back to school

Damn it, vacation is over already!
Has it really been 2 months? It certainly didn't seem that long!
I guess I could get used very easily to staying at home!
Provided that my love's paycheck was a bit better, of course!
Hum, a lot better, rather.
Anyway, 2 months at home and I never had the time to be bored!

But September is here, so time has come to go back to school.
Tomorrow I'll have to get up when the alarm clock starts ringing, instead of just pushing my love out of bed : "Get up, you've got to go to work!"
Tomorrow, I'll see my colleagues, I guess I'm not too unhappy about that, I kinda missed some of them, I have to admit it...
The good thing is : I won't see my students till Monday, I've still got time to adjust!
So till then, I'll just pretend I'm still on vacation and enjoy these last days as much as I can!

Juliette

Our niece Juliette was born on August 16, one day late. waow!
I'm Auntie Elo, or more precisely Tata Elo, as we say here in France!
She's really cute, more than I expected in fact!
Not that I thought she would be ugly, of course not, but you know, new born babies aren't always really pretty... But my sister in law had to have a caesarean, and little Juliette looked absolutely beautiful, even just a few minutes after she was born!
Anyway, now she's here, we're aunties and I hope we'll be able to play our role and have a real relationship with our niece...
Her father is a nice guy, but unfortunaly he doesn't seem to be very fond of our side of the family.
A few days ago, when we went to the hospital to see little Juliette, we felt that he had suddenly changed, he seemed more friendly, he invited us to his home for dinner, for the first time in 6 years we felt there was real communication between us.
It was about time! But hey, better late than never, we're not going to criticize his efforts!
However, last night I visited the website he created for his baby, and I was kinda shocked to see that there were several pictures of Juliette with his parents, Juliette with his sister... but not even one of Juliette with her other grandparents, none of her 3 other aunties either...
Same thing for the baby's blog : "today grandpa and grandma came to see me", "today I took a nap on my auntie's shoulder" etc... all referring to our brother-in-law's parents and sister, no mention whatsoever of his wife's parents and sisters!
As if none of us had come to see the baby! As if none of us existed, actually.
my mother-in-law spent more than a week at his place, doing the housework, cooking him dinner, taking care of his oh-so-wonderful dog, and went to the hospital everyday to spend time with her daughter and granddaughter, and there isn't a word about her, not even a photo...
I probably shouldn't focus so much on "details", but it hurts.
Let's pretend that it's just a misunderstanding. Let's pretend he just "forgot" to talk about our side of the family, but that he meant to, of course. Let's pretend he gives a damn about us.
I'm mad at him, because although none of them will say a word about it, I know it hurts my parents in law, and their daughters.
I sure hope that as soon as my sister in law is back from the hospital, this will change.

A year later

ok, I haven't written anything for ages, more than a year actually, but it doesn't mean nothing happened in my life at all, quite the contrary in fact, so you can stop sniggering!
In fact, I've been sooooooooo busy that I had no time to write! Ah! Now you feel jealous, right? Well, if you don't, you should.
First of all, I got married.
Well, not exactly married, since I'm french, and in France gay people can't get married. Yet. But I hope it's gonna change one of these days. I'm pretty sure it will, actually. Let's just hope it happens in my lifetime!
So, anyway, my sweet Angeline and I signed a PACS, wich is the closest we can get to marriage. It's a partnership contract, in fact ; it gives us obligations, like if one of us has debts, the other one will have to pay for it too, and it doesn't give us many rights, but at least it says that we're a couple, so I guess it was worth it!
We celebrated the event with our family, and it was a very special moment for us.
A month later, we celebrated it with our closest friends, and it was very different! I had planned on wearing a silk dress and very nice handmade jewels that were made especially for me, but unfortunately I didn't get them on time, so I had to change my plans.
It's a shame, really, since I had never spent so much money on jewels, but I figured that it was a very special occasion, so it was worth the expense... So now I've got very pretty jewels in my drawer, they cost me more than 10% of a month's salary, and I don't know if I'm ever going to wear them...
Anyway, I was so mad not to have my jewels on time that I decided not to wear my silk dress either, so I wore everyday clothes, and had a wonderful time.
A silk dress wouldn't have been appropriate , anyway!
We had rented a house in the countryside, part of an old farm, actually, the landowner lived in another building next to it and had ducks, geese, sheep, and a horse, and it was really funny to see a dozen ducklings cross our yard, just a few feet away from our table while we were having lunch, to go to the pond.
Picture me in a silk dress, preparing a barbecue in a farm in the country, with the ducks and stuff? I guess I should be glad my jewels were not ready on time, after all!

