WWTK -- Back to high school

I know, I know, I'm a day late, again ... hey, I live on the other side of the world.

This week Kensie and Scriptor wants to know all about high school.

1.) How were you as a student?

Mmh lets just say that if I were to go back to school today, knowing what I know now, I probably would have worked a little harder. I was not the worst student but I was by no means a straight A student.
 
2.) What was your favorite subject and did you excel in it?
English & Geography - Loathed Math, still suck at it.
 
3.) What - if any - is your fondest school years memory? 
I have loads of good memories from high school. That is, after all when I finally met Himself. But I went to a really small school, on a farm so everyone knew everyone. Plus we got into loads of trouble for some rather innocent pranks and behaviour.

This photo was taken my last year of high school - it is the entire school plus staff. I'm in the top row

 
4.) Did you attend college and if so, how was that experience?
I did not. Was accepted for teachers training but before I got there things changed and I never did go.
 
5.) Would you go back to school - be it in person or online - if you could? (Or to earn another degree?)
I have thought about doing it quite a bit over the years but we've either never had the funds for it or just not the time. Plus, someone in our house needs to hold down a 'normal' 9 - 5 job

Now, if you haven't yet linked up do, it's fun.

Grab a cuppa, this is a long post

Hi!  It is not often that I sit and blog with a cup of tea at my kitchen table. O that the house is this quiet.

Cat is on school camp for the week. She left yesterday morning in a flurry of excited tension and then when she was on the bus looking out of the window she showed me that she had taken photos of all of us with her. One of me and her when she was about 4, one of Himself and Tiger when he was a baby and one of Himself and I taken years ago.

I can't wait to hear all the stories when she gets back on Friday.  Just hope she doesn't come back sick. The weather is really not great, wet and not warm at all. We are sitting about 56F or 14 C.

Tiger is also not at school today, the teachers are having another teacher training day which means no school for the kids. We have another coming up in June.  Needless to say he is really enjoying being a only child this week.

And for a quick re-cap of our past weekend.


Thursday was Ascension day. So the kids and I went to a 1st Communion party.  Himself had to work at the pub ... I think he was secretly happy to have a valid excuse not to go. He is terrible like that.

In the end both kids left with other people.  Cat went to Noreen for a sleepover and Tiger had a sleepover at another South African lady house. She has two boys.  This was quite handy cause I meant that I didn't have to go home after the party I could just go straight to the pub to pick Himself up ..... well, we closed at about 3.

Friday I spent the day driving around with Himself getting stock and doing banking etc before going to pick the kids up in Antwerp and Duffel.

I have no idea what we did on Saturday. Drawing a total blank...oops. But I know how it ended.  I spent Saturday night doing the ironing.  I finished at about 1 in the morning and decided to relax just bit before calling Himself to hear what time I was to pick him up.  But after the previous late nights I decided to leave the main light on in the bedroom and just to take off my shoes, you know, not get too comfortable. Called and he said to be there by 3. So I started watching an episode of something on the computer ..... checked my watch, it was 2 which meant I had to leave in 30 min. At 3 Himself rang to ask where I was. Failed, I fell asleep.

Anyway, I pulled on my shoes and raced to the pub, well race is an over statement. It was pouring with rain and all the drunk drivers were out so you really can't drive too fast. (ps. in case you are worried about the kids, we still have someone staying with us so they were not left home alone).

Got to the pub at 3:30, helped clean up the last couple of glasses. We left there at about 4. Then Himself told me that we had to go pick Jellen & Kim up and take them to the airport just after 5. Their flight to Miami was moved forward by 24 hours. So we drove to their place via the 24 hour MacDonald's. And sat outside their house waiting for some movement. 

In the end Himself took them to the airport in our car while I went home in their car.  Let me tell you, my bed felt sooo good! 

I was up a couple of hours later, the kids had a Mothers day gift for me, which really surprised me cause I know how little time Himself has had to do anything like going shopping.  And since it was Mothers day I made some crumpets for breakfast (they are like pancakes but smaller). And then I had to rush out the door.

Tiger had a soccer tournament so it was decided that I would work in the pub while Himself took Tiger to soccer.

I finally made it back home at 9 o clock. Long day.  

I knew having the pub again was going to take up a lot of time but I forgot quite how tired you get. I feel so bad for Himself, his knees are killing him. (He broke both knees playing rugby many years ago so all this standing is not enjoyable).  But it looks like this is going to work. Once Jellen and Kim are back from their vacation they will also start doing some shifts which will help. In the mean time we are trying to come up with a new name for it.

Right, this post was quite a bit longer than planned. Sorry if I bored you to death.

What day is it again? ...

Today is Monday  eh no it's Wednesday .... no wait it's Friday ..... or all three.  I took the day off from work yesterday. The kids didn't have school thanks to teacher training which is why today feels like a Monday. But it also feels like a Friday cause tomorrow is Ascension day - no work/school and the actual Friday is a bank holiday so yay - no work either.  Other than still having loads to finish off at work I'm loving this!

I made the kids work in the garden yesterday, they were not loving me much. But hey, despite what they imagine they don't live in a hotel. Plus, a bit of hard work has never killed anyone, has it?  I bet they are praying for lashings of rain on Thursday and Friday so I can't make them do it again :)

Things at home are also changing quite a bit. As of this past Monday we once again own a pub. Which means that Himself now has his day-job (Stack-Cup) and a full time night job running the pub. As you can imagine he is not getting a lot of sleep.  But it is going okay thus far. I'm sure we'll all get used to the new schedule again. Luckily it is not such a huge shock to us since we've done this before.  As of June he will have help over the weekends so then he'll only have to work 5 nights a week i/o 7.  Having the pub also means we have some cash on hand again which is always handy. Plus, I get to drink for free. Okay, to be fair it is very seldom that I end up paying for my drinks.

