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

Job related, mostly

Song of the day: “Reaggaeton Lento” by CNCO and Little Mix. Seriously silly video, but luckily it is only the song that is stuck in my head this morning, and not the actual imagery. Hah.

Right. Another day another blog…a little on the late side, considering the happy new year one doesn’t really count, does it?

Well, let’s get started then. What all has happened since the last real blog. Nothing really awesome, or anything. Life is going steadily as is, without too much excitement on the most part, thankfully. First off, the job.

I started on the job on the first day of the second week of the new year. Was tossed out there blind, not a clue what was going to happen early in the morning when I got a message on my phone asking if perhaps I wouldn’t mind starting my first day during an emergency. Someone was ill, and someone couldn’t come to work due to strikes at public transportation. Gotta admit to being a little blurry that early in the morning, blinking like some sort of zombie at the screen, but agreed, of course (got a hard time to say no, remember) to be there within an hour and a half.

Admittedly I was a little nervous. Hadn’t been introduced to any new colleagues yet. Didn’t know the setup. And had no actual idea what the heck my real job description was, other than general catering…which can basically mean anything from cash register work, restocking shelves, prepping food, serving food and clean-up, or so I discovered on my first day.

Luckily my new colleagues are a friendly lot, with enough patience not to get too snappy whenever mistakes are made….and there were plenty of those that first day, considering it was actually rather busy.

But anyways, we are now more than two weeks in, during which I have worked at two different locations and I can stand the work well. It is not nearly as heavy as the sauna used to be. If you call that a 100%, I think I’d call this a mild 60% in regards to physical and mental effort. Sure, there is a lot of stuff to keep track of, and to learn, but that is only a matter of time.

The thing I like the most about this job, so far, is that I can just stop thinking about it when I get home, and focus on something else. That wasn’t the case before. It would be on my mind, I would think about it, dream about it and basically be busy with it ten hour a day, or so. Hah. Much easier if you can just leave work on-site and get down to more important stuff when you get home.

Though my first couple of days at work involved me wearing my own clothes (uniform was late arriving) the uniform did arrive in the end, so I am now in the possession of a variety of aprons, shirts and trousers. The latter of such horrid material and design that I was forced to order proper pants online that were actually wearable. Much much better to wear cotton, rather than the icky polyester that made me sweat like a racehorse under 10 minutes. Grrr.

What else? Well, my birthday came and went. A year off of 40, the supposed big four-oh…which means exactly nothing, if you think about it. Seriously. I feel no different now than I did at 35, or thirty for that matter, except that I’m a little less stressed these days. Considering I have set certain goals going onward, using age as some sort of guideline I am actually rather curious about the whens and hows. I mean, just look at the now. Had anyone told me five years ago that I would be in the Netherlands, getting publisher, working, socializing and what not, I’d have laughed in your face.

But I was talking about my b-day, wasn’t I? Yeah. Well, I invited a handful of friends and we all went out bowling for the night. Had planned on just an hour, because, let’s face it, I hadn’t bowled since that one afternoon when I was six or seven, and who knew if it was any fun…but it was, and one hour turned into two with loads of laughter, talking, bowling and more laughter. It was a lot fun, and definitely worth repetition.

Except for me slipping in those wonky bowling shoes. Don’t know what the heck happened, but navigating through the restaurant to get to the bathroom, I did a nice little skid. Not a problem…then. But seriously, the next day, my knee was twice its normal size. Darn loose joints. Was pretty bad for several days, especially since I had to get back to work, but then, one evening, something popped (back!) and since then the problem has been lessening. Yay! By now I can walk around without pain again, just some remaining pressure while the inflammation is taken care of by the ol’ bod. Jeez, sometimes those loose joint tick me off, I tell ya.

Been faithfully doing qigong, naturally. Even during the whole knee problem (for as far as it was possible) I kept up, for which I will give myself a small pat on the shoulder “good Sammie”.

Which reminds me…In regard to eating meet, I haven’t been so good. In fact I forgot for quite some time, until the day before yesterday when I finally got around to eating a small part again. Bad Sammie! Seriously, I should know better, in particular since I’ve been tired a lot again. Grrr.

