England June 11-19 2013 Trip (long post!)

I have been really bad about neglecting my blog lately. I am currently working to establish a "business" making cat toys that I will sell on Etsy. You can keep up to date on HoboCat Creations by following the link to the Facebook page. @HoboCatCreation is also on Twitter. Right now the Etsy page is not set up as I have not completed product development and testing. There will be more to come in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!

Part of the reason for neglect is I spent a week in England with my mom. It was a trip we were planning for a couple years now. The first time we were going to go, the Royals decided to get married. The next timeframe was the Olympics, which would have made travel a nightmare. So finally we were able to go this month, and I was able to get the time off from work. (Have I mentioned how much I love my job, I'm part time, and been there a year and a half and have over 60 hours of paid time off?)

We took C&J Buses to Logan from Dover. What an awesome way to get to the airport or Boston! Leave the driving to someone else! I would recommend anyone traveling in the area to take them. They have a very well maintained fleet of new or recently renewed buses as well as very professional drivers. Did I mention the terminals are very nice and have great bathrooms?

Had a lousy flight to London Heathrow....crowded, turbulence, not to mention it was overnight. The landing was the worst thing I had ever experienced, it was extremely windy when we touched down. I was very happy to be on the ground again. I am not a very good flier. Solid ground works for me! An freakishly easy trip through customs and baggage claim got us on our "taxi" to my Aunt's house. My grandpa is awesome and hired a car for us to go straight from the airport to my Aunt's. The funny thing was even though I had not slept since 7am the previous morning, I never felt any jet lag or any challenges adjusting to the 5 hour time difference. When we landed it felt like 6am in the morning!

At my Aunt's we took it easy. Decided to go to a nearby town, Thornbury, to get some groceries as I am very picky about breakfast and non-alcholic drinks. Tesco, the supermarket, was awesome. Well, it was just an everyday grocery store to the locals, but to an English food loving American it was heaven! There were so many things I wanted to bring with me, like sausages, all the HP sauce in the country, all the Cadbury everything, so many of the almond flavored snack cakes!

Thornbury

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and socializing with my Aunt and Uncle and their wonderful dog Toffee. My grandpa came over and I got to spend some time with him. It was really nice.

I went to bed early as I was exhausted.

Old and New in Leeds

The next day we caught a train (like Amtrak) to Leeds. Leeds was an area my mom spent quite a bit of her time in when she lived in England. I was expecting a quaint town like the one pictured in Thornbury...just a bit bigger. I was in for a surprise. Leeds was a busy city, I would compare it to a larger Manchester, but with even more history. It was amazing to see the old and the new combine. Buildings over there are considerably older than anything you can imagine over here in the USA. Next to these amazing ancient buildings are new, modern structures.

Creepy Underground Tunnel thing...it felt like
something out of a vampire movie!

Just getting to the hotel was an adventure. You had to go underground, underneath the train station and other buildings. I'm sure there were surface roads to get you there, but they definately were not practical for you to walk on. I much prefer the shortest route, even if you go through a creepy underground tunnel like thing...

The hotel was very nice, a Hilton DoubleTree. I would love to stay there again! Instead of a crappy TV,  there was a iMac, which was both your TV and a very nice computer. Of course, I am a Mac person. I went to type on it, only to realize the keyboard was laid out differently! Sure, the letters were in the same place, but the Shift and Enter were different sizes, as well as no #! How was I going to tweet?! I know, the problems of living in the first world!

British Mac Keyboard Layout

We explored Leeds, met up with my mom's cousin, a super nice lady. We went to a cemetery that has special significance to my family. It was very different than any cemetery in the USA....there was something lacking; gravestones! Instead, they had plaques that lined the curbing, and above the plaque in the grass, families could have a vase on a spike that holds flowers. The plaques only stay for 25 years unless the family renews them. I was upset by this, as I think it should be forever. I was told it was due to a sheer space issue. England is a very old,  high populated physically small country.

The next day we took a train to York. York was my favorite desination we went to on the entire trip. It was a perfect old city. It reminded me a bit of Portsmouth, NH, just larger, with more stuff. Very historic and beautiful.

Inside view of the museum

 The first stop was the National Railway Museum. I was very excited to go here as I love almost anything transportation related (except actually flying in the airplane!). It was a very well laid out museum. Lots and lots of train engines on display as well as very interestingly informative displays. Definately not a boring museum! They even had the Royal train cars.

