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Heidi Chronicles

Life (In London), Medicated

Can there really be too much sunlight?

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, By Myself, Elena, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 11:59 pm on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Normally my answer to this question would be a resounding, “Hell NO!” but London seems to have thrown me for a loop:  the sun comes up at 4 a.m. and goes down between 10 and 10.30.

This is not natural.

Liam doesn’t want to go to bed because “it’s still daytime.”  Elena wakes up at 4.15 and thinks it’s time to start the day.  And I stay up too late and get up too early.

But, tonight it was to my benefit.

I went out with a bunch of American moms who are all living here for some reason or another.  Some of them work here, some have husbands working corporate jobs here, some have husbands working government jobs here, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda.

All of you moms out there have probably already figured out that it’s a FANTASTIC time.  No kids…how could it not be great?

I really enjoyed listening to everyone talk about their lives here.  People in the Foreign Service are interesting just by the nature of their jobs and I love hearing about the places they’ve been.  And it’s nice to whine about the differences in the corporate world with other moms who understand.  And they are all really intelligent, which is a common trait among the Americans I’ve met here.   I mean, they ALL support Obama!  They’re brilliant hands down in my mind.

But really, the Americans I’ve met here have such interesting lives.  Some of them want to be here.  Some don’t.  Some don’t know what they want. But when I say that I couldn’t decide which “pants” to wear, they don’t think I’m talking about underwear.  That’s nice for a change.

Anyway, I stayed WAY too late and shut the place down with two other girls.  It was 11.30 before I knew it, thanks to the late setting sun.  I should have taken it easy because  let me tell you…the top level of a double-decker bus doesn’t look good at 11.30 after two and a half ciders.  I won’t be doing that again!

Two social events in one day!

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Bday/Anniv/Holiday, Blah Blah Blah, By Myself, Elena, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 11:37 pm on Saturday, May 10, 2008

It was another nice day, so A took the kids out to play this morning.

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They made a morning of playing in the wheelbarrow.

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He kept the kids so that I could go to lunch with a group of women I’ve met online through my Sugar Cult. We’re all in a discussion group that I read every day, so it was nice to finally put faces with screen names. And, it was really nice to finally meet some Brits!

The ride there and back basically sucked because the Tube wasn’t running where I needed to go, so I had to take a replacement bus service. It took forever to get there, but I had my Nintendo, so I just headed up to the top level and made myself at home with Mario.

And when I did finally get back, Liam had made it known that he did. not. want. me to go.  Evidently there was about 20 minutes of crying when I left and when he got up from his nap, he said, “When you and Daddy move, I’ll be all by myself.”

Ex-key-use me?  I’m not sure where he came up with THAT, but he has now been sufficiently reassured that he will come with us whenever we move - until he’s 18…then he’s on his own.

Once we got everyone up from naps and assured Liam we wouldn’t leave without him, we headed over to Jenn and Noah’s to “celebrate Jack’s birthday.”

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Ahem.

We all had a fantastic time. Jenn and Noah always put on a good show and how can one not adore this little man?

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The food was good,

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the cupcakes were Elmo-licious,

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Heathrow provided excellent entertainment,

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and everyone agreed it was worth two thumbs up…

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until the fox came running through the fence and nearly ate Elena.

Ok, ok, the fox was actually scared shitless and Elena was really not in any danger (and I didn’t even see it), but it was still freaky. We headed inside for the night…and of course stayed way later than the rest of the partygoers because that’s just what we do when we get a chance to be social. We have to take it where we can get it! (Poor Noah and Jenn.)

Had a pretty nice walk home, and saw a leetle mouse as we were walking down the street (on which we do not live). Liam could not have been more thrilled - two wildlife sightings (that weren’t pigeons) in one night!

Self satisfaction on projects (not) well done.

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, By Myself, Elena, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London — Heidi at 9:50 pm on Friday, May 9, 2008

I made mayonnaise today. I didn’t start out wanting to make it, but I had to do it for a salad to take to our favorite babysitter’s graduation party - because I was lazy and didn’t want to go buy it.

It was an interesting process, which I flubbed up horribly. I’m not exactly sure what I did wrong, but I managed to make an oily, separated mess rather than a smooth, creamy condiment. So, I did what any self respecting woman due at a party 20 minutes away 10 minutes ago would do…I added cottage cheese to the “mayo” and tossed it in the blender.

