Another Christmas in the UK

We had some interesting news 19 October as we were preparing to leave for our half term trip for Porto Santo.  The gentleman that was hired to replace Sean quit.  Normally in the UK, they give a 4 month notice when they quit.  There are exceptions to that rule, as there was in this case.  He was under his 6 month trial period, so he did not have to give the 4 month notice.  His last day was while we were in Porto Santo.

So, we left wondering what was going to happen.  We figured that this was going to mean an additional extension.  At first, we thought that we would still be returning to the US to celebrate the holidays.....

As soon as our families found out that we were up for an additional extension, we were greeted with a mixture of emotions.  My mother in law was excited for us.  She lived in England as a child and treasures her memories.  She also enjoys that she can connect with shared experiences with my boys.  She understandably wanted us to try and make trip out to see them over the Christmas Holiday when we came back.

My parents, who bare the most burden of us being gone were understandably less excited about an extension.  They take care of our house and cars.  They immediately requested that when we returned home over the holidays that we start selling cars, house etc....

Then, things heated up between me and my cousins.  They have been renting my Grandparents home.  They decided to confer with a lawyer and I received a very nasty from that lawyer regarding an inheritance that they were never granted by my grandparents.

This in turn was complicated by my biological father, who against all advice of me, his friends and other family, went and bought a small motorcycle.  He had a stroke 5 years ago and has been very unsteady on his feet ever since.  He was in an accident riding it home and broke his femur.

For me, the thought of returning to the US with all that to deal with was a freakin’ nightmare.  Sleepless nights started once again and my anxiety was at an all time high.  I started hot yoga (which I am not a fan of) running to deal with all the stress and leaned heavily on my local friends.

My lawyer successfully ended the lease with my cousins and they vacated.  I wish I could say that it was that simple, but, it’s not.  I am still dealing with the theft and destruction that they left in my grandparents home.   But since I am not there to deal with it directly, I have to deal with it though the help of a very kind and thoughtful family member.  We work together the best that we can over the distance and the weather challenges.

We decided in November that we were not going to return home.  I am not sure if my husband and I came to the conclusion together or not.  But as the company drug it’s feet on giving us a firm date on our extension, we realized that if we were going to be going home, it was going to be all on us.  As the time grew later and the tickets more expensive, we decided that we would just spend Christmas here.  I was relieved, I was not sure how I was going to be able to honor everyone’s requests/needs with out having a nervous break down or at least a few shouting matches.

One of my best friends here worried for me, gently asking and reminding me that Christmas was coming and I did not have any gifts bought.  We had planned to just make our Christmas simple when we got back to the US and just buy the boys the new Wii U.  Thankfully, she had some very good suggestions and it so happened that she was making a trip to the US before Christmas!  So, I asked her to import a few things for me!

We made it though Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We were also lucky enough to talk to my parents and some of my husbands’ family.  It was really nice and really quiet.  Most of all I was able to enjoy it.

I am still dealing with the things that I can over the phone and internet.  As most of you know by now, my car was hit by another driver and it is a ‘write off’.  So, now that I am going to be purchasing another car.... it really seems that things were stacked against us to fly to the US this year.

December, The Month for Music

So, one of the first things that I did when we found out we were staying into December was to purchase some concert tickets!

Happy Birthday to me!  We first went to see Florence and the Machine.  She was excellent and I would definitely recommend!  Our second concert was Mumford & Sons, another good band.  Florence has a huge stage presence.  In direct contrast Mumford & Sons were all about the music.  I would go and see them again and we did try to get tickets to the second performance in London.

I took a total deviation to my normal listening and went to see The Prodigy.  Not being a typical fan, I took time a few days before to acquaint myself with the music.  I was very interested to see them because of the things that they have done for the dance genre, I have to say that it was an awesome performance.  They performed in a smallish venue in London called the O2 Academy.  They rocked the place and Maxim really worked the crowd.  The energy was incredible!

We (my girlfriends and I) spent our time between the balcony and the floor in the venue.  Near the end of the performance, we were back up in the balcony and Keith Flint showed up.  After their performance, we stayed in the VIP lounge and listened to Maxim DJ, it was loud and rocking!

We finally found ourselves back home around 4 in the morning.  It was a loud and late night that was very fun!  I am so glad that I stepped out of my music preferences and was able to see them perform.  It was an awesome experience.

Bad Things Come in Threes, Right?

So, after we returned from France, two of my girlfriends and I headed to Bicester for a day of shopping.  It was a lovely day and after they had each taken a child or two of mine, I gratefully bought them lunch.

We had left our cars at the school.  When we got back from shopping, I saw what I suspected.  I had left my keys in the car.  Worse yet, they were in the ignition and yes, my car was dead.  Thankfully, one of the ever so helpful groundsmen grabbed the school's battery charger and charged it for me.  

The next morning on my way into school, I broke my passenger side mirror.  It hit another car's mirror, mine broke, theirs did not...