The normal stuff have been continuing on as usual, naturally. Cleaning house, cooking meals, doing groceries, but there was a car repair, due to the engine suddenly starting to stutter. Had to do with the spark plugs, so they were all replaced. Would have been nice if we could have figured that out ourselves, because we could have saved ourselves quite a buck, but what the heck, the darn vehicle works again, and needs to have a big checkup next month or so.

There was a rather massive storm in the Netherlands this week. The first night (wasn’t even that bad yet) the window in the guestroom got yanked out by the wind, ending up toppling down the roof and smashing on the parking place in front of the house. Seriously. Startled me silly, considering I was taking a shower across the hall at that particular moment. Thought: WTF. Someone smashed through the door, or something. There wasn’t. So, dressed in a wet bathrobe and a deodorant bottle in my hand as a weapon I looked a little silly. Hah.

The storm made driving to work a bit iffy. Due to many accidents on the highway, I was pleasantly rerouted to smaller roads. But the winds. Oh my. There were times it felt as if I was floating over the road top. But anyway, arrived safe and sound, so no harm done.

The book is gradually progressing. First indication of publicity efforts has come and gone, which is nice. Moving along, thankfully. Especially now that the whole editing process is over. Makes me so curious how the rest will go. What the plans are. Who is going to do what. You know, all that stuff of which I know very little. I know that as an indie published author I should know more about advertising and such, but I still stand with what  I always said: I’m a writer. If I were a good sales person, I would have chosen a different career. As it is, I am just hoping they will point us in the right direction, and sling us in…hopefully in the proximity of the bestseller lists. Haha. But we’ll see.

Had a dentist appointment. There were some starting holes, according to my photos, so we’ve been stretching the treatments out because I don’t have dental insurance…or did I mention that before? Anyway, he did a couple, but I have to get back because one of the fillings keeps hurting me. The whole jaw feels sore because of it. Grrr.

Kitten was very unhappy with us. Decided to give her a deworming treatment, meaning an early morning pill on a semi-empty stomach. She was not amused, and went around us in a wide circle for a full day before she forgot.

Made another cat door. This one in the garage door. Until now the cat litter box was in the mud room, but she really likes using it, meaning that it smelled most of the time, so we decided to make her “toilet” in the garage…especially since we dry our laundry in the mud room.

Kitten is not happy about that either, but such are the breaks, for as far as I’m concerned.

Her present favorite spot is under the stairs, in case you’re wondering.

That makes for full circle in the house. First upstairs in the second guest room. Next came the extra office chair in the living room. Then the kitchen on the sill between the fresh garden herbs. Then a dining chair. Followed by the spot under the stairs. Soon she’ll be back in the living room. Hah.

Gradually starting to work more on the new book project. The prequel to the coming feature. The “how it all began” story, which is fun to work on. Sometimes I marvel at how long I have been working on this particular world. I mean, I started it back in ’98 with a somewhat loose concept of “what would happened to a small group of survivors of a sect’s child army, once they grow up?”, and here we are. The first one at the brink of publication, with the prequel worked out, but still in need of some serious tweaking. It is very exciting.

Cooking wise I haven’t been doing much experimenting lately. Between work, socializing, writing, visiting Tenant (she’s doing okay, albeit a tad lonely and momentarily bothered by a severe cough) the usual daily grind, there just isn’t much time. Although yesterday I made a rather lovely mashed potato sauerkraut mix with a load of sweet and sour chili in it. Hah. It was yummy, and filled with vitamin C...good thing too, considering big brother seems to be developing a cold. Poor guy, especially since he is on-duty at work this week, and won’t get off until next weekend.

Did some doodling with paints lately. Nothing major. And nothing really worth showing, but it was nice to do…especially when I don’t have the energy to do anything serious. Also been doing some sewing. Nothing quite as fun as the quilt, but just necessary stuff, like taking in pants, fixing underwear. You know. The basics.

Also worked with my plants. Really need to get some bigger pots, because some of them are just growing out of bounds again, poor darlings. Just yesterday I got some new soil, so now all I need are the pots.

