OUCH!

Im being eaten alive!

For some reason the mosquitos here seem to love english blood! Maybe its more refined or something (i know for sure mines not blue!) but OMG! I have a total of 35 bites over both legs. And thats only from the knees down!

HELP!

Found myself at the shop at 7.55am today buying itch relief and the biggest can of mozzy spray that can be legally sold in the state of Texas!

Stay tuned for more update on the war!

TTFN

C xx

Normal service will resume soon!

Sorry its been a while since my last post.

Been trying steadily to unpack all the boxes and over the weekend I finally feel like we are on the home stretch... The kids needed new mattresses and Lewis a new bed. It arrives tomorrow. Both kids now have curtains and blinds at their windows and Abbi has a dresser arriving tomorrow to replace the wardrobe that had nowhere to live! That just leaves a couple boxes that have unknown items in (!) and my craft goodies. Im taking my time with these as Im pruning and throwing away as I unpack. Gosh it makes you feel virtuous having a clear out!

The list never seems to end though!... We still need a new computer desk, 4 or 6 dining chairs, rugs for the living room and under the dining table. We are also seriously looking at a sectional couch for the living room as we have a broken spring in our old one... will probably have to wait till the house is sold and finances are straight! In our room we just need to put up some curtains, hang pictures, put the headboard on, buy some bath mats... Oh dear! I wish I hadnt started this now!....

On top of all that we are in negotiations for the house in the UK (fingers crossed!) We are going to be out of pocket but not by too much. Makes more sense to sell at a slight loss than to keep paying the mortgage indefinately.

AND! The kids break up from school on FRIDAY!!!

I personally think it should be against the law but here in Texas they have... get this... a total of 12 weeks summer holiday!!!

12 Weeks?? Who thought that one up? I hope they are locked up in the same insane asylum where I will be in 12 weeks time...!

Luckily Abbi has some homework to go through so at least her brain wont be total mush by the time school starts again. Nothing major, just some maths... She is a very bright spark but the terminology and the way math is taught here is so completely different we are making sure she starts the next grade with (hopefully) a bit of a head start and a firm grasp of what the teachers are talking about!

Maybe some photos to come in the next week, Who knows, crafting might happen!

TTFN!

C xx

PS. Look out for the sheep!

Photos...

Just a quick update today... wanted to share a couple of photos with everyone...

Heres a lovely photo I took of the kiddos before we left the UK. They are both actually smiling for once as opposed to pulling faces at each other, poking eyes, pinching, yelling etc...

Cute huh?

This is a photo of our new rental home... Yes there is a house behind all that green! Once the summer is over we will be majorly pruning back believe me! House was empty for about a year so the gardens need some tlc...



Heres our mail box...

For those of you in the USA, please humour us brits, its a novelty to us ok!

Enjoy! Crafting by the weekend hopefully!

TTFN,
C xx

O M G ITS HOT!

Do you remember on those rare summer days in England when it reaches 95 degrees and OAP's are being bundled into ambulances and carted off to hospital due to heat exhaustion? When the whole population of the country squeezes onto the 10feet of beach that hasnt been poluted or pooped on by dogs, and the ice cream man runs out?

Well...

It was 98 yesterday. Today its expected to be 100. Tomorrow its forecast to be 103!

HELP!

The rental car has gone back today (Very sad as it had the BEST air conditioning in the world!) so now I have to walk to pick Abbi up from school. Not that its very far, only a 10 minute walk. But its 98 degrees already people! Im also surrounded by a million boxes screaming 'unpack me!' but just the effort of walking to the fridge brings on sweaty armpits and foreheads so nothing is being 'sprung' from box prison today!

Ok, I know we have air conditioning but im under strict instructions not to use it coz its about to give up the ghost and will cost us a fortune to run... BUT!!! He's not here is he...

Think Im off to find the switch... Shhh! Don't tell!

By the way... Ive noticed a vindictive streak in Texans. Upon discovering I am from the UK they have all (Yes, every single one so far!) taken great delight in asking how I like the heat... Upon me saying 'its not too bad at the moment' they then smile broadly and tell me that 'its gonna get hotter girl, this is nuthin' or 'last year it hit 110 degrees downtown' or 'its gonna be hot till November now'.

Can I just ask you all to please stop it. (Fingers in ears, going 'la la la la la la, I can't hear you'!)

