The coming together of life.

This week I got to socialize with people again. Besides the odd “hiya, you alright?” between the odd person on the street we haven’t had much contact with the outside world in the last year. Last Saturday we went to a workshop at our church. “Going Deeper into the Psalms” and we talked to our Rector and he asked me what kinds of things I liked doing and if I was looking for volunteer work. I told him I was and he said he would introduce me to a few people on Sunday. During the announcements they mentioned that they needed volunteers to work at a Warehouse for three weeks processing boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I talked to the lady in charge, got very few details but was told to be there for 11. I didn’t go on Monday. Doreen (the lady in charge) called me Monday afternoon and asked if I was still interested. I told her I was and she said that people in the congregation would be willing to drive me if I wanted. So I went Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was so much fun!!! I have been coming home utterly exhausted, but it is a good exhausted. I feel like I am doing things and that I am being useful again.

I love that I can walk into the warehouse and people greet me by name and I return their greetings and it is wonderful.  And in these three days of working there I have joined a choir! Practice is Thursday nights and I don’t have to perform if I don’t want to. I can just come and sing! Apparently there are a few younger people so that would be good. I do not mind being around older people. It’s quite nice actually.

On Wednesday’s and Saturday’s our church has a Drop-In-Café for lunch. I went on Wednesday to help out and that was also great fun. I take their orders and bring them their food and smile prettily. Kids are still freaked out by accent, but I think eventually they will get used to it.

So, with all of this socializing I am feeling so much better about life and things. Now I just need to start working out a bit more and my goals will be falling into place!

Other than that not a whole lot is new! For the Fall Half-term break Donovan’s parents were here and we went down to the Southwest of England. Mainly the Somerset and Devon areas, but that didn’t stop us from driving all over the place. Every day was non-stop driving and sight-seeing. We saw three Cathedrals, thirteen Castles, two Palaces, two Stone Circles, lots of churches, one ocean…and lots of other things. It was great fun and I still can’t believe that I saw all of those things in a week!

Donovan is doing well, he is fighting a cold but I think he is winning! He has about 40 hours of marking to do this weekend, but things are doing well, he is enjoying working at the school and is making a good friend in the other male history teacher David. He is actually coming over for supper on Wednesday! (Apparently he likes my cookies.)

Things to look forward to in the future: My Birthday in London J and Christmas in Ireland or Scotland.

Many blessings on your weekend and I hope it is fantabulous!

Haircuts

I have been very spoiled when it comes to my hairdressers. My first hairdresser was also my babysitter. She cut my hair from before she was cutting hair till I moved to Spruce Grove. She knew me. I would ask for something new, she'd look at me and say "umm..no" and talk me out of it because she knew I wouldn't do it. I like having natural curly hair, even though I complain non-stop about it, I like it. I like being able to wet it scrunch with mousse and go about my day. Then when I feel like it I know I could straighten it, curl it, or put it up. It's perfect. Then my second hairdresser...it was fate that we would meet. I needed a haircut, I had gone through a bad couple of years of hair, terrible cuts where they would hack at my hair with razors and dye it blond and I see her in the Starbucks drive-thru...she had beautiful long curly hair and on a whim I ask her "Where do you get your hair-cut? I am new to the area and I need someone who knows how to cut natural curly hair" and it turns out that she is a stylist and she knows how to cut hair and she comes back with a card, I made and appointment and it was love at first haircut! She knows what colours I like and what styles I like and she also talks me out of silly ideas! (Like growing out my hair "shudders")

When I had to look for someone in Northampton, I waited until I couldn't wait any longer and I was spoiled once again. He cut my hair very nicely, he did use a razor....but he didn't hack at my head with it, so I let it go. I liked my cuts, it was all very good. But now, the time has come once again to find a new hairdresser. So, this morning I put on my shoes and my coat and out I went. I went into this place that I had seen the other day on a walk and it seemed nice so I went in...tentatively. I have an appointment on Friday at 10:00am. I am also getting my hair dyed...too many greys are peeping through.

I realize that next to other great calamities in the world this is EXTREMELY trivial...so if you all scoff and think to yourself "Beth, get over it." I will not be offended. ;)

Hopefully I am able to explain what I want (which is something I am terrible at) and that she understands what I want and it goes well...and no hacking with razors occur.

Oh I also hope that Donovan doesn't faint when he sees the price list....... :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Today is Thanksgiving day and instead of eating Turkey until I am too stuffed to think; I am sitting in my very clutered living room listening to the workmen fix my bathroom!! (Yipee!)

Saturday was a wonderful day. Donovan and I headed into Bedford around 11 and shopped. He bought some new shoes, shirts and ties. I bought a few new shirts, jumpers, and trousers. (I'm trying to say the proper British words). AND! I bought a beautiful new purse. It is so purty...I love it. We also got a coffee grinder so we can finally grind the coffee that friends have been sending us in packages! We ground some this morning and it was yummy. All in all it was a wonderful day...exactly what we both needed. It got us out of the house and doing things other then sitting in our flat watching TV.

