The weather here was absolutely beautiful--up until a few days ago when it turned rather nasty. I mean, really, we had sunshine, warmth, a cool but pleasant breeze--we went out to the park down the street every day! Sigh. Now it is cold and wet and windy. Now, normally, I quite enjoy the overcast, rainy weather. However, I've never had three little crazies to deal with all afternoon. It's so much easier to take them to the garden and set them loose on each other; they entertain themselves for hours out there! But when they are stuck inside...sigh. Life gets difficult. Anyway, I decided I would write somewhat about my day to day doings here. I mean, I'll be writing the highlights and the adventures, of course, but there's more to it than that. I've been living with a family very different from my own, and its been challenging/tons of fun adapting and learning about different dynamics and relationships. I think it is important to see other ways of life; it helps you figure out how you want your own to be. Being here has shown me alot about what I do want to do with
my family and what I don't want to do. Future family, that is. Other trips I have been on have taught me to be grateful for what I have materialistically; this trip has taught me to be grateful for what I have spiritually, socially, and mentally. This family really is great; they are just different from my own. Their lifestyle is so different from what I'm used to. The other day, the Farran got upset because the girls were tossing around a hair brush. "Don't do that! It's a $150 brush!" she said. Then, she was sorting out the towels in the bathroom with me, and said, "Oh, those ones are the blahblahblah (some designer's name) towels I got in Italy for $300 on my honeymoon. We'll put them in the back." I mean really, who lives like that? It's absurd. Did I mention that the house across the street sold for $10.5 million just before I got here? Sigh. I'll be grateful to get back to my Target and Smiths and Sam's Club. I'm much more comfortable using $10 towels and $5 hairbrushes. Anyway, the gi
rls are...how shall I put this...less than warm to me in the morning, so I don't do much, because they simply refuse to accept my help. I get breakfast and clean up and make sure their bookbags are together. I do their hair, especially little Farran's. Maggie is the one that is particularly volitile in the morning. Charlotte is a toss-up; she's either really sweet and cute, or just as bad or worse than Maggie. Then, I have most of the day to either do laundry and other chores, or, when I'm lucky, go exploring! The girls get picked up at 5 o'clock three days of the week and 3:30 the other two days (Tuesday and Friday). Depending on when they get out of school, they may have a play date, which either means I have one less charge or one more. I like play dates; they are distracted when they have friends over. It sounds like I don't like these girls...I really do, I promise. Most of the time we have fun and
they are sweet and its wonderful. But a good part of the time they are little devils and I can't do anything with them and they break rules and say that I'm not Mommy so they don't have to listen to me when I say they are in trouble, etc etc. Three of them with that attitude gets exhausting really fast. When one is like that...the others follow suit pretty quickly. Anyway, I really do like it here, I promise! It's a fun little neighborhood; Holland Park is a short walk away, as is the grocery store, the tube station, the boulangerie (bread store), and just about everything else we would ever need. Anything that is not within a five or ten minute walk is within a fifteen or twenty minute walk. It is a wonderful life here.
The weather here was absolutely beautiful--up until a few days ago when it turned rather nasty. I mean, really, we had sunshine, warmth, a cool but pleasant breeze--we went out to the park down the street every day! Sigh. Now it is cold and wet and windy. Now, normally, I quite enjoy the overcast, rainy weather. However, I've never had three little crazies to deal with all afternoon. It's so much easier to take them to the garden and set them loose on each other; they entertain themselves for hours out there! But when they are stuck inside...sigh. Life gets difficult. Anyway, I decided I would write somewhat about my day to day doings here. I mean, I'll be writing the highlights and the adventures, of course, but there's more to it than that. I've been living with a family very different from my own, and its been challenging/tons of fun adapting and learning about different dynamics and relationships. I think it is important to see other ways of life; it helps you figure out how you want your own to be. Being here has shown me alot about what I do want to do with
my family and what I don't want to do. Future family, that is. Other trips I have been on have taught me to be grateful for what I have materialistically; this trip has taught me to be grateful for what I have spiritually, socially, and mentally. This family really is great; they are just different from my own. Their lifestyle is so different from what I'm used to. The other day, the Farran got upset because the girls were tossing around a hair brush. "Don't do that! It's a $150 brush!" she said. Then, she was sorting out the towels in the bathroom with me, and said, "Oh, those ones are the blahblahblah (some designer's name) towels I got in Italy for $300 on my honeymoon. We'll put them in the back." I mean really, who lives like that? It's absurd. Did I mention that the house across the street sold for $10.5 million just before I got here? Sigh. I'll be grateful to get back to my Target and Smiths and Sam's Club. I'm much more comfortable using $10 towels and $5 hairbrushes. Anyway, the gi
rls are...how shall I put this...less than warm to me in the morning, so I don't do much, because they simply refuse to accept my help. I get breakfast and clean up and make sure their bookbags are together. I do their hair, especially little Farran's. Maggie is the one that is particularly volitile in the morning. Charlotte is a toss-up; she's either really sweet and cute, or just as bad or worse than Maggie. Then, I have most of the day to either do laundry and other chores, or, when I'm lucky, go exploring! The girls get picked up at 5 o'clock three days of the week and 3:30 the other two days (Tuesday and Friday). Depending on when they get out of school, they may have a play date, which either means I have one less charge or one more. I like play dates; they are distracted when they have friends over. It sounds like I don't like these girls...I really do, I promise. Most of the time we have fun and 
they are sweet and its wonderful. But a good part of the time they are little devils and I can't do anything with them and they break rules and say that I'm not Mommy so they don't have to listen to me when I say they are in trouble, etc etc. Three of them with that attitude gets exhausting really fast. When one is like that...the others follow suit pretty quickly. Anyway, I really do like it here, I promise! It's a fun little neighborhood; Holland Park is a short walk away, as is the grocery store, the tube station, the boulangerie (bread store), and just about everything else we would ever need. Anything that is not within a five or ten minute walk is within a fifteen or twenty minute walk. It is a wonderful life here.
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