A little this, a little that

"Olson"

Still answering the phone half the time Swiss style. Bart keeps asking how long I'll do that. He never picked up the habit as he rarely answered our phone in Switzerland.

"Adieu, Ciao, Aufwiedersehen......." I'm still saying goodbye several times and feeling like conversations are abruptly ended with a simple "Bye" on the other end of the line or at the store. Working on it.

We (or rather I) are not ready to tackle discussion of grocery shopping on the blog. Still the hardest part of adjusting for Moi. I could give specific instances of "I'm going to lose it" in each move, be it HyVee, Migros or Safeway. I'm most comfortable in Target - a constant since even though we didn't have one in Switzerland, it was the go-to store each summer trip to see family.

The Air cargo arrived! Yeah! We now have some regular kitchen items, summer clothes, some toys/stuff for the girls and more air mattresses and towels. And more seating options - there are now 4 camping chairs to accompany the dining room chairs. All the people traipsing through the house recently (window washers, carpet repair, shutter repair, paint/handyman, etc...) find it amusing.

I keep thinking of all sorts of things to blog about as I go through my day but then I sit here and go blank. I've not actually had much time to sit. I do have three items specific to moving:

1. As it's summer and we've just moved and there is NO routine yet, I've not had the chance to develop any new acquaintances yet, save working on one with a neighbor down the street. My most frequent "I know their names and we can chat" contacts are the banker and the insurance agent (and his wife). The girls are playing with girls down the street which has been an answer to prayer. We have had a great time seeing our "old" friends and some family (yes, we're working our way around to everyone) like we would during a normal summer only this time - we drive our own car and sleep in our own beds!

2. The girls, in spite of being given sleeping options via cots from Gpa P and more airbeds from Switzerland, continue to sleep together on a queen airbed. Bart and I know that this will be a potential issue for them later and sure enough, Kendra pipes up and says "I'm going to want to stay with Rachel in her room to sleep you know." Yes, we know. She's always preferred to share a room than be by herself. That will sort itself out. Plus it's cute to see them all curled up together - they're a bit like kittens.

3. Contact Paper. I hate it. It's OK to hate inanimate objects. Especially contact paper. I'm almost done re-papering the kitchen. The contact paper is still winning the war. But at least it's new and CLEAN and almost done so that when everything comes from the container in August, I'll be ready. The house is 14 yrs old and only the upper cabinets have laminate on the shelves, the rest were bare pressboard. Therefore, I peeled all the old "green marble" contact paper off and have been putting down new - bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, linens......it must be done.

Adjusting and enjoying time as a family - so much nicer to be all together again. Pictures next time.....