Mea Culpa!! The flakiest moment of my life.

I want to offer my sincerest apologies for not blogging/writing or updating for . . . um–months. Thanks to Pickler –who informed people that the author was not dead.  I’m embarrassed.  Really. All is well.  We did not meat some horrible demise.  Life has simply been challenging–so challenging that I’ve not even always been good about checking my personal emails.

Here’s an explanation, though by no means an excuse: I know other bloggers who find ways to write in challenging conditions–like living in a cave, trekking across strange lands, living below the poverty line, undergoing family and personal crises.  It didn’t take nearly that much chaos for me to slip into oblivion.  I have some renewed respect for people who know how to keep going during times of crisis.

What I’ve been doing instead of blogging these past months:

• Surviving the first trimester of pregnancy (in which I felt like sleeping/vomiting most of the time).  Since I know so many other people who have it harder and have  seen women doing all kinds of amazing things while pregnant, I was kind of embarrassed about how wimpy/brain dead I felt . . I’ve turned a corner though!
• Dealing with the unknown . . .DH wrapped up his physical therapy in June and we supposed we’d know where his new job assignment would be so that we could settle into an apartment of our own (rather than staying with the in-laws).  No dice!  We know the basic geographic area we’ll be living in next year but nothing precise enough to start apartment hunting.   We THINK that the French bureaucracy that is in charge of teacher placement in our part of France will pull its head out of it’s behemouth rear end sometime in September–after all, that’s when school starts, eh? But that is part of the fun of living in France–the bureaucracy
• A nomadic existence. We have no real home, but are no longer tied down by DH’s injuries, so we’ve been moving around–house-sitting for family members on vacation, camping in the Atlantic Pyrenees, and hiking every chance we get.  We’ve fallen into a rhythm of not really knowing where we’ll go next and just packing up the tent when we’re ready and moving to the next spot.  I still haven’t gotten into the habit of regular blogging or computer use with this kind of lifestyle.
• Little stuff–We’re still dealing with a lawsuit, pesky insurance companies, slow moving French justice and medical experts after DH’s car accident in December and, of course, there are sonograms and birthing classes (very interesting given the fact that I have no idea where our child will be born at this time.)

Future plans for the blog:

I’ve missed blogging like you would not believe. It’s social; it’s good for the intellect. I miss all the blogs I used to read.

• I’m hoping that for the next month, I’ll be able to keep up with one post a week–when I’m not living in a tent.  I’m also hoping to keep up with comments and emails to the editor (shudder, I have yet to check those!)
• I’m hoping that within 2 months, I’ll be back to posting at least 2-3 times a week, either because life has settled down a bit or because I’ve adjusted.
  

Humble thanks and apologies:

Thank you to Pickler for prodding me back to blogging.  Thank you to everyone who actually kept checking and commenting!  Sorry to those I let down–and if I made anyone think I’d met some kind of fate worse than death.

I’m looking forward to being back in touch!  And now I’m headed off to get the results of my blood work before we head into the Italian Alps for a little more camping/hiking.  Just a question–do they screen pregnant women for Toxoplasmosis every 3 weeks in other countries or are the French just obsessed?

Passing the French Driving Test–and weekly post picks.

Regular readers may have noticed that my blogging has been a bit erratic lately.  This is in large part due to the fact that I got a sudden opportunity to take the driving test last week. I took several refresher courses with the local auto ecole to make sure that I was not to rusty with a stick shift (or with the treacherous right of way rules!!).  Seeing as I am a rather. . .anxious person, I was a nervous wreck leading up to the test and in the days that followed.

Strangely, here in France, you receive the results of your driver’s test by mail–apparently, this is due to some altercations and fisticuffs that had begun to occur as people failed their driving tests.  I struggle to imagine it at the local DMV back in California.  The DMV generally scares me (or demoralizes me) into submission–how about you?

I got 26 of the 30 possible points–20 is passing.  Even though at one point about five errant dogs blocked my path for several minutes, making me want to honk and swear, although it was technically illegal in an area with houses nearby.  In true French fashion, the driving ‘inspector’ honked and yelled profanities in my place.  I won’t say I passed with flying colors, but I don’t really care.  I’m done jumping through one of the sets of hoops that comes with living in a foreign country.  Now for that pesky nationality request. . .

