Blog @ Work 2nd Edition

A beautiful color and a stone. My birthstone (July): RUBY. Many medieval Europeans wore rubies to guarantee health, wealth, wisdom, and success in love. The desire for ruby is just as great today as it always has been. As a symbol of passion, ruby makes an ideal romantic gift.

Consumers are drawn to the lush color because it also signifies wealth and success. (Wp)

Although I never dared to paint my hair, I love Ruby as a hair color and lipstick. But in others, mostly women, it looks great. For me, it signifies Independence and Freedom. Maybe when I am totally gray I will paint my hair ruby.

In my country, Ruby is also the name of a Port Wine. A red, very sweet wine. I don’t drink much alcohol, but a port wine now and again is lovely.

The television repair cost me 185 euros. Luckily I didn't have to buy a new television set. The PCB board was broken, it had to be replaced. While I was dealing with that my computer broke down. I could mail and work the Internet, but had no access to photos or documents etc. The icons didn't function at all, so did some apps. It could not be fixed so I had to choose, either a secondhand computer for 250 euros or a new one for 520 including installation and Word. I choose the new one. So, I am writing on my first new computer ever. It works like a charm.

I am a happy trooper.

Today I started cleaning around my television set and in my study around the computer. Everything looks better now. It's the beginning of my uncluttering the house. And, boy, was it necessary!

Tomorrow a new day with chores. Or perhaps a day off. I haven't decided yet. Next months will be busy with my to-do-list, but I will take my time. I've got two months. That should do it.

To-do-list october/november.

Get rid of DVDs, books, and clothing I don't wear
Get rid of wooden dog crate, and room divider
Uncluttering basement
Uncluttering clothing cupboards: get rid of clothing, shoes, etc.
Get rid of redundant bed linnen, buying new ones (160-2 mtr)
Get rid of old shower curtains, buying new ones
Get rid of rope art work in living room
Buying poster text Frida Kahlo
Deep cleaning kitchen, bedroom, study and bathroom
2 boxes in kitchen cabinets
Cleaning out freezer and fridge
House cleaning, floor, and dusting

November 3rd: all the trash outside to be picked up

If I have the stomach and the money: painter to do living room (2000 euros minimum) in February 2024.

Yes!! I am back home again. My own house after 3 months of living in my stepmom's house. I am so thrilled to be back, can't wait to sleep in my own bed again.

Busy catching up with things and tomorrow I will start the (planning of) cleaning and uncluttering my house. I have estimated it to be a job of two months. Hard work.

When I arrived I put on the television and walked out of the room when everything was working fine. When I came back I had sound but no vision. I tried everything but no luck. Then I read online the problem was probably the HDMI cable between the television and the box. So I unplugged both ends and tried again when I plugged in again. No such luck, I now had no sound AND no vision. So, I think it's that HDMI cable. I bought one online for 6 bucks and it will arrive tomorrow. Hopefully, it is that much-needed fix. if not I can send for a television repair guy before thinking of buying a new television. I looked online and the cheapest set is 700 euros including the installation. A lot of money!! So, fingers crossed the new cable will be the solution.

Sprout has settled in just fine, he will miss the garden and the walks down the river, and so will I. We both are doing okay though. Nothing better than your own place again.

Have a good day,
Later!

I was still sort of on holiday this last week. Did some chores with the help this morning and watched television because it's an important day in the Netherlands. The third Tuesday in September, Prince Day. The King and the Royal family have their annual ride in the coach through The Hague, and the start of the new Political and Financial Year. There is the important King's Speech with plans for the coming year.

Furthermore, I had time to binge-watch Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, an American action thriller. Very entertaining, I am in the third episode.

The weather is totally different now. A hard wind and cloudy with rain. It's fall all of a sudden. However next week the weather will be slightly better. I am going home then.

Perhaps tomorrow I will show that To-do-list for when I am home in my own house. It's a long list.

Nothing further,
have a nice day!

End of the week (oops, I have to do Weekly Goals in a minute) and I had slept through it for the most part. I am in the middle of an American thriller/mystery on Amazon Prime on my phone. The Postcards Murders (2020) with Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I love to watch that actor, I think he is charming. I realize now I know him as the villain in The Walking Dead.

The movie has a Dutch component, the wife of the detective (Morgan) is Famke Janssen, a Dutch actress, and the suspects are speaking Dutch among themselves. I am just in the middle so I am unsure if they are the murderers but it looks like it. A very entertaining movie so far.

