One is a runner and the other one, not so much

So as I told you Tiger will be taking part in their school cross country on the 3^rd of October. Wait, did I tell you? Anyway, he is taking part.

And since I’m really trying to do better in the mother department I decided to start running with him in the mornings. To help him train and to get me and my be-hind up and out of the door. If I have just myself to get up and running its way too easy to convince myself that it is too dark and too cold out there.

We didn’t run far, 2.1 miles / 2 km and it is dead flat except for the start. But hey it’s better than not running at all.  But, boy can that kid run!  I had to run to keep up with him. I let him run in front of me but every time I get a little too close for his liking he speeds up. Eventually I had to tell him, ‘hey this is not a race it’s just a run’ ‘I know’ and then he kicks it up a notch again.  In the end I let him beat me and he loves that.

This morning I got the girl child up to go running.  O my word ….. it was a marathon session of support and jokes and goofing around and getting cross to get her to run the same bit of road.  She was complaining non-stop. It’s too cold, it’s too dark, she is too tired she is going to fall asleep. Her foot hurts, she’s got a cramp, this is child abuse …. but finish the run she did though I ‘m not sure if it can really count as a run.

At one point I was even running singing ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’ ‘just keep running, just keep running’ And she didn’t even appreciate that.  

credit

Not even telling her that by running she’ll get fit and will be able to swim faster and further was enough to inspire her.  She just hates running.

And whatever good that near run could have done my butt, has been cancelled out by the cookies that I’ve consumed today … for some reason I’m craving chocolate today.

Crazy busy

Ugh why is it that when you really need things to run smoothly they don’t?

It’s still going crazy here at work. I really even should not be blogging right now but since I was so bad about blogging last week I just wanted to do a quick post.  I hate not having time to blog and to read blogs!

Word of advice: Never ever let your car key get wet! We found that out the hard way this morning.  Himself dropped the key in water yesterday (I have a sneaky suspicion that it was the toilet). The card didn’t want to know anything! Even after blow drying the key.  I googled it and it seems that we are going to have to replace the key.  Why didn’t we use the spare?  Well you’ll remember that I lost the key a couple of months ago.

So we had to find a way to get the kids to school on time.  Himself finally managed to find a taxi (since we live in a village the size of a postage stamp we don’t have many of those).  Your man turned up and drove the kids & I to their school. Luckily they were only about 3 minutes late.  Then he had to drive me back to the train station.

My train was delayed. We I finally made it to South station we were told that there was a technical problem with the train. So, I had to change trains.  When I finally got to north station I decided that after the morning I had  had I deserved something nice.  Something like a Starbucks skinny vanilla latte.

They screwed up my order and all I got was a skinny latte. So not the same!

And since I only got to work at 10 I’m going to have to work till 6 tonight L

O I forgot, Tiger and I went for a run this morning. He is training for the school cross country on the 3^rd of October.  Nothing crazy, just a straight flat 2.1 miles / 2 km.  Boy can that kid run!  I kept on telling him that we were not having a race. ‘I know’ he would say and speed up.  We’ll have to see if he will get up to go running again tomorrow morning.

And if you are interested here is a quick re-cap of our weekend.

Tiger played his first football (soccer) match on Saturday morning.  We had to be in Ittre by 8:45. Just getting there took some planning cause Cat had a friend who slept over. This friend had to be back at home before 10:00. Himself had to be in Brussels for a meeting by 10:30 and we also had to enrol Cat for swimming between 10:00 and 12:00 in Waterloo. Taking into account that we only have one car at the moment it took some planning, but we did it.

Unfortunately, it meant that Himself missed most of Tigers game and according to him I was not able to give a very clear report.  What I can say is that even though they were badly outmatched and lost 16/5 Tiger did score a goal.  So we are very proud. First game, first goal.

Himself managed to get Cat into swimming. The last spot! She now has swimming every Saturday night between 7 and 8.  Let me tell you, that girl is going to get fit. Her first night there she had to swim 625 m. There is no way that I could do that!

I guess this also means that we are not going to be having crazy nights anymore, cause you know we have those all the time. With Tiger having football practice on a Friday night from 6 to 8 and Cat with swimming from 7 -8.

