Just Call Me SuperMum

So, since this move, Kevin has been working some long hours. To hear him tell it, it isn't so bad, I have a bit of a different perspective, however.

On a really good day, Kevin will be home at 6:30 pm. Most days it is closer to 7 or 7:30 pm. The kids go to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm.....enough said. There have even been a couple of 9 and 9:30 pm nights, and that doesn't include the travel days. Oh, and by the way, he is usually gone before the kids are up in the morning.

In Kevin's defense, he is learning a new business and managing 3 or 4 people (I've lost track). It takes a lot of time to "get up to speed" in a new job, especially when learning a new category too. I can appreciate all of this.

However, it still leaves me at home, by myself, where I don't know anyone, for some very long days, with two small children, in a new house, where there is a ton of work to be done. Enough said!

So, after getting tired of waiting for Kevin to do things around a house where he never is, I took matters into my own hands. And I must say, I have done a darn good job too!

Between the cooking, cleaning, laundry, meal prep and supervision of previously mentioned small children, I have gotten very good with a drill.

I have learned to use drywall plugs and drill bits. I have hung toilet paper roll holders, bathroom mirrors, dining room mirrors, wall lamps, children's bedroom accessories, our cookoo clock, and numerous pictures.

You know, it may be Kevin's job that is paying for this house at the moment, but I have realized that it is me who makes this house a home.

You can just call me "SuperMum"! :)

The Things We Didn't Miss

The two years that we lived in Switzerland afforded us a very different lifestyle than what we have here in North America. One of the biggest benefits as I see it, was the ability to travel all over Western Europe and beyond.

Well, we are beginning to be reminded of the other smaller benefits too. This realization comes as things crop up around the house, as things always do!

This house was empty for about six months before we moved into it. The real estate market in this area had undergone a big correction, and it was great for us coming in as buyers. One of the side affects of the vacancy seems to be an unusually large bee population. (See my previous post about my Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). Well, it turns out that we didn't just have random bees on our property...they had set up house in the absence of human inhabitants.

Not long after my Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, I discovered an entire nest of bees living underground in my flower bed. That led to further discoveries. It turned out that we had three bees' hives on our deck too. Kevin managed to get rid of them. It was a combination of a whole lot of bug spray and a whole lot of persistence. One of the hives was actually inside of one of the posts of the deck. We kept hearing buzzing from inside the post, then Kevin discovered a hole where the bees had managed to get inside. He had to spray the bug spray through a straw in order to direct it into the hole in the post. Not a pleasant experience!

As of now, it appears that the bees are no longer. That led to the refinishing of the deck. This is another thing we didn't have to think about in Switzerland.

Once the bees were evicted, Kevin had to sand, clean and refinish the deck. We inherited a spacious deck...about 12 x 15 feet. The wood was in terrible condition though. It looked like it hadn't been stained or protected since it was built with the house three years ago. It was in desperate need of attention. This led to two days of sanding, spraying, staining.....backbreaking work in the stinky heat. It is now complete, and it looks awesome. We look forward to getting the patio furniture set up and the grill cleaned and fired up. I miss the BBQ and can't wait to use it again!

Next on the agenda of dealings was the lawn. We have a very large lawn at our new house....about 3/4 of an acre....some of it is wooded, but it is still pretty big.

When we took possession of the house, the lawn was already really long. So, it was of the utmost importance to get it cut, on this street of immaculately kept, professionally landscaped and "sprinkler system-ed" lawns. We hadn't received our shipment of items that had been in storage, and of course, not having needed it in Geneva (another one of those little perks) that shipment included our lawn mower....our non-self-propelled lawnmower, that is.

So, off Kevin went to talk to one of the neighbours to see if he could borrow a lawnmower. He found a neighbour who was graciously willing to loan his self-propelled lawnmower and it was still a two hour job. That didn't include any trimming of the edges, and honestly, it wasn't even a very good cutting job....it was a "get it done" cutting job. If the truth be told, there were a few stray patches missed that never even saw the lawn mower.

Next, I went to Home Depot to price ride-on lawn mowers. Well, the base models are still a thousand dollars! There ended that discussion.

We talked to a couple of neighbours and quickly became convinced that a lawn service should at least be investigated. After a lot of calling around, getting quotes, and discussions, we decided to get a bi-weekly lawn service. Kevin did it begrudgingly, but I reasoned it out this way: right now the kids really want time with him (and they don't get it during the week). I would rather pay someone to cut the lawn now when they are little, and save Kevin the half day every weekend. When they are fourteen and seventeen and don't want anything to do with us, then Kevin can cut his own lawn....or better yet, make them do it!!

Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year

So, I know I have been missing in action for a while. It is weird....we have been surprisingly busy considering we don't know anyone here!

