In mourning

I should have expected it, when I was unable to load photo's last week. My laptop died. I can not explain to you how upset/frustrated I am by this but then I'm pretty sure you can imagine. Our desktop is dead & to get my hands on the other laptop in the house would mean I would have to steal away from Himself in the middle of the night. I don't know how long I'm going to last without it. This is why I'm in mourning.

I'm thinking of getting a Ipad, however I'm still a little unsure so if any of you have an opinion on it let me know.

Not quite what my laptop looks like, but it's just as dead so it might as well

On more general weekend news, Tiger lost his 1st tooth on Friday night. He just walked into the room & told his dad that he'd had enough and could he just pull it out. That was it. No fuss nothing.

Of course the tooth fairy made a visit. In fact, according to Tiger there were more than one fairy. He both heard & saw them. Now he's begging to be take to the shop so he can spend his money. He does not believe in saving (so he is his father child after all).

Busy week here at work but on the upside I just realized  that Friday is another public holiday so yeah to a 4 day working week!

Hope you have a good week!

Mid-term break

I'm so annoyed I wrote an entire post about our weekend and then when it came to down loading my photo's last night my memory card would not work !!

I had a couple of choice words to say (under my breath) to my camera

And without the photo's the post would just be too blah for words.

　

Soooooo what now I have to come up with a new post.

Our kids are on their mid-term break this week. Himself had a couple of things to do in town yesterday so he left the kids at home. Ok ok before you all reply and comment on how could we ever leave our kids home alone let me just say this:

We live on a 'farm'

We own 3 big boxers

Said dogs are scary if you don't know them or they don't know you.

There is no crime in our village

It was only for 3 hours & they have a phone to call us if anything happens

Right, so when he got home he found them working in the garden. Yip you read that right, my kids had decided on their own to rake up the leaves in the drive.

When Himself asked Cat what they were up to she said:

'Well you know dad, it's good to get dirty some times'

They have gone to Eftling today. Efteling is the Dutch take on Disney. It's great! The kids love going and we don't mind going either. It's better than Disney land Paris in our opinion because it's spread out more, the cues are shorter and Tiger can go on nearly all the rides.

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Because someone has to work I could not go with.

When putting the kids to bed last night Cat tells me that she thinks I should call my boss & tell him that I'm sick. Maybe say something like I'm vomiting.

Mmmh she was off school last Friday because she was sick & vomiting.... makes me wonder.

PS. My opinions about Disney Land Paris & Efteling are my own. I was not asked to promote and/or comment on either.

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

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9. Gone deep sea diving

10. Attended a rock festival

11. Kissed an Eskimo

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12. Hot wired a car

13. Been on a cruise ship

14. Watched Gone with the wind

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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?