Goodbye, goodbye, good friends goodbye....

Well, hello and goodbye.

I started this blog as a way to let my family and friends back home know what I was doing in my mundane world in Germany, to let other expats moving abroad realize that it is possible to pack up a family and move to a strange country and to keep a little journal for my kids to read when they got older. But now I am sad as well as very HAPPY to say we are going home.

We have bought a house, we have found jobs (at least hubby has) and we are heading back to Canada.

For all those loyal readers out there, thanks mom and sis, you will be happy to know that I am a closer phone call away and now there is no need to blog.


You never know though, perhaps one day I will be back.

Tchuss!

Skihalle in Neuss!

We had a great birthday weekend. Hubby and I, along with 5 "kids" hit the slopes on Saturday and spent the day skiing. The kids had fun, the parents had fun, all in all it was a hit.

But like I mentioned earlier it was indoors. Even though hubby stole my post this morning I will have to send you over to his blog to take a look at the pictures we took....it was all fun just a little odd. You never really forgot that your were skiing indoors (the air resembling that of an arena) but we were able to enjoy ourselves.

Tchuss!

My son's 7th birthday

So we are going skiing. Not unusual for us. Not unusual for this time of year. It is what my son wants to do for his birthday party. He got to choose an array of activities including lot's of friends at a reptile zoo, lot's of friends at an indoor playground, lot's of friends at a local museum or one friend skiing. For a 6 year old soon to 7 year old is was a tough choice. Any of the first 3 choices garunteed lot's of presents since there would be lot's of kids but the last choice...one friend...one present, and he chose it.

So on Saturday (which is not really my son's birthday, but was a convinient day for the family to celebrate) we will all head to the skihill...oh wait I meant skihall. Yes! we are going to be skiing indoors. Kinda neat huh? It is open all year round, so if you feel a little crazy in July you can go skiing...or if is a little too warm in December you can go skiing... or whenever. Of course it is not huge but for a seven year old, his 6 year old friend and 4 year old sister it will be perfect and plus I doubt we could loose the kids even if we tried...this being very easy to do in the Alps.

So since being here in Germany, we have skiied the Alps, the little hills around our place and now indoors...the next stop the skihall in Dubai.

Tchuss!

Sunny days are here again

Today is by all means a beautiful day here in the middle of Germany. It is a clear, sunny day. This morning when I went out for my run is what a chilly -7oC but because of very little wind and a beautiful sun, I really didn't feel the cold. In fact it was a gorgeous morning and after my run I was on cloud 9 (running does that to me most of the time). I felt great, I was hungry, a little stinky (nothing a shower would not cure) and my kids were gone from the house.

Now it is the afternoon and it is still beautiful outside, nor warm just beautiful. So I did what anyother is my place would have done (or at least my cats). I sat down in sunny spot on the floor and fell asleep for an hour...wonderful (and yes baby was knapping). I used to do this as aa kid, find a sunny spot and let the drain all of energy right out until all I could do was pass out. Yes it is really hard to fight the groggies after that, but when do, these days helped with a bit of caffein, you fell great.

Looking at the weather forcast all week, it looks like there may be alot of runs and also alot of naps.

Tchuss

Costco vs. Ebay

I had an interesting, albeit short, conversation with my SIL yesterday. I was attempting to purchase a stroller for my baby (to replace my old running stroller that just got trashed after 7 years of use) using Ebay, not wanting to spend a fortune on a new one, and she was helping me. I am still a little hesitant using Ebay and always feel more comfortable with the help of my family. She mentioned that she had had a conversation with friends about Costco and Ebay.

My dear friend in Beeton, and my sister seem to always go to Costco, and not only for food. I have heard of bras, clothes, towels, bunk beds, swim gear, books, dvd' etc... being purchased and they both always seem to find great stuff at a great price. On the flip side, my SIL is in her words an Ebay addict. She also seems to find great deals on great things...her latest purchase a guitar for a $ for her son's b-day. She also is a flyer shopper, driving around finding the best price fro toilet paper and than stocking up. Is it possible that you either have to be an Ebay/flyer shopper or a Costco loyalist? I am sad to say I am neither.

Every time I go to Costco, which is a fun thing to do. I spend tons of money. Who can resist that 5L bottle of ketchup or the 24 pack of chocolate? It seems to be set up as a "See and buy", whether or not an item is on your list you end up leaving the store with much more.
While Ebay scares me. Yes I did buy a stroller and have purchased a few other things through my SIL, but you only get what you want. You can really browse and leave with things you didn't intend to buy...or can you? But I find the whole thing too chaotic. After the stroller purchase I thought why not look at inline skates for my kids (their Easter present this year)...and went to the site. With 817 models to choose from how can you possibly know what to get, especially if you can't see it...I gave up and bought two pair from a local store close to home.

I am also not a flyer shopper. I abhor Walmart in Canada (it always seems way too busy and way too....I don't know). I enjoy grocery shopping but only ONCE a week and would never spend my all too precious Saturday driving around trying to get the best price on orange juice. Sure if I see an item on sale at Loblaws or the German version REAL, I might pick up one or two extras but that's about it. I have no secret thrill saving a buck here or a buck there because I found that another store was selling an item dirt cheap. But yes when it comes to a bigger purchase I will usually put a bit more thought into where and what I but, but generally I end up in the same store or the same local shop where I would have gone to begin with.

So indeed, now that I think about it, I probably will never be as rich as my friend, save as much money as my sister or get the best deal like my SIL...oh well I am sure I have other fish to fry.

Tchuss

Hindsight is 20/20

Who knew? Who would have guessed? How come nobody told me? Were they keeping is a secret, all to themselves? If only I had known earlier...think of all the money I would have spent and all the luggage I could have left back home.

Yes Virginia there really is a www.canadianfavorites.com webiste. I tried and failed to find this before, hoping, believing that it existed but yet was never able to find it till today. Thank you Kim H. over at Stepping Stones I will forever be grateful to you.

So now that I have found this little secret website of Canadian favorites online I had a chance to take a look at it. Almost everything that I have brought over in my suitcase (except for a few choice items) can be found on this site, from Tim Hortons' coffee to Clover Leaf canned tuna. From Magic Baking Powder to Kraft Peanut Butter. If I had known earlier I would not have forced my family and friends to lug over jugs of Maple Syrup for pancakes or Corn Syrup for butter tarts (they really don't know what they are over here!!! or in the States). But now I know where to get my Miss Vicki's chips if I ever crave them....Vegetable Thins for those oh so yummy snack buffets, Jos Louis' and Ah Caramels that melt in your mouth and stick to your fingers.

Yet when I look closely I am slightly dissapointed....but why oh why are there no Cheerios on the list? (Only as a mixed snack I see). And are Thrills, (scroll down a bit for this one, it was hard to find a link for anyone not knowing what these were) that soap tasting gum really a Canadian Favorite or just a gag you play on your friends and I never really thought Corn Pops were Canadian eh? But I am proud to see that they will deliver Shreddies and bagels and many President Choice stuff as well.

Long live Canada, and all the goods things it has to offer. I will have to keep this website a secret from my husband or he will never buy German coffee again...

Tchuss!

A new book

I have a problem. It has to do with books. I am sure it started as a chile but I can't pin point the exact date. It is, that when I start a book, I can't put it down. I mean I put it down when I drive the car, but it sits beside me on the passenger seat so that if I am lucky enough to hit a red light I might sneak in a few lines. When I am cookking supper and chopping vegetables it may "not be in my hands" but it is probably propped up beside me so that I that might cheat and get in a few more words. I don't take it with me when I rock the baby to sleep, but as soon as I know she is sound asleep, I grab it and continue through my journey.

Every Christmas my in-laws by my hubby and I a pile of books. They range from the top-seller list to the allround bizzarre. Last January I had my tonsils out and had a mandatory 7 day hospital stay and so I read. I think I read a total of nine books in 7 days (includind a whopper of a Harry Potter). I just can't put them down and so I am always reluctant to pick one up. Really. I fight the urge to start a book, pretending that I would not be interested, scared that it might ruin my present day job of wife and mother and so I often choose not to read. But I do. This year while shopping at Cosco with my sister I picked up 10 or so books...then I went to Chapter's and picked up a "few" more. And yes I have started reading them. Yesterday I read this it was a great read, a little slow through the middle and had me sobbing by the end. (Note: Only read if you have no children, no family and significant other).

I am now tempted to grab another from my pile, start it again this afternoon, perhaps be done it by tonight, but I feel I must give my family at least one day of attention be heading back to the sofa...

Tchuss!

Timmy's and more

I was in Canada for around 18 or 19 days. I loved it. I loved seeing my friends and family. I loved watching my children reclaim their birthright by playing in the snow. I loved the snow and the minus 22 degree weather. I loved the tricky driving and the chilly nights (freezing my ass off in both my best friend's house and my sister's...:)). I also loved the food. Sure we have food here, but we don't have tuna casserole. We don't have Swiss Chalet. We don't have Miss Vicki chips and Honey Nut Cheerios, and we certainly don't have Tim Hortons'. I think with the loyalty from my friend and the new found love of "hot chocolate with a splash of coffee" from my sister, I probaby hit Timmy's around 20 times.

For the first while I had my usual tea and bagel, then I switched to cookies, muffins (chocolate chip to be exact), then to doughnuts, mmmmm, maple dipped doughnuts. It was all so good and I never onced tired of eating there.

How can you go wrong with warm doughy goods and hot tea (or coffee for you coffee lovers) out of a convinient drive thru window on cold winter day. And what better to feed your jet-lagged kids on their way to a day of skiing on their second day in the country than apple juice and a bagel. I loved it. In fact if I am ever rich enough and have too much time on my hands I believe my dream job would be working the counter at Tim Hortons'. What better way to help fellow canadians start their day then handing them a cup of coffee. Nobody ever gets angry at a Tim Hortons' employee. People are always happy with their cup of coffee and even in a better mood when they have realized that they have indeeded "Rolled up the rim to win". And really how stressfull is it to make and serve coffee all day. (I am not in any way trying to belittle the loyal Tim Hortons's staff, I am sure that it can at times be stressful, especially those trying to make the perfect doughnuts or accomoday picky sandwhich (sp?) eaters, which I am of course one, with a tuna with SWISS cheese, no butter or tomato but lot's of lettuce.

Can't wait till I am back for more, but sad to say that while I was there, I did not "Roll up the rim to win:(

Tchuss!

Tuesday morning blog

Now that I am back and have a little more sleep, here goes blog number 2. Not that I have anything important or remotely interessting to say (or the ability to spell???)
My cat in sleeping half on my mouse and half on my keyboard which is making it difficult to do anything. They (the cats) seem to feel the need to show attention only when one in sitting at the computer desk and they only do it by squatting in front of the keyboard or lying on your hand holding the mouse...

Since coming home we have had 2 feet of snow fall from the heavens... which is rare for this area...and if I hear one more person complain I will scream and permantly move the the alps and ski all year long. (Is that even possible?)

My neighbour has decided to go on a diet, despite looking slimmer than me, and so my kaffee and kuchen days are over for a while, until I entice her with some homemade chocolate cake....which will have to come next week if she persists on bring over dried apple rings for our coffee breaks.

My baby is NOT napping right now which means I should go try her with another bottle or deal with the cranky baby later in the day.

Tchuss!

Am back...

So today was the first day...I mean the first day back from our holidays starting the...real world again.
Last night I sent the kids to be early so that they would be prepared for school. After a ski excursion during the day, they all fell asleep on the way home, so by 9pm when I was ready to hit the bed they were all awake. I finally fall asleep around 10pm only to be woken by hubby coming to join me...I fell asleep again and was awoken by hubby chasing mad cats around the room. I then could not fall asleep for hubby's snoring and mad cats and so lied awake till midnight.

So to make this a short and sweet blog...I am bloggy well exhausted,

Tchuss!

Fairwell, So long, Aufwiedersehen

Dear bloggy friends,

I am off to Canada tomorrow and will probably not have much time to blog. Fear not (and freak not out) I will be back in only a few short weeks.

Please do not ask me how the flight went...it will have gone badly.

Tchuss!

Why I need to go

My neighbour invited me out to go shopping with her and mentioned that while we were in the store we should stop in and have a coffee and cake. No problem there so off we go.

We went to Mann Mobilia, which is kinda like an upgraged version of IKEA, a furniture superstore with a restaurant. So we get in line for coffee and cake and I realize that baby really didn't have much to eat for breakfast so I should get her something to. Off I go to the breakfast line and grab a plate of ham and cheese (general breakfast here) and go to pay. The lady at the cash tells me that no I must go see the breakfast lady first to determine what kinda breakie I am buying??? All I want is some ham for my baby! (She loves ham!) So the breakfast lady tells me that my plate of ham comes with juice. Fine Baby will drink the juice. It also comes with yogurt. No I didn't want the yogurt thank-you, baby will not eat it.

"But you MUST take it, it comes with the breakfast" she says.

"No, I don't want it", I reply. She puts it on my tray anyways...repeating...."but it comes WITH your plate of ham".

Fine I turn to go. "Wait, your meal comes with 2 buns", she says.

"I don't want the buns, baby will not eat the buns, neither will I", I say "because my friend is getting me a tea and a piece of cake".

"BUT, it COMES WITH your plate of HAM!!!!" she says, and tosses two buns on my plate.

I escape and head for the cash, just before she adds a glass cup (for the juice onto my plate) I didn't have the patience to explain that the juice was going into a sippy cup and the glass wasn't needed...I just took it and left.

At the cash, the girl asks me what kind of hot drink I wanted.
"No thank-you", I say, "this is fine".

"But your meal COMES WITH a hot drink"...

"My friend is already getting me a tea from the coffee bar" I say, " I don't really need one".

"But you MUST take one, coffee, tea or hot cocoa?"

"Give me the damn hot cocoa."

I pay and leave.

All together for baby and me, for our 10:30 mid-morning snack we had:

Tea
Hot Chocolate
Apple Juice
Caramel Apple cake
3 slices of ham
1 slice tomato
1 slice cucumber
1 piece lettuce
1 tbsp quark
1 package jam and butter
2 large buns
1 large bowl of yogurt with fruit

Probably enough food for my family...but it all CAME WITH My MEAl.

This is why I have to leave Germany.

Tchuss!

ÉK's horse

Am I just an overly zealous parent or does my 4 year realy have some hidden artistic talent?

More useless stuff!

Come on ....you know you want one...


If you ever wanted to know where the Easter Bunny spends his winter look here

You can play solo Yahtzee here...always fun when you are home alone.


And you can find more games here....


I tell you when my hubby is away....I sure know how to have fun:)

Tchuss!

So bor..rr..rr...red

Hubby is gone all weekend and upcoming week.....here's what I do when home alone...

Spell my name various ways using this site...



Though I could only get one letter on my blog page...

Practice my reflexes here....my fastest...0.282 seconds

And do jigsaw puzzles here.

Have fun...

Tchuss!

Puppy love

Isn't she cute?




Tchuss!

I am so popular

My blog is posted on somebody else's site...I did not have to bribe, beg or borrow for this to happen.
I am thrilled that this has happend, so why don't you go on over and say hello!

Not much else happening around here except that I am going home for a visit in NINE DAYS!!!!!!

Tchuss!

Is it wrong?

Is it wrong to be sitting in front of my computer, hiding from my 4 year old and 21 month, staring blindly at the screen saver in hopes that they don't fine you?

Is it wrong to eat cookies for breakfast and then go to McDonald's for lunch and have their latest burger which includes bacon, a hashbrown and is smothered in creamy sauce?

Is it wrong to hate 2 out of the 3 girls who work at the local photo shop because they wouldn't do passport pictures of three kids and mommy and have them done that day (so that said family can remain in their foreign country of choice)while the third said no problem...you can pick them up at five?

Is it wrong to crave chocolate after eating at McDonald's?

Is it wrong to encourage your children to watch T.V. for a moment's peace and not lock your front door at night?

Is it wrong to not let your 6(soon to be 7) year old watch Star Wars...even when be begs for it almost everyday?

