Thursday, October 11, 2012

Something for Rose to read on a dismal Spring day.

The rain washed away my best excuse for not blogging today. I was going to paint our brand new, picked-up-from-the-road shed door but alas! the weatherman says it's going to be [and I quote here] "dramatic weather" the next few days. If it hails, which it hasn't in years, Cushion will rabbit on about how we don't have a garage and the car and bike which live on the street will be pockmarked and devalued and of course, it'll be my fault for insisting on buying a tiny house with no parking. He just cleaned the car too and, yesterday, polished the bike. How long would a normal person take to do this? I don't know. Cushion took a day each. So long, he had to drag out a little stool to sit on, right there in the sort-of-middle of the road. Good thing we live on a short and quiet street.


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We're almost done spring cleaning, organizing and clearing excess stuff now. Only chemicals, cleaners and paints left to sort and dispose of properly. Even the curtains and random dusty Indian buntings have been washed and now smell of Softly. The house feels so light and I'm awfully happy. Just my luck no tradie will be turning up this week.

Some things were surprisingly hard to give away, like Rufus's stripper.
And his industrial strength hair dryer.
 Oh, the backaches brushing, bathing and drying that boy gave us! I don't miss that one bit.

Random brushes, leads, collars and food bowls that belonged to him and Jordan. 
Silly, the memories that are attached to everyday things.

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Dear Rose, remember how I promised pictures of Our Little Shed one day? Here it is. I suspect it was a dunny before.

A month ago.

Now!
Many poor spiders had to relocate that day and, I'm sad to say, I think many more got sucked into the vacuum cleaner.
I just need a good day or 2 now, to sand back and paint the recycled door that Cushion put up.

As for The Underground. You've seen what it looked like in its splendour days. Here's what it looks like now. 


"I can walk right to the back! Can you see me? It's a miracle!"

"Say, can this be my den?"

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Hey, Ms C! Remember how Cushion promised he'd make me a new water feature, back in, let's see.....April?
He made 2! 



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In other exciting news from the home front! Georgia's Spanish is improving! I can almost give her commands without signing now, and I talk to to her in my i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.y. s.l.o.w. g.a.r.b.l.e.d.b.r.o.k.e.n. Spanish as much as I can. Cushion reckons her vocabulary is better than his. He could be right. I need more words for her! and will have to corner Mister Pablo soon.

Every morning, I wake up at 6, google Learn Spanish sites and flick through my trusty but not very good diccionario. I will have to get a better one the next time I'm in the city. When Cushion and Georgia finally wake up [they are sleeping in more and more these days, being retired], I go downstairs to make our coffee, naming objects along the way. 
             Escalera. 
                                    Mesa. 
                                                      CafĂ© con leche. 
                            Cucharilla. 
                                                                Fregadero de concina. Struth and aiyaiyai! Surely there must be an easier way to say kitchen sink?

I do the same at the supermarket and on the street. Yesterday, on my way to the gym and while waiting at the street corner for the little green man to pop up, I looked up at the clock tower and tried to tell time. By the time I figured it out, a minute had passed and the little green man was beckoning. I don't know. I could be getting a reputation as The Mad Woman, but I read on a forum that talking to your pets and yourself is a totally valid method of learning a new language. Who am I to disagree? If nothing else, it's a lot cheaper than going to proper classes.

What The Old Man had to say that day.
Uncanny.


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Off to youtube some Spanish music now. Apparently, you guessed it! it's another great way to learn a new language.   Any songs to recommend? I like soppy ones.

Have a great rest of the week! X
 Goodbye orchids and jasmine for another year! Thank you for not dying on me like those bloody weakling herbs.




41 comments:

verobirdie said...

You should try Radiolingua.com they have lots of free podcasts to learn languages . I use them for Spanish...yes, I.m learning Spanish from English. Why make things easy?

georgia little pea said...

