Busy, but some pic updates again. ;-)

Song of the day: “You don’t own me” by Grace. Cool song. Heard it at the Suicide Squat trailer, knew it from a long time ago, and now have it in my head together with, “I spent the summer on you” by, well, a whole bunch of fellas. Hah.

So yeah. I’ve been busy. Most of it involves editing, so in that regard, YAY! Been prepping quite a bit of material these past couple of weeks, because we have about two months to spent on prepping stuff for publishers and we want to use every second of it. Are about four chapters into an edit. Sent out two manuscripts, a query letter have another one ready to send out, hopefully, today, so keep yer fingers crossed, please, we only have a few months to invest in this round, then the basic job search has to start becoming serious job search. Until the time comes of the hopefully good news, we are having a nice time editing “Accidentally in Love” which contains a lot of good stuff that I forgot to remember over the course of the past few years since writing it. That is good news, right?

Well, what’s been happening? The house is basically in order now.  Bedrooms sorted out…well mine anyway, big brother still has his open suitcases in there, clothes in messy piles on top of them, nightstand basically in front of the door, hah. But that’s his problem. Thankfully I can just close his door and not see it. I know it is there, but I can keep myself from doing anything about it, don’t you worry.

Had some time to work on my house plants. Poor babies had all outgrown their pots, so basically I spent an afternoon putting them in new ones, which made them looked better almost instantly. Was so nice to get my hands dirty that way, especially because the weather was cool and sunny and I could do it outside for the most part. Actually found some really nice affordable pots of some of the transplanted plants yesterday at an attic clearance sale in town. You can find the nicest stuff at places like that, can’t you? They were even cheaper than our usual thrift stores.

Met the father of our neighbors, who was born in our house. He had some wonderful stories to tell over coffee in the kitchen, including that the farm had been his great grandfathers in the late eighteen hundreds and that some years the entire top of the farm burned away due to a mistake from the power company. And he said that the small house beside us was the summer house where they used to live during the summer months until they were a family of 11 children and there simply wasn’t enough room in the small place. Hah. I’m not surprised that it was too small. 11 kids! Yikes!

Anyway, he comes here a lot. I think he’s missing the place somewhat fierce now that he lives in a senior home in town, and therefore comes over to work in his son’s yard, and work on their future shed, which is a project they’re busy with during whatever free time they have.

As for news…Big brother and I have finally decided on a study, so we’ve been pretty busy with that for the past few weeks. It is one that you can do at home during the studying part, but at some point we will have to do theoretical and practical exams elsewhere. So far I’m finding it rather interesting, in particular there is lot of law involved in the study. I’m getting to know the constitution, privacy laws, the roles of government officials, what they ARE allowed to do and what not. In how far are you obligated to cooperate with the law, and when are you allowed to say no, etc etc. All very fascinating, and if nothing else, it will be an excellent source of information for the writing. Already there are loads of ideas playing in my head.

Our other neighbors are a young drummer and his girlfriend who studied Neuropsychology, and is trying to find work in that. A very nice couple that have a very social life, from the way they come and go during the course of the day. She came over yesterday to introduce herself (had some cookies with her and everything) and we had a nice cup of coffee with the three of us before she returned to her place for dinner. She and her boyfriend were going out later that night, so she didn’t have a lot of time.

I finally found a rug for the corridor and the living room. I had one for the living room, but it was old and worn, and the red (it used to be in big brother’s apartment) clashed with the Spanish tile. So I found a very daring one. It is a bright grass green, which oddly enough works with the coconut rug in our office corner and the anthracite rug of the sitting corner by jumping right out of the red Spanish tile. Brightens the place right up…which I had hoped for, but doubted about due to the fierce green. The red rug is now on the blue kitchen floor, so that gives a nice contrast too. There it doesn’t look all that worn, thankfully. In fact it looks rather cool there with all the blues and yellows.

