Get 2 movie tickets for only $4

This is such an amazing deal that I have to share it.
Living Social is a site like Groupon. A certain number of people agree to purchase the deal of the day and then the deal is on.
Today Living Social is selling two movie tickets for $9 through Fandango. Fantastic deal but it gets even better. If you sign up as a new customer you get a $5 credit so you get 2 tickets for only $4.
As an additional bonus I went through Swagbucks to get 315 points. You can get an $5 amazon code for less than 500 points so this deal was too good to pass up!

To get the $5 credit you can sign up through my referral link here

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

I have recently signed up as a member on this site. It is called Smile.ly and it looks like a good way to find out peoples opinions on different brands. It seems to be very new but looks like fun.

Click the link above to find out more.

New Year Resolutions

I'm not normally one for making New Years resolutions but this year I have one.
I will lose weight!

I haven't been as active as I used to be. Not that I ever really was terribly active but I have definitely gotten fatter.

The plan is to get into the normal BMI range for my height and I will do it this year.

I will not be following a strict diet plan. Not to start with anyway.
I will be doing exercise every day and we will see how that goes. I really want to lose tummy weight as that is where I gain. If that goes then I will look a lot better. If exercise alone isn't enough then I will have a go at doing slim fast again. I did that a few years ago and I was fine with it so perhaps it would work again. Of course I am older now and I know it is harder to shift weight as you get on a bit. Still, this is something I am definitely going to do.

I do not want to be a fat woman.

Long time no post

Wow I haven't made a post in over a month. Slacking. There are loads of things I should have been posting about as a lot has been going on what with the excitement of Christmas coming up and what have you.

The biggest thing that has happened is that we have a new addition to the family. Her name is Marie and here is a picture of her:

She is an adorable little tabby and she is four months old. It hasn't been smooth sailing though. Kodak isn't exactly thrilled at having his turf invaded so for now they are separated and we have slowly been introducing them. There is an improvement in his behavior towards her but it is going to take a while as he is naturally curious and wants to jump up and investigate. I would die if he bit her head off or something so we won't be leaving them alone together. I just want them to be able to tolerate each other because I already love her.

P.s. Don't you just love the do it yourself catbox. I'm sure she will get her own bed but for now she is loving the box.

A weekend full of adventure

This weekend was Halloween and I wanted to go to the Halloween thing they were doing downtown but I knew my husband didn't really want to so in the end we went to the drive in to watch The Vampire's Assistant and Zombieland. Both movies were good but I really enjoyed Zombieland. It was really funny and I will probably watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

Earlier in the day I thought it would be a great idea to make these little Halloween brownie things on the Betty Crocker website. They were shown as being easy to make. hahaha mine were not really anything like the ones on the website.
I took some pictures to send to my mother and she said she laughed so much she nearly wet herself. Here are my Halloween treats tricks.

my little ghosts

my spooky spiders

Here is a picture of how they should have looked and in case anyone wants to attempt to better mine then the recipe is at the Betty Crocker website. Click here for the official recipe.

So I think that pretty much wraps up Saturday.

Since we had so much fun at the beach the week before we decided to go again and to bring a picnic so we could make a whole day of it.

We had such a lovely morning and afternoon. The dog was having fun trying to catch birds and we had a nice picnic. I was collecting seashells as I want to decorate a picture frame with some.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day:

i think this one looks like a dinosaur

just a little bit of driftwood

one of many jellyfish we saw

So the day was getting on and we were getting a lot of sun so we decided to take a detour on the way home and perhaps go to another beach. We ended up going to a beach just a little way down the road and that is where our day took a turn for the worse.

First off, we stopped the car, jumped out to grab a lovely conch shell that was still intact. It looked as though there was something still in it so we bagged it and put it in the back of the truck. Then we drove down further and stopped again. I jumped out looking for shells and saw of all things....a dead baby shark! How I wish I had taken a picture of it but unfortunately I couldn't because as my husband was calling to tell me, our truck had a very very very flat tire. We had driven over some branches and pop went our tire.

It really wasn't funny because we were right on the sand and couldn't go back the way we came as we had had to drive over branches and water. So, off I went with the dog in the other direction to try and find an exit. I walked for ages and miraculously found a secret exit that I didn't notice until we walked past it.

The dog and I walked back and I felt so sorry for him because he has never had that much exercise in his life. I thought he was going to pass out. It was funny because he kept licking water up and I didn't have the heart to tell him that salt water wasn't going to help his thirst much.

