Enter October

Life seems to be non-stop lately between work, St John drama, landlord drama, and having a temporary guest.  Work doesn't really change, though it's very demanding.  I feel like a hybrid between a housekeeper and an old school governess with all the tasks that are thrown at me.  I'm expected to do all sorts of cleaning, cooking, toy fixing, and laundry on top of following very specific instructions of toilet training principles, working on each boy's individual physical and intellectual development (as if they aren't developing fast enough), and organize all playdates, playgroups, and any extra field trips for the boys.  I must say I prefer the latter tasks to the previous ones, but the mom sometimes just doesn't seem satisfied if the boys haven't progressed somehow in the last 2 days.  So I have to be sure to tell her any news regarding a leap in learning.  Jacob (the older boy) is turning 2 this week so I've got to wrap his presents.  I got him the movie Cars and a small toy of Lightning McQueen (the main character in Cars).  Then I just couldn't pass up on some really cute Batman PJs with a cape attached!  I got him Finding Nemo recently (anything I get them is reimbursed if the parents approve... they've yet to not approve) and he loves it!  However, I notice he's less prone to eating fish since he's started watching it.  Instead he makes the fish noise with his mouth.  We may have a budding vegetarian. : \

This week our projects included cooking "Lucky Stone Soup" after a book we read that was basically a retelling of "Stone Soup" and making a vehicle out of the box below.  It was also meant to satisfy the mom's requirement of "some type of drawing every day" to work on Jacob's dexterity.  After I made this box for the boys he drew on it and put stickers etc on it.  Thomas, the baby, loves being inside of it.   There's shiny paper taped to the floor made of space blanket material as well as other fun colors inside and out.

Jacob has a friend named James.  James' nanny, Sonia, and I get the boys together regularly for playdates or museum outings.  We're planning a fun halloween play date where the 2 year olds get to draw on pumpkins, decorate gluten and dairy free cupcakes, and watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."  I'm sure we can find something for Tommy to play with on the side seeing as he doesn't draw or decorate cupcakes at only 8-months-old.

I don't even want to go into the St John drama/politics because I'm convinced that the very fact that it even exists is ridiculous because it's not what St John Ambulance stands for.

We're having to take our previous landlord to court because she didn't follow the law as it applies to landlords.  Basically, she wanted us to pay for a new front door.  We said the door was fine and we didn't agree to forking out hundreds of pounds for a new one.  We even got second opinions on the fact that there wasn't a problem with the current door.  It turned out that Linda (landlady) pocketed the deposit money she should have given the government as a landlord.  Tim was assured that it will be an automatic win for us so that Linda will have to pay for court costs, give us back our full deposit, and possibly even give us more money on top.  We suspect there are other reasons behind Linda's insistence that she needed a new door, but she refused to give us our deposit back so it led to this.  Unfortunately, the court date isn't until January 7th.

We also have a new guest living with us.  She used to be a colleague of Diana's at Incarnate Word.  Her name is Nina and she used to teach English to students at UIW.  She's now doing her masters here in London in the Scandinavian languages.  She's staying with us for now.  Nothing is decided about how long she'll be with us, but she's welcome to stay at least for the first semester so we can see how stuff goes.

Tim has just finished his application for med school and is about to send off to 4 different programs at 3 different med schools.  We aren't expecting to hear anything before February.  Fingers crossed!

We are looking at being in TX from the 19th to the 30th this Christmas, but I still can't promise anything.  For one thing, Tim is finally changing his name (like he said he would over a year ago!) so he can renew his (expired) passport with his new name.  So we can't buy tickets before his new passport is issued.  But now that his school applications are in priority can be given to this.

Mid-summer

I have one week left with the boys.  I've told them I'll get them ice cream on my last day (Thursday) if we don't see the ice cream truck before then, but they have to agree on what type they want me to bring.  It'll probably take all week for them to agree.  They still have 2 weeks left of school.  Kids here only get a 6 week summer because they get so much holiday during the school year.  Whole weeks off here and there.

I went to Wimbledon tennis on Friday (July 6th).  We weren't allowed into the actual courts where the famous players were playing, but Wimbledon is like a little village almost.  You need a ticket to get into the area, and the cheapest tickets will allow you in to buy souvenirs, get into the food places, and sit on the lawn/picnic area to watch the famous courts on the big screen.  It was a beautiful area.  I wish I had taken more pics of it.  The lawn was lush with purple flowers (Wimbledon's colors are purple and green) and arches of green plants with controlled green ivy on the buildings.  There were smaller courts where anyone could play with ball boys and girls and an referee.  I saw some women playing doubles in wheelchairs.  That was pretty amazing.  Not much happened first aid-wise.  I only treated one person the whole 9 hours I was there and my treatment center only had about 5 or 6 patients all day.  They said the first week is much busier.  I'd like to go back next year, though I really don't care about the tennis part.  I'm not much at spectating.

