Picture Post!

As promised, some pictures of Bean and the new house. I'm not exactly house proud at this stage, we have no furniture and it's quite messy, but it's a work in progress. I wanted to make a movie but we had Maria all weekend. So with a kid and a new pup I was on the run the entire time.

I will bring everyone up to date verbally this week. Enjoy! (Remember kids, just click on a photo to see it way too big!)

Have Internet, Will Blog

Yay! I'm back online, finally. My new hero, the cable guy from Virgin Media came yesterday and installed our phone/internet/cable package. So I have a land line now and cable television. Ahh, the telly. How I've missed your comforting glow and mindless entertainment. There are many American shows they play all day here in the UK. For example, you can't turn the damn thing on without seeing Friends (a given, really), The Wonder Years (yesss!), Cagney & Lacey (what? why?), Judge Judy (my own person crack), Grounded For Life (remember that one? Yeah, me neither), and some old classics like Dukes Of Hazzard, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek (niiiice). I'm happy.

I don't know if it's kosher to post your address online, but just in case you wanted to send us some late valentines cards or early birthday cards, our new one is:
7 Gaddesby Road
Birmingham
B14 7EX

We are settling into the new house nicely so far. We got our mattress up the stairs, no small feat. Our friends have given us a dining room table, chairs, telephone, futon for the spare room, kettle, fridge and a washing machine. Having a dryer is practically unheard of here. Everyone uses the radiators or a clothes lie outside, if it's sunny, to dry their clothes. Which is time consuming but keeps your clothes in good "nick" as they say. I am still going to make a movie of the house so I won't post many pictures just yet. But I figure I'll wait until the puppy is here so you can see her in all her puppy perfection. But just to get you through the next few days, here's a recent photo of the Beanster having a wittle nappy-poo (okay, I'll stop):

(Oh my gosh, she's so freaking cute I want to throw up!)

Here's a photo of our first dinner in the new house. We had no silverware, only a knife and plate, so what could be more perfect than pizza? We had no corkscrew either, but that's never stopped me from getting a glass of wine.

We took a quick trip to Tamworth-In-Arden the other day. It's a really nice little village just outside of the city. It's also where Nick Drake grew up and is buried. Here's his grave (it's hard to read, but I swear it says Nick Drake!) and the graveyard

We walked to a farm for some fresh eggs, and they had this amazing road that lead to the farm with all these trees planted along side it.

We passed these horses on our way there. I wanted to take a picture of them but the boy horse (this is disgusting, but I want to share it all with you guys) was a bit...shall we say "excited" about the girl horse so I had to put a tree between the camera and the "excited" part of the horse. You learn so much on a farm, things you never, ever wanted to know

Luckily on our way back, things had calmed down and the horses were ready to say hi


Here's a few more snaps from the trip

This is my first attempt at putting a movie on here so let me know if it doesn't work. But be warned: it's not for the easily queasy!

In other good news, I got the job! I'm actually really proud of myself, not only for nailing the job, but also for working with them to make it possible for me take the job. It was starting at six pounds an hour, but after talking to a few people and figuring out my cost of living and wage here vs. the states, I just didn't think that would be enough. Because after you take out taxes (which are very high in the UK, for the NHS) and bus fair (which is incredibly high just to piss me off, about $3 per ride with NO transfer ticket so if you get on another bus right away or ride again a little while later you pay the same fair all over again!! Crazy!) it wouldn't add up to much per week. So they bumped up the starting wage to 7.50. Awesome! And they promised a substantial wage increase after the three month probationary period. Fantastic! Also I told them I needed to wait a week or two after their projected start date in order to properly get my puppy potty trained and do some solid bonding. They said "Okay!" Terrific!

I'm so happy to be working for a company that understands that people have priorities beyond work and a company that is willing to hear me out and respect my needs. I got very spoiled at Coldstream, it's going to be hard to replace the kindness and respect I was shown there. But I also learned so much about my own worth as an employee and hope to bring in the same sort of ethics in the new job. But so far they have shown me that they listen, understand and can compromise. I feel like I'm off to a great start. Hopefully they see it that way to and don't think I'm a cranky, demanding yank. I'm shooting for a March 10th start date, but may move that to March 17th, depending on Bean, and how she's doing with her training. I can't wait to start making some money and some new friends! I know it will do wonders for my mental state.