I have been bitten by mosquitos and I am itching and scratching my hand. Very unpleasant. The weather is sunny, but cloudy and there is a lot of moisture in the air hence the mosquitos. Well, I'll live!

Another good and warm weekend ahead. The weather will be changing next week. The fall will be there. I will enjoy the garden for the last time I think, afterwards the forecast is rain.

I should not forget to create a poem for PPC4 this weekend. It's a photoprompt of wheat. Have to think about that.

That's it for now, I will finish my movie in a few minutes.
Have a great weekend!

It's really hot today. I am sweating, and outside it feels like a warm blanket falling over your body, not at all pleasant. My brother is visiting my stepmom today, which means I can stay home. He had a good time with her!

Just watching some shows indoors because it's cooler inside. It's really hard to do anything else. I am a bit bored, tired and feeling hot.

Tomorrow another week, I will stay for more than two weeks, then I will go home to my own place. Looking forward to that. It's not necessary to stay, but I made that commitment with myself so there you go.

There is one chore left to do next week, updating the address list of my stepmom. Not a big chore, but it has to be done, so I'll do it. I'll wait till the family from New Zealand is coming to stay in the house. I then can transfer all the information about my stepmom to them and leave. I hope they will find the time to bring me home by car. I am depending on that. Too much stuff to go by public transport with my luggage and a dog. But that's something for the end of this month.

I already made a long list of things to do in my own home. To unclutter and clean my house. For two months I will be busy doing that. October and November. It is very necessary.

I am going to have a drink. Staying hydrated is important with this heat.

Have a good day!

I just woke up in the middle of the night. It's 10 past 2 here. Today was another hot day in our Indian Summer. I am not complaining, but not used to it either. Almost 30 degrees today, very unusual.

Luckily I still have the garden to my disposal, it was really lovely during the evening.

The Birthday week is over, I closed down the Blog Week Birthday Bastion for another year. It was again great fun! I have to prove it. That came in just now. Loved it!

In the next few days I will continue working on the Horror Workshop, I left at assignment three, so four will soon arrive.

Tomorow a day off, on Sunday another visit to my stepmom in the home, if my brother is not visiting her. I have to wait and see.

On Sunday, at ten I hope to win our National Lottery. I bought a ticket and can win more than 18 million euros, and 100,000 euros for ten years. There are two big prizes this month. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Back to bed again,
Later.

I slept through most of today. I was so tired, both mentally as physically. So, I didn't do much.

But today is the start of the celebrations for Writing.com. 23 years, wow! I woke up by the alarm clock at 6 in the morning to start the Blog Week with a first prompt. Suffice to say, I immediately went back in again.

So far only three have answered the first prompt. But I am not worried because of the time difference, there is still plenty of time for those other contestants. I am looking forward to reading and in the end judging all 13. That's 13 times 7 is 91 reads! I have cut out the work for me.

My stepmom has had a few good days in the home as far as we could tell. She is very pleased with the way her room looks like. So, that's a good thing.

I am off to bed again, the coming week it's 6 am. for me every morning to provide for a new prompt.

I feel a little bit sad this morning. Yesterday was not a good day for my stepmom. Her hairdresser came over to do her hair, but she couldn't sit still and pulled out the hair cap from under her all the time. She was angry and aggressive and didn't want to live in that home.

I cannot make her happy any longer. She has to adjust to this new situation and I so hope she manages to do that. She has been there for only one week and on three different occasions she mentioned she was not pleased living there. Will she ever be?

In about an hour I will leave to visit her. I dread how I will find her. I don't bring Sprout with me, yesterday she wasn't interested at all in the dog of the hairdresser, so there is no use bringing Sprout.

It's such a sad, sad situation. You leave your home for the hospital and never return.

The sun is shining, but my heart is heavy!

Tired because it was a long day with chores for my stepmom. In the morning till the afternoon busy writing moving cards. 100 addresses and 100 change of addresses. The last 28 cards I will do tomorrow. I bought stamps online, they will arrive tomorrow.

Furthermore, the hairdresser is coming back to do her hair on a weekly basis. She was used to an appointment at home once a week, that will continue in the new home.

A lot of phone calls (daily) and WhatsApp messages to inform people about her condition.

Tomorrow the help is coming to clean, the new gardener is coming for an assessment on working the garden and in the afternoon I have to do some groceries.

Wednesday is relaxing day this week! Looking forward to it. Perhaps I will create the weekly poem for PPC4. If I am inspired.