Found a rather nice rug for the living room. So now the ugly green one is in the kitchen’s dining area, lighting up the ugly brown. Haha. Same goes for the actual kitchen where I put one of those light Sisal rugs that helps loads. But anyway, the shag-rug in the living room is almost silver in color, and big enough to hide most of the ugly red carpet there…see how that works? Ugly floors everywhere, but rugs hiding that fact in most cases. What can I say. It makes things a lot easier than having to put in new floors…not that I won’t if the opportunity ever arrives, but for now, this is the easiest way.

My cheap phone finally arrived from China. This means the annoying time of adjustment is there again, but at least it is no longer constantly malfunctioning, like the old one. Seriously. Turns out I missed several calls, which were important. But anyway, that should be okay now.

Gonna have a dog over for a couple of days again, which should be nice…if not entire convenient, considering my work week. But anyway, he’s a friend’s and the company will be nice.

T will be coming over in March. Yay! Her friend is getting married then, so she will be here for that. Meaning I get to see her again…relatively soon after her last visit. Looking forward to it.

And that about sums it up for today, I’m thinking. There are sure to have been things that happened during the past few weeks, but since none jump out, I don’t suppose they were interesting enough to share. * wink *

"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!

Socializing

Song of the day: “Madness” by Chester See and Andy Lange. It’s a cover, naturally, but so much nicer than the original, IMO. Another song that has been in my head a lot lately is Mike Posner’s “I took a pill in Ibiza” which is a rather lovely song, unless it is repeating over and over in your head. *sigh*

Right, another blog, this time not so far apart (depending on if I can finish and post it today, naturally, hah) from the last, and with me enjoying an unexpected day off. The plan was for me to work today, but then at the last moment it was changed, meaning I was home, went out on my bike for a bit, and then home again, doing stuff in the kitchen, cleaning the apartment (yes, I know. I’m ruined by my work, I tell ya! I could have been lounging on the couch with a good book and instead I’m running around vacuuming, mopping and dusting. It’s embarrassing!) and putting away random clothes that ended up on the chair in my bedroom.

It all looks good now, though, which is not a bad thing since one of our colleagues will be coming for dinner tonight. I’m cooking Pasta Fungi, a rainbow salad with lentils and feta and cinnamon apples on yogurt for dessert. All very simple but tasteful, which will just have to do for tonight. Should be fun. She’s a very nice woman (from Majorca of all places) who works in our team at the Sauna. Not that she’s a real cleaner, mind you (though very cleanly) in truth she is a fashion designer, whom you can check out online here (www.lolacuello.com) who is trying to get her big break here in the Netherlands…I know, not very subtle, this plugin, but since I can’t “like” her on Facebook (still don’t have an account there, sorry, folks) I figure, I do it here. You need a gorgeous gown, suit, or wedding dress, she’s the one you need.

Considering she’s very good (she was in Vogue, for crying out loud) she won’t be with us long. *sob*

Work has been a b**ch this week. Not so much the work itself, but my friggin’ foot. Yep, plantars Faciitis has been playing up , and it ain’t no fun whatsoever. Finally realized two things: I’d been taking less of my bloodwine (frugality had brought me down to one glass per evening), and I’ve been walking on the same shoes for several weeks. What with all the running about at work, it was bound to start on all the pressure points. So I did something about both errors, taped up my foot once more, and things are slowly getting better again.

Also spoke the physical therapist at work yesterday, and he gave me some exercises that should help with the problem permanently, if possible. Did them with him yesterday, but boy did I regret that. About fifteen minutes later the friggin’ foot was excruciatingly painful, and I wished he’d warned me for that…will have to have a little chat with him to check if I maybe did them wrong, or if this is normal soon…but I ended up having to ice my foot for more than half an hour before it stopped hurting.

Added to that tidbit, for some reason my operated leg has been playing up again, too. That spot, where the laser shrunk shut the vein, the one that hurt like son of a gun back in the beginning has been aching again, meaning I should get back to the gym and get the strength back in that friggin’ leg. Come next week, I’m determined to get to the gym again. Tuesday, probably.

