The new place!!!

Song of the day: “Things” by Nancy Sinatra and Dean Martin. Such a cute song, right? Never bores me, this particular song.

Sooooooh, I don ‘t have a lot of new news, since the past couple of weeks basically evolved around moving house and dropping half dead from exhaustion. Hah

But I survived the ordeal, and as of last night we are basically comfortable at the new place. Yay. It’s a gorgeous place, really, despite the fact that I was a teeny bit shocked when we first walked in (it was a friggin mess, I tell ya!) there was this old (strangely familiar) scent of old farm houses wafting from every corner, the walls were covered in cobwebs, the windows (which I still need to do, btw) are partially obscured by the same webs, there was black dust everywhere, and did I mention the smell? Hah.

The worst of it was, the first day we didn’t have enough time to do some actual cleaning, except for the kitchen cupboards, which you could simply not touch due to the greasiness. Eeeeewwww! First of there was the tour of the place, right after meeting our new handler for the first time, that is, which took longer than I would have liked. Was pretty tired already, you see, considering we had spent the previous evening loading up the rented trailer with as much big, unmanageable stuff as we could get in it. Then we’d gotten up around six thirty in the morning to stuff as much little bits and pieces in as well, before heading towards the new town in time for our eleven o’clock meeting…were late, too, considering we had to get off the highway because the friggin’ trailer started dancing on the asphalt like some bouncy puppy, almost tipping over due to fierce winds. Simply didn’t want to risk it, so we ended up taking small roads, protected mostly by houses and trees. Grrrr.

But anyway, we arrived only ten mins late, so within no time we were signing contracts just as soon our handler was gone, we started unloading. This was a lot less frustrating than loading up, if you must know. During unloading we had the trailer right beside the front door, meaning we could basically get the thing empty within thirty minutes…good thing too, considering we had our meeting at town hall around 16:00 hours so we could register…that’s one of the requirements of this type of living. FYI.

Be that as it may, once we had everything from the trailer we organized some in the living room, of which we had quite  bit of furniture along, so we had a relax spot in the house. The smell still bugged me, but that would have to wait until I had time to take out the cleaning stuff and attack the dirt. Got everything done that needed doing, had a very late lunch, or more accurately supper after having skipped lunch, hah, and then dragged out tired butts back to the apartment so we could prep for the next day by taking apart the last things that could be taken apart for transport.

A couple of weeks ago we already reserved a moving van for our actual moving day, and we were once again up around six to get ready to go pick it up in the nearest big town. We were a bit on a schedule so what followed were six harrowing hours of hauling stuff down from the third floor (using an aggravatingly slow elevator that was also, of course, being used by our senior fellow residents) and stuffing it into the van. We had to be at our new place at five fifteen, at the latest, for an appointment and due to that we ended up stuffing some final bits and pieces into the van somewhat haphazardously, and leave what was left of smaller pieces, at the old apartment to make it on time. Grrrr

You know what is the most frustrating thing of the whole thing? That which took six arduous, exhausting hours to get into that friggin’ van, was unloaded within one hour due to the fact that we could just lift it out an carry it into the house! Seriously, a slow elevator, two stories, several electric doors that were on timers rather than movement sensors and a effing load of thresholds aggravated the loading up tremendously. Hah.

No worries, though, the ordeal is over and done with, and now, after spending a day of cleaning, walls, ceilings, floors, doors, stairs, windowsills, a fireplace mantel and everything inside the kitchen, the place is looking pretty darn good! Both our furniture integrated perfectly, meaning that our office area is in light hues with fresh greens, turquoise, beige, birch wood and white. The dining area is rustic white, while the sitting area is in warm reds, browns, highlighted by plants and some light yellows. I like it.

We both have our own bedroom upstairs, with an extra for sleepovers, such a T. Strangely enough my bedroom, at the moment, looks like that of a teenager. Somehow I ended up with all white and birch wood furniture, meaning that everything is very light with dark blue carpet (now contrasted by my bright red knotted rugs), gray and white striped wallpaper and white ceiling. It looks cute, but hardly my age. Hah. Big brother’s is much simpler in that regard. His are mid-dark woods, same carpet, and blue and white striped walls. Both rooms are nicely spacious, however, which is all that matters for as far as I’m concerned.