Sometimes I think I am the only one whe lives by my set of rules...perhaps I am on the wrong planet?

Tchuss!

Welcome Noëlle

No it is not Christmas again, but it could be for my sister.
Today she is getting her long awaited puppy...Noëlle. A little white fluff ball that is sure to torment her in the days...weeks to come.

I hope that she made her transition from puppy family to human family and we are all awaiting photos.

And hurray...we made it to 3000!

Tchuss!

10, 9, 8,...

9 more and counting:)

Skiing again

So we went skiing again.
And yes we had a great time only it was a little too short for my liking...only 2 days of skiing.
The kids had a great time and my son learned what it was like to "take air" off a jump. He got up the courage to go down a ski jump that all the huge cool snowboarders were doing...and got about 2 feet of air but landed on the down side, on him bum and slide to the bottom till he stopped...as one local put it..."That's your son? Cool man, boy does he have guts!" Since he didn't hurt himself he decided to try another jump...this one not so big or intimidating so he took it a little faster...but there was no down slop, only flat, hard ground. After reaching a height of about 4 feet in the air, he landed hard...real hard. After a few tears he managed to ski down the rest of the mountain before realizing that "Hey, that was pretty cool!"

AS well this time we stayed in a "kinder hotel", one that caters to kids and family. It was great... a huge playroom with supervision all day filled with arts and crafts and games and songs and dances (much to my son's dismay). They will take care of your kids...feed them lunch and supper and entertain them. Since ours ski, they only went at night before and after supper...while we ate later on...stress free.
It was a great long weekend...I hope we will do it again...soon.

Tchuss!

97 shy of three thousand

Ok people...click away...let's try and make it to 3000 before Friday...:)

Tchuss!

A little of this, a little of that

Holy comments batman! I think I touched on a touchy subject yesterday.

I must say that I am grateful for my hubby. He does as much as he can around the house and spends more or less most of his free time taking care of the kids. Are levels of cleanliness are not the same, but hey, if he is willing to do most of the grunt work in the kitchen and all I have to do is add the finishing touches...why not?

This weekend we are heading back to the hills of Austria, to the same town, but not to the same hotel...our last one was booked. The new hotel is what they call a "kinder hotel", tons of activities to do within the hotel itself, playrooms etc...as well as free babysitting all day for kids over 2...under two you have to pay 27 euros a day. So we will go and ski and eat and hopefully have another hell of a good time on the slops.

Lastly of a varied topic blog. I ran today on the coldest day of the year..so far. It was -8oC. My neighbour and warm weather only running partner saw me head off this am and almost call the hospital...she thought it would put me into cardiac arrest...go figure...she also heard that in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep in shape you don't have to exercise 30 mins three-five times a week, only 10 mins of high aerobic activity will do it....My question is why sprint for 10 minutes when you can draw out the pain and suffering for over 2 hours during a half marathon?????

Tchuss!

Complaints of a SAHM

I was wondering today....

Where is the fine line between being a SAHM and a housewife (I hate that term) and being a housekeeper/servant/doer of all tasks that the rest of the house is too lazy to complete.

I gorcery shop, drive my kids to school and back, take them to their various activities, do MOST of the laundry during the week, make sure that my kids (and hubby and self) get fed a mostly healthy dinner MOST nights of the week, I take care of an infant and make sure she is clean, healthy and fed, I take care of most of the daily household chores and spend alot of time picking up after everyone (yes hubby, including myself). But where is the fine line...where does it stop being SAHM and wife and start being....for lack of a better word servant.

Would you iron all of your husbands shirts? If he didn't have one to wear in the morning would you rush to get it ironed before work? Would you clean out HIS car because he had to take bussiness colleagues out to dinner later in the week? Would you insist on doing all the garbage, child bathing, reading and supper dishes because he spent the whole day at work..."working"? If he needed a cheque written...would you do, sign it and mail it?

These examples are not meant to offend, nor are they personal examples from my home (this is my disclaimer) but I can see on one hand, because I do stay at home, I have volunteered to take on the job of keeping house and raising children...but on the other hand...where does it stop? Where does self reliance and responibility step in?

Tchuss!

p.s Really, these are not examples of my life but merely questions I was wondering about!

Thanks to Postcards!

Four jobs I’ve had
1. Working as a teller at CIBC
2. Selling friut at Cornell's Fruit and Veggie Market
3. Playleader with the Parks and Rec dept. of my home town
4. Teacher

Four movies I've could watch over and over
1. The Name of the Rose
2. Madagascar
3. The Man from Snowy River
4. Batman (all of them)

Four places I’ve lived
1. London, Ontario, Canada
2. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
3. Chatham, Ontario, Canada
4. Ingelheim, Germany

Four TV shows I love
1. CSI
2. Sex in the City
3. Desperate Housewives
4. MTV's Pimp my Ride

Four places I've been on vacation
1. Olonne sur mer, France
2. Gashurn, Austria
3. Garmish, Germany
4. Venice, Italy
5. Sydney, Australia
6. Auckland, New Zealand
7. ...

Four blogs I visit daily
1. My Hubby's
2. My SIL's
3. My Brother's
4. My Mother's

Four Favorite Foods
1. Steak
2. Chocolate
3. Tea
4. Thai

Four places I'd rather be
1. Running
2. Skiing with my family in Austria
3. Beeton, Ontario
4. Snuggling in bed in the late morning with hubby

Four CDs I listened to most recently
Kids songs...lot's of kids songs...too many kids songs

Last four vehicles I’ve owned
1980 Toyota Tercel
1990 Toyota Camery
1999 Toyota Corolla
2005 Volkswagon Sharan

Elections 2006

Nice to know that I am still a Liberal at heart!


http://www.saplin.com/vote2006/

Tchuss!

Welcome to 33

So yesterday was my birhtday.

My husband having planned to be is some doghouse in the middle of Paris was not going to be around on my special day, so my 2 neighbours planned a girls night. It was great! Neighbour 1 brought quiche and homemade chocolate mousse (to die for) and neighbour 2 brought cucumber salad and artichoke dip (also to die for). We played Yahtzee and drank. My hubby's gift to me before he left (which helped into a nicer doghouse)was an electric ice crusher, a martini mixer (cocktail mixer) and 4 cocktail (martini style) glasses. I loved it! So last night we started the night out with some Cosmopolitans, followed by some blue fizzy drinks with Champagne, Tequilla Sunrises with dinner and a Sour Apple Martinilike drink...delicious.

My friends made a little gift bag for me of all the things I like; tea, chocolate and funky socks. We had a great time...

I went to bed around 11pm, looking forward to a sound night's sleep only to be woken up at midnight to my 6 year old screaming at the top of his lungs running upstairs as fast as he could. You see before he went to sleep he played with his alarm clock, setting it, by accident, to go off at midnight with the most possible loudest setting. He scared the shit out of both of us...thank God the girls didn't wake up (I don't know how they slept through all the wracket).

It was a great way to bring in a new year.

Thanks to all for the good wishes...and the phone calls... and the gifts.

Tchuss!

January 18th...hey wait that's today!

January 18th....apparently alot happened today in history!

Happy birthday to me:)

Tchuss

p.s. Thanks to this site

Events
336 - Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope.
350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
474 - Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor
532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
1307 - German king Albrecht I makes his son Rudolf king of Bohemia.
1479 - Louis IX, the Rich, duke of Bayern (U of Ingolstadt), dies at 61.
1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.
1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde.
1535 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.
1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.
1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
1861 - Georgia joins the Confederacy.
1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
1884 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
1886 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
1896 - The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship
1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to China in a bid to increase its power in east Asia.
1916 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.
1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
1919 - Bentley Motors is founded.
1939 - Louis Armstrong records Jeepers Creepers.
1943 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
1944 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army
1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
1964 - Plans are revealed for the World Trade Center in New York City.
1964 - The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
1975 - The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.
1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease."
1977 - Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
1978 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
1983 - The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe Olympic medals to his family.
1990 - Former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a Los Angeles, California court of 52 child molestation charges.
1990 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
1991 - Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.
1993 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 United States states.
1995 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
1997 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
1997 - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.
2002 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of CP track and the policy of voice-tracking used by Clear Channel Communications.
2003 - Canberra firestorm, kills 4 and destroys 491 homes
2005 - A U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins
[edit]

Births
885 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)
1543 - Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)
1641 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
1672 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)
1688 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
1689 - Montesquieu, French writer (d. 1755)
1779 - Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)
1782 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
1840 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)
1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
1848 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
1849 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
1850 - Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
1854 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
1882 - A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)
1888 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)
1892 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
1892 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
1898 - George Dawson (author)
1904 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
1905 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)
1908 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)
1913 - Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)
1914 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
1914 - William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)
1922 - Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)
1931 - Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea
1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, American author
1933 - John Boorman, Irish film director
1934 - Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
1937 - John Hume, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
1938 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
1941 - David Ruffin, American singer (d. 1991)
1941 - Doodles Weaver, Amnerican singer
1943 - Kay Granger, American politician
1944 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
1946 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
1947 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
1952 - R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
1953 - Brett Hudson, American actor
1955 - Kevin Costner, American actor
1956 - Sharon Mitchell, American actress
1956 - Tom Bailey, British singer (Thompson Twins)
1961 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
1962 - Jeff Yagher, American actor
1963 - Otto Mann, fictional bus driver from The Simpsons
1964 - Jane Horrocks, British actress
1965 - Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
1966 - David Bautista, American professional wrestler
1967 - Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d. 1999)
1969 - Jesse L. Martin, American actor
1970 - DJ Quik, American rapper
1971 - Jonathan Davis, American musician (KoЯn)
1971 - Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
1972 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
1973 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
1974 - Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
1979 - Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
1979 - Jay Chou, Taiwanese singer and producer
1980 - Julius Peppers, American football player
1982 - Quinn Allman, American musician (The Used)
1983 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
[edit]

Deaths
52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)
474 - Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)
1367 - King Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
1425 - Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
1471 - Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
1583 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b. 1522)
1677 - Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b. 1619)
1862 - John Tyler, President of the United States (b. 1790)
1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)
1878 - Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1788)
1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)
1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1940 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)
1952 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
1966 - Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)
1967 - Goose Tatum, American basketball player
1969 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b. 1887)
1970 - David O. McKay, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
1984 - Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
1985 - Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (b. 1912)
1995 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1995 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b. 1937)
1997 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1941)
2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
2001 - Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b. 1935)
2003 - Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
2005 - Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)
[edit]

Holidays and observances
Christian ecumenism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins

Happy day with MIL

Hello long lost bloggy friends,

Yes I am still here.

My MIL was here over the weekend and left today. Our guest room is also the office (with computer) and so makes it difficult to break in o and blog.

I am always grateful when we have visitors. It breaks up the monotony of the daily routine and when it is a doting grandparent, all the better. Nothing is better than seeing your children happy, well-fed, tucked in bed with a story every night, teeth brushed, hair washed, clothes laid out for school the next night...and all done by someone else. Tomorrow will be a harsh reality since both Nana and Daddy are gone...ouch!

During the last couple of days I have been able to run, do laundry (baby free) and not worry too much about anything...since my MIL feels the need to help out ALOT when she is around...I love it!

I was also able to read a book...

I can't wait till someone else comes...any takers?

Tchuss!

Thanks to Y...again

I took this test 3 times and always got the same results.
I only wish I knew this movie :)

Tchuss!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Post holiday blues

I have been thinking for the last couple of days on what to blog about. I haven't really come up with much. Actually nothing comes to mind.

It is January and I have the post holiday blues. I am grateful (REALLY GRATEFUL) that my kids are back in school and mostly over their colds. I am happy that my day-to-day routine of cleaning and laundry and grocery shopping is now back to being priority number one. But still part of me still wishes I was skiing down the Alps or sitting down for an awesome 7 course meal...that I don't have to cook or clean up after.

My birthday is also coming up. Yup, another year older...not much to celebrate there..and the fact that hubby is missing my birthday again and our soon to come 7 year anniversary...I can't say that I am in much of a partying mood. Actually I am not!

What I am looking forward to...is a trip home in Febuary to visit family and friends. Having my mom cook me a yummy meal and spoil my children so that I don't have to (cough, cough!!)
I am looking forward to seeing my siblings and their offspring. Spending time with an lod friend and watching our kids catch up and take off from where they last left. I am looking forward to a Tim Horton's bagel and tea....and hopefully lot's of snow.

So now all I have to do is get over these post holiday blues, get on with my dreary but rewarding life and start looking forward to my next holidays.

Tchuss!

Another post holiday day!

The weather here is a little sad for January 6th.
Where is the snow? The cold? The sun????

I believe it was a cloudy 2-3oC here, no snow to be seen, no cold, just grey, dark skies....

Man I wish I was skiing.

Tchuss!!

p.s. Baby is still really, really, really sick....and crabby too!

A few pics from the holidays

I broke my general rule of not showing pics of kids on my blog site...but I figured noone would recognize them anyway:)

Tchuss!

Post ski holiday

I am home today with 3 sick and feverish children with tempertures ranging from 103-104 oF.

Sounds like fun.

My hubby is on a work rampage, even though he had PLANNED TO TAKE THIS WEEK OFF!!!!!, getting up in the wees hours of the morning to rush out the door by 7am.

I am suffering from cabin fever....and haven't run in almost TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!

Boy I can't wait until school starts again.

Tchuss!

Ski holiday

There is something to be said about skiing in Austria. A friend once told me that skiiing in France is all about the hill, skiing and nothing more. Any hotel is as good as the next, very similar to Canadian hotels I imagine. Skiing in Switzerland is difficult because of well...the Swiss. A Swiss skiier told me that the Swiss were all a little to snobby and that he prefered Austria, also I believe it is a little cheaper.

Austria is great. Beautiful mountains. Small quaint towns. And the hotel we stayed in was perfect. Not only was it close to the hill, the service was excellent and the food better. When they say "A home away from home", it really does feel that way.

Dining was great. Every morning at 7:30 we headed downstairs to a huge buffet breakfast (European style). Lot's to eat, and fun for the kids. The afternoon there was a open tea bar and snacks to go with it. And at night, always at the same table, we were greeted with a 5 course meal, except for Christmas and New Years were it was eight.

The skiing was perfect, the weather was great and the beds super comfy.

We had a great time, something I hope to be able to do again.

Tchuss!

Thanks to Y

Your IQ Is 105

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Above Average Your General Knowledge is Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

A second chance

What would you do with your life if you were given a second chance? How would you relive it? What would you do that would be different? What would take priority in your life and how would you make it so?

Not everyone gets this chance. A chance to reevaluate and see life from a different vantage point. And not many would want to. We try and live our lives to the fullist, making what we think are the best choices, but if you could, would you want to know if they were really the best or rather not in case you just plain screwed up.

I would like to think that I would, if given a second chance, spend more time with my family, have more patience for other people, perhaps sell a dream house and move closer to one of my children to lend a helping hand when needed. Maybe I would travel more, see more of countries and of places then I ever thought I wanted to, talk more to people I loved on the phone, spend more time doing activities that made me happy, eat more chocolate and regret it less....I don't know what I would actually do if given a second chance at life....maybe I would try and live it more like my mother's.

Happy December 19th

Tchuss!

A rainy day

I was saving this blog for a rainy day.
Here is my pre-Christmas grocery list/receipt. It was what I bought this morning to last the week before Christmas, Christmas dinner and a bit to save over until we get back from our ski vacation.

Sliced ham
Salami
Cucumber
Pears
Yellow pepper
2 Red peppers
2 x 1.5 litres whole milk (3.8 %)
3 x 1.5 regular milk (1.8%)
Yogurt drink (pack of 4(with live bacteria))
4 little raspberry yogurts
3 x half pound butter
2 x Miniwheats
2 x Musli cereal
2 x (8) Little boxes of sweet, junky cereal (for the kids from Santa)
Vanilla sugar
Vanilla butter flavour
2 x Chocolate Christmas balls (teacher's gifts)
1 x 6 bottles of water (ski trip)
9 x multiple 3 packs of juice boxes (ski trip)
Kitty Litter
Size 5 diapers
Baby wash soap
3 x Children's shampoo (I think my kids eat it)
Soothers (from Santa)
5 x Dove soap bars (Needes for leg shaving)
3 x Oral B toothbrushes (from Santa)
2 x Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner
1 x box of Kleenex (here called Tempo)
Brie Cheese
Philidelphia cream cheese
Puzzle (from Santa)
Toys (from Santa
Roast beef (Christmas dinner)
2 x ground beef
Chicken breasts
Cheddar cheese
Bananas
Whole chicken
Scrabble cards (from Santa)
2 x chocolates
10 eggs (dropped by Joanna on the floor in the grocery store)

(Plus a few other things I can't read on the receipt)

For a total of 219.02 Euros (around 350.00 Canadian dollars)

Tchuss!

