Today we went back to the playgroup that's a half-hour away. Makenna just pretty much whines and complains for the first half-hour as she wants the toys to come out and wants the cookies to come out. Once that happens, she's happy and calm.
Today, after she got her cookie and got her seat on the drum (see last Thursday's picture), a little boy started crawling up her and trying to grab her cookie. I just sat in the distance to see how she would handle this. She looked at the boy with a side-glance like "what do you think you're doing?" and then shifted her body away from him, used her hand to push him away, all while still on the drum. He started crawling up her again and this time she got up from the drum and went and pulled herself into a normal chair along the wall. It was like - "look kid, this is my cookie and if you're going to keep bothering me, then I'm leaving." She got a second cookie and went back to her safe chair instead of the drum.
After, we went to the park again and she actually wanted to go on the swing. I thought that I had worn her out as a baby as I would always take her to Ostiningo (or however you spell it) and put her in the swing when she couldn't complain. Then as she got older she hated being in it. She liked to push it herself, but not be in it. But all of a sudden, she went to the swings and wanted to be in it. She was darn right mad when I took her out.
We had a much better day compared to yesterday (I think I prayed a little more earnestly for help!). We had some more new words come out today. The first was, fly (like an airplane). The next was when she got out the can opener from the drawer, took it to the printer and started saying, "fix". I assured her that it didn't need to be fixed. I think this came about because she saw Chris fixing a door at the house yesterday. Then Chris says she said "awesome" just out of the blue. Probably got that one from one of her movies.
One final note - good luck to my brother Josh and his volleyball team at the Spiedie Fest on Saturday. Enjoy some spiedie's for me!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
30Jul2008: Day 66: Can anyone Spell R E L I E F
Well, this title has a double meaning. The first is that my little "angel" was anything but. Luckily no toilet incidents but not listening to mommy was the main objective of the day. Throwing food on the floor, taking out cleaning supplies from the cabinet, throwing her drink on the floor, standing up in the bathtub, turning over and trying to get away when it's time to change a diaper. Is it me, or am I blowing things out of proportion? Some days I think that I'm just being lazy or trying to make my life easier by not letting her experience the joy of throwing food on the floor. Other times I'm thinking, am I not supposed to be teaching her that we don't live in Ground Round or Texas Roadhouse?
I know part of the problem this afternoon was that I was trying hard to keep her up until 2pm to put her down for a nap then and she obviously needed one earlier. Most days during the week, we're down to one nap instead of two, but days like today clearly indicate that my frustration level goes up as her need for a nap goes up. I'm sure there's some math equation there. The thing that was interesting is that she was just as bad at night when daddy finally came home. So it could just be the day, but at least it's not just me - she shares the misery with both of us.
The other reason for the title is more and more I notice that spelling over here is sometimes a phonetic experience. We notice that Shopping Center is spelled "Centere" and Yogurt is Yoghurt and tire is tyre. But I found a really interesting one today - Kerbside Pick-up. Which is referring to recycling bags that they give us to put out the the curb. These are only a few that we can think of so far that we've seen. But to hear them say other words, which we can't obviously express in writing, is even more interesting. So please forgive us when we come home and say some really strange things.
I know part of the problem this afternoon was that I was trying hard to keep her up until 2pm to put her down for a nap then and she obviously needed one earlier. Most days during the week, we're down to one nap instead of two, but days like today clearly indicate that my frustration level goes up as her need for a nap goes up. I'm sure there's some math equation there. The thing that was interesting is that she was just as bad at night when daddy finally came home. So it could just be the day, but at least it's not just me - she shares the misery with both of us.
The other reason for the title is more and more I notice that spelling over here is sometimes a phonetic experience. We notice that Shopping Center is spelled "Centere" and Yogurt is Yoghurt and tire is tyre. But I found a really interesting one today - Kerbside Pick-up. Which is referring to recycling bags that they give us to put out the the curb. These are only a few that we can think of so far that we've seen. But to hear them say other words, which we can't obviously express in writing, is even more interesting. So please forgive us when we come home and say some really strange things.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
29Jul2008: Day 65: A Kilt-astrophy
Okay, well today was somewhat of a boring mundane day. Just went to the gym and then swimming again with Makenna. She's turning more into a fish every day. She's so very upset when it's time to go. At least today I brought some pool toys and then another little boy came over and shared some of his toys with her. We got caught in a small shower on the way home but I made it back just in time to take the clothes off the line before the major down-pour started.
So the only "somewhat" interesting news I have to share is I went grocery shopping tonight and there was a guy wearing a kilt (green and black) with a gray polo shirt that had a red lined color. Plus he was wearing knee socks with Teva sandals. Okay - all of this was just very wrong to look at. I did not bother to ask/check if he was wearing the kilt in true "kilt" fashion.
As for another small update on Makenna's vocabulary, she constantly asks for the other parent when they are not home. So all day long on and off I hear, "daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy?" So finally today I started asking her back - "where is daddy?" She babbles some words and then said "work". I noticed that she'll babble a bunch of words I can't understand and the last word is emphatically said and usually something I understand. For instance, "blah, blah, blah, blah, chicken". I hope those "blah, blah" comments are something positive when I can finally understand them and not something like, "I'm so sick of chicken!"
So the only "somewhat" interesting news I have to share is I went grocery shopping tonight and there was a guy wearing a kilt (green and black) with a gray polo shirt that had a red lined color. Plus he was wearing knee socks with Teva sandals. Okay - all of this was just very wrong to look at. I did not bother to ask/check if he was wearing the kilt in true "kilt" fashion.
As for another small update on Makenna's vocabulary, she constantly asks for the other parent when they are not home. So all day long on and off I hear, "daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy?" So finally today I started asking her back - "where is daddy?" She babbles some words and then said "work". I noticed that she'll babble a bunch of words I can't understand and the last word is emphatically said and usually something I understand. For instance, "blah, blah, blah, blah, chicken". I hope those "blah, blah" comments are something positive when I can finally understand them and not something like, "I'm so sick of chicken!"
Monday, July 28, 2008
28Jul2008: Day 64: 20 Year Reunion
I called back home and talked to a friend who reminded me that our 20 year school reunion is coming up (next weekend I guess). How scary - to really admit that you've been out of high school 20 years! I realized in talking with her, that she's the only one I still talk to from high school. I talk to about five or so of my college friends. Chris is different in that most of his friends he still hangs around with are from high school and not college. I should have told her to tell everyone who asks about me (which will probably be one person or less), that I'm off having an exotic life in England. Not the routine, somewhat mundane daily life of a stay-at-home mom. If you don't count all the toilet excitement that Makenna gives me.
Well today was just another day where we went to the pool at the gym. She actually did really well swimming. There was another girl there who had brought some pool toys so Makenna actually said "pease" (please) to borrowing a toy. I would put her on the side of the pool, sitting, she would throw it and then hop in to go get it and start kicking her feet and moving her arms. She's always very upset when I tell her it's time to go. I try and give her a 5 minute warning but I realize she has no concept of time.
It's just amazing to watch her vocabulary grow. She started saying, "that's it" today out of the blue. Yesterday, while waiting for the sacrament to come around, she said "come on". Then she has this thing that is absolutely hilarious - she says "okay" but it's long and drawn out like "oooohhh-kaaay". When we ask her if she wants this or that and/or we guess correctly of what she's asking for, we get "oooohhh-kaaaay". You have to hear the inflection to really appreciate it. Then one time she actually said "oooohhhh-noooo" - which caught us off guard and had us laughing. She's also now learning the value of please. She tries to say it when we tell her no to something. She's also started running for safety from the "naughty seat" to the one parent who wasn't threatening it. So if Chris is saying Makenna, sit in the naughty chair, she comes running to me saying "mommy, mommy, mommy". It's hard not to grab hold of her and hug her and say "I'll save you." I guess that's the ups and downs of being a parent.
Well today was just another day where we went to the pool at the gym. She actually did really well swimming. There was another girl there who had brought some pool toys so Makenna actually said "pease" (please) to borrowing a toy. I would put her on the side of the pool, sitting, she would throw it and then hop in to go get it and start kicking her feet and moving her arms. She's always very upset when I tell her it's time to go. I try and give her a 5 minute warning but I realize she has no concept of time.
It's just amazing to watch her vocabulary grow. She started saying, "that's it" today out of the blue. Yesterday, while waiting for the sacrament to come around, she said "come on". Then she has this thing that is absolutely hilarious - she says "okay" but it's long and drawn out like "oooohhh-kaaay". When we ask her if she wants this or that and/or we guess correctly of what she's asking for, we get "oooohhh-kaaaay". You have to hear the inflection to really appreciate it. Then one time she actually said "oooohhhh-noooo" - which caught us off guard and had us laughing. She's also now learning the value of please. She tries to say it when we tell her no to something. She's also started running for safety from the "naughty seat" to the one parent who wasn't threatening it. So if Chris is saying Makenna, sit in the naughty chair, she comes running to me saying "mommy, mommy, mommy". It's hard not to grab hold of her and hug her and say "I'll save you." I guess that's the ups and downs of being a parent.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
27Jul2008: Day 63: Happy Birthday to ME!
Considering all that has happened today - there were many "Titles" I could have listed as you'll read below, but since I'm writing this on my birthday - well then - that's the title I've chosen.
Today started out fairly normal. Chris went to meet Matt in Canterbury again for a service at the Canterbury Cathedral. He can write about that if he wishes. Considering that the service is at 11 a.m., I knew that I was going to have to walk to my church as he wouldn't make it back in time to take me. Unfortunately, it was a very hot and humid day. It only took me a half-hour to walk there but I was dripping with sweat. At least it wasn't raining. Chris said it could have been worse - he could have been back at home in the states - but in that case, I would've had the car at least. Lucky, for him, he came back in time to pick me up from church. :>)
{Chris' insert: Yes, I went to pick up Matt down in Canterbury about 50 minutes away so it wasn't a bad ride and we went to the service. The place was full of Bishops because of the Lambeth Conference and it was a nice service, the choir was amazing, though I had a hard time feeling the spirit there.
It seems that the tension around the future of the Anglican Communion and what the Lambeth conference will eventually decide, or not decide, has dampened my spirit a bit. Knowing that most of the people around me actually are in opposition to what I see as a most basic truth seems to have left me a stranger in a place I would have been excited to be in only a few years ago before all this stuff started. If you don't know what I am talking about, well, I'm sorry, people at my Church will know. If you want to know more, go to my Church or read the Bible and find truth for yourself. What amazes me the most about people is that if they want to learn math they go to school and study the text book, but when they want to know more about God, they look only inwards and at feelings, rather than going to school (a Bible based Church) and studying the text book(the Bible) which God superintended. Of course, you can say that the Bible was put together by man, but so was that Math text book and it doesn't make it any less valid unless you use that as the excuse for ignoring it and not finding out for yourself. Anyway, I guess I could be alienating some of my more secular readers, so I will desist...suffice it to say, there are a lot of people out there that don't agree with my position, but can't back it up with anything other than their feelings; I am comforted because I have something physical and real to stand on.
Anyway, Matt and I walked around the Cathedral for a time afterward, but since Teri was waiting for me, I took Matt back to his hotel soon after. My time with Matt reminds me how much I miss you all from back home. I hope you are all doing well. Back to Teri now...}
The other title for today would be "Bath Time - times Three!" Yes my lovely Makenna, who is twenty-two months old today, found a way to take multiple baths. Granted, all my fault, but still, it's my birthday. She usually gets one on Sunday's so that was her first one. Well then, after church, we came home and it was still pretty warm so after changing her diaper and taking off her dress, that she got all wet from spitting out water all over, I figured, why not let her sleep in just her diaper. Why not - well I'll tell you why not - she's at that age where it's too tempting to take off her diaper. So when I went to get her up from her nap - yup - she was naked! Just a blanket draped over her. Well of course she needed a diaper. Thank goodness it was only number one, but that caused the second bath to occur. The third time happened because as I was talking to my mom on the phone, Chris, who was cooking me dinner, came in and asked me where Makenna was. I said, "I assumed she was in with you" and he said "No - I'm cooking". It only took one guess to figure out where she was. Yup - in the bathroom - in the toilet. Bath number three. I hope all this scolding her to not touch the potty doesn't come back to bite us when it's time to potty-train her.
After, I took her out of the bathroom to get her dressed and at this point, she realized that running around naked was also a great thing. Off she went running and I had to reel her in and get her dressed quickly before we got a reason for another bath and having to clean another floor. After dinner, we had to take her shorts off as she soaked through those (can I just mention how I hate Huggies diapers)! So she was running around with a t-shirt and a diaper and she proceeded to take the diaper off on her own again. She of course laughed about this as daddy started chasing her down to put her diaper back on. As long as this phase passes and doesn't crop up again when she's in her teens - we'll be okay.
Today started out fairly normal. Chris went to meet Matt in Canterbury again for a service at the Canterbury Cathedral. He can write about that if he wishes. Considering that the service is at 11 a.m., I knew that I was going to have to walk to my church as he wouldn't make it back in time to take me. Unfortunately, it was a very hot and humid day. It only took me a half-hour to walk there but I was dripping with sweat. At least it wasn't raining. Chris said it could have been worse - he could have been back at home in the states - but in that case, I would've had the car at least. Lucky, for him, he came back in time to pick me up from church. :>)
{Chris' insert: Yes, I went to pick up Matt down in Canterbury about 50 minutes away so it wasn't a bad ride and we went to the service. The place was full of Bishops because of the Lambeth Conference and it was a nice service, the choir was amazing, though I had a hard time feeling the spirit there.