Then later that week, as i was traveling to the grocery, the white van in front of me kicked up a stone and put a crack in the wind screen.  

All the while I was driving around, I was feeling a growing amount of anxiety.  In my nightmares, I kept hearing the sickening crunch of a car being hit.  Then on top of it with all these things happening, I was definitely a nervous cautious driver.  Around the 10 December, I was one of many that witnessed an accident.  After that, my anxiety calmed down and the crunching noises stopped.

Of course all this is now irrelevant.  Last Friday, 21 December, I was in a car accident.  I was driving down a rather straight run of road when a lady who was trying to cross traffic and turn to go the opposite way down the road hit me.  I tried to stop, but there wasn't any time.  She hit my little Skoda right in the passenger side tire.  The tire was shredded, the axel bent and something under the car was leaking.

Liam was with me, we were on out way to for him to finish his Christmas shopping.  Thankfully we were both fine.  The lady that hit me was in hysterics.  I tried to talk to her as did a helpful passerby to no avail.  So, an ambulance was called along with the police.  My car was in the center of the road and not moveable.  Her car was blocking one lane of traffic.  Two nice gentleman helped direct traffic until the police arrived.  

I had a witness give me her information as she saw the lady hit me.  Soon Sean showed up to get Liam out of the car as I made phone calls and talked to the police.  Accidents are handled differently here.  Police generally do not get involved unless the ambulance is called or they need to be around to direct traffic (which both happened in my case).  

The lady did not end up leaving with the ambulance.  She had family show up.  They managed to get her relatively calm.  Then when she saw Liam get out of the car, she started screaming again.  It was annoying, to say the least.  Especially after we determined that she was not hurt.

I ended up giving my account to the police officer.  One thing that he asked me (that threw me for a loop) was "would I be willing to witness if they persecuted".  I was like "What?"????  I asked them for patience, as I was American (which he knew because of my license), and I asked him to explain.  So, apparently all they wanted to know was that if she had broken any laws and that they had to charge her, would I be willing to come into court and be a witness.  So, I agreed, that yes I would.  In this case, she was not going to be charged anyway.  The police filed a report and the insurance companies are left to figure out the rest.

I had some initial back soreness, but it was gone by the next morning.  The insurance company has been really consistent in calling to make sure that Liam is ok.  He had on a very thick fleece gap sweatshirt that protected him from the seatbelt.  He was also relaxed when it happened as I did not warn him of the impending accident.

I was informed yesterday, that my Skoda aka the Tincan is a erote off.  Meaning that the damage is greater then the worth of the car.  I am not waiting for my ‘hire car’ to come though.  I have also started looking for a new car.  I am still waiting on a settlement offer.  I have to admit that I am not looking forward to going through this process.  As it happens, this does not come at good time in life.  But then again, I have never known a car accident to happen at a ‘good’ time!

Thankful

Many of my friends use their status' on Facebook during the month of November to say what they are thankful for in their lives.  I don't generally participate.  I do really enjoy reading what my friends are thankful for in their lives, don't get me wrong.  In the past few years, lots of things have changed for me and my list of things to be thankful for has become short and simple.

My list is as follows:

I am thankful for my husband.  He supports me more then anyone on this earth.  He also keeps me grounded when my dreams sometime want to carry me away.  He also has helped me live one of my dreams by bringing me here to live in England.  He is the love of my life and I am very thankful for all that we have together.

I am thankful for my oldest son.  He has taught me a lot in his 16 years.  He has given me many chances to make and fix my mistakes as I have grown into my role as his mother.  He has helped me develop patience, something that I have not always had a lot of.

I am thankful for my second oldest son, he has always been more in tune to people's feelings and I have always found his hugs, even though they came less often then my other sons', very comforting.  I am also thankful that he can trust me enough to talk to me about his problems.

I am thankful for my third son because he is a little sunshine.  He is the most optimistic person in my house and it shows.  He is always adored by all of his teachers.

I am thankful for my youngest son.  My youngest is the baby and it shows with his temper and tantrums, which makes me laugh.  My youngest is a very hard worker in school.  He always comes right home and starts on his homework, he is eager to get it done so he can have his free time.

I am also thankful for the opportunity to live in another country.  I know that for my kids, it has not always been easy.  I keep telling them that someday, they will thank me.  I know that they don't believe me when I say it, but I have seen so much personal growth from them all.

This move has also taught me that my children really benefit from going to a smaller school where they can get individual attention.  I am grateful for the opportunity to send my children to a smaller school.  My oldest two were really lost in the schools back in Indiana.  The teachers were so busy with all their students that they were never able to give my sons the extra attention that they really needed.  I am so grateful that they have had the opportunity to realize that they are all very smart, which is something that my older two have struggled with in the US.

Lastly I am thankful for my old and new friends and family that have supported us though this temporary move.  It has been such a wonderful experience that I would definitely do it again.

