i am so tired

yup. so tired i have no words. that is why there has been only sporadic blogging lately. in fact i am so tired that i just went to am empty office at work, laid down ON THE DESK, set my alarm for 30 minutes later and took a nap. probably not work appropriate. but i am SO tired.

Christmas Time

I cant believe it is Christmas time already! Seriously? where did this year go? I always remember my parents saying that years flew by, and i used to think? really? i don’t think so... crazy old people. But I completely understand where they are coming from. The years do fly by. and I can believe it is Christmas already.

And, after really loads of blog posts about Christmas trees and decorations, hearing Christmas carols, seeing lights up everywhere... I finally decided it was time to get in the holiday spirit and I have decorated our flat. Out came the Rat Pack Christmas CD and up went the tree. and whilst these decorations in no way compare to Katie (whose tree is my favourite by far) here you go. our Christmas decorations...

I took an up close picture in an attempt to fool every one into thinking our tree is huge. In fact, it is only 19 inches tall...

this is our tree in its entirety. try not to be jealous people.

i do really like this little jar of gold balls and red beaded coasters. i think its a nice touch.

and last but not least, the santa tray.

you gotta love kids...

Can you imagine being the teacher in the class who had this picture presented to them? nice.

a positive thought about the NHS

yeah, hard to believe I know. But yesterday, for the first time in my entire life (well entire life that I have lived under the NHS) I have a positive thing to say about it. Here is the story.

I went to the doctor last week when I was in Tulsa, I wasn’t feeling so hot. They said if it got worse, they could call in a prescription and I could pick it up in Boston as that is where I am this week. Well, I held off as long as possible, but yesterday the point came where I thought it best to get the medicine, especially before I went back to the UK. So the doctor called the pharmacy here in Boston and when I called to see if it was ready for pick up, the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, someone called in a prescription for Kristina Williams. Is it ready?

Pharmacy Lady: ah, let me see.... oh yes, here it is. Oh wait, I don’t seem to have your insurance information.

Me: oh its ok. I live in the UK, so I don’t have insurance in America. I will just pay for it.

Pharmacy Lady: really? its quite expensive.

me: ok...how much is quite expensive? (i am thinking $80 or $90)

Pharmacy lady: well the total is $509.99.

Me: WHAT?!! $509.99?!? That’s FIVE HUNDRED AND NINE DOLLARS??! Is that what you said?

Pharmacy Lady: Yes, I did say it was quite expensive.

Me: uh yeah....no thanks. I think I will pass on the medicine.

Enter the NHS. On the National Health Service prescriptions are £7. that’s right. they are all SEVEN POUNDS! not $509.99, but £7 If I was in the UK I could have bought that prescription. Granted, they probably would not have actually prescribed it to me because they don’t actually like it when you see a doctor (if you actually get to see one) but all the same. prescriptions are at a fixed rate. and that is nice. that is also the only nice thing i will ever say about the NHS. I was not made for socialism people.

As it turns out, Walgreens has a 'prescription insurance plan' where if you do not have insurance any where else, and are not on any other kinds of benefits, then you can pay $20 a year and get all your prescriptions with them on their insurance. That made my prescription on $55.98. So I did that instead. Now I am covered for a year. nice. I got my medicine and, according to my receipt, I saved $454.01. insane!

oh america

How I love you. as far back as I can remember I have said I wanted to live overseas. i think it was the idea of an exotic land, a culture different to mine own, a new language; it was the pull of an adventure. Now, roughly two years of life in the UK and there is a new pull. America. perhaps it is just the holiday season, thanksgiving food, leaves with loads of colour, Christmas lights and the promise of snow. perhpas it is that the last two weeks i have been in America, the sun has been brightly shining every day. that’s right, SUN EVERY DAY! i was beginning to question the existence of the sun in the UK. here, there is no doubt. the sun exist and comes out every day to bring comfort and joy. i miss the sun.

I miss my family, being in the same time zone as my friends, i miss chick-fil-a, loafin joes, big SUV's, super wal-mart, free drink refills, QT, affordable petrol, affordable anything really. I miss america. I never want to be one of those people who thinks America is the best and that all the other countries suck. One of those obnoxious Americans who constantly pits every experience against life in the US, coming to the same conclusion every time-America is the best. But.... lets be frank here people, America is pretty damn good.

So here I am, sitting in my companies corporate office in Boston, Mass gazing out the window into the glorious sunshine, wishing that this was my home office instead of rainy, windy, cold UK.