Another Dog?

This morning, during ergo therapy, I was telling everyone about my week and I was also telling them about the Überhund and his osteoarthritis and his cataracts and how he is getting old and is going to be showing all these old age disabilities. The leader of the groups asked me what was going to happen to me when the Überhund died and I answered that I was going to have a very tough time with that, because he is like my child and my whole day is centered around him.

This resulted in a discussion with the whole group about me getting another dog now, so that the loss won’t be as bad when the Überhund does pass away. Most people were for it and some had their doubts, but it did get me thinking and when I got home and found the time, I checked out some of the local websites of the Humane Societies where you can see a photograph and a description of each dog that is up for adoption.

I found one dog that is about 6 years old and a crossbred hunting dog. He is very friendly and gets along well with other dogs and likes to travel by car. The only problem is that he is in Heerlen, which is 14 kilometers from here, so I need transportation, although I can go by train.

I called my sister and told her about my potential plan, but she was very busy and gave me a very negative reaction to the whole thing. She could not explain at the time why she felt that way, because she had company, but she said she would call me back later. I am curious to hear her objections.

Apparently she had already given it some thought and had anticipated some sort of move from me like that, which is funny, because I never talked about it. Now I do feel that I have to have permission from my sister to get another dog, because I am dependent on her for transportation. Don’t you hate being in that sort of situation?

Anyway, I suppose I will listen to her arguments and then make up my own mind about it. I will have to get a collar and a leash and an extra pillow. I realize that two dogs will be extra work and extra costs in food and vet bills, but it should also bring two times the amount of joy and love.

If anybody has any feelings about this, please feel free to share them with me. I am open to all input.

Today, at ergo therapy, we discussed our lesser personality traits like I thought we would and I discussed the one I called my stand offishness, which is really a kind of detachment. It is strange, but other people don’t experience me that way at all. They think I am friendly and kind and open. They don’t realize that I hold back a lot and keep putting up that invisible wall.

We took turns leaving the room and the group had to pick a card out of the whole deck that best described the person that was gone. When I came back, they had picked for me ’smart mouthed’, which I had to laugh about heartily, because I do have something to say always in a more or less humorous way. It’s a humorous sort of cynicism.

Anyway, the theme we are going to be working on is ‘detachment’ and why we have it and what function it serves and how we can possibly get over it without getting our feelings stomped on. It takes courage not to be detached and you get that way because of many experiences that taught you to be like that.

Now that I’ve got all me medications sorted out again, the leader of the group said I looked better than I had in a long time. It just goes to show you that I must not mess with my medicines. It’s a big no no.

Well, I wont quite say goodbye on this post yet, but save it for later tonight, after I’ve heard from my sister and what her arguments are. I’ll just save it for now. So you’ll hear the rest of the story in a while.

My sister called me back and was quite honest with me about why I should not get another dog at this time. She reminded me how expensive it is to take care of a dog properly, buying him good food, taking him to the vet, getting him groomed regularly and that this was already difficult for me to do for the Überhund, let alone for another dog.

She also thought that I was too attached to him and saw him almost as a human being instead of a dog and that I need to work on developing relationships with real human beings and that the Überhund can not be a replacement for having friends in my life.

She is right on all counts and I have changed my mind about getting another dog and will do what she says and that is take care of the Überhund really well and try to get some human beings into my life also. I suppose it is really good if you have a sister who tells you the truth sometimes.

So, that is the end of that short lived idea and in the meantime I am trying to get a hold of the woman who grooms the Überhund, as it is time for him to have a bath and a trim, as he is getting kind of stinky, according to my sister, which I don’t smell, of course, being with him all the time.

Well, it is now 5AM and just let the Überhund out in my bathrobe. That is, I let him run around out front while I stood by the outside door and smoked a cigarette while he did his business, he was in such urgent need.

I’ve got to visit some blogs. I am way behind on those.

Have a good day and don’t be having any sort of bright ideas suddenly without discussing them with your sibling first.

Ciao…

Hot and muggy.

It’s very warm and muggy outside and I just vacuumed my little heart out until the sweat trickled down my back and I said, “Okay, that is enough of that! No animals deposit any more hair on the furniture until the day after tomorrow.” Ha, wishful thinking. I even turned the sofa cushions and vacuumed the reverse sides, how’s that for good housekeeping? What made me do it? I don’t know. I was hoping to find a 50 Euro bill someone might have dropped there. No such luck, of course.