Sunday was a lot calmer. It was car free day in Brussels and I had thought about going in for that but in the end we just stayed home, did some washing and homework and played some football in the garden. It was the last nice day for the year (so they say, and two days later I agree).

Random rambling Tuesday

The kids have been back at school for a week now. So we are in full swing as far as homework is concerned.  So while I’m cooking dinner Tiger is sitting at the kitchen table and this is what it sounds like:

Tiger: ‘I’ll start with the hardest homework first’

me: ‘that’s a good idea, what will that be?’

Tiger: ‘the writing…. I have millions of words to write’

‘ I hate my teacher’ ‘who does this, gives so much homework’ ‘ it’s not fair’

‘I wish I was 22’

me: ‘why?’

Tiger: ‘then I could drink red bull’

‘look at my sexy body’ …. quoting Fat bastard from  Austin Powers

Tiger singing: ‘you can’t stop the music’ ‘you know that hey?’

me: ‘come my boy do your writing, the faster you do it your sooner you’ll be done’

Tiger: ‘I hate my teacher, I’m going to kill myself’ ‘I’m going to be here until after midnight’

me: ‘don’t say that! your teacher is only doing her job’

And so it carries on and on and on ….. and he is only in 2^nd grade! How we are going to make it to the end of high school is beyond me at this point.

Cat on the other hand has not had any homework yet, we are still waiting for them to get their school books. There was a delay with the stock so none of the 4^th graders have books yet.  According to the school it will be sorted by Friday.

Meanwhile, I haven’t posted about the weather in a while (see how smoothly I changed topics there) and today summer is truly gone.  It’s raining and grey and dull. The good thing is that Starbuck have started selling their fall coffees. I treated myself to an Apple crumble latte this morning …

What else, o yes I mentioned the other day that I was getting bored with my red hair but didn’t know what to do….. well I changed it on Saturday, what do you think:

Yes, I realize it's quite a drastic cut but I like it.  It's also really cheap to maintain and Himself loves it. The kids, well they don't like it  all that much but they'll get over it.

So what is happening in your life?

 

Party like a 10 year old

So as you know Cat turned 10 last Wednesday. And, as custom she had a combined birthday party with her friend Alannah.

Alannah’s mom Noreen & I have been friends since 2000 when we started working together. The girls, due a month apart were born within 3 hours of each other. Since we moved back to Belgium in 2006 they have had a combined birthday party every year.

Unfortunately, following the death of Noreen’s uncle she had to go back to Ireland on Thursday. But since everything had been booked for the party there was no cancelling it.

I rushed home on Friday to get started on the cakes.  While I was busy with that Himself turned up at home with 2 extra kids. 2 of Cat’s best friends were having an impromptu sleep over. Luckily Himself had sorted out dinner for them all by picking up a couple of pizza’s on the way home.  And once they had food and a movie they were sorted.

Kim turned up at about 9:30 to help me to decorate the cakes…. which was going well until we ran out of fondant at around 1.  Since we do not have 24 hour shops (o that would be so handy) we had to call it a day.

Saturday morning at 7:30, yes you read that correctly 7:30 I had a call from Emily’s mom…. she had forgotten that Emily had a hockey match; Emily’s dad was on his way to our house to pick her up.  So the day started a bit earlier than expected.  But with lots to do like finishing the cakes and picking up a birthday gift for Alannah and dropping Ema off at home we had lots to do.

Noreen’s husband Jan was very happy to see us when we got to their house just after 3. He had hosted Alannah’s school party in the morning and after entertaining 15 kids on his own re-enforcements were very welcome.

The afternoon passed in a blur of kids and food and drinks and even if I have to say so myself it went well. We all missed Noreen, it was strange not to have her around but most importantly the 2 birthday girls had a great time.  

Liebester award

Yeah I'm the proud receiver of the Liebster Award -- 

Thanks Veronica! .... and go check out her blog. It's called Germlisch and it's all about her life in Germany and her quest to move back to Cali!

Here are the rules:

• Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

• Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.

• Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.

• Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post. Go to their page and tell them.
• No tag backs.