When we left the museum, we went downtown. (Why does the Lady Antebellum song pop in my head on writing that sentence?). What a perfect place. It was designed to be a walking city, ok, well I guess when the city was developed they hardly had horse and cart, much less cars! Anyways, it made a perfect destination.

The Shambles

My favorite area was the Shambles. When my mom mentioned it for some reason I was thinking ancient building ruins, no idea why, that was just my weird thought process.  With that in my mind, I was not overly excited to visit. But then I saw what the Shambles was.....an absolutely perfect little shopping area. The stores were very nice....everything from tacky souvenirs to specialty shops, such as my favorite The Cat Gallery. If you know me in person, you know I am a crazy cat lady, so this shop was right up my alley.

http://www.thecatgallery.co.uk

The next time I go, I will be doing the cat scavenger hunt from the York Glass shop.


York was the most exhausted I had been in a long time. We spent the entire day on our feet, which once again, if you know me, is not something I do on a regular basis! It was probably a good thing, as the majority of the food I consumed was not healthy by any means!

The next day we headed back to Bristol to my Aunt's for some much needed rest and relaxation. It was a welcome break from the past few hectic days. I'm so glad my mom is so excellent at trip planning!

We visited the city of Bristol. It was a very nice city. Not too big, but not tiny. Once again it was an amazing mix of new and old. My Aunt and Uncle gave us a tour. My favorite place was this gorgeous suspension bridge. I do not recall the name of it, but it was beautiful.

Sunday we headed to Gloucester. We were meeting my Grandpa for lunch as it was Father's Day. It was so nice to spend more time with him. He is such a nice person, and freaking awesome. Did I mention he drives a Porsche Carrera S, as a daily driver, and he is 90 years old? Yup, definitely the coolest Grandpa ever. He has finally downgraded from a Ducati 999 to a Suzuki GSXR to a 125cc Honda scooter, but just within the past couple years....Crazy!

After lunch we went to the outlets. Didn't find anything special other than the Cadbury outlet, but it was still a good time. There were American brands like Gap. It was amazing how the prices in pounds were the same as you would expect in dollars, but you need to remember it took $1.69 or so to buy 1 pound, so things were nearly twice the price as they are in America.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and spending time with my Aunt and Uncle as the next day we went back into hectic tourist mode in London.

London was amazing. It is so much more enjoyable than Boston or NYC. It's cleaner. The people are nicer. There is so much more history. The first day we took a sightseeing double decker bus tour. It was a way to see all the sites while staying seated. The only downside was the fact that I am partially deaf and wear hearing aids, which does not work for headphone audio tours. Luckily the first bus we rode had a live tour guide. We could have waited later for another bus after we went on the river cruise.  with a live guide, but that section wasn't as exciting.

We did the stereotypical tourist thing. Lots of photos of the main attractions. I had gone on the London Eye in 2000, so we didn't do that again, nor could I as I am terrified of heights. In 2000 I was only 15, so it wasn't as bad.

Partway though the bus tour, we got off the bus and went to the Thames river shoreline to board a sightseeing river cruise. It was a great way to really see the sights along the waterfront.

As most people did the boat tour the opposite direction, it was relatively quiet and we got a good seat.

It was amazing listening to some of the ages of the buildings that were pointed out. We saw a structure called Cleopatra's Needle that was 3000 years old. That is just not a number i can wrap my head around. That was 1000 BC! It is so strange to think of something being around before Jesus, yet still standing. Insanity. There was a pub that was around when Shakespeare was alive. I can kinda deal with the 200ish years old of the historic buildings in NH....you get much past that and it is too much to think about. In York, we went to a Viking museum....there was an actual dig from a Viking village that was there. The history surrounds you when you are in London and everywhere else in the UK.

After another exhausting day, we met up with my other uncle. It was awesome. I now know where I got my collecting of automobiles from....he has several cars and even more motorcycles. I was excited to know he even rides a Piaggio scooter! Scooters are the ideal transport in London. I would not want to drive a car, plus they have extra taxes if you drive into the city. Motorcycles can filter up through traffic as well, so you don't get stuck in the same traffic jams. He was awesome to talk to.

The next day was our last in the UK. We did more London tourist stuff. I got to see the Royal Mews, which is where the Royal horses and carriages are kept. Unfortunately, most of the horses were away at Ascot. It was still very cool learning about the history.