I hope to get back to a more predictable posting schedule now that I have all that driving business behind me.  In the meantime, you can check out my recent guest post on Well-Heeled Blog: Biggest Money Conflict Ever: is my career worth it? It discusses my (controversial?) decision that my former teaching career just isn’t worth it here in France.

A few more fun posts this week:

Could Bartering Replace Currency? at Frugal Zeitgeist

Is Greece the End of  a Fiat Currency? at Money Energy

Line Drying the Laundry at Funny about Money

Pushing your agenda: good or bad? at Stress Warrior

And a few carnivals for your consideration:

Best of Money Carnival-the mother’s day edition at Eliminate the Muda!

Yakezi Carnifal–the travel edition at 151 days off.

The Festival of Frugality–the peer pressure edition at Live Real Now.

Your Favorite DIY’s–frugal? entertaining? both?

Do it yourself and simple/frugal go hand in hand.

I’ve found that every 10 hours I cut off my work week has changed my outlook on time and money

Sourdough starter

drastically. When I worked 70 hours a week, I would not have even contemplated making homemade bread, designing my own makeshift closet, making a thermal cooker or learning to do pottery, for example.  I counted my minutes out like a miser counts his pennies.  No way was I going to spend my precious time watching yeast do its thing!  And if I could spend $20 to buy back a few hours of my time from chores, cooking, financial planning or working–the money would fly. Likewise, reducing the time spent working freed up time to do money-saving activities. . .

The simple act of cutting back to 50-60 hours a week felt like some kind of revolution for me. Suddenly, I had the patience to call and argue about a mistake on a bill, or plant potted herbs and lettuce on my balcony.  Some of these activities, I even found I enjoyed–once spending the time no longer meant sacrificing my sleep or my health.

DIY–saving money while having fun.

My recent foray into unemployment has lead me to contemplate DIY projects in an entirely different manner.  I find that I do things myself for a variety of reasons:

• To save money (baking bread and most cooking fall under this category for me)
  

  Homemade bread--a favorite DIY.

• Higher quality (any food item, home grown vegetables and fruits and potentially homemade clothing)
• Entertainment, a sense of mastery and fun! (pottery-making, for example)
• Satisfaction–that I don’t have to rely on a specific manufacturer, grocery store etc for what I want or need: (shampoo alternatives, homemade deodorant and my makeshift closet fall under this category)

DIY and ‘What do you do all day?’

People have the most amusing ideas about being bored without their jobs and paid entertainment. I’ve been unemployed for coming up on a year (not on purpose, but hey!).  I’ve never been bored mainly because given a little spare time to work with my mind rattles off all kinds of oddball ideas. . .what if I could make my own soap?  What if I built an insulating window-covering?  What if I grew my own sourdough starter? Some save more money than others, but the creating and learning process certainly keeps me entertained.

in progress--tomato seedlings

What are your favorite DIY activities and why?

I certainly don’t think that money is the only purpose for engaging in a DIY project.  I’m curious to know what your favorite DIY projects/activities are.  Do you chose activities for enjoyment or because they save money?  Is there a new DIY activity that you’re particularly proud of or one that you hope to take on sometime soon?

This week’s Yakezi Carnival

I’d thought I’d give a little nudge to these two posts, that I really enjoyed from the Yakezi Carnival this week:

The Butterfly Effect, Bees and Money

Is Living on Minimum Wage Possible?

If you’re interested in frugal and personal finance topics, you’ll find this week’s Yakezi carnival in its entirety here.

Frugal French habits you can try at home . . .

As you may have noticed, I get a kick out of guest posting for some of my favorite blogs.  Today, you can check out “Frugal French habits you can try at home” at the Ultimate Money Blog–a blog you may recognize from my blog roll or from the comments of Mrs. Money on the Simple Life in France.  Enjoy!

