40%. That's shocking!

No, I am not referring to the percentage of questions you got wrong on the final exam if you got a D. I am actually referring to the number of children in the UK born out of wedlock in 2004!

If you want to get technical, Martin pointed out to me that it's actually 42%. Either way, I think it's a really sad commentary on life in the UK . Ten years ago, it was still a fairly high 28%. Not a lot of those 40% are born to teenage mothers, either. A lot of them are born to middle class, middle age couples who just don't see the point of getting married.

Every ten years the National Statistics Organization publishes a lot of stats that provide a "snapshot" view of life in the UK, and that one statistic is the one that dominated the headlines this morning. There was, I'm sure, some more interesting stuff. It just got ignored because this one came as such a surprise.

Anyway, I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions about that. In other news...

Martin and I tried to buy box springs over the weekend, and discovered that there is no such beast in this area. You put your mattress directly on the slats of your bed frame or you buy a hideously ugly bed with box spring base instead of a nice looking frame. Icky! We are going to keep checking, but I'm not too hopeful. Maybe most people here are ok with choosing either comfort OR beauty, and don't really see a need for both?

We're having another cold spell, but spring is so close I can almost taste it. The bulbs in my planters outside are about 2 weeks away from flowering, and I am so excited. Last Friday when I got home from work it was still light outside. Even Martin has a little glimmer of sun in the morning when he drives to work.

Sadly, there's not much to write about today. It was a quiet weekend, and this week promises to be even quieter. But if something DOES happen, I'll make sure to post it.

Hey, nice fish pants! Martin the builder grouting the tiles in our bathroom and showing off his best side for the camera. Mmmmm hmmmm!

Elder Wilcox and Elder Diatal. Relaxed and happy after eating a Mexican feast along with almost all of my Swedish fish!

The weekend is winding down, and I am trying to get excited about going to work tomorrow. It's always so nice to have a few days off!

Martin is probably going to be happy to get back to work. He has tiled in the bathroom this weekend. He's actually just finishing it off right now. Just the caulking left to do. I am married to such a wonderful, versatile man! I have never known such a hard worker, and I adore him for it.

I have tried to make up for all Martin's hard work this weekend. I have been trying to keep the house clean around him, and I baked him chocolate chip cookies and home-made bread. I have cooked him quite a few meals as well. Cooking is such a thankless, never ending chore, isn't it?

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Friday, and I made a Mexican feast! I attempted to make a chili verde, which turned out to be nearly impossible. You can't really buy chilis in this country--at least not the ones used in Mexican food. We had to make some horrible compromises, and the chili verde wasn't green (chili roja?), but it still tasted great. And I made my own salsa and guacamole. The elders liked it, at any rate. Plus, Martin and I enjoy having them in our home. The new missionary is Elder Diatel, and he is very nice!

Church was good today. My Primary kids sang in sacrament meeting, and they were beautiful! The Leeds mission president and his wife spoke in church, and I really enjoyed their talks. I did cry like a baby on Martin's shoulder and told him I wanted to go home (the mission president and his wife are from Utah), but lunch and a nap improved my mood and the bout of serious homesickness passed quickly enough.

Anyway, it's bed time. I just wanted to write a quick update because we have a busy week ahead of us and I may not get another chance until next weekend.

The efficiency of the National Health system…

I really wish there was a way to show sarcasm in typing without sounding completely juvenile. If there was, I would tell you how impressed I am with the efficiency of the national health service in England.

I had that horrible HSG x-ray last week, and then I got a letter from my doctor on Saturday. Enclosed was a prescription for doxycycline, with instructions to start taking it the day before my HSG and continue taking the rest of the course. I was terrified! I thought I’d have to do the HSG again, as I had no idea what this drug was for.

I did a little on-line research on doxycycline, and I was relieved to find out that it is an antibiotic, so I probably would NOT have to repeat the scan. However, slightly alarming was the fact that it’s a VERY strong antibiotic. They actually use it to treat people who have been exposed to Anthrax. On further research I read that it was prescribed to patients about to have an HSG to diminish the risk of spreading an existing infection when they insert the little plastic bubble into your cervix. Great!

So I called my doctor’s secretary, and she was very quick getting back to me (sarcasm again here). Dr. Odukoya was in meetings all day on Monday, and she told me she would get in touch with me by Wednesday. So I have just learned that I am NOT to fill the prescription. My doctor considers me a low risk for an existing infection. Nice, huh?

Irritation about the NHS aside, things are going well here. My membership at the gym has paid for itself in the last week. I have gone swimming or worked out 6 times in the last 8 days, and I plan to go tonight. I have also discovered an exercise that I really love/hate--the evil rowing machine! I love it because you could spend 20 minutes on that thing and get a total body workout. Funny thing is, I hate it for the same reason. Who knew that rowing could work every single major muscle group in your body simultaneously? I think I will be spending some time rowing every night from here on out.

In other news, we are having the missionaries over for dinner on Friday night. I am preparing a Mexican feast, complete with home-made tortillas and salsa. Elder Millar was transferred, so our Mexican food will be served to the new elder instead, who is German. I hope he likes spicy food!
Our landlord has given us the go-ahead, and Martin is going to tile our bathroom on Saturday. We are going to do the shower cubicle and get ourselves a temporary shower. I am so sick of taking baths! We also put a shelf up in the kitchen (isn’t Martin handy?) and did some more work in the bedroom. Every week we get a little bit more settled in. I have hanging baskets outside and curtains inside. Soon our little cottage will feel like a real house.

