November 2008

Week 6/7

So what have we been up too? I’ve been to my first ‘coffee morning’ which was very interesting in an American way…I was a bit nervous & my first instinct was to say no thank you very politely, when I was invited but I made myself go & even tho I felt like the ‘new girl’ they made me feel very welcome. But I must admit I felt like I was playing with the grown up’s a little bit!

The girls have made friends with some local kids which is great, there’s Montana & Jacob who are 9, and Rachel & Cole who are 6. The gardens are all open plan it’s great to watch them all running around out there & playing on each other’s play frames & Cole has even been trying to teach Nyah how to snowboard down the hill at the back of the garden as only 6 year old boys can in an inch of old snow…I think Cole has a fan in Nyah, she thought his board skills very impressive! We have also experienced something we’ve been warned about where they all play together in a group & move from house to house to play if they get too cold or bored! We’ve also had our first experience of what is called a ‘snow day’ where if the weather is deemed too bad or dangerous for the school buses, school is cancelled! Only problem is that they have to make it up later on in the term at some point!

It’s been all about the dreaded ‘Driving Tests’ recently too… if you’re here on holiday or visiting you can drive on your license from home for as long as you like but as soon as you become a resident in the state you have to take the test & then get an American license! We were both dreading doing it but knew we had no choice…our relocation lady had got us the ‘book’, the US version of the highway code which I’m not sure many of the Americans we’ve actually seen out driving have read or at least not the same one we have! We’ve been swatting up on the book…I was reading it before we went to sleep, found it was a bit too efficient at getting me off to sleep actually! Anyway one day I hadn’t quite finished the book but the thought of the test was hanging over me like a little black car-cloud over my head…so I skim read the end & set off to the test centre with the pile of papers to prove I was a ‘legal alien’!!!! But of course I didn’t have the right letter which had to say that G worked in the state of Missouri, honestly the red tape sometimes is a meter wide!!! I went back the following day with the correct letter & a can of Heinz beans as a bribe (joke!) & after the formalities, sat to take the first part of the test…you take a multiple choice written test of 25 questions & if you get 6 wrong you fail….mine were all pretty easy, we found they were either ‘silly easy’ or ‘stupid hard’…the good thing is the tests are all free & you only pay for your license! Then onto the road sign test & then a quick vision test & then you wait for your examiner to come & take you for the actual driving test….I didn’t realise all the examiners were police/patrol officers…eeek! I get scared seeing police driving the other way on the roads let alone driving in my car with one sat next to me!!!!! My mouth was so dry I swear my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth…he also took G’s test & said ‘Oh the one with the very English accent’ when G asked him if he remembered me, No...that was my tongue stuck to the back of my teeth!! (**,) We both passed, thank god that’s over!

G had a couple of days off to help with the Christmas shopping, first time he’s done that since before we were married! We only had to girls to buy for so it wasn’t too bad & he was actually happy to stay out for longer than I was!

We’ve also been to our local high school to watch a basketball game which was really cool! The school was pretty impressive inside, it had the usual couple of gym’s & indoor full size swimming pool just like we all do(!)….it was huge with corridors you couldn’t see the ends of & lockers just like Troy & Gabriella’s…you won’t know who I mean unless you’ve seen the High School Musical films & if you haven’t seen them yet why on earth not, you DO NOT know what you’re missing…stop reading now & go watch the films!!!!

This week I’m loving… My big red bow I bought to hang on the front door which is a big as a small car (the bow is big you understand? Not the door, well the door is big too but you know what I mean… I’m waffling now aren’t I?!)

This week I’m not loving… The pizza! The pizza is weird & not yummy like our pizza!!! We’ve only tried two places but its not nice so far…will continue the search however!

Bye for now….Happy Holidays…….HHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….ONLY JOKING!! I hate Happy Holidays…GGGRRRRRRRRR….HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!!!

XXXX

November 2008

Graeme’s Week

I’m back! I’ve let my good wife do most of the writing to let you all know what has been going on and I must say what a good job she has done. Not just in writing but in sorting a lot of mundane things out this end such as utilities, shopping, e-mailing, Facebook, etc, a woman’s work is never done!!

