Wednesday 24 January 2007: Sarah rests today, has her weekly mask and welcomes special guest Janine with Six Feet Under season 5!!!!! Heidi stops by!

Sarah adds later:
Heidi just stopped by for a quick tango and a photo! Good to see her and YMA as usual! Good to see she's feeling a bit better and that she has a smile on her face. And YMA, jeez Louise! is that YMAtje cute!!! She was like a little, lovely old Vermeer painting today in her wool hat and dress! See for yourself in this photo below!
Earlier that day...
Sarah says:
Heidi has a mask picture for you too from last week, which never made it on Face The Day. Maybe she'll get it on here soon. So after my fall yesterday, I am happy to report that besides a burning knee, I really feel 100% okay back-wise, so I am of course totally relieved about that and now more aware, as someone pointed out to me, that I am probably not as vulnerable as I fear I am. I am stronger than I think. Nonetheless, I am taking it very easy today just in case. I did my daily walk to get some money, fill up my phone (mostly to send sms's to Heidi), pick up a sandwich at Bio Planet and return some DVDs at the video store. Before all that, I washed my hair and had a mud mask.

Later, my lovely expat Face The Day guest Janine stopped by (as you can see in above photo) to deliver the Six Feet Under Season 5 box set, which she kindly took care of ordering for me (thanks to my SFU addiction brought on by my NY buddy E-rocker who kindly supplied me with the first two seasons and my expat pal Lyndsay who supplied me with the rest)! Now I can finish the whole series with my mom before she leaves here in a week and a half. When she is gone it will be so quiet and lonely here! It will be really hard for me to be at home alone everyday until I return to work. It's boring! I just hope I whip through a lot of good books during that time. I have to find something easy-going yet constructive to do with my time - other than be a TV addict! Books are the answer I guess...

Hopefully we'll see Heidi's lovely face here soon - though she told me she's having a bad day today...

In other news, I saw someone I recognized via Greyn's ex guitar player Peter on the VRT program De Rode Loper this morning. His name is Tom van Damme (formerly of the band Jaman - see his photo below) and he's performing in the pop musical Doe Maar. Here's a link to the play in case any of you want to see it. Click here to see more about it from De Rode Loper itself and click here to see Tom and his friend / bandmate / fellow-actor's blog: Twee Belgen In Holland.

Tuesday 23 January 2007: Sarah has a very special Face The Day guest today, little AVD! Isn't she a cutie! Later Sarah has a little fall! She's ok!

Sarah says later in the day:
Don't worry! I am really okay. I tripped and fell on my knee and hands - not on my side or back so I am really okay. It was just very scary and made me shaky because I only had surgery a month and a half ago and that seemed like way too soon to have a fall. What scared me so was just imagining what could have happened if I had fallen harder or slipped onto my back or something more severe like that. It's Murphy's Law I guess that the one time a year I fall (if at all) would have to be so close to having just had back surgery. It sucks. But again, I am really okay though I will lie down for the rest of the day and night and tomorrow too just to be safe. You can fall anytime, anywhere. It was just one of those why me, why now moments and it turned the day into a bad one for me just because of the natural worry that came with the fall.

Sarah says:
Once again, this is a photo from yesterday. I expect I'll see Heidi later on so I'll snap a today's shot then I hope, though yesterday Heidi popped in and we forgot to take a photo! We were too busy talking about clothes and hair, the silly girls that we are.
Anyway, please meet my special little guest star AVD. She's the daughter of my good buddy AVDG. I had the pleasure of being able to keep an eye on AVD yesterday afternoon. Another beautiful child of another beautiful friend. It is so fun to watch friends' kids grow! We are all getting older - but in a nice way, with lovely kiddies surrounding us and keeping us young when not wearing us out! AVD was a very sleepy-headed gal yesterday. We were playing with My Little Ponies that Heidi's sister gave my little girl and AVD fell right asleep. Maybe it's me! I either have a very calming effect on kids or I bore them to sleep maybe. In the above photo I look all happy and AVD looks all mad at me - like get away from me you crazy-camera-hauling English speaker! AVD's mom had to leave too quickly to have a cup of coffee and a chat but happily I'll get to see them all next week for lunch! I look forward to it... Nothing like having visitors these days!!! I long for them as I go a bit stir-crazy in this quiet house! I need NOISE!

Monday 22 January 2007: Sarah welcomes another Face The Day Guest, Hugo Valcke, and his lovely banjo creations while Heidi is doing her daily task...

Heidi says: just doing my job (Sarah adds: WOW! What a great photo Heidi! Seriously, IAVPOY!