Santa confusions?

Even though this Christmas we are not going back to Canada, I am still very excited. You see, instead we have decided to stay here and spend a week skiing in the Austrian Alps...how much fun. Already my children have pulled out their ski stuff, put it on and off a million times, and tramped around the house looking a bit like stuffed dolls.

The only problem is that we are leaving the 25th and returning the 1st. When will Santa come? In Canada Santa comes on the 25th, the children wake up EARLY and run downstairs to see what is under the tree. In Germany Santa comes on December 6th. Most Germans open up the rest of the gifts on the 24th, but how can Santa even manage to come on the 24th if we are in the house. Having him come on the 25th would be a bit chaotic since our friends with whom we are traveling with want to leave around 8am to avoid traffic. Originally I had thought to just get them up real early on the 25th, but then we run into a crazy, cranky tired baby for the car ride and she is not known to sleep in the car on trips. We could wake them up the 24th, after midnight, (probably around 9pm), but still cranky baby. So instead I think we will all head for Christmas mass (yes in German) around 3pm, Jon can walk with the kids to the church....I will stay behind to "take a shower" or “clean" or "cook" and will then drive to the church to meet them for 4pm. We will celebrate and then go home in hopes that Santa has arrived a little early this year...I mean there is a time change and all between here and Canada isn't there?

Tchuss!

A daily doss of bliss

Is it wrong to eat Christmas cookies for breakfast? Lunch? Snack? Dinner? (Or do you call it Supper?)

Is it wrong to eat chocolate (specifically a Lindt chocolate cream filled bell) while taking a shower? A really hot shower?

What about dreaming about chocolate cupcakes covered in white vanilla icing with crunched up candy canes on top?....(I think I need to do some baking.)

You see I am not benefitting from my mom's Christmas baking this year. Even though I have tried to step up to the plate, I have made (failed)Sugar cookies that turned out to be Shortbread that then burnt. Gingersnaps that arn't snappy. Peanut butter cookies to replace her peanut butter balls (they don't). And I am debating yet another cookie tonight....

While I am enjoying snacking on them, perhaps a little too much, it just isn't the same...as my dear Beeton friend knows and can confirm, my mom makes awesome Christmas snacks, squares and cookies...I guess we will both be a little left out this year. And on that note perhaps I should try and change my eating habits for the month of December. No more chocolate in the shower, I will wait till I get out.

Tchuss!

S.A.M I am or at least have become

While talking to my SIL yesterday I was telling her about my new teapot and mugs. I have wanted a nice teapot for a while...a least a couple of years but always had one or another on hand to use so never really put much thought into it. When I went shopping I would look but never buy not really finding anything I really liked.

You see I don't drink coffee. Only tea. I really like tea and having a nice teapot equals having a nice coffeemaker (kinda, I know one brews and one holds but still...)
Since moving to Germany, or perhaps since having another baby, my teapot situation had declined. Baby broke my tea BODUM (all glass) teapot early this year (only months after buying it) and has also broken the top off my 2-cup teapot. (This teapot is pretty old, I believe I bought it at Loblaws years ago so that I could serve my dad tea when he came over for afternoon goodies).

So the situation is that for a while I have not had a suitable large teapot to serve tea.

Back to the conversation with my SIL. I was telling her that I have been contemplating buying a teapot for awhile now, but only just purchased one this past week because I could never really find one I liked. On top of getting a nice teapot I also picked up some mugs that matched to go along with it...these were purely for hubby's pleasure because since being married he has complained endlessly about our "wedding mugs" claiming that he does not like their "shape".

My SIL comment was something like this (said in a nice, funny, ha-ha way) "Wow it sure is tough being a stay-at-home mom, when buying teapots is all consuming."

My God, I have become a S.A.M. Teapots have become obsessions, I do laundry ALL THE TIME, it irks me when shoes, coats, cups, papers, toys (actually everything) are out of place, I dread grocery shopping knowing that in less than a week I will have to do it all over again. I have multiple schedules to follow and a calendar that is packed with items such as: play date on Tuesday, dentist appt for the family on Tuesday, pictures with baby on Tuesday, run on Tuesday, coffee with the girls on Tuesday...shit I have way too much stuff for Tuesday!

I love work and actually can't wait to get back in the classroom, but for now I guess I can accept that, yes indeed I have become a S.A.M.

Tchuss!

To wrap or not to wrap?

In our house growing up Santa used to always bring the cool gift (that is until Santa lost his magic). It was usually saved until last and we all got to unwrap our gift with great anticipation. Key word here is "unwrap". Last year when I spent some time with my good friend before Christmas it became known to me that Santa's gifts are not wrapped in her house!!! I was shocked, it challenged all of my information about Santa and his gifts. How could they be wrapped at my house and on display in hers. As well, gifts in her stockings were also bare. She would set up Santa's gifts, ie: take them out of their packaging and make sure all was in working order and then display them so that they were easy to play with AS SOON AS THE KIDS WOKE UP.

Last year I still wrapped my Santa's gifts.

This year upon talking with my American neighbour she as well confessed that Santa's gifts in her house were not wrapped, nor were the stockings. Reasons of having to use less paper, to the fact that Santa's gifts are "made" and not bought so they should not be in packaging, to the excitment of seeing her kids see and play with their "special" toy first thing, and so forth.

It kinda made sense, it has taken me 2 years to see reason with this. I have not decided yet fully what I will do this year, but I am leaning with leaving the gifts and stockings unwrapped (trying to be a little eco friendly perhaps).

But what I want to know is WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR HOUSE?????

Tchuss!

Christmas Cat!

Check this out...just scroll down till you see the famous Christmas Cat.

http://www.pvponline.com/

Tchuss!

It's my turn, it's my turn

Today was my turn with the advent calendar bags. I got chocolate from my oldest daughter. Not just any chocolate, Neuhaus Chocolate, which I believe is the best chocolate coming out of Belgium,mmmmm. It is good, real good. I know this because on the one trip my hubby took to Belgium he brought me back two kilos of it (just over four pounds) whick I ate in only a few days.

Tchuss!

For my sis'

Here is what we are doing for advent this year. Advent is a huge deal in Germany. One must have of course a variety of calendars...we have three! One must have an advent wreath...we have one, which on the first day I brought it home my husband unknowingly lit all four candles. One must have made all their Christmas cookies before the first Sunday of Advent so that when guests arrive they have something other than cake to serve. And of course there are the Christmas markets to go to every weekend where you can drink hot spiced wine, mmmmm, and eat lot's of not good for you goodies such as potato pancakes and applesauce or deep fried apple fritters or fudge or beer nuts of all varieties or....

Anyhow my first advent calendar is a Lego one, the second is a Kinder Egg one and the third is home made....it goes something like this.

There are 24 days to Advent. Each family member (there are 5 of us) gets four bags. They have to make of buy something special for each member of the family (not themselves) and put it in the bag. Five family members times 4 bags equals 20 bags. There are 4 bags left over which are FAMILY BAGS. These are filled with something special that the whole family can do. For us they include a Fisher Price Nativity Scene with the Little People, A large puzzle with a carpet you can wrap it in if you are not finished, the Polar Express DVD given to me by my sister, and a family night out...where we all agree on where to go (this has not happened yet but I am expecting McDonalds and something the kids consider "FUN", perhaps an indoor playground or something).

In the rest of the bags there are little toys, coffee for hubby, and a baby doll for the baby...that type of thing. The kids love it and are more excited about that even when they don't get a gift then they are the other calendars...They like the surprise of not knowing and the idea of giving something special. The bags are hung up on our banister and go the whole length on the first and second floors of our house.

Here are a few pics to help you get the idea sis'.

Tchuss!










p.s. Today is also St. Nicholas's day....The real Christmas. Kids put their shoes outside (boots if they are smart like my middle daughter...she wanted more stuff) and the big guy comes around with his donkey and fills them with Chocolate and toys.!!!

p.p.s. Can you find the Christmas Cat??!!!

Is is me?

I wonder sometimes if it is me. Am I just more tolerant than most others? Is it the way I was brought up? My parents lessons on not treating all equally? Or is it that I am Canadian and because I see multiculturalism everywhere it has just become part of my life.

While working in the Public school system in Canada, I realized how diverse our school was during my first month of December there. We celebrated among others Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan and Three Kings Day. I learned a lot that year and the years to come....Christmas was not the only special day in December.

Or perhaps it was the fact that as a teenager I was able to go on an exchange to France and meet people and a culture I would otherwise never have a chance to do. As well as in my high school I was introduced to students from France, Germany, Spain and Turkey...they all seemed a lot like me.

It doesn't bother me when I see people, mostly women wearing headscarves or a hijab. I am always a little curious about why, I wonder how they keep cool on hot summer days and what they do when they get home....do they take it off with relief like I do my coat and shoes, or is it so much apart of their lives that they don't even realize it is on. It doesn't even bother me when all I see are eyes. To me it is part of living in a diverse world and for all I know people probably wonder about my dress code and behaviour more often than not.

I can understand in special circumstances where allowances must be made. No one, me included would want a covered stranger or parent walking through my child's school, but kudos to the parents and staff who have come up with an idea of signing it at the office and wearing a bracelet to identify themselves.

Here is Germany it is not the same. I often hear jokes about Turks. It bothers a lot of people that they will wear a headscarf in public stating that if they live in a Western country they should wear Western clothes. Many Turks have very little to do with the German world around them, yet I also have Turkish friends who are married to Germans and you would never know their origins. It is funny though how my friend hesitated to tell me she was from Turkey, probably wondering what my reaction would be...it was...really are your kids bilingual? Great.

I have a hard time dealing with people who are biased or prejudice, even when they turn out to be friends, mostly I just keep my mouth shut or if I feel really strongly I will throw in the odd comment of "Really? No it doesn't bother me, I actually do believe in Gay marriage!"

Is it me?

Tchuss!

Christmas Shopping

I went Christmas shopping today. Toys R Us. Spent enough money to get 3 MVP players for free!!!

I thought I stayed here to avoid all the presents this year.
By the time Santa gives a gift...parents give a gift...each silbing gives a gift....grandparents from overseas ask you to give a gift...grandparents who mail and bring giftS, give the giftS....there are a shit load of GIFTS!!!!!!

Tchuss!

Yeah!

Over two thousand customers to date (almost)...keep it coming.

Off to the dentist

I went to the dentist today. I have to admit that I was a little concerned before going. I have been having problems with my jaw and as I had predicted it was a little infected and inflamed. Nothing that a little painkiller and anti-inflammatory won't clear up.

But nonetheless I was concerned. Germans being German and all I assumed that going to a dentist here would be rather "painful". Not in the pain way, but more like being dictated all the benefits in dental hygiene, how to better brush my teeth and that I should floss not once a day but at least three times.....And why don't I have a water pick???

But all in all it was nice. Really nice. The office looked like any dentist office in Canada. All the various tools were identical to what I am used to seeing. My dentist was really nice and spoke perfect English. The only hook was that I forgot my health card at home. This really threw them off. They had no idea what to do with me, how to give me a script or how to charge my insurance company. As my dentist was trying to figure this all out she said "Things in Germany are always too complicated".

I almost choked and asked if she was German. She was but had lived in the Stated for a while. Her only comment on that was "That you had to be rich to enjoy living in the States. I was not, so I came home!"

Go figure!

Tchuss!

Pictures of home

Here are a few pictures of my old fridge...my new one is not much bigger. I am posting these for the benefit of my sister who will be coming for a visit...just thought she might be interested in the smallness of Germany.





And here is a picture of my new house...just fininishing the build....The neighbours call it the "Doghouse".

Happy Thanksgiving

This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving. We were a little late, actually a lot late, but it was the only weekend that my two neighbours and I could get together. And it happened to fall on the American version of the holiday which suited my American neighbour just fine.

We ate and ate and ate and had a great time.

Here's what we ate:
Turkey with stuffing
Knodel (2 versions) (German potato balls)
Broccoli
Glazed carrots
Spinach casserole
Sweet potato pie
Red cabbage
Devils eggs

Followed by:

Chocolate cake
Cherry streusel pie
Pumpkin pie

Everything was delicious. I gained 2 pounds. And will be eating left overs for another couple of days.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tchuss!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Today we got our first snow. Probably our only snow for the year. It was beautiful and white. It made all the tree branches hang low to the ground, heavy with their burden. The roads were icy and slick and difficult to drive on, we were all a little late. Running was a little tricky, but the packed snow made for a soft foot. All in all I was homesick. I mean really homesick. Tears and cries of "Let's just go home now!!!" to my husband, which he in turn handled very well. Thoughts of how am I going to explain this to my boss popped into his mind.

You see I love winter...Canadian winter that is. Where else can you strap on a pair of skates and skate to your classes down the Rideau canal. Or head out tobogganing across the street at "the big hill". Get in trouble over and over and over again throwing snowballs or making a huge fort, big enough for all your friends and snacks, where you can make plans to stay outside all winter. I can't forget skating and playing hockey on a pond or lake. Skiing and sledding. I love winter.

The cold somehow makes me feel stronger, like I am invincible. Running in the winter is more enjoyable to me than the hot summer and when I get back home....mmmm.....hot chocolate makes all the cold go away.

Yes of course it can get really cold. And yes by March I am usually sick of all the white turned grey. But there is something magical about a first snowfall, wondering where it all comes from. Tossing you first snowball or making a snowman, carrot nose and all. And what is Christmas Eve without snow falling and waking up Christmas morning with the world turned a perfect white, if only for a minute.

I love winter. I mean I don't even mind the occasional snow shovel to get to work and when school is cancelled due to a storm...who is happier the kids or the teachers.

Today is probably the first time I have been homesick since I left. I was so happy to see the snow and so sad to know that chances are it will be the last all season. Time to book some flights home.

Tchuss!

P.S. thanks to the wonderful friend who called "out of the blue" to cheer me up today...keep the SA race in mind...perhaps 2010?

Sleeping in

Today was the day we were all supposed to sleep in. This morning was when I would say "screw it" and let my children show up late for school. You see my daughter is in this ballet and they have had dress rehersals all week. Her normal bedtime, which is 6pm during the week, has been pushed back to 8-8:30. She is tired, I am tired, her baby sister is tired from being dragged all over the place and to the ballet late at night. Her brother, not tired enough but oh well...we work on him over the weekend. But today we were going to sleep in.

Baby woke up at 5:45...we rushed to give her a bottle in hopes she would fall back alseep allowing me perhaps another 30 mins sleep....it worked. So instead of crawling out of bed at 6:30 this am....I stayed in bed until 6:50.....yeah for extra sleep.

After my shower, I got dressed and headed downstairs to my son and hubby eating breakfast. He asks as I am almost downstairs..."Honey do you know what time it is?"

"Yes, just past 7am"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah why....oh shit....why the hell are we all up now??????"

It was actually 6am....someone changed our alarm clock and I will blame baby for this one. So my one morning of being a lousy mom, letting my children sleep in was snapped away from me in a second....perhaps we will all sleep in tommorrow, but as all mothers and fathers know...Saturday we will all be up bright and early again.

Tchuss!

At home in the city

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

I have never really called myself a city girl, but when I went to Venice....I fell in love. Perhaps a little trip to Rome is in need, hint hint.
This little quiz linked me up with Rome...I guess the Italien men and the wine won me over so I guess this is where I belong. I got to this site through my friend over at Postcards. It's cute you should try it.

Tchuss!

