Home Sweet Home!

We have gotten settled into our new home and I thought I would give you all a "tour!" We are really happy here and it feels more and more like home every day.

We are fortunate enough to have an end unit, so we have a bigger garden area and also side access from the front of the house to the back.

This is the front of our town home! As you can see, our neighbors are pretty close, but they are a freestanding home. Our neighborhood consists of homes, town homes and apartments. On a side note, our neighborhood backs up the the National Bike Network and we have access to miles and miles of mountain bike/running trails!



Next, is a picture of the back of our house. It is referred to here as a "garden." It's really just a bunch of pete-gravel and a deck, but we like it! It also has a water fountain that we have yet to try out because of the freezing temperatures, but when spring comes round, you know Dave will be tinkering with it!



Here are some more shots of the garden/deck:





At least we don't have any mowing to do! Haha!

Next is our first floor. It consists of our laundry/mud room, a full bathroom, a bedroom/office and storage. Here are a couple views:





Family room:



Family room, view two:



Next is our office/3rd bedroom. We ended up purchasing a new bed while over here because Dave didn't fit well into the British queen size. So we bought a king (which, as I said before, seems very small compared to an American king-size, but who's counting!). So we put the original bed from the master in the office and moved the extra couch from the office upstairs.

So who's ready to book a stay at Casa de Anderson!?!!



Next is the kitchen - I promise I will take another view for you because this just doesn't do it justice!



Master bedroom:








Upstairs hall from master:



Guestroom:

29 on the 29th!

Dave celebrated his 29th birthday while on a business trip in Barnoldswick! I went along with him of course! After a long day at the office, and me doing a little shopping in the quaint town of Skipton, Dave had already scoped out a French restaurant he wanted to try for his birthday! Unfortunately, due to the fact that nothing stays open past 4:30pm anywhere in this country, the restaurant was CLOSED! Much to our astonishment, we did find a restaurant open - an American style pizzeria and bistro. While not what we had hoped, it more than sufficed! So, here is my hubby, getting ready to eat his "American" style birthday burger in England. Happy Birthday sweetie! (Note: no one else is in the restaurant!!)

First British Snow!

Thanksgiving Dinner - Anderson Party of 2!

Ah, Thanksgiving! It is one of my most favorite holidays of the entire year! Despite the fact that we are also attending a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, we still wanted to give thanks just the two of us. And...what kind of Americans would we be if we didn't celebrate it on the actual day!!?!

Planning what we wanted was easy - turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, etc. It was actually finding these items that was the difficult part! Turkey over here is customarily eaten on Christmas, so the local grocery stores carried little, if any kind of turkey. I still haven't found any stores that carry turkey deli meat! Anyway, after venturing to a couple different grocery stores, searching all of the fresh meat aisles - Dave stumbled upon a pre-stuffed turkey breast! It was the very last one and.....we got a Dave deal because it was on sale! Next were the potatoes - probably one of the easiest things to find in any store. We knew we wouldn't have enough turkey juice to make gravy, so we - sorry Mom - settled for the packet of gravy mix. Not bad I have to say, but definitely not Mom's! The green beans were a snap however, it was the condensed cream of mushroom soup that caused me the most trouble! There has to be a million kinds of mushroom soup here, just not condensed. I searched.....and searched....and searched. And finally....searched some more! Then.....on the bottom shelf, next to some weird looking can of beans - there it was!! I was then on the hunt for the French's fried onions for the topping of the casserole! This was even more daunting than finding condensed cream of mushroom soup! Finally, Dave - ready to go by this time - asked a store employee. The guy's face was priceless! He said - "American are you?" with his thick British accent! Dave said "yes," to which the store employee replied, "Oh, so you're celebrating the American Thanksgiving?" To which I immediately replied in my head - what other American Thanksgiving is there?! (Pics to follow)

Three weeks and counting!

Thank you for visiting our blog! We are finally set up with internet and....I've finally finished designing our blog, so, without further ado - here we are! I apologize for being three weeks late, however, I am picky when it comes to the design and also, the whole internet thing! Again, thank you so much for reading up on our new life over here in England.

So, we have some major news....it is with great excitement and elation that I inform you that we have purchased a FREEZER! Yes, it is the size of my college refrigerator, but certainly beats the 5 inch x 10 inch freezer we have in our current "refrigerator." I will never understand, by the way, why the English continue to use such small refrigerators and why they feel ice is an unnecessary accoutrement. Something to strive to discover, I guess. Anyway, we are currently cooking a masterpiece - lamb shanks and potatoes - smells heavenly! We have staved off our hunger pangs for the moment with some fresh haggis and baguettes. Very delightful once you get over the fact it's sheep stomach and.....well, lets just say miscellaneous other internal organs.

We are excited for the soon to be aired Colts game on our handy dandy sling-box! Go Horse! It is small little things like this that make us appreciate technology and well....being American. It's so funny how much we stick out - even at Costco! We are always asked if we are "American." I really don't mind it though, because I am proud to be an American. However, it is the opinion of the Brits that concerns me. Some are very friendly, and some are....well....not. It doesn't bother me, but makes me appreciate home even more.

We are finally all settled into our town-home - we were fortunate enough to have had our liaison for our landlord purchase all of our new dishes, pots and pans and crockery since ours didn't fit into the "amazingly large" freight container RR provided us. No hard feelings though - I am glad we didn't bring our good dishes and it's fun to have something new.

Among other new things, we also purchased a new plasma television - nothing against the provided 1990's box TV with some unknown brand on it, but we were in need of something we could actually....to put it nicely.....see! Fortunately for us, we were given an allowance to purchase some things for the house, and this afforded us the opportunity to peruse the plasma aisle at Costco. Although I would say I'm not a huge TV watcher, I am an avid fan of "background noise" - especially when cooking, cleaning or.....blogging! Just another touch to make us feel more at home. Another thing we purchased was a British "King size" bed! I really don't know how we made....excuse me, Dave made it....sleeping in such a small British "Queen size" bed for the past three weeks! The British Queen, I am pretty sure (without measuring) is the American version of a full-size bed. So the thought of a 6'6 tall man scrunching into a full size bed is well...hysterical! We are just thankful that IKEA is so close!

We miss you all very much and hope everyone has a great Sunday!