One girl's bliss...

Not many girls dream of vacuum cleaners--but let me just say that I am currently just a few short hours (okay, ten) from unadulterated vacuuming-bliss!  We are going to get......oh. just take a look at this baby!

Doesn't it just make you drool?! (oh, that's me.) We are getting this one 'used', from a Garcon who bought it for his Petite-girlfriend in February that doesn't like it......(Wha?!) because it's just too hefty and fierce.... and I say...Bring it on baby!  I can handle it! Petite-girlfriend wants the little-wimpy style canister and hose type or maybe even a Dust-Buster perhaps.  But moi?!  I am still in therapy for separation anxiety over some of the appliances we had to sell before moving to France--one being my bright purple Dyson-Animal that a lovely lady in Seattle is now blissfully driving around (yes, I did say 'driving' because after-all, vacuuming is a sport! non?)

So since we moved here, I have been solemnly trying to adapt to the weak and sucky (not good sucky) little vacuum that we had to buy here and all the joy has just been sucked out of it!  Until today....

You see--we have three doggies, and three kitties (and three kiddos and I have three blogs and three books that I am writing, three Facebook pages....and three...well you get the theme!)  Although we only have THREE rugs--two are in the 'living room' and 'dining room' the most used rooms in the house (apart from our tiny kitchen which is tiled thankfully!)  Oh, and there is one in Middle Garcons room but it is more like a 'mat'.

But I would like to get some kind of ruggy-carpet thing for Petite-Fille's room but held back until I have some way of keeping it dust-bunny free and free of other things--for example, our big 'rustic' country cat, Polo likes to bring in a feathery snack (no I will not go into details) now and then to share with Petite Fille.  A few nights ago he apparently caught his poor victim in the middle of the night and spread feathers all over her bedroom (currently just wood floor) and having a big robust 'manly' vacuum--is much needed.  He also tries to sleep in her crib--his big, furry, dusty kitty body--but that is another problem all together.

Anyway--I digress--if that's possible based on where I started.  Just a shout-out to all the other domestic vacuum-driving-godesses out there!  Think of me this evening when I will be driving with one hand on my pretty new bright yellow (I like to call it 'golden') almost-new Dyson---with the other hand balancing my glass of Sauvignon.....or champagne.

Cheers!

365 French Days

 

 This past weekend, in the blur of crazy stormy sunny stormy, no sunny, sunny, or was it stormy----okay--stunny---crazy Normandy weather....and in the blur of Father's Day planning and house cleaning and painting things grey.... ( a table, and two cabinets)...we passed our ONE YEAR anniversary of arriving in France!

Somehow this milestone date brought with it some bloggers-blank (insert cringe)...maybe I felt that too much was riding on some thoughtful reflections, witty remembrances or poetic musings--pressure, pressure, pressure....and instead...I got nothin'.

Except for one big, prolonged, full lung-ed......SIGH.  I could have written a long entry about all I have learned this past year, how much I have changed, what I love about living here, and what I still miss.  But all of those things manage to seep into my daily thoughts and narratives then and still now...and all of those things remain part of the unfinished chapter of 'ma nouvelle vie en France'....

So I will just say this for now...and I will forgive myself of the a-fore mentioned pressure......a year ago I traded the Space Needle for the Eiffel Tower -- Pacific Northwest girl to become Normandy girl..... and so far it's been the best, hardest, most interesting, sweetest, saddest, happiest, loneliest, trying, triumphant, meaningful and life altering time of my life.

There.  I think that says it all.....and of course (bien sur!) to be continued.........

A bientot mes amis!

117 Hours.....

Cue music......."Schooools out for tha' summer!"........ okay--now cue the screeching of the needle across the vinyl record...because we are NOT out.  Here in France, or maybe just here in Normandy....we are still in school-----until July 7th!  So the rest of you can just pipe-down! Seriously. (No, just kidding--sorta.)

