153 New hair

So today was the day…

152 A stomach filled with air

Thursday today.. the day when we keep the kids home from kindergarten.

We had a beautiful day.. mostly sunny – and warm enough to wear only a t-shirt, but cold enough to not be sweating… And the air so clean and fresh after yesterdays rains. I tried to convience the kids to be out in the garden a lot today – I told them it’s healthy to breathe fresh air. The three-year-old kept saying she filled her stomach with air, and after a couple of hours the four-year-old was tired of being in the garden.. so he came in and claimed he had got too much fresh air.

The afternoon I spent cleaning the whole house.. No matter how much I clean it’s still dirty. The problem is that the kids make a mess faster than I can clean.. I tried to get them to stay on the couch when cleaning the floor – but ended up having a three-year-old tiptoing around on the wet floor – wetting her socks. And that was only one of her hundreds of reasons to spend the whole afternoon crying.. TIred little girl today.. I tried to keep her in a good mood.. though it didn’t work so well.. and they had way to much chocolate and cookies today. We went out for a walk too.. to avoid another couple of hours of crying.. At 5 pm she fell asleep in the middle of praying before going to sleep. I hope she’s gonna be ok tomorrow again.

Well.. when anyway writing about the kids..

Every time we go out – we see lots of these propaganda signs for the municipality elections.. so there are huge pictures of the mayor, and potential future mayors. And of course dude taught the kids about these. So now every time we pass one of these signs our four-year-old is pointing and saying. “There’s the one who decides” (makes more sense in Swedish), and “There’s the one who doesn’t decide, but wants to decide.” Local politics on a four-year-old’s level… huh?

I have read only half of the essay I should have read this evening. Time is running faster than I am. Though there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll have another two evenings to work on this test, so I’ll be ok – I hope.

Tomorrow is the big day… I’m gonna go to the hairdresser for the first time in my entire life. Wish me luck!

151 When still talking about teenagers…

150 Stupid Teenagers

Yeah.. back to the news.

Did you think about that todays teenagers seem to be worse than like 20 years ago.. that they seem to be more stupid? You might have the right feeling. 

Professor Michael Shayer of King’s College London has made studies about how 800 teenagers perform in problem-solving tests. And his study show that todays teenagers are dumbing down and are in lack of deeper understanding.

When it comes to higher levels of understanding , the pupils are less successful today than 20 years ago. The focus today is more on reacting quickly – but no deeper thoughts.. it’s more a shallow level.  The professor estimates that the teenagers are two years more stupid now than 20 years ago.. which means todays 14-year-olds are more like the 12-year-olds back then!!

149 New Theme

I just want to say Thank You - to Amber – for the new theme on my blog! I love it!!

Half of the bananas are for SF.

¤ 148 Rain, Adorable Kids and Apple Pie

For about a week the weather reports have been saying partly cloudy with rain possible, occasional rain, rainy etc. We’re waiting for the rain.. the badly needed water – for our dry country. The sea level in Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is meters under the line.. and even under the line where the experts don’t even know when the water will be undrinkable. Today we actually had some rain.. but not enough. We need more, and we will continue praying for more rain.
I usually say that I don’t need rain myself.. I don’t like to go out when it’s raining. But WE need rain. We can’t live without it. We’re living in the desert – and our main source for water is Kinneret. We want to see the desert green again.. like it’s supposed to be in the winter. – and we want to know that we still have water to drink next week.. that we still have water for all the fruit trees.. that we will have fruits and vegetables to for a reasonable price next year. And that’s why we pray – for rain.

This is not at all what I was planning to write about.. wuups.

Anyway.. a nice - though rainy day. The kids had a great time at Kindergarten. For different reasons both the regular teachers haven’t been there this far this week.. There are two others that we didn’t know before – suddenly taking care of the whole group – 34 kids. That must be tough.. to be thrown into something like that.
When I went to pick up the kids.. both these teachers came up to me- not together.. one at the time.. without knowing the other one did the same thing - and told me how adorable our kids are.. that they are special, that we’ve done a great work raising them to what they are.. and that we shouldn’t forget to appriciate how great they are. I tell you.. this is music to mommy’s ears!!

Now evening.. the girls are already sleeping and the boy is putting on his pyjama.. soon going to sleep. Dude is late from work today.
We both have a lot to do with our studies.. but I’ll bake an apple pie.. and then tell him that apple pie goes only together with Friends.. so we’ll get to see at least one episode. Great plan -huh?

¤ 147 I learned from drinking coffee

I am productive! I am productive! I am productive!  

Better latte than never.  

A day without coffee is like night…you sleep through it.  

We all have to do the daily grind.  

Espresso yourself.  