After the Mews we went to Westminster Abbey. I was surprised by what was inside. All I was expecting was a grand church like place...but it was full of tombs of Kings and Queens and many other people. It was amazing to think how it was made back before any of today's technology. It was all carved by hand, transported by horses, built by hand. It was some amazing architecture. And to think of the coronations and weddings and history that happened inside those walls. Awesome.

Then came the place I was looking forward to most; the London Transport Museum. It was even more fascinating than I imagined. It went from the days of horse and car to the modern machinery that is carving out under London expanding the Underground subway system. Of course, the buses were what I was there for. They did not disappoint. There were the original electric trolley like buses, the traditional Routemaster double deckers and even a modern bus that had been cut to become a display.

Although the buses were my main interest, I was excited to learn about how the Underground was made. Before I came to the museum, that was one of the questions in my mind. How did they dig underneath an existing city all those years ago? The answer was by hand. Literally. Men used tools and manually chiseled and dug out the tunnels. Now, a huge machine bores though the Earth like nothing, leaving a concrete tube in its wake. Amazing. It used to be run with steam engines, and now with electricity. There were cool simulators that put you in charge of the subway car. Wow, that was confusing! I'll be sticking with buses!

After the museum, we went to Oxford Street shopping. I finished off the rest of the money I brought with me. Then it was dinner time. We had to be up early to be on the first bus to the airport.

Did I mention that I love HP sauce and in the UK it is as common a condiment as ketchup is in the USA? I think I ate the total of an entire bottle in the week I spent there. I used to make fun of my hubby and his love for ketchup...well that had nothing on my addiction to HP sauce!

It was an amazing trip. I am so glad I got to go with my mom. I learned a lot about her life before she met my dad, and got to do so many fun things. I cannot wait to go back and have even more amazing experiences.

Couponing for the "normal" person

Round 2...my iPad ate my blog entry! Wrote it all up and went to hit Publish, then nothing! It disappeared! Guess i have to stick with posting from my good old Macbook Air, at least the web layout autosaves so I don't lose everything!

I coupon for the everyday person, not the person with the extreme stockpiles that cost nothing except for hours upon hours of time and energy.  I coupon within reason, spending a short time each week on my couponing, not letting it take over my life.

My husband and I are a bit tight on funds right now, we are working on paying off our debt so we can buy a house in the next couple of years. As I only work part time, I use couponing as a way to help pay the bills.

To get my coupons, I visit Coupons.com and Target store coupons weekly. I also occasionally go to Smartsource and Save.com (Redplum), however I often have difficulty printing from these sites as I use a Mac (my only complaint about Apple). I also get hand-me-down coupon fliers from the paper from my parents (my mom cuts out the coupons she wants, I get the leftovers), as well as the occaisional flier from work. I subscribe to The Krazy Coupon Lady and The Extreme Coupon Professors as guides to seeing some of the best deals. Some of the stores are not relevant as we do not have them in NH, but it helps to see what prices are possible.

I organize my coupons in a binder with baseball card sleeves and tabbed dividers that separate them into categories (frozen, fridge, grocery, snacks, household, personal, medicine, and pet). I leave the coupons in the sleeve until I actually place the item into the cart, then I move the coupon to the little flap at the front of the binder.

To find deals, I take our weekly grocery list and the sales fliers for the local supermarkets (Shaws, Hannaford, Market Basket) and Target. I match up the coupons to the items on the list, then I make another list separated by which store I want to buy which item at depending on the sales. The default store is Walmart because they normally have the lowest prices, with the exception of fresh foods like veggies, fruit, seafood, meat and deli (a quality thing, not a price thing).

This week was particularly successful for me. I saved 47% ($13.21) at Target, 37% ($20.05) at Shaws, and 23% ($6.00) at Market Basket. These numbers aren't astonishing, but they also don't include how much I saved regarding sale versus regular price items. It still comes close to $40....which is a nice chunk of change, especially these days when every little bit helps!

My best deals this week were:
 -Kotex Pads $2.19 for 40-48ct package (Shaws on sale for 4.29 for a 40-48ct box and buy 2 get 1 free, coupon for $2 off 2)
- Glade Scented Oil Warmer $0.57 (Target, coupon $1 off 1)
- Glade Scented Oil Warmer refills $2.50 for 2 (Target, on sale for $4.50, manufacturer coupon $1 off 2, store coupon $1 off 2)
- Prince Pasta Portions $0.38 box (Market Basket, on sale for $0.88, coupon $1 off 2)

It was very enjoyable having the time and motivation to do couponing. Hopefully, I can continue!

