The year 2016 is almost over

Goodmorning everybody!

What a wonderful Christmas we had.
Christmasday in the afternoon I already started to prepare a bit for our dinner, the meat fondue Then Jan left for his volunteering and I dressed the little table and had everything ready
When he came home he first took something to drink and then we "attacked" the presents. And oh, we were spoiled and how lovely is that LOL!
My friend Enda sent us a box with all kind of lovely things, to mention some: a pair of lounge trousers for Jan, a very soft fleece waistcoat(I can wear it indoors when I am real cold, of wear it in Spring outside, when it is just a bit chilly still), her wonderful calendar with beautiful photos, coffeesticks, colouring book and pencils and toys for our Brodski.
We also had a gift from my friend Heidi and her Danny I am looking after her fish from Christmas till today and her house and mail of course And I found it on her table when i went there just before Christmas.
It is an insect hotel to put into the garden.
And I also sneeked in a fleece sweater for Jan between the presents. I went into city centre on Saturday and found it in a great sale for just a few euro's. He can wear it with his new lounge trousers.
After all the ahhh and ohh's and laughter we had our dinner, while looking a great show of a German performer, Helene Fischer.
It was fantastic.

Next day we didn;t do much, just lingered around, watched some tv, had another fondue(there was so much left over, so easy peasy for me).
Can't even remember all that I did this week, now that is funny!
well, I suppose then nothing realy important happened, which should be a good thing.
Then yesterdayI had to go to the hospital for another echo and also a punction on my thyroid The echo is no big deal, but the puntion wasn't pleasant. Oh, it wasn;t really hurting but not a nice feeling. They looked at it right away to see if there was anything disturbing and at first sight(also by looking at the echo) the doctor couldn;t see anything bad.
I will get the official reading of it in January, on the 10th from the internist. But I think, I will not have to worry about shocking news.
So I hope that it's done with too.

Now I am more worried about jan, who already started a bad cough at Christmas and it will not go away. Well, it is a tiny little bit better, but I am not totally happy about it. I wanted him to go to the doctor after a few days, but you know him by now. He isn;t going fast to a doctor
And then he was kind of "lucky"too, our own doctor was away this week.
So we always can go to a replacement doctor, but that is something Jan absolutely doesn;t want to do. So we agreed to see how it goes after New years's day and if still the same, he might make an appointment at our own doctor. Just to see if it is just a bad cold and then may be he can get some antibiotic that will help. Pffff, it is hard work sometimes with him LOL.

The last two, three days it is a bit cold here, even bit freezing at night and it is looking grey with at times misty, so no fun weather.
But it still stays dry, and I am already happy for that. Because rain at daytime and freezing at nnight is no good combination.

Good, time for me to finish the post now. I am running a bit late now, somehow I have no speed today in my body.
There are sometimes these days, that you look back on them and don´t know what exactly you achieved. LOL
I do have a kit for you, "Winterday at the countryside"
Wishing you all a happy New Year's eve and good start of the New year!

Download    HERE

Christmastime should be peaceful.

Goodmorning everybody!

Well, not only Christmastime should be peaceful, all over the world it should be peaceful all year round, but that is probably an utopia.
Still, Christmastime is kind of special and we were all shocked by the attack in Berlin, Germany at the Christmasfair this week.
12 people dead and 25 still heavy wounded, just because some nutcase thought it a wonderful idea to drive onto the fair with a big truck.
That truck was hijacked from a Polish driver, who seemed to have tried to fight the attacker, and tried to turn the wheel from the truck.
Sadly he didn;t succeed and then he was shot by the attacker.
My heart goes out to all  who lost a loved one, or have someone in the hospital and also to all who witnessed this aweful act of terrorism.
I every time wonder what the thoughts must be of an attacker of this kind, what crazy thought is driving them to such an act????

It is hard to jump now to "normal"life and writing after such things, but we have to go on and not let the fear freeze us.
Yesterday evening, just after dinner, our doorbel rang and there was a postman with a box from ......Santa! It always is fun to open it and then arrange the presents around our tree and manger. It looks so cosy and happy. Now the hard part is starting. Yes, waiting till Christmasday to open them LOL! But we will be good and wait.

I have a photo for you of our christmastree on the manger. I took those before there were the presents. I have two photos in fact, one I took with and one I took without flash. I am not really happy about any of them, but they'll do to give you an idea.

Monday Jan went again to the elderly home where he volunteers, because he received an invitation to be there. it was the day all staff but also all volunteers received an attention for their work.
This year it was a kind of sidetable, that you also could use as laundry basket for the dry laundry, or perhaps as basket to put toys in, very nice and filled with all kind of goodies for Christmas. There was a bottle of wine, some chips, cookies, cheese, chocolate, etc.
I think it is a very nice gesture of the organasation to do such thing also for the volunteers.

Last two days we had a bit of frost at night(only 1 or 2 degrees) and not real high temperatures at daytime. But although pretty chilly it still was nice weather yesterday, because the sun was shining.
Today will be a bit higher temperature, but greysh and then at Christmas they expect temps of about 10-11C. May be a bit of rain at times with it. But I am happy with those temperatures for december. Just hope that it will last and not that e.g. end of February and March we suddenly will have wintertime.

Well, I will finish now, it is running rather late, and i want to go to the market today, so I have to get dressed and something to eat before I go. But I better do it today, because I fear that on Friday and Saturday it will be terrible crowded there.
I have one more Christmaskit for you with clusters from Arlene.
I don;t think I will be blogging again before Christmas so I would like to wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas, filled with joy and love and peace.

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I am on track for our Christmas.

Goodmorning everybody!

Weather here still not too bad, although a bit greyish, but temperatures around 6-8 C and we still have no frost during the night, so we shouldn;t complain.

Monday Jan went to his doctor, the internist for regular check and result of the last MRI. That was okay, showed nothing to worry, which is great.
Then last time she gave him some iron tablets for his blood. Values now were good again, but she advised to take them for a bit longer time. And he has to look a bit better after the fluid control. He has medicins for that too, but sometimes he has a bit too much of it (mostly showing a more "rounded"belly)and has to be more careful with what he eats(the big trouble shooter for that are the quick Chinese soups he likes to take late evening. Lately he had almost one every ther evening/night and so he has to cut that back drasticaly. Those soups taste great but contain way too much salt).
Okay, if that's all, he can handle that LOL.

