From October into November…

This time of year is steeped in parties… We go from Samuel and Famke’s birthday to Gerbrich’s birthday to Halloween…

Trick or treat!

Trick or treat!

Unfortunately for our kids, who are great lovers of funny, spooky horror, they don’t celebrate Halloween here, but Sint Maarten, which is on the 11th of the 11th. We did, however, have a small Halloween celebration at home, with Steve-made candy apples, scary bunting, scary lights and a kiddy film.
From Halloween we rolled into November, and this weekend was all about partying too. First we had the School breakfast, a ‘breakfast party’ at school held every year to promote eating breakfast.
The tables laid out in Sam's classroom

The tables laid out in Sam's classroom


And Hannah posing at her school desk...

And Hannah posing at her school desk...

On Friday, the kids made and decorate their Chinese lanterns for Sint Maarten and then on Saturday it was Hannah’s big day: the gymnastics gala…
Jumping along!

Jumping along!

Hannah had been looking forward to it all week, and she loved it. We thought it was rather long and drawn out (get 100+ girls – and two boys, who all want to show you what they can do, from small 4yo to 16+), and Sam had sort of had it after a long day being dragged along to gymnastics rehearsals and then a craft fair his mommy just ‘had to’ go to ;) After 3 hours, we were glad to go home :D
Then on Sunday it was Sam’s day:
Paddington's First Concert

Paddington's First Concert

We went to see a ‘concert’, with the ‘Zandtovenaar’ and Paula Udondek (well-known tv personalities) telling the story of Paddington and beautiful classical music to go with it. Sam even got on stage to help the orchestra (second boy from the right, green top)! This was Amy’s fourth visit to the theatre in a week and a half: first 101 Dalmatians with Hannah, then the night after Wende Snijders (great!), a few days later Hamlet with Steve (amazing, but sore bum after 3 hours straight in bad chairs) and then Paddington bear. Sam was a bit disappointed he wasn’t there in person, but the big screen and sand magician was captivating!
In the meantime, Steve was scaling big heights trying to get rid of 5 years of ivy…
The things you do to sell your house...

The things you do to sell your house...


Say hi!

Say hi!

The ivy had grown from our garden against the neighbours house and was starting to invade their attic… This needed to go… We still have 4 leylandii (smallish, only 6 m) to cut down, so there’s enough work left here! Steve is also finishing off the pantry, which is looking very nice and fresh! Pictures of that as soon as it is clean and organized and painted!
Ready for another working week!

Update on Hanneke and the ‘Pantry Showdown’

Amy’s mom is back home after a short stay in the hospital. As a result of the invasive operation in February, she had to have a colostomy. This proved to be an even bigger challenge and hassle than all the chemo put together, so as soon as chemo was over, she was off to the surgeon to book a date to have the colostomy reversed. This operation was carried out successfully last Thursday and she is now back home recovering! We hope she will be up to her old antics very soon!

On the home front, it’s Steve versus the pantry today… We want to tile the floor and laundry area soon, and the first prerequisite is a good clear-out. If you don’t hear from him before the week is out, that is where he’ll be, buried under a large pile of stuff…

D Day

It was D Day yesterday: with a D for Drainage.
After having been plagued by mosquitoes and other nasty critters ever since we moved here (which was, wait a minute, 4, FOUR years ago!!), a while ago the situation got so bad – really, black windows because of little flies, that would die within 24 hours of coming out of unknown holes, but not before having gotten every available female fly up the duff or giving birth to a multitude of said flies -us and the neighbours decided to bite the bullet and order a drains inspection. And, holy moly, it was bad. Several breaks in the pipes, and veritable dirt bath under our floor. It was going to cost us dearly, but with the idea that this was going to solve the problem once and for all, we decided to go ahead and fork out the cash.
Wednesday the neighbour’s house was fixed, and yesterday the big septic tank wagon came driving up the street to sort us out.
We decided to make ourselves scarce and fled to the allotment. A good decision, as we managed to remove 8 binliners full of weeds (yes, we are bad vegetable parents, but more on that later). When we got home around lunchtime to pick Hannah up from school and rush out again to eat at a place not smelling of muck, we were greeted by a big hole in our patio. We really pitied the bloke that had to sit under our house (and the neighbours’ house yesterday) for several hours, draining away the muck and then putting new drains in place). He happens to be our backdoor neighbour too ;)

The patio

The patio


They finished earlier than next door, apparently having only 2 leaks (instead of 3) and less muck does help. So, while everyone else was enjoying the sun, we spent the rest of the day chasing any still living flies with the hoover. Revenge.
And now, life is nice. Turns out that the blocked drains were also the reason our dishwasher refused to pump away water. So, hooray, we’re back in the 2010s, with a working dishwasher, a house without flies and, soon, an under-the-stairs-cupboard you can breathe in without getting sick. Something to celebrate with vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries and strawberry coulis!