Did finally get around to cooking a proper dinner again last night. First time round that I did that in the new kitchen, by the by, and boy did it taste good to have fresh veggies with tomato sauce and macaroni. Sometimes you just need a dose of carbs after several days of surviving on snacks mostly. I get that gnawing feeling when I don’t have proper food for a while, making we want healthy stuff, nutritious stuff, makes me wonder how people manage to survive on fast food…personally I can’t stand it for more than three days in a row. Hah.

First night at the new place was a tad fretful. Didn’t help that I was achy and extremely tired, I guess, and a bit worried about the fact that the bathroom is on the bottom floor, and the stairs are one step up from a ladder leading to the second one. A bit scary to go down and up that while you are half asleep. But I managed without mishaps and now, after going up and down there a gazillion times with clothes, any small closet I could find (can’t have my fancy big closet, because we simply can’t get it up the stairs) and all else that needed to go up to the bedrooms. The biggest problem to get up the ladder…ehm, stairs, were the beds. Seriously, that took some maneuvering!

The kitchen is the least nice place of this here, especially since the old, dark oak cupboards are, like, forty years old, and even though the doors are good material, the insides are basically falling apart. In regard to this, I have opted to acquire a very nice, 2^nd hand, classic commode that will serve rather beautifully as a commode. I love it. Makes cooking a rather pleasant experience. I was forced to use my antique glass and lead cupboard in the kitchen as well, but it looks rather lovely there, so I don’t mind no longer having it behind my couch. Hah. I’ll let you have a look at the primary pics of the main living areas.

I’ll spare you the pics of the ancient toilet, the somewhat basic bathroom, and for now the bedrooms, which still have boxes and suitcases in them. Those will be for the next blog.

At that time, I will also post some pics of our outing to grandpa’s family homestead, which is also incredibly cute. Until then, I’ll leave you to it…

The kitchen...duh. Once it was clean, it became nice and airy. Do you see the mantel there over the fridge? Used to have an old cooking stove there, I think, but the fridge fit in perfectly. Love the plants on there, btw.

Over by the far windows is our office. Nice big table, enough space for both of us, and on the right behind the red couch the nice table for when we have people over for dinner, or when I need to do sewing, or something. Seperated the two areas nicely, I think.

Love the high ceilings, and the all the light from the big windows.

Well, I gotta go now, so...seeya!

Semi on time...right?

Song of the day: “Heartattack” by Enrique, of course. Don’t know what it is, but somehow he always manages to write songs that stick really well, as an earworm. *sigh*

Sooooo, I’m relatively on time this blog, aren’t I? *pats self on the head: Good Sammi!* I do write when I get the time, you see. It is only when there just aren’t enough hours in the day that I resort to skipping the things that aren’t a matter of life and death…though in regard to the blog, that is of course debatable. Hmmm. I must consider this more closely, I guess. It is of course vital that I keep my readers happy. I’ll have to get back to this at some point. *wink*

Yeah. Okay, what has been happening? Well, thankfully not a whole lot. In fact the past week or so has been mostly about settling in, resting when possible, and still doing some running around besides work.

The latter is still busy as always. Never a lack of something to do at the sauna, I assure you. Doing about 40 hours a week at the moment, I think, 28 of those involving cleaning, the other technical stuff. But we’ve been cleaning like little demons, fear not…although there is some friction going on with the new colleagues. Yep, we finally got some, but it has made us all miss the set-up of our old team. It always went so nicely, all of us working together to get everything possible done. We were all well matched back then, I guess, while now three have to fit in, while we have to readjust to new team members that have, of course, a different way of working. It is quite an adjustment, and it is not going all that well.

A pity, too, since the point is that we get the work done one way or other, in the way required by our team leader. I, or someone else might disagree, but that doesn’t change the fact that in the end we only work there. *sigh* I dislike the frictions going on, I’ll admit. I mean, you guys know me, I’ve got opinions about everything, including my opinions, but confrontations I find unworthy of the time and effort—not to mention the aggravation. I mean, folks are always saying, be honest, express what you feel, and then when you do (or they do) more nasty stuff gets said, and more gets wrecked because no matter what, there are very few people who forgive and forget anything that gets said in the heat of the moment.

