while I'm stuck to the heater...

...I can't help thinking about all these homeless people around.
It's being so cold that I dunno how one can survive even one night outside :(
I will put that thought quickly away though because you just can't stand people suffering this way while you enjoy your own comfort, can you?
Or we could make a revolution to provide a home to anyone. Yeah. Well... (back to my heater) :(



And this fooking neighbour who let his cat outside, frozen, mewwwing all night.... baaaaa a cold night for many, huh!

my daily ticket to Australia and Japan

...I get it via blogs :)

Why Australia and Japan today? Because I've just discovered 2 new bloggies.

Australia...
A country I've discovered through a very unique woman/friend/sista, Penny Sillan, and I've got naturally addicted to it! :-)
I wonder if I'd feel like at home overthere, probably I guess, even if it's incredibly exotic ;-)

And Japan...
Well, I've watched Lost in translation, I enjoy Japanese food, my heart beats fast thinking of Captain Harlock and I am a huge fan of his papa, Leiji Matsumoto... I listen sometimes to japanese music too, not often... in the family house when it starts snowing, dunno why, there's always someone to put japanese music. Funny, no?
Anyway my knowledge is limited. But improving!:)

Since a couple of weeks, I'm having a great time discovering Hiro's blog and mean Maude's one. Both are very different but full of humour too. No frontier to humour, huh :)

Mozart and I

... do not have much in common, except that he died in Vienna and that I enjoy ermmm... viennoiseries !

Actually I know about nothing about classical music. I know I'm not sensitive to classical operas, but it's different with classical music.
My parents were more a Led Zeppelin-Pink Floyd-Rolling Stones kind of fans, so Mozart had no chance at home.



One day Martin compared some heavy metal composers to classical ones and that sounded suddenly logical.
I listen to Metallica, right, and I wonder which composer would have brought me so much pleasure back in the 16th or 18th century?

New doors to open. It's exciting, my virgin ears have so much to discover!
If you have a classical favourite composer, or a piece of classical music you really LUVE, let me know, I need lights...

Freedom tastes of reality !

Our book is done... DONE!
It feels so guuuuuud, it's been 3 months I've been working on it, forgetting peaceful evening, long nights and any kind of moment for meself!

It's so kewl!
Now I just have to gather all the elements (original illustrations, Cd-rom, etc) and send them to the editor.

3 new Herman are supposed to be published. And I hope they will be (you never know)! I've delivered the 4th Herman on May, the 5th on September and now it's the 6th.

It's been pretty frustrating to work on several books without them being published, so I can't wait for this next step :)

Now, I feel free, free, free. I'll will start with zillions of other projects, completly different, more dealing with my paintings, a new book with Martin as the author too, etc.

But before, a break. 2 weeks without pressure. Enjoying my evenings with Martin, spending time with the kids avoiding multitasking, *listening* at music, reading my books, blogging like a newbie, etc!

Yeeeeeeeepeeeeeeee!!!!

And for this wunnerful occasion, I've decided to spoil my stylish (ermm) blog with ugly smileys here and there! Just 'cause I'm in the mood!

I forgot how to multitask !!!

My babies are sick now, while I'm still recovering... arggg

And I've just heard from my publishing house, they ask for the last book to be ready quickly now.
I'll be back only when I've finished these illustrations. I just can't do more than that at the moment.

But I work fast sometimes ;-)

Mademoiselle Otter

From my *quizz guru* ;-)

You Were an Otter

You are a faithful friend who guides others toward success. You are also light hearted, and love to play around.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

that reminds me how much I like otters! not because i've been one once (spending my time eating fish, they're kidding or what! ;-)... but like donkeys and camels, I really find otters ermmm... cute :)

Holy Nowhere Man

I enjoy a lot of different kind of music (as long as it's not reggae, most of French stuff, rap or death metal), and when I'm in the mood, I can listen to an album about 50 times without getting bored.
At the moment I'm discovering Alice in Chains, which pretty good. And since a couple of weeks, I've kept listening to Pink Floyd's albums (I luve them all) 'cause I'm in a Floyd's mood :P

