Getting Star Struck, Or Not

Yes, it's true.  My kids go to school with kids that have reality TV star for a parent.

I am not going to name names here, and I am not going to even divulge the ages of the kids that I am talking about... because honestly, the kids can be complete nightmares.  To be fair, they have their good moments as well.

One of them sings "I'm Sexy and I Know It" when he changes for gym.  The other?  Well he told all the other kids in gym that if you look at someone while you change, "You're GAY!".  I can't say that I was particularly happy to hear either of those proclamations.

One of the kids constantly bothers one of my sons.  He talks to him constantly during lessons, copies his paper and argues with my son telling him that his answers are wrong.  Surprisingly, my son takes it without punching him in the face, because if it was one of his brothers, my son would have undoubtedly punched him flat out, no joke.

One of the boys calls one of my sons a liar when he had not lied.  It was during a game in class.  My son was actually really hurt by the whole thing, especially since he knew that he was not a liar.  It was during the conversation about it that my son told me that he did not understand this boy.  He would say mean things to him one moment and then act like they were friends the next.  Talk about being confused!  I don't blame him, I admit that it is a hard situation to explain myself.

One of the boys kneed my son in the groin, in front of all the other kids while at football practice.  My son was laying on the ground, not crying but not feeling good.  All the other boys that were there promptly told the coach.  The coach asked the boy to apologize, which he did.  My son did not answer right away to forgive him which, that coach was ok with, and I still don't think that he has forgiven him yet.  Secretly, I am not sure that I blame him!

I know, these kids sound a bit like a nightmare.  And they can be.  But they can also be really nice.

When we first moved here, one of the boys always shared his after school snacks.  He politely asked me first if he could share.  I had no idea about the parents' celebrity status, I was just thrilled that he was being so nice to my son!

At one of the other boys recent birthday parties, both of my kids were invited to stay.  It was a very fun event for my sons.  During the party, which was a skating party, their celebrity parent was very thoughtful and tried to help my boys learn to skate.  I was touched.

When one of my sons was having problems in class, one of the boys was very nice and agreed with him that another kid was not being very nice to him.  This other child was taking things off their desks without asking.  Or asking to switch pencils when they had sharpened leads and his was dull or the worst offense was telling big lies either about himself or about the celebrity kid....

The celebrity family and I have a definitely disagreement on parenting styles.  It makes me laugh when I hear about a story something the celebrity has written, as the parent has their own blog as well!

The parent in question seems to try and maintain a low profile in the car park, which is fine by me.  I try to maintain a low profile (being the token American and all).  I do have to laugh to myself when I hear other mums talk the talk about the blog and other parenting articles have been written.  I also have a giggle when I see that other parents are following the said star on Facebook.  I have no interest in following him.  I am certainly not a fan of reality TV nor am I star struck.

Coming Out of the Haze

It is been a difficult couple of weeks.  For me, it was because I finally hit the proverbial wall.  I miss home.  It has taken 9 long months, but I miss my kitties and the food.  Buffalo Wild Wings is at the top of the list!

It started when we learned our kitties were wandering the neighborhood.  They are looking for attention and seem to have given up on us coming back home.  I was pretty upset about it and definitely shed a few tears about it.  I am lucky that my neighbors were interested in helping to find out who they belonged to and I had at least one offer to let the kitties stay with them.

Things amped up at school for my 9 year old again.  He had a bad week with a classmate that has been bothering him.  So much that I ended up talking to the school again and had to involve another set of parents since both boys were going to be at a birthday party.  I was not sure that I wanted him to stay over night at the party, but my sister in law insisted that if I sent him he should have a cell phone, which I did.  I am so glad that I took her well placed advice.  It provided me with a piece of mind knowing that he had the phone, even though I knew that he would not use it.  The parents at the party were very vigilant and promptly dealt with things that happened and a good time was had by all, phew!

Things then amped up for my 13 year old.  He had been having some small problems with one of his good friends for quite awhile.  Just a small but consistent problem.  My 13 year old has been trying hard to give him space since his friends' comments seem to indicate that it's what he wants.  Things kind of ballooned for my 13 year old when a birthday party for a mutual friend came up and he thought he was the only one in the group not invited.  To top it all off he has been wishing for his friends at home, I suspect because what has been going on with his good friend.  I told my son to back off things totally and go and sit with his brother at lunch, which he did.  Things have blown over about the birthday party, but his friend still seems to need space.  After an outburst at school in which a teacher apparently got involved, I told my son to either talk to his friend or leave it.  Less then two weeks left of school and we are planning to be busy running all over Europe for the summer anyway!

