Closer to Getting Our Things Back!

We've heard back about our van in France, and they've quoted us 2000 euros (£1810 or $2730) to have the reconditioned engine fitted. The quote is in addition to the £750 ($1130) the engine will cost to buy and ship to France. We can't find that kind of money, so our only option now is to have the van scrapped and drive up to France with another van to retrieve our belongings.

Unfortunately it's caused a lot of frustration, because Hubby has replaced an engine single-handedly in the past, and, if he has the right equipment, it can take him 6 hours start to finish. The quote they've given us was based on 18 hours' labour, which we know is a con, but unfortunately they hold all the cards. It's illegal to tow a broken down vehicle through Spain, so we can't tow it to Hubby's Homeland. There isn't really any other way to get it here.

So we're making plans to travel back to France now. We've been offered a van by a friend, so we're just ensuring all the paperwork is sorted before we make our move. Parts of Europe are quite strict, so if we get pulled over, and it's registered in someone else's name, we could be in for more problems if they think it's stolen. So once that's all sorted, we will be on our way again. I estimate it to take around 4 days round trip, and hope to be leaving sometime this weekend.

In other news, I feel absolutely massive this week:


I'm surprised how much I've grown over the past week, but I'm definitely feeling it. The stretchmarks are taking over, and the aches and pains are coming. Hubby now needs to help me up off the sofa, and since we're sleeping on a mattress on the floor (our bed frame is on the van), I may as well be mountain climbing to get up out of it to go to the toilet during the night! But amongst it all, it's a good feeling. The baby is kicking lots. It will randomly stretch out, and make my belly a weird shape, which Hubby still finds alien-like!

All Moved, But... Where Are Our Things?

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. I am still here; just. So much has happened, which I promise to update you on in the coming weeks. Life has been so busy with the move, but now I have more time to be able to post, so here goes. I will do it gradually...

I'm now 32 weeks pregnant. The time has gone so quickly already, so I dread to think how fast the last few weeks will go! I am now this big:


And I feel like if I get any bigger, I will explode. Looking at me, I still have plenty of space to grow, but the aches are coming thick and fast now, so I wonder what I will be feeling like in another 8 weeks! I have lots of stretchmarks, but luckily the majority are on the underside of my bump, so I am in blissful ignorance of their presence!

In regards to the move, I worked up until 12th February, and we spent the weekend packing our things. I kept out all the important things until the last minute, but Hubby decided to pack everything left in unmarked boxes, "boxes of crap" he called them, resulting in me losing my underwear, maternity clothes and toiletries.

Anyway, we officially moved out of our place on Monday 15th February, and moved in with my mum for the week while we tied up loose ends, met up with family etc. Hubby's parents came up to England to meet us and help share the load in their car. Hubby's mum is a retired midwife, and it was reassuring to have her on the journey with me; just in case something happened and I went into early labour.

We left England on 20th February, and made the journey to Homeland # 2 to see my grandmother, aunts and a few cousins, before continuing our journey through Europe and down to Hubby's Homeland. However we didn't get any further than Poitiers in France before the van broke down on us. We hadn't expected it, since we had taken it for a full service and had repairs done on it before leaving England, and everything seemed to be in working order. But now it seems the engine has gone. Completely.

The garage in France quoted us £5,000 for a new engine; a cost we couldn't afford. They then offered to scrap the van for us, but they couldn't do anything without the vehicle documentation; something we didn't have. The person we bought the van from was really lazy in submitting the form to the DVLA, and therefore we hadn't received copies of the documentation before we left England. Now we were in limbo. We promised to get the documents to them, but in the meantime we couldn't wait there in France, so we all crammed into Hubby's parents' car, and continued the journey to Hubby's Homeland with only the basics:

* Travel clothes (consisting of sweats and "Guinness" T-Shirts)
* Basic toiletries
* My medical notes
* Jewellery
* One laptop

To this day we are still surviving on these things alone. The van is still in France, but now we are debating whether to get a reconditioned engine sent from England to be fitted into the van, and for it to be given a new lease of life; or to scrap it as originally intended. The paperwork still hasn't reached us, but it is in the mail as we speak. We hope to receive it tomorrow.

