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Life's a journey..... this is mine.... |
When I first started this BLOG a year ago, I was turning over a new leaf in my life. Since then, several more have been turned - it is rather an ongoing process, leaving demons behind and moving forward with life. Join me on this, my journey through life - warts n' all  You will meet lots of RL characters in this BLOG, for I tend to write about people in my life, my loved ones and those who care about me. The main star is and will always be my daughter, Nathalie, my pride and joy, my raison-d'etre. She fills my heart with love and my life with sunshine and laughter. A co-starring role is held by my hubby, Neil, who puts up with me and is simply wonderful, my family and friends who are spread all around Europe and the US. A special Thank You at this juncture also to my Chemo Buddy, Tatum, for being my guardian angel and my very special friend. I now have a new Chemo Buddy called Isabel - joining the chemoangels program is the most amazing thing I have ever done, besides giving birth to my daughter. You would not believe how rewarding it is - I often think I am getting a whole lot more out of the deal than my buddies; it is so great to give, to bring a smile to someone's face, to make a difference! If you are interested in joining the scheme please check out www.chemoangels.com Hopefully you will also get to know me a little bit better by reading this BLOG, or perhaps just give you a good old laugh at some of the silly things I get up to. Who knows, from time to time you may even find little nuggets of wisdom in here...  Happy reading! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Just a quick note to let you know my sister gave birth to Sophie Mercedes Röhr yesterday morning at 2:15. Sophie is 51cms long but I can't remember her exact weight. She has quite a lot of dark brown hair, blue eyes (I think) and the cutest little nose and lips Mother & baby doing great but staying in hospital over the New Year so after dinner tonight, we are all heading there to toast in 2007 with them. Congratulations, Grethe & Thorsten and THANK YOU for my little niece!  |
Phew! What a wonderful time we had, celebrating Christmas with my family was a real treat although clearly we all missed Nathalie terribly! The food was actually lovely although I cooked it!  and we all had a brilliant time. We took our time cherishing the tree & gifts so we didn't finish opening presents til just after midnight. As everybody always asks what did you have, here goes: Box set DVDs of all 24 episodes of Matador, a Danish cult TV series set in 1930's Denmark (Neil) 4 CD's (Gloria Estefan, Natalie Cole, Katie Melua and a Best Of with various artists) (Neil) A Gucci watch (Neil) A scrapbook of 2006 (Neil) .... see a theme emerging here!? LOL Chrome gear knob, foot pedal facias and hand brake for my BMW (Neil) A 12-person set cutlery - joint present for Neil & I from Mum, Dad, Sis & Bro-in-Law A bracelet (from my au pair family in Cumbria) A cosmetics bag with cream from Granny Jean (Neil's Mum) A pair of slippers (from Snuggi the dog!)With more to come once Nat is back from her Daddy's. Here's the highlight of the evening for me - when my sister's dog, Coffey, thought he was a reindeer..... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I'm in the middle of trying to finish off the first of 3 assignments I need to complete by January 10th so I'd better get my socks on! HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! |
| Here I was thinking, I know what busy is, I know what juggeling a trillion things at once means, I know what it means to be on the verge of stressed out.... til these past 2 weeks. It has been mad beyond comprehension, it defies any quantifiable, descriptive measures. Just take my word for it! Still, that's it now at Uni til the New Year, I am going to work tomorrow morning (the boss is having an op on his leg, poor thing!) and then that's it til the 27th Dec. In theory, I have 5 days off, although of course it never works quite like that for me! On Friday I am flying my daughter to the UK where she is spending a week for Christmas with her daddy. Neil and I are then spending the day in London til we catch the last flight back to Hamburg in the evening. Neil is staying til the New Year which is great, he will be a great comfort to me while I am missing Nathalie. Between now and 10th January I have to try and complete 3 assignments (each 10-15 pages long) on the 3 presentations that I have done so far. If I complete them before that date it means I will get my grades for the presentation & assignments before the exams are due to start, which in turn means I will know whether I need to sit the exams (their main purpose is a) if you have done no assignment or b) if you want to improve your grade). That's it then for 3 of the subjects, the other 2 we are definitely taking an exam, and I will be spending all of january catching up on all the reading! Oh, I decided not to skip that extra course so I am still taking 5 subjects this semester! No news from the police on the break-in which is disappointing, and also BMW have not got back to me yet with regards to changing the lock that was broken during the break-in. I will have to call them tomorrow to chase them for an update! Tomorrow after work I am going shopping with my lil sis (who's not so little now as she's