Of course, getting the house in order is still ongoing. I have a feeling it will be a work in progress for a very long time. :(

Then, the visiting began! Kevin's friend Justin and his wife, Louisa, were passing through New England and we got to visit with them this past weekend. We did some sight seeing in Boston together, and I got to feel like I was "in the know" as we gave them a mini tour of Boston. The kids and I spent our fair share of time exploring while we lived in our temporary apartment downtown while waiting for our belongings to arrive by sea. Seven weeks of walking around a city, and you get to know it pretty well!

This week, we visited with our friends Marian and Andrew. Marian was my very first friend when we moved to Geneva. She and her family relocated to the USA only nine months after we arrived in Geneva. I hadn't seen her since. They were visiting with family in the Boston area and we were lucky enough to see them twice during the week. It was a lot of fun to visit with her and her family again.

In between the visitors, I decided to enter the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year Contest. I only found out about the contest when we were in our temporary apartment in downtown Boston. Of course, I didn't have any of my supplies with me then, so I had to wait to work on my entry. I made a mental note of the closing date for the contest and got busy with the move.

Once we moved into our house, there was a ton of unpacking, cleaning, organizing, hanging, etc. to do. Once again, scrapbooking took a back burner.

With about three days left until the closing date of the contest, I decided that I wanted to make an honest attempt at pulling together an entry. Kevin was off work on Monday and Tuesday so that he could string those days together with the July 4th holiday on Wednesday. This actually worked out really well for me. Kevin spent two whole days outside working on refinishing the deck, so this meant that Noah was outside with him. When Rebekah napped, I got a lot of work done!

For the contest, I needed to have twenty layouts and an essay. The twenty layouts had to be accompanied by an itemized list of supplies used. When I say itemized list, I am not kidding you! You have to list who manufactured the paper and what brand adhesives you used! Yikes!

When it came down to it, I only had seven existing layouts that I could use. They were the only ones for which I could figure out what products I had used! That meant that I had to produce thirteen layouts and an essay in a matter of days.

Did I succeed? You bet!

I am happy to say that on Thursday morning I sent off my submission by overnight mail to meet the contest deadline of today. I don't expect to win....the circulation of the magazine is half a million! I have no idea how many entries they will get for a contest like this. I made it a personal goal for myself to enter, and I achieved that goal. In the process, I got a lot of great layouts completed and I am very happy with the work that I submitted.

Who knows what can happen when you put yourself out there? After all, if I didn't enter, then I definately couldn't win!

Too Much on the Go....

So....I think I might be going senile.....

I know I had a little list of topics to blog about...and do you think I can find it?! I start these lists because as the days pass, funny little things happen and I often think to myself, I really need to write that down before I forget. Well, now I have not only forgotten what the things were, but I have also lost the list.

So, I am going to make an attempt at this post with whatever pops into my head. You're going to have to work with me here...

In "Noah news".....
Noah will begin camp on July 9th. He is going to be participating in four weeks of half day camp programs...three weeks in July and one week in August. He will be doing two weeks at his new school in a "jump-start kindergarden" program, one week at a sports camp, and one week at a nature camp. He seems to be looking forward to it, but the true test will be when I drop him off and then try to leave. We will see!

We registered Noah for soccer for the first time. It will begin in September. We are also talking about other extra-curricular activities that he might be interested in. When I mentioned music lessons he really grew interested. He has spent hours on the internet looking at pictures of musical instruments, trying to figure out which one he wants to learn to play (ie. which one is the loudest). I will have to do some research and see if I can find a music school that takes kids as young as five.

Noah said something funny today. He saw some bees flying around outside and he commented on how fast they can fly. He said to me, "I know why they fly so fast Mommy. I think God made them that way so they can catch the people to sting them more easily."

On other random notes....I hung our cookoo clock today. We bought it just before we moved. Kevin had mentioned getting one because they are so traditionally Swiss and we wanted a souvenir of our time there. It took quite a bit of looking and discussion. Some of them are so "kitchy". We finally settled on one that has weights (ie. not battery powered), and it looks like a very simple Swiss house. No big, bright flowers or farm animals to be seen, thank goodness!

I was pleased to get it all unpacked and hung and to find out that it was still in good working order after its long journey on the boat! The kids are totally fascinated by it. Every time they hear it chime they go running to try and see the bird come out. Of course, they always miss it. Unless they are standing right there when it goes off, they are never going to see it in time. It is lots of fun to watch them try though. :-)

It was also fun to watch Noah try and "catch" a fly that managed to sneak into the house with a toy sword today! I was far enough away that I couldn't see the fly, all I could see was Noah swinging this sword spastically through the air. Too funny...

