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!

Brilliant Weekend Full of Food

I'm just popping in quickly today, because this week is hectic at work.

I had a brilliant weekend, starting with a night out with the girls from work on Friday night to celebrate my birthday. We had only intended on staying for one, but somehow it had reached 11pm by the time we left the bar; fed and watered and we'd had a blast.

On Saturday I woke to realise it was my birthday. Hubby bought me a card; though he forgot to collect the envelope in the shop, and ended up wrapping it in tin foil(!). Hubby never buys me cards, so I was thrilled to get one from him, that had "wife" emblazoned across the front.

At lunchtime my mother picked me up and we headed into town. We went to see "The Time Traveller's Wife" at the cinema; which I thoroughly recommend by the way. It's such a good film, but so sad! I've since decided to add the book to my honeymoon reading.

After the cinema, we went for dinner at "Old Orleans", which specialises in dishes from the Southern States; cajun chicken and all that. As you can tell; I was right off the diet...

I went home in the evening and vegged out on the sofa watching a couple of films, and waiting for Hubby to finish work.

On Sunday, Hubby and I went to Kingston to spend the gift vouchers we'd been given for the wedding. We wandered around the store choosing stuff (including more of the crockery we'd had our eye on, some Le Creuset cookware, and a lean meat grill), went to grab a bite to eat (bangers and mash), before making our way back home and grabbing a KFC for dinner.

Monday strolled around, and it was back to the throes of work; although I'd forgotten that this week we are auditing, so I was in for a busy one. Nevertheless, I met Hubby for lunch and wandered around town for a while in the sunshine (because England finally decided to perk up!). I got home last night and Hubby was cooking me a jacket potato and Yorkshire Puddings. Mmmm...


A weekend of food and sunshine; over way too quickly. I should turn 25 more often...

I've had a busy couple of days, gluing and sending out our thank you cards, picking up our honeymoon tickets and ironing on fabulously blinging "Mrs X" transfers onto my honeymoon clothes:


Don't be alarmed, I've only got the one, and I've only ironed it onto one black T-Shirt, which I plan to wear on the plane.

I am getting more excited by the day, and I can hardly contain myself. And we still have over two weeks to wait! I'm slowly starting to pull a few things together that I know I will need to pack; like travel detergent, shorts, dresses, sun cream, books... I'm only packing these things because the Great British summer has, once again, been a total washout this year, and I doubt I'll be needing many of my summer clothes before we leave.

But there's always hope, and I would love to be able to top up my tan before we leave - there's nothing worse than being pasty on the first day of your holiday; trying to disguise your milk bottle legs. I'm not as pale as they come; I generally classify myself as having a European colour - perhaps like those in the south of France - opposed to pale colour of my fellow English roses. Having said that; I'm well versed in holidaying with Hubby's family, who are lucky enough to live on the Med and soak up the summer sunshine from April through to October.

I'm also breaking in my white flip flops; the first of 2009, and I stepped in bubble gum already. Sad but true!

And on a final, rather sour note, my laptop has decided to re-acquire the virus it had on 11th July, and therefore is out of action again until Hubby can work out how to get rid of it. Pfft. I'm seriously unimpressed, because all of our wedding photos are on it, and I hadn't managed to get around to burning them yet! Nevertheless, I knew the signs this time, and as soon as it started happening again, I came offline and started a series of gruelling virus scans, which have continued through to this morning when I had to leave for work.

I just hope it's sorted before Saturday, because I'm not spending my birthday without an internet connection...

One Month to Go!

I woke up this morning with a spring in my step, because as of today; our honeymoon is only a month away!

I'm so excited. This will be the first time I've ever been to the United States, and it will mark the furthest I've been from home. It also means I finally get to spend three interrupted weeks with my new husband. I can't wait!

We normally go back to Hubby's Homeland for a week here and there, or we go on holiday with his family. Hubby and I have only been on one "couple" holiday in the entire time we've been together; and it was complete shambles.

We were in the middle of a heat wave, and Hubby and I went down to the west coast, to a town called Newquay. If you aren't familiar with it; Newquay is the place you go when you finish school (a bit like Tijuana I suppose).

