NO Review, the blog - 2008

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December 27, 2008

    I'm living with a new band now: Ruby Cracker.  B and A have taken to playing Guitar Hero together in the band Ruby Cracker, and have spent the last hour or so playing drums and bass, getting encores and giving each other high fives, hugs and congratulations on each of their small successes.  Not sure where "Ruby Cracker" came from, but I think it's a great band name.  Both band members look alike (not unlike the "are they twins?" brothers that they are) and since they have earned various accoutrements, they are designing a new rocker.  The guitar player that C designed is quite an attractive homologue, in my humble estimation; it will be interesting to see what the kidlings come up with.
    The canals have been partially frozen lately.  The duckweed is long gone, the paths strangely changed without foliage, and the garbage is more apparent.  The days have been bright and cold such that the grass doesn't change from it's frosted greenish white color except where it can escape the long shadows of dense housing during the short days.  The sunset was quite beautiful yesterday on my run with the dog, the yellowish orange globe big and yet winter weak behind the line of trees.  While I was in the US with the kids C paid a neighbor girl to walk the dog every day.  He's such a good dog, and he so clearly needs more regular exercise than I usually give him.  My running tends to get pushed to the end of the list and he's just not quite fast enough to run next to the bicycles on our daily school treks.  But when he gets some taste of any regular (or irregular) exercise, he's his regular intense self in telling us that he's expecting more.  I'm pretty sure that when we think he's demanding another treat, he really wants to GO FOR A WALK or A RUN, you thick humans.  I am trying to change this and get into a regular routine of taking him out.  He's getting older.  He'll be 13 this spring.  He's a mutt and he's not shown signs of any illness or age yet, so he will likely live a number of years trouble free yet, but I would still like to make sure we do what we can to put off the sadness we all will feel when he does finally leave our life.  Making sure he gets the exercise he needs and wants so much is a big part of that.  Which is why I just got back inside our warm house out of the crunchy cold.
    I just read a bit about what the heck is in dog food and I'm a little queased out about it.  Our dog free feeds (when we haven 't put his food away from the cat's snacking and forgotten it in the drawer) and doesn't eat all that regularly or often.  He does depend on a treat in the morning and evening (when C gets home or by the time we eat or as soon as he can convince us it's time).  Partly because we've been without his favorite peanut flavored treats, I've been making these at home using peanut butter, flour, egg, and leftover meaty bits and grease from our carnivorous cooking.  It feels pretty good to be using so much of our "waste" food up rather than throwing it in the trash.  I just keep a jar in the freezer and scrape pans and such into it as needed.  I'll have to read more about using the bones as well.
    Well, I'm trying to get back into a routine of regular checking in and so don't want to go too long here.  Time to get kids ready for bed now, anyway, and read some more from the Castle of Llyr...

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December 26, 2008

    Eep.  Sorry I've been out of contact of late.  I'll try to fix that.  In the meantime, I'll try to bring this thing up to date.

    There were a number of events before Sinterklaas.  On the 2nd the kids arrived at school to find all kinds of trouble.  The Zwarte Piet had been making mischief.  They had apparently stolen the key to the front door so we all had to troop in through the staff room and library down the hall to all the classrooms.  They had had a pillow fight in the library, moved signs and decorations, upset chairs and tables and generally made a mess.  The teachers enlisted kids to clean it all up, which they did pretty happily.
    The kids' voetbal team had an event before their regular practice time in which a clown entertained the crowd of kids (in Dutch of course, but sight gags are sight gags) until Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Piet arrived.  The kids received a glass of punch and a bag of chips.  According to the clown, they were delayed because their car broke down and they were coming by bicycle.  Indeed, Sinterklaas ended up riding by the windows on the back of a bicycle before coming in.  By that time there were some Zwarte Piet who had arrived to hand out pepernoten and rile the crowd.  There were piles of wrapped packages around and Sinterklaas eventually sat down and started reading off names.  Named kid would come and collect his or her present.  There was an apparently traditional interruption near the beginning when Sinterklaas would make to leave because one of the Piet had hidden his book and he couldn't distribute presents to the boys and girls because he didn't have their names (or perhaps know which side of the bad/good list they fell on).  Before he got completely out of the building, the book would be found by another Piet and he would be called back to distribute gifts.  A ended up with a cheap plastic set of pirate toys and a black pirate bandana cap; B received a toy motorcycle.
    The next night was Kijkavond at the school.  The regular classroom lights were off, holiday lights were on, and the rooms were all decorated for Sinterklaas' arrival.  We went into all the different classrooms and hung out in the gym where there were some snacks.  Our particular mission, however, was to distribute all of the thank-you notes we'd written with the pirate loot that had finally arrived from the States.  With only a couple of exceptions (which we ticked off later), we succeeded.  Then I packed.  The next morning was the 5th of December and the entire school was gathered in the front playground singing Sinterklaas songs and awaiting Sinterklaas.  C had dropped us off and was waiting for me in the car.  I found the few people I needed to talk to in the crowd while the kids stood with their classmates and sang.  Finally Sinterklaas arrived on his horse (a different one according to A because his hat was a slightly different color) and I made my escape to the car to finish putting things in bags for the trip.  We picked the kids up before noon and headed to the airport.  Sinterklaas had distributed gifts to them at school too.  A received a small marble run toy and B a bag of marbles and a marble shooting game which we left in the car with their lunches and decorations while I loaded up their backpacks with blanket and stuffed toy instead.
    Also, because we knew that we would be gone on the big Sinterklaas day (the 5th is the day for the big gifts from Sinterklaas), and because it was hard for us to wait too, we put Guitar Hero World Tour  near their shoes earlier in the week and the boys got a chance to play with that a bit before we left.  They seem most interested in drums and bass so far.  The big present day for the Dutch, by the way, isn't a work or school holiday.  There are festivities on that day and very little work actually gets done, but it's not a holiday.  C had to drop us off and scamper quickly to work.  We saw Sinterklaas and some Zwarte Piet heading down a fairway at Schiphol Airport on our way to our gate.  Oh, and I made a mistake about holiday decorating here.  It's only supposed to start AFTER Sinterklaas (just as it's supposed to wait for after Thanksgiving), so they have an even shorter time for lights and trees and such than us Americans.  This was very apparent by the time we returned to Schiphol on the 14th.

    December 5th was a very long day.  It started with school, Sinterklaas, and finishing the packing.  Then picking up kids, getting dropped at the airport, and finding some lunch.  We made the mistake of buying water instead of going without.  There are no little tabs that dispense water instead of water mixed with the soda solution here, so we ended up with a bottle we had to throw away before going through security at the gate (yup, you go through the metal detector and take coats off and laptops out at the gate itself; nice that).  I told the kids that they should try to stay up as long as possible on the way to Spokane so they could adjust to the West Coast time quickly.  They did pretty well; Our flight left at 3:30 and they stayed up watching movies and such until about 1 am our time.  That was just in time for landing in Minneapolis, waking them up and making our way to our gate.  We had a three-hour layover there and A slept heavily enough I couldn't rouse him when we had a gate change.  Since I had two boys sleeping on top of or against me, I couldn't really move to find much to do, and couldn't sleep, so I listened to the airport news all about the economy.  The boys both woke enough to walk on to the plane and get settled.  We waited quietly on the tarmac for over an hour waiting for de-icing, then flew three hours to Spokane.  I was able to sleep some then.  We arrived at about midnight West Coast time.
    That night was hard on mom.  Since the boys had had about seven hours of interrupted sleep by that point, they weren't particularly inclined to go to sleep.  I got up and got the kids to get another three hours of sleep at about 3:30 am her time.  Fortunately, she had written out her eulogy already and was somewhat mentally prepared for the kids being awake that night.

    The memorial service for my grandmother was quite nice.  It was good to see family I hadn't seen in a while, and some church folk I hadn't seen since I was still living at home.  It was interesting to hear other people's memories of her.  She was a woman who showed different faces to different people and I think our family got the worst face.  I actually came away from the service feeling glad to be related to her.  Someone spoke of her at the women's retreats always going to bed last and getting up first so as not to miss anything.  Someone spoke of her love of playing card games.  Someone talked about her love of gardening and ability to make things grow.  Someone spoke of her skill at "making do," creating something out of little or nothing.  There was a media display of some photos from her life and it was fun to see some pictures of my mom as a girl.  I recognized parts of myself in the pictures painted both with words and with photographs.  The kids found it a little too long, but they were excellent throughout.
    Afterwards we went to my cousin's for a family lunch.  That was very nice.  The boys were able to play, and we got some nice pictures of cousins and cousins' offspring.  The cousins closest in age to me (the twins are both about a year and a half older than I am) are both grandmothers now, which is a little weird to think about.  I mean, I have a niece who is eighteen, so it isn't wholly unimaginable, but my kids are only eight and six so somehow my head skips a beat when it is asked to skip their entire growing up and dating years and present them with a theoretical baby of their own.  Unsurprisingly, we got tired kind of early in the evening and retreated homewards.

    Since my mom's responsibilities were pretty much over after that was finished, we were able to go about having fun.  We did some shopping.  We went to the library.  We had fun with mom, my dad, and my brother's family.  We played a lot of games, sewed some Christmas bags with my brother, made Christmas cookies with mom, and had a waffle frolic when my niece got home after her UW finals.  We had the forethought to get our family picture before leaving, so I took the opportunity to get our holiday cards printed and wrote our holiday letter.  Before we left, I had our US and Canada batch put together, licked and stamped.  Hard not to take advantage of domestic postage at half the rate.  (I have been surprised, however, by how many Christmas cards we've received here with just a regular US 43 cent stamp.)  It was a very short week.
    Our return included a six hour layover in Portland.  We were able to spend that time with our favorite Portland family playing games and having lunch at their house and get back to the airport just in time to get aboard for our 10 hour flight back to Amsterdam.  The Portland direct flight leaves at about 4 pm instead of Seattle's 1 pm.  This means getting in at 2 am/11 am instead of 11pm/8 am.  This was much better for the kids since they spent those three hours asleep; it seemed to help them adjust to this time zone more quickly.  We had a short day, an early dinner, and went to bed early - they slept through and woke up for school with a lot fewer problems than I'd anticipated.

    We had four days of school before school was out.  Monday and Tuesday I finished up my lunch mom commitment.  Tuesday evening was the kids' holiday concert and party.  The religious elements of Christmas are a no-go at a public school here the same as Stateside, but "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and Santa were considered fair game.  While the kids ate dinner in their classrooms, the parents were served mulled wine, apple juice, chips, and cheese in the gym.  As part-time room mum for B's class, I helped make toasties (a dish new to me as well as B).  Then C and I gathered outside for the concert.  Yes, it was cold and dark, but not quite raining.  The kids had holiday lights, a pavilion like shelter, and amplification.  (This was sometimes unfortunate in that it was only one or two children who sang with a microphone.  A's best friend made rude noises of the six year old sort at the end of their singing.)  Each group/grade level sang then went back inside, until group 4 (B's).  Once they sang their songs, all of the kids came out together and sang together.  I did forget my camera, though they both suffered a bit from underpreparation having missed the week before, so it wasn't the best photographic opportunity.
    Wednesday and Thursday I spent doing some shopping without kids, including finally acquiring a Christmas tree.  This task would have been easier if undertaken the week before; the nearby hardware store had sold out already.  While shopping in a toy store, I overheard a conversation between a boy and his mom, whose whiny request was met with the statement that presents were over and they weren't Engles.  Mom and the shopkeeper had some conversation about the English and the dual holiday tradition while I kept shopping.  The time change finally worked its way out of our systems, but not before I made the decision to drive our late butts to school to save some time.  Though this actually made us later than we'd have been on bikes, it did mean we remembered to stop off at the pool/sport facility on the way home and get someone to phone us about starting swimming.  They called us back that afternoon and set up a swim test for the 22nd.  They started classes the next day and are signed up for every Tuesday afternoon.  According to the director, in the Netherlands, and different from every other country in the region, the breast stroke is the one most emphasized.  Since even though B has had instruction in the butterfly stroke, neither kid has ever done the breast stroke.  They began with some other beginners (though not so beginner as to be water-shy) and ended their session with the lights off and lit candles on both ends of a bar-bell shaped floaty thing, swimming around the pool singing carols, and able to see us parents behind the one-way mirror before we joined them.  There are apparently 9 in their class on a normal day, but there were only three additional swimmers and two instructors then.
    We put our lights up, our snowflakes up (we have a collection of snowflakes hanging in our front window), and decorated our tree.  Our house looks very festive.  The kids don't want to take things down for a long time.  They know the 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas and I've assured them that we won't take things down before then.  They collect trees with our yard waste on the 13th, so they were somewhat mollified by how many days away that is.  The snowflakes may stay up even longer, and I'm thinking they may transform themselves into raindrops, flowers, and fall leaves over the year.  I still think it's ironic that the first day of winter is the 21st, when the days start becoming longer again.  I'm very glad that the longest night is over.  We had sunrise at 8:46 and sunset at 4:28.  It was quite a surprise to see how LIGHT it was before seven o'clock in Spokane.  I guess those few degrees in latitude really make a difference this time of year.  Right now, the sun is pouring in the window, so it seems warmer than it does if I poke my nose outside.  I suspect it also helps that it's two in the afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas.  One of B's requested gifts, a digital alarm clock, roused him at 7 am this morning so he could come down in the dark and play games before we were up.  Since C and I stayed up late playing Zelda's Twilight Princess, we did not join him or his brother until too late to avoid the lack of breakfast grouchies.  I think it's not the best sign that, like me, they don't think to feed themselves when they're hungry until too late.

    I'm getting ahead of myself again.  Where was I?  The last day of school, A had a playdate that we hosted until afternoon the next day.  We're going to trade kids and C and I will get a night out together on the 2nd.  C worked Monday and Tuesday, technically worked from home on the 24th (though there was seemingly no-one in the office to write e-mails to which he needed to respond), and wrote a bunch of reviews for folks on Christmas Day itself.  He returns to work on January 5th, our first day back at school, but will take the opportunity to get a leg up on some organization stuff at some point before then.  The kids spent some time making a gift for me while I did my final shopping on the 24th, and they helped wrap presents in our gift bags, wrote out labels and loaded gifts under the tree.
    Christmas morning was very nice.  I got up early and prepared our traditional cinnamon rolls and sliced oranges layered with powdered sugar, and sent a very cheerful B back upstairs to snuggle with his dad a bit longer.  Soon after A made his way downstairs about 8:30, we gathered and opened our stockings.  A Kinder egg joined the traditional orange in the toe for the kids, something that will probably make its appearance again.  C made a wonderful batch of scrambled eggs, and we had breakfast.  Then the kids distributed presents to the couches where we opened stockings and we opened presents in turn.  Highlights included kids' pajamas, clothes, and snow boots, a tripod, the Complete Calvin and Hobbes collection, a couple sets of king-size sheets, puzzles, super-hero gloves, Wii wheels for playing the Mario Kart game B got for his birthday, poems from the kids, the aforementioned Twilight Princess and digital alarm clock, and promises of a new faucet and music availability in the house from C.  We have a bunch of dedicated money to spend wisely too.  We got our Christmas gifts from my family in Spokane and will do Christmas with C's family in February, but I think we made ourselves a nice Christmas.
    Both C and I took a nap while the kids played with their gifts, and then we had a late Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans with bacon.  It was a very yummy traditional meal.  In brining the turkey using some ersatz ice packs, I discovered a few glass peanut butter jars I had overfilled with water (and so had cracked) I was using to take up room in our chest freezer downstairs.  In my trip to the corner glass recycling station, I got to see a bunch of other families enjoying dinner together with candles and their trees lit up.  Later we heard carols sung next door.  And of course, the infrequent, but increasingly common pows from firecrackers.  We've collected a small pile of advertisements (such as from here) for all the amazingly dangerous and impressive incendiary devices that are for sale this time of year.  Coming from a place where only my parents really enjoyed the freedom to blow themselves up or light their roofs on fire on July 4th, and I can fondly but fuzzily remember pinwheels and fountains and Roman Candles, this is impressive stuff.  New Year's Eve will be interesting.

    Other things of note.  B has learned by a careful craft of watching more closely than we think he is, intuition and perhaps osmosis to navigate the Google search and play YouTube videos.  This has so far confined itself to videos of tips and tricks on the Wii games that he is playing.  We have tried to warn him away from cheats, and the gray area you can enter into between knowing enough to play and knowing so much that the game is spoiled.  But, of course, this isn't the worst of our worries.  Aside from the questionable content on random YouTube videos (even the very impressive expert guitar fingering by the 13-year-old Guitar Hero player ends poorly and resulted in an alert C hitting mute), there's the issue of eight-(or six)-year-old spelling and the fact that the whole world is out there (and especially all of its dirtier parts).  This is the main reason that our computers are in public spaces.  Now we just have to make sure we're up as early as our budding surfer.
    I brought and have visible in my kitchen six square bins in which I keep my flours, sugars, rices, etc.  Any number of visitors have asked if I make my own bread.  I've owned up to waffles, scones, cookies, and other baked goods, but bread hasn't been a part of my regular repertoire.  However, when I was living in the Bay Area, I got hooked on a cinnamon bread (without raisins) I first found at Costco and then, when they discontinued it, at Trader Joe's.  I've been wanting to recreate that taste ever since I couldn't buy it any more.  Finally, I tried a cinnamon bread recipe (Cook's Illustrated) that is most definitely worth doing again.  With a few more repetitions, I may be able to say "yes, I make my own bread" with conviction.
    Okay, I'm done for the day.  Back again later.  Hope your holidays are happy!

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December 1, 2008

    My grandma died over the weekend.  I'm taking the kids home for a week to be with my mom during the memorial service.  It's not inexpensive to fly with less than a week's notice when there are no bereavement rates on international flights, but it would have been double if it had been the more convenient date closer to Christmas, so it's fine.  This way I am able to support my mom, see my family, and even exchange Christmas gifts while I stock up on the niceties we can only get in the States.  We'll be wiped out a large portion of the time with jet-lag both coming and going, and I'll miss C tremendously.
    This was the grandma I was not close to, who did some horrible things in her life to those held in her care.  I can't say with honesty I feel very sad at her passing.  But my mom is having a hard time.  This is the woman who caused my mom to examine how she wanted to parent (differently) and be in the world.  She is the reason that my mom tries so hard to have a relationship with her daughter that she wishes she had with her mother.  There is grief at what should have been.

    Saturday we had a voetbal match, cleaned house and had some Dutch friends for coffee and games until very late.  We learned a couple of new games, Niagara and Galaxy Trucker, and shared Wildlife Adventure with them.  This is the same couple that introduced us to Qwirkle.  On Sunday we had the joint birthday party for the boys at the pirate place.  It was interesting.  There was some eating (fries or pancakes, ice cream) and magic, but mostly a lot of jumping in the huge, inflatable pirate ship that almost completely filled the gym.  There was also a lot of bumping into each other, minor injuries, and tattling to me.  The kids had a lot of fun, though.  The loot from Dead Men Tell No Tales hasn't yet come from the States, however, and we hope to give it out with the thank you cards.  Also on Sunday a co-worker of C's from the States came and had dinner with us.  I enjoy hosting.

    Well, lots to do today.  I'd like to get through my piles so I feel a bit more sorted.  We need to pull down Christmas decorations from the attic.  And the boys still need that haircut.

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November 28, 2008

    I only have an hour left before I need to go to the school.  C is meeting me there as it's time to help A put his portfolio together.  B's portfolio day was last Friday, when C was there in the morning before his cousin, C and I went to Amsterdam for the day.  About three times throughout the year, after a unit is finished, the kids invite their parents in to help put their favorite work or the pieces they are most proud of into a portfolio that they can take home at the end of the year.  It's a cold day today.  Fortunately, the construction is finishing up around the school so we don't have to navigate by sidewalks or dirt.  One difference between here and the States is that the road construction projects all have end target dates, and that target date is actually a hard date.  The main street near us was closed off and the notification of when the bus would resume its old route and stops said the 22nd.  Sure enough, they were all finished and the road was re-opened by the 22nd.  The construction around the school was to be done by the end of the month.  It looks like they'll make that target too.  It's not one of those things you expect to make a big difference, but it is really nice knowing that the projects aren't unending and that they will be finished on the dates when they're supposed to end.  As a guess, I suspect they're on budget, too, but I could be wrong.  Makes me wonder whether we'll have light rail in place by the time we return to Seattle.

    I've been thinking about Zwaarte Piet, since it's all around us..  In short, the Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5 (but it's not a work or school holiday).  Sinterklaas and his helpers, Zwaarte Piets, come to the Netherlands by boat from Spain and kids put out their shoes nightly from the time he arrives (he came up the canal here on November 15) and receive little treats every morning, usually sweets like pepernoten.  In the evening, kids put extra things in their shoes for Sinterklaas' horses (hay, sugar, carrots) and receive bigger presents.  Usually someone knocks on the door and leaves all the presents on the doorstep.  Older kids and adults give each other "surprises" which are elaborately wrapped (paper mache, often) and come with a comic poem that tells something about the character (or usually character flaws) about the recipient, but which are all from "Sinterklaas."  Christmas, on the other hand, is a religious holiday and not a gift-giving holiday.  This leads to three things I want to talk about - one, Zwaarte Piet, two, decorating for Christmas, and three, what we're going to do this year.
    Zwaarte Piet (Black Peter) are the 6 to 8 black men satirized by David Sedaris.  The faces we see around us here in shops, advertisements, dolls, and in person in the parades, are all exaggerated black-face with red lips, colorful hats with feathers (often over an afro wig), ruffles, tights, and short bloomer-like pants.  The kids that were at Sinterklaas's arrival (and others I've seen on bikes and walking around lately) were dressed as little Piets with painted or smudged faces, or as Sinterklaas.  Zwaarte Piet makes us Americans extremely uncomfortable.  The Dutch have tried to deal with the controversy in various ways.  The Piets original role (the bishop's slaves who punished bad children) was changed to that of friend, the explanation for their coloring was marked down to traversing so many chimneys, and a recent attempt to introduce other colors of Piets fell flat and died a quick death.  Piets are universally loved by Dutch children.  It is considered the basest of faux pas to hint that Sinterklaas isn't (gasp) real.  Piets give them gifts, they are looked up to, emulated, and idolized.  They are not figures of ridicule in any way.  There is not anything intrinsically shameful in dressing up like a person with dark skin, but it is extraordinarily tricky.  The Dutch do not have the same minstrel show history that was popular from 1830-1930 in the United States.  It is very hard for us to stop anywhere on the slippery slope between blackface and transformed, stereotyped, caricatured darkies of racism, whereas if you don't have the same background history maybe it is easier.  I'm not close enough to the Dutch culture to really know how much of a problem this tradition is.  I can't tell if kids' perception of people of color is influenced negatively by Zwaarte Piet's depiction.  I do know that they are under a lot of pressure to change their tradition and I don't think that the pressure is misplaced, but I also suspect that holiday traditions are remarkably resistant to change no matter what the pressure.  In addition, as a white American, I'm certainly not the right person to give the last word on this very different holiday tradition.
    There's always been a taboo in the United States against decorating "too early" for Christmas.  You're supposed to wait for Thanksgiving to be over.  This can mean a short a time as 27 days.  People don't dare light up their own lights until Black Friday and complain about how early the shops put out their Christmas wares.  According to the word on the street, it's earlier and earlier every year.  Coming from that background, it's very odd to have such an early jump on holiday lights.  Of course, if the Dutch waited until the fourth Thursday of November they'd have only about a week before Sinterklaas came.  While I'm very unlikely to decorate before Thanksgiving once I return to the States (after all, it's practically impossible to get people a holiday wish list to relatives before B or my birthday in November), I don't think I'm as offended by it as some.  "Rash commercialization of the birth of Jesus Christ" isn't actually the same as putting lights on your house or holiday trimmings on the streets and can happen after Thanksgiving with just as much frequency.  I remember the first winter break I spent home from college in California and found myself in a very white, very monocultural, very Christian Christmas season in Spokane feeling very lonely for faces of different shades and the possibility that people might celebrate in a different way or not at all.  Here I am now in the Netherlands where they have divorced the giving of gifts from the celebration of Christmas.  There are certainly elements to respect about this separation, and I suspect it has made the Dutch Christmas come closer to the things I like best about Thanksgiving (except for the religious element), that is, a quieter celebration of family, friends and, to a lesser extent, food.  I think American kids have a hard time figuring out what Christmas is all about since we cram so much into the holiday and send them so many different and sometimes conflicting messages.  I don't think a certain percentage of kids think it's Santa's birthday because they are familiar with the Dutch tradition of celebrating on Sinterklaas's birthday, after all.
    What will we do?  Well, we've a number of small gifts to stick in their shoes starting tonight.  C is having a hard time waiting to pull out Guitar Hero World Tour in front of the boys; he's looking forward to having us all play together.  That's probably the big Sinterklaas gift.  We will have individual chocolate initials (milk for the boys and dark for the adults) as well.  There are celebrations at school and voetbal for the kids as well.  We will start decorating as soon as I bring the boxes down from the attic (this weekend, I hope, though it is a busy one with voetbal, gaming with friends, the boys' birthday party, and a Seattle co-worker in town and jet-lagged for dinner, so we'll see).  And we will do the traditional family Christmas with a pajama gift on Christmas Eve, stockings first and presents under the tree on Christmas morning after breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs and sliced sugared oranges.  One thing I learned yesterday (missing Thanksgiving) was that the first time doing anything in a new culture is full of the unexpected and a great deal of learning.  We will be observers this first Christmas here; we will check out all the new things and then decide what to bring in and incorporate into our own lives and holiday traditions.
    Not that different, really, from what we are doing in general here.  From a small hot water heater under the kitchen sink to cycling almost everywhere to poffertjes, there are things we will take and decide to keep in our lives long-term.  Our real lives.  See?  I haven't made the jump yet to living here now.  It still seems temporary.  I guess it is.  I'm glad it is, but I also want to be happy while I'm here living this temporary, but real life in the Netherlands.  I think I can do that.

    Well that wasn't too wet and sticky, but it also took me a longer time than I'd hoped.  I'm going to bed now.  Treats are in shoes, portfolio was viewed, C's practicing GH guitar, kids are asleep, and I'm exhausted.  Tomorrow is a new day.

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November 27, 2008

    It's Thanksgiving in America.  I am much sadder than I thought I was going to be.  It just hit me like a belly blow at school and I was left looking around for the few other Americans (without avail) so I could have someone to be sad with that understood.  At least I was sad with other friends, though I had to explain the holiday.  I never realized with such visceral understanding how little other countries know or understand about the holiday.  Friends, family, thanksgiving, good food, a pause from the rest of the craziness that seems to constitute holidays and the commercialization of winter.  Traveling to be with people you love.  The fabulous smells.  Football muted in another room, perhaps.  An evening of board games between helpings.  Kids at a card table.  My grandpa's prayer after a tough game of spoons between the cousins and before dinner.  Sitting and breathing with people I love.  I really miss it.  This is the first one I'll have missed.  I explained it inadequately to them, of course.
    I told the kids why I was sad and they understood a little better.  C has his monster commute as is usual on Thursdays, so he won't be here until seven or later.  The kids suggested we have a feast tonight anyway, so we stopped at the store on the way home for potatoes, green beans and a chicken to sub for the turkey.  We have a bunch of pumpkin salvaged from Halloween decorations at the school, but B at least would rather have apple crisp than pumpkin pie.  I'll do some pumpkin bread anyway.  Raspberries in Jell-O is more significant to me than any cranberry dish, but I'll have to scout more thoroughly for ingredients as I don't have any on hand.  I'm glad my immediate family is here with me.  I'd sure hate to be here alone.  I'll be glad when C gets home.

    Catching up: I had my birthday.  B had his.  I'm throwing a party for both the boys this Sunday at the Pirate Party place nearby.  I had ordered a bunch of things from Dead Men Tell No Tales, a most excellent pirate retailer, but they haven't come yet and there are only two more delivery days before the party.  Don't know what I'll do if they don't come.  I cut my hair and no one noticed.  Both the boys need haircuts very soon.  It snowed and stuck for a few days.  A couple of days later, it was so icy we couldn't ride our bikes.  Our cat deposited a dead mouse outside our back door last night (better than inside, obviously).  C's cousin, who is studying in Ireland this semester, came to visit for a longish weekend.  The kids have had voetbal games and practices despite the cold and snow, including last Saturday's game which they called at half time because so many kids were miserable.  It feels like winter.  Sinterklaas arrived in town and we went down to the canal to see him and the Zwaarte Piet arrive with treats.  Lots of decorations are up and there are Christmas lights up in the town.  My grandmother (the poisonous one, but my last remaining grandparent) is dying and the kids and I will probably try to get back for the memorial service, whenever that ends up happening.  I've gone in to Amsterdam a couple of times recently, once with C and his cousin, and once with friends from the international school to lunch in Amsterdam's China Town (more a long street than a proper area of town).  My skin is dry.  I've played a bit of Guitar Hero world tour with C.  The kids have a fund-raiser for electricity in a community in Africa in which they are selling sets of greeting cards each child designed.  I have said that even though I didn't do but a pittance towards my November NaNoWriMo (or the October correspondence experiment), that I would count the month as a success if I figured out a routine or system or habit of doing some work towards something I wanted to get done for at least a couple of hours a day.  I don't know if I can say that yet.  I think if I measure myself now by all the things I haven't done that I'll drown.

    Zwaarte Piet
    Thanksgiving and Christmas
    Construction time

    I'm full of words but more tired than able to stay awake to get them down.  I so wish that my thinking them would get them written down.   Or that thinking about the other projects I want to do would make them happen.  I have tomorrow to be home and working here, so I hope to come back while I can still pull the words out of my head without them getting wet and sticking to each other in a big mess.

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November 2, 2008

    Well, I've made a start on my novel for NaNoWriMo.  I'm not at all sure about what I'm going to be doing this month, though.  My month of catching up on my correspondence was a deep and utter failure (though the same can't be said for the month of October in general, but that's not what my goal was).  I've started a novel that has a smaller scope than my last one.  I'm attempting to write something the kids will/would laugh at when read to them.  So I don't know whether to just go with that, or roll my October writing goal into November as well, or what exactly.  Since I am doing NaNoWriMo on the official month this time, I've signed up and am responsible for downloading words for them to count, but haven't gone through the process yet.  It's pretty clear, whatever happens, that nice experience that it was last year, I'm not as hard-core this year.  A combination of not having a friend nearby writing as well, not having edited my last effort, and feeling behind on the rest of my life during one of our birthday months and just as Christmas is creeping up.  Yesterday I didn't get any writing done because we had guests for lunch, dinner, and a trip to NEMO in between.  But I was up early to write, and I'm not done for the day quite yet.  I'm only at 933, but it's a start.  Correspondence word count is at 8839.
    Well, whatever happens, I'll try to log in here more often.
    Tomorrow is my first day of lunch mum duty at the lower school.  I'll be in Group 2 on Mondays and Tuesdays for lunch and recess.  The lack of preparation, training, and information about my responsibilities is fairly informative.  No wonder there have been problems.  Anyway, I'm off.  More later.

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October 13, 2008

    Well, I've written and added a profile.
    The biggest difference between writing to people and writing 50,000 words in a month towards a novel is the place of the inner editor.  I really can't lock her in a box this month while I spew words.  Not only am I expressly writing for an audience, but I can't write without revising if I know someone is going to see it, let alone have sent it expressly to be read.  And I'm not racking up the words this month.  I'm behind behind behind.  Argh.  4595 not counting this.  It's hardly even a dent.
    I took the kids to the GGD today for a Men C vaccine.  It was only available in Holland through the GGD to those who had been born since 2001, so B missed out.  He didn't mind at all.  A cried hard for a few minutes but is now fine and protected.  I can apparently get my family doc to get and administer the vaccine to B if I wish.  I'm undecided at this point.  One one hand, it's a bit of a hassle and a vaccine against a disease that isn't very common in the US.  On the other hand, we are in a community of international transplants (so herd immunity isn't necessarily in effect) in a country where the disease IS somewhat common, meningococcal meningitis can affect healthy children and young adults, and death can occur within a few hours of onset.  Seems silly to dither about such a scary disease with such an easy method of prevention near to hand.

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October 9, 2008

    I am REALLY GOOD at avoiding things.  Too bad it's not a useful skill.  So, I am over a week behind my own scheduled goals in terms of writing.  That's a lot of words.  But I have taken some drastic steps toward kicking my own worst habits out of the way (deleted a game), I'm feeling physically better, and the sun is shining brightly and at such an angle as to reach my knees on the couch a dozen feet from the window.  So, off I go again on this experiment.

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October 2, 2008

    Ha.  I really have started my 50,000 words in communication goal for October.  Not that I have anything to show for it yesterday.  Yesterday was a day when I got tearful in the market and on my way home saying "But I DID eat breakfast!"  All of my problems can't be solved by waffles, scones or oatmeal, obviously, though that's usually a place to start.  Today I'm here for only a little while.  My house is a wreck and we're hosting a game night on Saturday.  B has playdates today and tomorrow after school, and A probably has one or two as well, depending on whether his "can I go to L's house day after tomorrow?" was his idea or was supported by L's mom.  Saturday morning they have a soccer game.  Before the game night at three, I need to have a menu and food purchased/prepared, the floors vacuumed (and probably mopped in the kitchen), the bathrooms cleaned, and everywhere tidied.  I have a serious fruit-fly situation in the kitchen and can't figure out where they are breeding.  C came home from Cambridge last night after I fell asleep on the couch, and will probably arrive after a long commute around seven tonight.  I have to get my driver's license forms sent in, the kids have a week-long break starting the 18th and we have no plans to do anything yet (except probably feed a neighbor's gecko some crickets).  I have a bunch of piles of things to get to.  I'd like to spend a day the kids are in school in the local library (instead of the school's) working on my computer rather than cleaning.  I have committed with another soccer mom to studying Dutch while they practice on Wednesdays.  "Practice"  That's another word the English spell differently (with an s instead of a c).  That's okay, they use "training" instead of practice anyway.  I have B's shin guards to exchange for a bigger size before his game on Saturday.  I have the notes from the class mum meeting I attended this morning to type up and send out to the class.  And I have e-mails stacked to the rafters and this commitment to write a bunch.  Oh, yeah, and 12 ears of corn to blanch and freeze.  I'm feeling low, the kids are spending too much time on the Wii (getting up early in the mornings to play and not pleased to have to eat breakfast and go to school).  They haven't been doing their chores and I've been unwilling to do the work to make it happen.  The weather is turning.  Lots of rain (some near horizontal yesterday during practice/training) and darkness creeping earlier and earlier.  I'm not looking forward to either the time change nor the winter.  Cheerful I am not.
    I know that I will be again, perhaps soon.  Hosting people at my house always stresses me out a bit, especially if I'm feeling at all alone in the boat about getting ready for it.  Thing is, I know I don't have to be cheerful to get things done, and that getting things done tends to make me more apt to be cheerful anyway.  "Get grim" and "Grim through it" are things I say to myself that help sometimes.  Resolutions to be better, stop hiding, or to use my time better are not particularly useful without a concrete plan (and a grim message), as my use of yesterday would attest.  So: plan for the next few days:  get myself something to eat for lunch, eat it and go back to the school for my volunteer work.  Ride home with A on the red bike and the trailer bike empty.  Tidy and clean while he plays (for a while) and helps a bit.  Get dinner made by the time B gets dropped off.  Eat before C comes home.  Make a plan for the errands I need to do Friday and for food on Saturday.  Write some more before bed.  Tomorrow run errands after dropping kids off.  Write or clean until either picking up or having kids return from playdates.  Get dinner.  Re-evaluate what needs doing then.
    Right now, though, I need lunch...

    1,199.  So far on plan...

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September 26, 2008

    It's fall here.  This week we've had fine, sunny weather, but it hasn't been warm.  I've turned the heat back on in the house.  Leaves are drifting off the trees and there are colorful gourds for sale at the flower shops.  Since we came in November of last year for my first look at the Netherlands, it feels very much like we've rotated a full circle in this place.  Things are much better for me (and the kids, I believe) than they were a few months ago.  We have more friends and activities and routines.  Except for the odd week (including this one) we've seen more of C in the evenings after work.  We have passed the expat nadir, I believe.  But it still feels like I'm marking time until our real lives can begin again.  That's not fair, to me or this place.  There are certainly things that I can't do here, that I need to wait to do until I'm back home in Seattle.  Sometimes (like now) I'm more conscious of those things than other times.  But my goal was to take advantage of the differences, learn new things, and try stuff out I wouldn't have tried before.  To become bigger.  Growing is hard work, sometimes.
    There are changes here.  The discount erotic store has closed up, as has the music store down the street and a pet store.  There's a new pet shop in a different place, clothing stores, and now a Curves has opened up.  I expect there are changes in Seattle too.  None of the places, or people, are going to stay static while we are gone.  It isn't my goal to stay the same so that I can slip back into our lives there as though no time had passed, which is good, because that can't happen.  All of those kids are growing at fantastic rates, and though we don't show it as much, so are we adults.  Even though our minds still see them the age we knew them best, they do things like outgrow the y/ie at the end of their names, learn to walk and talk and run, develop a Pokemon collection and tell potty jokes, start living on their own at university, read the whole of Tolkein's works to their kids, start a business, or get divorced.  It's hard to miss all of that; to not get told about the details that flesh out a growing life or to see the changing faces.  I think I worry sometimes that I've lost something by moving here, but haven't gained anything yet in exchange.
    I'm not very good at maintaining things, I think.  I love to work in the garden and I get real energy from weeding, and pruning, and planting.  But when a crop needs more than erratically periodic attention, it fails.  Herbs are fine and perennials are great.  I can deadhead rhodies and daisies, prune the grapes and make wreaths from the vines, and beat back the grass to where it belongs.  And I can do those things because timing isn't critical and a burst of energy every once in a while serves just fine.  But I haven't been able to thin beets, pick the beans while still edible, or grow carrots.  I make a very poor farmer.  I think I have the same problems with friendships, and those are exacerbated by my distance.  I'm sorry.  I say that to the beets and beans and carrots, and I say it to my friends and family.  Here, I'll say it to you: I'm sorry.  If our connection can remain strong even through my erratically periodic attention to it, it's through grace alone (probably yours) and no credit of mine.  I have bushels of e-mails to answer, photos to sort and do things with, and Christmas is coming up too.  I hide because the energy I get from digging into my e-mail fields, pruning and maintaining friendships, is outweighed by all the other messages tugging on my sleeves.  And I never get ahead because ...
    I've talked about doing another NaNoWriMo in November.  What I should do in October is write 50,000 words toward maintaining friendships and relationships.  Letters, e-mails and blogs all count.  Maybe I really can get caught up.  Maybe I've never gotten ahead not because it isn't achievable, but because I've never put forth a concentrated effort.  Most friendships won't die of erratic periodic attention, but they will die of inattention.  I suspect I have a few on life-support at the moment.  Well, it's certainly worth an experiment.

    To finish up about Nice (and to close those silly windows), we had a wonderful time at the bed and breakfast.  One of the proprietors was a wonderful photographer and did a lot with photos in ways I may incorporate in my own decorations.  She has a preference for landscapes that don't call to me in the same way (and she hates pine trees), but it was still inspiring.  On the Sunday we flew home (very late at night), we drove into Nice to visit the museums that I wanted to before we left.  We went to the Musee des Beaux Arts first.  This was the museum I liked best once upon a time.  I may have romanticized it because of the posters I lost, and it may also have changed quite a bit in the last eighteen years.  I wasn't bowled over and I didn't find any posters I wanted to buy there (mostly because there weren't prints of our favorite works).  But it was fun to see it with the kids and we noted down the artists and sculptors that we liked.   We went to the Musee Matisse next, and that was even better.  It was fun to experience an artist in an in-depth way such that I could point out the eraser-marks and make the point that even famous artists of world renowned don't always like the way it comes out the first time.  And the kids really enjoyed discovering that THEY could do that by looking at the details of his decoupee works.  I did buy some posters there.
    I think what I would like to do is get more of the art that I do like and get it framed up on my walls.  That includes photos that I have taken, posters from places we've been to, and prints of artists that we like.  When we moved here, the only thing we brought with us from our walls were photos, and the rest (not that there was a lot, but my watercolors, for instance) went into storage.  Visiting my friend J's house years ago and seeing so much on his walls, has made me want to get more up on mine.  The biggest challenge is the huge poster of Nike I got from the Louvre years ago.

    Other stuff.  I canned another 15 kilos of pears this week.  I think I've missed out on peaches this year, but maybe not.  I really like canned peaches, but pears were more important (to A); we now have 25 jars of pears (and one peach from last year).  I didn't bring enough jars with me to feel comfortable with my stocks, so I think that as we use up the jars of applesauce, I will use those jars for peaches next year and freeze any applesauce instead of canning it.  Canning doesn't seem to be something people do around here.  Part of that may be the expat community, but I haven't seen any supplies anywhere, and the questions I ask are met with blank stares and incomprehension.  I will restock my lid supply from the States as needed and wait on a pressure canner until I'm not led to the vacuum-sealed plasticware when I ask.  I was happy to find the steam juicer I did and reading the recipe book here, started thinking I might use it for more than just juicing the grapes in my yard.  I'd like to at least get some corn on the cob before it's gone, blanch it, cut it off the cob, and freeze it.  Having half of the kids' quick frozen vegetables (frozen peas I can find) not be available here has been a pain.
    The kids started an English-language theater class and loved it, but they are moving A and B's age group meeting time from Thursday afternoons to Saturday mornings.  Since they have a voetbal match every Saturday morning, there will be some conflict.  I'm pretty disappointed, but we will try it out.  I've had to bug the swimming pool about getting them in for a demo to place them in lessons, without success so far (which is apparently typical for them).  And we are going to try to get both the boys into the Scout troop here soon.  Our next game night here is a week from tomorrow. 
    C has been reading The Hobbit to the kids at night and they are very disappointed when he's not home in time to read to them.  I have been playing the sock game and wrestling more with the kids (invigorated by my re-reading Playful Parenting, probably my favorite parenting book).  And I've started giving A homework; he's a great reader, but his writing skills are lagging behind.  If he gets faster and better at writing, I think he will feel both less bored and better able to keep up.

    Okay, well, I need to get a modicum of cleaning done before picking up the boys and a playdate from school.  Today's Friday, at least.  I think sometimes that part of my missing home is really missing C.

