a three hour tour

Don't worry, we didn't get shipwrecked on a tiny island with a millionaire and his wife or anything.

So a few months ago, Stéph came back from his formation in Châlons and declared that there was a bar and a store I just had to see and one day he was going to take me there. I reminded him of this promise on Monday and we decided that the next day would be perfect for visiting for a few hours.

Châlons-en-Champagne is the capital of the Marne département, which is surprising when larger and better known Reims is also in the same département. Châlons has kind of a small but charming downtown area and the rest seems to be just residential areas. We had a really great lunch in front of the Mairie, eating outside on the terrace in the shade. I can't speak for Stéph but my simple salad of lettuce, lardons, tomatoes with loads of chèvre on toast and buttery garlic toast was wonderful! Possibly not the healthiest thing on earth, but it's the closest I've come to a BLT on this side of the ocean and I enjoyed every bite!

From there we went to Stéph's first "you gotta go" destination - The Red Bar & Lounge. This was something of a shock in a town that is not known for having any kind of a hip, young demographic. In fact, the only higher institute of learning there is a teacher's college, and most students commute, like Stéph did. This bar was a dream - very fun and hip interior, a very wide array of hot and cold drinks as well as many cocktails I recognized from my bar hopping days back in the States. In fact, Stéph mentioned that he often heard Americans hanging out and chatting there when he and his colleagues came in for a coffee before heading back to class. The atmosphere and the drinks list reminded me so much of some coffee houses I loved in Orlando and Greenville and I wouldn't be surprised to learn if the place was owned by Americans. We sat on a backless sofa surrounded by pillows with our cappuccinos (it must be years since I enjoyed a cappuccino!) and just hung out and watched the world go by. What a great hangout that place would be!

The next place I had to see was actually a little crafts shop that Stéph's colleague had told him about. It seemed to be the proprietor's house, with a car parked in the garage and we imagined that she probably lived on the first (second for Americans) floor. It seemed that most of her business was in patchwork (I know one person in particular who would have very much enjoyed their fabric selection!) but as for yarn, there wasn't much more than a few skeins of fantasy yarn and some uninspiring solid colored yarn. Too bad - Stéph had let me loose in the shop and there was nothing really that interested me! It was a cute little shop and the proprietor did say that she sometimes had some customers that came and worked on their projects at the large dining room table and enjoy a cup of tea from time to time. I was touched beyond words that Stéph even thought I'd be interested in it, and then followed me around while I inspected the crafty things! Yeah, he's a keeper.

So then we went on our last errand - Stéph said I absolutely had to see the Carrefour, which is freakin' ginormous! It's got to be one of the biggest - not to mention nicest, since I think it's only been recently built - shopping complexes I've seen here. It's basically a huge grocery inside a decent sized mall! We ended up buying a new car battery in case our zombie battery ever kicks it - seriously, that thing has been working for like, ten years! - and I was even very pleased to find that they had Cheddar! in their cheese section! In my excitement I nearly ordered 500 grams of the stuff (that's a pretty hefty block, more than a pound!) but Stéph talked me back down to a sensible 250 grams. We've already devoured half of it, on a very tasty steak salad I whipped up for dinner tonight. I think the rest of it will be destined for a new cold taco salad recipe I've found.

It looks like the next week or so will be just work, work, work but it looks like the end of next week will see us heading back out on the road for a real, honest to God vacation! Can you believe it? More to come on that soon...

how to enjoy a pleasant Bastille Day weekend in Paris

• Do not, under any circumstances, take your driving directions from mappy.fr, which will either direct you to take a heavily congested road on a Friday evening, rendering you capable of only gaining ten kilometers in one hour, or will give you insufficient directions, leaving you to wander around the wrong town for another hour, or both, which will make you two hours late and leave you only the time for a quick glass of water before running out the door again.
  