But despite the reputation, we weren't going to mingle with the underage drinkers, because Newquay is also famous for its clean beaches, and it's possibly the best surfing location in the UK. And for anyone who's seen Roald Dahl's "The Witches", the hotel it's filmed in is located here:

I'd been to Newquay twice before, but Hubby had never managed to go, so we thought we'd go camping in Newquay for a week; soaking up the sun, chilling out. We had originally been considering going to the Dominican Republic for a week, but in the end the price was just out of our reach, so we settled on a "staycation".

Well, at the end of the week, we'd spent more than we would have done staying at an all inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic, so we've since decided that staycations are very pricey!

Unfortunately it was wet and stormy all week, but still lovely and sunny back home (grr...). Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun. We walked along the cliffs, and you can even walk along a strip of coves that lead straight to the town centre. It's a beautiful place; even when it's raining!

On the way back we stopped off at the Eden Project (the world's largest greenhouse):

After leaving, we were on the home straight; or so we thought. The car broke down twice, and the second time we were still 100 miles from home, and Hubby's breakdown cover will drive you home, or to a hotel within 10 miles of the breakdown location.

Unfortunately that left only one option; find a hotel. The mechanic took us to the repair garage, where I put the £800 ($1,400) bill on my credit card. The bank subsequently blocked my account, leaving us penniless in the process. It then meant we had to rely on the goodwill of a nearby hotel to give us a room for a knock down price, and no dinner!

Anyway, enough of my trip through Memory Lane. Hawaii will be our second "couple" holiday, and the best by far. This time next month, I will be on a plane to San Francisco with hubby asleep on my shoulder :)

Chips

I don't know what the latest news is on Swine Flu in your area, but it's getting pretty widespread here in the UK. So widespread in fact, that people are now freaking out and overdosing on antibacterial paraphernalia.

As I keep trying to tell them; if you're going to get it, you're going to get it. There's little you can do to prevent it, except running for cover and not coming out until the spring. I on the other hand, have come to the conclusion that I'd rather get it now, than in five weeks' time when we're supposed to be going on honeymoon.

Don't get me wrong, I am not, repeat NOT about to hold a Swine Flu Party and rub up against every sick person I can find. I'm simply saying that I'm going to be careful, but I'm not going to change my lifestyle in order to specifically avoid it.

On Monday I elected my "Flu Friend". On Tuesday she called me to tell me she had Swine Flu.

I choose my timing well :)

Seriously though, she lives 100 metres from me, so I would have offered to help her anyway. So I left work early on Tuesday and collected the Tamiflu from the pharmacy. You should have seen the reaction; it was like they thought I was sick. I had to stifle a giggle.

But despite what people are saying, I feel useful, and I like being able to help her. She's housebound for 5 days, so the least I can do is buy bread and milk for her while she's sick. Which got me to thinking; if the same happened to me, I would have nothing in the house to live on.

Hubby and I ended up doing an emergency shop on Tuesday evening in the event that we both get taken down sick with it. So now our freezer is fully stocked with ready meals, and most importantly, chips.


If I'm gonna get swine flu, I'll deserve a big plate of chips :)

Come to think of it; I'm not feeling too great today. That'll be because I decided to make the switch from Diet Coke to Diet Coke - Caffeine Free. What was I thinking?

What happened to this place?!

I was so excited when I left the office on Friday evening, because I was going to a pub re-opening. But not just any pub; the pub I've been going on about since the beginning of this blog.

For those of you that are new, you may not already know the story, but for my long-standing readers; you may remember that Hubby and I were made redundant from this pub, where we had both been working for a number of years. It was Hubby's main job, where he was working as Head Chef, but for me it was simply an additional £4,000 per year, because I already had my office job, but I was working all the hours under the sun to save up for our wedding.

Anyway, this all happened in November 2008, because the owner, who was like a second father to us all, decided to skip town without a word to anyone. You've probably realised that I try to avoid going into too many details on here, because I try to stay largely incognito (not that it always works). In this case, I'm avoiding the details because there's no point in opening old wounds; and these wounds are particularly raw.

