An American in Wales
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The life of one turkey saved. Maybe.
Today is Thanksgiving for all my American friends. However, since it is just another school day for us, combined with the fact that my Husband is on a business trip somewhere in Germany, I won’t be cooking a turkey, or anything resembling a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. (Particularly since my 5yo doesn’t really like turkey.) Somewhere on a local farm, a turkey is thanking me. Appropriate, hmmm? Anyhoo, for our “Thanksgiving” dinner I suppose I’ll just make something the kidlings like to eat. Like pizza. Maybe a turkey-shaped pizza. *ponders* * * * * * The other thing I won’t be making for Thanksgiving is a pumpkin pie. Mostly because, with the…
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Yes, I forgot to post my daily thanks, but I’m not ungrateful (much) and other stuff
The problem with not posting every day is that I forget to list the things that I’m thankful for. It doesn’t mean that I’m not thankful, I just couldn’t be bothered to post didn’t want to drown my 6 subscribers in blog posts. It was brought to my attention that I missed a few days, so please allow me to backtrack… On day 15 of Giving Thanks: I was thankful for the opportunity to volunteer at my children’s school. I’m a reading fanatic, and the opportunity to work with such a fantastic class – it’s not often you hear “oh please, just one more page” when you’re doing individual or…
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I Wonder… (I wah-wah-wah-wah-wonder….)
My mind has been wandering today. And wondering… I wonder… …if I will EVER cross the street here without thinking “Right-Left-Right” (despite the fact that I don’t need to remind myself that the cars are on the opposite side of the road anymore); …if, before we return to the US, I will stop converting prices from pounds into dollars in my head when I shop… ….if I will EVER learn to properly pronounce the Welsh “ll” sound without sounding like a cat choking on a hairball (I have to say those town names really, really quickly, or have my son say it for me); …how long it will take Boo…
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It’s Monday. Let’s find something to be thankful for. Before I get too crabby.
The plumber finally came, fixed the radiator – kind of – and left, saying “I’ll bring the parts for those broken faucets…next week.” The kids bickered. All. Afternoon. The scale showed a weight gain this morning. The dog threw up her dinner. My husband went to bed – at 8:15 – with a headache, I’m staring down another massive pile of laundry to fold, and frankly, I’m feeling a little crabby. Clearly, it’s Monday. Wait – that sounds pessimistic. That won’t do. I need to dig – deep – to find gratitude. I have a working furnace to provide heat, and a roof over my head. I have a lovely, snuggly…
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Looking Back, in Thanks (Part 1)
So, November is upon us, and for my American friends, Thanksgiving Day will be one of the high points of the month: family gathered together, laughing, eating turkey and pumpkin pie, crashing on the sofa in a food coma and watching football. Not so much here. After cooking a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings on my first Thanksgiving here, only to have the (then) three-year old say “I don’t like turkey”, leaving the three of us to eat all the dishes prepared – that’s a lot of green bean casserole, folks. And since the Thursday that Thanksgiving falls on is a normal working day here, it tends to…
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Halloween, Here vs There
Halloween in the UK (at least where we live) is very different from how it is celebrated in the US. In the US, it’s very much a commercial holiday. You’ll find rows upon rows of costumes at your big box stores, and your smaller stores as well. You’ll find AISLES in those same big box stores packed, from top to bottom, with bags of candy to be handed out. You’ll find costumes of the Power Rangers, princesses, Spider Man, Superman – you name it, they have a costume for it. Towns in the US have designated times for trick or treating. And, of course, there are rules: if the porch…
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Halloween Hell
Let me say, for the record, that I hate Halloween. Hate. It. It is my least favorite holiday, with Valentine’s Day taking a close second. (But that’s another post, entirely.) Why, you ask? Perhaps if I explain in the form of a haiku… Halloween costume Striking terror in my heart My ideas suck Yeppers. I hate the pressure of coming up with a really cool Halloween costume. Perhaps it was because so many of my childhood costumes…well…sucked. (No offense, mom.) To be honest, I couldn’t tell you what I was for many a Halloween. The costumes were either that unremarkable, or I’ve completely blocked it out. (I’m leaning towards the…
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The Gallery: Faces
I spent part of this afternoon building a Lego set with my kidlings today. Together they sat, faces close together, working (companionably, no less!) to assemble the small pieces. Watching them, it struck me how much they both have grown – Pea’s not a baby any more! – and how much older they look – and yet, how little their faces have changed. Oh, sure, they have lengthened a bit and lost the baby squareness that they had (yes, they were blockheads), but Pea still has a glint of mischief and Boo is still, well, Boo. I’m a bit mad with my camera, my kids will back…
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Things I HAVE Done
On Thursday, I wrote a post about the things that I haven’t done. Perhaps some items were a bit tongue-in-cheek, some were things I’d like to do, some were things I have no need to do. But… That’s a bit negative, isn’t it. I’m forty-three years old. And I’ve: 1. Slept in a tent in the desert. By a river filled with crocodiles. And my tent zipper wouldn’t fully close. 2. Landed in a plane on a beach (and in the desert) in Namibia. 3. Rode in a helicopter and circled the St. Louis arch. 4. Eaten wiener schnitzel and apple strudel in Vienna. 5. Gone snorkelling in the Caribbean…
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Things I’ve Never Done
I’m forty-three years old. And I’ve never: 1. Slept in a narrowboat. 2. Gone white-water rafting. 3. Flown in a hot air balloon. 4. Seen “The Big Lebowski”. 5. Drank a dirty martini. 6. Rode a zipline in Costa Rica. 7. Been to Seattle. 8. Caught a fish in Pike Place Fish Market 9. Finished a knitting project I’ve started. 10. Dressed up as Santa’s helper. 11. Learned to drive a manual transmission. 12. Walked a runway. 13. Planked. 14. Understood “planking”. 15. Eaten snails*. 16. Skinny dipped. 17. Climbed a mountain. 18. Gotten a tattoo. 19. Taken my kids to Chuck-E-Cheese. 20. Cruised the Nile River. 21. Learned to…