Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family either in the UK or USA.  Hope you all have a good day :0)

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Buying a turkey for Christmas.  Apparently after Thanksgiving they can be hard to find!!

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A wee "Selfie" on Tuesday.  My hair hasn't seen straighteners in weeks and I'm liking the new look.

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328/365 & Me on Monday

Today has been a day for:


*** Stacking the new drinks fridge

*** Tackling the ironing pile

*** Dusting my craft space

*** Making Christmas decorations

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 *** Drinking coffee

*** and changing the beds, doing the shopping and making dinner

Just your normal Monday really.  How was yours?

Thanks again to Sian at From High in the Sky for hosting Me on Monday.

Would you?

We've spent quite a lot of time in furniture shops over the last few months.  John and I both feel the same about the furniture for sale!!  It's...........................

Hideous.......

       
Over priced........
                                                

Old fashioned...........

and very French Chateau style................

Would you give it houseroom?

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We hit the Mall in Sugar Land today in attempt to get some Christmas shopping.  We ended up with two calendars!!  Still the weather was gorgeous :0)

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Today I did my first Line Dancing demo with the Dancing Divas.  It was just a quick 15 minute routine at the British School's Harvest Fayre.  It was really good and the kids liked it.

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Right hand side at the back. The dance is called Love Repeat and it's danced to Selena Gomez - Like a Love Song Baby.
It's not brilliant of you enlarge it but I'm on there!!

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Tonight I had my first night out with the ladies from the Expat group and what a nice bunch they are.  We went to Toby Keiths but to be honest the food was rubbish, the music was depressing (even though the guy had a good voice) and the service was non-existent.  We ended up in the Baker Street Pub which was much better.
I still had a great time as the company was so good.  Looking forward to the next night out.

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I just had to get this phone cover.  Loving the daft sheep :0)

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After 4 months of looking for the perfect coffee table I'm loving the one we chose.

Small things keep me happy :0)

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Another good walk this morning in George Bush Park.  It was a bit chilly and I definitely needed the gloves.  The temp in the car said 37F which is about 2.7C.  I think we did about 4 miles today but that's better than none.

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A really nice group of ladies.  Oh and Sid the dog!!

Catching up on crafting

It's amazing how much you can get done when the boys are out of the house.  I've had a few "unfinished" scrapbooking projects lying around since we moved in here 3 months ago.  I set to on Sunday and managed to:

***  Complete 8 weeks of journalling in my Project Life album

***  Finish my America Journal

***  Make a start on my album about our old house.

***  Finished making a few things for the girls I used to work with.

***  And make a start on my December Daily.

Not a bad morning really.

How are your projects coming along?

Me on Monday & 321/365

Today after 2 hours of line dancing, a tiny bit of housework and some e-mails it was time for baking.  This weeks baking request from the Teenager?  Jam tarts.  Nice and easy.

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Thanks again to Sian at From High in the Sky  for hosting Me on Monday.

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The Teenager had Airsoft on Saturday night and Sunday morning.  He came home on Sunday soaked to the skin and covered in mud.  Mum got the soggy clothes!!  I'm just so lucky!!

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John and I played hooky again on Saturday and went and had a Mongolian stir fry at Kublai Khan Crazy Mongolian Stir Fry.  The Teenager didn't want to come out with us so we could do what we wanted!!

Got John to pose for me!!

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Back at the school this afternoon.  Not much to do as the laminator needed changing and the only lady who could do that wasn't in.  Quick tidy up and back home for a cuppa  :0)

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How's it going?

Thought it was time to do a little update on how we're getting along over in Texas.  Family will already know the in and outs of our weekly routine as I've been very good at writing letters every week or so.

I can't believe we've been here 4½ months already.  The first 5 weeks in the apartment seems so far in the past I can hardly remember them at all.  I didn't really like the first few weeks as I hadn't met anyone new, Samuel wasn't at school, I didn't have a car to get out and about and none of our stuff had arrived from the UK.

Once we moved that all changed.

We had things to do every day.  We had the house to sort out and fix up just the way we wanted.  We had new furniture to buy.  We could walk to the local shop if we wanted without having to walk along the main road with no pavement (side walk).
I finally managed to get to the Expat groups, coffee morning as one of the ladies who organises it gave me a lift.  It was nice to chat to other ladies in the same situation as we were.

We had Samuel's schooling to sort out.  He was coming from a school of 500 kids to one with 3500. We had subjects to sort out as he has to have credits in US Government, US History, Economics and Health and Speech to be able to graduate next June.  The whole system was completely alien but he's coped really well and taken it all in his stride.

I'm not saying it's all been plain sailing as it hasn't.  Samuel's first day at school was hideous and he said it "Sucked" and he didn't want to go back.  Luckily two young ladies took pity on him the second day and they introduced him to more kids and he now has a really good group of friends.
I've had a few "Blips" too where I've not been able to get a lift to go to coffee or line dancing and felt that I had no friends and I was all alone.

Looking back it all seems a little silly now.

I've started line-dancing and I absolutely L♥ve It.  All the ladies that go are really friendly and I've made some new friends through it and we now meet for coffee before we go and have a chat about life in general.

