RIP Brit-ish Bex

I did it. I finished editing together this blog into a book and ordered it from blurb. It should arrive next week.I think that means this blog is done. Hopefully it won't be the end of blogging for me - but I need to find a new reason to write and take pictures. We'll see what I can come up with.

Some American Girl - back in the UK

I came back to the UK for a visit. I've been here since last Sunday and am about to head back home early Monday morning. It has been so fantastic to reconnect and revisit the past. After 6 days - it nearly feels like I never left.

On Monday I spent the morning shopping at Tesco to round up all of the items requested back home. Included on that list are:

• ibuprofen gel - I bought all 14 tubes that were on the shelf.
• ginger nuts - a yummy cookie that Rachel (and others) really like
• fun size crunchie - my favorite cadbury candy bar
• turkish delight thins - who knew that this would be something I like?
• blackcurrant squash - concentrated fruit juice for Rach
• fruit pastilles - a chewy, sucky, sugary candy that Natalie told me was good
• some envelopes in a standard size (so cheap) in the UK - rather expensive in the US
• marzipan ritter sport - Kathy requested these as the ones at the local Safeway or Cost Plus at home are less than fresh
• maltesers - whoppers, but so much better

And more candy & biscuits for the office and friends. One of my work colleagues was in the UK with me and returned to the US a couple months before I did. He and his family requested some Dr Who magazines & a special sort of biscuit variety mix from a fancy supermarket. Luckily I found it all. It is amazing the things that we crave.

All of the sweets will be going into a locked cupboard when I get home. I have just 4 weeks to get into shape for Kathy's wedding. There will be much gym time and far less eating. :) Lots of work to do.

After the shopping trip, April and I headed over to Intel. I ran in and hunted down old friends and co-workers. It was actually really nice to see everyone. I left with so little ado last year - many people were on holiday - so it was nice to get some positive closure and memories about the office. April and I took Laurie to lunch in Old Town (actually she took us! she completely beat me with her card...I owe her!!). It was so nice to catch up! I really do have some great friends here.

Tuesday was special because the Slades took me to see a matinee of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The show is traveling around England right now. We saw Craig from Any Dream Will Do (a reality show to find the next Joseph that was on the BBC 2 years ago when I arrived in Swindon - I just saw that BBC America ran a marathon of it last month). It was a really fun show. Probably my favorite bit was the prop sheep that would get pushed onto the stage and then inflated! So funny - especially when they didn't quite inflate all the way. The music was really fun and the kids loved it (as did I). It is a favorite of their family - and one of the reasons that Joseph Slade is named Joseph. Speaking of Joseph - taking him to the show was quite the experiment. It was his first experience like that. April said - either it will be good, or it won't. He handled it beautifully. He was entranced for the first half. Totally into the show and dancing in his booster seat. After the brief intermission his attention waned a little, but he was still quiet and fairly contained. Experiment was a success. After the show April took a "desperate" Megan (at least that is what Megan claimed to be) to stand at the stage door to wait for Joseph to come out. She got a photo and beamed for the rest of the day.

That night we (the adults) had a curry from Tesco for dinner and watched XMen (on a VHS tape that Greg dug out). I was so shot - I kept falling asleep in a mixture of food coma and jet lag.

Joseph didn't sleep much on Tuesday night - so it was really good that I had plans for Wednesday morning so April could get a little more sleep. I walked across the neighborhood to visit with Bethan - who trained me when I arrived (2 years ago, practically to the day). Bethan left Intel about 6 months into my stay - and she just had a baby 6 weeks ago called Toby. We had a fantastic catch up and then headed for lunch at the Pizza Hut buffet with Toby in tow. It was a nice relaxing morning - and Toby was so tiny and such a good baby. Bethan is lucky.

I can't really remember Wednesday afternoon. Dang. I should have taken more pictures. Oh - I kind of remember. That was the night that April and I watched a couple of Castle episodes online, and I totally broke my work computer. So after a few wasted hours of fiddling with it - I gave up - and that was the end of working during my holiday. :) I'll just have to deal with it next Tuesday. :(

Thursday was pretty low key - with a couple of fantastic highlights. We went to meet up with Gresha (and her daughter Anita Fe) for lunch. She is one of my favorite people here. Lunch was nice, but the conversation was much better - plus, we solidified plans for a kind of girls' night with a few other friends later that evening.

