Riding in Cars with Boys

As I may have mentioned in a previous post or six, we have been waiting on our sea shipment to be released from captivity (that's US Customs in non-angry English).  Our shipment actually consists of  two containers which are the size of very large moving vans. One is filled with all of our (hopefully undamaged) furniture and the other contains  a little car my hubs bought not long after we arrived in the UK.

She's cute.

She is a sweet reminder of England.

And today she is at home in our garage in the USA.

 

Finally.

And this is one happy boy.

Dixie is pretty excited too.

Course you can't unpack all your clothes and put them away in a little car.  And you can't cook dinner in a little car.  And you can't plop down in your jammies and watch tv in a little car.   For those things you need honest to goodness furniture.  Which is STILL in US customs. 

Whatever.

Life is like a box of chocolates

My husband planned to go into work late this morning since we were waiting to have a refrigerator delivered and he would need to connect the water before they jammed it into place.  Turns out it couldn't be jammed and had to go back to the shop for a slightly smaller replacement which, surprise surprise, has to be ordered.   Just  a tiny blip in the radar that is life these days.   We both said last night that based on how 'smoothly' things have gone so far we were pretty certain the frig wouldn't fit when delivered.

Anyway, not a total waste of time because hubs did manage to get our new computer up and running in the house without a single service person of any size shape or variety having to come out three times to make it happen.  In fact I'm typing this post on my brand new Mac.  Which I don't really know how to use.  Kinda like my new phone.  And the sat nav.  And the tv remote.  I keep saying I'm going to read the manuals and I have all kinds of time to do just that but I don't.  I like to say I'm learning by doing.  

While waiting on the frig delivery we spotted two big wild turkeys in our back garden.  (Don't worry-they were alive and well when they walked up into the woods).  The dog never even blinked.  Hell0!... aren't you a bird dog???  She's far too busy trying to figure out how to get into the front garden and catch her some groundhog.  We think we've got her temporarily outsmarted though.  The fence went up yesterday.  Well, almost.  It was supposed to be finished yesterday but had to be finished today because they ran into a small problem with a huge boulder that required a special tool to break it up.

I'm suddenly struck by the randomness of this post.   I think I may have mentioned (at least 157 times) that I'm spending my days sitting in a house with no furniture waiting on repair/service/installation people.  And that this is day 42, not that I'm counting or anything. And I have to say that spending your time this way doesn't really inspire creative thought.   I do know though, that this is a season and one day soon life will return to normal.  Have I also mentioned that I don't have a clue what the phrase  'normal life' will actually mean for me here? I think maybe you're going to have to stay tuned to find out. 

It's A Grand Old Flag

There is something very moving about seeing your flag fly in another country. On a day to day basis while living in a foreign country you don't really think about what you are missing at 'home'. You enjoy the moment...where you are...the people around you. But seeing the flag fly is a reminder of home and it triggers the memory of all you love about America.

This is our first 4th of July spent in the US in several years. It's just another day in England but every year our neighboring village did acknowledge the day like this....

Turning on to this little street every July and seeing the flag waving in the breeze could make me feel just a little bit teary eyed. This year we're celebrating with friends...from England. Like us, they are living back in America now. And the sun is shining. Finally. It's gonna be a good day.

Enjoy this 4th of July...wherever you may be...

So Close...

and yet so far....I was really excited for about five minutes. My husband got the word from our movers that our container would be delivered on Friday. This afternoon they told him our shipment release had been cancelled and customs will open our container. Apparently they go thru it by hand. I don't know if some word or phrase triggers this...my husband was trying to explain it all to me... something about the wood used to build the crates that were created in the UK for our more fragile items...I kind of stopped listening after he said he had no idea now when it will get to us. And when he added that our moving company also gently explained that when customs opens a container you are pretty much guaranteed damage.

I'm trying not to think about it all too hard right now but the problem is I have a lot of time to think about it too hard right now. I think I may have mentioned that I'm living in a hotel. I know it's just stuff and we have insurance and didn't I learn this lesson when we moved to the UK and I left lots of the 'stuff' I loved behind and still managed to survive??? I guess we all know it's the memories associated with our 'stuff' that cannot be replaced. Anyway, hubs and I have decided to move out of the hotel and into the house. We do have a bed there that came out of storage so I'll get some sheets and we'll camp out a bit. I guess we can eat out every night there just as easily as we can eat out here.


I was in the car when my husband called to break the news and practically as soon as I hung up the skies literally burst open. You may have heard that it rains in England. And rains. And rains. But it seldom RAINSRAINSRAINSRAINS. I haven't seen rain and lightning like this in years. In fact we rarely ever saw lightning in England. It kind of fit with my day though.


I met the alarm repairman at the house this morning. He was there for his second visit (same company, different guy). The alarm company's second visit followed the phone company's third visit which seemed to finally do the trick and now both phone and alarm are working. The repairman asked me where we'd moved from and when I said England he said, "Who do you support?" Ahh...British football fans....it made me smile.

The plumber has been to the house too. He came out after the appliance repairman who couldn't repair the dryer. Which is why the appliance repairman is coming back tomorrow with a new dryer. See what I mean about my day? My month? The fence guy has been out too. He'll be back. And we still need to deal with the internet...we have the components and are picking up our new computer tonite so here's hoping it all comes together. Based on how it's all working so far I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be seeing the internet guy soon too. I can't say I've made any real new friends yet but I am certainly getting well acquainted with the service industry in Northern New Jersey.


