Thursday 31 May 2007:Sarah starts her birthday whoring early this year – two days before the real thing - as Heidi turns into a freaky,frozen robot …

Heidi says:
I did a great deal on diapers today! I bought two packs of 87 pieces and got one extra pack for free!!! Isn't that oh so very interesting??? :))

Sarah says:
So yeah I know my 36th birthday isn’t today but in two days on the 2nd of June. But I got a nice card already for my birthday in the post and I liked it so much because it reminded me just how much I love my daughter and can’t wait to see who she grows up to be – but how I also want to freeze every moment in time and keep her just as she is… The card I got, which you can see below, well, it’s just a nice sentiment – though also a little sad. I think it’s something only a parent can feel and say to a kid. It’s that eternal bond you have with the only people who knew you back when you were little and growing and dreaming. I have no idea what parents remember about their kids as little kids once those kids aren’t little kids anymore. I imagine you forget a lot. I think that’s sad but a bit normal. We all search so much for our identity. We want to know why we are who we are. I look at my 8 year old kid and I wonder not only who she will be later – but also who the hell I was at her age! I don’t have a lot of strong memories from that time. I remember a bunch of bad stuff here and there. I remember 9 well because that’s when my house burnt down. But 8! Who was I at 8 – who was I at the age of this little dreamy girl in the photo on the card? Did I really want to grow up and become something special then? Do kids even think about that? I don’t remember!!! My kid has little dreams – but they change everyday! She seems like a really happy and very open and enthusiastic person – but I also see this sort of dark intensity in her. This brooding quality in her. An inability to let things go in her. An incredible and seemingly early sense for justice. An anger when she is crossed or feels something is unfair. Was I like her? Was I too damaged by age 8 from divorce and chaos and other things to have sweet dreams? I wish I could remember. I remember my cat Tommy well. I loved my cat more than anything else in the world. That I remember like yesterday. At around age 10 or maybe earlier, I remember I started locking him in the large bottom drawer of my dresser so that he couldn’t leave/abandon me while I was at school. I hardly remember more than that. I wish I could. This card made me reflect… On the other hand it doesn’t really matter, does it. I am about to be come 36 (in two days on June 2nd - wink, wink) and you know what, I have grown up and become something special – regardless of everything. The past is the past. Now is wonderful. Now is what matters today. Today anyway!

Wednesday 30 May 2007: Sarah wants to be Heidi's dog! Now were gonna be face-to-face And Heidi'll lay right down in her favorite place...

Heidi says:
I am so tired... Yma woke us up at midnight and she was screaming for an hour. You can say that is the most stressful at night. But I'm okay. It can be worse than that.

Sarah says:
So messed up I want you here In my room I want you here Now were gonna be face-to-face And Ill lay right down in my favorite place And now I wanna be your dog Now I wanna be your dog Now I wanna be your dog Well cmon Now Im ready to close my eyes And now Im ready to close my mind And now Im ready to feel your hand And lose my heart on the burning sands And now I wanna be your dog And now I wenna be your dog Now I wanna be your dog Well cmon!

And all I'll add to that is I desperately need to get my eyebrows plucked because I am a hairy beast again and I can't wear white because I already spilled coffee on my white shirt because I am a damn clumsy fool and I think today would be the birthday of the grandmother of mine whose last words to me were about me being too fat.... I dreamt about her recently and in my dream she was fat! Touche!

Tuesday 29 May 2007: Heidi and Sarah have a Monday look even though it’s Tuesday. It’s raining... Tralalalala... and only YMA matters anyway so...

