2 times in one

No way I could keep up with all the expectations of others.
There were so many appointments in my work agenda and in my private agenda, that I knew on monday that I couldn't do what needed to be done.

Take for instance the mistake of the new secretary, who planned an appointment from 10 to 11 at one location and from 11 to 12 at another location, meaning: at the other side of town. That usually takes about half an hour to go from one location to the other, so it's only logic to think it can't be done in one or two minutes.

Then an aunt suddenly expected me to be at coffee time at her birthday.
We planned a visit months ago ... in the evening. Which wouldn't have been a problem, if not a friend decided to invite her for an evening out. So I had to make other arrangements, but my agenda at work was full of appointments with people who have a life too and who need to be somewhere else too, or who took a morning off to come to the practice.

I found myself forgetting a dentist appointment which turned out not to be a real problem after all, but it took time to take the call and explain the problem.
I forgot to buy a present for a friend, forgot this, forgot that, and even forgot to eat a couple of times.

I don't think the clients had a clue about my problems, except the one who was planned at monday from 11 to 12. He was phoned by the secretary to change his appointment.
My mom didn't mind I skipped a visit, my friends cooked for me instead of I for them, I skipped sport, I forgot to mail some people, etc etc.

So my boss talked with the new secretary not to plan too many hours without consulting me, and to find out which hours are my working hours, and I've put my private agenda online so she can have a look if work-appointments don't interfere with my private plans.

All I want to do now is take a bath and stay in there all night.
I won't.
I have top attend a birthday.

Bye!

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Secret mission

It meant a lot of preparing to have a secret shopping trip with the children of a friend.
They're celebrating their anniversary soon and I wanted to create a real surprise.

So first we talked to the children and asked if they would be willing to create a huge surprise for the anniversary and if they were able to keep it a secret.

Then we had to find a way to have the children, so I could take them shopping.

Another friend helped out.
She's celebrating her birthday this week and the kids were asked if they wanted to come and help baking cakes.
The parents were OK, the children loved to bake and there they were for a whole afternoon.

One of my friends took us by car. She works in a neighbouring town and we decided to go shopping there.
The only thing I was afraid of was that one of the kids might walk somewhere alone.
So we pointed out where important buildings were and where we would come when they got lost.

And then we went shopping.
We found them all a lovely outfit. Ofcourse we knew that mom had bought them something already, but the grandmother told me in confidence she didn't like the clothes at all, and mom had her doubts.
Well, we had more time and collected more money between friends and family, so we could buy a bit more expensive their mom and dad would certainly like to bits.

Then we went for a present.
It was surprising that the children all knew precisely what they wanted, so we went to a few interesting shops and even found a large present all were able to agree with.

After an icecream we went to my home to hide the presents and then went to our friend's and baked some cupcakes to take home and to get some dough and powder on their clothes.
Just after we told them that a secret means you have to forget all about it and say nothing at all, their mom came to collect them and the cupcakes.

Mission accomplished.


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Less calories

This evening I was talking with a friend about eating.
One of those conversations that have no end and either explode into a very strong and loud discussion or fade away into a quiet being together.

What sparked a good lough was the news that the producers of the largest ice creams have plans to make them smaller.
Smaller...into 250 calories. To provide people a more healthy choice.

Haha!!

I can advice you how to make a healthy choice with the old amount of calories: don't take the icecream! Don't look at it at all! Don't sniff. Keep your ears closed so you won't hear the mumbled "yummies" and other exclamations of delight.

250 calories!!
That's more than a whole healthy meal!

A couple of days ago I read a report about restaurants in America... in Boston I think it was.
It was discovered that 92% of meals from large-chain and local restaurants had more calories than a person needs on a daily basis.
I know we get here less on our plates, but I bet it's still too much for one meal.

Here in The Netherlands we cook ourselves, most of the time.
When I'm in doubt I ask online a question at a search engine and I decide to cook or bake the stuff or leave it alone.
In fact I'm quite simpel when I cook for myself, but cook more elaborate when it's for others.

The past years I skipped creams, sauses and ice cream more and more. I also used less butter to bake, and I take the fat from minced meat.
So gradually I've learned to eat less calories and I'm happy with that.

But to end the meal with an icecream of 250 calories???

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!



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Welcome

Hi!

I'm kind of silenced.
My blog disappeared and I don't know why.

I can only guess why they called me a spammer.