Next I’ve spend a few bucks on cover foil for the kitchen cupboards. They were of this rather worn and ugly, dark brown oak, and I wasn’t allowed to paint them, so I got the idea to get this fake beach wood pattern vinyl plastic of a light-ish white, gray color and covered the center of the cupboards with it. At the very least, it looks lighter, and that was my aim. Still have to get another role, but they didn’t have the stuff in stock, so I’m going to have to look for it at other branches of the store.

Applied for a few more jobs, on as a research person at a PI firm, which I don’t think I’ll get a response to, but which should be fun, at the very least. Another job I applied for is night reception work at a hotel, which held some appeal at least, since the unusual hours usually pay well round these parts.

Visited our father and stepmother a little while ago. They too were moving house, they’re going down south which is going to make visiting in the future a little difficult, but what can you do. We had offered to help out with the move, so after we arrived we spent some time going through stuff on the attic (where we found some pics from our childhood and such, which was fun) and then we loaded up their mattress, bed, some yoga supplies and some stuff that we could still get in and drove it 180 miles south. Was quite a ride, especially we were there just before rush hour and things started to pile up. Unloaded everything, set up the bed so they could plop in bed without effort once they were done moving (seemed a nice thing to do) and then started on our way back. There was a massive pile-up near Boxmeer. Some odd fifteen miles of congestion resulted, but luckily it was on the opposite side of the road. We just got to marvel at the miles and miles of cars waiting impatiently to travel on. Considering we had to return the key, and pick up a cupboard that I just loved for our office, we spent a whopping seven hours on the road that day, meaning that we were pretty much road-weary when we finally got home around eleven in the evening.

Been to a couple of fitness clubs in the area, more or less trying out which one we like. First one was a tad dank, if you get my meaning. Didn’t like the atmosphere all that much. The second one was rather busy, dirty, and what’s worse, their boxing bag was broken. The hard core of the bag had somehow been dislodged, meaning that everything was fine when I was doing my punches and jabs, but when I did my high kicks, and the sideways arm swing at neck height, I damaged both the top of my foot and my wrist. Seriously, I punch and kick hard, because I have a massive bruise on my wrist (swelled up like mad the first day) and I had to bind my foot and add cream from fear I’d done some serious damage. I didn’t because later the next day I stepped (limped, really) onto the threshold of the living room, putting my foot down wrong when something inside there popped. After that the pain quickly started to subside, leaving now only a slightly pinched feeling that you have when something’s been bruised a bit. Much relief there.

Went to visit one of our colleagues in our old town when we had to go there to give back my keys and get the last bits and pieces that we had left for this occasion at my former apartment. Took us about forty minutes to gather the things, clean up what still had to be cleaned, and say our goodbyes to the former neighbors, and then we were on our way. Later we visited with our friend, had something to drink, talked a while, including the latest rumors about the sauna. Things are apparently going poorly with the cleaners. They’re making a mess of things. Not cleaning things properly, adding to the bill, which pisses off the new boss, of course. Makes me a little smug, I’ll admit. We were keeping up the cleaning despite the shortage in staff…and what’s worse, I warned the cleaning company that he wasn’t going to manage the cleaning in the time he’d allotted for it, with the amount of people he’d assigned for it. So, well, than you get war at the sauna between the cleaning company and the sauna itself, exactly as I’d feared. In that regard I’m very happy not to be working there anymore. In another regard, as to the fun parts of the work we did, I still regret the whole thing, but being in the middle of a war is definitely not something I would have wanted to deal with.

So, this brings me to the last bit of today, a few more pics, right?

This here is the before and after of the kitchen...

 Isn't it possitively hideous. I mean, I have nothing against oak, but I'd want to see the original color, not this dark stuff. Grrrr

Not too bad, right. Better than the dark stuff, anyway.
This is the front of the building, after I took away all the messes and washed the windows and frames.

Part of the view.

 The drive sweep we share with both neighbors.

 The backyard that we've been doing some stuff in. That gate wasn't visible, in case you're wondering.

