Birthday Boy!

Last Thursday, April 23rd, Albert turned 38. Our little tradition is to start birthdays at midnight by giving presents. This year the moment was extra nice: that afternoon a box arrived from our Swedish friends. So, after unwrapping my gifts (I'd chosen to give 6 gifts; one from each cat and one from me. I know that sounds cheesy but I don't care!), it was time to dive into the box! It was stuffed with all kinds of goodies and yummie candy, such a joy to open! On the picture above Albert is showing a few of the goodies :)

The next morning we went to the zoo Ouwehand's Dierenpark, a place that carries many happy memories for us. We started visiting it right at the start of our relationship and it still doesn't bore us. We love it so much that we even celebrated out wedding party over there!
It was an awesome day. Wonderful weather (sunny but not too hot) and we both were in a very good mood. We just enjoyed watching all the animals and each other's company!

Here is a little impression:

Retro!

Last weekend our dvd player died, a few secs before the end of the movie we were watching. Frustrating!

As we were longing for some more entertainment, we decided to take a look at the videotapes upstairs. A lot of dust had gathered on the tapes, but what great treasures we found underneath! A while ago we Albert tried to sell the whole collection because it was only in the way, but he couldn't get more than 30 euros for all the 200 tapes so he kept them. And now we're enjoying that decision! We've watched several romcoms already and plan to keep doing this when the new dvd player has arrived. Not all of them, though. Movies like The Ringmaster (Jerry Springer movie), The Dark Side of the Sun (horrible Brad Pitt movie) or Intensive Care (worst horror ever, bought it because my youth hero, Koen Wauters, is in it), those will keep on gathering dust...

Ain't it hip to go retro? Maybe the cd player should break down too, so we have to switch to tapes and vinyl :)

Bookmarks!

A while ago, a fellow BookCrosser from Florida came up with the wonderful idea of making a bookmark box: a box that would travel around the world, visiting book(mark) lovers so they could take out the ones they like and replace those with bookmarks from their own collection. I joined that project and was expecting a (large) envelope, but in the meantime the travelling collection has grown out of any envelope size; it has become a box indeed. I received it a few weeks ago and had a lot of fun going through the album, seeing all these different kinds of bookmarks, getting inspired, reading the journal that travels along and finally, making my choices of what to take out and what to add...
Thanks for organising this, CollegeLady!! The box is on its way to Australia!

The journal that travels along is from paperblank... (do not click on that link! it will make you drool if you're a book/journal lover!) (by the way, I'm the proud owner of this one, which I'm currently using as a diary)

Found these ceramic cat beads at aparte kralen, nice to use on a crocheted bookmark:

These I picked for others: the one on the left is for Albert's American Football collection, the other 4 are a surprise for a fellow bookmark lover:

And these two will stay with me:

As well as this one, it's so cute! I'll laminate it so it will survive living in my books :)

Kitties waiting to be cut out, laminated & cut out again. I promised myself that once I've got a good stack, I'm opening a tiny webshop to see if I'm able to sell some. It's not the most expensive hobby, but I'll need some cash if I want to keep on making them. And great for my self esteem if it would sell! :)

Engrish.com

This website may give you smiles ;)
www.engrish.com

Big Mouth

Last week at Catharinaschool (my day 'job' which I picked up again recently), I overheard people talking about how handy it would be if the instructions for the sketch project they were working on, would have been in Dutch. They understood some English, but not enough to follow the intructions properly.
Before even looking at it, I offered to translate it. Why not? My English is far from perfect, but reading large chunks of text in English isn't much of a problem.
Got a copy of the text and am working on it right now, wishing I'd kept my big mouth shut. Should have known the text was very technical and now I understand why people were having difficulties with it. So here I am, chewing at this chunk of text, trying to find the right words in Dutch. And refusing to give it up.

