Friday, August 31, 2012

went diggin'......

and found some pictures I think are "new to you" LOL

I missed Boolands new kit called Beachcombers, simply because I thought she was on vacation, and not being creative, so once I found out about it, I begged, and even said "pretty please" to play with it anyway, and this morning..... I found the links in my mailbox. Ain't that cool?!

Once I found them, I decided to heck with the chores today, I'll just clean the kitchen and hang laundry and than go ahead an play... and so I did.A BIG part of what made that decision so easy?  Outside is my favorite kind of weather..... RAIN, so inside, I have a scented candle burning, some Omnia on the I-pod-egg, hot chocolate with stroopwafels next to me on one side, and a very sleepy kitty on the other side.......... B L I S S !!!!!

Not all is well in my world though.
Found out yesterday that a dear friend has breast-cancer, so, if you have a chance, include her in your prayers tonight? I don't know if she would appreciate me putting it out there for everyone to see, so I'm not giving her name. I know, on the one hand, anybody expressing compassion at a time like this, is priceless, but for privacy sake...........   When I was in the hospital when I had cancer, and Mike came back after taking care of Perky, and renewing the rental car and said, "The crew at the car-rental place told me you were in their prayers" I started crying. I had never thought that people outside my immediate family would care, and it helped. And the fact that I could tell them "thank you" myself a couple of months later.... priceless! :-)  So, even though you don't know her name.... can you still put in a good word?

The other thing is our fuzzy room mate. He always likes to chew on things. Most of the time, we catch him before there is damage, to him or the "chewee", but yesterday morning, I noticed that the rubber band I have around my day-runner wasn't around my day-runner, and nowhere near it. So I called the vet to see what I should do, look for, worry about etc. Well, since I didn't see him eat it, just can't find it, she said to sit tight. She gave me some charcoal pills for him (which I went and got at a run, I might say) and instructions. After that, it's a waiting game. Chances are, if he doesn't have any signs of discomfort by Sunday, he's 99% out of the woods. We have to put the date on the calendar, so if anything goes wrong, we can tell the vet what happened when, and she'll go from there. Hopefully he'll be ok. If not, I'm going to have to borrow money to get him operated on.... but I will! I just don't think there's any harm in hoping I just misplaced the darn rubber band and I will find it in a month or 2.....

Worrying has the "advantge" that I don't sleep, so I DID do some scrapping too, to keep my mind from going into overdrive last night.....

2 pages are for Boolands Upcoming kit: "Last Summer" It gets released next week...... and 2 are with Beach Comber, that released last week......

BeachCombers kit.

Mike and the big pole are the only things NOT in the Beach Comber kit.
I recolored the rock from mainly grey to brownish, and added a little dirt to the beach.

The following pages are made with the upcoming kit, and both pages
need a little explanation :-)
I missed these typical Dutch treats SO BAD, that everytime we went for a drive, I  managed to
"navigate" Mike right by the Dutch mill in Illinois......  And ofcourse, once there,
 there was no reason NOT to pick up the stroopwafels.....Guilty, indeed! LOL


Snake Alley in Burlington was a wondrous little downhill.
7 switchback curves, with a total lenght of 275 feet....
We took the Van down it, and right in the middle of a twist, I begged
Mike to stop, so I could take a picture......
Poor guy!


The reason for the interesting bricklaying technique? So the horses wouldn't slide coming down and for extra traction going up! 
It's kinda hard to see, but they are set on the short side of the brick, and angled upwards. 
If you were to lay down, and look at the surfice, it looks like tiny little stairsteps. The most amazing part to me, is that it has been in place, and functioning for over 100 years..... 
Try that with tarmac! LOL

Well, gotta "get". Guilt is taking over, and I will try and get a couple more chores done. HA!

Don't forget to hug a loved one, say a prayer for everybody less fortunate than you, or whom you think could use the extra help, and enjoy your weekend. 


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Had some time today.....

It rained. Not a sissy-rain, but honest to goodness, bounce 2 foot back in the air RAIN! LOL
I loved it. Perky not so much, because after the heatwave we've been having, it got quite nippy by the window, and that is where my chair (read HIS sleepingspot) resides. So he came and slept on my lap for a while,while we watched the footballgame we taped Saturday morning snuggled up to Mike for a bit and finally laid next to the computer, on the desk, with one paw on my arm..... while I played around with some of the kits I hadn't done much with yet.