Meds are a wonderful thing

I posted a while ago about my struggle with depression and my visit with the psychiatrist. Its been a couple months now, and the change is awesome! I was prescribed a medication and it is amazing how it changed my daily life. I am actually happy. I actually talk to people and act social. I have almost no side effects, other than I now sleep 7-8 hours instead of 10+.

Its been a noticed difference at work. For the first time in ever, my work review actually said I had a positive attitude! It was like hell froze over; I am never seen as positive, especially at work. I am getting along with everyone. My interactions with passengers have improved. My job is so much fun. I hope things keep going well for me, it's a nice, needed change.

Snowmobiling

For Christmas, my husband got me a 2 hour snowmobile adventure for the 2 of us out of Lincoln, NH at a place called Outback Kayak. I haven't been snowmobiling in years, too many years. It is one of my all time favorite activities, ranks right up there with horseback riding and riding my Vespa.

We made a nice weekend out of it. Taking back roads from Dover, we headed up to Conway. He wanted to check out Moat Mountain Brewery for lunch. We had some yummy BBQ and he got to try out some new beers. Then we went to downtown Conway, stopping to see the trains and go to Zeb's Country Store. After some gelato we headed to the outlet mall.

My stupid depression kicked in and I was fustrated because I had picked the wrong shoes so my feet were killing me. It was really putting a damper on our getaway, so I ended up picking up a new pair of sneakers just to make myself more comfortable. I am mad that I spent the money as I am trying to be good, plus I really need to get rid of a lot of stuff, not add to it. I am hoping soon I will get the motivation to purge my clothes and crafts so I can stop feeling so cluttered.

Anyways, back to the happier stuff. We headed over to the hotel (Comfort Inn) in Lincoln and dropped off our overnight bags. It was getting close to dinner time so after searching Yelp, we decided to try Woodstock Station. Dinner was very good. I would like to go again and try some of the other offerings.

After a nice swim in the pool, we went to bed early.

I was very happy with our experience at OutBack Kayak. They were very friendly and nice. I was extremely happy to find out they had Polaris snowmobiles!! They are my favorite as they were what I used to ride. The trails were easy, but that is to be expected on a guided ride. We got to ride in the White Mountain National Forest. It was a ton of fun. I didn't want it to end!

It was nice to get away for a little break.

Getting out of bed...

If you do not have to go to work, or have an appointment, or really anything to do, what gets you out of bed at a decent time?

For me, I can't seem to find any reason to get out of the bed unless I have work or an appointment. I will go to sleep at 10pm and wake up between 8am and 10am. Maybe I'll change out of my PJs into comfy clothes, but I am still in bed. I give the cat their meds (yes, for the next week both kitties are on meds...one oral syringe, the other ointment in the ear) but then back laying down on the bed. I watch TV.  I make a simple lunch which I then proceed to eat, you guessed it, in bed, laying down. I then lay in bed and watch TV until its time to go to work. I don;t even bother to get one of the dozen DVDs I have yet to watch, I just watch whatever show is on reruns that I feel like watching. Mindless stupid TV. I procrastinate any chores until the last minute and they only get done if assigned on the "chore board" I had him set up for me.

 I go to work. I feel ok, I enjoy my job. I'm lazy and don't walk any further than I have to most days, I have often called the office from the bus in the yard rather than walk back to the office (it's really not that far). I drive my bus, rarely do I get out of the seat unless forced to by a needy passenger or to assist a wheelchair passenger. Doesn't matter if the shift is 2 hours or 8 hours...I don't move unless I have to.

I am thinking, well I know, this is definately not a healthy way to live. Luckily, I don't just lay here and eat a bunch of food all day, I stick with lunch and dinner and maybe a snack for breakfast. But I don't move.

But how do I get out of bed? I have no where to go. Nothing appeals to me other than laying here. I am most comfortable laying down. I actually struggle to eat at home sitting on the table. My husband eats like a human at the desk, and I eat like I don;t even know, laying down in bed. It's pathetic. People my age should want to get out and do things. My new schedule has made this issue even worse as I usually don't go to work until after 3pm and am home again by 7pm. I don't feel like i have time to do anything before work, when I actually have hours, especially if I got my lazy ass out of bed.

I have been diagnosed with depression, and I am on a new medication which has made my relationship better and me more level with my mood. However it has not gotten my lazy ass motivated to get out of bed.

I dunno what to do. It's a pathetic, unhealthy existence.

