Busy, busy, busy

The last few days have been very busy and so much fun!  Anything that gets us out of our room is great, but we actually got to do some fun things!

Friday night was the Masquerade-themed Holiday Party.

                                                I know I'm cheesing bad, but I don't care.

On Saturday, we drove to Cambridge for some Christmas shopping.  It really wasn't as bad as I expected.  I had fish and chips for lunch.

Meh. I'm not impressed.

 

This was a kiosk that was selling "American Food."  It was a cart full of sugar and HFCS-filled crap.  Sad.

 

 

 

 

Little Man didn't want Hubs to leave him alone!

 

 

These I took in the car on our way back onto base yesterday.

 

 

Miss Priss and her new dress up clothes at another Christmas party we went to last night.  I scored at Target a week after Halloween!  All of their left-over costumes were 75% off.  I got her a few more, but she'll have to wait until Christmas morning.  She's also wearing her a crown that she got out of a Christmas Cracker.

 

www.freeimageslive.co.uk

 

These are Christmas Crackers.  You pull them apart a la the Thanksgiving wishbone, one person on each end, it cracks open, and whoever gets the bigger half gets the prizes inside.  There is a paper hat and a joke in each one, along with a little prize.

 

A joke from one last night:  What did the necktie say to the top hat?

 

You go on ahead, I'll hang around for a while.

 

The house the party was at light night was an absolute dream house.  It used to be an old pub.  Now it's completely remodled, except for a gigantic fireplace.  It was gorgeous.  Hubby's shop has a lot of get-togethers there.  It's the only house big enough for everyone, and here in our little corner of England, that is no easy feat!

 

We are going to have dinner at a friend's house.  I'll post more later tonight about our Christmas Eve activities.

 

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!!

 

Making the best of things

I had an entirely different post written yesterday, but I deleted it. I kept thinking about what I wrote, and it was just really whiney and very “woe is me.”  So, have things gone according to plan since arriving? Absolutely not.  I can’t do anything about our current situation, except to quit complaining about it, and making it seem worse than it really is.  Basically, I put my big girl panties on and got over my little pity party.

This is my favorite time of year. I make DIY ornaments and handmade cards. I love decorating the house. I don’t go all out Griswald-style, but it usually ends up looking like there was a glitter explosion inside.  I love baking.  I remember as a kid, helping my mom in the kitchen at Christmas.  She turned into a baking fiend.  She would make so many different cookies and treats. She would fill garment boxes up and take them into work with her.  I love being in the kitchen.  I hate the cleaning up part, but I love cooking and making the mess.  Do I have my things to decorate and cook as I normal would? No.  But I bought some glue, glitter glue pens and construction paper.  Do I get to use the double oven (!) in our new house? Not yet, but I finally figured out how to work the oven here in lodging.  Let’s do this.

 

Miss Priss’s snow girl. Not snow man, not snow lady. Snow girl.

 

 

Coffee filter snowflakes, a la Miss Priss.

 

                                               

 

Little reindeer the kids made at the party a week or so ago.

 

 

 

The kids helped me make some pumpkin bread.

                                     

 Miss Priss measured cranberries, and Little Man helped me crush up some walnuts.  I love my little kitchen helpers.

We haven’t broken out the glitter pens, but we still have a few days of decorating to go! 

Decorations, check. Baking, check.  Tree, notsomuch.  The few trees that they do have here on base are ridiculously overpriced. $60 for a 5 foot tree?  I think I’m just going to get a rosemary plant and let the kids make a paper chain for it. And maybe a tiny little string of lights. 

I did have to take Little Man to the ER last night.  He tripped over Hubs’ foot and did a face-plant in to the tiled kitchen floor. A cut lip and a double bloody nose. Poor little guy. It was my first time driving off-base at night, and it was in the heaviest fog I have seen in a very long time.  I don’t think I went any faster than 30 mph the entire time.  Thank goodness it is less than 10 miles away.  The doctor didn’t say “broken nose”, just that it was a facial contusion.

 

 

 

He is my ER child.  He always seems to do things just after hours, and my only option is to take him into the ER.  I have been with him to the ER more in the last 2 ½ years than I have been in my entire life, or so it seems.  I blame the Hubs.  Little Man inherited his clumsiness, with none of his ninja-like reflexes.

