Airplane manners!

Some people have them, some poeple don't. The woman sitting in front of us on the 7 hour flight back to the US obviously didn't. At first I was glad that there was a mother with a little girl, who was probably a month or two older than Emma, in the row in front of us. Usually the sight of a baby so close to someone on a plane brings great dismay to many, except those who have kids with them.
So, there is this baby, who makes eyecontact with Emma between the seats, and a baby friendship was born. Fine. Well, as the trip progressed, the mom (who was also travelling with her 9 year old son back from Italy) would put her earphones on and ignore everything her little angel was up to. Everytime Emma tried to go to sleep, this baby was jumping on the seat, throwing her doll and bottles down at Emma, all the while she was watching some movie. Not only did she ignore all this, but would get up and go to the bathroom, leaving her little angel to run around the plane.
You think thats bad???? Well, at one point, John and I looked at each other with that "something stinks" look we give to Emma so many times.. Next thing you know, I see her changing the poopy diaper right there on the seat for all to smell. Wait... it gets even better. She then takes some stuff out of the WH Smith bag (which was ripped), put the diaper in it and then stored it under her seat for the remaining 4 hours! John didn't say anything, but if she was in front of me, I would have told her to go throw it out. There is a bathroom there, and I would have even given her one of my powder scented diaper bags to put it in.

Who does this??? Really. Anyone of us who have kids knows how nasty even a pissy diaper can smell, but seriously... a shitty diaper under your own chair? She didn't look nasty, but her manners were.

I forgot to post!!!!

I cooked something that my loving husband actually liked!!!! Go me!
It was simple, but good. I started with sauteeing (is that how you spell that?) some onions and crushed Garlic (I really like Trader Joe's) very slowly in some olive oil.. then added the shrimp. Put over pasta, some garlic bread, and a veg (all I had was corn, so that was it- would have rather had green beans or something like that).

Am I deserving of the good cook award? not yet. But it seems that simple is the answer for me at the moment...

England

I will probably be adding more to this, as Emma is ill and not sleeping all that much.
I totally forgot to post that we were going back to England for a few days (thank you frequent flyer miles and stimulus). I guess it was a nice time, so I'll start with my Good, Bad, and Ugly for the week, then fill in more as I remember it

Good:
The weather! The hottest it got in Oxford was probably 78! There were days I was actually cold.
seeing family - Emma finally got a bit friendlier to her uncles, and she always loved her brother!
Scenery in general. Lots of fresh air and places to run around (we have the grass stains to prove it!)


Bad:
smoke. cigarette that is. It never disgusted me before, but now I can't stand it.
doing too much work on that damn house. Fence needed repairing, new shower put in, and neighbors overgrown ivy needed to be cut from our roof
no shower (tub only- with hot and cold separate faucets) at my MIL's house.

Ugly:
I have found myself to hate tourists in Oxford, eventhough I am, myself, technically a tourist. It seems to me that (and I'm sure that I have been guilty of this when I was taking classes and touring there before) all manners for others have left those in tour groups. For example: walking up the street in a big mass of a group, not letting anyone get through. Also, whilst we were in a shop doing some legit shopping, this french lady (knew from her speaking) decided to go between Emma's pushchair and some luggage, instead of around her pushchair. This, of course, woke up our jet lagged baby. She then proceeded to give us, and Emma a dirty look for disturbing her shopping (or browsing) experience. Poor Emma has been knocked into by so many tourists, that I became momma bear and began just pushing through them with the push chair. I ran into some Italian ladies leg who just stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk to take a picture of a pub sign.

Just plain funny:
We were getting some shopping at Sainsbury's, when some lady with a thick southern accent said to her husband "look honey, that little girl has the same shoes tammy has (her stride rite sneakers)" then the husband said "someone must have sent them to her", and finally the lady said "these English babies are just so cute, I bet they sound English at this age too".. huh? I just laughed. I know I looked like crap that day, but I guess I didn't look like a tourist either.

