Basketball, Warm Weather, and American Idol

As I type it is 8 degrees C, or as Google tells me, 42.8 degrees F. And it is 8:30 p.m. Which means that it was warmer this afternoon when I "ran," warmer when the boys went to the park to play soccer, and warmer when I arrived, only to bust my you-know-what trying to make an heroic basketball goal. My phone told me that it was 48 degrees this afternoon.

48 degrees. Ahhhhh.

Oh, and the basketball story? I think my exact thought process was: "And she's taking it to the hole," whomp! My feet went out from under me and I landed on my you-know-what. I didn't make it to the hole.

The updates have been slow. Sorry. But you see, we are finally getting into a nice little routine, and my posting about how I walk (or stroll) with Wiley to school each morning (a 10-15 minute walk, if you are curious) then again in the afternoon isn't all that interesting. Here are a few random thoughts on what we have been up to:

I have decided that I really love the "walking lifestyle." I tried to equate what we walk to school to something in Birmingham. It is definitely shorter than what I would have walked to elementary school, plus there aren't any killer hills. I think there are a lot of distances in Crestline though that are definitely walkable. When we move back to the States, wherever we go, I hope that I can incorporate this lifestyle. I sure do love my big SUV, but a little walking won't hurt its feelings.

I bought Wiley some "wellies," and it is a good thing I did because rain is forecasted for the upcoming week. They are pretty much an essential item here, and it's really silly I didn't get him some sooner.

The next few months are pretty exciting. Trips are planned, friends and family are coming over, and it looks like Spring will do its usual thing and fly by.

American Idol is on. Over here too. Which makes us really happy. As I was watching the Atlanta auditions, it suddenly hit me why the World's perception of America is so screwed up, and probably why they don't like us. What do they see? Hollywood (not real), American Idol (oh. my. goodness. I love it, but where do they find some of these people?), Friends (we need more Friends, maybe only Friends. Then they would love us.), and those crazy reality shows (I keep hearing about somebody named Snooki from New Jersey, what is that? I don't think it is good for our image, though.). However, the Office is on now and that has to help. And Glee, who doesn't love some a cappella? And 24 is coming next week. Which means that they know that we have Jack Bauer. Yeah. That's right, ya heard.

2 things about American Idol:

- Posh Spice was so nice. She got bad reviews in the Metro here, but she was really pretty good about saying nice things to the people auditioning. Even when they were pretty bad. She also needs to eat. I would really like to fix her a nice meal. I think she is hungry. I know I would be if my arms were that tiny.

- Wil and I have agreed that if we could meet a Brit here it would be Simon. I used to think Paul McCartney. He lives near us so I thought it would be more feasible. You know, like I'd be out jogging, and he would too, so we'd just jog together, discuss the Beatles. It'd be great. But now, I'm pretty sure Simon would be super entertaining, albeit scary at first.

Oh and one more thing:

Did you see this?

How amazing was that? Thank you, Atlanta.

And on a serious note, Pray for Haiti.

Meals, again!

from food network

Just in case you are looking for a new recipe or meal idea to try, here is what we are having this week!

Monday: Lemon Fusilli with Arugula (or Spinach since I couldn't find the arugula)

This was so delicious and really creamy. However, the boys are not especially fond of strong lemon flavor, so I think I would do less zest next time, and maybe only juice of one lemon. I saw this one on a Barefoot Contessa show I watched. How much do I love her house? So much. It would be good to make if you had to serve maybe 6 adults. It makes a good bit, and I think a good baguette would be divine with it...along with white wine.

Tuesday: John's Red Beans and Rice from Magic (Junior League of Birmingham cookbook)

I've never made this, but my red beans are soaking as we type, so we'll see how that goes!

Wednesday and Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Smothered Chicken, rice, peas from Cook and Love It (from the Lovett School in Atlanta, my favorite cookbook.) Who doesn't love an easy cream of mushroom soup, Lipton's dry french onion soup kind of dinner.

Saturday: Cheeseburgers!

Sunday: Taco Pie (so good! Thanks, Mom!)

(Side note to my first "meal planning" post, Aimee's Chicken looked so great and it was so easy. However, either the dijon mustard here is hotter than it is at home or I put too much on there. It was like eating chinese mustard. Every time I took a bite, my sinuses were cleared. So if you have a sinus infection, maybe this is good for you?)

What are you eating this week? Any ideas? I've recently taken up watching the Food Network (yes, we get it here. yes it is amazing.) so maybe I will have some new recipes to try. When they make it look so easy, how can you not try a new recipe out?

Need Something to Read...and Relax?

Try: Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth by Eric Carle.

I kid you not. This book will totally relax you during story time right before bed. Maybe that is always relaxing for you, but sometimes for us, we rush through it. I know, I know. We shouldn't. It is precious time. But truth be told, it can get rushed.

However, every. single. time. I read this book to Wiley, I slow down my pace of life and mind to about 0.5 mph. Maybe even 0 mph. Or is it km/h over here?

I think it is because you have to get in a sloth-type of mind. (Although the sloth will point out that he is in fact not lazy.) You know, channel your inner sloth.

And repeat "slowly, slowly, slowly" quite a few times.

(Oh, and it is Eric Carle, and who doesn't love his books?)

Snow Day!

This week we had some beautiful snow fall! In fact, it is still around. And I think it was flurrying again this morning, but I wondered if it might have just been the wind blowing the snow that is already around. The UK has been experiencing some of the coldest temperatures in decades. Some of our new friends here who have lived here for 10 + years have also agreed that this is the coldest London has been and is quite unusual. This makes me feel better, in hopes the cold snap won't last forever. It's not awful because it does feel so seasonal and snow is pretty, but it is cold enough to keep us inside instead of at the park.

