Just an ordinary man

I know he is 'just an ordinary man' like the rest of us, but nonetheless I felt excited and honored to be invited to an occasion where my collegue Aart Broek presented his latest book to our minister of justice, prof. dr. E. Hirsch Ballin. Aart's theory on how shame is often (but still overlooked most of the time) the basis for agressive behavior is part of our idea on how to help integrate (young and criminal) people from the Dutch Antilles. Or anyone for that matter, as this theory applies to any person.

Zet ons in de top 5!

Sponsor mijn team Gepeperde Boel en zet ons (of mij) in de top vijf best gesponsorden! Nog maar een paar sponsors nodig en we staan er weer in (ik was gisteren nr. 5! ;-)) , dus doe even mee en geef gul!! Zoek op mijn naam of op die van ons team op de ijsbaan in Amsterdam.

DANK!! mede namens de Nierstichting.

Ik schaats!!

Ja, ja, het is er dan toch van gekomen: samen met nog vier anderen ga ik op 21 oktober schaatsen voor de nierstichting. En nu gaan jullie ons natuurlijk heeeeel erg gul sponsoren!! Alvast bedankt!

Background poll 'Nice"

I'm happy to say, most people (57%) actually did do someting nice.

A while ago, I read a theory (I think someone actually researched and proved this) claiming you will feel happy and live a happy life if every week you do five nice things for someone else. The catch is, it doesn't work if you space them throughout the week, you need to do them all in one day. The good part is, the other person(s) do(es)n't necessarily need to know or realize you are doing something nice for them. Also, they don't need to be 'big' things. So it could just be an extra special hug for your kid, serving your partner's favorite food, complimenting a coworker on a good job, giving someone time to cross the road in front of your car, taking the time to really listen to someone, etc. etc.

I would love to share this theory with you, and I have searched everywhere, but I cannot find it anymore.... When I will, I'll let you know. Until then: be aware of doing five nice things for someone else one day, every week!

A thank you from Emma

Last night we received a thank you from Emma's owners. They had taken her to the vet and besides being dehydrated and having two minor infected fightwounds, she was in good shape. She felt right at home again and immediately went to the other cats, which welcomed her. So all is well! ;-)

Teamleden gezocht!

De kogel is door de kerk - ik ga meedoen met de Nierstichting Elfstedentocht! Voorwaarde is wel dat er nog minimaal 5 anderen met me meedoen - 2 x 1,5 uur in mijn eentje schaatsen red ik (nu nog) niet en zo kunnen we elkaar afwisselen (je schaatst dan hooguit een kwartier). Je hoeft niet goed te kunnen schaatsen (kan ik ook niet), kinderen zijn ook welkom, schaatsen zijn te huur op de baan, familie of vrienden graag meenemen voor aanmoedigen (the more, the marrier!) en, uiteraard, sponsoring, we gaan een keer van te voren oefenen op de Jaap Eden Baan - kortom, eigenlijk geen excuus om niet mee te doen.
Dus: wie doet er mee??? Mail me als je je op wilt geven of ook voor vragen.

Emma naar huis!

Het is vanochtend gelukt Emma te vangen in een kattenkooi. Ze is nu terug naar huis. Dag lieve Emma!

Nierstichting Elfstedentocht

Gave actie! Schaats mee op 21 oktober op 1 van de 11 deelnemende ijsbanen en laat je sponsoren. De opbrengst is voor de Nierstichting. Doe mee, individueel of als team, en schaats een sportief bedrag bij elkaar! Schrijf je in op www.schaatsenaan.nl

Ik ben zwaar aan het overwegen mee te doen. Als wijkcoordinator voor de Nierstichting kan ik toch niet achterblijven.... wie doet er mee in een team? wie wil er sponsoren? 2x anderhalf uur schaatsen moet toch te doen zijn met elkaar?

Obesitas besmettelijk

Het klinkt misschien verrassend, maar alles wijst erop dat obesitas een besmettelijke ziekte is. De familieleden en vrienden van iemand met obesitas lopen 40 - 171% kans om zelf ook obees te worden. Wetenschappers hebben tussen 1971 en 2003 zo'n 12.000 personen gevolgd en 37.000 van hun vrienden, naasten en buren. Zij stelden vast dat de vrienden van iemand met obesitas meer risico lopen om het zelf ook te worden: voor vrienden van gelijk geslacht stijgt het risico met 70%, voor de beste vriend(in) met 171%. Voor de partner stijgt het risico met 37%. Uit de studie blijkt ook dat broers en zussen 40% meer risico lopen. Het probleem is dus niet alleen genetisch van aard, maar heeft meer van doen met vervaging van lichaamsnormen. De studie toont ook aan dat geografische afstand geen invloed heeft: de stijging van het risico werd niet vastgesteld buren, tenzij zij goede vrienden waren.

