White World...

Yup, it's November again and winter is early this year! It's been freezing for a few days now and we 'finally'got snow too... It's not that bad here where I live, close to the sea, but I wonder how the rest of the country looks right now. I'll ask my Omerta sister Orca later how the trains have been doing today...they have a history of stopping with any kind of bad weather, be it falling leaves or snow ;) She's a train conductor so she knows.

And here it's not as bad as in Scotland! One of my Omerta 'sons', Robsta, lives in Scotland. And they're having 17 inches of snow now, and about 2 feet in the fields! Robsta and his girl have 4 Huskies, and they work with them so they have a sled too. And since Robsta got a call from work not to come in, and his girl had the Landrover... He had to get some groceries and decided to use the sled :)) He was a little bit worried because they had to use the road but luckily there wasn't a moving car around.

Well, he got to the store and got his stuff and when he left, people were looking at him and taking pics :) I wish I had a pic of him with the full crew in front of the sled. But I have one of him in a race, and I asked permission to use it, so here we go : 

I think it's so cool he did that! Imagine, going shopping like that! Well, I'll be still going on my scooter, can't put the Dax girls in front of a sled alas ;)

Oh, I sent my application letter with my CV to Social Services, to apply to the job my casemanager told me about. Via email, so there was a bit of a mess up. I sent it to my casemanager too and she got everything, but HRM mailed me that they didn't get any attachments. Ooookay...so how did my casemanager get them? 

Well I sent everything again and got a nice mail back. My casemanager loved my letter, even asked me to revise her letters if she ever wanted to change jobs ;) And she sent my letter and CV to the head of the department I applied for, with a note from her full of praise ;) So now I'll just have...to wait. Super exciting! I hope I'll make it at least 'til the next round, don't even dare to dream of getting the job :p

That's it for today...dinner time for me now ;) Have a good day, watch out in the snow (if you got any ;) ) and cya soon!

Thanksgiving, and my thoughts about it

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US. I hope all my American readers had a very happy Turkey Day ;) I've seen some pretty funny shit regarding Thanksgiving on the internet. Well, pretty funny for a non-American, like 'The Pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey'. Hey, it's a BIRD...and it's FOOD! No need to pardon it :p I'm sorry but I really had to laugh while watching that video. Oh well, all that really know me know I am 'allergic' to Holidays and I like to make fun of them ;)

It also made me reflect on what I am thankful for. First and foremost, and I know my kids are not gonna like it, I am very thankful for meeting Chitown. He was a good friend to me while I was still married and an even better friend after my divorce. And he made me see again what love is, something that was missing in my marriage.

Then I am very thankful that I have such a wonderful son. I know the whole divorce thing is hard on the kids, even though they're both adults. My son lets me live in his house for free now, until I find a job and can chip in. He lives with his dad now. I kinda feel guilty about it, it's the parents that have to take care of the kids and not the other way around and I know he has loyalty issues...which I find very understandable of course. He's gonna spend Christmas with me so I can't deny it this year :p

I am also thankful for my case manager at Social Services. She has always been there for me, got me to study, helps finding jobs...as a matter of fact she asked me to apply at the financial department of Social Services, they have a job opening for an administrative employee. I wasn't sure I could apply but she says I have all the skills they need, otherwise the restaurant would have gone bankrupt. See? That's what I mean, she believes in me :)

So yeah, I had my own Thanksgiving ;) Said a little prayer for all I am thankful for...

Bits and bobs

Nothing much is happening overhere, that's the reason why I haven't written for a bit. Sorry :( But I've been watching the news, especially on BBC...

