My husband got knocked on the head with John Knox's breeches!

Today was Josh's graduation. Congratulations, Sweetie!

This is after graduation in front of McEwan Hall. I am very proud of my husband. He did very well in his studies and graduated with distinction.

Now, the thing about the breeches. There is this bonnet, or graduation cap that the Vice-Chancellor taps the heads of the graduates with when they are called up. It is popular belief that the bonnet was made from the material of John Knox's trousers. Quite interesting indeed.

Again, take a look at flickr for more photos. Sorry about the blur. My zoom lens has not been in my good favour.

How Beauty is Made

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6yRiLPgmEc

Highway robbery!

I went to post a parcel to America today. It weighed 2.6 kilos (roughly 5 lbs.). It was going to cost me £44 to send. The nice gentleman told me that if it was under 2k it would only be £19 to send. I took it back home to repackage it. :)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sorry I am a bit late about posting our Thanksgiving wishes. It has been a busy week. But now I can post about our dinner as well!

Steph sent us some Stove Top stuffing for our dinner, as well as some other goodies to enjoy later. :) Thanks, Steph! Everyone really enjoyed it.

We had a total of 10 people (including Josh and I) and our group was very diverse. We had 5 Americans from various parts of the US and one being a missionary in Nigeria. Then the others were from Scotland, England, Australia, China, and Spain. I learned that candy in Australia is called 'lollies' (or was that the popsicle? It's getting all jumbled up) and a traditional Christmas in Spain would include a lamb for the dinner. Oh, yes. And I learned that a word I had been throwing around is a very bad swear word here. :P Thanks for clearing that up!

Our meal included:

Turkey (of course)

ham (gammon) with brown sugar and clove

scalloped potatoes with chipotle

smashed potatoes

gravy

stuffing

sweet potato casserole

roasted veg (thanks Andy!)

cranberry orange sauce

biscuits (American), plain and with jalapeno and cheddar

And for dessert we had:

chocoalate mousse and strawberry mousse (thanks Sam!)

pumpkin cheesecake

brownies

fudge (thanks mom!)

Oh, yes. Russell brought some cloudy pressed apple juice, so I simmered that in some mulling spices and we were able to have about as close to mulled cider as you can get here. :)

I tried to push the leftovers on to the students, but even after they took some there was still a bunch left and I couldn't get anyone else to take some. I am glad that we had this opportunity to share our home and food with our friends. I have never been able to host a meal for this many people and it was a blessing. Sam really came through and helped out so much. Thanks Sam!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. Now I am off to tackle the dishes. I think it would be safe to say we used nearly every dish, fork, pot, and pan in our flat!

Take a look at flickr for more pictures.

Also, look to the right. We have a new tagboard for you to leave messages on! (hint, hint)

Thank you

Thank you for your prayers and support. The last few weeks have been so stressful with my work and Josh's non-work. Last week, just one day before our deadline, Josh recieved a call offering him a position. He accepted and has started work today (it is quite lonely around here now!). He is working for a Christian organisation called Bethany in one of their residential facilities for people recovering from an addiction. One of the downsides is that he will be on a rota, but if it works out I am going to try to conform my rota as closely to his as possible.

Thanks for your support.

Remembrance

Today is Remembrance Day. We wear a red poppy to rememeber fallen soldiers. I felted this one for 9/11, but I wore just the poppy today. Today, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month we observed a two minute silence. It was powerful to know that probably the whole city was a little quieter at this time.

Take a look at the videos. The first is a touching tribute to some who have fallen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtl5kmWrFLg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN3hnZxHdQ&mode=related&search=

In Flanders Fields By:

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Significance of the red poppy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/remembrance/history/poppy.shtml

The big 30!

Happy Birthday to my wife of thirty years....thirty years old that is! Many thanks to our friends: Peter, Sam, and Emma, for treating us to dinner and a movie to celebrate Deliverance's birthday. Deliverance truly is a special and generous friend to everyone who knows her. Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

For Thanksgiving...

Would anybody be willing to send a box or two of StoveTop Stuffing?

on holiday...what to do

To answer Steph's question about if I will be knitting during my holiday...I did feel a sense of relief at just the thought of knitting. :) I was saying to Sam today that it is not one of those "AH" feeling sort of holidays. I still have a lot to do. And as I mentioned, I will be in the store Wednesday to get "signed off" to become a shift supervisor qualified rather than just a piddly shift supervisor in training. Silly how I have been running shifts and doing all of the duties of a proper supervisor, but I have to wait 3 months to get my raise. But I wont go there. I am planning to make a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce for our coffee tasting.