It seems that the tension around the future of the Anglican Communion and what the Lambeth conference will eventually decide, or not decide, has dampened my spirit a bit. Knowing that most of the people around me actually are in opposition to what I see as a most basic truth seems to have left me a stranger in a place I would have been excited to be in only a few years ago before all this stuff started. If you don't know what I am talking about, well, I'm sorry, people at my Church will know. If you want to know more, go to my Church or read the Bible and find truth for yourself. What amazes me the most about people is that if they want to learn math they go to school and study the text book, but when they want to know more about God, they look only inwards and at feelings, rather than going to school (a Bible based Church) and studying the text book(the Bible) which God superintended. Of course, you can say that the Bible was put together by man, but so was that Math text book and it doesn't make it any less valid unless you use that as the excuse for ignoring it and not finding out for yourself. Anyway, I guess I could be alienating some of my more secular readers, so I will desist...suffice it to say, there are a lot of people out there that don't agree with my position, but can't back it up with anything other than their feelings; I am comforted because I have something physical and real to stand on.
Anyway, Matt and I walked around the Cathedral for a time afterward, but since Teri was waiting for me, I took Matt back to his hotel soon after. My time with Matt reminds me how much I miss you all from back home. I hope you are all doing well. Back to Teri now...}
The other title for today would be "Bath Time - times Three!" Yes my lovely Makenna, who is twenty-two months old today, found a way to take multiple baths. Granted, all my fault, but still, it's my birthday. She usually gets one on Sunday's so that was her first one. Well then, after church, we came home and it was still pretty warm so after changing her diaper and taking off her dress, that she got all wet from spitting out water all over, I figured, why not let her sleep in just her diaper. Why not - well I'll tell you why not - she's at that age where it's too tempting to take off her diaper. So when I went to get her up from her nap - yup - she was naked! Just a blanket draped over her. Well of course she needed a diaper. Thank goodness it was only number one, but that caused the second bath to occur. The third time happened because as I was talking to my mom on the phone, Chris, who was cooking me dinner, came in and asked me where Makenna was. I said, "I assumed she was in with you" and he said "No - I'm cooking". It only took one guess to figure out where she was. Yup - in the bathroom - in the toilet. Bath number three. I hope all this scolding her to not touch the potty doesn't come back to bite us when it's time to potty-train her.
After, I took her out of the bathroom to get her dressed and at this point, she realized that running around naked was also a great thing. Off she went running and I had to reel her in and get her dressed quickly before we got a reason for another bath and having to clean another floor. After dinner, we had to take her shorts off as she soaked through those (can I just mention how I hate Huggies diapers)! So she was running around with a t-shirt and a diaper and she proceeded to take the diaper off on her own again. She of course laughed about this as daddy started chasing her down to put her diaper back on. As long as this phase passes and doesn't crop up again when she's in her teens - we'll be okay.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
26Jul2008: Day 62: Canterbury
Today we went to Canterbury. Fr. Matt from my church is in the country for the Lambeth Conference and I wanted to get down there to see him. We've been wanting to see Caterbury Cathedral and the Castle (of course) so we decided to do that today as well. We got into the area and I e-mailed Matt. He e-mailed back that he was going to come out and he started walking out just as I got the e-mail and we just happened to be parked right where he was. He needed to go back to his hotel so we took him there. It was way out there and we needed to get there and back in an hour because he needed to blog. It was a crazy drive through these back roads and narrow windings, but we made it. I'm going to hopefully meet up with him again tomorrow for church at the Caterbury Cathedral so that should be cool.
We went to the Castle after dropping off Matt and found it to be pretty much just a husk. It has been in a state of disrepair since the 1500's. It was briefly used as a giant 
water tank and also a coal house, anyway, it was eventually bought by the city and is now at least able to be toured. We could see the Cathedral in the distance, but we thought we could find a better spot closer to it, but that turned out to be not the case.
water tank and also a coal house, anyway, it was eventually bought by the city and is now at least able to be toured. We could see the Cathedral in the distance, but we thought we could find a better spot closer to it, but that turned out to be not the case.We then drove around for an hour trying to find a parking place. Eventually we settled on onethat was probably the same distance as we were at the Castle, but we made it to the Cathedral. It is really big and has a bunch of crypts in it. Very nice. I took a lot of video and a lot of pictures. Even Makenna was calm throughout t
he whole time. It was nice that they allowed this, Westminster doesn't, of course they didn't charge me £7/person to get in either. I wish we had time to get the audio guide, but the shop was closing as we arrived. We wandered all over the place. They really don't have any restrictions on what you can see or where you can go. We say King Henry IV I think, it was amazing that there were crypts right there that you could touch that were from the 1400's. 600 years old!
he whole time. It was nice that they allowed this, Westminster doesn't, of course they didn't charge me £7/person to get in either. I wish we had time to get the audio guide, but the shop was closing as we arrived. We wandered all over the place. They really don't have any restrictions on what you can see or where you can go. We say King Henry IV I think, it was amazing that there were crypts right there that you could touch that were from the 1400's. 600 years old!
25Jul2008: Day 61: London Temple
This is Chris, I didn't get home early today of course, so nothing great to discuss today. Teri did get the opportunity to go to her temple at night and I'll let her discuss that.
It seems Makenna is coming down with another cold. She really never got sick when she was a baby, so I don't think she had built up resistance to colds. So, she has to build it up now I guess.
I've finally decided that I'm not going to come home this week, too much to do here and not enough time to get it done, so I'm staying. I think in about a month I should be coming home for a week probably anyway.
I think we will try to get down to Canterbury tomorrow and see if I can't find Matt. I'm sure it will be crowded so I need to check if the Cathedral is open or not to the general public. If it is, we'll go take a look at that. It is only 40 minutes away, so not too far.
Teri - London temple was interesting. It doesn't have a statue of Moroni (yet) on the top. I guess it wasn't allowed when it was first built. I guess they are now getting a permit and will be getting one soon. The only other thing that was really different from other temples is that it had a "chapel" area to sit in before going into a session. They had lots of bibles for people to sit and read while waiting. So everyone sits in this area and then when it's time for a session, then they take you up about four flights of stairs to a room.
A couple named Ian and Sally took me up (thank you very much!) - and Ian told me a lot about the different "rules of the road". He told me that all roads that come out of London that are straight are Roman roads. Obviously they're updated and modern but he said that Romans didn't put curves in their roads. We were also talking about speed traps and how they are done in the states compared to here. I didn't really think they had speed traps here, just the cameras that will take pictures of you going fast and send you a ticket, but I guess they do in certain spots. Ian said that the police will usually pair up with other agencies such as the immigration authority, the benefits people and the people that inspect cars to be road worthy. So he said that if you happen to be caught speeding and you're an illegal alien that's collecting benefits from the UK illegally and your car is not road-worthy, than you up for a really bad day. I thought that was pretty funny.
It seems Makenna is coming down with another cold. She really never got sick when she was a baby, so I don't think she had built up resistance to colds. So, she has to build it up now I guess.
I've finally decided that I'm not going to come home this week, too much to do here and not enough time to get it done, so I'm staying. I think in about a month I should be coming home for a week probably anyway.
I think we will try to get down to Canterbury tomorrow and see if I can't find Matt. I'm sure it will be crowded so I need to check if the Cathedral is open or not to the general public. If it is, we'll go take a look at that. It is only 40 minutes away, so not too far.
Teri - London temple was interesting. It doesn't have a statue of Moroni (yet) on the top. I guess it wasn't allowed when it was first built. I guess they are now getting a permit and will be getting one soon. The only other thing that was really different from other temples is that it had a "chapel" area to sit in before going into a session. They had lots of bibles for people to sit and read while waiting. So everyone sits in this area and then when it's time for a session, then they take you up about four flights of stairs to a room.
A couple named Ian and Sally took me up (thank you very much!) - and Ian told me a lot about the different "rules of the road". He told me that all roads that come out of London that are straight are Roman roads. Obviously they're updated and modern but he said that Romans didn't put curves in their roads. We were also talking about speed traps and how they are done in the states compared to here. I didn't really think they had speed traps here, just the cameras that will take pictures of you going fast and send you a ticket, but I guess they do in certain spots. Ian said that the police will usually pair up with other agencies such as the immigration authority, the benefits people and the people that inspect cars to be road worthy. So he said that if you happen to be caught speeding and you're an illegal alien that's collecting benefits from the UK illegally and your car is not road-worthy, than you up for a really bad day. I thought that was pretty funny.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
24Jul2008: Day 60: Swim!
Today was another busy day. I took the car so that I could take Makenna down to the play group back in Aylesford (about 1/2 hour away). It wasn't as crowded with kids as usual. I think because school is finally out and lots of families go on "holiday" (vacation). This picture is of her sitting on a drum to eat her cookie. They have lots of instruments for kids to play with and Makenna likes to use the drum as a chair. It's very cute and funny to watch her stick her little but out to find the drum and occasionally she misses and falls to the floor. After, we went to the park next to the hall where the play group is for a little bit.Then it was back home for lunch and to get ready to go over to Hannah's house. Hannah is a very cute, little red-headed girl from church. She's about 4 months younger than Makenna but is just as talkative and only lives about 10 minutes away - walking. Her mommy invited us over as it was an absolutely gorgeous day out, to play in the little swimming pool. 
You can see in this picture that Hannah is absolutely loving getting her picture taken but Makenna didn't want hers taken so she's scrunching her face saying, "No!" (Sounds like something her mother would say if she was getting her picture taken in a bathing suit). If I had a choice of Makenna getting an accent while we're here, I'd love to have her pick up Hannah's accent. It's the cutest thing to listen to. We left after an hour and a half and Makenna was pooped out! She fell asleep on the way home and had a good nap. Unfortunately, right as I'm typing this, Chris is upstairs trying to get her to go to sleep. We hardly ever have problems putting her down at night but for whatever reason, she does not want to sleep right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be another really nice (hot) day. I'm hoping that maybe Chris will get out early and we can get out somewhere. (I won't hold my breath!)
You can see in this picture that Hannah is absolutely loving getting her picture taken but Makenna didn't want hers taken so she's scrunching her face saying, "No!" (Sounds like something her mother would say if she was getting her picture taken in a bathing suit). If I had a choice of Makenna getting an accent while we're here, I'd love to have her pick up Hannah's accent. It's the cutest thing to listen to. We left after an hour and a half and Makenna was pooped out! She fell asleep on the way home and had a good nap. Unfortunately, right as I'm typing this, Chris is upstairs trying to get her to go to sleep. We hardly ever have problems putting her down at night but for whatever reason, she does not want to sleep right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be another really nice (hot) day. I'm hoping that maybe Chris will get out early and we can get out somewhere. (I won't hold my breath!)Wednesday, July 23, 2008
23Jul2008: Day 59: Clever Way To Get a Bath
Well the little stinker found a way to get herself a bath in the middle of the day....just play in the toilet. Yes, she got in their again. How do you ask? Well, maybe it's bad parenting or just trying to get something done. I thought she was in the living room watching some movie or other while I was in the kitchen making an apple dessert.
She quietly went up the stairs and when I went looking for her I knew full well where she was. I got up their and the whole bathroom floor was soaked and it smelled like urine. Someone who shall remain nameless didn't flush. Her clothes were all wet along with the floor. So once I got over the urge to throttle her I turned on the tub and threw her in while I cleaned the floor yet again.
I swear there must be some magnetic attraction to this vessel of porcelain as even tonight, under my watchful eye, she kept going near it with different things, including her toothbrush. I finally had to tell her to keep her and all body parts away.
Other than that, I had to call the bank for the third time to send me a pin number so that I can use my debit card. It's ridiculous. I called them and they ask me two security questions, one was my date of birth and the other my mother's maiden name. Well then they hung up on me! So I called back, and they asked me two different security questions, of which I failed so they couldn't help me. I said, "You just hung up on me and now I have to call back again!?!?!?" So I called back yet again and they said they would send it yet again. So now I have to wait another 10 days at most to get this number. I think it's funny they ask me where my last statement went. I said, "How can I get a statement if I don't have the ability to get money or use my card?!?" "Yeah right" is all they could say. I said I've been trying to get this number since the middle of June if not earlier and that if I didn't have a husband that I'd be out on the street begging. That didn't seem to phase them. I guess I should be happy the have such "strong" security in place.
She quietly went up the stairs and when I went looking for her I knew full well where she was. I got up their and the whole bathroom floor was soaked and it smelled like urine. Someone who shall remain nameless didn't flush. Her clothes were all wet along with the floor. So once I got over the urge to throttle her I turned on the tub and threw her in while I cleaned the floor yet again.
I swear there must be some magnetic attraction to this vessel of porcelain as even tonight, under my watchful eye, she kept going near it with different things, including her toothbrush. I finally had to tell her to keep her and all body parts away.
