I am so.....

.... not handling this waiting well!

I feel like somebody at the beginning of a race just after the guy says 'Ready'.... 'Steady'....... and then just doesn't say 'GO'!

It is only 3 weeks to go now.. today 3 weeks from now we will be on the boat in Hull waiting for take off.. or erhm..is that float off? To arrive in Holland at 8 o'clock, then at 10 we will get a tour of our house to make sure it is in the state I expect it to be in after which at 11 the signing and key transferring will happen.

I almost said 'should happen' but since I have this new motto of 'I expect good things to happen to me' I changed it to will happen...

I suppose our traumatic experience in Spain doesnt help my peace of mind a lot... there we were... no place to stay, just a rental car with loads of stuff in our suitcases all ready to sign all our money over to this guy selling the house. And imagine we are sitting all around a table, our solicitor, our bankmanager and his friend, the seller, his solicitor, the notary all talking to eachother in Spanish. Oh and this was half hour after everybody got really irritated because our bankmanager didn't arrive when he said he would. So.. all talking Spanish, John and I holding hands and waiting for the moment someone would tell us 'please sign here' but that moment never came, instead a lot of excitement seemed to happen until someone said that if we didn't pay part of the money in cash that we wouldn't get the key. WHAT!!!! Being a proper dramaqueen I exclaimed 'NOOOOOOOO' and burst into tears. It all ended well though, because of my outburst and the seller being Dutch as well and we had bonded before the meeting he let us go into the house anyway because it was Friday and there was no bank open anywhere until Monday. Anyway, looking back on it it was all good fun but living through it wasn't fun at all so part of me is a tiny bit apprehensive about this signing with the notary business.


So, onto more positive things..

I have already decided on what I want from Ikea.. isn't that nice.. globalisation is good for something I tell ya! I went to Ikea Glasgow and could try out the couches, look for a bed and other stuff I didn't think I needed. So much fun.. of course.. they have the exact same things in Holland so all I need to do is take my list of things to buy and somehow get them home.

John and I have it all worked out, first we are going to go and try out the keys :-), then we are going to take all stuff out of Golfie and into the house, then leave it all lying around, measure a few things and drive to a white goods store and buy a washingmachine, fridge, microwave and vacuuming thing and hope they can delivery next day, then we will drive to Ikea and attempt to buy a bed (called Hopen), 2 nighttables, a mattress and slattedthingies so we have at least something to sleep on. I have a lot more things on my Ikea wishlist but we don't have a hope in hell to put all that in poor Golfie ;)

Then when night has come we are going to zonk out on the mattress and open the bottle of champagne BAC gave me for good behaviour and get drunk.

I think in between the bed in Golfie and the champagne there is probably going to be a dinner with Sateh involved.

Oh joy!

If only 3 weeks wasn't so ridiculously far away :-D

It has started....

... officially counting down now.. T minus 26

Noticeable only really by the feeling of stress that is building in me and the simple fact that the 'doing things for the last time in Scotland' are getting more frequent.

Made my last hairdresser appointment for Saturday 2nd of June which is also the last Saturday I make Johns mother her lunch (because she does it all the other weeks in the month except for the 1st Saturday of the month.. this family likes structure I tell you!)

It will be interesting to see how much of this structure I will keep.. for me.. my M.O. has always been doing things on the spur of the moment (I think I can honestly say my life was one big spur of the moment experience!).

It was REALLY strange for me to meet John who wouldn't do things because he felt like it at the time but for instance because it was a certain day of the week.

Many times I would say 'shall we have ' which he would love so much that after the last bite he would say 'that was great, shall we do that every Friday' (Or any day of the week it was on the moment we had that .

Of course he would never understand why I looked at him in strange disbelief because for me the whole object of junkfood is that you can use it like a joker, a trump card, to use on those moments you can't be bothered to be sensible but just want a quick fix. Planning junkfood is like terminus contradictus in my mind but I must say I have changed a lot in that area.

Holidays for instance.. for me that was always about waiting long enough for everything to be either full or too expensive so therefore just staying at home and live in and around the bed and kitchen, suited me fine-ish but there was always this niggle that I did want a holiday like other people seem to enjoy.

