A Bit of Order in this Chaos

I started another thready before leaving Florida, very similar to the first one although this time I covered almost every bit of the foundation. And I did cheat- I had to use some real scraps and not just bits bound for the trash (actually the bag of stuffing I'll use for making Santas and things like that). This is roughly 8.5" square.

And this is what it looked like before we departed. I've worked on it quite a bit more, but have been very neglectful at taking photos.

My bookshelves are in order. My husband's bookshelves are completely and totally off limits to all my decorations (that little problem of letting him get here first and get settled) so I've had to put what I can here. The framed pieces are threadies, the metalwork and alabaster is all Egyptian, and a wee bit of Britain has snuck in (the phrenology head and most of the printers' stamps).

These are my husband's Harry Potter books. He's a huge fan and rereads the books and rewatches the films seemingly constantly. July is going to be a big month at our house with the new book and new movie coming out.

And a tiny bit of America: a switchplate featuring a girl riding a cat. I haven't had a switch that fits ever since I bought it, but love it anyway.

The cats are doing reasonably well. It's heartbreaking, but the girls are still hissing and swatting at each other. The boys are still jumpy and have a tendency to slink off quick if they think they being rounded up - calling them to come get treats has the opposite effect.

On Saturday I rode the metro for the first time. We went to the big mall at La Defense (pronounced something like la dee fonce) to get supplies to hang my quilts and pictures. Of course we were idiots and forgot the dictionary. Does this mean plaster? This probably means brick...

Yesterday we got quite a few quilts hung up on the walls. I've run out of hanging rods - so couldn't get them all up. I haven't yet tried your suggestions for getting the crumples out of the quilts, so they don't look fabulous up on the walls, but they will. I also want to hang my framed Egyptian embroideries, but I'm a bit intimidated about arranging them. It was easy in our last place - they went up on the walls as I bought them one at a time. I'm going to lay them out on the floor and arrange them that way.

It still doesn't feel like home yet. Making progress though. The things I'm finding hardest to adjust to: lack of tv programming in the English language (there's loads of American and UK tv on, but they're all dubbed into French and only the rare show has the option of listening to it in the original) and food stores closed on Sundays as well as holidays. I'll get better at thinking ahead. In fact, tomorrow is a holiday and I already have our yummy baguette and salad items purchased. I did have two "pain au chocolate" (croissants with chocolate) for tomorrow but I was very very bad and ate them both for lunch.

Lily managed to wipe me out today - classic kitty manuever of crossing over right in front of my feet. She squealed horrifically when I stepped down on her but is okay now. My knee (the bad one with arthritis) hurts but I've been icing and elevating and wrapping... At least it's a good excuse for not cleaning the bathrooms. My husband will of course be all sympathy for the baby and blame me - "you have to watch where you're going." harrumph.