I had my first 4th of July in the UK this year.  I didn't realize the date until I saw a post on facebook after I woke up.  Probably because there are no 4th of July sales here.  I left my flag shirt at home, so Tim let me wear his.  I felt kind of self-conscious wearing it around Bromley.  Most Brits I spoke to didn't realize it was our independence day, but they at least knew of it when reminded.  Jack said his school gave them American food for dessert at lunch.  It was American (thick) pancakes with ice cream. Lol.  I told him we are more likely to eat pancakes with syrup.  Tim and I barbecued burgers and hotdogs and had typical 4th of July food complete with apple pie and pre-made margaritas before watching Captain America.  Pretty patriotic I'd say.

Tim found out this last week that he is exempt from taking the UK CAT (test to get into med school).  It's a 5 hour test.  Tim asked if they could make it accessible for him.  They would have had to give him more time and either given it to him on a screen that could magnify or given him someone who could read it to him.  They said they couldn't make it accessible so he doesn't have to take it.  That means that Tim's next step is to look into med schools.  He'll still need to take a test for whatever school he applies to, though.  There are 4 in London he's looking at currently.  They are Kings College, Imperial College, St. George's University, and St. Bartholemew's (not sure how to spell, but it's generally referred to as Bart's).  It's pretty exciting news anyhow!  He's been reading up on his chemistry in the mean time.  He wouldn't start med school before Sept. of 2013 so he'll probably take on more first aid teaching and assessing jobs for now.

Yasmin is doing well.  She generally falls asleep in bed with me because I have to go to bed early to get up at 5:20 every morning.  Tim kicks her out when he goes to bed.  Tim doesn't like to go to bed before 11 or much later if he doesn't have to get up early.  I really don't blame him.  I wouldn't either.  Thankfully there's only one more week at waking up at stupid o'clock.  In other Yaz news she loves going to my softball games because she's guaranteed to get loads of attention and love from both the girls and guys once Tim takes the harness off.  Other than that she's pretty happy and healthy.  She loves sitting outside the flat in good weather chewing a stick.

My Coldest June Yet

It's almost the end of June and the weather still bugs me.  It just doesn't feel like summer.  Yesterday I was playing softball for part of the day in shorts and a T-shirt, and the rest of the day in pants and a hoodie with the hood up!  And cold rain is the worst!  June is the time for warm rain if any.  The highs have been mostly 50-60.  Once in a while we'll get a nice day that's about 70-75 for a few hours before the clouds cover the sun.  The worst is when it rains cold rain at 6am when I'm biking to work and the seat of my pants are all wet when I arrive.  So I'm just cold and miserable for an hour or so at an ungodly hour while I dry off and warm up.

Tim has been teaching first aid courses unrelated to St John lately.  A friend recommends Tim for the jobs.  His friend said that the company is short on first aiders and will probably need to use Tim more often.  He's currently preparing for a course that runs this Monday-Wednesday.

I had a softball tournament yesterday all day.  Between 9am - 6pm we played 7 games.  Yasmin came along because Tim was planning on spending the day preparing for his course.  She had a great time meeting new friends and getting loads of affection from my team and the opposing teams.  She loves the softball people 'cause they give her tons of attention.  I think most muscles in my body are sore now.  Even some in my back because I got knocked hard by a guy running to 2nd twice (the same guy both times)!  I mostly played 2nd base, but a couple games on 1st, and half a game as catcher.  We were short on girls so there were no breaks for us.  The first 5 games we played back-to-back, and with no break I was starving and exhausted by the time we finally finished the 5th game around 2 pm.  My team came in 3rd overall.  I have no idea how many teams were there.  We only played one team twice.

I gave my month's notice to the parents I work for last week.  They keep forgetting to tell the boys.  I sure don't want to tell them, and I don't look forward to all the questions they'll ask once they know.  Here's a pic I took last week when they asked to play on my scooter.  They both jumped when Jack pushed the horn.  It it kind of loud for such a small vehicle.  Jack's in front and Jude in back.  They switched off being in front and back.

I signed the contract with my new employer.  I'm working there for a few hours on July 7th for the first time.  I'm supposed to read up on The Baby Whisperer and Noel Janis-Norton beforehand 'cause it's the philosophy they want to use in raising their kids.  I've never had to read up on child rearing for work before, but it's a full-time job so I shouldn't mind a little bit of homework.  I do think the Baby Whisperer might have come up with a more original title, though.

Since I don't have much longer of having extra time in the middle of the day once I start my new job I'm trying to do driving lessons and brush up on the theory section of the British driving test.  I have my next lesson Monday.  After my lesson last week Tim and I rented a zipcar to practice with on Friday so I could practice without the instructor in the car.  Zipcar is a company that has regular looking cars parked all over London and the UK.  I think the company is in other countries also.  You pay a membership fee yearly, then you can book a car close to you for a few hours, or as long as you want.  It's very useful.  We used it when moving and rented a van.