Ergo, I rather not let it get to the “heat of the moment”. Talking about ones true feelings is all nice and fine, and in some cases very necessary, but one should never forget that no matter what gets said, no matter how forgiving the other person is of any unmeant slip-up (let’s face it, when you’re pissed you sometimes say something you didn’t mean in that way, or you just said it to take a swipe at life in general), you cannot take it back. You might want to, you might need to, but no matter the “forgive and forget” bit, you can’t! It’s out there, lying between you like some slimy gooey thing that you try not to look at because it makes you nauseous, and thus something is broken that you can’t ever really fix. It’ll stick somewhere, niggle, scrape and all those unpleasant things (don’t get me wrong, you can ignore that all through understanding, but that doesn’t take it away, not really. In the next heat of the moment, it’ll rear its ugly head once more). I find that a pity. That is how you lose friends, and in some ways even family. In the end, everything wears, though, even resentments about things that were said…thankfully, so time is usually a very pleasant thing to help with this particular thing. (Not talking about folks who enjoy holding onto, and nurse their resentments, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.)

Luckily, on the most part, we all have choice on our side, and in the end you can, naturally, just chose to ignore whichever hurt was caused because you “understand” the why of it, and shoulder on as if nothing happened…when you feel that a relationship (in any shape or form) is worth that. And in most cases they are, aren’t they? That is how “forgive and forget” got into being after all.

Well…On to other things. I do hate it when I get distraction by such thoughts as above. I much rather be far more superficial and babble about the weather…which is cold, in case you’re wondering. Winter is here, and we have been scraping ice off our windshields quite a few times. We’ve had more snow, cold nights when the radiator didn’t seem to be doing any good (I gotta say I’m extremely happy with my down-filled blanket. It’s light, fluffy, warm and doesn’t make me sweat like a pig the way the synthetics do) and clear blue skies that didn’t allow any heat to linger outside. Luckily I haven’t minded all that much. Work is of course always warm (to the point of being ridiculously hot) so that helps, I guess. Seriously, there are days that I have to crawl under those wooden sauna benches (hands and knees work, folks, while it’s soaking wet) when I’m literally gushing sweat. Work like this does smother any inclination of ever going to a sauna for the fun of it. I sweat more than enough on a daily basis, thank you very much. Hah.

Cooking: Well, we’re eating healthily again, thankfully. No more frequent visits to cafeterias and pizza joints because you’re disinclined to go home (just when you actually feel like it, which is about once a week, haha) and on my free days I take the opportunity to experiment a little. Like today I made Italian style oat patties again, got the recipe sorted out better now, and will post it on the cooking blog one of these days. Also have a very good white cabbage recipe to share with y’all. It is particularly good for folks who are not all that keen on cabbage…but then, also for folks who are. *wink*

No baking, I fear. I don’t have an oven yet, but I’m working on it. I have some ideas in my head I want to try, and determined to get some volunteers to try the dishes on. Hehe.

Writing: Not as much as the last time I did the blog, but some, so it is a matter of, steady as it goes. I do like the characters so far, they are starting to grow on me…in particular the hero, who for me is a returned character from a previous story. He was so funny then, that I had to write about him again, this time giving him his happy ending despite the horrible things that happened to him in “A taste of life”. He’s going to have a time of it, I assure you, but in the end it will all be worth it.

As for my apartment. Except for a couple things (including the oven) I’m pretty much done there, making me very comfortable…if somewhat regretful that I’m done with the decorating already. *sigh* I am just too impatient. I work myself ragged getting it done, and then I’m sorry when it is…but then, I shouldn’t be, considering I have better things to do than decorating my apartment. Finishing a book. Going to the fitness club (don’t swoon, but I only went once this month!). Writing down recipes. Returning emails from friends. Prepping my guestroom for a friend who is going to spend a night. Thinking of what to cook for cousin Ed and Tenant who are going to visit at the end of the week. So many things to do, and so little time to do it in.

