Thing I will miss about South Carolina

I have been meaning to do this post for a while.  Given we are 2 weeks away from the house getting packed, this would seem like a good time.

This is a list of things I am going to miss.  Some of them are relevant to just this area or state, and some are relevant to the whole country.  Some are just for me, and some are as a family.

Some will be couple of words, others will be paragraphs.  As we conclude our lives here, this list will be added to.  It is also something for me to look back on fondly (hopefully).

So in no particular order.......

1.   The weather.  It is going to be over 90 degrees this weekend.  Winter lasts about 3 months tops.  Snow dissipates quickly.  The kids live in shorts from March- November.  But it does get too hot.  But I don't mind.

2.  The mountains.  I have never really lived near mountains before.  As you drive up the interstate 385 from Simpsonville into Greenville, just after the mall turning, you get an awesome view of the mountains. 

                                     

    

You can also see them from other places around Simpsonville. Although we don't utilize them much, I shall miss having them near.

3.  The Y.  The gym.  We have had a family membership since the end of 2014.  Should have got one sooner.  I love taking Zumba, Cardio Dance Blast and TRX at the gym. The 2 younger ones had swimming lessons there. Oliver honed his basketball kills. They all love running the indoor track.  I love it, and shall miss it terribly.

4.  My Zumba family.  The Zumba instructor network in this area is awesome.  From the instructors at the Y to the Free community Zumba at the Kroc Centre, to the various churches and individual studios that host Zumba classes.  I have met a LOT of Zumba instructors.  And everyone is so nice!!! I am so glad I got my Zumba licences here, under Loretta Bates, Ali Ramirez and Renee Pickett.  They are brilliant ZES, and have taught me well.  I have even taught my first class here, subbing for a friend.  I love my Zumba buddies!

5.  The craft stores..... Micheals, Jo-Ann Fabric, A.C. Moore and Panda's Crossing.  My introduction to crafting then beading has been in large parts thanks to these stores.  I will particularly miss Panda's Crossing, and the lovely ladies who host the classes.

6.  The wild life.  Turkey vultures, blue tailed skinks, even the snakes....  

7.  The coast.  Ok, we are a good 3 hours from the coast, and are hoping to move nearer the coast in the UK.  But the east coast here is wonderful.  Dolphins, sea turtles, fish.  We love it.  

8.  The darn convenience of the restrooms.  Every store has a restroom for public use.  Every park and outside area has at least one toilet block.  Exceptionally good when you have small children.

9.  Eating out.  We eat out.  A lot.  we look for kids set free / cheap, and use these as much as possible.  I shall miss the variety, and the (generally) good service.

February so far....

Woo hoo!!! 2 weeks in to february and I am doing a blog.  Admittedly, i have had to tear myself ways from my crafting......

It was my birthday last week, 21 again!!! Paul took the kids out to get my presents, and they all did well.  They all get really excited over birthdays, particularly Sebastian, especially now he understands what is happening! 

I had a pretty good haul.  The tool check is awesome for my crafting bits / beads. Only the toblerone remains of the food.  I have not built Wall-E yet, but I will.....

Paul took the day off on my birthday, and we went for a nice breakfast at Stax Omega up in Greenville.  It was yummy.  We then headed to the mall to do some shopping.  And I got some glasses.....

I knew they were coming from my diabetic eye exam.  All is fine regarding retinopathy, but my long distance vision is going, so I need to wear glasses most of the time.  These are nice, and you can probably guess how much I wear them. 

We have had a fair amount of rubbish weather.  2 ice storms, and a couple of delayed school starts.  Takes a lot to halt Sebastians school, here he is in the ice / snow.  This all melted away a couple hours later....

The weather has not been all bad.  We have been out to a couple of parks with bikes and scooters when we can.  We have also spent quite a few weekends completely at home.  We are trying to avoid spending too much money before we go on holiday next month (more on that next time)

The weather is supposed to start getting a bit warmer soon, so the kids will start playing out side a bit more.  It will be good for them.  We have recently removed the TV from the play room. They were getting a bit DVR happy.  Recording the same thing and watching it over, and over again (TOP GEAR). Now they watch Tv in the main living room.  On school days they are only allowed to watch between 5-6.30.  At the weekends the TV is of between 10-2pm.  It is going ok.  We are adjusting to them being in our space a lot more.  If no one is watching anything the tv goes off. It is a bit trial and error but we are getting there.  When we move back to the UK it is unlikely they will have a playroom, so we need to get used to coexisting again.... It is working ok, so far......

