Tse Moana

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Birthday

Organise All The Things

Tuesday, May 23, 2017 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I have a week off, so naturally I’ve spent the past days working my ass off. It started Saturday with sorting out Mom’s shed. It was a bit messy on the shelves and floor. But the worst offender were the three cupboards on the wall. This is where my dad kept his tools and related things. However, he wasn’t very organised, and he hadn’t used any of it in years. In fact, the cabinets were taped shut and transferred over as is when my parents moved here four years ago. Now with Dad gone, it’s slowly time to start going through things. And the shed seemed the easiest to start.

I took out everything in the cabinets and sorted it. First into what could stay, what had be thrown out and what can be given away/sold. I found a ridiculous amount of drill bits. Not just boxed sets, but also many, many loose ones. I kept the three sets that were still complete, and sorted the singles in usable or not. Tossed all unusable, and half of the still usable ones for being all the same. I also found a second jig saw, hidden in a corner, and three complete sets of ratcheting wrenches (same contents)… So yeah, the doubles made it to the pile of to be sold/given away.

After sorting, all the tools and stuff turned out to easily fit in one cupboard. Leaving the other two free for new things. I put stuff related to bicycles and cars in there, as well as odds and ends. Leaving the shelves free for planting pots and Mom’s boxes of Christmas decorations, which we moved down from the storage room in the apartment itself.

Then Sunday I went over there again in the afternoon for project two: Mom’s wardrobe. We went through it all, and ended up with four large bags of clothes and other textiles to be donated. We ordered take out, and after finishing that we also tackled the night stand. The three drawers were filled with stuff. After sorting what to get rid off, I consolidated all the jewelry in fewer boxes. This saved so much space that she can now actually see what she has in the drawers.

Monday we took a break since we had a birthday to go to. My Aunt turned 88. You wouldn’t say, though, if you saw her running about. Sometimes literally. She still lives on her own in a house (not an apartment or something like that), does everything herself and regularly goes everywhere by public transport and walking. She used to babysit the neighbour’s kids. But they are now all high school aged so don’t really need that anymore. However, my aunt helps them (and their mother) with their paper route. For fun 😀

I did start organising and sorting through my own shed in the evening. Inspiration and such. I have three large, heavy, cabinets in there that keep stuff. One of them isn’t very practical, though. It has drawers in the bottom, an open space in the middle, and a small cupboard at the top. However, one of the drawers is missing, and the others are hard to open. And the cupboard is too small to hold many of the things that I need it to hold. So I cleared a path and heaved and heaved and heaved until I had dragged it all the way out and against the wall of the house. I removed the drawers and put in an old rug to turn it into a cat box. The top now holds little lanterns I can hang outside when sitting there and it’s getting darker. This was about all I could accomplish in an evening, so I pushed the rest of the crap back inside and locked up.

Today we did the storage room in the apartment. We started in the morning as I have a date with the opera tonight. I pulled everything out so Mom could vacuum and mop the floor. Then we repeated the precious process. Sorting things into trash, donate and keep. I then put all the stuff for keeps back so she can not only find everything again, but also can move around in there. Which is useful as the room also holds the washer and dryer.

We then planned to drive to the thrift store to donate all our stuff but we ran into one of Mom’s neighbours. She works in a charity shop where people who need it can come, a couple times a year, to pick out clothes. So we gave her all the bags of clothes and textiles and Dad’s shoes. This left a much more manageable pile for the thrift shop. We stopped at my place to pick up some things that I’d found Monday evening and dropped everything off. And I have some time left now to continue with the shed before I have to shower and leave.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Dad, Family, Home, Mom, Parents, Photos

Birthday Central

Monday, June 6, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

To recap: my parents aren’t really good at having their picture taken 😀 Here’s Dad on his birthday, Thursday. It was a fun, low key celebration.

