Tse Moana

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Captain Hook

Thursday, May 18, 2017 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Summer has really shown herself today. It was very warm. Too warm to really do anything so I took it easy. Work in the morning, and then read. I finished A Clockwork Orange. It’s a fascinating read. The nadsat Burgess’ uses makes the book difficult to read. You need to often infer the meaning of a word by its context and as such may need to re-read sections. Or refer to the word list in the back as my edition has. The book is sometimes misjudged because it features vivid descriptions of violent encounters. This makes sense as the ultra-violence is something the protagonist not only performs, but also enjoys. And being the narrator, he would revel in it. In the end, though, the violence isn’t the point. The underlying issue is free will and morality. Choosing to be good, versus not being able to be anything but good and struggling with that in your mind.

I then started reading Libriomancer, by Jim Hines. It’s an urban fantasy where the protagonist is able to pull things from books through magic. He and others form a secret society to protect this book magic. However, bad things start happening. As they are wont to do in books. Books also create monsters. Vampires, for example. With the many ways vampires have been described, you also get different kinds of vampires. For instance, there’s the Sanguinarius meyerii, these vampires come from the books of Stephenie Meyer and they sparkle… I’m only a few chapters in but I can tell I’m going to like this. It’s a fantasy book lover’s book, there’s references to books, items from books, and authors all over.

In between I did a little bit of weed pulling in the back yard. Slowly, because of the temperature. And I decided I was finally going to get my hooks sorted.

I’ve wanted a way to keep the back door still when it’s open. So it doesn’t go back and forth when there’s wind. Or closes accidentally leaving a sad Milo outside pawing the glass to get back in. At first I was thinking of some kind of retractable leg. You’d lower it to the ground and then the door gets stuck. But those things are more specialty and harder to find. So I decided on simple hooks.

After weed pulling I grabbed my wallet and bike and headed for the hardware store. I got myself a short hook and a long hook. On the way back I stopped, as usual, at the thrift store. No luck on furniture or items, but luck in books (also as usual). I left with Pillars of the Earth, a Brother Cadfael mystery and a book of Siberian myths and legends.

Once home I waited for evening to come on and the sun to go away some. The short hook was to attach the door to the fence that separates my yard from the neighbours. I eye balled the height and started screwing the small eye in the door. That is kinda tricky to do without a pre-made hole. You don’t really have an easy way to give the needed weight so the screw actually goes in. But, I managed it. Then I screwed the hook into the fence and part one of two was done.

The long hook was meant to attach the door that opens to the door that stays shut. This way I have a middle ground between open and closed. It’s open far enough for the cats to go through and to let air in, but closed enough so it’s not very windy. Because this hook was much longer, it was also much bigger. Which meant it was a bit harder, too, to screw it in. In the end it worked, and I have a door that I can secure.

I texted the pictures to mom, so of course she came to look a little while later 🙂 It was a short but fun visit.  It wasn’t until much later, when I went to collect the cats and close the door fully, that I realised something. I’d screwed in the large hook too close to the other door… The other door has an overlapping edge that I forgot to take into account. And that edge couldn’t pass the screw. Nothing to be done but to remove it and screw it in again, 1 cm more to the right. Once that was done, I truly had a door that still worked with hooks that worked 😀

Posted in: General Tagged: Books, DIY, Home, 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

I Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It

Thursday, March 24, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

After finishing the cupboard I left it standing for two days to fully dry everywhere. I then enjoyed myself in packing it in. I’m also slowly starting to work on other bits in the house to get that as I want now that I have the space to myself. I pulled my old bed from the attic and put it together in the spare bedroom. I can now have guests sleep over! And, while I was painting anyway, I put a chalk board rectangle on the wall in the kitchen.

Tuesday after work I met up with Gert for a quick bite at Subway. Afterward we went to see The Revenant. I understand it has been getting rave reviews, but I really didn’t like it that much. The story in itself is okay. The movie, however, could easily have been done in half the time. It was too slow, with way too many scenes stuck in DiCaprio’s head. Really, after two times I know your dead wife makes you talk to trees. Get on with it.