• Do catch a movie in version originale, or VO, such as the latest Harry Potter movie, with good friends who even think to purchase tickets five hours before the movie starts.
• Do not attempt to join the holiday crowds at the Champs de Mars, just under the Eiffel Tower, which will be completely packed without the space to move even one iota. Instead, retreat to the much more accessible Esplanade des Invalides, where there is much more space to lay out a few picnic blankets.
• Do make sure you are well equipped with stinky cheese, a bit of cold cuts, fresh fruit and veggies, delicious bread, lovely wine and, most importantly, plenty of sunscreen, as there is little respite from the sun beating down on your delicate head.
• Do not forget to bring plenty of water, or some of your lovely companions will be forced to take their scooter all the way home in search of more.
• Do bring plenty of games, although the sight of great big helicopters and plenty of men in uniform will provide plenty of eye candy.
• Do not forget your sense of fun and wander, and be sure to have on hand plenty of American sparklers and bubbles.
• Do enjoy the fireworks over near the Eiffel Tower, even if you can only see the tops of them over the trees.
  
• Do not panic when it comes to finding your way home in the overcrowded subway. Instead, make sure you have some handy Paris natives who can navigate the crowded streets and find alternative routes at the drop of a hat, getting you home in record time.
• Do heartily enjoy a few games on the Wii and vow that one day, you shall have one all your own.
• Do not be afraid that you have made a fool of yourself on an internationally renown podcast, even though you know it in your heart to be true.
  
• Do make sure one of your hosts is a wizard with cars and simultaneously fixes your car out of his own kindness and curiosity and saves you upwards of 200€.
• Do not forget to thank your gracious hostess for the best weekend you and your husband have had in a very, very long time!
  

time keeps getting away from me

This week has just been ridiculous. I had it all planned out - light work load, run around, see some friends, etc. etc. Getting sick on Monday threw all of that out of wack, doubling the time it took to write, difficulty sleeping, all that nastiness that comes with a massive head cold. I think I've just about shaken it out of my system, thank goodness. And I did get to run over to Troyes to see Doc and MP3 on Wednesday. But it also means I didn't get to do a lot of the things I wanted to before we go out of town. I wanted to make some goodies to bring with us and I also wanted to write about that big fancy decision that, after all this time, is going to be some kind of a letdown, really, once I get around to writing about it. But that's going to be a long post, and I want to really put some time into it. Sorry about that. I'll work on it when I get back.

So in about an hour, we're heading out the door to go to Paris for the weekend. If you're in Paris and you're looking for something to do on Bastille Day, well Stéph and I will be hanging out with them. And now I have to go pack!

it's the fever, I'm telling you

I nearly forgot to tell you! When I was in Paris last month, I had stars in my eyes the whole time I was at the blogger's picnic, because there were SOOOOOOOO many famous bloggers there. And then, Mickelino - you know, the Frog with a Blog? - interviewed me (ME!) for his Short and Shallow interview series!

I know I sound like an idiot. It's ok, you can say so, for I know it to be true. If nothing else, this documentary is a warning: Alcohol is Bad, mkay? You can see it here. I'll just be over here cringing.

But if you stick it out long enough, you can hear me warble Patsy Cline only slightly off-key.

what I wouldn't give for a shot of Nyquil

Aw, crap, I am so sick. And this week of all weeks! It really isn't fair.

Yesterday morning I had the very beginning of a cold, but it didn't seem too bad, just a light sniffle, so off we went to our friend N's house yesterday for lunch, and just like usual, we had apéros (before-lunch drinks and snacks) at 12:30 and didn't sit down to eat until 3:00. Then, Stéph and fellow guest JP went upstairs to work on N's daughter's computer, and when they were done with that, the four of us decided to walk to the center of N's little town, and Stéph got all excited because the (only) bar had Rapido, and we haven't played for ages, so we all trooped in and had a coffee and played a few rounds. Then we were going to walk to the grocery, but N remembered that the one in walking distance was closed on Mondays (and wow, I thought our little town is bad, at least our groceries are open on Mondays!) so we stopped at a boulangerie instead. By this time, it's apéro-before-dinner time (plain old juice for me, thanks) and next thing you know it's 9:00. At this point, I was feeling pretty worse for wear and I could feel myself getting sicker by the minute, but then Stéph and JP were in the kitchen whipping up a little dinner. Finally, we all sit down to eat again, and by the time the emergency extra frozen bread for the cheese course had been cooked and dessert was eaten, it was 11:30.

