Crispin


Name : Crispin
Breed : Black labrador
Weight : Approx 20kg (is underweight!)
Other animals : Got along with Cookie and Cream. Crispin will walk to their cage occasionally and look at them for a while and then walk away. Cookie and Cream behave as normal (not hiding when they see Crispin).

At the moment we are very likely to keep Crispin. Sam is taking him out for a walk every morning at about 6.45am for half an hour and I take him out for another half an hour when I'm back home from work. Good exercise for us. Crispin sleep in the living room (same room as Cookie as Cream) and loves to sleep on Sam's armchair when we are not around (as we do not allow him on the armchair when we are in). I think sometimes, he want us to go out without him so that he can sleep on the armchair!

So far, Crispin has been very well behave - no barking, chewing of stuff, jumping on us, etc. However, when he's out walking, he does pull on the lead and not always response to us, thus we definitely need to train him on these.

Fostering a dog
We have been wanting a dog even before moving into the new house and had seen and walked a few dogs. The lady at the rescue very kindly contact us immediately when a dog that's suitable for us came into her care. We got the dog from her yesterday night and are fostering the dog for her until 4 Jan 10 and then we can decide if we want to keep him.

He's such a lovely dog.

Snowed in

I love snow but not when I'm being snowed in!! My manager mentioned that she going off earlier (About 3pm) as she didn't want to be snowed in. I checked the Met Office website and there's no mention of snow in Essex (only mention of icy road), as such I continue working. At about 4pm, it starts to snow + sleet. I didn't think too much about it as there's no warning on Met Office website plus I was late coming into work this morning, thus stayed on. Left the workplace at 5.15pm and the snow was much heavier and there's a huge long queue getting out of the multi-storey carpark!

Walked to the car, listen to traffic news and also noticed that the cars in the carpark are moving very, very....... snail speed. Decided to walk around in the shops for a while for the traffic to calm down abit.

6++pm, decided to walk to the bus station to take public transport as there wasn't movement in the carpark. However, was informed by the staff at the bus station that not sure when the bus is coming. Lots of people waiting around too. Plan for public transport abandon.

7pm, decided to sit in Water Margin restaurant (overlooking the carpark) to have dinner and to monitor situation. Worst case situation = buy blanket at Asda (24 hours) and sleep in car.

8.30pm, cars are moving again. Decided to pay for the dinner and set off for home.

9.30pm, out of carpark but the roads are very icy and very slow getting out of town. On some of the icy road and upslope, the traction control button kept flashing (not good!!). Took the main motorway (M11) and travel at recommended speed (about 40mph).

10.15pm, finally home!!!

Next time, any slight snow, I'm the first to head home!!

Our house
Got the keys to our house on 10/11/2009, all becomes so real when I was driving to the estate agent to pick up the keys at about 2pm. It's officially winter but I didn't know how to switch on the gas/ radiator and electricity/ light. As we bought 2 reclining armchairs the weekend before and they were due for delivery at 4pm in the new house, I waited in the cold new house with my jacket on all the time (Sam was in meeting, thus unable to help me!!).

We decided to stay in the new place without bed, furniture, etc as Sam's monthly train ticket runs out the following day and my work place is nearer from the new house. We brought duvets, clothing from the old place, so managed to sleep with bare minimum stuff (no TV) for about a week until the movers arrive to pick up our things from old place on 19/11/09.

Had been busy shopping for furniture for the new place. We decided on the Ikea furniture (wardrobes, TV unit, bed frame) and had fixed up the furniture ourselves (That's an achievement!!). So far, we had been buying stuff for the new place (change locks, kitchen bin, etc, still more to buy!!), gone back to old place to tidy up, return the keys for old place on 11/12/09. All so busy, thus the lack of update.

Still to sort out the lowering of kerb for parking,

Cookie & Cream day 6


So happy that both of them are eating the lettuce while I'm holding it. Still frighten of us but not as much as first day.

House hunting progress

After weeks of waiting for the revised mortgage letter (postage strike, mis-communication as to whether it was posted/ processed, etc), the solicitor finally received it yesterday and we had just exchanged (10% deposit given, non-refundable) today!!

Completion date is scheduled for 10 Nov 09, next Tuesday, a week from today.

It's all real now!!

Cookie and Cream


Cookie (a buff self sow guinea pig, 7 weeks old, born on 30 Aug 09)


Cream (a white self sow guinea pig, born on 30 Jun 09)


The new pets in our family, bought home today)

Update on 1/11/09 : So glad that both of them are eating after a day of hiding and no sign of food being eaten.

Garden boundary issue

Think the house buying will fall through due to this garden boundary issue.

.......:(

Singapore week in SelfridgesWas informed by Renee previously about the Singapore week in Selfridges and have been looking forward to the event eversince and it's finally arriving!!

Known as the cultural melting pot of Asia, Singapore has a solid reputation as a food lover’s paradise. From exquisite fine dining to exotic hawker fare, the island has no lack of variety to satisfy even the most discerning gourmet.

Tastes of Singapore is a food promotion which will run in-store from 1 October to 7 October in the Foodhall, London Oxford Street to highlight the breadth and depth of grocery products available for use in sweet and savoury cooking from Singapore.

There will be 12 Singaporean brands stocked during this period with cooking demonstrations, food sampling and tastings each day.

The Gallery restaurant will also be offering a Tastes of Singapore Special Menu to coincide with the event from 28 September to 9 October. The promotion is in collaboration with the International Enterprise Singapore, the government agency spearheading the development of Singapore's external economic wing.

We look forward to welcoming you in-store to experience Tastes of Singapore!

Definitely going to London next week.

Mortgage
We thought Abbey has a backlog too after reading the forum, thus was prepared for the long wait when the mortgage adviser informed us end of last week that the survey will hopefully be done this week. Was in abit of shock today as we just received the mortgage details with the valuation survey done through the post!!

Valuation amount = our offer amount. Good news as we don't need to top up any diff!!

Now to wait for the solictor to sort out the paperworks......