Everydaystranger

I remember seeing a TV show once – I can’t remember which one it was – but it was set on a Caribbean island with the threat of an oncoming hurricane. Said hurricane was blustery, tragic, and very dangerous. The islanders, in the move that was either a pure myth or an act [...]

That, I’m afraid, is where Helen is right now (as some of you may already know). She’s okay, if by “okay” you mean “laid up with hydronephrosis secondary to a kidney infection.” The doctors are weighing whether to do surgery to drain the fluid, but first, that infection has got to go.
The twins [...]

I don’t feel as though I’ve contributed much during my time here (it would have been nice, for example, had I remembered when I agreed to guest-blog for Helen that I was going to be out of town without internet access for a couple of days during the same time she was absent), but luckily [...]

I’m not trying to depress anyone, but I think I might actually buy this book, The World without Us, now that I’ve read the hype in Scientific American and viewed the timeline of what happens to New York City once you vaporize all the people out of it.
I am a fun person to be around! [...]

This was an easy question for me to answer as a child the first time we moved. It stayed manageable the second time. By the third time, however, this started happening:
“Where are you from?”
“New Jersey.”
“You don’t sound like you’re from New Jersey.”
“Well, that’s where I’m from originally. I moved here from San [...]

WAIT! Don’t click off. At least let me say that I understand why you want to. I do!
I’ve been starting my Monday-through-Friday mornings with Helen’s posts for four years now. Everyday Stranger is one of the few blogs I read where I honestly don’t care what its author chooses to write [...]

And now, without further adieu (what does that mean, really? Without further goodbye would be the literal translation, but isn’t that pretty rude? That’s like No I will NOT say excuse me before I leave the table, thank you very much!) we’re off. To Scotland. Again.
Because we like it there.
Actually, Gorby’s [...]

Dog? Check.
House? Check.
Two Cars? Check.
2.5 Kids? Overshot that one, but Check.
Now what’s missing…hm….what could it be…
If you said “Husband”, well, ok maybe you have a point there.
If you said “white picket fence” though, you’ve caught what I was throwing at you.
(I know you might have come here for something angsty or [...]

Scoldy wrote something the other day that got me reminiscing (do you know Scoldy? Shouldn’t you know Scoldy?)
Scoldy is someone who’s spent a lot of time in Dallas, much like I have. I have nothing against Dallas, really-people who read here come from there, I came from there, and a cool chick that [...]

We had a Christening to go to yesterday, one for Sam and Jane (Angus’ brother and his Fillipina wife) and their new son (Angus’ nephew). Jane is very Catholic and their other child, 5 year-old Jilly, was baptized and goes to church and is looking at First Communion coming in a few years’ time. [...]

When Angus and I first started IVF here in the UK it was under something called the egg share program. Egg share is maybe hard to understand, but the gist of it is this-in the EU (unlike the U.S.) it’s illegal to buy eggs from a woman, so if you’re a woman who, for [...]

Angus got a new toy.
See, since we

Yesterday was directed like a Robert Altman film. One continuous shot as the trippy dippy lead character (me) went about her daily grind. Maybe you can picture it-panning from the warehouse where the scene dressings are stored, as I walk along a path dodging golf carts. Script boys run between sets and [...]

A cool mum-to-be I know sent me the following email, which I think was appropriate enough to include here:
Rules of Pregnancy
1. The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is “Congratulations” with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you a jerk.
2. Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies [...]

We think the nationality issue has been sorted now – thanks to those who offered links and advice, we read them religiously, and although we’re still looking for official comment from Border and Immigration Control, we’re much calmer about the issue that the babies will be American and British at birth. We’re also pleased [...]

Throughout all the baby talks, decisions, arguments, stresses, and choices, one thing has been 100% crystal clear to Angus and I – the babies, when they are born, will immediately be registered as American citizens by myself and British citizens by him. This is a point of non-negotiation for both of us. Our [...]

Last night the boy really pulled out all the stops.
I got home and was greeted by the dog, who generally finds it’s his main purpose in life to:
1) Hate the postman
2) Bark at thunder
3) Greet anyone entering the house (us, friends, burglars) with a wag of the tail before retiring back to his bed in [...]

Although I left America 8 years ago, there are some days where I get a bit warped around the edges, where I am not quite the color I should be – I fade a bit, and get a little more introspective (as if that’s possible). I think about my home country a lot on [...]

Slight diversion while I try to get my head round the baby suggestions yesterday-a lot of them were very good, many of the products I can’t get here but am looking at alternates, and although I can’t find Boppys here, I bought myself a poseur Boppy wanna-be today, mostly because my hips are screaming in [...]

Thanks for the many comments on Friday. I may (regularly) feel like I’m losing my mind, and it’s nice to know that if I do, I’ll be taking a lot of you down with me.
So I’ve been emailing back and forth with Statia about a few things, and one of her emails started off [...]