Sarah says:
These photos are from Sunday evening and not from today since my Sunday photo was really from late late Saturday night. If I happen to see Heiditje today, I'll snap a today's shot!
Please welcome Guitar/Banjo fixer and builder Hugo Valcke to Face The Day! He's also the manager of Belgium's beloved singer, poet, artist Willem Vermandere and he's involved with supporting the Buddhist cause (Tibet cause) and busy with highlighting it during the upcoming yearly Ter Vrede Festival in Diksmuide. Last year my mom met him through my husband and they talked guitars. This year, Hugo was nice enough to stop by with two samples of his banjo work, which you can see below. It's such detailed work.
Don't you think that when my hair goes grey and I get a little older I'll sort of look like Hugo? Look at the photo above. We sort of look alike. It's the glasses and hair type maybe. Who knows!
Here is my mom with Hugo. We had a nice afternoon and my mom made us a tasty dinner! I'm really going to miss my mom's cooking! My husband will be lost without all that good food. We have really been spoiled by all these delicious meals. My mom has had as many visitors here as I have. She fits right in. Maybe she's a Belgian at heart - other than being cold all of the time and wearing earmuffs, gloves and capes in my house all day long. I made my mom buy some new clothes! It was time for a little style make-over! She looks young already but now, with the new clothes, she looks even younger. Can you believe she's 64? She looks great for her age.

Above is one of Hugo Valcke's wonderful banjo creations using Mother of Pearl. It's all detailed hand-work. I have to add that my husband's new shirt in the above photo is pretty beautiful too! My husband got a haircut and some new clothes and he's looking great!! In this house, it's like we are all having makeovers. Anyway, back to the banjos!
Above you can see some more precision carving work by Hugo Valcke on the neck of this banjo in progress. Nice job! I wonder how it will look when all done.

Anyway, it was a good Sunday afternoon and evening and weekend in total. I continue to feel awake and alive and pain-free. I still can't believe it! I never thought I'd feel this good again! I am really tired today after the weekend - I won't lie. So I still have to rest a lot obviously and build up my stamina slowly but surely. But I feel like a ball of energy - almost spastic without being able to be really. I know I have to take it slow and easy but my mind is twirling and twirling. It's all good...

Sunday 21 January 2007: Heidi is still in Oostend and Sarah is still introducing you to new Face The Day guests. This time it's Hilde!

Heidi says: We had so much fun at the sea. We were staying at some sort of 'Benidorm in Flanders'. Now, everybody knows what Benidorm stands for: eat, sleep, eat, eat and eat. Oh, and the people who stay there are mostly not so young people. And there we were, six, no, seven young people (if you count Yma as a young person). So what do you do as a young person at this 'resthouse' to entertain yourself? You start making jokes about everything you see around you. At our first breakfast, we see this man sitting at the table next to us, holding a coffee jar above his head, to ask the waitresses for more coffee. But we gave it another explanation: this man was trying to win an eating competition! And his first competition was to drink as much coffee as possible. So he was holding the coffee jar above his head because he just emptied it all by himself and he wanted to show off! Since that moment, everytime we were at sitting at the table to eat, we were pretending we were competing with that man. I know, it might not sound that funny, but you should just have been there! It WAS damn funny!

Sarah says:
Now it's even later early early Sunday morning around 1 am! Still wired. Damn coffee. Still happy and gay. Please meet Hilde - another Great Dalmuti! She plays that game well too. She's a player! Too bad our photo came out a little blurry - but it was just midnight when we took this shot - time to call it a night. (UPDATE: In case Hilde is reading this, I had a comment from somebody saying that you are very cute and a beautiful woman! Have a good day!)

I think I am feeling spastic and full of energy because I had visitors and I felt alive! More and more I feel more and more alive since the back operation. This fake disc in my spine has not only made me taller, it has changed my life already just a month after the operation. I cannot believe how freaking good I feel. I cannot believe I lived in such agony for the last two years and in such on-and-off pain for the last 8 years! I feel so happy and thankful to feel this good. I cannot begin to describe what it feels like to have all this energy back. I am thanking my lucky stars and just hoping this goodness lasts! I have heard you can feel great the first few months and then the pain returns in other spots. I am prepared for that of course but obviously hoping that won't be the case.

My back is tired now and it has been a long day. It's time for bed - if my brain ever shuts off!

