Another step

Song of the day: "Stargazing" by Kygo. Gorgeous song, but it was literally blaring through my head during the course of the past few days. Hah.

Well, let's get started right away, shall we. It has been a while, I know but the publishing company came back to me, with yet more changes for the book, so I have been working on that full time practically since the last blog…or a week after that. It's been very, very hard (not to mention frustrating) to get everything done while life got way too busy and work took so much time. It was hard to get it all done. The days simply weren't long enough. But another step was taken, at least.

But enough about that for now, there was some interesting stuff throughout the course of the past few weeks, I assure you.

My best friend Tiina came for a visit…for several days in fact and it was lovely, despite me having to share her with another friend living nearby. Had a wonderful trip to the zoo while she was here, spending the afternoon with her in-laws. Was a very nice end of the day, despite the cold temps. A lovely zoo, cosy, with good looking animals and lots of places for small kids to play, which was good, considering we had three kids along.

Before that we went to the local dunes for a nice walk, meaning that at the end of the day we had walked for about five hours in total. My hip wasn't happy with me, probably because I did a misstep at the dunes. Luckily a good night's rest solved that.

Tiina brought me henna for my hair, and was nice enough to put it in my hair for me the second night. Got a nice warm red color again, which suits me well, I think.

Spent another afternoon shopping, which was also nice. Although I only bought a sweater, which I returned right after because I didn't like the model at all.

Was sorry to see her go, especially because it will probably be a long time before we see each other again. Good thing we have whatsapp. Almost as good as seeing each other every day. Almost…but not really. * sigh *

After dropping Tiina of at the airport five days after her arrival, I drove on to visit dad and stepmom, considering I was halfway there already anyway.  Was nice. We talked a while, they showed me the new house, and told me of all their plans, and it was so nice to see them all excited about it. It was really bringing them together again, I think, and that's lovely for them. Went to eat at a nice restaurant afterward. Wagamama. Very good food, I tell ya, and lovely smoothies. A very pleasant evening that I ended with a strong coffee in hopes of it keeping me alert enough to make it home in the two hour drive. It did, just barely. And when I say barely, I really mean, barely. The last couple of miles were with the windows wide open (freezing cold) music on loud and chewing peppermint like a lunatic, trying not to fall asleep. Made it in one piece, so I guess you could say it was a success.

I burnt my wrist, darn it. Was making myself tea in one of those old-fashioned kettles and was struggling to get the whistle off (it sometimes has trouble getting off) only to get burnt by the steam. Seriously, I've got a burn the size of a small lemon on my wrist now. Hurts like heck.

Quit my job. Was already thinking about that for a while, of course, and as a final attempt to make the work work out, so to speak. Finally decided to offer my cleaning plan, more or less a "take it, or lose me" kind of thing because the present way they are cleaning is not working…and I think the new supervisor realizes it. When I turned in my resignation, she even went as far as saying that she would like to use my cleaning system in the future, once she's got a new team. A compliment, in a way, but still, kinda nasty that she is going to take credit for something that I worked hard on for a long time. But then, f**k it. I got enough of that place and the way it functions. Their loss if they wanna lose all their good people. So now I am doing my notice month…well, am half way through it already just doing the basics that they want, rather than the extra mile I am used to going for work. Makes it very unsatisfactory, but if that is the type of thing they expect, it isn't the right place for me anyway.

So, I have been looking for work and now I am facing several options. Got a night job lined up, for which I will start a trial run sometime this week. Yay. Got another option, maybe, at the store I used to volunteer for. They might be able to offer me a paying position, so I've got to think that through. And then today I got a call if I would be interested in another job, near Utrecht, so I'm going to have to think things through well.

I'll keep you posted on how things work out, and on which job I'll settle in the end. They all have their advantages. The store would be fun, the one I'm going to try out this week pays really well and the other…well, it would be an interesting job, more than anything. I'm still hoping to hear from the catering companies I applied for, though. Now those would be really nice. But we'll see.

Cooking wise I have been creative with leftovers on the most part…and a batch of old apples and plums that I, for the life of me, couldn't finish (big brother doesn't like fruit) and made a rather wonderful pie of. I added some spices, some crandberries, walnuts and a spicy crust. Add a little sour cream and Mmmmm. Yummy. Great dessert. I just hope that I can finish it on my own, considering big brother's attitude toward pie. Sorta like my attitude toward chocolate, I guess. Hah.

Had a short interruption of the edit with doing a blog for a friend, a proofread re-write thing, considering it was translated from Danish into rather bad English. It takes some puzzling to make that work, but it is nice enough to do.

As to the book. It is difficult to combine work with the edits. I am tired after work, so usually I will have a nap and then hope I am coherent enough to get some computer work down. Regretfully that was a not an optional thing for the past few weeks, that mean basically spending every free minute on the book, making me work a full-time job at home and a part time job added to that. A bit much, but it had to be done. And is done. Sent the manuscript yesterday, so basically it is out of our hands now, which is a bit of a relief, sorta, kinda. Now I can take a few days to get the house in order again, earn some extra cash, do proper exercises (had to do minimal exercises this past week, just to save time) clean, do some social stuff, and all in all, prepare for what comes next.

Had a few nice get-togethers with friends here and there, except for the last two week, basically. Will be good to have some more time for that, though, including a couple of parties that we've been invited to. A kid's birthday party and a housewarming party, so, that should be fun, right?

Went to the dentist the other day. Remember that tooth that broke back when we had to drive grandpa to the Netherlands a few years ago. It had been bugging me, the edges becoming too sharp, a bad taste (can I just state for the record that I do not appreciate my old dentist having wrecked my perfect record. That tooth was damaged, it didn't have a hole, until he started messing with it. Grrrr) and enough of a problem with it, to warrant a fix. According to my dental pics, there is some damage on a few of my teeth, (I'm guessing from my time with Pica) which the dentist would like to fix, but I'm going to have to spread that out, because for now I am not insured for dental stuff.

Which about sums it up. I am sure there is more that I'm forgetting, as usual, but this will just have to do for now. Will try to write again soon.