No picnic

Hey. Sorry, it's been a long while. I've had a very busy time as is normal before a big trip.

I'm sitting in the late evening sun at my mother's dining table in the Netherlands. We've been here for three days now, my husband and I, and I have to admit it feels much longer. There is so much work that needs doing here still, and there were some logistic and boring affairs to sort out, like buying a new sim card for my phone and applying for a new pincode for my bank card.

Also, Ash and I had the interesting task of replacing seatbelts and a rear light cover for my mother's car, the dog had decided he liked eating seatbelts. He chewed right through two of them, one of them being the driver's, and I was horrified to find out my mother has been driving around since mid-December with a piece of string holding up her seatbelt, while it no longer held any tension or would have offered her any protection in case of an accident. And she managed to back into a fence and break the cover for her rear lights on one side, but luckily they still worked.

Life here has changed a little since I left last - our poor old cat has taken refuge upstairs when the big black monster arrived on the scene. Mum's dog Joep is adorable, disobedient and into everything. He is very big, and very dirty and very slobbery - he likes to jump in every body of water he encounters on his walks and so he perpetually stinks. Subsequently, the house always smells of wet dog and is covered in mud. However, my mother now walks thee times a day for at least half an hour at a time, and she has a friend in her house who never gets enough cuddles. Sure he's destructive to the extent of frustration, but he's part of the family.

Our poor old cat has gone blind since I last was here, and it has really made her world much smaller. She spends most of the day sleeping on the chair in the bathroom, where she also eats and has her litter box. She no longer sits in window sills because she can't see what's outside anyway, and it makes me very sad. She still really loves cuddles, but she won't come down for them. So I go and spent time with her in the bathroom. I have obtained a few serious bites on my hand as her nails constantly get stuck in things, because she can't retract them anymore. So when she get stuck on your shirt, and you try to dislodge her nail, she hisses and bites and screams. So I ended up cutting her nails while my poor husband held the screeching, angry, scared thing in his arms. But now she doesn't get stuck anymore so that's a good thing.

On Thursday we went to look for the things that needed replacing on the car, and found a wrecker's not too far away that had all of the bits we needed, so yesterday my very capable husband fixed everything so that my mum's car is now safe to drive again. I also updated my mother's sat nav, cleared her computer of unnecessary software that she accidentally downloads and cleaned and re-organised her kitchen cupboards. I have also vacuumed several times, cleaned out the cat's litter box and mopped the floor in the bathroom. So it's not exactly a holiday quite yet. But we're leaving for Amsterdam this afternoon and we're off to Tuscany on Tuesday!

I feel a bit sorry for my husband as there's really nothing exciting here for him, but it does force him to relax and read books and play sudoku. He's not very good at relaxing normally so I think it's not a bad thing to start off a holiday in a very boring place.

Of course, there is one exciting thing here and that's food. Glorious Dutch food, that tastes of home and childhood and happiness. I thoroughly enjoyed our shop at the best supermarket in the world: Albert Heijn. I made my shopping list on its iPhone app called 'Appie' while we were walking the dog. The app, which I have written about last year, is fantastic. And then being in a pleasant, neat supermarket with great products was also fantastic. And buying and eating all this delicious food for the last few days is even more fantastic.

But I better get going, between starting this post and actually finished it, it is now saturday morning and my husband is preparing my breakfast. After which, I am going to do Zumba at my Dutch gym, which I love. I am very excited! You'll hopefully hear from me again soon. 

Reno Girl

Hi friends. It's sunday 6 pm, and I've just given myself permission to declare that work is over for today. For the last three days it's been renovation central at our house, and in case you don't know this about me: I hate renovating. We've only been renovating this house for the last...oh seven years. Or more. Feels like more.

Anyway, I am sore all over, I am tired and I have had enough. Today is easter sunday, so luckily we got to spend the morning making a nice breakfast for my mother-in-law who joined us and then afterwards, the sweetheart, she stayed to help a bit. And my father-in-law has been here the last two days helping out, too. Very kind, but very crazy people to submit themselves willingly to a task I detest and can sometimes not see the end of.