Okay- here are some random pictures of England

2:30 am... Emma still wide awake:


at the park:


on the trampoline with Uncle David:


You have to look closely in the red circle, but that is a green parrot (one of many that reside ,wild, near Wimbeldon)


Dancing queen


The Head of the River Pub (on the Thames)


And a scene from the bridge going into the center of Oxford (over the thames)

An update from dinner (shorti one)

Just to show you what its like to cook for this man.... I made a nice beef loin (the pre marinated kind), mashed potatoes and peas.. Emma loved dinner, I liked it too. What was the comment from chefboy? The potatoes aren't very appetizing. Um... Emma liked them, so thats all that mattered.

Good cook award!

No way in Hell, I got an award for any kind of cooking. I'm not a bad cook, but according to my chefboy husband, I'm not good at all. I have been banned from cooking any type of chicken (doesn't stop me), and when I do cook it (that it turns out good), chefboy doesn't eat it. Okay, thats fine. He has a very discriminating palate.

So, it is a rare rare occasion that he compliments (with no prompting) anyone's cooking. (we only go to 2 different restaurants... and they aren't chains)... so the two people in the universe that have gotten chefboy awards would be.... drum roll please....

Christopher- my brother in law (I think its because he'll make curried goat)
and the NEWEST member of this elite club......

JOANNE!!!!! Yes, Joanne, has earned this honor with her apple ruhbarb pie, and her orzo/feta cheese salad. Out of the blue I hear (this morning) "Joanne is a good cook".. these are words I will never hear in regards to myself. So, Congrats to Joanne...



To my other friends, many have come close (as in a certain person's cheese cake), so please keep trying! I know I am..

another addition of good bad and ugly

Good-
Being home with Emma
playgrounds
sliding boards
naps
Chenin Blanc wine (yummy yummy)
catching a good sale at old navy (for tee's)
long naps
sleeping in

Bad-
stupid girls backing out of my house
cleaning up the basement
computers catching nasty viruses (John has to replace the hard drive)
no word on house until after the long weekend.

Ugly-
John's reaction to my haircut
cleaning up poop from the basement
my across the street neighbor.. really.

Happy 4th and cat woes

As my husband likes to say, England is taking America back one house at a time... The English are a patient people.

Anyway, I have never been one of the biggest fans of this day. There is a big parade up the street, but we decided to stay in to watch "the sunny side up show". Emma likes Kevin and Chica. I'm not saying that I'm not patriotic, but I just don't like going overboard on anything. But to those of you who go all out, have a wonderful day! Its rainy and cloudy here today.

I now have my "hour of solace" and what have I done on this 4th? made some toast and am sitting here with Y&R on. This is only after I cleaned up the poop that was ALL OVER the basement (from Gemma). and I mean ALL OVER. I'm hoping to get her to the vet tomorrow morning, but this can't go on. I'm hoping that it is just a matter of upping her thyroid meds. fingers crossed

The annoyances of selling a house from the view of compassionate Christina

I put my townhouse on the market in May. What I have discovered is that single girls are not as independent as what they were in the past. I have had a few girls come through, and LOVE LOVE LOVE the house... then something happens. They get "scared" and back out to living with mum and dad. Okay- let me preface this with saying that while it is a scary notion to own your own home, and be responsible, there is a point that you have to GROW UP. Your parents will always be there to support you, but there will come a time that you have to just jump in and be a grown up.
My favorite story was that this one person was "scared" because she was working full time (so was I) and going back to school at night (so was I) and that she was scared to have bills.
Okay- WTF> this person has gone back and forth on this for WEEKS now. Had a builder over, and her dad said (3 weeks ago) "we'll get this done by the end of the week"... I'm so sick of time wasters. They wasted my time, John's time (who ran over to put the pilot back on), my realtors time. Not only time, but messing with my mind. My feeling is that if you are NOT ready (emotionally) to buy a house, don't even go out there and look.
I have no sympathy for this girl, or the girl who went back there wtih every member of her family over 5 times before backing out.
I knew when I went out there, that it was time and I didn't F about. I found a house, I bid on it, I bought it. I went to work, went to school, paid my bills. Yes, it was tight for awhile but ya know what? I loved every moment of it.
Girls- GROW UP