Guess what...

Well, it was just about that time again wasn't it...?
I am sick as a dog again with a sore throat and a runny nose and a head like a bear (or in this case a Snuffleupagus)!!!!!



Oh well, at least we had a nice Christmas!
Here is a picture of my tree.
I will hopefully get a better one from my mum... (hint hint)



And as I suspected, the kids have only stopped playing Singstar to eat, sleep and go skiing...
It is wonderful and heartwarming, but I need some of these:



I am off to bed now!
I have to be better when Simon comes on the 30th!!!

Of mice and snow...

I still need some people who are brave enough to
PAY IT FORWARD!!!

Well, we got it! Snow I mean.




About 20 cm over night!
Kids are so looking forward to skiing and snowboarding!


And it is now official!!! It is definitely Advent!
I, well, actually we (the kids and I) baked some cookies yesterday.
They turned out quite nice, taste wise at least... :-)


What else is new? Hmm...
We are going swimming tomorrow, providing we can fight our way through the snow.

Or maybe we should just try this...



I am going to make-up a whole bunch of mice for the play the girls are in.
So I have to do some practicing on the weekend.

Does anybody have any good ideas on patterns or designs for mouse faces?
I only found this but I think it is a bit ott especially since I have a limited time frame to work with.



So all in all things are pretty normal. I am still being given the run around by the doctors, bureaucrats and the money is still tight.
Christmas will be great nonetheless!
I don't think I've mentioned before but Advent and Christmas time is my favorite in the year.
Simon and his mum have gone out of their way to give the kids some great presents this year. A very big box arrived the other day and my post man was very put out with me because I asked him to carry it up to the second floor...
It is mainly ski gear (goggles, helmets and so on) and as a main present they will get
Singstar for PS2



We are already wondering whether we are going to regret this in a few weeks though... LOL

Unfortunately Simon wont be spending Christmas with us as he has to work. He will be here with us for New Years though!

St. Nikolaus and the Choir

So I have finally gotten round to joining a choir again.
Yesterday was my first practice and it was a lot of fun. It is a "gospel" choir is called "Heart and Soul" and is lead by a woman called Hedwig von Mayerhofer. She really knows her stuff!
The reason for the " " on the "gospel" bit is because I don't really think that "good ole German white folk" can really sing gospel, but we are pretty good anyways!!! :-)

Here are 2 audio samples (by another choir) of the two songs we learned yesterday.

Between Heaven and Earth

and

To the left, to the right

Oh did I tell you already that I talked a friend into making the ears and tails? She did a really great job with it too. My kids are now the best looking mice in the play!!!!!!!!!
The ears and tails are currently in school but when they come back I will take a picture. Promise!

I think most of you know, that I am still signed of sick (have been for quite a while now) and it is now getting to the stage, where I am being swamped with paperwork from various branches of the government. They all want to know almost exactly the same things but their questionnaires are all different and all in various forms of legalese! Not fun!



Apart from that it is St. Nikolaus of Myra day tomorrow. In Germany it is tradition that the children put a boot outside the door and during the night St. Nikolaus comes and puts sweets in the boots of good children and coals in the ones of the bad ones, very much like Santa Clause (Father Christmas for my English readership :-) ). You can find some more information here

This evening we were out chasing "Rumpelklausen".
The Rumpeklausen are an "Allgäuer" tradition that has it's origins somewhere with the Celts. The young, unmarried lads from a village or town dress up in rags and furs and run around the village chasing away the demons and bad spirits and scare little children into good behavior while they're at it! LOL
This website will give you a little insight into the tradition although it is in German, but I think pictures in this case say more than a thousand words.
So as I said, we were out for a walk this evening and although my girls have rather big mouths when it comes to teasing and taunting the Rumpelklausen when they are far away across a street, they ran pretty, darn fast, when the Klausen came after them...



My kids are actually quite lucky because in our home we have a symbiosis of German, British and American traditions. We celebrate St. Nikolaus day, the Christkind comes on Christmas Eve and Santa Claus/Father Christmas brings the rest of the presents.
I think my girls are currently at the stage where they know that all these things are not real, but they choose to believe it anyways so they quite anxiously put their boots out and went to bed very well behaved!

Let's see if St. Nikolaus brings anything tonight...