I've just made myself a sub-standard latte (I have a coffee-snobbish-streak, I'm sure you'll hear more about that another time) and permitted myself to eat two small squares of dark chocolate as a treat. At dinner time. Well, it is easter after all. But hubby is still up on a ladder in the fading daylight, hell-bent on getting these last weatherboards up. And luckily we still have a whole day-old pizza in the fridge from yesterday, because I seriously don't feel like cooking. I put home made vietnamese rice-paper rolls on the menu for friday, but every night I am too tired to even stand up, let alone do it in the kitchen while simultaneously moving my arms in a manner that produces a dinner. Really, I am beat.

Might also have something to do with the fact that the part of the house we are working on at the moment is our bedroom, and we are currently sleeping on the floor in the spare room. It was only going to be for a few nights, but now it's looking like those few nights might be more like a lot of nights, so I'm considering actually putting the spare bed back together so we can at least sleep in a bed. But I'd have to gather the energy to do said job, and that might be tricky.

Anyway, tomorrow is the last day that hubby is home to go crazy with the renovations (he gets up way too early, puts his work gear on and stares at me while I try to finish my breakfast before I've even properly woken up) and then on Tuesday it's me and the house alone again. Which is fine by me. If I'm correct I might even have a few hours of work on Tuesday, and I also have to visit my dentist for a check-up. It'll be nice to see my little friend Ruby again, who is my job on Tuesdays. In case you don't know this about me either: I am currently a part-time nanny and look after seriously cute kiddies. Ruby is nearly two and hilarious company. But they've been away for a couple of weeks and I've missed hanging out with Ruby and her mum, who is also very good company and whom I consider a friend.

Excuse me for a moment while I go put the big work light outside for my husband. He eats a lot of carrots and tends to do things in the dark, but I prefer him not to fall off a ladder two weeks before our long-awaited holiday to Europe.

There. Better. I can hear him out there with the saw and can only admire his drive to do this mammoth job all by himself. Well, you know, with the help of his begrudging wife, who only helps because she's so friggin' over the renovations that she'll do anything to let them be over, including sanding and painting, my two least favourite jobs. I quite enjoy hammering stuff and I'm actually quite into destroying things, but neither of those will finish the house on their own. I enjoyed ripping weatherboards off the walls. And I had good fun pulling our old kitchen and bathroom apart a few years back, as they were horrid and old and irritated me every day I used them. Now I do have an amazing kitchen and bathroom. Both of which I love and feel grateful for every day that I use them. Especially my kitchen, with its soft-close drawers, all neatly organised perfectly, everything within reach, fully equipped and colour co-ordinated. Oh yes. It is like that. I think my kitchen is the best I know. I am spoiled with it, and when I have to use other people's kitchens I feel sorry for the owners of them, and I am constantly missing vital tools and gadgets for making the simplest meals. Like sharp knives. I don't know many people who have sharp knives, which makes me wonder why. Them's for cuttin' things, no? Maybe because a lot of kitchens I frequent are in the houses of people with children and they wouldn't want their little sprouts to accidentally cut themselves in the unlikely event that said sprouts would manage to get to said knives? Who knows.

I digress. Yes, I know, I do that. Sorry.

I don't actually think I was getting to a point, but who cares. Right?

Conclusion is, I detest renovating, but I love the result. Our house is becoming seriously wonderful. I mean, I have a laundry chute in my bathroom that leads straight into my laundry cupboard, who else has that, I ask you?  Pity it's still in one of the least nice suburbs of lovely Melbourne. To call Reservoir 'not nice' might be an understatement. It's pretty bad. It's too far out of town, it has NO character and the shops are terrible. Oh and the crime rate here is about as high as the Eureka tower. But you know, we now have two reasonably nice cafes that serve decent coffee, which we didn't have six months ago, so who knows what the future hold for old Ressa?

Ok, I better go. It is now pitch dark out there and I can still hear a lot of banging. I think hubby has got to the hammering part of the job and I might go and see if I can lend him a hand. I am ok with a hammer.

Easter egg

Isn't it funny how when you've accepted something, are embracing the way something is, letting the worry slide away, suddenly something shifts and the wind changes and you're not so sure things are like they are and maybe you were wrong?

