It's been ages

I know I haven't updated the blog for a while. Even Jason mentioned it this morning. He seems to read it so he knows what's going on in our lives! That's very Jason.

I joined Facebook and then Mom & Dad joined, and Nikki, and Kellie... and I'm spending a lot of time there. It is a lazy way to keep in touch with people in some ways but it's great. It's also free, so do sign up if you want more frequent updates about us!

Let's see, we have been very busy. There's so much going on at school this term. The children had 50s-60s day (as you can see from the photos). Next is 70s - 80s. I'm thinking Sid Vicious and one of the girls from Bananarama for the kids. I wanted to Tobes to dress like Adam Ant but he wasn't keen on the idea.

We've also booked our spring vacation and this year we're going to Egypt! Tobes has wanted to go since the Tutankhamun exhibition last year. I got all excited and looked into a whole tour package with a cruise down the Nile on a feluca, riding through the desert on donkeys and camping under the stars. Jason pointed out that this plan might not be so great with a grumpy three year old so we scaled it right back to ten days in Cairo at a nice hotel. We'll save the donkeys and felucas for when the kids are older.

I'm not sure what Jason is expecting from this vacation. He did ask if they have Starbucks in Egypt. Jason's criteria for a good holiday is coffee, bookstores and 24 hour room service. Not really a 'roughing it' kind of guy.

We've just finished the winter half-term here. It was spent going to the cinema, the Horniman Museum, hanging out at home and going to the park. We turned up at the park on Tuesday morning and there must've been at least a dozen of Toby and Rosie's friends there. I got a cappucino from the cafe and gossipped with the mums while the children played. I love our neighborhood.

I have discovered one drawback of living here. Jason bought me an iPod for Christmas. I'm not very techie and for weeks the only thing I had on it were some Bugs Bunny cartoons that I used to entertain the children when we went out on the train. I finally downloaded some music and started wearing it to walk to school when I pick up the children. It's a strange sensation walking down the street while listening to music. I like to put it on shuffle and see what pops up. The juxtaposition of song and location can be interesting. Yesterday I was walking home from the village and Hank Williams started singing Hey Good Lookin'. Talk about two worlds colliding.

Sometimes I find it so hard not to sing out loud, start playing air guitar or pogo in the street. It's like being in my own music video and I've started playing with creating a soundtrack for different locations. At the moment it's pretty unsophisticated - Parklife in the park, Our House while walking down our street, LDN in town - but I can see it developing. The one drawback of living in this neighborhood is that quite often I get myself sorted, earplugs in , song chosen and then bump into someone I know. Then the song has to wait. Oh well, if bumping into friends is the worst thing I have to deal with at the moment then I think I can handle it.

Snow Day!

We woke up this morning to ten inches of snow! It's the most snow I've ever seen in my life. St Margaret's was the only school in the area to still be open. Snow days are decided by the individual headteachers here rather than the school district. At 7.30 this morning I got a text saying that school would definitely be OPEN. Our headmistress prides herself on things like this. Last year we had the school BBQ during a rainstorm. One of the other local school's had planned their's for the same night but cancelled. St Maggie's is obviously made of sterner stuff.

Tobes had been running a temperature all weekend so he was staying home anyway but Rosie had nursery in the afternoon. At 12.30 I rang the school to make sure that the afternoon nursery was still on and they assured me that it was so Rosie and I bundled up and trooped off to school. We arrived at 1.00pm and at 1.05pm I got a text saying that the school had decided to start letting the students leave from 1.30pm! I ended up staying in the nursery and playing with Rosie for half an hour then we bundled up and headed out again.

Most of the parents were already picking up their kids and going over to Manor House Gardens. I texted Jason and he and Toby met us there. We had the most fantastic time! All the parents had a huge snowball fight. We were worse than the children. Snowmen were made and hot chocolates were drunk. We live in such a great community of families. So many of Rosie and Toby's friends and their families were out enjoying the snow. When I was growing up it seems like I was always part of a big fun gang of children, either my cousins or all the kids on Loyce. I've always wanted the same for my children and it seems like we've accomplished that here. By the time we headed home we were all happy and exhausted.

What a momentous day!

Two amazing things happened today - Obama became President and Rosie started nursery.

Today was Rosie's first day at St Margaret's nursery and she did really well. I think she'll fit in just fine. Her friends Amelia, Ruben, Libby and Theo are in her class and they really made her welcome and showed her around. I stayed with her today but tomorrow she starts going on her own. She already goes to a playgroup on her own on Friday mornings and has stayed in the creche at the gym so it won't be a shock for her to be there without me. I think the main adjustment will be being in a class with all kinds of children.