Last but not least, here is a little treat I found today (or rather my mum found it and told me about it):
There is a band called "Fisher" and they have put 8 Christmas songs on their website to download for free, including a cover and inside artwork!
I think the songs are lovely and I also think that this is a very nice Christmas gesture.
So go ahead and download a bit of Christmas spirit into your home:
Fisher Christmas Songs Downloads

"Nothing" or "How to make mouse ears?"

So I had no idea how to start this post or what picture to use so I googled "nothing".
This is what I found and I think it is quite profound for "nothing"




My eldest is on her way to recovery and we have her best friend is her for the weekend as her mother is away.

I found out, that her best friend played truant a few times in the last few weeks.
Her mum leaves for work shortly before best friend (bf in any later mention) leaves for school and today, she decided that she wasn't going to school as she felt a bit ill...
Thing is, the only reason I found out was because my younger one picked her up from home as of course she was supposed to come to my house after school.
For my youngest, however school was out 45 minutes earlier than my eldest (who is in the same class as bf but stayed home as she was still not feeling too great this morning).
Therefore bf was here to early. When I questioned her, she admitted that she had stayed home today and initially said, that her mum knew...
I however had spoken to her mother earlier and she had said that she had told bf to come here straight after school.
So first of all I told my daughters off for covering for her (not this time but the times previous) although I am not sure they actually knew that bf's mother did NOT know and then I had a long talk with bf and I told her that I was not going to tell her mother but she needed to! And I also told her to ask her mother to tell me that she told her.
She did not look happy but agreed.

I am not sure why she did it.
Bf spends most days and quite some nights at my house, because her mum is a single, full time working mum. It does not bother me as my kids get along a lot better with each other when she is here.
However I am worried about her behavior.
I think I am going to have a chat with her mother when she talks to me about bf's truancy.




I have to come up with a way of making mouse ears and mouse tails for my girls until Monday!
They are in a play and my younger one is a stuck up, little, white mouse that wears a fancy dress and has white and pink ears and a sleek white tail.
My older one is Daddy mouse who has to wear a suit and tie and has grey and pink ears and I am not sure what colour her/his tail is supposed to be...
Why on earth they couldn't do their costumes in school (like they did last year) I don't know.
Well they sprung this on me and now I have to make it possible like any super-mum can...


Tomorrow we will get our Christmas decorations out and put them up, bake some cookies and in the evening some friends are coming round to make stars with silver wire and small glass beads. They are really quite pretty!


Here is the beginning of one and an article that was in the paper about my mum giving courses on how to make them. (In German just in case you are wondering why you can't read it... lol)

Another one of those boring posts...

I really have no idea what to write here but I feel the overwhelming urge to write something...
Well, Simon is back in the UK and parting does not get any easier. You'd think that after almost two years of this backwards and forwards thing we would be used to it by now, but it seems to be getting more difficult each time (to say goodbye I mean).
Well, he will be back after Christmas.
My first Christmas without him in four years...

Oh, I have been coughing all night. Guess I caught the virus that seems to be going around, well at least one of them as there are several...

The dance recital went really well. My younger one chased down a local celebrity and got his autograph and now she is in love... LOL
The lad is a really good dancer though so at least she has taste.
And her infatuation is of the harmless, silly kind, so I am not really worried.

Well, my older one is staying home from school today as she has an upset tummy... (Seems like she caught one of the other viruses...)
Great! This tends to mean that it is first her, then her sister, then me and then them again... Especially since things never seem to last very long with the kids but linger for weeks with me as my immune system is shot to pieces, thanks to my illness and the various meds...
Simon tends to tease me saying that I should wear a bell shouting "unclean, unclean" in these situations.
Bet he's glad he's not here for this!

Enough rambling for now...
I think I am heading back to bed myself.

Bye Bye Baby!

Somehow this updating regularly business really isn't working properly at the moment. For all the good intentions I just don't have the drive for it at the moment.
Maybe it is because in the last few months I have had to come to terms with one very difficult fact.
I will never have another Baby!
I am currently having medical treatment leading up to surgery because I have problems with my "female bits".
So the treatment I am getting is not only putting me artificially into menopause (at 30!!!!!!!!) but I also have pretty much every side effect that is in the book!
Including depression!
And depression is definitely a downer when it comes to doing anything, regularly...

Well (or not for that matter), as I already said, I will never be able to get pregnant again. The surgery will take care of that.
And I know what people will say, are saying:
"But you already have two beautiful daughters!"
I know I do.
and
"There are so many women that have the same problem and no children!"
I know that as well.