Thank you.

Off to stare at the boxes and see if I can get them to unpack themselves with my telepathic powers...

TTFN

C xx

ANOTHER Happy Dance!

Well well well! Not only did we get the call about the house arriving but we also got the call that our car has arrived! Matt is flying to Dallas tomorrow and picking up the car then heading back on a 6 hour drive... Yes, we went and bought him a sat-nav today... ANyone that knows him will know that it is ESSENTIAL or he would end up in Canada!

So, Car tomorrow. House on Friday and Internet, TV & phone. Washer & Dryer on Saturday (Forgot to mention we bought those today!) Then Tuesday the house arrives! WOW! BUSY or what?

Im so excited you have no idea! Matt has left me a store card and im off to get toaster, phones, dvd player, hoover, hairdryer etc while he is out tomorrow. Dont have any clue where Im gonna put it all but Oh Well!

Lewis has a school trip tomorrow so is really excited. Abbi not too happy as all out of town trips are cancelled coz of the swine flu so hers is not happening now...

Best go as dinner is burning...

Hopefully update from the house on our new internet over the weekend...

I hope to have photos too!!!!


YYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TTFN,

C xx

Update...

Heres a few photos of the kids over the weekend... We went fishing at Lake Nasworthy which is beautiful and only a 10 minute drive... Didnt think I would enjoy it so we only got rods for Matt & kids (Yes, Abbis is PINK and grey and coordinates with her outfit...!?!) But now I think I need a rod of my own! How scary is that? It was a lovely couple of hours, no fish were hurt in the making of this blog post, all they caught was some salad!




The best news though is... drum roll please....

WE HAVE A HOUSE!

Its a lovely 3 bed 2 bath within walking distance of both the kids schools. (great news as I have to re-take my US driving test, Montana licence expired a million years ago!) AND...

BOTH KIDS HAVE STARTED SCHOOL!

Boy, we dont hang around do we? Seeing as the schools break up at the end of May we thought it important to get them settled in and making friends before the end of term. The great thing is that they both love it! Lewis is at Glenn middle school, its really cool and the building is round and based on the space program, with endeavor, discovery etc as the names of the halls and the dining room is the Lunch Pad! Get it? Abbis school is Crockett elementary (pause for you to sing the song.......) and is fabbo! Has the biggest climbing frame I have ever seen. Happy campers.


OMG! Matt just took a call and our house is arriving on the back of a lorry on TUESDAY!!! YEAH! Makes the prospect of camping on inflatable mattresses not quite so scary!


I have to go do a happy dance now, more updates later...

TTFN!

C xx

First Buys in the USA!

Have I mentioned how much I love Wal*Mart?

I just wanted to share with you a few of the first essential items we bought from the store..

A Kettle, what else? I am English you know!



Individual Pecan Pies! Yummy...


Abbi NEEDED new trainers...



And of COURSE I NEEDED some new shoes too! Arent they cute?

More updates later, we are off to sign the lease for the house in a while... Horay!
I have photos of our first ever family fishing trip to the lake on Saturday... Check back laters...

TTFN

C xx

Its all go!

Well, today was dull... Matt had to go in-process. His appointment was at 7.30am so silly me thought "ok he should be back by lunchtime then we can go househunting". NOOOOOOOOO! He stuck his head around the door at 11-ish to tell me he was taking the car! (ARRRGHHHHH! cant go shopping!) and would be back in a while.

FOUR O CLOCK! YES, 4 pm!!! I could have walked around the flippin base six times in that long! anyway, its hot. 80, hot. the aircon makes the most horrendous noise so you switch it off after 1/2 an hour to hear your kids talking. I have developed the biggest stinking headache (haddock) in years and yes, its hot. Tomorrow it will be 88. Wednesday it will be 90. HELP...

The man came and looked at the aircon. He told us off for turning it off. apparantly it closes a valve that is in the ceiling space and he had to climb a ladder to manually open it. It works now. not quite as noisy but now we are forbidden to turn it off! There will be another man coming to fix the rattle sometime soon. Needless to say we will be out in the lovely quiet airconditioned rental car for most of the next 2 days!!!