Bron: e-gezondheid newsletter N°423

Actie tegen de graatmagere modellenlook

Elvis lives

Elvis died thirty years ago.... still going strong though!
Nice going or a 72 year old!! ;-)

Geen stijl

Als er werkelijk een kinderachtige site is op het internet, dan is het wel GeenStijl.... nu ook weer de actie van Sire boycotten. Ik zou zeggen: geef meteen even door dat je je ergert aan Geenstijl...

Goede kado's

Weer eens op zoek naar ee kado voor iemand die alles al heeft? Geef een geit, 10 kuikens, 50 bomen, een school! OxfamNovib is druk doende deze actie aan de man te brengen. Onze kinderen kregen met Sinterklaas al schoolboeken en voetballen en met Kerst stuurde ik kaarten waarmee ik mensen kuikens, schoolboeken, voetballen of schoolmaaltijden gaf. Nu kan ik er zelfs een abonnement mee nemen op mijn favoriete tijdschrift (esta).

Vind je zo'n virtueel kado toch een beetje "te", kijk dan eens op kadovooreenkoopje.nl en dan met name bij de sectie GOED koopje. Alle kado's kosten nog geen tientje en ook hiermee steun je diverse goede doelen. Bovendien zie je meteen waar je ze kunt kopen.

Good riddens!

Heinz Barth died yesterday. He is a war criminal (WWII, SS-officer) and partly personally responsible for the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane. Rob and I visited this monument near Limoges two years ago. An overwhelming experience...

June 10 1944 the Germans visited the small town and left a few hours later, after having shot all the men execution style in a few garages and burnt all women and children alive in the church. All bodies were then burnt and put in a mass grave. The Germans formed a cordon around the buring town to make sure nobody could escape. They left the next morning. Nobody knows why this happened. Six people survived (besides the few having left town that day), among which one woman and her baby. Barth never showed remorse "It was war"...

I believe the world is a better place without him.

Interesting detail: the name of the town on the local train station partially had fallen off during this massacre. A few remained: Ora.......G...e, or "Orage" the French word for (thunder)storm...

Sensible words

"I am sure God won't mind to be called Allah," says bisschof Muskens. "Why don't we all call him Allah? Why should he care how he is called? That is our problem. Allah is just Arabic for God. We created this problem and decided to fight over it."

21 minuten - doe mee!

21 minuten.nl heeft dit jaar een speciale editie:

"Het doel van deze editie is te achterhalen hoe de bevolking van Nederland de waarde en kwaliteit van de Nederlandse democratie en overheid beoordeelt. De resultaten worden op 5 oktober bekendgemaakt bij de opening van de Week van de Democratie, een themaweek die in 25 landen wordt georganiseerd." Doe mee!

Collecting beautiful sentences

Cool hobby: collect beautiful sentences!

Simone de Jong is an artist who collects beautiful sentences. They need to be universal and said in passing by. She collects them while listening to others talking on the phone, in waiting rooms, at receptions, etc. She makes them into sculptures for walls and ceilings. Her most beautiful sentence: "Ik hang de was altijd op alsof het een kunstwerkje is" (I always put my laundry out to dry as if it is a work of art)

Elise's new project 'Emma'

Yesterday, I realized the cat I have been mistaken recently for Mink (our cat) was the cat which flyers announced had been lost since May. She was devouring one of our frogs yesterday and I noticed she is terribly underfed. I decided to give her some food. When I tried to approach her, she fled - she is terrified. In the evening I called the owners, he came over, we put out some food again, she showed up and he confirmed it was their Emma. He also said she was afraid of them so he hadn't been able to grab her, even though he had seen her various times. We decided I would put out some food for her for a while, try to gain her confidence and see if she would let me approach so I could catch her. Or maybe we can put out a cattrap when we know she will show up.

I told Elise about all this this morning. Pauline, who was also there, said "Oh, but Elise has actually petted the cat already!" Elise confirmed. At first she tought it was Mink, but when she saw it was not, she approached her very, very carefully and was able to pet her. This opened up some new possiblitlies for actually catching the cat, so Elise is now in charge of giving Emma her food and try to gain her confidence. In the mean time, we are teaching her (on Mink - the poor thing...) how to grab a cat in its neck and hold on tight. We've pulled out our cat carriage so we can put her in it if she ever does get a hold of Emma. Hopefully our scheme will work! Elise is excited (you should see her eyes shine!!) and determined to help Emma.

We'll let you know if we can save Emma!

Update

As one of my main reasons for keeping this blog is to keep in touch with my family and friends and to keep them up to date, I'll give a little update on myself/my family(life).

Depression-wise I am on the right track, therapy is down to twice a week, the sessions together with Rob to once every two weeks. I can almost go without my afternoon nap, but quiet time in the afternoon is still a must. At the end of September, we will spend our two week holiday on Crete but I am still not sure I will be able to handle this in terms of having enough time for myself to keep myself sane. Maybe I need to re-energize at my parents afterwards, we'll see.