It still does not change the fact, that first of all, I really wanted to have a child with Simon and also that it closes a chapter I am just not ready to close yet.
I have tried to explain to Simon, why this was upsetting me so much and I honestly couldn't find the words to explain it. All I know, is that I am feeling a severe sense of loss.
Maybe "grief" is the right word? Grief for a baby, that in a way I was looking forward to welcoming into this world and that I will now never meet?
Does that make sense?



On top of that all the other medical problems are piling up and are getting on top of me and all the different treatments are driving me nuts.
The painkillers make me drowsy and tired, one is making me nervous and another one is making me nauseous...
So i have decided to do one thing after another much to the dismay of my health insurance who think, that I should be doing everything all at once so they don't have to pay up for such a long time, no matter how much a toll it takes on my body and my mental health...
Bureaucrats!



Apart from that we are keeping busy...
The kids are in a play at school which I am going to have the privilege of watching on the 18th of December, although I don't know which of my children I will be seeing, as there are two casts for the play because there were so many kids wanting to participate this year.
The younger one has decided take up gymnastics and Jazz Dance She has left Football (Soccer) after having been driven away by some unruly boys earlier this year.
She has given it some thought though and decided to go back this Friday and tough it out! Good for her.

The older one is still doing Irish Dance and has her first hard shoe performance this upcoming Monday! I think I am almost as nervous as she is.



Simon is coming on Friday and we will be celebrating a late Thanksgiving on Sunday, which reminds me that I still have to go to the local farmer and get a turkey.For a strange reason I am actually looking forward to a day of cooking and doing dishes...

There is only on snag with Thanksgiving this year. I have had a falling out with my brother and I don't think he will be coming. I think it actually hurts me more than him...
I really want to reconcile things with him but I can't quite get myself to make the first step, again!
He said some things, that really hurt me and he, again, has not kept promises he made to me and the kids. And I don't know, how I am going to approach him without giving him the impression that it was OK to treat us the way he did. But I do know, that if I don't make the first step I will probably never talk to my brother again...

Oh and I bought myself an alto flute so I can accompany my older one on the recorder. No I have to practise reading music again...
We are endeavoring to play some Christmas music at our pre-x-mas-chill-out evening, an event I have called into live in order to have some calm time before Christmas as nowadays it is always so hectic!
So a few friends of ours and us are meeting to have a nice relaxed evening with cookies and carol singing, where we can remember the true meaning of Christmas! Sounds cheesy I know, but it is really cool!


I think I am doing a good job repressing my pain, don't you?...
Sorry, sarcastic, evil Jeannine has the upper hand lately.

Snow, snow, we have snow!

My younger daughters masterpiece! :-)

For my daughters!

Edvard Munch "Mother and Daughter"

I was given the task to write down, what I like about my daughters. For some reason, I found it very difficult putting my feelings and emotions into "normal" words.
So I decided to write a poem. Here is the first draft. What do you think?

A Smile, a hug, a tender kiss

Is all I need to make my day.

I sometimes wonder what it is,

that makes you special in that way.

You drive me nuts, you drive me crazy,

when you don’t listen, you don’t care

You trash you room and you are lazy

don’t brush your teeth and knot your hair

But most of all you make me love you

with the simplest, strangest things.

Like when you made that oddly goo

and called it breakfast in the mornings.

Or when you sing your songs off-key,

so loud, it nearly breaks the glass.

You mean so much, and all to me,

more every day that comes to pass.

You lay in bed diagonally,

have a peculiar sense of style

You share you sweets with me quite fairly

and you are weird once in a while.

You rub your eyes when you are tired,

you bite your lips when in despair,

you pick your nose, oh so inspired

and round your finger twist your hair.

Your lips, your eyes, your hair, your nose,

your every fibre of your being,

makes you, you and I suppose

that it’s the things that I am seeing,

that warm my heart and make me think,

that even though you tick me off,

I am afraid sometimes to blink.

For should I miss, a smile, a cough,

I would have missed something profound.

And that, my dearest daughter mine,

I do not want. My heart is bound

to you, my love. Your smile does shine

Now and for all eternity!

Picassina

My eldest had to paint Picasso's "Girl with Pigeon" in school.
This is the result:



They used watercolors. She got a 1- (German equivalent to an A-) for it. I think it is great!

