Badje 5

Coming february M. will have swimminglessons for TWO bl*dy years.
And he is still in tub 4.

Or should i say was.
Yes i should.
Coz R. couldn't take it any longer and has been harassing the headteacher for the past 2 wks now, that M. REALLY needs to go to tub 5 (the last one).
Yesterday, the headteacher gave in, so at least we have reached the final stage.
And then to think that we want them all to have at least 2 swimming diploma's.

Hell!

Yes, yes, yes

R.'s got a job.

Last Friday he and i had an intake at a multimedia department of a publishing company and that's where he is going to start coming Monday as a Projectmngr.
Now this intake alone was worth a post on my blog (selling my husband is not my usual stuff) but it is so frightingly busy that i can't take the time.

Coz;
Jamie (hi Jamie), for several reasons would like to start her au pair job with us in January, meaning we've got an immediate problem with the kids.
Now my mother is coming Monday and Tuesday, together with my 91-yr old granddad, over to my place to pick up C. from kindergarten and stay till the boys get out of school. Then i take the lot to Judo and on Tuesdays to the swimming pool.
Thursdays and Fridays, R. will drop her off at my mother and at 3 i will pick up the boys and drive to my mother's to pick up C.

So this week, we've got to buy a freezer (last one was burned, remember), prepare meals i only have to shift into the oven (i haven't been cooking for almost 1,5 yr!) get the insurance story on the rails, buy our last Sinterklaas presents, make an appointment for R.'s lease car to be checked up, get M. to Jaron's party and the next day to the doctor's to have a wrat removed, check every one for lices (M. 's teacher had some horror story about her daughter with backlength hair and how it took her 7 weeks (that is SEVEN) to get rid of all the lice.
There's only one appropriate outcry possible:
O M G
What else; T. has sent out his invitations for his pirate party (o yes, i have to order a cake) 10 december. One of the boys burst into tears coz he was afraid of pirates. Seriously!
Well that's one less, or maybe i'll offer T. to invite someone else.
You know what he said yesterday, just after having given an invitation to Milan; Hey Marius, i am giving a pirate party and you are not invited.
Ok.....

O and this morning we've been over to the contra-expert regarding the insurance.
According to him we have a waterproof case and nothing to fear but sofar our present insurance company is only delaying things for the childiest reasons, so I hope he's right.

O and last but not least, i've got 2 more intakes this week.
Business is booming but i might lose my sanity over it
Right.
what else is new.

I wonder who can read this story without scratching

Coz it's all about lice.
And their eggs.

Since kindergarten we have received notes from the various schools saying that in class so and so lice had been found and would we pls check our child.
We did, but we never knew what to look for.
From time to time we thought we'd found something but then our great lice expert A. would say; sorry guys this is just dirt. Or dust. Or whatever.
Last Saturday morning at breakfast M. was sitting at my lap and i started fleeing him.
Man.
There was no need to ask anyone.
These were lice.
UUUGGHHHHH

Panic stroke.
I can't even write this without scratching my head.

So i have been de-licing everyone for 2,5 hrs on a row (no kidding; first a normal shampoo, then an anti lice shampoo, then something to de-attach the lice from the hairs, then combing through and that x 5)
I have been washing 2 machines of bedsheets, 1 with coats, scarfs and the like, 1 normal one and the cuddling toys they usually sleep with.

I really found too many, i am almost embarassed to say how many on M.'s head, 1 on Caroline (can you imagine the joy of having to de-lice a 3 yr old girl with shoulderlength hair) and none on T. R. and i.
Again though, i keep scratching my head.
How bout you?

Update on the insurance

After the devastating news last Friday (or was it the week before, can't remember) we googled for a couple of days (no kidding) typing in things like insurance law fire sollicitors and so on.
R. has even called several professors who teach insurance law at colleges to ask them if they knew any good sollicitors in this area.

We've come up with a bureau that is going to do a contra expertise and according to themselves is known for their "pain in the ass-attitude".
Now the director (erik) of this bureau knows someone high up in the organisation of our insurance company and he gave him a call yesterday. That person said we'd better have a meeting first to see if we can work something out before we start sending nasty letters to each others and sollicitors start interfering.
That sounds hopefull doesn't it!
Coming tuesday we have a meeting over at erik's office .

