noticed the pants getting a little tighter... the shirts not fitting so well around the belly... I started wearing baggy sweats because it was a little easier... sigh... and now here I am. Waistless. lol

So, since Monday, I've been back at the gym. I weighed myself but miraculously I weigh the same as I did 2 and a half months ago. Which means... unfortunately... that my muscles are obviously gone to sh1t and I've turned into a big blog. I mean, blob. lol I was stretching after my workout on Monday, next to a mirror and eek! horror of horrors!! I saw... (weeping)... the little C. Yep, cellulite. Sigh. That's what I get for doing nothing for 6 months.

My god, it's working!

Yesterday we had a two or three. Sure, yah, we had to help the little guys over the edge. I had put out a small plastic container, tupperware style, right where the grass meets the bark we put in. I put it lower so it would be nose-level (do they have noses) if they came upon it. There would be no climbing. It was funny because M and I went out every hour or so to check.

This morning I woke up. There must be 10 slugs in the little 4 inch by 4 inch container!! None on the plants, by the way. WOO HOO!!!

I think it's the Carlsberg beer. I should call them and tell them their beer works great at slug bait. But M would probably not like that. He almost had a heart attack when I told him I put his last Carlsberg in (don't worry, there's still Stella Artois, I didn't take his last beer!)

RG, I know all about the slugs at home.... I'll be using plenty of beer there as well! lol

Slug be gone!

M and I are getting the house ready for an open house. It's amazing how long we put off doing things that end up taking 10 minutes to do and make the place look so much better! lol We bought a few plants for the front garden (to bring a bit of color) and some bark. The place looks like new. Every morning I am out watering my new plants because I am determined that they do not die. Or get munched on by slugs. The amount of slugs/snails in our garden is more than any one garden needs. I saw a couple this morning... trying to make a 'run' for it... I had to use some sticks to throw them far away. I don't like using poison in a garden in case cats/dogs come along, so I half buried a little container and filled it with beer. The slugs are supposed to smell the beer and come to it, then hopefully fall in and drown. I admit I get a little evil when I think about the slugs eating my plants so I can't wait to see if this works! lol

Ok, that's all. Silly I know. Oh, and I finished the new Harry Potter book. Not as good as some of the others but still pretty good. I won't say what happens though.

Off they go!

Saturday afternoon.. hmm, scratch that... early evening, it appears. I dropped my visitors at the airport this morning after nine days of a whirlwind. Out of the 3, only one I knew well enough to spend a week with in a car. I should have remembered my feeling about traveling with people I don't know (don't do it). Even with people I know, I'd have to be *very* careful about spending 24/7 with in a traveling kind of way. Fortunately my friend B is a good fit. We travel well together. I know we'd travel even better if I was feeling fit, exercising and energetic.

The other two ladies are sisters and not close ones at that. The older one I know through B and have been to her house in E1 Cerrito a few times for dinner. She's kind of unusual in her own way. Her sister is younger, 7 years so, they didn't really 'grow up' together since R was so much older. They are very different, one being fairly independent and the other not so, at all. R would constantly comment on how J needed to be more independent but then would treat her like a child. J obviously never did anything for herself because she didn't have to.. Anyhow, I liked them both for different reasons but would never travel with either again. I don't know what I was thinking in the first place.... although obviously, I wasn't.

Still, it wasn't *too* bad. I've learnt my lesson.

My friend B is Chinese. Born in HK but reared from the age of two in Chinat0wn in SF. She makes a mean authentic chinese dinner. In thanks for our hospitality, she hosted a chinese dinner for 16 of our friends and relatives. It was kind of an engagement party. It was Thursday night and she literally spent the whole day creating her masterpiece. The two others went into town for touring and M and I alternatively helped her and ran around like crazy trying to get in alcohol and get my signature notarized on escrow papers. It was craziness. But it was phenomenal... homemade eggrolls, sweet and sour spareribs, chow mein with veggies, fried rice with chinese sausage, etc, and baby bak choy and shitake mushrooms. Delightful, I must say. Drink was plentiful, food was plentiful and no one left til about 1am, on a school night no less! lol

So they all hopped on their flights home this morning and M and I started cleaning. He worked on the shed and I worked on our bedroom, packing some clothes I won't wear, getting papers together and cleaning out the desk so we can throw it out. We took a big pile to the dump this afternoon and feel considerably better about things. It's really been about 10 weeks since we've had a 'normal' life - exercising & eating right were out the window, so it's time to get back in fighting shape!

That's all for now.