While all this was going on we determined that a ball joint was going in my car.  A friend of mine, that works at the school put me in touch with an excellent mobile mechanic that fixed it for me!   I am so lucky to be surrounded by such kind people.  I am happy to report that the car is working fine!

As all this unfolded around me I definitely had a tantrum or two about it all.  I hid in my house and tried to work through it without getting myself in too much trouble with others.  Now, after it is all over, I really feel like I have come out of some kind of haze.  The world looks brighter and thankfully we have had a pretty good start to the week so far!

Mondays, Hating Them is Universal

You gotta love Mondays, right?  Nope.  I am not sure what day I dislike more, Sunday or Monday.  Sundays are typically filled with dread and preparations for Monday.  Monday, well, Monday is it's own form of torture and today have been a particularly harried one for me.

It started out ok.  We just finished with the half-term break at school and I as I opened the lunches I realised that I probably should have unpacked them all and cleaned them out.  Thankfully, I was not awarded with something nasty and moldy in the boys lunch boxes, take that Monday!

My husband left and on his way out the door he told me there was no way that the boys were going to make it out on time.  Great, I thought to myself.  I glanced at the clock quickly and saw we have 13 minutes left, I held out hope!

We were all ready to go, 3 minutes late.  It was then I realised we had a problem.  My car keys were missing.  I misplace them all the time, no big deal.  But I did not drive the car last, my husband did.  So, my oldest son and I started to sweep the house, checking the usual places with no luck.  We expanded the search to his dresser and jacket.  Still, no luck!  A quick call to my husband, who was en route to work and wa-la they were found, on his person.  He had grabbed them thinking that they were the house keys.  So, now we were going to be late.

I made the notifications to the school and then we waited.  Finally, we got it all sorted and I got the kids to school.  Phew!

The roads on the to the school are not for the faint hearted.  I specifically dislike the road right in front of the school.  It is just barely two lanes.  There is another school right next to our school and traffic get CRAZY!  I figured today it would be no big deal, we were late anyway.  After I dropped the kids off and I was making my way to my next errand, I got the one finger wave from some white van man.  I am still not exactly what I did to deserve his rude gesture.  It was in a spot where cars park on the road and traffic has to proceed around it one lane at a time.  So, it is a give and take process in which the lanes are required to yield to each other and take turns.  The cars were parked in my lane.  As soon as I saw him I pulled over and yielded to him and then put on my blinker to signal my intention to proceed when the road was clear.  I got the one finger wave for my efforts.  Apparently his Monday had not been a good one so far either?

So, on to my next love-er-ly errand.  Dealing with the car.  I have two things to say before I start.  First, owning 4 cars stinks in the biggest way.  Second, I got penalized for having an "antiquated" swipe card.

So, I went to this place that had been recommended to us by people that my husband worked with.  They seemed nice enough and I got what I needed.  When I went to pay, I was told that they don't take swipe cards.  Really?  Because I just swiped my card and it is ready to process.  Oh, you mean you are CHOOSING NOT TO TAKE MY SWIPE CARD.  You say that dodgy people have swipe cards?  Oh.  Oh, well, you will do me a "favor" and take mine, because my face is "honest".  Well, thanks, I think?

Oh, he charged me an extra £5 to take my card.  My husband told me I should dispute it.  Nice thought, but there are two problems.  I never got a real invoice for the work and seriously, over £5.  It was annoying, not highway robbery.

Apparently, today was not just my turn to have a case of the yucky Mondays. In fact, in comparison, I think that my Monday sounds almost stellar.   One of my best girlfriends was just in a car prang aka accident.  She impaled her car on a parking gate and broke the axle.  I admire her as when she was talking to me about it she was remarkably calm.  I would have been bawling, uncontrollably.

Thank you Monday.  See you next week, hopefully on better terms.  Bring on Tuesday.

