Current mood: get down tonight!

Maybe we should all take a hint from Mr KC.

Current mood: that kind of mood

There's a transvestite inside of me just waiting to get out. I knew it the minute I saw this movie.

--- Note the ever delightful Marisa Paredes, a dead ringer for my gorgeous gallery.

Operation eliminate overload

Two days to go till ETD and this is what my life feels like:

current mood: diva-esque

Just can't explain it.

Current mood: blah

I'd love to insert something witty and fun here tonight, but frankly I'm over everything today.
I'm over the screeching strident Turkish kids trawling our street on the way to the neighbourhood square; over my daughter's moodiness, after which she packed herself off to bed for the night; over the whole Christopher Ciccone and Madonna thing; so over the Brangelina babies; over the idiot Belgian politicians who can't get their crap together (resign already and call a new general election); over the fact that my holiday is still three weeks away and that we still have relatives coming to stay before that, and the list continues.

So I will just shut up now and return when my mood is somewhat more balanced and harmonious.

Goodnight and godspeed!

As ever,
the disgruntled domestic demi-goddess

current mood: uninspired

This weather is getting on my nerves. Not only does it mean that I have to think of an outfit that doesn't emphasise my milky white legs every morning (even though I have been diligently applying body milk with self-tanner), but I am sooooo uninspired.

I can barely think of eating, have been contemplating dragging myself to the gym, hardly do anything at all, come to think of it, except the bare necessities.

Spring fatigue is here, ladies and gentlemen, and as inertia sets in, I find myself thinking of a long spring shower. A good old-fashioned storm followed by cool raindrops on my face. Scandinavian temperatures. A light breeze on my skin during the day and not only at night.

Proof of my complete inertia: I was able to spend the best part of 2 hours on a café terrace watching the munchkin bounce around the square with her little prince and I didn't even regret not bringing a book or a paper.

I am a sloth.

This is happiness!

Current mood: mercy!

The reason why is because I'm now officially going to the gym three times a week.

ETA: fixed defunct link, replaced with video.

current mood: deflated

Like so many other people at the moment, I'm alternately hacking, sniffling, barking, and wheezing my way through life. Only, I've had this cold since SO was operated at the end of January. So while SO is making a speedy recovery and more or less looks the paragon of health, I'm flailing next to her with pain in my chest.

Matters aren't helped, naturally, by the fact that, as usual, just before a holiday, everyone in the world needs work done.

And finally, add to this already explosive mixture, the coming of teenage age of our toddler. Honestly, some days we're really sure that she's three going on thirteen.
Every morning we start out on a happy note, only to find in the half hour that she has to get ready for school, that the only word she knows is *NO!*. In the face of such disobedience, her two mothers are literally wrecked. Because what can you do when a child says no and won't budge?

Also, this is the dangerous age, where they start feeding off an audience. My point was proven this afternoon in a store, where she was on the verge of meltdown no. 5 of the day and I was holding on to her for dear life, and I suddenly realised that she was actually looking at people around us while struggling against me and grumbling. Such fun. We have now become users of the time-out concept and have resorted to fish oil chews in hopes of calming her down a little.

Nobody said it was going to be easy. But if it's already this bad at three, what's it going to be like at thirteen, when you can't hold on to them like that?

So, we soldier boldly on. And I might consider going to see our GP tomorrow because I'm feeling past the point of repair.

Current mood: Oh crappy daaaaaaaay!*

Cr*p, f*ck, sh*te, @!§....aughhhhhhhhhhh! Boiling point.

Some days are just not made to go well. They start off bad, when you realize that your client's mailserver seems to bounce all mails right back at ya, meaning you have to spend ONE whole HOUR trying to figure out what is the actual problem, before discovering that your provider is banned.
Then you're late for everything else: breakfast, lunch date, picking up child. So then your whole work schedule (the sad six hours left a day) is disrupted and slowly but surely it dawns on you that you will never be able to do all your work decently.
The outcome: mostly happy customers, except for one rabid, pissed off customer for whom you forgot to translate the file, and a "disappointed" customer for whom you had to draft a diary note.
So then you end up being in a pissy mood, waive dinner, spend most of the evening redrafting the bloody file, and then it disappears. Because in Windows Vista, files DISAPPEAR!
After ONE whole HOUR (I'm beginning to spot a pattern here), you realize that you inadvertently saved it in the temp file of the original zip file, which you eventually find.
It's midnight. I still have a file to translate and a craving for some hot cocoa.

Can tomorrow be a better day please?

