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

Oh that is a bummer. I hate gin. All the ones I would have liked have been phased out. I guess that only goes to show that I rank as the highly unsophisticated of the unsophisticated.

Looks refreshing! at the cucumber though...

Tis a bit unusual but delicious! You can't really taste the gin. It always reminds me of Wimbledon and the Henley Regatta.

Somehow my eyes managed to skip over the word cucumber. It's like they took everything I loathe and put it in a bottle.

Hi all. Hope you don't mind but I need to offload.

We are supposed to be here in Iowa for 2 or 3 years while dh sets up a new department and recruits someone to run it. Am not 100% crazy about where we are but its perfectly acceptable place to live for a short while and a brilliant place to be with young kids. DD1 starts kindergarten in Aug and the kids just love it here.

Anyway due to company reorg 2 or 3 jobs (including dh's)are being merged into 1 position. Not sure of precise timescale but soon. Now we don't know if, as a secondee, dh would have much chance of getting the 1 job also he's on an L1 visa so not really available as a permanent candidate.

I guess we are either going home or committing to being here permanently - neither of which is what we want!

Whatever happens here dh does still have a job in th uk so I shouldn't moan its just been such a massive upheaval to get here (moving furniture, renting house out, sorting schools / preschools etc) that i can't quite believe we'll be doing it all again after 8 months or so. Also do we start dd at school (her 3rd already by age 5) if we might have to move again?? I really hope she's not going to suffer for all the changes.

Sorry its long but I can't talk to family back in UK as they'll just hear "coming home" or "staying permanently" and I can't cope with the stress!!

Oh Dooney, you'd just have to slump in the corner with a can of beer, I think.

Bunkups At least DH has a job somewhere... but I know this is all very stressful and upsetting for you. When will you find out what is going on? You haven't been here long - I know it's hard to do 1 big move and then be faced with further uncertainty. We had a similar thing when we moved over here.

Yes SB as you say its uncertainty that is hardest. I also feel bad for the DCs as if we are going home before the year is out its less an exciting adventure and more an unsettling upheaval!

Anyway nothing jobwise is certain these days is it??

How are your plans for return to the old country (as dh puts it)?

Jabber: I did a law degree to place the parents. I realized once I had done it that I would not be happy, nor would it be a wise move, to be a lawyer too just to please the parents. So I carried on with my first love: working with children and families, and I am happy as a pig in muck (most of the time) and finally seen as a "professional" now that I have been doing this for over a decade! I don't regret getting the degree, no education is ever wasted. But it was the first of many Life Lessons for me, that I needed to do what I wanted to do with my life, not what other people wanted.

SB: It's less than 3 weeks til I leave and I almost wish it would hurry up and pass by, as it's going to only get sadder and more emotional the closer it gets to my departure. My twins are clingy and tearful already and I am finding it hard not to bawl along with them! My bosses are lovely but distracted by their own issues with my leaving. I'm so looking forward to seeing my own family though, especially my little niece and nephews. I've spent so many years loving and spoiling other peoples children it will be fab to do that with my actual family!!!

I have thousands of photos of the twins as they have grown up and I am going to send them a few every week or so, with a little letter telling funny memories of what they were doing in the photos. They'll like hearing about themselves and hopefully it will keep me fresh in their memories too. Plus they can put the photos and letters in a scrapbook for when they are older and it will be a nice thing to look back on. They've both already asked if they can phone me every Wednesday as that's my usual day with them, which I was so touched by. Bless them

please not place

Two consecutive overnights with the now 8 week old have taken their toll!

How frustrating, Bunkups. The being in limbo and uncertainty is awful.

Can I change the beer to limeade? I'm on a big limeade kick right now.

Is it wrong that after less than a week of summer vacation I'm rather tired of listening to the kids fight and complain about everything?

ahhh, it all makes sense now mananny. Well, I suppose a law degree comes in handy when negotiating with stroppy 5 year olds - at least I know there are times when I feel I need one with ds1

dooney, can I have a raspberry limeade?

You're in luck. Not only do I have the fixins for a ton of batches of limeade, I have raspberries in the house. I also am loving me some lavender lemonade, too. I bought 20 pounds of citrus and juiced them and froze the juice to use up, since I'm going through so much at a time.

Feck - tomorrow was meant to be the day everything was signed and finalised but it has been postponed for '7 days or so' which means more waiting, not being able to do anything and more doubt that this could all go horribly wrong.

I'm going to crawl under a rock. Will someone please poke me when this is all sorted? Because I can't deal with more uncertainty and waiting and the possibility that this is not going to work out. And, if it does, my refusal to sell my furniture now means that I will have less than 2 weeks to pack, sell up and bugger off.

Feckity feck.

No, I'm not panicking. No. Not me. Definitely not.

Sorry for ignoring everyone else.

mananny, the next couple of weeks will fly by, I'm sure. I hope so (for you but not for me )

IME, there isn't a big difference between a messy legal battle and a tantrumming toddler so law should definitely be a pre-requisite for those of us with, um, 'spirited' children in our care.

I don't like limeade, so I'll just eat the rasberries, shall I?

Are Cali's lemons ready yet?

Don't panic SB, things always work out for the best (says she who was about to sell her car when all of a sudden the damn thing started stinking of gas when she accelerated and now needs to got to a mechanic tomorrow and be told she needs to sell at least two vital organs to pay for repairs)

It will all be ok in the end... that's my mantra. It has to be true so take comfort from that (((hugs)))

Sounds like you've had a frustrating day, Bunny. How about you can sit in your corner drinking Pimms and eating raspberries?

I'm wondering if we'll ever find out about her lemons. She hasn't been on here since last month. Not that I'm a stalker or anything. Nope, not me.

Dooney, you know how mention on handbags brings you out of hiding? Perhaps we can say things to summon Cali... I'll start:

LEMONS
Lego
Glue guns
Wales
Banners

Walnuts
Baseball
Team Mum
Crayon making

I know...

Isn't Germany fabulous? It'd be a great place for a British expat to live wouldn't it? I bet Dinner would be able to write by the time her is 4 if I send him to kindergarten there.

That should do it!

I bought raspberries today.

CALI!!!

Welcome back

Ds1 started a science camp today, thank goodness! Two weeks out of school and things were getting baaaad.

I thought you could have passports expedited? Is that a thing of the past?

Prices of flights are ridiculous. I missed out on the Aer Lingus deal and had to pay full whack. So, yes, flights booked but no documents or passports here either.

Cali, I wish I had a helpful suggestion. I will just keep hoping it turns up this week. I don't think I've ever seen you use the word twat.

The summer hols here are really long, aren't they? I've always been a fan of a 6 week break - when I was in school I used to get bored toward the end and can't imagine having had longer off.

Are any of the MN Lexulous players still around? Not that I'm very good, my luck varies wildly.

HURRAH!