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Officially Swiss

I received my Swiss naturalisation papers a couple months ago but the fact that I was now a naturalised Swiss had not sunk in until today when I got a surprise in the mail.

I received my first ever forms de votation. I wanted to share this new milestone with Shrek as it is a definite sign that I am indeed Swiss. I have not decided whether I will exercise my citizenship right to vote on the referendum yet. The Swiss vote on anything and everything and yet somehow nothing changes and status quo always reigns supreme so the pointlessness of voting has not sunk in but I bet that the Swiss feel that they have the power to change laws and such via referendums and that in itself is the triumph !

BLOWN AWAY

Is it any wonder with gustly winds of up to 30 km per hour I was literally blown away by said gustly wind and am less than impressed with the northerly wave of bises thereby leaving me with spinal chills and gla gla gla piercing frostbite ?

One thing I am thankful for though is that Switzerland has been relatively free from natural disasters save the avalanches. Men when pitched against nature with all of its awe-inspiring force will lose as in the cases of tsunamis, eathquakes, floods and so on and so forth. Nature always wins and we are left reeling in its wake of the damages : human lives and material economical damages.

I speak of the worst floods in Australia since more than a century and it is a sad turn of events. Could there have been any way of preparing for and dealing with such a massive attack ? The answer is try as we may we can simply curb and restrain the destroying power of nature to a small albeit insignificant extent but we cannot curtail it !

I pray that the clean up will be done swiftly. Natural disasters are nothing new and if it does not affect someone one is related to or connected to in some way it is somehow dismissed because human nature is centred and all the worlds problems are too large for one to carry.

I am literally blown away in Geneva by the gust but am moreover even more blown away by the floods that are drenching parts of Australia. I do hope people will be able to get back on their feet eventually but that is a far cry into the future. I am with them in spirit for it is in such causes that humanity unite.

Tiramisu revolution

Petit Suisse was in raptures when he tried my spin on tiramisu and dubbed it cleverly with the title of 'Tiramisu revolution' pronounced with the French accent and emphasis re-vo-lu-si-on

I am utterly proud of this creation of mine as it was certainly a unanimous winner and crowd pleaser and cannot wait to recreate it again and again as it is quite simple and involves no baking and best of all the kids who love to be my lil kitchen helpers can fulfil most of the steps in this heavenly dessert if I do say so myself.

I garde la recette pour moi-même and will pass it onto my children ;)
I might post the recipe if and when I do decide to blog exclusively about food.

Hello appetite !

One sure fire way of getting my finicky little Baby Ben to eat is to say in all earnestness

'Do you want Kitty (from Hello Kitty fame) to like you?'

to which her reply is a resounding nod

I continue to plow away

'If you want Kitty to love you you should eat more of this (this being whatever it is I am in the process of spoon feeding her) and then she will be your friend and play with you'

Her appetite is whetted at the mention of Hello Kitty and the irony of it all has not escaped me.

She eats until her hunger has been sated.

Hello Kitty's power is appreciated by me until the day Baby Ben is old enough to nag me to buy her Hello Kitty merchandise to which my reply will be Hello Kitty is a fad and she is everybody's friend not just yours so you need to find a friend who is more unique and special than that insidiously infectious kitty.

30 for 30

I await the end of the sale-off period to begin my 30-for-30 challenge which stipulates that I cannot go shopping for 30 days, sounds easy enough and that I must pick out 30 items from my closet, shoes included and mix and remix 30 outfits from the chosen 30 items.

I am all for that, will even attempt to post the photos if Shrekkie is kind enough to assist me by taking photos of my poses.

I have hinted and suggested that Shrek take photography courses and Photoshop sessions.

I can't wait to embark on this project which will stimulate my imagination and sense of fashionability or simply knowing instinctly what looks good and works for me.

Cycle of life

Lil Miss N worriedly catechized me re our mortality

Here is roughly how our conversation went


Miss N : I don't want to die when I get older

Me: It's a part of life sweetie. We all must die some day

Miss N: But I am afraid of death and can't I escape it ?

to which I diverted her attention to something more tangible for now.

Mortality is something human beings have to come to grasp with and I was surprised that it's a preoccupation for Lil Miss N at her tender age of 6 already.

I do hope that this particular preoccupation does not prevent her from enjoying life to the max... one cannot shield oneself from the grasps of death : it is a natural evolution of the cycle of life but one can maximise and make the most of our time here on Earth and that is one thing one can determine and master.

Parenting

Parenting est un sujet sensible qui fâche les gens... parenting involves choices and directions that can differ in a spectrum/runs the gamut of permissibility (laisser faire) and strictly disciplined (old school).



In short just as all of us are individuals parenting and our methods of educating/disciplining our kids can vary wildly.

I do not however espouse and advise people unless they solicit it which I think is out of respect for parents be they new or experienced. We all can make our own mistakes and learn from them but we do not have to bear the cross of being subject to scrutiny and constantly dodging unwelcomed advice.


My kids cannot stay still and sit at a dinner table for three hours straight but I am not discouraged or bothered by that.

My kids can be a rambunctious and uncontrollable bunch which usually leads to me being lectured by other busybodies that I am an unfit mum who cannot control her kids etc...
I doth protesteth because they themselves are not model parents with model kids either.

I strongly believe that kids need boundaries and discipline on the one hand but they also yearn and should be able to stay kids for as long as they can, in other words they need to not be thrust upon adulthood, independence and responsibilities as soon as they are born. I allow my kids to play and act like kids and do not feel compelled to force them to be obedient dogs who sit upon command. They are not robots but human beings who need time and space and possibility to develop normally.

There are parents who surely disagree with me, to that I say 'each to their own'. Those in the camp of absolute discipline abhor kids who become a bit wayward and loud but that to me is not so important. To me I want to raise balanced and equilibrated individuals who know the values of the most important principles but are able to be independent contributors to society and yet stay unique individuals.

Parenting is definitely a learning curve and my kids never cease to amaze me either by their naivety, maturity or their simplicity and just their beings.