I will also be in the store again for a supervisor/manager meeting on Friday. This is a long needed meeting and hopefully we will be able to address some of the issues that have been causing me and my collegues so much stress over the past few months. I have also raised the radar of our district manager, so he will be getting minutes from the meeting and will be checking with my manager to see how he will be dealing with these issues. So during this week I will be rehashing a lot of what I had been though and bringing up a lot of those feelings.

But Tuesday will be a nice time with friends as Sam and Peter will be hosting us along with Emma for my birthday. Yay! Wednesday night is Bible study, Thursday night is Open Fellowship at church. I would also like to get some things on ebay. I have some Buttermilk Barn( www.buttermilkbarn.com) parties coming up that I need to prepare for. If it doesn't help us pay January's rent at least it will help pay for our tickets home.

So, it will still be a busy week. The good thing is, I will be back to work one week, then I will have another week's holiday. Woo-hoo!

On Holiday!

I have not had a holiday since we went home in April. Twice my holiday was denied. I have been overworked and underappreciated (or not-at-all-appreciated, by my boss at least). Now I am finally on holiday! Though I do not have the AHHH! feeling of going on holiday because I will still be in for a couple of hours on Wednesday and Friday. But I will not actually be working. Then I come back for a week and have another weeks holiday. Yippee! It is still a little bit of a bummer, though, because even though I have been working close to 40 hours, when I am on holiday I only get paid for my contracted hours (20) so it will actually be a cut in pay. But I guess it will be worth it to get a little of my sanity back. :)

Uncle Josh and Aunt Deliverance

**I typed this up yesterday, but blogger wouldn't let me post it**

We were just informed (one of the first, I believe, since it was too early to call anyone else in the States!) that Josh's sister Liz gave birth to their first baby, and the first grandchild of the family. A wee lass. Congratulations Liz and Aaron!

Sixth honeymoon

We always try to go somewhere for our anniversary and call it our honeymoon. This year was our fifth wedding anniversary, so our sixth honeymoon. Since we are on a tight budget we just went somewhere nearby for one night. Our Am Ex forum Scotland travel expert suggested an area called Dunkeld/Birnam. We missed autumn back home and Josh was really wanting to get into the woods again, not an easy task in Scotland. Scotland had been deforested for agricultural purposes thousands of years ago. By the first World War, only 5 percent of Scotland was covered by trees http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/education/advances5/4-land-cover.asp BUT, Dunkeld actually has forests! And we were hoping to catch a little autumn color action, like this: http://www.visitdunkeld.com/perthshire-autumn-colours.htm

We got up at 5am for a 6:30 train. We missed it. And the next one was two hours later. Guess what you can do in city centre at that early hour? Walk. So we walked around until Starbucks opened at 7:30. We were early for the next train.

When we got off the train in Birnam we had to walk through a little wooded path to get to the town. I knew then that it would be lovely! We walked to our B&B and checked in: http://www.birnamguesthouse.co.uk/ Birnam is quite small (under 300 I believe) but Dunkeld is much larger (over 600 I believe) so we headed over there to get some food. To get to Dunkeld we walked over the scenic River Tay.

We did a lot of walking through the town (or village) and the woods on the first day. The interest point of the town was ruined Dunkeld Cathedral: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dunkeld/cathedral/index.html We were so nackered from all of our walking the first day that we didn't really attempt our ambitious desire to walk up the highest hill. It was pretty foggy during our entire trip anyways that we wouldn't have been able to see much. We had heard about Birnam Wood, made famous by Shakespeare's Macbeth: http://www.visitdunkeld.com/birnam-wood.htm so we spent our final hours in the wood and on a trail along the River Tay.

It was short and sweet. We walked to much and after we were kicked out of the B&B we had to keep our backpacks on us, so we were ready to get home. Oh, and never take the Perth train to Edinburgh on a Sunday afternoon. Josh stood and I had to sit on the floor much of the way.

I have lots of pictures on flickr now (click here). Have a browse. (There is more than one page so be sure to flip through!)

Oh, and PLEASE leave your comments. Unfortunately I had to get rid of the tagboard and haven't been able to find a new one yet. We want to hear from you. You can leave comments on flickr, too!

