Much to our dismay, we discovered that the earliest grocery delivery we could get was the 27th! I guess delivery slots get booked WAY in advance when the holidays draw near. So, we had a three hour grocery shopping trip to prepare for her arrival. Asda seemed more crowded than usual. I tried to convince Clark Kent to buy a beautiful blue fleece robe for £10. He wouldn’t do it – the whole spending extra money thing. I think part of him doesn’t ever want to get a robe because he likes wrapping his brown fleece throw around his shoulders each morning like a cape.

I cleaned up the living room, I’m winding down on the crafting front, and five loads of laundry got done today – because we’re having company for Christmas! For more than an hour I have been carefully compiling lists: an expense list, a Things to Do list, a Things to Bake list, a meal plan. I’ve made up an itinerary and have told Clark Kent that I want to type it up so he can print them out Monday – everyone will have their own copy. I’ve done seemingly endless research on public transportation – the costs, the routes, the timetables, the holiday closures.

I love this kind of stuff. I might pretend like I hate it – like it’s so stressful getting ten different sets of train tickets (which means organizing five different round trip trips), but I thrive on this kind of thing. I like to prepare, I like to plan, I like be in charge, to know what’s going on. I have scheduled watching Pride and Prejudice, baking shortbread, making a craft, and having hot chocolate – among other good things.

In other news – while one load was drying and another load was washing, Clark Kent and I took a short walk to our neighborhood shops and got “take away” Chinese from The Magic Wok. It was our first time dining on Chinese food and we loved it. We especially enjoyed the company of the owner’s four year old daughter while we waited for our order to be prepared. We know she was four because I asked her. ”I’m four. I’m small,” was what she told us.

Unsettledness at 5 months

19 Dec

My morning started off shaky. Shortly before Clark Kent left for work, the library called saying that HR cannot offer me a contract as I am ineligible to work in the country. This news did not sit well with either of us and we went to HR ready for battle at 9 am. I will spare my readership from the details; everything was worked out by 10 am and we breathed a sigh of relief as we left Whiteknights House. And then some more unsettling news hit us: Clark Kent’s pay was considerably lower than we had anticipated it to be this month. After two phone calls with HR and their payroll division, things have been sorted and explained – though the news is not good for us. It seems the tax rate here is just unbelievably unfair and not on the same percentage scale as it is in the US. Today is one of those days where we’re leaning towards the mindset of “let’s get our two years over with and get back to our homeland.” On other days, good days, we have the mindset of “hmmmm, we sure hope they extend your contract to keep us here for an extra year or two.” All we can do is try to spend carefully and try not to worry too much – but that is hard, especially during the holidays with out of town trips already planned (based on what we were pretty certain CK was making – before taxes and National Insurance deductions and pension and blah, blah, blah!).

Though this week has ended with a couple of grim financial revelations, it has been THE best mail week since we’ve arrived. Monday brought a box of Velveeta Shells & Cheese and Reese’s Peanutbutter from Eric and Daphne. It was a little box of America delivered to a grateful, unsuspecting couple. Tuesday brought CK’s National Insurance card (so should he get sick, he can go to a doctor). Wednesday brought a little pot of gold in the form of a letter from Balie. My heart still flutters when I think of her fantastic letter. Yesterday we got a sweet “daughter and son-in-law” Christmas card with lots of sweet homemade bird ornaments tucked away inside. I have ALWAYS loved those relation-specific cards. And today, after we were depressed over lunch thinking how ever could we afford groceries through the entire month of January (as we won’t be paid again until the end of January), I arrived home to find a box FULL of food from Clark Kent’s parents: mac and cheese (but NOT Velveeta Shells & Cheese, Stove Top Stuffing, Slim Jims (those are for CK, of course), and cans of Libby’s. What a sweet, sweet mail week.

Today marks five months. In honor of this small anniversary, I shall leave you with a snippet from our wedding: