Housekeeping in HK

Dinning Room!

Well l think I've bought almost as many things as l can fit into this space! I've come to love Ikea and  know it pretty well by now.  There are three ways of getting things home from a shopping trip.  #1 you carry it, #2 you go somewhere they will deliver, or #3 you go to Ikea, load up, and rent a little van that costs about 10 dollars more than the taxi would,(about $50 HK or $7 Can) but then you still have to carry everything from the ground floor to our building.  It's all quit a process.  Last week we bought a new sofa and they said they would deliver it next Sat. from 9-12 and would phone an hour ahead.  Well the sofa came at 11:15 pm!! We never dreamed they would come so late, but actually we should have known better as everything is late here.  Mall stores don't open till 11:30, so don't plan on an early shopping spree.
 Another strange thing here is that you can't find top sheets for the bed.  Again Ikea to the rescue!  By the time you make the bed (while sitting on it as you make it because you're hemmed in by a wall of windows and 2 solid walls) maybe having a top sheet will go by the wayside, along with drying dishes (I'm getting quit fond of that one)
Part of one's housekeeping duties is to keep the dehumidifiers empty.  I can't believe the amount of water they suck out of the air.  I guess it shouldn't be surprising as the humidity is around 90 - 95% especially the last week.  Before we got one in the bedroom it felt like going to bed in a cold damp tent!.  You need to run the Air Con + the dehumidifiers so you don't get mold, which we had before we got the second one.  Now things are more comfortable
Another thing dehumidifiers are good for is drying the laundry.  I hang it all in the bathroom on these neat hanger thingies, shut the door and the heat from the dehumidifier warms the room and sucks out all the water.  By morning its all dry and l don't have to do it for 3 more days!!  There is a laundry just across the street and l think l'll take Blaine's pants there to so l don't have to iron them.  Getting your laundry done there is very reasonable, and l think most people do that, but then you're back to the carrying thing, so l'd rather just do most of it here.

new couch

One thing that is very annoying here is the dust on everything.  You have to dust and sweep or vacuum every surface nearly  everyday and still it looks like you never did a thing.  The kids say its from the Air cons and pollution.  Where ever its from you've never seen such big dust bunnies if you don't keep it up.

groceries are delivered - l order online for most of them

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I'm really very happy with the kitchen.  It  has 3 extra things going for it.  There is an extra 13 in. counter with cupboards above and below that add a tremendous amount of storage.  There is a second tiny balcony off the kitchen which opens up the view and makes it not so claustrophobic, and also gives me extra space for the oven and microwave.  The third thing is because of those other two areas, l don't have to put appliances on the counter and for me that is huge, to have some counter space to work on, no matter how small in comparison to what l had at home.
All the floors are slate tiles which is very hard on the old knees, so we put down 4 squares of Rachel's play mats in the kitchen and that is much better.  Everything is made from cement and slate and when it rains out the walkways are extremely slippery.  HK ice!

Look at all that counter space! The clothes washer is just to the right of the drawers.

These shelves and counter add a lot of storage

Looking out the kitchen balcony door. 

Bedroom window

Blaine is enjoying being with his own kids at school and also getting to know his students. With 3 Barnstables at the same work place it's a little bit of overload and someone asked if they could call him Daddy Barnstable! On Friday there is an open house to meet the teachers so that should be interesting.
I'm off to Taste (grocery store) in another area not too far from here that has more western types of things.  I was going to take the little green bus, but chickened out and will take a taxi instead.
Have a good week and God Bless.
Blaine and Sandra