P.S. To hubby...Rome not Paris

Friday night out

For those that are waiting to hear the news...there is no cat pee, no more accidents(knock on wood) and no more smells to clean up...hooray!!!!

Anyways on to more serious stuff. I have a neighbour. He is an odd, single, older man. He was onced married but his wife ran away about a few years ago...rumor has it. He seems nice, has good taste in music but all in all, my husband and I have nothing in common with him...NOTHING!

Well he has cornered me and invited my husband and I THREE times over for dinner. Twice I had an excuse...the third no luck. His offer includes, half a pig, some beer and listen to his CD collection. I am not trying to be a snob, nor do I think that I am better than he, but when I have a night with my hubby without kids, all I really want to do is crash on the sofa...not eat half a pig.

The date is set for this Friday....I will let all waiting in anticipation know how the evening went.

Tchuss!

Cat pee take 2

I don't think I have recieved as many comments as I did two days ago when I asked for help in the cat piss department. I am glad that family and friends have come together to join forces to combat this evil in my house.

The cats have still not pissed or should I say pee. I keep all the bedroom doors closed during the day. I have added a second litter box in the basement. I have moved their food further from said litter boxes. At night I cover my sofas with tin foil and plastic table cloths. I cleaned my sofa with baking soda..(it still smells a bit like pee, I am awaiting a shipment of pee cleaner from my mom.) When I leave the house the cats are either locked in the basement or tossed outside....
And so far all of this has worked.

Is it worth it? Ask me in a few years when my kids are grown and out of the house...or the next time the cats piss.

Tchuss!

Ode to Joy

I am sitting here listening to my son play "Ode to Joy" on the piano, my daughter scream in her room (because she is not playing the piano and is tired) and my baby bang on a xylophone downstairs... and it has been 48 hours without piss.

Could this be the end to it all? Have I trained my cats or should I say punish them sufficiently? Will they only use the Canadian imported litter (yes I bought the canadian version in hopes my cats will be loyal to their adopted homeland)?

I promise next week I will have more interesting things to blog about then cat piss!!

Tchuss!

Help!

My cats are pissing EVERYWHERE....Any suggestions?

Tchuss!

It truly is a small world

I wrote earlier how small the world really is. How people halfway around the world 10 years ago have now become part of my daily life. Well the world just got smaller again.

My in-laws have lived in Africa on and off for the last 20 years or so. During their time in Botswana they have had the same housekeeper with every time. She has in some ways become an extended part of their family. My in-laws have helped her support her children and I in turn will send clothes and candy her way whenever I can. In fact all of my left over Halloween candy is now somewhere in Botswana, hopefully being devoured by greedy little children.

I just found out from my husband, that when his father returned to Botswana he found his housekeeper in the hospital diagnosed with T.B. and positive for H.I.V. Of course she knew what her risks were...as I am sure my MIL told her many times. We all know that AIDS in Africa is an epidemic, a wild fire that has not yet been controlled. I am aware that there are thousand if not millions of children who have been orphaned due to this disease. My MIL volunteers in daycares and works closely with these children....and often tells me stories about them
Yet this all seemed so far away, not part of my life or immediate concern, until today.

I can't help thinking about this poor woman, who I am sure knows what lies in store for her and her children. (Her sister died of AIDS earlier this year.) I can't help being thankful for my life and situation, having been born in a first world country as opposed to a third. How is it possible that a woman I have never known and will probably never meet has had such an impact on my life?

And how now, suddenly my world has just been made smaller again.

Tchuss!

I am computer wizardess...in living colour

Is it possible, have I really added pictures to my blog?
If so then here are a few shots of our trip to Venice.




Where else would you find laundry hanging above one of the best seafood restaurants in town. If you go to Venice, look this place up.



Of course the Gondola...no we didn't try it...a little too touristy for my taste...but fun to watch.



Finally the Basilica Di San Marco at night...a stunning place to go and visit.



This last one is for my sister...it has nothing to do with Venice, but what we ate on Halloween.

The gift of chocolate

Can chocolate be the bond that brings together mother-in-law and daughter?
Could it be that my week spent with my inlaws was shined upon from the Gods today as my mother-in-law and I walked out way around a shopping district to find solice in some delicious Belgiim truffles?
Could this be the beginning of a beautiful relationship?

I sit and wonder, ponder this, while eating truffles.

Next year I will surely stock up before hand:)

Tchuss!

Is happiness only a day away?

I have three wonderful children. I love them all in different ways and give to them different things at different times. Sometimes this is easy to explain to them “The baby gets a new toilet seat because she is learning to potty train." And sometimes not so easy "Your sister got to go out to McDonalds today without you because; well we were doing something special. Next time we will do something special together”. I try to give them what they need not what they expect they think they need...this may include a Game boy for my 6 year old son at Christmas. His letter to Santa this year reads something like this: "Dear Santa, I would like a Game boy, I love you, Me!" How can I disappoint a 6 year old when he has only one wish from the big man himself?

Anyways I went off topic what I really wanted to blog about today was what I want for my kids...long term, my expectations. When our son was born we always joked that he would NOT attend university but rather chef's school because we would never be able to pay for HIGHER education at it's rising costs. My hubby did something like 26 or 27 years of formal education and has a few degrees to go along with his name and yet he would probably never push university on our children...I would. But if they didn't go....? Would they be happy? If my son at the age of 16 announced he was gay...would his life slowly go downhill and happiness out the window? Would we be disappointed? Would family and friends? (Probably not) If he ended up with a mid range paying job...but loved it, would that be okay...or does happiness mean a high paying job with lot's of extras and lot's of travel? Does success equal happiness? Are highly educated people happier than those who aren’t?

I would like to believe that I am raising my son, my children to be independent thinkers. To enjoy life around them and strive at the things they like. If university is not the answer they are looking for but rather attempting life as an artist...or carpenter...or travel guide is this somehow wrong and should I be disappointed? I guess I never really worry about how their success is measured around them. Yes I am happy when they pass their swimming level and go out and celebrate this with them...but I am even more ecstatic when my son came in dead last in his triathlon this year...finishing even when he didn't want to, when he thought he couldn't...to me that was one of his most brilliant moments. My son finds math easy...really easy, he is 6 and probably does math close to a 9 or 10 year old level. It is never something I pushed or push now but for him it all comes easy. My daughter is a born athlete...every sport she has ever attempted in her short life she has loved and been good at...Is one child more successful than the other?

This blog is a reflection of a conversation I had with my SIL...I think she is an amazing person and am often jealous of how easy she seems to run her life...She is forever giving and will almost always put others needs (even those of people she has just met) above and beyond her own. She is the mother to 3 of my most awesome nephews and I awe at how easy she handles them all. We both want the same for our children...for them to grow up and be happy and successful in their own ways...and I can't believe how hard this is to achieve...how every single action as a parent I question and wonder if this is the right thing...I only hope that it is, and that my children, however they grow up, are as happy as I am right now.

Tchuss!

Seafood, pigeons and basilicas

I have been lucky enough to have visited a few major centres in Europe. I have been to Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Remich (not really a major centre, but really nice), Barcelona, and now Venice. Until this weekend Barcelona was by far my favorite. Not only is it beautiful, it has amazing architecture and restaurants and it is built for pedestrians. But then came Venice. I know it is a cliché to love this city but...what is there not to love. Okay, maybe the super cost, the tourists and the pigeons, but if you can over come these it is has got to be one of the most amazing cities in the world.

From having to take a water taxi from the airport, to staying in a small but quaint hotel footsteps from the Basilica, Basilica di San Marco, to never once seeing a car, to streets that are usually no wider than a metre (3 feet), to the most amazing restaurants that I have ever been to, to Italians who were never once rude or snobbish or over bearing, to the shops (I made my husband walk by and enter many more times than once the Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton stores).... It just never really ends.


The pasta is amazing, the pizza better than I have ever had, the wine unforgettable but the seafood....oh the seafood. If you love seafood and not only fish, then this is the place to come and don't hold back. My husband and I lucked out and got a reservation at Al Covo, where the chef picks up his food fresh every morning from the market and organizes his menu so. He offers a 5 and 8 course tasting menu (we opted for the eight) it is was unbelievable.

My sister-in-law asked about visiting Paris this spring...I would say, spend a bit more and go to Venice.

Tchuss!

It probably also helped that the whole weekend was one big surprise and I never really got over my hubby springing it one me

I had a dream

I had a dream.

It started sometime Friday morning. It was like a scene from a movie, only all blurry like I had just woken up. Previous to this dream I was feeling a bit like the mom from Desperate Housewives, the one with the four kids, and Ritalin was starting to look really good. The only problem was that I didn't have a script for my kids.

My dream...I was lying in bed thinking about my day. In-laws were here. I had my three kids to entertain (they were still on holidays). My husband telling me that he wouldn't be around next week due to "business dinners" and not due to the fact that his parents were here. All in all, in my dream, I was tired, cranky and not looking forward to my day....This was a dream and not real life?

Back to my dream....a man was in bed with me, he looked like my husband but you can never tell with dreams, and as quick as I woke up he was gone. He bolted out of my room and ran downstairs. Now in real life this would have been a bit odd, but for a dream....well anything goes. So as I was lying in bed, this manlike husband (he really did look like hubby) came back and announced "Honey we need to talk". Even in real life this would have scared me, and in my dream like state it did. Was he having an affair? Did he buy a Porsche and spend all of our money? Was he leaving me for another woman with even more children? I really didn't know, but as the grogginess started to fade, I started panicking...in a dream like way.

What this husband looking dreamman did say to me was...."How would you like to go to Venice with me for the weekend. The taxi is coming to pick us up at 10:00, you better go get ready"

Tchuss!

When friends meet friends

When blogging friends meet your real-life friends...on the internet that is, it can always be a bit scary. Yesterday I invited my real-life running friends from back home to comment on my blog, just to let me know they are out there..and of course one did...YEAH!!!! But wait, in response to her comment a "virtual" blogging friend responded back....ohhh the pain.

Is it possible to have "virtual" and "real-life" friends get along in the blogging world....? Will they in turn get along for your sake...? Will they refrain from commenting on comments only to poof up their own popularity...?

Well we can only wait and find out....keep in touch:)

Tchuss!

P.S. My in-laws arrive in only moments...so gotta go!

Running friends, where are you?

I finally sent my URL to my running friends back home...I know they received it but am wondering if they ever read my blog...perhaps this is a hint I should take..."It really is interesting, I just can't find the time to read it..:)"
Well if you are out there running friends from back home...and you are reading this...please feel free to stick in a comment to let you know what ya'll think.

Tchuss!

Bizarre afternoon

What a bizarre Trick and Treating time we had. Yes indeed my friend had asked all of her friends and their friends to give out candy to us…those unsuspecting fools. In total we hit about 20 or so houses yesterday afternoon, we being a group of about 12-15 kiddies ranging from 1 to 10 years of age. The surrounding Germans who were heading home or doing their shopping were either amused by our little posse of ghosts and princesses or ticked that we were not crossing the street at the identified places.

Those who gave out candy didn't really know what to do. Some let the kids pick their own from a bowl which made for little hands grabbing more than their share, others dished it out themselves. What was most interesting was what they gave: we got apples, single pieces of gum from opened packs, M&M's given out by the handful (large bags opened), whole bags of cookies and what was most amusing...little packets of jam. I have to say my 18 month old loved this...she quickly learned to stick her finger into the jam, only to lick it off and return it into the little packet. All in all we had a great time and I hope we will be able to do this again next year.

Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween, one of my kids most favorite celebrations, and the one, that as a teacher, I dread the most. Actually not October 31st, but more like November 1st. Ask any elementary school teacher how their classroom behaves the day after the kids get to stay up late and eat lot's of junk, like perfect little...

Every Halloween, except for last, my kids get to dress up and search out candy. Usually I let them pig out for one or two days, not really setting limits on the amount they eat, and usually by day 3 or 4 the candy disappears. My kids usually don't notice and I get to reap the benefits (yes of course mommy eats the rest). A friend of mine tells her kids the story of the good witch. Every year after Halloween comes the good witch comes to your house and takes your candy to all the children who don't have any....My friend let's her kids pick out 10 pieces each...and the rest goes to the good witch....in exchange for a present each. Not a bad idea, her kids still get the chance to go out trick and treating, they still get to eat candy...10 of their favorite pieces...and then get a present.

Last year we didn't go out trick and treating...Germans don't do that, so instead we had a Halloween party, which of course included a Haunted House in the basement...it was a blast and all the kids enjoyed themselves. This year of course we did it again. In conjunction with my American neighbour, we held our party on Saturday; invited 18 children aged 3 to 9 and, well, had a blast again. Everyone enjoyed themselves: we had games and prizes, hotdogs (German style) and black cat cupcakes and a beautiful sunny day.

This year another American friend of mine has convinced all of her friends and neighbours to hand out candy so she invited me and my 3 to join her. I actually think she bribed them with kaffee and kuchen and donated the candy as well. But we shall go and my kids are thrilled.

And of course mommy is too because she will also get to eat candy as well.

Tchuss!

Sunny days are here again:)

Today I don't have much to say. Here in Germany, it is beautiful and sunny, my baby is sleeping, my children are playing quietly...and so I will go make myself an ice coffee and sit in the sun, and enjoy what is left of summer...

Tchuss!

The fun of the run

I talked yesterday about wanting a fourth...change of mind:)

How is it that my kids cannot get through a day, an hour or sometimes even a meal without harassing one another? From the moment they wake up to well after they are asleep (my 4 year old continues to scream at her brother and blame him for doing wrongful things in the middle of the night, long after he is asleep), they have to outdo each other, tease, harass, hurt, the list goes on.

Today I went for my usual run, but since the kids are on holidays, instead of just pushing baby in her running stroller, I had her brother and sister tag along on bikes. Sounds like fun doesn't it...pushing one child in a stroller, another on her bike all while screaming directions at the oldest...."No the other left". Well at least it is a work out. I digress, throughout this run my oldest would purposefully take the wrong route, so that his sister would follow, then he would speed up turn around and leave her stranded while we all headed the right way. This of course would cause her to scream, I am sure him to giggle, and me panting and sweating to turn around and run to her to give her a big push in the right direction.

Can't siblings get along...I don't ever remember such torment during my childhood, I am sure we all got along just fine...right bro? And even though I was the youngest...I am sure that my oldest sister never teased by brother, right sis?

Tchuss!

Not much happening today

I have hit the wall. Not much to blog about today, not much to say. We are, and still will be for the next two weeks; on holiday and so I will be going, ever so slowly, crazy. My hubby has disappeared to Vienna for 4 days this week and some where in Great Britain or New York the following week for 3 days, AND my in-laws will show up next week for 10 days...all while my three wonderful children are at home. Perhaps crazy is to easy....

Anyway today I wasted the first half of my day going through my toy room and trying to weed out the unused toys (didn't get much) and organize the ones we have. My kids have a lot of toys, at least in my eyes. The problem is there is such diversity in my children...6 year old boy, 4 year old girl and 18 month old baby, that I have toys for all of them, none of which I can easily get rid of yet...though I will be happy to give away some of the baby toys eventually...or will I. I have a hard time getting rid of any baby stuff, you see I am not convinced I don't want a forth. I know my family thinks I am crazy, and if I really think about it, it is crazy, but a forth would not really push me over the edge...yet:)

Anyhow, since hubby isn't as convinced as I am, it is not a subject I push, so instead I put all the used baby stuff and toys in a box and put it away somewhere in the basement, in hopes I forget about it and that by the time I find it again my internal clock breaks down and just stops ticking...

Tchuss!

Reality bites

Ahhh the first day of fall vacation. (Yes we get two weeks here in the fall.) Last night as I went to bed I had dreams of sleeping children...not rushing around the house to leave by 7:30 to get to school, no driving kids to and from various extra-curricular activities, lying in bed and snuggling with hubby late into the morning.

