Seafest funfair

This past weekend some friends invited Jeff and I to their towns summer festival..........called the Seafest. Festivals are a big summer time thing here and each town has their own little festival and they appear to be on different weekends so they don't interfere with one another. Their town is called Arbroath. We were really excited to get out and enjoy some of the local culture and hang out with friends. It had been raining the whole week and even though it looked like rain on Saturday morning when we headed to the festival, it held off and we end up getting sun and clear skies!

The festival reminded me of a cross between a small towns festival and the Renaissance festival. They had things like sword fighting, archery and people dressed up in Renaissance wardrobes. But they also had bagpipers there playing and they had motor bikes (motorcycles), little fast cars that do tricks and even one of those big steel cage balls that the two motorcycles ride around and around in. They had airplanes that flew over and did tricks and such. There was a couple of planes that were doing things like barrel rolls, loops and such and they had ladies standing on top of them doing handstands and different things like that. There was some yummy food like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips (fries) and sausages and such. And they even had candy stands where you could go up and buy candy by the pound. Very cool.

We had a really great time. We both got a little sun.............a little to much sun for Jeff, but it was well worth it to get out and enjoy the festivities.
After the festival we went to have dinner with our friends at a local restaurant. Dinner was great and we had great company! After dinner they took us to this little shop called Sugar and Spice and it was full of sweet treats (that's what they call candy here). They also had homemade fudge and ice cream. Jeff and I got a little fudge to try it out and of course a little sweet treats. It was really a great time and we were really glad our friends invited us along! Good friends, good food and good times!

From atop the hill of the Seafest, at midmorning, before the tide came in! This was only half of the Seafest. The rest stretched out to the right.

Check out this Cool bike! Take note to the playboy bunny under the foot rest! SWEET!

Check out the Panther. I told Jeff I'd get him this bike! LOL

Finally! REAL bagpipers! They were awesome!
My friend Julie ask if they'd stop and pose for a picture with me! :) REAL Scottish bagpipers! How cool is that!

A Medieval battle. They gave the little kids foam sticks and let them beat the snot out of the soldiers after they did their battle. The kids really seem to enjoy it!

See the little yellow car? See the two groups of people standing in the circles? The driver was doing a figure 8 around them and was getting REAL close to their toes. They told them "Whatever you do, DON'T move your feet!" LOL
The two planes that were doing tricks with the ladies standing on top of the wings!

See the lady standing on the center of the wing. She was holding one leg up, straight in the air. THAT is cool!

Starving kids in Ethiopia!

When I was a kid and my mom served something for dinner that I absolutely hated (which was usually salmon patties, lima beans or brussel sprouts) I would spat at the mouth, "WHY do I have to eat this......I HATE it"! To which my dad usually replied, "You should be thankful! There are starving kids in Ethiopia that would love to have this for dinner". To which my rebuttal was usually, "Well fine, send them my brussel sprouts"! That response usually earned me at least one of three things.......1) an extra helping of brussel sprouts (or whatever we were having that I was complaining about); 2) a good ole fashion butt spanking; and/or 3) a good ole fashion grounding where precious privileges were taken away from me for a given period of time that was usually about a week. Now having said that............I know that there are "starving" people in this world that are in much need of rain! So my rebuttal will be, "FINE, send them MY rain"! Of course I am prepared that the consequences of my rebuttal will most likely earn us more rain here in Scotland.
But seriously...............all kidding aside............enough with the rain already! Who knew that it could rain this much in July, anywhere on the face of the earth besides, maybe the rain forest! I am thinking any day now that the lovely cultivated slope in our back yard is going to become a land slide and end up right at the door step of the back door. Grant you I love the cooler weather and while the rain seems to be daily, at least its not hot and humid like it was in Texas after a July rain. Or those dreadful humid afternoons in Lafayette when it would rain for a brief time in the late afternoon and cause my hair to poof up into a big frizz ball because of the humidity.
So okay.......the silver lining is at least its not humid here!

On a side note I will add that after my punishment I would usually add insult to injury by saying, "You are so mean and I am NEVER going to make my kids eat brussel sprouts, salmon patties or lima beans". Their reply, "Just wait until you are an adult, you'll understand". Well let it be known that to this day, even though I don't have kids yet, I will never make them eat brussel sprouts, lima beans OR salmon patties. And do you know WHY? Because to this day I STILL HATE all three! :)

Moving Day FINALLY arrived!

