I know, I know, it's been forever since I've blogged. I was hoping I would have some exciting news about the interview. But, since I today received the standard "although you have excellent experience, we have decided to hire someone else, blah, blah, blah..." email today. So, I guess now I don't have to scramble to find some day care for the boy. That is a good thing I guess, as the one I went to last week really didn't sit well with me. Basically there's only one or two that I have seen that I like, but neither have space right now. Which reminds me, I should at least put in my application for the waiting list for the day care I like near the new flat.
So, there really isn't any new news here. It's cold, but it's been cold since I got here in July, so that really isn't too surprising. It was snowing today as I walked to the library to return some overdue books. And I walked all that way just to find out that the library was closed. Apparently it's Easter Monday! Who knew the day after Easter was a holiday? We didn't do anything special for Easter this year. Marius is still too young to understand or to eat sweets. So he didn't have any of the good stuff. Plus it was too cold for an Easter egg hunt. We did go for a nice long drive though, and we'll go back for a picnic when it warms up a bit - meaning in August!
Monday, 24 March 2008
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Jobs and day care
I shouldn't jinx myself.... but I will. I had a job interview this week. It went pretty well I think. It was for a part time (17.5 hours per week) research job at the University of Edinburgh working on a ground source heat pump project in the political science department. It would be a non sciency type job, which actually suits me just fine. But, I'm not getting my hopes up, as they had a few jobs advertised, and they told me they had several people applying to several of the jobs - meaning they might hire one person to work on two part time jobs. So, apparently I'll hear something after Easter. I also have some other interesting part time job leads, so I'm quite content to just wait things out and see what else pops up.
The most nerve racking thing about going back to work, or thinking about going back to work, has been figuring out Marius's day care situation. So, we're moving from the south side of town to the north side of town in May/June but if I start working sooner than that, then I'll need to do a lot of commuting before we move as I want a day care near the new flat. That's a pain, but it's just logistical and I can deal with that. The hard part is that the day cares that I like, are full or at least partially full at the moment.... Meaning I either need to hold off on looking for a job, or I have to put Marius somewhere less than ideal (not an option!) until August when spaces will open up, or Simon will need to take some serious time off during the week days to help out and then work more on the weekends. I think the later will be what we'll do and hopefully squeeze one day a week of day care at the place we like (but that's all the time they have until August) that's across town from us at the moment. Then, after we move, we'll be much closer to the day care and then by August we can have Marius there 2 full days a week and Simon will just take one half day a week to look after the boy. I am super happy about that, as it actually means Marius gets more "daddy time" than he is getting now. But, I need to get a job first don't I? There are lots of unknowns and what ifs at the moment!
We had a lovely weekend. Yesterday we went up to County Fife just north of Edinburgh and across the Firth of Forth. It was a nice sunny, albeit cold, day. We made the most of it by going to a nice park/garden in Dunfermline. We've been there before and knew they had a green house, so regardless of the weather we'd be OK. Marius got to stretch his legs a bit in the greenhouse and was loving touching all of the plants. I think we could have a budding botanist on our hands. His grandfather would be so proud, as Simon's dad was a botanist/biochemist. After the gardens we decided to go to Aberdour Castle. It was really beautiful there, and the views of Edinburgh were amazing! You could totally make out the castle and Arthur's Seat on the skyline.
The most nerve racking thing about going back to work, or thinking about going back to work, has been figuring out Marius's day care situation. So, we're moving from the south side of town to the north side of town in May/June but if I start working sooner than that, then I'll need to do a lot of commuting before we move as I want a day care near the new flat. That's a pain, but it's just logistical and I can deal with that. The hard part is that the day cares that I like, are full or at least partially full at the moment.... Meaning I either need to hold off on looking for a job, or I have to put Marius somewhere less than ideal (not an option!) until August when spaces will open up, or Simon will need to take some serious time off during the week days to help out and then work more on the weekends. I think the later will be what we'll do and hopefully squeeze one day a week of day care at the place we like (but that's all the time they have until August) that's across town from us at the moment. Then, after we move, we'll be much closer to the day care and then by August we can have Marius there 2 full days a week and Simon will just take one half day a week to look after the boy. I am super happy about that, as it actually means Marius gets more "daddy time" than he is getting now. But, I need to get a job first don't I? There are lots of unknowns and what ifs at the moment!
