Monday morning blues

This is the problem with weekends. Apart from going to fast, you also have too much fun and then Monday morning is a drag. I say this and I don't even have to go into the office as I'm not working right now. We had friends over for brunch on Saturday (the little girls had a great time playing) and then on Sunday, the bunnies we are adopting arrived before we headed off to Heerjansdam for Ava's 1st birthday party. E had an absolute blast, running around with bikes and pushing prams and splashing about in the kiddie pool! The weather turned on the warmth but with a bit of cloud cover, so I didn't need to stress too much about her lilly white skin getting sunburnt. I've been told I stress too much but hey, sunburn sucks and she is only 2 after all.


So, today, back to the reality of daily life again. My tasks for the day are to figure out a good bunny diet plan (I might try to sort out mine while I'm at it as the weight is returning) then do the grocery shopping for the week; finish the 'tractatie' for E's friends at creche as she's 'graduating' to a different group tomorrow (here in the Netherlands at creche when your kids have a birthday or something you are expected to give out little pressies to the other kids - I still find this a little odd) and post the kid's clothes I am sending to Orange Babies for charidee. And of course, pick E up from creche, make dinner and do the washing in addition to feeding and playing with Al. Ah, I am getting tired just writing about it but best get cracking!

Til later, txo

Peonies

I am so flower illiterate. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE flowers (which is why living in the Netherlands rocks) but I just have no idea what most of them are called, beyond the usual Roses and Tulips! So, anyway, I had been reading so much about Peonies (sp?) and finally saw a picture of them and realised that yep, I quite liked them too. I bought a bunch on a whim on Saturday and they have been lovely...the only problem is that is has been warm (finally -hurrah!) and they had blossomed quite madly...I looked at them yesterday and for some reason they remind me of fat chickens stuffed into a coop awaiting slaughter. Not good. I can't but wonder though why I thought of that...weird. I don't think I' be buying Peonies again or perhaps I need to put them in a different vase!


It's been a nice day today as I finally caught up for a 'chat' with an old school friend (as in, someone I haven't been to school with for at least 30 years) because I was up at sparrow's fart this morning! She still lives in Singapore where we went to school together. She reminded me that I used to torment the little boy that was her her upstairs neighbour ... apparently I used to hit him with a hairbrush while we waited for the school bus! And here I am thinking I was such a lovely kid...so that's where my daughter gets it from!

Confessions of a 'granma'...

So, at 9pm I thought, right, I am going to bed...now, 2 hours later, here I am! I'm not asleep though as I thought I really should write something first. Trying to type quietly as the little fella is dropping off to sleepland beside me in his moses basket...

Anyhow, once again I had a great blog in my head, albeit fleetingly. All I can remember is that I was thinking of my mother. I miss her. I think I'll call her tomorrow. She used to drive me insane, but over the years we have both mellowed and well, I moved to the other side of the world. I hope my daughter doesn't decide that's her only option when she's older. But hey, from what I hear, we're doomed to repeat ourselves over and over so I expect that she will. I have learned some lessons though so perhaps she'll visit more often!

Aaaah, my mother. When I told her my surprise (pregnant with EK, her first grandchild) she said "Oh. I'm too old to be a grandmother." At 72, I guess I can understand, but hey, it's not my fault she only had me at age 37!! She then proceeded to ask me why I waited so long (even though I was younger than she was). Then once again pregnant with Ally boy, the first grandson, she said "You've already got one, why do you want another?". I've decided to interpret that as she loved me so much she couldn't imagine having another and being able to share the love, though I really know that she was in labour for so long that she couldn't imagine going through the pain again (only because she reminds me of this now and again, 38 years later!). She doesn't mince words my mother. I guess that's where I get it from, though I do try to temper it a little as most people really don't want that much honesty. You gotta love her for it though - it's who she is and she isn't really trying to be anything else. Having said that, a little more excitement would have gone down quite nicely at the time.

The only notable thing today is that I have fallen in lust for a Nikon D90. I NEEEEED a new camera as our canon brick is really not managing to capture all those wonky smiles Ally keeps giving me. Unfortunately we have no money so I can but dream...though the D40 is quite affordable and might just tide me over until I go back to work again...if I do, that is. Then I can show you some photos instead of all this blah blah blah.

Before I go, a blog I stumbled upon today on my exploration adventures in cyberspace...I am sending the kids clothes as per Pia's appeal to Orange Babies as I am close to Amsterdam...if you are too, then why don't you do the same?

http://blog.piajanebijkerk.com/WordPress/

Night night, txo

Techno overload

OK. Well, I was going to bed but I can't help but wonder...with all this technology and all these options, how does anyone choose what to use? So, there's Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Blogger...and then some...I need some serious help I think with my web 'presence'.

