Red tape and phones and things

Interesting day today. It started wet and grey. That's right, some strange wet water-like material was falling from the sky. Apparently the locals call it "rain", but having lived in Sydney we don't know what that means. Although we're being told (by family) that Sydney has had nothing but "rain" over the last couple of days. We don't believe it though - it's all an urban myth! Andy was dropped off at work and the girls went house-hunting. Once again the realtor was excellent. She even took Jen and Lexie on a tour of the local areas, to show them the highlights: such as dress shops, the supermarkets, local restaurants, bakeries, schools and ice cream shops. One of the houses visited had a great surprise in the cellar- the washing machine, dryer and furnace were all up on concrete blocks. And there were two mysterious looking pumps set up in the vicinity. You can guess what the problem was minor flooding in the cellar. Minor flooding!!! That requires 2 pumps!!!! I don't think so! Unless the cellar doubles as a koi pond?!? As Jen and Lexie walked around this place, Lexie gave her opinion on the house, by blowing several loud raspberries. Seems she had insider knowledge, maybe we should listen to her in the future! Got some good leads, which Andy will view this weekend, when he's not working. Fingers crossed you lot! Maybe we will have put in an offer by the end of the weekend! 3pm arrived and meant we had a rendez-vous at the Social Security office. Everything you have heard or seen about these places in movies and on television is absolutely true. Know what I mean????? Once inside we took a number and waited. As we'd arrived 20 minutes before our relocation consultant, by the time he arrived we were well into the process of getting our social security numbers. Again, Lexie charmed the pants off the local ladies and the security guard (Barry). Barry was a lovely bloke - who went out of his way to help us and was really interested in why we were over here. And they say New Englanders are rude and dour. Now, guess who had the most problem with their social security number?? The Aussie who entered the US on an Aussie passport or the American passport holder??? C'mon........keep guessing.........you'll never get it........ Time's up: Correct answer = THE AMERICAN PASSPORT HOLDER. Andy's application was processed in minutes. Jen's took 30 minutes. And required intervention from 2 separate clerks. They couldn't understand how a US citizen at age 30, didn't have a social security number. Jen: Lexies been a bit of a pain for the last couple of days and today I found out why. the second tooth in the bottom is coming through too. Arggggg my little girl is growing up way too fast. But I still can't complain about her, even after getting up at 6:30am, out of the house by 7 am, viewed 8 houses before lunch, quick nap in the car, then another 3 hours at the social security office and bank, she still allowed us to go out for dinner. shes really such a good little girl.