Saturday, Sunday and Monday 16,17 and 18 May 2009: "Heidi the hairdresser" cut Sarah and Ayla's hair!

That's me and Heidi above on Monday the 18th of May pretending we work at a Call Center just in case we don't find any other jobs! We are both looking for new work and both considering taking different classes in the meantime. Who knows what the future holds but if all else fails - we could always work at a Call Center, right?

By the way - as it is the 18th of May I just want to say that Peter De Wilde would have turned 37 today. He's on my mind. He died way too young. I miss him and think about him almost every day still. I still haven't been able to erase his last text message to me in my phone. I guess I will when I am ready or by accident. His photo still rests on out living room bar. I don't know when it feels right to put such photos away and all. Not yet I guess. Not yet...

What you see above is the great veggie lasagna that Tom made us Sunday as a belated Mother's Day treat! He's making a nice effort to learn how to cook so he can cook sometimes. It's such a treat to have him cook for us because I get to not cook for once and I get to try new things that I wouldn't necessarily make myself! I ate the rest Monday! Loved it!

That's Heidi and me above on Sunday the 17th after she cut my hair. I know - my hair looks just about the same as always - but that's how I like it. I'm trying to grow it longer and I'm hoping Heidi can trim it from time to time with just a little thinning and by this time next year I have long hair again! Mark my words!

There above is Heidi cutting Ayla's hair on Sunday the 17th. Ayla was very happy with the results and impressed by Heidi's cutting abilities. So was I!

The above photo is from Sunday the 17th when Heidi came over to cut my and Ayla's hair. I have no idea why the photo is sideways but no matter! You can see Heidi is good busy!

Above you can see me first thing Sunday morning at about 1 am just driving home from some friends' house. It was a good day! Saturday was the open door day and then we had a nice dinner at the house of some friends and then we watched a movie and hung out at the house of other friends, where Ayla slept over. It was a day full of people, which was nice! Good to be part of the living! Makes you feel alive.
Heidi says (saturday): IT IS MY MOTHERS BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! HOORAY HOORAY!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah: There above on Saturday the 16th of May you can see me with a little ghost getting up to no good behind me! Isn't that a lovely photo hanging there of Ayla? This was really an AYLA Weekend! We went to her school's open door day on Saturday and watched her dance the day away! It was wonderful to see her so sure of herself up on stage. She's really growing up! Both Tom and I had tears in our eyes watching her perform. I'll post videos later of her 4th grade class performance and her playback show with her friends.

Friday 15 May 2009: Sarah faces the day and you and is glad it is weekend!

Sarah says:
I wish my face looked that skinny always! My daughter was telling me she got her dad's forehead and not mine. She was telling me she has a huge forehead and that she has to cover it with her hair to make it look smaller. Of course I think she looks wonderful with her hair totally pulled back because her eyes jump out and you just see her face so clearly. My hair is always in my face and I have a very good forehead - if I do say so myself ;-) so today I thought I'd show it for once! Heidi will trim my and Ayla's hair on Sunday!!! I'm very excited to see how it looks after! I love being a guinea-pig for such things.

Thursday 14 May 2009: Sarah is spending the evening with PJ Harvey and John Parish at the AB in Brussels!!!

Sarah says:
Always uplifting to see one of your "idols" perform live. This will be the 2nd time I have seen PJ Harvey but this time she'll be performing with John Parish. I hope it will be a great show and a great night! I can't wait to hop on the train to Brussels and finish my book during the ride, meet up with my husband at the concert, see a fab gig and then have a nice ride home...

Wednesday 13 May 2009: A crap day to be flushed down the toilet by Heidi and Sarah!

Sarah says:
Don't even ask!

Tuesday 12 May 2009 : Heidi and Sarah are Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...

Sarah says:
Pink Floyd says it best at this point:

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the
way...."

Just started the above book: Oracle Night by Paul Auster.... Starts with these lines:

"I had been sick for a long time. When the day came for me to leave the
hospital, I barely knew how to walk anymore, could barely remember who I was
supposed to be. Make an effort, the doctor said, and in three or four months
you'll be back in the swing of things. I didn't believe him, but I followed his
advice anyway. They had given me up for dead, and now that I had confounded
their predictions and mysteriously failed to die, what choice did I have but to
live as though a future life were waiting for me?"