Two things have resolved itself in quick succession, and the sun has just been out for days, giving me hope, warmth and joy. I can't really feel glum at the moment. Less than two weeks ago, I was feeling hopeless and useless and weak, and today I feel light. Happy. At peace.

I got a call yesterday from the General Manager of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, a very nice lady who called to personally apologise for the amount of time it has taken to process my application, to talk to me, and listen to my feedback on my experience, and to welcome me to the university. It was really all I had wanted to hear for months, just an apology, some understanding from the university, some acknowledgement for my ordeal.

And this morning, my Dutch passport arrived, a week earlier than I had expected. I had some worry about how long it would take, as I wouldn't be able to go to Europe without it. And it's less than three weeks until we go. I'm excited.

And it's easter soon. Hot cross buns. Easter eggs. Hubby home for four days. The fact that we're spending the long weekend renovating is ok. I am planning a nice easter brunch for sunday.

Detour Girl

I'm not sure if it's always been this way in my life, but recently it has become very clear. Nothing in my life is straight-forward. For some unknown reason everything I try to achieve has to come with some challenge, a spanner in the works, something to overcome. My path is full of detours.

For someone who enjoys driving at the speedlimit, hates slow drivers, dislikes walking because it's inefficient, and likes to shop by walking in, purchasing what's needed and then leaving, detours can be very frustrating. If there is one thing I love it's efficiency. Strange that I am Dutch and not German since they are meant to be the most efficient people, but there you have it.

My love for efficiency has also sparked my love for gadgets. I love my iPhone and all its nifty apps. Now there are apps that are efficient, and there are apps that are the opposite of efficient. Useless, I guess is the word. The Albert Heijn (Dutch supermarket chain) app is terrific as it has cut out the need to write a shopping list, as I tell it what I need, or scan barcodes, but I can also write it online and send it to my phone, or my mother for that matter. The Coles and Woolworths (Australian supermarket chains) are opposite of that. They drive me nuts and I still write a paper shopping list as it's impossible to make a list with them.

I digress. What I'm trying to say is that I have come to understand that this is how my life is. I decide on something, take the required action, and instead of getting what I think I will achieve, I am given a challenge. Often this challenge involves giving all control over to something other than myself and wait patiently. I have just been accepted to university. Again. It only took over four months between me applying, and actually being accepted. A normal person applies, is offered a place or rejected and then starts uni within two months at the most. Not me.

But that's ok. It just means I'm forced to be resourceful, patient and accepting. Which I am slowly becoming. I am starting to embrace my out-of-the-boxness, my square-peg-round-holeness and enjoy my uniqueness. For one, my life is never boring. Never ever.  Despite the many infuriating, exhausting, frustrating challenges I am thrown on a regular basis, I am happy.

Really I am. Look, I might get disheartened quite quickly, have a melancholy streak the size of Uluru, and I can get to a point of endless tears and wanting to stay in bed for the rest of my life. But when I get out of bed eventually, I just get on with life. Because I know that things will be ok eventually. I have learned that in my 31 years being Florence Camille Nulens on planet earth.

I have an amazing life. I travel to Europe every year. I always get to skip at least one month of Melbourne's tedious winter to spend time with my wonderful family and friends in Europe. I know cities on the other side of the world, know my way around, feel at home there. I speak several languages, my French might not be fluent, but I know how to order off a menu, and in France that is the most important thing, right? Granted I spend the rest of the year away from family and friends which can be so very lonely at Christmas time, but that is the other side of the coin.

I have a wonderful husband, and a house that is becoming increasingly wonderful. Sure there have been times where I was very close to hopping on a plane and leaving that perfectionist husband and his goddamn endless renovations behind, but truthfully, I always come back. In the end, there is no one I am more comfortable with than with my lovely hubby. He enables me to be this very unique and out-of-the-box girl. He is steady, secure, thorough. And that's just want a girl like me needs.

We have a very comfortable life, with travel, nice things, outings, food on the table, and a relationship that is a source of endless happiness. So despite my uniqueness, I still get to have what everybody wants. And that's pretty goddamn lucky.