Here's my favorite Post Secret entry this week about staying in bed while everyone else is working... To be honest, I actually don't really like staying in bed and I would rather be at work. But I will say that life is easier when one person in the relationship isn't working. There is just more time to get other things than work done. It leaves you not only more time for your kid, but also more energy and more desire to spend time with your kid. And I have to add that it is nice to be relaxed for once and not have weeks full of stress and finding time to get things done. It is good to be at ease and not all wound up by a work day. With all that said, it is also very boring to be home and my brain does feel like mush. Plus, so much of my self-definition comes from a job well done and being challenged and active that it is hard to feel like a whole person right now, so-to-speak. I do look forward to going back to work but I have enjoyed this constant state of ease to some extent. I do not look forward to the tug and pull of work, wife hood, motherhood, friendship and all the other obligations going on all at once again. That's life, I know. But there is something to be said about turning down the stress and obligations levels and not spreading one's self so thin. It's a mixed bag really! And the grass is indeed always greener on the other side. As for the postcard - well, if only I was a good sleeper and a napper then I could be enjoying all that but I am not, so mostly I'm just bored at home watching the clock...

Saturday 20 January 2007: While Heidi is hopefully having fun in Ooostend, Sarah has a blast with her Face The Day guests Steven and Tilly!

Heidi says: weekend at the sea, with only a little bit of stress!

Sarah says:

I am coffee wired right now! Head buzzing. Full of energy. Running at the mouth! It's after midnight so actually Sunday and I drank too much strong coffee so sleep is not an option for the moment though it should be as I have had a long, good, full day! Today my whole family got great deals at the sales, which meant everyone was happy and gay! Tonight we had some fun and funny visitors, two of whom you can see in the above picture. I welcome Steven "Moonlake" Tanghe and his wife Tilly to Face The Day! Steven isn't in Moonlake anymore but maybe you remember him from that Kortrijk group, which he sang in once upon a time. More recently he recorded a song with the Kortrijk band Hawai and performed it with them at De Kreun. If you are interested, here's a review of Hawai's new CD, Keep The Wild Nudes Ahead. I really love this CD. You may have to listen to it a bunch of times to get into it but once you do and really give it a chance you will grow to love it I'm sure!

Now back to Steven! He's busy making music with his new band, which he's calling Marathon. Keep your eyes and ears out for his new stuff! I am curious what it will be like!

Tilly and Steven kicked our butts in the game we played, as usual. They are ALWAYS The Great Dalmuties! It was a very, very gay night indeed.

Friday 19 January 2007: Heidi and Sarah get all goofy-headed for you on this fine sunny pain-free day!

Sarah says:
Praise the Lawd! I got up early to get my kid ready for school and went back to sleep because I had had a really bad non-sleeping night and felt kind of ill and slept on till noon! Guess what, I feel much better now and it is sunny and warm out in Belgium today with half the wind as yesterday! I took my little walk to Heidi's before she loaded up the car to head out to a family weekend in Oostend and we snapped this happy, cheesy photo for you with the hopes to spread joy and fun and good times into all of your weekends!
I am still bored and the weekend may also be boring most of the time and next week too and February for sure but I feel good and that is the best best best thing of all right now! I think I'll have to have a second walk today too because the weather is so grand. Next week the winter will begin here. It's about time! Heidi just finished Carnivale Season 2 and has lent it to me. My husband and I have been dying to see season 2! I should be ashamed by how much time I spend in front of the TV these days but Six Feet Under, Carnivale and soon Battlestar Galactica are such great series it seems. I have heard from my brother that HBO's The Wire is amazing as well! Maybe that can be the next series to watch. Now, it's time for me to start a new book: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
While reading it, I'll listen to my favorite CD right now: Sigur Ros - Agaetis byrjun

Just for fun, check out our photo from the same day last year! Gotta look back sometimes! We look sort fo the same I'd say although Heidi looks healthier now I think and I look older now by a few years or so...

Thursday 18 January 2007: Meet Sarah's replacemement SW who popped in on this very windy day for a visit! Sarah loves visitors!!!!!

Sarah says:
This is my replacement at work SW. She's doing a fantastic job! I can relax while she is at the wheel. No worries at all! She stopped by for a quick visit at lunchtime and it was good to see her. Seeing her made me miss working! I am getting so bored staying at home. But it is for the best and I have no choice so...
Today is very windy! Gusts of 60KMs! Crazy stuff. Even a bit scary to tell you the truth. My windows are rattling. There's tons of paper and garbage all over the streets because the recycling was out to be picked up. I ran outside and collected all the stuff from one of our bags that blew open and all over the place and I moved it and all the paper stuff back to our garage! Then I saw the garbage trucks coming and ran out to put it all back but I was too late! So it will be another two weeks of the stuff sitting in my garage. Oh well.
I finished a book last night (Digging To America by Anne Tyler) and will begin a new one right now. Not sure which one though. Hard to choose!
Well, I am sort of even more blank than usual today with nothing to really report! I'm bored and feel trapped in my home!
I think I want more visitors! It's good to be part of the living from time to time. I feel like input from the outer world will do me some good so anyone out there who perhaps wants to visit, feel free - but call first!!! No pressure! I just say it because some people have said they would like to visit but for the first few weeks I was not up for visitors at all. Now I am! Do I sound pathetic enough?????? I apologise if I do! Now I had better go listen to the wind and read!

