fire in the kitchen! and the rest........................

It's been a while I know since I last touched base with my blog!   I know I haven't even managed to finish my Christmas adventures yet.........will get to it this week i hope!!!!

Anyway so much as happened in this past week...................they say bad things come in 3's...............more like 6's or 7's this end!!

So as well as the hard drive on my laptop completely not responding to anything and heading for the bin............I then got hit by a bus (in the car with all kids!) but thankfully they just got the wing mirror (and then had the bloody cheek to put in a complaint to the bus service saying it was my fault............bloody typical local miserable luxembourgers!!)..............the computer in the car then temporarily packed up so couldn't listen to any music or more importantly use the sat nav........our lifeline to getting from A to B!......thankfully that seems to have repaired itself!   And yesterday when Shaun was taking Conor to a party (typically bloody miles away!)....he got a puncture!   thank god it wasn't me driving as Iwould have been truly and utterly scuppered.........not even a 2nd car for Shaun to come and rescue me!!!  Anyway top of to do list - check if insurance includes any kind of recovery policy!!!!   as it was conor got the party and shaun drove home at 10 miles an hour on space-saver wheel (which was tiny compared to winter tyres on the wheels and completely shredded.........I now realise having been to the garage today.......there is a screw top to undo and the tyre inflates itself......magic huh?   except we didn't know that so tyre not even inflated!!!!  bet the garage had a real laugh about it at our expense!!!!!!

and then today's events.....................Millie off school sick poor love with what the doctor described as "real flu"............haven't been able to get her temperature down all day.  Anyway - amidst the chaos of trying to get Ruby fed and race off to the doctors after Millie took a turn for the worse (thankfully at the back of us, very friendly and speak english....downside we had to wait over an hour :-( ) I didn't get chance to make poor Conor any tea.......so arriving back at gone 7.30pm it was a quick rush to get dinner ready.......(oh yes forogt to add Shaun is away all week!!) so got the sausages under the grill (a plus point here is the sausages don't have fat running out of them!!) but obviously a big downside is that it seems that tin foil can't be put in the oven/under the grill...........the bloody thing set on fire..........big big flames................bloody scary but managed to stop the whole house catching alight and avoid the fire engine sirens!!!!!

Here's to a calm/peaceful and getting healthy week
adios

No january blues here!

Well no real news or trips or outings to report - but everything pretty good since being back! Either the "feel good factor" from our trip to the uk has not worn off yet - or my expectations are much lower than when we first arrived!!!!

Anyway Conor's gone off to the flicks with his mate Oscar (I know....... week night and film only started at 7pm!!!) Oscar won tickets on radio ara (1 of few part-English speaking stations!) and last night of film tonight (only 1 English speaking viewing a day!!!!) so what could I say! Shaun over with you guys in London and got girls in bed early (Millie had gym last night and swimming tonight so no complaints about going to bed from her!!!) - was downstairs by 7.30 with remote all to myself and no pc (seems to gave died a death and is currently with IT department to see if they can repair!!!) so long and relaxing evening for moi......luxury!!

Apart from having no hot water or heating for 24 hours when we arrived back to lux.......and all kids bring sick for nearly a week - we're all good. In fact I even surprised myself at how much I enjoyed having the kids off school......played plenty of games and no school run/homework to even think about!!!!

Ruby's also been a bit of a star - back in her routine and happy and cheery most of the day! She's a bit of a monkey......loves playing peek a boo and laughs out load :-) and has just started racing off and looking back and waiting for you to chase after her!!!!! And even looks round to see if we're looking at what she's about to do when she knows it's sonething she shouldn't be!!!!! Of course we just laugh.....gonna regret that in later years!!!!

No pics this time as need to wait for laptop to function......

A la semaine prochaine!

Almost flooded!!!!

And the rain keeps on pouring.....and pouring.......and pouring!!!!!   And together with the huge piles of snow still refusing to disappear but finally slowly melting as the temperature eventually rises above zero........the river at the end of our road is dangerously close to the brim!!!!!  In fact -  some of the yocal locals have obviously experienced this before as they are at the ready with their drive entrances boarded up and filled with sandbags!!!!!!!!    We might be in for some adventures at the weekend!   You can hardly see any of the arch of the bridge left which we use to walk over the get to town.........normally the river is way below and you almost need a magnifying glass to see the ducks.......now Shaun tells me they are swimming on the path alongside the river!!!!!!! 

