Saturday, March 31, 2007

Superbus, Lola and I

Butterfly was already a hit at Chez Candy since weeks. Not this butterfly (shrugging... of course not this one! lol), but this one!

Now Lola and I have just discovered this, and we're crazy about it!


Lola
envoyé par chuuchu


(Martin, Loup, Sorry guys, we've just started being girlie and that could last another 20 years!)
Yeepeeeeeeeee!!!

PS: Superbus made this song, Lola, but also another one called le Loup! OMG! My kids are such inspiring creatures!

Do I care about next French elections, really?

We're voting for the French President in a few weeks.
Martin would LOVE to vote in France, because he feels concerned :)

In the polls, they give 4 names as most popular candidates. There are 3 candidates I cannot imagine 1 second as French president. So I feel concerned too.

And all that is a bit stressing. (not that much, but a bit)

(...)

Today, in my posh district of Paris, there was this man, middle-aged.
He was standing outside the park, looking around quickly, as if he was to make something really bad (no he was not a perv, not at this moment at least!)

He had hundreds of propaganda stickers in the hand and tried to put them wherever he could.

The fooking guy was sticking and sticking again (well, lol, I have nothing against sticking really!), letting the second part of the stickers (the one you take out) on the pavement, just in front of my doors actually.

I'm not maniac, but the cops around are on our back as soon as we let something drop on the pavement. And finally having clean streets suit me.

I asked him what he thought about ecology since it's a big point in the elections, and for his party. He did not answered, he did not understand.
(sigh)
Told him it would be nice to make his job in a proper way, just to follow the law for example, or at least to respect the environment...

Any idea about which of the 4 was on the stickers?

PS: I am aware it was not the most exciting adventure of my day, but that made me smile, it was so symbolic!

(...)

edit: and if you can't wait to vote, the training has started! It's nowwww and it's here!

My lil Jimmy Dean is learning the basics!

So far, Loup knew how to receive kisses (just bending his head), now he know how to GIVE them!

(proud smile here)



The high-pitched voice is a totally natural mama's voice! Just check around, we've all the same :P

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A click, lovely images... that's the new quizz!

I found it on viaggiodinozze, the excellent blog of miss jojo (who always gets brilliant ideas with her posts!)



(I swear I'm not an alcoholic! lol)


PS; Check the image I got for "my holidays", is it me or the guy really gets some kinds of boobies ?!!! lol

She blogs in Frenchglish!

I'm talking of m'zelle Mahie, and her blog is here.

A big part of you only read English, I mean at least not French, so I thought you'd really enjoy the English posts Mahie writes from time to time!

And even when it's in French, you get sound and images to get the idea ;-)

Pretty kewl, huh!

Loup takes care of himself

Second time I've taken him to the hairdresser; so kewl! 12 euros, it's very quick and no stress!



The lil one is doing well, he's now 17 months old (still counting in months, huh), his top model sizes are 84cm for 14 heavy kilos (love it when I have to carry him 10 times a day to climb the stairs up to my 5th flour!)

He's very awake, aware of what surrounds him, ready to comfort with a concerned cuddle any kid who cries, fighting any who'll take his firemen truck!

Life with Loup is wunnerful, you never get bored, never have the time to get bored anyway ;-)

The only lil thing that is still a pain in the bum, but really, are his nights. He will awake every night, at about 1.00 and will cry till he can join us in our bed.
sigh
We've tried anything including of course letting the lil devil crying in his bed. But he can do that for 60 minutes if he wants! and at 3.00 am, 60 minutes of loud cries are long, VERY long... petty hard to stand. For us, for Lola, for the neighbours too , huh ;-)

I know the only way is to not give up and to let him cry, he will understand.
But it's complicate in a small flat, where the kids sleep in the same room, where the neighbours are not really patient.

Sooo, at the moment, we don't fight much, we take him, he sleeps instantly and WE can sleep. That's the priority for us, sleeping during the night.

And when I think one day my kids will simply sleep too much and I'll be grmmphing to take them out of their bed...!

Monday, March 26, 2007

My Grand-ma peed on a rat!