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September 22, 2008

    Dang.  It's been over a week again and it just kind of went poof.  The Nice links are still on my computer, too.

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September 14, 2008

    C has been to Berlin and Copenhagen, Drachten and Amsterdam, and has just finished up work towards a major deadline.  The kids have been to two voetbal practices and their first match, to the store for appropriate footwear, the forest, a birthday party and have finally gotten what they needed (practice for A, kickstand and bell for B) to ride their bikes together.  A has had his first ever sleep-over last night.  B has started playing Torment with us and on his own.  I played single parent for a while, hosted a coffee morning for the parents of B's class, finished The Indian in the Cupboard with the boys, canned pears, put up some grape juice from our yard in a steam juicer I bought, mended some clothes, did some volunteer work at the school, got a screw embedded in my back tire and had it replaced, and have been sick with a head cold I'm still entertaining.
    What I have not done is write.  I've had an Internet window of links to Nice attractions open on my desktop since Nice that I intended to add to my blog, yet I haven't touched my computer in over a week.  While this makes catching up on Girl Genius nice, it isn't so nice on my blog and my sometimes tenuous connection with friends and relatives via e-mail.  I'm very sorry.

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August 28, 2008

    Pardon that brief interruption of service.  It appeared that as I tried to upload my pages before we left our hotel in Nice, I ended up breaking them instead.  Not entirely sure how that happened, but as there isn't anything I can do about it until I get home, I'm not going to worry too much about it.  Of course, since C couldn't update his blog while in Nice either (despite trying), there may be a few parents, friends, or dedicated readers out there who may be needlessly anxious.  In the meantime, we're in the mountains north of Nice and still a few days from home.

    In Nice before we left, we tried to go to the Musee des Beaux Arts, one of the museums I remember enjoying greatly on my earlier visit to Nice in 1990.  We dragged the kids there on foot after much whining and complaining, only to discover it closed on Mondays.  I was very disappointed.  We had lunch on the Promenade, walked much further than the kids wanted to - to the tourist office for a map - and then, finally, back to the beach.  I was pretty disappointed to be doing what the kids wanted to do instead of what I wanted to do, but since I couldn't change the open hours of the museum, I ended up glad we'd come.  I enjoyed sitting on the beach sorting pretty rocks, swimming in the ocean with and without the kids, and watching them getting braver and braver in the surf and remembering how to swim.  We returned to the hotel, dressed up, and went to dinner in Vieux Nice at the Hippopotamus.  Good food all around and a very pleasant night.
    The next day was Tuesday, our anniversary, and we had time to check out of our hotel and get to Colline du Chateau to meet our friends B & S.  I have to say that I was not impressed with our hotel.  No parking and no breakfast.  There was no phone and we weren't given a remote (so the tv didn't work and we didn't get to turn on the closing Olympic ceremonies).  There were numerous dirty dishes in the cupboards, and though there was a small dishwasher and sink, no sponges, soap, or detergent.  We made the mistake of leaving some dishes for the maid service, and were told to go back up and clean them before we could check out and go.  I did that with kids while C got the car out of the garage and filled it up (we rented it with a "full" tank of gas that was really 1/3 full at most).  Then while waiting for him my phone locked up on me while I was trying to put my password in to retrieve the voice mail that C left me.  I couldn't call him and when I tried to call for messages it would end my call before I could make it.  (Turns out I was simply out of money, so that was easy to fix once I wasn't worried about hanging about with the kids on the streets of Nice while trying to find my husband.)
    We met up with B & S at the top of the hill at the waterfall, wandered down to get lunch, and back up to collect our cars and head north.  We found enough food in a Spar to have a picnic on the lawn of the bed and breakfast.

    We've done some hiking, some exploring, some picture taking, enjoying, card playing, and chatting.  B has picked up canasta very quickly.  I have come to the conclusion that I should establish a relationship with a travel agent.  Also, that while this country has its beauty, I find it more rocky and dried up than charming.  There are people living in places here I have no wish to.  I have enjoyed seeing flowers and plants I recognize from living in California (bougainvillea, lantana, oleander, palms, prickly pear cactus, live oak, eucalyptus, figs).  I have enjoyed seeing more of the land growing food than lawns.  But, mostly, I like the beauty better in the corner of the world I have chosen as my "real" home.  I don't think it has kept me from enjoying or seeing what is here (a hummingbird the size of a bumblebee on our way to Point Sublime, the white of cascading water over red rocks).  But I find it interesting that I have come to some definite preferences.  I don't think I had the same definite preferences when I was younger; perhaps it is a way in which I am getting old and sticky in my ways.
    We're having a wonderful time, and look forward to another couple days to enjoy before we head back to school, work, and routines.  Since breakfast is between 8 and 8:30 tomorrow morning, we should really turn in.

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August 24, 2008

    Well, since no one else is up yet and I can't go back to sleep, I guess I'll keep going.  That situation is sure to change eventually, but for now, I write...

    I (like to) think that if I had had more time between surgery and packing for this trip that I'd have done more research and done more planning about what we were going to do once we got here.  Currently we have no treks or destinations planned.  I'd like to revisit the museums that I enjoyed when I was here in 1990, but don't remember their names.  The guidebook to Europe we purchased didn't arrive before we left.  Since we're without internet at least until we figure out how to get on the hotel's purported one, we may end up winging it.  We're a family prepared for winging it, mind you, with kids happy to stay in hotel rooms playing the many board games and card games we brought along.  However, their inertial tendencies need tempering with goals outside the hotel.  Well, food will be the first one of those, so perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about that.  Here's one boy up.
       It's still a surprise to me how much the French tolerate and speak English now.  Ads, signs, and people are bilingual now.  Actually, the rental car agency kindly printed things in Dutch for us because of our home address; ah well they were trying to be helpful.  Here's the other boy up too.

    I always forget to bring enough for me to do that's not on the computer.  C is upstairs with the boys (well, just A now; B is down eating a banana) playing cards with them so I have some time here.  Of course, it's not just the boys that lay claim to it.  Now that we have internet access, C has done his mail checking, blog checking, online comic checking, etc.
    This morning we all got dressed and out of the hotel before anyone actually exploded, but it was a near thing.  We walked down the street and found a patisserie to get enough to eat and walk with.  Then I circled back to a grocery store for fruit, juice, and biscuits while AB&C stayed at a bench in a park watching the dog action and timing the kids doing various athletic feats, from racing around to balancing, to a relay race with a leaf frond.  We came back for a while, got wireless internet in the stairway (which cut signal when we'd come through our door) and scoped out some of the things we'd like to do in Nice.  Near lunch time we ventured out again, and I forced us to stop before we got to the beach (which is about 3/4 km away) as we were desperately in need of lunch.  The boys dealt with pannini that A claimed was green and B picked apart and ate.  I ate a salad and finished off their leftovers, and the boys had an ice cream.  Then, the Mediterranean.  Nice's beaches are a mix of public and private.  There are many stairs off the Promenade des Anglais down to the public beach areas.  The private areas are in between these spaces.  We descended, used copious amounts of sunscreen, changed into our swimsuits, and sat on the rocks near the waves.  The beaches here are not sand, but smooth pebbles and rocks.  I tried walking in my Keens, but since they have no straps, they came off in strong waves and I had to rescue them before I gave up.  My feet are very sore from walking on them in the surf carrying children or just trying to keep my balance.  The kids had a great time (except for when the waves were knocking them down), and enjoyed going out to where the swells were swells and holding on to C or I.  B also found a collection of beach glass and skipping stones, and A collected rocks that were white when dry and when wet as well, going into the waves time and again to test them.  The beaches were crowded, but not oppressively.  There were some aged pre (or post) skin cancer patients who likely went there every day, some other families with various languages spoken, some beautiful people, and some topless folks.  Some of those categories overlapped, but not very frequently.
    We walked back after a few hours, stopped at a store to buy food for dinner and breakfast tomorrow (on a Sunday! Imagine!), took baths and showers, made dinner, and here we are.  Tomorrow may be our only full day here, so I hope to drag the kids to a few places before we head up to the mountains.  They, of course, want to return to the beach.

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August 23, 2008

    And now here we are in Nice.  The weather is MUCH nicer than we've been experiencing in the Netherlands.  I don't know how much it cools off at night, here, but it sure feels nice to have all the balcony doors open and still need to take off the wool socks, jeans and long sleeve shirt I was comfortable in earlier today.  Palm trees silhouetted against streetlights.  Warm.  Nice.  When you land at the airport here, you approach from the Mediterranean.  We got lower and lower towards the earth and A asked worriedly, "Are we going to land in the water??"  We saw a windsurfer out our window not far from our flight path.  And then the land that started out as a couple of islands and a long thin peninsula got bigger and taller and more populated with lights and buildings half-seen in the fading sunset, and then suddenly the runway licks onto the shore from the sea and the plane touches down.
    It has been a hectic week.  The kids had their first full week of school.  They are getting back into the swing and rhythm of things, people and play dates.  (I, too, have received some invitations for coffee, that adult play-date equivalent.)  A had his first gym day at the big school (groups 3 and 4 go to the building a couple blocks away that houses groups 5-8 for gym once a week) and his getting acquainted with the differences was complicated by not recognizing the plain gray t-shirt I'd put in his gym bag and being absolutely certain it wasn't his.  Both the kids have been doing a lot of testing so the teachers have an idea of where everyone is, but this is much more informal and less standardized than it sounds.  One of the things that every student in the school does each year is put together a portfolio (A3 size) of the work that they do throughout the year.  In go the papers and projects they are the most proud of or they liked the best, and us parents are invited to go through them with the kids a few times throughout the year and add written comments.  The thing that A and B missed out on last year was decorating their portfolios, which is done at the beginning of the year, with material from a memory box they put together of things that they find special, help define who they are or remind them of special people or events.  Add glitter, stickers, drawings, and whatever else they like, and they've got something uniquely theirs they are proud of.   Apparently we will get last year's portfolio back sometime soon, which will be good because C hasn't seen them yet.
    The biggest hurdle in the week, however, was B's surgery to get his extra tooth removed.  On Thursday we arrived at the hospital before 7:30 am and got checked in.  The KIDS ward in the  ziekenhuis is pretty nice, and since I translated all of the information in the thick booklet about it, I have to say they did a good job of what they set out to do.  They were very careful to explain things to B in a way he could understand (notebook with pictures) and ask him to make decisions (in B's case, the way in which he received the anesthesia to put him to sleep; he chose injection rather than mask).  They made certain that he knew I could be there with him the whole time (though that didn't include the operating room once he was out).  Since he chose an injection, they put white numbing cream on both hand backs and his left inner elbow and covered them with a funny clear sticker.  We went from the waiting room where he had been building a house from megablocks to a room we ended up sharing for a short time with another 7-year-old boy.  He had to take off everything but his underwear and put on the scrub top that snapped all down his arms and back; he also got a wristband.  He had the fuzzy sports blanket he sleeps with and a guinea pig stuffed animal, and the next Calvin and Hobbes book, Weirdos from Another Planet.  Then we wheeled down to the surgery area.  I put on a hair cap and scrub overalls with feet over top of my other clothes, he got a hair cap as well, and we went to our parking spot to wait.  While we were there he got a plastic catheter fed into a vein in his elbow with a needle.  He also got to pick out a new stuffed animal; he chose a blue dolphin and pretended to squeak at me (though lately it has been a ninja dolphin).  I'm glad we brought the book along as it took his mind from worrying while we waited.  He was reading aloud a lot and laughing.  "so your tail is ... a neck-tie for your butt?"
    Then we were wheeled into the operating room itself and he climbed onto the table.  Then he started to get very worried, but in less time than it takes to tell, the milky sleep substance was injected, he was fully out, and I was down the hall to wait.  The surgery took most of an hour, but I finally got called back.  When I got to him, he was upset and crying.  I held him and comforted him.  He was pretty scared and I had to reassure him many times that it was already over and that the surgery was done.  I think he was unconscious so fast that it was hard to take in that the surgery wasn't still to come.  He wanted to go home right now.  He hurt a bit, and the blood still seeping from his mouth freaked him out some too.  He had absolutely no interest in seeing the tooth in the specimen cup at the bottom of his bed.  Mostly he wanted the elbow port out and his wristband off.  He was angry and crying and wanted to stop but was having a very hard time calming down.  I explained a little that might be true as a reaction to the surgery.  He talked about how lucky A was that he didn't have to do this, and insisted several times that it was fine when he had the extra tooth and why'd he have to do this anyway?!  We went back to our room on the KIDS ward.  He was offered some ice cream when he said he was hungry and thirsty, but what came was water with a straw and a space lolly popsicle, which he isn't fond of and didn't touch.  When I asked if they had other flavors, they said yes and I requested the red one, but they meant juice.  Since B wasn't interested in that either, I drank that in addition to my tea.  What finally worked the best was my reading a Cam Jansen book aloud to him.  By the time I finished, he was feeling much calmer.  I carried him to the bathroom a couple times and he requested that I be careful not to make him look in a mirror.  B played Guitar Hero on the DS lent to him from a kindly classmate and finally the surgeon came by to talk to us; prelude to our going home.
    The tooth itself was bigger and more rooted than I had expected, and the root actually hooked around about 90 degrees in two directions at the end.  He said something about drilling a hole in the bone, I think, but I'm not exactly sure what that was about.  The extra tooth was on the outside of his teeth, apparently, towards his lips, which the surgeon expected because of how his front tooth had rotated.  The cut he made was in line with his nose and closed with dissolving stitches.  He didn't need to see us again to tell us we were doing fine, but urged us to call if we had questions or problems.  He also said that it was unlikely that the rotated tooth would move back into position because it didn't have pressure from the tongue and lips; he suggested we make an appointment with the orthodontist who referred us to find out what will be the next steps in that direction.  Right now of the top front four teeth in B's mouth, there is the big permanent one on his left that is fully in and rotated and a small baby tooth on his right.  Last week when we had corn on the cob, it was pretty funny because in the week previous he had just lost both baby teeth on either side of the crooked one and  had only bottom teeth and side teeth with which to take the corn off of the cob.
    He has had a lot of swelling under his nose and throughout his upper lip.  Today it looked visibly better than yesterday, however, so I suspect he will be back to looking less simian soon.  He said he was able to use a cup instead of just a straw today, so it's becoming more functional as well.  It is still sore, of course, and I am taking care when I brush and floss the rest of his mouth.  He still has no interest in looking at the extra tooth, but the tooth fairy did, of course, pony up the extra euro.  He stayed home from school on Friday as well, since it hurt a bit to talk and it just made sense.

    Well, everyone else in this hotel room is asleep, and I'm starting to yawn, so I think I'll join them in slumber soon.  I don't know when I'll be able to post this as we have conflicting information as to whether this hotel has internet access or not.  We're up on the fourth floor quite a few blocks from Promenade des Anglais and looking out towards the water (though not able to actually see it).  On Tuesday (our 13th anniversary) our friends B&S arrive and we drive up into the mountains to monopolize a bed and breakfast for the rest of the week.  In the meantime there are a lot of boulangeries down on the street, and I am looking forward to breakfast.  So much so that I wrote bread and breakfast before correcting myself.  Better put my hungry to bed now since I can't do anything else with it right now.

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August 14, 2008

    Yesterday was the first day of school and a very nice day for us all.  Except that both C and I fell asleep on the couches shortly after putting the kids to bed, and I, at least, failed to get done anything I'd intended to do after 10 pm (including a blog update).
    The kids were both nervous about returning to school for new teachers and routines, but seemed to be fine with the changes by the end of the day.  Before school yesterday, I realized that I was too.  There was not very much communication this year about what was expected of any of us, and it's hard for me, and them, to dive into the unknown without reservation.  This year both of the boys have two teachers (one MT, the other WThF).  C has told the kids that this will help them learn even more, since each teacher has different things to teach.  I know that next week is testing time (but I'm not to mention it to them) so I want to make sure we do reasonable bedtimes and good meals.  They're not supposed to know all of the material, since it's what they're planning to teach during the year, so if they in fact DON'T know it all, it's an opportunity to work on the learning mindset.  As for me, between working in the library, wanting to be around a little more during lunch recess, volunteering to be class mum for B's class, and working with the kids in A's old classroom, I may be at the school a fair bit.  I'm still planning to do another NaNoWriMo in November, so I hope I've got it down to a tolerable routine by then.
    When it was time to leave, B discovered that the bike lock key he'd put into his pants pocket was missing.  I didn't have the second key on my ring, so since A had a playdate, B rode on the trailer bike and we left his bike locked up at school.  Later on, we returned with the second key.  I ran with the dog and a backpack, and B was on his scooter.  When B got on the bike, we realized I should have put his helmet in the back pack for the ride there.  He rode the bike on the sidewalk for a couple of blocks, but was too uncomfortable without his helmet so took back the scooter I'd stowed in the backpack.  I ran with the dog and the bike.  Then it started pouring on us.  Street-flooding rain.  Neither of us had umbrella, jacket, or anything.  We ran from sheltering tree to tree for a while, B transitioned to wanting to run (and giving me the scooter so that I had scooter, bike and dog), and then we took advantage of some slowing of the rain to scamper on back home to hot bath and shower.
    While the kids were in school, I went to the market.  Every Wednesday and Saturday, there is a market in the Center that includes purveyors of fruit and vegetables, fish, poultry, nuts, cheese, art supplies, toiletries, books, foam, material, bedding, bike gear, and greeting cards.  After looking over the selection and (mostly missing) signage at the organic stand, I asked questions.  Basically, I won't be able to use the market as I would a farmer's market in the States.  The sellers are more like markets than farmers, and may well have shops elsewhere open the rest of the week.  Bananas were for sale, for instance, at all of the fruit and vegetable stands except the one that was selling huge quantities and varieties of dirty potatoes with some shallots and onions on the side.  I bought potatoes from them, Hollandse aardbeien (strawberries) elsewhere, and local veggies at the organic stand.  I also learned that local pears won't be around until afte we return from Nice, so I'll plan to can after instead of before that trip.  I guess using a farmer's market as a signal of what's local and seasonal will not be a shortcut available to me.  I still intend to shop seasonally and locally as much as possible, but it won't be as easy as I'd like (hmmm, I sense a familiar theme).
    Folks have been inquiring about my summer and checking to make sure I'm doing okay.  It is nice to feel past the worst of this expat experience.  There are still things to do to make the second half of 2008 better than the first, but we're on our way.  We will certainly do another taking stock around our first anniversary here (and coming on New Year's Eve, we certainly won't be the only ones in the world doing something similar), but I'm fairly certain now that we'll stay for the allotted time.  It's nice to have the enjoyable part ahead of me (us).

   Last weekend we went to Drielandenpunt (three country point) where Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands all intersect.  It also happens to be the highest point in the Netherlands, all of 322.7 meters above sea level.  A got sick on the car trip there, unfortunately, so I am afraid that we've given him a bit of carsickness with the travel to Paris back in April.  C has been the one with knowledge of how to make it better for him in the back seat, since he's been plagued with it himself.  I have felt fairly helpless about it all (except for carrying handy plastic bags in my backpack) since I've never been motion-sick.  B would like ear plugs.  But then, he wants ear plugs for mealtimes too since the sound of his brother eating is driving him to distraction.  I have not been successful yet at teaching him to ignore or minimize the things that irritate him.  He's concentrating so hard on listening to his brother, that it's all he hears.  Even though he eats with his mouth open sometimes too.
    Anyway, the trip was fun and another case of the kids not wanting to go anywhere or do anything until dragged to it and then finding it fun, interesting, or their favorite thing that day.  I'm hoping that if we continue to drag them out and about that they will give our trips and ideas more of a chance.  They've always been fairly inertial (wanting to stay outside when outside, or inside when in, etc.) and I don't know if that's related to a long attention span, lack of imagination, fear of the unknown, or none of the above.
    Well, time to go pick them up again.

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August 7, 2008

    I realize as I type this entry that tomorrow is going to be one of those funny dates where all the numerals shake themselves into an arbitrary order.  I wonder who will be celebrating what tomorrow?  Today I am celebrating, a little, my gifts and my life.  I've got it durn good, really, and I do recognize that even amongst all the human drives to consider the lack of perfection in all that I do and strive to be.  Fortunately, that consideration of imperfection turns into just going on regardless, and sometimes, as now, even recognition and celebration.
    We've had guests over the last three days and just waved them down the road back to Paris and then on further to the wilds of California.  We will all miss them.  The kids both started their day with the question of when will they be BACK?  I would like very much to be able to keep in better touch with the both of them, and hope to do better over the next few years than I've done in the past few.  Fortunately, improvement from that baseline won't be too hard.
    I've also just gulped down the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  I loved her Small Wonders book of essays and accurately predicted that I would love this book as well.  It makes me simultaneously pine for my garden back home and resolve to do better both with the dirt I have available here and doing the work and asking the questions here where I live now to eat more locally.  Funnily enough, if you know me, it has also made me wonder if I can broaden my tastes enough to include cheeses.  If I am in fact a super-taster, as home-testing has shown, bitter is more bitter, et cetera, and texture is important, that still doesn't explain my resistance to the bacteria-changed taste of my favorite beverage.  It could well be explained by my stubbornness and ability to shun something for arbitrary reasons.  I have, for example, annoyed countless groups of three people for years with my preference for a game of hearts to learning bridge.  If I look into that further, I'm sure that I'll find the reason for that not so arbitrary as mindset-based fear of doing something new I might not be as good at.  I'm working on that.  I will consider it no small victory if I can scour from my life some of those refusals to learn.  Should I take any less pleasure from a victory that brings the reported joy of good cheeses to my diet just because I have self-identified as a cheese-hater for so many years?
    The confluence of guests and book have also brought another couple of realizations.  One, some easing of guilt or worry or uneasiness that is, obviously, hard for me to define.  I just know that I now feel better about choosing to spend time, thought, and care on the feeding of myself and my family.  It is a worthwhile thing to do well.  It is not unimportant.  I have felt conspicuous sometimes in the past about the fact that I can peaches and pears, make jam and jelly, cut up chickens and make stock, use the leftover bread for stuffing or the grease left in the pan for dog biscuits.  And recognizing that I am not alone in my goals or even the ways in which I aim to meet them, is nice.
    The other realization is that one of the things I am missing in my blogging is a synopsis and the other is a synthesis.  I'm thinking about moving to a recognized blog server so as to better manage things like tags and comments, and adding a updatable profile whether I make the move or not.  And I'm thinking about charting my own journey through this European stay with more thought and story than random posts about the everyday.  I don't know if I will have a product that I can claim as a synthesis until after I've moved back, but I won't have anything if I don't work on it now and with an eye to my goal.
    And now I've spilled into another day and need to post this before yet another day slips past.

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July 29, 2008

    Today I'm pondering the weather.  Yesterday the owners of this house came by and I was faced with (once again) comparing the weather here to Seattle.  And just today I have so far seen, heat, humidity, steady rain, wind, blue skies, and what I kept checking and finally figured out was not really rain on only one side of the house, but wind shaking drops from the oak trees in front and no such trees in back.  It was weird and steady, though.  To sum up, the weather is somewhat similar, but not so much as I thought initially.  The most important difference now is the humidity.  Now apparently, relative humidity is not really what you want to take a look at when you're talking about what's comfortable; it's dewpoint.  Here's the dewpoint map of Europe, and one of the US for comparison.  You'll see that the Netherlands is even more uncomfortable than the surrounding countries, and it's quite a change from either side of Washington state.  So, it's not just hot here, it's uncomfortable and humid.  Lots more thunderstorms.  Hazier air.  Just over a week ago I was sitting in a Red Robin with my brother looking across the parking lot and knowing that I wasn't going to see the crisp, sunny, clear but hot days like we were having in Spokane for a long time, but I still didn't expect the torpidity of body and frizziness of hair that I came back to.  We have very similar plants here, we're further north (and in the "wrong" timezone) so it's lighter even later in spring/summer than in Seattle, and except for the dregs of winter, the weather has been fast and changeable like I am used to.  The weather patterns are similar to Seattle in some ways, and seem to parallel what I hear from the Northwest as far as this year's spring being delayed, and the lack last year of the two good months we could usually count on for "summer" weather.  But the parallels only stretch so far.  I really am in a different part of the world, no matter how many plants I know by name.

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July 28, 2008

    A is Six

    Today you are six and I wanted to say,
    I'm sorry today's such a "reglier" day.
    Today you are six and you should have a party,   (you wanted pirates, bath fish, a piñata, and a treasure hunt)
    Instead of best wishes no matter how hearty.   (Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd!)
    Although you are having your favorite meal   (Rainbow Peanut Noodles)
    And a cake that is chocolate, I do rather feel,
    I could have done better, I should have done more
    Than to take you and B-boy along to the store
    To find, at Bart Smit, what will give you great pleasure;   (Mastermind, Legos, Nerf Vortex football, Big Brain Academy)
    To weigh you and find out your height with a measure   (49 pounds/22 kg; 46 inches/116.8 cm)
    Because you are six and I love you, you see.
    But, you've had a fine birthday, I hope you agree.
    You've laughed and you've giggled, you've pondered and thought,
    Big Brain Academy and Legos were bought.
    On computer and Wii, in the playroom you've played,
    Elaborate games and chalk bases you've made.
    You've blown out six candles and should get your wish,
    Had cake on a plate and ice cream in a dish.
    So although we're in Holland where parties are tougher,
    I hope you'll be kind, say you didn't just suffer.
    Today you were six, from sun-up through tonight,   ("Now that today is over, I'm REALLY six!")
    Another fine day you have filled with delight.
    We've love-you-forevered, good-nighted, and kissed.
    Now you're the best A-man that ever has sixed.

    Happy Birthday, A!

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July 23, 2008

   I woke several times last night, but it stuck for good this morning at 5:30, so I have spent my morning catching up on the blogs I read.  Anyway, I came across a graph of the information that a lot of you have asked me about so I thought I'd include a link to it.  The question it answers is "What's the price of gas in the Netherlands and how does it compare to where I live?" and while I knew the price of gas here was high, I didn't expect the Netherlands to be at the bottom of the list.  As of June 2008 an American would pay $4.00 ($.49 of which is tax) for a gallon of regular unleaded and a Dutch person $10.05 ($5.57 in tax).  Either a lot of you knew or suspected something similar, or you think higher gas prices are a good thing in general and don't complain, because I was pretty surprised at seeing $4.50/gallon while I was on vacation.  A significant change from six/seven months ago.

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July 22, 2008

    Well, I'm back safe home again.  The boys were able to sleep for almost three hours on the flight over, and we all had a 2-3 hour nap, so I hope there won't be too much waking in the middle of the night tonight.  I tried but wasn't able to sleep on the plane; between sitting up in an airplane seat that seems to recline all of two inches, being easily roused, and having two boys' heads in my lap and nowhere to put my elbows, it just didn't happen.  So very glad to fall into my own bed!  I enjoy staying at my mother's house except I sleep very poorly in her hard hard beds.
    It's somewhere between one in the afternoon and ten o'clock at night and once the dishwasher finishes and I can have some tea, I'm going to turn in.  I'm not coherent enough to recount our vacation, nor awake enough to figure out how I feel about being back, but thought I ought to post this entry and the last one since I'm connected once again.

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July 17, 2008

    I'm spending the night up at The Property with the boys.  They are asleep now, and it gets very dark here.  Maybe I will go look at the stars before the moon comes up....  Okay, I found all the familiar constellations I know, and the moon hasn't risen yet, but it's only 10:30 so the sky isn't yet dark enough for me to see the Milky Way or all the stars I know are there hiding in the last bits of light leaking over the horizon.  Anyway, it feels really good to be here.  Gardening has always been good for my soul and deeply satisfying, but just walking around here, sitting on the Big Rock, sheltering from the sun in the cabin's shade, balancing across the pond on the fallen log, looking up to the tops of the trees against the sky, tracing the paths of butterflies or the fenceline from the tailgate of the pickup truck all feels renewing and like home in a way that digs deep into the past of my memories and reaches out towards a future with the boys somewhere inside it.  Good stuff.
    It's a banner year for huckleberries up here and my dad thinks it is mostly due to the heavy snow they had this past winter.  After grazing most of the morning and early afternoon, the boys and I went out picking for an hour or so.  B and A both filled their big pails (2 quart?) to the half way mark and then proceeded to eat most all of what they'd picked, even after eating a bunch before they started filling the pails in earnest, and despairing that I was filling my bucket faster and higher than they.  We will pick more tomorrow.  It would be nice to go home with some huckleberry jam in our suitcases.  The taste of summer and The Property in a jar.
    Seattle was good.  The annual Clambake was wonderful.  Spokane has been good.  We return to Hilversum in four days, and despite my fears about not wanting to return, I will be ready to go.  Not only am I missing my husband and pets, but I am looking forward to tackling the next six months, and making the changes we need to make to make this overseas adventure a big success.  I think the kids will be ready to go as well.  They have been feeling out of their rhythms; it's hard to be a guest for such a long time, even with family.
    I may do some more catching up with what we've been up to this vacation, and highlight the highlights, but right now I am feeling the tug of the sun under the horizon urging me to sleep so I can be up when it pops up on the other side in the morning.  C is already having his morning.  I'm glad we don't have anywhere to be the first week we're back and can adjust when we need to.  Because while it feels later than 11 at night to me, it certainly doesn't feel like 8 in the morning yet.

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July 5, 2008

    Happy birthday America.  We tried to watch fireworks from the back deck last night, but the size of them off in the distance made both kids burst into tears at their crushed expectations.  So, we hopped in the car and made it to the pocket park where they've watched them over the lake the previous two or three years in time for some big fireworks.  I parked while A, B, and C were trying to find an ideal viewing area and then was able to watch the fireworks through the trees while trying to find the boys in the dark crowd.  It was pretty good for a last-minute solution, and I was glad to see them closer up as well.  My favorites were the big red round bursts that left golden spokes in place, the falling silver sparkly rain falls, and the huge silver and gold bursts.
    People keep asking if it is weird to be back, but it's really not.  This feels like normality, like home, like our regular life.  It is living in Hilversum that feels weird and different.  There are supposed to be stages we go through in our living abroad where the things there are supposed to be cute, then annoying, then smart or advantageous, then the new normal.  I don't know if we're going to follow that pattern.  I don't remember ever thinking things were cute or quaint.  Some things are indeed annoying, but more are just difficult.  I can see some advantages to the society to some of the same things I find difficult, and I can see some ways to work within or around those things to adapt them to our lives, but I would prefer to do without the difficulties altogether than find work arounds.
    Such as?  *Things aren't open.  This means much more planning ahead is necessary.  Planning ahead is a fine thing and we could do with more of it.  Planning menus has long been something that makes our lives work better, and scheduling our grocery trips so that we go once or twice a week is better for us and the environment.  But it is the unforgiving nature of the system in the Netherlands that makes it hard.  Having a day of the week when you don't do any errands feels very different from having a day when you CAN'T do any errands.  *There's no toilet in the master bathroom.  It's not a big deal to go out of the bedroom to use the facilities, especially when I have spent only a relatively few years having a master bath in the room I've slept in, and I can see some advantages to brushing your teeth in a different room than you flush.  However, it is odd and inconvenient and seems silly.  *The kitchen is small, the refrigerator is small, the oven is small.  Okay, I'm having a hard time coming up with any reason why this is an advantage.  Perhaps using less electricity for a smaller refrigerator and oven.  I'm not particularly using the refrigerator more efficiently.  I buy smaller quantities of things like ketchup because there isn't space for bigger jars, which leads to more packaging waste and higher costs on my end.  I buy smaller quantities of milk because there isn't any organic non-fat milk available in any quantity besides a liter even though a 1.5 liter box can fit in the same space in the door.  And it makes it hard to go shopping only once or even twice a week when I can't fit the raw materials for all those meals in the fridge (time cost is relevant here and not energy cost since shopping is pedal powered).  And our combo oven and microwave glass door shattering twice has meant that instead of one appliance, we now have two.  It may be less energy to heat a smaller oven, but I would much rather have a toaster oven for smaller jobs and a large oven for loaves of bread, turkeys, and other big jobs I can't do now at all.  Having to bake cookies one batch at a time for an hour and a half must be less efficient than two batches at a time for 45 minutes.
    The changes we need to make when we return are becoming even more clear.  Changes to C's schedule, kids in more activities, better scheduled time for my projects.  Although the kids have sports to sign up for, there aren't any camps I know about like they had available to them here in Seattle.  It wasn't until we returned here that I realized the lack.  Since so many of the families in the kids' international school seem to leave the dads to work and spend the entire six week summer in their home country with mom, I'm not sure that there's much of a call for such things either.  No summer reading program either.  I'm going to make sure the kids sign up for the couple weeks we're here anyway.
    There's still more shopping to do, more friends to see, and more being here to revel in.  I'm going to get back to it.

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June 29, 2008

   We're back in the States now, and I am even hopeful that we're close to time-shifted now.  At least, the kids and C are asleep now, and it is 11 at night (8 am in NL).  The kids and I got a nap this afternoon, and we really needed it.  Yesterday I got up at 6 am in Hilversum, we travelled by foot, bus, train, plane and car, only C got a small nap on the plane, and though the kids fell asleep in the car coming back from the airport, C and I stayed up in the afternoon sun and had dinner; I had been up for 23 hours by the time I crashed at 8 pm Seattle time.  Only four hours later the kids and I woke up.  Intellectually, I knew that I needed to go back to sleep, but my body was telling me that it was morning and my brain was listening to mommy-radar.  So, I tried to keep the kids from being too loud during the movie they watched with headphones before they tried again to go to sleep, and then I went to the grocery store at 2:30 a.m.  I gave the kids a snack when I returned and A slept a little before that and B a little after that.  When it was 5 a.m. I agreed that it was morning finally and we were up for the day.  Now I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.
    But oh, it's good to be back.
    More later.

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June 22, 2008

    Game night went fine last weekend.  The kids were a wild pack of loudness whose volume was turned down by feeding them all first while the adults talked.  Some games were played, good conversation was made, and everyone seemed satisfied by our inaugural game night.  The kids helped clean up beforehand under mostly empty threat that we couldn't have family game nights unless the whole family helped get ready for them.  Nevertheless, I wasn't ahead enough to make any dessert in addition to the dinner, though we had a flat of strawberries from the market that morning.  I made seven jars of jam from the leftover berries on Monday (since I didn't have enough sugar for making them on Sunday and there aren't grocery stores open on Sundays here).
    I'm so ready to get out of here.  I'm looking forward to so many things, from turkey to Costco and Trader Joe's, stores being open to having my husband away from work for long stretches of time, to spending time with my friends and meeting some of the new clan additions in all their baby glory.  And then, after two weeks in Seattle and one week with my family but without C in Spokane, we will return here, and stay for another two years.  I still trust that at the end, all of us will be glad of it, but I have a foreboding feeling about what it will be like to convince kids to come back at the end of our vacation this July.
    I've been feeling sad and overwhelmed lately, and at the same time feeling like I have no cause for feeling sad or overwhelmed.  What the heck am I doing?  I guess I need reminders sometimes.  And I admit some of it is stupid, stupid stuff.  Like I spent an hour or so the other day discovering that it is indeed impossible (or close enough to call it so) to get tabbed file folders here in the Netherlands.  We have looked in the physical stores as we have been out and about over the last couple months to no avail.  I found the international arm of Office Depot, Viking Direct, and I even found tabbed folders on their site when I picked England as my country.  However, I can only order from that site if I live in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.  The same item number isn't available on the Netherlands site.  And though I can find items by brand, which I did just in case they changed product codes by country, those products are not available in the Netherlands.  So, guess what is one of the many things that will be coming back with us in our luggage?
    I have uploaded a bunch more pictures to our online storage site.  Also, because the catalog of our pictures gets more and more broken the more I try to fix it (and since we haven't yet wiped my laptop and started over to see what that solves), I started a new catalog to include everything on the external drive.  I lost some but not all of the tags I had on the 7000 of so photos, and hadn't tagged any of the photos since I started having problems last fall, so tagging photos has been one of those things I do as I do other things where I need to be present, but not wholly there (like being near my kids as they play).
    Both A and B have had all day field trips in the last week, their bridging ceremony was Wednesday, and they had Thursday and Friday off.  There are a few more activities on the agenda this next week before school ends for the year, and it seems kind of unreal right now that we'll be on another continent in six days' time.
    B went to a birthday party last week at a climbing facility and did some wall climbing and bungee jumping.  The kids have consumed the Captain Underpants series over the past week and we're enjoying some of the other books purchased at a book fair recently.  I am thinking that the official NaNoWriMo month (November) will be a fine time to try for 50,000 words again.  Even if I haven't done any more towards editing my first novel written in a month by then.  I am trying to take more pictures again, and got some of A on the bike yesterday.  It's very windy today, but warm.  It's always seemed odd to me that the first day of summer is also the beginning of the days getting shorter.  B keeps making up (and having his brother participate in "playing") computer games complete with point bonuses for various actions and story plots.  It would be a lot of fun if there was some way to hook him up with a game developer and actually make these into reality.  When we were at the Nike store yesterday for new kid shoes, B was looking for the design he did on a field trip months ago in production and available for sale.  Sometimes I think it's a shame that we're so concerned with not taking advantage of kids and going back to the old coal mining days before child labor laws, that we are prevented in many ways from taking their ideas and creativity and fresh eyes and using them for better products or ways of doing things.  Kids are thrilled when what they do is considered a real contribution.  They want very much to have their work recognized and valued and used.  What can I do to make their visions into reality?  Sleeping Queens came from a kid's mind.  Is this worth pursuing, or is it yet one more thing I feel like I should be doing that I'm not, another brick of self-expectation I add do my back?  If it's easy enough to do, shouldn't I anyway?
    Well, C is trying to give me something of a day off today, so outside of running around with the dog next to B as he tries the next size bigger bike, and making scones, bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and participating in a four player Rayman bunny hunt on the Wii, and (soon) brushing, flossing, and reading, I've been having it.  I've blogged, and succeeded at getting my broken-screen Palm to sync (hooray!), but I still have more to do to feel satisfied with my progress, so I'll try to be back at the e-mail after kid bedtimes.

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June 18, 2008

    I've been re-reading some of my source books, Raising Lifelong Learners and How to Talk....  I'm hoping to get better at the things I know but can't put fully into practice on a daily basis.  Hoping also for some solutions to new problems.
    I've been worried about school lately.  Today was the kids' Bridging Ceremony, in which they ceremoniously walk across a bridge from their old teacher to their new.  And we got their end of school reports today as well.  In the last week I've heard A "has trouble focusing," gets distracted from his work by his classmates, and "can't sit still."  Very worrying traits as time goes on and more worrisome with new teachers and expectations.  He's a very smart boy and I worry that he will do only the minimum to get by, fail to be challenged because his ability is hidden by behavior that isn't model-student behavior.  I see some of that at home too.  Hard to get his attention.  What do I do about it?  What can I do to help him enjoy school again?  To make him fit better within the system?  Or to mitigate the system and help him enjoy learning?  And I worry about B too.  He was very bored and frustrated in class whenever his teacher was out and he had a substitute; he is operating at a higher level than many of his peers and perhaps should be moved up a level.  That would mean leaving his classmates, with whom he has really bonded, and going to a different location, but apparently is a possibility within this school.  I am willing to give his new teachers a chance next year, but it may be an opportunity not to miss.
    And I want to talk with them more.  I don't do enough of that now and yet see it as an essential part of a working relationship.  Time to fix it.

    So I aim to listen better.  Draw out their stories.  Ask smart questions and start with where we are and what I do know.  Read different things.  Read alongside/with them as well as to them.  Find a time for private intimate talk with each of them. 
    Tonight I did a better job at all of that.  I found out that A wants to have B's teacher of this year for his teacher next year, even if it means not being with the rest of his class.  We pursued the phrases "cat's pajamas" and "don't take any wooden nickels" in our word and phrase origins book.  We finished the Piggle Wiggle books and have started Harry Cat's Pet Puppy.  We stopped the story several times to talk about the words, writing, and feelings that the new book is bringing up.

    It was still light enough outside to see some colors (green basil, red clay pot) a bit after 11:00 pm tonight.  Very pleasant evening, and I got to see some bats flying about catching insect meals.  C has a lot of work tonight and tomorrow night and I am very, very tired.  The kids have Thursday and Friday off, then a week of school left, and then they're done for the summer.  How will we shape our days?  Need a coherent policy, I think, before they get sucked into the wall through a socket.
    At least I'm getting better at recognizing the lack-of-breakfast-induced-sadness that overtakes me by the time I start heading back from dropping kids off.  And refusing to listen to myself until I've eaten.  Now to get better at not going down the hungry rabbit hole in the first place.
    And tired.  So I'm off to bed.  This isn't publishable yet, so I'll try to come back in the morning and clean it up.

