Living in America 2011

[MmeBucket]

We were a few messages away from being closed on the other one. Hope everyone finds me here.

Aww, bonfires! Yay! In my previous NJ town (lovely, lovely Hoboken... I miss it) there was another British couple I knew through work, and we got on very well and always had a big bonfire night pissup. I saw toffee apples in the supermarket today and thought "BONFIRE NIGHT!" before I remembered: Halloween! Heh. The other thing that makes me homesick at this time of year is wanting to buy a poppy and not knowing where to get one. Hoboken was such an expat haven that it was easily done, not sure Westfield is the same.

The snow! Oh wow, the snow! We have had power out twice today. DH decided we needed to go and get a snow blower so we drove over to home depot in flemington. Took us over an hour (useally twenty mins to thirty mins)to get home because trees are litrally being torn in half by the weight of the stuff, which is blocking roads and knocking out powerlines. Really intense stuff.

Girl - we always intended to apply for green cards through my job. The thinking was that we would stay here long term, although you never what is ahead. My parents have lived Virginia for 17 years and it is nice to be nearer them.

natasha - we've been. I like it but it's expensive.

they have quite a good website - check that out before committing to a drive. The roadhouse is quite diner like, but old fashioned type meals - pulled pork etc.

www.zingermansroadhouse.com/?utm_source=mailorder&utm_medium=zinglink&utm_campaign=zcobbar

nearly everywhere around here serves zingerman's bread, it's quite the local institution. our local pizza place has set up as a cafe during the day serving their food & coffee, so even in our little small town it's available.

the food store downtown is amazing - one of those places that's great just to wander around & have a look at. A2 has lots of little fun stores like that, so you could easily spend a day looking round, then go for dinner - there's a lot of good places here. If you want 'posh' dining there's other places I'd go rather than zingerman's.

Happy Halloween to everyone! I made flapjack over the weekend and that always says Bonfire Night to me. I hope everyone is ok with all this snow on the East coast. Congratulations on the green cards spamm! Are you intending to carry it round with you like it says you should? I'm not keen on the idea, really, just in case I lose my purse!

We've been here 3 and a half years, mousey, and have decided that if there is no chance of me getting a job (I am a German teacher) after another couple of years, then we will try and plan a move home again. We are settled at the moment though and the 3 dcs keep me very busy. I could find a different career maybe, but I love teaching and don't know how transferable my skills are. We'll see.

natasha - the roadhouse isn't in the center of A2, but the deli & cafe are. You would have to pay for parking in the center of A2, but it's free by the Roadhouse
A2 is def. a nive place to kind of wander through if you have the time.

Happy Halloween everyone - I have been doing non-stop Halloween stuff for 11 hours!! Definitely time to have a drink & watch some TV.

tadjenny, Have you heard of the German immersion school? Seems that it is somewhere in the MidWest iirc.

We had an awesome Halloween! Hope everyone else did as well.

It was so cute!
Proper frosty morning today, dead bonny in the woods, but reminds me that I need to dig out my winter clothes. I find putting a thermal underneath almost anything means I don't have to descend into big winter clothes for a few more weeks. I am going to try out my thermal-and-dress-and-long-coat combo, see if it's too cold to wear to work yet. I don't want to be in leggings-under-trousers yet, it gets so boring!

hmmm ... it would seem that I brought a cat home 'by mistake'. Oops. Just wanted to have a look & play with her, suddenly she's in my laundry room begging to be let out of her 'home'. The existing cat is NOT happy about this development, but I'm sure that, like dh, he'll get used to it.

Hope you are having fun with the kitten kickass!

The snow has arrived here, melted pretty much by now, but that's it now, I think. Dcs are also writing their Christmas letters to Santa and ds1 is sick, unfortunately. I hope you are all having a great weekend.

dh is now worrying that we'll all catch rabies from the kitty!

all the talk of snow makes it feel so christmassy already - it's just cold and grey in London, as ever, but a friend in LA keeps posting on facebook about 21degrees warmth....god I can't wait to live in the sunshine!

blackcurrents- I read dead bonny as dead bunny need more sleep

heh, that would be less pretty :)

What do you US dwellers do when you have colds? I cannot find anything that does the job of Olbas oil for love, money, nor mild coercion. I know there are vaporizers and stuff, but I just want some Olbas oil!

[whine, whine, been ill for ages]

blackcurrants I used to live in Hoboken too - now in South Orange where there are a suprising amount of British expats. We miss Hoboken too....

Never found olbas oil worked for me but this is the stuff they carry here in the US which I am told it is exactly the same as the Olbas oil you buy in Boots. The stuff you buy in the UK has not been approved by the FDA so they can't sell it here. I have seen it at Basic Foods in Hoboken but I would try Whole Foods and if they don't have it in store see if they can order it for you.

oh that looks hopeful, I will seek out a suitably pretentious healthy shop in town and try to find it. Hoboken was somewhere special, wasn't it? I loved that place, but too cramped and expensive long term, alas...

Has anyone else come across the emergency alert system test? It's tomorrow at one pm cst. It's going to be broadcast on all tv and radio stations. Apparently in some areas they won't be including the fact that it's a test so I predict mass panic. Should be entertaining!

Yes, it's at 11am here but I read that it was a test somewhere. I have to pick dd up from Kindergarten at 11 tomorrow so will miss it.

Blackcurrants Hoboken has already changed so much. Did you see Buskers has been completly redone again and is now a 'social club'! McSwiggans is now clean and doesn't smell and the Goldhawk doesn't have their 'arts' room. Loved going in there for a nice stiff drink and getting a plump sofa to sit in. Don't miss the crazy parking though.

If you are in Westfield try Barons pharmacy or elements wellness boutique. If neither have it I am sure they can point you in the right direction. Also, if you need a break there is the drop in daycare place that I have heard some good things about. It's for children 2.5+ and called Always Home.

Hello, can I join? I'm moving to Baltimore early next year, going home for DH. I'm not at all happy about having to move out of my comfortable little life in the UK, but trying to be positive.

I'm totally overwhelmed by everything we have to do! I've got DDs 5 and almost 3, and a DS who's 10mths. DD1 loves school and needs to be kept busy. Are there full time preschools?

I'd love some tips on what needs doing first...also any good advice on renting out our house or shipping our stuff would be VERY welcome!

Hello nicobean, hope the move goes well for you. Was your dd 5 before the beginning of September? If so, she may go to Kindergarten. I've no idea whether it's full day or half day in Maryland though. Girwiththemouseyhair is also moving to the states next year so you could swap tips?

I guess Oregon didn't pass the emergency test. Something softwarey didn't work for most of the state, I guess. Not that I know firsthand, since I was still standing at the bus stop waiting for DD at 11, when she should have been there around 10:40.

What time does your dd start school when she gets to the bus stop at 10.40? I didn't know it didn't work here. Haven't watched the news tonight as dd and ds1 have swimming lessons tonight. Waiting for dh to fly from PDX to RDM, which is a whole 40 minute hop!