Are You Really Moving?

1. Yes.

2. No, really. Yes. In 7 days, actually.


In a nutshell, M and I were talking a few months ago, and he said he'd really like to go back to France. We mulled over the idea of moving back to Paris, and I even contacted a few agencies in the city about places in the 11th and 19th. Then I happened to look at rentals in Normandy, and I realized it was possible to get a house (a HOUSE) for €500 a month. It was only a short leap to looking at fixer uppers.

We bought this car. Yes, it's hideous, but it runs well, and until you find a car for £600, mouth = shut.

"Too bad we can't just buy a house," I told M.

Too bad, indeed.

Enter an interesting conversation over a drive back from Scotland with someone who is in the same boat.

Oddly enough, crying children don't make for fun camping trips.

I came home from Scotland and said to M, "Let's try to do this." I think he has just given up on rationality where I'm concerned, so he just sort of shrugged and nodded. I started researching furiously, and came across the Poitou-Charentes region, and a highly recommended estate agency with all sorts of decaying houses. I was sold.

So we planned a trip to the village, Confolens, to look at a few properties. We really didn't know what we were walking into. As it happened, THIS is what we were walking into:


Well. That certainly needs a bit of work. So we kept looking. The third house we viewed needed work. I'm not going to lie. . .it does need a lot of work. But it was fun, and the village was cute, and it's cheap, so why not?

Why not, indeed.

So we put an offer on it. That offer was accepted, we put down our deposit, and the rest will work itself out.

I know you're probably at least mildly curious what we got ourselves into. So, without further ado, the Great Townhouse Wreck of Confolens:

Hint: It's the one with the green "Le Rasoir" shop. That's ours, too!

Not so bad from the outside. . .And the shop is in pretty decent condition. We're going to convert it into a living room/guest room.


The shop area even has its own toilet, which we're going to convert into a bathroom. It, erm, needs a little work. Because right now, it sort of looks like a toilet for dead people.


But that's ok, because there is a fully functioning bathroom upstairs. Isn't it lovely? Just look at that wallpaper!


But the bones are pretty good, and there is a lot of potential.


Alex gets his own room, which is huge. . .


And Ava gets her own room, which is not so huge. . .


They even get their own bathroom, which isn't really much of anything yet.


Best of all. . .we have a gigantic attic! It's going to be a playroom! When it doesn't look like a breeding ground for tetanus, of course.

That's only half of it.

Are we crazy? No, that's silly.

That would be the other half.

For all of this grand luxury, we're paying a total of €200/month, or about $275, including property taxes.

I'm told this is a kitchen. I have my doubts.

Yes, it's a bit random, I guess. I'm sure it seems unexpected. But if you think we're going into this blindly. . .well, then you don't know me very well. ;)

So the third evolution of the never-updated blog is taking place. Now you get to come along as we fix up our house in France and I commute back and forth to London pretty much so once a month (for less than a monthly tube pass). Questions? :)

Just for GeeGee and Why Do I Procrastinate

GeeGee wanted pics of Mr. A, so here they are. Pics of Mr. A, who still won't smile quite right yet (we're getting closer!). It's such a shame, because his real smile is beautiful. These are from the other day as I followed him around the yard while he watered everything that typically doesn't need watering.

Onto the second part. Why do I procrastinate? I'm pretty much so hating myself for not really starting on the garage earlier. I don't know when exactly I would have done it, but boy oh, boy, do I wish I had started earlier. :( I got rid of 75% of the toys today, and it still looks like a mess. Part of it is M's fault, because he likes to stack up empty boxes in there, and so a good 30-40% of what I'm looking at are probably just empty boxes. I can't wait to be rid of all of this. It's just so hot in there, too. I started working about 8:30am, and I was dripping with sweat within 10-15 minutes. It's not even noon, and it's 90 degrees. The high is 102 today. Yuck!


Mini Minon hung out with me while I cleaned out part of the garage today, although she really wasn't much help. An old Christmas tree topper broke, and she "helped" me by sweeping it out of the pile I had it in and all over the garage instead. That was sweet. She looks quite funny today, because she has on a pair of angel wings that M got me about 10 years ago.

In good news, the master bedroom and both bathrooms are completely packed up and ready to go. Anything left goes to Goodwill when we leave or is being sold in the garage sale. The linen closet is also done, so all I have left are Mr. A's room, the playroom, the kitchen (hardly anything will go), and the living room.


In exactly one week is August, and things will start happening really fast then. It's kind of exciting.

