Sunday, March 31, 2019

Some Spring in the garden

Goodafternoon everybody!

We had two lovely days, with very nice temperatures, the second day we had even more sunshine, but today temperature already dropped. and somewhere next week it will even drop to again only 10C, which isn;t too much.
Nevertheless, hope is there LOL.
Around October last year, Jan planted some bulbs here and there.
In a container he planted two colors of small tulips and how wonderous nature is, they all came to flower and it is such a happy sight.
I even made a picture of it.
Aren't they lovely?

Some seedlings are also staying already outside, but still in their small greenhouses, specially at night. Several things do it well, other ones we will have to wait and see.  but it always is a new adventure and partly happy surprise.

This week Jan had an appointment with the cardiologist, to check on his heart function. Nothing disturbing, but it might be that in a way his heart isn;t pumping hard enough or may be there is a small thing not working 100%, and that might cause the surplus of fluid at times(well, most of the time) in his underlegs. Possible he will get another appointment next week or so, to do another test.
Of course it isn;t the best thing of spending your time, but on the other hand I and glad his doctor insists on checking all possibilities. One thing we know, it hasn;t to do with his kidneys, and that already is a big relief.
For the rest we will wait and hear what will come.
I so hope that we will have quickly some nicer weather, so that he we go out more easily, because moving around a bit more will not hurt. It would be better for him and he has to work somehow on his condition.
He already is doing some more in the garden, so that is a good thing.
Just have to watch over him that he doesn;t exaggerate, must take care of his back and such. Hmmmm, it is difficult to do the watching over, often looks like I don;t want him to do anything, or that I think he cannot do it, but that isn;t the case. I just don;t want him to overdo it, you know? As partners we always walk on that thin line, don;t we? ROFL.


The week through it was rather quiet, and I was happy about it. best news was that I received back the papers from the taxstuff from my accountant. All is already at the taxoffice, so that thing we can forget about for the rest of the year. I always feel happy when I send the papers to him, but i even feel better when I receive the copy of the filled in forms.

Further on this week I finished a new kit and that one will be on for download today, although not all the kit, i made it into two files, part 1 and part 2.
It also gives me some more time to start a new one, because the designing isn;t going so speedy nowadays.
I named the kit The Poet's Hiding Place, and I hope you will like it when you will have both parts.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and week, take care of yourselves and try to keep safe.

Download   PART 1 HERE


Sunday, March 24, 2019

We had a shock this week!

Goodafternoon everybody!

Just a bit more than a week ago we had the terrible news from New Zealand, and just a few days after that on a plain Monday morning we had a shooting in the middle of our little country!
Some completely deranged person thought it might be fun to shoot around in a tram in the city of Utrecht. 3 people died and 5 were injured, of them 3 very serious.
Why??? That is the big question. How could it happen, that a criminal person was free at the time, although he was arrested two weeks before for a rape that took place in 2017. Apparantly because he agreed to cooperate in a personality test, he was released from custody. Hmmmmm?????
Some say it is a terrorist action, some say it might be just an instable person, may be it is a mix of the two.
whatever the motive is, it is completely crazy, that things like this can take place.
Big compliment however to the police, special forces, ambulance people, who did a great job, and it is fantastic that they arrested the man that same day.
Now we will just have to wait till perhaps we hear more about all of it.
whatever the utcome will be, it will never bring back the dead.

It is hard to go on with another subject, because the news above makes you really sad.
But how strange and hard it might be, life is still going on and it has to.
I think it is the best answer to actions, terrorist or other(although I think you shuld call them ALL terrorist actions ) carry on with life and showing that we will not surrender and give in to brutalism and terror and intimidation.

