Little "casa rojo"

The house hunting is over and we've found our little casa rojo. Though it's not very Spanish, it works out perfect for us. We love it! It is technically in Madrid though far enough out to have a bit more space. We also will have pretty sweet views of the city from the terraces. It's about 10 minutes from the kids school (though they'll take the bus), walking distance from the village for groceries, short driving distance from suburbia with big grocers and malls, walking distance from park with bike trails, lakes, playground etc., and a just a short jaunt to the city.


Details
The house may not look very Spanish, but it has quite a few Euro assets. It is a Euro mesh from the London imported door knobs with very Cinderella-ish keys, to the German windows (pretty cool, but I won't go into details), and imported from I-don't-remember-where fire place mantels. The mother/realtor/financial backing behind this endeavor for her children, made sure we knew of all the bells and whistles. It is a semi attached chalet (shares a wall with neighbor). I originally thought I wanted private, but private in Spain means PRIVATE (enclosed by tall gates and shrubs). If we went the private route, the kids probably wouldn't easily be playing with neighbors. There are 4 residences within the ivy covered security gate. The kids can play to their hearts content without me having to worry (they can't get out without a key and no one gets in without a key or permission via video security). In the front there are ramps and cement for biking, along with grass for soccer, sand box for buckets and trucks, and swings for... flying. Behind the swings is a common party room for the kids. Each residence has a private backyard with a private pool (pool and yard maintenance are covered in rent -yipee!). There are 2 buildings which house 4 residents in this gated Utopia -all of which have children. There are 4 rooms on the 2nd floor, so Gavin and Eli will still share. All the bedrooms have a private bathroom with bidet (no kids, it's not a water fountain). The guest sweet on the 3rd floor, has 2 large rooms, closet area, bathroom (pictured above with footed bath tub), and terrace with amazing views. So book now! In the basement there is the laundry room, maid's quarters (probably my craft area), ample storage, and garage. The garage has a hose and drain right inside, so you can wash your car privately (nobody wants to see ya shirtless in those cut-off jean shorts, pot belly hanging over, hairy back blowing in the wind). There is a bidet looking thing also in the garage for dumping mop water, or soap suds, rinsing muddy boots, etc. Who thinks of these things? Needless to say, I'm quite excited about this "vacation" from some of our responsibilities. Renting definitely has it's perks, though, I may go crazy looking at all the white walls. The next Madrid post will be equally gag worthy as I've fallen in love with the city. Just a warning.

Excuse me, I just found out it's casa roja. That's why I need Brett around.

We Have Been Spooked

The Halloween Phantom visited our house the other night!
You can get the scoop by checking out this site.
I went outside to look at the full moon and there was something on our doorstep.
Thank you phantom-we are enjoying the goodies!

Mom (Grandma Ross)

The Trap Has Been Set

A few days ago I was sitting on the couch knitting and before I knew it, Eli had taken my skein of yarn and wrapped it all around the house. He thought it was great fun but I was frantic because I didn't want him to break the yarn. He was so excited about doing it again and got the rest of the kids excited too. Cohen and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby today to get them each their own skein of yarn and then the fun began. While they were doing their "work" Brett and Amy called and Gavin told on me-I forgot to put the garage door down when I went to pick up the kids from school yesterday! He said they were making a "trap" in case anyone wanted to break in our house and believe me, it is hard to get around in the house. I don't know how long we will have this yarn trap up but my guess would be that it will be down by tomorrow-although it is good exercise stepping over and dodging under the trap!

Mom (Grandma Ross)

More Adventures

One of the best things about being in Ohio or Kentucky this time of year is enjoying the beauties of fall. Yesterday we went to the park so Gavin could take tennis lessons. The kids played at the playground but the beautiful autumn leaves were a great background for a photo op with Addie and Cohen. Amy's friend Sharese invited us to go with the ward "playgroup" today to the pumpkin patch. It was swarming with moms and kids but the kids had a great time running all around, playing and looking at the barnyard friends (horses, chickens, goats, peacocks, bunnies, etc.) We took our lunch and ate at the picnic tables there. I enjoyed meeting some of Amy's friends from the ward-they all must love her! We had enough time to stop at the house for a potty break and then the twins were off to school.
P.S. We couldn't resist buying small pumpkins for each of the kids. Adalie wanted to carve hers immediately but we decided to get some permanent markers and draw faces on them instead, so they won't be rotten by the end of the week!

