A storm inside my head

Decorating is my passion

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:04:00 +0000

School cupboard

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:45:00 +0000

For our house extension I dreamt about a large, old cupboard. I love cupboards with glass doors to keep all my stuff. It took me weeks to find this old school cupboard in the Netherlands (www.oldbasics.nl). I had it come to Luxembourg and it stayed in our garage for months (we hardly ever have room in our garage for the cars). I was so happy to clean and decorate it last weekend.

I'll show some close-ups of what's inside tomorrow!

Country Chique

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Whenever I plan visiting the Netherlands, I use the opportunity to send parcels to my sister and my parents to save on shipping cost. One of my all time favorite Dutch antique shops is Country Chique. It is run by Angélique and her husband. They travel to England, France and Belgium regulary and always bring home the loveliest pieces of antique.

Last time I was in Holland, I had a huge parcel from Angélique waiting for me at my father's place. I love to unpack parcels, even when I know what's inside.

It contained this beautiful tin hat box. I love hat boxes. It fascinates me that women would carry around such a big tin just to protect their hats.

I have a small collection of hat boxes, but I have never seen one like this before. I think the lettering definitely adds character to the box. Who were you, Grace Truett?

Another tin. It has "Adelphi Theatre" painted on top. When I googled this name, I found out that the theatre was built in 1806 in London and still exists. How cool is that!

Please pay Angélique a visit (www.countrychique.nl). The site is in Dutch, but her one of a kind photos speak for themselves!

Finally

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

After one very long year, we are almost ready and I can finally start decorating!

More to come.....

The meaning of "adopted"

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:27:00 +0000

Mommy, he said, what does "adopted" mean?

Well, I said, sometimes a mother and a father cannot take care of their baby and give him or her up for adoption. And then there are other parents who would love to raise another child in their family. Because every child deserves a family! You know that, don't you?

He nodded seriously.

Can we go to South Africa and visit my African mother and father?

Sure we can. When you are just a little bit older, daddy and I would love to go to Africa with you and try to find your African parents.

Yes, I'd like that. I'll go to South Africa and visit my African mommy and daddy.

And then we will go back home again, mommy?

I smiled.

Yes, then we will go back home again.

Liichtmëssdag

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Yes, of course I became ill with the flu, it was just a matter of time. We cleaned the house on Saturday after the builders left and on Sunday morning I finally broke down. I also had a terrible outbreak of oral herpes. I had so many blisters on my lips that I had to cry every time I saw myself in the mirror. The kids told me I looked terrible, but they loved my anyway, which made me cry even more.
Unfortunately I could not join the kids today for Liichtmëssdag, because I am still not feeling very well, but my husband stepped in. My son made such a beautiful lantern at school and they brought home tons of candy.

Bad timing

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:54:00 +0000

I had it all planned...
The painters started to paint on Monday. We moved most of the furniture to other rooms and covered the rest on Sunday night. "A storm inside my head" HQs was moved to the master bedroom, to the walk-in closet to be precise. We would live upstairs for a couple of days because the radiators are not installed yet and it is getter colder and colder downstairs. Normally the kids come home for lunch, but they would go to the school canteen on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Yesterday, 1.30 pm, the canteen called to ask me to come and pick up my daughter, who wasn't feeling well...

Being so close together in one room, I'll probably be ill by the end of the week as well! Such a bad timing.

My bookshelf - Ingrid Jonker

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:07:00 +0000

Another book that has definitely earned a place on my bookshelf - Ingrid Jonker's poems. She was a South African poet who wrote in Afrikaans. The book contains her poems in Afrikaans and a translated version in Dutch. The language Afrikaans developed from 17th century Dutch dialects and a huge part of the vocabulary is of Dutch origin. With some practice, it is easy to understand.

Ingrid Jonker had a sad life, she suffered from severe depression and she committed suicide at the age of 31. On May 24 1994, almost 30 years later, Nelson Mandela opened the first democratic Parliament of the new South Africa, and in his speech, he read Ingrid Jonker's poem "Die Kind (The Child)", which revived interest in the life and work of Ingrid Jonker.