But back to Friday's event; in June it was announced that the pub had been bought by four young entrepreneurs who already owned a couple of fancy wine bars in town.

Except this isn't a fancy wine bar in town. This is an English country inn.

We've spoken to one of the owners through Facebook (he contacted me, because I created the staff group on Facebook; I wasn't some crazy stalker). He said from the beginning that he wanted to keep it largely the same, with the same homely, comfortable atmosphere it was renowned for.

So, with baited breath, we went to the official re-opening. I should start by saying that I had an amazing evening, largely because I got to spend time with old colleagues and customers that I hadn't seen since my last shift at the pub - the Tuesday before the sh*t hit the proverbial fan.

But the pub?! Well, the shell might be the same, but it's a completely different place. Picture fancy tables, a fancy-worded menu (after all, a burger is still a burger) and fancy prices to go with it. Then picture staff who don't know a beer pump from their elbow, and four equally dim managers who think that flapping around is a good way to get something done.

I know I'm being overly critical, but I can't help it. I arrived with two guys that used to work there with me, and we all ordered the hamburger; which the manager informed us was the best thing on the menu by far. I guessed the chefs love their pepper, because I couldn't taste much else. But we soon learned that they don't even make the burgers on site, but they get a farmer to make them up to their "own private recipe". Fine, but you're the chef; he's the farmer. Surely the chef's supposed to make the burger. If he's just cooking it, then surely he's a cook, not a chef.

The guys then left, and I sat with more old workmates. This is when I ordered the fruit crumble, and they had their main courses. One of which ordered the fishcakes. The manager's response was "oh gosh; that's the tastiest dish we have!" - Are you kidding me? I may not have been the best barmaid slash waitress ever, but even I know you should stick to having one favourite per day.

I reckon the fishcakes were better than the burgers, so perhaps she was right on that one. But when we worked there, Hubby made a wicked burger. These ones, quite frankly didn't measure up. I know I'm biased; but wouldn't you be?

We had the dessert menus on our table for two hours, waiting for someone to take our order. In the end they went off the idea of desserts altogether. It was probably a good thing, since my custard had the consistency of water.


I guess what I'm saying is; I don't like change. Or perhaps it's because I feel like someone's torn it apart and tried to turn it into something it can never be. I'm protective over it. I know that's silly, because I know the old owner will never come back to run it. I wasn't the only one to have this opinion., but in the end it's down to the public to decide.

But enough of my tirade; in other news...


Would you believe it's taken me three months to figure out how to reinstate the "compose" mode when you're composing a post? I think that rates me one of the slowest bloggers on here! But I'm glad I've finally got it sorted; I was missing it...

I've spent the entire weekend uploading wedding photos to our wedding photo blog. My laptop has an issue with internet connection, so I literally have to disconnect and connect again each time I upload a photo. Phew, but it's done now, and I can sit back until I get more through the post.

Life is largely back to how it was before the wedding (and it's taken two weeks, ha ha). I'm immersed in my work again, though now I don't have anything interesting to distract me ;)

I'm now looking forward to our honeymoon in Hawaii, which is in... 6 weeks tomorrow. It sounds like a way off, but the last six weeks of the wedding countdown went really fast, so I'm not impatient... yet.

Our Mini Honeymoon

Things have been so busy recently, so I'm sorry for not having been online. I've got so much to catch up on, but I'm looking forward to reading the latest of the blogs I'm following.

I had hoped to be able to rest a little after the wedding, but now my work is busy, I have to tidy up the house (since when we got back from our mini honeymoon, we just dumped everything and went to bed), and working through all the wedding photos is proving to be very time-consuming. FUN, but time-consuming.

Anyway, today I thought I’d tell you a little about our mini honeymoon in Bath. We left my dad’s house on Sunday morning (5th July), after helping a little with the clearing up. It took us about 2 hours to get to Bath, passing Stonehenge on the way. The only reason we didn’t stop was because there seemed to be at least three coach loads of tourists there, and we didn’t fancy negotiating the crowds.