That's funny Vero. WHY aren't you learning from French? Hmmm. I shall check your tip! I tried the linguaphone system with Portuguese and totally failed. Want to write and try commenting in Espanol? If nothing else, it'll be good for a laugh :)

Rose ~ from Oz said...

G'day Typist, you got inspired afterall! I appreciated your efforts as I needed a good read considering how miserable its been up here all day. Even have a fire going for goodness sake. Of course I hadn't forgotten you were going to showcase your Shedunn one day - it's the cutest little thing and doooo paint the door glossy fire engine red (please)
I'm awfully impressed with what the three of you have achieved! Ms Pea sure looks impressed too. Haha all that cleaning and polishing - bring on the tradies hey?! No cobwebs or mountains of furballs in sight. Oh dear all the doggie stuff made me sad though.
Do those gorgeous orchids have an equally divine perfume?
You need to get a photo of the wise old fella who puts up the chalk board sayings. :)
Hmm, I feel a little bullied now to do a post too.
Oh, and what's Pro Plan? puppy supplement?
tien una gran semana, muchos abrazos.
(just giving a helping hand)
xx

georgia little pea said...

Hey Neighbour, the sun came out in the arvo, just for a while. Nasty day otherwise but nothing dramatic (yet).

I was thinking red too, to go with the house. But the only gloss we have in The Underground is dark green, what I painted the gutters and downpipes. So that'll have to do. Incredibly, the spiders are back in the study and bedroom. My god, they're industrious. The orchids have a very light perfume. I'll try to get a pic of the old man, you're not the first one to question his existence LOL. Proplan was what we used to feed Jordan and Rufus before we upgraded to organic for The Princess.

Tu habla Espanol! Why didn't you say? Teach me please!

Rose ~ from Oz said...

No no Typist I can't teach you anything (honestly really):(
I worked with someone a lifetime ago who was spanish, and I just remembered the hugs bit in spanish but had to google the correct way to say 'have a nice week'.
I've always thought it a beautiful language and way back then I could have really got into it if she hadn't left.

Declan said...

Oh this year I'm off to sunny Spain
Y Viva Espana
I'm taking the Costa Brava plane
Y Viva Espana
If you'd like to check a matador
In sun cool Cabana
And lead senoritas by the score
Espana por favor

Not really very helpful is it? Sorry... Deccy x

3 doxies said...

Okays ya'll just put my mum to shame withs all da hard work yall has done. Heck, she's doin' good to get ONE load of laundry done every few days.
Dat looks like it was kinda bitter sweet to get rid of da stuffs dat belonged to Rufus. Maybe I is just sentimentals though...or a hoarder.

I thinks Miss Georgia needs a teevee fur her new den...can you get on dat fur hers right quick?

Puddles

Jean said...

A new post from Georgia and the Typist is a great way to start my day! Yay!
Organizing my little shed is on my agenda for my next "full dry day with no commitments", which I think is next Tuesday if it isn't raining. Previous owner put up weird little shelves in awkward places, so I need to pull everything out to make some changes first before I can sort and organize. And paint my shed door, which all peeled off last winter.
I started to take Spanish by correspondence in my last year of high school. I was also taking French, a subject in which I usually got top marks, for my fourth of fifth year. I dropped the Spanish when I inadvertently wrote a lot of the French exam in Spanish and nearly failed it. I'm no multi-lingual multi-tasker!
Buenos revoir. Au dias. Whatever. :)
Or, as Eddie would say: "WOOF".

houndstooth said...

I bet there are some fun podcasts about learning Spanish! I think it would be hard for me to leave after all that cleaning and decluttering. It's like having a new house!

georgia little pea said...

Bummer, Rose. Okay, I'll let you off then :)

Deccy - you continental dogs are so lucky, having your own passport and travelling here and there on public transport. JEALOUS! But NO matadors, por favor!

Puddles - we're not usually THIS clean and hardworking LOL. Feels good though, now that it's done.

