Something to look forward to...?

Yesterday Dan asked me when Easter is gonna be this year. I told him it's April 24&25, no idea if at least Easter is 2 days in the States like here in Europe :p It's a late Easter this year and we were talking a bit back and forth and suddenly he asked....

'How would you like to spend Easter overhere with me this year?' Stuuuuuuupid question :') I would LOVE to of course! He's gonna see if he can get 10-14 days off at work and will get back at me with that news Monday...

Wow, 10 to 14 days to spend together! Can't even imagine how wonderful that's gonna be! Maybe we can get some more things off the 'what to do in Chicago' list, inside things, because on my question what the weather's usually like late April Dan said: rainy.

Well he said:'You know that painting of Seurat, Sunday in the Park? That's what Chicago's like in April!' I happen to know that painting, and I love it. If Chicago in spring is like that, I really can hardly wait to go :)

Doesn't that just look lovely? I think he really meant all the little points to be raindrops, but, I can't be bothered :p Chicago is great any time of the year, I have been there now in summer and fall so spring will be a nice change :)

He also promised me better accomodations this time, no more Esquire Motel after my last visit there. I said I'd sleep in a shed if necessary, and the Esquire wasn't that bad apart from the broken airco that never got mended and the asshole that took me for a 'working girl' :p

Well I have been looking up some ticket prices, nothing really nice but that must be because Easter is in the middle, looks like I might be flying KLM this time instead of United. But let's just wait until Dan knows more...

I am just so excited, something to look forward to finally!

You all have a great day, and I'll keep you informed :)

Have a VERY Happy New Year!!!

Hello y'all, I'm back... I was a tad too depressed to write but I decided I had to get over it and pick myself up again, and so I did.

My New Year's Eve wasn't too much fun. I was gonna go to the party at my friends house but her husband invited my ex-husband and I had to stay home. Well he's a client of their accountancy firm so I guess paying customers come first :p Too bad I heard it just the day before... but oh well, I got over it.

I had loads of food and Dan had the day off so I spent my time online with him, and I even waited until midnight his time so I went to bed at about 7:30 am :')

And then it dawned on me again. I am divorced, don't have a house of my own, don't have a job... *SIGH* I keep on looking for jobs but I am either too old, overqualified, underqualified or lacking in experience. Or just no luck, like the job at Social Services, I got an email that they are interviewing internal candidates right now. I saw that as a big NO but my son said: 'Mom, at least you're still in the running!' Positive outlook... I would LOVE to  get that job!

At least my tax money has come in, so my ticket to Chicago is covered for this year. I asked Dan when he wants me to come over but we haven't decided yet. And he says I am so good at living at a budget... Well I am scared the money will just slowly dry up and disappear :') Sylvia said this year we're not gonna wait that long with my taxes, as soon as certain papers arrive she wants me to bring them over and arrange for my pocketmoney ;)

I had a 'big fight' with my babygirl last week. I was adjusting some stuff on FaceBook last year, added some relatives and stuff. And somehow my status changed from 'in a relationship' to 'engaged'. I must have clicked wrong somewhere or something. I really only noticed it because I started getting reactions. Of course it doesn't help that I have set my FB language to Pirate English :')

Anyhow, babygirl got 'congratulated' by a friend, and threw a hissy fit. I can imagine of course, especially since her brother told me not to tell her anything yet, inform her of my plans as late as possible. Because, yeah well, it is kinda true :p Dan and I decided to get married so we can be together and that seems to be the only way to get me in the States permanently, since I won't get a work visa.

So I gave in. I apologized to my daughter, changed my FB status again (which lead to questions from the same people that reacted to my 'engagement'). I know, I am a wuss. But I did tell her that her dad and I have been divorced for over a year now and that it's time to move on! Oh well, at least I don't have to keep it a secret anymore :p And we're only planning to marry 'for the good cause'. We've both been married before and we'd both prefer to just live together. But that seems to be impossible alas.

Oh well... A new year has started, new chances all around. I decided that my Year From Hell really started when I got laid off last year in May so I still have a few months to go. But I have survived up until now and will go on doing so ;)

You all just have a wonderful New Year! May almost all your dreams come true, and may there always be at least something to wish for, because life without dreams is so boring!

The last few days of the year...

You know what? I had a GREAT Christmas!

I was a bit apprehensive about the weather and my scooter and the groceries but much to my surprise the scooter started quite easily and I got all my groceries in! Not too much of a wait in the supermarket and I found everything I needed.

