A treat for me!!

Hello from sunny Holland! The weather has been great this week, it's very warm outside! Too bad I have to work, my office gets really hot even with working airconditioning! I have been working again for two weeks. My vacation was over so quickly!! We bought the Girl a new mattress and visited some friends. We also took a fun ride with a real steam train! The last day the Girl and I drove our bike to her home from the train station. It was a 40 minute drive and while we were pedaling away there were black clouds hanging over us. I swear, the minute we arrived at the house the rain and thunder started!!!

I have been enjoying the Olympics and I am so sad it is over! I am so in awe of all these amazing athletes. The Netherlands did good this time, three medals more than the goal that was set. For me the best medal is the gold for Men's Gymnastic Horizontal Bar. The first medal in Gymnastic since 1928. I swear the entire office building was watching and I could here the cheers when our athlete won LOL. It was very impressive, he did three flying elements in a row and I was told no-one in the world is capable of doing that. It was very exciting especially since the sports presentator was also very excited about it ("one, two, three, he did it!" and a little later when he jumped to the ground: "He's standing! Everybody's standing! I am standing! I am going nuts here!"). I think he made half the medal LOL. Here is a link to a youtube movie with lego of the exercise and the comment (in Dutch, sorry) Epke Zonderland in Lego
The most emotional moment for me was the Gold on the 100m breaststroke for the 15 year old girl from Lithuania. She was so cute.

I have been sleeping like I was fighting LOL so I started my week with a cramped hand. Grrrr. I am thankful to know why and acknowledging my stress helps. Last week I saw the August issue of Cross Stitcher magazine (a UK magazine) in the bookstore. I have bought their issues in the past, they have lovely free gifts and the charts are fun! This August magazine had a giant chart by Emily Peacock (she is also on etsy) and also some lovely ribbon. I loved it, but I am on a serious budget so I decided not to buy it. After this crappy weekend I WANTED it so badly! So to the bookstore I went, but boohoo there was already a new issue!! I have never been a demanding customer but this time I took the risk and asked them for the August issue. I was lucky, the old issues were still in the store and the day after they would be sent back!!! I bought one and now I am the owner of this huge chart! I have no idea when I am every going to stitch this but I want this to hang in my next house.

No update on Train. I have been working on it but it's not enough for a new picture. Better next time! I have also found a Stitch 'n Bitch group in my town. I haven't joined them, since they gather in a pub (again, the stupid budget) but as soon as that is better I will check it out. They are mainly knitters but they are open to any thread-related crafters. I also would like to see if the lighting in the pub is good enough for stitching.
I miss crafting with a group. I was a pretty regular visitor of the scrapbooking crops of scrapbooknederland but I haven't been there in awhile. Scrapbooking is way more expensive than cross stitching you know! The store is closed now, they only have a webshop left. Another result of this crappy economy.

Half a page done!

It is wonderful to have a summer holiday, I get a lot of stitching done! In the mornings the Girl and I hang out at the house, she plays or watches tv and I stitch. So far I have stitched half a page:

In the afternoon we do fun stuff. We went to the swimming pool, playground and the beach (three times already!). This picture was taken last Friday, when we went to my parents. My mom, the Girl and I went to the beach for a swim. There were lots of seagullls. Just before it started to rain we walked back to the house!

I am also feeling confident enough to ride the special duobike with the Girl. We drove to the lake once and basically use it for a lot of our grocery shopping.

Picture from a website that sells bikes for handicapped or invalid people. The Girl sits in front of me but I am the only one to use the handlebar. The one she has is fake.

On Sunday the three of us went to Museum Naturalis

Unfortunately the Girl was a bit scared of the big dinosaur skeletons. We've been here before, but this time she had sweaty hands and just didn't enjoy herself. We managed to distract her enough to see the entire museum but the Boyfriend had to take a long walk with the Girl afterwards to calm her down. She told him she thought it was scary and she didn't like it.


Today it was rainy so we baked pancakes and went to the airport to watch the planes. It was very busy at the Panorama deck! The Girl likes to be able to see from above what's happening with the planes. The loading of the luggages and all the little cars driving around.. it's a lot of fun.

