Mother’s Got A Dot Com

See the little wading brat in my heading? She’ll be starting school in August. They start when they’re 6 in this country, and she’s started her countdown. 45 days now…

Mum’s started thinking about kitting her out. They all get their first special backpack for free - courtesy of the “Safe Traffic” organization, orange with reflecting trimmings (It’s dark here in the winter - this is to make the little kites more visible), so that’s taken care of. I’ve got her a brand new pink pencil case, with everything in it, and also some cheap pens I found, with pink tassels on them. They produced one happy little girl… Now, we’ll go after some nice outfits. I’ll try to ease her out of her pink stage, but I have a feeling my little princess’ll be all in pink for some time yet.

The teachers all recognized me on the getting-to-know-each-other-day, of course - I’ve had two birth kids in that school, and two step-kids as well. I told them there was one more where this one came from. At least the teachers will know I’m not the grandmother…

We’ve got this great big recurring bill, and it’s not even ours. Hubbys old partner, with whom he parted ways 4 years ago, has neglected to remove hubbys name from his company registries, and has now “forgotten” to submit his company records to the Norwegian revenue whatnot institution. A  memory lapse that means a (BIG) fine, and the guy hasn’t paid it. Hubbys name came up as shareholder and Board member (he’s neither), and the bill for the unpaid fine was sent to us.

The first three times, hubby made contact with the guy, and was assured that it was being taken care of. The last time, he said it HAD BEEN taken care of. Yesterday came a very official looking letter, telling us that the Revenue institution in question was going to get the money regardless, and that they were coming for our assets. Grr grr grr!!!

Again, the %¤#”?”# fellow says it’s no problem, but we can’t risk this, so WE have to take all the rounds with all the #%&¤#” official telephones complete with being put on hold for hours, telling your life story over and over, and we may not even get these people to understand what we’re saying. They’ve got RULES, you know… And RULES have to be followed. I could strangle the guy.

I’ve mentioned our anniversary in my last couple of posts - for your information, it’s been 8 years - 8 years of happiness. We have our ups and downs, but underneath it all is our love for each other, that we celebrated 8 years ago by getting married, and that we try to celebrate every day.

We both wear our wedding rings as a token of that love. Our rings are very simple, gold bands, and quite narrow. We felt we didn’t want anything flash, both of us being on the “second time around”.

When I look at the lovely rings at Wedding Band-Ring.com, I’m wondering whether it’s time to renew our vows soon… And perhaps seal them with a couple of those gorgeous bands.
They’re quite original compared to what you see in this country, and I love them all. My favourite, though, is this one, with the celtic inspired theme.

I’m quite partial to the mixing of different colors of gold - they have a beautiful tri-color one as well, with rose, yellow and white gold. I’m not going to describe them all here - if you’re in wedding mode, have a look for yourself!

In fact, they’re so beautiful that they can be worn whether you’re married or not - as a couple, they have that symbolic value, but as single rings, they’re just - rings - and lovely rings at that!

We’ll be keeping ours as they are, I think. They mean the world to us both. If I ever need that special gift for my love though, I’ll be getting back to these beauties…

Someone’s found in this old Dymo labels making device… Wonderful little gadget; now we’ve got labels on everything. My little schoolgirl to be is in 7th heaven, and puts her name on everything. Shelves, drawers - everything is labeled. I have to check my back regularly - I may be sporting such captions as: “kiss me!” or “hurricane Stine”… Our fridge says: “leave a message with me, and I’ll get back to you”, and the liquor cabinet tells us: “open only in emergencies”.

They’re having fun - I can only hope that the glue is getting old enough for the labels to fall off eventually…

# 5 Brat is getting a playhouse… She doesn’t know it yet, but we’ve been given a dainty little house by some friends of ours. Well - it will be dainty when I’m finished with it. My little pink girl in her little pink house - what a treat for her! (I somehow know it’ll be pink…)

It’s all made of wood, and it’s got a little porch, a little door and two windows. (This is where I was going to slip in something about vinyl siding, but I won’t bother…) I know my little Brat will be thrilled to bits, and I’ll probably have to find some miniature furniture for her new miniature quarters! Actually - I’m about as excited as I know she will be!

