A nice job!

Song of the day: "I miss you" by Clean Bandit feat Julia Michaels. Love this song. Although it is not the nicest chorus to have stuck in your head like an earworm. Doesn't mean that it isn't a nice song, though.

So, what all has been going on then? Quite a bit, actually. My cleaning job ended, thankfully. Not on a bad note or anything, it just wasn't for me what with the new management. Did my notice month, said my goodbyes to the best colleagues, keeping in touch with some of them, and went through all the motions of getting a new job. And I did. Two in fact. Yep, you heard it right. I got two. One's a little less fun. Prepping buses. It is all about gassing them up, dragging a broom through them, putting them in a wash street and then parking them for use the next day. Not exactly challenging, brain wise, but different at least. Hah. This one will be late at night in the weekends. Gah. I know. And it's a cold job in winter, too, considering everything is outside, so if it rains, I'm pretty much scr**ed. The one plus is that I can wear my baseball caps again. I missed those babies.

The other job I got today. Yep. I applied for this catering job weeks and weeks ago and thought it wasn't going to be anything after not hearing from them for all this times, but then last week I suddenly got a call where they asked to meet me. Which was today. Went for a chat at one of their steady location. A company cafeteria, where I was talked through the procedures, what they did, what they were looking for and so on. We discussed terms etc, and considering they had four applicants the manager was going to call me around Tuesday with their decision. So, I went back to the car, thinking it had gone reasonably well, and wham, suddenly my phone went with the manager asking me another question or two before suddenly saying: "how would you like to start next week." To which I assured her that would be splendid, naturally, meaning that I have another job. One that I actually look forward to. And a non-cleaning job to boot. I was afraid that was never going to happen. But it did, so, YAY!

Will have to choose one or the other at some time, considering having two jobs like this will cost me a humongous amount in taxes (40% of one salary), which is not something I much look forward to. Grrr. Bloody taxes. I think I'm just going to use the next month or so to figure out which one I like best and then make a decision.

What else? Well, some stuff with the book. Again. Which got so bad due to contradicting messages that we just made a joint decision to postpone the publishing date by a month. At this point it's a relief, really. There was so much pressure building up that it became clear that it wasn't all going to get done in time.

Did get a peek at our future cover, which is gorgeous! I'm teasing, I know, but they did a wonderful job on it. As soon as everything is sorted out I'll post it here on the blog, of course. I'm curious what y'all will think.

What else. Got another inspection of the house, which was thankfully okay. Was really worried about that, especially because due to edits I'd been so busy that I didn't get a lot of time for cleaning. Got the basics done in time, and we managed to chop away the weeds outside before the inspector came, so all ended well in that regard.

Cooking. I tried a new dish I'd been thinking about for a while. Really nice. Involves white cabbage, carrots and leek, fried in a dry rice with spices, sambal ulek and scrambled eggs. It almost tasted like eggrolls, I tell ya. Added to that I baked tiny nuggets of my chickpea meat substitute and they went together splendidly. No baking recently, much to my regret. Except some bread, but that doesn't really count, does it? Also messed around with some other recipes, of which a couple are ending up in my collection of recipes. I really do need to start packing them all together in the recipe book soon. Got quite a collection going already.

Dratted car is going to have to go in for new brakes and disks, which costs a bloody effing fortune, naturally. And money is already tight this month. Doesn't help either that my phone fell and stopped working, so now I am messing about with Big Brother's old (also broken) one until I can find something affordable. Stupid weak phones. Can't even accidentally drop your phone on the concrete in a puddle so the glass cracks all over. Grrrr. Haha

Came down with a cold last week. Every congested and I had a light fever, but I thought I'd won the battle, having the darn bug under control, only to wake up this morning and feel that it had travelled down my thrown *insert a string of swearing here* I was doing so well. So now I am drinking hot toddies with turmeric. A lot. Hoping that it will help some. Grrrr. I better. I got a couple of cold evenings ahead of me at the bus job, and then off to my dad's place to do a few days of painting in his new house. Will be the last chance I've got, considering work for the catering is going to start next week. Just need to get this friggin' cold under control.

Went to a party of a former colleague a couple of weeks ago. Which was lovely. Got to see a lot of former colleagues and friends, enjoyed some of the food (meaty stuff didn't go down well…ehm, well, not at all actually. Had to carefully eat around the meat chunks in what was otherwise a lovely soup. Haha. Am afraid our host didn't know that we're mainly vegetarian) drank lemonade (I was driving so big brother could have some beer) and basically just chatted with folks and admired wedding pictures and the new house. A lovely evening.