Then Saturday it was back to my home town for my Uncle’s birthday. And on Sunday out to the edge of the world for my Aunt’s birthday 🙂

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Dad, Photos

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, Kung Fu Panda Sleeps Tonight

Monday, April 18, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

It was Mom birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

(My parents are very good at having their picture taken… )

Last week I saw The Jungle Book with Gert. It is an amazing movie, absolutely stunning in visual quality. The story is familiar but re-told in a good way, with some added darkness here and there to make it more realistic. I love that they kept the magicality of the whole by still letting the animals talk, and sing. Neel Sethi performs a good Mowgli, it it occasionally uneven, but I didn’t mind as that only underscores the fact that Mowgli’s a kid an really in over his head.

Today we saw Kung Fu Panda 3. I’d never seen the first two, so over the weekend I watched both of them on Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised by all three of them. They are really good. They tell good stories, I like the characters and the animation is very nice.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Family, Friends, Gert, Mom, Movies, Parents, Pathé, Photos, Review

It’s April!

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I lost track of time a bit, and am also short on time right now. So short this will be, as well.

April first I went to see Zootopia with Gert. It’s a very good movie. Very well made, good story and a good message as well.

April 2nd, Ikea brought my shelves and Nienke’s dining set. I built mine, and Nienke’s parents picked up her set to deliver to Nienke’s house.

Then on Sunday I went to the farm where we had a work day to get material for our re-enactment camp back in good shape. We fixed existing benches and tables, and also built new ones. In the picture we’re working on the new kitchen workbench. It was a good day to spend outside, and we got a lot done.

The week after saw the voting for the Ukraine-referendum. I voted for the agreement, and am pretty bummed it didn’t pass.

Last Saturday I went to the Farm again, this time for Feije’s birthday. I got him books, as I like to do for small children. An informative book with huge pictures and fold out sheets about animals and a story book about a little kid on a farm with a goat. The kid as drawn looks quite like Feije.

Later this week we’re going to Ikea again. This time to pick up an extra dresser for my bed room. Plus there’s a movie plan for Friday and a Mom birthday this Sunday 🙂

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, DIY, Eva & Jarig, Friends, Frisia Fantasia, Home, IKEA, Movies, Pathé, Photos, Politics, Re-enactment, Review, The Farm

Spinning the Wheel

Friday, September 25, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

The first cake for my birthday party tomorrow is in the oven. As good a time as any to put up a new blog post 🙂

20150924_223637Yesterday I went to the Oosterpoort for my birthday present to myself. I saw, well, listened really, to the Sinfonia Rotterdam and the Laurens Cantorij performing the Requiem of Fauré.

I’ve heard the Requiem performed before by a local amateur choir and I really liked it then. However, that time the accoustics weren’t great, and the musical accompaniment was a solo piano. When I saw this performance on the list with a full symphonic orchestra and a professional choir, I knew I wanted to go.

Before the show I attended the introduction. There, the choir conductor told us about some key pieces of the Requiem. He had brought along a part of the choir. They performed small sections, a few lines at most, to show what the conductor meant when he discussed the pieces.
When the actual concert began, they started with the Ouverture from Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. This was followed by the Suite from Midsummernightsdream by Mendelssohn. After the break it was the Requiem’s turn.

20150924_212310As I had hoped, it was spectacularly beautiful. The accoustics in the Oosterpoort are very well suited to classical music.

Earlier this week, I also bought myself another early birthday present. I’d been thrift store shopping a few weeks ago and spotted there a spinning wheel. I looked at it, but decided to leave it. I was tempted, especially considering I want to do more traditional crafting, and more re-enactment. But it wasn’t priced and that usually means expensive and I just wasn’t sure.

T20150923_150145hen Elfia happened. There, watching Margreet work her spinning wheel, I realised I really did want it. So Wednesday I went back to the thrift store and got lucky, it was still there. I got one of the sales associates to price it. She barely knew what it was, had to ask me if it was complete.

I don’t know much about spinning wheels either, but as far as I could tell, it was complete. I said so, and she priced it at € 12,50. I immediately agreed, cause that was a steal. The wood is in great condition, and once I figure out how all the loose bits attach, I’m sure it will be a working machine.

 

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Crafting, Culture, Music, Oosterpoort, Photos, Shopping, Thrift Store

Birthday Barbecue

Sunday, August 9, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

20150809_110048Today is Nienke’s birthday!

Ingrid came this morning and we had celebratory brunch.

Then later on in the afternoon, we had a low key sort of barbecue.