 Neither were these bricks, before we started taking weeds away. Hah

 The living room in the evening. I find it wonderfully cosy.

 The office, with big brother hard at work.

 And the cupboard we got from our father and stepmother.

 

The bedroom. I know, the lines are totally not my thing, but who cares. I sleep there, read a bit sometimes, other than that, I'm mostly puttering around the house anyway. Hah

 Lastly some old pics that I took pictures off...my mom and me.

 And lastly with big brother and me on the right together with our cousins.

 

That's it, folks. Time for me to get to something else. I'll be back.

R.I.P. Knight II

Well, as you might have guessed from the title, this morning Knight II was no more.
His health took a drastic turn yesterday evening, and the night was sheer torture for both of us, meaning that this morning I was forced to say my final goodbye to the big lug. So I did, together with the vet and her assistant...all three of us crying buckets. For so long we worked together to keep him alive and healthy, only to come to this painful moment.
It was bound to come, but still...
He will be missed.
I figure, we might as well use this day's blog as a small trip down memory lane with pics of the Knight as I will always remember him.

 Like up here, at the market some years back. He was the main attraction, of course, and loved the attention.

 Back in the day when we still had the greenhouse. Always stealing chairs. The Knight did NOT sit on the ground, thank you very much.

 Keeping track, of course, with Sitabah behind him. See his paw? This was before he wrecked it. He had lost his tail already, though.

 On a work site. Sleeping of course, opening his eyes every five minutes to check if I was still there.

 Stealing the chair, again...and the puppy eyes, naturally.

The Bed. His, make no mistake. He would share it with us, though.

 My welcome home...every time.

 The lug at nine months, when I only had him a short time, fresh from the pound.

 The same day. He didn't have his proportions yet, his paws not having reached their mature height. And right below here, him looking his intelligent self at a job site. He was sick again, as usual, but still, beautiful, right.

 

So gorgeous, but a tough life for the big lug. He is better off, I know that...doesn't make it any better for me, though.

And this is how I will remember him most, I think. Yeah. This one shows him best.

Knighty-boy.
He was my best friend and for the past seven years he added to my life. I'll miss him somewhat fierce...heck, I already do.
Every time he got sick, he bruised my heart a little, big bastard, but today, I have to admit, he finally managed to break it.

Project pics

Song of the day: "I hope you dance" by Leann Womack. Splendid song to have tumbling through your head, thank you very much.

Today was utterly boring. Was in the car most of the day, went to town twice, and the village too, so let's do something fun and do a pic update. Yay!

The project.

Day one:
Clearing the ground and starting on the pillar.


Pillar done. Cute, right?


Day two:
Doing the woodwork at home.


Day three:
Putting the beam up.


Then the whole lot.


Day four:
Putting on the ceramic plating.


And then pouring the first layer.


Day five:
Putting on the mold.


Pouring the floor and smoothening it.


Day six:
Et voila! There was a massive cleanup involved on this one


Day seven:
The future terrace. Digging out the square and pouring a layer of concrete.


Day eight:
Putting in the tiles. Only managed halfway due to planning bits that took more time than anticipated. Killed my knees despite the pillow. Hah.


Day nine:
*sigh* This was yesterday, where we finished the project and cleaned the whole lot up. Long day, yet not as long as I feared.


To be on the safe side we'd taken an extra load of sand but luckily we didn't need it.

I kinda like the end result. Very rustic, fitted in a way that makes it seem like it's been there always, which is the best thing of construction for as far as I'm concerned. On the most part I even like to use 2nd hand materials that date back to the same time as when the building was constructed, but you can't have everything, I guess. Hah.


What do you think? He makes it look like art, doesn't he? Hah.


Well, that's that. Not a bad job, I gotta say. Nothing like standing there at the end of it and seeing what it turned into. Went back a gazillion times to check that we got all the tools, all the mess, but you just never know if you missed something. We'll find out, I'm sure.