Last night was pretty rough. I didn't want to push my luck, so I had only had a couple of drinks during the day (yesterday was officially designated A Day Off From the Diet) but by the time my head met the pillow, it felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Then Stéph started his Snore Symphony in Three Movements (bless his heart, I know he doesn't do it on purpose, but all I can think of is bloody murder when he starts) so I moved to the spare bedroom.

And then, the weirdest thing ever happened.

I was actually getting a little sleep, when all of a sudden two cats started HOWLING, and they were so close they seemed to be on the balcony just outside my window, except WE HAVEN'T GOT A BALCONY. Ethereal cats floating outside my window? What the hell? I heard Stéph open the window in the bedroom, but he came in and told me that they weren't on the street. The only thing we could figure is that they were in our attic! The building just next to ours is a huge warehouse, and we figure they must have gotten through to our attic space from there. Luckily, we don't keep anything up there. And to tell you the truth, we're kind of relieved to know it's cats, because we've heard movement up there a couple of times before and we were thinking that we had some pretty damn big rats running around up there!

So after Cats In Heat: The Musical was over, I tried to sleep as late as I could, but no dice. Up early as usual. I guess it's my conscience screaming at me: "Get UP! You have work to do!!" Stupid conscience. I only managed one measly article all day, because this fever keeps making me stare off into space for what seems hours at a time. Ugh.

I am feeling much better now than I was this morning, but whether I'll be well enough to meet Doc in Troyes tomorrow remains to be seen. I sure hope so.

be careful what you wish for

Y'all, I am going crazy around here. Be careful what you wish for, 'cause I wished for a job and boy, I got one. All that free time I had for knitting, blogging, cleaning, cooking, living? Yep, *poof!* gone. I managed to get a lighter work load this week because I need some Going Out Of My House and Breathing Fresh Air time, so that means I can also catch you guys up, too.

So yeah, thanks for the lovely compliments on the new place! Like I said, I've been wanting to change it up a little bit for a while now, trying to decide if I wanted to pay for a make over, attempt something myself or even change blogging platforms. Finally, I stumbled onto this website, where you can just plug in your particulars and a template code pops up. It's really easy to use and I ended up spending all of Thursday evening plugging in links until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I'm still at a loss for how to make the comments show up on the main page, so if there are any smart coding type people who want to have a crack at it, please let me know.

I also seem to have caught a cold, and at the worst possible moment, too. Today we're going to have lunch (where "lunch" = arrive at 12:30, eat at 3:00, end up chatting until dinnertime) at a friend's place, then later this week I'm meeting up with Doc in Troyes, and you know there's always mischief and mayhem when we get together, and then this weekend we're going to Paris to party down for Bastille Day! Yes! Both of us! It's a miracle!

I have also made a Decision. I think you're gonna like this. Those of you that have stuck with me through the last year's less than stellar posting are going to appreciate it. Stay tuned...

Update: Oooh! I just added a Frappr map! The link's on the left side! Go forth and frap!

The New and Improved Dispatches From France

Man, I am worn out!! I've been wanting to do this for ages, and I finally found a template I could play around with. I've been wanting a three column layout for a while now. Don't ask me why.

So yes! New digs! Some new features include some linky love for some excellent online comics I read everyday and some knitting sites I frequent. Plus, over on the right side, I dug up some older posts that you may find informative if you're a newcomer to France. Apparently, my expertise seems to be in going to the doctor.

It seems that the comments are only slightly wonky, in that they are, in fact, there, you just have to click on the comments link and go to another page to see them. If I have the energy and the inclination, I may look into that soon.

And so, ladies and gentlespoons, I'm going to go collapse somewhere near, if not directly on, my sweetly calling bed. Nighty night!

happy independence day!

Sweet! It's America's birthday! I hope all you crazy kids back home are celebrating with barbecues and ice cream and fireworks.