That's hilarious, Jean! I can believe you did that because it's happening to me with Portuguese and Spanish. I speak fluent Pornish! BWAH haha! That doesn't sound good somehow. How lovely that on the other side of the world, we have the same plan for our sheds. Georgia says WOOF back. Actually, she said, "Buenos Dias, Eddie!" Yeah right :)

Bunny's mama -we'll be enjoying the house for at least another year or 2. Cleaning it out was just a good place to start. I googled the podcasts last night! You have to pay for them! That sort of rules them out for me then LOL.




Olivia & Petey said...

Hello GLP and Typist!

What's a dunny? Your Little Shed looks wonderful and so does GLP in it! Kudos to her on learning Spanish.

georgia little pea said...

Hey Olivia and Petey! A dunny is an outdoor toilet which is what old houses had. This house was built around 1908. Might be the same in NYC?

Anonymous said...



Amazing what you can stuff into those old dunnies - and the weatehr IS dramatic to say the least.

Both of us used Babbel to learn or re learn some basic french before we left and it's cheap, well laid out and corrects your pronounciation. go check it out.

Rose ~ from Oz said...

Here in the foothills of the Liverpool Range it is 5 degrees (so they say) (brrrr) and snow is falling to 1000 mtrs, but it feels like snow out there on our higher hills. When it clears we'll know. It's windy and feels like the wind chill factor is -0. Brrrrrrr.

Oskar said...

It sounds like a very busy home you have!

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

georgia little pea said...

Grrl - you guys have set me off googling all sorts of free and paid online lessons this morning. So many options, so confusing!

Rose - I just came back from the shops. BRRRRRRR! The wind is Antarctic!

Hello Oskar! Yes, we're frightfully busy at the moment. It doesn't happen so often, thankfully :)

What Remains Now said...

Wow-wee! This is wonderful decluttering AND mastering a new language. Enjoy the success! I just finished looking at vacation pictures where the extra 25 pounds I've put on since starting menopause is horribly evident. The good thing...maybe I'll start taking care of myself and quit blaming menopause for my weight gain.

Olivia & Petey said...

I had a feeling that was what a dunny was :)
Do you ever call them outhouses?
When I was a kid we had au pairs and they were always French. Alors, our basset hound could understand "Je vais promener le chien" :)
As always, very jolly to hear from you!

georgia little pea said...

HAHA Lori! I blame menopause for everything. Definitely it has something to do with MY weight gain. I refuse to believe it has anything to do with the copious amounts of cream and cake that I ingest every week.

Olivia, I had to google that! Makes me wonder if there's some kind of Guinness book record for number of languages a dog understands. Yes! An outhouse. Exactamente! :p

Karen Friesecke said...

Yay for Roadside Recycling!! I have a ton of great stuff that I found on garbage day. Can't wait to see the painted door!

Jan said...

We miss living in a place with roadside recycling. We have exchanged many things over the years, but our present city thinks the whole idea is trashy. Duh.

Amy said...

Nice work on all the cleaning up! You must feel so much lighter. I love the pictures of the flowers.

booahboo said...

Wow... you guys sure make a good cleaning pair :) i sure hope both of you can come over here when you are done there and help me clear my debris.

I love GLP's own lil den :) she feels so at home.

ru gonna paint the door in a bright blast of colors... or just the safe colors? once we did an aprt for a friend.. we painted each door in her small aprt in a bright color.. there was yellow... blue.. orange... green and pink *LOL*... it was easy reference too.. if you wanna direct some ppl somewhere.. its been almost 10 yrs.. the colors are still same ole same ole on the doors.. still bright as eva.

give us some soppy songs will ya...

miss you guys.. and i was just wanna tell you that i've used one of my bonfim wishes for a lil kitty.

*HUGs* thanks so much for the colors of bonfim.

chandra said...

Every shed needs a puerta and every shed owner needs a key ring with a vaca on it!

I love your water features!!! Gracias for including them - they halted my waterworks that were about to start over Rufus and Jordan's items.

Adios jasmine!
-c at ddy.

georgia little pea said...