In preparation for the girls' night I made brownies - with a mix I brought from home. I cooked them in a 10x8 pan, so I was expecting to be able to use the 9x9 pan timing on the box. The ovens here are SO different! How quickly I forget. While here I have made chocolate chip cookies (had to completely readjust the oven temperature and cook time after the first batch), banana bread muffins (those worked out pretty well, it was April's UK recipe), and then these brownies. I cooked them for the prescribed 36-42 minutes and the inserted toothpick was no where near clean. Then I went 4 more 5 minute intervals - 20 whole minutes - and thought they were done...the top had begun to crack. I made just the perfect amount of chocolate frosting (once April found the stash of Hersheys cocoa from America) and put the pan away until after dinner. The weather was quite nice (as opposed to the wind and rain that prevailed throughout the early part of the week) so we ate dinner (Tacos - yum!) in the back garden. Then April went to get the brownies for dessert. "They are quite gooey," she says. Only the edges were done and the proper fudgey consistency. The middle was not cooked through. I was equally embarrassed and frustrated. I'd need another 3 weeks to remember the nuance of UK ovens. Part of the problem is that that they are gas and/or convection and in Celsius - I should be able to figure that part out, in fact, it should make the food better (apart from the Celsius difference which is just a conversion headache with no bearing on the food apart from poor math skills). The part that I can't figure out is the climate and ingredient differences. Butter is different! Brown sugar is different! I wouldn't be surprised if flour and eggs are different.

So I was kind of dreading sharing the brownies with the ladies that arrived at 8. They still love me even though I undercooked the brownies. We played a domino game called Chicken Foot. I loved it! We had such a fun time! Greg was away with a couple of the ladies husbands at a stake leadership training. All the men arrived mid-game. They wanted brownies - to my horror. Gresha's husband tucked into one and said "They're gooey!" and I groaned. He liked them that way though and ended up having more of the extra gooey center of the pan. Fun game, fun people, "interesting" food. Now the birthday scene in Bridget Jones' Diary just means that much more to me. I didn't make Congealed Green Gunge - but my brownies left a lot to be desired. I empathize with Bridget. Next I'll be making blue soup. :)

Friday was another low key day - taking the kids to school for their last day before Half Term break (kind of a spring break equivalent). It was a day they didn't have to wear uniforms. It was fun to see the classroom look more normal to me - full of noisy children in a variety of their favorite outfits. Megan is in reception (what the English call kindergarten) and you can imagine some of their quirky outfits. I've had a great week doing Megan's hair for school. :)

Last night I finally talked April into going to the cinema. We went and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It was better that I feared. Entertaining and a pretty good message. I do like Jennifer Garner. She is so smiley. :)

This morning we left Greg with the kids and drove into London. We parked in Hammersmith and planned to tube up to Ladbroke Grove - at the top of Portabello Road Market. Unfortunately that tube line was closed for the weekend! We took a bus - which I actually did very little of when I lived here. I was so pleased when I recognized the area at the stop we wanted to get off at.

We wandered through the market. It was a beautiful day - blue sky in London and quite warm. It was fantastic! We shared an almond croissant and then April found the Hummingbird Bakery. A cupcake confectionery in the vain of NY's Magnolia bakery. A red velvet cupcake with a swirl of cream cheese frosting and a cheesecake brownie topped with raspberry cream were boxed up for later. The market is fun - but nothing tempted me enough.

We walked past Notting Hill's house with the blue door (now painted black) and through the market. Then from Notting Hill to Bayswater. I was so excited to see Taza - my favorite kebab place. We got chicken kebabs and baklava and a giant bottle of water and headed for Kensington Garden. The park was packed! Benches were all full, so we plopped onto the grass and enjoyed our picnic. So yummy! So nice just to lie there and chat. Ginger Frost joined up with us. I had a few goodies from America (Trader Joe's cranberry oatmeal dunkers and 2 cans of red enchilada sauce) for her. Once we had our fill of sitting we headed back down the road (Queensway) to my favorite pashmina shop. Then it was time to head back to the car on the tube. Ginger came with us and we ended up making a pit stop at TK Max (TJ Max in the US). We found a nice platter for a girl in the Swindon Ward that just got married. :)

What a successful and fun trip! I have taken some picture this week - I'll upload them once I get home.

Tonight - now that the kids are in bed - we're going to pull April's Sunday School lesson together - then turn on some more episodes of Castle while we play Scrabble and Set.

I'm looking forward to church tomorrow. I hope that it will be as unexpectedly nice as work was on Monday. There are a lot of people to see.

I leave VERY early on Monday morning. I think we have to leave the house at like 3:30am. I'm on one of the first flights out of Heathrow over to Amsterdam. I'll buy Rachel some Milka chocolate in the airport. Maybe I'll find some nice liquorice as well (just not salty or menthol-y).

I miss Pippin. It has been a really good - and cathartic - trip.

