Let it snow, let it snow

Here's an outing today at a friend's house.

OK, so it's been a while.

I'm just going to blame it all on facebook. I started this whole thing to update the family, and now they're mostly all on facebook, so I've gotten a bit lazy. Alright, REALLY lazy. Anyhow, to make up for some lost time, here are some quality moments over the past 6 months.



As an update on the family... For one, I'm finally done with my contract at work - originally a 2 month one, extended to three, then another year slapped on it. After next Tuesday, I will be a full time (as if before it was only part time!) mother. I've looked around for other jobs, but honestly nothing has popped up that is remotely worth leaving Marius, so I'm just going to stay put for a while and think things through. I'm really leaning towards going back to school to get a PhD. I'm also thinking about starting up a green home/office consulting business with another mom friend.
But in the mean time, I'm going to make a huge effort to teach Marius how to swim and ride his bike. Two things that every little boy ought to know how to do!
Simon is in San Fran like he is every year at this time.... And it's snowing here, like it is every year when he leaves. Simon's work is going well. He's finally gotten some grant money so he can play with more dirt (oh sorry, I mean SOIL!) and pay his grad student to help.
Marius is talking up a storm! Today in the car ride home from nursery, he said "Daddy will be home today." I got the BEST ever response when I told him no, that Daddy was in California to talk to people about his work, and how daddy is really very clever (clever is what people here say for smart - smart, for some reason, means stylish here!). Marius replied "but Daddy is not Mr. Clever!" I had just read him Mr. Clever, from the Little Miss and Mr. book series! Oh lord, I just about needed to pull over and die laughing when we said that. Ohhh, too cute!
I keep trying to get Marius into sitting down and writing in his alphabet and number workbooks. But he'd rather make big scribbles all over them instead of following the instructions I read to him... I'm hoping he's a late bloomer like Simon.

Fun with the fam

We had SUCH a good time with Paula, Ian, Robert and Claire. They were here for a grand total of 10 or so days, but we could have had them stay forever.... Paula is a fab cook so the food was great, and the kids really had fun together, so we could just sit around and sip on wine while everyone enjoyed themselves. It was priceless.
Here's just a snippet of the good times.


We didn't do a ton of sightseeing, which was nice. We really just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. Ahhhh, to be able to do this every weekend!

A boy and a box. What more could you ask for?

Marius had a ball with our hoover box.



Fun times tonight. Simon leaves for a2 week field trip to Cali on Friday... :(

Happy Birthday Paka

Here's the boy singing - totally unpromped too - Happy Birthday to Paka.

Updated bathroom shots

But I need to take the latest photos after our painting and sealing of the slate. The floor looks a lot better and the painting has made a big difference too. I just haven't uploaded those photos yet.

New Bathroom and warmth

Well, here's my monthly blog. I know I know I'm rubbish! I completely blame facebook though. I've gotten so used to the instant gratification of that site, that my blog has severely suffered... Anyhow, enough of my Catholic self-flagellation.
The weather here has been downright glorious that past 4 days. Thursday through to today we've seen NO RAIN, and it's been HOT (not, that is not a typo, it's been 25 degrees C, AKA ~ 77 degrees F) and cloudless! I've actually busted out my very dusty sandals and linen trousers (I say trousers instead of pants, as pants are considered underwear here, so I've completely made the transition in words to avoid total ridicule). Friday, we went to the beach, Saturday we went to the safari park, and today we played outside in a friend's backyard. I actually managed to get my shoulders sunburned!!!! Oh happy days! I thought I would need to get off of this island for that to happen, but apparently not. I'm glad I put 50 SPF (they say factor 50 here) on the boy, but part of me was thinking "he's 25% Mexican, this paltry amount of sun can't hurt him." Little did I know. I'm not going to peel or anything, but I will have lovely brown shoulders in two days.... Oh I wish I wore a more low cut top. Oh well, perhaps when Simon gets back from his weekend in Oxford (Yes, he gave a talk there to those smarty pants people) with his mom and if the weather holds for another week, then I can get on my bathing suit and actually get a decent set of tan lines! I haven't had those in about 3 years.
Well, the bathroom is about 90% finished. All that remains is painting the walls, putting up the shower curtain rod, towel rack, and sealing the stone tiles. We've been lazy and have not done that in a week, but now with Simon finished marking papers and his Oxford talk out of the way, perhaps we can finally finish this darn thing. Here ares some picks so you can see the progression. It only took about 2 weeks in total, but I took daily pictures, so here they all are.

