Article

I was reading this women's weekly and it had an article on how to take certain things on your trip abroad. It featured tips on how to take along chocolate spread (Nutella in this case), pickles, etc. This makes me wonder... how important can Nutella be to you!? Most countries have shops and loads of those shops sell chocolate spread, and mostly Nutella is one of those, and still, you must be able to stay alive if you don't eat Nutella for a week or two!? And who the hell needs pickles that badly that they cannot leave that behind!?

Ok, I admit to having eaten a lot of Nutella during my time in Scotland, but still I have never ever imported it! I eat a lot of pickles, but I usually don't take it on trips with me. And the combination of the two!? Is it not the cliche image of pregnant women!?

nice thing about the article was that they mentioned what actually happened to the food that didn't make it through customs; it's mostly given to charity and the alcohol will be sold and the profit goes to orphanages. There went my theory on how those custom workers eat and drink for free ;)

Happy again :)

I must admit that the conversation I had with our manager last week has had its impact. I'm actually enjoying work again. I've been walking around the work floor past week, head up, feeling good and being honestly cheerful. It's gotten this far that I'm doubting to apply for another function when I get the chance -which might take some time since there are problems with the union so they're holding back the vacancies- since I'm honestly happy where I am right now. The only downside is the shifts and the fact that it's really hard to combine our worklife and our family life, especially since Icky's working more or less the same shifts as I am and we sometimes have to try to move the earth to pick up the kids on time. But we'll find a way to solve this, I'm just a bit clueless about how we'll succeed at solving this problem without hopping over to another department, but time will tell.

correction

My friend from work just called me, therefore I must correct something I've written earlier... our manager does deserve the title of Manager of the Year! :-) So, Steven, it's not an official one, but still, here's your nomination for you!

Steven, manager of the year 2007, if they'll start a reality soap about it, print this out and send it in!

I just heard Belgacom will be firing 1500 people as well though... which is sad news :'( But we'll be hoping for the best...

I have to tell this

because I think it's hilarious! I'm laughing my ass off here!

Yaesseen's at home today since I needed to take Ilyas to the doctor and I wanted him to check up on Yaesseen as well. And he's sitting next to me, playing, but he's really creative and you cannot please the guy more than by giving him a pen and a book and let him draw. He took an old magazine and started drawing. He just said to me: "mama, look, I'm brushing lady's teeth" and he coloured them blue, and he thinks her teeth are nicely brushed :-)
That's my boy!

Unbelievable...

I'm being spammed, all the time, at work by one of our colleagues, at home by one of our colleagues, a long lost friend, and my dad.
I don't really mind, from time to time I spam people too.

H o w e v e r... today I had the oddest forwarded message in my mailbox, entitled "Top 100 best sexpictures", it's not like it's the first time I received a similar message, but it is the first time my dad sent me a similar message. All of a sudden I turn 13 again and wonder if he'll know if I open it, if he sent it to me as a test. Or to start the conversation about the birds and the bees. I already start blushing and I'm wobbling uncomfortably on my chair. I know about the birds and the bees and it's not a test and he knows I got the message, I mean he's the one who sent it to me, but still...

I guess I'll never feel comfortable discussing sex with my parents, not even if it's just over the internet, I'll always turn 13 again. I bet there is no real picture attached to the e-mail. I bet it's one of my dad's pranks, because he knows me all too well and he's probably in his chair laughing his pants off because he knows all too well I'm reacting like this

I hope

But still I don't have the guts to open the attachment
I'll let Icky do that when he gets home from work! :D

the title

Maybe an explanation of the title of this blog is at place...

A couple of weeks ago we had a visitor from the headquarter in Brussel at work. And as they all do there, he was wearing a suit, a nice and -obviously expensive - black one. He was wearing black shoes underneath it and white socks. Seven people pointed out to me that he was wearing white socks, I only noticed after staring at his feet for a few minutes, because to me it wasn't all that obvious. However, I am barely 5ft 2", which means I'm nearly at eyelevel with the 6ft 4" man, and way smaller than all the people who pointed out his socks... That's when I realised I must be looking at the world in frog perspection, and decided on this title!