Something I pass everyday on the way to Jack and Jude's house.  I think it's supposed to be the prime meridian.  We do live 6 miles South of Greenwich after all.

New job...again, and lots of St John

I realize it's been a while since I last posted.  I was waiting until I might have some news about a new job.  I think I finally do.  I have pretty much landed a full-time nanny job that starts in July.  It's 50 hours a week looking after two little boys aged 3 months and 2 years.  I'm very excited because I'm hoping with this job Tim and I can move into a bigger place, bring Guinness over, and visit the US for Christmas.  I'll still have weekends off so that's fine by me.  Now we are going through the process of agreeing on hours, holiday time, showing her all my official documents, etc.

I'm getting better with my scooter.  I can now always get home without the use of a map now.  I still need to tape the directions to my dash (just hiding the clock) to get anywhere new.  Medical tape is awesome for that!

Laura is visiting London for about a week and a half.  We went to Oxford yesterday and I invited friends over for a movie night tonight.  We're planning on barbecuing.  I'm trying to take lots of pics for facebook so more updates will be on there.

Tim and I have been going to a lot of duties lately.  I went to a parade in Chelsea a few weeks ago that was of great interest to the boys I look after.  They're huge football (soccer) fans.  Chelsea won some cup over lots of teams in Europe and there was a huge parade in Chelsea.  It reminded me of the Spurs parade I went to on the Riverwalk in 2007, except there were far more drunk people here.  Thankfully they were all friendly since they all were there to support Chelsea.  You just had to dodge the flying celery.  Chelsea has some song that is slightly crude involving shoving celery into the orifices of their opponents.  I was slightly surprised to see children throwing celery into the crowds also.  They were all waiting for the team to drive by on a double decker bus.  Anyway, I showed the pics to the boys and they told me the names of all the players on top of the bus.

The team on top of the bus with the cup

See that balloon the baby is holding in the shape of the cup? They were selling those balloons for 7 pounds!

Tim and I also went to a Coldplay concert last weekend.  It was my first rock concert ever! I was so cool.  It was even better because we went for free with St John Ambulance.  People were so considerate too! They only got ill before or after the concert.  I don't think I would have paid for it, though.  I liked going with St John so I could go into the treatment center if I got tired of standing in the cold.  I could warm up with a quiet cup of coffee and go back out.  Especially since I don't really like crowds.  But I really want to sign up for more concert duties this summer.  It was fun.  There's the O2 Wireless concert in July with different bands playing, Wimbledon tennis, and of course, the Olympics!  I'm sure I'm missing something, but those are the main duties coming up that I want to go on.

Just a Few Pics

Here are some pics of the boys I look after. This was taken around 6:30 am.  I have a "not-before-7" rule where they can do what they like, but I don't play games before 7 am.  Why they wake up before they need to is beyond me.  They don't need to be up before 7:30.  I couldn't help but snap a pic of them entertaining themselves.  Jack (older one) is filming Jude.  Jude is the sillier one who does all sorts of funny faces and voice impersonations.

The boys' birthdays are just one day apart so they share a birthday party.  This is the birthday invitation their dad made on the computer with the numbers on their jerseys showing how old they're turning.

And they brought me a T-shirt, pencil, and bookmark back from Malaysia.  I didn't realize that the building from the movie Entrapment was in Malaysia, but I recognized it right off from the movie.

Shortened Break Almost Over

Gosh, my 3 weeks off paid vacation turned into 2 weeks when I realized I had gotten the uni Easter Break mixed up with the kids' school break.  I'm not quite sure what I did with my time off, either.  I know I slept a lot at first, then had trouble sleeping the rest of the time.  We had a pizza and movie night on Easter Sunday with friends over, but we got to talking so much that we didn't get around to watching a movie even though lots of intriguing ones were brought.  Once we realized that we didn't really have time for a movie we played Apples to Apples.  It was still fun.  Adrian won and stayed the night.  The next day we watched the 11th season of Mash that Adrian brought over.  I hate that I only have the first 5 seasons over here.  I love that show.

I've been to a few softball practices which are over now.  Now it's just games and tournaments.  I have one game a week from the first week of May, but they're all on weeknights.  It's nice that we'll still have the weekends open for St John or camping etc.

Our friend, Micaela, Tim, and I went to the Roald Dahl museum in Great Missendon on the 12th.  It was small, but cute and worth the trip.  We went to a Chinese Restaurant afterward before heading back on the train, and Tim left his bag with ipad in the restaurant!  We didn't realize until we got off the train in London.  Since we had to go back the next day for the ipad we decided to make a camping trip of it and break in our new tent.  Other than being too cold at night we had an awesome time.  The only campsite around the station (2.3 mile walk away) was a farm with a small field where caravan vehicles could hook up.  We had the only tent there.  The farmers were very friendly and didn't mind us touring the farm looking at the animals.  The pigs seemed very interested in us and the geese were a little too interested in Yasmin.