It also has too many pretentious I’m-secretly-a-nature-documentary-moments with endless pans across the landscape looking at mountains and forests and sunsets. DiCaprio was good, but I wouldn’t have given him an Oscar for it.

Then, yesterday, it was farm time again as we all converged there for dinner and general merriment. Today is the first day of my week off work. I plan to relax, get stuff done around here, do some shopping for the house and in general have fun.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: DIY, Eating Out, Friends, Gert, Home, Movies, Pathé, Photos, Review, Subway

Cupboard

Monday, March 21, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Now that Nienke has moved, the need for a new kitchen cupboard has become rather more urgent. I’ve been scouring Marktplaats for a while now looking for a good match. But I’m pretty picky and hadn’t found anything yet. I wanted a white cupboard, with an open space in the middle, at least two drawers, a shelf with glass in the doors in the top part and tall enough that it sort of matches with the bookcases. Oh, and also affordable and requiring little work 😀

I saw some that matched most of what I wanted but weren’t quite it. I found a gorgeous cupboard that structurally was exactly what I wanted. Except it was of this brand that has the stupid, stupid habit of putting their brand name in flowy letters all over the piece. Why the fuck would I want furniture that says Riviera Maison in giant ass letters! I could sand it off, but then I’d have to repaint probably the whole thing. So, not worth it.

Other cupboards were too short, or had no drawers, or no glass doors at the top, and so on. Eventually, however, I stumbled across one that was perfect. Except it wasn’t white. But, based on the image, it seemed the wood was mostly unvarnished so it should be easy to paint. I mailed back and forth with the seller and he confirmed it wasn’t varnished. If the only thing I had to do was paint, I’m good. So we agreed I would come pick it up Friday Morning.

The night before I went out with Kim to eat at Subway and then see Allegiant. Which is not a very good movie. Taken separately as an independent scifi, it’s okay. As a part of the Divergent series, no. It has veered so far off track it looks nothing like the book. And what they replaced it with…

The next morning my Uncle, whom I ‘d chartered to drive and help, and I headed for the rent-a-trailer place in town. I’d reserved one the day before with a hood on it in case of rain. Once trailered-up, we headed to Friesland to pick up my cupboard. And it is glorious.

It splits up in two pieces and it isn’t very heavy so it was easy to transport and get it inside. I spent the rest of Friday and this weekend painting. So. Much. Painting.

I bought standard white paint for the exterior. I also snagged a jar of deep red base paint from the sale bin. I didn’t know what I would use it on, but I loved the colour. In the end, I decided to use that for the interior of the cupboard. Which turned out to be best decision ever 😀

 

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: DIY, Eating Out, Family, Friends, Home, Kim, Marktplaats, Movies, Pathé, Photos, Review, Shopping, Subway

Yup, Sofa

Wednesday, February 10, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

20160210_105642So, today we went back to the furniture store with Dad. After some trying out of both, the decision was made to get the one we chose Wednesday. Except in a different colour.

Mom had been thinking she wanted it in a more blueish colour. The associate got out his samples and he had this pretty blue-grey one (left in the image). In a very smart move, Mom had brought a curtain along to check how it would look with the sofa. She liked the blue and it seemed it was going to be that until she spotted another colour on the sample ring. This was a more green-grey colour (right in the image).

In the middle of the show room I wasn’t too impressed with the colour. It seemed too dark and ill-matched with the curtain. We put everything on a table near a window to check the effect in natural light.  There the green-grey one stood out and really fit with the curtain.

20160210_103830Thus it was decided. After filling out the order form, Mom decided she also wanted a new chair to go with it. In the showroom across from the sofa was a chair she had been eyeing while we were there. It’s a more modern and streamlined shape than the old-fashioned wooden chair they currently have. The covering resembled that of the sofa on display without being too matchy-matchy.

