I can, I will , I should ....

I've found yet another Blog that I like ... really this is addictive .. I think I'm now stalking  checking in on about 80 blogs.

I found this on Heather's cool blog & thought I'd give it a go:

I can't ...

• Drink coffee first thing in the morning, give me an hour
• Live without the internet!
• Spend money, it drives my husband insane!

I can ...

• Do most things with both hands, I'm ambidextrous
• Procrastinate like few, when it comes to doing our paperwork
• Read a book & watch a movie at the same time

I wont...

• Ever be good at math
• Call anyone if I got locked in a bookstore overnight
• Ever understand everyone's obsession with Robert Pattison -> Go team Jacob!

I will...

• Be ecstatic when I no longer have to wear braces on my teeth
• Try to be the best wife & mother & friend I can be
• Always have an irrational fear of moths

I shouldn't ...

• Be so impatient with my kids
• Try to please everyone
• Go to bed with make-up on, I know it's bad for my skin

I should ....

• Find ways of doing all the projects I have planned
• Start running or start eating less
• Learn to speak better French, will make living in Belgium much easier

School

We had a parent teacher meeting this morning. It seems that Tiger is still having a hard time with basic things that he should know off by heart. When we look at his school books it’s all well done! and Bravo! but when they test him on his own …. let’s put it this way … he sort of get’s lots.

What makes everything even more frustrating is the fact that our kids go to school in French and we are in no position to help them with their homework.

The other problem with Tiger is that we don’t know how much French he actually speaks or understands. He hardly ever speaks French at home. Him and Cat only speak English to each other so it’s French at school and English at home. This should be a good thing except for the part where we don’t know how much he understands.

It’s not like he’s fluent in English either. He uses French words every now and then when he get’s stuck and his grammar is not perfect either. Up and until now we have not worried about it much. I mean, the kid is 6 and he speaks and understands 2 languages and pretty much understands a third one so it’s normal that he would get confused.

We have decided to up the number of times he goes to the Logopede (a Logopede is like a speech therapist but they work with kids who have both speech problems and reading, writing and math problems).

He went the whole of last year on account of his lisp.

It’s really nice to know the teacher and principal are aware of his problems and that they want to help as much as possible but it doesn’t change how frustrated one feels as a parent.

On the way to work after the meeting I said to Himself how frustrated I feel because I can’t spend extra time working with him both because of how bad my French is and because I work and get home so late. Told him he had better start making big buck real soon so I can quit my job and be able to spend some time with the kids.

Aah heck, you know I know one day when they are big we’ll look back and smile (hopefully) but right now it’s frustrating as hell!

Two Things ....

I caved ! I totally did it ... I just took it out the drawer and said ... sod it!

Next thing I know it was finished!

¼ slab of green aero

My 'secret' indulgence

Now I realize that since I live in the land of Beer and Chocolate it is beyond most people why I would even have some plain ol'Nestle in my drawer never mind devouring it all ....

Thing is I'm not a big fan of the Belgian Chocolate.

I'm very picky about what Belgian chocolate I'll eat ... which might just be a good thing .... if you know what I mean

I know my green Aero is not even real chocolate but what can I say :

I have so little self control when it comes to chocolate I like.... or any food that I like for that matter....

If only someone could invent an easy & effortless way to loose weight while still eating all the things you love......

Thing Number 2:

I have also come to realize that I would be so happy if I could be paid to read blogs. Really, I don't think I could ever grow tired of reading blogs all day long.

I can't imagine why anyone would need to pay someone to read blogs. However, I'm just saying ... if anyone out there needs me to read blogs on their behalf and is willing to pay me I'll quit my job in a heart beat.

I just counted, I read roughly 75 blogs ... and every other day I find more to add to the list.
It's a miracle I still get my work done.

PS. I was not paid by anyone to say how much I love Nestle chocolate I mentioned it because it's true

Weekend round-up

Monday, again!

The puppies left on Friday. Needless to say both kids want to know why we couldn't keep them. I considered telling them that if we kept all 5 of the remaining puppies it would bring the total number of dogs up to 8. Having 8 dogs would mean that mommy would leave.

Don't worry I only considered telling them that, I didn't actually do it. I just told them that it was time for the puppies to go to their own wonderful new homes. Because if everyone kept their puppies then we never would have gotten Lulu & Duke. And as much as the puppies are all cute and cuddly I have to admit that I will not miss their mess.

