Still here....

Just really quiet.....
I know, that's is SO not like me!
Did get some scrapping and sorting in general done, so I'm not too bummed out about my absence.

Our Ka is no more. We got the paperwork saying it has been picked up by the salvager. It was kind of funny. It's the same garage that sold my sister her first car! I checked their website and I have to think that they are fixing it up for resale. There are no purple Ka parts for sale in their salvage section, there is no purple Ka for sale as a complete salvage vehicle, but there's no purple Ka for sale second hand yet either, so who knows. I hope that the next owner has as much fun with it, as I did, and it keeps them as safe as it did me, and gets treated right. The little rucksack deserves it.

On the scrapping front........
I finally figured out how to make a signature for postings..... about time, after almost 4 years, don't you think?

Anne from Star Song Studio has a couple of new kits out, since we last talked.

Remember this day

Sea Passage

She had a freebie Facebook Fan kit, that I played with.....

It is called

  Bright Blooms

I also just realized that all pages are almost identical. Funny, because they were not made at the same time. Must have had some cobweb stuck in my brain somewhere. LOL

She has an awesome kit coming out, that I can't tell you about yet, but it is N I C E !!! Can't wait to show it to you.

Boo is back from vacation, and thank god for small favors. Her vacation gave me time to catch up with the kits I agreed to work with. However............ I found a brand new kit in the bin this morning, so... no rest for the wicked. Mike is off tomorrow and Monday, so I won't be on the computer much. This will have either of 2 reasons.... He'll be playing The SIMS, or we'll be gone LOL. Either way, it will be Wednesday at the earliest before I can get to it...... But I can't show it to you anyway yet, so this whole conversation is a mute point.

The kits I caught up with:

AUGUST Mega over at the Studio is called Driftwood Beach and I got to play with Boo's kit....

Serendipity

Escape

We were going to go away for a couple of days, the week after I had the accident, but we had to call it off. I was SOOOO bummed! I was going to show Mike my favorite area of Holland, we were going to stay in an old Sheepfarm, watch the blooming heather, visit our oldest monolith burial site, and spend some time in a replica of a East India Company's 3 master........ None of that happened, but we did go out to the zoo one day, and Brussels on another.  The zoo is near wear my sister lived when the kids were really little (read less than a year, and 3) and it was worth the trip. The zoo, like most, is divided by continent, but the approach is totally unique. Instead of just the name of the animal, with not a whole lot of information, they have "did you know" signs surrounding the area's. The asia part has a schoolhouse, rice patches, streets and buildings through out the whole area, ant they're working on similar things for the others. It is really a cool place. If you ever are in the neighborhood, I suggest a visit. 

One Page Wonder mix: 

Red, White and Blue

Solace

In the country

Essence of Me

Springs Awakenings (one page wonder)

The KIT

Mornings

Carefree

I messed up on the journaling... We were his 4th home before his 3rd birthday!

My Old Jalopy

One Page wonder:

Spring Breeze

One Page Wonder #73

Now, I didn't do all these pages since I last visited. Some were done a while back,and I hadn't posted them yet, but they are not new releases. Either way, they are new to my blog. LOL

This kit was offered to Boo's Blossems for a new designer over at The Digital Scrapbooking Studio.
Jilberts Bits of Bytes. It is called Flower Power, and I absolutely adore it!

Just realized that it's past midnight here. Mike and the fuzzy roommate have retired a long time ago, so I best check the box for litter critters, and hit the rack as well.

Don't forget to hug a loved one!

Pauli

It took a little longer than planned....

but I'm back :-)

Household chores is still a "no go", but with the heat we've been having, neither one of us really minds. It's been a hundred, and close to it for 3 weeks now, and between you and me............ it's getting soooooo old!
I don't do the heat well since Chemo, and not feeling right, does NOT improve that experience any. Plus it's slowly sinking in that I'm housebound again when Mike is at work. I was thinking the other day..... once I feel better, and it cools down, I can go to Margraten, and walk the cemetery, only to come to the realization that the 25 minute car ride got replaced by a 3 hours combined bus and train trek. If I leave at 9 (the earliest my train pass will let me travel) I'm there at about 12, and they close at 4.30, getting me home around 8..... NOT an option! I could probably ride a bike faster.Oh well.

