Yesterday was our first full day in England. The day started out rough but ended on a great note with a delicious dinner Mat made for us.
The first night did not go so well with the time change for Mat or Paige. Mathew and I on the other had slept well. We placed the kids in bed around 8:30pm. Mat went to check on the kids and found them watching a movie on Paige's IPod in her bed. At about 9:30, Mat and I headed to bed for the night. I was falling asleep on the couch and he was tired as well. I went to tuck both kids in and found Mathew in his bed uncovered and Paige still awake. She had moved him to his bed so that he would sleep. I told her it was time for lights out and headed off to bed with a kiss. Once I laid down in my bed, Mat was wide awake. He had went from tired to wide awake with things running through his mind. Tomorrow was going to be his first day at work and he was a bit nervous because of the unknown as well as everything that needed to be done the next day and weeks to come. I quickly fell asleep but was awoken by Paige who needed help finding the light to the bathroom. She looked as if she had not slept yet and so I crawled in bed with her until she fell asleep. Once she was asleep I slipped quietly out of her room and into my bed. But guess who was still WIDE AWAKE. Mat! He was trying to ask me questions and talk to me about the week to come and what we needed to do as well as things that he needed to get done. OH MY GOODNESS... all I wanted to do was sleep. I did not want to think about the plans for the next day. I knew that we had a lot to do and most of the things fell on his shoulders but how were we going to accomplish anything without sleep? I kept telling him... shut off your brain and go to sleep... but it was hard for him. Finally he did.
I felt like we had been asleep for five minutes and his alarm goes off. Sleeping through it, he turned it off and fell back to sleep... suddenly I felt him jump up... he looked at the clock and it was after 8:30. He was supposed to be at work by 9am and had to walk there due to us not having a car to drive yet. We were scouring around looking for socks and his belt. He was ready in 15 minutes but it was a rush and not the way he wanted to start out his time here! While he was gone, I searched for houses to visit and areas around here. We made what we could for lunch since we had not been able to go to the grocery store yet.
Once Mat arrived home from work, he had cell phones for us to use during out time here! WOO HOO! The only problem is that I do not know many people here in England so who am I going to need to call? Our Data plan is 1 GB per month so Mobile Data is turned off on both of the phones so that we do not go over that. But other than that we have the new Galaxy IIIS phones with unlimited talk and text. Now to get a case and cover for it so it stays pretty!
The next goal was to set out on foot to the commissary. We needed to get something so we could eat dinner breakfast and lunch for the next few days. We arrived at the commissary after a 5-10 minute walk and walked inside. HOLLYYYY GUACAMOLE! The commissary was very small with not so many choices. Luckily most of our favourites are there but not all and when you find things you like, they are more expensive. BRING ON THE COUPONS! Steaks are not cheap at all. Many things in there were frosted. And finding things again is not easy! But it is quiet with not some many people around base which is nice and we did not have to wait in a line. But the other kicker is that they close at 6pm! We were kicked out of there before we could get everything we needed. Luckily we had most of the items we did need.
Mat cooked us a delicious meal starting with cut tomatoes with Feta cheese on top. The main course was spaghetti with Mushrooms and Italian sausage. After not having much to eat the last few days, that hit the spot!
Bed time was not as great as the first night as I think our bodies have adjusted now. The kids did not go to bed until after 10 and Mat and I finally made it to bed around 12. This is normal for me but not for him. Luckily we did not have to be up super early in the morning so we could sleep in a bit. Mathew woke up first and then Mat and I got up before Paige was awake. We ate our breakfast and got started on our missions for the day. Get a Car and Find a House!
Mat contacted the rental car guy and came home with a stinky dinged up little car... LOL. I am not sure who or what was in it last but it stunk like wet dog and dirty people. But it drove and that is all that mattered at the moment. Goal one done!
Find a house. We started by calling around trying to see if the houses were available that we saw on the internet. Many had not been taken off the rental list but were indeed rented. Strange! The first house we visited was an old English house... it was in a great location with the town close by. It looked at though the house was more in the country than it really was. The trees and bushes were terribly overgrown and needed to be trimmed back. We waited for the neighbour to arrive to show us the house. When she came down the gravel path, she greeted us with a warm smile and a great English hello. I love the accent here! She opened the door and allowed us to tour the house on our own. The smell was of an older house that had sat empty for quite a while. Rooms were dark and small downstairs with many confusing little areas. There was no spot for the refrigerator so it was placed in the area the washer and dryer would be. There was no room for our furniture in the downstairs. We would have had to get all new living room furniture in order to accommodate these rooms. The upstairs was decent with good size bedrooms and a bathroom. There was a room Mathew loved that had a little room hooked to it that would have been a great room for his toys. The outside was nice with many places for the kids to explore. There was an area that looked like an old pond had been and several trellises that had vines that had been climbing over them. The grass was really tall and probably had not been cut in weeks. Overall it was a bit run down and a bit more upkeep than what we wanted for our home.
We called around to find another house in the area and many of the houses we had on our list had already rented! Finally we found one that had not rented and so we headed there. We had to drive through some of the little towns in order to get there and that was scary! I did not like that drive at all. We have to yield to many people who had parked on the road and the cars in the other lane. The towns are cute but I would rather walk to them than drive through them.
The second house we looked at we LOVED!( The Listing , Better Photos ) The only downfall is that it does not have land. But the house is unreal. It is a 5 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms. It has 4 bedrooms upstairs and one bedroom downstairs. The four bedrooms upstairs are a decent size for the kids rooms. One has a bathroom attached while the other 3 do not. The 5th bedroom downstairs has lots of closet space for our things with built in cupboards. It also has a winding staircase in the room that goes up to the first floor where there is a private bathroom and closet! The living room is huge. Plenty of space for our couch to fit in there as well as many other furniture pieces. Our couch might even look small in that room! It also has a gas fireplace which will make it more cozy during the winter months. There is also an office space as well as a dinning room connected to the kitchen and not in another room that we would have to carry food to all the time. That is a plus! There is a lot of natural sunlight coming through the windows and skylights on the upper level. It feels very open with the very tall ceilings on the main level and first floor. The backward is a deck that they recently powerwashed that will look great with our grill and some seating outside. There is an apple tree that is comes right up to the back patio that would be great to harvest and snack on. There are also some berry bushes that line the property as well. There is also a conservatory that would make a great place for gathering. Now onto another part of this property, the annex. The annex is currently being used by an older gentleman, but it contains a living space, a full kitchen, a bathroom and bedroom. The Landlord has said that she has told him that he may have to move out if a tenant decides they want to rent the house. I would be okay with him there if I knew anything about him but with the kids there, we do not feel safe. We do not know him from anyone and if we are sharing such a close residence then I would not be comfortable with him there. The lady that owns it is great!! A nice English lady that has a 13 yr old that has a horse... she told Paige that she would take her up there sometime to visit the horse for a free ride. This could work! It has 5 bedrooms and 2 baths. It used to be an old hall that was converted into a house so it is pretty open with lots of natural light. Not a great amount of land but I think the house makes up for it. She was ok with us making it our own and putting some paint on the walls, pulling some of the flower bushes from the front (They were full of bees and you know how my family is with bee allergies!)
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