Some changes

I have made some changes to my blog. I have for now opened it to all. This ought to make reading it easier for several people. I realized that some of the people who had asked about my blog (especially here in Belgium) were not able to get to it simply because they are not that internet-savvy. Clicking on a link works much better than having to create a google-account and log in. I am however, not entirely sure yet how I feel about this. My sister-in-law has an amazing blog running and hers is open for the world to see and READ, of course. (check out http://fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com/ but make sure you have TIME to get through it all.) She is a prolific and extremely eloquent writer, professor, fencer (!) and wife and mother, and her blog brings all of these roles and personalities together under the topic of prayer. She is very frank and open in her writings and musings and the whole does indeed have the feel of a meditative diary. Although the fact that it is indeed not a diary which has, as she states an audience of one, surely influences her writing. Still, I feel that she, much more than I, is a little bit more "naked" in her blog. (I have not done much blog-browsing, but I am sure there are some very naked people out there, ha!) Anyway, I asked her about being so open (and vulnerable) to all to see, including students (EEK!) and colleagues (more eek?!). She is about to come to Antwerp for a visit so no doubt we will be talking about all this as she has become a bit of a blog-geek (ha!). So, more on this later. I might at any time change my blog back to the must-log-in type!

Then, I have also changed its http address from "vanessaintexas" to "4NERinanativeland." My original title just did not work anymore. I find myself far away from Texas. However, there is still a connection. Some of you might know that in Texas I drove around with what they call "vanity-license plates" which read "4-NER." I would call myself that vain, but I was proud of the plates! In fact, they are now decoration in my kitchen here in Antwerp. For I was indeed a foreigner there, but I, just as the plate, was for some people hard to figure out. I often saw people staring at them trying to get to the meaning. And I would often say, "no, it is not in reference to the band!" I even had people popping their heads out of their car window and yelling "Cool plates!" but I was never sure whether they meant it or just were pleased they had it figured out after quite some pensive frowning (yes, it took some quite some time... and this is not a comment on Texans in general.) So, here I am in my native land, and still, in many ways a 4NER.

And thirdly, I realized (also examining "fencingbearatprayer" that I often simply do not write because I don't have time to post my photographs. It is more than simply wanting to show you all things, it is a reflection of the person I am. As much as I like words and writing, I am a visual person. In fact, I have been very disappointed that I have indeed had so little time to post what I call "real photos" rather than the quick snap shots which you have been seeing. Last night, when I went upstairs to our bedroom to go to sleep, I got ready for bed in the dark. We don't have curtains yet and I didn't really want my neighbors to see the color of my underwear (not-matching by the way!) But I noticed that they do not seem to mind that too much (the being looked at, I mean.) The houses here are so close together and I can look into several of them on both sides of ours. It made me want to take pictures again -- the "real" kind, something I have not even had the time or energy for in a long time. It is a good feeling for me. But I wondered whether I could. Here was the prime example of the voyeuristic photographer hiding in the dark while staring into the private lives of others. Brassai would have been proud of me. I have lots to muse on this one... but not now, as I, once again, do not have time. For there is much to do while my little one takes her nap, and will surely, wake up very soon. In any case, even with this renewed desire to start taking photographs, I realized it is OK to post without the pictures. So for those who are interested, maybe there will be some more posts. The pics will come, you know, I can't do it otherwise.

The Pics to go with the story

Well, I wrote that pictures would follow. So here goes. The first set was taken before we moved in after the lighting had been installed. You can see in these that the funky floor-protection is still in place (this is the stuff they make juice cartons out of, we had the apple-juice variety down for months!). We were very excited with the lighting, as it made the house seem come to live (oops, is an English instructor allowed to use such a construction?) Now that we are in, we still have several lights to take care of, but these were the (expensive) built-in kind. Some of the others will come from Ikea and such. (More on Ikea later by the way!)



Then there are some pics from the actual move itself. Three guys and a huge lift! It took them a day to unload our container of which we got to keep the seal as a memorabilia. Ha. To me that little blue band might come to serve as a deterrent... never do this again! I will leave the full narrative of that day up to Robert for his blog. All I will say is that loading furniture out of a container, up on a lift, and then into the windows does work a lot better without a sigaret in hand! I am just happy for the prevalence of the lifts in moves these days because these guys had to haul only 1 piece of furniture up some stairs and we have three dented walls! Oh dear. When they came near the antique glass door, I locked myself up in one of the bathrooms simply because I could not even bear to watch!