Had a friend visiting a few times this week who slept over for one night. Was nice. Very cosy, watching a horror movie together, having dinner with the three of us. She’d taken her dogs, and it was nice to have dogs in the house again, too.

Still eating properly, what with having my own kitchen, and just taking the time to cook something nutritious in the evening…are way late again most days, of course. Work keeps us busy quite a bit…

….

….

So yeah, this is three days after starting the blog, so I clearly didn’t manage to post it. *sigh* I don’t know why, guess events piled up again, leaving me with no time to continue my report of the past week or so.

I’ve been busy, I’m sorry to say. The dinner invites of the past weeks escalated and all piled together into three evenings of “entertaining”. I have learned that in the future I should be more careful about throwing out invitations, and spread them out a bit more, that almost went wrong. Socializing is hard work, I've found, and it seriously impedes on one's hermit tendencies. Don't know how some folks do it on  a regular basis, because no matter how entertaining, it is still hard work. Hah

My free days are gone again, with no writing done, darn it! They were just packed too full, I guess, and now I’m back at the beginning of my full work-week, Monday being the longest for some reason. I hope it won’t be as bad as last week, when I did a whopping ten hours. Didn’t help that I was really tired that day, felt pretty friggin’ bad and the hours just seemed to drag on…or the other day when I had a strange tingly sensation in my lower back, and then had to hose down the saunas (which means crawling underneath benches for about an hour and a half) which made the tingle turn into a really bad ache for the remainder of the day that had me shift from nausea to cold shivers in the hours that followed.

Luckily that problem was resolved with lots of stretches and a suspicious pop in my spine during one of them. Yay!

Today the weather is pretty fine! There was a clear blue sky (friggin’ cold though) and a wonderful bit of sun, just like yesterday, my free day, which I spent mostly in the car to pick up tenant and Cousin Ed for their visit. Took a long time, but tenant really enjoyed it, loved seeing our apartments for herself, rather than just hear about it, and then spend the evening going through my old baby pictures (one of her favorite occupations, that) and having dinner with the four of us, before big brother brought them home and I collapsed on the couch for the remainder of the evening.

The apartment is still clean. Like I said, work ruined me and I now spend precious free time cleaning. Gotta do something about that. Sure, I need to keep this place neat, but I also need time to get important stuff done. There are taxes to tackle, mails to write to my bank, stuff to arrange…and not to forget, a book to write…would a *sigh* be appropriate here.

Am determined to head for the gym this week. I’m thinking Tuesday. I’ll let you know how that works out. Considering we also have to get the last bits and pieces from our storage box in the city, which is really close to the gym, we should manage somehow.

Well, that’s all she wrote, this time around. I’m sure to have forgotten some witty dialogue, some dramatic event, but that can’t be helped. Got stuff to do, places to see and…well, you know.

Going all out

Song of the day: “Perhaps perhaps perhaps” by Doris Day. For some reason I felt very domestic today, and ended up humming that oldie quite a bit. Hah.

I better start with yesterday, seeing as my brain isn’t all that clear today. After my last blog, I got way distracted and ended up going to bed around two thirty, which did nothing for my night rest. *sigh* Woke at the normal time to rain, meaning that the day was going to be a slow one since there would be only a little, if nothing to do outside.

After the usual chores in the house it was time to make some serious pie. Tenant’s daughter would be having her 30th anniversary, so we figured we might as well make some pie to celebrate the happy occasion. Opted to go with the idea which had been spinning in my mind for some time. A cookie crumble bottom, with vanilla cream over it, topped by sliced peaches with mango juice. Worked out rather well. Very soft, with a light tartness to finish it off.

We fed the dogs, which was a messy ordeal and utterly appreciated by the dogs that were starving for some peculiar reason. I don’t see why they were going at it like wild wolves, but if I didn’t know better I’d have thought that they didn’t eat the day before, or something. Had enough, though, and afterwards they were quiet as lambs with satisfaction. Hah.

That done, the rain started again and I was forced to retire to the carport to work on restoring a small decorative classic car that should do well on the market if cousin Ed can find the right buyer for it. It is rather damaged (probably fell several times at some point in the past) so I used liquid glass fiber on the broken parts. I am going to have to fully replace parts of the hull, then make two to three types of paint that match the original, so it will be a challenge to say the least.

