The one with the view of the neighborhood

Since I have been back in Aberdeen it has been cooler and wetter, which to Murphy's dismay means no more walks through the woods.  All that fluff + mud = bad news for this Mommy!  And since the vet told him "it wouldn't hurt to loose a couple kilos," he's not keen on missing his walks.  We changed our normal route and walk through the neighborhood now instead.  Yesterday, as we were walking it occurred to me that I have not shown you our "neighborhood."  They don't use that word here, but that is essentially what it is.

The area we live in is called Grandholm Village and it is mostly a "businessman" area.  The school that we feed into isn't the best in the city (obviously not important to me and Greg), so there are not many families around us. There are a few houses, but most of the area is apartments and townhouses for couples &/or roommate situations.  There are some businesses in the area, an assisted living center, and one Indian restaurant.  (They don't have a bajillion restaurants everywhere like in the States). 

 

 The Spicemill Indian Restaurant

 

The Mill Apartments

 

 

 

Hair salons and beauty shops

 

More townhouses

 

 

Houses

 

The Don River is right out our front door and there is a park right next door - making it IMPOSSIBLE for me to find an excuse NOT to take the puppies on a walk everyday!

 

The view from my bedroom

 

This bridge over the Don River takes you up some stairs to another neighborhood.  The bus stop is at the top of the stairs.

The view of the river from the bridge.

 

The road in front of our house

The park next to our house

 

So far, it has been a nice place to live in.  The only thing that I haven't liked is that since we are right in front of the bridge, we hear EVERYONE coming home from the bus stop.  When they stomp across it or come home drunk late at night, the puppies don't respond well to all the noise they make!

 

 

 

 

 

The one where Murphy checks the mail

 So you know how in the movies the mail man drops mail through the front door?  That's totally a real thing!  No walking to the mailbox here! The mailman comes everyday and drops the mail through the slot in the front door.

 

 

The slot is just big enough to slide the mail through and has like a guard inside to prevent someone from getting their hand through.

 

 

 

When the mail comes through you can hear the metal flap clank, and the mail just hangs from the door.  This morning when it came through Murphy started barking and ran downstairs.  He doesn't normally do this when the mailman comes, so I went downstairs to check.  I saw him propped up on the door sniffing the mail, so I pointed to it.

 

 

The mailman came by twice today, so we got to practice our new trick!  When I pointed to the mail, Murphy took it out of the slot and began walking away!  I am sure his intent was not to bring it upstairs to me, but when I saw him grab it I figured it would be easy enough to teach him!

 

 

He followed me upstairs with the mail in his mouth the entire time.

 

 

When we got to the living room he didn't necessarily want to spit it out.

 

 

 With a little convincing I was able to take it from him without any damage done to the mail.  How cool to have puppy who can actually bring you the mail!! Yay Murphs!!!

 

 

The one where I get my groove back!

I haven't blogged in over a month because Kel came to visit and then I went back to The States for a few weeks on what Greg affectionately called "OUR summer vacation."  Obviously since my last entry a lot has happened.

Our sea freight finally arrived just a couple days before I went Stateside.  I was able to unpack everything and find a home for all of our belongings.  Every nook and cranny of this house has something in it. In fact, I did such a good job of putting things away that I can't find some of them! If you're someone who can't stand stuff under the bed, don't plan any trips over. Be careful when you open doors, as I will not be liable for anything that pops out at you! Lol.  It seems that we brought the perfect amount of our belongings.  We have everything that we couldn't live without, but not so much that the place is junked up.

My closet was our biggest challenge.  Even before we signed the lease, we knew that there was not enough closet space in the house.  All of Greg's clothes were able to go in the closet in our bedroom and one bedroom dresser.

  My clothes are split between one bedroom dresser, one nightstand, two guest room closest, AND I had to buy clothes racks. I don't know why I ever complained about not having enough clothes!

 I feel really guilty about that.  My shoe racks have been set up in one of the guest bedrooms and my purses all fit in the bottom of one of the closets.  I probably should've left shoes at home.  We do so much walking here, even when we go on date nights, that I won't wear my nice shoes bc I'm afraid they will get ruined on the granite roads and sidewalks.

I bought some cute but inexpensive shoes from Ross when I went back State-side specifically for going out here.  That way if they do get ruined, I won't get upset. Shallow, yes I know, but I have shoes that my Mama bought me in high school that I still wear and STILL look brand new.  I try to take very good  care of my belongings, so much so that I literally cry when I mess them up. ....and that makes me sound even more shallow! Lol I, Greg, and Mama have worked hard so that I can enjoy my nice things and when they get messed up I feel like I am telling them I don't appreciate the hard work they put in to buy me something nice. There, I think that explains why I get upset about certain material things so easily.

Anyway,  I had a really fun trip back home.  I know most of you are probably wondering why I went back so soon and the answer is in these two precious faces.

 

I got to meet my new nephew, Nate the Great! He is such a sweet little guy and my sister and her hubby are such great parents.  Nate is so blessed to have a Mommy and Daddy who love him so much!

I also got to spend a week babysitting the Princess Baby.  Megan was finishing up her last week of summer school, so I hung out with Vivi Lu while mommy was in class.  I made sure to spoil her rotten and give her everything she wanted-in true Auntie J fashion!!

 

 

We were also able to give my oldest sister, Melissa, a baby shower! Little Isaiah Huggins will be here in December around Christmas time!  I can't wait for him to get here and join the crew!  I love them all so much!  Yes, yes I can hear you all wondering when Greg and I will have kids and if we are going to start popping them out bc all my sisters have baby fever.  Whenever God is ready to bless us with kids, we will have kids. Until then....leave us alone about it! We are happy and we love our life together!

As much as I loved being with my family, I really missed my Puffin.  Being in Houston without him is not being home.  In fact, it was so hard on both of us that we decided I won't be going back in October since he cannot go with me.  I miss everyone so much and Im glad I was able to go home-especially since it made me realize that home is where my Puffin is.

Greg is VERY busy at work and traveling a lot.  We've been here for just over 2 months and he's already been to Norway, The Netherlands, and south England (next week).  With that being said, its time for me to find something to give me some human interaction, but nothing that will keep me from exploring Europe.  I put in my application to substitute teach,  but have not heard back.  Greg is keeping an eye out for clerical positions at his office.  Hopefully, one of the two will lead to something so that when he's out of town I'm not going crazy!!  Wish me luck as I try to get back into the groove of things here!!