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June 12, 2008

    I don't know where to start or even if I should.  It's nearly 1:30 in the morning and I should be asleep, but there's a lot rattling around in my head and I'm not so tired I can't stay awake.  Unfortunately, I probably AM too tired to be sufficiently coherent about all the aforementioned rattling, but maybe if I shake a little bit onto the pages here, it will be less crowded in my head.  And I could use a little of that right now.  So raise your tankard to coherence through incoherence, my friends!
    My wedding and engagement ring have been slipping around on my finger of late.  Not sure if I'm dehydrated or why my fingers are skinnier than usual.  I doubt they grew longer and more slender.  Can't say I've been exercising them on a keyboard either.  I keep doing the little thumb roll finger flip to turn the thing so that the diamond bit doesn't bite the other fingers.  Weird.
    I read a number of blogs (intermittently, but regularly) and they are an odd collection.  In addition to friends' blogs, I read mommy blogs, daddy blogs, and eco environmental blogs.  I start wondering what I'm doing on the web.  I don't know that I have anything of interest to say to anyone who doesn't already know me and is idly wondering what I'm up to these days.  I'm a small-town newsletter or the little piece of paper photocopied and folded once stuck into your hymnal at church to let you know what is to be sung today and who needs a prayer.  I share space (because there's a nigh infinite amount of it right now) with some damn funny, and sad, and wise, and important folk.  Some really fine writers.  Some not so much, but I tend not to read those very long, so they hardly count.  But, truth is, I want to have something of interest to say.  To people who don't already know me.  And I think (I think) it's in here somewhere.  Among the rattle.  And I never stay up late enough to get it out.  Won't happen tonight either, methinks.  Dangit.
    B has started saying "Oh my God!" and "What the hell?"  Came from school.  Okay, not really school, but the folks he goes to school WITH.  We've talked to him about this, and he's trying to temper his language to a more polite, moderated swearing.  Because, well, it's just wrong for him to say those things when we don't.  Which we do partly because we don't want him to say them.  And he's having some success.  Which I think bodes well for some of the other sticky issues he's having.  I hope being conscious of his success at moderating his language will help him when next he thumps his brother and then cries because he "can't control his body."  But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.  At least he's more understanding of all these concepts than he was at three (of course).  Three was when he was playing tic-tac-toe with his dad and sighing and repeating "God" with some frequency.  C asked what God meant, and he said, "Oh, that means dammit."  I've probably told that story before, but it still makes me laugh.
    I believe there are going to be some big changes and adaptations to be made in our society and world over the next few decades because of the environmental/economic/energy/food situations confronting us.  Some part of me is actually looking forward to some of those societal changes and adaptations because I think I'll be good at making them and can help others as well.  I think I'd make a good homesteader and am not sure that the opportunity for similar skills hasn't passed me by.  Still need to learn to knit though.
    B (and I) walked the whole Avondvierdaagse.  Earned his medal.  The dog accompanied us on all but the first day.  A walked all of the second day and had play dates the other two nights.  The dog needs more exercise (and started to expect to walk every evening).  Nobody is giving it to him, but I think I'm the only one who sees the need to.  I know I'm the only one who feels guilty I'm not.  The first day of the supposed 5k walk was rumored to be 6.5 or 7.  We have Nike shoe confirmation that A, B, the dog and I walked 7.4k.  The third day was pleasant and clocked in at 5.1.  Day four was through town with lots of supporters, relatives, neighbors, etc. cheering on various walkers.  B got a flower from the school at some mid point, and I was fore-warned enough to buy a chocolate medal for both boys and a bouquet of lollipops for B.  Otherwise, we gathered lost feathers from other people's boas and leis and stuck them in my pony tail and made B a necklace from them.  Next year we'll be more prepared.  Both for weather (didn't rain on us again once we had our jackets), and for the last day's 10k and the festivities associated.  C met us at the very end on his bike the last day, but his phone died so he wasn't able to meet us on the walk itself.  I think A will walk it next year too.
    But dang!   It really put a strain on what we were able to do during the whole week.  Nobody went to bed on time, school didn't start any later, and the entire evening from 5 til at least 10 was taken up with the walk.  It eats a week.  I'm glad our first game night in Holland is scheduled for this Saturday instead of last.
    There's a lot I'd like to get ready in the house for that.  Some of which will actually happen and some which won't.  Chores didn't happen all of last week what with the walk, and now every one is out of practice so it has mostly fallen to me again.  And since that's been a daunting prospect, I'm behind on my e-mails, haven't blogged in a while, or even sent out some indication that we're going to be in Seattle from the 28th til the 11th and Spokane from the 12th til the 20th and we'd like to see people.  And since I've been feeling like there's a mountain of things to do that I'm not doing, I've been spending extra volunteer hours at the library at school cataloguing picture books.  I got almost all the way through the Bs on Tuesday and today.  It feels good to be there because when I do a thing it's done.  It's very concrete and satisfying.
    I broke the screen of my latest Palm incarnation.  Swearword.  It was the cheapest (in many senses) Palm OS pda I could find here.  My previous Clie died a fine death in February? when the screen refused to process input.  The side buttons still worked, but it was toast.  Unfortunately, C's Clie we think ended up in storage instead of usefully here, so I got something new.  Without a cover, with a small screen and a screen protector that had writing on the sides because we used most of it for B's new camera, and using Graffiti 2 which was hard to get used to after oh wow nine? ten? really? years of using the original Graffiti.  I've been told that the Palm OS is dying out and yet I hate to use Microsoft products if I can avoid it.  And do I really need an iPhone?  sigh.  I definitely use a pda, though.  I don't know if I can wait until I'm in the States to purchase something though of course it will be 10+ times easier if I do.  Bigger sigh.
    Oh crap, I'm not ready to take B to the dentist tomorrow.  I gotta get to bed.  Tomorrow is going to hurt.  And the rattling is different, but I'm not sure it's better.  sigh and yawn.  I'm not reading this over before I post it either.  Mistakes happen.  I told you it was late already.

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June 3, 2008

    June already.  It's been warm, muggy, and rainy with an unusual (for all the places I've lived before anyway) number of thunder and lightning storms.  And I'm glad we've got dark, double-layer curtains in the boys room (which faces a bit west) since the sun's not down if they're going to bed anywhere close to on time.
    Which they didn't last night.  In fact, we didn't even get home until bedtime and then, fortunately, C had a pizza minutes away from coming out of the oven for them.  Though they protested that they weren't tired and wanted to play more games, they were out within minutes of the second poem.  Yesterday was the first day of Hilversum's Avondvierdaagse, an annual event held all over Holland since around 1909.  The word means "evening four days" and is an event in which folks get together and walk a course together four evenings in succession.  In Hilversum, the different schools each go as a group together.  B signed up and if he completes the walks (5k, 5k, 5k and 10k) then he gets a medal.  The last evening, on Thursday, is apparently through town and the kids get cheered on all the way.  Last night we walked through the countryside/forest.  A, when asked, said he didn't want to do it, so I didn't get him one of the lime green polo shirts each of the participants from our school wore, and brought the jog stroller so he could ride instead of walking.  Last night he was disappointed he didn't have a shirt, and walked much of the second half in the rain.  At the half-way point each school had a gathering area with snacks and drinks.  Soon after leaving there, the clouds rolled in, and thunder alternated with groans, and I could hear the screams coming from behind us before the rain hit us.  B ended up with a plastic produce bag on his head since as a family we were unprepared for the rain.  We won't be unprepared tonight, for certain.
    It was very hard for me to go to Avondvierdaagse, but I did it.  It helped that it was for B and not something for me, but there were tears and frustration and an intense desire to back out on my part.  I'm really not good at doing new scary things.  It's the unknown in a different culture, I guess.  If I have good descriptions of what I'm supposed to do and what it will be like, I'm better off.  However, B is in the lowest grade that they offer sign-ups to through the school so his room mom was a newbie too.  I needed to find out where it was, find it on the map, go early enough to find parking, pack the jogger, and be there in time for the start.  We managed to do all of that, though I made the executive decision to leave the dog home until I knew more about how it worked.  What I didn't manage to do was get enough to eat.  [We haven't had leftovers for a while, which is my main source of lunches, so I didn't eat very well at lunch, and then I didn't manage to make dinner (though I made certain the kids had nutritious snacks) amongst all the preparations.  By the time I got home, after B ate both his apple and the one I'd packed for myself, I was not a happy camper.  I've got to learn to treat myself better in terms of food.]  Nevertheless, we went and did it.  I was very conscious of the fact that it wasn't easy for me and that I was trying to do exactly those hard things while living here.  That helped too.
    This morning, B indicated that he wasn't sure he wanted to keep walking.  When I made it clear that it wasn't a choice between walking and playing on the new Wii, and let him know that if he wanted to quit and forgo the medal at some point in the middle of walking he could always ride instead, he agreed to try it again tonight and see.  This may not be the year we complete it; we shall see.
    Yes, we have a Wii now.  I'm hoping that the novelty of it will wear off a bit and the kids will get back into balance as far as what they spend their time doing and what they want to do.  But for now, on day 4, it's new and exciting.  The kids have been playing cooperatively and competitively at Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabbids.  What I would like to see is a whole bunch of games for kids in which there is a lot of cooperative play.  Game developers, take note: It is not going to be a game I want in my house if there is a lot of sibling fighting or taunting generated while playing.  I will buy games that the kids have fun playing together.

    A said recently that he doesn't want to be here for three years.  He is afraid he will forget all of his friends' names and they'll think he should remember them and he won't.  After asking him whether he meant friends from game night, from kindergarten or from Montessori, (ALL of them!), I told him that we could look at pictures of his friends and I would help him remember them.  I also told him that we would be seeing some of those friends on our visit back to Seattle in July and that would help him too.  Although being at our school in Seattle for only four months (instead of a year and four like his brother) has meant that his adjustment has been somewhat easier and he seemingly hasn't felt as much pain at missing people as his brother, it also means that his connection to the school and his class in Seattle isn't as strong.  He's been at school here in Hilversum now longer than he was in Seattle.  A mom of one of B's classmates on the walk yesterday said that she thought it was good for kids to learn that they can go to a new place, a new school, and make friends.  I agree, I think, though I am not sure the lesson needs to be learned by moving house (as the Brits say here).  It may be that returning in 2010 will be harder for everyone than we think, and harder for A more than the rest of us.  We'll have to see.

    Where did I leave off?  Oh yeah.  Friday was spent having our last Dutch lesson, scooping the kids from school and heading to our friends' wedding.  We allowed what we thought was enough time, but between some huge three-day open-air music festival with free campsites (Pinkpop) near our destination, accidents, and the need to tuck and button before we went in, we missed most of the ceremony itself.  It wasn't until we snuck in at the back and started listening that I realized, duh, of course it's in Dutch.  I caught some portion of the content before I snuck back out to find the loo, and it seemed odd in that the bride and groom were sitting and nodding as the clergywoman talked about his work history, travel they took, and reading to their son.  So I still don't know how a typical Dutch wedding differs from an American one, but I may not have learned that even if we had arrived on time and understood everything as I'm not sure how typical it was in the first place.  One atypical thing they did that was new to me and I thought a great idea: they had all the guests group together according to the month they were born for a photo so that the new couple can create a photographic birthday calendar.  Cake and then appetizers (including bitterballen, a kind of yummy deep-fried stew), a song and a ceremonial release of helium balloons outside, conversation with adults while our kids ran around a big circle of grass in front of the kasteelje, and then it was time to return home.  I read a lot of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle coming and going.
    Saturday I made some Corn Flake Cookies for the International Fair, but there weren't any corn flakes at the closest market so I chose one box of Special K and one box of Special K with chocolate bits.  In addition, I was distracted while cooking and the sugars boiled too long so they were harder than usual.  Still yummy, mind you, but they didn't really look or taste their best.  We headed off to the International Fair all in tie-dyes, which generated a number of comments.  Tie-dye seems to be associated with the 70s, at least in the school community, and I think it made C self-conscious.  We enjoyed the food booths, A bought a ticket for a glass jar filled by kids with stuff and won a bunch of marbles, and the kids spent almost the entire time in the bouncy castle with a time-out for some table tennis.  Then C headed home and met us at the grocery store in the car for our big shopping outing.  Then we settled down to eat leftovers and show the kids the aforementioned Wii.  And that was pretty much our weekend.

    Okay, well, time to get the early dinner made so we can brave the rain again on our walk tonight.  C has a meeting today in Hoogeveen that was to start at 8 am and finish at 6 pm, poor man.  I suspect he'd rather be able to walk with us.

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May 29, 2008

    Interesting afternoon I'm having.  I cut short my volunteering today to come home and work on the computer getting the big pile of e-mails I have to deal with down to a reasonable size or at least on to my To Do list.  I intended to do this in the forest nearby on my laptop so that the dog could romp around off leash and get some exercise while I worked (he's been very insistent lately that not all of his needs are being met).  This morning at 8:00 when I checked, the weather forecast for Hilversum today (according to Yahoo) was for mostly cloudy with peeks of sun and a high of 75; it was then 65.  When I left the school, however, at 11:30, it had started to rain.  Rain is not conducive to outdoor laptop use, so I have holed up in the house, apologized to the dog, and watched the rain go from light to heavy and steady, with some thunder and lightning punctuation.  My seeds and sprouts appreciate it, anyway, though I may bring some pants for the kids to ride home in as they dressed for barefoot weather in shorts and sandals.
    I started banging away at my e-mail and in the process of looking for a message I knew I'd sent but didn't know when, Holy Rollerskates, Batman!, I discovered the approximately 200 e-mail messages I thought I had deleted squirreled away safe and sound in a different folder.  Apparently when I moved a bunch of messages from my dad, they had tagged along for the ride and were hanging out in the folder of mail to and from my dad.  Now, this doesn't exactly make the task of tackling my e-mail inbox easier or faster, but it certainly makes it more satisfying!
    I repaired our globe yesterday; that was satisfying though not much else about the day was.  I have been hoping that my getting back to taking a daily vitamin would help smooth out some of the emotional or hormonal wrinkles that have been tossing me about, but I'm not noticing a big improvement.  I was making some good progress in simply deciding to ignore the roiling emotional tide and just doing the tasks in front of me.  Got the car tire fixed, made some phone calls I needed to make.  But then, a play date for the boys who invited himself over turned out not to be as easy as it sometimes is with him, and my vision for what I could do yesterday afternoon got eaten up by playing referee and being mom.  And, though I indeed fixed the globe, I also spilled cyanoacrylate on my desk, and now I have another item that should be refinished.
    I need to make sure the kids have something formal to wear to the wedding tomorrow, I need to bake several batches of cookies for the International Fair on Saturday, and our last lesson in Dutch is tomorrow morning as well.  Since the kids didn't do their after-school chores yesterday, they need to do them today before anything fun, and oops, I better go get them...

    Not too bad, actually.  I helped tidy the upstairs for A's vacuum job and rinsed and dried (and did QC) on B's dishes.  It's only a little after 4.  No, that can't be right.  Aha.  It isn't.  It's almost 5.  Ok.  Definitely time to fix my watch.  The little sparkly bit that marks the 6 came loose many moons ago and when I went to fix it last time it disappeared, under the mirrored edge around Mickey, I thought.  But somehow it reappeared and manages to keep the hands from turning if it gets in the way.  It seems to be a time for disappeared things reappearing. ...  Well, it's not perfect, because I couldn't get the face out far enough to work on it from the top.  So I used a pencil tip to apply the glue and it smudged it gray a bit.  Nevertheless, the six is stuck back in place.  Back to the inbox salt mines.

   I'm baking cookies at the moment (which means 10 minutes of time here between batches) and I seem to have repaired my Cowboy Cookies recipe.  It was spreading out too much, partly because I switched to using butter instead of margarine a couple of years back, and partly because the amount of butter I sub in for each 1/2 cup is more than is called for.  So, I cut the total amount down by 1/4 (to 750 g for a double batch) and they are coming out beautifully.
    Dinner, after-dinner chores, and getting ready for bed went fairly smoothly tonight.  It helped to have a partial chapter read from Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle so that they were a bit snappier about finishing and getting in bed so they could listen to the end.  Yesterday, however, was apparently even worse than I'd thought.  C made a remark (privately to me) this evening that he "didn't want to come home tonight."  Which I thought was a fairly damning indictment of my job as keeper of said home.  I want our home to be a place where we each WANT to be, to return to, to languish in.  I know that C's remark wasn't supposed to be a reflection on me, but rather an expression of frustration at the interaction that B and he had last night when I was hiding under the covers and leaving the after dinner up to bed urging to C.  C was proud of the way he handled it, and B didn't physically react as strongly as in the more recent past, but B still said some things that really hurt C's feelings.  And C didn't want to come home to another night of that; I understand.  But still....  I guess I still feel responsible for the interactions between the boys and their dad, because he's here so little of the time that they're awake.  I probably shouldn't; it's their relationship and not mine.  Am I alone in this?  Do other stay-at-home parents feel responsible for their spouse's relationship with their kid(s)?  Any ideas about why?  Send me a comment.

   Both of the boys have pulled out and really enjoyed reading my collection of Stone Soup comic strip collections over the past several weeks.  They giggle over them and remind each other of what happened in some of their favorite strips.  B read some of these back in January because I got two of the books for Christmas, but this was their first discovery of the first four books in the series.  They have picked up on a number of things they missed earlier, like that characters aren't introduced as part of the cast in the introduction if they first appear (like Biscuit) in the middle of the book's storyline, or that the drawings have evolved.  It's a lot of fun to watch them reading for pleasure.  This evening they spent a few mintues checking two books by the same author and illustrator and seeing which characters were in both books and on which pages.  A still has some cadence issues while reading (though they have abated during his speaking, so I suspect they will disappear in his reading as well), but B has impressed his teacher with how expressively he reads aloud.  I can remember reading aloud in school and being amazed and sometimes appalled at how bad some of my classmates were at what seemed to me a simple task.  I am glad that B has turned listening to stories read to him into an ability to read them to others as well.  Now if both of them would start pausing a bit more for commas and periods, we'd be all set.
    All right, well, time for bed after a pretty good day.  The next two days are undoubtedly going to be too busy for me to weigh in here, but perhaps that forecast will be as off the mark as the weather forecast was this morning and I'll meet you back here before I expect to.

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May 26, 2008

    Just a quick entry to say I'm still here and everything's fine.
    I lost my previous post a week or so ago in a crash.  Somewhat odd in that I was sure I'd saved, but theoretically possible.  Now that it's days later, there's no way I can recreate what I wrote, but I will soon hit some of the highlights anyway.  Funny how very lost things get in the mists of time.  I was cleaning out a drawer, one of the skinny top ones that doesn't actually need to get unpacked in a move, and came across a journal with a pen stuck in it in the midst of my writing B's birth story.  I had names of nurses and the actual conversations that have apparently been altered in the seven storytelling years since then.  And what I didn't write down is just... well, not completely missing, but certainly only the skeleton of the expression anyway.      Which is part of why I'm here just checking in.  Tomorrow is going to be pretty busy, and since it technically already is tomorrow in this time zone, I don't think this is going to be a long post.  On the other hand, C is still downstairs playing NetHack despite saying "Well, time for bed," so I may have more time than I think.
    Tomorrow is my day for volulnteering, there's a book fair, I've promised B some time to do something he wants to do, I need to oversee the chores that didn't get done today, we need groceries, and I have some phone calls to make including arrangements for my taking our car in to fix a nail-induced flat.
    I've been thinking about doing a NaNoWriMo again.  Partially wondering how I managed the time for it last year, and flabbergasted figuring out where to find it this.  Partially finding I'm not the only one who finds things harder here - my friend J has also found home maintenance more time consuming and less convenient than in the US, and B is feeling like we have more rules in this house and it is just harder to be here.  But I have something knocking around in my head and it's worth trying to get it out.  Even though last year's work isn't yet edited or finished and it's not the continuation of that story series that's calling to me right now.  I guess if M can manage 50,000 words with a new baby on top of life, job, four-year-old, and no battery to speak of in his laptop, then I can certainly manage in this life of mine.  Making mistakes and trying hard things was one of those things that I wanted to do more of starting this year.  Seems like an opportunity.  C has said that people leaving his company often do very well and "just fly," and has wondered if we might manage something similar just leaving the Netherlands.  It may well be that everything is just so EASY once we return: from finding information, to getting groceries, to dealing with people...  We'll see.
    Ok.  Time to stop.  NetHack has wrapped up for a while and it's time for bed.
   
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May 13, 2008

    Well, that didn't work so well.  I decided upon hearing my alarm this morning that I'd rather sleep a seventh hour than blog.  No surprise, really, whether it's been a dozen days since my last post or not, when I've gotten used to being able to sleep in.  Nevertheless, here I am for a few minutes before I need to pick up the boys from school.  It's another beautiful day.  A insisted this morning that shorts and a short-sleeve shirt weren't allowed at school, and there was nothing I could do to convince him.  B also opted for a long-sleeve shirt.  They may make another decision tomorrow morning if the weather holds.  It looks like it's supposed to cloud up and rain by the end of the week, sending the day's high from mid-high 70s to the high-60s.  It's been rough, I tell ya, having to deal with all this sunshine!
    Coming home from London, it was really like entering a totally different country than the one we'd left a week before.  There were suddenly trees where before only bare sticks and branches.  Lilacs and wisteria perfume the air - I do love our wisteria here.  Our grape vines have all leafed out (so there will be no pruning this year).  So not only did things look considerably different, but felt very different too since the weather changed.  We didn't adjust our thermometer off the low temperature hold we put it on when we left, and we've had windows open constantly, opened the big double doors in the living room and cranked open the shade overhead as well.  It's a big change from sweatshirts and wool socks.  The family that watched our dog while we were in London was gone for the week, so we took their dog out to the forest nearby Monday through Thursday.  Every day the dogs swam in the canal, chasing sticks, frisbees or tennis balls.  The dog is now bugging me very persistently and trying, I believe, to tell me it's time again to go for a walk and swim.  Since he likes to dry off by rolling in the dirt/leaves/grass, and since it's hot and he's shedding, I spent a good deal of time on Thursday clipping and combing him out after a bath and periodically helping the kids find long words for Bookworm Adventure.  I trimmed a bunch of his hair so he wouldn't gather as many sticks and leaves on future swims, and it seems to have worked.  The best part is that he has now learned pretty well how to heel a bicycle, which I wouldn't have tried to teach him on my own.  He still likes to go too slowly for me to be comfortable in the bike lanes too much, but it's fine for the sidewalk.  Managing TWO dogs and the trailer behind my bike with A, however, was too much, so I walked the bike across the street from their house and into the forest.
    I was (we were, I think) pretty sad coming home from London.  It was really nice to take a vacation in a place where we spoke the language.  We enjoyed bagels and chocolate muffins.  We bought Sudafed and conditioner.  We had a good time.  I was feeling particularly worried about some of the things I had to do when I got back (like deal with my piles and lists, as well as find a babysitter and make sure our pets were taken care of during July).  Now, I'm so glad that the kids and I had an extra week before the regular routine started back up.  I got through a bunch of my piles, found a babysitter, and managed to book the correct two weeks for the pets at the kennel.
    I still have a lot of things on my lists.  There are some pretty helpful things for me about the GTD method, but it doesn't really address the chief problem I have.  My work right now is being a mother and homemaker, and I want to do a good job.  However, it would be very easy to spend all of my time working on projects associated with those roles and never getting to the projects that I want to do for ME.  So my to do list is huge even though I've moved a number of things off it to my someday/maybe list.  And though I've gone through a bunch of my piles, I haven't amassed everything so I don't have a complete list yet.  Also, I have my tasks broken down by context (where I am), but most of my time is spent not being confined by my context and deciding for myself whether I want to be on the computer, at home, or out and about, so it doesn't really help me make decisions about what to do next.  Possibly breaking the sections down further or incorporating a time estimate for them would help; I'll experiment.  Insisting on keeping projects off the to do list (and instead putting the next physical action to complete the project on the list), a weekly review, and the promise of mental relief once everything is on the list, are all appealing parts of the method, but I don't think it's going to lessen my periods of feeling overwhelmed.
    Well, one of the lists I have is of things I wanted to blog about, so I'll start knocking those off by writing some more...

    The kids have a bunk bed.  We acquired one at our big Ikea outing (the one where we actually bought things instead of thinking we could order them from home) and, since it was out of stock, it came several weeks later.  The kids were initially not very enthused about having to change their bedtime routine.  B especially was worried that the snuggling part of going to sleep was going away.  A volunteered to take the top bunk so I could stay nearer to B.  Both of the kids have insisted that their bed is off limits to the other, and we've had to make sure there's a chair in their bedroom so that A could put on his socks and things without sitting on "B's bed."  It has been a qualified success.  I kind of miss the queen size bed and their sharing sleep with each other (and me when I fell asleep between them), but I suspect that is mostly me missing it and not them.  The additional space it freed up (and taking out a dresser) allowed two desks to be in their room.  I don't think these are being used how B at least thought he would use it (as a desk, and for writing projects), and have become horizontal surfaces for toys and books.  I'm half tempted to shove all of the toys back into the toy room, but I'll keep my mitts off since it's not my room.  There's a desk lamp that I use to read a book at night before they go to sleep.  We've read the rest of the Railway Children, the Chocolate Money Mystery, Mary Poppins, Henry and Ribsy, the Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, 100 Pounds of Popcorn, and now the Contest Kid and the Big Prize.  We've also read some picture books, and I've started incorporating poetry as well with a Light in the Attic.  Now I've got them reading some short book if I don't see them reading something else during the day in addition to my chapter(s).  Sometimes B will read more after I'm done, though I'd rather he didn't as often as he does, since he's the boy who needs more sleep and is pretty unpleasant in the morning if he doesn't have enough.  Last night he couldn't sleep, so after I rubbed his back and talked about counting sheep and other falling asleep methods, I got him a Cam Jansen book and told him to go to turn the light off when he got sleepy.  He did.  Books and reading are a joy I want to make sure I share with my kids and a little grumpiness in the morning is fine for now.  If I end up with a kid who reads by nightlight until mom or dad gets up in the morning during high school as I did, there are worse fates.
    Also, I finally explored the English section on the adult fiction floor at the Hilversum Bibliotheek, and there are enough books there to last me for many years, even if they're not the exact books I want.  A shortage is not something I will worry about, and I will simply have to keep track of the authors and new books to catch up on when I return to the Seattle library.

    There have been times over the last few months that I have felt old.  Walking to pick up the boys one day last month I passed by a used, discarded condom on the sidewalk.  It made me remember condoms as something of a phase we went through in my twenties (though we flung none onto public walkways).  And there's a Prenatal store and a baby equipment store near a couple of the groceries I frequent.  I'm not going to be pregnant again, or need anything within those stores for myself ever again.  It's kind of weird having kids and then having them grow up.  You keep hearing how they're only small for a short time, but it's not until you stop even heading down the baby aisle that you realize what that means.  It means that change is constant (often a reassurance in those early months of not sleeping and trying to decode their first communications).  It means that you and your partner have experience that will never be tapped so urgently or eagerly again.  [My big little brother (he's very tall, but younger than I) got pregnant and married just out of high school.  I remember watching him around my babies and seeing the clear difference between him, a father, and some of our childless friends.  He was so comfortable with my boys; holding them, reading to them.]  It means that you only walk one way down the life path.  If you are always looking ahead, you're going to miss the whole journey.  When you turn around and look back at where you've been, distance makes it very fuzzy and indistinct.  It means that their lives are so fast.  A year to them is such a huge percentage of their entire experience and it's not easy to relate to that when a year can be so light and empty, and you can remember so many.
    Also, my gray hair has gone from stealthy in amongst the blonde to taking over sections of my head.  C's gray is also advancing.  Between the genes we passed along from my dad and C's mom, the boys are definitely going to go gray early.  I have always been rather proud of and kindly to my gray.  I've had no inclination to color it yet (though I ponder some of the brighter shades of neon for when it's all gray a la When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple).  Since I've had gray since I was twenty, it doesn't make me feel OLD, but it has become something I don't have to point out to people anymore, or say that you can see it better with the proper light.  Cause they can see it now for certain.
    It all makes me want to get busy with the things I want to remember doing while I'm here.  The come hither song the mountain of dishes is pouring forth is not particularly enticing in that light.  I do want to do the things on my lists that I need to do as a mother, and I accept responsibility for overseeing the housework, but I don't want to put off all my own projects for a someday/maybe that never comes due.  The person I was working for in the school library on Thursdays will be back this week.  I am going to try very hard to pull out and work on at least one of my own projects on Thursday if not tomorrow.  Because the length of my own years will only get shorter the more I have of them.  And I'm going to need a lot more of them to fit in all I want to.

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May 12, 2008

    I knew it had been a little while, but I didn't realize it had been twelve days.  Today is the last day of our vacation, and we've been enjoying it very much.  Today is Monday, and C has the day off as well, because it's Tweede Pinksterdag (Second Pentecost Day).  Yeah, I have no clue what that actually means or why it's a holiday, but it made the kids' two week school holiday one day longer, and it was very nice to have C home with us.

    Now I'm sitting listening to C talk to our friend instead of writing.  sigh.  I'm enjoying it, but it is not conducive to writing.  I think I will attempt to get up early in the morning tomorrow an hour before my regular alarm and do this blogging thing.

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May 1, 2008

    Oh yeah, and we now own a car.  Our medical adventures of the week before last finally propelled us into sending C to a recommended garage to get us something, and he did.  Saturday he bought a Golf Jetta wagon, and he went and picked it up on Friday just in time to deliver our cat to the pension before our trip here to London.
    Today we spent our morning on the verge of going out but not actually going, all the while my computer was in use by a family member who wasn't me, and then heading off to see Stomp!  We all enjoyed that, had dinner at Kettner's, received a lovely compliment on our kids' behavior there by an older couple, and came home to play some Phase 10 and read some more of the Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.  Yesterday we indeed got out earlier in the day, just as the cleaning folks were coming in at 9 for the London Eye, a bite of very dry chocolate cake from Enough 2 Feed an Elephant, a trip around London on the Duck tour, some mostly poor buffet food at Chopstix Noodle Bar, a fall for B chest-first into the biggest puddle I'd seen, soaking him head to toe, a wander through Westminster Abbey between hearing Big Ben toll the hours of 4 and 5, and then back to the hotel for a snack-like dinner, reading, and bed.  Tomorrow we attempt Legoland in Windsor.

    We are approximately four months from our two years left here mark.  C said he wasn't sure coming to London was a good idea because it feels more friendly and homey than our home in Hilversum does.  I'm not at all sure that we will be rooted enough in Holland to head back to the States in July without major trauma.  And not just on the kids' part.  What do we do? I asked him.  No, I mean about being in a place we don't really want to be?  We change the things we can change to make it better, he said.  Having the car will help that.  And it probably will.
    I look back on my two quarters in France back in college and wonder again how I ever ended up doing it.  I think it was some combination of idly thinking it might be interesting, having the opportunity, and having people around me make it very easy to do, and very difficult to back out of.  Not entirely unlike how we ended up taking this expat assignment.  There are still things that I really with I had been around for.  My brother had a baby.  The women's basketball team that I was a big fan of ended up winning the Final Four that year.  Some friends of mine graduated and moved away.  And, instead, I saw France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Greece.  I met some wonderful friends I can't imagine living without today, and found myself housing (and more friends) for my senior year.  Took a few pictures, wrote a lot of letters and poems, spoke a little French, and gained a shoe size.  I can't imagine how my life would have unrolled if I'd made a different choice about living abroad.  I've never been much into "what if" questions for my own life (saving them, perhaps, for characters in my writing), but the parallels between that time of my life and this one seem to be bringing them out.
    I guess we just keep keeping on.  There is indeed a path we didn't take, and it would have been a fine, good path for us.  We just keep believing that the path we are on now will take us places we will be ever grateful for visiting.  And when our children or partner can't believe it, we believe it for them for a while until they can.  And we don't let our disbelief keep us from doing the things that will make it worth it later.

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April 29, 2008

    Today was pretty good, though we have yet to get out of our hotel/apartment anytime before noon.  Yesterday we had a very icky morning with a lot of strife, and finally got out of here to see St. Paul's Cathedral near here.  In addition to the views on the climb to the Whispering Gallery on the inside of the dome, and the two levels even higher up on the outside of the dome, I noted the burial stone for Sir Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, down in the crypt, and on the main level, a statue and carving for a gentleman (similar to many others in the church) distinguished and dedicated by his family and friends.  This particular man was distinguished not by his warcraft, but was a seventeenth century scientist and man of generous heart, firm convictions, and open mind whose friends purchased and had a sculpture commissioned because they were impressed by what a good guy he was in life.  It is good to be reminded periodically (especially in and amongst all the historical focus on wars and battles we've seen so far in London) that I strive to be my best self so that I can be known at the end of my life by my character perhaps more than by my works.
    Today we went to the Tower of London and spent all afternoon there, finishing with a wonderful dinner at Thai Square up the street. 
    B is very much enjoying taking pictures.  We haven't spent any time looking at what he's taken yet, except for brief glances as he's taken them, but I think he may have a good eye.  Since he is seven, he has no memories of having limits such as rolls of film, money or space and is certainly undeterred from taking lots of pictures.  I have been taking pictures myself as well, partially freed from the limitations I remember from my SLR days (when I spent six months in Europe eighteen years ago, I took a grand total of 9 rolls of film, way fewer than I should have).  Nevertheless, I still am more choosy about my shots than B, and partly because he's taking so many pictures of what we're seeing, I have been focusing more on shots I don't think he can get, and ones he isn't getting.  We'll have to put them up soon to share.  Perhaps the two of us can learn from each other.
    Tomorrow we plan to do the London Eye and the amphibious duck tour, both things the boys have been clamoring to do.  Perhaps that will help propel us out in the morning.

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April 27, 2008

    We've spent the day in London and we're getting ready to play some games before bed.  We walked down Fleet Street towards...  Okay, I have no real conception of how or exactly where we went (though I noticed Fleet Street because of the musical group).  I'm so bad with direction without a map of my own (and sometimes with a map) that there were several times I thought we had navigated a circle but hadn't.  We nevertheless walked quite a ways past all sorts of monuments and made our way to pick up our London Pass.  C went in and did that while the boys and I watched the spectacle outside.  There were some hot rod type cars parked under their respective flags (the boys noticed we were just in front of the USA one), there were some older mismatched cheerleaders wearing "London" and cheering for the US driver.  There was also a booth babe for each car unconnected to the odd cheerleaders.  Down the blocked off street and past some food carts was some interview with a driver of whatever motorsport thing this was.  As we approached the blocked off street and uniformed bobbies, I was wondering if we were going to have our Olympic Torch Relay moment so early in our vacation, but as we weren't actually prevented from reaching our target and forcefully diverted to something else, I don't think we can count it as such.
    London is certainly thick with history in such a small space.  It makes me wish I were a much better student of history than I have been.  I know the best professors use (good) stories to make their subject come alive, but I don't know the best way to attack such a large subject as European history (or even the history of London) as a lay reader/student.  Certainly there's not time enough to figure out much before I leave here, but I don't think I need the actual city around me to make me appreciate being here or having been here.  The kids climbed on the lions at Trafalgar Square, we explored the Guards Museum to get out of the rain, saw a parade of guards afterwards, twice, played in the St. James Park playground, threw coins into the wishing well at the Queen Victoria Memorial, and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
    As part of eating dinner, I realized how seldom I really listen to the music I like.  Partly that is because I have a hard time listening to music for any extended period of time, and partly because I haven't put a lot of time into collecting the music that I like so that I could listen when I wanted to.  It's not as if I'm that difficult to please, really.  My tastes are pretty broad and "rock" is a central pillar.  B was watching the videos pretty closely, and he agreed that the drumming in a Santana video looked like fun, but it was too loud to make too many comments at the time about what he was watching.  J. Geils' Angel in the Centerfold was one of those songs I couldn't help but bounce and sing along to, though one I was very conscious of my son watching.  When I'm reliving my own teen years through musical memory, it's weird to be a parent.
    Now, after falling asleep between the boys as a part of preventing strife, but wanting to finish this entry before losing my laptop to competing interested parties, it is late.  So, I will post and follow the rest of the family to sleep.  The bagels were good too, but maybe we can get more than two chocolate muffins for tomorrow morning...

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April 26, 2008

    Well, a week later and we're all in a very different place.  I've not had the energy to spare to update my page until now.  Now, however, I am onboard a train headed from Brussels to London.  We've been through security already, so technically, I guess, we're on British soil already.  It's been quite a week.
    First of all, pardon the early morning tears last Friday.  Indeed, later that same day C and I were back to working as a team and life was much better.  A stayed home from school another day, and C took him to the hospital as directed, but there we received more of the health care we expected from the Netherlands.  (Everyone I talked to was surprised at getting anything but "it's viral, go home and rest, see you in a couple weeks if it's not better" from a doctor).  He did come away with a prescription for nose drops, though.  Naturally, A's cold has spread and all four of us have been blowing through the boxes of tissues.  The only reassuring note has been the reassurance that this cold is just a very mean virus and its virulence is not due to a bacterial component.  Which, unfortunately, we know because I am on antibiotics for a UTI.
    I woke up early in the morning on Sunday with those unmistakable symptoms (on top of the cold symptoms I'd developed by then), did some internet research, left a message with a physician friend (though she didn't get it until after I'd taken care of it), and started pounding the vitamin C and water, bemoaning the fact that we were out of cranberries or cranberry juice.  By Sunday night most all of my symptoms were almost entirely gone, except that I was having back pain.  Early Monday morning I called the doc, understood his message enough to know he was out of the office all week, got the name of another doc at school while dropping off kids, called her, and was in to her office and then off to the apotheek/pharmacy by noon.  C was somewhat surprised, especially given our adventures in Dutch medicine earlier in the week, but I was pretty sure that a UTI in the Netherlands was pretty much the same as a UTI in the States.  The diagnosis and treatment are all pretty cut and dried, and the consequences of leaving it alone can be pretty bad.  My only fear was getting an antibiotic that I was allergic to or developing an allergy to, further limiting my future options, but I've now completed the course without incident, so that's all good.
    The cold lives on, though.  We figure we can be sick in London just as easily as in our house in the Netherlands, and we'll be able to read the boxes in the drugstore in English.  A is still in need of tissues as much as the rest of us, but all of our fevers seem to be finished.  I myself am feeling on the recovery side of this thing, and less in need of sleep and drugs, and more attached to my head.  There was one day there when C said he wasn't sure the cold wasn't going to kill him, and a day later when I understood just what he meant.  Oy. 
    We are looking forward to a good time in London, and judging from what we know about our hotel/apartment, I should be able to keep in better touch as the vacation continues.  I had intended to send some e-mails off to some of our friends who've lived in England before, but being sick, finding a place for the cat (and the required vet appointment prior to her stay), and doing the actual packing have taken precedence.  It is mostly due to C and the fact that we're spending a whole week there that we may see London and its sights instead of just the hotel and queues.  I'm not ruling out Olympic Torch Relay type incidents, however, when we try to execute any particular plan.  Since none of us have been (no, actually, I think C was in Cambridge for a day earlier this year for work), I hope we are going with just the right amount of expectations to make for a pleasant vacation.
    The pressure is on to book our July trip since the kennel (dierenpension) where the cat is staying may already be full when we need it.  C and I will need to hash out exactly when we're going, where and for how long, since it's become apparent that we've been telling very different stories to people.  I think that's the vacation that B is looking forward to the most, though I'm pretty sure he wants it to be more like a return and less like a vacation (with an ending).  He's still pretty resistant to living in the Netherlands, and says he's not coming back.
    I keep coming to the surface of this whole adventure thinking that I'm about ready to start in on one of my projects with some real focus and vigor.  And then, I go under again.  A told the doc at the hospital that he doesn't remember ever not being sick.  I think that coming to another country is somewhat worse than but akin to having your kid in kindergarten or daycare for the first time and meeting the whole host of viruses and bacteria that you get to be introduced to through your child and their germ-passing ways.  I don't expect we'll come to the end of our cold virus days anytime soon, but I do hope that this year is the worst of them.
    Well, B wants to use the computer too, and though the idea of a tunnel under water is somewhat intriguing, the actual fact of it is not particularly exciting.  So, I'll report back later...

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April 18, 2008

    It is 3:30 in the morning and I am down on the couch because I've been getting kicked in the head by a sick little boy.  I think the top bunk is too much for me to manage and I don't want to wake up B when I'm crying.
    A got out of bed with a clattter around midnight Wednesday night and was a bit delerious.  I helped him to the bathroom since he wasn't headed in the right direction, helped him get his pajamas down over his watch he's been insisting on wearing to bed, and put it away.  All this time he's saying things that don't make sense.  I can't tell whether he is sleepwalking, dreaming, or what.  I get him zipped up again and guide him to our bed. Still his eyes are not closed and he's acting very strange, so I call down to C for help since it's freaking me out a bit.  C notices how hot A is and we measure his temp at 103.  A few minutes after it's almost at 104.  We give him Tylenol in a cup and he isn't coherent enough to swallow it, so some portion ends up all over.  With a second try, stripping him of clothes and bedclothes, and wet washcloths, we get it down to 100. 
    Meanwhile, C's freaking out.   Sickness is probably the biggest source of strife in our marriage.  He over reacts, worries, and imagines, and I, partly in response, under react, worry and imagine.  Mostly he's worried that since we don't have a doctor or any idea of what to do or where to go in case of an emergency, that that will be even more of a barrier and he's worried.  Fortunately, since A had some ear pain the night before, I had asked about at school and had the name of a physician, family doc - they don't use pediatricians here.  So I looked that up and promised to call the next daday.  It was also my job to figure out a way to get B to school.  He rode in a car with a classmate, but doesn't want to do it again because he didn't have a booster seat and couldn't see out the window.
    In the morning I let A sleep while I got B ready for school, and asked the other parent what she does with her dog on holiday (a kennel a half hour away; great) since it's also my job to find a place for the dog and cat and theres only a week before we go to London.  Crap.  Anyay, A feels mostly fine.  His appetite last night and that day were a bit reduced, and he's had diarrhea.  His temp runs about 99 to 100, wants medicine for his cough, and is definitely sick with a cold virus.
    I do call the doctor, and get something weird, asking me to do something as they are on the line, or something, of course in fast Dutch , and interrupted by beeps though repeated several times.  So, I call back in the afternoon.  This time I get a message, much longer, without a way to leave a message myself, and then gettting hung up on.  I'm certain they asked me to call a number I can't catch, but I can't tell under what circumstances or when.  So, I make the mistake of calling C at work.  I thought that he could help, or at least have someone who spoke Dutch better than we do to translate the message.  Apparently that was a big mistake.  He wanted me to deal, thought I should use my own resources to figure it out.  So I did.  I called another mom, who happens to be a physician, though not of a relevant type, to help me navigate the system.  Which she does, mercifully.  I can either wait to see the doc until the morning (as he's probably making house calls) or make an appointment that afternoon with another doc.  Since I'm doing what I think C would want, I have her make the appointment for the afternoon.  So, now we have to get to the doc's office at four.  B doesn't get home until we really, really have to leave to be on time.  Ironically, the appointment is right next to the school, so B arrives by car and then we all climb on bikes to go back essentially the way whe came.  We have to make an emergency pit stop at the school for A, and then we get there.
    We arrive and it's very different.  There's no staff, for instance, just the doc.  He examines A, and listens to the symptoms, but has no way of looking up or converting our Fahrentheit temperatures to Celcius, and I haven't looked them up before I left.  He takes A's temp, and apparently the way to do that here is rectally.  Slight temperature, as he'd been running all day.  Anyway, in the end, he suggested we go to the hospital in Blaricum.  He thought A had some sort of infection of ear/nose/throat, but because of his belly symptoms, didn't want to give him antibiotics until he'd had some blood test to figure out what the infection was from.  Since we don't have a car, this is difficult, seems unnecessary to me (a hospital for a blood test?), but he said we didn't have a time limit, so we three left.  B had brought his helmet in and left it on the floor, and the doc asked me if we had one helmet or two.  Three, I said with a smile and a shrug.  So we went out to put our three helmets on and head back home.
    I called C with the report, and he ended up hanging up on me because he "couldn't bear talking to me anymore right then."  I told him that I wasn't taking anyone to the hospital until he got home, which was going to be at the usual time of after seven.
    I am at the point where I hate our food.  I hate having to come up with what we're going to eat.  I hate our options for punting.  I hate not having an oven or microwave.  I made chicken nuggets and fries the night before and couldn't stomach them.  A lot of fries went into the compost.  I made puff chicken and used it for chicken teriyaki last night.  Usually, this is a favorite dish, but even last night it didn't taste right and I didn't make enough chicken for me to have seconds.  And we had only one carrot in the house (though it was huge), so I'd quartered it and was eating that when B asked if he could have the rest of mine.  Fine.  Got a call in the afternoon that our oven glass was in and they'd like to install it tomorrow.  C agreed to deal with them, but though they will just give us the glass without installing it (Since we have to pay for it, instead of helping him with the installation as I did last time, I can install it myself with C's help.), but they won't deliver it to us without charging us the installation.  They're in Bussum between train stations, though fortunately open until nine on Friday.
   
