Award time and more!

Goodmorning everybody!

We had a nice weekend, Saturday morning Jan had to work, but then he was free the rest of the weekend.
It was still nice weather, although much lower temperatures.
We even had a thunderstorm yesterday evening, with lightning and thunder and even some rainshowers.
There isn't too much to tell, well, nothing real special, although there is something I can tell you from the Olympics. We have won two medals there, a silver for the swimming team on the 4x100 mtr. freestyle estafette for women and a golden one on the cycling event for women, on the road.
Marianne Vos was of a special level there, really a worthy winner of the event.

We did watch a lot of the Olympics, and did you see the opening ceremony on Friday evening??? I found it amazing and wonderful, specially the 3 first parts . Wow, the Brits had really used their imagination and skills. I had a great time watching it.

This morning I read the blog of Edna and she had some wonderful news!! She has a new dog in her life, named Pogo, the sweetest little tea-cup Yorkie you could wish for!!! She has some pictures of him on her blog, but I cannot resist showing you already one of them.
So meet Pogo, Edna's new companion, and I hope they will spent many wonderful years together!

My friend Edna has given me an award, which I have to pass on. Thanks Edna, of course, and now the hard stuff: obeying the rules, which are not as easy as you should think.!

Here come the rules:

1) post the rules
2) Name 5 of your most fabulous moments, either in real life of in blogsphere.
3) Name 5 things you love
4) Name 5 things you hate (or dislike)
5) Pass it on to 5 other bloggers and let them know by a comment.

5 of my most fabulous moments in life:
Winning the pianocompetition from all schools and playing with the Residentie Orchestre in a big hall.
The cruise my parents and I made  on a Russian ship
A helicopter flight I made with my parents over the Caucasus Mountains.
Of course meeting my Jan and still being together.
My wedding day, specially the fact that my niece from France came over, and here husband who made a great photoshoot of the whole day, being the only family present on that day, I will always be so greatful for that.

5 things I love:
All things of nature, curled up cosy on the couch, watching a good detective, cooking, the designing of scrapkits, and all things creative, my pets, all friends I've met during my life till now, of course the blogging, which opened another world to me,.

5 things I hate, or better said I dislike:
Dishonesty, intolerance, discrimination, touching worms when I work in my garden (yak), see people around the world who have hunger and diseases and knowing that that shouldn;t be necessary, the terrible way some people treat animals.

Bloggers I pass the award on, for different reaons:
( I would have mentioned Edna, but I received it from her, so that's a bit difficult LOL)

Valinda of  http://vjscraproom.blogspot.com/
Minky of   http://minkythings.blogspot.com/
Snowy of  http://silversnowyraven.blogspot.com/
Miriam of http://miriams-scrap.blogspot.com/
Linda of   http://linda-ohwhatfun.blogspot.com/

Hey, I've done it, rofl!

It's time for freebies

From arlene I have various clusters, made with various kits of mine.

Download     HERE

And there is a kit for you too and after that it will be time for me to slowly get busy around here, some things I want to do before Jan gets home again.
It's a one colour scheme kit, named Innamorato. Have fun with it.

Download      HERE

Partially single girl today!

Goodmorning everybody!

I am very early, it's only 7.30 am, and Jan already left the house to go to work. Today is a double shift again, Morning till around 12.00, and evening shift from 5.00 till 10.00 pm.
So you could say I am kind of single today, partially LOL!
Good time to do some shopping this morning, and taking care of some disorder here.
Oh, Wednesday was a pretty succesfull day, when Jan was working, I did my blogpost and then did the dusting and vacuum cleaning here. Also changed the bedsheets, which filled the washing machine, so turned that on, and in the mean time I went out to get us a new program magazine for the tv and bought us a part of a watermelon and a Cantaloupe melon for desert. ( it's nice to change for a moment, we had a LOT of strawberries lately).
Back home again, I thought it was a good idea to clean out a rack in the storage room, it looks much better now, still some more to do, but it's a start.
Almost finished, Jan came home, and I only hanged out the laundry and thought it was enough done for that day.
Jan also had an evening shift that day, so had to make something for an early dinner.
He left around 16.30 in the afternoon, I did some things on the computer and suddenly had trouble to keep my eyes open. Why torture myself??? Hopla, I went to the couched and had a real good nap of about 1 ½ hour!
Yesterday was a lazy day, didn;t do almost anything. Only in the afternoon I went to Heidi's house to feed the fish and that was it.
There is always something to do in the house, but I know I have to restrain myself sometimes to do not too much, (not that I don;t like that ROFL), but I have to do that, otherwise I will notice it some days later. If I  am too energetic for days in a row, oops, I am having a chance to get a warning from my epilepsie, mostly some very mild absences, but that isn;t nice. Better to try to avoid it as much as possible.

