So, that's another Hallowe'en over.
Hallowe'en is one of the few times of the year that I really regret being in France. For the French, it's an excessively American, over-commercialised, devil-worshipping thing that is to be shunned at all costs. There are no special Hallowe'en candies to be found in shops, no one dresses up (OK, some people do, but you don't see people in the street), there's no tradition AT ALL for trick-or-treating and the whole thing is a bit of a damp squib to be honest. I really miss the fun of Hallowe'en in Britain...
That said, there's an English school just down the road that organises a free party for anyone who wants to turn up and, whilst it's undoubtedly chaotic, it IS free, so we always try and make an appearance. Plus, it's the only chance the girls get to dress up in Hallowe'en costumes...
This year (like last year, actually), C dressed up as a vampire bat, and L went as an actual vampire (I used her Zorro cape and painted her face - I was really proud of the result!). The party was more disorganised than ever this year, and none of the girls' friends were there, so it was a bit of a let down. The other kids - being more pushy than mine - grabbed most of the candy on offer, so C and L got virtually none, and the "costume catwalk" resulted in L sobbing again (not so much because she didn't win, but more because C won AGAIN (she wins something every year)).
For supper, I had pumpkin soup and chestnut mousse for dessert in an attempt at autumnal fare, but I don't know. It just doesn't feel like Hallowe'en here.
But now, it's over and all thoughts will be turned towards Christmas (as I write, C is trying to put together a cardboard nativity scene she found in a book...). And my stomach lurches.
Back in my "before" life, we always alternated Christmases: one year at my dad's in Scotland, one year here at home with D's mother visiting. Last year - our first Christmas as a separated couple - was a "D's mother visiting" year, so we stuck with that and all was well.
But this year is supposed to be a "at my dad's in Scotland" year and I feel kind of sick. I would very much like to go to Scotland. My dad would be thrilled if we came, and the girls are more than enthusiastic. But.
Oh, BUT.
If I take the girls to Scotland for Christmas (and C's 10th birthday, on 27/12), D will be on his own. And, whilst I couldn't give a toss about him being alone (no skin off my nose), I know that it means that next year, he'll take the girls to Paris to be with his mother and I'll find myself totally alone for the entire holiday, and I don't think I could face that. I can't bear the thought of not being with my girls on Christmas day, on C's birthday.
So, I still haven't mentioned this problem to D, even though if flights are to be bought, they need to be bought now (it may already be too late for some cheaper options). I feel sick at the thought of discussing this with him because I know how he'll react, I know he'll get his revenge next year.
I'm still so angry with him. And I still can't understand why I have to be "punished" with not seeing my children at Christmas when he's the one who left, who walked out, who screwed up our family. I know that's a biased view (and one he most certainly doesn't share) but still.
I can try and reason with him that my dad is old (80!) and that there won't be many more opportunities for Christmas at his place; I can emphasise the fact that the girls want to go and that I'm the one dragging my feet (on HIS behalf); I can explain that my cousin wants to take them to Glenshee to try skiing for the first time; I can say that we'll make the trip as short as possible so he can spend the rest of the time with them. But it won't cut it, I know it won't. He'll seek revenge, and it will be terrible (for me).
I don't care that he might have to spend Christmas eve, Christmas day and C's birthday on his own, in his sordid little bedsit. I couldn't give a shit about that. I just don't want to have to be alone next year. Even if the girls and I get to celebrate Christmas and C's birthday after the event, it wouldn't be the same.
I wish I could fast forward to 2 January 2012.
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Christmas. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Christmas. Afficher tous les articles
mardi 1 novembre 2011
samedi 2 janvier 2010
The long one
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!
It's been a busy couple of weeks, I can tell you. We somehow managed to fly from and to just about the only airports in the western world still operating on 20/12 (flew from Girona in Spain to Birmingham in England and then Edinburgh in Scotland - most of France was closed (Paris, Lyon...), most English airports too, and most Scottish too. And Edinburgh airport closed the next day...) and reached a snowy Scotland.
I haven't seen so much snow since 1996 in Lyon! Of course, it meant we couldn't do very much - icy roads, doubts about buses home and so on, but the girls had fun in the snow and my cousins invited us to their fabulous house so they could go sledging, make snowmen, have snowball fights and stuff.
Christmas was good. Lots of presents (though not for me - I received very little, in fact, but don't really mind. No, really!), lots of fun and games. D and my dad got on fine, no arguments for once.
And my angel, my sweet girl, my baby, C, turned 8. How did that happen? She seems so grown up, so big. But still my baby girl. Oh, I love her so much! But 8! Holy cow... adolescence is looming large...
L was very well behaved, too. She loved her Lego pirate stuff, and she loved the Tinkerbell costume my dad bought her, and she loved the snow and my cousins' cat Mack. She was cute as a button and I was very proud of her!
We came home avoiding all the bad weather again - it was -16°C when we left my dad's house on Tuesday morning, +17°C when we arrived in Girona the next day (we spent the afternoon and night in Birmingham - had fun at the hotel, at the great science museum ThinkTank, at an Indian restaurant...) - and were delighted to get home to my sweet Tom, who was in great shape thanks to our lovely neighbour.
We spent New Year's Eve afternoon shopping in a packed and decimated Carrefour, then the evening itself quietly at a friend's house (just an English friend and her 8-year-old daughter). We chatted in a quiet and civilised manner, the three girls dressed up and played beautifully together till after 1 in the morning!
And there you have it. I've spent New Year's Day a) in bed till lunchtime b) out in the "cold" (why does the cold here seem so much colder than in Scotland?) with the girls as they rode their bikes and c) working. Of course. Shitloads to do, as usual, so I end up working on 1st Jan! Grrrrrrr
And now, in honour of the title of this post, I'm repeating Linda's questionnaire (as I did last year)! Unsurprisingly, many of the answers are the same as last year - talk about stuck in a rut!
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Wrote what I suppose you could call a "novel", though I have serious doubts about it and am not sure how much further (if any further) I'll be going with it...
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Never really make any serious resolutions because I seem to be pathologically devoid of any self-discipline
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not really close, but yes, I know a few people who had babies this year, mainly mothers at the girls' (Catholic) school.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not really, but people I know (and have known all my life) died unexpectedly, it's just that they weren't particularly close to me
5. What countries did you visit?
England, Scotland, Spain (briefly three times)
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Less money worries
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
No particular dates stand out - this hasn't been a very memorable year
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Writing the aforementioned novel
9. What was your biggest failure?
Putting on so much weight from eating so much crap
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really (thankfully)
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our "new" car - a turquoise blue Renault Scenic II. Yeah, it's put us horribly into debt but it's a cool car, a car that looks good and that WORKS!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Obama, for pushing his healthcare reform through
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My MIL on (many) occasions (not all the time, I swear, but a lot lately)
14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills and paying off debt (mine and D's)
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Not much - 2009 wasn't, as I said above, a particularly memorable year
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Nothing jumps to mind, though C has recently "discovered" "High School Musical" so we've been hearing a fair amount of that. Oh, and the various religious "songs" that the girls come back with from school...
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? About the same
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter (unfortunately)
c) richer or poorer? Poorer, I guess (more in debt, anyway)
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercise
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating crap
20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my dad's house in Scotland, lots of snow, very cold, very icy. A good Christmas, even if we couldn't get out and about very much!
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
No
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Don't really watch TV
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No
24. What was the best book you read?
Malcolm Pryce - "Aberystwyth mon amour". Daft but hilarious
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I think I'm too old for this question!
26. What did you want and get?
The aforementioned Malcolm Pryce book, plus its sequel "Last tango in Aberystwyth"
27. What did you want and not get?
Body Shop eau de toilette, Nigella Lawson cook book (can you believe I was hoping for the same things this Christmas - and didn't get them again?!)
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Up
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Our friends, P, S and their son, T came to lunch, then D organised for other friends to drop round all afternoon. Nothing wild, but it was nice. I turned 40, God help me
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not having to worry about money all the time
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I think I look pretty cool but no one else sees it that way + sporting the muffin top
32. What kept you sane?
Blogging, getting time on my own and my fantasies
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny Depp, always and ever
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Obama's health care reform (even if I'm not American)
35. Who did you miss?
My friends, J and M in England
36. Who was the best new person you met?
One of the mothers in the PTA at the girls' new school (same answer as last year, but I'm not talking about the same one!)
