#MicroblogMondays: mussels

Yesterday we had mussels for dinner. Or at least, hubby and Mr Sensible did. Mr Gourmand and me don't like mussels. For Mr. Gourmand it might just be his "I am 2 and I don't like anything besides junk food", for me it's psychological. I don't think I ever really tried, I just can't bring myself to eat them. So I had thawed some salmon from the freezer for myself, and Mr Gourmand would have his beloved fish sticks. When it was time to cook it turned out the salmon was looking and smelling a bit funny, so I threw it out. Having no alternative, I put some more fish sticks in the pan...
However when we all sat down for dinner the fish sticks didn't look and smell appealing to me at all. So I started on the carrots and the fries. Hubby asked if I really didn't want to try a mussel (with my eyes closed if needed). Oh well, ok then. I tried, it wasn't bad at all (don't I sound really French here? C'est pas mal... the most positive reaction you can get). I'm not a big fan, but I ate at least ten (eyes open). Never too old to discover new tastes (and I hope it won't take that long before Mr Gourmand decides to try out some fruit and veggies - otherwise I'll have to come up with a new nickname for him)!

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#MicroblogMondays: Done!

Submitted all translations this morning. I'm going to catch up on some sleep this week...

#MicroblogMondays: deadline stress

My apologies for not returning any comments on last week's #microblogmonday. I've been under deadline stress and will be until Friday.

Combining working (from home) with the kids' school schedule is a little daunting at times. Last year I could still tell M. Gourmand's sitter that I would pick him up later and ask another mom to pick M. Sensible up from school and take him to the park. Now M. Gourmand is also in (pre)school, but just mornings. So I have two hours to work in the morning when he's at school, two hours during nap time, and if I have any energy left 1-2 hours in the evening when the kids are in bed.

More thoughtful blog posting and commenting to come next week, hopefully.

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#MicroblogMondays: inappropriate pink

Although my TTC days are behind me, pink on my panty liners still makes me flip out. What the hell were they thinking at Nana (or Libresse, or whatever they're called abroad)...?!

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#MicroblogMondays: to party or not to party

The other day in the park M. Sensible was a bit upset because one of his best kindergarten friends was going over (together with his parents and little sister) to M. Sensible's best friend/girlfriend that evening and of course M. Sensible wanted to go too. So I said I understood, but explained that we can't just all go join everyone without invitation, and I sure would talk to his mom so we could plan a playdate soon too. Well, ok, ok, but of course he still felt a bit left out. And funnily so did I - Why? Why do I always think that they don't like me as much as the others because they set up more dinner dates together? So I tried to kick myself in the ass and told me to get some self-confidence.
The next day we saw everyone again at a birthday party of yet another kindergarten friend. One of the two moms looked really tired and hungover. Turned out the dinner date had actually been a sleepover, lots of alcohol was consumed by the adults and of course they hadn't hit their pillow before 3 am and she was woken up by her baby at 5:30 am, with the other kids following at 7 am. I felt conflicted. There was the little jealous pang again for missing out on a fun evening but at the same time I know that even if I am invited or going out for a girls night, I always go home as one of the first ones because for me feeling like sh*t the day after (which then also means yelling at my kids etc) is too high a price to pay for just a fun night. That probably makes me boring, or at least sensible (a label I've been given my entire life already). I could add that the other two moms are at least 5 years younger than me but I don't think age has anything to do with it. Even when I was a teenager my parents wondered if I shouldn't be out dancing with friends on a Friday night...
Do you like going out late (and getting drunk) with friends even when you know you will not have the chance to sleep in and you might be grumpy and unpleasant to everyone around you the following day? Or are you so lucky to have a partner who would just take over the next day so you can recuperate (which is not the case for me)?

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#MicroblogMondays: La Rentrée

Is summer vacation for a mother of small children ever really relaxing? We had lots of fun, but I can't say I was rested upon return (especially since M. Gourmand thought it was too much trouble going to the bathroom on the campsite - so much easier to let mommy clean up the mess… I must admit I threw away a few undies…).

Today the second week of school started with both boys attending. Last week I immediately noticed how much easier life is for the younger child. School was already familiar to him, while his brother had again to navigate a new situation as his Kindergarten class is located in the building of the elementary school - so tears for M. Sensible, big smile for M. Gourmand (who has everybody's favorite teacher as well so how can you not smile).

I now have at least my mornings back (and who knows, maybe also my blog?) - and some part of the afternoon too as M. Sensible stays at school all day and M. Gourmand takes long enough naps for me to get some work done. If I get as far as to revive my Cultural Differences series, there will certainly be a post on the topic of "La Rentrée" too.

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Cultural differences - summer break

Welcome to the fourth installment of my monthly cultural differences series! I've missed two months (oops) with no real excuse other than that I've had the kids 24/7 all summer and not much time to blog.

It's August. We're in France. which means...

If you want bread, you have to walk the extra mile to a bakery that's open. The market is half the size it usually is. Don't try to find a doctor or a dentist. But if you want to park your car in the streets, don't worry about not having enough change - it's free this month. The city is deserted, everyone is at the beach.

When we just moved here we went on vacation in September and were a bit surprised that we only met retired people. Turns out that even people with small children that aren't tied to a school schedule yet will be on vacation in August because daycare centers are closed for the entire month and many sitters will be away too (our sitter, who is Portuguese, spends the entire month in Portugal - and the first Saturday of her vacation in a traffic jam on the high way).

Of course, historically, this is probably due to harvest time - everyone had to go harvest the crops in August so everything else had to shut down. But if I ask friends or colleagues why the entire country still goes en masse on vacation in August, they look at me as if I'm crazy, say 'well, it's always been this way / we don't know any better' or 'well, the industry closes (but if I ask why they don't have an answer to it!), so I have less work in August, so I might as well take my vacation then). School is out in the entire country from the first Saturday in July until the first Tuesday in September (for other school holidays the country is divided into three zones to try to avoid overly crowded high ways and resorts - or to give the tourist industry a longer period of higher income, however you want to look at it), but the family vacation is always in August - kids of working parents will go to their grandparents or summer camp in July.

The first Saturday in August is called "black Saturday" on traffic reports. It means everyone is standing still on the highways going south. (This year we thought we could go south the Friday before to celebrate my dad's birthday - it took us 6 hours instead of 3.5 - and that day was only classed as "orange").

Since we have kids and are more or less tied to the sitter's vacation schedule, we have been taking vacations in August, but still trying to avoid the huge crowds (so you won't find us at the Mediterranean beach then). This year we have a bit of a hap-snap vacation but will be going to the mountains next week, when the rest of the country is going back home to stock up on school supplies for "la rentrée des classes" (which will be the topic of my next Cultural Differences installment).

Is there a specific summer period when most of the people in your country take vacation or is it more spread out? Any other specifics to summer vacation time you know of?