Monday, January 29, 2007

One-liners, seriously funny ones ;-)

I've found here and there really good one-liners, i just had to share them!
I found #1 just perfect to start the week, and I really like #4, #9,#11 and #14...


Which one's your favourite?

1.Hard work never killed anyone, but why chance it?

2.Why do bankruptcy lawyers expect to be paid?

3.Borrow money from pessimists- they don't expect it back

4.A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good

5.If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you

6.Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity

7.Help Wanted: Telepath. You know where to apply.

8.If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

9.A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip

10.Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?

11.I am not a vegetarian because I love animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants

12.I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

13.Time is the best teacher; unfortunately it kills all of its students.

14.To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research!

15.Very funny Scotty, now beam down my clothes..

Wanted: peaceful evenings; Reward: my sincere gratitude

Do you get peaceful evenings ?
1)with kids snoring at 8.00 pm,
2)with kids old enough to be partying somewhere else
3)with a quiet cat, no kids around anyway!

then you don't know what a real busy evening is! ;-)

Once Loup is in bed (which requires much time and patience), then we use to spend some time with Lola alone :)
Usually she draws with us, makes a puzzle, play cards and talk a lot with us. That's very nice, a precious moment.
Till she got her new game "Turbocochon" (aka "Turbopiggie"). Been a week now Martin and I have spent half our evenings playing at Turbocochon with the happiest Lola!
Pfffff



I'm going to eat sausage for a month as a fine revenge!
(and I don't say that because yesterday I've lost 3 times, huh! nenene!)

(and then we have what, 2, 3 hours for ourselves -without the devils around- ... and as soon as we jump into bed, we can be sure 15 min later Loup will wake up as if the night was over... Hellllllp!)

Friday, January 26, 2007

Another memorable first time!

One has to take some BIG decisions sometimes. And so did I a couple of days ago... I took Lola to the hairdresser, a very first time for her.

She was so excited by the idea!
On my side I felt a bit bad, because I did exactly as my mama used to do: I asked for a shorter haircut than what we had decided.
Lola LOVED her long hair, the princess side of it, you know? :)
So when she saw her face in the mirror while the hairdresser was doing her job, she really got mad! And she can do it really well...!

A few hours later, she was the happiest lil one in Paris!
(phewwwww!)



Even her beloved doudou loved her new haircut! Lola answered his compliment with the biggest cuddle you can imagine :)
(see how girls work, hm?!)
(kidddddddddding!)

Sharp teeth and "ankle length leather coats"

here's a lil something for Laurienna (and I'm sure Penny will appreciate too ;-) ... feel free to admit you loved it too (no shame rules!), and if not, well, don't forget to wear your garlic necklace tonight :P



PS: but deep inside, you'll forget that necklace on purpose! we just know it! ;-)

Thursday, January 25, 2007

So bloody cold

I don't know where you are, but I bet it's colder than here (well, except for Penny who's probably enjoying the Aussie warm waters at the moment!)

Yet, I'm freezing!

Actually, I can measure the intensity fo the low temperatures here (not checking on a thermometer, noooooo, dat's the old fashion way!), but counting the number of pairs of socks I've to wear to keep warm feet.
3 pairs today...

BLOODY COLD!!!!

To warm up a bit, here's a pretty good parody of poor James Blunt...

(sorry for the stoopid laughs in the background, they almost spoil everything!)




PS: Penny, be careful with those sharks!
PPS: Get out of the waters a minute to share a cold drink with us, we miss you :-)

pshhhhit again: I'm wearing 3 pairs of socks, right? (me sexy beast :P)...
... and it's -3°C outside! See how precise my measures are! (proud smile here)

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

When Proust wrote Cujo and ABBA sang Master of puppets

Of course I Love 90% of what the Internet brings in my life!

Then there is the 10% left...
5% full of a free violence I find hard to imagine (so i prefer not too right now ;-)
5% dedicated to distorted, transformed, manipulated information. On purpose or because of a lack of knowledge.

I've realized that you get more and more wrong information, spreading all around on the Internet.
I find it a bit annoying, because like everybody, I don't put everything I read on the web into question...

know what I mean?!

So of course the "crossed information" attitude is absolutely necessary... but that won't stop people giving the wrong title to a movie, see?!!