Wednesday 17 January 2007: Sarah loves her new sweater and internet (Skype and Yahoo) telephoning and webcamming!!! And Heidi makes another comeback!

Heidi says: Hi everybody! Finally I found some time to upload a picture and to chat with you a bit. Although... This is one way communication. That's alright! I'll make it short so you don't have to listen too long! Yma is doing great. She is growing and growing... It makes me proud but sometimes a little sad too. There will come a time that she will be too big to hold her in my arms. Snif... But that time ain't now! :)) Yma is asleep right now. She needs an afternoon "stop" nowadays. That is good for the both of us. She gets new energy and I get to rest a bit as well. Here is a picture from 14 January 2007: Yma as a bandit. Or pirate lady.

Sarah says:

That's my new stripey sweater! I had tried it on months ago but didn't buy it because of the price and because of how it needs to be washed to stay nice. But now during the sales it cost 10 Euro in place of 40 Euro! I am so happy I found it again. I love it. It's warm and cozy like a good sweater should be! By the way, I only just woke up so that is why I look so tired in the above photo. I am really tired today! That's the pattern: one day active and the next day kaput. My back feels better but also feels really tired - like I need to lie down a lot today and take the pressure off of it! I will do my best. Shall finish the book I m reading today and watch Dr. Phil and Oprah soon! This is my morning ritual I'm afraid...Pathetic, I know!

Here you can see my kid and my friend Mona from New York talking by Skype to each other yesterday. Mona has a camera on her computer so it was all in real time as you can see by their tongues sticking out! This is such a great thing! I know it has all been around for a while and I am just jumping on the bandwagon but how cool is that to be able to not only talk for free via the internet but also to be able to web-cam the conversation so it sort of feels like the person is in the same room with you! I mean just look at Mona's head up there! It looks like she lives in my computer! I sort of like Yahoo phoning better because you can leave voice messages for free too when the person isn't available. With Skype I think for free you can only talk in real time or leave a chat message. Anyway, all you need is a strong internet connection, a microphone of some sort (often built in to newer computers) or a simple, cheap headset that you plug in and there you go! Well, first you must download the program(s) for free (Skype or Yahoo for example) and then off you go! I must sound like a kid in a candy store, I know, but I just can't resist free phone-calling! It's fantastic when you know people all over the place! My friend Carmen in Russia has been telling me to get on Skype for ages already! I should have listened to her! Once you try it, you wonder why you waited so long! I guess I feel this way because I am home now for these months and need contact with the outer world more frequently or something! But maybe even when I am back at work I will be in contact more because it is free. It will be great to not have such a huge phone bill all the time. It will also be fun for my kid and me to be able to see who we are talking to on webcam sometimes! A whole new world of communication! So any of you who haven't tried talking this way from PC to PC for free, maybe try it out! You'll probably be pleasantly surprised!!! Man, Yahoo and Skype should pay me for all that free advertising!!! Have a great day!

Tuesday 16 January 2007: Sarah wears her first turtle-neck in years in her efforts to try new things and break old moulds!

Sarah says:

Horizontal stripes, white shoulder wraps and now turtle-necks! All the things people with my body size and shape and double-chin-no-neck head are always told they shouldn't wear! Little did I know! I feel fine and even great in these things. I will not listen to such myths and fables anymore! Those days of buying into all those messages are over. Try! Try! Try!

Just to keep up to date, my back pain is still slightly there but I am feeling all right other than just a little nervous about it! The good news is, I slept straight through the night last night and had a fabulous and restful sleep for once. It seems I am almost there, other than this little wretched pain that snuck up on my lower back again. Let's just hope it passes soon!

Monday 15 January 2007: Sarah takes it easy with Valerie and then Heidi and their babies!

Sarah says:
Heidi and Yma stopped by after Valerie and Fre left. It was a good, simple day. I didn't over-do myself I took it easy. I still have that back pain from yesterday and am trying not to worry about it though it bothers me. It is really hard to measure what is what. I am paranoid I think. I just can't go back. Can't. That would be so sad! Don't you like this photo of me and Heidi? Look at Heidi's eyes and my eyebrows! Lovely.
Above you see Valerie and Fre, Greyn's ex-guitar player's wife and baby. Fre is such a smiley-faced kid. He looks so much like his dad Peter. I miss Peter. I miss Greyn a lot sometimes! It was a joy to see Fre and his mom! All these lovely kids! I can't wait to meet by friend E-Rocker's kid in October when I go to New York for her wedding ceremony. The baby is due in April. I just can't wait to see her genes passed on. As I said, all these lovely babies of all these lovely friends...