There was a trip into the yard, followed by cutting new dog food veggies. Lost about a quarter on the dogs since it is simply impossible to keep ALL of them out of the big bowl where we put the newly cut stuff into. *sigh* Thieves, the lot of them.

Managed a nine page edit for a change, so, YAY! Seriously, I was astounded when big brother told me the amount we did at the end. That was around eleven in the evening, at which time I took an hour or so to catch up on my correspondence. I’d been slacking, but I took care of that, for sure. Got a message back today from my pen buddy in Afghanistan, in fact, so that was nice. He’s doing well.

No time for a workout this morning, there were the normal chores to do, dogs to feed and then down into the yard. I opened up the greenhouse, and then went down to gather fresh veggies and herbs, and of course all the extras to feed the dogs today. With a basket full, (and a crate for the dogs) I went up to start cooking for the lunch we planned to cook for tenant’s relatives. Tenant was all excited about it, and helped out by cutting the veggies.

First off I made the bean/chickpea patties. I like how they’re light colored and crust in a wonderful golden brown. Not to mention that their taste is very soft.
We ended up preparing a wholly fresh salad (all ingredients from the yard, except the red bell pepper) a sauce on the side, fresh veggies baked in olive oil, spiced up by green herbs. Had fried rice with peanuts, coconut shavings and onion, and a dish of white and red cabbage with similar green herbs. Was nice to go all out for a chance, since usually we settle on a stir fry for expediency sake…and the guests were appreciative, so that is always a pleasure.

Ended the meal with a dessert of the pie I made yesterday, topped by whipped cream that was still liquid enough to seep off on all sides. Yummy.

Supper over we all headed into the yard for another tour, (dogs behaved splendidly again. None of them tried to bite...only Chaos made a racket) tenant along with us, of course. It was have been a splendid little walk too, if it hadn’t started raining again. *sigh* Ah well, the basin is as good as full, so there was a good side to that at least.
There was the cleanup afterward, along with tenant and her relatives chatting for some time, followed by goodbyes and see-you-soons before I headed down to my terrace where big brother and I prepared the dog food for tomorrow.

Now, the blog as good as done, dogs de-ticked once more, I really should see about editing another page of two before calling it a day. I sure hope that tomorrow the sun will be out, because it was friggin’ cold today and I want to work in the yard just to make up for the two to three hours that were spent in the kitchen today…if only my outside kitchen was done already. *sigh*

Socializing

Song of the day: “A happy place” by Katie Melua. Considering I was a tad under the weather today, it was an appropriate song. Do you know that feeling, that everything seems to be going a little too fast and that your head just can’t keep up. Well, that’s what today was like for me. Hah.

Be that as it may, I had a little nap, and that improved my “state of being” considerably, so all is well again. I think it was partly due to all the excitement going on the past couple of days.

First off yesterday morning, I headed out to the vacation cottage to pay the owner for the week’s use. Was a nice little visit, talking about how she ended up in Spain and how she built her home there with her ex, and how she now spent her life. Sometimes I wonder if I should start writing about real life. Seriously, sometimes the stories I hear are just better than fiction. Hah. Lovely woman, though. Friendly, chatty and all the good stuff.

While I was there, tenant’s daughter phoned because they needed the exact address for the car rental, so there was some confusion about that. The connection wasn’t all that grand, so the owner gave the phone to me so I could explain, then son-in-law couldn’t hear me properly and gave me to the car rental agent, whom I had to tell to hand be back to son-in-law, who could finally hear me so we could sort out the mess. That dealt with, I departed and went back home.

There was still tenant’s place to mop the floor and sort through the last bit of the mess together with cousin Ed before we helped tenant outside to the table we had rearranged to welcome the visitors. It looked so nice, and thankfully, despite being occasionally cloudy the weather was very accommodating.

