Strange things you're not used to

[*julez* 124]

make me

[StillThePrettiest 4]

*puts all julez's's paperwork in a create*

*ships create to USCIS marked 'please delay indefinitely'*

you were saying?

[Jeraly 4]

there might be some diversity in Texas, but there's nowhere near the diversity there is in England, and I've lived in both places now, so will brook no argument

don't eat fried chicken, so can't answer that question... we've found a few non-chains, including the place we got tonight's FAAAAABulous Vietnamese sandwiches (3 for $8! $4 for each person! can't get much better than that ) but it's a bit of a struggle...

I also hate the way tax isn't included in the ticket prices! just stupid

and yeah, I can't get used to the non-metric system... I'm constantly asking Dave how many cups in a quart, or how many pints in two gallons, or some such... sort of used to temperatures, but under protest... writing the date backwards is just DUMB, and the paper sizes annoy me too! nothing's logical... and I can't get any of my pictures framed because they're 'non-standard sizes'... (I wanted to tell the girl in the shop they were standard for every country in the world bar the US, Myanmar and Libya, or whichever are the only other two remaining countries which haven't gone metric, but thought it would sound sour and mean when it wasn't HER fault )

we tend to buy veges and fruit once a week, and I find it almost all lasts... I'm not sure why it lasts so well; I get a bit suspicious, but it IS all fresh (I dislike most canned or frozen veg) so I just have to accept it

I've started growing some of my own in little pots on the window sill... I've got rocket and some other lettuces going well, and have just planted some extra herbs, and some roma tomatoes

and we paid $109 for our electricity (3 bedroom house in Houston) in June B)

I was aiming for under $100 in July, but it ended up being $133... I was all disappointed, until I looked at the fine print, and realised the price for kilowatt hour had gone up by almost 40%... so we actually used less, but still paid more

oh well, it's 100% green power, so I'm not THAT annoyed... just a little

no progress on the recycling thing

but we DO have funky in-ceiling speakers, which are playing my fave Australian radio station as I type (ah, the wonders of the modern world!) so SOME things are moving forward

oh, and I'm working (strictly voluntarily) three days a week, so that's good

(and explains my absence from here recently )

Wow - cheap electricity!! Ours comes to over $100 a month and we have a tiny one bedroom apartment - and can only afford to run one AC unit at a time Not fun in the desert... we get a discount as well because of all the windmills but it is still really expensive *sigh* Winter is going to be like winning the lottery!!!

I think the fridges work better here - I noticed that when I put salad in the bottom bit, it keeps it fresh for ages! The only thing that doesn't keep too well by comparison are the tomatoes that go a little wrinkly

As for growing things... well - that is a whole new ball game in the desert... my plumeria is doing ok I think - I thought I was killing it but it seems ok now it dropped a couple of leaves - now the top leaves are green and look healthy but aren't really getting any bigger... oh well... I guess no progress is better than it dying - maybe it's concentrating on putting out roots as it is a cutting... I have a pachira and neanthe bella inside but both are going crispy - I've been watering them but that didn't help so I stopped watering so much and that doesn't help either... *sigh* Now I know why there are so many gardeners in Palm Springs and why cacti are commonplace - the two I have haven't been touched since re-potting and are doing fine

[*julez* 124]

All my papers are already in a create just waiting for the next immigration hurdle!

In fact, right now, lots of my personal effects are in creates as we're still unpacking. I am impervious to your wicked ways! B)

[Jeraly 4]

*sigh*

why do people insist on taking TBone seriously? it only encourages him

[StillThePrettiest 4]

*fills all julez's's creates with mayonnaise*

you were saying?