Palmolive Fresh Infusions Review: It's so sudsy!!

If you didn't already know, I am a member of Influenster, which means I am randomly selected to try new products. In order to continue receiving products, I have simple tasks to complete, like take a photo on Instagram, post to Facebook, write a blog entry....so here I am.

My latest product is Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish washing detergent. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact I got 3 full size bottles to try!

Of course, the first thing I did was smell each of the varieties. My favorite was the Lime Basil and Lemon Thyme.  The Ginger White Tea is my hubby's favorite. He is the one who does the dishes, so his liked are important. He says that they suds up very nicely, more than most detergents. The grease cutting power is average. I know when I used it yesterday to soak a pan, it foamed up nice, but the best part was that it had a nice smell to it. It wasn't overpowering, but it covered up the smell of the junk in the pan, which is very important to me as I now have a very sensitive stomach/gag reflex.

The one thing I noticed is the labels don't match. Consistency is important, but these are a new product, so maybe they are testing out different designs. I prefer the label on the lemon and green tea ones. Its more balanced than the one on the Lime one. I do like the overall label design with it being clear with the pictures on it. The bottles are nice too, they are attractive to have displayed by the sink.

I'd definitely purchase this product again, and recommend it to my friends to try.

Obligatory New Year Post

As is written all over everyone's Facebook page, Happy New Year! With that being said, now is the time for the expected year end review and preview of upcoming events.

2012. It should have been the best year ever. I got a dream car in Dec 2011. I had a wedding coming up in October 2012. I started the year with 2 jobs I enjoyed most of the time. Yup, definitely should have been an amazing year. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way due to my awesome brain chemistry being off. I spent a good portion of the year being miserable and sad and moody.

I lost my job driving school bus and was not told the reason behind it, although I have my suspicions that Facebook played a part in it which is beyond wrong as I was always an excellent employee and did my job better than a lot of the other drivers there. What happens outside of work should not play any part in my job, especially as it was never ever shown to affect my job. Of course, it didn't help my bosses boss didn't like me because I wouldn't work in Maine. Anyways, it really sucks because I do love driving school buses. It did teach me that I should have stuck to my original plan of no coworkers on Facebook.

My dream car has turned out ok, except the windshield cracked after a storm due to weird temperature changes. And now it has some serious issues with moisture on the interior, which I am not sure if it is related to the windshield or a more significant problem. I am now completely paranoid my windshield channel is rotting away as I speak. However, I cannot replace the windshield until inspection because I have extremely bad luck with windshields and if I fix it now, it will be cracked again before inspection and I definitely do not have the money to replace it twice (and no, I  do not get free windshields through my insurance, so stop asking! I went through 2 or 3 on my Liberty). Other than this issue, my Fiat is a blast to drive. I will love it again once these problems are fixed.

The wedding. That should have been the happiest time of my life. Most every girl dreams of their wedding day. Once again, due to my awesomely horrible brain chemistry and hormone levels, it was not nearly as romantic and awesome as it should have been if I had been not suffering from severe depression. Don't get me wrong, I have an awesome husband and I do not regret marrying him or anything at all like that, I just wish I had been a hell of a lot happier, romantic, and nicer to be around.

I finally got the guinea pig I have been wanting for years since my first one died. At first it was great. She is really the sweetest piggy you could ask for. But lately the smell has been getting to me. With my change in medication I have been very nauseous and sensitive to smell. Ben says that she doesn't smell, but I can't stand it. Makes me soooo nauseous, even right after cleaning her cage with all fresh clean supplies. Now I don't know what to do. I can't deal with the smell.

I find a new fun thing to do, ride my Vespa. Of course, I found out it has some damage to the shaft connecting the engine to the transmission, and it fell over a few weeks after I bought it and scratched the paint. It is spending the winter at the body shop then the place I bought it. In the end, hopefully it will be like new and treat me well this upcoming season.

Yeah, so 2012 was not so good. All the good stuff was overshadowed by the bad stuff.

2013. Not starting out so well. The new schedule at work is really leaving me short on hours. I do ok with 20 hours a week, but right now, I have 8, and there are very limited available routes that I can cover because if it starts too early I fall asleep behind the wheel, and due to his hours, I can't be working late either.

I am struggling with a switch in my medication. The withdrawal and side effects are kicking my ass right now. I am hoping it will be all worth it and I can get back to being happy.

Hopefully things will get better and i can actually have positive entries.