Posts (page 2)

Another Blast from the Past.,  I know, I know I seem to live in the past slightly too much these days.....

I had sent an e-mail to an old friend after having had a Christmas Card returned to me in January......didn't really expect the e-mail address to still be valid but it was and today I got a reply.

We were together at University and I met him in one of our English Literature Tutorials.  He intrigued me.  He was American - doing his full 4 years in Scotland - not just the year abroad like other Americans.  He spoke very little but was always,always making notes.  We would sometimes speak after the tutorials.. mainly about how little we liked the tutor and speculating about her lack of social skills/ sexual orientation (I know, I know - we were young).

His mum had died when he was younger.  He wasn't that close to his father or his brothers.  To me he seemed terribly rich-- he would fly down to London for a haircut. 

But we always had time for each other.  He once came to dinner in my halls of residence when I cremated a pizza and we had to grab take out.  He once stayed so late the outer doors were locked and he had to climb out of a window...It was never a sexual thing but I suppose we flirted a little.  I dropped that English class after the 1st year so I didn't see him as often but we still kept in touch.

After University he moved back to USA and then I moved here and he laughed at me a lot on the phone with my suburban life.....then he was falsely accused of something and was dragged in by the Police- he ended up successfully suing them and did well out of his lawsuit but he lost any desire to live in a place where you can be so falsely accused and badly treated.  He always said he only got out of the system as he was white, rich and had a good lawyer. 

He moved to Scandanavia..... it was still in an industry he knew well from USA, but he rarely came back over here.  Just to visit his family occasionally.  We would joke on the phone that I have the fully fledged American lifestyle whilst he is quite the multi-lingual European.

He was all set to stay there - had a Swedish girlfriend but then she found she had cancer and all their long term plans were put in hold.... and it didn't look good.  We then lost touch a tad. 

I haven't seen him in the flesh in ....16 years?  Wow.  And it's been probably 3 years since we spoke so I am delighted to hear from him again.  He has changed again - now living on a farm in Southern Sweden with a new woman.. have yet to find out his details.

He admitted that all those dull English tutorials... he was scribbling away to mainly stay awake - and there was me being all impressed with his diligent efforts!  He assures me he still has said note books and one day he'll share them with me.

 We'll see!

But a delightful jolt in hearing from him again......nonetheless.

Can't believe we are in the middle of the week already.  This week the older two children are at a school across the road doing activities during the day and the younger two are home with me - we are just pottering about - now Rory is over his 'bug' we have a lot more freedom to get out but to be honest we are just 'doing our thang' here chez moi.  And it is bloody lovely.  Actually I go through waves of 'this is fab' and then down to 'I neeeeed to do something just to feel still alive."

Does that make any sense?

Today we have dropped off Bee and Paddy, gone to the Post Office, then the drive through Library (I know...) to drop off library books....off to Starbucks for a drink and snack, a few loads of laundry, the dishes (x2) read blogs, changed nappies, also changed underwear (Rory's) after unsuccessful attempts with potty......

Sorted out Rory's room a bit more as the crib is now down (he was just jumping out too much) and we have a twin mattress down until the actual new bed arrives on Friday.

 

He is doing really well at staying in bed at night but naps are few and far between.... but we are good at pretending...

 

We are going to go over to the neighbour's pool and swin this afternoon - some of us have been ready since about 10am and are driving certain others mad asking how long until we set off:-

 

Can you tell it has got built in floats?

Made some soup for hubby tonight after he has his tooth out (I am thinking this could be worse than man flu).

Also tidied the front garden again...

 

Then went and ran/jogged 2 miles (thanks for inspiring me K), had a shower with Rory and am now sat 'drying off in a towel'.  As you do.

 

Trying to keep all the blinds closed as it is so hot today....high 90s.

 

Random thoughts today.