The wing is feeling a little better.... I can hunt and peck for the keys on the keyboard, since not all my fingers are useable yet. They're getting there, they're just taking the slow road. LOL

We canceled vacation, much to my sjagrin, but it might have been a good decision..... It's kind of sloppy to fall asleep while you're in a museum because of the painkillers. :-) We didn't reschedule yet, but we may take a day here and there and "go do something" We were only going to be gone for 4 days, 3 nights hotel, even with the best deals, is pretty much our limit, and not knowing what was going to happen with the car, our part, if it would get fixed etc.... it was the right decision to make, but it was made under protest! LOL. Mike didn't mind too much... he got to catch up on his SIMS game, me, I slept a lot. I'm on the fence whether it was a waste of vacation time, but Mike seemed ok with it, and I can't shove him out the door and tell him to go work just because we're not going away:-)                                                                             

As promised, here are the pictures of the Ka. Poor thing. It really deserved a better life.

High centered, but it looks ok. I figured at that point that the radiator busted, maybe the oil pan sprung a leak,  but all would be well once it hit the garage....

Everything still looked ok.....

Once we looked at it in the tow yard

The damage is a little bit more glaring

REALLY!?
You had to add the sign?

The thing that ticks me off

Damage done by the straps. The garage thought somebody tried to get in with a crowbar....
'nuf said?

If they EVER tell you there will be no damage....
DO NOT BELIEVE THEM!!

Also got a call from the insurance adjuster...... The little aubergine is toast. Even though the day value last year, was 1400Euro, they're only giving us 500 for it now. (They say it's the whole "year older, more miles" thing, but I think it's an "the less we have to pay, the better we like it" thing) That is including the 800 it cost us to redo the brakes and the 4 new tires in June to make sure it would make APK, the new exhaust, the front struts and all the other things we have done to it since we bought it. Although, I think I may have ruined the wheel alignment ever so slightly....  After we had the brakes done, we figured, well, we pretty much have a new car....... Nah! Should have known better! LOL. 

The airfilter and sparkplugs, as well as the fluids we bought the weekend before the accident to do an oilchange/tune-up will be donated to the neighbor. She has the same color/year KA. She would have took the KA to swap some of her not-so-good parts for ours, but her ex was having a hissyfit, so she backed out. It would have been nice to help her out, we just can't afford to keep it. As long as it is in our name, it has to be insured, road tax paid etc, plus we would have to pay for it to be taken to the dismantlers when she was done with it........ and with the 500 we get for it...... we'd have to add money to the deal. Mike said if we would have a garage, or somewhere where we could part it out, and sell the parts she doesn't need, he would, but right now it's a hassle we don't need, so as soon as all the paperwork is where it needs to go, I'll have to say goodbye to my little rucksack.

It's kind of weird though, because from what I understand, it is not going to a scrapyard, but a garage and they're only paying 180Euro's as "rest value" according to the insurance. So it could very well be that I see it drive once again..... Happy thoughts, keeping happy thoughts :-)  I'll run it thru the RDW (Dutch equivalent of the DMV) in a couple of months, and see what pops up ....

Well, I have 2 hours to get dinner on the table..... and it's going to take me that long, so I'm saying "good night" for now. 

Don't forget to hug a loved one!

Thursday, I sent my Guardian Angel into early retirement......

Somewhere, there's a guardian angel on prozak...... For the record, I'm not making fun, it's a way of dealing with things. I truly believe someone (or multiple someones) was looking after me last Thursday! I went to see my dad to fix his computer, dropped by my oldest sister for lunch and a chat, and returned my other sisters' chairs we borrowed for the races. I'm a little banged up, and won't be able to use my left hand for a while, but I'm afraid I demolished my little aubergine aka my ford Ka.

On the way to my sister, they have a lane divider that consists of cement boulders that sit about 15 inches tall or so and are about a foot and a half wide. Some moron cut me of, I swerved trying to get onto the side road, didn't make it and sailed like a rubberduck on an oceanwave over the bumps...... My little aubergine stopped on the 8th bump. When I looked up, there was one car backing up to get to me, and one car coming the wrong way down the exit to get to me.

When the lady from the car that was backing up got to the passenger door, she had already called the police, ans she was coaxing me out of the car when the lady from the second car came walking up. I didn't want to get out, because I didn't want to see the damage I did, but the smoke coming out from under the hood helped in the decisionmaking process. The odd thing was, that in the back of my mind, I knew the car would have to be towed, so I stuffed as much of the belongings that were all over the place in my purse on my way out. I keep hearing the noise the car made, and I can still feel the shaking of the car, but beyond that, not much.

