... because we've bought a whole lot of cutesy baby gear for Little Monkey and most of it was on sale!!!
I'm a practical person. While I did insist on paying some money for the LFC romper suits for our son, I also thought it was useless to buy expensive baby gear as a baby grows so quickly. So imagine my delight when we found cute baby gear in value packs of 7 pcs and what-nots going on sale here in the UK. We snapped everything up and I think Little Monkey's pretty much covered for clothes for his first year. I hope he doesn't mind wearing the same patterns all year round because all we did was pick the one cute pattern and buy them in different sizes, haha!
Gap Liverpool was having a sale and we walked in and picked up some nice shirts for him, all going for a pound each. Sooooo cheap. One was a nice Hawaiian sort of shirt and I'm thinking of taking a piccie of him wearing that, sitting by the pool in our house in Jakarta, margarita in hand and send that off to family.
Now all we need is a stroller, a cot, a carseat, a chest of drawers for his clothes and I think we're set to welcome him into the world.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Greetings from Aberdeen, Scotland!
Heh. I bet this gives the shivers down Finally Woken's spine! LOL Aberdeen, the Granite City and home to Dear Hubby's old buddies.
We arrived in England last Wed to see the in-laws. Dear Hubby had not seen his parents for a year and they'd wanted to see me before I'm busy screaming out loud in some delivery room, delivering their latest grandson into the world. They are dream in-laws for a Liverpool FC fan like me - my in-laws are Liverpudlians and my father-in-law used to be a football coach and was friends with the old management staff of both Liverpool FC and Everton FC. :))) I knew I'd found my dream in-laws when I met them for the first time, hehe. They still live in Liverpool and we've been back every year to see them since.
I had only ONE mission when we arrived in Liverpool this time - to buy Little Monkey his LFC baby romper suit!!! And we got it! Dear Hubby and I picked out his baby sleepsuit and a day romper suit for the wee one as well as a "LFC Baby on board" for our car. I'm content now. We showed the suits to my in-laws, FIL was snorting a bit as he's an Evertonian. But I'm delighted to have gotten him the suits, I'll be looking to bring him home from the hospital dressed up as a proper Red. I've told Dear Hubby that he can wear his Liverpool jersey for the day we bring him home and we can all take a silly picture of us three in our footie gear. Yeah! Hidup Liverpool! Haha....
On Saturday, I took mum-in-law out to Southport, a 20min train ride north of Liverpool, to attend the annual Southport Flower Show. Okay, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't quite sure it was my cup of tea. I'm no good with flowers and gardening. But she loves flowers and she'd never been, so I thought, "Oh why not!" And it turned out to be a wonderful day. I thoroughly enjoyed the floral displays in the Show and even the Q&A session with two celeb gardeners (if there ever was such a thing...) was fun!
We drove up to Scotland yesterday and it sploshed all the way till Glasgow and then miraculously, the sun came out. This is the first time I've not been cold in Scotland. I've usually frozen my bum off each time I'm here no matter how many layers I put on. We'll be driving back to Liverpool on Friday and will fly back to Jakarta on Sunday. After that, NO MORE FLYING for me, I'll be staying put in the house, washing baby things and practising my Kegels. Hehe.
I'll update as often as I can, I don't have regular Net access while I'm here in the UK but will do my best.
We arrived in England last Wed to see the in-laws. Dear Hubby had not seen his parents for a year and they'd wanted to see me before I'm busy screaming out loud in some delivery room, delivering their latest grandson into the world. They are dream in-laws for a Liverpool FC fan like me - my in-laws are Liverpudlians and my father-in-law used to be a football coach and was friends with the old management staff of both Liverpool FC and Everton FC. :))) I knew I'd found my dream in-laws when I met them for the first time, hehe. They still live in Liverpool and we've been back every year to see them since.
I had only ONE mission when we arrived in Liverpool this time - to buy Little Monkey his LFC baby romper suit!!! And we got it! Dear Hubby and I picked out his baby sleepsuit and a day romper suit for the wee one as well as a "LFC Baby on board" for our car. I'm content now. We showed the suits to my in-laws, FIL was snorting a bit as he's an Evertonian. But I'm delighted to have gotten him the suits, I'll be looking to bring him home from the hospital dressed up as a proper Red. I've told Dear Hubby that he can wear his Liverpool jersey for the day we bring him home and we can all take a silly picture of us three in our footie gear. Yeah! Hidup Liverpool! Haha....