People are asking why we don't just scrap it and be donw with it, and I can only tell them it's because of the costs. We would have to pay to hire a van to take us back up to France, transfer all our things over, possibly pay to have the old van scrapped, drive back to Hubby's Homeland (all the time paying toll roads and hotels), only to have to give the hired van back and buy another vehicle here. Vehicles here come with a minimum price tag of £3,000. You can't seem to get an old banger over here like you can in England. It's for that reason that we're now considering paying to have the van fixed, and then at least we still have a vehicle at the end of all this.

The choice is obviously a gamble, and we're still liaising with both the seller of a reconditioned engine in England, and the garage that has our van in France, as to what the best option will be. I will keep you posted.

But on to today; we are going for our 4D scan in less than 3 hours. I need to get some lemonade to wake up the baby...

I'll update you more the next time I post.

In One Month Today...

We will be leaving the UK and moving abroad to start a new life in Hubby's Homeland. One month! I'm anxious, I'm scared... if I'm honest I don't really want to go, but I'm an adult and I'm about to be a parent. I have to get used to doing things I don't want to do.

Anyway, ignore me. I'm sure things will work out well in the end.

I've been back in the UK for 4 days already, but only just had an opportunity to update you all. The trip to Hubby's Homeland went well. We didn't manage to sort out all we had hoped, but we got the basics sorted.

First of all, it was great to see the in-laws. We hadn't seen them since the wedding in July, so we had a lot to catch up on, and I had a belly to show them. Hubby's Homeland is a place where everyone knows everyone, and good news travels fast, so it seems that wherever we went, someone was congratulating us.

The situation with the house is still not settled, but I don't think it will be for a while. We've probably got a temporary base in the one-bed flat, but it's so tiny it really isn't practical for 2 people with a baby. I think I measured the bedroom at 3m x 3.5m; it will fit a double bed if you have nothing else in the room. For that reason, we would need to swap the bedroom over with the lounge, which is slightly bigger, so we could get the cot into the room, and have a really small lounge. It will be okay for a few months, but certainly nothing long-term.

After that, we have the possiblity of Hubby's grandmother's house, which is a 2 bedroom flat near the town centre; but she would be living there too. That's not such a big problem until the baby needs its own room. Oh, and she doesn't speak English. And I only speak English.

Cue major awkwardness.

That's the only thing I'm worried about, but I know that it's the most likely eventuality, so I need to get used to the idea. Trouble is, while we would be buying the house from her, and paying the mortgage, I would feel like it wasn't our place, and would feel like I feel when I live with the in-laws - like I can't be myself. It's not ideal in that respect, so I'm not totally happy, but it's a house, and it's the baby that matters.

Hubby's Homeland is also a very hard place to get a house, so I am grateful we've been offered something. We know a couple who applied for housing when they got engaged. They've had 2 weddings, a long TTC journey, and their baby is now 5 months old, and they are still waiting for a house of their own. So I can't complain.

I've asked Hubby if we can stay in the tiny flat for at least a month after the baby's born. While it will be tight, I think it's important that we have time together as a family unit, without other relatives around. I know Hubby's grandmother would be really helpful to have around, but in the first month I will probably be going out of my mind with stress and exhaustion, so it's the worst time to have people around that you can't say goodbye to at the end of the day.

If we have a month alone with the baby, we can at least get to grips with being parents before thinking about living with someone else. I don't want her to have to walk around on eggshells for fear of upsetting me, and most of all, I don't want to unleash my hormones on her when she's only trying to help. I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly...

Hubby's heard of a few job opportunities. The one he's holding out for still haven't got around to releasing their applications yet, so he can't apply until February. We don't like that it's so uncertain, but it's a good opportunity, and because of Hubby's experience, he's very employable, so I'm sure he'll find something. The recession hasn't affected Hubby's Homeland, so there are no job shortages there, which makes things that little bit easier.

