2006/2007

"Let this coming year be better than all the others.
Vow to do some of the things you've always wanted to do
but couldn't find the time.
Call up a forgotten friend.
Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories.
Vow not to make a promise you don't think you can keep.
Walk tall, and smile more. You'll look ten years younger.
Don't be afraid to say, 'I love you'.
Say it again.
They are the sweetest words in the world."
- Ann Landers

Cheers to a New Year and another chance to get it right.
Let’s make it a wonderful and happy year!

To all my Blogger Friends, Readers and Everyone!

In the flurry of the season,
may you find time to dream,
time to wonder,
time to remember,
time to celebrate and
time to be.
Peace, fun and joy to you at Christmas and always!

Wanna play?

Christmas is (or can be) fun, but sometimes you just want to do something else for 5 minutes. So, are you bored, sick of it all or….just want to play a nice little game (for 5 minutes, of course ;)), here are some suggestions:

Elf attack
Sleigh away
Rudolph's kick 'n fly

Have Fun!

The Holiday Game!

Last Thursday I told you I am going the play a game with some friends on Christmas Eve. Here is the game we are going to play.

This is nice alternative way to celebrate Christmas (Sinterklaas or any other gift giving holiday).

What you’ll need:

• Everyone who is going to play the game needs to bring three (one thing they want to give away*/one thing they would want to get themselves/and one hideous object) wrapped gifts. Before hand you decide (together) the amount you are going to spend (5 or 10 euro/pound/dollar is a nice amount per gift).
• A die/dice
• A clock/timer
• Chance-cards (optional!. – you can find two files at the bottom of this post. If you are going to use these, you will also need some paper, a printer and scissors)
• Fun friends/relatives.
• Time!

When people enter the room, they place their gifts on a pile (or in a big basket) in the centre of the room. Gifts stay wrapped until round 3
Now gather around, take a seat and let the game begin!

Round 1
Set the timer for 30 minutes or keep an eye on the clock
Ask the youngest person to roll the die to start the game (the game is played clockwise)
The eyes on the die will tell you what to do next. When your result is:

Lucky you, you may roll the die again.


Give the die to the person on your right (the game will be played counter clockwise now. When someone throws a 4, the game will be played clockwise again)

Lucky you, you don’t have to do a thing


Give the die to the person sitting two seats on the left of you


Return one gift to the pile, if you don’t have any gifts you don’t have to do a thing


Hooray, you may take a gift from the pile


When the time is up, it’s time for a little break. Get some snacks or drinks, change the music, go to the bathroom or just relax! (don’t forget to enjoy yourself)

Round 2
Set the timer for 30 minutes or keep an eye on the clock
The game starts with the person who’s turn it was.
Remember: the gifts stay wrapped
Again, the number on the die will tell you what to do next. When your result is:

Lucky you, you may roll the die again.


Give the die to the person on your right (the game will be played counter clockwise now. When someone throws a 4, the game will be played clockwise again)

Give the die to the person sitting two seats on the left of you


Exchange a gift with one of the other players


Nick a gift from one of the other players


Hooray, you may get a gift from the pile. When all the presents are gone you must take a chance cards.

When the time is up, it’s time for a little break. Get some snacks or drinks, change the music, go to the bathroom, have a laugh or just relax!

Round 3
Set the timer for 30 minutes or keep an eye on the clock.
Now everyone gets up and moves to the seat on his left (or move the gifts one place to the left) and now it’s time…..TIME to unwrap the gifts!! When everyone has unwrapped the gifts the game continues (you can still lose gifts)….so here we go again:

Lucky you, you may roll the die again


Give the die to the person on your right (the game will be played counter clockwise now. When someone throws a 4, the game will be played clockwise again)

Give the die to the person sitting two seats on the left of you


Exchange a gift with one of the other players


Nick a gift from one of the other players


Hooray, you may take a gift from the pile. When all the presents are gone you must take a chance cards

The game ends when the time is up! When the buzzer rings you are stuck with the gifts right in front of you. If you are really unlucky this can also mean no gifts at all, but hey…..at least you had fun :) If everyone is displeased with the gifts, you can trade gifts, auction gifts or play another round. Remember: It’s all about fun, it’s not about the presents!

