Post by UnderProtest on Jun 13, 2015 16:25:57 GMT -5
Magnolia is another good restaurant downtown. And check out the fall home tour. The Preservation Society puts it on every year. You can tour about 8 different private homes per day and it is amazing to see the houses people actually live in.
Post by UnderProtest on Jun 13, 2015 16:09:20 GMT -5
I think ours was around 10-12k but we didn't really move any plumbing and didn't replace the toilet or the bathtub. I can't remember if that included the vanity or not (that would be an extra 2k). So it was demo'ing the shower, vanity, tile floor, and removing old vanity. Tiling floor, walls (wainscoting with subway tile), and shower. Replacing vanity, installing new light sconces (kept original overhead lighting), new medicine cabinets. Measuring and installing frameless glass shower doors and new faucets. I think it was a month or so. It was really just a pick me up on the original bathroom fixtures.
Are you talking about the cotton circle/square pads? They call them cotton wool here (despite having no wool in them). I got some at Sainsburys or Boots, I can't remember which.
Peanut sauce. I have searched high and low. I can't find peanut flour to make my own either.
Sport bras that are worth a damn. They sell sport bras here, but none that you could actually run in. (And I'm not even gifted in that area.)
Eye makeup remover pads.
Decent quality bicycle pumps.
Are you talking about the cotton circle/square pads? They call them cotton wool here (despite having no wool in them). I got some at Sainsburys or Boots, I can't remember which.
Post by UnderProtest on Jun 1, 2015 17:10:11 GMT -5
I totally understand the Disney hate. I have no interest in going or having anything to do with it. I feel the same way about cruises. I just don't get it. And yet we are going on a Disney cruise this summer. Wtf were we thinking?
If anyone in London knows of a good place to get hot wings, let me know. Although the pubs here are so much better than in Canada, I do miss 10¢ wings and beer.
My husband eats the wings at Nandos. He also is saddened by the lack of hot wings. It is on his list of things to eat when we visit the US this fall.
Supposedly they do have Benadryl here which is the same as a lot of sleep aids. I haven't looked for it though. And although I do have my Nyquil imported they do have OTC cold medicines with codeine here. That can be fun.
I can't remember what I miss. I know I haven't seen large boxes of baking soda or vinegar but I haven't looked in Asian markets. I found malt vinegar online. Press n' Seal isn't popular here, but apparently it isn't popular in a lot of the US. My lovely MIL sent me that for Christmas. I miss knowing how to do things and where to find things.
Yes, sometimes I find that annoying as well. Like, trying to find rubbing alcohol was difficult because it's called something different. Surgical Spirit, I think. Nobody knew wtf I was on about lol.
I do have a British nanny friend who often translates for me. Apparently she watches even crappy American tv to know what I am talking about.
Didn't I tell you? The cleaner came today so it is as disinfected as possible. Unless my husband comes down with it you should be safe. The kids can't have picked up another bug from school yet.
I thought you meant another round was going 'round right now. I can't keep track anymore!
Still? Again? I don't know. This time it was a stomach bug that hit my son, then my daughter, then me. So much laundry!!!!
OMG, woman! Do I need to avoid you for another week? I hope this clears up soon and that you then have like a five-year run with no illness. You guys have had a brutal time lately!
Didn't I tell you? The cleaner came today so it is as disinfected as possible. Unless my husband comes down with it you should be safe. The kids can't have picked up another bug from school yet.
Post by UnderProtest on Jun 1, 2015 11:37:22 GMT -5
The kids and I are averaging about once a year. My husband has been back to the US a couple times for work (because he is still a US employee and has to go back for trainings and conferences). I think we will be going again this fall, but since it isn't fun to travel with the kids, we will go for quite awhile. We have gone (and will go) on other vacations in the interim.
Post by UnderProtest on Jun 1, 2015 11:31:34 GMT -5
The cleaner did come today. Although I thought he was coming next week. I swear I have lost my mind. Hopefully everything is disinfected. Although my brilliant husband drank out of a water bottle that he had given our daughter right after she got sick. Dude, don't expect ANY sympathy out of me now.
@foodielicious It is all new illnesses.
raangoli I hope so too. I am so tired of people going out and socializing or taking their kids to school when they are sick. I know who we got the chicken pox and stomach bug from (luckily not the same people or they would be completely banned).
OH! That's one that I can't find! OTC sleep aids. I bring boxes of Zzz-quil tablets back from the US. I Love the Zzz-quil because it's not habit forming and doesn't make you feel like death in the morning.
I also bring Nyquil back. Screw these tablets that supposedly treat your symptoms so you can sleep. If I'm sick, I want to be knocked out until I'm better lol.
Supposedly they do have Benadryl here which is the same as a lot of sleep aids. I haven't looked for it though. And although I do have my Nyquil imported they do have OTC cold medicines with codeine here. That can be fun.
I can't remember what I miss. I know I haven't seen large boxes of baking soda or vinegar but I haven't looked in Asian markets. I found malt vinegar online. Press n' Seal isn't popular here, but apparently it isn't popular in a lot of the US. My lovely MIL sent me that for Christmas. I miss knowing how to do things and where to find things.
