Week 36 of our new life

Monday, quite a bit of rain through the night but the sun is shining now.  Portuguese lesson today, first of two this week as Conceicao was not available last week, she is also offering to do 2 hour lessons as a couple of people have moved up to the next level.  Douglas says he will do one hour and I can do the 2.  There is dedication for you.  I must admit I enjoy the lessons and it is amazing how suddenly you do understand what is being said or at least some words and also you can answer back.  Got back and decided to sort out the stuff that we had put down into the pool room, mostly gardening tools etc, got the hose out as we will get Michael to put it up on the wall outside, strange I bought two hoses out with us but can only find one, still cant find the darts either.  After that decided to use my exercise machine, Douglas did not feel the house move so that must be a good thing, 30 minutes on that felt pretty good.  It was then time for the 5 0 Clock Club, so I was making Home made Macaroni Cheese for tea.  Have made this back in the UK many times, hummmm something went wrong, had the Parmesan, Mozzarella, Fontini and Marscapone cheese at the ready, Macaroni boiled now to add the cheese, uuumgh Brown Marscapone, never had that before, oh well in the pot it went.  Strange the Macaroni was a funny colour, but then I decided to look at the packets that I had bought, OH NO the Marscapone was Chocolate Marscapone, too late..... In came Douglas looking forward to his Macaroni Cheese, looked in the pot, its a strange colour Lynda, is it I said!!! There is a slight change to the recipe I said but never mind will tell you when you have eaten it, fingers and toes crossed by this time.  Well suffice to say that I could not eat mine, but Douglas ate his with gusto and then I confessed, oh well he said not that bad and he finished his plate.  Now the moral of the story is that Douglas enjoys all of my creations in the kitchen, and will eat the disasters whether good or bad so as not to upset my feelings, that is what I call a Husband worth his weight in Macaroni.  My lesson learned is to double check what I am looking for in Portuguese/English because I am not as smart as I think I am!!!  Mmmmm feeling a bit hungry now LOL.
Tuesday, Zumba this morning, wow was some workout but felt great afterwards just like the old days although not sure if I could do 3 sessions a week just now, maybe later.  Then we decided to go out and buy a rake, as we want to try and tidy up the drive which will involve a lot of raking to try and get it level and get rid of all the sand and cement that is the drive at the moment.  Some shopping expedition, we bought rugs for our bedroom, a rug for the twin bedroom, a wheelbarrow to assist me in bringing the logs to the front door for the log fire!!, 2 torches in case the electricity goes, a doormat for the terrace and a doormat for the front door but alas we forgot the rake, dummies!!  Also as it is quiz night tonight, thought I would take out soup from the freezer, Broccoli and Stilton, when I made this soup I could not find Stilton so I bought Roquefort which is still a blue cheese, oh dear my second disaster this week, it was so strong neither of us could eat it so it was a bread roll for tea LOL. 2 Disasters in a week is not good and I feel quite upset about it, but hey ho in the scheme of things all chefs have disasters they just don't put it in print LOL.  Off to the quiz, always a good night, Tom was question master this month and it was hard going, but surprise surprise our team won, I think we scraped through with the anagrams, it was Bounty's all round, and I won another prize on the raffle, three guesses I chose more kitchen stuff, a whisk, a spatula and a pastry brush, Douglas just sighs now when I go up and choose anything as he knows I wont pick the alcohol LOL.  Well done to Tom for doing such a good quiz. Some Social arrangements made, Indian Meal Friday night with Tom and Linda and another couple, great, good company always makes a good night then having Mick and Pauline for dinner on Sunday and hopefully will have Tom and Linda and their friends Keith and Pauline (think I have the right names) for dinner towards the end of February, as long as they don't hear of my kitchen disasters I will be alright!!!

