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Mom

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

Friends and Family

Saturday, June 18, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Sunday I had the girls, and their boys, over for dinner. First time in my new house, with my new table and my new chairs 😀

Wednesday it was time for grocery shopping. On the way, Mom and I decided to stop by at my aunt and uncle’s. My aunt was home alone so we joined her for some coffee. Afterwards we made our way to the store and quickly got our groceries done.

And today we were in Harderwijk for my aunt’s 80th birthday. Like a few years ago the party was at the day care facility my cousin works at. This has the advantage of enough space for the adults to sit and chat, and more than enough space and fun toys for the kids to play with. And get a fun picture taken with Dad 😀

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Dad, Family, Friends, Mom, Parents, Photos

Aosem

Monday, May 30, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Just got back from the theater where I saw Daniel Lohues perform. He has a new album out, Aosem, and he played songs from that, together with choice numbers from earlier albums. Daniel is always good. His songs are great and he is a fantastic storyteller. The only thing that I liked less is that the songs from the older albums were mostly the same ones he did last year when he was touring his previous album. His repertoire is so large, he could’ve easily changed up some more songs for variety.

Mom was supposed to go with me. But there was prediction of real bad weather, so she decided not to go. I said, fuck it, and hopped on the train and went anyway 😀

The weather turned out to be just fine. It rained quite a lot, apparently, but that was while I was inside the Theater. During my moments of transit, everything was peachy.

Thursday, Mom and I went to Appingedam for some shopping. The thrift store there is amazing, I’m in love. It’s huge, spread out over two floors, and has a very large book section. We also walked through town a bit and saw, among other things, the famous hanging kitchens.

 

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Mom, Music, Photos, Schouwburg, Shopping, Theater

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

Chairs ❤

Tuesday, March 29, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

These first few days of my week off have gone rather fast. Did some more sorting of things around the house and such. Sunday it was Easter. So I had Easter brunch and later dinner at Nienke’s. Which was fun. And in between I wandered off to the parents to visit them.

Monday I spent watching movies (Boychoir (good!), Boyhood (quite good!) and Winter’s Tale (mediocre)) and baking a cheesecake with ‘lange vinger’ crust and topping.

Yesterday, Mom and I went to Ikea where I bought some of those ultra small Billy-like things to store my movies. We also ordered a table and chairs-set for Nienke. And of course we got small stuff, because it is impossible to go to Ikea and not buy small stuff.

The furniture will be delivered this Saturday, can’t wait to start building. *bounce*

And, this morning, my chairs came. I’m in love. I’ve been eyeing these Eames-replica chairs for quite some time now. And with having my own dining table, I have space for my own chairs. While the chairs aren’t very expensive, they were too expensive to get all six at once. So I was planning on buying them per two or three. However, when I was at the parents, last Sunday, Mom and I got to talking about the chairs. And she said they would give them to me o.0

I was flabbergasted, and very grateful. We immediately ordered them, so I could finally have a table people can sit at. They came in pieces this morning. The seat is one piece, but the legs I had to build myself. This was a pretty easy job to do, so they we’re up and running standing in no time.

 

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Family, Food, Friends, Home, IKEA, Mom, Movies, Nienke, Parents, Photos, Shopping

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

Sofa

Monday, February 8, 2016 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

My parents are probably buying a new sofa set.

20160206_142440Saturday Mom and I went grocery shopping. While underway, she said she also wanted to check out the furniture store. The current sofa set they have isn’t very comfortable and some of the stitching is getting loose. Mom’s been thinking about getting one sofa and two recliners so she wanted to check it out.

At the store we wandered around and looked at everything, taking our sweet time. We tried out various recliners and sofa’s with no particular intent to actually pick something. I drooled over a particularly pretty kitchen cupboard that is way out of my budget range and a likewise pretty cabinet that was even more out of my range.

Eventually we stumbled across a pretty brown sectional. It was comfortable to sit on and Mom really liked the colour. A sectional won’t fit in my parent’s living room, but it also comes as separate sofas. We filed it away in our mind and continued our round.

20160206_145607Later on, we stumbled on another sectional. This one a different shade of brown with the stitching in a contrasting lighter colour. This one was also comfortable, and also available as separate sofas.

By now we had made a full round so we tried out both sofas and compared. In the end both Mom and I preferred the lighter one. It was more comfortable to sit on and looked less massive. Especially since it’s available with thinner arm rests.

After some more discussing sofa versus recliner, Mom realised Dad would not be happy with a chair. He just wants to be able to lie on his side when napping. With that squared away, the choice almost made itself.

What with Dad being at home, Mom couldn’t make the decision then and there. We’re returning on Wednesday with Dad to sit on it some more and decide. But I’m pretty sure this’ll be it. 🙂

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

Merry December Gift Giving Holiday

Sunday, December 27, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

20151225_150117The holidays are upon us!