We had a lovely weekend. Yesterday we went up to County Fife just north of Edinburgh and across the Firth of Forth. It was a nice sunny, albeit cold, day. We made the most of it by going to a nice park/garden in Dunfermline. We've been there before and knew they had a green house, so regardless of the weather we'd be OK. Marius got to stretch his legs a bit in the greenhouse and was loving touching all of the plants. I think we could have a budding botanist on our hands. His grandfather would be so proud, as Simon's dad was a botanist/biochemist. After the gardens we decided to go to Aberdour Castle. It was really beautiful there, and the views of Edinburgh were amazing! You could totally make out the castle and Arthur's Seat on the skyline.
Thursday, 6 March 2008
walking walking walking
So, I have a video of the little tyke walking around, but You Tube is down at the moment, so I'll have to try to upload a video later. While you wait, here are some cute shots of the boy and some scenic shots of St. Andrews. We had a bit of a boiler problem last week.... had it fixed, had it broken, then had it fixed again, only to have it break down again a day and a half later. What a pain, but it seems to be mostly fixed at the moment. Anyhow, Friday night it was on the fritz, so we went to St. Andrews to stay with a friend over the weekend as we would have frozen in our apartment. We had a really nice time there. The village is so quaint and charming. Simon and Singer (that's our friend) were working on geology stuff in the morning while Marius and I took a stroll through the castle and nearby cathedral and cemetery. All are in ruins now, but still very cool to look at.
Our flat paperwork seems mostly done for the moment. I think our loan stuff is mostly taken care of too, although we haven't yet signed anything.... I'll have to call our solicitor and mortgage broker to double check though. We'll move in May 16th! Yeah!!!! First thing we're going to do it peek under the carpets to see if there are floorboards underneath worth sanding. Then we'll rent a sander and go to town before we move the boy in. It'll be a lot of hard work, but hopefully worth it in the end.
Our flat paperwork seems mostly done for the moment. I think our loan stuff is mostly taken care of too, although we haven't yet signed anything.... I'll have to call our solicitor and mortgage broker to double check though. We'll move in May 16th! Yeah!!!! First thing we're going to do it peek under the carpets to see if there are floorboards underneath worth sanding. Then we'll rent a sander and go to town before we move the boy in. It'll be a lot of hard work, but hopefully worth it in the end.
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Sick Again
It never seems to end with us... Two weeks ago is was a stomach bug, and now it's a cold. Poor Marius seems to have gotten it the worst and was up all night coughing the past few days. Thankfully his appetite hasn't decreased, so he's eating all of his food and then some. I'm over my cold, and Simon is half way through his... I hope we are all back up to 100% by this weekend, as we're supposed to go to a nature/farm park with some of Simon's colleagues. We were at the zoo last weekend and Marius was loving all of the animals, so I can't wait for this weekend. I think he'll really get a kick out of petting some goats and sheep.
Speaking of sick, our boiler was sick this week too. A boiler is a water heater. Except they are way different from the US water heaters. The ones here are direct heating, so there's no water tank. It's fine as long as you don't take a 30 minute shower, like I was fond of doing back home... They also don't let you use hot water out of more than one tap in the house, as that's too much water to warm at once. There are other types of boilers here, but that's the most common one. It's totally efficient though, and I got used to the change pretty easily. But anyhow, so ours was making this huge banging sound when we turned off the hot water. A plumber was send out and came back 3 times of the past 3 weeks trying to "fit" it. Yesterday he broke the thing completely and told me that he'd have to order a part for it and we'd have no hot water or heating (because we have radiators heated by the boiler) overnight. Needless to say I told him that with a sick baby and near freezing overnight temperatures, this was unacceptable and that I was livid. He just said, that's what happened and it couldn't be fixed and he'd call my property management company. Thankfully they send out someone who only works on boilers, and they were able to come out that afternoon and fix it. I was so happy I got their work info and will call them to service our boiler in our new flat as soon as we move in.
Speaking of sick, our boiler was sick this week too. A boiler is a water heater. Except they are way different from the US water heaters. The ones here are direct heating, so there's no water tank. It's fine as long as you don't take a 30 minute shower, like I was fond of doing back home... They also don't let you use hot water out of more than one tap in the house, as that's too much water to warm at once. There are other types of boilers here, but that's the most common one. It's totally efficient though, and I got used to the change pretty easily. But anyhow, so ours was making this huge banging sound when we turned off the hot water. A plumber was send out and came back 3 times of the past 3 weeks trying to "fit" it. Yesterday he broke the thing completely and told me that he'd have to order a part for it and we'd have no hot water or heating (because we have radiators heated by the boiler) overnight. Needless to say I told him that with a sick baby and near freezing overnight temperatures, this was unacceptable and that I was livid. He just said, that's what happened and it couldn't be fixed and he'd call my property management company. Thankfully they send out someone who only works on boilers, and they were able to come out that afternoon and fix it. I was so happy I got their work info and will call them to service our boiler in our new flat as soon as we move in.