I also volunteer at the school twice a week.  Two hours on a Tuesday in the library and two hours on a Friday in the workroom doing the photocopying and laminating.  It's like a home from home and the staff are really nice.

There is also a walking group that meets once or twice a week which is great as I get to see some greenery!!

Samuel has taken up Airsoft and loves nothing better than running around, dressed up in camo gear playing war with like minded people.

He's joining in things at school and has done the dress up days an few times and even decided (last minute) to go to the Homecoming dance with his friends.  John thought he'd only be there an hour but he stayed to the end and said he enjoyed it.  Long may it last.

John has started at the gym and goes on his way home from work.  He said he missed going.  I don't see the appeal but he likes it so that's all that matters.  He's working hard so doesn't get time for much else during the week.

I've finally got the two of them to go out at the weekends and visit things locally.  We would have liked to have gone to the ice cream factory but it's closed at weekends!!!  We had great fun checking out the alligators at Brazos Bend State Park last week.  Shame we forgot both the camera and the binoculars!!

I'm making a long list of places to go and we'll just tick them off one by one.

I've kept in touch with Nancy, the Realtor that got us this house and every now and again we meet up for coffee or  to go and see things locally.  So far we've been to see the Fall Homes Tour where we saw some fantastic houses I'd be quite happy to live in :0)  Home theatre room anyone?

and also the Nutcracker Market in Houston which is a HUGE indoor, Christmas market and is wall to wall Christmas decorations and presents.  No photography allowed!!  But I did sneak in one or two!!

So there you have it.  That's about us up-to-date.  I've got a few things to be getting on with in the next few weeks.  Like
♥  Ordering a cap and gown for Graduation next year
♥  Arranging for Samuel to have Graduation photos taken as the last lot were dreadful.  They were too "staged" for our liking and not natural looking at all.
♥  Arranging flights for my mum to come out for Graduation.
♥  Trying to help Samuel choose which subjects to exempt in his exams this December.  Next year, if he has good grades and good attendance he doesn't have to take any exams at all.  Yay :0)
♥  Organising places to visit when my sister and family come to stay at Christmas.
♥  Organising sleeping arrangements and buying a mattress (otherwise someone will be on the camp bed!!
♥  Deciding what meals to have over Christmas and getting things ordered or purchased.
♥  And trying to lose those final few lbs so that my clothes fit properly before I blow it all over Christmas.

Things are looking Good.

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I went to the Houston Ballet, Nutcracker Market today in Houston.  It's held in the conference centre opposite the NRG Centre (home of the Houton Texans football team).
It is basically a HUGE indoor Christmas market and it was packed to the gunwales with stalls and shoppers.
There is no photography allowed but I couldn't help but take a shot of the girl reporting for KHOU11. I waved at the camera like some mad Brit, so who knows I might be on TV!!!

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The temperature is dropping (rapidly it seems) so it's time to finish that blanket for John so he stops stealing mine!!

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Only in Texas could it take 6 guys with a massive truck and a hose to put some mulch on the garden!!
These guys go around the neighbourhoods and keep the communal gardens looking neat and tidy. Shame they couldn't do mine at the same time!!

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Christmas planning

It may only be mid November but I've got visitors coming in 37 sleeps don't you know!!

I seem to be thinking all things Christmas at the moment and trying to figure out what needs doing before my sister and family arrive.

There are present to buy and wrap

there are decorations being bought

there are items being bought in the sales (already)

there is craftiness going on (hopefully)

there are rooms to be prepared

and a little bit of titivating to be finished  :0)

How are your preparations going?

We will Remember Them

By Ewart Alan Mackintosh (killed in action 21 November 1917 aged 24)

Private David Sutherland killed in action in the German trench 16 May 1916.  

He does not have a known grave and his name is inscribed on the Memorial to the Missing at Arras at the Faubourg d'Amiens British Military Cemetery.

 In Memoriam

So you were David's father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year got stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David's father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up that evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight
— O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers'
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
they saw their first born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed, "Don't leave me Sir,"
For they were only fathers
But I was your officer.

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Today was a bed changing, bedroom tidying, food shopping, ironing, Christmas planning and cookie baking kind of Monday.

How was yours?

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We went to Brazos Bend State Park today as the sun was shining.  There are signs everywhere to warn you about alligators.  We got to see some that were 2 months old and one that was a year old up close and personal.  We also saw some really big ones in the lake!!  Glad they stayed there.  The ranger said they were about 13 feet long and weighed about  500lbs.  Yikes :0)

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These guys are 2 months old

This one is a year old.  They grow about a foot a year.  That's not me holding him/her.  You can stroke them but not hold them.

Ruth - Guess where we'll be taking Harry?  There's snakes too!!

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Couldn't decide between a Gingerbread Latte and a Pumpkin Spiced Latte so got both!!  John drank the Pumpkin one.  Too sweet for me!!

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Bbrrrrr!  It was a bit chilly today.  It was only 64F.  I had to dig out my slippers as I had cold feet for the first time since getting here :0)

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