"I'm not random, you just can't think as fast as me." :)

I don't have much to write about today so I figured I would just share some more random bits & bobs about life here in England. :)

*The weather. British people love to talk about the weather and I have no idea why. It's no good! I don't think it's actually as bad as they often make it out to be, however, at times it's pretty close. Yes it rains a lot here. Yes it's cloudy a lot here. From my experience, British "summer" lasts for about 3-5 days sometime in mid July. For a solid week it's in the high 90's and extremely humid. No homes have air conditioning so for that week we all suffer and sit in front of a fan! We keep the windows open but there isn't much of a breeze on those days. It's pretty miserable. Side note about the windows...none of them have screens here. You can't really get a tan here because the sun isn't strong enough. You might get some colour but for those of you that know me and how I tan, yeah it doesn't work for me here. I'm pale and ghostly right now! HA! People still always mention how brown I am but I promise them that this is my natural skin and my Hawaiian tan is long gone! The average temperature lately has been about 70-74 degrees (F). They measure everything in Celsius but that's just weird to me, especially when using the oven! It's been partly cloudy on most days but today it's pretty much going to continue raining until tomorrow. At night the temperature drops to the low to mid 50's. It's not ideal but it's not Antarctica either!

*An interesting British phrase that I forgot to mention in a previous blog post is "Bob's your uncle." It basically means that you're done with following a set of directions. It was on a cooking show the other day. "Put the chicken in the pan, put the pan in the oven, and Bob's your uncle!" I'm not sure I'll pick up on this one! It kind of goes into the same category as "y'all" for me. Not going to happen! :)

*Cheese. Someone needs to inform the UK that there are other forms of cheese other than cheddar! It's really almost impossible to find anything other. I did find some mozzarella and one time I even saw monterey jack but that was rare and it wasn't there the last time I checked!

*For those of you that have travelled abroad, you are aware that the electrical outlets are completely different. I have a ton of converters that I use for lots of things. When I first started travelling here, I bought a cheap blow-dryer and straightener to use to save room in my bags every time I come. Also, the very first time I came here to visit, I blew out my chi hair straightener. Those things aren't cheap! Anyway, I am trying to get to the fact that there are no electrical outlets of any kind in any bathroom in all of the UK. Not allowed. This is not my favourite thing. A lot of people use a "dressing table" aka vanity table in another room. I really would love to have one of these because it's weird to not be able to do my hair in the bathroom in the morning! I have to plug my straightener in and have it sit on the floor, which actually doesn't seem safe compared to sitting on a bathroom counter. Bathrooms here don't have counters either. Most have pedestal sinks. Bathrooms really have no storage of any kind. Someone also needs to inform the UK that counters are useful in the bathroom!

*In my post about school I forgot to mention that there is absolutely ZERO parking for parents. Teachers have to use a code to enter through the gate in the parking lot. It will be interesting to see how this works. I'm not sure parents are able to come for lunch. I do know that the new head teacher wants to encourage more parent involvement but I guess they all have to walk if they are interested. That's how all the kids get to school in the morning anyway. It's just different!

*Thank goodness that there is a Zulily UK website! I LOVE shopping there! :)

*Monday is Haydn's mum's birthday. We will go visit her in the hospital on Sunday. No change really in her status. Recovery is just slow but at least it's all been positive so far!

No blogging for me this weekend. We are getting ready to move in 1 week and are so far from being ready!! We are going to be busy, busy, busy! I hope you all have a great weekend! :)