OMG!

 Okay friends, due to the small issues of moving to a new country, arguing with my landlord over filthy accommodations, finding a new place to live, moving in, and starting everything over,,,, I just haven't had the time to even shave my legs!

LITERALLY!

I have been overdue for a bath and luckily the new Flat has one.  Not really lucky, as I wouldn't rent without one and my precious epsom salts.  My legs REALLY need attention.  So finally today after working all morning on setting up gas and electric for our new Flat, I was ready for a little R&R in the tub.  I mean I deserved at least this much I thought.

This will be the first time using it, so I took the time to draw the bath water, find all of the accoutrements I needed like a new bar of lemongrass soap, a new razor, sugar face scrub, and some nail clippers as frankly my finger nails are getting out of control as well.

The water was perfect!

I had everything ready.

I couldn't wait to get in, so I dropped my robe and slid into the luxurious water.  

No sooner had I done that, when I see a workman, on the scaffolding next door with a perfect birds eye view of the entire tub.  

OMG!  WTF?  Holy sh&$!

What in the world do I do now?

I closed my eyes.  Kind of like toddlers do when playing hide-n-seek, and believe if I can't see you, well then certainly you can't see me!  RiGhT?!?

I then placed my hands and legs in strategic positions, to take a breath and decide what to do next.  I mean, come on, I needed this bath.  It was my right and I earned it this morning.  Am I gonna let this ruin my bath?

Let's look at this a different way, there must be a bright side.  This just may be a great way to meet people during lock down!   (just kidding Oma - take a breath!)

No is the answer, I'm having this bath!  The guy walked on to a different area of the scaffolding (I'm thinking he was wholly unimpressed), and I kept my strategic position and my eyes closed.  

As I relaxed more, I'd look frequently but didn't see him back for a while.  I figured out how to shave with my back sort of towards the window, and in the end I did have a nice bath, only seeing him once more.  But when I did look, he quickly moved on.  (or maybe he was running for his life?).

Anyway - I couldn't help but laugh at all of this.  As my favorite businesswoman as of late Sara Blakely says, if she hasn't laughed at herself in a while, she makes up something like singing in a packed elevator to keep herself laughing and grounded.  I doubt that she would try this stealthy bathtub move...  (at least not without her spanx on!)

When I came out of the 3 hour bath (okay not really, maybe 20 minutes tops), I said to Jackson, be careful in that shower, as the bath is a perfect view for the workmen outside.  To this Jackson replies, doesn't the window have a shade.  "No," I reply, because the bottom is stained glass and the top is too high to worry about.  Isn't it.......?  

I go back into the bathroom and really now did Laugh OUT loud.  

Sure enough, it does have a shade and it works perfectly well.  

So here's to laughing at yourself, or me, as the case may be!  

Happy bathing guys and I hope your baths are much more uneventful than mine!  

Kitty

ps. I did pass by one of the workmen in the hall to go outside, he was very friendly......😁

kitty crocker's cooking korner

In keeping with the theme above, I am going to fill you in on my new found baking abilities.  You may not know this, but I made scones from scratch the other day.  Yup, you heard me right, FROM SCRATCH.  It doesn't matter if Oma was on the phone with me the entire time and that they were a little dry from over baking.  I made them FROM SCRATCH people!  And the boys loved them!  So now, with my confidence at an all time high (maybe a low high), I decided to make blueberry muffins, because I gotta be honest, I don't actually like scones!  

I have dubbed these, Mishap Muffins. 

I got all of the ingredients, talked to friend #1 and asked if I could use the self-raising flour,  (who has ever heard of such a thing? but I bought it for the scones), and she said sure.  It wasn't hard, there was a super easy recipe on line, and with my baking cabinet fit to bursting with all of its contents, I got to work.

Jackson pitched in to help, ever so sweetly, and Levi only offered to 'help' with the eating. 

I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, buttered the baking tin, pre-heat the oven and set out to bake.  They did exactly what they were supposed to do, rising in the oven, looking spectacular with my bit of sugar on the top.  Made the Flat smell amazing.  All was right in the world. 