I imagine how teachers must have "fun" discovering on their pupils' papers stuff from the internet... totally wrong or out of context! I wish them good luck!

When the mini-boys get active

Good point: young boys are already highly interested in washing-machines.

While Sylvain obviously tries to be very helpful with his mama, Loup isn't so much interested in the "helping side" of life, much more excited with the idea of giving his poor moma daily heart-attacks.



His attempt to enter the whashing-machine provoked a soft heart-attack, the biggest one happened just before, when I found him eating meat from the garbage...

Internet, an oasis for the Administration

(don't i sound like an old fart grmmph-ing against administration every 2 days, hm?! Yeah, I knew it! lol)

1. I need some information ---> I check on the internet
2. The web is kewl, but no answer to my questions!
3. I call the appropriate administrative department
4. 20 minutes, 5 people telling me: "oh wait, wrong personne here, I transfer your call to another bureau"
5. The last person tells me I MUST check on the internet, I will get my answers there.



6. I'm boiling. I don't have my answers! Why do they even answer the phone? I wonder!
7. (French elections' moment) Today, I will vote for the one who'll give a good kick in the bum of administration :-)

PS: next time (as it's not the first time), I'll do as Martin said: I'll tell them I don't have any computer! grrrmpphhhh

repsssshhhit: if you work for them, I'm sure, and honestly sure, that you are an exception :)

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Laurienna's magic fingers

(no, you naughty souls, don't expect anything salacious here :P)

I know Laurienna since a few months now, and I reaaaaally enjoy the creature behind the handle! :-)

What you probably don't know is that Laurienna has magic fingers. She creates jewels. Can you imagine that? "Creating jewels", creating something to make women happy, to make them feel more beautiful... that is really something!

Besides, I remember the other day Jack talking of fookin franchise biz... just look around you, you get less and less independent shops, specialized ones. In a few years, we'll all dress the same way, eat the same products, listen to the same music (?).. Enjoy the same books (?)
(trembling in my boots here)

I don't want such a world. And that's important that we care about that too, no?

Coming back to jewels, I don't want anymore to wear jewels coming from a big manufacture, I want to wear jewels made by someone who *cares*, someone who doesn't work for profit only; but who makes her/his job with love and heart, you know?
All that will give the jewel its real value.

I think Laurienna's biz answers exactly what I'm looking for when I want to buy some beauty stuff. A big coup de coeur, good vibes, originality, quality, and a necessary touch of poetry (I would buy some of her jewels just reading their names! see: "Butterfly Dance necklace", "Secrets of the River bracelet" or "Love's Rendezvous Earrings"..!)
And knowing who's behind the work is a HUGE + !

Anyway, more than words, here are a few examples of Laurienna's work! I'm under the charm!


click here



click here



click here



click here

Food blogging

Have you noticed how many food & drink blogs there were in the blogsphere?!
Zillions!
And many of them are so excellent, beautiful pics, incredible recipes.
And what's great is that you never really wonder what you post next, you just wonder what you cook next and that's it! (well, lol, you actually HAVE to cook something to post anything... something I really admire!)

Ok, I don't like cooking, so that's not for me at all.
And I get stomach-ally speaking frustrated whenever I spend too much time on these blogs.

The thing would be to get one of these food bloggers as a nice neighbour!

But I do not complain at all, I've a young chef at home who now introduces herself as "la reine des galettes"! So here's her and my contribution to the food blogsphere :P

Here's the lil queenette at work (in our huge and so beautiful kitchen)
(making a Kings' Epiphany cake for her lil friend David)

More chocolate on the hips, please!

It's a French song, but you'd love the words, it's light, but definitely sweet, fresh, and highly recommended by Lola and her chocolate mama.
The video perfectly fits.

The title: la femme chocolat (chocolate woman), the singer, Olivia Ruiz. To enjoy just like a candy :P

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Vive l'Europe!

If you ever decide to make of your car a French one (with French number plates), think twice before doing it... and take a few aspirins and vitamins too ;-)

It is pretty complicate, so many papers to gather first, then rendez-vous to take with..
the tax bureau,
the German ambassy (in our case),
the headquarters of Paris' police,
the insurance company,
a garage to make a French "technical control" (even though we had such a control in Germany 3 months ago, huh),
... and then you have to wait a few weeks to get all your new papers to finally take another rendez-vous to get the number plates.
hahum...



