Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today is my mom's 69th birthday! So from this place I wanna wish her a very very happy birthday and hope many more will follow! Today is a beautiful sunny day and I know my little sister Nienke is there with her husband Patrick and their sons Daniel and Jasper, and mom's older sister and her hubby are there too. They planned on doing something nice today so I hope they have a great time:)

In honour of my mom (hihihihi, and because I love them too ;) ) I ate asparagus today... nice, thick, white asparagus with ham, hard boiled eggs and melted butter. YUMMMM!!!! The  first of the season, and hopefully not the last ;) They are quite expensive right now but hey, sometimes you just have to spoil yourself, because nobody else will ;)

Okay, that's it for today ;) Have a great day all, and cya soon! XOXOX

Lots to tell...

Okay, FIRST I want to apoligize for not writing in a whole MONTH! Sorry, sorry, sorry!!! Mea culpa and so on... But not that much happened, my life is quite boring really :p So I waited until I really had something to tell ;)

Last week I spent a few days at Andrea's house. We had big plans but her boyfriend was home early every day ( we thought he had the night shift but instead it was the early shift :p). So we shopped a little, talked a lot and we all cooked once. I met Andrea's best friend, Yvonne. She's exactly 364 days younger than me and a fun girl :) She came for coffee one morning and surprised me with a real Enkhuizer pastry for...breakfast! (Andrea and I are night people :')) I have Yvonne on Facebook and MSN now so...I made a new friend!

The volunteerwork is going to start real soon now too. I have my first appointment through Activite on Monday April 18th, with the coordinator to meet a lady that wants a companion. And the hospital had troubles getting the emails through so they finally contacted me. I have an appointment there on Wednesday, April 20th and the idea is that I will go help on the 'eating project' there, help people that don't want to eat or are having difficulty eating. I have to say, I am really excited! And who knows, I might do up some nice contacts :)

Spring is in the air (finally!) and the building society asked Evandro to do up his garden. I would have done it but I didn't have any tools and he has to throw away some stuff too. So last week when I was away he put up a fence with his dad and cut down a lot of stuff. He left the tools here so I cleaned out the garden and I bought some packets of seeds. Now if he gets all the wood and stuff out I can sow a myriad of summer flowers and we'll have a nice cottage garden :) And I'll have some nice flowers to pick and put inside too ;)

I have sown some plants inside too, like geraniums and carnations and cherry tomatoes, in little greenhouses. And some Nasturtiums (long and double/short) and herbs in the 2 planters. Last year I really couldn't be bothered, I just threw some stuff in the planters ( to see them almost dead when I came back from Chicago :p) but this year...I think I found my gardening 'gusto' again :) I may have to ask Evandro for the garden hose so I can keep the garden watered, in the 'old house' my ex has made a whole watering system so I don't think they'll need it.

Dan has finally sorted out his birth certificate, he's no longer born in 1978 :') So I no longer have a toy boy :p Of course this does mean we can FINALLY get started on the paperwork to get me to the US. I have to fill out some forms, get an international divorce certificate and have some 'american style' passport pictures made and send it all to Dan. And once he files the request it's gonna take at the most 15-18 months before I can leave the Netherlands for good... It's exciting, but also a bit scary, especially since we'll have to get married :') Oh well, I guess we'll both survive that ;)

My babygirl and her boyfriend finally got the key to their brand spanking new appartment today! I am so happy for them :) Tomorrow they'll start painting and put in the laminate flooring, and then it's moving time... Now both my kids have their own little flats :D I am a proud mom!

Well, I think that's about it for now! I'll try to post more often, and even tell about the boring stuff :p

Have a nice day and cy'all soon!

Well if nobody will pay me I'll just...volunteer!

Today I had an appointment with a coordinator at Activite, the care organisation here in Leiderdorp. Kerstin, my casemanager at Social Services, told me to look for volunteerwork if I can't find a 'real' job and so I sent some emails to places like the hospital, a hospice and Activite.