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
I'm getting older (and old, as far as most people are concerned) and should try and embrace it rather than just freak out
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Like Linda, I'm going to go for a simple quote for this: "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" because really, things haven't changed much in a year - my life is still dominated by worrying about money, about D not having work, about me being fat and eating crap...
Of course, I haven't really made any resolutions this year, but if I did, it would be "get my life in order" - get fitter, get tidier, get better hours, work more efficiently, save money, earn money, pay off debt, do my accounts...
A tall order, of course, but I'm giving myself a year to get things in motion.
Happy 2010 to you all!
It's been a busy couple of weeks, I can tell you. We somehow managed to fly from and to just about the only airports in the western world still operating on 20/12 (flew from Girona in Spain to Birmingham in England and then Edinburgh in Scotland - most of France was closed (Paris, Lyon...), most English airports too, and most Scottish too. And Edinburgh airport closed the next day...) and reached a snowy Scotland.
I haven't seen so much snow since 1996 in Lyon! Of course, it meant we couldn't do very much - icy roads, doubts about buses home and so on, but the girls had fun in the snow and my cousins invited us to their fabulous house so they could go sledging, make snowmen, have snowball fights and stuff.
Christmas was good. Lots of presents (though not for me - I received very little, in fact, but don't really mind. No, really!), lots of fun and games. D and my dad got on fine, no arguments for once.
And my angel, my sweet girl, my baby, C, turned 8. How did that happen? She seems so grown up, so big. But still my baby girl. Oh, I love her so much! But 8! Holy cow... adolescence is looming large...
L was very well behaved, too. She loved her Lego pirate stuff, and she loved the Tinkerbell costume my dad bought her, and she loved the snow and my cousins' cat Mack. She was cute as a button and I was very proud of her!
We came home avoiding all the bad weather again - it was -16°C when we left my dad's house on Tuesday morning, +17°C when we arrived in Girona the next day (we spent the afternoon and night in Birmingham - had fun at the hotel, at the great science museum ThinkTank, at an Indian restaurant...) - and were delighted to get home to my sweet Tom, who was in great shape thanks to our lovely neighbour.
We spent New Year's Eve afternoon shopping in a packed and decimated Carrefour, then the evening itself quietly at a friend's house (just an English friend and her 8-year-old daughter). We chatted in a quiet and civilised manner, the three girls dressed up and played beautifully together till after 1 in the morning!
And there you have it. I've spent New Year's Day a) in bed till lunchtime b) out in the "cold" (why does the cold here seem so much colder than in Scotland?) with the girls as they rode their bikes and c) working. Of course. Shitloads to do, as usual, so I end up working on 1st Jan! Grrrrrrr
And now, in honour of the title of this post, I'm repeating Linda's questionnaire (as I did last year)! Unsurprisingly, many of the answers are the same as last year - talk about stuck in a rut!
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Wrote what I suppose you could call a "novel", though I have serious doubts about it and am not sure how much further (if any further) I'll be going with it...
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Never really make any serious resolutions because I seem to be pathologically devoid of any self-discipline
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not really close, but yes, I know a few people who had babies this year, mainly mothers at the girls' (Catholic) school.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not really, but people I know (and have known all my life) died unexpectedly, it's just that they weren't particularly close to me
5. What countries did you visit?
England, Scotland, Spain (briefly three times)
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Less money worries
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
No particular dates stand out - this hasn't been a very memorable year
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Writing the aforementioned novel
9. What was your biggest failure?
Putting on so much weight from eating so much crap
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really (thankfully)
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our "new" car - a turquoise blue Renault Scenic II. Yeah, it's put us horribly into debt but it's a cool car, a car that looks good and that WORKS!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Obama, for pushing his healthcare reform through
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My MIL on (many) occasions (not all the time, I swear, but a lot lately)
14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills and paying off debt (mine and D's)
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Not much - 2009 wasn't, as I said above, a particularly memorable year
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Nothing jumps to mind, though C has recently "discovered" "High School Musical" so we've been hearing a fair amount of that. Oh, and the various religious "songs" that the girls come back with from school...
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? About the same
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter (unfortunately)
c) richer or poorer? Poorer, I guess (more in debt, anyway)
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercise
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating crap
20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my dad's house in Scotland, lots of snow, very cold, very icy. A good Christmas, even if we couldn't get out and about very much!
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
No
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Don't really watch TV
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No
24. What was the best book you read?
Malcolm Pryce - "Aberystwyth mon amour". Daft but hilarious
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I think I'm too old for this question!
26. What did you want and get?
The aforementioned Malcolm Pryce book, plus its sequel "Last tango in Aberystwyth"
27. What did you want and not get?
Body Shop eau de toilette, Nigella Lawson cook book (can you believe I was hoping for the same things this Christmas - and didn't get them again?!)
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Up
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Our friends, P, S and their son, T came to lunch, then D organised for other friends to drop round all afternoon. Nothing wild, but it was nice. I turned 40, God help me
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not having to worry about money all the time
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I think I look pretty cool but no one else sees it that way + sporting the muffin top
32. What kept you sane?
Blogging, getting time on my own and my fantasies
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny Depp, always and ever
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Obama's health care reform (even if I'm not American)
35. Who did you miss?
My friends, J and M in England
36. Who was the best new person you met?
One of the mothers in the PTA at the girls' new school (same answer as last year, but I'm not talking about the same one!)
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
I'm getting older (and old, as far as most people are concerned) and should try and embrace it rather than just freak out
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Like Linda, I'm going to go for a simple quote for this: "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" because really, things haven't changed much in a year - my life is still dominated by worrying about money, about D not having work, about me being fat and eating crap...
Of course, I haven't really made any resolutions this year, but if I did, it would be "get my life in order" - get fitter, get tidier, get better hours, work more efficiently, save money, earn money, pay off debt, do my accounts...
A tall order, of course, but I'm giving myself a year to get things in motion.
Happy 2010 to you all!
samedi 12 décembre 2009
The new hectic
"Work" has been kind of quiet for the last few days. If this keeps up, I'll start freaking out, but for now, it's kind of a relief to be quite honest. That said, I haven't been idle. I put together the first draft of the end-of-term school newspaper (my partner-in-journalism is doing the finishing touches and we'll do the photocopying and folding on Tuesday, fingers crossed we get the last couple of things we need from other people), and that took me ages. I've helped set up, man and put away the Christmas Market (good fun, but time-consuming). I've corrected lots of student homework, prepared two exams, done invoices, finished up my Christmas cards, tidied my desk, done endless laundry, done a fair amount of my Christmas shopping...
And well, yeah. I'm totally exhausted. And yeah, I'll have 27 exam translations to mark by tomorrow midday, and 8 group glossaries to mark by Monday, and I have a text to proofread and a brochure to update and...GAH.
I'm exhausted, longing for the holidays (even though things can get pretty tense between D and my dad). But really enjoying all this Christmassy stuff.
Can't wait to get to the parcel-wrapping stage, I really can't!
And well, yeah. I'm totally exhausted. And yeah, I'll have 27 exam translations to mark by tomorrow midday, and 8 group glossaries to mark by Monday, and I have a text to proofread and a brochure to update and...GAH.
I'm exhausted, longing for the holidays (even though things can get pretty tense between D and my dad). But really enjoying all this Christmassy stuff.
Can't wait to get to the parcel-wrapping stage, I really can't!
lundi 30 novembre 2009
NaNaNaNa
The month of words is coming to an end and I've succeeded in the two daft (given how much else I had to do) challenges. I'm both proud and very surprised - I failed NaBloPoMo very early on last November!
That said, today has been zombie-day - only managed about 3.5 hours' sleep last night, had to teach all day and then pick up the girls before finally passing out for a couple of hours. Now, I'm supposed to be working but have been catching up on my favourite blogs instead...
This "month" of words is actually going to be prolonged by about a week or so - I have two big texts to deliver on Thursday, then a shorter one next Monday and a shitload of student translations to mark.
But the holidays are getting closer, closer, closer. And my excitement levels are rising, rising, rising...