Thanksgiving and Turning 16

When we told our kids that we were being extended though to December, my 15 year old had a lot of disappointment.  This year his 16th birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day.  He was greatly looking forward to having the two days off, having the big feast and family get together at my Mom and Dad's house, starting driving school when we returned in October and getting his license (probably provisional).

My husband and I felt a little bad about it and we tossed around not sending the kids to school and celebrating.  My husband even had talked about leaving work early <gasp>.  Honestly, Thanksgiving is not one of my favorite holidays.  It is just an excuse to eat a lot of food and watch American football.  I sometime think that the meaning of the holiday has been lost on most Americans.  I do think that my children are a small exception, only because at the beginning of November we watch the two Charlie Brown specials that are associated with the holiday.  The special in particular that I am talking about is called "This is America Charlie Brown, The Mayflower Voyages".

I finally relented and told the kids that they could stay home from school, totally expecting cheers of joy and exclamations of what great parents we were.  The youngest three were happy to have the opportunity to stay home even when I told them they had to help me cook.  The 15 year old?  Well, he was not happy.  I was confused and a little mad.  It turns out that he had not really wanted to be home since we weren't in the US and he had triple DT(Design Technology) that afternoon that he felt he could not miss because he has a big project going on.  So, we made a compromise, I would take him and the 9 year old into school at 2:15.  The 9 year old had cookery club after school that he did not want to miss.  I dropped them off as planned and then headed home to finish up cooking, wrap presents and make cake.

I have been in denial about having a son that is turning 16.  I am not ready to be the parent of a child that age.  I swear that it seems just like yesterday that I brought him home in his car seat.  At least while I am here, I can pretend for a little while longer that he is still 'little' my kid, even if he is taller then me now!  In the US, this is a big birthday year that includes some freedoms.  He reminded me in the car before the presidential election that when the next presidential election rolls around he and his 14 year old younger brother will both be able to vote in the next election, oh my!

I have to admit that I am glad that we are still in the United Kingdom where I don't have to deal with all that reality yet.  In the United Kingdom, they apply for their permit 3 months before they turn 17.  So, being here is putting driving aspirations off for now.

Sean grabbed the two kids who went to school and came home with his contribution to dinner, rolls.  The picture above was taken just before he opened his presents.

Here is the birthday boy with his brothers.  As you can see, turning 16 still can be cool, even if you aren't driving.  Head phones and cool sunglasses do help!

I am not sure that we did not give him the birthday that he had wanted, but I do hope that it was still a good birthday to remember.  I love my oldest son dearly.  He is silly, fun loving and he has gained a lot of new confidence while we have lived in the UK.  He has also gained many things that he probably would not have in the US school that he was attending.  This Thanksgiving, I was very grateful for the opportunity to take our kids to live overseas and I was grateful for what he has learned about others and most importantly about himself.  

Finding the Aunties in Paris

The next morning we woke up and got ready to meet my husband's mother and aunties.  We dressed and went to Starbucks for a latte.  Yes, I go to France and I still buy my lattes from Starbucks.  I find it easier to stick with what I know, especially since I have a slight intolerance to dairy.  I know that I can get soy in Starbucks, the little patisseries and the lack of speaking French make me wary of trying.

So, we walked down to the rental office of where they were staying and no one was there.  We were worried that we missed them so we walked down to the market they had mentioned.  We still had not heard from them and we weren't sure where they might be, so I sent them a message and let them know that I had enabled internet on my phone so that I would have it all day and asked them to message us when they could.

We headed to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur de Montmare.  It is a very beautiful church.  Usually the views looking to Paris are stunning, but the low cloud cover and the birds were not cooperating that day.

We then had a little wander around the market and shops.  We stumbled into a magnificent chocolate shop.The picture below is me with  a gigantic chocolate ship.  We also found some candy to take back home for the kids.

We returned back to our hotel to wait to hear from my husband's mother and aunties.  It was then when I was checking my email that we heard from them.  We quickly headed out to meet them.

We found them and after a joyful reunion we all headed out to the local market.  We had a nice wander and the aunties picked up a poluet roti (roasted chicken) with some nice roasted potatoes for dinner.  We wandered further and the aunties picked up a nice beetroot salad with another salad that was very tasty.  We ended up down by the Eiffel Tower at one of the many gift shops while the aunties did some shopping.  They finished just in time to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle.  I have seen a few times and every time I see it, it still makes me gasp!

My mother in law had asked me to bring a cake from London from a shop called Chocckywocckydoodah.  But upon checking into the traveling restrictions, I decided that it was probably not the best idea.  My husband and I had noticed a little shop that had some gorgeous looking  desserts, Aux Merveilleux.  Here is the website http://www.auxmerveilleux.com/.  So, we bought this for dessert instead.

The next morning we met for breakfast.

The pain au raisins were delicious!

We headed out to another market for a mooch.  We found many fabulous things and smelled some very delicious smells.  All to soon it was time for my husband and I to leave. We grabbed our things and checked out of the hotel.  We headed over to the aunties place for a few more pictures!