Nienke and I started our gift exchange on the 24th. I had gotten her a cardboard cutout of David Tennant as Doctor Who. I’d hidden it at my Parent’s and then sneaked out in the afternoon to get it. I constructed it at my parents, walked it over to our front door, placed it and rang the bell.

Nienke opened the door and it was hilarious seeing her reaction. Full of surprise and laughter.

I’d also made a felt adipose to go with it. I found a pattern online and over two or three days made this. The feet are slightly too long, but it does help him sit better.

20151224_230138 20151225_000628 20151225_120440  20151225_135200

She gave me the blu ray of Mary Poppins, I love Mary Poppins! It’s one of my favourite musicals.

The rest of our gifts we exchanged the next day. I’d gotten Nienke a book of Ghost stories, a Supernatural mug, a small watch, guitar picks and chocolate sushi. She gave me a Supernatural book, a colouring book of cats, a box of chocolate and a Funko Pop of Anna from Frozen. She said one of the presents was still missing and that I would get that later. So I held back a present for her as well 😀

20151226_192157I love my prezzies: Anna fits perfectly with the Elsa I already have. I don’t have that many Supernatural books yet so more is always good, and the colouring book was already on my list.

The next day, Nienke was over at her parents, and my parents came over here for prezzies and dinner. I got Mom the new CD of Adele, Dad two nice animal prints and both of them some chocolate. They got me a nature documentary about the wild areas of the Netherlands, and a colouring book of the province.

We were going to eat raclette, so I pulled out the raclette set from the attic. I think the last time we used it was before I even moved out… So more than a decade at least. I plugged it in and we waited for it to get to temperature. But not two minutes later, the whole house went dark. A short.

Using my phone I made it over to the table to unplug the raclette. Then on to the cupboard to switch the circuit breakers back. When the lights were back on, I checked the raclette. It was really hot despite only being on for two minutes. It was quite obvious that the raclette was no longer safe for use.

We still needed to eat, so I piled the meats in an oven dish and placed that in the oven along with the veggies. In the end, the food was just as tasty like this. The desert was an ice cream cheese cake with caramel topping.
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Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Books, Colouring, Dad, Food, Friends, Funko, Geeky Stuff, Holidays, Mom, Movies, Nienke, Parents, Supernatural, TV

’tis The Season

Sunday, December 13, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

…for decorating and other things related to the end-of-year holidays. I put up the winter trees. One on the small metal table and one in the corner. And, as is customary, I put an angel at the top 😀 The tree on the small table also houses the prezzies and the coffee table has its own little winter forest.

Today, Mom and I also wrote the holiday cards.
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Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Decoration, Holidays, Interior, Mom, Photos, Style, Supernatural, TV, Writing

The Kilkenny’s, St. Nick and Some Goblins

Saturday, December 5, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

20151203_215029Thursday Mom and I were going to see The Kilkenny’s perform at MartiniPlaza. The Kilkenny’s are an Irish folk group. I’ve got their songs in my Folk playlist on Spotify and I really enjoy them. They have a distinctive voice both as a band as well as individually and pick songs that aren’t all that traditional. Of course there’s always a few, but they also play original songs and traditionals lesser known outside Ireland.

Unfortunately, during the day Mom had to cancel on me as she wasn’t feeling well. She’s been having some flu-like symptoms for a few days now so it wasn’t completely unexpected, but still a bummer. I asked Nienke and Ingrid if one of them wanted to come along, but neither could make it so I went alone.

20151204_131211The concert was great. They were energetic, played fantastically and managed to get the room full of stodgy northerners to move. No dancing, but there was foot stomping, clapping and singing along when requested. I had a front row seat and managed to shoot some video for Mom.

After the concert and encore were over I checked the time. The bus back to the train station only came once every half hour. If I could catch the next bus, I had an excellent connection to the train. Then the boys came back for an extra encore. I wasn’t expecting that, and neither were a lot of other people as many had started leaving.

I stuck around for a while, but I had to slip away before they finished that song. If I didn’t catch the bus, the next one was half an hour and then I’d have to also wait for the next train and so on. So I grabbed my coat and picked up the pace. Walking as fast as I could I raced to the bus stop only to miss the bus by a minute. Because it was early.

20151204_221306I wasn’t really in the mood to hang out there for half an hour so I checked the map and ball parked that I should be able to make it if I walked. So I went, and I did make it! Even though my leg wasn’t in agreement with this. 🙂

Yesterday at work during the daily meeting we all got a present for St. Nicholas. Every one got a personal poem (mine about my Pikachu hat), plus candy. It was a very fun meeting and quite a nice surprise.

After work I found a package waiting for me. It was the Goblin Zeppelin of the Warcraft lego I had ordered. Of course I spent the next two hours or so building it. It is a beauty.

Monkey, meanwhile, enjoyed the box.
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Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Cats, Holidays, MartiniPlaza, Mom, Monkey, Music, Review, Toys, World of Warcraft
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