I wore my skimpiest dress, which is also my favorite dress, as it is very light weight and is has the least little bit of sleeves, well you can hardly call them that, They’re more like little shoulder covers and they show my lacy black bra straps. Woo hoo.

I need to take a nap….

Well, I wanted to take a nap, but then the phone rang and it was my friend Lucien who’s mother recently died, so we spent some time talking about that and when I got off the phone I made a shopping list and went to the grocery store, where I bought some of that very good pudding I like so much and so does the Überhund.

Then I called the Exfactor to see how he is doing and then I turned on the TV to see how the Netherlands did in the horse dressure and found out that we won a gold medal, which is very gratifying and the horse and rider did beautifully to a piece of music composed especially for them by Wibi Soerjadi, a classic piano player.

Then I took a nap and the Überhund had to wake me up, because he had to go out very badly, so I took my keys and let him run outside, which he loves and sometimes I just let him do that, I don’t put him on the leash and we circle the block and stay on all the grassy areas and he thinks it is great. I just have to be careful that he doesn’t cross a street, which in his exuberance he will do.

He’s been really good about me putting his eye drops in, because he gets a reward afterwards, so not a grumble out of him. Today some junk came out of his eye and I’ll take that as a good sign. I wiped it right out and it was clear and whitish.

The Exfactor is going to the University Hospital here in town for his follow up on his broken wrist, which I think is good, because it is a very large and modern hospital with all the latest resources. They will put a new cast on his arm, because the one he has on now is quite uncomfortable. Somehow he manages on his own and can even walk to the store with his badly banged up knee to get his groceries. I am glad about that, because I would hate for him to be in a position where he needed to be taken care of. My sister offered to help him, but I think he turned her down, as he is stubborn and wants to do things on his own. He is even talking about going into work as soon as his knee gets a little better and he can move the fingers of the arm that is in the cast better.

Tomorrow morning I have ergo therapy and I am already hot and bothered about it, no, that’s from the weather, but I know she is going to discuss our lesser personality traits and I already know that I am not willing to give any of them up. To me, giving them up would mean being the opposite of them and that is how I used to be and I don’t want to be like that anymore. The only one I would find worth considering changing is the one that says I am remote or stand offish. I am friendly, but not easily approachable, but through pain and shame you get very wise and that is what 14 years of being a psychiatric patient has done for me. It has put up an invisible, but impenetrable barrier between me and my fellow human beings.

So, I will make a concession on that one, but not on the other ones.  I will stay cynical and foolhardy and  strict and detail oriented. I’ve worked hard to become those things and I am not going to let go of them and become less of them than what I am. I especially like being cynical, as I see people around me who are not and who are foolish and get themselves into all sorts of awkward situations.

My sister is so naive, that for 12 years she thought that dandelions were called dandy liners, because someone in America had told her that. That’s what I mean. She told me that’s what they were called a few months ago and I had to set her straight with some effort. This is just a minor example, of course. She also thinks that young bachelor men don’t go to the all naked sauna to look at naked women, they go there out of their high moral principles. Do you have a Brooklyn Bridge you want to sell or some property in Florida?

I don’t think you can get through life without being cynical. I think it is a great asset and I think back in humiliation to the time when I wasn’t and I took everything at face value.

Well, anyway…

Two cats are transfixed in front of the window by events that are not taking place in the street. They just act like there is something to look at and pretend it is of great interest to them. It could be a falling leaf. I always hate to close the curtains in the evening, because I feel that I am robbing the cats of their amusement factor and I always wonder why the Überhund never looks out the window, when all he has to do is get on his two hind feet. He absolutely shows no interest, except when people stop to look at the cats sitting there. Then he starts barking madly and scares everybody away, including the cats.

It’s time to call a halt to these proceedings. I am going to mindlessly watch some TV and eat toast. In my pajamas.

Have a great whatever you are having. Morning, afternoon or evening.

Ciao.

Cataracts.