I already did some "Christmas-dinner"shopping this week, but I still need a few things more. Probably I will try to do that shopping later today. Then next week I only will have to think about the usual things, like bread, cat food, coffee and such.

Yesterday we had a visit from our friends Heidi and Danny. It was nice to see eachother again and have a little chat.
They will be away for a few days, so then we will have to look after the fish and the mail.


And that was about all that happened. In all we can say we had rather quiet days and oh, that's a blessing LOL!
I did make a couple of photos of the Christmas tree, but they didn;t turn out very great, so perhaps I will try again this weekend.
Possibly they will not turn out great either, LOL, but I will try.

Now it is getting rather late in the morning, time for me to get busy, so here is the next Christmas freebie, named "Christmas Days".
Have a wonderful day and week ahead.

 Download   HERE

Download   HERE

We have smart meters now in the house !

Goodmorning everybody!

It have been a few busy days.
Past weekend Jan went to volunteer work again. He was a bit tired after those 3 days, but happy to be back. So  think he has beaten the virus or whatever.
What did I do on Monday? Oh, I know, not all too much, but I went to the postoffice to send a Christmasbox and now I realize i forgot to write some Christmascards so I could take them too. Oh well,  will write them this weekend, nothing wrong with that.
Tuesday was a really busy day! Jan and i started the Christmas decorating. We were busy for several hours, with a little pause every now and then and we got most of it done. But I felt rather exhausted that evening. Then yesterday morning we couldn;t sleep very long in the morning because there would be a man coming from the gas and electricity company, to change our older meters into new and "smart"ones. Yes, everything these days seems to be "smart".
Smart phone, smart tv, smart car, smart whatever!!(and I have the feeling I am getting less smart or even dumber every time there is spoken about those "smart"things ROFL)
With those appointments they never can give you a fix time, so he would be there between 9;00 and 11.00 in the morning.
Okay, he came around 10.30 LOL. Have to say he did a quick job, and then we could put things at their place again that we had to remove to give him place to work. What it is exactly about the smart meters I don;t know, seems the company can "read"your meters at distance, so we don;t have to fill in a card once or twice a year with the readings.
Well, I suppose there will be more smart things about those meters, all fine with me.
After the fellow left and we had a coffee we finished the decorating of the room There wasn;t much left to do, just more the finishing touches, last things that had to be hanged or placed, but it took still an hour or two( and then we had to put the empty boxes away and then it was time for a good vacuum cleaning) But then all was done and I am very happy with the result.
Of course it is more or less the same as every year, although this year we did put the tree on the little manger(still the one my father once made, so already very old) and it looks real pretty. I will make some photos this weekend so I can show you.
And I did have a rather good sleep this night, how wonderfu. And the more wonderful because there was no need to wake up early. Nevertheless I woke up rather early, went quickly for a needed thing out of bed, looked at the clock and thought : "still too early to get active, I will go back and try to steal another hour or two". And I did get back to sleep for a little while. Wonderful!

Yes, I notice that i need more time to recuperate after I have been really busy and in "action". It is just a thing we have to get used to, all comed a bit with age. Still I can do a lot of things and we have to be grateful for that. Okay,  have to "dose"it a bit more and that is sometimes difficult. Because in the mind we still feel young(or most of the time) but then the body isn;t always cooperating as we might want ROFL..

More than time now to finish,  have to get moving and get dressed and then do some grocerie shopping, just a few things but needed.
And then I'll see what i do later today. Think  will take a more easy day, sounds like a good plan.
Kit for today is , of course, a Christmas kit and together with clusters and quickpage from Arlene.
This one is named "Under the Mistletoe".
Have a wonderful day.

 Download  HERE

Download   HERE

Worldwide Christmas scrapbooking blogtrain is starting!

Goodmorning everybody!

Oh, I am late again today. I slept so long, but I probably needed it.
Yesterday I had to get up rather early, because  had the appointment at the hospital for my throat, the goitre Well, it isn;t really that, but for years it is a kind of little ball.
The doctor I had was a femal doctor with a foreign name, she was from Island. So first  complimented her with her great sounding name, and then we had the chat She was a very nice person, asked me loads of questions, said also to me that the bloodtest showed that my thyrois was working good, so there no problem. The echo I had, showed that I had some fluid there and some calcified tissue, nothing to really worry about She said it had no use sucking out the fluid, it would come back after little time again. But she suggested to make another echo with a puntion into the tissue, just for security. Then i will come back to her after a week from that. Not that she really expected that it would show something strange.
Okay, we'll have that echo and puntion and hopefully that will be the last of this year's hospital and doctors visits, and hopefully next year will be more quite with that

Jan is doing also better, I am not sure if he is really already feeling up to 100%(you never can tell with him, he isn;t the talking kind of husband LOL), but he will go to his volunteerswork again this weekend. I think it will do him good, you know. He had one of the nurses at the phone yesterday(a male, from Portuguese origin, but living here already for some years, very nice guy) and he told Jan that he was missed, by the staff and by the people/patients.
I hope there will not be too much change in patients when he starts again. There were one or two very sweet ones, who were very sick(cancer) so it isn;t sure if they are still there. If not, I know it will touch Jan(specially one old lady), but he is capable to give it a place and keep a kind of distance. That is a good thing, because otherwise it is almost impossible to do the job there.

The last couple of days it was rather cold here, we had some frost( some more at the east past of the country), and at daytime it was not more as around 3-5C. But there was some sunshine so even kind of cold, it was nice to be outside for some shopping. With a shawl, and warm coat and trousers it wasn;t bad.
Think I'll spend today inside, must do some stuff in the house.
It is a bit better temperature wise today and tomorrow, so may be tomorrow I'll walk to the market. Not sure about it yet, we'll see.
The poor parakeet Japie is still around. But I fear the days that it really will be freezing, even if just for a 2 or 3 degrees. erhaps I am too soft hearted, because in the real wild world I think he wouldn;t have survived even this long. all I can do is making sure he has something to eat, and perhaps arrange for some kind of shelter, although I think he has his own hiding places somewhere and will not use a little house of some kind.