As for here, not only does it not feel like Independence Day (for obvious reasons), but it doesn't even feel like July! Not only is it yet again pouring down rain, but it's only 68°F! And that's in my house!

Stéph is celebrating his own sort of independence, as today is his first day of summer vacation. He seems to be celebrating by getting a nice, big cold. Poor thing, I can totally relate, as every year from high school straight on through college, I was always sick at the end of the school year. It's just the body's way of saying, "OK, that's ENOUGH already!" I hope this doesn't put a damper on our plans to go check out Les Soldes tomorrow, as we both are needing a few new things for summer.

Yeah, Stéph wants to go shopping! With me! Together! He must be sick!

an afternoon away

Have I told you lately that I love you? No, seriously, I mean it. Thanks for all your encouraging words in the comments of my last post! And as to the question if this is going to affect our mysterious future plans - nope, not at all. This may actually help us out. (Ooooooooooh the mystery!)

Yesterday, Stéph forced me against my will dragged me kicking and screaming encouraged me to step away from the computer for the afternoon. We went to the in-laws' for lunch (white string bean salad and a turkey breast rotisserie) and then strolled around their town's annual festival. Part vide grenier (literally "empty attic," families rent tables in an open space and try to sell their unwanted items) and part town fair, this one left something to be desired. While we can usually find something to at least get our attention, here it seemed to be little more than old shoes and children's games, and the rest were food booths and simple carnival games. Meh. At least they had a high-wire, but the guy crossing the wire was kind of a paunchy middle aged guy who simply rode back and forth on a couple of different bicycles, accompanied by screeching carnival music blasting out of the speakers.

At least I actually left the house.

Tomorrow is Stéph's last day of school, so we're about to switch roles - I'll be working and he'll be goofing off. It'll be interesting to see how that affects us. Actually, him being here is kind of good for me, because at the end of the day when I'm staring blankly at the computer screen with my fingers twitching over the keyboard, he's the one who says that maybe I should call it a day. If it weren't for him, I would either be putting off articles until the last minute, or on the other side of the spectrum, yanking my hair out between sobbing jags.

Meanwhile, it's July, but it feels like Spring still. Seriously, it's hovering around 70°F in my house right now. I shouldn't complain, heaven knows I'd rather have cool temps than hot ones, but I haven't seen the sun in weeks and I think it's starting to bring me down. Can't you tell?

vivi gets a job

Well, it's not a real job. I mean, I am making a little money, but it's not...

Wait. Let me start over.

About a year ago, a friend of my family contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in doing some freelance work. She herself had been so successful freelancing that she actually had too much work, and was exploring creating a team of writers and after reading a big of my blog (thank you, internet!), she decided that I could indeed string a few sentences together and would I like to be on the team? I said yes, of course, and never heard from her again.

Until last week.

Turns out she was waiting for authorization from her clients to contract out some of the work, which she got last week. I got my first batch of assignments and have been pulling my hair out ever since.

So, I'm freelancing. Some people call it technical writing, but that's kind of a misnomer because I'm not especially writing about computers or codes. I just have to become a mini expert about some subject and then write about it before moving on to the next subject.

So basically, I write term papers for a living.

I'm not going to lie to you, the first week was ridiculously hard. I was too slow and bit off more than I could chew and for a while there I really thought I'd lost the job immediately after I started it. I'm starting to get into a rhythm now and things are flowing a bit more smoothly. Now I just need to keep up the momentum. This is the first time I've worked in over three years, so admittedly I'm a bit rusty. I've been writing every day for the last ten days and already I find myself having to walk away from the computer for an hour or so to let my hands rest and my eyes uncross. But, I'm getting into a routine and slowly, things are falling into place.

Stéph has been an awesome cheerleader and I'm thrilled to finally be able to contribute something. It's starting to look like the possibility of us actually going on a real vacation on our own this year - which we haven't been able to do since we were married - is getting closer to reality. With that goal in mind, it's a bit easier to spur myself on.

