Phew, I am glad this long weekend is over (almost). I am exhausted and frazzled beyond belief.
All the unpacking, bar some pictures and the garden stuff, has been done. Now it's just a case of rearranging things and finding somewhere to put it all. This is the bit that will evolve over time. Quite a lot of time, I suspect.
I can be regularly seen gazing in horror around a cluttered room wailing "Where is it all going to go?"
The basement is full of empty boxes awaiting collection, which pleases Tim. My back is not so thrilled.
While not a public holiday in Germany, Tim does have Monday off. I expect we shall go to Ikea. There is no storage in the bathroom at all. This needs to be rectified as soon as possible. I also still don't have a printer - hopefully he will be as generous to me as he has been to Rhiannon so I can finally finish my office area. I also wish to buy houseplants. Lots of them. I deserve it.
A major plus point: Rhiannon goes to school tomorrow. You cannot imagine what a relief this is to me. She has been almost constantly at home - wherever 'home' is - from 9th March. Much as I love her, this is far too long to have a demanding, stroppy child around. And boy, has she been stroppy.
Mostly she is "bored". There should be no such word, she has plenty to do now all her things are unpacked. However, she is used to being taken out on regular jollies with Tim. In Tokyo we were close to Disney and Disney Sea, aquariums, play areas, amusement parks and whatever. Not here though. She is going to have to get used to basic, rural activities of the sort I was happy to enjoy as a kid. Deep down, she is desperately missing Japan and its familiarity. As am I.
I think a lot of the problem is the whole change of environment. It's making her feel disconnected and unsettled. This is taking the form of of veering between argumentative behaviour and tears. All understandable, of course, and I've done my best to be understanding. I feel much the same, to be honest. She played on PowerPoint today and made a presentation about Japan to show to school. I thought it would be about what she missed and so on, but it was all about the earthquake of March 11th. It's a shame that's her abiding memory of the lovely country. I shall endeavour to remind her of the rest of it soon.
Anyway, as I said, today I managed to finally finish the unpacking. All the clothes are out of their boxes and into wardrobes. Apart from the mountain that needs ironing. After a while I got fed up with sorting out the 'to iron' from the 'creases will drop out soon, I hope' and just bunged everything into the wardrobe. I'll deal with them later... sometime, maybe.
Yes, I have had to commandeer another room's wardrobe space. Mainly for coats, but I may free up some space by putting in other stuff at some point. You know, those clothes-that-don't-fit-now-but-will-do-someday...?
In other news (at last!) - Kita saw her first squirrel. It's amazing how her hunting instincts kicked in instantly and nearly tore my arm out of its socket trying to climb the tree. She is very strong. The beautiful red squirrel sat in the branch chittering at us. Very cute.
The day ended with an accident though. Rhiannon was swinging on her beloved tree swing when there was a thump followed by some very loud screaming - the swing had broken and she'd crashed to the ground. Thankfully she was only bruised and very shaken and was soon made better by some reviving hot chocolate.
Of course, the swing should have been checked when we first arrived, but hindsight is always a pain in the butt - literally so for poor Rhiannon.