American's Really ARE Wimps!

You know how Europeans always say Americans are pussies for playing American football instead of the much more violent rugby? Well, its not just football. I have just been introduced to Motorsport, which makes Nascar racing look like a Sunday drive with Grandpa.

I'll explain this to you, but then I will provide some links to prove it, because I did not actually believe G when he described it to me. I figured he was exaggerating a bit, but he really wasn't. I've just found it on the tv, and I am watching with my mouth hanging open in astonishment.



Motorsport (which seems to also be called Autosport on some sites) is racing, but instead of a nice tame well maintained race track, these psychopaths race through cities and small towns. Right through the twisty turny narrow little streets, with houses and businesses on either side and nothing but a rope to separate the crazy spectators from the "track!" They even race AT NIGHT! This weekend, the "Rally van Haspengouw" is in Landen, and at all hours of the day and night we can hear the sounds, sounds I haven't heard since my childhood trips to Unity raceway. The cars are skidding around impossible turns, wheels locked, pieces at times falling from their cars. Spectators stand by seemingly unafraid as cars fly by at seemingly impossible speeds only a couple of feet away from them. They do, at least, take turns - rather than all the cars hitting the road at once, they have a timed release, and each car takes to the road alone with their time being recorded. Oh hell, someone just rolled over! Why am I watching this madness???

There are several different runs or tracks or whatever they call them set up around Landen, and while the tracks are closed off, the cars (and all the crazy fans intent on mimicking their heros) drive from one run to the next, terrorizing innocent bystanders and nearly running over my poor husband twice on his way to his old apartment. It is simply astonishing to me how dangerous this is, even to ordinary people just trying to go about their lives!

This page shows an advertising poster for the Rally van Haspengouw. The structure in the upper right hand corner is the Landen water tower. A video of last years rally in Landen is here, but it makes it look as though they only race through corn fields, which simply isn't true. This video shows some crashes, and also shows how close the spectators are allowed to be.

G says he has hated this weekend since childhood, and that he's lost a number of family pets to Motorsport! We will definitely be keeping Luna INSIDE on rally weekends! I can think of several family members who are probably saying, "Great, when is the next one, we'll be getting our plane tickets and coming to visit!" And to that I say, your welcome to visit, but you can go and watch this madness ALONE. I am staying inside!

Laundry Baskets and Tortilla Chips

Excellent news! My belongings arrived in Antwerp on the 23rd, and the shipping company has scheduled delivery for next Wednesday, March 3rd, at 8:30 AM!!! It looks like baby won't be sleeping in a laundry basket after all, which is a good thing seeing as we don't own a laundry basket. Things could still get flummoxed up by customs, so keep your fingers crossed! We still have a lot to do to get ready for the baby, but it will be a bit easier having some baby things around!

We have both been extra excited about the baby since we saw the ultrasound on Tuesday. She's so big and so adorable and she looks like she wants to be cuddled! :) I have been daydreaming about little fingers and little toes and raspberries blown onto bellies. And to make me laugh, G suddenly burst into a hopping dance yesterday while singing, "We're having a baby, We're having a baby!" LOL A couple days ago I was sitting at the table with my head in my hands, making my cheeks puffier than usual, and G said, "When you sit like that, Luna looks just like you!"

Sunday is G's birthday, and I am sad to report I have not managed to get him a present. Its a bit hard with my immobility, and the only stores I ever visit he is with me. He says me being here is present enough, but I so wish I could think of something. :( I can't even bake him a cake because our oven is so screwed up.

In other news, I am desperately craving spicy food. Tex-Mex in particular. A great big taco salad from Pedro O'Hara's, a pile of tortilla chips, warm from the oven and dipped in Sisters Salsa, a big messy chicken taco. Siiiigh. I have not seen any tortillas here, and I saw one jar of a rather pathetic looking salsa. Yes, I can cook, but the ingredients seem to be a bit scarce. G says there are Mexican restaurants in the bigger cities, so I guess I'll just have to wait until I can travel to some bigger cities. Wow, I feel like such a bitch for complaining about the food right now, because G is out on his bicycle going to the grocery store and it has just started POURING rain. :(

She's Pretty Even When She Pouts

This is the beautiful Luna Doris at 34 weeks. I know, I know, on first glance its 2 pictures of blobs. But look for a few minutes, all of a sudden her face emerges. Both images are extreme closeups of her face. That round light spot in the middle is her little nose, and to the right of the nose are her eyes, which are closed. To the left are her pouty little lips, and the largest light spot is one of her chubby little cheeks. We had trouble at first, too, but once we figured out what was what, we were mesmerized. We watched her pout her little lips and her adorable little chubby cheeks move. She let us get a good look, and then turned her face towards my back as hough to say, "Alright, that's enough."

