Tuesday we turned in the keys to the house. It was strange, wandering through the empty house. What was even more strange, was later walking around downtown, knowing we wouldn't be heading for that particular "home," ever again.

The house had it's quirks, but overall was good to us.

I did something stupid. I accidentally let the movers pack up my computer bag! (I usually use this for my piece of carry on.) Luckily, my computer should fit in Larry's computer bag.

I want to say for the record that iTunes has displeased me and Larry. There are some things we'd like to buy on iTunes UK, but the only way you can do that is if you have a UK bank account. Grr...

On a completely random note (as if the rest weren't already!), the scent of the liquid dish soap here at the apartment is called, "strawberry flame." Is that not the weirdest name for a dish soap scent you've ever heard?

The last couple of days have gone by in a blink and a blur. This morning, Larry's turning in the rental car.

This is our last day here. It's going to be busy both for me and Larry, but I think that's a good thing. Too much free time to sit and fidget and contemplate things wouldn't be healthy.

I plan on one more entry here tonight before we take our leave of Jolly Ol'. 

Thursday night, Ryan told me he wanted a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make him one before leaving for running (with the Harrogate Harriers). So I asked Larry if he could make it. Larry told me he'd never made a grilled cheese sandwich before. (!) So I gave him some quick instructions, and took off. What made it even more interesting, is at that point, our stuff was all packed up. All we had to cook with was a pot! So that's what Larry used.

When I got back from running (which went really well, incidentally), I asked how the sandwich went. Ryan ate the whole thing!

Speaking of running, last week both my sessions with the Harriers went well.

It's the time of year here where it's dark by 5pm. On the bright side, the lights in the Stray are on now. Each tree has a different colored string of lights in it. It's very pretty, and adds a fair amount of cheer.

We've had some issues with water at our self-catering apartment. We hadn't even unloaded the car when a leak sprang out of the kitchen ceiling. The leak stopped, so we went out for dinner and to grab more stuff from the house. When we returned, the entire kitchen floor was soaked! We had to ban Ryan from the kitchen, and wear shoes every time we went in. Fortunately, it was dry by the next day, and we haven't had any more problems with that leak (knock on wood).

We discovered there's a leak in the bathroom, too. After we shower, there's a nice little puddle on the floor. It's not bad enough to worry about, but I do think it's weird that we've had two different water issues here.

Friday night I went to the club on the base with Carissa. That was fun. I'd never gone there before for drinks.

Saturday night, I met up with some of my Harrier friends at a place called The Slug & Lettuce. (If I may quote Carissa, she said, "Who the hell names these pubs? The SLUG and LETTUCE? Gross." LOL!) I've noticed that a lot of places around here are nice cafes during the day, and turn into pubs at night. The Slug is one of these.

Once everyone was there, I was presented with a gift that brought tears to my eyes: a Harrogate Harrier jersey everyone had signed! That is getting framed and will have a special spot on my wall! My friends told me they were trying to get rid of me Thursday so they could all sign it, but I just kept jabbering!

I had a really great night!

Ryan's been doing really well in our temporary place. We've put him to bed, and he's stayed in it, and gone right to sleep. He's slept through the night, too!

Ryan has a new obsession. We kept out some videos we thought he'd want to watch. We introduced him to, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Now all he wants to watch is, "Baby Brown Pumpkin," as he calls it!

Lately we've had some really great weather. It's been sunny yet cool, but not cold. This morning it's back to our normal schedule - gray and misty and cold. That's ok. Last night, Larry was saying this is the time of year to leave. That's so true. Late autumn and winter are usually not fun times here, weather-wise. Even so, I'm still going to miss it, and I'm still sad to be leaving. However, having most of my stuff packed up, and living in a temporary place (with a rental car) is helping me to look forward to going!

Moving is a huge pain in the rear. Larry's done the lion's share of cleaning the house, but we're still left with all these odds and ends I'm not sure what to do with. We've wound up leaving a lot of 220 volt things behind that we just didn't have time to sell (because we needed most of them until right before we left!). We're also having to throw out a lot of food. It's all still good, but most of the people we know are leaving, and who wants stuff like a half empty box of rice?

Yesterday afternoon I got to have lunch at The Nelson Inn. That was nice. One of the ladies there had her 5 year old son there, and he and Ryan played really well together. I was so pleased, because Ryan behaved excellently! I think having another boy to play with (plus a couple very cool toys) was a huge part of that.

It's funny we were at the Nelson, because last year JoAnna and I went there, and wound up walking out! At the time, I didn't know that you order at the bar. We sat there for ages, and no one came over to our table to take our order, so we left! Live and learn. The Nelson has since been refurbished, and I now know how things work! At lunch yesterday, the food was good, and the company even better.  

Today our car will be shipped. Tomorrow we hand over the keys to the house. Larry's busy with all sorts of out-processing stuff. We've got a ton of stuff to box up and mail. I'm hoping to have lunch with two or three more of my friends before we go. Busy!

Belated birthday wishes to Jim! Hope it was great!

Happy birthday Rene!

Happy anniversary, Shawn and Jeremy! Hope you two have a wonderful day!

Much love,

~Holly and Ryan 

The place we're staying has internet! Yay!

This morning when the internet at our house was turned off, I felt like I'd been cut off from the world! All better now.

