Settling

The Brits do seem to love a good big box store. They'd lay an egg if Target hopped the pond. On Friday I went to the brand new Costco that is much closer to the house than those in Reading or Croydon, and it was busy as a bed of fire ants that's just been run over by a lawnmower. 

I'm convinced it's the samples of food that lure them in droves. You just don't get anything gratis over here like you do in the US. No chips and salsa at the local Tex-Mex place. No bread and butter at the local steakhouse. No peanuts to be cracked and then shells thrown on the floor. You're lucky to get a pitcher of free tap water rather than the bottled still you have to pay for.

Despite the masses, I had a great time cruising up and down every aisle taking in their offerings. I scored some American brownie mix and US sized paper towels. It's a good thing we brought over storage shelves to set up in the garage to store bulk goodies.

I've got an appointment to get my hair coloured in a couple days and the ladies know how important it is to establish service at a local salon. Nothing drags down your self esteem like long gray roots. And my new Precor elliptical will be delivered tomorrow, hallelujah. I joined a local low rent gym and hate it, all of the young 20 somethings and cheap cardio machines. I'll be happy to get back to my usual cardio workouts in the privacy of my own home. I just hope the delivery and set-up guys don't have a problem wrestling it to the top floor (3rd if you're from the US, but 2nd if you're local). 

Stillllllll no danged debit card for me and it's driving me nuts. First it got stalled because they didn't have a copy of my UK visa. Then it was decided I need to cough up proof I actually live at this address with my husband. Alas, my name isn't on any of the utilities and so I've put in a call to the bank rep to see how this can be handled. I've become the queen of cash at the local ATM, paying practically everything in bills like a mafia wife. I had to switch over to a bigger wallet to accommodate my wad of dead presidents queens.

So yeah, slowly but surely we're getting everything fixed and settled. I'm expecting the last of the furniture in a few weeks, so I'll have to post pics of the house once everything gets here. We're expecting our first house guests in December, so I believe we'll be ready for them by then.