Moving Towards a Target

Yup, Kelly, you read that right. Mookie was actually crawling on the hotel floor. The manky hotel floor. Ew. Actually, she wasn't crawling much on the floor, more on the blanket I laid on the floor. :o)  But, as is typical of babies, she didn't seem to want to stay on the blanket, she wanted to crawl to the manky floor. She was eager to taste it. :o)

I've got some good video, but today isn't a good day for me to upload any videos. Sorry. I'll give you a photo, instead.

When we finally got to Birmingham, Mookie crawled with and to my step-brother, my niece, and my dad. Her favorite target was Jonathan's running shoes. She was really eager to lick the bottom of them. Yum. And chew on his shoestrings. Tasty. :o)

So here's a shot of my dad with Mookie crawling towards a little stuffed gorilla (which you can't see).

She really only can take a few "steps" at a time before she does a little face-plant, but she's definitely moving towards a target. :o)

And I'll work on uploading video tomorrow.

Starbucks and Strandings

Hi. Sorry I've been gone so long. Did ya miss me? I sure missed you, dear bloggie friends. (sigh)

(Did you see the bottom of my last post where I mentioned a little contest about winning a Starbucks gift card? Go there now and leave a comment about your favorite Grandma memory. Because of our strandings, I've extended the contest dates).

So, our adventure started out rather simply on Friday morning. We got in the car in northern Michigan to drive south to Detroit to board a flight to Atlanta that had a layover in Chicago.

Can you see where this is going?

Did you hear about the mess in Chicago from Thursday to Sunday?

(sigh)

Had I been able to live blog from the airport or our hotel, I would likely have retold the story with a great deal more venom and vigor, but I'm tired of reliving the story.

We took off from Detroit on time, and things were (at that point) looking good that we would get all the way to Atlanta on Friday night. We got to Chicago on time, and things were still looking good. Then our gate got changed. And our flight got delayed. And the gate got changed again. And the flight got delayed again. And finally, about 12 minutes before the flight was supposed to leave, they notified us that it was cancelled. Along with about 50 other flights. Yay.

So, we got on the horn and called the airline to reschedule us on Saturday, but since there had been so doggone many delays on Thursday and Friday, there weren't any available seats until Sunday morning. (sigh) So we booked it. I could hear people all around me screaming at the reservations desks, and cussing like sailors, and just being mean.

Can I just tell you something you might not have ever heard before? Because, apparently, tons of people at O'Hare airport on Friday night have never heard this.  You get more flies with honey than with vinegar.  Not that I thought about it outright, but I tried to be nice to the lady on the phone. I wanted to handle the stinky situation with as much grace as possible. It wasn't her fault, you know. So at one point she made a comment about how Mookie was very lucky to have us as parents because we were just the nicest people she'd talked to all night. And if that comment wasn't enough to make me realize that my "honey" and grace were making her night just a smidge better, she upgraded us to First Class. HELLO!!  Score!!  :o)  So, when we finally got to get on a plane to Atlanta on Sunday morning, 36 hours later than scheduled, we got to sit up front. In the big seats. Nice. Very nice.

We were also able to reserve a hotel room for Friday and Saturday nights. I know that there were quite a few people that couldn't (or didn't).  I'd like to be the first to tell you that I'm so very glad that we didn't try to catch a Saturday flight on stand-by with a baby.

I think the worst part about it all was that the airline made the decision to not release our luggage to us. Even though we were stranded for 2 days. Even though we were leaving the airport. We were without pretty much everything. Except what fit into the briefcase and the diaper bag. And we were down to 2 diapers, and one spare outfit for Mookie!  Which, as you may know, is a recipe for disaster! :o)  Again, there was nothing we could do, and screaming at the person manning the luggage counter wasn't going to get us anywhere, so we left for the hotel.

