Its late. Sunday or Saturday or whatever. Mama Jens is totally obsessed now with moving to the city. Give me an idea and I just run with it. So I'm not getting many votes here, but we're going anyways. We just know its time. And in a couple of months, we'll be back in the chaos. Life is just so dang weird, I tell you.

Speaking of weird, my two year old is saying the word "weird," which is just total craziness. She rattles on about things in her half-understandable speech, and every now and then, punctuates it all by saying, "That's weird." And it is weird. Right on.

And so it is time for a couple of things. First, another get-rid-of-a-thon. If you followed my last one, then you know what I am talking about. Moving makes me want to get down to the basics - and by basics, I mean a couple of suitcases worth of belongings. Of course, this time we have furniture that we can just drive north, so that is a little less complicated, but still. I look around, and even though most people see something like an empty room, I see clutter. I get crazy over that. So now, with thoughts of moving, I feel the need to purge, even if we're just talking about thoughts.

And then there is the living-in-your-reality-as-you-are-experiencing-it problem. That means, everywhere I go, I think, "Take me to the big city." I have to work on that one...I have to accept the here and now and just appreciate it and enjoy the love and friendliness and good weather and slow pace. It is cozy here, for sure. And I appreciate how easy it is to do things, to get from Point A to Point B, etc.

And so I am trying...despite recent chemical imbalances and all kinds of other mental disturbance, I am trying very hard to exist, participate, and even enjoy.

So on that note, I'll tell you what we've been eating. Very Heathly Food. I am cooking fish like three nights a week, these days. Salmon, Tuna, Talapia...and the guys at Whole Foods never fail to give good and interesting cooking recommendations, down to suggested accompanying herbs and broiling times. Those guys rock totally and I only hope I can find them in the city too. And what have we been doing? Working, taking photos until our eyes pop out of our heads, and raking leaves. We live among some pretty dense and sky tall oak trees and several months ago, those things dropped all their beautiful foliage. We have done a lot of raking and blowing and even hand moving the frickin' things, but we are still swamped with them. A little kharmic leaf note: If you blow the stuff into the neighbors yard, it will just float on back when the wind blows. Don't even bother doing that.

So back to the city. Park Slope seems to be the location calling us. As we haven't actually been there, we don't know the general vibe. But we do know the basics, that A) it is next to a huge park where we can assure our children that grass and trees still exist and B) there is a very good elementary school there. And so being a Mama, you know, these are basically the driving factors. The downsides...well, from what I can tell reading about the place...A) it is popular because of my aforementioned attributes and therefore rent is AMAZINGLY high and B) it is perhaps overgentrified to an annoying degree. I can deal with some of that, but it can get pretty annoying too. That is what annoyed us about Prenzlauer Berg, as it related to other districts in Berlin. Not enough of a mix, you know. Hipster parents drinking their cafe lattes at the playground, more or less all wearing the same clothes like a freakish clone scene from a movie. We were characters too, I will admit. So when we go there, we can see for ourselves. Is it totally awesome and perfect for a family? Or is it so frickin' hip that we will curl with embarrassment? Whatever it is, it is in the city, and it is only a few stops from lower Manhattan, and it is not too far from mountains when we need an escape and the park sounds amazing, and there is so much more for us there with the kind of work we do, and and and....

Are we totally insane or what? Don't be afraid to answer yes.

Love,
Mama Jens