Hubby's mum took me to see her old colleagues in the maternity department of the hospital, and arranged for me to have a look around the ward etc. She also got me in with the community midwife who took a look at my notes and took my blood so she can get me processed before we move back over in February. I'm glad we went over this week, because when we go back in February, I will be thrown straight into appointments and checkups, so I won't miss out on anything.

They've already booked me in with a specialist to discuss the heart condition my grandmother has, which they ignored in England. I'm glad they're looking into it. They've also booked me in for what they call "parent craft", which I think is where they coach you through the labour process. I also have a dentist appointment booked (which I'm not especially excited about) and my 4D scan booked for the first week in April! I can't wait for that one!

On the return flight I got fantastic treatment! The lady at the check-in desk noticed I was pregnant and gave us priority boarding, which meant we got to sit right at the front with extra legroom. And we had great luck with our luggage; the second we got to the luggage belt, our bags were there for the taking. And they say Easyjet is crap; I beg to differ!

And on the baby front, it's spent the week kicking up a storm, but now I'm back at work I'm hardly feeling anything. It's moved now though, because up until 24 weeks, I only ever felt kicks up to the level of my belly button, but now I feel them just under my ribs. It's moved so much in a week, and the kicks are harder now.

I had my first bout of heartburn on Monday. This is going to be too much information, but throughout my life I've had those moments when you have a little sick come up, but then you have a swig of a drink, and it's gone. I thought that was heartburn.

Nope; heartburn is worse.


I went to see the midwife for my 25 week appointment yesterday, and she seems happy with how everything's going. She advised me to start counting the baby's movements, and if I have below 10 per day, I should get it checked out. She also advised me to take off my rings in the next few weeks. I was deliberating yesterday, and I've taken them off for good now. My jewellery isn't insured, and there's no way I'm having them cut off me!

Baby Update

Since the Christmas period got away with me, it occurred to me that I haven't updated anyone about the baby since our 21 week scan. As you know, the baby was kicking since I was 19 weeks and 6 days, but since then the baby has been visibly kicking in my belly. If I time it just right, I can see my belly moving with the baby, which is a very weird experience.

Since the 21 week scan, I have realised I'm actually glad we didn't ask the baby's gender. While I was going crazy with curiosity at the time, the moment has passed and I'm actually quite looking forward to the birth, because that's the first time I will know whether we have a son or daughter.

One New Year's Day we hit the sales; not for the usual things (clothes etc), but for the baby's buggy. We have been shopping around over the last couple of months, and finally found this one in Toys R Us. And even better, it was in the sale, costing £150 ($240). It's the Graco Excursion travel system, in black and champagne. The buggy comes with a car seat, which can be attached to the buggy for when the baby is small, and a footmuff for the colder days (not that we will be having many of them in Hubby's Homeland).

This is the basic buggy, with footmuff:


The car seat:


And the car seat attached to the buggy (I couldn't find any photos of it online, so you have to bear with me while I show you my skanky flat!):



I turn 24 weeks tomorrow, which is an important stage in any pregnancy, because it marks the point where, should the worst happen and I go into early labour, doctors will do everything in their power to help the baby. In a way it's a weight off my mind, because although the chances of survival are still low, at least you can be sure that every possible effort will be made for the baby. This is also the last point a loss is classed as a miscarriage, and from now on it would be classed as a still birth. I believe this means the baby would have the birth recorded.

I won't be online until 16th January now, as we're off to Hubby's Homeland to sort out a few things before the big move in February. We're hoping to get Hubby's job prospects more secured, meet with the midwives at the hospital, book a few birthing classes, inform healthcare etc that we are moving back (because I need to have medical support as soon as we arrive), and sort out where we will be living. It's going to be a busy week, but it will be good to get it all sorted.

It's Official

We're moving.