due to give birth any day now (due date 8th Jan)), collect Nat, do some more packing, go to her friend Line's to exchange xmas presents, then to the School Xmas Party at 7pm. When we get back, I need to finish packing and we are leaving here at 3.30 a.m. Friday morning to catch the flight to London. Luckily Neil is staying over in a hotel in London so when I arrive I can have a couple of hours' sleep before he has to check out at noon. And then just, completely relaxing, window shopping, hanging out in a nice cafe somewhere to kill some time, and get to the airport early as security will be even tighter than usual. Oh, and I had a little xmas party here last night, 5 guys from the course (they are the core group that I hang out with - really lovely people!) came over for traditional Danish æbleskiver and julegløgg (dough balls with mulled wine). We played a game of juleklap which was so much fun we ended up playing it twice! They stayed til 11pm last night and I then still had to finish off the presentation on the European Constitution I did today. Like I've said before, I don't make it easy on myself! Well, I don't know when I'll manage to write another update as it's going to be really busy from now til New Year - so: Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all! |
| I'm in the middle of putting the 'frame work' together for our group assignment in European Regional Integration to which we have to do a presentation on Friday and hand in the written work at the same time. A lot of work and effort for something that doesn't count towards our grade but still, it's good practice for the exam and forces us to really think through the issues. I am still 600+ pages behind in European Contemporary History! This is my last weekend with Nathalie before Christmas as I am flying her to the UK on Friday 22nd Dec in the morning, and her Dad flies her back to me on the 29th. It will be a very strange and a little bit sad Christmas for us all as we shall miss her terribly but it's outweighed by the fact I know she is going to have a great time with her Dad & his family. Nat's little friend Emily is playing here today so I'm off to make dinner for us 3 in about half an hour. Just enough to finish off the bit on the Powerpoint presentation framework before I start dropping everyone's contribution in there! |
| gosh I feel so rushed off my feet, I don't know where to start! I'm 90% done with my Christmas shopping, I need most of Nat's things which we're doing tomorrow and one more thing for Neil. A couple of little things for Nat's friends. We're celebrating Christmas here this year so we've got my parents, heavily-pregnant sis & brother in law here so that will take a lot more of time, too. I've just bought some things to make my own napkin rings (I don't make it easy on myself, do I? ) Uni is simply crazy, I have no less than 3 presentations next week, one of which is a group assignment. So I skipped the History class today to concentrate on the presentation for Monday morning. Neil's over again this weekend but I managed to pursuade my bro in law to pick him up from the airport so that I can study. Tomorrow (Saturday) is pretty much a write-off in study terms as we are going to the big Toys R Us to let Nat chose some of her presents, visit Santa at his grotto, lunch then drive back home to get here for about 16.30pm. I have to pick up 2 friends from Uni at 17.30 as they are babysitting for us on Sat night, my Mum picks US up at 18:20 to take us to the venue where the work's Christmas do is being held. Sunday, take Nat swimming around noon, then to my parents' for coffee and cake, then take Neil to the airport. When we get back, it's the evening routine and then the guys are coming over to prepare for the group assignment at 20:00. I've decided to drop another subject this term so that I am taking 4 subjects this term and post poning 3. It is still a lot of hard work and I spoke to the guys on my course who just study full time (i.e. no kids, no work outside of studying) and even they are behind with their reading, preparation etc - just shows you what a tough course it really is! I don't feel quite so bad now but even so, I don't want to do a mediocre job of the course and my exams! Apart from that, things are pretty great. Neil and I had a fabulous time in London and the Katie Melua concert was amazing. It is the first time I've seen her at such a big venue but her voice fills the room no problem and the atmosphere was really good. It was great to see my friends Steve & Dave again, who I know from the Gloria Estefan fan club We didn't get a chance to meet Katie backstage this time (I met her at 2 other concerts) as there was some kind of after show party to which you had to have special invites, so no hope of catching her on the way out of the concert venue. Still, it was an incredible night! I'm off to continue reading the text for my presentation on Monday and then collect Nathalie at 15:00. We're going to make chocolate truffle this afternoon |
