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

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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?

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?