Karen and Jan - we even have trash or treasure days when we can put things out to swop. It's one thing our council is good at. This door though, Cushion picked up from a house that's being renovated. There was a pile headed for the skip :)

Amy - we're nowhere near as minimalist as you, but it's a good start!

Miss you too, Anny! Glad you had time to swing by. I hope the kitty's wishes come true. I know a good home must be one of them :)

OMG Chandra! Entiendo tu! Let's see, la puerta will be verde. Yo no creo you managed to see the vaca on the llave! Soy muy feliz con el agua features tambien. Gracias por ayudarme con mi Espanol :D Espero that made sense! Abrazos fuerte X

Friko said...

Blimey, you are serious about this Spanish lark. Poor Georgia.
But I am in awe of your clearing out expertise; clearing out sheds and garage and garden corners is taking us an age; we also have to take everything to the dump in the next town, lots of trips by car.

Kirsten (peacefuldog) said...

That's just too cool you're learning Spanish, and in fun ways. The best way I found to learn Spanish was riding on the chicken buses in Guatemala with families of 6 sitting in my lap and asking me how old I was and whether I was married and if they could have my diccionario.

They made us sing Eres Tu for my elementary graduation, you might enjoy learning that one.

georgia little pea said...

Friko - we just got lucky. Council did a scheduled household items pick up from the kerb a couple of weeks back. Otherwise, we would have had to make several trips to the tip ourselves. The scavengers helped a lot too. I suspect our house, shed and yard are VERY VERY much smaller than yours!

Kirsten - that sounds like a dream Spanish class. LOL. I love Eres Tu! It's on my playlist :)

booahboo said...

i forgot to tell you this.. Cushion did a great job with the water feature.. and you have two done.. which is awesome. I remember when you blogged about it.. we thought we'll never get to see the water feature.. hehhehee.. Great work Mr Cushion!

georgia little pea said...

Dear Ms Oon, I almost deleted your comment. I didn't want Cushion to read it and get a big head :p x

Sage said...

You've done such a good job sorting and tossing. I hope this inspires me to tackle the mess in our garage so maybe I can one day get the car in.

How Sam Sees It said...

You have been busy!

Sam

booahboo said...

If his head does get bigger... from pride... its a good thing :) and you might have a few more water features in the garden pretty soon :D a win win situation i think.

Barb said...

Well, I agree that the shed is neat enough to use as a den. I talk to myself all the time, but mostly in my head (and usually in English). I'm still pondering what the old man wrote.

georgia little pea said...

Sage - you're funny! Does that mean your car lives on the street too?

Yes Sam!

No Anny! That's never good :p

Barb - The sign could have been even more meaningful for me if it'd read... "I grew on cream cake".

Pup Fan said...

Looks like some great progress!

yuki and rocket said...

The strange thing with me and the Spanish language is I understand it, but when someone is speaking to me in Spanish, I have to answer back in English. My big problem is remembering all of the verb conjugations, so that really holds me back on carrying on a conversation beyond being able to order something or asking the price of something. I was always told a good way to learn Spanish is to watch the Spanish soap operas, (telenovelas). As for music in Spanish, I like the song 'la camisa negra' by Juanes.

georgia little pea said...

Yuki and Rocket - I just learnt the meaning of the word conjugation a few days ago. Mi dios! I can't EVER see myself doing it. I'm jealous that you understand the language. I hope I get there one day soonish. Thanks for the song! I can't seem to find any I like so far. I know there must be something out there other than Gipsy Kings, Shakira, Enrigue, Ricky and Marc :p

sonia a. mascaro said...

I always love seeing Georgia photos!

I think that maybe will be usefull if you visit some Spanish blogs.
I have a nice friend named Pizarro from Badajoz, Spain. His link is:
http://pizarroguarena.blogspot.com.br/

Beijos,
Sonia.

Kristine said...

Wow, Spanish. That's very cool. I guess this means Georgia is tri-lingual?

georgia little pea said...

Kristine - you had me stumped for a bit! Clever doggy arf arf.