Big news: Wills and Kate are getting married next year :p Prince William is gonna marry his girlfriend for 8 years, 30 years after his parents got married. Kate Middleton is a 'common' girl, although her parents are millionaires after starting their own business. Well, I am always a bit sceptic about the institute of marriage but of course I wish them very much luck, and love, and wisdom... Let's hope it won't end disastrous like the marriage of Williams parents... Hurrah for Prince William and Princess Kate...ehm, Catherine ;)

I also heard, from Chitown, that a new batch of miners is trapped underground, in New Zealand. I immediately said: 'I bet they won't be trapped as long as the ones in Chile.' And low and behold, they'll probably get out tomorrow! Guess it does matter where you live :p

We're having a bit of fun on FaceBook... Some friends posted a message and I have reposted it several times myself : 'From 15-22 November, change your profile picture by an image of comics, cartoons, or toys from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. The goal? To not see any of the familiar faces on FaceBook but a true invasion of childhood memories!Let's do it!!! (Hey, we may even look better ;)' I found a pic of a vintage Barbie, much like the one my grandparents bought me in the US and several of my friends have posted nice profile pics themselves, like Pebbles and Samurai Pizza Cats... Too bad that not all of my friends are doing it, would have been really nice!

Miss Jadzia Dax and miss Ezri Dax, the kitties, have finally stopped fighting every day! They were driving me bonkers, I swear! Ezri still has some bald patches but it's getting better. I hope next spring we can get the girls on the pill or something, so they can get outside again and fight other cats, or at least come home too tired to fight ;)

Well as I said, nothing much happening here... I still keep looking for a job, still no success :( So all I do is cook and clean and stuff like that, and go out for groceries a few times a week. I am still bored as hell, and I am thinking of anything I could do to be self-employed, as my accountant friend suggested. But I can't come up with the 'golden' idea really. I emailed my case manager at Social Services but she's gone until the 22nd...

Oh well, something will come up sooner or later, I just hope sooner!

Have a great day you all, and see you soon!

Moving...inside the house.

As I have told before, I live in my sons flat. He moved in with his dad, nice and close to work :p I am trying very very hard to find a place to live but that isn't easy here. 

The flat is a work in progress really. Since my son works at dad's restaurant, he always ate there already or took something home to warm up in the microwave. So he had a fridge, a microwave and a little snack oven in his kitchen! He got a very nice kitchen from friends that he has to build in, and he has to buy a fitting fridge for that. As long as the kitchen isn't in, there is no flooring either :p So I have a cement floor. One day my son came home with a prezzy for me: a gas cooker and I bought myself an electric oven and a crockpot from my 'graduation money'. 

During the year I am living here I bought myself some nice crockery every now and then and some kitchen cutlery. So now I have a functioning kitchen and it even looks nice from the living room :)

When we were talking the other day my son suddenly gave me permission to use his bedroom. Up until then I always slept on the 'guest bed' in the living room, under the kitchen window. And his bedroom was used for storage and to chase the cats out of :p So I had a lot of work to do there!

Took me two days, a lot of dragging stuff around and putting boxes on wardrobes...sweeping, vacuuming and mopping...and bringing all my 'sleep stuff' over to the bedroom but I managed to make it look quite nice if I may say so myself!

Of course there's still some stuff that has to be done, and stuff that has to be bought like sheets and pillow cases but that can wait until I have money again. But for now I am very happy with how it looks :D And it's great to sleep in a big bed again! Haven't done that for over a year...

So last night I 'christened' the new (for me it is ;) ) bedroom... I put the pictures of the Chicago skyline over my bed to inspire my dreams and some other nice pics on the nightstand so I have something nice to look at when I go to sleep and when I wake up ;)

And this morning when I woke up the sun was shining bright through the curtains...lovely! The blinds in the living room don't let the sun through so that was quite a while ago too.

It may sound strange but I kinda feel less...homeless now!

Ok, it's time to start cooking again, some nice hearthy wintermeal, it's still cold here!

Have a nice day...and for tonight: sweetest of dreams!

Girls talk...

Today I had a date with my best friend overhere in Leiderdorp/Leiden. She promised me to do my taxes so I had to bring her the necessary documents. (Well she offered to come get them but hmm, you know, house isn't too inviting :p.)

