Grey.

The English weather is about as quick changing and temperamental as my moods. One hour it is sun shining and blue skies, the next it is pouring and there is not a patch of blue to be seen.

I've decided I should just plan on being cold for 2 years.

This morning when we were walking out of our house Livvy stopped and said "Mommy it's grey!"

The past few weeks, oh who am I kidding, the past month has been cold, wet, and awful. I keep wondering if those spring clothes under my bed are ever going to come out from hiding. Hopefully in July.

It really doesn't help to read my FB Newsfeed and here about the 80 degree weather in my hometown.

What is even more bizzare then this freezing weather is how the English don't even bat an eye! On Saturday it was cold and rainy, but my ever-so-determined husband decided we would brave the weather and see a castle.

I thought we would be one of a handful of people that would be so undeterred. Wrong-o. We parked in the over-flow parking. Mom's with their rain-covered buggy's are tropping up sidewalks mid-downpour. It's mind baffling.

Amid this puzzlement I realized that maybe this is how it always is here and life goes on.

Alright, Brits, I'll go buy myself some wellies and get used to it.

Hogwash.

This week I killed 5 bumble bees and one wasp inside my house.

They weren't the California kind of bees. They were GIANT. Big. Black. Furry. 

One day it was beautiful (SUNNY!) and Livvy was running around in the garden. I left her windows open to let some fresh air in the house and to allow me to hear the little miss yelling "Mom are you there?!?!" 

Mistake number 1. 

They don't have screens here in golly ol' England. So even though I only let the windows stay opened for about an hour we welcomed some buzzing friends into the house. 

The scary thing is that we didn't find and kill these friends until the next day and then more the day after that. 

I was laying in bed with Jude snuggled on one side and Livvy crawling under the covers on the other side of me when Lincoln yelled "Vindie come here!" 

...I slowly made my way out of bed and heard his story of hearing a buzzing sound and then ripping off his work jacket to find a bumble bee making camp. 

Big whoop I thought. Glad it wasn't me! 

Mistake number 2. 

Thinking that was the only encounter with a bee. After Lincoln had left for work I walked into our living room to find not one, but two big bees crawling across the carpet and in the curtains. 

Never fear, I manned up and killed both of those tyrants. And continued to kill more the next day. 

Can I please stop having to deal with bugs? I really don't feel the need to get over my fear of them. 

...

This American is glad that the US decided screens were a good idea. 

Spiders are friends.

Sunday night Lincoln saved me from death.  We were in the kitchen talking sweetly to one another (read: having a heated discussion) when mid-sentence Lincoln said all too calmly "Move Vindie."

I jumped to the side and looked down to see a spider the size of a small rodent a few feet from where I was standing. Now, I am not exaggerating when I say that it was the size of a mouse. I have never seen anything so big, hairy and black. I quickly picked up Livvy and stood on a chair the on the other side of the room. All the time screaming at Lincoln to KILL the SPIDER! 

Lincoln manned up and with 4 blows with his slipper, the beast was dead. Later I asked him if he considered not telling me to move (because at the time I was being a brat) and he said he'd thought about it...but thankfully decided that I am worth saving. So glad that he did. 

We decided to put our new found friend in jar and contact our apartment manager. 

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Jacki,

Tonight we found and killed a very, very large spider.  We are not spider experts, but seeing that huge spider really alarmed us and made us wonder if we should be worried about the safety of our little children, who are only 7 months and 2 years old. We kept the killed spider in a jar thinking that you may want to have it identified and possibly have the house sprayed to kill such spiders. 

Thank you for your help in this matter, 

Vindie and Lincoln

The response: 

Hello Vindie

Sorry to hear about the spiders.  All spiders in this country are totally harmless and have no poison.  Where possible they should be collected up in a jar and put in the garden.   Hope this is okay.

Kind regards

  Jacki

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Collect them and put them in the garden!?!?! 

Lincoln asked around at work and apparently spiders (and ants) aren't considered pests in the UK and there are no spraying services to rid you of their presence. 

...

These arachnophobes are glad that we have the chance to get over our fear.