Song of the day: Someone you loved, by Lewis Capaldi. Such a gorgeous song.

Life. It has a way of getting away from you...or at least it does in my case. So strange the way the world has changed, even since the last past here on the blog. As of today we are once again in lockdown, nuts, I tell ya. Totally nuts! But, it is what it is, right? The powers that be make a decision and we must all abide by it. I just can't help but feel bad for all those people who really can't afford this shaite. For the people who suffer because of these lockdowns and are losing everything.

But, the old mantra still counts. I won't care about things I cannot change. It has no use.So, let's see if I can bring y'all up to date to life as it is at the moment. What all has happened since the last time I wrote?

First there was school. I thankfully passed my exams with a respectable average of 9 (out of 10), so that was over and done with. Actually got my diploma last October so I've got that sucker in my pocket at long last. Was nice to see about half of my fellow students again, and to have a bit of a social distanced party with a shot of booze followed by a beer.

Work. Well, we have a forced close now again, but before that I had two lovely months working in the Buffet restaurant again. The formula was different, no more free for all buffet, but a 3 course dining experience instead. Though different from usual (and what I love most doing) it was still a nice challenge...until the corona measures got tightened again, of course,  meaning that our restaurants had to close and we were only allowed to offer take-away to our guests. But that, of course meant that we had too many chefs in the kitchen. So what does that leave for Sammie, you might wonder. Well, luckily I can be bumped to TD, meaning I get to help big brother out with the hated morning shifts.

The 4:20 wake up call is pretty much killing me, but work is work...or at least it was, considering things will change again now with the new lockdown. I might get lucky and won't need to start at 6 am until January, which should be awesome. I don't mind work, in any shape or form, but I do hate the early morning. Ha. We'll see how that goes.

Had friends over for dinner the other day. I miss cooking special stuff, so it was the perfect occasion to have some fun in the kitchen. Decided on three courses that started with a lovely fresh pumpkin soup decorated with fresh herbs and a blot of cream cheese in the center. The main course was a lovely experiment of red beet risotto topped by a bit of Parmesan. This dish had strips of veggies on the side and a yellow creamy sauce with saffron and rose. Last but not least was a strawberry tartlet made from scratch with a bit of whipped cream on top. Was a wonderful evening with friends and good food, so that was a successful evening in my book.

Been experimenting with bread, partly because I am playing with the idea of starting to do some kind of catering, or food take away on the side. I already have several people interested in my vegetable bread, which would be great if I can get regular orders for that in the future. They would be more interested in seasonal veggies, though, so that meant I had to do some experimenting. Ended up with 3 new recipes from that. One with cauliflower and carrot. One of three types of cabbage, and one with pumpkin and parsnips. Definitely fun to try, and there might even be a restaurant interested in it, so I will keep you posted on that.

As for Mr. Whitney, the absolute gorgeous fella (aka golden retriever) I adopted this spring is still with us. He's amazing. Such good company and hardly ever a bother. He's adjusted well to his new life with us, absolutely loving our 3x daily walks, and enjoying his very own home-made food. He's no longer skinny. He's got muscles now and his confidence is still improving daily. He's such a marvelous addition to our lives, I can barely remember a time when he wasn't here. He's been making sure that we go on plenty of walks, which is of course very good for us since going to the gym isn't actually in the realm of possibilities at the moment.

As for the house. My...our lovely house. We got quite a bit done in the months that have passed since my last blog. First of, we have upgraded our electrical system, meaning that now we can have a proper kitchen when the time is right. Added to that all the walls in the living areas that had to go out are out, so we could put in new floors in the kitchen, the office and the living room. Which makes sooooooo much of a difference. No more cold tiles under my feet, not to mention that the first 3 floors are so much more spacious now. It is absolutely awesome. Basically we now have the house's base exactly the way we want it. Sure, we'll have to remodel the kitchen, still, and the bathroom, a shed, and the garage, but there's no rush. It's all very livable until we've got some savings to do them proper. Right now I have added a kitchen island that gives me at least enough work space, and painted everything that needed painting, too, so let's see how things go.

Dealing with mom's passing is a sometimes it's okay, sometimes it still hits me by surprise, kind of thing. Sometimes I can still not believe it, and now that we are dealing with the aftermath of the house in Spain and such, it is very much back in my mind, I fear. I wish it wasn't, and yes I am working at letting it go and accepting it, but still, it isn't easy. Alas.

It has been slow on the writing front, but I have started on a new book because I needed something new, something different, so guess what. I am writing a paranormal/horror/thriller. I kid you not. We've got zombie killers and all that jazz. So much fun to do. Got over 11k words now, so I'm pretty pleased about that. Will be getting a couple of the older manuscripts out of the dust piles so we can start sending them out in the near future, but until then I'm having fun doing the creative thing again.

Well, that's about it for today, I guess. Hope everyone is doing alright and is keeping safe. I'll be back...

A March Update

Song of the day: “Shut up and dance with me” by Walk the Moon. Awesome song. Always thought it was a cover from some song from the 80s, only to discover last night that it’s from 2014. Hah. Anyway, not that it matters. Still a great 80s song. * wink *

So, yeah. Life’s been busy as usual. Not particularly exciting, or anything, but busy regardless.  I’ve been working too much, naturally. There were some seriously unexpected expenses last month, so when the extra hours popped up it wasn’t in me to say now, despite everything that needed doing outside work hours…you can imagine what the house looked like after a couple of weeks of that. * sigh*

But anyway, it wasn’t bad, or anything. Learned a lot more about the business, about general catering, all the stuff you have to keep track of, banqueting and general customer service, so it was all good…especially for my bank-account, which was rapidly depleting.

My temporary doggie is gone again * sob *. It was so cozy to have a four-legged one around constantly again, but his owners found him a new home with a couple that lives near the beach, loves to go for hikes and jogs, so it would seem that he is all set for the future. I have said that if it doesn’t work out, he can come right back here, sweet baby, but I doubt I’ll see him again.

Luckily in May we’ll be dog sitting Puk (the Labradoodle) again, so the quiet won’t be for too long.

Cooking has been going on as usual, duh. Can’t really do without that, can ya? Anyways. Had some successful experiments that included a Bundt cake quiche, Italian style, a nice veggie and chicken satay, a sweet potato, arugula mix, and a variety of oven dishes…which reminds me, going to do the latter tonight, I think. Hmmm

The book. Yeah. Been doing the promo thing a lot lately. Which isn’t necessarily hard, just time consuming, meaning that I’d come home from work, do the absolute necessary, maybe a 30-minute powernap, and then dive behind the computer for the remainder of the evening until way too late in the evening. I am aware that you can schedule posts and such, saving on the “I have to get on there every day” thing when we’re talking Social Media and such, at this point in my life that still sorta feels like cheating, ya know? I mean, the way I figure, social media presence is all about actually being present, so… I’m sure that I’ll think about that differently in the future, but for now it just takes up a lot of time.