Other than that, I had to call the bank for the third time to send me a pin number so that I can use my debit card. It's ridiculous. I called them and they ask me two security questions, one was my date of birth and the other my mother's maiden name. Well then they hung up on me! So I called back, and they asked me two different security questions, of which I failed so they couldn't help me. I said, "You just hung up on me and now I have to call back again!?!?!?" So I called back yet again and they said they would send it yet again. So now I have to wait another 10 days at most to get this number. I think it's funny they ask me where my last statement went. I said, "How can I get a statement if I don't have the ability to get money or use my card?!?" "Yeah right" is all they could say. I said I've been trying to get this number since the middle of June if not earlier and that if I didn't have a husband that I'd be out on the street begging. That didn't seem to phase them. I guess I should be happy the have such "strong" security in place.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
22Jul2008: Day 58: Bathroom Woes
Well today Makenna really enjoyed playing in the toilet - yup - the toilet. She got into it three times! I caught her the first time about to throw in a washcloth. Little did I notice, she had already thrown one in. So I had to reach in and get it - yuck!
The second time I had left her downstairs so I could finish cleaning upstairs, of which one was the bathroom, and toilet. Well as I moved onto vacuuming, I heard a "thud" and I was praying that she hadn't fallen down the stairs. I realized that she made it into the now cleaned bathroom, and the thud was her falling on the floor as she got it all wet with putting things in and out of the toilet. This time the toy of choice was a "squish" ball that we usually play with in the bathtub as it absorbs water. Double yuck as I had to reach in and get that out of the toilet now, not to mention clean the floor again. At least this time she was playing in a newly cleaned toilet I told myself.
The third time was the worse - I'll have Chris tell you as I wasn't here - Well the little stinker disappeared for a moment while I was getting ready to go buy some groceries with her. I was walking around trying to find her and I heard her somewhere saying "soap" "soap". I found her in the bathroom rubbing her hands together and wiping them on her face. She was laughing and saying "soap" "soap" over and over. I asked her where she got the soap and assumed she would go to the sink, but, no such luck. She walks over to the toilet and begins to reach down into the bowl. I nearly screamed at her grabbing her away and feeling the wet hands and face, rushing her to the sink. I grabbed some antibacterial soap from the kitchen and washed her down. Hopefully she won't break out in a rash, but I wasn't sure what to do...little stinker. The Brits call perfume Eau de Toilette, but I think Makenna might be taking it a little too literally. I wonder if we can do a new marketing ad: "Soap, Soap", a new Eau de Toilette, brought to you by Makenna Jones, slogan:"It ain't soap, but you will be running for some when you put it on."
So yes, a new "toy" of sorts has been found. Now it will be harder for us to tell when she squats down and says "potty, potty" if it's because she really wants to go potty or if she wants to go IN the potty.
A new saying has also cropped up now from her father's lips to hers - which is "come on". As I was trying to say prayers with her all I heard was "come on, come on". Again, just goes to show you, you have to truly watch what you say around her.
The second time I had left her downstairs so I could finish cleaning upstairs, of which one was the bathroom, and toilet. Well as I moved onto vacuuming, I heard a "thud" and I was praying that she hadn't fallen down the stairs. I realized that she made it into the now cleaned bathroom, and the thud was her falling on the floor as she got it all wet with putting things in and out of the toilet. This time the toy of choice was a "squish" ball that we usually play with in the bathtub as it absorbs water. Double yuck as I had to reach in and get that out of the toilet now, not to mention clean the floor again. At least this time she was playing in a newly cleaned toilet I told myself.
The third time was the worse - I'll have Chris tell you as I wasn't here - Well the little stinker disappeared for a moment while I was getting ready to go buy some groceries with her. I was walking around trying to find her and I heard her somewhere saying "soap" "soap". I found her in the bathroom rubbing her hands together and wiping them on her face. She was laughing and saying "soap" "soap" over and over. I asked her where she got the soap and assumed she would go to the sink, but, no such luck. She walks over to the toilet and begins to reach down into the bowl. I nearly screamed at her grabbing her away and feeling the wet hands and face, rushing her to the sink. I grabbed some antibacterial soap from the kitchen and washed her down. Hopefully she won't break out in a rash, but I wasn't sure what to do...little stinker. The Brits call perfume Eau de Toilette, but I think Makenna might be taking it a little too literally. I wonder if we can do a new marketing ad: "Soap, Soap", a new Eau de Toilette, brought to you by Makenna Jones, slogan:"It ain't soap, but you will be running for some when you put it on."
So yes, a new "toy" of sorts has been found. Now it will be harder for us to tell when she squats down and says "potty, potty" if it's because she really wants to go potty or if she wants to go IN the potty.
A new saying has also cropped up now from her father's lips to hers - which is "come on". As I was trying to say prayers with her all I heard was "come on, come on". Again, just goes to show you, you have to truly watch what you say around her.
Monday, July 21, 2008
21Jul2008: Day 57: Swim Dunk
Today was a fairly busy day for Makenna and myself. We walked to the gym, and after my workout I got her from the nursery and took her to the pool. She was really excited to go until we got in. She was hesitant but then got used to it. She wanted to sit on the steps going down into the water so I let her. I was trying to show her how to blow bubbles in the water. She always puts her face in, even in the tub, but sometimes with her mouth open and she doesn't get the concept of blowing. I keep trying to tell her pretend like it's hot.
Well I moved around from the front of her to the side and as I was in transition, she tried putting her face in the water and I wasn't there to hold her so she took an underwater dunk for a second. She wasn't too happy about that. My heart was racing too. I pulled her up from under the water and got her to calm down and she wanted to go back on the steps again. I took her around the pool too and got her to kick and move her feet a bit. She obviously doesn't remember our swim lessons from last October. She was also very upset when I told her it was time to go. It was nice to have the pool to ourselves though.
We walked home and after lunch, she took a very long nap. I had plans to stop at the bank but they truly keep banker hours over here as they close at 3:30pm. I was able to get to the post office and also buy top-off minutes for my cell phone. Then Makenna and I went to the park. It's been close to three weeks and she enjoyed being there.
Other than that, I had some kids come up and knock and the door. When I answered, he just stood there while his friend was goading him on. After I minute I finally said "Yes?" and he repeated. Then I said "Didn't expect anyone home?" and he repeated. So then I just closed the door. Shortly after that the doorbell rang and as I expected, no one was there. Don't know why they decided on my door to play this prank. "Let's see if the American Woman sounds funny"? Got me?!?
Well I moved around from the front of her to the side and as I was in transition, she tried putting her face in the water and I wasn't there to hold her so she took an underwater dunk for a second. She wasn't too happy about that. My heart was racing too. I pulled her up from under the water and got her to calm down and she wanted to go back on the steps again. I took her around the pool too and got her to kick and move her feet a bit. She obviously doesn't remember our swim lessons from last October. She was also very upset when I told her it was time to go. It was nice to have the pool to ourselves though.
We walked home and after lunch, she took a very long nap. I had plans to stop at the bank but they truly keep banker hours over here as they close at 3:30pm. I was able to get to the post office and also buy top-off minutes for my cell phone. Then Makenna and I went to the park. It's been close to three weeks and she enjoyed being there.
Other than that, I had some kids come up and knock and the door. When I answered, he just stood there while his friend was goading him on. After I minute I finally said "Yes?" and he repeated. Then I said "Didn't expect anyone home?" and he repeated. So then I just closed the door. Shortly after that the doorbell rang and as I expected, no one was there. Don't know why they decided on my door to play this prank. "Let's see if the American Woman sounds funny"? Got me?!?
20Jul2008: Day 56: Early Birthday
I added a couple of pictures to yesterday's post for those who want to take a look.
As Chris kind of combined a bit of Sunday (the early birthday celebration) in with Saturday, the only other thing we did is our usual attending church. We were all able to attend this week as Makenna and I are feeling so much better.
Makenna had a bit of a hard time going into nursery as she didn't remember it. But then she got comfortable and at one point, the nursery leader had to come get me (as Makenna had a dirty diaper), and she brought all the kids with her. There were only three, but Chris happened to be in the hallway and he said that they were all holding hands and Makenna was the "leader", kind of holding, or dragging, the other two along and she was saying, "beep, beep" as she was going down the hallway.
We had a great dinner and Chris worked really hard, as you may have read, on getting the candle lit. It was very nice of him to do this as he'll be leaving for home most likely next weekend.
Speaking of birthdays, there are two others I missed - Lin and Tina's. I'm not sure if they read this but if they do - sorry I missed your special days and I hope you two and others got together to celebrate the usual "July birthdays".
As Chris kind of combined a bit of Sunday (the early birthday celebration) in with Saturday, the only other thing we did is our usual attending church. We were all able to attend this week as Makenna and I are feeling so much better.
Makenna had a bit of a hard time going into nursery as she didn't remember it. But then she got comfortable and at one point, the nursery leader had to come get me (as Makenna had a dirty diaper), and she brought all the kids with her. There were only three, but Chris happened to be in the hallway and he said that they were all holding hands and Makenna was the "leader", kind of holding, or dragging, the other two along and she was saying, "beep, beep" as she was going down the hallway.
We had a great dinner and Chris worked really hard, as you may have read, on getting the candle lit. It was very nice of him to do this as he'll be leaving for home most likely next weekend.
Speaking of birthdays, there are two others I missed - Lin and Tina's. I'm not sure if they read this but if they do - sorry I missed your special days and I hope you two and others got together to celebrate the usual "July birthdays".
Sunday, July 20, 2008
19Jul2008: Day 55: Hever Castle
OK, so I guess you all are probably getting tired of hearing about Castles, but tough! I like them, Teri likes them! They are EVERYWHERE, and so well, yes, we went to another one today. Again, an amazing back route this GPS picked out going through one of the narrowest road systems in the world. Some areas was just wide enough for one car and you would have had to back up to get out of the way of anything on coming. And the people are NUTS! At one point, we had these two ladies walking down the side of a 50mph road just barely wide enough for two cars and their walking side by side. They didn't even fall back into single file when we approached. I felt like hitting them out of spite..."See! Yer Stupid! Let me help you with that problem! " But, I nicely swerved into on coming traffic in deference to damaging my front bumper and waking up Makenna...but they were lucky I tell you, some people may not have a sleeping baby in the car. In one spot the side mirror by Teri was actually smacking into bushes on the side of the road when we came upon some traffic. Another, "cool" spot was where someone had built up a stone wall something like two centuries ago on one side of the road and then on the other side of the road was this tall wood fencing blocking the noise from the traffic from someone's back yard and house. You would think that they wouldn't put a wood fence like that, because if someone does have to choose between running into a massive stone wall or blasting through a fence and into a yard, I know what I would pick and I certainly would want to see it coming if I was in that yard or house! Hello! A wood fence is like paper mache to a 50 mph car. Of course, there could have been an even thicker stone wall behind the fence for all I know.
But, I've rambled on again. About Hever Castle. This one was interesting. It was an estate castle. Not really ever a defensive Castle, but like Leeds Castle, it was more a residence made up to be like a castle. But, the gardens were amazing. I really don't like plants, but it seems like gardening is a national pastime over here. Everyone talks about their gardens...really, it is just another term for "backyard", but they are all pretty into it really. There were the biggest roses I've ever seen in my life there and they smelled amazing. The grounds were huge.
We picked out Hever Castle because there was to be a jousting exhibition, which was interesting, but made more into a humorous skit, than really an exhibition. But Makenna loved it! She laughed and danced at the horses running and people going flying off the horses. It was a very nice day out and it was a lot of fun. (perhaps Teri will put pictures up for me again? Please sweety?)
Hever castle was the place where Anne Boleyn or Bollen (they spelled it numerous ways, don't know why) grew up. She was the woman who stole the heart of King Henry VIII refusing to be his mistress and forcing his hand in order to marry her to separate from the Roman Church and declare himself the head of the Church of England thus, allowing himself to divorce his wife of 25 years who had bore him no children...Nice guy, but really, if Anne had just agreed to be his mistress none of this would have happened...interesting how things work. Well, eventually, he fell in love with another maiden and since Anne only had given him a daughter and two miscarriages, he wasn't too happy with her. So after supposedly determining that she had been having an incestuous relationship with her brother and adultery with other members of the court (hmmm....not willing to be the mistress of the king, but was willing to be the same with her brother and lower court members?) He had her put to death for treason in the Tower of London. And, after growing tired of 4 other women he married after beheading or divorcing the previous one, he died. I think the pattern was: divorced, beheaded, divorced, beheaded, divorced, survived. He ended up with one son, who ended up dieing shortly after taking the crown or something, and then his daughter Elizabeth from Anne turned out to be one of England's most loved Queens with a huge growth in the arts occurring during her reign...she was also a Virgin to her death (gee wonder why with a Dad like that!).
Anyway, there were some touching mementos from Anne Boleyn's life in the castle. It was restored by an American by the name of Astor. He was made rich by buying up land around NYC and selling it when NYC really started to take off. So he went over there and bought Hever castle which had fallen into a horrible state of repair and invested millions into it between 1900 and 1908. He employed over 800 craftsmen to work on the place. He restored it as best as he could back to what they believed would be original, even not allowing the plaster workers to use strait edges (apparently, a straight stick wasn't invented at the time the Castle was built and the Astor guy made them all eyeball it. It actually came out quite nice.) There was amazing oak panelling everywhere and really, really, just an amazing house. Again, they have ANCIENT tapestries, furniture, and pictures where anyone could just reach out and touch them with signs saying "don't touch"...frankly signs don't work so well with a 20 month old, so, "SORRY England, I'm sure that baby spit hand print on the 16th century table will come off. Just use a little Pledge." Oh well...