Thursday the 23rd my mom and stepdad came by. They had visited my ex for his birthday and thought it a good plan to come visit me too ;) I got a lovely Christmas hamper from them, all luxury stuff I really really like but am too cheap to buy for myself :p Like wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, truffle oil, the choco and vanilla flavoured coffee I like...And a bottle of Christkindl Gluhwein, might I wanna get toasted :')

Stepdad accompanied me to the furniture store to get me a deskchair and there I got another Christmas prezzy! One pretty leather chair with aluminium armrests was on sale for only €50! Stepdad made me attentive of it, he jokingly said: 'Don't you want the pretty white one?' and I was like: 'Hell no!' but I looked and then saw the same model in black was €40 off! So that made things really easy: instead of the 'Conny' chair for €89,95 I now have a 'Stan'. Of course I put it together all by myself and it sits lovely :D

My son called me Friday, if I was ok with watching the whole 'Lord Of The Ring' series on extended DVD. Years ago, when they came out, we went to see the movies on his birthday and the Christmas after that, I got an extended DVD set for 3 years in a row. And we watched those too but we never tried to watch the whole series in one sitting!

So Saturday, Christmas Day, my son came and I gave him his prezzy, Jamie Oliver's America. I think he liked it ;) After that, we started our LOTR marathon, took some pauses to cook (kale mash, his alltime fave) and eat and drink. He went home at about 3 am!

When he was gone I went online and didn't have to wait too long for my darling to come online too, from the car with his internet-toy ;) He had been visiting family and was on the way home with his parents and little brother.

On Boxing Day or St. Stephen or as we call it: Second Day of Christmas, I decided on a luxury PJ day, put on a black satin nighty and my black velvet robe...oh and a legging for the cold :p I still had more than enough food, my darling had the day off so that was a nice day too.

And now 2 days later I am still feeding on the remains of Christmas! I was thinking about going out to do some shopping but hey, why go out in the cold without any good reason? Tomorrow I'll have to because I'll be out of milk ;)

Just a few more days and this year will be over... A lot has happened, it wasn't a very good year but neither a real bad one. I am still looking for a place of my own (very hard) and a job (still sort of in the running for one).

But I also had some good news, and my mom is doing fine... All and all, I can't complain!

Let's just hope 2011 will be so much better and bring all the things I would like...

For now I wish you all a VERY Happy New Year...may 2011 make all your dreams and wishes come true! And I am sure we'll see eachother again next year! (Thnx for the comment Rob, you made me feel like I am writing for someone ;) )

Ho ho hoooo...it's (almost) Christmas!

Hello y'all...bet you missed me, right? Well sorry but I have been busy getting all my holiday stuff done :p And that isn't very easy because I'm not sure if we're gonna have a white Christmas but we're having a very white pre-Holidays!

There's a LOT of snow here and I can say I am rather snowed in... The street where I live isn't on a main road so we don't get salted or sweeped and the cold weather isn't too kind on my scooter either, it takes me ages to kickstart it. Well, it took me half an hour to get it going yesterday, the days before it didn't start at all :p

But I got all my prezzies and enough food until Friday so in fact I am rather okay ;) Well I should go out to get me a new deskchair and I am still hoping I will be able to... My mom will be visiting me Thursday so if all goes wrong I'll ask them to accompany me to the store :')

I was also gonna buy me a big sheet and extra pillowcases to go with my pretty red satin duvetcover at the mall but I found out the store I wanted to buy them at delivers too, so I ordered them online! They're due to be delivered today, that is: if the weather cooperates ;)

I was gonna pass by Christmas this year again. All my pretty stuff is still with the ex and it's not like I have money to buy new. And what fun is Christmas on your own? But my son told me he's spending it with me, we're gonna eat kale mash, his fave, and watch movies.

My darling has to go to a family dinner so I won't be seeing him much I fear, although he promised to take his laptop with him and come online when he can.

This is gonna be my second Christmas since the divorce. Last year I was still numb and spend it mostly in bed and this year...well let's say the Christmas Spirit just hasn't visited me yet :p

That doesn't mean I don't wish all of you the very very best though! I have done my 'duty', sent out the cards and stuff and got prezzies for the kids and even some cute table linen and a pointsettia! (That was a big mistake though, the kitties think it's a special kitty salad!)

