This week we'll have winter cold!

Goodmorning everybody!

First thanks to all, who left a "happy birthdaywish" here for Jan. I told him he had wishes from several countries and it made him smile. Yesterday was a quiet day, but nice. I made a kind of "birthday-dinner", hmmmmmm with big shrimps in garlic and parsil and made a potatoe salad to go with it. I didn't had a present for him(we agreed not to buy presents for eachother's birthday), but I collected some music and burned a cd with that, mainly with "oldies". Some of the songs we have, but only on records, and it is nice to have a collection of your favourites together on one cd.
On Friday we actually made it to the market, didn;t buy too much, just potatoes and some fruit and a little bit of veggies.
It's really getting colder now, and during this week even day temps will not rise above the zero, brrrrrrr. But the good news with it is, that probably there will be little of rain or snow, it should look rather joyful with sunshine. Then I don;t mind if it's colder, I can handle that, if there is not much wind to it. Still hoping that next week temps will rise again, LOL!

Oh I got a sweet mail of a visitor, who used my Belezza kit for a lovely layout, if you like to see I have a link for you:
http://digiscrapstation.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11746&ppuser=481

Oh yes, you know we did watch the speedskating of the World Championship Sprint during the weekend and hoorray, with the men we Dutchies have a champion, Stefan Groothuis. He was so close to it, several times, ending up on second or third place, but this time he finally did it. I am really happy for him, he worked very hard for it.  It was very exciting, cause it wasn;t sure who would win the title till the last race!

 And I am so sorry for my Canadian friends, that Christine Nesbitt didn;t win the title with the women! She raced a spectaculair 1000 mtrs, with a world record!, but yesterday she just lost on 0,02 seconds the title. How frustrating is that???? We all thought she would grab the title, but she lost from a Chinese at the end.


Now on to the freebie. I made another Beatrix Potter kit, the pics are so adorable! It's named "Meet Mrs. Tittlemouse", and I think it's a great kit for layouts with little kids!
Have great day!

Download    HERE

A heartbreaking story at the news.

Goodmorning everybody!

Sun is shining at the moment, so it looks a bit cheerful, but that could change over the weekend. They say it's getting colder, hope that doesn;t last too long.
I think it was Wednesday evening on the local neews channel (and later also on the other channels!) that I heard of a heartbreaking story. At the moment the government is busy with all immigrants that are here, to see if they are granted a definate permit to stay or not. Okay, it's a good thing they look in to all the cases, because there are always people who want to take advantage of the asylum policy. But thee are also people coming here, because they are in danger in their own country. Well, everybody is a bit familiar with this problem. But the following is absolutely not to comprehend, I took the newspaper article into a translation site, hope I adjusted it well here and there, just read it and I think everybody has to agree that in this case a permanent recidence permit is the right thing to do.

"Mr. Abdul is cool and must remain! ' With large letters, the inscription on one of the many posters and banners in the St. Michael school in Hazerswoude-dorp. In the course are groups of children busy with paint brushes painting the name Abdul on large white sheets . The 50-year-old caretaker of the basic school is standing close to it very emotional.  Abdul Matin Momand was told last week that he must return to his native country Afghanistan.
Although Abdul  lives in The Netherlands for more than fifteen years, now his last hope of a residence permit is gone. Per letter Monday all parents and children from the school were informed of the rejection by the IND.I the Immigration department) The news hit like a bomb.
"Abdul belongs to the school", says a mother. "He is so much more than just janitor, he lives for this school." Behind her a bunch of guys, in their hands they keep lists full of signatures. "Look", they say  proud to the the janitor, "we have  many signatures and we're going to get even more."
Abdul gets his glasses of his nose and rubbed into his eyes. "This school is my family", he says. "They do everything for me. When I moved to another house all parents have helped . And now they give me support. " Six years ago  the wife of Abdul suddenly died . Also then the whole school was there for him. "My wife complained about headaches", he says, "four days later she was not there anymore. Everyone was so caring for me, they brought me food and helped me with everything. "
The children of Abdul, Achmed (16) and Diba (15)-obtained years ago  a residence permit. If their father is turned off, they will  have to remain in Netherlands alone or go with him to Afghanistan, a country that they barely know. "They have to decide", says Abdul. "But they have nothing in Afghanistan. They do not speak the language. The were still babies when we fled to Netherlands. But if they stay here, they will have lost  in addition to their mother also lost their father. "
The Director of the school is happy that everyone is so involved. "Abdul deserves this. He is like a father to the children in the school. We hope that this positive attention perhaps Abdul can stay here. "

