Down 'n out with the Sunday night Blues

The boys are almost in bed.

Son#1 got to spend some time on the computer again for the first time in ages, and its influence on him is clear:  he turns into an evil bugger.

No more, my boy.

 

I've worked all day, studying, cleaning up for the cleaner (WHY???), and now I have lessons to prepare for tomorrow morning.

I've postponed it for as long as was humanly possible.

The sun was shining today for a while.

Glorious.

Son#2 and I took a back road on our way to his extra swimming lesson, which turned out to be cancelled - again.

But we had nice views of our village.

I'm looking forward to our new car ever so much.

A car that actually GOES and doesn't glug-glug all the way to your destination.

Pure bliss.

Work shmork.

It pays for the new car, after all, and that's it.

I wonder what will happen with the director of the faculty this week.

A colleague let me know that he was 'highly annoyed'.

Sigh.

 

.

 

C'est Le Weekend: Highway Raisin Robbery

We have a busy day ahead.
Son#3 is cozying with me at home this morning (while I attempt to study).
I'll have to pick up Son#2 who fell off his bike this morning on his way to school and had to come back, poor sod.
He's been falling a lot lately.
Then lunch, swimming lessons, and rugby tonight.
I'm volunteering in the bar with my friend Sandra.

It's not going well at the company where my husband works.
But he seems energetic, like the threat of real change gives him energy instead of its defeating effect on me.

But the sun is shining.
Son#3 is happily watching TV as I write, eating raisins.
I'm getting a new car on Tuesday and we are flying to France in October, Copenhagen in December.
Lots to be grateful for!

.

It's a fact

Oh yes it is.

I'm meeting my friend Estelle in Copenhagen on the 5th of December (which is Sinterklaas here in the Nether Lands, something akin to Christmas), and flying back again on the 6th.

Hello, decadence & ostentation.

The husband will have to do Sinterklaas on his own this year, probably at his parents'.

I won't have another opportunity to see Estelle in the foreseeable future.

I'm so excited, I can't wipe the grin off of my face.

Yeeha!

Son#3 and I celebrated by drinking tea at a local farm where we sometimes go to buy our fruit and vegetables, and where they have a little playground for kids.

A cup of tea for 1 buck.

But I woke to a furor this morning after my input on Tuesday's discussion at work.
All of a sudden I'm being called upon to defend/discuss my position.
Sigh.
Who needs stress?
Who??
The director of the faculty hates my guts, and never greets me.
It's not nice going into meetings where you know the aim is going to be to put you in your place.
Oh dear Lord.




.



Winter in Copenhagen

My longtime friend from way-back-when-university-days, Estelle, half-Scottish, half-South African, will be in Copenhagen in December.

I'm going to try my damndest to meet up with her.

 

 

I feel so blooming decadent!

Ha!

(Where I'll get the money to actually go is another matter altogether, but going I am)

 

 

.

Annoyances, annoyances

I spent a rainy morning in 's-Hertogenbosch, at our faculty meeting.
I didn't agree with a colleague's presentation and while he stood there, trying to convince myself and others of his argument, my heart was racing like a speed train.
But I didn't back down.
There is a Dutch proverb roughly translated to 'row with the oars that you have', but it doesn't help if you get into a leaky canoe in the first blooming place, when there is an infinite amount of working canoes to go around.

This is a colleague who takes credit for my ideas all the time.
He kept asking what solution I could then think of, and I thought, no.
I ain't falling for that ruse again.
I won't get credit for it anyway, and my interest isn't that piqued that I'm willing to do more than disagree with his (badly) chosen path.
One needs to put one's foot down with backstabbing you-know-whats.

I had a few quiet hours at home, and it was bliss.
I took a shower, forgot about work, drank tea and will study a bit before I pick up the boys.
One can only do so much in one day.

.

Through the park, James

 

And don't spare the horses.

 

A new academic year has started - for myself at work, but also for my oldest 2 boys.

Son#2 has had stomach pain for weeks now, and I suspect that it was nerves.