She is 5.2 pounds and 16 inches long so far, which is quite normal sized. Her hobbies include staying up all night and kickboxing... on mommy's ribs. The doctor says everything looks good so far. Three weeks until "full term," and six weeks until my due date on April 5th! I cannot wait to kiss those little cheeks!



In other news, G and I have been sick for the last few days with some sort of stomach bug. G has had it worse than me, probably because he has been unable to stay home from work or take a break, where I spend most of my time sleeping. We're amusing ourselves by whining in tandem. We have been eating a whole hell of a lot of soup and sandwiches and apples (which for some reason taste great to both of us right now). I will report that packaged soup here (its packed in tetra paks rather than cans and is not condensed) is WAY better than at home. I am not a huge soup fan, but I've been surprised. We had carrot pumpkin soup with mini pork meatballs the other day, it was delicious. Right now I am eating some sort of vegetable soup with vermicelli noodles. Also quite tasty. Much better than that slimy yellow ooze we Americans call chicken soup and force feed to sick people!

We have been keeping busy, or at least G has. :) I left the house on Saturday when we took a cab to the grocery store, but it was a rushed trip because the cab company was very busy. Today we took a cab to the Landen station, a train to Sint Truiden, a cab to the hospital, and a cab back to the Sint Truiden station, but we were unable to get a cab back home from the Landen station so I had to walk. It sucked, a lot, I am pathetically immobile these days. G has been busy working, and when he is not working at his job, he has been working at his old apartment, which has to be cleaned out and fully painted by the end of the month. He's hating every second of that, and its an uphill battle, but hopefully he can get it done so we don't end up having to pay a bunch of fees.

We still have not seen the policeman, but G went on Monday to meet with the woman at city hall, who went ahead and processed some of my paperwork. I now have a national number, which is what I will need for insurance, but I cannot be issued my identity card until the policeman comes, so I have no proof of my national number. We are awaiting a return call from the benefits people at G's job to see if they can begin the insurance yet. The whole thing is a confusing mess if you ask me, and I am not certain I have all the details right. The short version is: still no insurance!

Still Existing!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I simply haven't had anything to say. We went out to the hardware store on Monday, which is literally within sight of our house, and I had Braxton Hicks contractions the whole time, making it a miserable experience for me. I haven't dared venture out again since. When you never leave the house, there isn't much to talk about.

Many of you wrote to ask about the train crash on Monday. G was lucky enough to have the day off, but yes, the commuter train that was involved was one he could have potentially been working on. He still hasn't heard if he knew anyone on the trains or not. I cried to see the wreckage, and am so grateful he was not among it. My heart goes out to the families of those killed and injured.

We still have not seen the policeman, who needs to come to the house to check that I live here before I can be issued my permanent identity card. Until I have that permanent card, I cannot get health insurance and we can't get any of the married benefits G is entitled to through work. G went yesterday to city hall to inquire yet again, and learned that the policeman is on holiday. The woman who had assisted us before told him to come back Monday morning and she will try to figure out a way to help us.

We had a rare few hours of sun yesterday. I spent some time sitting at the table in our backyard enjoying the nice weather. One of the two cats we see regularly in the yard made an appearance, and with some cajoling, even came close enough to rub against my legs. It was nice, I miss my cat very much!

Our Snowy Valentine's Day

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. We did absolutely nothing. :P We had discussed maybe going to Brussels to an international bookstore, because G had noticed I am already down to only 2 books (make that 1 and a half after the long bath I took this morning). But when we got up today it was snowing, and as the morning progressed it only fell heavier and heavier. We knew the trains would be a mess of delays, plus we'd get wet walking around Brussels. So we decided to stay in.

I made pancakes for breakfast and we used some of the sacred maple syrup (you can't get it here, so we try to be very sparing with it). It was an adventure trying to make pancakes from scratch using only my one very large metric measuring cup - the smallest measurement on it is like 100 grams, and I needed to measure like 10 grams of baking soda... So there was lots of guesstimation. But they were edible (delicious if you ask G, but he's a pancake newb so you can't trust his opinion!).