So... here's the result of my favorite weather, combined with having to go absolutely nowhere :-)

I did figure out that I either have to go out and take pictures, or scan some of the ones I have in albums, because I seem to be using the same pictures over and over....... Sorry about that.....  I guess I can put the different pages in different photo-abums (like one for ours, and one for my sister, that kind of thing) but I have to admit, that no matter how much I like the pictures.... it's time for new ones. LOL

JessicasSweetNothings' kit Old Love.

TravlynWomynsOriginals kit Waterscape


JessicasSweetNothings' kit Shades of the White
The frames are not part of the kit
I thought it very interesting, and frankly a little bit daunting to use a complete "colorless" kit. Once I looked at it really closely, I was scared to start, because I had no idea how to make it look good. The kit has mostly dark papers so I partially colored one, just a teense, and put a very slight white layer on top of the paper once I put the rest of the page together, to lighten it up just a little, in order for the elements to show up a bit better. I don't think I made the kit "shine", so to speak, and I am sorry for that. It is a very nice kit, and I will have to get better at using blacks, whites and greys in a way  that makes the pages special instead of dark. My problem, and in no way a reflection on the kit. I just have never done this before.......


The second attempt turned out a little better, but I'm still not happy........


well, it's after midnight, and I have my alarm set for 5.30.... Tomorrow is the first day of my new schedule. Getting up at the same time every morning, no matter if/how late I went to sleep the day before, have certain chores done, on certain days, no matter what distractions come up, or how bad I feel, and in general... to heck with what else happens, get that part of my life that I CAN, back on track!

So, this is it, for me, for tonight, I will be back as soon as I can :-) 
Don't forget to hug a loved one!

Hugs and have an awesome week.



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

This is SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!

I was putsing around on Rootsweb last week, after I found Mike's dads family in the Census of 1940, 1930, 1920, 1910 AND 1900. Since the census stated that the first (as far as we know atleast) John Elias Evans' immigration year was 1886 and both he and his wife were born in Wales, I tried finding records for that event.... no luck. Or better said LOTS of luck. I had no idea there were so many People with the same name moving from the same area TO the same area, and with no idea what the right family or town in Wales the family originated from, I thought I had hit the most bountiful dead-end you could ever imagine.

Wait, there HAS to be more to this post, right? There is! On Rootsweb, I found a post, dated 2003, that mentioned, what I thought was "our" John, so I emailed the originator of the post, and got an answer back  yesterday. It WAS family of John. A niece to be exact. She remembered John, and had possibly some pictures and information. I was delighted, but no more so when I opened the second email this morning, and found a picture of John, Mikes mom, Mike, Doug, Janice and Kim, with a gentleman in uniform. Than, I read what was written under the picture in the email. The sender was the brother of the cousin that had posted..... I couldn't resist. I'd been fiddling with it the whole day in my head, and as soon as dinner was over I put this page together.



The weather being too stinking hot to sleep, I did a little bit of scrapping last night, into early morning....

Kit used is Everyday News by DigiDesDesigns

It was funny to see that since 1976, the intersection has not changed at all.....  The page will go into Mikes LifeBook under transportation. I just have to find some original advertising for the car to add to a secondary page.



Played around with some of the pictures from Folkwoods. 

Same designer, same kit, different kind of page :-)

We went, briefly, to the Rose Festival in Lottum and let me tell you.... I'm not going again, unless we have a cooler in the car, and I can carry a purse with enough room for a couple of bottles water each. Besides the 12.50 Euro's it took to get in, all the stores were closed, and a glass of water, 3/4 filled, was 2 Euro's. We tried to buy a bottle, and I swear, it must have been liquid gold, because they tried to charge 10 Euro's for it. Never again.... I want to go back to see the roses, but not during the festival! On top of this, the rose-garden was mostly done blooming. we couldn't tell if the roses were clipped for the festival, or past their flowering season, but it was pretty bare. We did see some nice flower arrangements, and you'll probably see some pages with them. I don't mean to sound cranky about this, but it seemed a lot overpriced. I guess we should have smelled a rat when, in a country where you pay for parking when you go to church, the parking was free LOL!

The following page was made with a partial picture taken  there..... The kit used is StarSongStudio's Lavender Dream



So, I think that's all I have to say tonight. It seems to be a little cooler, so maybe I can get some sleep......Don't forget to hug a loved one?