Tim and I are working at the London Marathon next Sunday.  It's one of the biggest duties of the year.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I just hope the weather warms up.  It's been annoying lately.  The sun shines for about 5-20 min, then it clouds up, gets cold, maybe rains for 30 min, then cycles through again. I really hope the crazy weather fixes itself before Yasmin's bday because we're planning to spend all afternoon in an open field.

Expectant Moped and Easter Break

Well I didn't get the nannying job.  I wasn't really happy with the circumstances.  The interview was last minute and the lady at the agency didn't ask me about my schedule before booking an interview for me, so I had to go in between two St John duties that I had already committed to.  I had the Bop Friday night until 3 am, the interview Saturday morning at 10 am, then the Crystal Palace football duty 1:30-5:30.  I was kind of sleep deprived and just wasn't thinking on my feet.  Of course I thought of loads of good answers to the questions after the interview.  I'm going to keep looking for full-time jobs, though.  I wasn't actually looking before.

Tim just found out today that he didn't get his job either.  It really sucks because it was pretty much everything he had already done voluntarily.

I went ahead and ordered my moped last week, though.  It's supposed to arrive in the end of April, so I have until then to do the one-day course, find a helmet and lock, secure insurance, and anything else I might need to do for it.  The moped will help me cut down a lot on travel time and costs.

This is the start of my 3 week holiday from work.  The family is in Malaysia (the mom is from there) so I get to sleep in for 3 weeks, which is awesome!  We got Yasmin's birthday presents this week.  A bacon-flavored nylabone and a huge compressed rawhide bone that should take her a while.  We got some doggy chocolate for Easter while we were at it.  I thought it'd be fun to do something like an Easter egg hunt for her with the chocolate.  We're having a movie night on Easter and Rachel Bales is coming over to meet some Brits. : )

Tim and I are going with a friend from LINKS to the Roald Dahl museum on the 12th.  It'll be a day trip.  I think it's mostly a kids' museum, but I bet it'll be fun anyway.  I also found out that I will be able to be assessed at the new standards for first aid before the London Marathon.

Our friend, Ashley, is coming down in the end of the month on Yazzi's birthday for the weekend!  I'm hoping to see how he takes to softball at the Sunday practice.  On the Saturday he's going to a medical type conference so we were thinking about checking out the St John museum with some people from LINKS.

It looks like we have lots to look forward to in summer too.  Ashley invited us to Cornwall where he lives to go sailing, the olympics are bound to be eventful, Coldplay is coming to a stadium in London and I plan on signing up for the St John duty to go for free, and then Laura, Cassidy, and my parents are planning to visit.  In between Tim and I plan on finding some decent camp sites to try out our new tent.  Exciting stuff!!

Yasmin is doing well.  A cop came 'round yesterday to get an "impact statement" from Tim and me about the impact made on Tim and Yasmin short-term and long-term regarding the assault on the train.  They caught the guy and he has yet to plead guilty or not.  It sounds like he may plead not guilty based on the fact that he was drunk, but I don't see that going well for him.  Until this is over though, he's not allowed to go on the same route on the train that he did when he met Tim.  Yaz has gotten to go to the park plenty with the sun we've had lately.  We found a rubber stick in a shop today and got it for her.  It's even shaped like a stick with random knobs and the minute texture.  She loved it in the park.  Our park is too well-groomed.  It's hard for us to find decent sticks bigger than twigs for Yaz to fetch and chew on.

Job Interviews and Warm Weather

I had the flu last weekend and was feeling pretty rotten at work the week before.  My fever wouldn't go away completely for about 4 days.  It was sooo annoying that I had to miss the last day and the assessment of my first aid course from the week before.  Now I have to find someone to assess me on my own.  That's somehow worse than being assessed at the same time as the group I trained with.  I also had to miss softball on Sunday for the third weekend in a row.  I blame LINKS for making me sick.  I lost sleep at CTW and then the first aid course the weekend after I think it knocked my immune system out of whack.  Thankfully the boys were pretty understanding when I told them they couldn't go to the park because the cold air killed my throat.  I'll take them today.

The weather's been beautiful lately... once the sun's up anyway.  It's still in the 40s when I wake up at stupid o'clock am.  After I get off work (at 9 am) Tim and I have been making coffee and drinking it just outside on the sunny mornings while Yasmin chews her stick.  She loves sunbathing... we must be related.  Yesterday the dad I work for stayed home with a headache, so he took the boys after I brought them home from school and I got an unexpected afternoon off which was pretty nice.  We decided to take Yaz to the park to find some friends to play with.  She's such a social creature.

