This is a short story about why I was grouchy this week. It has a happy ending.

This Tuesday, I took my first hot shower in my apartment in a week. That’s the reason I was grouchy – ice cold showers, no matter how quick, are not fun.

Shower and sink in our bathroom

It all started last Tuesday, when our hot water heater failed to ignite. We fiddled with the ignite button and dials, but no luck. We realized that we have a gas heater, and that we had never paid for a gas bill. Something similar had happened to a friend of ours, so we quickly contacted our relocation specialist to have her check things out for us. She was out of the office for the next 4 days.

As soon as she got back, she reported that everything was good with our gas – it was combined with our electricity and we’ve been paying it all along. She suggested we talk to our concierge and see if she could check if our meter looked okay. Our concierege only speaks French, and my vocabulary does not include hot water heater, meter, ignite, so we used google translate to print out our questions.

This is the happy ending. The concierge sent her husband up to our apartment and he fiddled with the heater and finally got it going. We were trying reignite it incorrectly, though I don’t know why it went out in the first place. Anyway, he showed us how to do it right, and hot water flowed forth. Yay!

I also realized that I’ve never posted photos of our toilet and bathroom. Toilets are usually in a seperate room that the bath here. Our toilet room is just big enough for one person to barely stand in. It also has the hot water heater, the breaker box, and a tiny sink that doesn’t really work.

Our toilet room

Our bathtub room has a larger sink, a small bathtub/shower, our washer/dryer combo, and a couple cabinets.  I should mention that these photos were taken with my wide angle, which really distorts things.  It’s a small room.  We use the heater in there to warm our towels on. Unfortunately, there is no fan to suck out the steam after a shower.  Both of these rooms have skylights to make them brighter.

Sink and washer/dryer in bathroom

When I lived in my house in Atlanta, the master bathroom was a constant complaint. I thought it was too small, and I missed having a big soaking tub. In fact, it was double the size of the bathroom we now have, and one of three in our house. It’s funny how your perspective can change…

Incoming! Mind the Gap as you step into the car.

My favorite thing about London was the metro, which they lovingly call The Tube. It’s a huge network of underground subway tunnels and stations. I was shocked to learn that it has been around since 1863. In one station, Covent Garden, you can only get between floors via elevator or a 193-step spiral staircase. We took the stairs and laughed thinking about women in gowns from the 1800’s going up and down without falling.

Notting Hill Tube Station

The Tube is packed with musicians…really good musicians. As in, if they dimmed the lights and served pints down there, I’d sit and listen for a while. We heard everything from crazy polka music to rockers on electric guitars, but my favorite were the folk rock singers. All the musicians were licensed to be there and had special locations where they could stand (as Thomas demonstrates below). I’m not sure what it takes to get licensed, but it would be a fun job to audition them.

Thomas plays Air Guitar

Other than hanging out underground, we also went to three shows: Cirque de Soleil’s Varekai, Avenue Q, and Chicago. All were wonderful! We checked out the main sights, including the extremely crowded changing of the guard, and the museums. I couldn’t believe that the museums were all free…and they were packed with families. It was great! Anyway, it was a wonderful break away, and with being only an hour and a half train ride there, we will definately visit again.

Cool mosaic in Tottenham Court Road station

We didn’t make to much of an effort with photos since it rained the entire weekend, but if you’d like to see them, they’re posted on PicasaWeb:

• Weekend in London (20 photos)

Recycled Crate Tree Art at Place Poelaert

This post is specifically for my grandmother – Hi Mama C!  I was checking Facebook yesterday, and she had set her status message to: Dallas, I am going through withdrawal. It has been 10 days since you have added to your journal.

I didn’t realize I had been on that long of a break, but here’s what I’ve been up to for the past 10 days.

• 10 – Went to a Troc (second hand store) with Reid and her daughter.   Train to London with Thomas.
• 9 – Toured London on Hop On/Hop Off bus and saw Cirque de Soleil.
• 8 – Watched the changing of the guard, visited Tate Modern Art Museum, saw Avenue Q and Chicago.
• 7 – Toured British Museum and Harrods department store.
• 6 – Train back to Brussels.  Caught up on laundry, email, etc.
• 5 – Volunteered as server at the AWCB Cafe.  Hot water heater broke!
• 4 – Girl Scout cookies arrived! Sorted and dispersed cookies, then on to my troop’s meeting.
• 3 – A day to rest…organized closet and dresser so all clothes fit.
• 2 – Tested out Girl Scout Thinking Day craft with Reid.
• 1 – Shopped for breadmaker, boots for me, and jeans for Thomas – got none.  Dinner and boardgames with Reid and her husband.
• 0 – Checked out the Brussels Antique Market and Midi Market. Edited London photos and worked on blog.

Thanks, Mama C, for the reminder to check in with my blog.  This next week is actually pretty quiet, so there should be more regular posts.  What have you all been up to?

Before I moved from the US, I collected a bunch of vintage sheets – yellows for a different quilt and blues and greens.  Last year, I made half of the blocks for the Candy Bar Road quilt with the blue/greens, but got bored of my fabrics and set it aside. Yesterday, I pulled it out again, feeling inspired to *just* finish it, and saw that I had enough blocks done if I reduced it down to a baby quilt.  It’s no longer the Candy Bar Road pattern, but it’s a lot closer to being off my Work in Progress list.

Now I need some help… It currently measures to 36 x 36 inches, but I would really love to add a border to get it up to atleast 40 by 40 inches.  I have these 6 fabrics I haven’t used yet, or I could repeat one of the solids – blue, green, or purple – since it’s already pretty busy.  I’m thinking of the bottom left fabric as the backing with the green or blue solid as the binding.

So what do you think?  Which of the fabrics do you think would look best for the border, backing, and binding?

Belgian restaurants are quiet the experience – they’re quiet, intimate, and very classy. But Cook & Book in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert is a little different – it’s a bookstore with 9 restaurants in it…each with a different theme matching the books sold in that area.

Front of Cook & Book

The rooms are decorated to the nines – the travel room has an airstream camper you can eat in, the gardening room has a greenhouse inside and garden gnomes hidden all over the walls.

The Travel Room

There was also a 60s diner room where the cookbooks were sold. You could watch the chefs working here while you wait.

60s Diner Room

The British room, with a nice selection of English books and plush leather seats, would be a great one to sit and browse for a while. There were also rooms for comic books, children, art, and music.

The British Room

My favorite was the fiction room, where books were suspended from the ceiling. My friends and I had lunch here – soups, salads, sandwiches, and pasta.

The Fiction Room

If you’re in the area and looking for a unique dining experience, or a huge bookstore that is just fun to browse, check it out.  I’ve posted more photos on PicasaWeb:

• Cook & Book (7 photos)