Well, for now anough chatted. I think it is time for the freebie of the Worldwide Christmas scrapbooking blogtrain of 2016.
Big thanks to Antoinette for organizing it again this year!
Just follow the above link(or the one with the logo in the sidebar) and you will see all the freebies that are offered.
Mine is named "Merry Season"(and it is the one I;ve made my bloglayout with) and of course Arlene contributed also with some fantastic clusters and quickpage and even an extra in her download.
If that all isnt yet enough, then take a look again at Arlene's shop,
she has added some lovely papers and clusters  for Christmas there.
(there is more than the preview here)

Have fun looking through the big list of freebies on the WWCS blog(don;t forget to they thanks to the designer if you download).
Have a wonderful day and lovely weekend

Download    HERE

Download   HERE

To have to wake up early..... not easy!!!

Goodmorning everybody!

Weather here is still not really bad, some days there is some rain, then a bit of sunshine, temps around 10-12, but that will change coming week, they will drop to around 5 and at night some frost. all because of the wind turning to north and North-East again.
May be that will only be for a few days, let's hope so!

Last Monday Jan had to go to hospital for a MRI and because I had to have a bloodcheck for an appointment with the doctor for the goitre  thought I as well can go with him.
But his appointment was at a very early hour, at 08.00, so we had to wake up at 6.30 in the morning And oh boy, is that hard when you aren;t used to that anymore!!!!!!
We managed though to be on time and home again, I though it might be wise to take both a little nap at the couches.
Jan dozed off very soon, but I just couldn;t get the sleep really, must have slept yet a bit, but woke up with a terrible dream, not pleasant at all
Well, I stayed awake then and oh how marvellous, that night I slept so well!

Rest of the week not really much happened over here, which is in fact bad for making a blogpost, LOL, but oh so good for my well-being ROFL.

Because of the often chaning weather now, Brodski sometimes stays out in the garden for a long time and then suddenly wants to spend time inside. One morning, when I woke up, he wasn't waiting for me in the kitchen. But he often sits then in the living room too, so  went there, looked around, opened the curtains, but couldn;t find him. Strange, but I opened the kitchen door and called for him, ........no Brodski appeared. More strange.
I went back into the room and suddenly I noticed something moving, on a side table, behind a lamp there. That was Brodski, who apparantly had found a new place to sleep. I wasn;t all too happy abut it, he has spots enough where he can lie down, so I yelled a bit at him and gave him a soft spank on his bottom, yeah! That helped, till now, I didn;t find him anymore on that side table, but now he managed to have a place on the windowsill. How did he get there????
He sat under it, looking very sad, tried to jump on it, but there were too many pots with plants there, so no place for him. Sad looking again, he achieved that Jan moved one or two pots, and now he has a place there.
Aren;t they smart, our pets???????

Oh, last weekend I did wrap all the Christmaspresents that I have to send in a box, I also arranged a box at the near toy shop, so I only have to seal it and put on adress labels and then I can send it away next week. It always seemed still so far away, Christmas, but now Jan and I will have to start decorating in less then two weeks!
Speaking of Christmas, next week Thursday it will be the 1st of December and the start of the World Wide Christmas scrapbooking blogtrain.
Don´t forget about it,  I am sure there will be lots of beautiful contributions waiting for you.
And also about Christmas things: Arlene has some wonderful full kits and kits with only elements or papers in it. Go take a look,at her shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BabyBearDigitalScrap?ref=search_shop_redirect

Here some previews:

She has more in the shop, but you have an impression. and admit, that she makes beautiful things!!

I think I rambled more than long enough now. Time for a freebie and the clusters from Arlene at the same time. Kit is named "Memories are Time machines". And if you think it through, there is some truth in that.
A memory places you back in time, just as a time machine would do(only difference is, that a time machine might place you also somewhere in the future........something like in the Dr. Who series.... and no, I don;t follow it, but every now and then see a chapter on tv ROFL. )
Now I only have to wish you all a happy and blessed Thanksgiving(we don;t celebrate that in Holland).
Have a wonderful day.

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

For EU suddenly notice about cookies on blog.

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, when  opened my dashboard in Google, I got a notification about needing a cookie bar on my blog, that is, certainly for the EU. A lot of explaining, seems that one is placed already on my blog.
Well, perhaps one of my readers here in Europe can tell me if that cookie consent bar is showing up? Would like to know, please.I have no idea.
It is all about privacy and such, but what changes? We all know we are being watched on internet, if we like it or not and much more than we probably know. But that notification of cookies being used will not change a lot, is my feeling. You can agree or not, okay, nice touch, but still a lot of information is gathered around and there isn;t much we can do against it, I fear.
So far this subject.

Tuesday we had a quick visit of our plmuber, who installed the new central heating kettle. I had a few quiestions about it, about a bit of pressure that it lost and such I think it is more the almost trauma  that is left in me from the old stuff(that really was leaking so lost pressure and water quickly, had to refill every few weeks at that time)
Seems all is in order as he could see for know. To be comletely sure, we should keep an eye on it. Perhaps somewhere there might be still a small leak in a pipe(most of them are new, but we have a littl part still old and they are really OLD). Okay, we will keep an eye on it, but I am however a bit more reassured.
Something funny he told me though.
Next year in about February, my plumber will open a fish shop! He will manage it together with one of his sons and his father in law(who had for years a fish shop). He said, he was getting older too and that he didn;t want to climb on roofs and that kind of thing anymore. He will carry on with the central heating stuff, so he will start with the fish 3 days a week and the others he will use for central heating placement and cleaning.
He has still two other sons, one working at the moment for another firm and one still learning for it, to go on with the plumber business, so that family business will continue.