-----

The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga
The child is not dead
The child lifts his fists against his mother
Who shouts Afrika ! shouts the breath
Of freedom and the veld
In the locations of the cordoned heart
The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga
The child lifts his fists against his father
in the march of the generations
who shouts Afrika ! shout the breath
of righteousness and blood
in the streets of his embattled pride

The child is not dead
not at Langa nor at Nyanga
not at Orlando nor at Sharpeville
nor at the police station at Philippi
where he lies with a bullet through his brain

The child is the dark shadow of the soldiers
on guard with rifles Saracens and batons
the child is present at all assemblies and law-givings
the child peers through the windows of houses and into the hearts
of mothers
this child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere
the child grown to a man treks through all Africa
the child grown into a giant journeys through the whole world

Without a pass

-----

Listen here to the poem in Afrikaans read by Ingrid herself. I love the melody of Afrikaans. The sound of the language is so much softer than Dutch.

A number of her poems have been set to music by South African musicians. Listen here for the beautiful African version of "Ontvlugting" ("Escape").

Last year a movie was released (in English) about Ingrid's life "Black butterflies". The main character is played by the Dutch actress Carice van Houten. I didn't see the movie yet, but I ordered the dvd.

How we will be spending the weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:03:00 +0000

... but this it what we are doing it for...

Just one more week to go!

Purging the library

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:05:00 +0000

When I was young, my biggest wish was to have bookcases covering the walls of my living room. I loved reading and I went to the public library several times a week. Then I moved to Luxembourg and there was no library nearby (besides I found out that most of the Luxembourgers don't like to keep their books in the living room). That's when I started buying books, lots of them.

When I started decluttering and downsizing last year, I decided that I needed to take a closer look at my bookshelves too. I realized I didn't need to keep every single book I read and dust it off for the rest of my life (just to make me look smart). I started to purge the books I didn't like first. Then I brought a whole pile of old smelly paperbacks to the recycle center. Some weeks later I was ready to let go of the books that I read once, but would never read again.

I still had a lot of books left. Until both my washing machine and my dryer (can you imagine?!) broke down and they didn't get the new machines around the corner upstairs, where I have my bookcases. They said I had to move them. "Vous n'êtes pas sérieux?", I asked hopefully, but unfortunately they were. They "helped" me by taking out big piles and dropping them somewhere. So when they left me with all my books on the floor, I decided that this was the final round. I cleaned them and sorted them out. I have - of course - kept all the unread books and I forbid myself to buy new ones until I have read each and every one of them (can someone block my Amazon account please!). The books that earned a place on my bookshelf are special to me, I love and re-read them.

Let me show you some of the books that made it onto my bookshelf.

I have many books about Africa, and the interesting thing is that I bought most of them long before we adopted and fell in love with the continent.

^
I LOVE LOVE Kobie Krüger's The Wilderness Family. She writes about the magical years as wife of a game warden at South Africa's Kruger National Park. I loved every word in this book. We really have to go there someday and show the kids this part of their roots.

^
Another book about South Africa (I think there is no such thing as coincidence): Rae Graham's White Woman Witch Doctor. This is the autobiographic story of her life in South Africa and her rigorous ten-year apprenticeship to become a witchdoctor.

^
I dreamed of Africa. I have read this book several times. A beautiful and sad story of an Italian woman whose life is driven by love of Africa.

Another round of decluttering

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:28:00 +0000

We are approaching the last phase of the first part of our renovation. I can't tell you how happy I am that the work is almost done! Today I got bit by the declutter bug: incomplete board games, a wooden kitchen the children didn't play with anymore, tons of paper, baskets etc..... My husband brought it all to the recycling center this morning and I have such a great feeling of relief!

This is the reason why...

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:14:00 +0000

... I didn't blog for a week. It has been very busy around here. All four children at home, builders running around the house, dust everywhere...
But the floor is ready! We have chosen neutral large grey/black tiles. I would have loved a wooden floor, but it is just not practical with kids in the house. I cannot wait to start decorating!

The Help

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:21:00 +0000

One of the packages under the Christmas tree contained this book. It was on top of my wish list. It is the German translation of "The Help" and I have heard so many people talk about it.

But before I started the book, I saw that the movie came out in Luxembourg last weekend. I decided to see the movie first and then read the book, because my experience is that the book is normally better than the movie.

It is a rather long movie (almost 2 hours 20 mins), but I loved every second of it. It is amazing, awesome, funny, sad, shocking (especially as being a mom to two black children)..... During the last scene (you know, where people normally start putting on their coats), as Aibileen walks away, you could hear a pin drop and nobody moved until the very last moment.

Highly recommended!