 Then after saying our good-byes, we left to go board the Eurostar to go back to London and the boys.

Paris, again!

My mother in law and her sisters came to Paris on a girls trip.  I was going to meet them because I needed somethings.  It ended up that I was going over the weekend, so my husband decided to come with me.

I made arrangements for all the boys to stay with friends and we left on 16 November.  Sean did the school run and then came back.  We finished up our packing and caught a taxi to the train station.  We trained to Tottenhale and got on the tube to Kings Cross.  Kings Cross is attached to St. Pancras which is where the Eurostar station is located.  We grabbed a quick pastry and drink for the train and then went through security.

It was right after the election and I have to say, the reactions of the people we encounter have been interesting.  They all have a polite curiosity about who I voted for as they do hope that I am pleased with the election results.  Everyone that I have encountered are very pleased that Obama won the election and they have high hopes for a good second term.  While we were in St. Pancras going through security, the security guard (who happened to be black) noticed my passport and gave me a grin and called me one of Obama's people.  I grinned back at him and said yes, I certainly was!  He gave me a delighted grin back, calling Obama a brother.

We boarded the train and it left the station.  The Eurostar is a fantastic way to travel.  The trip takes 2:20 minutes and it is very comfortable to sit in the train as the countryside whizzes by.

We arrived in Paris and navigated to the metro to our hotel.  We stayed near to where my husbands family was staying.  We were much closer in the city this time, we were near the Eiffel Tower.  We arrived to Paris and it was a foggy, but the fog was higher up. As we were walking we noticed as we looked up to see the top of the Eiffel Tower, that the top was in the clouds.  So we headed up near Champs Elysees.  We had some Christmas and birthday shopping to do!  It was a nice walk, even though it was a bit cold.  The lights on Champs Elysees were not lit, they were going to be lit later in the week.  But we did see the lights in these fountains.  When I was in Paris with the boys, these fountains has beautiful flowers around them!

 After a bit of shopping we headed back to the hotel. On our way we walked to the Eiffel Tower.

Then we found a little place for dinner.  I had duck and my husband ate the rib-eye.  It was delicious!  I had a very nice house red wine with dinner and then topped of the night with a delicious Creme Brulee for dessert.

The Rest of Half Term

This post is late and very long in coming.  I am hoping over the the break to get all caught up!

We came home late Monday night from Portugal to a busy week.

To top it all off my car was still being worked on my our mobile mechanic.  There was an error in the ABS system that was giving him fits.  He also replaced the tire that I ruined so that I would have a spare that actually worked.  One of my friends that works at the school has been giving me a particularly hard time about not having a spare tire that works.

So, I spent the week being the tank driver....  We refer to my husband's car affectionately as 'the tank'.  Tuesday afternoon, my youngest two went and decorated and made cupcakes.

This is my two youngest with their creations!

We spent the rest of the week catching doing various activities.  My oldest son went to a laser tag birthday party and we ended the week taking our 14 year old and a few of his friends to see the new James Bond flick Skyfall in the cinema!  It was a very late birthday celebration indeed!

All too soon, school started and our crazy scheduled continued as my husband and I prepared to meet family in Paris and we tried to prepare for my oldest son's 16th birthday!

Porto Santo

I was reminded tonight by my parents that I had not posted in awhile.

So, it is time to catch you up!

For the kids half term, we spent the first week on a small island governed by Portugal called Porto Santo.  Most Americans will have no idea where it is.  In fact, I embarrassed myself trying to tell some of my UK friends where it was.  I told them it was north of Maldives.  I was very wrong.  Maldives is on the other side of Africa.

Porto Santo is north of Madera, about 250 miles east of Africa, and south or Portugal.  It is north of the Canary Islands and south east of the Azores Islands.  If you are still wondering where the heck we went, click this link https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=safari&q=Porto+Santo+Island&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&hl=en.

Many Americans do not visit the island.  It is not an easy place to get to, flights come from a few cities in Europe: London; Brussels; Barcelona; and Lisbon.

It is a pretty little island and it is little.  They had been in drought for over 18 months.  So, it rained 3 or 4 days while we were there.  No worries, we still got some sun and enjoyed time on the beach!

Jumping off the sand shelf at the beach, the hotel is in the back ground. 

We took a jeep tour of the island (when is was rainy) and we learned some interesting things.  The island is pretty small, but it has a large run way.  Our tour guide told us that it was on of the 5 emergency runways for the space shuttle.  The island had also served as a NATO base of operations for refueling operations and saw action during some of the Gulf conflicts.

This was the next to last stop on the tour.  The Island was gifted 12 canons to protect themselves from the pirates.  This is the sole remaining canon, as the other 11 were stolen by the pirates.  This one was placed up on the hill by the people.  They thought it would be good for protection there, instead they ended up destroying part of the village below.  The cannon above is the last surviving canon.  As you can see here it is sunny!