The tree will be going up on Wednesday, I'm planning on doing some Christmas cards really soon, presents are being bought (mainly for the girls, of course, but am working on the rest, too), and the Advent calendars will be brought out tomorrow.
Roll on December!
That said, today has been zombie-day - only managed about 3.5 hours' sleep last night, had to teach all day and then pick up the girls before finally passing out for a couple of hours. Now, I'm supposed to be working but have been catching up on my favourite blogs instead...
This "month" of words is actually going to be prolonged by about a week or so - I have two big texts to deliver on Thursday, then a shorter one next Monday and a shitload of student translations to mark.
But the holidays are getting closer, closer, closer. And my excitement levels are rising, rising, rising...
The tree will be going up on Wednesday, I'm planning on doing some Christmas cards really soon, presents are being bought (mainly for the girls, of course, but am working on the rest, too), and the Advent calendars will be brought out tomorrow.
Roll on December!
vendredi 27 novembre 2009
Forward planning
I'm just starting to realise (yes, I can be slow on the uptake sometimes) that C's 8th birthday is looming large - one month tomorrow, in fact. We'll be in Scotland for the Big Day, but every year we give her a party. Nothing fancy (no "Acrochats" stuff for us - it costs a fortune and isn't (in my opinion, though it has to be said that kids love it) that great), usually just here at home. Not huge numbers of kids, either (L's birthday this year excepted).
The snag is that the Christmas holidays are also looming, which means the invites have to get done beforehand. As in, really, really soon. Along with the stuff I'm supposed to be making for the Christmas market.
AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH
Also, C's teacher will be celebrating all the December birthdays in class on 15 December, which means baking a cake or something...
I mean, I enjoy all this stuff, it's just that I have so much work stuff on my plate that I don't have time to enjoy it all like I should... I like making cakes, and making invites, and organising parties and what have you. I like handicraft activities, I like doing school stuff (oh, yeah, the school newspaper is looming, too). But really, I'm typed out right now (6,500 words today, which is MAMMOTH). And that pisses me off.
But. I'm going to try and work my arse off in the next few days (big translations all due next Thursday) and then try and ease up a little so I can prepare for Christmas like I want to!
Christmas preparations are such fun!
The snag is that the Christmas holidays are also looming, which means the invites have to get done beforehand. As in, really, really soon. Along with the stuff I'm supposed to be making for the Christmas market.
AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH
Also, C's teacher will be celebrating all the December birthdays in class on 15 December, which means baking a cake or something...
I mean, I enjoy all this stuff, it's just that I have so much work stuff on my plate that I don't have time to enjoy it all like I should... I like making cakes, and making invites, and organising parties and what have you. I like handicraft activities, I like doing school stuff (oh, yeah, the school newspaper is looming, too). But really, I'm typed out right now (6,500 words today, which is MAMMOTH). And that pisses me off.
But. I'm going to try and work my arse off in the next few days (big translations all due next Thursday) and then try and ease up a little so I can prepare for Christmas like I want to!
Christmas preparations are such fun!
lundi 23 novembre 2009
Miscellany
My word, Zorro was exciting stuff this evening! The suspense is fever-pitch, but there won't be another episode till next Saturday... Sergeant Garcia even killed a man, saving the life of Don Alfredo... Don Diego and his family (and all their friends) are in trouble, serious trouble, and the "Aigle" is obviously willing to fight to the death... The girls were on the edge of their seats!
Pretty frustrating day, apart from that. Tried to get all sorts of things done, but didn't actually finish anything. And I still haven't started my Christmas cards. And it's 12.30 am and I have to be up in 6 hours. And I only found time to write 630 words of my "novel" today (but it's OK, I'm well ahead of schedule, I'm over 42,000 words already). But still. Gah.
But - I did see a pretty cool Lego set (the soldiers' fort in the pirate theme) which I think would be great for L for Christmas... I'll have to get D to have a look and then I'll go ahead and order it. Amazingly, it's about 10 € cheaper (plus there's free delivery) to order it from Amazon UK and get it sent to my father's house than to buy it on Amazon FR and get it sent here. I'll maybe try and see how much it is in a toyshop, but I suspect it'll be more...
I love Christmas shopping!
Pretty frustrating day, apart from that. Tried to get all sorts of things done, but didn't actually finish anything. And I still haven't started my Christmas cards. And it's 12.30 am and I have to be up in 6 hours. And I only found time to write 630 words of my "novel" today (but it's OK, I'm well ahead of schedule, I'm over 42,000 words already). But still. Gah.
But - I did see a pretty cool Lego set (the soldiers' fort in the pirate theme) which I think would be great for L for Christmas... I'll have to get D to have a look and then I'll go ahead and order it. Amazingly, it's about 10 € cheaper (plus there's free delivery) to order it from Amazon UK and get it sent to my father's house than to buy it on Amazon FR and get it sent here. I'll maybe try and see how much it is in a toyshop, but I suspect it'll be more...
I love Christmas shopping!
dimanche 8 novembre 2009
Christmas is coming...
...And I just love buying Christmas presents! In fact, I enjoy buying them even more than I enjoy receiving them!
I love the whole thing: choosing, buying, hiding, wrapping, putting under the tree...
This year, despite dire finances, I've already done quite a bit and I know what I'm getting for just about everyone. This evening, I bought L's Playmobil vet's surgery and now have just about everything for both girls (just need to get High School Musical DVDs for C, a couple of really little things and, of course, her birthday present). I've got all my Christmas cards (though obviously I haven't actually written or sent any yet) and I'm itching to get the tree and Advent Calendars up...
It's weird, as a (biggish) kid, I hated Christmas because I was an only child, surrounded by adults who, in the main, didn't get on with each other very well.
Now, I really look forward to it, simply because my beautiful girls look forward to it so much! We've been listening to Christmas carols, too, so they can learn them (they don't seem to have such things here in France, apart from "Il est né le divin enfant...").
It's all so exciting, plus this year we're going away, which should be good! Is it silly or childish to be so excited?!
I love the whole thing: choosing, buying, hiding, wrapping, putting under the tree...
This year, despite dire finances, I've already done quite a bit and I know what I'm getting for just about everyone. This evening, I bought L's Playmobil vet's surgery and now have just about everything for both girls (just need to get High School Musical DVDs for C, a couple of really little things and, of course, her birthday present). I've got all my Christmas cards (though obviously I haven't actually written or sent any yet) and I'm itching to get the tree and Advent Calendars up...
It's weird, as a (biggish) kid, I hated Christmas because I was an only child, surrounded by adults who, in the main, didn't get on with each other very well.
Now, I really look forward to it, simply because my beautiful girls look forward to it so much! We've been listening to Christmas carols, too, so they can learn them (they don't seem to have such things here in France, apart from "Il est né le divin enfant...").
It's all so exciting, plus this year we're going away, which should be good! Is it silly or childish to be so excited?!
vendredi 26 décembre 2008
Fame at last!
Not only is Christmas (so far) going quite well (apart from the chicken pox and my MIL's usual irritatingness), but I'm also BOSSY'S FEATURED BLOGGER!
Oh my God, I'm so excited!
Happy Boxing Day to those of you who celebrate it (happy sales too, although they don't start here in France till, oh, 7 January or something), and keep eating those chocolates (me, I've just finished off a bowl of icing from the cake I made for C's birthday tomorrow and yes, I do feel kind of sick, making me think perhaps the icing is a tad sweet)!
Oh my God, I'm so excited!
Happy Boxing Day to those of you who celebrate it (happy sales too, although they don't start here in France till, oh, 7 January or something), and keep eating those chocolates (me, I've just finished off a bowl of icing from the cake I made for C's birthday tomorrow and yes, I do feel kind of sick, making me think perhaps the icing is a tad sweet)!
jeudi 25 décembre 2008
Itchy Spot Central
Poor L really is a miserable little bunny today - she slept badly last night, woke up pretty grouchy and feverish, managed to struggle through present opening (she WAS pleased with her presents, just didn't have the energy to play with any of them), ate virtually nothing at lunch and finally went to bed at about 2 pm FOR THE SECOND DAY IN A ROW (the last time she had naps two days in a row was probably, oh, heavens, let me think, well, probably, probably NEVER) and didn't wake up till 5.30. Now, she's still in her pyjamas and covered in this weird red stuff they make you splotch on all the chicken pox spots here in France, watching a Winnie the Pooh DVD, feeling sorry for herself because D and C have gone to friends for a pancake party.