I am also in the middle of doing a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course Coursera with Arizona State University.  I am just starting my 3rd module of a 4 module course.  It is going well.  I am hoping to maybe be able to use it when we return to England.  I also have a Zumba Toning training this weaken, which I am super excited about!!!!  I have certainly been pushing myself since living here regarding my professional development.  Lets hope I am able to do something with all these courses and experience...

And not forgetting my beading and crafting.  I feel like I have found my passion.  I love beading.  I love repurposing things.  I could bore you to tears with beads.  Luckily I have a good local shop for beads, so I talk to them instead...... 

No more waffling, chat later.....

December Photo Drop

Seems like ages since I wrote a post about what we have been up to.  So here goes.  This is December, pretty much up till Christmas.

An elf arrived again on December the first.  This one was called Barry.  He didn't get into too much mischief. My head was not in it this year.  Paul ended up doing most of it...lol

We splurged a little during Black Friday sales.  Paul wanted to get triple screens for his iracing.  He did make the stand for them himself, and they work really well for his game.

We went Christmas tree shopping the first weekend.  We ended up getting a tree from Lowes, just for convenience.  We also purchased some new out door lights.  We are gonna need a whole lot of adapters on our return to the UK......

The boys had fun playing with Isaacs birthday presents.  Not sure if it is a good or bad thing having a birthday a month before Christmas.  At least they have things to keep them occupied....  Isaac got a volcano kit, which they enjoyed putting together and exploding.

We spent a chunk of time this month sorting out the craft area.  The unit nearest the window is from ikea.  The other 2 units we picked up at online auctions.  Paid about $15 for them both.  We sanded them and painted them.  Think I did a pretty good job at matching the colors! There is still scope for improvement on that area, but out craft room is ever evolving, and where I spend a lot of my time at the moment!!!

Barry did get up to some mischief.  Paul had to go on a drive event to Talladega during the boys last week of school.  Made for an entertaining time for me......

Seb had his school performance while daddy was away. I had to take the other 2 with me, they were really good!   His class did an awesome job.  They sang about 6 Christmas songs, and said a poem or 2.  Sebastian even had his own line, 'T is for toys'.  He did so well. I was very proud.  His speech has come on dramatically this year.  His brothers were also very pleased! 

The joy of having all this crafting equipment is the ability to make personalized gifts for the teachers.  These are mini martini glasses with the teachers names and year on the under side, then filled with candy, and wrapped in cellophane.  The glasses we picked up at one of the online auctions we have done.  I think they liked them.

Isaac had his holiday program on the Thursday morning while paul was away. I literally had to do all the school runs, then dash straight back to Isaacs school.  I got there with minutes to spare.  He did really well, he sang and everything.  I am proud of how he did in his performance.  We are still having behavior issues, but we are constantly working on it.  

Isaac is standing at the front in white

Oliver's end of year service began 15 minutes after Isaacs holiday program.  So I was late.  Not the latest, and I even managed to park just outside school.  Oliver had neglected to mention that he was playing the xylophone......he did good.  There are no pictures of this, as they do not allow photos to be taken during services in the chapel.  After his service, he was finished for the year!  We went to Costco, and did the big Christmas shop.  This was followed by pizza and a hot dog.

The boys will have been off for 2 weeks.  Monday before Christmas we went to Gravitopia.  Paul had never been before, and he throroughly enjoyed himself.  He moaned about his aches and pains for days after....

And then it was pretty much Christmas......

Stuff

Before I do a massive holiday photo drop, I just want to say a few things.

I have been majorly neglecting this blog.  I am sorry, not sorry, about this.  Obviously I have had the kids off, which is the greatest distraction known to man.  They go back in about 4 weeks time.  Counting down.....