    C got ready for bed after finding out where the hospital was and that they could take A's blood from eight am to four-forty-five.  And he tucked A in beside him.  A told me that it was better that he not have to get down from the bunk bed if he had to get up instead of just out, but was worried about reading the book.  So I read a couple of chapters of Mary Poppins in our room instead of theirs.  Then, I tucked B in and came downstairs to sleep on the couch.  Around three, I heard A clattering about and asking for help, so I went upstairs and helped him to the bathroom again.  Then I got ready for bed and crawled in with them.  I slept for a while, A needed to go to the bathroom again a short time later, but then I had to run away after getting kicked repeatedly in the head.
    Our last bottom sheet for our king size bed is shredded at the bottom; I need to replace it.  I need to get a small microwave because I'm unwilling to use our oven as a microwave any more.  I need to buy some dirt so I can plant my seeds.  I need to buy vegetables, and other groceries.  I need to buy more boxes of tissues as we're nearly out again.  I couldn't go anywhere yesterday but to the doctor's.  I didn't get to volunteer as I'd scheduled to do yesterday, staying home with a sick kid.  Nor do anything else I'd planned to get done.  And as I'm getting up with A C says, don't forget we have Dutch class tomorrow morning.  I know, and I'm supposed to tell a story.  I had been going to prepare, but I haven't.  Yes, I know.  And it'll be my responsibility to get B to school, make breakfasts and lunches, and stay home again with A.
    I had been doing so well.  Wednesday, when I wanted so much to crawl into a hole and bury myself, I didn't.  I worked on photos and getting them sorted out.  I've got a bunch uploaded online to the site I use, though most of October, Nobember and December aren't sorted yet.  Since I'm still getting ODBC errors with Photoshop, I copied the files over manually.  And I worked on reconnecting the thousands of pictures that we moved to the external drive.  And found that all the work I'd done on Wednesday I had to do aggin.  So, I did it again Thursday.  I'd thought this was because I'd opened another catalog in between.  Maybe it was, but Photoshop stopped responding at the end of my session again, and now those photos I'd reconnected, all of 2005, are still not reconnected.  I tried a number of other things and I'm not sure what I'll do next.
    Anyway, I was accomplishing something on Wednesday, and it felt good.  We have this beer machine in our house and it occurred to me what a different family we would be if I crawled into different holes than solitaire or books and was a drunk instead.
    And I don't want to be here right now.  I'm feeling very alone.  And I don't know what to do to make this better right now.  And I know that part of this is hormonal (and sleep and food), but that doesn't help.  I hate this.

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April 15, 2008

    Tax day today back in the States.  We're supposed to be taken care of by various folks through C's work, and C is on top of that somewhat evolving situation, but it is very odd not preparing and sending off our own taxes this year.
    I've been enjoying my bike a bit more.  A and I make a pretty good team now with almost nary a wobble, and B is doing very well on his own, usually following behind me (or A, rather).  I adjusted the seat and remembered I have a gel seat cover, so I've been putting that on (and removing it when I park somewhere rainy or questionable).  Both of those things have contributed to a more comfortable ride for my bones and tender flesh.  I have been enjoying the reduction in time it takes me to run errands, the 40 liter fietstas for carrying cat litter, groceries and kid backpacks, and the bike paths.  The dog isn't completely happy; I've taken him to the canal to romp a couple of times, but more often he just doesn't get a walk.  That's not ideal; I want to keep him in shape and somehow keep the aging process at bay for our time here.  He's eleven this spring, and I want him to be able to negotiate the stairs here and remain healthy and happy for a good long while yet.  And I've found that while I wear my helmet even when I am without kids and just riding by myself, it is hard.  I find myself making excuses for it in my head over and over again, I avoid eye contact with other bicyclists, and feel very conspicuously out of place.  But my excuses work on myself as well, and I do continue to put it on.  It would feel monumentally stupid not to wear protective gear just to fit in and then have an accident.  I'm not Dutch.  Ik ben Amerikanse.  Even though all the cool rats are doing it.  C had this same struggle.  Though there are quite a few kids that ride helmeted to the international school, not all of them do and none of the other parents that I've seen, so I suspect it's a struggle for others here too.
    Spring is finally here.  I need to go buy dirt so I can plant my seeds.  I'm planning to use the multitude of empty planters (some of them very large) for vegetables rather than disturb too much of the yard and garden.  I don't know all that is planted anywhere and I don't think the soil is any too good.  There has been a lot of gardening with rocks in the back garden, which I find a little odd.  They seem strewn against the plants as well as lining the beds from the pavers.  We've pruned the wisteria away from the garage roof, but the grapes need some serious attention.  C, eager pruner that he is, is excited about this, so I may leave researching what he needs to do to do it right to him.  Judging from all the stems that our dog brings in still, we may be able to make grape jelly from our own grapes this year.
    Oops.  Extended trip through the web on two continents to inquire about juicers.  C's home and I haven't made dinner.  Bad me.

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April 12-13, 2008

    I've had a string of pretty good days lately, though not always doing what I'd hoped to do.  Let's see, to catch up...  On Thursday we all rode to school together on our bikes.  I had taken the bike with the trailer around the block the day before to try it out, but it was empty then.  When we first started on the way to school with A on the bike, it was a little scary.  The bike was very, very wobbly.  My arm muscles got a work out as I kept the bike going forward and not into the obstacles in our path.  By the time we got to school, A and I were working together as a team more and we didn't wobble so much.  It's gotten continually better since then.  Nevertheless, bike riding is a very different exercise than running and I am sore and in need of a seat adjustment.  I volunteered in the library, got groceries on my way home, and started reading C's book Getting Things Done (GTD), which arrived in the mail.  Before picking up the boys, I walked the dog at the canal - he was happy to be off leash while I walked and read, though he got much more muddy than I wanted.  A went home with a friend for a play date and B entertained himself while I read more.  I turned down the opportunity to let A go to McD's for dinner after the play date and had their family to dinner here instead.  I made samosas and green beans with bacon, and supplemented with rice and chicken nuggets.  After the kids were in bed, I finished GTD. 
    There are many things I liked about the book, and a bunch of things I'd like to try out soon to see if they help.  One thing I noticed, however, was that no matter how often he said that your spouse, housekeeper and nanny all need this system, there was not one word in the whole book about repeating tasks.  I suspect in that world, the washing of dishes, toilets, and the folding of laundry is delegated and paid for by all the money you're making at your high-powered job by being so efficient.  One of the examples suggested that your kids are getting older so they don't need you at home so much any more.  I'm not usually confronted with the dichotomy of our living in two worlds.  In one, C works for a large multi-national company, money piles up in our accounts, and we receive bonuses and raises for which we have no concrete plans.  I remember hearing about a former dormmate who worked as an geologist for a big oil company and had paychecks lying around on his floor undeposited, and feeling so financially far away from there.  I don't think the distance is as great anymore; our paychecks are taken care of through the good graces of direct deposit, but our relatives can attest that birthday checks haven't always made it to the bank in the year they were sent.  But in the other world, I cook instead of eating out/taking out/or convenience food, I hang laundry instead of use the dryer, I shop for second-hand clothing, grow food for our own table, and try to live lightly on the earth.  It's not that these are really two different worlds, or that others many consider rich don't live frugally.  But we live our lives and try to do it according to our principles and values, and then occasionally come across something that tells us how far outside of "normal" we might be.  Of course, I think it's in a good way, but it's only to be expected that I would think that.
    Friday, I was going to start implementing GTD except I'd forgotten we had Dutch lessons.  So I did that instead, then took a nap after lunch on my comfortable couch in the sun, pedaled fast to pick up boys and then gardened in the nice weather until C came home.  While gardening, we received a package, lovely package, from friends in the States that included all of the movies and games I bought to replace the 24 that disappeared just before our move.  Fortunately, the kids had a surplus of screen time chips built up from our weekend in Paris and nice weather.  Hooray!  Thank you! 
    I have to say, it's nice very late here.  Odd to have the sunset in the sky at 8 pm when the trees still haven't leafed out.  It's those extra few degrees north plus daylight savings time, I guess.  Also, we're so far west in our time zone that we should really be in the next (but aren't because almost all of Europe adopted the same time zone, Spain to Poland) so that probably adds daylight to our evenings as well.  Gardening feels good; I remember most of the time that it's a way for me to feel calmer and more contented, but still every spring I rediscover that lesson.
    Saturday I spent the day getting things done, but not building my to do lists.  C and B took a bike ride to the woods and were gone a good long time.  They went a fair distance and came home with hardward to hang things up on our walls, and to hang our laundry outside.  I imagine it was as interesting to bring that home on a bike as it was my bringing home a cat litter box on my handlebars with a loaf of brioche inside, which I did a little later. 
    I moved three bookcases, C hung our huge world map, we together moved the dresser that's been in the hallway since the kids got bunk beds weeks ago and gave it a new home behind the couch.  We moved the queen sized bed to the garage to be with his brother "Box Spring."  I put Easter away, did a bunch of laundry and hung it, did the dishes, and replenished our supply of waffles. 
    I thought I might start the GTD process Sunday, and I have made some steps in that direction, but it will be when I'm by myself for an extended time that I'll have more success.  Monday should work until I start my new stint helping B's class check out books in the library.  The parts I'm excited about are getting all the thousands (? we'll see) of projects and to dos out of my head and onto paper (digital paper in my case).  I think that will help me feel better about doing whatever I'm doing.  When he wrote about one's brain not having a sense of time and feeling as though you should have been working on the task since you thought of it (perhaps years ago), it rang pretty true.  I hope that if I get everything outside my head (and maintain it on a regular basis) that I can trust my lists and not have to keep track of all these things in my head (be so overwhelmed so much).  It's worth a try.  I am also changing the structure of my to do lists a bit in my Palm, mostly collapsing some that were divided by area of my life (kids, personal, work, school, etc.) to where I need to be to do them.  I'll fiddle with it a bit more, I suspect, as I figure out what I need.
    On a more random note, a couple of weeks ago I walked a different route and happened past the "Erotic Discount Centre."  I can only imagine, but I laugh when I do.  Cut rate media, factory seconds, paraphenalia missing crucial bits or in displeasing colors, perhaps?  One euro bins?  Misprints?  Lead-based paint?  It's kind of hard for me to figure out the target audience.  It seems like sex (by one's self or with other/s) is something that people have been fairly creative with if in need of something beyond the required equipment (one's brain).  And personally, if I'm buying, I'd rather pay a little more for better quality and some feeling of trust in the product.  But obviously there's a market.  Perhaps I've got it wrong and it's shelling out cases of condoms at wholesale prices, but given how hard it is buy ANYTHING in bulk, I kind of doubt it.

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April 9, 2008

    Good day today.  Beautiful spring day with lots of sunshine.  Looked at a possible used bike for A, though it's likely too big.  Bought a used omafiets and a new tandem trainer, as well as the insides for the kids' new bedclothes.  Brought it all home while the kids were at school (short day), had lunch of sorts, and picked them up.  Back at home they played at the playground across the street while I started to put the tandem trainer together.  [B returned to say that two boys were threatening A, so I headed over.  Turns out they had guns.  They looked about 10 or 12, and they ran away as I headed over.  They kept peeking over, so I headed over to talk to them and ask if they wanted to play or what?  I told them they should not point guns at people, a point I re-iterated several times.  They said they weren't real (though they looked real, they were holding them as though there was not much heft to them, so I'm fairly sure that's true), and they said they were Nederlands.  I'm not sure whether that comment was to somehow explain their gun play or to respond to some comment from A, but my response was OK... but you can't point guns at people.]  Friends from school who live on the other side of the playground showed up (just as we were going to leave), so we headed to their house for tea and play.  It turned into a very pleasant play date for the boys while I returned home, finished assembling the tandem trainer, re-arranged the garage a bit to accommodate the new hierarchy, and cleaned the kitchen and dining room, and vacuumed.  Picked up the boys just as they were headed back our way, and they played a bit of Backyard Basketball while I made dinner.  We ate before C returned home even though it was still sunny out (at almost 7), and I started reading a new book to the boys this evening after getting ready for bed, The Chocolate Money Mystery.
    We've booked our trip to London, so now to get dog, cat, and hotel taken care of.  We're going by train and staying a full week, leaving the 26th, and looking forward to it.
    Now to get to bed so I can have another good day tomorrow.  The kids are very, very excited at the prospect of all biking to school tomorrow.  I'm excited to gain more time, speed, and mobility with the bike, though I will have to get practiced at taking on and off the trail-behind.  What to do about our dog's daily afternoon exercise, and his crowd of groupies at the school, I don't know.  I don't think he's fast enough to tag along if we're on bikes.  We sure have gotten good use out of our double jogger.  I'm not sure how much use we'll put it to any more.
    Bed. Bed. Bed.

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April 8, 2008

    We're back from Paris as of last night.  I'd have posted (and perhaps written) during our short trip had our room's internet connection been functional, but such was not the case.  We had a wonderful time.  It was fabulous to see my niece, and to be in Paris again.  We will definitely go back, and almost certainly for longer.  I'm not sure how we're going to fit in all the week-long trips we want to take while we're here, spend some time back in the States, and still keep the kids legal in school, but it's not a horrible challenge to have by any means.
    Language-wise, my understanding of French and the reflexive French that I actually spoke years ago was back in relatively short order.  I kept correcting C's pronunciation, though I got pretty good at doing it only in my head by the time we left because I suspect he found it mighty annoying.  On the other hand, he kept reading things aloud, so maybe he was looking for me to tell him how it was pronounced; I'm not sure.  I was quite surprised by how much commerce is now in English (as opposed to almost two decades ago).  Hotel staff, wait staff, and clerks all understood and spoke English to me.  Since I have two kids who were with me most all of the time (and not quiet), since my French was a bit rusty, and since they heard me speaking English to my family, they all switched to English fairly quickly.  I was happy when I could get them to speak long bits of French to me.  Casual conversations around me, as on the Metro, were a little harder to understand, but I was certainly picking up more than I do in Dutch.  It made me want to learn Dutch so that I can have similar episodes of understanding, reading and speaking in Nederlands.  It also made me want to quit worrying about it, go ahead and speak English during my stay here, and not spend too much energy learning to speak a language I'm not going to use again.  Yes, I know these are opposing desires.  I don't yet know how it all is going to fall out.  I suspect I will work slowly through my Dutch expat book, use the websites that our Dutch teacher pointed us at, and continue learning so that I can have similar experiences here as I did in Paris.  But maybe not.  I don't want to spend too much time on it.
    Saturday, unfortunately, was mostly all spent traveling.  I'd have liked to have gone walking or, better, gone up the Eiffel Tower after a local dinner on Saturday, but we were all tired.  So, after a meal in a Chinese restaurant that I found yummy but C thought greasy, we headed back to our hotel a block away at Place d'Italie and went to bed.  Sunday we headed out and found ourselves breakfast, but not without leaving it too long and getting a large round of grumps for everyone.  We intended to have brunch at a place recommended by C's co-worker near L'Arc de Triomphe, but it wasn't suited to what we wanted and so we wandered around looking for food for a while.  After the fourth or fifth closed place we looked at, B noticed a place across the street where someone was going in the door and grumpily suggested "Why don't we eat THERE?!"  So we did.  Croissant, pain avec confiture, chocolat chaud, et jus d'orange.  Yummy.  Then we dropped back by the place to buy tea for C's co-worker and then hit the Metro to be in time for our rendezvous with my niece.
    We met at the Louvre near the glass triangle and she found and pounced on us, which was good because there were thick crowds of people everywhere.  Apparently the first Sunday of the month the museums are free, and hence crowded.  We took a walk through the gardens, looked at sculptures, checked out runners on some late stage of the Paris Marathon, rode a carousel with the boys, bought them some time on trampolines, and then proceeded to walk the length of the Champs-Elysees until we wound up back at L'Arc.  We stopped at some shops to get some things for my niece and folks back home, got me some lunch (earlier, while the kids had hot dogs and C a panini at a booth, I had a chocolate crepe), and finally ended up at the top of the Arc marveling at how far we'd walked.  We went back to my niece's hotel room, C adventured out in search of caffeine, and we were invited to dinner with the 40-some high school students, teachers, and tour guide as well as to the boat tour afterwards on the Seine.  Dinner was fun, though C and I found more to eat than the kids, who had both noshed quite a bit on the junk my niece had packed with her.  After a creamy broccoli pastry salad and stew with potatoes, there was some concern, as they brought the cheese course, that it was dessert, but while most of us had creme brulee, the kids got vanilla ice cream.  A spurned his, even the cookie tube that came with it, because it was French vanilla instead of something paler, but those of us around him enjoyed it (as well as our own dessert, of course).
    The boat trip was quite chilly, and though we enjoyed seeing the Eiffel Tower sparkle (which it does in the evenings on the hour for ten minutes) when we set out and returned, it would have been a more interesting trip during the daylight when it was warmer, or perhaps with more interaction from someone pointing out the things on view.  B fell asleep during the trip, and we carried him part of the way back to the Metro until the cold woke him and he could walk by himself.  By that time, after it had rained on us a few times, sleeted once, and got progressively colder, he was very sorry he had removed the hood from his jacket and left it in the hotel room that morning.  We hugged and said goodbye in the Metro train and dropped my niece and her group at their Metro stop on the way to ours.  She was headed back to the States very early in the morning, and we planned to go up La Tour Eiffel.
    In the morning we had breakfast in the hotel, checked out and held our luggage at the front desk (instead of returning it to the car in the public parking garage), and made our way back to Bir-Hakeim.  We crossed the street to walk along the Seine instead of among the buildings until we were stopped by some gates and a bunch of gendarmerie.  There was some sort of parade starting below us and there were folks passing out lightbulb clackers, plastic fans shaped like laptops, and advertizing-emblazoned periscopes to the growing crowd.  We watched for a while, and some folks got out of a van with jackets that said 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, so we figured out what was going to happen.  What wasn't clear was how long it was going to take before it really did happen, but as things oh so slowly got moving, more and more police arrived, protest signs and flags started appearing, and our kids got more and more bored, disappointed, and surly, it was increasingly unlikely that we were going up the Eiffel Tower on this trip.  As it stretched longer and longer that we stood there (in the cold) and we invested more time, the less we were willing to go until we'd actually seen the torch pass.  Finally, it came by us and I caught it on film.  The biggest protests (and apparently where the torch-bearer took refuge in a van and so extinguished the torch) were further down from us so we got to see and hear a bit of the scrum as we made our way back to a Metro stop, our hotel, lunch and car.  Like a couple of the Parisians around us, I also have never seen so many police cars and police officers together in my life.  From my perspective, I'm not sure why they expended their energy and presence where they did when it seemed pretty clear to me where the trouble was going to be.  The one fight I did see before the torch came near (from the opposite direction) was a couple of people and a horde of 20 or so cameras rushing after them, filming.  It was all a bit bizarre.  I hope that once the kids see some of the Olympics this year that they come to appreciate what they saw that morning.  They are certainly disappointed now that we spent our last morning in Paris that way.
    A found himself throwing up on the car-ride back again, and has a cough now.   I'm not sure how much of his being sick is part of his normal cold virus reaction (which includes vomiting much more than I would like) paired with being in a car for 6 hours, or if it is something else.  I learned today that a kid at their school has scarlet fever, so I'll watch for that as well.
    Our cat has finally calmed down again.  She takes to being trapped inside for a weekend (or actually to our being gone for a while even when she had her cat door) by wanting to go in and out and in and out again almost constantly, and to be WITH us when she's inside.  I understand it and indulge her until she demonstrates to herself that she has the power to meow her way in or out and that we are here.  And we're back home in the swing of things again, though there are things that have jumped higher on our to do list claiming our attention.
    Things we learned recently (and will do something about):
    1. We need to plan future trips further ahead of time.  Our next trip is to London during the kids' two week holiday end of April beginning of May.  We need to book seats, board the cat, find a place for the dog, and get any discount passes soon.
    2.  B would really enjoy a digital camera.  He took a bunch of shots with my niece's camera (because she let him and A use it; mine is too expensive to let me relinquish it to them yet).  So we'll be searching for a cheap digital camera (or two).
    3.  Paris is lovely and we would like to spend a week living in a hotel/apartment like we were in going back and forth to explore and then return to our familiar, play games, etc.
    4.  I need to get that omafiets and aanhanger very soon.  I went by one of the big bike stores today to look at what they had and realized that without help, I can't tell the difference between a 180 Euro used bike and an 800 Euro used bike.  Needless to say, I didn't buy anything there today.  I spent a fair amount of time looking at Marktplaats for what I need, and may be able to get what I want tomorrow.
    5.  Money is a tool and we need to use it to solve our problems.  C just got a raise and we keep needing to shift money to our savings from our checking accounts, so if we spend it, we should be spending it on things that make our lives better.
    6.  Gaming is pretty important to us and we all miss game nights very keenly.  We will have to start cobbling together something here.
    7.  The landlords (not unreasonably, we think, when we can put our own landlord hats on) do not want to pay 260 Euro again for the second time we broke the oven.  Although we will pay it, I would like to know how to avoid yet another break in future besides using it exclusively as an oven and purchasing a small microwave (for much less than 260) in addition.  I'd also appreciate some attempt to get the makers of the appliance (Siemens) to spell out whatever danger there is in their owner's manuals or pay for some of the replacement cost.  Since it delineates how to melt 50 g butter in the guide, it is clear that melting butter itself isn't supposed to break the thing.  Harumph.  Anyway, I'd like to be able to make cookies, roast things, and have use of my oven back very soon.  I'm sure it will involve me holding screws and cleaning up glass off my floor and out of my oven again.
    8.  My neck and back get very sore when traveling.  Combine hard beds with backpacks and cameras, add in dashes of kids yanking my hands or trying to swing from me, and a husband whose hands are not happy (willing, practiced, strong) to rub my back the way I'd like, and you get a very sore me.  Still.  I'm not sure what to do about this besides suffer.  And whine, of course.
    Darn, now I'm all pissy again.  Time to get some sleep so I can go on tomorrow. 

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April 5, 2008

    We're on the road to Paris right now.  I'm not too terribly sure we're doing the right thing or in the right way, but here we are.  A is behind me in the car asleep, thankfully, because he has been throwing up since 4 this morning.  B keeps asking if that big tower over there (cell tower, usually) is the Eiffel one, and every time we stop (to find food, get A his own water so he doesn't have to drink from ours, or use the toilet) he asks if we're there yet.  I talked to my niece while standing in the rain at the train station before we made out way to the airport to rent the car we're driving and she asked if we were already in Paris, so there seems to be a theme.  This morning B didn't want to go and waste his weekend.  A wanted to take an airplane until he realized that we still would need to take the bus to the train to the airport..  The train would have been nicer in many ways, though we couldn't have forseen some of them, like the ability to let A be sick in something besides the zip lock bags I packed because I'm sometimes a very smart mama, or heavy rain and the windshield wipers that could use replacing.
    I've been nervous about the language thing and the fact that I haven't really spoken any French in eighteen years.  My niece (a Spanish speaker) and my husband have both said that they are relying on me to speak French.  I suspect we will be fine even if I don't remember very much, but another mum friend at the school suggested I just lie.  Since they don't know what I'm saying anyway, I can just make it up.  It's quite possible that it will be good for me, both to understand more than I expect (or have been enjoying in Dutch) and to be forced to make mistakes speaking the language.  We'll have to see.  Currently we're in Belgium.
    This has been a very hard time of late.  We're mostly unpacked and settled in, and now the psychoemotional stuff is catching up with us.  We're all having low periods.  C said that it was fortunate we weren't traveling to the States right now or we might not come back.  We know this feeling will pass and we'll be glad we stayed (well, C and I do - B can't see that yet and wishes that our stay in the Netherlands wsa as temporary as our stay in Paris).  C hopes that our trip to France helps by making us glad we can at least speak English and be understood.
    Here we are in France now.  It IS nice knowing how everything is pronounced.  Of course, now we're at a traffic standstill.  Ah, we long for the train again...

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also March 28, 2008

    In the middle of being sick and feeling like I didn't want to be here, wanting and missing and feeling bad, C was feeling low as well.  There is a fabled six month point, which is supposed to be the hardest time for expats and he is feeling as though he is there.  (He has been here five months and the rest of us three, so we'll see).  So, I was asking, "Why are we here?"  I think the answers to the question "What do we hope to get out of our trip abroad?" need to guide us in a more direct way than they have so far done.  We've moved in, our things are where they are going to be except for fiddling, and we mostly know where to go for what we need.  So now, we need to be spending our time and our money getting the things we wanted.  Because otherwise it won't be worth it.
    In the middle of booking our trip to Paris yesterday, there was a point at which, if my niece wasn't going to be there on that day, we probably would have said forget it and stayed home.  I think it is somewhat amazing that we are here in Europe at all.  Neither of us likes the part of traveling that involves making arrangements, planning where to go and what to do, and balancing money against time and convenience and hassle in various equations.  We are both somewhat introverted homebodies for whom leaving our comfortable routines involves expended energy and effort and trouble.  And yet here we are.  So, if we're going to put ourselves through this, let's at least have a plan for what to pick up on our way.
    What do I hope for the kids?  I want them to understand in a physical way that the world is big.  That people, friends, come from different countries that speak different languages, have different customs, different histories, and different perspectives.  That there is more than one way to define, approach, examine, speak about, weigh, and solve a problem.  I'd like them to have some experience with doing just that in more than just bridging the kid/adult division.  I'd like for them to learn another language because in addition to making a third language easier for them to learn, I think it helps give them another tool for thinking about and with their primary language.  I'd like to make it easier for them to travel and take risks in their adult lives because they had these experiences in their childhood.  I want them to make some friends they keep in touch with over the years after we move back home.
    What do I hope for myself?  I want to get better at making mistakes and make a lot of them (so I can learn from them).  I'd like to get my photographs and albums in order and make sure that I have distributed the pictures I've taken appropriately.  I'd like to learn to knit and output at least three things that get worn.  I'd like to finish editing my novel and do another NaNoWriMo.  I'd like to stay in touch with my friends and family at home and make at least two more good friends.  I'd like to establish some habits and ways of living that are more sustainable and that make me happy.  I'd like to revisit some of the places I visited eighteen years ago and show them to my husband and kids.  I'd like to come to a better appreciation for the things that are in my life, be they things or routines, culture or people.  I'd like to buy some things that I like and that remind me of good times.
    What do I hope for C and our relationship?  I'd like for him to be happy in his work and be rewarded for his talents and hard work.  I'd like for him to be able to find a job in which he is happy and at which he can balance time at work and time at home in a satisfying manner.  I'd like for him to establish a way for him to decompress from being out and recenter in a way that he finds satisfying instead of long jags of screen time after which he doesn't.  I'd like for him to feel proud of having lived in Europe and satisfied in his desire to live in another country.  I'd like for us to share experiences and realize an even deeper level of closeness.

March 28, 2008

    I have been sick.  I succumbed to being sick, thinking and caring only about the state of my guts partway through writing here on Monday evening.  And Monday night I spent more in the bathroom than in bed.  Tuesday, which I had intended to use as a day to visit NEMO in Amsterdam with the kids, was spent mostly in bed with more occasional forays to the toilet while the kids watched entirely too much television.  By 5 p.m. when I was a little more upright, the kids convinced me to make them the breakfast they didn't get, and when C got home he helped do the parts of dinner I couldn't stomach.  After the kids were in bed, C played computer games and I got stuck watching television myself until I pulled myself to bed.  Wednesday I was feeling somewhat better, though not enough to run to school, so we set out earlier and I walked, then used the stroller to pick up a heavy load of groceries, bring them home, unpack them, attempt eating, and walk to pick up kids again.  Wednesday afternoon I brought home a playdate from A's class and Thursday afternoon one from B's class, partly because I was feeling guilty about how their Easter break went and partly because it was our turn.  Both days I ended up helping one brother let the other and his friend play by themselves for a bit.  Thursday morning I still wasn't up to running, and was scheduled to volunteer at the school, so we walked in again.  I studied Dutch for a little bit, helped out in A's classroom while they started a new unit on recycling (and I'm hoping to learn more specifics about how and whether I can recycle tin cans and plastics), and then learned cataloging in the library until 12:30.  I'll be spending Tuesday mornings in the library there helping out.  Then last night I turned the computer on for the first time since Monday to help C book our trip to Paris and managed to miss my niece's departure from the States by about 10 hours.
    I've learned a number of things.  1. You need to book train tickets ahead of time to go to a place like Paris, and three weeks ahead is less expensive (and more flexible) than one.  2. We should ask the landlord about installing a cat door because leaving our cat for a weekend jaunt would be much easier if we had one, and the worst that would happen is he'll say no.  3. Booking time at a kennel for a cat or dog during the regular vacation time "practically has to be done now to get a spot," so we'll use this search for cat care to book for time in July.  4. I need to invest some time to help the kids be more independent feeding themselves.  5. I need to buy myself a bike and A an attachment soon.  B needs the bike that fits him back and it would help me get around and get around with stuff with less time spent traveling and more flexibility when I am not feeling healthy.  6. Always enter the pin on the card you insert into the funny reader thing from the bank, before you try entering the number they give you, because if you don't enter the pin correctly in three tries, it locks the pin up and requires you to go to the bank to fix it (during banking hours, naturally).  This can be a disasterous pain if you were borrowing your husband's bank card.  Only the fact that C has an appointment at the bank tomorrow already makes me feel somewhat better about making this mistake with his card.
    Now it's Friday morning.  I have to run back from the school this morning since we have Dutch classes back at the house at 9:30 (wish I had that bike already).  I set my alarm so I'd have a little time to write this morning, and it has mostly disappeared.  This morning I'll post it before I start breakfast so it's not much later (like the last time I wrote in the morning) before it's up.  Time to get breakfast and get B up (A is next to me by now chatting with me).  Somehow it's Friday already and we have guests coming tomorrow afternoon.  It's been a frustrating week in getting things done.  I hate being sick.
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March 24, 2008

   snow
oven again
kitchen and use
seeds and steps I'm not taking
list of wants and where
bunk beds
Happy Birthday Paul!

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March 21, 2008

    I'm up in the morning trying to write.  I had planned to be up much earlier, but I am sicker than I thought and going back to the dream I was having was too compelling, not once when my alarm went off, but twice when A woke up and wanted to cuddle and get warm.  In front of a crowd of people, I was dancing with someone who was on a string held by someone else, but before we could get very far, someone in support of us had to make a rousing speech.  This crowd morphed from a huge funeral at which the first speaker made hundreds of people get up and leave in the middle of the service.  Very odd (well, so far as I can tell, most dreams are very odd), but pleasant and I enjoyed the dancing.  My partner on a string kept getting more and more slack as he engendered more trust, but found he could dance even in a crowd without the guiding he'd gotten through the string.
    Anyway, I thought I'd write about one of those things I said I wanted to write about back on the sixth.  Laundry. 

    There was some confusion in the beginning of our laundry life here.  The washer that came with the house is a front loader, which is nice in terms of water consumption, but C was probably underloading it when he lived here by himself because we weren't used to using one.  (Although it is nice to be able to buy a new and more efficient washing machine, it is also sometimes wiser to use what has already been manufactured in as efficient a way as possible, and we have not yet had an opportunity to buy a new washer ourselves.)  Also, whenever he tried to use both the washer and the dryer at the same time, he blew a circuit and all the power in the house went out.  We instigated an electrical upgrade to allow the dryer to work concurrently with the washer, and now we very rarely use the dryer at all.  There are clotheslines strung up in the attic (where our dryer is located; the washer is in the master bathroom), and I switched over to using them as a first resort about a month ago.  We put our towels and C's underwear in the dryer to keep them supple, but everything else goes on the line.  I bought clothespins and can fit three loads on the five lines by hanging things like underwear and socks over the lines and things like shirts and kid pants perpindicular to the lines with clothespins.  The kids seem to enjoy taking things off the line, though they can only pick the low-hanging fruit and are both too short to reach the shorter socks and underwear.  I'd like to get a clothesline for the back yard, one of the umbrella-like ones that I can put up and take down (and take home with me), but I have yet to get to the hardware store prepared to haul one home.  In addition, and partically because the kids keep growing out of their pants (and so we have fewer that are harder to keep sufficient stocks of clean ones), I've officially instructed the kids to only launder their pants, shirts, and pajamas if they are either dirty or smelly.  It is rare that a shirt on A will survive a day, but B is older and cleaner and can get at least a couple wearings out of many things.  C and I have been doing the same for a long time, and I've probably been pushing it to the limits with my two pair of jeans I wear a week at a time.  I'm even sometimes surprised to find that a coolish morning run hasn't made my running clothes stinky and I can get another wearing out of them as well.
    All of this effort is to save energy and water.  It's been fine.  There are times when I would rather stuff them in the dryer and push a button instead of hanging laundry, but now I feel bad if I use the dryer for things that could dry on the line just as easily, and I am aided by the dryer's annoying buzzing it will do at the end of its cycle as it buzzes and turns on and off for 40 minutes.  Especially if it is late at night, I worry about the neighbor we share a wall with being annoyed.  It is also somewhat nice to be up in the attic (invariably by myself) hanging clothes and thinking inconsequential things.  I've never been particularly bothered by repetitive or "boring" activities and enjoy figuring out the best or most efficient way of achieving the task.  I know, for instance, that hanging like things together helps when it is time to fold them off the line, or to hang shirts by their bottom edges so as not to get clip bumps on the shoulders.  My failing is not being willing to hand over a task that I have made very efficient to someone (of whatever age) and then having too many tasks that are mine.  Having kids has helped this failure to delegate because I am learning to transfer the task and the knowledge of what I do and why at the same time.  Chores are one of those things that we need to revisit at a family meeting again soon so I've been making a list of all the chores we do as a family and how often they should be done.

    Spring is here.  Interestingly, the Dutch language has a word for both spring the calendar season (voorjaar) and spring the gardening season (lente).  This makes a lot of sense in a country in which the gardening season comes so deep into the winter calendar season.  It's really the January showers that bring February flowers (at least this year), and I've been enjoying the snowdrops and crocuses (which are done), daffodills, forsythia (which seems to hold the sun in the sky longer in their part of the garden), cherry blossoms, camellias, oregon grape, azaleas, and many more blossoms for what seems like a very long while now.  I imagine that if Seattle was its own country and developed its own language, they would have two words for spring as well.
    The kids have a lot of days off for the Easter holiday because the school has moved some of the "study days" (when kids are off and teachers work) to surround the holidays that other nearby schools get to make it longer.  C gets Monday off, and we have been getting a lot of ads exclaiming they are open Monday, the second Easter Day (2e Paasdaag).  It is different living in a country in which the Christian religious holidays are national holidays.

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March 18, 2008

    I've got to get back in the habit of writing here regularly.  It's not always that I'm not writing at all (though that is true sometimes), but that it doesn't end up here.  I've written a couple of long e-mails to folks who aren't regular readers and so thought I'd turn some of what I wrote to them into the more public sphere.  So, here's the layout of a typical week:

    My phone has an alarm that goes off Monday through Friday at 7 and I'm up by 7:30.  I make lunches and breakfast.  I pack a snack and a lunch for both boys.  In the beginning, I made just one big lunch with food enough for snack as well, but A had trouble knowing what he was supposed to eat when, so his gets packed separately.  They usually get a fruit leather (though those will run out next week), a cut up apple (though B lately has wanted a banana and A canned pears, in which case they get only enough apple to clean their teeth after the fruit leather), one or two of chips or crackers (pretzels, Tuc crackers, Pringles, or Stengles, a salty buttery phyllo dough type cracker), some juice, some water, and some kwark.  They have adopted flavored kwark sticks, something similar to the Stonyfield Farms squeezable yogurt they had in Seattle.  Kwark is essentially a soft cheese that is stirred at a time to make it the texture of yoghurt.  So far as I can tell, you can only call something yoghurt if it is fermented with certain strains of cultures.  This is close enough for them.
    Breakfast is pancakes, waffles, scones, oatmeal, or poffertjes.  Poffertjes are little mini pancakes (about the size of a 50 cent piece) we buy in packs of 60.  The boys each eat between 15 and 20 at a sitting.  I found rolled oats at the organic food store.  I made a big batch of oatmeal that I was going to warm up in the mornings, but then the door shattered in our small combination microwave and oven and it went bad during the week we were without easy heating.  Scones and eggs are a favorite, but only available if I get up without snoozing too often.  Pancakes are made from scratch since we haven't much liked the texture of the mixes available here (they seem much more geared to crepes and get weird when thick).  Waffles are much less of a staple for us because of the move.  I was successful in my grand search to find a regular (rather than Belgian) waffle maker, eventually finding one online, though it was shaped in five heart shapes instead of four 5" squares.  When it came, I realized how much smaller it was than I had thought.  So when a waffle comes out of the iron every five minutes, it feeds one instead of four.  With two boys who both want to be first, this means some finagling, and preparing a double batch takes a long time on a weekend morning.  Then, we have a long, one-slot toaster in which to toast them during the week.  This means cutting one waffle in half (2.5 hearts) and again the problem with being first.  A likes to eat his waffle hearts like pizza without cutting, and B likes his hearts cut into three pieces.  For weekends we have one of the above or C will make French toast.  We found maple syrup at the organic food store which the kids like better than the stroop usually served (which is just molasses).  And finding peanut butter has not been a problem.  I've been buying organic eggs and it wasn't until today when I saw a special Easter package of white eggs and colored dyes with the rest of the eggs that I realized that no white eggs are usually available in the stores at all.  Eggs are also not refrigerated in the stores and apparently Europe doesn't have the problems with salmonella that the US does.
    The kids and I get dressed and their backpacks get loaded and I take the boys to school in the jogger.  I try to leave by 8:30.  Mondays B has gym and library, and A has little gym.  Tuesdays B has little gym, Thursdays A has gym, Fridays A has library and Fridays are pizza day as well.  Gym requires a gym bag full of clothes that they change into for gym and special gym shoes have been requested.  B goes to the upper school, a building down the street that houses groups 5-8, because he is in group 3, but A in group 2 has gym in the gymnasium at the lower school.  Little gym is different from gym because instead of a separate gym teacher, the regular classroom teacher runs it in the gymnasium at the lower school.  Library has a good collection of books of which they may choose two.  A has leaned toward the non-fiction books and B the story books.  Pizza day is the only day that they have the option of buying lunch.  There is no cafeteria, so lunch is eaten in the classroom under the supervision of a lunch mum.
    Most kid transport seems to be either by car or by bike (or walking if folks live close enough), so my jogger is an oddity.  I've had at least two offers of a bike and bike trailer instead so I don't have to work as hard, and some mornings it is tempting.  It is about 2.2 km each way.  I run in the mornings in running clothes (with speed that varies depending on when we actually left home) and attempt to get to the school by 8:55 when the bell rings to line up.  The kids line up by classroom and B and A's classrooms (and lines outside) are right next to each other.  I kiss them and they go inside.  I have locked up the stroller in the bike rack in front of the school (the kids park at bike racks inside their playground gates), not because I think it likely that someone would steal the stroller, but because it would cause me a lot of trouble if it did walk away.  And then I walk or run home.
    Often I stop to get groceries on my way home.  It is easier to shop without kids and the shops are all closed by the time C gets home from work.  There are any number of reasons for frequent grocery store trips.  One, I am carrying things in my backpack or in bags dangling from my hands, so buying in bulk can be painful.  Two, our refrigerator is very small (and separate from our freezers) so I can't fit very much in it.  Three, they don't sell things in bulk.  There is no Costco.  The largest size milk container you can find is 1.5 liter (and organic only comes in 1 liter packs), you can find eggs in packs of 6, 10 or 12, and the largest flour and sugar available is 1 kilo.  As far as I can tell, the working Dutch shop on the one night a week that shops stay open late (til 9!) and again on Saturday.  Very very few stores are open on Sundays, and most don't open again until Monday after noon.  Menu planning and (ironically) stocking up is important for getting through the week and weekend without missing something crucial and not being able to buy it.
    I have found a source for most things I cook and bake with, though that statement is with some caveats.  There are a couple of online sources for things like Ritz crackers and baking soda I haven't used yet.  I haven't figured out where to get (or if I can) some of the meats I am used to getting.  And some things (like Good Earth tea, Trader Joe chocolate caramels, freeze dried strawberries, and Stonyfield Farms squeezable yogurts) we will just do without for our time here.  The biggest problem so far has been the kids' fluoride rinse.  Before our shipment of stuff came (on Feb 11), we had run out of the bubblegum flavored Act rinse they were used to.  I tried buying a replacement, but they don't list a flavor (which turned out to be vile).  There are another couple to try, but I don't know if we will have any more luck with them than we did with the first.  They are a couple of days away from running out again, so we'll see soon.
    At home, I have been spending my time getting settled, writing in my blog, losing a bunch of messages in my e-mail box, figuring out where to go for what, and putting things away.  For the last few weeks, C and I have had Dutch lessons on Monday and Friday mornings at 9:30-11:30, so I have run back at speed on those days in order to have time for a shower before she arrives at our house.
    On Wednesdays the kids get off school at 12:45 (before eating their lunch) and the rest of the week they are released at 15:00.  (They use the 24 hour clock here).  My phone alarm goes off at 14:15 every day so I remember.  The dog and I start walking about 2:30 since he is somewhat slow and to give me time to chat with the other mums at school (you can sense perhaps the British influence at the international school).  I tie the dog to the playground fence between some of the bicycles and retrieve the stroller.  The dog has groupies now, a group of kids that like to fawn over him, pet him, and greet him.  C thinks this might be useful when it's time to travel and we need a pet sitter.  B's teacher walks out with them, and A's classroom has an emergency exit door to the outside through which she releases the kids to their parents.  Usually the kids want to play for a while before we head home.  They sit in the stroller on the way home and finish whatever they didn't eat in their lunches.
    C usually gets home (he bikes to the train station and then goes either to Amsterdam or Hoogeveen) sometime between 6:30 and 7:30.  I have tried to institute homework hour from 5-6 (that magical fighting hour) with limited success so far.  Both kids have enjoyed play dates here or away.  They took an interest in cooking with me for a while, which seems to have mostly passed.  They will read or play games or play.  Dinner is after C gets home.  We were all cleaning up together after dinner, which was nice, but we need to get back in that habit as well.  The kids go to bed around nine, and C and I often stay up too late.

