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We’re Moving!

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Yesterday Nienke and I went to view a house. One of the newly built houses in the town about ten minutes away from were we now live. We’ve both been really sick of our current (way too small) houses, and these new ones seemed really promising. We’d already called the Housing Cooperation about two weeks or so ago to indicate that we were interested, and then again the week after. Then they sent us a form to fill in, and Monday I called them to ask if they’d gotten it.

To my surprise, they had not only received the form, but the lady had been about to call us later that day. Turns out someone withdrew, and we were next in line. So we set up an appointment for the viewing for yesterday afternoon. It only confirmed what we already thought. It’s an awesome house. Nice and big, lots of light, lots of space, big backyard, and a garage for crap and a (future) car.

Afterwards, we went to the Housing Cooperation’s office to confirm with them and get the first bits of paperwork squared away. And! Since they’re new houses, and we’ll be the first renters, we get to pick the kitchen cabinet doors and handles. We went with this grey-light brown colour and chrome handles. Now the Housing Cooperation will order the kitchen and have it placed. However since it’s the summer, this will take approximately six weeks. She’ll let us know as soon as there’s a definite date for it. At that point we discuss the actual moving dates and so on.

It’s actually quite fortunate that it will take a wee while, that gives both of us the opportunity to do some major organising and throwing away of stuff in prep for the move. I do expect that we’ll be moved before my birthday, which would be nice, since otherwise I can’t even seat all the family 😀

We’re moving!

Blog About Me [3/52] Where Do I Blog

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This is probably another short one.

I have generally two spots in the house where I sit to use my laptop. One is at my table, and is the spot I prefer when actually typing (longer) posts or doing computer things that require a lot of mouse use (I always use a mouse with my laptop, touchpads are annoying).

The other spot is on the sofa. This is where I curl up when just browsing the internet, going through my Feedly, hanging out on Facebook and so on, but also where I make lists (of blog ideas :D) or type up the rough outline of posts that require more thought than just a re-telling of my day. This allows me to watch TV at the same time and is generally warmer than sitting at the table. And with this lack of proper spring/summer we’re having, warmer is really welcome.

This particular post was typed up at the table, me sitting in my sheepskin covered desk chair. The hood of my sweatshirt pulled up, because it’s evening and getting a bit chillier. I even turned up the heat a wee bit. My keyboard is enlightened by the bright glare of my desk light, while my wall lamp bathes half of the room in her softer glow. I take a sip of my tea (chamomile-mint) and get up to close the curtain and turn on some more lights.

😀

Walls

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I’ve been getting more and more restless in my house this year. I desperately want (and need) some more space, and I also really would like a place truly of myself. Or, in other words, I want to buy a house, not rent. Up until this year, I thought that would be just a dream for a couple more years, but early this year I came across a house that I really like. And it’s pretty cheap for a house, too.

So with that in mind I started doing some research, and after visiting with a mortgage person I learned that, with my income, I could actually get a pretty decent mortgage. However, that would require having a indefinite contract at work, and not a definite one. And, how convenient, I’m up for contract renewal coming January which will be either an indefinite contract, or out of a job since I’ve been working there for three years on temp contracts then. Taking into account my performance over the years, I’m generally optimistic about it, but you just never know. So I’m trying my hardest not to get over excited and wait for certainty (should be around November/December).

Luckily, as far as the house itself is considered, it’s still on the market and based on how long it’s been, it should still be there in January. So, with some luck, I really, really hope to be able to buy a house next year.
(It better work out, I’ve already spent enough time fruitlessly trying to get my brain to *not* think about the house and how I would do this, and where that could go, and how this would be perfect to do there and so on… I suck… )

The Heart of the Matter

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Dad was diagnosed with severe heart failure earlier this month. After I’d joined the LifeLines project, I invited Mom and Dad to join as well. Mom did so fairly soon, but Dad didn’t until this year. While most of the results from his base line test were okay, the heart graph was off.

