Friday afternoon, we celebrated JP's 60th birthday with several firemen and a few gendarmes....

Very festive, as you can see...

It turns out that when you set the woods behind your house on fire, the fire department and cops show up.
JP knows that now.
Just to be clear, he didn't start a forest fire on purpose, he was just trying to burn off some dry grass.
Which, it turns out, is illegal and dangerous.
Live and learn, as they say...

After the excitement died down, I took the twins and one of their little friends on a road trip to Lyon to see:

which was SO completely amazing and fun and cool!!

We had great seats and the girls loved the show- especially Alexa.

At the end, we went down in front of the stage to dance and sing along with the encore.
We finally got home at about 2am.
Good times!!

Here's a final post on the twins' room, aimed at those of you who aren't entirely sick of this whole project. I just wanted you to see it all now that the girls are moved in and living in the room. I took a few pics, panning around so that you can get a feel for the whole space.

As you can see, I glued panels of cork above Alexa's bed, so that she could get her posters, pictures and scraps of paper all on display again.

Here's Mallory's bed. Her guinea pig (chilling in the blue cage at right) seems pretty happy with his new, nicely decorated spot.
On the south wall, there's a window, but there was too much sun and the pic didn't turn out. Sry.

So, here we are again at Alexa's bed. You can see the balcony on the left. And also note the fluffy shag carpet on the floor, cleverly camouflaging the problematic cement bar in the floor.
Here's a closeup of Alexa's wall:
And finally, the view off their balcony. It's a bit desolate now, but will be really pretty in the spring.
The balcony is certainly big enough for a small table and a couple of chairs... I think the girls will really enjoy it.

The only thing I love more than a good list is a good batch of "before and after" photos.
Sadly, I don't have many pics, as I was too busy and disorganised to take as many as I should have...
But here's a couple of good ones for your perusal:
On the left, you can see the door to the balcony that is now part of the twins' New and Improved Bedroom.

And on the right, we can admire the awesome new ceiling that Paul put in for us (the man has mad plastering skillz, srsly!) and the gorgeous apple green paint on the walls around Alexa's bed....








Below, we see things are being put back into place. This is Mallory's bed:

The next step will be to glue cork board onto the wall above Alexa's bed and the finish the raw edges at the top of the wallpaper....
There also remains the small problem of the cement bar running through the wood flooring near Alexa's bed.
There was much debate about what to do about the yawning chasm left behind when the original wall came down. Paul said cement would do the trick nicely and I thought it would be fine...and it would have been if it had been well finished....
But the job was rather sloppy. By the time he was doing it, I think Paul was tired out and slowly losing the will to live.
At any rate, it's not beautiful and probably best covered up by an attractive area rug....

The New and Improved Romanian Handyman aka "Paul" (which is admittedly shorter to say, but way less fun to write!) has been working steadily since Sunday morning, putting in 10 hour days.
I think he's pretty tired out at this point, but at least now we can finally really see some progress!

Here's a preliminary before and after for you:






You can see in the left photo the green wall that separated the bedroom from the hallway. Below, you can see that the wall is gone and now the balcony that was in the hallway is part of the twins' room. And the room is about one meter wider than it was. FTW!






Here's the new wall out in what is no longer really a hallway, but more of a landing...
Paul finished plastering it this morning and is painting it right now.

The disgusting wasp megapolis in the ceiling has been replaced by insulation. (Nice, normal, bought-in-a-store, insect-free insulation.)
Plasterboard has been installed and it's all been nicely finished...



Sev had to help out quite a lot yesterday- which he loved because of the awesome outfit he had to wear. jk lol!!!!

The kids are on vacation from school right now...but holiday atmosphere is thin on the ground.

We're WORKING over here, people!
Srsly

After talking about it for years, we've finally taken on the project of enlarging the twins' bedroom. Their room is rather small and it always seemed to me that the hallway and balcony right next to their room would be much more useful as part it.
All it would involve would be ripping down a thin brick wall and building a short new wall closer to the door to their room.
(Please note that the word all in the above phrase should have been enclosed in quotation marks or some other ironic device. )
These things always turn out to be more complicated (and time consuming and expensive!) than they first seem, don't they ?

Here is the hallway and the door to the balcony. The door to the girls' room is to the left. The door on the right leads to Sev's room.

The wall came down pretty well...it was messy work, though.
Luckily, we have help- we've a new Romanian friend! As any regular reader of my blog knows, we can't get anything done around here without at least one Romanian in the house.
With a bit of help from Sev, the wall was history with a few hours.....

Then the next step could be taken... the horrible wooden ceiling had to come down.

Go Sev!