Have made some tentative attempts at starting on a new book project, but considering the process of the one that is getting published constantly interrupts, demanding more time, doesn't help much. Maybe some day I'll fully explain how the whole process went, it's a doozy, but for now I want to stay positive and keep looking toward the future, so it will have to wait. Hah

What else…I'm not sure. Starting to draw a blank here. Very frustrating. Finally caved in on finding decent pants at thrift stores and ordered some jeans online. Such a relief to have some pants that are in one piece available at will. Was down to one favorite pants (you know what I mean, right. For some reason you end up with that one pair that you just keep wearing and wearing until it is ragged and you can't anymore *sob*) but now things are much easier. Yay. Good thing too, since I needed something neat for my job interview yesterday. Had on black jeans with an eggplant purple sweater. Some creole earrings and hair up and, surprise surprise, I looked halfway decent. *wink*

There were groceries to be done, of course. When is that ever not the case. Wouldn't it be grand if you only had to do groceries once a month…I know, I know. If that were the case I'd probably complain about having to do it once a month. Why not twice a year?! Hah. I'm whiny when it comes to groceries, aren't I. Let's just say that I like it that less is spent when you go to a store less. Somehow, no matter what you do to prepare, you always end up doing spur of the moment buys, and they are evil, I tell ya.

As for what more…blanking! Blanking! Have been giving my plants some extra attention. The poor darlings had been neglected a bit during all the rush edits, work, job applications and whatnot. They're all looking a lot better now. Added to that, I've been working on making new ones, which is going well. I always like having some extra little plants that I can use as gifts. Some of them are just so easy to "clone" and so cute once they get started…can you hear how I am basically treating my plants as pets. I do. I also talk to them FYI. What can I say. I love my plantsies.

Also doing some proofreading for other people on the side, and content writing for blogs, so I keep busy, as usual.

Religiously doing my qigong. Not giving that up now that I have finally conquered the evil Plantars Fasciitis and can actually be on my feet all day without wanting to burst into tears at the end of the day. Which reminds me. I have to do my session for today still. Yikes!

So that's it for today. Not going to blab any more useless stuff here. As soon as I've got something nice to share, I'll go on and on and on about it. I promise.

Gotta go!

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.

Thoughts, dreams and reality. :-)

Song of the day: “Hallelujah” originally by Leonard Cohen, but I’ve been having covers in my head ever since I got curious and found a whole batch of them on Youtube. Seriously, there have been oodles of people who did the song…and in many beautiful ways, I might add. Worth a spin, if you like the song!

So, yeah. Had a bit of relapse with my cold. It was gone, which had me getting back to my workout routine all excitedly for over a week of daily workouts of over 45 mins a pop, only to end up with my cough coming back full force and a fierce pain in my throat that took me three days to get rid of again. Grrrr. No worries, though. At the moment, considering I don’t have a job or anything (well, I am doing some serious writing at the moment, so that is debatable) I’m not doing my workout in one allotted time (seeing as it is a known fact that for a little while after your workout your immune system has a serious drop) but am stretching it out through the course of the day with five to ten minute exercising sessions. Annoying, for sure, but doable for the moment. Hah.

I have broadened my job search from night reception work at hotels, courier and facility management to--sit down, don’t get caught unawares—work as a jack of all trades in greenhouses. Saw an application for that recently, and thought, what the heck. I’d get to work with plants, be inside a relatively warm place most of the down, and get, according to statistics, decent pay. Now, I’m pretty sure that my resume (and lack of official qualifications) isn’t going to look very impressive to these people, but still, it’s worth a shot.

Been doing a lot of reading online lately, including on American politics. I have friends on either side of the fence, so it can’t really be helped, and considering that this is not a political blog, I am definitely not picking sides, but it is a big event in history, so it’s gotta be mentioned. Admittedly it is a fascinating thing to watch, really, hearing both sides hammering away at each other, guessing what is going to happen based on he said-she said kind of stuff. I can only think back of this blog back when the last president was picked. Basically everyone thought that finally all their troubles were going to be over and he was basically going to achieve world peace. Back then, I said it was going to be pretty tough for the guy to live up to that, and it was. With this future president, I can only say, he’s probably going to surprise people. Right now, there is such a low opinion of him that even if he manages to do one thing right, he’ll astound people, let alone if he does a couple of things moderately well.  Puts the last president at a bit of a disadvantage, but from what I understand of him, he rather likes martyrdom, so basically he got what he wanted.