Tomorrow we are going to a communion party and then on Saturday Tiger has another birthday party to go to. So i think we are in for a busy couple of days. But that is how I like it.

Weekend roundup

Wow did that weekend just fly by or what? We were busy busy busy! 

We have a new house guest so we had to clear out the ‘store everything that doesn’t have a place to go room’. Following a split with from his CRAZY girlfriend a friend of ours no longer have a place to stay. He has also decided to change what he does for a living so money is tight. So, he is living with us for the foreseeable future.

Sunday was spent driving around. Cat had scouts and Tiger had a birthday party at on the other side of the bloody country. Okay, so that is not exactly true but it was ridiculously far away. Not to mention the fact that it was only for 2 hours! Who has a birthday party for 2 hours? 

33.5 Km or 20.8 miles!

 

On my way home after dropping Tiger off Himself called me to say that since the weather is so nice we are going to have lunch with Jellen & Kim. Sweet, only by the time we get to the restaurant and order our food it is time to drive back to pick up Tiger. So Himself offered to do the trip. Eventually we had to take his food home with us cause they got stuck in traffic. There was a local run happening so they were diverted all over the place. Again, who organizes a race to take place at 3:00 in the afternoon??? More crazy people!

Anyway, the fact that is was warm and sunny made up for it all.

O and you’ll never guess what one of the dogs did last night … he broke a window. Why? cause there was something outside that he just had to get to. At 3 o’clock this morning I was woken by the sound of breaking glass, the man just slept through it all. So I had to get up and check that he didn’t cut himself to bit and to find something to put in front of the window. Luckily he was fine and all the glass got knocked out of the room.  Why can’t I have normal dogs? Is that really too much to ask?

Right, time to get back to work. Only 2 days of work this week. Kids are off school tomorrow and so am I - Happy days!

Long live the King!

Today is (the last) Koninginnedag (Queens day) in Holland. Queen Beatrix’s official celebration day. Though Queen Beatrix was born on 31 January, the holiday is observed on 30 April as it was the birthday of her mother and predecessor, Juliana. Since most of the traditional activities are held outside, observing the holiday in April makes suitable weather more likely.

As of next year it will be known as Koningsdag  (Kings day)and will be celebrated on the 27^th of April, unless the 27^th is a Sunday.

Why, because today Willem-Alexander was sworn in as the King of Holland. His mother, Queen Beatrix is abdicating after 33 years on the throne.  

In Holland, unlike in England there is no official crowning. The crown, sceptre and orb is only for show and are displayed on a table in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, where the inaugurations take place. It also does not contain any real gem stones.

 

Thousands of people waiting outside the royal palace to greet the new king

 As they appeared on the balcony after the official inauguration of King Willem-Alexander, Princess Beatrix announced: ‘A couple of moments ago I took leave of the throne. I’m happy and thankful to introduce you to your new King: Willem-Alexander.’

King Willem-Alexander & Queen Maxima

 all images via google

November in April

Boom! Last Monday of April! Can you believe it? Sadly the weather here in Beglium is acting like it is November.

My dad got back on Friday - 6 weeks in South Africa and he did not come empty handed. We got loads of stuff sent over from the family. It was like a mini christmas at hour house.



We went and saw Iron Man 3 with the kids on Sunday ... really enjoyed it. Ben Kingsley is so funny!


This week is going to be a good one. Why, you ask, well Wednesday is 'May day' aka 'Workers day' which means No Work Baby! yeah! 

Right and just because I want to keep the weekend going for as long as possible I'm leaving you with this YouTube clip .... LOVING this song at the moment!

Boys!!!! O dear ....

This morning in the car on the way to school the conversation somehow turned to hot guys.

Me: I'm already married to a hot guy, your dad is the hottest guy, so I'm lucky.
Cat: What? Daddy's not even in my top 5, heck he's not even in my top 100
Himself: You cut me deep Cat, that really hurts! Not even in your top 100?
Cat: Okay, maybe in my top 100, but like number 100. I'm growing up

Well she sure knows how to cut her dad down to size. Not too long ago he was number 2 (after Tom Selleck), now he is number 100!

So we asked her who was in her top 5:

1. Josh Duhamel (he is like sooo cute!) & Dwayne Johnson (they have to share 1st place cause there is no way that she can choose between them!)
2. Chris Evans (Captain America)
3. Chris Hemsworth (Thor)
4. Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man)
5. Tom Selleck
6. Adam Levine
7. Robin Thicke

via Google

 
So as you can see her top 5 is more like the top 8 but that is because there are just so many cute guys and how can she choose!

Earlier in the week Himself had taken the kids to McDonalds for dinner (I was in town having dinner with Noreen)
 
So while Tiger was off play Cat asked her dad if she could please say yes to this boy in her class who asked her to be his girlfriend.
Mommy knows who his dad is so it should be okay, was her reasoning and her two best friends also have boyfriends.

Well since she asked so nicely how could he resist. So she now has a boyfriend, but no funny business is allowed.

While we were waiting to the dr. on Wednesday I asked her what it was about this boy that she liked so much.

'He is nice and kind and he asked me if it hurt when I fell from heaven'

Nuff said! :)