In her classes the mums or nannies stay with the children so everyone is generally well behaved. At her playgroup the children all seem very calm. Nursery is a different story. There are some rough and rowdy kids in there and I think it will be a big change for Rosie. At first I felt concerned but this is how she'll learn her social skills and we all have to learn how to deal with rough and rowdy people. When she's older, if she's as bright as we think she is, she'll be able to go to a more academic secondary school with like-minded children. Now is the time to learn that there are all kinds of people in the world and we all have to learn how to get along.

And that's a great lead-in to the other amazing thing that happened today! I decided that I let too many American events pass us by so we invited friends over to watch the inauguration and really celebrate the day. We ended up with 8 children and 6 adults all watching it together. I thought I should do 'American' food so we had hot dogs, pizza, Doritos, chips & salsa and ice cream floats for dessert. The Martha Stewart in me couldn't resist making a flag out of blackberries, strawberries and bananas (with a white chocolate dip... mmmm). The more decadent part of me couldn't resist a good bottle of champagne to mark the occasion. At one point in the proceedings I realised that I had a hot dog smothered in French's mustard in one hand, an ice cold glass of Veuve Cliquot in the other and I was standing in my house in London watching my President being sworn in 4000 miles away in Washington DC. What a strange life I lead.

We are alive

I think I've been putting off updating the blog due to the amount of things that have been going on since I last really wrote - Christmas, New Year, back to school, my birthday, etc, etc. I'm just going to have to say that the holidays were fab and full of friends and family. My birthday was calm (which is what I needed) though the celebrations continued to the pub last night with a group of girlfriends (oh, my head this morning). I'll try to post pics but I make no promises as I'm already being pushed along in the current of everything we're doing now.

I'm still secretary of the Friends committee at school (PTA) and this year is the school's 175th anniversary. There are lots of events to plan and organise and the children are doing special modules studying events over the last 175 years and the history of the school. Today the whole school dressed as Victorians and they're running the school as it was run then, with boys and girls on seperate sides of the classroom and strict rules (though lots of giggling). Next is The Wars, 50s & 60s, 70s & 80s and 90s to today. Rosie starts at the school nursery on Tuesday so she'll be dressing up too. Must get the sewing machine out!

The headmistress is also retiring at the end of this term so there's a party to organise for her and presents to be made and bought. On top of that is the usual stuff like the May Fair, which is our biggest event of the year. So much to do!

So, this is my long way of saying that we're all doing very well but have been super busy. In fact, I need to sign off now so that I can take Rosie to her playgroup and then go meet a friend for coffee in the village. Chaos, but fun and pleasant chaos at least!

Finally

The phones are working again. My only task for the day was to get the phones working and, after checking everything I could think of, I called out a Virgin repairman. There was actually something wrong with the line and he was able to repair it within a few minutes. Yahoo! We've got a phone again.

Overheard

"Toby! Stop trying to hypnotise the cat and get into bed!"

Do not try this at home

Yesterday morning I was getting ready in the bathroom. It was Boxing Day and manic as usual in our house. Jason was trying to brush his teeth, the children were running around arguing and I was trying to put my make up on. I put on hand cream a few minutes beforehand (big mistake) went to curl my eyelashes, wasn't concentrating, my hand slipped and I ripped the eyelashes out of my right eye.

The initial pain and shock were bad but there was no blood, just an eyelash curler with what looked like a set of false eyelashes caught in it. Now I'm rocking a Clockwork Orange kind of look. God, I hope these lashes grow back quickly.

We had a fantastic Christmas, apart from the eye balding incident, and I'll post details and pics soon. Still coming down from it all.

Bring it on

OK, the bed is fixed. The turkey is brining in a bucket in the garden covered with foil and a tray weighed down with bricks so the foxes can't get to it. The house is tidy. The loft is reasonably sorted, the laundry is drying and the fridge is full. I think we're ready for Christmas.

Last Saturday we had a lunch here with some of Toby's friends from school and their families. I really like both families and we had a great time. Another family around the corner was having drinks at 6pm so we opened a couple more bottles of wine and our lunch stretched into the evening then we all staggered over to Candy's for drinks and canapes. I love our new neighborhood. The children had a brilliant time playing all day at our place then running around Solar's garden in the dark while we talked and laughed. It reminded me of times I spent with my cousins.