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

No reason........

but I wanted to start blogging regularly again. Not write a book once a month, but a little bit a couple of times a month, maybe even (GASP!) a couple of times a week. I'm not sure, but it feels like it's time to do the "normal" thing, have a schedule (and pray that I'm able to stick to at least 80% of it LOL) you know, grab life by the horns and enjoy the ride! :-)

I have the August challenge posted over at DigitalScrapbookingStudio, so if you wish, go have a look. I know it is on the late side, since it ends August 31, but I had to start my newly forged schedule somewhere :-)

Here's the "add" for it. If you have a chance, come play?



I also, finally, made a page that will be the first page of our family tree album:

Everyday News by DigiDes Designs

I have been searching for just the right kit, with the right elements, or several kits with the right elements between them, but when I saw the crossword element, it all fell into place! It was exactly what I had been looking for. You know, you're missing an ingredient, but you can't go searching for it, because you're not sure what it is? Obviously, it was one of those that has to hit you on the head  ;-)

Well, this is it from my corner of the world. It's over the 100 degrees, and this puppy is hitting the icecream. After which, I will check on my fish tank. I lost another guppy, and am now down to 2..... I wish I could have run computer simulations before I jeopardized a living being.... I feel awful about learning this way. I wonder when they will start dying of old age, and not mismanagement.... I guess it proves that good intentions do NOT out way practical know how.

Don't forget to hug a loved one, stay cool (or warm, depending on where you are in the seasonal cycle) and we'll talk soon :-)

Saturday, August 18, 2012

not quite right yet....

but happy as a clam!

As I did last year.... I had a blast at Folkwoods!
Some of the bands were a little "out there" and I really couldn't see what they had to do with folk music, and I bailed on them pretty quickly, but...... overall, it was a great weekend.
Marcel was tending bar this year, and it was so much fun to see him work. It was hard to recognize the kid we see at home, quiet, doing his thing without much to say..... He had a smile on his face the whole weekend, even though the circles around his eyes got deeper as the weekend wore on. LOL He treated me no different from other customers, was friendly and efficient and seemed to fit right in with the other volunteers, even though they had been doing the "job" for a lot of years. Some as far back as the first festival, 13 years ago.  He had to fill the occasional cowhorn with beer, and I tried to capture it, but was way to slow...... maybe next year? The date is already entered on my calendar :-)

I didn't have as many glasses of honey-wine this year as I planned. I ended up with a pretty bad headache, and with the painpills to keep my legs functioning halfway decently...... I didn't think it was a good idea, and grudgingly stuck to soda.  I severely enjoyed the Gerard Maasakkers' concert though! Soooooo cool to be able to go to one of his concerts again. Apart from him aging a little.... it was the same great show as in 1986. Other songs of course, but he couldn't help going back in time just a little and we all, quite happily, sang along.

This year I also got to hear Omnia. I don't know quite how to explain their music. It's a mix of tribal sounds and music I imagine was played in the Middle Ages. Some songs I could have done without, but most were very special. I have no idea if they were singing in Gaelic or a made up language, but it was really good.  I'm sorry, I suck at explaining what kind of music I listen to.... Mike was at his wits end by the time I was halfway, so we found their website and I was able to let him listen to some of the songs. Not sure what he thought of it, but yesterday he said, out of nowhere: "You guys listen to some odd stuff at that festival" and never explained if that was a "good" odd or not. LOL. One member of the band looked, as far as I could see from where I was sitting, like Ronan from Stargate Atlantis. He played a Digiridoo, that expanded. Had no idea there was such a thing, but it sure sounded good. LOL

Sunday afternoon I accidentally found my next favorite guitarist. He was the second half of the Hedlund Duo, Oystein Sandbukt.... I couldn't pronounce his name to save my life, but I DO like what he does. His partner plays an instrument that according to his story was almost extinct in the mid 50's. It's called the Nyckelharpa. It's a mix of a violin and a lyra..... It has the most magical sound.

We had a great "camp life" be it that some of the company got a little heavy but that is to be expected. I spent more time at the festival than last year, being better able to move, and not hurting tooooo bad. But the time spent in camp was fun and lazy...... I had promised myself I wouldn't try and take pictures of everything again, just the bands I actually sat and watched, and some camp shots, and, against all expectations, I did just that. I haven't played with them yet, so there's no pages to post yet. I'll keep that for another day.