Slavery newly defined

As ever, things go from left to right and bottom to top overhere. In random order;

1. We are considering taking 2 cats.
Yes.
There's this guy who has commented on my weblog and when I read his' I learned that in January he's leaving for Guatemala for a yr, has sold his house but now needs a place to stall his cats.
6 yrs old, a brother and a sister.
So I spoke to him today and he's coming over Sunday evening to see if we would be a good fit.
I mean, I warned him that his cats may have some sort of culture shock from going to a 1 person household to a 5 person (at least) household were they could easily be laserbeamed one minute and see flying objects coming over the other. Not to speak of the soundlevel (noise) that may vary greatly in this house, especially compared to his -again- 1 person household.

2. Now in the grown-ups world I have a job.
I even have my own recruitment and temporary job agency, specialized in financial, HRM and ICT specialists.
With my husband (a former director of an ICT firm, but specialized in HRM) being unemployed there ought to be a win-win situation possible and Yes, coming Friday I am going to introduce him as a temporary project manager at a multimedia client of mine.
This evening at the dinner table I was talking to R. about how I hoped I could keep a straight face when for instance questions about his personal life were being asked.
T. Heard me say something about a "client" and asked me what it was exactly that my job entailed.
Wow.
How do I explain this to a kid.
Coz he thought I had a shop.
Coz when you have a shop you have clients.

So I said to him I didn't have a real shop, I simply had an office but I did sell something. I sold people. Well not really people but I sold their labor to our clients, so they would do jobs at those client's place.

Right said T.
You have slaves.

Kids say the darndest things

Sunday morning, T. is nibbling at his croissant when he asks;
He dad, when are you going to have sex again with mommy?

Yes.
In fact he asked wanneer ga je weer ff lekker sexen.




Eh, what do you mean?
Well, you know have sex!
And M. joining in; yeah, sex sex

What is going on here.

So while wiping the tears from my face i ask T. what he means by having sex.
And he shows me.

See, you waggle your behind against someones elses and you hold hands with that person.
Of course you do this naked.
And afterwards you kiss each other.

In that case R. and I couldnot hold back anymore and haid sex right there in our kitchen, before everyones eyes.

Just some randomness

Yesterday we've been visiting T. my mother-in-law who is temporarily living in some place where her dinner is prepared (not breakfast and lunch, isn't that strange) and where she can ring for someone if she doesn't feel too good.

The kids of course had no mercy for the whole situation and banged on her bed, leaned on her knee, in short were their usual selves.

Holy moly, doesn't this ever stop?

G. spoke to the insurance company and learned that they are not going to pay.

The official letter is on it's way but basically we have 2 options;
A get a lawyer and sue the bastards or
B swallow, and pay for the damage ourselves.

Could someone pls tell me what it is we've done to deserve all this shit and get rid of this bad Karma for me?

Another burglary

Yesterday, just after 10 pm we got a call from the security firm, the alarm had gone off at the office.
This time they had actually been inside, but apperently had been so startled when the alarm went off (takes about 15 seconds) that everything is still here.

They used the same method, simply pushed in the whole window.
Probably the same stupid ass-holes too.

Sunshine and rain

So.... what's up here in Rotterdam?

Well the boys can do a judo exam for their next "slip" which means that T. gets his first (yellow one) and M. his second (orange) somewhere mid December.
And...
they get to "fight" in the Sinterklaas tournament Saturday 3.

We haven't heard from the insurance company. Last week they said the expert had send in such an extensive report they needed at least one week to struggle thru it.

The job R. has been interviewed 7 times for now (i know, sounds like a sic joke and believe you me, is one) is not going to happen.
There is another thing but he's focusing on a Prince II project management certification now. He will probably do that in January.

Apart from that, my mother-in-law broke her knee last Monday, has had surgery yesterday and is now waiting for a place in some revalidation home coz she is not allowed to stand on it for the next 6 wks.