On Saturday, I took mum-in-law out to Southport, a 20min train ride north of Liverpool, to attend the annual Southport Flower Show. Okay, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't quite sure it was my cup of tea. I'm no good with flowers and gardening. But she loves flowers and she'd never been, so I thought, "Oh why not!" And it turned out to be a wonderful day. I thoroughly enjoyed the floral displays in the Show and even the Q&A session with two celeb gardeners (if there ever was such a thing...) was fun!
We drove up to Scotland yesterday and it sploshed all the way till Glasgow and then miraculously, the sun came out. This is the first time I've not been cold in Scotland. I've usually frozen my bum off each time I'm here no matter how many layers I put on. We'll be driving back to Liverpool on Friday and will fly back to Jakarta on Sunday. After that, NO MORE FLYING for me, I'll be staying put in the house, washing baby things and practising my Kegels. Hehe.
I'll update as often as I can, I don't have regular Net access while I'm here in the UK but will do my best.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Expat Questions on settling down in Jakarta
I've just had the chance to read a comment from a Achuthan Kutty on a previous post of mine. I haven't been able to reply earlier due to my lack of internet access so I'm only doing it today. Since the questions he asked are common expat questions, I thought I'd just do a post related to his queries. Maybe some other expats considering a relocation here will find this post useful. If any more experienced expats or locals would care to add/amend some of my stuff here, I'd like to thank you in advance for that.
1. Cost of housing in a gated community
I suppose the cost is all a matter of location here. When we were searching for a home ourselves, we saw houses in various compounds that ranged from US$2,500 to US$4,000. The cheaper ones we saw tended to be in areas which are reached by a maze of narrow roads. We knew we didn't want that because if I had to travel alone, we didn't want to risk having an evil cab driver take me elsewhere instead. We finally found one that was within our budget and was within walking distance to a major road but was still tucked into a quiet corner. We knew we didn't want to live too close to a major road and have to contend with the traffic jams on a daily basis right on our doorstep.
From what I've been told, Kemang is a popular area for expats and we've seen nice houses here that cost about US$2,500 in gated compounds. That was our lowest end of the budget to the agent, so sorry, I didn't see any houses which cost less. If you have family, it is definitely preferable to live in a gated compound as the wife and kids can make friends quickly and it's safer. There's also the advantage of having a compound superintendent to consult when your pool gets clogged or when you need the lights fixed.
Be sure to check if the amount quoted to you by the agent is inclusive of various other fees such as maintenance, security, pool etc. If you don't check and you agree to the house, you may find yourselves over your budget when the final figure is quoted to you. And remember, house rents in Jakarta are paid for about 2 years in advance, so that's a BIG lump of money.
2. English-speaking maid and cook
Check the Jakarta International Community Center (JICC) for maid listings. They are located near Hero Kemang. Hero is a chain of local supermarkets. Alternatively, Hero Kemang and Hero near Kristal Hotel has a bulletin board where maids often post letters of recommendation from previous employers and their phone numbers, hoping to find potential employers. Pick those who are accustomed to working for expat families as they tend to have experience running the whole household and will manage things such as handling repairs, topping up the groceries etc. They should cost over Rp1 million monthly (approx US$100+) and they get every Sunday off. You should also be aware that you should pay them a month's bonus around Hari Raya and depending on your agreement, they can get up to two weeks off for the holiday period. This seems to be standard practise here and I've read somewhere that Indon law requires them to be paid that bonus, so don't skimp on it.
What I've been told by other expats: Always ask for a reference and check out the reference before you hire the maid. Spell out clearly what you want them to do and ask if they can do it. Do a trial period first, say for a month, before you agree to hire them permanently. ALWAYS send them for a health check prior to employment, the cost of the health check will be borne by you.
This excellent expat site has a table of approximate costs of hired help in Indonesia.
3. English-speaking driver
Okay, ours came with Dear Hubby's job. He speaks basic English. If you have an accent, please speak slower than your normal speed. Sometimes the accent matters. There have been many hilarious moments when Dear Hubby says something to our driver/taxi drivers and they don't understand him because of his English accent but when I say the exact same thing in a Malaysian accent, they all get it.
But if you need to hire your own, I've found that again the Hero bulletin board and JICC has ads for drivers. Our driver costs about Rp1.5 million per month and he gets to claim all the various parking, toll and food charges as well.