bathroom

Marius was playing with his friend Lauren (that's what he's saying at the beginning of the video) this weekend, and she was having a ball bathing him is sand. In the end I just put him in the kiddy pool to wash him off. I figured I'd just put him to bed when we got home this evening, but he had a massive poo right before heading out, so I had to change him on the grass, take off all of his clothes, and leave with Marius just in a nappy and sandals (I bought a pair today since it's been so warm. Hopefully we'll have nice enough weather to wear them again in the next month or so). And with poop all up his backside, we needed to bath once again at the flat before bed time. Thankfully the time out in the sun tuckered him out, so getting him to bed at a decent hour was manageable.

Monthly Update

Well, it appears I'm now down to just about one entry a month, so here's my April report.
Easter was fun. You'll see in the video below that we were visited by the Easter Bunny. You won't see in the video below that Simon and I ended up eating 50% of Marius's candy and cookies. I suspect we may have one more year to do this before he starts hiding his basket and keeping excellent records of which ones and when he has eaten them. I remember counting my Milky Ways and Snickers at Halloween time to make sure the "gremlins" (aka Mom and Dad) didn't steal any.

That day we went to the beach to play in the sand. It was a lovely day, by Scottish standards, meaning that it was about 65 degrees and only moderately windy. We were bundled up rather appropriately for southern Californians, but there were tons of natives barefoot and jumping into the water with bathing suits. Marius absolutely loves throwing sand around and making splashes in the water. I think he's gearing up for a career in mechanical engineering, but we'll just have to see about that one I suppose. In the mean time, Simon has started teaching Marius all about navier-stokes equations, which we seems to be absorbing at a phenomenal rate!

And, just because it is too hilarious not to post, here's my son running around the flat with a plastic Lego box on his head. Oh, he makes me so proud!!!!

Updates

We have a fireplace!!!!! Finally, that hole in the wall is filled with a lovely fireplace. The mantle is a fine limestone and the hearth is a lovely "granite," although it's really an aphanitic gabbro, but everyone in the world calls all igneous intrusive rocks granite. It's like calling all tumors cancer, when there are plenty of non-cancerous tumors. But that's just the anal retentive geologist in me I suppose. The fire insert is all cast iron. It's a traditional style, with the rounded design. We can eventually put a real wood (or as is more common here coal) fire in it, but I'm not sure we'll do that until Marius is old enough not to get into it.

Today we went to Dobbies Garden Centre with a friend. It was sensory overload for me, since this place was HUGE!!!! It was like putting a Home Depot and a Super-Wal-Mart together in one place. It made me long for our huge garden in Tallahassee... Hmmm, one day I might actually have a real detached house and garden. One day! But for now, at least I've got some pea plants sprouting in a window sill tray. This month I'll start the pumpkins and tomatoes, although I don't think the tomatoes will really take off here. I should probably stick to root vegetables, but the Californian in me really wants a tomato plant!

Marius's Birthday

Once again I have grossly neglected this blog... But to make up for it. Here's super cute video of Marius's second birthday. I can't believe he's two years old! Time is flying by. This month hasn't been too exciting. We had insulation finally installed in the loft, and now we're getting the fireplace put in next week. I've been having a minor/major issue with my downstairs neighbor, the sign company.... But that's a whole other story.
Today we're going to drive out to East Lothian to see a steam engine that was just build in Simon's dad's home town. It's the last steam engine built in the UK for something like 80 years and it's on it's way to Edinburgh now. We we're going to hunt out a good spot to view it and have a picnic. Tomorrow I think we might take a trip to the pool with some friends.