Yesterday we had a rather nice day, so I went to the market and came home with a bit of veggies and some cheese and such. I even had some sunshine every now and then. It was a nice walk, but at the end  was glad  was hme again, I did feel my legs a little bit!!
And what about Jan? Well, I think he is doing better, but he still feels very tired and still needs some more longer sleeps and rest I guess.
So he will stay home this weekend too, and will not go to the volunteer job. I know that he is sorry about it, but  also think it is a good thing to take some more rest and start again next weekend.
Also he has to go Mondaymorning very early(08.00 o'clock!) to the hospital for a MRI scan (it is more an extra chek-up for his belly and stomach, liver and that area),  will go with him this time. Not because I have to hold hands, LOL,  no I must have a bloodcheck done. The 30th of November I have an appointment at the hospital with a specialist for the goitre I have already for years. Sometimes it bothers me a little bit, but we'll see what the doctor has to tell.
This was a bit of a doctor's visit year, as it seems, much to much to my liking,so I really hope next year will be lots better concerning health.
If that goes rather well, lots of other things are better to cope with, it seems.

Oh boy, with all that cookie stuff reading and so on, time passed by so quckly, that it is really time I take a cup of coffee and something to eat, and then later I will take another sandwich, then with fresh smoked mackerel on it. I bought the fish at the market yesterday. Yummie!
And time now for the freebie. It is named "Charming Old Days",
And also the clusters Arlene made!
Have a wonderful day, great weekend and till next week!

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

I love Strictly come dancing on BBC

Goodmorning everybody!

Weather here still not really bad, although much less than it was We have days with rain, every now and then some sunshine, temperatures real crisp around 5-6 C( at times a little bit frost at night)
Next week temperatures ahould rise again to around 10 C, already much better LOL.

Yes, on Saturdays I watch a program on the BBC, "Strictly come dancing" and I love it. It's about celebrities of sport, or hosts on tv, or actors or whatever you can think of, who are paired to a professional ball room dancer and have to perform every week another dance. And not every pair has to do the same dance the same week, so there is a lot of variety. And some of the celebrities are very taleneted in it, some others have difficulties, but that is just the fun of it. I admire their enthousiasme and labour, because it is hard work!
And then you have the stage settings and costumes and all to admire too, plus a good dose of humour to it, just great for a Saturday evening tv.
May be you like to get an idea of it I have a link for you:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m8dq/episodes/guide
I hope you still can watch the episode of the Halloween. May be not for all the dances, but just look at the costumes and make-up, fantastic!

Last week Saturday evening Jan cam home feeling kind of ill. He had a bit of diarrhea and abdominal cramps and just didn't felt real good.
So I phoned Sunday to the volunteerwork-place to tell them Jan couldn;t come that afternoon. It seems there was a virus spooking around there, giving the complaints Jan had. Probably he catched it, poor thing.
It took some days to get rid of it, I am not sure it is completely gone yet(but Jan almost never gives any information, not by himself and very little when I ask something, real difficult hubby!), so we both thought it would be better if Jan stayed home this weekend too and first completely get rid of that virus No use in going there again and catching it for perhaps a second time, makes no sense.
I phoned them yesterday, so that they still have time to perhaps find somebody else to help with making dinner(that is sandwiches and soup and sometimes and extra for the people staying there).

I told you about the green parakeet Japie, the one with not too many feathers? He still is around, but there is no chance in catching him and bringing him in the house. The parakeets still are"wild"and should stay so. May be  can figure out a kind of little house or so attached on the little shed, where a bird could stay rather protected, although I doubt it if Japie really would sit there. 
But there are more and more prakeets visiting our garden again(of course, here they get food LOL) but also lots of titmouses of different kinds, I even saw once or twice a robin!

Yesterday  was kind of busy here, I did change the bedsheets, did some vacuumcleaning, did some ironing, made dinner in advance( and I have enough for today also), feeded the birds, did still some other things I cannot remember anymore, so i think today I will take it easier.
And that leaves me with some designing time at the computer too.
Today I have an Autumn kind of kit, named Harvest Time and I give you Arlene's clusters at the same time.
Time to leave you now, have a wonderful day and weekend and make the most of it and stay safe!

Download    HERE

Download   HERE

Getting really chilly here!

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, definately getting colder now, and somewhere next week they expect some frost at night. We are having more rain too at the moment, so it is not quite my kind of weather anymore LOL.

First of all have to send birthday wishes to my friend Edna!(http://missednasplace.blogspot.nl/
Happy Birthday Edna, have a fantastic day.

Jan and I had to go to 2 appointments concerning financial stuff,for the time we will be pensionados. I always get very stressed about those things in advance. All kind of things go through my mind and I know I often worry too much, but that seems to be in my system lately.
Well, the guy who handles or stuff is a very nice one and all so relaxed and he sorted things out and of course I worried far too much.
I think the guy did far more than previewed( it was a orientating conversation so no charge for it, pffff), but next year he will have to do some handlings and of course that will cost a bit of money.
We'll see about that when time comes, it has to be done and it's worth it that somebody handles it who has experience it this kind of work.

Did you know, that just a few years ago, retirement age was at 65 years, but this government decided that costs of retirement payment from the government was getting too expensive, so they decided that retirement age had to be moved ahead to finally (for now) 67 years
They made it in steps so for Jan and me it means we will not get retirement money until we have the age of 66 years and 4 months.
Younger people will have to work till 67 and they even are talking about even 68 or in time 70 years of age. That is because people are getting older and the costs will be tremendous(as govenernment tells us).
But in a lot of professions it is almost impossible to work any longer that till 65 and even that is real hard for some.
I don;t think it is a really good thing. I understand kind of the why, but for people who do very physical work you cannot expect that they will hold on working till 67/68 or even longer.
I my opinion it should stay 65 years, for retirement with possiblity to work longer if you want and are able  to.

More and more parakeets appear in the garden, and also the miserable looking one "Japie"is still around. He even looks more miserable when it is raining, then the few feathers he has on his head and chest are not showing too much anymore, so he really looks like a pityful bird. I just hope with the seeds and fat we give him, he will be able to survive winter.

