changer d'air...

I am typing this entry with my ^still cold-numbed fingers. Séb and I went to Paris this afternoon right after I brought Cléms back to school. I had a document translated by one of those authorized document translators and we were told to have it picked up today. Considering that I'd be picking Cléms up from school at 4:30 and I wasn't really sure if we could be back before four o' clock, I told Séb to go there alone. He then suggested that we take his motorcycle instead to be sure to be back home just before the time Cléms finishes school. I wasn't so keen on his idea at first as I'm not much into long distance motorcycling, pretty tiring, not to mention the very cold weather we're having at the moment. But since he kinda begged, I said oui.

We left at around 2:00 pm. After about half an hour, we reached Paris (Porte de le Chapelle). And although the translator's office is just 10 minutes drive from la Chapelle, we reached his place after another thirty minutes: we got caught in traffic congestions, too much roadworks going on in Paris! We stayed barely ten minutes at the traducteur's office... chat a bit with the secretary, paid the translated document (55 euros... trop cher), etc., and we got back en vitesse on the road again! At exactly 4:10 p.m., we were at the residence's parking lot. Gosh, riding a motorcycle in a freezing cold weather numbed my legs I could hardly walk up the staircase... I changed my jacket (had a rough time doing it, my numbed, unfeeling fingers struggled with the zipper and buttons...) and off I went to pick Cléms up.

As I write this, I'm sitting on our buff leather sofa, sipping a very hot capuccino with my laptop warming my legs... Ah, that feels good...

au travail, Cléms!

Lundi. Finally, Cléms is now with her copines et camarades at school. She was actually absent for two weeks because of a grippe. Last Monday, when she was supposed to reprendre l'école, it was le tour de son maïtre to be sick. And this is one of those circumstances whereby teachers need to be replaced. But unfortunately, since la directrice had no luck in finding for a remplacement, I had to have her (again) at home for another week (her teacher was absent for a week because of a gastro). And today, the two of them se retrouve, ah, they looked so happy to be together again (could see it in their eyes). Yeah, I know cos Cléms likes her maïtre a lot and vice versa. Oh, he's one gentil monsieur. And Laurine, l'assistante maternelle, a very nice dame, was just so glad aussi to see Cléms again!

Funny, this Saturday marks the first day of a two-week winter vacation. Already? Et oui! So, Cléms doit bien profiter cette semaine to be with her copines! I just hope she won't catch any saleté again before the vacation...

Phew!

un dimanche... patati et patata...

Rien de spécial, c'est dimanche et comme d'habitude, nous somme à la maison, tranquille. Il fait froid dehors et on a pas d'attention d' sortir. Ah, le téléphone sonne...

Et voilà grand-père! Il va passer à la fin d'après-midi. Ca faisait long temps qu'on s'est pas vu. La dernière fois c'était pendant le révéillon de Noël, et étant donné qu'on était tous les trois (moi, Séb et Tété) malade ces dernières semaines, il n'a pas pu passer. Bon il faut que je fasse un peu de café, j'ai un grand envie - j'ai froid. Grand-père aura besoin aussi...

*****

Apart ça, en ce moment, je m'amuse à faire quelque chose. Quest-ce que c'est? Oh, rien, c'est juste que j'essai d'apprendre comment faire un site. J'ai des logiciels comme Dreamweaver MX, GoLive et Nvu. Je ne sais pas encore vraiment comment ils marchent mais bon, c'est pour ça qu'il faut s'y mettre. Il faut apprendre et je le fais toute seule. Eh, oui toute seule!

J'ai déjà réussi à faire quelques pages et ils sont l'air super simples. Pas grave, l'essentiel c'est que petit à petit, j'apprends.

alors, ce qui se passe, c'est...

... j'étais très occupé ces derniers jours. Je n'avais même pas eu le temps de mettre mon blog à jour. Bon, dimanche dernier a été consacré au lavage de ma voiture. Oui, enfin. Ca faisait quand même un sacré bail qu'elle souffrait de la boue et la poussière. Je l'ai nettoyé au carchere (je ne sais même pas si ça s'est écrit comme ça...). C'était la première fois que je l'ai fait et je peux dire que ça va, je préfére comme ça. Elle est plus propre, le carchere nettoie beaucoup mieux comparé au brosses de Leclerc. En fait, Séb était avec moi et il m'a montré comment l'utiliser. Alors la prochaine fois, ça sera un jeu d'enfant pour moi. Avec les prix abordable, la facilité et avec un résultat plutôt satisfaisant, rien va m'empecher maintenant.

