Me-day (do not disturb)

This is the first day in 10 days that I have nothing to do... and I love it. No photo's to stick in analogue albums (1200 pics, 5 albums and 6 tubes of photo glue in 7 days), no sporting, no family, friends or job interviews... Nothing.

Today I have a do not disturb sign on the door and my mobile phone turned off. I have a date with my sofa, the coffee machine and a book - Shantaram, a real page turner! Me-time, as I like to call it, or charging the battery.

As of tomorrow, the circus start again. Another 11 days of sporting, appointments with friends, family, birthdays... My agenda looks pretty full. I don't mind, I like activity, but I am happy to have a Me-day every now and again. And you?

 

A Hip Hoppy Easter

Get into the Easter mood with this Bunny Rap by Easter B. !!!

 

Easter stress

This year, me and MyLove host the annual family-brunch on Easter Sunday. We have always managed to avoid this 'honour' by having no time, no money, not enough plates or chairs. This year we could not think of a proper excuse in time, so coming Sunday MyLove's three brothers - two with partner, of whom one is pregnant - and his parents will invade the apartment. The biggest challenge is not how to prepare brunch for 9 persons - soup, salads, eggs: no problem, I'm only a bit worried how I will manage to bake 27 bread rolls in a 5 liter oven... No, the biggest challenge was to find the proper tablecloth and napkins that scream 'Easter' without being cheesy, yet match our personal style and clash perfectly with our purple walls.

After days of elaborate searching, I found them, at my favorite store.

 Retro, with a very Easter-ish yellow/green floral design... Just perfect! Happy Easter!

 

Romance

MyLove and I celebrate our 85th monthly anniversary today. With presents. I got him a folder to file all the business cards he gets from friends, company reps and total strangers, he got me a four week subscription to the local news paper. We were both very happy with our pressies. Though these might not seem very romantic gifts at first sight, they show we know each other very well after all those months!

 

To leaf (or not to leaf)

I am counting every fresh green leaf, crocuses and baby ducks...And celebrate the start of Spring season!

update @ 13:40 PM: After I typed the above sentence, I went to the garden at the back of my apartment - to resume my leaf counting activities. I noticed some sort of grinding noise in the background, thought: 'hey, they're building in the neighbour hood', and I did not pay too much attention to it. When I just returned home for lunch, I realised what that annoying noise in the background had been: they have transformed the proud poplars in front of my flat into puny matchsticks! No leaf count for this side of the house :-(

 

Question:

When you try to tear-off yesterday's page from your block-calendar by double-clicking your mouse, does that make you a bit of a computer nerd?

 

Ouch!

Mental note: after a season of near-non-activity it might not be the wisest thing to do to excercize like a maniak to lose that winter fat... Every muscle in my bum, thigh and belly aches!

 

Left over

The other day, I was called by my best friend Elle, who asked me if I could pick up Sonne from day care centre. She was stressed out, because she had missed her train and would not be able to pick her kid up herself before 6 P.M.

On my way over, I wondered what the people at day care 'do' with children whose parents are late? Or, even worse, do not show up at all? Do they just wait and ring the parents? Call the police and child care if it gets really late? Do they leave for home and take the kids with them? Do they just leave the kids behind, store 'em, or put them on the side of the street? I got visions of cupboards with left-behind-kids on the shelf, to be sold on e-bay...

I arrived at day care at 5 to 6, got Sonne, put her in her cart and talked to the girl in charge. I forgot to ask if any one ever forgets to pick up their children, but when I left, two kids were still playing on the floor, looking at me with big, sad eyes.

 

Spring cleaning

At this time of year, the Housewife is in the middle of or about to start the spring-cleaning. Needless to say, that this places great demands on her. Not only does she need to get the house spic and span within the shortest possible time span, she also has to do this without noticeably bothering her house mates. However, the Housewife should think about herself, too, and should make sure she does not tire herself out! She can prevent this by assuming the right posture during all chores. This will enhance her figure, too. If she has to wax the floors, it is suggested she does this in a firm, rhythmic movement. Sing a song, softly off course, or find a rhythmic tune on the radio. A record can be of excellent help, too. While dusting, do not kneel, but squat and keep your feet together. While cleaning the legs of a table, chair or cupboard, pretend you're doing a gymnastics exercise, where you want to touch your toes with your fingertips

the above was originally written in March 1955, in a local newspaper...

 

Finally!

Look! Today's temperature is above 5 degC, the sun is shining and the forecast predicts a slow yet steady rise of temperatures to 15 degC this weekend!!! Bye, bye winter, hello Spring!