I'm so very glad we didn't have to spend all that time in the airport with a baby. We were handicapped enough as it was, but to be stuck in the airport? Um, no thank you. The (other) bad part was, our hotel didn't have free Internet access in the rooms, nor did they have a "business center" with free Internet access. They were very European in that they wanted us to pay $5.95 per 15 minutes for the priviledge of using the Internet. Or $12.95 for a day. So I decided not to blog, and  we saved our money and just hung out as a family. :o) Dave walked to the store and got us some diapers, toothbrushes, etc. We watched movies, watched football, hung out, relaxed, Mookie crawled on the manky hotel floor. Good times, folks. Good times. :o)

Anyways, we're in Birmingham with my step-brother and his family (the famous Mookie-dressing Aunt Terri, and Mookie's beautiful cousin AJ). We got to spend a brief, but not long enough, period of time with my dad and step-mom yesterday before they had to head back to Gulfport. (sigh) We're trying really hard to eat them out of house and home...which is a challenge because they love to cook. And they cook well. And they cook a lot. So, lucky me!! :o)  Sadly, our trip with them was cut short because of our time in Chicago, but I'm glad we got to get here for the short time we did.

Now we're on our way back to Atlanta to spend some time with more of Dave's family. We're looking forward to it! :o) Hope you are doing well, and staying warm. Don't forget to leave a comment on the previous post about your grandmother! Bye!

316...Celebration Time, Come On! (Dec 24)

A farm scene nearby. Man, that horse looks cold!

So this is my 316th post!! Yay!!  Instead of a celebratory 300th post, like I'd hoped, I'm doing a celebratory 316th post!  Why 316? Well, a couple of reasons. There's this 3/16, which is famous in my world. And then there's this 3:16, which is famous throughout the whole world!

I would like to invite all of you to a party, of sorts. :o) Of weak sorts, as a matter of fact! :o)  To thank all of you for coming and visiting my little cow spot here, I would like to give a little something to one of you. Little. :o)  To one lucky commenter, I will give a $20 Starbucks gift card! Yay!! That's 3 grande mocha lattes and a cranberry oat bar around my house! :o)

Here's how you get lucky: In honor of Grandma R's birthday yesterday, leave me a comment with a short note about your favorite grandma memory, or an attribute about your grandma that you hope to have, or a recipe that is special because of her, etc. Then on Friday night, January 2nd, I will randomly choose a commenter, and that person will win the gift card. Sound good? Good. Go on, leave a comment, and tell me about your grandma, then.

Grandma (Dec 23)

Well, today was Grandma R's 98th birthday. What a wonderful celebration! People were trickling in and out all day long, there were quite a few flower deliveries, the mailman had a thick stack of birthday and Christmas cards, and the phone didn't sit in the holder for more than a few minutes before it rang again. :o)

She's a wonderful lady. And she was very excited to meet Mookie. And Mookie was kind enough to be mostly awake (for a while) when we first got there. She took a nap after about an hour, and then when she woke up, she was ready to meet (and charm) the next set of visitors. :o) It's fun to be around Dave's family, too. They're a bunch of light-hearted, fun-loving, cool people. Remember when I went to The Price is Right? I went with Dave's cousin, Anne, and her mom and aunt. This was the first time Anne and Judy got to meet Mookie because she was still cookin' when we went on the show. :o)

But this day was about Grandma. Here are 5 things Dave has to say about his grandma: She is (a) smart as a tack, (b) warm as a good hug, (c) sweet as molasses, (d) sneaky as a kitten, and (e) spring as a chicken. :o)  When I asked him about a (short) best memory, he said "I got a million best memories!" And he finally settled on the times when he was a kid that she would take him to Farrell's Ice Cream in Ann Arbor, and made it so much fun that he felt like he was getting away with something. (See? Sneaky as a kitten.) :o) This is probably why Dave has such a deep love for ice cream! :o) When Mookie was born (I've probably told you this), Grandma sent her some money. When I asked Dave what he thought she would like to give to Mookie, he said "Ice Cream," without hesitation. :o) I laughed and told him he needed to come up with something else, and the second thought was a teddy bear, because Grandma love love loves teddy bears. So we settled on the big, pink bear you see in Mookie's monthly letter photos.