Reality check....Baby wakes up at 5am, by the time I can convince hubby to get a bottle and a soother it is 5:10am. I give baby her bottle and go back to bed...5:25am. 5:35am four year old daughter wakes up for the third time with nightmares so hubby goes downstairs, grabs her and lies her in bed next to me. With wiggling and squiggling, cats running all over her and me, I roll over to try and get a bit more sleep. This chaos in bed lasts until we finally wake up to start our day....way too early than imagined.

So my lazy morning in bed was not...but I thought we can still make a day out of our holiday...until I realized we had no food and I would have to do what every stay at home parent dreads...take all the kids to the grocery store. Two hours later with a major headache and way too much junk food we head home so that I can collapse. What a great way to start our holidays...anyone want to come and visit?

Tchuss!

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Well not quite breakfast at Tiffany's but more like Maximillian's, a tiny little bistro in a neighbouring town. In rare occasion my sweet husband took the day off work (perhaps because he will gone for pretty much most of the next two weeks) and so we decided to go out for breakfast à deux, well à trois if you count the little one, and then do a bit of shopping, including picking up a swing set we had ordered a few weeks ago.

Breakfast in Germany is really that...a continental breakfast...and I assume that is because we are on the "continent". My breakfast being number II out of IV included a hard boiled egg, a slice of brie, a slice of butterkäse (mmm, buttercheese), a little pile of shaved ham, two white buns, one multigrain and a croissant, with of course a variety of jams, quark and butter all topped up with a cup of tea. It was very good, very continental, but really what is breakfast without the hash browns cooked in butter, fried eggs oozing with orange, sausages and bacon cooked in enough fat to clog arteries on sight. I mean breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out in a restaurant. I am not too tired, I am always hungry and it is never too expensive. As much as I enjoy eating here in Germany, the breakfast will never compare to what I can get at a greasy spoon back home....mmm omelet covered in cheese, veggies and more cheese (cheddar that is).

On the swing set front we bought an average size set, but with our below average size backyard it will overtake the whole thing and probably piss off our children hating neighbours at the same time…perfect, a small Mecca for all the children to enjoy, be loud and rambunctious, and act like, well kids.

Tchuss!

What the heck is a Meme?

What the heck is a Meme? What does it mean and how do you pronounce it? Mèmé or Me Me or Même???...I borrowed this from a friend of mine over on the Mothership even though I was not tagged…I was saving it for a rainy day and voilà…rainy day it is…so here it goes. (Really I have no clue what Meme means and how to pronounce it so if someone please enlighten me....)

5 things I plan to do before I die:

1. Visit all of the continents, I have been to three so far.
2. Run the Comrades Marathon in South Africa.
3. Run a marathon at the North Pole.
4. Complete an Ironman.
5. Own a farm with horses, dogs, cats, chickens....

5 things I can do:

1. Run a half marathon with relative ease.
2. Speak fluently in 2 languages and converse in a third.
3. Get three kids under the age of 6 up, dressed, fed and out the door for school before 7:30 am.
4. Make damn good ribs and cherry pie.
5. Make friends everywhere I go.

5 things I cannot do:

1. Handle confrontation.
2. Teach a kindergarten class.
3. Remember anything from my Shakespeare class in university.
4. Care what other people think.
5. Keep my closet organized.

5 things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. Intelligence.
2. Sense of humour.
3. Honesty and kindness.
4. Patience.
5. The ability to give a really good foot rub (hmm, hmm if hubby is reading).

5 things that I say most often:

1. I swear (picked up from my neighbour from the south).
2. Do you want to come over for coffee?
3. Stop teasing your sister/brother/baby/cat/father/mother…you get the idea.
4. Je t’aime.
5. What time are you coming home? (hubby?)

5 celebrity crushes:

1. Ben Affleck
2. Sean Connery
3. Kiefer Sutherland
4. Harrison Ford
5. Sarah Mclachlan

Since I haven’t been tagged I guess it would be inappropriate to tag someone else, so if anyone wants to go ahead and do this Meme…go right ahead.

My life is brilliant

There is a song playing on the radio that starts out with "My life is brilliant". I love that sentence, every time I hear it I think about how grateful I am for my brilliant life. It's funny how you can go through days, sometimes weeks at a time, complaining, being upset, stressed and not realize how many great things you have or how brilliant your life is.

My life really is brilliant, and I am grateful for every aspect of it. I run because I am grateful that I can. My life is brilliant because of the people who surround me. I am so grateful that I have never had to watch my children suffer in pain greater than their yearly vaccines or and that they are healthy and perfect in every way. My life is brilliant because of my husband. And I could go on....and on....and on....

I guess today's blog is more of a self reflection than anything else, I won't go into too many details, just a little note, perhaps a mental note on paper (computer screen) to remind myself of my brilliant life.

Tchuss!

T.V. or not T.V.

This past weekend my son spent the night at a new friend's house he met from school. It was the first time that he had an over night with a family who only knew at the school level and not because they were our friends too. We have met the parents a few times, usually dropping off or picking the kids up from school and our son was invited to their son's birthday. All in all, our son had a great time, never once fretted for his family and was happy and of course exhausted when he got home.

The other family drove him home so we invited them in for Kaffee and Kuchen when they dropped our son off.

It was nice to finally sit down and chat with them, it is always a good idea to get to know your children's friends parents, and to my surprise we hit it off. She is Polish by birth but spent the last 18 years in Germany and he is French and has lived here for 10. What was really interesting is that they asked us how much T.V. our children watch. In reality they watch very little...probably 1-2 hours a week, and that is only if a video is shown on the weekend. I might turn the tube on for a few minutes while I am cooking dinner, but more often then not, the kids are outside playing with friends and I have to drag them in the house in time to eat, wash and sleep. The weekend is the only time they can watch and even at that it is not every weekend. My husband and I are not real T.V. watchers either. We are usually too busy or have better things to do with our time...actually we have not actually paid for cable T.V or any other kind of T.V. during our whole 7 years of marriage. (At times this may have caused a bit of stress, but nothing that could not be brushed off).

In our new house we have satellite, not by choice but only because it came with the house. We may watch a bit more T.V. now, but still usually DVD sets bought in the States or in Canada...right now we are in the middle of last season's Desperate Housewives...(if anyone cares I feel more attuned with the mom of the 4 boys:).

Back to our new friends. They also have a T.V. but with no cable or satellite. I remember being teased by my colleagues at work and various family members about this, but never really caring and this couple said the same thing, friends and family thought this was an oddity of theirs. I like not having T.V., I like that my kid’s aren’t exposed to advertisement and crappy violent shows. I don't mind buying or renting videos for them as a special treat (this way I can control what they are watching)but all in all I would rather see them on their bikes, falling into mud puddles, catching frogs or climbing apple trees, than sitting in front of the tube.

My son asked me when he would be able to watch a Harry Potter video, my response was after he had read the books…he is six…but he is desperately trying to read so that he will one day be able to do this.

Anybody else out there feel the same way?

Tchuss!

Carrot soup for the soul

I am not sure if it is because my youngest daughter is that, the youngest of three, or my parenting style has become very relaxed in the last 6 years or perhaps I am so damn busy at being a stay at home mom, that is with many trips to the grocery stores, Starbucks, and various sporting activities with my kids, that my baby has an odd eating schedule. She does have a schedule mind you, she usually naps between 12 and 2:30 everyday, the only quiet moment I allow her before waking her up to pick up the kids from school, but her eating schedule...it's a lost cause.

You see she is not a breakfast person unless breakfast includes sausage and eggs and bacon and steak and chicken...you get the picture, so she rarely eats anything before I leave the house at 7:30 to drive the other two kids to school. Usually when I get home I go for a run or head right out to the grocery store and on Tuesdays to music class with the munchkin...so breakfast is delayed again. (Sometimes she is lucky enough to get some apple pieces or arrowroot cookies thrown her way during this time, if I have been organized enough to bring some along.) Around 10:30 to 11am she is hungry, and I don't doubt why, so this is when she gets breakfast or lunch or brunch I suppose. Yes a full course, spaghetti and meatballs kinda brunch between 10 and 11am suits her fine.

This morning I decided to make carrot ginger soup for my family for supper tonight, feeling a little Martha Stewarty I made it at 9am so that it would be done for the day and I would not have to stress out at 5pm, with tired and stressed out kids, to try and make dinner. Baby on the other hand demanded her brunch early today, (she has been up since 5:30am) and so at 10am she had her brunch, carrot ginger soup. Yes it is kinda odd, not what I would want to eat at that time of day, but she enjoyed a whole bowl of it.

I had a taste too…yuck. Nothing I could dare pass off to her older siblings…perhaps I will convince her father that he should have a bowl tonight or perhaps even finish the pot.

Tchuss!

Bagel Day

I have 64 bagels sitting on my dining room table. They look good. They smell good. They are wishing me to eat them...all of them. Too bad I just had lunch (I finished only minutes before the bagel delivery guy showed up) and have no immediate interest in eating anything else. But I am most sure they will taste wonderful tomorrow morning with butter or cream cheese. Now I only have to find place in my 2 cubic foot freezer to keep them fresh for days to come.

On the other hand, today two big beautiful birch trees are being cut down on my behalf. I am really sad to see them go, and if I really had the choice I would let them live. You see when my new house was built; it was built beside an older property with an older house, with older trees. My house was built 3 meters from the property line (as dictated by German law) and so within reach of these trees. It is true they will probably eventually cause damage to the house, but they are beautiful and they do provide me some privacy from my nasty neighbour, who is, in fact, only 3 meters away. But because we only rent, we really don't have much choice, the decision falls with the 2 owners and that's that. So today, even though I am thrilled to have bagels, I also have to sit and watch these trees being cut down (RIGHT OUT SIDE MY BABY'S WINDOW) and pray that my sweet angel (AKA: nasty, clingy, crying baby when she does not get enough sleep) doesn't wake up!

Tchuss!

And yet another taste from home!

Today I ordered bagels. Not just any bagel...the website claims that they are New York Style and are delivered fresh to your door. I should be getting my bagels tomorrow.

It's funny something as simple as bread (and there are plenty of different kinds of bread in Europe) can mean so much. I probably ate a bagel once every week or two, usually after a long run, accompanied by a tea in the local coffee shop surrounded by my running friends. I rarely bought them to eat at home but would occasionally indulge in a toasted cinnamon and raisin bagel with butter at my local coffee shop on my way to work. Since moving to Germany I have not seen or heard of a bagel and have started to miss them, until today, or should I say tomorrow when they will be delivered to my door. In anticipation I went out and bought some cream cheese today so that I am ready to indulge when my door bell rings. If I were living in Canada I probably would not have thought twice about how much I would miss bagels if I were to move away...kind of like McDonalds. It is funny how excited you can get when you spot a McDonalds in a foreign country. Back home you probably drive my 2 or 3 of them a day...but when you are away in a strange land, they can become an oasis of comfort.

Back to bagels. You have to order a minimum of 64 bagels, so my 2 neighbours and another friend have gone in together and my share should be about 18 including such yummy tastes as poppy seed and onion to the more exotic pumpkin seed and parmesan.

The question is...do I stay home all day in anticipation, worried that they might arrive when I am out, or should I go ahead and have my morning coffee (actually tea, but I might try a caramel macchiato this time) at my new Starbucks?

Tchuss!

p.s. glad to see some new readers

Grande, Tall or Short?

Now that I have some readers back (thanks family) I will have to make sure that I keep this up this time...no disappointing the public now!

Today I had a taste of home. Not that I am a coffee drinker by any means...and I am certainly not the Tim Horton's addict like the rest of my family, but I do enjoy a good tea and muffin, bagel, cake, cookie (you get the picture) now and then, and I have to admit that I have dabbled in frozen coffee mixes and a quick fix instant cappuccino, but mostly for the chocolate content they claim to have and the instant rush of caffeine.

When rumor had it that a Starbucks had opened its doors only a five minute drive from home, my American neighbour (and accomplice in everything decadent) and I had to check it out. She being the "I love everything with coffee" person probably enjoyed the experience more than I did, but all in all it was a wonderful experience. Somehow the tea I drank tasted better in the Starbucks cup and the muffin...mmmmm! Walking into the restaurant you wouldn’t know you weren’t in Canada or Seattle for that matter, except for the German explanations under all the different coffees. I was even asked by a somewhat confussed server if I wanted a Grande, Tall or Short. This method of sizing still confuses me…

Isn't it funny how a little taste from home, comfort food, can make you feel so good, even when you thought you were already feeling okay.

Tchuss!

Is there anyone out there?

Now that I have neglected my blogging for so many months due to trying to get internet access, I feel that now that I am back there really is no one left out there to read my blogs. (If you are please feel free to comment away, but only in a nice way!) So I will no longer complain about how long it took us to get hooked up at home (4 months) or why it took so long (Germans have a bad habit of making everything more complicated than need be). I will simply get on with my blog.

Today as I was waiting to pick my husband up at work to go out for brunch, I pulled up to the curb and forgot to turn my car off. Now it has happened before that I have left my car idling in my driveway on a cold January morning for a few minutes (maybe 10) so that my children did not freeze on their way to daycare...and I on my way to work. And perhaps if I pulled up to a Tim Horton's and the line-up through the drive thru was long I have left my car running as opposed to turning it off and on and off and on as the cars slowly moved up. And I have also seen many other people do the same, but I have never felt the need to tap on their window, ask them to turn their car off and explain to them that they are polluting the air. Maybe I should have, I don't know. But it has happened to me twice in the last 6 months that someone has done so to me. I was really angry when it happened, more or less surprised and then a bit annoyed that someone broke up my daydreaming to rant about the effect my car was having on their life. Is it that Germans feel the need to control everything around them or is that when they see someone breaking a rule they feel so stressed that they have to say something?

I don't know but I almost feel like leaving my car idling everywhere just to see how many knocks on the window I get.

Tchuss!

Race number 4

Yesterday I tested the limits of my physical ability to run a half marathon with very little training.

I ran a nice little race in the city of Remich which is in Luxembourg right on the German boarder...just on the other side of the Mosel river. It is a there and back race on a closed road following the river and is very flat. You get to run through a few little towns where all the locals come out and cheer you on, offer you water or some cut up oranges. There is such a mix of languages, french, german, english, dutch and everyone is so friendly that it is definitly on my list of races to do.

Luxembourg does have it's own identity. The houses are brighter and more colourful than what you find in Germany. The locals are very proud to speak with you in either french or german, their two official languages, and I can confirm that you can be served in both at the local McD's.

As for my results... I did about as good as thought I would, but the after effects...make a note never to eat McDonald's anything before attempting to run 21.1km because chances are you will revisit it within the next couple of hours, were a little rough.

What is nice that instead of the usual finisher's medal you are given a bottle of local champagne at the beginning of the race, a nice way to either start or finish your efforts depending of what you like...

Tchuss!

I have been informed that internet access is only a few more weeks away...ask me if I believe them:)

Here I am...

I am surprised that I eve remember my log in to blog...reading this you are all probably wondering in anticipation, is she really back this time? Nope, it could never be that easy. Hubby left his computer at home today as he flew to Madrid this morning for a one day meeting...tough isn't it. He even had the balls to complain that they were not taking him out to lunch at a fancy spanish restaurant, that he would have to eat at the airport.

We still have no access at home. I have been told that necessary parts will be ordered on Friday, so does that mean I might have access before 2006? I am sure you don't want me to complain more about this so I will let everyone know what I am up to.

School has started and I am so happy to see my kinder head off to school. My son was born to go to school. If he takes after his dad, which he does, he will probably be in school for the next 25 - 30 years of his life, scary. He loves learning, socializing, going to the cafeteria and everything else about it. My daughter...as much as she enjoys school while she is there, I believe she would rather be a homebody. Lounging around, doing crafts, reading books and playing with her cats...a bit more like her mom.

Apart from school the kids are enrolled in a whole bunch after extra curr. activities. For my son, tennis, soccer and swimming, with perhaps some piano lessons if I can find someone who offers them. And for my daughter, swimming and horseback riding...which she loves.

Baby and me will be taking a music lesson together in the mornings and perhaps some swimming lessons as well.

I am trying to keep up with my running, though it is a little harder know that I spend my mornings trying to get everyone out the door, I will have to change my run times to either very early or very late. I have also signed up to a swim club in the evenings, so we shall see how that goes.