News from the hospital

Last Wednesday, Amy’s mom had her operation. She was admitted on Tuesday, and after seeing the gynaecologist, anesthesist, dietician, thrombosis nurse, ward nurse, stoma nurse and countless interns and other nurses, she was wheeled off to the OR on Wednesday morning.
Too many hours later, we got the phone call: operation a success, but patient quite ill. Instead of returning back to the ward, she was transferred to ICU. Hanneke had lost quite a lot of blood, which meant that even though they had managed to remove all the cancer cells, they were unable to repair her bowels, where some of the cancerous tissue was attached to. This second op was scheduled for the next morning.
Unfortunately, she lost more blood that night, and was rushed to the OR again. Way way after midnight we found out she was back on ICU. It took quite a few more hours to get her stabilized, but the original second op had to be postponed. After an evening visit by Amy, we were beat, as we had hardly had any sleep the night before. We went to bed at half 9!
This afternoon, we got the good news that the repair op had been a success and that she was back on ICU and stabilized! She probably will be kept asleep and on the ventilator for a few more days, but at least she’s still here!

Bad news

Certain things are meant to be shared on a blog. Other things aren’t. But still, sometimes you just have to post about something. However much you don’t want to. Like the fact that Amy’s mom is ill. And it’s serious and very unfair. The big C has wormed its way in our family again. We’re all still trying to get to grips with the situation, trying to understand what is happening, catching up with what has been going on and looking forward to what needs to be done. We’re in survival mode. All over again.
We will probably keep everyone updated via e-mail, but don’t hesitate to contact us.

From the Moss kitchen

We’ve been busy this week. Mostly busy in the kitchen, that is! The last few weeks, we have started ‘hoarding’ cook books, mostly the little specialist cook books, which are sold in our Second Hand Store (Kringloop) for 20-50 ct each, sometimes a bit over a Euro for the large coffee table types. And we love them! It’s great to just sit down in the evenings, with a cup of coffee, leafing through these little gems, adding little post-its to recipes we want to try out.
One thing this has resulted in, is us dusting off the bread machine. It’s seen plenty of action over the last week! The first few loafs we made with our ‘basic’ bread recipes were total duds. Until I used some new yeast. Turned out that my big box of yeast had finally died and gone to heaven. I had bought a pound of yeast some time last year (or the year before, who knows) during my previous bread baking frenzy, and after opening and closing the jar a few times too often, the yeast decided enough was enough. I’m now on the little packages, but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to cycle past the bio shop and pick up a package with a larger supply of yeast. I had looked at the wholesaler’s (Makro), but was surprised not to find any there…
After we started using proper yeast that would make the bread rise properly, we were on a roll! Look at these beauties!

Loaf number 1

Loaf number 1

A yummy ‘vloerbrood’, not baked in a tin (as I did not have one large enough, just cake tins, resulting in tiny baby loafs, haha).
Loaf 2, braided

Loaf 2, braided

A braided loaf, made with Hannah’s help. She was a bit disappointed that you couldn’t see the braids when you cut it and put it on your plate, but I think she has made her peace with that now.
Homemade bagels, with Philadelphia and salmon, of course

Homemade bagels, with Philadelphia and salmon, of course

And bagels! Yes! Bagels! First boiled in hot water and then baked. Still a bit doughy, so with room for improvement. But toasted and with some cream cheese and salmon too yummy for words… Made a dozen, so there are still a few left. No more salmon though :D
The fish for the fish pie

The fish for the fish pie


And this was a definite achievement! We like eating fish, but the words ‘fish pie’ always made me go a bit queezy. And more than one person here will start gagging when the word ‘leek’ comes up in a conversation. It was a lot of work – cutting up loads of leek, boiling the fish, straining the juices, cutting up, boiling and mashing the potatoes, and waiting for it to cook in the oven – and resulted in a lot of dishes (yes, we love our dishwasher), but it was delicious. Even Hannah ate her fill, and is now enjoying seconds for lunch. Sam, well… Sam was being Sam and refused eating anything warm and not looking like bread with peanut butter/chocolate spread… Sigh… One day he will cave. He will! The recipe was a success, and will be patiently copied into our family recipe book. For those who want it, drop me a line ;)
Our soap nut supply for the rest of the year

Our soap nut supply for the rest of the year

And this is our latest eco-friendly effort! We’re now using soap nuts for washing. We tried them a few weeks ago and it was such a joy using them, we bought 2 kilos of nuts. That ‘should’ be enough for the rest of the year, at a fraction of the price of normal detergent (and it’s better for the environment too, great combo!). We also got some lavender essential oils, and by adding 2 drops to the laundry, it comes out smelling lovely. Without it, the laundry also smells nice, but just normal and soapy, and being a 21st Century family, we expect some type of smell when we sniff at our clothes. I expect that as soon as the laundry can hang outside again (no time soon, the weather is still horribly cold), we can forego on the lavender.

