What's your number?

So I am special after all :)

I'm not talking about the new movie I'm talking about where you are in the world population ranking.

A friend sent me this link.... check it out it's totally cool and a bit scary at the same time.

My general life expectation has dramatically increased since moving to Belgium - Thank goodness for that

Here are my stats:

South Africa

Population: 50288512

Birth rate per hour: 123

Death rate per hour: 85

Immigration rate per hour: +16

Average yearly growth rate: +1.0%

Average life expectancy: 51.2 years

vs

Belgium

Population: 10731692

Birth rate per hour: 14

Death rate per hour: 12

Immigration rate per hour: +5

Average yearly growth rate: +0.6%

Average life expectancy: 79.8 years

So link back & tell me what your stats look like.

Do you still believe?

We are expecting a visit from the tooth fairy any day now. It'll will be Tiger's first tooth. (he's the only kid in his class who has not yet lost a tooth).

Needless to say he is super excited about the prospect cause he knows that he will be well rewarded.

When Cat starting losing her teeth it sometimes happened that she would lose 2 at the same time.

You will not believe this but the kids saw this as a money making opportunity.

I overheard them plotting to get a pair of pliers and pull out more teeth in order to get more money.

I would be willing to lose a thooth if he came to collect it .. just saying

I think Cat knows the truth behind the tooth fairy & Santa & Saint Nicolas (I'll tell you all about St. Nicolas in early December). But she still wants to believe.

She recently asked me if I still believed in Santa. My answer: Of course I do! Santa and all the others are real as long as you believe they are.

Tiger also explained to me that the tooth fairy is real but so is the tooth mouse. He told me that the tooth fairy brings the money in exchange for the tooth and then gives the tooth to the tooth mouse (this might be from a movie?).

Do you still have visits from the tooth fairy at your house?

22 Things I Have done:

Vinobaby's Voice decided that after making a list of all the things we haven't yet done we should maybe focus on what we've done ... we might surprise even ourselves.

Here's my list:

　

1. Sat on a motorbike while a herd of elephant crossed the road around me.

2. Gone zip-lining

3. 'Stage dived' off a bar counter

4. Hitch-hiked in South Africa and survived

5. Picked up hitch-hikers, gave them a place to sleep, in South Africa & survived

6. Had green hair

7. Had my appendix removed on April Fools day

8. Can & have milked cows by hand

9. Gone sandboarding in Namibia



This is a photo of my brother ... also taken in Namibia



10. Saw Halley's comet

11. Gone fire fighting on a game reserve

12. Can still fit into my primary school uniform

13. Have lived in 26 houses in 12 towns in 3 countries

14. Drank Absinthe -> NEVER doing that again

15. Drank a bottle of wine with a straw, by myself -> NEVER doing that again

16. Been asked if I was my (then 8 year old) daughter's big sister.

17. Watched Space Jam in German

I worked as an au-pair in Germany, this was the 1st movie I saw

18. Slept under a Boabab tree

This tree can be found close to where I grew-up .. I never slept under this one but under a similar one in Zimbabwe

19. Gone white water rafting

20. Climbed to the top of the Atomium (Before I ever lived in Belgium)

Built for the World Fair in 1958 in Brussels

21. Gone snorkelling with stingray's and sand sharks

22. Gone skinny dipping

Right, so why don't you link up and share your list with us, I for one is dying to know.

Underdressed for scouts!

I read Alyssa's post over at Near Normalcy Humiliation and volunteerism. Also Girl Scouts don't eat cookies. It ties right into my post today...

Well Cat recently joined a scouts troop. This is her first foray into the world of scouts. Needless to say I'm totally ignorant about what it all entails except for the fact that I've seen them around on Sunday's and she loves going. Her best friend invited her along which is how she found out about it.

Yesterday was the 'catch the parents up' day so we all had to turn up and find out about what the next year is going to entail.

Because I'm a good mom I turned up despite the fact that I knew that I was more than likely not not going to understand ½ of what was being said but hoping that I would be able to pick up enough and then make sure I get all their emails (Thanks to Google translate I'll be able to at least understand their emails).

What I didn't expect though were the other parents. Ok I know that Waterloo is a well-to-do area but still who on earth dresses up to go to a scout meeting on a Sunday afternoon? Here I was wearing my trusty jeans, sweater and Uggs. Nothing dirty but you know comfortable. The other mom's: designer outfits from top to bottom including the leather totes big enough to fit a small child into. And they brought their husbands... also dressed to the nines! Really!?

