Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Our summer fun

Our summer fun continues. The kids bowl for free all summer at all AMF (you gotta go online to register), so off we went. It was very fun, and I kicked every body's bootey, which made it even more fun for me since I'm a horrible sore loser usually. Of course, we had the bumpers to save us (great excuse to have the kids with us). Elly throwing the ball like a tennis ball...but it doesn't bounce
or does it!!!!

Now, they do oil that thing everyday...it was like Bambi on ice, Reedee on oil!


a little embarrassed ;)



Always match your shirt to your bowling ball, thank you!




Saturday, June 27, 2009

We no longer

Lately, I've been very fortunate to deal with a lot of government agencies. I just became a citizen, as you know. I also have to change my social security status and Reed has had the great pleasure of dealing with DES. With those three agencies, we have been able to realize how nice it would be to work for the government (not as a teacher, that's different, they actually get the job done). This is true of our American government, my Belgian government or the German one...all those countries, and many others, seem to have the same mentality. If you can't do a job, for some unexplained reason, just no longer do it!
The one thing that is so great now a days, is that anytime you need something, you can check online first. It tells you where to go, and so you do. Once you get to where you think you need to be, you encounter a sign (it could be a printed paper, or hand written, in pencil if the urgency was quite sudden) that will read "we no longer...dot dot dot- fill in the service you need...at this location. " We no longer make changes to this, or accept applications to that or review this at this location. Please drag your sorry butt to downtown Phoenix and go stand in line there. Thank you." Phoenix is huge, over 3.something million people. That's why they have satelite branches, to help people, so I thought anyway. "we no longer care if you drive all around our beautiful hot valley". I truly think that it's also a sneaky way to make you spend more on gas, since they make you drive all around our valley to get the service you need. Surely there is a government kick back for that!
Take unemployment for example. No one answers the phone any more...we no longer answer the phones. Why? Because the demand is so great (yes, we all know, blablabla, recession, hard times), we "no longer" have enough employees...hey, there's an idea there!!!! Since your job is to help the unemployed, why don't you hire a few more people to answer the phones...I must be a genius!
I hope to soon be done with the changes I have to make and to no longer have to deal the with no longers!

PS: doesn't it suck that MJ died, I know, he was no hero or anything, but dang, he could sing and dance!!!! Now, he can no longer do that!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

See how Reed's not saying a word...Nah, nothing happened, we just had fun withOUT kids, what a dream! I love my kiddos, of course, but HELLLLLOOO, I needed a break if they all wanted to survive summer! So they stayed at Grandma's and off we went! We stayed in south of France, right next to New York, not far from Paris and Venice...it's a small world after all.
I don't like walking with my camera, so the only shots we got are from our hotel room...that makes it look like we didn't leave our room much :))))





I lost $4.50 in the Penny Slot machines, I played for 1h1/2 with $1.50, I should've cashed out and get a milkshake at McDonald's, but what can I say, I have a gambling problem!













Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Our Boogie Bug

Elly Bug had her very first dance recital today. She's always wanted to do dance, but frankly, the prices of dance studios with all their recital gowns and such are a bit too much for my budget! The Town of Queen Creek offers a combo class, right behind the new library (I really love living in Queen Creek, we've got it all, seriously!). They do Tap, Ballet, Jazz and Tumbling. I know Elly is my daughter, so I'm biased, but I think she did really well. She seems to have a good aptitude for dance and I'm glad that she can finally do it! And she's so dang cute too!














Sunday, June 14, 2009

What do I see

On Friday, I got new eyes! My vision has never been that bad, I had 20/30 for my left eye and 20/60 for my right, I could still barely pass the driver test without glasses, but I didn't try. I wore my horrible, terrible glasses and I hated them. I tried contacts, but I couldn't stand them. Plus, since I have astigmatism and the contacts weren't correcting that, it pretty much sucked for me. Soooo, glasses it was. Then I broke my sunglasses when I was prego with Tomtom, so I just bought those glasses you attach to your regular glasses, like my grandpa had. Then Tomtom broke my regular glasses, so I pulled out my 10 year old glasses... and still attached my dorky half sunglasses to it, which had a square shape while my old glasses were oval. Needless to say I made sur NO ONE ever saw me like that! It was time to make a decision. I went to LasikPlus and got their free examination. I went home and did all my research. I called around, read and read and read. I had more questions and the surgeon called to talk to me. That helped a lot, and I trusted him. So this Friday, I went in. I had the Wave-front Intralase Lasik (or Custom Vue). It was a little bit painful, but so fast. I was in the surgery room for 10 minutes top. The right eye took 6 seconds under the laser and 4 seconds for the left. It just take time to put your under the laser and adjust things. The give you drops to put your eye asleep.
My eye and Dr. Perry.



Under the Intralase machine. That's the one that makes the flap, the bladeless cut, with a "little" pressure! Helllllo, a little???? Maybe to some people, but to me, it was a LOT of pressure. But about 20 seconds per eye, so I could take it.




The more they tell you not to move your eye, the more your brain is wanting to move that eye!

Check out my flap! See it hanging there....freeeeeeakkkky!

So now, I have to sleep with goggles for 7 days, put drops in my eyes 4 times/day for 7 days. I still feel like my eyes are verry irritated. I went in on Saturday morning and had 20/20. It should get even better. I still have a bit of a halo around anything bright and it's a little fuzzy. Some time, one eye sees better than the other. But when I put my glasses on, I see like I used to without glasses, and let me tell ya, life if much better!

PS: did you know that there are leaves on the trees?

Friday, June 12, 2009

Friday, June 5, 2009

I'm proud to be an American!

American Woman...but I'm wearing my Great Grandma's necklace, to keep my birth country close to my heart!
The Court House

American Baby


Very proud of his moma



Happy American/Belgian Family!!! Now that I think of it, Reed is the only ones who is not Belgian in that photo, should I kick him out?Taking the oath. The speaker wasn't loud enough, so I'm not sure I said everything correctly, I kinda mumbled a bit, but my heart was in it!




The Judge






Alex took the pictures...hope you take Dramamine because they will make you feel nauseous, not straight at all!



They asked for 2 volunteers to share a few words...I couldn't resist being in the spotlight for long! I just figured I'd make it more personal for me that way...and people clapped for me, who wouldn't want over 200 people clapping for ya?






When I was 7 or 8, my family and I went to Florida on vacation, to Disneyworld and all the fun spots there. After I went home to Belgium, I told my mom and dad that" when I grow up, I want to live in America."..and here I am! ( My brother had told them he wanted to be a pilot: he flew F16 for 12 years and now flies the VIPs of Belgium...I'd say that trip was pretty much a life changing experience for our family...my poor parents, if they had known, they would have gone to Spain!)
Oath of Allegiance for Naturalized Citizens

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
PS: on the way home, the radio played Leni Kravitz's song : American Woman! How cool was that!!!!
Now I need to plan an apple pie/hot dog party!!!! Invitations coming soon