I don't know if I'm going to do this forever, but for the foreseeable future, I'm going to give it everything I've got. Obviously, I can't tell you everything about my job, but just know that I'm busy, but I'm happy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work. :)

a little sighseeing and a birthday wish

Monday I hopped on a bus and went north, up to the city of Reims, to meet up with Oiseau Anglais. We had an excellent lunch, followed by a little stroll through town. I'd been to Reims only twice before but hadn't had the chance to peek inside the cathedral, so Mme Oiseau graciously took me on a little tour.



This is the place where French kings were crowned, so you know, it has just a little bit of historical importance. After World War I, it was nearly bombed into oblivion, but luckily the locals knew what an important treasure they had, as they quickly set about restoring it. The inside is just as lovely as the exterior:



While we walked around the cathedral, Mme Oiseau pointed out the Carnegie Library:



Our own Andrew Carnegie donated the money to build this after World War I. Isn't it lovely? Too bad it was closed; Oiseau tells me it's just as lovely on the inside.

All too soon, it was time to get back on the bus and head home. I really had a wonderful time getting to know Oiseau and I'm looking forward to our next visit!



In other news, today is my sister's birthday!! I love you Junior, and I hope you have a most excellent day!

a clue to my current state of mind

I just got back from a really wonderful afternoon in Reims, getting to know a really lovely English Bird, and have only just realized that I've been wearing two completely different dangly earrings all day.

I'm afraid my new friend, and anyone else that noticed my "interesting" choice of accessories, must now assume that I am completely schizo.

Details coming soon.

a quiet fête de la musique

Yesterday was la fête de la musique, or musical festival, which was an all night event that happened in towns all over France. All of them, it seems, except mine. Elle ne bouge pas trop, notre ville, as they say, or in other words, our town is not exactly a rock n roll, happening place. I had a little compensation, however, because I was flipping through the tv stations last night and found the opera La Fille du Regiment on the Arte channel. I missed most of the first act but I was just in time for Dawn French's entrance at the top of the second act. As soon as she appeared, I was thinking, "Is it? Could it be her?" But of course!


Nicked from here

She was high-larious and I enjoyed the hell out of that opera. Stéph knew I was loving it because I kept him awake guffawing at the television. Oh well. I had to get my music in somehow!

Well I'd love to tell you more, but you see I have a little thing called A Job now, but you wouldn't be interested in that, would you? *evil laugh* But seriously, I'm very excited to be working from home but I've got a big assignment due Monday which I actually need to finish Sunday because Monday I'm running away for the afternoon for a long, long overdue visit with a nice English bird. As soon as I can get a break from running around in circles I'll tell you all about it.

less of me to love

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably already know that we've been trying to start a family for about a year and a half now. I always knew that I'd have trouble getting pregnant since I was diagnosed with PCOS about eight years ago. I had every symptom except the cyst part, which showed up last year, and we've been working on that issue ever since. For about six months, we tried to get the cysts to go away with medication, and while they have reduced in size, they're still bigger than the doctor likes. He would have liked to remove them, but there was one problem: I kept gaining weight. As long as I'm overweight, he told me, the cysts will only come right back. The only solution? Lose 20 kilos (44 pounds).

My reaction?

You son of a bitch! How dare you tell me I'm overweight! Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past three years? Are you trying to tell me that fat women can't get pregnant? Haven't you heard all those stories about those fat women who thought they had a stomach ache and turns out they were in labor? GOSH!

Of course, that's what I said on the inside. On the outside, I thanked the doctor and went home and made an appointment with a dietitian.

I knew I needed to lose weight. I mean, I DO have a mirror in my own home. I just take pains to avoid it, is all. And God knows I feel terrible and I'm busting out of all my clothes. If you ever need a reality check, just go shopping for "plus size" clothing in France. That will straighten your ass out pretty quick. Obviously, I just avoided the whole issue by not buying clothes for... well, ever, really.

So I went to see the dietitian. I showed her the results of my last blood work and told her what my goals were and she wrote me up a strict but healthy diet. My biggest problem is that my blood sugar levels were extremely high - diabetes runs in my family and I nearly added my name to the list. So out goes all the good things like dessert and alcohol and even my fruit intake is limited.