One more thing before I quit.... is to let you know that I got inspired to get back to normal, and I posted the Point in Time challenge over at The Digital Scrapbooking Studio this morning.  Here is the add I made to post in the Forum for it.


Hope that you will come look at the entries......

Well, gotta go, have some laundry that has just been thru the 4th washing, because I keep forgetting to hang it, so I better get it on the rack this time! LOL

Hug a loved one, enjoy what's left of summer and hope to see you here more often.....  Someday, life HAS to get back to some kind of normal, don't you think?

Pauli

Friday, August 10, 2012

a week of firsts....

and still giggling about them :-)

I have taken the wrong bus, I've taken the right bus in wrong direction before.... the things you get when you use public transportation and don't take the time to read the schedule right, but I have never been on a bus that got lost.... until wednesday!

There's 2 different lines that visit our little town, both taking different routes to get to the same place, but since I only get in on one bus stop, and they both stop there, I'm never quite sure which one I'm on. However, this bus was taking a route I had never been on, and there weren't any stops. People were getting nervous,  and were looking around, like I was, to figure out where we were going. All of a sudden, about 6 minutes into a 10 minute bus trip, the driver hits the brakes, and starts to turn around, clogging up and I'm sure, confusing traffic in all directions. This was followed by a high speed back tracking  to almost our starting point, and following the normal route from there. It was interesting.
It reminded me of our trip to Singapore, where everybody was hustled out of the airplane in Tokyo, put on a bus, and under armed guard, driven to a dark part of the airfield. Let me tell you THAT was NOT a good feeling! There were 2 guards patrolling around the bus and 1 was standing in the front of the bus. Not with the gun over the shoulder, but with the gun at the ready. I can tell you that you could hear a pin drop in that bus, and it was full to capacity! We never did find out what that was about, but if we ever fly that direction again, I sincerely hope not to pass thru that airport again!

The second "first" was funny, in a shake your head kind of way.....
I was talking to someone who needs to take a break every 20 minutes or so for a cigaret, about the old St.Jans cathedral in Den Bosch. How they just got done cleaning the sandstone a couple of years ago, and that I want to go see it, because last time I saw it (25 years ago) it was mostly black from exhaust and pollution.
This gentleman shakes his head, and sais: "Wow, makes you wonder what you inhale living in a city......"

It took a lot of willpower to keep a straight face! LOL

On another note, "my" designers have been a little bit on the quiet side because of vacations and such, but I'm sorry to say, it didn't give me any more of a chance to catch up much.

Ann from StarSongStudio has a new kit coming out soon. It's called "Attic Treasures" and it was soooooo much fun to play with. I got her permission to use it on the family website... COOL! And she has a couple of new ones that came out, that I haven't worked yet, so I will get that done, after Folkwoods, and post them here. If you can't wait for  that, go check out her stores here. As with all her kits.... they are AWESOME and I really can't figure out what kept me from playing with them!



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Booland Designs still has the retirement sale going, and I am very sorry to say, that I'm totally confused as to which ones came out when, and whether I have pages made for them and if so, what the heck I did with them.... So, that will also be sorted after Folkwoods. I have the sneaky suspicion that I will need a day or 2 on the couch to recover from that and having to sort the computer seems like a good excuse! LOL   Even though camping has been canceled for my sister and me..... I'm sure I'll have other ways to overdo it. Like sleeping 4 hours and being outside and walking most of the rest of the time......

I didn't skunk responsibility all together though. I made the Bingo Page for IvyScraps, and finished my pages. They'll be posted where they need to go by end of day, but I'll give you a preview..... The kit is called Enchantment, and you can find it here  and I know I saw some free matching papers out there as well, so go have a look. Here are 2 of my pages. I have another one that is almost done, but I wanted to finish this post, and wish you a great weekend, with whichever type of weather you prefer or need, to do what you want to do :-)

There's nothing quite as magical as frost covered trees at sun up.

This little guy was 10 days old when I took this picture.
It's so nice to be able to go whenever I want..... Even if it's just for an hour or so.

I'm off to finish packing, get the house in shape for Mike to have a "me" weekend with the fuzzy roommate. Maybe I'll be back later, but I may just "pre-sleep" for the weekend and take a nap! Train leaves at 7.50AM........

Hugs
Pauli

Saturday, August 4, 2012

It's AUGUST already!!!!

Where did the year go?