As with all things, we’re going to have to wait and see what happens in the future.

The other thing I’ve been reading up on is 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd wave feminism (I know, how controversial am I today, right? I swear, I’ll keep it mild, and won’t do this a lot) and have come to the  conclusion that I am more of a 2^nd wave feminist. Serious, the 3^rd wavers are completely bonkers! The hate that is coming from them, the convoluted logic and full blown hatred toward men in general, it’s astounding…especially since these women, well, girls really are either my age, or younger than me, and have not faced the problems that 1^st and 2^nd wave feminists faced. In fact, the majority of these girls seem to have been coddled, helped at every turn, and now think that it is time to get back at the “oppressors” for the evil deeds perpetrated towards the generations preceding them.

Now, if these girls were living in Middle Eastern countries, Asia, Afrika or whatnot, I would understand, seriously, there is some evil shaite going on around the globe, but they’re not. These are girls and women in Western countries where they are protected, supported and helped by not only the law, but by the general public too. They have healthcare, the opportunity to educate themselves, work whichever job they wish to pursue, and basically live their lives the way they want, and yet they figure they have to fight the opposite sex and the establishment for rights that they already have. And all this while there are women in this world who are really bad of. I have to say that the stuff that I have seen online about these so-called feminists is nothing short of embarrassing (for me anyway), if not downright insulting toward women with real problems. Feminism has definitely gotten a bad name because of these entitled girls trying recapture the “magic” of brah-burning for a plain and simple game of “getting back at” and what can only be called an underhanded attempt at gaining power in the world over the back of men, but most especially other women.

Okay, enough silly things that thankfully don’t much affect my world at this juncture in my life, it might, at some point, but not yet. I’ve been having some seriously weird dreams lately. Several have been downright icky, in fact. Like the other day I was dreaming of this evil serial killer who used a metal garrote to literally saw the hands of a woman. He was starting on the second hand, lots of gore, lots of screaming going on, when I finally managed to wake up. I was seriously freaked out from that one, but will admit that this particular dream is going to do really well in a book at some point.

Luckily I had some nice dreams, too. One of them included grandpa still being around, which was rather nice.

So, there was a rather big storm in Spain, which had us worried about family, friends and pets for a while. Seriously, there was a red alert and everything. There were floods that caused two deaths, lots of properties destroyed, animals in distress, a tornado over sea, even, and gawd knows what else. Reassurances were a long time coming, but in the end everyone I knew reported back with an “okay” so that was a big relief. Jeez. The only plus that comes from this that the water reservoirs that have been close to empty for the past decade or so, have filled up to almost 40 percent for the first time in 20 years!

Writing wise I’ve been doing relatively well at the moment. I am doing an average of 2K-3K words a day, at least, so the book is steadily progressing. Yay! At the very least I am completely back IN the story, which certainly helps. Yay

On the cooking front I’ve been doing some experimenting lately. Made a rather interesting pumpkin pie the other day, also a lentil/beet salad that went well with the folks I made it for, but didn’t resonate well with yours truly. Hah.

Littlest brother’s visit has been rescheduled to this weekend. Something came up the last time, so that was a no-go. Considering big brother and I were still battling our colds back then, neither of us minded all that much.

So that about sums up this blog. I’m sure I’m forgetting important stuff, but that can’t be helped. I’ll be back.

Nothing of much interest, I assure you

Song of the day: “Human”, by Christina Perri, gorgeous song, admittedly, but it has been in my head a bit too long now. It’s been going on and on and on for about three days now, so I wouldn’t mind if it went elsewhere…you want to take it as an earworm? You’re welcome to it. Hah.

Right. Time for an update, isn’t it? Should have done it earlier, but I’ve recently had a bad cold and am only now well on the way of recovery. It was bad there, for a bit, with me coughing like and idiot for almost a week, but now all I’m left with is an occasional tickle, so I’ll apparently survive. *sigh* Big brother is still in the midst of his cold, I’ll have you know, and he’s struggling with it. It doesn’t help that he refuses to wear scarfs, and sometimes even sweaters, and that he doesn’t like to use stuff like vaporub and whatnot, but that’s choice, I suppose. He’s spending a lot of time in bed, sleeping it off, so lucky for him he didn’t need to work much this past week or two.

Not a lot of interesting things happened since the last blog, at least nothing that will titillate you into reading more of this, I could of course make stuff up, but that just wouldn’t be fair.