Back to reality

Yeah, I know. I haven't updated this thing in ages. It's just that I was sort of reluctant to write about being back until I had thought about it some more. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. After going "home" for Christmas, I felt all sorts of emotions that I wasn't prepared to feel... Like, happiness to go to the grocery store and know where everything was, and what all the different brands of things taste like or are used for. Relief at being able to understand everyone and know what people were saying to me, and also relief at being able to make a phone call or talk to a stranger and not instantly be "the American." I knew how all of the street signs worked and intuitively could follow them (it's amazing how different the street signage and directions are here), I knew what the TV programs were (but that's just because we don't own a TV now, otherwise I'm sure I'd have a better idea of pop culture here), and which stations had which types of programs. Basically, I think I'm feeling like I want to go back and that Scotland is not my home, at least not yet. But in talking to some fellow North American expats here, it sounds like I won't feel at home here until about year 5 or so, and after that I'll feel like a foreigner when I do go back to the US. God, that's a crazy thought. Anyhow, like I said, it's with rather mixed emotions that I find myself back here.
The jet lag has been ridiculously hard to shake. I've still not managed to get up any earlier than 8 am, and usually it's closer to 9 that Marius and I get up and eat breakfast. But I have my first day back at work on Monday, so I'd better get back into the swing of things ASAP. It'll be SO nice to go back to work. I hate being a full time nanny/housewife. I don't know how others manage to do it. I think I'd go nuts or drink myself to death. On my days "off work" and with Marius I end up so stressed out at the end of the day that I'm counting the minutes until Simon gets home and already drinking a gin and tonic, sherry, port, or glass of wine by 5:30. And once he crosses the threshold, all I can do is say "hi honey, here's your son, now please entertain him for the next hour while I wind down." But with working 3 days a week, I manage to relish my two days off with Marius by myself a lot more and actually plan events and outings if it's not too horrible outside, which it is about 40% of the time! So it will be great to be back into a routine again. I love being able to complete a conversation without having to run off in one direction or another mid-sentence!
Anyhow, I didn't mean to be depressing, I'm just in a bit of a transition state again after my long holiday. I'm sure I'll snap out of it in a month's time.

Living la vida calor

Oh, I had almost forgotten how much I love California.... Ya know, it's kind of funny. When I was on my first date with Simon in Santa Barbara, I told him that I only ever wanted to live in this little swath of land between San Luis Obispo and Thousand Oaks along the beach. While that dream has really been chucked out the window, when I come back to this part of the world, I still think to myself that this is a wonderful place to live. I could come back here for sure. Even with the outrageous housing costs, it's still better than most places I've lived. And at this point in my life I think I've seen quite a few of them. Barcelona is the exception though, as I still have dreams of retiring there eventually! Living in warm Spain with all the pata negro, manchego and sangria I can consume is my sort of ultra dream paradise! But I digress... So Cal is so nice in the winter, especially on winter days when I can go barefoot outside and sweat in the sun! I'd be freezing back in Edinburgh and not wanting to go outside to go the grocery shopping. I think we may have to rethink our long term living plans, as I really do like to feel warm. The winters are fine, but it's the cold summers that have really gotten to me. It's only when I experience a nice California day in December here that rivals the best August day in Edinburgh, that I realize what I'm missing... :(
But, on the upside, there are no castles here, no public transportation, no old buildings, no tiny fuel efficient cars (just parking lot after parking lot of huge monster pick up trucks and SUVs driving around spotless and with owners going to white collar work or to the grocery store in them), no global news (although the UK isn't the best EU country when it comes to thinking about the rest of the world), no green grass that's not artificially watered, and no good tea or shortbread. I do miss the UK, or Scotland I should say. But I'm not sure I can make it my home for the long haul. But we'll see. I think that's just the Californian in California talking. I'm sure I'll perk back up once I get home and acclimate to the ice and rain.
Anyhow, on other fronts... Marius has chicken pox! The poor kiddo must have picked it up at nursery. There were a few cases in his room there, and the incubation period is about 10-21 days, so I'm sure he got it towards the end of November and it just manifested this week. The crappy thing is that I had already made an appointment with my mom's doctor to get Marius the chicken pox vaccine tomorrow! Oh well, that saves my $80 now! Marius doesn't seem to be really put out with the pox, even though he has one on his tongue, one on his lower eyelash, one on the roof of his mouth, one in his nostril, several on/in his ears and tons on his body. He's only gotten a few on his arms and legs so far, so hopefully they'll stop popping up now and just start going away at this point. He first got them on Sat night, so I think for the most part this is all he's going to get. They haven't yet started to crust up so we've been in quarantine this week. We were supposed to go to LA on Sun with a friend to see the children's science museum, but that got thrown out of the window when I suspected that his spots were chicken pox and not flea bites from my brother's dog! I had hoped to visit the Santa at the mall, complete with a woody and surfboards in fake snow - but that too is now chucked out the window. I will now have to wait for his 3rd Christmas to get a Santa photo....
Have a merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah next week! Sorry photos and videos will have to wait until I can use Simon's computer...

Builder nightmares!