* this can also be something that was given to you once.

Chance cards 1
Chance cards 2

Sometimes I don’t understand…….myself!

Yesterday some of my friends were going to see a play and they invited me to join them because they had an extra ticket. So, I met them at the theatre and while we were enjoying some drinks one of my friends took me aside and said ‘Hmmz, I don’t know if I should tell you this, but I think someone you know might have died last weekend’. It stupefied me for a second but then I replied by saying ‘you must be wrong, no one has called or anything’. ‘Yeah, you are right, but it’s not someone you really know…..it is someone you might have met. Today the paper had some obituaries’ she said. ‘Well what is his or her name then?’ I asked. Unfortunately she couldn’t remember, but she mentioned a few people and businesses I (sort of) know. The rest of the evening I was lost in thought, trying to figure out who this person could be. I actually can’t remember the play at all.

When the play ended, I didn’t stay for drinks but went home instead. I looked up the obituaries online and soon discovered I actually knew the person my friend had been talking about. Hmmz…knew is a big word in this case! I met the guy a couple of times and had a really nice, but above all, interesting conversation with him once. While I was looking at the obituaries my mood changed and I am not really sure why. I felt so incredibly sad, it was almost like I had lost a very close friend and today I am not really myself either…….

And that’s the part I don’t understand. Why does his passing affect me this much? Is it because:

- it is almost Christmas?
- I am just an emotional flake?
- I am thinking of his family and friends?
- Someone I actually do know, liked (admired is probably a better word) this guy enormously?

Or is it just because this guy was so passionate about everything (life, love, work and people), that he has left an everlasting impression that will live on, in me and so many others?!

He will be missed....

4 days and counting!

‘Are you stressed yet?’ one of my friends asked yesterday, and my answer was ‘No, I am actually quite relaxed!’ I said. She looked at me with surprise, because she almost has steam coming out of her ears. She is going to have to entertain 20 people in the next couple of days. Luckily I opted for a relaxed Christmas this year.

I am having a small informal party for close friends on Christmas Eve. I don’t have to get a lot of groceries in because every one is going to bring something. Just for fun we are going to play a dice/gift exchanging game (maybe I’ll post the rules later!

On Christmas Day I am going to have a friend over for dinner and we are going to cook, sing and have fun together. Not sure what I am going to on Boxing Day though, I could visit my family, go to the beach, have brunch with some friends or stay at home! I’ll decide then and there I guess! So, no stress for me :)

Although……I discovered today that other people's stress can be contagious. I went to the supermarket today and a lot of the stuff was sold out already, so other people where getting really hot and bothered. They were sighing, complaining, pushing and shoving etc. and I felt the stress creeping in ……. fortunately I encountered a lady in one of the aisles and she was singing along with the Christmas songs, smiling at her daughter and enjoying the whole Christmas experience. She really made my day!

A bit of fun :-)

Still looking for a Christmas e-card? These two are hilarious:

A Christmas Pick-Me Up
Personalized Christmas Hits

Cartoon Tuesday: Very helpful

Dad.

For those of you who expect a Mind, Body & Soul Session today, I’ve a bit of disappointing news: I am not posting any session today. Why not? Well, today is a bit of a different day for me. On this date, December 17th, in the year 1928, my Dad was born. So, today he would have turned 78. I often wonder what he would look like today. I guess he would look older, his hair would be grey, but in essence he would be the same remarkable man (or at least I hope so). We had an amazing and loving relationship and I often wonder what kind of relationship we would have had if he was still alive. Maybe it all would have changed over the years, like the relationship with my Mum has changed too. When I was young, me and my Mum couldn’t get along, but we are doing pretty okay now.

In the twenty years since his passing, there have been times when I wished painfully that my Dad could be a part of my life. Times when I wanted to hug him, share some exciting news with him, ask for his advice or just have a chat. I’ve done and seen a lot of things. Many things have changed and some have stayed the same……. I still miss my Dad very much. Today was his birthday. He was remarkable man, a loving Dad and husband and extraordinary friend. I didn't have my Dad long enough but I am very thankful I had him as long as I did.

