...with the intention of writing if not every day, at least every few days. And then suddenly over a month and a half has gone by, and I've not written a word except for my weekly grocery list and notes to and from my daughter's preschool. Time slips away too easily, and making time to digitally journal my life has gotten shoved onto the back burner. As has cooking (though that may have more to do with the fact that it is blisteringly hot here in Barcelona, and I have zero desire to turn on the stove in our tiny, unairconditioned apartment), cleaning (though to be honest, I've never been too spectacular at that anyway), and reading books made out of paper (no excuse there, I can chalk that one up to wasting time on Facebook and reading celebrity gossip rags...can you believe that Tomkat has come to an end???).
What have I been up to? Well, potty-training my daughter, which is quite the challenge, and has been going on for the better part of a year. Her developmental disorder throws a wrench in all of that, and so we're trying a method using picture cues and a schedule, as she seems not to be terribly bothered by diapers and is quite content to wear them for the foreseeable future. However, we have to get this accomplished by September, as our school requires children to be trained, and if she is not ready then we'll have to look for an alternative option. Cross that bridge when we get there - I'm still hopeful.
Also, Keane and I have been quite the travelers. Last weekend we headed to Paris with a dear friend and my former teaching partner. I love that city, and was excited to see it again - will dedicate a post to the trip in the next few days. Also we went back to the US for a week for family reasons. Good to see the family, but under sad circumstances. We miss you, Paul.
Finally, we are out of our house for a couple of weeks, living as gypsies in the city while a former teaching colleague and his family take up residence in our apartment. We promised him that he could stay there back when we were still planning on making a trip to the US in the summer. When that got shelved, we really couldn't back out, as he had paid for a day camp for his boys, so we asked around school to see who needed their plants watered while they were away for the summer, and scored a couple of housesitting gigs to cover the two weeks. Right now we are staying in the Vila Olympica, near the beach. These are the former apartments of the Olympic athletes from the '92 games. Sort of cool, but I'm a bit shocked that they didn't all have central air. The breeze is nice, but on a night like tonight it gets a bit sticky for sleeping.
Next week we move to a great place behind my favorite shopping mall, which has Jordi excessively worried. I wouldn't be surprised to find that my bankcard has mysteriously disappeared come Thursday when we change apartments.
So there you have it, a new entry. July resolution: write more often. And learn Spanish. And improve Catalan. And eat more salads. Read more books.
Oh right. I have small children. Perhaps I'll just cross the salad bit off of the resolution list to free up some time. I usually just eat the leftovers off of Matilda's plate anyways. And she is most definitely not into salads.