After breakfast, I took a bath and G went to the bakery to get some rolls for us to have with the stew I made for lunch. I stayed in the bath so long he made it home from the bakery before I was out. :D We had beef stew for lunch - I made it last night. Its funny that we chose beef stew as our special occasion food, but the beef is so expensive that it really is something we can only have now and then. That was one thing I had cooked for him while he was in Maine that he was eager to eat again, so I made some. It was good, different than usual since so many of the ingredients were a little different, but still very tasty. We both ate so much stew and crusty rolls that we were stuffed, so after lunch we lolled around on the couch.

We just laid around talking for hours this afternoon, and then we dozed off waiting for the ice cream truck to arrive. We were starting to doubt she was coming, thinking she was perhaps scared off by the snow, but she eventually arrived and we both got ooey gooey sundaes. I was able to do about half my order in Dutch, but he had to help me with the nuts and whipped cream. :D After ice cream, it was hours more of lolling on the couch giggling and talking and daydreaming about the baby and reflecting on our year.

It was one year ago, almost to the day, that we met face to face for the first time! Its astonishing to both of us how much has happened in this past year. We went from shy strangers taking a carriage ride around Boston Common to married parents-to-be living in Belgium in 12 short months. We both agreed that while we have no regrets, we never meant for things to happen this fast. We both are kind of shocked at how completely our lives have changed. We've decided that it was meant to be, and we're happy - but I think we are both hoping that life slows down a bit in the year to come!

Little Victory

We had the second childbirth class today. G thought I should go, he is worried we will miss something we should have learned, so I agreed. After all, at least it gets me out of the house! We learned the third type of breathing, and looked at pictures of the baby's position during each stage of labor. Next time (the week after next), we will go to the delivery room and practice pushing apparently. G said he could practice fainting at the same time, but our teacher has no personality, so she was not amused.

After the class, we stopped in to the obstetrician's office to see about getting me an appointment because I suspect another bladder infection (I have already had 2 this pregnancy). They actually took me right in, did a quick ultrasound, a swab, and then sent me to the lab for a urinalysis. The ultrasound showed Luna to be doing well, and I am not at all dilated and have no signs of preterm labor. She went ahead and started me on antibiotics, and is supposed to call tomorrow. Unlike at home, where they leave the room while you undress and then give you something to cover yourself with, here there was a little changing room in the exam room and I was sent in to undress and then had to walk back to the table sans pants. :S Was a bit awkward. Also, G was in the room the whole time. Normally my instinct would be to kick him out during any exam involving stirrups, but I figured we both need to get used to it prior to delivery, so he stayed. He did just fine. :) The only image she printed from the ultrasound was one of my non-dilated cervix, so I didn't bother to keep it.

My big excitement came this afternoon after G had left for work. Every day, once in the late afternoon and once around 8 or 8:30, I have to hear the ice cream truck making its rounds. I begin salivating like one of Pavlov's puppies, but I haven't dared order without G home. But today I did it! I ordered ice cream in Dutch all by myself! And the ice cream lady doesn't speak any English, so the only help I got from her was with the flavor of ice cream, which she remembered from the last time we ordered. But I told her how much I wanted and even said please and thank you! I was rewarded with yummy ice cream. :P Yes, I am kind of ridiculously proud, but little victories!

I've said it before, but again, thank you all for reading. It seems like every day I hear of more people who have been following my blog, and I am so happy your all here! Keep the comments and emails coming, they are like little packages from home!

I'm Allowed to Whine Just a Little, Right?

Just a quick post to say that 32 weeks pregnant is quite enough pregnant! Not that I want her to come early, of course not, but I am getting seriously uncomfortable and this kinda sucks. Was in pain all night last night, a combination of backaches and an obstinate baby who is determined to stretch out to her full height whether there is room in there or not. And today, anytime I am on my feet for more than five minutes I get those Braxton Hicks contractions, which don't hurt, but are definitely uncomfortable. And I am out of breath constantly, even repositioning my bulk on the couch steals my breath. I feel like Jabba the Hut!

I'm also getting REALLY nervous that I won't have insurance in time for delivery. The policeman who has to verify my residency still has not come. G called the town hall Friday and spoke to the woman we had met previously (the one who is also pregnant), and she said she would call him again, but still nothing. Medical care is definitely cheaper here, but nonetheless, having to pay for the entire hospital stay out of pocket could be financially debilitating.

Keep your fingers crossed that she adjusts to her new cramped quarters and stays in there, at least until we have the insurance straightened out!

