12th January 2008

Completing on a house US style - Take one small room about 6ft by 9ft add 3 lawyers (one for me, one for seller, one for mortgage company) one deed writer, one realtor and 2 builders and then sit there for nearly 2 hours signing some 26 documents and 6 cheques. Amazing !

But I got through it all and we are now the proud owners of 4.5 acres of prime US real estate :-). We will be open to guests from mid February.

Rob is going to build a website and put a calendar on it so that you can see available dates - we would love to see you all. It is a great base to go and visit the local beauty spots and also spend time in the the big apple or go spend your dollars at the nearby outlet mall ( this paragraph has been sponsored by the Hudson Valley Tourist Board)

Last Tuesday I drove to Harrisburg Pennsylvania, well actually Mike Jones drove, but I sat next to him - it took 3.5 hours and the scenery did not vary - just lots of bare trees and rock it has to be some of the drabbest scenery I have seen in the US -- it did not improve on the 3.5 hours drive from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (pictured above) Got to Pittsburgh at about 5.30 just in time to go and visit the second customer of the day and then out to dinner with them. Fell into bed at about 9.30 pm bone tired. The weather was the only bright spot on the day it has been really surprising it was 60 plus degrees and bright blue skies.

Walked to meet the final customer of the trip early the next morning, unfortunately the temperature had dropped 25degrees and there were winds gusting up to 50mph brrrrr......... Thank goodness we were not driving back to Newburgh - although having said that our flight was delayed for 2 hours because of the high winds which meant we were driving back from Newark to Newburgh in peak hour traffic.

I have had people out at the house this week quoting for water filtration, we have high sulphur content in the well and I figured that people would not appreciate me going into the office smelling of rotten eggs. Also someone out to measure up for blinds for the windows. It is amazing how all these things add up - I forgot tht moving into a new house is usually more work than buying old.

Sunday I am off to New York -- I am at a trade show for 2 days and have about 8 meetings with different analysts and trade reporters as well as many meeting with clients and new prospects. If you know how to search press releases in google you should see my name coming up a few times over the next few weeks. Back home on Wednesday then off to Irvine, Los Cabos and Las Vegas. So glad I am not travelling so much with this new job!

Rob got his visa on Wednesday and all of our worldly goods were packed into a container which will hopefully be here early February. We have also had 2 families over to look at renting the house this week which is pretty impressive as we only put it with an agent on Tuesday.

2nd January 2008

On behalf of my husband and I ........ OK enough of that nonsense! for the avid readers of this blog, sorry for the gap in posting (that means you Mum)

As most of you will be aware, I flew back to the US on Sunday we had delays because of engine issues and I arrived back at my flat at 2 am in the morning -- spent a full day in the office and then slept my way through the new year and most of yesterday. But at least it means I am fully refreshed now.

I took pictures of the house on the 22ND just before my return to the UK -- It looks lovely doesn't it . I left for the airport shortly after taking this picture and the SatNav took me yet another route. At least I got back on time. Went shopping with Sarah Peter Alana and Rob on the Saturday, last minute Christmas presents or in my case all of them as I had done very little in the US. Nice lazy day on Sunday, more shopping on Monday and an early night ready for Christmas day.

We drove down to the New Forest to meet Sue, Malcolm and the rest of the Quinn Family. Lunch was a lot of fun and the food was really good. The pub had plenty of atmosphere so the whole experience was truly Christmas. We left there late afternoon and drove over to see Mum and Dad Fox and the Grossett Family, Home by 10pm and packed the car ready for the boxing day adventure. Up early and over to Theale to collect Sarah and Alana then a quick drive down to Wales. First stop Mum and Mikes, greeted as always with a nice cup of tea. David and Nada came over to say "hi" to Alana and Sarah. Alana is a little sweetie she just sleeps through all the hugs and cuddles as she gets passed around the family members. Sarah is a sweetie as well letting it all go on without getting over protective.

The three girls went over to visit the Beasley's and spent a few hours there with visits from family members and neighbours and then picked Rob up and went to visit Aunt Hazel and all her family. it was really lovely to see Angus Bennett and their respective families as well as the Senior Ruddles. Dropped Sarah back home in Theale at about 10 pm. Thursday we just relaxed and also most of Friday. Rob and I were on babysitting duties on Friday evening.We called up to see Bev and Bobby and they had some lovely clothes for Sarah and a beautiful wedding album for us - Thanks both ( shame you could not come to the wedding I am sure you would have enjoyed it.)

So to Saturday -- at the hairdressers by 8.30, Toni arrived with a bottle of Champagne to get the day off to a good start, we were running a little late with my hair so it was a mad dash back to the house to get my make up on, get dressed and help with Alana so that Peter and Sarah could finish off as well. Off to the register office on time, the assistant had a great sense of humour opened the door when we arrived and announced they were closed on Saturday's !!! the chief registrar had also married Charles and Camilla and Elton John and David so we are keeping the right company. It was the service that we wanted it to be, close family and friends and lovely reading by Toni and a unsolicited one by the Registrar lots of smiles and hugs. We all trooped around to Jonathon's for lunch and spent a lazy 3 hours eating drinking and chatting. Back to the house for a freshen up and then off to Southampton for the party. It was lovely to see so many people there, it must have been about 70 of them. Thank you so much, we knew we gave you very short notice but we were thrilled that so many were able to come. The wedding cake was really great if a little unusual and we all danced the night away till about 11pm.