Anyway, we got back to the truck with the good news about the exit but it was no good. It was too far for our truck to make it as my husband had tried to move the truck and nearly got it stuck in the sand. He got the jack out and tried to change the tire but obviously it kept sinking in the sand.

We were about to call a recovery company (which would have been a nightmare trying to explain where we were) when a good Samaritan stopped and went off to try and find some flat wood for us to use. Luckily he found some and it worked!!!

We had caught the sun and were exhausted by this time but we were in goodish spirits as we didn't have to spend the night on the beach.

Throughout all this drama my husband decided to take a picture of the flat and here it is:

Now I really wish I had taken a picture of the baby shark but at the time I thought it would have been in bad taste to be off taking pictures whilst we were stranded.

We got home later and we all had aching bones. The dog pretty much went into a coma for the next day or so.

I was gathering all my shells together and as I was admiring my beautiful conch shell it started to move. It was still alive! I felt bad and although if I had realized it was alive at the beach I would have put it back, since we had it at home and people do eat these things we decided to cook it and remove the stuff inside. Oh god it was traumatic. Never again. It was scary and gross but my shell is lovely and when I get it all polished up I will post a picture of it.

For the time being our trips to the beach are off but I'm hoping this won't be forever as we have had a really nice time there this past two weeks.

Concert and a trip to the beach

Not this weekend just gone but the one before I got to go see my favorite band, Alice in Chains. They were playing this all day concert thing sponsered by our local radio station. We had no interest in seeing most of the other bands so we went in the evening.

The place was full of youngsters and I felt a bit old particularly when htis couple who had to be in their forties walked pasted us and the man said....'oh look those people are the first people I have seen who are our age'. I'm a whole decade younger than that! So, a couple of days later I got rid of my grey hairs and now it is blue black. Hopefully I have shaved a few years off with the new hair color.

Puddle of Mudd came on whilst we were waiting for AiC and oh my god they were awful. I don't know whether their singer was wasted or what but he sounded bad. He was so bad I was cringing for him. The crowd was loving it although I think vast amounts of alcohol may have helped with that.

AiC were great. It was the first time I had seen them perform outside and whilst I still prefer to see them indoors in a smaller venue it was a good show and they played quite a few new songs although I would have liked to have heard Your Decision live. Maybe next time.

On the Sunday we went for a drive down to the beach. It was a lot of fun. The weather was nice and the beach was pretty deserted. I love being near water so it was a lovely day for me.

We found some animal skulls and after doing some investigating it turns out one of them was a skull from a wild boar. it had a full set of teeth and a tusk. Very bizarre.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the beach that day:

an egret

the beach

a weird fish head. so gross we had to take it's picture
egret flying away
the dunes
skull
clouds
beach
beach
my lovely puppy...and half my husbandif you look closely you will see a little crab

PostSecret fans

A couple of months ago someone posted on PostSecret that after they had read all the secrets they refreshed the page to see how many others had been reading at the same time as them.
Well today I did it and the grand total was 109,983. That is a hell of a lot of people.

Dirty neighbors

Whilst I am no big fan of cleaning I'm not dirty, however, my neighbors are. They leave their trash outside and it stinks and flies swarm around it and we believe an animal got at it the other week. Their dirtiness has caused ants right outside my door. Thank goodness none were inside but I don't particularly like them on my doorstep either.
We complained and for nearly a week now they haven't left their trash outside. I'm hoping this will last but considering it is the norm for them to chuck three trash bags outside I don't hold out much hope. I will enjoy it while it lasts though.
There is a dirty big stain on the concrete from where their dirt was left and if they had any pride they would clean it. Of course they won't.

Anyway, just needed to get that off my chest.

My security blanket

My security blanket comes in the form of a pack of cigarettes. I don't even have to smoke them. Just having them nearby pacifies me.
Right now I have none and I do not like it one little bit. It is awful really that I even feel like this but I do.

I've always kind of wanted to give up smoking but haven't had the guts to actually attempt it and now I know why. I haven't even been without them for more than a couple of hours and all I can do is think about them.

My husband has had to go away for a family emergency. Before he left we went out to get anything I might need whilst he is gone. The only thing I really wanted was an extra pack of cigarettes so we got one. He put this pack in my bag but when he left he took a pack from home. That pack is the one I need now to tide me over until he gets back.

I realize he had his mind on other things and wasn't thinking what he was doing but bloody hell do I need those now.

To walk to the nearest garage would take me an hour which is fine but it has been raining all day today and my husband has our only working umbrella.

I can just imagine what will happen tomorrow. I'll be so desperate I'll go out in a thunderstorm and get struck my lightning or something. All for the sake of a pack of fags.