Been having very vivid dreams the past week or so, which annoys me a little. Sleep is supposed to be restive, and since, on the overall, I’m getting too little of it already, I rather it not be riddled with confusing dreams. Yesterday I was so friggin’ tired after 6 hours at work that I was actually nauseous. Thankfully I could correct that problem today (have my day off, YAY!) by sleep in until 8:30, getting a whopping 10 hours of sleep. It was marvelous, despite being sore as heck when I woke up. I’m just not used to lying down that long. Hah.

Heard from my pilot pen buddy at last. He’s doing well, despite having some adjustment problems being back in the States after many years of being abroad. Also, he doesn’t like the town he’s stationed in at the moment, poor boy. I’m going to try to write a bit more often, maybe get his mind off things. Nothing like someone else’s yapping to keep your mind off your own troubles, right?

As for big brother…he’s enjoying his own space, too, I’m thinking. He is actually taking his time contemplating his own decoration, getting some paintings that make me look at them and think: Hmmm, so that’s your taste? To which he responds as in: I liked the colors, without seeming to care about the actual picture. Ah well, not my problem. Did find a rather nice big coconut fiber rug to cover the majority of his dirty floor. His apartment had bad carpet (previous owners made a mess of the white-ish floor to floor stuff) and a nice red rug between his couches. He’s still working on it, though, so it will be nice to see what he’ll finish up with. He does seem to really like rattan, so once we have to move and join our furniture again, we’ll probably end up with a lot of that. Hah. We’ll also have to put stuff in storage if we end up at one place again, too. Haha. Ah well, we’ll see how that goes.

Slowly getting to know our neighbors…strange experience to live between seniors like this. Some nice elderly ladies, and a gentleman next door who lost his wife just four weeks ago. Very sad. Turns out that folks have been dying rather frequently here (conspiracy theories, you suppose?) in the three weeks before our arrival 5 died, I kid you not. Admittedly they are old, but that’s a bit much, I think. Although, a friend of mine who works with the elderly, says that it happens a lot in cold winters, despite central heating. Old folks will pass at a faster rate.

I’ll keep you posted on that, considering I do not much like the idea of people dropping dead around me.

Well, this is it for today. Gotta get started on other stuff, including catching up on my mail. Y’all have a good one, you hear?!

A bit of good news for a change...with pics.

Song of the day: “A song for Ireland” by Mary Black. Such a gorgeous song. I’ve had it in my head off and on for the past week or so. Do love it somewhat fierce.

Yeah…a lot has changed once again. Quite suddenly, just last week, we got a call from one of the anti-squatting companies we signed up for, and it was a beaut. In particular since our month was almost up.

I’ll give you a rundown of how that conversation went. The caller we’ll be calling D for recognition purposes:

The phone went, and I snatched it from my pocket to squint at the unfamiliar number displayed. It came Utrecht so it was nearby, but other than that, I was oblivious of who it was. It could be anyone of the fifty or so real-estate agents, private rental owners and whatnot, so there really was no choice but to pick it up.

Me: “Hello? This is Samaya speaking.”

D: “Good afternoon, my name is D whatshisname.”

I racked my brain but nothing popped up. Me: “Sorry, that name doesn’t ring a bell. What can I help you with?”

D laughed, said: “I’m from thisandthat anti-squatting company. You applied for that, right?”

Me: “Yes. Yes I did.” Something started bubbling inside me, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up for fear that they were just doing some sort of formal check thing.

D: “I was wondering if you are still looking for a place to stay?”

Me: “Yessss!” without even a second’s hesitation.

D: “Would you be interested to live in Ztown? We’ve got a place—“

Me: “Yessss!! Even better. That would actually be splendid. Yes.” Was trying to curb my enthusiasm there, but I think it didn’t work, because he was laughing a lot. He mentioned something about an address, talked about prices and how he would send me the required this and that’s, at which point I cut in: “That’s fine. Would it be possible for my brother to move in with me?”

D: “Well…I guess. The apartments are rather small, though, and we’ve got three of them free at the moment, so he could get his own.”

Me: “Oh my. That’s even better.” My head was already running with that, considering that with anti-squatting you pay per person, rather than per apartment. So taking a place together was going to make very little difference since we’re not home all that much, and when we are, we often work at the computer together, and since it is in the same building, and I cook most of the time anyway, we wouldn’t need to get an extra washing machine, or refrigerator, or anything.

