Marinda

I finished off work on time today and headed to the library to see if I could find some new books. And lo and behold, I could!

Then my cell phone buzzed in my bag.

I got the following message:
"Baked pancakes, vacuumed, washed windows, cleaned my bed, removed clutter. Check, check, dubbel check =)"

That was Marinda! Later she told me she should have been studying for a test tomorrow and instead of doing that, she decided to do all of the above. It made her feel less guilty than just hanging around in front of the tv :-).
And it justified her not studying ;-).

Gotta love her!

And with Marinda

A view into the head of my 16 year old daughter....

1. What is something your mom always says to you?
"go away, get off!" (this said when she hangs onto me like a limpet)

2. What makes your mom happy?
"vacation"

3.What makes your mom sad?
"frustration when something doesn't go the way she wants it to"

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
" by singing songs wrong and dancing crazy"

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"introvert, in her own small world with her books "

6. How old is your mom?
"37"

7. How tall is your mom?
"1,67"

8.What is your mom's favourite thing to do?
"reading in a sunny spot while on holiday"

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"clean the house while playing Marco Borsato real loud"

10. If your mom becomes famous , what will it be for?
" I have no idea!! "

11. What is your mom really good at?
"her work, coordinating stuff"

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"remembering lyrics "

13. What is your mom's job?
"coordinating volunteer work "

14. What's your mom's favourite food?
"injera "

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"that she manages to do it all"

16.If your mom was a cartoon character, who would she be?
"a mixture of spongebobsquarepants and jimmy neutron"

17. What do u and your mom do together?
"lately, not much"

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"we look the same, and we have a lot of the same character traits"

19. How are you and your mom different?
"I'm much more laid back and less honest"

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"i just know"

21. Where is your mom's favourite place to go?
"in the house: the corner of the sofa or if it's nice weather in the garden
in Holland: somewhere where she can bike or walk
in the world: Africa "

Isn't she lovely

Gingerbread houses

Lots of careful preparation:



Careful use of technical support:

With this as the end result:

Thank you Ikea!

I found my golden ticket!

written by Marinda

Well, I didn't actually find it. I got it. From the department of Education to be precise.

It's called a CJP-pas, which means Cultural Youth Passport. It's a card every student gets in 'de bovenbouw'. (grades 10 to 12) Its purpose is to stimulate young people to go to a museum or theater more often. The card provides a 25 per cent discount at almost every museum in Holland and a shocking 50 per cent discount at all popular musicals! That means my ticket to go see Tarzan isn't €64 but only €32! This has actually made me consider going sometime. Guess the card really works. And that, dear people, isn't the best part yet. Because that would be that I get a 10 per cent discount at, here comes; America Today, Six, Accessorize, Wonder Woman and Cool Cat! I can go shopping! And surprisingly enough, that is still not all. On each card there is a €15 credit. And because Marinda chose art class, they throw on another €10 for me. That's €25! I love you dear Mr. Plasterk! [Minister of Education] He's a 51 year old, grey-haired man. But hey, he's giving me money!


No, I'm not that superficial. I actually like going to museums. Tomorrow me and my art classmates are going to the Krüller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, to look at some painting of Van Gogh. There are some paintings that I really like. Stop laughing, I really do! Have you ever noticed that in one of his self portraits one eye is green and the other one is brown. Really, here's proof. The left eye is green and the right one is brown. I always notice that kind of weird things. For me that's actually the fun of art. Spotting minor little details and telling them to the person next to you. Who then of course answers with: Well, look at that, you're right. I was there last summer, so I already collected some fun details. So tomorrow I'm gonna stun all my classmates and art teacher with my amazing eye for detail.

Blogging

I have not been a faithful blogger lately. I have made do with answering questions, or not writing at all, or very little. To be honest, the lack of comments has been demotivating me. Makes me wonder if I should be paying more attention to my content as wise bloggers say you should do. Not that I have ever had a ton of comments, but I crave feedback in all kinds of shapes and forms! And sometimes the lack of it makes me forget that I like writing, even if it is about boring and mundane things. And I guess that my life has been feeling rather boring and mundane lately, which is also not conducive to creative writing. I find myself having to think a lot harder about things to write, instead of my writing in my head all day long!