Fast times and a guest post on Miss Minimalist

If you haven’t already checked out this site, I highly recommend MissMinimalist.com.  You can find all ideas minimalist from the practical to the philosophical.  If you enjoy travel AND keeping it simple, there are some interesting ideas on that topic as well!  You’ll find my guest post on the minimalist spotlight today.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll excuse my decision to prioritize my life and not post on my own blog for a couple of days while I pack up, move out of my old apartment and attempt to pass the ‘theory’ section of the French driving test–all without a car and blindfolded.

Well, ok, not blindfolded. . . I’ll be back by Thursday!

Pulling pumpkin soup out of the cupboards: this week’s dark day’s challenge.

The local ingredients I had in my kitchen today.

It’s Monday in France and you live in a small village.  You know what that means?  Nothing is open.  Nothing.  You cannot buy food or anything else.   This is when it’s really handy to have a few local foods on hand.  It’s also handy to have a spirit of adventure and be willing to cook what you’ve got.  Thanks to potatoes and pumpkins that can be kept on hand for long periods of time,  this week’s Dark Day’s local eating challenge meal is served.

I rumbled through my cupboards before dinner tonight and I found . . .a sack of potatoes (from a farm in town), one potimarron (a pumpkin-like squash, this one a gift from my mother in law from 100 miles away) a shallot (from Aix-en-Provence 25km away), olive oil (from 25 kilometers away) and some bay leaves from a relative’s tree (ok, she lives over 100 miles away, but she brought them when she came to visit, so we’ll say they carpooled.

How to make the soup: the easy way.

Step one:  chop. Chop up the shallots, potatoes and the potimarron (pumpkin).  Don’t bother chopping too small or peeling–we’re using organic food here, why not eat the skin?  And, yep, I even keep the skin of the potimarron. . .would this work with a pumpkin?  I don’t know.

Chopped potimarron and potatoes with the skins, darn it!

Step two: cook. In my pressure cooker, I put a little olive oil and sauteed the shallots first, then I added my chopped potatoes and pumpkin and a couple of bay leaves, poured in a couple of inches of water and a touch of salt, sealed and cooked for 10 minutes.  The cook time may be a little long, but I didn’t want to have to deal with hard veggies.

Step three: Mash or stir or whatever it is you do. I don’t have a mixer, food processor or even a potato masher.  My mother in law recently bought me a heavy duty whisk (because she felt bad for me whisking my egg whites with a normal whisk).  This one is so heavy duty that I used it to mash up my soup.

The whisk I used to mash my soup.

Step four: douse with cream if you want or keep it vegan–you chose.

Step five: eat. I personally have no qualms about eating soup for dinner.  You could add a green salad or an omelet for some protein.  But tonight I wasn’t in the mood.  Soup, bread and a glass of wine seemed like a great meal to me.

Voilà--dinner is served.

New Year, New Projects, New Home

I don’t think I’ve ever faced a new year that seemed so unpredictable before.  I suppose the feeling of the unknown could stress me out, but for now I find it kind of inviting.  The only thing I can really count on, in fact, is change. Although I understand that’s just the human condition.

The sprouting jar I've been saving for 2010--wherever I end up.

Next week, I should find out where DH will be stationed for his 3-6 months of rehab after his accident.  I don’t know exactly where he’ll be going, but I know it will not be within easy access of our apartment or our village.  I also don’t know exactly when DH will be able to leave the rehab center for the weekend or when he’ll be able to walk with crutches, but I do know that he will not be able to hobble up the winding staircase to our apartment on the fourth floor when he finally gets to that point!  I will, therefore, be moving at some undetermined time (probably within the next month or two) to an undetermined location (although it will be somewhere in South East France).

Simplicity is  a portable lifestyle.  In fact, the more you move, the more you are forced to simplify.  You get rid of things you don’t need.  You break with old habits and learn that some activities simply aren’t worth your time.  Although times of change can sometimes leave me tired, they also force me to travel light.  The more I move on from place to place, the more I realize what is essential–what I really want to carry with me.

What do I intend to take with me into the New Year? I can meditate and do yoga anywhere and I can continue to eat locally and cook up new recipes.  I think I’ll be able to keep my sourdough starter alive–after all, my ancestors kept theirs for decades and only lost it in the long drive in a covered wagon across New Mexico.  I can work on this blog while on the move and probably wherever I end up settling for a while.  As long as I have access to sunlight and water, I should be able to get started on sprouting–my next project.  I already have a perfect sprouting jar that I saved from the holidays!