Finally............we got our stuff! Monday the movers came and brought our car and all our household belongings! I've never been so happy to see material things in my life! I never even realized how much I could live without until this adventure. But I must admit..........I am so happy to have our bed, our sofa and chair............just having our stuff.

We are having a bit of trouble getting the car registered quickly, but we are working on it and hopefully will get it registered soon!

Last night we decided to see how it works ordering groceries online and having them delivered. Its the coolest thing ever! You get online and you order your groceries based on categories and you see the items and you add them to the basket and as you add them, it tells you how much you've spent. You pick your delivery day based on the area you live in. If it's the next day......its a little more then a couple of days later. We ordered two weeks worth of groceries and had it delivered next day and it was only 5 GBP to have them delivered!!! THAT is money well spent! I love it. We were able to get produce, meats, cans.............even beer! And the delivery came just fine and the groceries were bagged and all we had to do was take them from the driver at the door. How cool is that?!?!?!

Sorry I've not updated my blog in a week or so. Its been busy trying to get all our household belongings situated and organized. The movers unpack everything but there were things that we just didn't know where to put. And of course we had to hang pictures and we still have to hang drapes. As soon as we get the house in order, I'll take pictures and post. This house is great. And looks so different with our stuff in it. Finally...........it feels like home!

4th of July in Scotland

We had a really nice 4th of July weekend. We figured just because we were half away across the world and in a country that doesn't exactly think of the 4th of July as a holiday (ha ha), we would still celebrate. After all, we are American's! It was really warm out most of the weekend and at times a little unbearable in the house, but we made the best of it and we spent a lot of time outside and milling around.
Saturday we did our grocery shopping and stopped in Bervie for fish and chips for lunch. And Saturday evening Jeff lit the grill and grilled steaks, chicken and zucchini. Awesome dinner and it felt like 4th of July at home! We even had a couple of drinks and played cards after dinner for a while.

Our 4th of July dinner on the grill!

Sunday we went into Aberdeen really with the intention of buying a GPS unit (which they refer to as Sat Nav's here). However, in the process of looking for the store to buy the one we wanted, we found the boardwalk and beach! Amazing! Kind of reminded me of what Coney Island must be like, but maybe not quite the scale. But it was really an experience and kind of put the icing on the cake to a great weekend! They have an amusement park there at the boardwalk and they have indoor golf, outdoor putt putt golf, arcade, all sort of restaurants and they have little ice cream stands all up and down the boardwalk where you can get hand dipped ice cream or soft serve ice cream. There's a movie theater down there too. We found a TGI Fridays!! So we had to stop in an have some wings! Another little treat that reminded us of home.
Since we didn't set out to go to the beach we weren't exactly dressed or prepared for it, but we did walk down and look at all the people on the beach and just watch the water for a little bit. Since we didn't get in the water I don't know how cold it is, but I've heard that its very cold, all the time and that basically a wet suit is worn. We didn't see anyone in the water yesterday, except right at the ankles; a few kids playing. I think one Saturday we'll go back and maybe just sit in the sand and enjoy the sun. Mostly people were walking, a few were laying in the sand, on towels, but hardly no one in the water.

Aberdeen beach!

It really was a nice weekend. Perfect to stumble upon the boardwalk and have some wings, watch the water and play air hockey at the arcade with my hubby. We really had fun! And we also got a GPS unit while we were out. ;) We decided its a must for learning our way around Aberdeen.

Oh and there is a mexican food restaurant down at the boardwalk. So next time we go we are going to try it out, see if its anything close to Tex Mex. They advertise that they have fajitas!

Small Life in the Myst

Ever see the movie 'The Myst'? You know the movie about the book where this huge fog rolls in over this town and eventually the towns people find out that the fog has lots of HUGE bugs and insects and such that are trying to kill them? Yeah, I never read the book and Jeff made me watch it........I had nightmares for weeks! Ha, ha.......Just kidding...........only one night! Some mornings I wake up here and its so foggy outside. Not as bad as in the movie, but still, this fog.......and its the kind of fog that lingers around all day! Where I am from you might have a little fog in the morning but by mid day its burned off and its a normal day. Hm.......maybe that's where the term "London Fog" came from? Creepy........none the less!

The Myst from our back door!

