Still in progress with our painting.

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

Decisions to make, it is aweful sometimes LOL.

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

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

Download     HERE

Download    HERE

Raindrops kept falling on my head!

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download     HERE

Back to painting again

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

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

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

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

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

A Royal baby in England.

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

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

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

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

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

Too much summer here LOL!

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

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

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

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

Download    HERE

Download    HERE

All okay again, and real summer weather

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download     part 1 HERE
Download     part 2 HERE

Download     HERE

Some stagnation in the work.

Goodmorning everybody!

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

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

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

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

Download    HERE

Download    HERE