Start of this week Jan didn;t feel very well. He had some trouble of his tummy, did sleep a lot, I think he had perhaps some kind of flu. Last couple of days it is going better with him, he has almost "normal"visits to the little chamber(first few days almost  nothing came out if you know what I mean) hahaha. He still isn't up to 100% but slowly he will. According to the fluid in his legs he had to bring some urine samples, (well, i did bring it to hospital, he was in no condition to go by himself) and now his doctor will phone him again this Monday, hopefully with some result or action. We'll see.

All in all it was more or less a quiet week. Yesterday I had to go to my friend Heidi's house to give the doggie a walk in the early afternoon.
Of course he was happy to see me, we had a good walk, I think more than half an hour, and then I made a detour going home because I wanted to buy us something for dinner in a special shop. It were just meatballs, but they are so tasty there, yummie! Yeah, i know  can make them myself, but they just aren;t the same. So, as an exception, we had some more expensive meatballs, hahah.
And yes, they tasted really yummie on a white bun.

Oh I had a good buy this week in our supermarket, they had a special, special offer for a bread box, normally they were € 20,00 and now just for €5,00!  thought i could do that and bought one in red.
I know, it isn;t a hightlight in one's life, but I am happy with it and it just fits in the kitchen cupboard.

I have today for you some clusters from Arlene, made with the You, the World and nothing else kit. As usual they are lovely.
And if you shouldn;t have enough, my friend Edna also made a quick page with this kit.
This evening we will watch a soccer game, because the qualifications for the European Championship soccer 2020 have started. Our tem already played one game and they won with 4-0 from Belarus. Today they will have to play against Germany, hopefully it will go well again.
Good, time to finish now and have a cup of tea, I think.
Wishing you all a wonderful week.


Download   HERE

Sunday, March 17, 2019

There will be some weather change for the better

Goodafternoon everybody!


I have to say just a few words about the disaster that happened In Christchurch, New Zealand. It is something beyond understanding. You can have different opinions, or believes, but to use just raw violence isn;t the way of dealing with it. And as long as people cannot get that into their mind, the world will never be the wonderful peacefull place it should be.
My sincere condolances and sympathie to all people of Christchurch and New Zealand. 

Yes, we had some rather ugly days this last week with the weather. Most of it was caused by the strong wind, it made it feel a lot colder than it actually was.Then there were rainshowers(and some fierce ones too)added to it, so all together not my kind of weather. But there is hope appearing LOL.
Later this week the wind will slow down, may be 3-4 beaufort, so that isn;t too bad, and temps will go up again into double digits, may be even to 13-14C and with lots more sunshine too.
Yesterday it was the 16th of March and it meant that Jan and I were together for ...........27 years! So many years already, and they went by so fast.
It means that this year we will be married also already for 12 years. Gosh, now i really start fo feel old, ROFL.


It was a quiet week, as we have often these days, hahaha, but I still sometimes was short in time, how is that possible? Well, first of all I must admit I have slow starts in the morning, I wake up, have the morning stroll through the house, opening curtains, preparing the coffepot for later, preparing Jan's medisins for the day, making a cup of tea and then sit down to have that tea and look at the news on tv. Then a bit later I take something to eat, so that I can take my stomach pill, then there is a serie on German tv I just love to see, so you see, almost all morning is gone with little things. In a way i hate myself for it not being more active earlier in the day, on the other hand it is also nice to be able to take it that easy.
After seeing my serie(it isn;t a matter of life or death when  miss it a day, it isn'tas bad as that either) i get more active. I get dressed, put out of the freezer the meat I need for dinner, then go out for some shopping, coming home I sometimes take a cup of tea first, or if not right away start preparing for dinner, so that around dinner time I only have to put the gaz on and such.
After that I usually do some little job of cleaning, or ironing or whatever comes up or is necessary at the time, like making some phonecalls.
A day is gone quite quickly, if all goes a bit smooth, I might have an hour or so to sit at the computer for some designing, or sometimes just read the mail, and do a little game( at the moment I do a lot of Hidden object games on line).

