This is the current state of our bedroom…

Boxes on the floor as we currently have no master closet, and blankets on the bed because we have currently have no heating- unfortunately we had a power outage yesterday and the furnace didn’t like it and doesn’t want to start up again. Hmm. Hopefully both of these will be fixed in due course when the next few paycheques come our way. Besides, it’s not like I fit into any of my clothes right now, and warmer weather is a matter of weeks away.

This room is going to be for our guests…

Soon it will have curtains on the windows and sheets on the bed, all nice and ready for when our visitors arrive.

And this room is going to be for the baby…

Yes, a baby. Yikes

Since moving to the US last year a number of things have cropped up on a number of occasions that have made me want to claw my fingers through my hair and scream GET WITH IT AMERICA, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY. For example- why the lack of electric kettles? Making a cup of tea should be as simple as flicking a switch and waiting a couple of minutes, then pouring out hot water. Yes, boiling-hot water at the touch of a button. Instead I find myself having to regress back to the Second World War and boil my water in a kettle atop my stove. Although I have actually seen modern electric kettles creeping into some shops, I point blank refuse to pay the $70 asking price when the equivalent back at home is just £4.79 in the Argos catalogue. So for now I am a Wartime Wife when it comes to making tea.

Laundry matters are also something else over here, with top-loading washers still being pretty commonplace. Yes, top-loading washers. You can actually still buy them in the stores over here. Thankfully now that we have our own home I now have access to front-loading washing facilities which have very much been the standard back in Europe since well before I was born, and are something which I *INSISTED* on ultimately purchasing within minutes after accepting DrMr’s marriage proposal which determined that I would be emigrating permanently across the pond. I’m a housewife of the millennium, not the 1950s thankyouverymuch… aside from the stovetop teakettle, that is. Unfortunately, as for the electric kettles, this latest, greatest, newest ever concept in American clothes washing also comes with a price premium, but I’ve been spoilt by 31 years of English life and VERY MUCH NEED a woollens cycle on my washing machine in order to have a happy laundry experience. Now finding a detergent that actually gets my whites as bright as I would like is a whole different matter, but believe it or not I did actually bring over some British detergent with me when I moved, so with careful rationing I remain a happy launderer (plus my family can bring some more out when they visit). And my goal for this summer is getting a washing line up outside so I can dry my clothes the natural way, rather than ruin blast them in a drier. Again, normal for the UK, not so normal over here.

Now these two things (amongst a couple of other more minor cultural idiosyncrasies) I’ve been able to adapt to of course, and these new modified techniques of performing everyday activies are now becoming the norm. But once in a while I encounter yet another ‘new’thing, and each time I do it completely knocks me for six and sends me completely off kilter. This latest one is pretty major, and it concerns of all things, GRASS.

Here in the new house, we have lawns. One in the front, one in the back. By American standards they really are rather small and could laughingly be referred to as more like patches of grass, but I’m English, and in England everything is usually on a much smaller scale, and so to me we have full on gardens. Gardens which contain grass that needs to be mown on a regular basis.  And here’s where the gripe begins:

Chances are it is probably ME who is going to be mowing the lawn. At least for the time being (i.e. next 6 months) whilst DrMr has his foot in a cast and can’t really be expected to perform such activities. I don’t mind this at all in fact. I thought back to the days when back in England when I would help my parents with the garden and it was always a big treat to be allowed to mow the grass. So relaxing. Young Father looks forward to it, and I don’t blame him, it’s theraputic with the smell of the grass and the gentle hum of the electric hover mower. Read that last part again: the gentle hum of the electric hover mower. That’s what I envisioned we would get too. A Flymo to be exact. Your bog-standard electric garden cutting tool back home in the UK (although the company is actually Swedish).