Today is time to do just a little bit  of grocerie shopping and I must not forget to pick up my medicins. I brought the prescriptions of Jan and me earlier this week to the drugstore, so they have time to gather them. Then I will have to think of something quick and tasty for me and Jan to eat this evening and also the rest of the weekend(today is Jan's first day of volunteer work again, so I will eat alone and Jan later when he comes home).
And later today may be some time for me to design a bit at the computer. I will have to do something this weekend for sure, because I got a message of Antoinette(Dutch Sparky) that she is putting together again a World Wide Christmas Scrapbooking blogtrain, and as I joined it every time,  will do so this time too
Start of blogtrain will be 1st of December, as always.
Okay, time now to show the freebie for today.
It is named "Moments to Collect".
Have a wonderful day and weekend and stay safe!

Download    HERE

And just because I think it is nice to have the clusters at the same time here already the clusters from Arlene!(And how lovely they are!)

Download    HERE

Getting more and more into designing again

Goodmorning everybody!

We still have rather nice weather here. Temperatures around 12 C to even some days 14-15, not much wind, little rain, periods with sunshine.
Next week a bit the same although temperatures will drop a bit to 12 C again.
It's been rather quiet here too, which is wonderful, only, if it is quiet, there isn't much to tell either LOL.
I've been spending some time at the computer again, I seem to have some inspiration back, so I take advantage of it.
You know how I am when i kind of "plan" things ahead??????????
Well, last weekend I got the idea of making an apple pie I had still some apples left, and although i love making and eating apple compot, it sometimes can be too much, hahaha. But....somehow I didn;t come to it. Now I will try to make it this weekend, so cross your fingers.

Friday Jan has a little diner from the institution he works as volunteer. I believe a floor manager is leaving and the dinner party is payed by a family, who's mother or father  stayed for a few months there and now passed away. Just as a kind of thank you for all the people who took care of the parent. And the staff said that Jan didn;t have to come to work on Friday from 16.00 to 19.00, they have taken care of it . Nice isn't it?
So tomorrow I just have to make something for dinner for myself. And I think I already knoow what i will take. Pizza.! Easy and tasteful.
Usually I put some extra mozarella on it, gives it a little extra.

So Monday there is Halloween already! I suppose a lot of you are already preparing their house and costumes for it? Sometimes we see in programs overhere some shots of decorated houses over in America and I have to say there are some really funny and great ones.
I hope it will be a clear evening and night, so that my friend Edna will have no trouble finding my house and give us a wave when whe flies over it on her broom with Pogo LOL.
You can be sure Jan and I will keep an eye on the sky on Halloween!
And as some of you certainly will make lots of photos, you will need something to make a catching layout
Well, I've made you a Halloween kit, and Arlene made you some clusters. (Arlene has also some great Halloween papers on her website, as well as some beautiful fall papers and clusters and lots more.
Take a look https://www.etsy.com/shop/BabyBearDigitalScrap?ref=search_shop_redirect
Have a great weekend and lots of fun.!

 Download    HERE

 Download    HERE

More and more parakeets visit the garden again.

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, the parakeets are definately returning. They are there in the morning and in the late afternoon they are back again.  counted at most 6 for now.
Did I tell you about "Japie"the one that looks so miserable(almost no feathers he had on his head and chest)? Well, he is back too and still is looking rather miserable but a bit better. I wonder if he will hold through when it will really will be cold.
But it is fun to have those parakeets back again.

We had a bit of on and off weather actually. All together if I look back on the week, it wasn;t that bad at all One day it really rained a lot, and there was a fierce wind, but that day in other parts of the country is was pretty bad. so we are doing quite good at the coast at the moment.
Periods with sun, sometimes a bit cloudy, here and there a rainshower, and temperatures around 12 C, I'll settle for it for a whole lot longer!

There was one day temps even were around 17-18 and that was a good day to do something in the garden. So I took out the ladder and pruned a whole bunch of ivy and also lots of branches of the blueberrie that comes from the neighbour. I didn;t had the courage anymore to tie it together anymore, so Jan did that the other day. Oh boy, I really did a lot, we had 4 bundles and also 3 sacks. So I called to the council to ask it they could fetch it and they shoud come today. Yesterday evening Jan and I took all the stuff outside .

Duri g the week I did of course some usual stuff in the house, every day something and also did about all the grocerie shopping and still had some time to sit at the computer to design a bit. And in the evenings thee are lots of things to see at tv, some more interesting than others, but while we also take things on tape and dvd, there always is something to watch. We are now following season 2 of a serie called Madame Secretary. My readers living in the Us probably know it and perhaps even already have season 3, but  must say we like it a lot.
It is a good mix of fiction and facts and also not forgets showing a bit of private life. We usually tape about one week and then on days there isnt too much to watch we see 4 episodes in 2 days LOL.
And there is also some sports to see, like soccer and soon also there will be some speedskating again  guess. And if that is not enough there are here and there also some nice detectives to watch, so we have quite a busy time in the evenings , hahahaha

Well, about time for me to finish this post, must think of something to make as dinner for Jan(best something I can make in advance), because today he goes again to his volunteerjob.(he calls it his "hobby")
and if I am feeling okay tomorrow(why shouldn't I?) perhaps I will try to make an applepie.
I'll give you today a kit, named Manuela, together with the clusters of Arlene. Because I don't want you to wait too long for the clusters of a kit. And why that? Because next week  will have a Halloween kit for you.
Have a fantastic weekend and take care!

Download   HERE

Download   HERE

Some lovely autumn days

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, we still cannot complain totally about the weather. Although it is a bit low in temperature, we still have a lot of sunshine and almost no rain and not too much wind. So in all it looks friendly.
It already makes such a difference when you wake up, open your curtains and the sun is shining, even when you know the temperature is just around 11-12 C.

I had kind of a bad day yesterday, suddenly my stomach was playing games with me and at times it hurt badly Then it settled down again and then made war again, not funny at all. But I had a good night sleep last night and I hope all has settled down again and that the tablets will do their work well and smoothly again.

