Still in progress with our painting.

Goodmorning everybody!

Weather had a bit of a dip yesterday, it was cloudy almost all day and it even rained.Temperature dropped too a bit, but today it will go up a little bit again. there will be more sun again and oh boy, next two days the forecast is that temperatures will rise terribly high to around 86 F or even 93 F!
I think that is a bit too much, but in the weekend it will drop again to around 77 and that is nice. But I will try not to complain, better this than having to wear thick sweaters and even the central heating on.

Monday was another working day, I was first to get into action, I taped all the parts of glass panels, floor parts etc, so that it would be easier to paint and then Jan did last part of the kitchen and then also part of the hallway.So we are progressing nicely.
Yesterday I even managed to talk Jan into a "day off" LOL. Well, that way the paint coud dry a bit more and it was better for him to have that rest.
Today however will be busy again. I first have to tape off the second part of the hallway,after I cleaned that woodwork.
I'll see how long that will take and if I can do more, may be I'll go to a DIY store not far away to see if I can find wallpaint,because I want to do a lot of walls in the house too.
I will go for a may be little bit more expensive one, that will cover the wall in just one coat. And if possible one not completely white, but with a shade of creme, beige, or something. If not to find(there are, but the ready ones are quite expensive) I could opt to let the market mix a color in the standard white.

Decisions to make, it is aweful sometimes LOL.

Well ladies, I will leave you on that note, want to get started early enough and spend te time wisely!
Today's kit is named Step by Step, soft colors and I just love that little figurine !
Arlene did a wonderful job as usual with some great clusters!

I wonder if I can talk about anything else next post than about painting, hahahaha. Oh well, just bare with me, I hope it will be done in not too long time. I promise to chat sometimes about other things that happen around here or in the world okay?
Have a fantastic day.

Download     HERE

Download    HERE

Raindrops kept falling on my head!

Goodmorning everybody!

Oh, the kitchen is getting a better and better look. Jan gave it another coat of paint and did some more
on Friday, and half of the hallway woodwork has been cleaned by me, so we do progress little by little.!
Saturday I thought I could do with some relaxing, and in the morning I went out to get the newspaper and then thought I could walk as well a bit further and have a look around at the market.
That day, the weather was a bit cloudy and rain was expected, so I though it could be clever to take with me a raincoat. Just in case!
And yeah, I was lucky, LOL! By the time I came at the market it began to drip a bit and after a couple of minutes it poured! Gosh, it was as a curtain of rain. So I quickly put on my raincoat, sheltered a bit but then thought: "What the heck, temperature is great, I am wet already a bit, lets walk on and get the things I want"! Did find some great tasting cherries, also some bananas, a piece of cheese, oh yes, bought two little turkish bread snacks with minced meat for the evening, and was strong enough of character to pass my favourite garden flower stand in great speed LOL!
By the time I was done at the market, my trousers were completely soaked, my hair too, It wasn;t raining that hard anymore and by the time I was home, it almost was over.
So first thing to do was changing clothes, dry myself up with a big towel, and then take a coffee.
Later in the afternoon the sun came back and it was lovely weather again.
But again later in the evening we got some thunder and a couple of rainshowers, short ones, but greatly appreciated by the garden.

Yesterday we didn;t do anything, which was wonderful too LOL. I did made another bloglayout, and some preview for clusters Arlene sent me of the newest kits.(She has made some wonders again, you will see).
 We watched a great game of women soccer (European championship final) late afternoon and I made dinner from a new recipee I found.
Here you go ( it's for about 4 persons, so will be easy to adapt if you want for less or more)

Ingredients:
1 kg of potatoes
4 eggs
1 lettuce ( I took a bit sturdy lettuce for it, lke a Romaine)
125 ml of creme fraiche
1 lemon

Peel the potatoes. Boil them in salted water for 20 minutes.  Boil the eggs almost hard in about 8 minutes.
Tear the leaves of the lettuce and cut in coarse pieces. Peel the eggs and cut into sections.
Drain the potatoes and mash with potato masher until coarse puree.
 Spoon the creme fraiche and salad through. Add greated  zest of lemon
Season with salt and pepper and leave for a bit warm on the stove for 1 minute.
Divide the stew on the plates and place the eggs on.