Wow - cheap electricity!!

hmm, I feel all slighted!

it's not that cheap - mid range for here; about 19c per kilowatt hour - I put our low bills down to my energy saving ways

we don't have an electric clothes dryer - it's one of my pet hates that in a part of the country which is as hot as Hades and everyone has a massive backyard everyone wrecks the environment by running electric dryers for hours, so I refuse to have one, and hang all our washing out, on the back patio on the sunny days (99% of the time) and in the spare room when it's rainy (today )

apparently hanging clothes outside is 'trailer trash', but I thumb my nose at that... what a crock; we all have a duty to do better environmentally, and that's one thing that's easy (here, at least, though I also managed to dry my clothes in an 8ft by 7ft bedroom in London, so I suspect it's possible anywhere )

and I keep the aircon at 84 or 85... occasionally we put it lower, if we're really feeling it, but otherwise we just don't need to live in a fridge

we're pretty good with other things too, but those are our main savings, I think... a guy in our subdivision told us he paid $570 for electricity in June

I just... couldn't work out how you could do that...

Edited August 20, 2008 by StillThePrettiest

[Krikit 1,166]

crate create

otherwise we just don't need to love in a fridge

Too late! We know what you're doing now.

[KingCan 0]

Where I'm from, we put the pepperonis under the cheese and not on top!

[StillThePrettiest 4]

henc henc

I always typo 'love' for 'live'! I've lost count of how many times I've referred to the 'loving room'

(which is, of course, far less interesting than you might think )

damn your quickness, Krikit! I thought I'd caught that in time

Edited August 20, 2008 by StillThePrettiest

[*julez* 124]

krikit, the "create" is an inside joke for us July 07 filers....there was one member who consistently spelled crate "CREATE"....she was so indignant thet VSC was messing with her life by keeping her petition in a CREATE indefinitely! So we just keep beating it to death, just for fun!

[StillThePrettiest 4]

wha? it's NOT spelled that way?

[*julez* 124]

go back to your own CREATE StP....stop messing with our *LIVES*

[Jeraly 4]

Wow - cheap electricity!!

hmm, I feel all slighted!

it's not that cheap - mid range for here; about 19c per kilowatt hour - I put our low bills down to my energy saving ways

we don't have an electric clothes dryer - it's one of my pet hates that in a part of the country which is as hot as Hades and everyone has a massive backyard everyone wrecks the environment by running electric dryers for hours, so I refuse to have one, and hang all our washing out, on the back patio on the sunny days (99% of the time) and in the spare room when it's rainy (today )

apparently hanging clothes outside is 'trailer trash', but I thumb my nose at that... what a crock; we all have a duty to do better environmentally, and that's one thing that's easy (here, at least, though I also managed to dry my clothes in an 8ft by 7ft bedroom in London, so I suspect it's possible anywhere )

and I keep the aircon at 84 or 85... occasionally we put it lower, if we're really feeling it, but otherwise we just don't need to live in a fridge

we're pretty good with other things too, but those are our main savings, I think... a guy in our subdivision told us he paid $570 for electricity in June

I just... couldn't work out how you could do that...

I totally refuse to use a dryer as well - we don't have our own washer so we have one on site that costs $1 a time - it's something less for us to have on the bill at least... as for setting an AC temperature... wow - I wish we had that luxury!!! We have one unit in the wall at the back, and one unit in the wall at the front. No thermostat. It's either on or off - we can change it to high/low fan/cool and it has a thermostat setting numbered 1-9 but anything lower than 9 a) makes no difference to our bill and B) means the house heats up to insane levels of heat

We do have central air but it makes conversation virtually impossible as it is so loud (no joke - it is like someone vacuuming in the same room as you throughout the house) and also somehow generates humidity so even though it is slightly cooler than before, it still feels sticky and horrible. It scares the b'jeezus out of the cat

I can't wait til I get a job, we get enough money for a deposit on a house and find somewhere to live that we own - there are so many things I would love to do to this place but we're not able to

[StillThePrettiest 4]

*adds oyster sauce to mayo*

*stirs*

[Marilyn. 340]

our electric bill is about 40 to 60 bucks a month in the summer and around 20 bucks in the winter, higher int he summer because if the AC which I only turn on later in the afternoon but I do have our fan going most of the day.. and our gas bill is around 20 bucks in the summer and about 40 bucks in the winter... higher int he winter because of the gas heat...