French apartment renovations, Day 524: Filled to the brim

12,517 steps

It was time for a trip to the dechetterie (dump). Time for 2 trips, in fact. We had probably 100 bags of rubble plus all the leftover subfloor, drywall, and other scraps. We fillled up the car twice and the last load was floor to ceiling.

After lunch I did some last wall prep: touchup jackhammering, preparing where the outlets will go near the stone wall. We're ready to put in the lime mortar! That took me to school pickup time.

Eric, Ivy, and I went to the beach for a quick swim before dinner. Dio and Inga were at friend's houses.

The dishwasher in Le Catamaran is all installed, so now we have a uniform line of kitchen cabinets! I still need to install the kickplate (plinthe) and the range hood.

I made steamed broccoli and pork chops in mustard cream sauce for dinner. Dessert was leftover tarte au chocolat.

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French apartment renovations, Day 523: Dust cloud

I spent all day jackhammering mortar on the stone wall. It's pretty much ready for the lime mortar to be reapplied. At the end of the day, I reversed the shop vac and blew out all the joints, which raised enormous clouds of dust. So much that I could only see a few feet in front of me.

I slipped out of the room, showered, and waited for the dust to settle. Even in the hallway it was hazy for a while--the dust had leaked through small cracks. Ivy helped me wash the 4 flights of stairs.

Tomorrow we've planned a few trips to the dechetterie (waste station) because we have so much debris it would take far too long to throw away one or two bags at a time.

Before and after that work day, I also had a busy day with my breech stuff. We've opened 4 new workshops in Australia in the past 2 days and have a 5th in the works!

I was so covered in dust in this picture that it's a bit hard to tell how pervasive it was...until I washed my hands after taking the picture and saw the difference!

Eric caught a denti (common dentex) and a saupe (sarpa) for dinner. Eat local! Eat wild!

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French apartment renovations, Day 522: Mulberries & Mother's Day

10,965 steps

I passed a tiny little park filled with mulberry trees, where we pick berries every year. I had a container with me so I harvested a big bowl full. It would have been much more effective had I had a large sheet and some kids to shake the branches.

Eric was busy all afternoon helping prepare for a James Baldwin conference coming to Nice. But the rest of us had a lovely relaxing afternoon. I read a book, took a short nap, and then made dinner (creamy herbed pork chops and tarte au chocolat).

It's mother's day in France today so I got some very cute homemade cards and poems from Ivy and Inga.

We had a dinner discussion about what makes up our personal moral compass. I was listening to some podcast--can't remember which one--and the interviewee was discussing this idea. I asked all the kids to write down things that guided their own moral compass and then to write how they would describe mine and Eric's. Then I gathered all the papers and we guessed who wrote what. We don't always have Serious Discussions but this was a fun activity and, I hope, reminded the kids that they can be intentional about the values they live by.

Inga made some teeny tiny colored pencils today. So clever! I took this picture about halfway through her project.

 

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French apartment renovations, Day 521: Marathon wedding

7,282 steps, 552 km, & 6.5 hours on the road

I didn't realize how far away this wedding was--waaaaaay out in a chateau near Carpentras (in Provence), 3+ hours drive each way. For all the driving we did, the actual playing only took a bit over an hour. It was a bit chaotic as the wind would blow our music stands over and flip our pages. We had to weigh everything down with big water bottles and fasten the pages with clothespins.

This was a destination wedding for a German couple; all of the guests were staying at the chateau. I am always so intrested in getting these peeks into other people's lives, even if it's from behind my music stand.

We were in Provence, which is perpetually windy. It was much drier than in Nice, with a rushing wind blowing through the cedars and junipers, raising a sun-baked smell that is disctinct to that region.

I was gone from 10:30 am until 8:30 pm and am totally and utterly exhausted.

Eric was gone all afternoon and evening at Inga's soccer tournament (yes, another one!). They won the tournament and Inga scored a total of 6 goals in all of the games.

