The world is spinning faster and faster, I think.

Here's some info on the very major things we have happening over the next 5 weeks, a whirlwind of activity that leaves me nervous, breathless, and excited all at once. Yeah-this is one of those This Is My Daily Life posts, as opposed to a These Are My Fucked-Up Feelings post, so bear with the perceived mundane with me.

Angus and I printed out monthly Outlook calendars until the end of December, and we found, sitting there with a red pen, a glass of wine, and some stinky cheese, that nearly every single weekend from here on is taken. First off, Melissa and Jeff arrive tonight to stay with us for 9 days. Angus is really excited and I have to say-I am looking forward to seeing them too. We even have a "just us" day on Wednesday, as Angus has a company function to attend to and so I get them for the evening-oh yes. There are plans. I'm thinking Shark Tales, pizza, and I bought them fizzy Lush bath bombs to try out (hers explodes pink hearts, his a blue fizzy wave).

I'm not yet nervous, but I think maybe that will come.

Next weekend we still have Melissa and Jeff and will be celebrating the thoroughly English holiday of Guy Fawkes' Day down in Brighton. This will be my first Guy Fawkes celebration, but I can assure you-we will be buying fireworks. Guy Fawkes was the man who tried to blow up Parliament, but was caught and executed, so now England celebrates November 5 with fireworks and burning Guy Fawkes effigies.

See? Who says they're repressed here.....

The weekend after that, Angus and I have cheap flights to Palma de Mallorca (when BMI offers you flights for £4 per person each way to destinations all over Europe, you kinda' can't say no).

The middle of November we are moving into our new house, and I have to say-I am pretty excited about that. Larger kitchen, two toilets, larger bedroom and-orgasm of orgasms-a dishwasher. What's not to like (besides the pain and hassle of moving, that is)?

And the weekend after that, we're in Sweden.

That's right.

One month from today on November 29, we will be flying home with my cats.

It's been fraught-all the airlines' web pages are wrong-we booked tickets together assuming we could go and get the cats and bring them back in the cabin. Turns out the UK doesn't allow animals in the cabin unless they're seeing eye dogs, so my beautiful girls will have to go in cargo, for which SAS feels they have the right to charge me 5,000 SEK for (that's nearly £400, or over $700). I am fighting with this, since I not only think it's exorbitant, but their website led me to believe that I could take them in the cabin with me. Had I known they are only allowed to be shipped as freight, Angus and I wouldn't even be going to Stockholm, it would just be arranged for X Partner Unit to drop them off.

There is angry email and letter-writing going on in this house.

Despite that, I am so utterly excited. I imagine you're probably sick of reading about it, but I just ache for my cats. I think of them a thousand times a day. My perfect, wonderful, precious babies, my bitches, my gorgeous cats will be here in one month. Maggie and Mumin-I am dancing with excitement. Soon they'll have the pleasure of meeting Melanie's other baby she sent me.

Here are My Girls:

The weekend after they arrive, Angus and I are off to Amsterdam (remember that BMI deal? Yup. We bought tickets to Amsterdam). And since I am not interviewing, I think I will try a little bit of that space cake, thank you....That, and we get to meet one my oldest friends and her boyfriend for dinner in Amsterdam, so I am looking forward to that.

In the meantime, I am passing time. Thinking of Christmas shopping. Watching the leaves outside the window fall. Autumn is here, and it's here with every foggy, grey, rainy moment possible.

But there is, of course, Halloween. One thing that I just adore about the US and its customs are the holidays. Fall begins the steep slippery slope that is holiday joy-kick it off with Halloween and follow it up with Thanksgiving (which I hold every year), then ice the cake with Christmas and New Years.

I just love Christmas (note to self: must pick up John Denver and the Muppets Christmas CD from Swedish storage while in Stockholm. Am sure Angus won't mind me playing it over and over and over again). Christmas shopping is to be completed by Thanksgiving. Decorations to go up. A Christmas tree to be bought and decorated and cards to be sent out (and this year, we will be sending out joint Christmas cards. Ooooooo....) I love the holidays. I may be jaded and hurt by life, but the little kid in me still gets all whirly and girly over the holidays.