P.S I did some extra to it and it tasted well. Makes it a more complete meal.
I took some little dices of bacon, fried them, till the fat was almost gone of the meat, added them with the juice to the stew( so if you do this, take care with adding salt!). And on top of the stew, together with the eggs I layed some slices of ham, (like parma ham, you know the "raw"ham). But you could add as well cooked ham. . 

Well, today I think we will undertake again some painting and cleaning. Already have take two pictures of part of the kitchen, painted, but I'll wait to show, till it is all ready, and then can show old and new.
Time for your freebie now. I should be doing some more on designing, but inspiration is a bit low and I don;t have too much time for it with all that painting and cleaning.. When done with some on a day, I am glad to sit a moment in the garden, or on the couch and watch some tv, knitting at the same time. It helps to avoid that my eyes close during the evening LOL!
Today's kit is named "You are my World", have two previews one of the kit and one the papers and just look at the beauties Arlene has made!
Have a fabulous day!

Download     HERE
(it says in the zip link nr.2, but there is just one file to donwload)

Download     HERE

Back to painting again

Goodmorning everybody!

Still having wonderful weather here, especially temperature wise. And so nice, yesterday morning as well as this morning we had a little bit of rain, just enough to resfresh a bit the garden.
But most of the day it is sunny, sometimes a bit cloudy, but lovely weather.
What did we do Wednesday? Well, not so much. I did some shopping, just a few things, and made a wonderful new recipe I found. Ovendish, with rice, vegetables and chicken, tasted real good. I gave a bit of own switch to it, because I didn;t have all the veggies of the recipe.
I will give you the link to the website, you just have to throw Google translate on it. And do check out some of the other recipes, lots of yummie and easy things!

http://marokkaansarabisch-koken.50plusser.nl/?page=article&warticle_id=81153&Ovenschotel-met-kip-ei-rijst-en-groenten

Most of the recipes are for about 4 persons, so I took around half of the amount of ingredients, and that was more than enough for us(but we aren't very "big"eaters) I even had left for the next day. I gave french bread with herb-and garlic butter to it.

Yesterday however, I worked hard! Yeah, I started to paint the kitchen.Just did one part, some little parts of the woodwork need another coat, but oh my, it looks so fresh again. So today the second coat here and there and the other half of it, then some cleaning will have to be done, and then we can put on the vinyl. Oh, my kitchen will look so nice again!
Next week I want to do the cleaning of the woodwork in the hallway, and may be already in the second half of the week we can start the painting there too.
So slowly we are progressing, taking off some days and then spending a few hours again painting or whatever needs to be done at that moment. It works well this way, no point in working two whole days in a row, because it;s too straining,. well, slower, taking a bit more time for it, does the trick too!

As you can understand I don;t have too much time rambling along, lots to do today!
I have a mini kit for you. A few more papers than in the Nutshell kits, but a bit less than in the "large"kits. In my favourite color, purple/lilac and named it "Dans le Vent" (In the wind).
Great add-on from Arlene, surely you can make a wonderful romantic layout wioth it.!
Have a fantastic weekend.

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

A Royal baby in England.

Goodmorning everybody!

Yesterday the news came out, Prince William and Princess Kate have a baby son! I hope they will be given time to enjoy their baby in quiet and peace, but probably a load of journalists will follow them around where ever they go.
I am curious what will be the baby's name.
Saw the first pictures of him and like every baby, he looks adorable!

Nothing much happening here, I must say. In a way, that is a good thing, then life goes on without too much stressy situations or problems popping up, and we should be grateful for that. We had enough of that the passed months and can do with a bit of "quiet life" don;t you think?
As the weather is still warm, we don;t get too much done, it makes us lazy! If it sats on to be that good, our bodies will get used to it more, and then I am sure we will get more active!
However Jan was busy the other day, with cleaning out our little shed and re arranging the stuff we have inside. It looks real nice again and we can find the things there again!

