"Haven´t laughed like that in years!"

Song of the day: “Took a Pill in Ibiza” by Mike Posner…the remix. Cool song and it has been in my head off and on for a while.

I’m sorry. Bad Sammi! I took way too long since the last blog, didn’t I? I feel bad, but my excuse is that I’ve been busy at work (tired because of it) and that big brother got sick, resulting in me being sick as well for the past five days or so, which didn’t improve on my energy levels. Hah. Still, they are  excuses, which don’t do any good, so…moving on.

What’s been happening?

First off, I’ve got some good news. My best friend from Spain will be coming over for a few days in April, which has me very excited, thank you very much. She can only get a few days off, but still, it will be awesome to see her again. It has been over seven months now, and I’ve missed her somewhat fierce, so that is definitely going to be fun.

The weather has turned, meaning that the awful cold is gone at last and that the first blossoms have burst out…looks rather cute, too, from my top floor window which overlooks a little park with some sort of fruit tree in it. Hah.

Got good internet at last. We folded and took a proper contract on a hard line, rather than just the mobile phones. It was a pain in the behind, because whenever I connected my computer there would be a bunch of friggin’ updates, meaning that it ate away my bites to a point where any speedy internet was virtually impossible. Grrrr.  So there’s broadband now, meaning that I can actually watch an occasional movie and have in fact found my old favorite TV show on Youtube “the Young Riders”. Have been enjoying that quite a bit for the past week or so, whenever I plunked down on the couch and vegetated the last hour or two of the day away after work.

Cooking? Yes! Did some experimenting with noodles that other day and other than that about 90 percent of the time decent meals that fill the stomach and fit the requirements of daily nutrition. Can’t ask for much more than that, can ya…like yesterday I made a rather delicious 2 bean veggie chili that went down rather splendid.

Then, of course, on Tuesday we had New York Pizza, (Tuesdays have a sale of 5 bucks per pie if you pick them up yourself) because I was bushed from work and simply couldn’t stand the idea of having to make dinner after doing a 9 hour work day, sniveling the whole time.

Had another inspection of the company for which we’re in our apartments, which freaked me out a little because it had been a week from hell with the cold making me downright violent toward the idea of doing any more cleaning than for work. And I got that message of the pending inspection while I was doing a very necessary nap, meaning that I couldn’t sleep because let’s face it, I started to worry about all the things that I still needed to clean up before they came. Grrr. Anyway, it turned out okay. I vacuumed, folded laundry, did dishes and set stuff straight while I dusted. Meaning that it was all presentable within half an hour or so. Of course I was still at work by the time the inspection came by, so I didn’t actually get to talk to the folks. All we (yes, big brother had an inspection too…while he was at work) got was a mention of rehanging the fire detector that I hit off the ceiling the last time I burned rice on the stove. Grrr. But it’s fine, the “occupation was perfectly alright” so that’s that.

Last night was a strange night for me. First off, after dinner and relaxing a little big brother and I were talking about some woman who had been all insulted that a guy had been checking out her cleavage…which had been considerable, in a dress that barely covered the essentials and with a push-up contraption that basically brought that very cleavage up to her chin. I’m sorry. I like cleavage, a tasteful amount of it is gorgeous and I’m not shy about displaying my own from time to time, especially if I’ve spent several months as “one of the dudes” in work clothes, but there is a distinct difference between cleavage and Cleavage with a capital C. I’m not saying anyone should not be allowed to display it, I’m not saying it is wrong, I’m just saying that if you hang it out there for the world to see, you shouldn’t be surprised that some dude is going to be staring at it, maybe with a bit of drool seeping from his open mouth. Haha.

Now, this was not the bit that was weird. No, it was my laughing fit when we got to comparing the woman’s cleavage to if a guy ever decided to do tit for tat and display the rounded-ness of his “unmentionable” in a specifically designed pants. For some reason (partly due to the glass of wine I had consumed at that time, I’m sure) it struck me as incredibly funny. Things got worse when we debated the “new trend” and how men would go out to enlarge their dangling unmentionables so that they could better display that “southern cleavage” which had a sip of my wine come spritzing out in yet another laughing fit.

Gawd, I haven’t laughed like that in years, which is a sad thing to realize, but seriously, put down your beverage of choice and give it some thought as you get yourself a mental image of the next red carpet  event where this has become a trend.

*snort*

Anywaysssss, that was the first part of the evening, after which I had another glass when big brother went to his own place because he had work the next day. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I got sad, and I hate it when that happens. Wrecked a perfectly fine evening, too. Missed my doggies, all of them, somewhat fierce, so in the end I just decided to say “f**k it!” turned the show off and went to bed before I flooded the apartment with a sobbing fest. Don’t know what was in that wine, but that seriously went from one extreme to the next.