Mom (Grandma Ross)

24 hour conclusion

We've been in Madrid for a little over 24 hours and so the first impression has been made. No, I'm not panicking at what we've gotten ourselves into, though I do feel stress over some aspects. I'm totally stressed over driving -too many round abouts and multi-lane streets without lane markings where cars just seem to dance. I say dance, because although witnessing it makes my blood pressure soar, horns aren't honking, I haven't seen any accidents, and the cars are just maneuvering around each other in what I guess is some sort of orderly chaos. I'm not sure where you go for this sort of dancing lesson.

I also realize I can't put off learning Spanish any longer. I've been so afraid of proving the old adage "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" true, that I haven't attempted. Visiting the country has helped me see that it's better to try and butcher the language than to walk around in a fog. It's a good thing Brett speaks Spanish and it will get us by for now, but for any feeling of personal independence, I 'm going to have to learn that "salida" doesn't mean salad bar.

I love hotel windows that open and let in the fall air. The Spanish must be much smarter than Americans, because this would never last in the States. Someone would fall out (probably dangling their feet while taking a picture of the oddity of 7th floor opening windows), there would be major law suits, and walah! No more hotel windows that open. Guess I better pull my feet in before Spain loses their right to open windows.

I love what little I've seen of the culture. As mentioned earlier, no one is honking or giving the bird when cut off. There seems to be an abundance of love in the air. Couples holding hands and swooning over each other left and right. Here my mind says "awe... love...", versus my normal "Get a room!" thought process. Big groups of "youngsters" (just how old am I?), in their 20's just hanging out. Not partying, just enjoying a good chat with each other. Families out walking and playing in the abundantly situated parks. Rarely did I see cell phone usage, apparently the art of face to face is not lost here. It just makes me happy to see people living enjoyably in a big green city (ranked Europe's 2nd greenest city).

I also loved that people put a little effort into there appearances. It made it very dream like to walk the tree lined city streets, passing families pushing their buggies with boutique outfitted children in tow (dresses and pea coats for girls, button up shirts and sweater or blazers for boys -with converse shoes). Mom in her heeled boots, size 0 jeans, and trendy trench with scarf of course, holding hands with Dad wearing Italian leather shoes, casually faded jeans, a collared button up, and brown corduroy blazer. I have not yet seen a single sweat suit or lounge pant yet, but we haven't been outside the business district. Don't get me wrong, I do like my comfy clothes, but it's nice to see some effort made. We went on a cruise a few years ago, and people were boarding in sweats and big fuzzy SLIPPERS! I mean come on!

Brett loves the "clean" culture. Bidet's, to be more exact. To quote him, "you wouldn't wash a car without water, so why...".

And with that, I'll sign off until our trip is over.

A Working Vacation

No, this isn't Amy...this is the temporary mom for the week-Grandma Ross. I have the privilege of caring for Gavin, Eli, Adalie, and Cohen this week while Brett and Amy are in Madrid-scouting out the area for a home. We (the kids and me) took off in the car Saturday afternoon and ended up at the Underwood's. Trevor and Boston had evening baseball games and so the rest of the kids kept busy at the ballpark, running around the diamond on the unoccupied field, throwing rocks into a nasty bucket of water and sliding down a big pile of gravel! Needless to say, they all needed baths when we got home.
Sunday, we went to Church with Traci and Zane and all the cousins-we took up the whole row! The kids went to primary and Cohen and Mallory went to the nursery. All seemed to be going well until the nursery leader brought Cohen into me and said that he just started sobbing and couldn't stop. Cohen said later that he was just "sad". We had a great time in Kentucky and returned home last night about 7:45 pm. The drive home was great-we were treated to a spectacular sunset-in my rear-view mirror and an almost full moon in a beautiful clear sky. The weather here has been hot-upper 80's but we aren't complaining.
Hope you are having fun in Spain, Brett and Amy. All is well here!

Mom(Grandma Ross)

Is it yunch tine?