Heidi says:
I had a fine weekend. Nothing very special, just ok. I did have fun DJ'ing. That was the best part. Nico and me DJ'ed on Sunday at Vlas Vegas, and since we had two sets to fill, with a concert in between, we decided to change costumes in between. Very Madonna, Kylie or better Bootsy Collins-like huh? We played our favourite songs, mostly wild or heavy or repetitive ones (like The ex, The gossip, Hitch, Galatasaray, Madensuyu, Viva Voce...). Apparently our change of costumes didn't happen unnoticed, as some people were waving hands or pointing their fingers at us. Somewhere inside of us, there is a showbeast that has to come out from time to time. Yesterday then, I DJ'ed at De Kreun, doing a swing jazz-set (without special costume as you could see on the picture from yesterday, but with a nutty face).
What I learned this time, is that nothing of all that really mattered to me anymore. I enjoyed what I did this weekend, but it wasn't that important to me. I kept on thinking of my baby daughter Yma, who was at my parents' house, and I really missed her. I kept on yelling 'die beebie die beebie' when I saw other people with baby's. So what I mean is, that the one that matters the most now, is Yma and frankly, I don't see that changing ever again. Good for me, cause I needed to slow down on the egocentric behaviour and Yma gives me everything to do that. You go, sweet girl! (luckily there is still face the day, where I can at least have one moment a day to be egocentric :) )

Sarah says:
I have a empty head today. Nothing to offer up. I could sleep the whole day under warm covers. Hey wait! I see some sun peeping through all of a sudden! Now that can wake me up and make all the difference! The last days have been fun but dark. Light is now necessary even though darkness can be nice too. Darkness is nice at the end of August when the wind starts blowing and sweaters are needed at night. As Alain Vandam from Het Eiland once said: Light killed New Wave...
Or something like that anyway…
I am sad to report that the little glimmer of sun I saw is now gone and the skies are again grey... It's that kind of day... And almost that time of month and that's why I am feeling this way I'm guessing - because man is my head buzzing and I feel like murdering someone!

Monday 28 May 2007: Heidi and Sarah have a colorful day at the Sinksenfeest in Kortrijk where Sarah captures Heidi's crew and Gèsman as guests on FTD!

Sarah says:
Above you can see Heidi being a DJ at De Kreun in Kortrijk. I popped in quickly just to snap a photo of her good busy. What she was playing sounded really good. I felt like dancing! But parent-duty called and I had to return to keep an eye on my kid and her friends splashing around in a big fountain on the theater square. Doesn't Heidi look a little too happy above - in a good way but nonetheless she looks a bit mad, nuts, no?! (haha)

Today was a fun day in Kortrijk. A free day! No work! Just fun, fun, fun. Fun in the sense of being out and about and running into a million people we know at every stop along the way. It wasn't a spectacular Sinksenfeest this year in terms of seeing concerts or going to good parties or watching really good street shows. In fact, I didn't get to see much of anything. I basically just walked around a lot and ran into people all weekend and bought some junky stuff along the way and watched my kid and her friends play, play, play. Kortrijk is such a fabulous little city and great place to live. It feels safe. I am so glad my kid is growing up here. It's so comforting to walk down the streets and see that she knows so many people and feels free to say hi to them and they to her and we to them and them to us.

Below you can see Gèsman aka Steven Vervaecke. Listen to Gèsman and check out their upcoming tour dates via this link, though if you speak English you won't understand a frackin thing. In his band, from Kortrijk, he sings in West-Vlaams. You hear them on the radio a lot and Kortrijk is quite proud of them. I have always wanted a picture with Gèsman on Face The Day so when I ran into him at a bar today I thought, now's my chance! Doesn't he have some serious blue eyes! Notice he's wearing a Goose tee-shirt. Goose is another band that comes from Kortrijk. Very good stuff indeed. Have a listen to some of their songs via this link! You can also see their upcoming gigs all over Belgium, France, Holland, England, Japan.