Challenges Ahead

Thank you, everyone, for your support in so many ways. It has still been a slow process finding gainful employment, but I have another promising round of applications out again. Hopefully I'll have something by mid November, there have been some interesting positions available working with Edinburgh's homeless population. This will probably be my last round of attempts to find employment here, so if nothing materializes from it, some of you may get your wish to have us come home sooner rather than later! Yes, the sad reality is one can't be on holiday forever without a little $$, so we may be home in time for Christmas if I don't find a way to contribute to our household income!

Please keep Deliverance in your prayers as she has been pretty stressed about her job. Various aspects of the job are quite enjoyable, but there are significant problems with management that make it a challenging place to work. I imagine her problems will only be for another few weeks or so since either I will get a position and she can decide whether she wants to continue working there, or I won't get a position, so she can quit and we'll find something else to do back in the States. I think she is feeling more stress about it than I am, but hopefully we can both just adapt to changes and challenges as they come along. This has been an exciting time in our lives and as always, big transitions come with some measure of stress. So hopefully we can just "roll with the punches" and enjoy what this period in our lives has to offer.

Joshua

Officially finished!

I am going to take the liberty to brag on my husband just now. He got his marks yesterday and he is going to graduate with distinction. This is the equivalent of graduating with honors. He did very well and got wonderful remarks on his dissertation from the markers.

"A thorough and penetrating study of a complex concept"

"A very, very high standard of work for this level, showing clear doctoral ability."

"An excellently creative piece of work."

"Showing real intellectual flair and insight."

I am sure Josh will be embarrassed that I posted these remarks, but he worked so hard and I am proud of him.

Thank you to everyone for your support during the past year. Please continue to pray for us as me move on to the next stage in our life.

It's days like this...

when I love my job.

I was training a new hire. Out of the blue she said, "You are a very good supervisor!" :) Later she went on about how nice I am and she wanted to ask to work with me more. Then she ran to the rota to see when she works with me again. She came back and said, "I don't work with you again this week!" Later I told her I was going on holiday soon and she frowned. Then she went on about how the time was going so slow when she was working with other people, but the time went by so fast when she was working with us (me and another barista). :) I told her to be careful what she says because she might decide she really doesn't like me after a couple of weeks. The other 'green bean' working with us tonght likes to work with me. A customer had a problem with his frappaccinos, so I remade them without a problem and gave him 2 coupons. My barista came up to me afterwards and sighed, "You have SO much patience!" It's just nice to be appreciated, even if I don't get it from the one I work under.

I was very proud of the girls working with me today. All of them are new. Just minutes before one of the girls was meant to be off we get a crowd of about 30 school kids all at once. I immediately fill the ice bin. So, they all order frapps, which are rather difficult to do in successive order, but we got a system and we managed. The above mentioned girl wasn't trained in anything yet, so she just kept asking me "What can I do?" I showed her how to make cream mix and she just kept making them one after another. I positioned myself of cold bar putting together the frappaccinos in the blender, after they were blended I passed them to the barista (who was supposed to be going home) and she dumped it in the cup, topped them with whip and passed them on to the customer. Of course, half of the kids did not pay attention when the drinks were called out and just took whatever they wanted. So we got kids coming back saying, "You didn't make me the right drink!!" Not only did we have to make 30 frapps, but we had to make half of them over again!! AARGH! (side note, when you get a drink from Starbucks, make sure it is YOUR drink!) But amidst all the caos, they did great and we were never backed up.

Happy Birthday to Josh!!!

Happy birthday, Josh!

We had a few friends over tonight to celebrate Josh's birthday. Josh didn't know about it until today, and even then he only thought I invited 2 people. I'm so sneaky. He thought I was really overdoing it on the food for just 4 people! We ended up having a cozy group of about 8 people from church and Bible study (so nice to have Emma back!). It really is nice to relax with a group of friends. And it is VERY nice to finally have the space to do it!

Josh has been such a tremendous help lately since work has been rough for me. He has been doing the dishes every day, and the laundry and hoovering. He is a regular house husband! I just can't manage to get him to do the cooking though. If only we had a grill. I know I could get him to fix dinner once or twice a week. :) Thank you for all of your help, Sweetie!

Well, the party's over and I've got to get up at 5:30 tomorrow...

Darn!

I actually have 4 days off in a row for once and I am sick! Bummer.