4. What car to drive in Jakarta
Haha.... I'm just glad I don't have to drive in Jakarta, the traffic is crazy! Where we live is prone to floods in the rainy season, so Dear Hubby insisted on a 4WD. We were issued with the standard expat vehicle that is the Toyota Kijang (the Innova in other countries) when we arrived but we changed it to a Honda CRV. I would reco a vehicle that's got BIG HIGH wheels so that when it floods, the waters don't get into your car and you can still get past some flooded areas. A no-no car for Jakarta roads will be something sporty and low. That's just plain asking for trouble and it's simply not practical in a city where I've never gone faster than 60km/h and there are more craters in the roads than there are on the Moon.
5. Shopping for food
Okay, Achuthan didn't ask this but I thought I would just put this in anyway. My favourite supermarket is Ranch Market. They have various branches but the two I know of are in Dharmawangsa and Pejaten. This is where I can get my supply of roasts and bacon to feed Dear Hubby. They also carry all our favourite curry pastes and various stir-fry sauces (guess how else I manage to serve up Nasi Goreng Belacan for Dear Hubby without stinking up the whole house!).
Kemchicks is pretty good too for expat-y stuff and they have one in Kemang. A bigger outlet is located downtown in Pacific Place Mall (hope I got the name right, I keep getting that one wrong!)
Hero Kemang is also quite good for your everyday needs. I've also tried Giant and Carrefour in Lebak Bulus but I found the quality of the meats there to be a bit dodgy. And the broccoli I bought from Carrefour had a family of worms in the center! *sigh* Well, at least that shows they didn't use that much pesticide...
Another supermarket I frequent is the one in Cilandak Town Square (Citos). I pop in there if I'm in Citos for lunch.
6. Trawling for furniture
We've spent the past two weeks doing nothing but this. We found that Jln Kemang Raya has a lot of furniture shops - some hideous, some nice. My reco would be Koi Gallery, just next to the McD in Kemang. It's in the same building as Celebrity Fitness. It's a furniture gallery-cum restaurant and I think it's run by a Frenchman. We met him but I don't know if he's French or Belgian-French. They do some nice pieces in recycled teakwood and we've bought some. For price comparison: a dining table made of recycled teakwood that can seat 6 costs about RM2,500. I've seen pieces in IKEA catalogues from pinewood that cost the same.
Another shop I liked was Eight Rooms, also along Jln Kemang Raya. It's got very nice pieces and they can customise the furniture to your measurements.
Jln Benda nearby also has a lot of furniture places and a lot of local places where they can make what you want. If you're looking for rattan furniture, a friend of mine bought some lovely pieces from The Rattan House. You can't miss it on Jln Benda, the shop signage is visible from the moon.
Achthan, I hope this helps if you do decide to relocate to Jakarta and do come by and say hi!
1. Cost of housing in a gated community
I suppose the cost is all a matter of location here. When we were searching for a home ourselves, we saw houses in various compounds that ranged from US$2,500 to US$4,000. The cheaper ones we saw tended to be in areas which are reached by a maze of narrow roads. We knew we didn't want that because if I had to travel alone, we didn't want to risk having an evil cab driver take me elsewhere instead. We finally found one that was within our budget and was within walking distance to a major road but was still tucked into a quiet corner. We knew we didn't want to live too close to a major road and have to contend with the traffic jams on a daily basis right on our doorstep.
From what I've been told, Kemang is a popular area for expats and we've seen nice houses here that cost about US$2,500 in gated compounds. That was our lowest end of the budget to the agent, so sorry, I didn't see any houses which cost less. If you have family, it is definitely preferable to live in a gated compound as the wife and kids can make friends quickly and it's safer. There's also the advantage of having a compound superintendent to consult when your pool gets clogged or when you need the lights fixed.
Be sure to check if the amount quoted to you by the agent is inclusive of various other fees such as maintenance, security, pool etc. If you don't check and you agree to the house, you may find yourselves over your budget when the final figure is quoted to you. And remember, house rents in Jakarta are paid for about 2 years in advance, so that's a BIG lump of money.
