As some of you know, we are in the process of moving. Last week, the 22nd-24th, we spent every minute until late in the night shopping, painting and laying floor. When you rent an unfurnished house in the Netherlands, there are no floors, drapes, lights or really anything other than concrete floors and thankfully kitchen cabinets and sink (in Germany, even the kitchen does not exist, you have to buy all that as well). Needless to say it is a lot of work and a lot of money but we are currently paying way too much for rent so within the next year we will break even with the savings in rent.
Christmas day we woke up and opened presents of course and then made our way to the church for a ward Christmas brunch. This was an especially important get-to-gether for most because as of January 1st, the Capelle ward will be no more. The ward is being split, some going to the Gouda ward and others going to the Rotterdam ward. In our old house, we would be going to Rotterdam but thankfully because of the move, we will be going to Gouda. This is a good thing because many friends will be in Gouda and we wanted to remain ward members with them. Well, to go on...Christmas afternoon we went to visit Hannah's friends family, the Winters, in Barendrecht. Later, I decided that I shoudl go and get some more work done at the house so in the evening I left to install more laminate flooring.
On the 2nd day of Christmas (26th) Kristal and I both went early (around 9, can't get going too early) to the house for more work. We knew our time would be limited since my Aunt and Uncle were coming into town later that day to visit. Harold and Ima Jean Oaks are serving a mission in Frankfurt, Germany and they had some work to do here in Rotterdam. In fact, a ward member, Hylke Falkena was helping me lay some floors the other day and I mentioned I had relatives on a mission coming to town. He said "is it the Oaks?". Come to find out, he had just been called into a public affairs position and the Oaks were coming here to, among other things, train him.
On Saturday morning, we all went to Scheveningen to the Sea Life Aquarium. This was pretty cool because they had a large open poll full of fish including Stingrays that you could watch the fish from the side or above. The Stingrays would tread water and stick there noses out of the water and swim right past. I could have easily reached out and pet one but you are not supposed to. We saw a really cool sculpture exhibit along the sidewalk on the beach which I will post pictures of later.
The Oaks stayed at our home until early Monday morning but they are still in the Netherlands conducting business in other cities. It was good to have family around here for the first time. Our good friends, the Webbs, came to visit in May and it was good to have someone familiar in our home again.
Today I am back in the office, obviously working hard writing this post. Last night a couple neighbors and the missionaries came to the new house and we were able to finish the living room and part of the kitchen. Tonight I am working by myself but only have small areas to complete before our big move on January 1st. Wish us luck!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
I am finally home!
Traveling by numbers....
3 weeks
5 different countries
5 different hotels
2 countries entered twice
7 individual flights
1000+ km traveled by car
1 tired person
I don't usually travel for work but the last few weeks Novell has asked me to visit clients all over. On Nov. 25th - 27th I was in Denmark and Sweden. Last week starting Tuesday I traveled from the Netherlands to Denmark then to Sweden and finally to Finland before returning home late Friday. Then just 2 days later shortly after getting home from church I headed back to the airport to travel to London for 5 nights to attend some training in Bracknell. It has been interesting but too busy to barely breath so even though I have been visiting many places, I cannot say I experienced them. Maybe next time.
3 weeks
5 different countries
5 different hotels
2 countries entered twice
7 individual flights
1000+ km traveled by car
1 tired person
I don't usually travel for work but the last few weeks Novell has asked me to visit clients all over. On Nov. 25th - 27th I was in Denmark and Sweden. Last week starting Tuesday I traveled from the Netherlands to Denmark then to Sweden and finally to Finland before returning home late Friday. Then just 2 days later shortly after getting home from church I headed back to the airport to travel to London for 5 nights to attend some training in Bracknell. It has been interesting but too busy to barely breath so even though I have been visiting many places, I cannot say I experienced them. Maybe next time.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Single Parenting
This is our deal...I have to get up first in the morning and wake up the kids, make breakfast, make lunches and snacks for school and make sure the kids are ready to go on time and Chris gets to take Alex to school on his way to work. I like this deal because I hate to be cold and would rather get up an hour earlier then ride my bike on a winter morning. I know this sounds strange to everyone out there who knows how much I like my sleep though. Well, the last couple of weeks Chris has been out of town a lot, so I have had to do the single parent thing. I truly admire anyone who has to do this on a permanent basis.
