I didn't even go on wintersport to get

my enkelbanden gescheurd (ankle ligaments torn. or something like that)

I just rushed up the stairs coz i heard Morten crying in his bed.
At least i wanted to rush up.
Skipped some errr. treden, slid down, bend my foot and that was that.

We put ice on it but after a bad night i went to the ER next morning.

Sat there for 2,5 freezing hours.
Doctor came, looked at it and said; gescheurde enkelbanden, clear as a whistle.

Allrighty.

Now i am walking (walking ha!) with clutches, have to put my leg up at least till coming Monday when i am due for checkups and after that i am facing 2 weeks of a taped ankle which they promised me will allow me to walk and drive again. Please pls hope so.

On the other hand, half the country is sick with the flue and sofar we thought we'd escaped that one.

Untill yesterday evening.
Dinner.
Caroline is wining (we thought) about not being hungry, crying, the lot.

And then she burps.

There is no possible way to describe this.
Some of you witnessed it and i am sure will agree. you have to have been there, to fully grasp the term " as if from her toes up"

Anyway,
after that she about threw out 2,5 liter of something and kept trying to get to 5 liter till 4.30 am

Needless to say, i am hoping for a better week next week.

One of those days

This morning we brought Jamie to Schiphol.
She's leaving for Venice and will be dearly missed.

Then.

On the way back to Rotterdam (a 4 lane highway and yes i was at the utter left) i got a flat tyre.
Car was swaying, everyone rushed by and i had 3 screaming kids in the back .
I managed to get onto the vluchtstrook (had to slalom between poles with trucks behind me, nice) and called AAA (aka the Wegenwacht)

They advised me to stand behind the vangrail.

It was raining.
And behind the vangrail it was mud or muddier.
There i was standing with Caroline who kept jumping in the mud, Timo who kept scraping the mud of on the vangrail all the while awkwardly balancing on one foot and Morten who asked where the Wegenwacht guy was.

Good question.
By the time i was up till my knees in mud, he arrived.
Asked for the spare tyre.
As if i have any idea.

Asked for the safety bout to undo the wheel.
See above.

I must say, after about 20 minutes we had the spare thing (which was hanging under the car!) ready and tried to make it back up the highway on a speed of about 40 (still trying to avoid the poles they had set up) and of course no one seeing my light and giving me permission to come into the crowd.
Somehow we managed and because it was about lunchtime by then, headed of to the McD. for 3 happy meals.

Morten got his dino stolen by some trailerfamilykid while playing.

All in tears, (him) i took him to the counter and got another one.

And threw that one in the bin while emptying the table.

Valentines day

First of all, got my keys back.

Got a brainwave and called the restaurant where we had been Thursdays and yes!

Then...

Although i didn't receive anything, no cards, no flowers, no serenades, no breakfast at bed, no love letters, no NOTHING...*sigh*...

i gave the kids a comic book in the morning and explained to them that today was Valentines day (no it's wednesday Timo said) and you could - anonymously- send someone of your liking a card, saying so.

When they came home from school, Timo was rather interested in the whole idea and wanted to send Pepijn (the 8 ! yr old daughter of a friend of mine which he met 1 whole yr ago during the wintersport holiday) a card.

Now Pepijn is in demand.

She already has a boyfriend (who was with us that same holiday) called Tom.

Ok I tell Timo.

What do you want me to write.

Dear Pepijn.

I love you.

Greetings "valentine"

I love you.

I really have to pinch him Very hard to tell me that, and he just wants me to write it on this card.

Pepijn better realize what a lucky b. she is!

And you know what will happen now? he asks me.

Ofcourse i don't .

Pepijn will get this card, thinking it is from Tom.

She will confront Tom with it who won't know what she's talking about and THEN she will start thinking who else this may have come from.....*don't i know it all/seen it all/wink wink look on his face now*

Anyway.

Morten liked the idea too and besides... everyone knows by now, he officially dates Merle.

He wanted to write the card himself AND made a red hart trough her name.

It said: Liven Merle (something like Deer Merle)

Greetings from Vaadertijn.

I am so in love with my children.

ps; don't kill me for not starting new alineas. I did. Twice. Just doesn't show.

Lost keys and other minor issues

Should you happen to come across my blue keycord, with about all the major (house/office/bikes) keys on it, pretty please let me know.

Robbert took the kids biking today to a pancake restaurant in het Kralingse Bos.

What he hadn't told them though was that he would go there via the Willemsbrug, passing the Feyenoord stadium, over the Brienenoord bridge and then to the pancake restaurant.
Caroline was on the aanhangfiets for the first time and quite exhausted as you can imagine.

On the other hand Morten is now convinced he wants to go on a biking holiday again, like we did a couple of yrs back in the south of France, and that those mountains are a piece of cake.
Then again, Rachel took them skating a couple of days ago and that convinced them they were future skating champions who wanted to take skate lessons.
Caroline is also asking for ballet lessons.
And Morten has taken a sudden interest in scouting.
It's not easy being multi talented.

I guess.

Sexual assault

This weekend i have heard 2 stories from close by about women being sexually assaulted.

They made me wonder if in any company men are normally working with women.

I am afraid not.

And it's not as if they get older and thus wiser.
Jan is 63 and stepped into J.'s bed.

The other story will probably be in the newspapers soon.
I so hope so.

The creation of Opa Jan

yes, creation is what Timo kept saying.
Caroline was even more confused and kept referring to the operation.

Cremation guys!
Stay focused.

It was sad.
Very sad.

But also good catching up with cousins i only see during funerals or cremations.

During the condolences the kids started a line-up.
And Morten danced to 'In the mood"(Glen Miller) the number we used to say goodbye to Opa Jan.

And now it snows.
Has been since morning.

It's a new world.

I am so tired.

Update

And again, a crazy weekend.

Friday beginning of the afternoon, my granddad died.
I don't want to say too much about it, just that who ever thinks that euthanasia in the Netherlands is so easy, can think again. We literally had to beg for some morphine because he was in such pain and even that took very very long. In the end his heart finally stopped.

Anyway.
I hope Oma & Opa are together again and despite the last hours, smiling down on us again.

That evening someone who organizes the cremation came over, we decided what we wanted my granddad to wear, when the cremation would take place (Wednesday 11.30), where, how many people were expected, what we wanted written on the cards, what kind of music we wanted played, if there were a lot of people going to speech, if we wanted the coffin to be layered while we were there, how many cars to follow the coffin, etc etc.

Saturday morning while writing the envelopes, someone came over who was giving an estimate for the bathroom.
We have been living here for almost 8 yrs now and since day 1 we've been saying; one of these days we ought to do something about that bathroom.
That day is nearly there!

After i had given the key to the painter who came to do the office we went to several of these sanitary/kitchen/tile shops and decided on a rough idea about the bathroom.
Tub is going out. Sauna is coming in.

Sunday was spend at the Filmfestival.
I had ordered tickets about 6 months ago, and this time had not lost them (!)
I saw Cover Boy (about a Romanian boy trying to make it in Italy), No Mercy for the Rude, a Korean movie about a mute hit killer (sounds worse than it was), the mark of Cain (British movie about the misconduct of British soldiers in Iraq, the movie won the Movies that Matter award).
Then Robbert raced home and brought back Rachel with the car and the 2 of us saw some Argentinian b&w movie about Mr TV and the people in his city (too weird to explain) and the last one was an American documentary about a Japanese artist (I am Grand Master Artist).
A very nice and distracting day.

And life goes on.

Bad news

My grandfather is dying.