"I was to close the house for weeks, when I decided to go to the toilets.
Everything went ok. Well, naturally! -lol-
Till I got up and faced the toilets... (sorry for the details)

It seemed I had just seen a black shape moving in this area.
I jumped back, calmed down in a second and checked if there was some cat hiding somewhere.
No, not a cat.
A rat!
In the bowl!
The rat was all alive and kinda swimming.
I had just peed on a rat. OH MY GAWD. OH MY BUM!



I was to quickly use the flush, when I thought -no, I can't do that-.

I can't.

Why does it happen to me and why now!

I breathed deeply, took a plastic bag to protect my hand and arm and picked up the bloody rat.

...Hurray for the saved rat
!"


hehe, yup, it happens exactly like that. A story she told us a couple of days ago.
...my grand-ma peed on a rat!

Desperate Housewifes, unplugged :P

If any of you can think of a word to replace "house wife", I would be really grateful.
Ok I'm a "wife", I don't have a regular job, but I work hard with my babies and all the rest (painting biz, etc). I'm not a house wife, I'm a woman with priorities, you know? ;-)

Anyway, a group of us, *hyperactive women with priorities* gathered this morning to share some kind of breakfast as soon as the oldest kids started school.

I felt a bit baaaad to start the week in such a lazy way, but I got used to it very quickly! :P

It was not just a breakfast, it was a real break (even though we had the youngest devils around)!
(happy sigh)

And it's funny, we always have this talk about the so negative image of "housewife"... any "working" woman around believes we talks nappies and recipes (yawn).
I think we kinda suffer (but in a very acceptable and easy way) from the so precious efforts from the previous generations: they all fought for us to be active, to have the same access to work as any man.
Something for which I'd fight anyday, of course.
So now, if we make the choice to make financial sacrifices (which is definetely the case when only one gets a regular job), to make of our personnal life the priority, it's seen as a weird choice... as if we spoiled our life in a way or the other.

pffff

Anyway, we, group of weirdos, spent a great time with a royal breakfast! Been thinking hard for a minute about all of you who started working early ;-)

Titouan, the most beautiful baby!

Funny how every baby is the most beautiful one! But Titouan really is!

See!



He looks so, so *human*! These eyes, waww!

He's already back at home with his mama (I think the hopsital should have kept them another week... anyway..)
Both are doing ok, but I think it will take several weeks for Gwenola to recover!

Ha well, auntie Candy keeps an eye over them ;-)
Very lucky auntie candy!

Friday, March 23, 2007

Almost the end of the tunnel!

This guy you're going to watch below could be me, without the moustache (which I don't wear just everyday ;-)

Before the end of the weekend my windows vista, apparently incompatible with my mouses (even my new "vista" one), audio tools, photoshop, etc etc, will be just a bad memory.
XP should be back.


Vista? As far as I am concerned, terrible experience.
I just hope now my computer will work properly on Sunday evening...

Now... just watch this, this guy could be me! Or so! :P

The butterfly who wanted to be a wasp

I've just finished another painting of my "silhouette" series! Here it is, just for you before anybody else in the whole world!


click here

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

She's back !!!

the buderflies are flying among the petals, Penny is back in the blogsphere!

Don't hesitate to visit her bloggie, this warriorian woman is a legend! (and it's really kewl to be part of the legend, I tell you! :P)

yeeehooooooooo!!!!!

I knew somehow Spring was here! ;-)

No kidding, they say it's Spring!

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush
(from Doug Larson)
lol, so true

Welcome Titouan

Finally they decided to open my sister's belly for the birth.
It happened yeserday evening, last piece of news I got was that she was in the "after sugery room".

The baby's doing well, Titouan is a big boy, 3.3kg :)

Yeeepeeeeeeeeeee

I'm a auntie again!
(dancing around)

PS: Thank you Gontran for your concerned comment yesterday!

edit: well it did not go so well from what I understand, she's lost a lot of blood, fainted a couple of times and there were some complications I did not understand really. Talked to her on the phone for a minute, she told me she did not believe she would make it yesterday evening. She feels very weak and has much much pain..
huuuuuuu, my poor lil sister!

edit #2: It's been worse than that. The baby's heart suddenly became irregular and they had to hurry to save the baby. She's been very close to death, she really felt death coming (that what she told me this morning, but I thought I hadn't understand her whispered words...)
So grateful she's still here!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Windows vista et moi, not a purrefct love story!