Ha, this is why I haven't bothered. Even the Music Together class required me to find another adult to help.
How old are your kids now? I started Music Together with my 3 kids when J was 28 mos and the girls were 6.5 mos. I had my mom come with me for the first two sessions. We are on our third now and I am taking all 3 by myself. J will be 3 Saturday and the girls are 14 mos. It's one of the few activities where I feel ok taking all 3 by myself because it's ok for them to run around etc. And doesn't require they sit still like library story time or something.
As for swim lessons, J is in them now but we are waiting a bit for the girls. We want to get to the point where J can do them on his own and then H and I will do them with the girls, probably starting in the next 6 mos or so.
They were just under 1 when I started taking them. They had to be in the older kids class but weren't yet fully walking. I think a lot of it was to do with the teacher we had. She wasn't particularly helpful and there was a ton of up and down.
Oh dear. They screwed up on our bills so it is all messed up. I think it is about 2000-2200 GBP per term (so 6000-6600) per year. I'm sure there are cheaper but we are lucky that my husband's company picks up some of the cost.
That's useful to know. For one kid, that actually sounds like a steal to me. But then we are in the SF Bay Area currently where daycare is 2k/month or nannies are 3k/month so that is certainly a factor.
I had also looked at tuition for the American School in London and, YIKES.
So this is the tuition for nursery school which is just 4 hours a day. Sorry, should have clarified it.
UnderProtest, do you mind sharing how much your schooling costs will be then?
Oh dear. They screwed up on our bills so it is all messed up. I think it is about 2000-2200 GBP per term (so 6000-6600) per year. I'm sure there are cheaper but we are lucky that my husband's company picks up some of the cost.
Post by UnderProtest on May 26, 2015 15:29:09 GMT -5
I moved here last year with then 2.5 year old twins. We live in Central London so there have been challenges figuring everything out.
-NHS- I found the NHS to be decent in emergencies but not as great for preventive/well visit type things. I do really like a local NHS doctor but you have to go to one in your area so you are more restricted because of this. Once we got my husband's insurance stuff settled out, we did opt to go to a private doctor. I like them much better for well visits and such.
-Vaccines- I took my kids' vaccine printout from the US pediatrician into the NHS doctor. She was able to determine that the kids needed one more vaccine here (I think timing was different in the US vs here or this is a higher risk area). The US and the UK are pretty close on what vaccines are required though. But get the chicken pox vaccine before you come. The NHS does not give this one.
Schools- We were clueless so we asked a coworker of my husband. He said they hired a school consultant so we did. It was a bit of a waste considering the kids are in nursery school, but it did reinforce the school we were considering is actually a good school. We went the private route though.
Blogs- None that I have found yet. There are a couple Facebook groups but some of them are very anti-American.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I'm not thinking clearly tonight after a day of torture with 3.5 year old twins.
Post by UnderProtest on May 24, 2015 6:18:37 GMT -5
We have/had one and we loved it. I miss it so much (we didn't bring it when we temporarily moved to the UK). I can't wait to have it back. We had a queen mattress with the two air chambers, but not one that moved. It was worth it to me.
Post by UnderProtest on May 23, 2015 5:39:14 GMT -5
Honestly it took more than I expected to convince us to move here (London). When I was young and first out of college, I wanted to do an international assignment, but as I got older, married, and we had kids, it seemed like a very daunting idea. For my husband, it was all about career progression. He never wanted to do an international assignment, not because it might be a financial loss, but because it generally derails your promotion schedule. When this opportunity came up, it came with the promise of a promotion so that was ideal for him. For me (with two small children and me being a stay at home mom), it was more about financial matters and the small details. For a lot of reasons, moving to Asia has not interested me, but Europe has. My husband has no foreign language skills, so an English speaking country was definitely a perk for him. I mistakenly thought it would be easier on us/me to move to a similar culture. I would have considered a more unusual place if the package and experience were interesting to us. Generally those places wouldn't have been a good place for my husband's career so it wasn't even suggested. We were luckily offered a really good assignment package and didn't loss much financially on the move. We chose to live in a non-expat area and our kids go to a British school where none of their classmates are American. It was good timing with the kids because they are just in preschool now so we don't really have to worry about the differences in school systems. Right now I am in a funny place and I'm a bit homesick so I want to go "home" but talk to me in another year or two and I might be itching to go somewhere else.
Post by UnderProtest on May 19, 2015 15:34:28 GMT -5
I'm so tired of all the illness in my house. I want to run far away. Not only does my son have pinkeye, but so do my daughter and my husband. Then my daughter got chicken pox, I got some horrible head cold that had me all achy and with a massive headache. Then my husband goes and gets a piece of a leaf or something stuck in his eye, oh yes, the one with pinkeye already. And now I think my daughter has the cold that I have. I don't think Lysol or bleach is strong enough. I think I need to burn the house down with everything in it. My kids are whiny and my husband has been off work for two days so far (it's SERIOUS) if he doesn't work. One kid can't go to school, so I'm constantly surrounded by whiney people!!! Agh. Okay, I'm done now.