They had this lake that Astor had dug BY HAND and you could rent a boat and go out on it. We didn't do that, but there were ducks all over the place and Makenna played the old game: "one for you, and one and two for me" with the crackers that we had along, laughing maniacally as the ducks would fight over the crackers when they would land just out of their reach on the stone work around where she was sitting. She really hasn't perfected he toss yet, but at least she didn't toss it behind her like how most of our games of catch go with her.
It looks like I might be coming back to the states for a few days next week to learn a little bit about integrating the new propulsion system we have developed so that I can bring back the information and make our work here easier on the double decker buses. Hopefully, I'll be able to pop in for church, not sure, but next Sunday is Teri's birthday so, she is not happy. We celebrated it today a little bit with a couple of $20/lb. Rib eye steaks (yes, that is actually cheap for steak here) and a cheese cake. I couldn't find any matches so I had to go out to the grill and light a wood skewer I had. I first tried lighting it in the toaster, but that didn't work very well. It lit right away at the grill, but as I was walking the candle (votive size) back into the house it blew out when I opened the door. Frustrated, I went back out to the grill and lit the skewer and started to pull it back out and dropped it....DOH...now I'm looking around for little sticks and such...apparently, for the safety of everyone, they have sprayed fire suppressant on every stick in our back yard because for the life of me I couldn't keep one lit the second I pulled it away from the flame. I finally found a stick they must have missed and after 10 minutes of screwing around with a stupid candle, we managed to get out a round of happy birthday and eat some cake...Makenna, of course, went first. Happy Birthday sweetheart!
But, I've rambled on again. About Hever Castle. This one was interesting. It was an estate castle. Not really ever a defensive Castle, but like Leeds Castle, it was more a residence made up to be like a castle. But, the gardens were amazing. I really don't like plants, but it seems like gardening is a national pastime over here. Everyone talks about their gardens...really, it is just another term for "backyard", but they are all pretty into it really. There were the biggest roses I've ever seen in my life there and they smelled amazing. The grounds were huge.
We picked out Hever Castle because there was to be a jousting exhibition, which was interesting, but made more into a humorous skit, than really an exhibition. But Makenna loved it! She laughed and danced at the horses running and people going flying off the horses. It was a very nice day out and it was a lot of fun. (perhaps Teri will put pictures up for me again? Please sweety?)
Hever castle was the place where Anne Boleyn or Bollen (they spelled it numerous ways, don't know why) grew up. She was the woman who stole the heart of King Henry VIII refusing to be his mistress and forcing his hand in order to marry her to separate from the Roman Church and declare himself the head of the Church of England thus, allowing himself to divorce his wife of 25 years who had bore him no children...Nice guy, but really, if Anne had just agreed to be his mistress none of this would have happened...interesting how things work. Well, eventually, he fell in love with another maiden and since Anne only had given him a daughter and two miscarriages, he wasn't too happy with her. So after supposedly determining that she had been having an incestuous relationship with her brother and adultery with other members of the court (hmmm....not willing to be the mistress of the king, but was willing to be the same with her brother and lower court members?) He had her put to death for treason in the Tower of London. And, after growing tired of 4 other women he married after beheading or divorcing the previous one, he died. I think the pattern was: divorced, beheaded, divorced, beheaded, divorced, survived. He ended up with one son, who ended up dieing shortly after taking the crown or something, and then his daughter Elizabeth from Anne turned out to be one of England's most loved Queens with a huge growth in the arts occurring during her reign...she was also a Virgin to her death (gee wonder why with a Dad like that!).
Anyway, there were some touching mementos from Anne Boleyn's life in the castle. It was restored by an American by the name of Astor. He was made rich by buying up land around NYC and selling it when NYC really started to take off. So he went over there and bought Hever castle which had fallen into a horrible state of repair and invested millions into it between 1900 and 1908. He employed over 800 craftsmen to work on the place. He restored it as best as he could back to what they believed would be original, even not allowing the plaster workers to use strait edges (apparently, a straight stick wasn't invented at the time the Castle was built and the Astor guy made them all eyeball it. It actually came out quite nice.) There was amazing oak panelling everywhere and really, really, just an amazing house. Again, they have ANCIENT tapestries, furniture, and pictures where anyone could just reach out and touch them with signs saying "don't touch"...frankly signs don't work so well with a 20 month old, so, "SORRY England, I'm sure that baby spit hand print on the 16th century table will come off. Just use a little Pledge." Oh well...
They had this lake that Astor had dug BY HAND and you could rent a boat and go out on it. We didn't do that, but there were ducks all over the place and Makenna played the old game: "one for you, and one and two for me" with the crackers that we had along, laughing maniacally as the ducks would fight over the crackers when they would land just out of their reach on the stone work around where she was sitting. She really hasn't perfected he toss yet, but at least she didn't toss it behind her like how most of our games of catch go with her.
It looks like I might be coming back to the states for a few days next week to learn a little bit about integrating the new propulsion system we have developed so that I can bring back the information and make our work here easier on the double decker buses. Hopefully, I'll be able to pop in for church, not sure, but next Sunday is Teri's birthday so, she is not happy. We celebrated it today a little bit with a couple of $20/lb. Rib eye steaks (yes, that is actually cheap for steak here) and a cheese cake. I couldn't find any matches so I had to go out to the grill and light a wood skewer I had. I first tried lighting it in the toaster, but that didn't work very well. It lit right away at the grill, but as I was walking the candle (votive size) back into the house it blew out when I opened the door. Frustrated, I went back out to the grill and lit the skewer and started to pull it back out and dropped it....DOH...now I'm looking around for little sticks and such...apparently, for the safety of everyone, they have sprayed fire suppressant on every stick in our back yard because for the life of me I couldn't keep one lit the second I pulled it away from the flame. I finally found a stick they must have missed and after 10 minutes of screwing around with a stupid candle, we managed to get out a round of happy birthday and eat some cake...Makenna, of course, went first. Happy Birthday sweetheart!
Friday, July 18, 2008
18Jul2008: Day 54: Testing, One Two Three, Testing
That was the word for today - "testing." Makenna must know I'm feeling better and she tested me quite a bit today. She saw the "naughty step" numerous times. I think at one point, she thought it was a game. She kept going into this drawer that has a lot of our electronic equipment and taking things out. She also has been going into the sink cabinet with all the cleaners and coming back and handing me things from there at times. I tell her no and when I get up to get the thing from her, she runs away laughing. So I think it's a way to let off some energy and she thinks it's funny for me to chase her. Just shows you, we've been couped up in the house too long.
She also has this thing that drives me "nuts" - she'll be done with her drink and throw her cup on the floor. I've asked her repeatedly before the meal, during the meal, not to throw the cup and she'll still do it. This happens every meal. Oh well, very minor things. At least she waited until I felt better to act like this instead of when I was miserable.
One thing that she has been doing lately that makes me laugh is she's on a "spaghetti" kick. She wakes up in the morning and I'll say let's go get breakfast and she'll go, "fetti" (like confetti). I have to tell her that only poor college kids eat "fetti" for breakfast.
I was able to get cleaning done around the house today - at least the first floor. So that felt good to get that accomplished. Then tonight was grocery night and Chris wanted me to let people know how frustrating the grocery carts are here. They actually move sideways, which you would think would be a good thing, but it's actually quite hard to maneuver. Especially when you're trying to just go straight, and it starts to roll to one side.
We're still trying to figure out if we're going to go anywhere tomorrow or not - I'd like to, but something relatively simple so we don't incur health damages again.
She also has this thing that drives me "nuts" - she'll be done with her drink and throw her cup on the floor. I've asked her repeatedly before the meal, during the meal, not to throw the cup and she'll still do it. This happens every meal. Oh well, very minor things. At least she waited until I felt better to act like this instead of when I was miserable.
One thing that she has been doing lately that makes me laugh is she's on a "spaghetti" kick. She wakes up in the morning and I'll say let's go get breakfast and she'll go, "fetti" (like confetti). I have to tell her that only poor college kids eat "fetti" for breakfast.
I was able to get cleaning done around the house today - at least the first floor. So that felt good to get that accomplished. Then tonight was grocery night and Chris wanted me to let people know how frustrating the grocery carts are here. They actually move sideways, which you would think would be a good thing, but it's actually quite hard to maneuver. Especially when you're trying to just go straight, and it starts to roll to one side.
We're still trying to figure out if we're going to go anywhere tomorrow or not - I'd like to, but something relatively simple so we don't incur health damages again.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
17Jul2008: Day 53: Relief!
I'm feeling so much better compared to yesterday (and the past few days for that matter). Not that I'd run out and do cartwheels but my throat is not as sore and I'm not achy. I still get chilled once in a while but I just put on a sweatshirt. It's amazing what antibiotics and gargling with salt water can do.
Luckily, Makenna has been really good. Not whinny and needy. So that makes things much easier for me. I still took a nap when she did this morning as I'm still a bit run down and hazy but I'm just so grateful to actually be able to eat some more solids.
So hopefully another day of rest and depending on the weather, we can get out this weekend.
Luckily, Makenna has been really good. Not whinny and needy. So that makes things much easier for me. I still took a nap when she did this morning as I'm still a bit run down and hazy but I'm just so grateful to actually be able to eat some more solids.
So hopefully another day of rest and depending on the weather, we can get out this weekend.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
16Jul2008: Day 52: Teri goes to Doctor Again
Another trip to the doctor's for me. My throat is so swollen that the right side is almost touching the uvula that hangs down. Needless to say it hurts like mad to swallow. Plus I still have the cold and hot sweats and feel like I'm walking around in a haze.
Free health care is nice BUT it's definitely different. Back at home I would've had a throat swab culture and more of a check-up than what I had. The doctor looked at my throat (with no tongue depressor), and then felt my throat. That was it. Said I need to gargle with salt water and gave me a prescription for penicillin.
So then it was off to pick up the prescription and home to rest. Hard to do when you feel like you have to swallow. I do have to say I'm very grateful for the church as I had the bishop and my home teacher come over and give me a blessing to heal quickly. Plus, the bishop's wife offered to take Makenna off my hands tomorrow for a bit if I need. I told her that I would so appreciate that and I'd let her know depending on how I feel. The gargling seems to have helped, along with mushroom broth soup that Chris bought from the Chinese take-out. Of course Makenna loved the fact that she had Chinese for dinner.
Free health care is nice BUT it's definitely different. Back at home I would've had a throat swab culture and more of a check-up than what I had. The doctor looked at my throat (with no tongue depressor), and then felt my throat. That was it. Said I need to gargle with salt water and gave me a prescription for penicillin.
So then it was off to pick up the prescription and home to rest. Hard to do when you feel like you have to swallow. I do have to say I'm very grateful for the church as I had the bishop and my home teacher come over and give me a blessing to heal quickly. Plus, the bishop's wife offered to take Makenna off my hands tomorrow for a bit if I need. I told her that I would so appreciate that and I'd let her know depending on how I feel. The gargling seems to have helped, along with mushroom broth soup that Chris bought from the Chinese take-out. Of course Makenna loved the fact that she had Chinese for dinner.
15Jul2008: Day 51: Belated Birthday wishes to Lori
My dearest aunt Lori had a birthday back on July 6th and we failed to mention it. So we wanted to be sure and wish her belated birthday wishes.
On another note, it was another sick day for me. In fact, it was pretty bad. A very sore throat and hot and cold chills and aches. I think my body is fighting very hard to fight off something. Luckily Makenna was very well behaved for the most part. I feel so very bad as we haven't been to the park in a couple of weeks. She relishes any moment we get outside.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
On another note, it was another sick day for me. In fact, it was pretty bad. A very sore throat and hot and cold chills and aches. I think my body is fighting very hard to fight off something. Luckily Makenna was very well behaved for the most part. I feel so very bad as we haven't been to the park in a couple of weeks. She relishes any moment we get outside.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Monday, July 14, 2008
14Jul2008: Day 50: Teri goes to Doctor
Just an FYI - I added pictures below to Saturday's activities. So if you want, go take a look at some of what we saw.
Yes, well as you can see from the heading, I now had to visit the doctor. I didn't have success like Makenna in that they didn't give me drugs immediately. They did give me a prescription but said to hold off on filling it for 24-48 hours to give Ibuprofen a chance to "heal" me. I told her that I've been doing that on and off for two weeks so I don't see how that was going to help. But she's unsure if I have an infection or a virus. I told her that Makenna is sick and what she has but I don't have the same symptoms so she doesn't think it's that.
I unfortunately, have flu like aches, a sore throat, and feel my sinuses draining. Plus in the morning my eyes are quite stuck together. So I definitely have something. Ibuprofen only seems to help for about 3 hours and then I'm achey all over again. Luckily Chris decided to work from home today to give me a chance to sleep and rest, (I wish he could stay home every day this week to help me get over this).