So well, we signed our PACS and celebrated it with our family in April, and partied with our friends in June.
I know, it's a lame excuse for not writing anything since last August, I guess that a blog is supposed to be something you write on regularly...
But hey, give me a break, this is my blog, I can do whatever I want!

Anyway, now that we're officially a couple, now we plan on having a baby.
There's no way we can do it in France, of course, so we're going to Belgium.
After an appointment with a doctor, then another one with a psychiatrist, an hospital in Bruges accepted us, so we had another appointment with a nurse for the paperwork, and we should be able to do the first IA in September.
We just can't wait!
The only drawback is that in September, I won't be on vacation anymore, so I'll have to take days off, which is quite difficult for a teacher...
And since there's very little chance it will work on the first attempt, I'll probably have to take days off several times.
Well, I'll have to manage. I guess I'll have to explain a few hings to the headmaster, let's hope he's more open-minded than he seems...

Our families know about our "baby project", of course.
My parents have known for a long time that we planned on having children, one of these days.
I told my Mom about it several years ago. She was quite hostile at first, but she gradually changed her mind. Now she's enthusiastic and impatient (she recently told me we should start preparing the baby's room! Keep cool, Mom, I'm not even pregnant! )
I never actually talked about it with my Dad, since we almost never talk about very personal things... Not that we're not close, we are, but that's just the way it is!
But my grandmother told me he was impatient to have grandchildren.
Yes, my grandma knows about it, she actually asked me two months ago if we planned on having kids. This question was kind of a shock to me, since my grandma is a catholic.
I guess she's much more open-minded than I ever expected!
My in-laws are less enthusiastic, however.
When we finally told them about it, they didn't seem too surprised, but not exactly overwhelmed with joy. Angeline's mom told us that they would support us, which is the most important, I admit it. But she also told us about a dozen times that of course, our child would have to see a psychiatrist. Of course.
Her dad told us that having a kid was serious stuff (no kidding?), that it was not like adopting a cat or a dog. I just loved the comparison.
Angeline is very happy that they reacted so well.
According to her, her dad was just a bit clumsy in his choice of words, no big deal, I'm over-reacting, as usual.
I might be.
I do have to admit I'm a bit touchy about this subject!
And I often over-react.
Well, let's say they just need a bit more time to get used to the idea.
Let's hope they'll also finally get used to the idea that we might not be totally stupid and irresponsible.
And maybe they'll even notice someday that their daughter is no longer six years old.
I love them, I really do, but sometimes they get on my nerves, especially my father-in-law.
But they're really nice people.
And my mother-in-law has called us several times to know how our appointments in Bruges had gone ; she does seems genuinely interested.
So I guess it's gonna be fine.
I suppose they still have plenty of time to evolve, anyway.

For now, they're going to be grandparents for the first time in just a few days, since
Angeline's older sister is pregnant, and she's due on August 15.
The baby will be our first niece, we're very excited about it!
And we just can wait to know her name, since the parents decided to keep it secret!

the unreal life

we've been very nice last night.
We've spent the evening with our neighbours, and we've been really really nice.
We've actually listened to all the stupid things they said, and kept smiling the whole time.
We actually convinced our neighbour that we believed him when he was boasting about his professionnal achievement (yes, sure) and let nothing out but admirative comments when he started explaining that is son, who sells cars but is bored with his job, would become a forensics investigator in a few months, because he has recently discovered that he would like it.
Gosh, why are some people unable to make the difference between their own life and TV series?
Anyway, we spent the whole evening nodding patiently, and smiling, and we didn't make fun of them. Not until they went home, at least.
Well, I feel guilty now, we shouldn't laugh at them too much. I mean, they're very nice, even if they lack education and, let's be honest, brains. After all, it's not really their fault, is it?
And it was kind of moving to watch them unwrap the presents we had bought them (they took care of our cat and goldfish for 3 weeks, it was rather ungrateful to make fun of them after they left). The poor man had tears in his eyes when he saw the little american flag we had bought him, and he wouldn't stop hugging us. And neither would his wife, who was extatic when she discovered her present : an alarm clock shaped like a juke box, with a choice of four country songs to use as an alarm. She wouldn't stop thanking us. We just knew they would love it!
But I'm already worrying about their next vacation.
They'll be gone in 2 days, and I'll be taking care of their dog, so they'll probably have a present for us when they come back.
Let's hope it won't be as ugly as last time. If only they could think about a bottle of wine, it would be so great. And I wouldn't have to take it out of the drawer when we invite them for a drink, unlike their last present : an ugly, brightly colored bust of nefertiti or cleopatra, which is extremely solid : I tried dropping it on the ground a couple times, but it won't break, even the painting doesn't chip.
And we can't throw it away until at least 6 months, it would be rude, they have to see it in our living room a couple times before we put it in the trash
Oh please, let the next present be a bottle of wine, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase!