The other thing I noticed is that they are old! Not that I'm trying to offend anyone but if I had been wearing a scouts uniform I would have looked like one of the troop leaders. I think some of the parents their were as old as my parents! (there is a kid in Cat's class who's dad is the same age as my father-in-law). And just incase you were wondering, no I did not have cat when I was a teen.

The good thing was that I understood about 80% of what was being said and Cat's friends dad Laurence was kind enough to translate whatever I missed. I was so glad to see a friendly face!

Now I'll just have to remember to go shopping for a designer outfit before the next meeting ... and rob a bank to be able to afford it.

22 Things I have never done:

I saw this really cool list on Mommypants, who got it from Mama Kat's Writing Workshop & decided to make my own list.

I have never....

1. Sky dived ---> I must admit though that I would love to

2. Gotten a tattoo --> have been tempted but have never done it

3. Travelled to the east

4. Finished a knitting project (probably cause I can't knit)

5. Attended a football game (no football in South Africa or Belgium)

6. Won the lottery

7. Gotten lost in a forest

8. Eatin Alligator

credit

9. Gone deep sea diving

10. Attended a rock festival

11. Kissed an Eskimo

credit

12. Hot wired a car

13. Been on a cruise ship

14. Watched Gone with the wind

credit

15. Bought or sold anything on Ebay

16. Been snow boarding / skiing

17. Been in a YouTube video

18. Been to university

19. Met famous person

20. Seen the attraction of androgynous looking men

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21. Read Pride & Prejudice

22. Told a lie .... oops I guess I just did

What about you?

It must be the altenator

I met up with my friend Kay on Friday evening after work. Just to catch up, have a couple of glasses of cider and to have dinner.

This is nearly as cute as my friends mini. Only her mini has a sunroof

Since she had to work on Saturday we were very sensible and didn't stay out long.

We hopped in her little mini only for her to realize that she had forgotten her car's lights on and by now the battery had run dead.

There was nothing but a click when she turned the key.

Right, so the only thing to do was to get a taxi to her house & then pick up her husbands car & then she would drop me off at my house.

Cool.

Yesterday I rang her and said I would go with her into town to go & pick up her mini. I was feeling fairly confident that I would be able to use our jumper cables & jump start her car.

We got to the mini open the back (cause that's where the battery is)... & you thought I didn't know what I was doing.

Right, so next we had to open the hood of her car.

Problem

We could not find the "!!$£$%^*  lever to open the hood of her car.

Eventually she called her husband (who is in Portugal on army manoeuvres). What are you doing? You are going to blow up both cars! etc etc etc. Clearly Jay did not have as much confidence in my skills as I did.

Well she put down the phone and he was still sending instructions via text telling us what not to do and to phone Himself to come and do it when the car was running.

Voila done & dusted! So much for needing instructions

On the way home she had to stop for gas. No problem, we drove to the garage closest to her house to give the mini's battery as much time as possible to re-charge.

She hopped back into the car and

click

nothing but a click

and no this time using the jumper cables did not work either.

Eventually we pushed (ok I steered & she pushed) the mini out of the way and it's still there. So much for us having fixed the problem all by ourselves.

Obviously we decided that it must be the alternator cause we did everything right & we know it all.

Did you know that this is what an altenator looks like? I didn't ... anyway you don't need to know that, that's what husbands are for :)

Pinterest Friday

Go on admit it you've spent quite some time today just oogling things on Pinterest.

I have & I've been doing it while I should be working on newsletters and market updates but since we are being honest. Pinterest is just so much more interesting!

So this is what I've seen & liked and coveted dreamed about this week:

The perfect fall drink!

I love this dress!

What's not like?

Red shoe pop! So cool!

Just this week Tiger told me that he thinks we need a slide i/o the stairs

I'm wearing mine right now!

I don't think there is a woman alive who would not love a walk in like this ... plus the clothes & shoes to fill it

aaah!

What did you see this week that you just need in your life?

You'll never guess what I found....

I have been working from home for the past 2½ days. Thanks to Belgacom (our telephone provider) & the people who had to come & service our boiler.

Don’t get me wrong I loved that fact that I didn’t have to put on anything other than a track suit and my Uggs (I had to take the kids to school and run into the bakery which is why I couldn’t go in my pj’s) but, working from home has its drawbacks.

For instance, I happen to tidy the lounge and found inside the couch the following items:

·          4 single socks (I’ve been on the verge of throwing the other 4 single socks away because I could not find their friends)

·          2 teaspoons

·          1 pairing knife

·          5 coloring pencils

·          8 dvd’s (but not in their boxes)

You would imagine that I would freak out about the knife. Well I did, a little. The socks is an ongoing battle especially when the kids come and ask me for socks all the time and all I have to give them are lots of single socks.