The kids slept over at my mother's on Friday night so Himself & I went out for dinner with some friends. Good food & good company, no kids ... what is not to enjoy. No, really as much as I love our kids it was nice to have a grown-up's night out. It's been ages since we both went out together.

On a very frustrating note we finally found out on Saturday morning that we would only be getting our home internet connection fixed some time during the day on the 10th of October. Don't know how we are going to survive another month without internet at home but I guess we just don't have a choice.

On Saturday night we went to Duffel. Yes, it's the home of the Duffel coat. Friends of ours live there and their eldest daughter took part in the 'Ballonnekensstoet' . Traditionally everyone would have carried hollowed out pumpkins or beets with a light inside. (But it has nothing to do with Halloween). Today however it a parade in which all the schools & sports associations have children riding on beautifully decorated & lit floats.

The 4 brothers riding the horse - this is only done where there is a family in the town who has 4 boys.

School kids on one of the floats

At the end of the parade there is a fireworks display but the girls were too tired to hang around & wait for it so we started walking home. We did managed to see most of it from the bridge (½ way home).

Tiger who had opted to go home with the dad's was very put out when he heard that the girls had had ice-cream so Himself promised to stop at MacDonalds on the way home. I think Tiger had about 3 bites of his ice-cream before falling asleep.

The best part of the weekend was the weather. We had such good weather this weekend it felt like it was summer. In fact it was better than most of the past summer. And, when the weather is that good there is only one thing to do. BBQ! So the friends came round & we ate & drank and laughed and sat outside till after 10 last night, it was bliss.

O my, I nearly forgot to tell you .... I nearly died on Friday!

So I just walked through the door when my phone rings. It's Himself, wanting to know where I am. Just walked in the door. Well he's sitting outside of Antwerp and it's grid lock. There is no way he's going to make it to the school on time to pick up the kids. Therefore, I need to cycle to the school to get the kids before 6. Why? Because for every minute after 6 you pay 1Euro per child. Ok then, it's only about 8.7 km (5.4 miles).

Well I thought I was going to die! It's uphill most of the way (something you never really notice when you fly by in the car. Not to mention the fact that I'm am SUPER unfit.

What a sight I must have been when I got there I don't even want to imagine.

If I looked this good I would have felt so much better. On the other hand it's a very good thing that nobody was taking pictures of me cause I think their camera might just have broke

But what counts is the fact that I got there, with time to spare!

Procrastinating procrastinator

I need to get my ducks in a row ....

I have so much to do and not enough time or let's be honest, motivation to get started, on those days when I do have the time.

Maybe it's just me (I sincerely  hope not, I hope there are other of you like me, out there), but by the time I've fed everyone, tidied the kitchen, put a load of washing in the machine, put the kids to bed I often have no desire to do anything other than crash.  To grab a book or watch some tv.

Come the weekend & I have so much cleaning & sorting & laundry to do that I curse myself for not getting a head start during the week.  So I make plans and list to follow to stop this all from happening again.  Only to find that  by the time the next week roll around I'm beat and/or not in the mood to do any of it.

I have become such a procrastinator it's shocking!

O dear! I just googled procrastination and according to Wiki it's not good, not good at all!  On the bright side I don't think I'm quite at that terrible level yet as I still manage to do the most important things. (phew!)

Apart from the general cleaning & laundry I have the following

Necessary To Do / Would like To Do list:

Filing of all paid bills into correct folders

Sort out the laundry/mud room

Create usable office ... and actually use it

Clean out the kitchen cupboards / pantry

Sort out the walking-in closet space (currently being used as both cupboard & general storage room)

4 DIY projects of varying sizes which include sanding & painting

At least my  house doesn't quite look like this yet

By telling everyone this and putting it 'all out there' I'm hoping to guilt myself into action.

The shower gel which never runs out

Tiger: 'Mommy you must please buy some new shower gel. I'm sick to death of staring at the same bottle all the time. I've been staring at it since 1969!'



Not the 'long lasting' shower gel but somthing I'm sure Tiger would like me to replacy the current gel with 



Still in the land of the living or should I say blogging

No I haven't fallen off the planet, or given up on blogging either.

I've been sick.

This is what I would have looked liked if I had been able to take a photo of myself during the past week

I've spent the past week sleeping trying to get over whatever it is that I've got. The doctor is clueless as am I.

But since Himself was over in Ireland this weekend I had to pull myself together and get on with life.

So today, I'm back at work but still not functioning at full capacity.

I hope to be back to normal real soon!

Choices choices choices .....

Really it's SO hard!