Well I am gonna try to start my scooter again ;) Wish me luck! And I promise to be back here before Christmas to wish you all wonderful Holidays :D

Oh wait: something nice :) Remember I told about Robbie in Scotland? He made the newspaper with his dogsled shopping trip and I have the article here:

He also had a race that same weekend and got a pic in the paper for that too:

Ok, I am really gone now ;) Cya all soon again!

Hello....hello....anyone out there?

Gosh, you know what? I think I am enjoying winter :p Of course I only have to go out when I choose so I can stay in when it's really slippery outside but I even like to go out in the wintercold :)

Yesterday I went to Sylvia's office to give her the letter I got from the Tax Office. She hugged me when I came in and said: 'Oh you're so nice and cold', lol. She had good news for me, said the Tax Office is gonna pay me back a (for me) considerable amount of money, and not in monthly installments as I understood from the letter but all at once, within 2 weeks!

Of course I told her I was very happy about that, since I will need that money for my next ticket to Chicago ;) She said to book in advance, that's always cheaper, but to wait at least until January because prices will drop considerably. Something to do with more 'pricefighters' on Schiphol Airport... But I'll still fly United :p

Today I'll be going out to buy Chitown a prezzy, I wanted to send him something for his birthday but it's gonna be a Christmas prezzy instead... I guess if I buy it today, take it home to be wrapped and send it tomorrow, it'll get there in time. I have my eye on a beautiful Zippo lighter...

And I will soon have to go out to buy something for my babygirl and her boyfriend too. So hard to buy presents on a budget :p Of course I still have no idea whatsoever, haha.

And guess what, I can't think of anything more to write :p So I guess I'll better stop now before I start to rant :')

Have a great day all! (Oh and react to my scribblings sometime...I really wonder if there are still people reading!)

Winter fun

It's been cold and snowy and fluffy for a while, but yesterday it started to rain and so most of the snow is gone now. Too bad the temperature is still low (0 Celsius/28 Fahrenheit) so the little bit of wet snow on the ground (and the roads!) will freeze up and make the roads extra slippery. But here is a pic of how the world looked on Saturday:

Today it was really foggy, it was like the world was wrapped in clouds. I like fog, I remember the long drives between Wageningen (where we lived) and Leiderdorp (where the restaurant is) in the fog...so cool! We drove into 'clouds' and out of them again, and the cows and sheep floated on the clouds, no legs :) Sometimes only their heads came out :D

Of course the snow and cold came with problems, for a lot of people and for me too. Somehow the spring on my scooter stand came loose (thank God it didn't break!) last Saturday. And no way in Hell I have the strength to repair that. Luckily I have a big strong son although as he says "I have two left hands." (Which in his case should be better since he IS a lefty but of course he meant really that he has two right hands ;) )

I asked him to come over and he promised me he'd be here today at 14:00 hrs. He was a bit early and we had a long chat, about Christmas Day he'll be spending with me, and he gave me his dinner 'demands': kale mash with bacon slabs, smoked Dutch sausage (preferably from the HEMA :p) and looooots of gravy. Not very Christmassy, I eat that at least once a week but I know he simply LOVES it so who am I to deny my son his favorite food?

On Boxing Day the whole family Mascia ( Evan, his dad, his uncle, and two aunts coming over from Italy and the little son of one of them) are going to eat at the restaurant where my babygirl (still) works. My son isn't too pleased about that but hey, he'll go.

I heard babygirl is going to work at her dad's place too, she seems to have had it with the place where she works now. Her boyfriend will keep on working there, but they seem to have plans to open a restaurant of their own! Her dad is going to have babygirl and Evan study for the diplomas they need. Good news!

And my wonderful son OF COURSE managed to repair my scooter :) He also told me that because of the cold and the short trips I make, the battery doesn't charge, nothing out of the ordinary. So when spring is in the air, he'll come by with a battery charger to charge it fully so at least I won't have problems until next winter ;)

*Sigh*, I am still waiting for news about the job I applied for... I really hope to be invited to talk with them. If I get the job or not, it will be at least good exercise for me! I am so pissed, my ex-brother in law can get a job when he wants but he chooses to 'abuse' Social Services for a while, while I really really WANT a job but can't find anything! I really really hope to get the job at Social Services, it kind of gives me the feeling I can do something back! It's not their fault they pay me only so little now...


Well, it's almost time for me to cook dinner again...sauerkraut mash today! Another Dutch winter classic that I really love :D So all have a good day now, and stay safe if you have to go out in the cold!

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!