Second-Hand Book Stores, Chess Playing Prodigies, and Future Plans

It rained all day on Tuesday. I wish that I had gone back to bed then. I love sleeping when it’s raining. I didn’t leave the house – seriously, it was pouring all day long. Beautiful though.

I had a good day with Vee on Tuesday. Eenie was in a bad mood, crying and whining. She put herself to bed while Vee and I played Solitaire. I taught both of the girls how to play and they’re really good at it! I have to help them a little but they learn fast. And now they can entertain themselves. How many five year olds do you know that can play Solitaire? I put Vee in the bath tub after that and she kind of entertained herself for a half an hour. I had to blow dry her hair afterwards and I kept telling her, “You’re hair is so beautiful and soft and shiny. You have the most beautiful hair in Munich.” And she kept brushing it and touching it. When we went into her bedroom to get her pajamas, she kept disappearing and I asked her, “Where are you going?” and she says, “In there to look at my hair.” And I watched her walk to the mirror and lovingly adore herself. Cutest damn thing. Ever. I’ve trained her well. Ha.

Wednesday was a fairly uneventful day. The sun was out for about five hours so I went outside into the city after I did some laundry. I located the Munich Readery which is this awesome second-hand English book store. They were having a sale, 25% off every book so, of course, I went crazy. My intention was to find some readers for the girls for their birthday but I walked out with so much more than that. 27 EUR worth, to be exact. Gah. Books are so worth it though. Plus, if I bring them back in for trade when I’m finished, I get store credit.

The UK version of HP & the Deathly Hallows.
I wanted to read this one before the movie released in November.
Plus, now I have the cool UK version.

I also bought a Jodi Piccoult that I haven’t read, Handle With Care, which is amazing because I thought I’d read them all by now. I also got an off-the-radar chick lit book about a girl who starts writing this blog and makes up a fake life and a fake boyfriend and everyone starts to think she’s real and wants to meet her but her life really sucks. Ha. Sounded good to me. I do love blogs. I also got The Phantom Tollbooth. Infinitely cool. I read this book when I was a kid and I loved it.

I’m trying to read it to the girls but I don’t know if they understand it. It’s a bit heavy, kind of over their head. It’s a play on American laziness, as far as I’ve gathered, and it tries to teach you to be productive and stuff. Haha. But… Eenie wanted me to keep reading it. Vee said, “I like it not,” and disappeared to go play with her trains. I’ll keep trying. I think Eenie just likes the pictures. If they don’t like it, I’ll just read it myself.

(It’s pouring rain right now. I love it.)

I’m almost finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife which is an incredible book. I absolutely love it. It’s so much better than the movie and has so much more detail and conflict. I’ll want to watch the movie when I’m done reading it. I hear iTunes has rentals now…

Yesterday I played chess with Eenie. She pretty much beat me. Twice. The second game was a draw. She is a genius, I swear to God. She even knew strategy and understood how each piece moved and where to move them to get me. She kicks butt at Solitaire, too. Maybe we can all learn poker together. They’ll probably take me for all I’m worth. Which isn’t much these days. Haha.

The next couple of weeks will be interesting. The girls finish kinderhaus on the 13th and are released for a few weeks of summer vacation before they go to elementary school in September. The girls’ birthday is on Saturday and then their party is on Monday. Helen and I are both party planning so that should be interesting. I have about 8 billion cakes and chocolate muffins to make between Friday and Monday. I don’t like baking here for two reasons: 1) I can’t figure out the oven temperatures and usually burn everything and 2) I can’t read the directions. So, here’s to hoping that the Frau will translate. I’m going to Hamburg next weekend with Jessica and Clare. Should be fun! Jess works for BMW so she can rent cars for cheap. We’re getting a BMW convertible and going on a German road trip. Woo!  The family is going to be going to their house in Austria a lot in August so I’ll be home, alone for a good majority of the time. From August 14th until about August 20th, they’ll be in Austria so I have a whole week of nothingness. Which means that I really want to get out to Garmisch to see Kathe and go hikinig in the Alps and visit a quaint little German village. Must get started on those plans!

My foot has healed up, FINALLY. It’s scabbed over and will eventually even out to be just an ugly scar. But my ankle is all screwed up and it hurts to walk most of the time. I’m going to need to rehabilitate myself.

Right now I have a date with my bed (I love sleeping during the day, especially when it’s raining) and I fully intend to spend some good quality time with my blanket and pillow so I’m signing out. But enjoy some pictures from this weekend, when the weather was stellar:

Somewhere near the Isar river

Isar river and gorgeous blue skies

Busy city

Nues Rathaus – never gets old.