The associate brought out fabric samples for the chair and luckily it came in a grey colour that matched with the one for the sofa. The order form got amended to include the chair, and that concluded our business there. In between I drooled some more over the cabinet I saw last week. It’s still very much out of my budget, but it is so pretty. So I took a picture 🙂

20160210_115800Next stop was the thrift store one town over. As of today Nienke has a new house, so I will need some additional furniture when she moves out. That will still be a few weeks away but we’re in the neighbourhood anyway. The thrift store didn’t have anything that struck my fancy in the furniture department. I checked out the books, and hit the jackpot there. I found both the third part in a three-book series that I’ve been missing. I got the first two parts as a kid and always wanted to get the third to go with it. Here it was, for fifty cents 🙂

Then I found another book I’ve been looking for for years. I read Hadassa as a kid and it always stayed with me. Once I got older, though, I could never find it again. Until now. This book was ten cents. And then it turned out all books were 50% off. So I got both of them for thirty cents total!

wp-1455129929041.jpegWe then made our way over to the town center to check out a few other stores and to have lunch before heading home.

At home I worked on the stairs some more. I got sick of the laminate flooring on the stairs. The metal corners are noisy and sharp, and the way the laminate has been places shortens the treads. Plus, it’s slippery. Last week I pulled off all the metal edges and the front laminate. Today I started taking off the laminate on the treads.

This has proven to be one hell of a job. The previous tenant glued everything on with a cement-like substance. It’s fairly easy to remove on its own, but it’s a bitch to pull the laminate pieces loose. It took me about an hour and a half, two hours to get as far as in the picture. I’m continuing on Friday, but this is gonna be a multi-day project. Once the stairs are all clear I’ll be sanding and painting it and then adding some tread rugs to prevent slipping. I’m still thinking about what colour to paint it.

wp-1455129942237.jpegA little after five Mom picked me up to drop me off at the bike repair shop. I brought my bike in last weekend for repairs and it was ready today. I’d been putting new air in my back tire every morning for weeks now and got sick of it. Beyond that, I also had the guy put on a new back light, move the front light forward and check the chain.

He called this morning when we were in the car to discuss the front light. It turned out it was full of water and the dynamo was fried. He suggested replacing all that with a battery powered light which would be a lot cheaper than replacing dynamo and regular light. I’m all for cheaper, so I agreed.

When I got there he walked me through what he did to the bike. Beyond the discussed things he also replaced a broken spoke and tightened the brakes. The chain was rusty so he cleaned it and he re-aligned the front wheel also to better deal with the weight of the crate I have in front. I’m really satisfied with what the dude did, and how he did it.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Books, Dad, DIY, Food, Furniture, Home, Mom, Parents, Shopping

Metal and Wood

Wednesday, September 2, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Now that most of the boxes have been unpacked and things are mostly where they’re supposed to be, I’m starting to make my ideas and plans for this house more concrete. I can’t do all of it at once, or right now because I don’t have the money or the space for it, but I also don’t want to rush it. I want to take my time and get a feel for this place and for what my personal style really is. In my first house I just bought whatever I could find that was cheap and useful. So I ended up with a lot of Ikea and a lot of hand-me-downs and thrifted stuff. And those where then often items that were okay, but not really things I loved.

Then, over the past two years in the previous house, I started acquiring furniture pieces that I loved. I bought a sofa set (Ikea’s Ektorp), a bed (from the local hardware/interior store) and drawers for the bedroom (from Ikea’s Hemnes series). As I did so, I realised my style had also changed. From being really into white and light wood and fairly straight lines with country elements to a more rustic style and darker woods with nature elements.

20150828_144103I now have a whole new house to work with and shape to my wishes. I’m very pleased with the bones (layout, light floor, dark wood kitchen) and I have ideas for the various rooms, but I’m taking my sweet time to see if it will stick. I plan to get a lot of things from Marktplaats and/or thrift stores, so that demands patience any way.

