Day 42 (8/8/16)

Today was an at home day.  We have short term (90 days) and long term (3 years) loaner furniture and appliances arriving with a delivery window of 8am - 4pm. Must say I am not excited about all day delivery windows.

The delivery guys arrived around 9:15. We have a dining table with 4 chairs, couch, and coffee table to get us by until our furniture arrives. It is nothing fancy, but it works. In addition we now have a full size refrigerator, upright freezer, washer, dryer, 4 wardrobes, and 2 transformers to use for the duration of our time here. All the appliances are brand new which is great. Let the laundry commence.

Since I was stuck at the house all day (or potentially) I made an appointment with a mobile hairdresser. It is a common practice around here.  It felt great to get my hair cut, it had become unruly. While it is convenient to have your hair cut at home, I don't know if I will continue with it. With all my thick hair clean-up is a pain. It will be worth the extra cost to go to the salon and have someone deal with the clean-up.  I did learn that they call bangs, fringe. I am loving learning all the different words.

Days 39--41 (8/5-8/7/16)

Day 39
Ron came home from training.  We had biscuits and sausage gravy for dinner. It was my first attempt at making biscuits from scratch.  They were easier to make than I had expected and they turned out very good.  The pork sausage I bought has a lot to be desired.  It doesn't brown and crumble like it does in the US. I have heard they add bread to it, which seems really strange to me.

Day 40
We started the day shopping for garden tools. Then we had a late lunch at The Harverster. I had the smoked bacon belly and sweet potato fries, which was amazing. Plus we had a coupon for £1 kids meals with every buying adult. Score!

We spent the afternoon working in the garden (aka backyard). Mowed the lawn, cleaned up some bamboo that the landlady pulled, and pulled some weeds.  I learned a hard lesson about bamboo.....I must wear gloves when dealing with it; my hands were covered in tiny cuts that felt like a million splinters.
We met up with some Coast Guard families for dinner to welcome home one of the guys who had been deployed. I didn't eat because I was still full from our late lunch.  We treated the kids to gelato afterwards because they had behaved well while we sat around and chatted at dinner.

Day 41
The highlight of our day was cheering for the bee that found it's way out of an open window in the conservatory while we ate dinner.  Sometimes it's the little things that keep us entertained.

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.

Day 37 (8/3/16)

Today we met up with some friends to enjoy National Play Day at The Hoe.  Yes, there is a part of town called The Hoe. The event featured bounce houses, inflatable slides, stuffed animal rides, cart rides and more.  The best part was that it was all free.  We managed to plan lunch at the right time, it rained while we were eating and was done by the time we headed back out for more fun.  We also went to a park area that had trampolines, a bounce castle and train ride (these weren't free), but the kids had fun.  We ended the day with dinner at a friend's house.

Day 35 & 36 (8/1 & 8/2/16)

Day 35
Our last morning at the hotel. We had the continental breakfast.  Every time we have eaten here we have looked at these black, burnt looking items about the size of a hockey puck. So, I decided I would give it a try. When I cut into it, it looked like chocolate cake. It had an odd texture when eating it and was savory (not sweet). It was a different taste than anything I have ever eaten, not bad just different. Come to find out it is Black Pudding and one of the ingredients is pig's blood.

Off to the house for more cleaning. It seems like that is all I do at the house right now. But at least I know it will all be clean when our household goods arrive.

Grocery shopping was next, now that I can cook. This is a challenge since everything here is measured by grams. Thank goodness for smartphones with unit converter apps.  No 1/2 cup sticks of butter, no bricks of cream cheese. The brick of butter is approximately a 1/2 pound and there are no tablespoon measurements on it. The tub of cream cheese is 180 grams which is about 6.3 ounces. It's funny all the little things you don't think about when moving out of the country.

We had our first home-cooked meal in our own house. We don't have a table or chairs to eat at, so we ate picnic style.  These are the joys of a military move, making due with what you have.

I finally signed us up for Netflix, so we could watch tv on the laptop. I know, "Welcome to the 21st Century."

Day 36
Lazy day at home. We hung out in our pjs all day and watched movies.

Day 33 & 34 (7/30 & 7/31/16)

Day 33
Started off the morning with laundry as Ron heads back to training next week. Then over to the house for more cleaning.
For dinner we went to Prezzo, since I had a coupon for a free bottle of Prosseco for my 1/2 birthday. I personally don't acknowledge my 1/2 birthday, but hey if they want to give me a free bottle of wine I'll take it. The food was great. I had the Queen Margherita pizza and Ron had the spaghetti and meatballs. For dessert we tried the Banoffee Tiramisu. It was amazing!

In three sections - sun-blushed and cherry tomatoes; asparagus, spinach
and pesto dressed rocket (aka argula); béchamel sauce and burrata mozzarella. 

We stopped back by the house so Ron could show me how to run the heater. Then to the hotel for the night.

Day 34
Ron headed back to training. The kids and I took a car full of stuff from the hotel to the house. More cleaning.....there are soooo many cobwebs and spiders. Yuck!  I also hung our first piece of decor making it feel more like home.

We had dinner at Table Table. I tried the Beef & Merlot pie, which was delicious. For dessert I had the Salted Toffee Apple Crumble with custard, so good!

Day 32 (7/29/16)

Started the day with a trip to the bank. We finally have the necessary documents to fully open an account in Ron's name.  I still can't be on the account, but progress has been made!  We had lunch at HUBBOX. I had a pulled pork sandwich and root beer. This is the first time we have seen root beer since moving here. It was delicious!!  Ron had a burger and smoked beans with burnt ends. He loved it.  We will definitely go back.

After lunch we went to the house to clean. I spent a good chunk of time cleaning the fridge which is scary since it is the size of a mini fridge in the states. It was mildewed and not cleaned well previously, so it took some extra time.

For dinner we had Chinese takeaway.  Ron loves the honey mustard chicken. The name is deceiving because it doesn't warn you about the horseradish that is in the honey mustard sauce, which makes it very spicy.