I was grooming the Überhund today, combing him all over and checking for fleas by the light of the front window, when I noticed that at a certain angle of light it looked like his right eye had a dull sort of glow to it. I immediately thought of cataracts and took him to the vet at 6:30 PM. The vet took one good look at both his eyes and told me that the Überhund had cataracts in both his eyes. I asked him if that is why he bumped into things sometimes, and he said yes, if the sun is at a certain angle it will affect his vision and he wont see much. He also said that it was to be expected with a dog this age and that his own 11 year old dog has cataracts, and that he is not in favor of surgery at this age.

He also said that The Überhund has an eye infection in his right eye and I have to put in drops 6 times a day, so I am having to be very disciplined and hope for the Überhund’s cooperation.

He was really good at the vet, even though he is scared, but he is getting to know the vet and the vet has a good way of handling him and I think the Überhund is getting to be more at ease. The vet’s own dog lies under his desk very quietly and puts the other dogs at ease. I try to be as mellow as I can be to put the Überhund at ease.

Of course, the Überhund is getting old and is going to be showing all sorts of ailments now. I love him just the same for it. As long as he gets around as well as he does there is no problem. He hops and skips and runs, so he is doing alright. Just once in a while he walks kind of funny, just temporarily.

So, that was sort of the end of my day. In the middle of the day I spoke to the Exfactor on the phone and found out that he had a motorcycle accident and had broken his wrist. Apparently he slipped on some gravel on the road in Belgium and was taken to the hospital there. He is with the Paramount now, but he said he was going home tomorrow. His arm is in a cast and he may need some surgery, which I think he should have done here in the Netherlands.

In the morning I had a normal time, because I went to creative therapy and munched on good cookies that they alway have there. I was actually creative to and worked on my collage booklet. I am doing something complicated now which I won’t try to explain here. I am to tired to try. It involves a medium and putting down pictures upside down and uncovering them again.

I am so tired that I am having a huge craving for something very chocolaty and cold and creamy and very filling. I don’t have anything like that in the house, so I have to come up with something else instead.

Sorry people, I have to quit and put my pajamas on and find some comfort food.

Have an interesting eventful day, without any victims.

Ciao.

Smart Dog!

Well, if I ever had any doubts about the Überhunds intelligence, I no longer have them as of today. He’s proved for once and for all that he i s a smart dog, but that also means that I can use it against him and he can never pretend not to understand me anymore.

He always gets a snack when we have been for a walk or for a reward when he has been especially good. Lately, these have been marrow cookies and I had been giving him two, because they were small and I am generous. That is until the store ran out of the small marrow cookies and only sold the larger more expensive ones.

Today I thought, I am not going to give him two of those, it will spoil his appetite and it is much too expensive, so when we came back from our walk, I gave him one marrow cookie.

Well, he wasn’t happy about that and let me know it too. he stood there and very indignantly barked at me and I said, I am sorry, you don’t get another one, you will have to eat what’s in your bowl.

He sort of slunk away angrily, but a minute later he very excitedly started to bark as if someone was at the front door and that is where he wanted me to go. I opened the front door, but there was no one there, but he kept barking and went to the outside door, which I opened and no one was there. The Überhund looked around for a bit and then walked back into the house, straight into the kitchen and waited for me to get there.

When I got there, he looked at the cabinet and then at me and then it dawned on me what he had done. He had protected me from a phantom intruder to get another marrow cookie as a reward! I sure fell for that one didn’t I, because he did get another cookie as a reward for the brilliant idea.

I am on to him now, though, and now I know how smart he is and how he can reason with his little mind and I will be expecting a lot more from him besides stubbornness and so called ignorance. I’ve got his number, but, of course, I am secretly very proud of him.

I have beautified the front of the apartment. The neighbors had made the front of their house look so nice with potted plants, that I washed the windows and pulled out all the weeds and swept the sidewalk. Then I borrowed one of their pots that they weren’t using and some potting soil and dug up a clump of winter blooming jasmine from out back and planted it in the pot and put it out front between the two windows. It looks very nice and when I have the money, I will get two more pots with plants to set beside the big pot.

What a novel idea really and why had I never thought of doing such a thing myself. It goes to show you the state of mind I had been living in pre-divorce. Dirty windows and weeds and an unswept sidewalk. Really!

I have erased an MP3 player with really horrible New Age music (I don’t know why I thought I had to have that in the first place) and replaced the music with some good shit kicking blues. Well, let me be honest, it is the European interpretation of the blues and you have to take that not so very literally. I am listening to it now and I hear a lot of things that don’t qualify as the blues in America, although you may get blue from listening to it.