Grandma R is wise, loving, generous, kind, smart, funny, considerate, and so many more that I don't want to say "and fun" because that would imply that there was actually an end to her attributes, and there simply is not.

There is something about grandmas that make us long for the past, but look toward the future at the same time. We wonder if we could have lived through the Great Depression. If we could have birthed our babies without all the modern conveniences (in our homes, no less). If we would have welcomed the "microwave era." And then we wonder if we'll be like them when we grow up. Will our grandkids idolize us as much? Will we be as gracious (and grace-full) as they are? Will we have hobbies that we long to teach our grand-daughters? Will our grandkids clamor to the kitchen to "help" us make that special holiday recipe? There is just something about grandmas, isn't there?

Well, enough philosophical waxing...

Today I took about 10 pictures of the four generations: Dave, his dad, his grandma, and Mookie. Needless to say, two turned out. It's kinda funny to look at the outtakes, though. :o) Baby looking this way, Grandma looking that way, Dad blinking, Dave yawning...etc. :o)  Anyways, here are the two that made the final cut for the scrapbook.

yawning baby

everyone actually looking at the camera! :o)

And, in honor of the frigidity, here's a picture of Mookie in her snow bunting. I give you Baby Nanook:

Ain't she cute?

(If I get a better EskimoBaby photo, I'll post it, k? Because you haven't had nearly enough of that yet!) :o)

Happy Christmas Eve!

Berries (Dec 22)

Here's a photo of the view out our window at the moment. A few green leaves, and some lovely red berries.

I suppose if I was really brave (and really dedicated to this photo project), I could have gone outside to take the picture. Instead, I took it through the glass. Where I was warm. :o)  It's pretty cold here in northern Mich, folks. Pretty cold.

Tomorrow is Grandma R's ninety-EIGHTH birthday. 98. So we'll be spending some time with her, of course. And I hope to get a few nice photos of Mookie with her sweet Great-grandma. Seriously, that lady is an incredible example of what/how/who I want to be when I grow up. She's awesome. I'll tell you more about her tomorrow night, I hope.

(btw...the in-laws have dial-up, so posts will be few, and photos will be small...sorry!)

Marriott (Dec 21)

We're in Michigan (Petoskey, to be exact). FINALLY. (sigh)  Two days of travelling sucks rotten pond scum. Frankly.

BUT, we're here, and the game of Pass-the-Baby has begun. :o)

We did stay in a hotel in Detroit Sunday morning. (Which is to imply that we didn't get in Saturday night as we were scheduled) (And slept in the bed from about 4:30 - 10:15 a.m.) (Mine eyes, they are aburnin'.)

Even though we were not in it long enough, it was a very comfortable room. And there was a big window that allowed lots of lovely sunshine to come in. Here's my capture of the sunshine and the baby and the room:

Hope you're doing well and enjoying these last few days before Christmas.

Sunbathing (Dec 21)

After 3 days of "dim and grismal," the sun came out on Thursday, and my kitty ran right over and worshiped it. She sure loves to sunbathe. It's a nice treat to have a sunny (though, very chilly) day in December. I could get used to this!

Reasons (Dec 20)

Another thing about Thursday (the day of the very cute Santa pictures) is that it was Dave's birthday!  It was a pretty busy day, and some little girly decided to act like a big girl and not sleep AT ALL during the day (ahem), so she decided 4 pm was a perfect time to sleep for 4 hours. What that means is that she and I didn't get to take her papa out to dinner as planned.  So instead, we had sushi at home. :o) Dave loves sushi, and it was just kinda fun, and low-key. Which is nice.

But while he was eating his surimi? sushimi? surinami? raw fish, he opened his birthday cards.  Here's the front of the one Mookie made for her papa. (It was all her idea, by the way)

Santa (Dec 19)

I took a bunch of really fun pictures yesterday, and just can't decide which one to post! It helps when you've got such a cute face and silly personality to photograph, right?