Furnishings and Frosty Evenings

G was off from work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and was working hard all weekend. We now have a lovely wardrobe and a dresser, though he says he will never buy that type of furniture again. I unpacked my clothes today, so no more living out of suitcases for me!

We visited his mom on Saturday, which was nice. She offered us an extra coffee table she had, and even found a neighbor to deliver it to our house. We arrived at her house, which is a short walk away, just in time to meet the ice cream truck!



The ice cream truck starts running early in the year here, and ice cream lady is a hard worker - she goes by our house twice a day, including one trip after dark! Much different from at home. And she has REAL ice cream, unlike the ice cream truck at home which has a whole bunch of frozen Mickey Mouse or Spongebob Squarepants shaped confections. We had ice cream on Sunday, too.

Sunday evening, G turned on the water in the kitchen to wash some dishes, and even after waiting the required 5 minutes, it was still not hot. He went and checked, and the boiler had shut off. He managed to get it going again, but a few minutes later it had shut off again. We called the plumber, but of course he didn't answer his phone at 8:30 on a Sunday night, so we were without heat last night. It was this morning before we were able to get ahold of him, and it was 11:30 by the time he arrived. It had gotten down to 14 degrees Celsius (about 57 degrees F) in here, which was uncomfortable, but nothing compared to the long power outages when I lived in Harpswell! According to the plumber, the boiler can be expected to act up like this anytime the seasons change. :( The plumber got it going again, but the manufacturer is supposed to be sending someone within the next few days to fine tune it, apparently it is running rough. We don't like this boiler system!

Miss Luna seems to be doing well, she's still very active. This evening I was having what I am guessing were Braxton Hicks contractions - totally painless, but my belly would get very hard for a few minutes at a time. I was on my feet for too long, cooking and doing dishes and laundry. Once I sat down to rest they went away. I wouldn't have even noticed them if I hadn't JUST read about them on the What To Expect site this morning. I have been feeling well for the most part, though I have started getting some pretty major backaches, and sleeping gets more and more difficult.

I cooked sausages for dinner this evening, and after eating I cooked the filling for stuffed peppers for tomorrow. We're eating well around here! G says he's been bragging about my cooking to his co-workers. :D

Even Breathing is Expensive!

This morning we had our first childbirth class. We really had no clue what we were getting into at all, we just kinda went to find out. We got up at 5:30 and I am happy to report I had no trouble with the walk to the station. As before, we took a cab from the Sint Truiden station to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital and went to check in, where we were charged 40 euro for the day's class! Worse still, they told us that the 40 euro was only the up front portion, and that the remainder of the cost would be billed to us! We have no idea how much it will be overall. This would be covered if I had insurance, but I still do not, so we're paying completely out of pocket. We both sort of looked at each other, but we handed over the money.

I was looking forward to meeting other couples, even if they were Dutch speaking. No such luck. We had unwittingly signed up for PRIVATE classes. In fact, its unclear if they even offer group classes like we have in the states. It was just the two of us in a little room with the teacher, who spoke lousy English. Yes, yes, I realize she has no responsibility to speak English, as this is her country not mine, but we were already feeling pretty cheated by the high cost, so the fact that we both had to constantly help her translate seemed unfair. Further, I didn't care for her much. She didn't seem to have much of a personality, and I felt like I'd been called into the principal's office the whole time.

We travelled all the way to Sint Truiden and payed a ton of money for a half an hour of "instruction." I didn't learn anything I hadn't learned from watching movies and reading books. It was as you'd expect, deep breathing and then the little "hee hee hee hee" sort of breaths, all while sitting on a big blue exercise ball. Literally all she taught me were the three stages of labor, which I knew, and two of the three types of breathing I will use. And I had to provide her with the vocabulary for her to "teach" me with. The only new information we received was instructions on when exactly to come to the hospital. If before 37 weeks, anytime I feel painful contractions I am to come immediately, after 37 weeks, I can wait until said painful contractions are five minutes apart. If I lose my mucous plug, I can wait until contractions start, if I see blood I come immediately, if my water breaks, I have one to two hours before I need to go. Aren't I a good little student? I didn't even need to take notes. Seeing as we're quite a ways from the hospital and I will have to call a taxi and wait for it to arrive to take me to the hospital, I can't really follow those instructions anyway. Waiting to call a taxi until my contractions are 5 minutes apart could be a very bad plan!