I only visited a friend and a few blogmeme-sites, because I love blogmemes. One I used a few years ago still exists and the owner was late with posting, so I visited quite a few times.
And I wrote a few posts, of which just a few were really meaningful, like a blog about the mob attacks in Cologne and one about a friend who gave me a nice present.

I feel silent.

Starting a new blog should be fun and one should feel lots of enthusiasm and plans. All I feel is tiredness and blown away.

Well, Let's set this up and see if they let me keep this.

In this case the action of removing my blog doesn't say anything about me.
But people are always ready to have opinions.
They even can't accept the funny name my parents gave me.
Well, let me be clear: I'm not a spammer and I certainly am not a fake person.

Read this blog, and you'll start to know that..and maybe...maybe even learn a bit about what I have learned about life.

So maybe...maybe something good will come out of this.

We're living is a difficult time and a little green leaf in the dark, even when it's cold, always represents life.

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Bubbly

Today was a rather busy day.
Work took most of the time and energy and when I was trying to get some chores done at home a friend visited.
That was great!

Not only could I sit down without feelings of guilt that I was not cleaning and doing the laundry, it also meant a good conversation and.....
some nice chocolate to eat.

I never had those. I imagined there were those little bubbly balls inside that cause a strange sensation in your mouth, but that was not the case. It was good plain milk chocolate, the way I love it best.
He works near the english shop that sells them and we don't mind to extend the christmas season as long as we can.

Officially the 12 days of christmas start here in the Netherlands at 25 of december, so ...noop....we're not in those days anymore. LOL!
But some old local ways define christmastime until the 12th of february, so he wants to bring me some more next week and I didn't say "no".

Finally it's freezing outside...so "bye bye" to crawling visitors!

Maybe I should start my own theme meme. LOL!

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Real winter

More than a million kilo's of salt were used to make some roads in the country accessible for traffic. Ice rains were so bad that no busses and no trains could ride. Schools, courts and many factories were closed.
Kids had a lot of fun and even grown ups took their skates and went skating on the roads.

At the moment it's freezing in the north of the country. Some ice skating contests are planned and one of the ice skate rings, the one in Noordlaren is prepared for natural ice, as we call it here.
Maybe tomorrow there's enough ice for some real good skating on natural ice. The temperatures are far below zero, as some places more than 11 degrees.

A week ago we asked ourselves if we'll ever get frost this winter. LOL!

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First weather warning of 2016

When it was still the end of autumn we were promised a very harsh winter.
"We can see it at the insects", some people said.
Well, I wanted to believe it, but all we saw were above zero temperatures, grey skies, a bit of rain, and little flowers everywhere.

Nature got nuts.
No cold nights meant that trees started to blossom.
A farmer nearby had a second harvest, which had never happened before, but he sowed a second time, was ridiculed because of it by the other farmers, and in the end he earned for the second crops quite some money.

Finally... in january.. nature knows what to do.

So today we had our first winter weather warning for the north of the country.
Icerain for the north... code orange.

Tomorrow here we'll get icerain too in the middle of the night... if nature doesn't change it's mind.

So I've taken my gloves, sjawl and a few other warm items, and my wintercoat.
I'm sure that I'll moan tomorrow evening, but right now....
I'm excited!!

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I love my job

I love my job.
Working at a practice for psychology I work mainly with children and their parents.
It's a privilege to get a glimpse in their lives, to receive their trust and to be able to help them to make a little step in their lives. Sometimes they could have done this step themselves, maybe later, or maybe with a different person, but sometimes the trust makes them tell me things no one else will ever hear and this will enable them to move on.

The job has consequences.
Not only do I have to keep a very strict agenda. We have 3 locations and I have to go to all three at different times. But I also deal with a few collegues that are very different. Just as different as my clients.
More difficult is the fact that some experiences of people go very deep into my heart. It's not done to vent unless it's towards a supervisor, who has taken a vow of confidence, just like me. But when it's time for me to vent that person is going home too, unless I've made an appointment during office hours... but you know, it's like going to the dentist, at those hours I'm OK and there's nothing to vent.

Another consequence is that it's hard to have a private life.
People watch that I don't feel like them, that I don't make their mistakes. I have to be a kind of person that is worthy of giving support and advice.

But I'm a human being. I make my own mistakes and I love to be online.
My collegues too.
And because of that we're asked by our boss never to post our own photo online. Not asked - ordered.
And I'm fine with that.

A friend made me a wonderful new me to look at.
So I can be myself, because the inside tells more about a person than the outer shell.
I hope you don't mind.
I don't...not really.
I'm just me.


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