The people at the hospice are very lucky, they have a waiting list for volunteers at the moment. I will give them a call to ask how long that waiting list is, I have approximately a year and a half before I leave for the States so if the list is long...

The hospital....well they didn't even answer me. I guess that means they have enough volunteers :p Personally I would have answered someone that wants to volunteer but hey, I am not working there... I do think that in this way they don't really promote volunteering.

The coordinator at Activite had another place for me where I can ask if they need volunteers and Kerstin gave me a site too that I can look into so all and all I hope I won't have to sit at home here and be bored to death :')

Last week I picked up my new glasses. Apparently that change at my right eye made quite a difference, I can't watch tv anymore with my 'computer glasses'. But they both look good and I am very happy with them :D

This weekend I had a visitor at home, first time since the divorce really! Well, that is not counting my kids of course... My sister Andrea came for a sleepover. I went to pick her up at the station Saturday and we had loads of fun, with Dan too. She likes the food I like and she was really happy with the sauerkraut and pineapple ovendish I made. Sunday evening I took her to the busstop, it was really cold, so we both were like: nah, no scooter ;)

Andrea and I went through my wardrobes too, I still have way too many clothes! Well I got to throw away a few and Andrea took a few home but most of my clothes are basic classics, I just need a representative job to show them off ;)

And there we are again, back to me 'whining' about work :p I think I should stop writing for today!!

Have a nice day y'all!!!

Blegh...

Blegh...the weather really sucks today. It was supposed to be just foggy but apparently all the clouds decided to releave themselves and so it's raining. On a Saturday. Really GREAT :(

Well, it's not like I'm scared I'm gonna melt or something (oh if ONLY that was possible :') ) but today I was gonna pick up my new glasses, they finally arrived after a 3 week wait. But the store is rather far away and I'd be soaking wet by the time I got there. And wet is not the look I was going for really :p The glasses have to be fitted right and so on so I prefer to be dry, well at least my hair. Guess I'll be going Monday then...

Today just some grocery shopping, don't care to arrive wet at the supermarket :p Guess I'll be making some endives mash or something for the weekend, with gravy and sausage.

Yesterday the game I still play, Omerta, had a reset. As far as I know nobody got any vouchers or prizes or anything so we all started out as Empty Suits. For some strange reason I automatically fell into rankslut mode, something I hadn't done for the last 2 versions at least. Took me 6 hours to promote to Shoplifter and then I realized...Dan was at work so couldn't play and I'd have to wait hours and hours for him to make Shoplifter too so we could heist together :p That kinda took the rankslutting away again :)

Well at least I got my old nick Roma back, been playing with that nickname ever since version 2.2 until last version some horrible nicklamer STOLE it! And it was fun to see many old friends return to the game, I even got excuses from some old enemies ;)

So, I'll be playing in moderation today ;) Y'all have a fun day too!

Yaaay...got new schoolbooks!!!!

I don't know if I ever told you how disappointed I was with the basic training course for doctor's assistant. Well, just to recap: VERY disappointed! Especially one little book with a lovely title has proven to be an insult to my intelligence :p It's Dutch grammar and teaches you how to spell and how to write letters. I was like, ehm... DÛH!!!! The rest was very much like what I already studied for my Medical Office Skills, just worded different and much shorter.

But lo and behold! I was about to search for exam dates, I'd like to do one or two exams a day and preferably all in at the most two weeks, and I have to set the dates well in advance since Social Services is gonna pay for them and they already had a little... difficulty paying for the course :p But...very MUCH to my surprise the mailman had a package for me! A heavy one even! 

I wasn't expecting anything but when I opened it, I found a folder and 4 books, of which one in the folder. 3 of the books are about anatomy, physiology and medical terminology and the one in the folder is about management and administration. In fact, more of what I already had in Office Skills but this time they go way deeper! 

There was a list with it, for homework, spread over 33 weeks! So I have really something new to sink my teeth in :) And to keep me busy for quite a while. I am back to studying :D

Have a great time all and remember: you're never to old to learn something new ;)

NO, NO and NO twice over...