Well, it's been two months now and I'm not going to lie to you, it hasn't been easy. Of course, I'm allowed to bend the rules a bit for parties and get-togethers, but I have to jump right back on the diet train just after. But the truth is, the good outweighs the bad - I'm sleeping better, my clothes are fitting better and I even have the energy to walk around more than I did before.

I had my two month check up today, and I'm pleased to report that I've lost five kilos since the end of April. That's nearly eleven pounds. I am very pleased with my progress. As much as I'd like to hurry up and get this behind me so I can work on the plumbing again, I'm content with the slow rate I'm losing weight, which is the best way to keep it off. So yeah, there's less of me to love, but I think I'm pretty ok with that.

zoned out

I guess that pretty much sums me up right now. Despite the fact that I did have a couple of days of activity this week babysitting my niece, for the most part it's been more of the same - knitting, trying to inspire myself to do some much-needed housecleaning, grocery shopping, etc. Stéph is burning the candle at both ends as the end of the school year approaches, preparing to change schools again (but still in the same town, thank goodness!) which means more meetings and pre-planning for next year, plus sitting on a judge's panel for third-level oral exams in Troyes, not to mention peeling his own students off the ceiling as they're as ready for summer vacation as he is. He's already been to the doctor once for what turned out to be a stress related illness and I'll just be happy when the school year ends in three weeks for his sake.

There are a few very exciting things kind of swirling around in the background, but for now they remain Great Big Maybes so I'm hesitant to write about them, if for no other reason than I'm afraid I'll jinx myself. This is actually something I've been struggling with for a couple of months now: To Post or Not to Post. Stéph and I have made some really huge life changing decisions in the last couple of months and while we've talked about it with some friends face to face, I've really been gun shy about writing about it here. Maybe because once I write about it, it's Out There and it's like an open invitation to watch me fall flat on my face? Or, on the other hand, it's an open invitation to have you guys cheering me on, like you all have done so generously in the past. And isn't that why we blog in the first place? It's all well and good to say that we're just journaling our lives, but isn't it the feedback that keeps us coming back? I'm afraid that if I keep playing my cards so close to my chest, I'm not going to have anything left to write about except the weather and my latest knitting project. I'm not going to lie to you, I wouldn't even read that. So give me a little bit of time to figure all this out. At least I've been tagged for a couple of memes (one was over a month ago but I haven't forgotten!) so I can at least keep writing while I'm contemplating my navel.

And there is some good news - summer break means vacation! We haven't made a final decision on where we're going yet. We've been tossing around this crazy idea of going to Scotland and the even crazier idea of DRIVING there, but it looks like it's just going to be out of our budget for now. If we end up staying in France, possible candidates are Verdun, Calais, Pas-de-Calais (the département where the in-laws are from and where they go for one week every summer), Mont St. Michel, the Loire Valley and Grénoble. Then again, maybe we'll find a cheap package deal and travel somewhere in Europe, which is something else we haven't done together yet. In any case, we're going SOMEWHERE, by God, and pictures will be taken, oh yes.

In the meantime, I'm going to go back to pondering the mysteries of the universe. And maybe tidy up the office while I'm at it.

surreal moment of the day

So yesterday I was walking back from the grocery store and had just crossed the railroad tracks when the driver of a big truck that was parked on the side of the road leaned over and caught my attention.

"Excuse me, where is the factory?"

I turned back in the direction I had just come from. Looming above us, not 500 yards away from the railroad tracks, was a facility containing no less than one dozen silos and at least three ten-story buildings surrounded by nothing but fields and the dinky grocery store across the street. Blazoned across the top of the closest building in letters five feet high was [Factory] of [Our Town].

"Um... it's right there."

"Oh, is that it?"

"... Yes."

I mean honestly. But still, that was the second time since we've moved here that I've been asked for directions, so that's alright.

picnics galore in paris!

Man, what a weekend! I was invited to not one, but two fabulous picnics in Paris, happening on the same day. What's a girl to do? Why, make like a social butterfly and wing my way across Paris to do them both!