Small refridgerators require small items.........right? I mean after all we are living in a country now where efficiency is the name of the game! And of course coming from a side by side refridgerator and freezer, well I am learning to cope. So this week I snapped a few pictures of the small refridgerator in our house, small cucumbers (not pickles but the size of pickles) and the "large" milk. However, I also took a picture of a slice of bread. Completely blows my mind how tall a loaf of bread is here. And portions as a whole are smaller here, much smaller than what you see in Texas. But it just blows my mind because this bread will nearly take up a plate! A regular dinner size plate. Its not twice as tall as our bread, but I would say at least a size and half! But I am also learning that bread is a huge part of their meals here. And here I am the one that's not a big bread eater. I am also learning that the Scot's love to fry everything! Jeff came home from offshore this week and told me that he had a Scottish egg. So I ask (stupidly I might add) what it was. He goes on to tell me that they hard boil an egg, peel the shell off and then bread it and deep fry it. YUCK! Of course he claims its "heavenly". Whatever...........sounds gross to me! And yes, I'm knocking it before I try it.........but sometimes you just have enough sense not to try something like that if you know you won't like it. ;)

Regular bottle of wine next to a large milk! See how small! And NO, I do not have wine with my milk!

Baby cucumbers (aka snack cucumbers)!

Little Bitty Fridge for Little Bitty Items!

BUT large toast!

And yes, sometimes the small things in life really entertain me!

Baby Bunnies!

I think I've mentioned the cotton tail bunnies we have around here. Its nothing to see them in the front yard or on the slope behind the house, especially in the morning.
A couple of weeks ago Jeff and I were driving down the road to our house and several baby bunnies were crossing the road. Cute! Of course we stopped so they could all cross. They've made holes along the side of the road and there's a field along the side of the road. So no doubt they have a home somewhere along the roadway.

So yesterday morning when I raised the blinds in the kitchen there was one of the baby bunnies on the slope behind our house feeding. You could barely see the baby bunny because he was buried in the tall plants feedings. Occasionally I could see his ears and the only reason I even knew he was there to begin with was because of the plants moving back and forth (where he was eating). Eventually he came out from the tall weeds and plants and was on the slope eating some of the smaller plants and grass. I got a couple shots of him. he blinds in well with his surroundings. Jeff and I were watching him...........thinking he was cute as can be until he started eating the new plants that the landlord just planted on the slope. We were tapping on the window and trying to discourage him. It worked...........but only for a minute. Then he was back to the pretty new plants! Thankfully he finally hopped up the slope. Later in the day I seen him buried deep in the tall plants that are okay for him to eat. To cute! At least when he's not eating the new pretty flowers and plants we just got planted!

See the baby bunny in the middle of the picture.......at the end of the timber tie?

He's munching on one of the plants that's okay for him to eat!

The Beach

We had a really low key weekend at home, this past weekend. Saturday we took a walk up one of the hills by the house that we had never been up to see where it went, and to see the view. We found out that its the old road to Bervie (aka Inverbervie but the locals call it Bervie for short). We didn't walk all the way to Bervie, but did probably walk about a mile down the road and to the top of one of the hills. You could see the beach from that hill too and the trees to the other side. Along our walk we passed a fenced field that had some horses in different fenced areas. There were two pure white horses in one of them, a black stallion in another one and a Shetland Pony in the other one. Jeff loves horses so that was a real treat for us to see them. We also seen on the way back where there's an area where someone has the honey traps that are swamping with bees.
Saturday afternoon Jeff put some ribs and a brisket on his new smoker. Yummy! A taste of home that we both were really looking forward too. It was really good and we are thinking about doing the same thing this weekend for 4th of July. Yes, we will be the only ones celebrating it here, but hey........we're still Americans! ;)

Saturday we walked to the beach. Its about a mile from the house, on the other side of the coastal highway. The beach by our house isn't much to look at since its a lot of rocks, no sand and the high tide gets so far in that the ground is kind of rocky and muddy close to the waters edge. But it is pretty nice to walk down there and see it. Sunday it was overcast and wasn't that clear, so the pictures aren't the best. It was a little chilly too, but we really enjoyed the walk and seeing the sea. And its nice to be able to walk in the area just around the house and see so much.

The Beach by the house, on a very overcast day!

The hillside looking back from the beach. That's Bervie on the lower hill to the right. I know its so overcast you can't really see it. Maybe on a clear day I can get a good picture.

