Jenny's Adventures In England

My Last Post Here.

2010-06-06T13:39:00.002+01:00

This is my last post from England. I have created a new blog for our lives in Virginia. I have toyed with making it private because it may give away more about our lives, for the benefit of the kids' family here in England. It is still a work in progress, but despite the fact that I've been working on it for months, I just ran out of time. You can see it here: Across The Pond And Back Again (tentative title).

We've had a busy week here.

Nid had a going away do at La Tosca on Wednesday a week ago with his best mates: Martin, Petros, Pravin and Matthew.

Then on Saturday he went to The Coronation pub with all his football mates. They came and went, but these ate dinner together: Utpal, Mitul, Hiren, Lou, Lee, Dharmesh and Pravin.

Sunday he went to visit our friends Utpal and Sejal, who live in London but had come up so Utpal could go to Nid's dinner. He got this cute picture with Utpal and baby Perissa:

Tuesday we went to town for the last time, and we went to the Market. We talked to a record guy who use to work in Richmond, near where I use to live. He started a brewery there and loved the area and wished us the best. It was a pretty weird coincidence. We finished getting Nid's football kit for when he finds a team in the US, as prices here seem to be so much better. We also got him this cool hat:

Tuesday night Nid and I went out with our friends Matthew and Jacqui in town. We met at The Globe, which is the only pub Nid and I had ever been to, and the first place the four of us ever went when I first moved here. We sat in the "snug" because the music was too loud in the rest of the place. We'd only been there a very short time when hippy drummers started piling in, giving us looks, saying they met there every Tuesday night, and telling us how loud it was going to get. At first it was one, two, three.... and then it was 10 or 15 of them and they were all looking at us like we were putting them out. I got up and said "thanks for ruining my last night out in England" and walked out. I was really upset, but managed to not cry until we had found another place to go. I'm sure part of it was stress, part of it really was that that was "our" place too, and why did they not reserve it? If it was not reserved with signs, I feel it should have been first come first serve. But what do I know? I also was not feeling well. I am pretty sure I have acid reflux disease, which can be caused by diet, stress, and various other things that all apply to me. I've had some very unpleasant symptoms, and eating before going out really made me feel horrible. I had about two sips of one of Nid's beers, but couldn't bear to think about drinking anything. It was a real bummer. Nid took some pictures with his phone. Boy, do I look rough:

Wednesday night I went with Nid to his last football game with The Cobblers. I took a bunch of photos, but because it was late, daylight went quickly and the artificial light played havoc on my camera. I did get this great team photo right before the game:

Thursday was a marathon packing session. It's those last minute things that really hang me up when it comes to packing. We were up until 3am Friday morning, and then up again at 8 Friday to finish up. The shipping company was due between 10 and 12 and they were here about 10:30. Our stuff was pulling out by 11:40. I hope we see it again some day... please don't sink ship!

See ya in 4-6 weeks baby!

Just kidding :)

We ended up going back to town to get something for my niece that I did not get on Tuesday. Then we came back home and crashed. It had been a long couple of days. Saturday we were going to go out to Gorse Hill City Farm, but Nid also had to go and visit some friends and neighbors to say goodbye. Between the heat, having to go to the grocery store, and visiting people, we were too tired to go to the farm as well. I was a little sad because they have these baby lambs there that looked so darn cute on their website, but it was two buses and a walk and I just couldn't manage it.

Now it is Sunday and we just got a call that John and Ann will be here in about an hour with the children. They spent the week with them in Wales. Today is either going to go too quickly or drag by because we don't really have anything to do. We'll go visit the couple at the corner shop later to say our last goodbye. Nid was down there the other day and got this picture with Subhash. He and his wife, Kirti, own the shop and have been very good to Nid over the years.

The landlord and his family are coming round at 10pm tonight to say their goodbyes. They lived in this house when Nid moved in across the street in 1996. When they moved out in 2006, Nid moved in, so they have a long history with the family.

I have lots more to do today before we lose internet. We won't have anything at our new house for a while, so I need to take advantage of what I have now. Thank you all for being interested and following along on my blog this last year or so.

Cheers!

Random Tuesday Is For The Birds.

2010-06-01T14:34:00.001+01:00

I've got a new little bird visiting my back yard this week, a Blackbird. My visitor is a female. How do I know? Well, because Nid told me, not because they are black. Female Blackbirds are not black. They are brown.

Female Cardinals (Virginia State Bird) are brown as well, while the males are a vibrant red. It's not fair to the girls, but at least they aren't called Redbirds that aren't red.

For more random, visit Keely at The Un Mom

Eager? Anxious!

2010-05-29T12:48:00.000+01:00

Our suitcases are packed. Because we have to make sure everything fits - not because I'm that eager.
People here keep saying to me "oh, I bet you can't wait to get back to the States" and it is driving me nuts. To me, that implies that I am the reason that we are moving. Because I don't like it here or miss my family. It's so wrong. A huge part of me doesn't want to move. We're only doing it because of the housing opportunity that came our way. I want to see Ireland and Scotland. I want to go back to Paris (with Nid not on crutches). I want to see where he grew up and there were all these places he wanted to show me from different times in his life. We'll never get to do those things, and it makes me sad. I want to move the least of all the members of my family, but people keep saying things that make me out to be the one that wants to go the most.

I do miss my family, but I lived two hours from them for seven years and some years only saw them three to four times in the whole year. I've only talked to my mom on the phone a handful of times since I moved here, and I go weeks and months without talking to my friends and other family members. Only since the new year have my sister and I gotten on an every week schedule, but that doesn't always work out either.

It might sound wrong, but I miss my animals the most. Before moving I'd only ever been away from them for a few days at a time in 10 years. They were my day to day companions. Smudge will move in with us once we get settled, but Bearette won't be. It makes me sadder to think of seeing her regularly at my parents house and leaving her over and over again than to think of never seeing her again. I miss her so much I cry every time I think of her. I'm crying now. But is it going to be worse when I see her every week, maybe more than once a week and can't bring her home with me? I think it's going to suck royally! So, when people say "you must be so happy to be moving back" I just want to scream at them.

I am happy about a lot of things. We've got a great deal with our little cottage. The kids will have grandparents three miles away. They'll have the great outdoors at their doorstep. The move is a good idea. It will be good for us. All of us. But I just feel, over and over, that I need to defend the fact that I am not the reason we are moving. It is not because I don't like it here. It is not because I have not "settled" or anything of the sort. It is because it is a good idea for our family, and the timing is right.

The English Countryside.

2010-05-21T13:36:00.006+01:00

Monday our friend Martin picked us up and took us to Bradgate Park just outside Leicester. It was my first time going, and I am really glad that I got to see it. And especially glad that we got to see it with Martin, who was an encyclopedia of information about the land, plants and animals in the park.

The walk starts up a gently sloping hill, which was actually a volcano. We saw several small ponds with loads of tadpoles in them. I learned about newts, bracken, and oak trees, and monkey-puzzle trees.

At the top of the hill is Old John, which was built in 1784. There is a medallion next to Old John which points out directions and mileages to various locations.

We saw red deer, fallow deer, and many birds: cuckoo, carrion crows, wagtails. The cuckoos were cooing, the wagtails' little tails were wagging, and one of the crows was lifting stones in the creek looking for insects hiding underneath them. I was fascinated by how smart he was!

After our walk, we lunched at The Bradgate, once known as The Bradgate Arms in Newtown Linford, a short walk from Bradgate Park itself. Nid got STEAK! and I had posh fish and chips:

I loved looking at the old houses, with thatched or slate roofs and exposed wooden beams. We also saw wild garlic growing on the side of the road:

Old fashioned police box. Nobody was home.

My full album of photos is available here:
http://jennyspicturesinengland.shutterfly.com/
Video will be added at some point, but it takes ages to load.

Our Weekend.

2010-05-16T19:18:00.002+01:00

Friday afternoon our friend Luan (from York) came for a visit. We had a great time catching up - the last time we'd seen her was when we visited her in November of last year. She and I had a fun time playing with her iPhone when Nid went to football that night. I would never get ANYTHING done if I had one of those. The games were completely silly... but addicting!

Saturday morning I fixed an all-American breakfast for us. We had bacon, scrambled eggs, buttermilk biscuits (made from scratch), and pancakes (made from scratch). There was going to be sausage gravy (made from scratch), but the other stuff took so long to fix that I didn't fix that in the end. As it was we had plenty of food left over.

In the late afternoon Nid and I walked to the grocery store. We had just left the house when we saw a young man running up the street towards us. He was running in the road, which was strange to me. He looked over his shoulder and I thought "what did he do?" but didn't say it out loud. Then another 50 feet down the sidewalk we saw a guy handcuffing someone on the other side of the street. My first thought was that something hinky was going on, but then Nid made the more logical conclusion that he was an undercover cop. So I was right, that guy did do something, and he was running from the cops! Oh, the drama. Then we saw a lady running up the sidewalk to the other two. I looked back as we got the corner and she must have been the other cop as she was standing there with them. There was a family standing down at the corner near the entrance to the park looking up the sidewalk, so we think something happened there. Crazy.

Then in the grocery store there was more weird. It seemed like everybody in there had a baby or young child with them. Apparently Saturday afternoons are family day. I don't think I've ever seen that many children in one place outside of a school.

We bought some chips while we were there, but I didn't try them until this morning. I have written about the crazy chip flavors they have here in England before, but I'd never tried any of them before. Because of the World Cup this year, Walkers has started a new contest with 15 new flavors.

The flavours are:

English Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding
American Cheeseburger
Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak
Australian BBQ Kangaroo
Brazilian Salsa
Dutch Edam Cheese
French Garlic Bread
German Bratwurst Sausage
Irish Stew
Italian Spaghetti Bolognese
Japanese Teriyaki Chicken
Scottish Haggis
South African Sweet Chutney
Spanish Chicken Paella
Welsh Rarebit

Interesting, right? And some are just flat out gross. So, because we are a multi-national family, we got these:

I tried them this morning. I started with the English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding because that was Nid's bag and I just had the one chip. OMG. It really tasted like roast beef and Yorkshire pud! I couldn't believe it. My mouth started watering and I was a little bit freaked out. I could taste potatoes and carrots. I tentatively tasted the American Cheeseburger. Again, I was surprised. I could taste the mustard and pickle. Actually, it had a bit too much pickle for my tastes. At first I wasn't going to eat them. One was enough from Nid's bag and one was enough from mine. But he didn't want them and the longer they sat there the more I ate. I'll never get them again, but I am glad that I tried them.

Saturday night we also watched a movie. Kick-Ass. I was doubtful. I was not interested at all. I was wrong, as it turns out. It was more interesting than I thought it would be and I even stayed awake for the whole movie (barely), which is more than I can say about most movies and TV we watch these days. The movie was funny and entertaining, and definitely for adults. It was crude, violent, sexual, and there was a lot of very bad language in it, including from the 10 year old girl! I don't need to hear that. It does not make a movie more "realistic" to me, as I do not associate with the type of person that does that much cursing in public. Briony had gone out with friends the other weekend and they were going to see it. The theatre actually sold her and one of her friend tickets, but they would not let her other friend in so they had to trade the tickets in for another movie. Here in the UK it is rated 15. That means that 15 year olds are allowed into the movie by themselves. Briony is not 15 until next February. I do not think that she should see this movie now or in 10 months. I do not see what difference 10 months will make. In the US it is rated R, which means that no one under the age of 18 can get in without an adult present. I realize that things are more out in the open here in the UK, that there is more sex and foul language here than in the US. I am regularly surprised by what I see and hear though, and I am glad that by moving to the US we can preserve our children's childhoods a few extra years.

This reminds me of something I learned about a while back. The Page 3 Girl. The Page 3 Girl is a topless model that is featured on page three of many British tabloid newspapers. I first read about this practice in a blog that I read called Pond Parleys. The link directly to the post I mention is here. It talked about Page 3 Girls and a How-To segment on a morning news show about how to... Well, I'll let you click and read all about it yourself. Let's just say they weren't wrong when they titled the post Never In America! My only experience with Page 3 Girls came while we were at the Embassy for our interviews. I was sitting, looking around at everyone nearby, too anxious to focus on the book I brought. To my right, and one row up was a guy reading a paper. But what I really noticed was the full page photo of a nude woman. Her breasts took up most of the page, and this is a full sized tabloid, maybe 15 inches tall by 10 inches wide (definitely bigger than the Enquirer in the US). I am pretty sure that my jaw dropped. I felt violated. I felt angry. My children were sitting right next to me and could easily have seen this same thing. I am not a prude, I do not feel that we should be ashamed of our bodies. HOWEVER, I do not feel that that means that we can display our private parts for the world to see either. You can read a brief history about the girls here, or about the short lived Page 7 Fella here.

I'll end this blog on a good note, and share with you all how our new house is coming. My dad and sister have been painting and getting it ready for us. We picked blue for our bedroom and light yellow for the bath. My dad is giving the kids fresh white for now, and he is going to let them help him paint an accent wall in a color of their choice in each of their rooms when we get there. They are very excited about that, and I am excited that I don't have to paint at all! Until I decide to do the kitchen cabinets and some of the other wooden furniture we have...

My, How Time Flies.

2010-05-03T08:49:00.002+01:00

I don't know where the last few weeks have gone. There was so much waiting and anticipating leading up to our London trip, and now I am sort of caught in a downward spiral. What have I done with myself? It is a bit of a blur, but here is what I have been up to:

I have done a LOT of packing - household stuff and the kids things. We have a row of big black trash bags lining our kitchen wall, just waiting to be put in our bin (and the neighbor's bin late at night the night before trash day).

Our landlords have already got a renter for the house, and have said we can leave any furniture/furnishings and they will keep it or get rid of it. What a relief! I didn't want to have to pay to have this stuff hauled off.

I have narrowed down our shipping company options to two companies, one that is cheaper but takes 12 weeks, the other is more expensive but takes 4. I'm pretty sure we'll go with the 4, but I'm stalling because then I have to start filling out insurance forms and customs forms, and I do not think it is going to be fun. At. All.

I opened a website! Well, I took over Nid's website, Somebody Like You Fans, a Keith Urban and Country Music Fan Site, and moved it to a new location - same company, different server. I had to start from scratch and transfer over 400 threads from the old board to the new board. It was complicated and time consuming, but it's done! And we are getting a lot of traffic. By taking over the website, I have also taken over the Twitter Page, the Myspace Page, the Facebook Fan Page, and the Facebook Group. It has been keeping me very very busy!

Nid completely redid his website, Dierks Fans, as well. It had a soft opening over the weekend, but the grand opening is today. He really has done his from scratch, as it is an actual website, and not a free hosted message board like mine. I am very proud of him.

I have also been working on my new blog for when we move. I'm still not sure about the title, but I have some very nice backgrounds to chose from, and I am working on some cool fonts/features. I hope it comes out alright in the end.

What have I not been doing? All the little stuff. I need to call the utility companies and tell them our last day here. I need to decide if we are going to forward our mail to the US, which is super expensive. I need to find a job! Technically, I have been working on that, and have applied for many things so far.

I also need to catch up on my blog reading. I haven't thought about it in weeks, and today I logged into Google Reader to find this:

168 new blogs? That's almost too daunting to bear. I may just mark all as read and start fresh. I really enjoy reading them, but at 168 it's more like a job than a hobby and I lose interest. Sorry :(

I saw a Blue Tit in our back yard yesterday. I had never seen one before, and I called Nid in to identify it for me. It was already gone by the time he got there, but he knew what it was just by my (rather poor) description. This is what it looked like, it's just so darn cute!

I have been trying to get a picture of what I am calling my pet Magpie. She comes every couple of weeks and sits on the roof of the house or the wall of the yard. I was taken in by her beauty from the very first moment I saw her and asked Nid to identify her for me. He knows all about birds, which is very handy. This is not my Magpie, but she looks just like it. She is larger than this picture indicates.

Well, that is my life in a nutshell right now. I'll try to be better about blogging, but other than the above I haven't really done much to write about.

I Am A Guest Poster.

2010-04-29T13:48:00.000+01:00

I am please to say that I am a guest poster over at Mid-Atlantic English today. Last month she asked for volunteers, and she has had some great guest posters. I feel honored to be among them, and included on her blog. I have very much enjoyed reading it for the last year.

To read my post, CLICK HERE.

A Date Has Been Set.

2010-04-27T19:06:00.000+01:00

We've done. We picked a moving day and bought the tickets today. We will be flying out of London Heathrow early in the morning on June 7th.

It is only 40 days away, and there is still a lot to do. Tomorrow I have a shipping company coming to look at our belongings and give us a quote. I have already spoken to several other companies, and after tomorrow will book with one of them. Most likely we will be taking a taxi to the airport, and we have already gotten quotes for the trip. It is not as expensive as I would have thought. And much easier than taking our bags on the train and then having to take a taxi to the airport, as Heathrow is a bit of a hike from where the train comes into London. Tomorrow I start calling the utility companies.

I am going "back home" in 40 days. It's a weird feeling. I miss my family and friends. I miss the comfort of knowing what things are called, I miss the comfort that familiar food brings. I miss driving and the ability to go to Walmart at midnight. Though now that I have a family I don't imagine I'll be doing that so much anymore. But I could if I wanted to!

My home is where my family is. And right now, my home is Leicester. It is where Nid, Briony, Cale and I became a family. It is where all of our memories are. It is the last time that I will ever see this house, Leicester, England. I knew when I left Virginia that I would see it again. I know that when I leave England I will never see it again. It makes me sad in a way, while at the same time I am so happy to be going "back home."

Random Tuesday... It's All I've Got.

2010-04-20T15:22:00.002+01:00

I have approximately 200 cubic feet of belongings to ship to America. 90% of it is stacked in my living room. The rest of our household we are getting rid of. It's a weird life we're living right now.

We (Nid and the children) got approved for their US visas last week. Now the countdown to their adjustment of status in two years and citizenship in three. My life is one big countdown...

I just ordered my second 700 foot roll of bubble wrap. That's a lot of bubbles.

I think that pigeons are smarter than we give them credit for. They have been trying to build a nest in our alley, and we've been chasing them away with a tennis racket. Yesterday tennis racket to pigeon contact was made and they haven't come back. I would have though it would have taken more effort on our part.

Stop by Keely's Blog at the UnMom for more randomness!

US Embassy Review: It's a YES!

2010-04-17T14:42:00.002+01:00

We traveled to London on Thursday night (April 15) for our interview on Friday morning. I had everything timed just right on Thursday, as the kids went to school as usual, but we had to get baths and dinner taken care of before we got our taxi at 6:30 to the station. We arrived in London just after 9pm. It was a five minute walk to the hotel (Kings Cross Travelodge). We checked in and got ready for bed right away. We had to be up at 6 the next morning, so we wanted to get a good night's sleep. The hotel was nothing special (you have to use your key card to get to the elevator, to make the elevator work, to get to the hall your room is on... and they don't work great sometimes we had to put the card in 5+ times to get the door unlocked) but it is relatively cheap and it was clean, if sparse.

Friday morning we were up and on our way at 7:20. We had to take two trains and walk aways to get to the Embassy, and were there for 8:20. It took about 20 minutes to get through the two check points and through security to get into the Embassy. We got our number I910 and found a seat. It was just before 9am. The room is very large, with high ceilings and one entire wall is windows facing out over Grosvenor Square. But with the sun streaming in it was very unpleasant and hot. There were 11 windows (like bank teller windows) in our room and 13 more around the corner. Numbers were being called constantly, but they were N numbers (non-immigrant) and we were I (immigrant). When we first got seated they called I901. It was two hours before they got to us. We went to the window and handed over their passports and US photos we'd had taken. Then we sat down. 20 minutes or so later he called us back and sent me to pay for the visas. While I was gone, he fingerprinted Nid and Briony, but Cale didn't have to have his done because of his age. Then he asked for the documents, one at a time and very organized. The gentleman was very nice and easy to understand, which was amazing because he was speaking through glass and the numbers were being announced through a speaker right over our heads. He gave us Nid's x-ray and their medical reports in an envelope and we sat back down. It was about 11am then.

We were keeping an eye on the I numbers that were getting called up again. At about 11:40 we were called back to a window in the other room for our interview. This guy was American and was still shuffling through papers, so apologized a few times for making us wait. He had all of our original documents ready for me to take back. He fingerprinted Nid and Briony to confirm their identity and then made them hold up their right hands and swear that the information on the forms and anything they told him today was the truth. That done, he asked Nid where we were moving to. He told us he was from North Carolina. He asked how long I had been in England, and I told him about 14 months. He explained about domicile, and how I did not have to be living in the US to take my family there, but I had to prove that I still had ties there. I was so anxious for him to stop talking because I had an entire folder full of documents proving my US domicile. When he was done explaining why I needed to show him I had domicile, I said I have a lease and slid a letter that I had prepared under the glass. He looked at it and said, it says here you have a voter registration card? I said yes, do you need the copy or the original? He said the copy was fine, so I slid it along with our emailed lease under the glass. He looked at them, slid them back and said great. I had nearly 20 things proving my domicile and intention to move back, but that was all he wanted. He said everything is done here, you'll need to pay the courier on your way out, and you'll receive your passports and visas within a week. Then he finished with "Welcome to Virginia. Welcome to the US.")

I paid at the courier desk, and we were leaving the Embassy right at noon. It was all very surreal. Even though I'd read dozens of reviews on the immigration forums that I frequent, I still was surprised by the process. The waiting was killer (and the chairs were horrid, uncomfortable contraptions) but when it was over, it was hard to believe it was over. I've been so focused on this moment since October/November, and now it's done. The work isn't over of course. I still have to manage the move and the shipping company and weeding through our belongings, but the question of can we is gone. We can. We will. Very shortly.

Everyone we talked to was very nice, from the people checking our documents in the que to the document guy and interviewer. We really couldn't have had a better day (unless we'd had less of a wait time, but we didn't get there as early as I had planned, and we were prepared with snacks and books).

Because we had to be prepared to stay at the Embassy for hours and hours, we had booked two nights at our hotel. We went back to the hotel to relax for an hour or so, and then we took the Tube to Westminster to show the kids Big Ben, Westminster and the London Eye. We went to a gift shop that Nid and I had been to in November and I got Caitlin a gift that I didn't get then and have been regretting since. After that we thought about going to Buckingham Palace, but the Tube was getting really busy and there were lines closed because of a "person under train." It shouldn't have been comedic, but it was because they just kept playing it over and over on the intercom system. I know why they were doing it, to put blame on the person, alleviating their responsibility for running behind schedule, but still...

We decided to go back and get some dinner, as by then it was after 4pm. We ate at the Burger King right next to St. Pancras, where we'd eaten when we went to London for the medicals back in January. After that we went back to the hotel and started showers/getting ready for bed. We watch a couple of hours of really bad tv and turned in at 9.

This morning we caught the 10:15 train (First Class) and were home by noon. Lunch and laundry and everything is back to normal, with the exception of the enormous pile of emails to go through.

T-Minus.

2010-04-12T09:17:00.000+01:00

Well, I can't say just now, but it's a rather short period of time, in the scheme of things, until we have our interview and know - yes or no - if a June move date is feasible. It's not a matter of can we move, as we have done everything right and there is no reason that they can think up to stop us from moving, it's just when can we move.

Today's goal is to sort out the papers. I've started a dozen times in the last few weeks, but I keep getting frustrated and giving up. If there was just one application, piece of cake! But with three, I don't know which pile to put certain documents in. There are originals and copies of certificates and legal documents, but only one original of some, and multiple copies of others. It's a mess. Literally. A mess piled up on the dining room table that gets shuffled around each day to make room for other stuff.. you know, eating. But today is the day that I will sort it out.

The children came home yesterday. Briony and I had a great chat about paint colors and furniture. She's picked a daring green for an accent wall in her room. It is a very appealing shade. Her description of Cale's color choice was "orange" but it turned out to be less orange and and all yellow. That's if he gets an accent wall. If he gets all four walls painted, he'd like a light green. I said we'd wait to see how the renovations looked and then he could decide. It's all very exciting.

A Day Behind...

2010-04-06T18:02:00.005+01:00

Is it me, or is Virginia behind the times? Or at least, behind by a day...

The Packing Commences.

