Comfort Foods

While living in the UK for the past 3.5 years we knew there were certain foods that we missed from HOME. Well tonight's dinner included 3 of those things....{these are the actual photos of what was served in our house}

Frozen, ready to bake biscuits: I kind of forgot how good they were and how easy they are to 'make'. Maggie is insisting they are not biscuits but rather scones and we decided it was best not to argue with her. Already prepared cookie dough: While out with Diana one night she saw this cookie dough for the great price of $1 ~ how could you NOT buy some of that. The kids thought they hit the jackpot with freshly baked cookies. Finally and our favorite fresh watermelon: How can you go wrong??

Got a peach??

As I was looking out the kitchen window this afternoon I saw this in our peach tree:

The squirrel actually picked the peach and then began to eat it! It was quite funny watching this happen. Sorry the photo is not better as it was taken through the window screen.

TIMBER.......

In our yard we have a beautiful OLD birch tree. The problem with the tree is that is was dead at the bottom and the top ~ branches would fall for no reason and it was becoming unsafe. We ended up making the decision to have it taken down. It was a shame to see such a big tree go BUT there is an amazing old white oak tree behind it which we can now see.

tree prior to work being started:

Work in progress:

Hollow Trunk:

GONE:

I have gotten everything taken care of regarding our banking issue so we are all set on that front. I had to call the police department in Oklahoma and file a report and a detective will be calling me in the next couple of weeks. I am not sure what, if anything, they will do but at least I know I will get our money back. However, the plot does thicken....my friend had her number taken as well and someone had shopping spree on her but in Illinois. The bank seems to think the common thread is the local movie rental station so we will see what happens. We thought it was clothing store we went to last week but the movie place sounds more feasible due to its location and high traffic area. I wonder how many other people this will happen to??

OUCH....

This weekend was not a good one here in our house. Someone got ahold of my debit card number and had a bit of a shopping spree in Oklahoma! The debit card, like most others, had the capability to be used as a credit card so no pin number was needed. The only reason why I found out is that a $45 charge at the grocery store was DECLINED!~ I knew how much was in our checking account and I certainly had enough to cover a $45 bill. I went home and checked out our account and someone had spent almost $2800 in a few hours! I have NO idea how they managed to do this and never will but I am still MAD!!!! I have cancelled the card and will need to take care of getting our money back at the bank on Monday.

On a side note our sea container has arrived and should 'hopefully' be delivered some time this week. We cannot wait to actually have our stuff so the house will start to feel like our HOME.

Home Improvement..

Things have been a bit hectic around here as we are adjusting to life back in the US rather than feeling like a visitor. The new blinds for the family room arrived today and I had the courage to actually install them myself.

First photo is the before ~ then the after. I am quite pleased with myself as they are level and even!!

Rock The Park ~ BoDeans

Last night I went out with a bunch of mom's and had a GREAT time. Originally, I planned on skipping out of the event but was convinced otherwise to go and boy am I GLAD! Our local arts council sponsored the event in one of the local parks and the night was perfect. We met for dinner and then walked over to the concert to enjoy the evening. One of the highlights was the people watching ~ we had too much fun watching the middle aged men 'try' to look cool and dance. Don't they know that they are better off standing still than attempting to dance? Here is a video of the BoDeans, for those who don't know who they are ~ I didn't before last night, it is from another event not the one we attended.

I really liked them and will probably go out and buy a CD! I know Tim would have really enjoyed them. He flew back to the UK so he will be a lonly single guy for the next 6 weeks until his visit here in early September.

Goodbye...

It is with a heavy heart I have to make this post. Diana's dad passed away this morning. Late last year she lost her mother after a battle with cancer. Her parents were both wonderful people and our family was blessed to know them. We, as well as all their family and friends, will miss them dearly. There is peace in knowing that Bob is now with Mary, the love of his life.

Settling into life in the USA

We have been back in the states for a week now and it still feels like we are just visiting. I guess we need to get into a routine and have more of our 'stuff' around to feel like we are staying. We made a QUICK, and I mean QUICK trip up to Cleveland last weekend for baby Ava's babtism. It was nice to see family but we just didn't have the time to spend with everyone and it was not long enough.

Andrew went to his first high school cross country training last night and he said he really liked it. He met some new people which is good ~ the 3 boys he ran with were 10th graders. He said he and another boy were the only 9th graders there. I am sure there will be more as we approach the start of school in less than MONTH!!!

Here a few photos of what has been going on in our house:

Our stuff waiting to be checked in at London Heathrow airport for our flight home.

The arrival of our stuff in storage

We are here...

Sorry for the lack of posting! We arrived safely back in the US on Monday night and have been running around ever since. The dog traveled really well and we had an uneventful flight. Our storage items arrived on Wednesday and we have been slowly getting things organized. Today the kids and I went to Diana's and spent the afternoon in the pool ~ oh that was so nice. BUT, I think I made the same mistake as last time and got a little sunburned. I will chalk it all up to getting used to that thing in the sky called the SUN rather than the rain.

Elton John

We had a great time last night at the Elton John concert at the local football stadium. Our seats were perfect and although it rained all day it stopped in time for the concert. Elton John is a great performer and sounded very good live. He played for 2.5 hours straight and I think the people behind us we mad at us ~ it seemed like everyone was sitting except our group. Hello....it is a concert not an old people convention. I have photos and video to share but the USB cord for my phone has been packed so I will have to wait.

We are off to London today in preparation for our flight out tomorrow morning...yes, TOMORROW morning.

Last Day of School!!

Today was the last day of school for the boys ~ we found it quite funny that they finished on the 4th {Independence Day}. There was the Founder's Day celebration along with the prizegiving awards. Christopher received the academic acheivement award and we were very proud of him. He has earned this award every term while at the school here in the UK. He received a nice trophy, which we told the school will be going to the USA with us.

A special thing that is done in our village is that the home country flags of residents is flown on national holidays of their country. So we get to see the American flag flown on the village green at various times throughout the year. Tim and Maggie took time to pose under the flag this morning.

Almost There....

My house is now EMPTY! All of our things are now boxed and on a 40 foot sea container headed to the port awaiting shipment to the USA!! We ended up having just under 400 boxes/wrapped items. The container is expected to leave the UK the first part of August and will be delivered to us after customs clearance in early September {hopefully}. Our air shipment is currently in Chicago, awaiting customs clearance, and will be delivered late next week if all goes as planned. The items we left in the US in long term storage will be delivered next week as well ~ all 194 boxes! What on Earth is in the boxes I have NO idea....obviously, it is stuff I can live without and most will be given away except all Tim's tools etc.