Take your wives to work day! (Part II) March 27, 2009

I decided to break the post into two pieces as it was going to be pretty long even with the metric ton of pictures in it.  Sooooo, here’s Part II…

The day of our departure was a serious flurry of activity that started early and didn’t end, at least for me, for a good 38 hours or so.  It was a REALLY long day….

In the morning we went and took cuttings of my African violet plants.  I more or less filled up a rollaboard suitcase with the the 400 or so cuttings that I had.

 

 

How often do you get a good ass shot? I mean, really?!?!?

Then there was a lot of running around doing last minute errands and packing.  One of these was taking the remaining geese to their new home.  It was kinda fun as it was in a rental minivan:-)  Pity the poor folks who rent that bad boy next!  Then, in the afternoon, we ended-up taking the pets to check-in at the cargo area at the airport.  We were there for a couple of hours since the paperwork for 5 animals is pretty intense.  But the folks at the cargo area were great and we were able to keep the dogs out until it was time for us to go check-in for our part of the flight.

Once again our plane was “Hot Lips”.

 

Our ride

We were able to see the pets get loaded onto the plane which was nice.  I was pretty stressed out by this point even though there was nothing more that I could do at this point.

Do I look stressed?

We got through and all of the pets were absolutely fine.  We had about a day to get sleep and get sort of oriented and then we were full-bore into our stuff being there.  We had a lovely truck driver knock on our door at about 8:00 in the morning on Friday with our container in tow.  He told us that the unloading crew would be there in an hour.  We scurried to get dressed and incarcerate the pets.  Alas, we hurried to get everyone in their places and then no-one showed.  So, we called the company and there had been a whoopsie in the planning as they had planned on the truck coming on Monday not on Friday.  So they contracted a local, what they call removals company, to come and unload the container.  

The Old Chapel and the container

The crew arrived in about an hour and then the hard work started.  I was amazed at how well things came through as even the clay pots that were sort of thrown in at the end were for the most part intact.

 

About halfway through

Arranging the house proved to be…..well…..challenging.  There is a lot of space but oddly not a lot of wall space.  At least not on the first floor.

 

Unpacking is a bitch

Milo had decided to hole-up in the art nook the night before the movers got there and we really couldn’t get her down.  So she had a lovely birdseye view of the whole moving-in.

 

Milo, the sniper

We are getting used to the area.  It is very much like the area that I grew up in.  Very agricultural.  I think that more tractors go by the house in a day than cars and trucks.  Hell, there almost as many horses that go by!  But it is REALLY pretty, so much so that there is an official designation as for it’s beauty.  

 

Our front view

 

We have some baaaaaad neighbors!

 We finally found a large craft store in the area that is comparable to a Michael’s or Jo Ann’s.  It’s called Hobbycraft and I wasn’t let down by their selection of yarns.

Sarah and the Hobbycraft

 I was let down by just how FREAKING expensive they are.

 

Sarah checking out the yarn selection

If I am going to pay £6.00 for a very small ball of yarn I want to be giving it to a small shop owner.  I actually didn’t buy any yarn at all.  Can you believe that?  Me, walking by lots and lots and lots of yarn.  

 

We’ve been taking lots of walks in the area.  There are a lot of footpaths in the area and the girls love walking on them in good weather.  

 

Walking on a pretty spring day

This is what the area looks like.  The Ivinghoe Beacon is in the background of this photo.

 

The Beacon with freshly tilled soil

On our walks we end-up seeing lots of sheep with their lambs.  They are super cute and pretty much everywhere.

 

Spring Lambs

All in all, we are adapting quite well.  I have just started a new Meet-up group called the Ivinghoe Aston Yarn Therapy.  I’m hoping that someone will show up to it.  We’ll see.  I will be posting more regularly once we have internet at the house.

 

Happy Days

Take your wives to work day! (Part I) March 27, 2009

So, still no internets at home except the sloooooooooow and rather dubious connection through the cell phone.  I sort of misunderstood the hubby in the fact that the engineer is going to be installing the LINE for us to have internet at the end of the month, but they are only going to be sending the modem after the guy has installed the line, so it could still be a few more weeks before I have a “regular” internet connection.  I think that I may go insane.