We then called a doctor later in the afternoon to get registered. We walked down to his office and Chris filled out paperwork and then we're supposed to go back tomorrow to pick up more paperwork to fill out for the National Health System.
On a good note, Makenna is improving quite rapidly. Her nose is looking better, and the spots on her face are starting to fade. Her mood and appetite are pretty good. It's good to have a happy child back. She actually likes the medicine too, which is extremely helpful. She actually sucks and bites on the syringe as we push in the medicine.
Yes, well as you can see from the heading, I now had to visit the doctor. I didn't have success like Makenna in that they didn't give me drugs immediately. They did give me a prescription but said to hold off on filling it for 24-48 hours to give Ibuprofen a chance to "heal" me. I told her that I've been doing that on and off for two weeks so I don't see how that was going to help. But she's unsure if I have an infection or a virus. I told her that Makenna is sick and what she has but I don't have the same symptoms so she doesn't think it's that.
I unfortunately, have flu like aches, a sore throat, and feel my sinuses draining. Plus in the morning my eyes are quite stuck together. So I definitely have something. Ibuprofen only seems to help for about 3 hours and then I'm achey all over again. Luckily Chris decided to work from home today to give me a chance to sleep and rest, (I wish he could stay home every day this week to help me get over this).
We then called a doctor later in the afternoon to get registered. We walked down to his office and Chris filled out paperwork and then we're supposed to go back tomorrow to pick up more paperwork to fill out for the National Health System.
On a good note, Makenna is improving quite rapidly. Her nose is looking better, and the spots on her face are starting to fade. Her mood and appetite are pretty good. It's good to have a happy child back. She actually likes the medicine too, which is extremely helpful. She actually sucks and bites on the syringe as we push in the medicine.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
13Jul2008: Day 49: Makenna goes to Doctor
So I (Chris) went to St. Marks again today. It was much more subdued than last week, but a whole less formal service than I am used to. The priest somewhat ad libbed his way along, occasionally sending us off to the prayer book The music was mostly out of praise and worship, not the hymnal and less formal as well, though they did use an organ this week. Communion was normal bread and an odd wine. It wasn't as crowded because many people were off on a picnic, but I spoke to one lady who was nice and told me a better place to park. Parking costs about £1 for 90 minutes, which amazes me that they still charge on Sunday, but she said that the councils only recently enacted that.
Makenna's nose is still scary bloody and she has an infection on her finger. I looked up staph infection online and she seems like she fits the symptoms of something that is common with Children...I can't think of the name any more (I keep mispronouncing it anyway). So, we took her to the Clinic today and they confirmed that she has this and that we were good to bring her in today. They've given her amoxicilian for 5 days and she can't go to play groups until she is done with it, which Teri is not happy about as she just joined that gym. Oh well, Makenna seems to feel ok, just her nose is pretty scarey looking.
She did a couple of funny things today. She got a hold of my GPS and in the 5 seconds she had it brought up a page that read "Would you like to delete 'Chris'?"...I don't know how she finds these things, but she is notorious with getting our TV's in and other equipment with remotes into the most bizarre states. Also, she saw a magazine while we were in the doctor's office today and there was a ad for underwear or something and the woman was in the bathroom with her pants down and Makenna kept saying "pottie". She has every once in a while said "pottie" and wanted to go into the bathroom, we have tried her on the toilet a couple of times, but we need to get a training toilet for her. The other day she said it and 5 minutes later there was a very unfavorable smell around, which Teri took care of, so we know she is starting to think about it.
Makenna's nose is still scary bloody and she has an infection on her finger. I looked up staph infection online and she seems like she fits the symptoms of something that is common with Children...I can't think of the name any more (I keep mispronouncing it anyway). So, we took her to the Clinic today and they confirmed that she has this and that we were good to bring her in today. They've given her amoxicilian for 5 days and she can't go to play groups until she is done with it, which Teri is not happy about as she just joined that gym. Oh well, Makenna seems to feel ok, just her nose is pretty scarey looking.
She did a couple of funny things today. She got a hold of my GPS and in the 5 seconds she had it brought up a page that read "Would you like to delete 'Chris'?"...I don't know how she finds these things, but she is notorious with getting our TV's in and other equipment with remotes into the most bizarre states. Also, she saw a magazine while we were in the doctor's office today and there was a ad for underwear or something and the woman was in the bathroom with her pants down and Makenna kept saying "pottie". She has every once in a while said "pottie" and wanted to go into the bathroom, we have tried her on the toilet a couple of times, but we need to get a training toilet for her. The other day she said it and 5 minutes later there was a very unfavorable smell around, which Teri took care of, so we know she is starting to think about it.
12Jul2008: Day 48: Battle of Hastings and Pevensey Castle
So today we went about 1.5 hours away through the smallest back roads you have ever driven. It was amazing that these are actually two way roads. On one side is high bushes and walls of dirt, and on the other is traffic coming at you. Teri thought (Chris is writing) several times that she was going into the dirt, especially when we had a truck on coming and a bicyclist on the road with us at the same time. I'm really surprised people ride bikes on that road. The bushes on either side grew up so much that they connected over our heads to create a tunnel where light barely got through. We went through several small towns that were very quaint and when we finally got to Battle (name of town), we were almost surprised to see the somewhat busy town.
As the story goes the King of England passed away and next in line was this Harold guy, well, apparently, this Harold guy and the previous King had promised the Duke of Normandy that they would give him the crown. Well, once Harold to the crown he didn't want to give it up and neither did the people of England, but the Duke took the issue up with the Pope and was given permission to invade England. So, that was when William the Conqueror was born, he got on his boats and went across the water and landed and took up hold in an old roman fort that was later to be built up as Pevensey Castle. The roman walls still stand to this day and date back to 200 AD...ancient. The castle has crumbled down to its first story, but you can still make out some of how it must have looked. It is the oddest shape of any Castle in England and no one knows why or what it really looked like. So William was there with his troops and Harold hears about it after he just got done beating up some Vikings that were trying to invade to take the crown and he runs down from the north to attack William. Everyone advised him not to because William would eventually have to leave because he couldn't feed his troops, but for some reason Harold decides to attack him and they have this monster battle where after putting up a valiant defence, 7,000 English troops died and Harold was struck in the eye by an arrow, killing him. Most major towns at that time were only 2500 people, so this was quite a blow. Within one year William was crowned king of England in Westminster Cathedral. William brought in Castles and this was the beginning of the Castle building around England. He built an Abbey on the spot where his invasion battle was fought as penance for all the people who died that day. He put the high altar on the spot where Harold fell. The Church that he built there as part of the Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII when he broke off from the Roman church, but some of the dormitories and the Abbot's house still stands. (Hopefully Teri will put in some pictures for me later).
It was a good day and a lot of interesting history. I hadn't remembered much about William the Conqueror from my school days and it was interesting to see much of where it happened first hand. It was well worth the scary trip down. Makenna was also very good. We saw a hawk and owl "falconry" exhibition while we were there and they had this absolutely monstrous owl there, easily as big as Makenna. All she kept saying after that was "ow""ow""ow".
Unfortunately, Makenna has a horribly bloody and runny nose. She has been sick for a week now with a runny nose, so we are going to take her to the Doctor's as soon as we can figure it out.
The one on the right was believed to be where the main keep was and the one on the left is from a distance as you're walking up to the ruins. But Chris noticed that the one tower looks like a face.
As the story goes the King of England passed away and next in line was this Harold guy, well, apparently, this Harold guy and the previous King had promised the Duke of Normandy that they would give him the crown. Well, once Harold to the crown he didn't want to give it up and neither did the people of England, but the Duke took the issue up with the Pope and was given permission to invade England. So, that was when William the Conqueror was born, he got on his boats and went across the water and landed and took up hold in an old roman fort that was later to be built up as Pevensey Castle. The roman walls still stand to this day and date back to 200 AD...ancient. The castle has crumbled down to its first story, but you can still make out some of how it must have looked. It is the oddest shape of any Castle in England and no one knows why or what it really looked like. So William was there with his troops and Harold hears about it after he just got done beating up some Vikings that were trying to invade to take the crown and he runs down from the north to attack William. Everyone advised him not to because William would eventually have to leave because he couldn't feed his troops, but for some reason Harold decides to attack him and they have this monster battle where after putting up a valiant defence, 7,000 English troops died and Harold was struck in the eye by an arrow, killing him. Most major towns at that time were only 2500 people, so this was quite a blow. Within one year William was crowned king of England in Westminster Cathedral. William brought in Castles and this was the beginning of the Castle building around England. He built an Abbey on the spot where his invasion battle was fought as penance for all the people who died that day. He put the high altar on the spot where Harold fell. The Church that he built there as part of the Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII when he broke off from the Roman church, but some of the dormitories and the Abbot's house still stands. (Hopefully Teri will put in some pictures for me later).
It was a good day and a lot of interesting history. I hadn't remembered much about William the Conqueror from my school days and it was interesting to see much of where it happened first hand. It was well worth the scary trip down. Makenna was also very good. We saw a hawk and owl "falconry" exhibition while we were there and they had this absolutely monstrous owl there, easily as big as Makenna. All she kept saying after that was "ow""ow""ow".
Unfortunately, Makenna has a horribly bloody and runny nose. She has been sick for a week now with a runny nose, so we are going to take her to the Doctor's as soon as we can figure it out.
These pictures are of Ruins at the Battle of Hastings. These are both of the abbey where the monks lived. The second floor is completely gone, along with a lot of other buildings.
The below are ruins from castle Pevensey.
The one on the right was believed to be where the main keep was and the one on the left is from a distance as you're walking up to the ruins. But Chris noticed that the one tower looks like a face.Friday, July 11, 2008
11Jul2008: Day 47: ASDA
Well another day of waiting around for deliveries. First the new king bed (although it's more like a double in my opinion). Then a plumber was supposed to come, or so Chris thought, but never showed. So that was a waste of a day inside. When the bed did show, they just brought it in, in boxes. So that was a job for Chris when he got home. So now we have a bed for guests - hint, hint.
Then we all went to ASDA. What is ASDA you say? Well, it's a subsidiary of WalMart. It was just as crowded as a Walmart and it had some housewares but mostly just another grocery store. We were hoping for more of a store like we have back at home as there were a few things we wanted to get but oh well. Chris thinks we paid the same amount as we do at a Tesco. I was hoping to find some things that we don't see at a Tesco but I still can't find common things like tomato paste, etc., unless it goes by a different name - which I find at times is the case. It got me thinking that someone should start a store over here for ex-patriots to find the comforts of things from home.
We also find that a lot of things go bad very quick over here. I guess maybe that's why they have small refrigerators. We just bought a couple of pizza's a week ago and they were all moldy, along with some bread. It's just frustrating. We could've just thrown the money in the garbage and would've had the same result in opinion.
On a positive note, Makenna and I seem to be feeling better so hopefully we'll get out tomorrow to see some more of this country. We have plans, tentatively, to go see a castle. Guess you'll have to "tune-in" tomorrow to see.
Then we all went to ASDA. What is ASDA you say? Well, it's a subsidiary of WalMart. It was just as crowded as a Walmart and it had some housewares but mostly just another grocery store. We were hoping for more of a store like we have back at home as there were a few things we wanted to get but oh well. Chris thinks we paid the same amount as we do at a Tesco. I was hoping to find some things that we don't see at a Tesco but I still can't find common things like tomato paste, etc., unless it goes by a different name - which I find at times is the case. It got me thinking that someone should start a store over here for ex-patriots to find the comforts of things from home.
We also find that a lot of things go bad very quick over here. I guess maybe that's why they have small refrigerators. We just bought a couple of pizza's a week ago and they were all moldy, along with some bread. It's just frustrating. We could've just thrown the money in the garbage and would've had the same result in opinion.
On a positive note, Makenna and I seem to be feeling better so hopefully we'll get out tomorrow to see some more of this country. We have plans, tentatively, to go see a castle. Guess you'll have to "tune-in" tomorrow to see.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
10Jul2008: Day 46: Couches
Yeah - we finally got new couches. Of course they didn't deliver in the time frame they said they would so Makenna and I missed out on play group. That may have been a good thing...give her (and me) more time to heal from this illness. When they were finally delivered, they were on a pallet and don't bring them into the house. So I had to have them put it in the garage until Chris came home.
When he finally came home (after 8pm), him and the co-worker that lives across the street brought them in the house. Then we had to unwrap them and Chris had to attach the feet. They are hard but at least they are more comfortable than the floor.
After they were delivered, Makenna and I went for a walk so I could get up to the post office to deliver belated Birthday cards. Then we walked back home and went to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make for dinner. Again, it was impossible to find what I was looking for so my original dinner plans were scrapped for something simpler.
Well tomorrow looks like another day of waiting for another delivery - hopefully Chris will come home early and Makenna and I will feel well enough to enjoy the day and maybe get out if it's nice.
When he finally came home (after 8pm), him and the co-worker that lives across the street brought them in the house. Then we had to unwrap them and Chris had to attach the feet. They are hard but at least they are more comfortable than the floor.
After they were delivered, Makenna and I went for a walk so I could get up to the post office to deliver belated Birthday cards. Then we walked back home and went to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make for dinner. Again, it was impossible to find what I was looking for so my original dinner plans were scrapped for something simpler.