The first thing asked, was if my neck and/or back hurt, had I hit my head, was I bleeding anywhere, and luckily the answers were all "no". I found my phone, and surprised the ladies that were there, AND my brother in law, when I calmly told him, "I'm all right, I wrecked the car, I'm under the bridge on "Berekuyl", can you come get me" and meanwhile I sat on the side of the road, just talking like I had just parked the car, and was having coffee with the girls! I remember ending the call to Willem, looking down at my hand and thinking, "damn! I broke a nail....... I'm normally not that cool under pressure, so I have no clue what was going on.

The ladies stayed till both the police and my brother in law got there in case the police needed their information. They didn't, so one left and the other gave me her phone number, in case the insurance needed it. I forget which one, but one of them told me I was lucky, because she had witnessed a similar incident a couple of monts ago, and the car flipped and the driver was killed. The first set of policemen mentioned it also. They were not the ones called out, but passing by, so they stopped. They secured the scene, put pilons up and called it in again. It was kind of strange, because they were Marechausee, the Dutch military police, and the people Mike has to call if anything is wrong, but since I was driving, and Mike was not on scene, they had to turn it over to the regular police afterall. Missed part of the conversation/explanation I think.

Anyway, the one thing that sticks in my mind, was the inexpliccable lack of visual damage to the car, and the fact that people were passing by the accident real slow, while taking pictures with their cellphones!

I kept walking over to the car, checking that I had turned off the engine, because there was initially radiator fluid leaking, than I spotted brakefluid, and after that oil... People must have thought I had lost it, but I just kept limping back and forth.. My hand hurt so bad it was making me sick to my stomach, but it moved around just fine, so I figured it wasn't broke, and since I wasn't complaining about anything they luckily didn't call an ambulance. I didn't even plan on seeing a doctor about my hand at that time. The second set of police were talking to Willem, and also told him how lucky I was that the car didn't end up upside down and got me killed. I kept thinking, they're just being nice and trying to make me feel better because I'm upset about the car........

Once the towtruck came, and they hoisted my little rucksack on the flatbed, Willem took me to their place, about 10 minutes away, where I called Mike, still pretty levelheaded, I thought, and asked if he wanted to come up and get me, because I had been in an accident, or if he was ok with Willem taking me home after we cleaned out the car the next morning, but I kinda would like to see him..... He came:-) a little confused why I wasn't driving the car home, a little ticked off because he was tired, and not looking forward to a 3 hour round trip, just to say hi and leave me at my sisters, but he came. After talking to my sister and brother in law, and getting the exact location, he understood why I wasn't bringing the car home. By that time, my hand was hurting so bad, I almost passed out, so up to the hospital we went, after calling ahead so we knew when the best time was to get there, so we didn't have to wait very long. They took xrays, and nothing is broken, just severely, severly bruised. This in not a typo, thats what the doc said. LOL. They wrapped it up tight, and gave me 24 painpills with the understanding that if it didn't feel any better by Monday, to go see our GP. We went back to Nicky's place, where Mike got directons to the nearest gasstation that would be open at midnight ( NOT at all a given to find one open after 10 here) and a cup of coffee to stay awake and he left.

I went to bed and woke up in a flying panic at 9.45! That lasted until I hit the kitchen, and found absolutely no one awake, not even the light in the fishtank was on yet...... My nephew has a hard time being ON time, and has his alarm set ahead 3 hours:-). So, I had a cup of coffee in the back garden, with a slice of bread and a painpill. Mike called my cell a little after that, and said he was going into work, make sure there was coverage, and than he would come up. He sounded worried.

