Tuesday, December 30, 2008
As promised. Here is the new site: http://www.americanmomabroad.com.Sorry it took so long.
flickr
Sorry it took so long.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
It’s easy to go on about your day... get up... head into work... go about your day... come home... spend time with family... then repeat the next day. But one day just a couple weeks ago, there was something that touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes as I stood waiting for the morning train to work. It was the story of a courageous and tortured boy that is lovingly known as Baby P.He died at 17 months at the hands of his incompetent mother, Tracey Connolly, and her sadistic boyfriend, Steven Barker, and paedophile lodger, Jason Owen. (By the way, I’m naming them, as I found their names on the internet... They should NOT be given the chance at anonymity for their safety) They repeatedly tortured the boy until one final blow to the head finally killed him. The most heartbreaking part of the story is that social services, police and doctors had 60 chances to remove him from the situation, but failed to do so. All the stories are here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/baby-p/
This particular story hits close to home as every day just seeing my little one brings an instant smile to my face. It baffles me how anyone could not such an innocent and loving child. But also, it makes you wonder... as one person, what can you do to prevent such things? Realistically, the world can be cruel and this will happen again to another child. But as a society who’s managed to do amazing things in the world, how can we not prevent a child (any child) from suffering as much as Baby P did? What can we do? Where do we start?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
My family stepped aboard a plane and left the States behind for D's home country. It's been a great adventure so far, including difficult adjustment and headaches. I haven't been able to keep anyone updated because we have had spotty internet connection, and it took nearly three weeks for me to get a proper computer at work.But alas, here I am today. Some bullet point high&low lights:
- I'm taking public transportation to work! And that takes me 1.5 hrs each direction to go 20 miles. It's not the walk or the train... it's the frickin' shuttle bus from the train station to the office that takes 45 minutes!
- The food is not as bad as most people think! I've been having great food, but that's probably because not much as changed. D still does all the shopping and cooking!
- Family is nice to have around. We've had non-stop visitors since we've arrived. D's brother is particularly glad that he's home and has been coming around a lot since we've been here.
- Soaps are on in the evening. And omigawd, I'm completely addicted. And it's not like the soap operas in the States - these people aren't more pretty and well-off than the people watching it. Some are quite unattractive and most of the time it brings a cheer to your life that your life isn't as bad as theirs!
- There's a lack of customer service here. Unfortunately, unlike the States, raising a fuss for being wronged by a company only causes you more despair and heartache. We signed up for a home telephone service and spent an hour with a customer service rep providing all the information. On the day the service was to be turned on, found out that they had no record of us or our order. The process was repeated all over again and another 5 days later, we finally had a phone.
That's it for now... Hopefully, the internet connection at home will be coming online soon, and I can finally upload the new blog.
Friday, September 12, 2008
I haven't completely forgotten about blogging... I'm just working on a new one. And it's taking a lot longer than I thought. Trust me, there's a reason for another new one....!Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Damn you, Megan, for making me addicted. That's all I have to say about that.Thursday, August 14, 2008
I paid 3.96 for gas today!!!!! Kinda sad when that's made me so happy, huh?Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Hours in a day, that is... Between chores, work, appointments, meetings, grocery shopping, prepping baby bottles for the following day... there is simply not enough time. This is the first time I've had a chance to blog since I returned to the Empire.But I guess the point of it all is taking it in stride. There is a new appreciation for sitting in rush-hour traffic. It is no longer a nuisance but rather a chance to decompress from a busy day of adult decisions, conversations and meetings into a playful and cheerful human being happy to be home to family. Today, I needed the extra fifteen minutes in traffic to shake off the last of the bad vibes from work.
With the lack of time, I've become more creative with my responsibilities... like laundry. A load goes in first thing in the morning before I get in the car to go into work... and it's moved into the dryer before I walk in to relieve D of the little one. After she's down for the night, the dried laundry is hung and put away.
It's nice to be on a consistent schedule. But, the little one does like to mix it up every once in awhile with the 5 a.m. wake-up call. Ahhhh, the little excitements of my life....