Of course it was official months ago, but now it's really official. I typed the letter we have to submit to terminate our tenancy, and I sent it off this morning. In two months we will be leaving our flat forever.

Our last official day in the flat will be Saturday 13th February 2010. Since we're paid up until midnight, and the letting agent closes at 5pm, they cannot take the keys from us on that day, so we are handing them back on Monday 15th February. It means we get a whole extra day to move out... and I think we're going to need it. Even after we get all our stuff out we have to lay down a new carpet (I'll go into that another time, but it's a great story!)

We're a step closer to the whole process though; Hubby bough himself a van. I won't hold out for your gasps of excitement, because quite frankly, I don't find buying a dodgy van off Ebay exciting at all.

It's a good thing Hubby does.

We ended up "winning" (I still don't know how you win anything from Ebay, when you've clearly promised to pay for it) a red Volkswagen Transporter for £1,200. That's about $1,950 for all my friends across the pond. It looks (I'm told) something like this:


I have a feeling it's going to be a little more dingey and much less shiny than this one, but you get the idea. Apparently the owner tried to revamp it into a Volkswagen Camper-type vehicle, but not very well, so it has a little table and cooker in the back, which we will be ripping out in order to be able to fit more stuff in. Once we get the van, we can assess how much we can fit in it, and start thinking about shipping the rest of our things to Hubby's Homeland.

Family Matters

I find myself wondering what things will be like when Hubby and I move in February. I know many good things will come from it, but I also fear bad things will come.

Our family, like many others, has its problems. They may not be as big as others, but they affect the dynamics and happiness of those I love. Often, I feel like my only role within the family is the negotiator. People turn to me to help sort out misunderstandings.

Am I happy about that? Not really, but you get what you're given.

My mother has fought for almost thirty years to ensure a good life for her children, but my brother doesn't always act the way most sons do. There is a reason for this, which I won't go into, but let's just say; they are both right - to a point.

I'm not saying he's a bad person; on the contrary. He's a kind, genuine and loving person, but sometimes he doesn't stop to listen, or try to understand what people are telling him. Sometimes my mother can't explain herself properly, and therefore can't get her point across. Sometimes she is confused for overreacting when in fact I think she's just misunderstood.

In short, their characters clash. They always have done, and I believe they always will. It's caused many problems over the last 20 years, and I often wonder if either of them are learning anything from this.

I'm happy to help, but sometimes I dread answering the phone, because I know it's going to create stress that I don't need. At the same time, this is my family, and I love them unconditionally, so of course I'm going to do everything in my power to help them. I just wish they could work out how to deal with each other.

Hubby is the only person who knows how this effects me, because I can't talk to them about it. Without me, I wonder if things would ever sort themselves out. And if I move away, I can't be here to help them. I worry what will happen in the future, even though I shouldn't have to worry. I worry that when I go, they won't be able to find a middle ground, and there will be nobody to help them find it. They will argue, and I see them drifting apart. I won't be able to see them as much as I'd like, but they will be able to see one another, but may choose not to.

To me, family is the most important thing in this world. Your parents, siblings, partners and children are to be treasured. They may not be perfect, but they are a part of you, and you should accept them for who they are, and work with it. You shouldn't try to change them - they are who they are because of their imperfections.

I can't do much from 2000 miles away, and I feel guilty for moving, but this is my time, and I need to give my child the best upbringing I can possibly give.

Sometimes I just wish I could live my life without worrying what will happen to those I love.

Random Thoughts

* I'm beginning to think getting pregnant before emigrating was a bad idea. If we move abroad in mid-February as we intend to, we only have 11 weeks, or 77 days left to tie up all of our loose ends. That may sound a lot, but there's Christmas in the middle, and we're taking a trip to Hubby's Homeland in January, so in reality we have far less time to sort everything out. I was actually lying awake last night wondering how it's all going to slot together in time; we just have so much to do!

* I can't wait until we go for our 21 week scan. 21 days and counting...

