Some Ups...Some Downs

Our travel day went really well. There were no major incidents and I think that if anyone was acting anxious to not be on a plane anymore at the end of the day, it was me. I really have the most fabulous children ever. They were so well behaved every step of the way. Thank god for portable dvd players!

Yesterday we hit the ground running and immediately slammed our faces into a brick wall. After sleeping in a bit and grabbing an early lunch Jeramy took the girls and I over to our house while he ran to work to grab a conference call. Shortly after being dropped off my realtor called and informed me that we lost the sale on our home. We've had some difficulty getting all our paperwork in. It's kind of hard to get Jeramy and I both to sign documents with him in Canada and me in West Texas. Not to mention the fact that our "relocation expert" is a total idiot. We've learned a huge lesson that I am happy to pass along to anyone considering becoming an expat: don't buy an old house. Since our house is older, it has many things about it that are out of current code. The relocation company is making us fix most of them in order to sell our house because...well....to explain it shortly....they buy from us and the buyer buys from them which is supposed to save us some money. However, it's a whole lot of work and money to get the house to their standards and neither of us have been convinced that it's been worth it. Maybe when we actually sell the house we'll feel differently, but right now, it just all sucks. There, I feel better.

After that wonderful conversation with our realtor the girls and I walked over to the park across from our house. There were a couple of other girls there that looked Ryleigh's age and if you know Ryleigh, you know where this going...she now has two new friends. Little R lives across the street from us and Ryleigh has been begging me to invite her over since we left the park. Even as we were both walking back to our respective homes the girls were yelling back and forth at each other about getting together later. So far, no mommies though. Both of the girls at the park were being kept by older family members....so no friends for me..:( There are bound to be some stay at home moms in my neighborhood and I will find them!

After we left the house we attempted to get insurance for my car that I haven't gotten yet. Apparently we needed to have gotten our complete driving record from the TX DMV before we left so now that's ordered and should be here, oh, hell, who knows. The dealership did loan me a car for the night, which was nice of them, and we've got the name of an agent that might be able to help us out until the records come in, so maybe I can get my vehicle today. There's another expat tip for you. Take driving records with you.

So, what did we learn yesterday....don't buy an old house, take driving records with you, when you order tea in Canada it will come in a tea kettle and no matter how bad your day is, hot chicken wings and ribs make everything better whether you're in Texas or in Canada. Cheers!