Now I'm going to try to do a month of gratitude, posting something I'm happy about every day. It may be tagged on to a post which is miserable and gloomy, but I am really going to try!

Today I'm grateful for a jaunt in the town center with Marinda. Sinterklaas arrived today, which meant the center was crowded with moms and dads carrying little zwarte pieten on their shoulders. There was the smell of oliebollen in the air, and the stores were crowded with people buying the first presents needed to put in their childrens shoes.

As did I. Actually I already have some gifts stored away for putting in the shoes. Tonight, before they go to bed, I will again threaten the children with no gift if they don't sing at least one Sinterklaas song. We have to keep some form of tradition going here!!

Mom, Mom!!

Mom, Mom, come watch us play ping-pong!

Through the back alley....

On to the playground by Tristans school....
Chosing sides.......

and action...
And now will you please watch us instead of hiding behind the camera!!

Mamma Mia

I just went to see Mamma Mia with Marinda. That just must be the ultimate feel good movie! I couldn't help but keep grinning and heard Marinda laughing next to me. I remember feeling the same way when I went to see the musical a couple of years ago. I got a spontaneous invite on the spur of the moment and went with exceedingly low expectations. After all, it was going to be ABBA in dutch, how tacky is that!?! But I enjoyed every moment of it.
Meryl Streep just blew my mind. Just seeing her gyrating all over the screen, my lordy, I wish I still had that kind of moves in me! And she's 20 years older than I am!! Just imagine the amount of guts it must take to just let it all go and act ridiculous. That counts for all of the cast though. Especially in the end, when they all show up in those wonderful ABBA suits and rock the stage. Made me want to get right up there and get groovin.
Music from ABBA will do that to me anytime. I can't tell you how many times I imagined myself being the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen. (oh for those days!!) Or singing Money, money, money, or Happy New Year. One of their songs is also "our" love song.
ABBA rules!

Marinda, the photographer

Two days ago I posted some pictures I took when I went for a walk with a friend. On that same day Marinda came along as well.
Here are her pictures. She has such an eye for detail! She sees things or looks at angles I totally don't see.
To the left is a shot I took of her in action. The rest of the pictures are entirely hers. Please leave a comment, I'm sure she'd love to read what you think of them!

Lookie, Lookie

Look at what Marinda made!

A fresh strawberry smoothy with orange chocolate.

First day of school

Kids first day of school today. Got off to a pretty good start. Woke myself up on time, woke up the kids on time. But an hour later I was yelling at Marinda on the bicycle path and got into the train all hot and bothered. Long story!
But now she's calling me to come up with popcorn and watch some TV with her. She nodded off to sleep after supper, I guess the early morning is getting to her! Tristan described his teacher as "fat and lazy". That doesn't sound very exciting.....
Hopefully all will go well with my kiddies this year. Marinda has some catching up to do, especially in the math area (an area I WILL NOT be joining!) and Tristan really needs a good year, poor guy. He's had a tough time getting adjusted here.
So I'm off to make popcorn, and then maybe nod off to sleep myself.

Today

Today is the first day of possibly a whole weekend of no kids. Hmmm.... wonder what we'll do with our time!
Although we will have to take it easy. Unfortunately, during our vacation, Hermans colitis acted up quite badly making him feel very tired and also giving him a lot of pain. So he's had to call in sick and he's having to take things real slow.
But despite that, some time without kids is not something to be taken lightly! It's great to watch whatever I want on tv, to eat food that the kids don't like, and generally enjoy the peace and quiet. Especially knowing that the kids are doing something that they enjoy doing. Tristan is spending a couple of days with a friend from his old school. He's really been looking forward to that. And Marinda watched a movie with two friends who are over from Russia and is now staying with one of my friends in Utrecht.
Well, that was a lot of words spent on something that is most likely not interesting to anybody but myself!
Anyhow, I will now install myself in front of the tv, snuggle up to Herman and watch Secret Millionaire. Gotta love that program!