 

Girl!

"When will you grow up, and behave like an adult person?!", a woman asked.

I looked up, and around. We were the only two persons in the bus, except of the driver, so she must have talked to me. I looked at myself: tight jeans, pink boots, pink handbag, purple coat, bed (TM) hair... No, I guess I did not look like 28-going-on-29. But does the way you look - what you decide to wear - define your adulthood?
Adulthood is a state of mind, I guess. I have a man, a house, financial independence... However, I have no job, no car, no suit. I have loving friends, proud (grand)parents and a baby-sit kid. Yet, I party every weekend, when there's a party. I have snowball fights, when there's snow. I am figuring myself out, still wondering who I really am. I am an adult, and sometimes behave like one ;-) yet I am still growing (up).

I was about to answer the woman, when a girl emerged from behind a seat. Sixteen, torn jeans, pink eye shadow, pink nails, funky hair."Never!", she said determined and stuck out her tongue. The women sighed. I smiled and stuck out my tongue - well, in my mind, at least.

 

Spring fever?

I swear, I only wanted to clean the bird cages... Next thing I know, I´m cleaning the windows, swapping the winter wardrobe with the summer clothes, throwing away stuff I don´t need...
The snow is gone, so my house has to be clean!

 

So...

What about you, today?

 

Three times a party

When? Friday;
What? Two Sambuca, one black currant gin;
Where? at the bar of the-pub-around-the-corner;
Company? MyLove;
Conversation? about websites, digital cameras (D70 or Eos D20) and the singer / song writer phenomenon (man or women with guitar;
Dancing? nop, only background music;
Journey home? Straight-ish line, snowball throwing.

When? Saturday;
What? Six beer, two Sambuca, one Jagermeister;
Where? Mo-Franco's Birthday Bash at a two-storey pub;
Company? Everyone but some;
Conversation? about websites, relationships, tattoos, Sambuca versus Jagermeister, techno, bums, boobs, beer, etcetera;
Dancing? Yep. Between and during the babbling; on Techno (2nd floor) and 80-ties pulp (1st floor);
Journey home? Twice as long as normal in a curvy line...

When? Sunday;
What? Three beer, two Sambuca, two white wine;
Where? Soulful Sunday at Oebele;
Company? a few survivors ;-)
Conversation? about my search for work, Frank's new girl, the night before...
Dancing? nop. Sat at bar, did tap feet to beat, though;
Journey home? Straight line.

Pfff... Fortunately it's Monday again, so I have 5 days to recover and charge for next weekend!

 

Vr00m

Due to the time difference, I went to bed at the official start of the formula 1 race in Melbourne, so I watched the re-run this afternoon. The new rules have made the qualifying procedure a lot more exciting, but the race itself slightly boring. No tyre changes at a fueling pit stop, reliable engines because they have to last two races, slower laps due to technical regulations... I had a good time watching though, 'cause there were some surprises:
Fisichella won for Renault, Raikonnen (my hero) finished with points and Schumi (LOL!) did not finish at all (complete report). 17 cars finished, unfortunately Dutch driver Christijan Albers was the first drop-out of the season...

Next stop: Malaysia!

 

Yahoo!

Yahoo turns 10 this year! To celebrate this memorable moment, they have made a so-called Netrospective: 10 years on the net in 100 web links! Even if you - just like me - Google everything and use MSN messenger to chat, it's worth the visit, to relive all those memory lane moments ;-)

 

Answer

The answer to yesterday's puzzle picture was guessed correctly by Kek! Congratulations!
He noticed the yellow condom shaped thing spoiling my idyllic view. I don't know what it was - and it really was there - and what it was doing in 'my' garden, but it's gone today...

 

Winter picture puzzle

It snowed last night... Pretty view isn't it?

There's something wrong with it, though. Something spoils the serenity - the winter wonderlandness - of the picture. Click here to enlarge the photo and dump your answer in my comment thingy. I will reveal the answer tomorrow!

 

Oh, oh

We changed Internet Service Provider on Monday, and it all went incredibly smooth. We entered a new login name, password and other stuff into our modem and *poof* we were still online, but much faster now.
Unfortunately, this was the perfect time - according to MyLove - to re-do our house's internal network. Darn, now he's finished his internship he has too much time on his hands... I haven't been able to approach the PC for two day, but we have a wireless access point, two switches and 5 places to plug in one of our two laptops... Welcome to broadband heaven!