Ex Patria

Like a rolling stone

You know this picture that I posted yesterday?  I had made that especially for a contest in the Pretty Presets forum and guess what!  I won!  Yes, it was a very small contest with some 10 contestants or so, but heh, I've lost at better odds before.  So I'm totally happy about this and take it as a good omen for my new business.

Oh, and?  Alan wrote an A in his math test.  So did David.

Go us.

Langsam ernährt sich das Eichhörnchen

I've been incredibly busy. 

Doug is traveling a lot.  He came back from the DRC last week, and he's off to Zambia next week.  Then he's got another two weeks in the Westbank, and maybe another dig before/right after Christmas in Afghanistan.  Or maybe inbetween.  Or maybe not at all, that's not clear yet.

So I'm a single mom a lot but that's not why I am incredibly busy - that just keeps me very busy.  The "incredible" part stems from me trying to launch a photography business.  Which is, you know, not exactly easy to begin with and doubly so when mostly you do your work at night.

Oh, and then we are also offering a weekly English class for kids at the local elementary school. I ditched the duty of representing David's class in the parents' association of the elementary school only to be elected to the same position at Alan's school.  Ho, hum.  Busy is about right.

 

I had no idea what the idea "oh, I'll just SELL my photographs" entailed.  Tax registration, enrollment in the local Chamber of Crafts, writing a business plan, writing a price list.  The latter is really throwing me.  I have been and still am giving away my photographs for free and it makes me squirm to think I should ask money for them, and how much.  I've been comparing to the local photographer and I have some idea but writing down the exact prize for each type of product is really hard.  Oh, and there is the website and the photo blog which are both out there but not quite finished (so, no links quite yet).  Lots of work. That does not even include making time for actual photo sessions - because I really don't have time for photo sessions when Doug is traveling.  For months, he's been home, and now he's gone all the time.  I'm not complaining because that brings food on the table and maybe even a treat or two (coffee machine?) but it's a bit inconvenient just now.  There is no pleasing me, obviously.

I am also dithering because I really do need a new camera if I want to go pro.  My old camera is just that - old.  In this fast digital age, a camera that is six years old is totally outdated.  Too few megapixels, the ISO only goes to 1600 and is very pixelated, the works.  My thought is that if I upgrade, I should get a full-sensor camera but those are kind of expensive.  A bit too expensive.  We have been toying with the idea of getting a start-up loan which are offered to business starters but what if I don't make any money off this?  Then I have debts and cannot pay them off.  But without a new camera I can't really offer wedding shoots - what if the old camera dies in the middle of the ceremony?  Rock, hard place, caught.  Heh, if you happen to have a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (or better!) lying around that you don't need, just send it along, why don't you?  Thank you ever so much.

 

Alan has changed schools.  He's now attending a so-called "Kooperationsklasse" which means that the teacher has an assistant for six or so hours a week to deal with those kids who need special attention.  Like that bright kid of mine who cannot focus on stuff he's not interested in.  He is driving me a little bit insane at the moment.  In math, they are doing text problems that involve a variable and a combination of multiplication, addition, division and subtraction.  What they are supposed to do is to write down the equation with the variable, then write down the calculations necessary and then write down the answer sentence.

Alan, however, finds this too much work.

Me: "Okay, Lisa really wants this new Nintendo game that costs 62 Euros.  She has saved 40 Euros and her grandmother gives her another 10 Euros.  If she gets 3 Euros allowance per week, how long does she have to save until she can buy the game?"

Alan: "4"

Me: "Sweetie, that's correct but you have to write down the equation.  Can you tell me the equation?"

Alan: "But Mommy, I already know the answer!  Why do I have to do that?"

...

He can argue like a lawyer, I wonder where he's got that from. It does drag out homework time considerably, though, and I hear myself saying, "We just have to do that, it's a rule."  Hrmph.

Other than that, he is very happy.  He's got a fantastic teacher and loves going to school.  His teacher likes him a lot and supports him, and we are working closely together to make sure that he doesn't get conflicting messages from school and from home.  It's quite a novel thing for me but she really doesn't mind if I call her, and she answers her emails, too.  She's doing lots of extra activities which Alan has missed a lot here in Germany.  They built kites and made a field trip to fly them.  They had a team-building event up in the "Green Classroom" which he loved.  Next, they will build a bird feeder and then they are also planning an entire week with a circus project.  I am smitten.

 

David is doing great.  His new teacher is very strict and gives a lot of homework but she seems fair and she likes the kids.  David is learning a lot and comes home happy from school.  This seems a pretty ideal situation to me -- if only he wouldn't come home at 11 am, but that's for another rant one day.