Lundi. Normalement, Cléms devait reprendre l'école. Elle a été absente pendant deux semaines à cause d'une grippe et le jour qu'elle allait revoir ses copines, c'est le tour de son maïtre d'être absent. Il est malade. Et parce qu'il n'avait pas de remplaçant, je préférais de la (Cléms) garder à la maison car elle toussait encore un petit peu. Alors notre plan, Séb et moi, d'aller au tribunal de Gonesse ce-jour là pour les papiers a été reporté hier.

Hier, mardi, le maïtre de Cléms est encore malade et n'avait toujours pas de remplaçant. Nous avons alors décidé d'aller à Gonesse avec elle. Comme ça, les papiers, ça s'avance. Mais bon, comme d'habitude, comme c'est toujours le cas, il y avait un papier manquant - c'est la traduction de mon acte de naissance. Punaise.

Aujourd'hui, mercredi... bon, rien spécial vraiment. C'est un jour comme les autres. Les enfants sont à la maison, il fait super froid dehors et on est bien là où il fait chaud. On a pas sorti du tout de la maison et je n'ai bien profité pour faire mon ménage habituel. Ok, je me sens un peu abattu mais bon, ça va, je respire encore, hehe. Cléms n'est plus malade et elle va revoir ses copines demain. Comme j'ai dit à Sébastien, avec où sans remplaçant, elle va à l'école demain. Euh, ça le branche pas vraiment mais bon, on verra...

mesure radical

Content Barrier X. Had to install this software in my son's computer, oh well -- trying out its latest demo version first and I'd say, it's been working great. We have a month trial and am sure already that am gonna buy this.

About three years ago, I was telling Sébastien that I won't allow Miko to have his own ordinateur in his room (well, till he's eighteen). It's because I was afraid he'd visit those 'inappropriate' sites. Then last year, just before Christmas, he kinda insisted that since Miko always needs the internet to do some research, he thought that 'twas about time getting him his own computer. Oh, I wasn't really so keen on the idea at first. but then I told Miko that I would be monitoring his access from time to time, that he's got to be careful on the www. He said, "just trust me".

So that's it. He had his computer with internet access in his room as a Christmas present. But I told him that it's 'limited', meaning, just like with his Playstation -- not to be used on weekdays. So, chatting with his friends or simply surfing the net can only be done on weekends. And if he really needs the net for his research, he can put his computer on à condition that he'll leave his door open. Voilà!

Yesterday afternoon, Clems asked if she could play in Miko's room. I said okay and that I'd stay with her. I put the computer on (we just received a brochure of a campsite in the north of France and I wanted to check on its site) and out of curiosity, I looked at the historique section of his Firefox browser. He's apparently been visiting a site called humourr.com, there I clicked on it and what did I see? Les saletés! So, right away, I looked for a filter that works for Mac and found this one, installed it and it works à merveille!

And Miko? How did he react when asked about the betise he did? Well, he said he's sorry and that the URL was given by Séb's brother. Ha! Le cochon!

on la retrouve enfin!

Wednesday (déjà?). Ah, que les jours vont vite! I finally decided to see our doctor last Monday, simplement parce que Seb pushed me to get a rendez-vous. But of course I didn't regret it as I had laryngitis and paryngitis that needed to be looked at en vitesse. The doctor prescribed me the antibiotic Amoxicillin, Solupred (a cortison) and some cough syrups. I was feeling en forme today, it's winter sale and I was able to take advantage of it. As for my baby Cléms, she's feeling a lot better now. It's just that this morning, she was complaining of a stomach ache, and had vomited just before lunchtime. Obviously after that, she lost her appetite and just ate a half pot of yoghurt for lunch. But tonight at around 6:00 o' clock, she miraculously asked for something to nibble. She asked for surimis. "Ben oui, bien sûr, vas-y!", I said. She took out the mayonnaise from the fridge, asked me to put la cassette de Mickey and started eating them one by one while watching her dessins animés. Ah, what a nice scene, seeing her eating again with gusto! She has always been a voracious eater, but unfortunately when we're sick we usually lost our appetite and that's what happened to her, she almost ate nothing for days. And tonight after her surimis, she had a little miswa soup and requested for a ground steak sandwich just right after that. Voilà, that's my Cléms! Whew! Enfin...

tout va pour le mieux!

