Arnhem: books, food and bringing home the bacon

We planned to go to Den Haag, but decided to go to good old Arnhem instead, just an afternoon, to keep it real. The Hague can wait and we still had a marvellous day!

Released a few books...



...swapped this book (by the man who was our prime minister)...



...for this one (by the woman who should be our prime minister!)...



...scored some new & used books plus this awesome paper bag...



...had dinner at a Greek place. Way too much food (and soooo yummie!), so Albert wanted to take the left over pile of meat home. But what to do when you don't wanna ask for a doggybag? You pull an Oma Horst! You take one of the shopping bags, empty it into another bag and then you secretly move the meat from your plate into the bag, carefully watching if no one is looking (and your wife turns red while trying not to laugh out loud)...

...kitty bag!...

...and the kitties sure loved the surprise! The end.

4 out of 5

As I may have mentioned before: we don't let Puschkin go out on his own now that he's so fragile. He still has the longing to be outdoors though, so once in a while we guide him into the garden. The other cats always join us :)

I've never seen a cat grow this old before. We don't know Puschkin's and Sachie's ages because they were stray cats, but Puschkin must be over 20 now. He's like those amazingly old people you see on tv, celebrating their 105th birthday: fragile, a bit confused, falling asleep while eating, taking about an hour to get to the other side of the room...but their eyes still sparkle when someone talks about the old days. Puschkin still "runs" to the kitchen when he hears the sound of a can being opened, he still enjoys being brushed & petted and he still uses the kitty litter. Those 3 things (plus: not having major medical problems, of course) tell us he still wants to be here. The past few days we've noticed some changes, seems like he's getting a bit less stabile on his feet every day.
We planned a city trip with a night in a hotel for this week, but we cancelled the hotel. Don't wanna leave the old guy alone for more than a day. Besides, we've spent the hotel money on fancy cat food already ;)

Some snapshots of today:
(ps: Pavlov had a bad hair day, so she isn't in the pictures)

Puschkin



Molotov





Munchkin, slightly intimidated by Molotov



Sachie, enjoying the sun

Sachie, looking down on me

Hoi!

Threads 'n' Feathers

When I started crocheting amigurumi style, I'd already noticed my creatures were a bit smaller than the more common ones, simply because I prefer a thin kind of yarn and a matching needle.

But then I bumped into MUFFA's website. OMG, how can someone make items THAT tiny?! A few of the things she made only measure 10mm, while the arms, legs and head still can be moved. That's just magical!

I remembered MUFFA's creatures when I was checking out needle sizes and decided to give it a go with the size she uses: 0,5mm. (for amigurumi, people mostly use 2-3mm hooks, my preference is 1,5mm)

Managed to make a tiny bird out of embroidery thread, but man, I still have a headache! A fun experiment and I might try it again, but for now I'm going back to my usual size where I can put in more details and work more neatly. I think the phoenix duckling I made for someone has more personality and it's still keychain size.

In a challenge I joined, we're making ragdolls. It went well until I came to the point where the doll needed to be dressed. Haha, I never made any cloting items before! So I'm going through clothing patterns at the moment, trying to learn a few new stitches so I can make a Lolita outfit for this way too naked doll ;)

Ps: here's an album, showing a few of the items I made. When I use an existing pattern, it's mentioned in the descriptions. Other items come from my own imagination;)
Xamantha's Crochet Album

Spreading the words

"Good afternoon, can I offer you a book?"
Albert was on his way to place the book on the bench when this couple arrived. I would have looked for a different place, but hubby is less shy. The book went straight into the shopping bag! Ah, wish I could read minds, these people looked so confused ;)

Updates...

I haven't been a good girl when it comes to updating this blog lately. I'm still making creatures out of thread, but most energy goes into staying on my feet and my social life is one of the things that's affected quite a bit.

Anyway, here's a little fella who wants to say "hi" and "Xamantha will be back here soon"...

Toy dropping!

I just bumped into a wonderful website: The Toy Society. (Click on the image to visit it, it's worth a peek!)
Wow, and it's even got participants from the Netherlands. And now it's got one more, I signed up to join. Of course :)

The Toy Society spreads love throughout the streets of the world. Nothing to it really just a bunch of handmade toys looking for a nice home.


What started as a small street art project in Australia is slowly spreading around the world.

Should you come across a member of The Toy Society on your travels collect them up and take them home with you! But don't forget to let us know about it here.

Sachie appreciates handmade stuff ;)

Lights in Darkness

My friend, calling me on the phone & texting me, asking how I'm doing.  My hubby with his thousands little acts of kindness & care every day. Mysterious boxes in the mail that smell like chocolate, coffee & books. (more about the boxes later)

I feel supported. You make the darkness inside light up a bit, just enough to see the ground beneath my feet.
Thank you.