It's not easy being sick at Christmas, specially when you're only 4 and a half and have been looking forward to it for WEEEEEEEKS.
But as far as I'm concerned, this has been a pretty good Christmas (of course, my MIL isn't here yet - she doesn't arrive till about 9.30 tonight), and I hope the same is true for you!
Now, the big question is whether I should open a box of chocolates or go straight into the pre-dinner nibbles... Decisions, decisions...
It's not easy being sick at Christmas, specially when you're only 4 and a half and have been looking forward to it for WEEEEEEEKS.
But as far as I'm concerned, this has been a pretty good Christmas (of course, my MIL isn't here yet - she doesn't arrive till about 9.30 tonight), and I hope the same is true for you!
Now, the big question is whether I should open a box of chocolates or go straight into the pre-dinner nibbles... Decisions, decisions...
You know what I'm going to say
Yes, you guessed it:
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Here in France, the big Christmas meal was tonight, Christmas Eve. We invited friends - a couple (he's British, she's French) and their two daughters, plus another (British) friend and her daughter, which made for a lot of little girls!
The girls had fun (but didn't eat much, unsurprisingly), we had fun (and ate a lot, unsurprisingly) and the evening was a success. Even my cooking!
Now, we can all head off to bed and wait for Father Christmas to make his appearance (both C and L are desperately excited...).
Oh, and yes, my poor sweet bunny does indeed have chicken pox - she's got a bit of a temperature, about a million spots and is a little off colour, but seems to be bearing up OK, poor baby.
Just have to finish wrapping my presents now...
Have a great Christmas Day!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Here in France, the big Christmas meal was tonight, Christmas Eve. We invited friends - a couple (he's British, she's French) and their two daughters, plus another (British) friend and her daughter, which made for a lot of little girls!
The girls had fun (but didn't eat much, unsurprisingly), we had fun (and ate a lot, unsurprisingly) and the evening was a success. Even my cooking!
Now, we can all head off to bed and wait for Father Christmas to make his appearance (both C and L are desperately excited...).
Oh, and yes, my poor sweet bunny does indeed have chicken pox - she's got a bit of a temperature, about a million spots and is a little off colour, but seems to be bearing up OK, poor baby.
Just have to finish wrapping my presents now...
Have a great Christmas Day!
mercredi 24 décembre 2008
Starting to feel truly Christmassy...
I actually spent most of this evening (when I was supposed to be translating around 2,000 words of a nasty nuclear energy text I have to finish for the beginning of January) wrapping presents. Oh, how I love wrapping presents! And although I'm no Martha Stewart (should have seen the visual disaster that was the cake I made on Sunday, though it actually tasted fabulous), I have to say I think I wrap presents pretty well...
Didn't even finish, to be honest - I "only" wrapped the girls' presents from us (not the bicycles, obviously, but a bicycle pump for C and a pack of stabilisers for L, as sort of hints as to what might be awaiting in the cellar) and from Father Christmas (he was running short of time and asked me to do some wrapping for him. Elves must have been either drunk or on strike again I guess as the same thing happened last year...). Of course, the fact that I don't actually have anything to wrap for D is only a minor hurdle (last minute shopping tomorrow, I guess). And I haven't wrapped my MIL's presents, either, as she won't be here till the 25th anyway.
Plus D did lots of Christmas food shopping this afternoon, and the girls and I (though mainly I, with some help from C) did a fair amount of tidying. Of course, not enough for it to be visible to anyone but me, but it's a start, and I intend to do more tomorrow (though I'm not sure when - so much to do!).
And, somewhat unbelievably, there will be 10 of us for dinner tomorrow night (yes, here in France the "big" Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve. But the four of us will also be doing a "UK" Christmas lunch, too, on the 25th, after we've opened all the presents), and I HAVE TO ROAST SOME KIND OF BIRD. I've NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. AM VERY SCARED OF RUINING EVERYTHING. But well. I guess we'll manage. And if the bird (it's a "pintade", which is apparently a guinea fowl) is truly inedible, we've got loads of tuna fish to fall back on...
The only downer in the whole proceedings (apart from the fact that I got no work done today) is the fact that I suspect my poor sweet L may indeed be falling foul (or should that be fowl?) of the chicken pox plague that hit her part of the school last week... She's got a few spots that are itchy, and her poor little forehead feels hot to me, so I fear the worst. Poor baby - chicken pox for Christmas... She's going to be so miserable - I know I was when I had it. But we'll see. Maybe it's just a very enthusiastic mosquito (yes, we've still got mosquitos - I blitzed one gleefully yesterday) or something...
OK. It's now 1 am (so still pretty early by my standards), so I guess I should try and get some work done... Or at least finish making my Christmas cards...
Didn't even finish, to be honest - I "only" wrapped the girls' presents from us (not the bicycles, obviously, but a bicycle pump for C and a pack of stabilisers for L, as sort of hints as to what might be awaiting in the cellar) and from Father Christmas (he was running short of time and asked me to do some wrapping for him. Elves must have been either drunk or on strike again I guess as the same thing happened last year...). Of course, the fact that I don't actually have anything to wrap for D is only a minor hurdle (last minute shopping tomorrow, I guess). And I haven't wrapped my MIL's presents, either, as she won't be here till the 25th anyway.
Plus D did lots of Christmas food shopping this afternoon, and the girls and I (though mainly I, with some help from C) did a fair amount of tidying. Of course, not enough for it to be visible to anyone but me, but it's a start, and I intend to do more tomorrow (though I'm not sure when - so much to do!).
And, somewhat unbelievably, there will be 10 of us for dinner tomorrow night (yes, here in France the "big" Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve. But the four of us will also be doing a "UK" Christmas lunch, too, on the 25th, after we've opened all the presents), and I HAVE TO ROAST SOME KIND OF BIRD. I've NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. AM VERY SCARED OF RUINING EVERYTHING. But well. I guess we'll manage. And if the bird (it's a "pintade", which is apparently a guinea fowl) is truly inedible, we've got loads of tuna fish to fall back on...
The only downer in the whole proceedings (apart from the fact that I got no work done today) is the fact that I suspect my poor sweet L may indeed be falling foul (or should that be fowl?) of the chicken pox plague that hit her part of the school last week... She's got a few spots that are itchy, and her poor little forehead feels hot to me, so I fear the worst. Poor baby - chicken pox for Christmas... She's going to be so miserable - I know I was when I had it. But we'll see. Maybe it's just a very enthusiastic mosquito (yes, we've still got mosquitos - I blitzed one gleefully yesterday) or something...
OK. It's now 1 am (so still pretty early by my standards), so I guess I should try and get some work done... Or at least finish making my Christmas cards...
lundi 22 décembre 2008
Seriously...
...You wouldn't think it was possible to be this tired and yet to have accomplished so little in a day. It's 10.20 pm and all I've done so far is remove a heap of junk and not-junk off my desk and put it on the floor.
Bearing in mind I stupidly assumed I could actually get stuff done this week (you know, during a week when the girls are on holiday from school but I'm not officially "on holiday" till Wednesday night), the reality of what I've actually managed (the from-desk-to-floor heap) seems pathetically pathetic even to me.
On the other hand, I can see a corner of my desk (hey! It's blue! Who knew?) that I probably haven't seen since the last time I cleared my desk.
On the third hand (who's counting?), still on that blue corner of my desk, I have found some deeply unappealing things (hmm, anyone for a fingernail?), a LOT of dust (possibly composed almost 100% of crumbs of some kind or another) and a few things I thought (assumed) were lost forever.
And finally, my passport saga continues: despite the 1.60-Euro-a-minute-5-minute-minimum UK consulate passport helpline's "no, go right ahead, just write one cheque (for 190 Euros - gah)for both the passport fees and postage costs" and then further confirmation "yeah, go ahead and make the cheque payable to the British consulate in Paris", I got a message on my answering machine saying that the consulate hasn't accepted personal cheques in over a year, could I phone back and give my credit card details please.