No news is good news

That's the way I'm looking at it. I haven't gotten a phone call yet from the German Consulate, but that's a good thing! If they're not calling yet, that means they're not calling me to tell me there's a problem. It means my passport is likely on its way to Germany for processing. And that's fun.

In a few weeks, though, the tables will be turned, and I'll be waiting for a phone call saying that it's waiting at the Consulate. And at that point, no news won't be good news. Funny how that works.

We're packing up, which is not really fun work. It's kind of nice to get rid of so much stuff, though. I dread going through the garage. It's about 75% organized in the way that things are piled up on different sides of it, but it's not ready to be tackled yet. I'd love to just get in there and do it in two or three days, but it was 103 here yesterday. That doesn't really make me want to go outside at all.



Here's what's left on the list:

- Finish packing (I'm up to 7 boxes fully packed and another 3 almost done. That's almost half!)
- Fill out EEU Family Permit applications for M and the kids (17 pages each. That's fun.)
- Sign my loan docs, which I'm still taking out just in case. Better to be safe than sorry, even though we don't need to show the money anymore.
- Buy tickets (as soon as I get the phone call from the Consulate)
- Load the boxes up and take them to LA for shipping (haven't totally figured the logistics of this yet, but I have an idea).
- Sell everything in our house, drop off the leftovers at Goodwill, and somehow manage to sell our car before we leave, but not so far in advance that we don't have a car to get around until we leave.



Maybe tomorrow I'll post what we have to do once we get there. Because getting out the door is the easy part. M is training at his new job right now (he's double-dipping, poor guy, working essentially from 6 am to 6 pm every day), which means I've got more free time on my hands since I've got to keep the kids quiet and away from him while he does it. (I wish someone would do that for me while I'm working!) But all that means I have more time for picture-taking. And I've been trying really hard to learn how to use this camera on manual. It's slow, but I'm learning.

As a side note, my grandma wants to know why I don't have more pics of Mr. A. Simple. He never wants to pose, and he's always out playing with his friends.

What Happened at the German Consulate

This could change, but for now, I love the German Consulate in Los Angeles. And it got such bad reviews, too. (??) Weird. But I promise this wouldn't be the first time I loved someone or something everyone else hated. :)

Ok, so my appointment was REALLY early in the morning. I didn't want to battle LA traffic, and I didn't want to spend the night in LA, so I got up at 3AM and drove down. I sat in the car before my appointment and got dressed, did my makeup (so you KNOW it was important--haha!), and did my hair. I had about 20-30 minutes to kill, so I watched Spongebob on my iPod. I really wish I would have brought my iPad.

While I was watching Spongebob, I really thought I was going to throw up, which is just ridiculous for me. Things rarely faze me like that. I tried to close my eyes and concentrate on how stupid I was being, but when I closed my eyes, I got even more sick. I still had 20 minutes until my appointment, but at this point, I knew I wasn't doing myself any good sitting in the car, so I went up to the consulate.

Now, the German Consulate is a funny place. It's in an office building essentially, and you'd really never know it was there. I almost thought I had the wrong place, and I had to double-check the email the Vice-Consul sent. When I got up there, the security guard looked in my purse, checked my name, and told me to go right up to the window. She said they would speak to me as soon as the window opened for the day.

I had to take my passport photos first. They came out just ridiculous. I look like I'm getting ready to be sent to prison or something. I sort of wish I would have taken them over, but they were so funny, I just left them. Now I'll have something to laugh about every time I travel on that passport.

The window was open by the time I came out of the photo booth, so I sat down and waited. A heavy-set woman eventually sat down, smiled, and said, "Morgen."

"Morgen," I said. "Entschuldigen Sie. . .Sprechen Sie Englisch?"

Yes. I seriously wanted to dig a hole in the floor and crawl in, but there was NO way I could have gotten through it in German. Even French, which feels like treading water for me, would have been too hard. My head was just completely blank. It's a miracle I even got it all out in English. Even still. . .I forgot some things.

"Yes," she said. "Do you have an appointment?"

After she checked my appointment, she asked for my paperwork. I put it through the little two-way drawer, and she pulled it over to her side. She opened my envelope and started sifting through everything. She looked at all the documents, took them out of their carefully arranged order (at that point, I was panicking a little) and looked them over a second time. Finally she nodded.

"You're German because your dad was German when he was born," she said.

Now I'm excited. She GETS it. She actually GETS it. "Yes!" I said, probably a little too loud.

"And you've spoken to Vice-Consul Schwarz already?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"And she said it was ok?"