Seriously. Can't decide. If I (a) had more time, (b) wasn't incredibly tired, (c) wasn't kinda stressed with general holiday stressiness, and (d)...um...I don't really have a (d), but I didn't want to finish with (c), so there you go...If I (all of that), then I'd put up a slideshow of some of the 71 awesome and HILARIOUS photos I took of my sweet Mookie today.

Instead, I will give you one. But, which one? I narrowed it down to 12, and can't get much further. And as much as I know you would love to see all 12 photos...Mom... :o) ... I'm not gonna do it.

A little backstory. Yesterday was a couple of things. One was Dave's work Christmas party. I knew that Santa would be there to hand out presents, and I had to think about what Mookie would want to wear. :o)  I then remembered that my sister-in-law, Terri, had sent Mookie a cute little Santa suit, so I put that on her, and decided that whatever we were doing next was going to have to wait while I took some pictures. Oh. My. Goodness. Also, for those of you that have gotten your Christmas cards already from us, please accept my sincerest apologies for not sending you the much cuter picture. :o)

My girl. I could get lost in those eyes.

Now, you didn't think I could seriously post only ONE, did you? Hah.

I can hear her squeal in this one.

And, because three is a magic number...

Here she is taking a header off the sofa. Cracks me up every time.

(yes, I caught her)

And if you flip that one over, just for fun, she looks like Garden Gnome Santa! :o)

Bonbons (Dec 18)

I decided to make my mostest favoritest Christmas-time cookies and give to some of Dave's colleagues at work...the White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal makes-me-squeal-with Delight.

Mmmmmmhhhhmmmmmm.

I made a double batch, because, well, I knew I'd be eating half of them! I know I'm not alone in this. You do it, too...

When it came to the presentation, I thought of the cello goodie bags (from the dolla-bins at Target), and snipped the sealed end off to make a little tube. I put three cookies in each (oh, how I wanted to only put two in so I could eat the third...), and tied each end with a curling ribbon.

I love how they look like gigantic bonbons. :o)

Shades (Dec 17)

As Timbuk 3 would say,

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...

Mookie was fascinated by Dave's glasses, so he put them on her. Doesn't she look cool? :o)

Desktop (Dec 16)

The Shabby Princess makes digital scrapbook desktop templates and posts them on her blog...and lets you download them for FREE!!

I've now decorated my computer screen for Christmas! How cool is THAT?!?!?

I totally dig how the left side is left blank so the icons don't get lost in the fray. And I love the colors. And I love that it's free. And I love the fact that I spent about 2.3 minutes doing this, and now I've emailed it to the grandparents, and they're gonna love me even more! :o)

Now quit staring at Ol' Blue Eyes, and scurry over to The Shabby Princess and make your own!

Bicycle (Dec 15)

Sunday while Dave was driving down Hawthorne in Rancho Palos Verdes, and I saw something really kooky. I made him turn around and come back to it so I could take pictures. While he was doing that, he kept asking what he was turning around for. And I couldn't describe it. I could only say, "Aahrt. Eet ees aahrt." (In my best French accent.) (You can tell that, though, can't ya?)

He thought it was an apartment complex.

Oh, no. It was way more complex than that!

Behold. The Red Bicycle of RPV:

I've never been one to claim to know anything about art, so I'm not going to try to interpret this. I just thought it was cool.

And SO southern California.

Dessert (Dec 14)

Well, it got up to a brisk 58° yesterday. Brrrrrr. So, after dinner, I made us a couple cups of warm-me-up.

Mine was regular hot milk chocolate, and Dave's was his favorite: hot white chocolate.

(Bonus: I got to use the leftover white chocolate from the strawberry incident)

Lady (Dec 13)

At Henry's (aka Wild Oats), they have teeny tiny little apples called Lady Apples. They're expensive, but apparently they're tasty...

