......the girls of the house take a beating!

I will start this by saying we are all okay now.......

If you have been following my post, you will know that I am having to walk the dogs about 4 times a day. We have a little schedule worked out and it seems that the other dog owners who "share" the park with me have their schedule too so this helps us avoid each others dogs.  I take Morgan and Einstein for their walks around 5:30 a.m. (don't groan, I'm a morning person!), 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and their last walk about 8:00 p.m.  They are able to "hold it" longer if we aren't here to take them, but if I am home, this is our schedule.

The other morning I had some errands I wanted to run.  I wanted to start early, so I decided to take them for a walk at 9:00 a.m. rather than 10:00 a.m.  In seems that the people 2 floors below us with the large, black un-neutered male lab take him out for his walk around this time.  Something I did not know!  So as we rounded the corner to head down the hill to the park, we came face to face with him and his owner. Needless to say, everyone was surprised!

Morgan, being the ever-friendly dumb lab, leaps forward to greet them.  Einstein, with her irrational belief that she is a bad-ass, charges the dog.  Now, this is all happening in a split second but for some reason my cat-like reflexes (ha ha) don't work as fast.  The lab's owner pulls his dog across the street but not before my dogs have run me into the metal fence that lines the sidewalk.  Since they had already turned the corner, but I had not, my left arm took the brunt of the force.

I regroup and pull them back towards the apartment.  All the while, the neighbor and his dog are standing calmly on the other side of the street, watching.  Oh, the horror!  Then to make a bad situation worse, bad-ass Einstein, hopped up on doggie adrenaline, decides to take on Morgan.  Now my dogs are scuffling in the doorway, the neighbor is watching and all I want to do is hide.  I finally get them inside and back up the apartment, check for injuries and shoot nasty stink-eyes and lots of "bad dogs" at them.

The dogs were fine apart from one small bite on Einstein's leg (serves you right, bad-ass - NOT).  Then I checked my arm.  Apart from being scraped up, the bones seemed okay.  Put ice on it and shot more stink eyes at the dogs.

All this happened about a week ago.  So this is the end result.

Nice bruise, huh!?!

I have noted on this blog about my concerns about being car-less and the kids in school across town.   So we have leased a car, however we aren't going to be able to pick it up until our temporary residence cards arrive (new wrinkle in the plan).  Hopefully we will get the cards by Monday and still be able to pick up the car on Tuesday, 4/12/11 as originally planned.  But right now, I remain carless and at the mercy of public transportation.

So yesterday I got the call.  The school nurse was calling to inform me that Samantha had collided with another student playing soccer in P.E. and landed on her elbow.  The school, thankfully, does have a registered nurse so she had placed ice on it but was concerned because of the amount of pain she was still having after 20 minutes.  So my options are running through my head the whole time she is talking:  (1) take the tram/Metro/bus, (2)  take a taxi, (3) call Patrick.

Since I was going to call Patrick first anyway to tell him about Samantha, I thought that maybe someone at his work could drive him to the kid's school or loan him a car.  Thankfully, his co-worker, Lorraine, was at work and came to our rescue again!  (Lorraine was the one who drove Patrick to my rescue with my first grocery store debacle!)  She drove him to the school to get Samantha and then took them to the train station.  There is a a Metro stop in Saint Cloud across the street from the hospital and the hospital is within walking distance to our apartment (all lucky coincidences).  

Patrick and Sam reach the hospital about 3:00 and I meet them there at 3:30.  Samantha is waiting to be x-rayed.  She was being a trooper and only had a few tears.  She got her x-rays and was going back up to see the doctor with Patrick.  Now, it's time to meet the bus with Max.  Another stroke of luck, the bus stop is right in front of the hospital!  I retrieve Max and he wants to see his sister (sweet of him!).  I text Patrick and he says they are done and coming out, so we wait and meet them and all walk home.