Well tomorrow looks like another day of waiting for another delivery - hopefully Chris will come home early and Makenna and I will feel well enough to enjoy the day and maybe get out if it's nice.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
9Jul2008: Day 45: Happy Birthday Mom
Another July Birthday - my Mom Pat. Happiest wishes to you from afar.
Another rainy day. Luckily I had the car as Chris has had to travel out of town every day and they get another rental to get there. So Makenna and I went to the gym again.
Other than that it was a lazy day laying around on the floor. Chris contacted the homeowner and he was quite upset that the company came to pick up couches and didn't leave us any. So I guess he ordered some from a different company and hopefully tomorrow or Friday we'll have furniture to sit on again.
Some people know of my woes in feeding Makenna food. It's interesting that I take her to a "nursery" and when they have snack time, she'll eat pretty much anything they give her; apples, grapes, etc. But I offer her those things at home and its "no". Here's an example of how picky she can be. Tonight I gave her some left over spaghetti. Since there wasn't much I also hid some Spaghetti o's in with it. When it came time to eating it, if she got a Spaghettio - she'd usually spit it out. She did get a few down her. But then she got smart and saw the difference between the spaghetti noodle from the other and just ate around them. But I cooked some banana bread later and at first she said no, but then ate some. So not all is a total loss.
Hopefully we'll be able to get out to a playgroup tomorrow but it depends on this delivery of the couches and another King Size bed. Otherwise it's going to be a very long day on the floor.
Another rainy day. Luckily I had the car as Chris has had to travel out of town every day and they get another rental to get there. So Makenna and I went to the gym again.
Other than that it was a lazy day laying around on the floor. Chris contacted the homeowner and he was quite upset that the company came to pick up couches and didn't leave us any. So I guess he ordered some from a different company and hopefully tomorrow or Friday we'll have furniture to sit on again.
Some people know of my woes in feeding Makenna food. It's interesting that I take her to a "nursery" and when they have snack time, she'll eat pretty much anything they give her; apples, grapes, etc. But I offer her those things at home and its "no". Here's an example of how picky she can be. Tonight I gave her some left over spaghetti. Since there wasn't much I also hid some Spaghetti o's in with it. When it came time to eating it, if she got a Spaghettio - she'd usually spit it out. She did get a few down her. But then she got smart and saw the difference between the spaghetti noodle from the other and just ate around them. But I cooked some banana bread later and at first she said no, but then ate some. So not all is a total loss.
Hopefully we'll be able to get out to a playgroup tomorrow but it depends on this delivery of the couches and another King Size bed. Otherwise it's going to be a very long day on the floor.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
8Jul2008: Day 44: Makenna - Where are you?
Makenna was well enough for me to take her back to the nursery at the gym today. I had an appointment to have my "induction" around the gym. It was neat in that they ask you what areas you want to target. Then they build a program and it's all computerized so that when you go to the machines, both cardio and weight machines, that you enter your pin# and your workout comes up on the machine.
For instance, I went to the cardio machine put in my pin# and the the program that was set up for me came up with the time and resistance. Then I went to the weight machine and again put in my number and then it tells me what height my seat should be at, how much weight for that machine, and how many reps and sets to do. It also has a max/min bar so that you only push/pull the weight so high and make sure you only put it down so low so you get the optimal resistance. It also counts the reps and sets. It's pretty cool. I can also put in the times I walk to the gym, or anywhere else for that matter, as part of the work out. I can then earn rewards after so much time. I'm not sure how all that is counted yet.
We then got home and it was around 11:30 a.m. so I figured I'd get Makenna and I lunch and try to keep her up until 2pm and then put her down for a long afternoon nap. I was doing laundry as it was a good day to hang it out, and I went out to get her sheets that I had put out to dry and to also hang more clothes. I came back in and I was calling for her. I called for her a few times and then went looking. I knew the front door was locked and I knew she didn't come out back where I was. So I went looking room to room (especially the bathrooms) and looked upstairs and was still calling her name. No answer. So now I'm getting a bit nervous and went to look for her again. I went back into the living room and that's where I found her -
asleep on her books. What a relief! But it was so cute too. She loves her books. I didn't see her at first because she was to the side of the couch that you sort of see in the picture and when you glance in the room you can't see past that couch.
No need to worry about that now as later in the afternoon, some men came to pick up the couches (as one is broke) and the owner is replacing them. BUT they had no couches to deliver?! So as I'm typing this, I'm sitting on the floor. Chris is miffed too. He's going to try and call the owner tomorrow in Australia, but there's a nine hour difference.
For instance, I went to the cardio machine put in my pin# and the the program that was set up for me came up with the time and resistance. Then I went to the weight machine and again put in my number and then it tells me what height my seat should be at, how much weight for that machine, and how many reps and sets to do. It also has a max/min bar so that you only push/pull the weight so high and make sure you only put it down so low so you get the optimal resistance. It also counts the reps and sets. It's pretty cool. I can also put in the times I walk to the gym, or anywhere else for that matter, as part of the work out. I can then earn rewards after so much time. I'm not sure how all that is counted yet.
We then got home and it was around 11:30 a.m. so I figured I'd get Makenna and I lunch and try to keep her up until 2pm and then put her down for a long afternoon nap. I was doing laundry as it was a good day to hang it out, and I went out to get her sheets that I had put out to dry and to also hang more clothes. I came back in and I was calling for her. I called for her a few times and then went looking. I knew the front door was locked and I knew she didn't come out back where I was. So I went looking room to room (especially the bathrooms) and looked upstairs and was still calling her name. No answer. So now I'm getting a bit nervous and went to look for her again. I went back into the living room and that's where I found her -
asleep on her books. What a relief! But it was so cute too. She loves her books. I didn't see her at first because she was to the side of the couch that you sort of see in the picture and when you glance in the room you can't see past that couch.No need to worry about that now as later in the afternoon, some men came to pick up the couches (as one is broke) and the owner is replacing them. BUT they had no couches to deliver?! So as I'm typing this, I'm sitting on the floor. Chris is miffed too. He's going to try and call the owner tomorrow in Australia, but there's a nine hour difference.
Monday, July 7, 2008
7Jul2008: Day 43: This is the England I've heard about
Today was a very dark, rainy, blustery day. We've been lucky so far that we've only had only one other day like this that I can recall, and that was the second day we were here.
Needless to say, Makenna who is still sick and has an extremely red nose, and myself who is also fighting off a sinus infection, stayed inside all day. After a dose of Tylenol for babies and some wipes of the nose, and Advil for Cold and Sinus for myself, the day went better. If you don't mind watching 15 - 20 minutes of one movie to move on to the next and the go back to the first and then on to a third, etc.
The only other interesting/frustrating thing was I decided to use a different setting on the washer/dryer combo. Won't do that again - I started a load at 8:30ish a.m. and I swear to you, it wasn't all done until 3:30ish p.m.! Now those are some mighty clean and dry clothes I tell you.
I also went back to Saturday's post and put a picture that I had taken that day as it fits Chris' Title of "lazytown" perfectly. It's a really cute picture of Makenna and Chris taking a nap on the couch together.
Needless to say, Makenna who is still sick and has an extremely red nose, and myself who is also fighting off a sinus infection, stayed inside all day. After a dose of Tylenol for babies and some wipes of the nose, and Advil for Cold and Sinus for myself, the day went better. If you don't mind watching 15 - 20 minutes of one movie to move on to the next and the go back to the first and then on to a third, etc.
The only other interesting/frustrating thing was I decided to use a different setting on the washer/dryer combo. Won't do that again - I started a load at 8:30ish a.m. and I swear to you, it wasn't all done until 3:30ish p.m.! Now those are some mighty clean and dry clothes I tell you.
I also went back to Saturday's post and put a picture that I had taken that day as it fits Chris' Title of "lazytown" perfectly. It's a really cute picture of Makenna and Chris taking a nap on the couch together.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
6Jul1998:Day 42: Church and sick day #2
So now Teri and Makenna are fairly miserable. Makenna seems to be getting better, though she is crying nearly continuously when she doesn't get her way. It is really frustrating when we just put Shrek 2 in the video player for the 100th time and she then points to the video case and says "move" "move", (movie) then we say "no, watch Shrek" and she say "ne", to which we then say "no, shrek, not nemo". Then it turns into crying and moping. Until I give her a couple of warnings and then she gets put on the step until she can calm down. She eventually does, which is nice, but it normally only last 30 minutes and she is back on the step again. She is learning though.
I decided to go to a new church today called St. Marks. It is a very popular church and has started a plant church in another area close by. It was strangest service I have been to, but I very much liked it. There was a band and a lot of praise music, and a batismal pool in the front of the altar. I think it must have been a Baptist Church once, but they did do three baptisms by immersion today. They have and incredible number of young families and felt very much alive. The Church I went to last week was not so vibrant. This church again has bibles at nearly every seat and was very much into the Gospel. They had skits on what it meant to accept Jesus and how we carry our sins like baggage until we allow Jesus to take them away from us. It was very uplifting. This week was called a "family service", next week they have Holy Communion, so I think that will probably be more subdued. They had amazing quilts hanging from the walls and even though it was a big brink building, it felt very comfortable. All in all, I think this is best Church I have found so far and I'm definately going back next Sunday. There were probably 200 people there, but perhaps that was because of the baptisms, not sure. I'll let you know next week.
I decided to go to a new church today called St. Marks. It is a very popular church and has started a plant church in another area close by. It was strangest service I have been to, but I very much liked it. There was a band and a lot of praise music, and a batismal pool in the front of the altar. I think it must have been a Baptist Church once, but they did do three baptisms by immersion today. They have and incredible number of young families and felt very much alive. The Church I went to last week was not so vibrant. This church again has bibles at nearly every seat and was very much into the Gospel. They had skits on what it meant to accept Jesus and how we carry our sins like baggage until we allow Jesus to take them away from us. It was very uplifting. This week was called a "family service", next week they have Holy Communion, so I think that will probably be more subdued. They had amazing quilts hanging from the walls and even though it was a big brink building, it felt very comfortable. All in all, I think this is best Church I have found so far and I'm definately going back next Sunday. There were probably 200 people there, but perhaps that was because of the baptisms, not sure. I'll let you know next week.
5Jul2008: Day 41: Lazy town
Chris is writing again.
Today, Saturday, was a day of lying around most of the day. We didn't want to take Makenna out much because we wanted her cold to get better. Teri was feeling better this morning, but we just decided to go out and buy some towels, knives, and a fan, which we did at Argos (a catalog store I mentioned in an early blog). We were also looking oven mits, but didn't find any. We'll have to go somewhere else to find it. I'm sure next week I'll be sick.
I went and updated Sunday last weeks Sunday blog for the Church I went to. I looked on line and found a St Marks that is fairly close as well and I'm thinking I'm going to try that out. St. Augustine has a bible in every seat and they gave the page numbers out at the beginning of the readings. So, it is similar to home, but, I thought I would check out this St. Marks.
Today, Saturday, was a day of lying around most of the day. We didn't want to take Makenna out much because we wanted her cold to get better. Teri was feeling better this morning, but we just decided to go out and buy some towels, knives, and a fan, which we did at Argos (a catalog store I mentioned in an early blog). We were also looking oven mits, but didn't find any. We'll have to go somewhere else to find it. I'm sure next week I'll be sick.
I went and updated Sunday last weeks Sunday blog for the Church I went to. I looked on line and found a St Marks that is fairly close as well and I'm thinking I'm going to try that out. St. Augustine has a bible in every seat and they gave the page numbers out at the beginning of the readings. So, it is similar to home, but, I thought I would check out this St. Marks.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
4 July 2008: Day 40: Happy Fourth of July!
We had over about 12 people from Chris’ work (including two kids). We had tons of food and now we have a lot of leftovers. They all loved Chris’s burgers with his “secret” ingredient – Canadian Steak Seasoning, along with his Chicken wings. We also bought an Apple Pie from Costco and no one ate it! They opted for an Apple Crumble Pie which I made, a Patriotic pie, made by another person who actually came from BAE in Johnson City a couple weeks after we did for a year, and for brownies. Makenna opted to eat Doritos and dessert. I got her to try a cucumber, but it took one bite, that didn’t make it in her mouth, to have her decide, nope, Doritos are better. It’s funny because when we offer her food she’ll look at it and after a few seconds say “no”. But then Chris offered her a jellybean, which she’s never seen, and has no qualms about trying it and eating it. Do kids have some “junk-food” sensor? Nope – that looks to healthy – so I won’t eat it. Oh, look at that….that looks like it’s full of sugar – that’s for me! I don’t get it!
Well anyways, one guy did bring fireworks, but they were more “ground-type” fireworks than anything for the sky. We did have a few that went up in the air and the neighbors oohed and aahhd.
We also got some more English lingo taught to us. We got the history of Yorkshire pudding, which we hope to be able to try at some point, and got some more names of sights we should go see.
Not sure if we’ll get out this weekend or not. Depends on how Makenna feels, and now me, as I think she’s given me a bit of what she has. I already told Chris that when she wakes up in the morning that it’s going to be his responsibility to get up with her as I need to fight off this illness. Not good with a sick parent and a sick child. Especially when it’s the mommy.
Well anyways, one guy did bring fireworks, but they were more “ground-type” fireworks than anything for the sky. We did have a few that went up in the air and the neighbors oohed and aahhd.
