Merry Samhain

To celebrate Hallowe'en Matthew & I had baked pumpkin with nutmeg butter* and, erm, veggie-fish-fingers for tea, and then I carved a cute little face into the pumpkin.



In another Hallowe'en-ey related area, I have decided to rename the flat from 'my new flat' to 'the bat flat', owing to a fantabulous present picked out for me by my sibs:



Yes, those are indeed Batman batteries! This keyring will replace the rather octopus-like 'flower' keyring I knitted for my flat keys.

*
~ Cut the top off the pumpkin. Clean out the pith and the seeds - you can clean the seeds and roast them on a sheet of foil.
~ Warm about an ounce of butter in a pan, and add a small tablespoon of nutmeg.
~ Brush the butter on the inside of the pumpkin, then out the lid back on.
~ Wrap in foil and bake at 200oC for 45 minutes.
~ Bring the pumpkin to the table and scoop the flesh out - then use the shell to make a face in!

Pass the pin...

Tonight is the third week anniversary of a romantic, fluorescent strip-light lit evening Matthew & I spent in hospital. We had had a delicious meal of vegetable wraps, so nice we didn't notice we hadn't taken out the pins we'd, erm, used to hold the wraps together whilst cooking (yes, we've got some cocktail sticks now). We had 2 wraps each, and I tasted the metal of the second pin (not the sharpness), but by then it was too late and we couldn't account for one pin each.

I didn't actually think this was a problem, knowing of a cat (way smaller than me) who swallowed a needle (bigger than a pin) and was fine. However, Matthew googled the situation on his phone, and the first hit was 'Woman unharmed after swallowing pin!' So we rang NHS Direct, who were very nice and apologetic about it, but said we had to go to hospital.

So we went to A&E, and a very nice doctor who was very scarily the same age as us said she wasn't that worried, but sent us for some x-rays, which were taken by a bemused radiographer ("you've both swallowed a pin? What, the same one?" Erm, no. "Was it a bet?" No!).

The doctor came in and said I hadn't swallowed a pin, as it wasn't on my x-rays, but Matthew definitely had. I thought this was hugely strange, given that, erm, I had actually eaten everything on my plate, bar the pin I nearly swallowed. She held my x-ray up and I immediately pointed out my pin - it was over my spine so slightly camoflaged.

Anyway, she went away. Came back, said she'd spoken to a couple of different consultants, and that it was best if we would stay in overnight, 'for observation'. Great. We were kept nil-by-mouth, in case we had to have surgery :-o So we got sticky-in-the-arm things and a drip, and a stay on the Surgical Admissions Unit.

I did feel rather bad about us taking up 2 beds in a ward, but I figure that since we don't drink or take drugs we theorectically shouldn't be hospitalised for any more moronic things.

We were told by about 3 different doctors that they were sure the pins would 'pass naturally', but they were keeping us in 'to make sure'. Riiiiiiight. Well, I can tell you, there is nothing like knowing that nurses will be checking through your poo to make you, strangely not need to go.

The following morning we had further x-rays. We had wondered whether we could keep our x-rays, but we couldn't, and we didn't even see the second batch. We got to go home about 4pm, complete with pins. I do feel that it would have been better if they had sent us home initially, and then got us to come back as outpatients for futher x-rays a week later or something.

Anyway, I am now pinless, and I assume Matthew is too ;) In fact, the worst problem I had was that my drip caused my hand to swell up (it was rather painful and weird to get my ring off), and a huge, deep bruise on my elbow, which only finally went this weekend.

And for those interested...

* Dice a selection of vegetables, we used onion, carrot, courgette, pepper, aubergine, mushrooms and sweetcorn.
* Fry these in some olive oil, with a little garlic & herbs.
* Add tinned tomatoes and some creme fraiche (or sour cream, whichever you remember to buy), and simmer for a while.
* Place wraps in an oven dish and fill with the veg. Close the wraps up and hold closed with cocktail sticks, or boiled pins, depending on your fancy.
* Pour a jar of salsa over the top and garnish with grated cheese.
* Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
* Remember to remove sharp objects before consumption.