Anyway - I'm not worried.........our street is not directly next to the river (but not far off!!!) and Shaun tells me it is on a slight incline??!!?!!!   looks bloody flat as a pancake to me but I'll put my ostrich head in the sand and go with it for now!   Got in the back of my mind that we might be emptying our cellar and garage at a very fast rate to avoid everything getting ruined!!!!  Did I once mention that a huge garage and all these basement rooms were soooo useful for storing everything in??   Might be  about to change my mind!! 

So we have almost completed our first week back (yes my christmas blog is on it's way when I get a minute.....to be honest I have just enjoyed this week  not being on the laptop in the evenings trying to buy everything for Christmas etc etc............oh and we have loads of TV box sets of Spooks to keep  us entertained!!!!!).....................apart from Monday which was a pretty miserable day......taking down Christmas decorations and not seeing anyone.......good in the sense that I didn't have the school  run to contend with.....bad in the fact that I could feel miserable on my own about being back!!!!

Anyway - the rest of the week perked up as I managed a couple of gym sessions and got chatting to a few more ladies there which always makes life more palatable  :-)   and popped in to a couple of friends both  days after for coffee too.   So not going too bad so far!!!!!   That is obviously after the news we received (by email at 6am in the morning after a late night at friends drinking!) that our shared au-pair is finding it all too stressful working for 2 families and the working hours etc etc etc....ie she doesn't like missing her lunch with friends the 2 mornings she looks after Ruby every other week!!!!!!!  and of course she lives next door......so guess where she ended up!!!!!   In fact the kids have (dare i say it!) been amazingly well-behaved this week and we've had a lovely week........not much homework and so even got to play some games together..........lets hope it continues!

Yesterday was the big day of the week (for Ruby anyway!) as her cast was taken off.........bloody sharp/fast whizzing saw cutting into the plaster.........any poor judgement on the nurses part and her leg would be off!!!  Was a real effort for them to remove and Ruby hated the whole experience! Anyway......attached a couple of "Before" and "After" pics......amazing how she's just back to normal..........not having a problem standing on it at all!   In fact she was standing on her own that afternoon!!!!

Unfortunately she spent an unbelievable amount of time in and out of the car and buggy yesterday afternoon so couldn't feel the benefit of no cast to it's optimal!!!!!  In fact Ruby left the house at 2.50pm and after to-ing and fro-ing Conor to football and back in between to check on Millie at swimming (she wasn't feeling well  in ) we arrived back home at 5.20pm!!!!   Thankfully I got a 20 min respite at Millie's swimming chatting to a few ladies I knew to restore some sanity to myself in this crazy day's schedule!!!!  (obviously this was never the plan but next door's girl was ill and although aupair next door took Millie as neighbour really wanted them on same day it goes against my grain to rely on her ...........back-up plan currently in the making!!!!!   Shame can't be in 2 places at same time.....not yet anyway!!!!!!!

We finally arrived home and I was amazingly calm and good-tempered (must be the first week novelty factor!) although afer feeding kids and sorting Millie out who now has a temperature and feeling poorly - I had to lay on rug for a few mins before attempting to get the bath going!!!!   Unsurprisingly I fell asleep within seconds until ruby amidst her playing walloped me over the head with her toy!!!!   Shaun arrived home thankfully as now I feel sick too - I sneaked off to bed after Millie and Ruby were sorted and fell asleep for best part of an hour..............Shaun got his own dinner :-)

Millie now at home sick (literally as she threw up all her breakfast over the cushions, sofa and herself........thank god she missed the rug otherwise we would have been finding bits forever in the long pile!!!!)........quite nice to have her at home as no big plans......not up to the gym myself and going 3 times would definitely be pushing the boat out!!!!.....managed to get both of them to sleep at the same time morning and afternoon.........obviously done something right so far this year!!!!!!!!

I did have one appointment at the obs and gynae clinic for that dreaded smear test experience!!!  Packing all the kids into the car with Millie still in pyjamas and really not up to it, we find the place and eventually somehere to park......only to find out there was at least a half hour wait even though I arrived in perfect time for my appointment.........don't know why it never crossed my mind this place would be any different from all the other Luxembourgers ability to stick to a schedule and work at above a snails pace!!!!   I took kids home and having Shaun work literally 5 minutes away (less given he ran!) left them at home with him (very handy indeed!!!!) and returned to have to wait a further half hour!!!!!  and the bloody thing only took 5 minutes!   CAn you believe this 5 minute procedure took me a full 2 hours from initially setting off to get there (5 minutes in the car up the road!!!!) to arriving back home job done!!!!!   C'est la vie!

Avoir un bon week-end