They Felt The Exact Same Misery Anybody Would Feel Now
I came across a conversation on Twitter over the weekend and I can’t stop thinking about it. A woman named Nicole was talking with a friend about historically high child mortality rates. The friend has a PhD in a relevant subject.
Nicole asked, “So people just emotionally withdrew from their babies and small kids, knowing the rate of lethal childhood illness?”
Her friend answered, “No. They changed their naming conventions [they might delay naming the baby], but they felt the exact same misery anybody would feel now.”
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A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How was your week? Feeling good about October? I think we have a pretty low-key weekend ahead of us with sounds lovely. Mostly I wanted to get Ralph and Maude’s plane tickets confirmed for the holidays. It will feel good to be able to picture us all together again.
The one big thing this weekend is Ben Blair is headed to Chicago for a conference. He’ll head out on Sunday. How will I do without the best French speaker in the house here? We will find out!
But first, here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:
…Living With Kids: Lisa Hooks
I think you’ll love getting to know Lisa from Pearland, Texas. Her story is an excellent example of how life rarely turns out the way we expect it to — and that is okay. Her farmhouse chic home is full of personality and fun details, and seems like a great place to raise a pair of twins. Welcome, Lisa!
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? How was your weekend? Ours was good but different than I expected. I started this post on Friday afternoon, and then never had time to finish it. Oh dear! So now you’re getting a Monday edition of Friday links. : )
Some of our weekend activities: 1) An afternoon get together with local friends where we got to see a gorgeous house that was originally a super rustic barn (similar to our cottage). It was so inspiring! 2) Visiting an exhibit featuring Norman Rockwell’s work related to WWI and the Civil Rights Movement. So good! I really appreciated the behind the scenes stuff about his Ruby Bridges illustration. 3) We saw the Downton Abbey movie. Really enjoyed it — and it reminded me of this napkin DIY.
But who cares about the weekend? Let’s get to the good stuff — here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share:
…One Month In France
Today marks one month in France. Can you believe that? I hardly can. It has absolutely flown by, and I woke up this morning despairing that I’m somehow not making the most of it.
So before I spiraled into a very sad place, we made of list of what we’re proud of accomplishing this month:
…A Slower Pace of Life
A couple of weeks ago, we attended a vernissage (an art show opening) at this little chapel-converted-to-a-gallery, which is just outside of town. The featured artist is named Kathryn Holford, and she currently lives with her husband (a novelist) in La Cressonnière — the home we used to rent when we lived here before.
We loved talking with Kathryn and her husband and we bonded over the delight of living in such a special home, and unexpectedly falling in love with this particular part of Normandy. Her husband commented that the people who live here are by-and-large content and happy — and I agree. It’s a sweet life here.
Our town, Argentan, is not a well known tourist spot and people often ask us why we aren’t in Paris, or in the South of France, or a more popular spot, or a bigger city — and we find it a bit hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t been here. We fell in love with this area and we fell hard.
…Living With Kids: Ana-Guiomar Blanco
Ana Guiomor-Blanco and her husband are raising their two boys in the suburbs outside of Madrid, in a home that looks straight out of a magazine. White walls and white upholstery. Clean wood floors and bright windows. It feels spacious and serene but totally livable and comfortable.
Because Ana and her family are world travelers themselves, she runs a website called World Kids dedicated to sharing travel tips and literature to help other families travel internationally. And even though English isn’t Ana’s first language, she writes really eloquently and beautifully about motherhood and raising a family. Welcome, Ana!
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? I’m publishing my Friday link list earlier than usual this week, because we’re headed out of town first thing tomorrow morning. Our niece, Lauren Blair, is getting married in England this weekend, and we’re headed to the wedding.
To get there, it’s part driving, part ferry. We drive to a port town called Ouistreham (you pronounce it like we-strum) here in France, then drive our car onto a ferry, and the ferry lands in Portsmouth, England 4 hours later. After the ferry, we head straight North on a five hour drive to Billingham. It’s going to be a long travel day, but we’re heading to a part of England we’ve never visited before, and we’re excited to see what it’s like. Plus we get to see cousins!
Something else we’re looking forward to? When we arrive in Portsmouth, the first stop we’re going to make is a store that sells fascinators — the fancy hats/headpieces that you wear to weddings in England. We’re going to pick something out for me, Betty, and Flora. How awesome is that?
It’s been an exciting week for us, with a couple of big tasks that have filled our time. We found a car and negotiated a price. It’s a used car with 7 seats, called a VW Caddy. It comes from their commercial vehicle line, but is quite a bit smaller than the VW Transporter (also from their commercial line) we drove last time we lived here. We pick it up next week. We’re a bit nervous about it, but hope we end up loving it.
And… we put an offer on a house this morning! And found out it was accepted this afternoon!!! I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
But first, here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:
…Living With Kids: Jackie Leishman
With the concrete floors and bright white walls and art on every surface, this house that feels like a really cool art gallery. But there are also kids riding scooters through the rooms, and an orchard out front, and tons of real and livable spaces. That is the kind of home that Jackie Leishman has built — cool and modern and artistic but also comfy and livable all at once. You’ll love hearing her thoughts on being a mother and artist, and you’ll love wandering around her amazing home. Welcome, Jackie!