What else? Well, Knight II went to the vet today, and she declared that I was no longer under any obligation to bring him. What's left of the wound will just take time, and until it is completely shut, he'll have to continue carrying the sock. *sigh* The bugger got rid of one yesterday and within half an hour he had licked up blood again. I could strangle that dog sometimes. *sob* It'll take time, according to the vet, and regretfully he'll make sure that it'll take as long as possible. Grrr. It's a good thing I love him to pieces, otherwise I might strangle him. Hah.

Manni, little sister's Cocker Spaniel had to be operated on his underdeveloped eye today. Poor doggie had an infection (we were warned for that when little sister adopted him with the bad eye)that made the eye bug, so it had to be removed.

There was cooking, there was laundry, there was editing and writing to be done and dogs to pet. I know, fascinating, right? No matter, though. Such is life as I know it, and I better darn well enjoy it.

Well, this should suffice for today's blog, right?

Some pics, just because

First off on the pics. The Winter wall of the carport. Doesn't it look cute?


Song of the day: “Son of a preacher man” by Aretha Franklin. I started humming it for fun the other day, and it has been popping up in my head ever since. *sigh*

So yeah, it’s been a busy couple of days…well, three of ‘m technically, but since two of them were away from home, we’ll start with those.

Saturday:

It started off early, seeing as we had to travel all the way to Marbella before nine in the morning. Didn’t sleep all that well, so by the time the alarm went off I stumbled out of bed and headed linea recta to the pool for a quick dip that was supposed to wake me up. It didn’t despite it being ridiculously cold. Got dressed, slurped at my coffee and then headed on up, grateful to discover that cousin Ed had managed to prepare me a couple of sandwiches.

Arrived at the market at the appointed time and managed to get the car in close to where we needed to be. The spot we got was surprisingly spacious, and, in hindsight, probably even better than the last one, since this is a corner and kids don’t use it as a detour.
The market organizer lady is a nice one, and made us feel right at home as we set up. Took us about an hour and a half to get it all done properly. The color schemes had to fit, the types of products properly organized to complement each other, and by the time it was done the folks who’d ordered the dog bag arrived. The first thing we saw was Sasha, the adorable Yorkshire terrier that heard me make kissy noises and came barreling down under the table, to leap in my arms. Adorable little thing.
They liked the bag, so…phew…paid the price, and proclaimed that they were likely to come back at some point for a matching bag for Sasha, and maybe one of the dogbeds. They also told us of a very nice market in Soto Grande, which would be perfect for us, if not for the fact that it would be a two hour drive to get there, ergo the price of a single dog bed just to get there. Such a pity.
Chatted a bit and were then left to continue with our day. Luckily there is plenty to see at a place like Funny beach, so in between we had plenty to do. Was a ridiculously slow day, but it didn’t matter, because at a certain point there was this very, very nice German woman who started looking through the dog beds, (very thoughtful like) and said, “I’m going to take this one.” I was pretty happy with that, and was already looking for a bag when she added, “I think this one,” while pointing at another. I nodded, gave a silent sigh, and grabbed that one and then…” definitely this one,” the woman said, at which point it started to get through to me that she was aiming to buy several beds. So there she went, “that one, that one, that one, and that…no, no, this one.” I could only raised my brows as I tapped Cousin Ed on the shoulder and had her help me bag the things and ring ‘m up, so to speak. The woman explained that normally she would try to negotiate a better price when doing such a big purchase, but since she thought the prices fair, she was taking them as they were. Big relief, that, not to mention allowing us to relax for the remainder of the day since we by far surpassed our quota. Hah.
Later we also got an order for yet another bag, with a down payment of half the price, so it was a pretty successful day.
Got another tip for a market, and since we decided that we wanted to try the Sunday Market as well (phoned the “production department” first if it was at all doable in regards to the amount of bags) we agreed that after setting up the next day, I’d take the car (Opel this time, since the Land Rover is mom’s and the sibs’ on Sunday) and check it out. Supposedly there are plenty of buyers over there (Benahavis) including the odd celebrity. Weird idea that. A celebrity on a flea market. Hah.
But anyway, with that agreed upon, we reserved a spot for Sunday and continued on. Not much more sales that day, but lots of interest for my tie dyes, some attention for the snugglies, and on the overall a nice day spent chatting with loads of folks.
Lots of the other sellers didn’t sell at all, and had the organizer a little upset because basically everyone had talked her into adding Saturdays to the flea market that she usually only did once every two weeks on a Sunday.
Some folks just don’t understand that you need patience for markets that are just starting out. Folks need to know that they’re there, before the show up.