I am totally excited to have an awesome new scrapbook work space. We bought shelves that Kevin mounted onto the wall above my work table, and I have shelving in the closet. (The room doubles as a spare bedroom too.) I can't wait to be able to post pics of it. And to actually get to use it...that hasn't happened yet.

We seem to be missing our printer cable. The one that connects the printer to the computer. That is why I STILL can't post pics. (The printer acts as a drive for our memory card.) We are going to have to just buy a new one. I know that as soon as we do, the old one is going to show up....that is always the way!

Kevin finally ordered our new computer. Once it gets here, none of this will matter because our memory card will plug directly into the side of it. We are getting a laptop with wireless internet, so I can blog outside while the kiddies play! How cool is that?!

Kevin is away tonight. It is me and the kiddies on our own! He hasn't been around much lately. He is working long hours....getting up to speed on the new business he has to learn. I am hoping it will get better with time.

I am feeling a bit lonely, I think. I have been keeping really busy trying to get the house in order, so I didn't realize it at first. But then I had a couple of calls from friends in faraway places, and I began to feel it. :-(

I just don't seem to have the drive to make new friends here yet. It takes a lot of work to cultivate new friendships, to get to know one another. I just want to be with people who already know me. People who already accept me for who I am and like me. I have too much other work in my life to have to work at that too!

On a good note, we have our first "official" play date scheduled for next week. I think it will go well. I am sure once I put myself out there, the momentum will get going and things will be fine. I will have to let you know.....

Princess Bekah

We have a little drama queen on our hands!

Just before leaving Geneva, a very good friend organized a going away lunch for me with all of my other very good friends present (thank you Stef)! It was the best farewell I could have asked for.

One of the ladies who was there brought along a fairy costume that her daughter had outgrown (thanks Katie!). Rebekah just came across it today, and immediately asked to wear it. So, we changed clothes. Well, that was only the beginning. She insisted on wearing that costume ALL day.

I must admit, it is adorable. It even has little wings!

I can't be sure who mentioned the word "princess" first...but it resonated. For the rest of the day Rebekah referred to herself as "princess Bekah". It was too funny.

At one point Noah was getting too rough (not exactly a surprise), and he slapped Bekah's hand, under the premise that he was trying to give her a "high five". Well, Bekah turned on the fake tears and said, "princess Bekah...crying". It took all I had in me not to laugh.

At dinner she put on the same act for Kevin....except I think the line was "princess Bekah....time out" (for throwing food).

On that note, Kevin ate dinner with us for the first time this week! Actually, he didn't really eat all of dinner with us...he came in at the tail end of dinner...around 6:30 pm. Hey, I guess you gotta take what you can get!

And Then There Were Three....

....plants, that is!

Last night we had one of our neighbours from down the street knock on our door with a big plant in hand. This is the third such gift that we have received since moving in just two weeks ago.

It is nice to receive such a warm welcome. There are a lot of small children on the cul-de-sac, so hopefully this will make for some fun summer play dates! It turns out, that out of just nine houses on the street, three of them have children starting kindergarden at the same school!

There are also lots of babysitters around too, from what I hear. I will have to get busy getting to know some of them over the summer. You never can have too many babysitters!

I really do have the sense that we are in small town America. We have neighbours on our street who are members of the school board, members of various town committees, and members of the Lion's Club. And they all know everybody else.

So, while it is nice to be greeted warmly, and to have neighbours to call upon in a time of need...I am a little bit wary of how well everyone seems to know everyone else, and just where my dirty laundry has the potential for being aired!!

My Little Houdini - Part II

Yesterday we had a furniture repair man come to the house to inspect some items that had been damaged in our move. He was an older fellow, who seemed to like children. At the end of his visit, he asked Noah if he liked magic. He then proceeded to do a magic trick for him.

Well, I haven't heard the end of it since. On his way out the door, the man suggested that Noah go to the library to get a book about magic, so that he could learn how to do some tricks himself. Well, if he only knew the can of worms he was opening and leaving for me to deal with!

First thing this morning, we were off to the library. It was an outing I had been intending on taking anyhow, but it was bumped up a bit in the schedule. So, off we went to the library where we met Miss Liz, the children's librarian. She knew exactly where to find the books about magic and we were on our way!

Once home, we had to practice the magic tricks, of course! We rehearsed 6 tricks so that Noah could do a show for Kevin when he got home. He pulled them off pretty well with the help of his assistant (me, of course) and a bit of prompting.

Even though his magic show was a success, I can see that Noah still doesn't really grasp the concept of magic. This really resonated with me late this afternoon when he said, "Mommy, watch this trick. I am going to make this coin disappear." And with that, he quickly, and right in front of me, shoved the coin into his pocket and held up his empty hands and said, "Look, it's gone!"