An update at last!

Song of the day: “Things” by Dean Martin and Nancy Sinatra. Cool song, with several versions that I like as well, but for now this was the one I’ve been hearing in my head a lot. For as far as earworms go, this is not a bad one.

Right. I’m late writing again, I know, I know (bad Sammie! Bad, bad Sammie) but I have a good excuse, my computer is suffering from some sort of hiatus that big brother hasn’t been able to solve yet, meaning that I might have been able to write this post sooner, but I simply won’t have an easy way of posting it. Very annoying, I know. Can’t be helped, though. With time as limited as it is at the moment, having to jump through hoops to post anything, is a pain in the behind. Grrr.

Lots to tell this time round, however, considering my best friend from Spain came for a visit last week, and stayed for a couple of days. That meant we had to pack in as much activities during those days as possible, while still being able to spend quality time together. Yay. It was grand. Missed her a lot these past eight months or so, and actually choked up a minute there when I saw her appear at the airport in Germany. It was almost midnight when I got there, had just barely managed to make a very necessary trip the bathroom after driving for more than an hour, and there she was; that very familiar and dear face looking around and then zoning in on me with a big grin. Did the whole greeting bit with hugs and everything, and headed right out into the night where I had haphazardly parked the car in front of the building. Hah.

We were late getting home, of course, despite of me speeding on the deserted highways from time to time, but that was okay. Once there we had some tea, did some more talking and finally were in bed around two in the morning. This of course meant that I had to be up two and a half hours later to go bring big brother to work, otherwise T and I wouldn’t be able to get around by car the remainder of the day.

Let’s just say that we did a bit of sightseeing. Went to Rotterdam because the weather here was horrid on the second day. We picked up big brother at work, and just started driving until the weather improved. Which was in Rotterdam, for some reason.  There the sun was shining, no wind and lots of stuff to look at…including the endless amount of tourists that were teeming literally everywhere. Just love it that T has a similar sense of humor as I do. For instance, we were walking past a lingerie shop, with these reed thin mannequins in the window displays, in all these sensual little poses. We got in this elaborate discussion how, of course, these were exactly the positions women take on once they wear sexy underwear, and that inevitably, when wearing such, we always end up in a pillow fight in a frilly bedroom with muted light…at which point we were chortling with laughter, and big brother grinning.

Did all the silly things, too, naturally, including taking selfies with the three of us in front of landmarks. Even big brother did a couple with this huge grin on his face, despite him being pretty darn tired (big brother is a good sport that way. He went along regardless) so we actually have some shots to remember the afternoon by. Ended the afternoon by having a really late lunch at this cute little bohemian lunch room, run by an eclectic group of people working hard to make everyone feel welcome. Definitely a place to visit if you’re ever in Rotterdam. They had nice daily specials, fresh teas and coffees. Not a single table or chair was the same, there were colorful throw pillows everywhere, and furniture of recycled wood in strategic places. I could have done without the neon lights here and there, but other than that it was downright cozy and the service extremely friendly.

T and I ended up with thick slices of dark bread with garlicy humus and grilled veggies, while big brother went for a chicken wrap that had loads of raw veggies in it (and he liked it regardless *gasp*) so we all had a rather healthy meal in the end.

Didn’t get home until late, in particular since T and I ended up on the couch talking about her new boyfriend and life in general. Had a nice morning at the sauna, too (I’m probably telling this out of order, but what the heck. The separate events aren’t exactly in sequence in my head, never are, so it will just have to do) which included a full tour of the premises, followed by a wonderfully leisured swim in two of the pools. Afterward we both felt that it was time was a sturdy breakfast followed by a rather wonderful nap of at least two hours each. Hah.

We were all sorry to see the days pass so quickly, and before we knew it, we left early Saturday morning, direction south to the place where big brother and I grew up. Luckily T was willing enough to be showed around, our old house, the woods, and then a nice walk through the heath fields on the mountain. Petted Scottish Highland cattle, only to discover a few minutes later that you’re supposed to stay 25 meters away from the lovely beasts, because they’re wild animals, and you just never know. Haha. They were lovely, and the petting was very cool. Never petted one before, so it was definitely a first. Yay.

Didn’t like having to drop T off at the airport at three in the afternoon, where we had to say our goodbyes and promise to see each other again soon…including an invitation to come vacation in Finland this summer, which we’re definitely going to try to arrange. Would love to see where she grew up for a change, and to spend a few days in the wild. Should be fun…in particular since we’ll meet T’s boyfriend. Am incurably curious in that regard.

On the way back I dropped by Tenant’s and cousin Ed’s for a quick visit. Both their birthdays are coming up, so in case we couldn’t make on the days in questions I wanted to drop of their presents already.

Was a tad sad when I got home, but that couldn’t be helped. Summer will be here soon enough, I’m guessing.

On to the next business…if I can remember. Hah

So, what else? Well, we had a rather nice workout session at the gym last week. Kicked some serious bag behind, rowed a mile or two at top speed, hiked the treadmill up a number six incline at a four mile per hour speed, pumped iron until I was about ready to pass out after the usual morning of work.

Had a couple of good swims as well, so I’ve been pretty darn active on the overall what with walks added into the mix and everything.

Cooking wise I did very little experimenting, but we have been eating nutritionally well balanced on the overall. (Good Sammie) Not a lot of meat though, I find it just too difficult to do that regularly. I mean seriously, how do folks manage to eat meat without it giving you the idea of wrecking the wonderful  taste of the veggies? It is so strange.