Me: “Yes, we would be interested in that, too.” Imagine me, doing a happy dance at the thought of having a place to myself that I can decorate whichever way I please, without a big brother looking at me in exasperation about color schemes, styles and whatever because he’d be more interested in where to put his butt ugly computer. Hah. Anyway, I’m thinking color. Lots of it. I’m at a point in my life where I want cheerful colors around me. *wink*

D: “Great. I’ll send you the particulars tonight, but for now the appointment is set for Monday at 14:30. Will that be alright?”

Me: “Yesssss!” while in my head I’m formulating the request in my head to our boss, for an early day so we can make our appointment.

D: “Very good. Would you know where I can reach your brother so that I can speak with him as well.”

Me: “Of course. He’s standing across the room from me.”

We both laughed at that. Me: “He’ll be there.”

D: “Excellent. That saves me another call. You will be meeting with my colleague R, who will discuss the paperwork, contracts and whatnot with you and then hand you the keys.”

“GREAT! And can I just say that you’ve made our day, D. We were really starting to get worried about not being able to find anything to suit us.”

From the sound of it, he didn’t mind playing knight errant for the day, and we said our goodbyes while I turned to big brother and high-fived him. Me: “Dude. We’re not homeless!”

Big brother: “We weren’t, silly. We have this place, remember?” He, too, was grinning.

Me: “Yeah. But you know what I mean, right? Our own place, one for you, one for me without it costing all that much extra. How awesome is that”

Big brother: “Pretty friggin’ awesome.”

And it is, because, let’s face it, we’d been counting on having to share some teeny little space that was way above our budget (were actually at the verge of renting something a few miles farther away when this popped up) simply because we couldn’t find anything that we could afford. This is a way better solution. Hah.

Anyways, the weekend seemed to take really long, but regardless of that (and the fact that I had these horrible thoughts of: what if something goes wrong, what if it doesn’t work out? Kept going through my mind) we started packing some of our things already. Then, on Monday we got there on the dot, were shown three apartments, together with another future resident, and I picked the last one because it was on the top floor, overlooking a small park, and a nice clean white floor. Not so much the white, but I liked it better because it didn’t have carpet, and no neighbors overhead. That was a big plus. All it missed was a cooking stove, but then that was the case with all of them.

So we settled who was going to go where (big brother and me on the third floor, the other fella on the second) read through and signed the contracts and agreed to at least put some of our things in the apartment that same evening, because the whole purpose of this project is that it looks lived in…didn’t get to bed until after eleven that evening, and the three nights that followed while we arranged for our move and carted everything to the two separate places.

We were way short on stuff, too, so I got myself a couch (a bright red! I will post pictures below) to fill in the blank. Regretfully the couch looked way smaller at the thrift store, so we couldn’t get it in the elevator, meaning we had to carry it up a whole set of stairs. *sigh* But it all worked out in the end, despite being pretty darn tired after work, cleaning up the temporary rental, and moving for so many hours so many days in a row. In fact, the other day (supposedly my free day where I only found time for breakfast) I actually got a strange buzzing in my ears while we were in a thrift store looking for a closet…one of the prerequisites of anti-squatting is that you keep things neat, so a closet is definitely necessary. Anyways, I really had to stop for a moment lest I ended up hugging the floor. Anyway, luckily I had a couple of oranges with me, so I ate those and felt way better. Did decide to eat a proper dinner that evening, rather than doing something on the fly, because that was scary.

So now, after this “free” day, my new apartment is neatly  arranged into a rather new style for me, quite a bit of red there. I told you I was doing color this time! I got some blues to keep things interesting, and some turquoise because I like the color so much. The end result is cosy and welcoming, which is the tone I’m trying to set, of course.

Lucky for us, on the night we moved in, there was a big thing going on. The next morning a big skip was going to be loaded up, so basically all the residents were throwing everything they wanted to get rid of away. So I’ve got chairs that I didn’t have before. Had two already, but decided they looked better at big brother’s. Also a nice small white table which I’m now using as my desk. Yay. Added to that a neat rounded, white rattan chair for my bedroom. A selection of things for big brother, including a couple of small brown leather couches (he doesn’t like the brown, but it will do for now) which color up nicely with some throw pillows on them.