2010-04-01T21:16:00.000+01:00

I have a lot to do! I thought I had a shipping company that I liked, but I am going to re-evaluate my options now that I have a better idea of how much we're taking. In order to get an estimate with a company, you have to tell them how much you are taking in cubic feet. Sounds simple enough, right? Okay, then you do it. It's not as easy as it sounds. A cubic foot is quite small. I needed to have a visual, something physical that I could look at and say "that is a cubic foot." What I came up with is my laptop. With the lid up, if you imagine the lid coming forward and down, that is approximately a cubic foot. That is freaking small! I have been to sites where you just plug in a number, other where you plug in how many of each size box you will need, I have measured and guessed.

So, you plug your number into the website and get an estimate. It is just an estimate. And my measurements are just estimates. That leaves a lot of leeway, and I like concrete facts. Because it is basically all guessing, not only do I have to compare the numbers side by side, but I also have to compare the price per cubic foot side by side. If you are under a certain square footage, the price per foot is higher. So if I overestimated and have less than I thought, I might end up paying the same as if I had more in the end. If I go over, how much are those fees, is insurance higher the larger my load?

Until everything is in a box, we don't know how much we have. But some of the companies have to pack it themselves in order to ship it with insurance. Other companies come and pick up what you've already packed. Those have different prices too. Is it worth it just to pay someone to do it for you and for the peace of mind that that brings? I'd say yes, but then where do we put all the stuff that is waiting to be packed? Until we collect it all together somewhere, we don't know how much we have and how much we are looking at spending.

I could go on and on, but it will not lead anywhere. Kind of like my search for a shipping company has not lead anywhere. It is our goal this week while the children are gone to work on sorting things out. We bought a VCR on e-bay and a cable to connect it to the computer. Nid has been busy converting his old tapes to digital so that we do not have a bunch of UK videos that will not play in the US. What a relief it is that it works and is fairly simple to do. I have sorted through all of our clothes and have a pile to get rid of now, a pile to wear until we move, then get rid of, a pile to pack up now that we won't be wearing between now and then and can be packed for shipping, and a pile that we will take with us on the plane. Whew, that's a lot of piles. The toss out pile is bigger than any of the others, so that's a relief at least.

Today is trash day and the bin is already full with more stuff sitting out next to in the yard. It is a great feeling to get rid of things we don't need anymore, but I hate looking out the window and seeing it. I just want it to be gone, already!

Random Tuesday Thoughts.

2010-03-30T16:16:00.002+01:00

I'm not a regular Random Tuesday Blog girl... does that make this even more Random?!

My GP called me an "older woman" on the phone the other day. Then he took it back. Wise man. He knew what my expression was even though he couldn't see me.

There is such a thing as "too organic" when it comes to the food I eat:

Hold the feathers, please :)

This poster is currently hanging in the locker room at my gym:

And right below it is this poster:

I don't know if it should, but it makes me laugh. Oh well.

I do not say this to offend any of my English friends, however,
NOTHING makes sense about spelling MATH with an "s."

Today is one of those days when I wish I'd documented the weather. It has rained approximately six times.
In between each bout of rain it has been sunny.
Just now it was hailing.
Random.
Actually, it's not. It's just England.

Click the button above to go to Keely's site The Unmom

Interview Part Two.

2010-03-25T13:09:00.001Z

After getting our official letters from the Embassy with our interview date in late May, I called the Extortion Line and got an email address and weekly code number so that I could email them and request an earlier date. I had read online about people having luck with this, but if there are no dates available, then obviously we'd be out of luck. I got an email four days later giving us a new date in mid-April, and the letters arrived yesterday. What a relief!

We booked the trains and hotels and I just have to put all the documents in easy to sort through piles. We are getting closer, and it is such a relief. The boxes are beginning to pile up in the living room, but next week will really be our busiest as the children are going to Wales for Easter and we'll be able to dig out the closet and not worry about the mess or covering every surface downstairs until it's done and boxed up.

We're also super excited because Nid got a new computer last week, and after a week of setting it up, it's just about the way he wants it. We were going to upgrade when we got to the US, but since we may not have internet, we decided it would be best to just bite the bullet and do it now so that he can download everything he needs to make it just right. We just need to borrow a VCR off someone so that he can import all his VHS tapes into digital before we move. That'll be the biggest project we have to do aside from the general packing. But it's all coming along, and going smoothly for now *fingers crossed and knocking on wood.*

Happiness Award.

2010-03-24T21:01:00.001Z

Jane at Midwest to Midlands has been kind enough to give me this Happiness Award. Jane is an American living in England, and I have been enjoying her blog for quite a while now. I recommend it to everyone. Thank you Jane!

Here are the rules:

1. When you have received this award you must thank the person that awarded you in a new post.

2. Name the 10 things that make you happy.

3. Pass this award onto 10 other bloggers and inform the winners.

10 Things That Make Me Happy:

(In no particular order)

1. Quiet time with my husband.

2. When the kids come home excited about their day at school.

3. Live music on a warm night.

4. My three year old niece.

5. Daffodils blooming in early spring/late winter.

6. Being in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

7. Learning new things.

8. Planning our new life "back home" in Virginia.

9. My pets, Bearette and Smudge, who I will be re-united with in a few months. They were my babies before I became a mother to:

10. My children.

Unfortunately, I haven't read a blog in weeks, so I don't know who has and has not already received a Happiness Award. My favorite blogs are listed in the right column of this blog, so you should check them all out! Please forgive me for breaking the rules, but there is a *lot* going on here, which is why I have not been blogging with my semi-regular frequency lately.

Interview Date Received.

2010-03-14T13:35:00.004Z

Well, we got it. Packet 4: Our London Interview Date. I think it should be capitalized because of it's significance in our lives. When I saw the letters on the floor by the front door I was so excited. I may have even squealed. I let Nid open his and I opened the kids. At the bottom was the date: May xx, 2010. (There actually was a date, I'd just rather not announce to the world when we'll be out of town). May. Not even the beginning of May. I may have cried.

This whole process is so emotional. Yes, it is better than the process of moving here. I'm not concerned that we will be turned down. I'm not alone like I was last time. I'm not leaving a job and hoping my boss doesn't let me go before I am set to move like last time. But it is still frustrating. So many things are in limbo. Booking flights, letting our new landlord know when we'll arrive, re-instating my auto insurance and such. Booking our shipping company and getting rid of the rest of our stuff. Letting our current landlord know when we'll be leaving...

I've been online and talking to others on the immigration forums I am a member of. I have just been offered some advice, and will be calling the embassy tomorrow. They (on the forums) kindly refer to it as the Extortion line, at £1.20/minute, but at least then we'll know we did everything we could.

On a completely happy note, today is Mother's Day in the UK and the kids made me amazing cards. I may have cried. Just a bit :)

One Year. And One Day.

2010-03-09T22:16:00.002Z

That's how long I have been in England.

On March 8, 2009 at approximately 11:45pm, I landed at London Heathrow and met Nid (and Martin) at the gate.

My new life began officially that day. Part of me cannot believe that it has been that long. Another part of me cannot believe that's all it's been. We've experienced so much this year. In one year, I've gained a husband, a daughter, a son, and a lifetime of memories. However, at times (most of the time?) since last fall, I have been so focused on us moving back to the US, that I have let time slide right past us. It's always one more step and one more thing we're waiting for. Months, weeks, days, hours, seconds until we move.

More importantly than that is that we're running out of time. We've only got months, weeks, days, hours, seconds left in England. We'll be in the US forever. We'll (Nid and I) probably never come back to England. I need to remember to cherish this family time together. When else will we be able to live modestly without working full time (or more) jobs? So today I am going to change my thinking. I am not only going to focus on what we need to do to get to the US, but also on what we (I) need to do so that I do not regret anything once we leave England. There are many places that I wanted Nid and I to go together. There are places I've wanted to go since I was a girl. We won't get to those places. But that does not mean that we won't have memories just as strong, just as wonderful from the places we do go together. Even if it is just to town to ~~gawk at people~~ shop.

Happy Anniversary to me! I cannot imagine what my life would be like without my family. You all mean the world to me.

Sweden, February 2010.

2010-03-03T12:39:00.005Z

Back in October Nid and I booked a holiday in Sweden. Who goes to Sweden in February, you may ask? Well, it's not as random as it appears. Nid has two friends, Johan and Anna, who live there. They came and visited Nid here in Leicester several years ago, and figuring this may be our last chance to go, we jumped at the opportunity.

On Saturday, February 13, 2010 Nid and I left bright and early. Our journey took us from Leicester to London Stansted Airport to Gothenburg, Sweden. We had first class tickets on the train, and our seats were in this cute little part of the train with just seven other seats, and only one of them was taken. It was great! Sweden is an hour ahead of us, and we got there just before 4pm their time. I am not a great flier. I just don't enjoy it. At all. Nid loves to fly. Landing in Sweden was an experience. It was a smooth enough landing, I suppose. Aside from the fact that we BOUNCED once before slowing to a stop. In the middle of the runway, where they let us off and we had to walk across ice and snow to get into the terminal.

We did not want to ~~deal with~~ pay for extra luggage, so we each only had our one ~~carry on~~ backpack, so getting through customs was pretty quick for us. Nid got to go right in because this is the European Union and he has a British passport. I had to go up to the window and tell them why I was there. The guy was really nice.

Customs agent: Are you familiar with Richmond?
Me: I lived there for six years before moving to England.
CA: Do you know Lamb Of God?
Me: I know *of* them, but I've not heard them.
CA: They are my favorite band, and they're coming to Gothenburg next month.

Needless to say, I was surprised by the whole conversation. Passport stamped, we continued out the waiting room where Johan was waiting for us. The Gothenburg City Airport is tiny. Tiny. We greeted Johan and set off for his home, about two hours from Gothenburg. The main thing I learned that first day, was that Sweden looked a lot like Virginia! They drive on the right side of the road, they have a million trees, and mountains! Even the building construction is more like Virginia than England. It was like going home again. They even had a couple feet of snow on the ground, which is what it's been like this winter in Virginia as well. I ended up sleeping for most of the journey to their city home. We met his wife Anna there, their 18 year old son Anton, and their two rottweilers Lewis and Tasha. We had a bit of cake there (Anton's birthday was earlier in the week) and then drove about 30 minutes to their country house, where we were going to be staying for the week. It's located on 200 acres of beautiful land. We stopped on the way at a grocery store, and it was weird seeing familiar items with foreign names on them. Johan fixed us dinner of Venison burgers and chips, which was delicious! We drank some local beers and had some wine, and had a nice relaxed evening.

Sunday was our First Wedding Anniversary! We all slept in, and when we'd had some breakfast went for a long walk. A really long walk. The first part was along a road that was cleared for trucks to take out lumber. It was lovely, and easy to walk. When we got to the end of it, they said do you want to go back the way we came, or go the longer route? Nid deferred to me, so I said, lets do the longer route. Through knee deep snow. For miles! Well, it seemed like miles. I know it was at least a couple. I'm too short to walk that far through snow that deep. Once we emerged from the deep snow, Nid and Johan went through more deep snow back to the house while Anna and I walked the long way around on the plowed road. About a mile (or more) from the house Nid and Johan came into sight in the car. They drove us home. I was exhausted. We'd been walking for nearly two hours, and while I can walk all day under normal circumstances, that just killed me. I wouldn't have traded the experience, but I was glad to get home and have a hot shower!

Once we were cleaned up we went into town and got dinner at a Max's. It was fast food, and the menu was all in Swedish, so I picked out a burger that looked good and Johan told me what was on it. It was very nice. After that we went to a hockey game. HC Dalen is the local team. I had never been to a hockey game, and learned a lot about the sport that night. Nid tried a Swedish hotdog, but I was too full from dinner. After the game we went to the a large store called COOP, but pronounced Co-Op. It was like a Super Walmart, a little of everything and a lot of groceries. I got a little bag of chocolate covered banana chips. Yummy!

Monday morning we (the four of us) went into Jönköping for some sightseeing. We drove through the town of Huskvarna, and saw their factory. We tried to go to the Match Museum, but it was closed. We went to a coffee shop and had a Semla and I tried a Chocolate Ball. We went to Polkapojkarna and got handmade peppermint sticks for the kids. At another shop I got some chocolate chip biscuits. We went to a pier on the lake in Jönköping and walked to the end of it. The lake is mostly frozen, and it was so beautiful how the ice had frozen in ripples. Later in the day we saw on the news that a body was found frozen in the ice right next to that very pier. I searched my photos, but did not see any signs of a body. I am so morbid. At home again we watched an episode of East Enders and Withnail And I. Not really my taste, but it was good exposure to British TV, since we don't watch any at home.

Tuesday Anna had to go back to work, so Johan took Nid and I to Gothenburg. We walked around the city, and I continued to be amazed by how well they deal with snow there. It was piled high, but the roads were cleared (or at least the snow was packed). We went to the City Museum, and Nid and Johan entertained themselves making up history and stories to make the less interesting parts more interesting. The Viking section was quite good. Unfortunately, the 18th Century was closed. That led to quite a few jokes during the day. We went into a tourist shop, where I got a cool platter/serving tray with moose on it. Sweden is famous for it's painted wooden horses, but the Germans apparently like the moose. In fact, they like them so much that they use to steal moose crossing signs, so now they sell them in the shops to reduce the number of street signs that were being stolen. It was hard picking a souvenir because we are downsizing for the move, but I figured a tray would be usable for serving coffee, or decorating the mantle in the winter. It was a bargain, as well.

Speaking of bargain, I should explain the money. In Sweden they have Krona. The exchange rate while we were there was about 13 Krona to a British Pound (£), which is about $1.60 US Dollars. At first everything looked so expensive, but then I got in the hang of dividing it by 13. Of course, it would've been easier if it was an easier number to divide by, but I did pretty good. Post cards were nearly 50p each, which I thought was outrageous, so I only bought a few.

Wednesday we went to Jönköping again. The Match Museum was open, and a lot more interesting than we had thought it might be. We bought a collection of safety matches that are 'Made In Sweden.' We went to a shopping mall, and I enjoyed looking in some of the housewares stores. At one place I saw some place mats and hand towels that I really liked, but did not get. We left the mall but ended up going back. I was still hesitant, so Nid bought them for himself. Love you baby! We went to coffee shop and had another Semla. This time, we had the one that was voted Best In Gothenburg. Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday. In England, it is also known as Pancake Day. In Sweden, Semla Day. The newspaper rates the best Semlas in the city, using match sticks instead of stars. The more match sticks, the better the Semla. Apparently people wait in lines down the street to get them. On Wednesday, however, there were no lines.

Thursday we took a drive around to the local ski slope. It was cold and windy, and I just don't know why people would want to slide down a mountain, but they seemed to be enjoying it. The view was beautiful. We saw 5 moose on the way there, and that was pretty cool. When we got back we took a nap, and all of us overslept. We almost didn't get up in time to pick Anna up from work. After we did, we went to Ikea. I'd seen an Ikea every day that we'd been there, but this was the first time we went in one. It was so very similar, yet so very different. Some of the styles were a bit crazy, and of course I couldn't read any of the details, but I did get some ideas for things when we move into the new house. For dinner, we went to a little pizza joint.

Friday was our last day in Sweden. We thought. We got four inches of snow overnight. Anna was off, and we took a tour of the buildings on the farm, through knee/thigh high snow. We watched the Olympics (we'd done this most days, but it was all in Swedish, so not always easy to follow) and napped. We had dinner in Jönköping, and Nid got his favorite food. Steak. It was a very nice restaurant, and I had a lovely desert of Belgian waffle with ice cream and raspberry sauce on the side. We were seated right next to a fire place, and it was a great ending to a great day. We went home and went to bed early, because we had to be up at four am and out of the house by five.

Saturday morning it was a bit sad getting ready to leave. We had had the most amazing week. Good food and good friends, what more can you ask for? After saying goodbye to Anna, we were out the door right at five. Because it had been snowing since Friday, we were not sure how the roads would be. We were the first car out to the main road, but once there the roads were okay. I napped. I tend to do that when I am riding in cars. We got to the airport at 7:30, and were pretty much the only people there. We said goodbye to Johan, and he headed back home. It was still snowing. Our flight was at 10:15, with check-in starting at 8:15. There was nothing open in the airport at this time of day. When the check in window opened, I got my papers stamped. Then we went through security. We waited there for about 20 minutes until Passport Control opened. When we got to the next room, we should have known we were in trouble. Through the glass wall, we could see the runway. Or rather, if there wasn't several inches of snow, we could have seen the runway. There were trucks and plows, but they were not winning the battle. It was still snowing, and the wind was whipping. But I figured, it's Sweden, they know what to do with snow. But it turns out that this is the worst winter they've had in decades. Excellent, right?

Our flight was to depart at 10:15. At about that time, with us all standing in queue to board, they canceled the flight. Not delayed, canceled. I was stunned. What do we do?! We had been talking to a really nice guy from London, Khuram, who traveled regularly to Sweden. He explained what normally happens in these cases. We started filing out, but since we were the first in line, we were at the back of the new line. Or we would have been if we'd have had to collect bags. We stood in a little hallway for ages, then finally pushed our way out. The lobby was packed. There were over 200 passengers all lined (10-15 wide) up to talk to the people at Information. Information was two desks. We went and sat in another waiting room to let the room clear. I kept checking it. When I saw Khuram about 10 people back from the desk I asked him about what he was hearing - they were offering full refunds or to book on another flight. The only problem was, the airport was so small, only two flights to and from London came and went each day. I went and got Nid and we stood in line with Khurum. It took us nearly 30 minutes to get to the window. Khurum got the last Sunday night flight, his friend got the last Sunday morning flight, and Nid and I got put on Sunday night. There were only six left at that point. I was so frustrated at that point, because we'd had first class train tickets to get from London to Leicester, and we were losing our money on that. We were in communication with Johan via text, and he offered to book us a hotel if we could get to town. The bus from the airport to town wasn't running regular with the weather, so no one could tell us when it would be coming. I waited in line again at Information, and while I was there, a nice young Swedish girl offered me her bus ticket to town because her parents were coming back to pick her up. While in line (this was the end of the original line from our flight) I heard them booking people for Tuesday flights to London. I was so glad that we didn't have to wait that long to leave, but realized that if our flight didn't go out Sunday night, we'd be looking at Wednesday or later. Information finally confirmed that the bus would be coming (I didn't want to buy tickets if it was not going to show) and I went and told Nid and went to the shop to buy them. A lady we had talked to before heard me and offered me her tickets from town to the airport that the bus driver had not collected that morning. I was so grateful! Instead of having to pay 120 Krona round trip for each of us, I only had to pay 60. We had to go out to the front of the airport where there were no seats to watch for the bus. After several trips back to the Information booth, they finally said it was on it's way. Thank goodness!

It was 3:15pm when we got on the bus. It was suppose to be a 25 minute ride. At 3:30 the bus ran off the road into a ditch. I was tossed from my seat, but managed to hold onto the railing, preventing myself from falling to the other side of the bus. It hurt my elbow that was injured in my bike accident pretty bad, and I had to dig out ibuprofen to ease the pain. The bus driver, in halting English, tried to be jovial. He said that if anyone was in a hurry, he could call a taxi and they could go through the roof hatch. Right. I was crying and cold (he had to turn the bus off) and tired. We should have been home in Leicester already. Thankfully, the tow truck didn't take too long, and it got us out pretty quickly. It was actually pretty interesting. There was a photographer with the tow truck, and he was taking photos. So I took some of him. We wondered if we would make it into the paper. We set off again, and got to Gothenburg around 4:40-5pm. We caught a taxi to the hotel, and got swindled. We had been warned to only take Gothenburg Taxi taxis, and this one said it. But when he offered us a flat rate and did not use the meter, we should have known. But it had been a long day.

The sight of the hotel was glorious. It had a beautiful entrance, and the guy at the desk was just great. We were in our room in less than a minute or two. We dropped our things and set off to find dinner. We ended up at the same Burger King we ate at on Tuesday, when we were in Gothenburg. When Nid asked the cashier (Carl) if he spoke English, we were delighted when he said that he actually preferred to speak English over Swedish. We had a nice chat with him while we were waiting for our food. This had been one of the most stressful days of my life. We'd been texting John and Ann, and they were going to bring the kids to our house and stay the night Sunday. When we were walking up the street, a lady spat at us and I assumed cussed us. We turned as she passed and she was turned back to us muttering. We've no idea what she was saying, but based on her expression it can't have been good. Back in the hotel, we watched some TV and crashed.

Sunday morning. The hotel had a very nice breakfast, which I was grateful for. The same guy was at the front desk, and we chatted while I checked my email and the Ryanair website on the lobby computer. There were some conflicting reports on the Gothenburg City Airport website and the Ryanair website, which had me worried. Right before we checked out, Nid got a text from Khurum saying he was on his flight and planes had been landing and taking off all morning. We were happy about that, but we don't know why he didn't go out Saturday night. The desk clerk told us he saw the photo of our bus in the paper. He showed us, and then gave us the paper to keep. We made the front page! The taxi came and it cost half what we'd paid the night before to get to the bus station. Thankfully this bus did not crash, and we got to the airport at 1:30pm. Our flight wasn't until 9:15, but we did not want to risk not being able to get to the airport. It was a long afternoon, just sitting and sitting and more sitting.

I know I said before that the airport is tiny. It's really tiny. Outside of security there is a cafeteria, a small gift shop, and only five sofas. The rest are plastic chairs, all but about ten of them are in the cafeteria. Before you get through security there is a lady who checks your passport and tickets (again), checks that you only have one bag and weighs it. I am amazed that ours were under 10kg! Once you go through security, there is a small bar and another gift shop. You wait there until Passport Control opens. You get your passport checked and stamped to exit the country. Then you go into one of the two boarding areas. There is nothing in these rooms but one bathroom and a lot of plastic chairs. But not enough, it turns out for the entire flight of people.

They started checking in our flight at 7:15pm. We were the first in every line. On Ryanair, you don't get assigned seating, so it really is first come first serve, and people sometimes do not end up sitting next to the person they are traveling with. The room we waited in after Passport Control was a disgrace. There were wine glasses and beer bottles sitting around the room. Nothing stopped someone from putting it in their luggage and boarding the plane with it. A broken off beer bottle makes a hell of a weapon! Nid went and told the lady at Passport Control. Ages later a security guard came in. If Nid hadn't pointed them out to him, he'd have never found them (laying out in easy view). He gathered them all together in a pile next to a chair and left. What?! Ages after that, a cleaning lady came in. The security guard must have told her to. Nope, she cleaned the bathrooms, swept up some trash, and left it. I guess nobody in Gothenburg is worried about security, terrorism, or their passengers lives. Great.

We boarded the plane about the time it was suppose to take off. We were waiting for Engineers that were working on another plane to finish so we could take them back to London. We sat on the plane for an hour and a half. It finally took off. I was so uncomfortable for the whole flight. I just couldn't bear sitting anymore!

We got to London at 11:45pm. We had a seemingly miles long walk to Passport Control. Where I had a bit of a meltdown. They didn't tell me I had to fill out a form, and they didn't have any pens with which to fill the form out with. What kind of shoddy business was this? A security/customs guy came over and asked what was wrong, and after I told him, he was completely on my side. He's coming to visit the US this summer. I may have said something to the effect of I was moving back in the summer and couldn't wait to get out of England. But it was all a blur, so I don't remember the exact words. Customs stamped me in, and if they were confused about why I had one entry stamp into Sweden and two exit stamps, I think all they had to do was look at my face at that point.

We walked the miles down to the bus station and bought overpriced tickets home. The bus arrived 30 minutes later and a LONG three hour, motion sick journey home we stopped in Leicester. I have never felt the need to vomit for such an extended period of time. My head was swimming and I was tired and in pain. We got a taxi and got home just before four am.

I unpacked what I could, started a load of laundry, and went on line, because I was too tired to sleep and had to be up in three hours anyway. Nid slept on the living room floor for a couple of hours because the grandparents were asleep upstairs in our room. I thought I would take a hot bath at about five, but the water didn't run hot. It was a very short, chilly bath, which only further frustrated me. It turns out someone had accidentally adjusted the water temperature instead of the radiator temperature. Good to know it wasn't just broken, but still sad that I had a cold bath after all that.

Monday morning the kids got up at seven, and left for school just before eight. John and Ann left around nine. Nid and I headed to the hospital for my doctor's appointment just before ten

What is the break-down of our journey?