I am supposed to go again next Thursday morning, and again a week or two later, for three classes total. We have to pay the 40 euro every time, not to mention the cost of getting there. Money is really tight for us right now, and I am not sure I will go back. Seems like I could learn this stuff on the internet for free! We haven't decided for sure yet.

When we left for the station this morning it was sprinkling rain lightly, but when we started the walk home, an usually bright and warm light was coming from this strange glowing disk in the sky. We were unable to identify the celestial object, having not seen it for so long, but we nonetheless enjoyed the warmth it emitted.

I had mentioned to G that I have been craving French fries all week, so he decided to treat me. He got me tucked in for a nap and then went to town and brought home roasted chicken breasts and pommes frites (fries), along with the regular groceries. We enjoyed a tasty lunch of chicken, fries, and salad before he left for work, and I even have leftovers come dinnertime! I plan on making homemade pasta sauce tonight, but I'll be doing that while munching on fries! We can't afford to do things like that very often, but it felt extra special because of it. For those of you that don't know it, Belgium is famous for its pomme frites, and they really do live up to the hype. If you don't believe me, come have a taste!

I also wanted to mention that my bath this morning was utter bliss! Yay water pressure and hot water!!

Plumb Crazy

Before we began calling plumbers, G called the rental agency and asked them what he needed to do. They instructed him to get a plumber to come and provide a written estimate, which could then be submitted to the landlord for approval. We tried several plumbers, but only one bothered to answer his phone, the rest didn't even have answering systems. So yesterday morning, a plumber arrived. He inspected things and told us the entire faucet needed to be replaced, which we expected. G called the landlord, and since the plumber knew her, he spoke to her directly. The plumber left, with plans to meet with the landlord at 1 PM so she could choose a faucet. We were already daydreaming about a hot bath by sundown.

Then all hell broke loose.

The rental company called to chew G out, claiming that our lease specifies we were supposed to use a specific plumber. G was mystified, and pointed out that he had called to get instructions, but the woman at the rental company claimed that nobody there had spoken to him and nobody could have told him to call a plumber and then get an estimate. G hung up and went to grab the lease, only to discover that it does NOT in fact say we have to use a specific plumber for water issues - we just have to use a certain plumber for boiler maintenance. He called the rental company back to point that out, and got an apology - apparently they had figured out who he had spoken to previously and she had admitted to having given out the faulty info. G further pointed out that we DID call this specific plumber, but he never answered our calls.

A short while later, the doorbell rings. Its the landlady and her husband, all in a tizzy because we had called the wrong plumber. Apparently the one we had finally gotten to come out once overcharged them and blah blah blah. All we wanted was some damned hot water. They were here forever, and although I hadn't the slightest clue what was being said, I did figure out it might be a blessing that the landlord doesn't speak English because I won't have to listen to her. They told us they would call their plumber of choice and make sure he called us back, and then they finally went away.

A couple hours later, said plumber called us back and set up an appointment for today at 11. He was on time, and took only a short time to determine the faucet needed replacing. He indicated he would have to go to Sint Truiden to buy said faucet, and asked if he could come back later in the afternoon. G said that he had to leave for work, and that I did not speak Dutch. The guy said he didn't care if I spoke Dutch, he just needed someone to let him in. We agreed, because we really wanted that faucet.

Hours and hours passed, my entire afternoon spent anxiously peeking out the window to see if he might have arrived. I was desperate for a bath, having not gotten one yesterday because of the plumber coming. But I dared not take one, because I figured the second I got undressed the doorbell would ring. Finally, when he had not arrived by 4:30, I crouched on my knees beside the bathtub to wash my hair, then proceeded to remove one section of clothing at a time to wash at the sink. I do NOT recommend this method of washing when you're 7 and a half months pregnant. Highly uncomfortable. But after awhile I had washed everything. I waited a bit longer, and when it was nearly 5, I gave up and put in some laundry.

At 5, I started a video chat with my family. My mother and I chatted for a bit, and then, sure enough, the damned plumber arrived at 5:30!