It's been quelques days that my baby Cléms is sick. I never thought that a malady like that could be that embêtant, I was too young to remember how my parents, especially my mother, coped with this kind of illness considering we're nombreux in the family. Ah, that could have been so difficult for her. Having seven children could not have been easy but she managed. How she got through despite hardship made me realize how extraordinary she really is.

Having children is a big job. Child rearing is a hard task, frankly speaking, one that I don't want to have anything to deal with!", I still remember a socialite friend saying this. Well it's her decision and I respect that. "We should not decide having children just because we want to express our love to our mate...or just because we want to 'contribute'...". Whatever. Yeah I agree, having children is a serious business, not an easy task. But hey, they are the best things that ever happened to me!

Cléms, as I write this, is watching Wallace & Gromit short films. She feels okay (that's what she said), oh I hope she won't have her roller-coaster-kind of fever again tonight. It's been two days that she's been feeling better (during the day) but at around 7:00 o' clock in the evening, just before dinner, she bizarrely shows a sign of extreme fatigue and all that she wants to do is to sleep -- sometimes skipping dinner (that worries me a lot too).

And how about me? How am I doing? Well, I have a very painful sore throat, a runny nose and a rasping cough. Imagine the combination, now you know the meaning of torture. I already lost my voice, can't even whisper. My throat hurts so much I'm having a tough time sleeping and I'm almost always obliged to get up out of bed in the middle of the night to take something for it. Too bad, I have a great difficulty swallowing... my swollen tonsils prevented me from devouring Séb's paupiette de veau aux olives. Hmmm...

Bon, tomorrow's Monday, I guess mon bébé Cléms has got to stay home till she's completely recovered. And moi, I think I also have no choice but wait till I get rid of this unwellness. For the meantime, I'll continue my Japanese green tea with honey remedy. (Merci, Ellen...)

courage, mon bébé...

Yesterday at around 3:00 o' clock in the afternoon, Philippe, Clémentine's teacher, called up, saying that we got to pick her up from school, "She's not feeling well, she's feeling cold. She's feverish and just vomited!", he sounded really worried. Faster than the ray of light I slipped on my jacket and shoes, quickly descended the staircase and walked toward the parking lot. Then I shivered big-time when the cold wind blowed, I felt it hitting my skin, I pulled my jacket more close to my body, zipping it all the way up to my chin and there I realized that I was just wearing a bra under it. "Super, I forgot to wear my shirt...", I thought. But it just didn't bother me, I was too preoccupied with what was going on in the school. All I had in mind was to get there quickly, bring Cléms home, give her her medication and keep her warm. I reached the school after several minutes and there she was, waiting for me. Too happy to see me, she cried. I put on her her coat, scarf, gloves and bonnet - had to cover her well, it was quite windy and it's important to keep exposure to a minimum. She looked so tired I carried her to the car. While in the car, she coughed really hard I thought she'd vomit. So all the way (from the school to our home), I talked nothing to her but about the gifts she'd want to receive for her birthday, on what flavor of cake she'd prefer, etc... Things like that and it worked, changer les idées style...

As I write this, she's just next to me, on the couch, dozing. We brought her to her pediatrician this morning. She's got a grippe and she won't be going to school till Monday. Oh, mon bébé... she's exhausted. She didn't sleep well last night (neither did Séb & I). Ah, we had a miserable night. She was coughing hard at bedtime and had a hard time falling asleep. Then she woke up a lot of times during the night coughing, she had a fever of 39.5°C and vomiting. Now she's just beside me, no fever (thanks...), and an empty basin is under the coffee table, well just in case. It's not a joke changing bedsheets several times in a day.