Below you can see some Heidi-related people that I ran into on my way back to De Kreun after my parent duty was finished. That's the famous Wout with Heidi's sister Nathalie and my kid looking like one hell of an oddball family! (again in a good way - haha). They were just hanging out at a pink, fluffy bar sipping champagne - all dressed up with nowhere to go! I have to thank them here for posing for this picture. I like to catch Heidi's family and friends on Face The Day because Heidi carries her camera with her less and less these days ever since she started carrying her baby more and more! So it's my duty to get her people on here so that I don't dominate Face The Day with all my stuff and so it's not all about me, me, me!
Here I am below (me, me, me!!!! haha) with Wout again and Alexander - my very soon to be neighbors!!!!!!! I can't wait to ring their bell and bring them some sugar and a fresh-baked cake to welcome them into our neighborhood. They bought a frackin lovely house around the corner so I'm sure I'll see them around a lot, which is nice! They are swell guys who will bring some more goodness to this fab neighborhood of ours. Heidi will be so pleased I'm sure to have them closer by because now they live much further away. Viva our neighborhood!!!! Viva Alexander and Wout!
And last but not least - I leave you with this photo of those awful/wonderful shoes Crocs. We gave into peer pressure and bought our daughter the green pair you see below. All her firends have them, she said and begged and so we just caved in and got 'em for her Saturday. She and her friends looked like a clan of freaky elves with them all in different colors today. They did come in handy as they splashed around in a fountain. But I don't know, something about them is just ugly and big and awkward and lumpy. Not for me - though other people sure look good in them - but never me with my size 10 feet (42!). No Sirree...Oh yeah! I forgot the below photo. Sorry, I am being a bit excessive today with all these photos. Anyway - at the end of today we were walking home this evening and the street fair was all gone along with the flea market and we saw this sad little bear just lying all alone in the middle of the sidewalk - abandoned and neglected and left behind unnoticed. We just had to take it home with us and give it a new home - even if it was in a dog's mouth half the day for example! We will never know its history but it doesn't matter. It's now got a new home!

And so we come to the end of Sinksen weekend and now it's time to watch Battlestar Galactica!

Sunday 27 May 2007: Sarah and Heidi search the streets of Kortijk for bargains early this morning and Heidi will rock the house tonight when she DJs..

Sarah says:

I didn't have my camera with me this morning when I kept running into Heidi in the center of Kortrijk at the big yearly street fair where we rummage for the best bargains -- so no photo of Heidi here today until she uploads some from her DJ-ing tonight at the Vlas Vegas Sinksenfeest activities. I wish I could go but I have other plans with my family tonight. Oh well - there's always tomorrow. A lot will be going on in Kortrijk again, which I'm sure will be fun.

Here's my Post Secret pick of the week. Nothing really eye-grabbing this week but I can relate to this entry about having friends / family who just aren't at all into what you are into and lacking the references you have - for example about music or books or whatever. It's no big deal but I'm sure we have all had these moments where we think - jeez, how can she/he not know that or know about this or know who that is or know that song. That can happen a lot with people younger than I am now. So-called music lovers for example who have never heard of Led Zeppelin for Christ's sake! But see now I sound like a music snob, which I'm not. But you know what I mean... On the other hand, who am I to talk! There's so much obvious stuff that I have no clue about at all. And so it goes...

Saturday 26 May 2007: Sarah is sleepwalking in a happy trance on this simple Saturday and so is Heidi...

Sarah says:
Simple day. Simple pleasure. Helped my mother-in-law add some color to her life thanks to our trip to Ikea. It was great to spend time with her! Last night was great fun with some friends playing games. We played the worst game of Kolonisten ever but we sure had a lot of laughs! It was a very late night and an even earlier morning but thoroughly enjoyable. Laughing is indeed the best medicine. Playing games is a whole lot of good fun. Getting to know people better is always a joy when you share the same humor and outlook. So it's very much a so-far-so-good weekend! Now I will watch a movie with my lovely little family. It's 8pm and we're all in our PJs. Lovely!

Heidi says: 9 o'clock and also I am in my Pj's. What on earth happened to rock'n'roll??

Friday 25 May: Katrijn and Hans are married! Heidi and Yma were there!

Friday 25 May: Heidi and Sarah look arty today and are so very happy it's a long weekend full of fun in Kortrijk ahead! KATRIJN GETS MARRIED TODAY!!!

Sarah says:
First of all we must take a minute to say CONGRATULATIONS to Heidi’s best pal Katrijn (see photo below from a couple of years ago) and her new husband Hans as of today! Heidi will be celebrating their wedding with them today! I’m sure it will be a fantastic day for them. I wish them all the best!!! It’s very exciting and always so nice to see people happy together!