These summer months are called also "cucumber time"here. It applies to the television, to the news, and to politics too (they have kind of vacation, no debats and such, although some of the politicians are still working( do they ever LOL????) and trying to get a program ready to fight the crisis.
One thing is for sure, a lot more cuts will take place soon, but I have doubts if too heavy cuts will solve it. May be it would be better to spread the cuts over a longer time and also invest extra money into the economy, in order to stimulate growth again, which results in more jobs, and then people will start to spend money again and companies will invest again, etc etc.

It's frightning at the moment to see how many people are without a job, and every day the number is increasing. And there is still the government saying, that of course it is a bit of difficult situation, but that a lot of people still can find work, if they want to! Easy said, but it's not easy done.
Lots of people would like to have a job again, but there aren;t enough jobs for them. Companies just are reluctant to take new employees, because of the difficult situation and it seems like a vicious circle. I don;t know, how to break it, but the program of the government at the moment isn;t helping either!

Well, before I get everybody depressed, we better go on to the freebie. May be that will brighten you up.
I have a kit with some real bright colors, specially the elements. It's named "Express Yourself".
And in a way that is what we do when we make layouts, isn;t it? Also a great extra from arlene, with a beautiful quickpage.
Have a wonderful day, enjoy every moment if possible and you will have great memories for later.

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

Too much summer here LOL!

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, at the moment we can say we have a bit too much summer! Yesterday it was really warm and today is going about the same. Temperatures creeping up to around 86 F.
I know we longed for some real summerweather, but the bst here at the coast would be around 77 F, with just a breeze, yeah, then it's nice and you also are able to do some work.
So I don;t know if i will get done a lot today. Best will be to do some things in the morning, till about 11.00 o'clock and then stay rather immobile LOL!
In our bedroom it was rather muggy this night, and I couldn;t sleep well because of it. So I decided to move to the sitting room and give the couch a try. Good decision, I slept like a baby!

I had some vague plans to go to the market on Friday, well, I can be short about that, I didn't go.
Just didn;t have the energy for it. But Jan wanted to have a little outing, so he went to it on his bike, and came home with just a few things, like onions, paprika's and tomatoes.
Oh well, perhaps later this week I will give it another try.

There isn;t much going here at the moment, I suppose we just have to get used to these high temperatures. But I am sure that by the time our bodies will have that new "program"installed, weather will change, with drop of temperature and such ROFL.

Our street is slowly changing now. We even have already part of the new sidewalk, but it will take some more months before all has been done.  I have no idea if all the big pipes are already placed where they have to be, it looks as if on our part it has been done, but you never can be sure.
I only hope that when all ios done with, they will put back some trees, such a pity when big streetworks are taking place, the trees that are standing for years, just disappear and often you get something less replacing them.
And we need all the greenery possible in a big city.

Well, time to grasp all the energy I've got to get some things done, so I will finish this post now with a nice little freebie to start the week, a nutshell kit,  named "Incontro com Te".
Have a wonderful Monday.

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

All okay again, and real summer weather

Goodmorning everybody!

Thanks for your concern, so sweet of you! But I am feeling okay again, and can enjoy the summer here.
Jan did some additional painting in the garden, he did the shelves on which we have standing a lot of pots and also the "nursery"shelves. It is looking so much better now, in a fresh green. I didn'take any photos yet, may be this weekend I can take a good shot of it.

Yesterday I was feeling so much better already but took a bit of low profile the whole day, although I got some work done. I did all the ironing  that was waiting for me. Even had fun doing it( not my fabourite job LOL), I opened the windows to the garden, so could see/hear Jan painting there and I put on a nice cd with some great music (this time of "Yanni", instrumental music), turned the volume higher than normal and this way both Jan and I could hear the music. See me, at the ironing board, kind of wiggling at the rythm of the music??? Wonderful!!!!

Weather here is great, it might be that tomorrow there is a little "dip"in it but then again from Sunday on it will be real summer, with even really high temperatures.
This week there is the event of the "4 days of Nijmegen", a walking happening that is held every year again. The participants are having great weather, even sometimes too hot for walking a lot of kilometers. I will give you a link to take a look at it and know what it's all about.

http://www.4daagse.nl/en/

Today is the last day and the arrival in Nijmegen always is like a big party, very special!