To figure out why, he had to go to the hospital where they did another heart graph, which was also off. So last week he had to come back again, this time for an ECG. Then they would have to come back about a week later for the results.
Halfway through the Mom called me (I was watching the dog) to tell me they’d be home later than planned, as the ECG wasn’t good and they would get results the same day instead of later. And indeed, after another doctor came to check on Dad, they brought in the cardiologist who informed them that Dad has heart failure. He was put on medications right away, has to be low active and eat a lot less salt, and had to stop smoking right away.

Last Monday they had to go to the Heart Clinic for a follow up appointment and check up to see how he was doing so far after a week on meds and new regimen.

So, it turns out Dad’s heart has a very low pumping rate, only about 30%, which is like half it should be. He’s getting four different types of medication now: a beta blocker, an ace inhibor, two different ones to help get rid of fluids and something to widen the arteries.
The beta blocker (iirc) has been increased slightly after Monday’s check, and I expect the rest of the meds to be increased and fine tuned over the next few months. So far Dad’s saying that he’s not noticing a lot, eiher good or bad, from the meds. I’m glad he’s not having any side effects (yet?), but I wonder if he should feel different anyway.

Although this could be, of course, because his activity level was low to begin with. So the missive to not do anything intensive is easy, in fact we kinda needed to push him occasionally to do go out and walk or cycle before this. The quitting sigarettes is harder. It went well for a few days but then Mom caught him with a fresh pack of tobacco. She yelled at him and hid the stuff. When I came over Monday to watch the dog again, I then got rid of it.

Mom got him nicotine tablets (afer consulting with the doctor) that he can use if the urge is strong. I’m thinking it’s also just habit for a great deal. He has his set moments where he would go for a smoke out in the garage and that’s his routine. Routines are hard to break.

The Parents were already considering moving house, but this news put that into a higher gear. The yard is really too big for them to properly maintain (and they’re getting kinda sick of the neighbourhood as well). Conveniently, the Housing Cooperation is building new senior appartments in a town nearby. They’d talked about this development before, but Dad vetoed it then. Now, he reconsidered, so Mom called the Housing Cooperation.

Turned out there was one place left, so they immediately signed up for it and were selected. It’s expected the appartments will be ready by next spring, although some sources are saying next January. Since Mom and Dad are the first tenants of the place, they get to pick out the bathroom tiles and what kind of kitchen cabinet doors they want. Dad’s not really into that sort of thing, so I helped Mom with the choices. Fortunately, we agreed on everything right away 🙂

As for the rest, it’s wait and see for now.

6391 Words

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I love how something as little as a week, week-and-a-half, off from work can restore your balance. I’m not particularly motivated (yet) to get back to work on Monday, but I’m sure that’ll come once I arrive back in the pit 😀

In the meantime, I’ve had a relaxing week. Monday I hung out with Eva, did some shopping. Eva needed a radio for the baby’s room so I took the opportunity to buy a new SD card for my camera. Afterwards we stopped for some groceries and some browsing at the Wibra. I’m a sucker for cheap/discount stores so I ended up with a bag of easter/spring inspired items to decorate the house with while I wait for spring proper to arrive.

Using the new items with the stuff from last year led me to this:

Tuesday I hung out at the Parents’ place. It had been a week and a half or so since I’d seen them, and as I usually see them at least once a week, it was overdue. It was a quiet afternoon, which is nice.

Friday evening Eva, Ingrid and Mellien came over to see me and Nienke and we went out for pancakes at the pancake restaurant in town. It was gloriously delicious (I had a ham/cheese/pineapple pancake) and we had a lot of fun talking. Afterward we went back to Nienke’s place to play Just Dance 3 on the Wii. Even Eva, despite being 37 weeks along, did a dance. The rest of us all went twice, and then we decided to do a quick round of Glee Karaoke before the other three had to go again.