We also got some more English lingo taught to us. We got the history of Yorkshire pudding, which we hope to be able to try at some point, and got some more names of sights we should go see.
Not sure if we’ll get out this weekend or not. Depends on how Makenna feels, and now me, as I think she’s given me a bit of what she has. I already told Chris that when she wakes up in the morning that it’s going to be his responsibility to get up with her as I need to fight off this illness. Not good with a sick parent and a sick child. Especially when it’s the mommy.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
3 July 2008: Day 39: Have Sick Child Will Travel…No Where
No play group today. Makenna woke up this morning with a pretty runny nose, so much so that her sheets needed washing. She sounded stuffed up and as the day went on, it was the right choice to just stay home.
I never saw this child drool so much! Her shirts were drenched – which was probably why her sheets were wet too. Plus, the whining, crying, and never ending unhappiness is all one can tolerate in a day. Please don’t let us have another day like that (ever!) or at least tomorrow. Granted she's found out that whining is the one thing her mother (and father) can't stand and she does it with great finesse to try and get her way. But like I said, add crying and a general discontent because your sick, and a language barrier - you're just asking someone to break!
It made it hard to get things done, but somehow I got the house all tidy for tomorrow’s party and got an Apple Strudel made. Of course, I left some of the finishing picking-up for Chris and left him to take care of Makenna while I took a much needed bath. I do love this tub! (Tina would like it too – it’s purple!)
I never saw this child drool so much! Her shirts were drenched – which was probably why her sheets were wet too. Plus, the whining, crying, and never ending unhappiness is all one can tolerate in a day. Please don’t let us have another day like that (ever!) or at least tomorrow. Granted she's found out that whining is the one thing her mother (and father) can't stand and she does it with great finesse to try and get her way. But like I said, add crying and a general discontent because your sick, and a language barrier - you're just asking someone to break!
It made it hard to get things done, but somehow I got the house all tidy for tomorrow’s party and got an Apple Strudel made. Of course, I left some of the finishing picking-up for Chris and left him to take care of Makenna while I took a much needed bath. I do love this tub! (Tina would like it too – it’s purple!)
2 July 2008: Day 38: Happy Birthday Cory & Uncle Tom
A couple of birthday’s we won’t be around to celebrate up at our cottage this year, so we thought we’d wish them a Happy Birthday for all to see! (And congrats to Cory for graduating from High School!)
Today Makenna got to go a new play group that’s about a 20 minute walk from the house. We had the car but I had no idea where this group was and the girl from church was meeting me at the park to then walk with me to show me where it was. It only cost a pound and goes for almost 2 hours. They had lots of toys and a small bounce house. They also had lots of mini cars/bikes that she could sit on and ride around. She really enjoys those right now. Then they had a snack and more play time. They also brought out an art activity – painting. We, mommy, steered clear of that. Especially when I saw paint around one little girl’s mouth along with remnants of a chocolate cookie. Then it was pick up time and story and song time. Hopefully we’ll be able to go again if I remember how to get there and it’s not raining. It just started to rain as we were just getting there and then just as we were getting home. So that worked out well.
We then went to pick up Chris at work later and went shopping at Costco—our Sam’s Club away from home. Unfortunately, I think Chris and I both like Sam’s Club better as they would’ve had the things we were looking for. After we got home, Chris ran down to the regular grocery store to pick up all the rest of the things we needed for a Fourth of July party we’re having on Friday. He invited people from work along with their kids and families so pray we have good weather that day! That means tomorrow is a cleaning day – whoopee.
Today Makenna got to go a new play group that’s about a 20 minute walk from the house. We had the car but I had no idea where this group was and the girl from church was meeting me at the park to then walk with me to show me where it was. It only cost a pound and goes for almost 2 hours. They had lots of toys and a small bounce house. They also had lots of mini cars/bikes that she could sit on and ride around. She really enjoys those right now. Then they had a snack and more play time. They also brought out an art activity – painting. We, mommy, steered clear of that. Especially when I saw paint around one little girl’s mouth along with remnants of a chocolate cookie. Then it was pick up time and story and song time. Hopefully we’ll be able to go again if I remember how to get there and it’s not raining. It just started to rain as we were just getting there and then just as we were getting home. So that worked out well.
We then went to pick up Chris at work later and went shopping at Costco—our Sam’s Club away from home. Unfortunately, I think Chris and I both like Sam’s Club better as they would’ve had the things we were looking for. After we got home, Chris ran down to the regular grocery store to pick up all the rest of the things we needed for a Fourth of July party we’re having on Friday. He invited people from work along with their kids and families so pray we have good weather that day! That means tomorrow is a cleaning day – whoopee.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
1 July 2008: Day37: Keys – Where are my keys?
So today I finally got to the gym and luckily Chris left me the car so I drove. I scheduled Makenna at the nursery for two hours (good thing), as it took me one hour alone to get everything situated (paperwork etc.) until I could start working out. So they give you this credit card like thing that you swipe to be let into the gym facility, and then you put it on the inside of the locker you’re going to use and you can then turn the key to lock it and you take the keys with you.
All fine and dandy, I do an hour of cardio work as they don’t want me using weights until I have my “induction” day which isn’t until next Tuesday. (Did anyone ever tell people over here that induction has to do with birthing babies and not being shown around the gym? But I digress). It was time to go pick up Makenna from the nursery when I realized that I didn’t have my locker keys. So I went back to the machine I thought I left them at – nope! I’m frantically searching for these keys as the locker has my car keys inside. I ask the front desk who told me to go back up and check with people elsewhere. I finally when back to the machines and found the one I was at and found my keys – phew!
On to get Makenna – where are my car keys???? I quickly looked through the backpack and didn’t find them. So I thought I must’ve left them in the nursery when I was filling out paperwork on Makenna. Nope – they don’t have them. AARGH! So I pulled apart my backpack and found them. Thank goodness!
Alright well we get home and wait for the cable people to come so that we can now have phone, internet, and cable tv. Well he shows and I can’t get the front door to unlock and open. This just isn’t my day with technical gadgets called keys!
Well, obviously he got in as we now have internet YEAH!!! Time to catch up on my e-mails, and my tv shows on-line as they don’t show the latest shows here.
All fine and dandy, I do an hour of cardio work as they don’t want me using weights until I have my “induction” day which isn’t until next Tuesday. (Did anyone ever tell people over here that induction has to do with birthing babies and not being shown around the gym? But I digress). It was time to go pick up Makenna from the nursery when I realized that I didn’t have my locker keys. So I went back to the machine I thought I left them at – nope! I’m frantically searching for these keys as the locker has my car keys inside. I ask the front desk who told me to go back up and check with people elsewhere. I finally when back to the machines and found the one I was at and found my keys – phew!
On to get Makenna – where are my car keys???? I quickly looked through the backpack and didn’t find them. So I thought I must’ve left them in the nursery when I was filling out paperwork on Makenna. Nope – they don’t have them. AARGH! So I pulled apart my backpack and found them. Thank goodness!
Alright well we get home and wait for the cable people to come so that we can now have phone, internet, and cable tv. Well he shows and I can’t get the front door to unlock and open. This just isn’t my day with technical gadgets called keys!
Well, obviously he got in as we now have internet YEAH!!! Time to catch up on my e-mails, and my tv shows on-line as they don’t show the latest shows here.
30June2008: Day 36: Washer/Dryer – One Machine
Well the plan was to go to the gym to start my membership. BUT….Chris called as I was getting ready to go to say that we had left the stroller in the car. So that plan went out the window. It would’ve been a work out alone just to get her to walk that far and I would’ve had to carry her most of the way, and the same would go for getting home. Hopefully tomorrow we can put that plan to work. So we just went to the park for a bit.
Other than that, it was just waiting around in the afternoon for the new washer/dryer combo to be delivered. It’s all the same machine. So you can set it to do a wash and then when it’s done washing it will go right into drying the clothes. Weird! Unfortunately, it’s still a small washer so you can’t let laundry pile up to high. Luckily it’s been fairly nice (nicer than what it is most of the time if you ask those that live here regularly), and I’ve been able to do laundry 5 days a week or so and hang them out. I did have one day, last Friday I think, where I hung them out and then later, I realized they were being rained on. So I had to go back out and get them and hang them in the house. But my percentage is getting better with that than it was in the old location where it happened quite frequently.
The only other thing is that it’s almost 8:45pm and Chris isn’t home from work yet. Boy, some things never change!
Other than that, it was just waiting around in the afternoon for the new washer/dryer combo to be delivered. It’s all the same machine. So you can set it to do a wash and then when it’s done washing it will go right into drying the clothes. Weird! Unfortunately, it’s still a small washer so you can’t let laundry pile up to high. Luckily it’s been fairly nice (nicer than what it is most of the time if you ask those that live here regularly), and I’ve been able to do laundry 5 days a week or so and hang them out. I did have one day, last Friday I think, where I hung them out and then later, I realized they were being rained on. So I had to go back out and get them and hang them in the house. But my percentage is getting better with that than it was in the old location where it happened quite frequently.
The only other thing is that it’s almost 8:45pm and Chris isn’t home from work yet. Boy, some things never change!
29June2008: Day 35: Church
Church at a new ward – Gillingham. It’s divided into three wards. One starts at 9am, then 11am, then 1pm. I’m in the 3rd ward that meets at 1pm. That worked out so that Chris could attend a full service at a church down the road. Hopefully he'll add more to this about his experience.
I guess because of the scheduling, they have Relief Society/Priesthood first, then Sunday School, then Sacrament meeting. It seems to me I recall doing this back at home a very long time ago, probably when we were split into two wards. But here, I didn’t understand why, at least this 3rd ward, is split from two other wards. I only counted about 50 people in Sacrament meeting, which meant a lot of empty seats. I’ll have to ask someone about that. Also the songs for Relief Society were done by a CD as there was no piano in the room. Then in Sacrament meeting the piano player played very fast. There was no “holding” of notes and no pause between the first verse to the next. So the sacrament songs were done very quickly. But that’s not the point.
Since we didn’t get home until after 4pm, it was just a lazy day around the house.
Chris' Day at Church: I went to St. Agustine's in Gillingham. They apparently were in search of a priest and are installing a new one this Thursday. The priest they had was a older man, but very good, though the organist gave the sermon. He said that his 11 month stint was over, so apparently they have been serching for a long time. The new priest has three young children. I'll probably go next week. It is a newer church probably early 1900's. It is large, but probably about the same size congregation at Good Shepherd. A lot of people participate in the services, which is nice to see. Seems very homey, so I think I will like it. It is only about a mile from home, so I may try walking there on nice mornings.
I guess because of the scheduling, they have Relief Society/Priesthood first, then Sunday School, then Sacrament meeting. It seems to me I recall doing this back at home a very long time ago, probably when we were split into two wards. But here, I didn’t understand why, at least this 3rd ward, is split from two other wards. I only counted about 50 people in Sacrament meeting, which meant a lot of empty seats. I’ll have to ask someone about that. Also the songs for Relief Society were done by a CD as there was no piano in the room. Then in Sacrament meeting the piano player played very fast. There was no “holding” of notes and no pause between the first verse to the next. So the sacrament songs were done very quickly. But that’s not the point.
Since we didn’t get home until after 4pm, it was just a lazy day around the house.
Chris' Day at Church: I went to St. Agustine's in Gillingham. They apparently were in search of a priest and are installing a new one this Thursday. The priest they had was a older man, but very good, though the organist gave the sermon. He said that his 11 month stint was over, so apparently they have been serching for a long time. The new priest has three young children. I'll probably go next week. It is a newer church probably early 1900's. It is large, but probably about the same size congregation at Good Shepherd. A lot of people participate in the services, which is nice to see. Seems very homey, so I think I will like it. It is only about a mile from home, so I may try walking there on nice mornings.
28June2008: Day34: Upnor Castle
The owner of the house is in town from Australia and he came over for quite some time this morning to show Chris different things about the house, mow the “garden” and bring us our new flat screen TV – YEAH! Then he had to call his brother-in-law who works for Sky TV to come and get it working so that we had channels. They have “free” TV over here. There’s like 50 plus channels for free. Unfortunately, some of them play the same things repeatedly on various channels. But I can finally watch some Wimbledon matches now since I won’t be able to in person unfortunately. (Someone’s husband I know should look into getting US Open Tickets since his beloved wife wasn’t able to make it to Wimbledon like she wanted).
It was nice to meet the owner, and he was very nice and he’s having a new washer/dryer combo installed next week, (its one machine). Also, another King size bed, which is more like a queen or big double, is to be delivered. He gave us some areas that Makenna and I can walk to that are close by and gave us directions to the train station, also within walking distance.
In the afternoon, we took off to Upnor Castle. It was only about 15 minutes away. This castle was built in the 16th century and was built to protect warships that anchored in the River Medway. The castle doesn’t meet normal castle standards as it was built for a military naval purpose. I know at some point there was a fire and they had to rebuild some of it and you can see the difference from the stone to the br
ick in the pictures.
Another wedding was taking place so we had to wait a bit to get into the main area and then I felt like we were intruding on someone’s special day by walking around like tourists, but we weren’t the only ones. Again, not a “grand” castle per se but it has history.