There also is the Tour de France, cycling, to watch, today again they will have a very, very, difficult day with lots of extra high and harsh mountains to climb! Every guy, cycling there and completing the 3 weeks of hard work, has to be admired!

I want to go out shopping a bit earlier today, when it isn;t too warm yet, and for the rest of the day I don't have any real schedule LOL. There is of course some cleaning to do, meaning the woodwork getting ready for painting, not sure yet if I will do it today. Also could take a short trip to the market, some fruit would be welcome, as well as some veggies.
Some other smaller chores could be done, so lots to choose of, no idea what will be excecuted ROFL.

I have a pastel colored freebie for you, bit vintage like, you even get a stacked paper in it, so nice of me hahahaha! And look at the quickpage Arlene made with it for you!
Kit is named"More Than Words", in 2 downloads.
Wishing all a fantastic weekend!

Download     part 1 HERE
Download     part 2 HERE

Download     HERE

Some stagnation in the work.

Goodmorning everybody!

I did finish the cleaning of the woodwork in the kitchen, so I am happy about that. But the rest had to wait a bit.
Had some trouble with my epilepsie, I guess I had some absences because I was a bit too tired.
Yesterday I had a rather nasty day, didn;t do much at all, tried to take a couple of naps, which usually does the trick. Didn;t help too much, so went to bed earlier than usual yesterday evening, and finally got some good sleep. Well, hope that today will be a "clean"day again, then that will last for some time again.
Oh, well, I am used to it, but it is a biyt pesky when it happens.
Our weather continues to be wonderful, sometimes it is even to warm in the garden, even with the parasol, so then i flee into the room where it is nice and much cooler, really don;t need an airconditioning there. And I am glad about that, I hate those things, I always get some cold from it.

Not much to tell about the last days, but I have a nice link for you to go to, and look around. Minky has made a new blog, specially for parents and children, it's awesome, so take a bit of time to look around.
http://kidsarespecial2.blogspot.nl/

And you could also go to Linda's blog, to download a beautiful quickpage she has made with my latest kit!

This will be a very short post for a change LOL. Better I post right away the freebie for you.
I have a lovely kit, I think, for you, named "Once we were Young".  kit to go back in time LOL! And some sweetest clusters from Arlene to it!
Have a wonderful day, see you again on Friday, hopefully with a bit more chit-chat!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

Continuing our planned work!

Goodmorning everybody!

Lovely weekend, with also some work done, although we took some more realx time.
Friday we first bought us, finally, a piece of vinyl for the kitchen floor. For years we just had the wooden floor, which didn;t look to great, but somehow it never came to it, to put something on it. But now it is going to happen yeah!!!
However, first the woodwork in the kitchen has to be painted. Will be the project for next week.
After we came home with the vinyl, Jan and me first took out the door of the little shed, because we wanted to try to make it fit well again.
Sounds like a rather small job, but it took us more time than thought.
That because we also had to take out some big tiles and lay them back again, only a bit lower, then Jan took off a bit of hte door with a wood planer, which helped somewhat, but still the door cannot be closed by the key. Oh well, it never did, LOL, so we can live with that.
Sometimes it is a pity we don;t have all the necessary tools for a job, still if we are in a real need of some, we always can ask a friend, of course.
So we had to think of something that kept the door closed, first we tried with a hook, but that didn;t work, then I found the thing.  little chain, with at the end a clip like this

And for now it works, so hoorray for me!

What did we do on Saturday? Not too much, Jan took a day "off"and I made a start of the woodcleaning it the kitchen. Pity that on some small parts also the paint came off, so I;ll first will have to do some repairs on it with some putty. While that will be drying, I might continue the cleaning for a part.
Yesterday I didn;t do anything! But Jan painted some shelves where we have a row of big pots standing on. The shelves are drying now, so the terras is a little mess at the moment, with all the pots standing around.
But I think all can be placed back on it;s place today.
So with some work done every day, or more but than every other day, we will complete it all some day.
Glad that we have real nice weather, that makes it easier to do some work, at the least I can say it works for me that way. Therefore I hope that the good weather will stay on for some more weeks, the more the better!