The Flotilla

Well, me and my oldest two sons made it to London to see the Flotilla part of the jubilee.  It was a cloudy, gray day.  The cloud cover was quite low.  My second son pointed this out to me, so I took the picture!

It was quite an experience!  We caught the train into London around 12:30 and took the tube (or the underground) directly to the Tower of London which was where the flotilla ended.  Once we got off the train, the city was quiet but there was a definite buzz in the air.  The feeling has been very similar to our 4th of July holiday.

I decided that we needed to head up the river to find a spot to a viewing spot that would afford us good visibility.  So, we started walking.  We headed toward Tower Bridge and there we found that we were not allowed on the bridge itself as it was shut off by the Bobbies.  But we stood and watched the Jumbo Tron and got to see the Kate, Wills and the Queen board the Royal Barge.  After that we took a walk.  Sadly, we headed the WRONG way.  Seriously, are you really surprised?  My sons were good chaps and they took my wandering in good spirits and with little complaints, thankfully!

We walked about 15 minutes or so and found a tube station.  I really wanted to watch from Westminster, so we got on the tube and headed that way.  We got off the tube and the excitement was amazing!  All the bells were tolling and we got there just ahead of the Queen, yeah!  Sadly, we were not able to get in anyplace to see her, boo!  All the streets were again blocked off so, we still could not get close to the river.

We walked down to Traflager Square and then as we were walking back to the tube station, passing the London Eye, we crossed paths with the Queen.  So, at least we were close to her at one point even though we could not see her!

Admiralty Arch

We waited for the crowds to die down a bit at Westminster and then hopped back on the train and headed back to the Tower of London.  We exited the tube station to pouring down rain.

With two teenage boys who had been exceedingly patient with their crazy Mum, we grabbed some delicious sugared peanuts from a street vendor and watched what was left of the flotilla with a very limited view from the Tower of London in the pouring rain.    After I decided that we were soaked enough, we headed to catch the tube back to the train to head back home.  Mission was not accomplished, but it was great to be down in London with all the crowds and to feel the vibe of the city.

This was the only trip that we made to London during the Jubilee.  The cool weather and rain was a deterrent.  I had fully intended to go into London on Tuesday, especially when I read in the official Jubliee program that the Golden Carriage was going to be used.  When I read in the news the night before that the Golden Carriage was not going to be used, and with the combination of a few other things like the weather, I decided to stay at home and watch the rest of the Jubilee celebration curled up on the coach under my warm blanket, warm and not wet!

Diamond Jubliee

In case you haven't heard, this year is a big year for the United Kingdom.  Along with the Olympics that start at the end of July, it is also a Jubilee year.  In fact it is a Diamond Jubilee year!

So, what does that mean, you maybe asking, especially if you are not a fan of the Royal Family... (ahem, I happen to be a BIG fan!)  Well, what it means is this.  Queen Elizabeth was crowned queen 60 years ago, in 1952.  Every 10 years there is a big celebration in the UK.  In fact, the little town that we live in names their town hall the Silver Jubilee Town Hall, 20 years ago!  She is the second British Monarch to reign this long.  Queen Victoria, her great-grand mother was the first.

On 6 February 1952 King George VI, Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth's father died in his sleep.  At the time she was in Africa filming a rhinoceros in Kenya.  She was in an observation post known as Treetops in a giant fig tree.  At sunrise, there was an eagle hovering over her head and two male rhinos were fighting and one was mortally wounded.  According to local tribal legend, when two rhinos meet in combat and one does this signals the death of a great tribal leader.

The Queen returned to London immediately and was proclaimed Queen 8th February 1952.  The Coronation was held 2 June 1953.   She has reigned as Queen for 60 years.  She is the 6th Queen and the second Queen to reign for 60 years.  Her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria was the first.  Queen Elizabeth did attend the Silver Jubilee of her grandfather, King George V.  She is the second longest serving Monarch.

So, what is a jubilee?  Interestingly enough it is a Christian term..

ju·bi·lee

 

noun

1.

the celebration of any of certain anniversaries, as thetwenty-fifth (silver jubilee),  fiftieth (golden jubilee),  orsixtieth or seventy-fifth (diamond jubilee).

2.

the completion of 50 years of existence, activity, or thelike, or its celebration: Our college will celebrate its jubilee nextyear.