So, after waiting till 9 to call the insurance and the company that had our car, we went to clean it out around 10.30 or so. Mike had called that he was on the way when he left base, and if we could, would we wait going to the car. He knew I was useless in carrying things to and fro, and he didn't want to stick Willem with all the work, so the family had a leasurely breakfast, and right at the end of it, Mike came in, shared a cup of coffee. and off we went.  When we got there, the reality hit of how bad it could have turned out. The engine was sheared off the engine mounts and was laying on the ground, and while clearing behind the backseat, Mike showed me a hump that was about 5 inches high above the drivetrain hump that used to be about 3 inches below it, where the car had hit the boulder, and there were several of those......... The funny part, or at least the part that hit my funny bone, was the sign in the windshield, that read..... "Do not start" with the car key taped to it. I know, my mind does NOT work like everybody elses. LOL

The wheels that had looked pretty normal, except the flat right front, when it was sitting on the side of the road, now looked like they had been sledgehammered sideways, the plastic wheelcovers were bent (not broken though) away from the wheelhub, 3 of the 4 hubcabs were on the floorboard, and what ticked me off, was that there were dents in the doorjam where they had lifted the car. They were not part of the accident. Now, IF by some miracle, they do NOT total the car, we have to fix that. Also, the car is a unibody. Had they left that in good shape, somebody would have had a good body to put in place of a rusted one............. I know it is silly, but that bothers me. Had they taken the time to pull the straps around the bottom, the body itself would still have been ok. But... I'm rambling. :-)  

The really weird part started friday morning right after I got downstairs and before I even started on my coffee. My oldest sister calls around 7.15 asking why I hadn't called my dad to let him know I got home safe, because he called her out of bed at 11.30 the night before, and they just got off the phone again.......... I told her the reason might be that I didn't GET home safe............that I wrecked the car, and had sat at the hospital till after 11.00, I had gotten painpills and had a very unrestful night because of the pain."Nuf said, right?

Now here's the rest of that conversation: Oh, well, are you ok? Yes. Are you in the hospital? No. Are you home, because you should have called dad. No, I'm at Nicky's. Why didn't she call? I will call dad and let him know why you haven't called, than.  

10 minutes later dad calls. Mind you, this is not an abreviated version, but the whole thing:
D:  Why didn't you call? Peet said you wrecked the car, how is Mike getting to work now? Are you at the hospital?
Me: No, I'm at Nicky's.
D: I don't know what to do with that  

At that point, I'm listening to a dead line. I'm also thinking to myself.... Is THIS the reason we moved around the world, so I can be with the family? I had better friends in Iowa. Heck, I had closer aquaintances in Reno! Mind you, besides the fact that there was more fuss made that I hadn't called, and that Mike was without a car.... they totally blow over the fact that I drove around the US for 20+ years, and they wouldn't know where I was, at ANY time!

My REALLY, REALLY big thing, is that I'm "getting-together" close to Nicky again. I did not realise how much I had missed her, until we got together again. Feeling wise, we were never apart, but all the little things we used to do, and didn't and can do again........... yeah, that makes the crazy part of my family tollerable, but not less alarming.  Nicky's whole fammily is awesome, Willem is the big brother I never had, and the kids are like our own. (Without the sleepless nights and the diaperchanges LOL)

After cleaning the car, we went back to my sisters place and spent the day. It was very nice, very relaxing, and very much taking my mind off what could have happen....... I guess that's what sisters do :-) We went to the zoo for a little bit, checked out how big the polarbear cubs had gotten, watched the Malaysian bears get fed, chatted, sat and had icecream, chatted some more, strolled a little more............ H E A V E N!!

I think, since this took me most of yesterday day to type, that I will post it, as is, and keep you updated a little bit at a time. Hand is killing me, so I'm going to look for a nice long movie, glas of milk (Would have liked a tall cold Guiness, but Mike keeps telling me that is NOT a good idea, and I'm letting him be the voice of reason, today. LOL) and see if I can coax our purring, fuzzy roommate to sit with me, instead of on the keyboard Mike is trying to use  :-)  I'll post pictures of my little aubergine in a day or 2, when I can look at them without crying.

Don't forget to hug a loved one and stay safe....

Hugs,
Pauli

A special kind of crazy......

Is what you have to be to do this, in my humble opinion :-)

Would you like an explanation?

We went to the Classic Bike race in Franchorchamps, Belgium over the weekend. Just an overnight. We left after Mike got off work on Saturday and got there right before the last race was run. The one from 8 to midnight..... A friend of a friend was racing in that one, and the main reason for going, but we didn't know the number,or even what bike he rides. Our friend is just getting into motorcycles, and isn't all that clear on things. We don't mind, because it always leaves room for a conversation. He doesn't mind, because he can learn things. But when you're trying to get information, it can get tricky LOL.