Simple things

We went to a DIY store the other day. They have a garden center like Lowe's or Home Depot. Josh spends what seems like forever looking at tools and things that he has to think up excuses to get, so I spend my time in the garden center. It was to therapeudic! I walked out there and it was sunny, the birds were chirping, it was peaceful and relaxing with their displays of waterfalls, and it smelled so nice. I could have lived out there! Except when it started raining. Yes, the sun was quickly dispelled. But it really was therapeudic to be out there. I was greatful for that.

So now we have a crazy little succulent for our desk next to the computer, a lavender, and a gardenia that is about to bloom about 10 flowers!

If 'community' cannot be online, then why do I feel so gutted?

I have been told that it is not possible for community to exist online. I would agree that it may not be ideal, as one cannot see, touch, and talk directly to the othe members of the community. It may be easier for misunderstanings to occur. But I also believe that it may be easier for people to get 'real' with one another.

Here are some definitions of community from dictionary.com:

a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists

A group of people having common interests

Sharing, participation, and fellowship.

Many of you know that I belong to an online community called American Expats inthe UK. It is a forum where people with a common interest join together daily to share struggles and joys. Since I joined the group I have been supported in the whole process of moving to the UK. I was warned that I would not find DILL PICKLES here! I was told I might want to bring my US measuring cups and to be sure that I get a stamp from customs when we arrive (good thing because we had to ask for it). After arriving I learned where I could find cornmeal and black beans. I could rant about the crazy foot traffic and they could join in with me. When we were looking for a flat I could post daily on the progress (and if I didn't, I was asked!) and rant about how difficult it was. Everyone was so supportive. They assisted in our decision on a broadband provider. And now with work being an issue, I can post long rants about that and receive comments like "how about selling your crafts?" because they just know me that well. Some have guided me in how I should handle certain things. People post pictures of their kids and we watch them grow up. New moms post about the woes of midnight feedings and seek advice on other parenting issues. Anytime I have a question I first think to post it on "MY" forum because I know somebody there will know.

Now I feel like my community is falling apart. There has been a contraversy and many of our long time members, big time posters have left. I just feel so gutted. I don't want to leave because I feel like I have a history there. I don't want to get wrapped up in the contraversy because it is above my head (having to do with the moderators and such).

So, why did I tear up at the first announcement of someone leaving, and why does my stomach drop at every other good-bye I see? I am really wrapped up in these people's lives and I feel close to them. I have recieved so much support and I am fearing that it will all be gone. This IS my community at this stage in my life. I have no other community. I have a couple of friends who have been an amazing support to me, but it's not the community where you can allow yourself to be weak and vulnerable, even when your friend feels weak and vulnerable, too, because you know there will be others stronger who can support you.

I know some of you who have online relationships will agree, and those who don't will disagree. But believe me when I tell you this: there has always been someone there for me in the past two years of this journey we are taking. I am very, very sad to see some of them go.

New Favorite Song...

Or maybe just one line...

Je ne veux pas travailler

It's a song that's played at work. Our French barista translated it for me. Who knows what it means? I know Steph does.

A Bit Frayed...

I haven't been spending as much time online lately. Work has been very stressful. It doesn't seem to be letting up. Please pray about that. I am feeling a bit frayed at the edges. Please pray for the job search for Josh, as well. Thanks.

You know you've been living in Scotland when...

1. You think it's a lovely day because it's not raining.
2. You have a cemetary of inside-out brollies.
3. A baked potato sounds like a good meal.
4. You THOUGHT you knew how to dress in layers, but now you REALLY know how.
5. You have experienced four seasons in one day.
6. You don't even notice the piper down the street anymore.
7. You giggle when an American says, "pants."
8. 75 degrees feels like a heatwave.
9. You wont even think of having tea without milk.
10. You no longer step out of the way of someone on the sidewalk. It's every man for himself!
11. You commonly use words like wee, bletherin, knackered.
12. You're looked at like you are an alien when you say you haven't got a mobile number.
13. You wonder how you ever got by without a hot water bottle.
14. You wonder how you ever managed to fill an American sized fridge.
15. Taxes takes on a whole new meaning: income tax, national insurance tax, road tax, council tax, TV license, VAT tax, a (possible) new dining out tax??
16. You can interpret a wee bit of Scots: "The war ance a man an a wife that didna hae ony bairns sae lang as thay wis rich, but whan thay becam puir, thay haed a wee laddie." Brither's Grimm

Do you remember?