Work has been a tad stressful. They’re having some trouble, being a start-up company and everything, and this has led to about a dozen contracts that haven’t been renewed, so there were loads of folks stressed out, worried, angry and downright scared, which didn’t improve on the general atmosphere. There is still some frictions with the new colleagues in the sanitation department, so that’s not so pleasant either, but we’re working on it.

Fun bit of news is that we’ve been invited by one of our colleagues (Lola, the designer who’s from Majorca and with whom we get to practice our crappy Spanish) to come in for a night of poker. None of us can play, but what the heck: Should be fun.

Another couple of colleagues will be coming over for dinner in the next month or so, and we’ve been invited to come visit another colleagues place to haunt the old sauna location. I’ll keep you posted.

The exercises I got from the physio at work appear to be working. My foot has been bugging me a lot less lately. Of course my leg has been giving me fits (see how there always seems to be something? It’s just ridiculous!). Not enough trips to the gym, I’m thinking. Added to working in hot places without drinking sufficiently…it’s dehydrating me, which means that I have to pay better attention to that. Can’t afford that kind of risk, not now that I need to be at the top of my game for what sometimes feels like a friggin’ full time job. Seriously, I still don’t know how that works every time. I go somewhere for part time work, and end up doing way more than agreed on.

This was a plus this week, because there was actually something better to do than just cleaning and water testing. Instead I got to strip garden furniture and treat them with tropical wood oil together with a girl that works at the reception desk of the sauna. Had a fun time doing that, at least.

Still, I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m…well, we, are very useful, don’t mind hard work, don’t say no fast when more is asked of us, and give most tasks the full 100% of effort. This is not something that I see a lot among employees. On the most part folks are saying no to tasks that they don’t like, or weren’t hired for, and when they do take it they immediately start asking if that changes anything in their salaries. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a change in salary, but I put in my full effort because that makes me feel good, not because it gets me something. To me it seems that very few people are out there working their butts off because that is what makes them feel better, instead they’ll slack because of the “that’s not what I’m paid for” attitude. This is a pity. It makes very few people feel good about themselves in general, I think. *sigh* There are exceptions of course. I’ve been working with some pretty awesome people that don’t whine about the little things and put in quite some effort, so maybe I just need to meet more of those to restore my belief in the working force. Hehehe.

Did do some work at my own place. I sanded and white-washed a nice chest of drawers that looked horrible when I got it from a thrift store for 7 bucks, and now looks like new. Yay. Oddly enough, I'm ending up with lots of white stuff in my place, interspersed with bright colors such as red, green, blue and yellow. I like it! 

Got a new pic up on my blog, and my Whatsapp, and have been getting mixed responses. Some said you look awesome, others said: what are you, like, 16?  Which had me chortling and fretting at the same time. I should be happy that I can look younger like that, right? But then I never did like myself at 16, so...  *snort*

Writing-wise I have been slacking as much as writing the blog, I’m thinking. The old problem, too tired, too scatterbrained and sometimes disheartened due to the difficulties of becoming a traditionally published author. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been doing the whole writing bit too long to give it up now…it would be like having studied to be a doctor for ten years and then just when you’re about to get that important position at some major hospital, after interning for years, you say, like; ah, this is too hard, I’m just going to give up…It would be ridiculous! I’ve been writing for almost 25 years, wrote at least 30 stories with many more in the making, and to give that up now would be…stupid is the word for it. Be that as it may, it doesn’t stop you from sometimes feeling it, does it? Don’t worry, I’ll get there some day, and I’ll get there writing the stuff I love, one way or other.

Until then…well, you’re stuck with me. Hah!

Socializing

Song of the day: “Madness” by Chester See and Andy Lange. It’s a cover, naturally, but so much nicer than the original, IMO. Another song that has been in my head a lot lately is Mike Posner’s “I took a pill in Ibiza” which is a rather lovely song, unless it is repeating over and over in your head. *sigh*

Right, another blog, this time not so far apart (depending on if I can finish and post it today, naturally, hah) from the last, and with me enjoying an unexpected day off. The plan was for me to work today, but then at the last moment it was changed, meaning I was home, went out on my bike for a bit, and then home again, doing stuff in the kitchen, cleaning the apartment (yes, I know. I’m ruined by my work, I tell ya! I could have been lounging on the couch with a good book and instead I’m running around vacuuming, mopping and dusting. It’s embarrassing!) and putting away random clothes that ended up on the chair in my bedroom.