Can I just say that I hate tradesmen???? I have had the WORST time trying to get this leak in the roof sorted. First of all, it's been like pulling teeth to even get roofers out here to look at it. Then the few who do come out don't even bother with mailing me a quote (people here only mail written quotes, they never tell you a price right there on the spot). I waited a month for one, and then after giving up and calling two more roofers I managed to get one more written quote, to have the magic three required so the rest of my building could decide. The unfortunate thing was that all three quotes were for wildly different things... So it's a bit hard to compare apples to oranges. Anyhow, long story short - there is no consensus in the building about what to do. So, I called the Council (that's just what we call city government here) to have them put a statutory notice on the building. That means they'll call in a city building specialist to look at the roof and determine what needs to be done. Then they'll hire a roofer and bill the other tenants separately. The extra cost of having the city manage the work is 15% and their contractors always seem to cost twice as much an anyone else, which is incentive for flat owners to work together and avoid this type of situation. But for me, I'm just tired of staying home on my days off to wait for roofers and trying to get a hold of my neighbors who are never home. It's been 6 months and we still have a stain on my bedroom ceiling! Hopefully the council can get this resolved soon, although I hear they have lots of work and may take a year.... Oh well, perhaps we'll just pay for a half-ass job to try for a quick fix instead of the full blown council work.
That's the roof story, then we also tried to get quotes for reopening up a skylight in our hallway. I called in a builder from what I thought was a reputable firm (http://www.brucecollie.co.uk/), only to have the dishonest idiot either drop something heavy or step on our plaster ceiling. I heard a big crack while he was up there and immediately got scared. But he took forever before coming down and then didn't say anything and I sort of forgot about it. Then after he left I noticed that there was a round caved in portion of our plaster ceiling next to the skylight opening(which is currently covered with plywood). Our ceiling is wall papered, so nothing actually fell down, which makes the repair all that much more expensive, as we'll now need to stripe wallpaper off of our entire 30 foot ceiling, patch the hole/crack and then repaper and paint the thing! I have no clue what the cost will be, but I image it'll be at least £1,000. I called the company and spoke to the secretary. She called the boss and the boss told her to call me back and tell me to talk directly to the kid that came out to do the work! Can you believe that? He didn't' even try to talk to me directly. Well, needless to say this kid said that he didn't step off of the loft joists and crack the plaster - DUH! If he didn't tell me right after he did it, do you think he'd fess up a day later? But he's coming out on Tuesday morning to have a second look at his damage after I told him to. Needless-to-say, I am not letting him up in our loft again. And will have to find out (or ask one of my many techno-genius friends!) how to google slam this builder's website with my poor reviews of his business if he doesn't at least pay my home insurance deductible. Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned!!! Oh, it's all just such a pain in the butt! I wish I had a list of great tradesmen without having to learn the hard way!
Well, enough about my flat bitching... Here's a great video of Marius having a blast with his friend Francis. And some photos of our wonderful day today at Campbell Castle.

A very beachy weekend

This weekend has been great!!! I'm not sure I have ever seen such a dry weekend in the year and some months I've lived here. So, we decided to go to the beach yesterday and today. Yesterday we went on a bit of a drive out to Gullane, where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately it was at 3:30 in the afternoon.... But we get more than our fair share of sunshine in the summer, so it really does even out. Marius was a little scared of the ocean at first though, which made us feel bad for not going out there more often. He just started shaking and staring out at the water. I thought he was just cold, but after putting on his mittens, we realized it wasn't the cold wind, but the water that was scaring him. Perhaps watching a video of killer whales coming up to shore and eating baby seals the night before walking along the beach wasn't the best of ideas! But after a half hour or so, he got more excited about it and forgot his fear.
As we were walking along the beach I told him that we'd go to another beach in California, where Nana and Paka live next month. And, mom you will be VERY happy to know that for the first time he said "nana" and "paka." But I think my may think you are the ocean, because he kept saying it after I mentioned the word beach! Oh well, he'll get to spend about 3 weeks with you in December, so it'll sink in who you are then!
We went to another beach today too. But this one was much closer to the house and not quite as scenic. The tide was really far out, exposing lots of sand with little ripple ridges and pools of water. Marius really enjoys splashing in the puddles, so next time we'll have to make sure he's wearing his rain suit and has his wellington boots. That being said, he didn't seem to mind it being cold and his trousers (I have to remember to keep saying trousers as opposed to pants, because pants mean underwear here!) being wet.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