So, I phoned back, at 11.50 am, and eventually got a snotty French switchboard cow telling me that what I'm requesting is impossible (though that in itself is supposedly impossible if you go by a saying the French are mighty fond of: "impossible n'est pas français"*), that I should phone the get-a-bank-loan-first helpline, bla, bla, bla, that the place is closed for lunch and that I should phone back after 2.30 pm. I duly phoned back at 4.30 pm, and eventually got the same snarky cow telling me the offices were closed for the day. I snapped back that Ms Consulate Lady's message said 5.30 was closing time... So Ms Snotty Switchboard grudgingly tried to put me through. I sat through more bars of Vivaldi's "Spring" than I care to remember and eventually got to speak to Ms Consulate Lady. I informed her of my gripes ("I just spent about 20 Euros last week on your crappy helpline only to be given information that isn't even goddamn true, and now your own Ms Snotty Switchboard is telling lies about opening hours too") and she was very nice and said she would DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM.
She took my credit card details, told me I'd probably get my passport (complete with hideous photo) around 7 January and then informed me that, with the pound Sterling plummeting against the Euro, the fees (originally in pounds, then converted to Euros) have gone DOWN and that I won't be debited 190 Euros after all, just a trifling 170 Euro or so.
So, despite a pretty snarky day all round, with not enough sleep, not nearly enough chocolate, two pretty grizzly girls all day, not getting anything done, having yet more work to contend with and having to deal with Ms Snotty Switchboard not once but twice, I duly give thanks to the wonder that is the British economy (what's left of it) and its plummeting currency.
May the Christmas spirit move you all in at least one of its mysterious ways.
* = Impossible is not French (attributed to Napoleon. A totally ridiculous saying, if you ask me, and even more totally unsuited to the French)
Bearing in mind I stupidly assumed I could actually get stuff done this week (you know, during a week when the girls are on holiday from school but I'm not officially "on holiday" till Wednesday night), the reality of what I've actually managed (the from-desk-to-floor heap) seems pathetically pathetic even to me.
On the other hand, I can see a corner of my desk (hey! It's blue! Who knew?) that I probably haven't seen since the last time I cleared my desk.
On the third hand (who's counting?), still on that blue corner of my desk, I have found some deeply unappealing things (hmm, anyone for a fingernail?), a LOT of dust (possibly composed almost 100% of crumbs of some kind or another) and a few things I thought (assumed) were lost forever.
And finally, my passport saga continues: despite the 1.60-Euro-a-minute-5-minute-minimum UK consulate passport helpline's "no, go right ahead, just write one cheque (for 190 Euros - gah)for both the passport fees and postage costs" and then further confirmation "yeah, go ahead and make the cheque payable to the British consulate in Paris", I got a message on my answering machine saying that the consulate hasn't accepted personal cheques in over a year, could I phone back and give my credit card details please.
So, I phoned back, at 11.50 am, and eventually got a snotty French switchboard cow telling me that what I'm requesting is impossible (though that in itself is supposedly impossible if you go by a saying the French are mighty fond of: "impossible n'est pas français"*), that I should phone the get-a-bank-loan-first helpline, bla, bla, bla, that the place is closed for lunch and that I should phone back after 2.30 pm. I duly phoned back at 4.30 pm, and eventually got the same snarky cow telling me the offices were closed for the day. I snapped back that Ms Consulate Lady's message said 5.30 was closing time... So Ms Snotty Switchboard grudgingly tried to put me through. I sat through more bars of Vivaldi's "Spring" than I care to remember and eventually got to speak to Ms Consulate Lady. I informed her of my gripes ("I just spent about 20 Euros last week on your crappy helpline only to be given information that isn't even goddamn true, and now your own Ms Snotty Switchboard is telling lies about opening hours too") and she was very nice and said she would DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM.
She took my credit card details, told me I'd probably get my passport (complete with hideous photo) around 7 January and then informed me that, with the pound Sterling plummeting against the Euro, the fees (originally in pounds, then converted to Euros) have gone DOWN and that I won't be debited 190 Euros after all, just a trifling 170 Euro or so.
So, despite a pretty snarky day all round, with not enough sleep, not nearly enough chocolate, two pretty grizzly girls all day, not getting anything done, having yet more work to contend with and having to deal with Ms Snotty Switchboard not once but twice, I duly give thanks to the wonder that is the British economy (what's left of it) and its plummeting currency.
May the Christmas spirit move you all in at least one of its mysterious ways.
* = Impossible is not French (attributed to Napoleon. A totally ridiculous saying, if you ask me, and even more totally unsuited to the French)
samedi 20 décembre 2008
"MIL is coming, Magic's getting stressed..."
...Sung, obviously, to the tune of "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..."
And yes, we finally got details of my MIL's trip to see us. This information has been hard to get, and fraught with stress all of its own (plus accusations of nastiness and false declarations and oh, the usual stuff involving my MIL), but at least we now know: she's arriving at 9 pm on the 25th (which suits me perfectly, I have to admit - we get Christmas Eve with friends, that night in our own bed (we sleep on the sofa when my MIL is here), present-opening just the four of us, a nice festive lunch on our own, a pancake tea party with friends in the afternoon and then, once the girls are in bed, and only then, will MIL arrive). Better still - not only has she actually bought her return ticket, she's even told us the time and date of her departure (not a common thing, believe me): she's leaving at 4 pm on the 29th, which means basically only 3 and a half days. I'm quite pleased, to be honest. Here's just to hoping that she doesn't arrive feeling as snarky as she's been on the phone these last few times and that we manage to keep our tempers under control till after C's birthday on the 27th...
And at least we now know - the whole "what are we doing for Christmas" thing has been up in the air since, oh, about October when my MIL first suggested we go up to Paris for her 70th birthday (end of November), to which I gave an emphatic "NO" (8 hours in a train for less than 24 hours there, at a cost of about 400 € just wasn't feasible). Then she started banging on about us going for Christmas, and I said "NO" to that too - too expensive (worse than in November), too tiring for the girls, we wouldn't be able to take their presents with us (bicycles - hardly the kind of thing you can sneak into your luggage) and her flat is TOO SMALL, it would be like Sartre's Huis Clos (only worse, possibly), and I didn't want to risk spoiling C's birthday. At least if we're here, there are possible escape hatches...
I know, I know, you must think I'm being unreasonably nasty about my MIL. But that just goes to show that you haven't met her (or, more likely, haven't had to LIVE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY with her). For which you should, in the spirit of this month's NaBloPoMo, give ETERNAL THANKS.
That said, I am starting to feel quite Christmassy; I've done most of my Christmas preparations (still 6 cards to make, write and send, still a small present to buy for C, plus her birthday present, plus D's presents, plus the food shopping to do, though that's usually D's job...), and I can't wait to start the wrapping up - I LOVE wrapping presents!
Plus, I have a cake to bake for tomorrow afternoon, and I love baking, too...
Maybe it'll even be pleasant with my MIL here after all... Miracles have been known to happen occasionally...
And yes, we finally got details of my MIL's trip to see us. This information has been hard to get, and fraught with stress all of its own (plus accusations of nastiness and false declarations and oh, the usual stuff involving my MIL), but at least we now know: she's arriving at 9 pm on the 25th (which suits me perfectly, I have to admit - we get Christmas Eve with friends, that night in our own bed (we sleep on the sofa when my MIL is here), present-opening just the four of us, a nice festive lunch on our own, a pancake tea party with friends in the afternoon and then, once the girls are in bed, and only then, will MIL arrive). Better still - not only has she actually bought her return ticket, she's even told us the time and date of her departure (not a common thing, believe me): she's leaving at 4 pm on the 29th, which means basically only 3 and a half days. I'm quite pleased, to be honest. Here's just to hoping that she doesn't arrive feeling as snarky as she's been on the phone these last few times and that we manage to keep our tempers under control till after C's birthday on the 27th...
And at least we now know - the whole "what are we doing for Christmas" thing has been up in the air since, oh, about October when my MIL first suggested we go up to Paris for her 70th birthday (end of November), to which I gave an emphatic "NO" (8 hours in a train for less than 24 hours there, at a cost of about 400 € just wasn't feasible). Then she started banging on about us going for Christmas, and I said "NO" to that too - too expensive (worse than in November), too tiring for the girls, we wouldn't be able to take their presents with us (bicycles - hardly the kind of thing you can sneak into your luggage) and her flat is TOO SMALL, it would be like Sartre's Huis Clos (only worse, possibly), and I didn't want to risk spoiling C's birthday. At least if we're here, there are possible escape hatches...
