Fall is certainly here. The leaves are changing & the temps are getting cooler. We have had the heat on pretty much since the middle of October. We need it to take the chill out of the air. Time changed this past weekend so now there is only about 9 hours of daylight & this time will get shorter. I am not looking forward to that! I like my sun and really haven't seen enough of it in the past couple weeks. We took a ride to the top of Cwmcarn Forest this past weekend and saw some wonderful fall colors.
Aaron & I are still getting out and seeing the sites. We went to the Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle. Both were amazing. I still need to post those pictures on Facebook. We also went to Bath, England for a beer festival. The beer festival was very small. The fall beers here are dark, heavy, & bitter. Not my cup of tea but Aaron sure enjoyed it. We saw the touring company of Thriller Live. The show is based out of London's west end. It's only in production in the UK. It was great celebration of Michael Jackson and his music from when he was just a lad up to his death. You can see more about it by going to www.thrillerlive.com. Per the website, it looks like there will be a world tour. If that is the case & you are a fan of MJ, this is a must. I want to see it again. It was brilliant!
Sunday we went to London for the NFL game that is played here annually. The Denver Broncos vs. the San Francisco 49ers. It was the battle of the 2 worst teams! (sorry Josh) The game was penalty free for the 1st half which was amazing to me. There were several Americans there which was nice. It was a great taste of home. I think we both realized we like to go to college football games vs. the professional. It was chilly!! We are glad we went. Next year, it will depend on what teams are playing.
I have started baking a lot and from scratch. There just aren't the pre-packaged items like in the States here. I've been successful!! So far nothing burned or horrible. Damn, I just jinxed myself!! I am also planning out menus and making healthy meals every night. And I did get a crock pot so I am super excited to make chili and roasts. I made my Italian beef this past weekend and it tasted exactly the same thanks to my Mom mailing the dry Italian dressing. (Thanks Mom!)There was even pepperchinis here! Woot woot!
The boys are doing great. Hardee has now developed a fear of his kennel which is not good. We are trying different things with him to get him to calm down. While in his kennel, he shakes and shreds his blankets. I am working with our vet on options. I am going to take the holistic approach first. Keep your fingers crossed!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup was finally upon us. Years of planning in Wales is now coming to "go" time. The buzz in the air was fantastic but nothing compared to a ND home game! Jason and Amy had a wonderful time. Aaron was having a good time until Saturday afternoon. And myself, well, it could of been better. I was sick for entire event. I got a horrible sinus infection with a fever. I worked on Tuesday then was off until Saturday. Upon coming into work on Tuesday, I did run into the American team practicing and saw Tiger hit his drive & saw golf on Saturday morning but other than that, I saw nothing up close and personal. It was all on TV. I haven't been this sick in quite a while. It was not fun & I am sure it wasn't fun for Aaron & our guests.
On Saturday, Aaron fell at the course. From all the rain on Friday, the spectator area was a muddy mess. The mud, to me, was almost mud volleyball like. Although on Saturday it didn't rain, the course had no time to dry up. People were covered with mud and sliding all over the place. Aaron was on the way to the meeting place where I was to meet him when I was done with my shift. Part of the temporary walking path sunk into the mud and he sprained his right ankle pretty bad and pulled his left leg. He saw the paramedics while at the event and they wrapped up his ankle and said he had a shin splint in the left shin. I felt so bad for him. He was covered in mud and even had some in his hair. It wasn't until Sunday that his left leg really started to bother him. He did go to the doctor here and has been told he has a torn ligament in his left leg. Aaron was unable to go back for any Sunday or Monday play. Someone is going to hear about this at the Ryder Cup!
Anyways, I have learned a valuable lesson. I will not work an event like this again. The middle of the day shift wasn't the best. It didn't give enough golf watching time. It was hard work for the free ticket. I think I will save this for the younger kids. :)
On Saturday, Aaron fell at the course. From all the rain on Friday, the spectator area was a muddy mess. The mud, to me, was almost mud volleyball like. Although on Saturday it didn't rain, the course had no time to dry up. People were covered with mud and sliding all over the place. Aaron was on the way to the meeting place where I was to meet him when I was done with my shift. Part of the temporary walking path sunk into the mud and he sprained his right ankle pretty bad and pulled his left leg. He saw the paramedics while at the event and they wrapped up his ankle and said he had a shin splint in the left shin. I felt so bad for him. He was covered in mud and even had some in his hair. It wasn't until Sunday that his left leg really started to bother him. He did go to the doctor here and has been told he has a torn ligament in his left leg. Aaron was unable to go back for any Sunday or Monday play. Someone is going to hear about this at the Ryder Cup!
Anyways, I have learned a valuable lesson. I will not work an event like this again. The middle of the day shift wasn't the best. It didn't give enough golf watching time. It was hard work for the free ticket. I think I will save this for the younger kids. :)
It's been a while....