    And there you have it. 
    C and I are both in various stages of being sick.  He took a day off work today to stay home sick and it's not clear if he will be much better by tomorrow.  I would love to take a day off too, but that's not easy for a stay-at-home mom to do.  Since I'm just dealing with sinuses and being tired, I'm not really as sick as all that anyway.  Still, it does mean that I'm going to put off doing the dishes for yet another day so that I can go to bed.  Which means that we received in the mail a written thank you for the dinner we hosted on Saturday before we finished doing the dishes.  Oh, well.  Housework will wait and I'm the only one bothered by the eau de old fish anyway since C can't smell and the boys spend very little time in the kitchen. 
    Tomorrow is the last day of school until next week, and I need to get all of us up early tomorrow so I can dress and walk to school since I want to go on the field trip with A's class without sweat and stink to deal with.  Okay, I'm falling asleep here, so I'm cutting this shorter.ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.  Yup.

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March 12, 2008

    The last 24 hours has been an impressive crescendo of acquisition.  We have receinved a sewing machine, a very large wardrobe, two desks, two desk chairs, a small movable kitchen island, a blender, a stand mixer, a honking big television, a DVR, a sound system with six speakers, groceries, a wake up light, 4 lamps and lightbulbs, a television cabinet, a little table for next to the couch, and a rosemary plant. 
    I have been putting a lot of things together, moving things around, reading instruction manuals, and nearly losing C by failing to keep a good enough grip on the very heavy wardrobe we're replacing as we tried to put it up from the bedroom to the attic this evening.  Somewhat unfortunately, we have put the television together but not figured out how to get the DVR to work with our cable box so it's just on and not television that I particularly want to watch, but I am doing so anyway.  It is making this entry take a very.   long.   time.
    I haven't turned my computer on for a couple of days (until now, obviously) so I have mail to catch up with as well.  This Saturday marks the first of three Saturdays in a row in which we are entertaining guests.  Since we have Ikea boxes still scattered around the house that need assembling, and all of our clothing is in piles, and we haven't incorporated all of the things we've bought into our house yet, I am not feeling particularly ready to play hostess.  Especially since the boys have a playdate tomorrow and I have class again on Friday, need to buy groceries, and I don't think I'm going to have time to get done all the things I want or need to.
    And that's all you get.  Sorry.  I'll try to be a better blog writer in future.  I can't think that slouching on this couch trying to write a blog entry while the television is on late into the night is something I'm eager to repeat.  My back hurts.  Of course, part of that is indubitably due to hauling heavy stuff around, but not all of it.  I didn't need the half package of chocolate chip cookies either.  Especially because I was too much of a slug to get myself some milk to go with them.  Going to bed already...

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March 6, 2008

    Well I've spent the last two days (at least, probably more given that it's been four days since my last post) needing to write but sabotaging my own attempts.  Now it's 1:45 in the morning, C is upstairs asleep with the boys and likely to be deeply unhappy both that I didn't wake him up to spend time with him after he'd been gone overnight (cut me some slack on euphemisms since our mothers read this blog and besides that's the part that he'll be unhappy about anyway) and that I left him sleeping on the short side of a queen size bed with not enough covers instead of shooing him down a door to our comfortable big bed where he reportedly gets "real" and better sleep.  And here I am just starting to write.  Because I couldn't let yet another opportunity drain away fruitless.  And yet I'll probably just write a catalog of the things I want to write about without going much into any of them (since it is a school night and I am getting older and grayer and dang 7 am comes earlier and earlier sometimes).  Sigh.
    I want to write about B's field trip to Nike today and his artistry and eye for design impressing the grown ups.  I want to write about his being nervous about going on playdates to other people's houses but going on one today anyway.  I want to write about how a classmate's compliment to another boy being "the best friend we'll ever have" hurt B and my discussion with him about girls and "best friends" and what she probably meant, all to try to stave off his successfully finding out her address and writing her an angry letter.  (I approve, actually, of the angry letter and his channeling his feelings into writing, especially writing that tells someone how he feels; but I'm not sure he ought to send this one if it actually gets written.)  I want to write about A being a gym super star and getting a prize, and his excitement that it's the Smurf on a pillow that we didn't have yet (Albert Heijn is running a Smurf promotion and giving out little Smurf and Gargamel and Azrael figures when you shop there.  We now have 13 Smurf of 8 different types, about half way to "collecting them all," I think.).
    I want to write about the absolute pain in the ass that functioning without a microwave and oven has turned out to be.  Didn't realize how often I used that appliance until it was rudely shattered.  The repair guy just showed up on Monday during our first Dutch lesson, looked briefly at it, said he'd have to call Siemens to order a new door and would call later to make an appointment when it was in.  No call yet.  I nearly bought a microwave today at Blokker as they had magnetrons on sale for 34 Euro because it's been so frustrating to heat leftovers on the stove.  If I hadn't had to pee and the box was somehow smaller than what was inside of it, I might have.
    I want to write about how conscious I have become of the precious and private resource that water is here in such different ways than in the States.  While the move from public drinking fountains to plastic bottled water toting that is happening in America I can expound on like many others.  Teaming that with the lack of ice, water fountains, and accessible and free bathrooms here in the Netherlands can make for interesting (I hope) divergences.  They certainly sell ice cube trays here (including in funny shaped silicone trays for all the times you want heart or star shaped ice cubes), but there is no ice water visible in restaurants.  Of course, my restaurant use in the Netherlands is limited to two visits (three if you count Ikea's food court) since coming to live here and all my meals in the five day visit we had here in November, but I still feel I can generalize.  Water requires an effort to order it.  It is not something served as a matter of course.  It comes in a bottle with glasses instead of a pitcher or a set of glasses to be refilled, and can be ordered fizzy (red) or still (blue), but is so far never enough for me and I end up rationing my own sips, conscious that the level in the glass is only going down and never back up again.  I am reading a bunch of environmental blogs, so I am conscious of water as a precious resource and simultaneously living in two places (Seattle and The Netherlands) that both get sometimes voluminous quantities of fresh water and are unlikely to be facing the rationing and decision-making that have caused the likes of Saudia Arabia to abandon wheat farming.  It was much easier for me to conserve water with a glad heart while I was living in San Jose in the summer than it is in the rainy winter of Hilversum or Seattle.  But the inability to simply get a drink of water here points out to me how private a precious resource it is.  Water is freely available, but only at home.  "Go to the bathroom now, boys, because we're going to the store and you won't have another chance until we get home again."  The one time A had to go and we were in the organic store, I asked and the clerk gave me a coupon/pass and directed me to the parking garage down the street where I could get a key for a pay toilet.  I pack a water bottle in the kids' lunches instead of just a cup because B reports that the sink in the room (which serves for them at lunch as well as the rest of the day) is for washing but not for drinking.  I assume that this is just teacher or lunch mum preference since I can't really imagine that they pipe non-potable water into a school, but I haven't actually asked anyone and simply pack them a water bottle.  I'm glad I'm not still nursing, or I'd be traveling everywhere with an even bigger weight of water in my backpack myself.
    I want to write about the gaping hole that is our mail slot and how I can feel the wind coming in and watch it billowing our curtains even though the windows are closed.  I want to write about how fast I've become accustomed to the steep stairs in this house.  I want to write about laundry.  I want to write about our dog turning eleven this spring.  I want to write about how the weather here has become fast like I'm used to winter weather being and catching hailstones in my mouth by looking up at the sky.  I want to write about unrefrigerated eggs, the size of my refrigerator, the lack of frozen corn, our tin can collection, and wistfully about buying in bulk.  I want to write about my list of things I'd like from the U.S. and the difficulties I've had in compiling said list.  I want to write about Dutch class, iTunes, and signing the kids up for extra classes (which I haven't done yet).  I want to exhort all my Seattle friends (and especially former/future classmates of B's) to sign up for Skype already so we can see and talk to you.  I need to spend time responding to e-mails, writing inviations and acceptances for work on my "friends in Hilversum" front, and penning a thoughtful response and position paper on the rules of who can visit The Property when.
    Instead I read other peoples words when I sit down at the computer, slim down the html on my Netherlands Recipe page while adding only one recipe, or wake up at midnight in the boys room last night and start playing Spider so my eyes will unglue themselves from my contacts and then stubbornly and beyond all reason or sense play for another two and a half hours.  Sometimes, all too frequently, I'm not very smart. 
    Well, time to go roust C from sleep in one bed so he can move to another one even though it doesn't make sense to me that waking him up will help him sleep better.  I've tried and that doesn't make more sense to me when I'm less tired either.  I suspect going in to my next Dutch lesson tomorrow morning without having done my homework and with as little sleep as I'm getting tonight/this morning is less than ideal.  Again, sometimes, all too frequently, I'm not very smart.

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March 2, 2008

    We've had a number of successes this weekend.  C got his employee discount card and a "10% korting" so we just spent a lot of Euro on a bunch of the remaining missing electronics.  Unlike the Ikea order (which we still have to go in to make), we were able to place the order and get the 10% discount online, so we did that today.  We're looking forward to receiving those in 6-8 days.  C went to the hardware store yesterday in search of a whole list of things including caulk for the tub and top for the space in our bathroom above the washing machine.  He returned with a white laminate shelf for above the washer that just fit beautifully and makes that space much more usable.  I did one final rescue of all the things that had fallen behind the washer before putting it up and now it looks great.  Also, I put together our final damage report for the movers with pictures and purchase, repair and/or replacement costs.  I took the opportunity to try and find out what our plates and dishes are called.  The set was started back when I was a wee one with a pitcher and a teapot as anniversary presents between my folks.  When they returned later to buy more, I understand, they discovered that the pattern had been discontinued.  Years later, my mom found a whole bunch of matching dishes, bowls, and tea sets at a garage sale and bought them up, and gave them to me.  We've had some break, as is usual with using something every day, but, partly because the dishes are a deep bluish black on the bottom where a creator might be named, we've none of us known what the pattern was called.  Until now...  I started my search at the bottom of the alphabet at this site.  I was going through them while the kids climbed on top of me and we all listened to the first lesson on the Dutch language I have on my mp3 player, one after another, after another.  It was made a lot easier because the style I was looking for was easy to spot against all of the white dishes displayed.  Finally (up in the Ds), I found it!  That's been a low priority item on my to do list for years.  It's fun to get those nagging items clear off of the list by doing them instead of outgrowing them.
    We've also had a number of troubles.  Friday morning I put two tablespoons of butter into our microwave/oven for a minute to melt for pancakes.  As I was separating eggs when it finished and started its incessant beeping, I just let it beep.  Then, all of a sudden it went pop.  I was sure that was the end of that particular Pyrex pudding cup, but when I opened the oven door, it was intact and the butter wasn't even completely melted.  The oven door, however, was shattered on the inside.  Of course, it was safety glass and so created a nice squarish pattern and stayed in the door instead of spewing into the oven and onto the floor, but it seemed to originate from a spot of grease near the bottom of the door.  Now, this is an oven as well as a microwave, and spots of grease are to be expected, so I don't know why it broke.  We got the owner's manual out and perused the English pages again to see if there was something we should have been doing that we hadn't been, but no.  Instead of calling around to find a replacement door, C convinced me that we should call our landlord (since we have one) and let them take care of it for us.  He made the call and they said they would call us back.  It's now Sunday (not that I expected a call on Sunday in this country) and we haven't heard a peep yet.  I have to adjust our menu to reflect our inability to defrost quickly, bake, broil, roast, or warm up leftovers except in a pan on the stove.  Since we received a fryer as well as a vacuum on Thursday, we are not as limited as we would be otherwise, but it's still a pain.  The fryer is somewhat of an experiment.  I haven't seen the need for one before and it seemed as though most of the things we'd make in one weren't all that healthy anyway, but it was available, we can only own this one for three years, and I thought I'd try it out.  Now that we have it, we ought to use it, and I sat down on Thursday after reading through the instructions and made a list of the things I want to make in it.  Topping the list is sweet potato fries (which I didn't get enough of at Kidd Valley before we left), then tempura, and homemade samosas, and onion rings, fried chicken, french fries, doughnuts, beignets, and olie bollen (especially since they are a seasonal treat here and disappeared at the beginning of February).  Yum.
    We moved the kids up a bike today.  A was on a 12" with training wheels, and B on a 16" without.  We moved A to the 16" with training wheels back on, and B to the 18" without.  A fits much better and seemed to be moving faster with the bigger wheels, but B is still a bit short for the bigger bike.  He had some struggles with it when he rode it around the block with C and A, mainly in starting it, and he wanted to go around again with me so he could ride in the street instead of on the sidewalk.  Since I needed the practice too, I strapped my helmet on and headed out with him.  After falling over with the bike just waiting for me to get out of the garage, it was clear that this bike didn't fit him as well as the smaller one.  He did have trouble starting, but managed okay.  However, as we made the second turn around the block, he slowed down too much, wobbled, tangled his feet, fell over with the bike and caught the handlebar in his mouth.  He was very much done, so I trailed after his hurt and upset self with both my bike and his.  He needs more practice with this bike, but I don't know how willing he will be this week.  Maybe if we put the training wheels back on he can figure out how to stand on the ground with the bike under him and not be so afraid of falling that he does.  I'd rather not move A down again to the tiny bike, but that's what B would prefer.
    I got to work outside in the yard this afternoon.  C pruned a thorny bush next to the garage and pruned the wisteria off the roof of the garage.  I cut the dead flowers off one of the hydrangeas and another bush that is starting to sprout green leaves as well as cleaning up the ground of dead branches and weeds in one corner.  There wasn't much room left in our yard waste/compost bin, so I'll wait until there is for my next foray (unless I can't wait and then I'll just make a pile or something).  I do so love to work in the dirt.  There's something very calming and satisfying for me about creating order and working in a garden among growing things.  I suspect in future I can work outside while the kids are playing outside or across the street and have plenty of opportunities.  Since we don't own this place, there is some pull to just leave everything as it is and just maintain it all, but I do want to grow some vegetables and herbs for our use, and I enjoy gardening, so we shall see.  I certainly don't want to sink a lot of money into plants that I have to leave, so I will limit any purchases to those that I will eat.  Though maybe a houseplant or two; it's quite weird not to have any since we left them all with my mom, and it seems to be what one puts in one's windows here.
    The week with kids home was fine, though they are pretty ready to go back to school.  It helps them be home together and mostly doing the same things if they spend a large chunk of the day apart in school.  B was also pretty sad by the end of today missing his home and friends and wanting to avoid anything that reminded him of Seattle.  I suggested instead that being sad can help us realize what we value and what we really like about the places and people that we left, and that maybe instead of trying not to think about it, he could spend time writing letters or maybe watching the video compilation made of his kindergarten year.  He spent the next hour on the couch beside his dad watching the video and laughing while I kept A busy playing Uno upstairs.  He has said that he will let me know when he's sad again so we can talk about it and I would hold him again and be sad together.
    I am starting to feel like I can tackle some projects rather than spend most of my time in setting up mode.  This is a big step up and one that I didn't really see coming.  I'm not sure what the magic ingredient was to getting me to this point, but I'm glad to be here.  Now to see if I can translate that feeling into actual productivity...  I'll let you know.

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February 28, 2008

    OH NO OH NO OH NO OH NO OH NO.
    Big frustrated sigh and bleeped swearing commence.
    This is not the way I wanted to deal with the many e-mail messages in my inbox.  Apparently sometime in the last few days (but not today because then it wouldn't be irreversible) I highlighted and deleted all of the messages from senders whose names began with the letters A-N that were in my main folder to which I was going to reply and/or deal with.  #$%^&*(!  Please forgive me.  I promise always to look at the "Are you sure you want to delete" messages from now on, and check my deleted folder before closing my mail program.  On Sunday I had 313 messages in my main folder.  I now have 100.  Much as I would have liked to have taken care of so many messages with due care and thought, that's not what went down.  I have nearly no idea what or who those 213 deleted messages were about or from, just that I had set them aside because I wanted to do something further with them.  Gaaaah!  So, please, feel free to send again anything you think I might have missed or want, especially if you've sent me mail and I haven't responded.  Those of you with both first AND last names that exist in the bottom half of the alphabet, I'll be getting to you soon.  I hope.  *0(*&^%.

    Spent an otherwise lovely day working on my computer while the kids were on a double play date and C was at work, mainly writing e-mails and finally placing the order to replace the lost disks from Christmastime.  I sure wish that hadn't gone missing.  It's not just the money (though between the eight disks borrowed from the library and the 16 favorite CDs and DVDs, we're talking hundreds of dollars), it's a total pain to replace them and have to deal with living in a foreign country as well.  Next time I'll chain any collection to my bag!
    So, I've spent hours writing, but very little of it here.  Which makes me feel good, but I also end up feeling like I've already written about various things I should probably include here as well.  Regardless, it is now (I know you're surprised!) late and I need to get to bed.  Tomorrow C is taking off and we still have no good plan for what to do with the next three days before the kids go back to school and our language lessons begin on Monday morning.

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February 26, 2008

    It's been a while since my last post, for various reasons.  First let me clean up some dangling items.
    It seems that shutting the cat in the work room at night has been a fine solution.  She does meow and paw at the door when she wants out, and if someone is moving around I can hear her hop down from her bed and start to let us know she's ready to get out.  But, it's not as if she is boycotting the room or anything, since she can now often be found in that room in her bed sunning herself in the window.  Since we don't let her out until we get up, we no longer have to deal with the cat insisting we wake up by swatting our electronics, eye glasses or glasses of water to the floor.  There is some question about the litter tray and the dog which I should simply solve by moving boxes around until the dog can't get to it.  Nevertheless, it seems to be a qualified success.  I suspect it will be what gets us through the winters here without a cat door.
    I got the two jogger back tires replaced (and the right inner tube) so it is running fine again.  I also figured out why the right tire where A sits was more worn than on B's side - almost the entirety of the previous school year was spent going down the hill with the jogger empty, picking up A at preschool and running the two miles to B's kindergarten and then running home with both of them.  That's a lot of miles with weight on just the one side, so it's no wonder  it was so much more worn.  I took the opportunity of a playdate for A at our house to let B ride to school and back on his bike.  He did wonderfully, and we were at school much faster in the morning than we usually are.  A seemed to be fine with getting there so early, which was a nice change from his wanting to get there just in time for the bell to line up and not seeming to know what to do with himself.  In fact, he was proud to put his backpack first in line and he ended up being the line leader for the rest of the day.
    One possible solution to the different bicycling abilities of the boys is to get a second hand little trail behind bike thing that attaches to the back of my bike for A to pedal and ride with me while B rides his own bicycle.  This would require another purchase and because we would be going faster than the dog can comfortably run, he would be unhappily left at home every day at pick up time.  So there are disadvantages to that scenario as well.  If A is happy letting his brother ride while I run, we can continue that, but we'd need to make sure that A got practice biking at other times too so he can eventually ride as well.  I guess at some point in the future the dog will get left behind and require separate walks no matter what we decide now.  Hmmm.  It seems this is an evolving situation.
    I also took A's playdate on Friday as an opportunity to get the house further unpacked and looking nice while the kids were in school.  I first emptied the three boxes of canned fruit, jams, jellies and photos.  Yes indeed, our canned peaches were packed on top of our photographs.  I can't tell you how glad I am that none broke, and how little I think of some packer's decision to pack those things in the same box.  I unpacked the toys that were in boxes and put them away, and consolidated the board games into two big boxes.  I unwrapped the futon and tucked it in a corner of the toy room, and sorted out the contents of the work / project room.  The papers and boxes got stacked in their mountain (the collapsed boxes and sheets of wrapping paper and the box of torn wrapping paper are in the dining room now and reach within a foot of the top of the kitchen door).  What with the books being put on their shelves earlier, I think we're a few pictures away from finalizing our list of what was broken in the move.  So far the tally is a plate, a saucer, our globe, my dining room table, and the plastic briefcase our stamp pads were in.  Again, I'm just glad a jar of peaches and several years worth of photos and some negatives aren't on that list.
    Our Dutch classes begin on Monday.
    We can't in fact order from Ikea from the comfort of our own home in this country, so we'll need to go back with our list and purchase and have delivered the stuff we want.  I was wrong about unpacking our candles since they went to storage (as did all of our table linens except a handful of cloth napkins - oops), so we are still eating dinner in a dim dining room.  The appliances we ordered were mostly out of stock, so we just placed another order.  We have two huge and power hungry appliances in our kitchen through C's work, but since he is the only one who drinks the products they dispense, it seems a bit silly to allocate that much counter space to them.  A vacuum will be coming soon, which will be nice.  The kids spent the morning jumping around in the attic and getting down most of the clothes I'd hung on the clotheslines up there to dry.  They had a very fun time doing it and there was a lot of laughter.  Next time, however, we can have vacuumed and cleaned the floors and stairs in the attic so when they pull the dry clothes down and toss them down the stairs, they don't land in spiderwebs and collections of pet hair.
    I know there is some irony to starting to hang clothes instead of using the dryer now that the electrician has come and gone and the dryer and washer can be run simultaneously without blowing a circuit.  I'm okay with that.  Our warm light load is on the line at the moment, and should prove to be a good indicator about whether drying underwear, socks and towels on the line is sufficient, or whether they need a five minute tumble in the dryer afterwards to avoid "pointy" underwear and crunchy towels.  Aside from the energy advantages, line-drying also avoids the very annoying forty minutes of buzzing and intermittent tumbling after the load is finished drying - which I am certain annoys our neighbor because it definitely annoys me when I'm in bed beneath it with the boys.  I'd like to get a collapsible drying rack for outside even though there are certainly seasons both here and in Seattle where it would be mostly useless.  They also sell a bunch of nifty inside ones here as well which I have been looking over as well.  Since the lines upstairs are there, I've been using them, but they can't hold two whole loads and the weather hasn't been conducive to drying things quickly, so I may need to supplement.  Besides, I can bring them home with us when we go back.
    The games have since been put away crowded into the glass fronted bookcase we were using for vases and pottery in Seattle.  The boys, of course, have been getting game after game out to play.  Yesterday B got out the Syzygy game and started playing with it on his own asking after the spelling of words once in a while.  Today the two of us played a game together.  I handicapped myself by requiring five letter words or more and it was about right - we both said draw at different points during the game, I was able to give some help at various times, and we essentially tied at the end.  And even A popped in for a good suggestion or two for B.  I think it's extremely cool that B is so interested in playing word games (so interested that he'll even play them with me, Boggle included!).  It makes my insides do a wiggly, happy dance.
    In addition to board games, the boys have been making good use of the big tub of balls and sports equipment that was recently unearthed.  B has gone across the street to the little playground quite a bit over the last few days, either by himself or with his brother, and on Sunday with his dad as well.  Baseball, soccer/voetball, basketball and frisbee.  It's nice to be able to watch the boys play from the dining room table.  They are very good brothers to each other, especially when I keep them fed. 
    Oops.  Crap.  I'm falling asleep in front of the computer again.  Time for bed. 
  
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February 20, 2008

    The cat woke me up this morning by knocking my water jug over and spilling water on the floor where I couldn't get to it without waking A and C and hurting my elbow trying.  Grrr.  Since I was awake I let the pets out and spent the time before my alarm went off making a list of stuff I need to do and trying to figure out a solution to the problem the cat poses.  Part of the problem is that she doesn't have a way in and out and relies on me to open the door for her.  Since it is winter, she doesn't really want to spend too much time outside so either she goes into other people's houses (we heard from yet another neighbor that she has been an unwelcome guest) or wants in and then out and then in again, or wants out but doesn't want to go outside when the weather is bad and so will stand at the door once I've opened it for her looking out and deciding she doesn't really have to go that badly.  We didn't have a cat door in the Seattle rental or in our house in San Jose, but it wasn't as much of an issue because I wasn't sleeping as well.  Now that my kids are older, I can have whole uninterrupted nights of sleep, or could until we moved here and the cat decides it is time to roam.  One of the solutions I came up with this morning was buying a new back door and installing a cat door in it.  C said this is impossible (to hang a door in another frame so that it fits correctly, etc.).  I pointed out that it was one of those things that will annoy me about this house that I'd like to fix early in our stay, and that I really think we need to find a way for her to get in and out without bugging me (and it is me, not C, because he's not home and he doesn't wake up).  The Dutch habit of leaving a window open is not something I've been willing to embrace with temperatures below freezing, and the one window it might work to replace with a cat door solution is already one of the few double paned windows.  This will require more wrestling about before we find a solution, I think.  In the meantime, we're going to try locking her in one of the bedrooms at night, one of the ones without people or much for her to knock over in her ire, and put her tray of kitty litter in with her for emergencies.  It may be a one night experiment, or what gets us through without a cat door, I have no idea which.
    The kids didn't have school today so enjoyed playing computer games while I sorted out bathroom supplies and linens.  Then we went out to the library and a store to get speakers for the other desktop computer.  Well, we tried to find the library anyway.  We were looking for the branch or "servicepunt" nearest us, and we came armed with the address and my map.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  I asked a woman at a bus stop on the corner where it was supposed to be and she said it was down the road quite a ways but she didn't think it was open.  I said it didn't matter, since I was just returning books.  This, I know now, was a mistake, but I'll tell you why in a moment.  We went down the road a ways and I kept my eye open even though I was getting further and further from 337.  When we got to the street I had intended to take to the store, we took it.  Afterwards, instead of heading home, I made my way to the central library, which I knew was open and how to find it.  The kids enjoyed the library and we picked out our maximum six books and stood in line to check out.  I was able to successfully check one of the six books out, but then couldn't figure out the Dutch messages the computer was giving me for the following attempts.  The woman behind me in line didn't seem to know what the problem was either, so I checked with the front desk.  I discovered that instead of just putting the books in the red and green slots inside the library, you first need to check them in (much the same way you check them out, though without need of your card).  So, I rescued the five books I had put through the slot without checking them in first, checked them out, and then stood in line again to check out the other five books.  Apparently I need to return books when the library is open.  That's one way to increase your circulation, I suppose.
    Yesterday I had a hard day.  I read a book (a Joanna Brady mystery my old roommate gave me), so I didn't get much accomplished on the house (or computer, obviously).  And then I wrestled with knowing that the library books I had were due that day but didn't know how to renew them online (or if I could, since it costs money to renew), or how the fines worked for overdue books.  And knowing that the other books in the series I would like to read are unlikely to be in the limited English section of the library.  What does a dedicated library user like me do?  I could offer my library up for swapping with other parents at the school, but since I am such a dedicated library user, I don't really have much adult fiction to swap. Do I pay money to buy books (either in print or electronic form)?  Is it worth it?  It's not as though I don't have a thousand other things I should probably be doing instead.  Which makes me sad and depressed.  I have enough problems with guilt when I read for pleasure -- I certainly don't need to add an expense to the burden as well.
    Also yesterday, I had a conversation with another of the mums (there really are very few Americans at the school and so I find myself adopting a British English way of speaking).  She asked if I had many friends here.  And right up until that point I hadn't really realized that I was in need of any.  I have friends in the States.  I have C.  I have friendly acquaintances at the school.  But suddently I was lonely and had no confidence in my ability to make friends.  Damned hormones anyway don't help.  I managed to reply that I did "not really, but I'm working on it," and we now have a nebulous date for getting together for coffee some morning,  I do somewhere know that I can make friends, but it isn't always second nature for me to do the things to make a friendship go since I'm often quite happy to be in my own little home world (until, suddenly, of course, I'm not).  So, it will require some conscious effort on my part, but making that effort is one of the ways I want to stretch myself on this trip anyway.

    B's class put on a job fair recently and B decided to be a vet.  We tried to get him to talk to one of our vet friends via Skype over the weekend, but between timing issues and his reluctance, it didn't happen.  Nevertheless, he did a great job putting together a good presentation.  The job fair lasted all afternoon and three other classrooms and us parents all toured the fair and provided sticky note compliments to them.  He wore my scrubs top over his clothes, had some medical play equipment I found at the toy store, had our collection of dogs and cats, an E-collar he fashioned from thick paper, and a sheet full of information that he read from we couldn't get him to part with.  The last several days he keeps asking to play vet, setting up his equipment on some of the empty boxes and asking A or me to bring in a pet with a complaint.  He has enjoyed making up solutions to the presenting problems and often has the owner returning with the pet "in a week."  It's good fun.
    The boys' midterm report cards came home recently.  We also got forwarded the letter allowing that A did indeed qualify for the gifted program he tested for before we left.  I'm a little concerned that both B and A's abilities aren't fully recognized or supported and challenged at their school now.  I don't know whether it matters that their reading and writing and math skills won't track their old schools' trajectory since we're adding in this European experience to their world.  Probably not.  At the same time, A doesn't really like to go to school, and it is hard for me to tease out how much of that is because he'd rather stay home playing computer games, because he hasn't made as many friends yet, because he has two teachers he likes differently, or because he's bored and unchallenged.  I guess we'll continue to do what we do at home, and try to make sure that we're supporting A as well as we do B since they are at different levels.

    I have been meaning to write about how the culture and situation here impacts my environmentalism - from the small refrigerators to the washing machine dials to the bikes - but that will have to wait for another evening.  Today B put out the entire Sesame Street board book alphabet in a long line across the living room floor (and read all of them), so I spent a little too much time memorizing the alphabet backwards to stay up late and be very coherent.  I used the same tune that I learned the books of the New Testament to once upon a time, though, so once I get to "C, B and A," I want to continue with "First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James," finishing "First Peter, Second Peter, Three Johns, Jude and Revelation!"  Clearly time for bed.

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February 18, 2008

    I read blogs during my oatmeal breakfast, did some unpacking and organizing in our computer room (the area in the ell part of our living/dining room space in the southern corner).  Then I sat down to read something during my leftover spaghetti lunch, and after pulling out jewelry boxes and a book I'd already read, I unearthed Positive Discipline and settled for reading it.  I just read this paragraph: "The above example also illustrates the concept of working for improvement, instead of expecting perfection.  Perfection is such an unrealistic expectation, and very discouraging to those who feel they must live up to it.  Children would rather not try at all than experience constant discouragement because they don't live up to an adult's expectation of perfection - or their own.  Recognition of improvement is encouraging and inspires children to continue their efforts."  Oops.  Oh, yeah.  B has been struggling with hitting his brother when he's angry and later very distraught that he "can't control his body."  I have forgotten to work towards improvement, and think that he's viewed changing his behavior as so big and hard and impossible that he hasn't been really working towards any change and instead behaving the same and hoping for a magic wand to wave and change him.  I'll see if I can remember this long enough to implement it.
    Now soon to drop by a bike shop and see if they can direct me or themselves sell replacement tires for the jogger.  The back right tire was flat again this morning.  I mentioned the possibility of B biking and letting A sit on his side and he was all set to go, but since we were late I kept to our regular routine.  Perhaps tomorrow, even if I can get the tires replaced.
    I've realized that I should just give myself a break and not feel like I've failed when clerks talk to me in English.  (Apparently I must keep learning and relearning the lessons on perfection and mindset.)  Especially since I haven't had any classes yet.  The company is supposed to set up classes for both C and I but they are having difficulty finding an instructor (?!).  I'm not sure what the difficulty is, but C is on top of it.  Or will be when I help him get organized as he has asked me to do.

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February 17, 2008

    I've kept meaning to write here and then fallen asleep.  I have finally come to the point where I am admitting that I have caught the cold that A has, though I am managing it a lot better than he is (except for sleeping instead of blogging, though I may be putting that in the wrong column).  "Cover your cough, A" has been a very common refrain in the house and the slime trails on his sleeves nearly impossible to stop him from making.  Friday night when C was down with the boys I fell asleep in front of the computer (in bed, fortunately, though not in pajamas) and last night I wanted to be awakened after falling asleep with the boys, but when I was, I decided there was no way I wanted to be apart from my bed any longer than it took to get my teeth brushed and my face washed.  I was awakened by the blessed cat trying to lick water out of my glass and tossing my pda to the floor off the bedside table, and so started this before anyone else was awake.  Anyway, there's a lot of catching up to do.
    One thing I forgot to mention was the kids biking adventure on Tuesday.  Hoo boy.  Since they got their bikes on Monday they were eager to start biking to school.  We decided that we would come home with them some time to figure out whether it was possible and how long it took.  So, Tuesday I decided to be the good mom and tote them to the school for them to ride home.  I brought the stroller home after dropping them off (taking the opportunity to bring home heavy groceries on wheels).  Then I started off for school a little early with the dog and two kid bikes.  A's still has training wheels, so I started out with the dog on one side bending over and holding the handle bars of both bikes.  I tried towing A's bike with the end of the dog's leash and that worked for a while, freeing me up from having to bend over too much, but it wasn't centered enough to keep the bike from periodically tipping over and causing trouble.  The dog ended up being afraid of the bikes and trying to bolt out of the way of them, sometimes tripping me up, getting close to traffic, or winding around me.  I tried to carry A's bike for a while with the bar over my forearm until my fingers went numb or I banged into the training wheels with my legs too often.  And all the time the dog was a problem either being afraid of the bikes or trying to sniff other dogs, chase cats or mark the trail.  Aaurgh!  I was late in picking them up and very sore.  They were very pleased to see the bikes, though, and we started home.  I had charge of their backpacks and walked along.  B is a good bike rider and pretty fast once the first blocks were past and his body remembered how to start his bike.  He was out in front while I walked along with A.  There are a couple of blocks where they traveled in actual bike lanes, but it made me crazy since they would stop at the border of crossings and block up the adult bike traffic and some of the motorized wheelchairs, or weave back and forth.  I was trying to communicate to A the imporance and reason for staying to the right, and by the time we got home (where they were riding on the streets instead of the sidewalk), I was yelling "get over to the right" way too much.  sigh.  So, B is much faster than A, partly because he has a 16" wheel instead of 12" and partly because he has practiced and needs to keep some speed up or he wobbles over.  I wouldn't have a problem with B riding his bike to school (though not by himself).  There are times, like this one, that their 20 month age difference is more apparent.  A, on the other hand, I don't think is ready for this, at least without more practice.  One complicating factor, however, is one I discovered Friday morning.
    I hit the garage door button and skedaddled across the street, where I noticed that the right sided jogger tire was flat.  Flat flat.  I had been keeping an eye on the tires for a while since sometimes it seems very hard to push them, and it had seemed a little low, though nothing I thought to check without our fancy tire pump.  I watched that pump go into the garage on moving Monday, so I keyed open the gate to the back yard and opened the garage door from inside and then pumped up the tire to its proper pressure.  B asked why a tire would lose air and I explained that a hole could do it or sometimes, and then I started to launch into the possibilities of altitude changes from the air shipment trip it took but stopped short.  The tire is worn in several places such that the rubber is gone and threads are visible.  sigh.  I don't know how possible a replacement is here (though not completely unlikely) or where to start looking for it.  It is only the right tire that shows such dramatic wear, so it is possible that a rotation would help.  Or maybe B can ride his bike to school, we put A on B's side in the jogger (overriding B's inevitable objection, especially with A's cold), and head out almost as usual.  I don't know.  C tried to take the boys on a bike ride yesterday after putting together A's new 18" bike, but while they went around the block twice, it was not the forest bike trail only trip he had envisioned.  A ended up on his old bike because his new bike was too big and the training wheels were up too high for him to feel comfortable on the uneven sidewalk blocks and fell over several times.  Possibly we can add the training wheels back to B's 16", remove them from the 18" and move them both up one size.  And work on practicing with A.
    We are wishing very much that we had brought our hybrid over instead of selling it.  Then we wouldn't have the hassle of trying to figure out what kind of car to lease, and from where.  I'm sure there would have been other hassles involved with it, but if we had chosen that option, the hassles would likely be over by now.  And selling it here may have been much more profitable than trying to sell it just before Christmas in Seattle ended up being.  Well, we learned yet something else that we have no way of using in future.

   Well, here it is late at night once again.  By the time I finished typing the above, the boys were down playing and then C came down to remind us that we needed to get moving if we were to make it to Ikea today as we had planned.  (Ikea in Amsterdam is open on Sundays.)  So, we did French toast as we often do now on a weekend (which is funny, because before we moved they had refused to try it), and then got dressed.  I ran around with a measuring tape making a list of nooks and crannies and their measurements.  This house really does not use its square footage (well, square meterage I guess) in intelligent ways.  There are little spaces everywhere, for instance in the common upstairs bathroom between the glassed in shower and the wall is a 30.5 cm space the depth of the shower.  We can buy shelving to put in there (a CD shelf would fit, but we also found a shelf that we could put in sideways that would work), but there and throughout the house it looks as though things were put in without regard to the space that they would occupy (or create around them).  In addition, the heat is all radiator heat, so there is a radiator and pipes to avoid in every room.  There are no closets at all in the kids room or ours, and there are rooms that I don't really see the point of, such as most of the front entry to the house (the foyer and a little anteroom with a door to the basement on one wall and door to the outside and door to the inside on each end).
    The kids enjoyed the bus, train and tram, the ball pit and the hour they were allowed to spend in the kid area at Ikea.  We enjoyed the fact that Ikea delivers and we can order from the catalog now that we've gotten an idea of the things we want to get.  I almost went back for a lamp to better light our dinners, but we were too dehydrated and already outside the store to want to return - I'll try to uncover our candles.  I find it odd how unavailable drinking water is in this country.  There aren't drinking fountains, it wasn't available by special lever on the soda machine at lunch today, and we had to order it specially at dinner last night and got a smallish bottle we drained dry.
    Okay, I'm going to have to finish this up.  I'm falling asleep with my fingers on the keyboard and it makes for interrrrrrrrresting writingggggggggg.  My throat is sore and I wish there were a way of drinking and eating in which I didn't have to swallow.  A sign I need my sleep, obviously.  Tomorrow perhaps I can do more catching up.

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February 13, 2008

    sigh.  A down day for me today.  There is a lot of unpacking and decision-making and organizing to do, and I'm doing it all myself so far, in addition to the regular meals, laundry, cleaning, and kid management.  It's not all bad, but it is at times overwhelming.  There are boxes everywhere, and packing paper mounded up into a great flat tower in the dining room.  I've moved stuff around and it's throwing everyone off.  I moved the dishes and bowls, mugs and coffee maker.  I moved the silverware and glasses.  I moved a bunch of the food.  It feels like the only things in the kitchen I didn't move but could have are the cookies, the pots and pans (yet), and the location of the toaster.  It will be better and it's more fitting our needs (i.e. kid access to some snack food, plates, bowls and glasses) than the hodge-podge location of things as they were before, but it's still different.  I moved the stuff in the kids' drawers around to reflect their location in the room, separating pants and shirts to try to enable both boys to dress at the same time without struggle.  At least they thought it was a great game when I quizzed them on where things were.
    And none of us have really caught up on the sleep we've been missing.  I took a nap this morning when I couldn't  function anymore and woke up to the school calling to tell me they still had my boys.  I had forgotten that Wednesday was a special day with early dismissal of 12:45.  Dang.  Fortunately, I still had my running clothes on from this morning so I raced to the school (without the dog so I could go faster).  I felt bad, though I'm sure it's not unheard of for new moms to forget it's Wednesday. 
    I am missing Seattle and the life we had there.  I miss my friends, my routines, my language.  I felt like I was making progress on the organizing front enough so that I could work on projects.  And here, I keep coming upon all the projects I brought with me in boxes all at once, but without the time yet.  I think some part of me was anticipating a big change when our stuff finally came, but the change wasn't as big as I thought.  Somehow, I thought it was going to be different, and it's not really.  I'm still here.  And all of our stuff arriving brought home to me that we're here for a long time.  I think it will help to plan trips and vacations and figure out when we're headed back for a visit.
    I've been having trouble with breakfasts lately, in that I've not been eating with the boys and haven't really been interested in what's available, but can't figure out what I do want.  I'm sure this has been playing a part in my sadness.  Today at lunch (which, of course, didn't happen until after 2:00 given my nap and the boys' late pick-up) I could literally feel the food as fuel, powering up my energy level and optimism.  My plan for tomorrow is to get up early enough to make scones and eggs.  I may make a pot of oatmeal as well and package it up for future mornings.  Yesterday I grabbed two suikerwafels from a bakery to try them out.  Oh, wow.  Yum.  Sweet and a bit sticky bare, I could see some of the lumps of sugar.  These seem to be called Liege waffles in the US.  They make me want to buy a Belgian waffle iron just so I can try to make my own.  Very ironic given my long search for a regular waffle iron, but much easier to achieve.  Tonight I did the first baking (as opposed to cooking) I've done in this country, turning the apples the kids have spurned in the last couple of days into apple crisp.  Since I finished it as C went to sleep with the boys, we didn't eat any yet though it smelled divine and to do it justice, I should have carved into it and had it with vanilla ice cream.  Tomorrow.
    Tomorrow is also Valentine's Day (B has made spontaneously made enough Valentine's for everyone in his class) and B's trip to the dentist in the neighboring town of Bussum.  We will travel by foot, train, and bus.