Week of Snow & Ice

So - that first snow has turned into a week of snow and now a crust of ice sits on top of all of it. I worked from home all week. Venturing out from time to time for food or to shop. Last Sunday we got a couple of inches. Then Monday and Tuesday were clear blue skies - and frigid temperatures. 16 on Tuesday. On Wednesday more snow came - about 3", but it also warmed up a bit and we started to have some melting. Thursday and Friday were colder - and somewhere in there we had a couple more inches of snow. Yesterday is when it really got crazy. It didn't stop snowing all day. Literally did not stop. Last night when letting pippin out around 11pm - there was about 10" - maybe even a foot in the back yard. The drifts were much bigger. Then overnight the freezing rain arrived. So now the snow has 1/4"-1/2" of ice sitting atop it.

Church is canceled again - last week too. It is weird. All of our Christmas programs, and my Joyful Noise Christmas Concert have been canceled. Kind of sad. On one hand the snow really makes it feel Christmas-y, but not going to church and not singing beautiful Christmas music is making a big void.

Christy and I have been walking the dogs (3 - since Christy is dog sitting for a friend) all week. Yesterday it was quite a workout plodding through the deep snow. I don't think we'll walk today. The ice really upset Pippin this morning. After breaking through it once he wouldn't walk on it anymore. I had to go out in my wellies and tromp across the back yard - back and forth until most of it was a mix of soft snow and crunchy ice. Then he could find a way to feel better. Although when he got to the edges of where I broke out the ice - he would get frustrated with the boundary and bark at the ice. Poor guy. So a walk would be completely non-productive. Pippin would just follow me around in my footsteps that got rid of the ice surface.

Now Christmas is nearly here. Dan and Genny spent the night on Friday on their way to LA for Christmas. We had a yummy Costa Vida dinner and a good time talking. They drove out on Saturday morning in the crazy snow - but were able to get out of Oregon before the passes got nuts.

At the same time, Rachel was driving from Boise to the bay area. She flew out of PDX on Thursday - her flight was delayed a bit, and she left her coat at the gate in the airport - but she made it. She is helping some friends move to Hollister. She'll be spending Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's. Christy is leaving on Tuesday to help a friend drive to Arizona. Well, she is getting dropped off at Grandma's - so she is helping drive part of the way. She'll also be Christmasing at Grandma's. So the Foulger Christmas in Oregon will be small. Just mom, dad, Kathy & I. And Aunt Sue - if her flight tomorrow night isn't canceled. We'll miss Rachel and Christy. Pulsar will be spending the week with me and Pip.

So now I just await packages from Amazon - arriving from many spots across the country. We'll see if the weather makes them too late for Christmas. Hopefully not.

Here are some pictures of the storm this week.

Here is the snowfall from Wednesday - looking out across the neighborhood (towards Christy's house).

Bundled up walking the dogs on Wednesday.

Last night Pip was dressed up in his sweater. Jumping around in the snow that was past his elbows. The snow was still falling.

Christy and I went out for a couple of errands. Here are the big ruts in the driveway once I got home. And it was still snowing.

In the middle of the night Pip needed to pee - but wouldn't I went out and dug out a hole in the snow. He still wouldn't. He just stood at the door wanting to come in from the cold.

Here is the layer of us that we woke up to this morning.
And here is the backyard once I had stomped around. Finally Pip could go to the bathroom.Here is the house from across the street.
And looking down the road.

First Snow

This morning I woke up to feed Pippin at about 8am - it was a long weekend and I was sleepy. Pips ate and then I let him outside. While he was out there (I thought to pee) he didn't make it past the patio for the longest time. It was just barely starting to snow - just barely. Like 1 flake at a time and he seemed completely mezmerized. I kept telling him to go sniff - go pee. And he wouldn't even look at me. He just kept watching the snow fall. Finally he just came back in.

The next 2 hours were one phone call after another telling me that church was canceled. Oregonians are pretty funny about snow. This is supposed to be quite a storm though - snow all day followed by 2 days of deep freeze and then more snow in the end of the week. Christy and I went out for a drive at about 12:30 in her AWD Audi with snow tires to winterize her out-of-town friend's house and it wasn't tht bad - but things were visibly worsening as we were out for about an hour. I need to take my AWD CR-V with ice tires out and see how it does - the Thanksgiving drive to grandma's (that I bought the fancy tires for) was absolutely snow/ice free.

When I got back home I took Pip outside to play for a few minutes. I thought he might be able to see Red Bug (a laser pointer) in the snow - but not so much. Just enough to get him really excited. We'll probably try again tonight. Here is a cute picture of him and the snow in the back yard (after he had bounced a little) - he is wearing the "non-denominational Christmas bandana" from the groomers at Play Care. I took him in for a self-serve bath this week to try to get him to like the groomer's there better - plus they have this new kind of walk in tub to try...he was mostly fine. Before we left the groomer made sure that we had a bandana. I can't tell if he likes it or not. I took if off right when we got home - but then mom came over yesterday and put it back on him. And it is kind of cute for a Christmas picture in the snow.

I hope you are all enjoying the rapidly speeding by Christmas season.