With thanks to Judith for the recipe.

So that's why the bedroom looked so full...

That is a picture of all the boxes which I took out of the bedroom earlier (and dumped in the living room). The bedroom has been our 'dumping room' since we moved in (we're sleeping in the study), and sorting it out is a task we've been putting off for ages. Obviously, had I realised that the majority of the stuff was empty boxes maybe we'd've got on with it earlier ;)

A lot of the rest is cases or bags of clothes which we can't finish unpacking until we decide exactly where the bedroom furniture is going to go (because the wardrobe is bloody heavy enough without being filled). So yes, you can guess what we did after. After much deliberation and attempting to measure 2 metres with a 1.5 metre tape measure (although did you know my arm span with closed fists is 1.5m? Fascinating) we've figured out where our hypothetical bed will go, and moved things accordingly. And... yeah... we'll probably just dump the stuff back in the dumping - sorry, bedroom later ;)

But it's a start.

In the above picture you can just about make out the curtain I made (well, I cut the fabric off at the right point) for one of the windows in the living room (the other window already had a blind over it). We used one of those extendable pole things as there was no curtain rail, so the fabric had to be lightweight. And match the interesting decor the previous tenants had decided upon for the living room (gunmetal grey on 3 walls).

There is a curtain rail up in the study, and as we were sleeping in there I had to make some curtains pretty much as soon as we moved in. I didn't have enough thick fabric to do a matching set, nor did I have any plastic things to attach the curtains to the rail, but who cares - I think they're fun!

(look - my desk... and it's tidy!)





In a way it's best we're still sleeping in the study, as the bedroom has a huge window and no curtain rail. The window is far too wide to have one of those telescopic rails as thick curtains to block out the light would be too heavy, so we'll have to screw a rail in.

And our toilet paper mountain has solved any immediate curtaining issues in the bathroom:

Infestations

Well, we've had our flat for nearly 2 months, and so far (lucky us) we've had 2 infestations.

The first was of baby sp*ders - loads of fun for an ar@chnophobic I can tell you. Luckily as they were so small they didn't bother me too much as long as they were removed promptly - but there were so many of them! Matthew must've removed over 90 (yes, nine-oh) in less than a week :-0 Eventually we think we tracked the source down to the kitchen blind (which has since been removed), as that appeared to be the epicentre. However, you'd stare at the area where the baby sp*ders were for an hour and see nothing - leave the room for 5 minutes and there'd be two! We were tempted to put up a webcam, but, well, didn't have one. In the end frequent removal of an extant critters, hoovering the general area to try and get any remaining eggs and getting rid of the blind appeared to have worked so far...

The current infestation is freaking me out a little less (other than the 'how did they get in?!' quandary) - this morning I discovered a nest of ladybirds in the living room. We have been finding lots of ladybirds in the flat, but then there were always loads in Matthew's old flat too, so I thought it was just a Cheltenham thing - but now we have a source.



Not quite sure what to do with them. Matthew seems to think they are hibernating and we should leave them there. I'm more tempted to put them outside - maybe in some kind of ladybird hibernation box to protect them. I'm just mindful that mummy sp*der hasn't yet been found and keeping a nest of food in the living room might not be the best idea. If you ask me it's the best excuse to get one of those 'ladybird houses' you get from the National Trust magazine I've ever seen :P

We're back!

Yes, we finally have the internet and a phone line installed... as demonstrated by Matthew ringing me during a lecture.

Anyway, I'm tired now so I'm going to bed - futher updates should be more frequent in future :)

Just a quick update

I'm in Cheltenham library at the moment. The little countdown at the bottom of the screen says I have 7 minutes left - what happens then? Does my terminal self-terminate?

Anyway, we're still phone and internet-less, but we have now moved in properly. Friday night was the first night we spent at the flat. Matthew's friends were visiting, but we found floor space for them. We've been making up the rest of the flat-packed furniture (well, I have - Matthew helped when the wardrobe got too heavy :P ) and trying to sort things out. Still can't find my Latin Grammar book.

Right then. I'm getting 'prepare to logout NOW' pop-ups, so I better had!