Automatic drip defines most people’s personalities.  

Stand your grounds.  

If the spoon doesn’t dissolve, it ain’t coffee.  

I love the caffeine; it’s the rich taste I could do without.  

Don’t stop till you’re shaking.  

Impatience is a virtue.  

Take two cups and call me in the middle of the night.  

Who needs sleep when you’ve got coffee?  

There’s no rest for the caffeinated.  

Man cannot live by coffee alone – donuts are pretty essential too.  

There is no such thing as a free refill.

¤ 146 No coffee – no workee

Why is it so hard to get started with the studies when you took a break for a while.. It’s so much easier when you are into it…

I guess I’ll have to grab a cup of coffee and get serious. It’s not even eight in the evening yet so I’ll have a few hours before it’s time to go to sleep…

No coffee – No workee!

¤ 145 You know you are a Mom when…

• Your feet stick to the kitchen floor…and you don’t care.
• When the kids are fighting, you threaten to lock them in a room together and not let them out until someone’s bleeding. 
• You can’t find your cordless phone, so you ask a friend to call you, and you run around the house madly, following the sound until you locate the phone downstairs in the laundry basket. 
• You spend an entire week wearing sweats. 
• Your idea of a good day is making it through without a child leaking bodily fluids on you. 
• Popsicles become a food staple. 
• Your favorite television show is a cartoon. 
• Peanut butter and jelly is eaten at least in one meal a day. 
• You’re willing to kiss your child’s boo-boo, regardless of where it is. 
• Your baby’s pacifier falls on the floor and you give it back to her, after you suck the dirt off of it because your’re too busy to wash it off. 
• Your kids make jokes about flatulence, burping, pooping, ect. and you think it’s funny. 
• You’re so desperate for adult conversation that you spill your guts to the telemarketer that calls and HE hangs up on YOU! 
• Spit is your number one cleaning agent. 
• You’re up each night until 10 PM vacuuming, dusting, wiping, washing, drying, loading, unloading, shopping, cooking, driving, flushing, ironing, sweeping, picking up, changing sheets, changing diapers, bathing, helping with homework, paying bills, budgeting, clipping coupons, folding clothes, putting to bed, dragging out of bed, brushing, chasing, buckling, feeding (them, not you), PLUS swinging, playing baseball, bike riding, pushing trucks, cuddling dolls, roller balding, basketball, football, catch, bubbles, sprinklers, slides, nature walks, coloring, crafts, jumping rope, PLUS raking, trimming, planting, edging, mowing, gardening, painting, and walking the dog. You get up at 5:30 AM and you have no time to eat, sleep, drink or go to the bathroom, and yet…you still managed to gain 10 pounds. 
• In your bathroom there is toothpaste on the light fixtures, water all over the floor, a dog drinking out of the toilet and body hair forming a union to protest unsafe working conditions. 
• You buy cereal with marshmallows in it. 
• The closest you get to gourmet cooking is making rice crispies bars.
• You count the sprinkles on each kid’s cupcake to make sure they’re equal.

 

• You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
• You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
• Your kid throws up and you catch it.
• Someone else’s kid throws up at a party. You keep eating.
• You consider finger paints to be a controlled substance.
• You’ve mastered the art of placing large quantities of pancakes and eggs on a plate without anything touching.
• Your child insists that you read “Once Upon a Potty” out loud in the lobby of Grand Central Station and you do it.
• You cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons; your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun.
• You hope ketchup is a vegetable, since it’s the only one your child eats.
• You can’t bear the thought of your son’s first girlfriend.
• You hate the thought of his wife even more.
• You find yourself cutting your husband’s sandwiches into cute shapes.
• You can’t bear to give away baby clothes – it’s so final.
• You hear your mother’s voice coming out of your mouth when you say, “NOT in your good clothes!”
• You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you.
• You donate to charities in the hope that your child won’t get that disease.
• You hire a sitter because you haven’t been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night checking on the kids.
• You use your own saliva to clean your child’s face.
• You say at least once a day, “I’m not cut out for this job”, but you know you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

¤ 144 Well needed rest

Today is Sunday.. Holidays are over and we are back to routine. The kids are back in Kindergarten, and I’m home alone with the baby.

Today I don’t do so much.. this is my morning of well needed rest. The baby has been napping now for a couple of hours.. and I do nothing! Feels great.. I have to recharge my batteries after this last month.. I don’t even feel bad about not doing anything serious. I need this. But only for today. I have a lot to do this week.. and the next.. and the next.. until June.

So now.. coffee.. just resting, having a great time.. listening to the voices in my head.. I didn’t hear them for a while because of all the noise!! Aaaah. so.. only the chocolate missing!