Oh, I had a visit with my friend Heidi. It wasn;t just for having a chat and see eachother again, I also had to try out her spare keys of her house, because once I needed to use them, one of them didn't seem to work.
And this Saturday she asked us to take care of the dog in the early afternoon, give him a little walk so he can do his poopoo and such. They are away the whole day, so the poor little one cannot stay in the whole day, hey?
Well,  got at her house(she lives in a flat with entree doors protected, you can only get in with a key, and then you need another key for her appartement).
I tried the keys, no luck. Heidi came downstairs, tried them and the door opened. I tried again, no luck again. I got rather frustrated. I tried again and suddenly there was the miracle, the key got grip and opened the door!
I tried for security several times, it worked. The key has some problem to find the right "grip", but it works. Let's cross fingers it still will work on Saturday.
There's always a possibility to get into the hall, just wait for somebody to go in or out and explain what I am doing there and most of the time that isn;t a problem. Some of the residents already know me by face.
After this key-control business I had a cup of tea with Heidi and we could have a little chat. It was nice, because we didn;t do that for a rather long time. we do speak over the phone but it just isn;t the same.
I am glad to be able to say she is doing okay with her health at the moment. Although she still is far too busy, but that will not change from one day to the other with her LOL.

This is about all I can tell you. When I will be finished with this post, I think I will be sewing a bit(by hand, I don;t have a sewing machine, it is handy of course, but I do so little of sewing that I don;t see the need. And the things I do by myself are easy to do by hand), make a new seam in a pair of trousers to shorten it. And I might spend some time at the computer too.
Dinner today is easy, I have a left over potatoe salad from yesterday and I make a little steak with it. Quick. easy and yummie too!
I have a new kit for you, I named it You, the World and nothing else.
Have a wonderful week and see you next time.

Download    HERE

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Where has the real nice weather gone to??

Goodafternoon everybody!

Yeah, the weather really changed here, last week we did have some sunshine and then it looked nice, but going outside it didn;t feel all too great. Most of it had to do with the hard wind that blew from time to time. They are expecting today too real hard to stormy winds. Brrrr, don;t like that at all.
Then there are rainshowers in between, temperatures are around 7-10C, not bad but not the best for sure.

Jan went to his doctor in hospital for the normal half year appointment check.
All that has to do with his liver and stomach looked good, no fluid in his belly, so far so good, But he has a bit too much fluid in his underlegs and feet at times.
Doctor has no idea yet from where it comes, so she wanted to consult some collegues about that, could be something coming from the kidneys, or may be his heart. Not that we should be in panic, but she of course wants to know the ins and outs and wants to diminish the fluid.
Jan will have a phonecaal on Monday and then he probably will hear more about it.
I will try to cut on the salt in the food again some more. I do try to use as less as possible(and when I do I use special salt), but along the way we tend to think less about it. So not too much salt in the food for dinner etc. and also on the things we take as "extra"sometimes in the evening. You know, just for the yummie, like some dried sausage, or some chips(not good for Jan at all, although he always takes very little of that  must say), or other things that aren;t all too good for the saltlevel.

What else happened here this week? All was kind of very quiet, I must say and I am glad for that. I did find a bit of time to design on the computer, did some things in the house(I should do some more to be honest, but I am lazy, or perhaps it isn;t exactly lazy but more lack of enough energy to do it for a longer time, I can manage scrubbing and such things for perhaps 15 minutes, may be up to half an hour, but then I really need to sit down for a moment to kind of recover. I hate it from myself but it I don;t do that, I will pay the price the next day or days, I know it). well, I am hoping for a quick return of better weather, because that helps me with my energy, it really does!

