hot

No way is it only 73 F out there. It's only 9:30 in the morning and I'm already sweating. The kids are expecting to be let out early for Hitzefrei--heat-related early release. And the little empress didn't go to kindergarten today because she ran around so much yesterday barefoot that her heel hurts (it looks like some kind of ligament strain/stress to where the ligament connects to the heel). She and two friends (and half the neighbors) ended up splashing in one of the friends'  wading pool yesterday. Cold water, but nice in this heat. (This would be the "German" friend. Her other best friend is half Australian, half German, and born in the US, so it's easy to see why they ended up getting along when we first got here--E was the only kid who could understand her. But everyone in F's family has very English-sounding names, despite a native German accent, and they are all rather freckly, like they're Irish or something. So finally I asked. F's mother is half American. Born in Germany, but her dad is apparently US military, from Mississippi. No wonder they can understand my daughter!) Anyhow, much fun was had, and bathings suits that would scandalize most Americans were borrowed, and next time before the kids run out the door in excitement we'll make sure they have their own suits.

Anyhow, I'm still plugging away at revisions, and I don't like it that the chapter just revised has gotten longer, not shorter. Must think short!!

Finally, here's a sort of meme inspired by edawn, about jobs I wanted to have growing up, and jobs I've actually held.

What I wanted to be:

children's book writer and/or illustrator
international relations...person (something to let me live outside the US)
artist
veterinarian
librarian
bookstore worker
language teacher
(notice that mom isn't on here--I figured it was simply a way of being, not actually work, hahahaha)

What I've actually been:
fast food slave (Taco Bell and Subway)--never, EVER again
telephone answerer for independent study program ("We studied so hard--why didn't we get an A?" Maybe because it was actually your son's homework, not yours?)
proofreader
illustrator
editor
Spanish teacher
ESL teacher
MOM
Not my job--but I have gotten to live outside the US
language teacher to my kids
unpaid expert on do-it-yourself moving

I'm still really, really hoping to be a children's book writer when I grow up.

Hm. Notice that cleaning isn't on any of those lists.

still hot

Okay, people, it's 32C, which is 90 F. It's six pm. This is GERMANY. There is no AC. If you're pregnant, it's like it's 110. So much for all my great intentions to get stuff done today. It is very hard to revise the delicate interworkings of uncertain teen love triangles when you feel like passing out.

I did clear out a bunch of stuff from a closet. It involved dealing with all the stuff that was in there for mending, which meant that my daughter whose heel hurts too much to walk on remembered I'd promised to teach her to sew a doll out of an old sock. So, two hours later, my closet is just as full, only now slightly rearranged, and I just noticed I never hemmed the other leg I trimmed today of the pants I'm wearing. But we did finish the doll together: