Ignore!!!

A few months ago a friend of mine told me that she read my blog but that she thought that I never said B! Well, she might be right. I am not that good at really digging into the dirt! Hate to call the things by name when they are less kind. Before heading of with this blogstory I had made some promises. I was never going to hurt people directly by writing about them and trying to safeguard their privacy by in most cases never to use their full names. Family and friends are sacred to me and I don't consider a blog the right place to get things into the open.

Sometimes this is hard because I have some of those moments that I am so fed up with certain individuals I have to hang out with. Like they are in the way. Believe me I do try to be diplomatic in most cases. After 35 years you do know for sure that this globe also gives shelter to people who have different standards and plans then you. In most cases I try to put it in the right prospective but I do have some issues with some people that don't seem to get settled.

It is just that I do have these moments that I would like to strangle some individuals who seem to play the game by their own set of rules. This girl then seriously is tempted to trespass to the 'dark side'. I then do scream, call people less funny names, I kick and am capable of doing things that are considered a crime. But above all my mind is spinning like crazy!


Being the person I am I would rather get it into the open. Talk things over and find a compromise but this not always seems to be the case. In some issues talking is not the magic potion! And then I am so disappointed in people but also in myself! I have considered to even changing jobs because of this! I can't handle it any longer and am afraid that I end up saying things out loud that I will regret later on. But hey I am only human!

The best advice I get in most of these situations: ignore! Well, there is goes wrong. I just can't and I know it is a flaw in my character. But in this case it will be the only way to handle it with care! So sorry for those who will bump into me and meet a less upbeat Stallie! I am ignoring some bits and pieces! Chances are high that you are not the subject of my grudges but the individuals that are will have a ball! Deep down inside I do know that I should care less and that the time that I have been spending on typing this blog entry could have been used for better things: like polishing my toenails, doing the laundry&the dishes, writing report cards, baking a nice cake, reading a glossy magazine or bestseller!!! And believe me ignoring dirty dishes and clothes are also a mission impossible!

P.S.: Tonight 'Mission Impossible III' is on!! A movie hard to ignore as well!!!

Bay Watch!

The last few weeks did really pass by. There were some ups and some downs but most of all it amazed me how fast time flew. If they would ever find a way of cloning time I would sign up right away. And because I had not that much time left to reflect about it here I just want to share some highlights of the last few weeks.

- After signing up for my new classes at the university I managed to end up in the wrong class. That had never happened before and I can assure you I felt like one of those freshmen when they are running around on campus during their first week ever! I managed to get out during the break but my cheeks reflected a bit the colour of a tomato! One Wednesday I was also forced to take A along to the student administration office. He was really cool about it. It was quite hilarious to hear him scream through the whole student mess that he was 'ready' (A screams this when he wants to whipped of when going to the toilet!) and you can bet that I was again once more imitating a tomato!
- I managed to book my first meeting as an educational advisor. Wasn't that easy because try to imagine to get a number of teachers together with each their own agenda. In my new job I imagined that it would be a bit more straightforward with planning. But hey! Last week I mailed my first letters with my name under it! Was a very strange sensation!
- A did say goodbye to R at the swimming pool of Overijse. After six weeks of trying to make some progress in the water it seemed that my five year old started to hate the water. He even cried and had blue lips from the cold water. It broke my heart to see him that way. So we packed in our swimming trunks and headed for a new swim adventure but elsewhere!
- My pupils can still amaze me and make me smile. There were some moments that I left my class room feeling rather satisfied. I still seem to like the teaching aspect of my job description. Looking back I can state that I had more laughs then screaming sessions. Best moment of all was when one of pupils pointed out that I had written a mistake in his diary. 'Misses you have signed this note with 'Misses Stamp'!' He wasn't kidding!!!! When the school nurse walked in that moment we had some extra laughs about this. For sure a highlight of my career.
- P and I ended up once more on the shiatsu massage floor of N. For me it is routine now but for P it was the first time. One of the side effects of N her golden hands is you also get an emotional drain. So when P came back from his session I knew what to expect. Once more we had one of those very harsh discussions.
- A leaves a trail of art work through out the house. Rockets, UFOs, cleaning machines, bread machines & trains. When he is asked what these artworks represent he comes up with some unbelievable sounding explanations. I can assure you that if you would ever get your hands on one of these manuals that come along with those creations you need to go back to university!
- I made it back to the gym! ZUMBA is the newest trend and I do think that it is an amazing way of pushing yourself to the edge. But if you would have told me that I would be shaking my hips with in the back ground the song 'The roof, the roof is on fire!' I would have starred at you with rather big eyes!
- N&P their wedding is coming closer and closer. So I met up with the bride to be and my fellow maid of honour. The two of us had to join our 'bridezilla' to hunt for the fitting outfit. Strangely enough we only had to walk into one shop to find the clothes that N considers good enough. But I had to promise not to wear high heels because N will then look rather as a dwarf in her wedding dress and we are then the two giants running after her veil.
- My new job includes also some painful side effects like a painful neck. Spending tons of time in front of a computer screen seems not to agree with my neck. My best buddy for the moment is now a micro waved cherry pillow to ease the tension.

The five star highlight of the last few weeks is the following:

- A made his comeback at the swimming pool! He had made me the promise that he would do anything for his swim instructor if the water would be a bit warmer! So we looked for a pool with hot water and did find one. Now this little guy can't wait to jump into his swimming trunks to join 'his' Coralie! I have to admit that she is quite something. In the beginning I was a bit afraid because she only talks French. But what she manages to do with A I had never dare to believe after the whole swimming nightmare we went through. I witnessed A using his legs the right way, daring to going under with his head and as top act diving into the water and then picking up some colourful objects!!! This all without wearing any extra help. And this he all does with a big smile! It is such a cute sight to see him having fun in the water and wearing his red goggles for under water use and high fifing Coralie! And for me there is also a very nice treat: the male swim instructors! Yummy, yummy!! Hey, can you blame me?! Being a mother of a five year old can be a though job! So when you look for me on a Saturday around 12 o'clock chances are high that I am sitting next to pool enjoying the sight!!!!!

Heading back to class!

The month of September is already a fact and that means that I have managed to deal with tons of stress without ending up in a Looney bin! Not that there were no moments that I would have liked to have taken some Valium.

One of the last items on my to-do-list was trying to get back to classes. Seemed not that easy because of the fact that I now try to combine two job challenges. And A seemed also to have some extra days. And hey, the prospect of having to drag him along to the student administration office was not my idea of an easy trip through the woods.

Deep down I was even giving up all together to get my student ID renewed. I know that being student means that you have to be able to handle some stress. The last months were stressful and the summer I needed just to get into balance with myself.
And in case you have not noticed yet. I did not manage to pass all the subjects that I took! Two out of four might not be the result that I dreamed of but hey I am proud of the fact that I at least tried to study!

I can now admit as well that it is thanks to many people around me that I did get into my car and drove to Louvain. Friends, colleagues and family were wondering if I still had the guts to get back into the brain battle! Sometimes I had some doubts but yesterday I was standing once more at the student’s registration office and facing a huge line of very important&young looking people. 'What am I doing here?'' Just look at them! They are still full of dreams and hopes. I must look rather ancient!' One of the girls standing in line was also nice to keep her iPod sending out some harsh notes of music. 'I don't know what kind of music she is listening to!'

Before I knew I was standing in front of a desk with a nice sounding lady behind it! 'Your file looks fine and you should be able to fill out everything from behind your computer!' 'Hum, you are sure? I had the impression that people with my ISP had to come by!' 'No, all you need to do is select your classes and mail this to us by the internet. Next you send back your Student ID card and we will renew it after all is taken care of!'

The rest of the day I managed to get into the wrong lecture (hum, I forget to check very carefully where I had to be!), I had lunch at Alma 2 (nice student discount!), went to the FNAC & Standard bookshop to use my collected points (I bought a very nice baking cookbook for the cold days to come!), went to a very interesting class with the label 'Psychiatry&pathology' and ended up not feeling depressed (and this after that this word was mentioned more then 50 times!), hit the Friday traffic in Louvain city where students cause even longer waiting lines, I paid my educational discount cheques and I signed to change my ISP!

Last year I was so proud of myself that I managed to do this without having to call in the help troops. Not a single mail left this house with questions concerning my Individual Student Programme! But this time I just really screwed up that part of my student life. This girl managed to send in an empty ISP!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Meaning that now I 'am' an empty file!