Almost (Dec 12)

Almost done...

They're not Joe's, but they are oatmeal cranberry cookies. :o) (they look like scones, though, don't they? Guess that's what I get for using oil instead of butter!)

Mmm...oatmeal cranberry cookies taste like Christmas to me. :o) Love love love.

Blurry (Dec 11)

Last night, as Mookie and I were lying on a blanket on the floor reading a book, she accidentally hit me in the eye with her little hand. Not a big deal, except that in that eye was a gas-permeable contact lens. The rigid kind. Also known as "hard contacts."

And out popped said contact lens. If you've ever worn hard contacts you know that something as innocuous as a big sneeze can knock out a contact...so a good swat from an infant is no match for these little lenses.

I'm pretty blind without my contacts or glasses...and that photo up there, of Gypsy (although really hard to take with an automatic focus camera) is about how blurry things are to me without assistance. :o)

And as you may know, hard contacts are pretty expensive. Like $75-$100 each. So I was not looking forward to making that phone call to the eye doctor tomorrow morning.

I did my most reliable finding-lost-contact tricks, and didn't find it without moving, so I risked it all by getting up (gasp!) and going to get a flashlight. (The glare off the contact makes it much easier to spot.) I swept over the blanket with the flashlight inch by inch. To no avail. Then I decided it was about time to pray. :o) I know I should have led with the big guns, but sometimes I forget. :o) 

My prayer was kinda rambly, and in the end I was pretty okay with the fact that I was just going to be wearing my glasses till after Christmas. All the while, Mookie was lying on a far corner of the blanket just cooing to herself in her usual cute way, and I happened to see a little glint. A little sparkle on the blanket that shouldn't have sparkled.

And there, 4 feet from where I lost it, I found my wee little contact lens.

And now I can see again. Thank you, Lord, because I didn't really want to wear my glasses over the holidays! :o)

Melted (Dec 10)

While the end result is very pretty and festive (and, may I say, tasty), I don't know that I'll be melting any white chocolate chips again any time soon.  There is more to melting chocolate than I thought!

But if you find yourself about to dip strawberries, go, quickly, and find your corn-cob-knobs. They will be your new best friend.

301

Wow! That last post? Hello. Was my 300th post!!

How anti-climactic.

I guess I got so carried away with the December Photo Project that I lost track of keeping track and, well, posted about a liquor store for my 300th post!

Dang.

Not that I had anything big planned, but I could have done something fun! And celebratory.

Oh, I know. I'll do something fun and celebratory in a later post. Soon. I know the post number already. But you don't, so you'll just have to wait and see.

For now, though, I've gotta go because the cat is trying to help, and the melted chocolate is hardening, and the sprinkles on the counter seem to be multiplying faster than dirty socks on laundry day.

Hello (Dec 9)

So a few miles from my house, there's this corner. And on this corner, there is the "Hello" Liquor and Clothes Outlet.

I find the fact that one can buy socks with their vodka funny.

And it's a clothes outlet, as though the t-shirts are at close-out prices.

And why is "Hello" in quotes?

Questions that keep me up at night... :o)

Kicks (Dec 8)

Itty bitty pink canvas kicks.

Stayed on her feet for about 18 seconds. :o) Guess that's why they call 'em 'kicks', eh?

Spacesuit (Dec 7)

It was nighttime, again (happens every day, I know). I had some time to kill, again. So I busted out the bubbles and the camera, again. :o)

Ever the persistent one, I know.

My favorite one? I saved for last. I just wanted to share these others with you first.

The tree. And the cat. :o)

For a little humor...

Roger Houston. The shuttle Christmas Tree is decorated. We are go for Angel Power-up. EVA complete.

Mookie to Santa. Mookie to Santa. Difficulty steering. Please advise.

(can you see her little spacesuit helmet, or is that only in my imagination?)

And, the money shot:

Stronger (Dec 6)

Every day she's getting stronger. Every day she's getting bigger. Every day she's getting ready.