I have an interview tomorrow evening for a position within the LINKS HQ volunteering sector.  It's called ASO (Assistant Staff Officer) Finance Assistant.  The current ASO finance is looking for an assistant, and I figure it wouldn't hurt to have some experience and training dealing with large budgets for a large organization.  It could come in handy at some point in my life.  It's a 2 year position.

Tim has an interview for a paid job with SJA on Friday.  It's a job he interviewed for before called Pathway Coordinator.  The person they hired didn't last two weeks.  I'm not sure what happened, but that's good for Tim.

I saw a new job advertized through my nanny agency for a new job that pays over twice what I make now.  Full-time looking after a baby girl for an American mom and British dad.  I'm trying to see if I can at least get an interview because that would be awesome!  Then I could fly Guinness over sooner, not worry about budgeting between getting the moped and my British license, and even fly to Texas for Christmas for sure!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Tim and me to get the jobs.  Heck, if we both got the jobs, or even one of us we could get a bigger flat with a garden for Guinness.

I would make sure my current family found someone new before leaving, though.  I would definitely miss the boys, but I'd be silly not to look into a job that pays twice as much when I have to worry about budgeting.

Yasmin's birthday is coming up next month.  It's April 27th.  It lands on a Friday.  We thought it'd be fun to plan a "Birthday Picnic" for her inviting whoever wants to join us for the afternoon in Richmond Park near Roehampton University.  A good few people have already confirmed.  It's just a good excuse to get outside in the beautiful weather, and most people in LINKS would love to get out since lectures will be over and exams coming up.  So that's something else to look forward to.

On the 22nd of April I'm going to the London marathon for a duty.  It's one of the most exciting duties of the year.  You're pretty much guaranteed to treat about 20 people in one day.  The costumes some people wear to run 26.2 miles for charity is just ridiculous!  You see some running in things like big chicken suits and then wondering why they collapse from heat exhaustion and dehydration.  Anyway, exciting stuff!

CTW and getting published

2 weeks ago I was re-elected as the Vice-chair of Roehampton LINKS.  I decided to be a good sport and join the rest of my new committee (a few others were from last year's committee also) to CTW (Committee Training Weekend).  It's a weekend away and paid for by St John Ambulance where you go to multiple sessions to learn how to do your job, how to best function as a unit within your committee, leadership and management skills, and the best part is you meet the committees of other units around London.  It can get pretty boring if you've been on a CTW before, but it's a good introduction for people new to the organization.  There are 10 universities that have LINKS units within London.  What we've done in the past is form alliances with one or the other and help each other out with training or duties.  My group got put in the "noisy" lodge so none of us got much sleep whether we were downstairs partying til all hours or upstairs trying to sleep despite the vibrating floor from the music below.  I look forward to catching up on my sleep.

In other news I'm looking at getting a moped to get around London faster and cheaper.  The one I want comes out in the end of March.  I found a site where you can buy new straight from the manufacturer and it's way cheaper than a dealership.  And the best part is it's burnt orange and black.  : )  I can wear my batting gloves with it to match.  I'll post a pic when that happens.

I'm bummed I had to miss the first softball practice of the season yesterday because I was at CTW.  Next week I'll miss also because I have a 3-day first aid course.  I'll definitely make the next few, though.  I miss softball.

The family I work for goes on vacation the 28th of March for 3 weeks of Easter Break.  So I get 3 weeks to sleep in (thank goodness!!) and still get paid of course.  I'm looking forward to it.  I'm thinking of taking the driving lessons during that time.

I'm looking into trying to get my guide dog story published here.  I sent off to Bloomsbury as well as being in contact with RNIB and Guide Dogs themselves to see if they can help.  RNIB thought it was a good idea, but they don't have the budget at the moment.  I'm getting a poem published in Voices de la Luna also!  It's called "Thames."  About the Thames River that runs through London at different points.  A friend who works for the magazine, Carol Reposa, helped me edit it.  I'm pretty excited about that.  I've never considered publishing a poem since it's not what I usually write.  I think I can count the poems I've written voluntarily on one hand.

While I was on the Bloomsbury website I saw they had a job opening.  I applied.  It'd be a pretty cool place to work.  I would think I'd be able to get a lot of good tips through it.  They published Harry Potter in the UK by the way.

The kids are good fun.  They like to play rough, but don't know how to take it rough.  We played cricket and soccer in the backyard last week and had 3 injuries bad enough to make one boy or the other cry.  I kept trying to say, "Let's stay inside for the rest of today and take a break," but as soon as the tears stopped they wanted to go back out.

