Things have been a little quite on this blog recently. Life has a way of becoming consuming. I think that life with 3 kids and a job is just busy and full. And then we add in the fact that we live in another country. It's a miracle that we are functioning as well as we are!
Here's my to do list, and the things that I keep thinking, "dang, I've gotta do that!"
1. Take the car to the shop and schedule to get some work done on the brakes. I have to actually go to the shop, because it's way too complicated to try to communicate on the phone with the guy. He talks too fast, I don't know the car vocabulary, and I just can't understand his accent.
2. Schedule 3 mold-removal companies to come out and give us an estimate for removing the mold in the service bathroom and repairing the water damage. Our rental company is really not doing anything to help us with this, so we've got to take matters into our own hands.
3. Make Halloween costumes for the kids. This is the holiday that the kids miss the most. Thankfully the expat group is holding a Halloween Party, and one of Dora's friends is going to possibly have a party. I could go and buy some costumes (it's suddenly become very popular to dress up and go to Halloween parties here), but I can't justify shelling out all that money.
4. Buy tennis shoes for the girls. Unfortunately, Dora's shoes for the US are falling apart (I think her feet are growing) and Beatrice's Brazilian shoes have a big hole in the toe. Not looking forward to schlepping 3 kids to the shoe store to pay well over R$100 for shoes that will probably not last until Christmas.
5. Arrange for babysitters/childcare for some extra work events I have coming up. There's a Teacher's day luncheon this Saturday, and of course the hubby has to work. I could schedule a babysitter, but I'd rather save that money to get a babysitter so I can go to the Opera later in the month. And there's a big event at my school in November, that also happens to coincide with a double rehearsal for the hubby and a big event at the kids' school. So I've got to figure out the logistics for that.
6. Figure out who is going to take care of the cat while we are gone at Christmas. We are taking a trip to the states (yay!), and we're going to be gone the WHOLE vacation. So, I've got to make arrangements for 7 weeks for George. I'm not willing to pay for a cat hotel, plus I think he would be miserable. And we know from experience that we can't take him to somebody else's house. And Irene, our empregada, gets vacation during that time. Any suggestions about what to do?
And these are just the big things, not all the daily stuff that takes up my time. Oh dear, gotta go. Someone needs me to move the car...that's another story.
Here's my to do list, and the things that I keep thinking, "dang, I've gotta do that!"
1. Take the car to the shop and schedule to get some work done on the brakes. I have to actually go to the shop, because it's way too complicated to try to communicate on the phone with the guy. He talks too fast, I don't know the car vocabulary, and I just can't understand his accent.
2. Schedule 3 mold-removal companies to come out and give us an estimate for removing the mold in the service bathroom and repairing the water damage. Our rental company is really not doing anything to help us with this, so we've got to take matters into our own hands.
3. Make Halloween costumes for the kids. This is the holiday that the kids miss the most. Thankfully the expat group is holding a Halloween Party, and one of Dora's friends is going to possibly have a party. I could go and buy some costumes (it's suddenly become very popular to dress up and go to Halloween parties here), but I can't justify shelling out all that money.
4. Buy tennis shoes for the girls. Unfortunately, Dora's shoes for the US are falling apart (I think her feet are growing) and Beatrice's Brazilian shoes have a big hole in the toe. Not looking forward to schlepping 3 kids to the shoe store to pay well over R$100 for shoes that will probably not last until Christmas.
5. Arrange for babysitters/childcare for some extra work events I have coming up. There's a Teacher's day luncheon this Saturday, and of course the hubby has to work. I could schedule a babysitter, but I'd rather save that money to get a babysitter so I can go to the Opera later in the month. And there's a big event at my school in November, that also happens to coincide with a double rehearsal for the hubby and a big event at the kids' school. So I've got to figure out the logistics for that.
6. Figure out who is going to take care of the cat while we are gone at Christmas. We are taking a trip to the states (yay!), and we're going to be gone the WHOLE vacation. So, I've got to make arrangements for 7 weeks for George. I'm not willing to pay for a cat hotel, plus I think he would be miserable. And we know from experience that we can't take him to somebody else's house. And Irene, our empregada, gets vacation during that time. Any suggestions about what to do?
And these are just the big things, not all the daily stuff that takes up my time. Oh dear, gotta go. Someone needs me to move the car...that's another story.
Wow! Your to-do list makes me feel a LOT better about mine! Especially figuring out what to do with your cat for 7 weeks, that's tough! I always think a week or two is difficult -- and I don't live in a foreign country. Good luck with the challenging list!
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