With all this work going on, you can probably understand that there isn't all too much time for designing.But every now and then I do some papers and/or elements, and yesterday I just finished a new kit. That one, however will not be the freebie for today.
 I have one very romantic looking one for you, titled "Whisper my Name".
Arlene made you two wonderful clusters and a delicious page border!
Okay, I can do still a bit of bloghopping and even some designing before I will take another coffee in the morning sun and then it's working time!
Have a wonderful day!

Download    HERE

Dwonload    HERE

Lots accomplished.

Goodmorning everybody!

Wow, we had some busy days, but it is nice to be able to say that a lot has been done.
It feels good.
On Wednesday I gave the kitchen walls another coat and now all dried up it looks good.
I had a bit of paint left, which I could put back in the cannisater, but I was smart LOL!
I looked around in the house where I could use that for. We have some walls that desparately need a new coat of paint, but the left over wasn;t enough for a large wall.
But in the extension we had a small brick wall, that needed some fresh paint. So I did that and it sure makes a difference.
Fisnished with that I had to put things back on the shelf in the kitchen, put some newspapers on the the kitchen cabinets and while I still had the big ladder there it also was a good opportunity to clean them and all that was on higher level. Re-organized at the same time a bit, and now it all looks fresh and almost sparkling again. Kitchen could do with a sweep of the vacuum cleaner,. so did that too and took along the room too. In the mean time washing machine was turning and then I thought it was enough for the day.
I have no photo of the kitchen, may be that will come, I forgot to take one of the old situation, so you could see the difference.
Well, not so important.
Then yesterday I truly needed to do some food shopping, so after I had a nice long shower(hadnlt the energy for it anymore the other day), I went out for it. Got me all that I needed, and home again I gave our bed new sheets. And I thought that by then it should be a good thing to take some rest.
Jan also finished the woodwork of the shed, now we should dive into it to clear it out a bit.

Now the next project is waiting. Yes, now that we are still in the mood, we should continue.
May be I will start already today, we first have to clean the woodwork in the house, to have a good underground for the new paint. When that is done we can take each day a part, and then it should look a lot better and much lighter in the house. and if there still will be some energy left after that, I really should like to paint the walls in the hallway and also in the room. so enough plans, but it still is a lot of work .
Oh if only we could have our body condition back when we had only 40 years,for a month or so ,
we could do all that work and more in much less time ROFL!

That's about all that happened around here the last couple of days, so as I said, may be today some work will be done, but I think the weekend we take it a bit more relaxed, to recharge and then next week we can attack with some new energy.
Oh, this week started the European Soccer championship for women teams! Yes, women do that too! And really not bad at all. I must say, that may some teams lack still a bit of technique or accuracy in their passings, most matches are real fun to watch, and what they still lack in technique, they surely make it up woth their unbelievable energy and determination. And what is also very nice to see that there are commited almost no fauls, and if one is commited, they aren't too serious. What a difference with the men's competition! Men's soccer is sometimes so hard and with lots of "dirty"fauls, the guys should take an example of the women's soccer.  really mean that!
So yesterday our Dutch team had to play against the German team( world champion and european champion and is considered as the most strong one. But our ladies did amazingly well. Matche ended in 0-0, so it almost felt like a victory for the Dutch team.
We'll see how far they will come in the championship.

Okay, time for a freebie, then I can play for a little bit of time in PSE and then I want to get busy.
I have today a Nutshell kit for you, named Il Vento Accarezza (the caressing wind), with two lovely frame clusters from Arlene.
Have a wonderful weekend, and take care!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

Paint, painting and painted!

Goodmorning everybody!