Sorry for not writing for a bit but I was kinda sad. I applied for 4 jobs and got a refusal on all 4 :(  I am too old, overqualified in some fields and underqualified in others. Of course I mailed everyting to my casemanager Kerstin and she invited me over to Social Services to have a talk.

So I was at Social Services this morning. I asked Kerstin about the JobCentre, said I was disappointed since I never heard anything from them anymore. Well, Kerstin did apparently :( The lady I spoke with overthere wasn't convinced about my motivation to work and thought I was conceited! I am shocked! Turns out she had an administrative job for me but didn't ask me because she didn't like me. And Kerstin didn't wanna disappoint me any further... *sigh*

Kerstin told me to look into volunteer work, to get new contacts, do up some experience and close the gap on my CV that is getting bigger and bigger :p And so I did, filled in some application forms and am waiting for response on those now. Of course I prefer working AND getting paid but I guess volunteer work would be a way to fight the total and utter boredom I am living in now :p

We ARE getting closer to spring now (well, winter is just half over really but that means spring is close-ish right?) and I really should get my nose out of the door more often! And then I think about what I say a little bit and think: 'Where to?'

See, I am still a bit depressed really. Had a 'fight' with Dan last night so that didn't help my mood either... Oh well... I'll be writing again when I'm having some more fun, okay? Just wanted to let y'all know I'm still alive :p

Have a great day and cya soon!

Just another week...

It's February again...time flies, even when you're not really having fun :p I am finally somewhat over that Easter-disaster. Can't buy a ticket now anyway since I spent about half my tax money on things for Evan and his cats. Oh well...

I decided not to go for the horribly expensive Ray Ban glasses. €310,-, not in 310 years thank you very much! Instead I went to the optician where I usually bought my glasses and they had a very nice offer: glasses including lenses for only... €59,-!!! So I ordered 2 pairs, €118,- only ;) They will arrive in about 2-3 weeks. Ok, they aren't Ray Ban but they're cute all the same...

Today I also got some Rubber Repair stuff, to repair my boots. Damned kickstarter left me with a hole on the sole. And Evan is gonna find me a battery charger so my kickstarting days will be over. I must say, I didn't have much problems with my scooter the past few days! 

Must be because the temperature was a little bit higher these days. Temps are about 10C/higher 40'sF, gonna cool down a bit again. What was spectacular was the wind, 58km/h or 36m/h yesterday! And of course really hard gushes on open places like on bridges and inbetween flats. I had a hard time driving my scooter against it and was so happy I wasn't on a bike! Today was still quite windy but like the temperature the wind is going down over the next days.

Wednesday and Thursday my (chosen) 'sister' Andrea will be coming over! It's been ages since I've seen her, my birthday before the divorce if I'm not mistaken. I won't have the pretty house or the good food and drink that I had then but she says she's gonna be in the best company and that suffises ;)

Today is my little sister Nienke's birthday. I sent her a nice card with a poem inside and I wish her from this place too: Happy Birthday!!!

of course

Ok, that's about all the excitement I had this week! Ehm, oh no, I am forgetting my sales shopping spree! I went to downtown Leiden for a pair of comfy shoes I had seen on the website of the shoe store for only 20 euros. Had to park the scooter next to H&M and since I hardly ever go into town, I entered. They already had all the new spring stuff out but there was one rack left with sales stuff. And there it was, in my size, totally gorgeous: a beautiful black woolen coat. On the front it looks really neat and 'severe' but on the back it's a bit quirky: wrinkled with a little belt-like thingie. And it was only €20! Used to be €79,95. Also got a nice long red tunic there and a black top, 10 and 7 euros. In another store I bought a gray tunic for 15 euros and of course the shoes. Now that was nice shopping therapy ;)

But really, that was all I did this week ;) I'll have to study next week (and entertain Andrea of course) and plan some exams. I was waiting for another shipment of books but apparently the 4 I already got is all I will be getting :p Oh well, less to study :') (Especially since one book is all about correct spelling and use of grammar, don't think I'll even open that one :p)

Have a great time waiting for spring to arrive :) Huuuugz!!!