We had a busy but lovely weekend. Saturday, I went to the hair salon for a much-needed session which took 3 hours (the time & expense I go through to look natural  ) and in the evening we went to my lil sister's birthday dinner party which was fab. The food was great and we ended up playing Uno til about 2 in the morning. The next day we went to pick up Nat who had a sleep over at her friend's house, and in the afternoon took Neil back to the airport. After I put Nat to bed, I met up with 3 girlfriends from Uni for nibbles & natter at La Tasca. I ended up ordering far too much food!! But it was lovely. As we were staying at my mum's who was looking after Nat for me, I stopped by our house for clothes for today, put some washing on, emptied the dishwasher, stopped for petrol on the way & so I didn't get to bed til 1am. Today's gonna be a r-e-a-l-l-y l---o---n---g day!! |
| My car got broken into last night. I had left my brand new, very beautiful & quite expensive school bag on the passenger seat coz I was going to go back out to do a bit of shopping (milk & bread) but I got distracted & never went back outside So this morning when I was taking Nathalie to school, the content of the glove compartment was on the passenger seat where my bag was supposed to be, all windows were open and they had completely removed the lock on the driver's side. My bag's gone with 2 books for my Uni in it (they were both brand new obviously) but worst of all, all my notes that I have taken during and in preparation for my lectures - 5 weeks worth of work wasted! Inside my bag were also 2 purses containing 100EUR, my drivers license, bank cards, health insurance cards, Nathalie's emergency cards and tablets, both our passports which is a real bummer coz I am travelling to London a week tomorrow and will need the passport!! Also from the glove compartment, my ipod nano  A total of about 800EUR worth of damages / loss for me. I will need to see what the insurance company say now! |
| Last night, we had the Festival of Lights procession to mark St Martin's day - the entire school and kindergarten walked for about 3 kms with lit lanterns, accompanied by 5 policemen ahead of the procession and a fire engine with flashing lights ending the procession. It was quite lovely though I think the kids are getting too old for it, they walked with their lanterns for about 15 mins and then Line's granddad and I had to carry 4 lanterns between us as the girls ran up ahead. Cute though Today is my bro-in-law's birthday so I'm off for some birthday cake in about 20 mins, and this evening I'm having a few girlfriends from Uni over for a chat and bottle of vino. Should be fun |
| I've just read an update on my buddy (six yearold girl who has Ewing's Sarcoma) - she had an op on Wed to remove the affected bone which has then been replaced with a section from the arm. It sounds awful and I'm sure it's very painful for her, she will have to be on crutches / walking frame for about 6 months but the GREAT news is that the op went REALLY well and the doctors & parents are very pleased with it all. So am I! I am so pleased everything went well. This morning I picked up a parcel from the post office, I thought it was from Nat's nana & granddad. It was actually from my Chemo Buddy! I can't describe how touched I was to see her name on the box. My first reaction was, oh no one of the parcels have been returned. From the ChemoAngels organisation we have been told not to expect any correspondence from our 'buddies' so I've felt really lucky to have received a few emails with photos, and the access to their very personal family website. To actually get a big parcel filled with goodies for Nat was just incredible. I would have been delighted to get a crayon drawing, it's not about the enormity of the gift it's just... well, it's the thought that counts as they say. I can't wait to get home to open it with Nat - she will be so thrilled and it's funny that without knowing it, my buddy is giving us a little bit of pay-back as Nathalie is feeling pretty down and miserable with a big hefty cold that just won't shift. Dancing on cloud nine.... |
| I've not got much time but here is the latest update: 1. Nathalie has tested postitive to 13 of the 24 tested substances, mostly different pollens and dust mites. So far, this does not result in any allergic reactions so no major life style changes except must now always carry medicine (tablets) with me in case she has a reaction. Peanuts and kiwi fruit are definite no-no's. 2. Nathalie's heart: the valve inside her heart is not closing fully which means blood floods back into the heart. This could cause the heart to expand in size to allow for the residue meaning the muscle can no longer cope with the size of the heart. She needs check-ups every 6 months. Eventually she may require a replacement valve  No major lifestyle changes for now except must always have penicillin before being treated by the dentist as the valve is unprotected by the 'film' that surrounds it and bacteria could settle there very quickly. 3. Wow, uni, work, being a mum etc is VERY BUSY & A LIL' BIT STRESSFUL. I don't know how this will work in the long run, esp as some of my classes fall in the evening / after the After School Club has closed. I may need to cut down on my hours at work from 20 to 15 as I am also earning too much for the Student Grant and could be hit with a major tax bill. 4. Had a WONDERFUL time in Copenhagen and a magical time in Madrid 5. We're having a Halloween Party this Sunday for a few of Nathalie's friends. It will be busy as I'm away from Sat noon til Sun noon and guests arrive at 3pm Sunday - I still haven't finished Nat's costume! Man, why do I do this to myself!?! That's it for now, back to work! |
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