Sun, back pain and anticipation

Did I complain about the weather in a previous post? Well, nothing to complain about right now! 27°C, and blue sky. It's about to change in a few days and we're expecting a thunderstorm in a few hours, but let's not think about that for now.

The past three days were a prolonged weekend. Monday was a national holiday because of Pentecost.
I couldn't really enjoy it though. My husband suffered from his allergies and I had serious back pain. I tried to relax and do 'nothing', but that's just not my style. And I can tell you, trying to relax in our swimming pool is not that easy, with those two little sharks attacking me! Anyway, I went to my chiropractor today and I expect the pain to go away in a day or two.

While working in the green house I discovered this May beetle. I'm always glad to spot one, because you don't see them very often. (Only in May ofcourse :-)). It's strange, I don't like bugs or beetles, but I didn't mind picking up this one. And it's quite a big beetle, compared to the other bugs you see around here.

I showed the beetle to my kids and they decided to take him on a trip to space with this moon vehicle. The beetle hopped on the vehicle, all by himself.

We bought two new hens. This could very well be the sixth time we buy new ones. The previous ones were all eaten by foxes. Let's hope we can save 'Grijsje' and 'Witje' this time. (A translation would be something like 'little grey' and 'little white').

Let's not forget to mention our meeting with the American veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. It was very interesting! We were also invited for dinner in New Jersey and were offered a tour in Baltimore. How nice! We'll certainly do that when we're in the US in July. In this picture we were at the monument of Parker's Crossroads, an important place in the Battle of the Bulge. You can see the veterans saluting the flag while singing their national anthem. After that we sung our national anthem too. It was a touching moment.

I'm getting a little bit nervous about our vacation, but in a good way. It's not that long anymore. My youngest son turns 5 when we're in Maryland. He's making a wish list and I don't think he is finished yet. These are all the gifts he wants us to buy him. His brother told him 'You'll never be happy. If you ask too much, your dreams won't come true.' How clever!

The youngest one also expects a lot of our vacation. He's sure there are tigers in "Pennyslanvia" and he wants to see a bobcat fighting a bear at the coast of Maryland. Yeah right! :-)

Enough rambling for now. I should better start reading my travel guides right now!

Goedele

Laundry Room

I can't seem to find enough time to blog. So this afternoon I just took the time to catch up with all of you and to write another post. I've been busy with a course at an online university in the Netherlands. It's about cultural psychology: soooo interesting, but soooo much work. But it's really my subject, I love it!

It's quiet here. This week my husband isn't in Normandy anymore, but in the Ardennes in Southern Belgium, to commemorate the Battle of the Bulge with American veterans and their family.

I felt so sorry for one of the veterans. He had to leave New Jersey on Saturday, but his plane was delayed. He couldn't leave until Sunday. When my husband picked him up at the airport in Brussels on Monday morning, his luggage (+ his medication) was lost. It was still in Newark. Such a trip at that age, without luggage and medication!

But everything is ok now. I'll meet them tomorrow. It'll be easy to remember their names. They are all named 'John'. I suppose John was a popular name :-).

Between studying and making assignments I finally tried ModPodge and made this tissue box. Guess where I found the image. Yes, what would we do without The Grapic's Fairy?

Last week Steph from Front Porch Prims asked me to show where I display my thrift store finds. Today I'll start with my laundry room. Before I do that, I want to draw your attention to Steph's blog. I just love her writing style, funny, straightforward and very entertaining. When I laugh while reading blogs, my family asks me 'Is it the blog from Idaho?'.  I'll have to meet her one day! (Can I go fishing with you on the lake Steph? ;-)) So check out her blog!

Now about the laundry room: It's actually an ugly room, wrong tiles on the wall and the floor, wrong ceiling and a lot of necessary appliances. I'll do a redo of the room when I win the lottery ;-). For now I'll have to be content with the little cozy corners I made here and there.

 

 

Are you still with me? This post turns out to be very long. 

A few weeks ago I got a surprise package from Christine from Preferably Prim. It was so sweet of her! My kids asked me if they could keep the cat. I said 'no' (how selfish). They can't have it all. They have their Bakugan, Ben10, Transformers, Lego. I have my prim goodies :-)

Well ladies, that's it for now. There are a course, a pile of clothes and two children waiting for me!

-Goedele-

Severe weather in Paris :-)

The past weekend was busy. My husband was out of town for a few days. He is a big history buff when it comes to World War II and the role of the US Army, so he visited Normandy (again!!). This time he went with his dad, who hadn't been there yet.

You can imagine it was busy at home, with two little boys and lots of rain. We had a lot of fun though. We went to an indoor playgarden, to McDonalds, we crafted, ... My oldest son wanted me to draw lots of whales and other sea animals. He coloured them in and made this arrangement. He explained to me that France had been flooded and whales had taken over the country. What an imagination! If you look closely you can see the Eiffel Tower.

About World War II and the US Army: next week veterans (and their children/grandchildren) of the 106th Infantry Division will be in Belgium, to visit the battlefields of the Battle of the Bulge. My husband is a member of the 106th Infantry Division Association, so he'll guide some of the veterans. He's very excited! And I'm a little excited too because I'll be joining them to a memorial ceremony.