3.

any season or occasion of rejoicing or festivity.

4.

rejoicing or jubilation.

5.

Roman Catholic Church .

a.

an appointed year or other period, ordinarily every 25years (ordinary jubilee),  in which a plenaryindulgence is granted upon repentance and theperformance of certain religious acts.

b.

a period of time (extraordinary jubilee)  declared bythe pope as a time of rejoicing, as for an anniversary,when a plenary indulgence is granted upon repentanceand the performance of certain religious acts.

c.

Also called jubilee indulgence. the plenary indulgencegranted during such a period.

Another interesting fact, the Queen was born on 21 April, but her birthday is celebrated every year in June.  


This year, due to the Jubilee, we have been given an additional vacation day and we are having a 4 day weekend.  There are activities every day.  Saturday the Queen will be attending the Epsom Derby.  Sunday, as a country we are suppose to be gathering together with our friends and neighbors and having a grand Jubilee lunch.  There is also the a grand Jubilee Pageant, which consists of a flotilla of boats on the Thames.  Monday there will be the Jubilee concert and the Queen will light the beacons.  Over 3,000 beacons will be lit across the world in her honor.  Tuesday there will be the Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral in London (which is BEAUTIFUL!) followed by the carriage procession.  The Queen will be riding in the Golden Carriage (which is also beautiful!).


I am still determining what events I am going to make it to, wink, wink!  More posts to come about the busy weekend full of historic events!

Official End to World War II in Europe

This weekend, all my friends in the US are gearing up to celebrate Memorial Day weekend.  What does this really mean?  For many, many of my friends and for me it meant just an extended weekend.  I occasionally thought of the veterans in my family that fought in the wars.  As I have aged and the US has engaged in conflicts and wars, I have come to have a greater appreciation for the wars and our veterans.

My maternal grandfather was in France during WWII.  He was part of the artillery unit and in particular he helped with the big cannons, loading and transporting.  My paternal grandfather fought in the pacific area and spent time in the Philippines.  My step-fathers dad flew planes in WWII, I at this moment it escapes me where he served, I do remember the father that resided at his funeral saying that he managed to get out of an aircraft that had landed on an aircraft carrier and then fallen into the sea, alive!  Wow!

My husband's grandfathers served as well.  His maternal grandfather served in the Pacific area as well, he loaded bombs onto planes and even loaded bombs on the Enola Gay.  His paternal grandfather served in Italy, he was taken POW and put in a camp.  When the camp was liberated by the Soviets, he and another man escaped.  It was a good thing that they did as from what I understand the other men were not heard from again.

Here in the UK, we are not having a holiday this weekend.  We did have a holiday 7 May.  It was a three day weekend and we took the kids to visit Secret Island, a gunpowder mill.  It was then that we learned that the official end to World War II in Europe was 7 May, 1945.  At 2:41 in the morning 7 May, German commander Alfred Jodl in Reims, France surrendered to General Eisenhower.

Our visit to the Gunpowder Mill was kind of interesting.  They were having a big weekend with World War II battle reenactments and a special appearance, a Spitfire flyby.  So, here are some pictures to tell you about our experience!

Ok?  Well, thanks! I don't think they actually used this sign during the War.  If so, I am not quite sure how the allies won, unless they were relying on the fact that not many Germans knew English?

I am not sure what side this canon belonged to, it was between camps.  But I took the picture because I remembered my grandfather.

One of the German tanks.


 We saw German troops and World War II equipment, British troops and period equipment and American troops and period equipment.  We were also treated with a battle reenactment in which the British troops beat the Germans, turned the area over to the Americans who them lost the area back to the Germans and were captured to have the British troops come back and rescue.  It was nicely done and I trust it was a factually accurate reenactment.  I thought it was nice, especially showing the British troops at their best!

This is a German BMW motorcycle.  It took this picture for my dad, Mark who has talked about getting a BMW motorcycle.  We thought he might enjoy seeing an older working version of a BMW!

The gunpowder mill in Waltham Abby has been in existence for a long time.  They started producing gunpowder in the 17th century.  About 100 years later it was bought by the Crown and standards were put in place to make gunpowder with a standard formula.  The formula was important because gunpowder before that time could be very unreliable.  The picture above shows the three ingredients that were used, salt peter, charcoal and sulfur.

