Update and Pictures

Okay- so this isn't a particular story- just a quick update with some pictures.

The week after my mid- January birthday, it snowed.  The snow, ice and bitter cold stuck around for a month and has finally melted away, but we are still having some rather chilly and damp weather.  But no snow or ice, so it is a gradual progression.

First the snow...

 (waiting for the bus after the snow)

 (walking to the bus after one night of a little snow)

The photos above were taken from my iPhone, but I did take my good camera out one afternoon and snapped some pictures while the snow was falling.  I loved one I got of the village church so much that I made it into a New Year's card (which of course I posted on Facebook and then never printed or sent to anyone).  I have smudged out our last name, but you get the idea.

And then after the snow, came the ice.

It got colder and colder, we started blowing through our tank of oil at an alarming pace, and I started cooking comfort food.

homemade chicken noodle soup

 goulash

On a random day the kids were out of school, we visited the farm shop at Elveden Estates and I picked up these adorable little "hot chocolates on stick".

They were delicious!

I indulged in a little retail therapy.  

I bought another beautiful second hand plate to add to my collection.

I bought a beautiful gramophone cabinet with twisted legs.  It does not have the gramophone in it, but I intend to put it in the guest room and use it to store extra sheets or blankets for the guest bed.  It will also double as a bedside table.

And one Monday morning, I decided to pop into the village auction just to see what it was all about. I won this little beauty for £2 ($3.24) !!!  It was originally a cabinet for a stereo with turntable and I needed a small cabinet for a little nook in my dining room.  I wanted to use it as a drinks cabinet and this worked perfectly.  The wood even matches my sideboard!

One cold weekend the sun came out and we decided to go visit an English Heritage property we had not seen (since we are members). We ventured out toward Castle Rising.  We plugged the post code into the GPS and took off.  We have had several humorous trips using the GPS.  It often takes us down byroads (which tend to look like someone's driveway, pasture or a sidewalk here).  Granted, we always get where we need to be, but on this particular outing, we got to giggling so much because we were in the Beetle. The GPS never told us we might need a 4 wheel drive for this route!  Matilda (my Beetle) almost bottomed out a couple of times and I wasn't entirely certain we were going to make it out without needing to call a tow truck.  So, of course, rather than panic, I let DJ drive and do that while I pulled out my phone to snap a picture. (Note: this was NOT the road where the castle was located- we were still 15 or so miles from it.  This was just some random road on the way there.)

But it was worth it when we made it.  What a charming place!  It is over 870 years old!!

In February, we went to stay the weekend with our friends Andrea and James.  They were our neighbors (neighbours?) the last time we were stationed here, but have moved from the area to down near London.  

Now, I have been trying to see Wicked for quite some time now.  Every time we talked about going to see it in New York, something came up or it got postponed.  Finally, in December 2009, DJ finally purchased tickets for us to go see it in Philadelphia for my birthday in January.  Sadly, my grandfather passed away and we had to go home to Texas for his funeral and missed the show.  

Well, I FINALLY got to see Wicked in London!  It was well worth the wait!  FABULOUS! Andrea, her friend Julie and I went into London for dinner and to see the show while James took DJ and the kids to a local farm.

 When we stepped out of the train station, I decided to be a tourist for a moment and take a picture of the double decker bus.  Later, Andrea pointed out the ad on the side of the bus.  How appropriate since we were belatedly celebrating my 40th birthday!  And if "This is 40" then 40 is totally fabulous!!

Meanwhile, at the farm, there was a rock wall.  Noah was hesitant and didn't want to climb, but Zoe insisted on trying.  She was really too small for it and only got a little ways up before the pegs were too spaced out for her to reach; but seeing her do it gave Noah the courage to try and he climbed all the way up!

Last week was the 100th day of Kindergarten and Zoe had to bring in a project with 100 things on it.  Their school mascot is the hedgehog so she made a little hedgehog and we glued 100 pieces of spaghetti on him for his spikes. By the time this picture was taken, he had lost some of his spikes.  Oh well... close enough.