We had 7 glorious days in Sweden.
It took us 36 hours to leave Sweden.
We were "coming home" for 44 hours.
We spent 19 hours in the airport.
We spent 1 hour stuck in a bus in a ditch.
We got spat at on the street.
Swedish people are very nice in general.
We had been awake for 40 hours when we went to bed on Monday night.
We slept for 12 hours Monday night. My new pillowcase:

At my doctor's appointment Monday morning, a very nice Dr. Wheeler had my elbow x-rayed. Turns out I did break it in November when I wrecked my bike. It's still healing, which is why it still bothers me. Go figure, I broke my arm! And didn't even get it treated.

All of my photos are in the process of being uploaded here. There's nearly 700, so it is not a quick process.

Soon. Really.

2010-02-28T13:19:00.001Z

It has been 14 days since I last blogged.
It has been six days since we got home from our vacation in Sweden.

I just cannot get back in the groove. Once you hear about our trip - or, rather, our journey home - this may make a little more sense. The short version is we had an amazing time! The long version is exhausting.

Thankfully, I did take notes while we were away so that I did not forget anything about our trip. I also took a million (700+) pictures. It's a daunting task editing and organizing and labeling them for my online album.

So this here is to let you know that there will be a new blog coming soon. Very soon. I promise.

Valentine's Day. My First Wedding Anniversary.

2010-02-14T10:01:00.078Z

I have always been a hater of Valentine's Day. The tackiness, the expense, the pressure to have a Valentine. It's just a day, who cares, and all that.

And then I got married. On Valentine's Day. And the world changed.

My world at least. And no, I don't mean I want chocolates and a dozen red roses. And I still don't know why there has to be a Valentine's Day. If it is suppose to be a time of love and showing the one you love how you feel, should it be limited to one day? Why can't everyday be Valentine's Day? Instead of your partner giving you a valentine on the day you'd most expect it, would it not mean more to get a hand written I Love You on a random day (or days) of the year?

I'm not saying that I don't get taken in by the Hallmark Holiday. I see the cutsie things in the stores. But really? All I have to do is look at the price tags, and I generally get over it pretty quick. For example, while in town a few weeks ago, Briony and I saw this at Marks & Spencers:

It's soooo cute, right? They have it on display under glass to suck you in as you walk past. Then you flip over the tin and see the price... £25?! For a couple of cookies? The next table had something that was a better deal financially, but much worse for your waistband. For the value price of only £12, you get over a pound of yummy goodness:

But the question is, who needs it? And can you picture the expression on your partners face if you wrapped it up and brought it home to them? Here, darling, I love you so much I bought you a slab of chocolate. How do you even go about eating it? With a hammer and chisel?

Am I saying that I wouldn't like a gift on Valentine's Day? What girl (or guy) would turn down a gift? They put out piles of stuffed animals in pink and red, which are cute and all, but what is a grown woman going to do with it after the holiday has passed? And roses? Crazy expensive.

Flowers are pretty and all. But they die. And then there is nothing left to be shown for the gift. The same with chocolates. You eat them and they are good, but then they are gone. I've always felt that if you are going to spend up to a hundred or more dollars on flowers and candy, you should just go for jewelry! Actually, I'm kidding. But something that can be used or enjoyed again, at least. And no, I don't mean a vacuum cleaner or a toaster. But if that's your line of thinking, I think you should just go for the jewlery...

I have told you what Valentine's Day does not mean to me. Let me tell you now what it does mean to me. The Valentine's part, I'm not so bothered about. The Anniversary part, it means everything. It is a celebration, a commemoration if you will, of the day I married my love, my other half, my best friend. I remember every detail of the day spent with our family and friends. Their love and support means so much to us both, and we are so grateful to have such people in our lives. Thank you to everyone that was there that day, to everyone who could not be there with us but sent us well wishes and support. And to my husband, I love you. Always And Forever.

So, what are we doing today to celebrate? Nid and I are in Sweden visiting friends. I'll fill you all in when we get home.

Random Tuesday Thoughts.

2010-02-09T12:08:00.004Z

I'm sick, but recovering. My daughter was sick, but is better. My husband just passed the beginning stages of sick and is full blown. Life in a sick house is no fun. Just ask my son, the only one not sick. It is amazing how fast trash cans fill up with nothing but tissues in a sick household. I just used "sick" in each of the last six sentences, and this one makes seven.

We know we need to start packing and purging. The move won't be any easier if we leave it till the end. But it's hard to start when we don't know when we're moving. We're waiting, US Embassy, please send the letter!

When you call Scottish Power, you talk to a Scottish person. Imagine that!

When we were at the hospital a few weeks ago for a checkup, the cleaning guy walked to our little curtained off area, turned and faced me from about 3 feet away and scratched his crotch.I complained. A supervisor came tell me she'd dealt with it. When she found out I was American, she just kept repeating - "But you don't look American!" What do you say to that?

I am loving this book:

For more randomness, visit Keely at The Unmom.

Charity Re-Makes.

2010-02-07T13:43:00.001Z

I was 10 years old in 1985. In school (5th grade) we were learning about the famine in Africa. When We Are The World by US For Africa came out, it was monumental. Everyone was talking about it. I had a 45 record that I played over and over. Musicians from all genres came together to do something wonderful.

Now, 25 years later, the same thing is happening. I was all ready to write this blog about what I thought was happening, which was someone decided to re-make We Are The World for Haiti. Before I got around to writing this blog, however, I learned that that is not true. It turns out that Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones had been planning for months to do an 25th Anniversary re-make on January 28, 2010. When Haiti was struck with the devastating earthquake, they changed it to be a fund raiser for the people there.

The fact that Ritchie and Jones were behind this re-make, and not someone else gives it credibility, however I am not a fan of the re-make in general. Especially when the motivation behind it changes. Does so easily giving away a moment in time take away from the issues in Africa? Are we to forget Africa in lieu of the current world disaster? And what about our own (American) disasters? Hurricane Katrina, anyone? Sure, musicians did benefit concerts, but was there a song recorded (or re-recorded) to mark that moment in history? Who makes the decision as to which catastrophe is worse and deserves more attention and money? Years after Katrina, I had an internet friend who was still trying to re-build her house and make it a home. The money ran out, and they lived for a long time in temporary housing and then in a partially completed home while they worked on it themselves after work and on weekends. Where was the relief when she needed it? If someone wants to create something new "commemorate" the devastation in Haiti, to raise money for the people suffering, have at it. But be original. I guess we'll see how it turns out on Friday, February 12th, when the song is debuted at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

And then there is the other song. It hurts me just to write it here, but for thoroughness I feel I should. Simon Cowell has re-made R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts. You can watch the original version here. In a recent article in the Guardian entitled Why British pop let cool get in the way of a good charity single, the author says "There's nothing like a charity single for making musicians pull together – as long as they're American." As much as I dislike the idea of a new We Are The World, at least the rest of the world thinks America is great because of their generosity of spirit. An article online at BBC Magazine talks about the meaning of the song and how it relates (or does not relate as the case may be) to the situation in Haiti. The comments at the end are worth reading as well, as at least half of them defend my thoughts on re-purposing an existing song.

I have heard the new version of Everybody Hurts. It hurts my ears. Listening to it (I had to listen to give it a chance and be fair about it, right?) I received a death threat from my loving husband. If you dare, you can listen to the entire song here. Just scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. Or you can (watch) listen to it here.

What I did not know in 1985 was that in England, Band Aid had been formed in 1984 and released a song to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia as well. Nid introduced me to Do They Know It's Christmas the other day, and I got the same feeling watching it as I did watching We Are The World the first time. Curious as to whether or not it had been re-made over the years, we found out that it had.
Here is the original version

And here it is re-made for Band Aid 20

It does not have the same vibe, and to me that equals less feeling, less dedication, less commitment to the cause. The more edited and photographic, the less it is about the music and the reason for the music.

But of course, this is all just my opinion.

An American In London And Beyond.

2010-02-06T19:09:00.010Z

No, it's not me. It's American country music artist Phil Vassar.
Weren't expecting that, were you?

Phil Vassar is a Virginia native (Yay Virginia!) and an amazing singer, songwriter, and performer. Unfortunately, I did not know that he was coming to the UK until it was too late. We'd already booked return tickets to London for the day before he was there. Turns out he toured the city, so we might have passed on the street! How cool would it have been to take the family to see a Virginia musician in London and then taken them to see him in Virginia later? Oh well, it would've cost a fortune, so best not to dwell on that.

I was very pleased when I saw video footage on Phil's blog of him boarding the plane to come to England. Wearing a Virginia Tech t-shirt:

Go Hokies!

And then he got off the plane wearing this:

Boo UVA :(

While sightseeing in London, Phil is wearing this:

A Union Jack hat. So clearly, he has no fashion sense.
You'll see why below when I discuss the Union Jack.

I wanted to see more of Phil's time in Europe, and there were some entertaining videos of him touring the cities they visited and of his shows. But there was also a fair amount of poorly done research into the areas he was coming to.

This is a newsletter I got about the tour:

For those of you not familiar with UK Flags, let me explain what I see. On the header, there is the Union Jack, which is the flag of the United Kingdom. Next to that are the flags of the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. It looks pretty enough, right? Only, on the countries Phil came to are:
London, England
Dublin, Ireland
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Glasgow, Scotland
Untermeitingen, Germany

That adds up to five countries, and should add up to five flags.

So, what looked like this:

Should have looked like this:

Easy, right?

England is not the United Kingdom. It is a country unto itself, a part of Great Britain, yes, but the identity of the English should not be diminished just because people associate the Union Jack with England. Nid is very much English, but don't call him British. I've heard the same about the Welsh, Scots, and Irish. They have identities of their own, and they should be respected for that.
[Note: Northern Ireland has not had a flag of their own since 1972, so the Union Jack is their current flag]

And then, while looking up the locations, I saw this on his tour page:

January 26	London, England	The Borderline
January 28	Dublin, Ireland	Whelans
January 29	Belfast, Ireland	The Avenue
January 30	Glasgow, UK	King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
February 01	Untermeitingen, Germany	Four Corners

Glasgow, UK? Is Scotland not as much it's own country as England? And are the two Irelands not completely different countries, one of which isn't even part of the United Kingdom?

I continue to be amazed by the lack of thoroughness of people. If you are paid to do a job, why is it so hard to do the job properly? This goes a long way to explain my difficulty enjoying some of my work situations in the past. I have been (repeatedly) told by managers and bosses that I just "expect too much" of other people. I only expect as much of others as I give to a job I am assigned to do. I am far from perfect, and I do not expect others to be. But it's not hard to do so many of the things I see done wrong around me.

Nid went to Phil's facebook page to let them know about the flag of England not being the Union Jack, and they got back to him right away. They changed the image to this:

Definitely an improvement. As long as you aren't from Northern Ireland, and looking for representation.
Thank you Team Vassar for your prompt attention.

I've Gotten Behind.

2010-02-01T13:57:00.001Z

It's been a very busy week, and I've not written a single thing about it. I suppose that's not entirely true. It's been a long exhausting week, but perhaps not a lot has happened. I've been sick. Briony's been sick. It's getting old. We went this morning to the doctor, who told us it was viral, and we just needed to treat the symptoms. Which is what we have been doing, to no avail. As soon as we got back from the doctor, we both started sneezing. A new symptom, great! And it's Briony's 14th Birthday. And she gets to spend it in bed.

So, to go back to the last time I should have blogged, I'll talk a little about Monday, January 25th.

We were up early to get the train to London for Nid and the children's medicals for their visas. We each packed a bag with snacks and a lunch, and various other things like mp3 players and books. The train was pretty busy, but we were in a quiet coach, and I managed to sleep for most of the hour and a half ride. Arriving at St. Pancras, we walked to the Tube station and bought our day passes. We got off at Bond Street, which is actually on Oxford Street, and since we had plenty of time, we walked down to Grosvenor Square, which is where all of the Embassys are. As far as London goes, Grosvenor Square is quite attractive, and we took some photos. I had heard about a pharmacy near there that sold American sized passport photos, which we have to have when we go back for the interviews, so we went in search of that. It was right up the street, in view of the US Embassy, which was great. What wasn't great was the price, just under £18 for the three of them, which got us two photos each. But we had to have them, so we didn't have a choice, and I'm glad to have it done. While we were there, someone brought in their cell phone to store, which they apparently charge £2 for. You aren't allowed to take bags or cell phones or much of anything into the Embassy, so it's good to know that we can leave things there for such a small fee. The name of the place is Audley Pharmacy.

We left there and went straight to the Knightsbridge Doctors office. The map they had given us was not to scale, and missing some side streets, so it was a pain to find. We went in, filled in the paperwork, and had our lunch. It was pretty crowded in there, but we got there just in time to take the last seats on the leather couch. The kids ended up needing to get a flu vaccine (which was not on my list of required vaccines, but oh well) and Nid had to get a booster as well since we do not know about his childhood vaccines. Then we went into another waiting room. Nid had to get blood drawn and have a chest x-ray taken, and they all got full physical exams. While they were out of the room, I chatted for a bit with a man with a Russian or Ukrainian type accent. He was there with his wife and their two children (little) and were trying to get visas for Canada. He said it was harder to get Canadian visas than US, and as many times as they kept taking them back I believe that. He was told that it wouldn't take long, and his children were so bored, I felt bad for him trying to keep them entertained in the small space. Thankfully they did have a small box of toys in the waiting room.

We finally got out of there, after paying a whopping £455 with instructions to get a few things checked out at our GP before they could forward the results to the Embassy. We took the Tube to South Kensington, and walked for ages underground to the Science Museum. Only to emerge and realize that we were there. We literally came out at the front door, which was excellent. We had about an hour there. I was very excited to see a Veterinary section. Then we got to it. On the 5th floor, tucked in a corner. The room was hardly bigger than my living room and dining room combined, and basically was a few plaques, with equipment next to each one. These are the things that they felt summed up the history of Veterinary Medicine:
Military Veterinary Medicine
Slaughter
Marking For Ownership
Castration
Docking
Veterinary Surgery
Veterinary Treatment
Counterirritation
Diagnosis
Restraint
Anatomy
Each of these headings got the same amount of space. What a waste of a trip to the 5th floor! You can see the correlating photos on my photo site. The Human medicine section was a lot more interesting, with lots of dioramas.

We met back up and took the Tube back to St. Pancras. It was rush hour and quite crowded, but certainly not as bad as it could've been. We ate at Burger King right outside the station, and the first song they played when we walked in was Shania Twain's 'Man, I Feel Like A Woman'. It might have been like a little bit of home away from home, except that with a speaker right over the cash registers, it took forever to order because I couldn't hear what the guy was repeating back to me. Dinner was wonderful though, a nice treat at the end of a long day.

We thought we were in for another great treat, First Class accommodations back to Leicester. But unlike regular class, First Class does not have a QUIET option. And the train was packed. With families. Little kids. It was not relaxing. One of the chairs was broken and very uncomfortable. The lights were on full blast even though it was dark outside, and it hurt my eyes. It was a much longer ride home than it was trip there, and I was so glad when we pulled into the station. A short walk and taxi ride later and we were home! The kids brushed their teeth and went straight to bed, and we relaxed the rest of the night. Despite the cost of staying in a hotel, I am glad that when we go back we won't be doing it all in one day.

I've got some more things on my list, but I think I'll save them for Random Tuesday Thoughts tomorrow.

All my photos are located HERE.

My Week.

2010-01-20T16:14:00.006Z

Well, it's been sort of a blur.

Saturday night Nid and I stayed up. Late. Dierks Bentley was performing on the Grand Ole Opry at 7pm CST. That's 6 hours behind us. I had every intention of taking a nap during the day, but I got sidetracked working on my new blog layout for the blog I will have when we move to Virginia. I did surprisingly well, and 1am came and went and I was good. He performed during the 7pm and 9:30pm showing, so we were up until sometime after 4:30am GMT. We had an online chat at Dierks Fans with a total of 36 Dierks fans stopped by, but we're proud to say that for most of the night we had 19-26 people chatting. Nid recorded the four songs that Dierks sang for everyone to keep for themselves. It was a really great night. I got tired about 3-3:30, but overcame it and thought I was wide awake. Until I got in bed. I think I was asleep within a minute.

Sunday morning we were up at 8:30 because Nid had a football game early. I got up surprisingly easy, and stayed awake all day, but we went to bed early (for us) that night.

Monday was nap day. It was like my body all of a sudden realized that I abused it over the weekend. While we were napping, the mailman left a note in our slot saying I'd missed TWO packages and could pick them up in 20 hours. Random right, 20 hours?

Tuesday we spent the day at the hospital because Nid had some tests, and so we sat. All day we sat. Despite having brought things to do, it was the most boring day. And he couldn't eat. So I didn't eat. It sucked.

This morning we got up early and went to the mail collection place. I got a budget cookbook I'd ordered and this wonderful prize I won on Mid-Atlantic English. It's a London Underground tea tin. I am looking forward to having the tea, and I am going to save the tin to give to my niece for her little kitchen. She has a million kitchen items, but not something like this!

I was very grateful to have received them both. But riding my bike really hurt my elbow that I injured in my bike accident in October. The second I walked in the door, I called the doctor's office. The doctor called me back and I was seen within the hour. Finally, I saw someone who took me seriously. Dr. A listened to what I told him, compared my two arms, twisted and pulled (ouch!) and said that there was definitely something not right, as I could not straighten my arm fully, and it hurt to twist on try to straighten. He offered me an X-Ray or referral to a specialist. I should have an appointment with a specialist within the next 33 days. With my luck, it will be while we are in Sweden, but rescheduling is slightly quicker than getting initial appointments.

So, that has been my week. I'm very proud of what I have accomplished with my new blog, I just need to figure out a name. I am creating my own background image, and getting the sizing and blank spaces to line up are not as easy as it appeared to be in the tutorial, but I'm getting it.

Pancakes.

2010-01-16T11:22:00.001Z

In one of our Christmas packages we got sent a packet of Banana Nut Muffin Mix. However, we do not have a muffin pan, and since we'll be moving, well, it just doesn't make sense to get one. The back of the bag had alternative directions for making pancakes, though, so I decided that today would be a good day for it.

There were a few problems with my plan, however. First, after adding the additional ingredients I did not realize how thin the batter was. I suppose it didn't really matter, as at that point, what could I do about it? I was starting to get a little stressed about how I'd gotten everyone excited about the pancakes and they were ruined, but Nid gave me great support. He pointed out to me that it was my first time making this recipe, my first time cooking them on a gas stove, in our old dented pan, etc. He said it didn't matter what they looked like. What they looked like was rather sad...

So, how did they turn out you may wonder? Well, I was not happy with them, but it had everything to do with aesthetics and nothing to do with the flavour. Because they were so thin, they turned out more like crepes than pancakes. But to my European family, they were perfect! Why? Because here in England, they call crepes.... pancakes! Nid had made me "pancakes" before, and they were crepes with fruit and ice cream with sugar sprinkled on top. I didn't argue with him, as they were delicious. But they were not "pancakes." But, as it turns out he was right.

This is what I just learned on Wiki: American pancakes are actually like pancakes from Scotland, while as here in England, the pancakes are more like French crepes. So while my pancakes today were rather foreign and a disappointment to me, the family loved them. I've also got packaged muffin mix for blueberry and chocolate chip, but I may modify those recipes slightly to see if I can make them thicker.

What I wanted:

What I got (minus the lemons):

The Good, The Bad, And The Snow.

2010-01-09T12:47:00.035Z

The Good.
I had an excellent experience with Knightsbridge Doctor's office in London this week. I called them on Tuesday to book an appointment for the family's medicals for the visa process. Not having any comprehension of how busy they were or how long it would take to be seen, I was dreading this call a little, especially since there were three of us needing appointments, they might not be able to just fit us in. I had my calendar and pencil in front of me and dialed the number. The woman that answered the phone was awesome! She asked if I had a day in mind, but I didn't, I just wanted to get in. She said her first available was only two weeks away, but it was first thing in the morning, so I asked for a mid day appointment, explaining that we'd like to travel down and back the same day. She offered one the next week at 1:10. She went over where we needed to go, which Tube station it was closest to, and what we needed to bring with us. I got off the phone smiling, and happy.

Nid and I discussed our options and decided that though the train was a little more expensive than the bus, it was worth it since we'd be going and coming the same day and saving by not getting a hotel. We'll look into the bus option when we go back for our interviews. We booked the train leaving just before 9am and arriving back in Leicester just after 9pm. It will be a long day, but in theory, depending on how long we're at the doctor's office, we'll have time to see a few things near there, and we're hoping to go to the Science Museum as well. The children have never been to London before, so we're hoping for some better weather than we've been having.

The Bad.
Actually, The Bad is The Snow.
I am normally someone who loves snow. SNOW. NOT ICE. SNOW. However, where we are, because of our elevation (kind of sunk in a little depression) we don't get much snow. I've tried to photograph it, but it's just about half an inch max. The ice however, it is easily a half an inch. Even before the snow came before the holidays, when the temperature dropped, the tops of the cars on the street looked like they'd been snowed on, the frost was so thick in the mornings. That's fine, doesn't affect me. But the ice on the sidewalks is killer.

I've seen some photos and read other blogs that are all talking about their inches of snow and it's so lovely. But the running theme is the ice. The UK just doesn't have enough machinery or supplies to deal with this. I've read that we (as a whole country) have had at least one of the coldest nights 30 in years. Just my luck, right?! Here is a satellite photo that I've seen all over:

That's pretty amazing, and it gives me chills just looking at it. We walk to the grocery store two to three times a week - because they don't use certain preservatives (or something) so things don't stay fresh very long - - this is a whole other blog topic! - and it is downright dangerous! I was questioning Nid the other day as we walked along about why no one shoveled or treated their sidewalks. Not even businesses do it, I was shocked. He thought it was the responsibility of the Council, not the individual owners. I asked if we slipped and got hurt if we could sue, but he didn't think that we could. Oh well, opportunity lost :(

Then I read something this morning talking about the difference between snow/ice clearance in the US and UK. Apparently, there is a chance that if you clear the walkway in front of your house, you open yourself up to a lawsuit if someone got hurt. It's a slim chance, they'd have to prove you maliciously wanted to hurt someone, but still, with a good lawyer a greedy person might be able to accomplish it. I couldn't believe it. I've had friends who had sidewalks and they had to have them clear within a certain number of hours after the snow stopped falling or they got fined. Here we get so very little actual accumulation, it wouldn't take more than a few scoops of rock salt to keep the ice and light snow away, but people just don't do it. As much as I don't like it, I fear for the children. They walk a mile to school each way. On sidewalks in the same condition as around here. It's dangerous. Thousands of schools are closed across the country. Why are ours not? If they do not offer school buses, they need to think of the safety of the children.

I love this city, and I love this neighborhood. It's been a wonderful experience for me here. And I know that when we move and I have to go out in the cold and snow to shovel a path to the car I'm going to complain. Loudly and often, probably. But at least I'll feel confident that I won't likely break my leg or worse. There is something to be said for that. With only a half inch of snow, I feel completely housebound, and I don't like it!

If you'd like to know more about how the snow is affecting the rest of England here are some links:
Midwest to Midlands talks about gas rationing in her neck of the woods.
The sea is partially frozen in Dorset on the South coast of England.
The Scottish Highlands are nearly as cold as the South Pole.
Michelloui at Mid-Atlantic English has some pretty pictures of her area.
Over at The Bitchin' Wives Club, you can read about a school that ran out of oil so had to cancel school. For a week.

It's pretty crazy around here. And ironic that it's my first/last winter here. It's also pretty crazy that where I'm from in Virginia got record breaking snow (1903 I think) in December, ranging anywhere from 21 to 36 inches at friends' homes. What does it all mean? And has my move somehow brought it all into being? Because of course, the world DOES revolve around me. Seriously.

Packet 3 Received.

2010-01-06T15:58:00.001Z

Packet 3. Which actually is not a packet. I think it use to be a packet of forms to fill out, but now it is just a sheet of paper telling me where to go to get forms to print and fill out. This is what we've been waiting for since we heard that our petition to apply for visas was accepted.