They told Patrick that there was no "obvious fracture", but they would have the radiologist look at it.  Okay, I have been in the ortho field a long time and all her symptoms were classic for an elbow fracture, but I don't claim to have x-ray vision, so I let it go.......They had also given us a prescription for pain medicine that we needed to fill.  I was getting ready to leave and go to the pharmacy when the phone rang.  We had been home about 10 minutes.  It was the hospital saying that the radiologist had looked at the x-ray and determined that "yes, there was a fracture" in her elbow.   (Told you so, na na na na boo boo!)  So Patrick walks her back to the hospital.  Now she is in a half-cast and has a return appointment in two weeks.

Sam - the brave trooper

I miss my job and my friends at Cary Orthopaedics even more today than I usually do!  

Last night was a little difficult getting her comfortable in bed and the "pain" medication they gave me is nothing more than 500mg of acetaminophen.  She finally found a good position on the couch about 11:00 p.m.  As you can see from the picture, it is her left arm and of course she is left-handed!  But Spring Break starts Monday and they are out of school until 4/26/11, so I guess the timing was good if it had to happen!  She did go to school today, but hey, what kid wouldn't love to show off their "war wound"!  

As I stated in the beginning, we are fine now.  A little sore, but we are some tough chicks!

......I forgot a picture last time!

I had this great picture to accompany my last post when I was writing about the dogs and the barking, but I forgot to include it!  I still think it makes a great comedic addition to the blog, so I am going to post it now.  (Please take time to review my last entry if you missed it to know why I think this is funny! and shame on you if you didn't read my last post!)  When I take the dogs out for their walks, we pass the bank of mailboxes which have the residents names on them and I noticed this one........

Maybe this is the neighbor
who complained!!

So onto more current topics......we have another week of Paris living under our belts (which Patrick is having to tighten as he is down a pants size with all the walking!) and are still amazed daily with things we see and learn.  

Before we moved, we heard horror stories about worker strikes.  The trains would stop running on transit strikes or trash would pile up if sanitation workers decided they needed better coffee on their breaks.........  We have been lucky though since we have been here as everyone seems to be happy with their jobs right now!  No strikes!  **fingers crossed**

Something interesting about Paris is that trash is picked up daily (except Sunday) and about twice a month you see these guys.

Outside my kitchen window

See the guy in yellow?

Two guys on each side of the street come down welding huge hoses like firemen slowly followed by a truck with a tank of water.  They move down the streets spraying the trash, leaves, and anything else is in way (dog poop), into the center of the road.  Then after they are done, another truck comes by and "vacuums" up all the stuff.  You see this all over the city in residential areas as well as commercial.  This is in addition to my guy in yellow who wanders the street daily picking up trash.  This is nice, however they seem to have an aversion to actually bending over and picking things up.  I watched one guy spray a car battery that has been sitting against this wall since we moved in for about 3 minutes and when it refused to move down with the stream of water, he walked on......leaving the battery.  So far the battery has survived all subsequent attacks and is still sitting there looking smug!

When we moved here we thought that we would see if we could get buy without a car.  Well, due to some unforeseen circumstances, i.e. kids going to school across town not down the road and dogs not being allowed to run in the fenced area, we made the decision to lease a car.  I had thoughts of getting a call that one of the kids was sick and needed to come home from school and I would have to take a taxi to get to school and to get them home.  I really didn't relish the thought of putting a vomiting kid in a taxi. Also, I wanted to be able to take the dogs to the many parks around here and let them run and get good and tired so they will sleep more and maybe bark less!  Patrick will still be taking public transport to work except for days he may need to get somewhere, so the car will be with me most of the time.  Since parking is a problem in the city, I think that we will still take public transport much of the time, but for exploring areas outside of Paris and for emergencies, it will be nice to have a car.

It seemed apropos that we decided to do this yesterday, our 13th anniversary.  When we got married in Colorado Springs, instead of taking a honeymoon, we bought a Dodge Durango.  So yesterday we went to the Honda showroom and leased a Honda Jazz for the next 3 years.