I will try to make a short post, cause I have to finish some work I started yesterday.
An overview of our last two days?
Mondya it was lovely weather, again. And yes, I did visit the DIY store and found some paint for the kitchen. Oh my, you get nuts, walking along all the shelves with all kind of different maints, from all different brands! I took me a bit of time, to find what I wanted, and I definately have to go back again for some more, but first to be done was the kitchen.
That was for the next day.
At dinner time we did have our second barbecue, and it was yummie and so nice and even a bit cosy LOL.
Yesterday we both got busy, oh yeah!
Jan started painting the woodwork of the little shed and I started with the kitchen walls.
afyter done a coat, it showed that it ded need another one. And I was already happy that I got a coat done, ROFL.
Well, the paint needed to dry for about two hours, so I was glad to have a break. Surely needed it, I am not used anymore to this kind of work. Oh, where is the energy gone? Well, energy is still there, in the mind, but execution of it is a different thing. Then you notice you aren;t into your 40's anymore, damned!
After the break I pulled myself up and started with the second coat. Couldn;t finish it all, just was a bit too pooped out, so today I will finish it. And I will feel good having it done, and it sure looks better and fresh now.
Next job will be painting the wood work from kitchen and hallway and probably in the rooms too. Yeah, that not a little task, but first I;'ll have to really clean the wook, so the new coat of paint will stick well. I think Jan will finish the last bits of the shed.
So you see, lots of activity around here at the moment. And then tomorrow the house will cry for some attention, LOL.
So quickly on to the freebie, don;t you think?
Kit for today is "Sentimental Journey", made it into two downloads.
Accompanied by some sweet clusters from Arlene.
You have a fantastic day!

Download     PART 1   HERE
Download     PART 2   HERE

Download    HERE

At the moment it is summertime!

Goodmorning everybody!

Oh my, we do have real summertime at the moment. So I only spent the las couple of days some time at the computer in the mornings(when all is still so quiet, Jan still sleeping).
It's so nice to be able to open the garden doors in the morning, and hear the birds songing, the air still a little bit fresh, but with the promise of good temps during the day. Even really warm ones, actually!

Friday we did go to the market and were lucky to find another pot of paint Jan needed to finish the work. So now the whole extension is done, and it looks good.
I also bought some sardines there, of a nice size, because we decided to have a little barbecue on Sunday.
Saturday we went to a fair in a mall, not too far away from us, but we needed to go there by bus or tram. We took the bus, cause it stops at the mall, and the tram not.
But what a mess, taking the bus. Because of the street works, suddenly a busstop or 2 had disappeared. Okay, everybody can understand that, but nowhere a sign to see where you could take the bus instead.  Finally we found one and arrived at the mall. It was warm, but just bearable LOL.
we walked around a bit, did some window shopping, had a nice time and even ran into Jan's brother thee. Had a little chat with him and then it was time to go home again. Well, we decided to take the tram, would be easier after our bus trouble. Ha, yout thought!!!!!
The one we needed didn;t come, when it came, it just didn;t stop. So we took another line number, but also that one had a bit of different route, because of other works in town centre. We finally managed to find the tram sopt of the one we needed and arrived home, about half an hour later than normal. Hoorray for the bus and tram company! Sometimes it hopeless!

Sunday we really took a quiet day, in the afternoon I already prepared things for the little barbecue, and it was nice and tasted well too. We have still so much left that probably today we will have another barbecue session LOL.

I have no idea what I will do today. Perhaps I will take a quick visit to the DIY market for some wall paint, the kitchen for certain should be done, and now is the time for it.
Hmmmm, we'll see what happens today.

Kit of today is Long Ago Childhood, with a wonderful add-on from Arlene ( just llok at the quickpage!).
I will take another cup of coffee and while drinking that decide what I will do today!
You have a terrific day!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

It's all about painting

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, it is almost weekend and how wonderful is that?
And we can look forward to some really nice summer days.
That is good news for Jan, with his painting plans.
He continued the painting yesterday, ( he took a "day off"on Wednesday) it was good weather for it, specialy in the morning in beginning of the afternoon.
Yes, wednesday was a little bit minor day, almost all day is drizzled a bit, so I took my chance on a dry moment and did shopping.
Yesterday I started with some house work, and then wanted to start painting the kitchen walls( all dried up now after our leak). First I had to repair some little cracks in the wall, and then had to wait a bit to dry. I still had wall paint, but wasn;t sure if it still was good enough. So I checked that and to my disappointment it was too old and not usable anymore.
Damned, I was all prepared and ready for it and now I couldn;t start.
Okay, it will be for anopther day. But I took advantage of the fact that I could reach the top of the kitchen cabinets, and they were in desperate need of some cleaning LOL! Now I only have to put on top again some fresh newspaper, it helps a lot of keeping them rather clean.
All together it wasn;t a waisted day LOL.
Later the weather changed a bit, it became cloudy, and even a bit fresh outside. Still I could make a couple of photos of the garden, of Jan and of my cat.
Here we go:
First one is of Tuesday, Jan starting to paint the window parts.
Next one taken yesterday,

I also took a photo of the new rose I bought the other day, a gorgeous color!