I also filled one MP3 player with new and improved French chansons, as this time I was more discriminate in my taste.

So, that is how I wasted my Sunday. Doing interesting things like that instead of vacuuming which I should have done again, but I figured it could wait until tomorrow.

Well, now the Überhund is looking at me with very pitiful eyes and he is making little puppy sounds and I know he wants to go out, so I better go and do my duty.

You all have a great Sunday, or what is left of it and I wish you many smart dogs.

Ciao…

Serene Saturday.

I am sitting here listening to an MP3 player that I erased and then filled with songs that were really odds and ends that I had not used anywhere else. There is a lot of Norah Jones, nice and mellow, and Rosanna, who is an Argentinian singer. I had world music on this MP3 player and I actually wasn’t that fond of it, although I tried to be and some of it wasn’t too bad, but I could never listen to the whole thing, because it always got on my nerves after a while.Too many jungle noises and drums, I guess.It does all start to sound alike after a while. There is something other worldly about world music, hah.

I like Norah Jones, I find her so completely inoffensive and mellow that I can do any sort of job with her in the background. She doesn’t have a great voice, but that seems to be just fine too and the music is pleasant. Sometimes you need music like that, that doesn’t tax your brain too highly and just lets you get on with whatever you are doing. If I could sing and play the piano, I’d like to do it like Norah Jones.

I’ve got the Real Player full of music to pick from. There’s lots of classical there too that the Exfactor put in there, and also Johan Sebastian Bach and Mendelssohn, which are more than tolerable to me. I can put together any sort of combination MP3 player, however the mood strikes me. I gigabyte one is about 165 songs, so that is more than enough to chose from.

I have one MP3 player with French chansons, nobody famous on there, and I am thinking about erasing them and replacing them with something else. The chansons are mostly okay, but some of them are really bad and I am embarrassed to play them in company. Not exactly music to play at a cocktail party. I need somethinga little bit classier than that. You see how I never get done picking out my music. It’s an ongoing thing. A forever mind changing thing.

I prefer women performers. I just prefer women. I am always happy when women do well in the arts and get recognition. So sorry for you guys, but that’s the way it is, and I like it when women move away from typical female subjects and move into the more masculine areas of expression and make bold statements, although I do have to add that women, through whatever medium they use, can make a strong case for women and the women movement, but I don’t think they have to and that they owe it to us. An artist only owes his art to her/himself and screw what the public wants. That’s my humble opinion.

I just received a tunic this afternoon that I had ordered yesterday and it was a little big on me. Rather than send it back, I have made it smaller on the sewing machine and that worked great too. Now I’ve got all these other clothes I have to alter, which I will get around to in the shortest amount of time. Watch me zip those clothes under the needle in the fastest time possible. Records will be set.

My sister and I took the dogs for a walk this afternoon and had psychological talks. We are very good at this, being well versed in matters of the mind and what makes us tick and what makes the other person tick. I’ve suggested she use a tranquilizer, but she refuses to and is under the impression that she can somehow keep her frayed nerves under control by sheer mind power. It isn’t working very well.

It’s decided to be nice weather today. The sun has been shining all day and I have washed the windows, but because the sun is shining on them, I can see the streaks and where I need to go over them again. It’s very frustrating, but they do look a lot cleaner from the outside looking in. Next, I have to clear away some weeds. I’ll do that this weekend. It’s some sort of wild grass that grows between the tiles and the apartment and is pretty when it first comes up but turns very wild after a while. The neighbors have put out pretty pots with nice looking plants and if it weren’t for the money I would do that too, but alas.

I do love Saturdays, because I always have a holiday feeling, having done the shopping on Friday. I really enjoy the weekends and take full advantage of them and really see them as days off. I am glad that the Sundays are still sacred here and aren’t frantic shopping days and there is always very little traffic on the roads. Nice and quiet and only the cafés and restaurants are open. I hope it always stays that way.

The Überhund is very soundly asleep at my feet. I can tell he’s getting older, because he sleeps a lot. Very deep sound sleeps.