"She said she would need to verify the documents in person, but that there should be no problem."

"Did you scan and email them to her?"

"No," I said. "She didn't ask me to."

"Ok," she said. "I'm going to make photocopies." Then she stopped. She had my marriage certificate in her hands. "Ok," she said. "There is a small problem. I'm not saying you're not German--" at this point, my heart is in my stomach "--but this marriage is a problem. What I recommend to you is that you apply under your maiden name. You are still married, but you can't declare a married name unless your husband is with you and signs a declaration. He's not here, right?"

My heart moved back up to its proper place, I told her M wasn't there, and she left to make her photocopies. She was gone for about 3 minutes maybe, but it seemed like an eternity. I started at the "Please do not touch the microphone" sign nearly the whole time. I had a sneaking suspicion there were cameras pointed at the window, and my paranoia kicked in a little. I had visions of her watching me on some hidden camera, waiting for me to do something weird so they could deny me. So I tried to stay as still as possible.

She came back and sent my originals through the two-way drawer. "Just give me a few minutes, ok?" she said. "It takes some time to type everything in."

Finally she printed out the info sheet and attached my passport photo on it. I sort of felt like I needed to apologize for the horrible photo, but I didn't. She sent the info sheet through the drawer for me to sign.

"If you need help translating, let me know. It's all in German," she said. Un-freaking-believable. These people are bonafide saints. They have to be. Could you imagine someone applying for a US passport and the agents saying, "Here, let me help you translate. . ."

"Thank you," I said. "I can read German, but I'm afraid I would break your ears if we tried to speak in it today. I'm too nervous."

"Don't be nervous!" she said. "There's really nothing to be nervous about, and really, we're all nervous enough here because Germany is playing today in the World Cup!"

"Yes, my husband said I should get in and out before 11:30, because after that, you won't want to pay attention to me."

She laughed. "If we lose, we'll want to pay lots of attention to you!"

Then, just to further highlight my supreme stupidity, I signed the form. With my married name. Yep. "Oh my God!" I said. "I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's no big deal, really." I passed the paper back through the drawer. "We'll start again," she said.

"It's more work for you," I said.

"No, it's really not. I told you. There is no reason to be nervous." She already had another paper printed out, and she just took off my passport photo and affixed it to the new sheet. I signed correctly this time and handed over the $89 fee.

"Now you can pick it up when its ready, right?" she said.

"Right," I said.

"Actually, can I include the emails you brought in your file?"

"Absolutely," I said.

"The Vice-Consul will need to sign off on this, and she is out of the office until next week. Maybe the emails will jog her memory."

I'm all for that, so into the file all the emails went. In return, I got my receipt.

"How long will it take?" I asked.

"It's about 2 months right now," she said. "Maybe a little longer for you since this is your first passport. We'll call you when it's ready. Or we'll call you if there is a problem."

With that, I thanked her and left. It took maybe 20-30 minutes in total. Sadly, it took longer to get Mr. A and Mini-Minion their passport applications filed.

I figure if I can get through the next week without a phone call from them that there is a problem, we should be good. After that, it will go to Germany, and my passport will be printed. For my sake (and the sakes of those around me), there had better not be a phone call next week. :)

This is why you have to just close your eyes and jump

Sometimes when I really start to question my own sanity (because I do think some weird things), nights like tonight are very reassuring. Because tonight, I'm actually a little nervous. So far, I've just sort of blazed through most of this stuff, contacting housing agents and shipping companies and consulates, without getting truly nervous. It's all just a part of the system.

But tonight, I went over my packing list and realized, I have almost nothing to pack. Everything else that's going will go into the boxes maybe 2 days before we ship them. I need to seal up the photos/documents box, the books and pack the Christmas ornaments. But that's it.


So what do I do with myself? I obsess. I try to control an uncontrollable situation. I assess how much we're going to pay in UK taxes (answer: more than we'll pay in the US). I get all my little ducks in a row for registering as self-employed. I create my landlord reference forms. I fret about all these stupid little things that really make no difference in the end.

I just realized while I was typing this that there are three major, major areas that I don't even give a second thought to: actually leaving (as in, the flight), getting the right visas/passports (still can't talk about that yet, although I will go into all the gory details soon), and school. Oh, right. School. The whole purpose of going. And ironically, the one thing I don't obsess over and stress out about. Maybe that will change a few weeks before registration.

And now I can go to sleep without stressing anymore, because if the big stuff will work out ok in the end, the small stuff will, too.