I also LOVE discovering funny stuff, like Beatallica (I wrote a bloggie on them one or 2 years ago, this funny band playing Beatles songs in a Metallica's way! lol)

And while I was at my mama's, I've discovered another funny stuff (my mama's hubby has zillions of qualities, including being a music lover, he spends hours looking for an album. You wanna discover Japanese music? He'll pick up 15 albums from his collection and will comment them passionately. He is like that. A music lover).
Anyway, to get a zen atmosphere, he put a gregorian song book... but not a traditionnal one... Beatles' songs played in a gregorian way. Pretty good and definatly funny!

antibiogoil

I've just left my mama! sniff, boooo, waaaaaaaaaaa ;-)

hehe
My lil trip there really helped me... My mama took care of Lola and Loup till Martin joined, and she treated me like the third kid (hehe) : "stay in bed, eat this, drink that". Wunnerful, I had forgotten how mamas can be precious in this way too.

I'm still sick with a big tracheitis now, but no more fever.
On Friday, I was so stoned with fever that I managed to lose my tongue piercing (which I usually never take off) and forgot my pill (which never happens either!).
DAMN!!!!!!

Anyway, Lola and Loup are coughing only (...) now, but no fever, no headaches, no trembling, etc. Phewwwww!

I can't believe I can get sick like that... Too stoopid!

2 aspirins and my bed

Dat's about what I'd give my soul for today ;-)

Lola and I are sick, both coughing like grannies and sneezing as if we had turned allergic to winter (hahum, would there be some truth in here!)

We've both fever and it seems we're developping a bad temper ... what a wunnerful synchronization!

So I guess I'll use the last bits of energy I have right now to work instead of ermm blogging //oO\
The men of the family are doing fine! And Martin being at work, I reckon Loup has to take care of us, lil natures :)

CinAmore

Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith
Yes, well, Star Wars is Star Wars and hmm ... ok I expected it to be a bit better, because Martin had read the book in which Anakin has much more psychological problems... He just does not suddenly feel like he's a baddie, neee, it's much better and developped in the book. Got disappointed.

Charlie and the chocolate factory
Very original movie, not even a classic among Tim Burton's movies! I enjoyed!

War of the Worlds
When the critics for a movie are over positive, you probably expect too much. I expected something pretty good but at the end I found the movie visually entertaining only. For the rest...(yawn). And lil Tom has turned to be such a pain in the arse lately that he tends to spoil a bit the movies in which he plays at the moment, doesn't he?!

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (les orphelins Baudelaire)
Ohhh very entertaining, with a Tim Burtonesque atmosphere! ... despite a Jim Carrey who's just way too carricatural for me, even if his character requires it... (I enjoyed him so much in *Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind*!)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire
Yusss we had a real good time, pop corns and laughs included :)

28 days later
The biggest surprise here! I had seen and REALLY enjoyed 3 movies from Danny Boyle so far... The Beach, Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. This one is pretty different.
It was actually a Xmas gift from Gwenola, my sister. I did not know anything about the movie... we started to watch it... eeeeeck... a ZOMBIE MOVIE! LOL! The kind of movie I LOVED as a teen and which makes me tremble in my boots since I've turned to be a mama (an hormones thingie I guess).
I started to watch it with some big reluctance then, but it turned to be a very GOOD zombie movie, in which finally the ugly zombies are not the worst. A rich movie at many levels. No lesson, no moral but many things given to think about.
And just to watch an empty London and a UK under quarrantine is something too. Scary. Brilliant!

Have you watched any of them btw?!!!

a gooood joke, no?

have a look at that...



ermmm.....LOL!
Sooooo?
Tell me, how long do you work everyday?
Martin, being in lazy PARIS, starts at 9.00 am, finishes at about 8.00 pm! (and comes back with work at home!) Do you call that lazy?! grmmphhh :P

Oh and of course, they've forgotten housewives and househubbies here who work night and day, no holidays, no weekends!