2. English-speaking maid and cook
Check the Jakarta International Community Center (JICC) for maid listings. They are located near Hero Kemang. Hero is a chain of local supermarkets. Alternatively, Hero Kemang and Hero near Kristal Hotel has a bulletin board where maids often post letters of recommendation from previous employers and their phone numbers, hoping to find potential employers. Pick those who are accustomed to working for expat families as they tend to have experience running the whole household and will manage things such as handling repairs, topping up the groceries etc. They should cost over Rp1 million monthly (approx US$100+) and they get every Sunday off. You should also be aware that you should pay them a month's bonus around Hari Raya and depending on your agreement, they can get up to two weeks off for the holiday period. This seems to be standard practise here and I've read somewhere that Indon law requires them to be paid that bonus, so don't skimp on it.
What I've been told by other expats: Always ask for a reference and check out the reference before you hire the maid. Spell out clearly what you want them to do and ask if they can do it. Do a trial period first, say for a month, before you agree to hire them permanently. ALWAYS send them for a health check prior to employment, the cost of the health check will be borne by you.
This excellent expat site has a table of approximate costs of hired help in Indonesia.
3. English-speaking driver
Okay, ours came with Dear Hubby's job. He speaks basic English. If you have an accent, please speak slower than your normal speed. Sometimes the accent matters. There have been many hilarious moments when Dear Hubby says something to our driver/taxi drivers and they don't understand him because of his English accent but when I say the exact same thing in a Malaysian accent, they all get it.
But if you need to hire your own, I've found that again the Hero bulletin board and JICC has ads for drivers. Our driver costs about Rp1.5 million per month and he gets to claim all the various parking, toll and food charges as well.
4. What car to drive in Jakarta
Haha.... I'm just glad I don't have to drive in Jakarta, the traffic is crazy! Where we live is prone to floods in the rainy season, so Dear Hubby insisted on a 4WD. We were issued with the standard expat vehicle that is the Toyota Kijang (the Innova in other countries) when we arrived but we changed it to a Honda CRV. I would reco a vehicle that's got BIG HIGH wheels so that when it floods, the waters don't get into your car and you can still get past some flooded areas. A no-no car for Jakarta roads will be something sporty and low. That's just plain asking for trouble and it's simply not practical in a city where I've never gone faster than 60km/h and there are more craters in the roads than there are on the Moon.
5. Shopping for food
Okay, Achuthan didn't ask this but I thought I would just put this in anyway. My favourite supermarket is Ranch Market. They have various branches but the two I know of are in Dharmawangsa and Pejaten. This is where I can get my supply of roasts and bacon to feed Dear Hubby. They also carry all our favourite curry pastes and various stir-fry sauces (guess how else I manage to serve up Nasi Goreng Belacan for Dear Hubby without stinking up the whole house!).
Kemchicks is pretty good too for expat-y stuff and they have one in Kemang. A bigger outlet is located downtown in Pacific Place Mall (hope I got the name right, I keep getting that one wrong!)
Hero Kemang is also quite good for your everyday needs. I've also tried Giant and Carrefour in Lebak Bulus but I found the quality of the meats there to be a bit dodgy. And the broccoli I bought from Carrefour had a family of worms in the center! *sigh* Well, at least that shows they didn't use that much pesticide...
Another supermarket I frequent is the one in Cilandak Town Square (Citos). I pop in there if I'm in Citos for lunch.
6. Trawling for furniture
We've spent the past two weeks doing nothing but this. We found that Jln Kemang Raya has a lot of furniture shops - some hideous, some nice. My reco would be Koi Gallery, just next to the McD in Kemang. It's in the same building as Celebrity Fitness. It's a furniture gallery-cum restaurant and I think it's run by a Frenchman. We met him but I don't know if he's French or Belgian-French. They do some nice pieces in recycled teakwood and we've bought some. For price comparison: a dining table made of recycled teakwood that can seat 6 costs about RM2,500. I've seen pieces in IKEA catalogues from pinewood that cost the same.
Another shop I liked was Eight Rooms, also along Jln Kemang Raya. It's got very nice pieces and they can customise the furniture to your measurements.
Jln Benda nearby also has a lot of furniture places and a lot of local places where they can make what you want. If you're looking for rattan furniture, a friend of mine bought some lovely pieces from The Rattan House. You can't miss it on Jln Benda, the shop signage is visible from the moon.
Achthan, I hope this helps if you do decide to relocate to Jakarta and do come by and say hi!
Happy Birthday, Indonesia!
