Books, chocolate, and wine = temporary sanity

Moving to Paris might seem like a great idea.  Obviously, we thought (think) so...However at times it can be a bit stressful.  Pierre actually has a new job, the girls have a new school, and everyone here speaks French.  To top it all off, we have moved all of our belongings across an ocean.  I have been spending my time amusing electricians, appliance deliverymen, and others with my French.  Yesterday I visited Castorama, the closest thing to Home Depot in our neighborhood.  I asked brilliant questions like, "Where can I find the things that you put under furniture to protect the floor?"  Except, my sentences were probably less grammatically correct.  It did work and now I have some "patins feutre" and "patins glisseurs" to protect the floors.

I have much catching up to do to get this blog to the present, so today I am going to cheat a bit. One of the first things we did when we arrived here a to get museum passes to the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay.  We also got library cards at our local library and joined the American library.  My sanity depends on having a book in hand and, unfortunately, a French book just won't yet cut it.  We rely on books when we need to chill out and I figure that the library fee was a small price to pay for family sanity.

To keep out spirits high we have also been indulging in lots of chocolate and lots of cheap wine.  I fine a lot of delight in finding wine for under 5 Euros--or 3-- that I bought at the LCBO for much, much more.

Today was Wednesday and the girls have the day off of school.  We had a nice morning.  The girls played nicely and the electrician actually showed up...without the right part and he will be back tomorrow.  In the afternoon the wheels fell off and there was much screaming and sister hitting.  I decided it was time to head outside.  We went to the Eiffel Tower and bought some ice cream.  It solved all of our problems and our stress for a little while.

 Mickey thanks for the old Owl magazines.  We are now huge Max Finder fans!

 Lillian in her happy place

Sylvia has been enjoying the kids' programs.  She saw the sign that said, "Unattended children will be given a puppy and espresso," and was overjoyed.  She told me I could have the espresso.

When we were getting ready to leave Ottawa and I was talking up Paris, I apparently promised the girls that every Friday they could choose a pastry to have for dessert.  This bribe has not been forgotten.

Sylvia's choice

My choice

Guess who likes to have her picture taken?

Guess who likes to read?

Mmmm!