I started off by meeting up with Flare and making our way to the Parc du Champ de Mars to meet up with some knitters for World Wide Knitting in Public Day. We had an excellent view:



and I even remembered to take out my camera, although I only took a couple of pictures. Here's Sarah, who organized the gathering, and two people I was happy to meet, Vicky and Shana:



So after a couple of of hours of knitting (and sweating - honestly Paris felt like South Carolina on a typical summer day), I bade my farewells and slowly made my way to the north-east part of Paris, to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont for the Paris Bloggers Picnic. What an event! I met so many fantastic people, I can't even begin to name them all, plus authors of blogs I read and hadn't met yet, plus old friends that I've made since I first ventured out to meet bloggers two years ago. I had such a wonderful time chatting and sipping wine and munching on delicious goodies that I forgot to take my camera out, once again. Well, I did manage to whip it out in order to document this:



One of the hosts, Mickelino and kylie mac gettin' it on in front of God and everybody! I was sufficiently shocked.

I had such a good time jabbering on Saturday that I completely lost my voice! Either that it was the shock of having two bloggers going at it in my lap. Anyway, thank you so much to Flare for being my gracious host this weekend and great big kisses to everyone in Paris! Let's do it again soon, y'hear?

on feet and fiber

My birthday just had its last gasp. Yesterday I bought some new sandals with some birthday money from the in-laws:



I wish to God I could wear thong sandals, but I just can't, which I learned the hard way. (Story time!) Thanks to genetics and taking dance classes from six years old through college, my feet were ruined (I almost typed it "ruint" like a good southern girl) by my late twenties. I had to see a podiatrist somewhere in my early twenties - planters warts being an occupational hazard of barefoot modern dance classes - who told me I was suffering from bunions and advised me to wait as long as I could before having them corrected, as the recovery is pretty rough.

Six years ago, after being fed up of weeping in pain after doing something so mundane as grocery shopping, I went to another podiatrist (nothing sinister there, I'd only moved) and pretty much told him that I wanted the surgery that very minute. So, to make a long story short(er), I had the surgery done on both feet at the same time, which entails breaking the big bone of the foot and resetting it with a rod and a pin, and left me in a wheelchair for six weeks and crutches for another month. I hated being dependent on others for such a long time, but it was so worth it in the end. In fact, a year later I joined an aerobics class and when my sister asked how my feet held up, it took me a minute to remember why she would have asked me!

So anyway, back to the thong shoes - the doctor told me that there was a small chance that my feet would go out of alignment again one day and the easiest way to avoid this was to never wear thong shoes again. Which I promptly ignored. Because, hello! Thong shoes are cute and inexpensive and comfortable!

All of that changed just after I got married. Stéph and I were walking downstairs out of my garage apartment and I slipped on the carpeted stairs. Stéph caught me just in time, but I landed toe-first in - yep, you guessed it - thong sandals. Broke my big toe in two places. Felt real good, too. I learned my lesson and endured all the jokes - married for one week and he's already pushing her down the stairs!

So, yeah. That's the thong sandal story.

Right, on to the fiber part of the title - I received a box from my sister today:



More of Mom's yarn. The blanket is only half done, but since I don't crochet I'm just going to finish it off and call it a lap blanket. I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of the yarn, though. It's all acrylic (bless Momma's heart!) but there are some really fun colors in there. It looks like Mom tried to get rid of it at one point:



Speaking of yarn... someone asked me what's on the needles right now, and since my sister already knows what I'm making for her, I don't think she'll mind a preview:



Can you guess what it's going to be?

weekend on the run

This weekend we were busy, busy, busy! It's not very often that we're on the run like that, but there was a lot going on.

First up, on Saturday afternoon, we went to the in-law's for coffee to meet Stéph's German aunt and uncle. A little background for you: my mother-in-law immigrated to France with her mother and two sisters from Germany at the end of the war when she was six years old. They left behind two (or three?) sisters in Germany. The confusing part is no one's really sure why, so we just kind of acknowledge and move on. So my MIL and one of her sisters in Germany have either kept in contact or got back in contact, and now visit each other. Difficulty: German sister doesn't speak French and MIL only speaks very basic German. Fun, no?