Yesterday, I saw a teenage girl on a bike right in front of Alex and me almost get run over by a minivan...so scary, by the way. Luckily, she was paying attention and swerved out of the way before she got hit. I don't think I wouldn't have been that quick with the swerving, not that steady on a bike yet. This girl was amazing though, she was even holding an umbrella in one hand and steering with the other and it didn't seem to phase her too much. I on the other hand had a hard time not swearing and really wanted to go and rip apart the crazy driver of this minivan. Irrational anger, I know, but this is how I am sometimes.
This morning, after having rained for a good few days straight, was freezing cold, but clear and pleasant looking. I thought all was well until I went to cross a road and realized that it was a sheet of ice and another crazy driver was about to turn right onto us and then couldn't slow down, just sliding right for us, fun, fun...after that, I decided that I would be smart and walk my bike like everyone else seemed to be doing and tried to stop and get off my bike. Alex and I and the bike all ended up on the ground. We weren't moving forward at the time so we didn't get hurt and it was mildly amusing. Even Alex thought that is was pretty funny. We weren't the only ones who ended up kissing the ice though so I didn't feel too embarrassed about the whole thing. We did end up walking about half of the way to the school and did not have another tumble.
Only two more days of this...Chris, please come home soon!!!
Yesterday, I saw a teenage girl on a bike right in front of Alex and me almost get run over by a minivan...so scary, by the way. Luckily, she was paying attention and swerved out of the way before she got hit. I don't think I wouldn't have been that quick with the swerving, not that steady on a bike yet. This girl was amazing though, she was even holding an umbrella in one hand and steering with the other and it didn't seem to phase her too much. I on the other hand had a hard time not swearing and really wanted to go and rip apart the crazy driver of this minivan. Irrational anger, I know, but this is how I am sometimes.
This morning, after having rained for a good few days straight, was freezing cold, but clear and pleasant looking. I thought all was well until I went to cross a road and realized that it was a sheet of ice and another crazy driver was about to turn right onto us and then couldn't slow down, just sliding right for us, fun, fun...after that, I decided that I would be smart and walk my bike like everyone else seemed to be doing and tried to stop and get off my bike. Alex and I and the bike all ended up on the ground. We weren't moving forward at the time so we didn't get hurt and it was mildly amusing. Even Alex thought that is was pretty funny. We weren't the only ones who ended up kissing the ice though so I didn't feel too embarrassed about the whole thing. We did end up walking about half of the way to the school and did not have another tumble.
Only two more days of this...Chris, please come home soon!!!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Hannah's School Pictures
Oh, she is not our 'little girl' anymore!!!
A couple of weeks ago, Hannah's school had a parent observation week and the parents could go and watch whatever dance classes that we wanted to. She is taking modern, ballet and character (folk) classes this year and I got to see her in each one. Modern was interesting to watch. Not really my favorite, but that is because I am just too uptight by nature and it looks really uncomfortable to me to be that unrestrained:) Character looked like a lot of fun, but I love folk dancing, so I am definitely partial to that one. The teacher made the parents get up a learn a dance with their child towards the end of class and that was a lot of fun. I think the kids really thought it was funny having their parents try to learn the dances that they do everyday. I wish that we had some pictures of that to post. Ballet was ballet. Hannah is, of course:), very fun to watch. She is very strong and graceful looking, just a natural. All in all, I had a good time and hopefully Hannah did too. I have to say that I really admire her for putting up with this move on the whole. I could hardly understand anything her teachers had to say and I don't know how she does it day in and day out. She is very brave. We keep telling her to just do her best and I think that she is doing a fantastic job with everything. Keep up the good work, Hannah! -kristal
A couple of weeks ago, Hannah's school had a parent observation week and the parents could go and watch whatever dance classes that we wanted to. She is taking modern, ballet and character (folk) classes this year and I got to see her in each one. Modern was interesting to watch. Not really my favorite, but that is because I am just too uptight by nature and it looks really uncomfortable to me to be that unrestrained:) Character looked like a lot of fun, but I love folk dancing, so I am definitely partial to that one. The teacher made the parents get up a learn a dance with their child towards the end of class and that was a lot of fun. I think the kids really thought it was funny having their parents try to learn the dances that they do everyday. I wish that we had some pictures of that to post. Ballet was ballet. Hannah is, of course:), very fun to watch. She is very strong and graceful looking, just a natural. All in all, I had a good time and hopefully Hannah did too. I have to say that I really admire her for putting up with this move on the whole. I could hardly understand anything her teachers had to say and I don't know how she does it day in and day out. She is very brave. We keep telling her to just do her best and I think that she is doing a fantastic job with everything. Keep up the good work, Hannah! -kristal
Friday, November 28, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
We did not have a large traditional feast yesterday, we are saving that for Saturday since the kids are still in school. Instead we took a ride on the metro for a family night out. We went to Delfshaven which is an area in southern Rotterdam and visited the church that the pilgrims worshiped in. We gave the kids a short history lesson and then went out to eat.