The plaster underneath was so damaged that Paul (our New and Improved Romanian Handyman) insisted that it ALL come down, so that he would put in an all-new ceiling.

And when the plaster and lathes came down, we found this:

And so it was that the Mystery of the Extremely Scary Hornet Invasion was finally solved.
They hadn't only been attacking from the kitchen chimney and the garage and the front wall of the house, they'd actually been in a gigantic nest located right over Alexa's bed.

But it's gone now and, with counseling, Alexa should eventually be fine....

So- finally, the demolition-type work was all done...
We are ready to start building something!

Why You Might Enjoy having Dinner at My House....Or Not: Two Scenes from a Dining Room

Alexa looks across the table to the buffet where there's an orange soft-drink bottle sitting out.
The label says "Orangina Geisha Peche". ('Peche' is peach in English for all you non-French speakers out there)

"Actually, what is a geisha, mom?"
"Umm...a Japanese hostess?"
She looks at me quizzically.
I try again. "A fancy Japaneses hostess? That serves tea?"
"Really?" asks young Alexa.
"Yeah...well...kinda...." I falter.

Valentine is about ready to die at this point from choked laughter and snorting. (Aren't teenagers fun?!) She decides this has gone on long enough.

cough*Prostitute!*cough

"That's just embarassing!" Alexa declares. "I can't believe I even asked!"

"But they serve tea!" I repeat. "And play the harp. Or something" I cleverly elaborate.

"Like Inara on 'Firefly'?" chimes in Mallory, my little geek-girl.

I grab onto this idea like it's the last flotation device on the Titanic.
"Yes! Exactly like that! You've seen 'Firefly', Alexa. A geisha is a Japanese Inara. Or Inara is an outer space geisha. Or something."

"Ok." she says. "But why the heck did thay name a drink for kids that?"

I've got this one covered and answer without hesitation: "Because a soft drink called "Orangina Prostitute" would probably be extremely unpopular. What would that even taste like? Gah!"

I then imagined a marketing campaign for "Ho Cola", but wisely kept it to myself, figuring that the general tone of the conversation had degraded far enough for one evening, thank you very much.

------------------------------------------

Severin is happily coving his french fries with ketchup.
As he sets the bottle down, he reads the label out loud: "McCords ketchup- the taste of America!"
"So" asks Valentine "Does it taste like America?"

Sev takes a contemplative bite of ketchup-festooned fry.
He chews it slowly and then announces "Why, yes! It does taste like America! It tastes like capitalism...and guns! Yum!"

"You're not supposed to say that!" advises his older sister. "It's supposed to taste like freedom!! Doesn't it taste like freedom? You better say it tastes like freedom, or you're in big trouble, buster!"

-----------------------------

We generally eat at about 7, if you're interested.....

"Well, plastic has to come from somewhere", Alexa told me, displaying a philosophical resignation far beyond her years.

I'd been complaining about the location of the cat show we attended this weekend. Instead of a cute town like Annecy or even Lyon, we had to go to Oyonnax- an obscure little town that bears the proud nickname "The Valley of Plastic".


Luckily, we were there for cat action and not charming tourist photos.
And cat action is what we found:











When my pal Nat had initially suggested that the girls and I accompany her to a show, the idea was that we would enter our housecat, Cleo, in a competition. I thought it would be fun for the twins and they would enjoy showing off their sweet little cat.

Sadly, she was hit by a car on Sept 5th and died.
I won't go into details, but it was bad.
Very bad.

We ended up going to the show anyway, but just to help out Nat, who is a big-time breeder of short-haired orientals, siamese and Cornish Rex. They are all sort of strange and thin and don't have much hair...but they have their fans and are very, very valuable.
And they aren't too ugly, once you get used to them.
In fact, over the course of the two-day show, I went from finding them vaguely repellant to actually finding them rather handsome.
They sort of look like bats and I have nothing against bats, really.....

At any rate, those little bat-cats managed to beat out the competion and come home with no less than five trophies.

And it was an interesting opportunity, anthropologically-speaking. The cat show circuit has its own culture and definitely bears exploring. I look forward to finding out more when we go to the next big show at the end of November. ...

My older kids aren't the only ones getting public attention.
The twins are getting lots of press lately, too.

First, there was their fleeting (but impactful!) appearance on the national news here in France.

And now just yesterday, their dance recital Saturday night was covered in "Le Dauphiné Libéré" It's a newspaper filled with tons of regional news- there's plenty of accounts of village jumble sales and church choir concerts......but this was INTERESTING:
Mallory didn't make it into any photos, but Alexa is not hard to spot. She's the gorgeous one right in the center of the trio in the lower right photo. (I know you can't see well, but trust me-she's gorgeous!)