That's all for now. I promise to get a video, or at least some pics, up of the house and pup this weekend. So do check back soon! I miss you all so much! More than I could ever say in words. But knowing that you keep up with the blog and reading your comments makes me feel so wonderfully connected to everyone. Thank you! (enough sap already, Sher!)

What Tickles My Pickle About England is cups of tea! One thing I've learned from living here is to offer anyone (and I mean anyone) who comes into the house a cup of tea straight away. It's considered rude to not offer tea, especially if you're American, you will get called out on it. So I gave the cable guy some tea, "Milk, one sugar, love." Awhile later the guy says "I have to use your loo, or I'll piss me pants." You gotta love the British sense of humor! I must say that I have become very dependent on my daily "cuppas" as well. When you come in from the cold how 'bout a cuppa!? When you sit down for some telly or a good read, cuppa! When you've been round at the pub, cuppa! Has it been 15 minutes since you last had a cup of tea, cuppa!

Personal Note To Ri-Ri: Ha! Thanks for the suggestions! Thundermuffin and Taxi being my personal favs. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you rock Ri. Give a kiss to Alex and Henri for me!

Happiness is a warm puppy

So much has happened today! But I'll get into all the boring stuff later. More importantly I GOT A PUPPY!!! A squishy, small, wonderful, "just what I always wanted. My own little puppy! I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him" puppy!!! Well, I got her but I don't have her just yet, cause she's too small to leave home. But I will have her to rub on my face, talk nonsense to, put in my handbag and kiss to death on February 22nd. Ah jeez! That's ages away!! How can I wait that long?? But I have a lot to do between now and then, seeing as how I have absolutely no idea how to look after a puppy. But it can't be that hard, right? RIGHT?

We went to the pound shop (the equivalent of the dollar tree) and I got a leash, food bowl, poop bags and one of those things that looks like a big cork screw that go in the ground, nothing is too good for my new dog! Not that I will keep her tied up in the backyard, oh no! This dog is going everywhere with me! Yup, I'm gonna be one of those crazy ladies that take their dog into the grocery store and the pub and the bookies. And of course I plan on using her to make Maria like me more than Paul. See how great puppies are?!

The woman who had the pups needed a name to put a hold on her so it's Biddy Beans Dam Dooney for now, we'll see if it sticks. I am open to suggestions for names, so please comment if you have a great idea or even a crap idea that will make me laugh. Here she is in all her cuteness. Try not to kiss your screen.

No, I don't know which one she is, but does it really matter? She's one of those and I'm totally in love. She's a Yorkie with a bit of Jack Russell mixed in.

What's that you say? You want another picture of puppies? I just might happen to have one here...let me see...oh yes, heres another:

So in other good news...we got our house!! It took a lot longer than it was supposed to for the bank drafts to clear. I hate banks. But they finally did today and we took the money straight to the estate agents and got the keys. It's not the biggest house in the world but would probably give the smallest house in the world a run for it's money. When we got there (I got a puppy!) the builders were still there doing some last minute painting and repairs. They installed new carpet and painted the whole place white. Its in the perfect location, walking distance to friends, pubs, step daughters and the bus. It's across the street from a golf course, has French doors to the back yard and gets loads of light. We have our new mattress being delivered (I got a puppy!) on Monday, so we will be staying there from then on.

Our friend Paul C. is letting us use his car "for as long as we want it", and I'm holding him to that. It's a Saab 900 that is in need of some work. It's been in the shop since Monday and should be ready soon. So some of the money we saved for a car went towards the repairs. But when we give it back to him he'll sell it and we'll get our money back! It's win win!

I have a job interview on Tuesday for Blaz Media. It's the perfect office job for me right now. Part time, four days a week from 10am to 2pm (now that's what I call working hours!) but it will move to full time later. I'm so freaking nervous! I don't really know why. I guess I feel like I have more to prove being an American. Perhaps I should try out my fake accent. So send me your good interview thoughts on Tuesday around 6:00 in the morning, if you happen to think of it.

School is not out of the picture, I really want to check into it and see if I qualify to start on a Visual Communication B.A., concentrating on photography. Paul has a friend who works in the photography department at Birmingham City University and can hopefully give me some good advice, or perhaps even just let me skip all the school shit and put my name on the one of them there diplomas they got lying around.

I will give you a virtual tour of the new house as soon as possible (if I can figure out how to add a movie to my blog). Check back around February 23rd and you just might see some photos of a puppy. Cause I got one.