Biting my nails here...

and I don't even like soccer.
But here I am, listening to Dutch radio and watching the game on tv.
Blaming it on the possibility that there is a part of me that might be slightly homesick?

Right now it is 1-0 for Oranje…


Anyway, when it gets too exiting, I walk out.
I love walking out here because there is so much I can check on in our garden.
Can pinch out flowers of the hanging baskets, or the day lilies.
Check if I need to water anything. And I do, the heat is finally becoming too much for our new planted garden. And not just our garden, when walking the dogs I can see most lawns turn slightly brown.
One thing that is growing really well is a little plant that my son brought home from school.

One of the other kids didn't want it and my son knows that I will always give it a shot.
Not that it helps, I manage to kill most plants. But this time it seems to do well.
We had no clue what it was until a few days ago.
They are cucumbers!

So we are growing our first vegetables ever.
And they grow so fast that I swear, every time the game gets to exiting and I walk out, those little cucumbers grew again!

So maybe it isn't such a bad idea to have a small vegetable garden next year?


YES!!!
A minute after I finished this blog entry the Dutch scored again.
2-0  :-)

Mag ik even?

Voor de verandering eens een Nederlands blogje.
Voornamelijk omdat ik er zin in heb maar ook omdat manlief mijn gezeur dan niet hoeft te lezen.
Want, zoals Dixiechick en Cisca beide al meer dan eens benoemden, we houden ervan om nu en dan eens te zeuren.
En dat doen ze hier niet. Hier doen ze aan oplossingen en aanpakken.

Maar nu heb ik zin om even lekker te zeuren, over iets onzinnigs, iets dat ik heel goed kan oplossen, maar gewoon omdat het soms zo lekker is.
Het zit namelijk zo, het eten is hier 'te' lekker.
Ook laat Jack me kennismaken met dingen die ik me nooit kon veroorloven of niet kende.
Dat niet alleen, maar de porties zijn ook nog eens enorm.
Als ik per ongeluk laat vallen dat ik wellicht zin in een ijsje heb, dan staan we 5 minuten later bij Brusters Icecream . Niet voor een ijsje waar de chocolade hagelsslag overheen gevlogen is, maar voor een waarvoor ik beide handen nodig heb om het vast te houden en waarin flinke brokken chocola zitten.
Of halverwege de week word me gevraagd of ik geen zin heb om dat thaise restaurant uit te proberen, of zullen we naar BJ's gaan. Of hij komt thuis met een stel steaks waar je U tegen zegt en die gaan dan op de grill.
Zucht, de helft van de tijd hoef ik zelf geen boodschappen te doen en wordt er voor me gekookt.
Steak, met een baked potato en mais… of met blauwe kaas gevulde kipfilet en als dessert cookiedough icecream.

Ik denk dat jullie wel ongeveer zien waar dit heengaat.
Mijn weegschaal ziet het ook, toen ik eindelijk de moed verzameld had en er op ging staan.
Lekker eten en daarbij niet meer dagelijks op de fiets is funest.
Per maand kwam ik meer dan een kilo aan. Denk dat jullie dat optel sommetje zelf wel kunnen doen. En natuurlijk kreeg ik problemen met mijn kleding, niets past meer.
Maar ja, ook daarover kon ik niet zeuren, we gingen gewoon naar de outlets, die zijn vlakbij….zei hij.

Toch heb ik moeten besluiten om de rem er op te gooien en inmiddels is er 5,5 kilo af.
Maar lastig is het wel, behalve dat ik nu oplet wat ik eet, moet ik vooral opletten wat ik zeg.
Want voor ik het weet ligt de koelkast weer vol met lekkernijen waarvan hij denkt dat ik er zin in had.
En dat is zo verleidelijk.

Want het is allemaal veel te lekker.
Echt waar!

It really is Summer now

And that means school ended on Wednesday.
I haven't been talking much about my son on this blog since I don't really feel comfortable with talking about your kids on the internet. Too many weird people around.
But I really have to let you know now that I am a very proud Mom.
In the last few years my son had to go through some really big changes and non of them were really his choice. The last one was moving with me to the US, starting school here and adjusting to life here.
A moment ago I looked at his grades. In September he started in the 8th grade, which is the last year of middle school, and you can see his grades go up over the year.
The most surprised I am by his high B for Social Studies. Which is American history and not something he had in the Netherlands.
But best of all is seeing his English grade go up from a D to a B.
Oh and I certainly shouldn't forget the big fat A's for pre-algebra, science, art, music, gym and the last 2 gradings in reading.

Next year he will be starting High school and I think he will do fine. He seems to like the way school is set up here and if you ask him, kids are more friendly. The only bad part of school is the busses he says.
Used as he was to go on the bike, he really doesn't like the bus. And if it weren't for the 15 (highway) I would let him go, but even with the traffic lights is is just too dangerous.

Anyway, I just wanted to brag a bit about my 15 year old son.
I am really liking the young man he is turning into and I am already curious to see what the next 4 years will bring.

This week I had to say goodbye to him. Right now he is in the Netherlands, visiting his father and family for the summer. He made this long flight on his own. We had done this flight several times together and I knew he is better at finding the gates and luggage than his Mom. Also, he didn't have to wait the long wait before boarding on his own, Jack got a gate pass and waited with him. But I guess I am being a typical Mom and really didn't want to let him go on his own.

It is a good thing he has 4 years of high school to go to, close to home.
Because his Mom needs the time to get used to the idea that he will spread his wings and leave the nest.

Btw, sorry for just blurting all this out, had to get it out there and didn't really worry about how it came out.