We decided we could go (wanting was not an issue!) on Wednesday, so we ran out to get the lawnchairs at my sisters on Friday, I did chores all day Saturday, like making sure there was no garbage, cleaned the fridge so noting would start a lab experiment in our absence, spend time with the fuzzy roommate, and wash the clothes I wanted to take....... Can you see where this is going? YUP! I packed Mikes stuff, because it was on the bag to pack it into, our toilettries, and completely spaced it on the clothes I was going to take! Blondy strikes again. LOL  And I didn't even realise it until Sunday morning, when I wanted to change shirts. Oh well. Both guys happily volunteered a shirt, but.... I had to say no. Wearing one of Mikes shirts to Tai Chi, or around the house is one thing, but to go out in public..... The women here only dress in women's clothing. Most not according to any fashion guidelines I'm familiar with, but still. They don't wear the stuff I used to wear in the States, like baggy shirts and T- and sweatshirts. What they do wear, is spandex, and a mix of flowers, checks and stripes, so maybe I shouldn't be bothered when I wear comfy clothes that match............. Now there's a thought :-)

BUT back to the racing. I'd never been to a road race before, and I swear, it's the scariest thing I've ever seen! They fly by at about 150  miles an hour, one knee almost on the ground in the corner, and passing eachother on the inside line...... creeps me out completely. LOL

The Classics race was cool, because part of it was ran in the dark. The bikes, had headlights, tail and brakelights, and other identifying lights on the bikes, so the announcers could keep track of them. But they never slowed down and I only saw brakelights a couple of times. Some had the numbers lit up, one had a really cool LED strip following the frame, and some just had the numberplates lit. The LED following the frame was freaky, because after a while it looked like some bizar streak of blue lights floating around the part of the course we could see, and sometimes a shimmer of it thru the trees, like fireflies. LOL. There were floodlights on the track, so it wasn't dark-dark don't get me wrong, but the darker it got, the more blurry the bikes got...

Needless to say, with the speeds they were going, distinguishable pictures were hard to find, but I got a couple :-)

Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast, discovered there was a bootsale across the hotel on the city square, and went there till check out time..... They have some really nice buildings and architecture in Spa, but it saddened us to see some of it be in the state it is. Plaster falling down, holes in the roof, black mold on the walls etc. It would be nice to see them use some of the tourist money to fix up their tourist attractions. And believe me... there is A LOT of tourist money to draw from in that area! AND, on the plus side... I got to smell real horses. There were about 10 of them, tied up right next to the hotel, offering pony rides.  I was strong though, and didn't bug Mike if I could go. LOL

So, after check out, back to the racecourse we went :-)

We saw some of the sidecar races............ They were S C A R Y! and oddly enough, a lot louder than the regular and super bikes..... The good thing was, most seem to be two-strokes, by the heavenly smell on the track. I'm not being a smartass....  I love the smell of 2-stroke engines. The "zijspans" as they're called here, are a whole different kind of scary than the classic race we saw Saturday night. The driver has complete control, and to the untrained eye, the sidecar rider gets flopped around like a rag dol. Now, I know, they balance the bike in the corners and on the straight stretch, and I truly believe there is a great deal of skill and guts involved, it just looks painful to me. :-) but, as evidenced by the pictures I took of some of them coming off the track, they seemed happy, be it tired.

It was kind of strange to us, the way they started the races. They would go out on the track and run a lap, and at the "finish" line, they would line up, start, run one lap, and line up again, in the same order. We are used to MotoCross, where every body lines up, and when the starterflag falls, everybody goes like a bat out of hell for 10 minutes, and whoever gets home first, wins the race. LOL At the end of the afternoon, at least for us, they ran the superbikes. To us it looked like the newer models, but it still seemed like every possible CC was on the track at the same time. You could hear the whine of the 125's, the cugging of the bigger engines, and the thumping of the 500+'s It was really a great experience, but for me, I think I enjoy MotorCross better. You  need a whole different kind of crazy for that LOL but there seems to be more action, and you're not pinned down to one spot. You can walk the track, or find a spot and stick with it.........