Well.. John has introduced me to the 'book your holiday 9 months in advance'. And of course, lets not forget, lets throw spur of the moment holidays out of the window completely and buy a house in Spain which is a nice warm place and then at least we know where to go to. :-)

Being a spur of the moment person I am also always game to try new things so I thought I would! And to my surprise.. it is fantastic to have an Excel spreadsheet John made which will show me exactly how many days to wait until our next holiday (109), it is great to know that we can travel light because everything we could possible want or need on our holiday destination is already there. Home away from home we call it and it is, I am sure we will love to use it as a rendez vous pied a terre and at least I KNOW what to do for my holidays because basically, all I ever wanted from a holiday is read books and books and books and get wet in the pool, burn to blisters on getting out and have fun with any neighbours that are around drinking endless glasses of red wine. No problems with having to wait what sort of neighbours you're going to get in your rented apartment, no worries if the place will be littered with cockroaches or the pool will be closed or not being able to find it. And cheap.. did you know that if you book your flights early enough you can fly so much cheaper? And not only that, since you pay it in February and only go in September, by that time you will have completely forgotten about the money you paid for the holiday. Brilliant..

It has taught me that instant gratification is not always a good thing...

Reminds me of this test...

4 year olds are confronted with a marshmellow and told that if they wait with eating it for 5 minutes that they will get 2. It is amazing how many 4 year olds can't wait that enormous amount of time and scoff the thing immediately.

And now of course you expect me to say that I could now easily wait those 5 minutes to get the 2 marshmellows?

Well.. sorry.. holidays ok, but food? That marshmellow would be only in my mouth long enough to say FIVE!! minutes ???????!!!!!

Getting there!

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Stolen...

.... but hilarious (sooooo Norunn....)

Note line 29

Out with the old, in with the new

Very stressful day today..

So.. I had only 2 conference calls for the BAC planned today, one I had to run myself at 11 and one just for listening in at 1500. I on purpose blocked out the rest of my calendar because today was the day THE PLUMBERS would arrive.. Pom pom pom..

Also.. today was the day that Carpetright would come to measure up a few rooms for vinyl we want to put down, they said that at about 09:30 someone would call me to make an appointment.

I considered cancelling my calls but thought it wouldn't be professional to say 'need to cancel since I am 'working' from home today instead of properly WORKING as I am supposed to do' so I thought 'how big is the chance of any of this interfering with my 2 calls'?

Hah!

So plumbers were supposed to arrive at 09:30 (of course that was a lie, it was almost 10) but at least I was relieved I got them in before my call and got them to go to work all coffeed up and things like a good housewife. (Even made them tomatosoup for lunch, homemade, I hope he remembers that when he gives us the bill!)

In between doing coffee etc. some people called me for work related things and of course the carpetright guy ended up on my voicemail saying 'hello there, I will be around at 11'

MUTTER MUMBLE

I really so hoped he would either be early (I only needed 2 minutes to tell him what to do) or a bit late so I would have at least done the pre-ambling bit in the call which generally means you can let the participants talk amongst themselves while you nip out to do whatever is asking attention, be it postmen with packages, the electricity guy to check the meter or someone wanting money for some charity.

Of course.. no chance... JUST when the most important person on the call started his 'Tanja, thank you for arranging this call, this is very important blah blah' the bell rang so I asked for a moment and told them that I would have to go on mute for a little while.

This didn't deter him.. while he was nattering on in my wireless headset I opened the door to mister carpetright trying to tell this high guy on the call to please wait with his important bit, forgetting I was on mute and of course him going on and on thinking it was so nice for a change not to be interrupted (yeah I know I do that, it is enthusiasm, please forgive me) all the while confusing the hell out of the carpet guy when I said 'hold on a minute' to my headset and he went 'yes, no problem' and I had to explain I wasn't talking to him

Pffff.. it was all very embarrassing for all parties involved.. in the end I managed to go off mute long enough to tell mr important to please wait a few minutes and talk amongst themselves and tell mr carpetright what we wanted and that I hoped he could call me tomorrow with the quote.
The poor guy just did his thing and just waved on his way out while I was trying to desperately remember what the important thing was I wanted to achieve with this call!

Man.. how MURPHY was that!!!!!

Anyway, plumbers worked really hard, got all the old stuff out and installed the new bits almost, they will be back tomorrow to finish and start on the cloakroom, it looks lovely doesn't it?

If mr. Carpetright manages to get a quote in which we like we will have laminate look vinyl in all rooms that don't have proper laminate yet.