Here's the market for ya. All set up with the first bit of sunshine arriving in the morning.


The other side.


In the back there is the pillar that holds all the purses. They get plenty of attention.


And the snuggly with bag and baby blanket that I set up as a center piece on Sunday.


The Chaos because...well, just because. Hah. He noticed the camera the blasted beast.



By the time the end of the market arrived we had a lot less to pack and were on our way home around five thirty. We’d already sorted through the merchandise, and once there we could basically grab out a few bags and transfer it to the trailer for the Opel. Next we loaded the remainder of the baskets and whatnots for Sunday. Didn’t finish with that until twilight fell. Was properly tired at the end. Did manage some writing but decided to crash around one in the morning and did so passionately. Hah.

Sunday:
Didn’t go as smoothly. In fact, a lot went wrong. We forgot some stuff for the tables and if we hadn’t been able to borrow them at Funny Beach we’d have been in a lot of trouble…well, we were, seeing as, for the first time since standing on that market, we didn’t. Sell. A. Single. Thing. Hah.
It seriously cracked me up. I mean, really. There were plenty of folks (like this very celebrity-type dad, organizing a b-day party for his kid with about six moms fluttering around him. Kept us better entertained than a soap opera, I tell ya.) and yet none of them was there to spent more than a buck or two, and eat at the restaurant of the place. Very strange. There was loads of interest, people oohing and aahing, touching, pointing, and…nothing, nada zilch.
Luckily mom and the zips did a lot better and sold double the usual.

You’d think I would be bummed, but I wasn’t. I refuse to let “sales” affect my mood and arrived at home just barely on time to partly unload the car before big brother and I headed out to pick up a donation of food for the dogs. By the time we got home, it was quickly to work on the computer, and then out again for a jog that I really, really needed.
I actually broke my own record and ran more than half a mile at a single piece. I did a happy dance, thank you very much.

Was in bed on time again, because let’s face it, after the run I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open.

Which brings us to today.
Also busy, but more in the normal way. There was laundry, dog food, and then helping tenant since caregiver took Sally to hospital for her first round of chemo. (Took all, day, since they put her on a five hour drip of fluids that are going to wreck everything inside her. Scary stuff if you read about all it does. I don’t think I’d have the guts to do chemo.) Helped her change and then walked her down to the house so she could visit with mom.
What followed was a trip into the yard where I watered plants and then watched the dogs while big brother cut down the big eucalyptus that has been stealing the water for the veggie yard most of the last three years.
Got to saw, got to use the axe, and then went up with the day’s harvest and a trunk to get started on supper.

Here are the pics.

The tree.


Before. So proud, so fierce...and a total thief when it comes to water.


After. So sad.


Down like a tree, eh?


Lotsa firewood, though. Hah.


*sigh* What else...?
Experimented a little with beef again. Marinated it in cherry liquor with soy sauce and fresh thyme, and admittedly it didn’t go bad at all. Didn’t manage to eat more of it than my usual quarter, but since big brother has less trouble eating the stuff, nothing was lost.

Supper done, we had to go out again for another donation, and didn’t come home until after nine at which point I reheated supper and then headed down to do my messages, try for some writing, and do the blog. Managed the last, just barely, but what the hey.

A pretty shot from the rainy days.


The porch for the cabin


And that's it. I gotta get to bed, thank you very much.