Rare post these days

It has been quite a while since MrGrumpy has posted to the blog, he has been quite busy and generally quite ungrumpy (ish).
Today is his last day at work for this year, littleMissNaughty and MrGrumpy head up to SFO on Monday and back to the UK for Xmas.
It has been several years since MrGrumpy has traveled so little, he has been constantly in the US since early April, no flight, therefore no airports to annoy him, this may all change on Monday, he hopes not...

MrGrumpy and the small room...

As many of you know, MrGrumpy and DIY don't really mix, but the new home is in need of some updating. LittleMissNaughty thought it would be a good idea to start of with a simple little project...

The project was to update the smallest room in the house, yes the downstairs loo...
So LittleMissNaughty began by removing all the things from the walls and the getting the paper off, all well and good so far.

This is where MrGrumpy then took over, he removed the vinyl flooring (which left quite a bit of it's backing on the concrete), also when removing the flooring there seemed to be some kind of plant like growth around the toilet base... Only when he removed the toilet did he find that there were tiny roots finding there way up around the inch gap between the outlet pipe and the concrete... "oh what joy" he thought (or words to that effect).

The outlet connector was not in great shape, it was not flush with the floor so MrGrumpy decided that had to be replaced, several YouTube moments later... he hacked through the ABS plastic and managed to remove the existing connector without breaking anything else.

Skipping over several trips and to HomeDepot and various other DIY stores... All that remained in the room was the Vanity unit, the light and the fan.

To be continued...

Follow the White Rabbit...

MrGrumpy and LittleMissNaughty have followed  MrWhiteRabbit, they saw him whilst looking at a home for sale and now after a few weeks of not knowing where they were, they have moved in...

The very same day they moved in, MrWhiteRabbit appeared in the yard as if to welcome them and confirm they had made the right choice (only time will tell on that one...)

Down the rabbit hole...

With LittleMissNaughty now in the US, it has been a very busy time for MrGrumpy. Between them they have sorted out quite a few items.

LittleMissNaughty is now driving around and has just received her SSN, so can, when she wants apply for her driving licence / ID card.

MrGrumpy has said farewell to the trusty old Mustang and replaced it with another Ford, an Explorer, generally more practical, but may struggle to transport a 60" LCD as easily as the Mustang did.

Year One...

Well MrGrumpy has now been in the USA for one year, it does not seem anywhere near that long. Even though he and LittleMissNaughty have been apart the time has just flown by.

Today the shipping container which left the UK a few weeks ago has entered the San Francisco Bay and will be docked in the next couple of hours.
In just a couple of weeks LittleMissNaughty will be on a flight over to join MrGrumpy for the start of their new adventure, reunited and living in the USA.

the grinch who stole Monday's (and Tuesdays)

It will be Wednesday in about 30mins and half way through another week... how does that happen...

Double Century

This is post # 200 on MrGrumpy's blog, OK not daily updates, but quite a few, many more than he expected to manage.

Today MrGrumpy went to a Custom and Hot Rod car show, it was a nice day out, hot and sunshine, just the way he likes it. Of cause he has returned with a burnt neck (at least he remembered to wear a hat and shades).

MrGrumpy only has 5 more weeks before LittleMissNaughty joins him, he is really looking forward to her arriving and they can start returning to some form of normal life. It will take a while even when she arrives as they have to look for somewhere to live.

MrGrumpy goes for a walk

After working late on Saturday, MrGrumpy decided to take a walk, to the bar, in LosGatos. He has cycled this several times. It does seem to be much further when walking, anyway it was a nice warm day so he did it anyway.
When in LosGatos he had a couple in the Brewery before wandering about trying to decide what to eat,  he ended up choosing a Chicken Tikka wrap (which was very tasty), then onto the Scottish bar next door (which was strangely full of green and shamrocks because it was MrStPatricks day).
After a few more beers MrGrumpy decided it was time to head back, the journey back took even longer, finally he made it back and then nodded off on the sofa for a couple of hours.
When he woke, he looked at the time, 7:30, it was semi light and for a few moments he thought it was 7:30am and he had slept all night on the sofa. Luckily is was 7:30pm and it was just getting dark...

Here we go again

Well MrGrumpy was intending on playing Golf today, but was headed off by work, he ended up inside all day and evening (it was sunny outside)

Why would you

MrGrumpy does question his sanity, why would you move 5000+ miles from friends and family to work from 8am to midnight?
OK not every day, or even every week, but more times this year than most people would do in a lifetime...
Well why... Who knows, he just feels that LittleMissNaughy and MrGrumpy are destined to spend some while on the west coast of the USA and this is the price he has to pay.

After the rain has gone

MrGrumpy had an early night, he had managed to stay awake long enough to have a meal with MrWhiteSox before driving back in the rain.
By the morning, after a decent nights sleep (only woke once which he is pleased about) he headed into the office for 8am, unlike in Cambridge, he only needed his shades and a t-shirt, no jacket required...
He is hoping that the weather will allow him to cycle to work again, not that it has been really bad, but it is much nicer when the mornings are light and not cold.

The Alien has landed

MrGrumpy has returned to the USA, also today all his and LittleMissNaughty's worldly goods should have been loaded onto a ship and starting their journey to the USA (hopefully to arrive in early April).

Busy Busy Busy

Since returning to the USA, MrGrumpy and MrGrumpier have been working almost non stop, late nights and early mornings, even struggling to use MrGrumpier's free beer tokens.

Looks like he will be returning to the UK (for work) quicker than he expected, at least this will enable him to help LittleMissNaughty to finalise the items to ship to the US.

Back in the USA

After what seems to be ages, MrGrumpy has returned to the USA, he was only away in the UK for little over two weeks but with his Christmas vacation almost immediately before it, it seems like he has not been in the US for quite a long time.

At least upon his return it seems to have warmed up, it was nice and warm while he was waiting for the train from the airport yesterday.

The Vacation / Christmas / Visting friends and family has taken its toll on his diet and exercise, he has been set back a little, not too much but enough for him to notice...

New Year, New Stuff

MrGrumpy's next year will be very different... he really hope that LittleMissNaughty and him have made the right decision... either way there is no turning back now...

Breakfast in America will continue (maybe not quite as frequent updates as it was originally)...

MrGrumpy would like to thank everybody in the UK for their support and encouragement...