We should SO have done this 5 years ago, that shows... all you need is to apply the JFDI model. :-)

Out with the old:


In with the new:

The BIG revamp

Long time no see!!

It has JUST been too busy... for me anyway.. When John was on his trip to Denmark a week or so ago I decided that thinking about the daunting task of making our current house sale ready was almost becoming more daunting than actually getting my finger out. So I did!

You have to understand that our entire house has been taken over by eBay stock.. it got a bit crazy really but that was because it was slowly build by just adding bit by bit until you suddenly feel you are buried by it all. Every nook and cranny was filled with STUFF, amongst other things the guest room was full of it (guests would have to sort of dig their way through the bed). My brother took a picture of a bit of it when he was visiting but even photographing it was almost impossible because there was too much stuff... this is his impression:


In the right hand corner you can sort of see where the bed was squashed in :)

Now.. it took me about 3 days but I did it, I got every last bit of eBay STUFF into the loft, reclaiming our house for the original intended purpose! Today we put laminate in the guest room and as you can see from the photo below.. it is liveable in again!



Wednesday the plumber comes to swap our old (very very awful looking) bathroom for a new shiny one with cute taps (see here) and a matching cloakroom in the same design. Cheap as chips.. the suite that is.. the plumber is a different story, he is probably 2 times as expensive as the price we paid for the sets but.. for under 1500 quid we will have a new cloakroom and a new bathroom.

Wednesday as well the carpetright guy will come to measure the kitchen, bathroom, cloakroom and hall up and give us a quote for pretend laminate vinyl that he will come and lay soon as well and then all we need to do is a lot of cleaning and touch uppering, this process is going so quickly.

All I am doing now is distracting myself with all this since all I can do is wait now until it is the 15th of June!

I'm so proud!

Have a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVxkGIRrN7U

Kevin is crazy about LARPing.. which means Live Action Role Playing, as he explains it, it is like Dungeons and Dragons but then real life.
Well.. since I have no idea what Dungeons and Dragons is I was struggling to understand it but I just assume you all are more in tune with all these things...

So, last week was the Elf Fantasy Fair 2007 where Kevin had a leading role. Literally!

He had only 2 hours to practice on this with his group and people were pretty impressed with him:

These were the best few minutes of the fair, it was great to find out we really could do all those things. Kevin most certainly was the best Centurion we could ever have.

and

Kevin was heading up an excellent Roman legion (nr. 1) that had a lot of discipline and charisma. Off all Roman legions, I think I enjoyed them the most, as they acted the most realistic, and were absolutely loving it.

Bursting with pride, me, of course :)

Oh.. and Kevin is the one that shouts hardest.

So glad he finally found a use for that voice :-)

Wahey!

My mortgage advisor person called me this afternoon to say that all was OK and that there are no issues with getting the mortgage organised.

Absolutely fan-bl**dy-tastic!

What a relief..

And.. finally on the website it shows this:


Which means under offer depending on getting the mortgage sorted :-)

Yay!!

Also.. thinking of the future I wanted to get myself a nice new camera which would allow me to share with John all the exciting things I am going to experience (yeah right, think in the direction of showing a nice salad I made, a new kettle I bought, that sort of things :-))

So.. I bought a little cutie of a camera, the Fuji Finepix V10 Zoom

And what a cutie it is.. it does something that I have always wanted. As you might know I have made masses of pictures of things we then sold on eBay, it is always really hard to decide whether to use flash or not, some things just react really badly to flash where others do a lot better. This camera has a setting 'Natural Light & Flash' which means when you take a picture it takes another one immediately after it, one with and one without flash so you can later decide which version of your picture is best. Absolutely brilliant.

It also has a good quality (640x480) video recorder thingy on it and the ability to show video and pictures on the telly.. very cool I think :)

Oh and as you might have guessed I survived another flight!

4 blissfull days of peace and quiet (erhm.. working my ass off but at least in the same environment for more than 2 days) and then I am off to Sherwood Forest!

Pfff.. May is going to seem so boring!

There

I've arrived....