Priest

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:48:00 +0000

I just found out that the former priest of the parish in the village where I used to live in the Netherlands when I was in high school, has been suspended from his job. Suspicion of child abuse. Apparently the abuse took place during the time that he was "our" priest. The newspapers are talking about 3 children at least. I am so shocked.

What I wore Wednesday 28/12

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:33:00 +0000

Another WIWW! I can only show you what I wore today, all my other photos were on my broken camera memory card.

The dress is from Cream (what else!?), underdress from Ester Elenora, cardigan (love that color) from Liza & Lola and trousers from the supermarket. The boots/clogs are from Gabor and I paid half price!

I bought this coat in the Netherlands.....half price!

WIWW is organized by Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy.

Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:18:00 +0000

My camera memory card has given up and all my Christmas photos are gone. Yes, I know, there are worse things in life...

During our stay in the Netherlands I tried to catch up on movies. I am so behind on DVD's. When we were a kidless couple, we used to go to the cinema almost every weekend. I love movies! Thank God for the DVD player!

I really liked "House of sand and fog". I bought the book by Andre Dubus III when it was selected for Oprah's Book Club. I loved Ben Kingsley from the moment he played Ghandi. My husband liked it too.

"The piano" - beautiful movie. I can only imagine what it must be like to love an instrument that much. My husband only watched the beginning, I think it is more of a girl's movie.

"In my father's den" - not an easy movie but absolutely worth watching. Matthew MacFadyen gives a moving performance. Surprising plot twist. I think I liked the movie more than my husband :-).

"The blind side" - my husband watched this movie from beginning to end (he loves sports). I did too and it was nice, but nothing special.

"Hachi, a dog's tale" - oh my, what a sweet movie! What a special friendship. It was hard not to cry. Can you imagine that dog waited for nine years at the railway station for his owner to come back. It broke my heart. My husband worked on the computer but I saw him watch secretly all the time :-).

Missing Holland

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:32:00 +0000

Visiting the Netherlands

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:02:00 +0000

1 1/2 years since we last visited Holland (and the first time we went without the boys, they preferred to stay at home).
So many things I have missed.....

What I wore Wednesday 14/12

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:19:00 +0000

^
Sweater (Cream) shown before, this time combined with a white underdress, flat boots and white socks ...

^
... or with my brown/grey pumps (Gabor sale).

^
Second time I am showing this outfit. I have added a grey knit cardigan I found on sale (Lola & Liza). So soft!

Thank you Lindsey for hosting WIWW every week.

Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:40:00 +0000

Last weekend my son came home from Germany and he brought with him the best brownies I have ever eaten. I ordered them here. Unfortunately they don't ship outside Germany.

This one was my favorite: cream cheese. So yummie!

Ready for Christmas?

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:46:00 +0000

Doesn't my front door look inviting? Well, let me show you how inviting and ready for Christmas my living room looks this morning...

What I wore Wednesday 30/11

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:42:00 +0000

Like every Wednesday I am linking up with The Pleated Poppy for WIWW.

One outfit - two styles.
(sorry for the blurry pictures, there is not enough daylight this time of year)

^
Ankle boots: Les tropéziennes

^
Flat boots: Tamaris

Advent calendars

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:12:00 +0000

I love these traditional German advent calendars for my kids. No chocolate. No plastic toys. Just a Christmas image behind a little door every evening.

^
This one is for my son. There is a whole series of German books about the bear and his little friend the rabbit that he loves to read together.

^
A girly Christmas market for my daughter.

^
And I spent 10 euro on this advent calendar book: a story every day until Christmas. Reading books together with my kids is one of the best parts of being a mother!

Christmas cards

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:48:00 +0000

Yesterday I found a padded envelope from Caroline (Carocards) in my mailbox that made me very happy. It contained a whole bunch of (Christmas-) cards she made for me. They are so beautiful, I love them!
See for yourself:

What I wore Wednesday 23/11

noreply@blogger.com (Natacha) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:41:00 +0000

I am linking up again with The Pleated Poppy for another WIWW.

^
The tunic is from Ester Elenora, the underdress from Cream (I love Scandinavian brands!). The rest I have shown before: brown jeans (supermarket), boots (Tamaris). The necklace was a wedding day gift from my husband (Konplott) and the bracelet cost 1 euro (H&M).

^
These underdresses are so convenient! I wear them all the time. In this case it makes the knitted sweater look longer so I can wear it like a dress. Sweater and underdress: Cream (Ebay!). Tights from the supermarket, boots shown before (Gabor) and necklace handmade by me.