New Year's eve will be similiar. Jenny & Kieran are coming down from Cambridge with Jack & Kate and Pete & Philippa are coming all the way from three doors down with Joey. Jason has aleady stocked up on champagne and I'm thinking of doing lobster. We've decided to dress up, because we never get to do that, and I'm going to get all kinds of finger food for the children. I don't think we'll even try to get them to bed. Not sure Rosie will make it to midnight but I bet Toby does.

Almost Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and even though we've been thinking about it for ages, somehow it's creeped up on us. I waited too long to do my online Christmas grocery order and had to brave the crowds today. I bought a positively obscene amount of food but hopefully it'll see us through the next four days or so.

Jason's parents are coming down from Skegness tomorrow and J spent the morning sorting out the loft so that they don't have to sleep surrounded by boxes. He discovered that the hinges on the sofabed have been bent. The bed would not lay flat. At all. Oh. Bugger. J rang to tell me the situation as I was fighting a woman for the last few pomegranates in Sainsburys. Not good. In the end he rang Ikea in Thurrock and when I got home he went out to buy new hinges and discovered that someone had nicked the registration plates off his Mini. He had to take my car to brave the traffic on the M25. Not a nice trip out the day before Christmas Eve but absolutely necessary.

I've spent the afternoon unpacking groceries and try to encourage the children into TV comas so that I can get on with things. I thought children these days watched too much TV, played video games and vegged out on the sofa. Why do mine keep following me around asking me to actually interact with them?! There's a mountain of laundry to do, rooms to be cleaned, food to be cooked, beds to be made and presents still to buy. Now I understand why my mother seemed to have a nervous breakdown around Christmas every year. It's times like this I wish I was a smoker or an alcoholic. It would be so nice to do something as simple as have a smoke or a drink and let the stress just melt away.

No phone

Our phones have been out for over a week. I think the supplier, Virgin, is doing some kind of upgrade. Anyway, if anyone has been trying to call us try us on the mobiles. We haven't been screening calls, promise!

NYC

Had a fantastic time in New York with Nikki. The best thing was just hanging out, wandering around the city then eating what and when we wanted. The first night we went to a great place called The Coffee Shop in Union Square and stopped in a few stores. Everything is open so late.

On Saturday we walked down Broadway, around the edge of Central Park to the Frick Collection. It was amazing. Beautiful building and extraordinary collection. I've wanted to see their Vermeers for at least ten years. Afterwards we went to a luncheonette for lunch. I love the soup, salad, sandwich thing. We don't really have that in England. Saturday night we went to the New York State Theatre to see The Nutcracker. It was really lovely. When I got back I wanted to take the children to see The Nutcracker here in London but it's already sold out. Definitely exciting enough to hold the children's attention though so I'll try to book early next year.

On Sunday we had a late breakfast, walked around the shops, went into Cartier and Tiffany's and a fabulous homestore called Gracious Home. They have the most amazing selection of hardware. They blow Restoration Hardware right out of the water. If you're into knobs and knockers like I am then it's sheer heaven. They even have a guy making coffees so you can browse with a cappucino.

Sunday night we went out to Astoria to have dinner with Nikki's roommates. Nikki's neighborhood is a nice Greek community full of families and there were lots of Christmas lights. It made me very nostalgic for American Christmases gone by. We had some New York pizza and cupcakes from the bakery on the corner. Delicious. Nik's room mates are really nice, funny and talented people so we ate and laughed a lot.

Monday was my last day in NY. Nikki and I had a room service breakfast and then she had to go to work. We had a tearful goodbye at the taxi then I spent the day wandering around the city, spending a fortune in the M&M store (three floors dedicated to M&Ms!), sitting in various coffee shops and reading my book. I walked around the MOMA shop and bought a few stocking stuffers but didn't have the energy to walk around the galleries. My mind was turning back to London and the things I would need to do over the next few days.

I've arrived back and jumped right into Christmas celebrations and preparations for the various parties and events we have coming up. It was really nice to get away for a while and spend some time with Nikki. Now that she's in NY I hope it'll happen more often.

Overheard...

Toby: Today at school it was like Primary School Musical because the whole class started singing when Mr Wilson left the room.

Me: Oh, that's lovely. What did you all sing?

Toby: "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin ran away. Uncle Billy tossed his willy on the motorway!"

Me: Ah.

Ready to fly

The car will be here to take me to the airport soon and I'm really looking forward to the trip. However, me being me, I'm convinced that the plane will crash, I'll be shot or fall down a manhole and will never see the children grow up.