So here we have a rare posting by your beloved Martin. Jamie is crocheting a pair of socks for me to slouch around the house, whcih is greatly appreciated as it is a little on the chilly side at the moment, as I am sure Jamie has mentioned on previous occasions.

But this note is not to inform you of how cold our little cottage is but to let you know how much fun we had yesterday waching some top quality football (soccer for those of you on t'other side of the pond). Not quite Manchester United or Chelsea however. We go to watch Scunthorpe United vs M.K. Dons! WOOHOO! These two team are fighting a relegation battle at the moment. In English football, the bottom three teams from a division drop down to the division below, and the top three go up a division. It was a very exciting game, with two goals in the first ten minutes. And that was it for goals, but it was still a very exciting game, with lots of shots and some very good saves from the goalkeeper for M.K. Dons. But in the end it finsihed 2-0 to Scunthorpe, which is the result we wanted, although I think Jamie was secretly cheering for M.K. Dons because she liked their Jersey's! The best part about it all - It was FREEEEEE!!! I got tickets through work as we rented a moving van to one of the Scunny players, wrote off the cost and got tickets as trade. Brilliant!!

Now before all this occured, I gave Jamie her first taste of a lovely game called Squash. At first glance it looks a lot like racquetball, but there are some subtle differences that end up making a big difference when you actually start playing. The first difference is with the ball and racquet. The racquet is a little smaller as is the ball. The ball also has a lot less bounce which is where one of those big difference occursm but we will get to that in a minute. The court is roughly the same size, but it has a line on the main wall that is about a foot high that the ball has to go over each time. Also there a lines on the back and side walls that the ball has to stay below.

So Jamie had a fun introduction as for the first five minutes playing she kept flailing around, the reason being that she was waiting for the ball to bounce up for her to hit it - and it wasn't! With the ball have less air, it deadens when it lands and if you have only played racquetball before, it can be alittle embarassing! However, in Jamies defense she soon picked it up, although with all the running around we did, she is feeling the burn a little today, what with her almost two hour workout on Friday, but I am sure she will tell you all about that later.

Last little note. Just indulged in something extremely decadent - Hot sticky toffee pudding with home made custard. Lovely syrupy sponge pudding with gooey toffee sauce on top. I made the custard from scratch, but I did have a bit of a disaster to start with as I had the heat on too high when cooking the first batch and turned it into sweet scrambled eggs with a disgusting texture! Bleechh! But luckily, the second batch was much better. Delicious!

A week of highs and lows…

Well, I have a gym membership that I have been using! I went to Scartho baths (that’s the swimming pool, for all us normal people who don’t try to sound all posh) and signed up for a month to month membership there. It gives me unlimited access to weight training facilities, a cardio room, the swimming pool, and a sauna. I haven’t used the weights and machines yet as I had to wait for my induction. Tonight I am meeting with a personal trainer who will help me set up a training regime and familiarise me with all the machines, etc. Then I will be able to use those facilities. But I HAVE been swimming twice this week. It would have been three times, but I couldn’t make it yesterday. I spent the night drugged up on the sofa!

Yesterday was my HSG, and it was the most uncomfortable medical procedure I have ever had! For the medically squeamish, now would be a good time to stop reading. You know I have to explain what it involves!

An HSG is a very special kind of X-ray. That’s all the information they gave me when they told me I needed one. Being the sort of person who likes to know what to expect, Martin and I went on line to do a little bit of research and see what would be involved. Special X-ray? That doesn’t even begin to cover it!

Basically, you get naked from the waist down and they open your cervix, insert a little plastic tube, and inject you with dye. Then, while the dye is filling up your uterus and fallopian tubes, they take the X-ray. This allows them to see the shape of your reproductive system, and also to determine if there are any blockages.

It sounds rather nasty, but it doesn’t sound nearly as bad as it actually was! My friend Sam warned me it was miserable—she had one about two years ago. It hurt so much! Honestly, I know I had it done so I can have a baby, but the pain involved made me think that I won’t be able to stand the pain of childbirth. Maybe it’s not worth it! The doctor and technicians were all women, and they were really kind, so it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable in that way, but still—I hope I never have to have that done again—EVER!

On a positive note, I got to see the X-rays, and my fallopian tubes look clear. I was a little worried about that after my ectopic pregnancy last fall. Plus, they look really groovy. They are all twisty and delicate, like the tiny little off-shoots on morning glory.

When we got home, I had a nice surprise waiting for me. Grandma Lofley gave us a subscription to the Ensign for Christmas, and our first issue had arrived in the post. I have never been so excited to get a church magazine before. I popped a Lortab and sat down and read the first 30 or so pages. Hooray for the church, and for prescription pain medication!

Anyway, that’s the update. A good week, and a bad week. I’ll probably have more to post on Sunday as Martin and I are going to a football match tomorrow. It’s only a local team, Scunthorpe City, but we have seats in an executive box. Should be a good time.