Besides the races there were acres and acres of bikes. New ones, old ones, and plates from all over. We spend as much time touring the parkinglots as we did at the races. We didn't know any of the riders, rules or what race was going on, so there's only so many times you can see them fly by. Or at least that was my opnion. We kinda picked bikes in the Classics but without knowing who was riding it, you could only keep track of wether they were still in the same cluster of bikes, and even than, we didn't know if they had fallen or upgraded their position. The announcer DID speak 3 languages, but with the bikes going by, I had a heck of a time knitting the bits and peaces together, and give Mike and Richard a short version of what I learned. LOL

Reading back, it sounds like a lot less fun than what we had, but it really WAS GREAT! It was a whole new world of bikes. One I had never experienced before. The whole event reminded me of folkwoods. Tents everywhere. Bikes stuffed in minivans, between the bedding, coolers and tools, vendors with everything "bike" Big motorhomes with a racingteam on the side, right next to a flatbed bikehauler behind a regular car, bikes loaded with tents and campinggear and the smell of campfires,  all sorts of people, and great beer! 

That last statement wasn't my fault! Honestly! When the water bottles are the same price as a beer, and the beer is double the quantity.... you're supposed to drink beer!  I read a rule about that somewhere..... LOL.

All kidding aside. The area was beautifull, and we have plans for short daytrips up there in the near future, especially since going by freeway it's a little over an hour drive to get there. Can't wait for the fall colors to emerge!

Well, I've bent your ear enough for one day, and I have to seriously catch up with things.... scrapping, house, fuzzy roommate, friends, family and the like, so I'll be back later this week, with a whole different story :-)

As always, enjoy the life you have, and don't forget to hug someone you love

Hugs,

Pauli

WOW! They can make solar TV's, but the pond pump still needs a plug....

Sorry, that thought has been cruizing thru my head since this morning......

I love hearing water bubble over rocks and would really like to have a small water feature on the balcony, but I have this innate fear of water and electrics being connected to eachother. SO, I've been looking for a pond pump on solar power. God knows, they make everything else wireless, right? I even tried to figure a way to convert a regular pump to solar, but I lack the skills and at that junction, a plug in with a frayed cord would be safer!  No big surprise there, but still....... Can somebody please make one, so I can have my little babbling brook on the balcony!? LOL
I have actually been looking for one since we got our house Reno, in 1993, so I figure, if I have the idea, some inventor must have thought about it a long time ago....... so where are they?  (solar pumps and/or eggheads LOL)

Now that we have that little kink out of my brain............ On to other things.

As usual, running behind on showing you what is new with the designers. Also have NOT posted the Point In Time challenge at The Studio yet, but I'm working on it. I'll post it, as soon as I have the preview done, but for now.....

                  Word is, it's going to be on the first family member, that left the area.

ALSO in The Studio, is Booland Designs kits. A bunch, as usual, but I don't think she's running out of inspiration any time soon!

In order of release for this month:
LAST SUMMER:

I swear there was another page somewhere from the air show, but I think my computer ate it....... 

ONE PAGE WONDERS:
 Working on them :-)

SECRETS:
There's a story behind "the happy place"
I've never slept as good as Mike. His head hits the pillow, and he's gone, me... not so much. So I asked him one time what he did if he couldn't sleep. Silly question, but hey, if you're awake for hours on end, fighting the urge to thump him one because he is asleep and you would love some company, your mind comes up with some strange stuff. ROFL.
So, his answer was.... Find a happy place. Picture a place where you want to be, and concentrate on that, keep breathing steadily, and before you know it, you'll be asleep, and you won't have nightmares, because you're happy where you are.  If it hadn't been morning, I probably would have asked if he was sharing whatever he was drinking,  and than, years later, I listened to a meditation clip, and there it was again. (Picture yourself in a courtyard, going up steps, surrounded by all your favorite flowers. Look in the distance, where the spot is that you want to get to, and slowly, make your way there, smelling the flowers and enjoying the views as you move toward it........) Who knew?
I have tried it, and if nothing else, it calms me down to the point that my mind doesn't go in 9000 directions. One of them being "why the heck am I not sleeping" LOL. The place itself has changed over time, and with what is going on in my mind when I want to go there, but I found myself thinking..... THAT is my happy place! the minute I saw this spot.
So now you know ...... My secret place.

  

SUMMER PROMISE:

Currently only available at ScrapBookBytes

Not that he doesn't sleep pretty much anywhere, but he seems especially relaxed when he find the tiniest spot of sunlight. His absolute favorite is the spot, right in front of the front door. We call it "the kitty charging station".