First off, I did manage to do some writing, so the past few weeks weren’t a complete loss. (pats self on the head) Nothing earth shattering, but added several pages, which is definitely a plus. Gotta get that book written and the way to write a book is one page at a time, naturally. Characters are still developing nicely, so all in all it is not going all that bad.

The chauffeur job for the hotel didn’t work out. They could only guarantee four hours a week, which just wouldn’t do. Drat. Would have liked that kind of work, I’ll admit. Regretfully that one is out of the picture now.

Been steadily applying for jobs, of course, just like I’m supposed to.  At the moment I am aiming for facility management, night reception clerk for hotels and courier. There’s quite a few jobs out there for that, now all I’ve gotta do is snatch one…of course I am not really in a hurry at the moment. I would like to continue writing a bit longer if at all possible. That of course hangs in the balance of not liking being unemployed and not having sufficient funds coming in, but you can’t have everything, I guess.

Cooking has been somewhat uneventful lately. Basically survival food. Lots of salads with pasta, etc, small snacks in-between recovery naps. Did have a gorgeous cauliflower soup that worked out really well last week. And this week I did a nice tomato soup, which was a bit on the spicy side, and therefore extremely good. I love spicy tomato soup.

Once I was on the road to recovery I also finally managed to do some serious cleaning around the house. Vacuumed, removed spider webs and cleaned  horizontal surfaces. Was pretty necessary after I was pretty much out of it for a week. Much relieved by the improvement, can’t stand messes much these days.

Heard that our former teamleader’s baby was born, so we’re going to have to go for a visit one of these days and see junior. Very happy for them.

Went to visit tenant the other day. Brought her a present. A really nice paint and drawing set that she was really happy to get. Was good to see her pleased, especially since she said she was at the moment avoiding eating in the dining room because all the “old folk” were not doing any conversation during dinner. It just wasn’t cosy there, she  claimed and that made me a little sad.

Also visited with our father and stepmother down south, which is a trip that takes more than two hours in total. Very unhandy, but it was a nice afternoon at their new place. They made quite a bit of headway with their garden, which is starting to look nicely spacious. Later in the day they took us out for dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant in Germany. I would love to have something like that place. It’s tiny and runs more on take away than anything because their place is so tiny, but they are stacked most nights. Was nice, despite having to travel a long way afterward. I was so tired at one point that big brother had to take over driving. He did, for fifteen minutes, when he had the same problem (he was still very sick that day). At this time I had gotten a five minute nap, and managed to drive the rest of the way without trouble. Phew. Was afraid there for a moment that we would have to sleep by the side of the road somewhere. Hah.

The weather has turned to genuine winter. We’ve had wind storms, rain storms, fog, and as of yesterday the temps dropped below the freezing point. Yikes. It gets cold here with a capital C. What with winds coming from the north, it’ll hit you in the face like an icy four by four. Clothes don’t seem to help all that much, and most of the time I am now struggling with keeping my core temperature high enough not to end up with chattering teeth most days.

Well, I’m going to leave it at this. I can hardly start telling y’all about even more boring little titbits than I already have. Jeez. Let’s hope I have some nicer stuff to talk about next time, right? I’ll even try to spruce things up a little. Gotta go.

Calming down at last

Song of the day:…well, a whole variety of Bryan Adams songs. Was a nice change not to have just one song in my head.

Lots has been going on, lately, of course. Nothing of it very interesting, but I’ll tell some of it regardless.

On the plus side, I do feel I’m slowly calming down from all the turmoil. Not without difficulty, mind you, the other day old problems threatened to crowd close, and as a result my stomach acid jumped up, blood pressure went up and panic clutched at my chest. Still, a walk out in the woods, and all of it slowly subsided as I reminded myself that there is only so much I can do, and the rest I need to let go.

The whole number thing with town hall still hasn’t been solved yet, naturally. This is bureaucracy we’re talking about. Of course they haven’t solved it yet. That would be just too much to ask for, wouldn’t it? Instead I get to wait with…basically everything. Insurance being one of them, the bank account that is still on the wrong number, ah, I get tired thinking of it, so…let’s not.

Had a few wonderful  bike rides…oh, did I mention yet that both big brother and I were both successful in procuring a bike. Together 200 bucks, which isn’t a bad deal considering big brother’s turns out to be a custom made one. Hah. Anyways, I had to bring my bike back to the store because it was making a strange noise at the pedals. Luckily it was still in the warranty, so they put in a new chain, meaning she runs like a dream now…except the gears because I still have to adjust those a little. Sixth and seventh just aren’t working. I’ll get to it, though.