Also got my paperback stack from the publisher in, so I now have physical copies of the books. Yay!

Future book. Been putting together a book proposal pitch for the publisher (around all the “real life” stuff that just keeps popping up. Like, I still gotta do my taxes, Aaaaaargh! I don’t want to alienate ALL my friends for disappearing for long stretches of time. You know what I mean, right? So hard to balance everything.) and the package is coming together nicely, I think. Been going through the first few chapters, doing some editing and tweaking because that is something that would need doing if we want to get the prequel for “Girl in the Mist” out there. But I’m liking what I’m reading so far. The pacing is different from GitM. Heavier, I think, than the action-packed bit in the debut. Leaning more toward psychological drama, rather than the high paced thrill of GitM. That doesn’t mean there’s no action in it, mind you. There is. Loads, it’s just that the characters are more enduring, rather that explosive, if that makes any sense. Like the heroine, Morgan, is a strategist, someone who will got through the most awful of horrors if that serves the purpose of her plan. It’ll be a marvelous challenge to make that work fully, you know…but it will also make it necessary to explore something lighter, more positive in the next project, because my mind-set can become rather moody when I work on dark drama a lot. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll keep you posted.

Been a bit under the weather for the past four days or so. On Friday my whole mid-section started hurting really bad. Think I caught some sort of bug, or infection, which has been slow in recovering. By now, thankfully, I am having moments where the pain is gone, but it got pretty bad at times. Almost like constipation (I know, TMI, sorry) and yet not that. Hah. I still have occasional twinges, which made work yesterday more than a little uncomfortable (which was why I asked to do dishwash duty in the back, rather than having to face customers) and had me deflating with relief when it was finally time to go home where I collapsed on the couch and slept for an hour or two, feeling much better afterward. Had I been in Spain, I would have been popping buscapina, but this is the Netherlands, and getting medication without an actual prescription here is practically impossible.

As for the aforementioned unexpected expenses: The care needed a big check-up. It was just that time, but jeez that hurt the wallet. First off the check-up which cost more than 300 bucks, the back breaks which did need replacing this time, the handbrake and some bits and pieces which depleted a lot of my savings. * sobs * I am so hoping that some money will be coming in from the book. Need my savings back!!! Hah

The weather. Well, it’s been interesting. We had some lovely spring weather for about a week…you know, after the icy Siberian wind that raged across the entirety of Europe for about a week. Eeeewww that was cold. The change was sudden, and absolutely lovely with bright sunshine and wonderful temperatures. I was thinking that finally winter was over, but then the cold returned, and with it my stomach ache for a solid four days, right up until now when the air is still crisp, but the sky wonderfully blue and the sun warm! So gonna go outside in a bit and work on repotting some of my houseplants.

As for the fun parts. My bestest friend T (Tiina) came over for a wedding, so I got to spend an afternoon, evening and morning with her, which was lovely. Though her last visit wasn’t all that long ago, it was so nice to chat the evening away, have dinner together. But then had to drop her off at the airport, of course, and say our goodbyes again. Darn it! Gotta do the whole real visiting again soon. That was way too short.

Once she was on her way, big brother and I drove on to visit our dad, down south. Had planned it before, but since we were both having a cold two weeks ago, we had to cancel again. Last week, big brother was working in the weekend, so we finally decided on last Sunday. Had a very nice afternoon with our dad and stepmom, admiring the new house, talking about the book, life in general, and then going out to eat, along with littlest brother, as a really, really late celebration of my birthday at a rather nice German restaurant. They served some GOOD food. Definitely combinations there that I’ll be playing around with in the kitchen in the near future.

Had a friend coming over for coffee a few weeks back. Partly to celebrate the book being out, and of course to catch up on everything, which meant one coffee turned into three and it was already dark when she finally went home. Hah. Am fully up to date on the previous job-site where things went from bad to worse since I quit. Not surprised.

And that about sums up the update for the today. I would promise to be back soon, but I hate promising and then not being able to, so I will just promise to post another blog when I can and hope that y’all will bear with me until then…

If you want to keep up to date via different sources, here are my links:

The new website, which is awesome!!! Please share and like if you can.

http://www.samayatyoung.com/

Social media for the useless bits of info, and chatting if you feel like it.

https://www.facebook.com/authorstyoung/

https://www.facebook.com/samaya.t.young

https://www.twitter.com/samayayoung

https://www.instagram.com/samayatyoung/

https://nl.pinterest.com/samayatyoung/

Goodreads, if ya wanna check out the awesome reviews (give the reviewers some love while you’re there, please).

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38226722-girl-in-the-mist

And, very importantly, the buy links, hah. (How is that for shameless self-promo, huh?)

https://entangledpublishing.com/girl-in-the-mist.html

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LDL521?tag=entangpublis-20&name=Girl%20in%20the%20Mist

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/girl-in-the-mist-4V

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B079LDL521?tag=entangpublis-20&name=Girl%20in%20the%20Mist

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079LDL521?tag=entangpublis-20&name=Girl%20in%20the%20Mist

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079LDL521?tag=entangpublis-20&name=Girl%20in%20the%20Mist

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/girl-in-the-mist/id1344886681?mt=11

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/girl-in-the-mist-st-young/1127921825;jsessionid=4952E6264EC4BB514AE5299D48F9559C.prodny_store02-atgap02?ean=9781640634671

A proper, picture update at last!!!

Song of the day? “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran, of course. Though not constantly, it has been an earworm from time to time this past week, along with “Symphony” by Clean Bandit. Both awesome songs and no punishment at all. Hah!

Soooooo. Yeah. I promised a proper update this time round, didn’t I? Yes I did, so thankfully I have been maintaining a list of stuff that happened, rather than rely on my somewhat spotty memory this time around. (Good Sammi!). There has been quite a lot going on since my last proper blog, so sit down, if you’re not doing so already.

First off, I promised to tell about the move, didn’t I. Well, we moved. It was a helluva job, I’ll tell, in particular since we preferred not to rent the van for two days in a row, but rather a solid 24 hours (as in 23 hours and 57 minutes) and save ourselves fifty bucks or so.

It all started on Key Day, on which I dropped big brother off at work before six in the morning, so I could continue on to the new place where I was supposed to get the hidden key and then spent a few hours cleaning before my district manager arrived to go over the contracts with me. Well, first issue was that I couldn’t find the key where I thought it was supposed to be….grrr. Didn’t discover until at the end of the day that the “electricity shack” was another than the one I’d understood from the description. Hah. Anyway. My appointment with the district manager wasn’t until  11 o’clock, and it was 6:30 AM. I was no pleased, I assure you. Tried the garage door: nothing. The  pantry door: No cigar! And then, after deciding to do a walk-around, finally found a back door that hadn’t been locked properly. Success! I was in!