   
15 years ago Abdul fled from Afghanistan to The Netherlands with his wife and two young children.   
    In 2004  Abduls wife and his children were given a permanent residence permit, but not Abdul His dossier had to be further investigated,
    The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) wanted to revoke the earlier temporary residence permits. According to Abdul because he has worked in Afghanistan for Defence.
    The Court decided three times that Abdul could stay in The Netherlands . Nevertheless,  his new application for a permanent residence permit was rejected by the IND.
    Gert Leers, Minister of Immigration and asylum yesterday announced through his spokesman that he wanted to be informed of all facts about the case . The Mayor of Rijnwoude, where Hazerswoude-dorp is a part of, asked the minister yesterday to look again to this case.

Now isn;t it heartbreaking that the government takes 15 years to see if this man is "okay"???? He is fully integrated in Dutch society, works, speaks Dutch, his children even have Dutch nationality, and they just say"sorry, you'll have to go back to Afghanistan". I don;t think that's the right way to treat good willing people.!
Hmmm, we will se in the next couple of weeks what will happen.

This weekend will be nice for Jan and me. Of course there is Jan;s birthday on Sunday, but there will be no party. Oh gosh, we've grown over that! LOL! But this weekend will be speed skating again, Worldchampionchip Sprint, held in Calgary! So Satuday and Sunday evening will be filled with watching that! Great.!!
I'll try to get a new load of laundry done today or tomorrow, may be, if weather stays a bit pleasant, we make a short visit to the market, we'll see and I might even give Jan a quick haircut, so that he will look handsome at his birthday ROFL!
Today is the second download from the "Precious Moments" kit, and I'll be back on Monday, already the last day of January oh, and the birthday of our queen too!
Have a fantastic weekend and send some positive vibes to our government, they will need that so that they decide with compassion, that Mr. Abdul can stay here in Holland!

Download     part 2 HERE

Hoorray for hubbies!!!

Goodmorning everybody!

Sometimes you wish your hubbie could be somewhere else, for a few hours LOL, but there are also times you can be happy with them(and happy to say those times are more frequent ROFL).
Yesterday I went out for the shopping and when I came back I noticed, that there were some wet spots in front of the door and window. So I took a good look at the window and surprise ! I was able to look through it!
During ny shopping time Jan tackled the window at the front, which was about time to do so, there is of course the "normal"dirt, but the last couple of weeks we had some harsh winds, blowing almost full on the window, and accompanied by rain it left traces on the window, mildly said!
You can imagine I was happy with my hubby yesterday! Still there is the inside to do and some other windows, but he mumbled something, that he would do them too this week. WOW!

Some minor news about the weather, it's forecasted that in the weekend temps might drop, specially during the noghts, below zero several degrees, but still during daytime they will be several degrees above zero. So perhaps we have to deal with several days of colder temps, but I think(or let's say hope) it will not last for very long. I can remember years, where we had real winter time in March, so everything is still possible. We might have snow and ice as far away as March and even April, not that I would be happy with it! We'll just have to see what the weathergods have in mind for us, don;t we?

Can you imagine that next week January is gone already??? But, first I can congratulate my Jan on Sunday, reaching the same age as I have ROFL!!! Yes, this Sunday he will have his birthday, and he can say no more that he's the youngster. Well, he always is 3 weeks younger than I am, but that doesn;t really count. Only the weeks that I have in writing a difference in figures, I am 59 and he still is 58, grin grin
Time again to do some things here, get them done quickly and perhaps this afternoon I will have a bit of time to spend at the computer, designing I hope. I started another kit, but it's not progressing smoothly. I might delete the few papers I've made till now completely and start all over again.
Today I have a first download of the kit "Precious Moments"for you. Second part will be posted on Friday.
Hopefully it will inspire you for some great layouts!
Have a magical day!

Download    part 1    HERE

I made up a little yesterday for lost time

Goodmorning everybody!