Our last stop was not sunny, it was rainy!

The beach at low tide, check out the sand shelf, the kids had a blast playing on it and jumping off it.  

The pool at the hotel.

Liam and Cian with their sand castle, they had a blast building them!

Christopher Columbus also lived on the island for awhile.  He married the governors daughter and they had a son.   She later died of birth complications.  We went to his house which is now a little museum that tells much of Portugal's naval history as they discovered new lands.

So we walked to the museum on a rainy Sunday morning.

Here are the boys under the Columbus Museum banner

We are in the courtyard and the boys are under a dragon tree.  It was cut down almost to extinction because of it's sap.  It has red sap which was very valuable as a clothing dye.

We have a lovely holiday!

Knowing Your Limits ( A Post About Yoga)

We all have limits: emotional; physical; financial.... and in sometimes it is easy to figure out when we have reached them.  It is also easy to go over those limits and go into debit.

Ten years ago, I started on an important journey.  I took my first Yoga training to be an instructor.  It was something that I was very interested in learning more about and looking back on that opportunity, I can say that it was a truly something that I needed.

I learned something very simple.  Our bodies have physical limits, which is kind of a 'no duh' thing.  That gem of information that was dispensed with the additional information on how we need to acknowledge this limitation and accept it.  Often we use that limitation to measure ourselves against others in the room and form a competition.  This can lead us down the road for failure and frustration.  "I stink at Yoga because so and so can do the splits and I can't.  So, now I am going to quit."  Ah, no.  Yoga and my very wise teacher gave me the courage to accept my limitations and to work harder to overcome them.

I am a highly competitive person.  I can freely admit this.  I am also guilty of quitting when I see no ability of winning or succeeding.  At the time of my training, I was 8 months pregnant with my now 9 year old son.  Looking back at my training, it was probably better for me that I was pregnant as I did the training.  It enabled me to really say, well, of course I have limits!  I had to have limits because of my pregnancy.  It enabled me to really listen to the wisdom that my teacher was imparting to me.

The ability to know your limits and acknowledge them is so important.  I can freely acknowledge my limits in my Yoga classes and I am continually learning about my other limits and learning to acknowledge them.

This week I was reminded of my physical limits during my hot Yoga class.  I had missed class last week and it has just been a very stressful couple of weeks, so I  was struggling mentally and physically.  I am also not the biggest fan of hot Yoga, the heat makes me feel like I am drowning.  When I reached the first 20 minutes of the class, I was considering walking out.  I did not think that I was going to be able to physically or mentally make the whole hour and a half.

 I have to be very aware of my limits during the class because it is so much easier to injure yourself doing hot Yoga.  You are in a hot room and your body can do more.  I am lucky because I really like my instructor, and I feel that I can trust her.  We have both learned things from each other as we have become acquainted.

Since we have a different training background, I do some of the positions a little differently.  When I first started, she was quite dogmatic about the differences in how I was positioned in poses.  In questioning me about it, she learned why I did the pose differently and she allowed herself to accept that the differences were truly ok.  Her listening and acceptance was really important to me.  I already liked her teaching style, and this made me realize that I could trust her as an instructor.  This was very important to me because when I went to my (first and) last Yoga class in England, the instructor inadvertently hurt me while using her hands to adjust me.  She did not realize that I was at my limit and she pushed me past it with her adjustment and hurt me.

This week as I struggled though class with a load of things on my mind and in the midst of battling a wonky neck/shoulder issues, I found that the trust I had placed in her was completely rewarded.  She listened to me as I hit my wall of limits earlier then usual because of the physical and emotional load that I carried.  The instructor reached out to adjust me to assist me into a pose.  I had to let her know that she had to be careful as I had sustained an injury though adjustment before.  She worked with me verbally to reach beyond what I thought were my limits and find limited success.

I left class glad that I came and in a mentally better place for it.    Even though I knew what my personal limits were, I was able, with her help to move a little beyond them.

Pumpkin Pie

So, now that we are fully intrenched into fall, the kids are pining for some of the food we traditionally eat in the US.  My youngest two were really looking forward to be back in the US by Halloween.  We had some tears, so I promised that we would find a place to trick or treat with costumes this year.

Pumpkins have been appearing at the grocery store and my youngest was very keen to get some for carving last week.  We picked up a few of the sugar pumpkins and he was thrilled at the thought of eating pumpkin pie.  I promised that we would get some big pumpkins on the weekend when everyone was with us.

So, the weekend came up.  My husband and I had an invite to a party.  He had volunteered that I would bring something.  He wanted me to bring Grandma Beary's baked beans, but we reached a compromise which entailed me making a pumpkin pie.  He was even able to find a disposable pie tin at the store which took the bother away from having to worry about bringing the dish home.