Got the car into the wonderfully empty garage and started unloading the first batch of boxes that filled up the entirety of the car. Took about an hour, after which I took my trusty vacuum cleaner and went through the house with a fine toothed comb. Floors, walls, horizontal and vertical surfaces were sucked clean down stairs in the following hour.

Next came the kitchen, of which I had taken about 75 percent in this first trip, so there would be cutlery, china, cookery stuff and even some food on this first day. Was done just before eleven with the ground floor but the district manager was late, and didn’t arrive until friggin 2:37 PM! Seriously. The only plus was that I had time to vacuum and clean the second floor too. The “minus” was that I was late meeting a friend who was going to view the new house with me, after I had arranged for a van at 5:25 PM.

The plan was that we’d pick up the van at the latest possible moment, so that we could also return it at the last possible moment. The advantage to this was that we’d be home five hours before nightfall, meaning that we had that amount of time  load up the first batch of furniture, do a quick trip to drop them off at the new place (in the garage)  early in the morning, and then have the remainder of the day to load up the rest and bring that over in a second trip.

The trick to this was to only load big, cumbersome stuff, not pay much attention to stacking properly because that would take time with loading and unloading (big brother didn’t much like this part, because he was still under the illusion that maybe if we packed it well, we’d be able to do it in one trip. We couldn’t. I know my dimensions from years of calculating and planning with construction, moving stuff, loading stuff and whatnot, and I could tell up ahead that there was no way in heck that our stuff was going to fit in one truck!) and time wasn’t something we had. 24 hours, remember.  So until 10:30 PM we loaded our behinds off, after which I was so friggin’ tired and achy I just sat down on the floor with a glass of wine and cried a little. Hah. Jeeeeeezzzz. That was a friggin’ long day. Started at 6:30, unloaded, cleaned, drove about for hours, ran about to make arrangements (missed lunch and dinner) and then loaded up for another five hours. I’d just about had it, I tell ya.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’d arranged for the van and met with my friend, who loved nosing around a new place, just like me. So we spent a couple of hours together, after which we had to go pick up big brother and then quickly leave to get the van and bring her back home.

So then was the whole loading bit, after which we both crawled to our respective beds around midnight and passed out until six in the morning. There was just enough time to have breakfast and then we were on our way to the new place. Both in the van, this time, figuring we might as well use the Volvo in the second trip to get more stuff hauled.

Had an “OMG” moment while we were driving. There was this massive smoke plume in the sky, from somewhere near the new place, and stayed there as we gradually approached in the busy morning traffic. I mean seriously, wouldn’t that be just our luck. We’re moving to a new place, only to find out that it burned down during the night for some inexplicable reason. But it wasn’t that. We were about 2 miles from the house when it became clear that the smoke was coming from some place on the other side of the road. Yes the plume was massive, but the fire wasn’t visible, despite several fire trucks screaming past as we made for our new home.

While loading took some five hours, unloading was done in one. Yay! Of course this was because could basically throw everything out the back, right into the garage, rather than bother hauling it into the house and its proper spot.

Before you know it, we were on our way back, only making a quick pit stop at a supermarket before we arrived at the old place and started loading again. Luckily, around noon, our nice neighbour came to help out, which was a good thing, otherwise we might not have made it. She also supplied lunch (also good because we were rapidly on our way of skipping lunch again) so we were actually done loading after two (as planned) and big brother on his way while I said our goodbyes and got into the car, now loaded to full capacity with my small jungle of plants. So cute. A car full of plants.

Be that as it may, unloading took an hour and a half this time,  for the simple reason that this was all the loose stuff, bits and pieces, bikes, boxes and whatnot. Again, just stuffed everything in the garage (gawd I love that place) and still had about half an hour to unwind, eat a bit, have a bathroom break and then had to be on our way to return the van with rush our well underway. Made the deadline with only three minutes to spare. *phew*

The first night we spend on mattresses on the floor. (Got a mail from the editor with the edited manuscript, which almost had me awake throughout the night, had I not been so exhausted.) But the next day I had the bedrooms set up before big brother returned from work. This was partly because cousin Ed came to help out with the unpacking bit, which did help, because I was pretty much running on fumes still.

So, what followed were a couple of weeks with me sorting out the house. It’s a nice and comfortable place. Reminds me a lot of the house we grew up in before moving to Spain. Same type of architecture and materials. Not my favourite style, but comfort goes a long way.

Got five bedrooms upstairs, two downstairs one of which is an en-suite. We use this as an exercise room,  which is rather cool, since we cancelled our gym passes.

A half bath downstairs, and another bathroom upstairs, with at the top an empty big attic that we’ve decided not to use.

I’d set my sights on a cute little room on the west side of the house, but since this house supplies so much space, I folded and got myself a 2^nd hand double bed…which didn’t fit in the cute little room. The cute little one is now a very cute little guestroom. Hah. Since big brother had already picked the room with walls that had actually been stripped and painted white, I took the master bedroom of which I still had to strip all the walls and paint them (some pieces several times just to have the paint cover dark spots). But the bed fits in there just fine, giving me plenty of space.

Big brother also folded (due to space available) and got himself a double bed too. Hah! Ah, the luxury. I love having room to move around.

Bedroom

Guest room

Fitness room

Living Room

Kitchen

Didn’t start on the edit/revision until five days after the actual move. Dreaded it, I tell ya. But I did get to it, and worked on it like a lunatic (big brother, too, in what little spare time he had) for the past few weeks. Didn’t have much time for anything, especially not since my job started in the first week of July.

Which reminds me. Had my interview about a month ago now. Had a nice chat with my new team leader, who’s a very nice woman, despite being seriously overworked at the moment. It is funny how the work is still the same as last year. Still not enough people, still people working their butts off to get everything done on time and still all the old frustrations. But, there’s nice folks there, so I guess it is a matter of getting used to them and the way they work. I do miss my old team a bit, but I suppose that will pass. At the moment, also because I need to invest time in writing, and everything around that, I’m working three days a week, with a possibility of four. With an average of six hours on those days. That is plenty, since this is not something as simple as sitting at a desk, but more something that equals a two-hour cross fit workout.

Had a doctor’s visit. Got a referral for the hospital next month for that stupid varicose vein they missed two years ago. Not looking forward to that, but the darn thing is bothering me every now and then, so it is better to do something about it, I guess.

Got a problem with my shoulder for a bit. Don’t ask me why. It’s embarrassing. But I strained it, meaning that a lot of movements, and some sleeping positions in bed are not at all comfortable. Stupid effing loose joints. Always giving me trouble. Like just this week, while helping out at work with moving furniture. Some joker young man suddenly decided to prop one side of the couch we were carrying together on the floor, meaning I had to tilt along or drop it. I did the first, and almost broke my effing thumb in the process. Seriously. It popped right out of the joint in order to turn along with the couch and it hurt like heck, until I popped it back in. So now I have a swollen thumb that is not liking much activities, such as work. Grrrr.  That is the last time I move furniture with some amateur.