In other news, the weather, which is fantastic and sunny now, will turn bad this weekend. It’s sad because this is always a fun weekend in Kortrijk! It’s Sinksenfeest, which means flea markets throughout the city; concerts; people out and about for three days… It’s always nice. It will start tonight with about 10 people at my house playing some games and about 4 kids sleeping over so my kid and their kids can keep themselves busy and happy while we adults do our own thing. So tomorrow morning will be about feeding the kids and cleaning up. Then I’ll spend some time with my mother-in-law and at night I think I’ll hit Kortrijk for some concerts. Sunday morning it will be up at the crack of dawn to get to the flea market in the center to swipe up all the good stuff. Then we’ll be at my husband’s godson’s first communion all day and return to Kortrijk at night for some concerts and atmosphere no doubt. Heidi is DJ-ing Sunday night at the Vlas Vegas festivities and Monday at De Kreun activities. Check out the Vlas Vegas Schedule below and De Kreun scheme via this link.

I think it will be a fantastic weekend here in Kortrijk – even if the weather turns bad. Hope you all have a goody too!

Thursday 24 May 2007: Heidi looks away from the Day as Sarah Faces it and it’s Face The Day google hit Erika Dionisio’s 36th BIRTHDAY today!!!

Heidi’s body language says:
I’m giving you the cold shoulder today…

Sarah says:
Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around my eyes, look into my eyes, you're under.
I’m sorry – all I can offer up this week is quotes from various Little Britain characters – in this case, the marvelous hypnotist, Kenny Craig.

Today is Face The Day Google Hit Erika Dionisio’s 36th Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY E-ROCKER!!!! HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT ONE. Your first one as a mother – though you have always been a mofo!

Check out the photo of me and Erika below back in like 1986 I think. I was a bridesmaid at a wedding she also came to. We were 15 years old I think! Can you imagine!!! Man we are getting old. That was 21 freaking years ago!!!!! My birthday is next Saturday on June 2nd (hint hint). Erika and I have always really enjoyed our Gemini status. I hope we grow very, very old together. I’m sure we’ll amuse ourselves as old bats. I can see us at like age 95 celebrating our birthdays together and still talking about Beverly Hills 90120 and reading magazines and talking gossip.

Wednesday 23 May 2007: Heidi and Sarah are in good form despite the battle between trepidations and serendipities and heads full of snot and slime...

Heidi says:
Big Cold is taking over my body. I am the puppet of the Big Cold. That's good, because then I don't have to think for myself. :)) Big Cold is a slimy bastard though. My body is becoming a target for the ghost busters...

Sarah says:
Maybe it tis and maybe it tisn’t and maybe it twill and maybe it twon’t…dee dee dee dee dee dee dee… Yeeeeees. Yeeeeees. What if I give ye six magic beans? I tell ye the truth, I'll tell ye a lie, but if ye call me false then I'll also tell ye a lie. I'm hard yet soft, I'm coloured yet clear, I am fruity and sweet, I am jelly, what am I? Ye know too mouch!

Tuesday 22 May 2007: What are these faces saying? And check out Sarah's first letter in English (if you call that English) from her daughter...

Heidi says:
I have a mega cold! My nose is stuffed up. So are the noses of the rest of my little family. But we are strong and we will survive! Hey hey!

Sarah says:
What are our faces saying today? Hmm. Hard one. Don’t read too much into them. We are always looking for new faces to keep Face The Day Fresh. We are amazed we find new ones quite often. Face The Day has nearly existed for 2 years!!! That’s a lot of days to offer up a new face. So today we offer you these new faces. We hope you enjoy them.