2 weeks I've installed windows vista (how could i even think it would work! way too new!) on my computer, 2 weeks my system has been totally unstable.
The worst is my mouse, I've even changed it, but no, it will not work properly. Suddenly the lil arrow disappears and there's no way I can use it anymore.
Then my sound card, the pilot of it just disappear about 10 times a day, I've to reinstall it all the time.

And then, there is the frozen screen thingie. The system just stops working. I've to stop and turn on the computer again, and again. Oh, and again...

A real pain in the bum!

We've tried everything, checked the equipment, downloaded new pilotes for everything, updated vista regularly, checked for virus, spent hours in forums. But no, we haven't found any solution.

We're going to contact microsoft now (somehow it was the last option, the one in which I do not believe), and if they can solve the problems, I will wash my mouff and tell the best about them ;-) (that's how desperate I am, right now!)

(sigh)

edit: I'm getting windows XP ... and I will not wash my mouff, fookin vista!

Only watch this before lunch, not before breakfast!

I know someone who does not eat meat anymore, but who really enjoy trying new things with food (she has long hairs and loves cats :P)
I've tried something, but with meat.

When I started the recipe I really wondered what would be the taste. We loved it!

For 4 persons, you need:
-4 veal escalopes
-4 ham slices
-4 boiled eggs
-herbs, whatever you want
-cream (creme fraiche)
-chicken stock (bouillon de poule, quoi)
-tomatoes
-fresh pasta
-1 shallot
-salt & papers
-cognac (haha! I see your mouth suddenly watering! ;-)

In two words: you take the veal, ham and eggs to make "veal olives" (paupiettes de veau), you put some olive oil in a stewpan, put in it the olives, make them cook a bit, add the shallot then 1/2 litter of chicken stock, herbs, tomatoes (I forgot the tomatoes! lol). It must cook for 30 minutes. Then add 4 big spoons of fired cognac, let it cook for another 15 minutes. Add some creme fraiche. Prepare your pasta the way you want, with mushrooms would be great, then you serve the olives on the pasta. here's the nest! Nobody expects an egg in it! Not too dry at all and really yummy!

Now the recipe in photos :P


Nids d'oiseau à la Candles
Vidéo envoyée par candyfroggie


Yup, you can call me le chef ;-)

Saturday, March 17, 2007

It's Saturday and I will definetely play

While the kids are sleeping, and while there's rugger on the other computer (all these firm Frawnch and Scodish bums! -faints-) ...


our lil computer center

... I'm playing with a new list game, coming from hmm ... overthere (pointing towards Canada ;-)
Wanna join and play too?

a colour: red
a flower: lisianthus
a fruit: wild strawberries
an animal: otter
a tree: weeping willow
a drink: champagne
a building: an old english manor full of ghosts
a food: le flan
a common thing: keys
a language: English!
a smell: honey smell from the first flowers in Spring
a perfume: my Amour by Kenzo
an invention: nappies
a means of transport: horses
an epoch: the 16th century to meet Henry IV
a season: Spring
a month: May
a day: friday
a time: midnight
a piece of clothes: pyjashort (on me it's wayyy less sexy than on the pic! lol)
a jewel: a celtic ring
a body part: back of the neck
a complex : being seen as a house-wife
a girl name : Lola
a boy name : Loup
a country : Scotland
a city : Paris
an actor : Johnny Depp
an actress : Susan Sarandon
a famous character from History: Mary Stuart
a famous man : ennio morricone
a famous woman : Mata Hari
an adjective : peaceful
a fault : greedy
a quality : greedy
a monument : the eiffel tower
one of the seven wonders of the world : the lighthouse of alexandria
a song : hotel california
a movie: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
a job : 3 jobs, mama, painter, illustrator
a sport : rugby
a figure : 9
a sentence : "I can't wait for the weekend"
a word : time
a recipe : egg-plants à l'Italienne
a painting : the garden of delights by Bosch
a pair of shoes: boots! (today it would be these)

voilà, just other bits of meself.
...as usual... your turn!

Lola's school carnival

The kids were fantastic on Thursday! They all made different hats and masks at school for their carnival.



Lola's teacher decided they would be wolves (they're kinda into Prokofiev' Peter and the Wolf since weeks). So every kid made a hat, which looked like the upper part of the wolf head and a collar as the other part of the mouth and teeth.

