Musings of a Part-time Housewife

Notice I did not say "desperate".  January, and now February, being rather slow work months, I've found myself with a little more time on my hands than usual.  My job teaching English to adults often leaves me with some holes in my schedule, but since the beginning of the year those holes have been more like craters.  In fact there have been a few days I didn't work at all.

I've essentially always worked since I finished school.  I was lucky enough to find work pretty quickly in France, too.  And I only took a few months off when Juliette was born, though I again had some very light work days when I returned to my job.  But it has taken a bit of adjustment to have this much spare time.  How do I fill that time, you may ask? 

Tea, tea and more tea
Luckily I've got colleagues and girlfriends who are kind of in the same situation lately.  And what do ladies with gaps in their schedule do?  They get together for tea.  And cookies.  And chatting.  This slow period also being in winter, tea or hot chocolate are the things to drink.  So in addition to checking out a salon de thé with one friend, I've had girlfriends over for a quick tea.  And I've been able to go to morning tea with the Anglican group.  That's something I could never do when my schedule was filled.

I'm so lucky to have discovered this group through my other expat friends.  It's quite amusing just to listen and observe. The women who come range in age from 30 to 75.  Some are British with chirpy or crisp sing-songy accents, as compared to my "flat" American one.  There is tea, Marks and Spencers, last time, and conversation.  Last time an older Scottish woman asked in her soft voice if anyone was going to England and could pick up some black currant throat losenges.  When the other ladies said that brand was available in France, she said, but not the black currant ones.  Some French women come to practice their English.  Once a year they do a book sale with mostly English books.  It's a very pleasant way to pass the time.

Time sort of well spent
At first I had high hopes of getting some of those old projects done.  Like finally finishing my photobook creation online or, who knows, actually filling the photo albums from Juliette's toddler years.  So many projects, so little motivation.  Because now that I actually do have some time, I generally prefer to do other things.  Like drink tea.  And get Juliette for lunch or on Wednesday afternoon when she has no school.  I have done a wee bit of organizing.

It's also been an opportunity to get some long-needed doctor visits out of the way.  I've been to the dentist and Juliette, too (her first time, mind you!) and I took her to the dermatologist.  It's just a little easier to arrange these things when my schedule is lighter.

Say "cheese"!

And as you may have noticed I've been a bit better about regular blog posts.  It's a slightly positive note that in no way will counterbalance what will surely be puny pay for January.

I also was able to snap some photos in the snow one morning (since I had the time...)

Clean-ish
I wish I could tell you I've cleaned my house from top to bottom and totally solved my organisational issues.  That would be lying. But I have cleaned my living room windows a bit more than usual.  And I must say, of all the methods mentioned to me by overzealous French cleaners, the winner is... good old Windex.  Whenever I try the white vinegar and soap, it still seems to leave streaks that look worse than before.  Even trying to use a squeegee to dry it up leaves streaks (guess I'm not ready for Olympic Squeegee trials).

Let's face it, I'm just not a clean freak.  When I have time to spare, I'd rather be doing more interesting things like baking, writing, playing with Juju...  But not having to rush off to work right away some mornings means my kitchen is generally a little cleaner than when I have to start at 8 o'clock.  I've been able to stay a bit more on top of my recycling bin and trash.  Anyway, when our lives are over, I don't think we'll say, man, I should have scrubbed my house more often.  However, they do say, cleaning can help you "clean out" your mind, too and settle things for you.  Just seeing something that you made cleaner yourself can give a feeling of satisfaction. 

The best of both worlds?
In the end I know that I need to work both to keep us afloat financially and for my own mental health.  By saying that I mean absolutely nothing negative for those women who are full-time housewives, be it by choice or because circumstances have put them in that position.  I just see for myself I need activities to get me out of the house (work or otherwise) and the company of colleagues and friends (lucky for me my colleagues are friends, too).  That said, I really enjoy having some flexibility in my schedule and being able to participate in other activities.  Soon my work will increase (I hope!) and these will just be distant musings. I'm glad to have had this time for myself.

Where do you see yourself on this issue?  Can you stay home? Do you want to? What's ideal for you?

Delicious Days

When you live in my part of France (the North), you learn to drop everything and head outdoors when it's sunny and above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  And though we've still been having a mixed bag in terms of weather, there have been some lovely days that inspired me to pack up Juliette and go to a park.

Such a peaceful moment at the duck pond.

Do you see the bunny-shaped cloud in the middle?  Reminds me of The Runaway Bunny book.

 

Making "cakes" with flower petals and such at the greenhouse.

Me getting a bit of sun on my legs in the fake turf outside of Ikea. 

 I took this one myself holding the camera backwards.  I'm near my favorite blue flower, lobelia.

I love peonies.  This one was outside Remi's grandfather's retirement home and smelled just divine!

Meanwhile the last month has brought two birthday parties from my North American pals' kids.  Juliette and I got to go to an indoor playground and a farm visit for these two parties.  Interesting thing we North American moms have noticed is that the French moms, with just two exceptions out of the say, ten invited for both parties, just leave their kids at the party and pick them up after.  It seems odd to us but I guess it's yet Another Cultural Difference we have discovered.  So now the question is what to do for Juliette's birthday as it falls in July when most people are on vacation.  Must put my thinking cap on.