Next one is of a nasturtium, we grown ourselves from some seeds, a wonderful summer color.

There are some more photos, I will save them for another post. But I have made a layout of some photos I took of my cat Brodski. Not always easy to take a good one of him. Sometimes he is sitting, almost contemplating, and it could be a great shot, but just as I want to click, he starts walking towards me. Gone good picture LOL. Still I was able to have a few rather nice ones.

Today we probably will have a quick visit at the market, Jan still needs a bit of paint, and I will go with him to see, if they have there some nice wall paint for the kitchen, also need some wallpaint for outside, e.g. the little shed could do with a new coat.
But I don;t want plain white, not for the kitchen and not for the walls outside. Yeah I know, I am not easy to please LOL. Not sure yet which color it will become, it has to be something lightm of course.
I always can let a paintshop mix a color but I;d rather find it at the market, or a DIY, all ready to use.
And if possible, not for the highest price.
May be tomorrow we will take some time to go to a fair , that will be in a mall not too far away.
Weather should be nice again tomorrow, great to spend some time outside.
So a bit busy days ahead, I shouldn;t spend too much time at the computer today.

I have a real sweet kit for you today, named "From Heaven". Soft colours, and some gorgeous clusters from Arlene.
Have a safe and wonderful day and weekend!

Download   HERE

Download    HERE

Serious work is going on!

Goodmorning everybody!

We had a couple of nice days, today it looks again a bit less, it's raining, for now, temperature will not be too high, but towards and in the weekend we should be allright again. It;s about time, some real summer weather arrives and stays for a while!
And yes, some serious work is going on here. Jan started to paint the wood of the expansion.
He is doing that in parts, every day a bit. It wouldn;t be wise to be painting a too extend period after another, his back would protest too much. But........ never mind, it will be finished somewhere next week probably. Depends also a bit on the weather, like today, with the rain, it;s no use. On the other hand it will give him a bit of time to recover.

Monday was laundry day for me. It sure feels good once it is done, and the ironing too. All put away in the closet too, I was happy with it.
Yesterday I did not do a lot, although I finally got a bit order in my recipee binder. I always collect recipees but they needed to be organized a bit. So I spent some time on that.
I should try to take a photo of Jan busy with the painting, but I will have to do that sneeky. I know he doesn;t like to be photographed, I'll just have to be patient and take my chances ROFL.

Progress on designing kits is stagnating a bit. It happens ofter so I am not desperate, and have lots of fun making some layouts for Edna. I probably will continue a bit the layout stuff, have some pictures in my folder I still have to make a layout for. And if the weather is nice, well, I spend a bit less time at the computer and more time outside.
Oh I tried out another recipee, by the way. I still had an aubergine( yes, Linda, I know I should call it an egg-plant LOL), and some other things that needed to be used and I found a great and easy recipee.

Mediterranean style stew with eggplant, chicken and olives

number of persons 4

ingredients:
2 eggplants, 2 onions, 2 sprigs parsley, 4 tablespoons olive oil,
1 clove of garlic, 500 grams of chicken breast, 2 teaspoons oregano, 100gram black olives, 1 1/2 teaspoon bouillon powder, 1 1, 2 cup white wine, salt and pepper, riijst

Cut the eggplant into small cubes. peel the onion and chop it finely. Finely chop the parsley. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan, press the above garlic and fry the eggplants around. Spoon the eggplant from the pan, drain on paper towels. Again heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and fry the onion for a minute. Add the diced chicken breast and fry for about 5 minutes brown. Add oregano, olives, bouillon powder, white wine, eggplant. Season with salt and pepper. Let this simmer for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the rice.