Excuse the pics. They're a few weeks old at this point. They're pre-naughty Mini Minion bob.

Two Steps Forward, No Steps Back

Finally! I like it when things go without a hitch.

Both times we've moved out of the country (although I can't really say we've moved yet), one of the biggest concerns has been, "What will you do for work?!" This really isn't so much a concern as you would think. Mostly because it's pretty easy to survive. Trust me on this.

I have a job. It pays me fairly well. It doesn't pay me so well when the exchange rate is so high and we have to have $2600 for one-way tickets, $1000 for temp accommodation, $3,000 for our apartment deposit, $750 for shipping, potentially $1,200 for visas (we'll see). . .well, all those things add up fast, don't they? And that's not even considering food and all that great stuff. So my job has been a saving grace, but moving is expensive. Moving out of the country is REALLY expensive. Is it worth it? Yep. It is to me. It really doesn't matter WHY, either. Just like staying in this city is worth it to other people.



But people are obsessed with the job issue. It's a big one. At least, it must be, because SO MANY people are asking about it. "Can you work in London?" "What is M going to do?" "Has he applied for any jobs over there?" "Can he transfer with the company?" It goes on and on and on. So, I can now say that M (imagine with a sweeping arm gesture) officially has a job he can do in London. He's working for my company in a completely different department. I'm really interested to see how he's able to make positive changes there. I think he's got some great ideas and is exactly what a company like this needs. It should be fun.



Now he gets to work from home. He'll see what fun it is. And really, it's no fun at all. Why do it, then? Because at least I get to stay home with the kids IF they need me for something, and we save on childcare. But it's exhausting and much more difficult than most people think. In some ways, I kind of feel bad for him.

Groundhog Day

Obviously it's not really Groundhog Day (or else my calendar is REALLY messed up). But it sure feels like the movie. Today has been a waste. A complete waste. Why? Because I have had to redo so many things today that I JUST did less than a month ago.

The biggest one is the student loans. Will I need them? I dunno. But I'd rather apply and get them, and then not use them if it comes down to it. I guess the ultimate peace of mind is worth the temporary annoyance. Anyway, UCL requires all applicants to submit this entire student loan package with your SAR, MPNs, cover letters, counseling clearance, blah, blah, blah. I did this last month, before the requirements had been set for loans this year.

Yeah, I'm sure you're thinking that wasn't a wise decision. But it's not my fault. THEY (meaning UCL) made US applicants do it this way. They said, "Please submit your application and SAR so that it can be ready to go when congress finalizes the requirements." Except, of course, they put "finalise" instead of "finalize." So off my paper application went.



Today, I got an email saying I needed to re-apply for MPNs, redo the counseling, re-submit the credit check. D'oh! Fortunately, everything is electronic this time around, except the cover letter, which I was able to email. So it's done.

Life will be in and out of limbo for the next two weeks until most everything will be pretty close to being finalised (haha--did you like that?). Then we'll just start sifting through everything in full force and start packing like mad. It should be fun.


On a side note, one of my favorite people randomly called me up to go to San Jose/Santa Clara/Palo Alto on Monday. I couldn't go, but I told her early yesterday that we could do it. So we loaded up all the kids (she brought one of her girls and her 2-month-old baby) and went to the big mall and to IKEA. We drove all the way to Santa Clara so she could buy a painting at IKEA and an outfit at Janie and Jack. I love that crazy woman. :)

Baby Steps

This is life now. I was going to crop this photo, but in the end, I'm keeping it. This is the chaos. Fortunately, the bookshelf is clean and dusted, the excess books have been donated, and the small boxes we're not using have been recycled. It IS coming together. It's just a slow process. And it's a balancing act.

Today is 6/17. There is a near concrete plan. I can't get into it yet, mostly because I don't want to jinx anything. But yes, it's all taking shape. If it does actually work out, it will fall into place beautifully.

I can say that we should have everything shipped out by the end of July. I'm really hoping we can do it close to our 10-year informal reunion. There's a good chance (in the high 90s percentage-wise) that it will be that last weekend.



On another positive front, I got an email today that said the kids' passports are on their way. They're in San Jose now, so I bet I get them tomorrow. That's one less thing to stress about.

We still haven't heard anything about housing, but I read something online from someone who applied to one of the grad housing places we applied to, and he said he heard within a month. So I'm pretty confident we'll know one way or the other before we leave.


It really makes no difference. I booked our temporary accommodation at the Marriott already, so in the event that we have to house hunt, we will have a semi-cheap place to stay for up to 9 days.

