Arts & Crafts???

We had are AC moved from our current house to the one we are moving to. After it was mounted at the new home Z walked in the door with a bag of 'supplies'. Z: 'Hey A...since you like doing Arts and Crafts I have a job for you.' Me: 'ok dear what is it?' Z: 'take this plaster of paris....

 ...and patch up the two holes in the wall left from taking out the AC.'

Me: 'I've never worked with plaster of paris, how does it work?' Z: 'mix it with water until it is the consistency of wall putty and then mold it into the hole.' Me: 'what is wall putty?' Z: 'hmm, let me think of a cooking analogy...ok mix it with water until it is the consistency of biscuit dough.' Me: "got it.' Z: 'oh, but you have to work quick because it doesn't take long for it to set up and dry.' Me: 'so it really is not anything like biscuit dough.' Z: ' are you going to work on it or not?'...end of conversation, I am now officially signed up to putty up our holes with plaster of paris...not sure what I am doing, definitely sure that this is not the legit way to fill in holes in concrete walls, and I am still wondering what any of this has to do with Arts & Crafts.

...speaking of Arts & Crafts...here is the latest cross stitching creation:

Pictures of House #2, as I promised

 Keep in mind...it is a fixer upper, yes I know it is disgustingly dirty, and we are not living here yet - nor would I ever live in these conditions.

The work is just getting started

Hopefully in 2 1/2 weeks we will be able to move into House #2. Today Z contracted a painter, talked over plans with our carpenter, purchased paints, and had ceiling fans delivered. When the ceiling fans came it made me think of Bro bro bonding time. 3 years ago he and Amazing sis just purchased their first home, which ironically was also a fixer upper...they did it all themselves, here in Curry Land we hire cheap labor. I was going to host Amazing sis' bachelorette party in this fixer upper first home of theirs and Amazing sis was super stressed that Bro bro's honey do list would not be finished in time before guests arrived. After all the smoke alarms and light fixtures went up the last thing to tackle was the master bedroom ceiling fan...Bro bro did the assembly and I helped him with wiring and mounting...when we turned the power back on and flipped the switch...Nothing! So then we tried wiring it differently...still Nothing! We did everything but take the motor apart to get the fan to work and Nothing was successfully. When our friend BL came to whisk Bro bro away to his bachelor party he took a look at the ceiling fan and noticed that we had not taken out the bright orange plastic engine stop that was inside the fan, which we could have figured that out if we had read the instructions - urgh!
Bro bro it is time for us to redeem ourselves! Come on over, there are 5 ceiling fans that need to be installed.

too spicy?

Today I cooked for some friends, I made curry...they complained that it was too spicy. Z and I actually eat it spicier than that on a regular basis...and lets be honest, is there such a thing as 'too spicy' when it comes to curry??? And if it is not spicy can it really be called curry??? Deep questions to ponder...

today I unintentionally told Z he was crazy

I wish I could say that Z and I are so culturally attune that we pick up on sayings and phrases that have double meanings, but unfortunately that is not the case, most the time we stumble onto them and do not have a clue why people are laughing at what we just said. Case in point: this morning at language class Z was asking me for his notebook and pen, I was being ornery and didn't give him what he asked for and he responded "Where is help when you need it?" I then replied "R (our house helper) is in Bereily and you should go there." Mr and Mrs started to chuckle...I then questioned why our altercation was so funny...come to find out that there is an insane asylum in Bereily...and if you tell someone to go there then you are insinuating that they are crazy. So I hope that when I told people 'R went to Bereily' that they didn't think I was saying 'R went to the nut house.'
The rest of our language class focused on sayings and idioms here are my faves:
"We will see which side the camel sits"... In American = "where the dice may fall"
"All thieves are cousins"... In American = "It takes one to know one"
Oh by the way we now have milk and no one came over...so Z and me have our own idiom "The milk is gone make haste for guests"...In American = "Quick put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and shove the clothes in closets someone is coming up the driveway!" :)

When there is no milk in the house...

then we know we will have guests drop in. It is the Murphy's law on milk around here. Milk is a very crucial part of day to day life here...primarily because it is a main ingredient in chai. And when there are guests, no visit is complete without serving up some chai. We have been milk less for the past 36 hours...and you guessed it, during those 36 hours unexpected guests dropped in. I tried many things to distract from the mandatory chai serving. For one guest I served freshly baked banana bread, and another guest got orange flavored Tang, but I could see it all over their faces - the chai was sorely missed. So tomorrow we will go to the store and buy loads of milk in efforts to make up for not serving people chai because I feel really bad about it and then no one will come to visit until we're out of milk again!