I usually take my breaks with men measuring up to 7ft (ok, he's the tallest, the others are about 6ft 2", 6ft 3", but still), and my friend and colleague Sabrina is exactly as tall as I am, so if the two of us join those giants during break it's like we're Snowwhite's dwarves! ;-p

So, now you know, in case you were wondering.

cheers mates!

Well, I thought I should've been doing something better yesterday, but luckily I was proven wrong! ;-) Thanks to Dave and Lars, who've been posting comments, therefore have been reading this, I will continue ... any complaints, please direct those to them ;-)

But here's a reaction to some of the comments:
- at the end of the day there were only to colleagues who turned out to be jealous, all the others who know about this conversation seem to agree with what our manager has said to me and are happy for me to get this feedback. I must admit it did me a world of good, because when I returned on Monday, there was just one of them too stubborn to talk to me, which ended up in her sitting apart from everyone else, so on Tuesday she was her normal self again :-) But I've been having more fun at work, even on Tuesday, which normally isn't really my day. (I'm sorry Fabienne, I've been reading your blog, and I agree with you, but I really don't do Tuesdays, it's the day everything seems to be going wrong, mostly because we always start the day off wrong, and I really have to make an effort to be nice to people).
-the thing I wrote about reality TV seemed to be misinterpreted, I'm sorry about that, but I do hate reality TV too, I was just trying to be sarcastic (will have to try that again later, but I'll practice some more first), however, I do try to watch the first episode of a show, to be sure that I know what I'm dissing, plus I'm always asking Jonathan about how those people are in real life, so I try to watch some shows he's recorded (I have to make sure he can keep his job)
- jep, I still hang out with Marita, well, I must admit that it's been a while since we met, but still, it didn't make any difference, we've both grown up a bit, but haven't changed ;-) (by that I mean our bond hasn't changed)
- Lars, if you think my kids are already rubbing your age in now, just wait until you get over, they'll happy be counting your years, and they might add a few decades ;-) according to their counting (with their hands in the air), I'm 66 at this instance (forty years more or less won't matter, will it!? LOL)
well, possibly I'll be all of those things to them lol, but everyday they tell my I'm their 'best fwiend' :-D , so that makes up for basically being their slave
- well Lars, I enjoyed your comment to Soufyan waking up early and Yaesseen sleeping in late, especially since Soufyan's cheerful mood in the mornings (even at 5.00 AM), reminds me of Dave's :-)
- I really like my coffe cup too, it belongs to a set of four cups, the other three cups are possessed by our colleagues Michaël, Michaël (original I know, even worse: they're working at the same helpdesk (which has only five people working there...)) and Sebastian. I'm the only woman who's got one of those and I'm the only one not working at their helpdesk with the same cup too, so I kind of feel important. Well, the coffee tastes better since three espresso's go in it, and coffee's always better drank from a cup. The design's especially chosen for me :-) Michaël had other designs to chose from, but he's chosen that one for me! I like it too, but does it imply that I've got eyes everywhere and that I'm chaotic!??
- thank's for the compliment Lars, and when you find the time, really give the book a try!

Hmmm

I've been posting a lot tonight, I doubt anyone will read all of this, but still, here's a quick explanation why:
- there's nothing on television (except reality TV, but I'm sick of it), a shame, since our company has activated comfort view last night and I'd love to test it so I can really support the thing, but no way in hell I'll be pausing, recording and reviewing the show where a mother who's looking for a daughter-in-law is dissing one of the girls, just because she's got two kids... I'll have to try that tomorrow
- the kids are asleep and my man's working late tonight
- I finished my book (a brilliant one: "we need to talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver, if you get the chance, please read it, I absolutely enjoyed reading it) and need some time to start a new one because if I start reading another book, it just doesn't meet up with the one I just finished, I know because I tried
- I feel like I've visited all the sites already
- if I start cleaning, I'll wake up Ilyas and he's sleeping like a little angel, so I don't want to disturb him (LOL, ok, I admit; I don't feel like it, but I've got tomorrow off, so I'll do that tomorrow)

coffee at work

Lars likes his random challenge, and I always enjoy his too, here's my answer to it; two pics I took at work today, I hope you'll enjoy these Lars!? However, I'll never meet up with the master, but I wanted to give it a go.