All and all, life is slowly resuming after summer holidays, and I am happy to be back in a rountine, perhaps next time I will be blogging from my home pc, or is that too much to ask for?

Tchuss!

And now, the darkness is almost over.

I have hacked into Wife's blog in order to let y'all know that an end is in site for this neglected sight - or something like that. We apparently will soon have DSL at which point MA will continue her daily explanations of a Canadian running through Germanic domesticity. In my (competing?) blog I have explained in excruciating detail the suffering we have endured to re-institute high speed access, but I have wisdom enough to know that this is not something that the MA fans will want to hear. In any case, hold on just a little longer, MA is coming back - and while I think of it, enough of the spam-comments already!!

Are we there yet?

Last week I got my hand's on hubby's so slow laptop and set out to write a great blog on fine dining in Germany with kid's...ie: walking to the local Biergarten and having a choice of sausages or schnitzel, but to my great angst my blog quickly disappeared from the screen while I was trying to upload it. It a fit of anger I swore that I would not blog again until I got my home pc hooked up. While I gave in and am trying once again to blog on the so slow laptop. I have been told that the magic date for getting to apply for internet access in next Friday, whether or not we will actually have internet access next Friday is a whole other question. You might all be wondering why it is taking us so long....language barrier? Cultural differences? Are germans really not so organized as they think they are or is it just that they have so many hoops to jump through before they can get anything done?

So I am at home, baby sleeping, the two older kids keeping themselves busy for a while, but I am sure they are waiting for a most inoppurtune time to become loud and obnoxious (no not my children), and I am trying once again to blog. About what?

Well school starts for my kids in 11 days. Is it wrong for my to be counting down the days? I just can't wait for the chance to go shopping without a "Mom she's touching me!!!!!", "Mom he's looking at me!!!!!". When did they learn to push each other's buttons so well? I don't ever remember teasing my siblings or pushing any of their buttons just to try and see how much I could annoy them...

Tchuss!

Another Monday night

I got my hand's on my hubby's laptop again and as I was pulling up my blog I was wondering what to blog about. Yes I could go on about how pissed off I am that I still don't have internet access. Or I go complain about the fact that I still can't find someone to give my kids horseback riding lessons yet. I have been trying now for 18 months..... I could go on in detail about how horrified the german vet was when I casually questioned him about getting my kittens declawed, apparently this is not done here. But instead I will tell my blogging friends what I am doing on a Monday night, 9:15 pm, here it goes.
MTV is the only english channel we get other than BBC and CNN and so I am watching "Pimp my Ride", a cheesy show about souping up old cars. I don't know why someone would want to drive around in a loud yellow, hot pink or lime green car. Or why it is important to have a basketball court or a playstation in your trunk, but even though the show is a waste on me, it's english and it's not the news.
My husband is attempting to fix our walkie talkies to he is wandering around our house and backyard whispering messages to me to make sure they are working...he's a bit of a nut that way.
Earlier tonight I went for a SHORT bike ride in the rain around our new area, trying to get my barings on my surroundings and finally I vacuumed and played with our new kittens.
And now back to BBC weather, apparently it will be 22 degrees in Moscow tomorrow. I believe it is time for bed.

Tchuss!

Temporarily back

Hello loyal blogging friends, that is if I have any left....

We have been back to Germany now for a week, and it felt so good to be home. It's funny how a foreign country can so quickly be considered home. The old saying is true, home is where you hang your underwear....or something like that.

Anyhoo we are back, we have now been in our new house for two months and in true German style we still have no internet access. Why is it in Canada all it takes is a flick of a swtich and behold you are connected to the WWW and cable television, but here it takes a crew of guys, two-plus months and you still get nothing. But it is not all lost, I was surveyed by the television and radio police the other day. Yes they do exist here...Some guy comes to my door explaining that he is the tv\radio tax police and wanted to know if I had registered myself with them yet. Crazy, of course no and so he went about registering me. How many tv's do I have? (2) How many radios do I have, including car radios? (4) and so forth. You pay so much tax a month depending on how many you have. I lied! I said one tv and one radio. If you don't pay, they drive around town, monitoring tv and radio use and fine you if you are not registered. I still haven't figured out how they do this but I have been warned by my German friends. (Though this might not actually happen, they could just all be scared of not following rules and not paying due tax, yes there be no cable slicing going on here.) We ended up paying 17 euros a month, about 25$ canadian in tv\radio tax. I have been here 18 months and crap like this still amazes me. I can't get internet but within 7 days of being home I was tracked down by the tv tax police. This all goes to say that I have stolen (temporarily of course) my husband's laptop to blog. This probably won't be regular until the crew shows up but I will try to not leave y'all hanging too long.

We also have two new additions to our family. Those who read awhile ago are aware of our pet debate...the 4 year old won out. We would like to welcome our furry feline friends Annalise (name picked out but the 4 year old daughter) and Stella (named picked out by mommy and convinced 6 year old boy that it is cool) to the blogging community. Aside from ongoing allergy attacks, there is no regret at all, especially after watching the said 4 year old daughter, pet, pick up, play, coddle and love her new found friend. I still believe kids should grow up with pets...and this will at least tie her over until her 7th birthday when her Grandpa has promised to buy her a white poney...but that will be for another day.

Tchuss!

Sorry!

To all my faithful readers I am sorry for having not posted anything new. We have been struggling to get DSL service installed at our house - such that for now we have nothing of any speed!! I will start bloggin' again as soon as I have any speed connection!

Tschuss for now!

Reasons why I dislike the "Big City"

I remember why, now that I am back "in the big city", that I am and always will be a country girl at heart. Here are a few reasons:

1. I hate the smell. I hate the smell of the subway, the smell while walking down the street, the smell of the traffic and exaust, really, the smell of everything.

2. Yesterday I went for a run in one of the outer 'burbs of the city and the smog, humidity and pollution were so bad that I had trouble breathing and catching my breath.

3. The traffic is everywhere, loud, fast, dangerous and stinky.

4. It takes forever to get anywhere.

5. People brag about places and parks that have trees, grass and flowers...Have they ever seen a forest?

6. There is way too much advertisement and consumerism shoved into your face.

7. My senses go on overload, too much going on, there is no sense of peace.

8. There is no sense of space, even in suburbia land I feel closterphobic.


I realize that, on the flip side, there are many great things that are here: the restaurants, the theatre, the culture, and the people. But I would rather come for a visit, have a yummy meal, go to a show and then head home to a house, in the quiet, peaceful, stink free countryside. Or at least my little house in Germany.

Tchuss!

Family trips and summer holidays

I was going to talk about the many adventures I have had with my kids. How much fun it is to travel with all three of them in the car. How they never scream, fight, cry or mess my car up on long trips. How I don't believe in children watching TV in a moving vehicle (unless it is 30 000 feet in the air (is that even right?)). But I won't, you can check out these other interesting sites and read about famliy trips and vacations (not that I know these people at all!!!!!)

Instead I will tell you what I am doing this year with my summer vacation. I decided to better myself and take a career advancing course. (Insert kissass and gag sounds here. It was a 3 week online course (which I finished in Germany before coming home) with a 2 week inclass component which I am completing now. I have some dear friends in my old town who agreed to put me up for the couple of weeks, feed me and generally keep me company while away from my family, but they live in one of the sleepy comuter towns outside of Toronto. So my day goes something like this:

5:15 Alarm clcok goes off, I get up, shower and find my way downstairs.

5:45 I leave the house to walk to the bus stop.

6:00 Bus comes and takes me to the train station.

6:30 Arrive and catch train to Toronto.

7:10 Arrive in Toronto and find my way to the subway.

7:25 Transfer from one Subway line to the other.

7:35 Get off Subway in hot, stinky city and walk to course.

7:50 Arrive 10 mins early for course, go in, sit down and wait.

My course runs from 8 - 3:30 and with the 2 hour commute on either end it makes it a 5:15 - 5:30 day. I have been lucky enough to have never really needed public transportation in my life (car, bike and walking have gotten me everywhere I have wanted to go) but my unlucky husband did this trip for over a year in order to save us from having to buy a second car....what am I getting at is a great big Thank-you to him. I don't know how he did it for so long, but am grateful he did (and not me).

My course is a leadership course and is full of the usual BS. I am enjoying it, but of course will be happy when it is all over and I can see my family again, providing they haven't killed each other.

Hope you all have a great summer,

Tchuss!

Not that I am anymore coherent today

Not that I am anymore coherent today, but I thought I would write a little note anyways. Yesterday morning was Day 1 in Canada. As mentioned before we were all a little jetlagged and for us, morning came at 3 am. What do you do with 3 children at 3 am. I threatned the 2 oldest ones, lying in bed beside them, saying stuff like "Don't move, talk, wiggle, sing, breathe, etc... or else..." Or else what you may ask? I didn't know...get back on a plane and go back to Germany, yeah right!!!! (Take alook at Yoda's Papa for explanation on that one)

Anyhow, but 4 am the whole family was awake, grand-parents included, and by 5 my mom, feeling the need to do something, started breakfast. By 6 we had eaten and by 6:30, wonderful grandparents had taken the kids to the local park to play.
By 7:45 am, after feeling like the day should be half over, kids and grand-parents return from the park and all the adults just looked at each other, exhausted, wondering what the hell we were going to do for the rest of the day!!!!!

Needless to say, we made it through, and this morning we got to sleep in until 4:30am.

I can't wait to see what kind of mental state we will be in by Suynday, have a great weekend Blogger friends.

Tchuss!

Good morning

Good morning!

I am in your time zone today, we flew in yesterday, family in tow to start our family vacation. Yes that's right start at 4 am in the morning!

I am way too jet lagged to offer anything coherent let alone witty, so I will simple let anyone reading that I will be on and off again, depending on computer access or sanity, no I meant time.

Hope you all have a great July,

Tchuss!

Race number 3

I did a half marathon on Saturday night in Offenbach, which I believe is a suburb of Frankfurt. On my blog site I have a list of Races Worth Doing, this is not one of them. It was a 3 times 7 km loop (plus 100m) through, what I would call, the slums of Frankfurt. It was not scenic, it was dirty with pollution, all on paved roads, some of which were quite busy. To the benefit of the race organizers, I did appreciate all the volunteers at the intersections (which there were a lot of) and the 3 tables of water during the course. There was also a children's race which I think is great and because it was a small looped course I got to see my family often without them having to travel around to find me. All said though I would not do it next year. I prefer races where there is at least something to look at while running, a little scenic, a little fresh air and and perhaps with more of a sense of community. This had none of it.

Oh well I am sure there are plenty of other races to run.

Tchuss!

P.S. Thanks to the exptended family and new friends who have signed my Guestmap :)

I think I need a holiday

The health system in Germany is two-tiered, there is public and of course private. We have public and really as it stands we are treated like in Canada. If you have private you can choose such things as your doctor (but I already did, so I don’t really understand this), I guess you have more choice about which hospitals you are treated at, and perhaps you are given a private room and better food. But I don’t think it is worth the extra. I had my tonsils out here, not recommended, that’s all I can say!! Whether with public or private insurance the whole ordeal was just hell!

Anyways, there exists a health program, if you can call it that, called Kur. It is kind of like a rehab/retreat for people in need. Here’s where it gets funny, what exactly is need? My hubby has had a few colleagues with high blood pressure, tension and other stress related illnesses. Instead of treating them with meds, they send them to Kur for 4 weeks. Basically it is an all inclusive retreat somewhere in Europe to help deal with their problems. All this while the wives are at home with the kids, not stressed out at all? Alone for 4 weeks? My son’s friend’s mother went to Kur for her asthma. She went to the North Sea for 4 weeks with 2of her 3 kids. The kids were in school the whole time and taken care of, her meals were made, and of course there was house keeping and a laundry service, she got to go to workshops to help her deal with her breathing and when she didn’t want to, she spent the day at the beach. If you have private insurance you can actually choose where you want to go…Beaches in Italy, the south of France, Holland…you get the picture, and it is all paid for by your health insurance.

What I want to know is how do I convince my Dr. that I need a 4 week holiday, hmmm, I meant rehab and treatment to deal with my overly stressful life. I think I feel my blood pressure going up…wait I can see the beach now.

Tchuss!

Unemployment for a haircut please!

Thanks to all who have added a pushpin to my map:)
I will continue the countdown lateron me; I have a few new things to chat about.

My neighbour has a 3 year son. In Germany you are apparently guaranteed your job for 3 years after having a baby and going on mat leave. So it is time she head back to work. She decided that she only wanted to work part-time (also a guarantee if you go on mat leave), so she applied to her work for it. Here is where it gets sticky....

She was working for a major bank for one year and 3 months before leaving. The bank decided that they did not want her to return part-time and refused...this is not allowed under german law. So she did what every German would do and got a lawyer and went to court. Of course she was in the right so work really had no choice, but they still did not want to offer her part-time...so instead they agreed that they would fire her giving her 5 months notice. So for the last 5 months, she has been at home getting her full-time salary. She also will now receive a buy-off totaling one year's salary. After she gets the chunk of cash she gets to go to the unemployment office and apply for, yes....unemployment and will of course get it. What's wrong with this picture???? There is no way in Canada this would happen!!!

She also told me that while she was waiting in line she over heard a conversation of a guy trying to get money. Apparently he works as a hotel reception but can't get a job because a) his hair is too long, b) he has no money for shampoo and c) he feels that his shoes aren't appropriate; so could he please get some money to satisfy these needs. I don't know whether or not he got the cash but it would not surprise me.

Tchuss!

Shall we continue?

So perhaps I will continue this trend until I come up with something else to type.

11. I hate, I mean really hate confrontation, to the point where I would rather keep some crap that I might have bought than return it to a nasty sales person.

12. Even though I hate confrontation I am always willing to have a little go with my husband.

13. I have one best friend in the world. I would do anything for her and I believe she would do as much for me. I love her and miss her to bits.

14. She does not yet know about this blog.

15. Moving to Germany has changed how I see everything. I will never be the same person again.

16. When I go back to Canada I am going to buy the biggest fridge I can find.

17. My two oldest kids are trilingual (French, German and English)

18. I am running a half marathon on Saturday night and I hope that I won't be last.

19. I think being a SAHM is the hardest job in the world. Give me a class of 30 kids any day.

20. I think my children and the most beautiful, intelligent, charming kids I know....especially when asleep:)

Tchuss!

Where in the world is....?

OK, I know there are more people out there who read my blog than my mother, sister and dear hubby!!! Where are you? Check out the link on the right side on my blog that takes you to my MAP and PLACE YOUR PIN!!! Sign your name and write me a note!!!

Tchuss!

This is not a 101 things about me list

So I am in the middle of taking a course online, which is quickly eating up all of my free time. So blogging has taken a huge step back in my list of priorities. I believe it is right behind going to the bathroom and taking out the garbage. I am still able to change baby girl's diaper when the smell is no longer tolerable, but grocery shopping???? Thank God for left leftovers.

Anyways I have noticed that it is a common trend to post a 101 things about me blog. Now I could not possibly think about that many things to post right now, but I will give you a little list to keep you all reading.

1. I am a mother of 3 children, aged 6, 4, and 1.

2. I am on maternity leave as a primary school teacher in Canada, living in Germany.

3. I have a horse in Canada that we had to leave behind because I thought she was too old to make the jump over the pond.

4. I love running and will do so at every chance I get.

5. I also love triathlons, but find it hard to find the time to train for all three disciplines.

6. I was a vegetarian for 16 years, but after moving to Germany and having my 3rd baby here I have since jumped to the other side of the fence.

7. Right now Baby Girl is hiding in the drawer of my computer desk with a role of toilet paper....something I will have to clean up in a minute.

8. My neighbor is from Virginia and every once in a while I hear myself saying "Why don't y'all come over and I'll fix you some dinner!"

9. I think my husband is the most wonderful man I know...and I don't tell him enough.

10. Even though I love it here in Germany, I miss my family and friends alot.

This is all the time I can afford today, perhaps a bit more tomorrow. I have to go clean up some toilet paper.