What makes it worse is that it has been decided that both 'garcons' will repeat or 'double' (as they say here) in the same grade-level next year. So what is the point of these last few weeks of school anyway knowing that they will have a second go at it next fall?

Oldest Garcon is changing schools and Middle Garcon is staying at his adorably cute tiny little school (11 kids in his class) just down the road.  We are not upset about this.  I think we half expected it.  Both boys with zero knowledge of the French language have managed to survive in all-French-speaking, writing, teaching schools ... survival being the key term here. ( I think it's 'survivre' in French, but I am not sure).

We had high-hopes that the children would pick up French tout de suite having pliable-ready to learn-sponge-like brains that they have...but alas! That is apparently just for video-games!  But we have to give them props for trying a little--even though they are not fluent-- after-all, they did go to school every day with minimal rebellion and complaints.  Although to be truthful, there were some tears in those first few months...(okay, so they were mine!)  But it's tough to see your kiddos struggle, and remember I was teaching English at Oldest Garcon's school at the start of the school year so I got to see first-hand how tough it was for him.  Visualize this my Mama-friends---your child in a sea of 'foreign-speaking' school mates (around 500 or so)....sitting ALONE in the middle of the crowded lunch-room, head-down, staring at his plate.  That was my boy--my funny, out-going, sweet kid---without a friend to eat lunch with (a 90 minute lunch mind-you.)  I got to see that as I was sitting across the room at the teacher's table.  Did I go to his rescue?  Heck-yeah!   I didn't care if it was uncool for him to be talking to his Mom at school--and guess what?  He appreciated it.  I sat with him for a few minutes and I am happy to report on subsequent days he did get on fine and made a Fran-glais or Ang-cais buddy who saved the day. The only other English speaker in his grade.  This friend will be so missed when he switches schools next fall--but his current school, a flashy-pricey private school has not lived up to it's promise of mono-lingual integration and we can't have him academically suffering another year...and not being taught at least a bit of French during the school day, as promised, to keep him at his school level.

Middle Garcon has lived up to his super-star rep.  He speaks and understands more French than any of us....but the caveat? Only when he wants to.  His teachers think he is darling...and he is.  He is the tiniest guy in his class so 'doubling' will actually be a bonne idée.  And because his class is split with first and second grade together, he will be with the same teacher and kids from this year and that is going to be really good for him.  He is very smart, his French-script is really coming along, and he has a few friends so I have continued optimism that he will be just fine.

Then there is my French! Remember my eluding to pending deportation?  Well let's just say that the French government takes fluency in the national language very, very seriously.  But quelle dommage!  I am out of time!
 .......To be continued mes amis!  Until then--enjoy your last few hours of kids-are-in-school bliss...your last days or hours are waning---Et moi?  I've got 13 school days left to go--that's 117 garcon-less hours, that's 7,020 minutes of  "I-can-clean-their-rooms-and-it-will-stay-that-way-for-at-least-8-hours" -bliss--and I intend to make the most if it!    

Sparks

 

Yesterday was another 'Web-less Wednesday' and I found it harder than usual to avoid the web.  I did get a zillion things done -- I have been hit lately with "Martha Stewart-itis" and I made curtains for our kitchen windows out of vintage bed sheets (I know--but it looks better than it sounds--trust me.) and then continued on to make sheers for our 'salle de bain' to camouflage the bumpy textured privacy glass that prevents our neighbor (who just happens to also be our land-lady) from being able to see us standing in our shower. Not so fun accomplishments; about five loads of laundry and cueing-up five more for today.

Petite Fille is on nap-strike.  For two days in a row she has decided that one nap in the morning pretty much takes care of it and she steadfastly refuses to be put down to bed again until nighttime....and then she pushes her normal 8-ish curfew to 11-ish-midnight.....strange.  That makes about a 9 to 11 hour stretch without sleep even though I have reminded her that she is only five months old and needs her beauty rest!