Dio had a special visit to the OGC Nice headquarters (the big professional soccer league here in Nice) and then they watched a match with the U17 team.

Zari and Ivy went to the beach together in the afternoon. Then around dinner time we started getting texts: "Hi mama, what are we supposed to eat?" I told them to make do with whatever leftovers they could find.

I need another Saturday to recover from this Saturday!

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French apartment renovations, Day 520: Work, swim

8,687 steps

This morning I painted the baseboards in Le Catamaran with the final coat of paint. It was oil-based and a bit stinky. Then I set to installing the spacer bewteeen the washing machine and dishwasher. Eric installed the outside facade of the top cupboards.

Once that was in, I built a platform for the dishwasher to bring it to the correct height. All 4 corners had to be slightly different heights to make the top of the platform perfectly level. I got it cut exactly to the last millimeter.

The dishwasher is now installed and in place. I have to adjust the door slightly but otherwise it's done!

Inga was gone all afternoon in Villefranche with a soccer friend. She came back with a bad sunburn (despite putting on sunscreen) and is now having a hard time sleeping.

Zari had a soccer practice, but the rest of us who were still home went to the beach in the late afternoon. Ivy begged me to get my hair wet (I usually put it up in a bun). She was so happy when I agreed.

Eric is playing in a soccer tournament tonight, so I'll have a quiet evening by myself.

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French apartment renovations, Day 519: Work, play, and practice

9,002 steps

Eric and Inga had an early start this morning for a day-long tournament in Nice. Inga played 8 games and her team won 2nd place.

I set to work sanding and priming the baseboards in Le Catamaran. Ivy and two vounteer helpers started stripping the Renaissance desk. I had a fun time listening to her chattering away with them.

I cut the "joue" (spacer) that goes between the washing machine and dishwasher. Our solid wood countertop is strong enough that we don't really need it for support, but we already planned for it so it needs to go there to avoid a large gap. I need to buy some L-brackets so I can attach it to the floor & underside of the countertop.

Here's a picture of the "cadre noeud marin" that we hung up. It has miniature demonstrations of all sorts of nautical knots. I should take a closeup picture.

And then mid-afternoon...fun! I forced all the kids to go to the beach with me, knowing they would enjoy it once we were there. Everyone swam, even Dio, for whom it was the first swim of the season.

I had a practice for another wedding: this time we're playing mainly Coldplay arrangements, with some Josh Groban, Ed Sheeran, and Justin Bieber. I love the state of flow I get into when I'm playing--I have to dedicate every neuron, every ounce of energy, to making music. It feels as if something else takes over my normal mental processes. I'm glad I gave up my plan of being a professional musician after my first year of university--playing my violin for fun, rather than for pay, is way better. 

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French apartment renovations, Day 518: Old portholes

6,426 steps

Ivy helped me with some quiet tasks in Le Catamaran this morning. We started stripping the Renaissance desk but decided it was too stinky without respirators. (We're using denatured alcohol as it appears to be shellac.) So instead we hung up some decorations and prepared the baseboards for sanding and repainting.

A while back I bought an enormously heavy set of bronze porthole windows. They are salvaged off an old boat. We lugged them upstairs for a good scrubbing with a paste made of vinegar, flour, and salt. I cleaned them up but didn't go overboard by taking off all of the patina.

For the one that is solid bronze, I'm thinking of having a mirror cut to size with the edges polished and then gluing the mirror onto it. This will be the mirror in the WC.

For the one with glass, I'm going to hang it on one of the walls with a colorful picture of underwater sea life behind it, as if you're looking out through a porthole into the ocean.

I worked on the false front for the washing machine and got one of the two holes drilled with the forstner bit.

Ivy and I had time after soccer/grocery shopping to go swimming. It was lovely.

It is officially the weekend for the kids as of today--holidays tomorrow and Friday. I need to rope them into helping me in the Communist apartment!