(You can easily leave out the white wine, then take a bit more of the broth and I also added a bit of paprika powder to spice it some more)

So, here you have again some easy recipee to try out. Like in alomost everything I give a little twist to it, depending a bit on the ingredients I have around. Of course I buy some if needed, but not always all of them, I find that a bit too much, and with some serious thinking you can come up often with a nice subsitution.

Okay, that's about it for now. Looks to be a good day to have some vacuum cleaning done and such, while it is still raining  Oh, just have to teel you this. When Monday I was out for buying just some strawberries for desert, I also had to go into the supermarket for a little thing. There they also have a little stand where you can buy flowers and a couple of plants, And I saw standing there a little rose in a beutiful orange color and it was offered with a price reduction  and only was € 1,30, which is nothing for a little rose. I know, our garden is slowly overgrowing again, (here I have s devious grin on my face), but how could I resist it? I will try to have a photo on Friday.
And now I really have to finish, I will do so with a another Nutshell kit,. named "Dolce Momento", and two seet clusters from Arlene. Enough for one or two tender layouts.
Have a wonderful day!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

I've been a bit creative

Goodmorning everybody!

We had a bit  of nicer weather. At times there is still just a bit too much wind, but there is sunshine and better temperatures.
Friday however the day started somewhat "drizzly", but Jan and I decided to go to the market and of course we were the unlucky ones to catch a rainshower. Still it was just a short one and we could shelter for it, and after that weather suddenly improved.
We had a nice walk around and came back with lots of fruit and some cheese.
Especially Saturday I had a very unproductive day, LOL, I didn't do anything, only a whee bit of gardening. Also made you a few photos.
As we had "veteran-day"on Satuday, I just was in the garden with my camera as some helicopters and airplanes flew over for the parade. I even managed to make one not too bad picture of the fighter-planes .

Here a photo of our new rose, the groundcovering one, isn;t it a gorgeous color?

Here a shot of one of our white roses, it's funny, when they have their buds you think it will be a very pale pink one, but once blooming it is completely white.

You can see our strawberries( we have 3 plants, this is just one) are starting to color.

And I couldn;t resist taking another shot of our climbing rose.

And this is the way our Brodski is spending most of his time, sleeping, and often even in a garden chair too.

But I even did some things at the computer, I started a new kit, didn;t had much progress, then I read, as every day, Edna's blog and saw her gorgeous close-ups from her sion in law Eddie and her grandson Kevin, installing her stormdoor. Couldn;t resist making layouts of them. It was fund to make a couple of layouts again. If you want to see the result, just head over to Edna's blog, and look in her post of the pst couple of days.

Yesterday I was a bit more productive, also spend some time in the kitchen preparing our dinnerr in advance, so I just had to warm it in the oven. Remember that Jan came back one day from the market with some aubergines? Had to do something with them, I found a recipee and oh whee, it really was a good one, it tasted so yummie! LOL. I gave it a little switch in ingredients I used, it happens that you don;t have always all things that are written in the recipee and it is madness to always buy all the stuff, you often can do with things you already have in stock.
I will give you the link to the recipee page, you only have to let Google translate it, sorry!
I made it just for two persons, so took about half of everything, except for the aubergine, I used two. And instead of the bit of white wine I made  some broth, and used also some leaves of basil  and made the bechamel sauce myself. I think it looks a bit like a Moussaka.
http://www.aubergine.nl/aubergine_nl/_rd/aubergine-aardappelschotel

After this lazy weekend it is time to do some work around here again. For dirst there is a laundry waiting to be done, plus some ironing. Depending on how long it takes, there might be some time to do a bit more. But.... I have it easy for dinner today, there is left enough from our aubegine-plate, so we will finish that today. And may be I will try out this week another recipee with aubergine I found, that is a kind of stew, with chicken breast filet and lots more.
Time for the freebie today.
I havea rather "happy"looking kit for you, although the colours are at first looking somewhat darker.
It is named "Ciao Bella". And take a look at Arlene's add-on! She made something wonderful with it, 
You will have 1 cluster, one frame, one set of pageborders and she even made you a whole quickpage with those too!
Hopefully you all will have a good start of the week(I just realized that we are already in the month of JULY!!!) . Take care.

Download    HERE

Download   HERE