I went to the library to borrow the Roald Dahl book that Jack was reading because he kept waking up when I read his school's copy.  I finished it over the weekend (while karaoke was going on downstairs).  It was "The Witches."  The ending seemed sweet in a very morbid kind of way.  Usually his endings are happy.  I won't say what the ending was, though, because I hate spoiling books even if they are kids' books.

Tim took Yasmin to the park while I was gone, but she only met little bitty dogs.  She doesn't seem to acknowledge them as actual dogs because they're too little to play with.  But the weather's getting warmer and nicer so I'm sure we can go out more and find her some decent sized dogs to play with.

Potential New Futures

I played indoor softball last Saturday.  I think I'm going to let it be the last time I play indoor for the season.  Outdoor season starts in just two weeks so I can wait for that.  The indoor one seems much rougher and slightly more dangerous because we're in a confined space and that ball bounces around like a pinball.  I got a bruise on my thigh from when a girl threw to first and hit me (the runner who was practically squatting down to avoid getting hit).  Luckily it was a girl who was a beginner.  Otherwise it could have hurt much worse.  On the other hand, if she wasn't a beginner she might not have missed and hit me in the first place.  I got a big bruise on my calf because I was standing too close to the baseline when a guy was running home.  He knocked me hard enough to spin before falling.  I don't know if it was the fall, or just bad positioning when changing direction quickly, but my back suffered a lot of muscle damage too.  I never get back pain from outdoor softball and I rarely get bruises (or broken bones).  It was fun, but I'm really looking forward to real softball.  It was awesome to be able to wear my batting gloves for the first time, though.  They make me feel empowered.

Tim worked at the Bop (Roehampton Duty) Friday night, and didn't finish 'til about 4am because the lock broke on the closet where we store our kit so they had to drag it all to another member's flat for safe keeping until the university can fix the door.  Some of that stuff is really expensive.

Tim's been teaching me how to do blood pressure with a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope.  It's tricky, but fun to practice for the real thing.  I'm also learning British road signs finally.  I got my British provisional license while I was in uni.  It's good for 10 years, but if I want to learn to drive and ambulance I need to have a British license first.  Collin loaned me some books and I bought a CD that helps you practice for theory.  Some of the things they expect you to do for practical seem completely unpractical, though.  For example, you can't cross your hands on the wheel in the test or you fail.  Who takes a 90 degree turn without crossing their hands or taking one hand off the wheel to replace it on another part?  I have never seen anyone drive the way they expect you to in the test.

I've been looking into doing my paramedic science foundation degree through Open University so I can still work.  It all depends on funding now.  They have a lot of grants or bursaries/scholarships set up to help.  They work with St John Ambulance so that you can do the practical parts through SJA.  I'm kind of excited about that.

Tim is exploring about 4 options at the moment.  Two of which include a few years of study, but he would only have to pay for the first year.  The other two are jobs.  One is a job fair and the other a job he went for before, but the person who got it dropped out after a few weeks so Tim can apply again.  That one is for SJA, but it's paid.  I won't mention which two the other ones are that require study.  I don't want to increase any pressure on Tim's decision or jinx anything.

Other than that Yasmin and I spent some time sunbathing yesterday for the first time since the new year.  I had my softball to toss and Yasmin had some sticks to chew.  It was very relaxing.

A Coating of Throat Pain and Swollen Glands

I was off work all last week.  I spent most of my time dedicated to LINKS in spite of a sore throat and ear pain.  It always seems to work that way.  You get sick when you don't have to work.  Tim and I have been working on a new website for Roehampton LINKS that combines the info of about 3 different sites into one, and it's superior for regular member access to any of the other sites.  Of course Tim is doing the complicated coding based on my outline.  It probably would have been far easier to just hire someone.  It's taken a lot of time and Tim and I don't really speak the same language when he's talking techy stuff.  But it's progressing fast so hopefully the project will be done in a week or so.

Our friend, Ashley, came to visit over the weekend.  He used to go to Kings College.  He was the chair of Kings LINKS unit when Tim was chair.  He's going to med school in Cornwall now.  He kept telling us that if we visit in summer we can go surfing and sailing.  That sounds like a lot of fun.  Sadly I got kind of sick while he was here.  My voice started to go out Friday night.  I got some cold medicine Saturday, but whenever I took it I felt feverish.  That was a pain.  I feel better now, but my voice is still really off.  Now if only I can stop coughing long enough to get some sleep.  I bought UK "original" Monopoly Sunday and Ashley and I made Tim play with us only to lose to him horribly.  Must be beginner's luck.  The first time Tim played poker he won also.  Although I think that was because he didn't understand the concept of bluffing and folding.  Apparently, the "original" monopoly in the UK isn't the same as ours.  It's got places in London most of which I don't recognize.

I'm playing indoor softball this Saturday.  This time if someone slides I'm jumping out of the way whether I can get them out or not.  I'm not risking another serious injury this close to spring softball.  We're planning a small movie night Saturday night with Alex and probably Liam.