...and the winning house is...

House #2! Z signed the lease on Friday. The old tenants have until Oct. 1st to move out and we have TONS of work until we move in. Pictures soon to come :)

...the search continues...

House #3: We met the Landlord of this house through a friend of a friend of a friend...he works in the middle east year round and leaves his house empty, we inquired whether he would want some renters...his answer was no. He is VERY hesitant renting to us...and is VERY suspicious that we are spies - I think it was Z's beard.
House #4: Some dear friends of Z are building an upstairs addition to their home, It would be the perfect size for us but there are two problems 1) it is still not completed, 2) We are suspicious that the teenage brother is involved in illegal activity and also he gives me the creeps!
I seriously wish I could take video or at least pictures of the whole house hunting experience, but lets be honest we do not need to appear any weirder.
This week we had to put further house hunting plans on hold because Z will be out of town until Thursday...while he is gone the mouse and I are chillin, I am cross stitching, taking long naps and throwing leftovers in a pot and calling it dinner.

House hunters...Curry Land edition

...Oh if only we had cameras following us as we looked for a new house to rent because I really don't know how I am going to be able to put our experiences in words.
We have seen 2 houses this week and here is a rundown of my thoughts:
House #1: We were practically accosted by the owners college age daughter to come in and see the flat they had for rent. My first impression was that it was very clean and painted very BRIGHT...then I noticed the floor plan. The foyer was open in the middle, so everyone on the 2nd story could look down and watch us...talk about living your life in a fish bowl...on top of that in this foyer there was the one and only staircase for the entire building. During our tour of the flat the college age girl showed great fondness towards Z, it weirded him out. Oh and the last and ultimate deal BREAKER...there was no bathroom on the first floor, we would have to share with the family that lived on the second floor - yikes!
House #2: A definite fixer upper! Cabinets were broken, window panes were broken, dust and mildew in every room, MAJOR tile scum in the bathrooms, and no tile back splash in the kitchen (I am really picky about kitchens). Anyways this house needs some TLC and has potential because most of the fixes are cosmetic...The only problem was that the land lord saw that we are Americans and raised the monthly rent by 50 bucks! Kind of shady if you ask me. Oh and there is a random family living in the house rent free that won't move out.
Anyways tune in next week for another episode of House hunters - Curry Land edition.

We're moving...

except we haven't been planning on moving so it is all kind of last minute. Yesterday was a really strange day... our landlord came over (that hasn't happened in months!) and he brought people with him who were house hunting...they liked the house and want to buy it from our landlord. We didn't even know he was looking to sell the house...so ergo, we have to move.
Today was a strange day too. R told us that on Wednesday she is going back to the city she is from and will not be coming back to work for our landlord or for us...mainly she wants to leave her job with our landlord...but, she LOVES us, she was crying while she told us and we will dearly miss her too.
So very soon I will be in a new house and will not have R by my side...I foresee some dark days ahead...or at least really grimy dirty days because houses here are icky at first and take a lot of work to make them livable, and of course no R to help get rid of dirt and grime.

From my man :)

PROTECTOR

A couple of weeks ago there was a special holiday between brothers and sisters...sisters would give their brothers bracelets like the ones pictured below, these bracelets are supposed to protect the wearer, and in return the wearer protects the giver.

Z is my Protector so I decided to give him one...

This bracelet screams 'if you mess with my lady I will break your face!'...you think anyone will want a round house kick to the face while Z is wearing this bad boy? Don' think so.