And finally, while I don't have a picture, I will tell the story anyway.  Since Zoe has a summer birthday and would not get to celebrate it at school, her teacher lets them celebrate their half birthday.  She sent a note home last week stating they would be celebrating Zoe's half birthday on the 26th and asked that I send in a box of cake mix, tub of icing, 3 eggs and cupcake liners.  Part of the celebration is that Zoe gets to help make the cupcakes for the class.  She came home with her little birthday crown yesterday and said she got to go first in all the lines and also got to choose which rows lined up first from the carpet.  I asked her if she wore the crown all day and she said she did and that her bus driver asked her if it was her birthday today. She told him that no, it was her HALF birthday.  I am guessing he was probably thinking Americans were nuts- celebrating half birthdays.  

I think I have you all caught up for now.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Happy Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Day-Before-Lent

I'm not Catholic- so while growing up, we always talked about and observed Lent but I never had to give anything up for it.  Because that is how Protestants roll- we make our own rules to suit us and giving up food just doesn't suit us.  I use "us" as a blanket term for Protestants when I know that many of them DO give up things, so, really, I guess, by "us" I mean "me".  None of my family ever gave up anything for Lent and neither did  most people I knew in my youth.  We had a few Catholics in our school and I was aware they ate fish instead of meat on Fridays, but that was really it. And I don't like fish- so the idea of giving up our Friday hamburger for fish never sat right with me.

Because of all of that, I have always been fascinated by various religions and fasting.  Mostly since I have never done it.  Well, except that one time a few weeks ago I had to fast for blood work but instead drank a giant glass of sweet tea in the morning, sheepishly admitted it to my doctor who told me to have the work done anyway and she would note it when tests shows I was a raging diabetic.  Except that she called me later laughing because my blood sugar was fine anyway.

But, I digress...

If I want to get back on topic ( and I am not sure that I do because a big glass of sweet tea sounds pretty good right now) I need to talk about Lent and fasting.

Most people know Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter and that observant Catholics and other Christians give up something during this period.  Traditionally, it was things like eggs, milk, meat and fats.  They also didn't believe in wasting food- so a big celebration was held on Tuesday including a feast where they ate all of their remaining ingredients that would be forbidden during Lent and that were perishable and would not last through Lent.  "Mardi Gras" is french for "fat Tuesday"- because of they ate of all the "fats" before fasting for Lent.  My dad's side of the family is Cajun- so if you speak to me in terms of Mardi Gras, I can understand.

However, in the UK, this day is called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day".  Here is the information I have found on Shrove Tuesday:

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them.

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent.

Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent.

During Lent there are many foods that some Christians - historically and today - would not eat: foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods.

So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going off.

The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras ('fat Tuesday'). Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour. (source)

Today, they kids had a free pancake breakfast at school to celebrate Shrove Tuesday.

I think it is great to learn about, celebrate and incorporate celebrations of your host nation.  My kids were very excited to experience their first Pancake Day.

But, most importantly, they must remember their roots.  And that is why, tonight for dinner, there will be jambalaya!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!  Ayeeeeee!

Half a Year

That is how long we have been here.  Well, almost.  We will have officially been here for six months on Wednesday.  I cannot believe it has been six months already and yet, in the same breath, it seems like a lifetime has passed since we boarded that plane in Philadelphia leaving the last 12 years of our lives, our house, our friends, and the only home my kids have ever known behind.

I was excited to move to England.  We loved it the last time we were here.  I know I sound like a parrot here- because I keep saying, " I know we will love it again." That is me trying to be positive.  I keep saying that over and over like some sort of mantra but it doesn't seem to be sticking.  We are having a harder time here than we did last time.

