Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Happy Valentines...

Well I hope you all had a lovely Valentines day, some of us were more successful than others.  I have a friend who received a pink i-phone, others the more traditional red roses and chocolates and a few lucky girls with jewellery.  On the flip side, one friend commented that she might aswell be single, i suspect however that if she were single she would have had far more attention from admirers!
Plenty of friends were inundated with obscure red shapes with sticky collage on them proudly presented by their children as they ran from school gates, myself included.
For my own part, I baked, of course, heart shaped cookies with the kids and a big ol' cream cake to boot!  In return he cleaned the bathroom.  It was born out of necessity but actually was received by me with thanks when I came in from my Dutch language class and sank into a lovely hot bath in very sparkly surroundings!  Its the little things that count.
My favorite valentine moment came from a friend who said her husband gave her "Chocolate Angel Delight in a plastic cup, with a sparkler and 23 years so far". How sweet that the displays of one day pale into insignificance after a lifetime together.

With Love,
Vicki

Monday, February 13, 2012

Not according to plan...

So I'm wondering if other people find therapy where they least expect it?  After a pretty full on week with the kids and the sub zero temperatures, I was looking forward to a weekend where Dad took over and I could get all the things done that I just don't do when the kids are around.
He's had a tough week too so on Saturday morning when he said he was going to the lake for a quick skate (even though he also said he didn't feel well), I smiled sweetly and carried on cleaning up breakfast.  An hour later when he called to tell me he had chained the bike to a tree and lost the bunch of keys (my set incidently) I was no longer smiling but cursing him under my breath as I bundled the kids into the bakfiets, spare keys in hand to go and rescue him.  He looked particularly pathetic when I arrived, so I calmly unlocked the bike and advised him we would see him later as we were continuing with our original plans for the day, which he had vetoed the previous evening.
40 minutes of power biking later, my friend handed me a coffee and I didn't even feel the need to bitch about it all!!
The boys had a lovely time charging about the soft play and climbing frame zone and I was well rested for the bike  back.
Much the same the next day from the other half.  So while he quietly suffered in bed, we had pyjama breakfast of coco pops in front of the TV and then very casually set off for the zoo.  A few hours later and 2 very tired boys cuddling me on the tram, we were back for dinner, bath and bed.
It wasn't what I had planned for my weekend but the general pace of it was very refreshing; no school bell to beat, no wrestling into snow suits and gloves, the joy of not having to be anywhere but exactly where we were at any given time felt like a holiday.  Its not my kids that drive me mad, its their schedules!!!



Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Getting organised...

So as usual any distraction from the numerous unfinished jobs and un-started cleaning is a welcome distraction.  Convinced that I needed more order in my sewing room and eldest boys room, i hot footed it to Ikea with my car owning friend (flat pack is not a good look on a bakfiets). We only just got it all in the boot and did have to get the kids to sit with their knees round their ears, but we got it all home and I am proud to say that I have assembled every last bolt and dowel myself on two draw units, a kids craft table and four chairs!!

Now that one of said drawer units is in the sewing room, and the myriad of sewing paraphernalia is spread about the room waiting to be re-homed, i thought it was a good time to avoid the actual act of tidying and blog about the potential of it instead.

Not only have I abandoned the sort-out to blog, but I abandoned my Dutch language studies to construct the unit.  I am a hopeless, easily distracted kinda girl...with no homework to hand in!  Can a 32 year old woman get away with "the dog ate it"?



Monday, February 6, 2012

February already...

I can't believe February is upon us already!!  Typically I am doing a pretty poor job of keeping up with my New Year Pledge, the tartan skirt is lying in pieces and the trainers have not been past the front door in 2 weeks!  The only pledge I am making any kind of progress on is the baking, which is not helping the running or the fit of the skirt!

The other half is still crazy busy although we did have him at home this weekend for our initiation to "The Dutch on Ice".  We have been experiencing sub-zero temperatures all week and on Friday it finally broke and snowed, which would have been beautiful to watch had I not been cycling home from the school pick up on a Bakfiets with frozen gears...thank Goodness they froze in 3rd!

The boys were in fits and couldn't wait to get out in it.  As most parents know this entails 15 minutes of locating and wrestling with every glove hat scarf and welly boot you have in the house, only for them to throw one snow ball, get one back in the face and 5 minutes later you are doing it all in reverse but now the kids are crying and there is a puddle in the foyer.  Thankfully, my other half being an Aussie and a big kid at heart, he still finds snow and ice a great novelty, so he did the lions share of winter wrestling over the weekend.

The local park
The Lake at sun down
Every canal and lake that you came to was covered with families skating and sleding around, our local council had even flooded the local park 4 days earlier so that when the frost came, acres and acres of natural ice rink is created.  I just don't think you'd see it in the UK, what with health and safety gone mad, I even thought twice about sending pictures home in case someone in Europe decides the Dutch are all cracked and intervenes with new legislation.  Thankfully so far only my mother has commented that she had "chills" looking at the photos!!