Up until I tried to take them out of the muffin tin.  For they wouldn't come out, however gently I asked and prodded them too.  The tops would come off just fine, but the bottoms had decided to stay put.  Well that was unacceptable, so I forced them to see the error of their ways.  Here you will see the outcome of our hard fought battle.  Muffins 1, Mama 0.    

Levi wouldn't try them until Jackson said they were good.  I thought they were amazing and decided not to judge my muffins on looks alone.  Since you can't tell how many you eat when they are in tatters, I just kept eating!  

I did do the next batch with baking paper cut into circles to mimic a baking cup.  And those looked perfect.  Jackson said that they even tasted better.  (?huh?) 

Either way, I was happy with my creation and they didn't last long in the kitchen.  I've sought out advice from friend #2 (as she is a closet 5 star chef), and I've got my marching orders on how to do them better next time.  I also have regular flour and real baking cups to line the muffin tin.  

As I told you from the beginning, where I lack in talent, I will make up in effort!  And that's some real hard efforting!  

kitty crocker over and out 

 

Cooking + Exploring + School....oh my! by Jackson & Levi

Now that we are in our new location in Hyndland, we are exploring the area and finding new places to eat. A while ago we tried this new cafe that we found on Byres road called Kember & Jones. 

I had a steak sandwich on sourdough bread, Levi had a Belgian waffle and Mama had the soup of the day. 

I also got a hot chocolate with white chocolate, Levi and I both got a banana + nutella muffin each and was delicious.

Another restaurant that my Mom and I recently tried is called 'The Left Bank' and is located near University of Glasgow and was close to our old flat. 

I got the special of the day which was the buttermilk chicken burger and my mom got a spiced lamb shawarma. 

We are also trying to cook different types of food so my Mom has been coming up with different recipes of things to cook such as Shrimp Scampi. We took all the shrimp that we had and tried this recipe with spiral noodles we got from Tesco and it turned out pretty good!

We also have been making pork tenderloin in our crock pot as well as fish in the oven. 

The food here in Glasgow is amazing.  There are so many good restaurants around where we live.  And - the food at home is getting better too!

Levi: 

My new walk to school is very nice and probably more scenic and adventurous than the 

last one. I get to see many trees and I get to see a lot of nice cars. I was really motivated this week in school because I have a 4 day weekend Fri-Mon and it has been very fun so far, I got to talk with my friends that I have not heard from in 3 months and do a lot of homework, it feels nice when you finish a big assignment after 3 days of work! I love our new house and the walk to school and everything, and I think I will enjoy living in Scotland for a while! The school weeks are doing good so far and I ironically wear my classic school uniform 2/5 days. Mondays and Tuesdays I wear my PE uniform, Thursdays I wear my army uniform and Wednesdays and Fridays I wear my classic uniform to school. Can't wait for October break!

I joined the Kelvinside Academy CCF (combined cadet forces) and chose army, not navy or air force, but army, this week we practised marching and had a marching competition, my team lost but it was fun. Soon we will go on field trips and get to use army equipment on the field! We have to iron our uniform every week and polish our own boots, if you do not do these things you will get a warning and then after that a punishment (standing in a field for 30 min) so you have to have your uniform perfect unless you want to look at nature for 30 min, which doesn't sound that bad so some people aren't worried about it. Army is the best section out of the 3 in my opinion because you get to go on field trips and camp, eat army rations, shoot firearms, make shelter, learn first aid and on and on and on... In airforce you just learn about planes and fly a glider at the end of the year, and navy you sail and swim. You can do that on the weekends! Army is special and not an everyday thing. 

Flat 2/2 13 Queensborough Gardens, Glasgow, G12 9PP

We are HOME!

But let's start here .. I have been schooled on how to say this...Queensburra, just like Edinburra, and it's Glas-go (hard o sound) not the ow - as in 'now'- sound).  I'm learning, and until then I apologize to all my Glaswegian friends, of which I now have 2.  