* We've seen a buggy we want already. Scary, huh? Well, not totally scary, because my mother-in-law popped into a couple of shops in Hubby's Homeland to ask how quickly items would arrive into stock after ordering them, and the result is 12-16 weeks.

It means that even if we shop for things when we go over in January, it still might not be there when the baby is born in May! Because of this, we're looking into buying at least the buggy in the UK and taking it over with us. This is the one we've found, and we think it's a bargain at £199:

I know it's blue, and we won't know whether we're having a boy or a girl... but since when have I been traditional? And I'm bored of shopping for gender neutral colours.

* And finally, I paid a whopping £900 ($1,400) onto my credit cards today. I know, what was I thinking? I can't really afford to part with that kind of money, but I found a crazy balance of £1000 on a card I thought I'd cleared, so the debts I need to clear before we move have doubled. I would cut up the cards, but with a baby on the way I'm sensing it could be wise to keep hold of them...

17 Weeks and Counting

My hope of posting more often didn't really work out, but I hope now things will be different. At 12 weeks I was still in the throes of morning sickness, which I didn't really see an end to until I was 15 weeks. In early November I had a three week long bout of migraines which made my sickness worse, and resulted in me being signed off work for a week. The doctor gave me a course of an anti-nausea pill which worked wonders.

But the good news is that I am doing well. I have now given up on caffeine completely (and I mean completely - I haven't touched a drop in 2 weeks). I'm not really feeling any different, but my migraines haven't made an appearance so I like to think it's linked.

My energy levels are slowly creeping up, and I'm now able to wait up for Hubby to get home from work (most of the time at midnight) about 4 nights a week, which is an achievement in itself, because at one stage I was going to bed at 7pm every night!

The baby is doing well too. I can't be sure, but I think I felt my first 'flutters' on 11/11, at 15 weeks, though I don't know why they call them flutters because to me it just felt like a rush of bubbles popping. Very weird. I know they say many women mistake it for wind, but I've never had wind there! I've since mentioned it to my midwife, and Hubby's mum (a retired midwife) and they both said it probably was the baby. I haven't felt anything since, but it's not unusual to feel something and then have nothing for a few weeks.

A week ago we went to see the midwife (my Hubby and I, not the baby and I - I'm not that crazy yet!), and we heard the heartbeat again. It took her a while to find it, mind you, because the baby kept swimming around trying to avoid the doppler. It seems the baby thinks it's on a stealth mission...

Right now I'm 17 weeks. I'd like to say I have a big pregnant belly, but I don't. When I took my 16 week belly photo I was ecstatic to see the beginnings of a belly, but over the course of the week it deflated somewhat, and I'm back to looking as if I've been eating all the pies. I have, but that's not the point...


Now I'm over the chaos of the first trimester, I'm thinking forward to the coming months. We have pretty much decided that we're moving to Hubby's Homeland in mid February, so we have to give the notice on our flat lease, we have to get quotes for shipping companies to take our stuff over, we have to buy a van to drive down (and to have space for the things we need immediately, like clothes etc), we have to pack, I have to sort out my maternity leave, Hubby has to sell his cars (one of which has no engine), and we have to get rid of whatever we're not taking.

Anyone want a bed?

Wedding Presents...

Our lounge, though tidier than usual, seems smaller than usual. But that's because we had our wedding gifts delivered on Saturday morning!!

I then had to wait until midnight for Hubby to get home so that we could open them together. As you probably know, we're looking at moving back to Hubby's Homeland in 2010, so we only opened everything to check nothing was broken or incorrect. It's a good thing we did too, because our burgundy pillow cases arrived looking suspiciously cream...

We also received £220 of vouchers from various family members, which we are hoping to spend on Sunday 16th August when we go to the store in person. We got a number of things we absolutely loved but didn't really need:









I spent Sunday boxing everything back up and tidying the lounge again. In such a small flat, one delivery seems to take over! The rest of my day was spent writing our thank yous; to which Hubby only contributed a signature, and complained at having to do that. Nevertheless, we're almost there. They're all written (except for the Spanish lot, which I have to get Hubby to write), the envelopes are all stamped and addresses - all I need to do now is spray mount the photos to the front of the cards without gluing myself in the process.