I'm actually annoyed at myself by becoming so obsessed with this but I cannot take my mind of it. I've been reading my book but I couldn't tell you what has been going on in it.

Ugh even writing about it is annoying me.

Spooky movie

I watched a movie on some random channel last night. I think the channel is called This but I could be wrong. The movie was called The Believers and it starred Martin Sheen.
The movie was right up my street as it was about a spooky old blood cult that used the religion Santeria as a cover (sort of). I don't know much about Santeria but it sounds like something I would be interested in reading about. I will have to look it up.
The movie was made in 1987 and of course the 80's feel to it made it even spookier.

Anyway, in the movie this spooky cult man put a curse on this woman by rubbing her powder compact. Then she got this spot on her cheek that grew and took up the whole side of her face. It started pulsing and she went mental..like you would...and I think she was going to kill herself but of course Martin Sheen came to her rescue and took her to hospital. Actually, I think there may have been a spider in her cheek as when Martin Sheen called the ambulance there was a big spider on the phone line.

Very spooky thing here...I have a spot on my cheek the same as the lady in the movie. I've had it for weeks and have done so well in not squeezing it. However, it isn't going away. Obviously this is because someone must have cursed me! So this morning I squeezed it. No spider came out or anything but I do feel better now I've done it and hopefully it will go now.

The movie never said what happened to the woman after she went into hospital. I wonder if she died.

Bra shopping on the cheap

I just remembered this after I posted earlier about my overheating at Traders Village.

Traders Village is a big market. They have loads of stalls there and like all markets there are some good bargains to be had and some real cheap shit.

I got one of those little things that you can put on the table and hang your bag off. They are a cool little thing and I got one with a cool little picture on it. It was $1 so if it doesn't work I can't complain.

Anyway, the thing I remembered was looking at some bras. There were a whole load of them and they were 3 for $10. They were cheap shit but for that price who can complain if they cut your shoulders and back into ribbons.

My sister in law was getting some and I was having a look but wasn't going to get any as I haven't measured myself for my American bra size and apparently it is different to British and European sizes.

Oh my goodness...that means I haven't bought myself a bra for over a year. Isn't that awful?

Anyway, I explained to the little woman on the stall that I wouldn't be buying anything as I didn't know my size. Well she was not having this and started sizing up my boobs. I would have been insulted if she hadn't been so generous in her guessing of my cup size. hahaha if only I was as large up top as she was thinking.

She grabbed a bra and hooked it round me to see if it would fit. It was kind of funny in an...oh my god, a stranger is touching my boobs, kind of way.

Her brazen sale tactics worked though and I thought I would get them as cheapo bras to tide me over until I could measure myself properly and buy some nice ones.

It was so awkward. They were really tacky bras. You know the type...playboy bunny emblems on them and stuff. It was kind of hard to say...eww I don't want that tack...especially when my sister in law was buying some of those kind. Because I was umming and ahhing the woman went to find me some more and came back with this horrendous red bra that was just yuck. It was padded but not in a good way. It was also a really bad red colour. It was just disgusting and her selling point to me was hilarious. She whispered to me...."this would be a good one...good for Valentine's Day huh?". Umm NO! lol. Not only do we not really do Valentine's Day but my husband is not going to be thrilled by some $3 manky market stall bra and if he was then oh dear lord have I made a mistake.

Ah it was funny. Trying hard not to say that out loud I said something to the effect of....hmmm no, I don't really like it.

For anyone interested (and I'm sure you are not) I ended up getting a fairly ordinary white one, a bright green one (I have a lot of green clothes so I was being practical) and a blue t-shirt material one with a hello kitty emblem. I just couldn't bring myself to get one of the ones with the playboy bunny on. I am no playboy bunny, lol. If I had less of a choice and had to get one of those I would have spent time picking it off just in case I was in an accident and taken to hospital. I could just imagine the doctors or whoever thinking...the cheek of her wearing that, lol.

SAD

Today in Houston the weather forecast is...rain...rain...rain and then some more rain.
This morning was gloomy and grey and I loved it. It hasn't really brightened at all either.
To look at it reminds me of an English autumn day but of course it is still very warm here so going outside ruins the illusion completely.
I miss the damp and dreary weather of home.

There is such a thing as SAD syndrome - seasonal affective disorder or as some call it...the winter blues. Well, as with most things I have this arse about face and suffer from this during the summer. I just don't feel myself in the heat at all. I'm more alive in colder weather and much more productive. Plus I hate summer clothes. I prefer winter coats, jumpers, scarves, and of course winter hats.

