Yet another lazy weekend

So, since B was working all weekend- and I mean leaving while Ella and I were still in bed and not returning until Ella was ready for bed- I didn't have the energy for anything as exciting as braving the boutiques and he did not have the slightest interest in getting off the sofa once he did get home, we had an extremely lazy weekend around here.

That makes it sound like I didn't enjoy myself. Far from it. It's kind of nice to be well rested. I had almost forgotten the sensation. And while keeping the house clean has become the overriding factor in determining how we amuse ourselves indoors (ie no projects have been attempted since all the Christmas Craftiness was wrapped up and cooking and baking has reduced to one pot meals. Less mess, you see. ) I am not quite bored yet.

Have been reading loads (such a low-mess activity, how could you not love it?) I have been meaning to mention that I read the book Lignes de Failles by Nancy Huston just before Christmas and loved it. In fact, I actually went to the local bookstore last week and picked up another of her books L'Empreinte de l'ange. I am a bit proud of myself that these are French books, in French, but I don't have a problem reading French so its a minor accomplishment. What is a bit surprising is that I enjoyed them so much. I don't generally like French books. I think they are generally a bit heavy on the philosophy and a bit lacking in storyline. Unless I just make really bad choices. I suppose part of the reason I liked these two books so much is that the auther is an anglophone Canadian, by birth. Maybe she has enough of the anglophone storytelling tradition in her to keep me interested. Maybe I am - horrors- beginning to like French literature? Next thing you know, I'll learn how to tie a scarf and start serving entrees for our dinners at night.

Spending Saturday night at the house was irritating me a bit all day long. I feel like the weekend has been wasted if we don't go out, no matter how tired we are. I had forgotten though about our new discovery on BBC prime- there is a fantastic program on Saturday nights called Night Night written my Julia Davis, who also plays the main character. Its a bit like The Office, in that you keep sort of flinching and covering your eyes to avoid watching just how horrible everyone is. But you can't turn away. We stumbled across it last week and I think that we may have seen the final episodes of this series. The one thing really horrible about British programs is the way they cut seasons so short. How can 8 shows be a series? American TV is completely messed up, with the commericials every two and a half minutes but British TV is irritating beyond belief with the way they get you hooked on a show and then end it just when you are starting to love it. Well, with any luck, we will be out all night next Saturday and it won't make any difference.

Like I said, B worked again all day Sunday which was even more frustrating considering how gorgeous the weather was all day. I took Ella out for a nice long walk along the quais in the afternoon and we stopped at Ile de la Cité to look at the animals. Ella was mesmerized by the birds, her eyes nearly popped out of head. Up til now I think she has really only got a good look at dirty Parisian street pigeons. She was so speechless in front of the display that I think it took her a minute to connect the dots in her head- "Ok, I know birds. Pigeons are birds. These things have feathers. And beaks. And fly... but they aren't totally disgusting. What could they possibly be?!?" The stand we were at had cage after cage of beautiful colored parrots and... other parrot-like birds. I loved how they set it up so that you could see the type of bird, and then choose which color you wanted it in. Like sweaters (that chirp). I almost didn't tell B because he has been harrassing me to let him get a new pet. He loves animals, all kinds, but especially birds. I cannot think of anything I would hate more than having a stupid bird in my house. Ok; that's a lie. I would hate even more if he got any sort of reptile/snake. And after having had a prairie dog (May he rest in peace...) I guess I would equally hate having another rodent type pet. Anyways, after about a half hour of me trying to convince Ella to not stick her finger in any of the cages I tried to get her back in the stroller only to have a meltdown of epic proportions. If anyone was in the vicinity of central Paris yesterday around 2:45, those screams were not the sound of low-flying jets, they were coming from Ella. All the way from the flower market to Bertillion she howled as if a limb had been removed. Have not quite figured out how to transport the naughty chair with me on outings, which is a shame because after one trip there, she only has to be threatened with it to immediately stop and desist while in the apartment. We are very much a work in progress...

The real problem of course was that it was naptime; as soon as we walked in the door she was put straight to bed and stayed there for a good long while. I took advantage of the calm to steal her DVD player and break in to the DVD's I had bought for myself while in the States. I had the entire Season 2 of The Office which I had only seen once or twice on TV while on vacation and it ended up being the nicest afternoon. I can totally see why Ella loves the portable DVD player. Its so fun to cuddle up with a blanket and the movie playing on the little screen balanced on your knees. After Ella was in bed for the night, I tried to get B to come to bed and watch an episode or two with me and he refused, stating that he would never waste his time trying to watch something on that itty bitty screen so long as he had his giant plasma screen. Boys; bigger is not always better. When will they learn?

After I had inhaled an entire bag of chouqettes that morning with my coffee, I decided to be very virtuous and have homemade veggie potage for lunch and then order sushi for dinner. And yet, the scale shows that I gained weight over the weekend. Clearly I didn't eat enough Cheesy Potatoes- dumb dumb dumb. Gratin it is, ce soir.