Emotional, overly organized and overly talkative goil...

For once, a *serious* test... with serious results... ouch! ;-)

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (43%) moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun. Extraversion (73%) high which suggests you are overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense too often of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

I agree with most of what is said here... worrying and very organized, yes, since Lola's birth actually!
Sociable, I think so... but only when I want to. I can't force myself with that I think. But definatly not sociable at the expense of my individual interests! no opposition between the 2 for me:)

Purrring Moon

I'm on a woooooooosh mode, but I just had to come around to share 2 wonderful pieces of news:
1) I've finished the painting part for my new book, been working night and day on it...jeez, never again!
2) I can celebrate with CHAMP' our wedding anniversary tonight... no more antibiotics for me! Yeepeeee! lalalaaaaaa

Drooling (not!) for an oily fish'n chips

While I often do quizzes to please my lil ego ("what type of goddess are you?" etc lol), I find the conclusion of this one not very lady-ish!
But I found it funny to "belong" to London last week, and now to "UK"! When I say I luve dem Roastbeefs... :)

You Belong in the UK

Blimey! A little proper, a little saucy. You're so witty and charming... No one notices your curry breath

What English Speaking Country Do You Belong In?

The key to become a George

Today I am a real George.
If you don't know yet who's George, here is the cuttie:



You've always dreamt of becoming a George too? Then grab a pen, I'll share my secret:

-have a wisdom tooth removed a day ago or so
-try to work only between 10.00 pm and 2.00am
-with luck, make it possible that your 2 kids wake up 3 times in the night, in the most synchronized way

You just do not need anything else to turn into a George! Cheers!

Petit quizz du matin n'arrête pas le pèlerin

I think I've done this one already, but fook, as it's a *good-for-your-ego* one, here we go :P

Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

to the lil Chef in you

I've just noticed that marmiton was now available in English!!!



Marmiton has been my bible for a few years now. The principle? People share their recipes, others try them and give their opinion about it (was it good enough? are the quantities the right ones? what can you add? etc)

So I thought it would be kewl to share it with ewwws *non-French speakers*, you'll find here recipes that we cook here regularly. If you know similar websites for other kind of recipes (whatever "not French": Aussie, Japanase, American, German, ermmm English, etc), I'd love to hear about them. That might inspire Martin when he's stuck in the kitchen :P

wedding present

for our 7th wedding anniversary -today-, Loup has just made his first night, from 9.00pm to 8.00am!!!!

Yeeepeeeeeeeeeee

4+3

It's been weeks I've seen this lil questionnary here and there, and when I saw it again on Fennelin's blog, I finally decided to do it too. So here we go :)

Seven things you want to do before dying:
1.living another hundred years with my *other half*, my children, grand children, grand grand children and hundreds of cats
2.improving my painting skills
3.selling more paintings than illustrations
4.being the proud owner of a lil medieval castle
5.driving without stressing
6.making a trip abroad with Martin only every year for the next 100 years
7.finding a way to live in a place where my neighbours would be my real close friends

Seven things you do pretty well:
1.multitasking
2.swimming when the sea is in some extreme bad mood
3.remembering birthdays
4.making plans for when I win lottery
5.driving a boat
6.having champ' without getting drunk
7.taking the time to listen when my babies have something to tell me

Seven things you don't/can't do:
1.parking my car in a narrow (=less than 10m long) parking place
2.eating eels
3.refusing a yummy cake even when I'm not hungry
4.admitting oppenly I was wrong (but I'm improving)
5.not having the last word
6.trying to get along with people I do not like
7.going to bed without cuddling my babies

Seven things I enjoy in women:
1.their feminity
2.the complicity we can have together
3.everything that we have in common and makes that we understand each other
4.the lack of violence
5.the way they can hardly separate sex from feelings
6.the sister and mother who are inside all of us
7.the almost purrfect combination between strength and fragility