For me it has been a mad crazy time with work. Hitting the ground running and … well, I’m still running and running, getting up early to avoid the traffic and hitting the traffic on the way home to avoid the work. Did Dee ever tell you how bad the driving is here? Well let me tell you, Missourian drivers are tailgaters from hell whether the sun is shining, hail is hailing or a blizzard is blowing! I’m forever looking as much in my mirror as I’m looking forward waiting for the inevitable smack up the backside which would be bad news as I’m still not convinced whether I’m insured or not!!!

The cars…. Well who would have though getting two lease cars would be such hard work? We started the exercise well before we left, in fact about 6 weeks before we left and I know that Dee has mentioned about Ford pulling out at the last minute. The new VW’s are nearly here, supposedly 1 week for mine but still 3-4 weeks until Dee’s arrives which means we are still in rental cars and that’s why I’m not 100% sure about insurance cover, so I’m driving very very carefully! It also means we will have two lease cars here in the US for a couple of months after we leave to come home!!

Now the important stuff for all the boys out there! I am still looking for a home theater system to go with the 40” HDTV down in the basement but we want a DVD player that plays multi region DVDs so we can still watch our DVD’s from home. Well no-one sells multi-region and every time I look at a new system, I can’t find any hacks for them so no further forward. Just found a nice LG on e-bay that is guaranteed multi region but is $100 dollars more than the same region 1 system you get in the shop.. I’m going to have to make a decision soon as Chrimbo is fast approaching.. What to do?!

Ladies, you can come back now as I want to tell you how the dog is getting on.. well she has been a pain at times and has turned into the biggest scaredy cat ever! I’m the one that has to take her out first thing in the morning and last thing at night and all she wants to do is to get back in the house as quickly as possible! I can tell you there is nothing worse than trying to pick up dog poo (with a plastic bag for those of you who think I’m some person with a sick dog poo fetish!) while the dog launches off at full speed back to the house on a retractable lead.. If you don’t have your wits about you, you’d go flying when she reaches the end of the lead, which I’m sure the neighbours would find highly amusing watching a mad Englishman flying past their window trying to catch the dog poo that has also been launched upwards at 90MPH!! In the house she likes to go mad by running around the house at full speed chasing the kids (did we mention the house is big and with minimal furniture becomes a great dog park)! She now has a figure of eight track that she runs around which includes the dining table at one end and a settee at the other and sometimes has a variation that goes through the hall and back around through the kitchen. It all becomes a bit more precarious now that we have put the Christmas tree up!! The good thing is it doesn’t take long for her to get puffed out and she soon collapses in a heap in the middle of the floor. The worst culprit though is Dee who likes to stir the dog up by running around the track making the dog chase her! The down side is Dee doesn’t collapse in a heap and likes to carry on being a pain to me when the dog has had enough!!

Finally for those who think I’m going to turn into a big fat American blobber, I’ve been out for two jogs this weekend.. both killed me physically but mentally I feel stronger zzzzzzzzzzz!! Enough from me for now as I’m sure Dee has far more important things to tell you about, especially about her driving test!

October 2008

Week 5

This week it’s been all about the money…or the cost of things! While it’s true that you can fill your car with petrol for about 13 quid other things are scary expensive! We went ‘over the river’ (but the Missouri River not the Mississippi River, not actually seen the Mississippi yet!) into St Charles for a day of Olde Worlde USA…Happy Holidays! While we were there we came across ‘The English Shop’ which of course we had to pop into…bloody nora, we came out a lot of $$ lighter after purchasing one tin of beans, a jar of marmite (bleeeuurrrchhh!!), 2 Crunchies, 1 tube of Smarties & a Mint Aero! How expensive was it?! OUCH! They had lots of really cheap brands & lots of dodgy long life stuff with a shelf life of about 10 years that you’d only maybe buy if you were really desperate for something at 11pm on a Sunday night when only the local garage is open! There were lots of Americans wandering around ooooohhhhing & aaahhhhing at the quaint “English” items that were all a little dusty looking to be honest! There was even a tin of Family Circle biscuits that you can get in Asda for under a fiver & they were selling them for the bargain stateside price of 17 pounds!!!!! There was a lot of gasping, frowning & “oh my god, how much?!” (from me!) & a lot of frowning & not so much gasping (from the antique looking, but alive lady behind the till!)

We then had our first experience of getting a prescription filled for Harley, which of course is usually free & I really mean it when I say I’ll never complain about the NHS again! The prescription cost $62!! Luckily this is covered by the insurance!!! Did I tell you about the bill for $800 for immunisations & the health check before the girls could start school…no? That’s another story!