Phew... it is all go at the moment! Yesterday John dropped me off in Prestwick for yet another flight, this time to Frankfurt Hahn.. Got picked up by a colleague and only managed to go to bed at 01:30 - oh well.. didn't matter.. since I was the last person arriving in the hotel and wanted a non smoking room I got a 1st class room instead of a business class room. Very very nice indeed, 2 chairs, little table and 2 single beds to choose from ;) - No coffee making facility though, very unfair , I have discovered though that that means half hour longer sleep which was nice :)

Nice breakfast, orange juice, white crispy roll with brie with chili (!) and emmenthaler and a muffin, very unexpected in Germany but lovely :) Also.. to my surprise again GOOD coffee!

Interesting that things are slightly different here.. for instance.. in the drink machines there are glass bottles instead of cans and plastic bottles, and special holes in the wall to put your empties, very cool :)

Canteen cheap as chips as well.. apparently that is subsidised (I approve) and tonight we are going to a nice place for dinner...

With 13 men and 2 women (including me :-)) and it is summer here, so much better than the 13/14 degrees and rain in Wemyss Bay!

Home

or is it?

:-)

Things do feel a bit weird at the moment, I must admit.

I am home in Wemyss Bay for one day which is lovely, there is nothing like your own bed is there, pity I can't take it with me! Or at least the mattress.. We were advised a Sealy Posturepedic 5 years ago and I must say it is absolutely brilliant! It was expensive, can't remember how much exactly but something like £250 at least. So I thought I would go and check in Holland what it would cost me there to get the same one... so... calling the only shop who advertised them in Holland I asked for a quote ...... he called me back and said 'Are you sitting down?' :) €2355

WHAT!

Dear me.. well.. that is as much money as my lovely little Peugeot so no way am I going to spend that amount of money!

Anyway, for now I am letting it all go for a little while, I am concentrating now on my workshop in Germany, creating presentations that will hopefully dazzle the audience. Then, when coming back on Thursday evening I have a whopping 4 whole days of stability before I drive off into the sunset again...

May will be such a boring month comparing ;)

The deed is done

Well... all documents signed, sealed and delivered, there is nothing more I can do now but wait if the bank agrees with all the documents presented and put their money where their quote was!

If *all* goes well I will be able to move in from the 15th of June but I must admit I am terrified that we run into big obstructions, don't know why but these things seem to go like building a new kitchen or bathroom, you just KNOW it never goes as planned and that it will always be more expensive than planned. So.. I am prepared to get a mail or phone call saying that something is missing, it is ALL very exciting.

We only have until 1st of May to get the OK from the bank, from that moment we are bound to go through with it or else we have to pay 14750 euro penalty. Brrrr!

Upside of course is that after that date I should know for sure if the bank accepted me as a customer, well, they should do considering how much money they are going to make by taking me in.

So... today was all about re-acquainting myself with city infrastructure.. man... did I enjoy that or what?? I was in the city (where all shops are hehe) at 9 in the morning and the weather was gorgeous, I nicely browsed, bought nothing but logged loads of things and then decided to walk home (erhm.. this means about 10 miles - 3 hour walk, hope you're proud).

My body now hurts in places I didn't know were there but it was fantastic to put down footsteps again in MY bit of the world...

Coming to a close

So..back in Holland again... for the last time before the move I hope!

This time is about signing the mortgage quote for the bank, the purchase contract and some other very official documents. The file with the guy who takes care of all of this for me is absolutely HUGE, like, it could be used as a stool to sit on by now!

Today I need to go to the notary, I am a bit scared of people like him, he told me off severely for the way John and I dealt with our finances (now WHY did he think that had anything at all to do with him?) but in the end he was willing to help me with what I needed but I must admit because he reacted in that irritating way I am a bit apprehensive on what he will throw at me today.

Oh well.. as long as I get out of the visit what I want it will be OK, if that is 'ticked' as well I so think a bottle of red wine is in order tonight because...

That is it.. it is out of my hands.. all I can do now is WAIT (oh boy, I am so not good at that) until the bank decides if they dare take me on as a customer and give me that mortgage I need. If I see the pile of STUFF they need to dig through to decide yes or no I don't think it will be quick!

Having said that, in my purchase contract it says that it has to be done before 1st of May so I hope that my agent can push it forward a bit so we don't have to go for extensions and things.

It is very nice that 'Eric' (remember him) made sure that the rest of April is absolutely manic for me. Sunday I arrive back in Wemyss Bay then the day after I fly to Frankfurt to attend this workshop and come back Thursday. Only 5 days later I need to leave again to this Centre Parcs thing. Haven't heard yet if the SPA day is going to happen (oh I so hope, I could do with one!)