Oh, I was so pleased when I looked out the window into the garden yesterday morning! I saw two parakeets sitting on one of the rosebows. Hoorray, may be it is a sign they will come back more frequent now.

Brodski is spending more and more time inside now. Of course he takes at times a little stroll into the garden and if there is enough sun, he finds a place to warm himself up for a while But in the evenings and nights you can find him often in the living room now! Smart guy, of course. There it is warm and sometimes he even gets a little something he likes very much, like some small bits of cheese e.g.

Time to move for me now, I slept rather late this morning so time is disappearing quickly.
I have today some clusters by Arlene for you, made with the Autumn Symphony kit.
Have a wonderful dya and week ahead.

Download   HERE

Echo of struma was okay

Goodmorning everybody

Tuesday I went to hospital for an echo of my struma, and yesterday I was with my doctor for the result. Nothing disturbing found, it seems that I have one bigger cyste on the thyroid or nearby, that is filled with some fluid, therefore I have already for years a swelling in my throat. The advise is to visit and internist just to talk it through and perhaps they advise to remove the fluid, I don;t know
But for now I can sleep without worries, okay
I am just so fed up with visiting doctors and hospital and having tests, I think I just had enough of it for this year.

After I came back from the doctor, Jan and I first had a cup of coffee and then I decided Jan could really do with a haircut(I was telling him that already for about 2 weeks LOL). And so it happened. I am not a hairdresser, but I think it is looking not too bad.

Now today I also have to call the dental guy again, to have an appointment for some smaller adjustments and when those are done I think all will settle slowly and I will even get used to it in time LOL. Then I will have to do some grocerie shopping and later in the afternoon Jan will have to go to his volunteer work again.

The weather is still not really bad, although temperatures are getting more crisp. At daytime we have now about 14-15 C, but no rain(or very very little) and not too much wind, even periods with sunshine.
But I know it is getting colder outside, because our Brodski is spending more time inside the house now. Right now he is sleeping on the floor next to me.

I am designing again a bit more, I even started yesterday on a halloween kit( I am somewhat late, but it will be ready in time), and I even have some papers ready for a new Christmaskit
Time for me to make that phonecall to the dental guy and then get dressed and get busy
Wishing you all a wonderful day and weekend and that all may be safe who will have to deal with hurricane Matthew.

P.S.  I notcied that i didn't put a title on the preview. This is the Autumn Symphony kit.

Download    HERE

Difficult to eat the last few days

Goodafternoon everybody!

Didn;t have time this morning, because  had a doctorsappointment. Nothing real serious, but had some questions and they are about all answered, have to get a check (echo) for my thyroid. I have a bit of struma in the throat, which I have already for years and years. My doctor asked me if I had any checkups or tests for that, and as I didn;t have any he wanted to get one. I don't expect any real disturbing result, but it is good my doctor wants to be sure.
Well, then this week i got my final dental, and oh boy, what trouble it gives!
I already went back to have some adjustments to it, but it still is hurting way too much, so I will see if I can go back tomorrow and that it will finally settles itself without any to big trouble. I know you will have to get used to it, but it is causing too much trouble at the moment, Specially I have difficulty(and pain) to eat, so now, when I have dinner or something else,  put in my old one. Then at least I eat and I must do that, I already have not much appetite and I don;t want to loose any weight. It certainly isn;t really "my year", talking about health issues. They aren;t really big ones, but all together you are still busy with it, having tests in hospital and going again to the doctor and taking some more medicines etc.etc.


Perhaps do you remember I had some trouble with bills from the health insturance? Well, it took about 3 months, but yesterday I made a phonecall(because they sent in another bill, that in my opinion I already payed) and I had for once the same guy at the phone(very nice one) and it was easier to explain. After checking my account there, he gave me the good news that all was settled and payed for, and that the only thing I still had to pay was the monthly premium. Hoorray, my derminiation payed off LOL!

Today is far less weather than the last week or so. we have rain, hard wind, which is still increasing in force and for the next few days it will be not so warm anymore, only around 16-17C. But.... perhaps next week it will creep up a bit to 19-20 C again. I fear, that slowly we will loose the nice temperatures and they will get lower and lower. And I am so NOT ready yet for it. Alas, we cannot turn a switch to get nicer weather, so we will have to get used to it again.

Must say I am so happy with my new central heating kettle that we had installed. Now we just can turn the thermostate a bit higher and it all works and that without having to check on the water pressure anymore!
(Admitting here, that I still take a peep every now and then, just to check LOL, but till now it is okay).


I did a bit more of designing lately, so I have next to Arlene's clusters made with the Lovely days kit, also a set of quickpages I made with that same kit.
Hope you can use them for some nice photos.
Have a wonderful day and weekend to come!

Download   HERE

Download   HERE

"Prinsjesdag" this week.

Goodmorning everybody!

Still having rather good weather, with temperatures around 19-20-21C, sometimes a bit cloudy, but almost no rain, just a few drops.
For the time of year still very nice.

This week on Tuesday we had the "Prinsjesdag"(Prince's day) again, which is the official opening parliamentary year  Then the Budget papers are presented to the Members of parliament, and the King has his Kings's speech(mostly written For him, bu the ministers).
But it is always a special day here, with the ride of the King and Queen in normally the Golden Coach , but this year in the Glass-coach.
The Golden coach will be restaured, and it will take a few years, so now the had the ride in the other one Also a very beautiful coach.
Naturally everybody is curious about our queen Maxima's dress and this year she had again an awesome one.

 have a link for you where you  can see a few more photo's of the royals that attended at this day.
http://www.newmyroyals.com/2016/09/queen-maxima-and-king-willem-at-princes.html

Also funny to watch the members of parliament, and invited guests,specially the women, because it is kind of tradition, that they wear hats that day. Not everybody does this, but many do and well, some have great ones, other had no taste at all LOL.
We have a member of parliament, who is leader of the Party for the Animals(veryconcerned about animal welfare and nature )and she always has something special and often tries to make a statement with it. Her name is Marianne Thieme and this year she wanted to express, that there are still to little women in government and parliament and on important posts(government as well as business world).