Our sea shipment is getting closer by the day. Next week, we should have our stuff. I'm looking forward to it. I can't even stress that enough! So next week I'm sure I'll be busy getting things arranged around the house. I'll post pictures as soon as we are done. Then shortly after that we are going to have a housewarming party and invite some of the people we have met since we've been here. So we are looking forward to that!

Burning Stakes & Random Phone Booths

So you know how in old movies and tales you hear about witches being burned at the stakes. And if you see it in the movies its always a witch being tied to a stake with a circle of fire around her and its in the center of town and there are angry townsmen standing around watching and chanting on. Well........it would appear that since the days of burning witches at the stake have passed, the burning stakes still exist and of course.......they are still in the towns centre. In Inverbervie, the town closest to our house, the burning stake is surrounded by a parking lot now. A parking lot that is parking for most of the town. The first time we parked in the parking lot, to get fish and chips at the town chippery, I looked over at this structure that we parked right next too and said, "Jeff..........is that what I think that is". To which his reply was......."Yep".

The burning stake in Inverbervie

Have I mentioned that phone booths are in the most random places here! You are driving down the road, in the middle of no where at times and suddenly on the side of the road........there's a phone booth! And yes.........they are all over the place here and to the best I can tell, still in working order. Its not like at home, where you would expect to find a phone booth (if we still had phone booths) in front of a store, or just near some sort of public place, etc. Sometimes you will see them and they will be near a row of houses or just by a bus stop, or sometimes around nothing at all. Very random. But most of them are red........like the "London red phone booths".

Random phone booth!

On our journey to Balmoral castle I took a few pictures along the way of some things we seen in a few of the towns.

This was in a little town on our way to Balmoral. It straddles the road.

A church and some other buildings in the same little town

Father's Day Weekend - Part 2

Let's see........where did I leave off...........oh............Saturday night.......right.......

Okay so Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast and Jeff started mapping out the best way to get to Balmoral Castle and still get to see something great on the way. Balmoral Castle is East of us, almost directly East. We choose a route that would take us directly through the Highlands! Sure it would take us a bit longer to get there, but hey......its the Highlands..........right! So we got on the road around 11:00 and headed a little South to get on a good route to head East through the Highlands. As we were headed East we could see the Highlands in front of us but just seemed so far away. Before we knew it though, we were in the heart of the Highlands. So beautiful! The curvy roads and hills left a little to be desired though on the narrow roads. I'm not one to get car sick but I was really glad when we finally got through the highlands. There's just something about driving on the "wrong" side of a windy road, on top of the high hills of Scotland that just doesn't really give me the warmest fuzzies!
Once we got to the highest point of the Highlands there was a little "Park" spot to where you could take some pictures and look over the Highlands. Wow! It was really quite a sight to see! And the thing is, you want to soak it all up, save it in the memory bank forever because all I could think was, "WOW........we are actually standing in the Highlands of Scotland!!!!"

The Highlands of Scotland

It was really a nice day for being in the Highlands too!

The ride down the Highlands was a little nerving I think for Jeff. Of course the roads going down are just as curvy and its not like you can lay on the breaks when going at that sort of incline down. But we made it and kept on toward Balmoral Castle.
We did stop for lunch in Banchory and found a nice little tea room to have lunch at. We both had their soup of the day (cream of mushroom) and a ham and cheese wrap. Like all the other homemade soups I've had here............it was the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever had!
Banchory is a neat little town (like most small towns in Scotland), just East of Aberdeen.

After lunch we headed on to Balmoral Castle.........which was about another 40 minutes East. The roadway that goes to Balmoral Castle from Banchory runs along side the River Dee. Rivers here are so different than much of what you see there. Its a shallow River and probably reminds me a lot more of the Guadalupe than say the Sabine River. LOL I would imagine that its just as cold as the Guadalupe! Along the way we found a ski resort! And really its not a far drive so I am thinking this winter it might be fun to drive to the Ski resort one weekend and finally take snowboard lessons!!! Hm........maybe that's what I should ask for, for my birthday this year! Finally its beneficial for me to have a winter birthday! LOL