 On a really awesome note for me, I have just booked a tour for the Harry Potter Studios…..for myself!  It’s not until the end of January, but Miss Priss will finally be back in school, Little Man will be with a babysitter, and Hubby will be at work.  A whole day to myself to geek out on the world of Harry Potter!!

 As Little Orphan Annie said (sang?), “I think I’m gonna like it here!”

This is from yesterday.  We had no wi-fi signal all day long.  Welcome to UK internet sevice!

 

 

Well, today proves that I made the right choice for the name of my blog. Crazy/Happy Chaos.  That definitely describes my day.

 For the last few days, Little Man and I have been under the weather.  I have had the most sore and raw throat that I have had in many, many years.  We had a lot to do to, and the only thing I wanted to do was sleep.  So, the hubs took the kids, let me sleep all day, and got everything done.  Yeah, right.

 We got ready, and stepped outside to the coldest, frostiest day that we’ve had since arriving.  It was really beautiful.  And really freakin’ cold.  Frost covered bushes lined the roads, and in some parts we had a canopy of icy tree limbs over us.  What was really pretty (creepy?) was the spider webs.  You could see TONS of dew covered spider webs that had frosted over.  They were everywhere; all over hedges, on cars, and all around doorways and windows.  Great.  I knew they were there, but now I can actually SEE where they are. Were. I hate spiders.

 Errands, errands and more errands.  Half of which the kids and I could have stayed at home for.  Don’t you just love hindsight? Maybe actually planning our day would have helped.  Maybe?

 Paperwork, grocery shopping, extending the rental car, retrieving lost clothing, a very cranky Little Man with a possible ear infection (some fluid build up, but no infection), many phone calls, a visit to the ATM, a visit to the ER (in and out in 20 minutes!), 3 trips to the same base in one day…….crazy chaos.  With a happy ending.

 

 

 

 

Folks, we have a car!!  No more rental car.

 

And Miss Priss was so sweet today.  She made the beds and cleared the living room floor of all toys and little bits of paper; all because she said she felt like being the best helper she could be today.  She was so good and so sweet that I told her she could have a treat.  What did she want? A piece of gum.  And then later, while the chaos was still in full swing, I gave her another treat: half of a chocolate-chocolate chip muffin that I bought so that I could stress-eat it when we finally got home.  I love her that much.

 

She used the "selfie" feature on my new phone. It's a good thing she's cute!

 

And here we go.......

Ok.  I am going to attempt this blogging thing.  Blogging seems to be a great way to keep family and friends up-to-date about our life as my husband's military career takes us around the world and away from everyone we know and love. Yes, I know there's Facebook, but you can only post so much in a status update.  And only 2 of my many family members are on Facebook.   I do not promise any profound statements about life or any mind-blowing insights into human behavior.  What I can promise is plenty of snarky sarcasm, recipe postings, crafting projects, pictures of my kids, pictures of our family travels and adventures, and what I'm sure will be the occasional rant. I am not a professional photographer, so bear with my photos until I get a better camera. Also, because of all the crazies in the world, I will not be using anyone's real name except my own.  The hubs will just be The Hubs.  I think Miss Priss and Little Man will do just fine for the kids.

So, as you all know, we just moved across the pond to Merry Old England.  At Christmastime.  Ever since I was in the 6th grade and had my first World History class, I have always wanted to come here.  It has always been such a magical place, in my mind; the castles; the chivalrous knights. So much history.  So much wonderful literature.  And here I am.  I have the chance to visit so many places that I have only read about.  I can't wait to get settled and start traveling.

As for getting settled, we have been here in base lodging for a little over a week.  We have looked at, at least, a dozen houses.  We found one that we really liked, but the owner was giving us the run-around.  We have found another one that we like, and hopefully, this is the one.  I am ready to get Miss Priss enrolled back in school, and for the Hubs to go back to work.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family.  But when the four of us are together all day, every day......let's just say we all need a break from each other.

Everything is so green here.  A very welcome change from the dry, brown-ness of Texas.  Yes, it's wet, and yes, it's cold, but right now, I don't care.  There is green everywhere!!!  Soft, green grass.  Moss is everywhere; on rooftops; in between the bricks on the sidewalk.  As we've been driving around, there have been so many times where I just want the hubs to pull the car over so I can get out and take pictures.  There are honest-to-goodness thatched roofs here, people.  I was going to post some pictures from my phone, but I seem to be having technical difficulties.

That's it for now.  I'm going to go have a nice hot cuppa for my poor sore throat.