Ugh. The beat drums steadily on as DH and I try and get ready for this move. DH went for his biometrics appointment Saturday, and I guess the whole package will be sent off to the British consulate in NYC sometime this week. After that, the waiting game begins...
In the meantime we worked hard on the yard yesterday - trying to get it into somewhat reasonable shape. We had someone come by to look at the deck so that we could get some help getting the railings installed.... that's one summer project we're not going to be able to finish. Otherwise we mowed, weeded, and generally spruced up the yard.
Today we're working our way through 4!! years worth of papers that we've never bothered to sort through. Insane! The shredder has been working overtime.... even jamming to a complete stop for like 5 minutes until DH got all the junk out of it. We're not even close to done with that yet!
I guess during this week we'll concentrate on getting that kind of stuff done. Once it goes out in to the trash/recycling, we'll have a cleaner slate to start again from.
Oh, and just to top it all off, Henry had a dental cleaning on Friday. Poor guy had to have two teeth pulled, poor little guy. He just can't catch a break. They took the cats' blood for submission to the lab in Kansas for rabies testing for them to get into the UK, so there's that. Now Eliza got loose poopies again (just started yesterday). She got out into the yard for like 1 minute yesterday, and then the loose poopies started again last night. Coincidence? DH thinks so, I think not. Ugh.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
And so it begins...
Finally, we've started making progress towards "The Great Move."
1) The first big step in truly making the move was telling my Gramma. It's been a month now (almost) since my PopPop passed away, and she asked us to come down this weekend to take her to the cemetery. We did that and spent most of the weekend down there, gauging whether enough time had passed that it was okay to tell her. We told her over dinner Saturday night, and amazingly, she was excited about it. No worries at all.. in fact she's already planning her trip over with Ray's Gramma! I'm so relieved!
2) Ray finished his visa application - at least the 98% of it. The visa fee (a whopping $400! Luckily he's getting reimbursed!) for some reason didn't go through (maybe their credit card processing system was down?). Anyway, once that goes through - the official visa paperwork is started and the real countdown to Ray's departure begins!
3) We've started cleaning out our stuff. Tonight we worked on the basement - at least 1/3 of it. We sorting stuff out into trash, keep, and sell. So far, the sell pile is a lot smaller than I thought, the trash pile is about the size I thought, and the keep pile is actually pretty small. Also, we've discovered how many picture frames we have that we never used (I think we got them all as wedding gifts) and how much kitchenalia I have that I don't use.
That's the beginning of the beginning.... I can't wait for the end of the beginning!
1) The first big step in truly making the move was telling my Gramma. It's been a month now (almost) since my PopPop passed away, and she asked us to come down this weekend to take her to the cemetery. We did that and spent most of the weekend down there, gauging whether enough time had passed that it was okay to tell her. We told her over dinner Saturday night, and amazingly, she was excited about it. No worries at all.. in fact she's already planning her trip over with Ray's Gramma! I'm so relieved!
2) Ray finished his visa application - at least the 98% of it. The visa fee (a whopping $400! Luckily he's getting reimbursed!) for some reason didn't go through (maybe their credit card processing system was down?). Anyway, once that goes through - the official visa paperwork is started and the real countdown to Ray's departure begins!
3) We've started cleaning out our stuff. Tonight we worked on the basement - at least 1/3 of it. We sorting stuff out into trash, keep, and sell. So far, the sell pile is a lot smaller than I thought, the trash pile is about the size I thought, and the keep pile is actually pretty small. Also, we've discovered how many picture frames we have that we never used (I think we got them all as wedding gifts) and how much kitchenalia I have that I don't use.
That's the beginning of the beginning.... I can't wait for the end of the beginning!
Friday, April 11, 2008
One drama departs, another drama arrives...
I can't win for losing! Just as I've settled my mind about the whole dream job affair (and yes, I am still very much settled) Henry-cat goes and gets sick. He started pooping all over the den - including on the leather couch! - and acting all sick and malaised.
Turns out he has a bacterial infection in his GI system, poor little guy. They gave him a shot of antibiotics, and we were given drops to help clear the infection. We've got him secluded in the blue room - again! If it's not one thing it's another with these cats. He also needs to have his teeth cleaned this month, and we have to do the blood titer so we can all go to England together.
In better news, DH got his work orders today - so we can finally start the process of getting visas, biometrics, etc. Don't know yet what his "start date" will be. Haven't made any other major decisions yet either, though.
Turns out he has a bacterial infection in his GI system, poor little guy. They gave him a shot of antibiotics, and we were given drops to help clear the infection. We've got him secluded in the blue room - again! If it's not one thing it's another with these cats. He also needs to have his teeth cleaned this month, and we have to do the blood titer so we can all go to England together.
In better news, DH got his work orders today - so we can finally start the process of getting visas, biometrics, etc. Don't know yet what his "start date" will be. Haven't made any other major decisions yet either, though.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Decisions - always better when they're made for you?
Life has been a whirlwind lately - what with DH's pending move to England, my job hopes with my dream office, not knowing what parts of our DC life to close out and what parts to hang onto - the mountains of decisions to be made felt stifling and dizzying.
One decision, however, might be out of my hands, and I'm not displeased about that. I was offered an interview for the job I applied to in February (finally). Being a resourceful type, I tried to find out who my competition was. And I think that I have identified a true competitor. If my speculation and research are in fact correct, then there's really no chance for me in the position because the other person is simply much better qualified in all respects.
