Some days you better stay in bed and don't move if you will survive until the evening ! That happened to me yesterday. First this story with the mouse we hosted for at least 24 h if not more. Since I have cats I also have mice !
Then this : As always when you really don't need it, the telephone rings. I was just standing on a stool to take the light garlands out of the tree when it rang. Not anymore light in my movements like a dragonfly I wanted to step down, I managed more to imitate an elephant and with the garlands around my neck and the tree over me I found myself sitting in our armchair ! Of course the telephone had stopped ringing.
Fortunately I didn't fall on the tiles but stumbled against the armchair. I sweard silently in my non existing beard, pulled myself together, tried to get rid of the garlands and stood up. The tree was now laying on the floor with all the colored plastic balls which was very appreciated by cat Rosie and cat Lisa who found it very nice of me to have put the tree on the floor so that they could play with the decoration.
After two hours of work with the Christmas stuff I swore to myself to never decorate the house again ! And this is the only resolution I made for this year ... until Christmas !
We have got these very old (1920) chinese hand painted plates for our wedding 38 years ago. Of course they stand up as a decoration and were never used as plates. I love the flower decoration around and the old costumes of the ladies.
Appetizer When was the last time you received a surprise in the mail, and what was it?
It was a big Christmas parcel from Melli with two lovely little ceramic cats inside. It took me 15 min to open the parcel it was so well wrapped that it was easier to burgle a safe.
Soup If you could have a summer and/or winter home, where would you want it to be?
Certainly not a winter home ! I would love to have a flat in Egypt at the Red Sea right on the beach ! The weather is warm to hot and always sunny, people are very friendly there and life is also very cheap. It also only takes 4 h to get there.
1. Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.
2. An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
3. The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to.
4. Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.
5. A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.
6. New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more time
7. Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.
8. New Year's Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
9. People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.
10. Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
11. “Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average. Which means you've met your New Year's resolution.”
12. New Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
13. May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.
Yesterday evening we waited for the new year to start. We wanted to go to the 20 min farer located Brussels and watch the annual New Year's firework. There is always a lot of fun in the center of the city.
People from whole Belgium and a lot of tourists who especially come for this event are gathered in the parc just in front of the king's palace or on the Grand'Place. Usually they also bring their Champagne with them to empty the bottle at midnight while watching the firework.
Despite the politicians who want the whole world to believe that flemish and french speaking people don't like each other, because they are fighting, this event proves the contrary. Besides some fanatics on both sides nobody thinks about a separation between the flemish and the french speaking part amongst the population.
This year the firework had been cancelled. For the first time in Belgium's history there was a terrorist alert in Brussels and the government had decided to cancel the firework. This made people very angry and they even accused the government to have cancelled the firework on purpose so that flemish and french speaking people couldn't meet. This of course is ridiculous.
a lot of little things to eat ! From sushis over salmon and other snacks to little cheese balls filled with figs or salmon and as dessert a Tiramisu.
So we stayed home and watched the musical "Chicago" and some other shows on TV and enjoyed our little specialities.
At midnight fireworks started in our street and all around in Waterloo. People had spent a fortune to make their private firework in their gardens or somewhere else outside. It was a beautiful show and everybody screamed "Bonne Année"
My poor cats didn't appreciate these noises at all, cat Arthur disappeared in my wardrobe and the others under different beds. They only showed up when it was over.
This morning then I thought about something I had never really thought about. Not all of my blogfriends celebrate the New Year at the same time ! There is sometimes a big time difference. So I looked it up this morning.
For me it was 6 am and for most of the European countries too except my friends in the UK who maybe still celebrated because for them it was 5 am.
For those living in Vietnam they probably started their New Year's lunch it was 12 pm and in Singapore it was already 2 pm on January 1sth 2008.
My friends in Australia were maybe laying at the beach at 4 pm and in South Africa they probably started to eat their supper at 7 pm. In Brasil they enjoyed some tea or coffee now at 3 pm. For them the new year had already started a few hours ago.
