Decluttering

My house is lately in a constant state of clutter because I am decluttering. Weird, but true. I have lots of old stuff from my daughter and myself that I hoped to sell. Unfortunately we do not have garagesales over here, so I have to rely on internet and special occasions. My daughter's old school is organising a sale twice every year and we have our famous Koninginnedag (the day wecelebrate our queen's birthday) where you can have a stand and sell your od stuff. But that's on April 30th and I cannot wait that long!

Because now is the time to make use of the special events, I had to sort it all out. There were bags everywhere, waiting to go. Like two bas of old me-clothes in my bedroom. I fitted them in my tiny car on Monday and took them to the ladies that are organising a big sale. I get half of the venue. Hope to get at least a nice new Dior or Chanel lipstick out of it!

I had three boxes of stuff I decided to donate that were standing in the hallway. When they were finally picked up, the hallway was cluttered again with enormous bags with toys and children's clothes that are due today for a schoolsale. I get 75% of the venue, even better. Hope to be able to add a a nice lipstick at least or (wish wish) get enough to buy 6 beautiful cups and saucers from pip design.

Now I have to figure out what to do with all the junk that is still left over, appeared from nowhere and is not eligible for sale at the moment( aka ummerstuff). There are old bathtowels and summerjackets on the staircase waiting to be stored or given away. In the attic I still have boxes with toys, old dvd's, games etc that I don't want to throw away. In the hallway is still a box filled with stuff I dig up from everywhere around the house. If I do not find a solution soon, husband will toss it away! Come to think of it, that's a solution too. Or maybe I should do that myself, might be easier.

Autumn holiday

One of the things I enjoy about the Dutch schoolsystem is the many holidays/vacations they have. We do not have a three months long vacation over the summer, like in the US, but we have several vacations spread through out the year. At the very moment my daughter has her "herfstvakantie" or autumn vacation. It's one week off and so far it's great. I used to dread vacations when she was younger, but now she is older and is having playdates throughout the holiday. I have learned to be quick and arange for days out and stay-overs beforehand. The past couple of days her old and dearest friend who used to live next door, came to stay for two nights. Pretty relaxing for mom who was able to putter around the house, read a book and have a quiet cup of tea. The small price I had to pay was going to see Totally Spies the movie with the girls.
We still have five days left before school starts again and I am planning to enjoy everyone of them. We stay in our pj's till late, have a quiet breakfast and plan visits. Today we will visit grandma (my mom), we have a visit to other grandma (my mother in law) planeed out and a few days left at home. After this week we will both be ready to get back to the real life. And my daughter will have enough energy to make it till christmas, when she has another two weeks off.

Wounded Knee

The problem with little 6yo girls who are active and like to run and play, is that they tend to fall a lot. I can tell you that all spring and summer my daughter's knees are nothing like smooth and beautiful. Three weeks ago she fell while playing at the cutest little amusement parc. I have to tell you about it: it was build in the late 1970's and it shows. It's small and extremely old fashioned, even if they did add several acts during the years. It's sweet and small and even little kids can safely wander around. We go there each year to commemorate my father in law. On his last birthday we went there with the whole family and had a lovely day. We never good have guessed that six months later he would die of lungcancer.
Anyway, the day we were there with the family again my darling daughter fell and her knee was completely open. For a week she was not able to wear long trousers (TG the weather cooperated) and she wouldn't have any blankets over her knee. Just when the crust had finally fallen off, she fell on the hockeyfield, trying to prevent the other team from making a goal. Same knee completely open. A few days later she was still complaining about it. During a walk with the dog she complained being about her knee hurting, so daddy had to carry her around. We had our suspicians about how bad it really was, so I started: "who is the first to get home gets....." Daughter was immediately allert: "gets wat?" "No darling, you can't run. I was going to say: get's a mini marsbar." I hadn't even finished speaking and off she was, running home! If life was so easy on all sides.

Crash

My less then 4 months old laptop quit this week. Just when I was working on my blog and had a lot of other things going, my laptop started to do weird things. After closing it down it would not start again. The screen just stays totally blank. I spend an afternoon dealing with it. First a repairguy came by to check it out, but no use. Then I had to call the serviceline to report the problem. They told me they would send a ticket for the repair to my e-mail address! I think they assume that everyone has access to more then one pc with their e-mail installed. Luckily my old pc is still working, though you kind of have to use a pump handle to get it going. So that problem was solved, but I started how my mom would have coped if her laptop had crashed. How on earth would she have found out how to get to her e-mail? I mean, she is doing pretty well for a women her age when it comes to the pc. One of her close friends does not know how to seperate words from each others so she justwritesentanceslikethis. Anyway, now I have to have the laptop ready for pick up tomorrow afternoon. I think it will take an entire morning to find a box in the right size and pack it up properly (see picture). And I had so many other things I wanted to do. I love the modern technical life, but sometimes I wonder why I have become so dependant on it.

Welcome to my life

No, I don’t live in Amsterdam but in a city south of our capital. No, I have not smoked any joints my whole life, nor visited the red light district. But I am Dutch and proud of it. At my daughter’s school there is one kid who has two mommies and one who has two daddies, both couples happily married. I bike everywhere and walk to and from school with my little girl. We walk on normal shoes, btw and not on wooden shoes. So far for all the prejudices against (or for) us. You will find that my life differs from yours in the US. Our country works in a different way and we sometimes think in a different way. But you will also notice that in many ways my life is just like yours. The same struggles and worries, the same guilt and pain. But also the same laughter and happiness, the same feelings of love and friendship.

I came to the idea of writing a blog about this because I share much of my life with a terrific group of women on iVillage. We check in almost every day and ach time I notice how much the same we are, despite differences in culture. I enjoy hearing about their life and getting to know the inside of life in the US more. At the same time I notice they enjoy reading my posts and learning more about life in Holland. So, if you like to learn more about that either, follow my blog. I am also looking forward to comments on my life and thoughts. The beauty of internet: we can bring lives so far away from each other so close.