 

The husband dropped them all off at school this morning - Son#3 complaining that he also wanted to go to the big school - and many kisses and waves at the window later, he could extract himself from Son#2.

 

Son#1 has the same teacher as last year - one that sees who he is and understands him, and he happily cycled away to school on his own.

A new phase in his life has started without us noticing.

He likes his independence.

 

I have a busy morning at work, catching up on stuff I should have done last year already, then meetings this afternoon and home again.

We had a bad night.

Son#3 was in and out of bed, sitting silently in the dark by my bed until I deigned to notice him.

But I'm thoroughly knackered this morning, and I suspect, so is he.

 

Sigh.

Tonight, early to bed.

 

 



C'est Le Weekend: Vroom

It seems that the good husband has very-almost bought me a car.

A cool one.

On Saturday, he had to go sign all the paperwork and show them our 1977-model vintage Volvo 240 for trade-in.

The Volvo needs love, and we don't want to love it anymore.

The new car is cool:  no leather seats and not incredibly super-duper fast, but coming from the Volvo, it feels like I'm going to be cruising in a dog-gone Rolls Royce.

(At least, those things bother the husband and most men, I assume, but I'm content with very little so I'm very, very glad.)

After having followed the Autoimmune Protocol now for 14 days, I've lost 4kg.

Although this wasn't my intention in the first place, and I just wanted to feel healthy, I'm very happy with the weight loss too.

Not to mention that I have more energy, and my moods seem to even out (even with PMS which normally turns me into Momzilla).

I don't get that horrific hunger constantly anymore.

I feel in control (of what I don't know, but control is control!).

Even keeping the house clean-ish seems to be less of a challenge.

The weekend has come and gone and I did an assignment for my university courses and we we went to a birthday party on Saturday (also my dad's birthday).

On Friday I saw the endocrinologist for the latest test results.

It seems that my cortisol levels are awry, and I'll be admitted to hospital within the next 2 weeks for extra tests.
I'm assuming that I'm being tested for Addison's disease.
Bummer.

Son#3 is still feeling poorly, and so is the husband. 

This week will be better, I'm sure.

School is starting tomorrow again and so is the university where I teach.
All is ready and we are set to go.

.

The Good News

The Good News is that we booked a cheap-o flight to the South of France for the 5 of us in the autumn holiday.

It worked out to be much, much cheaper than driving there, and even if we're eating into our savings, we need to LIVE too.

And we needed something positive to look forward to.

Yay!

 

The not-so-good-news is that I'll have to go see a jaw surgeon to look at a cavitation in my jaw, caused by a root canal gone horridly wrong.

Sigh.

Oh well.

I won't be able to chew and that might just be a good thing.


.



Divinity

My three sons and I are home today.

Son#1 is feeling under the weather, preferring his pajamas to proper clothes.
We are slowly but surely getting ready to move him to his own room (a.k.a. scooting Son#3 out of his room and moving him in with Son#2 - who will then get to sleep on the top bunk bed).

Son#1 is getting big.
He bought a Minecraft-poster with his very last birthday bucks, and then he actually bought a toy car for each of his brothers, and a bottle of water for me.
Bless!

Meanwhile, it seems that autumn is here again with blustery showers, hail and wind.
I ordered new boots to replace my well-worn ones that the cat scratched on top when I just had them for a week.
My last clothing purchase for this year.

And with my birthday gift voucher I got from the husband, I ordered a book for the boys (nice tip, Roos!) and an Adele CD that makes me think of my dad.

I showed my face at work quickly yesterday, Son#1 and #2 in tow, and came home to spend the next 6 hours working non-stop.
I'll work a bit more today and tomorrow - spreading the work out a bit so I don't freak out.

My dad's birthday is on Saturday.
Most days my brain simply cannot comprehend what has happened.
And perhaps it is better that way.
Son#3 often tells me things about my dad, and that is comforting.
We are still connected.

This is what I put up with

Three outlaws.

.