It makes me grin to see myself wrestling with this, to notice I'm still stubborn. The past few years I've been so insecure about almost anything, so I think it's a good sign to overestimate myself instead of underestimating for once. Back to work! ;)

Ideas Unfolding

A few years ago, a dear friend & fellow creative mind and I were talking about creative blocks and how to overcome those. My friend adviced me to read The Artist's Way, a book by Julia Cameron. It had helped her a lot, she told me.

I put the book on my wishlist on my BookCrossing shelf, hesitated to buy it myself. Not because I thought the book wouldn't be good, no, it was the same fear of starting new things as the one that was blocking my creative flow.

One of BookCrossing's slogans is: the Karma of Literature. I'm a strong believer in Karma and I'd experienced already that it's a very true slogan when it comes to BookCrossing: spread some joy and it will come back to you. It came back: out of the blue someone sent me The Artist's Way.

Stubborn & insecure me was still finding excuses not to use the 12 week programme of the book: the book was in English, it would work better for me if I had a copy in Dutch.

Okay, next step: buy the book in Dutch. I did so, last year.

Did I start the programme? Nope, I read several chapters of the book, but put it right back on the shelf every single time. Kept this wonderful treasure unused, making up all kinds of excuses not to start using it.

Well, it's time for a change!
Yesterday I moved the book from the shelf to the table in the living room, promising myself to keep it there until I start using it.

Browsed the web, saw there are lots of groups that do the programme together, even here in Holland. Wonderful, but often with costs that are higher than my budget.
Would there be online groups? Yes, those exist as well! I think an ontopic forum could be of great help, and there is a forum right at The Artist's Way's website.

I want to find a way to make it work for me, cuz I already know writing morning pages will be a real challenge for me. Not to start, but to keep doing it, not quitting.
I wonder if it would work to write those pages online, where people can see them, as external pressure. My pages would be in Dutch, as the main goal for me is to get back into writing -essays, poetry, stories and hopefully a book!
Hmm, sounds like it's time to get in touch with others about this, starting with making an account at the TAW website!

Preview

Since a little while, I'm in the lucky position to write a review now & then for a publisher, Arena (part of Meulenhoff Boekerij). As a reviewer, you receive a book by mail and write a review about it, which the publisher uses for its website. As a thank you, you get to keep the book. Pretty awesome for a bookworm like me!
Recently there was a competition: a group of people received a book written by Torsten Kroll, Callisto, and the 5 best reviews would receive his latest novel before it's being published. Lucky me ended in the top 5 and yesterday the book already arrived! Haven't started reading yet, but I think it will be a good read. Haha, it's just so cool to own a book way before it appears in the book shops :)

Spring is in the Air

This afternoon, Albert, the cats & I enjoyed the sunshine in the back yard :)
(oh, the white cat is not a new family member, just a visitor!)

Little Miracle Man

copyright photo: Gijs de Louw

A little update in English (as requested^^)
Noah's surgery went well!
Sooner than predicted he woke up at the Intensive Care and the next morning Maartje and Gijs were told Noah had been restless that night. He obviously was missing his parents and he was hungry (good sign!).
After such a surgery, it could last 10-14 days before he'd be ready to leave the IC. Well, stubborn little Noah doesn't care for odds very much: one by one the tubes were removed and Thursday morning he was ready to move to his own room at the children's ward!

We're so proud of our miracle nephew! And of his parents as well!
It's amazing to see support coming from unexpected angles, Maartje and Gijs really appreciate it. I bet loads of candles have been burning last Tuesday and I'm pretty convinced it has helped.

On the day of Noah's surgery, Albert and I were too restless to sit at home waiting, so we went shopping for a little gift for Noah. I'd been killing time during the night by thinking of what would be a nice gesture. A hand puppet would be great as Noah responds to movement and bright colours. So wonderful: we arrived at the shop of choice and saw this cute butterfly rightaway. Usually I'm not too good at making decisions, but we didn't need any 2nd thoughts or further browsing. Ain't it lovely? :)

Went straight to the post office to mail it and afterwards we sat down for coffee in a pavement. The sun was shining and we were talking about Noah when a little pigeon feather landed on the table. I smiled and put it in my pocket, convinced this was a good sign.