Caroline has a urine infection.
Which basically comes down to her going to the toilet every half hour, peeing 3 drops and screaming that it hurts so much and she wants to see a doctor (I swear, that's what she said last night).
When we were at the doctors this afternoon, she vividly denied ever having had pain.

After having brought her back to bed at 1.43 last night, R. developed some serious chest pains that didn't go away so at 2.32 we were at the doctor who ran some tests and concluded it was probably due to heavy exercise. As he is iceskating again on Saturday and ideally would like to skate the alternative 11 cities route in Austria in January, he is working out more and more and has ridden the van Brienenoordbrug 20 times last Sunday.
I think i can do about 4.
We were back at 3.30, probably slept at 4 and at 6 this morning T. just wanted to make sure it was OK if he was going to watch television downstairs.

O and last but not least. A. is going home this Friday.

Never a dull moment.

More champagne

As you may have understood by now, we have been drinking nothing but Cava (sort fake Champagne, with alcohol nevertheless but champagne is a protected name and can not be used for something like this) during the whole holiday.

Now my friend D. has had a huge secret that some knew and some didn't and that we used to the max these days.
* drum rolls*

Her birthday is November 9 but according to her passport it's November 10.

She only found this out when she was 18 and needed a birth certificate for her graduating.
She went into the city hall and when the clerk asked her what her date of birth was, nothing came up.
Come on try again, that's not possible.
No sorry ma'am, nothing in my system.
Huh????
Try the next day.
And yes, there she was.

And guess what day we were flying back home?
Right.
November 10.

So when the stewardess happened to be giving the safety instructions right in front of A. and we saw D. was more interested in her book than the entertainment next to her, we informed the stewardess who promised to do her best for something special.

2 minutes later Arno Jansen, the purser announced
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the KLM spacecrew (or something like that, they have the strangest names nowadays), I would like to welcome someone very special on board who is celebrating her birthday today. Let's hear it ; hiep hiep hiep hoera !
Before D. knew what hit her, Arno who considered himself as God's gift to women, came over to kiss her and congratulate her in person.
And never went away anymore.
He just kept on babbling and tossing his hair back.

Anyway.
After that a stewardess came over with 4 bottles of champagne.
Man, this was one of the best flights ever.

When the meals were being served, Arno came back asking us how we liked everything and when we said everything was splendid, he sort of bravely said; but I have had 2 ppl complaining about it.
What?
You are the purser, how can someone of your crew complain?
No not the crew,
one of the other ppl in the plane
And he was not going to say who it was.

After careful deliberation this is what we think happened.

Hey purser, can I have a beer please.
Sorry sir, this is economy class, we are not allowed to serve alcohol in here.
What, and you just gave these girls a bottle of champagne each!
That's right sir, but that's because they have a special occasion to celebrate.
Well, I can make one up too.
Sorry sir, we can't serve you.
You bleep, bleep, bleep.

So of course we only did what any sane person would do;
we even spoke louder than we did already and congratulated each other on this fantastic purser who had the decency to recognize a fantastic opportunity to make at least 4 clients lifetime KLM flyers and what a terrific champagne they served on board and that we couldn't imagine anyone else would be denying us this pleasure unless they were complete and utter losers.
Olé!

Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Hu Lang

As Always Right was our main tourleader for these days we HAD to go to this club called Aqua.
Restaurant at day, club at night.
Situated at the beach so we decided to try it out for lunch the second day.
Totally booked.

We went to the neighbors instead (different story, maybe later) and came back to make reservations for the night.
Now the Spaniards eat late.
They lunch between 13.30 and 17.00 and have dinner after 20.30.

For us Dutchies (with kids) who are used to having dinner before 19.00 we could only make it till after eight with loads of tapas. No problem, that's what they do themselves too (well not loads, but still..)

Anyways, we stroll back passing the beach and clouds gather for the first time these days.
We decide to make the most of it. We pass an enormous luxurous boat with, let's say the well-to-do, and hop on for a drink.
Suprisingly get 4 of the best seats and celebrate this with a Sangria Cava.
The waiter, whom we ask to take our picture, cannot keep his eyes of our Belgian neighborwoman (nor can we actually) and when they leave it's clear why. One of them doesn't let her age bother her and is wearing a Burburry mini-skirt.
Damn, and it suits her.