Completely of the reservation with this one........ But I wanted to share anyway.
I made these pages from the Clay Warrior exhibit with a combination of  Summer Promise (the papers) May Synergy (tag) and CHINA:

There's more pictures, so you haven't seen the last of the kit :-) 

CHINA was part of one of the "buy my store" deals from a couple of years back. I especially liked it because I wanted to scan and scrap, the pictures from Singapore........ That hasn't happened yet, but I was so glad I finally had pictures for the theme. I used it before, but somehow it's almost like it was made for pictures like this. ROFL.

ANN must be reading my mind. The bike show in Essen we went to, was mostly custom bikes, and a couple of them were REALLY well thought out. We had an overall blast, and plan on going again next year. It's already on the calendar! When I saw the Steam powered bike and the fire bike, I could almost see them running in the victorian age....... and when we got home, I found an email with this kit.
LADY STEAMPUNK:

The funny part is, I was fudging around with just the kit, (This was one of those pages that I had the page figured, but not the final pictures yet) when Mike walks by. Normally he doesn't pay a whole lot of attention but he stopped, leaned over, and told me to use that kit for his life book. I kind of already was thinking that direction, but wasn't sure about the pink part. It didn't seem to bother him one bit, so.... It's in the folder with his things :-) 

There is this thing we do. One will think of something, without telling the other, and sure fire, the other will come up with it within a day or so. This time, it worked almost instantly. He put my coffee cup on the table, and said that the page reminded him of the steam bike we saw........ Needless to say, that's the picture I used. I'm not done with the kit by a long shot yet, so you'll see it again. 

Not sure if we have been together so long we communicate on a different level, or - and this is my favorite explanation - great minds think alike, but it's uncanny how we end up in the same place...... We have a different way to get there, but still, it's spooky LOL.

WILDFLOWER SYMPHONY:

You've not seen the last of this kit either, but I need to go take new pictures.........

I WILL get in trouble one of these days, but I added some things to my list. I also started pushing a little more than I probably should, but I'm so tired of not doing things..... So, IF I'm awol for a while, I'm probably sleeping off one or more dumb moves I made in the time since my last post. LOL

Please be kind, hug a loved one, and enjoy life while you have the health and energy to do so?

Love and hugs,

Pauli

pictures only.... for now

Been busy, running, getting nowhere, and thinking of throwing in the towel, but for now, I want to show you the pages I managed to eek together........ 5 minutes at a time.

Ann has a new kit on the way, to be released when she gets back from vacation. All I can say, is: "It was soooooo much fun to play with!" ROFL. I'll let you know when it's in the stores, so you can go check it out for yourself.

Ivy has had the new minipixels out for a while. Still have to get started on the pages, but I did get the Bingo pages done. Also finished up my other assignments for Ivy, so now I can focus on scrapping the pages, and posting them.

Boo has been Boo, aka "One busy lady". I have officially given up on trying to keep up with her, and I'm going to limit myself to kits I work with, depending on what else hits the fan each week. However... there's a bunch of her pages I haven't shown you yet, so .... here it goes.

MAY Synergy:

ONE PAGE WONDERS:

#56 

#57

#67

#64

I really thought there were more...... Oh well. I'm working on a couple more OPW's and a great kit. All are coming out in a week or so, so you'll see them when I have the ok :-)

Just found out that tomorrow is a Holiday here, so..... I have to replan the plans I made, and adjust the rest of the week accordingly. Not by a whole lot, Thursday I have to go to the Hospital, Saturday, we may go to The Hague. There's an exhibition of the Clay Army, and I would love to go. (Discount tickets for event and train are wonderful things. LOL) and Sunday, there's an Air-show of Old Warplanes at Volkel, Mikes and my old stomping grounds, so we're going to try and go. Those plans won't change, unless Mike's schedule does, but it's the pesky chores and such that will have to find a new time slot, and that will cut into my fun time....

For now, I will say, "Good night" and do't forget to hug that loved one :-)

I just remembered....

I was putsing around on the blog, and just noticed that I got my 4 seasons complete on the Castle ruin.
(and I was thinking I had my brain back. HAH!)

I know it's international scrapbooking day, and there are lots of good deals to be had, but this seems to be the weekend that every site I try to go to, refuses to let me in. Bugger! Oh well. Mike will be pleasantly surprised that dinner is ready when he gets here, after all.