During the two weeks of summer we would occasionally get in England I would just hibernate until it was finished. It's not my thing at all.

I'm hoping that I will eventually adjust because otherwise my life in Texas will be sheer hell. I have noticed a sort of change....I now find 80 degrees to be tolerable. It's not much of a change though as this weekend just gone we went to Traders Village and I got overheated and because I felt nauseous we had to leave. I feel bad because I ruin things and I try to suffer on but really there comes a point when I physically just can't tough it out any longer.
My husband tries to understand but he just can't. Having lived here for so long it is just normal for him and I guess he will never truly be able to empathise with me.

Anyway, today is the most pleasant looking day I have seen for a long time so I will keep the blinds wide open for the rest of the day just so I can enjoy it whilst it lasts.

Attack of the killer dragonflies

Well they maybe aren't killer dragonflies but there sure is a swarm of them outside. I went out earlier and had to go out the back way because they were everywhere and I wasn't sure what they were at first. I thought perhaps they were wasps so there was no way I was going near them. Very strange. They always fly around but never in a swarm like they are today. Very strange indeed.

I know a lot of people like them and think they are pretty and I used to too but the ones here are massive and I always get worried that they won't fly out of my way and that it would hurt if they hit me.

I was considering taking a picture but I don't think it would come out very well so I'm not going to bother. I did find something cool to take a picture of when I was out. There is a big toadstool circle behind the apartments. We must have fairies living here because my mum told me that if toadstools are in a ring then it is a meeting place for them. I will try to get a picture of it later.

Dangerous driving

So on Sunday I had a go at driving. I have been putting it off, not intentionally, but Sunday I decided to just go for it. Probably not a good idea when I had PMS but everything is always clearer with hindsight.

We went down to the neighborhood behind us where they are still building as I thought it would be lighter on traffic.

For a while I practised by going round this square they have. It was okay for a first attempt I guess. I mean, I had trouble judging how close I was to the middle of the road but it was okay. My husband was not impressed with my stopping at the stop sign as it was admittedly juddery and I couldn't stop exactly where he wanted me to. I did this for a while and then I was directed out onto the real roads (where traffic was). It was scary. We drove around a bit and I was kind of feeling okay but then we got to the houses right behind where we live. The roads are really narrow and have cars parked on both sides. This is where it all went really wrong. My husband started having a panic attack and shouted at me. He kept saying to go left. Actually it was more like....GO LEFT GO LEFT LEFT LEFT LEFT!!!!!! So, I start going left onto the other side of the road but a big red truck is coming straight at me on the left so I go back to the right to get past it. I don't know whether my husband couldn't see this truck coming at me or what but it was a nightmare. We nearly died.

So then I just wanted to get home so we went along the way and my waining confidence was just pulverized. I tried to go up a road but nearly crashed into a parked car and I had to stop and reverse back so I could get by without scratching it. Then we turned the corner and were nearly home. I had to stop the car in front of the gates and I had plenty of room but my husband seemed to think I was planning on driving through them. We got through them safely (surprisingly) and then I got told off for using the indicators when I turned the corner although I thought you were supposed to do this. Then I had to park which I knew I wouldn't be able to do...and I couldn't. I drove up the pavement. I couldn't even be bothered trying to fix it because I was nearly crying so I got out and let my husband fix it and then went inside and cried.

I hate all those people that say....oh driving is easy. No it isn't. It is really hard concentrating on all the different things and trying not to kill people or get myself killed. Plus people in America drive on the opposite side of the road than in England and the cars are all different. Like there is no clutch and the indicator thing is in a different place. Plus I don't know what the road signs mean half the time and have no clue what the speed limits are. So it isn't easy at all and I hate the fact that I HAVE to learn how to do it.

Free screening of District 9

On Thursday evening we went to a free preview showing of District 9. I got the tickets from FilmMetro and they give out more tickets than there are seats to make sure the theater is full so it could happen that not everyone gets in. We planned on leaving when my husband got home from work but there was a really bad thunderstorm and I was too scared to go outside. After a while the storm started dying down and we decided to go and hope that the storm had put everyone else off so that we could get in. Traffic was horrific and it took forever to get there and I started to think that perhaps we would not get in.

We got there eventually and we were at the right theater (see my previous post on My Life In Ruins for details of one of our previous attempts). We went in and a man pointed us in the right direction. Well, the queue was horrendous. I thought for sure we wouldn't get to see the movie and even contemplated leaving there and then but we joined the line and surprisingly we got in. They stamp your hand and check your bag and wand you. I guess so you don't record the movie. I bet it is only a matter of time before they start doing that for regular screenings too.