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French apartment renovations, Day 517: And the walls came tumbling down

5,517 steps

I got a workout today: mudding and sanding in the morning and jackhammering all afternoon. I didn't take very many steps but I think today qualified as exercise.

Today's video is fun because we did a fast-motion time lapse. I haven't done one of those in a while. If you ever need a way to de-stress, please consider jackhammering. It's hard work and you get to destroy stuff and you can't really fret about anything when you're in the middle of it.



I didn't quite finish but it was already time to pick the girls up from school and I was tired. Probably finish on Thursday since Wednesday is our "stay quiet in the morning" day for our neighbors.

We tested Zari and she was negative for Covid. She stayed home all day and was looking miserable in the morning, but felt much better by the end of the day.

We had guests over for dinner and indulged in Tuscan butter gnocchi and lemon cheesecake (my turn to cook).

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French apartment renovations, Day 516:

5,889 steps Super busy day. I woke up early (happens a lot in the summer months) and tried to pretend I was asleep. It didn't work. Breech work until the girls went to school, renovation work, breech work during lunch, more renovation work until school pickup. Breech work, cook dinner, and more breech work. Then Bridgerton to end the evening :) We are probably 75% done with the final sanding of the drywall. I have a few small spots that need the last coat of mud and then that part will be done! We're still waiting for the wall smoothign compound to arrive (enduit garnissant). I ordered it back on April 13 we've had multiple delivery days scheduled and the company never showed up any of the times. Yet another thing to track down...I spent a half hour on hold this evening and finally gave up. Zari is feeling sick. We might have to get her tested tomorrow morning.

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French apartment renovations, Day 515: Slow day & a movie

6,259 steps

I slept terribly, or rather, I didn't sleep much a all. Just my brain involuntarily stressing about something and I couldn't turn it off. Ah well...I took it easy this morning. Well okay, I confess, my "taking it easy" turned into "finish writing the breech practice guidelines" but it was a nice quiet morning!

We watched a totally stupid ridiculous movie: Red Notice. Badly predictable and almost worthy of MST3K style commentary. But fun just because it was so bad.

Dio built a homemade toy gun for his stuffed animal Indy. Zari was very concerned.

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French apartment renovations, Day 514: Down time

7,633 steps

Eric was gone all day helping out at a big Cavigal tournament for under-13 boys. AND yesterday, too. He has a hard time saying no. I keep telling him, "If poeple ask you to do something that you don't want to do, tell them you need to talk with me first." But he's too nice.

So we had a relaxed morning. I picked up a 25-kg bag of MAP and hauled it home in my shopping cart. I worked on editing a practice guideline document. Meanwhile the kids built a huge fort throughout the living room.

After lunch we headed to the beach. It was quite windy and I ultimately didn't go in the water. But it was so nice to just sit and relax...even nap a bit...read a book.

We watched the final between Barcelona & Lyon for the women's champion's league. It was an exciting game and our favorite team (Lyon) won.

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French apartment renovations, Day 513: A 3 1/2 shower day

Yes, 3.5 showers today. #1 in the morning, #0.5 before lunch (I rinsed my arms, legs, and face off in the shower without actually geting my whole body wet), #2 at the end of the work day, and #3 after going swimming.

It was a dusty day of sanding, mudding, cutting channels in stone & plaster, and jackhammering. I had so much gunk in my contacts that, even after cleaning them, it still looked like there was dust in the air. (And this is despite wearing fully sealed safety goggles.)



I took Zari to an orthodontist appointment. We got home right as eveyrone else came back from school. Inga and Dio had other things going on, but the rest of us had a glorious hour at the beach. I swam for the second time this season.

I endeed the day with a 2-hour Zoom call with 3 breech experts. We're putting together breech guidelines, but unlike any other guideline that's out there. (If you want a medical guideline written by an obstetrical society, there are plenty out there. We're not trying to reproduce that.) Our guidelines are based on physiological birth and written primarily from the deep experience of providers who have spent decades attending well over 1,200 vaginal breech births, close to 1,000 sets of twins, and many sets of triplets.