Today I had lunch at the Parents’ again before returning home and finding Nienke cutting up all the trees in her yard. I didn’t really have anything better to do, and I love playing with the tree cutter so I gladly assisted her with this. Nienke’s upper arms thanked me 😀

We cut huge amounts from the conifer near her bedroom window, so to make it all fit, we had to push down on the cuttings to create more space. And to allow the lid to close…

Today I also found my very first Postcrossing card on the doormat, it came from Poland. Earlier in the week I got a message from the website that my first sent card was received. Score is now 1 for 1 and there’s four more from me underway to far away places 🙂

 

The Week in Review: 2012-04

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I’m grateful for dreams, especially if they’re realistic too (albeit on a longer time frame than I would want).

I’m happy with some of the newer TV shows I ‘discovered’ this week. Been having them in the wait list for a while but got around to properly watching it this week. Once Upon a Time is very good, Grimm is pretty good, The Secret Circle is so-so, and Switched at Birth is awesome!

I’m annoyed at the winter that decided to show up after all.

I learned it takes way too long for a shared bank account to become operational.

Weekend Ramblings

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I love weekends, sleeping in, late nights, doing random stuff, it’s the best.

Today I slept in, and got rudely awakened by the postman ringing the bell. He had the t-shirts I ordered from Jinx before New Year’s. Bad news? Customs decided to charge me an extra twenty in additional taxes for them. And not having any loose change in the house, and the postman being one without a mobile debit machine, we agreed he would drop it off at the post office.

Then I went back to bed.

Got up an hour or so later and spent a relaxing early afternoon hanging around on the internet. Then I went to the post office and picked up the package. All three shirts fit well and are good so that’s that. The only thing I still need to get now is the Ukelele. I mailed the store for an update on when it’ll be back in stock, but so far no answer yet.

I also played around with Excel. Using it at work a lot lately has made want to play with it at home too, especially with some of more fancy features besides just making tables. So I decided to create a spreadsheet for my financial administration so it has lots of Sum functions in it. I also used three sheets within the workbook, one for the income and expenses spreadsheet and the second for a quick overview of the totals along with a small table that the graph on the third sheet is using as source data. I love messing about like that. Figuring out the right functions for the cells that needed to do something than just adding shit up was fun to do. As was making the graph.

Nienke had to work today, and as she was on her way home she suggested we order in pizza. I thought that was an excellent idea so while she was waiting for the bus I ordered. It was delivered promptly at the requested time and, as usual, it was good stuff. I love the tiramisu that Buonissimo has 😀

Watched some Supernatural during dinner and am now watching The Nine Lives of Chloe King. I hadn’t watched it before, but I was intrigued. And since it only has ten episodes it’s an easy show to just cram in. Third episode has just ended but it’s a little too late to see more. I’m gonna go sleep in a little bit, my eyes are starting to protest. More tomorrow, if I have time.

I need to sleep in first, obviously 😀 And at the end of the afternoon I’m going over to Eva’s to play games with her, Jarig and Ingrid.

Bed now, though. Definitely bed.

In closing, the shirts I got:

June

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June 2nd was my Dad’s birthday, he turned 68. The party was fun, a good time was had by all 🙂

Two days later I went for a walk at Lauwersoog with Eva, Nienke, Tessa (my dog) and Gregorius (Eva’s dog). It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze, we enjoyed ourselves, the dogs had fun. Then it got even better when Nienke tossed Gregorius’ fetching toy into a very, very tall tree… Eva and I watched her toss sticks at it for a while trying to get it to fall down. Eventually I joined in the throwing of sticks which led to success a couple minutes later when I hit the branch the toy was stuck on and it came down.

The day after that, I went to Verhildersum with Mom to go check out the Fabric Day. We saw awesome crafts, there was this huuuuge quilt in different purple fabrics, and a guy who makes little tin statuettes of people in historical dress. There was also a lot of felt work, both in felting things (making objects while one is felting the wool), as well as making things from felt fabric.

June 15 I went out for dinner at Pappa Joe’s with Eva, Nienke, Ingrid & Mellien. It was tasty, and nice to hang out with the full group. We crossed the street for awesome ice cream afterwards.