Last year I wrote a message to my Dad and everything in there still applies, so I am not going to write another one. Instead I want to share a song (Dad by K's Choice) with you (for a limited time only*). A song that always reminds me of my Dad, a song I know by heart, a song that sometimes makes me cry and other times makes me smile, a song that I love.....

Dad……. I LOVE you!

* I have removed the mp3, but if you are interested , you can still find the song on You Tube where it was used in a video (not mine)

O Dennenboom, oh Christmas tree, O Tannenbaum.

One of the things I like most about Christmas is the tree, or to be more precise the hunt for the tree. Strange really, because I know a lot of people who actually detest that part of Christmas. They even got a fake artificial tree in the house, so they won’t have to go through the whole ordeal year after year. I personally don’t like a fake tree and I think it is kind of funny that people are not willing to go out and buy a tree but are, instead, willing to spend an evening (or a day) assembling the tree, bending every branch into the right shape.

Like I said, I actually like it. I like the smell of the trees; I like all the people who are looking for their “perfect” tree, the smell of gluhwein and hot chocolate, the burning fires (when it’s cold – not happening this year!) and the fun that can be had with the tree sellers. Every year this whole ritual brings back a lot of memories too, lovely memories.

When I was a kid, we would go Christmas tree shopping with the whole family, which was sort of fun in the beginning, but the mood radically changed most of the time. First my brother would get bored and then my Mum would get fed up with the fact that my Dad could never find his “perfect” tree. So, when I was old enough, it became a father and daughter “hunt for the perfect Christmas tree”, which was fun. It usually meant we would spend most of the day together, going from one garden centre to another, going from one stall to the next and then back again to the first garden centre to check their stock one more time. In the car we would discus the trees we had seen, all the pros and the cons, sing songs and chat about random stuff. At the time it was just a great day out with my dad, but in retrospect it was a day of learning too. He taught what to look for in a tree (fullness, height, width and colour), how to interact with the sales people (be polite, friendly and don’t forget to smile), how to transport a tree (make sure you have a rope with you) and never forget to bring some gloves.

Last Saturday I bought my tree for this year and I truly believe it is the perfect tree. Thanks for the lessons Dad. There was one downer though, I think I might have been to friendly to the tree selling guy…..he wanted to know my name and phone number :)

* No, it did not snow, that isn't my tree, and most certainly not my car.

Should I stay or should I go?

Blogger really has been getting on my nerves lately. On certain (or should that be uncertain?) day's people can’t log in, the next day others can’t log in, and on the third day I can’t log in or post a comment on other blogs. This is starting to drive me mad. So, recently I’ve been thinking about moving my blog.

Since Snowqueen’s move, I’ve been reading more Wordpress blogs and I like what I see. I like the variety of templates they offer, the clean look most blogs have and the fact that visitors don’t have to become a member when they want to leave a comment. One of the other things I like are “pages”, I think that is one of the things Blogger is still missing. Oh, and did I mentioned that you can import your blog. Actually when I am looking at Wordpress I can’t seem to find anything wrong with it. Do you?

Another option is VOX – a fairly new service, or at least I think it’s fairly new. Some people over on 43T have asked me to join but I still haven’t done it yet. There are a few things I like about VOX. For instance, I like the fact that you can post video and audio files without a lot of hassle and you can also put your books and collections on there just as easily. They have lovely templates and when you are a member you are part of a large international community. Nice, but I think I am part of an international community already! What I don’t like is the fact that only members can comment, that would mean that you, my readers, need to become members too or else you won’t be able to leave comments. In my opinion it is not right to make people do stuff they don’t want to do ;)
On the other hand they have this nice thing going called Qotd – Question of the day…..very handy for the days you don’t have any inspiration :)

And finally there is the third option….Blogger! I like Blogger beta better then the previous version. I like the way you can easily change your template and customize it, I like the new tag option, and……………..hmmz, I guess that’s about it. Somehow I still have the feeling there is a lot of stuff missing.