Of course, I didn't expect it to be exactly like last time.  I can't recreate that experience.  I know that.  I mean, I arrived here after my husband had already lived here for two years.  He already had a house and a British car and had set up all the important things like television service, tv tax, road tax, electricity, etc.  He knew his way around, was familiar with his job and had some friends.  That meant that we had people to hang out with when I got here.  Our neighbors were very friendly and Andrea would just pop by all the time and ask me along on errands or nights out, so I learned, from a Brit, my way around and how things worked.  Since they were just next door, I could just pop over and visit whenever I had a moment or was bored  ( and I spend a lot of time over there).  Four months after arriving here, I started working on base (although it was not the most desirable job) and made some American friends too.  I settled in, had friends, went out and enjoyed life in England.

This time around, I have two children to worry about.  I have done my best to put on my happy face and try and show the children how fun England is and help them cope with the move.  But, the reality is, I am lonely.  I am miserable.  Other than a quick, "Hiya", in passing, our neighbors don't talk to us.  I don't even know most of their names.  A few have introduced themselves in passing, but that is all.  I have to come to terms with the fact that I am terrible at making friends!  I kept excusing myself saying, "Well, I'm still new here.", but I've seen people get here in the last few months and already have friends and going places with them.  So, it is me.  I miss having a friend to just drop by and have tea/coffee/cake/cookies and chat.  I miss having a friend to invite me over to do the same.  I miss having  someone to go shopping with, another family for my family to hang out with.  And the thing is- so do my kids.

Many a night, Noah has come down the stairs after bedtime crying and saying he wants to go back to New Jersey. He had friends there.  He went to play at his buddy's house, had friends over to our house and was comfortable there.  Not one person has invited him to play since we have been here.  Within the first month of school, he had identified two boys in particular that he plays with.  I sent notes in to school to go home with them giving their parents our phone number if they were interested in letting the boys get together.  Neither of them contacted me.

Zoe is having a hard time too, but being only five, she doesn't know how to express it.  She's having serious behavior problems, exhibiting alarming (to me) behavior when she is her most upset.  She cries because she hates her room and hates our house.  She doesn't want to go to school- she just wants to stay home with me. She appears to be needing extra attention, but it is to the point of being ridiculous.  She doesn't like for Noah to receive ANY attention. If we tell Noah "thank you" or "good job" on something, she is immediately asking, "What about me?  Didn't I do a good job?"  and the situation won't even be relevant to her.  We do praise her plenty and thank her, but it never seems to be enough.   We only have the weekend to all spend time together and I like to do things all together, but I have decided that perhaps we need to start splitting up and DJ taking one kid while I take the other and we have solo time with them.  Of course the problem with that is that I don't get to spend time with DJ.

Both of the kids are in need of playmates and friends.  They are not playing well together and just push each other's buttons, causing a fight and causing me to get angry with them.

DJ is grumpy.  He's not feeling fulfilled in his job.  He doesn't feel like he is accomplishing anything which makes him miserable. This bad mood carries over into other things in that when the little things go wrong, he feels overwhelmed (this weekend alone, our tv, that is only 3 years old has started going out and two space heaters- one that is just a few weeks old and one that is about a month old- have decided to intermittently quit working).  The brakes on the Beetle seem a little flaky too and need to be looked at as well as the fact we never figured out what was wrong with the Zafira after it left me stranded on the side of the road.

So, while I keep telling myself "It will get better. We will love it here again.", I am starting to not believe it.  Before, I was confident we would be fine and we would settle in, but now I am not so sure.

I told the kids this morning that they cannot keep comparing England to New Jersey.  They need to accept this as a new experience and enjoy the thing they can do here that they can't do in America.  I reminded them that if they continue to hang on to New Jersey, it will be a very long and miserable three years here.  I need to listen to my own advice.  I thought I had.  I came here excited to be here, with an open mind, ready for adventure.  I was ready to show my kids why we loved it here so much.

And yet, six months later- here I sit- with a silent phone and a dusty front door mat, unable to capture the magic I left behind twelve years ago.  Here's to the next six months!  May they go nowhere but up and may they be filled with love, laughter and acceptance.