Today I went to a thrift store for the first time in months. What a good idea! I found lots of stuff for only 5 euro. The old iron was 2,5 euro, but everything else was 1 euro or less. Some items need a little makeover and are already on my 'To do: Crafts'-list.

You can see a part of our backyard in the picture: I noticed how green everything is, because it has been raining since the 1st of April, with temperatures around 15°C. We only had a few sunny days with higher temperatures. It makes me grumpy sometimes, but I'll have to accept it. That's what spring and summer are like in this part of the world: unpredictable, with more bad than good days. As long as temperatures don't rise, I'll keep my new baby inside. Here he is: Mister Lemon Tree.

Have a great week and thank you for listening to my whining about the weather!

Goedele

My town

There isn't anything special going on here. It's just the daily routine. The weather is finally changing. This weekend we could work in the garden again and enjoy spring.

Today I'll show you what my town looks like so you get to know me a little bit better. Some of my Belgian readers will find this extremely boring I guess :-). Most of my readers like antiques and history. Some of them show beautiful barns or little churches. That's why I thought you might like to hear a small part of my personal history in the middle of my town's historical buildings.

I was raised in a town, actually a municipality, in the Northern part of Belgium, in the province of Antwerp. I moved away as a student, but I came back when I was pregnant, to be closer to my family again.  It's quite crowded here. There's a population density of 415 inhabitants per square km, so that's a lot! The total population is almost 24000. The density is very typical for our country. It's what I don't like about it. There are too many people, too many houses, too many appartments. There's some nature left of course, but still ... I would like to have more space.

I'll show you some important parts of my 'town', buildings that were very important to me when I was a child. I walked to school and passed by this church every day. My own confirmation was here, funerals of friends and family, ... so when I see this church I'm sometimes flooded with memories from my childhood.

When I looked out of the window of my room, I saw the highest tower of this castle. It's in the middle of a park, right behind our back yard. Our house was somewhere behind those trees in the back. The 'neighbours' were allowed to ice skate on the pond. When I was a child, there was a prince with his family living in this castle. He was part of our royal family. His daughter had a small accident once, right by our front door. My mother took care of her. I was so proud, a French speaking princess in my living room!!!

This is our city hall. I think we're all very lucky to get married in a city hall like this. I got married here too.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Goedele

Working on my prim corner

I started a temporary job last week. It was supposed to be for two or three weeks, but it turned out to be only one week. So end of story, back home and taking care of my family, house, ...  Next week I'll probably continue working on my prim corner. I wrote in a previous post that I want a little corner upstairs, filled with Americana. Before I can do that I have to do a little make-over upstairs.

When we bought our house there was a built-in flower pot in our brick wall. It's difficult to explain so I took a 'before' picture.

We left it like this because we didn't know what to do with it, until last week! I came up with the idea of a lid or a (table)top. I'll put my Americana on this top. I asked my husband, with my sweetest voice and nicest smile, to saw some wood. I painted it with a primer.

One evening this week I managed to paint one layer of a beautiful colour with the name 'Colours of the World: Tuscany'.  You can't see the colour on this overexposed picture.

Last weekend my husband and the boys rearranged the bedroom. The boys sleep in one bedroom and they each had their own castle to sleep in. My husband had built it a few years ago. I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday and look what I found to my surprise: my brave knights made it into one castle.  So you probably know what my next project will be. Yes, painting this into a medieval castle.

My program for this weekend or next week: painting more layers and making a backrest or balcony rail to put behind the bench upstairs. For safety reasons. I don't want my children to fall off, right onto the downstairs floor, in front of my front door. I hope you understand what I mean.  It's difficult to explain the lay-out of my house in 'not my first language'.

Other plans: relaxing and watching my favourite shows. Army Wives, New Girl (I love Jess!!) and Extreme Couponing. The couponing stuff is amazing. I wished the rules for coupons weren't so strict here, so I could get more bargains. Bargain hunting makes me so happy!

Enjoy your weekend!

Goedele

And the winner is ...

I had such a busy week that I almost forgot to tell you who won my giveaway. My husband's innocent hand ;-) picked one of seven pieces of paper:

  

Christine from Preferably Prim 

Congrats Christine, I'll contact you as soon as possible to ask for your address.

Goedele

Full-time job

I was finally getting used to being unemployed. The warmer weather in March (not in April, rain blah) and a lot of things to do in the yard, the children at home during Easter Break and a lot of ideas and projects on my mind: I didn't have the time to worry. And then, when I least expected it, a recruitment agency called me about a temporary job. The phone call was on Wednesday, I did the job interview on Thursday and I signed the contract on Friday. It's only for a couple of weeks, but that's fine. We'll see.

It's a job in administration for an American company: good administration skills and advanced English, that suits me. I'm starting next week, exciting!

It'll be an adjustment for our family. From 9 months full-time mom to full-time job. However, being a full-time mom is already a full-time job. I got organised today. I cleaned the house, made a meal plan for the next week and a shopping list, arranged child care. I don't know where this blog and my crafts will be in this new 'plan'. Let's hope I'm not too tired in the evening so I can post once every week.

Goedele