My knees have been bothering me a lot these past couple of weeks and I have a heck of a time getting out of bed in the morning. I think I may need to take some supplements. It’s been a ongoing problem that gets worse at times and then lessens again. Maybe it is wearing these different shoes that’s the cause of it. Of course, like my GP said, it’s all due to having been overweight, but you’d think it would get better now. Sometimes, I think they’ll get stuck.

Maybe I have osteoarthritis just like Jesker and I need to be taking supplements just like him.

Well, I am off doing some other little jobs now. Something to keep me pleasantly, but usefully occupied. To keep me off the streets and out of trouble.

Have a great day and a super weekend.

Ciao…

Worn down.

I am worn down to the bone as if I have been on a great expedition with backpack on my back, but I did no such thing. Although I must say that such an adventure does appeal to me somewhat if it were well organized and I got to wear the proper hiking boots. These little ballet slippers I am wearing now don’t give me much support when I do a lot of walking.

I first went to the grocery store, being solvent again, and replenished the food supply in the house. I had two bike bags full on the back and a big bag full of food on my handlebars, making navigation rather tricky and I took the curves kind of wide. I reached home safely however and the Überhund was beside himself with joy at all the good things he thought I had bought.

Well, I don’t quite disappoint him and I usually do have a special treat for him, because he is so darn cute when he gets it. He walks around for half an hour trying to decide what to do with it and where to eat it and it is quite funny to see him so confused and frustrated. He finally settles down some place and has a good chew, after he sees where I have decided to drink my coffee. He wants to be kind of close to me with his bounty.

Then I took the bus into town and because it was market day, about one hundred people got on at the trainstation and we all got squashed for space and we all tried to be jolly about it. Of course, when the bus stopped at the market, everybody got off at once and added itself to the throng of people that were already there. I decided to give the market a wide berth, because I saw how busy it was and if there is one thing I dislike, it is an unorganized crowd that is looking for a bargain, but doesn’t know where to find it.

I stuck to the alleyways and pathways where the stores were that I wanted to visit and the first one I went to was the store where I bought sewing machine thread.

Oh, I didn’t tell you this. My older sister sent me a sewing machine this week, wasn’t that sweet of her? She knew I needed one very badly and one morning the bell rang and there was a deliveryman with the sewing machine. I have lots of clothes that I have to make smaller, so I had to buy some thread, so I bought black and white and apple green and sunlight yellow. This weekend, I will sew.

Then I went to the Hema and bought mascara and wet towelettes and dish towels. I almost bought a new duvet cover on sale, but the pillow case that came with it was the wrong size. Then I wanted to buy a new shower curtain, but I couldn’t figure out where they were and I gave up and went to the cash register.

It was busy everywhere I went. In the stores and in the streets. Many dialects and languages were being spoken. I was looking for the store where I might be able to buy a new two pad holder for the Senseo machine, but I can never remember in which side street it is and there were so many people that I gave up and went to my favorite clothing store instead. They had all their summer wear on sale and you could tell it had not been a good summer, because all of the summer dresses were way marked down. i wasn’t about to buy one of those.

I bought a black knitted top with three quarter sleeves and a scooped neck and, of course….a necklace to go with it.

I was going to buy some frames for my movie posters, but when I got out of the clothing store and faced the crowd, I just lacked the energy and the courage and made my way back to the bus stop where a hundred people were waiting. I thought, my god, I hope they all don’t need to get on the same bus. Luckily they didn’t and when my bus came, the crowd had thinned out quite a bit.

I was so worn out when I got home. I dropped the shopping and my hand bag and made myself a cup of coffee and took off my shoes. It felt so good to sit down and take the weight off. Some days are like that, when downtown is just too crowded and you feel like you are swimming in a very busy school of sardines. I should have gone to a café terrace and ordered a glass of wine, but I wasn’t quick on my feet enough to think of it.

Well, I’m happy with my knitted top and my necklace and I turned on the computer and found an on line store where I could order the two pad holder for the Senseo machine. I really prefer shopping on line and I must remember that this is my preferred way of shopping and not go walking around downtown so much when it is busy, but stay behind the computer and make my choices there.

Now, I will go and wash the two living room windows and the kitchen window, if it is the last thing I do.

Have a great day,

Ciao…

A slow start.

