the things that make me smile...

the day i look forward to most in a week is usually thursday, when i visit my old lady. weekends are an automatic trump though. weekends are great.

the highlight of my week so far was when i walked into the door at the house where i tutor spanish. the youngest, eva, immediately burst into a tears and wailing, knowing that my presence means that mommy is leaving for what must seem like forever to a kid. but then the oldest, gabriel, came running up to me while yelling Bye Mommy!, asked me for Huggy, which means pick him up, and then wrapped his little arms around me and stuck his sticky nose into my neck and said I love you Amanna!
they are starting to say some spanish words, too. finally. which is great, cause it means that i am not a total failure at this tutoring stuff and i dont have to feel guilty for the money i make on it.

the most interesting point of this week has been the end to a drawn out fight with a mouse. he made his appearance last week when we were in the living room and lucy was running around freely. you would think he would be smart enough to stay out of sight. anyway, we tore apart the living room trying to catch him and/or squish him with the broom, but to no avail. he even ran across the tops of three mouse traps we have put in front of the space he would come out of behind one of the book shelves... and on sunday when we had 8people over, he came out again, even running around on the window sill next to the heads of several of our guests (much to the displeasure of some of them who prefer to stay away from these sorts of creatures).
we finally decided to use the same strategy as before and keep the door to the living room closed so he couldnt get out and to offer him only one source of food. on the mouse trap. finally, after days of chasing the pesky, though cute, mouse and after several failed attempts to catch him and after surviving several personal encounters with the mouse traps that never managed to get the mouse but always managed to get my thumbs and fingers, last night while we were falling asleep luuk suddenly exclaimed "I heard the trap!" and lo and behold, this morning there was a dead little mouse waiting for disposal.

after dealing with my mixed feelings of guilt and relief, i decided to head out for my day of babysitting/tutoring. i opened the door and for some reason looked down. right there, next to the door was a dead mouse. it seems that he had met his demise in the corner of the door as it was closing. the shape of the corner was seriously imprinted into him and his whole body was squished flat and well, in an L shape.

i wasnt sure if i should laugh or throw up. i chose for the former and picked him up with a bag and threw him out. now he is stinking up our garbage can. good thing its garbage day today.

Back to business as usual.

Luuk and I spent two weeks on the island of Vlieland (north, above Friesland) with his parents at the family summer house. The island is like a giant park, complete with forest, dunes, and beach. And a tiny adorable town on one side and summer homes and camp grounds on the other. We read alot, swam occasionally (in the freezing north sea water), played alot of Rummikub and a game called Toup (or something like that), and biked into the wind from one side of the island to the other (I still havent recovered). Relaxing, quiet, calm, restful...perfect for a short vacation.

Meanwhile, a friend was taking care of Lucy for us. The day before we got her back, they found out she is allergic to bananas. I have tried to feed her banana before but she wasnt interested, so I did not have the pleasure of finding this out on my own. At some point after taking a taste of someones banana, she started making gargling noises and wretching and foaming at the mouth. After googling what to do with a wretching rat, it was decided that the best option was to take her to the vet. So four people rushed this poor rat to the animal emergency room where she was injected with steriods and sent home after her swollen throat started to go back to normal size and she could breath again. She is now fully recovered and back to digging holes in my flower pots.

Today Luuk started working in a new section of the bank, part of the training program where they use the trainees to fix their lack of employee problem, a result of bad management, instead of sending them to the sections that they were promised. A bit of a bummer. But I guess that is the real world. It will be interesting, anyway.

I am back to an empty house, being the good housewife, until the masters program starts in two weeks. In the meantime I will be finishing the book for my old lady and putting the finishing touches on a three party bachelorette night with some friends. The possibility of coffee with Inge Henderson somewhere in the next two weeks has also come up.

I will post again when my life is a bit more interesting.

Cheers.

favor

anyone in the sioux center area can/want to pick up luuks sister from minneapolis airport on aug. 19, around 6pm? you will be duly compensated. :)