During Easter we went on a boat trip on the broads in Norfolk.. that was so brilliant, the weather was great, the company magnificent (John and his dodo, her partner and dog :-)) and the picnic lovely!



This is Guinness (guess who chose that name for the dog) driving the boat.

So.. quiz... what do you do with a boat with a motor? Drive? Ride? Sail? Pilot?

:-)

Goodness

It is Good Friday and I don't have to work!

So WHY do I wake up at 06:35?

Yes, because the bloody mortgage quote still didn't arrive and I am stressed out of my skull! Today is it's last chance but to be honest I am not holding out a lot of hope, my fear is that the Dutch people sending this didn't address it properly so the Scottish (if it came that far!) postal people are still scratching their heads trying to work out where it is supposed to go.

Anyway... tomorrow morning we leave at sparrowfart to go to Norwich and then I can't do anything about it anymore, it is out of my hands then. If it doesn't arrive this afternoon I will call my estate agent type contact for advice, see what options we still have open.

In any case from Norwich I will fly to Holland on Tuesday morning and have an appointment to sign a few papers at the notary office and at the estate agent.

I only realised today that I fly back on the Sunday and then have to leave again on the Monday for a workshop in Germany until the 19th.

That serves me right for thinking my life wasn't exciting enough, all excitement in one month now.. ridiculous!

Because did I tell you that I got rewarded by the BAC for my hard work last year? Well.. rightfully so but it is nice that they agreed with that sentiment ;)

So... when I am back from Germany I have exactly 4 days at home before I drive off to Sherwood Forest (an English Centre Parcs venue) where apart from a business update we will do all sorts of 'fun' things.

Now... 'fun' of course is relative... and different for everybody... so.. they done this really nice actually.. part of the gettogether is of course official presentation type stuff but 1 big part of it is 'team activities' as could be expected of any self respecting BAC of course!

So I could choose from...

1. High Ropes (EEKS, me, HEIGHTS?)
2. Jacobs Ladder (something high as well so that is out)
3. Gladiator Challenge (test skills and aptitude? No way, inapt, me)
4. Abseiling (Sounds pretty high to me again, so NO)
5. Rock Climbing (Yep, why all so high?)
6. Tree Trek and Zip Wire (Tree, danger of being high so better not)
7. Laser Combat (My, how agressive!)
8. Back to school (Well.. I went through that nightmare first time so why revisit!)
9. Low Ropes (Not so high, still high danger of severly hurting myself so NO)
   
10. Waterworld (If it was in a pool, OK, but this is the rafts things and stuff, NO)
    
11. Venture hunt (Hmm.. now this COULD be fun-ish)
    
12. Ten pin bowling (No eye-hand coordination)
    
13. Golf Driving Range (Same problem, different sport)
    
14. Quiz (Hmm.. generally very geared to cultural questions, no chance)
    
15. Spa (now... THAT is better BUT do I really want to parade in a bathing suit looking bluish white with my cellulite bubbling out everywhere?)

See.... 'fun' is relative.

I am sure that masses of people would start to get really excited from a list like that whereas I think 'Oh MY GOD' what is the least worst one out of this list?

It *has* to be the Spa day because even though I don't like all this exposing myself to my colleagues (in Holland I very regularly run naked amongst perfect strangers in the sauna but that is so much easier since they wouldn't even recognise me all dressed ;-)) I *do* like sauna's and steambaths and generally being in nice warm water all day long, so I said BRING IT ON.

I thought it would be a good way of really getting to terms with the body I have created. So okay.. I don't think it is a work of art but it is mine and it is about time that I am standing proud and say 'this is it, deal with it'.

I might be the only one brave enough though which might mean the activity doesn't happen so for seconds I put down the Venture Hunt and I think the quiz... fingers crossed!

So confused...

Well.. no mail again today.. feeling a bit anxious BUT I have booked my flights so this quote better arrive before we leave for Norwich!

Yesterday I was talking to another person who moves back to Holland after spending YEARS here in Scotland.. she said that in her new job she got only a tiny small remark in her review about her grammar in Dutch and the way she builds sentences. Couldn't believe that... but it was true..according to her she now feels that she isn't very good in 2 languages.

Scary!

