Down to business

Life has been speedy lately which is why I haven't had much time to blog. You know sometimes life just gets like that. I'd like to keep track of what's going on so even if I don't have time I still want to write it all on my blog even if it's scattered. I'm sorry if this makes no sense sometimes or it's boring.

Little S is seeing a kid psychiatrist in Paris and we've only had one session. She's really good and she's great with children. He opened right up to her which really surprised us because he's Clint Eastwood in front of most adults, strong and silent. He's never open with someone like that. I haven't written much about what's going on but a school psychologist suggested her and yes he does seem to have a problem but we aren't sure what it is yet so the search continues. I'm still hunting around for a private school and next month I'm visiting two of them, both Steiner schools. I like Steiner and I've been trying to read through his works for the past year now, emphasis on trying because some of it's heavy and my brain is a bit mushy after two kids. When we first started looking that's what I focused on, finding a Steiner school, that or a school based on Reggio Emilia which would be my number one choice. The only Steiner school near us is 45 minutes away and in Paris that can mean three hours if you hit a traffic jam, but I'm interested in seeing the school anyway just to compare it to others. It's one of the few that goes all the way through lycée.

I'm also job hunting, or I guess career hunting. I found a training I like that I've been thinking about for a while now. It keeps popping back up in my thoughts and in things I read. It's basically falling in my lap screaming "do this!". I've been trying to start other things but nothing feels right except this. This feels really right but the program sounds really difficult and I'm not sure if I'd get accepted. Right now it's all still in the planning stage so I won't talk too much about it because I'm superstitious like that.

I'm looking for a car too which is a little difficult because I haven't got a car to go see cars. Seb usually gets home late so we only have the weekend to look. I'm also waiting on the insurance money. I got a really good deal on my old car when I bought it and I lost a lot in the insurance adjustment. It seems prices have gone up since then which is really frustrating because I have less to work with. I'm eager to get wheels again though. I feel like an old mamie in a flowered housecoat who stays in with her cat all day. A funny thing is I have it in my head that I'll get a black car and I'm really set on that. I think it's my secret desire to be a spy and combat car theives. Either that or I'll be Knight Rider and have a car that can't be stolen!

The big news is that our window company is going out of business. The owner called us yesterday at 7am asking for money. We've left him over seventeen messages and he just suddenly decides to call us back out of the blue. Seb got angry and asked why he'd never called us until now and the guy said "listen I don't have any installers because my guys are being investigated for three different robberies so I've fired them..." Seb told him about our car being stolen and he acted surprised. I have no idea why he felt the need to tell us about his guys but I don't trust him. I'm pretty sure he was involved somehow in our theft because the car was obviously at the company warehouse for a while. Seb hung up and called the main branch of the window company who told us not to give them any money because they we're no longer associated with them and the business is going under fast which is why he probably called us for money. He's desperate. We called the gendarmerie and told them "hey you know those guys we told you stole our car? Well you have a few files on them already (and if you'd done your job you'd probably know that!)" They said it was too late and that our case was already closed. Then we went to the police and filed a complaint against the window company and told them the whole story. The police were very nice and took our information starting from the beginning. The were really angry on our behalf for the way the gendarmerie treated our case. Evidently there's a big rivalry between the police and the gendarmerie. The police think the gendarmerie is completely incompetent, surprise, surprise. What a bunch of bumbling idiots. They'd told us after three visits that we were being pests and there were much more important cases for them than our stolen car. I'd always wondered why French people make fun of the gendarmerie and act so sarcastic with them. Each time we've called or talked to someone they seem really young, 20 years old or so, and they always have bad vocabulary. I remember one sympathetic gendarme girl telling Seb "mais putain oui, ça pue de la merde votre histoire la, franchement putain!" or roughly "yep that sounds like they're guilty, wow" but sprinkled with a truckdriver's vocabulary and not very evolved. They seem to be run by a bunch of teenagers, or at least in our precinct they are. The police were much sharper and now I have an official complaint filed against the company.

I feel a like I let the wolf play in the sheeps pen. I can't believe I was naieve enough to leave these con artists in my house alone at least a dozen times. One of the guys had such a sweet face and apparently he's the one who has the huge rap sheet. I really resent the idea that I can't trust anyone at face value anymore. I hate that feeling.

More renovation

Today it's snowing and one of the good things about not having a car is that I don't have to drive in the sludge when the weather's bad. Don't get me wrong though. I'm dying to get a car because while it's nice to live in the countryside when you don't have a car it's a little scary. I have become a shut in.

The theives also stole Charlotte's snazzy Maclaren stroller so we're really stuck. I'm going to get all June Cleaver on you and remind everyone to save all your receipts for baby items. I didn't save the Maclaren receipt because I thought I'd probably just keep it in the basement for eternity for whenever we might have visiting kids, but now I'm not going to get reimbursed for it. Ditto the car seats. We're out over 500 euros in baby gear, agh.

Okay I know it's pretty lame not saving receipts for high ticket items but we move so much that I got lazy.

In totally unrelated blurbs, we got some good news a few weeks ago. The renter in our other house is leaving in July and we're getting the house back for the month of August. We get to spend a month in our old house! We'll be renting it again, possibly as a seasonal rental but most likely for a longer bail. We can also increase the rent by almost double. That may sound radical but he was renting it for peanuts so he'd accept the place "as is" and hopefully finish off some work. He never really did much work, oh well and he hasn't been great about paying the rent on time but he has been a pretty reliable guy about keeping care of the house and that was really important to us.