I joined Archive of Our Own, a fan fiction archive. So far I find it a more pleasurable interface compared to fanfiction.net, where I used to post. That has been a number of years though, and in the years between I’ve not spent a lot of time either reading or writing fan fiction. I’m slowly getting back into it. I reposted some of the works I wrote years ago of which I still think they’re good on A3O. The rest needs a rewrite. I’ll keep the originals up on ff.net, that way I’ll have a history and can later compare between versions and responses.

And in minor things, I rearranged my living room, baby-sat the dog for a day while the parents were off on the yearly Sibling Day (where mom and her siblings, plus partners, go out for a day) and we had an awesome! thunderstorm.

It’s Life, Jim, Just As We Know It

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When I got my iPhone last October, my old phone became my Mom’s new phone. However, I think I’ve dropped it a little too much over the two years I had it, since over the last week  the screen started shorting out. Mom figured this would be a nice time to get a new phone, so when I suggested we head to the phone shop together, she wanted to go the next day 😀

So, Saturday The Mom and I took the car to the transferium and from there the citybus to the centre. After a stroll across the market, I wanted to see if Jansen&Jansen had any new fun stuff, which they had. Before I’d left, Nienke asked me to see about finding her a new pair of slippers. I didn’t find any pretty ones at the market, but found awesome ones at Jansen&Jansen 😀 Fuzzy clog-shaped slippers, pink with red hearts on them 😀

Of course I had to bring these for Nienke. I also bought myself (and her) a duck for our collection. After this we headed for the T-Mobile shop to pick out a new phone for Mom. After discussing it with the sales guy, we decided on another Nokia, since she’s used to that in terms of control and looks.

Then we hit the main shopping street, bought some clothes (shirt, t-shirt, hat), shoes, had lunch at Hema and then made our way back up towards the market.

Some more looking around there was followed by a last stop at the craft store to get latex (to make a vampire forehead), some music-themed charms and a paper maché leaf for Florian the Flower Faerie to sit on. By then we were getting a bit tired so we decided to grab the next bus back to the Transferium and head home.

I hung around at the parents for the rest of the afternoon. When I got back home, Nienke was much pleased with her slippers 😀

After some hanging about and watching another episode of Stargate Atlantis, I decided to finally start sorting through my clothes, which I’d been wanting to do for a while now. Nienke took her laptop and accompanied me while I tried on everything to see what still fit, what I still liked and so on. Much fun was had, especially with all the typical female clothes (women tunics, dresses, female tops and so on). It felt like another step in my gender process from gender neutral towards masculine, as wearing these clothes made me feel like a drag queen. (It did give me an awesome idea for a dress-up though: dress up as a drag queen while wearing my binder, so sort of being a woman being a man being a woman again.)

After sorting, it was too late to fold everything, so I stuffed it all back in the closet just so my bed would be free and I could sleep. Nienke had sorted through her clothes a few weeks ago, but not yet put her stuff back either, so Sunday evening, after procrastinating all day we decided to fire up Skype, and both go about folding and putting our clothes back.  It was much fun, although the whole process took hours. Photo was about mid-sorting I think.

Monday I had a day off. I messed around in the house, did dishes and such. Made a cake, made a painting and painted the paper maché leaf I bought on Saturday.

Weekly Four: week 8

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I’m grateful for my parents, just because that should be said sometimes <3

I’m happy with all I’ve been doing last week, both creatively (puppets) as well as in my house (re-organizing the kitchen, sorting through my clothes)

I’m annoyed I’m falling of the blogging bandwagon again. Haven’t posted in almost two weeks, which on itself is okay, but a couple of the theme posts (like P365 and the Weekly Four) should still happen. Even if only because it’s too much work if I miss too many.  Managed to catch up with the P365, but will skip the WF for week 7.

I learned to cut things for the puppets slightly bigger than I was already doing. George’s boots are rather tight after sowing the parts together