Making a pumpkin pie is work here, almost an ordeal (for me anyway).  Since I can't find pumpkin in a can, I have to cook it from scratch.  If you have ever worked with cooked pumpkin, you know that it has a lot of water in it.  So, the water has to be strained out to make the consistency right which was one thing that I learned last year.  So, I cooked and strained and then added all the ingredients and cooked the pie.

It seemed that upon trying the pie at the party, it because apparently very quickly that I had forgotten one 'key' ingredient.  Sugar.  We quickly hid the pie and explained the snafu to our few friends that had looked forward to trying this long heard of American confection that my husband had boasted about at work....

So, I am going to make it again.  This time, I am sure that I won't forget the sugar!  Also in celebration of our youngest's half birthday, we are going to try and to make chicken like Chick-Fil-A.

Our UK Cars and Our Constant Tire Troubles

So, as you know by now, we own 4 cars.  The two that we have here and the two that we have in the US.

There are days when owning two is more then enough trouble, for about 2 weeks in February, owning 4 became hell.  Thankfully, I did not have to deal with the issue that was occurring in the US, my dad had to take care of it for us.  It turned out that my husband's car decided to have battery trouble.  Battery trouble with our US cars seems to be a given.  My Oddessey is always having crazy problems.  Mostly because the lights don't automatically turn off and I am constantly finding some way to drain the battery.  I have already had replace two.

Our cars here seem to have issues with tires.  In February, my car had a flat that was quickly followed by my husband's car following suite.  My husband just has bad luck.  My tires seem to have been helped by me.  Let me explain!

In England the roads are very narrow and when big vehicles come down the road they are often slightly over the center line.  Between that and right after we arrived I came upon a head on collusion that had just occurred.... let's just say that I hug the outside of the lane.  So, when I there are hedges on the side of the road, it is common that my car is scraped by the branches.  Also, I lost my passenger hubcap within the first week of owning the car because I rubbed it enough against the curbs that it fell off.  Not to worry, over half of the other drivers in the UK are missing theirs as well.  I was just trying to fit in!!!!

This month our cars both have to go in for the yearly MOT test.  They have to pass a certain safety tests to ensure that your vehicle is road worthy.  My car should pass with flying colors, after I get the front passenger tire replaced for the second time.... this time it is not just a new tire that I need, but also a rim.  Let me explain!!!!!  Two weeks ago, we were late for school when my second son realized that he had forgot his gym uniform. So, we turned back and he grabbed it.  So, with this delay, we headed off.  We found a point in traffic along the way in which a lorry was trying to go around a parked car.  He needed to go into my lane to do it.  In my haste to give him room I tried to pull over in a drive, I misjudged in hit, a CURB!  Bye-bye rim and tire.  I had to refill the tire 3 times to get the kids to school.  Once we arrived, my dear friend Terry changed my tire for me and saved me yet again.

Terry is staff at the boys school and I have found his friendship invaluable.  The school employs a handy dandy mobile mechanic named Lenox.  Lenox fixed my brakes in a lengthy 3 week time period this summer.  I turned out to be more then the brakes...  Terry was kind enough to put up with having my car as a guest in his driveway for 3 weeks.  See, he is a great friend!  I will certainly miss him when I come back home and I will have to resort to finding my way out of my own car emergencies again!

My husband's car currently needs some attention from our mobile mechanic now.  It looks and sounds like he is going to need some new rear brakes, hopefully that is it.  We recently got the Tank 2 new to us tires before we went on our holiday north at the end of August.  Then three weeks ago he had another flat (not one of the new tires either) this tire has the flat sealer in it for now.  I am hoping that it will do for now.  I am tired of buying tires.

My Reflections: Sour and Sweet

I can't believe that it has been a full year.  But it has, the sun has the same fall like glow now, like it had when we first arrived.  We have been in England now a full year and experienced each of the four seasons.  It has been a year filled with sours and sweets....and one that I would never trade, ever.

I think that overall we have all done really well in the last year.  We have learned things about each other and ourselves that we did not know before.  We had the ability to slow our life down a bit and we have.  Most recently we started a new sharing activity at the dinner table that we call Sour & Sweet.   We each have to tell one thing bad and then one thing good that happened to us during the day while we were away form each other.  The kids in particular are really enjoying it.

So, in the spirit of the game, here is our in in sours and sweets!

<sweet> So, reflecting on the past year, I have decided that I am indeed a super hero mom.  <sour?>  I still hate to clean house, my house here is still a bit messy, but I am still a super hero.  I found us a home, school and cars within 28 days of setting down on English soil.  No small feat!  While doing all that I learned to drive on the other side of the road which involved learning all about round-abouts, giving way, the importance of paying for parking all the while reacquainting myself with a manuel transmission!