The River Dee near the entrance to Balmoral Castle

So a little information about Balmoral Castle. They have a website if anyone wants to look it up, check out the info on it. Its the Queen's estate in the Scottish Highlands. Its her residence so touring the castle inside is off limits. However they do have one ballroom that has memorabilia and pictures and such in it that you can you tour. It was originally Queen Victoria's. Its a huge modern day castle (by modern I mean well maintained) and its got horse stables that are bigger than most houses in Texas (times 3) and has big open lawns, gardens and guest houses, Innkeepers quarters and such. The Details of the castle's exterior is really quite remarkable. And the estate runs along the River Dee, so you cross a bridge over the river to get to the estate gates. They have a gift shop and little coffee shop (where you can get a light meal) and of course tables and benches all over that you can sit on and enjoy the view. The tours aren't guided but you can get a hand held device that you can listen to and punch in certain numbers to hear the history. Jeff and I were probably there for about two hours just walking around, looking at everything and taking pictures. It really is a sight to see. But truth be told..........I enjoyed Dunnotarr Castle more and I think only because its practically in ruins and more what I think a castle looks like back in the history of Scotland.

Balmoral Castle (The Queen's Estate in the Highlands of Scotland)

The clock tower on the "east side" of the castle

I really love the details!

On the way to the estate gates, after crossing the River Dee there is a memorial there to honor the men who fought in World War II.

The memorial right outside the estate gates

We decided on the way home to take the more traveled route home. We would get home quicker and we also didn't want to really take the Highlands home since we were both getting pretty tired by then. We had a great Father's Day weekend though and really enjoyed seeing the castle, the highlands and of course our date night!

These cars were sitting out front but we think they belong to people that were there visiting the grounds. Lots of Bentley's and Royal's.

Father's Day Weekend

We really had a fantastic weekend! Grant you we didn't get to spend Father's Day weekend in the states with family, but we did get out and see some of Scotland, did some shopping and castle hunted again. Plus we had a nice date night........our first one since we moved to Scotland.

Friday afternoon Jeff took the day off and we spent the afternoon trying to get our shopping done. We got memberships to Costco (basically like Sam's) and so we were eager to see what all they had to offer here. We were not disappointed! Of course there weren't a lot of American brands or brands we recognized but we were able to go in and get a lot of bulk things and so it was a successful trip for us! We also hit the regular market to pick up the other things we weren't able to get at Costco.

Last week the landlord was by to do some yard work and Jeff and I were out chatting with him and he told us that the castle by the mill, Burns Castle wasn't the castle he was telling us of up on the hill. He said it was up there, its just buried in the trees now. So Jeff and I decided that finding that castle was our mission for Saturday. Its suppose to be so close to the house, on the hill behind us and yet we haven't been able to find this castle. So off we went and sure enough.......after driving and driving we found it! And yes, its buried in the trees now, for good reason. Someone lives there! Which we had read that several of the castles around have been kept up to the point that you can rent them, live in them, etc. In finding the castle we found a back entrance. We had no idea it was the back until we found the front and found the sign that said "Benholm Castle Private". Since someone lives there I didn't want to get out of the car and just start snapping pictures, but I did take a few from the car. Its really a nice castle and it goes on further than we can see due to the trees and its great wall. Someone took great care to make it where you couldn't see it easily. The drive going to it is a long drive thats got trees on either side all the way down. And when you get to the castle it has very little open area around it. There were a lot of bunnies around the lawn when we pulled up to it.
On the way back we went to look at Burns Castle as well. Its in ruins now and I am sure the kids at the near by neighborhood use it as a playing grounds now. I am sure at some time it was a bigger than it is now, but for now...........theres not much to it.

The sign "the crazy Americans" didn't see until after we had approached the castle from the rear entrance and taken pictures. Oops!

But isn't it beautiful! This is the back of it. (sorry about the glare of the dashboard on the window but I didn't think they'd fancy me getting out of the car and just snapping pictures of their home. Since I figured out someone was living there before I seen the sign)

Yes, yes, we even drove around and took pictures from the other side. It was Jeff's idea! LOL

This is Burns Castle (whats left of it that you can actually see), its less than two blocks from our house.

