My life is a Peanut cartoon.

I have come to the conclusion that I must sound like an adult in a Peanuts cartoon. I am sure that when I speak, my son only hears “whaa whaa whaa whaa whaa whaa”. I am pretty sure that is what my husband hears after the first sentence of anything I say. Then, when I get upset that he hasn’t done what I asked of him, saying he cant read my mind, he cant hear what my response is. I don’t like living in a cartoon.

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Eye surgery done.

My poor husband has lived with a cataract for months now. One eye straining to see and over compensate for the other, which only saw a white cloud. He has had nothing but headaches, fatigue, and has been pretty cranky. Who can blame him. Yesterday he had eye surgery. The place was pretty impressive for the NHS. A mobile facility that goes from one place to another doing eye surgery. There was 22 people there yesterday to have surgery in a car park of a leisure centre.

The leisure centre wasn’t to far away, but far enough to not warrant a drive home and then back. Plus, the gal at reception told me that they where not behind and it would only be 2 hrs. Not bad. I had already looked the leisure centre up on line and sussed that they had a soft playground for my son. So, with just a couple of hours to kill, we where off.

I had never been in a leisure centre in the UK before. So its rather hard to describe. Its kind of like a health club of sorts but run by the local council, so its a government thing.  Its not exactly a health club though, sort of like a bit a health club and a rec park, with out the grass, playgrounds and playing fields.  So we went in and they gave me a key to the soft play area. We had to wander through a very dark hallway and through a few locker rooms to find this room. We opened the door and turned on the lights and, well, it was a soft play area. Looked like they used it a bit in the past, and not much anymore. Most of the padded toys and balls where thrown on the floor and it was pretty much just a mess. So I had to pick up a bit. My son, once he figured out what was what, enjoyed himself. We spent a good 40 mins in there.

This would give us enough time to go to a Sainsbury’s and get some coffee at the starbucks then get a few things at the store and then back to get S from the eye surgeon. Unfortunately, the Sainsbury store was half torn up with remodeling. With all the mass Saturday crowd I didn’t bother. So we headed back and hung out in the car for a bit. At about the 2 hr mark we went in to check and found out that S hadn’t even been seen. So we headed out again to wander the town centre. How do you keep a toddler happy for 4 + hrs of waiting? With a new Thomas the Tank Engine train. Works a charm.

When S was finally done they sent him home, after a 4 hr wait for us, with a plastic cup looking thing taped to his face. He could already see better. Color mostly. Lots of color. Today, he is amazed at what he hasn’t seen. So much more to see. I am so glad he has his sight back.

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One boy, a bucket of water, and a hose.

Yesterday afternoon my husband took our son out for a little walk up the street. When they got back they both started to wash and wax my car. I took this opportunity to call home and speak to my sister. Then pick up the living room. All I could hear out side was squealing and laughter. So I popped my head outside to see my little boy dumping a bucket of water over his head and squealing with laughter. This is the same little boy who gets so upset when I rinse the shampoo out of his hair, was now soaking down to the bone with buckets of water. 🙂 He was drenched and loving it. He then picked up the hose and sprayed his head. I had to get the camera. He was in toddler heaven. His first real taste of all the Summers to come.

I am really enjoying this part of the age. Doing actual kid things. He is turning more and more into a little boy, and no longer a baby. Its fun. Can not wait to see how he grows and what he likes in the future.

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How is 70f hot?

All Summer, here in the Northwest of England, we have been struggling to get to 70f. We have been experiencing a lot of rain, cloudy days, cold weather. British Summer. Yuck. Yesterday and today we hit 70f. Yippee. But I am from California. By now, I am used to it being in the upper 90s. So why am I so HOT? Because it so darn humid. What would be a warm Spring day temp for me is making me feel sticky. There are still clouds overhead so it really keeps the humidity in. Bleh.

It makes me long for a hot, dry heat. The kind of heat that you just step into the shade and the temp drops. The kind of heat I love. Clear sunny hot days with very low humidity. I am counting down the days.

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The joy and sorrow of a balloon aka a day of 3 firsts.

Preface: My son has had balloons before. He has had helium balloons as well but he was to young and to uninterested so its been a while, say 6 months since he had one. I don’t think he remembers them in person but knows of them because of seeing them on TV shows.

My husband asked me if I wanted to go to B & Q and check out prices on cheap tiles. We may re-tile the bathroom before we sell and just need to get to grips with the prices. So I jump at it. Anything to get out of the house. Plus, I need to stop by the store for bread and milk. Then he adds that we can do a dry run for his eye op on Saturday so we know where it is. I check on line to make sure that there is a store in the town we are headed to. Bingo, a superstore the site says. So off we go.

We find the place that we will be going for the op and then head to B&Q, only to find that its not a superstore, but a dinky store and only a few tiles. Hmmm, not good. So we decide to head to the actual superstore.

