funda.nl

First we have to find several secondary schools that would be right for Ignatz, and then we have to look near all of them for the primary school that would be best for the Sniglet. I want my kids to walk or bike to school – that is, I want their classmates to be our neighbors, if possible, I think it’s a better way to settle into a community. So it’s only once we’ve locked on a school that we can identify the neighborhood we want to live in and start looking for a house there. So the amount of time I spend over here is completely unjustified.

And yet, there I am.

Song du jour of the day: Our House, by Madness.

speaking of new digs…

Lilu decided the basket was too small for a family of six, so she started scouting for a new location. She opted for the bottom shelf in the center-section of my sliding-door closet, the section that is almost always covered by at least one door. I said no, you or the babies will get shut in, pick another place. She glared at me. So I pulled the basket out of the leftmost bottom shelf and lined the shelf with all those scarves and sarongs and baby-carrying cloths I never use but can’t bring myself to throw away, and the family is now living in there. The basket is in front of the shelf, so if someone falls out, he or she lands fairly harmlessly, and can’t escape any further. The closet sans basket has much more space, much less light, so photographing them is proving difficult. And filming their first wobbly steps is proving impossible, which is too bad because it is so. darn. CUTE!

on location

Okay, so longtime readers of this blog will know that my 13-year-old, Ignatz, has been diagnosed with ADHD and an unfortunately high IQ, which means that he is deeply bored in school but even if he weren’t, he wouldn’t be able to pay attention. His teachers have done their best, but there really are limits to what they can do in an ordinary public school (I don’t actually agree with them on what those limits are, but we’ll leave that for now), and the only suggestion they ever have is to send him to a different school. We don’t want to send him to boarding school, we don’t want to bus him to Munich, and he doesn’t want to leave his friends, so we haven’t.

what I love about the house

Alke said,

what is it you love about this house?

Partly, it’s the random and kismetty way we found it, because we just happened by when the previous owner was doing some yardwork, four months after he’d moved out of the house and to another town – what’re the odds?

well that was fun…

… and I generally don’t approve of bragging, but my first-grader totally called it. I will always vote for the song I like best, but if I ever bet on Eurovision, I’ll definitely ask him to pick the winner. Amusingly live-blogged here, by a Guardian columnist.

So, song du jour of the day: Dima Bilan’s Believe. I have to admit, the ice-skater was a nice touch.

P.S. Ignatz voted Azerbaijan, which did surprisingly well, given how weird it was. DrBob voted for Spain, and I liked about seven songs, but finally decided that Croatia needed my vote the most. Yes, we have four different phone numbers from which to call. What?

not much of an update

So I haven’t been updating y’all on the Big Move because the situation is so fluid, there is very little I can say that will most likely still be true five minutes after I hit “publish.”

Well, here’s one thing: this past year, with DrBob in London most of the time, was Too Hard. It turned out to be more than the kids and I could handle. And hopping a plane every weekend turned out not to be as simple as it sounded, so DrBob wasn’t enjoying it much either.

named

Sorry, all. We bounced many ideas off eachother: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and… what would be another basic substance? I suggested Sarcasm, DrBob suggested Beer. Lala, Lolo, Lulu, etc. Something related to the five senses. But nothing stuck, there was no logical connection between a particular kitten and a particular element, sense, or vowel, so the Jacksons it is. Chin up, it’s only for eight weeks, and then they go to their new homes.

If you click on the image, it’ll take you to a flickr page and you can mouse over each kitten to learn his or her temporary name. For the record, our best guesses at gender: we think Michael and Tito are boys, and Jackie, Germaine and Marlon are probably girls.

Song du jour of the day: all of them! The Eurovision Song Contest starts tomorrow omg I’m so excited squeeeeeee!

How to precipitate a midlife crisis

DrBob sold his motorcycle. He says it’s no longer practical – he drove it back from England and arrived frozen and shuddering and determined never to get on a motorcycle again. I tried to convince him that it’s a fine thing to have when put to its proper use, but he decided to sell it anyway.

Five

Though it’s nearly impossible to see them all at once, there are indeed five squeaky kittens with already-discernible personalities. No names yet, but I’m working on it (Kelly has already vetoed Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael). Everybody seems to be all right, although I am remembering my own “fourth trimesters” with much sympathy.

Song du jour of the day: ABC, by the Jackson 5.

! !!

1:55 pm. A month or so ago Lilu was sniffing around my closet a lot, and I interpreted it as nesting behavior and put her basket in there with a blanket. Cats are perverse critters, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d opted for some other spot, but I’m pleased to note that she has chosen it as the place to have her babies. It’s dark in there, but I can see her curled up, purring, and one tiny pair of ears. There might be more kittens, I can’t see, and I don’t want to take a picture because I’m afraid the flash will disturb them, but yay! It’s begun! I’m so excited!

Song du jour of the day: Isn’t She Lovely, by Stevie Wonder.

2:05 pm. Four! Four tiny little heads! With eight tiny little ears! Also four pointy little tails! So cute!

2:35 pm. DrBob says, “Congratulations. Now we have six cats.” That’s not quite how I prefer to look at it…

3:48 pm. Another one. Five kittens.

4:58 pm. I think there’s another one now, but I can’t tell, everybody’s too squirmy. Well, this is still exciting, but I’m getting a little apprehensive. How many kittens can we find homes for? How many can Lilu have in her first litter and still be healthy? Oh dear.