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!! LOL. I crack myself up. Web presence...right, I'm really going now.

blah blah blah blah blah

You know...I am oh so funny. In my head that is. And cool. Yeah, quite cool. Oh hell, I am also gorgeously slim and terribly stylish - all that and able to eat ice cream every day.

....

....

....

One can but dream, huh?

I am also a great blogger. People LURVE reading my blog. Yeah. I wish. One of these days I might be. Someone might actually read it and say hello. Not that I'm writing for other people per se...I'm writing it all down before I go senile and can't show my kids how cool I am. Hehe. Something like that.

And well, I quite like reading my old posts. I make me laugh. I also need the help to remember stuff that's happened. Once again, for the kids. ;-)

So many things to say and nothing else is coming out. Blah. Blah blah blah blah blah...can someone tell me how to get those 'great' blogs I randomly have in my head on paper?!

Gotta go for now - 11pm is way past my bedtime...and I need to 'sleep on' the job offer I got today. I should be happy about it but...something doesn't feel quite right. Hmm.

Night night. Mwah, txo

Flowers in the loo?

Well, what do you think? Never put flowers in the loo before but it seemed a waste of the nice arrangement I made for papa's breakfast tray yesterday, so...

All I know is every time I went to the loo that they made me smile. :-) And, well, that's really all that matters, isn't it?

Father's Day

I am so totally impressed with myself! Hehehe. What a spread I reckon - all this without a kitchen (ongoing renovation saga I'll save for a rainy day)...I even added some cut roses & lavender from the front of our house as he is quite fond of smelling the roses!

So, EK, AL & I brought the tray up to papa with a little gift EK made at creche for him (a bookmark). He was well chuffed (& so was I). :-)

Flickr & IKEA

So I had a brainwave...put all the renovation photos on Flickr and keep the blog a bit shorter. Wheeeeee. I am such a newbie in the land of technology but I am learnin'! So, once I figure out Flickr then I'll let you know where the photos are. :-)


In the interim, here is a photo that has me filled with envy...bring on the 'pod' chairs as Moo calls them (actually they're Tulip chairs). Um...if I knew where this shot was from I would credit it but I'm not that organised as yet...actually, I think I have seen it a few times in a few different places...






I am off to see what I can find to furnish our new kitchen with that 'evokes' this without the $$$ (hey, if I had the $$$ then definitely would go for the real thing!)...IKEA does a couple of cool things like that...I wonder, does anyone out there think IKEA products will become design 'icons' one day? I vote for this light - it's pretty cool...unfortunately, mass produced means it is EVERYWHERE (including our front room!)......and well, pretty much a lot of the IKEA Stockholm series of stuff is pretty OK too.


Right, gotta fly, baybeeee duties!


'til later,



txo

Our attic apartment renovation Part 1 - before...

Well, it's been a while since this all happened and we have since sold our lovely attic apartment with roof terrace in Amsterdam and moved to the 'burbs'...well, it's what I call the suburbs but most people would say a 15 minute walk from the city centre isn't really suburbia...but hey, there's only 300,000 people in this 'city'!!! ;-) More on the new place later + photos but now...here's what we did. Part one, the before photos:

At the top of the 69 steps to our apartment...were some scarier spiral stairs to the roof terrace.

Yep - very scary...even worse on the way down...especially after a few drinks with an alfresco dinner on the terrace on a summer's evening!
This is the old kitchen...the WHOLE kitchen...where's the fridge you ask?! Yes I wondered that myself until I opened the cupboard across the hall...needless to say, that is not where we put our fridge - clearly those folk did not entertain much.
A view across the kitchen to the dining space (the door in the kitchen leads to the bathroom).
More of the dining space.

The living room/study (with piles of things that had no home yet...).

Looking back the other way to the kitchen (um...please excuse the laundry!).

The bedroom.

The storage room ("walk in wardrobe"!).

Only 55sqm but it was ours and that was exciting after too many years of living in other peoples places. :-) We could do whatever we wanted to it - yay! Little did I know then how difficult renovations/builders can be and that, in fact, you can't do anything you want even if it was only the inside of your home...the council needed to know and approve everything...the beginning of our 2 year long nightmare...ahem, sorry, learning experience!

I love my friends...

so, i'm sitting at home watching the builders make a mess again after a relatively clean & tidy long weekend and thinking..ugh, 'here we go again', when my favourite postman rings the door bell. in his hands a mysterious package for moi! i love it when packages arrive and i don't know what's in them!! there's no return sender on the box so i open it up anyway and find a wonderful care package with REN goodies in it! i absolutely love their products and was ecstatic, to say the least, as we couldn't possibly afford that kind of luxury right now. who could love me this much - i wondered?! :-) a tiny little card at the bottom held a message from my friends in brisbane, dale and rachael, who sent this to me because mothers deserve a little pampering now and again. i am truly loved. aaah...the mess just got much easier to put up with - tonight, i am having a bath!