Probably we will have the last real summer day today, they announced weather change again. It never can stay very long the same kind of weather here. Very frustrating. There might be a temperature drop of an 8 degress in one day.!

I did finish another kit yesterday, they come a bit slowly at the moment, so I am glad another one is ready to be uploaded.
I have today two clusters and a quickpage by Arlene, made with the Attic chest kit.

Download    HERE

And I have a very romantic and vintage looking kit for you, named "The Romantic"
Almost off now to get busy, well, first another cup of coffee, then hop into some clothes and then to the supermarket for just a few things( like cat food, that is disappearing as snow in the sun, LOL). And I think this afernoon as early and quick dinner I could make a patty with ragout, not too heavy on the stomach, as Jan has to work again this afternoon/evening. Hmmmm, I think it's a good idea, we didn;t have that for a long time.
Time to move around, so I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Download     HERE

Gorgeous weather!

Goodmorning everybody!

It was a sober but emotional day on Monday, when we said goodbye to our friend Bert.
Thank you all for your sweet messages, and prayers and thoughts concerning his passing away.

And daily life knocks again on the door, we just have to keep on going.
It's gorgeous weather here the last couple of days, which is nice for Jan too when he has to ride his bike.
Oh, poor thing had a double shift on Monday, one in the morning and one in the evening.
The morning shift  was a smoothly going one, but the evening had some trouble.
Not because of annoying patients, not even because of some addresses he couldn;t find, but a bad planning from the health care institution. They sended him back and forth, plus he had to return a key which took him about half an hour, just because they didn;t tell him he had to leave it at the house(he had two clients in a home for elderly). In short, he had to work till about 10.00 in the evening but only was back home just at midnight. Well, they will have to pay for extra hours, because it wasn;t his fault!
Good thing he had a free day yesterday.
While he was taking a nap at the couch, I went to do a bit of shopping, and got the luminous idea that we could have a little barbecue, just the two of us. It was such good weather, that it was a perfect day for it. So I bought a ready-steady little barbecue, some chicken wings, some other meat, bit of salad and French bread and we had a great time in our garden.
Today Jan has a double shift again, so I don;t want to spent too much time at the computer this morning, cause I want to do some things here. Dust is crying out to me, that it needs a vacuum cleaner, and I also have to change the bedsheets. Then I will have to prepare an early dinner, cause Jan has to leave this afternoon at about 16.30 again.

I told you Friday that Mindy is back on internet again, and I was so happy with it, that I made a small fantasy kit for her, to offer on her blog. Here's the preview, if you like it, go to Minky's things to download.

And there is more to show and to download. Because Linda made another quickpage with the
Attic Chest kit. Go to her blog for download.

And I just got a mail from Arlene, that she is doing better, although she still hasn't her voice back. But she did send me some clusters and a quickpage with the Attic Chest kit, beautiful as ever.
These are not for today, I have some clusters for you made with the Sy Feeling kit.

Download    HERE
And of course I too have something, LOL! A kit in lavender/ purple, named "Distant Whisper".
Have a gorgeous day!

Download    HERE

Posting on an unusual day.

Goodafternoon everybody,
This will be a short post, already today, instead of tomorrow, because tomorrow I will have not too much time for it.
Friday evening we received a card in the post with the sad news that a good friend passed away. It's the one I think I already wrote about a couple of months ago. He had cancer everywhere in his body, and it weaked him so much that he had a heart attack last Tuesday.
In a way it was a good thing this happened, so he didn;t have to suffer too much, and died at home in the arms of his wife.
But still it's another member of our close group of the old cafe, we celebrated many birthday, wedding, christmas parties together.
Tomorrow will be the funeral service, so you can understand I will not have a lot of time and will not be in the mood either.
It really influenced our weekend, this event remained all the time at the background of our thoughts.
Bert was the one who wa so proud to drive the car on our wedding day, almost 5 years ago now.
I hope, he will be at peace now, without any pain, in a wonderful free world.