Tennant was out there under the umbrella since noon, watching every car pass with grave impatience. She firs decline supper which we had there with her, but then, after seeing us eat, asked for “a nibble” anyway. Hah. She always changes her mind afterward. She was positively psyched when they called that they were coming, and then promptly arrived. Tenant’s daughter of course asked for a moment alone with her mom. The question made me laugh a little seeing as that was what we’d planned to do just as soon as we’d supplied everyone with drinks. Hah.

For the next half hour or so we went down to my terrace where we prepared the dog food for the next day. As for the rest of the day…well, didn’t get a lot done, really. Later we were invited to join the reunion, so I got a taste of what it was like to sit for an afternoon, petting Knight II and listening to stories of the past. It was a cozy and sociable occasion. The relatives were friendly and tenant’s granddaughter a sweet little thing that was definitely on the shy side. The most important thing of the day was that tenant loved every minute of it.

I did, at some point notice that all the adult stuff was boring the kid, so I offered to give her and her dad a tour of the premises, leaving tenant and daughter a moment of privacy. Always a pleasure to show off the yard, of course. All the trees that weren’t there when we got here, the yard, the greenhouse, the paths. You never realize all the work you’ve done until you see it through the eyes of others, so in that regard I really liked giving the tour.

The dogs were at their best. Not a single one threatened to bite, and even Tadaika behaved wonderfully as we walked down through the majority of the pack. There was some barking (Chaos in particular) from the scared ones, but on the overall they were just curious and sniffed “the strangers” with wild abandon. Guess all the years of taking in new dogs, the occasional visitor, and just easy living has mellowed the darlings enough to have this be such a pleasant experience.

So after the day came to an end. Presents presented (licorice for Ed and me, lots of cute little doodads for tenant with pictures and everything on it) cookies eaten, drinks drunk and the usual chitchat exchanged, the relatives departed for the vacation cottage…oh, before I forget, that was a success for sure. They love the place, so yay!...where they were going to unwind, have a dip in the pool and generally enjoy their vacation prior to returning the next day.

The aftermath talks followed, asking tenant how she felt and if she was happy (yes, of course) and then eating a snack before heading down to start up the fire for the dog food and turning on the computers for the day’s edit. Got the prologue done, thank you very much, and we were both pretty satisfied with the end result. Definitely improved lots after the last edit.

Were in bed on time for a change. Seriously, it was five past one in the morning when I pulled the blankets up to my chin and turned off the light. *blissful sigh*

Which brings us to this morning. I was running a little behind, but since Cousin Ed had things well in hand with taking care of tenant until her relatives arrived to take her out on the town for a day, I took my time. It was raining when I got up, which is splendid for the yard, mind you. Added half an inch to the basin during the course of the day, so YAY!

I had a shower prior to getting started on the morning chores such as laundry, chatting to the birds, chinchilla and rabbits for a bit. The new bird is adjusting nicely, though he doesn’t like dogs at all. He will move to his biggest perch as soon as he sees a dog. Hah. Poor fellow. He’ll have to be more like Tika, who has taken a liking to giving the dogs “the eye”.

What followed was preparing the dog food and starting the feeding frenzy. They loved the meal, of course, seeing as we had bread again and they do love that so. Even Knight II ate slightly more than his usual half of the bowl. But anyway, the dogs fed, I was just in time to help tenant settle in the rental and wish her a good day.

The remainder of today was spent in the yard where we hunted bugs in the greenhouse, planted pumpkins, broccoli and herbs, while yanking weeds, harvesting our own supper. In one word: Wonderful. Despite the clouds still being there, while we were in the yard we didn’t have rain and could even occasionally enjoy the sunshine. Of course there was the interruption of Sally, who had missed her bus and who needed to be brought to her job, so I headed back up the mountain (all the way) and drove her. I was back in the yard within 20 minutes, though.

But like I said, I was feeling a bit off today, so I took a nap after supper of fresh veggies with patties and then got to work on preparing tomorrow’s dog food. Grandpa made a deal with the local vegetable store who gives us all the “bad” stuff he can’t sell, for the dogs and today he got a rather nice batch to supplement the small amount I’d gathered in the yard. They do love those mushy tomatoes. Hah.

Okay. I better get to work on the edit, big brother is getting a mite impatient with me, I’m sure.