maandag 31 juli 2006

Memories Monday

Someone woke me up this morning, way too early. I opened one eye halfway and told the small person in dark-blue-with-white-flowers pjs, standing next to my bed, to go back to sleep.

"Sick?"

What? Is someone sick? Has someone thrown up?? WHY??? Why so early, why does my day have to start so early, with vomit?

"Hmmm?" I say to the small person, who still hasn't moved an inch in the direction of her room.

"Sick Mama?"

"Who's sick, sweetie?"

"MAY I HAVE MY MU-SICK MAMA?" Ohhhhhh. The small person means the unbelievably irritating Happy Meal Toy we were graced with Sunday, a mini-radio that blares something from the Black Eyed Peas, over and over and over and over and over...

"No, no Black Eyed Peas. Too early. Go back to sleep, Mirthe."

"Me Anna, Mama. AN-NA."

My eyes fly open. It is Anna. That child is growing so fast, every day I think: where did my baby go? She's been wearing all of Mirthe's clothes from LAST SUMMER. Including dark-blue-with-white-flowers pjs. I smile at her and pat the bed next to me. "It's too early for music, Anna. Come sleep a while by Mama. Then we'll wake Mirthe up and THEN we can have some music."

She climbs into bed next to me and wriggles under the covers, closes her eyes and goes to sleep. For about fifteen minutes. I stay awake, watching her, my beautiful baby girl, growing up so fast.

vrijdag 28 juli 2006

TAGGED

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops? No.

2. Do you close your eyes on a roller coaster? No.

3. When's the last time you've been sledding? In college, on trays we "borrowed" from the dining hall. I don't remember how/if we returned them, probably stashed them in the dorm room until the end of the year.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone? I'm a horribly light sleeper, so I sleep better alone. Maar gezellig is het niet ;-) With the exception of the two hospital stays, and Eric's OR initiation weekend, we've never slept apart.

5. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes.

6. Do you consider yourself creative? Yes, in certain ways. It's a very steady, perfectionistic creativity -- not spontaneous.

7. You think O.J. killed his wife? Yes.

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie? Angelina Jolie!

9. Can you honestly say you know ANYTHING about politics? Not much about Dutch politics. I get to vote this time around, so I'm going to start getting more informed. After the boxes are unpacked :-)

10. Do you know how to play poker? Nope. The most advanced card game I know how to play is gin rummy. Pretty good at that.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight? Yes, and I got an A for my efforts.

12. What's your favorite commercial? I loved that commercial (for Sony?) with the bouncing super balls, in the streets of (San Francisco?) Loved it because of the music and the visual image of all those balls bouncing, even if it is computer generated. That was the commercial I'd stop washing dishes for.

13. Who was your first love? Bonovox of O'Connell Street.

14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around you, do you run a red light? Wouldn't you?

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you? Yes.

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees? Yankees!

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating? Many, many times.

18. How often do you remember your dreams? Maybe four or five times a year. Like I said: light sleeper, especially since having children, and I don't get into REM sleep very often.

19. What's the one thing on your mind? How many boxes yet to unpack, and how many things we still have to assemble, and when when WHEN is this heat wave going end?

20. Do you always wear your seat belt? Always. Got a ticket for not wearing one, and since then I've been a good girl.

21. What talent do you wish you had? I've always wanted to have a medical training, for EMT, so that I could help in accidents or disasters. So that I'd be prepared to help, if needed. I would not want to be an EMT in every day life, that is not something I could leave behind at the end of the day. I'd take it home and be a wreck.

22. Do you like Sushi? I've never had sushi. I'm allergic to shellfish, and anything that even smells a little bit fishy, makes me nauseous. With the exception of tunafish salad, MY tunafish salad, which needs to be chilled and eaten within 30 minutes of making it. Otherwise it smells A LOT fishy.

23. What do you wear to bed? PJ's. Socks, in the winter. I sleep with the window open, all year long.

24. Do you truly hate anyone? No.

25. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be? Ted Hughes. But he's dead, so that's a no go.

26. Do you know anyone in jail? No. People who have BEEN in jail, but no one currently serving time.

27. What food do you find disgusting? Mushrooms. They have the texture of human flesh. (Bite your forearm. See? Just like mushrooms.) And bread pudding.

28. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back? No.

29. Have you ever been punched in the face? Thank goodness, no. My children do seem to have a talent for sticking fingers in my eye(s).

30. Do you believe in angels and demons? Yes. Absolutely. Have felt the presence of both.

I'm so out of it, in Blogland, and I have no idea who's had this one already -- so if you haven't been tagged and feel like a little meme, go ahead!

zondag 23 juli 2006

We zijn er weer! We hebben het overleefd, er blijft nu alleen een doos of 90 om uit te pakken :-)

Meest spannend moment: woensdag vertrokken wij rond 20.00 met de allerlaatste spulletjes (in een boedelbak) en alle huisdieren (2 katten, een hamster en 17 visjes) achter in de auto. Ging vrij goed voor ongeveer anderhalf uur, daarna kreeg Eric moeite met schakelen totdat hij uiteindelijk niks meer kon doen. Dit gebeurde op een brug (0ver die grote vaart, op de A6?) en we haalden net de hoogtepunt van de brug en konden naar beneden "coasten" -- daarna aan de kant van de weg gezet en de 24-uurs dienst van de leasemaatschappij gebeld. Die kwam rond 23.30 -- na 45 minuten wachten met een overgespannen kleuter en een klaarwakker peuter, het waren de langste 45 minuten van mijn leven. Ook nog 30 graden buiten, zucht... Mirthe moest plassen dus dat moest in de bosjes gebeuren en ze raakte in paniek en ik kreeg haar vinger in mijn oog -- gelukkig de rechteroog, want Anna had haar vinger in mijn linkeroog gedaan twee weken geleden. Toen Remon (de jongen van de reddingsdienst) gearriveerd was, moesten we met zijn allen in de vrachtwagen zitten terwijl hij de auto bekeek -- dus daar zat ik om 00.00 met de meiden en Rosie (de hamster.) Remon kon de auto niet maken, er was geen vervangende vervoer (met trekhaak) dus hij heeft ons de laatste 65 km naar huis gereden. Rond 01.00 eindelijk "thuis" met zwaailichten -- de buuf was nog wakker en heeft geholpen om de auto uit te laden zodat Remon het mee kon nemen. De kids gingen rond 01.30 slapen, wij rond 03.30 -- en om 08.00 begon de dag alweer. Er kwam een leenauto en we zijn die avond weer vertrokken naar Breda, met boedelbak, waar we op de vloer hebben geslapen bij Marielle (NOG HEEL ERG BEDANKT MARIELLE, JE BENT EEN ENGEL) en de volgende ochtend het huis in de Uitoord hebben schoongemaakt en daarna bij de notaris getekend, en we waren klaar met verhuizen. Nog even bij buurman Rob gegeten (LEKKER!) en daarna echt naar huis, naar het nieuwe huis :-)

En nu ga ik ook naar bed, we hadden afgesproken om slaap in te halen dit weekend en maandag echt te beginnen met uitpakken. Eric heeft nog een week vakantie en we willen nog naar IKEA (dat kan niet meer even na het eten, nu moeten we helemaal naar Groningen!) maar het begint al een beetje als ons huis te voelen.

Ik kom over een paar dagen wat meer vertellen, misschien ook met foto's, als Eric zover is met het installeren van alle computerdingetjes.