And I'm okay with that. If it had been someone more marginally qualified - or not really more qualified at all! - I might have felt more slighted. But right now, I am kind of waiting for the inevitable to happen. This person will most likely be offered the position, and probably to great strategic advantage, as other changes in the office are rumored to be in the works, which might open up even better possibilities.
One decision likely taken out of my hands, and a decision I can hardly argue with. In fact, if I'm right on the person, I might think a bit less of the office if they didn't choose that person. Now there's no wondering about how to work it out with DH's relocation and my dreams... it's off to England I go in August/September without second thoughts!
Provided I'm right about everything I'm speculating about - who the person is, that they are offered and accept the job, yada yada yada.
One decision, however, might be out of my hands, and I'm not displeased about that. I was offered an interview for the job I applied to in February (finally). Being a resourceful type, I tried to find out who my competition was. And I think that I have identified a true competitor. If my speculation and research are in fact correct, then there's really no chance for me in the position because the other person is simply much better qualified in all respects.
And I'm okay with that. If it had been someone more marginally qualified - or not really more qualified at all! - I might have felt more slighted. But right now, I am kind of waiting for the inevitable to happen. This person will most likely be offered the position, and probably to great strategic advantage, as other changes in the office are rumored to be in the works, which might open up even better possibilities.
One decision likely taken out of my hands, and a decision I can hardly argue with. In fact, if I'm right on the person, I might think a bit less of the office if they didn't choose that person. Now there's no wondering about how to work it out with DH's relocation and my dreams... it's off to England I go in August/September without second thoughts!
Provided I'm right about everything I'm speculating about - who the person is, that they are offered and accept the job, yada yada yada.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Austen-intense weekend
I can't believe it, but I've spent more than 7 hours today immersed in the world of Jane Austen.
This afternoon I spent 5+ hours watching CC's Pride and Prejudice DVDs that she so graciously lent to me. I just finished reading the book last week, and I also watched the Keira Knightly version Friday night. There's simply no contest - the 1995 version of P&P is far, far superior in cast, story development, characters, etc. I loved watching this even more after having read the book. I enjoyed recognizing Mr Darcy's complete 180 with respect to his behavior after Lizzy turns down his first proposal - it's just wonderful. The KK version is dreadful; KK is a bad Lizzy Bennet (she's just not right), Mr Darcy is okay, but he's no Colin Firth, Mr. Bingley is acceptable, as is Caroline, but really, the story was overly modernized and changed some pivotal scenes (why were Lizzy and Mr Darcy out in the rain when he proposed the first time? Ridiculous).
Tonight I watched the conclusion of the Masterpiece Theater version of Sense and Sensibility. This time I've seen Hollywood's take on the story first (with my absolute favorite - Emma Thompson - as Elinor) and I love, love, love that movie.
I knew that my opinion of this MT version (also written by Andrew Davies, who did my favored P&P) would hinge on one scene - when Edward reveals that Robert married Lucy. When I watch the ET version, her breaking into tears triggers a full-on sobfest for me. Unfortunately, the MT version just didn't live up to it. Although I was more sad for Marianne when Willoughby's deception is revealed (and he confronts Elinor? I'll have to read the book to see if that happens in the original text - and the duel with Brandon too!) I was cold to Edward's confession to Elinor. Their relationship just didn't seem solidly established to me.
Maybe I'm overly influenced by the first version I'm exposed to - in which case my opinions probably hold no water. I've watched both versions of Emma (Hollywood's with Gwyneth Paltrow and MT's with Kate Beckinsale) and I'm fairly neutral on them. I don't really like the underlying story as much, I think. I've got that book too, though so we'll see what I think after reading that.
Gotta get through Sense & Sensibility first, though.
This afternoon I spent 5+ hours watching CC's Pride and Prejudice DVDs that she so graciously lent to me. I just finished reading the book last week, and I also watched the Keira Knightly version Friday night. There's simply no contest - the 1995 version of P&P is far, far superior in cast, story development, characters, etc. I loved watching this even more after having read the book. I enjoyed recognizing Mr Darcy's complete 180 with respect to his behavior after Lizzy turns down his first proposal - it's just wonderful. The KK version is dreadful; KK is a bad Lizzy Bennet (she's just not right), Mr Darcy is okay, but he's no Colin Firth, Mr. Bingley is acceptable, as is Caroline, but really, the story was overly modernized and changed some pivotal scenes (why were Lizzy and Mr Darcy out in the rain when he proposed the first time? Ridiculous).
Tonight I watched the conclusion of the Masterpiece Theater version of Sense and Sensibility. This time I've seen Hollywood's take on the story first (with my absolute favorite - Emma Thompson - as Elinor) and I love, love, love that movie.
I knew that my opinion of this MT version (also written by Andrew Davies, who did my favored P&P) would hinge on one scene - when Edward reveals that Robert married Lucy. When I watch the ET version, her breaking into tears triggers a full-on sobfest for me. Unfortunately, the MT version just didn't live up to it. Although I was more sad for Marianne when Willoughby's deception is revealed (and he confronts Elinor? I'll have to read the book to see if that happens in the original text - and the duel with Brandon too!) I was cold to Edward's confession to Elinor. Their relationship just didn't seem solidly established to me.
Maybe I'm overly influenced by the first version I'm exposed to - in which case my opinions probably hold no water. I've watched both versions of Emma (Hollywood's with Gwyneth Paltrow and MT's with Kate Beckinsale) and I'm fairly neutral on them. I don't really like the underlying story as much, I think. I've got that book too, though so we'll see what I think after reading that.
Gotta get through Sense & Sensibility first, though.
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