What I am not realizing until we are really into this journey how bleeding far this town is that he will have his operation. Really its about 20 miles, but on English roads it always feels so much longer. Then heading back we have another 12 miles to add on to get to the superstore.  Pretty soon my poor little son is getting grumpy, hungry, and his mild cold seems to be really acting up. So we decide to just head to the store and get a precooked chicken and a few things and head home. That just wasn’t going to do as it was getting later and later and we still had to get across town, so we ended up just going to McDonald’s. Not my favorite place by far, but as time is ticking, everyone is getting hungry, and store in England do not stay open late we just bit the bullet.

So here is 1st number one. My lovely little boy who never eats crappy food has his first Happy Meal. I wouldn’t say he all that impressed. He only ate a few bites of the hamburger but enjoyed his fries. He was more impressed with the little girls who where at the next table. I know what he was thinking… if I could get to them I could hug the stuffing out of them.

This leads us to 1st number 2. The manager came out with helium filled balloons. She was asking the little ones what color they want and his eyes where getting huge. He kept saying “loon” and “Geen” and he was thrilled to get a green balloon. Happy boy.

After we got home he was happily playing. Playing meaning he would let the balloon go and it would float to the ceiling and he would climb on his little chair to reach it. This went on for a while until… 1st number 3. Bam or should I say Phfffft. He pulled the plastic stopper out and the balloon soared around the room in a noisy flight. Me bursting into laughter, him bursting into tears. The look of horror. Poor guy didn’t know what happened or why or anything. Lucky enough it hadn’t popped so it could be blown up but not to float away.

So my little man had 3 new things happen today. My husband and I where once again reminded that most things we set off to do end in a huge kerfuffle. I think next time we will just stay home.

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I love my computer

It amazing how much my life has become dependent on computers. I remember a time, not all that long ago really, that I didn’t even have a computer. Now, most everything in my life has a computer twist to it. I met my husband on line. I got my dog on line. We found our car on line. I met friends on line. I communicate with my family on line. We found the home we want to buy on line. We pay our bills on line. We buy groceries on line. I watch missed TV shows on line. 15 yrs ago… maybe even 10 years ago people would of found this so strange. Futuristic. Not possibly true. Pretty much every aspect of my life has the computer involved in it somehow.

So nothing brings my world to a screeching halt faster then when it goes down. It did over the weekend. Talk about the world coming to an end.  Two days with no on line communities to visit. No blog to write in. NO EMAIL. What is a girl to do? I wont say that it was so bad that I got the shakes and shivers of a withdrawing patient in rehab, but boredom soon over took. The house felt much smaller. The world shrank. I seriously do not know how on earth we existed without this global contact. No one feels that far to me when I am on line. Not my family in the US. Not my friend in South Africa. No one is that far away. Just a click of a switch, a click on the mouse and the world is there at my feet. I guess I would have to say, I love my computer.

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Poor baby bird

Late last night we had a “look what the cat dragged in” moment. She brought in a baby bird. I am talking so young that it barely had pen feathers. This poor little barely hatched creature in the mouth of the cat, who looked so smug. Great hunting skills, stupid, the poor thing has no defenses.

So S got the bird from the cat to see that it was still alive. It had a little wound on its neck but it was alive. So we put it in a box to keep it warm. I really thought it would die. I just didn’t want to put it outside, in the cold rain, to suffer until the end. So we kept it warm and locked it safe away in the front hall.

This morning the poor little baby was still alive. S took it out with him when he left and took it to the vet. The vet went ahead and put it down. The little bird was just to young. Had it had another day or two it just may of had a chance, but it was just hatched and to young. I am sure the whole in its neck from the cat wouldn’t of helped. Its such a shame. I hate that cats kill. It is one of the main reasons I am not a cat person.

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British Summer Day- Playground at the Farm.

Out of shear boredom I took my son to the farm again. The one with the big play area for the kids. He loves it. He has really come along in the last 6 months. 6 months ago he would of clung to me screaming. Now he runs and jumps and only screams if I put him on a playground toy. He is a typical boy, into everything dirty. He is a typical 2 yr old. He never wants to leave. Thank goodness for reverse psychology. I just start to go and he follows. What is the point of trying to reason with a 2 yr old. It just doesn’t happen.

Speaking of reasoning with a 2 yr old, how can a mother explain to her loving child that not every child he comes across want to be grabbed and hugged to the ground. He will make a B line across the field to grab any small child he sees and hugs the stuffing out of them. As sweet as it sounds, imagine some strange guy grabbing you and doing that. Not the most comfortable place for the one being hugged by the stranger. He grabs hold and holds on tight. It takes a lot to get him to unlock. We had to leave it was happening that much.