And this because I just hit the wrong key of my keyboard! How stupid can you be!? Not that the very academic people did not try to warn me! All over there were warning that you had to be very cautious when working on you ISP! That once your choice was sent in you were not able to make any adjustments!

So the last thing I did yesterday evening before signing out of my student file on Toledo was mailing my ISP assist! Now all I can hope for is that they get back to me ASAP. P thinks they will because a student who does not select any classes can't be a student! I gave him a very suspicious look when he said this. 'There must me a double meaning in there!’ I was thinking but to chase away all the dark thoughts I digged once more into my chocolate treasure! Betting that this year chocolate will be a study mate!

Lost in Austen

A few days ago I posted a few 'nice' things covering my all time favorite novel 'Pride&Prejudice' on my Facebook profile! I do know that I am thirthy something and I do have a partner and a kid and so I should already have my share of romance. So my Mr Darcy should have already crossed my doorstep but still....

Ever since I picked my final dissertation subject I got totally hooked! During English Lit classes at college we covered a bit of Jane Austen. On top of that I watched the very addictive BBC series with Colin Firth and there I went. Suddenly I became a true Janeites!

One day I got on the train with my necessary reading material heading back for Louvain City, hoping that I would get into the book asap. Suddenly my fellow passenger noticed me picking up the Pinguin Classic and she just went berzerk!! 'Oh, my dear!! Don't you just looooove Mr Darcy?', she said? To be really honest I had not covered that many pages to really get into the psycho of this rather dark romantic Victiorian loverboy. 'Euh, yes. It is a nice book.' 'Just nice? It the best romantic book that I ever read! Every girl wants to walk into her Mr Darcy!'

By the time we got to Louvain I was intrigued by Mr Darcy. What special forces did he have that other heart robers did not seem to have? Starting that day I woke up with Mr Darcy and most of the times he was the last person I thaught about before I closed my eyes! I even started to have very strange imaginative dialogues with this one classic hero.

Half way through the book I was rather upset with him that he played tricks on Lizzie. They danced at the ball, but he was rather rude and did not treat her with any respect. Lizzie even said outloud many times that he was not worth her love or even her attention.

While reading the novel I digged very deep into every thing I could get my hands on. I challenge you to google Jane Austen, Mr Darcy, Pride&Prejudice and you will be amazed. Guess that I am not the only romantic soul out there who considers this a very inspriring masterpiece. And yes, it seems they even beat me to it: there is a mini series about a modern girl who gets the chance to meet Mr Darcy at Pemberley! Being romantic in modern times seems once in a while rather cliché but when it comes to Jane Austen there is more wit to be found in the dialogues then the average episode of The Bold&the Beautiful.

Lots of women would still be swept of their feet when they would meet the dark and very severe looking Mr Darcy. Because after a closer look at him, he seems to embody all that we are after in a man!

What I do really like about most modern productions is the language of the hands!! It are not the kisses (in Victorian times most women felt already completely on cloud number nince if they were able to touch the hands of their love interest!) but the hands who seem to talk the language of the heart.

Especially in the last movie starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden the hands tell the whole story. When Mr Darcy is just standing in front of Lizzie playing with his gloves trying to hold back what is on the tip of his tongue you just can feel the tension.

I remember once I was half thru the book that I wanted to get into a time machine and just get to Pemberley in order to tell Darcy that he is such a fool. But then in an other adaptation one chararcter points very nicely out:'We are fools in love!' Apparantly many actors don't mind to play the biggest fool of all!

There is even going on a vote for the best Mr Darcy on the white screen! And seems that this time my Mr Darcy won't be in the lead. Colin will have to get out of the way for Matthew ! Mmh, now that I come to think of it his hands are the most beautiful of all!

Holding hands it seems not that hard but in a Jane Austen novel it seemed to make the difference! I better start using that hand lotion a bit more then just once in a while! You never know when I end up in a time machine!

That one dream!

I still remember where I was when Justine Henin announced her farewell of the tennis court. All I was thinking at that moment while hearing over the radio was: 'Why? Why now?' The days after the news papers were so nice to give the big scoop. Justine was tired of travelling, had a complete burn out, felt a bit out of tune, wanted to become a mother, had won everything there was to win (not true!!) and wanted to find out how life was without running around with a tennis racket! So the why and why now got a decent answer but still it seemed not to make sense.

