5 Mar 2011

SATURDAY FUN - Old Advertisings



Already 60 years ago, there was water saving !





What was good in the past is bad today ...




Starting in the late 1800s, many breweries contained around 2% alcohol and were promoted as "food in liquid form," aiding in digestion, increasing appetite and aiding in sleep. "A boon to nursing mothers."

4 Mar 2011

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE



more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. After our stressful weekend with new baked hysterical parents, I tried to get rid of the stress with my acqua gym on Monday. I had a very funny morning, because apparently I was like an overcharged battery and one said " I don't dare to touch you I am sure I'll get an electric shock" In fact I could have been used as an electric chair. We had lunch together and I was very much recomforted.

2. My friend Ilona had also done some painting works in her house, so I spend her a visit to admire the new entrance and doors. Ilona has a special vocation she is able to read tarrot cards. Honnestly I never believed in such things and am still quiet suspicious, because I am a rather down to earth person, but so far everything she had read for me had happened. Of course she can't tell the future, only what she reads in the cards. Amazingly the 3 times I had asked her and she had done it for me it all became true. It's just unbelievable. She doesn't like to do it because it costs her a lot of energy and then it's also quiet difficult to tell sad things to people you love when she reads it in the cards. She only does it for friends.

3. My other friend Chantal invited me for her birthday, we had a nice piece of cake and tea and of course a lot to chat. Her 24 year old son was there too and when I narrated my weekend he was laughing so much, that he cried. Trying to take things with humor even if it is rather sad is a kind of self protection and self therapy. If you are able to laugh about yourself, you win half of the battle ! Unfortunately I can't write it here yet, in case the young parents read this and they wouldn't be amused at all ! There is a total lack of humor for the moment. Until my son is back to normal again, I keep it private.

4. In my painting group I started a new painting, for the moment I am in a surrealistic phase, but for more than a blue background I had no time because we started a discussion about our children when they become parents. Some events where so hilarious so that I could write a whole book only about that ! Maybe that would recomfort other future grandparents, who happened to have been parents too. It's quiet a miracle that all these children survived ! One told us that her daughter doesn't speak to her anymore (for the moment at least) because she didn't hold the spoon correctly to feed the 2 year old baby girl.


Roasted Arthur with zucchinis

5. We nearly had our house burning, cat Arthur apparently wanted to roast himself and had switched on the hot plate ! So far it had never happened, he likes to sit on top of the cupboard with the hot plate and now we are worried and try to find a solution. Lately he is very much involved in household things because he also had dialled the n° 666666 on Mr. G's mobile phone ! Does anybody of you have this number ?? We can be happy that he didn't dial the 100 which are the firemen.

3 Mar 2011

U POST

Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

Letter "U"

This morning laying in my bed I tried to breed a very nice, intellectual, shakespearelike (at least) post for our weekly Alphabet Thursday.

Therefore I had to choose a word starting with U and here it became difficult. I had no inspiration at all, I looked at the now white ceiling (it was just freshly painted last week) but my brain remained empty like a Dutch cheese with holes.

As I had to deal with a very unstable person lately, I thought that this word would be perfect for a U post. I jumped out of my bed, went on Internet and looked under "unstable person" just to learn a little more about these poor and probably also very unhappy people who never know what they really want and also suffer from serious inferiority complexes.

First thing I found was : Unstable = unstable Person characterized by lack of emotional control. Seemed logical to me. But I also asked Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which told me :

"Redirect page
Jump to: navigation, search Instability

I had no intention to redirect pages to jump or navigate I only wanted more to know about "unstable persons" and not about Instability, because this word doesn't start with a U !! Why do they call it instability if it comes from unstable ? It should be Unstability !!

But at least I enlarged my knowledge about mental disorder, which apparently comes from "unstable"

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture.

No definitively , that wasn't what I wanted, who would want to read a "Freud" post on a nice thursday afternoon ?




I put my hands under my skin and looked at cat Rosie who was grooming herself from top to bottom, but even that didn't give me any inspiration, besides the fact that Rosie didn't look uncomfortable or in an unstable postition !

Mulling over and over my problem I finally I came to the conclusion that there are far too much words starting with an "u"