Since I booked something, yes, we have dates now. I can't share them yet, because like I said, I don't want to jinx anything. But soon. I have a REALLY good feeling about our dates.

Passport Progress & Half-Eaten Cookies

So my dad's wife made these adorable cookies for Easter. She really did a good job. Until this happened:


That does NOT say Mini-Minion on it, yet she got to it anyway. Little bite marks on the egg and bunny. The other bunny has. . .sharpie. . .on it. Because that is just logical. Mini-Minion is NEVER allowed to have crayons, pencils or pens. And this is why.


This afternoon, the kids pushed the various tricycles and cars up the little hill on the side yard and raced them down. It was all great fun, I'm sure. We were a little paranoid, because down the street is a nature preserve (kind of a sketchy thing in Florida if you think about the wildlife here). It practically runs up against the backyard. Anyway, early this afternoon, we had a little friend in the form of a black snake come to visit the backyard. It swam in the pool for a bit, annoyed the dog, and decided this wasn't the place.


Yesterday, I sent an email to the German Consulate in San Francisco, hoping to ease my passport application process by getting in writing that there were no other documents I need to apply for a passport. I did the same thing for my dad before he applied in Miami, and the vice-consul sent an email saying everything was in order, which was REALLY helpful when Dad applied.


I got an email back today saying:

"if you do have a chance, could you please scan the below mentioned documents and have them sent to this E-Mail-Address?
It seems very likely that you still hold German citizenship. Please also indicate if and when your father joined the US Army.
Sincerely,
Mr. XYZ
Vice Consul
German Consulate General"


Yes, I still hold German citizenship. My father currently has a German passport. He has never been in the military. But hey, this is positive. So I'll scan everything and send it over, and hopefully it will facilitate the entire thing. *Fingers crossed!* I'm hoping to get everything scanned tonight and sent tomorrow. Maybe they'll get back to me next week, and I can print these emails and take them with me for my appointment. If I have some sort of written confirmation from the vice-consul, I doubt it will take much time at the consulate.


I'm obsessing. But I've got a lot riding on this. Five years of my life boils down to two appointments. One is already done (Dad's) and now I've got mine in 19 days. Nineteen days. And because I'm already on a 19-day tour, I know how fast 19 days can go.

(That's marker on her face.)

Four days down, 15 more to go. . .One last picture of my self-proclaimed April Fool:

Trying to Normalize & Consolidate

Ok, I think I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. It's not so much that my new job is hard as it is hard to balance working, the kids, moving, and all that fun stuff.

A few weeks ago, I started tackling the garage. It's a monster. The timeline is starting to freak me out, that's for sure. We are hoping to "move" down south in July so we can ship our stuff off and tie up any loose ends. That means we are done, packed, cleaned and out of here on June 30th. It's coming fast.

To make it come even faster, I'm leaving with the kids to spend 19 days in Florida so I can watch my dad's kids while he is in Paris. It will be fun, I'm sure, but I can't help but be a little sad and anxious. We've never been away from M for that long, and the thought of taking care of the kids/working by myself for so long is a little tiring. I'll have no time to myself at all.

So today, Mini-Minion and I bought our boxes. I need to get started. By the time I get back from Florida, we'll have 2 1/2 months left, and that will FLY by. Mr. A's birthday is at the end of April, and we're hoping to have a garage sale in May or June. As soon as we get back, I've got to go to the German Consulate to get my passport. There is so much to do.

Anyway, this is what it looks like when you're minimizing and moving abroad. My life will largely be contained in these 18 boxes.


This is what they look like unfolded. I'm actually fairly pleased with the size. I had forgotten what these boxes looked like. I already have a preliminary list of what needs to go in which size box. But still. . .it's sort of an overwhelming task. As you saw in the first pic, lots is getting left behind.

I spent most of the afternoon trying to go through things, tossing what I didn't want to take/sell/donate. While I worked, Mini-Minion played in the back of Daddy's truck and wreaked havoc on the inside of the house.


By almost 7pm, I had gotten far less done than I had wanted. I tossed all duplicate pictures we had, as well as any pictures that were out of focus, where people had their eyes closed, or that were just plain bad. This is the toss box.


And these are the keep piles. I still need to package them up so they don't get ruined in case the box comes in contact with water. Packing sucks.


Here is photographic evidence of one of my hoarding secrets. :) I like to keep newspapers. It's a miracle we haven't had mice or anything yet. And it's amazing those silverfish haven't invaded. I need to find plastic wrap for these, too.