Day 38 (8/4/16)

Often people ask me, “how do you do it?” Referring to living the military lifestyle…..a married, but single mom; having my husband gone for long periods; moving every couple of years, etc.  And I have often replied with “I honestly don’t know.” Some days are a huge struggle.  Today was one of those days. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and hide all day. 

For starters, my son has been pushing his luck and all of my buttons over the past few days. The last button was pushed this morning and I lost it.  I threatened to send him to boarding school because I know they have them here in Plymouth as well as crying and trying to convince him that contrary to what he believes I am a good mom, not a perfect mom and not the best mom, but a damn good mom.

A nice long shower and I was feeling a little better.  The only problem now, is that to dry my hair, I have to sit on the floor somewhere other than the bathroom to use the blow dryer.  Beyond the fact that they have different plugs in the UK, they also have higher voltage to their plugs.  Because of this the only thing that can be plugged-in in the bathroom is a shaver (which is a different receptor than the other plugs in the house).  So, my next issue is trying to find a mirror that I can use while drying my hair. Today that meant kneeling on the floor in the entry. Yes, kneeling because the cord isn’t long enough for me to stand.  Just so you don’t have the visualize this, here is a picture.

Off to the store for groceries to make dinner.  I have some simple family favorite recipes I am planning to make with basic ingredients, so this should be no problem.  Guess what?! They don’t carry all the same items we are used to.  Breakfast sausage for sausage gravy, nope (hopefully the sausage I found will be sufficient). Biscuits either frozen or a pop-open can, nope.  Canned crushed tomatoes, nope. Provolone cheese, nope. Needless to say, the two hours spent trying to find ingredients, substitutions, and re-assessing the three meals was entirely too long.

I finally heard from the local authority about the kid’s school.  They didn’t get into any of the 3 we chose.  The school they were admitted to is rated as ‘Needs Improvement.’ So, I am less than thrilled about that. And they have placed Annette in the equivalent of 4^th grade, which she finished in the US.

Now to make dinner…..only the oven doesn’t have temperatures listed on the knob, it is just numbered from 1 to 9. The 4 photocopied pages of the instruction booklet that our landlady left doesn’t cover this, so I set about Google to see what I can determine.  Lucky for me, there are other oven manufacturers that use this system too, because I couldn’t locate the manual for my specific brand online.  (I have since learned the Gas Mark system is common here and any items purchased from the store needed baked have the necessary gas mark listed.)

So, while it might look like I handle this life well, there are days where I want to throw in the towel and quit.  Today was one of those days.  I just wanted to be back in the US with familiar ingredients, school districts that assign you to the school closest to your house, and to be able to stand in the bathroom and do my hair.  I realize that some of this sounds trivial and I know that it will all work out in the end, but I was overwhelmed by it all today and cried more times than I care to admit.  So, as you follow this blog and hear about the exciting adventures and new experiences know that it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but I will spare you the whining and complaining.