Valentines Day & Stuff

Valentines day has been and gone for another year. This year was a little interesting, Kim and I exchanged gifts but I thought I’d push the boat out and carve one of our trees (romantic!). My Dad told me what sort of knife I’d need and it arrived… it was a bit bigger than anticipated and it was the type that’s illegal to carry in the UK and locks open (perfect for carving trees or stabbing people!).  So I got it through in the mail and decided to open it away from Kim so she didn’t get creeped out (What did you buy me for Valetines Day Darling? A knife!) only then I couldn’t figure out how to shut it again! Luckily all was well, the tree is now carved and I have the tools for a moonlighting career as a mugger.

I got Kim this classy card.

And got a singing pug one in return which I think is a fair trade.

The day before Valentines Day we went to a Japanese drumming show only they’d decided to pair up the traditional drumming with a light show, dancers and hover boards… slightly less traditional haha.

On Valentines Day itself we went to a nice Italian restaurant in Coventry.

Worryingly before hand Kim presented me with this bottle of prosecco saying she’d got it for after dinner. She couldn’t understand why I was laughing or asking if she’d got me a hooker for Valentines Day… she just thought the name was fancy and French.

The snow is back and slowly thawing so we’ve made use of our movie passes a lot, we’ve seen a lot of serious films lately so we went to see Peter Rabbit and Early Man for some comic relief and they were both very good. We discovered a little cinema near us that we thought was pretty run down. It’s in a mini mall and when we went in it looked pretty scabby and the toilets were shut off with a sign that said they were undergoing major works… never a good thing. So we weren’t expecting much, we entered this tiny movie theater to find it full of comfy armchairs with electric reclining footrests – very nice!

November Time

I got my first taste of medical care in America these past weeks, first I had to get a physical for work which is just a very basic check over where they take your blood pressure etc and talk about your medical history and say that you’re fit to work. First of all I’d never had a doctors appointment be so unhurried, and second of all I’d never had a doctor be so friendly and pleasant. He wanted to know all about me, why I’d moved here, what pets I had… at the end of my appointment he thanked me for coming to the USA because he was so glad to have me here (err…?) and wished me a happy birthday for later in the month! Surreal. But I thought this has to be a one off right? Sure enough, I go to register at the dentist, my appointment was an hour and a half long! They measured every single one of my teeth! They photographed AND X-rayed every tooth. My new dentist also wanted to know all about me and had time for a long leisurely chat and ALSO wished me a happy birthday for later in the month, “and thank you so much for choosing us as your dental care providers” she said… even though I just chose that one because it was down the road. Not a miserable cow bag of a receptionist in sight! Now granted we have to pay for our medical insurance and taxes paid for the NHS in the UK… but wow what a service! It was the kind of service I think everyone I have ever worked in the NHS in the UK with wished they could give their patients.

So whilst that all went very well, my oil change for Ruby the Fiat did NOT go as planned because the second I drove out of the oil change place my warning light came on and my front indicator was out – just like that! And that’s how I found myself sat in a mechanics for two and a half hours watching “news”… joy. $2 for a new bulb and about $65 for labour… plus tax.

We had a good weekend last weekend, we had breakfast at IHOP.

They have a balloon man at IHOP that makes balloon animals for little kids and works for tips, this is what he made a little boy sat behind us… (queue chanting of USA, USA, USA!)

Then we went to see Murder on the Orient Express which was very good, I hadn’t read the book in years so I’d forgotten the ending. I often think how good it would be to be able to program your memory to forget endings to good books and movies so you could watch or read them again and enjoy it just like you had the first time.

Also I found a car parked in the cinema car park that sums up my feelings on all the Christmas adverts about in November… we have a lovely client at my work who enjoys nothing more than listening to the Celine Dion Christmas album…. every single week of every single month. It’s gotten to the point where I want to hunt Celine down and make her answer for her crimes but all the Christmas ads are just pushing me closer to the edge.

In other news my laptop is on the fritz, for some reason almost everything on it is now red, I strongly suspect it has been possessed by Satan (either that or the massive dent in the front it got on the move to America is finally taking it’s toll). Have remedied this by super gluing the battery in (it kept falling out) and hitting it and so far so good. Not today Lucifer.

Got a new gadget for the garden to defeat those bloody leaves, it’s a leaf blower that also can suck up the leaves into a little bag for easy disposal, it works great and was only about $50 which I call a win. Now I just have to wait for a dry day so the leaves won’t be so wet! Found some bulbs in my shed I’d forgotten to plant in October so I planted them… hopefully they’ll rally and still come through in the spring. Still finding bloody peanuts everywhere that some kindly neighbour is obviously leaving out for the squirrels and they are bringing to our garden to bury for winter… cheeky. We’re away this weekend so I hope it won’t be too cold 😦

MoviePass & Zumba

Now that the dreaded time of exams and unemployment is gone (that everyone kept telling me to enjoy but I just couldn’t!) there’s more time and funds to focus on free time. Kim and I got MoviePass cards recently after reading about them in a BBC article. Basically you pay just under $11 a month and you can go and see one movie a day for no extra cost. It works at any cinema in the USA so we tried it out last week, the tickets were slightly over $11 so we already made our money back, you park up at the cinema, check in to the movie you want to see then use your card to pay for the ticket like a debit card. I have no idea how they’re making money out of this, I read something about the company wanting to sell the data it gets but I don’t see how it could be worth that much.

So until the company goes bust or hikes their prices back up I intend to enjoy my bargain movie going experience, enter in my new invention. The ‘popbag’ (patent not pending), because Kim’s mum bought her an air popcorn maker so I just pop my popcorn first, take it with me in the ‘popbag’ (my handbag filled with popcorn) and then it is both free and I get to avoid the disgusting american melted butter they put on their popcorn (ew).

I went to see Battle of the Sexes a few days ago and all I spent was for petrol – I love a bargain.

I also tried out a Zumba class by our house, I got a new work out top that cost me a whole $2.

And the class is held at Patriots Park so we get a lovely view of the sunset over Coventry Lake.

Working Working Always Working

I am on the last 3 weeks of my module 5 placement and as my University has changed their policy from allowing 8 sick days over 3 years to 0 sick days there have been extra shifts to do, as I also have to work at my paid employment as an HCA I have been extremely busy and tired although my lovely mentor I have for this placement has been keeping my spirits up.

I feel as though I haven’t had five minutes to myself and as Kimberly also works a lot it’s been difficult to match up schedules. But I did get to go and see Testament of Youth this week at the cinema which was such a good film and a true story. The trailer is here.

I went to Cinema City in Norwich which is in lovely listed building that’s been tastefully modernised, the tickets were cheaper, the food more interesting, the seats were plushy and comfortable and not only that but I met an old school friend working there part time whilst he works on his own films. I really do recommend going to Cinema City, the website is here, you can take wine into the cinema and I didn’t see one screaming child the entire time… I didn’t see any children actually. There was a nice looking restaurant there too which I’d like to try out in the future. Anyway must dash, off to work… again!