May Madness

It was the May that would never end! That respite trip to Sweden and the joy of Maeve's 2nd birthday helped get me through a month that can otherwise be summed up in a few words: uncertainty, schadeverzekering, biking, heat waves and potty training. 

Blogging is therapeutic for me and I am in need of some therapy! 

A lot of people have been asking what is going on with the 30% ruling and boy do we wish we knew! The petition to the government to not break their promise to those of us who would be cut off reached 30,000 signatures. The United Expats of the Netherlands group turned over the petition to parliment in the Hague last Tuesday. They were joined by a number of representatives from trade organizations and businesses. Momentum is building and parliment debated the issue on Friday. We are anxiously awaiting the outcome with no clear idea when that could come- a few weeks, not until the Fall, who knows....

Meanwhile an update on our car, may she rest in peace. We found out on Friday that it is a total loss with the extensive damage after getting hit a month ago. It took over three weeks to reach this conclusion and their insurance is still fighting with me as to whose fault this is. Because apparently getting hit while parked can somehow be your fault (don't get me started). I have spent more time than I care to count on the phone dealing with schadeverzekering (insurance). I expect them to finally admit fault later this week and then we will await the measly check for the current value of the car. 

So we've had a month to see what it is like to be car free again. This was apparently the hottest May on record, which made for really nice biking conditions. I am a fair weather biker so the timing was perfect. Most days I'm cycling an hour or so with Maeve on the back, taking us around to our various activities, playdate, and parks. It's been really glorious! The one place the bikes cannot (reasonably) take us is to the beach, which I have been desperate to get to with this amazing weather. Our first weekend home without the car, we started potty training so it wasn't a big deal, but I was really bumming the following weekend when it was 80 degrees and sunny. I've started looking into car share programs, but couldn't secure anything last minute. We will have to re-evaluate our car needs at the end of the summer. And also our bike needs as Pete takes both kids to school in the fall. Meanwhile Jude is trucking on his bike with training wheels and wants to be able to bike to school by himself soon!! A lot of life to figure out in the coming months. 

And potty training... 1 step forward, 1 step back. Moments of extreme self-pride and moments of extreme resistance. And pee everywhere. Are we getting there?? Who knows. Who knows anything at this point!