Early morning glamping

It is 6 a.m. and I'm making a fire.
Or attempting to, before I have to wake the husband with my inadequacy as a pioneer-ess.

I'm not sure if this is a holiday or just a Thank-God-We've-Survived-So-Far experience.
The boys are having the time of their lives.
They muck about in enormous hay stacks, feed cows, pigs, and chickens, gather eggs, build bows and arrows....
I read but my e-book's battery ran out this morning and my phone is teetering on the edge.
Tomorrow we go home.
Today, something nice, but What... we don't know yet.



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On a farm, up north

After lots of rain, we arrived.

We're staying in a quaint tent, on an organic farm.

We read by candlelight, and have already fed the calves.

Here is Arture, christened by Son#1 , our rent-a-bunny for the week.

The husband and I drank coffee and played gin rummy outside, 

whilst being devoured by the mosquitoes.

Poor Arture who has to stay outside.

Perhaps he'll be a sucked-out little furry shell by morn.

Tomorrow a pony ride for the boys, and I'm buying a fly swatter.
Exciiiiiiitement!

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Birthday Boy-Man

Son#1 is 9 years old today.

A full, round, 3 times 3.

Next year, he'll be a tween (I think).

 Happy Birthday Bucky!

We ate a nice breakfast, the in-laws came over (my father-in-law made nasty comments about the way I look, leaving me feeling like crap) and then Son#1 requested noodles for dinner.

We're talking Cup-a-Noodles variety.

Yup.

We're big on cuisine.

He got money, and a Loom-board with a gazillion elastics to go with it.
I hope he's happy.
We love him ever so very, very much.

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C'est Le Weekend: Just keep breathing

Friday night.
The boys are in bed, finally.
I'm lying, zonked out, on my bed with decaf coffee, lest-I-do-not-sleep.

Son#2 had swimming lessons, and his older brother taught him how to Loom.
It's all the rage in Kid Land.

My appointment with the endocrinologist went as well as I could hope for.
Test results on the 6th of August, another appointment on the 22nd.
Meanwhile my hands are so swollen from fluid retention that wearing rings has become impossible. 

The final planes are bringing back the bodies of the victims of Flight MH 17.
I can't bring myself to watch it nor think about it too much, yet that strangely feels disloyal.
What a disjointed world we live in. 

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Difficult one

 

Nervous about today's appointment.

Deep sigh.

 

 

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Sick kids and then some

Son#1 and #3 both had a fever yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared overnight.

Now Son#1 is walking in the garden, having whole conversations with himself (?!?!)

and we are making plans for lunch.

 

 

Tomorrow, my date with destiny:  I'm seeing the endocrinologist in the afternoon.

It's had me in knots for weeks now, and if she can't help me feel better, then I don't know what I'm going to do.

Mostly, I feel like a frail, sickly 86 year-old.

And I'm still 39 for the moment.

 

 

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Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man

On his own, 

this child is a dream.

The two of us went to play soccer in Breda's city park.

I was berated for wearing a skirt and not being able to drop-kick.

Afterwards, an ice cream and an observant walk through the lush greenery.

Even if he sometimes seems like a psycho, and he has woken and remained in a funk these past two days (must be  the heat???) this kid is goodness personified.

He still makes my heart beat faster.

I'm still smitten with him.

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Friday afternoon and 35 degrees in the shade

I went to the Action (cheap cheap, hallelujah) and bought a tiny pool for 2 bucks 99.

Perrrrrfect.

Now we are People with a Pool.

 

I'm thinking of buying an SUV-type of car (on credit, lest you think I actually have money, guffaw), perhaps a Nissan or something Japanese which might just last forever.

New couch, pool, an SUV...

Methinks I'm turning into one of those people.

Sigh.

Then I withdrew my very last money from the bank, and spent it on Indian food and a budget-friendly 3 liter box filled with shimply delishush Chardonnay (horror-filled cringe:  confirmation of the above class distinction).

Pretty soon we'll have a horrid little poodle called 'Chardonnay' or 'Chablis' or something footballer's wife-like.

Drunk, poor, hot (not innately, just the weather) but happy.



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C'est Le Weekend: Neverending Story

The boys fight continuously.

Incessantly.

At the end of July, we'll be spending 4 nights on a farm up north.

I pity the poor people who will be sleeping in the other tents.

It all gets to a point where you realize that wherever you go, whatever you do, you are a spectacle of undisciplined children and exasperated parents.

Our weekend is empty-ish, only the husband's brother might drop by on Sunday.

The husband is going to friends' tonight.

I'm searching for a new car.

It's difficult if one feels paralyzed by perhaps making the wrong decision.

Sigh.

I'm also the heaviest I have EVER been - heavier than when I was 9 months pregnant with Son#3.

I'm thinking I shouldn't weigh myself every morning.

It just peeves me off for the rest of the day.

Wish me luck, me hearties.
Wiiiiiish me luck.


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New couch

So here it is then, the new couch.

Who needs armrests anyway? 
We're well-chuffed with it, makes us feel like we're the-real-deal, super responsible grown-ups.

Meanwhile my friend Lisa is coming over, the house is a bloody mess, the boys have been up since 4h45 and we saw a mouse exit the house.
These are the days of our lives.
At least the weather is looking up.


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C'est Le Weekend: Results

Now it is almost 9h00 and I've already washed my hair, done the laundry and the dishwasher (which I unscrewed and fixed myself yesterday after it didn't drain the water and flooded the damn kitchen, proud proud), and called my mother to tell her that I got 85% for both of my exams in June.