Hello all! Sorry it has been so long since my last post. The past 2 months seemed to have flown by. August started out by us going to London for the Great British Beer Festival. There were 100's of real ales to try. We went on the last day so a lot of beer was out of stock. It was a good event none the less. We then made a trip back to the States for Kari's wedding & to tie up more loose ends. Upon returning to the UK, it was off to the races to get as much done as we can before I started working for the Ryder Cup. Those last days in August are a blur. On Sept. 6th, I started working. It was a manual labor job which I have figured out that I am in no way, shape, or form to do that. The days were long and I was tired when I got home. It took about a week to be able to adjust. It was good to get out of the house & interact with humans vs. dogs. The college kids I worked with were fun. I hope to keep in touch with a few of them. We went to Paris on Sept 22rd for the Jimmy Buffett concert on the 24th. Paris was wonderful. The Buffett concert was awesome. It is in my top 5 best concerts of all time. The opera house held under 2500 people. All of the people we met at the concert were ex-pats. We have made connections and will be visiting. I can't wait for the concert next year! Jason & Amy met us in Paris and came back to Wales for the Ryder Cup. This event deserves a post of its own.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
My car
After a lot of searching, I found a car I would like to purchase. It is a 2002 Nissan Primera. It's a 4 door automatic with only 24,000 miles on it. It was city car for sure since it has such low miles on it. It was clean and didn't smell like cigarette smoke. (Just about EVERYONE smokes here. I needed to make sure I had a car that smelled good!) It also has Sat Nav with it. Now I can get out & about.
Getting insurance here for the car was a pain in the butt. Not many companies would recognize my American license as valid. The few companies I did find wanted to charge me the equivalent $3500 American dollars to cover me. I was a wreck. I then finally found a company that would take my license & take into consideration my 7 yrs of clean driving record from the States. I was able to obtain a letter from my auto insurance company showing I had no claims for 7 yrs. I was so happy. I was able to get my insurance for the equivalent of $750 USD. I was dancing for joy!!
Watch out Wales! I'm loose! But at gas 1.15 GBP per liter, not sure how much driving I will be doing.
Driving lessons
We were told by former ex-Pats to take driving lessons so we can pass the UK driving test. With that being said, we listened and took the advice. We can drive on our American license for a 1yr before we will have to have a UK license. Pretty much you have a year to get the license or u are screwed. And the test changes in October. It will be harder so we thought we better get started.
We were recommended a driving instructor from a gal Aaron works with. He's been an instructor for 20 yrs so we knew we had a pro. We scheduled our lessons on a Friday. Mine at 2pm, Aaron at 3pm. Before I get going, please note I have only driven here ONCE before taking the lesson & 95% of the cars are stick shifts. I am so thankful I know how to drive a stick shift as the instructors car is a stick.
The instructor gets here. Peter is an older man with a nice Ford Fiesta, a very popular car here. I advise him that I have only driven once since I've moved here. He misunderstood and thought I said I have never driven. Once that got cleared up, he had me drive out of my house to town. I'm freaking out & super nervous. We drive around a bit and he asks me to pull over. He tells me I know how to drive but not good enough to pass the test. Peter's job is to get me to break my bad American habits long enough to pass the test. I know this in my head but DAMN! I didn't use the stick shift correctly. I crossed my hands when turning right on the steering wheel which will have me fail the test. He keeps pointing out everything I am doing wrong. This is the 2nd time I have drove! We get to a point where he says I almost hit a car. I lost it. I had to compose myself. I was either going to hit this dude right in the face OR cry. I chose crying. I was so frustrated I wanted to just get out of the car and walk home. After my breakdown, we came home and it was time for Aaron to drive.
Aaron had the same issues as I did; stick shift & turning. However, Aaron drives every day for work & on the weekends. I need a car to practice driving how I need to drive here. We were both super frusterated after the lesson. So we went to the pub, had a beer & came home.
We each have 5 lessons with Peter. He says we should be good to go by then because we can drive but just not like how the UK gov't wants us to!
We were recommended a driving instructor from a gal Aaron works with. He's been an instructor for 20 yrs so we knew we had a pro. We scheduled our lessons on a Friday. Mine at 2pm, Aaron at 3pm. Before I get going, please note I have only driven here ONCE before taking the lesson & 95% of the cars are stick shifts. I am so thankful I know how to drive a stick shift as the instructors car is a stick.
