Getting nothing done other than moving things.

I don't know about you, but I have plans, big and small. Loads of craft project, garden ideas, blog posts, books to read, a book to write, baking, a list of movies to watch, puzzles to do.

But nothing gets done.

I'm out the house every week day from 8am - 4pm. I come home and I do nothing other than read, watch TV, pop bubbles on my phone and scroll through Facebook. I go to bed disappointed in myself that I've done nothing.

Then the weekend comes and I spend one day tidying the house, washing, ironing, putting things back where they belong then the second day we go out to visit family or friends, food shop, drink coffee and just wander around.

Then the week starts afresh where I vow to do something each evening, some sewing, painting or bake some cakes.

Monday starts well, then I look at the mess I've just created, then I fall back into my usual routine.

I swim twice a week, then my bag sits on the stairs till the weekend, I walk or cycle to and from work and my outdoor clothes and shoes pile up in the downstairs toilet.

We cook dinner and load the dishwasher, the washing machine starts to fill with clothes, books and magazines lay around the house and for some reason there are boxes and baskets with things in to be put away of donated to the charity shop.

Random boxes lie around the house, waiting to be delivered, emptied or taken to the charity shop. 

Handbag gets emptied and never put away.

The bedroom always needs organising, with clothes piling up and make up and nail varnish to put away after our grandchild's visit.

Right now our dining room table is out of action as it is piled with Halloween, birthday and Christmas gifts to wrap, ready for our trip to Northern Ireland to visit our grandson later this month, then they'll ba a car to unpack, more things to put away and the washing machine to go on again.

The attic has been emptied of 6 dining room chairs, 2 other chairs and a nest of tables to sell or donate.

I think I just need a week at home to get things organised and arranged so I can complete jobs without making a mess.

The house gets cleaned as and when it needs doing, but it's never today and clean at the same time, there's always washing around, a mop drying in the kitchen before it can go back in the cupboard, a dishwasher to unload, a cat litter tray to be emptied, dead flowers to compost and a myriad of other jobs waiting to be done.

Do you feel like all you do is just tidy and move things around, never actually doing anything?

One Daily Positive - Week 42

My last full week in the UK before I fly home on Monday. I had the benefit of car hire for the rest of my trip so spent it catching up and saying goodbyes, dropping off Christmas, Birthday gifts and cards as I won't be back until mid February.

287 Sunday Spent the morning shopping for food for Thing 1's birthday on Monday. Finished wrapping gifts and writing cards. Popped into say bye to my niece Mini Me as I won't see her again until February. Child 2 and 2a came for dinner and we popped into the pub to see child 3.

288 Monday Off to visit child 1 and onto meet Sarah (Mumof3World) for a coffee and catch up. Visited Thing 1 for his 5th birthday for tea and cake.

289 Tuesday Coffee in Ross-on-Wye with instagram friend Alison (rubbishwife) posted a couple of parcels and complained to the local specsavers about them using the private car park as their own.

290 Wednesday Spent the afternoon with child 5 in Cirencester. Had to return the car hire to Birmingham and collect a new one. It was £127 for 2 weeks, but they wanted to charge me £524 to extend for an extra 5 days. So I booked new car hire for £71 plus the cost of fuel to get up and down from Monmouth. Popped into a friends in the evening on the way home.

291 Thursday Took mum to Newport for the morning, had dinner with a friend at her home in the evening.

292 Friday Visited child 2 and 2a's friends in a near by town as they invited me over for a cuppa. Lunch with child 3. Afternoon spent cleaning the flat preparing it for winter.

293 Saturday Spent the morning cleaning the flat some more and after a coffee called in to see ex MIL and niece, then headed off to the local coffee shop to blog and called into see child 2 and 2a who live nearby also. Child 5 flew out to the US this morning for a week with work. I'm so proud of all the children, their achievements, places they've visited and their future ahead.

On the blog this week:

A walk round the Forest of Dean in search of the stain glass window on the Sculpture Trail
A book review with Clever Tykes
What are they building now in Dubai?

An InLinkz Link-up

Week 6 - One Daily Positive and Project 366

I've been having a good, long, hard think about my new job this week. Peter is supporting whatever outcome I decide upon and has been talking things through with me via Skype and the telephone as he's in Germany in the UK this week. Financially we are more than secure and teaching adults, not 4 year olds, has always been my preference. I do actually enjoy teaching the children, I have very good knowledge of the British Curriculum and I can manage the paperwork and record keeping. I'm struggling with the long hours and working at home in the evenings and working abroad is certainly very challenging, I was also ill last week and ended up in hospital, I still haven't made a full recovery. I'm struggling with not letting myself down, I'm unable to just walk away. I have no issue with telling other people the job isn't for me, but I have huge trouble telling myself that. Peter is only a few years off retirement, I have 20+ years left. Teaching in Dubai is a great opportunity for me and my future career when we finally return to the UK. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, I probably just need a bit more time, after all it has been 5 years since I last had this level of responsibility. 