As for the letter you see below – well – it’s from my daughter to me from yesterday. It warms my heart. She’s been having some eating issues lately so we have a system of happy and sad faces that go on her school lunch menu. If she eats her meal well, she gets a smiley face. If not, it’s a sad one. If she gets 10 sad ones before the end of the year then she’ll have to bring sandwiches for lunch next year. She really doesn’t want to do that because the sandwich kids don’t get to eat in the cafeteria with the other kids who order warm meals. She wants to be with her friends at lunch and she doesn’t like change at all! So – anyway – she stays at school till 6pm everyday and I give her a box with snacks. Yesterday I gave her baby carrot sticks. She generally likes them but apparently the ones I gave her tasted and smelled very bad. She felt so guilty for not eating them and she was so afraid she’d get a sad face for that. She decided to write me a letter explaining why she didn’t eat her carrots. She is learning to write in Dutch now and does pretty well. Her letter to me below is in English – English as she hears it in her little 8-year-old head. Notice “carrots” is spelled “karets”. Notice “sorry” is spelled “sory”. Notice “please” is spelled “plees”. Notice “face” is spelled “fase”. Notice “smiley” is spelled “smilie”. Notice “instead” is spelled “insted” And notice “were” is spelled “wor”.

Makes you wonder how anyone ever learns how to spell in English. English spelling makes no sense at all! In fact, my daughters instincts are pretty right on! I just wonder why we changed the language into this strangely spelled one with no good explanations for why we spell things the way we do. In Dutch a word is generally spelled exactly as it sounds. In English we have “their”, “there” and “peas” and “bees” and “bird” and “turd” and “one” and “won”. What a confusing mess!

So I am very proud of my daughter for trying her best in English. It’s a great start! One of these days I’m going to have to start teaching her the crazy English spelling rules! I had better study them myself first as I suck at spelling! So many English speakers do… our language is bizarre!

Monday 21 May 2007: naughty Sarah and sleepy Heidi suck their thumbs

Sarah says:
I suck. You suck. We all suck. It's a sucky Monday - makes me wanna gag! I gave a lesson again to a group of students from all over Europe today as I do every semester and I am sad to report that if they are representative of how Europe feels about America these days - well, it's not good I'm afraid. America sucks according to them. I love giving these lessons but I do walk away feeling a little dirty every time with the knowledge that America remains very unpopular around the world. Basically they all said that America needs to wake up to how the rest of the world sees it and to stop imposing its so-called importance on the rest of the world. Very simplified and nothing new but....arghhhh - when I first moved to Europe people here "loved" America. Not anymore folks, not anymore at all I'd say...

Sunday 20 May 2007: Don't tell Sarah's husband that Marv is sleeping over and Heidi and Sarah...

Sarah says: Heidi and I had a quick hang-out session today because I hadn't seen YMA in so long and it was about freaking time and man is she a cute and an easy child and a sweety (as Heidi just said). Now Heidi is saying how YMA is starting to talk a little - or at least so it seems - like she's trying to tell them somethng and how everyday she's feeling so in love with YMA - that it is the most lovely feeling ever - it's the nothing else matters feeling - God that is so nice and it doesn't go away. What a nice life we have Heidi just said...
And on that note you can note our facial expressions above -- Sunday faces -- rainy Sunday faces...curious faces...

Sarah says:
All these secrets! Don't tell my husband that Marv is spending the night while my kid is away! I spent the whole lovely day in Lille with Marv and we're just back from a movie. Lille is a fantastic city really. We walked and talked and sat on a terrace watching people and window-shopped and strolled some more and ate dinner and then hit a late movie -- bad movie - but fun day! I LOVE Marv! He's better than any husband ever could be! Damn - now he's calling me upstairs to clean up the place as I left my clothes everywhere when my closet shelf fell this morning-- he's starting to sound a lot like my husband!!! :-) Gotta go!

Sarah adds:

So it's Post Secret time! This week I'm throwing 3 postcards on here. A lot of the entries, which you can get to by clicking here, are thought-provoking this week. Some very heavy sentiments actually. So let me start with the least heavy one below about Johnny Depp being the name of "my" vibrator. Well - a lot of people I know, like me, would name Johnny Depp as one of the best looking actors out there - the perfect man really (yes, yes, from afar - we don't really know him, we realize that - but a girl can dream - as cliche and predictable a choice such as Johnny Depp is - oh well, he's some sort of archetype - the girly-man-artsy-arty-pretty boy-man-funny-weird good father, etcetera... - so naming one's vibrator after him is a kind of humorous idea - a good idea. I myself would probably file for a name change every now and again and go from Johnny Depp to Jeff Buckley to this Stef Camil Karlens or this one - I'm not picky! Anyway - we all have our lists, don't we. I guess those are my top three.