Once it's done, we can get out "Parisian parking card" (which is available in another bureau at the other side of Paris, naturally)

Of course, all these administrative centers open from 9.00am to maximum 4.00pm, with a good break during lunch time (to make things easier for all of us) ...

...

Today, I vote for the one who'll make our administrative life much more simple ...

No way I can wear a moustache!

A quizz, yeeepeeeee!!!
Well, the questions are a bit too "obvious", but the topic is fun enough ;-)




Your Brain is 67% Female, 33% Male



Your brain leans female

You think with your heart, not your head

Sweet and considerate, you are a giver

But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you!



I find the result pretty logical, dat's me! :P
What about you?

edit: but wait, I think with my head! And my tough side is a female bit, sure thing! What is this sexist categorization! grmmppphhh!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Ice storms there, Winter ghost here

While ice storms have hit America (how are you doing, Kiki, Laurienna, Ariel ?), we're still wondering here where Winter is hiding, and if Winter will be back in time.

If you asked me where our winter has gone, I would answer that you can find it there (see below), but not for long... and psssshhhit, don't tell anyone 'cause it's supposed to be a secret! (thank you)


click here to see a larger pic (and larger is MUCH beder :-)

Nick and Kylie

Videos as music support can be fantastic, right. Sometimes they fit to the idea you have from a song, sometimes not at all (and that always makes me feel uncomfortable when it happens! As if my imagination had been betrayed by images. Know what I mean?)

I had forgotten this video, I like the song. And the video is really good (specially when Nick washes his hands covered with bloods at the beginning... oh, or when the snake swims over Kylie's body! brrrrrr... just as in a fairytale, though the princess does not wake up at the end. And well the prince has killed the princess... Ermmm not a fairytale at all! lol)

Peggy's safe in her new castle !

Done! Peggy (see below) has arrived sound and safe in Laurienna's home. It took more than a month for Peggy to cross the ocean... but she made it!



(happy relieved sigh)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

The life of a blog writer ...

...requires lots of patience and perseverance,



specially when lil creatures get stuck to your beloved tools!

Alleluia !

Suddenly religion sounds way less boring than usual :P ... I still find it strange for priests to pose for calendars and I still wonder who buys the calendars (probably the same one who buy this calendar, who has turned to be so ridiculous btw... a real pity)!


And more of the calendario romano 2007 here

If this one looked happier, I could even make my lil prayer every evening ;-)

happy belated birthday et joyeux anniversaire!

1) to Michelle!

I wish you the most bewDiful and healthy baby in a few months, and peaceful nights with your Diva ;-)

Mwaaaaaaaaa**~~*^* *



2) to Miss lulu

who must be enjoying a good night of peaceful sleep with her chatounes at the moment! Don't forget to blow out your 18 candles (the only way for the coming year to be the very best one, making your most unreasonnable wishes come true!)

The voice of the night

Our nights are never quiet (and you, who spend a peaceful -normal- night, you do not know how lucky you are!)

Usually our nights are disturbed with nightmares, calls from the babes, etc

For once though, I heard the most adorable words from a fully asleep Lola.
While sleeping she kept murmuring "I love you, mama"

When the subconscious talks that way, you can't help loving Life!
I slept so well after this lil break!

Martin's blog is alive

It's here ... and he has plans for it! huhu!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Noces de coquelicots :-)

Yesterday we've celebrated our Poppy wedding! It's been now 8 years that besides being a woman, lover, friend, etc, I'm the happiest wife too!
That's kewl, they say the 7th year is the hardest one in a couple's life.
Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
We made it! :P

8 years ago, at this time of the year, it was snowing here! Today we had again rain and warm temperatures (oh but wait, I'm talking about the weather here! ooops...-------> running to wash my mouff! :P)

We've celebrated the *poppies* pretty quietly, with Lola making a (delicious) galette for us,



.. with Loup giving us extra cuddles, Martin bringing a queen flower for me (tall, proud, reddish, -don't ask me what flower it was-), and I opening a bottle of champ' :)

But now that I know we've celebrated our Poppy Wedding, I would just sell my soul (oh yess yess!) to jump and dance among poppies. Oh yes, I would love that!


photo from Ian Britton, found here

If bears ask for lower temperature ...