On the way home, we noticed a park that seemed to have a lot of kids playing and also a lot of playground equipment. So we stopped at it. Unfortunately, most of the equipment seemed to be geared towards older kids – like over 3- but Makenna still enjoyed it and was quite upset when we had to go. It also had a kiddy pool and a bigger pool. There were plenty of people and kids in the kiddy pool but the bigger pool was closed. We didn’t even mention the pool to Makenna for fear of a massive meltdown.
It was nice to meet the owner, and he was very nice and he’s having a new washer/dryer combo installed next week, (its one machine). Also, another King size bed, which is more like a queen or big double, is to be delivered. He gave us some areas that Makenna and I can walk to that are close by and gave us directions to the train station, also within walking distance.
In the afternoon, we took off to Upnor Castle. It was only about 15 minutes away. This castle was built in the 16th century and was built to protect warships that anchored in the River Medway. The castle doesn’t meet normal castle standards as it was built for a military naval purpose. I know at some point there was a fire and they had to rebuild some of it and you can see the difference from the stone to the br
ick in the pictures.Another wedding was taking place so we had to wait a bit to get into the main area and then I felt like we were intruding on someone’s special day by walking around like tourists, but we weren’t the only ones. Again, not a “grand” castle per se but it has history.
On the way home, we noticed a park that seemed to have a lot of kids playing and also a lot of playground equipment. So we stopped at it. Unfortunately, most of the equipment seemed to be geared towards older kids – like over 3- but Makenna still enjoyed it and was quite upset when we had to go. It also had a kiddy pool and a bigger pool. There were plenty of people and kids in the kiddy pool but the bigger pool was closed. We didn’t even mention the pool to Makenna for fear of a massive meltdown.
27June2008: Day33: We Need a Dog
Makenna and I walked to a camping store today to buy a “rucksack” or backpack. We figured that every time we go on a weekend excursion that all the bags that we’re carrying – three – plus the stroller is just too much. So we hope to consolidate down to two, maybe one. We hope to try it out tomorrow.
Other than that, we just went to the park as usual and Makenna decided to not wait for mommy before she went down the slide – and paid the price by going down in a somersault fashion. She was okay physically but was not too happy with what happened to say the least. But after calming her down, I was able to get her to try again. She tried playing with a few little boys that were there but they wouldn’t have anything to do with her. So she just moved on to play without them. There was also this guy that had a few kids around him as he had this contraption that would throw a ball pretty far for his dog to fetch. So I took Makenna over to watch and she just loved this dog. She laughed and laughed watching him run, and tried running after him a couple of times. But then she realized he was coming back each time so she just waited. Then the dog would hide his ball and himself under her stroller to get a rest. It just reinforced the fact that at some point, we need to get a dog.
Then she took a very long nap (almost 3 hours). I let her sleep this long as she has a bit of a runny nose. Then we waited for daddy to come home and after dinner went grocery shopping – again. It’s like a twice a week occurrence. I finally found something that resembles pudding mix but decided against buying at this time as Chris really wants me to make apple pies for the Fourth of July. He’s inviting some friends over from work and wants to show them apple pie. Although, we then saw one on the shelf already made, so that’s a back up plan.
One last thing about Makenna, that other mothers will appreciate, is that she’s at that stage where she keeps repeating one word questions. But instead of “why” at this point, it’s “hot?” or “on?” So if we have a book or a piece of clothing, at the moment it’s “hot?” I then have to reinforce that books aren’t hot. I swear I don’t watch much of Paris Hilton.
Other than that, we just went to the park as usual and Makenna decided to not wait for mommy before she went down the slide – and paid the price by going down in a somersault fashion. She was okay physically but was not too happy with what happened to say the least. But after calming her down, I was able to get her to try again. She tried playing with a few little boys that were there but they wouldn’t have anything to do with her. So she just moved on to play without them. There was also this guy that had a few kids around him as he had this contraption that would throw a ball pretty far for his dog to fetch. So I took Makenna over to watch and she just loved this dog. She laughed and laughed watching him run, and tried running after him a couple of times. But then she realized he was coming back each time so she just waited. Then the dog would hide his ball and himself under her stroller to get a rest. It just reinforced the fact that at some point, we need to get a dog.
Then she took a very long nap (almost 3 hours). I let her sleep this long as she has a bit of a runny nose. Then we waited for daddy to come home and after dinner went grocery shopping – again. It’s like a twice a week occurrence. I finally found something that resembles pudding mix but decided against buying at this time as Chris really wants me to make apple pies for the Fourth of July. He’s inviting some friends over from work and wants to show them apple pie. Although, we then saw one on the shelf already made, so that’s a back up plan.
One last thing about Makenna, that other mothers will appreciate, is that she’s at that stage where she keeps repeating one word questions. But instead of “why” at this point, it’s “hot?” or “on?” So if we have a book or a piece of clothing, at the moment it’s “hot?” I then have to reinforce that books aren’t hot. I swear I don’t watch much of Paris Hilton.
26June2008: Day 32: Teri Drove – Yet again
That’s the big news for the day. I wanted to be able to take Makenna to the play group that we’ve been attending but it would be about a half-hour drive one way for the girl to come pick us up so I decided I’d either have to drive there (or take a train which would’ve been harder) or just not go. So Makenna and I piled into the car to get Chris to work (I had him drive there), then said a prayer and drove home. It wasn’t bad at all! I also pulled into the driveway without and incident this time and when it was time to go, left without a problem. We got to the playgroup in one piece. That was the furthest I’ve driven. It was quite an accomplishment.
On the way home, I only had one car beep at me and I think it was because I was at a round-about that I stopped at (which I’m supposed to do), but I guess in this instance there was this lane where you could keep going without stopping, at least, that’s what I inferred. Then later, I had to go back and get Chris from work. So now hopefully I’ll be more likely to take the car at least once a week. I didn’t even drive on the wrong side of the road, like someone else in the house I know.
I was able to get out and get some sun too, while Makenna was taking a nap. I took out a magazine and the radio to listen to Wimbledon coverage, as we still currently don’t have internet or cable. I thought it would be very hard to just sit back and listen to coverage without watching but it hasn’t been too bad. I could just close my eyes and wish I was there. Plus I’ve been surprised how it hasn’t been too hard to keep Makenna entertained without a tv. But again, we have the portable DVD player so we usually watch Baby Einstein a couple times a day and flip between different movies that keep her entertained for about a half-hour or so before she wants different one in. Plus we try to get out to the park down the street and/or walks to other places.
On the way home, I only had one car beep at me and I think it was because I was at a round-about that I stopped at (which I’m supposed to do), but I guess in this instance there was this lane where you could keep going without stopping, at least, that’s what I inferred. Then later, I had to go back and get Chris from work. So now hopefully I’ll be more likely to take the car at least once a week. I didn’t even drive on the wrong side of the road, like someone else in the house I know.
I was able to get out and get some sun too, while Makenna was taking a nap. I took out a magazine and the radio to listen to Wimbledon coverage, as we still currently don’t have internet or cable. I thought it would be very hard to just sit back and listen to coverage without watching but it hasn’t been too bad. I could just close my eyes and wish I was there. Plus I’ve been surprised how it hasn’t been too hard to keep Makenna entertained without a tv. But again, we have the portable DVD player so we usually watch Baby Einstein a couple times a day and flip between different movies that keep her entertained for about a half-hour or so before she wants different one in. Plus we try to get out to the park down the street and/or walks to other places.
25June2008: Day 31: Panic Alarm
Today Makenna and I went for a walk again but the other way down the main street to see what was around. Not much really. There are some stores but nothing really too interesting. One thing I’ve noticed since we’ve been over here is that a lot of the Chinese restaurants don’t open until 5pm and they only do “take away”. I guess they realize that being open all day isn’t beneficial for them. We’ve only found one place that has a buffet and I’m not really too impressed with it as it doesn’t have our “usual” type of Chinese food (General Tso’s, Sesame Chicken, etc.) and has more stuff like seaweed and Indian food.
Oh well, as you can tell, not too much more interesting happened today. Chris did find the “panic” alarm in the house and was deafened by the discovery. I found the vacuum cleaner and boy does that thing have suction! The rest of the day was entertaining Makenna and putting away some more stuff from yesterday’s shipment.
Oh well, as you can tell, not too much more interesting happened today. Chris did find the “panic” alarm in the house and was deafened by the discovery. I found the vacuum cleaner and boy does that thing have suction! The rest of the day was entertaining Makenna and putting away some more stuff from yesterday’s shipment.
24June2008:Day 30: Shipment Day
When we were driving last night, I happened to notice a gym facility that we drove past, so today I decided to walk down their with Makenna to check it out. It was only about a 25 minute walk one way (which is what it was into Downtown Maidstone), so it wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was better than a walk to Maidstone as there’s less hills. The gym is really nice, swimming pool, lots of different types of classes to take, free internet, a “juice bar” and sauna, and spa. Plus it does have a “nursery & crèche” (I have no idea what the difference is). The only problem is that even though it’s in the gym, you still have to pay for it separate from the gym. So I’d still pay my gym membership then additional monies each time I went and took Makenna. Chris is going to check into if his work gets a discount. I figure 1 hour of my work out will be walking there and back! Oh, and they do have a couple of swimming time for kids and parents so I can take Makenna in the pool twice a week – which she’d absolutely love.
When we get back from the walk, we continued walking right down to the park as it’s only a block away. She was so excited. I forgot her ball though that I bought this past weekend and she was trying to take another boys ball and some other girl’s bike. So we didn’t stay more than 20 minutes.
Then we had to get home and start waiting for our shipment. It finally showed shortly after 4pm and then it was like Christmas—opening boxes and unwrapping stuff to see what it was. We got most of it taken care of (except my clothes are still in boxes) but Makenna was so excited to see her toys. She went through practically every book I had shipped and looked at them one by one. We we’re glad to see the basics – toothpaste, deodorant, and our beloved A1 sauce. It’s funny how lack of some comfort items makes you a bit anxious.
When we get back from the walk, we continued walking right down to the park as it’s only a block away. She was so excited. I forgot her ball though that I bought this past weekend and she was trying to take another boys ball and some other girl’s bike. So we didn’t stay more than 20 minutes.
Then we had to get home and start waiting for our shipment. It finally showed shortly after 4pm and then it was like Christmas—opening boxes and unwrapping stuff to see what it was. We got most of it taken care of (except my clothes are still in boxes) but Makenna was so excited to see her toys. She went through practically every book I had shipped and looked at them one by one. We we’re glad to see the basics – toothpaste, deodorant, and our beloved A1 sauce. It’s funny how lack of some comfort items makes you a bit anxious.
23June2008: Day29: Moving Day
We are now moved into our new house. It only took Chris a couple of trips to get everything over here we brought. Now to get Customs to send us the stuff we shipped from back home. We were able to get all our stuff put away and moved some things around. Such as dishes from a low cupboard to a high cupboard – need I say more? We also moved a dresser into the room that Makenna is going to stay in and moved out a hanging wardrobe closet. We may end up moving some other things as we see fit.
When we first got here, there was a gentleman from the real estate agency taking inventory of what was in the house and the condition of the house. He had to go through quite a lot of drawers even (like in the kitchen) and list all of the various items in them.
The other thing was that the heat was on in quite a few of the rooms which made it extremely warm. Chris couldn’t find how to shut a few of these off as some are individually controlled and others are connected someplace else. Also, there’s a security system we can’t quite figure out. So we’re waiting for the police to show any moment.
The hard thing is no tv or internet but it’ll probably be good for Makenna and I for a bit. I’m sure there will be a lot of Baby Einstein watching on the portable DVD.
Later, we went driving to the closest grocery store and I decided that I needed to try driving back. I did pretty well, even though Chris thought I had a couple of close scares of hitting things (I told him now he knows how it feels to be sitting on that side). But I did end up hitting something—the house with the left side mirror, as I tried pulling into the driveway. DOH! (as Makenna and Homer Simpson would say). So it may be a while before he lets me use the car again?!
When we first got here, there was a gentleman from the real estate agency taking inventory of what was in the house and the condition of the house. He had to go through quite a lot of drawers even (like in the kitchen) and list all of the various items in them.
The other thing was that the heat was on in quite a few of the rooms which made it extremely warm. Chris couldn’t find how to shut a few of these off as some are individually controlled and others are connected someplace else. Also, there’s a security system we can’t quite figure out. So we’re waiting for the police to show any moment.
The hard thing is no tv or internet but it’ll probably be good for Makenna and I for a bit. I’m sure there will be a lot of Baby Einstein watching on the portable DVD.
Later, we went driving to the closest grocery store and I decided that I needed to try driving back. I did pretty well, even though Chris thought I had a couple of close scares of hitting things (I told him now he knows how it feels to be sitting on that side). But I did end up hitting something—the house with the left side mirror, as I tried pulling into the driveway. DOH! (as Makenna and Homer Simpson would say). So it may be a while before he lets me use the car again?!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
1Jul2008: Day TBD - As promised Internet is back
All, Teri is going to load up our Blogs for when we were offline for the past week. We are in our new house and now have internet. Tomorrow the blog should be up to date. We have our Binghamton local home number up and running again, so call if you know it. If you call after 5pm EST you will likely get the voice mail...
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