Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Heading into Winter

The windy weather has just about taken all of the leaves off of the trees now. Cold weather is moving in - but it is not freezing yet. Still, we do wear coats every day - and sometimes hats and gloves.

We have ivy leaves covering our back fence and they have turned beautiful colors this fall - but I never got around to taking a picture. When the winds came through last weekend - all of the leaves fell off and are now on the walk. Doh!

I know I have not blogged much - but honestly, work is taking up quite a bit of time. Business is very strong though - which is a very good thing!

Also, I have been really enjoying family. We get through dinner and suddenly it is bed time and we are off to sleep. Then we spend every second of the weekend trying to fit in as much as possible. The Christmas lighting is this coming weekend and the German Christmas Market has started up. I will be sure to send some pictures and tell you all about it.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today the angels are smiling as they remember the birthday of Sharon! I hope you have a most wonderful birthday and wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

Reasons I celebrate Mom's birthday:

She was the "mean" mom who taught me the strong values and ethics that I use every day.

She loves me.

She read to me when I was little.

She laughs easily.

She always made me feel better when I was sick.

She is caring and kind and generous.

She makes the best breaded pork chops in the world.

She is curious about everything.

She is the best Grandma ever!

She is always hopeful.

She is strong and independent and persistent!

I love her!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Guy Fawkes Day is here!

Today is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK. It is always November 5th and commemorates Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up Parliament in the early 1600's. It is a little weird in that part of the celebration is to burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes in a bonfire. But there are lots of fireworks as well. It reminds me of 4th of July, except that no one gets the day off of work. As I was walking home from the station, I could hear fireworks all the way home and passed one effigy bonfire.

Since it is in the middle of the week, there will be residual celebrations all weekend as well. We live across the river from Hampton Court and they are sure to have a big celebration this weekend with fireworks as well, so maybe we will check it out.

Alexa has been learning all about the Tudors and is really fascinated by them. She likes to write down facts about them. (check out her blog) She even has a somewhat positive view of Henry the VIII. Anyway, she is going to Hampton Court tomorrow with her class and she couldn't be more excited.

Mouse in the House

It appears that we are hosting a little mouse in our house. We discovered him this weekend. Late Sunday night I was sitting at the bottom of the staircase typing an e-mail on my blackberry and he came out of the living room to take a look at me. I now have a feeling he was trying to get up the stairs.

Richard and I spent a good 45 minutes trying to shoo the little fellow out of the back door. We were sure we failed, but we could at least no longer find the creature. I ordered a two in one rodent repellent for next day delivery that night before I went to bed.

Well, the ordered device has still not arrived and the mouse is becoming bolder. This morning I woke up to a Alexa screaming, "Mommy!" (side note: I feel bad because I thought it was some kid outside screaming. When I finally got up to look out the window, I realized it was the child in the bedroom across the hall.) Anyway, I went into Alexa's room and she was sure there were mice all over her room. So we sat and listened and sure enough, something was in there making scratching noises.

We finally pinpointed the noise to her pile of stuffed animals. Alexa pointed out a bag and told me she thought there were chips in the bag. While on top of her bed, I threw a few additional stuffed animals at the bag and nothing happened. I had already turned on the lights and the sun was creeping through the windows by now. finally I braved it and look in the bag - there were chips there - but no mouse. Then I began moving the stuffed animals one by one. I felt that the mouse had surely moved on my now and there was no real danger. I found another bag with the wonderful meal the mouse had been eating - a granola bar. (No - food is not allowed in the bedrooms - but yet there it was.) Then as I moved the next stuffed animal, I discovered the little brown mouse staring up at me.

Now what? He is so cute, but so creepy. It's weird! Anyway, I could not find anything to catch him in and he is way too fast anyway, so I settled for getting him around the room and down the stairs. Bad news is then he ran into Amber's room and we started the whole thing over again. In the meantime, the girls have named him Despereaux. They beleive he is adorable - but got dressed on top of their beds all morning.

Finally, he made it all the way downstairs and into his usual hiding place (no idea where that is by the way.)

So we are still waiting on my next day rodent repellent device that is 3 days late so far and living with the mouse. I just saw him sneak out of the living room - I decided to follow only so far as to ensure he did not climb the stairs. Although I am creeped out - I am just trying to not think about it too much until the repellent device arrives. Please be tomorrow!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween in the UK

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! It is definitely not as big of a holiday here in the UK. We started the day in a coffee shop on High Street and they were playing Christmas music - which I secretly enjoyed.

No big decorations were out, but we did see a few witches and princesses roaming the streets late afternoon. It was beautiful and blustery with leaves falling off the trees and swirling in the wind before settling like a blanket on the ground. Here is one of our favorite spots by the river.




Amber dressed up in about 5 different costumes just for fun. (I am sure she will post them on her blog shortly.) Alexa was planning on being Miley Cyrus - but the shirt she wanted to wear was in the washing machine. It's the first year they have not gone trick-or-treating. We only had one bunch of kids come to our door all night. A group of girls dressed up as mice in tutus. Needless to say - we have a lot of leftover candy.

So as the cold weather threatened rain outside, I made stew from scratch and we ate it with Yorkshire pudding while we snuggled under blankets watching Harry Potter (IV).