We also woke to snow…which was a nice surprise…the girls loved it & went out as soon as they could to make snowmen etc & we enjoyed it from the window…we would have gone out in it but it wasn’t ski-deep enough! It’s been really cold here this week but bright & sunny still so that makes it much easier to bear & the air is weird here, have I mentioned that?….it’s much drier so there is no dew in the mornings & no frost & no damp days yet apart from when it’s actually been raining!

This week I’m loving… the electric garage doors with the remote thingy on the sun visor so you can drive straight in & get into the house without stopping or even being outside, even though I said I never would!

This week I’m not loving… the way they show scary/gory TV really early on in the day for the kids & then cut out the slightest swear word or bit of violence or just the main plot-important part of the film or TV programme for the adults later on!! What’s that all about!

Important lesson learnt this week: DO NOT (ever again) put more than two squirts of bubble bath into the whirlpool bath as it really does grow & grow & grow into a huge white bubbly beast that takes over the bathroom when you turn the water jets on!!!!!!

October 2008

Week 4

I’ve been meaning to take some more pictures & post them but did I tell you that Nyah ran through a closed screen door with my camera in her hand… well you guessed it…one broken screen door & one broken camera!! She was unhurt (luckily!) also G managed to fix the screen door, which was good because we were in the temporary house at the time but no luck with the camera, think it dead-dead! Managed to get the pic’s off of the memory stick & now need to get a new camera! Boooooo! Been a bit of a week of accidents actually….Nyah fell & hit her face on an open drawer, made her nose bleed & it was horrible but luckily she had no black eyes & recovered quickly…then Harley decided to play I’m the king of the castle on the downstairs banister & yep you guessed it again…fell off!! One big bruise on her hip & a dented ego later…then I’m walking downstairs (to the basement/cinema room) picture the scene…girls are in bed after a long day & there’s wine, peanuts, choccie cheesecake & the big TV a-waiting for me! There is also waaaaay too many stairs in this house! G took one glass of wine down & I carried one glass of wine, two bowls of peanuts & two plates of the yummiest looking choccie cheesecake & yes I got to the first step & watched the choccie cheesecake roll down the stairs…landing of course on every single stair…oh & did I mention we had a light carpet all through this lovely new ‘rented’ house? No? Well all the carpet is nice & neutral & oh yes, LIGHT! I then managed to also to tip the bucket of water that I’d got to clean up the mess, all over the stairs…at least it gave me a head start on the cleaning! Did I eat the chocci cheesecake? Oh god yeah after all that of course I did! (**,)

So what have we been up to this week..we had our first home cooked roast dinner & G will probably kill me for sharing this but well I just had too! He of course as you may or may not know is the house chef here at Chez Blackler & a very good chef he is too…we’ve not been able to find meat that looks like …well, our meat! It all seems to be wrapped in plastic with some sort of mystery juice inside too & we haven’t found a butcher or fresh meat counter yet….anyway G got the chicken after lots of ummmmming & ahhhhhing at all the different ones… he complained a lot about the chicken….before, during & after cooking it! But the complaining reached fever pitch once the chicken was out of the oven & ready to be carved….”it’s a weird chicken” “this chicken is not right” “this chicken has got no breast” Oh good grief I thought what is the matter with him & the silly chicken…I go over to investigate the chicken….now I’m no chef but the chicken is UPSIDE DOWN…that’s why the poor bird has no breasts….she’s lying on them!!! The roast chicken dinner was yummy however & the breasts were very moist too!! (**,)

It’s also been Thanksgiving this week….which was well, a non event really (for us) it was a sunny day & I thought it might feel like Christmas but it didn’t! Some people had started to put lights up outside etc & our relocation lady told us that some people put their crimbo decs up the day after TG & voila overnight the stars & stripes that had been hanging from various flag poles had disappeared & been replaced by santa!! G asked some of the people he works with what they usually do for thanksgiving…eat, watch TV & then fall asleep on the sofa was the general consensus…bit like Christmas really…trust those yankees to have to do it twice!! It’s been nice for the girls to have a few days off school & for G to have a couple of days off work & to just ‘chillax’ bit!

This week I’m loving the neighbours who bought cookies over after we moved in!

This week I’m not loving not having any idea what TV programme is on what channel!