He has discovered reading for fun.  Alan's class is enrolled in a program called "Antolin".  It's an online platform where you can collect points by answering quizzes about books.  You pick a book, read it, and then answer 15 questions.  Alan has discovered that he gets extra loads of points if he does the English books.  Since they are "foreign language" books for most German kids, they are read at higher grade levels which gives you more points.  So instead of getting 30 points for a German book at his grade level, he gets 90 points for a Magic Treehouse book.  After some arguing (see above), we have agreed that he has to alternate. Then David wanted to do the same program but his class is not participating.  Alan's most awesome teacher offered to sign him up and now he's chasing after Alan and they are reading all day long.  We are doing lots of trips to the library these days.

After the disastrous swim class in Bad Neustadt, David didn't believe he could learn swimming.  He was very discouraged and when I signed him up for the swim class in Ostheim back in May, he was adamant that he didn't want to go.  This swim class is extremely sought after and since the instructor only takes five to six kids per group, the waiting lists are long.  Fast forward to October and the first lesson.  I had to drag David to the pool and I dreaded the entire experience.  But then I picked him up and I was returned a beaming David who announced that if he didn't pass his swim test this time, I could sign him up for this class again right away, he liked it so much.  Two weeks later, he passed the test and is now the proud owner of a "Seepferdchen" patch.  I am signing up Jacob tomorrow.

 

Jacob is almost as tall as David and several kilos heavier.  They wear the same size clothes which makes things a bit awkward.  How can you hand down clothes when they wear them at the same time?  They both want to have their own, dedicated clothes.  I am grateful for second-hand shops and generous neighbors and friends. 

He's started to color a lot which is a great joy to me.  He may start school next year (we are not quite decided yet) and he will have to have good fine motor control by then.  He's a leftie and I have already discovered that I won't be holding his hand much when practising letters because I'm a very strict right-handed person.  I can't write with my left hand, not at all.  Poor Jacob will have to do this all by himself. 

He's also drawing pictures which none of the other boys have done much.  At the moment, rocket ships with flaming exhaust are all the rage, in case you're not informed about the latest trends in little-boy-art.  I am loving it.

Leah is... a little girl.  She's definitely not a baby anymore.  I cut her hair last week, and she has a particular gesture when pushing the hair out of her eyes that makes her seem 14 years old.  She's funny, she likes to pretend (being a dog, being angry, being mad, not being ticklish), she likes being chased and when she's unhappy, you will know it and no doubt about it.  That girl can scream.  It's quite amazing. She also likes "knock, knock" jokes but she doesn't understand them, so her answers are always quirky but hilariously funny.  She makes me laugh a lot.

 

This is what I do when I have a few minutes of free time - I either shoot photos, or I edit them.  Or I enter in contests and giveaways to win a camera.  Hope springs eternal...

Stuff I made

I'm really tired.  Leah was up all night with a fever and general malaise (although you couldn't have told today), and two+ weeks of single parenting at the beginning of the school year have been taking its toll.  Oh, don't forget a week of migraines thrown in...

But:  I made things, which is always incredibly satifsying for me.   So, without further ado:

A jacket for Leah:

Yup, it's really bright green corduroy.  It feels really nice, and the lining is from Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom line which I still adore.  I made tons of stuff for Leah from her line, from the crib bumper to her quilt but I don't grow tired of it.  I will probably rework the bumper (that we're not using anymore) into a spring jacket for Leah at some point.

Then, some presents for Jacob's fifth birthday:

A car caddy, modeled after Homemade by Jil.  I did not have freezer paper, so I didn't do the numbers.  I will probably, at some point, remedy that.  Jacob loved it which is the most important part.

A pair of pajamas - my first homemade pattern (I simply copied some good fitting pajamas):

(Sorry about the crappy photo quality - it was night, I was tired, is all I can say.)

Oh, and we made this craft on Saturday when it was raining without end - I don't remember where I saw this but it was recently and it's such a simple craft and yet so effective.  (Ah!  Frugal Family, that's where.)

A paper cut-out of a tree, and the leaves are made from coffee filters painted with water colors.  If you think that's complicated, think again:  I did this with Leah (the older boys were intrigued but lazy, so they commented our progress and gave good advice but did not actually do anything.  Males!)

Not visible in this picture:  the mound of fallen leaves at the bottom of the tree.

And tomorrow, the husband comes back.  Then it's harvesting apples and making apple juice, harvesting walnuts and drying them, raking leaves, more apples, more leaves...