But there are my American friends who still have to wait for midnight to come and there it varies too, in New York it is just midnight and everybody says cheers to the New Year, while in Los Angeles it is only 9 pm and they have to wait for a couple of hours.
So we Bloggers don't welcome the New Year all at the same time. It is strange but I really never payed attention to this fact.
But now it is the New Year for all of my Blogfriends and I wish a
The word key evoked a souvenir in me, the Schlüsselkinder, or "Latchkey kids" in English. The official definition says : "A usually school-age child who regularly spends part of the day unsupervised at home while the parents are at work".
There were many of them when I was a child, just after the second world war. The schools, as still today in Germany finished at 1 pm and from there on the children were of their own. There was nothing organized for children after school.
This was a big problem for the parents. A lot of women at that time were alone because they were widows, or their husbands were still war prisonners. They had to work if they wanted to feed their children.
This didn't fit at all in the society scheme because officially it was not usual that women worked. But the after war situation had special rules. Women had no choice, or they had to work to support their family or they suddenly lost their work and had to stay home because the war was over and the men back. For this reason, I had never been a latchkey kid. My mother stayed home and was bored the whole day. I was running and playing around with those who wore a key on a string around their necks.
I found this very interesting and was rather envious because they had a key and could go home whenever they wanted to without ringing the doorbell. Nobody cared either if the child was feeling lonesome or not or had other problems.
Of course this situation was very much critizised from all of those who had a normal life and everything was done to give the working mother a bad conscience, but nobody organized something to help them officially. Of course help between neighbors existed and most of the latchkey kids had a neigbor's address where it could go in case of a problem.
Long after this time a study was made about these children to find out if there were more criminality amongst them then the other children with no key around their necks. The result was amazing, the latchkey kids had become responsible adults much more then the others because they had to learn very early to take care of themselves. Of course some choose the way of criminality, but not more then the "nomally" brought up children.
Peter at Holties House is hosting Fun Monday this week. He wants us to tell our favorite joke and/or show our favorite cartoon.
This is a real problem for me because I don't like jokes in general. Especially not when during a a party or a supper somebody's only conversation skills are jokes ! That is really too boring and doesn't make me laugh. Therefore I am unable to tell you a joke, as soon as I have heard them they are already forgotten. I prefer by far funny life stories. The only joke I kept in mind is because cats are involved.
Two cats meet on a street. One cat says in total surprise "what !!! you are pregnant again ?? who is the father ?" and the other answered : "I don't know I had my head in the trash bin".
I don't have a favourite cartoon to show but here are my favourite videos which make me laugh.
The poor owner must have a horrendous water bill !
I always read on blogs that people are afraid of spams ! They have spam protectors and thousands of verifications not to let through one spam. And when a spam manages to get through, usually the reaction is from furious to fear. And if on top they write about this spam and what it had caused I think the person who send it must be very satisfied because at least he got what he wanted : attention and reaction.
I haven't done anything special to protect myself from spams except the usual things which everybody has. So it is not very difficult for "spammers" to get through and I admit I find it funny ! It is so amazing to read what some peoples brains are breading a real feast for somebody who is interested in psychology.
I cannot say that I am getting spams very often, but it happens from time to time and it always makes me laugh.
This morning for example I got a proposal to spend New Year with a young man (pictures were available, but I refrained myself from the pleasure to look at this Adonis) in all "discretion". It was a "call service" who offered it's services. Isn't that nice ? Maybe it is not of interest to me but I am sure some lonely or unsatisfied women are glad about such an offer and service.
Sometimes I get offers for free condoms to try out. Besides the fact that I don't need them anymore and never had, I don't know how to find the time to try out 4 different sorts at my high age (and not only mine). I think my blogging would suffer.
I don't even mention the porns which I personally find funny because the contortions of these (mostly) women are worth a circus presentation.
It also happens that people use my blog to empty their fanatic religious or political hearts and try to make a better world. These usually mile long comments I just delete I don't want to make the world better this way.
There are a few other examples such as publicities but not really worthwhile to mention. So what is your reaction when you get spams ?