I'm struggling to keep up with my blogging and photo prompts, there seems to be a lot of food pictures this week.

Sunday Day 38 #onedailypositive #project366 having dinner out because a) we don't have to cook b) we always eat out the night before one of us goes somewhere (Peter off to Germany and UK with work) c) because we can, and d) why not? My Sunday Photo this week is the Dubai Skyline.

Monday Day 39 #onedailypositive #project366 a day late with posting as I didn't have a suitable photo, so I snapped this one this evening as I left work. I called in at the Mall of Emirates on my way home, remind me NEVER again to drive along Sheik Zayed Road to get there and don't get me started on the parking. On a positive I got everything I need and more, came home for a bath and an early night.

Tuesday Day 40 #onedailypositive #project366 I've been having a tough time in my new job, getting to grips with all the paperwork, the planning and assessments and working with people from various cultures, getting to know the kids, making endless resources, balancing work with sleep and taking endless paperwork home to work on in the evenings and the fact I haven't worked for 5 years. On a positive though I decided to blitz the classroom this evening and on leaving work at 6pm I'd discovered loads of paperwork and resources made by the previous teacher that I can use, which means I can now focus on the planning assessments and teaching knowing that all the other stuff I've been fretting over is already sorted. Bob and I shared a McDonalds for dinner. Linking up with Animal Tales with A tent, 2 teens and a Warthog.

Wednesday Day 41 #onedailypositive #project366 after an unsettling tail gate experience I arrived home in day light, walked Bob, had dinner with home grown tomatoes and strawberries for afters, watered the garden, had a bath and washed my hair and in pjs by 6.30pm, spending the rest of the evening on assessments for work.

Thursday Day 42 #onedailypositive #project366 after a long and stressful week and a weekend ahead of work, the simplicity of opening the fridge and chucking what I can find on a tray pleases me greatly. Although hubby is away and I feel a bit lonely here in my own, it is nice to switch off from everything and just slum it for a few days.

Friday Day 43 #onedailypositive #project366 I'm putting off doing a load of paperwork for school and cleaning instead, which has so far yielded better results. A bar of chocolate on the bed and half a tin of quality street underneath it. I've already taken Bob into the desert to the lakes, we only saw one other dog walker today and the owner didn't want to play. Bob has been washed and the car cleaned. This afternoon I'm going to cycle to the beach and have dinner out. This weeks HDYGG? is a round up of Dubai in January and February.

Day 44 #onedailypositive #project366 arranged to meet a woman at the lakes after going yesterday and not seeing anyone. I went to the wrong lakes but did meet some other dog walkers and Bob really enjoyed himself, we were out for 2 hours, back home for a bacon butty, wash Bob and clean the car. An afternoon of paperwork and a bike ride ahead of me. Peter is with 3 of our children in the UK and home on Monday.

I'd love for you to link up with your One Daily Positive from the week. 

I'm an expat wife and I don't have a maid

Sorry if it appears I'm letting the side down, but that's just how I roll.

In 2011 when our expat life started in South Africa I went from full time job and studying for a degree and 3 kids at home, plus a disabled child and running a youth football club to being a stay at home mum.

4 years on we've moved to Dubai and the kids have left home. I only got my Emirates ID this week, we still don't have a car, although that should change tomorrow and I'm waiting for my bank card to arrive, we've been here since December 19th 2014 and only 4 weeks in our house having lived in a hotel.

We don't have a maid, although we do have a gardener and that's only because it's so hot here. We had a gardener in South Africa as again it was too hot and clearing up after mowing the lawn was hard work in the heat.

We don't send out the laundry, We don't get taxi's everywhere and I certainly won't be getting a maid even if I have a full time job.

Why not?

Well I guess I don't fit the traditional expat mould. I'm not a lady who lunches, I like walking and swimming as exercise and with the beach on our doorstep there's no need to go to the gym.

Today hubby and I lounged around the house all morning catching up with trashy TV and I painted my toe nails, we then walked 4km each way along the beach and back, sat and read books, had a bag of chips on the sea front, then I did the ironing while hubby grouted the kitchen floor, then we walked the dog to our local store to buy dinner.

It's 8.30pm on a Friday night, tomorrow we'll go fetch our new car and probably pop to Global Village for a look round. On Sunday hubby will be back at work from 8am till 5pm and after I've applied for my new driving licence and done a bit of shopping I'll catch the bus home (not a taxi) send off a few job application forms online and get the dinner ready.