Coming back to the Thanksgiving theme...my church back home had this challenge a couple of weeks ago to post something once a day on Facebook that you are thankful for...I decided to also do this challenge and I did for a few days, but unfortunately I stopped. I have been having a really hard time being thankful. I miss my family terribly and September/October are bad months for missing friends and families birthdays...my nephew, brother, niece and three friends to be specific. I also get so bored sitting in the flat every day. I was really excited about the job I had applied for...and on in the Saturday mail was a letter saying I didn't get it...rather disappointed. But, I am trying to have a good attitude about it. God has something better planned for me and something amazing in store for me and I need to hold on to that and believe it. Also on top of not having the best thankful attitude I have not been sleeping so I wake up ready to kill every morning. The alarm goes off and I have already been awake for hours...This morning I pretty much had to keep myself from talking to Donovan because I was ready to bite his head off at every corner. What makes me the most frustrated about this new me that is emerging...is it isn't me. I am not a grumpy grump. I am the half full girl...I am the sunshine and rainbow girl, the girl who annoys all of my friends and family with the positive side of things. And I am turning into Eeyore!! I like Eeyore...but I am not him. I'm Tigger! So, I request some prayers that I get off my butt and start working on these areas of my life that I'm not happy with. That I start working on my heart, soul and body. That I stop watching 6 hours of TV a day and get outside and meet people. I know that I am never going to be happy continuing on as I have been. I need to turn my worries, fears, and grumps over to God. I need to rejoice that I am alive, healthy, and so very blessed.

So, this was a bit of a vent blog...but being honest is the first step.

Oh, and I was totally going to post a pic of my new purse...but my computer doesn't want to load my pictures off of my camera for some stupid reason known only to it. Maybe another time.

Life in England

Well, I took the jump. I applied for a job. It is a TA position at St. Swithins Lower School. (In Bedfordshire they still do Lower, Middle, and Upper). The job closed last Friday, the day I applied, and it is now Tuesday and I haven’t heard anything. Which at this point I know is nothing. They have to call all of the references on everyone’s application and set up interviews and everything…I probably won’t hear anything till at least Thursday if not later. The position is in Nursery 0-5 year olds…I’m sure I will have some great stories to share with you all about them. Especially since when I talk to kids their mouths hang open and they stare and their moms apologetically say “It’s your accent” I just smile and tell them its okay and that I understand.  The job is only two days a week…Thursdays and Fridays…which would be perfect! It still gives me the rest of the week to do things around the house, maybe volunteer somewhere, teach piano if I want to. Plus it pays fairly well.

In other news Donovan and I were asked to be a part of the St. Swithins Choir! (The church we go to) On Sunday I started talking to a lady and found out that she was the organist and leader of the choir and she asked if I sang and when I said that I did she jumped all over that. I am still thinking about it but I think it could be a lot of fun. Everyone in the choir is over 50 I’m sure (and that is being generous) but such awesome people. We are really being welcomed and we feel a part of the church family already. Not a whole lot of young people, but I think we’ll find people eventually. Even just getting out and talking to anybody is good!

I am so ridiculously homesick! I don’t know if it is a good thing that UK doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving or a bad thing. On one hand we won’t have to drive around and try to make our usual 3 or 4 dinners and weigh an extra 10lbs…but on the other I miss my family so much. I’m doing okay though…looking forward to visiting whenever we actually get around to it. We do have a visit to look forward to though…Donovan’s parents are visiting us during his October break!  I believe a trip to Wales is planned and of course we have to go to London (this will be trip #5 for me) and who knows where else!

For those of you who have been asking about the mold situation. Our landlady came last Monday to take a look at it and she gave the go ahead to have the work done…but I haven’t heard anything yet and it has been a week…so hopefully soon. And…our new mattress gets delivered next Monday!!!!! I so can’t wait to get out of my Living Room and to have things looking normal again…well, never mind again…just looking normal.

Well, that’s about it. We have had an extended Fall…for the last 8 days we had temperatures of 25-30 degrees and full sun…until today. It was 19, breezy and overcast…perfect in my books!

Romantic Notions Squashed

Do you remember when you were children and sometimes on the weekend your parents would let you build a fort and sleep in it? Sometimes in your bedroom, sometimes in the living room. I have many good memories based around sleeping in forts. My little brother like sabotaging it and then blaming it on our arthritic dog who couldn't make it up the stairs if it was the last thing he did. "Shep did it" is still an excuse that is brought up every once and awhile in our family. I also wondered as a child why we weren't allowed to do that every weekend. Why did Dad only mention it like once every six months and why did Mama never want to sleep with us? I am now almost 26 and I finally get it! Sleeping on the floor is not all that romantic! Beds were made for a reason.