I have all the documents and supporting documents (in triplicate) on their way. Thank you soooo much to my Dad who was gracious enough to go ahead and copy everything so I don't have to when it gets here. He's sending me things like my US bank statements and old tax forms. The day I get them I am going to mail off my DS-2001 to London. That officially notifies the US Embassy that I have all my required papers and documents IN MY HAND. They don't want to deal with people making appointments and not being prepared, and who can blame them? It's an extra step, but since you can see everything you'll need online, you don't have to wait until this step to continue, you just have it all ready. I've been a bit of a slacker (I know, it's so unlike me), but I have a (semi) good reason. Really, I do. I was cleaning up my desktop before the holidays - my virtual desktop that is - and deleting shortcuts to programs. Well, amongst the shortcuts I also deleted a couple of folders. The one labeled DIERKS STORE that contained all of my saved designs (not so bad, as a lot of them had been backed up), but also my in progress ones, of which there were quite a few. It depressed me so bad that it took weeks before I could bring myself to face Photoshop and start again, but I did, just this week. The other folder I deleted was called MOVING. Not original folders, but the point was that they would stand out. I guess that didn't work. I lost all the photos of our new house, I lost forms I'd filled in, and emails I'd saved to my hard drive. Thankfully I still had them in my email, so there wasn't anything there that I couldn't type up again or download again, but it had taken me *so long* to get it all sorted in the first place, that I just couldn't bear to deal with it. Especially with the Embassy taking so long on the last step, I just wasn't very motivated. But I got myself back on track last week, got the final list of things to Dad, and he mailed my documents to me the other day. And today we get our Packet 3s. Three of them.

So, what comes next you might ask? Well, that's (relatively) simple. I get my documents and mail off my DS-2001. The Embassy gets it, schedules our interview and sends us a letter telling us when it is. With the arrival of Packet 3, we got our case numbers, which means we can schedule their medical exams. This also has to be done in London, and we had a bit of a dilemma over when to do it, but came to a good decision today. The medical has to be done before the interview. This is a relatively new rule. It use to be that people would book their medicals the day before or after the interview once they got the interview date letter. Now that it has to be done before, if we wait to book it and try to get it done the day before, what happens if they don't have a slot (or three in our case). If we're lucky we could book it for sometime before, but what if the interview date is so soon that there are no slots for the medicals? There were other timing concerns as well, but I won't get involved in that now. They basically all involved risk of not getting medicals done before our interview date.

So we're going to go ahead and book our medical for the first available and make two trips. In theory, we'll go and come back the same day. I called this afternoon and their machine said they were closed until tomorrow. As soon as I get a day and time we'll book something, and hopefully it will be a time conducive to us going and returning the same day. We'll have to stay in a hotel when we go for the interview, as they are usually first thing in the morning, but if we can save a hotel stay for this trip that will be great. I looked at some random dates online, and it looks like we'll be taking the bus. Big yuck, but it's almost half the cost of the train, and that was off peak. Peak travel for the train was 3-4 times the bus. And who wants to be crammed in with a train full of business people anyway?

What happens then? The medical office will send the results to the Embassy, which will keep them until our interview date. That is when we show up with all of our documents and sit for *gasp* HOURS (that's what most people report having to do anyway). If everything looks okay, we could get the visas that day. If not, we'll leave the passports and they'll mail them to us when they decide. It feels so good to be back in the running.

The countdown timer on my blog says we're moving in 5 months..... OMG 5 MONTHS!?!?!? That's so close! That's so far! It's not enough time. It's too long to wait! I'm a jumble of contradictory thoughts and emotions. I miss my family and friends. But I don't miss working like a dog. I miss my dog.... and my cat. I can't wait to see them again. But I'm a little afraid of the scene I'll cause when I do! I'm crying just thinking about it now. Well, lots to do before I start dinner. I've got a list of things I download and print at the library first thing in the morning. Have a good night all my friends in blogland :)

Random Tuesday Thoughts.

2010-01-05T15:26:00.062Z

Third times a charm for Random Tuesday Thoughts, I think. My last two were alright, but todays randomness is bril :)

2009. Pronounced two thousand nine.
2010. Pronounced twenty ten.
This is currently driving me mad! I do concede that prior to the 2000s, we did say (1999) nineteen ninety nine, and not nineteen hundred ninety nine. And that changed in 1910, because prior to that they would have said nineteen hundred and nine, because nineteen nine is silly. As is twenty nine. But still, it is bothering me way more than it should. I do know this. But knowing it does not prevent it apparently.

We were given these sweets for Christmas. They are the fancy one that come with a map (they should all come with maps, but that's another issue). So, I've picked out the ones I like, and I'm letting Nid have all the others (I know, but what are you gonna do?) and I'm left with ones I that I can't figure out. There are 10 pictures on the map. They are fairly easy to identify, as each one is slightly differently shaped or decorated. Although, on a side note, the foil covered ones (I didn't have any of them) were labeled silver foil and gold foil. But really, it was blue with silver stripes and red with gold stripes. I'd have called them red foil and blue foil, because people (like me) might think they were STUPID! Oh right, back to the map. There are 10 images. And 11 slots in the box. There were two (sets) of one of the sweets. And not even one of the flavours I liked. It took way longer than it should have to realize this, too.

This morning the kids discovered that it had snowed overnight. Cale called the school and the automated line reported that school was closed due to inclement weather. He came upstairs to tell us. A little while later we go get up and they've left a note saying they've gone to school. Briony called back the line and it said school was on. This isn't the first time it's happened, so we know the explanation. When there is bad weather, all the students and parents call the main line that has the opening/closing message. If the line if overwhelmed with calls, it defaults to a school is closed message. When the calls die down, it goes back to it's regular message. Or something like that. How dumb is that?

This morning we were going to Asda to do some shopping. It was pretty early, and I knew I'd get hungry later on, so I fixed a cheese, onion, and mayo sandwich on a whole wheat burger bun for breakfast. Because that didn't seem very breakfasty, I had a side of potato salad so it would seem more lunch like.

Over the counter drugs in the UK. Okay, so this bit started out as random, but has moved on to a rant now that I've investigated the subject enough to somewhat knowledgeably speak on the topic. Apparently there were a lot of suicide attempt using the drug paracetamol (known as acetaminophen/Tylenol in the US) in the past. Prior to moving here, it would never have occurred to me that someone would do that. I know a bit about Tylenol. I personally love it, as it's easier on my stomach than ibuprofen. I know that you shouldn't take it for a hangover as alcohol and acetaminophen are not a good combination for your liver. I know that acetaminophen toxicity in cats is a real problem. But suicide? I never would have thought it. But there you go, it's a fact of life here. So the people in charge got together and said that paracetamol cannot be sold in packets of more than 16 (unless you get it from behind the counter from a Pharmacist I've heard. They've also put this restriction on ibuprofin. Now, I've been known to take my fair share of otc pills. I get headaches regularly, my back has issues off and on, just general aches and pains. Knowing about this restriction, I brought over with me two 500 count bottles of ibuprofen. Which have since run out, so now we're buying little boxes of pills, and it always seems we are running out. It's such a pain. I looked it up, and found that right after the pill restriction, there were 21% less fatalities as a result of overdose. There was a decrease in non-fatal overdoses of the drug. Also, there were less liver transplants. According to this article, people were also overdosing on aspirin products. A later article about a study showed that after the initial decrease in these cases, the rates have now come back and passed the previous numbers of over doses. But we still can't buy 500 count bottles. For the record, it is not my intention to offend or upset anyone who has had to deal with suicide. It is a horrible thing, to be sure. It just doesn't make sense to restrict this drug in this way. It doesn't even work well. And for the record to those of you outside the UK, I've heard that you can buy paracetamol with codeine at the pharmacy, without a prescription. 5-10% of codeine metabolizes into morphine. And if you want a bunch, you just hit up a bunch of pharmacies, don't you? Seems like that's a worse thing to have easy access to, to me.

For more randomness, hop on over to Keely's blog at The Un-Mom.

New Year's Eve.

2009-12-31T20:19:00.009Z

This is a big day for us. Actually, the whole holiday season has been big for us. Our first Thanksgiving together. Our first Christmas together. And now our first New Years together. If that wasn't enough to make the holidays special, each one of those was also our last... Thanksgiving in England, Christmas in England, and New Years in England. It's kind of a big deal. Tonight it is just Nid and myself, as the children are in Wales this week with Grandma and Taid. They called earlier and are having a great time.

It's cold out today. The warm spell we had (with highs in the 40s) has gone, but it's not too windy, which always makes it feel colder. Nid and I walked to the corner shop and he got some advocaat that he ordered the other day, and I got a bottle of white wine. We are getting ready to watch a double feature of Final Destination 3 and 4. We've already seen 1 and 2 this week. Thought a bit of fun and nonsense would be a good run up to midnight tonight.

America and God Save The Queen.

2009-12-29T01:00:00.005Z

I happened upon the Queen's Christmas message via another blog that I read, and it reminded me of something I discovered this past July when Nid and I were watching Pops Goes The 4th.

When Boston Pops began playing America / My Country, Tis of Thee Nid recognized the melody of God Save the Queen. I forgot about it and never looked it up, but then I heard it during the Queen's speech, so I've now confirmed.
From Wikipedia:
My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", is an American patriotic song, whose lyrics were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The melody is that of the British national anthem, God Save the Queen, although Smith encountered it by way of a German adaptation. The song served as a de facto national anthem of the United States before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the official anthem.

Here is America (My Country 'Tis Of Thee):

And God Save The Queen as covered by the Sex Pistols:

If you want to hear the "official" version you can listen to the beginning of the Queen's speech.

Just a bit of random trivia for you all.

Enjoy more randomness at Keely's place, The Un Mom.

Boxing Day.

2009-12-26T23:09:00.008Z

I suppose I should start today's entry with the fact that late on Christmas I remembered to look up the time of the Leicester City Foxes football game we were to attend. Our tickets said 1500, but after running into our neighbor on Christmas Eve, and him telling us that the game was on TV, we thought we should check because sometimes they change the time for television. They did. Instead of 1500, it was to start at 1800. I'm so glad we checked, because getting there three hours early would have really sucked.

Our day started out with another sleep in. I got up and showered while Nid started the bacon and sausages and mushrooms. I made the scrambled eggs, gravy, and buttermilk biscuits. It was a wonderful meal, and a great start to Boxing Day.

After breakfast, which was about 11am I think, we cleaned up and then watched our daily movie. We heated up the apple pie and served it with caramel cinnamon waffle ice cream. It was amazing, and I am so glad waited and had it when we were not full from Christmas Dinner. After the movie, the children started their baths and got ready.

Our taxi arrived at 5pm. We only took it part of the way. For two reasons. The first is that it was more in the spirit to walk with everyone else walking to the stadium. The second was because it was Boxing Day, so the buses were not running and the taxis were charging fare and a half (because they could). We got to the stadium the same time as the police escorted away fans that had been bused in. I bought a program for the game, at a very reasonable £3 fee. We found our seats, and I was quite pleased with them. We were half way between the half way line and the goal, second row up. The hard core fans were almost directly behind us, and the away fans were in the corner closest to us, so we really were immersed in the spirit of the game.

This was my first live football game (with the exception of an under 21 US v Chili World Cup game at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville in... 1993?). It was very exciting. I didn't always know what was going on, but it's okay when it's live. Though instant replay would've been great! I caught a penalty in action on my camera, and then I also captured the goal scored as a result of the penalty. Leicester scored twice in the first half, and Sheffield United scored once in the second. We had a lot of attempts on goal, and it was very exciting for me. There were some colo(u)rful chants coming from the hard core fans behind us, my favo(u)rite one being when the Sheffield keeper made a goal kick, our fans sang "oooooOOOOOO YOU'RE SH*T AAAAhhhhhh!" I caught that on tape as well.

At the end of the game we walked a good ways from the stadium. It was much more crowded leaving and we all held on to each other pretty tightly to keep from getting separated. We stopped and called a taxi to take us the rest of the way, which I was glad of as the sidewalks were much slipperier than they had been on the way in. As we were stopped at a traffic light, we were entertained by some weirdly clad women walking by. I was trying to get pictures of the shoes/outfits when they turned to cross the road and I realized that the woman in 5+ inch high heeled shoes that could barely make it down the slight slope to the road from the sidewalk was pregnant! Unfortunately between shooting through the windows of the taxi and the street and headlights, I did not get a good shot. But it was one of those moments where you just go "WHY?" Why would you? I don't know.

We got home right before the children's bedtime. Nid and I watched a movie and then went to bed. It had been a long few days.

Click HERE for more photos.

Here are the highlights of the game. I took video myself, but this is easier.

Christmas Day.

2009-12-25T23:17:00.002Z

We slept in on Christmas day. The kids knew we were going to, and they were okay with it. Actually, I was up before Briony, and when she got up I got her to help me fix my share of Christmas Dinner. She mixed up all the ingredients for the watergate salad and mixed the liquid parts of the green bean casserole. I explained the other steps, whipping the cream and adding it later so it wouldn't go flat, and mixing the beans with the sauce right before putting it in the oven. We also made the cornbread. Nid was in charge of the turkey, potatoes, parsnips... and everything else. After all the kitchen stuff got finished and cleaned up, I met the family in the living room to open presents. It took a while to sort everything out into piles, but it made it much more organized, and that was well worth it.

This year there was a lot of candy given and received. Because of the upcoming move, it didn't make a lot of sense to have a lot of stuff sent over from America that would either need to be left or shipped back. So my mom and my aunt and grandma all shipped edible presents. The children loved it! We told them it was their candy and they could all that they wanted, however we did expect them to eat three meals a day, and to eat all of their Christmas dinner (even if they had 5 candy bars right before it). They actually surprised me and only ate a bit at a time. I was really impressed. I'm going to make mine last till summer! After the presents were opened, the children went upstairs to play, and Nid and I started putting together the rest of the dinner.

Around mid-day I started to feel ill. At first I thought it was because I'd only had some toast for breakfast, and then a bit of chocolate, but I snacked on the corner of the cornbread for a while and it didn't help. Then I blamed our friends Matt and Jacqui (so sorry guys, it didn't end up being you at all!) because when they came over they'd both just recovered from being quite ill. By the time dinner was served, I could barely look at my plate brimming over without feeling even more ill. So as the family started eating, I nursed a Eno (like alka-seltzer) until everyone was nearly finished. We forgot to open our Crackers at the beginning of the meal, so we opened them. The package had 12, so we kept opening them until we ran out. I'd never participated in this tradition, and rather enjoyed it. I've heard it's near impossible to get them in the US (and when you do they are expensive) so it may be our only year with them, so I am glad that we did it. Reminder when you look at the photos, I was feeling rather ill at the time. I finally felt well enough to start eating, but it was slow going, and by the time I'd finished, Nid had put away the left overs, and the kids had already done all the washing up.

After a rest, we watched our daily movie, but were still too full to eat dessert. I called my mom and we had a nice long chat. I was really tired at the end of the day, and honestly cannot remember what else happened. I think I went to bed early....

Click HERE for more photos.

Christmas Eve.

2009-12-24T23:09:00.000Z

Our Christmas Eve wasn't exactly traditional this year. I had forgotten the veg (vegetable to those of you not in the UK), so we had to go back to Sainsbury's to get that. Because we had a busy day, we were there at 8 am. We ran into one of our neighbors on the way, who mentioned that the Leicester City game we were going to was going to be televised on Saturday. I'll get back to that later. Thankfully there was no crowd at the grocery store, and we were back home by 8:45, when we started our daily holiday movies.

The movie finished with 10 minutes to spare to get to the doctor's office. Nid and the children had appointments to get vaccines for the move. I had printed out documents, compared them to the children's baby books, and had a list of questions. Not all of Cale's book was filled out, so I had to find out if he hadn't gotten them all or if they just hadn't been filled in. Also, some of the vaccines were slightly different in his book (a later edition of the same style), so I just wanted to make sure they had both everything they needed in general for their ages, as well as for the trip. The nurse we saw was a joke! He did not seem to entirely understand what I was saying, and I suppose part of that could be a language barrier issue, however part of it certainly was a he's an idiot barrier. He needed an exact date for travel. We don't have an exact date. Finally we agreed I could make one up. Then he was looking at his computer and said they had all that they needed. I said they needed Hepatitis B. His helpful comment was that that was usually done under private insurance. And that's all he'd say. I had to practically beat him over the head, asking him if we could pay for it, (it's usually done under private insurance he said again). I asked if he could give it (it's usually done under private insurance he said yet again). I asked if he had it in the building (it's usually done under private insurance he said YET AGAIN!). I asked, if I paid him money, could he physically do it!?!?!?!? I was really getting tense at this point, and I do believe that my voice was starting to get higher and higher pitched. I said to Nid, let's just get it at the Embassy when we go to London. So he says, what he'll do for us is give them Hepatitis A&B. He cannot give us B for free, but he can give us A&B for free under the NHS. What?! Okay, we agree on that. He then refuses to give them TDap. I say that the CDC says it can be reboostered at ages 11-13. He says we have to wait to get a letter telling us that it's due, and we'll get that when the children are aged 14, 15, or 16 before they leave school. He won't even give it to us if we pay for it. I say fine, as I know we can get it at the medicals or when we get to the US.

Briony was up first, and immediately after her injection she starts to feel sick. We move her to a cot and she lays down for a while. Nid gets his vaccines next. He gets two, and feels fine. When Briony is feeling better we send Cale in to get his and I go out with Briony to the waiting room. She still isn't feeling well. Cale bounces (literally) out of the exam room a few minutes later and we head home. About 50 yards down the street, he starts seeing bright lights and feels light headed. I take Briony, Nid takes Cale, and we finally get home. I fixed them both some toast and water, handed out the paracetamol (acetaminphin in the US) and they rest on the sofa until they start to feel a little better. Both have sore arms (as does Nid) so I give strict orders (per the nurse) for them to be careful on the stairs, not to lift anything heavy, or rough house for the afternoon.

It was only about a half hour until Nid's friend Kev from Sommerset arrived with his daughter Jasmine for a visit. Kev had come up to Kettering to visit his mother for the holiday, and they took the train to Leicester to visit Nid. It had been years since they'd seen each other, and it is great that they were able to have an in person visit before we move. There is talk about the four of us visiting Kev at his place, but we are quickly running out of time to do so.

We also had a visit from our friends Matt and Jacqui. They stopped by for a short time for a coffee. We've made tentative plans to see Avatar 2D next week with them. Nid saw it in 3D with his friend Petros the other week, but would like to see it in 2D as well, and I'm afraid I'd be motion sick with 3D, so it's a good plan. Matt and Jacqui are going to Spain for a few days after the holiday, so we'll hook up with them when they return.

When Kev and Jasmine left, I just didn't feel much like cooking, so we had chips from the chippy and sausages I had in the fridge and it was actually quite nice (and easy!). I called Heather after dinner and Caitlin was so talkative! She normally doesn't like to talk on the phone, but Heather had me on speaker and I just can't believe how grown up she is. We haven't webcamed in months, and I've missed her ever so much. At the end of the call she told me she loved me bunches and wished me a Merry Christmas. It was too cute! I can't wait to see her again. I just hope she warms back up to me quickly and doesn't think I'm a stranger.

A Little Shopping And Holiday Movie Week.

2009-12-22T14:11:00.004Z

Well, apparently now that I'm a parent, I have officially joined the ranks of those who go Christmas shopping in the last few days before Christmas. Admittedly, we've been hampered a bit by the rain and snow of recent weeks, and as much as biking to town in the cold is unappealing, it's worse in rain and/or snow. As it was this morning, there were patches of ice, but little enough traffic that we could avoid it fairly easily. Speaking of traffic, because the sidewalks were icier than the road, we went the whole way on the road. Usually it's a combination of both. I have to be honest. I don't like roundabouts when riding in a car. I really don't like them riding on A BIKE!

They are evil and confusing and... anyway that's not the subject of this particular post, so I'm letting it go. Deep breath... move on...

We rode into town early, arriving right about 9am, before the crowds got there. Now, not only were we doing our Christmas shopping three days before The Day. We didn't really know what we were getting. We had some ideas, but did not know where or exactly what... We had success at almost every place we went. We also scouted out some really nice hiking boots for our trip to Sweden in February. They've got a great sale going on right now, that they think will last through New Years, so we'll probably go back next week and get something. I only have the one pair of shoes here now (gave my spare pair of sneakers to Cale because he kept wearing through the ones we'd get him within days or weeks). And now my one pair are wearing out and have started giving me blisters and arch pain. I am really looking forward to these hiking boots. I'd just worn out my favorite pair back home and threw them away before the move. With shopping success, we had a quick lunch at Burger King (of course!) and headed home. I made the kids stay out of the dining room and wrapped everything up. I now understand why my mother started using gift bags with us all those years ago. Presents wrapped, everything put away. And now I'm sitting here, and hour or so later still shivering. The cold was okay while I was out in it, wearing a coat, hat and gloves. But now it's still in me, and I think I need to put on some more layers. Or take a hot bath.

But that will have to wait because today is day two of our Holiday Movie Week. Here is our plan:

There have been quite a few adjustments to it over the last 24 hours, and a few things have been taken off. It's not just classic American holiday shows, it's my favorites. The ones that I watch every year. I want to share these with my new family, who has never seen any of them (well, Nid's seen a couple). Yesterday's movie went over very well, and we'll be starting todays shortly. And last night Nid and I watched the less kid-friendly Christmas movie Die Hard!

Oh, and I nearly forgot! We missed our package delivery today. It left NJ on the 13th. It got scanned late yesterday somewhere in the UK. We thought it might get delivered today, so we made sure to get back from town in a timely manner. We walked in the door and the children said there was a knock at the door and they left a notice. Of course they did! But then they said... about two minutes ago. Really? Just our luck. But it turns out we are lucky, because the call tag says they are dropping it at the same post office that they left the last one. It is closer than the main package delivery place, and it says we can pick it up tomorrow. We need to go to the PO anyway to get more gas and electric, so it all worked out.

Winter Solstice.

2009-12-21T20:28:00.003Z

Today, December 21, 2009 is Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year.

When I first became interested in my family's genealogy and history, going back to Ireland and Scotland, I learned a lot about Celtic and Pagan traditions. I learned about a place in Ireland called Newgrange. It is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. It is approximately 5,000 years old, and predates Stonehenge by about 1,000 years. Newgrange was designed so that on the shortest day of the year, the sunrise would shine all the way down the passage and illuminate the room at the end of a 60 foot long passage for 17 minutes. It is a true marvel of history and construction. You can read more about Newgrange at Knowth.com

You can read all about the Pagan origins of Christmas at these sites:
zenzibar.com
Pagan roots of Christmas
Christmas
ReligiousTolerance.org
suite101.com's paganismwicca
circlesanctuary.org

Earlier today we opened a few Solstice presents from Nanna and Grandma Vickey and Granddad Purcell. Nid burned some CDs for the kids and I gave everyone an ornament with their first initial on that I had bought last year and brought with me. It will be a new tradition for us, to have these ornaments on the tree every year.

After opening presents, we made kettle corn and cracked open the sweets Grandma Vickey sent and all sat down to watch It's A Wonderful Life. We've got a movie (or several cartoons) planned for each day this week. It's a movie that I watch every year. Nid had only seen it once as a child, and the children had never seen it. I was worried a little because it was made in 1946 and is 2 hours and 10 minutes, that the children would get bored, but they stuck it out and really seemed to enjoy it.

We topped off our day with a grand dinner!

A huge thank you to Nid for putting this all together for us.

You can see more photos HERE!

The US Embassy, London.

2009-12-19T12:49:00.001Z

They've gone on Winter Holiday. All of them that work there, they must have! Do you want to know why I know this to be true? Let me explain...

I am a member of a website for Expats. Members of this website post data for others to see. They post things like when and where they applied for various visa. They post how long it took to get notifications for each stage and any problems they had or things they missed or should have done. It's been as much a help with the move back to the US as UK Yankee was in getting here in the first place. It's been a life saver. But now I know that the Embassy can work faster and is not (because they must have all gone on vacation last month) and it is a bit of a let down. ****Note, if you work at the Embassy and are reading this, please don't reject us simply because I am stressed and venting****

Four other couples in addition to us posted their data. The website compiles this and gives statistics.
The average time between mailing the I-130(s) and receiving NOA1 was 11 days.
We got our in 4 days.
The average time between NOA1 and NOA2 was 20 days.
It's been 38 days and I still haven't heard anything.

The Embassy website says that as of December 9th, they are processing petitions filed November 10th. Our NOA1 was November 10th. That should be us they are processing. But where is our NOA2? Before this update, it said that as of November 27th, they were processing petitions filed on December 9th. So in 18 days, they only made their way to the next day's petitions? Are they getting that many?

This next step is just that. One of many more steps we have to take. The next statistic is the number of days between NOA2 and the interview in London. Based on only 2 couples (the only two that have gotten interviews of the 5 of us) the number is 56 days. If we got notified today, we would have an interview date probably sometime in late February or early March. If we're lucky. If they don't get further and further behind. If I don't run into any trouble getting my Christmas package that includes documents I need to submit at the interview.

