Two things I just did!!!!

Happy, happy, happy!!! I have just ordered two great things.............the May kit from AMM which looks fantastic, and such a lot in it, wow. And FINALLY, the NESTABILITIES set from CARD ART. It is in the sale at the moment so 10euros cheaper ladies, which is always handy, and since Amienke has lent me her CUTTLEBUG for a week, I ought to be able to use them whilst she is away!!!! I have been wanting the nest thingys for ages, and once I saw they were in the sale then it was irresistable. And at our weekly market there is a stall which is selling the Cuttlebugs quite cheaply, so I will have to save up for one of them now too. All this work I am doing at the moment is going to be funding my scrapping, right?!! Who needs shoes and clothes after all? I am so excited!! The nesties, I think I'll call them that, are so great for card making - at last I can have lovely round rounds!!!! Since I have so much paper I don't use really, and so many 'scrap' bits and bobs, I will be able to make a huge stash of shapes before I have to give the CB back to Amienke! Hurry up with the post please!!

Hoorn on Koningendag 30 April 2008

The middle and last photo were taken before the sun came out!! We went by train and it seemed as though all the kids over 16 were at the station en route to Amsterdam!! All in orange and red, white and blue, all with their beers and current buns, cigarettes and cameras!!! And we have a son at home that said " next year I'll be 16 and will be going!!" Hmm, hope not really, having just heard the news and about all the arrests and trouble that there has been..........isn't it sad that such a lovely 'party' atmosphere gets spoilt by alcohol and trouble-makers? The sun came out here for the morning and then it rained, but we had a good look around the town first, before heading home. I wasn't terribly impressed by the atmosphere, I must admit, but maybe it livened up after we had gone....but we had to go to our neighbours little girls birthday party this afternoon, so that was that. Another flag waving day is over!! Time to get ours in..

dodgy photo!

Hmm, not sure why the photo was not clear this time..this is a better one!!!

Card for my cousin!

My cousin and his wife are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in May so I have made this card to send to them. I used the sketch from the challenge at Kaarten maken met Tiets which meant that I had a card for this months entry!!! Anyway, hope you like it Stephen & Janette!! It is going in the post this morning. Hopefully we will be able to go to their party in the summer providing the dates are ones we have got free, and the cost of the flights are not ridiculously high.....it would be so great to see everyone again! I used to live near them about...26 years ago so we were all going out together then etc. Stephen is my daughters god-father as well. So lots of reasons to want to be there for me.

I also saw that the first cardkits have been sent out from Simpel Scrappen but where oh where is mine?!!!!! I am looking forward to getting started on some new cards with new paper! I actually did a scrap yesterday too. Don't all faint! It has been a while I know, but I decided I had to try something new so I have made a layout on a transparent sheet and it is ok...not briliant, just ok, but it is a start. I think I need to buy new paper, don't you?!! Get some inspiration from having new stash.....and I have been taking better photos at long last I think. The course is improving my confidence and skill so I am delighted. I end up taking photos that I didn't even think about before which is interesting. This week I had to take a story with 5 photos so I got Tim washing my car!!!! I think I can make a good scrap out of the photos after they have been to class. Slowly, slowly, my mojo is returning!!!! Maybe it has been that I have focused on my cards with all the birthdays I needed to get done, or just that I was needing a new direction or idea to kick start my creative juices..don't know.

Tulips from Amsterdam

I went to take photos of the beautiful tulip fields near our home yesterday afternoon once the sun had lost its intensity. I was hoping to take the cows in the background but they were gone so maybe better luck today! I did get the windmill though.......even though I had to zoom in quite a lot! The fields come out and are gone in the blink of an eye - it always amazes me. Our son does the bulb peeling during the summer holidays which all the children do around here, and it is perfect work for them. Only a couple of weeks working every day and they have enough spends for the rest of the holiday. Hopefully he will do the same this year as well, as until he is 16 next year there are not many other options for earning cash...and he was hopeless at delivering papers!!!