I haven’t set any specific goals in terms of how much I may be able to simplify or how little I can live with because I don’t want to impose arbitrary limits on what’s possible. I have the feeling I’m facing a period of time in which I’m going to change in ways I can’t yet fully comprehend.  Just like you can’t predict what life has in store for you–you can’t predict what you have in store for yourself or just how far you can take a given direction.  All I know is that this is the beginning.

Looking back and ahead in 2010

Tables set out for the New Year.

Every year on December 31st I take a moment to look back over the year and reflect.  I don’t necessarily like the idea of making resolutions, but I do like to think of the “New Year” as a time to start over and a time to think about whether the daily practice of my life reflects my ideals and my goals.  I usually ask myself a few questions.   This year, I had some snippets of time to think things over between the hospital and my wanderings in Aix-en-Provence.  DH’s hospital is conveniently close to cheerful pedestrian zone.   What is it about wandering around rainy cobbled streets when someone is playing a waltz on the accordion that makes you feel like everything is new and perfect?  Anyway, here are they questions I asked myself this year. . . and a few answers.

Flowers for sale in one of the squares in Aix on New Year's Eve.

Did I grow in some way? This year, I believe I’ve done well in this respect.  I managed to unlearn some of my worst workaholic tendencies.  I also got a look at what really matters in life and have had a chance to whittle things down until I’m left with not much more than the essential.  Our little end of year crisis left a great big exclamation mark on that process, in fact.

Did I learn anything new? I learned at least a little about writing a blog and pottery.  I also learned that when faced with really serious challenges that I’ll be ok–this is a serious revelation to me as I’ve never considered myself to be particularly strong or good in high stress situations.  I suppose I’ve also learned that it’s no use thinking you can’t handle something until you actually try.

Did I take time to enjoy this year–or did I let it slip by between ‘errands.’ I spent 2009 wisely, I think.  Having spent other years unwisely, I know the difference.

Do I have any regrets? This is one of the best years I’ve spent. I wish that I’d found a way to simplify things sooner.  I feel like I spent 2002-2008 in a blur of unecessary stress.  That’s a shame, especially since I realize now that I didn’t have to live like that.

Are there any apologies I need to make? Actually, for what it’s worth, this year I did my apologizing as I went!  Open mouth, insert foot . . .apologize immediately.  That’s how it went.  I can still be a little feisty, but an getting faster in the apology department.  Is that progress?

Holidays in the hospital

What can I do to make next year a little better? I’m going to remember not to worry about all the extra stuff that doesn’t matter.  I’ve got a good start in that department but I still have some work to do if I want to refine my habits.

How do you take stock of your year?  Do you have any new directions for 2010?

Waking up.

You will have noticed that I’ve been out of the blogging world for about two weeks now.  That’s because my husband was in a bad car crash.  It’s been hard, but the fact that he is awake and responding makes me feel very, very thankful.  Things are hardly back to normal, and he is still in intensive care, but I think I may be able to start writing again.  This blog and writing in general mean a lot to me and although my time and energy are limited by these challenging times, I have to say that I know that I won’t be right if I’m not writing.

As my husband has finally had the chance to ‘wake up,’ in a way, I feel like I’m waking up myself.  You may notice from my writing that I’m somewhat in a daze.  Frankly, it doesn’t worry me.  No emotion I might feel–or lack of emotion for that matter–would surprise me.  I’m just glad that DH and I are literally surrounded by family and friends both in close proximity and far off.  I cannot imagine going through this time alone.

I’m also so thankful for the healthcare system in this country.  My husband has received and will continue to receive care that leaves me humbled and everything is covered by the government for now.  Eventually, I understand there will be an investigation into the car crash and the insurance company of the driver at fault will reimburse the government for my husband’s health costs.  I’ll post more about the health care later.

At any rate, it is wonderful to be  back writing again and to have a space in my mind and life to devote to something other than crisis.  I have more to say, and I intend to respond little by little to my backlog of comments, but this post is the first step.  I hope you are all well.