I know, I know, you must think I'm being unreasonably nasty about my MIL. But that just goes to show that you haven't met her (or, more likely, haven't had to LIVE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY with her). For which you should, in the spirit of this month's NaBloPoMo, give ETERNAL THANKS.
That said, I am starting to feel quite Christmassy; I've done most of my Christmas preparations (still 6 cards to make, write and send, still a small present to buy for C, plus her birthday present, plus D's presents, plus the food shopping to do, though that's usually D's job...), and I can't wait to start the wrapping up - I LOVE wrapping presents!
Plus, I have a cake to bake for tomorrow afternoon, and I love baking, too...
Maybe it'll even be pleasant with my MIL here after all... Miracles have been known to happen occasionally...
samedi 13 décembre 2008
All over bar the shouting
The Christmas market at school is now officially over... Estimated profits are in the 600-650 Euro mark, which strikes me as pretty awesome. Yes, if was bloody freezing standing out there for an hour or two selling the stuff, but earning that much money - which will all be used to buy things for the school - is cool. Really cool. And I think the girls enjoyed the fact that I was part of it, participating in a school event in a way that my own mother never did.
I'm proud of myself.
Not quite so proud of my Christmas preparations, though: yes, my father's presents are all accounted for (except the school-photo calendar that I ordered in October and that I don't have yet, so it'll not arrive in time for Christmas, even if I get it on Monday), I've done all it takes for Carla's best not-from-school friend, T, plus my goddaughter and her brother, I've done most of the shopping for C and L (just need their bikes, really, plus a small toy each), except C's birthday, and I've done some of my MIL's presents. Still don't know if she's coming here or not, which is a pain.
But what I haven't done is buy anything for D, send any Christmas cards (and I've received 7 already), do anything constructive about C's birthday party, do any tidying, do any sorting... The place is still a mess, and Christmas is in less than 2 weeks...
But school is all but over (one week to go), I only have one more day of teaching (though still have a mountain of exams to mark), and I have a shitload of work to do but am NOT stressing about it (not yet, anyway).
Oh, and I ate homemade organic cookies (and they were deeply unsatisfying, as only pure organic foodstuffs can be) all evening till I felt sick.
L does her circus school "end-of-term-show" tomorrow, which is cool, and then we're seeing one of her friends from her old school in the afternoon, which is cool too.
Sorry this is so disjointed - my brain feels like macaroni and cheese tonight and I just can't concentrate.
So I'm going to go to bed!
I'm proud of myself.
Not quite so proud of my Christmas preparations, though: yes, my father's presents are all accounted for (except the school-photo calendar that I ordered in October and that I don't have yet, so it'll not arrive in time for Christmas, even if I get it on Monday), I've done all it takes for Carla's best not-from-school friend, T, plus my goddaughter and her brother, I've done most of the shopping for C and L (just need their bikes, really, plus a small toy each), except C's birthday, and I've done some of my MIL's presents. Still don't know if she's coming here or not, which is a pain.
But what I haven't done is buy anything for D, send any Christmas cards (and I've received 7 already), do anything constructive about C's birthday party, do any tidying, do any sorting... The place is still a mess, and Christmas is in less than 2 weeks...
But school is all but over (one week to go), I only have one more day of teaching (though still have a mountain of exams to mark), and I have a shitload of work to do but am NOT stressing about it (not yet, anyway).
Oh, and I ate homemade organic cookies (and they were deeply unsatisfying, as only pure organic foodstuffs can be) all evening till I felt sick.
L does her circus school "end-of-term-show" tomorrow, which is cool, and then we're seeing one of her friends from her old school in the afternoon, which is cool too.
Sorry this is so disjointed - my brain feels like macaroni and cheese tonight and I just can't concentrate.
So I'm going to go to bed!
vendredi 12 décembre 2008
Roll up, roll up
I finally got the truffles rolled into truffle-shaped balls, coated in whatever and wrapped in cellophane packages tied with red ribbon at about, oh, 2 am (because I'm SLOW at this type of thing, no matter how easy it looks in the recipe).
And I managed to sleep all morning (oh, the bliss, but boy, do I feel guilty now!) and faff about all (early) afternoon before heading over to school at 3.30 to help set up the Christmas Market. It took forever, even with several of us (not sure I was very helpful, but I did my best).
At 4.45 the end-of-school bell rang, parents started flooding through the gates and we were suddenly bombarded. Sales went well (most of my truffles disappeared, though not that many of my labour-of-love tree decorations) and it was almost quite good fun, except that it was frigidly cold by Montpellier standards (no snow, or anything like that, but we're not used to cold down here) and my hands were numb by the time I'd helped put all the stuff left away for tomorrow. I might help set up again tomorrow, but I'm not staying so late this time...
Still, C and L seemed to enjoy it and bought a few things each (including some of my tree decorations, bless them!).
And, despite a long lie-in this morning, I'm still utterly exhausted, haven't done any tidying up, haven't got anywhere with my new passport application, haven't done my invoices, haven't sent any Christmas cards...
Wow. Lots to do tomorrow!
And I managed to sleep all morning (oh, the bliss, but boy, do I feel guilty now!) and faff about all (early) afternoon before heading over to school at 3.30 to help set up the Christmas Market. It took forever, even with several of us (not sure I was very helpful, but I did my best).
At 4.45 the end-of-school bell rang, parents started flooding through the gates and we were suddenly bombarded. Sales went well (most of my truffles disappeared, though not that many of my labour-of-love tree decorations) and it was almost quite good fun, except that it was frigidly cold by Montpellier standards (no snow, or anything like that, but we're not used to cold down here) and my hands were numb by the time I'd helped put all the stuff left away for tomorrow. I might help set up again tomorrow, but I'm not staying so late this time...
Still, C and L seemed to enjoy it and bought a few things each (including some of my tree decorations, bless them!).
And, despite a long lie-in this morning, I'm still utterly exhausted, haven't done any tidying up, haven't got anywhere with my new passport application, haven't done my invoices, haven't sent any Christmas cards...
Wow. Lots to do tomorrow!
mercredi 10 décembre 2008
Thanks
I know the (non obligatory) theme for this month's NaBloPoMo is "Thanks", but I really don't have much to give thanks about today.
It wasn't exactly a bad day, I mean nothing really bad happened, but oh, I'll still be pretty glad when it's over.
I'm still only half way through making my 50 truffles. The recipe says "quick and easy". Well, it is reasonably easy, I suppose (though finding suitably-sized-and-heatproof recipients for the bain marie took a certain amount of inventiveness), but it certainly wasn't (hasn't been) quick...
I still have a shitload of crap to do, and realised last night that my passport - my only legally accepted identification - will no longer be valid as of Christmas Eve. And, according to the website of the British Embassy in Paris, new passports take "4 to 6 weeks" to be issued. Fuck only knows what I'm supposed to do for identification purposes during that time... Plus, I'll have to get my photo taken and I HATE that - I always look older and uglier than even I could imagine. *sigh*
D has been in some kind of snit all day, mainly with me, and I don't know why, so that's put ME in a snit, too.
The girls have been kind of difficult today, too. Everything takes so long to do, requires so much shouting (on my part) and sulking (on theirs), it's totally exhausting. 25 minutes just to get their teeth brushed tonight!
I'm exhausted by my crap lifestyle (in bed at 4 yet again last night, still addicted to eating mindless crap all the time) but feel totally powerless to change. Too weak, too undisciplined, too much of a failure.
And I got my first Christmas card today - which made me realise I still haven't sent any. Gah!
But there is one thing I can most definitely give thanks for: the happy conclusion (at least for the baby and his parents) of this heartaching tale from Orthez (in south west France). I'm sorry, but the article's in French. Basically, yesterday afternoon, while his mother was having a shower, a 2-day-old newborn was snatched from the maternity hospital in Orthez. A "kidnap alert" was broadcast and made it possible to identify the woman who took him. The police found the baby, in good health and well cared for, and have returned him to his (obviously severely freaked out) parents. The woman has been taken in for questioning. A happy ending, then, for the baby. Thank God. There are too many horrible stories as it is.