So to pass the time while I was sewing and NOT on the web...and Petite Fille was NOT napping, I plugged in a taping of the Oprah season finale and two-part gala shows.  I missed the entire last season (nope--no Oprah in France!) and truthfully I have really missed it.  At first I was skeptical that her last show would have no guests....and when it began I thought her dialogue was a bit Randy Pausch-Last Lecture--esque, and I was worried because that is one 'good-bye' speech that cannot be topped----ever.  (And his book is even more spectacular--read it if you get the chance--talk about reflections on life--wow!)

Oprah's final 'farewell' was inspiring to put it lightly--I found myself with tissue in hand and pen and paper as I furiously jotted down notes--this was after the first ten minutes of starring at the screen with jaw hanging...... so here is my summation--and remember these are her words, I am just paraphrasing because they ressonated so strongly with me.....and they may with you too.

What is your SPARK?  What sparks life in you?  What are things that wake-up your soul...inspire you....ignite your passion?  DO THESE THINGS--have them in your life.  Although we all need to 'make a living' and maybe we are not the lucky few that gets to turn passion into income....find your STAGE....and throw yourself out on that stage....

....and if you do, you will receive in direct proportion, what you gave.  

My stage is writing.  It has been for a very long time.  It began with one of my earliest inspirations; my second child, my 'bon vivant!'.......the day the floor fell out from beneath me when I learned he had Autism.  Four years later I had written enough to publish a book, and I did.  I threw myself out on that foreign stage and as mothers do--gave it everything I had....and got back, a million trillion times more in blessings, even more than I felt I deserved.

What is your stage? Is it listening? Mothering? Nurturing? Writing?  Singing? Dancing? Creating?

Second to writing, photography has become a strong passion for me.  Two years ago I picked up a camera and my passion for capturing a visual 'slice-of-life' continues every day.  This fall I will shoot 'Belle-Niece's" wedding--that will be a new 'stage' for me....one that both thrills me and makes me a teensy-tiny bit nervous.

Back to Ms. 'O'...... three last things:

You....YOU...are responsible for your life....not anyone else.  Not your mom, spouse, father, friend..... 

....and next;  No one else completes YOU.

and finally; WORTH ---YOU are worthy of happiness....because you are here.  HERE, here.... in this life, on your stage, living for your passion and we are the only one who can block our blessings... so don't.  Don't block them...live them.

That's the blog entry that I scratched out on paper after listening to Oprah's last show, but I will end this post with some words from another truly fabulous thinker and writer (world changer), Maya Angelou:

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style"

Wishing you all, passion, compassion, humor and style.......Find your spark--and enjoy!  

A bientot, mes amis! 

Sunday Breakfast

Yesterday was a rare Sunday morning when I didn't have a brocante to go to, it was windy and rainy and I woke up thinking that scones would be a perfect stay-in breakfast.

Last week had been a very exhausting, 'on the brink' kinda week.  Several things  loom  hang just around the corner for us; big and small things; good and not-so, are coming soon, including but not limited to the launch of a new career for 'French Guy', the end of the school year and the assemalation of some kind of plan for the summer for 'les enfants'.... oh and yes!  My possible deportation back to the US......

.....and so with the rains arrival after many many weeks of constant sunshine, something warm and comfy to eat was much needed.

So after a few cups of java--because my brain needed some juice to get going (nights are not very night-like; we are in limbo with 'Petite Filles' sleep schedule and my mind has been going zing-zang-zoom instead of Zzzzzzz! more often than not.) I reached for my 'Big Book of Breakfast' cook book to get the basics for scones so I could change, manipulate, mix-up, alter, refine, and re-create my own version of the kind of scones I craved.  So here goes:

Whole Grain, Banana, Oatmeal, Raisin Scones with Maple Glaze.