This morning I have made a treacle tart and a fruit cake before the others got out of bed, enjoying the sound of my new CD player in the kitchen - wonderful. Peter still has to hide the wires for me when he makes the box for the pipes etc, but that will happen soon. Then it will almost be finished - just the blinds and the small piece of skirting board that needs replacing that I know Peter will forget.......and I will remind hin same as all our projects together! I think he leaves it deliberately to see whether I forget as well; not going to happen buddy!!! I thouhgt getting the prep for lunch etc all done before the sun comes out was a sensible idea, and as he was snoring all night long I haven't slept much anyway. I think a snoze later on in the garden chair is called for! But now Tim has to shake a leg and get up as he has promised to clean my car and his girlfriend is coming this afternoon and his room is a tip!!!! Enjoy the sun today - it might be gone by tomorrow they say............

Plant Sale!

These are the plants I bought this morning at the GAMMA plant sale! Didn't I do well?! I spent 30euros in total and got some lovely summer plants for the garden as well as a huge sack of potting compost. If I had had more money with me I would have bought more, but these are wonderful. I came home and got them into the pots and borders straight away, to brighten up our garden. Funny how even this many doesn't go far.......but what a bargain ladies! I was there at 8am, feeling a little foolish for being so early, but there were so many people already waiting outside the doors that I was glad I had decided to be the early worm today. I have never been to the plant sale before so that is why I was worrying about being there too soon, but here in Holland everyone is very keen on a bargain so I did good!!! It promises to be a sunny weekend so we can enjoy them together once Peter gets home from his week away. Today it is quite humid and cloudy but it should get better this afternoon. I am working then, but only for a few hours. I want to watch Derek Ogilvie this evening but I might go to the camera course if Loes is up to it after her trip to Rome...we'll see!

I went round Enkhuizen yesterday taking photos for the course, and found a delightful restaurant where we possibly can go to with Becci and Roy for her 21st meal: De Drie Haringhe. It is quite small and intimate which is what we like, and will do vegetarian meals on request. I have to admit that watching "the Great British Menu" is turning me more and more towards vegetarianism. I don't enjoy meat much really and quorn in a sauce is fine, but I am not a true nuts and pulses person either. Semi-veggie is what I am I suppose, so perhaps I can tweak it a bit more towards veggie here at home this summer...my menfolk are not too happy with no meat at all, but Tim is fairly relaxed about it - so Peter, time to learn to cook!!!!!!

And now I have to get ready to have my lunch and go to work. I see sun!!!

Slow start to the day

The sun is struggling to get through the clouds right now, but there is still hope!! The old farmers always say "bright before 7, dull before 11" so when it is great weather early in the morning, it often goes dull before coffee time!! So I am hoping this is the case today. Peter rang from Switzerland this morning and continues to have torrential rain there...so I can't complain really! His back is very bad of course, but he thinks there is a nerve trapped so might want to see someone about that when he gets home. Plan for the day? Housework; take photos; Tim to the dentist; relax etc. I have to work tomorrow afternoon and want to head off early to the plant sale here at 8am. There are so many sad and empty pots in the garden that are just begging to be filled!! Now I am going up in the attic to see what summer clothes there are for me, and what actually fits! I have turfed out all the winter stuff I don't need this morning first thing so want to get in there and sort it all out. Tim believes it isn't possible....no room etc, so I want to prove him wrong! I hate going up the ladder though..it always moves and then I panic! Will try anyway and then do the bathroom. Oh, sun!!! might make it onto my bike today...............enjoy your day whatever the weather!!

Kitchen gadgets!!