My Friend's Husband

I just found out that one of my close friends from my Folsom days (and since - she moved to Tacoma when I moved back home - we are still close :) ) had a weekend full of trauma. We spoke on Friday night. She is pregnant with her 2nd child, and she and husband and baby boy were spending Thanksgiving with her in-laws in Oregon City. She was hoping for a reunion - but I was in California basking in son and love at grandma's. Debbie and I had a great chat - and her world fell out from under her the next day:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/pilot_injured_in_ultralight_ai.html

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/35262894.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/pilot_injured_in_ultralight_ai.html

These all basically say the same thing - her husband Tony was in a plane crash on Saturday. By many miracles, he survived. He had a badly broken ankle (which has been repaired surgically) and much trauma to his face (those surgeries won't start for a couple of weeks - to allow swelling to go done and see what is really going on). They are at OSHU - he just got out of ICU yesterday. I hope that I'll get a chance to visit - but want to help in any way Debbie needs - even if that is space.

I have spent some time with Tony - while he and Debbie were dating - and since they married and while Debbie was pregnant. The last time I saw him was the weekend before I moved to England. We had reason to get together with 2 fabulous gals visiting from Folsom (well - one was mid-move to Minnesota). Debbie was very pregnant with Max - and Tony was so great with her and us. He is a goofball. He loves to fly. I remember one of the first times I met him he was thrilled about the 5-point harness newly installed in his truck. Apparently he installed something similar in his new plane and invested in a Chinese fighter pilot helmet - both contributing to the miracle that is his life. Tony's dream is to be a commercial pilot - I really think he'll achieve that dream. I just ache for Debbie.

Please keep Debbie and Tony in your prayers.

One Christmas Tradition

Many years ago someone in me family - maybe mom, maybe Kathy - saw a magazine featuring a sugar cube castle (probably Martha Stewart Living). Since then - we make sugar cube castles just after Thanksgiving and enjoy it (or them) until New Years.

This year I had a very small party with Kathy, Rachel and a couple of friends. Here are our efforts:

I went for a simple tower and forest:
Rachel was very pleased:
This is our friend Andree's castle. I think it is so cute!
Here's Kathy's:

And Esther's:

It was a fun night. Everyone arrived at 6:30. We made pizza with dough from a local yummy pizzeria (Schmizza). The trick to making it taste right is dusting the pan and crust with cornmeal. We listened to Christmas music (until we had to switch to Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow), ate pizza and built with sugar cubes. The decorating is fun fun fun. And the castles light up beautifully with a tea light. I love them. Everyone was gone, the house cleaned up and the dishwasher running by 10pm. Perfect!

Have I mentioned recently how my I LOVE my dishwasher? I do! Just about as much as I love my dryer. I find myself throwing everything into the dryer - I suddenly don't care that some shirts should be line dried. I don't want my dryer to think that I don't love it. I am sure eventually that will wear off and I'll love my shirts more and start hanging them to dry.

Cutest Dogs Ever!

This month Pippin and Pulsar are featured as Dog(s) of the Month at their play care. Check them out at the A Dog Gone Good Place website - or maybe these pictures will be big enough to read...who knows?

On other fronts - I got a new calling. Now I am the Enrichment Leader in a singles ward. Somehow I am not sure if that is going to be terribly different from being the Activities Chair in a family ward in England. I still need LOTS of ideas. To break me in - we are having a progressive dinner with an international theme the week of Thanksgiving. We'll have the finale at my house - puddings from England. I need to work on my Sticky Toffee Pudding. All of my English mates out there - send me good and easy recipes. I'll definitely be pulling out the cake recipes that Jo gave me as a send off. Then in December in the grand homemaking tradition - we'll have a super Saturday with Christmas crafts. So if you've had one already in your ward please let me know what you did that was a hit and not to complex to set up. I am such a slacker. I just want the biggest bang for my buck.

I'm driving to grandma's for Thanksgiving and just as excited as is possible (when I am still facing 2 weeks of work in the interim). By the end of the week my car should be decked out with quality snow tires to take me and the pup safely over the mountains. I have distant memories of driving to California with Shogun in the van with us - and stopping many many times trying to get him to poop. Pippin is just like Shogs is so many ways. I imagine he'll hold it the entire trip. Christy has told me about the good rest stops for quick dog walks. I am hoping that we'll also get to make a stop around Sacramento or a bit northward to see Dana again (I went to Folsom for election day for work and got to see Dana for a few hours - it rocked!).

I can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa and Sharon and Suz. To eat Thanksgiving in America - not have to search for months for tinned pumpkin or figure out how to make a pecan pie without corn syrup. I'm still going to make the fantastico cranberry orange relish that we all know and love. It is my mission to spread the goodness of cranberry orange relish all through the land. :)