Luckily work has been picking up and I've realized again that working makes me feel better.  I may not always be wild about teaching but for the most part I do like talking to my students and helping them discover things.  I certainly feel better at the end of  a day when I've worked a bit. 

My Juju is still a joy to me but there are times I'm not such a model parent and I lose my patience and yell more than I should.  Nearly five is still a bit far from the so-called Age of Reason (six or seven) and many a day she will whine about something that seems so insignifcant to me.  She'll make it her mantra (like, I want a doll, I want a doll....) until I want to scream and sometimes do .  Then she'll make up silly songs in her little voice and I just want to squeeze her and put some of that cuteness in a bottle and keep it forever. 

Ah, such is life but we keep on going.   And a sunny day does make it seem a little better.

"Lazy girl" lives up to her name

Lately I really feel lazy...

Last year when I was in school was quite the opposite.  I never had much time to chill.  Even evenings were usually spent studying or making notecards.  When I finished last June I tried to be very gung ho about writing cover letters and calling companies for lab jobs.  Now the French economy is not doing very well and jobs are hard to come by.  My work teaching English is kind of slow lately due to the school vacation period.  So I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a holding pattern. 

And I'm starting to wonder if I need to kick things back into gear a bit.  My typical evening nowadays consists of chilling on the couch and checking my smart phone for emails or FB updates (evil technology that prevents me from being efficient!).  Last year I kept telling myself how great it would be to have all this free time again and how much I could get done.  But my motivation to do those tasks seems to have withered.

Like finishing Juliette's baby albums.  I've just recently finished her first year of pictures and still have a hefty pile to put in the album.  Not to mention all the photos I still need to print out that I have stored on the computer!

I could blame it on winter (and I will).  It has been cold and snowy lately and that's not conducive to getting out there and getting things done. Seriously.  As I write this I'm kind of shivery and drinking tea to warm myself up.  Not exactly get-up-and-overhaul-your-life kind of weather.  More like curl-up-and-pet-your-fat-cat kind of weather.

Snowy weather is beautiful but...
you can only take so many brisk walks in sub-freezing temps!

"Let me suck you into my world of naps..."

I am slowly trying to clean and organize things in my apartment in preparation for the move (let's hope).   One day, ONE DAY!, people, my house will resemble the Ikea catalog closet section.  Everything in its place.  We're not there yet but it's a dream.  I feel much cleaner mentally when things are clean.  Too bad the inertia of the couch prevents me from cleaning more. 

I also feel that I'm not physically moving around as much as I should.  I do walk into town sometimes but that's it.  I know I need some kind of aerobic exercise but am somewhat restricted by when Remi gets home.  Or I could use some of those holes in my work schedule to do something. But I've been saying that for about five years now...

This is nowhere near the magnitude of a mid-life crisis (though the big 4-0 is not far off...) but I think if I don't make a change in my lifestyle soon I might get "stuck" this way.

So how do YOU get motivated?

Back to baking

Virtual champagne for everybody! (That is just a random stock photo, by the way.  It's not Remi spewing champagne.)  I got my degree for the biological analyses program which will re-qualify me for working in a lab. It’s what’s called a BTS in the French system. I’ve spent the last week hanging out in the school computer lab just to note my presence (we had to do it to get paid) working on CVs and cover letters (or just shooting the breeze with the other students). Starting back at the English teaching gig next week and it feels a bit weird to put myself into the teacher role again. I know I’ll slip back into it but there’s always a transition period. And though I’m getting better at transitions, but it’s still a bit tough sometimes.

 

Now that I have a bit more free time (no more studying, yeah!) I’ve been able to put my energy into more pleasant things. Like baking. Truth be told I never gave up the odd batch of muffins on a Saturday afternoon but I did cut back a bit. Last Saturday to celebrate my new-found freedom I made a recipe I’d been wanting to do for a while- petits pains au lait. They are basically just yeast rolls. The recipe was surprisingly simple and I enjoyed munching on warm bread with Juliette at snack time. It’s even better with a little butter and honey…

I got the recipe from a French blog site but I’ll translate it into English. Though this recipe already had imperial measures, let me pass on Diana’s Desserts website (http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/tools.measures/Measures.cfm) which has a wonderful measures converter.

500g (4 and 3 cups) all-purpose flour

1 and 1/5 cups (30 cl) of milk

30g (2 heaping tablespoons or 1 oz.) of butter or margarine

30 g (1/4 cup) sugar

1/3 oz. of dry yeast...not so sure how to measure that in US, any ideas?!: (1 packet of levure de boulanger (5 g) for those living in France)

A pinch of salt

Heat the milk (not to boiling) and the butter in separate saucepans. I heated my butter up in the microwave.  

Add the yeast to the warmed milk and mix and let sit 15 minutes.  

 

Add the milk/yeast mixture to the flour, sugar and salt. Then add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon (why wooden, I don’t know).  

Knead by hand. Add a bit of flour if the dough is too sticky.

Form into a ball and let the dough sit for an hour or an hour and a half in a warm place. Cover with a clean dishcloth. The dough should approximately double in size.

 

Form the dough into small rolls, elongated or round. You can also add things like chocolate chips or fruits. Or form the balls and then arrange them into a clover or flower shape (with the rolls touching) on your non-stick baking sheet. Let rest a few minutes. With a knife cut a few lines on the top of each roll.  

Place into pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 20 minutes.

And enjoy!