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French apartment renovations, Day 512: Bad Guy with a string quartet

We've started watching Bridgerton after the kids go to bed. Now that I've played the music for it, I got curious to see the series. I keep saying, "I played that song! Ooh, I played that one too!" It's fun to have something frivolous to do in the evening, since the rest of my day is nonstop work.

Renovation work today was more mudding and sanding and a bit of wiring.

I had two different Zoom meetings today, one to discuss an upcoming publication that I'm co-authoring, the other a breech live session. More Zoom meetings tomorrow to discuss breech practice guidelines.

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French apartment renovations, Day 511: Forced fun & a happy birthday to Eric

10,937 steps

Dio had no school today due to the "brevet blanc" being held at his middle school. And Wednesdays are off for elementary school. They really wanted to go to the skate park, so I agreed to take them. I left Eric, who suited up to sand the joint compound.

And...it's Eric's birthday! Happy 48 (which sounds SO OLD when I say it). We still feel like we're in our 20s so it's really bizarre to see the numbers creep upward.

I've been trying out this new "Too Good To Go" app for reducing food waste and today's haul was great. I bought expired chocolates from one store and perishables from another. We also got Eric a delicious birthday cake from Lac. It was super lemony with about 7 different layers, from crisps to crumbles, to mousses and sponges, all lemon flavored.

I brought Ivy to the beach after soccer/grocery/errands, but the sun disappeared before we got there. Ivy swam until she got stung by a jellyfish. I would have swum but it was too cold without the sun.

And now I'm getting off my computer so Eric and I can celebrate his birthday. First we've got to get our teenagers to bed...

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French apartment renovations, Day 510: Mud, friends, dinner guests

I had a full morning of work mudding and sanding. I was so dusty that I had to shower. I should have washed my hair, too, because it was still gray when I came out of the shower. So I settled for vacuuming it instead.

I got the washing machine in Le Catamaran leveled and in its final resting spot. It's now awaiting the facade door that will "hide" it.

Zari had a friend over during an afternoon break. They came and took a quick look while I was still up on the scaffolding taping more joints.

I discovered a new app that helps reduce food waste: Too Good To Go. I tried it out at a local grocery store and was pretty pleased with the result (supposed 12 Euro value of perishables for 4 Euros.) I'll keep trying different offers out. I really would love to focus on fruits & veggies only but you typically get "surprise baskets" at the groecery stores, which may include any kind of perishable item, not just produce.

We had dinner guests, which was a lot of fun for the whole family. One is an American, the other Albanian. They were very curious about our family and how we ended up here in France. I made split pea soup (comfort food from when I was a kid) and tiramisu.

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French apartment renovations, Day 509: Mud, moldings, and more furniture

A muddy day today in the front apartment. Me, a bucket of mud, and several mudding knives.

After lunch, Eric was eager to pick up the custom wood moldings we had made (for our wood ceiling restoration in the front apartment). We managed to get the whole lot tied onto our roof rack. It's beautiful and precisely what we needed to recreate all of the parts that someone took off during a "renovation" where they removed all of the beautiful ornate woodwork on the ceiling and put up a false plaster ceiling, maybe 70-100 years ago or so?

We stopped by the big furniture consigment store and bought a Renaissance writing desk. It will need woodworm treatment and some refinishing but it's worth it. It has an amazing inlay pattern that will be stunning once the damaged finish is redone. Yet another project...

I had several Zoom meetings, one to discuss a breech conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, another to go over a publication & DNP final project that our research assistant is doing as she prepares to finish her CNM degree. I spent much of the evening going through scholarship applications.

And that is my super duper exciting life today. Oh, the kids had piano lessons as usual. Dio is grumbling and says he wants to quit. He's also bored. A lot. And mopey. A lot. And he is stealthily doing fantastic in school--he has the highest average in several of his classes!