Last week, I struck gold, twice.

I was browsing Marktplaats when I stumbled across this really pretty low metal table. It was engraved with fancy patterns and looked like a sort of big display dish on legs. I knew I had fallen for it when I e-mailed the seller asking how sturdy it was. After getting her answer (pretty sturdy) I bid €25 and it was accepted. Friday after work, I headed to her work place, where we’d agreed to do the handover, and soon I was in the train on my way home with a small table.

It was kinda tricky getting it home while riding my bike as it was too heavy to drag alongside me, so I had to support it on one hip and hold the top 😀 I’m sure it must have looked funny to passers by to see me occasionally struggling with the wind. I made it safely home, though, and after cleaning and thinking about where to put it. I ended up with this. I’m not quite happy with the styling yet (I want a different plant and a different pot) but for now it will do.

SidetableI’d also been thinking about what to do for a coat rack. My entry way has a recessed area before the electricity closet and the toilet. I have a free standing coat rack (which is awesome, I must say). However, I use the recessed area for one of the two litter boxes (the other one is in front of the electricity closet). This means I have no space for the free standing one. I could conceivably build a platform above the box and put it up there, but then it’s too tall.

This means I will have to use the wall. But I don’t want any random coat rack, or even just hooks on the wall. I want a little shelf to put something pretty on, and maybe keys or something. And I want pretty hooks. And I think I do want a little platform thingy above the litter box. Maybe to put a box with scarves and hats on, or to sit down and take my shoes off. *gears are turning*

I decided I wanted a somewhat rustic looking piece of wood to put vintage-type hooks in and then hang that on the wall. A visit to the local hardware/interior store, however, did not help. They had pretty, rustic, wood. Which was way too thick and heavy. They had thinner wood, but not wide enough, and the pieces that were wide enough, were too thin…

Then, the week  before last, I went to the Action. And there I found the perfect thing. A ready made little shelf, with a sort of vaguely white washed look, and the cutest shaped wooden supports. Immediately I saw the potential, so I bought two. One to just hang on the wall as a shelf. The other to take apart.

I spent last week looking for hooks. At first I kept on the vintage tour, but it was hard to find something that looked like what I had in mind. I ended up browsing Bol.com, as I do, and decided to see what hooks they might have. After a few pages of fairly standard ones, I came across these and had to have them. I figured five hooks would be enough, so I settled on one set of three, and two singles.

20150901_181251 20150901_181409 20150901_181534

The trio of hooks looking like branches are these, from Puhlmann. The other two are from The Zoo.

This morning, after I was done working, I decided it was time to build the coat rack. I had removed the supports from one of the shelves a few days before, and moved the hangers from the back of the supports to the back of the shelf. Last night I made small indentations where I wanted the various hooks.  All I had left to do, was screw them in. The hooks have a fairly large screw sticking out of them at the back so I just started manually pushing down while turning them until they stuck enough to stop wiggling. Then I could turn faster and within ten or so minutes, I had all five securely screwed in. Except the deer. Due to some paint left overs on the top end of the screw, it wasn’t as solid as the rest. Fortunately it was nothing a quick unscrew, a few drops of superglue and a rescrew couldn’t fix.

So now I have a coat rack that is almost ready to be hung. That fairly large screw on the back of the hooks is of such length they are all sticking out at the back. I’ll have to go find my metal saw to get rid of that, and then it can go up the wall. The shelf is ready as is, all I’m gonna do is screw in a hook or two on the bottom to hang keys on.

20150902_115138

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Decoration, Design, DIY, Furniture, Home, Interior, Made by Me, Marktplaats, Photos, Shopping, Style

Fencing

Thursday, May 22, 2014 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Yesterday our friend and former colleague Harm (from Groen & Grond Muntendam) came to build a privacy fence around the back yard. I had to work first, so I did that from home. After working my half day I went to get my T. shot and then proceeded to assist Harm. We finished the fence between us and the attached neighbours, and the outside of the fence separating us from the other neighbours. And since I’d done this, I figured why the hell not and tortured myself at the gym with a steep ten minute stationary bike ride and a 5 km rowing course.