So each time they started nodding with their heads, it looked as if the wolf was biting/eating you! hehe
Oh brilliant!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Big family, tiny home





So small and having to raise so many kids!

Thank you, Douglas, I've spent a wunnnerful moment with you!

I've just read a book by Douglas Kennedy, ever heard of him? Well me neither ;-), I've just discovered him 2 weeks ago.

The Dead Heart is the book I've read, and really enjoyed.


(I love the cover! Don't ask me why!)

What is it about? Hmm..

One day an American journalist get a map of Oz (waving at Penny!), and decides to cross it.
I'd say "wrong WRONG decision" in his case! LOL
That's about it.
(see, i can make it short, huh :P)

It's so funny and scary at the same time! Very easy to read too, you must try it!
(ermmm cough cough... maybe not you, Penny, hehe ... you will not like the way part of Australia is described there! And I *noooe* it is all wrong ... yet, t'is fun! )

Anyway, as I'm not really good at talking of books, here's the synopsis of it (by Philip Kerr):

'That dumbshit map. I'd been seduced by it. Seduced by its possibilities. That map had brought me here ...That map had been a serious mistake' The map in question is of Australia, stumbled across in a second-hand bookshop by American journalist Nick Hawthorne, en route to another dead-end hack job in Akron, Ohio. Seduced by all that wilderness, all that NOTHING, Nick decides to put his midlife crisis on hold and light out to the ultimate nowheresville - where a chance encounter throws him into a sun-baked orgy of surf, sex and swill, and a nightmare from which there is no escape. 'Douglas Kennedy might never be allowed into Australia again. This is a crazy, compulsive ultimately serious thriller and a bravura fictional debut from one of our best travel writers'

Sooo, why not, hm?!!

The new face of Pinocchio

Monday, March 12, 2007

Dark fairy

Well, I think it's the worst title I've given to one of my painting! lol
But (shrugging), she IS a dark fairy


click here


I've used chinese ink and simply LOVED it!

Even a hobbit house can get civilized!

We've bought the hobbit house in hmm 2003.
So far, the roof has been renovated, 4 new windows have been made in the thick walls.
And on our side, 4 years working hard on it, renovating the walls mainly, building stairs, and creating a floor.

We have to make just everything in it, the whole electricity, the floors, plumbery, etc, etc.

But our main concern was the following: no system to get rid of waste waters!

HulloooOOooo!?
I live in Paris and never got upset when I used the loos, the wahing machine or the bathroom!


Suddenly, the most basic comfort for us, spoiled rich people, turned to be a big big problem. (imagine a house where you can't install toilets or anything dealing with water).

We were to sign for 10 000 euros to create a system to deal with that. Very complicate because you just can't get rid of waters like that nowadays. And there are many specifications that make installations complicate, sometimes impossible.

But, today, just before we signed for this over expensive installation, we got a call from the authorities there in Bretagne, telling us that finally the mains drainage will be made before the end of the year!

We're going to be connected to the mains!!! (tout-à-l'égoût)
When you already enjoy it, you don't know your luck, but when you do not... you can't imagine what it means!

(dancing around!)

I can't wait for my first shower in our hobbit house!
Well, ok, we have to build the bathroom now! ... but that's a detail ;-)


(photo from the German movie Brand in Der Oper)

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Buderfly in progress

hopefully I will show you something more *achieved* before the end of the weekend!



From a sunny Paris...



... the queenette sends her greetings :P

Friday, March 09, 2007

I thought my ears looked way beder!

Okies, it's a quizz, it's in French, but as it deals with French politics, you don't care, do you?! :P

Which candidate looks like who you *are*?



followed by
Antoine Waechter
Jean-Philippe Allenbach (who is he?)
Yvan Bachaud (hmm??)
Corinne Lepage (haaaaa!)
Ségolène Royal
Marie-Georges Buffet
Jean-Marc Governatori (huh ?)
Dominique Voynet
Nicolas Miguet (lol)
Nicolas Sarkozy
Frédéric Nihous ( Fred who?)
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (?)
Robert Baud (?)
Leila Bouachera (?)
Philippe de Villiers
Olivier Besancenot
Lucien Sorreda (?)
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Arlette Laguiller
Michel Baillif (?)

the number of my ??? shows how much I do not know anything about politics! lol

As for the main result, does it correspond to what I will vote? (huhu)

funny quizz anyway!
Your turn!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

4 roses to fight for freedom

I wanted to make a lil something to celebrate the day. Not for my conscious, more to remember how priviledged I was, and how much zillions of lil girls and women are not. Not only because of poverty, but because of what/who they are, "women".