1. Maybe reading a book on adoption will make me feel better about it all.

2. Would I like to get married in a Library?

3.  I wonder if he is thinking about moving to Australia?

4. If I don't get whipped cream on it I will have saved 130 calories.

5. Where should I stay if I do go to London?

6.  Haven't heard from her - wonder if I have pissed her off in some way?

7. She should have gone travelling without her husband...she'd have had a much better time.

8.  Maybe if I told myself I could only eat sushi for a week I would lose my appetite?

9. Phone the tree guy.  That looks like a widow maker.

10. I wonder if Bee is missing her friend who just moved away?

 

 

Yes - exciting stuff isn't it?

Please feel free to pop on by and say hello..feeling slightly bored of my SAHM status today...

 

 

Going to go and start nattering on the phone now..

So how out of date am I?   I was finally in the mood/awake enough to go and see the long awaited 'Sex and the City' movie.  I wanted to wait until the movie theater wasn't packed - I hate going to really full shows - maybe that's why I prefer more arty farty movies too.  Anyhow....off I went.

I had heard all the hype- good and bad and really had no expectations.  I knew it ran over 2 hrs and having seen some of the photos from when they were filming in NYC I knew there was a pregnancy and a wedding.....

I remembered when the last TV episode had aired....we were still living in Atlanta but were staying in Vail in a really swish hotel as hubby was out here for business.  I had just 3 kids then... and I remember it was a different time zone and not knowing what time exactly mountain time meant for HBO shows....

But I really enjoyed the film tonight.  Maybe I was just in the right frame of mind for it - I don't know.  Yes the fashions were unrealisitc - as were the lifestyles.....and the apartments just springing up for sale like that... but it was cute.
I love the Miranda/Steve storyline - I remembered how much from the series I had been rooting for them too!  The 'can we just get it over with?' during sex line had a LOT of the women laughing in the theater!!

And Charlotte looked uber-cute being pregnant - again so unrealistic as it gets (but it is reassuring seeing Kristin Davis on the gossip sites looking normal in everyday Uggs and sweats).

As they did the flashbacks from the series I thought Carrie had looked really really young at the start and Big too had been quite handsome.  But in the movie, yes she has a great great size 0 body but her face is very very angular and I know from a model perspective it is maybe 'all that' but I found it very harsh. And what was it with Big's eyebrows this time?  They got my attention every scene - were they over dyed or something?  It was almost Mafia like?

And Jessica Hudson fitted in so well I thought.  Ironic that her character's name was Louise given what I just said about never hearing it over here!

But I loved the movie and the 2 + hrs just flew (would be a good one to see on a flight).
 
I wonder how they trained the little dog to hump the pillows on cue like that?????

Given the birth of Brangelina's twins there is much talk on the names they have picked out.  I actually like their choices this time around (Knox and Vivienne I believe).  A friend of mine has also just had twin boys and has opted for unusual names too.  Another friend is due to pop any day and is keeping her name choices very hush hush.  Her husband was saying that when HE was born (1970s?) the mother had decided on the name Brad for him but his dad filled in the birth certificates when she was still laid up and decided on the way there he no longer liked the name Brad so changed it completely...without telling the mum beforehand!!!

My kids today were asking me about their names (which aren't actually Bee, Paddy, Mac and Rory) and what other names we were considering.....they were quite interested and it was funny going over it all again as I hadn't thought of it in a while. 
 
We always had surprise deliveries with the babies so there were always names of both sex decided on.  We also never told others about the names before hand.
 
Amazingly enough (or perhaps not) when I was single and spoke about what I wanted to call my children - well they were completely different names to the ones we ended up with!  There's compromise for you

So here in no particular order were other (real) names we considered along the way....

 
Joseph
Freya
Piers
Scarlett
Callum
Saul
Benedict
Doyle (was a firm contender 4th time around for a boy until we had a realtor by this name)...
Daniel (before hubby had the insane boss called Dan)
Grace
Quaid (for a boy)
Ruby
Niamh
Liam
Annika
Jude
Tyrone
Louis
Natasha
Lois
 
Once we got Bee sorted with a name ot sort of set up a route we ere going to take.  We have unusual names for our kids over here - put it like this, it is VERY RARE to get a cup or ruler with their name on.  And when you start to have slightly unusual names, to me at least we needed to follow suit.
e.g.  Would have been a bit strange to have Imelda, Fantasia and Paul.....you know what I mean, right? 
So if you are done with having your kiddos, spill the beans - what else were you thinking of?
I LOVE the whole name game.
Incidentally my real middle name is Louise - don't hear that much in America but there are lots of Louises of my age or people with it used as their middle name for us 30+  British gals I find.