Seven things you enjoy in men:
1.their sensitivity
2.the way they try to understand women
3.all what makes a man a *man*
4.their seduction
5.their way of taking distance with everyday lil problems
6.their cooking talent
7.the man's unique touch

Seven things you often tell:
1."Foutrocul" or "Dickheads"
2."I need more time!"
3."When I win lottery..."
4."I am happy, I am lucky"
5."I think I have forgotten something"
6."but, see, I AM right!"
7."I Love you"

Seven famous people that makes you faint or almost:
1.Clint Eastwood in the Good the bad the ugly
2.James Hetfield -when he sings-
3.Spike -no comments- lol
4.Willem Dafoe
5.Henry IV
6.Jack Nicholson -20 years ago-
7.Brad Pitt in Troy, sowwy but true!

loving my kitchen ;-)

I officially start today (wattaday!) my new life as housewife!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

If you only knew how much French lack consideration for housewives (we've to find an other word for that me thinks btw)... stopping an "official job" to take care of the babies makes of you a weird creature here. My foreign goilfriends here find it very difficult to have a social life without having a job, just because it's not well perceived to be a housewife. Strange!

That means I've stopped receiving any financial help and that we 're gonna trying to live with one salary. Till I get enough money from my paintings :)

That's one of our biggest *Life choice* so far. Taking care of our babies, and giving priority to our family life. We hope it's gonna work!

Gawd save ze Queen

Thank you, Mel', for the new lil test!

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

now i just *need* to win the English lottery!

Glogg à la Norvegienne

Brrrrr, it's bloody cold outside, huh!
So welcome around, have a seat here or there, we need to warm up a bit, don't we? (nothing salacious here! tssss :P)



Today, why not trying a good hot Glogg?!
But not the killing Glogg (which includes vodka and wine together), nooooo a alcoholfree glogg.
(yeah I can't believe either I'm about to give a cocktail recipe without alcohol, it just feels like something's deeply missing :P)

Anyway, you just can't have 10 hot wines or traditionnal gloggs in the middle of afternoon, whereas you can have hundreds of mine whenever you want!
Yeeepeeeeee!

It's a recipe we've got from Martin's papa who's fond of Norway and its culture and traditions, he got the recipe from there.
So you need:

1 liter of grape (raisin) juice
1 liter of blackcurrant (cassis) juice
1 liter of apple (pomme) juice
5 cinnamon sticks (edit: 5 bâtons de cannelle)
15 cloves (clous de girofle)
1 fistfull of almonds (amandes effilées)
1 fistfull of dry grapes

You cook all that together gently for 1 hour (1 heure à feu doux)
You get rid of the cloves and cinnamon sticks
and you can serve it with the almonds and grapes.

Usually you don't need to add any sugar, but it depends on juice quality really.

It feels wonderful, smells wonderful and is purrrfect for wintertime
Prost!

Xmas Postcard

Here's the lil postcard I've brought back from our holidays :)
Soon, we'll receive a new toy to take photos... a very very nice toy. I can't wait to get it!!!


click here

Joe's gone

We went to the vet' for the last time on saturday morning.
A few days ago, Joe had bitten and scratched where his tumour was growing. It started to bleed a bit, which was not so worrying. But the wound then turned to grey and would get bigger everyday with no chance to heal. The skin and flesh around were dead. That's all.
Joe knew what was happening.

There was no choice, or at least not an acceptable choice. Operating him to save a couple of weeks, painful ones, or making it quick and without pain for him to join the cats' Realm above.

We did not expect it would be that quick. We saw the vet' on Thursday, on Saturday it was over. Not funny time waiting for the end.

Now I think I'm feeling hm ok, though deeply missing him.



I wish I could have closed Joe's adorable eyes once it was done, but it did not work. Strange how things do not work the way you want sometimes :-(