BTW normally the machine gives us plastic cups, which you down in just a sec, and I don't really think it's that tasteful, but one of my colleagues, Michaël, gave me this cup, and I'm still grateful for that, because it brightens up my desk! So, thanks again Michaël!

I go to that machine about three times an hour or so, should you ever look for me at our office and not find me behind a PC, check at the coffee machine, he's my best fwiend ;-)

While I'm at it

I'll post a pic of our two other sons as well :-)

Here's Yaesseen, he's the one who resembles me the most, both in character and physically. But he's easily agitated and when he is, you'd better keep distance ;-) unfortunately he's got my morning temper as well, I wish he didn't heritated that.

The difference between him and Soufyan is hilarious, when Soufyan wakes up (at the break of dawn), he's wide awake and cheerful, when Yaesseen wakes up, however, he needs his time, he'll be cross, and he prefers to wake up late :-)

This picture's dated too, since it's been taken on the same day as Soufyan's.

And now I proudly introduce to you our youngest son, Ilyas, who's a cheeky wee monkey, and a little bit lazy as well... He's not like other babies his age; he refuses to sit, while other babies his ages have been doing so for about four months, but he does clap his hands all the time, he gives high fives and he pretends to be an Indian, by shouting "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" whilst moving his hands to and from his lips ;-)

He wants his cake...

... and share it! :-)

This Saturday Soufyan will be celebrating his fourth birthday, I honestly can't believe that four years have passed since I gave birth to him, where did time go?? Still, according to the rumours that are going around, it's the absolute truth, so I'm game.

We prepared a small party, Friday night his uncle Tom will be passing by with a present and then we'll have dinner and then it's off to bed for birthday boy for his big day. On Saturday my parents, grandmother, sister, brother-in-law, aunt and uncle will be passing by to have some b-day cake, especially ordered for the little (well, he's catching up with me...) man. On Monday he gets to give the kids in his class a wee present (I got a plate, a cup, cutlery and a bowl for each kid), I opted for the non-food option since these days kids have all kinds of food allergies and I don't want to be sued... still, this doesn't seem good enough for him. NO, he wants to eat cake in class with his classmates and teacher as well...

After school he goes to after school care with his brother and he wants to have a cake to treat with there as well. Who am I? His mother or his personal baker!? ;-) But I'm quite proud of his generosity, even though it sometimes puts me in a difficult position... when we have company he'll always invite them to stay over, even if the company is just in our house because they might want to be interested in buying it. :-) Ah, the innocence of a child...

BTW, the picture's a bit dated, but still, he's grown, but hasn't changed that much :-)

iPod ... OMG

Our company deals in iPods as well as telephony, ADSL and digital TV, however, they don't deal in all the groovy accessories.
I was just going throught the catalogue of a multimedia store, where I ran into the "OhMiBod - plug and play!" one of the many vibration accessories that one can get for the iPod... what's the deal with that!? It costs an awful lot of money and what do you do with it!? Do you use it when you're in the train, on your way to work, or when you're walking down the street, listening to some music and... I honestly can't imagine anyone doing so. But still, there seems to be a market for those things, so there must be people using them.

And what do you do when it's not working like you wanted, do you ring a call centre and ask for information on what to do? Hell, I hope our company will never start to give support by phone on those things... because I wouldn't know how to react.
It's already hard enough as it is, with 'video on demand', there are these 'adult' movies, which are more expensive than others, and apparantly some of the French movies do not have subtitles, and once in a while we get a customer who's complaining about it, and it's really hard to find a way to react in a professional way without giving or asking too many details... All suggestions to this matter are welcome...

The cable guys...

