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Category Archives: home

adiós central heating?

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by azahar in cats, home, sevilla, spain, weather

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

cats, home, winter


Although at first I was thrilled about finally having central heating and air-conditioning in the new casa az, after one and a half winters here I’m not sure I can afford such luxury. And although I’m not actually sure if this new method will prove any more economical, it’s worth a go. To wit… I have opted to try using a wall-mounted electric space heater and an oil-filled electric radiator in my livingroom (which is really the only room that needs heating during the day) to see if that makes a difference. I used both of these in the old casa az, but there I was able to close off the living room, though I didn’t have double-glazed windows. As you can see, Luna is very keen to show her appreciation for anything that gives off heat.

It’s weird because back in Canada, and even when I lived in England, it was just a given that you had to pay crazy amounts of money to stay warm in winter. I think because here an extra sweater or scarf can actually make a real difference – even in mid-January – it’s often preferable to do that than pay more. Gone are those -30º days when I would walk around my carpeted Canadian home barefoot and in short sleeves. And good thing too, because that was just stupid (come to think of it). It’s not so much the extra sweaters I mind, it’s that first getting out of bed moment, that from now until February will just get more and more painful.

How do you stay warm in winter without cranking up the heat?

lap cat

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by azahar in animals & pets, cats, change, home, life stuff

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cats, change, home

Lots of changes happen when, well, when things change. For example, now that Azar is no longer draped over my legs when I am in my comfy chair either reading or watching tv… Loki has decided to become a lap cat. And frankly, I love it! Especially now that it’s getting colder. He just cuddles up and starts purring and there are even fleeting moments when I forget to miss Azar. Likewise, now that Azar is no longer sleeping on my head, Luna has started sneaking under the duvet to snuggle up for the night. It’s so endearing and it reminds me of when Azar first started trusting me enough to do that. So yeah, the bottom line is that I still miss Azar so much that it’s a constant ache in my heart, but these two young’uns help me smile every day and help me remember how lucky I am.

perilous pants

22 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by azahar in health & happiness, home

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

sprained foot, stupid accidents

This sounds like the title of one of alejna’s pants posts but it turns out I do have perilous pants. And a sprained foot. Of course if it hadn’t been raining and I hadn’t been seriously squiffy my pants might not have got the better of me…

Yesterday I went out at lunchtime to meet my friends Annie and Eduardo for the first installment of a Tapeo Extremo (a term coined by Annie on our first mega tapas crawl together just over two years ago) and I wore a new pair of linen trousers. One thing led to another and when I was finally walking home around 1 am I suddenly found myself flat on my back on the wet pavement. I thought I’d slipped on the slick surface until I got home and discovered that the one of the trouser hems had partially come down. So this has to be one of the stupidest accidents ever – tripping on my own pants!

What’s the stupidest accident you’ve ever had?

head to head

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by azahar in animals & pets, cats, home

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cats, home

[click to biggify]

We all know that Loki is a Big Boy, but I still do a double take when I see him and Luna together like this – check out the difference in head size! Of course size isn’t everything as Luna is far and away the more clever and cunning of the two, but there is also something to be said for being a clunky and lovable galoot. I sure wouldn’t mind being Loki for a day every now and then.

ikea redux

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by azahar in home

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

bed, customer service, home, IKEA

[IKEA guys at work under the watchful eye of Loki]

I was looking forward to today with mixed emotions. First of all I was thrilled that IKEA finally agreed to send someone to fix the wonky drawers, but since their solution had been to replace the entire bed frame I wasn’t looking forward to having most of my morning/afternoon disrupted. Also, when I spoke to them last Friday the conversation went something like this…

IKEA: Based on the report we received it looks like we are going to have to replace the bed frame, and since you didn’t pay for installation you will have to pay for this now.
Me: I don’t think so… (there was more, much much more, to what I replied to this, as you can imagine)
[pause while I was put on hold]
IKEA: Okay, Ms Hennessey, we will bring you a new bed frame and install it for you, but first you will have to dismantle the original bed frame and have it ready to be removed.
Me: You know what? I don’t think so. I spent TWO DAYS putting that bed frame together and I am not about to take it apart because it’s flawed and you have to replace it. As it stands I am going to have to lose another day waiting for IKEA to show up and then who-knows-how-long while everything is dealt with. I have already lost enough time… (and quite a bit more in that vein)
[pause while I was put on hold]
IKEA: Don’t worry Ms Hennessey, on Tuesday we will bring a new bed frame, dismantle the old one and assemble the new one for you.
Me: At no extra charge?
IKEA: None at all.

But you know what? The two guys who showed up to do the work first came up to assess the situation. I told them about the “one screw” that seemed to be, well, screwing things up, and asked them if it wasn’t possible to just repair the existing frame. They said they’d give it a go.

Out came the power tools and soon they were tightening bits here and there (impossible to do with just an allen key and normal screwdriver!) but even after all that two of the drawers were still a bit tight. I told them that wouldn’t matter so much if they weren’t the two drawers I was going to use the most (by the foot of the bed). No problem. The guys flipped the bed frame over, slid in the drawers and asked if that would do. I said it seemed a much more reasonable solution than having to take the frame apart and install a whole new one. And they assured me that since the bed came with a two-year guarantee that if this repair job didn’t do the trick I could have the bed replaced at any time. So fine! I agreed to that though didn’t understand why I had to sign papers saying they’d replaced the bed when they hadn’t…

What an ordeal though! If I ever buy anything major like this from IKEA again I’m just going to pay for installation. Now I can finally properly enjoy my new bed. And fill up the drawers!  🙂

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