1/2 cup Cold Butter chopped in tiny pieces

2 cups Whole Grain Flour**

1 tbs. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup Un-refined (raw) Sugar

1/2 cup Oats

1/2 cup Raisins

1 Smashed Banana

1 Large Egg

1/2 cup Light Cream, 1/2 and 1/2 or Whole Milk

1 tbs. Maple Syrup

3 tbs. Powdered Sugar

** The flour mix I used, called Albona's 'Pain Multicereales' is for making bread, and is found in France; it is a blend of wheat, barley, rye and oat flour and has flax seeds in it.  It also has salt added so if you use it. omit the salt in this recipe.

Otherwise make your own blend of whole grain flour; wheat, buckwheat or oat flour mixed 50/50 with white flour would be about right.

Mix all of the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until mixture is grainy. Mix in the oats and raisins.  

In a separate bowl, beat egg with milk and stir in smashed banana.  Add this to the dry ingredients and combine until uniformly mixed.  You can get fancy, but I like to dump the glob on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, pat it into a round mound, sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar and pop it into the oven.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  After it cools you can cut it into slices.

To make the maple glaze; mix the powdered sugar with the maple syrup and drizzle on slightly cooled scone.  These scones are not-too-sweet and are pretty healthy--they are also quite filling!  I recommend at least 4 cups of very strong French roast coffee with them, maybe more....but that's just me!

Enjoy!

For a year....

I am going to be honest and admit that getting out of 'Funkdom' has been harder than just writing one blog-post about it and hoppin' to it!  Maybe that is a relief for some of you out there.  Maybe your attempts have also been in good faith and yet you are slipping ever so slightly back into knee-deep 'funk'.......

I am...just a petit-peu.  I can attribute it to sleep-wackiness.  I (we) are still not having any kind of 'normal' sleep--some nights 7 or 8 hours at a time and then other nights 2.  A few nights ago when a full night's sleep was almost a shoe-in as Petite Fille had slept almost straight through the night before...the night was looking promising....but then an old friend returned---my chere amie--Insomnia.  She stuck around until about 2 am which was when Petite Fille woke up and decided it was time to par--tay!

Today I am tired, and grumpy.  I have loads of projects in the cue and I cannot get myself up and at-em for anything---Coffee? Blah.  Shower? Blah.  Hair coiffed and make-up on? Blah-blah-blah.  I have been trying to entice myself by saying--I don't really need to tidy up the house--or do laundry---or make a grocery list---I could just go out someplace pretty and shoot some pictures.......?......BLAH.  The beach?.....Bl...a...? Well maybe not blah--but I can't go now with Petite Fille napping and French Guy out getting serious things done.

So I am stuck--I was reading blogs to cheer myself up and instead I ended up feeling a little bit pissy about a new (adorable) blog I just found written by an adorable young gal, and her adorable family that just moved to Paris to live an adorable life---for ONE year....yeah--you got it, ONE adorable year!  And in my snitty-little mood I found myself not inspired but instead hating little Madame Adorable---and thinking--one year in any country is barely boot-camp....and of course anything in 365 day increments....especially a move from family and friends is totally do-able...so of course why not?!

One year living in France, pas grave, non?---but you see I am almost there.  And my one year in France has not been....well adorable, or romantic or magical.....or anything near that.  If you have been reading for a while you know that this transition to wonder-France-land has been a tinsy bit hard.  Because it's not just for a year--it's not a bite-size adjustment know that soon enough I will return home to friends, family and all things familiar and comfortable.

You also know that I have been admitting lately that things are getting better.  I am starting to feel more at-home and more than that appreciating not only the differences but how all the new things have caused me to open my eyes and appreciate things in life that sometimes go unnoticed....like people I love, rituals and routines, places, foods.....but there has been a high price to pay too.  One that wouldn't necessarily be felt so deeply if it were only for a year.

It may be hard to understand from an outside perspective---I love the frank and honest posts of ex-pats that have found that not all is brilliant and sparkly in Cheeseland.  At the same time, I am equally honest to agree that this is the experience of a lifetime, for me, for the kids and even for French Guy to be so close to his family...and for a while in my mind I did pretend it was for a year (only) because then it feels more like vacation than stay-cation....not-goin'-back-cation.