Today was another rather odd day at work, but nonetheless I had quite some fun (it was another day filled with compliments, so who am I to complain!? ;-) ) Anyway, the wind's come up again, and it was clearly influencing everyone...
For one, our manager started rearranging the lights, so it wouldn't be as bright as it usually is, and some people reacted to it, and when he came back from behind the closet his eyes were shining as if he were a small boy who'd pulled a great prank, it was really amusing to see! He's a cool guy, he really is, ok, he might not win the 'Manager of the Year'-award, but quite frankly I don't know of a manager who might... except maybe Sir Jim Wilson himself, but you know, in a way Steven reminds me of him, only Steven hasn't yet spilled his pint of lager on me... ;-) I'd surely enjoy a night in the pub with him though, because he has an interesting view on life, and we kind of have a similar sense of humour...

A N Y W A Y... before I drift away too far... this morning some workmen entered the office, and we were all quite unsure what they were there for and what they were doing, at a certain point the started unrolling cables through the hallway, into the smoking (aka breaktime) room, in the rooms we use for lessons, they demonted some pieces of the ceiling and were walking around, looking at the ceiling, moving on, coming back, looking again. We discussed the matter at lunch and were making fun of it... after lunchtime the process started again, but this time it was like someone pressed the rewind button, they were looking at the ceiling, moving on, coming back, looking again, and then they started to put the cables back the way they found them... so we were minding the guys and their cables all day, trying not to trip over them whilst going to the toilet... for no reason at all... but the cable guys worked their full eight hours and still have all the cables they started with, so they musn't worry to be unemployed tomorrow, I bet they'll start their process all over again... ;-)

Ahmadiyya

Last Sunday I went to a women's gathering organised by Pakistanis, I took my friend Marita along, and it was an experience I won't forget anytime soon!
It was absolutely brilliant, we felt extremely welcome and we got some nice spicy food.

I must admit that it was exactly what I needed, it was so good to see Marita again, we went to a pub to have some coffee first, and we had some time to talk, which did me a world of good. Anyway, afterwards we went to the meeting place, where we had the warmest welcome I've ever had.

And the one who thinks muslim women are surpressed, think again... and who thinks that it's a boring bunch of people, think again... the bond those women have is brilliant, in a way I'm jealous of them... I have a similar bond with some of my friends, but I'm not that open with people I barely know... I'll tell them a lot, but I won't give them the warmth I got from those women...

Next time they organise this, I'll be present again! No doubt about that!

I went to another thing organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association before, but then there were mainly men present, which didn't quite met up with this gathering.
Hoorrah for the ladies ;-)

Superhond 2007

OK, to continue on the subject of reality TV, it's getting out of hand. I had the bussiest of days yesterday, so when I arrived back home after doing the laundry, I just longed to sit in the sofa and watch some brainless television for about half an hour before turning to the chores that were still waiting for me...

Appearantly one of the channels started a new reality series "Superhond 2007", meaning as much as 'Superdog 2007', so as the title implies, it's a show to find the best dog in Belgium, but the 2007 implies that it'll be a yearly event! Thank god for that, because I don't think a year would be any good without knowing which dog knows the best tricks.

I have to admit though that my curiosity, and the fact that there was absolutely nothing interesting on, made me watch the show... mostly with disgust, there are so many people who actually kiss with their dog... ieuw... just the thought of it makes me want to throw up, but seeing it makes it hard to keep down food. Don't those people realise that dogs lick their you-know-what all the time, that they have the habit of putting their faces into other dogs' shit and then those people let their dog put his or her tongue into the mouth and ... IEEEEEEEEEUW ... it makes me wanna scream with horror...

But still, there was a funny accent too... one kid brought his goat, which was so cute... he brought his goat because the goat played soccer with him. But even better was the hunter who brought his pig along, because he had raised the pig like a dog and it went hunting with him. The pig's name was Fifi and Fifi didn't really seem house trained and when nature called he responded with loads and loads of pee, which was hilarious! The mockery of the man really made sense to me, I fully agreed with him.