I anticipate to have them sent out first class tomorrow. that will be a weight off my mind, because then I'll know the wedding is pretty much done and dusted. THEN it's only our honeymoon to wait for, which by the way is in four weeks today!

Good News!

I have two bits of good news to share today.

I mentioned in May that there may have been an offer for a house in Hubby's Homeland, but that we wouldn't know for certain for a few weeks. Well, weeks turned to months, and we had almost given up on the idea until yesterday. The house is ours whenever we're ready to move over there. The conditions are different to what they were, in that we won't be buying the house, but renting it from my father-in-law. It's only a one badroom apartment though, so we would only need it while our first child is young enough to sleep in with us; and afterwards, we can look for something else.

It's such a weight off my mind. I don't know about you, but I've spent my adult years struggling just to make it through to the next pay day. I see friends buying houses and I wish I could be like them, but the reality is we've never made enough money to be able to put anything into savings, and the money we spend on rent is effectively money down the drain. But even before the recession it was near impossible for us to get a mortgage, even though the payments would be less than our rent.

Anyway, I'm not the only person in this situation, and I'm sure that if you're not in the boat; you know someone who is. But we're now lucky enough to have been offered a get-out clause, and it pretty much changes everything, and it means we can start thinking about the family we want to start so much.

Which leads me onto my next piece of news...

I don't know what the etiquette is on this one, but Hubby and I have agreed to start trying for a baby on our honeymoon. I'm so excited! I've been broody for so long now, and it finally seems that things are working in our favour.

Now that we're married, and now that the house is agreed; it just seems like the right time to be thinking about children. So we've set the start of our Hawaiian honeymoon as the point at which we start trying to conceive.

I know I'm jumping the gun here, but if it happens straight away, we could be parents in June. I'm not naïve, I know it might take a while, and I know we may face problems - My mother had trouble conceiving, and went through lengths just to have my brother; so she's always made it known that I might have trouble too. But they never did tests on me, so I won't know until we start actively trying to conceive. I think that's part of the reason we're not holding out much longer to have children... that and the fact that Hubby wants them before he's 30 (in 2011).

So we have six weeks to go, and I'm going to take this opportunity to get my body into shape for then. I'm going to concentrate on my diet and getting to my goal weight, and then it will just be a case of toning up and eating healthily. I've been taking pre-natal vitamins for about a month already. I just need to start reading up on the science of it all...

Phew - getting married, travelling further than I've ever been before, getting a house and trying for a baby... 2009's turning into a great year for us.

The Best Weekend EVER!

Where to start?! I haven't posted in 6 days, so I guess in order to update you; I'm going to need to start at the beginning.

Thursday and Friday were spent in a bit of a blur. I caught an awful cough and cold, and was like the living dead towards the end of the working week. I was sitting at my desk like a zombie, but unable to take time off sick. But my runny nose was more or less gone by Saturday (that's the kind of sickness I like!), leaving only a silly throaty cough behind, which I'm still trying to fight off. I suppose the good thing though is that I now have a husky voice, haha!

But the weekend is the thing I wanted to update you on the most. I've been so busy, but had such a nice time, and we received some incredible news - which I shall keep until the end.

I took the train to my dad’s house on Saturday morning, in time for a second hair consultation with a second stylist. This guy has been recommended to me, and he's been a stylist for over 30 years; so I had more faith in this consultation than I had in the first. He was running late, so he had to see to me in between his other clients, meaning it took over two hours to get the consultation.

He started off by suggesting hot rollers in a bid to get some nice curls going in my hair. My hair is naturally curly, but they’re quite small curls, and not very pronounced. So I was sat under one of those helmet-like blow dryers (and actually my head was being burned to a crisp, leaving me with a burnt forehead for a couple of hours!), only to find that the curls didn’t take. In the end he blew dry it straight and tonged curls into it, pinning it up into what was the spitting image of the example I’d shown him.