So here is how the story goes....back in 1608 a group of people fled England to the Netherlands. They had left the Anglican church a few years before and had founded their own religious community. Then in 1620 they decided that they should cross the waters to America so they could still worship the way they wanted to and still be Englishmen because they watched their children become more and more dutch. They hopped on the Speedwell and started to make their journey only to start leaking (later found to be sabotage) and switched boats to the Mayflower in England.
We did not make it to the church until after dark because I was in Sweden in the morning on business and once getting back to the Netherlands, decided we had plenty of time to go shopping at IKEA (we really did not). Oh well, we still had a good time anyway.
Here is a picture of the church from wikipedia so you can actually see it in the daylight:
and here is a few of our pictures, you may have to click on them to see them bigger:
So here is how the story goes....back in 1608 a group of people fled England to the Netherlands. They had left the Anglican church a few years before and had founded their own religious community. Then in 1620 they decided that they should cross the waters to America so they could still worship the way they wanted to and still be Englishmen because they watched their children become more and more dutch. They hopped on the Speedwell and started to make their journey only to start leaking (later found to be sabotage) and switched boats to the Mayflower in England.
We did not make it to the church until after dark because I was in Sweden in the morning on business and once getting back to the Netherlands, decided we had plenty of time to go shopping at IKEA (we really did not). Oh well, we still had a good time anyway.
Here is a picture of the church from wikipedia so you can actually see it in the daylight:
and here is a few of our pictures, you may have to click on them to see them bigger:
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Abby's Baptism
Last Saturday Abby was baptized. She was very excited about this special day and even had a poster up to help count down the days. The program was very short and simple (we planned it) and we had a very good day. Ain't she beautiful!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Who do you select as the bada#$ of the year...
Jack Bauer in 24
Michael Scofield in Prison Break
Kistal & Hannah do not really agree with either of the above choices so they wanted to submit their own choice:
Buster in Arrested Development
Michael Scofield in Prison Break
Kistal & Hannah do not really agree with either of the above choices so they wanted to submit their own choice:
Buster in Arrested Development
Monday, November 10, 2008
8 Things
I have been tagged by Lisa Peck. Not big on the whole tag thing, but I feel like I owe her for not keeping in touch better. Don't anyone else get any ideas that I will ever do this again, but it's not because I don't care. I am truly just bored and putting off things like cleaning and all of that other fun stuff.
8 Favorite TV Shows
1. IT Crowd
2. Psych
3. Chuck
4. Keeping Up Appearances
5. Office
6. Dirty Sexy Money
7. Arrested Development
8. The Tofus
8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Spent most of the day writing a talk for next Suday
2. Went to church
3. Rassled with my kids during sacrament meeting, we all had a hard time being reverent, didn't we Hannah?
4. Finished a birthday calendar that I am making
5. Destinkified my kitchen
6. Watched a little TV
7. Went to bed way to late
8. Worked out the music for Abby's baptism on Saturday
8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Seeing all the people I love and miss in the US
2. My bed
3. Getting my talk in sacrament meeting over with
4. Thanksgiving (bittersweet, please refer to #1)
5. Christmas
6. Meeting my new step-mom
7. Meeting all the new nieces, nephews, brother-in-laws, etc.
8. Having a really long talk with my bestest friends in person, not over the phone or through blogs and emails
8 Favorite Restaurants
1. The fish cart that comes to the market every week. Give me a break, I don't pay attention to names, just locations.
2. The chinese restaurant that Chris brings food home from every once in a while, never been there, so I don't know the name.
3. Bram Ladage-best fries that I have ever had
4. Don't eat out much here, too expensive and the food it not that great.
8 Things On My Wishlist
1. Some really nice art supplies
2. Somewhere in our house that was just mine that I could use for art that would not get overrun by everyone else's junk
3. More education
4. A full understanding of the Dutch language
5. For the rest of my family, the same as above
6. A nap
7. A clean house
8. For my kids to turn out to be well adjusted adults with a strong testimony of the gospel
8 People To Tag
1. I am not tagging anyone, but if they want to do this they can. It would be fun to read what other people have to say on these topics. Love you all!