Happy Halloween

Another year, another pumpkin outfit. Perhaps next year we'll spice it up a bit, but this day always seems to sneek up on my like an invisible ghost. Ghosts get my every time too...
We sadly had no trick or treaters this year. :( I heard lots in the houses behind us, but I think most people don't think of our building as residential, plus it's on a busy street. Oh well, more chocolate for me!!
Marius dressed up for nursery today. He was totally the cutest one there! They had party events all day so the kids had a particularly fun time.
This weekend is supposed to be fairly sunny. Cold, but sunny. I'm going to take Marius to meet some friends at the soft play by our old flat, then perhaps we'll try to get out of town for a little hike or something. Hopefully we'll have some good photos out and about.

Well, enjoy the pics!

Another cold, rainy and windy weekend

Oh boy I'm sick and tired of horrible weekends! I didn't want to leave the house yesterday because it was to rainy and windy all day. And today I can't leave the house because I'm prepping for my colonoscopy tomorrow. For anyone who has been through the process, you'll understand. For those unfamiliar with the process, trust me, you'd rather not know the details.
I wish the weather would perk up so we could spend more time outside. I think we're just going to have to get used to being wet outside. It's either that or we never go outside... Oh well, it's not all bad. I was going through my videos today and I did manage to get the family out in our garden for some yard work and playing. I planted tons of bulbs and some poppy seeds, so come springtime it should be pretty out there.



Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow goes well for me. There are some ways that the medical system here is better than the states. But for major stuff, I think I'd still go back home... that is if I had insurance. (which I wouldn't unless I had a good job) I'm a bit scared about the whole process here and not getting enough drugs to knock me out. Ah well, I will survive.

I'm cold!

Yup, that's about all. I am really cold, but refuse to turn on the heater when it's right before bedtime... Perhaps I ought to just get in bed.

Who can blog when there's driving to be done?

Yes, that's right... I am now officially legal to drive forever in the UK!!!!! Well, I'm not sure about the forever part of it, but I did manage to pass my driving test the first time. Now, all of you Americans will think that's no major feat, but let me tell you the driving test here is rediculously stringent and the fail rate is like 60% in most places. Simon failed his first test, so I was nervous. But after hundreds of pounds worth of driving lessons, it paid off and I passes straight away. I totally could have been failed, but the guy was really nice and turned a blind eye to a few things and scored them as minor faults instad of major faults which mean you fail.
We haven't really been able to take full advantage of my new driving situation because I was sick two weeks ago and this past weekend we had a nursery fiasco.... The fiasco was that it was closed on Friday for staff training. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been a problem, but neither Simon nor I knew about it, so he went to drop Marius off - right before he was due at the train station to take a trian up to St. Andrews where his friend would pick him up and drive another hour and a half up into the woods to conduct a weekend field trip. Ugh, Simon called me and I had no clue why the nursery had its light off and doors locked. After many frantic calls to my nursery and their corporate office, I was finally informed of this training... I guess they had fliers up on the walls, but they also have about 10,000 other pieces of paper and crap all over the walls, so how was I supposed to know which ones I should read? Anyhow, they credited me with a day, so I saved about $100. But the end result was that I had to drive Simon up to this woodsy lodge after work on Friday. So we took a 2.5 hour drive in the dark and rain. If the motorways here were as well lit as in the US, it wouldn't have been any trouble, but it's really hard to see at night on the roads here so by the time we go up to the lodge, I didn't want to do any more driving. But, of course there were no extra rooms, so I shared a twin room with Simon, our friend Mike who works at St. Andrew's University, and Marius. It was a closet of a room, so needless to say it was quite cramped. Then I drove back home Sat and had the rest of the weekend to myself as Simon was still up in the woods. Oh well, perhaps this weekend we'll get out and take a hike somewhere. I'm dying to start roaming in the countryside again. Although the days are getting really short now and it's totally cold, but better that than staying inside for the rest of my life I suppose.
That's about all. There is no resolution on the roof... I think I will have to pay 50% of the cost with my downstairs neighbor, and he thinks the whole building will have to share the cost... How to resolve that, I'm not sure, but I've been ingnoring the issue. I need to invite him up here with his wife so we can site down with a glass of wine and look at the deeds to see what's what. But, the house is a mess so I've put it off. The house is always a mess though... so I should just go down and have a chat anyhow. Oh well, I'm tired of thinking about it. I just wish I could get it done myself and not organize some sort of communal payment. What a pain in the backside!