back home

Ok, so I'm back home, vacation is over, and it feels as if it was far away already...
Well, it figures, it took us long enough to come back to france. 2 days, as a matter of fact.
as if the flight wasn't long enough already, we had to stay in Detroit for 24 hours, because there was something wrong with the plane. Jeez, it's an airport, couldn't they find us another plane?
If we had to stay in the US 24 hours more, why couldn't it have been in Portland instead? We wouldn't have minded an extra day of vacation there! But what's the fun in spending 24 hours at the Detroit airport? Well, we did spend most of that time at Hilton Gardens, and everything was paid for, but still, it was no fun. I have to admit that NWA took care of everything for us, but well, I can't believe they spent $215 for each room ; we must have been at least 400 people on that flight! What a waste of money! Well, if they had so much money to waste, they could have given us the money , or even a bit less, I'm sure we would have found something, and we wouldn't have minded paying for a cab if it meant that we could keep what we didn't spend...
I mean, who needs a pool, a spa and a fitness center in one's hotel, when you're only going to spend one night there ( and the pool and spa are closed at night, anyway)? Especially when your swimming suit is in you suitcase, and the suitcase in a warehouse somewhere at the airport!
We didn't even have a toothbrush, toothpaste, or clean underwear!
So anyway, after 40 hours or so, we finally got to paris 24 hours ago (and late, again, my cousin had been waiting for us for 3 hours by the time we finally got our suitcases and went through the customs) and we've pretty much been sleeping ever since...
I guess we'll need a little time to adjust, but right now being here in France doesn't feel completely right : cars are too small, houses don't have front porches, we can't go for pancakes at midnight, and worst of all, people understand what we say, there's no way we can comment on them!
How terrible!

Diet

Summer is coming, the weather is nice (well, sort of). I want to put my sweaters in the attic and wear only light summer clothes.
But there's a problem : my summer clothes have this bad habit to shrink when I leave them in a drawer for a few months.
I have never been skinny. Except when I was an infant, then my whole family worried because I was so small and skinny. So they tried to fatten me up. They succeeded!
My grandmother is the worst. She always uses guilt to force everyone to over-eat. "Why don't you eat? Isn't it good? You must eat, I don't want any left-overs! I'll have to throw it away and I don't like to waste food! Finish it, now!" And that's when she doesn't start talking about all these people who are starving, and we should be grateful for this food instead of picking at our plates. At that point, we know we'd better hurry up and eat what's in our plate if we don't want to hear about World War II and the few years that followed.
Anyway, with everyone pressuring me to eat, the skinny baby quickly turned into a plump girl ; and so they started pressuring me to lose weight. But keep on eating what people put in my plate.
I remember my first diet when I was about ten or eleven ; actually, it was not really my diet, it was my mom's, but she wasn't going to cook for me when she was on her diet, so for two or three days I ate exactly the same thing as my mom : plain yoghurt and tomatoes, period. I was also allowed to drink water and to put some salt on my tomatoes if I wanted to. How lucky!
Eighteen years later, I still frown when I see some plain yoghurt in my fridge. I like it, I know I do, but I just can't bring myself to eat it. The stupid thing is that, since I know I like it, I buy some every week. And if my girlfriend doesn't eat it, I throw it away.
As I grew older, I tried almost every magical diet I could read about in magazines. I gained a few pounds after each of them. Then, three years ago I decided to quit smoking. I gained weight immediately, so after a few months I decided to start smoking again. It was stupid, the weight I had gained remained were it was, and I gained some more when I quit smoking again!
Recently, I've decided not to diet, but to "be careful". I cook lighter meals, I do everything I can, and don't seem to lose a pound. My girlfriend, who keeps on eating junkfood for lunch while I'm eating salad, has already lost six or seven pounds.
It's so unfair!