He didn’t put any mousse or hairspray in it, but assured me he would put so much in it on the day; it wouldn’t come free. That’s what I like to hear! Unfortunately there was no time to get any photos, as he took the pins out straight away. I also didn’t have time to quibble, because now I was running late myself, and my poor dad had already been waiting for me for two hours. Anyway, I’m confident he can do it, and have booked him to do my hair on the wedding day.

On Saturday afternoon, I went into town with my dad to run an errand, and ended up spending four hours wandering around with him, which was really nice. We stopped for coffee, and he showed me a few hidden gems where we might be able to have wedding photos done. I loved being able to spend time with my dad; as it’s rarely possible these days. I actually remembered how alike we are, so it was really nice.

On Sunday I spent the day with him, my stepmum and little brother, and went back home that evening. The weather over the weekend was incredible; not a single cloud in the sky and sooo warm. The only negative was that when I’d packed my bag to go to my dad’s, I hadn’t packed any skirts/shorts, so I was going around in black trousers for two days: ouch!

When I got back on Sunday night, Hubby had the night off. He greeted me with huge enthusiasm to have a picnic the following day (a national holiday, during which he had also managed to get a day off). So we spent the evening talking about where we could go, what we could take, etc.

On Monday morning I woke to see that it was dreary and wet outside. Hmmm. Unfortunately one thing about living in England is that you can NEVER plan ahead on the weather. So we went for breakfast at a "greasy spoon" (if ever you visit England, you have to visit one).


Hubby and I seem to go for breakfast here whenever we have a day off together. Before you question this, we've only had about 3 days off together in the past year, so it's not often enough to increase anyone's cholesterol!

Then went into town and went to the cinema. We saw “Night at the Museum 2” and I thought it was even funnier than the first. However when we got back to the car, we found we’d been lumbered with a parking ticket! £25 lighter, and somewhat deflated; we headed home.

Nearly done, I promise…

When we got home, we received a call from Hubby’s mother in Hubby’s Homeland. Hubby’s step-grandmother (you following?) has been offered the chance to buy her flat from the government for an incredible £35,000 (about US$55,000). However, she doesn’t want it, so Hubby’s stepdad has offered to buy it initially, and sign the mortgage over to us afterwards (since we’re not blood related, we can’t buy it straight out ourselves).


Which means, if all goes to plan (i.e. if nobody blood-related wants the flat) we have a house ready for when we move over!!! The mortgage would be so low (about £180/US$280 per month), we could even afford to pay our current renting costs in the UK as well as the mortgage on the flat in Hubby’s Homeland.

The reason we can't go immediately is because we're already signed up to a leasing agreement, the wedding, the honeymoon, our jobs and my annual leave year, which finishes in January. If I leave before January, I have to pay money back to them to make up for the leave I'm taking for the honeymoon = not worth leaving until 2010. I also wanted to give my family a heads up and not leave straight away.

The flat is on the ground floor, and has only one bedroom, but it will be fine for the first couple of years at least. Even when we have a baby, it will be okay for the first year or so while the baby can sleep in our room, and then we can look into getting another place.

Eek, how exciting! It’s beyond belief. This stuff just doesn’t happen to us! We normally have such bad luck with everything house-related (being chucked out of numerous houses - not our fault I hasten to add, and having flatmates who stab us in the back); but here we are being offered such a good deal. It’s our key to having a family, and it seems to be coming together. I’m sooo happy :)

And one part of final news; I have my first dress fitting this afternoon. To save the dress from sitting in the car crumpled for seven hours, I’ve had to bring it to work with me today! Something I never thought I’d have to do, but I managed to sneak it through without many people seeing it, into a very rarely used little storage room.

Cue the music from "Mission: Impossible"...

