My Couch Is Too Fat for My House

Several weeks ago, in our furniture buying frenzy, we bought a sofa bed. It is a small sofa bed, only a two seater and we figured the bed could house kids that came to visit or our own children when they were displaced from their rooms. The sofa was to be delivered yesterday. I waited all day yesterday for it to be delivered. It would go in our family room area and all four of us could sit in that room at one time - a simple goal, one I thought attainable until yesterday. The delivery men could not get the sofa up the staircase. It was too wide. Ugh!!!! I personally don't think they tried that hard. Our other sofa was a bit difficult but after 30 minutes of maneuvering, the men were able to get it up the stairs. But these guys tried 2 times, it didn't work so they called it a day. It remains to be see whether I will get all of my money back (the company is calling it a "special order' although fortified with a good nights sleep and a bit of diet coke I think I am ready to tackle that battle today), whether I will end up donating this sofa to charity or whether we will all four be able to sit in our family room someday. As someone said to me very recently, yes indeed this is the glamorous life I envisioned when moving to Europe. This week sofabeds, next week perhaps tea with the Duchess of Cornwall - who knows?

Knee Deep in Boxes

Our household shipment arrived late last week and I have been very busy trying to find a place for everything. It has been challenging. We have only one real bank of closets to speak of and those are in our room (and completely filled). We do have quite a bit of space in our kitchen cabinets but I did discover one problem. Our plates are too fat for the cupboards! All of my plates are 11 inches and the cabinets are 10 inches deep! The lower cabinets work but it required some adjustments. Flexibility is the key. Now what to do with all the cardboard and paper from the boxes? We are lucky. The City of Westminster (another level of bureaucracy within London) where we reside has strategically placed recycling bins where you can dump your large amounts of paper, cardboard, glass etc. without limit or cost to you. The bins are about one block away. Chizz and I have been happily carrying cardboard through the neighborhood and dumping like mad. The kids find it mildly embarrassing. Every time we go out we make them take an armful to take with us to the recycling bin. Every time they smart off, we tell them to take some cardboard to the recycling bin. Feeling Blue? Recycling cardboard makes you feel so good. Bad day at school? Cardboard dumping is just the thing to jolly you out of your bad mood. Good grade on a test! Let’s celebrate by taking cardboard to the bin! It seems like we have been carting cardboard for weeks yet there still seems to be so much left. Hopefully there is an end in site. I am off – guess where?

Today

Not much to say about today. We don’t have a television yet so we are missing all of the anniversary shows. Although some look interesting, I am glad we aren’t able to watch. The papers carry some news here on the subject but I am guessing not to the same extent as the US. I am still not sure of my emotions on the subject. It has been so interconnected with this most likely ill-advised war or wars, that we sometimes lose track of the enormity of the event itself. Not who did what to whom, whether we should avenge it, who should be punished, the trials, and the hunt. We lost track that nearly 3000 people died and their families are affected in ways we cannot imagine. Dying in such a public way. Their loved ones' last moments of anguish broadcast on the 6:00 news. I don’t think they need the anniversary hoopla to be reminded, I bet they are reminded every day of their lives with ordinary unexpected things like seeing their loved one’s favorite salad dressing in the market. I think back over all of the memories of the last five years I have with my family. Those moments go on. It must be bittersweet, not just graduations and birthdays, Christmases and Hanukahs but the days when a light bulb needs changing, the kids throw up and the paper doesn’t get delivered. The happy moments have a momentum of their own; they carry on. The every day moments must be overwhelming. That is what I think about.

I Charge, therefore, I Am

As of today, I am somebody in the UK! I got my new debit and charge cards in the mail. Yahoo!! Chizz has had his bank account since he moved here and one of the first things we did when I got here was to have me put on the account. I had to wait for a credit check and other bank doings before they approved and sent me the cards. It is funny how dependent you are on your cards. I had to get money from Chizz every day in order to buy groceries, give the kids lunch money or if I wanted to do anything else. It made me feel like a kid asking permission, which I don't do well. Also, another downside for Chizz was that he got to see actually how much money I might go through in a day or two! I think he was blissfully ignorant before and secretly can't wait to return to that state now. All will be right with the world now, the planets have all realigned, I can shop and Chizz can go back to being happily unaware.

Public Service Announcement

Chizz has left London to go the States for a long weekend with his college buddies. Given his penchant for being nearby when some drama unfolds (see Degree of Difficulty post), I thought it only fair to the rest of the traveling public this weekend to let you know his general itinerary, Gatwick-Dallas-Santa Fe. His return day you ask? How about Monday? The date?
SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 - the five year anniversary of the World Trade Center. Sigh. Say a little prayer.

Good News From Kiki!

Kiki made the junior varsity team in soccer. They still call it soccer in our school. She is quite happy. She didn’t think she had a chance, the team is quite competitive. Last year the varsity team had no underclassmen on it and I think it was the same for the JV as well. She is quite happy about it. They have 1 game scheduled in mainland Europe and she is excited about that. Now I just have to figure out how to get to the games by bus and tube. It should be fun!!

It Doesn't Suck to Be Us!!

We went to see Avenue Q last night at the Noel Coward Theatre off Leicester Square. We took the kids although it says everywhere it is not appropriate for children. We are very bad parents. I think the kids liked it though. It is sort of a vulgar, raunchy muppet type of show. Most of the characters are puppets ala Sesame Street but you can see the puppeteers right on stage. At first it is distracting but before you know it, you don't really notice the people. One of our favorite songs was "It sucks to be me". All the characters sing a few lines about why their particular set of circumstances makes their life the worst one and it sucks to be them. They all attempt to outdo each other. It is pretty funny. Other songs we particularly enjoyed? "It is okay to be gay", "Everyone is a little bit racist" and "The Internet is for Porn". See why we are bad parents? It will be a chapter in their Mommie Dearest books later. There are so many plays here that we want to see or that are coming soon. Spamalot, the Monty Python play, is coming this month along with Wicked. We have already seen Wicked twice in San Francisco but I have a suspicion that we will see it in London as well. That is alright with me, going to the theatre was one of the things I most looked forward to about moving. So far we have no lyrics to add to the "It sucks to be me" song. Pretty sweet.