One Summer Saturday

This Saturday started out glorious. It was a crisp cool morning as I headed to meet a Man with a Van (mover) at the flat. Seriously - that's what they are called. In any case, we started loading the van at 7 AM and were done moving everything by 10 AM.

After a little nap, I headed down the Queen's Promenade to enjoy the beautiful weather. A lot of other people had the same idea.

Here is a paddle boat that is frequently in operation. It takes people to and from Hampton Court. I am thinking that Richard and the girls and I will make a day of it one day this summer.

Here are some longboats docked in Kingston. These are sort of like motor homes for the water ways here. You can rent one out for a week and take it on the rivers or canals all over England. Looks like it might be fun.

I had a burger in my favorite burger spot - Byron's. It was open air today as they opened up the whole side of their restaurant and took it outdoors. (Notice the heaters for when it cools down at night.)

Here is the Beer Garden in Market Square in Kingston. I think it is open all summer.

I also did my produce shopping in the market before heading home.

I am not sure if this will make you feel better or not, but it rained on my way home and I was soaked. I am not complaining though.

I miss you all and wish you were here with me!

Some initial pictures of the house

I am gradually settling into the new place. Here are a few pictures.

The kitchen is pretty nice size - I enjoy cooking so much more here than in the closet kitchen I had in the flat.

I promise it is all the same color - it's my picture taking that is off.

Obviously I did not have time to clean up before taking the pictures...

The living room...is also the dining room.

And the dryer...
is also the back garden.

I am going to have to get a real dryer before winter sets in.

Here is Alexa's room

Here is Amber's room
And here is a little bit of our bedroom - I am still working on this room.

Our American king size bed just fits - but the headboard is currently stuck on the stair landing of the first floor.

I still have some work to do to get it in shape for the family's arrival. It is already starting to feel like home and will be complete when we are all together.

I have internet access

Sorry for the silence. I had some problems with the phone line and broadband in the new house. Everything is fixed today and I will be able to use the internet and Skype now. Yeah!

Also, I had milk delivered this morning - so the day is starting off well.

I hope everyone has a great day today!

No milk

I was so excited that I was going to have fresh organic milk delivered to my doorstep every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

So far - no milk.

I am hoping that I just misunderstood and the service starts next week. We will see...

Friendly Neighbors

So I have been in the house since really just Friday full time. I love that I already know some neighbors.

Dave and Jill live next door and had me over for a wine break from unpacking on Sunday.

Susanna and her sons live on the other side of us and they are from Northeast England. She assures me that Richard will find a job on his last day here in July.

Then Sue and her 8 year old son live next door to Susanna. Her son is looking forward to meeting Alexa and having someone else his age nearby.

I think it is the coolest thing to know so many neighbors so soon!

On a sad note - another person was under a train today - it was the Piccadilly Line this time. I hope they are OK. I promise I am not making this up.

Follow up from May 27th post

I just saw in the paper that the man under the train died last week from his injuries.

There were so many inquiries I thought I would let you know. He was Adam Rothapel, the private secretary to Bridget Prentice, the Ministry of Justice minister. She described him as "one of the loveliest, most sensitive and intelligent people I have ever met."

Home sweet home

I officially moved into the new house yesterday. All of the furniture was delivered yesterday and today - along with a huge number of boxes to unpack. Seriously, I cannot believe how many there are after all of the stuff we got rid of back in December.

Looks like all of the furniture will fit - but I think the delivery men are still cussing me out after I made them take the heaviest stuff to the 3rd level of the house. I just have one problem. Our king size headboard will not go up the stairs. Looks like a furniture handyman will come out to the house and basically take the headboard apart, take it to the top floor and then put it back together.

I am pretty excited about a new service I get at our new house. Well, it's not a new service - just new to me. I am going to have milk delivered to my doorstep every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. How cool is that? It's the little things...

I am still working on moving things between my flat and the house. Busy weekend for me!

This cracks me up

This is such a 70's song - I love it just for that reason. I used to use the refrain as a quality reminder when I managed operations at a mutual fund company. "Get it right the first time - that's the main thing!" I sent it in an e-mail to my direct reports when I had to ask them to fix a mistake. They loved it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGO-9rMyzlM&feature=related

I know - I have a very weird sense of humor...

I guess I will need a sense of humor over the next few days though. The Underground Transport in London is on strike for the next few days - so I have to find some alternate routes to work. I can get the train into the city - but then I will have to walk or find a bus to get me to work. If nothing else, it will be good exercise.

This is my dream

For Richard - my dream is to be at home all alone with you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryZz9IhcUVc

I miss you!

Relief

Yesterday I had my first migraine in the UK - and it was a doozy. It also caught me completely off guard. Luckily, I have not had one since I have been here, but I think that gave me a false sense of security. It also means that I had not prepared my medicine cabinet with any medicine specifically for migraines.

I spent half of the day fighting it with traditional painkillers to no effect.

I finally crawled out of bed around 1:00 PM and slowly made my way to the closest pharmacy. All of the medicine was behind the counter so I had to ask for help - which was fine by me - less to think about. So I talked with the lady about traditional painkillers, but I insisted that I needed something specifically for migraines if she had it. So she gave me something called Migraleve. The packet has 12 pills - 8 pink and 4 yellow. She was careful to explain that I had to take 2 pink pills first and that if that did not work after 4 hours to take the yellow pills and that I could not take more than 2 pink pills in a day.

So, I made my way back home, took two pink pills and went back to bed. 4 hours later, I had a little relief, but still had a lesser migraine. So I decided to take the yellow pills. At this point, the pain was to a point where I could somewhat concentrate and I decided to look at what was in these pills. I was floored. I had just bought over-the-counter drugs containing...CODEINE.

Well - I will say this - it worked. I feel so much better this morning. Of course, I slept from 6 PM to 8 AM.

Migraleve rocks!

Sorry for the silence

I must admit I have been a little withdrawn this past week - fretting over visa information, house stuff and just missing my family so darn much! I guess it has been a little pity party.

Today I sent off all of the visa paperwork to Richard and he and the girls will have their biometrics done next week. Then the documents are off to LA for final approval. Visas should be secured later this month. That gives me hope!

I will be moving into the house on the 12th when all of our stuff arrives from Houston. That should give me a little more than a week to get the house ready for when Richard brings the girls over.

Then we will be finding a school. Pretty unfair that I am making the girls go back to school in England - I know. But hopefully, that means we will get them into the schools we want and they will get to meet some new friends before school next year.

Now to find a job for Richard.

Please put in a good word for us when you say your prayers.