It may look kind of garish, but it does the job perfectly. Unlike conventional mowers, hover mowers float effortlessly on a cushion of air, without any wheels and they mow in any direction following the contour of the land. Seriously, even the weakest of people can use these things, and can pretty much do it one-handed too. They even collect all the grass up and compress it into a basket which is WAY more efficient than having a gathering bag on the back. And yes, above all they hum gently, so the birds don’t fly from the trees whenever you start one up and you can remain on good terms with your neighbours. Moreover, you don’t even have to break the bank to get one of these either, they are cheap at under £100 (but even that is considered to be on the expensive side).

Why am I mentioning this? Well here in the US of A, THESE THINGS ARE NON EXISTANT. Here, when enquiring about hover mowers, people look at you and chuckle nervously in disbelief, or comment that that sort of compact, lightweight garden tool must be way futuristic when in fact THESE THINGS HAVE BEEN AROUND IN EUROPE AND THE COMMONWEALTH SINCE THE 1970S. Aside from being pregnant, I am also female and therefore evolutionary and biologically not as physically strong as my male counterparts. With a hover mower this is not of any relevance whatsoever, but here in the States it is entirely relevant where mowing tools are all BIG and HEAVY and because of all the raw materials involved they’re also rather expensive setting you back at least a couple of hundred dollars even for a cheap one. And because of their size and excessive use of raw materials, these giant hulks of equipment are also very DIRTY and SMELLY and NOT VERY MANEUVERABLE AT ALL. Heaven forbid should you have a slope in your garden, like we do- it’s backbreaking work. I know this because I mowed our lawns this morning. So much for it being relaxing work and something to look forward to.

This is the lawnmower that we got. The smallest one that we could find with a grass catcher on the back. It’s also electric and cordless.

I HATE IT SO MUCH I WOULD HAVE PUSHED IT INTO THE RIVER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN HAD I HAD THE STRENGTH TO DO IT. Its only saving grace was that it is electric as there is nothing I despise more than gasoline mowers that belch out dirty fumes and are so noisy that they can wake up sleeping babies three streets away. The electric bit was a compromise. DrMr wanted gas, I said no (for the above reasons, and also for the fact that I can never get them to start). The cordless bit was a counter-compromise to compensate for the lack of cable on the electric mower. But it’s still big, it’s still heavy, and I can’t get it to turn corners. It’s not relaxing to use. And it doesn’t even cut the grass evenly.

I did actually manage to find an electric hover mower here. Small, compact, lightweight and perfect for the job. And cheaper too.

I wish more than anything that we would have got it and that mowing the lawn could have been the relaxing experience I imagined from home, but it had no grass catcher on the back, and wasn’t cordless, therefore couldn’t be compromised upon. We could have raked the clippings with a garden rake (excellent job for a small child in years to come, I used to do this when I was small and loved it), or even got one of those garden vacuums to suck the clippings up instead, but it had a cord to power it and it had no grasscatcher. So we got the other one instead. And for the next six months we will probably be paying someone else to cut our grass as I’m female and weak and can’t push the one we ended up buying. The one which doesn’t even cut the grass evenly. So I’m just going to sulk about it and blame it on my pregnancy hormones. And let someone else cut the grass from now on instead.

1) Because we finally have the internet working (woot!)

and 2) Because last week is all over and I can finally relax…a bit

Warning: a  long post as there’s a lot to catch up on, so you might want to grab a nice cup of tea and a sit down for this one.

Next time I claim to be busy, I shall certainly think twice as to whether that trully is the case as I think the past seven days might have amounted to one of the busiest times that I have ever experienced. Yes, it even ranks up there with the final throes of grad school and THOSE times were BUSY. Last Thursday in particular proved to be especially emotionally draining. In the morning, we said goodbye to Toby Kitten, in the afternoon DrMrNin had surgery for his ruptured achilles tendon, and in the evening we closed escrow on the house. Whew. But they say things happen in threes.

At least the surgery gave us something else to think about aside from Toby Kitten

It was all very straightforward- a nice clean break in the tendon which was easy to fix. DrMr had his first ever general anaesthetic, plus a nerve block below the knee which made him nice and numb for a good 30 hours, so by the time he came round after the operation he wasn’t really in any discomfort. Just a bit groggy really.