Tchuss!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

AS I mentioned in my previous post, I am addicted to Ice Cream...just thinking about it makes me want to go out and get some...mmmmmmmm!
But there are other addicts in my family, particularily the girls. My 4 year old daughter, ever since watching the Dora the Explorer episode about "Sticky Tape", has become addicted to, yes, Sticky Tape. I actually have to hide it in my house or else when birthdays, or Christmas comes around I have nothing to wrap the gifts with.
It gets so bad that when she does get a role, EVERYTHING is stuck together: Bedsheets, toothbrushes, hair, books, toys, her baby sister...and so forth.

Now my baby daughter has to have my dishsoap. Those little tiny blocks of dishwashing soap that go into the dishwasher. And yes if she sees a box she screams until many are given to her, and if you hide them....she will follow.

Why are these things so important? Beats the heck out of me?
Are your kids addicts of anything?

Tchuss!

Eis bitte!

I am an addict. I can openly admit to this and what you may ask is my so called demon of choice? Ice cream. I must have ice cream, any day of the year or everyday of the year. I love it. Cool creamy, soothing, mmmmmm it's just good stuff. Now I’m not talking about crappy store bought stuff or even the overly sweet Hagens Dazs or the very popular Ben and Jerry's. I am talking about real Italien ice cream. Here in Germany in almost every town, big or small, you are sure to find an Eis Cafe Dolomiti. A little ice cream parlour run by Italians who create fabulous dishes. When you go you must not have the conservative 1 scoop of vanilla (which my SIL had the first time she was here) but a 2 or 3 scoop cone covered in hard chocolate or unsweetened sahne (Whipping cream). You can also try the Spaghetti Eis, vanilla and strawberry ice cream put through a noodle maker so it looks like spaghetti covered in strawberry sauce or try the Pizza Eis and the Lasgna Eis. They also offer fabulous creations which may include fruit, nuts, chocolate, sahne and other delicious treats.


If ever you are in the Rhein area find your way to the little town of Gau-Algesheim, go up the main street toward the church tower and in the city square you will find a little Eis Cafe Dolomiti. Sit within the restaurant walls and order off the menu (more expensive but really good) or go up to the window and order a cone to go and sit in the square beside the church and in front of the fountain to enjoy. Try the After-Eight with Schocolade and tell them the Canadian family sent you. You might have already guessed but yes we are regulars.

Tchuss!

11 reasons why I love running.

Please excuse the absent post yesterday, since moving I have had some problems with the net...

11 Reasons why I love running.

1. OOOOHHHHH!!! Finally some peace and quiet in my day, away from husband and three children....do I need another reason?

2. After a 20km run I can pretry much eat anything I want and as much of it I can stomach.

3. I have met some of my best friends running.

4. I like being a role model for my kids. I think that sports is a neccesity for children growing up sane and healthy.

5. You can get cool free race stuff at races.

6. It is fun travelling Europe and seeing different cities while running races.

7. Body tone and calories burned!!!!

8. I love being outside in the sun and the fresh air.

9. My husband thinks I am cool and is secretly jealous that he can't run as far as I can.

10. My heart rate is low, my blood pressure is low and I always feel healthy and have lot's of energy.

11. Peace and quiet, hey I think I already mentioned that one....but it is well worth it.

Tchuss!

Summer solstice

Today is the longest day of the year. One of my most favorite days, when it is not too hot to enjoy spending the whole day outside (exception today 35oC) and it boasts beautiful evenings to sit outside, barbeque and enjoy the company of friends.

The official sunrise and sunset in my area are 5:16am and 9:39pm whereas in beautiful Toronto they are 5:36am and 9:03pm. You might not think that the 50 or so minutes gained in my european day make such a differnce, but they do. The birds start singing around 4 in the morning and the sky in still light well past 11pm. The days are long and beautiul, made for early risers and late night BBQ's. What's not to love?

I am always a bit saddened after today knowing that ever so slowly the days will grow shorter, the nights longer. Summer may have just started but soon we will be into longer and cooler nights. Spring is my most favorite time of year. It is so full of possiblities, gardens to be planted, strawberries to be picked, jam to be made and so forth....now that summer is here I will sit back and see what brings with it.

Tchuss!

Welcome back

Hello long lost blogging friends,

I have moved, I am partly settled, most of the stuff is out of boxes (not all) and I have internet access. Hooray!!!

How did the move go you ask? What is the new house like? Well....
I have had better movers. I can't really complain because I didn't do it myself (Thanks hubby's company) but really did they need to pack ALL of my suitcases with junk from my basement instead of putting it in boxes. Good thing I checked before putting them away or else I would have been mighty upset in 2 weeks when I start packing for our trip home and found stinky winter boots and ski boots in my bags.

As for the house...I love it.
It has an extra room, compared to my old place, so my two oldest each have there own room. It has an extra large postage stamp backyard as opposed to the mini version we had. My fridge has about 1 square foot more room and it comes with a mini freezer on top, big enough for icecubes and the odd ice cream bar.
We (as in the parents) have our own bathroom on the third floor and so far the neighbours are great.
If I ever figure out how to post pictures I will try and add a few.

I am glad to back in Blogger land, but for now, boxes must still be unpacked.

Tchuss!

Moving on

Today we move. I am very sad to leave my first little(compared to Canada) house here in Germany, my baby girl's first home. This little town where I met so many wonderful friends and where my older children learned German. But we move. This time to another little house, in another little German town and we do so for our children. We will probably stay in Germany longer than we initially expected, so we decided to move closer to a school where our children will be educted not only in German but also in their mother tongue, French. It sounds a little odd but my kids are trilingual...yes Danigirl it is possible, start your wee ones now and you will be amazed what they can learn.

Anyhoo, I will be without internet for a week or so, but loyal blogger friends keep checking and I will be back....probably with stories of moving in Germany:)

Tchuss!

Kaffee und Kuchen?

There is a German custom which I love. In "proper" German families it can happen every day, but in most cases it is every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. Kaffee und Kuchen, coffee and cake, is as German as schnitzel and sausages. It comes between 3pm and 5pm and consists of coffee and usually a variety of cake served to family and friends.

My neighbour told me that she cannot remember a day growing up where she was not served cake in the afternoon by her mother. She thought that perhaps if they had to attend a funeral or wedding they might have skipped it, but then added they probably had it attending these events. So in turn every Friday night she bakes one, two or three cakes for her family and any friends that might drop by over the weekend. I on the other have so far refrained from baking cakes every weekend for fear that my pants might not fit on Monday mornings. I have however made a few cakes on special occasions or when I know we will have visitors, so that I somehow fulfill my role as a good German housekeeper. (Plus I love cake and cream - a must for all cakes being served.)

I was visiting an American friend of mine (who is married to a German) one afternoon. Her in-laws were visiting and as is custom she served cake (three different types and coffee. Usually in Canada when one is served cake, you accept a piece, eat it and then graciously thank your host for a wonderful time. In Germany you must sample all cakes and I believe it is an insult if you only have one slice. So there we were my husband and I, my friend and her hubby, her parents and brother-in-law and we devoured 3 whole cakes in one sitting. I believe her brother in law, who is not a large man, ate 6 slices, 2 of each cake served.

So if ever visiting friends in Germany and you are invited over in the afternoon for coffee, don't hesitate on eating more than one slice of cake...in fact eat 2 or 3 and enjoy the experience.

Tchuss!

Our weekend trip

Grüss Gott,

I love skiing in the winter. It is so much fun to get bundled up, head to the slopes and spend the day skiing with friends and family only to come back home exhausted but feeling great. What is also alot of fun is spending the day or evening in the ski villages. All the little shops and coffee places are fun to discover and to hang out in.

I have only really been to two ski villages, Whistler in Canada (where I was 7 months pregnant with number 2 therefore no skiing for me) and Garmisch in Germany (both times it was spring, last May and this past weekend, still no skiing). Even though I did not ski in either place I still enjoyed my visits.

In order to get to Garmisch, unless coming from Munich, you have to spend about an hour or so on small scenic highways. The way we usually go, we end up driving through this little town call Oberammergau where they hold a very famous Passion play every Easter. Although I have never seen it, it is on my things to do before I die list.

Anyways this time while in Garmisch we stayed at the Best Western Hotel. It is nice, clean, has a great pool for the kids, the restaurant was yummy but expensive. If going with a family and planning on eating at the hotel I would opt for the full pension (dinner and breakfast included) as opposed to only breakfast.
Since we went to watch my husband try his legs out at a MTB race we did not see much of the area, but the last time we were here we hiked on the top of one of the mountains with our 3 week old daughter. It was beautiful and breathtaking and well worth it to anyone who loves the mountains and is not afraid of heights.

The Pizza hut in Garmisch is one of the nicest ones I have been to (We have eaten there twice). If you go up to the second floor, not only will you find a non smoking section but books for the kids to read while waiting and an amazing view of the mountains...a little sureal.

This part of the world is incredible to see, especially for folks like me who grew up in flat agricultural farmland. Whether you see the Alps from Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria or Germany, they are truly amazing. A trip well worth doing...twice, once in the spring/summer and once in the winter.

Tchuss!

Cherry season

In an earlier blog I said how Germans get excited about their local fresh produce. They are crazy for white asparagus, which took me a year to develop a taste for, then strawberries, mushrooms and so forth. Where I live there are literally hundreds and hundreds of cherry trees. In May, everywhere you look, trees are covered, bursting with beautiful white flowers. It is truly amazing to see. There are cherry tree orchards where you would never look. Most of them are old and are no longer looked after; I guess you would say abandoned. In mid June, the blooms are long gone and you can start to get a glimpse of red on the trees and within a few days there will be so many cherries that most of them will fall to the ground or get eaten by the birds.

Many of the trees produce sour cherries, great for cooking, not so good to eat. But there are still many sweet trees around. Where I grew up in Canada, cherries were a commodity. Cherry season would come around and it seemed we would be lucky to get to eat fresh cherries once or twice. Here it is a daily treat, so much so that I offered some just picked cherries to my neighbour who turned me down saying that she had eaten so many as a child she disliked them now.

I always wonder what about the old trees that are no longer tended. Who planted them? Did they belong to a family that has since moved away? I can imagine children climbing them and spending their days in the sun gorging themselves on the red fruit until they go home with belly aches. What a wonderful thought and a pass time I wish for my children. If you ever get to the Rheingau in June not only must you try the local wines, but go for long walk and taste all the different cherries you find on your way.

Tchuss!

Here and there and everywhere!

When we first moved here the differences between Germany and Canada were so obvious to me that everywhere I went I could never forget that I was in a foreign country. Now 16 months later, what was once obvious has blurred into everyday norm for me. Cars, houses, street names all seem somehow normal looking to me. My surroundings are now so familiar that when I go back to Canada...it somehow seems different.
I wonder where my 4 year daughter thinks home is. She was 2 (almost 3) when we moved her and I am sure that she barely remembers our old house.

Anyways, today I would like to point out some of the differencesd between here and there for interest's sake.

First off my fridge. It measures 18 inches wide, 16 inches deep and 30 inches in height. Really!!! Now everyone measure that out, look into your fridge at home and figure out how you are going to fit all of your food into that wee space. Crazy??!! I have gotten used to it. I still buy 8-10 litres of milk at once (all in 1 litre cartons) and store them in my fridge. You can buy milk that does not need to be refrigerated but that is a whole other blog.
I shop a couple times a week, mostly for fresh fruit and veggies, but in general I make do. There is never anything forgotten, growing mold in my fridge and we never have leftovers. I buy what we will eat in a week, we eat it, and then I buy more.

Second my washer and dryer. My washer takes 90 mins to wash my clothes and if I so chose I can boil them. I can heat my water up to 90 Celsius. My whites do come out white, only 3 sizes smaller.
But my dryer...it does not vent to the outside. So when I dry my clothes in my bathroom, where my washer and dryer are, my bathroom heats up (nice in winter, not so nice in summer) and becomes a humid jungle. There is a container in my dryer that fills up with heated water from the clothes that I have to empty with every load. It as well takes 90 mins.

Third goes to drinks. Yes of course I expected food to be different here and was surprised and amused to find Kraft Dinner, Hersey's Chocolate syrup and marshmellows among other things in the international food aisle at my local Walmart. But what threw me off is that most cold beverages are carbonated (except wine, mmmmm). You would have a hard time trying to convince a waiter to bring you tap water in a local restaurant. It must be mineral and with bubbles. My kids are traumatized my carbonated apple juice....now everywhere they go they ask "is that with or without bubbles?" I just find it odd that Germans brag about how clean there water is but only drink bottled carbonated water. Strange.

There are many more "differences”, for lack of a better word, and I will probably add them to future blogs as I think of them again.

Tchuss!

Cat vs. Dog

Well the question has been asked again...can we get a cat or dog? When this question was first asked we answered with a resounding "Sure we can get some fish!" and that was that. Now you might think that fish are an easy pet to buy, but here in Germany that is a whole other blog.

Back to cat and dog. We have been thinking about this for a while. It seems now that there is a lull in our life. I mean we only have 3 young children, having moved to a country where none of us speak the language, we are now moving again in a week to a new town; my husband travels a bit leaving me to fend for myself, I mean why not add more chaos to the confusion.

But cat vs. dog? I like both for different reasons. Cats are independent. They can hide well from children if they fear for their life. No need to take them for walks during the day. They are cuddlier than fish but there is the yucky kitty litter to change (which I am hoping would be my husband’s job). They are ok left alone for more than an hour and they don't take up a lot of space. Mind you both my husband and I are allergic to cats...that is a point for the other team...Dog.

Now for dogs. They are great companions and playmates for children. They are fun to walk, when it is not cold or raining. But they shed, have a dog smell that can take over your house. Someone told me that there is a dog tax in Germany (which doesn't surprise me...there is pretty much a tax for everything here) which we would have to pay. They do take up more room in a house....but I think it is great for kids to grow up with a dog. If we get a dog, I would like a bigger one, perhaps one that can keep up with me running or stay with my husband a bit on his bike. I have looked into “non-shedding” breeds, but they seem pretty expensive and not a guarantee i.e.: I have checked out a poodle/lab cross.

I am lucky. I grew up with both, plus horses, cows and chickens. We have a horse, but she had to stay in Canada. She is getting old and I thought the move might be too much for her, but my kids miss her terribly. So I really don't know which way to go. Cat or dog?

I know that cat people will says GO CAT!!! And dog people will say GO DOG!!! But if anyone out there is as ambiguous as me and has an opinion on the subject let me know. As for my husband...he just sent me an SMS message saying. Two cats or another boy?...Maybe three girls would be fun as well??? (Just add one to the already two daughters we already have!!!) Crazy man!!!

Tchuss!

White wine and more

This past Saturday night, my husband and I along with a few friends went to a Weingut. A weingut you might ask, what is that? Let me tell you.
Here in Germany I live in the Rheingau, where most of the wine grapes are grown and produced into wine, mostly white and mostly Riesling. In our little town between the months of May and September some 15 or so Weinguts (Wineries) open their doors to the public on weekends where they sell wine by the glass or bottle and grill up tasty treats. They will often have bands playing in the evening and the more popular ones are standing room only.

It is so much fun walking or driving down little narrow streets, looking for the telltale sign hanging from a huge wooden door beckoning you into a beautiful, flowered courtyard. During the day the Weingut owners make these courtyards child friendly with tables set up for colouring, little toys to play with or even a blow up castle to jump in. As the children play, eat pretzels or bratwurst, parents sip wine and enjoy a steak off the grill...what could be more fun. In the evening you can stand around a table drinking wine with friends (because in such a small town you are sure to run into everyone you know) listening to a German band playing 1980's song and getting the words all mixed up...who would have thought Dire Straights and U2 would sound so familiar and yet so odd at the same time.

We had such a wonderful night out. Enjoying Europe and small town Germany is easy. Everything is new and wonderful. Sausage tastes better, wine coming direct from the winery is delicious (and cheap compared to Canadian prices) and it is so much fun watching the Germans get excited about their local produce. May is white asparagus month, June is strawberry month, and July is tiny pfifferling mushrooms and so forth. No matter which restaurant you go to or whose house you visit for lunch you are sure to find these specialties on the menu.