Happy St George's Day!

A happy St George's day to you all! I don't care if you're not English, or not descended from English stock; have a cup of tea (or a glass of Pimms) and a scone and sit back and enjoy the sunshine. It's sunny here today; apparently the warmest April in 30 years! Despite landing at 1:30pm yesterday, by the time I went to bed last night I was still in holiday mode, and so when I woke up this morning and turned on GMTV (morning television) to learn that it was St George's Day, I actually groaned. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love this day, but it meant I had to root around for something red and white to wear to work; despite having chaos all around me from unpacking our suitcase!


Anyway, find some clothes I did, and I'm now at work wearing a white top, a red skirt that is now too big for me (the joys of losing weight!), and white ballerina pumps - beautiful!

As I made my way in to work today, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that I didn't see anyone else wearing the national colours, or waving a flag or anything. Not that that wouldn't have been weird. It's a pity more English people don't celebrate our patron saint day. Everyone's happy to celebrate St Patrick's day, but nobody even cares when it's St George's day. This is what it's come down to: A couple of events in London, followed by haters yelling at them because they're offending the non-English members of our communities.

I don't want to seem rude, but if immigrants come to England, surely they are expecting to be thrown into an English society; all stiff upper lipped, non church-going, non saying hello in the street style. If I go to China I don't expect them to greet me with a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit. Last year the government were actually telling people not to wear or display the flag of St George for fear of making foreigners feel unwelcome. My own mother is foreign, and even she thinks the country has become too obsessed with keeping her sweet. Political correctness gone mad.

Anyway; my mini rant out of the way - My trip to Hubby's Homeland went better than I expected. Hubby's grandfather, though not well, was better than we thought he would be. He's getting radiotherapy, so hopefully it will help him a little. While we were the weather was amazing; not a single cloud in the sky for the duration of our stay. We went fishing, went to the new casino, ate out, and caught up with Hubby's Best Man and his wife, as well as other friends.

One of our friends is taking part in the local version of "Strictly Come Dancing" or "Dancing With The Stars" for those of you in the US. We went to see the opening night while they were filming it for TV, and we had a great time. The six couples danced either the Waltz or the Cha Cha Cha. Although we can't see the televised shows here in the UK, we're asking them to keep us updated on our friend's progress in the contest.

I ate so much while I was there though, and I feel like such a porker, so as of today, I'm back on Weight Watchers with a vengeance. We went for breakfast, and Hubby had toast with garlic and olive oil (yum!). We also took the opportunity to have lots of fried food, a Burger King, a KFC and a whole bag of Jelly Babies...

The importance of today is three-fold for me though; because my little brother celebrates his birthday on 23rd April, and my grandfather also died on this day. So as well as celebrating being English (not British), I give my brother a call to wish him a happy birthday, and take a moment to think of my grandfather.

In other news, and possibly the most important of all; Hubby and I have agreed that it's time to think about getting on the housing ladder in his home country. So I've said that once 2010 comes around, he can scout around for a job there, and if he finds one with a decent salary; he'll accept it and we'll be emigrating.

Now, for those of you who don't know; Hubby grew up abroad, and I moved back there with him in 2004, but moved back to the UK when I was offered double bubble as a store manager. He has always wanted his children to have the same upbringing as he did, and Hubby's Homeland is the safest, friendliest place we know. So once we married we would try for kids, and move abroad once we found out we were expecting.

BUT things never really work as easily as you think they will. There is a housing list you need to go on for government housing, and you can only go on it once you've been living there for a year. But we can't live with his parents with a screaming newborn, so we've realised we're going to have to plan things a little better.

So here's the deal; if Hubby can find a decent job over there, we can get a mortgage (stupidly affordable over there), I can then focus on finding a job that doesn't need any fluency of Spanish (even though the official language is English, this is harder than you'd think). We can then try for a family, I will be able to raise the kids, learn Spanish, and we'll live happily ever after. I'm not sure about the last part, but that's the plan at least!