ours will be black

It has room for all four of us as well as room in way back for Morgan.  Einstein usually rides in between the kids.  We wanted to do our part and get the Hybrid model, but would have had to wait until August to get the car.  As it is, buying/leasing a car here is VERY different than in the U.S.  First of all there is the whole language thing......  After establishing some form of "Frenglish"(I walked out of the VW showroom when I was told, rather rudely, that "No" no one there spoke English) the lady we leased from spoke minimal English, but with our minimal French, we got it done (and at times quite comically with hand gestures). Then there are no car lots in Paris.  You go to a showroom and they might have 6 cars parked inside to look at.  No sales person comes up to you and immediately befriends you.  You have to go looking for them. Then they want to know if you have all forms of I.D. and your first born child (thankfully we had Max with us! **wink**) ready to turn over to them. It seems that first the paperwork portion must be submitted and approved, then you can talk car.  There is also no test drive.  You just look and I guess, imagine, driving.  Thankfully, because it is a Honda, we felt comfortable committing to this car without driving it.  You also don't leave with a car when your done....  We should expect delivery in about 10 days and then we will have to travel about 25 minutes to a different place to get it.  But all in all, very happy about our decision.

In my adventures to look at different car showrooms, I saw some more of Paris and only got lost once or twice.  I'm getting better at rectifying these times thanks to the fact that I am starting to recognize places and my handy I-Phone app, Google Maps!!

Storm coming over steeple in downtown
Saint Cloud

Yep, that's the Statue of Liberty with the Eiffel Tower

We also received news from family in Seattle that our extended family has increased by one!  My cousin, Sheryl, and her husband, Jeremy, had a little girl!  

Welcome to Maya Lynn Grater!
You have some cool parents!

....daylight savings arrives here

Yep, that's right.  A full 2 weeks after the U.S.A.  Don't know why really, I should probably do some research on that in case the kids ask.  So now it is officially Spring to me.  Once I loose that hour in the morning but the evenings stay light, we have officially turned the corner on the seasons.  Another thing about DLS is that here, much like my beloved Seattle, it will eventually stay light until about 9:30 p.m.

The other thing that gives it away is the Easter candy displays!  Yeah!  And this year I am treated to a different kind of adventure.  Not so many bags of jellybeans and malted milk balls here.  But man, they love their chocolate.  They also have the Easter Chicken.  The chocolate chicken is almost more abundant than the rabbit.  Here they use the chicken more as a symbol for Easter because (so I have read) the egg symbolizes (re)birth.   Don't fret, Peter Cottontail, they love you too!

Looks like a whole army of chocolate rabbits!

And,  My Oh My, so many new choices of candy to try this Easter........most of it chocolate based.  Now don't get me wrong, I like chocolate but really don't crave it.  Samantha is a choco-holtic however and I think if she could she would "sample" every new variety of Easter yummy available.  I am kind of sad that it doesn't seem I will be able to get my hands on good ole jellybeans.  And for me it's not just any jellybeans, but the ones they label "spice" jellybeans.

I think my addiction started with these because my Dad always liked spiced gum drops.  I also think I recall somewhere in the foggy depths of my brain, friends of my parents (The Davis family in Arizona) having a dish of these out and getting to choose which color to sample.  This was a big deal because I was probably about 4 or 5 and usually only got the colors of jellybeans my older sisters didn't like!

We are also being treated to a Spring display of blooming bulbs.  They are all putting on their Easter Best right now.  Not only does it look wonderful but you'll be walking along and smell the Hyacinths before you even see them.

Poppies, pretty poppies....

Every afternoon when I walk to meet the kids at the bus stop, there seems to be something new blooming and so far (**fingers crossed**) Max's allergies seem to be okay.  Maybe a little increase in sniffles but seems to be overall unaffected.

The kids are slowly embracing the "Frenchie" way.  They have French lessons everyday and I am sure will be plotting together in French to take over since Mom and Dad have to clue still.  Patrick and I are supposed to be getting French lessons and I guess by the s-l-o-w-n-e-s-s of the arranging of these, we are learning a "French lesson".  No one seems to have a sense of urgency here....unless they are driving!!  (I will cover some "driving lessons" in a later post...but Oh La La what a mess!!).