I am absolutely loving it here!  It is cozy, warmer, so well loved and taken care of, that we feel almost enveloped in a hug.  Okay, that is how I see it, it seems that the boys don't care one way or the other.  Actually Levi is thrilled to be closer to school and Jackson likes his bedroom much better.  But we had some tradeoffs, less bathrooms and en-suites, and we are further from city centre (I always want to say downtown, but that is not correct over here!).  But we do have 4 bedrooms now, one for Oma or visitors.  

That is us, 3 floors up, all the way over to the scaffolding.  The Master bedroom faces the other street. We are on the corner of Queensborough Gardens and Falkland.

This is a very quiet area

This is the front door for the 8 apartments, 2 per floor.

The landlord met with us for 2 hours to go through the place, and it isn't even that big, just 6 rooms in total.  He clearly loves it and is on call at a moments notice.  Many of the features here are top notch.  I've also already started antique shopping to fill some areas - it is a sickness, I'm telling you!  But this place is screaming for a buffet (or sideboard).   

We are only starting to explore this side of the West End.  It will be fun to have new places to find and try out.  I think we will be very happy here and the neighbors seem fantastic.  With Professor Malcom in the flat above us, to the German family across from us, we are in a true tenement.  Even when I googled it, it shows  a picture of one in Hyndland (look at the picture to the right in widipedia), which is exactly where we are.  So cool!  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenement

Jackson:

Our new house is a flat located on the third floor on a street called Queensborough Gardens. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 of them have beds in them. Levi chose the largest bedroom and I have a bedroom with the most comfortable bed. It has a window view out to the street and a large closet.

The living room is large and has 2 very nice black leather couches. It has a big television and an oriel window with 5 windows sticking out of the house.

This is an oriel window. Oma assures me that it is in many crossword puzzles.  It is a great place to sit and contemplate life!  Or play board games!  

Our kitchen is smaller than our last one but has a more homey vibe to it. We have a large fridge, a toaster and a crock pot that was left for us by the previous tenant. There is also a small faucet that has instant boiling water when it turns on so thats nice for tea or instant noodles. 

The landlord left these flowers!  So very sweet of him.

In our apartment there are really nice windows above some of the doors and in our bathroom. Also on the stairway up to our door there are Glasgow roses on the tiles. 

This is the window in the main bbathhroom

This is the Glasgow Rose, which outlines the staircase (called the close) all the way to the top. Which i hear is rare?

This is our front door.  The owner has painstakingly recreated all of the stain glass in the home, it is really stunning and partly what made us (okay Kitty) fall in love with the home.

Levi: 

I think the new house is great and I got to sleep in the big room for the first 2 weeks, this weekend I moved into the den because its more comfortable in there than in the big room.  The view from the house is really nice and I love how its only 15 minutes away from my school. It is very nice walking to school and seeing the sunny sky and trees while I walk. This is one of the best places I have stayed in ever and I think it will be very nice for the next year or two.

The master bedroom. Of which nobody is in right now?!?!  Crazy right!!!  But it is a huge guest bedroom for those of you coming to visit!

This is Mama's room.  It has a small bathroom attached.

The gardens by our front door

The Close

kitty crocker's cooking korner

Crazy Sexy Chili - Kris Carr has one of my all time favorites and whenever I make it, I make enough for about 4 nights!  It is a vegan dish, and you chop for about 13 hours straight, but it is fantastic.  I do cheat and add chicken stock (vegan be damned), because it tastes so much better.  Since we now have a full size freezer (housed in the bathroom - don't ask), I always have some at the ready!  I made this soon after we arrived and I froze a ton. So for Soup Snnday, all I had to do was let it defrost.  It made this Sunday that much more pleasant.  

  

Traditions

 Oh my gosh, how I just love traditions.  New and old.  The entire word makes me think of Fiddler on the Roof and the song.  TRADITION!  I'm not sure if that has a good meaning or not (though I've always loved Fiddler of the Roof), but I love making up traditions.