8 Favorite TV Shows
1. IT Crowd
2. Psych
3. Chuck
4. Keeping Up Appearances
5. Office
6. Dirty Sexy Money
7. Arrested Development
8. The Tofus
8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Spent most of the day writing a talk for next Suday
2. Went to church
3. Rassled with my kids during sacrament meeting, we all had a hard time being reverent, didn't we Hannah?
4. Finished a birthday calendar that I am making
5. Destinkified my kitchen
6. Watched a little TV
7. Went to bed way to late
8. Worked out the music for Abby's baptism on Saturday
8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Seeing all the people I love and miss in the US
2. My bed
3. Getting my talk in sacrament meeting over with
4. Thanksgiving (bittersweet, please refer to #1)
5. Christmas
6. Meeting my new step-mom
7. Meeting all the new nieces, nephews, brother-in-laws, etc.
8. Having a really long talk with my bestest friends in person, not over the phone or through blogs and emails
8 Favorite Restaurants
1. The fish cart that comes to the market every week. Give me a break, I don't pay attention to names, just locations.
2. The chinese restaurant that Chris brings food home from every once in a while, never been there, so I don't know the name.
3. Bram Ladage-best fries that I have ever had
4. Don't eat out much here, too expensive and the food it not that great.
8 Things On My Wishlist
1. Some really nice art supplies
2. Somewhere in our house that was just mine that I could use for art that would not get overrun by everyone else's junk
3. More education
4. A full understanding of the Dutch language
5. For the rest of my family, the same as above
6. A nap
7. A clean house
8. For my kids to turn out to be well adjusted adults with a strong testimony of the gospel
8 People To Tag
1. I am not tagging anyone, but if they want to do this they can. It would be fun to read what other people have to say on these topics. Love you all!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Great upcoming Movies and TV
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Released July 17th (16th in the Netherlands)
Angels & Demons - Released May 15th, 2009 (14th in the Netherlands)
Twilight (for Hannah and Kristal)- Released November 21st
24 - Season 7 - First episode airs in January with TV a movie "Redemption airing on November 23rd
Angels & Demons - Released May 15th, 2009 (14th in the Netherlands)
Twilight (for Hannah and Kristal)- Released November 21st
24 - Season 7 - First episode airs in January with TV a movie "Redemption airing on November 23rd
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween!!!
For fun, here are some Halloween comics that were sent to me by the master forwarder, Arla:
Monday, October 27, 2008
For President...
I found it interesting that the local library here in the Netherlands highlighted Americas major presidental candidates as seen in the picture below. It always surprises me when I start to talk politics with my co-workers. I am the only American in my team but still we can discuss politics as if we were in the middle of a neighborhood caucus. You would all be amazed by the average European knowledge of the U.S. political system. Click on the picture to see it bigger
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Isaac is 10!!!
Isaacs dinner-of-choice was spaghetti which is definatley a family favorite. Since he got his main present the same time as Abby (the mice with cage) he only had a couple smaller presents. The hat is a very dutch thing. On birthdays, a special hat is made and worn so all know who the special person is.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Abby is 8!!!
Last night we had Abby's dinner-of-choice, pizza, and also had some cupcakes and ice cream. Of course, she also got a few presents. This is not her main party, she will be having that in a couple of weeks and it will be a Halloween themed party with friends
Alex made this, with the help of his teacher, in school.
The main gift was something Isaac and Abby have wanted for some time, pets! Abby and Isaac both both their own pet mouse. Isaacs birthday in on the 22nd so the cage was a shared gift.
Alex made this, with the help of his teacher, in school.
The main gift was something Isaac and Abby have wanted for some time, pets! Abby and Isaac both both their own pet mouse. Isaacs birthday in on the 22nd so the cage was a shared gift.
Monday, October 6, 2008
My trip to Sweden
Last Wednesday evening I was asked to go to Sweden first thing Thursday morning to work with a customer for a couple of days. Thursday morning I flew into Copenhagen, Denmark and then took a train to Malmo, Sweden and finally an taxi to Staffanstorp which is a small town of about 13,000 residents.