In August we'll finish up the work (more renovating, sigh, but at least it's a change of projects) and we'll get it ready for some new tenants. Hopefully I can detach myself from my love of the house. That part's hard and I'm a little scared I'll get completely obsessed with moving back there. I probably will but what a pleasure to see my house by the lake again!

Time out

The weekend's finally here!! (even if it is raining)

I've been looking forward to this for over two weeks now. It's our ten year wedding anniversary and we've loaned out the kids to my in-laws for three days. We're single and carefree again. It feels wonderful.

A house without kids stays miraculously CLEAN. And you can go out to the garbage as much as you want without explaining to a small crying person that you'll be right back and then barring them from going out by closing the door really fast in their face. Two year olds are little prison wardens. My shackles are free for a few days :P

But to be honest the house is really quiet and it's kind of creepy. Also there's the missing right arm thing. "Where did I leave that?"

We're headed to Paris for some city action. I've been wanting to visit the antiques in St. Ouen just for fun, a little window shopping (or licking as the French say). And we'll probably try to have lunch somewhere and let go of the guilt about not working on the house for a full day and not chasing the kids around. Oh and tonight it's fancy shmancy night in the city.

Observing

We spent the weekend working in the mezzanine, building some closets under the slant of the roof and setting up our office desk. It looks like a big mess so there aren't many pics I feel like sharing but hopefully soon. The closets will give us a place to stash our stuff and help us organize our papers, HUGE priority because we keep losing things.

Before I forget I wanted to share a drawing story. Last week S had his little girlfriend over to play and she loves drawing. I know at the mom's night out I go to I talked to her mom and she said she might like to do our atelier on Wednesday because she adores drawing and she's very talented for her age. So when Lola came over both kids sat down to draw and I was kind of listening in nearby while I cleaned the table. S went over and got his Playmobil ambulance and started drawing it with markers, looking up and down, doing all the details. He even drew the nubs of the tires. Lola was intrigued so she started observing him and then she started trying to draw the ambulance the same way by looking but she got frustrated really fast and stopped. She crumpled the paper and started again but still couldn't quite get it and crumpled another piece in a fit. Meanwhile S was busy adding stripes and other details and this was driving her nuts. Finally she threw a huge fit, "can you come and draw this for me Christine!" I came over and sat beside her but of course I ignored what she'd said. I wasn't going to draw it for her. I'd noticed that while she was trying to do what S was doing she'd not spent much time observing the truck, she just wanted it to sort of happen. Since "trucks" aren't in her drawing repetoire she couldn't do one and she didn't realize that by looking at this one she could draw it.

I worked with her and finally she did a pretty basic version of it but it was like pulling teeth to get her to slow down and take time to look. Her patience was really stretched. I realized then and there that there is a big unlearning process for observation drawing. She needed to learn to let go of her desire to reproduce stock images just like everyone. She's only five but she already has the little file in her head for drawing and she had the need for approval that goes with it.

It's never too late to start unlearning. Last time she came over she grabbed a bird off my bookshelf and drew it with no prompting, just picked it up and sat down. When her mom came over to pick her up she looked at the bird drawing Lola had done which was actually really good, and then she turned to me and said "see she's such a little artist. She doesn't get it from me though. I can't draw anything!"

Here's a good link which explains why this kind of drawing is so important for everyone.

Nothing major

No major accidents. This week has been pretty calm. whew.

In other news,

Well, Charlotte we can say has offically stopped breastfeeding. I think the last time was just around New Years Day. Right before this in November she went through a period where she cried and screamed and she was constantly clinging to me. She fed about sixteen times a day. I was at my wits end. I swore she'd never want to stop and I got a little depressed to be perfectly honest, really depressed. I think they get clingy when they sense it's the end (even if it's them who decides to stop). But now suddenly she's stopped asking and I've stopped offering. We're both sort of okay with that. It's always sad to let go but a lot of it's hormonal. I'm really pleased with getting so far when the beginning was so AWFUL, two years and two months! Go "low supply" me (and take that Miss Mexico Doctor who told me I had no milk!)

I've been really lazy with art journaling but I just haven't had time to draw at night and we don't have a light in the bedroom (don't ask). I've been getting back into photography lately. I just did a photo session for a pregnant friend and she loved it so much that we did a second session with her and the kids. I had a million ideas so it was really fun for me. The photos I did of her were very arty and avant garde. The kids ones were a bit more fun, laughing and poking fun of their mom. It was really challenging working with all that -- big belly mama, bad lighting and two kids. The pictures came out good though and she's shown them to everyone. I wish I could share them here but they're so personal. Anyway, now I have two or three people who've asked me to do sessions with their kids. I'm really excited because I love these kind of projects and my kids are bored with all my photo sessions. Fresh blood! Yay!

We hired our neighbor. Remember I said a while back "clearly one doesn't hire the neighbor" ? Well it was stupid to say that because he's the nicest person I've ever met and I think from what I've seen he's an amazing craftsman. I was just worried because we've had such horrible luck with workmen and you know if he's a neighbor it's kind of sticky. Hopefully he's our good luck charm.

Little S's room is almost finished and we're getting him some new furniture. I've found him an awesome mid century teak bed and I'm redoing his 1950's nightstand in the same tone. It's a little stylish for a kid's bedroom but I like it. I want to paint his accent wall in black (chalkboard paint!) but Seb is my roadblock, "you can't paint a kid's room BLACK!" He has to concede. It's going to look great and anyway it's only one wall.

Before I forget I have to share a link to a new favorite blog, with lots of fabulous ideas for mid century modern fans. I'm slowly becoming a huge fan of this style and it's pretty easy to collect nice pieces thrifting which is what I love to do.