Busting out the jackets and blankets

It's official, the temperature has dropped into the single digits (Celsius) and there's no going back I'm afraid. The days are really short now and getting shorter with each passing of the sun. I've succumbed to turning the radiators on daily and have packed up my clothes drying rack as a result. My slippers have come out of the closet and the trees are turning yellow. I'm still half hoping for a Santa Ana to blow its way across the hemisphere so I can finally wear some sandals. But alas, this is Scotland. I just need to suck it up, buy a pair of fancy wellies (wellington boots - aka rubber boots) and lots of trendy tights to spice up my wardrobe. I think I'll get the boots here, but other than that, I'm waiting until we go home for Christmas to go on a minor shopping spree. I figure I've literally only bought two pairs of jeans since moving out here a year and a half ago, so I deserve the spree. Plus, I guess it's my American duty to throw my IRS check down the drain at the mall. Credit crunch be gone! I'll pump up the economy myself by buying lots of stuff!
But before we head over to Lala land, I've got lots of things to tidy up here. Like our roof and fireplace situation. I noticed a water damage spot growing on my bedroom ceiling in late August, so called several roofers to get a quote to fix the problem. But, I've gotten different responses from each roofer. Varying from the need to replace our entire roof (two of them actually said that!) to repointing (that's british for regrouting the stones/bricks) the chimney (all of them have said that) to just punching a hole in the fireplace myself to vent it. I am going to get one more roofer's opinion, and this one was a strong recommendation from an architect friend before making any decisions. But it's been over a month now, and I'd like to get some resolution, as I've already had chats with my neighbors in the building since they'd all pay a share of the cost... What a pain. But I hope it'll all be over soon. Then I can focus on getting a fireplace put into our front room, as I've given up the hope that I'd actually sledge out the bricks myself and install one. I really think this work can be done in the next 2 months so we can go away and not have to worry so much. Then when we come back it'll be time to focus on the bathroom remodel. I really want that done before my parents come out in May. I don't think my dad would be too happy with taking a bath! But I suppose he'd manage somehow!!!
Other than that, work is going really well. My contract was extended to the end of November, and I'm really starting to enjoy it and feel confident about my performance there. Hopefully something more permanent will pop up in the new year, but for now I'm just happy to have gotten back into a work routine and settled Marius into nursery. Simon's work is going really well too. He's working on a paper that will be submitted to Nature, and he's the third of about 5 or 6 authors! Keep your fingers crossed that it'll be accepted! The other authors are famous and have tons of Nature papers already, and the work is rather sexy, as science goes, so that will for sure help the chances.
Here's another gratuitous pic of the boys!

Where did my summer go?

That's the question everyone in Scotland is saying. Why you might ask? Well, let's just say it was above 75 degrees about three times the whole summer. And we never had a week go by without at least 3 days of rain thrown in the mix. This summer was the wettest on record. That's what everyone told me last summer, so I was half hoping that this one would be different. Oh well, that's climate change for you. All of the scientists said that Scotland, and indeed the UK as a will be getting more rain as a result, but it'll come in larger chunks, so we can expect more flooding with a drought or two during the non-rainy season. This country has never had a non-rainy season, so water conservation is absolutely unheard of here. They'll be in for a big surprise when pretty soon Earth's climate really starts taking a turn for the worse. But we don't need to worry about that, because the Republican party will just pray to God for a miracle right? And if the entire country of Bangladesh drowns and dies, then well, I suppose it'll be because they didn't convert to some crazy evangelical form of Christianity and we'll have another minor Noah's flood. I'm sure that'll be mentioned by some nimrod in the next 25 years....
Oh, I'm not even living in North America any more and already I'm livid about this election! I would probably be so angry I'd just spontaneously combust if I were still in Tennessee. It's far too cold and rainy here for that to happen though!
Anywho. Work has been going really well. I am enjoying it, and will be a bit bummed when my very short term contract is up. At the very least it's been good to meet people in the field and get back into the swing of things. Plus Marius is starting to really enjoy nursery, so that's good. Although we can't afford to keep him there if I'm not working... So after my long Californian Christmas, I might have to really kick my job hunting into full swing and actually blast my resume out there. We'll see though.
Marius is totally turning into a British kid! He says Nee-Nar for his emergency vehicle sirens! Here's a video of him saying it. It's too cute! What next I wonder? Hiya instead of Hello? Mum instead of Mom?