I made a special meal last night and gave them extra hugs and kisses so hopefully their final memories of me will be good ones. I know they won't grow up motherless because some gold digging cow will distract and exhaust Jason with the sexual techniques she picked up on her gap year in Thailand and he'll be married before he knows it. So, though Jason might be happier, the children will grow up feeling neglected and bitter and will be unfulfilled, disatisfied adults. They'll forget all about me and all about being half American and end their days wondering about the mother who selfishly ran off to New York and left them behind.

Whew! I feel so much better getting that out of my head. Now I can go off and have a nice little break. Nikki, here I come!

Wintery weekend

We had a really lovely weekend. Saturday wasn't much fun but we ticked a major job off our list - we bought a new car. We drove out to Croydon with Toby getting carsick about halfway there. We traded in our car and Jason and I kept joking about "oh yea, the radio isn't working and you can't open the trunk... that vomit will wash right out though... so... what'll you give us?" We were very happy with the deal and the new car will be delivered this week and they'll drive our old car away.

I ended up with another Renault Scenic. This one is a Grande Scenic which means it has seven seats instead of five. I am so cool.

Yesterday Jenny, Kieran, Jack, Kate and Jen's mum came down for Jack's birthday. We went to Cafe Sol in Greenwich for Mexican food then walked through the park. Jason and Kieran played chase with the children (Jason was alseep on the couch within an hour of getting home) and we walked up to the top of the hill right at sunset. It was freezing but beautiful.

Unfortunately Toby refused to wear his scarf yesterday, was up coughing all night and is home from school today. I'm off to New York on Friday so I'm trying to get him well before I go. I've been trying to get my head around packing and preparing for the trip but there's so much going on here at the moment. We've had the builders in to do odd jobs and replace some bookshelves. We've got loads of Christmas activities and I have the Christmas shopping to finish. This week we also have Toby's school nativity play. Because Tobes is in Year 2 they're doing the play with the Juniors rather than the Infants so it's an evening show at the church. Busy times!

Toby helps set a new world record

From the local newspaper.

Thanksgiving

This will be brief because I'm so full that I need to go lay down...

We had a great afternoon. The spread included turkey, little sausages, cornbread dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, peas, Elizabeth's green bean casserole, Sarah's salad with creamy dressing, Elizabeth's pumpkin pies and my pecan pies plus ice cream sundaes for the children. We managed to get all fourteen people around our new table and I'm thinking that if we do a children's table next year we could easily accomodate twenty or more.

It was a new experience having three Americans in the house. We talked a lot about growing up in the South and I got out my senior yearbook and we laughed over the hairstyles and fashions. Eric and I compared notes on living in Austin and going to UT, the classes we took, where we lived, where we went for pancakes at 3am. After everyone left Jason and I tidied up then I made some Kraft Mac & Cheese for the children to round off our American day and we all stuffed ourselves with leftovers. Now I'm going to joyfully slip into a turkey induced coma while planning my menu for next year. Definitely more cornbread dressing next time.

From Elizabeth

I'm hoping this will relieve some of my pre-Thanksgiving stress... New pecan pie recipe and it just doesn't seem to be working and Tobes just pooed on the bathroom rug (don't ask).



1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper. If I have time I really enjoy wrapping the presents.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I prefer artificial, Jason likes real. This year we're getting a fake one because we have Indy and it's going to be a nightmare anyway. Don't need needles all over the place too.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving but I think we'll wait until next weekend this year.

4. When do you take the tree down? Isn't it bad luck to leave it up until New Year... or maybe it's Twelfth Night. We take it down pretty quickly.

5. Do you like eggnog? I do but it's been a very long time since I had any.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm, probably my Huffy Pink Thunder bike.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Jason

8. Easiest person to buy for? The children

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, we don't.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? A mix. I tend to email but send cards to my aunts and uncles who don't use email.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Best not say in case they read this!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Love Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story and of course It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October or November

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Of course

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I love the whole meal and eat my bodyweight in Ferrero Rocher and Matchmakers leading up to the big day.

16. Lights on the tree? White

17. Favorite Christmas song? Nat King Cole singing Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Stay at home. We talk about going to the States one year but I know I would miss all of our traditions here. I need to get Mom and Dad to come here.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Of course

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning. Santa comes in the night and we open those about 4am and then open the ones to and frome each other before or after lunch.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The crowds and my inability to be in two countries at once.

23. What theme or color are you using? We don't really have a theme though I generally stick to red and white.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I usually do the same meal every year - turkey, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, brussels sprouts, red cabbage, gravy and cranberry sauce. Then on Boxing Day it's bubble & squeak with the leftovers.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Jason asked me yesterday and I haven't really thought about it. Maybe that Hermes scarf I've wanted for years. Or just a happy peaceful time with my family is enough.