Don’t you give me that horrified look! It came out perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more manageable mayo, and everyone at the party thought it was just delicious. They actually raved about it and the salad was completely gone when we left. I was SO proud.

The party was at Joyce’s and ended up being great fun, even though we were almost an hour late. Ana looked stunning, as usual, and it was a great mix of Brits, Americans, and Brazilians - all of whom adore children. Whenever I couldn’t find one of my kids, I just scanned all of the women with gorgeous dark hair and inevitably one of them was entertaining my blondies!

Of course, if I couldn’t find Elena with one of them, she was at the picnic table snarfing down brownies while I wasn’t looking. She is such a pistol.

We managed to get home in time for naps, and the kids went down pretty willingly. I played Nintendo instead of doing something productive, like making more cottage cheese mayonnaise to sell at the Tesco Express down the street.

This evening I decided to try another variation of a “planner” and got that all ready while playing in my craft room with stuff that still has dust on it from our house in Kansas City. It’s a pretty sorry situation.

Regardless, I had a fantastic time messing with grommets and playing with my amazing craft stapler (because everyone needs to be able to staple on a 45 degree angle in the middle of a piece of paper, right?). I know it’s a little silly, but I get such a kick out of doing stuff like that BY. MY. SELF. I’m like a little kid when I do crafty shit. It makes me happy! I’d do it more often, but once you throw the kids into the mix, it gets too complicated and it’s not fun (for me) any more!

Or maybe it’s because they don’t glue the flower where I think it should be? (Surely not.)

Grandma’s Visit: Day 2

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, By Myself, Depression, Elena, Exercise, Family, Health, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 10:35 pm on Thursday, May 1, 2008

I spent part of the morning messing around trying to get my eye-fi card to work in my computer. Jeanne played with E and I just enjoyed the peacefulness while L was at school.

Jeanne brought E the rocket from Little Einstein’s. She and Liam both love it. GREAT gift for a toddler.

I’m glad J got to spend some one-on-one time with her.

I got a little more time by myself as well. Went to my first counselor appointment. I decided to give it a try since I’ve never actually talked to a professional about anything. (And, in Aaron’s favorite cheer for NHS, “it’s free.”) Anyway, it was a nice break and he agreed to see me five more times. (Six is the limit unless you get referred for longer term therapy.) He’s a nice guy, but I have a tough time understanding him sometimes.

Liam is still struggling with the poo. I finally called my US Poop Expert, Jenny, and she filled me in on the dirty details of getting the kid to go.  I ran right up to his room with an apple juice/water mix and he sucked it down.  YAY liquid.

I’m sure we’ll all suffer in the middle of the night when he’s finally ready to go, but I don’t care.  It will be worth having it over.

Tea, Anyone?

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, By Myself, Elena, Food, Friends, Liam, Life In London, Mommyhood — Heidi at 9:01 pm on Saturday, April 12, 2008

Slept until 10, along with Liam. a got up with Elena and had no idea where the time went. I could have slept more, but it was time for me to get up and around. My cough is a little worse today and I still have a headache, but nothing else is bad, so I decided I’d still go to tea.

A spent some time shopping, and shortly after he got home, I headed out.

Jenn and I met at 3 thinking it would take us some time to get to the hotel since we were taking the bus. We happened to catch one just as we got to the stop, so it took us less than 30 minutes to get there.

Certainly we could have gotten there faster driving, but honestly? the bus was SO nice. No kids to look after. Nothing to worry about since someone else was driving. I was completely relaxed wearing the only skirt that fits with a pair of cut off control top pantyhose discreetly sucking in the mess that is my middle. Between that and the full-length slip, I don’t think anyone would ever have known that none of my pants fit.

But did the knowledge of the latter keep me from enjoying my tea (and scones, and sandwiches, and desserts, and a mojito, and champagne)? Well, I did only have three scones. I didn’t want to overdo it.

The tea was really nice. The hotel was beautiful and it was lovely to be in a group of nine other American moms experiencing London just like we are. They don’t find it odd when they hear me call the main street the “high street,” but they also know what I’m talking about when I say things like “cotton balls” (cotton buds) and “rubbing alcohol” (surgical spirits) and “band-aids” (plasters). I really enjoyed it.

I left at three and got back to the house at 6.45. Liam was asleep and Elena wasn’t that far behind. We stuck that kid in bed and sat on our asses and watched a couple episodes of “The Riches.”

And now I think it’s TOTALLY cool that I saw Eddie Izzard at Heathrow. Damn, he’s funny.

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