When I was little I would hear the adults talk about how well they remembered where they were, what they were doing when they heard about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Now I know the feeling. My generation can say the same thing about the 9/11 attacks. It has been five years and I still get the same gut-wrentching feeling I had that day.

It was one month before our wedding. I was living with Grace and Josh had recently moved into what would be our first apartment together. Josh picked me up and we headed downtown for work. Neither one of us watched TV or listened to the radio, so we had no idea what was going on at that time in New York.

We walked into our office like a normal work day and prepared ourselves for a day of service. As I was at my desk, my co-worker, whose desk was butted up to the front of mine said, "Haven't you heard? A plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York." I remember giving and astonished laugh and thinking, "What a freak accident!" I was thinking it was a little crop plane whose pilot had lost his way or something. But my co-worker was very sombre. A little later I heard the secretary on the phone saying, "Are they evacuating the Sears Tower?" This is when I realized something was terribly wrong. I headed to the back of the office, the kitchen area. I then noticed that the office was eerily quiet because everyone was back here, glued to a TV they brought out from another room. Here I saw for the first time the smoke billowing out of the first building. I don't think the second one had been hit yet. My heart stopped. I was sad for the people in the upper levels of the building, but I figured most of the other people would be able to evacuate the building.

The sequence of the next events was a blur. The second building was hit. The first building fell. There were rumors of other planes in other cities (was Chicago a target?). The second building fell. The Pentagon was hit. Another plane crashed (shouldn't we all go home?). The other building collapsed. I don't remember in what order this all happened. There were pictures of people covered in ash running frantically from the buildings. It looked like they were filming in black and white. The crashes, the collapses were replayed over and over again. We repeatedly saw the reaction of the newscaster standing with the buildings in the background as the second building was hit. One of the ladies in the office was frantic and could not stop shouting exclamations. I was glued to the TV.

I had the thought that my parents would be trying to contact me. I returned to my desk and the eerie quite. There was a voicemail from my mom. She was concerned that Josh would be drafted to war. This was the very first time it occured to me that this would be an attack from another country. I started to tear up. I selfishly thought that we would never be able to have our wedding.

I began talking with co-workers. We were wondering, hoping that we would get sent home. Because of safety. Because we needed comfort. Because we all wanted to be with our families.

No, the day would go on. There was a rumor that a plane might be headed for the Sears Tower. Dang, we had to drive right by it! As we drove out of the downtown area and headed to the south-side we watched the tallest building in Chicago. Others were already watching it. Camera crews were stationed at bridges with their cameras poised. I remember breathing a sigh of relief as we headed south and away from the skyscrapers, and dreading coming back. I wondered if we would even see the tall tower on our way back.

At our site in Englewood our work was not so much of passing out fare cards, clothing vouchers, and referrals for mental health. Today our clients needed someone to talk to. They were scared, angry. So were we. I don't know how we did it, but we managed to bring a little bit of comfort to Holy Angels Church.

We did not know anyone personally in the World Trade Center, but they say that everyone 'knew someone who knew someone' and we did. We were also effected simply by living in Chicago and working downtown. It brought fear that other large cities, tall buildings would be attacked. Would there be another attack the next day during rush hour in another large city? Then next month at the same time?

We got married one month and two days after the attacks. We heard word from many who were invited that they were afraid to come into the city. We are so greatful for those who did come to witness our vows and to celebrate with us. It was a joyful occassion in the wake of a very frightening event.

While we were on our honeymoon we decided to shield ourselves from the outside world during this tender and special part of our lives. Near the end of our retreat we switched the TV on to hear the word ANTHRAX plastered over all of the stations. I had no idea what anthrax was. We watched the news for 10 minutes and switched the TV off to enjoy the rest of our sheltered time together before returning to the real world.

Birthday and anniversary

Today is my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Stevie!

It is also our one year anniversary of arriving in the UK. It doesn't seem that long ago, yet some parts really seemed to drag on. It has been a good year and we feel at home here. We still miss our friends, though, and we would love to hear from you!

Prayers/thoughts, please

Josh has an interview on Tuesday for what looks like would be a very good job. It is similar to what he did in Chicago but it also looks like it would be somewhat supervisory. The office is close to home, as well. He is required to do a 10 minute presentation on his 6-month stratigic plan, which is intimidating as he does not know a lot about the program or social work in the UK.