In two years time the most successful tennis ladies with a Belgian passport left centre court. First Kim and then Justine. Strangely enough they seemed to have certain very personal reasons to announce they were fed up with the tennis world. And hey, I don't blame them! Above all their young bodies already seemed to ache for retirement and they still had to start with the life that most of all call so average but that they seem to long for: a steady relationship and a calm family life!

When people questioned me if I thought that one of them would announce a comeback I was pretty sure about Kim. Justine at the other hand seemed not to send out any clear signal. A few miles away from my home this fierce athlete started her new adventure with the foundation of a tennis academy called the '6th sense'!!

For a tennis lady who played the love game by her own rules a very fitting name. A very long time Juju was out there all by her self and only trusted her senses. Technically I consider her one the best female tennis players that I ever watched playing. Justine her backhand seems hard to comprehend. The purity she hits it with and the efficiency makes your head spin. It is almost poetry in motion. John McEnroe is die hard fan of that one pure shot!

On top of that her emotions have turned her into a very exceptional player. Once this rather tiny player is standing at the baseline she goes for the kill. In most cases she manages to dictate the game and it is not with pure force. If Venus, Serena, Safina, Sharapova are ready to join the special forces then is this girl the best candidate ever to get a MI6 badge. Her game is sleek, very deep going, hard to grasp and sublime! Many opponents will gladly point out that this girl plays the tennis that they just can't stand.

Of course her personal story even made her tennis more edgy. Loosing your mum to cancer after promising she would chase that one dream: winning Roland Garros and this against all odds. This girl had a mission and just think what that one promise did? Her father still remembers how his daughter was obsessed with that tiny yellow object. While she was hitting the ball against the outside walls he was sitting at the dinner table wondering where this was heading for?

Well, we know now!!! The lady with a mission won her Roland Garros tournament 4 times, got the Olympic Gold medal, won the Masters twice, got her name printed in many cups across the world and was number one for a very long time! Justine got the honour to be called a living sports monument by the UN! She is also good will ambassador for Unicef!!! A mission she takes to heart.

So why and why now? Hard to answer! It was so funny to read all the speculations of Justine returning. Like she was once more playing that one game she is so good at! Nobody seemed to figure out for 100% if Justine was seriously considering it. All she did was smiling and keeping her mouth shut.

Two days ago the national TV stations had the honour to have her personally coming over to announce her comeback. Justine looked rather serene and answered all the questions very calmly. And then she spit it out that she still has a few dreams out there waiting for her in the company of a tennis racket. On top of her list still that one cup that she was not able to hold in her hands and granting her life time membership to the All England Club and a nice seat in the champions box!!

Well, that is why! And I do understand why this exceptional player suddenly reconsiders her future plans. She managed to talk Rodrigues to join her once more and in a few weeks she will be back standing down there at the baseline. Ready to face the enemy and chasing that one dream she is after! So, 'Allez Juju', tie those laces of your tennis shoes and grab that racket and walk towards that one field were dreams can be created!

Reasons enough to have a press conference!

P.S.: Hopefully Justine and Kim will have also some icecream after playing some winners! And yes they are both in the picture her above. Believe it or not!!