Now, she didn't get herself up on her knees...she had a little help. But she stayed there and weebled and wobbled a bit before she toppled over.

I know she'll be up on her knees crawling really soon, and that's why I wanted to document for all eternity that on December 5th (when I took this picture), she still needed help from The Mama.

Phun Photo Phriday

I know it's late on Friday, but I've taken some cracker-uppers these last couple of days and I wanted to share them!

Rawk On! We're Number ONE, duuude!

(neveryoumind that Mama and Papa's teams kinda sucked rotten pond scum this year...we're obviously practicing for next year)

Mmmm. I think it needs just a bit more salt. Not bad, though.

Mama! MamamamamamaMAMA! There's something growing on my face!

(she decided to eat her pears through her "motorboat" mouth, and this was the hilarious result)

I lllllllove you, Mama.

..98...99...100. Whew, these push-em-ups are hard work!

Hope your week went well and you took the time to laugh a little. :o)

Elfed (Dec 5)

It's not an actual photo, but dadgum, if this doesn't count as a way to remember this December, then I don't want to play anymore! :o)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I especially love Mookie's face. She's a born star, I tell you what!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Oh, and if you decide to ElfYourself, please leave me a comment so I can go and laugh at you! :o)

Bubbles (Dec 4)

I have a picture in my head that I just simply can NOT get my camera to make real. (sigh)

Tonight, before I put Mookie to bed, I had some time to kill, so I blew some bubbles for her in front of the Christmas tree. And the reflection? On the bubbles? Of the lights? Beautiful. Simply beautiful. And can I capture that for you with my camera? Nope. I took approximately 894 pictures tonight trying, ever so desperately, to get the right speed, the right angle, the right background, the right light, the right...oh, I don't know enough about pictures to know what I got wrong, but I know I can't get it quite right with my little point-and-shoot (Canon Ixus 850IS ).

Anyways, here are some attempts. If I end up getting the right one this season, I'll share it. Otherwise, if you have any suggestions, please let me know and I'll try them!

I love how, even though the tree only has white lights, the bubbles seem to reflect colored lights. :o) It's the magic of the bubbles, people. The magic of the bubbles.

Abloom? (Dec 3)

In July, I posted a picture of what I thought was my Coleus plant blooming.

Here's what that looked like:

Today, I took another picture of the same Coleus plant, but with a different flower! I'm so confused! And I can't seem to find a good picture or description on the web! Shoot. (It would probably help if I knew the name of this cultivar, but I'm not that much of a nerd!)

Well, here's today's flower:

Very interesting...

Flashback: Adventures in the UK - Part 6

SHE BLATHERS ON AND ON


Originally emailed to family and friends on December 3, 2004. I had been in the UK for about 6 weeks. I will put new comments in [brackets] to fill in some gaps. Enjoy this boringly photo-free flashback! Seriously. I'm sorry this is so long. There are some funny parts, I think. Otherwise, I would have spared you the bore. Good luck getting to the end!


Also, you can find Flashback #1 here, and Flashback #2 here, and Flashback #3 here, and Flashback #4 here. And, finally, Flashback #5 here.

Okay, so you've missed my updates, huh? Why has it been two weeks, you ask? I would like to say I took a week off for Thanksgiving, but that's just not the case! The truth is that our lives are just getting kinda boring, I think! There haven't been too many crazy things happen that make me think "Huh, I'll have to be sure to put that in the update"! And I don't want to spend too much time complaining about British radio or British food! :) Plus, I figured with Thanksgiving, you all had more important stuff to do than read my blatherings on about life on the other side!