There were groceries, naturally. Can’t do without those, much to my regret. But I do try to limit that to once every two weeks, with a weekly outing for fresh produce and dairy products. Doesn’t always work, but trying it counts for something. Hah

Had a friend’s dog stay with me one day, which was fun, even though he was young and peed in the hallway, and the exercise room. Hah. And also had a couple of dogs stay for a couple of weeks because their mistress went on vacation to Finland. It has been lovely to have dogs afoot again, even though on work days it has been a hassle to have walk them when I’m pretty much bushed when I get home. But, the pros by far outweigh the cons. Nothing quite as lovely as cuddling up to a  cuddly dog at night…well, some things are, but…well, you get my meaning.

Tinto

Gaia

We did spend  a few days at our father’s place more than a month ago. We’d promised to move a shed from the back yard to the front, which took a little longer than expected.  The shed had had some “improvements” over the years, meaning that we had to scramble a bit to make things right again after we took it partially apart and moved it to the new spot. Luckily it wasn’t too big, so we only had to take off the roof before we could carry the thing. Big brother and I would have managed, had we been on our own, but littlest brother was there, and stepmother, so we did it four, meaning it was a little less of a hassle. But anyway. It took four days instead of two. Four days of which the last two were all but comfortable for me, since I somehow ended up stepping on a bamboo shoot and had a hole in my foot of about half an inch. Seriously. That hurt. Ended up having to replace part of the roof and several pieces of wall due to water damage and bugs, but it’ll hold for a while now, I am pretty sure. A bigger task than expected, nut we managed, and got to spend some time with our father. Nothing like working on a project together to bond. It was nice.

In the end we went home content with the efforts made. Were right on time, too, considering construction of our father’s new place started a week or so later…which was why stepmother wanted the shed moved.

Ouch!

 Did my last few days at my previous job before the move. The boss was really sweet about the whole thing and told me that if I ever needed a job again, I could call him up. Which is a very nice compliment, I think.

Had a very short touristy kind of trip and went to visit the pyramid of Austerlitz. Cool place, and totally worthy of conspiracy theory book. Hah

Our temporary cat:

And our daily visitor…one of four that roam about here in the area, together with a badger.

For social activities the time past was interrupted only by a dinner party at the old place with the neighbors, a dinner party with friends last week, and that just about sums it up, I fear.

Did have a lovely cooking experiment with zucchini, which worked out well visually and taste-wise, so, yay!

As for the new place…had to hang a door in the upstairs bathroom. For some reason it had been removed. Found a spare in the shed, which we cut off and fitted into the doorway. At least it works. Nothing quite as annoying as a bathroom without a door when you’re sharing a place. Oh, and we have a toolshed now. Yay!

And this is a pic of the old barn that goes with the property. Hah

The edit…well, I missed the deadline by two days, which isn’t too big of a disaster regarding the massive changes and the length of the manuscript. But still, it annoys me that I didn’t make it in time. Guess life got in the way of things again, the way it usually does. In the end, you can only do your best, can’t you?

Well, that about sums it all up, doesn’t it. At least the highlights. Yep. I am going to leave it at this and take the dogs for one of their last walks. Tomorrow their mistress will come to pick ‘m up.

We have a moving date...sorta.

Song of the day: “Issues” by Julia Michaels, is often tumbling through my mind these days. Very accurate for most folks, I’m guessing, so I don’t feel too weird having this as an earworm.

Well, lots has happened since the last blog, so I might as well get to it right away, right?

So it’s a done deal, big brother and I are moving house again. Yes, I know, we’ve been at the cute little farm for only nine months or so, but that doesn’t change the fact that when an opportunity arises, we shouldn’t jump on it like ticks on a hound…okay, gross analogy, I know, but you know what I mean.

As to the opportunity…well, there was one at our old place of employment. If we were to live in the same area as before once more, big brother could get a full time position at the technical department of the Spa & Wellness, and I could get back to the cleaning, if I want to (not a hundred percent sure yet about that, but we’ll see) on a part time basis at the very least. Since I can’t do more than part time anyway, this is certainly an option.  Gotta have time left to write and edit, so sacrifices have to be made in the job department, naturally. Can’t have two careers, and since writing is definitely the dream, I’ll scrub friggin’ floors if I have to.

Anyways, big brother is rather happy with the opportunity. He always liked working there (duh, doing technical shaite is way more fun than mere cleaning) so it is a great chance for him to also have a “normal career” while I try to get this whole writing thing up and running.

Writing. Well, we’re still in the editing stages. Some details that need to be ironed out, and since the book is so long, it is taking the editor longer than planned to get the bit on her side done. Well, duh. That was my problem, too when I had to do the last changes. Seriously, the 8-10 hours slaving behind  the computer to try to get it all done in time, weren’t easy by any means. Let’s hope that the editor at least has to admit that that was pretty amazing in the few weeks that I had to do the, what turned out to be massive changes. Grrrr. I cried, for crying out loud, especially when the darn thing finally went out and I could breathe a little easier once more.

But anyway, I was pretty happy with how the changes brought it back to the former quality once more, but apparently it wasn’t enough yet. What lies in the future is changing more chapters in regards to their POV, because for some reason the book has to be more from the female perspective.  A pity, that, considering that I wrote the book primarily from the hero’s point of view. Grrr. But what has to be done, has to be done. We’ll get it sorted out…somehow.

What else? Well, spent a long weekend at my father’s place last week. Not just a pleasure trip, I assure you. Big brother and I promised to move the shed from the back yard to the front, which turned out to be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Partly because there were parts of the wood infested with woodworm, *sigh*, and because the poor structure was old and had endured a large amount of patchwork jobs over the years to prevent leakage and what not. Anyways, there was quite a bit of improvising involved in terms of getting the right wood to replace the old…especially since our tools are not as extensive as they used to be…replacing the roof, moving the foundation from the old spot to the new before actually getting the shed there, etc.

The way we went about it was removing the damaged wood and the roof entirely, and then literally lifted the shed from its concrete foundation so we could remove it and place it in the new spot that we still had to dig out on the spot. The darn thing was friggin heavy, I tell you. Big brother and I could barely lift it with the both of us, prior to the removal of the damaged wood, but once that was done, and attachment points were put in place for easy lifting, we carried the thing together with stepmother and littlest brother, who came over during his lunch break for this very purpose.

What we had planned to be two days, turned out to be four in the end, partly because putting the whole thing back together was a tad more complicated by past-time patch jobs, and because hauling everything to the other side of the yard was a friggin heavy job what with near tropical temperatures for the duration of our stay (seriously, it was like being back in Spain! High 90s temps, for crying out loud!)  meaning that I sweated like a race horse as I hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow with roof tiles, shells (they were for underneath the floor because they keep mice from tunneling under there) and of course all the wood and whatnot.

