Update

Just to give you an update on what's going on with us in "real life", here's the news:

I signed a local contract two weeks ago. This brings my expatriation to the end of its short life at the close of December. The conditions of said expatriation were: two years, plus one more year if both parties agree, plus one another under the same agreement conditions. Dave and I were all set for a third year when the mandate came down from upper management to cut all expatriation contracts that weren't in "developing" countries (i.e. India and China). I wanted to stay, my boss wanted me to stay, and a local contract was drafted up. After a long and bitter fight - of which I ended up losing - I retreated, sulked, and finally conceded (it took a lot of reassurance and head petting on David's part). I marched up to HR, signed my name on the dotted line, and started a new life as a French local.

So, this means I am losing my housing allowance. Hence, David and I are currently on a house/apartment hunt. We plan to move north, closer to work for both of us. We had a good two years in Paris, but the commute is really getting us down.

We pretty much have two options:
1. An apartment in a mid-sized city near a train line so we still have easy access to Paris and David can take the train to work
2. A small house with more space and possibly a yard in the countryside. Very peaceful, but could get dreadfully boring. And we'd most likely have to buy a second car so Dave could drive to work.

What else. I'm trying to get my residence permit renewed, that's pretty much a constant in my life. I'm realizing that coordinating Christmas gifts, in fact even cards, from overseas is a headache. And I just booked a train ticket to Frankfurt to visit Sabrina and Josh, that might not have been the best idea at this busy time of year but I'm anxious to visit another German Christmas market.

David is good. Excited about going to Florida for Christmas in a few weeks. Oliver is needy, also nothing new there.