Thursday I have to visit Toos in the home and I will take Sprout with me. Will take me 4 hours. And I am planning to check on my own home. A short visit to see if everything is still okay.

Friday is the start of the 23rd Birthday week here at Writing.com and I will host the Birthday Blog Week event for 7 days. A busy week ahead! Hopefully it will be fun! I can use some fun.

Good night, I am off to sleep,
later.

The first day in more than two months I could relax and enjoy the day.

My shoulder bag was old and broken so I looked for a new one in the big Mall. No luck. Then I realized my stepmom had a bag in her storage I liked, exactly the right size for my needs. She no longer needs it so I am using it now. I asked permission from her guardian, we don't want stuff to anonymously disappear from the house. But it was okay.

So, now I have a new, second-hand bag. A really nice one and I am happy with it.

I had lunch near the sluice and did some groceries. And I was tired so I took two power naps.

The last few months have taken their toll on my body and mind, I can say that.

I have to adjust again.

But I am glad things worked out and my stepmom has a new place to live.

I can focus on my own life again!

Today was the big day for Toos, my stepmom. She moved out of the hospital into her new room in the nursing home. Her furniture is coming tomorrow so it was still empty. She was great under it all. She only said once: I am not going to live here, but corrected herself immediately with we will see!

I feel so sorry for her. The big house with the garden is out of reach for her. A small room (4 by 4 meters) with a small kitchen area and a bathroom is where she will stay from now on.

We left her while she was having her dinner at noon. In the evening they eat bread. Lots to ponder about. I hope she sleeps well during her first night. Luckily she has no trouble sleeping wherever she is.

Tomorrow they will move some small items of furniture and her guardian and I will make it home in the afternoon. I washed her clothing and did some groceries for her.

To celebrate the day (mixed feelings) I treated myself to a dinner out at the Italian restaurant. I had a penne dish (pasta) with cheese and meat and tomatoes and lettuce. It was very nice, although I wasn't that hungry. But it was good to eat among other people outside.

It has been a warm but cloudy day. I was walking in the rain which did me good. But I was so damned tired, I forgot to buy coffee which is the most important life saver apart from my tobacco. I still cherish my two addictions. So, I had to walk twice to the store. But now I've got my supplies.

I had a power nap after dinner and now I am wide awake although it's almost my bedtime. Tomorrow they will take out the television set (today the coffeemaker), so no fresh coffee and no television for the rest of my stay here. I manage with surrogate coffee (coffee powder with hot water to make espressos).

I rearranged a bit of the furniture so it's almost as if nothing has happened. But the house is getting emptier but I don't mind. It's still good to be here.

Next week is the start of the festivities of the 23rd anniversary of Writing.com and round two of my blog event. So far 13 writers signed up. A good number. I am looking forward to it!

Have a great day,
later.

I am really tired of all the responsibility concerning my stepmom. Today we heard she was going to move tomorrow, later today we heard she will be moving the day after tomorrow because her room wasn't ready. We had a plan and had to change it last minute. But things are manageable now.

I am really glad she will be leaving the hospital after 6 and a half weeks. It wasn't a good stay and she is mentally worse than she came in. They didn't do any activity with her, there were no stimulus, no incentive for her to use her brain. So, she declined and her dementia is worsening.

She has bad days and some good, like today...I cherish days like this. She was alert and in a good mood and recognized everybody again. Unlike the day before yesterday when she was really bad.

But on Thursday she will be leaving for a nursing home in The Hague. It's a crisis place because she had to leave the hospital so we are uncertain how long she will be staying there. In the mean time she is still on a waiting list for her first choice nursing home. But that can take a while.

From where I stay now it's 45 minutes by public transport, from my own home it's also 45 minutes. So manageable for me. You can visit her from 10 till 10 which is also great. And I can take Sprout with me, which is very good. So, she will see my dog again.

I am doing her laundry tonight, the last shift is going in the dryer in 20 minutes. It can dry during the night. Tomorrow an unexpected day off, I have to do some groceries, there is no dogfood left and I am out of tobacco. Without my smokes I cannot survive during these hectic times. Perhaps I stop smoking January first!

I hope to create an acrostic poem for PPC4 tomorrow. It will be lovely weather, so I will be enjoying the garden again. I really am going to miss that garden when I leave here at the end of September.

That's it folks, till later

Have a good day, I am going to bed!

I got myself a little monster alligator, a so-called amphigator GETROMY! Scaredy Kitti provided me one, lovely! Although I really don't know what to do with the little one except love him very much I will expose him in my blog. So, here he is!

