London Mug Mark II is Dead

On my first trip to London for work in 2012 I was on a mission to get M the one thing she wanted. A mug. The specifications were such that I actually couldn’t find one that meet the criteria until I was at Heathrow on my way home.

About a year or so later T broke that mug after M left it where a toddler could easily grab it. And T totally grabbed it and broke it.

On my next trip to London I went in search for the same mug. I couldn’t find it until I was again at the same cheesy gift shop at Heathrow on the way home. That is how the mug mark II came into our house.

Flash forward to today. M texted me this photo of the broken mug. She wasn’t sure what she did but the mug fell off the table and is now destroyed.

I am torn. I would like to replace the mug (again). I also don’t know if getting a mug like that of NYC instead of London is appropriate now that we live in London and not NY. Either way I am going to have to ask anyone we know visiting to check out the gift shops in Heathrow for this mug.

4th of July BBQ London Style

M originally had plans for last night. She changed them / they got moved. That gave her an opportunity to BBQ. This was a first for her. We do not have a fancy BBQ grill however that didn’t stop my superstar M. For under £3 she picked up a one time use BBQ thing and grilled up hot dogs and hamburgers.

The girls had a play date and hung by the pool in the garden and then had BBQ. For desert M even had a red, white, & blue (strawberry, whipped cream, & blueberry) desert with ice cream. With the perfect weather this was an unexpected fantastic evening with the family. And if you look close enough you can see the Batman plate I used (thanks to A for liking DC comics)

I am glad that even with 30 minute delay on the Tube i was able to home just in time for the start of the grilling.

What I Did Last Night

To remember my dad last night I found a bottle of Godiva Liquor and M and I had a glass of it while watching an old MASH episode.

My dad was the person who turned me onto the chocolate liquor and he loved MASH so I thought that was appropriate.

I Miss You Dad…

Today is my dads birthday. He would be 75 today. I am assuming this day will get easier over time, however it’s not today. I miss you dad. I will randomly think of you most days.  I have to try not to cry.

I am grateful my kids think of you and talk about you.  They know when they bring you up, that I will cry.  They ask if I will and I of course say yes.  I hope they remember you as much as they do now in a few years!  They say they dream about you.  That makes me smile and cry at the same time.

You are still loved and missed very much.

W Sister Shorts – Holiday Candy

When is it okay to eat kids holiday candy? I don’t consider myself a monster or anything however after a while it becomes apparent that kids are not going to ever be able to eat your Halloween candy hall or Easter candy in any reasonable amount of time.  In my view Easter candy right now should be fare game.  We shouldn’t have to even mention Halloween candy this time of year.  if we still have it you can do what you will with it.

My wife and I disagree on timing of when we can touch the candy.  I feel two weeks is good enough.  By a month no question.  Thoughts?

Let there be Scones

With everyone in the house in various stages of being sick or recovering we opted to stay in for the day. That meant parts of art projects, Lego building, naps (for the adults not the kids) and of course scones.

MC had been wanting to make the scones for a while. When my friend was visiting a few weeks ago she opted to make muffins instead of scones. That delay provided us much deliciousness today. After dinner Amelia asked for “the things that you made for me and are sweet.” MC and I both assumed she meant the scones. Sadly no butter for her or her sister. I had enough butter for all three of us

The Facilitator Of Deliciousness

I’m pretty sure that replacing this kitchenAid mixer is in my employee contract for moving.  If not it’s a stipulation in the unwritten marriage agreement that we get a new mixer when we get to London. It will be an expensive item however this mixer is the bringer of deliciousness, the facilitator of cake making so we will, no must have one. Unfortunately just not this one.

I do reserve the right to have sticker shock and at least think about alternatives when i see the price including VAT.

My sister graciously said she would give our mixer a home. I told her I I reserve the right to be an Indian giver her and take back the mixer if/when we come back to the states. She said she’ll take that chance and put the mixer next to another appliance with the same restrictions she got from her friend Amy 11 years ago before they went to Hong Kong. Well played Carrie.

What of Our Stuff Gets to See England?

For a few months we were not sure if this move was can actually happen. The waiting turned into now let’s hurry up and getting stuff done. One of the big things is figuring out how we are getting all of our stuff across the Atlantic. MC’s been doing a lot of purging as we are decluttering the apartment. That obviously will only go so far. Once we decide what we do want to take with us we need to find movers in the US and the UK as well as shipping container options.

This is one of the areas that still unknown to us. I need to find a company that I want to work with that is reasonably priced. I know it takes several weeks for stuff to move so we need to get a better understanding of our timeline before we sign any firm commitments. I foresee some more research in my near future on this topic.

The purging of stuff has been easy and difficult both at the same time. There are some things that were just not sure if we want to part with. Or one of us is not sure. Then there’s stuff that we both looked at go yeah that’s being donated somewhere. Then there’s things that we probably shouldn’t move but we kind of want to.