Then yesterday all leaders of the different parties could speak out their opinion about the accomplishments of the government and what they would see different. It was kind of interesting because it almost looked as they were already on campain for the elections of a new cabinet(government). Next year March end the period of 4 years for the ministers and we have to vote for a new one.
Today the prime ministers will answer to several questions asked. So that are two long days in parliament.
You might say that it is going a tiny little bit better with our country again after that horrble world wide crisis, but still there are a lot of things that could do much better Economy isn;t real high yet, still we have a large unemployment figure, the health care is less and less, too may cuts in money and I am not convinced that it was a good move several years ago to make it commercial and give it to health insurances companies. We have to cope with too little payable houses or appartments, and many more things aren;t as well as they were or as they could be.
It will be interesting to see how people will vote next year. Just hope they will not vote out of misery to the extreem right party, because they have a lot of remarks that things aren;t good, but they don;t have any solutions neither. So this kind of party in government will not make our country better at all.

Okay, I will finish now, soon on tv will be the second day of parliament talks, most of it as I said the "answers"of our prime minister( and I am sure many of the leaders of the different parties will have more questions and remarks during his talk LOL), so sometimes it is even funny!
I have a kit for you today, named it Lovely Days.

Take care and have a wonderful day!

Download    HERE

Tropical days

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, we are having a few days with real tropical temperatures, something around 28-20C( and in other parts of the country if higher).
Now you all know I love having nice temperatures, but this is even for me a bit too much of the good thing.
Nevertheless, I will not complain about it, it will be over soon enough. Today still will be great, but already tomorrow will be a drop of temperature and in the weekend more, and we will have suddenly around 20C. Too big differences in temperature in just two days.
Of course is around 20C not bad for this time of year, but for me it could last much longer at about 24C. Oh boy, we are never satisfied, is it? LOL.

You can imagine that I didn;t have to much activity during those hot days, I tried to do some things in the mornings when it still was relatively cool, and in the afternoon I sat in the shade in the garden.

Yesterday I had another session for my dents, it wasn;t fitting yet as it should, oh boy, it really takes a lot of time. Now I hope that next time it will be right and then they can make the real denture and that I can claim it in time with my health security, so that I can benefit the most of it. (this year I almost used the own risk amount, so I will have to pay only a little myself for the denture).
And as I was kind of on the way to Heidi's house, I called her before and asked if she would be home in the morning. She was, so I went over to have a cup of coffe and a little chat. I didn;t stayed all too long, because she and danny were busy chaning the kitchen. Her fridge died, so they were waiting yesterday for the new one. Then she also altered a little cupboard and they will have another floor.
It was nice to see eachother again.

I will not linger too long here, because at the moment it still is agreable outside, so good time to do some grocerie shopping.
Today I have another set of clusters for you from Arlene, made with the kit The days we left behind.
Slowly but steady I am busy with other kits, I will see if i can upload one or two in the weekend.
Have a terrific day and rest of the week and stay safe.

Download    HERE

Now it is waiting for a result.

Goodmorning everybody!

What kind of result? Well, Monday I had my gastroscopie, which went very quick and well Oh my, that little anaesthesia I had was wonderful! I didn;t notice a thing, then they woke me up after about half an hour and  had a sandwich and a cup of coffee, while i waited for Jan to pick me up. 
Now i will have to wait for the result of the test. If there is found something I might get a call from the surgeon on the 13th. But if it isn;t something that only he could treat or such, I might not have a call. Then I should call my doctor for the result.
At first sight they didn;t find something really disturbing, so that already is good. 
So let's wait till we find out perhaps more. At the moment (touch wood now!) I haven't too much trouble, although the appetite still is very low, but better than it was a few weeks ago

At the moment we have again wonderful summer weather, and it will stay probably the whole week and even into next week. sounds fantastic to me.
Did I tell you already our vacuumcleaner died last week? The poor thing had a good age, about 15 years, so I think it deserves some rest LOL!
But we cannot do without one, so Jan and I went looking for a new one. By chance a shop nearby of domestic utensils had a good offer and we bought hte vacuum cleaner It is a smaller one than the one before, but has more than enough power. Strange that you have to get used to a new vacuum cleaner, but it is true LOL! Just let's hope this one will do the job for quite some time now.

Yesterday I had a rather busy day, doing a lot of things i cannot remember anymore, ROFL, but also some useful stuff. I first did some blogreading and a bit of designing, than got dressed, had something to eat and went to the market. It was a nice trip in good weather.
Home again I had a sandwich and then sat in the garden, cleaning  a heap of butterbeans  bought at the market for really nothing (only paid  € 1,00!). Nothing wrong with them, you just have to use them a bit quick.Or give them a bath in cooking water for a few seconds, cool them of quickly and freeze them in little packages. And that I did.
In the mean time I had the washing machine running, and beans ready, laundry ready, hanged it out and wanted to sit down with a book for a moment. 
Nope, not yet, there came a bill from health security, and as I looked at the specification, it still was wrong. Some things on it were charged double. I am busy with that already from mid July!! So I climbed into the phone and explained the whole thing again. And  refuse to pay, untill they send me a correct bill of costs we have to pay anyway( called "own risk") ( everybody with a health security, has an amount of € 385,00 to pay first on medicines, or other things ( a percentage of the real costs mostly)before you get a 100% refund from the security).
All fine and good(not really LOL), but then they have to do it right!
Well, we'll see if they solved it now.
Lots of people have real difficulty paying those "own risk"bills, and more and more people avoid to go to a doctor, afraid they will have to pay extra for medicines or hospital visit or whatever, which isn't a good thing. 

Good, phonecall done I finally could sit in the garden with a book for about half an hour and then it was time already to prepare dinner.
But i felt rather good about the day, so that is allright.

Today I have some fabulous clusters from Arlene, made with the Calmer Times kit. By the way, pop into her Etsy shop and look around, she told me she put in some new stuff, https://www.etsy.com/shop/BabyBearDigitalScrap?ref=search_shop_redirect
And I have an extra for you!
I've made a "mini-album"of 4 quickpages with the Dreams of Memories kit. Hope you can use them.
Time to finish, so I wish you all a fantastic day and rest of the week!