This is the original:

When I was about her 13 I had to paint it as well.
I used oil paints and I guess that is when I discovered my love for painting. I am going to have to start painting again!

This is my version. It is inverted and I ran out of paper on the bottom so it is an extract. :-)

How am I? Really?

Someone sent me an email today asking me
"How are you? I mean, how are you really?"
It made me think...

How am I, really?

I am struggling with my illness, it is playing havoc with my body.
There is something new wrong about every five minutes. At least it feels like that.
The only drugs that help me with the pain are so strong that I feel all "mushy" and "out of it" when I take them. So I don't take them unless I really can't stand it anymore.
The pain on the other hand makes me aggressive, short tempered and I am always tired.
I don't sleep well and of course, it feels like on big "merry go round" without the merry!

My kids are doing their job and driving me crazy.
They argue... Boy, do they argue!
Watching them sometimes makes you forget they are little girls. When you sort of glance at them out of the corner of your eye while they are going at it you get the impression there are two little Banshees screaming their heads of and tearing each others hair out...
And by the sound of their waling at times, it really does sound like one or the other is about to die...

I do love them dearly!

My work or rather non work situation really frustrates me. Every time I seem to get on my feet with it, my health or something else thwarts my plans.

I need money!
I need work!
I need a break!
I need Simon!
I need a secretary to sort all my paperwork.
I need a nice person that comes along and says "Oh, you want to properly furnish your school? Here is the money and the workers and do you need anything else?"!
I need this stupid illness to magically disappear!
I want my friends right here with me and not halfway across the world!
I need one day, just one day without pain!

So how am I? Well, you figure it out...

To pee or not to pee... so what is equation...?

I am sitting here, with an hour to go before I have to get up and I am at my computer...
How pathetic!
The cat (Gaya) peed on my bed... TWICE. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Actually, that is not true, I have some idea. She either
a) does not like the new cat litter
or
b) is pissed off because I wont let her out
but considering, that she has not been "done" yet, I really don't think it would be such a good idea...
Kittens are the last thing I am going to need...
Although they are so cute and cuddly... and then they turn into "on my bed peeing" monsters!!!
Grrrrr....
Oh, I am considering giving the Open University another go. There is a course that starts in October, that I would like to take and I have already talked to a friend (no, not the unreliable one) if she would be my "kick in the bum" person.
A "kick in the bum" person is the one, that gets my a.. in gear when I don't want to. Sort of my very own "animator". She will make sure, that my assignments are handed in on time and that I study and all these sorts of things, which is something she is really good at.
She says, that it also has the added bonus (for her) that she will learn something along the way and actually have a chance when her kids get around to talking about those subjects at school (at a much more diluted level of course).
My oldest and I went shopping yesterday while my youngest was at football practice (she has another game on Friday!). Fist we picked up a new desk for me (because she broke my old one by standing on it...) and then we went grocery shopping. The whole time we were in the shop, we kept talking about her maths homework (I spoke to her in English and she talked back in German which is something that just sort of happens when we are out and about as I have to tell them off on a regular basis because they don't stop pestering me for things they can't have and I rather "reprimand" them in a language people don't usually understand. That way they (my kids) know that what they are doing is not OK (though perfectly normal I know but don't have to feel embarrassed about)
So we were walking though the supermarket and I started to realize, that this woman was following us, so I stopped and asked if I could help her.
She said that she was fascinated by the rapport going on between me and my daughter and also, that she was really interested in how I was explaining the maths questions to her.
Like me, my oldest is a bit on the slow side, when it comes to math problems that are put in a question form.
Give me an equation and I am fine but the questions... (It is a sort of maths dyslexia.)
So I had developed a way to look at these things, that work for me and I am currently passing that on to my daughter.
Turns out, the woman was an American, living in Germany and she has a daughter with learning disabilities. So we swapped numbers.
So Football on Friday, finally! This is the third game this season and the first one my youngest is playing in. I do sometimes think whether or not she might have pulled the shorter straw, being the only girl in the team... But hey, she is in Fridays game and I will be at the sidelines, screaming my head of cheering her on! Oh and NO, I am not one of those horrible parents, that tell their kids to "go ahead and foul this kid" or yell at the referee...
I just seriously embarrass her by being the loudest... :-)
What? Hey, it's payback!!!
OK, my oldest is up and I have to get dressed and re-park my car to where it is actually supposed to be, because I had to get the desk out last night and parked on the spot that is reserved for next doors bakery.