It wasn't exactly a bad day, I mean nothing really bad happened, but oh, I'll still be pretty glad when it's over.
I'm still only half way through making my 50 truffles. The recipe says "quick and easy". Well, it is reasonably easy, I suppose (though finding suitably-sized-and-heatproof recipients for the bain marie took a certain amount of inventiveness), but it certainly wasn't (hasn't been) quick...
I still have a shitload of crap to do, and realised last night that my passport - my only legally accepted identification - will no longer be valid as of Christmas Eve. And, according to the website of the British Embassy in Paris, new passports take "4 to 6 weeks" to be issued. Fuck only knows what I'm supposed to do for identification purposes during that time... Plus, I'll have to get my photo taken and I HATE that - I always look older and uglier than even I could imagine. *sigh*
D has been in some kind of snit all day, mainly with me, and I don't know why, so that's put ME in a snit, too.
The girls have been kind of difficult today, too. Everything takes so long to do, requires so much shouting (on my part) and sulking (on theirs), it's totally exhausting. 25 minutes just to get their teeth brushed tonight!
I'm exhausted by my crap lifestyle (in bed at 4 yet again last night, still addicted to eating mindless crap all the time) but feel totally powerless to change. Too weak, too undisciplined, too much of a failure.
And I got my first Christmas card today - which made me realise I still haven't sent any. Gah!
But there is one thing I can most definitely give thanks for: the happy conclusion (at least for the baby and his parents) of this heartaching tale from Orthez (in south west France). I'm sorry, but the article's in French. Basically, yesterday afternoon, while his mother was having a shower, a 2-day-old newborn was snatched from the maternity hospital in Orthez. A "kidnap alert" was broadcast and made it possible to identify the woman who took him. The police found the baby, in good health and well cared for, and have returned him to his (obviously severely freaked out) parents. The woman has been taken in for questioning. A happy ending, then, for the baby. Thank God. There are too many horrible stories as it is.
mardi 9 décembre 2008
Just one more
One more to go. Just one more shitty up-at-6.30 Monday morning... You see, I teach at two of Montpellier's 3 universities (I know, it's crazy, but that's how they do things here), but I don't teach many hours, and I only teach in the first semester (not my choice, by the way, I would have liked to have spread things out a little), and since mid-November (when my Thursday class finished) I only teach on Mondays: 8-10 at the Economics faculty, then 1.5-3.15 in the annex to the Arts faculty.
For a night-owl like me, you cannot imagine what torture it is to have to get up at 6.30 and GO OUTSIDE while it's still DARK for Chrissakes.
But now, I only have one more week of teaching. And then my Mondays will be all mine once again. I can hardly wait!
Plus, the advantage to all my teaching being in the first semester is that I will get paid "early" (the status I have, "vacataire" - which means the job is not my main job (my main job is freelance translating) - is about as crappy as you can imagine, each semester being paid in one go, early March for the first semester, early August for the second), as in March. Woohoo!
The other advantage to all my teaching being in the first semester and all on the same day is that I have a gap - between 10 and 1.15 - which is too short to make it worth my while to go home (wouldn't have time to do anything), but long enough to get Christmas shopping done and have lunch in town. Oh, the bliss!
My Christmas shopping is coming on a treat, by the way. Well. Sort of. The homemade Christmas cards are... imperfect, shall we say. And certainly haven't been posted. But my father's presents are more or less done, the girls' presents too (except C's birthday present), and I've even got some of my MIL's present. Feeling quite smug, actually. Though that's no doubt a recipe for disaster. Nothing for D yet (he's wavering about the exercise bike - he thinks it's too pricey, which is true), but I'm working on it. Also have to find a way to tactfully leave hints about what I'd like (assuming we don't buy the bike).
Now all I have to do (bearing in mind it's 1.20 am) is make another 10 Christmas tree decorations for the school Christmas market and then once again drag myself out of bed to take the girls (and the decorations) to school tomorrow morning...
And then. If all goes well. If no one phones or sends me work via e-mail. I might actually have time to get down to some tidying up.
Tis indeed the season of miracles. Sort of.
For a night-owl like me, you cannot imagine what torture it is to have to get up at 6.30 and GO OUTSIDE while it's still DARK for Chrissakes.
But now, I only have one more week of teaching. And then my Mondays will be all mine once again. I can hardly wait!
Plus, the advantage to all my teaching being in the first semester is that I will get paid "early" (the status I have, "vacataire" - which means the job is not my main job (my main job is freelance translating) - is about as crappy as you can imagine, each semester being paid in one go, early March for the first semester, early August for the second), as in March. Woohoo!
The other advantage to all my teaching being in the first semester and all on the same day is that I have a gap - between 10 and 1.15 - which is too short to make it worth my while to go home (wouldn't have time to do anything), but long enough to get Christmas shopping done and have lunch in town. Oh, the bliss!
My Christmas shopping is coming on a treat, by the way. Well. Sort of. The homemade Christmas cards are... imperfect, shall we say. And certainly haven't been posted. But my father's presents are more or less done, the girls' presents too (except C's birthday present), and I've even got some of my MIL's present. Feeling quite smug, actually. Though that's no doubt a recipe for disaster. Nothing for D yet (he's wavering about the exercise bike - he thinks it's too pricey, which is true), but I'm working on it. Also have to find a way to tactfully leave hints about what I'd like (assuming we don't buy the bike).
Now all I have to do (bearing in mind it's 1.20 am) is make another 10 Christmas tree decorations for the school Christmas market and then once again drag myself out of bed to take the girls (and the decorations) to school tomorrow morning...
And then. If all goes well. If no one phones or sends me work via e-mail. I might actually have time to get down to some tidying up.
Tis indeed the season of miracles. Sort of.
dimanche 7 décembre 2008
A Fun Day Out
And it was, actually. Well, most of it, anyway.
In bed at 3.30 last "night" (had to make a cake for today's lunchtime extravaganza, and totally forgot till about 1 am), up at 7.30. Felt great (not).
Got both girls up, dressed, breakfasted (sort of), toothbrushed and ready by 8.30, took L to our neighbours upstairs (they had to take her to her circus class for 9.30) then took C to her English class, also at 9.30 but right the other side of the city.
Dropped off C and the cake, went back into town, bought batteries for the camera, had a quick breakfast and picked up L at 10.30, then hurtled back - figuratively out of breath for it was a CLOSE RUN THING - to where C was for the End-of-Term-Christmas-Show at 11 (which was very good) followed by a free-for-all buffet lunch at 12.
"Father Christmas" (the youngest one I've ever seen) showed up at 1 and handed out chocolates to the kids, they all played together for a while, and at about 2 we hit the road, back into town.
Wandered briefly through the Christmas market (not the one at school for which I've committed to making LOTS OF STUFF, but the official, Montpellier one) and then headed up to the temporary icerink installed at the end of the Esplanade.
Both girls got skates (though L soon gave up after falling on her bottom twice), whilst C, though not exactly fearless, nevertheless stayed on the ice for about an hour. By which time I was starting to feel like I'd died, so we went for tea, went through the shopping centre and eventually came home.
The various meltdowns started not long after (chronic fatigue), ending with me screeching (yet again), but eventually all calmed down, we had a nice supper and I finally got the girls to bed at around 8.45, which isn't bad.
I then sat zombie-like on the sofa and watched the election of Miss France 2009 (Miss Albigeois-Midi Pyrenees, quite pretty actually) whilst cramming crisps down my gullet till I felt sick.
And now, yet again, it's 1.45 am and I feel pretty perky. Might even do a few more tree decorations for the school Christmas market...
Quite a good day, but I'm going to have to hope and pray that the girls sleep LAAAATTTTE tomorrow morning...
In bed at 3.30 last "night" (had to make a cake for today's lunchtime extravaganza, and totally forgot till about 1 am), up at 7.30. Felt great (not).
Got both girls up, dressed, breakfasted (sort of), toothbrushed and ready by 8.30, took L to our neighbours upstairs (they had to take her to her circus class for 9.30) then took C to her English class, also at 9.30 but right the other side of the city.