Weekend overload

Tim and I have been kept pretty busy lately.  There are still pieces of snowmen from last Sunday around.  This week has been the first day it's gotten above freezing during the day.

Tim and I went to the Bop last Friday and it was very eventful.  At one point we got three patients who all came in within a minute of each other.  That kept us busy until the fire alarm went off and everyone except LINKS had to evacuate.  So we had many half naked drunk people outside throwing snowballs at each other.  But no need to send anyone to hospital thank goodness.  The next morning we had to wake up early (after sleeping at Collin's) to get back home, drop off Yasmin, sleeping bag, etc, and go to a football duty.  Once we got there we found out it was cancelled and I should have checked my email in the short time we were home.  Yasmin was glad we were home early, though.

After a nap we went to watch The Muppets with Liam.  It was cute.  On Sunday Tim went to assess for SJA and I met up with Rachel Bales at Earl's Court for the Doctor Who Exhibition.  It was pretty awesome!  We went on a 25 minute mission to help Doctor who including entering the TARDIS where the floor shook, being captured by daleks making the small children cry, with Matt Smith guiding us the whole way with multiple jokes.

Afterward I had to drop some first aid training equipment off at SJA HQ where an induction was going on and Tim was assessing.  So I got to meet a lot of the new members and go to the pub to chat and stuff.

I'm off work this week, which is pretty sweet.  The boys have a week off school and the mom needed to take vacation time before it expired.  Fine by me, though.  Means I can sleep in, focus my time primarily on LINKS for a week, and get things done around the house.

There's a new Mexican restaurant in Bromley that we're planning to try out for Valentine's Day tonight.  It turns out Yasmin likes Red Bush tea also.  She's been getting loads of attention between LINKS meeting, sleeping at Collin's on Friday, and the induction course.  She even got in a game of "find the keys" with Tim today.  It's good practice for when Tim actually does lose his keys, but Yaz likes the challenge and attention.

Last time I talked to Emily we were talking about her awesome new kindle and she mentioned "The Hunger Games" trilogy to me.  I was almost done with my latest Barbara Kingsolver book (very inspiring) and decided to download a sample to my kindle.  I bought the whole trilogy for only 16 dollars and am currently on the 3rd book.  It's a very exciting series.

Snow Day

I snowed 5-6 inches Saturday night!  Yasmin just loved it!  She was running back and forth and rolling around in it.  Tim and I went for a walk to town and a local park.

Tim and I did our first duty together since May 2009.  We went to the Bop.  Everyone else was at the LINKS conference so it was just us and Collin.  We only got 2 patients and thankfully nothing too bad.  Both somehow managed to fall on their face (at separate times) and had scraped chins, nose, etc.  It ended at 2:30 so Tim and I crashed at Collin's in sleeping bags on his sofa bed.

Tim's friend, Liam, just moved to Bromley last week.  Liam went to New College with Tim.  We went to see The Grey on Tuesday with Liam and Alex.  Our local cinema does extra cheap movies on Tuesdays, but we had to go in the middle of the day.

I was pretty stoked that I finally got rain/snow boots.  Never had either before.  My tennis shoes soaked through to my feet.  Now all I need is a raincoat and I'll be all set for actually living in London.

The snow melted almost completely by Monday night.  I let the boys throw snowballs at each other on the way home from school and at home after.  I felt like they got a raw deal.  Their dad was gone for the weekend and their mom wouldn't let them play in the snow at all on Sunday when it was fresh.  I can't understand why unless she just didn't want to be bothered with putting them in new, dry clothes afterward.  I'm glad they got to play in it a little bit anyway.

Tim and I are hoping to do a football (soccer) duty on Saturday that is close to us.  The team is called Crystal Palace.  It's Jack and Jude's favorite team so I thought I'd check it out since it's so close.  They'll certainly want to hear how I find it anyway.

Getting back on the SJA horse

Tim and I have been busy getting through season 6 of Law and Order SVU and a friend introduced us to True Blood with her three seasons on DVD.  I must say it has a lot of common factors with Twilight, but apparently it was written first.  I will say that through better actors and script the story is told much better with less teen angst.  I've seen that that's a controversial statement to make though, as True Blood fans don't like being compared to Twilight.  It also reminds me of X-Men.  In True Blood vampires have come out of hiding and want to be treated as regular citizens now that they can survive on fake blood even though some vampires are obviously still malicious and sadistic.  It certainly makes for an interesting story.

I'm very excited that my SJA application has finally gone through successfully, and I should be able to get my ID card this week!  (Thanks again for your help, Bob!) That means I can go back out on duty and get experience to build up my skills and confidence again.  Skill fade is depressingly real.  I plan on doing my old regular duty first: the Bop.  It's the party every Friday on Roehampton campus.  A friend said Tim and I can crash at her place after 'cause getting back across London at 3 am would probably take 3 hours by night buses alone.  Another good thing about getting my ID card is that I can now take more advanced training courses.  I'm trying to get onto an AED course the weekend of Feb 4th.  My AED qualification is long expired from Six Flags.