I did not have any time to see anything because I was in and out before I realized I was actually in a completely different country. I did take a few random pictures with my phone so they are not the best quality, but, oh well here they are:
The money used in Sweden is the Swedish Kroner or Crown. Before leaving I forgot to check on what type of currency is used and how it compares to the Euro. To be safe, I pulled 3,000 kroners out of an ATM which I later found was about 400 Euros. To compare to the dollar, the 500 Swedish Kroner pictured below is equal to $69.61
Netherlands
Scotland
Belgium
England
France
Denmark
Sweden
I did not have any time to see anything because I was in and out before I realized I was actually in a completely different country. I did take a few random pictures with my phone so they are not the best quality, but, oh well here they are:
The money used in Sweden is the Swedish Kroner or Crown. Before leaving I forgot to check on what type of currency is used and how it compares to the Euro. To be safe, I pulled 3,000 kroners out of an ATM which I later found was about 400 Euros. To compare to the dollar, the 500 Swedish Kroner pictured below is equal to $69.61
Here is the building I worked in. It is the area elementary school.
In Malmo, Sweden, there are not too many tall buildings but this one stood out because of the very interesting architecture. It is called the Turning Torso.
Netherlands
Scotland
Belgium
England
France
Denmark
Sweden
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
DVD Copying
I just have to go off on this and express my opinion. Monday, the six major studios filed a lawsuit against RealNetworks to stop the sell of a new DVD copying software called RealDVD. Hollywood claims that this bypasses built-in anti-copying security which is against the law. Real has stated that the security is not touched and it will only play in their software player and has a key that will not allow it to be copied on endless computers.
Hollywood is a joke...
So much time has been spent on the fight between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and fighting digital copying but does no one see the path that entertainment is heading (or should be)??? Why would I actually go to the store and flip through the DVDs to hopefully find the one I want then spend an hour taking off the wrapping and those stupid stickers? Why not just go online and download it directly to my Home Entertainment PC (HTPC)? With the speed of internet increasing always, it will get faster and faster. I think they should concentrate on the security of a completely digital file format because already millions of people have created and are using daily their HTPC like I am. The problem is there since Hollywood has their head so far up there we have to resort to illegally (supposedly) copying the DVD I just bought to the HTPC. If you bought and own a copy of the movie, who cares how it is watched?
If you are not familiar with the concept of HTPC, I will upload a video of mine later but basically you turn on your TV and you see menu options like Music, Videos, Pictures etc... If you select Videos it takes you to more options depending on how it is setup. On mine I have a category for TV Shows that have been recorded then my movies collection, kids movie collection, church movies and then misc... Once you selct a category, you lists of movies that are available seen by a thumbnail of the DVD cover. Find the one you want, press OK on the remote and it plays. Think of it as Tivo but better because space is unlimited. I currently have 3.5 terabytes (3500 GB) of hard drive space and with the 1.5 TB hard drives coming out now I can easily increase the system to a total of 6 - 7.5 TB if needed.
I love my HTPC!!!
Hollywood is a joke...
So much time has been spent on the fight between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and fighting digital copying but does no one see the path that entertainment is heading (or should be)??? Why would I actually go to the store and flip through the DVDs to hopefully find the one I want then spend an hour taking off the wrapping and those stupid stickers? Why not just go online and download it directly to my Home Entertainment PC (HTPC)? With the speed of internet increasing always, it will get faster and faster. I think they should concentrate on the security of a completely digital file format because already millions of people have created and are using daily their HTPC like I am. The problem is there since Hollywood has their head so far up there we have to resort to illegally (supposedly) copying the DVD I just bought to the HTPC. If you bought and own a copy of the movie, who cares how it is watched?
If you are not familiar with the concept of HTPC, I will upload a video of mine later but basically you turn on your TV and you see menu options like Music, Videos, Pictures etc... If you select Videos it takes you to more options depending on how it is setup. On mine I have a category for TV Shows that have been recorded then my movies collection, kids movie collection, church movies and then misc... Once you selct a category, you lists of movies that are available seen by a thumbnail of the DVD cover. Find the one you want, press OK on the remote and it plays. Think of it as Tivo but better because space is unlimited. I currently have 3.5 terabytes (3500 GB) of hard drive space and with the 1.5 TB hard drives coming out now I can easily increase the system to a total of 6 - 7.5 TB if needed.
I love my HTPC!!!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Only in Europe...
I was at the mall doing a little shopping today and noticed the following chair.
See anything interesting????