Yes, I do have a bakery next door and they make delicious fresh rolls and bread and pastries fresh every day... :-)

A friendly dilemma

What do you do with an unreliable friend?
I had invited a friend round today to have coffee in the afternoon.

And once again, I received a text message to say that she wasn't going to make it, or rather, that she was still at her mums and that she was going to call me later.
This was about 15 minutes after they (she, her boyfriend and her son) were supposed to be here.
So I texted her back asking whether that meant that she was going to be late or (like so many times before) that she wasn't coming. I received an answer about 4 hours later saying that "it had been so nice at her mums and that she had just forgotten the time".

Now, I am not saying that it did not bother me, but I could have dealt with it a lot easier, if I didn't have two rather disappointed girls sitting there crying.
Obviously, they know her and know her track record of not showing up when she is supposed to. My friend has a real problem in saying no. She would rather cancel via text message (she wouldn't dare phone and cancel for fear of people being upset with her) and then wait a few days before calling again in the hope, that things will have blown over by then. I have explained this to my daughters many times and I do tell them not to get their hopes up until my friend is actually standing at our door but they still do...
And today they had helped clean up and get everything nice and tidy, then they had made some lovely paintings for my friend and we had also NOT baked a cake (which we had planned) because my friend said that she would bring something.
So needless to say, my girls were not happy.
Luckily some friends of theirs turned up and they were able to play with them with soon got them laughing again but tonight, at bedtime, my youngest asked me: "Why does she (my friend) never do what she says she is going to do?"
How do you answer that? What do I tell them?
What do I tell her? I have approached the subject several times and she keeps saying "Yes, I know, I won't do it again..." but then she never sticks to it.
I really like her, she is what you could call a sort of best friend. I can talk to her about anything and if I need her she is always there (well, almost) but this is really getting to me and to my daughters.
Do I just bite my tongue and hope it will be better next time? Do I just not invite her anymore? Do I tell her, AGAIN?
I just don't know...
I guess that is enough ranting for now.
On a good note, it is only 3 weeks until Simon will be here again. :-)

Mothers and Daughters

I had a day out with my youngest Saturday. The older one was sleeping over at a friends.
So we started with shopping. We bought her a skirt and T-Shirt in lime green, of all colours, but it suits her! Then we went for ice cream and after that we had Indian food (whoever said desert needed to be eaten after dinner...)
She then wanted to buy herself some shoes to match her outfit and wanted to use some of her own money for it. So I said that she could go into the shop and buy them while I had a Latte Macchiato in the café right in front of the shoe shop in the mall.

It was the strangest sensation seeing my nine year old daughter getting one of the assistants to help her try on shoes, see if they fit right inquire about price and then deciding on a pair of ballerinas.

She was proud as Punch!

It made me feel old...

Here I am again

First of all, I would like to thank Katelyn, Claire, Suzy, Marcus and Edi for not giving up on me.

Yes it has been a long time and yes, at first I was busy, but busy turned into stressed and stressed turned into 'can't be bothered'.
My apologies.

A lot has happened.
We are in the new place, but there is so much I still need to do and my health is failing me on a regular basis, which in return causes a sort of apathy which of course results in things NOT getting done which causes me even more stress which causes......
Sort of a dog biting it's own tail. When I said this to Simon I got the the following comment:

Either you chop of the dogs tail, knock it's teeth in or preoccupy it!

My Simon, always the practical, logical thinker! I keep saying, that I wish it was that easy, which of course in essence it would be if it wasn't for me complicating things in the first place... and I am rambling, I know!

So what has happened?

My youngest had her First Communion. She had a wonderful time and I am so glad I have a daughter who can be happy about the €90 she got even in the face of the other children bragging about getting anywhere from €250 upwards! Of course nowadays 99% of all children who receive first communion (at least around here) do so not for the religious meaning it has but because it is the "done" thing. And of course for all the presents and the money and the fancy white dress (for the girls anyways) and first but foremost for appearances!

My older daughter placed 3rd in the group competition of the championships. She did not place in the singles and she was rather upset because of it, but as I told her, there is always next year.

And third in group is fantastic!