We have a new one in Glasgow that I am loving and it seems the boys are totally in as well (not true, Levi seems to fully and completely dread it), but I like to see it my way and that someday he will not only love it but carry it on.  Don't you think as a mom (of especially teens) we have to tell ourselves these stories, just to get thru the day?  

Anyway - it's called the Glasgow Gang Group hug!  I was realizing that I was the first to go to bed at the early hour of 9:45pm (which seems like 4pm to Jackson), but none the less, I don't go to bed without hugging the boys goodnight.  We are well past the time of me tucking them into bed (because let's face it, I really don't want to see how they live in the squalor of their bedrooms).  But I figured you could kill two birds with one stone (terrible analogy).  So I stand up, arms out as if in a T and announce it is time for the Glasgow gang group hug.  It has gotten to the point that I just stand up and put my arms out until someone notices.  Jackson laughs at me and then says, 'come on Levi, time for the hug."  Levi drags his feet all the way there and we grasp him into a tight trifecta hug.  Jackson then begins to tickle Levi until he smiles (which he doesn't do because he is 14 and can't be bothered with all of these antics).  I then go after Jackson with tickling to make it fair.  We give up, and I go to bed.  My soul full with love and smiles!

Another tradition we do is to play board games after dinner.  The person who cooks usually gets to choose.  I had this tradition well before covid, but being in lock down has certainly heightened our playing.  I do miss Chelsea and beating her at cribbage every game we played (LOL), but now I've got the boys to beat!!  They pay me back and win at marbles, jenga and sevens.  We meant to bring Uno here, but I asked Levi to pack it and of course it was never seen again.  Racko made its way to Glasgow, but I'm the one who likes it the best.  I just very much enjoy nobody being on their phones (as they aren't allowed at dinner-another tradition), and doing some good old competitive and rowdy honest to goodness board game playing.  

Other traditions we do, but aren't loved by all (including me), are cleaning the house on the weekends.  Going grocery shopping.  Going to TJMaxx! (okay I completely love this one).  Washing the dishes.  Cleaning up cat litters (now fully in Chelsea's court), paying bills, pumping gas in the car (done with that for now!), etc, etc.

One we have all added in Glasgow is tea drinking.  Seriously, I don't know why the three of us didn't do this in Dublin (probably because I heated that house better), but we are all in.  So far, we have 10 different selections of tea and 3 selections of honey.  I've taken to having tea at least in the afternoon when my alertness starts to fade.  Jackson seems to drink it when he is cold, and Levi joins in when he can add as much honey as possible without anyone looking.  Tea anyone?  I guess we are becoming Scottish, yet no crumpets so far.  

I'd love to hear of your traditions as I'm always looking to add to mine.  The more fun the better, but if you've got one that helps kids (and mums) do chores happily and with a good outcome, I'm all ears!  

Happy home making all,

Kitty

Levi:

  I have always loved Halloween because I love staying inside and seeing people running around getting candy and being happy hanging out with their friends, I don't know if they do trick or treating here but I'm happy Halloween is coming up soon and I think it will be very fun, also Christmas is a very loved tradition by me and my family, probably because you get free gifts but its really nice seeing people happy getting things and thanking whoever gave it to them and just having a good time, any holidays in general are my favorite types of traditions.

Jackson:

Lately we have been going to a new restaurant each week to try out new places. The UK Government implemented a scheme titled 'eat out to help out' where restaurants choose to take place and then the customers get 50% off of their bill up to 10£ for each person. This means that if there are 3 of us, we can have a bill of £60 and get £30 off making it total only £30. We have discovered many fantastic places to eat.

Last week we went to a restaurant called Barca Tapas and they had some really good Spanish types of tapas. 

The week before that we went to a restaurant called The Citizen. It was a really nice place in the city center and I got a delicious steak sandwich. My Mom got a curry.

You can't judge a book by its cover........

Yes, it is beautiful, we thought the same.  Thanks for all the lovely comments.  We couldn't wait to meet it in person!!!

