Little Greenock

I put Wallace and Gromit on the TV for the kids, so I could steal a quick blogging moment. This moment could be spent taking a shower or drinking a cup of tea, so I hope you appreciate the update! (Or whatever.)

Incidentally, it's a bit weird blogging from the US again. When I wrote updates, like the one here forthcoming, it was for the benefit of family here in the States. Now I guess I'm writing for the benefit of my family in Scotland, and any Scottish friends who still take the time to see what's going on in my life. I've always known blogging to be a pretty narcissistic practice, but I'm feeling self-consciously so about it right now.

Anyway, I'm wasting time. Jaguar is still fairly distracted with his exercise of climbing all over his sisters, and his sisters are still preoccupied with the TV, but all this is fleeting.

So, we are in our new house. It's just a rental for now; we hope to buy a house in a couple of years at most. Meanwhile, our little house is wonderful. Square-feet-wise, it's probably only a little bigger than our flat in Scotland, but it's laid out so differently that it feels huge. The living room and kitchen are open-plan, and while the kitchen itself is smaller, it's very functional, and feels open because the dining area and living room are not blocked off. Each of the three bedrooms has a walk-in closet (mine and Scott's is huge), and the master bedroom has an en suite bathroom. WITH A JACUZZI BATH. The house has it's very own laundry room and a two-car garage. It has a fair-sized back yard with a cute little tree in it. And the kids are loving the brick mail box, where they can post their letters to friends back home without going to the post office - you just put up the flag and the mail man takes it! (This is nothing new to me, but the kids are amazed.) And Scott's loving only having the take the garbage out the front door and into the bin, then to the curb, instead of out the front door, down three flights of stairs, out into the wet back garden, and then through the close to the front on pick up day.

I have been trying to think of a name for our little house. I want to name it something Gaelic which we could put on the front door and add to the top line of our mailing address. It's in a subdivision with cookie-cutter houses all around, so there's nothing really special about its looks to name it after, like 'Taigh Gorm' (blue house) or anything. But I've been thinking of making a play on the sunshine of Arkansas and the fact that Greenock in Scotland is 'sunny' in Gaelic. I've been thinking of something like Beagan Grian or Beagan Grianaig, which would be 'Little Sun' or 'Little Greenock'. My Gaelic speakers out there, can you tell me if it would be beagan or bheagan? (Grian is feminine, so I guess it would be bheagan?)

Scott has started his new job, and he likes it. Fifi starts school week after next, and Lolly will start pre-kindergarten here at home with me, using the a local home-school preparatory program for kindergarten. She is surprisingly very excited about it. She said she wants to always home-school... Well, we'll see how she feels about that after a year together! That is assuming, of course, we both survive without killing each other.

Other than that, the only other news I have is that we have a dog! We have adopted my mom's little miniature dachshund, Gracie. Mom had only recently acquired Gracie herself, but when she got her new puppy she'd been wanting for a long time, she offered us Gracie. The kids ADORE Gracie, especially Lolly, which is great, seeing as Lolly has always been afraid of dogs. But having Gracie has seemed to curb Lolly's fear of dogs in general. She now doesn't scream and freak out when a dog approaches. She jumps a bit and keeps her distance from strange dogs now, but she isn't afraid of them. She'll just talk to them and maybe pet them if they are nice. Gracie unfortunately was the pet of an elderly couple who never trained her at all, so she isn't house-trained at all and has to stay outside most of the time. She sleeps in a crate inside, but can't play inside, because she just 'does her business' anywhere she takes the fancy. However, Mom bought her some doggie diapers last night, which we put on her today so she could roam the house, which was pretty darn funny!

This afternoon, we are hosting a play date with a few kids whose parents I sort of know/am acquainted with/met on Facebook. We are looking forward to a bit of socialization. The kids then have Vacation Bible School (VBS) tonight, which has been great for them. It's their third VBS this summer!

Aaaaand that's my time up. The DVD is skipping and the magical spell has been broken. Now to find some way to squeeze in that shower....