We walk back thru el Barrio Gotic and at 8 that night begin our walk to Aqua.What we forgot was that on our way to the hotel we paused at the boat and now that we are doing it the other way round, it turns out to be about at least 5 kilometers. Shiit.
My boots are in no way meant for walking like this.

Limping and sweating we arrive 3 quarters later. Pff.. Drinks. Cold and quickly please.
That's when we notice Hu Lang.
Hu Lang is a Chinese woman who is having dinner with a man and either is very very tired or is drinking alcohol for the first time in her life. Both of them is possible too coz she has fiercely red cheeks, and is simply looking like she's falling asleep with her head bangin' on the table any minute now.

Then there are a (very loud) American girl and her mother but simply the best is Dolly.

Dolly has had her lips done about 15 times and is touching her upper lip with her nose.
She has about 3 kilo's of blond hair and suprisingly enough no make-up on.
Dolly's partner turns out to be a Kenny. Complete with grey hair, tail and hat.

They sit next to the American women.

And ofcourse the inevitable had to happen. Daughter asks Ken for a light.
In her horrible Spanish that even we can follow, we learn that Dolly and Ken are from the Canary Islands, the americans are from Washinghton and then ages are exchanged. Bit off topic we would say, but we suddenly realize this is what binds them.
The mother has had brutal cosmetic surgery as well.
She turns out to be 70 (i would have believed a 55) her daughter is 36 (which i would have given a 42) Ken is 57 and Dolly 51.
Kisses and hugs and Oh we need to take a picture of our newfound friends.

Then something weirds happens.
Ken cannot stand it any longer and disappears.
At first we thought he was going to get the car or something but he just never came back.
Not that it bothered Dolly. She was partying along with the girls now.

At about that moment our waitress is back to ask if we want coffee or tea. Tea is Te in spanish. Tea is Tee in Dutch. No problema i figured.
That's not what our waitress thought.

Waitress: Would you like coffee or tea?
Me: tea please
Waitress: coffee or tea?
Me: Te
Waitress: caffe americano or con leche?
Me; te please
Waitress: caffe grande?

By that time i was really really desperate.
What do i have to do to get a tea around here? The whole evening she understands me and now i ask for a tea, even in her own language, we are falling out?

I snapped.
And said : Te bitte
I swear I said bitte (please in German)
Don't know what possessed me.

By the time we finished laughing we looked like Hu Lang's sisters and took a cab home.

I heart Barcelona

It's been a blast, the whole 4 days.

Whom ever is reading this; get on that plane and visit Barcelona.
Take the Turistic Bus.
You heard me, the Turistic Bus.
OK so you get to sit next to 60 yr old German ppl and a bunch of elderly's from all over actually, but it's just great. You get to see everything, from Port Olympic to Parc Guell to whatever highlight you need to see, every 10 minutes there's another one etc.

I'll post the pictures first (only took 228 of them, so this will be an easy pick. Not) and get back with the juicy stories later.

Water & ice

Due to his knee and broken rib, R. hasn't been skating for over a yr.
Cleaning up 7 more movers boxes that were still in the living room after the fire, he found his card again and decided to go.
He's the one with the blue sweater before the guy in red.

And even when i repeated over and over it wasn't a race, the kids sat behind the windowpane and kept yelling; hup papa, hup papa.

Now immediately after the grownups, there was a bunch of kids getting ready for their lessons. One of the most intriguing facts about that was that in order to get at the middle of the track they had to pass some sort of a bridge. That alone was enough to raise the inevitable question: may we learn how to skate too?

First your swimming diploma, no 2 swimming diploma's before we start up something new.

I don't think it worked. Coming tuesday M. will start in bath 4 again and T. is still in 1. We have been going to this pool for 1,5 yrs now and i seriously fear that by the time M. get his diploma (he will get it one day won't he?) C. will start and we'll be in that sauna for another 2 yrs.

ps; i am packed and absolutely ready to go. Tomorrow at 7 i take the train to Schiphol and see you all back within 4 days. Keep tight !