I just want to take the next step. Waiting for the interview is going to be hard enough, without the waiting to hear how long we have to wait for the interview... it's just a waiting game, and those of you who know me personally know I'm not so good at waiting. And also, being the overzealous planner that I am, not knowing until March (or later!) when we can move is killer. I want to book the shipping and tell my family when to expect us. I want to know when I have to buckle down and start looking online for jobs.

It is a weird feeling, right now. There are things I want... a bathrobe, for example. I've wanted one since I got here. We kept putting it off, and then we were going to get new ones for Christmas. But before we did that, we decided to move. And now it doesn't make sense to get bathrobes. There won't be room in our carry on luggage when we move. We could include them in the shipping container, but then we won't have them for 6-8 weeks after we arrive, and they are pretty bulky (though I do have spacebags) so we'd be paying for them when we could probably just get new ones again. So, we aren't getting bathrobes for Christmas. We aren't getting them until we move. That's the first example that came to mind, but there are other things like this. We're in limbo. We don't want to buy things we'll just have to get rid of in 6 or 7 months.

First Snow.

2009-12-17T11:53:00.005Z

So, I was just on my iGoogle homepage checking the current news, and I saw this:

I said to Nid, "It's snowing." (I didn't really mean it, I was being sarcastic)
He says "Where?"
I say "Leicester."
He looks out the crack between the curtains and the window and says "Oh yeah, it is."

I of course didn't believe him. Of course it wasn't snowing, he wasn't going to fool me! I even flat out said he was lying to me (I know, I'm a horrible person, but I meant it good-naturedly). So finally he opens the curtains (the sun comes right into our eyes when we sit at the computer, so we have to keep it closed till early afternoon when the buildings block it).

It was snowing. So I got out my camera... and took a half dozen photos. In most of them you can't even tell it's snowing. In the ones you can tell, it looks like rain. Oh well. I am documenting it... my first snow fall in England. And by the time I closed the door and came inside it had stopped. Good timing on our parts, or we'd have never known!

Those little bits really are big fluffy snowflakes!

Addendum:
Friday, 18 December 2009 I woke up to this on the sidewalk:

This is our street:

It's so pretty!
Ironically, this is what Google says the weather is today:

Partially sunny it is. Clear it is not...
Oh well, it's snowing!

We do however, have to go to both the grocery store and the post office, both of which are in opposite directions from home, and we are centered pretty much smack in the middle. We'll see how I feel about snow after our trek.

The Results Of Random Tuesday.

2009-12-16T16:39:00.001Z

Yesterday I ranted about the postal delivery service. And today they delivered the package from my parents. Yesterday it said it was still in New Jersey. This morning it said it arrived in the UK yesterday, and was scheduled for delivery on Thursday. It said that last time, but delivered the day before, so I went to the shop by myself and Nid stayed home in case they came. They didn't. We got a package last week from Nanna (Nid's stepmom) and they delivered at noon. At 1ish, I figured it wasn't coming. At 1:30 there was a loud knock at the door. It was Parcel Force with our package. I opened it and sorted all the goodies, some of which needed some extra tape on them, but nothing was damaged. Then I pulled everything out from under the tree and sorted everything and put it back. It was quite a process, but it looks great.

Our Holiday Card 2009.

2009-12-15T17:56:00.002Z

This year, in lieu of mailing out Holiday cards, we are going digital. This is our card.

Random Tuesday Thoughts.

2009-12-15T14:27:00.008Z

This is my first go at Random Tuesday Thoughts... lets see how it goes:

I am waiting for packages from the US. It's not that I'm greedy, I just don't want them to get lost. Because the senders who spent major bucks to ship them. What's up with the price of postage, anyway?!

Package number one was sent on December 4 and was last scanned in New Jersey (last US port for international mail) on December 9.

Package number two was sent on December 9 and was last scanned in New Jersey on December 13.

Where are they now, you might ask? That would be the question. Are they taking the ferry across the pond? Could be at this rate...

I hope you enjoyed my randomness, though really I suppose I'm always this random, so there is probably nothing special about this Tuesday post after all. You decide.

You can click the link above to go to Keely's site, The Un Mom, to read more randomness.

It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like...

2009-12-14T22:29:00.003Z

Winter!

It's been chilly for a while now. But we've still got our heat turned down to the lowest level it will go, and it's been pretty comfortable in the house. There have been days that I didn't wear my coat over my sweater when we went out. I still haven't gotten out my winter coat yet. But that may change this week. This is what Google tells me is coming:

Not unreasonable weather by any means, and it does make it a little more "seasonal." We've had rain part of most days of the last week I think (the days all tend to blur together for me), and with the dip in temperatures, there is a chance of snow. Snow!

NHS Orthodontic Treatment. Or not.

2009-12-10T19:18:00.001Z

We took Briony to the orthodontist today. What a waste. The dentist wrote to the orthodontist last May saying she needed an appointment. We got a letter from the orthodontist in October saying our appointment was the last weekend of November. Briony was out of town that day so I called to reschedule... for today. All this just to be seen. The orthodontist says that yes, she is entitled to free orthodontic care through the NHS. The nurse talks to us. The first appointment (after this) will be photos and molds (understandable). The second appointment will be to discuss the treatment options and agree to a plan of action (okay). Then the third will be starting treatment (right).

THEN she says because they are only allowed to start treatment on so many NHS patients a month, we should expect a letter with a first appointment date around May, with treatment probably starting in July/August. REALLY?!?!

We didn't say anything about the move, thinking maybe we could get lucky with a cancellation or something. Originally we thought she'd get the braces on closer to now, and by the time we'd moved be well on her way, making treatment in the US less costly.

The picture is of the orthodontist examining her bite. They gave her groovy sunglasses to wear so that the bright light didn't go in her eyes. And I just want to say, her feet are not really that big, it's just the perspective of the shot.

I googled for Orthodontists back home (looking for my old one but couldn't find them). Anyway, I found one with a really good website that said email us with any questions. So I did. I wasn't really hopeful, I was expecting the reply, we need to see your child, we cannot blah blah blah. That is so not what I got. The lady was very helpful. She said that because different practices used different tools and equipment, it was better to not switch mid treatment, but of course possible. She also said it usually cost MORE when switched in the middle because they have to do some tests/molds/xrays themselves to verify the other work that has been done. She said that they do take into account how much you've already paid, but in our case it would be nothing.

Then she answered the question that I really wanted to know about, insurance. I don't think it paid for my sister's or my care when I was younger, but their website mentioned it, so I asked. If treatment has already been started when insurance kicks in, it is considered pre-existing, and they will not cover anything. Depending on what kind of insurance we get (and orthodontist care is usually an add on), they will often pay 50%, which is $1,000-$2,000. So we're going to wait. Hopefully I'll be able to find good work with good insurance, because $4,000 for braces is staggering. They also offer free initial exams, so at least taking her in and getting an estimate for final costs will be free. Whew. And Cale will probably need them as well.

I was very happy with this practice, though, and will definitely keep them in mind for when the time comes.

Goodies From America.

2009-12-08T23:10:00.000Z

We got a package today! It was a long road to get it though. My aunt Kim and my Nanny (my grandmother) put this package together for us and mailed it on November 19th. We did our usual, anticipating when it might arrive, wanting to be home for delivery, as it was over 25 pounds, and we were trying to make it easy for ourselves. Well, it didn't come. And it didn't come. Only on the last package that took so long did we learn that you can track these things through their customs forms. But Kim had gone on vacation right after it was sent, so I wasn't able to contact her to get the tracking number. I waited (impatiently, I'll admit). Well, Kim got back into town the other day and had a message from me waiting for her. Ironically, she didn't mail it, Nanny did, so I could've called her for the number. But anyway, lesson learned. I plugged in the tracking number this morning and.... they showed attempted delivery twice on November 27th. A day that we were home most of, at least for one of the attempts, and probably for both. We made a quick last minute run to the grocery store for Thanksgiving supplies, but we were not gone long.

So we started making calls at 7:45am this morning. We called Royal Mail, but when we finally got through, she said I had to call Parcel Force, because they do international packages. So I called them. And they confirmed attempted delivery on the 27th, and said it had been left at a local post office. This is not common for packages to get left at a post office. There is a sorting office a few miles away where packages usually get taken if you are not home. You get a little card saying they missed you and how many hours/days you need to wait before going to pick it up. Well we never got a card. The post office isn't exactly in our neighborhood, but we were making the hike to the kid's school for Review Day today, and coming back we were able to detour there. The line was pretty long (as they usually are) but moving pretty fast (compared to usual). When I say post office here, I mean a small corner shop/general store. The post office counter handles postage/mail ans well as money. You can pay your bills, send wire transfers, get cash, etc. And you never know what the person in front of you is going to ask for. Thankfully the regular shop purchases go to the front counter so there is not just one line for everything.

Anyway, I digress. We got to the counter and I said I tracked a package and it was suppose to be there, but we did not get a card saying delivery had been attempted. He looked a little... baffled? by this lack of protocol. He asked when it was suppose to have been left there, and I told him. I also told him it was about 25 pounds, if that helped to locate the box (it had to be a decent size at that weight) since they don't keep a lot of packages there. He asked someone something and I heard him say, I wonder if that's the one out there? I didn't have time to wonder what that meant because he comes to the window and says, "Can you check that package there (behind us on the floor of the general store) to see if it's for you?" I looked around and was surprised to see it sitting right there in the middle of the room, basically. I checked, yes it was ours. He came out and got a sticker and my passport for ID and scanned some stuff. He suggested I complain to the company, as it had been there so long and no one had contacted us. We've been happy with our deliveries up until this point, but I think someone does need to address the issue that they never knocked on our door, and if by some tiny, teeny weenie chance they did, they did not leave us a ticket telling us to collect it.

I had brought backpacks with me, so we opened the package, transfered all the goodies, and headed home. I spent the afternoon sorting through things. A lot of it is American foods, and I documented everything so it will be easier to do my weekly meal plans. All the sweets I divied up and wrapped since it's so close to Christmas. Nid and I may have sampled a few of the sweets before repackaging them. But shhh, don't tell the children, as they don't know what's in the packages :)

Thank you again, Kim and Nanny!

Nestor, The Long Eared Christmas Donkey.

2009-12-07T21:42:00.008Z

I'm not big on the religious side of Christmas. If you are one of those who believe that there is no non-religious Christmas, I do not aim to offend, nor discuss my beliefs at this time. I am merely prefacing this blog post (advertisement, really) because people who know me personally would probably not expect me to appreciate this Christmas cartoon.

Nestor, The Long Eared Christmas Donkey. I just watched it for the first time, and I cried like a baby. I remember seeing an advertisement for it on TV... years ago, it must have been. But I never got around to watching it. This year, being so far away from friends and family, I wanted to have something homey around me. I started a list of shows and movies that are always on American television at the holidays. It's A Wonderful Life, Rudolf and the Island of Misfit Toys... things I would watch every year just because. This year, while writing this list, I remembered Nestor, and looked it up on YouTube.

I just had the opportunity to watch, and I really am glad that I did. It does have Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in it, but it's not about that. It is very much like Rudolf, in that poor little Nestor is born with really long ears, and he gets teased his whole little life. He loses his mother and wanders aimlessly until an angel leads him to the stable where Mary and Joseph come to buy a donkey to take them to Bethlehem. Like Rudolf's nose, that guides Santa and saves the day, Nestor's ears shield Mary during a storm, and he guides them to a stable because he knows how warm they can be. In the end, everyone loves him and celebrates him. It is a really touching story, one that I think most people will enjoy.

Screencaps are from the above link, video by donkeylongears

Everyone knows about Rudolph
Our fleet-footed friend from the north
Who light sent his way through the darkness
As he drives his sleigh back and forth
But there's someone else we should mention
If we want the whole story told
He carried the first gift of Christmas
More precious than diamonds or gold
Nestor was a donkey who seldom laughed or played
'Cause no one ever used him in the stable where he stayed,
All the camels teased him, and the other donkeys too;
They said, look at little Nestor, there's nothing he can do.

Look at little Nestor, his ears hang to his feet,
when he looks at his reflection, ears are all he sees.
Nestor's heart was broken and his eyes were full of tears,
If only there was something he could do about his ears.

One dark night two strangers gave Nestor a surprise
They chose him from all others for they loved his gentle eyes.
A man was called by Joseph, and Mary was his bride
She needed help to Bethlehem and Nestor's back to ride.

They travelled through the desert but hadn't gone too far
When winter clouds no longer let them see their guiding star.
But Nestor heard a secret as he listened to the sound,
And the angels gave directions to the ears that touched his knees.

Look at little Nestor, his ears hang to his feet, when he looks at hire reflection, ears are all he sees.
Nestor's heart was broken and his eyes were full of tears
If only there was something he could do about his ears

And so it was that Nestor found the manger where they stayed
Where kings and wise men bowed before the baby where he lay
Mary bore our Saviour and Nestor brought them there
A gift of love from God above for all the world to share.

Though, Rudolph, I just love you, I know you'd want it said
Nestor's ears are lovely as a reindeer's nose is red
So children, if you're happy when you trim your Christmas trees
You might thank a little donkey whose ears hung to his knees

Look at little Nestor, his ears hang to his feet
They shouted as they praised him and his friends were all so pleased.
Nestor was so happy and his eyes held no more tears
Now all the world knows Nestor for his laughter and his ears.

Click Here To Watch Part 1

Click Here To Watch Part 2

Click Here To Watch Part 3

Twinkies.

2009-12-06T21:07:00.002Z

I have a friend back in Virginia who I am doing a favor for, enabling her to give someone a Christmas gift that you can only buy in England. Well, this week she returned the favor with a goodie box!
She sent Twinkies, because Nid had never had one and we had seen a few references to Twinkies in movies/tv lately. She also sent a number of Hershey's products (can't get any of them here) and GRAPE JELLY!
This is what he had to say after having his very first Twinkie: "I could eat these all day."

Famous.

2009-12-01T22:10:00.004Z

I'm famous. Just a little bit. Country Music Tattle Tale is a blog that Nid follows. They are supporters of Taylor Swift, standing up for her against those who do not think she deserves the recognition and success that she has gotten. After our trip to London, Nid emailed them a link to the review I put on on my blog, and they've published that link in their most recent post about the London show. CLICK HERE to read their latest blog post, with excerpts from both Nid's and my reviews as well two photos that I took. At the bottom is a link to my blog. I've already had a few visitors come by from that link. How exciting, I'm even more famous than I was! Famous in my own mind that is... Thank you Country Music Tattle Tale!

Thanksgiving : The Meal

2009-11-29T10:35:00.002Z

Yesterday we had our first Thanksgiving together. I started cooking Friday, mixing up the watergate salad (minus the whipped cream), and making the pumpkin pie. From scratch. They don't have graham crackers in the UK, and finding canned pumpkin is a challenge. So I had to buy a pumpkin (the last one Sainsbury's had weeks ago) and keep it in the fridge to stay fresh. Friday I cut it up, boiled it, and made myself a pie. The crust didn't turn out the way it was suppose to (oh, how I miss you store bought graham cracker pie crusts) but it was manageable. I left it to chill overnight in the fridge.

Saturday morning first thing I made cornbread and biscuits. American biscuits! I have missed them. I may have to find a recipe for biscuits from scratch and make them occasionally. These ones were from a packet mix my mom sent me. I mixed all/most of the ingredients for the green bean casserole and the sweet potato casserole and stored them in the fridge for cooking later.

Nid started the turkey, which we cooked in a roasting bag with a half a bottle of sparkling wine. Then Nid made us each a Buck's Fizz which those of you in the US will know as a Mimosa with the left over sparkling wine and the orange juice from the sweet potato casserole. An hour before dinner was to be served I put the casseroles in the oven, baked for 35 minutes, put the bread back in the oven for a quick heat up with the turkey and we served. There was so much food it didn't hardly fit on our table, which thankfully has pull out extensions on both ends.

I suppose it is worth mentioning that Friday night I went to bed with a little bitty clogged nose, and Saturday morning woke up with a cough and runny nose. I couldn't believe it! I took some Dayquil right away and that helped, so I was at least not miserable while doing the cooking. And the cooking did go smoother than I thought it would. I had a slight mishap with the whipping cream. Because of course here they don't have Cool Whip, I had to buy whipping cream (which Nid and Jacqui helped whip before dinner), but that was after I dropped the container on the floor and spilled half. Which ironically left me with exactly the amount I needed for the watergate salad and the topping for the pumpkin pie.

Anyway, the meal went great, and everybody loved everything (at least they said they did). Here is a list of everything we had.

TURKEY BREAST CROWN
SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
STOVE TOP STUFFING
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
CORNBREAD
COUNTRY GRAVY
WATERGATE SALAD
PUMPKIN PIE

I remember as I cooked that I kept thinking, I need to put this in my blog and I need to put that in my blog... but whether it just wasn't that important or whether the cold and/or cold medicine is jumbling my brain, I can't remember any of the funny anecdotes I was going to include. Oh well. The meal was a success, everyone was stuffed and happy, and we've got yummy left overs for dinner tonight, so I am well satisfied with how the day went. Thank you again, Matt and Jacqui for coming over. Thank you Briony and Cale for being so wonderful and helping with the cleaning up without complaining. And thank you Nid for putting up with me while I was sick and stressed about the cooking. I am a lucky girl.

Oh! And Virginia Tech beat the University of Virginia 42 to 13 at UVA. Go HOKIES!

Thanksgiving: The Tree.

2009-11-26T19:46:00.000Z

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving, but because Briony is out of town this week, we have postponed our big dinner until Saturday. I was not, however, going to give up my tradition of putting up the tree on the actual day of Thanksgiving. I even had a few presents wrapped to put under it, which does make it a little more festive.

Saturday I will be cooking for the four of us, plus two friends of ours, Matthew and Jacqui. I've never cooked Thanksgiving. For the six years I lived in Richmond I alternated between treating myself to Chinese or pizza when I couldn't get back home to celebrate with the family. It should be an experience!

London & Taylor Swift.

2009-11-25T18:11:00.004Z

We have had a busy few days! Monday started with us all making sure we had everything we needed. Because the children are in school, we were not able to take them with us, so they had to pack bags for their overnight stay with one of the neighbors. Briony left on a field trip with the school Tuesday so we left her taxi money so she could get all her gear to school. She’s away for three days on an eco challenge type school funded trip that only a few students were chosen for.

So, our taxi picked Nid and I up just after 9am Monday. We got to the train station very quickly, and had a bit of a wait until ours arrived. I was exhausted starting the day, which was unfortunate. Sunday my left foot and ankle swelled up for no reason, so in order to help it, I stayed off it all day, which mainly meant I napped. Because of that, I did not sleep well at all Sunday night, and so Monday morning was pretty hard on me. We were very grateful that we had reserved First Class seats, because the extra room was great. We had facing seats, across a little table, with no seats next to us on our side of the isle. We were served a hot beverage (coffee or tea) a newspaper, a water bottle (distilled or sparkling) and a cake (flapjack, fruit cake, cookie something or other). I chose a spiced gingerbread cake and it was lovely. Just a little something to take the edge off, since we’d already been up for hours and breakfast had been some time ago. We only had one stop on our journey to London, and that was in Market Harborough. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get to London.

The St. Pancras station is huge, but it was familiar (from our trip last October), which is always nice. We got day passes for the metro (called the Tube here) and took the Tube to Westminster. As soon as you step out of the station, you are standing 20 feet from Big Ben. Across the River Thames we could see the London Eye. We walked across Westminster Bridge and down by the London Eye. Nid rode it last year, and was not terribly impressed with it. Not liking heights particularly, I wasn’t terribly bothered to not go on it. It’s like a giant ferris wheel that never stops, and it takes an hour to go full circle. We had a bit of drizzle while we were walking there, but I still got some great shots of the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We went into a restaurant called Enough To Feed An Elephant, which had a London Underground theme. We each had a cheeseburger and chips. It was very good, and very filling. After that, I was already for a nap, but I think it was the heat of the building that did it to me. When we went back outside, the sun was out, and the rest of the day it was dry, but windy.

We walked along the river to the Jubilee Bridge (I think, it is the footbridge adjacent to Hungerford Bridge). We got our only (and tiny) look at the Gherkin through the tubing of the bridge. We made fun of a button in the elevator, that initially we thought said “press alarm button for 3 seconds of assistance” but it turns out it said “for 3 seconds for assistance.” It kept us entertained, anyway. We walked along Northumberland Avenue to Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. We walked under the Admiralty Arch and down along The Mall to… Buckingham Palace. The flag was flying high, which meant the Queen was home. I was surprised to see that the guards are actually up at the building, not at the fence, like you see in movies. Because we all know that what you see in movies is just like real life. We sat for a few minutes at the Queen Victoria Memorial, and I took a picture of the marble, worn smooth where everyone sits on it, but rough and aged where behinds do not make contact. After a little break there, we walked through Green Park to the Green Park Tube Station.

We took the Tube to Kingsbury, which is where our friends Utpal and Sejal live. When we stepped out of the station, it was like we were transported back to Leicester. It looked just like it does around here, which is kind of cool. We were early, so Nid got a pint of Guinness at Hennesey’s, which was run by actual Irish folk (not like the majority of Irish pubs I’ve been to in the States – what a concept!). In fact, it was so traditional, that when he ordered his drink, the barkeep told him he’d bring it to him when it was ready. There is actually a “proper” way to pour a pint of Guinness, I saw it on a Discovery Channel special once. It should take 119.5 seconds to pour, and a few minutes to settle. Here’s a clip I found of what it looks like. It’s quite interesting, actually. Guinness Settling.

It was a short walk from the pub to Utpal’s house through a quiet neighborhood of houses. Sejal was the only one home when we got there, and we sat and talked for quite a while before Utpal got home. Dinner was egg curry and rice and naan bread. I do love that bread! I wish I’d taken a picture of dinner, because it was just lovely. And I am also very grateful to Sejal, who left out the chili because I can’t handle spices.

As soon as we were finished dinner, Utpal drove us to Wembley Arena and dropped us off. It was only about a 10 minute ride, and I was grateful to not have to walk back to the Tube station and take that, though it was only one stop. We went in and the place was packed with little girls! There was a decent percentage of grown ups there as well, and not just with the little girls. I was disappointed in the number of pre-teens wearing make-up, however. This country has a very high teen pregnancy rate, often attributed to the fact that in years past, if a girl got pregnant the government would give her a house to live in. This has changed a bit in the past years, as apparently they are now moving single parents into hostels, and the rates have gone down slightly. Anyway, my theory on this epidemic is these *children* are not being properly raised. Girls the ages that I saw last night should not be wearing make-up. And I’m not talking lip gloss, I’m talking full on mascara, eye liner, and foundation. Little tramps in training, I think.

Okay, so on to the show. We stood in line at the merch booth and got Briony a t-shirt. I wanted to get her a bracelet, but they’d sold out by the time we got up there. While we were in line, the opening act came on. The crowd went wild. I’m still not sure why. His name was Justin Bieber, and he had to have been all of, I don’t know, 12? His hair was all “done” and brushed straight forward to his face. He hasn’t hit puberty yet, and his voice was all cracky and childlike. He had back up dancers break dancing behind him. It was all very Mickey Mouse Club in my opinion. The girls next to us kept screaming and Nid and I would just look at each other and laugh. His act was cut short, and his little DJ said it was due to technical difficulties. It turns out he broke his foot during his last song before the encore.

During a short intermission, during which music played through the sound system (including a Keith Urban song), we watched guys climb ladders to the lighting rigging. They pulled the ladders up after them and settled in for a night of lighting. In a day and age where computers run everything, I thought it was kind of cool that there were actual people running the spotlights. Later in the night I counted 4 more that had climbed up behind the curtains.

Shortly after they got settled, a video started playing on the two screens adjacent to the stage. The video featured various famous people, including Miley Cyrus, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, among others describe what “Fearless” means to them. The question appeared to have been asked at different events they attended. It was kind an alright intro, as intros go. The last person describing Fearless was of course Taylor, the curtain rose, and she was atop a towering stage wearing a cheerleading outfit singing You Belong With Me. During the song, her dancers ripped off her outfit and below she was wearing a shimmery silver and black dress. I’m not good at remembering set lists, so I’m not going to bother with those minute details. After the second or third song she talked with the audience, said how she’d never forget how she sold out the Wembley Arena (I didn’t know this, very cool).