As for the below Post Secrets - I just found them moving for various reasons - they hit a nerve in me or something. If you like this sort of thing, check out the American Post Secret site by clicking here and the Dutch Post Secret site by clicking here.

Saturday May 19 2007: Sarah really has to open a Quiche Cafe!

Sarah says:

All righty! If all else were to fail I could always open a Quiche of The Day Soup and Salad restaurant! What a great Quiche I made yet again! Man I am a good cook! HAHAHA - I'm just pretending to be so super sure about my quiches! Please, whatever you do, don't take me too seriously - except at serious times of course! But seriously! This quiche was super duper! My husband and I almost ate the whole dang thang. Don't tell my husband, but since my kid is away this weekend basically - well - I invited Marv over and Marv and I will have a whole date day and night today through tomorrow. We need this! The sun is shining too, which makes it all the better. We're off to some city somewhere to walk around, have a drink, have fun. Tonight maybe take in dinner and a movie. Tomorrow perhaps sleep in. This shall be a goody of a day! Hope yours is too!

Friday 18 May 2007: Heidi and Sarah ain't sayin' nuttin' today you mofos....but what are their faces saying?

Heidi and Sarah say:
Ha ha ha
he he ha
woo hoo ha
pee pee ca
doo doo la
la la la
waw waw we waw!!!
bo bo bo bo bo bo
blah blah blah

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND FROM HEIDI AND SARAH AT FACE THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday 17 May 2007: Shhhhhhhh.... Sarah needs some peace and quiet to think as our holy Lord Jesus rises up to Heaven on this Belgian Holiday!

Sarah says:
Be very very quiet, it's a feast day here in Belgium. Time for all of us to rest. No working! No shopping! No running around. Rest is Best. I did next to nothing -- spoke to almost no one other than my husband and my daughter and Heidi (on the phone). It was a GREAT day! An important one - It was heavenly! Good for my soul...
Shhhhh.... I am tired and I'm going to bed now. I think I'll have futuristic dreams of lovely things....

Where's Heidi? I would have thought she'd have put her lovely head on her today from home - but she was too busy with nice things today so you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see her!

Heidi and Sarah take off the gloomy masks of tragedy - It's not their style - they'll look so good that they'll be glad that they decided to smile...

Heidi and Sarah say:
Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Wipe off the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face
Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy
It's not your style
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
That you decided to smile
Pick out a pleasant outlook
Stick out that nobel chin
Wipe off that full-of-doubt look
Snap on a happy grin
Spread sunshine all over the place
And just put on a happy
Put on a happy face

Heidi says: BY THE WAY!!! IT IS MY MOMMY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE IS 52!!!!! SHE SURE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A 52-YEAR OLD! LONG LIVE MY MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday 15 May: Heidi loves Yma

Heidi says: I am watching a documentary about a baby with Ipex, and immunity illness, and I just had to write down for the whole world to read THAT I LOVE MY BABY AND I AM SO SO HAPPY AND SO LUCKY THAT SHE IS SO HEALTHY AND SWEET AND I AM SO SO GRATEFUL!
Voila! Said it!

Tuesday 15 May 2007: Snowwhite and Markebitch at your service...

Snowwhite says:
Is this a poisoned apple?


Sarah says:
Mirror Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Well –I’m pretty dang pale so I should be Snow White with my dark hair and all – but Heidi insists she is Snow White in this situation, which makes me the evil step mom witch – or perhaps that makes me a dwarf – and I do look sort of dwarfy in this photo. If I were a Dwarf I would be Samson from Carnivale. We all need a Samson doll in our lives. Most men dream of a blow-up doll no doubt – something to you know with their you-know whenever they feel the need because their wife refuses to put out enough. Not my husband – he longs for a Samson Doll, the freak.