Here is my favorite Post Secret entry of this week about finding very hard to throw out your child's artwork. I know that feeling well. I have a fresh new pile of my daughter's paintings and drawings from school last year that I just took off the wall to replace with the times-tables. I just don't know what to do with it all. I want to save each and every bit of it! But it is too much! It is such a little dilemma every time. I am usually so good at throwing things out. I am not a pack-rat at all! But throwing any part of my daughter out at all always feels wrong. There have been times I have thrown stuff out and she has found it later in the garbage and has gotten so hurt and mad at me because of that. What to do? What to do? What to do?!!

Sunday 14 January 2007: Sarah wears white and makes a self-portrait and hates to report she has a little lower back pain today...

Sarah says:
My friend Joke visited today and brought me the white shoulder-only cape/drape you see in the above photo. I would never have chosen such a thing for myself. First of all it is white, which can make you look bigger and second of all one would think it makes my broad football player shoulders even more broad and football-player like. Seems I was wrong about those two things just like I was wrong about horizontal stripes. All of these things look quite okay on me so it goes to show you. Now I'll try stuff I would never try before and often I am pleasantly surprised. In 2007, I do not want to use words such as "that's not me" or stuff like that. Take chances! That's what I am saying! Try new things and break old moulds!!
Last night we played a game in which we had to write a description of ourselves based on the letters in our names. It was fun for my daughter who is learning to write these days. We also each had to draw a self-portrait of how we see ourselves today. Below you can see the one I drew of myself. If I drew it today, I'd put me in a white shoulder-wrap!
Sadly, this afternoon my lower back started to ache a bit. Maybe it's just period pains and cramps. I really hope so. I hope I haven't done too much. I am feeling too good and maybe not resting enough. I am trying to rest and think I am resting enough but it is so hard to know! I just hope by tomorrow the pain is all gone!

Saturday 13 January 2007: Heidi and Sarah take yet another walk on yet another day...and Sarah is In De Gloria and not pregnant!

Sarah says:
It's a same old-same-same-old kind of day! Heidi and I met for a walk to the center. Oh one bit of news! You know my checklist of the three things I need to be normal to really get on with total healing and recovery from my back surgery? Well, my intestines are still not totally working right for me and my sleep patterns are anything but good, but this morning my monthly friend came for a visit and I am happy to say that though 8 days late, this is proof I am not pregnant!!! And if I were pregnant, it would have had to happen while under anesthesia in the hospital!! Just kidding. Anyway, I am just glad my body is getting back to normal! That alone makes this same-old-same-old day a great one! And I was joking about being pregnant of course!!!! Not possible these days!

For all you In De Gloria fans, of which I am sure there are many, if you haven't seen the results of the Radio 1 name-your-favorite-In-De-Gloria sketch, check 'em out here.
It's hard to argue with the results but I also have to add the sketch with the bungee jumper who craps his pants
I guess it hits my scatological funny bone!
I wish you English speakers out there could watch the sketches via the above link, but they are in Dutch. Anyway, give it a try and see Belgium's funniest people and best comedy writers and actors at work! Man I wish some more of this sort of high-caliber comedy would come on TV soon! With all the crap I have been watching on TV lately, it would be a huge relief!!!

Friday 12 January 2007: Sarah stops to smell the flowers in this warm Belgian weather and also sees the REAL color of her mom's hair finally!!!

Sarah says:
My house smelled so good all of a sudden and I had no idea why! Then I saw that some flowers were blooming! How very pretty. Spring is on its way! There has been no Belgian winter at all!
I always wondered what my mom's real hair color was! Today she got her haircut and here it is! She is grey as can be. Not a true red head. Now I know and now you know too!

Thursday 11 January 2007: Well, yesterday's marathon is over for Sarah and today she isn't even getting dressed or out of bed - meet Sarah's blanky...

Sarah says:
Action, reaction, right? Well yesterday and the day before perhaps I did a tad too much so today I am doing nothing. Nothing at all. I haven't even gotten dressed and I won't. It is a full day of rest day! I am pooped! Speaking of which, that department still isn't back to normal and nor is my monthly friend! Until those two departments are back to normal, I won't be!! But with that said, I still feel really well - just terribly tired, which is to be expected.
Meet my pillow and blanky! They are sacred to me you know. I even had them in the hospital with me. The nurses kept asking me what they were. I cannot sleep without them. That smushy pillow has been with me for as long as I can remember. It's been all over America and Europe! I even take it with me when I go to London or wherever. I seriously cannot sleep without it. These days, I can't even sleep with it though! So add regular sleeping to normal toilet-going and regular monthly periods - once those three things are back on track - I can make a full recovery!!! It is scarily windy outside today!!!! I have been watching the wind out my shaking window all day!