During the concert, she and her band were very interactive with the crowd. She prefaced some songs explaining a little about where they came from, what they meant to her. Her band seemed to be really having a good time, and they got involved in the costume changes as well. She wore eight outfits total: the cheerleading outfit, removed on stage to become a black/silver shimmery dress, a red sequined dress, a blue floral dress, a red renaissance dress removed on stage to become a white dress, a black patterned dress, and a black finale dress… For different songs, the band would change their outfits slightly as well, it was all very much a team activity. There were also dancers that came out during certain songs, dressed to match/coordinate with Taylor.

During one costume change, a video played called “Crimes of Passion” in which Taylor was the criminal, writing songs about people and “ruining” their lives. It ended with Tim McGraw, and she started performing in the back of the arena right among the crowd, on floor level for a few songs, then made her way to another location halfway up the floor. After performing there, she hugged *everyone* between there and the stage, and it took quite a while for her to make her way back. I thought it took a little longer than it needed to, as those of us not getting hugged couldn’t see a thing. Even the cameras were partially blocked there were so many people between Taylor and them.

At one point, Taylor and her violin player had a “drum off” competing for the guy, and huge oil drums were set up on stage and they banged away at them for quite a while, Taylor of course actually winning the guy in the end.

There was one other video clip that had Taylor being interviewed by a news anchor (I recognized her, but don’t know her name) about how she expects to have guys want to date her if she’s just going to write a song about her. Her answer they shouldn’t do bad things if they don’t want to be written about, and lead her into another song during which she actually threw an overstuffed chair from the upper level of her stage to the lower level.

I did learn something new about Taylor. She plays the piano, as well as the guitar. She played it for the whole of You’re Not Sorry, and then did a cover song on it as well of Justin Timberlake’s What Goes Around. During that part of the performance I also learned why she’s not concerned about wearing those little tiny dresses on stage. She appeared to be wearing a flesh covered pair of bike shorts underneath, which I noticed while she was “dancing” sitting on the piano bench facing the audience while up on the top part of her stage.

The show was theatrical, but not over the top so. And Taylor has the energy to maintain a full action show. The crowd certainly loved her. She got a standing ovation (though really, most everyone was standing anyway) that lasted (according to reports) six minutes. And this wasn’t at the end of the show, this was smack in the middle. It was pretty awesome, and you could tell she was overwhelmed and grateful.

Having been to a lot of concerts in Virginia and the surround states, I have to say that I was impressed by the venue. It was well laid out, with plenty of staff around to help. There were tons of bathrooms, which lead to virtually no lines), and the traffic cleared very quickly. Also, Taylor rocked. She was a great performer, a great entertainer, and an all around good person. I can’t imagine anyone walked away from that show last night disappointed.

Here’s what London is saying about last night’s show.

After the show, we were picked back up and after a few minutes chatting, were ready for bed. I think I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. It had been a wonderful day, but a long one, and not having slept the night before, I was ready for this day to end.

We had every intention of getting up Tuesday morning to say goodbye to our gracious guests, but they leave for work at 7am, and though alarms were set, we just didn’t get out of bed until 8:30. Because we thought it was a possibility, we had already said goodbye the night before, thankfully. We had a quick breakfast and headed back to the Tube station. It was drizzling again, but when we got back to the city (40 minute ride) it was clear. We got off at Baker Street, which is where we caught our open top tour bus ride last year. We walked along Baker Street (where the fictional Sherlock Holmes lived) to Oxford Street, one of “the” shopping districts here. I took in the window displays of Selfridges, which is a huge four story, two city blocks store. The window displays were bizarre, and quite frankly, did not make me want to go in to see what the fuss was all about. We walked up Oxford Street to the Bond Street Station and took the Tube to Westminster and transferred to the Circle Line and continued on back to St. Pancras. We ventured outside to find a cheaper place to eat, and had a burger and fries at a really nice little place right across the street from the station.

We got back to the boarding area just before they opened the gates, which was good because there were only a handful of seats and they were all taken. Our car was nearly at the end of the train, so it was a long walk, but oh so nice to finally get to our seats (First Class again) and sit. I slept the whole way, I think, which was well needed. We caught a taxi home and Nid was great and helped me put our things away. We’d only taken a back pack each, so it wasn’t much, but I hate the putting away part after you get home from a trip. He also ran me a really really hot bath. He really is the best husband ever! I started copying my pictures immediately from my camera, and it said it was going to take an hour, so I left it while I went to soak away the travel, as it was still an hour before Cale was due home from school.

Well, that’s the story of our trip to London. It was a really great time, and I am so glad that my foot held up for the duration. It’s hardly swollen at all now (still not sure why it was in the first place). All the emails and news we missed is caught up on and we’ve just had dinner (pizza, a treat for all of us).

All the photos will be published on my Pictures Site tonight.

Randomness About Town.

2009-11-18T12:00:00.013Z

Yesterday we went to town to do a few things, one of them led us here:
This is the Leicester County Court. It was a longer walk than we thought it would be, but thankfully once we got there things were quicker than we had anticipated. We filed for me to have Parental Responsibility given to me as well as Nid. I had my forms all filled out, and all the documents we needed, passports, birth certificates, etc. They must not do many of these there, because the lady seemed a bit lost. I of course had all my documents in order, and in fact she did not ask for some of them (even though the form said they were needed). Oh well, not my problem, as we got her signature and that's what we needed. We are mailing them off to London today, and as soon as they get logged it will take effect.

We wandered around awhile, and I saw some places I hadn't seen before. A really nice shoe store. Too bad I have no need for shoes at the moment :(

We had a soundtrack to a good part of our shopping. Or I should say window shopping, as we were on a mission to find plain silver balls for the Christmas tree, and were unsuccessful. Outside of Marks & Spencer guy was decked out in a kilt "playing" bagpipes. I suppose you can guess the reason I put playing in quotes. He thought he was playing, I'm sure. In fact, he had CDs for sale... for £6.50! There were occasional notes that didn't suck, but they were definitely rare. There are often people set up playing music in the town square, but unlike the bagpipes, when you walk a distance from them you stop hearing them. This noise traveled a long way. Nid made a comment coming out of a store that he hated the bagpipes, in general. I commented that I didn't dislike bagpipes, right as we walked out the door. To which a lady turns around and replies, "not when they're played right, but that guy is not playing them well" or something to that effect. I told her that's what I meant, not him, but in general I like them. Nid commented that I would make a comment about bagpipes walking out of a store and have the only Scottish person in Leicester hear me. I thought it was funny.

So, as we're walking I see this business ahead. I of course jumped straight to PIMP Recruiting, which if you pronounce PMP as a word, not as initials, that's what it says. Not my fault, I didn't name it! Made me laugh, though.

Then we went to Boots in search of ornaments and we decided to ride the elevator down from upstairs... and there was this button.

The possibilities are endless, aren't they? I mean, how boring is a button that says "push to close doors?" PUSH TO TRAVEL... Can I go anywhere I want? Calgon, take me away! Lovely!

We also passed a PRIVATE SHOP but I didn't get a picture of it. I do wonder, though, who is allowed to shop there? Was it always private? Is it invitation only, and if so, how does one get an invitation? It's not a very catchy name, if you ask me. Not like the Pound Stretcher, which is in fact not a Pounds Store (which we do have, equal to the Dollar Tree's in the US). The Pound Stretcher is more like a Dollar General, except they sell everything from candy to beds. Oh right, and also Reindeer Ponchos, which Nid thinks he needs. I'll let you all decide whether or not we actually bought him one :)

A Little Randomness & A Contest.

2009-11-16T21:34:00.000Z

There's not a lot to report from my neck of the woods today. The US Embassy has taken payment for our visas, so that's something. Hoping to get something in the mail this week or next so we can proceed to the next step. Waiting is not something I do well. But even if things do proceed quickly, it's still 8 months till the big move. 8 months of waiting. Excellent.

We're back to riding our bikes. My elbow is very nearly back to it's old self, but it still causes me discomfort, so we're only taking short bike trips. I'd like to keep track of our distance, so I've bought TWO bike computers, and neither one of them has worked. That's been a bit frustrating for me. Today was so windy going to the grocery store that my pant leg blew into the chain and got caught. I did NOT wreck, for those of you who think so little of me ;) as to think I'd do THAT again! But I did get a little tiny hole in the ankle of my pants. Nobody will notice but me. As I stare and pick at it until it's big enough for everyone to notice.

That's about it for me, but I do want to share with you a little competition that I'm entering, and you can as well. If you go to Mid-Atlantic English you can read all about it. It's a great blog that I've been following awhile now, and enjoy very much. She's an American Expat as well, only she's been here 20 years. You should definitely check out her blog.

Town, Bike, Visiting Friends.

2009-11-10T17:27:00.019Z

Yesterday we returned my bike to the place we got it from. It was a great bike, but just a little too tall for me and my short legs. It was a bit sad to part with it, but the blow was softened by the fact that I have a new bike! Our friend Jacqui had a bike that she didn't use anymore, so she sold me it. It's a Trek 4300 Alpha with front suspension, and is INCREDIBLE! I have been aiming for bumps just to experience the lack of bumpiness. Childish maybe, but satisfying none the less.

Anyway, Nid rode my bike in and I took the bus and met him. The town center is in the process of getting all decorated for the holidays. I imagine at night with lights on, it will be quite pretty. I finally got my day planner for 2010. I was disappointed with the selection and styles of planners they had. It's not what I would get normally, but it will do the job. And the job is keeping us straight in the new year with the move and all that we have to do. So of course I came straight home and spent the afternoon putting in birthdays, anniversaries, days the children are out of school, etc. Then I color coordinated those things with highlighters. After all that was done, I liked my little planner much more.

Today our friend Martin picked us up to take us to his and his girlfriend Karen's home in Burbage, which is just outside of Leicester. They have a very nice home and bunnies! It was a cold rainy day, so we didn't get to go outside much, but we did walk to the pub for lunch, and Martin pointed out historical facts about his little village. The Butler's House Restaurant & Bar was the name of the place, and the food was delicious. We got the 3 course lunch special, which we started with a beer and bread and butter. We all chose the creamy garlic mushrooms for our starter. I had turkey escalopes with an orange and red onion sauce (served with potatoes, cauliflower, beans, and broccoli). It was very nice, but not a taste combination I've experienced before. It's not even LIKE anything else I've had. I finished with chocolate profiteroles! I absolutely love them. There were only two, which was sad at first, but they were HUGE! I got a good 5-6 bites out of each one.

I didn't get to visit with their bunnies Nora and Dora much. Nora (Gnaw-Ra) is so named because when she's allowed to run free she will gnaw on anything. And Dora the Explorer because when she's free she has her nose into everything investigating. It was chilly on their enclosed porch, and they just huddled together because apparently they do not like cold weather. They did let me pet them, which apparently is not all that common for strangers to be allowed to do. I feel honored!

It was so nice to see Martin and Karen again today. They traveled all the way to Virginia for our Wedding, but we've only been out with them once since I moved here.

Immigration Process Started.

2009-11-07T16:43:00.002Z

Yesterday I mailed the first of our immigration forms, the I-130 Petition for Alien Spouse and Children. Now the waiting game begins. Once this form is approved, we'll do another. I'm already gathering paperwork for that one. It would be nice to hear something by the New Year, but according to the online statistics, that could be pushing it.
Anyway, we don't know the actual date that we'll be moving, but plus or minus a week (or there abouts):

The Package Has Landed.

2009-11-05T18:23:00.002Z

After weeks of waiting, our package has arrived. I was advised yesterday that it had a scheduled delivery date of Nov 6. I was all excited because we'd been waiting to go to town until it arrived. Then I thought, what if they were wrong and we were not here, after days of sitting and waiting for it. So we stayed home. I had actually gone upstairs to take a nap and Nid came and woke me up... with a picture on his cell phone of the box on our couch. What a relief! More than anything towards the end, I just didn't want it to be lost in the mail for all eternity. But now it is here. We unpacked and unpacked and unpacked. It seemed never ending. Then we lay it all out on the dining table. But we didn't want to eat anything until the children got home so we could do a photo op to send my mom. It was a long few hours, I'll tell you that! But they both finally got home.

The whole lot of photos are on my photo site.

Various And Sundry.

2009-11-03T12:57:00.000Z

On immigration news, the passport applications are off. We had to wait until we could get a "professional" person to verify Nid and the children's identity because of their ages. It was still easier than in the US, where for the first passport (no matter how old) you have to go in person and wait in line and it's only open certain days for certain hours... Am I hostile? Not really... not anymore... it was just a pain when I did it last summer. So they were sent of yesterday. We upgraded to special delivery, because supposedly that means they won't be affected by our current postal strike... it's confusing to me since we don't watch TV news. The postal union is striking certain days of certain weeks, and only some of them on some days and the others on the other days. I'm not really that bothered with it.

EXCEPT that I don't want the birth certificates to get lost in the mail. AND we are waiting on a package from my mom. It was sent 11 days ago today. It can take as little as 6 days (4 business days) for mail and packages to arrive. So now we're at 7 business days (I think). It's not that we're greedy and want the package, though we do want it... it's just that we can't leave the house at the same time while we are expecting it. It's 21 pounds. If we are not here when the delivery people come, they will leave us a slip that says it can be retrieved in 24 or 48 hours (we've had both in the past). But the place we have to go pick it up is about 2 miles away. I don't fancy carrying a 21 pound box home 2 miles. At least getting there is uphill, so coming home is downhill... I guess. So, because of this Nid and I are taking turns leaving the house. Yesterday he went to Sainsbury's to pump up my bike tire. Then I went to Sainsbury's for groceries. When I got home, he went to the post office (other direction) to mail the passport applications. Today I had to stay home while he went to his meeting in town. I was really looking forward to going into town. We had to cancel our last trip because of my bike wreck. And yesterday I was told by our friend David that something else was in the mail to us. It's like Christmas come early!

Speaking of Christmas, I got a new bike. Another new bike, technically. We are making arrangements with the bike place to return the one I got before. It's just not working for me. The height of the frame or something combined with my short little legs is just too much for me. So I'm going to return that. We contacted them over a month ago and they said they'd keep their eyes out for a smaller one, but we haven't heard from them. It was a really nice bike, and I'm a little sad to part with it. It was an event for Nid and me to get them. And on my Birthday even. But it just wasn't working. Our friend Jacqui was recently returned a bike she bought years ago, and hadn't ridden very much. She offered it to us for a bargain. It's a Trek 4300 Alpha. It's a NICE bike! Mine was a Raleigh, and really nice. But this is NICE! It's got front suspension and gears like I've never seen before. One of the tires was low, so Nid walked it up to Sainsbury's yesterday for air. He rode it home, and said it was amazing. I still haven't ridden it because the air is going out again. Hopefully he's going to get a replacement one in town today, as they didn't have any at the grocery store. I did do a bit of PT on my bad arm though. I sat on the bike and squeezed the brake with my left had repeatedly. At first it really hurt, but the more I did it, the less it hurt. I imagine it will be a bit painful initially, but I have found that the more I move my arm (even though it hurts) the less it hurts the next time. I really need to get riding again. I feel myself getting less and less healthy again.

What else is there to say... Oh, our first immigration form, the I-130 will be mailed off by the end of the week. Then the waiting game begins. That is my petition to allow Nid and the children to apply for permanent residency. I guess the point of this form is to verify that they have the right to enter the US, based on my qualifications. After this there will be another form that will be their application for permanent US residency, followed by a trip to London for an interview and medical exams.

On a lighter note, my "fan club" has been entertaining the heck out of us! If you are new here, you can read about my fan club here. So, the day that I broke the news that I had a fan club was a funny day for us. Nid has this software that prevents people from hiding their IPs from us. Two of these programs are Hide My Ass and Hide My IP. Only, there is software out there that prevents people from hiding their IPs when they visit our sites. So not only have IPs not been hidden, but I know when they are trying to be hidden. If you could see this list of visits, it's so funny, the frequency with which they come. Actually, I just checked, and they've been on it since I started typing this. Now, I certainly don't want to discourage visitors. The exact opposite, I want visitors. I want my family and friends to know what is going on with us. I want to share my experiences with others. HOWEVER, I do not want sneaky mean people to think they are getting away with anything. I know every single time you come to my blog. I know when you don't come. I know when you come 3+ times per day. And every time we see you've been there we laugh at your lack of having anything better going on in your life than to snoop on our lives. You are not going to find anything here to make you feel better. To those of you who are not evil, I'd like you to know that the only reason I started tracking visitors was because it was cool to see where different visitors came from, not because I want to be nosy about it.

Alrighty, well I think that about concludes this longer than intended blog today.

Halloween.

2009-10-31T19:51:00.000Z

I'm not missing Halloween. With a crazy dog and nervous cats, I never got into it even when I lived in Richmond and there were lots of kids about. Plus, with decorating for Fall and Christmas, I couldn't be bothered to decorate for another holiday so close. But what we are missing tonight is the wedding of our friend Ashley back in Virginia. She is a great friend and an amazingly creative person. She owns Fly Away Cakes, and she made both our wedding cake and the groom's cake, which I surprised Nid with. She is so talented! You can see our cakes on her website. They are the three tiered butter cream with fresh strawberries and the football/soccer cake with the fox logo. Anyway, she's getting married today. And my niece, Caitlin (2 1/2 years old) is her flower girl. And she's going to walk down the aisle dressed as a PUMPKIN! I haven't seen the outfit yet, but I am hoping there will be photos on the internet by tomorrow. I can't wait!!!! We wish we could be there with you guys Ashley!

On another note.... yesterday we went to Sainsburys and got the children's photos taken for their first passports. I'll mail those applications off on Monday. As soon as we (I) finish filling out the I-130 forms, we'll mail those off to the US Embassy in London.Then the waiting game begins. Nothing will happen until they write to us to tell us when our interviews in London are. I am going to go ahead and make appointments for everyone (but me, yay!) to get vaccines updated at our GP. It is good to have the process actually begun.

I have also started writing lists. Everyone that knows me knows I am a list girl. I have lists for everything!

Here is a list of the lists I have started:
THINGS TO TAKE ON THE PLANE - DIVIDED INTO CHECKED AND CARRY ON SUB-LISTS
THINGS TO PACK FOR SHIPPING
THINGS I HAVE TO DO BEFORE WE MOVE
THINGS TO DO AS SOON AS WE ARRIVE
THINGS I ALREADY OWN AND AM STORING IN VIRGINIA
THINGS WE NEED TO FURNISH THE HOUSE

This last list is broken down by room. It includes things I already own (marked with *) and things we'll need to buy. Every day I think of new things to put on it. My theory is, when we get there we're starting over. We'll need all the staples that everyone has. But if we go to Walmart, buy tons of stuff and get home and realize we've missed something, it's not a 5 minute walk to the corner shop and back. So if I have a list, things will go much smoother. Plus, it will cut down on getting things I don't need but think I do in the moment. It's a daunting list! But it makes me feel accomplished. Anyway, that's what I've been up to!

Big News!

2009-10-29T19:59:00.000Z

Nid and I have very exciting news to share with you all. We are moving to Virginia! Most people know that we originally had a Four Year Plan. After much thought and discussion, we have decided to move that up to a One Year Plan!

We have already started the process. Forms are filled out, plans are already in the works. It is similar to what I had to go through to get into England. On one hand easier, as we no longer have to prove anything about our relationship. What is different is that everything else is in triplicate. Nid, Briony and Cale all have applications to fill out. It is a multi-stepped process that will take us to London at least once, but potentially twice to get things done at the US Embassy.

When we get to Virginia, we will be living in Greenwood. My cousin Barbara has a family home very close to my parents' home. She lives in West Virginia, and needs a new caretaker for her property. As of next summer, we will be her caretakers. We will be living in a cozy little cottage with a large deck and 25 acres of land surrounding us. It is so peaceful there, we are really excited for the children to have free reign over the property. And they are a bike ride away from Grandma Vickey and Grandad Purcell.

We're deep in planning mode right now. Nid has already started planning where to put his football pitch. And once we get settled, if we want to we can raise chickens in the chicken house in the backyard of the cottage. I'll get to have my Smudge back with me. Bearette has bonded really well with her sister Angel, so at least for now, it will be best if she stays with my parents. I don't know whether it will be better or worse to be so close to her and not have her with me.

The children are very excited about the house and the property and getting to know the rest of the family.

Sweden!

2009-10-28T17:15:00.005Z

We are going to SWEDEN!

In February, Nid and I are going to Sweden to visit our friends Johan and Anna, and their son Anton. And their two dogs, Tasha and Lewis (Rotties!). It is so exciting, and thankfully I do not need a visa to get there!

We got an incredible deal on the flight. Only £0.01 per person per way, for a total of £0.04. Unbelievable, right?! But that is indeed the cost of the flight... Plus £102.62 taxes, fees & charges.... £20.00 for web check in (which is £5/person/per way and everyone has to do it)... plus £20.00 handling fee.... for a total of £124.66. How great is that?! Oh wait... when you check out... it's £5/person/per way to PAY! So the total price is £142.66. Still, a heck of a deal. And with train tickets to the airport at £25 total for both of us round trip, we feel like we got a heck of a bargain.

I never imagined I'd be spending my first wedding anniversary in Sweden, so thank you to Johan and Anna for having us. We can't wait! Nid especially can't wait, because Johan and Anna visited him in Leicester a few years back, and brought Swedish meatballs with them. Nid's still talking about them... Guess I know what we're going to eat while we're there! :)

Pretty Things Guest Blogger.

2009-10-27T17:17:00.028Z

Yesterday I was published as a guest blogger on my friend Jenny's Pretty Things blog.

You can visit her blog by clicking the link above. I highly recommend you do!

Here is my guest blog:
********************

Monday, October 26, 2009

There Is A First Time For Everything.............

Today is the first time I have handed the reigns of my beloved blog to anyone. I have known Jennifer forever and she is one of my favorite people in the world. She is lovely, talented and special to many people. Now she wants to tell the world about someone she thinks is special, enjoy.

Hello friends and followers of Pretty Things I (Want) Love . My name is Jenny, and today I will be sharing with you MY pretty thing, my husband, Nid.

Nid at The White House, Feb 2009

My husband is an Englishman, which of course gives him bonus points on the pretty scale because of his very sexy accent.

He is also one of those men gets better and better looking the older he gets.

He plays football (soccer) regularly and stays in shape. He has the BEST legs! ;)

On a non-physical level, he loves animals (particularly cats) and children (he is a wonderful father) and he is endlessly patient with me (I require a lot of patience). He is also a writer (a poet even), and very thoughtful. These things are not always common in men these days.

Nid and Smudge

And finally, the thing that makes him the prettiest... he is my best friend, I am his best friend, and he loves me more than anything in the world!

Jennifer and Nid, Feb 14, 2009

So there you have it, Jennifer's story of love for one very lucky man.

Love,
J

Posted by That Girl at 9:19 PM

Labels: Jennifer, Nid, White House

York Vacation.

2009-10-25T14:19:00.003Z

We were up early on Thursday, October 22. We had nearly everything packed, but there's always those last minute things, plus the things you can't pack until you get ready the day of travel. That being said, we were ready to go over an hour before our taxi was scheduled to pick us up. Finally it was time. The taxi arrived and we were off for the train station.

We made excellent time. I guess we missed the morning commuters by about a half an hour. We had the 9:04 train to Sheffield, then a transfer and we were headed to York. During my adult life, I've only traveled by train here in England. And the last time was last October when I came to visit Nid. We did this same journey then as well, only this time Nid wasn't being wheeled around in wheelchairs. Changing trains was easy, and we arrived in York at around 11:30.

Our friend Luan was waiting for us on the platform, and we set off to get some lunch. We headed towards Luan's home in Brayton, just outside York, and on the way stopped at the Designer Outlets. We ate lunch at McDonalds in the food court, then hit a couple of chocolate stores on the way out. At lunch I saw a mother with a baby in a pushchair. She was all done up with poofy hair and a "hip" little hat on her head. And 4+ inch stiletto heeled boots. Even funnier, she was with two guys in baggy jeans and oversized t-shirts. Since I've lived here in England, I have seen a lot of crazy things. Mostly in the way of "fashion." Half of all women wear high heels to do errands. Half wear ballet flats. Neither are good for your foot health. There are a few people that wear shoes that make sense, but I have to say, I've never seen worse shoes in my life than what I've seen here. And I've never seen crazier outfits, either. I decided to make a sub-album of my photos be bad shoe choices. But then I saw a stupid hat, and then a whole outfit, and then some wacko hair, so it's now going to be a bad-fashion album.