Okay, I am going to put my thinking cap on………………

The 12 Days of Christmas

Don't laugh! ;)

Cartoon Tuesday: (global) Warming!

Mind, Body & Soul Sessions – Christmas edition.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year?!

Maybe you think it is if you are one of those people who love the holidays, the fresh scent of Christmas trees, the excitement in the air, the hustle and bustle, the food, the family. On the other hands you might think of the holiday season as a stressful time. So, here are some practical suggestions which can help you reduce your 'Christmas stress'.

Keep it simple.
Probably the No. 1 reason for out-of-control stress is trying to overdo it. Does your daydream holiday feature you as the ideal hostess presiding over a magazine-style home? Forget it! Going for perfection could be a recipe for disaster. It’s better to focus on your friends and family, and leave being the super-hostess to the professionals. Don't set yourself unrealistic targets and deadlines.

Plan.
Get organised, prioritise and plan your days. This is easier said than done, but making a list of jobs that need to be done can help you take on one thing at a time. Recognise when something is done or finished and feel good about it.
Pace yourself throughout Christmas and by the time Christmas eve comes along give yourself permission to say 'what isn't done now, won't get done'. Believe these words and relax!

Delegate
Delegate some of the tasks. Christmas is not just down to one person, everyone shares in Christmas. When you feel the stress creeping in, let other members of the family know how stressed you are feeling

Give the gift of time.
This year, put "quality time" at the top of your to-do list: quality time with your family, friends, and neighbours. Just taking a quiet moment to tell someone how important they are to you can mean so much more than any gift.
Consider organizing a casual potluck dinner for your friends - each can bring their favourite holiday dish, and perhaps you can spread the spirit by carolling after the meal.

Make a list, check it twice.
Make a list of all the gifts you wish to buy before you go shopping. If you wait for inspiration to strike when you are actually doing the shopping, you could be wandering aimlessly around the shopping centre for hours. You'll probably save money if you do all the shopping yourself, but if you don’t have the time to start early, the Internet can be a great place to shop too. Sit back, relax, sip your eggnog, and watch your tree while the gifts are delivered to your door. Oh, and buy a few extras, such as chocolates, just in case you forget somebody or you have unexpected guests bearing gifts.

Don’t forget the most important person.
It's fun to give to others, but in doing so we often forget to treat ourselves. So go ahead and schedule a 30-minute massage. Plan a quiet evening at home with that special someone. Enjoy some candlelight, watch the lights of the Christmas tree, watch your favourite Christmas movie, and buy that beautiful gift you saw for yourself.

Take the time
Write up a Christmas card list and keep it in a safe place so that you can refer to it (and add or delete names) year after year. Plan to write your Christmas cards in early December. Book a date in your diary so you don't forget

Enjoy.
Don’t forget to enjoy the holiday season!

Sometime I don’t understand the society we live in.

Earlier this year, one of my friends was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery and had the tumour removed, did the radiotherapy and is now doing the, not so much fun, chemotherapy bit. Like all (cancer) patients, she has good and bad days, and when she has a good day, she wants to live life to its fullest. So, we go to the theatre, or when she feels like eating, we have a meal together. We fool around like we used to, or we do something that is just plain fun.

Apparently, that is not a thing you should do when you are ill, a cancer patient (and bald – she lost most of her hair right after her first chemo treatment). According to some people she should stay home, preferably in bed with the curtains closed so no one would see her. Some people find it too confronting. Others just stare, like my friend is the first cancer patient ever. Oh, and believe it or not, there are still people out there who think it’s contagious or something. They actually treat my friend like a leper and that is soooo wrong!

You know, I always thought that in this day and age, where 1 in 3 people get cancer, the taboo would be lifted, but apparently it’s not! People are still afraid, people still use the C-word, people stay away, and people just don’t know how to act around cancer patients (acting normal doesn’t seem to be an option, at least not in their minds). Such a shame!