What she's got seems to be highly contagious -- now I'm having a trouble swallowing, I can feel a sore throat coming...

les personnages de Narnia

Grâce au second galette des rois que j'avais acheté samedi dernier, Madame Castor is now avec son mari, Monsieur Castor.

Mr. & Mrs. Beaver

We had it yesterday afternoon's goûter and it was Miko's turn to call out 'which slice goes to whom'. And this porcelaine 'fève' thing, who got it this time?

Qui d'autre? Cléms! Again! Haha! Quelle chance, eh?

la galette des rois day

It's a time that comes every year, la galette des rois celebration - a typical French tradition. On the day of l'Epiphanie (January 6), families share la galette des rois, a frangipane-filled pastry pie with a 'fève' hidden in it. Whoever gets it will be named Queen (or King) for the day, wears the paper crown (that goes with it) and chooses her/his King/Queen.

So, last Friday, I went to the supermarket and bought one. It is one of the moments of the year, we, especially the kids, really enjoy. After the dinner, I warmed it in the oven and brought it to the table. Aside from its toothsomeness, we love the 'family custom' that goes with it -- Cléms got to hide under the table while I was slicing it and asked her to distribute the slices, she actually was the one to decide who gets which slice. And who got the 'fève'? It was her. She then picked her papa to be her king.

Mme. Castor (Mrs. Beaver), la fève

avec Squidward and Patrick

papa, le roi...

I really love its scrumptious taste I just couldn't resist buying another one yesterday.

quoi de neuf? bon...

... les fêtes sont finis , got my kids back to school, back in the routine of hitting the snooze button again ... and again. Rising early on the first day of school was kinda tough, it was raining so hard its sound on the rooftop made me want to stay in that snug bed...

That certain day was a bit uncommon, it rained the whole day Cléms and her schoolmates were too disappointed for not being able to try the newly installed swings and slides in their school playground, but she was so happy with the gifts and candies 'Santa Claus' left for her (she was absent when 'he' dropped by). Miko, à son côté, was dripping wet, feeling cold and got a bleeding nose when he arrived home (oh, it looked gross!) je ne sais pas pourquoi... ah, he may have been doing nasal 'excavation' again! Not a big deal really, but oui... that prevented him from playing handball, his Tuesday sport.

Moi, phew, I'm already tired of looking at my dirty 206, I've been meaning to take it to a car wash even before the holidays but because it sleeted, it snowed, it rained and today -- it's been snowing since this morning and the temperature's -5 °c, I just need to accept the fact that my white Peugeot is now gray, hehe. I guess she's just got to wait, not that I'm procrastinating, I think it's just going to be a waste of time, effort and money. So, just gotta fill up the gas tank today and wait for the right moment.

How about le Geant Vert? Well, he's happy as his boss doesn't oblige him to be in the office everyday anymore. He now works at home, full-time. Everything passes thru the Net and 'stressless' is how he now describes himself. Bien.

Well, despite ces petites choses, the year started just fine.
Bonne santé et plein de bonheur, that's all I wish for tous le monde.

la routine reprend...

Que le temps passe vite et voilà, une nouvelle année qui commence. Les quinze jours de vacances a passé une telle vitesse je ne me suis même pas rendu compte que demain, nos enfants vont déjà reprendre l'école. C'est fini les grasses matinées! A partir de demain, la journée commence à six heures. Phew!

Nous avons fêté le réveillon de Nouvel An chez la tante de Séb. Le menu? Du foie gras (yeah, again...) et des coquilles Saint-Jacques avec un beurre d'éscargot comme entrées. Les tranches de saumon farci servi avec du riz et sauce au citron comme plat principal, suivi de la salade verte avec des fromages variés. Les bûches glacés aux parfums chocolat-framboise et pomme-caramel pour desserts et comme d'habitude, le repas n'était pas complet sans mon thé Bonne-Nuit.

On s'est séparé vers deux heures du matin, les enfants sont couché à trois heures while Séb et moi, hmmm ... yeah, the whole night... La journée de hier était plutôt tranquille, petit-déjeuner à midi, déjeuner à quinze heures et dîner à vingt heures. Ce que je n'aime pas, c'est aujourd'hui. Pourquoi? Car c'est le dernier jour des vacances.

C'est-à-dire, la routine reprend. Back to normal.