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February 11, 2008

    It has all gone according to plan.  The kids indeed got up at 5:30 to watch the Backyardigans on television.  As C's alarm went off around 6:00, we heard a big truck pull up.  Peering out the window, it was indeed the truck to pick up our rental things, an hour and a half early.  C hopped in the shower and I made sure the kids got fed before they came to the door.  We made lunches and ate as well, washed plates and forks and the apple cutting knife, and at 7:00 went out to the truck and woke the two men up so they could start early.  The kids were very loud and active this morning and it made C a litle crazy as everyone was reacting to the people and activity.  The rental folks boxed, disassembled, and carried out, and by 8:15 when C left for school with the kids, there were three big trucks outside - the rental truck, our three crates arriving on a big truck, and the playground across the street was taking out and replacing some equipment, so had a truck parked around the corner on the other side of our house (it is odd sharing a wall but not a street name with our neighbor since most duplexes that I am familiar with open out to the same street).  There was some overlap and hanging about waiting for the rental stuff to move out and then we really got busy.
    It was my job to stand at the door and make checks next to the appropriate number on the inventory as the boxes came inside, and to say where each box went.  At first I put the dog outside, but then as we needed to go in and out through the back gate (to get to the garage and to bring the couch and love seat through our big double doors), I put him in the attic.  He hated that, even though I put his food, water and blanket up there as well, there was a lot of whining and unhappiness.  So, once his big pillow came in, I put his leash on him and made a space for him in the foyer with me, and that was much better.
    The four movers took a break and asked if I didn't by any chance have a coffee maker.  Since C has a model through work, I did in fact have one, but it was out of beans.  The mover went and asked one of my neighbors for some, who was working outside in the beautiful weather, so now I have an excuse to return the favor and socialize (in addition to already having said hello and thank you).  I made coffee in multicolor Tupperware kid cups and hung about outside while they told stories and drank coffee.  Today was such a gorgeous day.  It is February and it could well have been freezing or rainy or even just gray and cold, but it was glorious.  We had doors and windows open all throughout the house and I could see the heat from the sun coming in the big double doors hitting the floors and rising up in billows.
    We had a king size mattress, a queen size mattress, and a queen size box spring in the shipment.  Since there was no way they could go up the steep stairs without running into the floor above, the plan was to go in through the master bedroom window.  Before any of them were lifted up, one of them borrowed "a centimeter" and used our newly purchased tape measure to check windows and beds.  There was a lot of "nay" and "niet" and shaking of heads, in addition to measuring other windows and suggestions for Ikea.  In the end, the box spring for the boys bed is in our garage and the mattresses both folded enough to get in and upstairs.  (I had to reiterate my "no fires" stance to C when he heard; I'm not objecting to getting rid of it, just not by means of torching it.)  Then finally our couch came in, we located the feet to it inside the cushions, and they were done shifting boxes. 
    Two left for another job and two ate lunch and then put together our bed, moved the boys mattress into place (since assembling the brass bedstead wouldn't do much good without a box spring), and assembled our computer desk.  While they did that, I started opening kitchen boxes in search of a fork.  Pesto pasta is not a finger food (except when the kids eat it) and I was hungry.  They finished and I signed off, noting the damage I had seen so far - one of the six feet to our dining room table (which had been in my dad's house when he was growing up) broke off.  I don't know at what point in the process it happened, or what will happen for us now, but we should be able to do reasonably well reattaching it with some skill, wood glue, and a clamp.  I finally found the silverware (5th carton midway down) just as it was time to go pick up kids. 
    I resisted A and B's pleas to stay at school and play and we came home directly.  They were very impressed, first with the presence of their new bikes, then with the whole house, and they ran around looking and exclaiming at everything.  They pulled out a drawer in the toy room and started some imaginary game with their knight and wizard figures.  After I had eaten, they had a wonderful time helping me unpack the kitchen.  Mostly I smoothed the paper into a pile while they stacked plates or put spices in the windowsill.  B had a great time opening boxes with the little spring-loaded box cutter (I was very pleased I remembered to put our letter opener and box cutter into our air shipment for just this occasion) so much that he kept asking for more to open.  Once we unloaded the one and a half remaining dish pack cartons in the kitchen they wanted to start getting the computer set up.  I helped them do this, C came home a little early, and they had pizza before C went out to check out the gaming at a local bookstore's monthly game night.  By the time dinner rolled around to being done, the kids were acting as tired and hungry as they were.  After C left I got them ready for bed a bit early and I fell asleep with them as well.  Since A got me up at 4 and again, for good, at 5:00, I was tired too.
    It has been great to see our things, like old friends, as each box is opened and the contents unwrapped.  There have been some pleasant surprises (a full bottle of Act kid rinse, Good Earth tea, and a tub of Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered caramels!).  There have been some mistakes (not only will our turkey roasting pan not fit in the oven, our 13 x 9" casserole dishes won't either, let alone any other cookie sheets besides the half size air bake one that I'd put in the air shipment; also we managed to have a folded brown paper bag carefully wrapped in paper and shipped over).  And there has been some breakage (in addition to the table leg, one full size plate which can be fixed and a saucer which can't, both split in half).  We haven't had any garbage shipped, though the dust and dirt attached to things like the computer table traveled intact just fine.
    I am finding it odd, however, to experience our kitchen or our bedroom with our things instead of the rental things.  I keep expecting to see the rental bowl or spoon, use the rental pan, or get out another rental towel.  C just asked where the other two pillows were.  I think my experience coping with The Netherlands has been very tied up in the things I touch daily.  So, when it is time to make dinner or get a drink and only some elements have changed, it feels very weird.  It is strange, for instance, to have yesterday's leftovers in my own watermelon bowl.  And not only will my oven refrain from magically enlarging now that I have our kitchen things, but neither will I have more to offer at breakfast tomorrow than what we already have just because I can offer it at our table with our silverware.  One experience that has changed, however, is that we don't have to run the dishwasher every evening now that we have sufficient numbers of plates and forks and glasses.  I am sure that the disjointedness of the change from rental items to our own will pass quickly, so I wanted to make sure that I tried to capture it tonight.  Tomorrow I will finish putting the kitchen away (though I would like to hang our pots and pans to make more room, so until I can purchase something to hang from the ceiling beams, it won't be final for a while), and box up the things that I can't use.  I was unable to locate our stash of Q-tips in any of the bathroom boxes I've opened so far, so my itchy ears dictate that as a priority tomorrow as well.  There will be some bits of treasure hunting all around the house, shifting of boxes and making of lists for that Ikea trip.  It should be fun!

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February 10, 2008

    Stage two of the buy, clean and sort out weekend is completed.  The bathrooms, kitchen, cupboards, floors, and just about everything else is sorted, cleaned, vacuumed, or scrubbed.  The rental dishes and pots and pans are sitting on the rental table to ensure that our stuff doesn't walk out with the rental return.  We haven't yet disconnected the tv from our digital cable box because the kids belive they will want to get up at 5:45 am to watch the Backyardigans on tv in Dutch.  I am willing to wake them, and it may well be a handy way to get them up early since they need to be up and dressed and breakfasted by 7:30 when our stuff disappears.  They will still be here when our stuff gets here if it is on time at 8:00.  C is going to walk them to school at 8:30 and then head on to work while I stay here and direct.
    I have warned the boys that although we will be getting all of our things, they will all be in boxes.  Although the beds and a few other things will be put together, there will be a bit of searching, hunting, being wrong, and finally finding when we're trying to lay hands on a particular item.  Although the contents of the boxes are written on the outsides, this is unlikely to be detailed enough to find exactly what we're looking for.  B wants a pair of gym shoes.  I will want my blankets and bedclothes.  C says when next we move to another country, we should most definitely pack our own knives in luggage because any time trying to cook with knives that don't cut is too long.  The kitchen is likely to be the first room to be unboxed.
    C has suggested that he take over cooking on the weekends since he enjoys it but is out of practice.  It would be good for all of us, I think.  He will be doing more of something he enjoys, the kids will see both of us cooking (and perhaps help both of us make dinner periodically, experiencing both of our different styles), I will get a break, and C will have to be more active in menu planning.  Tonight he made pesto pasta and it was very yummy.
    Well, if I'm going to wake the boys up that early, I need to head to bed.  Big day tomorrow.

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February 9, 2008

    Stage one of the buy, clean and sort out weekend is completed.  We are now new owners of a toaster and cables enough to power our computers and monitors once they arrive.  We even thought ahead enough to know that we didn't have 220v computer speakers and if the kids were going to want to watch any of their long-awaited movies or play any of their games with sound, we'd better buy some.  I hope we have enough of the components that they will be able to stop using our laptops.  Now we just need to remember to switch the power supplies to 220.  Today was the buying day and tomorrow will be the cleaning day.  I think I've mentioned it before, but it is a very different life here not being able to buy anything on Sundays.  Since most shops close on Saturday around six and don't reopen until Monday afternoon, I need to make sure we have what we need for two dinners, three lunches, and a couple of breakfasts either on a list to buy by Saturday or in our cupboards already.  Planning a menu is something I have practiced in the past, but it was something that was enforced upon me as it is here.  As I build up our stores and our cupboards get deeper, the sudden loss of any one particular item will not be as disastrous as it can be now.
    We made waffles this morning and so now have a store of them in the refrigerator to toast in the mornings.  It will be good to have a quick breakfast besides poffertjes.  None of us like the current brand of peanut butter very much, so I think we will eat more waffles once we switch back.  We also have to work out how to eat them.  It's funny how little things will throw you out of your routine.  Since the shape of these waffles is different, it means that the kids eat them very differently.  In the States, we had the Black & Decker waffle maker and grill combo, which made four waffle squares at a time, each about the size of a slice of bread.  The kids would each get a square at the same time, we would spread peanut butter and maple syrup on top and then cut them into nine equal pieces.  Here, we bought a Princess waffle maker which is much smaller and makes one circle the size of a small plate that has five wedge/heart shaped divisions.  First of all, the kids wanted a whole waffle at a time instead of splitting one up into pieces, but since there was only one plate sized waffle ready every five minutes, this presented a who goes first problem.  This morning, neither wanted to let the other have his waffle first, and B was willing to divide one but A was not.  So, they decided to wait (and play together) until there were two ready at the same time.  The shape of the circular waffle with five wedges, in addition to being hard to divide in half,  is also not particularly conducive to toasting in the toaster on following mornings, and is hard to figure out how to cut up in a sensible way.  A decided to eat his like a pizza.  B cut his up himself.  Nevertheless, we've got waffles now.  Now the only thing missing is a quick pancake recipe or mix that I like.  I suspect I'll end up adapting either my grandmother's maid service pancake recipe or the Cook's Illustrated recipe, since it seems unlikely that I'll make a better habit of getting to bed earlier and up in the morning without snoozing a couple of times.  I'll keep you posted (and insert links another time soon).
    I believe I have solved the mystery of the leak outside our shower.  Often times the towel that we have on the tile in front of the shower door ends up with a sopping wet spot.  In the beginning, my theory was that it was spatter from getting a face full of cold water as the shower was aimed forward from the right, but you had to reach to the far wall to turn the water on.  C disproved that theory.  While C was gone Friday morning I carefully checked before and after my shower for the presence of the puddle and I had previously watched carefully to see if the water could get over the top of the door or drip off of the door enough to cause the puddle (nope).  I finally saw evidence of where the shower is leaking, underneath the door, in a drip/stream of water down the wall to the floor.  I believe some caulk can take care of it, but we'll have to get some first.
    Since I have been relying on my feet so much for getting me and the kids around and about, I have been consciously taking better care of them.  I got a new pair of running shoes before I left Seattle and those have been treating me well.  Since Nike's European headquarters are in Hilversum and several of A and B's school mates have family members working there, access to more when these wear out is unlikely to be a problem.  And while cold floors were the primary motivating factor for my buying slippers here, I am conscious of my need to treat well the vehicle that carries me everywhere I go.  I have been putting lotion on my feet after every shower and trying to treat them with respect and kindness.  I watch the ground when I walk or run more than I would in Seattle not just to dodge the dog poop, but also because a twisted ankle here would put a serious crimp on my ability to get groceries, get the kids to and from school, and leave the house.  I both marvel that my feet, legs, and body are so strong and able, and recognize that their strength could be derailed easily.  I have felt similarly with twinges in my wrist while writing, or when I would practice doing things in the dark or with my left hand back in high school to prepare for just in case.  A car (and to a lesser extent my bike) will help provide options for if or when my feet do fail me.
    Tomorrow we get the last use out of the iron and the vacuum, empty dressers and tv cabinets, and pile most everything in the downstairs for early morning pickup on Monday.  Since they will be arriving at 7:30 in the morning, we will need to all be up, showered (no towels) and have eaten (no forks or plates).  Since that will be easier with an early night on Sunday, I need to get to bed so I can do that tomorrow.

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February 8, 2008

    Wednesday's appointment in Amsterdam at the IND went fine.  I was prepared for M--- to be a bit early since I know it is only common courtesy to be prompt and polite to be early here.  Since she was supposed to pick the kids and I up at 1 pm, I planned to pick up the kids about 15 minutes early from school without the dog and run home in hopes of getting a shower before she arrived.  I ended up at the school even earlier than planned so got out of there at 12:20 and ran home.  I got to our driveway a minute or two after 12:30, and as I was opening the gate, M--- arrived.  No shower, but I cleaned up quickly while the kids whooped like banshees downstairs in some game "entertaining" her, I'm sure.  Our appointment at the IND was for 2 pm, traffic was light, she found parking quickly and easily, and we got there at about 1:30.  Fortunately we didn't wait long, only two games of twenty questions.  Then our number was illuminated on the board and we went to our window.  The kids were loud (and hungry, though I got a kwark snack into them between the car and the building) and playing the copy game ("I want to copy you" "I want to copy you" "I want to copy you" "Stop it" "Stop it") before I gave them my PDA to fight over.  sigh.  Much was said in Dutch and I handed over our three passports and the paperwork saying that we had registered at town hall in Hilversum.  I was informed I was unable to work for pay in the Netherlands, and the three of us got a very official sticker put in each of our passports that is good for six months.  There are still several more hoops to jump through, and I'm not entirely clear on what they are (nor am I sure anyone else knows until they are presented).  I will apparently receive a letter in the mail detailing the next steps, will need to return with kids and passports to the IND office in Amsterdam (fortunately near a train station), and then back to town hall here in Hilversum before I get our residence permits and official numbers.  I received a letter the next day (yesterday) that, near as we can translate, says that they need more official documents saying that C and I are married and living all together at the same address.  Hoop #1, I guess.
    Wednesday night I was up way too late and so took a nap after my shower Thursday while kids were in school.  Since C was off to England, the kids and I played, read, and ate leftovers.  Thursday's mail brought the letter from the IND mentioned above, my bank card which I needed to go to the bank to activate, and what I thought was the information C was awating to allow him to shop from the company store, but C informed me was only an invitation to the company store of showpieces.  I also answered the door to receive our new waffle iron.  Huh.  It's smaller than I expected, but it should be fine.  We'll take it for a test run this weekend.  Then after the kids were asleep, I stayed up watching channel 13th Street for a little while.
    Today I went by the Natuurwinkels store and the Biologische Slagerij and ran out of cash trying to pay 20 Euros for four organic boneless skinless chicken breast pieces.  I got two instead.  The same woman helped me as last time and suggested in Dutch that the basil plant I bought across the street would not like the cold and wilt when I got it home, so she was going to give me a bag to put it in to protect it.  Then she asked if I had understood what she said and told me in English.  I hope she continues to talk to me in Dutch until I actually do understand all that she says.  It was very cold this morning because it was so clear.  The kids had a grand time this morning watching the contrails of the many jets crossing the blue sky as we headed towards the rising sun and school.  While walking home with the basil in a bag and zipped inside my running jacket, wearing gloves and seeing my breath, I saw that it was 7 degrees Celsius.  I lounged on my bed soaking up the sun coming in the window to warm up.  Some cold mornings I just want to get swallowed up by the hot shower; I'm still short on sleep I think.  Anyway, it was a brilliantly gorgeous day.  I headed back out to get my card activated at the bank before picking up kids and priced toasters at the fancy kitchen store across the street from the bank.  Zowee - not the place to get a toaster.  The prices ranged from 79 to 249 Euros.  For a toaster.  Four slices max, no toaster oven (though some had a rack to put on top to warm the toast from the bottom or some such thing).  I think I will shop there for stuff I can't find anywhere else (and the knife sharpener, of course) and get the common kitchen appliances somewhere else.
    I now have access to our Netherlands bank.  It was weird and somewhat painful to have to rely on cash from C.  Now I can pay with the card as a debit card, put cash on it and pay with the chipknip function (no pin needed), and get cash from ATMs, which I did immediately after walking out of the bank.  I did realize at Albert Heijn on the way home that I have some learning to do about how to use it, however.  I first put the card in upside down.  So I fixed that, but then recognized the word chipknip (which didn't have any money on it).  Since I was holding up the line and didn't want to take the time to figure it out, I paid in cash.  C informs me there is a card reader down the side for paying with the debit card and you put the card in as I was doing for the chipknip payment.  Ah well, now I know.
    I helped the kids sort out the Lego room today in a first step of preparation for it to contain more than Legos come Monday.  In addition to finishing that process, we will also spend this weekend shopping, cleaning and moving stuff about.  Lots to do.  I'm glad C's back home.  He said it was nice to be in a place where the foreign language was English (they were ribbing a Canadian for pronouncing aluminum uh-LOOM-ih-num instead of aa-lou-MIN-ee-um) and odd to be where they drive on the other side of the road, partly because he kept trying to get in the wrong side of cars.

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February 5, 2008

    I need to be brief since (I know you're not surprised) it's late.  Our cat did a walkabout today and ended up in a neighbor's house for the afternoon and evening.  Somehow she got in their cat door, which required a magnet (I guess they're not foolproof - my guess is that she chased the poor cat inside and followed it closely enough to get in as well).  Between their cat (who wasn't fond of our cat) and ours, the two of them managed to knock over a vase with water in it, but the neighbor's real fear was that our cat would spray the inside of their house.  Once they discovered that our cat was female they were much more relaxed about it, but our cat was not particularly happy in the house and most likely couldn't get back out, probably precipitating the vase spill.  I hope she felt trapped enough that she doesn't make it a habit.
    I got a handle on all of the paper that has been in our dining room, using a bunch of the envelopes we've been saving for scrap paper to store the different piles of receipts until our files get here, voting, and putting things on the calendar.  There is a pile of things for C to deal with, and a smaller pile of things for me still to do, but it feels much neater when we can vacuum in here and I can lay hands on what I need.  I am very conscious of the fact that most everything we are using as storage now will be disappearing very early Monday morning.  We will need to empty out drawers, finish using the vacuum and iron, give up the coffee table and tv cabinet where our games are, put our clothes in suitcases temporarily, and pile all of our stuff separate from the rental stuff in preparation for the rest of our stuff to arrive.  And I need to remember to dress the kids in something other than black, white, or light blue (I'm not sure why), for Monday is also picture day at their school.
    One of the things we've done since we've gotten here is husband our resources much more than usual.  Since we didn't have any paper, for instance, we've used the backs of envelopes for scratch paper lists and game score sheets, and the back sides of other correspondence for printing pictures for school projects and things.  We also didn't have many plastic leftover containers, so we took to using the cleaned glass jars with lids that we had emptied after using up peanut butter, pesto, or tomato pasta sauces.  C noted that this might be a solution we might want to continue with as a better option than plastic.  The glass is a more fully recyclable material than many other "recyclable" substances, it heats up well in an oven, a microwave, or even in a pot of water, I can tuck it in the dishwasher without worrying it will melt, it will freeze just fine without losing moisture through plastic, it won't leach any chemicals into my food, and though it is heavy and might break when dropped on a tile floor, we don't have tile and I have certainly had plastic containers shatter while frozen as well.  I had saved the first pasta container because I thought it would make a nice jar for jelly since there was no writing on the gold colored lid, but ended up using it for much more.  Right now we have a two jars of spaghetti, one jar of noodles, one jar of cashew chicken, and three jars of rice leftovers in the refrigerator.  One advantage plastic has is that it stacks well.  We'll have to see how much a role our limited space plays in our kitchen once we've sorted out all our stuff.
    Tomorrow is a short day at school and the kids and I head to the IND in Amsterdam to get legal with one of the folks whose job it is to help us get settled.  Thursday C is off to Cambridge and he returns Friday.  This weekend may well pass in a paroxysm of buying replacements for the electronic things that we've been renting, cleaning and getting ready for our stuff to come.  I hope to get my bank card sometime this week as well.  Right now it's bedtime.

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February 4, 2008

    Oops, didn't mean to leave this quite so long.  I am looking forward to our computers arriving so that my laptop does not get so dominated by kids on the weekends.  It's not that they are on it constantly and never do anything else, just that the times I think of sitting down, it is already in use.
    Saturday we went to the bank to get me onto C's account.  The kids colored Nintje pages while we presented passports and sat at a nearby table being carefully unaware that there had ever been any question about adding me to his account earlier in the branch that is being remodeled.  Since no one asked if we had an address in the US, this did not present an issue either.  So, we hope to receive my card in the mail shortly.  (Of course, we expected to see the extra card we requested a few weeks ago to come shortly and it didn't, so we'll see.)  After the bank, we headed south to see a colleague of C's and his family (fiancee and son almost one year old).  Our boys played with the baby's things until we headed to an early dinner and playground beforehand.  The playground was cold but a great place to play with sunken pirate ship, hiding places and climbing equipment, a set of trampolines that was locked for the winter, and a turnabout where you sit in a circle and pull on the fixed wheel in the center to make yourself whizz around.  We had reservations for five o'clock so we headed in as the light faded and took refuge from the wind.  We were the only ones at the buffet to begin the night but ended up sharing the round non-smoking room with any number of folks dressed up in nice clothes or dressed for Carnival.  The food was an odd mix of Asian cuisines, French bread, and Dutch sweets.  I didn't end up trying the plates of raw materials cooked by the chefs there, but did try any number of dishes already prepared, of which some I went back for more.  As my first restaurant experience since moving here, I thought the outside had more appeal than the inside, but that was primarily because I wasn't familiar with the menu.  If I returned, I would know which dishes to concentrate on and save room for the delightful creampuffs for dessert.
    I took my camera, conscious that I haven't taken many pictures since arriving, and got a few nice ones.  I have nearly filled up the 1 gig memory card and really need to get all of them onto my computer.  Since we moved the pictures to an external drive a few months ago (really? months? I guess so), I have had trouble linking up the pictures with my Photoshop program so much so that I was unable to access them or print them for B's birthday invitation in November.  I was downloading photos of the cars to one of the other computars and e-mailing them to myself so I could add them to our car ads.  Anyway, partly because of this mess and partly because I have had other issues, I wanted to reinstall my laptop and start fresh.  Doing this, of course, requires a bunch of disks that are on the boat, so that's not something I've been able to tackle yet.  At any rate, the photos are a squirming nest of somewhat quiescent snakes that I haven't wanted to poke too much.  But I will wrestle (or perhaps charm) them into a semblance of order in the next couple of months, and hope to have albums and organization and access straightened out sometime soon after that.
    The train was fun for the kids.  Until the very last train, the kids wanted to be in the upper level of the train, and they enjoyed finding a spot for the four of us in and amongst those celebrating and wearing prison garb, wigs and dresses, or pirate outfits.  A got a kick out of the sight of the ground rushing by under the drainage holes in the WC and I was reminded of trains I took 18 years ago - the blue location signs at each train stop took me back as well.  I'll have to check out the details, but it may be less expensive for the four of us to drive to our European vacation destinations than to take a train.  We will certainly take trains various times and places in and around the Netherlands, but it may not be our main mode of transportation as it was years ago for me.  I'm sure that going back to places I visited years ago will also be quite different.  Even if the places themselves haven't changed (which is unlikely - chocolate chip cookies have arrived after all), I certainly have.  Being married with spouse and kids, being in a very different place in my life than when I was a student... all of these things are a big unspoken part of one's experience of things.  Anyway, I look forward to testing this out.  Since my niece is going to Paris (and Spain) with her high school Spanish class for spring break, perhaps that can be an opportunity for me to do just that.

    "Verhuisd, adres onbekend" - (Moved, address unknown) I finally have the Dutch for what to write on envelopes that come to this address for someone else.  We've been building quite a pile, including a Christmas package, and I'd like to get rid of them.  We've been getting letters forwarded from home as well, of course, including all first class junk and money pleas.  Unfortunately, we also got something mis-delivered to our mailbox in Seattle and then forwarded to us here.  It was not addressed to us, and didn't have our old address on it either (or even really close to it), but here it is in the Netherlands anyway.  If we were in the States, it would be easy to just put it in the mailbox with the address circled.  Of course, we're not.  So what do we do with this?  Stick a stamp on it, I guess, so it will get back to the States and hope it slots into the regular post.  It's not as if the yellow "please notify sender of your new address" labels don't peel off easily enough.  It'll cost us a buck just so this gentleman receives his information from his insurance company.  I hope it's not bad news.
    Speaking of which, since our money did not transfer correctly to the waffle maker order site, C tried again this past weekend.  Now, he is having trouble using his card at all.  It seems to be the bank's site that is having troubles, but it would be just sucky to have them cut off his card in some mistaken paroxysm of taking care of things for us by canceling not the extra card we ordered and now don't need, but the only card we have that works.
    I have an armful of purr at the moment, so am typing one-handed until she lashes her tail too often, and then I scratch her chin some more.  Sometimes she's a very sweet cat.  Other times, not so much.  I was pretty worried about her on Saturday evening.  When we left the house for the bank in the morning, she did not want to go back into the house so was out the whole eleven or so hours we were gone.  I had thought she would be waiting at the door and wild to get inside to her food, warmth and shelter, but there was no sign of her when we walked back from the station.  Nor after we called kitty, kitty, kitty from the front and back doors, two or three times.  I got the kids to bed and sleep (peeking out from their window to make sure there wasn't a pile of unmoving cat in the roadway) and apparently whilst I did so, she meowed at the door and strolled nonchalantly inside as though nothing were amiss.  She's getting better about meowing to let us know she wants out (instead of clawing the furniture), but sometimes I am not good about connecting "the cat's meowing" with "I should let her out" in my head.  The problem is, of course, that she has had her own kitty door for the last three years and I'd gotten used to consciously ignoring her meows so that she would use the door herself. ... Ironically, I had just drifted to sleep on the couch here and apparently the cat wanted out because I got a bare claw hooked up inside my nose and then a meow.  Ow.  Damn cat.  I'm awake NOW.
    We have successfully had the washer and the dryer operating at the same time without all of the lights going out.  The electritian was late in coming this morning, but finished by noon.  He did a neat as well as quick job and I'm glad that the landlord decided to pay for the fix.  Not only is it now possible to run the washer and dryer simultaneously without blowing a circuit, but the dryer is now up against the window out of which it vents instead of at the top of the stairs in the middle of the room.
    Okay, this is silly.  I keep drifting off, so I really should lock up, roust C from the bed with kids and go to sleep in bed instead of on the couch in fear of another claw in my nose.  ok.

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February 1, 2008

    We've been here a month now, but it is still a little bit unreal, as though we're playing at being here for a while.  I suspect it is less so for C, since he has his work.  The other night I dreamed that we were headed back to the States for a very short visit (I forget the reason, if there was one), and packed my empty suitcase full of the things I wish I'd known to bring.  As I talk to other moms and dads from the school, it seems to be a fairly common occurrence to have a list of things that visitors must bring with them when they come.  I don't have a list made yet, and we don't have any visitors scheduled yet, but I will be sure to publish it here when I do.
    This morning I went into an apotheek to try to find bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and a cough medicine with guaifenesin.  The name guaifenesin was a stumper for them, and expectorant was not much help.  I was given a cough medicine "for slime" which I will research a bit before ingesting or giving anyone.  It's really too bad.  I have been a fan of guaifenesin ever since my Humans and Viruses class in which I learned the things that were ACTUALLY effective cold symptom fighters, and those that weren't.  I tend to buy single-acting medicines rather than the 17 symptom palliatives for the same reason.  It's bitter as heck, so the kids don't like it, and I think some brands more bearable than others, but it does work to thin the "slime" out.  In trying to find it online, C and I came across any number of references to misuse of cough syrup, athletes and singers' use of it, and getting high on Nyquil.  I just want a cough syrup!  I was sent to a chemist for the baking soda, so we shall see.
    Yesterday the kids and I went on a play date together and had a great time in the woods where this family lived.  We played outside quite a bit with mittens and hats on, A tried and liked apples with peanut butter spread on them, and I was loaned a bike and a tow-behind carriage for the boys to make it easier or faster to get to school.  I think this particular dad feels sorry for me having to run so much.  Since I don't actually mind running in the rain, and the kids like the jogger, I will not abandon it.  But I did accept the loan because more options are good for mornings when we're running behind, and it was kindly meant.  The jogger certainly is an oddity here.  There are lots of cargo bikes or kids on fronts, backs, extra compartments and otherwise somehow affixed to bicycles, but I haven't seen many other runners.  Since I had to take the jogger home after dropping the kids off (we went by car after school), I stopped by the organic grocery store, organic butcher's, and Albert Heijn on the way home so I could tote a lot of weight on wheels instead of my back.  I got the largest container of maple syrup since we're nearly out of the small container and discovered that it wouldn't stand up on any of the three levels in our small refrigerator. 
    Our fridge is small - two drawers in the bottom, two places in the door, and two shelves plus the bottom above the drawers.  It's actually good that I can't buy a gallon of milk here, because there's no place to put it.  Our refrigerator is on the peninsula against the wall and partially under our glass top stove.  Our freezer is separate, and located to the right of the sink underneath our oven/microwave.  The freezer has four drawers, but we also have a chest freezer in our basement.  Our oven and microwave is just big enough for our half size cookie sheet.  I thought our oven in Seattle was small!  I'm sure we're going to have a box of things that we can't use in our kitchen.  There is no prohibition in our literature on the stove for cast iron, but I suspect it would scratch the glass top up pretty fiercely, so that may be out too.  We'll have to take another look at it later and decide if I can get away with using my Dutch oven every once in a while at least.
    I also had a very pleasant interaction/conversation with the woman at the organic butcher's.  Instead of switching to English as soon as she knew that's what I spoke, she continued to ask questions slowly in Dutch until I gave up and then she would translate, she helped correct my pronunciation when I questioned it ("ayn" or "eyen"?), and was very kind and helpful.  I look forward to returning.
    And the woman I was ranting to a couple days ago yesterday gave me a bag full of Dutch treats while I wait for my waffle maker solution and to help introduce me to some of the tastes I may come to miss when I return to the States.  Very kind and sweet of her.  She's the class mum for B's class, so welcoming new moms is part of her role, but it was nevertheless above and beyond and I really do feel like I am finding my feet and growing a new community here.  I don't yet have names for all the treats, so I'll have to report back later.
    Speaking of reporting on sweets, we have tried a new cookie out:  Verkade's Dier & Co Apen Streken (ape cookies).  The box contains six packets with two cookies each with a top chocolate cookie layer with ape names and pictures on (gorilla, chimpansee, orang-oetan, gibbon, capuchin aapen, etc), a bottom layer of chocolate, and crispies in between.  They are marked "nieuw," and are apparently so new that they aren't even on Verkade's website yet, though they look to be a chocolate version of the piranha variety there.  They are pleasant and not too chocolatey.  They make a good dessert for kid lunches.  Not my personal first choice, but not my last either (that would be the Bitter Koekjes, of course.  C keeps telling me I should have trusted my instincts on that one.  But they looked so good, I say.  No, they didn't, he counters, they said BITTER!)
    And, speaking of waffle makers, I had more success yesterday and last night C and I purchased a Princess 132391 waffelijzer to be delivered sometime soonish.  Hooray!
    Today B is celebrating the 100th day of school.  This will mark the second year that he has had some sort of celebration for the 100th day of school and his brother has not.  There are two classrooms in the school marking the occasion with activities and games and treats with a 100 theme, though B's teacher would like to have the entire school adopt it.  It is also a Friday afternoon, so I will be twirling a rope after school.  I put three jump ropes in B's bag so if I get another able to turn double dutch we can attempt that as well.  A is continuing to practice as well, and his highlight for Tuesday was skipping 29 times (in three tries).  I am glad that he isn't giving up just because his brother is already good at jumping rope, or because it is hard.  I caught myself when he was complaining about how he was doing in a computer game saying "that one's tricky; why don't you try another game?"  Fortunately, he ignored me and when I heard him complain again I said "Keep practicing.  I'm sure you can figure it out."  Whew.
    Well, I need to attack my e-mail and organize the paper littering the floor around here.  More later perhaps.

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January 30, 2008

    Since I just ranted in an e-mail all about my frustrations trying to find a waffle maker in this country (and she may well be able to help me with the problem), I won't repeat it here except to say that I should have been writing here instead of spending an ultimately fruitless several hours looking online.  Briefly, I can find a 220 volt regular (not Belgian) waffle maker, but can only so far find them for sale from US vendors (ironic, since it can't be used in North America) who will happily ship the $40 appliance to me for anywhere between $150 and $250.  While that is indeed "only money" it seems excessive since I'm sure I'm only looking in the wrong places for something that really is available here if only I knew where to look.
    I did have a lovely visit to the Natuurwinkels, a wonderful place with big jugs of real maple syrup, whole wheat flour, and real rolled oats, and where everything in the place is organic.  I bought bananas, flour, oats, beets, and mirin, but not much else because I ran out of cash.  I'll go again tomorrow and indulge.  (There is an organic butcher shop across the street that I look forward to going back to as well.)  The only odd thing is that there wasn't any non-fat milk.  I'm not sure if they were out or what, but I had been hoping for a larger size of organic non-fat than I can find in the Albert Heijn (quart-size).  I was most charmed by the system for marking your vegetables and fruits.  Those that are sold by weight had a number on their bin which you pushed on a board above a scale.  Then, assuming you pushed the right number and the right product name comes up, you push another button for a bar-code with your price and product name printed on it.  Slick and friendly, and the cashier doesn't have to do any looking up of product codes, nor are you left with a zillion little stickers that won't come off the tomatoes.
    A had a long (and happy) playdate today, easily starring in his "favorite thing" for the day.  B and I had a nice time in his room looking at his portfolio and coincidentally meeting a bunch of the mums in his class I hadn't met yet, including one family that lives on our same street at the other end.  Before we went and picked up A from his play date, he and I took the dog down to the canal at the end of the block, navigated a bunch of stairs, a bridge, met some ducks, some other dogs, and raced back up to the street on the other side.  I think he'll enjoy showing it to his brother later this week.
    All in all, a good day except for the frustration with the waffle maker.  I've made C late to bed, so I need to go upstairs and hit the hay.

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January 29, 2008

    It seems like the time is going fast.  Sometimes I worry that I am not going to have time for the projects I intend to work on while I'm here.  Other times I know that this set up period that I'm really only in the middle of, will pass as well and I'll have my routines down such that the regular stuff involved in having a working home won't take up so much of my day.
    I am the proud owner of a new library card from Bibliotheek Hilversum.  Both the words "proud" and "owner" are relevant here.  I ventured out after my shower this morning and found the central library here in Hilversum.  I easily found the Engels shelves in the kids section and got absorbed in reading quite a bit of The Railway Children before I requested a membership application and went about selecting and checking out books.  We certainly need more stories that the boys can practice reading in the evenings.  Our meager supply is running thin, so I'm proud to have made it to the library and successfully checked out two books per kid for them to read plus the Railway Children to read to them.  The word "owner" is relevant because a year's membership at the library is 36.50 Euro.  For which I receive the ability to check out six books and four magazines for free.  If I wish to borrow a film or music DVD each title is 2.75 Euro (though documentaries are free), music CDs are 1 Euro, and there are other higher fees for "Leendirect" things that I haven't figured out yet.  If I wish to reserve an item it is .75 Eurocents within Hilversum and 1 Euro at other public libraries, and the actual borrowing of an item from another library is between 2.50 and 6.75 Euro.  And if I wish to renew an item it is 50 Eurocents for me and 25 Eurocents for those under 16 (and those under 15 would get their library card free). 
    Also, in taking a roundabout way to the library since I missed a street, I ended up across from a big wonderful cooking gadget store.  Unfortunately they didn't have any waffle makers, though they will be getting one model in (and most likely a Belgian style, too bad) two to three weeks from now.  But, most wonderfully of all, they have my knife sharpener - Chef's Choice 130!  Woot!!  It was of course behind locked glass panels since it was for sale at 240 Euros or something similar, but I saw it there and will return to purchase it (and maybe some other goodies) once I get a bank card.  Cooking with sharp knives and the right tools is such a pleasure compared to cooking without.  I don't want to add garlic these days because the garlic press included in our rented kitchen is so frustratingly lame and useless.  Just as I have discovered that outdoor winter sports are so much more pleasurable with the right gear, cooking with poor tools is like skiing in jeans and wet gloves.  I'll have to find my waffle maker online, I suspect, but that's ok.
    We've gotten word that our belongings are due to arrive on February 7 and then spend some time making their way through customs.  The folks have asked us whether we would like our things on the 11th, 12th, or 13th.  I can't imagine a reason why we wouldn't want them as soon as they were available, but they theoretically exist.  Coordinating what we will do with the rental furniture currently in the house as all of our belongings are delivered is a good question.  We could have them picked up a day before we get our stuff and spend a night in a hotel (though they are unlikely to pick up on a Sunday), we could crowd them all in a corner of the house and work around them, or (new information) we will be having them come pick everything up early the same morning that our things arrive.  That still doesn't solve what to do about bedding and towels that we've just slept on and dried with.  I guess we can clean it all Sunday and "sleep lightly" on it.  C was disappointed to learn that we will be unpacking our own boxes, but I didn't actually expect that they would do it.  I do home they'll assemble what was disassembled on the other end.  And I still wonder what we're going to do with the box spring for the boys' queen size bed.  Top mattresses can fold somewhat and get up our stairs, but C thinks that it can come in our second story window.  He suggests burning it if it won't go and getting something different.  Currently instead of box springs, we are all sleeping on mattresses setting on top of two smaller frames with slightly bowed bamboo slats.  I told him no burning, not even a little one.
    The computer problem, by the way, was solved by turning off the modem and turning it back on.  There was some fear that would require some extra work setting things up again, but it was getting worse (C's computer couldn't see anything on the web anymore), so he took a chance.  And suddenly it all worked again.  Hooray.

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January 28, 2008

    Well, it does appear to be just me that is unable to get to earthlink or mindspring (but able to get everywhere else).  That is, it is just everyone in this house that is using the router and modem, either wirelessly or plugged in.  C can get there from work without trouble.  I can get there using the IP address (when it doesn't turn it into a word address).  I abandoned ship for a few minutes and logged on to our neighbor's wireless connection so I could download my mail and upload my blog.  Following that, oddly enough, I am able to navigate to SOME of the earthlink addresses, though with no pattern that I can see.  I can go to the family home page and my home page, but not the blog pages.  And now not the ones I was able to get to a few minutes ago.  Very odd.  C will take a look at it when he gets home.  Since I succeeded in downloading my mail, I am feeling a little more clueful about responses to my email plea to the parents at the kids' school.  So, to e-mail and Quicken, and lunch.

    I called the dentist's office and B has an appointment on Valentine's Day.  We love you, B.  Sorry, kiddo.
   
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January 27, 2008

    This has got to be a quick check-in because I need to get to bed.  I have spent all day working at our Quicken files.  Unfortunately, so far I have only entered receipts (over two months worth covering 2 currencies and 16 accounts) and reconciled the kids' 6 US accounts.  I haven't double checked bills were paid, made any of the charitable donations we were going to do by the end of the year, nor reconciled a bunch of the other most active accounts.  Tomorrow I will tackle more.  I like working in Quicken, so it's not painful, but it is slow since there's such a backlog and I'm still figuring out the receipts, accounts, and product names, as well as asking C what this or that receipt was for since he was over here by himself for two months.  One of the things that is different is how taxes are dealt with.  I really like how the price shown builds in the taxes here.  If the bike lock has a price of 4.99 Euro on it, that's what you pay.  [Well, bad example because there aren't any 1 Eurocents any longer and they round to the nearest 5 Eurocent.  You'd pay 5 Euro for the 4.99 bike lock if you paid cash, and 4.99 if you paid by chip or bankcard.]  Nevertheless, there's no waiting at the register to find out how much you owe.  The one drawback I've noticed is that it is harder for me to tease out what are groceries and what are toiletries or household items bought in the same purchase because there is no handy T and F listed next to each item I can scan to see whether this AH run is all food or has laundry soap or wc gel in it as well.  That will be a bit less of an issue as I learn what all these things are actually called.  Still, there are some mysteries.  One item I can't remember is listed as "afvoerzeef rvs.." which Babelfish translates for me as "evacuation screen rvs.." and makes me wonder both what the heck it was I bought for 1.29, and whether Babelfish throws in random words sometimes on a lark.  Ha!  I just remembered what that was: a hair strainer for the shower that fits over the drain.  I guess evacuation screen makes some sense.
    I sent out my series of questions to the parents of A and B's classmates yesterday.  I got a phone call today about a dentist, so that's good.  B's tooth, of course, continues to come in and alarm us at it's crookedness.  I'll call the office tomorrow (the cousin of a dad in B's class) and they're expecting my call so I hope we don't run into too many problems.  I may well have received some other responses, but Earthlink seems to be down.  I can't access our web pages (or probably post this.  Hmmm) and haven't been able to pull my mail down at all today.  We don't seem to have trouble reaching other addresses in the net, so I assume it's Earthlink related.  I also assume it's not just me that can't get there from here, but have no actual idea.
    The kids have enjoyed playing Super Secret Spy games where they want C and I to send them on missions.  It's fun for them and if I add that they need to sneak very quietly into the bathtub room of doom to retrieve their toothbrush, or rescue the three pajama eggs that the pajama bird deposited outside of their nest upstairs and return them to the nest/bed, then things get done with a lot less fuss and complaints (and a lot more fun drama) than if I just ask them to get their toothbrush or put their pajamas away without calling them Agent 7 (A) and Agent 9 (B) or making the missions secret.  They get to return and say "Mission Accomplished!" with such glee, it's hard not to continue the game.  I was running out of missions tonight after they had cleaned up everything I could think of, and had to think pretty hard before I could come up with the two more each they requested.
    We intended to go for a walk into the nearby woods this weekend but didn't much leave home.  I rescued my computer for my own use today by needing to do Quicken, but most of Saturday one kid or another was on it.  We need to re-install the chip payments for kid screen time since it's become pretty constant on A's part.  B is content to make cool creations out of Legos or start in on the pixel puzzles I downloaded for him, but his brother really just wants to play on Nick Jr. all day and evening.  The real problem for me is that A needs to use my computer for many of the games because they won't run on C's set-up and he clicks too many places by accident to let him use IE on C's computer.  It's been frustrating.
    I also need to visit the library tomorrow and check it out/make it more accessible.  We need more books for the kids to read.  They come home with one or two from school, but it's not enough to feed them if they're reading every night.  Thankfully, kid magazines are pretty dense for things to read, but not enough of it is quite simple enough for A to read by himself.
    I know there was more I was going to write about, but I can't think of it now and really do need to join C upstairs.  He is going to try an experiment and get himself to bed by 11/11:30 every night for 5 days.  I'll have to think and write more tomorrow.