Oh, I am now officially a "Mika Fan"!!!
I have not heard an album that made me jump around the house and look like a complete and utter fool in a long time! Check him out:


You just try and sit still while listening to his music!
"Life in Cartoon Motion" is really worth the buy!


After quite a long time off ill, I am now back on the work wagon, I hope.
Some of my latest work. What do you think?








































































I did another Shoot since then but I am still waiting for those images.



Oh and Simon wrote me a poem:

The sunlight falls softly around
Your face is lit with radiance alone
But all is Shadow next to love
Which shines and dazzles us all

I think it is beautiful, but then again, I am sort of biased... :-)


So this is gonna be it for now.
Promise to write again daily from now on, well maybe not promise to actually do but promise to attempt to...

I can hear Simon in my head now

" There is no "I try" there is just "I do"

- Simon -
my conscience!

Parte Cinco

Thirteen Things about Jeannine 13 reasons why I am not blogging much in the last couple of weeks (and why this weeks TT is late...) : 1…. Simon was here! 2…. Simon is gone! 3…. We are moving and I have to do a lot of work in the new place. 4…. I was working (as a Make-up Artist) 5…. My eldest has problems at school and needs a lot of attention. 6…. My younger one is being her usual, horrible self... 7…. I am in the process of refitting my Make-up Artist School 8…. I am preparing course work for a course I will be holding soon. 9…. My headaches are getting worse by the day and my new meds, although they get rid of the pain, are making me feel sick 10…. I have taken on some new responsibilities. 11…. I am always tired and if the choice is "Sit and blog for a while" or "Go to sleep" the sleep thing always wins! 12…. No matter how many things I sort out in my life right now, there always seems to be more... 13…. I am depressed because Valentines Day is coming up and I am on my own! (I did get my present early though :-) ) Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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Pink Unicorns

The last couple of days were rather busy!
I am moving. We currently live in a 2 room apartment and I sleep on the couch in the living room. It is just too small! So the other day I got a phone call telling me, that there was an apartment available in the same village the girls go to school in. So I went and had a look and I love it! Talked to the landlord and he said I can have it.
I am so looking forward to having a door I can close!!!
BUT...
This means I have to pack everything up! I hate packing!
I loathe it. But I am going to use this opportunity and throw a lot of stuff away!
I will have to get a friend of mine to drive it to the dump though. Otherwise I will be bringing half of it back home with me... :-)
My older one is still ill, we were at the doctors and he signed her off school all week. The last few nights she was crying because her throat hurt so much from coughing. Poor thing!
I am very, very tired as I haven't slept much the last week as she kept me up a lot.
So I am going to go to sleep!

I will however, before I go, share with you my all time favorite picture of my younger daughter. :-)

Dishwasher Paranoia

The Dishwasher Repair guy was here today. Guess what!?!
He has no idea how this has/can/could (have) happen(ed) (The dishwasher going up in flames for the second time - for all those who aren't up to date).
Hmmm, maybe there is such a thing as spontaneous combustion....
So he recorded everything, even took a picture and is going to present my case to head office. Repairs would cost somewhere around € 350. I can buy a new dishwasher for that!!! I have requested to be given a new machine as I (as previously stated) no longer feel save with that "thing" in the house.
Call me paranoid but I am convinced it is out to get me, us, all of us...

Or as Simon always says: " I am not paranoid, there are people out to get me..."

My older one is still at home ill and if she is still coughing tomorrow like she is now, I will take her to see the doctor not that he can do much more than what I am already doing (apart from describing antibiotics...) but if she continuous to be of school I will need a note from him. Poor thing! (My kid, not the doctor...although...)

Oh and here is "must see" movie!
It is a Swedish film called "As in Heaven" (German "Wie im Himmel", Swedish "Så som i himmelen") by Kay Pollak. It has been long since a movie REALLY moved me like this one. Wont say much about it as I think it would take away from the experience of watching it! Just go and see it! (Or rather rent it since it came out in 2004)
For those who must know what it is about because you can not take that it is a good film on faith... look for the Swedish title on IMDB