Some notes for driving, when you see a red L on a car, strange as it may seem, it does not stand for LOOSER, but LEARNER, sweet.  Just this week a line of cars (with me included) passed a learner car that was doing maybe 20mph, the speed limit was 40mph, sour.  The national speed limit is 60mph and you can do it on small curvy, 2 lane roads.  Sean thinks it's cool and drives it like a race driver while I am white knuckled and peeling myself from the dash, scary and sour.  Rounds a-bouts are brilliant, sweet!  They generally keep traffic moving better then traffic lights.  That said, with the news of our extension, my husband and I both have to get a UK license, sweet.  Technically, we are violating right now by not having it, sour.  We both have to take written and driving tests to pass, sour.  Thankfully, we don't have to have the red L on our cars while we are earning our license, SWEET!

We have learned about British cuisine.  Which thankfully is not much different then American (which my dear niece and nephew seemed relieved to experience after they arrived sweet!).  The Brits enjoy a good roast, anytime of the year.  We now find ourselves craving one as well and eat them when the urge comes upon us.  We have developed a love for lamb and good sausages. <lots of sweets> We have also developed a taste for some curry.  We have had to make do with Italian food and pizza that is decidedly different, sour.  There are definitely tastes that we miss: like Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera Bread, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and Chick Fil-A, very sour.  (though I am glad we missed the controversy).  On the plus side, last weekend we ate at Hard Rock London and I got the best salad I have had since I arrived, sweet.  Seriously, the Brits do salads poorly, sour.  We have developed a love for new veggies, peas and Brussel Sprouts, sweet.  Jelly is jello and jam is what we eat on our scones with clotted cream, sweet.

We have our Chippy dog with us, but we miss our little Cricket and our kitties, Tux and Coco. Sweet and sour.

We have had some fantastic travels, sweet.  The funniest thing (though not at the time) is trying to convince the kids how lucky that they are and then trying to educate them on what they are seeing and why it is important, sour and frustrating!  It is so rewarding though when they are able to share their experiences with their classmates and the teacher makes a big deal out of what they saw.  It warms this Mum's heart. Sweet!

We are all guilty of speaking with a 'bit' of a British accent.  My oldest son told me recently that he speaks more with a British accent then the substitute teacher from Boston.  Hmmmm... O.K.   We say things like fivers (for a £5 note), bits, can't be bothered, lovely, we call our chips crisps and our fries chips.  I invite my friends to mine for coffee or tea and they invite me to theirs.  Lots of sweets here!

None of this really applies to sweet or sour!  :) I still do occasionally get asked where I am from.  Though many of the shops that I frequent are used to my American accent.  There are some words that I will never be able to think of in the American sense anymore.  If you say 'fanny pack'?  Well, here your 'fanny' is in a DIFFERENT place, that is why they call it a bum bag.  My kids still get the Mick taken out of them for being American.  Most recently my second son was told by his friend <after he had acid spilled on him in Chemistry, that hurt> that he was 'disappointed as my son was not the tough American he thought all Americans are and that America needs to loose some wars'.    What?  Oh and yes, we learned that what is pronounced wot not watt.  The Brits also apparently have something against r's as they rarely make the 'r' sound.  It is not a carrr, it is a ca'.

My oldest son has developed a need to collect watches, he blames his classmates saying that it is very English to wear different watches sweet/sour who knows!  My youngest son has heartily embraced eating fish and chips and sausages, sweet.  He also loves Lemon Sherbet candy, yum <well you should know, it's candy!>  My 9 year old loves lamb.  My husband loves Steak and Ale pies and anise seed balls.  We have all developed a taste for Cadbury chocolate and my husband really enjoys a good cider <which is alcoholic>.   All sweets!

We are having a good time watching BlackAdder,  Dr. Who and Topgear!  I love to watch Downton Abby.  We are also into the music scene.  We have tickets to see Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons in December.   And of course we had a great summer seeing quite a few bands as well.  Again, more sweets!

I have developed an addiction to tea.  I drink it hot at all times of the year.  I am a bit of an abnormality as I drink mine with sugars (2) and because I have developed a dairy allergy I drink mine black or with coconut milk.  When it is cool out, a nice cuppa something hot is brilliant.  Sweet for now, when I come back, who knows!

In a refreshing twist, I am now no longer one of the shorter women.  Many women are shorter then my 5.4 3/4' statue.  Recently during a night out, I was looking at the girls in the bar with very tall platform heels on.  I was still holding my own against the majority, even with their heels on.  It's nice not being the midget.  It also makes me realise that my 8/10 size that I wear here is totally appropriate.  The shoe sizing is also different here as well.  I find myself wearing anything from a 4.5 to a 5.5.    Sweet!

All and all we have had a year filled mostly with sweets, and I am so glad.  It makes staying here longer sweet.

Alnwick Castle, That Much Awesome

On our way home from Scotland, we made a stop to Alnwick to visit the castle.  It was on of the castles that was used in the filming of Harry Potter.  In particular, the most memorable scene was when Harry learned to fly on his broomstick!

We got there around lunch time.  The courtyard had venders, quite similar I imagine to where the market would have been.

After lunch we went to the Knight training area.  And if you look at the pictures below you will see that costumes were available!

My little Knights!

