redistribution of wealth

we have managed to survive for two months already on a little bit more than half of what we were used to. hurray for us! seriously, the budgeting is going well. so well that we have managed to have a little bit left over at the end of the month, and, in accordance with our newly-found creed, have decided to distribute this little bit equally amongst all members of the family. which means i was able to buy a lovely book of songs for my accordion, marc made an appointment with the hairdresser, and as for the children...

... but let me follow a tangent. both my children are the happy owners of a playmobil catalogue. although i am not really sure how it happened, i suspect it had something to do with oma. anyway, no book has ever been read with quite so much passion, drooling, and consistency. every morning, the two tired, wrinkly, front-cover-missing items are dragged out of whatever dark hole they spend the night in, and the early morning ritual begins. Isabelle sits quietly poring over her porridge and making up stories about all the characters in the various playmobil scenes. meanwhile, Toini, having found his favourite page of the moment (the fire-engines, the police station, the under-water diving world and/or the dinosaurs), points his little finger at a seemingly random spot and begins his litany: 'Mama, ik wil die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die. Aaaan die ook. Aaaan die.'

when it became apparent that there was a bit of cash to be spent, Isabelle, having pondered the question, decided she wanted some animal acts for her circus. i then tried to put the question to Toini. 'So, Toini, which one did you like again?' He opened the fire-engine page. 'It vind deze mooi!' he said pointing to one of the fire-trucks. 'Do you want to have that one?' i asked, just to make sure. 'Ja, die hebben...', he replied, 'Aaan die...', little finger sliding on the page, 'Aaaaan die..., aaaan die, aan die, aaaan die, aaaan die, aaaan die, aaaaan die, aaaan die.' 'Yes, but Toini, if you can have one, which one do you want?' he looked at me wonderingly, unsure what i meant, then he spread his little hands as wide as he could, and tried to cover as much of the two pages as possible, using his forearms for extra surface area. 'Allemaal! It wil allemaal hebben!'.

i think i have found the first grain of sand in our budget...