The last couple of days I was feeling okay again, so Friday I could do some grocerie shopping, but kept quiet the rest of the day, just to be sure. Saturday was a nice quiet day too, even took a little nap in the afternoon and di some designing at the computer. Oh Friday evening was the final of the Voice of Holland and to my astonishment my favourite won! A girl of 19 years old, with a real pleasant voice and she also plays the harp! It's Iris Kroes who won and I wish her a brilliant carreer! I even have a link for you where you can see and hear her, it's of the semi final of The Voice, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovw8lJflJp4

Yesterday I made up a little for the "lost"time during the week LOL! I changed the bed duvet covers and sheets, let the washing machine do it's work, then I made us some stewing pears for desert and already prepared the sauce for the pasta we were to eat for dinner. It's a kind of Stroganoff sauce, adapted it a little my way.
You take an onion, cut in small dices, with some garlic cut very small, bit of oil in a pan and start frying the onion with garlic. When they are almost ready, you put in some minced meat, add some pepper and salt and let that fry, keep stirring. You take a red paprika, cut that in not too small squares, and add that to the pan. Don;t set the fire too high, it has to fry a bit slow. Take some small tomatoes, cut out the "green top" and then cut the tomatoes in dices, add that to the pan. I also added some spring onion to it and and mushrooms, if you like you could add even some olives, or courgette to it. When all is about ready, you could add some crème fraiche to it, keep stirring.
You can do all this in advance or at the same time your pasta is cooking. I took the "penne"this time.
Well, put some pasta on a plate, add a nice quantity of the sauce and if you like add some parmezan cheese on top. Not a very complicated, but tasty meal. Next time I will make a little green salad to it, it will be perfect then.

It wasn't one of Jan's favourite meals, LOL (he isn;t much of a pasta eater), but he said the sauce wasn;t too bad. But I have to admit that my hubby isn't a "difficult"eater. Of course he has his preferences, but he seldom is complaining about the food. What a guy! In general I cook straight forward dinners, but at times I like to try something new, and not always a new recipe turns out the way it should LOL! I suppose I am lucky to have a hubby who eats almost everything and isn;t too afraid to try something different.

It's getting time to move around a bit here, the house needs a good vacuum cleaning and there's always to find another job, sigh! But at least the sun is showing every now and then, it makes the world look a lot friendlier.
If it stays this way we might even make a quick visit to the market later this afternoon.
And now it's freebie time again. Hope you can use this kit "Bellezza".
Have a great day!

Download     HERE

Days of rest

Goodmorning everybody!

The last couple of days were very quiet for me, not because I wanted it, but it was necessary.
I had a bit of trouble caused by my epilepsy, got a few absences(not that I was completely knocked out, LOL) and then I just have to let them happen and sit them out till it's over again. So I slept a lot, which is the best to do, and spent the days on the couch.
Result: not much done those days.
I always get a bit pissed off when I have trouble, but there isn;t much to do against it. Perhaps a bit more of the medicine would help, but if I only have a bit trouble every now and then, well, so be it, and I rather stick to the dosis of medicine I am taking now.
But yesterday I was "free"of  it again, still a bit tired, but I think today I am okay again.
Enough complaining, let's just hope this will stay away now for a long period.
Hahahaaha, when I have those "attacks"I always think I can control them more or less, at least to a point Jan will not notice. But he always does. Most of the time he says nothing, but I know he knows, cause he stays in my neighbourhood, comes checking when I stay too long out of the room, well, I know by little things.

Now that I am "fresh and merry" again, I think I will go out this afternoon, just for a short while, even with not too nice weather it will be nice to sniff a bit of fresh air. Need to get us some bread, cat food  just a few things.
And then this evening there will be the final of The Voice of Holland. There are 3 very good candidates, difficult to choose between them. I just hope really the best will win it, but the winner is chosen by votes of the public watching the tv, and then they can vote for their favourite by sms or phonecall. I think it would be better if it was decided by a competent jury, than by the public, cause it can happen that one candidate is very popular, because of his attitude or character, , and wins the competition because of that, but not because he or she is really the best "voice". Well, we'll see what happens.
Already nest week there is the start of a new Voice of Holland, but this time for kids.
Okay, enough bla-bla now, time for the freebie.
It's a little kit named "Somewhere", in pastel colour.
Have a wonderful weekend and see you again on Monday!

