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?

I can't resist this one...

OK, so I know this is really just supposed to be all about the family and whatnot. BUT.... This is really too good not to share. And hopefully all of you Bill O'Reilly loving people out there (uh hmm, Mom and Dad) will start to listen to him with just a wee bit more attention and hopefully some critisism. You should listen to all opinion shows with critisism anyhow... But that's another blog entry for another day.


And for some pure good kid fun. Here's a lovely video of Marius loving his cousins!

First day of nursery and work

Well, today Simon dropped Marius off at his nursery, and I went into work for the first time in 18 months! It was really nice to be back in an office again. I'm still just getting my head around my projects and trying to figure out what I need to start doing. But it is interesting work, and it's nothing too complicated, just a lot of keeping people on track. It'll be easier than getting Simon to do the laundry!!!!
Marius had a little cry when Simon dropped him off, and again when he had to go inside after lunch, and again when he was going down for a nap. But that's not too bad for the day. We get a little piece of paper with the list of things he did and ate, and it said he had a "fab" day playing with "goo." I'm not sure what that is, but when I took off his socks to put him in the bath, he had something yellow on his entire foot. I think he got a marker on his foot, but why the whole foot, I'm not sure?
The poor boy got what looked like an insect bite on his face on Friday. Then he had more later than night and again on Saturday and Sunday. Last night we figured they were hives, and today I got a call from the nursery saying that he had red bumps on his back. I will try to call the Dr tomorrow to see if he can be seen, but I'm sure it's not a bug, as they come and go pretty quickly for the most part, and we washed everything in his room, plus if it were a bug, I'd have gotten bit too. It's strange... we didn't change any soaps. I think it may have been due to lunch meat or Indian take out we had on Friday night, but then again, he had one of the bumps before the Indian food on Friday.... hmmmm mysterious, and a little frustrating, as I want to know what is triggering these mystery hives. It seems to be a little bit more common when he's upset, but he still has a few of them through out the day when he's totally fine too.
Oh, we had a blast with Paula and the family. I cried when they left.... Four days was WAY too short. Marius loved playing with his Uncle Ian and the kids. And I'm sure the feeling was mutual. It was really nice to see them all playing together. I can't wait for them to come back again next year. It should be fun!

Guess who FINALLY landed a job?

Yes, that's right. I will be working!!! It's only temporary from next week until the end of October. But if I like the job and want to work full time, I may apply for a permanent post in November. At any rate, this gets me back into the game and making a little pocket cash. Actually I'll be making about the same as Simon, just at a pro rated amount - three days a week. So, I may just get used to the pay check and go back full time... Well, first things first, I need to start right?
My first day is August 11th, and I'll be a research coordinator. Basically, the Scottish and Northern Irish governments need someone to put together white papers or research work on their environmental regulations, and my company manages the projects. So, we hire contractors to actually do the writing, and we hold meetings/steering groups to make sure that the contractors know the direction they should be going in, stakeholders are satisfied, and the client (government for the most part) is happy with the finished product. It's sort of like what I was doing at TDEC, but much more structured, better funded, and I don't have to do the research/writing myself. My job will be mostly project management, which for some crazy reason, I really enjoy! I hope it all works out.
I take Marius to his first day of day care on Monday. We're just popping in in the morning for an hour to get him used to it. The daughter of the couple downstairs works at this day care and will be there on Monday, so that makes me happy. I've never met her before, but her parents are super sweet, and her brother is really nice, so I'm glad to have someone there who may take an extra interest in him. Marius will probably love day care. Last time we were there touring, he started crying when we left. But that was before I took him there and left him... I hope he's OK with it.

The kilted bandit

Marius is the proud owner of a kilt! Sonali gifted Marius before she headed off to London this weekend, so we promptly put it on and toured the town a bit yesterday. The weather was GREAT! It was around 80 degrees yesterday, and I was absolutely shocked. It was the hottest I've been since moving to Edinburgh (with the small exception of our trip to Spain last summer). Of course the weather didn't last and the fog rolled in last night. I was wearing a jacket today while on my way to the drivers training theory test. I passed, so now all I need to do is buy a car, take a few lessons, and schedule the driving test. Then we'll be back on the roads!
Here is a video of our wee lad in his wee kilt!

Weekend outing

We took a small hike up to Corstorphine Hill this morning. The raspberry bushes along the trails are starting to put out fruit, so we can't wait to come back in 2 weeks time and have a proper meal along the way! Marius absolutely loves his backpack, and we've had to put it away in the closet when he's not looking, otherwise he gets really upset. And when we open the closet, he starts crying if he sees the backpack and we don't take it out.

Our friend from Nashville, Sonali, has been here the past two weekends, so we've had a nice time reminiscing about Tennessee. She's off to London tomorrow, and then Paula and the family come August 4th. I'm so excited about the Nettleships, I can't stand it! I just wish our bathroom could have been done. Oh well, it's good to have people see the before and after I suppose. I just hope our decrepit toilet hold up for another month!
We have been totally lazy about the house stiff lately. Other than getting a plumber to bypass our cold water supply so it doesn't come from the lead cistern in the loft/rafters and the subsequent call back due to a small leak (that stained our dining room ceiling! Urgh!) in said pipe, we've been pretty much just enjoying the fruits of our past month's labor. But I have been thinking a lot about how I'm going to put in the molding around the Edinburgh Press and then installing the floor skirting. I have backed away from buying a circular saw, and instead think I may just opt for a miter box so I can cut 45 degree angles for the molding corners, although a saw would be SO much faster. We need paint too, as all of our skirting boards are super banged up from the guys who sanded the floors. And the carpet in the kitchen (yes, the lady here put carpet in the kitchen and the newspaper underneath it is from 1996!) needs to go, but I first have to sand the floors a bit and the paint them... But I keep telling myself I'll do that eventually. I'm not sure what day of the year eventually is... but if you know, would you let me know so I can start planning that job? Thanks!

Legos!

Yeah, enough said. Actually they're duplos but we call them all legos, and he can sort of say lego so we haven't changed. We just got this huge box of them from a colleague of Simon's and Marius is absolutely loving them. He's been going to sleep while holding them in his hand. Too cute!