Only Words

I had a dreadful row with Tina yesterday, in which she said really horrid things to me. I hate how polite behaviour on my part is interpreted as weakness, and authoritarian behaviour is interpreted as unfair. She apologized and we made up, but her words still fester. *sigh*

Nevertheless, I had a pretty good day. Maybe it's the prospect of moving. Also, Mr. E took the kids to a chess tournament, so I had the first half of the day to myself. Yay.
Unfortunately, Mr. E and I both completely forgot about the fact that we were supposed to see friends for afternoon coffee and cake. Eep. When our friends called, we eeped and rushed over, and we all laughed about it. :-) Luckily they are very good friends and very forgiving.

( Things I did well today: )

Drat!
I have to write an evaluation of my creative writing course. ( Read more... )

WIDA Open Feis results:
( Read more... )

Check out the wonderful wands that the kids made at Tina's birthday party.
( Pic behind the cut )

I am so behind on just about everything, it's ridiculous. Why is my brain working in slow mo?
I need to
- write progress reports for my students (I finished 2 out of 13)
- outline my scifi novel (haven't even started)
- finish my sooper sekrit project (wrote 5 out of 12-14 scenes)
- work on my fantasy novel (words written this month: approximately 5000...)
- prepare Tina's b-day party (which takes place on Friday)
- read and correct several stories
- organise an open mic for my students
- write a drabble for Mer
- tidy up the cellar
- prepare Wednesday's English class
- put three IKEA bags full of folded laundry into the wardrobes
- fold even more laundry
- call my dad

The icing on my cake? It's fasting week again. I need to reboot my body, I need to wean it off those nasty tortilla chips, crisps, and whatnot and go back to dark bread, lean luncheon meats, and pasta sauces without cheese. I have to lose weight because every time after dance practice my feet are killing me. When you're hopping on one leg, trying to dance with a jaunty sprig, every kilo counts. Believe me, I've been 6 kilos lighter than what I'm now, and it makes a huge difference. Don't worry, I fast about once or twice a year, usually in summer, because I always feel so frigging cold when I don't eat.

*sigh*

PS: Don't be mad if I don't have time to read your LJs. I miss you guys, miss reading your stories and discussions and your real life stuff, but lately I feel like my brain is full. It takes me ages to drum new knowledge into my head. Please don't think I'm indifferent. I'm just... not working on all thrusters, is all. *sigh*

Right, I better go to bed. I gotta get up in... uh... five and a half hours. *yawn*

Oh, and I want a new epi of Supernatural now, now, now.

Whohoo, thanks to a post in poshcat's LJ I finally know how to do little hearts. Yay!

( And now for some family stuff, like boardgaming, etc - feel free to skip... )

Hubby's comment after Viktoria threw up into our bed: "Boy am I glad that we aren't the kind of people who are dead drunk at this hour."
Priceless. *hearts hubby*
Having to scrub lasagne off the carpet and mattress? Not so priceless. *Le sigh*
The kids have been iffy for days, naughtier than usual, highly strung. Having them throw up is actually quite a relief, because then we can nod sagely and say: "Of course! They're sick."
Of course this means that Toyah won't go to school tomorrow. Bah.

Braunschweig Lions - 31 : 28 - Hamburg Blue Devils.
Yes! About time too. The last time I saw the Lions in a German Bowl final they threw their victory away during the last two minutes of the game.
There were also fireworks. I looove fireworks.
Friends gave us the tickets for my birthday. Great present!

We also saw Serenity (and Joss, Nathan, and Summer) on Friday. We dressed up and we took pictures. I hope to write a quick report tomorrow.
Today I have friends coming for lunch and then we'll go to a baby bazar, where they sell 2nd hand kids clothing. Keep your fingers crossed that I manage to get a few sweaters for Tina. I can't afford buying her anything new and she's outgrown practically all her clothes....
Mr. E has hard shoes now. Haven't seen him dance with them yet. Tina gets hers today. I guess I can look forward to a lot of noisy practicing in this house.

I just came back from looking at a large appartment in an old mill, about 5 minutes from where we currently live. The rent is about 250 EUR cheaper than the house we currently live in. The landlord sounds very nice. There's trees behind the building, the rooms are nice... It's perfect for us. We told the landlord that we'd like to take it, but of course there are dozens of other families looking at the place. Please keep your fingers crossed that we get the place. The kids could stay at the same school, I could still shop at the same shops, the bus stop is much closer, etc. There's no proper garden but the paved courtyard has patches of lawn and a few flower beds.
Apparently there's an old farmer next door who stables a few horses. The kids are really keen. We are keen. We'd finally have enough space for all our stuff. *crosses fingers till they hurt*

On Friday, hubby and I had our 17th wedding anniversary. What did we do to celebrate? Um, I dumped the kids in his lap and took off with a friend. Her b-day prezzie to me had been a voucher for a shopping trip to Hannover and Friday was a good day to cash it in. So, instead of smooching hubby all day (who had to work anyway), my friend and I strolled through clothes shops in Hannover. I saw beautiful clothes, especially a few wonderful skirts and frocks in a Noa Noa outlet store, but even the cheaper stores had very nice skirts and tops. I love the new autumn colors (especially the dark plum purple) and the Napoleonic blazers with two rows of buttons. Too bad I rarely have money to buy any clothes for myself. I have sweat shirts in my wardrobe that I've had since the Eighties. I never buy pants that cost more than 25 bucks, tops may cost up to 10. I shop second hand now or wear hand-me downs. I wish I could just throw out 95 percent of my clothes and buy new stuff. Most of my clothes are not 'me', you know? *sigh*

So, I didn't buy anything for myself (just a b-day prezzie for a friend and a belt for daughter #1) My friend treated me to a yummie bagle breakfast (yes, Hannover actually has a Bagles shop). And we had a very nice Burger and fries lunch, sitting outside in Indian Summer warmth, watching people hurry past us. We had meant to watch a movie, but couldn't agree on one, so we cancelled that. (And let me mention again that Howl's Moving Castle is a fantastic must-see movie!)

So much for Friday. Yesterday hubby and I attended an Irish Dance workshop held by Magic of the Dance celebrity Michael Donnellan. He turned out to be a very down to earth teacher, very polite, very effictive. For three hours he tought us a new Beginner's Reel. This afternoon, in the second part of the workshop, he'll teach us a Jig. *wibble* I've never danced a jig before, so this will be very embarrassing. I don't pick up dances very quickly. I am holding up the club's red lantern. I practically have a red B for Beginner slapped onto my ass. But I'll try to do my best anyway. Right now, the kids' class is getting tuition from him. I wonder what Tina will say when she comes home.

Last night our dance club went to an Irish pub (one with live music), and Michael Donnellan actually got on stage and sang an Irish ballad for us, acapella. He danced Rock 'n Roll with our teacher, made jokes, and clearly enjoyed himself. Fun was had. :-)

Today I'm feeling a bit meh. My stomach's a little upset. Hope it goes away soon, because the workshop starts at 3 pm.