Fence 1

Fence 2

Today was another day off for me which came in handy as Harm returned early in the morning to finish the job. We fairly quickly finished off the remaining fence and then built a door. We ended up having to hurry as Harm had places to be, but we got it done! Hurray! All it needs is a little slide lock on the door so we can keep it from being opened from the outside when we don’t want to. In the afternoon I joined the parents for Aunt Grietje’s birthday. She turned 85 🙂

In the evening, I watched Treasure Planet on Netflix, it’s a fun movie.

Fence 3

Door

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, DIY, Family, Friends, Garden, Home, Movies

Houston, We Have a Floor

Friday, January 24, 2014 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Mailed the HandyFloor people about the missing planks. They were very nice about it and offered to send me the missing ones for just shipping, which I gladly accepted. And they sent it really fast as well, it arrived the next day!

That day being Wednesday, I contemplated finishing the floor, but after working in the morning and then in the afternoon taking out the old paper and vacuuming I didn’t feel like it.

Thursday I took a couple hours leave so I was home early. I cut one of the floor pieces to size, the longest one I needed. But since this was all lengthwise, it took FOREVER! So I only cut that and didn’t finish laying it. Instead I finished my book 😀 I’m currently reading Warcraft books. So Tuesday I finished Day of the Dragon, and then yesterday Lord of the Clans. Last of the Guardians is next.

Today, or I should say tonight, I finally finished the floor. It looks awesome. Now to figure out how and when to get the bed up here.

Posted in: General Tagged: Books, DIY, Home

Floored

Sunday, January 19, 2014 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

At work “they” took my beloved workflow away from me. I’ve been coordinating a particular flow for about two years now, together with someone else (am on my fourth ‘someone else’). I like it not because it lets me do more things and show more of what I can do, I also like it because it’s an every day from 9 to 11 thing. Therefore, I have to start at 9 as well. Which gives me a very nice, and predictable schedule. But now, they took the workflow away to another department to see if they can do it instead of us. This all as part of cost reduction and making sure we all have as little ‘unproductive’ hours as possible. It’ll be for four weeks at first, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m not convinced yet the other department can actually handle it.

Today I laid the new floor in my bedroom. It’s sooo pretty. It’s this one, Pure Pine, from HandyFloor although in reality it’s a bit more greyish than the image. Which only makes it prettier 😀

Pricy flooring, but since my bedroom is small (about 8,5 square meters) the cost is doable. It’s a pvc laminate floor, which just clicks to each other like regular laminate flooring. But you can just score it with a knife and then break it. No need for sawing when you reach a wall.

vloer

In practice, it is indeed fairly easy to break, as long as you’re just breaking off the ends and not trying anything lengthwise, as that requires more work and armstrength. All in all, it went well. Except I ended up being about 2 pieces short, while having ordered enough. By that time it was already too late to do anything, so I called it a day.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: DIY, Home, Photos, Work

Moved!

Tuesday, February 7, 2006 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

ifLast night I spent my first night in my new place. About time too, it’s been a month since I got the key.

Today, my uncle came to put the one-to-last finishing touch in, laying laminate in the kitchen.

All that needs to be done now is getting my living room curtains, which my aunt is making for me.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: DIY, Family, Home, Photos
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Whether hunting is right or wrong, a spiritual experience, or an outlet for the killer instinct, one thing it is not is a sport. Sport is when individuals or teams compete against each other under equal circumstances to determine who is better at a given game or endeavor. Hunting will be a sport when deer, elk, bears, and ducks are… given 12-gauge shotguns. Bet we’d see a lot fewer drunk yahoos (live ones, anyway) in the woods if that happened.

— R. Lerner

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