Wil got off work early this past week, and when he came home we went straight back outside to go sledding, throw snowballs, and make a snowman. Some new friends up the street thought the snowman was built by our neighbors (who they are really good friends with) so they decorated him with scarf, sunglasses, and carrot nose. It wasn't until the next day they realized it was ours! Our snowman had another wardrobe change into new sunglasses (first were gone), an Atlanta Braves hat (how did they know we were fans?), and the same scarf. The nose was gone (hungry fox, perhaps?). Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him, and he has kind of taken a hit (literally) lately as he is crumbling and breaking apart. Our entrance certainly looked very festive and fun for a few days!

I am of course amused amid the cancellation of and getting out early for the flurries back home. But even more amused that Alabama fans were so concerned James Spann would interrupt the National Championship to tell you that 2 snowflakes have fallen, and no they are not sticking. (I'm kind of going on the assumption that nothing stuck in B'ham.) Poor sweet James Spann. All he does, alerting us to tornados, being in cahoots with the Piggly Wiggly and helping them sell out of milk and bread faster than you can say "snow flurry." I could go on, but you can read my post about him instead. Y'all. Don't send James Spann hate mail. That is low. Really low.

Yes. We were those people (like the only ones on our street) sledding and rolling snowman body parts. A sweet older couple stopped and talked to us. They said they were glad someone was enjoying the snow, and concurred that this is totally uncharacteristic weather for London. When we told them where we were from, they had that look of "oh, that explains it." And of course as most people ask, "Is this your son's first time to see snow? I bet he loves it!"

Thankfully, we can reply "Actually, he's seen snow before. 2 snowflakes that never stick."

(embellishment. it snowed a lot at wake last winter. a lot for the south of course.)

New Year's Parade

Wil found out that London has a supposedly big deal New Year's Day parade, so on the first day of 2010, we were off in the morning to stake our spot for what might be London's version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

However, this was not the Macy's parade. Not even close. No huge balloons. No teeny-bopper and has been stars lip-synching to their greatest hits, while Elmo and Snuffalufagus bee-bop next to them. And Katie Couric, or rather Meredith Vieira, and Matt Lauer were certainly not the commentators. But that is okay; I am just telling you this so you can imagine it better.

It was however really, really cold, like one might imagine NYC to be in November. Wil couldn't feel his feet by the end of it and stomped around like he was marching in the parade to try to bring back feeling to them.

And it was really fun to do something "London-y." Plus, Wiley loved the marching, candy, and stickers they gave out. (Come to think of it, I still have an unwrapped Mars bar in my coat pocket. Gross, I know.) I know we made some fun memories that morning. Even if it might go something like, "Remember the time I couldn't feel my feet, then my legs started to go numb, and hypothermia was a real possibility?"

Oh, and then we went up and introduced ourselves to the nicest family from Vestavia. Yes, Vestavia. In London. They were there because Vestavia Hills High School was marching in the parade. The mom told me they turned down Macy's for this. I think they just wanted to go to London.

So anyway, we saw a "Sweet Home Alabama" sign, knew Vestavia was marching, and obviously we had to introduce ourselves.

I think we must have screamed: "ohmygoodnesswelovealabama.yougettogohometoalabama.welivehere.itisbloodycold.yesitisfun. yeswemissourfamily.yeslifewillgoon.youarefromalabama.

iamsohappytoseeyou.iamsohappytohearyourvoiceandknowyoudrovedownhighway280and

cursedthetrafficduringchristmasjustafewdaysago."

subconsciously, of course. Because somehow the sweet mother or aunt of the brood was telling me how quickly this time would go and what a wonderful opportunity it was to travel, and I walked away thinking, "Oh I was just comforted. I didn't know I needed to be comforted. That was nice." But that is not the point of the post.

We were very excited to see "Sweet Home Alabama" scrawled across the poster. And we screamed for all the American bands and cheerleaders when they passed us. You know, that good ole' fashioned pride in your country.

Enough silly banter. Here are some pictures as a reward for getting this far:

Here we are freezing.

There were donkeys?

And miniature trains?

And marching Rebel-ettes? Or whatever they are called!

Marching Rebels! Whoever would have thought we would have been so excited about Marching Rebels!?

Oh, and if we go again next year, this is where I will be watching the parade (imagine me in the window on the left, maybe a mimosa in hand, able to retreat into my lush room to warm my hands and then come back out to smile upon the donkeys and other random things progressing below me):

City of Dreaming Spires

We took a day trip to Oxford last week. It was an easy train ride, which Wiley loves. I don't know if I got a really good feel for the flow of the town, but we will definitely be back when it warms up to spend another day there, and maybe have a picnic where we can get a really good view of all the "dreaming spires." Even in the cold weather, the town is beautiful and is home to so much history from writers like C.S. Lewis and Tolkein to the burnings of Thomas Cranmer and others who opposed Queen Mary. Oh, did I mention they filmed a few Harry Potter scenes there?

The original Blackwell's Bookstore. 3 miles of books are in this room, and it is only part of the bookstore. I would love to get lost in here for an afternoon!

And for Cole, Tolkein's last home.

2009 (in pictures)

I'm going to copy Michal and instead of writing a bunch, just do some pictures. Except it was really hard to choose because so many fun things happened this year! I tried to limit it to one picture per month, but I couldn't help myself on a couple of months. And looking back on the spring and summer ones was a little bit torturous as I remember the warm weather, tan skin, and fun places we were during those months. We were so blessed in 2009. I know 2010 is going to be so different, but I know it will be just as special.

Happy New Year!

January

February

March

April

May (calls for 3 pictures. It was a big month.)

June

July

August

September

October

November: Wil starts work and Wiley starts school

December