House hunting starts in earnest tomorrow. We already have an appointment to see a HUGE 4 bed/2 bath house that we could move into at the end of the month. there are 4 others on the shortlist so we will drive around and check those areas out before booking viewings. Matt is authorised 8 days for house hunting and I want to be in our new home on 1st May. Ive had enough of living in limbo.

So not much more to report, just...


O M G! I found Michaels!!!! Its a craft store. Can you say HEAVEN!? UTOPIA?! I was soooooo restrained, you would all be proud of me. I bought a pair of scissors to trim the doggys ear hair with! (she keeps chasing the ground squirrels and getting gorse bits in her ears) I went, I saw, I drooled, I stroked. Matt said wait till we get a house... Can you see the hurry now?

More updates soon, and photos (hopefully)

TTFN

C xx

Arrived safe and sound...

Well, we have arrived! The whole journey was one of the longest, most boring, bottom numbing days of my life! I will not be doing another 10 hour flight in a hurry I can tell you...

All arrived safely at 4.30am UK time, 10.30pm Texas time, a bit limp and a lot numb to a TINY lodging room. Remember I said we were only expecting small, well it is. Very. Small. Dinky is the word I think fits... The only other option is putting doggy Poppy in a boarding kennel and upgrading. NOT an option. If you saw what that brave doggy went through just to get here you would understand. Our last flight was on a 60 seater, propeller plane and we watched her crate being carried into the cargo hold. We could actually hear her barking while we were waiting for take-off and were told that the captain had to sit with her as long as possible coz as soon as he walked away she started barking again. Thankfully, once we started moving she quieted down. Poor poochie!

Texas seems very nice from what Ive seen, which isnt a lot at this point! It was dork when we got here, and we collapsed into several sweaty heaps until about 5.30am our time (Longing for it to be longer but with kids its not possible!) Matt, bless him, was the first customer of the day at Burger King and I think they took pity on our plight and gave us an extra croissandwich! Later (after having the maintenance man come and show matt how to turn the shower on!?! blame it on the jet lag!) we wandered over to the shops for milk, bread etc. only as much as we could carry between the 4 of us though! Im thinking, wow, the weather here is great, it's a little rainy and the wind is fresh... Like summer in the UK, I can handle! HA!

We had a tornado watch last night and the biggest thunder storm I have seen in my life! To which my hubby rolls over and patting me on the head says... "I forget you guys have never seen a real storm have you?" AAAArrrgggghhhh! Needless to say its alot more humid today but still a nice cool breeze a-blowing, so not too sweaty yet. But I can see it coming...

I best end here as the old man has just got back with the rental car and we are off to fin Wal*Mart! woohoo! YES, Im excited!

We have free internet/ethernet in the Lodging so I will try to update regularly...

TTFN Y'all!

C xx

Nearly there!

Well, what a week! We are in lodgings on the base now, the house (still not sold) is empty and clean as a new pin!, the cars are gone, we are living off whatever we need to use thats left in the cupboards!

Actually its not as bad as it sounds, the lodging is great... because we have the dog ($10 a day xtra!) we are in an older style family unit... 4 bedrooms, fully equipped kitchen WITH dishwasher! Theres a park within 30 seconds walk for the kids and pretty much everything we could need is within walking distance. I think its about the same size (if not a little bigger) than the house! Musnt get used to it though as at the other end we have been told we only get a 1 bedroom place with Me n Him sleeping on a pull-out sofa bed. FUN!

A spot of good news though... In the midst of the chaos of moving we found out that we will have a house on Goodfellow and will be able to sign the lease on 11 May! YEAH!!! Means that the pressure is off. The thing that was most worrying was how to find a house, and quickly, in a new town, in a new state, ensuring that its in the right area for the right schools and work etc, with NO CAR! Now theres a house waiting we have already looked at the local schools and are happy! Thanks to google earth we are able to peep into the back yards and theres a little park for the kids, and the shops, his work, and even a pool are all within walking distance. Phew! Above all its making the kids transition alot smoother. Son is ok, he has done the move before, but daughter was only 1 when we arrived and here is all she has known.

Well, Mum is over today for a visit, then off bowling tomorrow with friends then his final outprocessing appointment is Monday, then to London Tuesday, then we fly Wednesday!

PHEW! Who said this would be easy?

We hope that we can get internet at the other end and I will let you know how it goes... Better than Eastenders isnt it? (dff dff dff dfff dfff dffff dffffff!)

TTFN

C xx