That's right, the arms of the chair have slots, as most do, but on the left arm it is not the standard round slot for a can of pop, it has a rectangle shaped slot that is the perfect size for a pack of cigarettes.
Only in Europe.
See anything interesting????
That's right, the arms of the chair have slots, as most do, but on the left arm it is not the standard round slot for a can of pop, it has a rectangle shaped slot that is the perfect size for a pack of cigarettes.
Only in Europe.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I stole this from a friends blog who stole it from another friends blog...
I started to laugh when I read this on Lisa's blog so I thought some of you might get a kick out of this too. I am not trying to take the spotlight off of Chris' really cool table and chairs though so don't forget to check those out below. And I am sorry, but you will have to come and visit us if you want to try out how great the chairs are too. Our family is a little hard on furniture, so who knows if they will come back to the US with us (if and when, that is:))
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) – Gwen (I have no car, so you can compare my cool rock star name to Madonna's)
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) - Chocolate Monster
3. YOUR “FLY GIRL” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) - KPEC
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) – Yellow Skunk (only Duane and Kevin will understand...)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) - Lee LaGrande
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Peckr
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, put “The”) - Green Milkshake
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) - Ralph Kenneth
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)- Dewberry Snickers
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) - Eileen Duane
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) – Gwen (I have no car, so you can compare my cool rock star name to Madonna's)
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) - Chocolate Monster
3. YOUR “FLY GIRL” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) - KPEC
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) – Yellow Skunk (only Duane and Kevin will understand...)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) - Lee LaGrande
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Peckr
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, put “The”) - Green Milkshake
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) - Ralph Kenneth
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)- Dewberry Snickers
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) - Eileen Duane
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Chairs to go with our table
A while ago I finished our new kitchen table, here is a picture as a reminder.
A table does little or no good without chairs so I have recently been working on building the 6-8 chairs I need. So far I have finished 2 of them. It is a simple, yet sturdy design and considering I only have basic hand tools, I think they turned out rather well.
Some have asked how I get the wood home since I do not currently have a car. Well, to those that have wondered, here is your answer, a little at a time.
A table does little or no good without chairs so I have recently been working on building the 6-8 chairs I need. So far I have finished 2 of them. It is a simple, yet sturdy design and considering I only have basic hand tools, I think they turned out rather well.
Some have asked how I get the wood home since I do not currently have a car. Well, to those that have wondered, here is your answer, a little at a time.
Monday, September 15, 2008
A slightly painful weekend
My right shoulder has been giving me pain every once in a while. While I was an electrician I hurt it somehow and since then it gets a 'dead' pain or it hurts to throw a ball or stuff like that. In the beginning of August I went to Young Men's camp and we played a game of British Bulldog. Basically one person stands in the middle of a field while everyone else tries to run from side to side without being tackled and lifted off the ground. If you do get caught, you join in the middle trying to tackle other people until the last person remains and tries to get past the mob of people in the center. One time, I tackled someone about as big as myself and be both went down hard onto my left shoulder. It did not hurt at first but that night, I felt the pain start.
It has now been a month since that happened and my left shoulder has been feeling a bit better. On Friday, I went to a joint YM/YM activity in Den Bosch and we played British Bulldog again. This time it was indoors in a gym so I decided I would not tackle anyone to the ground so I should not get hurt again. There I was in the middle attacking people, lifting them until it got down to just a few people, most of which were adult men. I decided it was time for one guy to go down so I set me sits on him ready to stop him in his path. He ran towards me and I stood my ground. When he got up to me I wrapped my arms around him and help tight ready to stop him. Unfortunatly, he had momentum on his side and after a very quick fight, he ripped out of my arms. The crazy part about this is as he broke free, everything seemed to go fuzzy and dark for a split second. That's shock for ya, I didn't realize it at the time because my adrenalin(??? like I can spell) was going but that sent a shock up my arms and right into my already injured shoulders. Since that time, I have been in pain. Not bad pain, just really annoying pain. I think I am done with field sports for awhile.
Sunday, we had a young couple over for dinner. They just moved here from Utah with their 3 year old and 11 month old boys. He is working as an IT person for a startup company here in Holland. I guess his company purchased this company and that lead to his position here. It is kind of cool talking to Americans every once in a while, especially if they are Republicans. Europeans, generally, lean so far to the left they have forgotten completely about their right side and pretend it is not there (the image of the man with one very strong arm and one very weak arm in the movie 'The Lady in the Water' comes to mind). This blame this mostly on the media as they lean very one-sided in their reporting. Anyway, it is nice to have a conversation with someone that knows the whole story on all candidates.
