My beef!

I have a beef!

That's right, and I don't whinge a lot on this blog, so you are just gonna have to let me get on with it. Although I could say it's more a unanswered question than a genuine beef. But anyway, if someone out there can correct or inform me, I will be only too grateful!

My mother, as you probably know, is out here on vacation from the UK. And she had to get some currency changed when she arrived. We found a foreign exchange store at the airport when we went to collect her, but due to excitement and the hour and a half wait for her to get through customs, we forgot to go there.

So, plan B was to try and find the closest foreign exchange to where we stay. Easier said than done!
We tried our bank....they couldn't help us, and didn't even know where to go either.
Then I googled it, and saw that a hotel close to us exchanged currencies. I thought it a bit odd that a hotel would do that, but hope prevailed, and off we went.
No, they couldn't help us either!

Well, back to google I went, and this time I found another bank who said they could change currency. So off we went once again, and this time the nice lady said, "Why, sure we can help you!" I almost jumped over the counter and kissed her.
But, good thing I didn't, as her very next sentence was..."You do need an account at this bank of course...."
Last I checked , my British mother, and first time visitor to America didn't have an account here!
Apparently, by now, the nice lady could see the frustration plastered all over my face, and gave me a brochure of all the foreign exchange centres in Houston. There were three. That's right...three!!

Now firstly, I couldn't believe that in the whole of Houston, there are only three places one can change currency, and secondly, why-oh-why are they all in downtown Houston? Surely they must be all over the place?

Apparently not!

So, after all that, it was back to the airport we go! (I was not ready to deal with downtown traffic, highway changes and GPS malfunctions just yet!!)

And that, dear friends, is the end of my sad saga! Although it did have a happy ending...my mother did manage to change her money, and I conquered my first highway expedition.
So I suppose, all's well, that end's well!

Wheels!

I am mobile once again......what joy!!!

I collected my car on Saturday, and let dear husband drive it home (alright.....I haven't had the courage to drive on the Interstate yet!!). But once we were home, I took it out for a spin, and it is lovely. Truly!!

And what space!! For those of you who remember me riding around Johannesburg in my green Mazda Midge a.k.a "the little green bomb", then you will appreciate how spacious this car really is. I feel like the Captain of the Starship Enterprise.....(I know, I DO need to get out more!)

My kids think it's "so cool", and all the space to move is really fun, and the fact that they have a choice of chairs is such a novelty!

Our only dilemma, is the fact that since the acquisition of the new car, our garage seems to have shrunk. No kidding!!

We have since learned how to become contortionists. As you can tell from the way we climb and bend our way in and out of the cars, once they are parked side by side in the garage. I have decided that the trick is to do it on an empty stomach. And forget trying to do it in a lady-like fashion...it's NOT gonna happen!

But who cares??? I'm on the move...I have a car!

Moonstruck??

Image by auburnxc via Flickr

My mother and I have spent the most part of yesterday and today pondering the latest efforts by NASA to blow up the moon. Well...okay.....so they weren't really trying to blow it up. But when they tell me they are sending a rocket that weighs 2.2 tons into the surface of the moon, it sounds to me like they are gonna blow it up!

We did laugh about this, whilst drinking our 3rd cup of tea for the day. C'mon....this is serious tea drinking conversation here!!! We asked questions like........have we not caused enough damage down here, without starting to blow things up, up there? Have they not seen enough apocalyptic-Hollywood-blockbuster movies riddled with special effects, to maybe even wonder if bombing the moon would be a good idea or not? Will the moon really spin out of orbit and wreak havoc on our tides and seas? Should we have another cup of tea? (Like I said.....serious questions!!!)

Anyway, as it turns out, all of our concerns proved unfounded. (Well as far as they've told us anyhow!)
The earth is still turning, the tides are still.......er....um....tiding, and the moon is still hanging beautifully in the sky! I prefer it that way! It works!

Our first visitor!

Its safe to say that the longest I have ever waited for someone to come through customs at the airport was yesterday.....an hour and a half to be precise!

We were at the Houston Airport to fetch my mother from the UK. She's here on a 6 week holiday. And it's her first time to the US. So we were pretty excited to be collecting her. And aside from the long wait at the airport, she arrived safe & sound.

The kids were so excited to see her, they spent the afternoon making welcome posters to hold for her as she came through the airport. And they started off waving those posters around very enthusiastically! However, as we waited.....and waited....AND waited, they kinda lost their focus, and ended up counting the luggage trolleys instead!

Nevertheless, we are all happy to have family visiting, and I am counting the sleeps till I collect my car.......5 more to go!!

Another bonus, is the gift of British chocolate my mother brought with her....Galaxy AND Cadbury's........now that's chocolate!!!

Friday update

Don't cha just love Fridays?

I do! The knowledge that I don't have to get up before the sun, two days full of non-weekday-activities....heaven!

It's been a rather busy two days, well considering my life is pretty uneventful, any activity out of the norm is a BIG OCCASION!! For starters, Thursday was my birthday, and dear hubby decided to take the day off and took me out for breakfast and a movie. Good start!!

Then I asked him if we could stop off at a store I had been wanting to check out for a while. It's called Michaels and it's a craft store....my idea of a shopping sanctuary! Being an artsy-crafty person, there's nothing I love more, than to browse through an arts or crafts store, whilst drooling at the endless things I could create! And this is just that kind of place. Scrap booking, beads and jewellery making, art stuff, knitting, framing, decoupage......name a craft, and they have it! I only managed to check out about a third of the store really well before reality caught up with us, and we had to dash off to fetch the kids when they came off the school bus. But the little time I had there was enough to permanently etch itself in my memory....I'll be back!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with extra tuition for Kellan, and then Open House at the kids school. That's where the kids show us all the work they've done so far, and take us around their class and school.

Then this morning I had my first experience of doing school volunteering duty. This basically entailed helping the teacher with group reading , and then doing odd jobs around the class that freed him up to do more productive things....like teaching!! Was an educational experience for me, seeing how they do things in the school, and I really enjoyed it.

Another milestone crossed today, is that Andrew got his Texas drivers license. Woohoo!! Now I just have to get mine..... But that's a blog for another day!!