Master Bedroom Rug 1

Master Bedroom Rug 2

Twin Room

Terrace Step

Front Door

February Raffle Prize

Wednesday, early start today as Douglas golfing, always have to get up at silly O clock, like to make sure he gets his tea and toast before going out.  Very rainy and misty definitely living in the cloud today and you can feel the damp, not to worry heating will go on earlier.  My day in the house so cleaning done, a couple of batches of soup made for the freezer, Chicken with Leeks for Tea and I even polished my brass scales in the kitchen so they look brand new again, considering Douglas bought them for me about 20 years ago they are still going strong, although they are still pounds and ounces I use them all the time.  By 4.00pm I was beginning to flag and felt a snooze would be good, but I got on the exercise machine and worked it off so feeling good.  Douglas enjoyed his golf, which again led to the conversation of me getting out to play, when he is ready!! me!! I am always ready.  Think Douglas lives in hope of my batteries going flat, HaHa no chance.

Whats shining now

Thursday, Portuguese lesson this morning, sentences and vowels, goodness me getting our head around the vowels is not easy, none of them are pronounced the same way as we would usually say them, again I enjoyed the lesson, Douglas just puts his head in his hands and Pauline could not grasp the lesson at all today, just an off day it will come together eventually, and nobody said it was going to be easy.  We have had quite a bit of heavy rain again this week, which has pointed out yet again our chimney problem, which we think is also responsible for the leak in the kitchen, and a new one which is in our bedroom, oh just when we are getting everything together.  Still we are aware of it and will have to deal with them once the better weather comes back, which will not be too long.  Michael was in today, so we now have the rail in the wardrobe in the double bedroom, at last we can hang some more clothes up, the rate we are going guests will have minimal space in the wardrobes, so we just have to hope they don't bring a lot of clothes with them LOL, we also have some pictures up in the Living Room, looking more like a home every day.  Plenty more things to go up yet.  A really good thing about the rain is that the Cisterna has filled up nicely and is nearly full, so saving us some water costs and the swimming pool overflow is working really hard as that has risen by a whole tile, pity we cannot divert that into the cisterna as well.  House is nice and cosy in the evenings with the log fire on and the radiators, plus we can still sit out on the terrace.  Another downside today we have lost all our BBC Channels due to the satellite changing and evidently tomorrow we will lose the ITV channels, so no British TV, for now anyway, there is an answer which we will hopefully get over the next couple of days, no doubt will cost more money and having just spent out on the sky package for a year and a new satellite dish this is quite galling, but hey ho glad we don't watch TV that much.  Douglas had his 5 0 clock club tonight and I jumped on the exercise machine for 40 minutes and then made Fennel Soup with Roasted Ribs for tea, too good to mention.

 

Friday, shopping day today and then out for an Indian meal tonight with Tom and Linda, Keith and Pauline and Michael and Isobel, went to the Taste of Punjab in Sao Bras, anybody that knows me knows I do not do Indian food but I enjoyed the meal that I had Chicken with Banana and Poppadums washed down with a few glasses of Morgans, once we had finished at the Indian we went on to Cafe Pinto for a few more drinks, a good night had by all.  The owner of Cafe Pinto gave us all goodies to take away, we got a small bag, a pen and a lighter all with the cafe pinto logo on them, not sure why but it was a nice touch and he is also going to get a bottle of Morgans in, that will save me carrying my own in my handbag and also ensure that I will go there more often.  I am thinking of starting a darts team, ladies and men, once or twice a month, we can meet at ours, play some darts, have supper and a few drinks and will call it the Friday Club LOL I need to see how many will be interested.  We might even be able to hold it at Cafe Pinto as they have an electronic dartboard in a separate room, will need to find someone to speak portuguese better than me to see if we can arrange it.
Saturday, up early this morning feeling a little bit rough around the edges after last night.  Michael was coming to put some more things up on the walls, so got the shelves and pictures up in the kitchen, the mirror in the hall and the shelves in our bedroom.  Does make such a difference with things now getting put up.  Had quite a bit of rain again and it was feeling damp and cold today, possible my hangover didnt help. A good day for cosying up on the couch and doing nothing.

Hall Mirror 

Master Bedroom Shelves

Kitchen Shelves

Plate Decor

Kitchen Decor

Sunday, another damp rainy day today. We have Mick and Pauline for dinner today am doing tomato soup, roast lamb with roasted vegetables and chocolate and lime cheesecake, should keep everybody happy. A couple of bottles of Red with a couple of beers and we wont notice the weather.