Categorie: Vanallesennogwat

No matter how I love spending quality time with my little one, I’ll be glad when school starts again and he can go back to the day care. It means I will have to work again (but I love my job, so…) but also that I will have some time for myself.
One can argue that I have time now too when he’s asleep. It’s just not the same. E.g. I want to hang shelves. I can’t do that while he’s awake, cos I can’t leave him alone for a long time. And I can’t start drilling holes in the room beneath his while he’s asleep, now can I ? And when Bart is taking care of him for 15 mins or so, it’s just not worth it getting all covered up in dust.
Also I will be able to go to the shops without him. Regular grocery shopping is ok, because he can sit in the cart and enjoy watching everyone and everything. I can’t go for smaller things, because when I have to wait in line, he gets bored. Also, he’s getting heavy to sit on my arm (my back doesn’t like that too much) and some shops don’t have enough room for the pram. Also: baby in carseat, me in car, parking, me out of car, baby out of carseat (with all the straps it’s not that simple), open up pram, strap baby in pram, get stuff (like just money from the atm), baby out of pram, baby in car seat, folding up pram, pram in car, me in car. Drive 1 km for like a newspaper: exact same scenario. Takes me longer to get him in and out of the car than to get the actual chore done. Ugh.

But I really love him, no doubt about that !

2004 is over, and a good year it was (personally, not globally speaking of course).

* My son Wolf was born in good health
* No one I know died, or got seriously ill
* Bart quit the bank and started working fulltime in his own business (instead of part time). He is way happier than before, and Netlash is blooming
* I finally got a lifelong contract in the school I’m working in right now, 5 km from my house.
* …

Of course there were bad moments as well, but when I look back, I can say that this was a year that I was happy in. I hope many of you can say the same.

Been two busy days 🙂 Finally finished the hall and stairwell, only need to finish the curtains once they have hanged out a little, and hang up some pictures and paintings. Started on an extra set of storage shelves in the storage room next to the kitchen, but had to call it a day because the drill makes an awful lot of noise, and Wolf’s in bed by now. Feel like a brick dust monster :-p.

NYE was great too: spent it at my cousin and his wife, just the four of us, and three children sleeping soundly upstairs. She just felt like cooking (even though she’s 5 months pregnant) so she was in the kitchen nearly all day, preparing a lovely meal, classic but festive.
– some small appetizers to go with the cocktail
– broccoli soup
– Sint-Jacobsvruchten (got no clue what that is in English) with tomatoes and basilicum
– doe roast, with pumpkin mash, celery mash, chicory, mushrooms and a stuffed pear
– grilled pineapple with almond cream
– coffee with chocolats and petit-fours

We were all sooooooo stuffed…

Had a very nice Christmas eve and Christmas day 🙂

On Xmas eve, my parents and Bart’s parents came for dinner: foie gras for hors d’oeuvre, gourmet for main course, chocolate fondue (fresh fruit you dip in molten dark chocolate) for dessert. Was yummy, and a very pleasant evening.

On Xmas day we were obliged to go to this formal dinner at one of Bart’s uncles. It’s an obligation, but not fun. The food isn’t great, the company even less. Luckily we had Wolf to entertain us, and Bart’s bro’s new girlfriend is much more livelier too than the former, so all in all it wasn’t dull at all.

Round 5 pm we managed to leave, and headed for one of my uncles, where all of my mom’s relatives were gathered, 37 people, for a much more enjoyable party. Wolf had the time of his life playing with the other kids, and by 8 we put him in bed in one of the upstairs rooms, where he slept untill at 10 we took him home. Was fun 🙂

As a gift, I got Hot Socks from Bart (special socks with cherry pits on the bottom, so these can be heated up in the microwave and make your feet comfortably warm), and that’s it. Hey, it’s still more than what I got for my birthday :-p Guess we’re just not the present type of people. Although… I got Bart a PS2, more Hot Socks for Bart’s parents, a little cat statue for my mom (which she had chosen herself during summer but had forgotten completely) and a calendar (annual gift, he adores them), the ‘Zeurkalender’ for my dad. I also sent out three little packages oversees. Only the Scots one has arrived and been accepted gladly. Oh, and of course orchids for the hostesses of the day.

But, in any case: have a merry Christmas ! (I didn’t send out cards, I don’t believe in them)

And once again, had a most enjoyable day 🙂 This evening I looked up to Bart and said: “Aren’t we just lucky ?” I really think we are 🙂

Wolf let us sleep till 8.30 this morning, and was very nice all day, playing and laughing and crawling over and under most anything. He’s really such a sweet (sometimes) ! In the morning I did all kinds of stuff, like having breakfast, doing some laundry, writing some invoices, but all at a very nice and slow pace. Cooked and had lunch (leftovers from Friday evening), watched Bart play some Tekken, curled up on the couch with a good cup of espresso… Then I left for the city, to pick up the babyphone at my aunt’s place (forgot it last night) and went in search of curtain fabric for the freshly painted hall/stairwell. Found just the ideal colour and fabric, very very pleased with it. Then I popped in on Faust, quite unexpectedly, but very welcome nonetheless. We just chatted while he and Jurryt had pizza, and then they started producing gifts ! First, a belated birthday present, the Da Vinci Code 🙂 Next, a most cute stuffed frog for Wolf, and then, to my astonishment, yet another present ! A set of three beautiful Japanese style red boxes 🙂 They went on a shopping spree last week, and thought them all so fitting and nice to give, so here I am 🙂 Made me very happy and grateful, lol and gay, those two guys are so sweet…

Came home to a sleeping Wolfie, so we started watching the extended version of Return of the King. When he woke, we all had our tea, Bart and I played a little with the little one, put him to bed, and watched the rest of the movie, while being under a blankie, with a roaring fire, some foie gras with Hanepoot (some excellent sweet white wine) and some chocolate for dessert.