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January 25, 2008

    This morning, as I heard C leave the house, I heard him say "oh, no."  When I got downstairs a few snoozed minutes later, I discovered cat ickiness near the back door and our cat chasing a mouse from the corner behind the tv we share with a neighbor across the floor to behind the dog crate.  I pushed the crate out from the wall a bit to allow her access and the dog was at the other end.  I should have been at the dog end since the mouse rushed the dog instead of the cat and disappeared.  We haven't seen it since.  The cat seems disinterested in going underneath our kitchen cabinets (which lack a floor board front piece) so either there's an invisible horde of them under there that might jump her or that's not where the mouse went.  She's more interested in re-checking the places she saw it.  C doesn't actually remember what he said oh no about and didn't see either of the things I thought he had said it about.  He wants to take off her bell.  I belled the cat originally so the resident birds would have a chance, but C saw more value in decreasing her chances of bringing something into the house when we had a cat door.  Since we don't have one here, she is unable to let a bird or mouse loose into the house unless we're really asleep when we let her inside.  And besides, it looks like the house is pre-supplied with mice.  Or perhaps, this one was thinking "Oh **^%$, there weren't people and dogs and CATS living here before!  I'm not going back THERE!"  Which would be just fine with us.  We did substitute some words to the song "Ants in Your Pants" to help the kids remember "There's a mouse in the house and the cat can't get it so close that cupboard!   There's a mouse in the house and the cat can't get it so close that cupboard!  There's a mouse in the house and the cat can't get it, you better close that cupboard, sir, there's a mouse in the house and the cat can't get it so close that cupboard!" (with apologies to Johnette Downing).
    Nine hours is a long time difference.  When I'm working on the computer, I'll open Skype just to see who's awake and available.  Of course, Seattle and the rest of the west coast is nine hours behind us.  Sometimes I envy the day that's ahead of them.  Especially if I feel like I didn't use the time I had as well as I could have, I want a do-over.  Somehow, since there are folks I'm close to who have yet to live through that particular morning and afternoon, it seems more possible that I might get to as well.
    Yesterday I sat on the couch with a dentist's phone number entered in my phone ready to push the call button, practicing what I was going to say in Dutch and then continuing in English.  And I finally pushed call.  Unfortunately, I had psyched myself up for a recorded message (without any beep for message leaving) about her practice.  Of course, it was all in Dutch and I have absolutely no idea what was said.  I caught her name, of course, and recognized some numbers as numbers, but they might have been a phone number or hours and I have no clue.  Sadly, I wasn't able to transfer my energy to calling any of the other three numbers I had.  I decided to survey folks at school and see what I can find out from people who actually have dentists here.  I am now linked into the e-mail lists of the two relevant classes at A and B's school, so I will send out a message detailing our need and seeing if we can get some actual recommendations.
    Yesterday C went to dinner with a co-worker and the kids and I ate left-overs.  We also tried a new cookie.  Despite the name, the picture had been calling to me so I perused the ingredient list (though without a translation) and bought a bag of Bitter Koekjes.  Bleaugh!  We each took a nibble and deposited the rest into the compost.  Ick.  I thought marzipan, but B may be right about coconut.  I could almost identify the flavor, but obviously not well.  The cookie was squishy and (perhaps unsurprisingly) bitter and not at all the ginger snap / snickerdoodle / sugar cookie I had thought it might be.  In finding the link, I see them translated as almond macaroons, and tasting just like Amaretto, but without alcohol.  So, I was right about the almond flavor, but B was likely also correct.  C tried one today and had the same reaction we did.  The Bitter Koekjes join the banana flavored milk mix and the round-shaped Iams cat food in a pile of things to try to give to someone who might use them.
    Today I was craving food again, especially by lunch time.  I ate lunch (two pieces of buttered toast, leftover yellow curry and rice, a cup of tea and the remaining three tarwebiscuits), and it helped, but it wasn't what I wanted.  Of course, I couldn't tell you what I wanted.  Just that I didn't have it.  It is much worse craving food I don't have in the house in a foreign country where I can't locate or yet make some of the things that might satisfy the craving.  When I was in the States, I would crave food too.  I wouldn't necessarily eat it once I found out what I was craving.  What I was craving was never actually available in the house or pantry.  I always wanted something ELSE.  And I would be out shopping and pass the food that I had thought I was craving and decide not to get it.  At least some part of me, perhaps, recognized that it wasn't actually hunger for food that was driving the behavior and acted in my body's best healthy interest.  I have a curiously good memory for all the times I did actually have the candy bar (or whatever) that I thought I wanted and was disappointed by how it actually tasted.  At any rate, actually having the exercise of passing by the item I was craving and deciding against it seemed to help a bit.  Here, that's not as available a remedy.  Tonight after dinner (cashew chicken and rice) we tried another cookie, Albert Heijn's chocolate chip cookie.  I hadn't expected much, since the chocolate chip cookies I've had here have been pretty disappointing.  Nevertheless, this was a success - crunchy and chocolatey with a satisfying cookie too.  This was Chips Ahoy with smaller chocolate chips and different packaging.  Yum!  And just knowing that these are out there and so common puts the generalized cravings at bay for some reason.
    I had not expected chocolate chip cookies at all here.  When I was living in France 18 years ago, they were a novelty.  I requested and received a package of chocolate chips from home and made cookies for folks and they were a very appreciated novelty.  I couldn't find peanut butter then either and made do with tahini.  It doesn't surprise me that those foods have been made available to the European market and adopted so readily as to be common now at your corner AH.  I guess it surprised me that they weren't around then as well; I guess the globalization of the world is a process.  It is still hard for me to find all of the ingredients to MAKE chocolate chip cookies, though (including chocolate chips).  I did know to bring a Costco sized bag of chocolate chips over in the main shipment.  According to what I've read online, the small little tokos or international stores (toko is apparently the Indonesian word for store) are the places to check out for random products from home.  Wherever home is.  The one I spent a lot of time touring, partially because it was very poorly laid out and had a bunch of similar products in several aisles far from each other, carried foods from all over the world.  That's where I bought the Canadian maple syrup, Thai curry paste, and some bakpoeder karbonate (which I'm still not sure is baking soda or baking powder), and found things like Marshmallow Fluff (which I did not buy).  And different tokos have different selections so your favorite food you can't find in Dutch grocery stores can be available around the corner.  It's good, though, to check expiration dates on stuff found in tokos.  Your favorite food may have a limited market and have been purchased quite a long time ago.
    I want my stuff.  It was supposed to arrive in port yesterday and start its way through customs, but we haven't heard anything yet.  C's visa is all completed and he has his "papers" now.  His "papers" consist of a card very like a driver's license (picture, forge-proof markings and holos, etc) and a number which is nowhere on the card.  There is no stamp or marking in his passport, which surprised me.  The card is something you're supposed to show at the border, and they'll start to get insistent on that after a while I guess, but one's passport works as well.  We got the letter last week that C's card was ready to be picked up in Utrecht.  It was supposed to be picked up in person with said letter and passport in hand within two months of the date of the letter.  We were going to wait a little while to see if we could make only one trip once the kids and my numbers were also ready and approved.  However, our bank over here (you know, where C gets automatic paycheck deposits, etc) called yesterday saying "Do you have your number yet?  Can you get it in the next few days or we'll have to put a hold on your account."  So, there was a scramble today on C's part to get that taken care of.  He had it all mapped out on the back of an envelope the travel times and train schedules allowing him to get to Amsterdam for his yearly review, to Utrecht for the card, and back to Hilversum for the number (which they had all along, they just needed him to show his new card and passport in person to prove that step 412 or whatever had been completed properly).  It was a tight schedule but it worked.  Then his boss rescheduled his review to the afternoon for other reasons, freeing C up a bit to get it all taken care of well within the closing times of all the relevant places, including the bank.
    We are all wanting our stuff.  Even the pets.  With just one water dish they have to be vocal when it runs dry, the cat could use her scratching post, and the dog would like the big gray pillow to sleep on and a rug to dry himself off on after he's had a bath.  I want my spices.  I want my garlic press.  I want my clothes.  I want my books.  C wants his pillows and our filing cabinet.  The kids want their videos and games and computers and books and summer/gym clothes.  I want vertical surfaces.  I want my bed and blankets.  Since we don't know how long the customs process will take, we haven't told the kids anything but that it was weeks away.  It may be, sadly enough, but I have wild, high hopes that it will be next week.
    Oops.  While looking for a link to the AH chocolate chip cookie, I fell into the blog of a Seattleite Microsoftie who moved here a year ago, and I've been reading backwards for the last two hours.  Gotta stop; it's four in the morning.

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January 23, 2008

    Yesterday was a down day for me.  I came home quickly from school in the morning so I could get a shower before 9:30 when the floor folks were supposed to arrive.  He wasn't on time, but when he did arrive his work went very quickly.  He installed the one board that he needed to and all the trim.  When the radiator cover was replaced, however, if it is to go up against the wall like it was screwed in before, then it needs something to raise it to the height of the trim it is resting on next to the wall.  Since he left a bunch of unsused boards and trim (and garbage for me to take care of), I am using a couple of scraps in front.  I don't know where the screws went that attached it to the wall, but it looks like they were ripped out at some point anyway and will need either bigger or longer ones to hold.  The floor looks great, but the rest of the details are a little sketchy.  Anyway, I should have had something on my plate for afterwards, but didn't.  I avoided the tough things, unfortunately, which are finding and interviewing a dentist for B's crooked and extra tooth, and investigating extra activities for them (gymnastics, swimming, etc.).  I read other folks' blogs and mail and wrote absolutely nothing.  I craved food I didn't have in the house, and walked by several places that sold food I'd thought about but decided upon walking past that wasn't what I was looking for anyway and didn't bother.  I'm tired.  And down.  All of which are a constellation of things I recognize as a periodic (ha) problem.  It will pass.  I tried fighting it by engaging with the kids and offered to play games with them.  We played Phase 10 for a while, but then they wanted to play computer games instead.  C was home late from work (1/2 later than he estimated from the train) so dinner was a bit too done.  I should have flipped the burgers one more time instead of leaving them alone, and started the fries in the oven later in the process.  After dinner I disappeared upstairs, but it turned out not to work very well.  The kids were worried that I was mad and I didn't really get enough out of lying in bed playing Spider to forgo the benefits of working as a team to get the house kitchen and dining room cleaned after dinner.  B was complaining that it was all C's fault for coming here, though I think what he really meant was that he blamed being in The Netherlands for having to do chores after dinner.  He does recognize that we made this choice because C's work gave us the opportunity, and any time he's feeling sad or missing home and things from home he is likely to bring it up again, but in this case, I think it was really that he didn't want to vacuum the floor and cleaning wasn't fun any more.
    Today was Wednesday, a short day at school for the kids.  Since it is nearly impossible lately to get them back out of the house after we get home from school, I knew I needed to do things after I dropped them off.  I run them in the mornings, which means t-shirt and waterproof running jacket, running pants, and running shoes.  I have a pair of gloves and fleece headband in a pocket for when it's cold.  A wanted me to slow down as we approached school.  He doesn't know what to do with himself in the mornings before school.  He doesn't know the kids very well and wants to get there just as the bell rings to line up so he doesn't have to stand in line by himself or make a decision about what to do with whom.  So I walked the rest of the 2-3 blocks.  Afternoons are different - he's happy to run and play with kids on the equipment.  Afternoons seem to be tougher for B.  The kids don't play the games he's used to.  One of the constant activities at his old school was playing chase.  He'd play this with girls, and boys, and all of his friends.  It wasn't tag, it was just chasing each other around with slightly less purpose than tag.  Here he gets upset when his brother won't play tag with him because then he doesn't necessarily have anyone to play tag with.  It's really frustrating for him when his brother won't play, and won't play and then gets into a good position and suddenly he's playing and will tag his brother (and then later claims he's not playing anymore).  I'll have to suggest that A might play more consistently if it's just chase instead of tag.
    Anyway, after dropping the kids at school, I headed to the center of town to find the farmer's market (Wednesdays and Fridays).  I stopped at a huge bike store on the way there to buy a lock for the stroller.  While C was out of town I used his bike lock to lock the stroller up at school and leave it until the afternoon.  His bike lock is a honkingly large and heavy piece of DO NOT MESS WITH ME equipment.  His bike is a very nice Dutch bike and gift from his co-workers in the States, so he needs a lock such as he has.  I don't.  I think a double jogging stroller, while nice to have, is not only unusual here (and therefore much more likely to be spotted by me later), but less usable by any criminal element than, say, a bike.  It's the casually malicious element I needed a lock for.  I figure they need only a lightweight purple cable lock as discouragement, so that's the 5 Euro I spent.  (The smaller bike shop I checked in with on the way home from AH on Saturday had only one lock, an even bigger and heavier one than C's, and for 87 Euro.  Um, no.)  I stopped at a large Hubo store, but they were unable to find a blank to copy our single garage key.  If C is successful in getting a garage door opener for the garage this won't be as big a deal, but at the moment we both need use of the key to get and put away our respective bike and stroller.  Darn.
    I was successful at finding the market, but it wasn't exactly a farmer's market as I was expecting.  It was an open air market, and there were certainly fruits and vegetables for sale there from several vendors.  There were also sellers of clothing, shoes, material and sewing things, fish, pastries, toiletries, and fried snack huts.  It was not at all clear to me how to find anything organic.  I have found things for sale at the big AH marked "biologische," but they are often in extra plastic packaging and perhaps not at the best prices.  While the veggies and fruits I saw looked very nice and fresh (and I bought 2 kilo of Elstar apples), I don't know their provenance.  I'll ask next time.  After exploring all of the stalls, on the way back home I found a shoe store with bunches of slippers hanging out into the street so went in for a better look and bought a pair that isn't 2 sizes too small.  (While I like my purple polka dot pair, my toes were a little tired of being slightly but constantly squished.)  They are black boots with a rubber sole and thick fake sheepskin innards and fake fur above the ankle.  They have a brown thread design on the top of the foot with six sparkly yellow plastic gems that A said looked girly.  They are very warm.  At that point that was a large point in their favor since I was very, very cold.
    It was a long way home, cold as I was.  First off, the weather this morning was that heavy mist/drizzle that you can't quite tell if it is falling from the sky or just blowing at your face from the wind.  I was wet, and in fairly thin running togs.  And it was a very cold wind blowing and I was thinking "wind chill factor" over and over in my brain, alternating with "I'm so cold."  Since I had 2 kilos of apples, a cable lock, and a pair of boot slippers in my backpack, I didn't relish running home, but I did walk fast to try to get warmer from the inside out.  I was still thinking "I'm so cold" by the time I arrived home, though that alternated with "I'm getting closer," as I did.  I was smart enough to line up my silk long underwear (uppers and lowers), jeans, wool socks, turtleneck, underwear, new warm slipper boots, and fleece sweatshirt up near the shower so I wouldn't have to walk on cold tiles for too long and ruin the effect of the hot shower.  But, I had forgotten how painful a hot shower can be when you're really really cold.  Ow, ow, ow.  Not that I turned it down.  And by the end I was turning it up.  I love hot showers.  They are one of the things I am most unenvironmental about in my daily life.  I usually try to keep them short, but today was not such a day.
    I met with B's teacher and the class mum after school in the classroom and talked about possible activities for the 100th day.  It was good to connect with them and I look forward to being tied into the class network.  I offered to volunteer in the classroom, and got a lead for helping in the library.  With only 13 kids in that class, they don't need someone to come in and listen to kids read as much as A's class (of 22) might.  The whole meeting was very good.  B was upset when I got back outside.  Apparently I wasn't as clear as I needed to be about where I was and what he should do if he needed me.  Sorry, B.  They settled in the stroller and started their lunch (also a factor I'm sure).  I stopped a letter carrier on the way home and asked what to write on the pile of letters we are collecting to people other than us with this address.  (It looks like mail forwarding is not terribly effective here.)  She said, "not at this address," and I asked about what to write in Dutch.  While she said it and I repeated it, I have no idea how to spell it and write it, so will wait for an answer from my school sources.  If they aren't speedy enough, I'll see what I can find out from my other sources.  It was a good exercise for me, though.  I have found that I'm proud when the teller doesn't speak to me in English and the entire transaction is carried out in Dutch, but I also note that it means I don't speak very much, which is kind of contrary to the point of learning the language.
    On the way home, A wiggled enough I asked and sure enough, he had to find a bathroom quickly.  So, ironically, I ended up running home wearing many layers and getting way too hot.  We watched a bit of men's short program figure skating since I wanted to mix up the computer gaming a bit.  B was the only one interested, and he ended up doing a lot of skating around the wood floors in his socks making a bunch of "moves."  His favorite ended up in second place and he missed the first place finisher's program while he was in the bathroom.  He was constantly shushing his brother so he could hear the music better, even or especially when his brother was commenting on the number of sparkles on their outfits or actually watching instead of playing Nick Jr. games.  For dinner, I made a yellow curry with the curry paste I found at the international market on Monday.  I finished off the Ben & Jerry's ice cream (fairly widely available as far as I can tell - I see a case of it in the video rental store I pass on the way to school) and the kids had an ice lolly.  Tomorrow C has dinner with an old co-worker from Seattle so the kids and I will make a dent in the leftovers.
    All in all, it was a better day than yesterday.  I still have a bunch of mail that needs responses, but it will have to wait until tomorrow, because I need to spend time with C.  There've been too many nights of late with him playing Half-Life until I'm asleep.  Tomorrow I will call some dentists.

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January 21, 2008

    I did get some writing done yesterday, so when C got me up from the kids' bed where I'd fallen asleep with them, I came downstairs and decided I'd written enough in e-mails and such to cover me for the day and that I should go upstairs to my bed to fall asleep instead of doing so on the couch.  So I did.  Nevertheless, I wanted to crow about a triumph I had yesterday morning.  I made scones!  When we were living in the States, I would make scones regularly, on school mornings too, as I have a wonderful 20 minute scone recipe from Cook's Illustrated that really does take that long from concept to product, given a kitchen set up the way I had.  This is definitely not our current situation.  I had to substitute for a number of ingredients, estimate the amount of butter to use, use my hands instead of a pastry blender, and figure out the oven's fan-assisted influence over timing and temperature.  I started them in the morning before anyone was aware of what I was doing.  The kids were playing on the computers, and C was asleep.  Then, just as I was getting the scrambled eggs on the plate and the first batch was out of the oven and in a warming towel, I heard A from the other room say, "I'm hungry."  So, I sent him upstairs to tell daddy that scones and eggs were ready.  There was a gratifying amount of whooping and excitement.  They weren't perfect, but they were yummy.  They need a bit of adjustment still, but I can now make scones here.  That will enlarge our breakfast repertoire, which was starting to be very repetitive (pancakes and poffertjes during the week and French toast or scrambled eggs and bacon on the weekend).  We haven't been out to eat yet since we moved here, and though I'd like to get out at some point, I've never relied on restaurants for very much of my diet and so it takes a bit of work to find places where I really like the food.
    I had a success of a different kind this morning.  I finally walked home from the kids' school past the big Albert Heijn without getting lost (third try) and checked out one of the international markets on the way home from that.  Between the two stores, my backpack was positively bulging.  I found maple syrup!  I bought a bottle of real maple syrup for A, B & C, and a bottle of fake maple syrup for me.  Since the real stuff is 6.45 Euro for 250 mg, it's not particularly cheap, but I think it's an acceptable expense.  We will treasure the Costco quantities (and Costco prices) when we return home.  And who knows, perhaps B will prefer the stroop (which I believe is molasses) for some things.  If not, I can cook with it.
    The kids and I picked up the entirety of the Lego room tonight in preparation for some folks to come in tomorrow morning and finish the floor installation in that room.  There is one corner board and some trim that they didn't finish earlier.  It's now sparkly and bare, a huge change from the strewn mess it was earlier this evening.  We've also read, cleaned up after dinner, and printed out pictures of family and favorite activities for A and B to use at school, and sent the kids to dreamland.  I added our spaghetti dinner to the Netherlands Recipe page I put up today; it's been fun for me to compile so far - we shall see if I keep it up.  No new cookies, but I did buy Cupido extra dark Chocolate Sticks at the international store and just tried them out.  Ooh yummy!  Solid dark chocolate in a thin stick slightly longer and more substantial than a pretzel stick.  It's divine to let my warm mint tea melt it on my tongue.
    I also thought I'd make an exercise out of describing something and picked the streets and sidewalks:  All of the sidewalks and driveway entrances are made from square concrete blocks, often about a foot square (though more likely some handy metric measure), usually in gray.  The curbs are about half the height of those in the States, which helps a lot whether you are a bike, stroller, or a car parking in a small spot and maneuvering into it.  It is illegal for folks to park on the sidewalk itself, but you wouldn't know it to travel down the streets themselves.  As I maneuver our double jogger down the sidewalks, there are quite a number of places where I run into the street because I can't fit between the car and the shrubbery or fence.  Bike paths are separate from the street, and usually are paved in red blocks or bricks.  They are usually between the sidewalk and the street and sometimes there is a bike lane in the middle of a large patch of sidewalk so one crosses it and then can pause out of traffic before crossing the street.  When crossing a major street, I cross up to four potential lanes of traffic (bike, car, car, bike).  I have not seen a street here except on the freeway where there was more than one lane going the same direction.  The paving stones fit together neatly, but there is space in between each of them.  Sometimes moss, grass, or other green stuff can be found growing between them.  They are mostly even, though there are areas where a tree has heaved some of them up to make it a bit more bumpy, though usually it flows over roots in gradual slopes.  The curbs themselves seem to be poured lengths rather than square or rectangular pieces, at least where they can be.  Streets themselves are sometimes paved, sometimes brick, and sometimes blocks.  There are often bumps for the cars when a lane of pedestrian or bike traffic crosses the street, so intersections and sometimes mid-street the car goes up a bump and back down on the other side.  Though more often plateau-shaped than hill-shaped, these do serve to slow one's speed as well.  These are often marked with stripes stretching across parallel to the street or triangles.  C was advised that anytime you are driving and come across a triangle or stripe that seems to be pointing at you, you need to be careful.  Bikes always have the right of way.  I assume that pedestrians have right of way over and above bicycles, but no outside confirmation of that yet.  The other thing that sidewalks in the Netherlands are known for, which seems to be borne out in my experience, is that there are frequent piles of dog poop lying around for one to avoid.  Many times these are concentrated in the square of dirt surrounding a tree, but not always.  For a while, when I was translating what was ok and not ok for the green bin (fruit, veg and yard waste), it was not clear to me whether dog and cat waste could go in (haren of house animals was not ok, but manure of small house animals was ok).  I thought that might be why people didn't pick up after their pets because if they used a plastic bag to pick it up, they wouldn't be able to put it in the green bin.  However, after further consultation on translation, it seems that pet hair is not ok (huge clippings maybe?  Hair composts just fine), but that manure of SMALL pets is fine (probably meaning gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, and the like).  So, that's not the reason then that folks leave it on the sidewalk for people to trod through.  Sigh.  I will continue to pack a bag for my dog and do my part to make responsible pet ownership more normal and visible.  If no one actually likes poop on one's shoes, how did it become acceptable to leave it on the sidewalk?  Anyway.  I like how the streets and sidewalks are constructed and work together.  I think it makes sense and seems to work well.  I like being able to tell the bike lanes by color.
    All right.  I need to respond to some more e-mail and get to bed.

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January 19, 2008

   C returned home late last night and today we got out of the house to get groceries.  I got the boys to go by telling them I wouldn't bring them back any olie bollen, but that if they went they could have one on the way back.  It worked, but unfortunately, it took us most of the afternoon to get moving so they were out of plain and only had ones studded with currants and raisins.  The kids ate the outsides (coated with powdered sugar), but left the insides.  I ate mine, but definitely prefer the plain kind.  The currants were small enough to be successfully ignored, but the raisins were big and squishy - why I don't like fruit in my bread.  I forgot to mention Friday night's new cookie in my last post.  This one is another winner: Zaans Huisje cookies are a butter cookie base topped with yummy dark chocolate very similar to LU's little schoolboy cookies.  The remarkable thing about this cookie, though, was that the picture on the box had no scale and the cookies turned out to be 50% bigger than the pictures.  It seemed very unusual, at least for American packaging and advertising, not to emphasize how big the cookies were.  The reverse case seems much more common.
    We are now wireless as well as connected, though it took some doing this morning.  There was a very long list we generated this morning of things we needed to get done this weekend and it feels we've barely started.  Once C got the wireless set up I made a huge tactical error.  I showed him a game that I had gotten caught up in on Thursday (Chain Factor).  Then he got caught up in it, and then the boys got caught up in it.  It was like a very virulent infection.  I am feeling fairly cured, though I did dump a number of hours playing it on Thursday.  Since the kids spent almost the entirety of yesterday on my computer connected to the web via the cable and much of today my computer was out of my hands, and because I went to bed just after the boys last night (and then talked and listened to C for a long time once he arrived home), I haven't had as much access to my own computer as I am used to.  I spent some frustrating hours trying to figure out the best way to replace some of the disks we lost.  And in talking with C, he reminds me that the kids and I are remembering another trip watching movies on the laptop because the evening of our Michigan trip A fell asleep and I didn't want to get the movies out that evening.  So, I'm back to having no flipping idea where the case might have disappeared to.  Anyway, I spent too long trying to figure out how to purchase (and SHIP) those missing games and movies, and then detoured into the Expatica site reading various flame wars and other somewhat depressing posts about living in the Netherlands.  I have a lot of mail to respond to, comments to post and explain, and other things to do on the computer.  I don't feel like I used the time I had this evening very well.
    And now it's gone.  (The time).  It's very late and C just got up abruptly from some similar computer activity on the other couch, kissed me and said goodnight, leaving me sitting here.  I need to go chase him to bed.  I hope to catch up a bit better tomorrow.

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January 17, 2008

    The cat got me up, or I would still be asleep in the kids' bed.  She has learned, unfortunately, that the best way to get my attention (so that she can go outside) is to start to claw things.  Upstairs, it's the bed and bedding.  Downstairs, it's the rental couches.  I'm kind of stuck responding to it, since I don't want her to do it.  I try to respond with a squirt of water, but we have only one squirt bottle not on the boat, and she really only does it until she has my attention (and then goes to stand by the back door) and will meow if I insist.  She still hasn't eaten any of the cat food I bought, and so today returned to the pet store to try another flavor of Iams original.  It is in fact triangular, which matches what she consumed down to the crumbs, but not quite the same color (and apparently smell and taste).  Up to now I didn't think she was a fussy cat.  She ate the food I bought her (Iams original), she ate the dog's food, she didn't spurn any treats.  But here, she has completely ignored the round, lamb flavored Iams and eaten even the crumbs of what we brought with us (very unusual for her), as well as the dog's food (lamb flavored).  I had hoped today's purchase would start her eating again, but so far it hasn't.  Since she somehow gained a full pound of weight during the two weeks while she was living alone in our house under care of our neighbor, going from 9 to 10 pounds, I'm not yet terribly worried.  Still, I am concerned.  And I don't yet know what to do with the cat food that I've opened and she won't eat.  The pet store either didn't understand my question or didn't know of any charities that accepted pet food.  There's not much of a network to tap into at the school (as far as I know yet), but there's got to be someone who will take it and use it.
    I talked with another parent today (classmate of B's) who disagreed with me when I said that Seattle's weather was pretty similar to the weather here in Hilversum.  And, he's right.  It's not that the cold, wet, dark, rainy, foggy or cloudy weather is that different, it's that the weather here is more normally paced.  Seattle weather is fast and much more variable.  We don't have single days here (so far anyway) of fog, rain, wind, sun, drizzle, and clearing.  C says that in no other place do they predict "sun breaks" like they do in Seattle.  Perhaps because other places have much slower weather.  If you have those sun breaks somewhere else, they last a whole day and can be predicted as simply "sunny."  We are several degrees further north in latitude, so it is even darker here in the winter.  The kids have objected to getting up when it's full dark in the morning before school, but I have pointed out that every day is getting a little bit longer.  In six months, I'll have to deal with objections about bedtime before the sun goes down I'm sure.  Anyway, I do miss the Seattle weather.  It's been cold and gray and drizzly (when it's not dark and cold and rainy), and I don't know when it will change.  According to the other parent, I'm not going to get the brilliantly sunny and mild afternoon where folks take off work early and go outside in the winter here.  Bummer.
    B had his first play date here in The Netherlands today.  Apparently he impressed the boy's dad by throwing a Frisbee very well, even through the hole in a tire swing.  I had anticipated some jealousy or objection by A, but there was none.  We shopped for fruit together (and I bought strawberries and blueberries I hadn't intended to) at a small fruit and veg shop, and though he was excited to play Uno with me when I suggested it at the school, he ended up watching movies all afternoon.  While he did that, I consumed my alumni magazine, which found me here.  I'm not sure why I'm surprised by that; I did change my address with them.  Since the USPS won't forward periodicals, for all the other magazines I get, I changed my address to my mother's for her to collect and send on.  I'd already received her first installment of 4 kids magazines, which A and B enjoyed very much.  I guess I'd forgotten that I would be receiving any magazines directly.
    Unfortunately, B also got teased at school today, which colored his perception of the day so much that when he was talking to his dad on the phone tonight, he didn't even mention the playdate.  "It's tough to explain," he said, but apparently two other kids were teasing him and one of the things they kept asking him is if he was a good girl or a bad boy.  That's not a good choice, I said.  It's tough when kids you were trying to make friends with make you feel bad, and I told B so.  I also told him he was brave and showed courage to go to an adult and tell them what was going on.  I asked what happened then, but the only answer I got was that it stopped.  I'll try to talk to him tomorrow about what I think it means to be a "good" kid or a "bad" kid, and why I think being labeled the opposite gender is not as big a deal as these kids do.  And how I might deal with being asked a question like his, or "when did you stop beating your wife?"  B has requested lately that we not mention anything about Seattle or the people there because he doesn't want to think about it and be sad.  So, we will see if he's willing to talk more about this or if he'd rather drop it but will suffer through my telling him what I think.
    Our big plans for tomorrow include sleeping in and finding the nearest library and exploring their Engels section.  C returns, but probably not before the kids are asleep, much to their disappointment.  He's been working long hours (often until 10 pm) plus a 2.5 hour drive home, so it's not clear if he'll return before I'm asleep either.  sigh. 
    A keeps asking when we'll get our disks (the 24 we lost prior to arriving) and I'll have to call my cell phone messages to make sure, but I think I remembered at dinner tonight the last place we actually had it and I am pretty sure they are gone/stolen.  When we got to the airport to head to Michigan for Christmas, I (and the kids) remember them watching a movie in the airport while waiting.  It likely got left behind in the hurry of boarding the plane, someone picked it up and absconded with it.  I will have to start making some purchases to replace what went missing.  I can't remember all of the games and movies I packed in there and will have to receive the empty cases (oh won't the boys be excited about that!) before I get a final tally.  I've already paid for the 8 library disks and purchased another copy of Quicken before we left Seattle.  Of course, the remaining 13 were their favorites.  I'm sure that one of them was Backyard Baseball '05, ironically one we've had to replace before.  We will have three cases and one disk for that one.  Dang.  We need to deal with Christmas presents for our long-suffering relatives as well, since we weren't able to do that before the move.  Online ordering, here we come.  Most of the time I'm happy with my relationship with money, but sometimes I wish it were more pleasurable for me to spend it.

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January 16, 2008

    Woot!  We're connected to the Internet!  (Okay, I know it seems as if we've been connected all along, but sipping internet from our neighbor as we were doing had some definite disadvantages.  We had to be close to the windows on the south side, and even with that we had only a low or very low connection.  We couldn't sustain a video Skype call for longer than a few minutes and we couldn't necessarily download anything.)  I haven't set up the wireless portion yet so it's a bit ironic that I've stretched the cable to the south side of the house to the same spot that I've been sitting in to connect anyway.  There was a little trouble because the repair guy didn't know we had phone service through as well and it required another round of confirmation after he retrieved another modem from his vehicle.  Also, when he did get a dial tone, he didn't get our number to appear on his equipment, so we still don't know what it is.
    The kids finally had a bath this evening so their heads are smelling especially sweet while I laid down in bed with them.  You would think that this house would be too empty to lose something in, but I just spent a few minutes searching for the kids' Tylenol because A fell down the stairs.  Finally checked the kids' medicine chest (logical, no?) and it was there, though I don't really remember putting it there.  Poor A - he had a mouth full of rinse and he was hurrying after me in his feet pajamas because he didn't know what numbers on the watch to rinse until.  I had hurried downstairs to put out a spider that had been trapped in our sink.  So, there is rinse somewhere on our floor/stairs that I'm just not going to worry about right now.  Mostly I need to go to bed and get more sleep than I've been managing the last few nights, but I wanted to add a little more.
    I've been getting comments about my running to drop off and pick up kids from school with the jogger or double jogger ever since they started pre-school and I started doing it.  Mostly these are somewhat admiring and somewhat in the "I could never do that" tone.  I have responded almost always in a way that would downplay the societal and environmental reasons and play up the personal reasons for my making that choice.  I point out that if I didn't build the exercise into my day then I wouldn't get to it, or that the dog depends on it, or that running helps to keep me sane and happy.  While all of those are true, I also really don't believe it is responsible of me to drive a car a distance that I can easily run or walk.  I haven't done the calculations, but judging from the time it takes me, I think the distance from home to school and back is about the same as my route (including the extra laps I stuck in) in Seattle, probably between 1 and 2 miles.  I'm healthy, in need of exercise, I currently don't have other options, and yes, the dog wants to go too, but I also do this because I believe we as a society need to make some deep changes to the way that we live out lives to reduce the burden on our children for the global mess that we're in the throes of creating.  I hope to speak up more about the choices that I'm making and why in future.  Not because I'm living in the Netherlands where car culture is not as dominant, but because I have wanted to be more politically active and a move is a good opportunity to make big changes and take on big challenges.  Perhaps if those of us who are making similar choices are more vocal or out about them, it will become more normal.  Just as I breastfed in public, I want to use public transport, compost, buy organic, and conserve resources in public too.  I don't have it all figured out and I haven't made some of the changes I want to make yet either, but at least I should be more fully honest about the changes I have made.  Because I am worried, and I think that practicing these changes will make it easier later for me to help others as well.
    Okay, really.  To bed.

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January 15, 2008

    It is kind of a weird existence spending a fair part of my day wandering around in stores looking to buy things.  It's not something I am used to doing, and I don't put much value in spending money.  At the same time, I know that this investment in time will help me figure out what things are available where (and which I still need to go looking for) so I don't have to wander about cluelessly in future.  In addition, only a selection of our computer equipment has come or is coming over, and everything that we want that plugs in needs to be purchased.  Night lights, rice makers, mixers, waffle makers, hair clippers, sewing machine, lamps, iron, vacuum...  I have yet to find a good site that reviews what's available in English so I can make decisions about whether to buy.  I'd hate to spend money on a crappy blender, for instance, just because I didn't know to look for brand X instead.  This morning on my way back from dropping off kids I purchased a mop, hair clippers, shampoo and conditioner, an oven mitt, a little digital kitchen timer, and 2 chocolate croissants.  I left my mop in the shop when I was getting my croissants and ran back for it when I realized it many blocks and 2 stores later.  They recognized me as soon as I returned to the shop and retrieved it from the back for me.  Dank u wel!
    It's a cold and rainy day.  I probably should have waited to shower until after I picked the kids up this afternoon since my jeans and shoes got very wet.  The dog is still wet, as are the backpacks.  I will also have to remember to fasten down the rain shield on the jogger when I leave it locked up.  Today when I returned, the shield was kind of hiked up and the seats were wet.  Fortunately, I had a couple plastic bags in my backpack for the kids to sit on, but I don't know how well it will dry in the garage by tomorrow morning.  It's very windy out there too.  All this walking and running twice a day to school will keep me (and the dog) in shape, but it's not always the reason I am doing it.  My options are rather limited at the moment.  We don't have a car, C is out of town, and our bikes are on a boat somewhere. 
    Somehow a yellow jacket appeared in the Lego room so I trapped and released it outside (perhaps for it to find its way inside again).  That's an indication of how well insulated the house is.  I always thought that attics were a warm part of the house because the heat rises, but I go up the stairs to put laundry in the dryer and I can feel the cold tumbling down the steps.  C keeps saying "There's so much I would change about this house if we lived here," meaning owned it and lived here.  I point out that there are definitely things that we should change since we are going to be here for the next three years.  Certainly there are things that can't be changed, and things that we wouldn't get a return on our investment in that short a time (but might be attractive to the owner if we asked him to do them).  But there are definitely things we should spend time fixing now or soon, simply to increase our quality of life in the house.
    I added a link to the croissant place in yesterday's post and it has a song that plays on the site when you click.  The kids have been dancing to the music (we decided the language is Spanish) and when the song ends having me refresh the page so they can listen and dance to it some more.  Tee hee.
    B is missing his daddy.  I miss C too.  B thinks it would be easier if C were here.  He seems to mean that he wouldn't be so short-tempered with his brother and he may well be right.  This is a tough adjustment and he's doing rather well.  Unfortunately, he is exhibiting his stress by pounding on his brother at the least provocation.  B really wants to control his body, but can't quite refrain.  He is very distressed afterwards, and has taken to crawling under the beds.  Of course, it's easiest for all of us if I remember what's going on and stay calm, but that's not always easy either.  We're all working on being angry in better ways.
    I am sure looking forward to our main shipment.  It is hard to live with only six forks in the house.  Rental furniture is fine so far as it goes, but there are definite shortcomings.  It is a good thing that we are still cleaning up as a team after dinner, but I still am washing forks by hand at least once a day in between.  Tonight we (together) made pesto pasta again.  I sure do like the taste of toasted pine nuts - yum!  After washing up (B wiped tables and rinsed dishes) and drying, I cleaned bathrooms waiting for A to do his job.  He quickly moved the chairs out of the way, but then got caught in a book because they were on the floor for him to pick up before he started vacuuming.  He was on his belly under the table reading for a long while.  Then he read to me a book his teacher sent home with him and then (finally) did vacuum.
    A blog I read recently pointed me at a few others and so I've spent the last couple hours going from "I'm going to wrap this up so I can get some sleep" to "ooh, interesting!"  At this rate I'll never catch up on my sleep.  Tomorrow is (we HOPE) when we get hooked up to our own internet.  Since they would have to charge us for a new modem to send another one out again without duly tracking down the one they sent, delivered to a neighbor and returned, and further since they seem unwilling to do that and then refund us when duly tracked, it seems the solution is for me to be home between 12 and 6 to receive a technician to come with a new modem to "fix" the one we have since it clearly isn't working.  Since I don't want to miss them (and have no idea how likely they are to come at 12), I'll pick the kids up a little early from school.  I checked and they're okay with that.  Still, bed bed bed bed...

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January 14, 2008

    Monday mornings are different than other mornings because most shops are closed either for the entire day or until after noon.  This morning I ran the kids to school in the jogger and left it there (secured with C's huge and heavy lock) and then walked back.  I intended to get a few things on my way back, including croissants for my breakfast.  I wanted to try a different bakery than the first one I tried (Bertram & Brood), but ran out of open places to purchase croissants before I succeeded.  I was enticed by vegetables into a small fruit/vegetable shop, but didn't need anything.  I did check out a different grocery store than the trusty Albert Heijn, but there didn't seem to be much that was different.  I think that since shops are smaller there is less importance placed on having a zillion varieties of the same thing.  Even after being here only two weeks the huge expanse of a large grocery store back home in the States seems an extravagant use of space.  I am definitely wishing that I had shipped instead of given away certain of my staples.  Brown sugar, baking chocolate, rolled oats, raspberry Jell-O, maple syrup...  I haven't found anything quite the same.  I'm sure I will find some work-arounds, or even eventually just what I'm looking for, but right now I wish I could go back in time and slip a Costco-sized allotment of those things onto a "main shipment" shelf.  I did discover what I need to be looking for when I search for baking soda: "maagzuur zout"  I had assumed that since "zout" means salt that there were just a lot of different kinds of salt (and there are an amazing amount of spice blends and salts).  Now, ha ha, I can get some baking soda and do some baking.  I will see if I can adjust my scone recipe to use baking powder (included with our air shipment) and baking soda instead of cream of tartar.  Then we're just a wafflemaker away from having some variety in our breakfasts again.  I did find some "Crazy Stroopstift," which seems to be a fake maple syrup equivalent without the maple flavoring but with "aroma," which I like much better than straight molasses "stroop" on my poffertjes and pancakes.  So, I'm good, but the real maple syrup eaters in the family (that is, everyone else) are making do with sugar syrup instead.  I'm hoping that A and B go back to the real stuff without too much of a problem when we locate some.
    I've been listening to more of the Dutch language tapes and realized that when I am out and about that I've been thinking somewhat in French.  There are more similarities than I'd have thought in listening to the two languages, which isn't really that much of a surprise since they come from the same branch of the language tree.  Still, the words that are very similar (Pardon, for instance) reinforce that, and I find my mouth wants to pronounce the Dutch in a French way.  I'm not sure if my knowledge of French is a hindrance or a help yet.  Some actual Dutch classes, and a written component to the audio, will both help tease it away from French in my head.  Since English/Engels seems to be the language folks here try with me when I give a blank or confused look, I'm operating fine.  But I'd like to speak and understand the language.  I do feel the tang of loneliness when I walk away from the English bubble around the kids' school and enter the rest of the town.  When I was in France 18 years ago I didn't learn to speak French as well as I'd like (fear of looking stupid, thereby confirming it), but I understood it quite well.  Now I'd like to learn to speak it (and be more fearless), but outside of my familiarity with French and English, and context, I don't understand it yet at all.
    I bought cat food which she turned her nose up at (same brand, different shape, possibly different flavor) and hasn't deigned to eat yet.  I also bought a dog brush since he had a bath on Saturday and really needed it brushed, and well before the main shipment comes with his own dog brush.  I got very hairy with the fine undercoat that he shed all over my black shirt.  The washer and dryer here don't seem to do a good job getting the pet hair off of clothes for some reason; fleece, at least, seems to collect it and we will see how well it does with this shirt.  Maybe I'll have to get a lint brush before the main shipment comes as well.  What the dog is going to do without his favorite treat is unclear.  He loves his peanut-flavored treat in the morning and evening.  He's been eating Petco's Healthy Select large peanut flavored treats.  Wow.  I just detoured to the web to check out Petco's site, clicked on the We Ship Internationally button and discovered that I could have a 10 pound box of treats (on sale for $12.97) shipped here at standard delivery rates including taxes and duties for a mere $129.73.  Methinks he'll learn to eat what we give him.  If he's lucky I'll make some with peanut butter myself or smear some peanut butter on what we find.
    Tomorrow I need to clean the bathrooms.  The downstairs bathroom is a small unheated room with red walls and black and white patterned tiles, a toilet, tiny sink, and only cold water.  There are two upstairs bathrooms.  One has a toilet, sink and shower, and is between the four bedrooms off the stairs.  The other has shower, separate bathtub, sink, and washing machine, but no toilet or door and is off the master bedroom.  All three need cleaning.  I live with three boys, one of whom (A) has an aiming problem when he stands up (and doesn't have time to sit down sometimes, simply decreasing his accuracy).  I moved the boys' toothbrushes, cups, watches, and flossers into our bathroom because their sink is too curvy a platform for things and they end up on the floor or in the sink, both of which are rather icky.  I think there's something to separating the cleaning/bathing functions from the toilet, and I'm amazed at how quickly I've adjusted to using the two rooms without being inconvenienced by more than the cold of getting out of bed.
    I'm getting cold now because I should be in bed already.  Time to warm the corn critter in the microwave while I upload these.  Then to bed.

