Thursday 10th July
I’m not sure if I slept better last night with the fan, it seemed very loud and made clunking noises too as it was oscillating. On closer inspection, I noticed the back of the fan was hanging off and every time it moved from side to side it was hitting the piece that was hanging off, hence the clunking! It would also explain the increased noise level. As Rob had put it together just before we went to bed last night, we didn’t check it until this morning, I must admit I was fairly relieved that there was a problem with it and that I wasn’t going to have to get used to a clunking fan every night. Katie and I try to fix it, but without success, so we will just have to go back to Costco…how unfortunate.
Before we go out, I persuade Katie to join me for our 12 minute workout…yep, we are still doing it, maybe not every day, but most days. Set up for the day, we decide to go to the mall at Mission Viejo as Bronte wants to buy some trainers and have a general look round. Trainers chosen and bought, we go to Home Depot for more blinds and I also buy a beautiful bougainvillea which will brighten up our pool area. I have always loved these plants, maybe because they don’t flourish in the UK, or maybe because they remind me of our summer holidays abroad growing up. I have no idea how easy they are to keep, but I will speak to the gardener and hopefully he can give me some advice.
On the way home, we stop at Costco and exchange the broken fan for a new one, although I was just tempted to take the money and run!
As we have spent a lovely afternoon shopping, which didn’t include going to a supermarket, we make an executive decision to go out for dinner. We like to eat locally so go to a lovely restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway, just 5 minutes from our house, called Salt Creek Grill. The food was great, I have Sea Bass which I can highly recommend.
Friday 11th July
We enjoy a quiet morning after Rob and Pete leave for work, we still have plenty to do but somehow can’t get ourselves motivated. We do however get rid of all the Ikea packaging which has been abandoned on what we call ‘the bridge’ (the open landing upstairs which runs over the lounge/dining area beneath). We should take it down the stairs piece by piece and out into the garage, but Katie has a better idea…just throw it straight off the bridge into the lounge, I have to say by doing this, we cleared everything into the garage twice as quickly! We do a few other jobs and then go out…there is a constant shopping list at the moment, so today we need more towels, blinds and toiletries. The one thing I learnt today is that the choice of toiletries over here is poor. We go to CVS and Walgreens for basic products, shampoo, moisturiser etc. and are very disappointed with the choice. There must be other stores that we haven’t discovered yet so I will have to do some research.
What we do have though, is a great choice in food stores, we are spoilt for choice. We haven’t got into the habit of doing a weekly shop yet, so most days I pop to the supermarket. Today we go to Whole Foods which is great for organic food and pick up some cherry salmon for lunch and burgers for later. There is also a staff pie eating contest going on so it is very busy and very loud!
The plan for the rest of the day is to work on our tan and relax by the pool…for me that lasts less than 10 minutes as another plumber turns up to assess our ongoing shower saga. Each time someone arrives to first look at the hole in our kitchen ceiling and then the shower upstairs, the owner of the house turns up too. This is fine, he seems like a pleasant chap, but he doesn’t speak very good English, so he doesn’t understand what the builder/plumber is trying to explain and vice versa. It is, therefore, essential that I am there to interprete which in itself is interesting as I know nothing about plumbing! I do, however, now know what a ‘hot mop’ is and exactly how it is done!
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