We also watch a lot of the Olympic Games. Our favorites are the swimming and gymnastics but it is all very inspiring. I love that it is in our time zone so we don't have to watch in the middle of the night!

Page 8 is done!

Long time, no action on the blog! This month has been weird and scary.

Scary:
a possible loss of my vision by 20%. My doc thinks it is only temporary and gave me some eye cream. It looks like it worked. This week I will visit my optician again for another test. I do need new glasses though. :-(

Really scary:
my father in law spent two nights in the IC unit. He fell in his garden and his throat hit a stick. Result: a hole in his trachea. He could have been dead and he's so lucky the stick didn't punch through both sides. He is home now, thank God.

Summer vacation:
My summer vacation has started! This year we decided to stay home with the Girl. The Boyfriend is applying for jobs non-stop so for most of the time me and her and doing nice things (or mundane stuff like cleaning the litter box lol). We miss going to France a lot, but we know it's for a good cause. We hope to go there next year.

I have been praying for good weather. It looks like it worked! Today the weather was awesome and the three of us went on our bikes to the beach! I didn't pack our swimsuits but it was absolutely wonderful to walk at the shore. It reminded me so much of my summers at home when I was a kid. Going to the beach every day, building sandcastles, swimming, playing. If the sun is shining, staying in Holland really isn't too bad!
The Girl is really tired right now (after a bike ride for a total of 2 hours and 1.5 hours spent in the sand). I hope that means she sleeps in tomorrow morning LOL.
It looks like tomorrow is another sunny day so I think we will go to the beach again!

Train of Dreams:
It took me some time but I did finish page 8! The second dragon of this piece is sleeping in a green carriage. I can not believe I am nearly at the end of the train but stitch by stitch I am getting there!

That's it for now. Talk to you later!

Page 8!

I have been working hard on Train! I'm a little flexible with my 'diet' lol but so far my wrist is still ok!
Last weekend I thought I could finish another page, but I ran out of 400 and 310. Argh, just the color I needed to finish a page (400) and start the next (310). So I ordered them and started with the next blue book and the last bit of the bird house.

But then on Monday morning my boyfriend got really sick so that got me a little worried. There is a nasty stomach virus going round. I was hoping I could escape it but unfortunately on Wednesday I got sick at work! On Thursday I was still a bit sick but I was feeling good enough to stitch again.
I was really bummed to be sick. At the end of last year I had a hard time at work (I made a promotion a year before), thankfully I showed progress and growth so I was safe. I asked for some extra experience and got temporarily transferred to another department for four months. I replaced a girl who went on maternity leave. I got a very good evaluation and that has made me more confident. I'm finally in the place I want to be mentally. Feeling more accepted in the group (before making my promotion I was in a more assistant position in the same group and part of my problem was not feeling confident about being 'equal' to them). And on Wednesday I was so in the groove so I hated to go home sick!!! I am confident I will be back in the groove on Monday.

Yesterday my 400 and 310 came in so I could fill in the spots. And this morning it was time for a picture! I don't think there will be any stitching today since we will visit my family! Both my parents and my sister are a year older and my brother got the key of his first (rental) home!

What you see is page 7, page 18, partial page 29 and I am now working on page 8.
Train is 10 whole and 1 partial page wide and 2 whole and 1 partial page tall so I am really nearing the finishing line!!

Have a great weekend!

Just a picture...

I've been away..

I've been missing in action lately! It's not that I haven't been stitching but I've been trying to find a new routine. You see, I still have pain in my hand. I stopped stitching for a week and it wouldn't get away. After my massage (I get one every month at work, partly paid by my work as part of the prevention program. It's a massage of the back, neck, shoulders, arms and hands, given over your clothes.) it was away. I actually felt my hand tingling, which means the bloodstream was ok again. It was utter joy, I tell you! According to the lady who gives the massage my shoulders and neck are very very tensed. I might need to see a physical therapist. I have to think about that and check my health care insurance. I needed to think about a lot of things.

