Saturday, February 07, 2009

I am not dead, I'm just crafting

It's late, or I would write this totally fascinating post about how home ownership changes people both for the better and the worse. Never in my life had I ever had the desire to crack open a magazine devoted to home interiors (snore...) but now? Now I must think about colors and choose paint and it all seems complicated and magazines make me feel more prepared.

And the gardening... I have more gardening magazines than you can shake a stick at. Okay, I have 7, but that still seems like a lot. Not that I have done anything much with the garden, except for planting a raspberry bush and then trying to transplant bulbs in the flower beds. I have no idea what I'm doing. On the plus side, Ella has finally agreed to actually stay in the yard and seem somewhat happy about it, whereas before she would head straight to the gate and try to escape. So that's progress.

And I have finally unpacked my sewing machine and found some of my crafting stuff. Each time I move, I get all proud thinking I've finally managed to weed out the excess. I haven't. In the meantime, I've phone my mother about a billion times asking about fabric and she has not once told me to shut up and stop bothering her, instead listening to me and offering patient advice. I've definitely made progress from the days where I was terrified of threading the machine.

And although I know this is one of the most boring updates ever, I am relieved to finally feel that I have a normal life, that I can settle in and put holes in the walls and plants in the ground instead of spinning my wheels, biding my time. I know as well that a next step for me is to come back out of my shell and try to enjoy France for what it is. When I first moved here, I read tons of French books, I paid attention to music and movies and events, I went places, I did things...and after I had a baby I just tried to keep everything together. I'm working on finding a balance between sharing my culture with her and continuing to find a place for myself here.

Tomorrow I might put my post-baby bottom in a swimsuit and go to the pool with my family. This is progress.

ETA: Oh, I really need to do an authentic Ella update soon with this impressive language explosion that is happening. A recent addition to her vocabulary is manhole cover, although maybe I'm the only one who understands her when she says it. It seems a strange choice but there's one in front of our house that has great puddles for splashing, so she likes that.

And random French strangers are beginning to understand her French sentences. She has a larger English vocabulary but has been making lots of real sentences in French, which just bowls me over when I hear it. On the other hand she's finally started saying "There you go" instead of just "Voila," which makes me think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And for weeks and weeks she has been begging to listen to "that song" by James Brown, but I think I would just shrivel up at the thought of what my parents would say if she ever said those words aloud. Shake your money maker...

5 comments:

Beth said...

Good to hear from you again! I'm glad you're feeling energetic and crafty!
It's not all all dull to get an update from you. I, too, am all excited about gardening and sewing! I'm making new curtains for the twins right now.

When my son was Ella's age, he'd ask for "that song", too. But his special music was not a James Brown dance tune, but rather Gershwin's "American in Paris". People definitely thought Sev was a strange toddler.

Betty Carlson said...

I haven't dropped by in a while -- make that a long time. Over the past months, I've been focusing on keeping up with a few blogs well. Now I feel like branching out again. All of this takes time, not matter how it's done.

The house is a great project. We built one, which wasn't what I had really wanted to do, so I was a rather tepid participant in the planning. But I'm totally happy with how it turned out. We've been in it for almost ten years now!

Have fun with your magazines!

Kathy said...

Well bless your heart! Welcome home!!!
You mom filled me in on your curtin project. Good luck with that.

I've getting fatter by the minute! The chocolate is SOOOOO good. Your the best!

Michelle said...

Hang in there, girlie! It sounds like you are making progress and adjusting to all the craziness that has been your life lately. Enjoy experimenting with your flowers and getting into your crafting again!

Kathy said...

Todays Thought: Daniel's Feet - Will they ever stop growing! The 11 yr old's feet is almost bigger than MINE!