Cocktail friday is no more.  Believe me, it was fun while it lasted.  But I always find things set to certain times stressful, and this diminishes my motivation.  I am also taking August off alcohol (now I have written it down, I have to do it!).  I enjoy my months with out booze, though it does take a little getting used to.  I am not drinking to excess, but feel like I need to give my body a break.

I want to get a lot fitter.  I have my Zumba basic and Zumba Gold licenses, but if I ever want to do anything about instructing classes, I need to improve my stamina. After Kiawah, I went on a bit of a health kick regarding food.  Instead of eating 3 big meals a day, I was having breakfast about 7.30, a large snack about 11, a small lunch about 2, and then eating with the family.  I also tried to minimize my carbs a bit.  Because of this, I was using less insulin.  I also just felt healthier.  I was also polishing my choreo on some Zumba songs, and stretching in the mornings while the boys did their computer time.  It made me feel really good.  I was exercising in the morning 3 days a week, then going to at least 3 Zumba classes in the evening each week.  As I said, I felt good!

So I am going back to this regime.  If you want to know how I am doing this, I can post it on here.  Comment below or on Facebook if you would like to see this.  I also want to start running.  I may try and get the boys involved in this, help wear them out.  I want to do a run, like a 5k or something, in the next few months.

I feel good when I exercise.  I just need motivation sometimes!

When the kids go back to school, I am going to start crafting again.  I saw so many quirky things on holiday, and my ultimate thought was 'I could make that', so I didn't come back with too many souvenirs this year! Watch this space.  I have many, many ideas.  I will make a few sample things, then try and sell them on eBay/Facebook.  I *may* even go down the Etsy route, but seeing as i know little about this, i am not sure.....  I am excited about this, and reckon it could be fun.  I don't expect to make any money, but if i can cover my costs that would be great.

Thats what is happening with me.

Next up.... A massive photo drop......

Christmas crafting

Ok....A little late, but may be inspiring for someone next year

So my wonderful friends got spoilt this year.  This is thanks to Paul's team assistant at work.  She went above and beyond when it came to us flying back to England this year, and I wanted to give her a christmas gift to say thanks.  I came up with a hamper idea, thanks to Pinterest.  I thought, seeing as I was making one, I may as well make more!

So in these hampers were: a tupperware full of chocolate fudge.  This was soooooooo yummy.  There was some Candy Cane vodka.  I ended up making this with Starburst Candy canes, so there were 2 different flavors.  I have been told this is yummy.  We have a spare one sitting in the cupboard.  It may get opened on the 1st February.  It took more candy canes than I expected, 6-10 per mason jar.  And it took a great deal of filtering....  There was some gingerbread sugar scrub. I made a couple of batches of this, just to be sure I got the right consistency.  I have used these in the shower.  My word, your skin is so soft afterwards! Think it is the coconut oil.  Then there is the named picture frames.  I took inspiration from this, but changed it slightly.  Very easy, did not cost a lot, but means something to everyone.  I know Paul's colleague has hers at her desk, and I have seen my friends out on display at their houses.

I then wrapped them in cellophane, which took me to Jo-Ann fabric and craft store.  This is now my new favorite store (more on that to come).  For my friends with children, I added in some bags of sweeties, the one below is for a friend with a small baby, so she got a teething toy rather than some sweets. 

The 'tags' were another experiment.  Melted peppermint candies, check out the post here on how to do it.  I experimented with red and green candies.  I made many different batches of these.  I found some to be quite brittle, and break easily.  You have to make sure you put the whole for the string in quite soon after they come out of the oven, before they harden...  I coated mine with mode lodge, so had to make sure I wrote on the back for people not to eat!

The baskets and the tinsel came from Dollar Tree, dead easy, and cheap too!

Back to the fudge.  I ended up making about 5 batches of this during december.  It was just so yummy, and a real quick and easy present for people.  The boys made their cinnamon ornaments again and painted them.  I covered them in modge podge, they wrote a message on the back, and we distributed them to teachers on the last day of term. It makes such an easy gift, plus the teachers have a decoration for their tree to remember the boys.....

.....like anyone could forget them!