Wednesday 10 January 2007: Heidi isn't feeling very well but Sarah is ready to run a marathon!

Heidi says: I am feeling a tiny little bit sick today. I guess it's because I can't go out because the weather is too bad. Or maybe I'm just getting used to my diet of healthy food and no candy... :)). I don't eat too little but I stopped eating candy and other sugary things in order too loose my last pregnancy kilos.
See how cool Yma looks in her 'liquor brand' shirt!

Sarah says:
Hi Heidi!! Great to see you and Yma here! Sorry you aren't feeling well. Hope it passes fast! You sms-ed me to ask if I found anything. I didn't at Devolder - except for Yma's next year's birthday and Christmas presents and Adeliene's as well. But my major walk and shop of the day today was at Decathlon where I found great bargains and the sort of track suit you see me wearing in this photo. It will come in handy for when I start doing exercises with a physio-therapist after these few months! It is so comfy and a great bright color!
I still feel great though again the walking around wore me out today. In a good way! I have so much energy it's fantastic!

Tuesday 09 January 2007: Heidi and Sarah take another walk and live out their small fantasy of having time to shop and do lunch and chit chat...

Sarah says: Now I am truly exhausted. I feel it in my feet and legs and upper back. Heidi and I took another walk today. I have to take walks each day when possible to get my spine working as it should and everything back in its place. We left my house around 1pm and returned after 4pm but had a small lunch in between. But I admit, it was a bit too much maybe or maybe not. I mean Heidi said her legs and feet were also aching - as if she had been doing sports. So maybe my aches and pains are just normal ones! I have not been stupid enough to try on any pants or skirts at the sales because that sort of bending would not be a good thing for me right now - a definite no-no! But I have managed to find a lot of nice tops - still size 44 (14 US), which I am so very happy about! I think I'll get down to size 42 (12 US) in the next 6 months and then that will be that! I would be happy with that size. I was a 14 when I was a teenager (44). I can't remember ever being smaller than that. I went up to as high as a 48/50 after my pregnancy. So I think 42 is the only realistic size for me at this point, if even! Anyway, 44 is fine right now because I can shop in all sorts of shops I never was able to shop in before! It's great feeling! Really. And my extra centimeter and a half from the prosthetic disc being in my lower spine really makes a difference in how clothes fall on me now. My torso is longer - and that's where I needed to be longer. So again, a happy day! (I know I must sound really shallow but I am really happy about this and can't hide it, shallow or not!)
And by the way -- check out Heidi in the above photo! We have never seen her with that face before!!! Look how smiley we both are. Doesn't that make y'all happy?! That's one of my new tops by the way!

Monday 08 January 2007: Sarah sees the light and starts to feel lighter and misses Heidi here on Face The Day!!

Sarah says:
I am so happy to report to y'all that compared to how I felt for the last couple of years - I am feeling so much better! Even now with some residual leg pain and upper back and shoulder pain from the surgery, you can not begin to imagine the relief I am feeling not having that agonizing lower back pain throbbing away at me all day and night long. I can say happily that I feel like a new person right now. My energy is coming back. I am not even talking about the energy I had before the operation, because in all honesty, I haven't had energy for years. I am talking about the energy I had pre-back pain! This is a wonderful development!!! I just hope it last. I am knocking on wood as I write this. I know I MUST still rest a lot and take it easy and not lift anything for months and not bend too much. I know that and I will respect it. What I realized today more than anything - now that I am off pain killers and starting to take small walks (today to Kortrijk with Heidi where I bought two really nice things on sale still a size smaller than I was before!) - what I felt today is that my oh my what did I put up with for the last years - agony - that's what I let into my life and started to almost believe was normal. I cannot begin to describe what it feels like to no longer have that heavy pain every day dragging me down, draining all my energy and making me feel like less than a person.
I feel oddly liberated. I feel full of hope. I feel somewhat manic from all this.
I just hope it lasts. I just hope it lasts...

On another topic: I miss Heidi here! I know she has no time and doesn't always even have interest. It sort of feels like she's left Face The Day and it is all mine now! I am sorry about that. I do hope she returns whenever she can but I don't know if she feels like it anymore!!! Sorry if you miss her too!!!

Sunday 07 January 2007: Sarah LOVES Skype! She's talking to her friend Mona in New York right now!

Sarah says:
Can't talk to y'all now! I'm on Skype with my buddy in New York Mona! You remember her! Gotta go! You should get Skype too!!

Here's my choice of Post Secret this week. I finally came up with my own secret! It took me a while because I pretty much tell everybody everything. But there's this one thing almost nobody knows... If it makes it on Post Secret, I promise I'll post it here for everyone to see!