It didn’t help at all that at the beginning of the third day I stepped onto a patch of cut-off bamboo shoots and ended up with a serious hole in the bottom of my foot. Yep. That’s me. Why do things easy and without pain when you can do it with it? Grrrr. Anyway, when I inspected the damage, I first didn’t realize the extent of it and thought that something sticky got stuck under my foot. Grabbed it, and yanked it off. Turned out to be a couple of inches of skin. Aaaaargh. Rather than risk complete immobility if I stopped to really treat it, I decided to go the natural way, and used the soil as a bandage. Yep. The dusty ground worked really well as a bandage. Got a nice patch of mud on the damaged area, and it made for easier walking than on shoes, so that’s what I did for the remainder of the work days—walk around barefoot, because at least it would allow me to balance on my foot in such a way that I wasn’t constantly standing on the hole.

It did mean that I needed to clean it properly that evening prior to going out for dinner, as was the folks’ solution to feeding everyone in the evening. Hah. Nice food, mind you, but after hauling shaite for 9 or 10 hours I would have been just as happy with takeout pizza before passing out for the night. Gawd, it had been too long since I did this kind of work. Seriously, the first night I could barely sleep from all the twinges and aches all over, and the second night I woke every two hours for the same reason, before I finally just passed out on the third night. Hah.

But, as I was saying, the cleaning of the hole in my foot involved soaking my feet in baking soda water, and then spraying it with teatree oil, antiseptic spray. Stung like mad, but it did do the job.

This was the procedure for the next day, too, since barefoot was less painful than shoes, and we did in the end get the whole thing done.

Of course, the moment we left…sometime around 9 PM…the weather turned, and we came home to a nice low eighties summer evening. Yay. A little late, but I am not going to complain about cooler temps after four days of sweltering. It was a good four days, though. I missed the kind of satisfying work, building something is. Nothing quite beats the sensation of standing in front of a structure that you put there with your own blood, sweat and tears. Hah

We were late getting home, meaning I had to rush the cleaning of my foot a little so I’d get to bed on time. Work the next day, after all, despite being friggin’ bone tired. Work went well enough for a couple of hours, but then the foot started hurting like heck (the heat of friction, you know. Can’t stop that when you’re walking around in shoes, despite cloudy weather) so I finished the day by clenching my jaw and just putting one foot in front of the other until it was done.

Did manage to do my qi gong the next day, albeit later in the afternoon. Was really necessary too, considering the four days away where I simply didn’t have the energy for it. Was so nice to go through the familiar motions that I barely even noticed the discomfort in my foot through most of it. Do need to keep that up, even if I do start working more regularly. Especially the shoulder exercises that keep the muscles there supple, because a lot of tension gathers there really fast.

Moving. Yes, it is definitely happening now. Last week we got a tip, and since then we have seen the outside, got a tour of the inside the day after getting home from our father’s place, and everyone is in agreement that we will move in there the moment it is free sometime in the middle of the month.  Same deal as our present residence, and only twenty minutes away from work.

It’s a big place, which was my first requirement. These days I have a lot of problems with small spaces, in particular if I have to spend a lot of time there (like during edits and such) so I don’t much care for primitive stuff, as long as it is big. Thankfully this place is not at all primitive, in fact it looks a little like the place I grew up in prior to Spain. Same sort of design, same sturdy materials, albeit a little less elegant. The nicest part is the big kitchen. It’s huge, with a nice kitchen island which will make cooking there a pleasure.

Also the living room is massive, with nice big windows, so basically I have already decorated the whole place in my mind. Hah. Going to have a little fun with that when I get  to it. I will be allowed to paint walls white, which is probably something that needs doing, because everything is very beige, and thus dark now, something I have a little bit of difficulty with. I don’t like dark at all. There are a total of five bedrooms upstairs in the place, and two extra rooms downstairs, so I’ll also have to think about what to do with those.

But no matter, the nicest part of the place is the double garage, meaning that the cars will be protected and won’t need as much cleaning. Yay!  And there is a massive shed, which has some potential for a fitness area, for as far as I’m concerned.

Now the nicest part would be that we’re allowed to have a dog there, which is sorely tempting for as far as I’m concerned. There were thoughts of maybe getting my Sitabah here when I move, but I don’t want to be selfish in that regard. Poor baby is in the only place she knows as home, with all the dogs she’s known her entire life, and me she hasn’t seen in two years, and has probably forgotten completely, so for her it would be horrible if I did that.

But it is tempting. I mean imagine, having her here, and maybe Tadaika, or Fortune. *sigh* A girl can dream, right?

What else?

Well, packing is in progress, naturally. All the knick knacks are packed already, the books, dvds and basically anything that makes the place look cosy is gone already. It’s getting more spacious by the minute. Hah. Do have to be careful during the whole thing. I notice that familiar sadness. The kind I had in Spain while getting rid of everything, which is ridiculous, considering that this move is entirely voluntary and I won’t have to throw anything, since we’re just planning on renting another van and getting it all there, too…except maybe the couch. Am finding myself thinking of exchanging it for another one at some point, so I am not sure whether I’m going to do it before the move or after. We’ll see.

Have planned a small, casual dinner party sometime next week. A goodbye sort of thing for the neighbors, who have been wonderful for the past nine months. They were very pleasant people to live between, that’s a fact. Am going to do an Italian meal that we can all share around a big table. Two, maybe three courses, involving stuff that I then won’t have to haul along in the move. Yay.

And that about sums up the past few weeks, I guess. Actually some change for a change, pardon the repetition. Hah.  Am writing this while waiting for my job interview at the spa & wellness. Drove in together with big brother, meaning I had to get up at four, since at the moment we still live a good fifty minutes away from work. Would be wasteful for me to drive separately, so now I’m killing time doing some catching up like this one, and maybe some edit planning later on.

Since I will have to fill the remainder of the day as well, I will also do some shopping later, visit with some friends and then hopefully pick up big brother on time…not very likely, since yesterday was his first day here and he didn’t get home until six or so in the evening. Grrr. Lucky for him I had already cooked dinner (even had my meat for a change, good Sammie!) and he could dig right in.

Which is it for now…well, at least it was a decent size blog today, amounting to a whopping three pages, compared to the average 1 I manage these days. I know, bad Sammie, bad Sammie.  I am trying to do better and be here more frequently, but you know how it goes. So much to do and so little time to do it in. 

Pat

Song of the day: “Royals”, but rather than by Lorde, I hear it from Jasmine Thomson, which is a really cute acoustic version.

Hi all. Sorry to have took so long, but my last post was difficult for me, and I was reluctant to return to the “scene of the crime” so to speak. But I’m back, and life has settled once more, so...let’s get to it.