Well onward and upward---out of the mucky-funk.  The sun is shining, the construction team tearing up our roads are 'at lunch' so all is quiet, (aside from the neighbor who just revved-up his hedge trimmer)...and Petite Fille sleeps at least for the moment.  I will overcome this funk!  (I will, I will.....starting right now.....right this minute.....here I go.......up, up, up......right after I take a nap.)

Au revoir funk! How am I doin' so far?....and you?

More 'Gigs'......

"We are sorry, but your memory card is too full to perform this function".

That is the message I got after trying to snap a few precious shots of our evening out last night with my Blackberry.....because I was sans camera!  Full?  Could it be?  Wow.........And then even at home, on my laptop--my ancient old p-i-n-k Dell Inspiron 1525---what a coincidence! I have only 1.36 GB of 135 GB remaining......

Y-I-K-E-S.   That could be bad, really bad.----at any moment!...............hopefully not now.

Where is all of that memory going?!  I have over 3000 photos.....from 2011.  I still have files from 2006--but I still access images all of the time so I am having trouble sorting and deleting them.  I have tried to clean-up my hard drive--I have uninstalled all of the 'gaming' programs and downloads that mysteriously appear each time Oldest Garcon is left unattended and commandeers my lap top for the afternoon.

The thing is, I have recently gone through my computer in attempts to exile some unused folders and applications to never-never land....but what I am finding is that documents and yes even 100's of pictures moved or deleted does not really help with the overall  engorged hard-drive situation....and truthfully I am not really sure what does.  (Response? Techies out there?)

In the beginning it was hard to do any cleaning at all--I was in the big world of denial....but as things get slower and stickier and cloggy-er (I made that last one up).....I am compelled to face-up to a very overwhelmed system....with declining space for memory---or memories.... or anything.  But that is just it---deleting memories--that's what it feels like....hence the resistance.

As I attempt to clean-out--I get stuck reading and looking at things---100's of GBs, millions of MB's of my LIFE...and obviously my life---before now.  Which brings me back to 'ma vie en France' and that little bit of me huge part of me, that just will not let go....even of the insignificant things.  Beyond the thousands of pictures, I find documents written to school officials in hopes of persuading them to implement a new special education program, invoices from my previous life as personal organizer/interior designer....PowerPoint presentations, music files, and mini-series downloaded when we first arrived in France to satisfy my fix for American-in-English TV shows...all of this stuff jamming up my once fluid and fast little lap-top.

Maybe part of me wants this baby to terminally crash.  'French Guy' has suggested that I might be rewarded for shooting my belle-nieces wedding in September with a new laptop.....or a new lens....hmmm--tough to chose.  But realistically as we live on a shoe-string we can't afford either and I am a big believer in taking care of what you already have.

Oh what to do!?  C'est une enorme probleme! I have no memory for the memories yet to come!

Take last night for example.  We, our petite famille of five, ventured out to have dinner (a rarity, but it was high time for some quality family adventures) and found a very fabulous Sushi place! (Yes! You read that right--S-U-S-H-I  restaurant .....yes, we are still in France).  All-you-can-eat--sushi no less!  Crazy! and good!  (Middle Garcon happily proclaimed "I am so excited to have good ol' American sushi!")

After dinner we took a walk along the board walk in Trouville along the beach and Middle Garcon convinced us to let him go on one of the carnival type rides that are a permanent fixture along the beach in season.  So as I hadn't brought my camera--I reached for the Blackberry--snapped a few pics.....and then......the message----no more memory!

This night to remember---had no more memory space....and in light of my other 'memory issues' I think this may have been a subtle hint from the 'Memory-Gods' as it were......and this is it--

 Time to make room for more memories!  

