Grubbs n Critters

February 25, 2016

#Abitofeverything: Out of The Hat

It’s a bit of a downer for me today after a 3-hour session at the Dutch Embassy for the more difficult Dutch examination I was scheduled to take. I walked out feeling like my brain has been raped and came to a conclusion that I had not done the exam very well.

As a non-native speaker who has never lived in Holland, it was a difficult one. The questions weren’t quite what I expected or studied for even after more than a year preparing for this exam. But just over one year of a weekly lesson is also hardly enough to excel in such a complicated language.

The speech exam caught me and it was the first one they started me out with. Speaking Dutch fluently is not quite my strongest point and having to do that first got me quite nervous. I hadn’t warmed up. As a result, I had left 2 questions unanswered as I ran out of time.

The worst thing about this exam is that I am not allowed to be given any paper or pen to write or take notes while at it. So I fumbled. A LOT. For someone who needs to read and write while listening to get things into my head, that was hard. And 2 questions left unanswered is a lot of questions unanswered. Urrghhhhh!

I had thought I did (sort of) OK at first for the rest as I understood most of it; until I realised that I had misinterpreted a series of questions in a multiple choice answer in another set of exams. I.am.bummed. This sucks! I can’t help but beat myself about it.

My verdict: I’m going to flunk out on this exam with flying damn colours!

My only consolation to that are:

I’ll now have my Saturday afternoons back. No more Dutch lessons! No more studying over the weekends or at night after a long and hard work day!
If I fail, I can always re-take parts of the exams which I have failed when we move to Holland (Still sucks because I don’t ever want to take any exams no more!)

I can rave and rant and beat myself about it, but for now, there’s really nothing I can do except wait for the results. How long that takes no one knows!

I am, otherwise, quite heartened by the warmth and the compassion of the Dutch Mederwerker, the 2nd in command to the Head of Consular Affair who had administered my exams. Unlike the biotch not-a-Dutch-Lady whom I had encountered before, this Meneer is such a gem. He is someone whom I’d like to invite home for coffee and a natter. He was very pleasant to talk to. Bless the guy!

(The biotch not-a-Dutch-Lady was there when I turned up and she had pulled down the blinds almost immediately as I walked into the room, right after she saw me. I shall not pass or assume any judgement)

So on to more happy stuff we go:

Something good happened 2 days ago and I only realised this yesterday when I got notified of this tweet:

My Ditzy Days and Doof Moments post made it to their Out of The Hat list. Woooohooooo! Who’d have thought? I certainly didn’t but I am glad that the post resonated with quite a few people out there! It was a pleasant surprise.

Have you heard of the #abitofeverything linky? If you haven’t, this is one of the friendliest and most responsive linkies around co-hosted by The Anxious Dragon and Agent Spitback. That means not only do they BOTH share any posts that have been tweeted to them using the hashtag #abitofeverything and their twitter names @MrsGrohl4 or @AgentSpitback, their selected featured bloggers also would appear on each of their respective blogs. Which means featured bloggers get twice the mentions. Ain’t that just awesome?

Hence…if you are dying to discover new blogs and get some bloggily love, head on to their latest linky roundup and check out all the other featured bloggers. You can choose to mosey on The Anxious Dragon’s or Agent’s Spitback’s post. I assure you that both are worth a visit.

The linky runs from 10 am (GMT) Tuesday to 12 Midday Thursday, so look out for when the doors are open.

That has been my #abitofeverything this mid-week along with a little something out of the hat.Two more days to weekend!

When Kids Chatter

Category: Critter Stories

Kids being kids, they always manage to come up with something original yet unintentionally funny. When they do, I always make it a point to note as precisely as I could what they blabbed out. With a 5.5-year-old and a 3.5-year-old in tow, we’ve been blessed with many a candid moment that left us laughing our asses off.

Other times, the words they blurted out seem so innocent. Yet they left us scratching our heads and wondering how at such a young age, they are able to articulate or think of something to say that seemed a little too wise for their tiny bodies.

Recently, Spud had us a little stumped as she blurted a whole sentence out in one breath from the back of the car whilst Silver Bullet was driving:

Spud: Mama, I keep thinking about the things that I don’t want to think and I try to think about something else and all it does is keep coming back and I cannot stop thinking about the thing that I don’t want to think about. Don’t know why.

Me, laughing (and thinking “what?! where did that come from?”): That’s quite a mouthful. Can you say it again. Slowly.

Spud repeated what she said all.in.one.breath.

Me: Hmmm..like what? What are you thinking about?

Spud: The jab. I don’t want to think about that. But it keeps coming back to my brain.

Me, still laughing: Yeah…well… that happens. Sometimes, you just have to tell yourself to think about other things.

Spud: I’m trying. But it keeps coming back. I don’t want to think about that. I don’t like it.

Silver Bullet, laughing: Yeah…that happens…jab is awful but you don’t have to keep thinking about it. You won’t be getting any jabs anytime soon.

Spud: I think I will talk to Squirt about other things, then maybe I won’t think about it

Silver Bullet: That could help.

Meantime, both of us were still laughing silently with our eyebrows furrowed…

For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what Spud had said word-for-word, but I knew it was just one of her chatters that I want to keep a record of. And when we got home, I asked her if she remembered what she had said. As I got my laptop ready, she rattled it all off again without a pause and left me typing so fast that I could barely catch up! The kid rendered me speechless.

In another moment while sitting on the couch and snuggling with the kids before bedtime:

Me: Squirt, can you move your elbow and shift a little bit so there’s a little bit more space for me?

Squirt: Wait. I need to scratch my wee-wee. It’s very itchy. (He proceeded to put his hands in his pants and scratched his penis before moving away for a few inches)

Me, laughing and half-rolling my eye-balls: Right. Just don’t do that in public when you are 15. (or whatever age that deems it as inappropriate)

Squirt: But it’s itchy. I have to scratch!

All right, boy. Thank goodness you are not even 4 yet!

And the first time Squirt made a discovery of his bodily function whilst in the shower. He was about 2 years old:

Squirt (with a big, fat grin on his face and squealing in glee): I have big wee-wee! I have big wee-wee!

Me (…and thinking “oh dear me! How should I respond to this! Should I even respond?”): OK. I see that. Just don’t go around telling everyone that when you are older.

That, of course, continued for days on end. I guess he just could not help himself but I found myself trying to keep a stoic face while trying oh-so-hard not to die laughing when I heard it the first time.

He has stopped with his announcements all on his own accord by now. Yet each time I catch him playing with his penis and then starts grinning like it is such a wonderful surprise, I wonder what goes through his mind. It also makes me wonder what other parents do and what could have been the appropriate response. It was, after all, age-appropriate and completely acceptable.

With many a comedic moment from our little imps, who needs clowns when you have got one or a few of your own? And as we have discovered, the unexpected (comedic) ones always make the best moments to be remembered for the years to come. Life is good with kids.

Got your parenting kids’ chatter moments to share? Please leave your comments and tell us about it. I’d love to hear the funny and unexpected chatters you’ve experienced!

Sunday Humour: Knowledge, Wisdom and Philosophy

Category: Entertainment

Nothing like a concise analogy to explain knowledge, wisdom and philosophy:

FB_IMG_1452819379088 — Source: Facebook Feed

That is also one of the examples of some of the inane stuff I come across on my Facebook feed that makes me smile whenever I get the chance to log in. Who says Facebook is completely useless? With some knowledge and acquired wisdom, one can easily go philosophical on fruits!

Here’s to more smiles to colour the rest of your week.