Work as usual, although there have been some trials and tribulations in that regard. First off there was that little incident with my hip that took a couple of weeks to get back to normal. Seriously, do not slip when you are washing massive windows. I paid for that for a solid two weeks, thank you very much. And secondly, wear a hat, always, when working underneath the benches in the saunas, (for hosing it out, ya know) because builders are not picky about what happens underneath with screws and such. I was under there about four days ago and am still enjoying it. There I was, hosing out gawd knows what dirt (eeeeeewwww) and wham! I slammed the side of my head into one of the top beams. Wouldn’t have been all that bad either, had it not been for the screw end that stuck out and went straight for my temple, right onto the double-lined edge of one of my favorite baseball caps! (Love that cap even more now. I’m thinking of framing it.) Yep, yours truly has a genuine, if mild, concussion. Had a doctor’s visit and everything—meaning that we have an actual GP now, as is obligated round these parts, or so we discovered on that particular day—with this very nice older GP who will do just fine. His practice mixes traditional medicine with holistic and dietary, so it will be a good match.

The head hurt for only a little bit, but what worried me...and my colleagues...was the rising nausea and unsteadiness. In the end I got forced to sit down for half an hour with an ice bag on my head, while I struggled to keep down what little breakfast I had had. Did just that for a bit, then cowboyed up and got back to work. It was slow going, like wading through molasses, but still, got the job done. Had planned to finish my full Monday workday (which is usually nine to ten hours) but was feeling increasingly worse, so in the end I asked our teamleader if I could stop a bit earlier, and got permission to do just that. Went home, had doubted for a bit if I should drive, but only the nausea had remained by then, and being extremely tired (physically, not mentally, duh) so I risked it. No problems there, thankfully. Got home fine, went straight to bed, only to be interrupted by big brother with the concern that I might have a concussion. Debated a bit because I wasn’t experiencing any actual headache, except for an occasional stab and a somewhat floaty feeling in the back of my head, went over a list online about symptoms: nausea, dizzy, unsteady, blurry memory, light and noise sensitivity (I turned off my music player during work!!! *gasp*) sluggishness, etc. Finally we did decide to find a doctor, which isn’t all that easy. Did find one, and after explaining the symptoms, I was invited to come over within the next ten minutes. Since it is around the corner that actually was possible.

Had to wait for a bit, but since there were forms to fill in, that wasn’t a problem and before you know it, the doctor herded me into his office.

Talked for about half an hour, sort of like an intake. (He’s one of those starers, which could be uncomfortable, but is always better than a doctor who only stares at his computer screen while he asks you questions, hah.) Talked a bit about how I was raised, vegetarian, organic, holistic stuff, and how I am not really positive about traditional medicine except in emergencies, to which he assured me that he is not the kind to prescribe any medicine willy-nilly, so I could rest assured. We touched on sever topics, including my residual weight, and he agreed that the slow way which I have been applying is the best way to go. He is not of the diet mind, apparently, as seems to be the fashion this day and age. Balanced meals, an active life and going at it steadily is much better. Yay!

But back to my head thing. I went through a few tests, he checked my motor skills, eyes, pallor, etc, we went through a check list and he determined that though I could be bothered by the symptoms for up to eleven days, it was unlikely that it was more than a mild concussion. He did advise big brother waking me every two hours just to be on the safe side, which we agreed on.

Considering the next day was another working day, neither of us was happy about that, but what the heck. Wasn’t feeling worse the day after, and could find my Zen at times, meaning that I wasn’t bothered, so all in all that potential disaster finished with the proverbial puff of smoke.

What else...been incredibly busy. Went out to Cousin Ed’s a couple of times. Visited tenant who is now settled at a very nice senior home in her old home town (her choice). She’s got a nice double room, sitting area with an open kitchen and a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, with a gorgeous view of the place’s wooden garden and it’s massive pond where she claims herons come to hunt in the mornings. She was rather emotional when she saw us, making it clear that she had been feeling a tad down (the way I suspected when I first saw her, and she hadn’t seen us yet), she struggled with tears a bit, had trouble talking, but then she quieted down and we talking for a bit. Then the lure of TV became too big for her (it had just been installed the day before and she’d missed it dearly) so we only stayed for a little bit, considering it was late in the afternoon already and we still had to pick up a free rubber mattress for big brother, who’s been troubled by his back. Guess the spring mattress he got from our last landlady finally gave the spirit, because he’s been feeling the springs lately. Now he’s got a genuine rubber one that should do the trick.

Gotta admit to feeling a little sad about tenant when we left her new place. However cozy and pretty, it felt very much like we were leaving her to spend her final days in a strange place, which is not something I wished for her. Not that there is a different option, it’s just...sad. A pity that society has come to a point where it is considered normal to stuff old folks in a comfy corner where staff takes care of them rather than family, but careers, civil obligations, cramped living spaces don’t really allow for anything else, do they? Like I said, a pity.

On a more positive note, I went to a Bryan Adams concert. Cousin Ed swore that if he ever came to the Netherlands she was going to go see him, and kindly invited me to go along. So…Yay! Was an evening filled with traffic and waiting, standing in line and waiting, going through security, finding a spot within the Ziggo Dome and and then...you guessed it...waiting some more, albeit cosily chatting with BA fans, folks that had been dragged along to the concert by said fans, and youngsters who were surprisingly big fans as well. Were about five yards from the stage, right in front of BA’s microphone, so that was very cool, except for the extremely tall dude who sometimes stepped in front of me. (Bugger.) Then the band came on stage and the remainder of the evening rushed passed with singing, shouting, whistling and bouncing. It was splendid, despite the fact that I liked the Reckless tour performance better, and we didn’t get home until after midnight. Passed out for the night, and didn’t even hear Cousin Ed depart early because she had to go to a job interview.

Went to the fitness club (Yay!) and did about 45 minutes of kick boxing, core training, stretches, weight lifting and rowing...then about four hundred yards into my 1 mile full speed row I felt my energy levels drop (too little sleep the night before and forgot lunch) meaning I managed to hold out half a mile before giving up on the day’s workout. Considering big brother had down a full day’s work compared to my five hour sprint in the morning, that was convenient. Hah.

Did quite a bit of experimenting in the kitchen these past weeks. Had a gorgeous eggplant zucchini lasagna. Made a very tasty pumpkin compote, partly for a colleague at work who is following a diet on medical advise where she isn’t allowed to eat raw meat and cheese, which limited her breakfast options. Made her the pumpkin compote as a substitute spread, and she’s loving it. Yay. Added to that I was inspired to work with oats again. (Always on the lookout for those iron filled ingredients, hah.) Had a sudden vision of three types of oat cookies. Oats, apple, cranberry, and spices, which is yummy, and semi healthy with only some raw cane sugar and honey for sweetness. The salty version would be oats, red bell pepper, onion, Italian herbs and Parmesan, which was just as yummy...and filling, considering could only eat a couple before I was stuffed. (One cookie is about 2x2 inches, at most.)