I am working about eight to ten hours a week. Sometimes more, but then I really need to rest for a few days. I am helping a friend with his dissertation and I've become involved in an interesting project. I am working on it with three very talented and experienced men. We are currently proposing the project and hopefully we will know soon if we can actually get to do the work. If so, I really need to shape up soon! ;-) Working really gives me energy and makes me happy. It is great to work with people who value my input - helps to improve my selfesteem. Slowely but surely, I am starting to believe in myself again.

Every now and then I become aware I am doing better: when we were in France in June, I noticed I actually had the energy to play with my childeren for a while, and even better, enjoy it. Dinner, always a difficult time, is more often fun than not. I notice I don't panic so much when there is a disappointment or problem. Our nanny announced she would need to cut down her days due to an internship and whereas this would've thrown me off for quite a bit and quite some time a couple of months ago, I now solved the problem without too much troubles. A problem like this still somewhat 'consumes' me, but at least I am able to postpone solving other problems and I don't spend all my time trying to solve the problem at hand. Some of these things may seem petty to you, but where I am coming from, we're talking major improvements! ;-D

Summer depression

You've probably heard about a winter depression: feeling listless and down in winter. There is another seasonal affective disorder (SAD) (!): the summer depression. This depression is quite the opposite from the winter depression. People suffering from a summer depression have the tendency to eat less and lose body weight, while those suffering from a winter depression eat more and gain weight. Summer depressed people are more often excited in stead of listless. They also commit suicide more often. Hot and humid days are their 'darkest' days (watch out Pittsburghers!! ;-)).

Child psychology continued...

Playing the age game again (you know: Elise says "when I am twelve, Vincent is ten; when I am twenty, Vincent is eightteen" etc...) we asked Elise: 'And when you are eightteen?' "I want a motorcycle!"

Ingmar Bergman died

another genius bites the dust...

at a loss for words

Does it ever happen to you: while in a conversation you can't think of a certain word and it's on the tip of your toungue but yet you can't pronounce it... I had that today and I won't rest before I know the word. Strange thing is, I know for sure the letter it starts with. Today my word should start with a D. The word I was looking for? Organic....

Plants for People

Plants for People is the name of an international organisation distributing information about how plants in our environment can be good for us. Plants clean the air in our homes or at hte workplace - this air is often even more polluted than the air outside! Their site lists various plants and their function in cleaning up our polluted air, such as:
• Tobacco smoke: sansevieria, chlorophytum, pothos dracanea.
• Electronics (computers, tv, hifi, video, etc): cacti.
• Paint, detergents, carpet glue, furniture out of triplex, isolation material,
• Colorants: climbing plants, aloé vera, ficus.
• Soluables: chrysanthymums.

Plants help to fight against microbes, fungi and other (toxic) pollutants. "Dieffenbachia, begonia's, chrysanthymums and geraniums exert antibacterials and even antibiotics", apparently.

Plants which have yellow, brown, greyish or black leaves don't necessarily need water, they might just have too many pollutants in them. Up to you to figure out which ones...

Weblog Bagdad

Our eight o'clock evening news 'aired' a weblog on Bagdag today. 'People become numb for items and pictures of the war, but the war goes on and has an impact. A 29 year old inhabitant of Bagdad tries to paint a picture of his everyday life in this city and how it is impacted by the war.' Interestingly, the pictures I too have become numb for, got a whole new dimension while seen during his (for the occasion spoken) log. You can read the log (in Dutch) here.

Child psychology

An interesting example of child psychology: Elise knows she is two years older than Vincent. "I am four and he is two. When I am ten, he is eight. When I am thirtytwo, he is thirty," and so on. We were impressed and played the game for a while, calling out numbers between four and one hundred. However, when we changed the question into: when Vincent is four, how old will you be? she would not know the answer, no matter the ages we tried... Answering the question requires taking the perspective of the other and when you are four, this is virtually impossible.(It obviously was not so much math what she was doing; when we are doing math, she is able to answer the question!)

YouTube shit

I've been surfing a bit on YouTube and it struck me (again) how much unbelievable shit people put in their comments. It amazes me how single minded, short sighted, stupid and easily stepped on your toes (to name a few...) people can be. I noticed it before on these types of 'mass sites', but YouTube is a winner here in my mind...
Anyhow, a funny video for when you are in a bit of a silly mood, and just don't pay any attention to the terrible discussion about it in the comments....