Portrait Gallery

We went to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery a couple of weeks ago. One of the vestibules was covered in murals and elaborate decorations.

http://www.natgalscot.ac.uk/index.asp?centre=html/2-galleries/2-indGalleryFS.asp?gallery=2-a

All moved in and unpacked

I don't remember what I said in the last post and I am too lazy to pull up another browser to look at it, so sorry if I repeat myself.

We are really enjoying our new flat. It is just a few minutes to work in one direction, and about 8 minutes to the grocery store in the other direction. The grocery store is large, too, so better selection. And I don't have to go uphill to either!!! In fact, I do what I can to avoid every going up the Mound again! :) There is a library just around the corner, and fantastic chippy and cafe down the street. We are close to quite a few good charity shops, the Botanics, the River Leith Walk, and a big park. Our road is a dead end, so very quiet, except for the neighbor who likes to blast his music, such as now.

About the flat itself. It is very sunny. We have a window and french doors that open to the outdoors in the living room and a big window in the kitchen, all of these facing south, and two big windows in our bedroom and a big windown in the spare bedroom, these facing north. So we are covered in winter when the sun is largely in the south, and summer when the sun is largely in the north. YEAH! We have more closets than we have ever had which we have already filled up because, unfortunately, we do not have under-the-bed storage, which I have always capitalized on. Our bedroom is good-sized, with a nice large desk. Josh is glad that I no longer have excuse to us the kitchen table as a desk. We have a tub again!! I have used it twice already, but I have to plan because I have to turn on the immersion heater about an hour before hand if I want hot water. The kitchen is teeny-tiny, which you who know me will know that is a difficult thing for me to cope with. But I am coping. We have moved some things around and made some IKEA purchases to deal with the small space. We have made a closet in the 'dining' area into a pantry with shelves we picked up at IKEA. Yeah! I have a pantry! We also bought a large chopping block to put over the hob (stove) when I am not cooking for extra counter space. Oh, and the cooker is so much better than our last one! Rather than needing to cook things twice and long and still having the risk of being undercooked, but now run the risk of burning things. It is still electric, but it has a fan in it to circulate the air. And the hob is gas. I am so happy to finally have a gas hob! All such trivial things, but nice to have. There is also a washing machine in the kitchen. This is where it is commonly put in the UK. I am happy to have it there. I thought it was hard having to go down one flight of stairs in Chicago to do the laundry, but in our last flat I had to take an elevator and 4 flights of stairs. Now I will be complaining about having to drag the laundry from our bedroom to the kitchen. :) No drier, though, so we have to hang our laundry in the spare room. If I do it early enough I can hang it in the sun in the front room (if the sun is out). It gets quite warm in there. Let's see, what else. Oh yes, there is a cat in our building, so on occassion I can pet him as I leave/enter.

Well, I wont bore you any longer. But I do want to say thank you to Sam and Peter for helping us move. They came after work one day and helped us with a couple of runs, then Sam used a holiday the next day to help us move the rest of our things. Thank you so much for the help! You can call on us when you move. Maybe you'll move near a great cafe, too! :)

We're back!!

We got a nice little parcel from Orange today. We decided to splurge on broadband. After having it in our previous accommodation we were spoiled. It really wasn't much more than dial-up, anyways, and we can call the States for cheaper.

So, just letting you know that we are back online now. I have some catching up to do. I will fill you in a little more on the move, later.

Moving week...

We are moving this week. In fact, we had our first night's stay in our new flat. I am only 5 minutes' walk from work!! YAH! I had to work shortly after we took possession of the flat, so I didn't get to have time to move things around. When I got home from work, Josh had moved things around very nicely. He had classical music playing for me and was out at the grocery store picking up some things to get us by. After I showered, Josh went down to the local chippy (just around the corner!) to bring back some dinner. He had a nice surprise for me for dessert. Ben and Jerry's!! It's so nice to have a freezer now. :)

Well, as we are busy packing and moving (and me working!), we will not have much internet access for the next week. We are already in the process of having internet set up at our new flat, so it SHOULD be on by the 4th. We would still love to hear from you! Drop us a line.

The best medicine

I tried to send this to some of you awhile back, but for some reason you all couldn't see it. I hope it works this time. Turn up your volume!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3S7Nf4VazMo