"When my Dad finds a new job..."

After the third day of school, we were at the hotel and Thomas & I were talking about something, I don't recall what but it lead into,

"When my Dad finds a new job..."

It kind of stunned me. I told Thomas that his dad does have a job. And started laughing. I called James in and told him what Thomas had just said. And he further explained that he still has a job, he's just using special time off for taking the job in Germany and that he still gets a pay check so we can pay our bills.

It's pretty easy to see where he's coming from. After all, as Thomas also said, "Well, he doesn't go to work any more, he's here in the morning, he's here when I come home and all he does is work on our house." Looking back, I know he's also heard plenty of conversations about unemployment and foreclosures and hard times going on. And I don't think it would be far-fetched that maybe they talked about it in class. So, it all makes sense.

But, we had to reassure Thomas that James IS employed and that pretty soon he will get dressed up again and be gone to work for most of the day.

Until later,

Emily

Thomas Starts Second Grade

This week, Thomas started second grade. The school he is going to is much bigger than ISW. There are five second grade classes with roughly 23 children in each. Last year, there were two first grade classes with 14 children in each of them.

This year, he is also a bus rider. We decided to have him ride the bus even on the first day because we knew the kindness & patience of the bus driver would only last for so long. Good call on our part, because while she was really patient on Monday, by Tuesday (the second day) she was already yelling & taking charge of that bus. But, by Thursday, she was sending them all home with Tootsie Pops because they were all "good kids".

Thomas seems to be doing fine. I had imagined that he would make a best friend right away but he has not. I also imagined that there would be another sweet, second grader at the bus stop for him to play with after school and there is not. In fact, he said to me a couple of days ago, "Mom, I don't really see the big difference between Maryland and Germany except that I don't have any friends to play with that live next to me." And that is hard, because we had it so great with not one but two ISW friends for him to play with on our same street. It made play dates very easy and low-key. And I have to admit that I did feel a twinge of bitterness yesterday when I counted six fifth graders rallied together after school in the center of my neighborhood.

But, all in all, the first week has been a success. He seems to be taking it all in stride and I think he is enjoying life.

Until later,

Emily

Life in a Hotel/Life Right Now

A week ago, we checked into a hotel that we plan on living in for three more weeks. Yes, you read that right, we are staying here for one whole month. We have received a lot of condolences over this, but let me assure you that we are quite OK. We are staying in a hotel with two bedrooms and two full bathrooms, we also have a little living room and a full kitchen. And THREE TV's (that's two more then we'll have once we unpack). A full breakfast is served daily. There is a pool and a small gym. Housekeeping can come daily, if I want them to. Free internet.

This hotel is only a three-minute drive from our house. So we kind of look at our house as "work", we go there during the day and work in the house, but in the evening, we come back to the hotel and unwind and sleep. We have been going through the boxes that we sent on our own (essentially, we mailed our own air freight), and assessing what needs to be done to the house.

We had "good" renters, but there is still quite a bit of work to do, after all, they did live in our home for three years! Most of it is cosmetic. I think I was naive to think we could finish it all in a month, but we'll get a good start on it.

Most rooms could use a fresh coat of paint, we'll start with the basement, master bedroom, and smallest bedroom (it pains me to paint over Thomas' baby room, I spent sooooo many hours painting it while 36 weeks pregnant), but the time has come!. I'd also like the living room to get a fresh coat, my thinking is the more paint that can be done without furniture and while we still have the old carpet, the better. New carpet is ordered. I ordered a new storm door on Saturday. This week, I will be ordering new kitchen countertops, once I get a second quote. They aren't the fanciest, but I think almost anything would be an improvement over white formica! Oh, and a new sink and faucet is kind of a must!

I'd like to replace a lot of my curtains, but haven't had any luck finding even one set that is "calling out to me" so I realize this may take a very long time. And we have time, we have blinds on all of our windows. We're going to switch out the white ceiling fan in our bedroom for a black one and also put one up in the basement. That will make five ceiling fans in our home, I guess we are "fans" of fans!

Until later,

Emily

Still Blogging!

Please be patient. Don't give up on me, don't give up on my blog. Some are good about blogging while vacationing/in the middle of a major change...I don't fit in that category. I'll be back. Soon.

Until later,

Emily