HM

Hello, folks!  Here in England, HM stands for "Her Majesty," but in this blog, it stands for my current job title, "House Manager."

After the first four days of living in this newly wed life, I found myself settling quickly into a 'housewife' role.  While Lee was away at work, I cleaned, vacuumed, and washed the dishes in the mornings.  At about one o'clock, I took a trip to the nearest shops I knew of to purchase things on the house master list.  Around five o'clock everyday, I started cooking dinner--a dinner which I mentally prepared for all day.  This soon became very mind-numbing, so I needed to create new challenges and discover new parts of Preston, thus the creation of the HM, house manager.

Since I'm currently unemployed with applications floating around for a teaching assistant position, I needed to create duties to stick to during the weekdays.  Of these duties, the daily housework category was created:  mundane cleaning, organising, and washing.  Since I am home all day, essentially, there is no reason that Lee shouldn't be welcomed home from work with a spotless house.  It's not much effort, and it's a small way of making someone else happy.  Some people may think of this as sexist because I'm doing the housework, but there really isn't a reason that the house shouldn't be squeaky clean if I'm home for hours on end and physically able to make this happen.

After the daily housework, then comes the exploration category:  finding ways to make our lives more efficient in Preston.  For instance, I discovered that we live only one mile away from a grocery store called Lidl, similar to Aldi.  So now instead of walking three miles to Aldi, we've got a food source much closer.  There are many bonus general stores surrounding this 'new' grocery store which also help in collecting items off of the master shopping list--lamps, kitchen utensils, decorations, and so on.  I've also discovered new pathways to familiar places which cut down on travel time--very helpful when carrying the 'save the planet' grocery bags home.  In fact, for Lee's walks to his weekly soccer (football, in England) games, we Googled a way to travel there and it estimated a walking time of 32 minutes.  Well, with a 'secret way' along the River Darwen, he can make it in 23 minutes.  Success.

With my new title, I have found much more enjoyment of my surroundings and can cope more easily with being alone during the days.  I'm getting to know the local shop workers and most of them are very friendly, even taking the time to hold a conversation every time they see me.  The added pleasure of the weather of late has made life much cheerier, as well.  There have been rainy moments, but for the most part the brisk, refreshing autumn temperature is settling and the sun keeps showing itself through minimal clouds.  There was even a rainbow on Tuesday while Lee and I were walking through town!

Now, as house manager, I must also learn to toughen-up a bit because not everyday is filled with rainbows and lollipops.  I have to protect myself and my purchases from the shops back to our house.  For instance, when I am walking through town and cut down a 'secret way,' I sometimes pass a group of boys that don't look exactly chummy.  Out of pure instinct, I have created what I refer to as my 'knife face.'  It's a look without a smile and a bit of a glare as if to say, "I've been places.  I know people.  Yous bettah keep yah distance," with a New Jersey dialect.  I've never been confronted, and I accredit the knife face for this.

But, in any job, there are occurrences which happen that are out of the employee's control.  Last Saturday night, Lee and I returned home from a really fun day trip in Manchester.  We were completely worn out (knackered, in England) and so we just plopped on the couch and turned on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on Lee's laptop.  We were sitting in the living room with the light on, the door to the kitchen was wide open, and the light in the kitchen was off, only revealing dark shadows of a table and chairs.  After about one minute of relaxing, I was 99% sure that I saw a small circular shadow move from the right side of the kitchen floor to the left, toward the refrigerator.  I whispered to Lee, "Ithinksomething'sinthekitchen!" and grabbed his arm, not blinking and staring straight ahead.  As usual, Lee remained calm, but I think it's because he didn't listen to me.  I was right.  So, I said again, "Lee.  I.  Think.  Something's.  In.  The.  Kitchen."  We stopped the episode and Lee walked toward the kitchen, flicked on the light, and moved a box we had leftover from the microwave.  THEN I SAW IT!  A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE!  I screamed and jumped on the couch in one instant, and then Lee walked out of the kitchen, shut the door, and joined me on the couch--standing as well.  So there we were, two adults, standing on a couch, hugging each other for support at about ten o'clock on a Saturday night--and neither of us wanted to face the creature.  After some quick-thinking, Lee said that he would go back into the kitchen to find it and I encouraged him to open the back door and let it run outside.  He moved the microwave box and other recycling items to the back patio, in case the monster was inside.  All I could see and hear were shadows from under the kitchen door and the squeaks from Lee's shoes, which I mistook for mouse noises and these made me squeal in terror again.  Lee came back to the living room and said he thought the mouse might have been in one of the boxes because he heard a 'squeak' when he threw it outside.  That wasn't too reassuring because I wanted to see the mouse outside for sure, but I wasn't about to go look for it.  So, I decided to go and find a mousetrap at Tesco (up the road).  They didn't have any mousetraps, and neither did the 15 other stores that were open at that hour of night.  When I returned home, Lee and I just camped out in the living room until the next morning when we could buy mice bait and duct tape.  Mice bait, you can understand, but the duct tape was what Lee wanted to use to seal the hole he discovered behind the refrigerator and to adhere a loose board under the cabinets.  Parts of our kitchen now look like a boy scout's failed attempt at a DIY Activity Badge, but I am thankful that Lee was brave enough to face the wild animal and to place the bait.  I can manage everything else in the house, I think, but not any mealy, little rodents.

Thanks for reading!  There aren't any new photos this week, but I'll post some of the interior of the house next week.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.