Well, that’s it for now! Next time more news about Moss-a-lot, but for whoever wants to read about what seeds we got for it, you can go to our special ‘Amy Goes Green’ blog at: http://amygoesgreen.wordpress.com. Yes. Another blog ;)

Nah, we’re doing nothing, honestly…

Saturday:

‘Hi babes. How’s England? Not too much snow?’
‘Nah, it’s fine. Only had a bit of delay in London, but I’m in Brighton now and everything’s fine.’
‘Did you have a good trip?’
‘Yes, it was super. Did you do anything nice today?’
‘Ah, just the shopping, and then took the kids through the car wash. Always a hoot.’
‘Yeah, they love that, don’t they? Are you taking it nice and easy then?’
‘Of course, sitting on the sofa knitting as we speak.’
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Sunday:
‘Hi gorgeous! How’s you? Any fun in Brighton?’
‘Super, we took a stroll along the seaside and then had a pint.’
‘Cool. We went over to the new neighbours to cuddle the new baby. Sooo cute!’
‘Not doing anything too strenuous? You promised to take it easy.’
‘Don’t be a fool, I’m on the sofa knitting, watching the kids make a mess. We went to the pool for a splash and are having pancakes.’
‘Any plans for tonight?’
‘Nah, more knitting and some telly I think…’
‘Good plan. Take it easy, yeah?’
‘Night night, good luck on the train tomorrow and gives us a call whenever you’re nearly home so we can pick you up! Love you!’
‘Love you, talk to you tomorrow!’

dsc00036

Right, back to painting… :)

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House work

A lot of ideas are currently bubbling up in our heads to do some DIY. The weather is getting worse and worse, so we stay in a lot more and ‘see’ a lot more :lol:
The stairs will definitely get a new coat, the walls in the stairwell need painting, and the pantry/washroom, well, is the pantry… ;) We are planning to finally put a proper wall in (you can see where) and then tile the entire area around the washing machine. The ultimate dream would be to have all of the floor tiled as well, but that is a job that requires all our stuff cleaned up and out first and a few days of decent dry weather to both dry the mortar and not drench our stuff. So, that is probably something for Spring.

Our washing area, with new floral covering on the folding area. Just image a lovely matching (purple?) curtain next to the washing machine to hide the laundry...

Our washing area, with new floral covering on the folding area. Just image a lovely matching (purple?) curtain next to the washing machine to hide the laundry...


In the meantime, Sam makes us coffee… The sweatheart…
Masterchef Sam hard at work... He loves the kitchen now and makes us Senseo a lot (the orange button to the left). We got normal coffee from the pot today...

Masterchef Sam hard at work... He loves the kitchen now and makes us Senseo a lot (the orange button to the left). We got normal coffee from the pot today...

Levina

Today Sam and Amy went to see little Levina, Amy’s cousin’s second baby, who was born just over 4 weeks ago. What a little cutie!!! Sam was very impressed with big sister Tara, who celebrated her 3rd birthday 2 days ago and was wearing her birthday hat, made by the teacher in Kindergarten. Sam was very jealous of the hat, but then again, she had more interesting things as well, like a pram and a doll to push around the room… The two of them played like little darlings, while the momsies chatted away about diapers, poo, pee, and giving birth. Yup, the usual… :) Good thing the big boys weren’t there, haha…
Here’s the little ‘uns in action…

Sam, Tara and little Levina

Sam, Tara and little Levina


Having fun!

Having fun!

Broke a spoke

Last night, just after Sammy went to bed, I (Amy) got a phone call from big S asking me to pick him and Hannah up from further up the road, this was the reason why:


I had noticed a spoke was missing, and like the front wheel, the back wheel was a bib wobbly… And on Sunday, when we were planning to out for a cycle, we turned back home at the end of the street because I thought it was very strange to drive… Unfortunately, I did not get round to bringing it to the bike shop yesterday (a strict deadline was to blame for that one)… and then when I asked big S whether he was sure he wanted to go biking with wee H… well, let’s say I did warn them… Luckily none of them were injured, but it did crack dramatically… And now, we’ll be without a bike until Friday, and then two proper stainless steel wheels richer and quite a few Euros poorer… Another life lesson learnt…

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