Keyrings

One of my post recently got a comment asking me to send her a picture of my keyring so she could publish it and link to my blog. Gotta respect that, so here's the picture I sent her to publish on her blog.

stapelgedichten

Gaaf: trek een aantal boeken uit je kast, leg ze op elkaar, lees de titels van boven naar beneden en... je hebt je gedicht! Zie ook de blog erover. Stuur daar je foto en tekst naar toe en wie weet wordt het gepubliceerd! Hier alvast de mijne:

Alleen in Londen
Slagerszoon met een brilletje
Hele dagen in de regen
Golf van ontzetting

Kinderwijsheid

Werkend voor Kay, kwam ik vandaag deze wijsheid tegen:

Wat is er na de dood? Nou, geen dood natuurlijk
Victor, toen 7 jaar*

[*uit: Zelfmanagement voor de ziel door Maurice de Valk]

Jacuzzi

My neighbour bought a jacuzzi for in his backyard. Just forgot the jacuzzi could not be put there by carrying it through the house or via the side of the house. there is a solution to every problem:



(notice the jacuzzi hanging on the crane in the last picture)

Werelddag voor Internationale Gerechtigheid

Vandaag is de Werelddag voor Internationale Gerechtigheid. Op deze dag wordt herdacht dat op 17 juli 1998 het eerste permanente internationale hof voor de berechting van oorlogsmisdadigers (ICC) werd opgericht. De jet d'eau in het meer van Genève, met 140 meter een van de hoogste fonteinen ter wereld, kleurt vanavond rood. De rode verlichting symboliseert het bloed van honderdduizenden mensen die de afgelopen jaren in de Sudanese regio Darfur door oorlogsgeweld om het leven zijn gekomen.

Bron: Trouw

exchange of roles

At this very moment Rob is stitching his pants and I am reconfiguring my laptop [although the multitasking bit remains with me: I am preparing the weekly menu and am updating this blog at the same time...or maybe I am just having trouble concentrating...?]

Sigmund

Sigmund heeft deze week een strip aan mij "opgedragen":


(bron: Volkskrant)

Respect!

Last weekend a friend of mine got married. While he wore a snow white wedding suit, his bride wore a black latex weddinggown.


Yesterday, Elise received a birthday invitation from her friend Bo (turning 4 as well) via YouTube.

Beads and walnuts

Vincent decided to put a bead up in his nose yesterday... Just before I decided to call the doctor, Rob got it out by having him b low his nose real hard. I didn't know a bead that big even fit in his nose... Now he walks around telling everybody 'bead, nose.. prrrrfft!

Elise went to preschool and when asked if she had had a good time in France she answered 'no, the walnuts weren't ripe yet'...

clone of my brother?

I've said it before: Vincent looks and acts like my brother, but I just have to share this. He and I returned from France by plane last weekend. While walking in the airport at Gatwick, Vincent stopped in his tracks to look in awe at a advertising poster. On the poster: long women's legs in red high heeled shoes.....

next stage

Elise started school yesterday!! Well, actually it is a getting used to period: five weeks of attending school during two mornings a week. She was extremely excited - as was I ;-D It went very well, she was very social with the other kids and took good part in the classwork (as far as classwork goes in first grade.... (previously kindergarten))

words don't come easy

Vincent is starting to talk and actually knows quite a lot of words alreay, it's just you have to know what he is saying. "A" is apple 'O' is 'op" (finished), e = eten (to eat or food). So no poroblems with the vowels there...!v ;-) But he also knows more: bo/bov = boven (above), doe = douche, ba = bad or bah (yuckk) depending on the context, au is either miauw or actually au (again, context...!), kla = klaar (ready). so basically two syllables is too difficult, but if you know the context, you can actually keep up quite a converstaion with him! ;-)

Determination

Saturday morning, 7:15 AM Vincent wakes up, Rob takes him downstairs to play. Returns to bed. 7:20 AM, footsteps on the stairs. Vincent walks up our (closed) door. Daddie... Daddie... DADDIE... DAAAAADDIEEEEE!! DAAAAAAAAAADDDIIEEEEE!!! this continues for a while, but obviously isn't working. Tougher measures are in order: knock knock... knock knock... KNOCK knock... KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK (using fists now) DAAAAADIIE KNOCK KNOCK DAAAADIEE!! Finally giving in, Rob (he is calling *you* honey...) opens de door and lets Vincent in. With a big smile he climbs up on the bed, hands his father three books and*whispers* 'daddie, book...book...'

Reading again

One of the more depressing side effects of my depression was that I didn't have the peace to read a book. *Was* because this Easter weekend I started to read again! Innocent man by John Grisham. So far, excellent book!

Positive developments for women around the world

Reading the paper today, I came upon two small articles which reported about positive developments for women:

- Uganda ruled that cheating women (in a marriage) as of today would be treated equal to men: no judicial punishement (in stead of inprisonment for up to ten years). Also, a widow now has equal rights to the inheritance as a widower. Go Uganda!! The men in Uganda are less positive: women will now start to cause us lots of head aches... Losers!