The day started off with me getting up at 5AM and fixing myself a mug of coffee and turning on the computer, but all the while I was sitting there kind of bleary eyed as if I wasn’t quite in my right senses. I tried to remedy this by drinking the coffee and eating some toast, but it was all for naught and at 6AM I was forced to go back to bed and sleep some more, which I did very easily. All I had to do was put my head on the pillows and pull the duvet over me.

I woke up at 10 AM and finally felt awake enough to stumble out of bed to the Senseo machine to make myself some coffee and have a nice leisurely wake up with numerous mugs of coffee and equally numerous cigarettes, except that suddenly the Exfactor showed up to come and get some motor parts and I was still in my pajamas which he didn’t seem to notice at all. He was never observant that way. We had a cup of coffee and then he was on his way and I called my older sister and had a nice leisurely chat with her. That way the morning was a complete waste of time. I did check my bank account and found out that I am solvent again.

Then I carefully picked out what i was going to wear and took the Überhund for a walk and he surprised me with three baggies full. Luckily, I am always prepared.

I cleaned the house and then noticed that my back tire was kind of low and called the Exfactor to find out if I had a bike pump anywhere. it turned out I did and I proceeded to try and pump up my tire and I did it wrong and in the process let all the air our of my tire and couldn’t figure out how to work the pump to get the air back in, so i had to call the Exfactor again to ask him what to do. He was kind enough to come over and show me what I had done wrong and how to do it right the next time. Isn’t that awful? A Dutch woman who doesn’t know how to work the bike pump?

Anyway, I made rice in chicken bouillon for the Überhund who knew exactly what I was doing and was waiting very impatiently for me to get done with it. The cooling off period is the worst, because he knows that it is done, but he has to wait. Actually, I am now becoming quite adept at cooking rice, which was not one of my strong points before. You just mustn’t let yourself get intimidated by it.

I am trying to read so many blogs now that I have to take out a few hours every day to read them all. I do want to leave comments, as I appreciate it so much when people leave comments on mine. I would like to get paid for reading blogs, that would be a good part time job for me.

I need to go walk the Überhund as it is starting to get dark outside and I don’t want to wait too long, besides, he is giving me signals that it is time, so I better go now. See you in a while…

So, we had ourselves a nice little walk, although there are always various bushes and other interesting nooks and crannies that i have to pull him out of, where he looks for (in)edible stuff to munch on. He has very strange taste in food stuff. Pretty disgusting actually. He acts like he is a starving street dog who never gets anything to eat. His nose is always to the ground looking for, what to him is, food.

I have been drinking decaf for a while now and I am slowly winding down. After I am done writing this I will watch some TV and then head off to bed. As soon as I start yawning I know I am getting close to calling it a day. I am craving a huge cold vanilla shake, but do you think I can find one of those around here? The cola light is all gone, so I think I will drink a huge glass of cold milk.

You have yourself a great day and a dog with discriminating tastes.

Ciao…

Oh Lah de dah!

This morning I was very good and went to my ergo therapy class, even though I was half asleep and nearly nodded off during the first hour, because I had not had enough coffee. I woke up at 3 AM and could not go back to sleep, so read blogs instead, but I got so distracted by them that my caffeine consumption dropped to a very low level and as a result I was not so very perky at 8:30 AM, when I was supposed to leave.

I tried to do some damage control by drinking some coffee very quickly, but sleep was settling into my bones and I was getting mighty weary. I almost didn’t go at all, but then thought that the vigorous bike ride would wake me up. Well, not quite. It made me more like a unguided missile rushing through the traffic that luckily was light, because I wasn’t about to stop for anything, I just kept on moving until I got there and then it started to rain, hah, I got there just in time.

Very droopily I sat and listened to the other people tell their story of how their week had been and at times my head almost hit the table. Luckily, halfway through, we took a break and I had 3 espressos extra strong which gave me a kick in the pants and woke me up properly, so when it was time for me to talk, i could do so quite coherently. I made complete sense to myself and everybody else, although I do keep having this strange tendency to want to speak English as I find it easier to express what I want to say and I find myself struggling to find the right Dutch words. Everybody asks, “Irene, are you English?” And I grumpily answer, “No, I am half an American.” Nobody asks which half, but they leave me in peace and continue to let me struggle with a lot of patience.