When we looked at this place and found out that it was furnished I was so stoked! A bed frame! I was a little disappointed to discover that every time you move, even the tiniest bit, it squeaked. So, last Saturday Donovan decided to tighten it he took the mattresses off and proceeded to work on it. About an hour later he comes to me and asks me to look at the mattress (The landlady left one mattress here and we bought one) I was very saddened to discover that the entire bottom of the mattress is covered in mold. I was thoroughly grossed out and insisted that I was never sleeping on that again. So, we have been camping out in the living room. Our very tiny living room. We are finally getting rid of the mattress today, so now I just have to start looking into getting a new one and if someone can deliver it.

Another romantic notion that I have always found and was always so excited for was church bells. I love church bells! The first time we heard them being over here was in Stratford-Upon-Avon and it was a foggy winter morning and we were looking over the river Avon and it was so beautiful and the bells rang. It was so perfect and extremely beautiful. Other times have just been so beautiful. Now, before you hear my rant to come....remember, I still love church bells, there is something haunting about them and so beautiful. Now, that saying...I do not like church bells when they are being practiced. Especially at night. Last night around 7:30 the bells started...I looked at Donovan and asked "Is there a fire?" "No" Donovan replied "I think the Vikings are invading." After about 1/2 an hour of  ringing and all sorts of rings, I decided that it was probably someone just practicing. At 9:15 and we were getting ready to go to sleep...I decided I didn't like them anymore.

I still love bells...just not late at night and constantly ringing. I kept waking up thinking I heard the bells. I have bells stuck in my head all the time. I feel like Kirk in Gilmore Girls "I can't tell which are the real bells and which are the Kirk bells."

Life is normal once again...

It has been three weeks since my family has left and I can finally look at the pictures and look back on the visit without breaking into tears.  It was a wonderful visit. Movies, shopping trips, snuggle times, good talks, long walks; having other people clean my house…it was great! I am still going through pictures and have a few left to put up on Facebook but I’ll get to that eventually.  

In other news we are officially moved into our new flat! We moved the weekend of August 26^th. It took five trips in total. Two on Friday, two on Sunday, and then one on the Monday we went in spent the night because we had to drop the car off on the Tuesday in Northampton.  Our new flat is very tiny compared to our other place. You could probably fit this entire flat in the two bedrooms of our other place! We really like it though. We did discover a leak in the pipes behind the toilet and then when that was fixed last Saturday the worker discovered lots of mold behind the wall and under the floor. He was going to tell the agency but now Donovan is starting get a bad cough that apparently he only has first thing in the morning and then again in the evening, while he is at school or if we are out and about he is not having any problems.  So, we are going to go talk to the landlord on the weekend. The agency actually, our new landlord lives elsewhere so we deal directly with the letting agency, but so far they are great. Way better then the last agency.  So other than that, things are getting back to normal!

I have actually been looking for a job! Or volunteer work, or pretty much anything that keeps me busy as I am going crazy with boredom once again. The main problem is that Sandy is a much smaller community and there really aren’t that many opportunities! I am keeping my eyes open and praying that I find something soon. In the meantime I am trying to give myself a project of some kind to keep me busy. My mom bought me some more cross-stitching projects while she was here…they are a huge jump up from the ones that I made my mom and Donovan’s mom for Mother’s Day. But I am handling it. I just made a huge mistake and didn’t really feel like unstitching it all so I get frusterated easily because it is all out of sync with the rest of it. I skipped a row somewhere and I can’t figure out where…and short of taking apart the entire thing…which I am not doing…there is nothing to do but keep going. I shall post a picture when it is done. :)

Donovan is loving the new school. He is teaching mainly History but some English as well. He has 16 classes in total but some of those are repeats. He teaches five different year 12 classes…so, today he gets to teach three of those five all about the Russians, and the other two tomorrow! He’ll be good at that class when he is done! He is already making some good connections with fellow teachers and we both believe that it is going to be a good year.

We also went to church on Sunday! We have three churches to choose from in Sandy. A Methodist, a Baptist, and St. Swithins (Church of England). We went to St. Swithins. We are pretty sure that no matter which one we choose, it is going to be roughly the same no matter what. It was nice to be worshipping with fellow people. We didn’t stick around last week, we are going to go a few times and work up the courage to talk to someone. It’s been awhile…so this might take some time.

Well, that’s all I have for now! Now that things are getting back to normal hopefully I will remember to blog more frequently.

I have started writing a new blog post like 3 times....I can't get past the first sentence.

I had such a wonderful time with my family. We packed in so much!!! I have many many pictures and lots of stories to tell. I did not like saying goodbye but I know that this year is going to be a good one. Donovan and I are growing so much as individuals and as a couple. Donovan is really looking forward to the next year of teaching and I am looking forward to getting a job and hopefully making friends.

Eating the best Fish & Chips in England in Keswick.

We are moving in one week so we are super busy cleaning and packing. But, once we are settled I will write a longer blog post then.