Speaking of my husband, he’s back from Poland finally!!! I try not to mention him too much here because Marv doesn’t like that – he likes to believe he is the only man in my life. But listen up Marv – I am very happy to have my husband back – mostly because I HATE being a single-mom – but also because I missed the boy badly! The bed was too big without him and all. He and I have so much talking to do tonight that I can’t even make it to my Dutch lesson. Time won’t allow. Too many important things on the table to hash out – windows, facades, blow-up dolls, Samson dolls, – you name it! We’ll cover millions of topics tonight! And maybe just maybe if time allows – we’ll watch Battlestar Galactica. Perhaps I have even missed that show more than I have missed my husband! HAHA – just playing, sort of (as usual!) Anyway – it’ll be a good night I hope because I HATE canceling anything. HATE HATE HATE. So to not go to my Dutch lesson makes me feel guilty. But alas, my hubby and I need to have a big talk and our kid needs a little family time. What shall I make for dinner? Any suggestions? I’m thinking omelets with veggies. Sounds good, no? Want some?

Monday 14 May 2007: Heidi and Sarah have no wind beneath their wings today – 5 months exactly since Sarah had back surgery!!

Sarah says:
It’s another we’re ugly day over here in Heidi and Sarah land (and I mean ugly on the inside - not outside Heidtje!). Just one of those days where we both feel like rag dolls. We are raging a bit – as if we both have our periods but we don’t. I’m convinced it is due to the wind. I have had enough wind for months!!! And I am not talking about the intestinal kind. I’m referring to the real wind outside that is like a fist on our dumb heads all day long. There’s like less oxygen in the air these days – I can feel it. And my dang cough is back. I am not even a smoker but I get smoker’s cough all the time! As I have said before, I will die from it one day. I will choke to death on my cough in my sleep – it will feel like I am drowning – my lungs will not be able to expectorate the gravel within them fast enough – I’ll gasp and gasp for air and not want to go that way but I won’t have a choice. It won’t be pretty – but I am prepared for it already kind of! They will miss me when I am gone and they had better play really good music at my funeral and say nice things about me!!! Hahaha – I am just playing – sort of. Last night it did feel a little like death during my sleep. I woke up around 3am from it and made my way to the cough medicine. It seems to be helping so I am happy about that. As a kid, I couldn’t get enough codeine in me! Anyway – next to that, all is well and life is grand and we feel nuts and IT’S BEEN EXACTLY 5 MONTHS SINCE MY BACK OPERATION AND I FEEL AMAZINGLY STRONG AND GREAT AND THANKFUL AND HAPPY AND LUCKY!!!! I am on top of the world to be honest, rain or wind or deadly cough or whatever. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Heidi says: I don't feel ugly... Why is Sarah saying that? I am raging though. Very manic. I am going to spin tonight and that is very very necessary! I need to clear my head and get fresh energy. Stopping the breastfeeding definitely helped me to get more alive again, but it's not perfect yet.

Sunday 13 May Part 2: Sarah celebrates Mother's Day with a kid-made pancake, a lot of porto and her mother-in-law...

Sarah says:
My daughter and her friends who slept over surprised me with the below breakfast for Mother's Day. It warmed my heart! So very lovely of her - especially because her dad is away right now. He left a lovely card for me that you can see below with hearts and roses. My daughter made me a necklace out of macaroni - a good old gift! After I took my daughter's friends home and I stayed at their house for a while and drank 2 big glasses or port. I left their house a bit drunk - you can perhaps see my tipsy-ness in the photo way down below with my mother-in-law. I went and had Belgian fries with my daughter for lunch and the whole time my daughter was laughing at me because my cheeks were red and I seemed a little drunk!

