DIY

Did you know that coconut oil makes great deodorant?  Or that oatmeal is a good dry shampoo option?  Sammie has been making DIY beauty products and we have never tasted better.  We’ve rubbed egg white/avocado mixtures on our face and yogurt/lemon juice on our hands.  Tonight we are going to try cucumber/kiwi eye masks after our flaxseed facial scrubs.  Apparently food isn’t just for eating anymore.

I am multitasking this week as mom and dad because Keith is traveling.  I get to be the good guy and the bad guy, the mean one and the nice one, and right and wrong all at the same time.  I am the referee, event coordinator, and supreme irritant.  It turns out that multitasking is more than just walking down the street and looking fabulous.  It is like having 596 browser windows open, while simultaneously solving Algebra 1 equations and defining Renaissance Art.  But I can laugh, sneeze and pee and the same time so I can certainly mess up two kids at once.

Nights might last until 1am in Valencia but mornings still start early.  The days have been hot so I wanted to get up and go for a run first thing.  But my coffee used its powers for evil today so instead I woke the girls up to shower them with wisdom, counsel and guidance, and to encourage them in their studies with motherly insight.  But I do have to wonder, if I speak and nobody is listening, do I still make a sound?  

Everyone knows that nine out of ten girls get their awesomeness from their mom.  So tonight I am washing the DIY off our sticky sheets, planning our weekend, and making a healthy dinner.  They might complain, but luckily I can listen and pretend to care at the same time.  But first, since we’ve slathered our pantry on our bodies and are out of food, I am off to the store, smelling like a fruit stand and looking fabulous.

Their own set of keys making escape within reach…

Open for business

This “abre facil” is anything but.  It translates as “easy open” but really means “pull and swear until the bag bursts open and throws muesli all over the kitchen”.  I just want to try what is inside without the extra crunch of dirt from the floor. I must have missed the lesson on how to open breakfast when I was in school.

After spending the month of August on vacation, Valencia is open for business again.  Doors have been rolled up and gates pulled back to reveal restaurant life and a consumers paradise of shops and boutiques.  While Valencianos might be lamenting the return to work and school, we joyfully wave goodbye to the construction remodelers and await the unveiling of new facades and menus as well as new opportunities to burn euros.

School also starts in Valencia this week and uniformed kids line the streets.  Rebecca’s uniform consists of pink polka dot shorts and a grey top and looks a lot like what she wore to bed last night.  Online school is nice, but it has its cons.  Today Rebecca's L.A. lesson included the line “may a drunk soil your festive robe with vomit”, while Sammie’s Spanish lesson required her to learn (in English) the ingredients of mofongo, a Puerto Rican rice dish.  Typically a supporter of public education, sometimes I question the approach of the American school system, as each day it gets harder to answer the question “do we really have to learn this?”

Life here is on the streets, in the cafés, and along the río Turia, and there is so much to learn by exploring.  Math can be learned from converting dollars to euros and Spanish by speaking with our neighbors.  Opening Google does not open our minds, and life itself is the best education.  Learning is not memorizing answers but solving problems.  Like how to open breakfast without making a mess. 

A museli-free meal a the new café by our house