Do you think?  I do.....and making room turns out to require come cleaning out and re-organizing at the very least.  Looks like I have no other options.......the time has come.  I am only thankful that I had enough to write this blog entry....I hope.......we shall see.....nothin' is smoking here yet....I have yet to hit the 'publish-post' button......maybe I shouldn't...........oh dear..........here's hoping---------------------------------

A bientot, mes amis!

Unexpected Perfect.

We are on another long holiday weekend!  This is a FIVE day weekend as there is normally no school on Wednesdays here and today, Thursday is l'Ascencion a religious holiday observed nationally....and of course then Friday would have to be 'off' too...and then the weekend.  So there is five days of school-less bliss for les enfants....and oddly enough, so far, bliss for the maman.

Yesterday, Oldest Garcon got an invitation for a sleep-over from one of his school-mate friends.  This particular buddy is 'Anglais' although he has lived in France for some time and is brilliantly fluent in both English and French.  Although it seemed odd to have a stay-over on a Wednesday night it actually felt less complicated than a normal weekend night, so plans were made to drop him off at the Ami-Fran-glais home which is about 35 minutes from our house.

But here is what happened...around the time that French Guy was ready to take Oldest Garcon to Ami-Fran-glais' house, Petite Fille was fed, changed and needing a nap--so I suggested that because she had been having trouble settling that she might go in the car with French Guy and les enfants on the long drive out to the stay-over destination.....that would be about 90 minutes or so in the car and surely she would catch some Zzzz's and be in a way better mood when they returned just before dinner time.  And so it was....

Suddenly they all departed....and suddenly the house was quiet in a way I can say honestly I have never heard before since moving in.....in fact this would be only the second time since her birth, that I was separated from Petite Fille  and the first time in almost 5 months that I was completely alone in our home---sans tout les enfants!

So what did I do---?!?!?  Did I open the windows and let the breeze in? Pour myself a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc and fill the tub?

Mais non!---I..............in a frenzy known only to genetically mutated tidy-ers....gathered all of the cleaning supplies I could cradle in one arm with the broom and rags in the other and I sprinted....yes---bolted....up two flights of stairs to the third floor to begin in all haste.....clock ticking.....to.........CLEAN.

Some of you are out there reading this and nodding in true compatriotism..... (I just made up that word I think.)  But you know what I mean, right?!   So I started in the boy's bedrooms, which includes the big attic-like 'closet' that contains all of the cat's provisions and I cleaned.....and cleaned and cleaned.....legos with legos, transformers with transformer parts, playmobil with playmobil.......then the stairs, swept and mopped, then Petite Fille's  room which is mainly putting away laundry, then our room, the bathroom, the stairs.....well you get the idea.  But what you may not realize is that these tasks do not bring weary resentment--these tasks provide sheer---unadulterated----JOY.  Oh yeah--crazy right?

At 6 pm French Guy  returns....with Middle Garcon and Petite Fille--who slept the entire journey...and is tres rested and cheerful.  In about an hour, we have friends coming over for aperitif--and guess what?--the house is sparkling and spot-less from top to bottom!!!  BLISS.

Now I pour that glass of chilled-white!  Friends come over, we sit and make easy and relaxed conversation, Petite Fille falls asleep and is put down to bed.  Friends stay until 10 pm even though it was 'only for aperitif' and after they leave French Guy, Mois and Middle Garcon start a movie to watch all together under blankets in the veranda.......Not good enough?  Did I mention that is was a CHICK FLICK?!  Could it have gotten any better than this?

When was the last time that the house was perfect BEFORE the five day weekend....when was the last time that we sat with friends and lost track of time....when was the last time that we were able to give undivided (almost) attention to Middle Garcon....and forget that!  When was the last time I got French Guy to watch a chick-flick with me and not only stay-awake but LIKE it!?

PERFECT......Parfait!  And better yet---Unexpected-Perfect.....and I would venture to say.....there is nothing better than that!  Oui?.......Oui.

A bientot,mes amis......