Saturday 6 January 2007: Sarah gets the Sun Tarot card, which is good!!! when she asks about the future of her back problems...

Sarah says:
My daughter wanted me to tell her the future. I told her it wasn't possible. She said there were cards she knew that told the future. I told her that the cards, called Tarot, don't really do that - that they are more like a game that suggests things for you to think about. Kind of hard concepts to explain to a curious 7 year old! Anyway, she persuaded me to show her how Tarot cards work so I did. Her first question was, and I quote: "When will my next tooth fall out?" The cards told her that last year (the past), she lost tons of teeth; that now (the present) there would be no teeth lost and that in a year, she'd lose another tooth. The cards also told her to talk about this with the wisest person in the house. Out of me, my mom and my husband, she chose her daddy! Serves me right I guess.
Her next question was, and again I quote: "Is it possible to love somebody too much?" The cards told her that it was possible when young and dreamy to love too much but as you get older and wiser, you love less deeply.
Her next question was: "Why did President Bush make war in Iraq?" Here the cards told her that it was because of youth and deception and inexperience."
Lastly she asked: "Why do I think my family is the happiest family in the whole wide world?" To this the cards said it was because of lots of joy, honesty and doing different things - diversity.
The cards seemed to be on a roll, don't ya think?! So I asked the following questions, and I quote: "What is the future of my back pain? Has the surgery helped? Will this fake disc in my spine give me relief?
I chose The Sun - see the encouraging meaning below! I "play" with Tarots for the playfulness of suggestion only and don't take it to heart - but I do like the below answer!!! Don't y'all?
Here's a game: send me your Tarot questions and I'll get back to you with my reading results! It's not like I have anything else to do for the next two months!!! (arghhh)
By the way, I am feeling great today!!!

Card Meaning from this site

The Sun is a card that celebrates life and happiness, the sun gives and nourishes life, in fact, only the existence of the sun makes life possible. Without sun, no life. The sun makes people feel more alive and happy.

If the Sun card turns up in a reading, you can celebrate a success, and I would recommend not to forget the source of it. Where does it come from, what has helped you achieve it? Be grateful and respectful to it, don't forget it. Stay humble, but enjoy and celebrate it fully, nonetheless.

Spiritually, the Sun card means a breakthrough in the development of the inner light, parts of your life have been illuminated and enlightened. You are on the right path, be full of joy and celebrate this new state of being.

On the other hand, if you expose yourself to the sun for too long, you not only risk a sunburn, but dehydration and eventually death. So the sun is not only the giver, but also the taker of life. This card reminds us that on our paths, we have sometimes to cross shadowy parts. In fact, the sun itself gives us the possibility of rest by creating the shadows with its very light.

On our soul quest to the light, we sometimes forget that shadows are necessary. Until our own light has been remembered fully, it is necessary to remember that clinging stubbornly to ideals without acknowledging realities of imperfection will in the end only retain us from developing.

Friday 5 January 2007: Sarah and Heidi watched the worst movie ever: Elizabethtown

Heidi says: THIS IS TRULY THE WORST MOVIE I EVER SAW!!!! Amazingly bad! So bad it made Sarah and me sick! I need a walk to the shop to get over this horrible movie. Stupid characters, overacting, a bad stupid story leading to NOTHING! Oh and Orlando Bloom sucks with his wussy 'mulle' and I never want to see that face again! Brrrrrr...
Good news, Sarah walked to the videostore with me and she used Yma's buggy as her walking stick! She did great!

Thursday 04 January 2007: Sarah and Heidi's favorite colleague KDW stops by for a quicky!

Sarah says:
KDW stopped by and Heidi too at the same time so we had a work meeting - no we didn't! We drank coffee and ate cookies while YMA drank her mommy's milk. It was nice to see KDW's friendly face. I return to work the 1st of March and Heidi mid-March. Then it will be the three of us again like old times. Like I said yesterday, I actually miss work. Well, I miss working anyway and being part of the world. Staying at home is not for me. Thanksfully I got a huge bag of People Magazines today from my frined Cheryl in America so I'll be busy with those for a while. Next week I'll start reading books and smartening my dumb self up again!
By the way, I feel a lot better today. I slept till 11am today so that I can stay up all day and go to bed at a good hour. My leg still hurts but I am avoiding pain killers. I have been up a lot today and probably should get into bed for a while as my back is hurting - between my shoulders. I think I have to get stronger!

