Phriday Photo Phrenzy

My husband's body has been taken over by a Modern Warfaring demon.

I made stuffed peppers for dinner earlier in the week.

Santa is on my coke can. Christmas is nigh!

Cuddles during movie time. "What Lies Beneath" was our movie choice.

Very, very mean bug bite :(

Somebody (daddy) left the treat cup on the floor and left the room... both bunnies took advantage, but here is Harley being naughty :p

Christmas comes fast in England, because they don't have Thanksgiving to break up the time between Halloween and Christmas. I like this and I don't at the same time. I'm hoping to do a little Thanksgiving for us here next Sunday (it's just not practical to do it on a Thursday- nobody gets the day off!), but it will be low-key, because it's my first time cooking all that kind of stuff.
My mother-in-law got us a little 3ft tree to put in our lounge. I'm so excited- I think it would be a nice size to put on the window sill. Because I haven't gotten a job yet and savings are dwindling, I'm going to make pretty paper snowflakes for our ornaments this year with this tutorial. I'll get some glitter pens and make them kind of sparkly. I think it'll be fun.

Hubby's friend is arriving this afternoon for the weekend. Should be a good time.

Happy Friday- have a great weekend!

Oh and ps- I had my national insurance interview yesterday- all went well and my number should arrive in two weeks. In the meantime, I can start looking for work :)

Looking forward

I know I've asked you to be patient with the lull in events over here. I have the feeling it's that calm before the storm that we are all so familiar with. I've been learning as I've grown up that life just keeps getting busier- gone are the days of after school snacks and cartoons being your biggest concern. Now that the wedding is done, I feel the gogogo of life beckoning me. Thursday I go to my interview for my national insurance number and if all goes well, I'll soon have my own number. And then it will be time for applications and interviews and resumes (ugh, stressful things!). Then we'll be saving and hunting for a place of our own, furniture hunting, rent paying, and I'll start driving lessons and looking for a car. And then life will be in full swing and babies will be planned (that's a fast forward) and on and on and on! So I guess I should savour days like today, where I'm free to hang out on the sofa with a can of Diet Coke and a stack of Christmas cards to add messages, signatures and addresses to while watching Gilmore Girls, snuggled under the quilt my mom gave me for graduation.

Leaving you with some snaps, as always!

Great weekends make the world go round

Another quiet week, but followed this time by a great weekend! Friday night we met with some friends, Paul and Danielle, and had dinner at their house followed by games and soaked with wine. So much wine.
It was a great night, and even though when I entered their home, I'd only met them once at the wedding, I left feeling like I'd known them for a very long time. And that's a very good feeling.
It made me feel like definitely, soon, this place will be home. Plans were made and we got into a cab feeling jolly, and in my case, rather wobbly.

We tumbled in the door (well I did, Mick was sober) at 3am and collapsed into bed while I rambled on about God knows what and finally fell into a spiny sleep.

Yesterday I woke up with quite the hangover, but after some water and toast, I started to become myself again. Mick and I had a quiet day of watching films and Friends while house sitting for his dad, and my sister in law stopped by in the afternoon for a visit. Today is another quiet, lazy day. We all need those :)

Have some photos. And a lovely Sunday!

Damp, damp, damp!

A very wet and slippery trail near the house.

Whew! It feels like ages since I've actually sat down and written a real post in here. Life has been in that state of not really busy, but of time flying and you can't really remember what you've been doing. We're still working on getting the house unpacked and sorted. Slowly but surely, it's happening.

I'm a bit baffled by the weather around here lately. The sky is perpetually grey. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw the sun. Perhaps sometime last week? And even then it was a brief glimpse. I'm not bothered by this, though. I had 14 years of constant sun in Arizona. I like the change. But what really confuses me is the damp. It hasn't really been raining exactly, but it looks like it has. The ground is wet, the grass is covered in little beads of moisture, as are the trees, leaves, berries and twigs. The cars are wet. I don't understand! It's just so damp. You can almost see the moisture in the air, coming down, but not as rain. I'm sure this all seems really normal and unextraordinary to you, but I'm completely nonplussed!