So I got up really early (so did she , lol) in able to be at her place at 10 am. I had something for breakfast (she hardly eats, she goes out to dinner every night), no coffee because I was sure she'd have that. I took my laptop with me to show her the vacation pics and of course the documents! Had to kickstart the scooter again, it's cold and damp and the battery doesn't load because I don't travel enough anymore. 

We had a great time...we had so much to catch up on! She told me about her kids... like her son left home now to go live with his girlfriend and the house stays so nice and clean! And I told her about my life at the moment. That was a short story because nothing much happens in my life :p

She had some very good news for me: I will (probably, I'll believe it when I see it ;)) get quite some money back from the Tax Office! Enough to buy me another ticket to Chicago...

When I got home the bell rang: my son visited :) It's always great to see him... He gave me permission to use his bedroom and I just think I may do that: no more kitties in my bed! I'll have to buy some new undersheets but that's for December, X-mas prezzy to myself :p And I should get a little lamp to put on the nightstand. And move all the boxes with my summer clothes, lol.

Oh well, gives me something to do right? Okay, I think I'll make a start 'moving' right now!

Have a great day all!

Autumn leaves...

And yes, there it is, finally. It's really autumn now! The weather is getting really stinky and cold, today was the first day beneath 10C (for all you americans: that's 50F :p). And it rained. Not just drizzle or a nice and short summer storm...no. Bigass drops, almost all day.

Of course (it's Saturday) I had to go to the supermarket to get my groceries for the weekend. And I have to admit, I was ready to leave twice but turned back when I came outside :(  Chitown said: 'Be careful sugar, and run inbetween the drops!' Funny guy...like I am as skinny as my babygirl, I bet she can do that and stay dry ;)

But I was lucky! When I was leaving (for real this time) it was almost dry and when I got out of the supermarket there was this weird light in the sky, I think I remember it from summer, it's called Sun I believe. So me and my groceries made it home totally dry.

I kinda like autumn, and even winter. The weather isn't always nice but you know that's only temporary. It get's dark earlier (especially after the end of Daylight Savings) so I can close the blinds early and sit in my 'cocoon' watching telly. 

And you know that now the leaves will be falling and the garden will be all bare and when you go outside, you dress warm with coats and shawls and gloves and hats, only your nose comes out! It may even snow like last year, I couldn't go to work with my scooter and the busses didn't ride either so I was really closed in. Like most of the country, most of North Western Europe really...

I 'hate' the cold, and I curse it (although it's easier to dress for the cold than for the summer heat, there's only so much you can take off :p). But you know it's all for a good cause... One day you'll wake up, look outside and see tiny little green thingies on the ground and in the trees. Promises of a lovely spring and a hopefully lovely and not too hot summer...

I'd like to go to Chicago either in spring or in autumn although according to Chitown Chicago has only two seasons: winter and road construction season. It would be nice to be there just before the little green thingies arrive ;) Or when the leaves are falling...

One day I am sure I'll be there even in the winter...

Have a good (and dry!) day you all!

The Taxman...

Yesterday I got a real good scare :p I found a letter from the Tax Service in my mailbox! They want me to fill out the forms for my income taxes over 2009 :( Income taxes? I hardly had an income that year!

So I emailed my only girlfriend here, who happens to be the accountant of my ex's restaurant and she's specialized in tax laws. She put me at ease right away luckily, told me I won't have to pay a cent since I had too little income but she's gonna sort it out for me anyway.

That lead to a visit next Tuesday ;) She offered to come overhere but I made her the counter offer to go to her place, I don't feel comfy inviting people here, it's not the nicest place you know... especially for someone living  in a beautiful mansion :p And I'll bring her everything she asked for to do my taxes AND my laptop so she can finally see my vacation pics!

She's leaving on vacation to Thailand on November 11th and finally took some time out for our friendship, we haven't seen eachother since February! But she's so busy with work, her 3 kids, her new grandson...