So he was hugging this little girl, and I was pulling him off, apologizing to the mother of this unsuspecting child when I notice her face. She hadn’t heard me, only my accent. I hate it when that happens. The glazed look a person gets when I speak to them. They don’t hear me or what I am saying. All they hear is American accent. Then that is it. I am the unheard American. If I had a pound coin for each time it happens I could buy us a new car when we move home. Maybe I should start charging. 🙂 It is a surprising downside to being a foreigner. I mean, I understand it. I stop too when I hear an accent. I used to stop over British accents but now I stop over American ones.  After so many years it does become tiresome being different. I will probably find it boring to be the same after awhile when we move back. Its the worse when its important like a doctor

So the farm was the same again. It rained. The sun came out. It was freezing. Then it was hot. Typical of British Summer. It is nice to have a place to go that isn’t torn up or be covered in broken bottles like most of the playgrounds around me. The teenagers use them to party and they are no go areas. So we drive to the farm and play in the playground and go see the animals. We usually even shop for the best veg at the farm store. Not a bad way to kill an hour. Its just a shame that it will stop in a week or so. When all the schools let out and the older kids come and take over the play area, my son will be to small to keep up. So for 6 weeks I will have to figure out some other things to do until schools start again in Sept. It’s a bummer that.

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Parent spots – Please do not park there.

One of the things I think is fantastic here in the UK is parent/child parking spots in car parks. Its something I had only seen once in the states in a brand newly built mall. These spots do not have to be in front of the store as parents are not handicapped, but they are wider spots so we can get the door of the car open and safely get the baby out. It also gives a parent enough room to put the push chair along side of the car, out of the way of moving traffic, and get the baby strapped in.  The fact that you can get the car door open all the way and maneuver into the car enough to get to the baby seat helps beyond belief. The spots are all about safety.

Before I became a parent I had no idea how hard it was to get a child in and out of a car. I had no idea how vulnerable it feels to have your head stuffed into the car and your ass hanging out with no idea who is walking up behind you, all the while fighting a toddler who is not letting you strap him in without a struggle. I remember one time when I had no parent spot to park in, they where all taken, mostly by people without a child, and hand to climb into the backseat of the car with my newborn infant. This was a squeeze between my car and a car that was so close that I could barely fit in. I hurt myself to get in by making sure that I didn’t hurt my child. There was 10 parent spots in this car park, only 2 had child seats in them.

I know how tempting it is to see a spot that looks so convenient, one that is wide enough to get the door open. Please, I am really asking you to stop and think. Do you really need to put yourself so far in front of others who need these spots to keep their children safe?  Just like disabled spots, they are clearly marked. So next time you see one and are tempted, please stop and think about the parents who really need them to keep their children safe.   Thank you.

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Memories of 5th grade.

I recently got back in touch with one of my dearest childhood friends and it has me thinking of my childhood and most specifically 5th grade and my life then. We had moved from Southern California to Northern California, which was night and day at the time. We had lived in a bustling but smallish city in Orange County close enough to the beaches and a stones through to Disneyland. My younger childhood was busy. Dance classes, modeling classes, trips out, life was very very busy. I always had something going on.

Then we moved to Northern California, to a small little mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Back then, life moved at a snails pace. Such a change from what my sister and I where used to. We moved into a nice house in a neighborhood that bordered on one that I loved, and still love even today. I lived in walking distance of the school and that is where I met Wendy, who was my life saver that year, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. My parents where on a verge of a divorce. They fought more then not. Home was a bit chaotic. My memories of being at home where very lonely. My sister was gone as much as possible, as most 17 yr olds are, and I just remember not liking being home at all. Thank God for Wendy. I think I spent more time with her and at her house that year then I did at home. I will be honest and say that I don’t think my Mom even noticed, or she was relieved to not have to deal with an 11yr old under her feet during that time.

I loved Wendy’s house. For many years it was my ideal home. I remember it as big, really coollylaid out floor plan wise and peaceful. I had ideas of building a replica of it most of my early adulthood. I wonder if its actually as big as I remember?  It had a cool downstairs, and a pool. But the best bit was the street. I was a massive street that wound around the hills and through olive orchards. Wendy seemed to know everyone. It was a blast. I drove down that street a few years ago. Its not as long as I remember. Still lovely with fantastic views of the canyon down to the American River, but like the light of day, age gave it a different perspective. Funny how that happens.

I think the things I really remember the most was the mischief we got up to. And boy did we get up to it. Just off the top of my head where things such as this:

• Walking into town on our own, going into businesses and asking them if we could use the phone. Back then they always said yes. We would write down the number and then go to a pay phone, call it and leave the phone off the hook
• Prank phone calls… daily… usually to the same place. Thank goodness they didn’t have caller ID.
• Going door to door selling junk… really junk… saying I was deaf and needed an operation. People actually bought stuff off us.

We where good kids really, but we did get up to stuff. This is really the tip of the iceberg so I wont go to into it.  Needless to say, 5th grade was probably one of the best years of my life. Wendy’s mom made me feel at home and took really good care of me. She let me stay over on school nights and let us stay up late to finish the 5 page reports that we always seemed to wait to do until the night before. Her step dad would drive us to school in a really fun MG in the morning. It was all good.

After 5th grade let out my mom and dad divorced. My sister moved out. She felt she had to so my mom could go. My mom and I moved across town and lived in a town house near my oldest sister. I went to a new school that I hated. My mom met my step dad and 6 months later they where married. Things changed and I didn’t really see Wendy much until High School. My memories of 5th grade and of Wendy, her family, and that street, are still some of the best of my life. I know my life would of been very different if we had stayed in Southern California, but I am not so sure that it would of been better.

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