Oh yes, this is what I call a kitchen gadget!!! Our neighbours might have bought a very fancy coffee making machine all right, but what do we want??? MUSIC!!! I cannot hear the music when I am cooking, well, ok, a tiny bit, but not really good enough to sing along...., so I have been searching for a CD player to hang on the wall. Easier said than done my friends! No-one could help me, but when I went for my Delia chopper in BCC last week I happened to ask there and they came up with this beauty!!! It is a Philips midi hi fi system that can be hung on the wall -hurray! The speakers are apart so that they can be placed either side of my 'afzuig cap' ( what is the english for that, forgotten!), and the CD part on the wall at the end of the wall cupboards where Peter has made me a little shelf for the CD's already. Since Peter will be passing through Germany this week he is going to have a look there and see if he can find it any cheaper, but via the internet it is quite reasonably priced too, so we'll see. BCC was too pricy I think, especially as I have found it cheaper elsewhere. Can't wait!! Once we have got this installed we can cover up the pipes etc as we can enclose all the unsightly wires etc which we women all hate, right?! and the kitchen can be finished off. I also found a great site for our dinner service, which is hand-made in Poland and called BUNZLAU CASTLE. It is so lovely and there are new designs out etc so I can continue collecting it. I decided to have different designs when we bought it so that it could always be added to without worrying that it would go out of production and I am very glad we did that from the start. www.dutchfield.nl is the site here that sell these lovely pottery pieces. You can buy it from the tea and coffee chain Simon Leveelt or from the Tierenlantijn in Enkhuizen. ( probably not the right spelling but I am sure you know where I mean!). I usually go to the shop in Warsaw when I visit Anna but they are not always cheaper there. great to see all the china in one place though!! Peter is almost ready to leave now so better kiss him goodbye and have another cup of coffee watching the show on TV that I missed last night - the Nancys!!!!

Where is the sun?!

We were promised a sunny sunday today but so far it is cold and uninspiring weather out there. Even the cats don't want to go out - Xander is actually sitting directly next to my left hand as I type this ....walking over the keypad, sitting in front of the screen...all very unhelpful but sweet of him!! Removed to the back of the chair next to the computer now...much better! Peter is off to Switzerland for the week shortly, hence why we are up so early this morning! Tim has had his friend Patrick here all weekend ( think he likes my food!), and yesterday Alicia arrived and we all went to the last basketball match of this season - which they eventually won, wow! - and they were all still awake around three this morning apparently!!!! Ah, 15, and it all changes doesn't it? I remember Becci always bringing a gaggle of giggling girls home with her and them talking into the wee hours etc. We sleep on the top floor here, wise move, didn't hear a thing, so no problem. They will be even MORE tired today!!! I feel like MacDonalds - serving food at all hours and filling up hungry teenage tummies all day long - love it!! I am of the opinion that I prefer having Tim and his friends here so that I know what and where they are, than worrying about when he is coming home and what he has been doing. I think it is great to welcome the youngsters and get to know who his friends are etc. All for it!! Phew!! I worked for the first time at the Day Centre last Thursday and this week I will be at the other one for one and a half days and then the local centre for an afternoon on Thursday. It is tiring learning all about the clients and how it all fits together but very nice. I am going to enjoy it. I like the idea of some extra cash too!! I've signed up for the new CARDS ONLY magazine which promises to be very useful for my card-making etc, and also for the new CARD KIT from Simpel Scrappen. That will be super, and starts next month - watch this space! With a bit of luck and some time, I will get down to photographing my latest creations - still on the 50th theme though with more friends reaching this milestone at the moment. I have also got the photo ready for Hillies Pedicure LO for her practise. My friend has asked for one to hang up but I have run out of the paper she chose so need - yes, really NEED, to go to Den Helder soon for some more stash! I have got a gift voucher to use there anyway, from Amienke, so that will come in very handy. The photography course is going well too, so I hope to have much improved photos for my new LO's soon! I have not done any for a while with being ill, but I am getting into the mood again, inspired as ever by ALI EDWARDS whom I adore. I love her blog and ideas on life etc and how organised she manages to be. I want to be like her!!!! I must re-vamp my room this week. Maybe that will help me. I am not giving workshops regularly at the moment due to not feeling very well, but I have so much 'old stuff' hanging around that could be organised far more practically. I think I will have a move around in there soon..................and ditch the things I really have no intention of ever using!!!!! Radical thought!