Enjoy and...

Tchuss!

Race number 2

This past weekend I completed my second running race of the year. It was an 11km, through a forest on nice soft trails, run. If anyone cares I completed it in just over an hour which is not a bad time for me.
My 4 and 6 year olds also ran in a Bambini race, 400m from start to finish. They received finisher t-shirts, little toys and certificates stating their accomplishments. They had a great time.

As with all events in Germany there is usually something happening that I find a bit odd. I noticed this man at the start line, smoking a cigarette, a bit overweight, wearing cutoff jean shorts and doing a few warm up stretches. Another crazy German out for a run (probably will beat me to the finish line). At the 2km mark he ran full speed past me and all I could smell was alcohol, he was hooting and hollering and obviously drunk. Two minutes later I passed him as he was collapsing on the side of the trail. What is strange about all this is that knowing what I know about Germans, it would not have surprised me in anyway to have seen this man come in first at the finish line. There are people who look totally non-competitive, with old and out of date equipment who none the less, usually do better than both me and my husband in our various races.

Tchuss!

It's a small world after all

Since moving to Germany I have met a some wonderful new friends. People from all over the world with tons of intersting stories to tell.

I once remember reading somewhere that we have come into contact with everyone in the world by 5 degrees. So I know Mary, who knows Bill, who knows Susie,who knows Henry, who knows Michael! Hence I know Michael by a separation of 5 people (5 degrees of separation). Following this logic, I am 2 people away from knowing the Prime Minister of Canada, the Queen of England and the President of Botswana personally, 3 people away from knowing the President of the USA and therefore 4 people away of knowing most heads of state in the World. When you think this way you realize how small the world really is.

Back to my blog topic now. Who would have thought that when I was 16 years old, no real cares in the world and living in Canada, that somewhere in war-torn Bosnia there was a young nurse, pregnant with her first child, working in a hospital, trying to help put together broken and maimed children. Realizing that she did not want her child growing up there, fled her country to Germany where 16 years later she became my cleaning lady. Kinda Freaky.

Or the young aspiring, Russian, concert pianist, living in St. Petersburg in the 1970's, practicing 10-12 hours a day, would someday be my son's first piano teacher.

Or that my running partner here in Germany was a live-in nanny for a year in the same small Virginian town where my new neighbours here in Germany are from.

When you start putting together friends and family, how people met, where they are from you realize how small the world really is. How we are all interconnected, so that what is going on today in a small war-torn country, might effect you in some way 20 years down the road.

Tchuss!

10 things my one year old has learned in life

10 things my daughter has learned in her first year of life.

1. When mommy says "no baby" it really means "hurry up and shove as many small, choking hazard objects in your mouth at once".

2. The bio waste bin offers better quality treats than what is provided on her highchair.

3. Climbing stairs is alot more fun than just about anything.

4. Her big brother and big sister have way cooler toys than she does.

5. How to escape from her knee harness within minutes of having it put on. (She wears one to help her hip dysplasia)

6. Playing with the mouse on the computer is a sure way to get mommy's attention.

7. Every cupboard and drawer in my kitchen that she is not allowed in, due to breakables and poisons, are much more interesting than the ones containing Tupperware.

8. Anything sucked through a straw is delicious!!!

9. Garbage is fun.

10. It is so much more fun to throw food off of your highchair than to eat it.

This is baby number 3 and it still amazes me how much learning goes on in the first year of life. She has spent 12 months watching, imitating, listening, discovering everything around. If she only knew how much more she has to learn.

Tchuss!

A bit of this and a bit of that

Today 4 year daughter is in Kindergarten, hooray, with a promise of making homemade ice cream with mommy when she gets home. (Who says bribery doesn't work, plus the ice cream is more for me than for her.)

Thanks to some good advice, I have my blog comments, guest map and counter up and running. Stole most of the ideas from Danigirl's blog, so big thanks to her!!! And I received my first ever comment. Today is a good day.

Yesterday I was in Kaiserslautern (a town near the border of France)where there is a huge American army base. So driving through the town I saw many shops advertising in English and lot's and lot's of American cars (Cars that were brought over on a boat as opposed to bought here. You can tell by the size of the license plate.)

What was real interesting, (this is for any American friend's who might be coming to the base in Kaiserslautern) is that on the base, away from any Germans, they have their very own Burger King!!! Now what I wanted to know was who works there? Children of Americans living on the base? Germans allowed onto the base to work? Spouses of the troops? As well is the menu changed in any way from what you can get at a German Burger King? Do they offer anything more? Better?
I just found it a little odd to see a Burger King on American soil in Germany....

If anyone reading this has been to the restaurant, please let me know, I am just a little curious on how other expats are living here.

Tchuss!

A morning in the life of Germany

I am no longer anonymous. My site was discovered by an old friend, the info was sent to my SIL and having given up hope that noone else would find out I sent the URL to my mom. In a way it is odd knowing that other people are reading this, which I guess is the point for posting it on the web.

My original intentions were to give information regarding Germany to potential expats, or ones already established, create a log for my children, something they can read later on and of course give me an outlet to rant and rave. I am sure that my friends and family will one day tell me to shut up up about Germany and just COME BACK HOME!

But now that I am out in the open I guess for now it gives people I know a hint into my daily life, what I am up to so far away from my family, and of course how my children are doing...we all know that they much more important than I am:)

So here it goes for today. My 4 year woke up in her usual grumpy demenor, refused to get dressed, would not stop crying at the breakfast table, was sent to her room to stop crying and get dressed...given the option of staying in her room all morning or going to kindergarten. I went out for a run, while my hubby took my oldest to school and faced the challenges with the other 2 girls. I come back after 50 mins or so, find my daughter downstairs in her pj's playing with her sister. Mean old mommy comes in, scolds her for not being dressed repeats the options of getting dressed and going to school or staying in her room....silence from the 4 year old and so the choice was made. She is now in her room, singing to herself, playing with her toys, waiting for her brother to come home, happy that she in not in school and of course still in her pj's. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Let's hope that tomorrow morning goes a little more smoothly. All those people out their who lament about their toddlers, just wait till they turn 3 and then 4.

Tchuss!

Bites from home

My husband was back in Canada this weekend for a wedding. It is always a strange feeling going "home". The first time I went back everything seemed sooooo BIG! Huge houses with huge lawns, superwide streets, large intersections, massive stores, and drive thrus available on almost every corner. It was a minor shock, but was soon done with after readjusting to driving in Canada, spending a night at friend's new huge house and a visit to the local Tim Horton's. Still it is amazing how fast different can become normal, and what once was normal is now, well, different. (Hope you can follow that logic?!)

While my hubby was away I of course sent him a wishlist (this of course goes out to everyone coming from Canada to visit me, all are welcome to visit as long as they have a box of Cheerios in their bag along with a few other items) This time my list comprised of BBQ sauce, maple syrup, vanilla extract, white Oreo cookies, chocolate chips (Herseys' to be exact), French's mustard, Betty Crocker icing (thanks SIL) and of course Cheerios.

It is funny what we think of when we think of home. Of course you can buy cookies, mustard, different sauces, several forms of chocolate (but no chips) and a german version of vanilla flavouring here, but they are not what I am used to...not quite home. So when I have to I make do with what I can purchase here, but when I go back to Canada or someone comes to visit, I always have a little wishlist of different bites from home.

I would love to know what other Canadians fill their suitcases with when they travel home to different countries or what Germans yearn for when they move abroad?

Tchuss!

ps. other items that have found their way in my or a friend's suitcase are: baking powder, baking soda, various cereals, brown sugar, Tim Hortons coffee, canned black beans, Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, Laura Secord chocolate (Nut Bordeaux), Second Cup's hot apple cider mix, President's Choice bio brownie mix and of course peanut butter.

Back to the pool

I returned to the local pool again today....many children, two lifeguards and no rules (except not to walk on the flowers!!! my neighbour was scolded for doing so) and of course my son and daughter had a great time on ALL the water slides!
What more to say?

Tchuss!

At the movies

I went to the movies for first time here in Germany last night. The movie was the new Stars Wars, I am not even sure what the official title is...something about a Sith I believe. I can hear my brother groaning right now at the lack of Star Warsishniss that I possess, but hey it was enjoyable nonetheless.

I wasn't sure what to expect going to a German movie theatre (we were able to see the movie in English, my German is so not good enough to understand most intergalictic creatures speaking rapidly in battle fighting off the good or bad guys) but was greatly relieved to find that it was very similar to what I am used to in Canada. Big, lot's of places to spend your money other than on the movie, full of advertisement for upcoming shows and busy. What was different was that your tickets are for a particular seat, so when asked if I wanted "middle-middle" it took me a few moments before it clicked in. I also found out that the further back in the theatre you sit, the more expensive the ticket...ours were 7 euros each, not too bad. What was really surprising was the question "Would you like Coke or a beer with your combo?" Beer at a movie theatre, what a great idea!!! What could possibly go better with salted (or sweet, if you prefer) popcorn and nachos?

What was equally surprising but a little more disturbing was that like in Canada, there are of course commercials and trailors to watch (30 mins to be exact) but what surprised me was how many of the commercials were for cigarettes!!!!! When was the last time you saw a cigarette commercial in Canada???

It stills baffles and bothers me that no matter where I go in Germany, restaurants, cinemas, shops, even hospitals I am constantly suround by people smoking. When are they going to learn? Watching the happy, successful, cute guy or girl pull out a cigarette and smoke disgusted me, so did the 3 (maybe 2) second disclaimer at the end...Smoking can kill you. Really was anyone paying attention reading it when they could still picture the cute guy or girl smiling at them?

Tchuss!

Let's go swimming

Swimming pools are a big thing in Germany. The indoor pools are in general open from Oct 1 through until May 30th (or until it gets really warm),they then shut down and the outdoor pools open for the summer. These pools are not the tiny 6-8 lane 25m pools that you find in Canada but huge pool complexes. They usually have 3-5 separate pools: a baby pool (with or without a sandbox attached), a children's pool (not much deeper than a meter or so, but usually with one or more slide attached to it), an adult pool (usually meant for swimming lengths, but there are no general rules to follow hence it is a free for all), a diving well (with a 1m, 3m and sometimes 5m board) and sometimes they throw in an extra for everyone pool. They also have what they call a "thermalbad" it is an indoor pool that is regularly heated to 28-32oC, for older individuals or small children. These last pools are usually very expensive and can cost between 5-10 euros per adults for 2 hours of swim time.

Today me and my three headed to the new outdoor pool, now open, for a little morning swim. I decided not to go swimming and stay on deck with my little one, since the air was still a bit chill, and let my other two (ages 6 and 4) swim alone. They are both very good swimmers. My son can swim 50m breaststroke thanks to German swimming lessons and can easily without fear jump off the 3m diving board. My daughter can swim with her "special" swimsuit, it has styrofoam around it that keeps her afloat. Since we were THE ONLY ONES swimming I was not too worried about their saftey...at any point I could jump in, clothes on if need be, and pull them out. This specific pool is brand new this year, lot's of new things to discover... one being the new water slides. Both my children headed to the smaller slide to begin with, which being small was steeper and faster and plunged them into water that was over their heads. My son loved it but it was a bit too fast for my daughter. They then headed to the bigger, taller, longer, but slower slide, which plunged them into knee deep water to play. They loved it and had a blast. After a few minutes I was told by the only life guard on duty (lifeguards are a rare thing in Germany, they are hard to find, and they never watch the water) that you had to be 6 to go down the big slide. My daughter was really upset, not much liking the other steeper, faster slide and my son was sad to loose his playmate. I will remind you again WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE, but rules are rules!! Mu son then asked if he could jump off the diving boards... No! They were closed right now (what? too many people in the pool?), he then asked if he could swim lengths to practice for an upcoming triathlon...No! How did the lifeguard know he was a competent swimmer! He then told me that where I was, next too the children's pool, was not a good place to be with a baby so I should head over to the baby pool...and what leave my other two alone???

Needless to say, with a tired baby in hand, a now cranky mommy, and two children who are not allowed to have any fun we headed home. This is not to say that the pools here aren't fun...in a couple of weeks, when they are filled to capacity, and there are only 2 lifeguards on duty, I am positive that all rules will be ignored, there will be a sink or swim attitude in place, and all the children will be having the time of their lives.

Tchuss!

Would you like ketchup or mustard with that?

It never ceases to amaze of how many bizarre things happen to me on a daily basis here in Germany. For instance, today on a routine trip to a Walmart in Wiesbaden where rumor had it that I might be able to find French's Mustard and Cheerios, my children and I stumbled onto a giant rodeo hotdog. Yes you read that right, it was a giant hotdog that turned in circles, moved up and down, that you could ride until it went too fast and you fell off. Now, since being here I have had to be very open to trying new things, allowed my children to join activities that are not common in Canada and in genral tried to fit in. So when asked I allowed my children the chance to ride "the dog"...and of course they had fun, no tears came from falling off, no sore bums or sore pride, just fun with of course a saussage to eat at the end. I do have a picture to prove this perhaps when I get more blog and tech advanced I will post it till then....

Tchuss!

ps The Walmart in Weisbaden does not carry French's Mustard and Cheerios...I guess they will fill yet another suitcase on my way back from Canada

Victoria Day missed!

Today is Victoria day in Canada. The long awaited holiday which to many denotes the beginning of summer. BBQ's are out in abundance, people flock to the local greenhouses to buy annuals and perennials for their gardens, children will jump into their pool for the first time (if parents are silly enough to believe that warm weather has found it's place in Canada and opened them for the summer) or off the dock at the cottage. Teenagers will head to the local campground for a cold weekend of camping but won't mind since they have certainly snuck in some illicit beverage. Those with young families will spend hours at the park, pushing swings and balancing on climbers or rather going for long walks and bike rides. Really it is a fabulous weekend in Canada...on of my favorites!

Hence the reason why I am a bit sad today. Even though this year in Germany the month of May brings with it 3 bank holidays...all of which fall on a Monday or Thursday, thus giving us THREE!!! long weekends in a row, it is still not the same thing. What I would give to spend today with my family and friends at the local park, helping to create gardens that will last all summer long and preparing salads for a yummy evening BBQ.

I love it here in Germany and if giving a sencond chance would have hopped on the plane with my family and done it all over again, but there are certain days, moment where I wish I could zoom back to Canada for a day or even a few hours.

Tchuss!

And we're off!

Today was my first race of the season. What I thought would be an easy 10km run turned into the usual German cross country, trekking up and down major mountains (we don't grow them this big where I am from), through dirt, mud and water, to finish on an uphill climb.

The kind of race that I'm used to, is an easy, fast, FLAT course. The kind where you always know what's in store, because they are usually all the same. A little boring perhaps but safe. I'm not saying that I don't like the German races, it is just that before I start I have to remind myself that things might not be what they seem. It really is fun running through little towns where all the locals are out cheering you on, across cobble stone streets, around town fountains where runnings stop to douse their head in to cool off, and then off up the mountains, around little horse farms to watch the poneys chase you around the outskirts of the their field, to finally end up at the finish line, and join the rest of the runners in the local "Biergarten".

I love running and before I moved here I really didn't realize how much I love running. My only complaint is that I don't have my old running buddies to share these new experiences with, but on the flipside I have met some wonderful new running partners who are always ready to give a run or a new race a try.

Tchuss!

A start of something new

Well with encouragement from my sister-in-law and inspriration from an old friend, here goes blog number one!About a year ago and 7 months pregnant with my third baby, my husband and I decided to add more chaos to our already busy life and move abroad...Germany to be exact.The move was planned to coincide with a year long maternity leave from my job (which has now been extended to three) and a career change for him. Together we made the jump over the pond, found a place to live, enrolled the other two babes in school (now 6 and 4 years old), and started a new life in a new place. This blog will hopefully give insight into what it is like living in a new country, answer questions for anyone who is thinking of doing the same, and allow me to rant, comment, and coo about my life, three kids and my husband.

Tchuss!