We have something in the Netherlands like Facebook called Hyves and I had my pages there and had them quite organized, but yesterday I discovered that I had been hacked and all sorts of pictures of all sorts of strange people were on them and lots of weird messages. I had been completely infiltrated. There was nothing to do but delete them and sign up again under an assumed name with a picture of the Überhund in my profile and let the people who counted know where I was now. Actually, I am only on there for the sake of some of my relatives who like to keep in touch that way and I go along with the program and I very often forget to go and have a look to see if there are any messages. At one time, I even forgot my password and my sign in name. Then I get badgered to get on there and read the messages and look at everybody’s photographs from weddings and vacations. I try to be good, I really try…

So, I got that all organized this afternoon and I didn’t do much else, because I also downloaded music videos from Youtube for it and pictures and lord knows what else. Actually, it is a lot different than Facebook in that way.

Anyway, besides walking the Überhund and eating, I haven’t done much. Oh yes, I opened the mail, but it was not that important, except a reminder from the bank that I have no money in my account and if I am going to do something about that soon. Well, yes I am. In about 2 days, as a matter of fact. The signature was printed, so I am not going to bother to call. I don’t expect any gangsters at the door yet.

This morning we had to pick out cards form a large deck of cards that had lesser personality traits on them. We had to try to pick 5 cards, which I did. Mine were, overconfident, strict, cynical, distant and too detail oriented. We had to tell what our cards were and what we thought about these lesser traits that we had, but when it was my turn I said that I wasn’t at all unhappy with my traits and that I could very easily live with them. Well, I wasn’t supposed to like them and I am supposed to work on them! Jeez! Really, Irene.

Hey, I’ve worked hard to become the person I am today. I am not just going to give that up without a fight. I want to be cynical, actually, I want to be all those things.

Well, now it ’s raining like crazy again. It has been on and off all day and yesterday too. One moment the sun shines and then it rains. It’s like we live in the tropics. Tropical Holland. Buy your seafront property now in the Limburger hills.

Okay, that’s enough of that. I am going to watch some TV and get some much needed head rest. That’s not a thing to rest your head on.

You all have a good day or evening or whatever you are having in whichever timezone.

Ciao…

Breakfast Cake.

I was greedy and ate 3 slices of breakfast cake and now I positively feel sick to my stomach and I am sitting here feeling awfully bad. Breakfast cake is very dense and filling and it is customary to put butter on it, so I’ve had quite a meal. I feel it slowly making its way past my gastric band and in a short amount of time I should be feeling better. Sometimes I do the thing that is absolutely the worst for me, when my eyes are literally bigger than my stomach. Foolish woman, Irene.

I should be at my creative therapy now, but I didn’t sleep enough last night and at 8AM I went back to bed for some more sleep. I was sitting on the sofa, waiting for it to be time to leave, and I was nodding off, so I called and left a message to say that I would not be there. I like going to creative therapy too, so I hate to miss the class, but sometimes you just have to.

Cute little Gandhi just jumped on my lap for some loving and that means I cease all activity and push the keyboard under the desk, because she’ll walk on it and cause strange things to happen. So we cuddle and she purrs until it has been enough and she leaves again. I just have to be patient and wait for her to get done rubbing her head against my chin and hands. She’s such an affectionate little cat, you just can’t ignore her or push her away, at least I can’t.

The Überhund was his normal affectionate self this morning. He just could not get close enough to me and was in danger constantly of being run over by the desk chair. He waits for me by the bathroom door while I get ready and no cat is allowed to enter while I am in there. He growls at them if they try, which is very antisocial of him, but he just thinks we belong together and that no other animal may interfere at that point. He sneezes when I apply hairspray and then he follows me to the bedroom and sneezes again when I apply perfume. That’s true dedication for you.

I hope this is not going to be another lazy day, because I’ve had enough of those now. Judging by the look of the weather outside, it is not going to be a hot day, so I think some vigorous house cleaning will be able to get done. In other words, it doesn’t look like holiday weather.

It’s almost impossible not to upset the cat population when I pull out the vacuum cleaner. Some of them pretend to be brave, but eventually they all go into hiding and I need to pull it out so often, especially now with the fleas that I am combating. Fleas don’t like me and if I scratch my head, it’s from my eczema and not from a flea bite.