 Download    HERE

Download   HERE

Nice weather continuing here

Goodmorning everybody!

We still have real nice weather overhere. And the longer it lasts, the better for me LOL.
t also helps for our tomatoes Finally they are getting color and we already had a little harvest They have a good taste and for the few plants we have  think we have a lot of tomatoes. Well, they go into the salad.

Monday was a bit cooler and at astart a cloudier day so I thought it a good time to go to the market. I walked in a slower pace, there was no hurry and during my walk over the market the sun came out more and more and it was real nice. I bought some veggies(as usual) and a bit of fruit and cheese.

Tuesday Jan and I went into city centre to see if we could have a refund of the resting saldo on our public transport card. Yes, we have a card for the tram, bus and train and the one we had  expired on the 1st of September They seem to do every 5 or 6 years and you will have to buy a new one I wonder why we cannot keep using the one we have. But okay, we went to Central station where there is a service centre for those cards and such and oh miracle, within two minutes our remaining saldo was booked over to the new card Hoorray, that was a pleasant surprise. Still funny, you cannot do that yourself, just as you can load new money on your card. But okay, all went well, so Jan and I took a little walk through town centre, visited some shops and we found a real nice pair of shoes for Jan for a really decent price. I already wanted him to buy a second pair for a long time and now he can change every now and then.
We also found him a new pair of slippers.
That was about all we bought, but the walk was nice and we even spent some time in the sun, sitting on a bench and had fun watching people!LOL.

Yesterdau i went for a trial session for my dents, it was hopeless, the younger guy working there probably made a mistake in measuring.
Lucky the dents were only made in wax for trial. So now I wil have to wait again to have the trial dents ready and then they will have to be made in the "real"stuff. I hope they speed it up a bit.

And then Monday i will have to go to hospital for the gastroscopie Not really looking forward to it, but it has to be done.
Must set my alarm that day, to be able to take my medicins in time, and something to eat. You cannot eat or drink(or take medicins) till around 6-8 hours before. Well, you still can drink water or tea longer, but two hours before you have to stop completely.
Hopefully I will hear soon the result of it all.

Might be, that i will have to take heidi´s doggies out on Saturday. She wasn´t yet sure, so I think I will hear a yes or no today from her.
If not necessary I can go on Saturday to a fair in our neighborhood, just to spend some time If i will have to walk the doggies, I can go to that fair on Sunday too.
And today and tomorrow I think i will have to do the laundry(amazing sometimes how much dirty clothes and stuff two people can produce LOL ).
And now the freebie. I managed to make two new kits and this is the first, The days we left behind. Enjoy!
Have a great day and wonderful weekend and till next time!

Download   HERE

Tropical temperatures suddenly!

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, in just a couple of days we jumped from around 19-20C to around 28-32C. Now you know I love warm weather, but even this is a bit too much for me It will stay this way more or less till next Monday and then temperature will drop to 21-22C again. That rise and dropp is going too fast and I think that's the reason we feel rather tired.
Our body doesn;t get a chance to get used to slowly rising or dropping temps, no, it rises or drops like mad.

It also is hard to think of something to eat for dinner, you know.
That sudden temperature change also seems to have an effect on the appetite( at least, it is with me), but we have to keep eating, don;t we?
Well, after some deep thinking, I am sure I will come up with something, LOL

Rather quiet week, but finally I got to the hairdresser and it was needed Oh it feels sooooo good to have real short hair again and which is easy modelling! Gosh, I did it just in time for the hot weather came!
And because it was such a nice temperature yesterday at the front of the house( in the mornings there isn't much sunshine on our side of the street) I got adventurous and washed the windows, hahaha.

We have to kind of adjust now again to the tv programs, now that the Olympics have finished, slowly the "winter season"programs are coming back again(some good, lots very annoying LOL).
I am hoping that in a few weeks on several channels new detective-series will arrive, one of our favourite items on tv.

Oh, I've made a few photos of the garden. Perhaps you remember I told you about our "disappeared "clematis and that after months it came to growth again?
Well, look how it is showing off now!

Beautiful, isn;t it? and so loaded with buds!
Then at last some dahlia's are starting to bloom.

And of course I couldn;t help myself making a phot of our Brodski, supervising what i was doing, LOL.

I have to confess that I didn;t do much designing. I managed to get one kit ready, (still have to upload it), and  even am busy with another one. But all isn;t going very quickly.
Nevertheless I have a download for you, arlene's fantastic clusters made with the Dreams of Memories kit
Now you all have a wonderful day and stay safe!

Download    HERE

Summer weather is back again, hoorray

Goodmorning everybody!

Yes, we have some summerweather back again, and I am so happy about it
It feels good to be able to sit again in the garden for a while and have the doors open in the room.
Today is supposed to be one of the best days of the week, so I should try to get out for a moment and enjoy the good weather.

Jan went on a short visit to Danny yesterday, who is back from hospital, but the poor guy hardly can sit in a chair, because of all the stitches he has in his legs and part of the belly Jan saw teh "area"and told me it looked all blue and purple and that Danny really had a lot of stitches.
I hope it will soon go better, perhaps he will feel better after the stitches will be removed, probably next Monday.

Monday I had a rather bad day, perhaps I catched a kind of little cold or so, whatever, but I didn;t feel good. I tried to sleep it off in the afternoon, which I did a bit, forced myself to eat something(no appetite at all), and oh how wonderful, I slept good during the night and yesterday I felt sooooo much better
So I did some work in the house, a laundry washed, changed the bedsheets, gave the room a really quick hoovering and I thought that was enough.
Then after dinner(we take it rather early, around 17.30-17.45) Jan took his little nap and I thought it was a very good idea to do the same LOL.
And oh, I really slept for more than an hour or so, and it did me good.

There isn;t much more to tell, so I better finish now and take a shower and go out for a moment.
I do have a kit for you, Dreams of Memories, I think good for some almost forgotten memories-layouts.
Have a lovely day.

Download   HERE