BUT

DVD’s not put back in their boxes is a pet peeve which drives me up the wall and down again. Honestly, I have lost track of all the times I’ve asked nicely and explained why they need to go back in their boxes and threatened to throw away all of their dvd’s and WII games for this very reason.

Let me tell you, I totally lost it! Well rather I kept it all together until the kids came home from school and then I lost it. For good measure I even included how I was sick and tired of picking up pieces of toys or books or shoes demolished by the dogs because certain children, who shall remain nameless, are too lazy to put them away.

O and then I included a host of other things that they do on a daily basis which I end up shouting about on a daily basis.

As a result Cat came to me and told me that she or they had a suggestion. That instead of me giving away all of their dvd’s and games that I should consider a TV/DVD/Wii ban for a week.

And every other time they neglected to put the dvd’s away.

Last night when they came home from school they both put their coat’s away (instead of dropping them on the floor). They both put their shoes away. They both picked up their toys … the dog’s had nothing to chew during the night.

I was so happy it’s sad!

Now if only they can keep it up and might work from home again … who knows what I’ll find then…

On this day....

Today my baby is

I really can't believe it!

But he'll always be my baby even when he thinks he's too big to be my baby.

Happy Birthday Tiger boy!

Random Rambling .... no other title will work?

Today's post is a bit random. But it is what it is.

First off I'm So Frustrated! and happy at the same time.... Why? Because I got my 1st comment -- Thanks Sheena The frustration is that I can't seem to reply to her comment???

Therefore, if I was able to reply to your much appreciated comment it would be:

'Yeah several, if I had to count them in my head quickly I would say we had about 8. 4 of them were great for climbing.'

I'm totally chuffed that someone out there read my blog!

Moving along...

I've been getting home late the last couple of days which means that we have been eating take-out for dinner. The kids of course love it! I'm also so far behind with the house work it's not even funny anymore. Thank goodness no-one just drops by your house for an impromptu visit here in Belgium. But this just means that it'll all have to be done on the weekend.

The cake - Tiger is very worried that I'll forget to make his birthday cake. He reminds me about 10 times a day that I have to make sure I make it.

He's asked me to make the same cake as last year .... a rocket cake. Only because he wants a black cake again. I think I'm going to make a black cake but I'll put a monster on it, just to be different. I'm sure he'll love it!

2 On Tuesday

This is my first time linking into a Link party... figers crossed it works!

So today is 2 on Tuesday over on My chihuahua bites and the question is what were your two favorite childhood toys.

I would have to say:

Number one goes to:
Our Avocado trees.  We had a huge garden full of avo trees and all the kids in our street used to come & play at our house. We spent hours climbing and swinging and building forts in & around these trees.

Number two would be:

My bicycle.  The scars I have on my knees are a constant reminder of the time we spent riding & falling off our bikes.  Races down the driveway and up & down the street.

I had a blue bike similar to this, without the basket.

Aah those were good times!

How Not to spend your weekend

This weekend we had the most amazing Indian summer weather. No jokes! It was hotter than what it was for the entire July & August. It was lovely!

What did I do this weekend?

Did I sit out in the sun sipping wine, chatting with my girlfriends?

Did I lie out in the sun getting a bit of colour on my all too pale skin?

No I stood inside my kitchen doing the ironing! And let me tell you it sucked!

But it had to be done cause the pile of clean laundry was bigger than the pile of dirty laundry (cause let's face it, it's much easier throwing it in the washer & dryer than what it is to iron). And by doing the washing I at least feel like I'm doing something about the state of our house.

Not only do I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle against the never ending laundry basket there is the constant dust & spiders! Honestly it's like like living on the set of Arachnophobia. Ok not as deadly but honestly we have spiders everywhere.

It's not quite this bad but yes we do find spiders in the bath or basin or shower or kitchen or....

The lawn desperately needs to be mowed, again, before the rain sets in only I'm not sure when Himself is going to get around to doing it. Between his meetings & me working full time mowing the lawn is not so high on our list of priorities even if it's high on our list of Things that have to be done.

I have to book Tiger's birthday party this week. The poor kids, it's his birthday on Friday and I still have not managed to get to the bowling alley. We really need to buy that second car.

Right, one more week without the internet at home.... hope we'll survive. Hope you'll survive the rest of this week.