One of the things we are all enjoying is the fresh bread.  Occasionally I will stop and pick up a baguette (or two) on the way to get the kids.  Thursday I was planning on feeding the Fam lasagna and thought some bread would go nicely.  I stopped at our local Paul's bakery and in "Frenglish" asked for one baguette (these things are about 2 feet long, so one would do).  The guy says "okay, deux" and before my brain could convert a way to respond, I am paying for two!  Not a problem, this wonderful bread is roughly .80 a piece.  Turns out it was a good thing that he knew this crazy American needed more than one baguette.  The kids get off the bus hungry every day and since we aren't eating dinner until around 7:00 p.m., I let them snack at 5:00 p.m. when we get back to the apartment.  Max spotted the bread sticking out of my backpack and asked if they could have some.  Sure, why not....  So Max takes one baguette, extends one end to his sister and they split it and start munching away!

One baguette down......

Some of you may have heard that our Square D assigned "relocation expert" (again, not going to get into it right now, but our "expert" has become tarnished in our eyes as we are learning about things for ourselves!) called us about 2 weekends ago to let us know that there had been complaints about the dogs barking.  From the conversation, she made it sound like our downstairs neighbor was complaining about excess barking.  

Now I will admit Morgan's voice can carry and when one dog starts barking the other seems it is their duty to "help".  But we had been in the apartment for only 3 weeks and still lacked some furniture and rugs so the sound carried.  We went and purchased a spray collar for Morgan so that when she barked, the collar's attachment puffs out a mist under her chin and around her face.  It was affective not only for Morgan, but if Einstein was standing near Morgan, the sound of the puff of mist made Einstein stop!    

We are now almost finished with outfitting the apartment and our stuff has arrived from N.C. so the noise is less resounding now.  The dogs are much more comfortable with their surroundings and I think they know now that we are here for a while 'cause all nice cozy furniture we bought for them is here.

Einny and Morgan on their couch

But as we go about day to day, we are beginning to suspect the source of the "complaint".  We really don't think it was the neighbor because they have a dog too and probably know from their own experience all the trails entailed with settling in.  We are beginning to suspect the guardian (building landlord) as the source of the complaint. 

Here in France, each building has it's own guardian and then there is a head guardian for the whole complex (makes me think of dorm mothers!).  Our guardian is an older woman (mid-60's my guess) and seems to be afraid of dogs.....and even less fond of large, black, overly happy dogs.  Morgan is all Lab when it comes to sense.  That is to say, she has NONE!  She tries to walk up to everyone (and to our dismay, moving cars) she sees not realizing that she weighs 70+ pounds and can look intimidating. And strangely enough, we are not as worried with this realization that it was she, and not the neighbors, who complained.

We have learned (and read) from many sources that in France (a) it is damn near impossible to get fired from your job (hmmm...may be why customer service sucks....) and (b) it is unheard of to ousted from your rental.  Patrick was told by someone he works with that there are stories of people not paying their rent for months on end and not being evicted and I met some other English speaking moms who have been in Paris for longer at a "mixer" 2 weeks ago who said "Bhaa, just do what you want!  The French are blowhards".  So we are not as worried and make an effort to keep the dogs far from her if she is out when we are.  That is the only concession we are going to make......that and the bark collar.

We made another pilgrimage to Ikea yesterday for some lamps and odds and ends.  Who knew the sold plants!!  Awesome!!  So I started my own tribute to Spring on the apartment ledge.  Still a long way to go, but it's a start.

Balcony ledge

Happy Gerber daisies and ivy

Look Margrid, I found a French Hydrangea!

Samantha has a playdate with a friend from school today at 2:00 p.m.  We rented a car this weekend for our Ikea pilgrimage, so we are going to take her there and Max, Patrick and I can run some more errands while she plays.  The little girl's mother is VERY British and has invited us all in for "tea" when we arrive, but hoping we can get some more errands done while we have a car and I really want to take the dogs for a run in the park.  Here's hoping........

....we had sun all weekend! Spring is making itself present!

Still a little chilly, but the sun has made an appearance and seems to be happy staying around.

The trees by our Tram stop

This weekend we didn't have an real plans except a used book sale sponsored by an American Help Line here in Paris.  Being that I have had moments of almost needing to call a help line (**wink**) since I have been here, I thought that was a cause I could get behind.  All the books were English language books and there were a ton of them.  People were encouraged to clean their bookshelves and bring them with them to the sale so there was a good selection.  We all found some books and the price was right!  1 Euro each!