Upon arriving, we loved the place, we got to run around checking and picking out our bedrooms, fully intending to stay here for a least the coming year.  We'd made 'friends' with Levi's 30 minute walk to school, loved where the house was located, between his school and the city centre, and it fit right in with my love of the old houses and antiques.   We went to bed happy, sleeping at least 12 hours each after that long and exhausting, over-night flight.

It was quite early on that we (mostly me) noticed some issues with the place.  Day 1, after sleeping so well, I realized the place had a rough smell to it.  No worries, it was beautiful outside, so I opened every window and began to air out the place.  I started to realize it was a lingering smoke smell, a smoker must have lived here, so I got out their hoover and vacuumed the floor and couches and every rug I could find.  It didn't touch the smell.  By day 3, I had ordered my own hoover (Shark is better than Dyson, prove me wrong!) and started sending the management company messages that the couches and rugs needed to be shampooed.  I got to the point of NOT ever sitting on the couches, that is how bad they were.  

Once Amazon delivered my hoover, I got to work, here is what I found:

Can you even believe this!  This is how they got the apartment ready for us.  It isn't any landlord that I want!

Seriously, this is how we found the couch when I removed the cushions

The management company would not commit to shampooing stuff, even after that video, which was aggravating at best.  (they did end up doing it in the end).

As this argument was heating up, I started to clean all of the rooms.  To say they were nasty is an understatement.  Remember how I told you the place was an airbnb before me?  Well, on the surface, everything looked beautiful.  But as you can see, underneath wasn't even clean.  I imagined I would clean, I even brought my own mirco-fibre clothes in my luggage anticipating as much, but this was 'a-whole-nother' level.

The baseboards throughout the place were filthy.  This is the kitchen.  And don't get me started on the chandeliers.  

This is under the bed in the master bedroom.  Seriously?!?!

The drains in the showers were NASTY!

Here is my list of what was filthy:  white doors full of dirt & smudges where hands go, baseboards, mold in the coffee machine and washing machine, windows, shower drains (full of mold and hair).  Then to add insult to injury here is the list of things broken or not working: burner in the center of the stove, dryer, shades to cover windows, drains in kitchen and J's bathroom, and the hoover.

To top it all off, the management company would barely respond.

So, that is when I started looking for a new place to live!  This was unacceptable and how do you rent from people who don't even follow up?  It was atrocious and I was DONE!

We started moving out this past Friday and are BEYOND THRILLED with our new home.  I am still grateful for Park Circus, even though it lived up to its name and was managed by clowns.  It taught me so much about the rental market.  I still love its location too, as I'm a city girl and I loved getting there in 20 minutes via foot.  It also showed us Glasgow from the perspective of lovely parks and waterways, and I'll never forget the view of Glasgow Uni from here.  But everything happens for a reason, and we are on our way to better pastures...hopefully.

At this point in time, I've asked for compensation, and the matter seems to be headed straight to the Scottish Letting courts. And just think, now I get to learn about the legal system....lucky me.  But know one thing, I'm totally ready!  The management company keeps sending me veiled threats, but what they don't know, is that is just fueling the fire!  I got this (thank god for my friends here), because with their knowledge and my willingness to fight for fairness - I'm TOTALLY ready!

.........but, as I sit here contemplating all of my travels, I am wholly questioning the cleanliness of all those airbnb's I've stayed in around the world............  ick...........

kitty crocker's cooking korner:

Okay Paul, I hope you don't mind, but we took your white chicken chili and raised it a notch!  I googled a bit and added things like light cream cheese.  Who knew you could add that to chili?  It was so novel, I had to try it.  I started with a whole chicken.  Yup, that's how I'm rolling.  I made it for dinner one night and then boiled the bones the next day to make the stock needed.  Jackson LOVED the baked chicken, so I'll be doing that simple recipe again soon.  I couldn't find great northern beans here (is it a michigan thing?), so I got anything that was white-ish, including chick peas!  The end result was fabulous and the boys loved it!  Ayala Kost, your recipe is up next, but the easy one, not the hard one yet, I need more practice first!  

Coming soon is our new home in Queensborough Gardens.  And with it, Levi's new walk to school which is now only 15 minutes.  

Happy days,

Kitty