Work: We have several options going. I’ve left my resume at a caterer, who didn’t seem displeased at all with my question about a position in his company. Have applied as a cleaner and handyperson at a sauna as well, which is, according to another worker there, a very viable options. They are in rather desperate need, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Thirdly, big brother might be able to get a part time job at a Mercedes garage, while I have volunteered at a 2^nd hand store, which seems to be happy enough with me to consider paying me for my work in the near future. We’ll see how that goes. In the mean time I am having a lot of fun in the store totally redoing the displays, the shelving, and all else that is there. Even had a professional display guy coming in the other day, saying how wonderfully surprised he was at how good the displays looked. He said that you didn’t see that much anymore these days, and he really enjoyed it. Was a really nice chat. How lucky am I that I always enjoyed doing window shop displays, eh?  Applied for work for events, but that was pure whim applying for that. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I get invited to come in for a chat at some point.

Had a couple of friends over the other day, which was very nice. Made veggie chili, with chickpea, red beans on the side, along with a rainbow salad with a yogurt dressing. It all worked out rather well, I’m happy to admit. The food was tasteful, the table nicely made up, got a nice bouquet from the wild, and the experimental dessert of cinnamon/nutmeg pudding with crumpled cookies on top a success. Added to that the evening was filled with nice conversation and company, so I would say that it all went well, especially for a first dinner party of sorts. The fact that both guests were extremely nice helped a lot too. Hah.

We (big brother and I) also went to their housewarming party last week, which was nice, too, despite that all the “youngsters” there made me feel somewhat old. Hah. We arrived sometime around seven (we already knew that we wouldn’t be able to stay long, because we were going to stay the night at tenant’s, Cousin Ed’s and Grandpa’s) and then left just barely on time to make it to the train station, on our bikes, for the 21:15 train to Arnhem. From there, we still had to bike to grandpa, meaning that it was dark before we got there with sore bums. Boy aren’t we used to biking distances anymore. We…me in this case, ah, survived the ordeal, as I did survive the many bike trips that we did before and after. Regretfully my knees are so not used to that particular activity anymore that I had to take a “break” this Saturday and Sunday, and not bike. Seriously, my knees were so swollen from it that I could barely get up and down the stairs, so I have been taking it easy a little for the for the past couple of days.

I am finally starting to get to know the town a little…by bike anyway. The other day I had to go pick up grandpa in Landlady’s car and got completely lost in all the little streets here. Yep. Things look very different from a bike than they do from a car, but I’ll get there…which reminds me, considering Cousin Ed and tenant left on a long planned vacation last Wednesday, grandpa has been staying here with us in the room that will be big brother’s at some point in the future (it still needs some work). He did manage to get up to the attic the first day, but with his condition that is just too hard, so a ground floor room was essential. It’s comfortable, and he says he’s fine there. He’s even been out helping me in the yard for a bit, and though he tires quickly, we both enjoyed that. Looks really good, too, which is definitely an added bonus. It really helped a lot that the weather was still good then. Now it has actually been pretty stormy for two days with quite a bit of rain.

Finally found a closet for our attic the other day at one of the thrift stores locally. It cost about 20 bucks, but it looks nice and now we no longer have suitcases lying about on the floor anymore, which is a very nice change. Turns out that big brother now has more clothes than I did, and here he was complaining while still back in Spain, that he could hardly take anything because he was taking his PC in his suitcase. Turns out he forgot how much clothes he’d already taken along two weeks before our departure when he went to stay with grandpa for a few days. Hah.

Regretfully our attic is too dark for my herb plantsies. Basil already gave the spirit, chives is going too, and sage is really close behind. *sob* Such a pity, but alas. Nothing to do about it. Herb plants are going to have to wait until we get our own place.

Writing hasn’t happened yet, except for the blog and correspondence, but I have noticed a change in my dreams. They are slowly becoming more vivid again, and some ideas about “Gun” have been starting to play through my mind, which I’m seeing as a good sign. At least my mind is no longer being overrun by worries so there is no room for anything else left…at least not as much as it used to. I actually have days now (occasionally) where I don’t constantly worry, so that is progress, right?

Well, I’m going to leave it at this for now. It is late and tomorrow I will be working at the thrift store as a volunteer again. Let’s hope the weather has improved by then. *sigh*