20150809_171608 20150809_190651

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Celebration, Food, Friends, Nienke, Photos

65

Sunday, April 19, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment
Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Mom, Parents, Photos

Around the World in a Handful of Towns

Monday, April 13, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

20150412_155757Sunday proved to be a day of moderate adventure and great fun 😀 Eva’s little boy had his birthday earlier this week, and Sunday they were celebrating.

So early in the afternoon I traveled to Groningen. I met up with Mellien on the train, which helped ease the half hour wait for the next train. We then boarded for Grijpskerk where Ingrid picked us up to drive to the farm.

20150412_155915We chatted, drank tea, ate tasty cake and gave presents. I’d bought a couple children’s books in Frisian and Gronings for him. Two for him directly, and one and a audio book first to Eva as he’s not old enough yet. Both parents and boy seemed to like it, so I call it a success 😀

They had bought a pair of young rabbits the day before, and on Sunday Eva’s brother in law was bringing two more young rabbits as a birthday present. They are very handsome, but turned out to be a weeee bit larger than expected.

Hop-hop-hynke-BFF-220x238

Hop Hop Hynke, Frisian rhymes and songs

Instead of about the same size as the others, they’re about double that. Which made the cage that was supposed to be their home for a day or two rather on the small side.

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Sikko kleedt zich aan/trekt zuk aan, about a goat who wants clothes

We left at the end of the afternoon as Ingrid, who had come from Leeuwarden, had to go back there as well. However, as saying goodbye is wont to do, it took a while before we set out. We then had the bad luck of finding the bridge open, which resulted in Mellien and I missing the train.

in nije stjer

In Nije Stjer, a Frisian tale of the Three Wise Men

After comparing options, we decided to ride with Ingrid to Buitenpost to grab the train there. This was more fun, because more time with Ingrid, and left us a half hour wait in Buitenpost as opposed to waiting an hour in Grijpskerk.

imagegen

De Bruorren Liuwehert, and audio book version of the Astrid Lindgren book by theater company Tryater

Fortunately the weather was fairly nice so the wait was easy. And once back in Groningen, I treated myself to a milkshake to pass the half hour wait there for the train home. So, quite a trip, but it was worth it!

 

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Animals, Birthday, Books, Dogs, Eva & Jarig, Friends, Ingrid, Language, Mellien & Bas, Photos, The Farm

Ljouwert

Monday, March 9, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

20150306_121843I spent last weekend in Leeuwarden for Anne’s birthday party. I dragged a weekender bag filled with airbed, sleeping bag and some other necessities with me to work on Friday, which looked ridiculous. Then after work Ingrid picked me up and we drove to Leeuwarden.

We made a stop at the Albert Heijn XL to pick up some stuff for dinner. I decided I might as well stock up on nuts for my breakfast ‘cereal’, and while looking for the various nuts, I came across the cutest packet of mixed peppers. Since we don’t have that in our AH around here, I had to take it. And then I also found a jar of harissa (spicy sauce/paste consisting of about 50% spicy peppers mixed with tomato and such), which I’ve been wanting to try out since seeing it on 24Kitchen.

20150307_002236We managed to arrive at Anne’s place exactly when she herself returned from the gym. We unloaded the car and got our stuff and the two presents inside. After a drink and some chat we gave her the presents, two Ikea lamps, exactly as she had wanted 🙂 I then built the lamps, while Ingrid helped Anne make dinner.

Dinner was a very tasty pasta with a spinach/mozzarella sauce with a few cherry tomatoes tossed in. Later one of Anne’s friends came by as he couldn’t make it on Saturday. When he left, we hung out some more with the three of us and then hit the sack. I picked the sofa for the first night as it’s very comfortable and it saves the hassle of blowing up the air bed.

