Hump Day

Do the words 'hump day' make you giggle like a prepubescent teenager? 'Cause it does that for me... Eh, well, what can I say, small mind - easily entertained?

I have to say that I am at a loss as to what I should write. I poured my little heart out the past few days in various ways so I have NOTHING. Nothing. Oh I am sure I will come up with something to ramble about here... Aren't you glad?!

I can tell you that Matthew would not go to sleep last night and he woke up in the middle of the night saying his tummy hurt - it did not really hurt (I was not feeling well last evening and I was laying on the couch half asleep feeling yucky and I think he was imitating me and I did not really explain to him why my tummy hurt so he may have been worrying about me in his sleep? Do you think kids do this? Eh, well it was TOO much greeeeasy pizza...).

I think Santana actually woke him up because he (Santana) was being a freaky spaz. Santana wanted to go out 50 times and his stomach kept making crazy ass un dog like noises. Then at 3am it dawned on me that no one feed the dogs last night... Shit. Santana also took it upon himself to not only be loud and annoying most of the night but also to pee on the corner of the couch (likely to let us know how unhappy he was that the poor underfed dog missed his meal... HA) so I had the opportunity to clean up the pee this morning. Yeah for me... Also, Lucy started barking for no good reason at 5:30am. AND. and Kevin slept through it all. That is the part that irks me the most really ;) I finally dragged myself out of bed at 6:15am because I just figured the hell with it. Kevin slept for 40 minutes longer... GROWL.

Err, ah, so how about those striking workers in France? I note this because I have a co-worker who likes to travel the world and she is leaving this evening to go to Paris and then rural France to go the Beaune Wine Auction and wine tasting in Burgundy. I live vicariously through Laura because she is super hip, fun and has this sense of adventure that I hope I can foster down the road once Matthew is older.

I had the chance to go to Europe as a young person but I was truly a petulant teenager and never took my mom up on the offer (Nice segue way, huh?) I wish I had but I did not so it is a place I dream about visiting all the time! I have many relatives who still live in England, The Netherlands and France. I will go one day soon but for now I am really interested in learning some of the traditions from my heritage. I am some what of a mutt - my father's side is Italian and Polish (with some Ukrainian in there as well) but my mom is 100% Dutch.

My mom visited her family in the Netherlands often when I was child and always brought back lovely treats (that surely gave me this mouth full of cavatities but oh my lord, the licorice, stroopwafels, and Hagelslag - oh if you ever have a chance try all these dutch treats and more - makes me drool just thinking about them!) She also would often tell stories about growing up during the war and post war in Holland.

I used to know a handful of dutch words, I could sing songs in dutch, I generally could understand the language when my mom had her parents or sisters to visit and I could count to 20. My mom and I also used to visit this lovely little Dutch store in San Jose my whole life and I miss this place dearly. But that has really been the extent of my Dutch knowledge.

I decided this year now that Matthew is getting older I wanted return to some of my Dutch roots so I am planning to celebrate St Nicholas Day on December 6th as best I can. I may not be very savvy at this so I am going to start out small! I have ordered some stuff from a Dutch web site that I found. That is about all I have done...

My mom even told me how her mother used to do St Nicholas Day (she said they actually started the celebration on November 5th in the evening) There were white and black gloves involved. I highly doubt I will go that far but it was neat to hear her story about how they would celebrate when she was young and the war had ravished most of Europe. I could just imagine what it was like back then - I could just picture my Oma & Opa, my mom and my two aunties giggling over the changing of the gloves all their tiny apartment in The Hague!

I am trying to find an inexpensive pair of wooden shoes but holy crap real wooden shoes direct from Holland (or even a store stateside) are expensive (both the painted and unpainted kind.) So that is what I am planning for December 6th because I am not really stressed out enough for the holidays! In all seriousness, I am very excited to start doing this with my family! Now I just need to come up with some fun little poems for Matthew and Kevin.