The Adventures of Homemaking

I have no idea how to properly start this blog so forgive me if it sounds as though I am rambling about nothing. But of course you think it's something because you are still reading this. My experience as a S.A.H.T. has been nice, but different. It's different because Beth even allows me to have this title and secondly, it's weird having time all to myself to do whatever I want.

As I do the laundry, unpack, handwash the dishes, my lovely wife still comes home and asks if that was all I accomplished. Now, I'm not sure if she means that in a good or bad way. "Is this all she did all day long while I was at work?" or "I can't believe that she didn't have time to venture out on the town. She really needs to get out and experience London." I'm sure it is the second one.

When we arrived to our lovely flat, we had to do an inventory. This process consists of one or two inventory specialists who review the condition of the home before you move in and once you move out. This is to be sure that everything is still the same as it was when you originally moved in. Both the tenant and the landlord must sign off on a document. These inventory specialists were very thorough. I made sure that they caught they settlement cracks in the walls, bowing of the shelves, discoloring of the floor, a shade of pink on thie white loveseat, etc. This process took about an hour and Beth was off to work while I was left to unpack.

As many of you know, our adventure in the hostel was not very much fun or clean. My first mission as a stay at home wife was to wash all of our clothes. I separate my whites and colors, just as I would back home and head for the washer machine. The washer machine and the dryer are ONE UNIT!!!! (Keep in mind, I didn't do any of the laundry back home. It's not because I didn't know how, but Beth wanted it done her way.) I stood at the washer-dryer for about a minute trying to read the different settings and which one(s) would be appropriate. Thankfully, there was a manual which explained each setting and the duration. I pull out our ziploc bag of laundry detergent (which we stole from the hostel) and guesstimated the amount of soap needed. I threw in the whites and had the dryer set time for 60 minutes.

As the laundry is going, I continue to unpack and try to make our flat look a bit more like our home. We don't have that much to begin with, but I work with what I have. The six books that we brought with us are lying on our six shelf bookcase, which was purchased at Ikea. It looks as though all the furnishings in this flat were purchased at Ikea. But can you blame the landlord? I love Ikea and would shop there too if I had my own place and more space. Because of the lack of belongings that we packed up front, that took me about 10 minutes.

On to the next thing, which is washing the dishes. On the sink we have two faucets, one for hot and the other is for cold. There is no such thing as lukewarm water here unless you have the patience to switch from the hot faucet to the cold one. Now, I like to wash my dishes with hot water just as my father taught me. ( He taught me that I needed to wash the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher, too. Isn't that why we had a dishwasher to begin with? Well, I guess he was preparing me for what was to come because the S.O.B. stopped working when I was 14 years old!) The landlord has supplied us with pots, skillets, carving boards, glasses (including wine), plates, bowls, measuring cups, wok skillet, and silverware. I was determined to get all of them washed so that Beth and I could start using them. I turn on the hot water, and boy is it cold! I wait a few more minutes, it is still cold. Then slowly it begins to get hot and I start washing.

Five hours later, the first load of laundry is done! That's no exaggeration. Five Hours!! But here's the part that gets me, even after drying for an hour, they still weren't dry. The clothes were soaked!!! The next load of laundry I put in the dryer for 90 minutes, and it still didn't do the job.

After two weeks of playing with the settings on the machine, I realized that I simply can't rely on the dryer. Not only that, but I can't do the dishes or take a shower while it is running. If I do, the water will be cold. It took me two weeks to figure that out!! Now we air dry all of clothes which makes our clothes crunchy. Oh well....

On to my tourist adventures. Most of my adventures have been simply walking around and enjoying the architecture and history of the city. Beth was right when she said that there is so much to see that is free. The views of the Tower Bridge (I thought this was the London Bridge, but I was wrong), Tower of London, Tower Hill, London Eye, South Bank, Thames River, and St. Paul's Cathedral are all breathtaking. And I am only talking about the view of all these landmarks. Of course, paying money to experience them is probably worth it as well.

I've only paid money to visit the Tower of London. This is the castle of several kings and queens, home to the Crown of Jewels, and the living location of the Beefeaters. I didn't do a tour with the Beefeater as I probably should've, but my personal tour was awesome. Every part of the castle that I walked through made the experience so much better. The reason is this place was actually lived in many, many, many years ago. Kings and Queens reigned from this very place and even tortured prisoners. Imagining the enemy coming down the Thames River in their ships. It's amazing that it is still here today.

Today, I had my first British Pie - Steak and Stilton with Mash. I didn't get the mash but that's okay because it was still pretty good. It was just steak in a gravy inside a bread pie. I would and will get this again.

Gosh, I'm getting hungry. Guess I better get to fixing a nice meal so that it's ready when Beth comes home. Cheers!