I did do some writing in the past few weeks. Managed to bring the latest manuscript over 15K, which is a milestone at least. Added to that I have started editing “Titan Rising: Conner”, which has been fun. Haven’t done a lot of that on this particular book, so it has been a road of discovery for me with all sorts of wonderful surprises. It is rather wonderful to read back what I wrote some odd two years ago, and discover little treasure troves of sentences that I’d completely forgotten…not to mention that I am falling in love with the characters all over again. It has been too long ago that I worked on this particular book. I think I should have been sending it out for all this time already, and yet for some peculiar reason, I haven’t.

Work wise things have been hectic, again, in particular since T went back home. Did a double shift this Tuesday, in fact, meaning that I worked from 6 AM till 10:30 AM, went home to sleep for a couple of hours, picked up big brother after three in the afternoon, went home again to cook dinner, relaxed with “Crimson Peak” for a bit, and then went back to work at 10:30 PM for my second shift at 11. The next morning there was going to be a photo shoot, so cleaning had to be done before that. The whole thing took a little longer than expected (4:30 AM, in fact) and by then I was so friggin’ tired I went to bed and lay awake feeling too tired to sleep until 6. Grrrr. Did finally drop off, until 10:15 when I started to worry about whether or not I had managed to get a particular wall of glass properly cleaned at work. I know, I’m nuts to worry about that, right? Hah. Did fall back to sleep until around one, meaning that I had to rush something fierce to get ready for the remainder of the day. Had agreed to go visit Tenant for her birthday, and if all went as planned, big brother would come and pick me up before three so we could beat rush hour on our way to her place.

Did arrive on time at Tenant’s place and she was very happy to see us both for a late birthday celebration.

A week or so ago I scraped open the tops of my feet while cleaning underneath sauna benches. It didn’t actually break skin until there was blood, but it was a like really bad rug burn.  It is somewhat infected now, almost looking like a rash, so I’ve started cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and cider vinegar, which is showing some improvement, even though the treatment is somewhat painful. Still. Rather than get some chemical/antibiotic thing from the drugstore, I prefer to keep it clean and treat it with the vinegar and leave the body to fix it by itself. I’ll keep you posted.

My apartment was a mess after work, T’s visit, Tenant’s birthday trip, so, as usual a part of my free day was used to clean up. Pity that, but can’t be helped. Added to that, there were two loads of laundry…had to get a new machine, by the way. The ten bucks Siemens we got five months ago gave the spirit after walking through my bathroom ten days ago and this strange screechy sound in the engine for at least five weeks, so we got another one at the thrift store. It’s a different brand, not the best, but relatively new at least. Cost about the same as having a repair man come over to check the broken one, so we figured, what the heck. So far it’s been working fine, so, yay!

Also spent a couple more days at the thrift store. One of those was boring stuff like organizing clothes and shelving units, and another setting up new window displays. Was fun to have the young salesgirl there for the first time noticing that you can actually make stuff look good if you display them right. I don’t think she realized that before, so I’m hoping that there will be a time when she gets interested enough that she wants to learn how to do it. The last day there was fun, partly because my colleague there had been forced to take her 2 year old along to work. Kept stuff interesting for sure. Was fun playing with a kid again. He loved it when I started to make him bounce through the store and then fly right on outside when his grandpa finally came to pick him up.

Spring is really here, by the way. Plants, trees and whatnots have burst into green in a timespan of a single week. Been enjoying that massively. Even now, as I sit at my desk writing this, I am looking outside at the everything quickly coming to life. I missed this bit about the north tremendously.

What else, well, I finally made first contact with littlest brother across the big expanse. I worried for a while if I should, considering that I didn’t want to be pushy, or anything, but, finally I thought, what the heck, it’s his B-Day. Might as well break the ice, so to speak. He did write back that morning, so he’s a little easier in the communication than big brother and our father (can I say for the record that I find it exhausting that some folks are just incapable of communicating, be it by email, chat, app, phone or whatever. Some folks literally need to have a pitchfork behind their bums to get off them and communicate. I wonder if it is a male thing. Stepmother seems to have very little problems with it—such a relief that—she is one of few people who makes it an equal give and take in communication. Don’t folks realize if they leave it all to one person, that person starts to fear that he/she is considered to be a stalker or some such? Of course when I ask this of big brother, he is more like: I don’t know what to say, which makes me go Aaaaaargh.) But anyways…it was nice to hear from littlest brother, who seems to be looking forward to meeting face to face, too. I gotta say I’m curious about him and am impatiently anticipating getting to know his quirks, likes and dislikes, just to see if we have anything in common. Genes can be odd that way. Hah. Now, after first contact, I start wondering if I’ll scare him s**tless by writing back in my usual elaborate style. Might be smart not to, ya know, but then I think, he might as well realize up ahead that I can get a serious case of TMI when it concerns communication. *wink*

Went over to our father’s new place down south a couple of weeks ago, which was a nice relaxing afternoon despite me being slightly cross-eyed with exhaustion. Good thing big brother drove back that night, because I sure wasn’t capable of it. Got to pet a nice big ol’ husky while we were visiting, which was totally cool. They (father and stepmother) had talked about the beasty before, saying how they found it so sad that it was always on its own in the yard, but I was happy to see that we were right in pointing out that Huskies are really good on being on their own, and that it being quiet wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Took the furry one only a short time to warm up to me, and start trying to play with my hands and in the end scarf, hah. He was lovely. Reminded me of big brother’s Cham, some years back…but then, most dogs I meet these days remind me of one dog or other from the pack. Darn it!

So, that about sums up today’s blog. I know, finally some stuff happened, eh? I told you, life isn’t always boring here, it just sometimes seems that way. It is choice, however, more than anything. There are so many busy days, including work, visits, trips, groceries and whatnot, that on the rare occasions that I have a night to myself, I’m enjoying me solitude tremendously.

Gotta go.