*to the tune of that gospel song "Oh Happy Day"
Photo of the great Geysir in Haukadalur, Iceland.

Current mood: brooding

I deposited my beloved in the hospital this morning where two respected surgeons will attend to her innards, hopefully with a positive outcome.

All I can do now is sit here and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Blogging will be a bit more infrequent than usual in the next weeks as I juggle a household, a child who is on spring break and daily hospital visits.

current mood: Grumbly hamster

The munchkin and I have been on a one-week 'all on our own' survival course in past days as SO is abroad hobnobbing with the likes of Emma Thompson who was wearing Uggs (how very dare she!)... I have to say that generally things have gone very well, in large part due to the fact that the little one has been almost angelical, requesting baths, eating her meals at all the appropriate times, playing well... except for waking up in the morning.

Always a scramble, EVERY morning, as she refuses to get up. So this morning it was a case of the dreaded croissant/pain au chocolat in the car on the way to school. I always feel like such a dreadful mother when this happens.

That said, it's hard to get all your work done in 6 hrs instead of 8, then gallop back to the school gates to be there at 3.30 p.m. waiting for your little one, who is beside herself with joy to see you after a fun day, and leaps into your arms, entertain her for another four hours, get dinner on the table, wash her filthy booty in a bath (I only want a bath, mama, and I don't have to wash my hair, do I?), then try to get her to bed, walk up those stairs at least three times in the next hour, because she calls you for things like "I want a hug" (how can you refuse?), "I need a drink", "I need to go to the bathroom", etc, after which all you want to really do is read or sleep, or watch inane TV, instead of work some more.

Thankfully everything is cleaned up, but there's still the trash to put out, work to be done... and tomorrow, we're right back in the hamster wheel, where we left off today.

I just don't know how single parents manage.

From Thursday we will be at it again as SO goes in for surgery and a week at least in hospital.

Fending off the flu epidemic, as I write this. The baby-making appointment with the distinguished professor has been postponed until March. Hopefully SO will at least be upright and walking by then.

Le current mood - whoa! Thumping!

Le current mood - annoyed

Sources of annoyance include a skin eruption on my chin that makes Mount Vesuvius pale in comparison (in spite of some very fancy-schmancy new skincare products by some South African skin guru who worked with Christian Barnard), the need for a mani-pedi, a haircut, some relief for my persistent throat ache, some time to do some invoicing, some good TV (it's the year end for Chrissakes), etc.

I'd like to say something more profound, such as, the state of the world bothers me, etc. but tonight I am just in a shallow mood. No apologizing. Nah.

On the upside, we had some lovely pancakes this afternoon at a charming old place, and I got to sit next to the open fire.

We've spent a lot of time at the Antwerp Winterfoor, a nostalgic carnival, with 1930's rides, which the munchkin enjoys.

We're eating healthily (if you exclude the pancakes and syrup and hot cocoa with cream), even though it may resemble prison gruel at times.

I'm reading Charlotte Moseley's edition of the letters of all six of the Mitford Sisters.

A whole New Year is just around the corner.

Le current mood - so not the way I feel right now!

As I sat here tapping away at yet another translation while a dull headache martyrizes and marrs my working efforts (my coffee buzz has not kicked in yet), I reflected on the current mood du jour. The video above most certainly does not represent how I feel today.
So onwards I bravely soldier, on the subject of 'Diamond Divas', an upcoming exhibition in one of Antwerp's numerous museums.

Le current mood - Proof that I'm sinking into deep 50s housewife mode

I baked cranberry muffins for breakfast this morning.

I have been humming 'The Lonely Goatherd' from the Sound of Music for two whole days now.

I depress myself.

Le current mood - the washing machine

The clip is self-explanatory, I think. Family surgery no. 2 has gone well. My mother is in slight pain, but will be able to leave the 'ospedale' tomorrow. Meanwhile, I venture onwards down the path to domestic demi-goddishness...

Le current mood - It's a beautiful day...

The sun is shining outside, I'm slowly beginning to come to terms with Windows Vista and Office 2007 (and oh, the swear words that have emanated from my mouth in the past days), it's my so's birthday today (yay!), my daughter leapt into her classroom this morning merrily chatting with her little boyfriend, parents smiled at me, I didn't get a parking ticket and when I returned home there was still some hot coffee left.

All is well in the land of Lula de Montes.

Le current mood - le jazz hot

Yes, there's a jazz singer inside of me just waiting to belt out a 30s production number...
I think I'll just go tame that urge with a cup of hot cocoa now, shall I?