Today I went to see a new apartment. It was big, spacious, and very lovely BUT too expensive for me. So, I turned it down.

I figured if I am in my own place again, I have to clean it and make it look nice again. It's cluttered now after 17 years, so some work must be done. But if I manage to get that feeling back for the place I am in the clear.

I have a really nice apartment now and it was 270 euros cheaper than the one I was visiting today. Too much. I will wait for another great but cheaper-priced new house. Till then I am okay with what I've got.

My stepmom had two good days in a row, so that's terrific. What's not so good: they put her on a waiting list for revalidation but that can take a while. After that? Probably a nursing home. So that's sad news altogether.

I have decided to stay a while longer in my stepmom's house. I could go home now, but this house and the garden and the river around the corner have a soothing influence on me. I feel good here, I am nearby the social network of my stepmom, and I can do her laundry and inform friends and relatives about her situation.

In about 6 weeks her family from New Zealand is coming to stay in her house and visit her. Then I leave!

Till then I have a garden and a dishwasher, so I am good.

No word yet from the doctors on the situation of my stepmom. I know they are busy, but I find the hospital sloppy concerning information exchange. It's difficult to wait.

But I think she is not coming home. A nursing home might be the option because she needs 24-hour care and I cannot give that to her.

And I shouldn't want to give it to her. I cannot put my life on hold to take care of her. The thought did cross my mind, but I am sure I am not capable of doing so 24/7.

So, a nursing home. I feel very sad for her.

Mind you, there are some good ones in the vicinity of her home, even in the vicinity of my home, but I am sure she really wants to go home. Although she might be too far gone already to notice where she is.

Dementia is a real bitch, on top of the physical situation with her heart and kidneys.

If I am being really honest the best for her would be to slowly pass away into oblivion and leave this world. But she comes from a very sturdy family background with some women over 95 years old. And as long as her heart keeps beating...

Yesterday my stepmom had a bad day, today this continued. Not a good situation.

Tomorrow there will be a meeting between staff in the hospital about her, and we will be informed.

I went to Naaldwijk yesterday, the town where the two houses I was interested in are residing. We explored the neighborhood. Nobody was home so we couldn't have a peek inside. We looked through the letterbox opening in the front door of the house with the garden to see something. I saw a good floor with floorboards in oak gray. And I saw the stairs to the second floor. Not so good. Small steps, difficult stairs.

I was thinking a no-no for me waking up three times a night to visit the loo downstairs. And for Sprout to walk upstairs. So, there is that!

The other house, a flat on the third floor (there is an elevator) was an ugly-looking building. I did some more research on the rent subsidy and the price of the rent and this is actually too expensive for me. So, another no-no.

But I decided to wait for the invitations to have a proper look inside both houses. I am number 3 for the garden house, number 1 for the flat.

I'll wait and see.

The town itself is kinda cute but perhaps a little boring. And there is hardly any green for Sprout to walk. A big no-no.

As I was passing thru my hometown with public transport today I just thought about all the great things in my current hometown: forest, sea, parks, cinemas, theaters, everything is there. So, perhaps I don't want to move out of the city!

Just for the fun of it, I will wait and pass judgment when being invited to the open house of the two houses. Because, although I now don't want to move to either one of them, I do want to see inside. I am that curious!

I know I shouldn't because things are still uncertain if I get the house (now nr. 1 on a list of 945) but I already am decorating and putting the furniture in. I can't help myself.

But, in the back of my mind, I am keeping alive the thought that anything can happen before Monday 8 pm.

Only, I am so thrilled about this house with a garden... It's the best house I have seen in a really long time. In fact, I never saw such a house that perfect for me. It has everything, except for a toilet upstairs by the way, but that's something to get used to.

I don't want to go into too much detail before Monday evening, so I stop fuzzing about it.

But is it cool, or is it cool?

My stepmom had yet another great day. The visitor got her dressed with the help of the nurse and she went in a wheelchair for a short trip downstairs. Coffee was too much, but she had a wonderful time.

Tomorrow I will visit her.

We go by car, and YES ... afterward we go to the house in that cute town.

Except, of course, if there is somebody who passes me on the list. I just don't want to jinx it.

I am going downstairs, to have a coffee and be with Sprout. He hasn't seen much of me lately. I am away or upstairs behind the computer.

Well, another day before Monday! Wish me luck and patience.

UPDATE: Alas, I am now, Saturday evening 9.15 pm number 2. So, my chances are slim.