I cleaned house, got all the paperwork out of every corner of the house, and will tackle that tomorrow. It will be separated into 3 initial piles: throw away (should have probably happened long time ago)
                                                            do something with it (probably a bill that needs paying or forms that need filling out to keep us more or less out of trouble on one thing or another)
                                                            file This is usually my favorite thing, because it means I'm done with it, and I can happily forget it ever existed. But, since I have no filing cabinet anymore, it is going into  binders. It's a bearcat to file that way. Not only do I need to poke, and re-inforce the holes,(page by page) I have to wade thru 5 binders to find the right spot to put it in and put it there. This system is also the main reason that there is such a stack of it. I hate it! :-)

Our car has developed a little bit of a problem the last week or so..... The gas sticks. Not to the point that you go faster, but the engine revs so hight, you'd swear we're going to take off to the moon. Once you shut it off and coast for a bit (not real handy on the freeway doing 120) it will behave for a bit, but inadvertently, it will do it again. There's different opinions out there on what the cause is. The throttle control sensor, the fuse, the throttle housing, the wiring, and for some odd reason, one person suggested the clutch palte. So, needless to say, we're calling the garage Monday morning early. And not the one that did the tune-up. We pulled the fuse, but it didn't do any good. Than, we were going to buy the sensor, because the most people came back with that being the problem, (and we wouldn't have to wait for the garage to get the part) but because it is an electronic part, they will not take it back if that's not the problem. I know if it IS the problem, and the garage has to supply the part, it will be a lot more than the 65 Euro's and possibly an extra day without the car, but since there is no guarantee OR return..... we'll deal with it when it hits.
The car is also due for an APK, and they're a lot more fussy here than in the US, so we have to make sure the little aubergine is in top shape, but there is a catch. Bluebook value was 1400 Euros, last summer. By now, it turned over 100K miles, and it's a year older, so how much do we want to put in it? On the upside, if we put the cost it would run to pass APK and the trade-in value together, maybe we can upgrade to a car with powersteering. On the downside... I really enjoy driving it, and the newer cars (year 2000 and up) all have this great invention of start control. This means, if you're stopping, so does the engine. You have to depress the clutch to make it start again. In my opinion, that's going to eat a lot more gas than stopping at the end of the street, making sure you're not getting plowed, and going about your business. It's a lot more frustrating, because traffic is so dense that sometimes you have this little window to cross, and if you have to wait for the car to wake up..... Let's just say that I'm beginning to understand why people here just go, and deal with the consequences later.  It does it on lights, turns, anytime when the car does not move. awesome! I don't know who figured this was a good thing, but I think he didn't drive himself.

Gearing up for ISD, the designers have been busy. Me? Not so you'd notice! :-)
I had a bunch of pages done, for several kits but I cannot find any of them. I hoped to still have the PSD files somewhere, but no luck, so I'm trying to recreate them........ Somehow, they never look the same, and I'm not happy with them so far, so I'm going to leave them be, and look at them in a day or so, and maybe they'll either look "up to par", or I'll do a from the ground up rebuild on them. Computers....... they're supposed to keep track of things, not lose them!

Boo is guest over at SBB better knows as ScrapBookBytes. She has a new kit for that, besides her other ones, of course.  It's called Fisherman's Rest.
I played with it a little, couldn't find the picture I had in mind, and had to change gears, again :-)

There is an added bonus to this..... you can win this kit.......

kit preview

Picture my sister sent a couple of years ago from the family vacation on Texel.

Her May Synergy kit is out, but I do not have the pages done yet, so I will catch up on those in a little while, and post them separately, but I will let you feast your eyes on them a bit. LOL

Page kit

The Walk, is also in the SBB store

Ann, from StarSongStudio's also has a new kit out.... Raindrops and Roses. I am completely in love with it...... The second page is somewhere in lala-land, so I hope you hae a good impression of the kit.

For sale at Escape and Scraps

Well, it's Midnight, the Kentucky Derby is not televised here, I'm not done with the chores for the day yet, but I think I'm going to call it a day anyway...... Set the coffee ready for morning, check the kitty spots, make sure there's nothing loose that may cause him any harm when he gets the crazy fives, and see if I can wake up when the alarm goes off at 5. Mike has to go to work, so I'll catch up with the "need to's" than.

Night all, don't forget to hug that loved one!