And I am still here. It didn’t kill me. And I liked it better than I thought I would.

It didn’t hurt that it is a glorious day and I chose to do my run today in between the bulbfields. And it didn’t hurt that on my first day I immediately noticed that I will run into many fellow runners, some of whom were very encouraging towards me when learning I had just started. All of whom say a cheerful “Hi!” in passing.

So there you go… I felt I could do more but the guy at the sports store warned me to stick to the beginners regimen and schedule and not go overboard. So I am not.

I feel pretty good about myself and energized, that too…

My 2nd run is planned for Friday early morning. Friday is a day off here in Dutchyland as it is Koninginnedag (Queens Day). For the first time in yeaaarrrsss I will be spending it in Amsterdam with my friend BraDutch and some friends of hers. But I’ve decided to get up early and get my run in first, before I go over there, as I won’t be able to do any of it over the weekend (as I am off to help my friend Annemieke move house)

Past Saturday, April 24, was the day of the 63rd edition of our local annual Flower Parade in the Bulbfield area. The weather was promising to be glorious -and it was- and so the turn out of tourists from all over was huge! Estimates right now say that over a million (!) tourists visited the several tiny bulbfield area towns to come see the parade.

Traditionally a lot of them come to my town as they combine the Flower Parade with a visit to The Keukenhof, the flower exhibition that is situated a few hundred metres from my apartment. No different on Saturday. I went outside -the parade passes right along the street I live in- with The Kid to go watch the parade and we were amazed. The town was completely p.a.c.k.e.d. with tourists. It was a joy to watch the Flower Parade and see so many happy and relaxed people enjoying it with us.

I met some nice people amongst whom a Romanian couple living in Brussels with their young daughter. We started talking and in between watching the parade and making pictures I told him a lot about Dutchyland and such and he told me a lot about Romania and living in Brussels. I still regret forgetting to exchange email addresses. We lost track of eachother in the crowd breaking up and moving out after the parade. One of the top moments in the day for me was the Romanian guy telling me “You are such a nice woman”. It’s so nice when people just dish out a compliment for no specific reason. I love meeting people from all over this way. So much fun.

So for everyone of you that was not able to come and watch the parade with me, here’s an selection of all the pics The Kid took of the parade:

Sit back and enjoy! Quite some pics… and this is only a selection of the gazillion ones he took!

There’s cams at nests of a little owl (steenuil), a kestrel (torenvalk), an eagle owl (oehoe), a great tit (koolmees), a stork (ooievaar), a barn swallow (boerenzwaluw), a barn owl (kerkuil) and a European nuthatch (boomklever).

It’s really cool to watch every now and then. The storks are most active right now. They already have 4 eggs. Most of the owls are at their nest already as well and the eagle owl has already hatched out some eggs and it’s chicks have already been spotted a few times.

I follow them on Twitter so I get the “breaking”  news as soon as eggs hatch or there is chick-sightings.

Yeah, I know… I’m a dork. But I don’t care. I love this stuff.

He’s tweeting all kinds of stuff and pictures from the ISS, so I figured he’s worth following on Twitter. Go check out his Twitter account and his TwitPic page Very cool!

Neither of tomorrow’s happenings are life threatening events. It’s not like that. It’s just that for some reason they have accumulated on this one day, so lots will be going on tomorrow:

• I just filled in the application for High School for The Kid. We’re going to be handing it in at his current school, to be forwarded to our high school of choice soon. The Kid has applied to enroll in the special Culture Class (a regular high school class with extra curricular activities in drama, film, photograpy, music and such) and I hope he gets into that one.
• Tomorrow early afternoon we are picking up The Kid’s new glasses right after school. I already felt he needed glasses about 1.5 yr ago but at the time the ophthalmologist didn’t agree with me. We went there again a week ago and she had to admit that I was probably right the first time. So glasses it is tomorrow! He hates it, but I am sure once he realizes how much more he can see with them (his sight will improve about 50%) he’ll get used to them in no time.
• Tomorrow late afternoon The Kid’s braces (part I of the 2 yr endeavour) are ready. So we will be having those fitted tomorrow afternoon as well… He’s actually looking forward to those, but I am pretty sure that after a few days of realizing what it is like to have to wear them 24/7 he’ll change his mind about that. I know that from personal experience…

Ah well… time flies when you are having fun, right? Three big hurdles in one day… * sigh *

Wish me luck!

Just a short weekend note and a special warm “Hello” to all the peeps in the US North East and East States that are bracing themselves for the fucking enormous blizzard that is due to rear it’s ugly head over the weekend.

Be safe please, get inside, get warm and snuggly, make sure you have enough to eat and drink and take gooooood care of yourselves cuz I luva you and I want you all to be ok!

Good luck to you out there, and a good weekend to everyone. I will be home nursing the bronchitis back to health that came back with a vengeance this morning. I take full responsibility for that, that’s what happens if you are a stubborn bitch and you go back to work when you really shouldn’t…

In other news: we are dangerously close to finalizing a date for Bitchsterdam II. It’s looking to be a June weekend for now. I will let you know as soon as we set it in stone!

