The Lost Art of Line Drying

Since moving to Scotland a month ago, I have begun to explore the lost art of line drying our laundry.

This change was not by choice, but is not entirely unwelcome; it's just that dryers are rare here, especially in rental property. Line drying is really our only choice.

I admit some trepidation about this new chore, but so far it has been fun for us.

The kids love hearing the washing machine in the morning because it means we are heading out to the garden after breakfast.

But now fall have come in full force and the rains have moved in. How do you dry your laundry when it is raining out?

As we learn the answer to this question and many others, I'll write some follow up posts. In the mean time, check out this great introduction to the lost art of line drying.

Our new home ...

Just a quick update ...

Check out the pictures of our new flat in Aberdeen, Scotand at our family blog: www.darrenandchristy.com

Menu Plan Monday

Our first week back on menu planning went fairly well. We found some good substitutes for a few items in our favorite recipes. I'm looking forward to exploring the grocery stores here in Scotland for all the interesting new things we can add to our meals.

We still don't have our new refrigerator yet (the one in our flat is broken). They are now telling us it will be here by Thursday. This tiny icebox just doesn't hold very much. And with the grocery store about a mile away (walking with two toddlers), I can't go shopping every day for refrigerated ingredients.

Here is what I am going to try for this week:

Menu for this week:

• Monday -- Baked Potatoes - or jacket potatoes, as they call them here. They love to put all sorts of things inside a baked potato; meat, cheese, veggies, etc.
  


• Tuesday -- Mediterranean Chicken Pasta


• Wednesday -- BBQ Pork Sandwiches
  


• Thursday -- Shepherd's Pie


• Friday -- Homemade Pizza
  


• Saturday -- Taco Bar


• Sunday -- Yellow Thai Curry
  

Check out more menu plan's at Organizing Junkie.

Happy Monday!

Blitz-It Friday

Organized Everyday is hosting a new carnival called Blitz-it Friday. If you have no idea what a blitz is, check out the original one hour blitz and staying focused.

Wow. I haven't blitzed in such a long time. Now I'm just a little late posting about it. We are finally settled enough in our new home to be ready and desperate for a good cleaning blitz. On Friday, I set my timer and started moving as fast as I could.

I started in the kitchen with this mess:

Here's what I did in the first 45 minutes of my blitz:

• Unloaded the dishwasher
• Loaded the dishwasher and turned it on
• Cleared off the kitchen table
• Hand washed the pans
• Wiped the counters and stove
• Swept the kitchen floors

And here was the result:

Next I turned my attention to the kid's room, which they had torn apart earlier in the day.

Here's what I did in the last 15 minutes:

• Put away clean laundry
  
• Made the kid's beds
  
• Folded and put away the kid's clothes
  
• Vacuumed the hall, living room, kid's room
  

And here was the end result.

The timer started to beep just as I put away the vacuum cleaner.

What a great hour of blitzing!

Menu Plan Monday

We have been in our new flat in Aberdeen, Scotland for just over a week. I am desperate to establish routine and order in our lives, and decided meal planning was a good place to start.

There are a few challenges to my menu planning this week. We are in a foreign country where things are just different enough that I am not sure what products I can still find.

We also don't have our new refrigerator yet; instead we have a tiny little "icebox" that have very little room for anything.

Lastly, we have no car (and two toddlers), so every trip to the store I can only buy what I can carry back in our double stroller. I am amazed at how warm I stay, even in the wind, when I am pushing 130+ pounds up a hill in a stroller (oops, "buggy", I should say, or "push chair" or "pram").

Here is what I am going to try for this week:

Menu for this week:

• Monday -- Beef and Broccoli - we are going to try a new Oyster and Onion sauce we found here.
  


• Tuesday -- Josh Rogan - they have so much great Indian food here. This is an Indian curry that we have not tried yet.
  


• Wednesday -- Chinese Chicken & Cabbage - I have not yet confirmed that all these ingredients are available here. I wonder what substitutes I can find?
  


• Thursday -- Spaghetti


• Friday -- Nachos
  


• Saturday -- Baked Potato Bar


• Sunday -- Turkey Lentil Soup
  

Check out more menu plan's at Organizing Junkie.

Happy Monday!

The Weekly Weatherly

As you follow our Scotland adventure, I wanted to share a weekly snapshot of the climate we are enjoying here.

Today's weather forecast in Aberdeen, Scotland:

DAY
High: 9°C (49°F)
Mostly Cloudy
Wind: SW at 10 kmph (6 mph)
Humidity: 71%
UV Index 2
Chance of Precipitation 20%
Avg. High. 13°C (56°F)
Sunrise 07 :21

NIGHT
Low: 8°C (46°F)
Rain
Wind: SE at 27 kmph (17 mph)
Humidity: 82%
Chance of Precipitation 70%
Avg. Low 6°C (43°F)
Sunset 18:32

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We have been enjoying such beautiful days for the last week. It often rains at night, but has been sunny during the day. The sun is much more intense here, brighter, whiter, because we are so far north.

The daytime temperatures have been cooler than normal, and the nights have been warmer (as you can see from the averages). Tomorrow doesn't look too windy, but we have had some gusty days. Also, I have never been in humid cold, but the high humidity makes it feel much colder than I expected.

As the weeks pass, you will want to watch the sun rise and set times as the days grow shorter. At the height of winter, the sun in only up for around seven hours.

Just a little taste of our weather here in Scotland...

Deep Breaths!

Every day for the last few months, I have had to stop and remind myself to take deep breaths.

The wind was incredible today. The trees were swinging in the gusts, the fallen leaves were rushing around on the sidewalks, and the kids were laughing as the wind took their breath away. It was like the entire day was a deep breath.

And for me it truly was ...

In July we packed up all our belongings and put them in storage. This was our hardest move, out of the seven we have done in our ten years of marriage. Maybe it was the added challenge of kids; maybe it was the fact that everything was going into long-term storage instead of going to our new place; maybe it was some combination and a million other things.

We spent the month of August and part of September at my parent's house. For those six weeks, we were preparing for our relocation to Aberdeen, Scotland; planning my youngest sister's wedding on September 19; traveling to visit all our friends and family before we left three years; trying to enjoy the summer and keep the kids happy.

September 22 was our arrival day. We landed at Aberdeen airport and began our adventure in Scotland. This was an incredibly stressful week as we searched for a place to live. Everything seemed stacked against us. But God had a great place picked out for us and we just had to wait for his timing. Incredible!

Last night we signed the lease and moved our eight suitcases into our new flat. Today I spent the entire day cleaning, while my hubby and kids unpacked our stuff. There is still plenty of organizing and cleaning left to be done, but it is already starting to feel like home.

We have a place of our own. We can start to re-establish our routines and habits. And maybe life will slow down and I won't have to constantly remind myself to breath deeply.

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Have any of you moved lately? What do you do to settle into a new home a new city, and in our case, a new culture?