The book sale was held in a space in a law office that was down by the Eiffel Tower, so we decided to stroll around and get some lunch.  We passed a couple of places with the traditional French offering but turned down a side street and found a Chinese place.  We decided to give French Chinese a try.  It was a neat little place where you picked out what you wanted and then they heated it up for you.  The French don't do spicy, so everything was tasty but "tame".  Thankfully for Patrick they did have the little jars of hot pepper sauce on the table.

After lunch we walked down to the Eiffel Tower and people watched for awhile.  Since the sun was out, there were plenty of people to watch.  You can tell the locals though, they were still in their down coats and scarves.  I have decided the French have a different internal thermometer.  They wear huge coats and scarves and then go into heated stores and leave them on.  Patrick and I are immediately shedding layers as we walk through the doors since the inside temperature is set to "tropical".  But not the French...they continue to walk around in full winter clad fashion.  So I am sure some locals were looking at the crazy Americans in their shirtsleeves thinking "oh poor things, they don't have proper fashion".

Sam sans coat!

The rest of family is back to work and school.  Samantha has a playdate with a girl from school this Sunday, so we are planning to rent a car next weekend so we can go directly to friend's house  and make another pilgrimage to Ikea.  I also hope to squeeze an outing for the dogs in too.  The girls really need a good run and hopefully we can take them down to an open area and turn 'em loose!

That's all I've got for now.....except some more pictures......

RER stop on the way home from the Eiffel Tower

River taxi

Max insisted I take a picture of
his Metro pass....

The boys at the Tram stop

....some more thoughts and photos

So as I have said before, I am having to walk the dogs about 4 times a day.  Not bad really....  They are getting the swing of it and know what to do and have even started to stroll back home after conducting "business" instead of yanking me to death.  The one thing they really need work on is proper elevator manners!  Morgan loves the elevator.  I don't know if it is because she has learned this is the way out or if she likes to look at herself in the mirrored walls.  She runs right up to the doors and pokes them with her nose as if to say "I am here.  Open".

"Open, open, open"

That would be okay if we were the only ones using the elevator, but alas we are not.  Last Sunday, as I was returning with the girls from their morning stroll, Morgan walks up to the elevator doors in the lobby and stands there.  The doors opened and we were greeted with a scream!  There was a man and woman in the elevator and apparently the lady had never seen a dog before (that's what I'm guessing).  Imagine that!  So after much "excusez-moi", "pardonnez-moi" and "les chiens sont agréables (the dogs are nice)", we parted ways.  Hope that French lady gets over her trauma!

Einstein is still unsure about the
"moving room"

The other nice things about going for walks with the girls is Spring is starting to show up and everything is starting to bloom.  Isn't there a song about springtime in Paris?  Here are just a few of the early bloomers we have seen on our walks.

Even the weeds in the grass are kinda pretty.........

Of course, even the most common things here in Paris have to be pretty.  This is a picture of one of many tiles set into the sidewalk outside the Hotel Regina by the Louvre.  Not a great picture, but pretty mosaic tile.

.....some random photos

Last time my post was a little negative.  Today I thought I would remedy that and just post a few pictures of some everyday things that are lovely here.

As I go to the supermarket in the neighborhood, I am greeted by this view.  There is a florist right next to the market and seeing it always makes me feel better!

Pretty flower...and not too expensive!

Then as you are leaving the market, there is a local bakery right at the entrance.  It is a chain, but there stuff is yummy and they have better service (so far.....) than the privately owned bakeries I have been in. But no negative posts today....I will save the story of the burned bread from the private neighborhood bakery for a later date........

I'll take one of everything, please!

Since this bakery doesn't sell burned bread, they occasionally toss their "rejects" out to the waiting crowd.  Nope, not a crowd of people but these guys.

Some of the fattest pidgins I have ever seen

All made out of chocolate

On the way to meet the kids bus in the afternoon, I pass a gourmet chocolate shop.  I have not been in, yet, but often pause to admire their window display.

Yep, a chocolate high heel!

