Random Rambling Tuesday

I went back to work yesterday – I don’t think my body/mind was ready for the shock!

I have so much work to do I’m not sure where to start. You know that feeling that no matter where you start you feel like you’ll never finish it? That’s how I feel. And everyone feels that their work is the most urgent and they want it done by no later than the end of the week!

The upstairs of our house is looking like an episode out of hoarders.  I started switching the kid’s rooms around and then decided that while I was doing that I might as well sort out their clothes and books and toys.   Well, I have one room that is looking great and three rooms that look like a bomb exploded in them.  And as much as I would like to just ignore it and avoid the upstairs completely (cept to go shower) I can’t. The kids will be back before I know it and they need a place to sleep.

Speaking about the kids, they are being spoilt rotten!  Cat does not want to come home. Tiger would like to come home but I think he’s cousins have other ideas about this.  According to my mother-in-law Josh & Jude follow him around like two little shadows. Josh is insisting that everyone call him Tiger and he only wants to wear Tiger’s clothes.

I think they are going to be in for quite a shock when they come back home and have to ‘learn to live with the law again’.  I’m missing them loads though and can’t wait for them to come home.

The one thing that I did do while hanging out at home was pick up weight. In fact it’s now gotten to that point where I hate getting dressed in the morning cause I’m having a hard time pulling on my ‘fat’ jeans. Not good. So I’ve decided to make some changes. I’m going to try my best to avoid sugar for the next 21 days.  Also, I want to avoid eating carbs at dinner time. I’ve also replaced my usual breakfast muffin or croissant with a green smoothie.  By doing this for 21 days I think I may just have a manageable goal in mind.

It’s going to be hard! I have such a sweet tooth and love bread! But I have to do something.

Yesterday, day 1 I even managed to resist the chocolate brownie cake my friend Kim left at our house on Sunday. Even when Himself offered me ½ of his piece.

Right, I better stop blogging & get back to this mountain of work.

PS. in case you are interested I found some great green smoothie recipes on Pinterest.

I sort of make up my own by looking a several and they are really filling.

PSS. I'm also linking up with Talk to us Tuesday, check them out:

Stars in my eyes - WWTK nr. 64

I have been lying in the sun for the past 2 days - have to make the most of the good weather while we have it!  But I still have time for Mamarazzi & Crazymama's WWTK.
 





I must admit, I actually found this weeks questions hard. Had to get some help from Kim & Himself for the answers. But lets see:

So The Lovely One asked this question:
The Lovely one  wants to know:

{one} What Disney character do you most resemble and why?

My friend Kim thinks it should be Cinderella - she says I'm always cleaning up after everyone in the family - I hope Himself makes some major money soon so I can start living the life of a princess.

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And it got me, Mamarazzi, wanting to know...

{two} Who was your teenage celebrity crush?

Kevin Costner

He is still pretty good looking

 

{three} What celebrity would you love to be BFF with?

I would have to say that I would love to get to know & be friends with Jennifer Garner - I have this idea that she is a really well balanced woman.  I could be wrong but she just seems really nice. Or Pink - I just love everything about her.

{four} Who is your celebrity look a like?

I don't think I look like any celebrity but if I had to pick one who I very vaguely resemble I would have to say if you are near blind you could maybe say Natalie Portman.  

{five} Which celebrity/celebrity couple would you want to portray you/your honey in a movie about your life?

I would not be annoyed in any way if Natalie Portman played me & it would have to be Kevin James for Himself.

  

 

 How about you? Link up and join the fun!

Cravings mmmmh WWTK nr. 63

I'm so glad it's Wednesday cause between me doing very little and the shitty weather I don't have anything to blog about.  

So here it is hooking up with Mamarazzi & Crazymama for:


 

here are this weeks questions...Crazymama sent these:

I, Crazymama, just got back from the grocery store, where i was shopping while hungry.  we all know THAT is never a good idea. add that to some weird cravings i've been having and you get these questions...

{1} walking down the cookie aisle at the store, what do you pick?

It all depends on my mood but for the most part I'm very partial to chocolate chip cookies but that said I'm partial to most baked goods. It's a huge weakness!