Actually, our new temporary digs are quite nice. We're staying in a "self-catering apartment" called Ashness. (Once we were checked in, I discovered they had a website. If I had actually visited it, I would have realized a long time ago they had internet, and I wouldn't have had to worry!) We've got a kitchen, living room, one bedroom, one bathroom, and a tiny dinning area. The apartment is fully stocked with flatware, plates, pots, pans, etc. It's right down town, so it's close to everything.

Last night Ryan slept the whole night through (for the first time since the movers came). Yay! And now we're moving out. *sigh* He's generally a good little guy, and adjusts fairly well to things.

We're waiting for the media people to come and get our box (it isn't really cable anymore, is it?). Today and tomorrow will be major cleaning fests.

For a long time now, I've been trying to figure out just how I am going to say goodbye here. I have such mixed feelings about leaving. There are definitely things about living overseas that I won't miss, but those seem so minor compared to the things I will. I'm not sure how to sum up two years in just a few sentences, and really get the experience across. Right now, what I can say, is that I've been incredibly blessed to have gotten to live here. I've gotten to do and see some really great things. Above all though, I've met some wonderful people. They will be what I miss most. 

Tonight will be our last night here. Tomorrow we'll be checking in to our hotel. We lost our internet tomorrow, too, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to check e-mail between tomorrow and when we leave (the 9th).

We are now without a car - well, at least until we pick up the rental tomorrow!

Today I had my going away do at Betty's Tea Room, and the Turkish Baths and Health Spa at Harrogate. Betty's is one of my favorite places, and it was great to be there with some of my favorite people! Many thanks to Sarah for organizing our afternoon, and thank you so much to Joan, Angela, Michelle K., Michelle W., Aimee, Erin, and Sarah's mom, Nora, for coming to Betty's!

After a very enjoyable luncheon, Sarah, Nora, Joan, Aimee, and went on to the baths. (The spa doesn't have its own website, but this page has a nice photo and description: http://www.harrogate.gov.uk/immediacy-1100) I'd never been to anything like it before. As the name infers, the spa is decorated in Turkish style. They do spa treatments there, but we were there for the baths. There is a steam room, a cold plunge pool, and three dry heat chambers of increasing temperature. You do cycles of heat, shower, plunge, as many times as you like, ending with a 20 minute rest. On the above webpage it says, "At the end of the session, many of our clients report a feeling that combines exhilaration, euphoria, total relaxation and absolute cleanliness." Exhilaration, euphoria, and total relaxation. Yep. That about sums it up! 

It's been a bit of a struggle for Ryan - and us! At first I thought he took the move fairly well. When Sarah brought him back from Winkies on Tuesday, Ryan asked for his chair, but was otherwise ok. However, that night he woke up crying three times. Over the last couple of days, he's been very out of sorts. The last night he woke up twice; once at 12:30am, then again at 4am, and was up for over an hour!

Poor little dude.

I'm sure it's tough for him, not truly knowing what's going on. He hasn't been napping, so he's been exhausted, too. Larry got him to nap this afternoon, but not without a lot of unhappiness - for both Larry and Ryan!

Two more nights in the house, then that's that. We're into the hotel until we leave. 

A Harry Halloween, and a blast from the past (Ryan's first Halloween)!

 (Drawing by Venessa http://www.mudblood428.com/index.html)

Here we are, sitting in an empty house! It's surreal.

The movers got here around 8am. I feel sorry for them - they have to make a four hour drive up from Mildenhall to come get our stuff! (Then of course, make that same drive back after packing up all day.)

Things went pretty well. Sarah - bless her! - took Ryan to Winkies, so that made things a lot easier.

The movers were done by a little after 2pm. The only hitch was that someone tracked cat poo into the house. However, it wasn't a lot, and it's been relatively easy to clean up.

It's funny the things you don't think about while packing until it's too late. Some time back, our land lady had an upstairs window replaced. We took down the blinds for the occasion, naturally. However, we never put them back up, because they got in the way of opening the window. I never gave it a second thought until I saw that whole room packed up, and no blinds in sight. Oops. Luckily, I was able to retrieve them!

I wasn't so lucky in Ryan's room, though. I took down the ties that hold the curtains back, because I have that insane mom thing where you're afraid your child will somehow hang himself on something stupid like that. I had the ties set aside, but somehow they managed to wind up inside a bin. I didn't think about it, until that bin was packed up. Oh well. I can always mail it back if my land lady gets upset. (However, I don't think she will.)

It was funny the things the movers packed up, and the things they left out. They packed up a moldy old dish rack (which we were actually going to throw out), and took an instruction sheet that was taped to the top of the dryer (the dryer is staying here). However, they left out a diaper holder that was hanging on the back of Ryan's door, and a lamp shade (I was able to add those items before they were done).

We had two "safe rooms" set up, with all our stuff we didn't want packed. That was handy. Now that the movers are gone, our stuff is leaking back into the rest of the house again.

It occurred to me while watching my stuff get packed up, that you don't realize exactly how dusty and dirty your house is until you move. Without all those pesky possessions in the way, the dust really stands out!

Also, you don't realize how big a part muscle memory plays in your life until your house is turned upside down. I keep looking at the wall where the clock was, somehow expecting it to still be there. It's amazing how much we bumble around the house on auto pilot, simply because things are where we expect them to be. 

So, next up, we're checking into a hotel (well, it's more like a B&B) on Saturday. We'll have our phone on in the house until the 5th, and we do have voice mail. However, if you need to call us, our cell phone would be a better bet. I'm not sure what the internet situation will be at our hotel. We'll have internet at the house until the 5th as well, so at the very least, we'll check our e-mail one more time then.