Although I have to tell you! (I was saddened by this.) Yesterday afternoon, I turned to what (up until that moment) I thought was the best British radio personality, Vanessa Somebodyorother. Her main "call in" question was "Do you remember your first brassiere? What was it? When did you get it? We've got the Queen's Corsetiere on the line with us to discuss this. Call in now." (Or is it corsettierre? corsetteere? What the heck is a corsetiere anyways?) And granted, I'm not the Queen of England, but I sure as heck hope I'm never too snootchy to choose my own bras! And, wow! What a job, huh? Think of the job security! I wonder how you get a job like that? "Guess what, Mum, I just got a job! I'm going to be the Queen's Corsetiere! (Mum: "The What?") "Well, it's a big job. You know, I get to fit the Queen's...uh..." how do you even finish that sentence! And I guess you gotta be pretty high up in British radio to get the Queen's Corsetiere to call in, huh? Not her driver, no. Couldn't get the gardener, uh-uh. Not even the maid... "we've got the Queen's Corsetiere on the line with us. Thank you for calling in today, June." (by the way, wasn't it June Allison that was a big bra advocate a few years back? Maybe she's moved over here and taken on bigger and better...uh...support roles?) [Oh what a funny gal I was back then.] I think one of these days I will just cease to be amazed! [Nope. Lived there 3 years, and amazement never ceased.] I think it just won't shock me anymore. Well, at least I hope I get to that point! My poor mind is numb trying to figure this stuff out! Plus, I think the boredom of my boring days has contributed a bit to the numb mind.

Well, I know many of you had suggestions for our dryer situation, and I wanted to update you. We decided to move it back upstairs, into the kitchen, and put a stocking on the end of the vent-hose! It works very well, thank you Jana! :) It makes the kitchen smell quite nice (not too many good cooking smells, I'm afraid!), and it warms it up a bit, and adds a little humidity to the air, too...which the plants like a lot!

I've had fun re-planting my home. It was very difficult for me to get rid of all my plants when we moved here. I'd had some since I was a freshman in college! Some had sentimental value. Some were just cool! And it's hard to know that the person taking your plants aren't going to kill them! Lucky for me, though, plants here have "sell by" dates on them (like they're going to spoil?) and the stores will usually reduce them by 50% on their "sell by" dates! So I've gotten some pretty fair deals on plants lately! I have tried to be selective and get good plants that make good plant-babies...so I'll have more plants without having to buy them! :) And this house gets so much good sunlight that plants will naturally thrive here! :) I've asked Dave to get me more plants for Christmas...the gift that keeps on giving... I think clearance rack plants are about the only thing that is not painfully expensive here! (and even those smart a little!) But I absolutely love plants and would go without chocolate in order to buy more plants, so it's all good. :) (well, maybe not sans chocolate for life...just for a day...maybe!)

Speaking of food...a record has been set in our household. Dave and I ate dinner at home for over two weeks straight! I hesitate to say "I cooked dinner..." because I am not sure a bowl of Lucky Charms counts as cooking. Yes, it is a nutritious meal, fortified with 8 healthy vitamins...but I can't say I cooked it. It was kind of exciting! Kinda challenging! Kinda like climbing Mount Everest. One of those things that you do once in life and say "Hmm...done it. Let's go back to normal life." So, Dave and I got creative and had some interesting meals :) ... including cereal! We had fun, though. Thanksgiving was the last day of a homemade meal, though. No, sadly, I did not prepare a luscious meal for my starving husband. I was about out of luscious-meal ideas, so we settled on turkey baguettes and potato chips instead! :) What finally broke our eating-out fast? The busiest restaurant in Guildford that night was the one, the only, Pizza Hut! :) Ah, it's good to be back to reality again. It was extra-exciting for Dave because after the pizza, he got to go for unlimited trips to the Ice Cream Dream Machine! (that's our Dave!) I think he stopped at 3 trips? Maybe 4? I lost count. It's not my first choice to cook dinner every night, there just aren't many eating-out options around here! There are a couple of Italian places we've found, and a few Thai/Chinese/Cantonese/gut-buster restaurants, but not the variety like I'm used to! :( And British [pub] food is rather boring. It's very brown. It's very bland. The first day Dave and I were walking around Guildford, our trusty guide pointed to a little shop called "Pasties". At which point I said "Hmm...Pasties...an odd name for a bakery, but okay." And James [Hi, Natalie!] laughed. He said, "No, not pay-stee (like how pasty-white Melissa's legs are this time of year), Pahst-ee." (well, James didn't make that comment about my legs, I did!). (Or pasties as in bra-alternatives...) I said "Oh, thanks for telling me! I would hate to make that mistake in public!" Well, the other day I had the opportunity to have what the Brits call a Pahst-ee. It's a pastry wrapped around a blend of beans (like pinto beans), and onion, and something else - potato maybe? [And sometimes beef. There are also different varieties.] I decided that they had it wrong, that it really should be pronounced PAY-stee...because it really tastes like paste! Except worse! Elmer's really has more flavor and zip to it than these thingies! It was hard to finish! [I know plenty of people that like these - even Dave. I just didn't.]