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French apartment renovations, Day 508: Untitled

~15k steps 

Finally a more relaxing day. Inga had a birthday party in the afternoon at Parc Phoenix, so I brought her there on the tram and then she got a ride home with her friend. The rest of us went to the beach in the late afternoon for naps/reading/swimming. I ready, Zari and Dio napped, and Eric and Ivy swam. It felt great. 

We made a great seaglass art for Inga's friend: a red fox alongside her name, with each letter in a different color/material of seaglass or seashells. I forgot to take a picture of it. 

I'm going to read and take it easy this evening.

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French apartment renovations, Day 507: The marriage that about killed me

11,791 steps

I played in a wedding and reception today and barely made it through the end. I had injured my shoulder yesterday (too much mudding!) and optimistically thought it would be better today. No such luck. But I powered through and am now a useless, exhausted heap of jelly lying upon the couch.

Well, this useless heap of jelly had to edit the video...but I knew that if I didn't do it tonight, I would never get to it.

I captured a few of the songs we played inside the chapel before/during the ceremony. I didn't get any of the songs from the reception (among them a medley from the Bridgerton soundtrack!!).

Eric got free tickets to an OGC Nice match tonight, so he brought Ivy and Inga. They get to stay up super late.

Dio went to a birthday party this afternoon, someone from his soccer team.

Ivy played a mini tourament, a "plateau," this morning. Zari had a game and won 2-0 against Frejus.

Inga started arranging seaglass art for her friend's birthday party tomorrow. She's making a red fox and her friend's name. We need to do it in the morning because the party starts right after we get home from church.

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French apartment renovations, Day 506: Goodbye in-laws & Communist door, hello armoire, go away mudding & sanding

4,210 steps

Eric's parents left early this morning. Their visit was way too short! I'm hoping to convince them to stay for a few months next year, rather than a few weeks.

We bade farewell to our old iron door today. It is now in the dechetterie metal recycling container. We then looked at an armoire that had caught my eye on the online classifieds. They had lots of other old furniture, some of it really cool, but we resisted any other purchases.

I took this picture when I had cleaned off one half. It had been sitting in a basement for years and was covered in mold. I washed it thoroughly inside and out with a vinegar solution, changing the water several times. It isn't huge--maybe chest height--but it is so heavy! We struggled to carry it up with 4 people helping. 

I know it's a bit early to be buying furniture. I'm extra motivated to finish the mudding and sanding and painting so then we CAN start buying furniture without it getting paint splatters or dust!!

The rest of the work day was dedicated to mudding and sanding. We've gone through almost two 25kg buckets of mud (enduit) and have the tape applied plus the first finish coat done on 90% of the surfaces.

I'm quite tired because I woke up again at 5:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep, despite going to bed at midnight. Oh well...more time to get work done. We opened up two new breech workshops, a new Master Class, and a new Birth Skills Training today.

Eric is playing soccer again--I'm hoping for no new black eyes this week.

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French apartment renovations, Day 505: Goodbye meal, Catholics vs. Protestants, Bridgerton music

16,541 steps

I woke up at 5:30 am and, instead of trying to go back to sleep (which is usually futile), I decided to get to work. I was definitely dragging by mid-afternoon.

Eric's parents leave tomorrow, so we had lunch with them and Zari at one of our favorite restaurants. The combination of flavors and ingredients is always mind-blowing and surprising. Our plates were so clean after each course that the waiter joked he could put them back on the shelves.

Zari has been working on a big history project: a debate between a Catholic and a Protestant woman that she and her classmate are acting out tomorrow. They played rock-paper-scissors to see who got to be which character. Zari won the role of Protestant and is really getting into it.

Inga had some drawings that her friend had made and lent to her...and somehow they got lost or thrown away. It might have been me, to be honest, since the kids leave loads of papers and half-finished drawings all over the house. She was so sad.

I had a string quartet rehearsal. Among other things, we're playing several songs from Bridgerton. Now I've got those songs in my head! I should watch the series...We also have another piece that's in 7/8. My brain still has a hard time with that.

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