I love advent because the 4 week countdown builds up the anticipation of Christmas. I fear without advent, the surprise of Christmas actually arriving would jump out from behind a corner and bite my bottom. The expresson on the face of the person who is making sure a little child doesn't start his or her clothes on fire as a shaky hand with a flame ( Read more... )

I voted nearly a month ago, and I am very excited to hear all of the election news (being one of the few who don't listen to any commercials or other advertisements on the subject). All of the journalism related to the election has been interesting ( Read more... )

I was a little nervous about spending halloween alone at home. I am not unsettled about anything in particular, but just have a nervous twitch attributed to a combination of the cold air, frozen ground, wandering around people wearing funny and scary costumes, and the occasional knocking on the door ( Read more... )

I brought Nick on a romantic date to a men's gymnastics event. He missed an England football game against Kazackstan to come, too ( Read more... )

Background information ( Read more... )

I think our next big house improvement will be to get a coal/wood burning stove for our fireplace. This would include removing the gas fire (it didn't work when we moved in), and knocking a whole into our wall where the fire place and chimney has been closed. Cleaning the chimney and then having someone install the stove and the pipe out through ( Read more... )

There are so many pleasures in life, and one of them that I always enjoy is afternoon snack time. What could be more joyful than coming home to rumage through the cupboards to see what is hidden behind each door? Today, door number one had small packages of doritos! Door number 2 had a store-bought chocolate cookie! Door number 3 had a homemade ( Read more... )

As migrants to other countries often face moments of humiliation, I have just humbled myself by booking into a mandatory test that will determine my knowledge of the national propaganda, history, culture, laws and language of the country that I live in. What a stupid concept designed by politicians to earn money and win votes ( Read more... )

Journeys across the Atlantic always seem long regardless of the time it really takes to fly over while making sure to surveying the glaciers for signs of global warming. This time, I also had the special privilege of riding next to blanket boy on the plane. He rode the entire way without ever leaving his seat and spent most of the time with his ( Read more... )

I spent a day in hospital yesterday. After my cough had not gone away for 3 weeks, and after having a lot of trouble breathing, and after keeping both me and Nick awake all night coughing and trying to suck in air, Nick volunteered to walk me to the doctor on Monday morning. The doctor told me to call Nick back and have Nick bring me to the ( Read more... )