Autumn and the city

Ok i read all of these posts where ppl bring forward 20 or so things others didn't know about them.

What everybody knows about me is that i don't do socks.

That's right. I freakin' hate socks.

With Barcelona coming up i went into town to update my wardrobe a bit (I love buying clothes for the kids; that is if they are not present!) but i hate to try things on myself.
So i just buy things that seem to be my size and thus have a wardrobe full of (usually) too small stuff.

Anyway, this winter it's all about layers. Blouses, shirts, vests and sweaters all over each other.

And again; everybody knows i don't do layers.

I hate layers.
I have been known to wear a t-shirt (hey, but longsleeved) and a scarf in winter, pants and shoes (sorry forgot the bra and the panties) but that's it.
I hate layers.

Unfortunately there was just no escaping it.
I tried to limit it as much as i could but came home with some things that need to go on top of something else.

And guess what.

Next week it's going to be 20 degrees in Barcelona.

Hey, the Zambian Chamber of Commerce thinks I am "reliable and trustworthy"

Don't ask how but every once in a while I get a dubious African mail like this

My name is Rufus Sambe a Zambian citizen, I got your contact through the Zambian Chamber of Commerce and Industry through a web based directory while searching for a foreign partner to execute this project together. I am the close associate to an undisclosed minister (for the purpose of confidentiality for now) in the present political dispensation of my country.
Due to the trust and confidence reposed on me, he has mandated that I seek out a "Reliable and Trustworthy" foreign partner who will help receive funds, the funds in question is in safe deposit totaling US$55m (fifty Five Million United States American Dollars). This amount has to be lodged into a personal or company bank account for commitment into any legitimate investment venture for a pre-defined time frame. We cannot afford to have a direct relationship with any major investment for now by virtue of our position in government. We definitely do not want to raise any eyebrows in the ministry as an internal probe might jeopardize his office.
The fund came about by series of over invoiced contracts and gratification by contractors who have had their contract entitlement covered by the government. The fund is in safe deposit and free from any speculation.
However I have managed to push the money abroad through diplomatic coverage to a Courier & Trust Company and it is presently in custody of an affiliate/sister security company in Europe. Please, be rest assured this business relationship will bring a long term and lasting relationship between us, before proceeding with this, terms of agreement will be drawn stating clearly each level of involvement and commitment in this program. I have the necessary documents backing the deposit to facilitate claim from the deposit house.
The modality for the disbursement of funds is as follows:
1. 75% of the total to us2. 20% to you3. 5% to cover all charges and taxes that might be applicable in the course of closing the transaction.
All logistics are in place and all modalities worked out for a smooth actualisation of the transaction within the next few working days of commencement. For further details as to the workability of this transaction, please reach me as soon as possible for further

Now who is stupid enough to fall for this?
"The close associate to a Zambian minister?"
"55 million dollars?"

Cut it out ppl.
Stop sending me this BS !

NY became Barcelona

Remember me braggin' about all of us turning 40 this or next yr and how we were going to celebrate all over the effing world?

Yeah,

that was before we knew R. still doesn't have a job by now,
i had had a tax letter saying i were to pay 50,000 euro
we had had a fire with an estimated damage of 45,000 euro and the insurance company would up to this very day play hide and seek.
Unless i am winning the lottery the coming 2 months (and yes miracles do happen so who dares to say i am naive here) economy wise, 2005 was not my year.

So, couple of months ago, some of my more mature girlfriends figured out these plans of us were going to cost way too much and we decided to celebrate our first 40-party somewhere in Europe.
That's how NY became Barcelona.

Now it's been terribly busy at the office (luckily resulting in 3 new clients the last month) so i kinda forgot about Barcelona.
Untill Always Right send me an email (i swear i transferred the money today) asking me if i was ready for next week.
Huh?
O Shit.
Barcelona.

4 days of shopping (well looking), eating tapas, getting sore feet, probably seeing some Gaudi stuff, beginning our sentences with an upside down ? and so on.
Oh, and the joy of 4 days without kids (really, mommy loves you all) and husband!
Counting down, 4 more days to go.
!Hasta la vista!