Sweet Sixteen

Before

Goodies
Presents

Manning the Barbeque
Friends
Family
Fun
The morning after

Pregnant

These pictures of me were taken when I was pregnant with Marinda. We lived in a huge old house which belonged to the hospital that Herman worked in. The hospital's photographer lived there as well and he jumped at the opportunity to photograph a pregnant woman. Actually he wanted me to do them nude, but that wasn't something that I wanted to do! The bit of body that's showing in the pictures is enough I think!
It was a huge shock when I turned out pregnant, because it wasn't something we were planning on and we weren't married yet. And I was only 20 years old at the time. But the whole walking around with a big belly was kind of fun. I used to wear funky overalls, people would stand up in the bus to give me their seat, and total strangers would start a conversation. I was studying at the time, art therapy, and had to work hard to pass the year. The first couple of months of the pregnancy I felt so ill that I threw up everywhere and was exhausted all the time. Then I entered the "blooming" fase (during which we got married) , and I finished the school year half hoping that I would be able to make it to my third year as well. It turned out that I didn't go back to school until about 8 years later. I enjoyed every minute of it when I did!
These pictures turned out to be my one and only shot at modelling. I, like many many girls before and after me, had always dreamt of being a model. Well, these are the results!

SMS

I just got a sms (or whatever you call a telefoon message) from my daughter. Translated it says "we're all installed and watching Step Up. Life can't get much better :-)"
It's her first sms from her trip to Italy. Yes, Italy. I admit to great jealousy and envy....
It's a cultural school trip that she's on. 18 hours in a bus and then a week long lightning visit through Tuscany. Lucky, lucky girl! She's going to places I read about in The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. How cool is that?!?
As she and I pointed out to eachother, she's lucky because she gets to go to France, has been on tour through Hungary and is now going to Italy. I was lucky because I got to see Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Uganda and a couple more non-european countries. Maybe later on in life we'll get to trade. I will culturally explore Europe and she will live somewhere in Africa. Who knows!

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currently reading The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve

Skating

I was going to write about my tiring day with my new colleague who is so competent and capable that she made me feel totally useless. But instead I will write about my lovely little skate with my daughter, down the smoothest road through the meadows, with a chilld in the air, but the sun also glinting on the green green grass. Looking forward to more of that!

Life in general

Can't believe it's been so long since I last posted something. I find myself so tired that I can't think of what to write, that's part of the problem anyway. And if I want to keep this fun (which I do!) then I don't want this to turn into something I have to do. I'd rather just want to do it and enjoy the proces!
I figure it's about time we started planning our lives a bit more instead of just doing what happens to come by. That's my way of getting a grip on situations, to sit down and plan, make lists and DO something. Herman and I have hardly had any time to talk since we've moved. I mean conversation which reaches beyond the obligatory "how was your day". Time to pick up our date nights. I want to plan a sleepover with Marinda. She has a new big bed, so we'll get together and do something girly. And I want to do some major roughousing with Tristan. He doesn't like to cuddle so I have to pummel, push, tickle and poke him in order to give some form of "affection" which he's willing to accept. And I want to get back some structure into our meal times. It's always a lot more fun when we sit down at the table to eat at the same time instead of grabbing something and then eating in front of the tv. Easier said than done though, seeing as I have little cooking inspiration!
Enough on my list anyway. Right now I will go and see if I can make myself useful doing something in the house, that shouldn't be too hard!!

Sinterklaas evening

No Time

No time for any of this nowadays!

My kids

Here's some more pictures of my kids. They're old ones, Tristan still has his hair in these pictures! But you can see they're still great and can be real silly together.
Lately they've been getting along better. It was weird, when we moved here we assumed they would get along better because they each had their own room (they shared a room in our last house). But the reverse happened. Having their own territory only seemed to increase the number of arguments! Now they seem to be "rediscovering" eachother, much to my joy. I will take into consideration that a period of strife may still arise, but I'm enjoying the peace while it's here!