{2} would you rather eat chips or crackers? which kind?

Chips, hot & spicy

{3} what kind of pickles do you like?

On my one very short very long ago trip the New York I loved the pickles they served there. Over here in Belgium you just get the regular small pickles.

{4} what is your favorite candy? 

Again, it depends on my mood and what I feel like. I like most candy but I must admit I love sour candy.

{5} marycate wants to know about your beverage preference.

Coke Or Pepsi? Diet Drinkers?

Coke Light! Every single day.  I'll even get up in the middle of the night to have a few swigs. I know, it's really bad, but it's sooo good!

Laying Low aka MIA

I know I know I've been  MIA for a while now, sorry about that.

I've been on vacation but I've been busy cleaning my house. And working on my summer bucket list.

O and I'm missing the kids! Really missing them. We try to skype them as often as we can but most days the kids just tell us not to call cause they are busy.  They've been shopping and visiting with their cousins and shopping. Cat is in 7th Heaven. And my mother-in-law is enjoying having a girl to shop for. 

I know I mention this all the time but honestly, the weather is terrible! It's been raining most of the time. Not much of a summer!

When I'm not working on the house we are hanging out with friends and getting to bed too late! But, hey I'm on vacation.  I'm hoping that we can get away for a couple of days to somewhere warm.


You this is the other thing of not doing much other than working on the house, I don't have much to blog about.  O wait, last weekend we attended a small local festival to promote Stack-Cup.  It wasn't bad at all, cept for the rain.


Check out some of the photos on Facebook.


And last, but not least I got my first award! Yay!  From Kenzi! Thank you so much!

 

 

The Rules:

[-] Include the award's logo in a post or on your blog.

[-] Share the love, and link the person who nominated you.

[-] Tell seven facts about yourself.

[-] Nominate 7 other fabulous bloggers.

[-] Link your nominees to this post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

Seven Facts:

[1] I have a terrible sweet tooth and find it near impossible to resist baked goods.

[2] I like to read and watch tv at the same time, it drives Himself crazy.

[3] I hate going clothing shopping for myself.

[4] I love going shoe shopping. 

[5] I would love to work 3 days a week, that way I will have more time for the kids while still working and staying sane.

[6] I am not a dog person at all, yet I'm the one who takes care of our 3 dogs. 

[7] I a sucker for romantic movies.

Seven Bloggers:

[-] So Much to Say

[-] Dixie Creek Farm

[-] Binkertation

[-] How to Survive Life in the Suburbs

[-] Completely Eclipsed

[-] The Starnes Family

[-] Airing My Dirty Laundry

 

 That's it for now, check out these blogs in the mean time I a promise to try to blog a bit more next week.


Cheers!
 

Book club Friday

I'm on holiday! Yay! 3 weeks of no office work, I'm very happy about it.

O and today is the husbands birthday. Poor guy is working :(

Anyway, it's Friday so it means Book club and I actually managed to read a book this week.  I picked up a couple of second hand books at a church fair. Nothing like buying a book for 50 cents. This weeks book is one of the ones I bought. It might be an old one but it's still a good one.



This weeks book is:




The story line:

Detective Lincoln Rhymes, the foremost criminalist in the NYPD, is put on the trail of the Coffin Dancer, a cunning professional killer who has continually eluded the police. Rhymes —-a quadriplegic since a line-of-duty accident — must use his wits to track this brilliant killer who's been hired to eliminate three witnesses in the last hours before their grand jury testimony. Rhyme works with his eyes and ears, New York City cop Amelia Sachs, to gather information from trace evidence at the crime scene to nail him, or at least to predict his next move and head him off.

What did I think? 

Worth the read! Jeffery Deaver is one of the best when it comes to keeping the suspense going. So if you enjoy a good suspense you should check it out.


How about you, what have you read this week?

4th of July - WWTK # 61

Let me tell you, this having no kids around is going to kill me. We went out for dinner with some friends last night and did not get home before 4! As you can imagine I'm feeling the pain today. But I did manage to make in into the office for my meeting this morning, now I just need to stay awake for the rest of the day.  I imagine I’ll be living on coffee today, good thing we get coffee for free at work.