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January 13, 2008

    Today was a Lego day.  When I think back on it I realize that there were actually other things that the kids and I did - ate meals, played two hands of Uno, cooked dinner - but not many.  I got the whole bin of Legos sorted out (at least what is not currently in someone's creation) and the boys have built 1 1/2 motorcycles, an X-wing fighter, and half of a motorized R2D2.  They enjoy the help of having someone find some of the pieces for them as they put it together.  Now that I've got the pieces organized, it's fairly easy to lay hands on the right piece, hampered only by sheer numbers.  The flat pieces, which used to be all together, are now somewhat sorted by size.  It's easier to find the color you are looking for if you're looking among pieces of the correct size.  Since some of the bags are good for holding but not looking through, we have three empty end table drawers serving as bins.  The kids really wanted to keep playing and building instead of going to bed when it was (past) time and it was a struggle to get them out of that room and into bed.  There were even tears that tomorrow was Monday and they would have to go to school instead of playing with Legos ALL DAY.  If there is any opportunity to play with them in the morning it will be very hard to get them out the door as well.
    A French co-worker of C's talked to him about a series of disappointments in which he would find something at the store that he'd been looking a long time for, bring it home with great anticipation, get it open and realize it wasn't what he'd thought it was.  This has happened to us twice this weekend as well.  The first was discovered yesterday.  I bought what I thought was chocolate milk powdered mix (B doesn't like milk by itself, so he has chocolate while his brother has plain).  When the carton of Chocomel (chocolate milk) was used up, I opened it for B's chocolate milk.  When I opened it, it was yellow and smelled of bananas -- wrong flavor.  I didn't know they MADE banana flavor for milk.  The kids were initially excited to drink something that smelled "like banana Laffy Taffy," but it flopped and neither kid drank their whole glass.  The second instance was at dinner tonight, over the same issue of getting calcium into B.  Tonight, since he didn't want banana milk, or regular milk, I remembered that we had purchased a carton of calcium-fortified soy milk.  He opted for that so long as I shook it up.  My first clue was shaking it up and not getting a sensation of movement.  Then I cut the carton open and saw how thick the contents were.  I examined the package again and noticed that the picture on the carton was of a bowl full of pudding with a spoon in.  I'd bought vanilla flavored soy pudding.  B played with it a lot and tasted some, but also couldn't get very much down.
    So, tomorrow requires some shopping: chocolate milk, chocolate milk powder, more sugar for my tea, and cat food.
    Tomorrow C leaves on a business trip until Friday night.  I wish he weren't going so soon or for so long, but we will manage.  We've got Legos.

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January 12, 2008

    I missed a night of blogging.  Not that I was doing anything more interesting.  I started and then surfed instead, reading other blogs and hiding my head in a game of Spider until I fell asleep.  The day itself was fair/middling.  After dropping the kids off, we headed to the bank and I failed to get on C's account because we admitted that we have an address in the US.  I suspect some new IRS requirements to prevent money laundering caused the rule change and the bank will confirm that they already jump through whatever hoops the IRS has set up and then it won't be a problem any more.  C can get another card for himself and hand it over to me (and that's our work-around), but I can't get on the account at all.  C is gone all next week to Germany and Belgium, so when the second card arrives we will have to wait until he can activate it (which means taking time off work to physically go in to the bank, and showing his passport).  He loaded up on cash for me today, and there's always our US cash card, so there shouldn't be any problem.  It's just odd.
    I napped while the kids were in school and set the alarm on my phone.  Fortunately, I didn't rely wholly on it, because I had set it for 1:30.  About 1:45, when it hadn't gone off and I was drifting pleasantly but wondering why it hadn't, I checked it.  It was indeed set for 1:30.  Problem was, it should have been set for 13:30.  I was a couple minutes late to pick up kids again.  This time, instead of just setting out too late, it was compounded by the dog going slower.  He knew how long the trip was this time, and it was drizzling too, so he wasn't as enthusiastic as he had been on Thursday.  I found out when library and PE days are for the boys, and got the form for pizza Fridays if they want a slice (it's provided for the whole school; besides this there isn't any lunch provided).  I've been meeting other moms and dads, though I really should set out earlier in the afternoon (and mornings) so I can hang about waiting for the bell to ring and chat.  I've asked about an orthodontist for B's extra tooth (he lost his first tooth eating fries in the US on 12/29 and his new front permanent tooth is coming in very crookedly).  My next task, outside of socializing, is to figure out how the garbage and recycling works, what is acceptable in which containers, and what to do with all of our garbage/compost/recycling.
    Today we did a large grocery run.  I worked out with the boys what we want to have over the next eight days (including yesterday and today) so I could be mostly prepared for dinners during the week that C's gone.  Since we won't have to wait for C to come home, dinner will be a little more flexible in timing.  I hope that means that we can eat it a little earlier and get to bed at a more reasonable hour.  Them, at least.  Last night we did pizza again (2 crusts per package) and I definitely won't get the same again; the crust was rather gummy.  I was hungry enough that I ate it (dumb enough not to realize what my problem was until dinner was imminent - I slept through lunch), but there are enough other options that I don't have to suffer with bad breadstuffs on this continent.  We got the remaining ingredients for skillet lasagna tonight and though the lasagna noodles were different (thinner and shorter) it was still good.  Cookie reports include three new ones.  Albert Heijn's "Country Cookie," packaged the same as the chocolate tarwebiscuits, we had with our hot chocolate and tea.  The kids called it an oatmeal cookie, but I would cross it with a graham cracker as well.  A little odd, dense, crunchy and dry, but good with a hot drink.  We tried Albert Heijn's "Brownie Cookies" after dinner tonight, which were very dry strips of chocolate biscuits.  Good with milk; we all had another at dinner tonight.  These came in a bag of indeterminate number; especially indeterminate because when I went to open them discovered that C had already been in them.  The third cookie was Delacre's Gateau met chocolade, which I liked better than C, I think.  The cookie was very light and airy (C likened it to an animal cracker, but I think it was even less sweet) and the dark chocolate was very good.
    I prompted some tidying in the playroom (one of the four small bedrooms upstairs, this one next to the kids room) since it had Legos strewn completely about on the floor.  Then to keep them from squabbling too much sat down and started sorting through the big old tub and organizing into the plastic bags that they were all organized into at one point a couple of years ago.  B helped with this a bit and A wanted me to keep my eye out for the Lego gold pieces/money for the treasure chests.  They had some elaborate game or competition in which they finally decided to be on the same team and just collect cool pieces with which to build, and the cooler the piece, the more points it was worth.  It is hard to judge how much of the bin I have sorted through because it is so big and there are a bunch of pieces I'm just tossing into an opposite corner, but it is very satisfying to get all of the different kinds of Lego sorted out.  Hey, I match other people's clean socks for fun -- this was cake.
    There's still a lot of paper to sort through and put in neat piles (somewhere) and Quicken to install and do.  Tomorrow will be the time for that, because it's getting late.

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January 10, 2008

    I've been hustled upstairs because I told C (who got home at 7:45) after dinner that I was about done.  I don't want to be yelling at the kids.  So, here I am.  C is reading another chapter of the Wednesday Witch and I am adding links to my pages.  Voila - done.
    Now the kids are asleep and it's raining.  We had our meeting this morning at town hall.  Apparently we are short a couple of documents and a new rule as of November has the kids and I completing an extra step (in Utrecht) before we get "registrated" and acquire the correct walking around papers.  My birth certificate doesn't have an issue date on it anywhere and B's birth certificate was issued too long ago to be valid (up to one year).  For B's we just need to show them the one we have here that was issued in October (we ordered a new copy at the same time we got the apostille).  For mine, however, I'm going to have to order another one, and somehow ensure that it has an issue date on it somewhere.  It can't just be an original birth certificate that gets an extra piece of paper from the Secretary of State (the apostille) saying that it's genuine; it has to be an original birth certificate issued within the past year plus the extra piece of paper from the Secretary of State.  sigh.  I think that we have the form we need to get our things from customs since C had all the right forms and documents, but since it takes a couple of weeks before he gets his number and papers, that may be an incorrect supposition.  Hope so.  Any delay to that will be agonizing.  There are so many things that I miss that are in it, from baking soda to a decent garlic press, shampoo to different clothes, bikes to leftover containers....
    I am now officially down to zero pairs of jeans (with me here OR in the main shipment) without a hole in the knee.  Dagnabit.  What the heck do I do that I get constant holes in my right (and then later, left) knee?  I'm going to have to find some new jeans.
    After C drove us from town hall to the kids' school, I realized how close to the center of town the school was, so walked home via the center.  I spent a long time in the supermarket going up and down each aisle to find out what was available and where it was.  Since I only had my backpack and one extra cloth bag, I didn't want to buy too much, but I took notes for our big shopping trip on Saturday.  There are a couple of items I forgot to look especially for (like leaveners) and some things I think I'm going to have to search out somewhere else.  Their meat selection is weirder -- it has fewer things I am familiar with, and more items I have no idea what they are and little interest in trying (at least trying to cook with them without some good direction).  I also am missing syrup.  The stroop here is straight molasses and while there have been no complaints from the kids (amazingly), I don't care for it much on my pancakes.  Then there is the long list of electronic equipment to replace.  Breakfasts have been tough without the ingredients for scones and without a wafflemaker. 
    Long pause while searching for waffle makers...
    The web is a wonderful and evil thing.  A very human creation.
    Dinner was good and A again wanted to help.  We made steakhouse burgers and had them on close to hamburger buns "witte bolle" though not exactly like - B asked why I was taking them to the kitchen off the plates and I told him I had to cut them.  Yum.  We also had fresh snow peas and I made a brownie mix found at the store.  It was quite yummy, though not like brownies in the US.  It had its own little cardboard box tray it was supposed to bake in.  This made them twice or more as high as they would have been without it, and it was a "just add water and mix" mix, so no eggs or oil.  Of course, I actually like (dare I say prefer in so public a forum?) the boxed brownies, so I'm probably not the best judge of tonight's dessert.  I suspect the others would give it a thumbs up as well though, since B asked for seconds (I cut it into 8) and there was little resistance to all of us having a second piece and finishing it off.  There was also fighting over the cardboard tray with brownie bits clinging to it which precipitated my flight upstairs.
    Well, the waffle interlude took more time than I wanted and now it's late AGAIN.  Gotta get to bed before I'm in another time zone altogether.

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January 9, 2008

    I should have started this when I initially sat down here and was feeling much less tired and grumpy.  Oh well.
    The kids had their first day of school today.  B wanted it written down for his favorite thing today IN ALL CAPS and with an exclamation point.  A also wanted "the thing that looks like an upside down i" (an exclamation point) after his "first day of school."  When I asked for details or an example of why (which I've been attempting to pry out of them most of the day) I got A to chime in with library, but nothing from B.  I'm sure I can discover more soon; it's not like they haven't given me any details to work with, but it doesn't help that I'm entering the school in the middle of the school year and I don't have a lot of information about what's going on in the classrooms, how their days are structured, knowledge of when PE is, etc.  I did meet a couple of mums in the school yard before picking the boys up, and B had a lot of kids yelling Hi to him, so I am confident that this school will indeed be a positive thing for the boys and me.
    I had to be home while the kids were at school for a locksmith to come and make our back gate passable.  We can now get from the driveway and garage area into our back yard with a key.  A garage door opener would be especially handy now so I can put the jog stroller and C can put his bike directly into the garage without leaving it in the drive and go through the gate and the garage door to open the garage from the inside.  Before today's new lock, C had to leave the bike in the drive and come in through the house to the back yard and into the garage.  At least the trip will be shorter (and closer to the bike) for him now.
    I also had to come directly home from school with kids because they delivered our air shipment today.  Since I thought of it ahead of time but did not implement the idea (make sure the kids go potty before we start home), of course A announced a few blocks away from the school that he had to go to the bathroom.  He insisted that he could make it all the way home, but I was doubtful, since it's a good half hour walk.  I had the dog with me too, since he SO wanted to come with me and I didn't have any good reason not to.  He turned out to be a good ice breaker at the school, too, as I suspected.  Anyway, we trekked home quickly.  I suggested running and the kids enjoyed holding on to the straps of my backpack and providing me with resistance (well, there are no hills here, so I need something, right?)  A did make it all the way home, and just as we were hanging up coats, our buzzer rang and our shipment arrived.  We got four boxes and our double jog stroller.  Hooray!  Actually, the kids were disappointed that we didn't get everything (read their bikes).  I didn't show them the food that was in one of the boxes because I knew if they knew about it they would consume it entirely too quickly.  Still, I think they will be surprised and enjoy the goldfish crackers and freeze-dried peas in their lunchboxes tomorrow.  I'm going to have to send A with a peanut butter jelly sandwich tomorrow since he didn't eat his yogurt today.  We found strawberry-flavored squeezy yogurts that have a cap and spout similar to a toothpaste tube, but more square.  It's got a rollerblading hippo on the front, but A still claims he doesn't like it.  sigh.  I knew that the Stonyfield Farms Yo Kids organic squeezy yogurt tubes were going to be hard to replace.  We'll try another something, and probably try this again later and see if we can get some yogurt back in his diet.
    Dinner was meatballs (pre-packaged and raw, I'm not completely sure what was in them, but they were good) and red sauce over spaghetti.  A helped in the kitchen again (in fact, this afternoon he suggested we start dinner about 2:30 - when he asked again about 5:00 I took him up on it), and seemed to enjoy being the only student tonight (B explored his enormous tub of Legos).  We talked about heat and cooking meat, he listened to the sizzle of the oil and the boiling water, and he touched noodles from the pot that were too hot to see if the pasta was ready.  The grocery store tomato sauce base we used was much better than the other variety we've tried.  I'm certain that it wasn't solely the onion and wine I added to it.  We played Phase 10 while we waited for C to get home (late night for various work reasons) and eat before we ate our Scholiertje cookies together.  They got the most votes for a repeat, so I'm sure we'll see more of those, though I do want to try others out as well.
    A brought home a couple of school library books and insisted he couldn't read them all the way up until he did.  We clearly have gotten out of practice having the kids read all these weeks without our libraries at hand.  We'll have to change that right quick.  B has started reading my Stone Soup comic strip collections.  He was particularly tickled by one in which the sisters are calling each other names including lard-butt and pinochle pants.  Pinochle pants?  I've heard lard-butt out of B's mouth, already, but more in a trying it on for size way than actual name-calling.  I think he'll enjoy the Baby Blues comic strip collections too, once they arrive.
    Okay, I've written my way out of grumpy, but I'm not getting any less tired by writing.  And here it is very late again.  Time for bed.

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January 8, 2008

    We went out this afternoon again for a walk.  This time I went to get passport photos, envelopes, and a dry run to the school.  The passport photos were of me and the kids for our visas.  The photographer needed to know exactly what documents we needed them for (and how old A was) so she could make sure the correct requirements were met.  Both ears had to show, and no teeth.  Mine ended up being somewhat smirky as my crooked smile tends to sometimes, and B's came out the first try, but A had three or four taken before we could get both ears to show.  Nevertheless, they are done and we have four each in turtlenecks blue, red and green for various documents.  I got envelopes at Bruna, which shares space with a postal branch.  The kids recognized it right away (as they did the Blokker store when we went by; they will soon know our new city pretty well I suspect, and even further out when they have their bike wheels), and giggled around the cute calendar display while I searched a long time for some standard sized enveloppen (which I finally found in an area I'd looked at twice before).  The school wasn't too far from where we were, and I convinced the kids that we should walk there and then time ourselves walking back home to see how long to give ourselves tomorrow morning.  We found the street, and the marking C had made on the map, but I didn't recognize the building and didn't have the address on me.  Once I got home I found it and had given up a building or two short of my target.  It took us 35 minutes to get home, which I suspect is longer than it will take in the morning when they are fresh and excited.  They are coming to expect a mug of hot chocolate and a cookie in the afternoon after a walk.  Since it helps up B's calcium intake without too much struggle, it's fine with me.
    My new phone is on a pre-paid plan and it takes a couple of days to be able to refill it online.  Here, you are charged to call a cell phone (and they all conveniently start with 6 so you know ahead of time you will be charged), but not charged to accept a call on your cell phone.  So, when I ran out last night trying to retrieve the messages that C had left trying to get ahold of me (the phone was out of charge and off, BUT securely in my pocket!), I was really out.  Since I didn't get to the phone store today (wrong direction) and I'm not familiar enough with things to try to purchase minutes at one of the "anywhere"s that T-Mobile advertises, I was dependent on people (that is, C) calling me.  Which he did, with good news!  Apparently our air shipment has cleared customs and is ready to be delivered!  "Today?" I asked, and C said he didn't know and would have to check.  He did this, of course, and set it up with them, giving them my phone number.  What he didn't do, however, was call me back.  I felt a little trapped.  If we'd had a regular phone I could have called him to find out when he'd set it up for, but we have a connection (like the digital television, we think this part of our package is in place, just not the internet portion), but no phone to plug in.  He did call when he arrived in town (a 15 minute bike trip away), but by then I'd figured out that it was unlikely today that we'd get it.
    Tomorrow, though!  A printer (no paper, though, I think), my double jog stroller (woot! picking up kids will be easier with that), some kitchen things, a huge bin of Legos for the kids, their scooters, my pillow, a laundry basket, and some other assorted stuff.  I strongly suspect that the food that was to go by air went by sea instead since we forgot to call attention to it and the packers weren't paying that much attention to our little signs.  That's a shame, as I could really use some of those snack items.  There will be some element of surprise anyway as I can't exactly remember all that we put in those boxes.  Tomorrow is also a day I need to be here between dropping kids off and picking them up (when our air shipment is slated to arrive) for someone to come and make our back gate passable (it is closed and locked, but without any keys it is currently useless).  It will have to be another day that I spend a little time in shops figuring out where to go for what I need.  It is hard to spend much time pondering and attempting to translate while two kids are making like hawks in their jackets and spreading their wings in the middle of the aisles.  We've already made one purchase mistake with insufficient examination - Our dishwashing liquid (Spoel Glans) is a very thin, colorless liquid in a blue-tinted bottle, and makes virtually no suds.  We've been using it, nevertheless, for handwashing dishes and hands since there's no other soap at that sink.  It turns out that it is not dish soap at all, but the liquid you put in your dishwasher to make your glasses sparkle (like Jet Dry).  Oops.  Actually, it's kind of reassuring that dish soap is not so different (I assume, once we get ahold of some) as this stuff is.
    Dinner tonight was salmon (zalm) with ginger, coriander, garlic, and a bit too much salt, and beans with bacon and pine nuts.  The kids helped with dinner again and it made A's list of favorites for today.  The beans were especially good tonight, probably because the beans were all a bit younger and nicer than those we've had in the US, and because the bacon and pine nut ratio to the beans was a bit higher than usual.  Yum.  Our cookie tonight was a new one: Albert Heijn Excellent Room Boter Dessertkoekjes, a butter cookie with dark, white, and milk chocolate chunks.  It had a good crunch, though until I translated the label I wouldn't have guessed at the three types of chocolate inside.  One cookie is hard to judge alone.  I'll have to try again next time; there are 10 in this package and B immediately asked if he and A could have the extra two - we were non-commital.
    Wednesdays are short days for the kids as they get out at 12:45 instead of 3:00 (for clubs and such), so it will be a short day for me as well.  And an early one.  I have lunches to make, breakfast to get (poffertjes, those mini-pancakes, are quick and likely), and a walk to school to make, all before any of the three of us have been getting out of bed these last few days.  So I will wrap this up and get to bed now.
    Kipnuggets, by the way, are chicken nuggets (and kipfillets are chicken fillets, etc.).  Thanks also to J for your sharp eyes and quick mail on the nit-picky details I'd like to keep on top of.

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January 7, 2008

    It seems like time is going faster now.  And not just because I type these missives in the evening before I go to bed and I'm chronically writing them late into the morning.  It just seems like a few days ago that we arrived and yet a week ago I was in the air on the way here.  I'm definitely going to be writing 2008 with ease (except, of course, on my actual birthday, since it's nearly impossible to write that without my year of birth, especially with all of the important documents we've been filling out of late).  Once school starts on Wednesday for the kids, I suspect the day of the week will start locking in for me as well.
    Today was a blustery day, but we went out in it anyway to scout for dog food and more milk (can't seem to buy sufficient quantities for more than a couple days).  We visited an appropriate pet store, which charmed the kids because it had "dog parking" outside, a place to tie your leash, and purchased food and dog shampoo (he is very much in need of a bath).  Then we went to Blokker, a store that sold everything from toys to toilet brushes, silicone bakeware to rice makers, and had seemingly cheap prices.  I acquired said a bagfull of miscellaneous objects including said toilet brush, straws, 2 ramekins, night lights, and Legos for the kids.  Since we lost the movies and games that were to keep kids occupied, and our air shipment which was to take 7-10 days is on schedule for 3 weeks, the variety of things the kids have to play with is - to them - too small.  Besides, they saw what they thought were light up Legos in the shop window yesterday when we walked to the park; the fact that they were glow-in-the-dark Duplos did not dissuade A.  And B wanted more than I was willing to buy, so used some of his allowance to supplement and got two packages.  Lastly we went to Albert Heijn again for milk, spices, and lasagna noodles, among other things.  I successfully identified zout met jodium (iodized salt), kaneel (cinnamon), and koriander (coriander), but couldn't figure out what might be cumin or if it was missing.  Next time I'll know to look for komijn (and know it's not there if I don't see it).  I may have better luck with an Indonesian grocery.
    Yesterday A helped make dinner and it was fun finding tasks he could do in the kitchen to help me get dinner.  Tonight A pulled up a chair and B wanted in on the action as well.  For a while it was unclear if either of them were going to work out which wanted to stir the pasta and which stir the vegetables (or if they got booted for fighting), but it turned out they were fighting over different things and struggling to do something different than the other wanted to do anyway.  Once they swapped places around the peninsula, it worked fine.  It's really nice to have their help and I had missed the kitchen learning I felt I was passing on for the last year or so.  There was a long while there where I couldn't bake without them wanting to be a part of it, but not for the last couple.  Now as I talk about salt, tasting food, toasting pine nuts, and more importantly demonstrate putting together a meal with their help, I feel like a better teacher/mentor/mother.  Cooking is one of those things in my life curricula for the kids I would like to teach and I'm glad for the re-energized interest in the subject.  Perhaps it is more accessible in this kitchen or less mysterious.  Or perhaps there is less dragging their interest elsewhere (though the Legos were a draw until it was time to make dinner).  Or maybe the teamwork we are displaying as a family after dinner is creeping to encompass making dinner as well.  Whatever the reason, I hope the interest continues.
    Argh.  It's too late again.  I've got to get to bed so I can get up in the morning.  I've got to walk kids to school tomorrow as a dry run so I know how long it's going to take on Wednesday.  And get passport photos for me and the kids since they were closed today.

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January 6, 2008

    Hooray.  A partial success.  C found a way for me to ftp my blog posts up through our wimpy borrowed connection, so I'm now writing live in some sense.  Even though we don't have a really sturdy connection of our own yet (which was demonstrated this evening in our attempts to talk to folks on camera with Skype), I have to remind myself and C that our current situation is MUCH better than if we really did have no connection.  A borrowed connection even of wimpy strength is SO much better than no connection at all.
    Our dog was the motivation and excuse for a good walk today (though none of us really wanted to go) and we found a great park.  It had equipment identical to a bunch of the play equipment at Meridian Playground, with the addition of a pedal-powered merry-go-round for three (I barely fit on, but it was fun, nonetheless, to get almost pushed off while B was pedaling).  Equipped with a rubber glove and plastic bag, I picked up dog poop on the street after B stepped in some in front of our house.  I left alone what I found in the dirt or grass as well as regular garbage (today) to pick up only poop in the sidewalk.  I ended up with an unfortunate quantity, though, which I deposited in the park's trash cans.  Then after picking up glass from a broken bottle in the playground itself, I went off duty.  When we came home we had hot chocolate and an Albert Heijn Chocolade Tarwebiscuit (kind of a dry and dusty graham taste with mediocre chocolate coating; but good enough for snacking), and the kids danced around to "Donkey Riding" by Great Big Sea, and "Du hast" by Rammstein (let's add German to the languages this weekend too).
    B was feeling sad again and missing his school friends.  In listening to him with his grandparents and our friends on Skype this evening, it is apparent that he knows and expects to make new friends at school "on Wednesday," but it's not Wednesday yet.  He spent part of this afternoon composing messages to classmates in Seattle saying he missed them and wished he were in Seattle.
    Some errands to run tomorrow, including getting more tissues and dog food.  C goes off to work again and I intend to count tomorrow as a success if I can keep the kids occupied (Dang, I really wish our 24 disc case hadn't gone missing - that was to help them through just this period.) and get a few things on my list off it.
    Now, I need to get to bed.  We were both up way too late last night, success or not, and without a nap today, we should be just dragging.  I guess we're still adjusting our circadian rhythms to our new time zone.  Sleep should help.

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January 5, 2008

    It has been a babble of languages lately.  We speak English (okay, well, American), we are living in The Netherlands and so hearing Dutch on the streets and surrounds, I watched a British television show last night (and it was very much British English, somehow), the kids have taken to watching some of their favorite Backyardigan videos in French (and at double or quadruple speed, so it's high-pitched fast French at that), and for some reason were both chanting "Cinco de Mayo" (Spanish) a lot today.  It's "tres chouette," as one of the Backyardigan figures said.  I have started my audiobook Dutch lessons (only just the first lesson and on the plane, however, but basic basics are better than nothing).  I feel much more comfortable knowing a little bit than nothing at all.  From what A has been reading aloud off of packages and signs, I suspect he is going to be a whiz at Dutch pronunciation, with his brother just nearby.
    We took the car to the grocery store today so we could get a whole kitchen full of groceries home without pain.  We brought four bags and bought two more (30 Eurocents each) plus veggies, fruits, snacks, rolled oats (C is proud of finding those near the breads), meats, spices, a non-stick skillet, and a cutting board.  On the trip, we also took our Tom Tom out for a test drive (heh heh) and snagged a bagful of olie bollen (yum).  I took a nap this morning while the boys watched some cartoons (dubbed in Dutch; I guess it's cheaper to dub cartoon characters than real people) with C, we played some more Phase 10, and I started reading aloud again (a book from C's folks I haven't read before: The Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew).  Dinner was grocery store pizza; we had a sauced blank crust to which we added mushrooms, yellow peppers and salami, and the boys had cheese with raw yellow peppers on the side.  We finished off the Euro Shopper chocolate chip cookies; somehow they were better tonight than the first time, crunchier because the bag had been open? or perhaps I was hungrier.
    I started attacking my vague "I don't know what to do" feelings with the huge backload of email messages in my mailbox, and making a better to do list for here.  Once I started looking at it, I realized that the Gargantuan List still had some items on it that didn't get completed yet (like disconnecting our phone in the US).  Also, it became apparent that toll-free numbers have their evil side, since they are not possible for us to call from here.  So, I will have a lot to do tomorrow here on my computer, even though most places are closed tomorrow.  We will also try to see how long we can Skype with video before we lose connection (something I had trouble with when C was here and I was in Seattle), as we connect with friends.

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January 4, 2008

    I've turned on the tv for the first time here and it's a bit bizarre.  Partly because it's been years since I've had my own set on and partly because I'm watching a wacky British "science" show, Brainiac, with Dutch subtitles interspersed with Dutch ads.  There seems to be a lot of blowing things up and innuendo, but mostly blowing things up in various ways.
    Today was pretty good, though I ended up getting up late and answering the door three times in pajamas and a heavy jacket to disguise the fact that I was braless.  It was my fault, of course, since it was rather late and I should have been up and dressed, in addition to the fact that two of the three were scheduled to come by and fix the kids' bed and they came on time.  The first was our neighbor attempting to help us fix our missing package problem.  We're still without internet, however.  Apparently my viewing public is sufficiently satisfied with C's blog because I haven't received any emails wondering if we were here or okay or whatever.  Contrarily, we've received a bunch of real mail including Christmas cards, welcomes, and thank yous. (So, thank YOU!)
    B cried today missing everyone in Seattle.  It will be good when school starts for them and they can start finding their new friends.  A had a hard time as well in playing games today since in six rounds of Uno and one disastrous hand of Frank's Zoo, he didn't win once.  I wasn't smart enough to figure out that they were hungry most likely since we had a late breakfast at almost noon and dinner not until six-thirty.  But we managed; we started a game of Phase 10 and the kids set about kicking my butt (though I've closed the gap from 3 phases behind to one now).
    Okay, it is not any easier trying to do anything in front of the television than it was when we decided to ditch ours.  I am the one with the problem.  Early in our lives together when we had free cable in our rental, C would turn it on to see what was on and then could leave me helplessly watching it.  Others can have a set on for noise or company, but it seriously doesn't matter what is on so much and my attention gets sucked in to it.  I am one of those slack-jawed, mesmerized swirly-eyed caricatures you see in comics.  Argh.  It happens even as I type...
    Really, I should go to sleep soon.  I did vacuum out the dryer duct and cleaned out the back yard of poop.  I had a good day with the kids and we had a great dinner - cashew chicken with rice, cooked peas, and a cookie.  Tonight we had a favorite of mine, Scholiertje (or Le Petit Chocolatier as it is labeled on the other side for sale in Belgium) Puur.  The LU little schoolboy cookies in dark chocolate (puur) charmed the kids in particular because there were 12 in the package instead of 8 or 9 (as has been the case the last two nights) which is enough for three dinners.  I also baked bread.  I realized yesterday that I could make beer bread pretty easily if I could get some self-rising flour so had it on my list.  C stopped by the store this morning on his way back from a different post office to see if they had our package (they didn't) and brought home two bags of stuff, one which turned out to be a plain flour (cake I think, but I'll have to investigate more) and one which was a bread mix.  I added the water and butter it called for and kneaded and let it rise and baked it as per instructions... It's okay but I think it needs salt.  It'll hold us over until we buy more square crackers (the boys' snack carbohydrate for the last few days).
    It's been very cold and now it is very windy.  It almost took the door out of my hands letting the dog out briefly and I see that it has blown open the garage door.  B is awake (his brother was horizontal in the bed and pushing up against him) and is having trouble going to sleep.  He wanted to be up like us and I explained that we should be in bed too (why aren't you?) and we weren't because we were making poor choices.  When he asked 15 minutes into my snuggling with him what time it was and I said 1:30 in the morning, he said yeah, you really should be in bed.  He's right.  To bed I go.

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January 3, 2008

    A dip of a day.  Ugh.  Perhaps I should have expected it, given C's experience traveling to this time zone, but after yesterday's high it was a real surprise.  We went to bed late (after 1 am I think?) and was up early with A (about 3:30 am) and then asleep and awake at all kinds of crazy hours during the day.  So were the boys.  Breakfast was a very early apple and crackers, toast and peanut butter, and our late lunch was breakfast with mini-pancakes we found at Albert Heijn for the boys and leftover pesto pasta for me.  I remember waking up to kids fighting and ordering them both upstairs from my bed.  One stomped up and crawled into his bed where I found him another couple hours later fast asleep.
    After lunch, before which I insisted they get clothes on, I got us out of the house into the very cold air.  They wanted to wear boots with their coats and mittens, so I got those out, but it was the prospect of showing the dog around since he hadn't been out of the back yard yet that actually got them moving.  We explored the park across the street and it was no less full of garbage, but it was too cold and I was too full of dog leash to change my mission from getting more milk from AH.  The cat followed us, though I lost track of her when we got to the busy street.  C says we made it almost halfway to the store when A announced he had to go to the bathroom.  So, we turned back and once we were all inside out of the cold, no one wanted to go back out again.
    C came home from work after 6 with extremely cold lips and said it was snowing out there, actually.  We looked, but couldn't see any; it must have been like Seattle snow.  I wished he was home for hours before he was and then when he came home we were all extremely hungry.  I had texted him the couple items we were missing for making cashew chicken, but his phone was dead and he came home empty handed.  We punted instead and I had mushroom soup (which I didn't like as much as I thought I would since C recommended it) and more leftovers, C had a tuna sandwich with the rest of the bread, and the kids had the remaining kipnuggets.  We all had carrots and tried some fresh peas, which I will cook next time as some were nice and some were bitter, and tried another type of cookie.  This one was Chocolade Spritsen, kind of a butter cookie dipped in milk chocolate, which was not my favorite.  The cookie tasted of artificial butter and the milk chocolate was too mild and milky for my taste.  C liked them and offered to take the extra next time (there were 9).  I forgot to get a kid verdict since A was very unhappy at being awakened from a long nap to eat.  After dinner C and A went upstairs and I found them dressed but asleep together.  B wanted to do pixel puzzles with me so I showed him how and he worked on the example in the GAMES magazine.  When I realized it was 10, I got him ready for bed with Simon Says and we curled up in his bed.  When A came in and wanted to cuddle I had C get up too and get him ready for bed while I moved to my own bed for awhile.
    I hope that tomorrow is better and that all the sleeping that I did today helps me get something done tomorrow.

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January 2, 2008

    Hey, if I keep up this pace writing here, maybe I'll be comfortable writing the date (changing from '07 to '08) a lot earlier this year.  Of course, I know it's only day two, but it FEELS like an established trend.  Not that this is being posted to the web yet, however.
    We completed a lot of errands today.  We set out on foot and went into and purchased something from 9 shops today (10 including the toiletten) and walked into a couple more.  I got slippers, food, cash, a phone, a set of keys to the house, tissues, and tags for the pets.  We picked up the package at the post office, but it was the set of components for digital TV instead of the internet connection, so I'm still sipping internet at a rate incompatible with letting me ftp my files.  What probably happened was that the package was delivered but since we were not here it got delivered to our neighbor, who yesterday told C (in quick and extensive Dutch) that she sent it back to the post office.  Tomorrow I will go next door and see if I can determine which post office and if said post office will give the package to me instead of C given that my name is different than his.  My first challenge.
    I need a plan for tomorrow (larger than the above) while C is at work.  Perhaps we will head across the street to the little park and the kids can play while I try to clean it up a bit.  The New Year celebration has some streets sweeping large piles of exploded red wrappers and cardboard tubes.  It looked to be a huge noisy street party a couple blocks away, and the slide across the way seemed to be a main part of some group's attempt to launch bottle rockets as there are numerous long red sticks littering it and the surrounding area.  Or I can pick up poop in the yard.  Or clean out the dryer vent.  Or finish emptying out our suitcases and finding places for the things that we brought with us.
    The furniture that we are living with until our main shipment arrives is from a rental agency.  There are sufficient numbers of towels and sheets (though I could really use another blanket), dressers and tables, chairs, couch and love seat.  There's some sense in finding places for our things in dressers that will disappear, but not much in taking a lot of time getting it just right.  I am compiling a list of things that bother us about the house and C suggested that we address them quickly since we don't need daily annoyances to cloud our experience here.  Some things are impossible to do anything about (the shape of things and the plaster on the walls that abrades any knuckles that get close, like next to the handrail to the steep stairs), but others are not.  We could put in a nicer kitchen faucet, buy a larger washer, and, like we did today, do the little things like refill the trap in the extra shower with water to keep the sewer gases from permeating our bathroom.  (There are definite disadvantages to being the only adult with a sense of smell.)
    Today was a very good day.  We went out and walked maybe three miles together and so I got more exercise than I have in a while.  We made pesto pasta and chicken tonight and tried our first in a series of cookies from the store (Euro Shopper's chocolate chip cookies rated a mediocre from my palate this evening - it was pale and neither chewy nor crispy enough but somewhere in the middle.  The chocolate bits were not true chips and there was the tang of artificial something about them; I can definitely make better once I equip myself and receive the Costco size bag of chocolate chips coming in the main shipment.).  We also cleaned up after dinner as a team.  I washed, dried and put away, A swept, B wiped the table and rinsed dishes, and C put food away, cleaned the stove and vacuumed up the pile that A created with the broom.  It was so nice to have dinner put away and the kitchen and dining room put to rights just after dinner.  A good beginning, I think.  Plus, I have slippers!  They are purple polka dot fleece ballet flat things with an elastic opening, a suede-like sole and two sizes smaller than my shoe size, but that's sufficient for slippers.
    It will be next week that really starts to demonstrate what our normal time here will look like since the kids start school on Wednesday and C will be at work on a more routine schedule.  I am looking forward to getting the house in order and our connections started (to neighbors, to old friends, to the net) because I think it will act as the canvas on which we paint our days and provides the base for our adventures here.  I think it's going to be great.

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January 1, 2008

    Here it is a new year.  I didn't get to sleep on the plane at all, though I tried.  B, who was sitting next to me, tried going to sleep at the same time and spent a lot of time putting his feet on me, pushing against me, moving our armrest that I had my pillow against, and it was all pretty frustrating.  I knew I had only about 45 minutes before they were going to start serving breakfast since they do that 90 minutes before landing.  By the time breakfast arrived, B was asleep and I hadn't.  We disembarked, went through customs, and got our luggage; they were pretty much the first bags to come off the belt - I guess there was some advantage to running slightly behind in the morning.  Then we waited a couple minutes for the dog to get carried out.  Next we headed for the rental car place in the terminal so I could take the pets outside.  By the time we got there the dog was voicing almost constantly his need to get out.  We went outside where there were a number of cement disk-shaped benches with dirt and grass in the middle of them.  Since Schiphol is a smoke-free airport, these seemed to be places where the smokers could sit and get their nicotine fixes.  The dog got up to the middle of one and peed for a good minute.  I led him back in and he was much happier, even to be in his crate.  Then I took the cat out.  She did a lot of sniffing, and exploring and jerking her head around at sounds, but did not use the facilities.  I probably should have tried harder, but I didn't know then what I know now.  So, I took her in and stuffed her back, and then we went out to get the station wagon.  We loaded it up and I tried unsuccessfully to keep the kids from fighting over how many orange slices constituted the half each of them should have had.  The crate wouldn't fit in the back, so we loaded it up on top of the car and tried to tie it down on top of the fleece that the dog had in it.  Unfortunately, we had to pull to the side of the road twice to get things readjusted.  Even more unfortunately, when I finally put the meowing cat carrier on my lap for the trip home, it was wet on the bottom and smelled of poop.
    After we arrived at the house (much to A's chagrin - he really wanted to return to the hotel we stayed at before so he could have some of their silver dollar coin-sized pancakes), we got luggage in and the dog to the back yard.  The house was cold and I had the shivers from operating on no sleep, being cold, and dealing with everything.  Finally, I took the smelly cat carrier to the back yard and let the cat out on leash.  She didn't look smeared at all and in fact the poop was more pelleted than the mess I had feared finding.  So she explored the yard but of course no longer needed to do more.  I got her food and bowls out and set them up in our bathroom and then went to get the dog's food and water set up, but couldn't.  I had reached the end of my rope.  I melted down and C sent my shivering, exhausted, pee-covered self to the shower.
    I've gotten some more sleep, but not a lot.  I got crowded out of the bed by C who tried to get A set up watching a movie downstairs while he took a nap as well, but didn't actually get A up and running before coming up.  So, I did that and slept some more on the couch.  This was often interrupted by the cat, who decided that she needed petting or attention or (probably) to go outside.  She would seek out my hand and butt up against it, or brush her whiskers against my face.  So, I got up and made the kids bed and moved B into it, put a blanket over A on the little couch, who had crashed sideways watching the Backyardigans, and let the dog out.  I then let the cat out on leash and harness and had to forcibly prevent her from going under the gate and chasing something or other.  Her tail was lashing and she started growling when I had to pull her away.  Nevertheless, she found a spot to do her business.  Since I cleaned up after the dog and didn't step where the cat had been, I'm not sure where the two different poops came from that ended up on my new running shoes, but apparently our yard is in need of a daylight scouring.  Our yard consists of a small scrap of lawn (maybe 4' x 4'?) a bunch of cement pavement paths, planters, trellises, pots, bushes, ivy, dirt and a sand box.  It is fenced and has access to the garage, shed, driveway, and house.  It will be a nice garden, I suspect, once I have a chance to work in it, but first some plastic bags!
    I'm still cold now, though C has fed us some pasta, sauce, and kipnuggets so I'm not hungry (though I was very disappointed to discover the one cookie I had before dinner was it for our supplies).  I'll need to buy some slippers or something to wear in the house to keep my feet warm.  The kids are s