So here you go, 11 things about me:

1. My friend Kim has forbidden me from ever cutting my own nails again, according to her I butcher them! 
2. In return, I get free mani's and pedi's from her (she rocks!) 
3. I have discovered a new energy drink, it's 100% natural and delicious! The name however is a bit 'shocking' if you are English speaking, it's called P*ssy 
4. I had my drivers license and drove a car for nearly 15 years before I filled the car with gas for the first time 
5. I'm becoming bored with my red hair .... but I'm not sure what color to change it to next ... any suggestions are welcome
6. I'm on a greek yogurt with honey and peanut butter kick at the moment, can't seem to get enough of it 
7. I procrastinate, and the older I'm getting the worse I'm getting 
8. I suffer from house envy, when I see how lovely other people's homes look I wish that mine did as well 
9. I don't have an eye for decorating, at all. I can see what looks nice in other peoples homes but can't seem to replicate the look in my own home 
10. I haven't been on a plane since February 2010 ....  I need to go on another trip! 
11. When I was little I my secret alter ego was called Vernonica

Here are the 11 random questions I had to answer:

1. If you could dye your hair one color right now that would never fade and you were never able to dye it ever again, what color would you choose?

I could never give up dying my hair and only sticking to one color even if that color was not going to fade

2. Let's talk tattoos. What's your dream tattoo and where on your body would it be located?

I have been thinking of getting one but if I do it will have to have some meaning. At the moment I'm leaning towards getting a white tattoo on on wrist


3. If money weren't a problem, what would your dream car be?

5 door Range Rover Evoque

seriously sexy

4. Speaking of dreams, what's your dream job? 

Having my own shop selling cupcakes and cocktails

 

5. Favorite sport?

Rugby (if you don't know what Rugby is please let me know and I'll explain it to you, but for now it's even better than football. Yes I said it!)


6. If you had the option of buying a small house, or renting a mansion, which would you choose?

Buying a small house, since it will be mine I could extend it until it was the prefect size and style

7.  You're stranded on an island: Who do you make friends with: A beach ball? Or a coconut? (Choose wisely..)

A beach ball, you can eat/drink a coconut but it you were friends you would not want to eat your friend and eating a ball is out of the question


8. Would you rather live somewhere that has snow year round, or somewhere where the temperature is over 100°F year round?
 
100°F all year round.... I need sun

9. What's your "go to" outfit when you're having a bad day?
 
Skinny jeans & t-shirt
 
10. Do you pick up hitchhikers? Or have you ever wanted to?

My mom & I did, once. Two guys from Iceland they were on a world tour. They slept over at our house and we took them to the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe the next day. A couple of weeks later we got a postcard from them. They were lovely! But it's not something I would just do these days.
 

11. Tell me something about yourself that I don't already know.
 
I've hitchhiked, more than once ... with a girl friend and with my brother. This was years ago. We got picked up both time but again it's not something that I would do again.

My list of 11 questions

1. There has been a number of tv shows that have been re-made, Hawaii 50, Dallas .... what old tv show would you like to see them re-make and who would you cast as the main characters?

2. What is your favorite shower gel/body wash?

3. Do you still buy magazines? If yes, which one(s)?

4. How about jewellery. Gold, Silver, Pearls, other stones ..... do you have? do you want?

5. When you got engaged was it a surprise (romantic)?  or If you were to get engaged one day would you like it to be a surprise, or not?

6. If you were given 3 wishes what would you wish for? But  note, you are only allowed to use 2 of your wishes for yourself

7. Heels or flats?

8. Years ago when I was little I used to know all the important phone numbers by heart, how many phone numbers do you still know by heart?

9. Does your best friend call you their best friend?

10. How many pairs of shoes do you have? How many is too many?

11. If you could trade lives with somebody you know, who would it be?

And finally my 11 nominees:

1. Kim @ NewlyWoodwards

2. Jen @ Harried Mom of Four

3. C @ The Starnes family

4. Cole @ All the Small Stuff

5. Colleen @ So Much to Say

6. Whispering Writer @ Airing My Dirty Laundry, One Sock At A Time...

7. Becca @ Everyday life

8. Sarah Kate at Dixie Creek Farm

9. Melissa @ Completely Eclipsed

10. Vandy @ the Testosterone Three and Me

11. Heather @ Blond Undercover Blond