Because I have noticed.. that my melody has changed..you know how in English the melody changes dramatically when you ask a question? Somehow the melody is so different from the Dutch way of asking a question that I heard myself how strange I sound when talking Dutch. Only the first few days thank goodness but I see people look at me a bit like 'oh look how she tries to be interesting'. Since in Holland you are never allowed to be or do anything that is not normal in a 'be normal that is crazy enough' sort of fashion.

Mind you.. I always felt that the Dutch 'normal' was considered to be totally over the top compared to the British normal :-)

Anyway, today again I noticed how screwed up I am....

Made a list of days of the week since I wanted to plan what sort of clothes I need to take since I am going first to Norwich where I have to be sort of sporty since we are going to do 'green' things (like exploring islands in a boat and things) and then I am going to Holland where I have to visit the notary and want to look sort of presentable.

So... there I had my list of days. In Dutch.

Then behind the first day I noticed I filled in the activity of the days in English :-)

Quite funny actually.. I have become more English than I realised.

I remember so well when I first started to live here that I got so frustrated with reading magazines and books (after I ran out of Dutch ones) because there were so many words that I didn't know and it stopped my flow. Also English television was hard to follow, always had to ramp the sound right up before I could understand what they were saying.

And now.. last time I was in Holland I found the subtitling REALLY weird and quite irritating since they don't always translate properly :-)

When in Holland I keep on throwing English words into the equation because I am not patient enough to find them in Dutch in my mind.

And suddenly I realised.. hang about.. soon I will be living in Holland which should help with talking and writing proper Dutch again because I will read Dutch papers, books, magazines, listen to TV but at the same time I will still work for an English department and converse with my colleagues and of course my English lover.

Poor poor brain....now.. 2 things can happen.. I will either become totally fluent again in both languages or totally screwed up in both.

Answers on a postcard :-D

Tummy Aches

OK.. I must admit.. Eric or not... I so wish the mortgage quote would arrive!

They sent it to me last week but Holland to Scotland apparently is quite a long way away since the Dutch equivalent of the Royal Mail says it can take 5 days to arrive.

Everything is dependant on the quote arriving soon because when it does John needs to sign, then I need to take the proof of employment forms and all sorts of other stuff and go to Holland.

Since it is almost Easter and we are going to visit Johns daughter in Norfolk (8 hour drive) I thought it would be great to fly from there to Amsterdam so I only have to do this huge drive once.

Then in Holland I need to sign some papers to get the mortgage going, the purchase contract signed so it can all be finished by the time I want to go into the house.

So ... I am so willing this to arrive now... 3 more days to go and Friday is a holiday in some parts of the UK so I have all my bits crossed but djeez.. it makes me feel SO uncomfortable!

Then of course I go back to basics, this is MY house.. anything that is difficult has just been sent to test me and then I go back to the pictures I took and start planning what sort of furniture I will buy.

Like.. do you like my bedroom? :) Note the blue glass blocks (which I love so much!) and it is so sexy, they have lights inside!



It will all be OK

Excitement galore!

Goodness me.....

It is a good thing I have learned to trust in 'eric'.

Did I tell you about 'Eric'?

Well.... when John and I met eachother we felt that all the roadsigns seem to be pointing us to get together and it was almost like the process went all on its own. We didn't have to 'do' anything, it almost got 'reveiled' to us. We constantly referred to this as 'it', 'it' is showing us where to go, what to do next etc.

'It' as a name was chosen so we could keep it out of any religious box. 'It' was our spiritual guidance and has been since we have met and to this day. Doesn't mean, mind you, that we always understand 'it's' ways or that we don't get frustrated :-).

Anyway, John's sister at some point said 'All this talk about 'it', can't we at least give 'it' a name, say 'Eric'' ... so.. it has been a running joke in my family now for years that Eric knows best. If something is taken away it is only because Eric has something better in store and.. he always has!

Like.. I saw this other house before I saw 'mine' and I fell in love with it instantly because it had such a great kitchen and bathroom and everything, ok, it only had 1 bedroom but I was very quick to organise in my mind a sleepingcouch sothat any visitors would still have a nice place to crash.

When I informed about the house and they told me it was sold I was gutted and going to Holland was a bit more scary because the houses I saw weren't really lighting my candle, they were nice-ish but none of them sparked anything in me. I was terrified of not being able to find anything suitable.