The kids beds for example a really nice and my mom got them for us. On the other hand it’s the perfect opportunity to upgrade the girls to bunkbeds that they want. Other furniture in the girls room is in decent condition and it probably will last so working to take it with us. Our dressers on the other hand are from IKEA. They are in great shape however I believe they were the ones that were recalled for safety hazards so I don’t think they’re going to make the cut on what we take with us. Our Tempur-Pedic bed, yes it’s coming with us. Man I like that bed.

Items like our coffee table I have waffled a lot about. It’s a fantastic table that I got when I was single. It’s got a hydraulic under it that lifts it to turn it into a dining room table. The challenge with it is its glass so the kids and scratched it a little. It also has sharp glass edges at the corners that I’ve cut myself on. Since T was born we have wrapped it in childproof patting. For that reason I thought we should probably not take it with us. After some back-and-forth we agreed that we will see us we can use it as a dining room table at least initially. It’s always good as a backup in case we have company as well. We do not plan on taking our dining room table even know it’s been an MC’s family while. The problem is since it’s been in her family while it’s pretty old. It barely made the move into our current apartment so shipping it halfway across the world isn’t going to really happen.

Our bar, yes it’s coming with us. I don’t know why I need to even talk about it. I did read somewhere that you can’t ship alcohol so at some point I will need to have a bunch of friends over and drink everything that we have. Refilling that with liquor in England feels like it’s going to be expensive.

My computer table. I awesome, awesome computer table. I wanted to go with us. MC made it clear in the past she just wanted to go. Final ruling is still unknown.

I thought a lot of the electronics could just get an adapter and work however one of my friends at the office said I need to be careful and check. My TV that is in perfect condition even though it’s four years old is TBD on if he can come with us. My computers should be fine with an adapter. Apparently our vacuum cannot come and likely our appliances too. I probably have about $300 in power strips that will also need to be given away since no be useless when we get there.

Now that I’m thinking about what stays and what goes not really sure about our couch. MC and I have actually had a conversation about it however I can’t remember what we said we were going to do. On one hand the couch a nemesis of mine. When it’s hot out and I sit on it some of the leather top layer has been known to come off on my clothing when I stand up. You would think I would have learned by now. You would think, but I haven’t. I personally do not want that couch to ruin clothing on two continents so I have the check if were taking it. The big easy chair that goes along with it is in better condition so we might take it however I don’t want the color of the chair to dictate what color the new couch is.

As I’m writing this I realize I need to make a list of big-ticket items that stay versus go.

Free Babysitting

MC’s parents came to visit this weekend.  They arrived late morning Saturday.  MC and Teagan had a birthday party to goto so they had already left however Amelia and I got to have lunch with them.  Right after lunch when I got Amelia out of her chair she put her head on my shoulder.  It was as sure of a sign as I was going to get that she was tired and wanted a nap.

My mother in law went for a walk while my father in law and I got to relax with Amelia sleeping.  I tinkered, but I already wrote about that in a post yesterday.

With MC’s parents visiting MC and I had an opportunity to go out for a date night with free baby sitting.  We took her parents up on the offer and went out for dinner after the girls were in bed.

The girls were not quite sleeping when we left however we gave strict instructions to MC’s folks on how not to get scammed by Teagan into going into the room and giving her stuff.

We trekked out in the rain to Jade for some dinner.  We haven’t been there in a  while and we liked the food before.  It didn’t disappoint.  We had a few good cocktails and the meal was good.  I tried some mojito’s and MC tried a specialty drink that was pretty good but I cannot remember the name of.After dinner we headed out in now pouring rain to Martha’s Bakery for some tasty desert to bring home.  We all split some cheese cake, chocolate cake and red velvet.  It was a really good selection.

Today was pretty laid back.  We had breakfast at home and then everyone except me went for a walk and on the way back brought home lunch.  My in laws headed home after lunch thankfully taking a bunch of boxes we are donating with them.  I am all for more free space in the apartment.

After that the girls got in a great long nap.  For dinner MC and I tried to introduce the girls to sushi.  It didn’t go over as planned meaning MC and I ate a lot of such and the girls ended up eating garden burgers since they really didn’t want anything to do with the sushi.

Overall a pretty relaxing weekend at home.

Passover 2015

Friday Teagan went with my mom to my sisters house for the first night of Passover.  it was an experience for Teagan since she loves the train and she got to take two of them with her grammy.  It was also an expense since she spent the night at my sisters without us or her sister.  From all accounts she had a blast even if she didn’t have a nap.

Friday night and Saturday was interesting for MC and I since we got to act like people who only have one kid.  Amelia got a lot of extra attention.  Saturday Amelia and I went for a nice long walk and then played in the park.  After her nap we drove to my brother in law’s sisters house for the 2nd night of Passover.  We were reunited with Teagan, my sister and her family and my parents along with a bunch of other family for dinner.  It was nice to spend time with the family and let the kids play with the cousins.

Amelia fell asleep pretty quick in the car not he way home.  I would like to say the same for Teagan but all I can say is she fell asleep eventually on the car ride home.