Busy Bee

Blogging seems once more something that ends up at the end of the list of things to do!! Lately my agenda is bursting with tons of stuff that is considered rather important. Not that I can't handle it but it gives me not always enough space to breath. Here a few things of the my busy list:
- a new job description and all the loopholes. Yes, this girl started a brand new adventure. I am now pedagocical supervisor for one day a week. This means that I will be spending tons of time in meetings, will be working from home more often and will be driving around. My first accomplishment was installing succesfully my new mailbox. Took me ages but I managed to do this without any help of P.
- driving around with A! Besides the rountine drives of and on to school we now get to spend some extra time in the car on Fridays and Saturdays. On Friday he pays the swimming pool of Overijse a visit where R tries to make him swim! He looks like a popsticle when he gets out of the pool and loves to spend hours under the warm shower. On Saturdays he puts on his gymshoes and around noon he jumps once more into a pool. But this pool contains water of 32°C and here it is C who will try to turn him into a future Michael Phelps! Not to mention the outrageously cute swim intructors that walk and swim at the pool!!! For once I don't mind having to hang out at the side of pool!
- filled up weekends with tons of fun like going to the movies, going out for dinner, wedding receptions, birthdayparties and shopping sprays and a weekend in Brugges with friends!
- having the house to myself!! P is in a different time zone for the moment. So this means that I had my mum over for a few days, invited N over for dinner and a good chat, and of course missing P and already counting the days that he will have landed safely! And telling myself over and over that I have to go early to bed in order not to wake up as a zombie!
- trying to get to the student administration office to get my new classes booked and paid!! Not easy if tons of collegues think that my new job description means that they can just call me available whenever they think it suits them! I will have to be bit more the mean collegue then the mean teacher this year!
- cheering for Kim!!! God was I happy that she won once more the US Open tournament and she really gave me a warm glow when I saw her standing down there with that cup and her daughter Jada!! 'The mother of the comebacks', one news paper stated! Well, for sure it gave me something to smile about for a few days in a row!
- planning future vacations. This time I would love to go and visit H! I can't wait to book that one ticket in order to have that one vacation that I am dreaming of already for years. Just hope that H can get some half days off and then this girl will be spending some time in Bush country!
- observing new pupils and coming up with new ideas and tricks to keep them entertained. I can assure you that once more I have some rather interesting ones in my class room. Betting that I will have very lively class meetings about some of these boys and girls!
- surviving the first cold of the season! P had to calm me down once more by telling this is still not the swine flue! But I felt rather sick and I now create a trace of tissue paper every where I go. A also beated the first bad bugs that were passed on while being out on the play ground.
- signing up for Zumba but still not making it to class. I have paid them and I am the proud owner of a new membership card but due to all the stuff described here above I seem not to make into the gym! But if I really want to fit into the dress for N her wedding and look nice in the pictures I do want to loose some weight! P tries to talk (it sounds rather like screaming to me!) into getting some body exercise. Guess I ran out of excuses now and that next Monday it is D-day!
- finding a way of dealing with two jobs! Not that easy and there are moments that I wonder what is expected of me and what not. I feel like Flexigirl and wonder when I have the guts to say no to certain things that people expect of me. Not something that I am every good at.

Best moment of the week was when I saw my mum coming out the kitchen ready to pour the bottle wine into the hot iron!! I LOL and just couldn't stop! It was nice to having her over for a few days in order. Nice extra is that my laundry basket is now almost empty!!! Mum, you are still the best domestic goddess I know!!! I just wonder what my clothes would have smelled like if that bottle of white wine would have ended up in there!?

Splitting headaches!!!

I HAVE A HEADACHE!!!!! And it hurts. Even painkillers don't help. On top of things my bowls don't feel upbeat as well! It is not that I feel that sick that I need Mc Dreamy next to my bed. My blood pressure is perfect ( I do check those things frequently!) and I can function as good as normal.
But hey, after a while you don't want to wander through life with painkillers as your sidekick. They come in handy when A has a very loud day and seems to use living room as frontal stage. And yes, thanks to those super tablets my splitting headache vanished into the thin air before sitting down for dinner at some friends’ house.
Just this time it is different! None of the magic pills seems to kick in! Sleep makes no difference what so ever. Needless to say, that I do feel a bit anxious about this. When I asked P for a consult all he could say was :’I don't think it is tumour!'
Not that I felt any better after that diagnosis. But hey I am happy to know that they are not going to have to dig into my brain to f;
ind the bastard!
Now I keep telling myself that there are tons of reasons why people have headaches. Stress, muscles tension, PMS, sinus infection (P told me that I don't have any sinuses there.
I promised myself to give it some time! As long as my head is not about to explode I will not beg P to call some of his colleagues that are specialised in brain pains.
Up till that moment I won’t stop trying out different ways of pain relief. Coming up: some glasses of champagne in the company of a happy bride and groom! I just hope one thing that when I wake up the next morning that I don’t will have a hang over because then it will be a double portion of pain in the head. But have they not told me once that drinking champagne does not causes headaches! Can’t wait to crack a bottle or four!!!