Ah, those summer nights!

That song from Grease got stuck in my head yesterday;)

Another sleepless night, the weather is killing me. We've got a powerful fan in the bedroom and the window is wide open, but the air is too hot & sticky for me to catch my sleep. Finished the book I was reading, didn't feel like picking another one from the To Be Read pile.

Downstairs now, temperature is better here. Found a nice cold can of orange juice in the fridge. Oh and there's a little bit of Passoa in the can as well ;)

^^I'm *so* rock'n'roll, that's obvious when you watch these pictures:

This tiny creature I'm making for the aunt who surprised me with really delicate yarn. It's just a few centimeters in height and I think I'll give it tall floppy bunny ears.

And this is one of the side effects: crocheting blisters!

Joined a project where everyone uses the same pattern, this time it's an elephant. Didn't like the original snout (?), so I did a bit of freestyling. Still not sure if I like it, but the yarn has great effects. Bought it in a crafty store, think it's meant to knit socks with.

My super fancy stitch marker! ;)

Even more fancy & haute cuisine!

Nephew Noah being his cute little self

Cats:

Sachie prefers the fan over the sun, but here he's enjoying the sunlight:

Puschkin: hey punk, that's MY basket!

Jeez, what a messy blog entry this is. Guess I'm just passing time...ah well.

Pasta!

Albert had spaghetti bolognese today...and something tells me he had dinner company ;)

Inspired by...

It's already 5 years ago since we had these cuddly kittens (the black one is Molotov, the grey one moved to my cousin's and is now called Jimi), but they still inspire. The thread ones are much smaller though, 2-3 cm in height :)

More Cats!

3 new cats have joined the family!

Don't worry, 2 have already found new homes and the other one won't grow very much ;)

(Munchkin likes his lookalike^^)

Dio

Rest In Peace

Crochet Mania

Out of the blue I'm crocheting my ass off :)
Actually, not completely out of the blue: a friend asked me if I could make some cotton flowers to apply on her little girls' clothes. When I said yes, I *think* I can do that or learn how to do it, she sent me a package with different yarns. Haha, way to go, having all that material in hands made me start right away and now I find myself hooked (yep, silly pun^^).

Internet is such a good help: on Youtube you can find many, many crocheting tutorials and for a beginner like me that's perfect, easier than learning it from a book. And the English names for stitches make more sense to me.

Hope that, with enough practise, I can switch to making my own designs, with a more edgy twist. But for now flowers & butterflies are fine and I don't care if it makes me look like the typical cat lady. Got the cats, got some grey hair, got the ball of yarn next to me...all I need now is a rocking chair to complete the image! :)

Masochism?

So this is me, celebrating one of the most recent piercings. I expected this one to heal better than the last, but helas...it got infected and not only the pierced area was swollen, my cheek was as well. It hurt like hell and I was asking myself: "what was the reason again for having holes punched into your flesh?". No deeper meaning, no other reason than: I love the sight of piercings, I just like 'em.

Been using sea salt compresses a few times a day in an attempt to tear the goo out and noticed the best way to reach the inner part of the ear (where the other side of the piercing is) is with cotton sticks. Acupuncture for softies, Albert says ;)

This is what I hope it will look like in a few months. Let's hope it heals fast:)

Happy Birthday Albert!

My love turned 39 and his idea of a perfect day out is a day at the zoo. And I agree, it's a joy to stroll through that park together. Ouwehand's Dierenpark in Rhenen is just a bus ride away. This is an old zoo and lately there have been a lot of improvements going on. The spaces for the animals are bigger now and more like their natural habitats. Most of the big cats have moved to other parks and that's a relief to us. Of course it's great to be able to see every detail of the animals we love the most, but their space was too small and the cats didn't look happy. Now there are only lions and tigers left and they've got plenty of space to run around.

We saw a lot of newborn animals and watched the old bears frolic like cubs. Just a happy, cheerful day.
Afterwards we walked to the "pannenkoekenhuis", a pancake place. Yummie! Albert went for apple-raisin and I couldn't resist the pancake with stir-fried veggies & cheese.

Came home early, took a little old people's nap and watched a movie.

At the moment Albert is reading, a rare thing. He's just not into reading, like I'm not into some of his hobbies. My gift to him was the autobiography of his all-time rock idol, Biff Byford, and it was the first time I saw him get really excited about a book. So glad I could get my hands on that title!

In the 1st 2 pics Albert is wearing pyjamas. A bit of an inside joke between us, he's been talking about buying p.j.'s forever so I decided to buy him a set. It's his last year being thirty-something, he'd better get used to being old ;)

Pictures!