I haven't kept up with the blog much, because of different reason, but one of them is that it just seems like yesterday I updated, and when I go look, it's been 2 weeks..... Mom always said that as you get older time seems to go faster, but this is ridiculous!!! For 2 reasons.
One: I'm not old! I have been holding steady at 39 for quite a while, and I enjoy it. Pretty soon I will have to 'up" the age if this keeps going on.......
Two: If time keeps going at this rate, I'll be 80 before I realize it, and I'm not liking that idea. There's too much to see, do and too many people left to annoy for time to be going this fast! LOL

All kidding aside though..... I'm running all the time and it's starting to feel like I'm losing the battle of enjoying just being alive. I remember the time when scheduling something 2 weeks old had something unreal.... it was sooooo far away, tons of things could happen before THAT day arrived. And now, I just scheduled a visit a month out, and it is happening next week!

So, this weekend..... I was going to enjoy my fish tank... I had a little calamity going on last week, and lost 2 of my brightest guppies. YUP! one day, all is well, next day my orange one went. Just lay there on the top of the pump. Nothing wrong with him, well except the fact he was dead, but, as instructed, I checked his gills, fins and belly, and all was normal. Day after that... my blue one went the same way.... I was in a total panic. Now, mind you.. this is my first tank, and I did the research. My niece walked me through the set up with ground cover, plants, water values, pump, temperature and the likes while we filled up the tank for the first time. 10 days later (the recommended time for the water to get "just so") my sister and I got the fish, after we checked the water values to make sure I wasn't going to kill them first night out! I had been wanting a blue guppy from the start. The others were optional, but I definitely wanted a blue one, and for the rest, all they needed to be was bright and swimming around so I can enjoy looking at them. I know, I'm shallow LOL. I got my wish... for 2 weeks. The water started to get really cloudy, so we checked the water values again. Nothing wrong there. Fish store thought it was too much food in the water, so they suggested not to feed for 4 days, and limiting the light to 8 hours a day. If it was the food, it should clear the water, and I should start feeding less. If that didn't help it might be the plans and I should wrap the whole tank in newspapers for 2 days, still not feeding the fish. Now, since I can't go 3 hours without eating, I thought that would be pretty cruel, so I turned the lights off for a whole day. The water started to get cloudy before the fish were in it, so I went with the plant thing first.... Figuring if that what was needed, might as well do it from the start, and shorten the time they wouldn't get fed....  They stand pretty close to a window, so they get light, just not the sunbath they get with he aquarium light on. Next day, water is clear as a bell, so the day after I turned the light on for 6 hours ... water starts to get cloudy again, but not as bad as it was, so I decided it was time to feed the fish... I did, and they were fine. Next morning.... not so much. At this time, I'm worried that I starved them, but there is still the cloudy water issue, so I sent my sister and niece a message to see if they have any ideas why the orange one just died. I thought, maybe he had been washed on top of the pump by the plants, so I moved them away from the pump, and put the pump a little lower in the tank.... hoping that would save the rest from getting beached..... They didn't thing this was it, but it couldn't hurt.... Well, turns out... with the warm weather... they didn't get enough oxygen.... The pump wasn't doing it's job. We found this out when my niece got on a train, with fish medical kit, and started going thru everything  that MIGHT have killed the fish, and nothing panned out. When she pulled the complete pump, we found out that only one hole was actually working... so we fixed that, turned it up high, so it looks like it has waves and within an hour the fish started moving A LOT better. When we took her home, she gave me a "bubble machine" to put in the tank when we got home (she gave me the correct name, but since it makes bubbles..... ) and the leftover guppies are happy as clams again.

This is after the Orange one died,  but before the Blue one went.... the plants are now thinned out, and the water  well oxygenized and clear. As soon as I get a minute, I'll post a current picture here :-)

So, I was going to enjoy them this weekend, having done chores during the week. I decided that on Wednesday, and here it is Saturday... and I'm still doing the chores..... Does anybody have a clue on how to slow time down a bit, so I can get a handle on things? LOL

Well, this is it for me for now, I just wanted to ask you about the time thing, and have a snack before I get going on my day. Mike is at work, will be tomorrow, and I have to get things ready for FOLKWOODS!!! YUP going again this year. This year.. my favorite Dutch singer is going to give a concert.... I haven't been feeling right, so I'm hoping to be able to stay the whole weekend again, but as long as I make it thru Gerard Maasakkers' concert....... I can fall over and call it good :-)

Don't forget to hug a loved one!