Anyway, we left the mall and went to Luan's apartment. We spent the afternoon catching up and just hanging out. She had to leave to go to the doctor, so we were alone for a bit until her boyfriend Ian came home. We chatted until Luan got home. Then we ordered dinner. We watched Coyote Ugly and had Chinese and wine (whiskey for the blokes). We listened to music after and had a great time. We went to bed not too late, as Luan had work the next day and we wanted to get a semi early start on our tour of York.

Friday morning Nid and I woke up to the sounds of breakfast cooking. Ian made us a Full English Breakfast of sausages, tomatoes, eggs, toast, mushrooms, and bacon. Our plates were overflowing, as were our tummies after, but it was incredible! The last time I had a Full English Breakfast was last year in York at the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at. Ian drove us into town and dropped us off for a day of exploring.

We started off with a walk past Avondale Guest House, the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at last year. Then we walked along the river to the Rowntree Park. It was very beautiful there. There was this lovely path when we left the park and walked along the river. The leaves had all turned orange and red and were falling to the ground. It was actually a lot like parts of Virginia. It was just beautiful. Along the river, we stopped at the Kings Arms Pub for a Pint and a Half. There was a marker inside showing how high inside the Pub the river had gotten during various floods over the years. Quite a few people came and went while we sat there. Including a man and his dog. Yep. Right there at the bar, a dog.

After our drink, we walked through town to Clifford's Tower. We climbed the tower and took in the amazing sights of the city. Right across the street from the Tower was The Olive Tree, the restaurant that we ate at last year. The table we sat at was one row from the window, next to the wall, and we had a view of the Tower that night. It was really nice to have come full circle with this visit.

After Clifford's Tower, we walked through The Shambles, a quaint shopping area and got a bite to eat at a cafeteria style restaurant built inside of an old church. We walked past York Minster, a giant hulk of a church, to the Wall. York was originally a walled city, and nearly two miles of the wall exists to this day. We walked a lot of that two miles, I'd guess. The views were beautiful, the architecture in some places facinating. It was very enjoyable. When we were done with our circuit, we ended up coming full circle again and were back at the river. We went into the Lowther Pub, which was about two buildings down from the Kings Arms. Nid got a Pint, and we had a nice rest. We had already talked to Luan, and she was going to pick us up when she got off work at Clifford's Tower. It was just a few minutes walk away, so stayed there until it was time to go.

When we arrived back at Luan's, we were exhausted. I took a nap for awhile, and Nid woke me up when he and Ian went out for supplies. When they got back, we ordered dinner from a pizza place. I got a calzone. I haven't had one in AGES and it was so nice! There were drinks all around, but I didn't have any, as my motion sickness pills that I have to take for car rides had been making me sleepy, and I didn't want to konk out before the end of the night. We watched Premonition and then listened to music until bed time.

Saturday morning we slept in a little and had pizza left overs for breakfast. Ian had to go to work, so Luan, Nid and I hung around at the house. It was raining, so we were glad that we got all of our sight seeing done the day before. Nid bonded with Luan's bird Tilda and we listened to music until it was time to leave for the station. Our plan was to get a coffee/tea at the station with Luan until it was time to go, but traffic was a nightmare, and there wasn't enough time, so she dropped us off and we said our goodbyes at the car. We got a late lunch at Burger King and went to our platform to wait. Our train pulled away from York at 4:25. Our transfer on the way back was in Derby, and there was only a half hour left when we got there. I was really glad to be back in Leicester. We got a taxi and headed home, arriving just before 7pm.

It was an exhausting few days (in part due to the motion sickness pills sedating me), but it was a wonderful time! We are so lucky to have such a great friend as Luan to invite us up for a getaway. It was well needed and very much enjoyed.

My full photo album is up at my pictures site.

Holiday Time!

2009-10-21T17:30:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow bright and early we are getting on a train headed for York. We were there this time last year (almost to the day) but Nid had a cast on his leg. Thankfully this trip I do not have a cast on my arm, though I still can't use it fully. We will be staying with our friend Luan, who we also visited last year. She's got the day off tomorrow and will be picking us up at the train station. We've only seen her once since last October, when she and her friend stopped by last month when they were in our part of the world.

I'm busy packing up now. What I hate about packing is... well, there are several things. The first is deciding what I want to take. Then narrowing it down to what I can take. Then I just want to do it already, but you can't finish until the morning of with stuff like toothbrushes and contacts solution. I just want to be done! I've already found a few things that I forgot until today, so hopefully I'll be all set by tomorrow morning.

Nid just dyed my hair for me for the trip. I thought it was a good idea to plan doing it right before the trip. Yeah, well, when you go and injure yourself right before, it's not such a good idea. I can't reach my head with my left arm, as my elbow is still really sore. He was such a trooper! He did a perfect job, and it actually seemed to take less time to apply and rinse than the last time I did it myself. He's the best husband!

Well, I'll be back on Sunday with a full report and most important... PHOTOS!

Diwali Day.

2009-10-18T14:24:00.000+01:00

I wrote previously about Diwali, about how the Season so to speak started a few weeks ago. All the shops in the area have fireworks special, and these are fireworks that have been illegal in Virginia for some time. One shop had a BUY ONE GET THREE FREE sale. Now that's a heck of a deal, and you KNOW the markup on them is too high if they can do that and still make a profit... The other day we passed a shoe store that had posters in the wall offering fireworks for sale. Shoes and fireworks, sure, I'd have guessed that. Today on my iGoogle news, there is an article about 32 people dying in India due to a fire started by fireworks. I love to watch them, but unfortunately people are careless. Every night since the Diwali season began, there have been fireworks going off up and down my street. Usually just a few at a time. And the little poppers I'll call them, that you throw on the ground and they go bang. After the last fireworks as we walked the streets, hundreds of kids had them. I stepped on a few that had not gone off and made them pop myself. It's a little startling when you are not expecting it, and it was so dark you couldn't see them. I remember when I was a teenager, friends would put them between their teeth and pop them. I never did. I was too afraid I'd blow off my tongue.

So, today is Diwali Day. Our friends Matt and Jacqui were going to come over and go with us to see the fireworks, which are literally around the corner. They ended up not being able to, and it was cold out, and we were tired and looking forward to our movie night, watching Sin Nombre, which was our second foreign film in two nights. So I watched the fireworks from our bedroom window. It was nice, but I'd already seen the ones early in the month, and surprisingly I wasn't all that excited. For the next several hours, it sounded like a gangland shoot out in the street though. Sounded like every neighbor we had was setting off fireworks, and not just the little ones, there were some big explosions and crackles and pops going on! It was kinda cool though.

My Week.

2009-10-17T11:34:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I really was trying to be better about it. I'll start again and try to be better about it from.... now on! :)

So, what has been happening here? Well, we opened the Dierks Fans Store, and we've had a lot of visitors. We've sold more than we thought we would in the first few weeks. Actually, we'd sold four items in the first three days! We are very proud, and are hoping that they send us photos of them modeling or showing off their products. It's so cool that people want what we've designed. We've spent the last few weeks working diligently on that, always discussing new ideas and directions we can go. I have to admit, Nid's taken the lead with designing. One of our friends from Somebody Like You Fans was interested in putting her graphic design work on the site, so I've been busy with her, uploading images and creating a department for them. She's quite talented, and I'd love to buy some cards with her images on.

Other than that, I've been doing a lot of research. Holiday cards, brainstorming for gifts, it's a daunting task at the moment. We're getting ready for our trip to visit our friend Luan in York next week. She and her boyfriend were down the other month just for a few hours, and that was a nice visit. We're really looking forward to seeing the city, as when we were there this time last year Nid was in a cast. We had a great time there, but we didn't get to see much of the city except in the taxi to dinner and riding to Luan's house to visit. I did not take a single photo there last year. That will not be the case this year!

Then the day before yesterday I had a bike accident. It was silly really, but I'm blaming it on the wet roads. We'd been riding about an hour, I'd say, and it was a great ride. Just chilly enough that I didn't get hot and gross even during the uphill portions. We were on the way home, and turning off the main road on the sidewalk, there was a little lip, no more than an inch tall, and usually no problem... but I must not have angled my tire enough because of the water on the road, and my tire slid along the lip instead of hopping up on it.

Boy was I shocked! Nid was ahead of me (thank goodness or he may not have been able to avoid the collision). By the time he saw me down andcame back to me, a car had already stopped in traffic to check on me. Nid said I was okay, and had to really convince the guy he was going to block traffic, and we'd be okay to get him to go. He went to get his bike which he'd thrown down when he saw me down when I told him I was okay, and a group of young boys just out of school came by and asked if I was okay. They offered to move my bike for me (it was still sort of laying on top of me and a little in the street). I said thank you. Nid said they were very concerned, but I couldn't tell because I was all about the pain. And shock. And embarrassment of having crashed my bike in a busy area with double decker buses going by and children getting out of school. Nid kept asking me where it hurt and if I could get up, and I don't know if I could've without him. It just never occurred to me to try, I was so shocked by the whole thing.

I finally did get up, and we started home. Nid took our bikes, and I just hobbled along, whimpering the whole way. It was probably a half mile - 3/4 of a mile to the house, and it was the LONGEST WALK EVER! I could feel the cuts on my left leg burning and I could actually feel the swelling happen. My left arm was dangling and if I moved it at all shooting pains radiated from my elbow. We got home and I sat. That was about 3:45pm. I stayed there for nearly 5 hours straight just crying. Moving hurt too much, but just sitting killed as well. We decided that if it wasn't better in the morning, we'd go to the Emergency Room. If I'd gone then, I'd have had to go alone, as it was nearly time to fix the children dinner, and likely I wouldn't be home before late, and we don't leave the children home alone after a certain time. I didn't move much until I went to bed at around 11:30. In the middle of the night I had to move to the couch, because I was just too uncomfortable.

By the time morning came along (and it was a long time coming), I could bend my arm a little, and with the help of my other hand, I could rotate it some, so I decided not to go to the ER. I put my arm in Nid's sling and did pretty well. It hurt all day, but it didn't kill. My main problem was doing too much (typing, for example) and that made it hurt worse.

Today, I am so much better. I can hardly believe how much better I am. It aches, but not much. I can't straighten it or bend it all the way, but I'm not currently wearing the sling (may put it on for the trip to the store just to remind myself not to move it) and it doesn't hurt unless I do forget and go to straighten it. So maybe I should put the sling back on.... Anyway. I know that's a lot of detail, but people have been asking how I am, so I thought I'd get it all out there. Plus, I have to write about the Diwali fireworks tonight, so I need to save myself for that.

Diwali Lights Switch On Celebration.

2009-10-05T09:21:00.002+01:00

Tonight Nid and the children and I went to the park across the street for the Diwali Lights Switch On Celebration. Earlier in the evening, the 6,500 lights that the city has been putting up on Belgrave Road's Golden Mile were all turned on. This was followed by entertainment in our park. We waited until right before the fireworks started, and walked up. All of the roads in our neighborhood had parking restrictions, or were closed altogether, which made it a much more pleasurable experience, since there were thousands upon thousands of people turned up for the event. The fireworks were quite good, and because we were so close to them, we got the full impact of the explosions and power of those tiny rockets. It was a major family affair with lots of little kids being wheeled around in strollers. They actually had the best seats, because not only did they not have to stand, strollers tilt them up in a way that they were the only ones not craning their necks to see above them.There will be more fireworks on Saturday the 17th, and we are going to see those as well.

I took pictures and video of the fireworks and posted them on my pictures site HERE. I joined the video clips together and added an intro and credits and put a soundtrack to it, if anyone is a fan of fireworks.

Diwali (or Dipawali, often written Deepavali) is a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and an official holiday in India. Adherents of these religions celebrate Diwali as the Festival of Lights. They light diyas—cotton string wicks inserted in small clay pots filled with oil—to signify victory of good over the evil within an individual.

In India and Nepal, Diwali is now considered to be a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians and Nepalese regardless of faith.

While Divali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light".

In Britain, Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Diwali with great enthusiasm and in most ways very similarly to as in India. People clean and decorate their homes with lamps and candles. It is also an important time to contact family in India and perhaps exchange gifts through the post. It is a greatly celebrated holiday and is a great way to connect with the culture and heritage of India. Diwali is becoming a well known festival in Britain and non-Indians also join in the festivities. Leicester plays host to some of the biggest celebrations outside of India itself. Diwali also coincides closely enough with the British Guy Fawkes (Bonfire Night) traditions on November the 5th that in many areas, such as the East End of London, a kind of joint festival has evolved where everyone celebrates and enjoys the same fire and fireworks for their own diverse reasons.

Reference Links:
Diwali Wikipedia Page
Leicester's Diwali Page
Leicester Diwali Events

Dierks Fans Store Grand Opening.

2009-10-01T10:56:00.001+01:00

Dierks Fans is pleased to announce the grand opening of it's official store at Zazzle. The store has a varied selection of products, including Dierks Fans logo items, Somebody Like You Fans logo items, Dierks and Keith themed items, various other country music themed items, as well as greeting cards made with original photographs taken by our admin team.

We plan to add more designs in the future, and are always on the lookout for new designs and ideas. If you would like to be alerted when new designs are available, join our Zazzle Fan Club and sign up to receive an email each time a new product is added.

The Dierks Fans brand is here to promote Dierks Bentley and serve the fans. It is here to promote the official Dierks Bentley site, the Dierks Bentley Congress and everybody involved in helping Dierks Bentley become a household name.

We are very excited about this new project, and the opportunity to give the Dierks Fans name more exposure. Any profits made over the cost of running our sites will be donated to one of Dierks' charities.

To help our friends around the world with shipping costs, the Dierks Fans store has addresses in:

USA - http://www.zazzle.com/DierksFans*
UK - http://www.zazzle.co.uk/DierksFans*
Germany - http://www.zazzle.de/DierksFans*
Australia - http://www.zazzle.com.au/DierksFans*
New Zealand - http://www.zazzle.co.nz/DierksFans*
Canada - http://www.zazzle.ca/DierksFans*

When you copy and paste, please include the * at the end. Thanks!

You can also visit the US store through the 'Store' link at the top of the home page at http://www.dierksfans.com

If you like a design, but don't see it on an item you would like, email us at dierksfansstore@gmail.com and we will do our best to put the image on another product. For clothing, you can put any design that is already on a shirt onto any other style/type/color shirt that Zazzle offers. Just click on the item, and it will show you the options you have. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

We will not be messaging you directly every time we release a new design. We are anti-spam. We will however, post once on the fan page when a new design is added and these posts will only be for Dierks designs.

A forum has also been created at http://www.dierksfans.com about the store.

Best wishes,

~Nid.

http://www.dierks.com - The official Dierks Bentley site.
http://www.dierksfans.com - The fans Dierks Bentley site.
http://www.dbcongress.com - The Dierks Bentley Congress members site.

http://dierksfans.wordpress.com - All In One Dierks Bentley Info Micro Site.

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Follow http://www.dierksfans.com on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/dierksfans

And Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/dierksfans

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Country Music Blog:

http://gotcountry.blogspot.com

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Listen Online To Dierks Bentley's First Album, Don't Leave Me In Love:

http://dontleavemeinlove.webs.com

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Virginia Tech Football.

2009-09-29T15:42:00.002+01:00

No one could ever accuse me of being a sports fan. I only went to one Tech home game when I was there. I could possibly have enjoyed the spirit of the game and the crowd.... if only I hadn't had beer poured on my head from the drunks behind me or had to worry about being hit in the head with pizza boxes thrown by the drunks in front of me.

That being said, this came across Twitter today, and I have to say, I was proud to read the country's opinion of the game. Even with the sports words I didn't understand, I enjoyed it and wanted to pass it along to all of my readers.

From Gobbler Country

Virginia Tech 31, Miami 7: What They're Saying
The Hokies were dominant in their win over Miami on Saturday. They quieted both their critics and Hurricane supporters, at least for now. It will be up to the Hokies to find consistency, but they still have time to live up to their preseason expectations.

National Bloggers
The lesson, as always: The ACC still belongs to Virginia Tech (Dr. Saturday)
"And if a Hokie fan actually was writing a script for this game, he probably wouldn't have dared to narrate anything so blatantly Beamer-esque as the reality: In three straight hours of pouring rain, the Hokies forced two turnovers while committing none, blocked a punt for a touchdown and pounded out a living on offense by physically beating the 'Canes up front to the tune of 271 yards rushing; freshman Ryan Williams relegated the loss of Darren Evans to prehistory with 35 bruising, effective carries. Most importantly, the defense, an obvious disappointment to this point, made icy, collected, swagger-y quarterback Jacory Harris look like just another sophomore in his second road start in bad conditions against a Bud Foster defense -- or worse than that, actually, if that's possible, intercepting the rising star of the early season once and offering nary a shot at the long ball the Hurricane offense thrived on in its first two wins. Classic Hokies all the way around: Nasty, brutish and short."
Virginia Tech gets complete effort vs. Miami (Annette)
"For the first time in four games, Virginia Tech looked worthy of all of the preseason hype leading into its season opener against Alabama. Offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring caught Miami’s defense off guard with misdirection, and a good mix of running and passing plays. Defensive coordinator Bud Foster demanded more from his defense all week and they answered his challenge."
At No. 6, Hokies Back in the Hunt (Bill Roth)
"It proves the theory that in the current BCS system, if you’re going to lose, do so early. And if you have a chance to beat ranked teams, get it done. That’s exactly what the Hokies did by beating Nebraska, ranked No. 19 at game time, and Miami, which was ranked No. 9. Virginia Tech enters October ranked No. 6 in the major polls, including the Harris Interactive poll, which is one-third of the BCS standings formula. The first Harris Poll of this season was released Sunday night."
Hokie Beat Writers
Hokies Hammer Hurricanes edition (Kyle Tucker)
"I’m sure you Bryan Stinespring haters are really struggling with this, but he called an excellent first half. I think with a huge lead, he called off the dogs a little and just tried to grind it out in the final two quarters. But in the first 30 minutes, Tech out-gained Miami 242 yards to 54. Stiney mixed the run and pass, ran inside and out, and sprinkled in a significant amount of misdirection that had the ‘Canes on their heels from the start. Tyrod Taylor ran, he passed (for the brief part of the game where he needed to) and Ryan Williams ran wild again."
Making a Statement, Hokies Beat Miami (Mark Viera)
"With an unequivocal and complete 31-7 victory, No. 11 Virginia Tech upset No. 9 Miami and re-established itself as the class of the Atlantic Coast Conference as rain pelted a soggy crowd of 66,233 at Lane Stadium. As No. 18 Florida State continued its Jekyll and Hyde act by losing, 17-7, to South Florida, Virginia Tech emerged from Saturday looking even more comfortable in the driver’s seat in the conference. The Seminoles are the Atlantic Division. Virginia Tech is in the Coastal Division."
Polls, injuries and recruiting news (Nathan Warters)
"As expected Virginia Tech took a pretty substantial jump in both major polls after beating No. 9 Miami Saturday. It moved up five spots to No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and six spots up to No. 6 in the coaches’ poll. It may be way too early to talk about the national championship picture, but the Hokies are back in it after their latest big victory."
"So much for Miami being the next big thing..." (Norm Wood)
"I guess I understand the fascination from a national media standpoint with all things Miami football-related (after all, the Hurricanes do have quite a history over the last quarter-century), but all of the hype this year seemed really premature. It's almost seemed as if the national folks were trying to will Miami back in to the spotlight. Obviously, the Hurricanes weren't quite ready to make that kind of step, but I certainly wouldn't write them off just yet."
Win may not create national splash (Aaron McFarling)
"If you're a Tech fan, enjoy it, but don't turn on the TV today. Don't run to the radio. The validation you seek won't be found there. The national pundits -- the same ones who put Miami quarterback Jacory Harris in the Heisman discussion and the Hurricanes in the national-title mix after two weeks -- will run from this result."
Upsets vault Hokies back into title chase (Randy King)
"As a result of its impressive 31-7 thrashing of then-No. 9 Miami on Saturday in Blacksburg, parlayed with losses by four teams in last week's top 10, Tech vaulted from 11th to sixth in each of the writers' and coaches' polls released Sunday. The Hokies (3-1, 1-0 ACC) jumped the quartet that lost, plus moved past Oklahoma, which was idle last week. Tech is the highest-ranked of any team with a loss, a list that includes such perennial contenders as Southern California, Oklahoma and Ohio State."
Today was Virginia Tech’s day (Darryl Slater)
"Did all the chatter contribute to Miami losing? It’s difficult to say. I don’t really think players consider those things when they’re on the field. Too much other stuff to worry about. The bottom line: College football is unpredictable, its players flawed compared to pros. That’s what makes it fun to follow and challenging to forecast. Players like to talk about being motivated when analysts pick against them. But they should remember that predictions are flimsy. All it takes to make one is a mouth or a keyboard."
Hokie Bloggers
Back and Backless (The A-Line)
"The 31-7 smackdown was the worst beating Tech has laid on the Backstreet boys since the last time the Canes arrived in Lane Backed by a fawning media and were beaten 31-7. That would be the 2003 game. One of these years you would think the Disney gang would learn that if they are going to engage in a Canes’ Backfest, they really should wait until after the Tech game. Compared to the ESPN clowns, Disney stablemate Goofy comes across as the level-headed voice of reason."
"We Never Left" (Beer Control Offense)
"Bammer and Nebraska have the game plan to play VT, DE's play up the field do not crash Tyrod or he can scramble. Blitz the middle to stop the run or sack Tyrod. Man up the wideouts, Safety over the top. That slows down VT ... arrogant Canes crashed Tyrod and he, Stiney and Ryan Williams torched them. Props to RW his first 20+ carry game of his H.S. or College career and he put up great numbers, 34 carries, 151 2 tds + 2 catches for 40! STUD! Typical Stiney, get the fans really, really pissed at you then have a kick ass game."
31-7 (The North End Zone)
"Can we just all agree that anyone that says anything about college football has no idea what they are talking about?* I mean, Todd McShay has a job talking about this stuff. That right there should be enough to discredit the entire analyst industry."
Game Review - VT vs. Miami (Tech SuperFans)
"This wasn't some watershed moment where the whole offense then got in a circle and had a good group cry and sang Kum-Ba-yah. But what it did do was force Stinespring to learn what he expects his players to learn during film review every week - namely look critically at himself and understand how he was being an obstacle to the success of the offense. Once that step was accomplished, that knowledge could be applied to making improvements, which in this case, meant designing and calling plays suited to the strengths of his players that they could practice religiously the rest of the week."
Hokies’ Opponents Continue to Roll (VT Hokie Fans)
"The Hokies’ only loss this season was to Alabama. Tech scored 24 points in that loss; the most points the Tide have given up this season. Alabama has given up only 28 combined points in their last three games. Only four weeks into the season and that loss doesn’t look so bad now."
"You Got to Beat The Man" (VT Fan)
"I think Frank Beamer would win every football game like this if he could. That game was his formula. A lot of running plays, a few long passes, a bunch of scrambles by an athletic quarterback, several defensive turnovers, and a blocked punt. When it works, it works well. The only question is, does it always work at the best teams?"
Hurricane Bloggers
When The Levee Breaks (Canespace)
"The final score is insignificant as anyone who watched the game knows that the beat down the Canes sustained was full and complete. To be honest the Canes were never in the game and appeared to be out coached and out muscled by a more physical VT squad who were seriously motivated to make a statement on this cold and damp day in Virginia."
Game 3 Recap: L 31-7 @ Virginia Tech (Anton Azucar)
"We will never know how much the rain affected this team, but hello people, both teams were poured on like Noah. For all the Miami passes one could say were incomplete due to the rain, I will counter that every single Va Tech running back cut was like he was on ice. They would come to a near complete stop, then turn directions. Yet Miami still couldn’t tackle them! If it was a clear Virginia night, Miami would have had Ga Tech Running Horror II on their hands for all we know."
Game Three : Virginia Tech 31, Miami 7 (AllCanes)
"A humbling loss should force everyone - most notably fans, media and rivals - to take inventory regarding the Canes. There are bright spots regarding this current Miami bunch, but there simply isn't the depth and across-the-board talent that championship caliber teams possess."

Go Hokies!

Goodbye Stalker. Hello Fan Club.

2009-09-27T18:19:00.002+01:00

Hopefully all of you have read my blog about my stalker. How I had one and that they seem to have lost interest in me. Or changed their ip address. I wasn't bothered.