So if you don;t mind, I will just post the freebies now and finish the post with it. Wednesday I will be back, and ramble along as usual.
From Arlene, beautiful clusters from the Fresh Look kit.

Download    HERE


And from me a recently made kit, strangely enough with a title that comes together with the passing away from our friend,  "Remember the Good Times".
Have a lovely day!

Download    HERE

An "old"friend is back!!

Goodmorning everybody!

All real quiet around here and early in the morning. Yes, Jan is working again in the morning. And Sunday morning and Monday he has even two shifts, one in the morning and then from 5 p.m. till 10 in the evening too!
That's more like it, and hopefully it will stay that way the next months!
The leak isn;t handled yet, it seems. Yesterday we had some rain showers and we had a small share of it inside the kitchen again. Not as bad as it was, but it's still no good. I guess Jan has to go to the neughbours again this afternoon. Some day it will be dealt with(I hope).
As Jan is the working party now in our little family LOL, I'll have to do my share at home, at least, I feel it that way. So I get busy the times he is working, with all sorts of things a house needs, and I try to put on a tasty dinner.
Wednesday I made tagliatelle, with a creamy suace and little pieces of broccoli and chopped tunafish, and tomatoe salad to it. It tasted good, but pasta isn;t Jan's favourite food LOL. But it makes a nice change from the potatoes, meat and veggies sometimes.
So yesterday I made a greater effort and we had chicken breast filet, filled with some salami and camembert, simple boiled potatoes and fresh spinache leaves, fried in a bit of oil, with some chopped onions and garlic to it. And as desert an apple out of the oven, filled with some buuter with brown sugar and raisins mesh, bit of cinnamon to it and when ready some whipped cream over it. It was yummie.
Now Friday is generally a "free"day, concerning the cooking LOL! Jan makes something himself and me too. And you'd be surprised what the result of it can be sometimes. The most strange combinations of things, but wonderful.

I have wonderful news to tell. My "old"creative friend Minky is back on internet!!!! Yeah, she already posted a looooong post on her blog and even prepared a little freebie for you. But this could be the start of a renewed collaboration of fantasy-kits and things. Oh, I missed that, and yes I've made some fantasy kits, but it wasn;t quite the same. But first welcome her back and she has some great news to tell! Here a preview of the freebie she offers. Like to her blog is HERE

Also had some news about Arlene. Not only she had to deal with her flu, but she has a sinus infection too, the poor thing! She is on anti biotics and is feeling a little bit better. I told her to take care of herself first and then think about some new clusters, but she dragged herself to the computer LOL and sent me wonderful things again from the last few kits.
Today some great clusters made with the Sounds of Yesterday kit.

Download   HERE
Oh, I just remember that today is again fish feeding time at Heidi's home!!! Pffffff, good that it came into my mind. Not that it would hurt them to wait another day, but it's better to go there every other day. Well, with that in mind I should hurry up a bit, if I want to do that too this morning, before Jan gets back from work.
Today the last part of the Attic Chest kit. And then may be I will have some inspiration this weekend for another "regular" kit and something fantasy for Minky's blog. Whee, busy times arrive again ROFL!!!
Well, have a wonderful weekend, all of you and we'll meet again on Monday.

Download     HERE

Too much water,,inside the house LOL

Goodmorning everybody!

Yeah we had another leak. This time it was in the kitchen. I notice already for a couple of days a strange appearance of water, near the sink in the kitchen. First I thought it was coming from dripping off of the dishes etc. So I whipped it dry, but then it came back. Didn;t understand where it came from, called Jan, mounted myself on the worktop and saw that it was comping from the corner in the ceiling, dripping along the wall to the side of the worktop, which is also near a little window.
That was the last thing we needed now. Jan checked outside and according to him it was coming from the balcony from our neighbours. Possibly they have no good enough drain pipe there, and when it rains like the last couple of days, there stays too much water on the balcony. Then you only need a bit of older wall, with some cracks in it and hoorray, you have extra water in your kitchen. So Jan went to speak to them, explaining the problem, hopefully they will take care of it.
Because now that it isn;t raining anymore, it's almost gone. But we have to be sure it stays that way!!

I was kind of lazy the last two days, yes, I am ashamed to say so LOL. Well, I did some things, like a bit of grocerie shopping and ironing, but was also busy on a new kit.
Hmmm, that has to change today. One good thing, Jan is gone to work this morning so I have the morning "free". I think the room for certain needs a good vacuum cleaning, and there are some more things waiting to be done. With Jan out of the way I am allways far more active, so I should take advantage of that fact. GRIN!