It was; when we came home my mom had just called to tell the surgery went well! A & I cheered! :)

I think doctors want to stay at the safe side of prognoses; they said Noah would maybe need 10-14 days at the IC, followed by some more weeks on the children's ward. But it looks like Noah could be home at the end of this week already!!!
Wednesday it's Gijs' birthday...no question what his biggest wish will be...

Noah truly is a little miracle man!

Week 6, bye bye

Bye bye herstellingsoord!
It wasn't heart-breaking to leave, although I've had a good stay. Not a life-changing experience, but I got to recharge my accu, enough to continue life at home.
some last impressions:

Fingers Crossed for Noah!!

Tomorrow, the youngest member of our family, gorgeous Noah, will undergo a major heart surgery. He's got a condition called AVSD, which means a hole between his heart chambers. He needs surgery in order to keep growing and being healthy. You can read more about AVSD in English here and in Dutch over here.
Surgery will start around 8 a.m. and we'll hear more between 3 and 4 p.m.
That's a looooooong & huge surgery for such a tiny guy (he's 4 months now) and I think I can speak for the whole family when I say it makes us worry a lot.

Maartje en Gijs are taking it all so well. My respect for them grows day by day (and it was already high), I don't think Noah could have had better parents than these 2 people.

Noah, the candles will burn for you all day.
We're there, with you, in our thoughts & prayers.

Updates about Noah in Dutch can be found here.
Please keep your fingers crossed tomorrow...

Week 5

(laundry day)

Week 5 was a week of mood swings, short nights and headaches, but I also got to make some new style of bookmarks, worked on my ceramic project and have read a lot more than the weeks before. So, mixed signs...what's new? ;)

Only shot a few pics:

(reading the instructions first can be very useful...^^)

bookmarks

in progress

the new smokers' location xD

"don't flush" (plumming problems)

headache

Dearly Beloved

I guess I can't say no one is thinking of me... :D

Day by day, cards keep arriving in my mailbox in Wolfheze,

reminding me every moment of the wonderful people in my life.

THANK YOU!!!

<3

Some new pics:

(click on this link)

(some pics are kinda crappy, but wanted to share them anyway)

The 4th week is over, time is going faster than I'd expected.

Last week began with a mega down weekend; realising the depression is deeper than I hoped was a tough and confronting something. It's not gonna be over after these 6 weeks, but I'm hoping I'll gather enough stability to keep on walking through the storm. It will clear up. Some day.

Some pics

Some pics of the building I'm staying:

Last Sunday I had a moment of total tranquility. Right after breakfast I went walking, taking my camera with me to make the walk nicer, and while I was strolling through a piece of the forest, I suddenly noticed a red glow in the distance. Heather! (heide) I knew it had to be close to Wolfheze, but thís close?! Wow!
It must have been almost 16 or 17 years ago since I walked around on heather fields and I forgot how gorgeous they are. I'd been feeling lost and lonely amongst the big crowd of people the whole week, but now that I was really by myself with no other living souls around me (besides some wildlife) the loneliness disappeared, together with the tension. I just stood there and cried. "This is what happiness feels like", I thought, "this is what I'm looking for".
Maybe I should buy a "hutje op de hei" (a cabin on the heather fields, a Dutch expression that means something like living isolated) after all?

Some pics of my stroll:

Indoor Sunbathing Cats

New Shirts

Hooray for the mail delivery guy today, he brought me these shirts. I bet there is someone here who can guess the brand ;)

The black one on the right is nice, but such a thin fabric and it attracts cat hair like crazy. Don't know, might be sending it back. The one on the left is definately gonna stay, I love it! More like a dress than a shirt, it reaches almost to my knees.

Oh, and this one I had printed (just had to^^):