We used to see eachother every Friday last year, go out to dinner, catch a movie or just sit at her place watching DVD's and chatting about everything. I really kinda miss that, she's my only girlfriend in this Godforsaken town and in my situation it's not very likely I'll make other friends here soon. (Ok, this is not really a Godforsaken town, I even heard it's pretty lively, just not for a socially awkward person like me :p)

I really look forward to the visit, she asked me to come in the morning so we'll have a bit more time together and of course we have a whole lot of catching up to do! So from 10 am until 2 pm it's girls time :)

Of course I already informed my darling that we're not gonna 'have coffee' that day. We have the habit of being online when he gets up early in the morning, after he walked the dog. It's not gonna be a big a deal as I thought since daylight savings time ends this weekend in the US (well at least in Illinois) but anyway :p

Chitown is busy getting all his papers together so he can get a passport and travel (guess where he's gonna go :p). The State made a little mistake though: he does exist, that's for sure, but according to them he's born in 1978 :') So he's gonna be 32 this month, I have a toyboy!!! Too bad he still looks his own age though, lol.

Well, I guess I better put all my papers together too (but I DO have a passport AND an ID card AND a drivers license for the scooter :p) so I'll be ready for Tuesday ;)

Have a great day!

Spank me, I've been a bad girl :(

I haven't written in a bit, I know. I have been a very bad and lazy girl :p But you know, my life isn't really that interesting! I am sitting here cooped up inside most of the time, only get out to do some shopping really.

I do have very nice plans for the future... But I don't feel comfortable to talk about them just yet, a lot has to happen to make those plans come true so for now I just talked to my mom and my little sister about them. And to Chitown of course but that goes without saying :p

I hope y'all had a nice Halloween! We don't really celebrate that here, at least not as big as in the US. On FaceBook I have seen the pics of the 'Haunted House' of one of my American cousins, really AWESOME! I'd really love to celebrate Halloween too the way it's supposed to be celebrated. Who knows, I just might...in the future ;)

So we've just finished Breast Cancer Awareness month. My profile pic on FaceBook is no longer pink, too bad because mom and I looked really nice with our rosey cheeks :) And now I heard November is National Diabetes month in the US. Since I am an insuline dependent diabetic myself, that's close to my heart. I have to give myself 4 injections a day and check my blood glucose levels regularly.

Diabetes, when under control, is a disease that's quite easy to live with. (Once you're used to travel around with your injection pens and needles, your glucose injection for emergencies, your test kit...) Last time I went to Chicago I had my carry-on luggage filled with medical stuff: 2 types of insuline, an extra batch 'for emergencies', boxes of needles, my test kit and extra lancets and test strips for that, 2 extra injection pens because you never know:p and a letter from my doctor for customs purposes. Usually you just carry stuff you want close on your trip, like books and an extra pair of panties in case your check-in luggage gets lost. But with all my diabetes stuff and CPAP in my carry-on (oh and of course my laptop) I had to bring an extra big 'handbag' too, lol. I have this Converse bag I used to take to work with my lunch in it, it looks like a small overnight bag really but the airline people and customs didn't make any trouble.

Talking about luggage...first time I went to the States I could bring two 50 pound suitcases, this time only one or I had to pay €50 extra for the second suitcase. Well I lived 3 weeks out of one suitcase and I guess it's doable for most people, but not for me :') So next time instead of being 'cheap' I guess I'll just fork out the extra money for a second suitcase. You know, that would mean an extra jacket, extra shoes...and more room for presents ;)

I still have no idea when I can go back to visit my darling again. I am trying very hard to save up some money every week but that's really difficult :p I really need a job with at least minimum wages. Oh and you people could try to help me by clicking on the commercial links on my blog ;) I get money for that, and for now I have already earned 10 cents! 

Well, it's time to go grocery shopping again... I am making Ragù today, the red pasta sauce with meat. And I forgot to pick up an onion and some parsley...

So have a great day, and please leave a comment if you drop by... I'm feeling a little bit lonely here ;)