So I decided to put my self on a diet. A cross stitching diet. Every day I can cross stitch for one hour. I actually have the alarm set! It works but there aren't a lot of stitches made in one hour when you're working on a HAED.

And then I went to the Ardennes in Belgium for a week. Together with the Boyfriend and the Girl. And 5 other couples (friends) and 5 other kids. Without the HAED. It was a wonderful week, great weather (almost tropical!), great food and wine, great conversation and lots of nice things to see and do.
We visited the castle of Bouillon and saw a falconry (show). One of the kids even got to play a part in the show and ended up with a falcon on his (covered) head! France was only 45 minutes ago, so we also visited Charlesvilles this village has one of the most beautiful plaza's I've ever seen! The highlight for me was absolutely seeing the Caves of Han. So beautiful.
I even went for a walk of about 3 hours. I think we walked about 20 kilometres. Got me some nice blisters (I don't own proper walking shoes). Wonderful memories nevertheless.

We came back this Friday. Yesterday the Boyfriend and I went to a nice sauna. I received a few giftcards and I could exchange them for free entrance. We had a great day and came home totally relaxed. It was the perfect ending of a great week!

Today we cleaned the house and did whatever we liked to do. I stitched and watched the BBC (the Jublilee Pageant). I didn't stick to my diet LOL but that's okay. Tomorrow I go back. I was too lazy to take a picture, I hope to take one tomorrow!

Happy Mothersday!

Today it's Mothersday in The Netherlands: Hope you all have a wonderful day!
It's the first time I ever received a gift, the Girl came home from school and told my inlaws: "I am the daughter of mama and also of Liesbeth". When I picked her up by the train she told me again. I can tell you my day rocked! She painted a lovely piece for me which is now proudly displayed in my house.

We will bring her home later tonight. This weekend the weather have been great! Still not warm enough to wear true summer clothes (skirts!!) but it had some sun! This year the temperatures for May have been a bit cold. I really hope it will get better soon. We won't go on a summer holiday this year and I hope to enjoy a bit of sunshine when we stay home. Previous years we went to France and the weather is always great, lots of sun.

Politics
In my last post I was pretty upset about the political situation. Two days after I wrote that post, five political parties came together and agreed to a plan. Just in time to give it to the European Union. It's not the best plan ever, but for now it will do. Still, in September I will have to vote again.

Celebrations
Queensday on April 30th was hot!!! That is so typical, there are only a few rainy Queensday's I remember. On Queensday the entire country is dressed in orange or red-white-blue and has a day off. The Queen and her family visits two places in the Netherlands, people show her some love and their skills in many things (singing, dancing, crafts, games, sports, etc). The rest of the country can follow this live on tv or sell their stuff on the street. It's like one big garage sale! There are also lots of music performances and people have a lot of fun. I stayed home, it was way too crowded for me.

Memorial Day on May 4th was impressive as always. It makes me so sad to hear, see and read all the WW2 stories and I am grateful my country was liberated. Although I live very close to the monument in my city, I like to follow the Memorial Service on tv.
The day after is Liberation Day with lots of music and street markets.

Cross stitching: why you are here

I was going to give an update but unfortunately I haven't stitched for a week! I hurt my right hand again and I cannot stitch. It's aweful. I have found out I make a fist in my sleep (like I am going to fight). Right now I am pretty stressed about our situation and I also angry about the things happening to us. I try to relax my hand as much as possible but I think I will try to get a brace or something at my local pharmacy.

I did however stitch a little bit. Over the last two years I bought a couple of cross stitching magazines and acquired quite a few free gifts! So I started this when I had to travel three hours by train to a meeting. The kit was lovely but there weren't enough red threads and it also had a tapestry needly. In my opinion that should have been a embroidery needle with a sharp tip, because of the fractal stitches that this kit needed. This was my first attempt at french knots and it was a lot easier than I thought! I don't know how I am going to finish this yet. My boyfriend hates this piece though, he prefers the big Train. I cannot blame him!

Looking at this picture I see I have to clean and oil my table again, oopsie!!

Also, this is where my Train is at the moment:

Well I hope to give a real update soon!!