Also had to get some lights at thrift stores, but other than that we’re all set, I guess. I even have a cooking stove. Regretfully no oven yet, but that will just have to wait until later. Either I find a cheap combi at some point, otherwise I’ll get a small grill oven at some point that I can at least bake my own bread again. Now all I have to get is my box with books and a few more things (like our tools) at the storage and then we’re done for the next six months or so (cross our fingers and hope that it takes at least that long before we need to get out of here again; everyone seems to think so, so I try not to worry).

So that’s it for the living arrangements. What else? Well, we went out with our father and stepmother, who invited us to go and eat at a friend’s place up in Amsterdam. It was rather lovely, that day, despite the atrociously rainy and cold weather. The female friend, let’s call her Ie for the moment, had a lovely old place (completely restored, I tell ya) beside a canal. It used to be one of those high merchant places with the wide hatches and the hook overhead. Really cute. Was still the original old stairs, almost worn down with wear. It was gorgeous.

After lunch, which took several hours, we spent the evening walking through the streets of Amsterdam (seriously, you have to see it to believe how much those houses have sagged over the past few hundreds of years!). It was fun to see, I’ll admit, despite the fact that my foot was bugging me to the point of me wanting to chop it off. The wet cold didn’t help with that, even though it should have, but then, nothing new with the stupid foot feeling as though I’m walking on broken glass. Thought I’d moved past it, but apparently the past few weeks of extra work (being on my feet more then 10 hours a day) didn’t help that…and the fact that I skipped several days of the much needed bloodwine. *sigh* That is not a mistake I’ll make again, I’ll tell ya.

What else? Well, no writing these past few weeks…well, maybe a page or two before the move started, but that’s ok. I’m set up now in the apartment, so I should be able to do some on my free days, and I will be taking my computer along to work, for those few hours that I can while away there waiting for big brother. I’ll get this banshee story written yet. They are in my head, you see, Brendan and Neeya, the leads of the story. They don’t like each other much yet, but what did you expect; it’s a romance after all. Hah.

Oh, and before I forget, the daughter of one of the residents here, has a Basset hound that looks just like my Chaos did. He was beautiful, this James Basset. He was walking through the corridors with his mistress, and I was standing there watching him mosey along, before saying: "Oh you beautiful, you." His head swiveled back, tail going up as if he understood more than just my tone. "Yes, you. You beautiful boy." He turned, came moseying over for a proper petting while I chatted with his misstress about the amazing-ness of Basset hounds. *sigh* 

So that is it for today, folks. I’ll be back with more news soon, hopefully, and will leave you with the promised pics.

Have a good one.

 The living area from my bedroom...the latter isn't done yet, so you can't see it yet. I need a bed and a closet, so it is still a mess of suitcases.

 Then a view of the whole, with the kitchen in the back...sorry 'bout the dishes. They are clean but I didn't feel like putting them away before the pic. Hah.

 And then a shot of the view in that special house in Amsterdam. One of those houses in front was from 1637. Can you believe it?

Back to projects

Song of the day: “Some nights” by Fun. Still an awesome song, and I don’t mind at all having it stuck in my head at the moment. Hah.

First off, I am terribly late (not even because of a jog. Didn’t go, because big brother busted his middle toe. Nail was slammed back into the skin and everything. Aaargh) and should really get to bed on time.

I had an utterly whacky dream the other night. We were spending time in our old trailer (haven’t seen the dratted thing in more than sixteen years, I think), staying at a camping site. There was a massive fire somewhere nearby, and in the late evening air I could see the red glow all through the night. Then it happened, some crazy psychopath thought it fun to start messing with people at the camping ground and was keeping hostages. Then, he came at me, and I panicked a little, so I started throwing stuff at him (not my smartest move in a dream, but what the hey). There was some pretty heavy stuff to throw, and most of it hit him, and yet he kept coming at me. Finally I got my hands on this big heavy wrench and conked him on the head with him, making him woozy, and the second send him to the floor.
That’s when I grabbed the phone I’d been trying to get at before he came after me, and ran. I kept trying to get through to the cops, but the connection was crappy, my Spanish nearly nonexistent, their English too, and too much staff occupied with the massive fire that was coming roaring over the mountain. I woke up breathless, to say the least, in particular since just before I woke, the psychopath had regained his footing and came at me. Grrr.