Donwload     HERE

Surprise, my plans worked out!!

Goodmorning everybody!

For once I achieved to do the things I had planned for Monday LOL! Well, not completely, cause I always got distrackted when I am doing things, hopeless!!
But I did the laundry, I ironed all that was waiting for it, and while I was putting away the christmas table cloths etc. I sorted out 3 boxes where I keep the Christmas pillow covers, the table cloths etc and other ones where I keep the usual pillow covers, table napkins, toppers, and such. They look nice and organized again, and hoorray got rid of some old stuff in it, that was never used again. So proud of myself LOL!
What remains is the store room for the groceries. Perhaps today will be a good day for it, weather is a bit grey and not looking to inviting.
I already did my shopping yesterday, returned home with a load of things, enough for the rest of the week or more! They had a few good deals at the supermarket of "buy one and get two"stuff and I was lucky it were things I really needed to have. I took soup, potatoes, butter for frying, two boxes of dry cat food, all in those 2 for 1 deals. Plus of course still other things for "normal"price.
I always try to look for those kind of deals, and when they occure, I first calculate if it's really worthwhile(cause you often can find it for even less money from e.g. another brand), but if it's okay, I take them. It saves some money, which is a treat for my wallet LOL!

Well, that's about it for today. I was already a bit late this morning(kind of overslept a bit) so I should get dressed and start doing something.
I think I have a fun kit for you today, about Circus life! It's named "The Old Circus".
Have a lovely day!

Download     HERE

A weekend just flashes by!

Goodmorning everbody!

If you are very busy during the weekend, it is over before you notice. But if you practically do nothing, it is still over before you notice! Why does it look as if a weekend is gone so quickly, is time speeding up then or what????? LOL
Friday after posting, I stayed at the computer a little while longer, working on a kit. Then I shook myself up, got dressed, had a sandwich and went doing a bit of shopping, the usual things. Came back, put the stuff away, and tackled the house (well, most of it) with the vacuum cleaner. Dusted a bit here and there, that kind of things.
In the mean time Jan tackled our dvd's. Oh gosh, I didn;t know we had soo much of them! Not only in the rack standing near the cd's but also in two boxes on the ground. Jan found another one, bigger, so that is already easier to find one, and I have a bit less stuff on the floor.
Saturday I just went out to get us the newspaper, but it was such nice weather, I made a little walk. It was crisp, but real refreshing, wonderful.
We watched quite a lot tv, some days there is sooo much to see, on other days you really have trouble, finding something interesting LOL. Oh, as you know we love a lot of different sports, this week there was the world championship of darts at the Lakeside, England. I like to see a good game of darts and wheeeee, some of the matches were really like a thriller. And now the best of it: A Dutchman won the championship! I think it is the 3rd time of the history of the Lakeside it happened. The more astonishing, cause it was his debute at this particular dart competition! In the final yesterday evening out champ managed to beat Tony O'Shea, a very very good dart player! So here we go: Congratulations to Christian Kist, yeah!!!!!!!!
During the day, we just did take it very easy, Jan reading the newspaper, commenting on several things written there, to me, when I was playing a bit at the computer, I don;t mind that too much, but it isn;t easy when you are reading something on internet yourself, and your hubby is talking to you and expects some answers or reactions from me on the newspaper issues LOL! You know what I mean??????

Weather is supposed to get a bit colder, even a bit of nightfrost, mainly in the eastern part of the country, but the weatherman also said temps will go up again a bit after a couple of days. So till now, still no snow, how lovely!!!!!
But as in other parts of the world there is a real winter going on I have a kit that might be nice for some real winter layouts, named "It's Cold Outside".
Well, after this lazy weekend I should do a little bit of work again in the house. Laundry is waiting, together with some ironing. And maybe, if I have the energy for it, I could clear out the place where we have our groceries reserve standing. You know, tins with veggies, all kind of pasta, some coffee, sugar, the stuff you can keep for a long time. I should check if it all still is usuable, not running out of date for consumption. Sigh, why do we have sometimes the tendency to act like hamsters??????LOL.
Whatever I will do,or not, it sure is time to close this post, I have then a little bit of time left to perhaps start with a new kit, and then I first will grab a nice shower, get dressed and get busy!
Have a wonderful day!!

Download     HERE