unmotivated

I have a ton to do, but instead have been looking on everyone's blog that I know of and reading all the celebrity gossip and looking at anything that will distract me from what I should do: write. So I'll blog to waste a bit more time... The last few weeks have been terrible! The first disappointment was Atlas breaking his arm. Both bones in his forearm. Skateboarding. Then he got the stomach bug. At first I thought it was a reaction from all the drugs they gave him at the hospital, but it wasn't. Think big kid, a lot of poopy laundry! right arm not useful... Then Emilia got her eye scratched by Paris flailing her arms with a tube of toothpaste. Being a great big sister, she was helping her brush her teeth and Leif thought it funny to turn off the bathroom light. There are no windows in the bathroom and it was dark. Emilia went along with it and started to make spooky noises. After a trip to the doctor and two weeks later her eye is almost white again. I was sure she would be blind in that eye. Then our renter was ready to skip to another place with out finding replacements and wanted something cheaper. A contract is a contract and the market is different in March than August... Oh the stress, but I am loving the law of contract!
We are taking our first real family vacation in many years and have had trouble with our car rental. We tried to reserve a 6 passenger and they would charge us once the car was confirmed. One was not to be had. Instead someone thought it ok to give us a 5 seater. (Three is the magic number- kids that is) They imposed a reservation on us that would not fit the family, charged our card, and now gave us a fine for cancelling a reservation we did not make and we can't get a hold of anyone who will do anything!!
On the upside, Atlas' cast could come off in a week, but we'll be out of town, so he has to wait. Where we are going is supposed to be 10 degrees Celsius warmer (I don't know what that translates to in Fahrenheit, but a lot more). I should be done writing anything that needs to be written and all I'll need to do is get a bit of a tan while I revise for my exams at the end of the month. Oh, and the icing on the cake is that I finally went to the salon to get my hair done and it is the funniest (ugliest) color. Think tree-trunk and stripes or a skunk. I had the girl re-do it and she tried with out much success. I won't ever go back to her. The next month will continue to be hat time- lovely pictures to follow... I am still able to smile so nothing is life shattering. And instead of having a break-down, I baked two cakes in one afternoon and have taken some beautiful walks. Glasgow is getting some color.
Tuscany, let the sun shine on us... PLEASE!

The bread

Atlas made a loaf while Paris and I made the other- I sort of combined two recipes... the first from epicurious.com and the second from williams-sonoma.com I didn't have any wheat bran or germ so I added more oats and I can't find buttermilk here and we didn't have any plain yogurt so I made my own buttermilk with milk and apple cider vinegar... And it is perfect toasted with a lot of butter and jam...

Brown Soda Bread
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons toasted wheat bran
3 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 cups (about) buttermilk

preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; mix well. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Stir in enough buttermilk to form soft dough. Transfer dough to prepared loaf pan. Bake until bread is dark brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack. Turn right side up and cool on rack.

Irish Soda bread (williams-sonoma.com)
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat bran
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 425°F. Place a baking sheet in the oven to preheat.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, bran, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the yogurt and stir to blend, forming a rough ball. The dough will start rising as soon as the baking soda comes in contact with the yogurt, so work quickly to form the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently for about 30 seconds. The dough should feel soft to the touch. Dust a clean work surface with flour and set the ball of dough on it. Flatten slightly into a 7-inch dome and sprinkle with flour, spreading the flour lightly over the surface. Using a sharp knife, cut a shallow X in the loaf from one side to the other. Transfer the loaf to the preheated baking sheet.

Bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm. Any leftover bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Makes 1 loaf.

Exile

Sunday breakfast this morning was Irish soda bread- made with Atlas and Paris, and a boiled egg. So British. So funny. So yummy and so very easy. No pictures because it is all gone. Over breakfast Rich and I were talking about some things we missed- Rich misses our salad bowl. A great wooden one from Chris and Guillermo . I miss my kitchenaid, of course, but my blender and food processor too. I miss our backyard, garden and Poppet the rotten, bad dog. I miss my two sister not near me. Richard laughed and said that he felt like he was in exile... I said that it was self-imposed exile. I love it here. I really do. I love the grocery stores here and all the quick-make stuff that I would never buy in the States. The other day Paris said she wanted to go home and play with her best friend... I told her this is home. It is really starting to feel like it even with only having about 10% of my (our) things here. I have three teaching weeks left of my fist year. There are some really hard days with the kids- they are what makes this trip hard- missing their friends and my mom guilt. But I like school. I am so glad we are doing this. I am so glad we are here- through all the pain and tears (mostly mine). After exams in May, I don't have school until September! I got a bit carried away a few weeks ago not having seen the sun in a long time and booked a few trips to sunny places...

This is a trip to castle on the beach- we hiked along the shore and climbed cliffs. Poor Paris thought she was going to die, but it was (in her opinion) the best day of her life!

buses

I really like public transportation. here. I get really stressed driving. Not the least of my worries is that there are no parking spaces and of course the whole driving on the "wrong side of the road", the car is stinky (I could keep going)... We have a bus stop at the bottom of our street. If we are running a bit late the bus is great. We even force our children to take the bus. Sometimes just the kids alone. This past week was mid-term break for the kids, but not for me. So we signed the kids up for camp- they had to take the bus to the camp and home. It is about 2-3 miles from our flat. They thought the bus was torture and didn't want to wear their tennis clothes on the bus- so embarrassed etc. ( I honestly can't believe that they are mine sometimes- all that vanity has to come from Rich) It reminded me of when I was young and would have given a whole lot to be able to ride the city bus. I once snuck with my best friend to town- we got a ride from her neighbor and then took the bus home. As we were waiting for the bus in town, some acquaintance of my mom's saw us and called and told my mom. I was 12ish. Anyways I got in a ton of trouble- for taking the bus. It still makes me mad. Cammie and I would bike for miles and miles and for hours and hours on country roads. We had no way of calling, and my mom didn't seem to mind us being gone, but when it came to the bus incident I was put on "restriction" for weeks. And now I make my kids ride the city bus. I sure showed her!