It all looks good now, though, which is not a bad thing since one of our colleagues will be coming for dinner tonight. I’m cooking Pasta Fungi, a rainbow salad with lentils and feta and cinnamon apples on yogurt for dessert. All very simple but tasteful, which will just have to do for tonight. Should be fun. She’s a very nice woman (from Majorca of all places) who works in our team at the Sauna. Not that she’s a real cleaner, mind you (though very cleanly) in truth she is a fashion designer, whom you can check out online here (www.lolacuello.com) who is trying to get her big break here in the Netherlands…I know, not very subtle, this plugin, but since I can’t “like” her on Facebook (still don’t have an account there, sorry, folks) I figure, I do it here. You need a gorgeous gown, suit, or wedding dress, she’s the one you need.

Considering she’s very good (she was in Vogue, for crying out loud) she won’t be with us long. *sob*

Work has been a b**ch this week. Not so much the work itself, but my friggin’ foot. Yep, plantars Faciitis has been playing up , and it ain’t no fun whatsoever. Finally realized two things: I’d been taking less of my bloodwine (frugality had brought me down to one glass per evening), and I’ve been walking on the same shoes for several weeks. What with all the running about at work, it was bound to start on all the pressure points. So I did something about both errors, taped up my foot once more, and things are slowly getting better again.

Also spoke the physical therapist at work yesterday, and he gave me some exercises that should help with the problem permanently, if possible. Did them with him yesterday, but boy did I regret that. About fifteen minutes later the friggin’ foot was excruciatingly painful, and I wished he’d warned me for that…will have to have a little chat with him to check if I maybe did them wrong, or if this is normal soon…but I ended up having to ice my foot for more than half an hour before it stopped hurting.

Added to that tidbit, for some reason my operated leg has been playing up again, too. That spot, where the laser shrunk shut the vein, the one that hurt like son of a gun back in the beginning has been aching again, meaning I should get back to the gym and get the strength back in that friggin’ leg. Come next week, I’m determined to get to the gym again. Tuesday, probably.

Had a friend visiting a few times this week who slept over for one night. Was nice. Very cosy, watching a horror movie together, having dinner with the three of us. She’d taken her dogs, and it was nice to have dogs in the house again, too.

Still eating properly, what with having my own kitchen, and just taking the time to cook something nutritious in the evening…are way late again most days, of course. Work keeps us busy quite a bit…

….

….

So yeah, this is three days after starting the blog, so I clearly didn’t manage to post it. *sigh* I don’t know why, guess events piled up again, leaving me with no time to continue my report of the past week or so.

I’ve been busy, I’m sorry to say. The dinner invites of the past weeks escalated and all piled together into three evenings of “entertaining”. I have learned that in the future I should be more careful about throwing out invitations, and spread them out a bit more, that almost went wrong. Socializing is hard work, I've found, and it seriously impedes on one's hermit tendencies. Don't know how some folks do it on  a regular basis, because no matter how entertaining, it is still hard work. Hah

My free days are gone again, with no writing done, darn it! They were just packed too full, I guess, and now I’m back at the beginning of my full work-week, Monday being the longest for some reason. I hope it won’t be as bad as last week, when I did a whopping ten hours. Didn’t help that I was really tired that day, felt pretty friggin’ bad and the hours just seemed to drag on…or the other day when I had a strange tingly sensation in my lower back, and then had to hose down the saunas (which means crawling underneath benches for about an hour and a half) which made the tingle turn into a really bad ache for the remainder of the day that had me shift from nausea to cold shivers in the hours that followed.

Luckily that problem was resolved with lots of stretches and a suspicious pop in my spine during one of them. Yay!

Today the weather is pretty fine! There was a clear blue sky (friggin’ cold though) and a wonderful bit of sun, just like yesterday, my free day, which I spent mostly in the car to pick up tenant and Cousin Ed for their visit. Took a long time, but tenant really enjoyed it, loved seeing our apartments for herself, rather than just hear about it, and then spend the evening going through my old baby pictures (one of her favorite occupations, that) and having dinner with the four of us, before big brother brought them home and I collapsed on the couch for the remainder of the evening.

The apartment is still clean. Like I said, work ruined me and I now spend precious free time cleaning. Gotta do something about that. Sure, I need to keep this place neat, but I also need time to get important stuff done. There are taxes to tackle, mails to write to my bank, stuff to arrange…and not to forget, a book to write…would a *sigh* be appropriate here.

Am determined to head for the gym this week. I’m thinking Tuesday. I’ll let you know how that works out. Considering we also have to get the last bits and pieces from our storage box in the city, which is really close to the gym, we should manage somehow.

Well, that’s all she wrote, this time around. I’m sure to have forgotten some witty dialogue, some dramatic event, but that can’t be helped. Got stuff to do, places to see and…well, you know.

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?