The instructor gets here. Peter is an older man with a nice Ford Fiesta, a very popular car here. I advise him that I have only driven once since I've moved here. He misunderstood and thought I said I have never driven. Once that got cleared up, he had me drive out of my house to town. I'm freaking out & super nervous. We drive around a bit and he asks me to pull over. He tells me I know how to drive but not good enough to pass the test. Peter's job is to get me to break my bad American habits long enough to pass the test. I know this in my head but DAMN! I didn't use the stick shift correctly. I crossed my hands when turning right on the steering wheel which will have me fail the test. He keeps pointing out everything I am doing wrong. This is the 2nd time I have drove! We get to a point where he says I almost hit a car. I lost it. I had to compose myself. I was either going to hit this dude right in the face OR cry. I chose crying. I was so frustrated I wanted to just get out of the car and walk home. After my breakdown, we came home and it was time for Aaron to drive.
Aaron had the same issues as I did; stick shift & turning. However, Aaron drives every day for work & on the weekends. I need a car to practice driving how I need to drive here. We were both super frusterated after the lesson. So we went to the pub, had a beer & came home.
We each have 5 lessons with Peter. He says we should be good to go by then because we can drive but just not like how the UK gov't wants us to!
The doctor
We met our general practitioner about 2 weeks ago. Upon walking into the office, we were greeted by a touch screen to check in. Very simple. You could also check in with a live person if you wanted to. Waiting room was very plain. There were toys there to keep the little ones busy. Waiting for our GP was just like waiting in the States for your doctor....u get there on time and the doctor is running late.
Aaron was called in first. We brought our prescriptions with us so we can get them filled here. Prescriptions are free in Wales so since we are paying in for medical care, we figured we should take advantage of it. It was a quick meeting. Aaron came out and went to another window. I was called immediately after.
Upon walking into the office, it was not what we are use to. It was dark and the carpet was old. White-gray is not the only color u see here. The doctor actually took my blood pressure and entered all the information into the computer. There was an examining table in the room which I was not asked to sit on. I sat in a chair right by him. He was able to track down most of my prescriptions except my muscle relaxer. They use valium here for a muscle relaxer. NO THANKS! I'll get my goods refilled upon my next visit home. I was then given a post it note to go have my height & weight & blood pressure taken. I looked at him and said, "excuse me. Where do I go do this?" He told me to lab window. okay...weird....We are use to having our weight & blood pressure taken immediately. And then the post it!!! Are you kidding me?
Aaron is waiting in the area for the lab. He looked at me with a disgusted look. I could tell he wasn't happy. He told me that we have to make an appointment to have our height, weight, & blood pressure taken. I think my eyes may have bugged out of my head. The gal was trying to have us come back on Monday to get this completed. Aaron was able to talk his way into getting it done the same day. We found out that all patients have to be documented in a time slot. All the time slots were filled but she found somewhere to put us. OKAY...weird...but this is the way they do things here. We both waited about 20 min to get weighted, etc.
It was such a weird experience. The emergency room was more what we were use to vs. the doctors office. We both hope we don't get sick. We have no clue how you get in to see the GP when you are sick. I am sure I will be the 1st one to get sick. I always am. I will certainly post on that debacle!
Aaron was called in first. We brought our prescriptions with us so we can get them filled here. Prescriptions are free in Wales so since we are paying in for medical care, we figured we should take advantage of it. It was a quick meeting. Aaron came out and went to another window. I was called immediately after.
Upon walking into the office, it was not what we are use to. It was dark and the carpet was old. White-gray is not the only color u see here. The doctor actually took my blood pressure and entered all the information into the computer. There was an examining table in the room which I was not asked to sit on. I sat in a chair right by him. He was able to track down most of my prescriptions except my muscle relaxer. They use valium here for a muscle relaxer. NO THANKS! I'll get my goods refilled upon my next visit home. I was then given a post it note to go have my height & weight & blood pressure taken. I looked at him and said, "excuse me. Where do I go do this?" He told me to lab window. okay...weird....We are use to having our weight & blood pressure taken immediately. And then the post it!!! Are you kidding me?
Aaron is waiting in the area for the lab. He looked at me with a disgusted look. I could tell he wasn't happy. He told me that we have to make an appointment to have our height, weight, & blood pressure taken. I think my eyes may have bugged out of my head. The gal was trying to have us come back on Monday to get this completed. Aaron was able to talk his way into getting it done the same day. We found out that all patients have to be documented in a time slot. All the time slots were filled but she found somewhere to put us. OKAY...weird...but this is the way they do things here. We both waited about 20 min to get weighted, etc.
It was such a weird experience. The emergency room was more what we were use to vs. the doctors office. We both hope we don't get sick. We have no clue how you get in to see the GP when you are sick. I am sure I will be the 1st one to get sick. I always am. I will certainly post on that debacle!
Friday, July 9, 2010
The boys favorite spots
The dogs are living the high life here. They have the opportunity to go outside a lot now. We are lucky enough to have an enclosed patio on the front of the house.
Hards loves the sun and takes every opportunity to lay in it. Cabs loves just being outside. Here are some pics of the boys.
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