- Eritrea has outlawed the circumcision of women, under punishment of inprisonment and fines of up to a few hundred Euros. It won't ban the custom, but will certainly play an important role in limiting it.

Just thought you ought to know ;-)

Think positive!

Came by this oneliner today:

"The wounded oister repairs its shell with a pearl"

by Judith Hamerlinck

Medieval helpdesk

my dear cousin Petra sent me this. Check it out!!

http://www.devilducky.com/media/57946/

Broccoli

Meanwhile, Vincent has devoured more than half a pound of broccoli all by himself. That is on top of the tomatoes, potatoes and fish... still munching away...

It's all Greek to me...

Had my car at the garage for it's annual check up. Picked it up at the end of the day, Elise and Vincent were with me. The mechanic named all the things they had fixed. 'Why doesn't that man speak Dutch, mom?,' asked Elise. That's right girl, it's all Greek to me too....

Vote

Today we are voting for Provincial States. I cannot turn my neck to the left. I wonder if it is a sign...

Tough

We're getting to the nitty gritty details in therapy (actually these usually are at the base of psychological problems...). Who would've ever guessed I need to let go of my over-perfectionism and stop expecting this of others...?! Sounds simple, but not so simple for me to accept in peace...

First day at work!

Today was my first day at work! Preliminary meeting to get to know each other and brainstorm about the overall direction of the project - it was great! Even greater was the fact that both other team mates mailed the initiator afterwards and congratulated him on 'his excellent choice' to involve 'this intelligent woman'. [And before you'll start hassling me on all this egotripping of late: it's part of my therapy to feel good about myself!, so there!!]

Mess

It's Sunday morning 9:30 and the breakfast table is a mess, there are toys scattered all over the living room, and the bath room has basically become one big swimming pool.... It's good to have the kids back! ;-D

Work!

A close friend of my parents has asked me to join him in a project regarding integration here in Almere! It is still not entirely sure the project will actually go through as it will depend on government subsidy, but we have good hopes. The new governement (to be installed today) focuses on these types of themes and even if our provincial elections don't really go the way I hope them to, it shouldn't be a problem. My role will be that of the project and proces manager (who would've ever guessed... :-D), so my lack of knowledge on the subject can be excused. I am printing dozens of pages right now though, because you-know-me: I wouldn't be anything if not well prepared for my first meeting on March 1 :-D I am so excited! To work (particularly with the eminent people also involved - I can learn so much from them!!), to earn money again (and actually be able to spend again without feeling guilty), to put my mind towards something else than my two wonderful kids, to meet people, to network, to... well, to be a working mom!

I am GOOD!

Some days, I can be extremely happy with myself ;-D Today is such a day. I have signed, sealed and delivered the contract between us and our new nanny!! Yes, I know I have written before we had found day care, but being my perfectionist self I couldn't leave well enough alone and went for what everyone told me was impossible. Well, as it turns out, it isn't. Because I have managed to find EXACTLY what I was looking for: a young woman, trained in day care who will take care of Elise and Vincent at our home for four days a week. And she will do some light work around the house releiving us from rush-hour stress in the morning and evening. And, thanks to our new tax laws this is actually somewhat affordable too. Like I said, I am good!

PS: obviously I have known about this for a while, but I dind't want to jinx it by telling you before it was actually totally done. ;-S

Sweet Valentine

My Valentine left me for the ski slopes yesterday.... But from a high Swiss Alps mountain top he did call me today to wish me a Happy Valentine's Day. And he asked me to take a look in our attic: a bottle of bubbly and some beautiful flowers.... *blush* I do love my Valentine...

Shine

Just saw an incredible movie: Shine. Absolutely brilliant! Unfortunately based on a true story - the piano player loses it completely, that's why. Music is absolutely superb! Must get that soundtrack!

Is-a-nerd?

I think not! Mleen posted about the nerd test, so I just had to take the test. My score? They defined the score as follows: "not a nerd, but definitely not hip" That's right, I am a mother, I ain't got time to be either!!! (besides, notice how I can 't even get this dumb picture to be lined up correctly in this post....)

E-bay vendor of the year!

I don't know if he is, but he gets my vote!

Hello dear e-bay buyer,

This is to let you know that a big limo stopped in front of my humble apartment"today with in it the director-general of my bank branch. He personally wanted to deliver me a notification that payment for your e-bay auction has reached him.

Therefor.........

Your CD has been gently taken from our shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

After the candle was lit, twenty white doves were released, lead by a grey dove ( the grey signalizing a leading and marking of a safe transcendence from heaven to earth), after all, with out them, "Who knows where that parcel may end up with the great postal services of this world..."

And finally, (it was a hard search to find them, but we managed to find) seven virgins blessing the package with rose water to make sure nothing can go wrong on it's journey

Festivities are underway to mark this occasion including the unveiling of a new postage stamp and a new coin. Finger sandwiches and brown ale will be served. Top hats will be optional.