 

 

 

I have heard this song a few times on the radio and despite REALLY NOT BEING A FAN of 'Kid Rock' (and I mean how old is the guy - 40+?),  the song is very catchy and it really does get the whole feel of summer thing.  The video is full of bikini clad babes on boats at the beach which really doesn't do it for me and despite spending a few summers at American lakes I have yet to see loads of babes like this gyrating (?) on their boats...

 

A few things other than my dislike for Mr Rock spring to mind.

1.  It is a matter of weeks before I need to get bikini ready for California.  So I should stop eating crap (mainly white bread) and get my lazy ass down on my treadmill.

2.  I once offended someone from Alabama (there's a reference to Alabama in the song).  Yet again when someone asked me about my accent I said as a joke 'I'm from Alabama, I mean SOUTHERN Alabama' not knowing that one of the other mums was indeed from Southern Alabama.  Never mind.

3.  I think I had a very mundane upbringing - disfunctional certainly but nothing really wow at all...until I left home.  So my best summer memory would be

Germany - summer of 1990. 

I was an au-pair who had been in a town near Frankfurt for a year.  I was happy but a bit lonely and had had a few boyfriends during this time but nothing too serious.  I was to return to England that summer with a few weeks off before going up to Scotland and start a University course.  So I was pretty resigned to not meeting anyone 'special.'  But of course there's always a surprise in store.

During one of my weekends off I was wandering around the town, killing time (back then German stores closed a noon on a Saturday and there was hardly anything open Saturday afternoon or Sunday), window shopping and was heading to an ice-cream store.  Bought an ice cream and then wandered outside looking in the windows of the shops.  And was aware of a guy, also eating ice cream..who was looking at the shop windows on the other side of the pedestrian street.  I was watching him through the windows and he was watching me in the same way...and so it went until we both got to the end of the street - tirned around, caught each others eye and burst out laughing.

A walk in the park and we hit if off to say the least - mainly as there was nothing to lose I suppose.  At first he guessed I was French (?).  He was German, just finishing up his architecture degree - nothing much in common but there was a bond.  Quite electric actually. 

It was a whirlwind six weeks to say the least.  It started off very slowly as he had just finished a relationship with a girl who was heart broken and threatening to do terrible things to herself and he felt very guilty about it all.  So there was a lot to be careful about.  He was older than me - in many ways quite independent but still lived at home.  Having said that he had very very liberal parents.....

It was a summer of sexual learning on my part for sure - wild nights driving all over in the woods - music blaring away.  He had a Jeep with no roof - I remember that!  Lots of ice cream and deep talks about life....confiding in a way I never had before.  He was a great artist and he sketched me nude (in an arty way) - I bet I still have those drawings somewhere.  I also did this whilst a University too - live modelling - not as easy as you may think.

But Uli was great for me then - just what I needed - and I even talked about staying on there.  I didn't stay in the end - sobbed my way back to England (literally) and had many phone calls to him.  I saved up straight away to fly back to Frankfurt and surprise him - which I did - in a good way.... we did keep in touch (this was before e-mail) and I went back to Germany many times  and saw him each after that. It almost became like a competition when we were involved with other people to see if we could still meet up and have nothing happen (hey, we were young).  He broke my heart whilst I was at University but I STILL saw him whenever I went back - but it would never have really have stood the course of time....but it was still the making of a great summer memory!!

Now aged 37 (aarh) my summer is a great time too though in a very different way.  It almost feels as though summer is winding down here even though we are hitting temperatures of 100+  The shops are gearing up for back to school and my sheets with all the kids' activities is slimming down.  California is looming and straight after that the children are back to school.