Not only did he get given crutches which made me a little envious as it’s always been a secret little ambition of mine to have them myself (but I’m not at all interested in the injury that comes with them), but he also got to be pushed out of hospital in a wheelchair which made me even greener. Yes, I’m a little bit odd.

Moreover, he even got to ride in the electric cart at Safeway which was just taking the biscuit.

Muh! But then again I’d *much* rather be healthy and in good physical form, so I shouldn’t whimper at all really.

So anyway, yes, the deal that we had with the Title Company was that we had set up a getout clause so as to avoid closing escrow and lumbering me with a great old mortgage in the unlikley event that something should have gone wrong with the surgery. So as soon as DrMr was out of the OR, I had to make some calls to give authorisation to close the deal. I had until 4.55pm that afternoon to make the call, and he didn’t get out of surgery until 4.40pm so I was cutting it rather fine….

8am the next morning, the Title of ownership (or whatever it’s called) got transferred over, and we legally came into posession of the house. From start to finish (putting the offer in, to close) the whole process took just 21 days which was all rather fast as normally it takes 45-60 days. Snaps to our realtor and mortgage person, they really did stirling work.

As you can imagine, the rest of the week was spent pretty much like this:

Boxes, boxes, everywhere…

…As we tore apart our apartment and got everything packed.

Considering DrMr was on crutches and not able/allowed to bear any weight on his right leg (and was supposed to be resting for 3 days post-op), coupled with the fact that I’m currently six and a half months pregnant and waddling around looking like a beached whale and not able to lift anything, we did an incredible job of getting everything packed up. We did it ALL BY OURSELVES, WITHOUT ANY HELP WHATSOEVER. Granted we had a lot of it done before his surgery, but even after his surgery we still managed to get world’s heaviest mattress off the bed, and our giant Cal-King sized bed dismantled. And everything else left that still had to be packed up into boxes.

Poor Chester Kitten was extremely confused. What a hard week for our little furry boy But hed enjoy the new places that could be explored.

Removal day was arranged for Monday and we really had no choice but to spend more money and pay people to do it. In hindsight it was probably a blessing in disguise as to have moved it all ourselves in a rental truck even without feet in splints or pregnancies would have been horrendous.

The day proved to be so distracting and action packed that it didn’t occur to me at all to get my camera out, but I can show you some of the things that we had delivered the other week (the seller allowed us to get some things delivered at the same time as the oven)…. including our yummy outdoor furniture set which I CANNOT WAIT to  use, and a nice big armoir for our wine fun, squee!

And of course the much talked about appliances…

Believe it or not, getting an oven installed was actually part of the requirement to close escrow on the house which was why there was that big rush to choose one. Despite the very difficult decision and the change of heart at the very last minute, I remain extremely delighted with the range/refrigerator combo that I chose. Here’s the fridge coming through the door…

EEPS! I love it, it’s big inside, and makes its own ice. And is my very, very own xo

So which range did I pick??

Any ideas yet?

Why, it was the AGA Legacy 36 of course

And it’s BEEEEYOOOOOOOTIFUL!

Thanks everyone for helping me choose xo

We moved today and I’m exhausted. What a week. We should have proper internet access by Wednesday so I’ll save the details until then.

I’ll just say one thing… I am LOVING my new oven. Stay tuned to find out which one I picked

Yesterday morning, we placed my sweet baby kitten into the arms of the angels.

There will never, ever be a kitten that was more loved, and he will be in our hearts forever.

Rest well my sweet Toby, Auntie Ginny will look after you until we meet again.

I miss you so much it hurts xx

Please could you spare a little thought or say a little prayer for my dear, sweet Toby Kitten. He’s very poorly at the moment and I’m not sure there’s much else we can do. He spent the weekend in hospital, but he isn’t getting any better. We’re all rather upset.