The bells of nearby St. David's clock tower will peal, on the hour, for 4 days...and the world shall hear the triumphal news proclaimed through the positive feedback left for you.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Apeldoorn waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our own private jet.

(But please be aware that this private jet sometimes has a will of his own and has been caught before when he tried to disguised himself as a padded envelope)....

Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all exhausted but we also can't wait for you to come back to another great e-bay deal.

Needless to say that a positive feedback for fast response and honesty has been left for you. This will linger around a bit in the ebay cyberspace and will pop up the moment you let me know you're satisfied with the product by leaving me a nice feedback too.. Finally there has even been a message send to e-Bay and to all eBay community sites to vote you as "greatest e-Bayer ever".

Thank you once again,
Hopefully you'll enjoy this auction as much as I have done

Regards.... Eduard
(abeldoorn)

Lights out!

Sympathieke actie om op donderdag 1 februari van
19.55 tot 20.00 alle lichten uit te doen voor de
bewustwording rondom de klimaatverandering.

A good sympathetic action on Thursday 1st February
from 19:55 to 20:00 hours. Everybody will turn of
their lights to make everybody become aware of
climate change.

Op 1 februari doen we ALLE LICHTEN UIT van 19u55
tot 20.00u !
DRINGEND : actie tegen de klimaatsverandering.

Neem op 1 februari 2007 deel aan de grootste
mobilisatie van de burgers tegen de
klimaatsverandering ! Laat ons alle lichten doven,
zodat de (politieke) besluitvormers beseffen dat
er iets mis is.

L'Alliance pour la Planète (groepering van
milieuverenigingen) doet een oproep tot al de
burgers ; "gun de planeet 5 minuten rust" :
iedereen wordt verzocht alle lichten te doven op 1
februari as, van 19.55 hr tot 20.00 hr.

Het gaat er niet om enkel die dag gedurende 5
minuten energie te besparen, maar wel om de
aandacht van de burgers, de media en tevens de
politieke besluitvormers te vestigen op de
energieverspilling en  de noodzaak om dringend
iets te ondernemen !

Gedurende 5 minuutjes zal de planeet kunnen
uitrusten : dat duurt echt niet lang en het kost
niets. En het zal de politici en kandidaten voor
de parlementaire verkiezingen van juni 2007
duidelijk maken dat de
klimaatverandering een onderwerp uitmaakt dat
weegt in het politieke debat.

En waarom op 1 februari 2007? Omdat die dag in
Parijs het nieuwe rapport van de klimatologische
experten van de Verenigde Naties uitkomt. En dat
gebeurt bij onze buren; wij kunnen dus onmogelijk
deze kans laten voorbijgaan en moeten bijgevolg de
schijnwerpers richten op de dringende aard van 's
werelds klimatologische situatie.

Als we allen deelnemen zal deze actie werkelijk
een mediatieke én politieke invloed hebben, en dit
enkele maanden vóór de verkiezingen ! Laat dit
bericht zoveel mogelijk circuleren, stuur het
zoveel mogelijk door, ook naar lokale politici;
vermeld het in Newsletters, op je site....

Nerd

Yesss! I managed to actually put a new DVD recorder into my pc! ;-) And it works too! Is-a-nerd rules!!!

Anybody need two screws?....

Snow!

We've had the warmest winter in decades so far, but as I am watching out of the window right now: it is snowing!!!

Significant progress

Elise had twins over this afternoon and it went really well! They are not particularly the most quiet boys either. Wouldn't have survived it half a year ago (probably not even considered the possibility), but we actually invited them back! I call that significant progress :-D

Soeperdepoep!

"Soep bestaat hoofdzakelijk uit water en groenten en doet het heel goed in de voedingspiramide. Eén portie soep (250 ml) levert al 1/6de van de dagelijkse hoeveelheid vocht die we volgens voedingsdeskundigen zouden moeten opnemen, en bijna twee porties (150g) van de aanbevolen vijf porties fruit en groenten." Toch goed dat wij dagelijks soep eten!

uit: e-gezondheid e-newsletter N°391

Found day care!

