Grandad, we got the Hawthorn DVD!

Unique Australian goodies

What goodies would you miss from Australia if you moved away? Whilst we can readily source tim tams and vegemite there are a few lesser known items that we really would like to be able to buy here. When Andrew travelled back to Oz he picked up a number of things we've missed including: mint slices, chocolate montes, gravox, dettol, milo, violet crumbles, SM33 teething gel (no colours or flavours), nurofen gel and dunlopillo pillows. Thanks to Rhonda for the Haighs chocolate.

At www.simplyaustralian.com we can source many things of these things at a slightly higher price. But sending chocolate biscuits through the mail between June and October is not a good thing. Also the cost of the meat pies and sausage rolls is prohibitive!

It's been a while...

but did anyone notice I was missing in action? The truth is that I am tired of blogging. I know that when you tire of London you tire of life but what does it mean to tire of writing trivial comments on the internet? The content is out there but the time and motivation are lacking. If I'm going to blog I want to do it well. But is it better to churn out sub-prime content for the sake of being out there and keeping a record of our life in the US? Not sure the answer to this so we'll see how things pan out. I invite readers to make comments! Offers for babysitting greatly appreciated.

Andrew was back in Oz for a week and has been working hard back here so I have gone 10 days straight as a single parent. And today he can't drop Lu off at day care. So much for having a quiet day at home doing my tax return.

In Andrew's absence we had a few playdates (Rory, Ava and Julian), read many many books and spent lots of time outside playing in the sandpit. We got the fence installed (hooray!), hosted bible study, and kept the house very tidy.

On the fun side Andrew had a very nice surprise coming home to Wilmington as Lucy and I met him at the airport with a home-made sign. And when Lucy spotted him in the crowd at the airport she ignored the 'do not enter' sign and ran half way down the corridor to greet him with a big hug. I waited until he got into the foyer before giving him a big hug!

Not sure if things will get back to normal anytime soon but 'product of the week' will return tomorrow.

The glass is half full

I've had a few comments lately that life in Sydney can be routine, mundane and just not interesting enough to write about. Not true!! Sydney is an awesome city. I used to write a little known blog about Sydney, the regular everyday goings on whilst working in a regular every day job living a normal everyday life. And I reckon it was a more interesting blog than this American one. The trick is to look at the world with different eyes, to take on the attitude that life is exciting and to see the beauty around you in everyday things. Life here for us has settled down into 'normalness' yet there are still good things to blog about. Of course I don't blog about the traffic jams, cleaning the floor under Lucy's high chair three times a day or what I had for lunch (because no one really cares anyway!) but I do look out for the quirky and interesting. And Sydney has plenty of that! Check out the link if you have run out of ideas for your blog. [I haven't read this book but the author is an excellent blog writer]

On a different note altogether I noticed that the in-store cafe at Walmart is called 'Blimpies'! Is this meant to attract customers or describe them?

Australian Correspondence

One of the great things about living here in the US is getting emails from friends. When living in Sydney it felt kind of funny sending emails to friends close by as really you should catch up face to face or give them a call. With everyones busyness this sadly doesn't happen as much as we would like. However being here is the great excuse for email correspondence and I thank everyone who has been sending them through and updating us about what is happening in their lives and in Sydney. And by the way Lucy says hi to Sean and Jackson.

In limbo

We are still here in Sydney (just!) and we are running around doing lots of last minute things. We haven't spent much time in Cronulla nor have we had time to walk across the Harbour Bridge but time marches on. Dreading the plane trip but looking forward to the destination. Here we go...

Moving Eve

It's the night before the removalists arrive. It is 11:14pm and the fact that I am blogging means that the computers are still online and therefore not ready to move! The simple fact is that we have too much stuff and it is not very well organised (particularly by one member of our family!)

We have found several interesting/unusual things whilst cleaning out including 8 empty bottles of algae killer in the pool shed (apparently it is standard practice to just throw them back into the shed instead of recycling them), a blue plastic lizard which was Andrew's first geocaching discovery, several bottles of Noble One (2000 vintage) which incidently were excellent and many many negatives and photos. Thankfully digital images are a lot easier to manage than photo albums so we shouldn't have this problem going forward

We are looking forward to putting all of this behind us but its important to remember that life is lived in the details. As I've quoted before "Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." [Bueller, Ferris Bueller]

33 bottles of wine + 15 days left = grandad's cellar

28 bottles of wine + 19 days left = no driving

25 days to go...

It's not long to go now and there's SOOOOO much to do. It's much worse than waiting for labour to start. I think moving countries on a temporary basis has to be one of the most stressful things you can inflict upon yourself. So whilst we are looking forward to being in the US, we are disliking being in limbo. Its much like an engagement. Lots of stress, lots of busyness up until the point of marriage. Then there is another sort of adjustment to go through but its nothing like that interim period of mania working towards that one day.

Here are some countdown stats:

• 1 house to tidy up and rent out
• 2 weeks of craft group
• 3 weeks of bible study
• 4 sleeps until Andrew heads over to the US
• 5 suitcases to pack
• 11 sleeps until Andrew returns to Australia
• 16 sleeps until Adam & Sarah's wedding
• 18 sleeps until we move out of Sutherland
• 25 sleeps until takeoff when we leave these shores

Andrew is being locked in the garage tomorrow and he will only be allowed out when he's sorted out all of the junk in there. Then he has to do the junk room (now being referred to as the 'store room' for rental purposes), then put a wall in front of the pizza oven etc etc The list is endless.

There is no excitement yet...(but we are hanging in there because it will hit soon)

Excess Material Possessions

It's only when you need to move house do you realise how much stuff you have. We have boxes that moved from our unit to the house that have never been opened. We have been ruthlessly cleaning things out. All the uni and PY notes have been thrown away (recycled), many electronic components have been gotten rid of via a clean up campaign and lots of clothes have gone to the opportunity shop.

We have a couple of things we are looking to lend out. If you'd like to borrow them for a couple of years let us know: 2 floral lounges with an ottoman and a pool table.

We also have 2 old desks free for the taking. Both are brown, one has a book shelf hutch.

Welcome!

A first blog post is always full of exciting possibilities. There is one month, three weeks and 4 days until we fly over to the US. There is much to be done here in Sydney before that happens. join us on this journey into territories unknown.