So yeah, been a busy couple of days. First off, we’ve been doing what we can to prepare for the arrival of the cabin. Yesterday there was the painting of the wooden boards of the toilet space behind it, and the floor with an anti termite stuff that had no color, and no smell, which freaked me out a little.

While cousin Ed and I (also grandpa at one point) focused on painting (both yesterday and today) big brother worked on getting the first bits of the foundation in place, and grandpa on sawing wooden beams that will suspend the cabin once it arrives. Yesterday even tenant helped out with the painting bit, which was nice. It’s been a while since she felt like doing something like that.
This afternoon’s painting involved adding white to the transparent varnish, because Sally likes it to be light, and I want her to feel pleasant during her recuperation, so light it is.

Yesterday morning involved making lentil burgers (she asked if I could make a few for her because the hospital food was so bland) and starting on the chili of our supper later in the day.
Both worked out well, actually, and I did manage to eat it even after I added very small bits of beef to the mix. Managed about three quarters of my portion before I started getting the gagging reflex when one of the beef bits turned out to be a bit on the big side. *sigh*

At the end of the afternoon big brother and I had to go out to pick up a donation prior to going to Marbella to visit Sally, but it turned out to be so much that we had to drive back home and unload…which took way too long too, so we ended up phoning Sally, who said not to bother, she was so very tired anyway, and she would see cousin Ed in the morning. Which was a bit of a relief, considering there was still the dog food to cut and an attempt at writing to make.

Didn’t manage much, though. My eyes kept falling shut during that, and I finally gave up after one page and just went to bed. Jeez. It’s been some long days of late.

And that refers to everyone, considering the younger sibs are hard at work in the main house to paint the walls (that haven’t seen a lick of paint in over three years) so that we won’t be embarrassed once our visitor arrives four days from now. Lotsa stuff got backed up these past few years. Just too much to do, ya know.

This very morning big brother and I did some more work in the igloo. The power is working, and so’s the water for that matter. We are going to have to figure something out for that, by the way. Because that tube is now lying about in full sunlight, you can actually scald your skin on it. It’s a pickle, and something we’ll have to solve fast. The clock’s ticking.

Had a wonderful watering session of the yard today (the basin is half full again. We had to drain the pool, because one of mom’s Cocker spaniels (he’s blind and not in good health) pooed in it. Eeewwww. I’ll share my pool with dogs, no problem, but I draw the line somewhere. Hah. But anyway, we had to drain it, meaning that the watering is going nice and fast again, and while I was at it, I took the time to harvest most of the red peppers, cut them and freeze them for later use. Those little bushes are definitely doing a splendid job. We can’t eat them fast enough.
But the watering is getting less, thankfully. What used to take up to three hours, now only takes one, so we’ve got it down to a manageable size at the moment.

There were the usual chores such as laundry, feeding the dogs, and cutting dog food, of course. They loved it this morning, in case you’re wondering, there were all sorts of treats in it. Barbecue pizzas, ham pizzas, turkey slices, ham slices. They devoured it. Hah.

As to the writing: I only managed a page yesterday, but went well into two today, so, maybe, just maybe I’ll get this stuff done yet. I really shouldn’t let all these troubles mess with my focus. This is my future, after all. *sigh*

Mom and the sibs were in a bit of slump today. Their market day wasn’t at its usual level, meaning that they only made half. Darn economy and summer. Both are making folks less prone to sell.

The dogs have been rather chipper today, seeing as I didn’t go out at all and they made a nuisance of themselves by getting my way constantly. Chaos is still the least forgiving in that regard. He’s still ignoring me a little, while Knight II gets so affectionate that I’m getting bruises all over the place. This very morning, he was throwing himself against me, slamming his bony behind into my thigh over and over again. It friggin’ hurt. Got out of bed ASAP.

Today’s supper, as opposed to yesterday’s healthy chili, involved wonderful pizza. Loved that. The fresh dough, the fresh veggies and sauce, and of course the cheese. What smells nicer than that combination? I just couldn’t make myself wreck it with meat.

Well, this is it for today. No time to dawdle, despite the fact that I could of course fill pages and pages with mindless banter. *snort*