And this summer, when I have nothing to do, I am going to finally start my book. The title will be "Living With Lice: A mother's account of city life in Glasgow".

to a louse...

Great poem, but you don't have to read it. Scroll down for my notes...

To a Louse
Robert Burns
(On seeing a louse on a lady's bonnet at church!)

Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie!
Your impudence protects you sairly:
I canna say but ye strunt rarely
Owre gauze and lace;
Tho' faith, I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunned by saunt an' sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her,
Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner,
On some poor body.

Swith, in some beggar's haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle
Wi' ither kindred, jumpin cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn or bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.

Now haud ye there, ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rels, snug an' tight;
Na faith ye yet! ye'll no be right
Till ye've got on it,
The vera tapmost, towering height
O' Miss's bonnet.

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an' grey as onie grozet:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I'd gie ye sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum!

I wad na been surprised to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy;
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi!—fie!
How daur ye do't?

O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin!
Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin!

O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
And ev'n Devotion!

So last week was Burns supper night, thus the ever so appropriate poem, and I discovered that all 4 kids have/had lice! It is so yuck. After two treatments in 2 days, still half of my children have a few tiny lice that I, as mother monkey, pick out. After washing everything and becoming experts on head lice removal I am ok with the few that remain. My head itches incessantly. I have treated myself and Rich and we check each other's heads, but so far have been pronounced clean. We'll be doing treatment no. 3 for all next week. I had three extra kids the weekend before the discovery and dreaded telling the moms. I was so surprised when each told me that their kids had it too! Not really, but they told me that it wasn't the first time and one mom said that she keeps a special comb by the tub for nit removal at every bath. Great.

I have been feeling a little guilty that I don't read as much to Paris as I did the rest and over Christmas was worrying that she was never going to be able to read- bad mom syndrome... Well the first week back to school she started writing and writing. Lists and cards and everything and I bought two little easy readers and she reads! Such relief! She is on track... no thanks to me unless my genes count for something. Thank you teachers at school. (I do read to her, just not as much as I did to the others). So Poor Paris, as the baby does get special treatment. The other day she would not eat salad or something so I fed her at her request- it is a bit of a joke because she know that I'll give her giant bites and it will take 2 where as when she does it, it takes way to long, but as she opened big, I freaked out because she had her big teeth coming in on the bottom row! A little baby shark! She told me her teeth were loose, but I didn't think so- well that night she pulled her first tooth out. She was so brave. The tooth fairy even remembered to visit.

So last weekend when we had all the extra kids, for breakfast one said he wanted soda. Well we had sparkling water and juice, so I told them all to cast a spell and make soda (Leif and his best friend are witches). The friend quickly cast his spell, "tick tock make it cock". (Coke) Love the Glaswegian accent. I started giggling, so did another little older, American friend/kid who was over. Rich then cast his, "Fire and smoke turn to coke". Magically the sparkling water and juice came together.

Back to the Grind...

The good news is that I passed my Criminal Law Class- with a nice grade. Not an A, but close... I am very relieved. All during the break I was planning my return to the states. I thought about admitting defeat. Quitting. It was all set... and then I passed! So we are here and it feels good.

I tried to make books for the kids for Christmas, but that didn't happen. I thought about baking, but that didn't happen either. For Atlas' birthday he got a giant store-bought panatone! The shame of having a store-bought cake! However, I did relax and finally go to the movies (after not going for 4 months) and I did make the books for the kids when they went back to school- maybe I'll give the books to them for Valentine's Day...


I love living here. I was really prepared for rain and rain and rain. It hasn't been awful (yet?). The days are short and the sun sometimes doesn't come out but there are still a few roses in bloom in the odd garden and hydrangeas are starting to bud. It is still so green. The trees, even without their leaves, are majestic. And best of all, I love the buildings- the church spires and towers.

My vacation is almost over!

These three weeks we have done it all! Had Lovely family in town-
(this is the park behind our house) we miss Dreamy (Dries) terribly, celebrated a birthday- Atlas turned 12! Christmas, our 13 anniversary, a trip to Paris just Rich and me,


New Years and the Deadly UK Flu. I am recovering just now and the three littles are in the midst of it. Some highlights: me holding Paris who was just starting to get sick, Leif who had been complaining all morning that he was not feeling so good but begging to go play with his Scotland best friend. He told me that he felt like throwing up so I told him to go to the kitchen. He turned his head and started to throw up just as Richard walked in the door. I started laughing so hard. Poor Paris asked me why I was laughing. It was the culmination of the last 4 days. Me on the couch and now more sick kids to deal with. Poor Rich. Fast forward 16 hours. It is the early morning and I can't sleep. Dizzy and awake on the couch, Emilia enters announcing that she feels like throwing up. I tell her to go to the kitchen, she doesn't make it. Rich is asleep and the mess is up to me to clean. I wasn't laughing.

Our next challenge was getting rid of the Christmas tree. We are on the second floor of our flat and although we have wood floors, the stairs and entrance are all carpeted. There is no way that I'll vacuum up the millions of needles that will fall and neither will Rich, so our alternative is to toss the tree out our window.

It was a success!
And we never did any Christmas cards or any more Christmas pictures...