Until the moment that my mum and I walked past that estate agent right outside the door of my best friends house, like it had been planted for me. And it was clear why I never saw it advertised before, it was JUST out of my budget but of course after a bit of haggling it got into the budget again.

So.. Eric is still guiding us and it feels so good, even when things get scary, like today when our 'proof of employment' letters got rejected by the bank I just know that Eric will provide, I go through the motions and I just know that from the 15th of June I will live in MY house.

:-)

Can't wait!

Hooray! Me, Home Owner!

Well.... the deed is done.

I have bought a house for €147.500 with a transfer date of 15th of June 2007

WOW

Of course I should say 'we' :-) but still.... it is quite... massive!

I never thought this would happen and it has been a scary process BUT thinking about it... I arrived on the 13th of March which means that in 10 days I have been able to not only find a nice house, I found a house to LOVE and bought it!

Yesterday I drove back from dropping my mum off at her house and drove past the flat, my house stood out from all the other ones with lights on because of that lovely starry heaven. (Because there are little lights in all ceilings, the current owner is an electricien :-))

And did I tell you about the mural in the extra bedroom? Well... unfortunately I didn't take the picture from the same place so it doesn't quite fit but I think you can get a good idea. It is absolutely massive and so beautiful.. even though I can't *yet* think of a use for it, I can't take it away either. Maybe in a few years. The tree on the right is really three dimensional, under it is the heating pipe that always runs through this flat.. what an idea to get rid of it :-)



This house feels like a playground.. it so suits me!

So..next step is to wait until the mortgage quote is ready, for John and me to sign, then I need to fly over again to get the contract signed and then 15th of June I should be in!

Exciting times!

Life changing moves

Well... there you go.. how things can sometimes happen QUICK

Tuesday I arrived in Holland (about 21:30) and I said to my brother that it was such a pity I didn't have a car for a few weeks so I could cart myself around in search for the perfect house and browse furniture.

Well.. that same night we drove past a few houses I had picked from the net but none of them looked very cosy in the dark so a few of them got discarded instantly.,.. then my brother called one of his friends who has a garage who said he had a car for me to use while I was here, a blue peugeot 205, lovely little car.

So, Wednesday morning I first went to view a house which was not what I wanted, then had coffee with my mum and at 11 went to the notary to get him to draw up a 'living together' contract which he almost didn't want to do because he claimed we would not live together :-)

The guy was like one of those old fashioned doctors, horrible, telling me off for having my money shared with John, that it wasn't safe and that we should change that and each have our own account and one combined. I so was tempted to scream 'get out of my life' but I needed him for the document that will allow us to buy this house together. :-)

Anyway after I convinced him that we shared all our accounts and houses and a lot of love he reluctantly agreed to drawing up the contract as well as allowing John to sign a power of attorney so John doesn't have to fly over. (John does NOT like flying :-))

Then Jacco called and said he had 'my' car and would you believe the license plate starts with TG? ;-) That sounds like meant to be or what? So I am now the proud owner of my own blue Peugeot 205 from 1998, over the moon I am!

Then my mum and I went to a place to have something to eat and we passed an estate agent and saw a flat in the window which was JUST over budget but looked nice enough to check out so I went in and got the particulars... well.. the pictures alone made me fall in love at first sight and my mum loved them too.. so .. made an appointment for a viewing, went there with Karin and my mum to view at 15:30 and it was IT - it is as quirky as I am, very different and strange but still big and plenty of room for me and John AND a proper room for someone to stay over!

The kitchen is gorgeous, all tiled from top to bottom as well as the bathroom and.. wait for it... it has a jacuzzi bath!!! How great is that! The extra 'box, dressing, laundry, visitorsroom' is a bit warped though. It was a childs room and some artist has drawn a fantastic mural on the wall - it is just too beautiful to take off but it did make me wonder if anyone could sleep there and not get nightmares :)

I have a few pictures here but I must say you can't really see the quirkyness, that only becomes apparent when you are in the place....

So.. picture 1 is the flat itself, the apartment building I should say... you need to scroll to the right a bit and then you see the view... then on the 2nd row you see a few pictures of the lounge..the blue glass blocks are my absolute favorite... very beautiful as they are but they also have lights in them for nighttime.. great stuff...