Wouldn’t the world be a better a place if we could talk about anything and everything without feeling embarrassed? I always thought we could, but it appears that we aren’t allowed too. Hmmz… that reminds me of something one of my other friends once said “You know a taboo is a weird thing, take masturbation (I’m sorry if I shocked you here) for example, a huge taboo. People don’t talk about it, people think others should not talk about it, but we all know everyone does it (sooner or later or all the time)”. Okay, maybe a bad example, but there are hundreds of topics people don’t talk about just because it is just “not done” to do so. People are afraid (or ashamed) to talk about (sexual/child/mental) abuse, rape, death, incest, depression, suicide, AIDS, menstruation or whatever. These are all things that are out there in the big bad real world, so why on earth shouldn’t we be able to talk about them. In my opinion life would become a lot easier for millions and millions of people who have to deal/live with some of these issues on a daily basis.

To doodle, or not to doodle.

The last couple of days I’ve discovered, or should I say, rediscovered the pleasure of doodling. I used to do it all the time, but for some reason I stopped. Not sure why though, in my opinion there is nothing better than doing something completely mindless. And all you need is a pen and a piece of paper……who needs computers? Not sure, why I tried so hard to repair the damn thing now ;)

Anyway, here is something I doodled over the last couple of days while I was waiting for windows and other stuff to install, waiting for all the updates or yet another reboot sequence.


Of course I am curious, so here is my question to you: Do you doodle? If so, what sort of stuff do you draw? (Oops, those were two questions :))

Woohoo….finally!

Believe it or not, but I’ve done it! I’ve repaired everything, once again :) Hopefully all will keep working for some time now, but I have my doubts. I have a sneaky suspicion my PC is not going to last another year. But hey, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it :)

In other news…..it’s December 5th today and that means it is Sinterklaas. Here is a picture, I took some days ago, of the guy. He is not looking too pleased, but I bet he will be pleased today because this is his day. In this little country called Holland, we celebrate the name day of Saint Nicholas (don’t ask me why ;), it’s just a fun tradition). Anyway, the evening of December 5 is called pakjesavond ("evening of packages"). Traditionally, presents are ingeniously wrapped, and are therefore called surprises. Also, each present is accompanied by a poem from Saint Nicholas.

I haven’t seen any surprises yet but, I was quite surprised when I found a chocolate letter and kruidnoten in a pair of shoes this morning. Rumour has it, Sinterklaas came by last night and left all that lovely stuff in my shoes. Hooray, at least someone thinks I am not naughty….I am nice :) One thing though, he left all the goodies in my running shoes, maybe he is trying to tell me something!

Enjoy pakjesavond or, if you are not Dutch, have a nice evening :)

Dear readers

Just a short message to let you all know, I am still alive :) My PC on the other hand is not doing so great. Yesterday I tried to install Windows on my new HD but as it turned out my original CD was scratched and dented and wasn’t willing to cooperate at all! After a lot of grrrrr’s I finally managed to get XP installed, so today I need to get my ADSL working again, update a lot, install my security again and getting all my files back into place. I’ll probably be back tomorrow!

Thanks for all the nice and helpful comments and Steve thanks for dropping by.

The day my Hard disk died!?

And that day seems to be today. He had not been feeling all that well lately, feeling a bit under the weather, you might say. You could actually say, he was coughing and sneezing a lot and sometimes he even shivered! Just recently I pampered him, gave him (and his other parts) a full check-up, changed some setting and everything seemed okay, but I think it was just a temporary remission. Today….*sigh*….. today, I guess he died!

Okay enough drama for now. Here is what happened. This afternoon I tried to boot my PC. Everything was working fine, XP was starting up nicely, but not as nicely as it normally would. After the first screen the whole process started up again. I discovered that the start-up screen said something different “S.M.A.R.T. capable but disabled” changed that in the BIOS into enabled but still no luck! Nothing has changed. Can someone enlighten me, is my master HD deceased?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and in case you are wondering how on earth I was able to post this……well, I still have a very, very old (almost prehistoric) pc hanging around as a backup :)