This is a reproduction of a large mill that was used to manufacture the gunpowder.
The mill was bombed during WWII and so it was quickly shut down and operations moved to other areas.

They also had a neat area for the kids.  One of the things that it included was the list of things that the children in London should bring to the country when they were evacuated.  The picture below shows the list and the packed suitcase.

Here is my youngest, he colored a paper gas mask and my husband is holding it to his head.

There was also a station for the kids to learn about rationing.  It included scales for the children to measure out things like sugar and coffee.  It was really interesting to see how much, or should I say how little the rations were during the war.  It was astounding to me, but I don't think so easily understood by the children.  I appreciated the attempt to educate them on the matter.   I know that it is harder to appreciate what you have if you have never had to live without.  

We really enjoyed our visit to the gunpowder mill.  The war remembrances were actually a small part of the trip and probably one of the least remembered by the kids.  There was a cool science area and a "mad scientist" to boot.  

The gunpowder mill provided a different perspective on WWII for us Americans to see.

The Dole

And no, I am not talking about the pineapple company either!

Here in the United Kingdom, unemployment benefits or Job Seekers Allowance are also called the Dole.

I had never heard of the term the dole until I read the book Anglea's Ashes by Frank McCourt.  The story was about a very poor Irish family.  If you have not read it, it is a memoir Frank wrote about his childhood.  He was born in the US to two Irish immigrants.  Eventually, his family moves back to Ireland. His father ends up deserting the family and they live on the dole.  It was a good book, and he is an excellent writer.  He deals with the pain and poverty that he lived with as a child with honesty.

So, I had thought that the dole was kind of over, done with and gone.  I thought that it was an archaic term that was out of use.  I was surprised to hear the term used by one of the mum's who came to Cian's birthday party.  She was talking about the girl that she paid to babysit her boys, she had finished college and still did not have a job and collected "the dole".

The UK is not any different then the rest of the world.  They share that the youth has a high rate of unemployment.  The government talks about it, frets about it often.  Remember the kids here can be done with school at age 16.  After they take their GCSE's they can get a job or take on an apprenticeship and take on a trade or go on to complete their 6th form (in a college) and then go onto Uni (university).

The British government recently changed the laws though and next year the kids will have to stay in school until they are 17 and by 2015 (my 2 second's year) they will have to stay in school until they are 18, which equals our high school program.

Their system is different though, they have two choices for their 6th form.  They can study their A Levels or they can choose an International Baccalaureate program.

So, right now in the UK, there is a high unemployment rate in the younger aged workers.  They are eligible for Job Seeking Benefits.  They are awarded benefits based on their age, 18-24 receive less then the 25 and ups.  To receive the benefit is to "be one the dole".  Dole is a rather archaic expression which means "one's allotted portion" from the synonymous Old English work dāl.  

There are also people that collect the dole and do not get jobs.  Which should not be so surprising to anyone, we have people that do that it in the US as well.  

But I was very surprised to hear this week in the news that the government wanted to make it easier for businesses to fire workers.  There was quite a habaloo about the whole thing really.  I have to admit that it kind of surprised me.  I did not realise that it was hard to fire unproductive workers in the UK.  Though I think that some of the US companies may deal with similar issues.

Their was a report written up by a man named Adrian Beecroft.  He apparently is a venture capitalist who has given £500,000 to the Conservatives under David Cameron.  This is what he is proposing.

• He <Beecroft> confirmed he backs the delay of new family friendly rules, such as flexible parental leave, although that proposal did not appear in the final version of his report and suggested that key Conservative figures - including former No 10 adviser Steve Hilton - initially backed all his recommendations.
• His report, which was published on Monday, proposed making it easier for firms to sack under-performing staff.
• It suggested ending a mandatory 90-day consultation period when a company is considering redundancy programmes and instead called for a standard 30-day period and an emergency five-day period if a firm was in severe distress.
• The report said outdated regulations were harming the economy and preventing companies from creating jobs.
• Changes to employment law, it has been argued, would improve the supply of suitable staff to firms, who would be less afraid of having to make large payouts or face legal action when laying off those who were no longer needed.

The things that I learn and subject my poor readers too :)