So when we got there, MIL had run to the store, so it was me, Stéph, my father-in-law and the Germans. As soon as we established that we had no language at all in common (I managed to try a "sprechen Sie Englisch?" but got a "nein" back) we all just sort of sat down and looked around the room for a while. Finally MIL came back and we were able to talk a little, sharing pictures of the family in Germany over coffee and tea. We were soon joined by baby C and her parents, which was great but I'm sorry to say that C was terrified of Stéph's very-much-due-for-a-trim, scary beard. She was ok just staring at him from a distance with wide eyes, but when her father put her in Stéph's lap, she decided she didn't like it At All. Very funny stuff. Happily, C still likes me but she must be wondering what I'm doing hanging out with such a great hairy beast! (tee hee)

After running a bunch of errands downtown, we made it home by supper time and I got back to work. Work? Why yes! That's because we were off to see Doc and baby Mélanie Sunday afternoon and I finished up her gifts just in time!


Ta da! More about the knitting here.

It was so just in time that the pinafore was still damp when I presented it to Doc! Anyway, baby Mélanie is just lovely, and Doc and I left the boys with the baby for a while so Doc could step outside and get some fresh air. The Au Pair That's Better Than Yours and I chased after the older kids under the shade of a big lovely tree and had a nice chat before Stéph called down to me from Doc's room to tell me it was time to go. It was rather like having Mom calling you in to dinner! Well, we did have an hour's drive home and it was getting late. By the way, Doc and Mélanie could be home as soon as today, so keep an eye out for them!

On the way home, Stéph suggested we stop for a cool drink, so about fifteen minutes out from St. Dizier we found a little brasserie with lots of tables in the shade. After the woman took our order, Stéph said to me that she had an accent from Eastern Europe. When she came back with our drinks, Stéph actually asked her where she was from! She said she was from the Ukraine and then asked where Stéph was from! (tee hee!) Actually she was very friendly and once we established that we were both Strangers in a Strange Land we had a nice little chat and she did everything except sit down with us! Then when we went inside to pay we met the rest of the family - her sister who has been here for twenty years and the other relatives that came later - and had another nice chat. It was a really nice little family run business and if it weren't so far away I'd be very tempted to go back and try some of their Russian and Ukrainian specialties. In any case I enjoyed myself very much with the little chat; that's one of the things I really miss about the States. If you catch me on a good day I could sit and listen to any old life story and plenty of Americans are more than willing to tell you theirs. You'd be surprised what you can learn!

Well, if you've made it down this far, you may just be as exhausted as we were when we finally got home last night. This week should be nice and quiet, with a lot of catching up to do, since I left everything at the wayside to get those gifts done. Plus, I think I'm gonna need a nap later!

a good day

My littlest French niece is eight months old and her mother recently went back to work. My mother-in-law usually watches her (she's on a waiting list for day care) but she's going on vacation for a week, so I got an email a few weeks ago that said, "C a besoin de sa tata!" (C needs her auntie!)

Yesterday I went to Troyes by bus to spend the day with C. My mother-in-law was there for the morning, C's parents came home for lunch, C's mom and I had a little time to catch up before she went back to teach an afternoon class and then it was C and tata time.

I don't have my own kids to brag on (yet), so you'll have to indulge me a little if I brag on my niece - that is the sweetest, best little baby I have ever sat for in my life! She doesn't get upset when maman goes to work (must be seen to be believed!), she doesn't fuss, she engages well with people but also plays happily on her own and only really cries when she's put down for a nap - but who wants to sleep when there's so many fun things to do?

I have to tell you, I normally dread babysitting, and that always freaked me out because I want to have kids more than anything else but if I can't stand a couple of hours alone with someone else's kids what does that say about my wanting to have my own? For the first time ever, I can't wait to go back and stay with C some more! And because C's mom does read the blog every once and a while (pardon my crappy French) : A la maman de C, merci bien de me demander de garder ton petit ange. J'ai passé une très belle journée hier et j'attends avec l'impatience le vendredi prochain !