Can you imagine us being happy ?

Yay, I do feel loved today 🙂

First, at school I got presents from two of my students. One gave me this lovely pair of Turkish hand-knit bed socks, in black with purple and yellow dots (inside joke with them), and the other one gave me Crash Bandicoot, a PS2 game. I had posted as a nick on MSN that I was in search of second hand games since I’m giving Bart a console as a present. She managed to made me say which ones I like, and I never gave it another thought. 🙂

When I came home, I picked up the mail, and there were very sweet Xmas cards from ambyguity and coyotegoth, which made me both very mellow. I love you both, and I really can’t wait to give you both a big hug (or knuffel, for that matter) for real. Then this friend of mine, Vallery, made the nicest card you can imagine. She’s a very beautiful girl, and also her boyfriend is one of the more handsome men around. They’re both dressed in white, sitting together, holding their cat, and with it goes the Latin sentence: “Vive virtute duce comite fortuna” by Cicero. It means: “Live with courage as your guide, and fortune as your companion”. Really really nice.

Me happy. Oh, and yes, the end of my correction work last night might have something to do with that too.

I just bought myself a new motorbike !!!!

Well, it’s second-hand, but it’s spiffy and nearly mint 🙂 It’s exactly the same one as my former, so I’m a happy girl 🙂 Payed 3/4 of it today and got all the papers, need to collect it somewhere next week. First need to get a license plate and insurance.

God I love my new aquarium ! It’s high upon a little table now, in plain sight in my own little den that I call my office. Did cost me quite a bit (it’s a new one, the former new one never worked) but now I get to see my prehistoric critters swim at last ! It’s more than double the size of the original one, so yes, I love it !

Other big news in my uninteresting life is that Wolf yesterday crawled for the first time !!! Today, when I picked him up at the daycare, he actually crawled towards me and laughed 🙂 He was ever so cute !!!! He can now wave goodbye as well. He’s growing up so fast…

We just had another Cthulhu session, and we kinda gave up after yet another session of corridors and near-deaths. We now had 112 ghouls after us, who were stopped (kinda, they feasted on them) by 8 goons we brought along. Exit goons of course. Still 98 ghouls left though. No solution to the story, yet we threw in the towel, it would have been pure suicide, as far as we were concerned.
Poor us… Giving up on a cthulhu session, how lame are we… Yet we all love our characters and wanted to save them for the Horror on the Orient Express, to which story this was meant to be a prelude.

Nearly exams too, so the kids at school are being very annoying. No fun days. Three days to go and the exams are there, so lots and lots of correction work coming up, and thus a foul mood. You’re warned !

My husband really is THE best !

Since I went out two nights in a row, he fed Wolf his bottle this morning, a bit later on I bathed the sprog and put him back in bed, went back to bed myself, and Bart let me sleep till 11.30. When I got up, he had made Wolf’s lunch and was feeding him. I went grocery shopping later on with the little one, and when I came back, Wolf’s fruit was ready, the dishes were done, and while I fed Wolf, he emptied the car and cleaned the brand new deep fryer I had bought since the old one kinda gave up on us last week. The curtains are drawn and the fire place is lit for me too, so I come home in a very cosy and clean house 🙂 Then he gave me a kiss and disappeared upstairs again to continue working in his office (business is booming :-))

How I love this guy ! But then again, he isn’t making it hard for me either :-p

Oh, btw, Robby: he sez you’re more than welcome to stay at our place 🙂

Had a most pleasant day today 🙂

Taught in the morning, then went grocery shopping and stopped by the second-hand/recycling store. Most of what they have is junk, but sometimes you can find a little gem there. That is what I found today: a genuine flail ! The wooden 40 cm long handle was cracked, but still good. The chain, about 30 cm long, was a bit rusty but solid, and the ball itself was rusty too, about 8 cm diameter, heavy iron with spikes ! Can you imagine ? I paid 15 euro for it (approx. 20 $) and gave it to Faust as a present.

At noon I went for dinner with Bart, and after that I met up with Faust in town. It’s a cold but bright day today, so excellent for walking around 🙂 We did some shopping, found a great coat for him, bought children’s plates and cutlery for a friend, had coffee, snooped around in a gothic shop, had ‘poffertjes’ (something between crepes and donuts) which were very ungothic due to the icing sugar that left white traces on our clothes :-p and generally had a really good time both. He gave me this little jade turtle as a present too 🙂 just because. I really really like the guy.

Bart’s out for the evening: he went to play Magic, just for old sake, and I’m glad he did. Not that I don’t like him around the house, on the contrary, but he just doesn’t get out lately, so I’m glad he finally did.

Will be a busy weekend: lots and lots of correction. Ugh.

Oh, and there’s a perfect half moon outside, like it’s been cleaved in twain. Beautiful.