On the 2nd row the picture on the far right you can see a door to the left, that leads to the little room where you can sleep if you dare and that then leads again (with a glass door) to the bathroom, mind you, the toilet is still separate, they didn't put an extra one in :)

In the ceiling in the bedroom and livingroom there are tiny little lights which look like stars in the dark, very romantic :)

I am so glad I found something that I absolutely love, I was a lot scared! I do feel guided because.. who manages to get a car with their name on it AND a house they adore in ONE day? Unbelievable.. I am reeling!

Next step now is to have a 2nd viewing on Tuesday with the mortgage guy and my brother to get the more objective view (not that they can ever change my mind but they might be helpful in the negotiations since all I want to scream is YES YES YES anything you want I'll pay which is totally ridiculous since the house has been on the market for 2 years since it is just TOO personal, they are just lucky they found someone from their planet to love it :-)

John and I do realise that we will probably not be able to resell again but came to the conclusion that I will always want to have a pad to go to in Holland instead of staying with family, I so need my own bombshelter where I can pretend that I am still Dutch :-)

And it is fun here I must say, very confrontational, like.. of course it is great that I know where everything is, it feels very cosy but if I am in our version of Tesco which is about a third of the size of the one I am used to I get a bit irritated because they only have expensive brands and not the nice cheap tesco value stuff which we always buy. John will just have to take truckloads of stuff with him ;-)

The BAC is still working really hard on moving me to Holland, I must say they are really coming through for me, how great is it that you can move country and take your job with you? It *has* advantages to work for a Big American Company!

Big City Girl revisited

Well... it had to happen sometime I suppose..

As in.. you can take the girl out of the city but you can't take the city out of the girl!

I miss the people, the infrastructure, the metro to the city, the 3 big supermarkets to choose from in walking distance, cycling to and from the city or the green pastures close by, my family, mixer taps, tiled bathrooms, Spa days, dinner out with friends, theatre visits, the weekly market, my social circle, my old job, did I mention my family? :-)

Anyway.. the more it rains here the more I miss Holland, the more I work from home (even though that is lovely) the more I feel claustrofaubic, even though it is gorgeous here, that is for sure.

But I need to find myself back, and myself starts in Holland, I didn't realise that 'being Dutch' was such a HUGE part of my personality but it is...

And THANK GOD that I am in a relationship with someone who fully understands and accomodates that need.

Now.. how are we going to source that €134000 I need for that apartment I've seen? :-)

And how many houses can one own before one thinks 'this is enough' :-D

Can't help thinking - even though it might be slightly impractical - that it is so nice to decide which country we will pick to live each season. And have one for each :-)

Winter in Spain, spring in Scotland, summer in Holland, autumn.... Norwich?

Who knows... never a dull moment, that is for sure.. watch this space!

Lang zal ik leven in de gloria

Well....I have to say... that was (and is) a huge success!

My brother and I were able to keep my presence a secret until the unveiling moment so that was nice. I told my (now 4 year old niece) that when grandma came in the door she first had to open her presents and only then could come and get me (because I ran upstairs). Very cute to hear her say after every present 'you can't go upstairs Oma' hehe... anyway finally when the ordeal of opening presents was over she came and got me and that did surprise my mother as much as we expected. 'Oh I feel all tearful' she said... bless.. it was cute...

Then a few days later, my birthday..... remember when I bought that watch a few weeks ago? I love it, it is ever so cute but it does clash with my pink/purplish clothes a lot sooooo.. when I said that I wanted another watch to be able to swap according to what I am wearing, my bestest friend in the world immediately said 'I want to give that for your birthday'. WOW!! So now I am the proud owner of a proper Swatch Bubblehop!

Then... I went to the lenses people.. turns out that even though my lenses were so old that the right one is all deformed (oops) my eyesight didn't deteriorate as much at all as B&L had said. I am SO happy I only ordered a weaker pair of glasses, they now happen to be about just right. He explained that even if I could see sharper with the prescription they gave me that I would have problems since my eyesight would be distorted and I would see everything smaller than it actually is. And to be honest I already noticed that with my glasses, everything looks a lot different but still workable. So glad I made this decision!

So.. long story short, I can pick them up on Friday!! How smooth is that!

A few days ago I went to see Kevin and his dad and of course his squeeze was there as well, made a nice picture:
And now.. lots and lots of proper snow here in Rotterdam after having a few days of wet snow! Wemyss Bay has been gorgeous all week, now... WHY? ;-)