Contrary to popular belief one doesn't make a fortune as an expat and many expats will back me up on that, well the ones I've made friends with. We are maintaining a house in the UK and paying a mortgage. The salaries may be tax free in Dubai, but the cost of renting is on par with the centre of London. There are UK boarding school fees to be paid, air fares for the youngest to visit during school holidays, accommodation and car hire to pay for in the UK when visiting, plus all the other associated costs. And don't forget our adult kids have birthdays, christmas and 'can we borrow some money for a deposit/rent/air fare to visit you'

Even if we did have a maid, sent out laundry, got taxi's everywhere, I'm not sure where everyone thinks the money would then come from to pay for my lunches, gym membership and endless bottles of gin.

Sorry if my life as an expat of volunteering full time, doing my own cleaning and ironing, breaks your illusions of expat life. But I've never fitted any mould and I don't intend to change now.

Landlords v Tenants

We are both.

We are good landlords.

We are good tenants.

But we are fed up of people taking the piss with our homes.

We rent 2 properties. We own one, we rent it out. We redecorated and had the house professionally cleaned prior to our tenants moving in. They trashed our house. We redecorated and had it professionally cleaned. We have new tenants.

We're moving into our 3rd rented property as tenants. All 4 properties have been dirty and in need of repair, we've battled with each and every landlord and had to do the cleaning ourselves, we've waited months for repairs to be carried out. On vacating the properties we've been informed that unless it's professionally cleaned we won't get our deposit back.
It would seem that as soon as some landlords get your money and you've signed the contract, that's it. Put up and shut up. It makes no difference arguing.

We've just received our deposit back from the landlord in South Africa, minus carpet cleaning and tidying of the garden. Despite pointing out that NO cleaning was done prior to us moving in, and that we had the house cleaned on our departure, it doesn't seem to matter. We also handed the keys back to the agent on December 15th, our contract didn't expire until December 31st. The landlord has new tenants and as it is summer and the rainy season, the garden has grown since then and as he had to make it right for the new tenants he charged us for us. I've sent a strongly worded email, but I'm certain it'll just go unanswered.

No wonder landlords in general have such a bad name, but so should tenants.

In my experience it's the tenants that have caused the damage, the tenants that have lived in sheer utter filth, the tenants that have left their crap behind, the landlord may keep the deposit but they certainly haven't carried out any of the fundamental work required to make the house habitable.

The house we are renting has been repainted throughout, including paint on the windows and the tiles. But the house hadn't been cleaned and was in need of some basic repairs.

We choose to rent an older property because of it's location and individuality, the bathrooms are very dated as is the kitchen and in all honestly if we were purchasing the property we'd just rip them out and install new. I can see past the age and the colour. The kitchen cupboards are pink and the bathrooms are avocado, with white tiles and random patterns.

The rental agent, the landlord and the relocation company keep telling me I can't expect anyone to replace them, I know that, that is not my issue. All I want is for what is in the house to work and to be clean.

It's rather simple actually. I expect a light to work when I flick the switch, yes I've changed the globe, that's not the problem. I expect doors to open and close, after all that is their purpose, the same with the aluminium windows. I don't expect to be able to eat my meal off the kitchen floor, but I do expect it to be cleaner than this.

The relocation company used an agent to help with assisting us with finding a house, it was rented on December 7th 2014. A year's rent was paid in advance, the agent took their cut, then everyone apart from the landlord disappeared over christmas. We battled daily to get someone in to do the work and finally it was all completed last week, although the cleaning was of a poor standard but they'd tackled the grime, we were just left to finish it off.

Yesterday the landlord phoned, he is replacing the kitchen doors, no more Hello kitty Kitchen for me.

Life is so different for kids here

It was Alex's 12th Birthday today and he invited 5 friends round to do what boys do and make a mess between the hours of 2pm and 6pm. 7 friends arrived at 9am this morning. I've made breakfast, lunch and tea with snacks and drinks inbetween and they've entertained themselves all day with the X box, the pool, darts and badminton.
The boys that came called me Ma'am, despite my insitance they call me Suzanne and were very polite. They are all South African from birth and have lived here all their lives.....but there was one thing that drove me mad and in the end I sat them down and we talked about the differences between South Africa and England....you see they all have Maids and while their Parents are at work during the school holidays, the maids look after them, they come and go during the day, she fixes them and all their friends lunch and she tidies up after them.....the boys were so messy, not toys etc but with their food, they spilt drinks and left it there, they dropped food on the stairs where they were walking around...they weren't rude, they weren't lazy they just didn't realise what they were doing.....so when I explained I was the maid here and I'd looked after them all day would they mind helping me to tidy up?......no problem, they swept, they mopped and they picked up all the rubbish off the floor, they laughed and messed around and we actually had fun....loads of thank you Suzanne for having us, can we come back tomorrow?.....NO...I don't want to see you all till Monday..but I know they'll be back, as I heard them say to Alex, you're Mum is so cool, we need to come back and finish off the cake...to which Alex replied....she wouldn't be cool if she was your Mum..I let him off...it's his birthday.