Oh, and I got my new checks today. The bank somehow managed to put one line of my British address and one line of my American address on them. A foot on both continents. Perfect. That's exactly how I feel.

Large is the new small?

My husband and I went out to dinner last night...again. I know you're maybe not feeling too sorry for me but you know that saying, 'Too much of a good thing?"...well, sometimes it's true.

And we've also realized that we are back in the land of the doggy bag and this is pretty much an American thing. In the 6 years we spent living abroad we never once took home a doggy bag. And I don't think we were ever even asked if we wanted one. And we pretty much never needed one. We just were not given the humongous portions of food that you get in US restaurants. Honestly sometimes a portion here is the equivalent of what I'd prepare for my entire family if I cooked the same meal at home. If I were actually living in my house and cooking any meals that is. And no I'm not feeling antsy or anything.

It does seem though, like its hard to get a small anything...we ordered a small soda the other day and I think it was 16 oz. That's a small? That used to be a large.

There are so many things to get used to in this whole repatriation experience. I'm just hoping supersized everything isn't one of them.

Wild America

I don't know why my husband and I were worried about how to 'encourage' the three or more groundhogs currently residing in our rock wall to find a new home. Silly us. We completely forgot about that whole Circle of Life thing.


Yesterday we spent the afternoon waiting waiting waiting at the house for the TV install. They give you a four hour window and of course they arrive at hour 3.59. And technically the TV is not completely installed yet but that would be a whole 'nother post. We did manage to make good use of our time though ...my husband cleaned the hardwood floors and scoured the grill that has been in storage. And I spent most of the day shredding old office paperwork and washing dishes. I didn't even mind though because I haven't seen my china and crystal in six years and I was happy to discover that I love them every bit as much today as I did when I got married 25 years ago.

And if you're still reading you may be wondering what this has to do with groundhogs? Well... I was happily washing china when my husband called out those dreaded words, " Come quick and look at this!" I think you know what that means....we stood in our sunroom and watched as a very small fox methodically went into the groundhog hole and came out with a groundhog...in his mouth. He kindly laid it on a rock for all the world to see and then (and I'm not making this up) he looked us straight in the eye. It was kind of like one of those staring contests I used to have with my sister when we were kids. I think I know why they call them sly. And cunning. And I'd love to post a picture but have I mentioned that I'm living in a hotel? STILL?

We had many a fox in our garden in England but they somehow seemed tame. In fact one year a fox made a little nest and had its babies in my side yard. So cute. But this one...not so much. He was more like the creepy fox who led Pinocchio astray. He left the groundhog on the rock until we finally moved away from the window. I was worried he was going to leave it there permanently but my husband said there was no way the fox wouldn't come back for his dinner. Sure enough, as soon as we walked away from the window he scooped it up and ran off into the woods.

And you were worried I wouldn't have anything to write about here. What I really can't believe is that a month ago I was chatting about French champagne. Today it's a dead groundhog and a sly fox. No worries though...I'm rollin' with the changes.

They're my words and I'm stickin' with 'em

I've had a few comments and emails about the fact that I used the word rubbish bin in my last post. I know it's called a trash can here but really, don't you think rubbish bin sounds so much nicer?

There are so many words and expressions the Brits use that I love. I've written about quite a few of those words and expressions in my posts here and here and here, and wow, here too....I guess I really do like them. Which is why I'm going to continue to use some of them. To be honest some of these words just slip out without me realizing it. Like rubbish bin. And mobile. And petrol. And surname. I can't tell you how many times in the past three weeks I've been asked over the phone for my name and I've replied, 'My surname is...' It's habit. You are never asked for your 'last name' in England, it's always your surname. Just like you never say 'to go' or 'carry out'. It's always 'take away'. My husband still makes fun of me because one of my earliest experiences in England was ordering food 'to go' over the phone from an Indian restaurant and it turned into a kind of bad Abbott and Costello routine. I think I may have cried. And I definitely hung up without ordering. I made my husband call back to place the order...he loves a challenge.


I used the word queue the other day. I love that word. It slipped right out at the DMV and the woman behind the counter gave me a funny look. She also managed to give me a new license with minimal aggravation. They pretty much do everything but take blood when you apply for a license in this state so my husband and I were pretty pleased with ourselves in obtaining ours on Saturday. Small victories.

My husband says 'Cheers' to the guy at the hotel counter pretty much every day. I'm quite certain he thinks we're hitting the sauce in our hotel room. After all, we've been living here for almost a month so he probably wouldn't blame us, but we're not. It's just a friendly way of saying thanks, bye.

Oh, and I have to laugh when I'm asked why I don't speak with a British accent. If you've been reading my blog imagining me with an accent I hope you aren't too disappointed. I'd love to have an accent but alas, growing up in the Philadelphia area doesn't give one a British accent. For the record I don't say yous guys either. That's just wrong. I did go to uni in Tennessee and picked up a Southern accent in a matter of seconds. And I've lived a lot of my married life in the south and people sometimes hear that in my speech. Uni! That's another one. That would be college to the Americans but it's referred to as university in the UK. And it's often shortened to uni. In the UK college usually means something between school and university. Or you might be talking about a school within a university...for instance Oxford University is home to 38 colleges.
Anyway, you'll continue to see some British words and phrases pop up in my blog because I like them. And because sometimes I forget where I am living. But mostly I just like them. In fact....I think they're brilliant. Told you I was going to use that word here.