You Know Better Than Anyone

I am sorry it has taken me a whole week to make a new post to my blog. I would say you have no idea how crazy and tired you can get just taking care of children, but you probably know better than anyone the rat race of making sure this one has brushed their teeth, and the other has feed the cats. The list could go on forever. It is amazing how much help children need even after they seem old enough to essentially take care of themselves. Well, enough about that mess.
Since Pam and Sam have been gone, things have gone fairly well. We have yet to miss the bus in the morning. It is normally pulling away from the bus stop somewhere around 7:50am every morning, but we always manage to make it, no matter what the morning has been like. I have been good about making them finish their homework promptly, and each night the litter box is cleaned, and every morning and evening the cats are fed. Even when we are running late I can always make time for one of the girls to feed the cats in the morning. I am proud, in some ways, that I have not ended up doing all their work for them. Normally when their parents are here, I cannot make them clean up, oh let's say their movie mess and dishes. Pam will normally just send the girls to bed, and tell me she will get the dishes. What that means is she will get to think about getting the dishes, and inevitably, the next morning nothing has gone through the dishwasher, their is a mess everywhere, and as if this was not enough, generally dirty breakfast dishes are piled on top of that. Phew....
The girls have been good though about taking their dishes to the sink and picking up after themselves. Still, there is plenty to do. Making every meal for one thing is just tiring. For a while there were some problems. I gather Emma must have been complaining to her parents about the strictness of the house since they have been gone. Luckily, Pam and Sam do not seem to mind my form of strictness and they tell the girls it is good for them; that they are learning good habits. Emma was particularly upset when I would not allow her to simply not do her homework and wait for Giulia to "explain things" to her. Of course, Siena always has verb homework, or studying for a test that Giulia helps her with, but in general Emma just does not want to do her work and then when Giulia arrives, she just wants to dance in front of her talking in a voice that most resembles a smirff to me (and since she is so small I guess this is fitting.... although sometimes I just want to wring her little neck when she talks like that). So, I got up, read the instructions (in Italian mind you) and explain to her the instructions, which were to underline all of the characteristics of the main characters and the descriptions of the settings presented in the story. This was not rocket science people, there was no way she "didn't understand" this, she just wanted to wait for Giulia. Well, she was pissed I didn't let her wait, so when her mom called, she started complaining to her about how I would not let Giulia help her, etc. And then Pam wanted to talk to me. She told me she thought Emma was probably feeling left out and needed some attention from Giulia, and that it was okay if I left one or two things for Giulia to do with her. I told her that was fine with me, and we hung up on peaceful terms. I from the bedroom, which is where the phone lives, I went directly into the living room where I pulled up a chair and asked both of the girls, who were sitting on the couch on the internet, if they had any problems with me or things I was doing. Emma immediately piped up saying "Well, I just told Mamma to tell you that I sometimes need Giulia's help doing...." and the excuses and such just went on from there. I stopped her and told her, "well, you can tell me when you have a problem too. I will not get mad at you or snap at you. If you have a problem with something I am doing, just tell me and we will work it out. You do not need to wait for your mom to call to let me know there is a problem." Emma started to bring up Giulia again, and I told her Pam had told me that she was to finish as much homework as she could on her own before Giulia came, and when Emma's face went sour when I told her I could help her with little things she didn't understand, I told her that she could always just have Giulia check her work. So, to feel free to ask me questions, and then just have Giulia look over the work we do together to make sure it is correct. Emma seemed quite okay with this, and from that point on, she has given me these little periodic hugs. So, we are on better terms.
In other news, Sam is not returning tomorrow as originally planned. Apparently, they are having trouble getting their two Caliafornia rental homes ready, and Sam needed to stay until this coming Thursday; so, one more week with the girls. Not that I mind it. I am not getting sick of them, and I certainly prefer living with a little bit of insulation! You would not believe the difference in my place and Pam and Sam's place. My windows were just bolted over open holes in the walls, where as Pam and Sam actually have real, glass, air-tight windows. I am hoping that within this next week things will warm up even more and living back over in the apartment will not be so bad.
This past Tuesday was my first time to ride the bus from San Gusme to Castelnuovo Berardenga. Of course, I was so nervous that I had no idea what I was doing. While I was waiting for the bus everything was cool. I was really thinking I looked like a native, until I punched my ticket on the bus. Everyone else must be regulars because no one else even reached to punch their tickets. Still, I did not worry about that, and simply took my seat. It took us about six minutes to get to Castelnuovo, and of course, I recognized the area immediately. As we were coming into town, a woman was stopped on the side of the road and flagged down the bus driver. I guess she had a question about something or other, and I of course, thought this was the bus stop. So, I immediately get up to get off the bus. There is no space on this thing, even though it is a charter bus, there is barely enough room for one person to walk down the isle, but two people moving in opposite directions, is just impossible. Still, I am worried I am not going to get off at the right stop, so I stop the bus driver as he is closing the door, and wiggle off the bus. In retrospect, I must have looked pretty rude, getting off the way I did, and pushing past this woman. Still, I was so worried about missing my stop that I could not wait. I was horrified when the bus stopped just several feet ahead of me at the actual bus stop where people were both getting on and off. I was so embarrassed, I hung out behind this movie poster for several minutes until the bus was on its way again. After my brief humiliation, I went on my way to do a little of this and that in town. I bought a few spiral notebooks and a magazine at the one and only tabbacchi, I bought (and paid too much for) a strainer, and was horrified to find a significantly cheaper one at the grocery store.
The bad part about taking the bus where you want to go is that it does not come very often. For instance, the bus will drop you off at 9:05am and pick you up at 11:45, and if you miss that bus, there is not another one until one in the afternoon. Although, once Pam and Sam are back, that will be the better bus for me to take because there is less of a waiting time in between the two. So, I was finishing up my errands around 9:30am. I still had to go to the grocery store, but I figured that could only take me a maximum of thirty minutes, so I took out my cell phone to call Caterina. Caterina is the woman who comes once a week to clean Pam and Sam's apartment. She lives in Castelnuovo and we had become pretty friendly, so I was going to give her a call and ask if she would not mind taking me home so I did not have to wait two hours for the bus when... "Beep Beep". I have no idea why I turned to the honking car. I never normally do that, I mean who actually knows me here, but I did turn, and it was Caterina. She told me that she was suppose to clean the house today, and that she had to come find me because she does not have a key to the house. I told her I had to do some grocery shopping but if she could wait no more than twenty minutes, I could be out. She was happy to wait for me, and told me she had told Siena to remind me she was coming, which Siena never did. Oh well, at least I got a ride home. While I was blazing through the grocery store though, I did have the presence of mind to buy a skillet, good and cheap, as well as a few other essentials for my apartment.
By the time we got back to the apartment Caterina had lost about an hour of work time, but since the place is always picked up when she comes, she had no trouble getting finished at her usual hour. Actually, she has told me several times how she likes it when I am over here because I have the girls pick up their things and keep the place in some resemblance of order. I think, normally, when she comes to clean she has to pick up so much stuff that she cannot start cleaning for atleast an hour and a half. I mean, if you are going to hire someone to come and clean your house, at least keep it to where it can BE readily cleaned. Anyway, that day Caterina gave me a little bracelet she had made for me, cute but nothing fancy or extremely nice, but still a treasure to me because it is a symbol of friendship between us, and she also asked me if I wanted to go to the big market with her in Siena on Wednesday. Of course I wanted to go, and we made plans to leave at eight thirty the next morning. (More about the market later tonight!!)