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Big big news
Marius took his first steps today! In the past week or so he's been finding himself standing without anything to hold on to and has been quite stable. But he'd always gently lower himself on to the ground and crawl away in the direction of his choice. So today it wasn't a huge shocker when we had him standing up in the middle of the living room and stepped back a few steps only to watch him follow after us on two feet. But it was totally exciting non-the-less, and especially because he looked so good at it. I'm sure I'll be kicking myself about it in a week when he's getting into more precarious situations much more quickly than before. We'll try to get a video of this mind-blowing feat shortly.
On another front... We're buying a flat and it's pretty much a done deal. We'll move in on May 16th, so we still have plenty of time to pack and get ready for the move. The good news is that it's a HUGE place, at least by UK standards. Meaning it's just over 1200 square feet. So that means that we'll have plenty of space for visitors, as it's a 3 bedroom flat. The bad news is that we're wiping our bank accounts clean with the purchase, so we won't be making any exciting trips to Spain like we had hoped this summer, and we will likely be carless too. We'll have to make due with the lovely avocado green bathroom until we can afford to totally gut it and start anew. The flat is on the second floor, meaning the third floor to all of you Americans (oh, and elevators are almost non existent in this country). But compared to most of the spiral staircases here that are accidents/deaths waiting to happen, ours is very gentle and has platform turns instead of winding turns, if that makes any sense. So, mom and dad, your knees should be able to handle the walk up and down with no problem! We also have a patch of private garden out back, which we're totally excited about. Simon is already planning the border plantings. We want to make it a little secret garden of sorts and put in a hedge or something to section it off from our neighbours’ uncared for portions. But we'll see. A new flat and a toddler running around will make us very busy, so gardening may not be our first priority like it was in Tallahassee. Anyhow we'll post photos of our new digs once we move in and get settled. Oh, I can't wait!
On another front... We're buying a flat and it's pretty much a done deal. We'll move in on May 16th, so we still have plenty of time to pack and get ready for the move. The good news is that it's a HUGE place, at least by UK standards. Meaning it's just over 1200 square feet. So that means that we'll have plenty of space for visitors, as it's a 3 bedroom flat. The bad news is that we're wiping our bank accounts clean with the purchase, so we won't be making any exciting trips to Spain like we had hoped this summer, and we will likely be carless too. We'll have to make due with the lovely avocado green bathroom until we can afford to totally gut it and start anew. The flat is on the second floor, meaning the third floor to all of you Americans (oh, and elevators are almost non existent in this country). But compared to most of the spiral staircases here that are accidents/deaths waiting to happen, ours is very gentle and has platform turns instead of winding turns, if that makes any sense. So, mom and dad, your knees should be able to handle the walk up and down with no problem! We also have a patch of private garden out back, which we're totally excited about. Simon is already planning the border plantings. We want to make it a little secret garden of sorts and put in a hedge or something to section it off from our neighbours’ uncared for portions. But we'll see. A new flat and a toddler running around will make us very busy, so gardening may not be our first priority like it was in Tallahassee. Anyhow we'll post photos of our new digs once we move in and get settled. Oh, I can't wait!
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Sick family
This has not been the best weekend.... I felt horrible all day and Marius obviously did too as he refused to eat anything but a few cheerios. Then Simon was up all night and was sick to his stomach, and then some! I didn't get any sleep, mostly because of Simon's commotion in the bathroom, and then I worried that Marius would get sick in his bed too, so I ended up sleeping on the floor in his room so that I could attend to him if he threw up in his sleep. Insane paranoid mother.... yes I know! Marius was fine, but I'm a bit sore and tired today. I'm feeling better, and thankfully Marius ate a decent breakfast. Simon on the other hand is not feeling so hot. He tends to be a bit of a baby anyway when he's sick, but given his state last night he does deserve to wallow a bit today. The poor guy. I hope we're all back to normal by Tuesday, as Simon and I have a dinner reservation at a super nice restaurant in town. It's my belated birthday present. I pitched a fit when I found out that the reservations weren't made for my actual birthday last week, but eventually I calmed down and agreed to go this week instead.
Sunday, 10 February 2008
1st Haircut
BEFORE
Well, after more than a year.... we figured it was time for a little trim trim. We had no clue what we were doing, but in the end I think it turned out OK. I made sure to save all of his locks. Oh, I can imagine giving them to his wife one day thirty years from now! Here's a before and after shot so you can see just how much we took off.
AFTER
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