Another experiment were buckwheat burgers. Gotta say that the Netherlands supplies this particular ingredient a lot easier than Spain. Also, it is much more affordable. Prices are reduced almost by half, which makes it something worthwhile in the kitchen.

Had several visits with our father and stepmother, one an impromptu one, because we got a tax form that we couldn’t make heads or tails of, so our father offered to come and take a look at it with us. The problem is that the form is for half in this country and half in Spain, which is a whole can of worms that I won’t even begin to explain to you. Let’s just say, it is a pain in the behind. We did sort most of it out, about how to file and everything, so let’s hope that this is the end of it. This little visit led to a nice dinner together, including the buckwheat burgers, leftover lasagna and the pumpkin compote.

No writing since the last time, just some editing here and there in the Greek mythology story. Big brother and I are working on getting some sort of schedule worked out where we can work on a story together again, because that is still our future for as far as we are concerned. Everything else is making a living and surviving, which is not something we plan on during for the rest of our lives. Keep your fingers crossed.

Been having some trouble missing the doggies lately. I tend to fawn over dogs that I come across in the streets, which is not a good thing. I think it could freak folks out. Hah. Like yesterday I came across a 14 year old greyhound, muzzled because he’d apparently killed a small dog in his youth and was therefore obligated to wear a muzzle for the remainder of his life, and ended up smooching with the sweetheart that licked my face and ears rather affectionately. Stuff like that is the pits when you try to not remember your own dogs. Grrrr.

The weather has been poor lately. Mostly cloudy, some thunderstorms (not as bad as in the south of the country where it had been declared a stage orange just the other day) and only an occasional day with full sun. Did enjoy those tremendously.

Finally found a place where I can get some decent Jeans that fit proper and are not extremely expensive. Regretfully I’ve not been at all successful in finding anything useful at the thrift stores lately, so I’ve resorted to wading through normal stores, darn it. But these are okay, sturdy and the fit is good, so Yay! Much relief there. Was already worried I’d have to go to work in a bathing suit, or something (Hah) when even the last of my pantses gave the spirit during one of many water tests. Am going to have to go the store to get a couple more and then I’ll be all set.

Our vacation is coming up, of which we will be spending five days in Finland. T’s invitation bore fruit and it is official. It’ll be an experience, for sure, in particular since the other option of vacation would be staying at home and sleeping the week away. Hah. I know, very unadventurous of me. But seriously, sleeping for a week sounds very tempting. Still, the trip will be fun, and it will be splendid to see T again, this time on her turf, and meeting her family, seeing E again, which has been almost a year when I went to pick up grandpa’s dog in Finland, and visiting a country where the sun now won’t set until the 26^th of June! Can you imagine? No night? I’m so curious!

Talking of grandpa’s dog(s)...since tenant is unable to take care of a dog on her own, Cousin Ed was forced to find a home for grandpa’s wee dog Ollie, but he landed splendidly with a family that has two chihuahuas, which he now dominates like the little macho he is. Apparently he’s already very fond of his new mistress, so that is one worry less, at least. Pim, the one I fetched from Finland, has already settled with a bachelor in the North of the country, who lives on a boat (which Pim loves, apparently) and travels to the UK frequently to visit his girlfriend, taking Pim along. So there everything is all neat and pat.

Lots of folks pregnant or trying to be here. An interesting concept that. Makes me wonder how I feel about that. The way I figure, I gotta meet a very special dude to find the idea attractive, because at the moment it would just seem like a tremendous hassle, not to mention one big worry. Am having fun watching said folks being all excited, though. Some of them actually glow with pleasure.

Went with a colleague to a holistic doctor in Zoelen. Was an interesting experience, in particular when I discovered that the guy worked with Vega tests, which was a throwback to my childhood where mom worked with that too. Actually had a really nice talk with the guy, but was was a bit astounded that he couldn’t give me the ingredients used for some homeopathic remedy he prescribed to my colleague. I would think that if you prescribe it, you are at least interested in the contents, but apparently assuming that was a bit presumptuous. Hah. It amazes me sometimes, I tell ya. If you work with something, the least you can do is know as much as you can about it, right? I mean, even I am starting to learn about components of sanitary components. It comes with the friggin’ territory...or at least I thought it did.

Well, that about sums it up for now. Jabbered on for about four pages anyway, so it should tide us all over for a while again, right? Have a good one, I’ll be back!

R.I.P. Dax

2005-2016

So, I got the news yesterday: an emergency in Spain. My little Dax had been found at the gate, having been ripped up pretty badly. No one is exactly sure what happened, but the working theory is that he was attacked by bird of prey (he's a teeny one, that's a fact and the big eagles have been becoming rather prominent in the past few years. The mountain is hunting ground. They tend to come flying in from the direction of Ronda), which ripped up his leg badly, indicating that he might have been pulled from two sides and broke his spine in the process. He was in terrible pain, and the little one had to be put down, so that was that.

Strange how distance doesn't make this sort of thing any better, does it? Still feels horrid, and I gotta admit that the way the furry one went kept me up most of the night, making work not easy this morning.
I think my colleagues noticed my state of mind, but save for one, I didn't feel like explaining why I was uncharactaristically quiet...part of th reason being that I wasn't sure if I could keep from bursting into tears on the spot. Not a good thing to do at work, I'm thinking.

Anyway, this bit of news ruined any fantasy I might have harbored of going to fetch him at some point, after we get a permanent place for ourselves. Shaite!

Poor Daxie...to him, life always was one big adventure; let's hope the next one will be, too.

"Haven´t laughed like that in years!"

Song of the day: “Took a Pill in Ibiza” by Mike Posner…the remix. Cool song and it has been in my head off and on for a while.

I’m sorry. Bad Sammi! I took way too long since the last blog, didn’t I? I feel bad, but my excuse is that I’ve been busy at work (tired because of it) and that big brother got sick, resulting in me being sick as well for the past five days or so, which didn’t improve on my energy levels. Hah. Still, they are  excuses, which don’t do any good, so…moving on.

What’s been happening?

First off, I’ve got some good news. My best friend from Spain will be coming over for a few days in April, which has me very excited, thank you very much. She can only get a few days off, but still, it will be awesome to see her again. It has been over seven months now, and I’ve missed her somewhat fierce, so that is definitely going to be fun.

The weather has turned, meaning that the awful cold is gone at last and that the first blossoms have burst out…looks rather cute, too, from my top floor window which overlooks a little park with some sort of fruit tree in it. Hah.

Got good internet at last. We folded and took a proper contract on a hard line, rather than just the mobile phones. It was a pain in the behind, because whenever I connected my computer there would be a bunch of friggin’ updates, meaning that it ate away my bites to a point where any speedy internet was virtually impossible. Grrrr.  So there’s broadband now, meaning that I can actually watch an occasional movie and have in fact found my old favorite TV show on Youtube “the Young Riders”. Have been enjoying that quite a bit for the past week or so, whenever I plunked down on the couch and vegetated the last hour or two of the day away after work.