I decided that fighting with flowers was a pretty good idea. I'll take Loup with me and look for these roses "marie-claire". You buy one about 3 euros and 1,50 euros is used to create schools abroad, in the poorest countries, for lil girls.

Offering roses is just perfect. An excuse to get expensive flowers and a real way to help! (apparently, last year it was a success!)

Happy (happy ?) woman's day!

edit: I couldn't resist, got 10 of these lovely pink-ish white roses!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Acid Violence

Ever heard about it, hm?
I had not, so far.
sigh...

I thought barbarian times were behind us, but that was not very wise from me, huh.

Talking of it here might not change anything about it, but how can one remain quiet in front of that.

Using acid to punish women or kids for their behaviour...

Here is what it's all about, it's an intro from the Acid Survivors Foundation

Bangladesh has the highest world-wide incidence of acid violence and acid burns constitute 9% of total burn injuries in Bangladesh. Acid throwing is an extreme form of violence where the majority of throwers are men and the majority of victim-survivors women. Acid is a corrosive substance that can burn holes in wood and corrode metals. Thrown on a person, acid causes skin tissue to melt, frequently exposing the bones underneath or leading to the loss of eye(s), hearing or irreparable damage to hands raised in defense. Permanent physical disfigurement is unavoidable and serious disability frequent. The legal applications of acid are mostly industrial but it can be readily acquired from articles of frequent or regular uses since retail of acid is unregulated. The incidence of acid attacks is increasing: reported cases rose from 80 in 1996 to 485 in 2002. The Acid Survivors Foundation’s research shows that women are attacked for a number of reasons: refusal of marriage, refusal to develop a relationship or rejection of sexual advances, dowry-related issues and intra-family disputes over land.

...

more about it here, also in the last Marie-Claire mag.

Lola and Alice

It could have been a purrfect love story ...



...if Alice hadn't decided to bite Lola's lil hands!
Alice can be such a lil beetch sometimes! grrmppphhh!
Thank Gawd, after tears and a series of tragic "why", Lola kept cuddling and taking care of Alice. And soon, all was forgotten :)

Lola spent 7 days riding poneys. I thought she'd be tired of it after a couple of days (the riding sessions were really long, like 3 hours everyday), but she loved it.
She was the youngest and smallest one in her group and did not always understand the "riding specific vocabulary", but she made it!

The center is really a country one, where you get mud to the knees and where riding is a sport, not a posh habit.
Lola is also very motivated by her cousin, Eva, who's twice her age (8 years old) and who got the priviledge to ride a real tall horse this time :)

Loup and Julia

While Lola was having fun with Alice, Loup really enjoyed the company of Julia!



Julia is amazing, she really knows when the kids are around, and she's very careful with them. When Loup feeds her, he does not hesitate to put his full lil hand in her mouth. She will never bite Loup!



A proof that a sheep and a wolf can get on really well ;-)

Candies for the ears

I already love the new Totem, thank you mzelle Zazie



I will blindly get Pocket Symphonie, the new jewel from my Air-ish drug





And I can't wait for Bjork's Volta, so much talent concentrated in such a lil woman!



(happy sigh)

Monday, March 05, 2007

leaving a rainy Bretagne for a sunny Paris...

... makes the end of the lil holidays a bit easier to accept!

The week was ermmm... busy! When you get 4 kids around, no way to get much time for yourself. So I could not work, could not do anything really... Oh, but I managed to read 2 full books, which had not happened since ages :) (too bad one was really crap though!)

Lola had a wonderful week with her cousin riding poneys and cuddling them. Loup kept me busy doing whatever was forbidden, naturally!

Now I'm just back, and got the stoopid idea to install windows vista on Gulliver (which was paid with the sell of old books -sigh-)... and of course, things do not work as expected and my computer is having fun making me crazy! Grmmmpphhhh

I fear I'm going to spend days to fix whatever I can!