... one has not waited much longer to hibernate ;-)



While I'm talking of bears, many of you already know this one, right?! And for those who do not, sit down, have a cupotea and follow Moukmouk's tracks. I don't know anybody else who can make one so close to nature and aware of Mom nature's treasures.

I'm a city girl...
...I scream when a pigeon comes to me,
...I jump on tables if a mouse runs in front of me,
...I can't cook fish because "what if he comes back to life???"
...I always ask the butcher to not put the "head" when I buy a rabbit,
...etc, ETC!
Pfffff, see? tragic!


So, I look at nature with some distance, I don't have opportunities anyway to really discover the essence of it.

But reading the blogs of *creatures* like Moukmouk and Etolane have somehow made me much more sensitive and aware of what surrounds us, why we are finally very dependent on them, why we have to protect them.

Oh, they both participate to the web creativity festival, I think they're both in the literature category...so (it will take no more than a second) vote for them! :P

Am I slow with the euro or...?

We've started to use the euro I don't remember when exactly... back in 2001, 2002???
Well, long enough to get used to it.

Yet, I still find it very hard to be aware of the value of it.
100 francs meant a lot, 20 euros...pffff... really not that much.

That might explains why I get problems with my account so quickly every month..

And honestly...
.. If I could use francs again just in the very next minute, I would vote for it. Blindly.
That would makes life much easier to me (besides, I bet the bakers would stop selling their pain-au-chocolat at 1 euro! More than 6 francs.... hellooooooooo guys?!! You lost your head or what?!)



but then, maybe I'm simply really slow with the euro... hahum ...

Monday, January 08, 2007

Blond ones are definitely my fav!

"A blonde and a brunette, are walking down the street and pass a flower shop where the brunette happens to see her boyfriend buying flowers.

The brunette sighs and says, "Oh, shit, my boyfriend is buying me flowers again.....for no reason."

The blonde looks quizzically at her and says, "What's the big deal,don't you like getting flowers?"

The brunette says, "Oh sure.....but he always has expectations after getting me flowers, and I just don't feel like spending the next three days on my back with my legs in the air."

The blonde says, "Don't you have a vase?"



(ok, ok, back to work now!)

PS: offering flowers to women for no special reason is so perfect! (I had to tell the truth about it, we never get bored with that!)

A Shrimpette getting more and more girlie

Just as Loup is behaving like a *real* boy, Lola is for sure a *real* girl.
She looooves anything close to princesses (and keeps asking me which one I was when I got married! Snow White? Cinderella? I always answer I was Alice in wonderlands.. :P)

She loves taking care of herself to look good in her own way :) She loves jewels and make-up, she can spend hours playing that way. lol, I don't want to imagine our battles when we'll have to share the bathroom for hours in a few years! :)



She also loves playing with her dolls, specially since she heard about that Mary woman and her Jesus baby... Now she plays in the most sacred way at "Mary and jesus", but I swear I haven't made any propaganda! lol! She heard about it as she heard about santa claus. She loved the story! (which makes my grand-grand mother over happy :P)



Lola is also very greedy with learning new things. Writing, drawing, cooking, ice-skating, biking, etc. Anything!



Even the computer! She knows how to turn on the computer, to launch firefox and her computers games. Not bad at 4 years old, huh! (soon she'll be able to repair my puter when it's sick :P).

Anyway, she's doing well and I'm under her charm every day. She's sweet, caring and loving! (happy sigh)
And she's a great old sister for Loup. Sharing her games as much as cuddles! :)

A lil wolf's getting sharper teeth

Loup has changed a lot lately !
He's now 14 months-old, and pretty awake (I guess he's very motivated by his sister, huh :)

He eats alone by himself (even if there's always more food on the floor than in his stomach) and eats about everything (yesterday hje had chinese food and was crazy about it), he does not bite anymore the books, but read them too, he does not walk anymore, he "runs" (so small and so alive!), he dances when there's music, manages to blow his nose alone (where's the Guiness book again ;-), can open bottles, and is very good at cleaning around (when you lose something, you can be sure to find it in the bin (shoes, remote controls, make-up, etc ETC!)