Dropped off C and the cake, went back into town, bought batteries for the camera, had a quick breakfast and picked up L at 10.30, then hurtled back - figuratively out of breath for it was a CLOSE RUN THING - to where C was for the End-of-Term-Christmas-Show at 11 (which was very good) followed by a free-for-all buffet lunch at 12.
"Father Christmas" (the youngest one I've ever seen) showed up at 1 and handed out chocolates to the kids, they all played together for a while, and at about 2 we hit the road, back into town.
Wandered briefly through the Christmas market (not the one at school for which I've committed to making LOTS OF STUFF, but the official, Montpellier one) and then headed up to the temporary icerink installed at the end of the Esplanade.
Both girls got skates (though L soon gave up after falling on her bottom twice), whilst C, though not exactly fearless, nevertheless stayed on the ice for about an hour. By which time I was starting to feel like I'd died, so we went for tea, went through the shopping centre and eventually came home.
The various meltdowns started not long after (chronic fatigue), ending with me screeching (yet again), but eventually all calmed down, we had a nice supper and I finally got the girls to bed at around 8.45, which isn't bad.
I then sat zombie-like on the sofa and watched the election of Miss France 2009 (Miss Albigeois-Midi Pyrenees, quite pretty actually) whilst cramming crisps down my gullet till I felt sick.
And now, yet again, it's 1.45 am and I feel pretty perky. Might even do a few more tree decorations for the school Christmas market...
Quite a good day, but I'm going to have to hope and pray that the girls sleep LAAAATTTTE tomorrow morning...
samedi 6 décembre 2008
You'll all be glad to know that HRF (His Royal Felineness) Tom is back to his old tricks - lots of sleeping, lots of optimism regarding food (ie, every time anyone goes into the kitchen, he follows and miaows pathetically, though obviously he's often disappointed). I'm so relieved! Of course, he won't let me look at his mouth and the antibiotic-in-the-morning gag is well, let's just say it's "fun" and leave it at that.
Apart from that, this is set to be a tough weekend - D's gone to Paris and I'm on my own. I know it's only a weekend, and the girls are hardly babies (C will be 7 in 3 weeks, L is more than 4 and a half), and that millions of single-parents do this ALL THE TIME (oh, how I admire you guys!). But I'm not used to it, and I have a shitload of stuff to do, and I'd really like to sleep for say, two whole days...
BUT. For once, for the first time since God knows when, I don't actually have any WORK to do this weekend. Well, I have translation exams to mark for my students, but only 11, and there's no rush (yet), so I'm choosing to ignore that.
So perhaps I can get other stuff done: this evening, I made 5 (yes! 5!) Christmas tree decorations for the school Christmas market (and yes, I promised 20, plus 50 truffles and possibly 20 gifts tags too. And yes, I'm totally OUT OF MY TINY). And I made a cake (lemon! with green lime frosting! with coconut "snow" on top! to make it look Christmassy!) this evening for an end-of-term-type thing tomorrow lunchtime.
Oh, and I also ate a lot of crisps and - just to complete my healthy campaign - a lot of truffles (not homemade, a "free gift" I got with some mail order stuff I picked up today). And now I feel really, really sick.
And it's 2.45 am and I still have to clean the kitchen and get everything ready for tomorrow morning (up at 7.30!).
As I said, this could definitely be a tough weekend.
Yet for some reason, I'm kind of looking forward to it!
Happy weekend, everyone!
Apart from that, this is set to be a tough weekend - D's gone to Paris and I'm on my own. I know it's only a weekend, and the girls are hardly babies (C will be 7 in 3 weeks, L is more than 4 and a half), and that millions of single-parents do this ALL THE TIME (oh, how I admire you guys!). But I'm not used to it, and I have a shitload of stuff to do, and I'd really like to sleep for say, two whole days...
BUT. For once, for the first time since God knows when, I don't actually have any WORK to do this weekend. Well, I have translation exams to mark for my students, but only 11, and there's no rush (yet), so I'm choosing to ignore that.
So perhaps I can get other stuff done: this evening, I made 5 (yes! 5!) Christmas tree decorations for the school Christmas market (and yes, I promised 20, plus 50 truffles and possibly 20 gifts tags too. And yes, I'm totally OUT OF MY TINY). And I made a cake (lemon! with green lime frosting! with coconut "snow" on top! to make it look Christmassy!) this evening for an end-of-term-type thing tomorrow lunchtime.
Oh, and I also ate a lot of crisps and - just to complete my healthy campaign - a lot of truffles (not homemade, a "free gift" I got with some mail order stuff I picked up today). And now I feel really, really sick.
And it's 2.45 am and I still have to clean the kitchen and get everything ready for tomorrow morning (up at 7.30!).
As I said, this could definitely be a tough weekend.
Yet for some reason, I'm kind of looking forward to it!
Happy weekend, everyone!
mercredi 3 décembre 2008
Overwhelmed
I just can't seem to keep my head above water right now.
I have a ton of work (which is, in theory, a GOOD THING, what with credit crunches and all, but oh, my, do I feel squeezed!), I have a million other things to do (why did I say I'd get involved in the school newsletter? Why did I say I'd make 50 truffles and 20 tree decorations and 50 gift tags to sell at the school Christmas market NEXT WEEK?) and I am soooooo tired. All I can think about is horizontality.
Pure, blissful, unadulterated horizontality.
You should perhaps know (and yes, I'm weird like this) that my favourite activity in bed - by a looooonnnnnnggggg way - is SLEEPING. There is nothing - and I mean NOTHING - I would rather do in bed. Unless perhaps it was something that involved Johnny Depp, but that's another story.
Right now, I'm existing on about 4 hours' sleep a night, plus an hour and a half "napping" during the day when I'm so tired I'm going bug-eyed in front of the computer.
It's not healthy, and it's definitely NOT what I'd planned for the New Me, but I have to admit that the New Me is probably not going to happen because I just don't have the discipline.
And of course D will be away this weekend, up in Paris for his mother's birthday, meaning more hassles here (Saturday morning: C and L BOTH have activities at 9.30, but in TOTALLY DIFFERENT PLACES. And then at 11, L and I have to be at the place where C does her activity because the kids are putting on a Christmas show, and I think we're going to have to take a taxi or else we'll never be there on time. And of course I have to BAKE something for this too, on Friday evening after coming back from C's swim class).
And don't even get me started on the subject of Christmas cards (which I promised the girls we'd make this year - I must be stark, raving MAD) or Christmas presents...
Overwhelmed. It's the only word.
Except perhaps T.I.R.E.D.
I have a ton of work (which is, in theory, a GOOD THING, what with credit crunches and all, but oh, my, do I feel squeezed!), I have a million other things to do (why did I say I'd get involved in the school newsletter? Why did I say I'd make 50 truffles and 20 tree decorations and 50 gift tags to sell at the school Christmas market NEXT WEEK?) and I am soooooo tired. All I can think about is horizontality.
Pure, blissful, unadulterated horizontality.
You should perhaps know (and yes, I'm weird like this) that my favourite activity in bed - by a looooonnnnnnggggg way - is SLEEPING. There is nothing - and I mean NOTHING - I would rather do in bed. Unless perhaps it was something that involved Johnny Depp, but that's another story.
Right now, I'm existing on about 4 hours' sleep a night, plus an hour and a half "napping" during the day when I'm so tired I'm going bug-eyed in front of the computer.
It's not healthy, and it's definitely NOT what I'd planned for the New Me, but I have to admit that the New Me is probably not going to happen because I just don't have the discipline.
And of course D will be away this weekend, up in Paris for his mother's birthday, meaning more hassles here (Saturday morning: C and L BOTH have activities at 9.30, but in TOTALLY DIFFERENT PLACES. And then at 11, L and I have to be at the place where C does her activity because the kids are putting on a Christmas show, and I think we're going to have to take a taxi or else we'll never be there on time. And of course I have to BAKE something for this too, on Friday evening after coming back from C's swim class).
And don't even get me started on the subject of Christmas cards (which I promised the girls we'd make this year - I must be stark, raving MAD) or Christmas presents...
Overwhelmed. It's the only word.
Except perhaps T.I.R.E.D.
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