It seems the weather is very slowly getting a bit better again, and I think it's about time. Temperature is still bearable, but we had a lot of rain. Probably it is the wettest July in years!
Now there is only a lot of wind today, which is a pity, but okay, if that is necessary to drive away the rainy weather, so be it, for one day I hope.!
Also I must not forget to go to Heidi's house, to feed the fish. Jan did that on Monday, so now it is my turn again. We dodn;t need to go there every day, just every other day is enough, fish are easy!
That's it for now.

I have some clusters for you from Arlene. I am a bit worrying about her, because I didn;t hear from her for some time, I think she is still struggling with her flu and then also has to deal with the health problems( to say that mildly) of her sister. I think she must have a rather stressing time at the moment.
The clusters are made of a mix of several of my kits. I think they are just lovely!

Download    HERE

And there is the second download from "The Attic Chest"for you.
I have still a moment to be lazy and then have to get moving to get things done before Jan comes back from his morning shift.
Have a lovely day!

Download       PART 2   HERE

We are fish-sitting LOL

Goodmorning everybody!

Friday morning I told you Jan had to work. So I took advantage of the time he was away to do some stuff around here. And he came home all smiling, cause his shift has been an easy one and even kind of cosy. He even had time to have a little chat with some clients.
The afternoon we had planned to go to the market, but as the weather was so bad, we skipped that idea. It was raining almost all the time.
Then late afternnon the phone rang and that was Heidi, telling me they were going on holiday that evening, hahahaha. She though she had mentioned that already to me, but no way! So it was good she made that phonecall. Now we knew we had to check on their house and feed the fish, hahahaha.
The rabbit and bird have passed away, as well as their goldfish, so they have a tiny little aquarium now.(and the doggie of course, but he is going with them).
And Satuday afternoon I went over to give the fish some food. It is easy to take care of them, just every two days a bit of food.
On the way back I bought another pair of reading glasses for Jan. You know, that cheap one you can buy almost everywhere. Yes, he already has one pair, but he liked to have another one, to have permanently in his bag when he goes to work. And if possible also in a firm cover, so it wouldn't bent every time he makes a move LOL!
I just had seen one in a shop and so he is the proud owner of two pairs of reading glasses now ROFL.
It just was € 1,89 all together. Amazing that they can make it for that price.

Yesterday I just did nothing!!! Well, no rummaging or cleaning or that kind of thing. Just spent time at the computer, in the garden and on the couch. Wonderful!
Today however there is need of some action. Not too much but I need a few grocerie things, then some attention might be given to laundry (ironing) and perhaps  a quick sweep with the vacuum cleaner. And if weather stays reasonable, we might go to the market today. I hope it will stay dry, and it would be better if it wasn;t so windy. Oh ad not to forget the feeding of te fish, this time it's Jan's turn.

That was the weekend in a nutshell. Not really interesting, but as a lot of people probably have spent it, or something like it.

Sometimes I really am desparate of what to eat for dinner. You easily stick to some same things, but I  want to try to have a bit of variation in it. Yesterday we had chicken filet, normally I make it filled with salami or ham and mozarella cheese, but this time I cut the filet open, filled it with lots of pressed garlic, some lemon juice to it, some pepper and salt, closed it and wrapped it with slices of bacon.
And prepared it on the oven. Turned out well, but I think we had an aura of garlic smell around us for hours LOL! Together with baked potatoes and a tomatoe salad and strawberries with cream as desert, we had a more than good diner.

Time for the freebies now.
First a wonderful quickpage by Linda, made with the "Sounds of Yesterday kit. You'll have to go to her blog for the download. 

Frome Arlene I have clusters fro the Elegant Wedding kit.

Download     HERE

And the kit is a rather huge one so I splitted it up in 3 downloads. So that will be for the whole week LOL. As I had a bit of trouble with Mediafire on a time I wanted to upload, these downloads are via 4-shared. I know many of you don;t like it, neither do I but normally it should work okay.
So bear with it, and next kit will be again on Mediafire.
Here the start of "The Attic Chest", preview is of the whole kit, in every download you will have some papers and elements.
Have a great day!

P.S.   It seems some of you have trouble downloading 4-shared, so I re uploaded the files to Mediafire.

Download     PART ONE    HERE