We also had our first date night on Saturday since we've been here. We picked a nice little restaurant that we've read good things about. Its called Creel Inn (in Stonehaven/Catterline) and as you approach it, its nothing fancy on the outside, and older building thats got multirooms to it and nothing like one would invision a restaurant being like. But the inside was decorated with art (for sale) on the walls and there was a nice double sided fireplace in the middle of the room. The rooms aren't super large (small, like most places here), but they did a nice job trying to lay out tables with room between each one so it doesn't appear to be to cramped. On the weekends its recommended that you make reservations, which we did.
Soups are a big thing here. Its more customary to start off with a soup, rather than a salad. So we both had their crab soup. Yummy! It was more like a bisque and was really quite good! Everything was well presented and very gourmet. You can tell the Chef takes great pride in presentation along with the quality of the food. It was all very good. So we had to have dessert...........right?! So Jeff had something called a Hot Chocolate Fondant (which I had to ask what it was exactly). Its basically kind of like a molten cake, only a little more baked. Very difficult to explain but I'd say a nice cross between a brownie and a molten cake. Which ironically I got the brownie and it was nothing like we consider brownies. It was like a dark chocolate molten/mousse consistency and it was heavenly! Both desserts were served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was very smooth and creamy and I would have to think that its probably made from scratch there in the restaurant. If its not.........then I need to ask next time what kind of ice cream it is because it was really good!
We spent the evening sipping on red wine and just enjoying the atmosphere and took our time. It was really nice. Unfortunately we were both exhausted but looking forward to our adventure through the Highlands on Sunday to go to Balmoral Castle, so we didn't venture out on the town like we had planned after dinner.

I'll write more tomorrow............tell you about our travel through the Highlands to go to Balmoral Castle. I know, I know, some of you want to hear all about that more than anything else. I promise I'll write and post pictures about it this week!

The Search for Insurance Continues

Its been a rainy day thus far, so what better day to stay indoors and continue my search for insurance for our American "import". It's been quite the task actually. I've called probably 5 insurance companies and I've come up empty handed each time. And our car will be here in about 2 weeks; so I am getting desperate to find insurance for it. I've heard every excuse from we 'don't have a UK license' to 'we don't cover GMCs' and even 'we don't cover imports unless you have lived here for at least two years'. And now that I sit here and think about it, makes me wonder if they don't want to cover a GMC because of the state of the company. LOL, just kidding.
One notable thing about differences in things here and there is how the phone plans work. They are set up similar to cell phone plans in that you purchase packages that are so many minutes a month, etc. So we have a plan that has so many minutes a month, free nights and weekends. To add, we also get incoming calls for free. Which is nice considering I am getting telemarketers here already! But its weird to me because I will call an insurance company and they will offer to call me back "on their dime" (as they say) or they will offer to transfer me to other insurance companies if they can not help me. Its the oddest thing to me. Sadly my cell phone has more minutes on it than our landline. So I use it a lot more than I do the landline. And the flip side of it, its cheap!
And have I mentioned you don't pay a tax on top of things. When they tell you that your phone bill is going to be 12 GBP (Great Britain Pound) they mean just that. So you don't get a bill and its like 25 GBP because they added a bunch of taxes and surcharges. Its all built in. Kind of nice and pleasant! Same thing with cell phones, everything really.

So we are heading to a little Inn, nearby for dinner this weekend. They specialize in seafood and the restaurant is suppose to be top notch. I'm looking forward to it and have already browsed their menu. Its called the Creel Inn in Catterline Scotland. They have a website......look it up if you have time. I think I'm having dessert too..........probably the raspberry chocolate cheesecake! :) I'll keep you posted!

I think we are also going to try and go see another castle this weekend, weather permitting. We have one in mind, so if we go I'll post about it next week and promise to get a few pictures to post. I don't know what else we are up to this weekend but we are looking forward to getting out and about and exploring the place some more. Hopefully I will have something good to blog about on Monday!

Rainy Days - 11 June 2009

FINALLY! We have internet! Goodness, I never felt so disconnected from the world before, nor had I realized how much I rely on the internet for day in and day out things. But we finally have it and I’ve spent the last couple of days trying to play catch up with bills, emails and such. Now if I can just get my bank card, we’ll be set.

Jeff and I purchased some herbs so we could have a little herb garden in the kitchen window and have fresh herbs all the time. I’ve always wanted to have an herb garden and just never made the effort to actually do it. Herb plants are super cheap here. We got 5 hearty herb plants for 69p each! What a deal! We got thyme, basil, mint, parsley and their version of cilantro. I am most excited about that one because now I can make pico de gallo. I’ve really enjoyed making dinner this past week too. I can do so much with fresh herbs! And Jeff and I have been putting a tiny mint leaf in with our hot tea at night and its heavenly!

My little herb garden. I need to get a new pot for them soon!