The next set of pics includes some of a few rooms that are sort of in place. So far really the only floor that is done is Evelina's. Her bedroom and play room are the first we worked on and they are finished. We are still sleeping on that floor too, in the guest bed (i.e. pull-out sofa) since our bed will not arrive until Friday. We have gotten the kitchen somewhat in place but it is still chaos down there, and the living room awaits shelving for all the books. This may take a while still. But, I hope that these will give you an idea should you have been craving for one. Important message to all readers thus, the grey sofa will be your bed when visiting. We have been testing it since we moved in and it sleeps pretty darn good.
































And then there are the cute ones... of little Evelina entering her new and long-awaited and much talked-about room for the first time. Well, actually two rooms. She has a new bedroom with a much bigger bed than ever before (her crib converted to a big bed) and then a play area in the family (and guest) room that is just for her. There was so much to see for her and so many things to reconnect with from Austin that she did not know where to go first. She was truly overwhelmed, and THAT was more than definately worth all the work we put into getting her room ready!






















And now, it is late, I am exhausted, and I am going to lay down on that aforementioned sofa. Just a few more nights and it is free... but any guest has to be able to handle chaos (as well as a host who can't.) Greetings with love. PS: no, I don't usually dress my daughter in combinations of hot pink and red, but there had been an accident at daycare that day and that was all that was in her cubby.... (in case anyone is wondering.)

WE'RE IN!

Well, what I had thought would have happened in by April has finally happened. We are IN the "New House" (as Evelina continues to call it). Let me tell you one thing about this whole ordeal of renovating and moving: I SERIOUSLY underestimated it. Seriously. And that is probably a good thing, or I would have NEVER done it. The results are surely worth it and we are so happy that we are finally here, with all these months of delay, but oh my, this has been such a rollercoaster ride (and I hate rollercoasters!) Major events like moving, living in a foreign country, and others make one learn things about oneself. I learned and am still learning some things throughout all of this. One major thing: I really am not good at all with chaos! I can't stand mess (although I am not even under normal circumstances the neatest person) and I barely function when things don't have a fixed place. I am sure you can imagine that with living in a smallish apartment and all of our stuff first for months stored at the harbor, and then having it all delivered (over 150 boxes of stuff) to a 4-storey house, added to that the new stuff gathered in the apartment I wasn't coping too well! Ha.

The movers came on the 27th of June and with working some weekends while Evelina was blissfully unaware of all the chaos at my parents' house, we managed to get 3 of the 4 floors in decent and livable shape, and 1 bathroom functioning. I have been wanting to write and post pictures but I have been so darn busy with all of this, and work, that some of you are probably wondering but have been afraid to ask what is going on. The pics will come. They show (we think) that it all was indeed worth it... including my sprained wrist, re-injured sciatica, and the bunch of new gray hairs and wrinkles. I swear moving like this makes one 5 years older in a few months time. It is not just the move, it is orchestrating the renovation and the move while life continues on, with now 2 sick cats, work issues, and all the stuff not to be included in the blog. But again, we are in.

In but not done. While some of our workers were way too casual in my opinion (and got yelled at by me for it!) our painter was waaaaayyyyy too much of a perfectionist. What he estimated would take him 5 weeks, ended up taking 8 and he was still not finished when he left on vacation. Sigh... He is too nice to yell at. But it is going to be chaos again when he returns to finish up since now we have furniture and our stuff in the house. He still needs to paint 2 bathrooms, the entire groundfloor, the hallways, the stairs, and the plinths on all floors! 2 weeks, he says, but I have learned my lesson now. I am estimating 5.

The kitchen people will have to come back still for this and that, can't use my dishwasher yet, nor the ovens... And then there are details to be taken care of on every floor, some less inconvenient than others. But we have internet and a high speed server, so I am eager to try out whether uploading pics and video will go faster now. I hope so, so that I can start making this blog a bit more interesting again.

I will start writing about life in general as the renovation chapter is (thankfully) almost over. About my new American friends, and the 2 Korean boys I am tutoring, about our "hood" which we already love, and Antwerp. I hope that I still have readers left, and that all of you are doing well. We only intend to get better and to finally at some point, find some rest again.

With love, vanessa