Now, if you haven’t yet been to Bath, I strongly recommend going. It's home to the Roman Baths, a beautiful abbey and those fantastic houses. If you ever come to England, it’s a must see. The city is absolutely stunning, and every time I go, I’m enveloped in the history, the culture and the awe of the beautiful surroundings.



We stayed in a little flat about 5 minutes walk from the city centre. The flat had a kitchen, a bedroom/lounge, and a bathroom; just the right size for us.



Within 10 minutes of arriving at the flat, Hubby had fallen asleep on the bed!


I passed some time watching one of the DVDs that were available, and nibbling on pork pie, chocolate brownies and wedding cake. But in a bid to find a proper meal, we headed out at 9pm. Unfortunately we had forgotten was that it was Sunday, and that the majority of the restaurants had closed early; so our first meal as a married couple was pizza, from the only place still open!


We enjoyed another two days in Bath, and although the weather was bad (non-stop rain), we still had a lot of fun, and we were able to catch up on our sleep - I can’t tell you how great it was to get some rest!

Returning home on the Tuesday night was bittersweet, because it meant that our wedding weekend was over. While married life itself doesn’t feel any different; you’re completely loved up straight after the wedding, and I didn’t want to ever lose that feeling.

But then it was back to the daily grind, and what I thought would be a little more relaxing, has proven to be a little more hectic! I spent last weekend trying to relax as much as possible. It was my first weekend to myself in I don't know how long. I largely managed it, but when I found a virus on my computer and accidentally gave them my credit card details; I had a day of stress. But this weekend's going to be different; I'm going to clean up the house and then have a calm Sunday.

But that's not all my news; I also lost 2lbs this week! I'm so chuffed to be back on the Weight Watchers Wagon. I have 11lbs to go until I reach my goal weight, so hopefully I can get there before Hawaii. Remember you can see my weight loss progress at any time by clicking on the button to the left.

"Britain's Got Talent" Final

I’ve had a lovely weekend enjoying the sunshine. England is infamous for its poor weather, so when we have days where there are no clouds in the sky, we talk about it, so you’ll have to forgive me! I spent Saturday morning cleaning the house (though admittedly I didn’t get much done because I was watching TV at the same time), and in the afternoon I went to the local park and lay in the sun. It’s about time I got a vague summer glow, because I’m looking rather pasty in my wedding dress!

It was only when I jumped out of the shower on Saturday evening that I saw how sunburnt I really was, AND I’d given myself really sill looking tan lines, which I will now have to find a way to balance out. Whoops.

Saturday night I met up with the girls from college (In the UK, college is voluntary education, between the ages of 16 and 18, but not university level), to celebrate one of their birthdays. I already mentioned the events of this in my previous post, so I won’t bore you with it again.

Sunday was also a beautiful day, and my brother and I headed over to see my mum to celebrate HER birthday (most of the people I know were born in April and May!). We had a BBQ in the garden, and we bought her a gazebo, which she’s been asking for for ages. She’s quite fair skinned, so it now means she can sit in her garden without having to worry about getting burned in the sun. Before that she would sit in her lounge by the door, but not actually go outside; such a shame to have a garden and not be able to enjoy it!

Over the past week, we have been watching the semi finals of Britain's Got Talent, and then the final was on Saturday night. The winning act was tipped to be Susan Boyle, who I'm sure everyone's heard of by now. I'm not sure I really wanted her to win, because I knew she would be offered a record contract by Simon either way. The talented singers in the UK can try out for X Factor, but the dancers, magicians, comedians, animal trainers etc don't really have anything. Which is why I never want a singer to win BGT. Which is why I'm glad a dance group won. These guys are incredible (you can see their previous performances on You Tube). I've posted their winning performance here...

THE WINNERS: "Diversity"



And some other good acts:

Aidan Davis (breakdancer)
Flawless (street dancers)
Shaheen Jafargholi (singer)
Julian Smith (saxophonist)
Susan Boyle (singer)
The Dream Bears (dancers)

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!