Poor Professor Higgins

Yesterday (Saturday) was a busy day!
My youngest had a football (soccer) tournament. Her team made second place and she walked around proudly wearing her silver medal for the remainder of the day! :-)
She didn't actually shoot any goals but she did 3 assists (which in my opinions is more difficult to do - the getting the ball right in front of the other teams goal so your team mate can kick it in). She is going to be in the paper in the next couple of days. I am proud of her!
Then I had to go and work on "The Hobbit". My assistant is still ill, so things were a bit hectic again.
Oh and I had baked a cake for the football tournaments bake sale but because there were too many mine wasn't even brought out, so we took it to my mums and each had a slice - what indulgence! We left the rest at my mums so we would not be led into temptation...
Spoke to Simon last night and it seems there might be problems coming over at the beginning of February as they can not tell him whether he can have the time of or not, since someone else has already booked that time off... Simon booked his plane tickets two months ago! He was told then, that all he needed, was to make sure that he and the boss weren't off at the same time! I don't know what to think of that...?
I rescheduled going to Oscars to Tuesday so I don't have to dash an run straight away and spend a little time over there.
Today is the last performance of the play (until October). I have got Tickets to see it again with my children and I am really looking forward to it, as Actors are usually up to no good in the last show, so it is bound to be a lot of fun!
Bummer is, that we also received a last minute invite to see the dress rehearsal of Riverdance today. That would have been nice to see. A couple of years ago my older one actually had a training session with two of the cast and has signed shoes and all. :-D Oh, well... maybe next time.
This coming up week is packed full of appointments, including a long chat with my doctor to discuss further treatment. Something has got to happen! I just don't want to hear, that there is nothing further they can do!!!!! Maybe we should try the homeopathic route again or acupuncture or something if conventional medicine is at a loss! I just want to have a little while without pain, so I can recharge my batteries, so to speak.
It's raining. Again. Although yesterday was beautiful sunshine, birds chirping, flowers and trees budding, and round about 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit). How depressing!
I want snow!
My older one is constantly moaning how she can't use her Christmas present (snowboard remember) and the younger keeps asking "When are we going skiing again?"...
"Kid, you are welcome to try and go down a grass slope! Be my guest!"
I have yet to build a snowman, -woman, -person... stupid political correctness!

I left a comment on someone else's Thursday Thirteen, which raised a question with me:
When you ask children what their favorite movie is, how many 9 and 10 year old kids do you know, that would rattle down the following list:

Sound of Music
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
My Fair Lady
Paint your Wagon
Fiddler on the Roof
Gigi
Casablanca
and, last but not least
Wet Side Story

Isn't it odd that from the Disney Movies, Pixar Animation and all the others they can choose from, these are the most liked and watched?
I am certainly not complaining! Apart from maybe the fact that my ears are forever ringing with "Doe, a deer, a female deer...". They know all the songs to all those movies by heart and when your 9 year old raises her glass (of water) at the dinner table and says "Here's looking at you, kid" that kind of cracks you up!

Oh well, I must have done something right! :-)
Got to go and make breakfast now - Fresh fruit with yogurt and honey. Yum!

Curious Life

No, I still can't tell my secret!!!!! But I will reveal when the time is right. Promise!
No news on the car, the electrician will be here next Tuesday and the kids are off school tomorrow (or rather today now) because of the storm.
Now, that that is out of the way I might as well tell you, that I really don't feel like writing tonight!
I have been avoiding this page on my screen for the last 2 1/2 hours!!! Talking on the phone to Simon and reading other peoples Thursday Thirteens.
As you might guess, today wasn't good.
I have had some interesting conversations though. Since I started blogging I have been talking to so many people. It is amazing how one point of view can really influence another's.
Now amongst all the gallimaufry of my day I was inspired!

Curious wonder
how a candle burns as bright as a thousand fires and lights the darkness
how its flame can warm a hundred peoples hearts
Curious awe
how a drop of water can quench a dying mans thirst
how its coolness can put out a childish burning fever
Curious admiration
how a word can change society
how its power sends a shiver down the spine

A candle, a drop of water, a word
Forgotten in the grand perspective
Sneered at in disbelief

The candle lights the way
The drop of water maintains us
The word empowers us

Curious life
that leads us down a path without light
that lets us die of thirst, burns us up with fever, that causes our souls to freeze
but in its own justice gives us the word
so we can save ourselves.

See how a word can change the world!

I haven't written in a long time! I wonder what it was that caused me to write this today?

...

Great... My kids decided to get up real early and since they were up and bored, I needed to wake up as well...(they made enough racket to wake up a bear from hibernation...) I only just dropped of to sleep an hour and a half ago...