Well, now I've got one better. I have a fan club! Nid runs a website and some people that use to be on there formed a clique and went their own way. That was all good. They haven't been missed. Then they started their own website. Very high tech. Their main home page has has a spelling error since day one. Considering it's a country music website, you'd think they'd be able to spell "country" but apparently since "county" is also a word, spell checker didn't tell them that that was not the word that they wanted to use.

Any hoo, it has been brought to my attention that these ladies (yes, my fan club is made up of women... ) have started a thread about little ole me on their website! They have a link to my blog on their website and people from all over the world are visiting it. Several of them have even been to my other websites and our new store, even though we haven't made our grand opening announcement yet.

It just amazes me that there are people out there with nothing better to do than talk about my life! Friends and family, that's one thing, but people I've never met? It makes me laugh. It's like we're celebrities, with paparazzi following us around, keeping an eye on us. Too bad they won't get any dirt on us, though. Too bad for them, that is. I'm living a charmed life with my husband and children. They've got nothing (truthful) to slander us with.

Visits and Bike Rides

2009-09-21T17:26:00.002+01:00

Today started off with a nice visit with Martin. He and his girlfriend Karen came over to Virginia for our wedding, and we've only seen them once since I moved in March. Unfortunately, he was here because his computer is messed up and Nid's going to work on it this week for him. But it was still nice to catch up a bit.

When he left, we started off on our bike ride. Our goal today was to get bread at Sainsbury's, but we were taking the long way around. That took us across the canal to the National Space Centre, which we still need to go to. They've got a pair of rockets in there, one US and one UK, side by side. We could see through the building into it. There is an elevator in there, and we saw people being taken to the top of it. Can't wait. Nid says it's like us, US and UK right here together in the UK. It's also cool, because apparently one of the Universities here in Leicester works closely with NASA, which is why the Space Centre is here I think. Across the parking lot from the Space Centre is the Abbey Pumping Station. It's, well, a pumping station. Or it was, it's now a museum.

Leaving there, we cycled through Abbey Park, stopping to take some photos of teenage swans. They were nearly full size, and there was a little bit of white feather showing, but mostly they were gray. I am lucky to have a husband that when I asked what kind of geese the gray ones were, he didn't laugh at me, he just said "they're swans" and let it go. I didn't know! But about the geese... there are Canadian Geese here. What a bain of society those birds are! I'd seen them when we went to Watermead Country Park, but every time I see them I just dislike them more. In my experience (starting from my time at Virginia Tech), they bully the ducks, they poo every where, and can be quite aggressive.

As we rode around the park, there was a gate open that is normal closed, so we went through it and across the street to Halfords. It's a big auto parts store, with a large biking section. We looked at some accessories. We aren't ready to buy anything now, but I figured if we'd seen what the biking superstore offered, when the time came, we'd know whether or not we were getting a good deal somewhere else. Because we had been able to leave the park at the place that we did, we were just a short ride from Cyclemagic, where we got our bikes. We went in and spoke to a Simon, who had me sit on my bike and discussed my issues with me. They didn't have many bikes available at the moment, but he took measurements of my bike and our information, and is going to keep an eye out for another bike with a slightly lower to the ground frame. Turns out, though, I may not need a new bike. I had him raise my handlebars, and that has made a difference for me. I think it's because I'm not leaning so far over (amazing what an inch can do) my weight balances different, making me confident on starts and stops. That was really my only problem. Riding was fine, but traffic made me very uncomfortable, with my toes barely touching the ground. If this solved my problem, I'll be really happy. We'll see how the next few days/weeks go.

New Bike Lights.

2009-09-19T20:57:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we rode our bikes to town. Nid had an appointment, so we parked the bikes and he went his way while I wandered the town on my own. I went to the Market and got Cale a new backpack for school. I went to about 8 stores looking for a bathrobe. I found one I LOVE at Marks and Spencers that I hope I can get at some point before it gets too cold here. I did some window shopping and just worked on familiarizing myself with downtown. Nid texted when when he was done and we met back at the clock tower. We then had to go and find new football boots and shin pads for Briony. We got those and sat awhile enjoying the nice weather. Oh, silly me, the actual reason that I am writing this blog... We got bike lights for Nid's bike since he'll need to ride it to get to football on Thursday nights from now on. When I told him a little bit ago that I would like some soda, he jumped up (literally) because he wanted to ride his bike with the new lights on. As soon as he left, I knew that I had to document the event, so I ran and got my camera and waited in the front door for him to come back around the corner. I got several funny looks from passersby, but it's my door, I can stand there (in my pjs) with a camera if I want to! Anyway, here is the video I took.

I Miss.

2009-09-17T11:56:00.000+01:00

I miss music. I miss having the radio or my iPod on 24 hours a day. I miss watching TV all day on the weekends, and falling asleep in front of it at night. They seem like such little things, but they build up over time. I didn't even realize it at first, that I missed these things. I am not sure what brought it to my attention, either. I did not have TV the last year I spent in Virginia. So now I am going on my second year without it. We download certain shows to watch, so I am not without 100%, but there is no vegging in front of it to kill spare hours. Most people would think that's a good thing. But I miss having the option to do it.

Pets.

2009-09-16T15:42:00.001+01:00

I have been avoiding talking about pets on my blog. For several reasons, some good, some probably just imaginary. My head can be a crazy place sometimes. I had to leave my two babies back home in Virginia with my parents. That was not easy for me. They are being taken care of. They are being loved. But it's not my love, and I have to deal with sometimes extreme bouts of guilt over that. You can say what you want about the intelligence of animals, the resilence of them. But I know what their lives were like before. I've had them for 10 years. They are my babies. And I left them. They have good lives, but not the lives they were use to. Not the lives they lived for the last 10 years. There is nothing wrong with the lives they are living now, I am not saying that there is, but they aren't with me. I think about them most days, and cry over them often. Do they remember me? Do they miss me? Do I wish they did, or do I hope that they've moved on? Either way of thinking hurts me deep inside. When I am lonely or tired I wish I had one of them to curl up with. I could always count on them to be there for me. As obnoxious as it was for Smudge to ALWAYS want to be sitting in my lap, or as frustrating as it was for Bearette to steal, destroy, and/or eat anything and everything that was within her reach. They were, and are, my family.

Last year Nid had a kitten walk into his back door and become a part of his family. He named her Kiki and she stayed. Outside during the day, inside at night and when the weather was bad. She was a good cat. A calico, though you'd never know it by her temperament. I had some minor issues with Kiki when I moved. Issues revolving around me not wanting to get close to another animal when I had just left mine behind. But as animals do, she wormed her way into my heart. The children adored her, and Nid doted on her. When I came last October, I gave her Suzy Jane's old collar to wear. We just lost Kiki this past week. She got sick rather suddenly, and though we took her to the vet several times, there did not seem to be much they could do. We were coming to terms with the fact that we were going to lose her, and that night she passed away. Llast Wednesday morning, September 9th. She was less than two years old.

Being here and going through this has brought up a lot of memories for me. I lost my Rascal last summer to a stroke, and later in the summer Suzy Jane deteriorated and I lost her as well. Rascal was 10, and I'd had him his whole life. Suzy Jane was 14+ and I'd only had her for about a year. But I loved them both so much and it hurt so bad to lose them. And then there was my dear Teddy a few years ago. My handicapped little ball of love, who only lived to be three or so. It doesn't matter how long you have had a pet, losing them always hurts so bad. During this difficult time, and remembering past difficult times, I can't help but think what it will feel like when Bearette and Smudge leave this world. How will I deal with that from this distance? Not being able to say goodbye to them, to have closure?

I have had people ask me if we'll get another pet this week. It has gotten me thinking. I have said for years that when all my kids were gone, I needed a break. A break from the responsibility, from the cost. It is hard to never be able to go away for a night or even all day without arranging care. Between having a seizuring cat, a diabetic cat, an allergic and OCD dog, and a geriatric dog all needing medications once or twice daily, it wasn't easy. But when you start losing those pets, I at least, fall into the I don't want to get hurt like this again catergory. I am sure that we will have pets again one day. When we are settled. We won't have any between now and the time we move to the US. There is a lot of time and expense required moving pets from one country to another, although it is a lot easier moving from here to the US than vice versa.

I would like to thank everyone who has shown us support and love through this difficult time. It has not been easy. The children are doing well. It's hard, of course. I catch myself looking around for her still.

I Am Stalkerless...

2009-09-13T19:41:00.001+01:00

So, I had a stalker. Their ip was from Leicester, though sometimes the name of the place of origin changed, the ip address stayed the same. They started following me from the time I posted my blog address on Monkeyville, Keith Urban's fan site. I shared it there in one location for a group of girls that I chat with, many of whom I have also met. The only other people that had my site address at that time were personal friends and family, none of whom was on this side of the pond, much less in my own town.

It was intriguing at first. They came quite often, looked at photos I took, clicked links to my other website. I did not want to post anything about it at the time, as I was having a bit of fun keeping track of their visits and did not want to discourage them from coming. However, it appears that either their ip address has changed or I have become boring. Which do I hope for? Continuing to be stalked, or being dumped? They never hurt anything, except for a minor rude comment on one of my posts. Which was posted annoymously, but because I have tracking on the site, I was able to prove without a doubt that it was my stalker. I have my suspicions on who it is/was, but no proof of course. It was fun while it lasted. Now I have so many visitors coming from all over the world, dozens from England, half as many from friends right here in Leicester, that I am no longer able to tag who is who, unless I did it back when I only had a few.

To go along with my stalker theme, I have found these fun photos:

Farewell to my stalker, whoever you may be. I bid you well.

Bike Ride To Town.

2009-09-12T14:21:00.007+01:00

Thursday, September 10th, we rode our bikes into town for the first time. Nid had a doctor's appointment, so we rode them to town, parked them at BHS (ours are the ones in front of the half naked woman) and then walked to the hospital, which wasn't far. After the appointment, we walked past the prison (the building that looks like a fort) to check out the new stand at the Leicester Tigers (Rugby) home ground on Welford Road. We are hoping to be able to go to a game as a family some time. What cracked me up, is that immediately adjacent to the prison is Nelson Mandela Park. Literally, 50 feet from the walls of the prison, there are slides and swings.

While we were in town, we tried to get a late breakfast at BHS but they stopped serving at 11:30 and it was 11:20 and the last bits of breakfast didn't look so appealing. We'll try again some other time. We ended up eating at Burger King, which has always been our regular anyway when we go to town. I looked at both WHSmith and The Works for a 5 Year Diary to help me keep organized all the family and visa stuff I need to keep track of. Neither place had them, but I have seen one somewhere and I didn't buy it and now I am kicking myself over that.

But regardless, we had a really nice time sitting out on the benches in front of the stores and watching crazily dressed people walk by in their stupid shoes and outfits. I have NEVER seen so many un-stylish people as I have since moving to England. And I fully blame the stores. The clothes to some degree, but the shoes that fill the shoe stores are HORRENDOUS! I am sure that there are some nice shoes, but I really just hope that mine last me a really long time :)

On the way home, Nid surprised me with a stop at Staples. It doesn't look like much on the outside, but inside, it looks JUST LIKE back home! It was a welcome surprise. They didn't have the diary I wanted either, but it was still really nice looking up and down all the isles. I really enjoyed that.

After we left there we stopped at St. George's Retail Park and went into Toys 'R' Us to look at board games and then a few computer stores just to look around. It was a really really good day. And we didn't spend any money on transportation! That makes a great day even better.

I almost forgot. I used the loo at the hospital where Nid had his appointment. When I saw this sink, I just knew that I had to share. I've never had so many options at a bathroom sink before. They also had this AMAZING hand drier, where you put your hands down into a slot. Completely dry in about 5 seconds. Incredible! But the photo didn't turn out.

Tickets In Hand!

2009-09-08T15:43:00.001+01:00

They just arrived a few minutes ago, we have our tickets for the Leicester City Foxes home game against Sheffield United on Boxing Day, December 26, 2009 at Walker Stadium. It'll be my first Leicester City game, and we are all going. It's our big Christmas present for the family. We got great seats, and I am really looking forward to it!

My Birthday.

2009-09-06T18:00:00.000+01:00

Was on September 1st, and it was a really great day. When I woke up early, the children were downstairs and both wished me a happy birthday. Went back to bed for a while, then we got up for the day. When I was in the bathroom getting ready, Nid was preparing a surprise for me. I came into the dining room, and there were presents! I really was not expecting anything. Nid had already pre-ordered me a book that I really wanted, so I was shocked when I walked in the room and they were all standing there. I got three of the sweetest cards ever (they made me cry!) and presents from each.Nid got me a bottle of wine, because I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I missed having wine. Briony got me a faux leather pencil cup and Cale got me a stapler. These were the perfect gifts, because I was using a silverwear drainer I found when I moved here for a pencil cup and I'd been wanting a stapler for ages, to help keep all the bills and papers organized. They were just perfect! And they look so great sitting on my new desk.

I spent a good part of the day reading. I've been bad about not finishing this book I have and I wanted to get it done. I didn't, but it was a good relaxing day anyway. After lunch, a friend from York called and said she was in Nottingham and would like to stop by with her boyfriend. We spent the afternoon chatting away, and it was quite nice. We're going to visit them in October, so this was a great catch up day.

After dinner, I went online and checked all my emails and facebook comments wishing me a happy birthday. I'd been getting text messages all day, every time someone commented on my wall, but it was really good to see them all right there as well. I had been a little worried that it wouldn't be a great day, simply because I was here, and wouldn't be talking to all my friends and family like I normally would on my birthday. But they really showed me a lot of love and support across the distance, and it meant a lot to me.

Leicester Freecycle.

2009-08-24T11:58:00.000+01:00

I've been looking at the Leicester Freecycle for a while now. But things go really fast, and without a car, I can't easily pick things up. Most things, people want gone ASAP, so they'll give it to the person that can come first, not necessarily to the first person to respond. Anyway, last week I saw two items that had not been claimed. It had been a few days since they'd been posted, and other things she had posted had been collected already. So I emailed her. And she had them and was willing to hold them until next Thursday (this all transpired last Friday). I was in the process of negotiating a ride with Nid's friend, when he offered to go on Monday (today). I emailed her back and she was available. We went a little while ago and now I have a desk and a (very nearly) matching bedside table to Nid. Both items are from Ikea (LOVE IKEA), and in excellent condition! This is really exciting for me, because I have had my computer on the dining table since March, and when the kids are here, I have to move it every night for dinner, then set it up again. It's not hard to do, just a pain.

So, this is my current layout. I've also staked claim on the left corner of Nid's desk :) And on the left of my desk is a cabinet that has all my files and office supplies. I think I'll use the keyboard shelf for my papers, my to do list, etc. It's quite cozy over here. May need to look into some blinds or different curtain. Have to wait to see how bright it is when the sun comes through the window, which it won't likely be doing today. Nid says he likes it because can see what I'm doing without straining his neck. Good thing I don't ever do anything bad! ;)

Transition.

2009-08-23T23:51:00.001+01:00

I am testing out several new things on my blog. Please bear with me as I go through this process. More than likely, it will all go back to the way we are use to it being. But I may win. Who knows?! No one at this point, but I'll let you know as soon as I do know.

Bike Hunt. Take One.

2009-08-17T15:25:00.008+01:00

We went to town today looking for bikes. We had a plan. Two refurbished shops and one other. Well, I was given the impression that all three were. But it doesn't matter. Cyclemagic is a refurbish shop that specializes in customizing bikes for special needs riders, but they do a fair number of regular bikes as well. Unfortunately, they only had a few bikes in. They were in our price range, but Roger said they'd probably have double if not more next week, and he didn't want to sell us bikes we weren't sure we wanted. It was a good place. We'll go back next week and try some out. Hopefully we'll find ones that work for us. I'm excited about being able to cycle to the shops, and we'll be able to go to town more, since we won't be spending bus money. The bikes really will pay for themselves in no time. We'll be able to go on more and longer journeys, like our trip to Watermead Country Park last week.

Of course, since we were in town, we went to Burger King and Nid got his triple whopper with cheese. It's always fun to sit in the window and watch the people walk by with their crazy fashion and ugly shoes. I went in a stationary shop and looked over the day planners. Right now they've pretty much just got back to school ones, but 2010 ones can't be far away. I just love getting a new day planner. Writing in all the birthdays and events and highlighting and color coordinating. It's just so exciting. Then, of course, I have to put it away for the months leading up to the new year, but when the 1st of January comes along, I'm already organized and ready for the new year. The new year I'll be starting with my new family. It's been a crazy year for me so far. We've started a list of all the places we want to see and things we want to do together before we move to the US.

I'll end with this. The route we took today led us past a lot of night clubs, and I learned a new factoid about England. It is legal to serve alcohol 24 hours per day. I learned this as a result of seeing this sign. STRICTLY no admission after... 4am?! Crazy. I must really be an old foggey, because, really, 4am? I need to be in bed! Oh well, this has gotten me off on a whole nother tangent. I Googled some stuff. And of course I now have 10+ tabs open while I compare data and sources so I don't misrepresent something... The legal drinking age in the UK is variable. According to Wikipedia you must be 18 to purchase alcohol (16 to purchase chocolates with liqueur). People aged 16 and 17 may consume wine, beer or cider on licensed premises ie.pubs, bars, and restaurants with a table meal. But this is the kicker... Children aged 5-18 can drink in their own homes, or someone elses, as long as they are supervised by an adult (over 18). Children under the age of five must not be given alcohol unless under medical supervision or in an emergency (Children and Young Persons Act 1933, Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937). I have not yet looked up what type of emergency qualifies for giving alcohol to an under five year old. And really, is it good parenting to allow your five, six, any year old CHILD to drink? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one.

While I'm on this tangent, I'll move on to ages of consent in Europe. I'll leave this to you to look at if you wish, but what got my attention is that in Spain, the legal age of consent is 13. Do you remember what you were like when you were 13? I wonder what the teenage pregnancy rates are there?

If you are curious, a breakdown of all sorts of minimum ages are provided here courtesy of the Essex Police Department.

Wow, so this post went off in a direction I could NOT have anticipated when I started!

THE END.

Watermead Country Park

2009-08-13T18:43:00.000+01:00

Today we went to the Watermead Country Park. It was a short bus ride and walk from home. I'd seen part of it as we'd ridden this bus to Asda in the past. I was most excited because I wanted to see the The Watermead Park Millennium Mammoth, which I had seen in pictures Nid had taken. This is the second mammoth to stand at this location, as the first one was destroyed by arsonists. It is meant to commemorate the fact that mammoth remains were discovered on this property.

Another feature of the park is King Lear Lake, named after the legend of King Lear, who ruled Britain in the 8th century. Upon his death he was buried in a chamber under the River Soar. There are four statues, built on a platform in the lake, showing the final scene from Shakespeare's play of King Lear.
You can read more here.

King Lear Statue on King Lear Lake:

Nid and I and the Woolly Mammoth!

And as we were leaving, two women got out of their vehicle with a gaggle of children. Now, in my limited experience in this country, they have a lot of interesting shoes. Not a lot of shoes that I would actually wear... but these really topped the cake!

TV License.

2009-08-12T12:39:00.003+01:00

This may (or may not) be an interesting bit of trivia for those of you not in the UK. TV Licensing. What is it? It is a fee that you have to pay the GOVERNMENT so that you can watch TV. A colour TV Licence costs £142.50 per year. A black and white TV Licence costs £48.00 per year. What do you get for that? Well, the answer is simple... you get the RIGHT to watch TV. For which you must subscribe via a cable or satellite operator, same as you do in the US. Those fees are similar I think to what you get in the US, starting at £11/month for basic with 45 channels, £22 for 100 channels, £32.50 for 160 channels. Of course, on top of that price is taxes and fees. Then you have to pay the TV license, in order to legally watch the shows you are paying to recieve. You also have to get the "box" from the cable company, currently on sale for £49, saving you over £100. Virgin Media supplies over 95% of cable in the UK, so I suppose you're going to pay whatever they want you to pay... You do get Virgin telephone service with the cable, but here pay a package/line fee/etc, and then you pay for phone calls. It's all terribly confusing to me. There are line connection charges, charges per minute, it depends on when you are calling, what kind of phone you are calling, where in the UK you are calling. Our bank statements have a phone number on them if you have problems or what have you... there's a set fee just to dial them. I just don't get it! The country is not so big that you should have 50 different fees for calling 50 different places! Oh well, that's not even something I'm interested in talking about.

So, back to this TV Licensing thing. I've been afraid to answer the door since I got here. They come door to door to people who don't pay the fee. I guess it's too much for them to fathom that people don't watch TV. I was told that if I answer the door and they identify themselves as such, to shut the door and not say a word. They do not have a legal right to enter the home, or force us to speak to them. They'll just leave. Well, me personally, that scared me so bad that I just decided if Nid wasn't home and I didn't know who was knocking, I just wouldn't answer. But then today there was an article in the paper that clearly says we are not breaking any TV Licensing laws. Of course, I could've found this online anyway, but I just never got around to looking it up. From TV Licensing Web Page:

You must be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV. It makes no difference what equipment you use - whether it’s a laptop, PC, mobile phone, digital box, DVD recorder or a TV set - you still need a licence.

You do not need a TV Licence to view video clips on the internet, as long as what you are viewing is not being shown on TV at the same time as you are viewing it.

If you use a digital box with a hi-fi system, or another device that can only be used to produce sounds and can't display TV programmes, and you don't install or use any other TV receiving equipment, you don't need a TV Licence.

It's good to see it in writing that because we do not watch live TV, we are safe. Okay, well that was my bit of trivia sharing for today. Hope you all learned something, because I sure did!

Missing.

2009-08-12T00:52:00.007+01:00

I miss buying shoes from Kohls and Levis from JCPenney and everything else from Walmart. I miss Archer Farms Monster Trail Mix from Target and of course their Dollar Section. I miss sandwiches from McAllister's Deli and burgers from Five Guys. I miss margaritas with the girls at Natcho Mamas and the children's grilled cheese with Tammy at Shoneys. I miss Bacon Turkey Bravos and Sierra Turkey sandwiches from Panera.

I'm just in a missing mood. Will add more as I think of them.

If you think you have Swine Flu... Stay Away!

2009-08-11T19:48:00.004+01:00

So, today Nid and I had to run by the doctor's office to pick up a prescription that I had to get filled. While I was in line, he was taking some photographs. He got the front door sign, listing the hours, which is good because we never can remember when they are closed for lunch...

He got the details on what the NHS is recommending regarding Swine Flu...

And then he saw this one...

If you think you may be sick... STAY AWAY! Ironically, of course, to get to that sign, you had to go through two sets of double doors into the facility. Minor technicality of logic there?

Five Months In England.

2009-08-09T11:01:00.008+01:00

Yesterday was my five month anniversary of arriving in England. It is hard for me to explain how the time feels. There were definitely days that dragged by, where I thought I just couldn't sit here and not DO anything for another day. But then when I think back, I can't help but wondering... where did the time go? What have I been doing? What should I be doing? The job hunt continues, and while there will be (hopefully) financial benefits to finding gainful employment, it is important for me to remember to just enjoy the days. There will never be another time in my life like this one. Newlywed. Newly arrived immigrant in a strange land. Unemployed but still able to get by. I'll never be these things again, will never have this time back. There will likely never be a time that I won't have to work in order to get by. I need to remember that some days, but mostly I do and I just enjoy myself and my husband and my family. I am a very lucky woman.

Last night we had our last baked potato of Baked Potato Week. We watched a movie. We had TWO magnums each(!). We enjoyed a drink. We listened to a play list I created by combining our Mix Tapes with some of my favorite other songs. At some point during the evening it occurred to me that our celebratory drink for my five month anniversary in the UK was innately American :)

It was a wonderful anniversary. A wonderful night spent with my wonderful husband. And we get to do it all over next week when we celebrate our six month wedding anniversary!

Baked Potato Week Concludes.

2009-08-08T19:53:00.002+01:00

Baked Potato Week Continues.

2009-08-07T19:03:00.000+01:00

Baked Potato Week Continues.

2009-08-06T18:02:00.002+01:00

Baked Potato Week Continues.

2009-08-05T19:26:00.000+01:00

Baked Potato Week Continues.

2009-08-04T21:47:00.001+01:00

Baked Potato Week Continues.

2009-08-03T19:22:00.002+01:00

Baked Potato Week Begins.

2009-08-02T22:59:00.000+01:00