I had just, months before, been on a schooltrip to Prague. A trip that had a lot of impact on me, as a 19 year old. The atmosphere in Prague was palbable. There were soldiers everywhere, nobody would even dare think of doing something out there that was not allowed. My coat got stolen at the hotel and I got to go to the police station with our Czech tourguide, through which I experienced even more of the Eastern atmosphere and mentality than the rest of my schoolgroup did and I can’t even describe how I felt when I imagined having to live there permanently. Even though Prague and it’s surroundings were some of the most beautiful I have seen in my life, the atmosphere was suffocating to say the least.

That was the way I imagine it was in most East European countries, until November 9, 1989 people decided enough was enough and protests ended in climbing the walls, crossing the borders and ultimately the demise and breakdown of the Berlin Wall. From that moment on the East and West were no longer separated. Well, not by borders anyway. There is still a long way to go before things in the former East and West are equal, but a start was made, 20 years ago…

Now, my sister, she is the Cake Goddess in our family. Seriously!

On October 9 it’s the Lill Niece’s birthday and the other day she sent me a picture of a “testcake” she did for her daughter’s birthday.

Yeah, it’s a cake with Miffy on it. One of the Lill Niece’s favorite book and cartoon characters. The Sis is not so much into Miffy, although she is learning to “accept” Miffy in her life now. Just like she is learning to accept Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Lala and Po into her life, but that’s a whole different story.

Anyway, this is the “real” Miffy character.

And that cake picture up there, yeah, so that’s The Sis’ *grmbbllhh* FIRST test run of making a cake like that… Imagine what the real damn cake on the birthday will look like. Gawd, I wish I could do that stuff. I am so proud of my Little Siss! She is awesome! (in more ways than just making cake, I might add)…

I’ll let you know, on October 9, after I taste it, what it was like, but I am pretty sure it will be yummmmm-ey!!!

It’s Crash ‘n Burn time at DutchBitch Casa.

After weeks and weeks of dealing with the mess, the skeletons dropping out of the closet, taking over and cleaning up the shit that was left when my colleague called in sick, that ended me up -to this day- doing 2 jobs at once; being there for and helping out two girlfriends in the middle of some major emotional distress, accompanied by a big practical mess as well; running my son around in the busy and full of activities first weeks of school and basketball season starting up; trying to make sense of some financial stuff going on and my car breaking down in the middle of that; being out of town for my 2nd job (thank gawd I decided to go there by train, driving over there would’ve been a bad bad bad idea in hindsight), going back and forth to the vet with Ms Kitty who suffered from some stomach problems; and it generally just being a busy time at the office and in life in general…

… my body was apparently fed up with my shit, tried to get my attention and reminded me that it’s still there as well…

.

It kinda bitchslapped me and went “Umm HELLO! Ms DutchBitch! HELLO!!! It’s your body here! So after taking care of your son, Ms Kitty, family, friends, work, colleagues, bosses, neighbours, and all the other stuff in your life… Would it be too much to ask to start taking FUCKING CARE OF YOURSELF! For a change!?!“… And I must admit, I guess, it’s right…

I came home from the boardmeeting and symposium of my 2nd job at the foundation yesterday afternoon. I unpacked, sat down with Ms Kitty and… I FELL ASLEEP ON THE COUCH JUST SITTING THERE!!! I NEVER fall asleep on the couch! The DutchBitch doesn’t do naps. Not because I don’t like them, I am incapable of them. I have an officially broken lazy. Then I had dinner, dozed off again, went to bed at 10.30 p.m. and slept till 7 a.m. I got up to get Ms Kitty some breakfast and then felt so wonky (me, the morning person) that I dove back into bed and slept for another 2.5-3 hours.. ME!!! The Broken Lazy bitch that can NEVER sleep in!

Yeah, so clearly that is a sign that my body is telling me “Woah! N.o. M.o.r.e.”. I have a hard time listening to that. As I am used to be running around all the time. There is always stuff to do, there is always places to go and well… I just like being active, so I must admit that I am not to great at relaxing. But I am SO tired right now that I can’t even see straight. So I settled myself on the couch with 2 pillows and a nice soft blankie, a pot of tea, my laptop, my cell phone, my iTouch, a stack of magazines, the TV on, loads of movies on the HDD, remote controls close, Ms Kitty resting at my side (if anyone ever needs anything to force them to sit down and relax, get a kitty, she just climbs on my lap and forces me to sit down). There is going to be no housework, no cleaning, no laundry, no opening office email, there is going to be no working on office stuff, my girlfriends will have to fend for themselves for a few days, only thing I am getting up for is stuff that *I* want to do and stuff that *I* like…

Crash ‘n Burn – time has officially been turned into Take Care of The Bitch – time for the weekend!

Yeah, you live ‘n learn, live ‘n learn… sorta-ish…

.

Ok so... I MIGHT have put in one load of laundry afterall..
But that can be our secret, right? Shhhhh...