Living in America... visitors welcome

[SuperBunny]

East Coast
MaNanny - Boston
Twinmommytobe - Boston
MuminCT - CT
Greatgooglymoogly - NY State
Yesthereare4ofthem - NY State
Brooklynmom - NYC
alarkaspree - NYC
MKG - New Jersey
Mummimamma - PA
Poetmum - PA
Twirl - MD

South
Earlybird - TN
jabberwocky - AR
Sunchowder - Florida
Marls001 - Bentonville, AR
Tinpot - NC
MadameDeathStare- AL

Midwest
SuperBunny- Chicago
Dodgykeeper - Dayton, OH
Chocchipcookie - Ohio
MonkeyLover
KickAssAngel - Ann Arbor, MI
MumofFivemeanschaos

Rockies
Alipiggie - Boulder, CO
Ribena

Northwest
AnnieLaurie - Seattle, WA
Dooneygirl - Oregon City, OR

California
SittingBull - nr San Francisco
Califrau - Milpitas
loopsngeorge - Brentwood, LA
Syd - Manhattan Beach, LA
SofiaAmes - LA
LATyke - Redondo Beach
CarmenSanDiego - San Diego

Texas
Texan - Dallas
Tiggyhop - Houston
Vixie78 - Houston
BananaPudding - Austin
Cosmicdust - East Texas

Canada
Hellish - Ottawa
Shouldlistenedtomymum - Hamilton
Nooka - BC
Jacksmama - Langley

Exotic Islands
Anorak - Bermuda
cp - Trinidad
Barefeete - BVI

Brazil
Albert

If that's one thing I have had lots of practice in it's making lemonade, Jabber

Life's too short and precious to be down in the dumps for more than a few hours!

What a great attitude, mananny. Am keeping things crossed for you.

If any of you have little dinosaur fans and are thinking of visiting Chicago, you MUST go to the Brookfield zoo. They have a fabulous exhibit with life-size dinosaurs (not rea ones, obviously - it's not Jurassic Park). Some are mummies with babies and some have buttons you can press which make the claws/ head/ tail move. They even roar. It was soooo good! I will treasure the memory of Dinner hurtling towards one of them yelling, "Wowwwwwww, a Parasaurolophus Mummy, look! Wowww"

Wow, Geneva.

sb, we'recoming to chicago the last weekend in august - need to get a hotel booked up soon, i think.

one of the kids round here said something about an indoor water park near chicago - any ideas? i'm thinking it can be the day out treat for dd on her birthday.

Kickass, there is one near O Hare apparently and lots in Wisconsin. I will have a look on my local MN equivalent and see what I can find - there have been lots of discussions on this recently.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow. Did you make your cake? Detailed description required

I FBed you, KA

Also google Coco Keys at the Sheraton, O Hare.

thanks, sb, i will do some research.

so, today i made, iced & wrapped 50 cookies.
made the cake part of the cake
made the choc truffles (may have eaten a few as well)
hacked down pruned a huge bush & trimmed a couple of others.
cleaned out the shed, almost dying of trauma from the shock of how big some of the worms in it were. they kept wiggling at me, yuk.
did a general tidy up of the patio.
sanded down the next bit of the decking for me to stain.

about to make custard filling & fudgy topiing for cake. need to buy more choc to get make the ganache with.

thanks for the 'happy brithday'. tomorrow i have the grand total of 3 cards & 2 presents to open!! (plus a card from the insurance guy, but i don't think that 'counts', as it is strictly a business relationship).

dh is having SUCH a crap time at work, he is leaving about 6 each morning, so barely seeing me & dd.

Wow! You sure sound busy one of things I really miss with a rented place is DIY/gardening.

I hope things improve for your dh. Mine got in a horrible place when we were in NY, it's lovely to watch him being so relaxed now (although he has lost his initial enthusiasm for cooking interesting meals which is sad).

nooka, fancy coming over here to help out? there's so much to do in the garden & i just can't get it all done before i go, then it will all just grow back again anyway!!
dh has just ordered 2 compost bins for me on amazon, which i'm quite excited about. i need to get a life.

the custard filling is too runny? is there any way i can thicken it, or should i keep it as custard sauce, then make another batch?

The custard should thicken as it cools, Kickass.

Compost is exciting. We have the fattest worms ever in mine

Am assuming you made proper confectioners type custard rather than birds eye?

Birds Eye don't do custard, do they? Obviously I meant Birds. I might make that tomorrow for the homegrown rhubarb crumble.

Sorry Superbunny, I've accidentally developed a very intense job here (why when everyone else is laid back am I so frenetic - do you think it takes years to let the London attitude go? ), so no time for visits! Re the custard if it is still too runny once cold, heat up gently with a bit of arrowroot or cornflour (called cornstarch over here) and it should thicken fine.

I've never managed to get my compost going - I ended up throwing almost two binfuls into the skip last time I remodeled the garden. All nicely build a la Geoff Hamilton too. After about three years only the bottom four or five inches had turned into anything approaching compost. Possibly privet clippings weren't the best material though!

kickass, I can't imagine having the energy to do all of that. wow

Sorry I haven't been terribly engaged lately on the thread. Work has really taken off, which is a good thing but has almost taken me by surprise the last two weeks. I should be off today but am going in for at least a couple of hours to catch up on paperwork. I'm thinking of taking ds2 with me and letting him play in my therapy room. One very good way NOT to wind up staying longer

Why are people apologising, especially to me? This isn't my thread and there really is no requirement for people to check in daily. If you haven't posted for a while I may wonder how you are but this thread is for all of us to use as we see fit.

Good luck, Jabber.

custard sorted - i did the adding some cornstarch thing. of COURSE it's proper home made custard [hurt & offended emoticon]
now about to take dd to macdonald's for my 'treat'.

So sorry for the insult, KA. We had Angel Delight tonight! Hope you enjoyed your McDs.

Six weeks... (if all goes well)

Happy birthday kickass.

Six weeks? Really? Wow. I figured it would take a lot longer. You do realize once you're part of this thread, you can never leave, don't you?

Well, my lease is up at the end of June so, either I'll be on a plane or on the streets. I am very sceptical but things seem to be moving. Will know more at the end of the month.

Dooney, i have no plans to leave this thread! You won't believe it but I'm beginning to think I may well be homesick when I leave

i'm really feeling homesick for both the uk & the us. going away for 5 weeks is quite scary.

dd is still asking when we can go back to out 'proper' house. we're actually going to be staying next door to our old place for a few days, i shall have to keep her ona tight leash, or she'll be in there like a shot!

i'm sure it will take a while to adjust, sb, you do seem to have mmade quite a good life for you & ds here. i also totally understand why you want to go back to the uk, just glad it seems to be working out for you. do you have friends yo can stay with, or the possibility of extending the lease for a week or two?

SB, I know it sounds strange as you will be able to post on the thread from wherever you are but I have felt a pang that you are moving

Ds2 was an absolute angel at the office. I worked at my desk which is in my therapy room and let him pull out whatever he liked to play with. Mo one even realized he was there until he came out with me to use the fax machine. 2 whole hours!