I also have to say-I saw the trailers for Polar Express a few days ago, and when I saw it I felt a wave of stabbing homesickness for the US so terrific it brought tears to my eyes.

Halloween gets celebrated in this house, and in fact the terrace we live in will be having Trick-or-Treating. Our neighbor Sally set it up, and I exclaimed with delight.

"The kids will come round for candy?" I said, happily.

"Sweeties. They'll come round for sweeties. We don't call it candy." She said laughing.

Sorry, but if you're winging bit sugary wrapped goodness into the bottom of a plastic orange jack-o-lantern, it can't be anything other than candy, honey. Really.

I love Halloween and I love the traditions of it. I carve pumpkins every year, and spend time savoring the pumpkin seeds, which I bake and swoon over after torturing my orange gourd. Witness my expert carving and our jack-o-lanterns that I light every night.

And finally, here is me getting into the spirit of things. I bought my witch headband a month ago and have been wearing it, I think, ever since. Angus just rolls his eyes and grins, but I just love giving any little bit of the holidays that I can. I am such a dork. That, and I'm not sure which is scarier-the witches or me with no makeup.

Sometimes, you just don't have to grow up, or if you do, at least you can do so kicking and screaming.

-H.

PS-Yahoo! is fixed again. Our pc was attacked by a Trojan virus and had to be rebuilt. If you'd invited me to be added, all of the cookies, etc were lost, so if you want to ever chat, afraid you have to invite me again, as I have no history in my Yahoo account.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 09:42 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 1174 words, total size 7 kb.

1 yeah on the holidays, yeah for CANDY corn, yeah for sweater weather, yeah for travel (though I am jealous) and yeah for the puter. I'll invite you later tonight if I can figure it out. But if you get MSN I can invite you immediately bises!!!! you and munchkins will be fine too you know. I wish I had a dads step common law wife who bought me things from Lush I LOVE that place. the heart massage bars, slammer shower gel... ahhh must stop or will spend rest of day coveting!

Posted by: stinkerbell at October 29, 2004 11:20 AM (kV0EF)

2 My kids are totally excited about All Hallows Eve and have carved pumpkins and are ready with costumes. I hope you have a lovely time. By the way, and I say this because I care, really, I think Angus will leave you if you play the Muppet cd. Any sane man would, you know. Just saying. You might be better off inflicting that on people at work.

Posted by: RP at October 29, 2004 12:46 PM (LlPKh)

3 Or maybe I can find a way to auto play it, if you load my site. What do you think, RP? Stinkerbell-"dads step common law wife" is perfect. That's the perfect summary. Now if only I can shorten it. Like to "Bob" or something...

Posted by: Helen at October 29, 2004 12:58 PM (DCpYG)

4 First thought those were little christmas trees on your head in that photo. I thought "A little early, but maybe they do things differently there". Then i went back and read what you wrote a little more closely. Ok, so they are witches I guess, but the stars on their pointy hats make them look like christmas witches I always love a good carved pumpkin. Our cafeteria people at work have an annual pumpkin carving contest which usually results in a lot of creative looking pumpkins.

Posted by: Imabug at October 29, 2004 01:46 PM (VzyPX)

5 Remember remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason Should ever be forgot... The first part is pretty catchy, but it's all downhill after that. You'd think some of that ridiculously fabulous ancient English poetry would have been passed down through the bloodlines, but apparently, it skipped a generation or two. A tip for pumpkin carving: Pumpkin Masters patterns and tools. I live by them and I have the best pumpkins every year. I've actually taken to using Funkins (fake, foam, carvable pumpkins) so I don't have to kill myself scraping out gourds that will rot every year. (But then, I hate seeds, so there's no draw to the real ones for me.)