The Brits really like dressing up in costumes, though...especially the kids. Even though Halloween has come and gone, most of the stores (like Woolworths, and ASDA (Wal-Mart) are selling children's costumes! I think what they do is dress up for birthday parties and stuff. I have found out, though, that some people have their kids dress in costumes for Christmas! It seems a little odd to me, but it's cute, I think! They have little fairy princess or Disney princess outfits for the girls and the boys get to be elves or...um...well, other stuff...I was paying more attention to the fairy princess outfits! :) And the two little girls I know love to dress as princesses whatever day of the week it is, so that's gotta be kinda fun for them! Much to my chagrin, though, Dave and I are going to a dress-up Christmas party. Ugh! I hate wearing costumes! :( The group we do keep-fit with on Tuesday nights is having a party, and when they mentioned it the other night, the lady said "Our Christmas party will be the 21st, and the theme is Disney. I'll let you know more later what to bring." So I thought..."Hmm...theme is Disney. Do we bring Disney-related foods? Disney-related drinks? Bring Disney gifts to be donated to homeless shelters?" Nope. Turns out we come dressed up as Disney characters! AND we have to work out, too! So then I thought (I think it's a brilliant thought, personally) "Well, if I dress up as one of the Disney princesses in some big, foofy dress, then I won't have to work out!" Mais, non, mon cherie. That's not the way we play the ballgame here. Regardless of your costume, you still have to do a little bit of working out. Hmph. Foiled again! So, Dave and I have done a little research in our closets and I think we're going to shoot for Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. I've volunteered to go as Piglet because, well, much as I love him, I just don't think it would be appropriate for Dave to wear pink pants in public! The other option is Pooh and Christopher Robin. I think that would be pretty easy to pull off, too. So not only do I have to cook for this thing, but I also have to dress in a costume and still work out! Life is rough! I think Dave's got a work Christmas party for staff and students only, so, as far as I know, we've only got the dress-up-as-goobers party to go to. We'll let you know how it goes! :o)

The last bit of excitement is that I've been offered a short-term job. Yay me! It's a 6-month position covering for a woman going on maternity leave. There are tons of advantages, the biggest one being that the job is at the university! So it will save on gas (which is nice!), Dave and I can eat lunch together sometimes (which is a good thing), I can join the university gym and work out at my own pace (which is slow!), I get all the university holidays (like 10 days at Christmas! Woohoo!) plus more that I can take as personal days. I start my job on the 13th, so I've got one more week to get my affairs in order before I become a regular citizen again. I can't wait to be busy again! :-)

With all that, I think I can't think of anything else to report to you! Our lives are starting to settle down, and we don't have a lot of funnies for you! But as we do, you know I'll report them to you!

Hope all is well in your "run up" to Christmas (as they say here). I think maybe I'll make a pyramid of cardboard boxes, put a few ornaments on them and call the house "decorated" for the holidays! Should be fairly simple, I think! :)

Love to all,
Dave and Melissa

Covert (December 2)

Uh oh. I think I've blown my cover. I'm gonna try and distract The Mama by looking cute. Someone get in here and save me!