I’m foreign. My English isn’t bad, but when it comes to abbreviations, I’m usually quite lost. OK - I know JFK, TLC and ATM, and I can work my way around the LOLs and ROFLMAOs of the Blogosphere, but when I’m slapped with something like KVM, I have to go and check it out.
There are sites that specialize in acronyms, and they’re a big help - did you know that there are 155 verified definitions for SMS? As for CCC, it has has 268 definitions, which makes finding the right one a daunting task…
I only found 8 for KVM, so I’m in luck this time…

I’ve got two little kites (Brats #s 5 and 6) who are becoming interested in horses… # 5 has kept a respectful distance until now, and although she still has a healthy respect for horses, she now wants to ride a bit with # 4 Brat, help with the grooming and so on. As for little Miracle Boy - he is a boy, and would be trotting around between the horses’ legs if we’d let him…
It would be so much fun to kit them out properly - in true Western style cowboy/girl gear. At cavenders.com, they’ve got everything, from cowboy boots for children, to all the gear that goes with them. They’ve got everything Mum and Dad need too, come to think of it - and the other boys and girls. Not that I think I could get the style across there - # 4 Brat would love it, but the other three would think I’ve gone off my rocker…
As for me - I like the comfortable shirts and jeans, and I absolutely love the boots. I have a proper cowboy hat already - it takes a bit of getting used to, but it looks good, and that sturdy leather keeps your hair dry!

The other night, at 11pm, I sent hubby off to see if #3 Brat had come home from his trip on his motorbike. I hadn’t seen him, and he hadn’t said goodnight. The bike was there - #3 Brat was secure in bed.

It turns out he’d been here, said goodnight to me, even given me a peck on the cheek… I still don’t remember it. People call, brats tell me things - it goes straight out of my head. I know they won’t put me in a home just yet, but it probably won’t be too long - unless…

They give people hearing implants. Why can’t I have a memory stick implanted? My hard drive is so full of useless information, I could use a “delete” button to make room for new and more relevant stuff, as well as some way of retrieving whatever’s buried deep, deep down.

While we’re at it, #4 Brat would like a “good humour” implant, #1 Brat a GPS behind her ear, and would someone please throw in a “tidiness” device for all of us…

# 3 Brat is suffering from severe acne problems. He’s had UV light treatments, that have helped a bit, but driving 15 miles for a 10 minute treatment every two days got a bit stressful for him, so he decided to quit that.
His doctor prescribed some pills that would work - only the side effects included such minor concerns as psychosis, depressions, suicidal tendencies, renal failure, liver failure… Eh… OK, so only a small percentage contract these, but who’d want to end up in those statistics… To be given these, he would have had to give the doctor a waiver in writing from his parents. Scary. Needless to say, he never had those pills!

At the moment, he’s trying natural acne treatments, as prescribed by a homeopath that he really likes. It takes time, he has to stay away from certain foods and take all sorts of vitamins, minerals as well as homeopathic medicine, but he looks much better, and feels better too. The sun and outdoor activity may have something to do with it as well, but at least she’s made him understand that getting some sun and fresh air on his skin will help, whereas hiding it under sweaters won’t…

Whether or not this treatment will remove the acne remains to be seen - he seems to be getting better, and is gaining confidence too, which is the main thing. Time is on his side regardless - adulthood will set in one day, and with it a more balanced hormone flow…

I just had occasion to do that, because our car broke down just before our planned trip up in the mountains, and I wasn’t going to reschedule. Renting a car is not something I do very often, and certainly not around here. I was in luck - I’d ordered a smallish car, but the car in question still had winter tyres on, so I got a brand new station wagon for me and the brats - and all our gear - at the same price, of course… I like the new car feeling, and renting a car is probably the closest I’ll get to it in a very long time!

Anyway - I went the old route with my rental booking - via the Yellow Pages, since I needed the car that same day. With a little time to spare, I may well have gotten a better deal. At argusrentals.com, for example, there are thousands of car rental locations world wide - even here!

I think it would have been rather fun to book a car rental in my local town via a UK website - especially if I’d have got a better deal too…

Right now, they have great deals for Car Hire Spain - £11 per day in Alicante and Malaga - although I’d prefer to get out of the heat this time of year, and go to… say… Dublin, where I could have one for £12. Including unlimited mileage, which I didn’t get here…
Except, of course, for the fact that those weird Brits drive on the wrong side. Since closing your eyes while driving is considered bad form over there, I think I’d go for somewhere in mainland Europe.
My point? Eh - wherever you go, chances are you can rent a car from Argus. Happy Holidays!