Yesterday was Indonesia's 63rd Independence Day, so today's a public holiday here. Most people I know have taken advantage of the long weekend and gone off to Bali or Singapore for the long weekend. We stayed put for the weekend because we're due to fly off to the UK tomorrow for approximately 2 weeks to visit my in-laws.
What I wish for Indonesia... well, based on what I've seen here... I wish for the children of Indonesia more social equality, more opportunities to better themselves and a chance to improve their lives. I am sitting here in the McD's of Kemang where well-to-do children are enjoying a McD Happy Meal (something I rarely got to enjoy in my own childhood) and I am thinking of the street children who happily played football in the lane outside our compound with my hubby yesterday and wondering if they'd ever gotten into a McD, let alone tried a Happy Meal. Not that a Happy Meal is everything but I hope you get my drift.
It is interesting that the Jakarta Post (my daily paper) asked its readers to comment via SMS if they had a reason to celebrate or mourn on Independence Day with regards to the nation's affairs. I cannot imagine a similar thing happening in Malaysia on our Merdeka Day, some chief editor would lose his head, I'm sure!
Happy birthday, Indonesia. May you have many more.
What I wish for Indonesia... well, based on what I've seen here... I wish for the children of Indonesia more social equality, more opportunities to better themselves and a chance to improve their lives. I am sitting here in the McD's of Kemang where well-to-do children are enjoying a McD Happy Meal (something I rarely got to enjoy in my own childhood) and I am thinking of the street children who happily played football in the lane outside our compound with my hubby yesterday and wondering if they'd ever gotten into a McD, let alone tried a Happy Meal. Not that a Happy Meal is everything but I hope you get my drift.
It is interesting that the Jakarta Post (my daily paper) asked its readers to comment via SMS if they had a reason to celebrate or mourn on Independence Day with regards to the nation's affairs. I cannot imagine a similar thing happening in Malaysia on our Merdeka Day, some chief editor would lose his head, I'm sure!
Happy birthday, Indonesia. May you have many more.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Peace, y'all
My Pod's pretty cool. It's a self-contained, studio unit that comes with its own housekeeping and catering. The catering's pretty good... I get a steady stream of goodies all day long. I don't see any neighbours though. In fact, there's not much of a view but then again, I have barely opened my eyes. The Pod's on a 40-week lease. It's so comfy in here, I've been thinking about extending it but Management said no. I asked. They let you go early (with a refund) but if you try staying beyond 42 weeks here, they come and forcibly bundle you out. I think the term they use is "induce".
My Pod Person's the one who takes care of the Pod. I just live here and chill, you know? Every month, she takes me for a photo shoot. That's a real pain in the ass because I have to pose around... at 8am! Man. I'm usually snoozing at that time. Some guy will prod my Pod with a thingybob and take my measurements and then a photo. That's my latest one up there. I put up with these photo shoots because Pod Person always gives off a surge of happy hormones after each session. I heard her say that I weigh 1.2kg now and am still growing. Maybe that's why Pod Person is huffing and puffing up stairs these days... because I'm becoming heavier. Sorry!
Pod Person has a partner - Other Person. I don't hear much of Other Person except in the mornings and evenings and on weekends. He talks to me every morning before he disappears but he's not very good at it. He usually talks to the wrong end of the Pod and it takes Pod Person to guide him to the right end of the Pod where my ears are. He must be connected to me in some way because Pod Person always refers to him as "my Monkey" and I am Little Monkey.
Right now, I'm really into kickboxing. Yeah... It's a cool sport. I find the best time for practise is at three o'clock in the morning when everyone else is asleep and there's no one around to bother me. I think it bothers Pod Person from time to time but she's usually knocked out and snoring like a zombie anyway!
Well, that's about it from me for now. May post again. Peace, y'all.
The reason behind my silence
Well, folks... I've been back in Jakarta since last week but haven't managed to post anything because I'm currently without any regular internet access. I'm now sitting in Dear Hubby's office and borrowing the corporate wifi to write this.
Well, first things first - we've moved into our house! Yay! It really makes a difference to life in a different country when you have your own pad as opposed to living in a hotel. Although I do miss housekeeping and laundry, I prefer having to do my own dishes and laundry and knowing that this pad is ours. It took me a week and more to unpack and sort out all the various knick-knacks that followed us from KL. This is where I learnt that unpacking knick-knacks is much, much worse than unpacking the big stuff. We discovered stuff we never knew we owned - like two sets of candle stands. ??? Where on earth did those come from? And this weird cooking utensil from IKEA that both of us looked at and asked each other, "What is THAT???" I'll post a pic one day and I hope someone can tell me what it's for.
