I can’t believe it’s not clutter!

We hauled. We unpacked. We arranged. We unpacked. We rearranged. We unpacked.

And after all that unpacking, we bought some stuff and unpacked that. It got me so frustrated I had to get this step-stool stuck on my head.




Phones are even confusing; here's a pic of a European phone plug.

Unless you’ve done it before, you have no idea what it’s like to bring all your electronic devices to Europe hoping that they’d work if you just buy one of those voltage-changer-thingies. Well folks, let me tell you, it ain’t easy. Those voltage-changer-thingies don’t come easy or cheap or one-size-fits-all or user-friendly or in fun colors.

Nope, they come in ugly colors and are very difficult to work with. Most plug-in-voltage-adapter things convert U.S. plugs to mainland Europe plugs, but we bought one and tried to use two others that convert U.S. plugs to U.K. plugs. The old tenant also left two of them with broken fuses (who knew they contained “fuses”?). Some have switches; some don’t. And some things, like lamps and computers, don’t need ‘em. It’s like Harry Potter flavored jelly beans. Most are bad, few are good, and the ones that are good still give me bumps on my tongue after I lick them.

But, after days of confusion and small electrical fires, we’re unpacked, hooked up, and ready to blow a fuse.

Our place is great, btw. I just asked Kate what she likes about it and transcribed her comments. Here’s what she said:

“I like that it’s old, it has high ceilings, the kitchen is functional, that it’s painted colors – it’s not just white – that it has views of trees out of all of the windows, it has an office that fits two desks, it has built-in shelving units because there’s NO CLOSETS IN GERMANY, the bathroom is like two times the size of our one in Chicago, no, like FIVE times – our bathroom in Chicago was like CRAZY small – it has a balcony that Pecos likes to watch the day on, did I say it has views of trees? And the office is really great – it fits two desks…”

On and on it went. But, I’m happy here; Kate’s obviously happy here; and Pecos is continually spooked by the mysteriously loud clangs that toll from the church every fifteen minutes. His ears go back and he tatters closer to mom, eyes aglow with unknown fear, every time that happens.

This is the view from the front door. I feel it’s a bit too Martha Stewart Living, but, hey. What do I know?




And here’s the office (with two desks) that I'm writing this from. You can probably guess from the wires that this is where the first electrical fire will be.