D&G

Be prepared for Doom & Gloom this week- Chris is out of town for most of the week and for some reason I am pretty awful at staying at night in any house by myself. England no different then MI, Chicago, or Texas- I pretty much have my usual game plan

1) stay up way too late
2)have all lights on
3) try not to watch CSI, Law and Order, but it never fails I will be watching MTV and a horror movie trailer freaks me out. So pretty much I am stuck watching HGTV or the Food channel.
4)sleep with cell phone (they cut the landline first) and house key, (they may try to lock me in my own house), scissors (don't ask- started in chicago when I saw Sydney Bristow go to town on an enemy with scissors)
5)Allow CJ or Casey to sleep in the bed with me. (who am I kidding I will carry one of them into my room if need be)
6) Usually I have a friend call in the morning to check if I am alive so if I don't answer she can help CJ get cereal (etc). I have not found that person yet in England-usually need some just as neurotic as me . So, Chris is on duty for morning check calls. He knows better than to complain.
7) wake up grumpy due to lack of sleep- which I am sure will hamper school drop off.

Other news- Chris may have wanted to kill me on Sat. I had a family picture scheduled at 10 am- (yes the kids are in tartan plaid for the holidays)- ends up our Tom Tom ( stat nav) takes us on a wild ride through dirt roads where the only vehicles encountered were horses and hunting dogs. So 45 min later with a nauseated car load of kids (okay just CJ and Casey) -we arrive there. The photographer was fine - he seemed mildly annoyed I didn't do the casual approach (He mentioned a zillion times that a plain shirt and jeans photograph best; like I even considered doing that). Chris let him know that there was no way that Casey Jane was wearing anything other than a dress after blue tracksuit week. Still amazed about photographers - the good ones get kids to act natural and get good photos. He had - Chris and I step out ( we volunteered before he asked!)- and said he got some beautiful shots- we shall see!