We went in and picked our seats. I thought it would be more organised to just put everyone in seats in order of when you enter but no, they left it as a free for all. We ended up right near the front so my husband could hang his gigantic legs out the side and be a bit more comfortable.

It took a while to get everyone in so my husband kindly went to get drinks and popcorn. I didn't want him to whilst we were outside in case we didn't get in.

Finally, the movie started. I didn't really have any expectations of it. I just knew that aliens had landed on earth. I actually really enjoyed it. It was done documentary style which made it more interesting to me.

There was one rather surreal moment and that was maybe halfway through the film. We were all caught up in the movie and out of the corner of my eye I could see something moving on the floor. It took me a minute to fully understand what I was seeing but it was a really small child crawling across the floor. It freaked me out. I don't know where the kid went but it was a weird little moment that kind of made me think....did I really see that?

Anyway, not a bad movie at all. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

Dogsitting

This weekend we were looking after two little dogs. One is only a teeny tiny baby and he is so cute. He is tinier than the toys that my dog has. Not that my dog actually plays with his toys. Here is the cute puppy: It was fun to have them around but they woke me up on Sunday morning at 7am. I thought they were fighting but they may have been playing. My big dog got very jealous of the attention the other dogs were getting and he was behaving like a spoilt only child...which he is. Anyway he was very happy when the little dogs went home and he got us all to himnself again.
Here is my dog hiding:

My new vacuum

This is my new vacuum. It is a Bissell PowerForce Bagless Vacuum. The other one we have is awful. It is a million years old and it smells so I would rather not use it than stink the place up. Basically, it has long ago had it's day.
This new one is great. I wasn't expecting miracles because it was under $50 but oh my god it is amazing. We have a husky who is shedding big time right now and I was hoping it would at least pick up some of the dog hair. What I wasn't expecting was for it to fill up after I had just done the living room. I was actually amazed the suction was that good. The living room is the worst room for dog hair definitely and because I hate the other vacuum I have been cleaning it up with the dog glove which is good but means I have to get down on my hands and knees. Not being a fan of housework you can understand how much I don't enjoy doing that job.

I realize now that I am old. Why else would I be this excited over a vacuum. It's sad really but I love my new vacuum.

Trauma of the week

Guess what was outside the apartment building. A snake. Thankfully a dead snake but all the same a snake.
Now, before I moved here my husband told me that it was entirely possible I could live here in Texas and never even come across a snake. Well, he was quite obviously wrong. This is the second snake I have seen in a residential area. The first was a ribbon snake lying on the concrete at the end of someone's garden. I saw that one when I went for a walk. It was far enough away from where I live for me not to be too worried but still, it was a snake. This one though is a big one and it is right where I live. Scary.
Oh I also saw a big snake when we went to a park but noone lived there so that was sort of okay.
I'm not used to coming across these scary things anywhere other than in a zoo so it is a bit traumatic for me to find one on my doorstep (almost literally).
All I can say is thank god for the person who killed it because I might just have had a heart attack if it had been alive.
I'm not really one for killing big things (this counts as a big thing) but really it is a pest. Whilst I would love to be all...I could never harm a fly....the fact of the matter is I could. I squish bugs and spiders all the time but I don't know if I would have had it in me to squish this. Thank goodness I didn't have to find out.

Apple chips

So I had the urge to bake something nice and since I have a lot of apples that are about to turn I have been looking up apple recipes.
One that caught my eye immediately was for apple chips (or crisps as I call them). So I decided to make them today. The recipe was beyond basic and I love fruit and veg chips.
My husband had asked me to make him chocolate chip cookies so I was doing that straight afterwards. It was one of the Betty Crocker mixes so I hate them as they have six billion too many chocolate chips in them.
Anyway, my chips required a lower temperature than the cookies did but I was getting fed up of waiting so I upped the temperature and the plan was by the time I was ready to put the cookies in my chips would be done.

Here are the chips:I bet you are thinking....mmmm they look delicious. Well, who knows. They have been disguising their secret scrumptious flavor underneath the charcoal smell.

The cookies came out great by the way. Shame I don't like them. I have just pulled out of the oven an apple cake creation which looks pretty good. I'm just waiting for it to cool down so I can taste it.

I forgot to post this before

That job I went for. I didn't get it. I have to say I am kind of relieved as it was a step down for me but a big part of me is annoyed because how dare they reject me. I emailed them over a week ago for feedback from my interviews and as of yet no response. That just goes to show that they would have been a real class act to work for. God, even just a response saying someone else was better qualified would have been acceptable but nothing...that is just rude.