Cohen is very fixated on chocolate milk but we only let the kids drink it at lunch time. Here's a few of his latest conversations regarding the shortage around here.

Cohen: I want choc -it milt. Is it yunch tine? (9:42 am)

Me: No not yet, you just finished breakfast.

Cohen: Is it yunch tine? (9:44 am)

Me: No honey, not yet.

Cohen: Is it yunch tine? (9:45 am)

Me: No. Are you hungry?

Cohen: Is it yunch tine? (growing very impatient like I wasn't understanding his question)

Me: Sorry buddy, not yet.

Cohen: Dote tell me dat. Is it yunch tine?

Me: (sigh, chuckle)

________________________

Me: Hey guys, it's dinner time! (hollering to the front yard where the kids were playing)

Big kids run in, leaving Cohen. Me rescuing abandoned 4th child. Our conversation as I carried him in.

Cohen: Is it yunch tine? (With hope in his voice)

Me: No, we already had lunch, it's dinner time now.

Cohen: Jus one more tine? (holding up 1 finger, and pleading with his eyes)

Me: No...Gavin go sit up at the table. Addie put the coloring book away.

Cohen: One more tine? (index finger still in air, eyes even more pleading)

Me: (sigh, chuckle)

________________________

Brett in the car late at night with only Cohen.

Cohen: You be Tohen (Cohen), I be Da-ee (Daddy)

Brett: Can I have some chocolate milk?

Cohen: No, it not yunch tine.

Brett: But I want some chocolate milk.

Cohen: you have choc-it milt when yunch tine.
________________________

I'm really not as strict as it sounds and maybe we should let him drink chocolate milk all day (against doc's advice, because he won't have room for other necessary nutrients). But I so enjoy the squeal of delight EVERY lunch time that accompanies hands in the air and jumping up and down. "Yay! Choc-it milt! Yay! Choc-it milt!" And so I comfort myself knowing that little pleasure is derived from things enjoyed too frequently.

Here's a little support from something I found on my friend Lisa's blog from a book she was reading. "The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less".

"We probably can do more to affect the quality of our lives by controlling our expectations than we can by doing virtually anything else. The blessing of modest expectations is that they leave room for many experiences to be a pleasant surprise....The challenge is to find a way to keep expectations modest, even as actual experiences keep getting better."
"One way of achieving this goal is by keeping wonderful experiences rare. No matter what you can afford, save great (chocolate milk) for special occasions. This may seem like an exercise in self-denial, but I don't think it is. On the contrary, it's a way to make sure that you can continue to experience pleasure."

Organizing, Boreganizing

I'm having trouble buckling down and organizing. I look around and it's just too overwhelming. It's too early to have separate "wild Spanish yonder" and "locked up storage" piles, as my special helpers would soon create their own organizational piles like the "withstood banging" pile, "doesn't bounce when thrown from 2nd floor" pile, and the "makes a good cape" pile.

So this is me taking the bull by the horns to get 'er done. Thought I'd start with something easy and reduce some paper pile-up. 40 minutes of looking through magazines to make sure I've ripped out all the good ideas, when my eyes flit around the room and I am overcome with the desire to finish a project I had started a couple months ago. Finishing projects = good, yes, could count as organizing. Except that the nature of the project makes absolutely no sense when one is moving out of one's house in six weeks. But hey, my little helpers will know exactly where to put their towel for the next six weeks. I need my friend Emily to come and crack that organizing whip.

Background: I recently repainted the bathroom (to cover Eli's artwork of course). The sink area and bathroom/shower area are separated by a door. In the shower room, we hung a 1x4 chair rail on the walls to where we attached towel hooks. Previously, if we were lucky there would be 4 towels barely dangling from an over crowded towel bar. Usually less, given that someone's towel was sure to be in a heap on the floor, to which all fingers pointed at each other. To solve this, I took them to the store where each chose their own towel color. Now we don't have to stumble upon a wet towel piled on the closet floor, a quick look at our color coded bathroom wall gives it all away and usually sends somebody running. Though now that their names are up, they love to hang their towels (and it's vinyl lettering, so it peels right off).

When I get around to it, I'll post more pics of the bathroom on Painted Lollipop.