Sarah adds: Below you can see my husband's mother. She is an amazing person! I am so happy she is my mother-in-law. She's so friendly, talented, supportive and helpful. She offers unconditional love to me and her son of course and our daughter. She's the best! We are about to happily head off to my friend Carmen's house. Carmen is back from Russia for the weekend and the three of us will do coffee!
Below if my favorite Post Secret of the week about a kid thanking his mom for the mullet he grew up with. Mullets are like farts - just funny for no explainable reason really - something and nothing to be ashamed of all at the same time. Not done yet so done. I love mullets actually. They are pretty special. When I was a kid, I basically had Heidi's haircut for years and years and years. Below the Post Secret postcard you can see a photo of my least favorite haircut as a kid. I remember well that my mom was on the phone doing her own thing and I was desperate for her to cut my bangs - but she wasn't paying any attention to me - so I took the scissors and cut my bangs myself. Thanks mom! Whoops - I couldn't find the photo I was talking about so below I offer you a look at my helmet-head, my lopsided-loopy look, my cut-my-hair-like-Eddie-Van-Halen style and my Not-sure-if-I-am-a-hippy-or??? mulle.... Notice my Van Halen necklace too! And my Star Wars shirt (can't really see it in pic) and my Holly Hobby tee-shirt! I was always a trend-setter! Hahaha - Oh - and don't miss my caterpillar eyebrows!

Sunday 13 May 2007: Heidi had fun at the wedding and Sarah and Heidi are celebrating Mother's day today!

Heidi says: I got these flowers for Mother's day! Thank you Nico!!!

Heidi says: Let the pictures speak for themselves! :)

(Tante Marie Anne, als je dit ziet, stuur dan eens een berichtje!)

Saturday 12 April 2007: Heidi's whole family shows up across the street from Sarah's house - welcome Heidi's parents and pepe to Face The Day!

Sarah says:
What a ridiculous photo above! We tried and tried to take it ourselves (according to Face The Day rules) but it wasn't working! So my daughter snapped the above photo of me with Heidi and her mom and dad! Turns out Heidi's cousin got married today in the church across the street from my house. A whole busload of Heidi's family parked right across from my house and descended onto the church square. Heidi of course had to ring my doorbell to let me know this and we of course had to grab her parents and her Pepe Henri and get a photo of them for Face The Day! But check out my hair up there! the wind did a funny number on it! It's a bit very Elvis - a crazy swept up pompadour. And below, check out Heidi's granddad Pepe Henri. He had just said to Heidi that she had better be more proper and take her sunglasses off if she wanted a photo! HaHa!

So tonight Heidi is at a wedding and I'm staying home with my kid and two of her friends. It seems like I am always home lately! I can't wait to have a night out with my husband once he is back from Poland next week. And this week there is a Belgian holiday on Thursday, which I am quite sure I'll enjoy. Time is flying around here like the wind storming outside! I feel a little bit like Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ - like my head is swept up and I'm flying around in dream land. That's what happens to me on weekend that I stay at home and do next to nothing. My body shuts down and relaxes but not my brain. Never my brain! For once I'd just like to shut my brain off. If only.... But it's all good! I am equally exhausted as I am energized!

Oh yeah - and the surgeon says everything looks and seems great but that I can't forget that it's normal if my shoulders and back hurt a little from walking a lot with a heavy backpack and things like that. He said I should think of my back as an elephant that never forgets anything - wait a sec!!! Was he calling me fat?!! Anyway, haha, he said anything I do to my back it will echo to me with pain or discomfort so I have to choose carefully what I do and how I use it. But, he also said, not to be too afraid and again stressed that I may never ever jump! He said he won't see me for a very long time now - unless something goes wrong- which he doubts - as I seem very strong! I also get to go back to the physio-therapist for 20 more back massages, which is great news because nothing like a back massage! Being touched is good for the body - and not only in a sexual way of course. I am sure that simple back massage weekly feeds your body with great stuff! As of June, I can begin exercising so that's good because I need to get in better shape. So all is good -- really really great right now! Now the only thing on my mind is if I want fish, chicken or steak for dinner. I think I'll eat some fish! I wonder if Heidi will eat fish at the wedding tonight? I hope she has fun!!!!