American Mum: I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore...

We are definitely not in Kansas, or Missouri or even South Carolina. Things are just slightly different enough here to make everything a bit of an adjustment for us. Between the driving, the food, their accent and the house, it makes some things a challenge. We spent the last week learning the quirks of the new house and getting settled. Most of the boxes are unpacked, and we are finding places to put most things. I will admit, we ended up packing up a few things and putting them in the garage due to the lack of storage space in the house.

I wish I could say I am loving it here, but I’m just not to that point yet. I hope I will be someday. This week has been a challenge simply due to the fact that things are everywhere in the house, and if you know me, you know I like to be organized and keep a clean house. I go from one pile to another, and I just don’t have a place for everything yet. Eric thinks I am crazy for having several bins of “craft materials”, but hey, I like to be crafty, and you never know when you are going to need a glue gun, staple gun, acrylic paints, canvases, etc. Of course I have a good deal of sewing supplies here as well. I brought my sewing machine and my embroidery machine. I haven’t seen any children wearing shirts with monograms or appliques, but most kids here wear their uniforms all week. Maybe my kids will start a little fad here.

Our house is slowly becoming a home, I think. We did hang a few pictures on the random nails the owners left in the walls. So it is starting to LOOK like our house, but it just doesn’t FEEL like our house yet. There are so many things I miss about our previous homes…

· Outlets in the bathrooms

· Bathroom sinks with ONE faucet where hot and cold water mix

· Showers that were big enough to turn around in

· Toilets that flushed the first time

· Towel racks!!!!

· Light switches instead of pull-string lights

· Clocks that show 12 hours at a time…I still have to think when I see: 21:50

· A garbage disposal in the kitchen sink

· Prongs on the top rack of the dishwasher so every plastic cup and container does not flip over and fill with yucky water

· Large oven with temperature in Farenheight

· Milk in gallon-size containers…quarts and liters don’t last long in this house

· A garage with a garage door opener instead of a roll-up door

· Blinds on the windows instead of curtains that let the neighbors see it all

· Closets in every room, bathroom and hallway

I know. I am starting to sound like a West County snob. Some of you reading this are probably saying, "You kids have it so easy these days. When we were young, we had to warm our water for baths on the stove, share a phone line with the neighbors, and walk to school uphill both ways." Sorry. It's just hard to adjust when I have had all of these conveniences in the past. There are some positives about our new house too!

· The mail comes through a slot on the front door…convenient!

· Eric can walk to work in just 11 minutes!

· Dylan’s school is a 4 minute drive. We’ll start walking in the spring when I am not waddling along 9 months prego.

· It only takes 2 minutes to sweep the kitchen floor.

· Vacuuming the entire house takes very little time.

· We no longer need monitors for the kids since our rooms are so close. We can literally hear Amelia snoring.

· I only have one shower and one bath to clean.

Dylan continues to love school! He has made several friends, and he is already invited to a birthday party. He is Mr. Social! He hardly says goodbye to me in the mornings because he is so excited to see his friends. He talks about his friends in South Carolina too. He wrote a note to one friend, and he wants to write more. He brought his class picture from South Carolina for Show and Tell this past week. I was worried about all day school Monday through Friday being too much for him, but he has done really well. It has taken a little toll on him though. He’s been quite tired and crabby in the evenings, and he had a little cold last week.

Amelia will be starting a preschool next week. She will attend on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:15-11:45. She seemed to really like it there both times we visited. The teachers were so sweet and welcoming to her. They are putting out the dollhouse and dress up just for her on Monday. I have a feeling she will be clinging to my legs on Monday, but we are going to give it a try.

I met a few mums at drop-off and pick up time. They have all been very sweet and helpful to me. One mum moved from America about 10 years ago, but she is married to an English man, and you would never know she was from America. She has a strong English accent. She did, however, invite me to get together with some other American mums over the weekend. I was not able to make it this time, but I hope to go in the future. Some people have been asking, “What do the other moms look like? I mean, do they dress like us?” I’ll get into fashion on another blog entry, but basically, yes they look like “us”. Most of them wear leggings or jeans with boots, and they have up-to-date hairstyles and clothing. Nothing too trendy, but pretty stylish if you ask me. Put it this way, I don’t feel like I stick out here. Well, I don’t stick out until I speak. Then, I feel like everyone turns around to hear my accent. In general, people have been friendly.

Sorry this is such a long post. I'm trying to update for the past week. We will be getting Internet at the end of this week, so then I can update the blog more often. Here are a few pictures from this past week...