Here's the short article in a rough translation:
There was a crowd at the Chateau Rouge attending a recital of the ballet school association of Annemasse, given by Pirouette Dance School (located in Fillinges). On stage, several scenarios were created by Corinne C. with the theme "Our Hippie Years". It was a return to the 1970's organized around the songs and music of Gainsbourg, Bardot, ...(etc...)... A remarkable and notable evening.

Weird theme for the show, non?

I have to admit that it was pretty funny sometimes. For example, at one point, all the children came on the stage, waved their arms and started singing the old Baez song "Here's to You":

"Here's to you, Nicola and Bart
Rest forever here in our hearts
The last and final moment is yours
That agony is your triumph " they warbled cheerfully.

Why anyone would think it was apt for a bunch of French children to sing a tribute song to two anarchists executed in the USA in 1927 is anybody's guess...

I know it was popular in 1971, but so were many other songs...
How about "Joy to the World"? It's cute and contains no mention of "agony". Just frogs and fish. And kids like animals, right?

Or "Proud Mary"? That's a classic.

Anything would have been better, really...

Just not "Mr. Bojangles".
I HATE that song with a passion most people reserve for Nazi war crimes. It's one of those songs that makes me reach out and switch off the radio so fast that I'm in danger of fracturing my wrist.
Also "I Shot the Sheriff".

The Guest Twins (featured in previous posts) have adapted well to life in a French/American household.

Maybe too well.

We seem to have gotten them hooked on "Nouvelle Star" (The French 'American Idol' spin-off)
They've been watching it with us for the last two weeks and are now plotting a way to get their parents to let them watch the final show next week. They are pretty optimistic, as they'll be staying in a hotel and presumably have access to a TV....

(Here I'll just insert a hearty "sorry" to the parents of the Guest Twins, who probably would rather their children do something else during their dream vacation in France than watch TV)

But I have to admit that I love this show.
Yes- a year ago, I hated it, but now I adore it.
I guess I'm becoming more French? I even think it's better than American Idol, which has been getting saddder and more disappointing with every season. Somebody needs to stick a wooden stake, Buffy-like, in that thing and mercifully let it crumble into dust.
And then gather up all the dust and launch every molecule of it into outer space.
Srsly.

But NS is still fresh and interesting and manages to get some really unique talent. And this season, the show has boasted my favorite candidate, ever! She's a quirky, incredibly talented and lovely 20 year old from Montpellier.

And last night, she sang one of my favorite songs, ever.
You've got to hear this!

A few posts back, I mentioned that my twins (along with their whole class, of course) were going to be on French television.
Well, the show was finally aired today on the national one o'clock news on TF1 (the most popular channel, if you recall)

JP and I were at home and saw it on our big screen TV. When it finally got to the classroom scene, it was all I could do not to get all Mrs. Bennet and shriek "I was sure she could not be so beautiful for nothing!".
I only just restrained myself, but when you watch the video for yourself, you will notice that the camera person seemed to like Alexa's looks, as did the editor of the piece. She gets a close-up early on in the school scene and then again at the very end of the program.

Besides seeing both of my adorable younger daughters, you'll also get a look at the region where I live. It's even prettier than it looks in the show.

The segment (which you can see here. After the advertisement is over , click the "chapitres" button if you don't want to watch the whole 30 minute program. Go to chapters 11-19. Then click on the third picture from the end. it's a little photo of the girls' class. Can't miss it. ) is part of a series that TF1 is doing this week about the 150th anniversary of the annexation of the Savoy into France.

Today's installment was about the regional dialect of the area. And as my girls are in a Savoyard class in school, they got to be on the news.

The weather forecast yesterday evening announced that the next day would be rainy. And that's why I was sewing cloaks until late at night. If the twins didn't have cloaks, you see, they'd get too cold and wet at the Medieval Faire!

Yes, we just attended our first Faire of 2010. It was a small one, but good and also FREE, which is always a plus.

All four of the kids came, as well as Tya's good pal Valentin.

There was plenty to see and do.

Despite the gray skies, it wasn't all that cold. We even managed to have a nice picnic.
The lady at the stand below had some interesting old plants: rue, angelica, borage, hyssop, burdock...lots of stuff I'd herd of, but never seen before.

The Faire was held in the village of Arthaz-Pont-de-Notre-Dame, just a 15 minute drive from our house!



BTW:
Happy International Workers' Day!