20150307_181719The next morning we had a relaxed start, and then went into town to get groceries for the birthday. I bought myself some Greek yoghurt as I had run out at home, and I also wanted to eat it for breakfast the next day. So I ended up with a bucket, and a set of portioned cups. I also bought some portioned nut mixes, bacon, and a gorgeously sturdy canvas shopping bag which actually fits the crate on my bike. I hovered over a tiny wooden four drawer storage thing, but thought better of it and left it. Go me 😀

Back at Anne’s, we started prepping the rest as the first of her friends started to arrive. With the five, and later six, of us, we did the dishes, vacuumed and prepped the food and snacks and we’re nicely ready in time before the rest arrived. The afternoon was nice and relaxed, just talking and having fun. When the rest left, the remaining six of us had dinner. I went to the snack bar with two of Anne’s friends to pick up some food and got myself an XXL Meatstick and chicken nuggets. I’d seen it in our local snackbar but had not gotten around to actually buying it. It’s about 30 cm long, and I had them make it “special” to add the onion and sauce.

After dinner we got out the Halli Galli and started setting up a game when the remaining evening guests arrived.  With Halli Galli you each have a stack of cards with different fruits on them, both in number as in type of fruit. One by one, you play a card before you and as soon as there’s a total of 5 of one type of fruit, you hit the bell in the middle. If you’re first, you get all the cards.

If you’re out of cards, you can’t play the cards anymore, but you can still hit the bell. Once there’s only one person left to have cards, they win. If you hit the bell in error, you have to give everyone a card, including the players that have no cards. Because of these rules, the game can have really unpredictable results. At first, it almost ended with me and Esther being the only ones with cards.  The others weren’t paying a lot of attention anymore, so they didn’t really try to hit the bell, except Anne. And just as it seemed Esther would win from me, Anne made a come back. I then lost all my cards and couldn’t get my hand in fast enough to regain cards. In the end, Esther won 🙂

20150307_224658Then we played two rounds of Who Am I. First round was famous Dutch people. I turned out to be Bert Visscher, as given to me by Ingrid, which I figured out pretty fast. We went clock wise with this round, which means I had to think of someone for Anne. I gave her the dude from the commercials who plays the AH store manager. It was tricky, but she did manage to figure it out eventually. The second round was a What Am I round where we were usable objects. This time around we went counter clock wise and I got garlic press from Anne. This was harder to figure out, but I did manage. I turned Ingrid into a record player, which she also guessed. Both rounds were won by Esther, but we did give a lot of hints the second round 😀

20150307_233117After this, it was after eleven, and as two guests left to go home, Anne and the others made ready to go out. I’m not a fan of going clubbing, so I elected to stay home. I was pretty beat, anyway, the continuous presence of other people for two days is rather draining. So while they got ready, I inflated the air bed (long live electric pumps) and readied my bed. I couldn’t take the sofa this night as Esther was staying over, too. When they were ready, I saw them off, wished them fun, and crawled in bed. I played with my phone some, and ended up going to sleep around one, one thirty-ish.

The group came back around four, which woke me up. This was an excellent time to eat some cake before we all went back to bed. We slept in until about noon and then took it easy for a few hours. Esther then left, and a short while later another friend showed up to visit as he also couldn’t make it for Saturday.

Around five we started packing our things together so we could leave half an hour later, so I would be at the train station in Groningen in time for my train back home. This worked like a charm (last time we came from Leeuwarden it was more a nick-of-time thing :D) and I ended up home around seven.

I had a great weekend, met some new people, and had a lot of fun. I am glad, though, that I am free today so I can  regenerate some more.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Cats, Friends, Games, Ingrid, Photos

30

Sunday, September 28, 2014 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Today is my 30th birthday 🙂

Yesterday I celebrated with my friends. We talked, ate, drank, listened to music and played games. An iPad, combined with a smart TV and a app to do presentations with makes for an excellent pictionary setup 😀

Today was family day, which I always enjoy very much. Especially when almost everyone is there 🙂

I was also spoiled with awesome presents. Eva gave me a wooden box that she had decorated by pyrographing my original birth announcement on it, but then with my new names instead of the old ones. Gert gave me a glorious book-in-a-book-in-a-book that I can’t wait to read. Kim gave me If I Stay (and its sequel) which was on my list. Aunt Zwaan made me a file folder with a custom fabric cover and ribbon closure and so on.

And with that, I’m going to bed! Partying is exhausting 😀

Posted in: General Tagged: Birthday, Family, Friends, Games, Me, Party
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2017 Reading Challenge
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