Posted by: Ms. Pants at October 29, 2004 02:04 PM (lVt29)

6 Wow, your kitties are cute!

Posted by: the girl at October 29, 2004 02:30 PM (s67Kt)

7 Oh my God, I am so excited for the holidays as well! I completely understand why, even though you're no longer in the US, you're so excited about celebrating this time of year. I think anyone that doesn't enjoy celebrating and being a big Baby is boring Anyway, SOOOOOO happy for you that you're getting your babies. I miss mine when I go on vacation so I can only imagine how you feel. Just keep on sending them love...they feel it.

Posted by: Jadewolff at October 29, 2004 02:48 PM (8MfYL)

8 Yay! Kitties in a month!! Your witchy headband is too cute. And you look mighty fine without makeup!

Posted by: selzach at October 29, 2004 04:31 PM (GWCJx)

9 OH OH OH! Your kitties! Tooooo cute! Broke the world cute meter! How adorable are they? And of course we're not tired of hearing about your kitties; every time I come here I've been waiting for you to mention them. I've almost asked several times, but because you hadn't brought them up in awhile, I thought maybe something had gone wrong and I didn't want to make you sad about that, you know, causing you to think about them when your X had decided to keep them or something bad like that and.... Can anyone say "Co-Dependent Dysfunctional Amber"? Ahahahaa... ;-) And the Polar Express commericals are making Dan and I "ooh" and "ahh" too. It looks wonderful, doesn't it? We don't have any little kids to take with us, though, so I guess we'll be sneaking into the theatre and maybe sitting close by someone else's kids so nobody thinks we're weird going to a kid's Christmas movie by ourselves without any, you know....*kids*. Except us Big Kids. (Yes, "Dysfunctional, Co-Depen...ah, you know the score...) ;-)

Posted by: Amber at October 29, 2004 04:53 PM (zQE5D)

10 yep... 2 days will be halloween.. i'll be 26!

Posted by: pylorns at October 29, 2004 06:55 PM (FTYER)

11 You know I feel your pain about your girls. And Helen, I'm kicking and screaming right along with you about celebrating holidays and not growing up. There's just something about Halloween, leaves changing colors, a bite, crisp bite in the air, fire in the fireplace, apple cider, jack-o-lanterns, little kids, adorned in costume asking for candy from complete strangers....I absolutely love this time of year even though family wise it wasn't fun. But, like you, I prefer to embrace it like a child does and jump around the house with glee when this time of year hits us. Everyone else gets depressed and stressed....I feel alive.

Posted by: Serenity at October 30, 2004 01:04 AM (xdd6k)

12 My birthday is Nov. 5 and though I'm American, my dad used to say this poem to me. You can impress your Angus with it on Guy Fawkes Day: Please to remember The 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.

Posted by: kalisah at October 30, 2004 01:13 AM (rU32B)

13 No pumkins for us this year - the squirrels got to them! May I print yout the picture of yours and tape it to my door you think?!?! Wow, BIG months coming up!! Hugs.

Posted by: Elizabeth at October 30, 2004 03:49 PM (ehQxN)

14 Kitties!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2004 07:21 AM (+S1Ft)

15 Yay! Kitties! And yay! Guy Fawkes! Since we were a British colony (along with almost every one else, but we until relatively recently) we celebrate Guy Fawkes in South Africa too. So, you've made me homesick too! Oh, and you without makeup? I. HATE. You. (Said with all affection of course. ;-)

Posted by: redsaid at October 31, 2004 09:30 PM (IAV0w)

16 Since everyone spoke about those adorable cats, I'll jump to another area... you look great without makeup! Speaking as a guy, we prefer ladies who wear as little makeup as possible! (Who wants to kiss someone only to have to wipe their lips for an hour?) Actually, we figure if a woman has to 'paint' herself up too much, she's hiding her natural beauty, which is what a man really wants to see anyways. (Enough about that) You did a great job with the pumkins! I hope you had a great weekend and am recovering from all the children being on the streets and roads. Take good care!

Posted by: MrBob at November 01, 2004 03:00 PM (24RXV)

Hide Comments | Add Comment