So, today the hubby brought me with him to work.  There is more than one reason for this as we had wanted to put me onto the bank account that he has already set up.  However, apparently I am not living here yet enough to prove that I am, in fact, living here.  I had a receipt that shows that I am a part tenant in a house and am due half of the deposit through a government accredited company as well as the actual LEASE to the house, neither of which are valid proof for the UK government to open a bank account.  However, a water bill is.  Go figure.  It feels like a never ending battle to do anything in this country.  Things that are quite simple in the US seem to require a full rectal exam here and things that are usually quite complicated (like going to the Dr.) are super simple.  It’s disorienting not knowing what exactly you should gird for battle with.  

Otherwise, adjustment is going well.  The dogs have decided that they really enjoy the walks in our area even though they both seem to think that they could take either a sheep or a horse.  Anytime that we see one or the other of these animals they both go into paroxysms of barking that, if translated into (American) English would sound something like, “I’m gonna kick your fuzzy/tall ass!  Oh yeah, if I could get off this leash your ass would be SO mine!  I would be your worst nightmare sucker!”  The multiple times a day that a horse and rider amble by our house causes an explosion of barking and growling that is comparable to the UPS man delivering something in the US.  I am hoping that they will get used to it pretty soon.

Now, I have promised photos.  These go all the way back to the going away party with the hookers.  So, if you have a slow internet connection, go grab a beverage of your choice, maybe even take a bath or something, it may take a bit….

Most of us met-up at the Krispy Kreme in Winter Park in the morning for sugar bombs disguised as “breakfast”.

 

It's way too early for this!

 

These two don't look as happy with the doughnuts as they should!

 

Krispy Kreme and Hookers, a good combination!

Plans changed at the bon voyage party as originally we were going to take a boat tour of Winter Park but the weather suddenly turned nasty, so where do we end-up?  At a yarn shop of course!

 

Here's the Pimp sitting pretty around the big table at Sip and Knit

 

Becca Looking like trouble at Sip and Knit

 

Tucker, the official dog of Sip and Knit and everybody there was very welcoming of our mobile party.  We also stopped at Michael’s and scored some clearance yarn.  (Love that glow in the dark yarn!!!!!)

From the yarn shop tours we moved on to the EATING segment of the party, and in some cases (I’m not naming names here!) drinking.  The folks at PF Chang’s were quite gracious to our rowdy crew, even taking photos for us at the end!

 

Good Chow

As you can probably tell, I handed off my camera to the pimp during this part of the party as I am usually pretty bad at taking photos at things like this and, well, he’s a dad thus used to taking photos of a bunch of rowdy females (He has daughters!  Get your mind out of the gutter!).

 

Sheila says "Hiiiii Ya!"

The Hookers surprised me with presents.  There was a lovely large “Ball Sack”, a book of photos and a lovely afghan with “Happy Hookers” emblazoned across it.

 

I'm surprised by the size of the Ball Sack that Lily made for me!

 

The Book of Hook

 

I'm very happy with my hooking afghan

The whole group!

The manager of the restaurant was very obliging in taking our group photo (I think that he sorta wanted the crazy group that kept making hooking jokes out of his establishment!).  He seemed more interested in making sure that he got the Ball Sack in the photo than he was in getting the bottom of the afghan.

Our last stop was to give the poor denuded horse statue in front of PF Chang’s a little, uh, help….

 

Letting the horsey feel like a "man" for once....

The night before we left was a Yarn Therapy night at Infusion Tea.

 

Sorry, no real reason for this picture, just had to put in a good photo of me for once!

It was a great group and I finally got to show off the blue and white pain-in-the-ass in it’s FINISHED state!!!  Yes, it is DONE and has been sent off to it’s intended recipient a few months late.

 

Can you tell that I am happy that this is DONE?!?!?!?

The conversation was invigorating and heavy in the tech area.  It is an interesting group and I am glad that Terri decided to keep the group going!

 

We will have the couch if we have to throw our quiche at you for it!

 

Terri, the "Head Therapist"

It was a really nice night that helped me to forget about the stress that is on the horizon….