…The Big Move FAQs
Thank you for your patience! I’ve owed you this post for a few weeks. Here’s a long Q&A about our move. Why we chose to move. Why we chose to move to France. And why it might have seemed out of nowhere to you (but not to me).
Q. What prompted such a sudden move?
A. I know it seemed sudden, but we actually started planning the move in earnest during the fall of 2018 — a full year ago.
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? What’s happening in your life? We’ve been here in France for two weeks and are still settling in. This week was full of more required + practical stuff. The kids had physicals so they can participate on the swim team (practice starts next week). Ben Blair joined the local gym. Today, we meet the kids’ music teachers and we’re looking at a couple more houses. And we still have a couple of big tasks to complete: We need to finish setting up our French bank account. And we need to make a decision on a car.
We’re not sure on our weekend plans. We may take a daytrip to Brittany, or we might try and knock off a few more to-do items on our list.
Ready for some weekend reading? Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share:
…Recipe: Spaghetti with Chicken Meatballs
When Lindsey told me she had an excellent recipe for chicken meatballs she wanted to share, I was like, “Chicken meatballs? For real?” I was very skeptical and was prepared to give these meatballs some raised eyebrow or maybe some side eye.
But now that I’ve see the recipe (the ease! the flexibility!), I’m like, “Hey Ben Blair, when are we trying these?”
Come see. Here’s what Lindsey says:
…Living With Kids: Jenny Newcomer
Jenny and her family seem to have figured out how to live a happy life. They live in a gorgeous cabin in a small mountain town in Southwest Colorado. They are raising two amazing kids and run their own goals/planner company, Commit30, from their home. Jenny believes in spending as much time outdoors as possible — and they even have a treehouse, a pond, and a zip-line to get everyone outside. I think you’ll love this peek into their lives. Welcome, Jenny!
…Real Estate in France
So we’ve jumped right in and have been looking at French real estate. And the biggest difference by far (versus looking at real estate in the U.S.), is that in France, you work with several different real estate agencies.
The agency that lists the house? They are the only ones who can show you the house or sell you the house. So if you like five different houses that are listed with five different agencies, that means you’re going to be working with five different agencies.
So far, I don’t mind working with several agencies — it makes the realtor-buyer relationship feel much less intense. But it’s also a bit strange because it feels like no one is helping you get the best price. The agency that’s showing you the house, helped set the price for the house, and they want the house to sell for the highest possible price.
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? How was your week? I know I already mentioned this, but it felt so strange not to share a weekend link list last Friday, and I’m happy I get to share one today!
Our weekend plans? We are visiting four houses that are for sale. We are test driving a 7-seater Peugeot. We’re going to an art show on Saturday night. And there’s a big Vide Grenier in town this weekend too. Vide Grenier translates to “empty attic” and it’s basically a huge community yard sale.
And here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
…Living With Kids: Chelsea Farmer
Chelsea Farmer’s home is full of color, pattern and personality. Chelsea’s home feels like it would bring a smile every time you walked into it. She has a unique style and she owns it. There is so much life and so much charm in this house. I can’t wait for you to get to take a peek inside. Welcome, Chelsea!
…Hello From France
Hello, Friends. Thank you so much for your patience as I took a week to tackle some just-moved-to-another-country-tasks. I sincerely appreciate it. I feel like there’s so much to tell you, so I’ll just dive in.
We arrived last Wednesday evening (August 28th) and checked into an Airbnb that we’ve reserved through the month of September. We did our best to stay up until normal bedtime hours, but ended up waking around 3:00 in the morning with jet lag anyway. : )
…Living With Kids: Andrea Ryan
Andrea Ryan and her family live in a wooded part of Rhode Island, where you can see the gorgeous greenery out every window. And as you can tell by the giraffe print chair, Andrea loves design and isn’t afraid to make a bold choice here and there. Come take a peek inside her beautiful home. Welcome, Andrea!
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you doing? How was your week? Ours was pretty intense. The movers packed and loaded the house onto a truck on Thursday and Friday, and then transferred the truck contents to a shipping container on Friday afternoon. (We didn’t ship our household goods to France with the last move, so this is something new and different and I will definitely write up a post all about it.)
Friday night we checked into a hotel and June got to try out her Mermaid tail and monofin.
Saturday we spent taking care of a few difficult last tasks at the house, and Oscar added a plaque to his Eagle Scout Project. I was feeling quite overwhelmed by the end of the day and went to see a movie — Peanut Butter Falcon — on my own. (I really liked the movie.)
Today (Sunday) is Olive’s birthday. She’s 18!! Ben Blair went to a bakery early this morning so we can do breakfast in bed for Olive as soon as she’s had a chance to sleep in for a bit. : )
We got confirmation that our passports and visas will arrive on Monday. Crossing my fingers that all goes smoothly. On Monday we will also tackle a list of tasks like hand in our van lease, close/transfer our utilities accounts, weigh our luggage, and get snacks for the plane. Monday is also Ralph’s birthday!
Then we fly to France on Tuesday.
I wasn’t online much this last week, but I do have a few things I want to share with you:
…A Little News
A little news: Next week we are moving back to France! No, for real. We are.
I have lots to tell you and I’m working on a longer blog post about it now. But here are a few initial notes:
1) We’re headed to the same town in the Normandy region we lived in before (same school too). We’re planning for one year and then we’ll evaluate if we want to extend our stay — which is what we ended up doing last time.