Elise and Vincent will be going to a guest home close to our home as of the end of February! We get subsidized by Rob's employer and the government, so we can actually afford it too :-)

In de strijd tegen het gewicht:

'Slow' eten tegen overgewicht

De snelheid waarmee we onze maaltijden innemen heeft wellicht invloed op ons gewicht. Vandaar de belangstelling voor een nieuw onderzoek, uitgevoerd door K. Melanson (U. of Rhode Island, Kingston). Aan dertig vrijwilligers werd gevraagd op twee verschillende tijdstippen, nadat ze 's morgens een standaardontbijt (400 kcal) hadden ingenomen, een maaltijd te komen gebruiken. Het enige verschil tussen de maaltijden was de wijze waarop ze werden gegeten. Gevraagd werd één maaltijd vlug te verorberen met een grote eetlepel. De andere moest rustig ingenomen worden, met een kleine eetlepel die na iedere hap even op het bord werd gelegd. De uiteindelijke calorieaanbreng van de 'snelle' maaltijd (9 minuten) bedroeg 646 kcal, terwijl die voor de 'trage' maaltijd (29 minuten) 579 kcal bedroeg. Daarenboven gaven de deelnemers de slow-maaltijd in termen van eetgenoegens een hogere score. Omgerekend naar drie maaltijden per dag zou dit op een dagelijks calorisch verschil van zowat 200 kcal komen of 9kg op jaarbasis...

ENGLISH: the gist: eat your food slowly, it does make a difference in calory-intake, it could make a difference of 18 lbs per year!


uit: " HEALTH & FOOD " nummer 80, December 2006

Running water

I am sure the male part of this readership is familiar with the almost automatic reaction of a certain body part upon watching running water. Well, Vincent certainly is and recently we have had to wash the bath mat quite frequently and explain to Elise what was going on. Yesterday we had to wash the bath mat again. Elise explained: 'When girls watch running water, they have to pee!'

Too much ice cream

Despite all the anguish, we had a very nice weekend. Sunday we went swimming and Vincent added another skill: he jumped off the pool sidewall (a wall about his height above the water)! We all had fun gliding down the waterslides and jumping in and out of the water. In the afternoon we met up with Elise's favorite friends Micha and Bastiaan for Micha's birthday. We were invited to eat pancakes on the Pannenkoekenboot (pancake boat). Memorable words from Elise: the kid's ice cream was too big, they should only have one boule of ice cream!

Not alone....

[english version below]
AMSTERDAM - 12-01-2007 -
Een 44-jarige man heeft vrijdagmiddag op de A10 bij Amsterdam zeker vijf kilometer op de motorkap van een auto meegereden. Ter hoogte van het VU Medisch Centrum zag de man een auto met daarin een medewerker van Bureau Jeugdzorg.

Omdat de man problemen heeft met Bureau Jeugdzorg over zijn kind, wilde hij de medewerker graag spreken. Daarop verliet de man zijn eigen auto met nog draaiende motor en sprong op de motorkap van de auto met de medewerker, aldus een woordvoerster van de politie.

Pas kilometers later, vlak voor de Coentunnel, werd de auto klemgereden door politieauto's en kon de man van de motorkap worden afgehaald. De motorkaprijder en de twee inzittenden zijn niet gewondgeraakt. Alle drie worden ze door de politie gehoord. Over de identiteit van de inzittenden van de auto is niets bekendgemaakt.

English:
Last Friday a man travelled on the hood of a car for about 5k. The man had recognised the car as belonging to an employee of Youth (Foster) Care. Because he was having problems with Youth care, he wanted to speak to this employee about his kid and jumped on the hood. After several kilometers, the car was cornered by several police cars and the man could be taken off the hood. Neither of the man got hurt. Identities were not released.

Busy finding day care

We have decided to ditch Foster Care and place our children with reliable day care. So I've been busy because as far as I am concerned our children will remain with the Semeijn family for only as long as absolutely necessary. If they are this inflexible with Elise, no wonder they have a problem with her...!

Fun?! NOT!

I was gonna post something fun and direct you to www.wiihaveaproblem.com, but time caught up with me and now I am heavily frustrated from the 'evaluation' we just had with Foster Care. Rob and I definitely need to stop being so naive to think these people actually want to help us. Where we thought we were going to evaluate the past period and talk about continuing it, we were confronted with the fact that a) they had the future allready planned out without consulting us on any aspect of it (once again...), b) we actually have no choice in the matter - it's basically take it or leave it (no matter we offered about seven different alternatives... they didn't even think about ONE of them... *^&%!#@#$@$%@@!!! )and c) they are convinced they are doing the best for our children while STILL not understanding the fact that the health and happiness of our children is directly related to the health and happiness at the home front. If things at home don't work well, the kids won't do well. So don't tell me the option you are presenting and which doesn;t work for us at all, is the best you can do for the kids. IDIOTS! And *please* don't listen to the advice of the pediatrician and family therapist who has actually studied children's well being and has had a flourishing practice during, oh, only for about the past fourty years or so, noohooo, let's theorize and listen to the woman who has actually never even seeeen our kids and is a former teacher *&&%^$#%*(@*()*!!!!!! Let's listen to the laymen's view of the foster parents! Yeah, let's do that! They know best! After all, they did such a nice job raising their own children! Yoohoo! We obviously have absolutely NO clue about what is best for our kids....God, give me a gun! Please let me bomb the hell out of all the idiots of this world, starting with foster care... If anyone knows who is in charge of these idiot institutes, please tell me, so I can file a complaint. But first, we'll take our kids to private day care.