So wonderful one of my more favourite programs is back again on the BBC, Gardener's World. It started last Saturday, and it gives you new inspiration for this years gardening again. I just saw in the program a guy with his garden, he "made"all by himself. It was just a real small garden, he had two parts, one of 20x20 feet(about 6x6 mtr) and one of 20-30 feet (6x9). well, that isn;t realy much is it? But he made it into a lovely place, with lots of tropical plants in it, with large leaves and lots of flowers, just wonderful!
Oh, i was looking on the BBC website if I could find something showing this garden, but I have something better. I have his own website! So if you like to see something nice, from someone with a real passion, just take a look!
 https://frustratedgardener.com/evolution/

Today I have some more clusters from Arlene for you, this time made with the A Tiny Tale kit. And they are lovely as ever.
Wishing you all a wonderful and safe week, till next week!
Download   HERE





Sunday, March 03, 2019

I just couldn't get into my account!

Goodafternoon everybody!

Finaly I managed in some way to get into my account for Blogger.
it took me quite some time, and it isn;t a good thing for my peace of my nerves LOL.
But for now I am there.
Starting with the weather : Today it is gloomy, with wind and rain, all grey and not nice at all.
It is quite a change after the few fantastic days we had with great temperatures and lots of sunshine.
Still we cannot really complain. nature also is in a kind of speed.
We have a blackbird again and it is very busy with making a nest in our ivy! That is nice, but now we cannot do muc h about cutting it back. Oh well, that little part we will just have to leave it as it is and when(and for all if)there will be youngsters, we will have to wait till they fly out.

This week Jan had to make an echo (he has them about two times a year), doctor there already told him it looked good. He has no fluid in his belly(great thing!) and everything was miore or less as it should be.
More detail, if there is, he wil get from his doctor in hospital when he visits her this Wednesday.
So on the health side it goes rather well with us, my tummy stil has at times playing time but so much less than earlier, so I just have to keep calm(hahahaha, that is a good one!!!!) and that will help too.
Jan always has some trouble with his back, sometimes really annoying, other times it just is there. Nothing to do about that.
Friday he felt rather good, so he did a little job, closing some spots at the window, where draft came through. He also did a little repair job in the kitchen, it needed somewhere a new slat of wood. And one one the kitchen door outside too( last week I had to clean the underpart of that door outside and suddenly held hald of the old slat in my hand, completely rotten).
Glad all that is done. doesn;t sound much, but it takes time and has to be done some time.

Yesterday I went to the market, just for really a quick visit, but the "quick"you can forget. I took the tram on the way to it and just that tram had to take a detour, coudlnt; go to the market. Damn, so i had to leave the tram in city centre. Just in time I could check out with my public transport card, otherwise I shoud have been force to go to customer service. And that it sometimes complicated.
Hoorraay, at least that wasn;t necessary, so took another tram direction market and arrived there after some delay. I did my shopping and walked home.
As I came home I saw we had a visit from Jan's brother. of course nice to see him again, but somehow he manages to come along when i have things planned to do(and also just when Jan is busy with some DIY jobs) LOL!
So a couple of things I'll do tomorrow.
Today I I just made already the meat(stewed meat) for dinner and potatoes and veggies are prepared to be cooked when dinner time is there.

We have lots to watch of sports this weekend. There are World Championships
of track cycling and although we don;t watch everything of it, some diciplines of it are interesting and the more as we have good cyclist, with the men as well as with the women. We already have several gold medalists and some silver too.
Then there is also the World Championship of the All round speed skating(competitors have to race 4 races, 500 mtr, 1500 mtr,  3000 mtr and 5000 mtr  for women and 500 mtr., 1500 mtr., 5000 mtr and 10.000 mtr for the men.
Today is the second and last day of it(it is in Calgary, Canada) so this evening we will see if we can manage to have some medals and perhaps even a world champion. It is a very exciting championship, they are still so close to eachother, anything can happen.

Well, not much more to tell, I think.
Better I finish now and perhaps I will take a cup of tea after leave you here.
Today I have a small download for you, but ever so pretty. A cluster and a quickpage from Arlene, made with the Idyllic day kit.
Have a lovely week and try to stay safe.
Download    HERE