My poor, neglected computer. The best it’s gotten from me the last two weeks has been an absentminded pat on the monitor as I race by it on my way downstairs at six am every morning.
It’s been getting far more attention from the twins and Severin, who like to stand around and bicker viciously over it like three starving badgers fighting over the last bite of road kill squirrel. My answer to this was (as it is to so many of life’s questions) to make a schedule. So, the twins each get one hour on alternate days and Sev gets and hour per day…which leaves lots of time for other stuff, considering the fact that the kids are on a two week holiday right now.
Sev, resourceful kid that he is, REALLY found something else to do besides stare at a computer screen. He managed to get invited along on a trip to Paris to attend a videogame/manga/anime con (a 'convention' to all you n00bs). Lucky boy! He’ll leave this afternoon and be back on Tuesday.
The twins are also too busy right now to worry much about screen time.
They are:
1. Helping to varnish the wood on the addition to the house and the carport. (Three coats on over 80 square meters. Do the math.) This is mainly what Alexa likes doing. She's quite handy...but, oddly, doesn't like getting her hands dirty.
2. Planting flowers. This is Mallory’s thing, not Al's (see above info re:hands). If it were up to me, our yard would be a barren wasteland, but Mal has got dahlias, anemones, sedum and all sorts of stuff scattered about the place. Very cute.
3. Babysitting what is possibly the world’s cutest two year old. She’s the daughter of some friends who are staying with us right now. Along with their sweet, deaf and half-blind sheepdog, they have come up from the south of France for a working vacation. The emphasis is on the « working » part of that last phrase. Last night I came home from picking up JP in Geneva and Amina and Robert were still varnishing the carport (along with Tya). It was nearly 8pm!

Anyway, the twins adore having Yasmine around and find endless things to do with her. And when she gets tired, she loves it when Mallory gets a pagne and ties her on her back just like her mom does. You should have seen Yasmine’s eyes light up the first time she did it. She hadn’t realized that under all that blonde hair and pale skin, Mallory is secretly Burkinabé.

So, we’re all very, very busy. And it’s sure a good thing I finally broke down and bought an oven, as I’m cooking meals for a crowd lately. It’s SO great to be able to bake again!! It makes life so much easier!! In fact, when I think no one is looking, I like to hunch over it protectively and caress its brushed metal finish while whispering « My preciousssssss ». Unfortunately, Tya caught me at it yesterday and gave me a chastising « Don’t make me throw that oven into the fires of Mount Doom, young lady! » look.

It’s past 7am now and I need to get down the stairs and into the kitchen!! I’ve got to to prepare breakfast and then lunch for 10 today. Last night was couscous with merguez and alloco (fried plantains).

Today I’m thinking chicken and veg curry with rice.
And I’d better make pie. Maybe lemon meringue?

Goodbye for now computer, blog and interwebz pals. Hope to see you all again soon!

I didn't post yesterday because I had to shop for party supplies, teach a couple of English courses, clean house and then make this:

It's a kind of psychedelic fairy cat. You can see that, right?

At any rate, it's what the twins wanted and they were thrilled. Plus, their pals were gratifyingly impressed.

I had to bake it at a friend's house (Thanks, Esther!) yesterday, as my oven is still broken. (As it would cost about 150 euros to fix it, I know we had better just go buy a new one. But I can't seem to make myself spend the money...)

Anyway, the kids were busy this morning getting everything ready. Even Severin lent a hand, but quickly fled the scene when the nine 11 and 12 year old girls showed up and started with the squealing and chattering.

A good time, as they say, was had by all.

Birthday Girls!

Last Sunday, the twins turned 12 years old. As a friend recently pointed out, this is probably the last "kid" birthday for them. At 12, they still ask for Barbies and Playmobil as gifts.

At 13? Not so much.

Actually, Mallory asked for books. As is often the case, Alexa didn't have any idea of what to ask for. It's funny that Mal has such definite ideas about...everything, while Alexa is much more laid back and vague about things.

And it's been that way since they were born. When she was small, Mallory would grumble and howl to get things just how she liked them- while Alexa laid ( and then sat) around looking serene and generally ok with the world as it was.

So, the zen girl got a video game involving music (she likes music) and a tiny digital photo frame

Then we had our outing. The buffet at the Chinese restaurant was a big success. The food was good and the decor was satisyingly oriental, in that crazy-tacky Chinese restaurant way that is so entertaining.

Afterwards, we went to Geneva:
The Museum of Art and History is rather small, but has some great pieces. Severin enjoyed the swords and armour, while the girls preferred the paintings.

Here's Alexa in front of some gorgeous peonies by Renoir.

And here's Mallory's favorite- a painting depicting a happy family of farmers apparently enjoying a picnic with all of their livestock. That's what I call cruelty-free farming!

That evening, for about 20 minutes, Mallory was 12 years old and Alexa was still only 11. Mal enjoyed it while it lasted, but Al was very happy when the clock finally hit 8:50pm. She could finally say she was really a whole year older!