I see people drive down our street and the ’sleeping gendarme’ does slow them down a bit, but I think they didn’t make it high enough. It should have been a wee bit higher so people would have some serious damage to their cars if they really didn’t slow down enough. As it is, it is still too dangerous to let your kids play out there. When we were kids, we played all over the place and that included the street, that was our playground.

We lived in a tiny little house in a street with tiny little houses that were about 80 years old when I was born there. This was post war Holland and there was a terrible shortage of housing and people were cramped in everywhere. We had a shower and a toilet built on to the kitchen in the back of the house. Some families had numerous children and they all lived in those tiny houses, but it was a wonderful street to grow up in, because there were all these kids to play with and we were all very tight and loyal and we never had fights with each other, just terrible disloyalty and fights with the kids on the next street over. So, we didn’t enter each other’s streets.

My 85 year old neighbor just came by with two English language letters claiming he had won a tremendous amount of money if he would just send in the details of his credit card and pay 29.95 Euros. So, I explained to him what it said in the letters and looked the companies up on line and very quickly found out that they were both scams and I also found out that he had been playing along with them for a while already. I told him, if you get anymore of this kind of mail, come to me and I will read it for you to find out what it is all about. Poor old guy, thought maybe he had won a lot of money.

Well, sorry people, I’ve got to stop now and get going. I am running behind schedule and I feel terribly rushed.

Have a great day and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do… What?

Ciao…

Sunday!

Oh, hurray, today is Sunday. That means I don’t have to pretend I’m on a holiday, but can really take it easy and not feel guilty for it, because yesterday I was as lazy as I was the day before that.

It seems that everybody is on a holiday now or is just leaving for one or coming back from it and I must subconsciously be wanting one too, except that i can’t go anywhere. Not that I mind that all that much. Think of the stress involved in going on a holiday. I would have to make arrangements for the Uberhund and the minion cats and decide on where I would want to go, which would be a whole large problem in itself, because I do so hate to fly and almost feel that a person can’t do it anymore nowadays what with leaving a large carbon footprint. The guilt involved with the discomfort would be too much to bear.

I think that if I were to go on my next vacation, I would like to travel by train. Get a Eurail pass and travel through Europe and see where it takes me on some sort of itinerary.  Stay in cheap hotels that serve breakfast and eat what little I eat from supermarkets or other little convenience stores. I think that is my idea of a proper vacation. Nice and relaxed and I wouldn’t worry about time and weather.

I’m definitely not one for laying on a crowded beach or at a swimming pool on the Costa Brava. Give me the cool interiors of museums and libraries and churches. I think I could singlehandedly admire the whole collection of art in the Louvre for about three days, given the opportunity. That’s why I should travel alone. Imagine being with someone who wants to rush through it and wants to say that he has been there and done that. Horrors!

You know, that really gives me an idea. I think my sister and I should plan to go to Paris for a few days and do the museums, because we do like to do the same things and admire the same things and since we are both about to be single…

I have never been to the Musée d’Orsay and I know it is a wonderful building with great art, so I have to go there. Then again, there is so much I haven’t done in my half a century of life. I have so much catching up to do, it is ridiculous. I must make a list of things I haven’t done yet. It thrills me to pieces that I can do these things as a single autonomous female. I must get a good camera.

So, anyway, I am in a bit of a holiday mood here at home. I piddle around and do some chores and don’t get overly excited about anything. The laundry has been dry for three days and is still hanging on the drying rack. Small effort to take it down, but somehow that seems like too much work right now. I can’t be bothered, but I know I will do it eventually when I get into the right mood.

I love sitting behind the computer reading blogs and commenting with my trusty friend at my feet. Every time I get up to get a mug of coffee, he thinks I am going to do something very exciting and jumps up and looks around him with a very anticipating expression on his face. He just lives for happenings.

I wonder what people do who don’t have animals in their lives. I’ve had the Uberhund for 4 years now, but I can’t imagine life without him and I don’t remember what it was like not to have him. I think it was more boring and less structured. I got him just before my son died and I know that the Uberhund played a large role in my process of grief. It was good for me to have to take care of him and take him for his walks and have him to cuddle and talk to. There was always this other living creature to care about and care for.

Well, I’ve got to start the day now. We’ve got to take our pills and go for our morning walk.

Hope you have a lovely Sunday.

Ciao…