Anyway, it's Wednesday and despite it being the 4th of July Crazymama & Mamarazi sent our their weekly questions along with a couple from Kenzi over at Crazy, Beautiful Mommyhood

Kenzi wants to know:

1.  What are your 4th of July plans?

Well mine are very boring, I'm at work and tonight I hope to get to bed before 4.

2.  Are you going to set off fireworks?

It would be very unxpected but no.

Bringing us to Crazymama's questions:

1. What is your favourite BBQ side dish?

Potato salad, Really a BBQ is not a BBQ without Potato salad.

2. What is your favourite BBQ main dish?

Meat! O you mean what kind of meat. We usually do a selection of meat, ribs, sausages, chicken wings, brochettes, lamb cops and steak. Something for everyone.

3. Do you decorate or dress in red white and blue for the 4^th?

No I don’t, people would find it a bit strange what with me not being American and all :)

But for all my American readers:

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Summer bucket list

I am such a procrastinator it is embarrassing.  Ok, that’s not totally true. The truth is I’m a procrastinator when it comes to doing things that I don’t feel like doing.  So, since the kids are going to be away for the next 6 weeks there are a couple of things which I’d like to get around to doing.

Hence my -> 

Have to be done, not so much fun, summer bucket list.

I’m hoping that if I put it out there on my blog for all of you to read I might feel a bit more pressured to actually do these things.

So here is what I need/have to do:

1.         start running!!!!!

I’ve been dreaming about running, wish that was enough to make the pounds fall off

2.         sort out the kids bedrooms

They each have their own room but have moved into the guest room cause they like to share a bed cause then they play games and read after being put to bed. For some reason they seem to think that I don’t know this.

3.         create a functional office space

With Himself working for himself an office is now very much needed, I can’t keep track off all the papers he brings into the house.

4.         sort out the paper work

All the above mentioned papers are in piles all over the house/kitchen/ they get moved from one place to the next. Also, I need to find a system that works for the bills coming in and for filing once paid.

5.         create a filling system that works (linked to # 4)

6.         sort out the shelving in the two bathrooms

This is not going to be such a big job. They kids have just messed them up looking for swimming towels etc and they could do with getting a good sorting and cleaning out.

7.         clean out the kitchen cupboards

Also, not such a huge job but it’s the kind of job that you put off cause you don’t normally have time to do it.

8.         fix up our bedroom (make it a bit more pretty/inviting)

I actually started making our room a bit more pretty some time ago but got side-tracked and then our bed broke etc etc … so I want to finish what I started.

There are more things that I can add to the list but I think I should stop; I don’t want to feel totally overwhelmed before I even get started.  Also, if I have 8 things on my list it gives me a week to do each of the things on the list.  I mean, it’s not like I’ll just be sitting at home for 8 weeks, I’m still working full time.

Kid free zone

No I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth I just sent my kids ½ way around the world.

With only my parents living here in Belgium our kids are basically growing up without any family/cousins around. It’s really sad since having your cousins around is important. And because plane tickets tend to be rather expensive, especially during the holiday season. So the kids have not been to South Africa for nearly 4 years.

The previous times they went to visit in South Africa they flew over with either Himself, or my mom or a good family friend. This year they flew un-accompanied.

Rather than putting them on the plane here in Brussels and then have them change over in Amsterdam we opted to drive them to Amsterdam and let them get on the plane there. Meaning they get on the plane there and get off in Johannesburg.

We got up at 4 on Friday morning to drive them to Amsterdam. As you can imagine they were super excited and once we checked in their bags we had to hang around for about 2 hours. So every 10 minutes one of them would ask if it was time to go yet.

About ½ hour before they left

And you know what, when we were saying goodbye it was us trying to wipe away tears not the kids!

We spoke to them for about 2 minutes, on Friday night after they got home with my in-laws. Then we skyped them again on Saturday and Tiger didn’t even want to talk to us. Cat said we were being annoying calling them.

That’s what you get when you raise your kids to be independent.

1st picture of the cousins together in nearly 4 years