I opened the door and let him in, smiling and nodding, expecting him to go on about his business. After all, he knew I didn't speak Dutch. I turned from the door to find him in the hall, holding a faucet and staring at me. I stared back, smiling like a moron. This went on for a good thirty seconds before I realized he seemed to be waiting for some instruction. I said, "I don't speak Dutch." He goes, "Ohhhhhhh." It was only at this point that I realized this was NOT the same guy, and did not in fact resemble the guy from the morning at all! Not only had the plumber sent a lackey, but he hadn't even bothered to let the guy know I didn't speak Dutch! The poor guy did not speak English, either, and he ended up having to play charades with me before I realized he needed to be shown to the garage to shut off the water. I showed him to the garage, and then he returned to the kitchen and continued to stand there looking at me, holding this damned faucet. Finally he gestures to the faucet and then points upwards with a questioning look. I realized he had no idea where the bathroom was! I showed him to the bathroom, and couldn't even apologize for the lack of light on the stairs and in the hall. He must of thought I was very rude to not even turn on the lights! I gave him the note I had asked G to write, which basically said that if he had any problems he could call my husband at work, and left him to it.

In the end we did get a new faucet, and the water pressure is much better now! Not sure if the water will be warmer or not, we'll see. I suspect that plumber is hoping he is never sent back here!

I had a nice visit with my grandmother and my aunt through video chat. Miss you guys!!!

Ain't No Sunshine

It has continued to snow off and on for three days, with grey grey skies. Still hasn't amounted to much by a New Englander's standards, but it sure is miserable to look at. Other than a brief walk around the neighborhood yesterday afternoon, I haven't left the house in days. My spirits are low and I am not especially pleasant to be around.

I am endlessly frustrated with my inability to do, well, most anything. Between my extreme foreign-ness which is like a cultural handicap and my extreme pregnant-ness, which is like a physical handicap, I feel completely useless most of the time. I knew things would be rough at first as I got used to things, and I knew everything would get more difficult as my size increased, but it turns out that the two factors stacked together sincerely suck.

I had hoped to find refuge in the kitchen over the next months, but it has proven to be far less comforting than usual. Even once I learned how to turn on the appliances, they continue to be the bane of my existence, particularly the oven and stove top, neither of which work properly. Our oven doesn't heat correctly, you have to turn it up very high to use it, and its impossible to determine the exact temperature. We haven't found an oven thermometer in the shops yet. So my dreams of baking cakes and cookies to feed G's sweet tooth are dashed - you can't bake when you don't know the temp. The stove top takes FOREVER to heat up, and boiling water can take ages. Plus, we have only one pot and one pan right now, which means I frequently have to stop and clean one or the other in the middle of cooking. I still haven't a clue what ingredients are available here and what aren't, so I am never quite sure what to put on the grocery list or what meals to plan. I am also continually amazed by how expensive everything is, and I worry continuously about choosing ingredients that will be too expensive.

Today I just told G to pick up whatever meat he thought looked good and I'd cook it. Somehow. He brought home two hamburgers and a cube steak, I guess he was in a beef mood. I made the hamburgers into salisbury steaks of sorts, with a mushroom gravy. I made mashed potatoes, and added nutmeg like they do in Belgium, and when they were finished I cleaned the pan and started the frozen green beans cooking. It was around this time that I realized time was up, G had to leave for work and the food was not finished. Even though it was a pretty simple meal, it took forever to cook, far longer than it should have, and time had gotten away from me. He had to go to work without lunch. :( He was a good sport about it, but I felt like such a failure. The one thing I was confident I could do once I got here, feed us, is seeming beyond my abilities.

As most of you have heard, shipping my belongings here was astonishingly expensive, and they won't arrive for 6 to 8 weeks. After the first estimates I got, I had to go through and reduce my already meager belongings by half. What is coming is mostly kitchen stuff and baby stuff at this point. I authorized a charge of just over $3000 before leaving home, and then a few days ago I got an email from the shipping company letting me know they were "slightly off" in their estimate. The man they sent to peruse my belongings had estimated a thousand pounds, and it turns out he was off by nearly a third - I had 1300 pounds. So I of course had to shell out another nearly $500, what choice did I have at that point? My contact at the shipping company tells me the boat is scheduled to arrive at the end of February, but we will see. In the meantime I will grumble about my ill-equipped kitchen, and I will arrange the nursery only in my imagination. Our child is due in 62 days, and the only baby items in the house are a baby blanket I squeezed into my luggage and some adorable puppet washcloths G bought for her the other day. All I can do is hope that my things arrive and that they arrive in one piece. And that they arrive BEFORE the baby does!

I want to thank those of you who have posted comments or have sent me email after reading my blog! Its really nice to hear from home. Please keep it up!

The plumber still hasn't come - apparently the 2 inches of snow on Saturday were too much for him to handle. Keep your fingers crossed that he arrives tomorrow like he is supposed to!