Recession? What recession?

I thought everyone was supposed to be broke? Why then was there a line at the mall on a Wednesday morning? Rosie and I trooped off to Bluewater today and it was heaving. Unpleasantly busy. And it's not even December yet!

In preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas I had to get some new dishes and cutlery. Embarrassingly, considering we're catching up on 40, we didn't have enough of either to handle the big meals this year. I decided it was time to be all grown up and get proper bone china so off to the shops we went. When I was little we had a set of cutlery that Dad brought back from Japan. It was a kind of brushed stainless steel and very strong. I remember it was the preferred spoon for scooping out ice cream because they would never bend. I loved that cutlery and managed to find something similiar today. Of course, once I got started I had to have some nice serving spoons and other bits and pieces including the teeniest, tiniest little spoon that's used for English mustard. It really was necessary.

Then it was off to another shop to get some winter clothes for the children. Our drop in temperature seems to have coincided with growth spurts for both of them. Hat and gloves for Rosie. Warm slippers and long sleeve tops for both of them. Then lunch.

Once you start spending it gets easier and easier so when we got home I called the dealer about a new car. Mine is on its last legs and we'd really like to replace it before I leave for NY on the 12th. Jason is taking the children up to Skegness to see his parents while I'm away and it would be nice for them to go in a reliable car. We never buy new cars, except for Jason's mid-life folly with the Mini, but the dealer has three cars that fit my spec. I've decided to get another Renault Scenic which will be my third. This time I'm getting the 7-seater though. It's just getting to the point where those extra seats would come in handy from time to time. Jenny and I have been talking about going away with all of the children one halfterm and this way we can all go in one car. See, it's not extravagance. It just makes sense.

Finally back!

We were offline for over a week and all because of a slightly loose cable. The tech guy came in, looked at the system, turned a little knob about half a turn and everything was up and running again. I felt so silly.

Anyway, it's great to be back online though it was nice in a way to be a bit disconnected. I think my bum is slightly less pancake shaped after a week of not sitting here sorting things out and instead having to actually go out and do things like buy groceries. Something to remember.

Since we went offline winter has well and truly arrived. We even woke up Sunday morning to snow! It was falling pretty hard but didn't stick around for long. Long enough to make a few snowballs though. Long enough for Jason and Toby to throw said snowballs at me and Rosie who were standing at the bedroom window. Only one of them made it inside the house.

At the moment we're getting ready for Thanksgiving which we'll be celebrating on Sunday here. It's not a holiday in England but we're having friends over for the traditional feast. I've been collecting the ingredients over the last few months like cornbread mix and Libby's pumpkin. Elizabeth is making the green bean casserole. We're obviously going totally Southern! I'm getting craft stuff together so the children can make hand turkeys and Native American head dresses (still called Indians here). We'll have fourteen all together - 7 adults and 7 children. Can't wait!

Marginally better

Rosie seems a bit better today. She's still coughing like a lifelong smoker and running a fever but the rash is starting to fade and she seems happier in herself. At least now she has the energy to bark orders at me from the sofa. "More Smarties!" "Where's my juice!" "What's that smell?!"

One very unfortunate side effect of the IV antibiotics that Rosie had over the weekend is raging diarrhea. It's her first bout of diarrhea since we got rid of the nappies and the first time it happened Rosie shouted from the bathroom "Mommy, brown water is coming out of my BOTTOM!" The poor thing has it so bad that I had to dig out an old pack of Pull-Ups for her. She ruined two pairs of pants and a pair of PJs (I'm sorry but I'm not the kind of mom who washes diarrhea out, it goes in the bin) and since she's sleeping in our bed while she's ill I started to fear for our bedding.

The rash has faded to a mottled purple colour. Annelouise has assured me that this is a good sign because it means that the rash isn't getting fresh blood. It does make her arms look an awful lot like a corpse but I'm trying not to think about that. She's happier overall and seems to have more energy though everytime she gets a bit excited it kicks off a coughing fit.

I've cleared the calendar for the next few days and we're sitting at home pottering around. I've managed to do some mending that's been waiting for weeks and I'm slowly catching up on the laundry. In a way, it's nice to just be here for a change. I was supposed to be taking the minutes of a PTA meeting tonight but with Jason away it just wasn't possible. Philippa was all set to babysit but I hate to think of Joe catching whatever it is that Rosie has. Oh well, an early night for all of us tonight.