That's all I have for now.......see not everything is negative.  There are some really lovely things and not just the tourist things.  Everyday I see something new and remember that's why we came....to experience the differences.  Viva La France!

....just some random thoughts

Random Thought #1:  I don't know if I have mentioned that Saint Cloud is HILLY!  When we want to go to the tram to get to Paris or points beyond, we take some stairs that are close to the apartment.  The stairs end right at the street we need to cross to get to the tram.  Nice, huh?

This is the first part of the stairway

This is the middle part

And these are at the end
Kinda pretty, huh?

Well, after you get done running your errands or going to visit places (which you have walked to and around) this is what the stairway turns into.......

What!  

OMG!

Do they EVER end?!?!

Home stretch....breathing optional

That is why, after only a month, we call them the Stairs of Gloom!  Also, Patrick climbs these everyday coming home from work......in the dark.  OOOoooweeeeOOOoo!

Then you come down the street and turn the corner........

To the apartment building

....and have to climb up this hill (okay, halfway) to get to the entrance to our building!  I should be loosing weight by now, right?  Doesn't feel like it yet.....

Random Thought #2:  After we moved in, we received the word that domestic animals (yeah, you people with cats who live here...get your cat inside so it quits taunting my dogs!!) were no longer allowed in the park in the middle of the apartments!  Well that threw us for a loop.  One of the reasons we rented here was because we were told the dogs could go out there (the other reason was because the kids were supposed to be going to the American School down the road......but are now going to the British School...oh well!)  So now I walk the dogs about 4 times a day.  They are getting a routine and doing very well, except for the other morning they tried to chase a loose cat and I had to grab a parked car to stop!!  The place I take them to is down the street from the apartment on the way to the Stairs of Gloom.

From the top of the park I can see the Eiffel  Tower

Down on the left side is the end of
the street and the
Stairs of Gloom

 It is a nice walkway with green space so they can do their "business".  In France it seems no one cleans up the dog poop so there are lots of interesting smells for the girls (just be careful stepping into the grass!).  Beside the apartment building in the picture there is an area about 75 yards long and 40 yards wide where I let them wander and smell and eat grass and do what dogs do.....  They are always on the leash because there is a road right  on the other side of the grassy area, but they have learned quickly to do their "thing" with the leash on.  Einstein is terrified of cars and car noises, so she stays close if I decide to walk them on the sidewalk on the street side.  However Morgan, big dumb Lab that she is, tries to go up to MOVING cars!  Freaks me out!  My dog is going to get hit by a car while on her leash!  DUMMY!  So I usually just walk them up to the end of the park and turn them back to go down the other road because it is a dead end and has very little traffic.

Random Thought #3:  So often during the day when I walk the dogs I see this guy.  Pretty sure it's the same guy everyday.  It seems his job is to spend all day walking up and down the street and the Stairs of Gloom picking up trash.  He is definitely NOT picking up dog poop, though!  No one does!  The thing is, since the road is a dead end, there really isn't that much trash.  But yet, there he is everyday.....wandering around.

Guy in yellow....is that really your job?

Random Thought #4: It has been sunny here for the past 3 days and people are everywhere.  I have been going to one of the only major shopping malls I know how to get to because it is off the big Metro station.  The place is huge and every time I go I see stores I somehow missed last time.  To get from the Metro station to one of the wings of the mall, you have to go out and cross this enormous plaza by the Grand Arch.  The past couple of times I have been it has been around lunch time.  So the French are famous for their leisurely lunches and recently have also been soaking up the sun.

This is the Grand Arch (huge) and all the little black specks
are people sitting on the steps having some lunch

People everywhere

Random Thought #5:  As I go about my travels looking for things I need to set up house, I have noticed something you wouldn't dare see in the United States.  I guess because of all the nude statues and works of art here in Paris, the human body is not so taboo as it is in America.....it's either that or the model they used to make all the mannequins here in France was way cold when they cast her form because you can't pass a woman's clothing store without seeing..........

Someone please get this lady a coat!
She must be freezing!

That's all I've got for now.......  It's Friday and the weekend is here so I am sure I will have new things and adventures to report soon!