Ironic as my friends' kids in UK aren't even out yet!!! 

Yes, the youngest is still off colour...just come back from the pediatricians where they think it is just stomach flu and nothing  can really be done - stay off the dairy, plenty of liquids etc. He did ok this morning - after he had thrown up almost nothing from the previous 12 hours.  But he was still stink bombing his way through the Drs appt today.  Poor thing. 

All in all we had a quiet weekend - the last for a while it seems.  My friend M called me yesterday to ask if we were around as she wanted to drop a little thing off.  So immediately my mind is thinking 'ooooh surprises..what can it be; a book, cake, toy, plant?'

I told her we were in for the forseeable future given Rory's predicament and that she could drop off anything providing it didn't look like vomit or diarrhoea....

So we got:-

this bag of what looks like milk coloured vomit doesn't it?  It is actually a bag of mix that we need to squish around for the next week or so then add to another list of ingredients to supposedly get 'Amish friendship cake.'

 

I shall keep you posted if it works.

It's the thought that counts and everything but  I did laugh with M's amazing sense of timing!!

What rocks......

Coming home from a night out feeling really good...........and finding your naked husband in bed, with a sippy cup in the middle of the sheets.

= he's pretty hot, he's mine, he's a good dad.

What sucks...

He already told me not to wake him up when I got back in - as he was 'still tired from last night' and he has to get up at 5.20am again for his fitness bootcamp thing!

 

Ah well

My gorgeous little 2 1/2 year old is having HUGE digestive problems at the moment.  He had the 2nd of his Hep A shots on Thursday, as did Mac.  But I don't think this would be the  result of that!!. 

He threw up Friday night and had some disgusting nappies that day.  Yesterday he was a lot better and went to bed really well - he didn't eat anything unusual at all.  But this morning he got up fine but then was sick before her ate his breakfast and I can truly say that after 10+ years of dealing with kids' puke this was the most disgusting SMELLING stuff ever. 

He has had pedialite and cherrios (dry) and I am watching him closely.  He seems happy enough.  But in his first hour awake today I was sure he had disgusting nappies to be changed as the whiff was awful.  But no - nothing there - just gas. 

If he is in the basement you literally need to cover your mouth going down the stairs he smells so.  Mac is brave enough to sit with him but keeps telling me to change his diaper.

It is just like the stink bombs people used to let off at school.  Rotten eggs smell.  It is vile.  Luckily weather is good today so we will be outside I think all afternoon.  I shall let you know if my flowers start wilting. 

 

 

I blame all gas issues on my husband's genes!

Read this in an article recently and it struck me that this can occur on so many levels - marriage (as was referred to in said article), friendship etc.

 

"What is emotional cheating?

...'an emotional connection.....sharing who you really are with somebody other than your spouse.

And the intimacy involved makes it potentially 'more threatening 'than a sexual liason.

It's the ultimate betrayal of heart and soul."

 

I dare say some of us bloggers could indeed be guilty of this - by admitting things here on line that we don't necessarily face up to/discuss with lovers/spouses?

Just a thought............

I know it is called different things in different places - PMT /PMS?  Which ever it is here in America I have it today in abundance.  Doesn't help that I have forgotten to take Prozac a lot this week.  Have had a productive morning at home, tidying up and pottering about....my kitchen is tidy - pathetic this should even be noteworthy.  My fairy lights are on and a scented candle burning - I am dressed, make up on - kids are all clothed and fed and behaving quite well.

But I am thoroughily miserable. 

Tempted to go and bake a booze laden cake and eat a lot of it.  But I won't.  Cracking headache too.  Rory is sick - has been for a couple of days and is extremely clingy which is fine in itself except hubby is reminding me he (Rory) is no longer a baby and should not be so clingy.  Clingy crying 2 year old is managable for me - but not with added two pennyworth from hubby....

OK I think this calls for a cup of hot chocolate and some music too.

Please send 'stop feeling sorry for yourself' vibes my way.  Covered in chocolate for an added bonus.

Many thanks.