Wednesday 3 January 2007: Oy Vey! Sarah is having a really rotten day and is in a really rotten mood

Sarah says:
I slept so poorly last night and felt like I had a fever half of the night - cold sweats and headache and all. Woke up this morning with that damn heavy leg pain again in right leg (it seemed the days before like it was getting better!)! And have a rage brewing in my brain. Everything and everyone is annoying me. It's my problem alone! I am sorry if I am disconnected from or bitchy to anyone today. I mean I even went out for lunch today to Bio Planet with my mom and Heidi and YMA. The food was good but I wasn't happy at all. I couldn't deal with the people and the place. I think I am just disappointed because I was feeling quite okay the last couple of days and today I feel rotten again! It's like taking a few steps backwards - probably because I went forward too fast the other days. My own fault. It is very hard to know my limits right now. I feel better than I am apparently and really must just take it easy. It is very hard for me to do nothing all day - especially when I don't feel that bad. I guess I am lucky I do feel sick today because at least it means I will rest. Arghhhhh... Oh and Sorry Heidi if I was sort of absent today and annoyed! It wasn't meant for you!!!

Tuesday 02 January 2007: Sarah's friend Joke stops by with some great apple pie to say hi and Sarah is SICK OF TV!!!!

Sarah says:
Wow! I am starting to feel much, much better. More energy. More delight. I didn't even take a pain killer last night! That's the first time!! My belly is hurting today and I have aches and pains all over but they feel normal and aren't worrying me for once! Joke stopped by to say hello. See! I am even having visitors now, which is good. Great to be part of the living again - though an hour or two is enough because my back gets so tired and I need to lie down. But all in all things are going well. I just hope this lasts. I have read many things about this operation and one that keeps coming up again and again is how good you feel at first - then three or so months down the line - you stop feeling good again. Man I hope the good stays!!! My leg is still rotten and in pain and I have upper back pain now in place of lower - but I can move so much better and so much faster than I thought I'd be able to. I really have to be careful though. I HAVE TO make sure to rest a lot and not do too much. That isn't as easy as I though either...

Here is my favorite Post Secret entry this week having to do with apathy and self interest and the dumbing and numbing of the Western World!I have been watching so much crap TV in the last two weeks - the great escape indeed. We live in a sick, sick world. The shows that are on are mostly shallow and show how obsessed we all are with looks and money and material things and being peeping Toms. I am as guilty as anyone else! I mean just look at this Blog! What is with all the reality shows and going on TV to fix your sex-life or to clean out your closet... This Blog is the same - why oh why oh why do we need such a stage. If you watch TV all day you can really start to hate people. If you browse the internet all day you can really feel just as overwhelmed with the modern world. Today on some Trinny and Susanna show they transformed and old-fashioned miserable divorced woman into a beautiful and confidant modern woman. It was a struggle but she felt better in the end. I was drawn in and needing to know how she'd end up. I was rooting for her and feeling her pain. And then I was wondering why I even cared and related. We can transform everything! There is no end! I dream of being taken away and given a make-over and 2000 Euro for shopping for new clothes. It would also be great to have a therapist for everything - for bedroom tips, child-raising advice, cooking secrets -- but YUCK!!!! On TV it is all way too much!!! I found myself wondering if I got selected at a shopping mall for an instant beauty contest like the show on Vitaya or V - if I would go along with it and learn new things about myself and have breakthroughs that would change my life forever -- maybe I could even win! I mean YOU CAN HAVE THIS TOO-- isn't that what all these shows are about? Are they creating the need???? No freaking doubt! Great marketing indeed and feeding the I hate myself and must change myself frenzy.
Man I long for some good comedy! I am almost done with Little Britain. I have seen all of Het Eiland and In De Gloria and The Fast Show 5 times by now. Later that night:And I forgot to mention Borat (thanks so much NSM!!! - hope to talk to you really soon!!!) - the video my brother compiled for me that I started watching but have since had to wait for my husband to have time as I can't watch it without him! I at least have the rest of that to look forward to!! Why do so many people I know not like Borat? I LOVE BORAT! Why does he offend so many? He's brilliant!... I even started watching Monty Python again the other night. ANYTHING BUT REALITY TV PLEASE!!!!! FREEDUMB INDEED!!!! Thankfully I have a job that I'll return to in March. People who are at home all day must get so sucked into TV. In really can numb and dumb you. I think I'll go watch some right now! I am addicted!! Save m Lord!

Monday the 1st of January 2007!!!!!!! Sarah brings in the SUNNY Belgian New Year with special Face The Day guest Dirk!!!

Heidi says: HAPPY NEWYEAR!!!! This is what made me happy last year and will make me happy this year!


Sarah says:
Happy 1st of January 2007!!! Hope you had nice celebrations! It's really, really sunny here in Belgium right now. That's Dirk in that photo - my husband's best buddy.
You want to see Dirk's Elf Dance? Click here!
You want to see my mom's Elf Dance? Click here!