And now it's time for a confession. Sigh.
Last night Mick and I were watching a movie and a guy picked up a girl and spun her around. My heart sank. I've always struggled with my weight, but especially since I was about 18. I'm not one of those people you see walking down the street and go "whoooa!" (no offense to anybody who is, I don't mean to sound rude there). Not by any means, but I am definitely obese, clinically speaking. Anyway, last year I lost loads of weight, mostly due to depression, but once I got happy again, boom! It all came back. I've been talking about working out and eating right again for ages, making promises to myself and to Mick. He doesn't mind that I'm this size, but he supports that I want to be slimmer and healthier. So, when I saw this guy spinning this girl in circles, I made last night the last time I would ever consume an entire pack of anything that was more than a serving (Fig Newtons, in this case). It's not even that I eat horribly, or obscene amounts. I just have this ridiculous metabolism that makes it impossible for me to not gain weight unless I work out. So, it's time I start listening to my body instead of my lazy brain and do what it takes. So today, I woke up and MEASURED MY OATMEAL. Then I went for a jog/walk.
And I have to say... I feel better today than I have for a long time. I feel good about myself because running has always been something that I wanted to do. I envy people who can just throw on a pair of sneakers and get their workout without paying a gym membership or listening to Billy Blanks shout at me on his Tae Bo DVDs to do some ridiculous mixture of steps ONE MORE TIME. Yet he tells me to do it just ONE MORE TIME like FIFTY TIMES. Even though I walked more than I ran, I plan to shift that ratio. It'll just take some practice. So, yeah, my legs felt like wobbly jelly and it felt like I had a chunk of ice in my chest (it was cold out) when I was done, but I felt good about me. I guess I just have to remind myself of that feeling every time I tell myself that I don't feel like working out. And remember to stretch! So that by this time next year, Mick can easily pick me up and spin me around.

How do you motivate yourself to be active? How do you find ways to enjoy it?

And I'm going to leave you with this quote because I've found a few grey hairs in the past year or so (I blame middle school students!). And this sort of puts it in perspective...

"Worrying about gray hair when your weight's soaring out of control is like mowing your lawn when you house is on fire."
-Edward Ugel

This weekend should be good- Mick and I are going to dinner at a friends house. And then house-sitting for his dad again. 
Hope you're all well :)

News!

Good news! My visa arrived this morning, so now I can go job hunting! Not sure what I'll find but hopefully something good will come along in this yucky economy! Cross your fingers and say some prayers that I find something quickly!
I promise to write a good lengthy post soon!
Here are a few photos from the weekend :) happy Monday!
-----
Okay, been a few hours and I've found more info out. In looking at job applications today I realised that I need a national insurance number. I think this is like a social security number? Just because I've been granted a visa doesn't mean I'm automatically given a national insurance number. Sooo I called the border agency and they told me who to get in contact with. Apparently I have to go to an interview to get this number? So I have an appointment next week to go do this. I'm hoping it's just a formality to show them my papers and Residency Permit to prove that I moved here legally. I'm not too worried, it's just another of the many steps I've had to take to live here. I just wish I had known about it earlier I guess??? Oh well, we shall see!

Photo Dump

Not much news around here- still just trying to get settled in the new house bit by bit.
But here are some photos for you.

For Mom

My mother started a tradition with my sister, her oldest child. When each of us graduated with our bachelor's degree, she made us a quilt. I chose pink and green and toile. And with love and patience, she stitched a beautiful masterpiece.

The other day my mom asked me, “how could you move like that?” She didn’t mean it in any harsh way. She and I are very different people, and she just meant she personally couldn’t do the massive thing I have done- quitting my job, leaving everything I know, and starting over in another country. I always knew that it would be hard for my mom when I left.
But it made me think- how could I, the little girl who used to have a panic attack every day before school and couldn’t spend the night at a friends house without wanting to go home in the middle of the night, become this woman who did what I did.

And then I got this quote, and I think it answers both my mother’s and my own question.

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible."  ~Marion C. Garretty

And it’s true. I’ve always had anxiety problems- most of the time it’s underlying, but other times it’ll flare up and can be pretty debilitating. When I was a kid, I wanted to quit school because I hated it so much, and I had a literal phobia of going to school until I was about twelve, as well as separation anxiety. But my mom and dad pushed me, because education and socialization is very important and they didn’t let me drop out and get home-schooled. I begged. I threw fits. But because my mom and dad loved me enough to not give in (and to go through the panicked battle with me day after day after day after day) and do what was best for me, I was able to finish elementary school. I was able to finish middle school, high school, earn an associates degree and graduate with honors with a Bachelor’s degree.

And then, when Mick came back in my life two years ago, I knew I would have to make a decision at some point. It was difficult for me, because I knew that for he and I to be together, a lot of things in my life were going to change. I worried what my parents would think, what my brother and sister would say. But I found the answer within myself. I found the strength to do what was best for me, because I’d seen my mother do it for me when I was a little girl. I saw her say no to the easy way, and do it the right way.

So, to answer my mom’s question- I was able to move away because I did what she did- I knew what was best for me, and even though I knew it would be hard, I did it anyway. She loved me and did the impossible, so that I could, too. 

Although a Mother's love isn't a love I understand just yet, I do know some about it, because I've been on the receiving end. I've also watched my sister grow with motherhood; I've seen how she looks at my niece and listened to her talk about just how much that gorgeous little girl means to her. So while I don't yet have my own children and can't completely grasp what a mother feels, I have an inkling, and I am thankful to be loved in such a way by such a remarkable woman, and for the opportunity to love her back with a daughter's love.