We went on the knight training and then afterward we went around the courtyard doing a few other activities.  Here are my oldest two playing a game of chess!

My youngest two took a turn in the stockage.  They also went and made soap!

Then we took a little tour of the rest of the castle.  Here is the courtyard where Harry learned to fly!

Alnwick had an unusual dungeon, it was a large chamber in the ground.  This was the entrance.  

So, they had broom flying lessons for the kids.  Of course we signed them all up.  It was a lot of hilarious fun.  I laughed so much!  

This was the last photo that Sean was able to get as the camera he used died.  I have a ton of other photos on my other camera that I can't download right now.  This one of the 'flying' instructors. He is trying to get the participants to get into a STRAIGHT line.  I think that it took at least 5 minutes for it to happen. 

We also looked at the state rooms.  The castle is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, Ralph Percy.  It has belonged to the Percy family since the 700's.  The current Duke has inhabited the castle since the 1990's.  It was evident that this castle, unlike many of the others that we had seen was actually inhabited by people.  They had family pictures scattered around the home and the library, which was beautiful, had a foozeball table and a big screen TV in it.  The library was so awesome that my oldest son and I had library envy.  We want one!

We loved Alnwick so much that as we left we thought we should try and make a trip back up when they are having a Harry Potter weekend.  It was seriously that much awesome.

Points North and Scotland

To finish our trip up north...

We left the cottage and took a few pictures...  this was along the little road that we traveled on each day.  Keswick was to the right in the picture below...

Just missing my husband in this beautiful picture.

Here we are on the Ashness Bridge.  Very cute, old, and very narrow!

Then we headed to Carlisle and visited the castle.

I am related to Henry I, he is my 31st or 32nd great grandfather! Sadly, since my family decided to emigrate, we have lost all rights to the crown.  Plus, we are related to the royal family through Henry I's oldest illegitimate son, Robert FitzRoy.  Robert wouldn't take the throne, our family surely can't!

Here are my sons, playing with the canons!

Carlisle had proper dungeons!  I say that because we have visited many castles that did not have a proper dungeon.

When we arrived in Carlisle, we spied the McVite factory!  McVite's are really good tea biscuits.  The chocolate and carmel ones are our favorites!

After we explored the castle we crossed the border into Scotland.  We spent a few days wandering around.  The first day we went to Rosslyn Chapel.  It was the chapel featured in The Da'Vinci Code.  Pictures were not allowed inside, so I don't have any to share here.  The second day was rainy and we spent it wandering around Edinburgh.  We visited Hollyrood Castle and walked the Royal Mile.  It was a day that not many pictures were taken either.

The one thing that we did not do was find my 9 year old some good lamb to eat.  He really likes lamb and we thought that it would be easy to find.  We had extremely bad luck in our wanderings though and we did not find any!  

Pinching Myself

Everyday that I get into my little car, as I drive down the road, I have to pinch myself.  I tell myself that I am indeed a lucky person and remind myself that we really are living in England.

I know that it may seem a bit silly to know that I really do that, but I assure you that I have done it everyday, until yesterday.

Yesterday, I realised with sadness that our stay here will be ending soon.

It has been a beautiful, wonderful year that I will always treasure in my heart of hearts.  We have had some fantastic experiences and made some good friends.  We may have not seen or  done everything that we wanted to, but we have lots of reasons to come back for a visit.

I have to admit that I am feeling a bit robbed.  I never made it out of the first stage.  Not that it matters...

Now that I have stopped pinching myself I guess that I can start dealing with the list of tasks that it is going to take to get us home.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding is Sean's favorite dessert.  While we were in the Watendlath we discovered that originated from the Lake District.  In reading a local magazine that was left in the cottage I found a place that made sticky toffee puddings!  So, we piled into the car on a bright, sunny, cool morning and headed out!

On our way our, we stopped by the side of the road to take this picture by the tarn.  Keswick is to the left, you just can't see it as it out of the picture.

When we were done we headed to a stone circle that was close.  

As you can see, the scenery was beautiful.  As we were leaving the stone circle we heard jets.  We looked up and saw two of them flying around the fells to the right of this picture.  I talked to a local potter about it and she said that they are always out on clear days.  She also told me that if you are hiking on the fells it can be quite disconcerting to look down and see the jets below you!

After a bit of driving we arrived in the village where the bakery was located.  We parked and headed up to the small cafe for some lunch.

Here is a little river that ran though the village, very pretty and green!

While walking trough the village we saw this, horse in your backyard anyone?

After lunch and grabbing our some more of the Cartmel sticky toffee pudding to take with us, we headed back to the cottage.  It was a gorgeous afternoon, so we headed out for a hike.

We headed over a few of the smaller fells and found this lovely valley.

Here we are walking back, see the sheep on the trail!  They are the rare Herdwick breed.

Walking back to Watendlath.

My husband is standing on the packhorse bridge taking the picture.

We headed back for some dinner and to pack, the next morning we were leaving for Scotland.