Its been raining on and off the past couple of days. And its still pretty chilly outside. I think I am finally getting use to the weather though and it doesn’t seem to phase me as much as it did when I first arrived. And I have now started sleeping through the night well enough that I don’t stay awake for long if I do wake up at 3:00 when its starting to get daylight out. So that’s good too. I do still wake up though feeling like I am still very tired. We both feel that way lately. We think its because we are sleeping on the mattress we bought here and its not what we are use too. We are hoping when the rest of our furniture arrives we will sleep much better.

We’ve been planning a few trips and we are really looking forward to them. We are planning to go to Edinburgh in August and sometime this summer we want to take the train down to London and spend a long weekend there. We don’t know exactly when yet; we are still pricing tickets. And we are planning a trip to Italy in September, for our long awaited honeymoon that we had to postpone. J

I know we will both be glad when the yukon finally gets here. We would like to see more things and do more stuff but we don’t have a car so some days its rather difficult. And do you know I came with no umbrella! I must have 3 or 4 umbrellas and somehow I managed to get them all in the sea shipment and none of them in the air shipment. When is sunny out though, the kiddos like to nap on the steps under the skylight. Well Rhett and Audrey do; Simba likes to try and wake them up.

Rhett & Audrey napping, Simba pestering them!

I hope to have something exciting to write about this weekend. Right now its just trying to get things caught up and staying indoors while it rains!

Brown Eggs - 10 June 2009

Have I mentioned that they only have brown eggs here? Have I also mentioned that they typically aren’t even kept refrigerated at the store? You can walk down any given aisle and find them sitting in a big display box, just sitting there. You can also find them on the same aisle as stuff that is kept cold, but again, they are in a big display box, sitting on the floor, not in the actual “cold case”. It blows my mind. They have no “bleached” white eggs! And did you know brown eggs, at least here, actually taste a little different. You get use to it rather quickly though. Oh and forget finding, medium, large and extra large eggs. One kind of eggs, brown, in a crate box………plastic crate box at that. Even more so, don’t be surprised if you pull out an egg and find a little feather on them, or perhaps dirt on the outside. At least I hope its dirt! We wash the eggs every morning before I crack them to make breakfast; it’s a must for my sanity! I’ve not witnessed this but Jeff says he’s cracked one or two along the way that he had to throw out because they were a little too close to being fertilized for him!!!! Ew! For that reason right there, I will not walk across the street to the chicken farm that sells “farm raised” eggs right there. One of Jeff’s co-workers made fun because we buy eggs at the store and not across the street. But that’s my fear………….cracking open a bad egg. To add, as if you need more, needing to wash them almost turned me from eggs forever!

That is all………..go have breakfast now! Eggs! Nice, clean, bleached, white eggs! SIGH!

Ice, ice baby - 8 June 2009

I think I’ve mentioned that ice isn’t a common thing around here, really no need for it. Jeff and I were thinking about getting an ice maker though, so we could have ice but it appears that those are also not something that are easily accessible around here either. However we found something pretty handy that I’ve never seen in the states. Its bags that come in a box much like Ziploc bags do and you take these bags and there is a small opening in the top and its sealed along the bag in a way that when you fill the small opening with a stream of water that it fills it up with about 20 ice cube shapes of water. You then turn the bag upside down once you’ve filled it and it self seals! You then place it in the freezer and once the ice is frozen and you are ready to use it, you turn the bag side to side and it breaks the seals and puts the ice in a “bag”. Its by far one of the neatest things we have seen and used so far. Yes, yes, the small things in life entertain us!

We are having a hard time finding suitable litter for the fur kids. Most of their cats here are indoor/outdoor cats, so they use the cat door when they need to go outside for the restroom. The world is their litter box………….or at least Scotland is. They do have litter here, but its rocks, clay pieces, just not anything that our kiddos are use too. So we’ve been looking for suitable litter for them. They’ve adjusted well, all things considered but I think the fact we still don’t have most of our stuff makes them a little uneasy. We’ve noticed that if we go out for the day, when we return its as if they think we’ve abandoned them. I realize that those of you that don’t like cats or are not animal people can never relate to this. But its something that we do worry about a little and really hope that once our stuff gets here they will feel more at home. I dread the day I have to crate them back up and take them back to the states again just for the flight and stress of it all.

Its starting to warm back up a little this week. We were told Saturday while we were out and about at the mall that this year is suppose to be a heat wave. Since no one has a/c’s here, a heat wave is around the 80’s I do believe. I would think that if it were 80 outside on a regular basis and no a/c, it would get a little unbearable.