I don't know about you but I don't know much about cars. I mean I managed to drive for 15 years before I even ever filled up my own car. (Not because I'm totally pathetic (only a little) but mostly because I grew up in a country where it is done for you by petrol station attendants).

But that's not what I'm writing about today. Today it's about picking a car.

I have not owned my own car since moving back to Belgium. With Himself off on business trips more and more a 2nd car has become essential if I'm to continue taking the kids to school & getting myself to work.

Where is a girl to start?

What I know:

• I don't want to spend more than 200 euro per month
• I want a diesel car
• I need to have space in the back for the dogs (which sort of limit my choices)
• I need a reliable car so the best option would be to go with a new car
• It has to have a manual transmission .... I hate driving automatic

What I don't know:

• Everything except for the above including:
• Band
• Colour

　

My dream car is a Range Rover, but let's face it. It really does cost more than what I would like to spend. Not to mention what the road tax would cost me every year.

When I'm big I would like one of these

I decided to drop my standards a little and get realistic. So I started surfing the net to see what else there was available.

This is what I found:

Affordable choice

Citroen C3 Picasso --> affordable



Reliable choice

Toyota Urbain Cruiser --> My dad used to drive Toyota so I know they are reliable cars





Love at first sight?

I think I want myself a Mini .....

Now I just need to convince Himself to give me a big enough deposit .....

What do you think? let me know I'd love to know



Driving in cars....

We drive past the Ferrari garage every day on the way to school.

Every morning the kids pick a Ferrari.

It is Tiger's dream car.

Tiger:

I wish we had a Ferrari, then we could just fly to school.

Why don't you just drive faster?

I can't I have to wait for the person infront of me to drive & then I can drive.

Just drive over them.

When I'm big I'm going to be a racing car driver so I can drive super fast all the time.

You'll still have to drive within the speed limit.

No, I'll make a special deal with the police.

Cat:

When I'm big I want a big car, not a Ferrari.

Why?

Because I'm going to have a big family.

Oh, how many kids would you like to have?

Oh maybe 4 or 3 or 2

Tiger:

When can I get a car?

When you are old enough to drive and have a drivers license.

Can't I get a car now?

No you have to learn to drive first.

But I can drive real good! I never even crash when I play Wii

On this day in history

On 5 September 2002 at 14:15 weighing 2.96 kg (6.5 llb) and 49 cm long she made her much anticipated arrival.

Which means that today marks 9 years of motherhood for me!

Seriously it's crazy!

Where the hell as the time gone?

Usually we have a combined birthday party with her 'cosmic twin' however due to a very unfortunate accident while on holiday her friend's dad is in hospital and their party has been postponed until a later date. We did however take the girls for lunch yesterday.

This morning Cat & Tiger had Chocolate cake for breakfast (Thanks to my fantastic friend who baked 2 cakes for me yesterday since she knew that I did not have the time).

She loved her gift ... from us Season 3 of the Magnum PI series. (yes as mentioned before Cat LOVES Tom Selleck).

We are still trying to decide on what we should do for her birthday party. It all depends on the weather. At home or mini-golf.

Blgh!

I am totally without inspiration today!

The kids had a good day at school yesterday. I covered school books after putting them (the kids not the books) to bed.

This morning we made it out the house on time and it seems we are back on track.

That's it ......

Nothing else .....

Blgh!

At least it's Friday! I might get around to putting up the photo's from the holiday & 1st day back at school this weekend.

Back to School

Today is Back to School day.

It always is back to school on the 1st of September unless it falls on a weekend.

I decided that I would ease everyone into it. So I let the kids sleep a little later (only woke them at 7). And was very patient with them to get dressed and eat before leaving (I have to admit that I allow myself to get a bit impatient with them so I'm trying to improve on the whole atmosphere in the house in the mornings). I did however get slightly annoyed with Himself when he declared he doesn't see the point of us both taking them to school so I should take them and come back to pick him up.

They could not understand why I wanted to take pictures of them and then it was all rushed but I managed to take 4. Finally we made it to school with 5 min to spare. And as can be expected on the 1st day of the new school year there were cars everywhere! But the kids asked me to just drop them off and go and by the way why did I bring them to school this morning why didn't their dad do it?

Himself thinks it's all very funny. He says that I need to decide what I want our kids to be, independent or babies cause I can't have it both ways.

I'll post the above mentioned photo's later.... I had to get to work as soon as possible after dropping kids off at school and can't load photo's on my work computer.