Cooking? Yes! Did some experimenting with noodles that other day and other than that about 90 percent of the time decent meals that fill the stomach and fit the requirements of daily nutrition. Can’t ask for much more than that, can ya…like yesterday I made a rather delicious 2 bean veggie chili that went down rather splendid.

Then, of course, on Tuesday we had New York Pizza, (Tuesdays have a sale of 5 bucks per pie if you pick them up yourself) because I was bushed from work and simply couldn’t stand the idea of having to make dinner after doing a 9 hour work day, sniveling the whole time.

Had another inspection of the company for which we’re in our apartments, which freaked me out a little because it had been a week from hell with the cold making me downright violent toward the idea of doing any more cleaning than for work. And I got that message of the pending inspection while I was doing a very necessary nap, meaning that I couldn’t sleep because let’s face it, I started to worry about all the things that I still needed to clean up before they came. Grrr. Anyway, it turned out okay. I vacuumed, folded laundry, did dishes and set stuff straight while I dusted. Meaning that it was all presentable within half an hour or so. Of course I was still at work by the time the inspection came by, so I didn’t actually get to talk to the folks. All we (yes, big brother had an inspection too…while he was at work) got was a mention of rehanging the fire detector that I hit off the ceiling the last time I burned rice on the stove. Grrr. But it’s fine, the “occupation was perfectly alright” so that’s that.

Last night was a strange night for me. First off, after dinner and relaxing a little big brother and I were talking about some woman who had been all insulted that a guy had been checking out her cleavage…which had been considerable, in a dress that barely covered the essentials and with a push-up contraption that basically brought that very cleavage up to her chin. I’m sorry. I like cleavage, a tasteful amount of it is gorgeous and I’m not shy about displaying my own from time to time, especially if I’ve spent several months as “one of the dudes” in work clothes, but there is a distinct difference between cleavage and Cleavage with a capital C. I’m not saying anyone should not be allowed to display it, I’m not saying it is wrong, I’m just saying that if you hang it out there for the world to see, you shouldn’t be surprised that some dude is going to be staring at it, maybe with a bit of drool seeping from his open mouth. Haha.

Now, this was not the bit that was weird. No, it was my laughing fit when we got to comparing the woman’s cleavage to if a guy ever decided to do tit for tat and display the rounded-ness of his “unmentionable” in a specifically designed pants. For some reason (partly due to the glass of wine I had consumed at that time, I’m sure) it struck me as incredibly funny. Things got worse when we debated the “new trend” and how men would go out to enlarge their dangling unmentionables so that they could better display that “southern cleavage” which had a sip of my wine come spritzing out in yet another laughing fit.

Gawd, I haven’t laughed like that in years, which is a sad thing to realize, but seriously, put down your beverage of choice and give it some thought as you get yourself a mental image of the next red carpet  event where this has become a trend.

*snort*

Anywaysssss, that was the first part of the evening, after which I had another glass when big brother went to his own place because he had work the next day. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I got sad, and I hate it when that happens. Wrecked a perfectly fine evening, too. Missed my doggies, all of them, somewhat fierce, so in the end I just decided to say “f**k it!” turned the show off and went to bed before I flooded the apartment with a sobbing fest. Don’t know what was in that wine, but that seriously went from one extreme to the next.

Work has been a tad stressful. They’re having some trouble, being a start-up company and everything, and this has led to about a dozen contracts that haven’t been renewed, so there were loads of folks stressed out, worried, angry and downright scared, which didn’t improve on the general atmosphere. There is still some frictions with the new colleagues in the sanitation department, so that’s not so pleasant either, but we’re working on it.

Fun bit of news is that we’ve been invited by one of our colleagues (Lola, the designer who’s from Majorca and with whom we get to practice our crappy Spanish) to come in for a night of poker. None of us can play, but what the heck: Should be fun.

Another couple of colleagues will be coming over for dinner in the next month or so, and we’ve been invited to come visit another colleagues place to haunt the old sauna location. I’ll keep you posted.

The exercises I got from the physio at work appear to be working. My foot has been bugging me a lot less lately. Of course my leg has been giving me fits (see how there always seems to be something? It’s just ridiculous!). Not enough trips to the gym, I’m thinking. Added to working in hot places without drinking sufficiently…it’s dehydrating me, which means that I have to pay better attention to that. Can’t afford that kind of risk, not now that I need to be at the top of my game for what sometimes feels like a friggin’ full time job. Seriously, I still don’t know how that works every time. I go somewhere for part time work, and end up doing way more than agreed on.

This was a plus this week, because there was actually something better to do than just cleaning and water testing. Instead I got to strip garden furniture and treat them with tropical wood oil together with a girl that works at the reception desk of the sauna. Had a fun time doing that, at least.

Still, I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m…well, we, are very useful, don’t mind hard work, don’t say no fast when more is asked of us, and give most tasks the full 100% of effort. This is not something that I see a lot among employees. On the most part folks are saying no to tasks that they don’t like, or weren’t hired for, and when they do take it they immediately start asking if that changes anything in their salaries. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a change in salary, but I put in my full effort because that makes me feel good, not because it gets me something. To me it seems that very few people are out there working their butts off because that is what makes them feel better, instead they’ll slack because of the “that’s not what I’m paid for” attitude. This is a pity. It makes very few people feel good about themselves in general, I think. *sigh* There are exceptions of course. I’ve been working with some pretty awesome people that don’t whine about the little things and put in quite some effort, so maybe I just need to meet more of those to restore my belief in the working force. Hehehe.

Did do some work at my own place. I sanded and white-washed a nice chest of drawers that looked horrible when I got it from a thrift store for 7 bucks, and now looks like new. Yay. Oddly enough, I'm ending up with lots of white stuff in my place, interspersed with bright colors such as red, green, blue and yellow. I like it! 

Got a new pic up on my blog, and my Whatsapp, and have been getting mixed responses. Some said you look awesome, others said: what are you, like, 16?  Which had me chortling and fretting at the same time. I should be happy that I can look younger like that, right? But then I never did like myself at 16, so...  *snort*

Writing-wise I have been slacking as much as writing the blog, I’m thinking. The old problem, too tired, too scatterbrained and sometimes disheartened due to the difficulties of becoming a traditionally published author. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been doing the whole writing bit too long to give it up now…it would be like having studied to be a doctor for ten years and then just when you’re about to get that important position at some major hospital, after interning for years, you say, like; ah, this is too hard, I’m just going to give up…It would be ridiculous! I’ve been writing for almost 25 years, wrote at least 30 stories with many more in the making, and to give that up now would be…stupid is the word for it. Be that as it may, it doesn’t stop you from sometimes feeling it, does it? Don’t worry, I’ll get there some day, and I’ll get there writing the stuff I love, one way or other.

Until then…well, you’re stuck with me. Hah!