Just finished the above book with great title and okay content: How To Lose Friends and Alientate People by Toby Young... I recommend it to those interested in journalism, celebrity, Vanity Fair magazine and comparisons between life in London and life in New York... Ends with these nice lines:

"Some people are lucky enough to stumble across the right path straight away;
most of us only discover what the right one is by going down the wrong one
first..."

Sunday and Monday 10 and 11 May 2009: Sarah is smothered by the idea of being only a mother for the moment...

Sarah says:

Bored. Head-ache. Pounding brain today. Bad sleep again last night. Need to re-load and re-charge. I wish I had the ability to just plug myself into a charger sometimes!

Above and below are me yesterday - Sunday the 10th of May on Mother's Day. It was also "open-werf" day in Belgium so we visited two ongoing building projects in Kortrijk. The first one above is a vioew of the new, huge mall they are building in Kortrijk called "K". It will be weird to have this mall take over our quaint city but I'm sure we'll all shop there and our daughters will probably work and hang out there one day! It's a big, messy werf right now for sure and it causes major traffic issues too. I guess that's "progress" for you... or not....

Above you can see me in De Kreun - where the new music center will be in Kortrijk - Kortrijk's very own concert location. Now that's something I look forward to seeing built. The more good concerts and concert places, the better!!! I think our daughters will also hang out there a lot when they are older. I hope so!

That's me above yesterday at the end of Mother's Day. Though I was really happy with my daughter's attention and everything and the nice walk I had with my husband and all that - yesterday was just a bad-head day for me. I don't even know why but I felt really low. It's so up and down it's a bit maddening really. I guess it is par for the course. It's hard to feel good when you have worked as long as you can remember and then all of a sudden you are out of a job and in the difficult re-defining yourself moment. Yesterday all I knew is that I didn't want to be just a mother. I wanted so much more.... I feel like that is all I am right now. Without work - the thing that has always made me felt the best about myself, I am left with the second thing - being a mom. But that is not enough for me. At least I am sure of that.

Speaking of Mothers and Mother's Day, the below Post Secret is my pick of the week because having a 10 year old!!!! now gives me glimpses of this little person who seems grown up sometimes but is really still just this little person with a lot of growing up to do. Whilst she likes getting older I see that she struggles with the idea as well because she knows that at some age you start being teenager-like and rebellious and have more responsibilities and all. I think she truly will miss my driving her to school when we tell her it's time for her to ride her bike... I will miss those morning rides too - looking at that little bunny in my rearview mirror...

Heidi says: That was a nice mothers' day!

Saturday 09 May 2009: Heidi goes blond and becomes a Quaker at Ayla's 10th birthday party with make-your-own tacos and sundaes!

Sarah says:

Heidi has gone blond folks. I begged her not to but it's part of her hair studies! What do you think?

Heidi's started praying folks. It's part of her soul-searching. She thinks she was a Quaker in a past life. She's also converted Nico and Yma as you can see below!
Heidi, Nico and Yma call themselves Quaker-pirates. They are looking for members if anyone is interested...

As you can see by comparing the above photo to the below one - there is a very fine line between Quaker and Pirate! If the Garrein-Haemers family is up for it, they are welcome to join me in my Pirate adventures!

Yma, as you will notice below, is not amused!

Mmmmmm - make-your-own-taco party for Ayla's 10th birthday!
Mmmmmm - make-your-own-sundae party for Ayla's 10th birthday!

Above you can see from left clockwise - Wim, Tom, Filip, Vanessa, Heidi, Yma and Nico at Ayla's 10th birthday party! Where are all the kids? Looks like an adult party to me!!

There are the party kids enjoying their ice cream! And a good day was had by all though we all stuffed ourselves silly....

Thursay and Friday 07 and 08 May 2009: Heidi is black and Sarah is white...

Sarah says:
Isn't Heidi so very BRIGHT today?! She's all in black and it suits her. No use in my being in the photo. I look a mess today! Not bright at all. Didn't sleep AGAIN last night!!!!!

Above is my photo from Thursday the 7th of May - last night. It was time to do a mask to relax and to look brighter. Well - I slept as poorly as ever and I surely don't look brighter from the mask... Oh well, one can only try!