Elise speaks her mind

Rob brought me home a bottle of wine tonight. He puts it on the table and tells Elise: "It's for Mom." Elise proceeds to read the lable: "Only women are allowed to drink wine!"

Depression: (inter)national disease nr. 4

Last Saturday, the Volkskrant featured an article on depression: it now is national disease nr. 4 (measured in loss of healthy years or early death) and will soon become nr. 1 or 2. In the Netherlands alone, each year 350.000 people develop a depression. Four to five out of every twenty persons deal with a depression or some type of anxiety. We're not talking about your average winter dip either, but of a fullblown psychological disorder. A disorder that costs our society 2,9 billion Euro per year. Needless to say, several different pairs of eyes are now finally focussing on this 'phenomenon'.

By the way: contrary to popular belief, the disease is not a ' luxury' or western disease growing as economical development is progressing. In non-western cultures, depression will have climbed up to nr. 2 national disease by the year 2020. Without aids, it would be number one.

I hope the article helps take away (some of) the taboo surrounding the disease. It's time to open up our eyes and realise not only 'losers' get depressed.

Clean itchy news

got up this morning, scratched my head and a flee fel out.... probably from the (stray) cat I petted yesterday. We thought at first it might be head lice, so I looked at Elise's hair and Rob looked at my hair and.... darn it, we both have head lice... So another day of fun cleaning. Rob thought he was gonna get a nice peaceful day as I had planned to visit my grandmother for her birthday (96!) as well as a friend for her birthday (not 96...). But no, we did another early spring cleaning. Yeah! NOT!

E-bay

I'm quite the e-Bayer these days. I recently started using it and I am fascinated by all the tools and tricks they apply to make you by more and more. Marketing-wise it really works well! It certainly works on me ;-D I mostly buy girl's clothes for Elise and educational toys (although Marktplaats is much better for the latter) . Found out I can get new clothes for as litte as €1! So that's basically what I bid on - the last 15 minutes are the most nerve-racking: will anyone else bid?? will I get it for the one euro?? Yesssss, got it!! The rush!! Yes, I know: 'Get a life!!'....

Survived a week!

Survived a week of having the kids around ...! In stead of staying with their foster family every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (1), Elise and Vincent spent a week at home due to a short holiday of their foster family. While Rob helped out whenever he could and spent a few days extra at home, I still had a couple of days with them alone and this stretch of a week was a first. I am tired, fell in somewhat of a coma yesterday afternoon, but I survived!! This is what I call progress ;-)

(1) foster care can be given in several ways: 24 hrs a day for a long period, 24 hrs for a short period (crisis), only weekends, only holidays, a weekend a month or, as in our case, only during the day for a few days a week during a certain period of time (long or short).

Would've been nice....

Just watched a report on TV about pregnancy and psychological problems. Apparently two out of every ten women (!) deals with psychological problems during and around the time of being pregnant. The St. Lucas Hospital in Amsterdam has started a program POP (doll) to help women with and prevent from depression. Apparently it is absolutely no problem taken certain medicines (such as lithium) while pregnant. It would've been nice to have know that when I was pregnant. Allthough I also have to wonder how anyone would've known about my depression. I certainly didn't look for any help. Anyway, please don't get the idea I am all depressed about this now! :-) I'm just saying: it wouldve been nice to have known that. Glad for all those women out there now!! (And just for the record: mine is not a postpartum.)

Mammmaaaaa!

Vincent is currently progressing really well in the department of new and/or correctly used words. Whereas previously basically everything was 'kijk!'(look!), he now knows the sounds of dogs, ducks, cows and tigers and a few nouns. And he actually calls us - I am not so sure I am happy about that..... Mammmmaaaaaa!

Of course...

A Happy New Year to all of you!!!

May it bring all you wish for.

Our neighbours were the only ones to receive X-mas cards this year. (Better a good neighbour than a far friend, right?!) Thanks to all who send us cards - we really do appreciate it. I feel bad immediately for not sending you a card when I receive yours. Hope this makes up for it (a little).

Voorspoed (prosperity)

Toasted to the new year with Voorspoed champaign - while it didn't make us win the lottery (but then again, it was the last number for the past year... hmmmm), we are taking it as our starting point for this coming year. Up, up we go!!!!

First Post of the rest of my posts

Ok, having blogged for a while in Hyves (somehow not convenient enough for me) and having 'noted' on Skype (very convenient but notes needed to be too short for comfort) and - and this is basically the main reason - realising I don't *have* to post every day, I have decided to start a blog. For whatever it's worth. Think it will be some kind of diary blog (like the Skype notes, but a tad longer. So enjoy. Won't guarantee all (or most) of this will be in English. Tough luck for those who care. So here it is: Is-a-blog!