What I find most surprising is that he really behaves as a boy. He naturally loves playing with cars and trains (I mean he is surrounded with dolls and Lola's stuff, but if he ever see a lil car in a corner, he will play with that car!), he also loves screwdrivers and hammers. We have never taught him to love that, it's in his genes I think!



He is a boy, no doubt... but you can notice below that he won't stick to a male-ish image, already able to share the boring bits of life! Phewwwww :)



Oh and more than anything else, he is a real "mister cuddle" (happy sigh)

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Martin having fun with his xmas toy!

(this is not a food blog - this is not a food blog - this is not a food blog!)

He's just cooked in it his first boeuf bourguignon... haaaaa winter meals, very inspiring, specially for my other half!

Here 's the result after 4 hours on the fire (drooling here)



Anybody wanna join? We have enough for, I'd say, 6 greedy stomachs or 8 reasonnable ones (but hey, we don't want to be reasonnable, do we?!!)

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Rum, butter and Donkey Skin

(I swear next year I won't talk of the Epiphany's cake -fingers crossed behind-)

Today we celebrate and share the "Twelfth night cake" (gateau de la 12ème nuit?!), that we call here "galette des rois" (Kings' Epiphany cake).

By the way, I really do not enjoy eating the kings' cake from the 1st of December to the 31st of January. It's one day and one day only, to me. And trust me, it tastes much better 1 day only! :)

Do you have this tradition where you are?
The cake is yummy and the one who gets the charm (fève?) hidden inside will wear the crown and be declared king or queen (one of the most frustrating moment for the kids when they do not win! A good experience)

We all know the story about the 3 kings, but there's a legend which says that this tradition comes from the day Donkey Skin let her ring fall inside the *love cake* she made for her prince.





You can try the very easy recipe here.Don't forget the rum, huh!!!!



edit :

And guess who got the charm yesterday,hmm?! :P

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

2007, bad year for the blogs?

Alinet's gone, miss lulu too, Jack's thinking of it, Jenny's away, etc.
Ouch!

I hope the list will stop here.. too frustrating for the ol' Candy!
My heart is weak, so keep your blog alive!

thank you :)

I've fallen again for his nose!

One a the thing I pretty enjoy on Christmas holidays is that tv might offer something better than usual.
Well, it's even a golden year... we haven't had any Sissi so far!

The other day I spent 2 hours with Lola watching the old Comencini's Adventures of Pinocchio. I had completly forgotten it.
Lola and I were completly under the charm of that blondish pinocchio and his very kitsch whale-shark.

Fantastic!
Lola loved it.. and I will dream of his adventures for days! The magic of big noses (happy sigh)

Gulliver's dead. Vive Gulliver!

Done! my computer's fixed again (phewwww)
We took it to the doc the other day, and the graphic card or/and mother board or/and processor were damaged.
Even though our doc is one of the cheapest, the repair costs (with new spare parts) reached about 400 euros... !



The kind of nice surprise you get just after Christmas, along with the new year's bills! pfffff...

Sooooo, we decided to buy a new computer for less than 350 euros (without screen etc), and we kept all what we could from the (not so) old Gulliver.

It was not such a bad idea, because once we came back from the doc, Gulliver was really really dead.
...beeeeeeeeeeeeeep...

Magic of the high techs, the surgery went ok, and the transplant worked perfectly! Gulliver's back in a strong shape!

Monday, January 01, 2007

my 2007 keyword

could be ... tadaaaaaa... *friendship*!
(no pleaaaaase, don't yawn that way, I see you! hehe)

..Just my crystal ball talking!

See ...

1) I've just got help from friends (who'll take care of the babes next week for a moment, while I thought nobody could)

2) I came accross 2 friends that I had not seen in maybe hmm 7 years! (faint)
What a shock! We had lost contact with them and a few others, and it was a real pity. And almost on New year's eve, tada, here they come again!

3) I keep in touch with most of my closest friends via this blog, which really makes me the happiest!

4) Miss lulu is coming to Paris next month! A wunnerful piece of news that will help me to recover from her fatal decision ...

So I just feel *friends* will be a huge part of our life in 2007.
That's very promising!

Yeeepeeeeeeee!

And what's gonna be your keyword for 2007, hm?
While you think hard about this one... happy very first day :P