What's my favourite part of the house? Probably my kitchen. Even though I've only just learnt how to cook, hehe. I spend a lot of time inside there, trying out recipes. It's got a pantry which proves really useful because we can lob all our stuff inside and not clutter up the cabinets. I've only made use of the floor-level cabinets and the ones that are just above my head because I'm too short to reach anything else. I really need a small stool to reach the top shelves but Dear Hubby won't let me climb anything right now.
We're still sorting out stuff, we've yet to buy a bookshelf for our books and we've yet to throw a house-warming party for the neighbours because we haven't got any dining chairs. Haha! We brought along our dining table but we'd tossed our chairs in KL because they were coming apart. So now, we have this nice clean table that's laid out with napkins and a beautiful big mood candle... and NO chairs! We eat our dinners seated on the sofa.
What I would like to use next in the house - the pool. I've been far too busy these last two weeks to even think about a dip. It looks really pretty at night when we put the pool lights on and we sit in the hall and look out to see this patch of shimmery blue outside. We did that for the first two nights, then we got tired of having to walk out and switch the lights on and having to bat off mozzies at the same time.
Which brings me to my pet peeve about this house - the light switches. They put them in very odd places. The lights for the front porch are out in the garage. Why can't they have the front porch light switches in the hall as they do in every other house I've lived in? We finally discovered there is another switch for the front porch light... upstairs in the family hall! Gawd.
So dear visitors, our Top Monkey Hotel isn't quite ready yet... though we've got the guest rooms ready and stuff like that done, so if you don't mind having your dinner at the sofa and unopened boxes as decor, you're very welcome to come and stay! We're headed to the UK next week to say hello the in-laws (and to buy Little Monkey his LFC baby romper!) and won't be back till first week Sept, so drop along any time after that!
Well, first things first - we've moved into our house! Yay! It really makes a difference to life in a different country when you have your own pad as opposed to living in a hotel. Although I do miss housekeeping and laundry, I prefer having to do my own dishes and laundry and knowing that this pad is ours. It took me a week and more to unpack and sort out all the various knick-knacks that followed us from KL. This is where I learnt that unpacking knick-knacks is much, much worse than unpacking the big stuff. We discovered stuff we never knew we owned - like two sets of candle stands. ??? Where on earth did those come from? And this weird cooking utensil from IKEA that both of us looked at and asked each other, "What is THAT???" I'll post a pic one day and I hope someone can tell me what it's for.
What's my favourite part of the house? Probably my kitchen. Even though I've only just learnt how to cook, hehe. I spend a lot of time inside there, trying out recipes. It's got a pantry which proves really useful because we can lob all our stuff inside and not clutter up the cabinets. I've only made use of the floor-level cabinets and the ones that are just above my head because I'm too short to reach anything else. I really need a small stool to reach the top shelves but Dear Hubby won't let me climb anything right now.
We're still sorting out stuff, we've yet to buy a bookshelf for our books and we've yet to throw a house-warming party for the neighbours because we haven't got any dining chairs. Haha! We brought along our dining table but we'd tossed our chairs in KL because they were coming apart. So now, we have this nice clean table that's laid out with napkins and a beautiful big mood candle... and NO chairs! We eat our dinners seated on the sofa.
What I would like to use next in the house - the pool. I've been far too busy these last two weeks to even think about a dip. It looks really pretty at night when we put the pool lights on and we sit in the hall and look out to see this patch of shimmery blue outside. We did that for the first two nights, then we got tired of having to walk out and switch the lights on and having to bat off mozzies at the same time.
Which brings me to my pet peeve about this house - the light switches. They put them in very odd places. The lights for the front porch are out in the garage. Why can't they have the front porch light switches in the hall as they do in every other house I've lived in? We finally discovered there is another switch for the front porch light... upstairs in the family hall! Gawd.
So dear visitors, our Top Monkey Hotel isn't quite ready yet... though we've got the guest rooms ready and stuff like that done, so if you don't mind having your dinner at the sofa and unopened boxes as decor, you're very welcome to come and stay! We're headed to the UK next week to say hello the in-laws (and to buy Little Monkey his LFC baby romper!) and won't be back till first week Sept, so drop along any time after that!
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