The nice thing is I have a half-day today and Ayla's birthday party to prepare for Saturday. It will be make-your-own tacos and ice-cream sundaes! Should be fun! The weekend came so fast again. Time is very strange lately! I hardly know what day it is...

Tuesday and Wednesday 05 and 06 May 2009: Heidi and Sarah are still searching and Sarah uis closer to becoming a pirate than ever!

Sarah says:
There we are above today - Wednesday the 6th of May - still searching and living in a blur!
Heidi says: Later that day... I had a photoshoot with a nice woman: Isabel D'Aubioul! Very curious to see the results. Above you can see the tons of make-up I put on my face.

Sarah says: There I am above yesterday - Tuesday the 5th of May - have I seen the light? Not yet! Not yet!!! Searching, searching, searching.... always searching....

And I'd like to introduce you to my new Pirate self! If all else fails, I will become a pirate off the coast of Seychelles!

Monday 04 May 2009: HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TO AYLA "THE LOOL" MAGGIE-MAY CHRISTIAENS!!!!!!!!

Heidi says:
I am fighting hard. Not so long ago, I lost my job. There, i said it.
It's only last wednesday that it hit me hard. All these nice contacts I built up in the last seven years, gone. That nice product I work with, gone. I had a very long weekend to think about it and to be busy with it and it was hard, very hard. But I will fight and get over it. Who says I have to lose all these nice aspects of this job? I can maybe use them again. I will fight against my dark thoughts and win!
By the way: going to the hairdresser really works as therapy!

GELUKKIGE VERJAARDAG AYLA!!!!

Sarah says:
I HAVE A 10 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER!!!!!! Happy birthday Ayla!!! Above you can see Heidi and me with little eyes. Man do I look tired! Maybe because I have a 10 year old or maybe because it is Monday morning! I can't wait to surprise Ayla tonight with a gift she knows nothing about!


There above you can see Ayla today at age 10 on 04 May 2009!

In the above photo you can see Ayla one year ago today at age 9 on 04 May 2008!

Above you can see Ayla two years ago today on her 8th birthday on 04 May 2007!

The photo above shows Ayla three years ago on her 7th birthday on 04 May 2006!

And below is my Post Secret pick of the week. It's how I feel about my daughter. I will love her under any circumstances I am quite sure - no matter where life takes us together and apart!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday 01, 02 03 May 2009 - forgot Thursday the 30th but not flashback 1st of the month!!!!

Sarah says:

There's Ayla above - still 9 years old. The last day of being one-digit old! We had her uncle and cousin over for cake today - Sunday the 3rd of May. And yesterday she got to take two friends of her to a fun park near by! She's having a nice weekend for sure in these last days of being 9!

That's me above today Sunday the 3rd of May. It's been a nice, long weekend spent outside for the most part. I do have that -oh-no-it's-Sunday feeling but oh well! It's been good!
There above I am on Saturday the 2nd of May with some lionesses at the fun park. It was good to be out side most of the day being thrown around on rides. For the first time I almost had to throw up after a ride. I still was able to go on the roller coaster after that but something wasn't right in my head and belly yesterday. Must have been the red wine from the night before. Every time I drink red wine I don't feel great the next day. It's not just a hung-over feeling. It's like a brain buzz and a sharp pain in my ear and head and belly troubles. I don't really like white wine. I need to find a new drink.

Above, a great photo of my husband and child. It was nice being out in Kortrijk running into so many people we know and being at the park listening to music. Very festive. Very red! And the sun was shining! There above you can see my lovely family and me on Friday the 1st of May 2009. It's FLASHBACK 1ST OF TH MONTH HERE AT FACE HE DAY! So see photos below to have a walk down memory lane!
That's my daughter and I above exactly one year ago on the 1st of May 2008! Click here to see what was happening that day!

There above you can see me exactly 2 years ago on the 1st of May 2007 and Heidi in the below photo on the same day with Yma! By clicking here you can go back in time with us...

And there below you can see Heidi and me exactly three years ago on the 1st of May 2006 all in red! I think Heidi was pregnant there and I had back pain. A lot has happened in both our lives since then!!! Click here to go back three years in time with us!