It has now been a month since that happened and my left shoulder has been feeling a bit better. On Friday, I went to a joint YM/YM activity in Den Bosch and we played British Bulldog again. This time it was indoors in a gym so I decided I would not tackle anyone to the ground so I should not get hurt again. There I was in the middle attacking people, lifting them until it got down to just a few people, most of which were adult men. I decided it was time for one guy to go down so I set me sits on him ready to stop him in his path. He ran towards me and I stood my ground. When he got up to me I wrapped my arms around him and help tight ready to stop him. Unfortunatly, he had momentum on his side and after a very quick fight, he ripped out of my arms. The crazy part about this is as he broke free, everything seemed to go fuzzy and dark for a split second. That's shock for ya, I didn't realize it at the time because my adrenalin(??? like I can spell) was going but that sent a shock up my arms and right into my already injured shoulders. Since that time, I have been in pain. Not bad pain, just really annoying pain. I think I am done with field sports for awhile.
Sunday, we had a young couple over for dinner. They just moved here from Utah with their 3 year old and 11 month old boys. He is working as an IT person for a startup company here in Holland. I guess his company purchased this company and that lead to his position here. It is kind of cool talking to Americans every once in a while, especially if they are Republicans. Europeans, generally, lean so far to the left they have forgotten completely about their right side and pretend it is not there (the image of the man with one very strong arm and one very weak arm in the movie 'The Lady in the Water' comes to mind). This blame this mostly on the media as they lean very one-sided in their reporting. Anyway, it is nice to have a conversation with someone that knows the whole story on all candidates.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Hannahs Spring Recital
On June 29th Hannah had her recital for Noes Fiolet Studios. We just received the DVD for this so I ripped the dances she was in and uploaded them to YouTube. Check them out, in some you only see Hannah here and there but she is a main dancer in "Russian Power" so be sure to especially watch that one out. Click on the title of each video to download the AVI file (about 68MB each) which you can save forever or just watch the video from YouTube. NOTE: In Internet Explorer, in order to download the file, you may have to right-click the title of each video and select "Save Target As...". Here you go:
"Loneliness"
"The Cutie Shakers"
"All of Us"
"Russian Power"
Finally, here is Noes recognizing Hannah, as well as others, as they prepare to leave the Noes Fiolet Studios for other adventures. Hannah and 2 other girls from the studio started school at Codarts hogeschool voor de kunsten (School of the Arts) last week.
"Loneliness"
"The Cutie Shakers"
"All of Us"
"Russian Power"
Finally, here is Noes recognizing Hannah, as well as others, as they prepare to leave the Noes Fiolet Studios for other adventures. Hannah and 2 other girls from the studio started school at Codarts hogeschool voor de kunsten (School of the Arts) last week.
Monday, September 8, 2008
First day of school
Monday, September 1st was the first day of school. Isaac, Abby and Alex went off to the Montessori School and Hannah to Codarts. Actually, Hannah went off to go on a 3-day field trip as a get-to-know-you for all the 1st years at Codarts. She will have to write about that and post pictures herself on her blog.
Finally...A nice weekend
A week ago we had our first nice weekend that we have had for a long time. In city center, just a few minutes walk from our home, there was a carnival set up that we decided to visit.
This is Hannah's friend DeDe that was staying at our home over the weekend. They met at Young Womens camp and have been spending a lot of time together since then.
A few weeks ago I took down our pool but now that we have a very warm day, I set it back up. The boys could not wait until it was full to get wet.
Some neighbors had the same thing in mind and set up a big pool in the parking lot. Another neighbor went to Praxis and got 10 big water guns. The result, a very large waterfight involving all everyone, whether they wanted to join in or not. It was a lot of fun and we got to know our neighbors better which was a great experience for all of us.
This is Hannah's friend DeDe that was staying at our home over the weekend. They met at Young Womens camp and have been spending a lot of time together since then.
A few weeks ago I took down our pool but now that we have a very warm day, I set it back up. The boys could not wait until it was full to get wet.
Some neighbors had the same thing in mind and set up a big pool in the parking lot. Another neighbor went to Praxis and got 10 big water guns. The result, a very large waterfight involving all everyone, whether they wanted to join in or not. It was a lot of fun and we got to know our neighbors better which was a great experience for all of us.
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