More proud pride, thankyouverymuch.

The husband and I spotted a cheapish couch yesterday to replace the existing more-than-10-years-old one that is literally falling apart at the seams.

Son#3 keeps pulling on the thready bits, but I've given up on telling him off about it.

Does it really make a helluva difference if he does that??

You can see it on the right there, sticking out its armrest for the last time [insert evil laugh].

I will drive to the store with all 3 kids in tow this morning. The summer holidays started yesterday at 12h00.

I'm so glad the torture of this school year is done and dusted.

The boys are tired, and have been for the last 2 weeks.

We hear complaints of stomach aches and experience emotional explosions.

It's time for them to rest.

A friend is coming over from Switzerland this weekend.

Other than that, I'm studying and cleaning stuff in between.

I've had it with clutter.

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Words to live by

 

 

 

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Phew

The day has barely begun but we've already been to the hospital for Son#2's eye appointment.
He still needs to wear an occlusion patch, and he must get new glasses.
Meanwhile, we've been up since 5 a.m. when #2 wandered into the room with bad asthma.
Poor ducky, this boy got the full load.

But, the sad news is that our neighbours' 2,5 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.
A long and tough ordeal awaits them and it breaks my heart.
It seems that Cancer walks through the streets like the grim reaper, randomly touching the houses that are marked by cancer.
Sadness.


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Light up my life

The boys and I visited my talented friend Elma on Saturday, and as soon as we stepped in the car and started driving away, they asked when we could come again.

Kudos, Elma.

 

We came home and I dumped the wee monsters with the husband, then drove to Breda to buy an expensive, unnecessary lamp with my credit card [insert hysterical hyena-like laughter here].

 I still need to clean up the scene around the light, but the idea is there.

The painting is going back to the art-on-loan-place and the assortment of candles-which-are-never-lit must go.

I want Japanese functional minimalism.

Sunday was a menace.

I am a menace and my fuse is short.

 

This week I made huge leaps in terms of my backlog of work (which I really don't want to do during the summer holiday).

I spent yesterday cloistered in my office, and will spend a part of today there as well.

The job needs to be finished so I can start with my studies again.

No results yet from the previous round of exams.

Grrrrr.

 

We're all tired and in need of sweet blue nothingness for a while.

Son#1 and #2 had a school trip to the zoo in Rotterdam yesterday, and they were still yawning this morning.

Son#3 really just wants to stay home with me, and the husband is blasted from all the stress at work these last few months.

We breathe.

We continue.

 

Hope your day will be a good one.

 

 

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C'est Le Weekend: Roar!

It is the weekend.

I went and bought myself an enamel oven dish and a new pair of black (and according to the husband, ill-fitting) pants.

I'm happy with both, regardless of my fat bottom which would never look good in any pants.

(My opinion, not the husband's - bless his blessed silence).

Then I bought haloumi cheese and expensive wine which was marked down.

The Volvo was fixed for a pittance, giving us a few extra weeks to find a different car.

I dragged all 3 boys, kicking and screaming, to the garden centre to buy a spray-thing to remedy the dying lawn.

Sigh.

Money spent, little left.

Oh well.

Now the weekend looms and I'm in a funk.

The 3 boys and I are visiting my friend Elma this weekend, in her new house with her well-behaved girls.

I had heart palpitations and weight-loss but this turned around and is now drum-less weight gain again.

This is a thyroid problem.
Alternating between hypers and hypos.

Replete with brittle hair, dry skin and the blues.

Just 3 more weeks until my appointment with the endocrinologist.

I have all my hopes pinned on this person.

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Rare joys

Son#1 is celebrating his upcoming birthday next month in his class today.

I cheated and went to the Hema to buy instant happiness.

Bad mother that I am.

But, on the plus side, Son#1 and #2 went on a long bike ride with the husband and came home exhausted and semi-loving.

 Har har har.

Serendipity.

But then Son#2 had an asthma attack when they returned.

Son#3 spent the day crying all day yesterday, then fell asleep on my lap and stayed that way for more than an hour.

And Son#1 spent a lot of moments on the dining room chair for his aggressive behavior towards Son#2.

Limits must be set.

Another day, another dollar.

Yup.

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E.T. phone home

I have been unable to get a hold of my mother.

Her phone accounts must be inactive after her 3 month absence?

Mother!!!

Meanwhile here in the Nether Lands, I was summoned to school by both Son#1 and #2's teachers.

They worry about Son#1 and how he dominates Son#2, but also how he will cope once he hits puberty with a vengeance.

Our next stop is the GP.

She might point us in the right direction.

I know in my gut that we need help with this, but I've been resisting the process.

One doesn't go LOOKING for more problems.

But with school's concerns now rolling in for the second year, we need to pay attention.

Double sigh.

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Chooseday

Being stuck in the styx with no car today (and tomorrow, and the day after...) I guess I'll have to work from home instead.
And I mean it this time.
In my mind the summer holiday started when I wrote my last exam.
Sigh.

I'm phoning my mother and a friend that we're visiting this weekend, fixing stuff-ups that I made at work.
My day might include a nap.

Son#1 and #2 are acting up at school.
Parenting is tough.

In 3 weeks' time I have an appointment with an endocrinologist to test my adrenals and thyroid.
I'm just hoping for answers.

The husband is stressed from all the uncertainty at work.
We have Zen pep-talks in the morning.
Don't pile up those horrid thoughts, just BE where you are.
And in a way, one waits for the big bang of everything falling apart, just so we can start again.
Strange.


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