Tim got his ID card too and he's already on a new course this weekend.  It's an upskills course that everyone will have to take this year if they want to continue with SJA.  They're always changing the first aid regulations, and they want to make sure everyone is aware so they don't make a mistake on duty.  I'll need to do it too when they put a course up for my level.

We started ordering milk from our local milkman.  It's pretty cool.  It comes in the glass bottles and everything!  Then you put the bottle out the night before a delivery day and it's recycled!  I don't know why it's so exciting, but it just seems fun to do something so traditionally British.  I know they did it in the US too, but I don't think they do anymore.  Anyway, it works out a little cheaper per pint than store-bought milk.

I babysat the little boys last night and brought them chocolate to melt along with fruit to dip.  I was worried at first 'cause they've both said they don't like bananas, but they liked everything with chocolate!  Jack even managed to get it in his hair at the very top of his head.  I have never seen a kid do that before.  It seemed like quite a feat.  I brought over Muppet Treasure Island and it was a hit.  Poor kids hadn't ever seen the muppets before.  They only recognized Gonzo because he sings with the chickens in Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody that I showed them on youtube.

It's been crazy cold here.  It's right at freezing when I go to work in the mornings.  And that's terrible when you're cycling downhill with that wind on your face.  It only rises to about 34-36 by the time I have to walk the boys to school.  Of course it's 10 times worse when it's raining (about 50% of the mornings).  I come home after and change right back into my sweatpants so my jeans can dry on the radiator.  It's a pain.

We're having friends come over tonight for food and a movie.  It's our attempt at keeping in contact with uni friends.  It's always cheap and cheerful.  Of course Yasmin loves them too 'cause odds are she'll get someone who wants to pet her all night.

New year, new job, new flat, new opportunities

I had a blog that I updated about once a week or every other week when I was in uni for 3 years for anyone, but mostly so family could know what I was up to in general.  Then everyone including my grandparents got on facebook and I moved back to Texas, so I let that blog die.  I'm attempting it again since not everything is said on facebook and I won't pretend that many of my facebook friends are even interested in updates on my life.  But my new blog is here just in case anyone is. : )

Since the new year Tim and I have celebrated our 1st anniversary by going to the theater to see Wicked.  It was so awesome.  We spent New Year's Eve at the highest flat around (12th floor) of some softball friends with an amazing view of all the fireworks around London from Canary Wharf (East London).  I started my new job nannying for two little boys aged 5 and 7.  Jack is 7 and Jude 5.  I try not to laugh when one of his little school friends calls out to him, "Hey, Jude!"

The boys are really fun.  They are pretty well behaved, polite, and are eager to learn, be silly, and play new games.  It's just the schedule I had to get used to.  I work 6-9 am, take the boys to school, then again from 3:30 to 6ish when a parent arrives home.  It's weird having a huge gap in the middle of my day, but I can nap, be productive, pretty much do whatever I want until I need to go pick up the boys again.  Luckily I live on top of a hill so getting to their house or school takes me 1-2 minutes by cycle.

Tim had a job interview a couple days ago.  He said so many people applied that they might call for 2nd interviews before they pick someone.  Our fingers are crossed for that.  It's good pay and is related to coordinating/teaching first aid... pretty much what he has already done for free the last few years.

Tim and I are planning on going to Camden Town tomorrow.  It's a huge market on the canal in North London.  It has some really unique stores as well as the regular retro or handmade stuff on sale.  I'm looking for something for the naked hooks on our flat wall.  It's kind of similar to Portobello Rd. if anyone has seen "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," but much bigger and more elaborate.

I'm planning on nannying and volunteering for St John Ambulance for the next 2 years until I can apply to Greenwich University for my paramedic science foundation degree.  It's a 3 year degree, but you spend half of year 2 and 3 being paid for actually working in the field to get experience.  It's a rigorous schedule, but afterward I can be eligible to work for the NHS (National Health Service) as a paramedic.  I'm hoping my volunteering with SJA will help me get in and get a job.  I have to wait 2 years, though, because that's how long I have to live here before I am not counted as an "international student" having to pay over twice as much money as national students in student fees.  I plan on calling the university just to ask and make sure probably next week.

So that's us.  Oh, and Yasmin is just fine.  We go on normal dog walks when I take her with me to meet or pick up someone at our local train station, she still loves her Christmas present even though he is now missing an eye.  We call him Rudolph Cyclops now.  She loves going to Roehampton for our Thursday LINKS meetings 'cause it means she will get tons of extra attention and tummy rubs.  (She's allowed out of harness once she gets there)