just have a look and don't get dizzy

unnervate, unnerve, unnerved, unnerves, unnerving, unnesessary, unnest, unnestle, unnethe, unnethes, unnoble, unnobly, unnoted, unnoticeable, unnoticeably, unnoticed, unnotify, unnourished, unnumbered, unnumerable, unstable, unstableness, unstabler, unstablest, unstably, unstack, unstacked, unstacking, unstacks, unstained, unstamped, unstandardized, unstapled, unstarch, unstarched, unstate, unstated, unstates, unsteadier, unsteadies, unsteadiest, unsteadily, unsteadiness, unsteady,uakari, uberous, uberrima, uberties, uberty, ubeth, ubication, ubiety, ubiquarian, ubiquitarian, ubiquitaries, ubiquitariness, ubiquitary, ubiquities, ubiquitist, ubiquitous, ubiquitously, ubiquity, uchees, uckewallist, udal, udalborn, udaler, udalman, udder, uddered, udderless, udders, udometer, ufo, ufos, uganda, ugandan, ugandans, ugh, ughs, uglesome, ugli, uglier, ugliest, uglified, uglifier, uglifiers, uglifies, uglify, uglifying, uglily, ugliness, uglis, ugly, ugrian, ugsome, uh, uhlan, uhs, uintatherium, uitlander, ukase, ukases, uke, ukelele, ukeleles, ukes, ukraine, ukrainian, ukrainians, ukulele, ukuleles, ulan, ularburong, ulcer, ulcerable, ulcerate, ulcerated, ulcerates, ulcerating, ulceration, ulcerations, ulcerative, ulcered, ulcering, ulcerous, ulcers, ulcuscle, ulcuscule, ule, ulema, ulexite, uliginose, uliginous, ullage, ullages, ullet, ullmannite, ulluco, ulmaceous, ulmate, ulmic, ulmin, ulmus, ulna, ulnae, ulnage, ulnar, ulnare, ulnaria, ulnas, ulodendron, uloid, ulonata, ulotrichan, ulotrichi, ulotrichous, ulster, ulsters, ult, ulterior, ulteriorly, ultima, ultimacies, ultimacy, ultimas, ultimata, ultimate, ultimated, ultimately, ultimateness, ultimates, ultimating, ultimation, ultimatum, ultimatums, ultime, ultimity, ultimo, ultion, ultra, ultracentrifuge, ultraconservative, ultraconservatives, ultrafiche, ultrafiches, ultrafiltration, ultragaseous, ultrage, ultrahazardous, ultrahigh, ultraism, ultraist, ultramarine, ultramicroscope, ultramicroscopic, ultramicroscopically, ultramicroscopy, ultramicrotome, ultramodern, ultramontane, ultramontanism, ultramontanist, ultramundane, ultrared, ultras, ultrasonic, ultrasonically, ultrasonics, ultrasonogram, ultrasonography, ultrasound, ultrastructural, ultrastructure, ultrasuede, ultratropical, ultraviolet, ultrazodiacal, ultroneous, ulula, ululant, ululate, ululated, ululates, ululating, ululation, ululations, ulva, ulvas, ulysses, umbe, umbecast, umbel, umbeled, umbellar, umbellate, umbellated, umbellet, umbellic, umbellifer, umbelliferone, umbelliferous, umbellularia, umbellule, umbels, umber, umbered, umbers, umbery, umbilic, umbilical, umbilicate, umbilicated, umbilication, umbilici, umbilicus, umbilicuses, umbles, umbo, umbonate, umbonated, umbones, umbos, umbra, umbraculiferous, umbraculiform, umbrae, umbrage, umbrageous, umbrages, umbral, umbras, umbrate, umbratic, umbratical, umbratile, umbratious, umbre, umbrel, umbrella, umbrellaed, umbrellas, umbrere, umbrette, umbriere, umbriferous, umbril, umbrine, umbrose, umbrosity, umhofo, umiak, umiaks, umlaut, umlauted, umlauting, umlauts, ump, umped, umping, umpirage, umpire, umpired, umpires, umpireship,

and if you don't have found enough words starting with U you = u can continue to read by clicking here and ask for "U". I think it goes until the letter unzipped at least, which now inspires me for a post about unzipped trousers. But for that I wait for next U-turn.

2 Mar 2011

1 Mar 2011

MY WORLD - Spring ??


more participants here

As my weekend had rather been stressful and I was quiet down, I tried to cheer me up by walking through "my world" and discovered with pleasure the first spring signs !









slowly slowly it starts to bloom and little buds come out. It made me feel better and I thought in a few weeks there will be green leaves there and flowers will start to come out and make the world a little more colorful.





This one was quiet in advance, I don't know the name, but I thought it's beautiful.

After my little walk through the nature I thought I go to the cimetary to say hello to my very best friend Jeanine who died on February 27 in 2009 of pancreas cancer. she had been more than a sister to me. But as I had decided to visit her sponatiously I came without any flowers.




I was quiet horrified to see her grave in this state. She hadn't wanted to be burried but incinerated and her ashes to be put together with her mother's in a rose bed in her garden, but her husband without respecting her last will, insisted to have a grave to walk there and bring her flowers.

Instead he found another women 3 months later and her son, whom she had raised and spoiled with so much love (probably too much), has forgotten his mother's grave too. She is not longer there to take care of him so why should he go to her grave ?

This put me back into deep sadness.

When it's not raining tomorrow I will go back, clean the grave and put some flowers. She had been the best friend I ever had and we had shared so many high and deeps together from being young mothers until our 60th. She was only 67 when she died.

28 Feb 2011

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ? First visit of Toby



Helps you to remember what you have done on the weekend of February 26. You never know if you need an alibi ! If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.

My weekend was rather tiring ! After 2 weeks of painters in the house our son announced us his visit with his little family. Grandson Toby, like Napoleon invaded Waterloo for the first time.



With the last energy which I had left after having cleaned the house, I was proud of myself to manage a little space for him, with his own little baby bed which I had bought for this purpose so that he could sleep well together with his parents.

Unfortunately the bed hasn't been used because it was apparently too big for a 3 1/2 months old baby, although I had been told that it is a bed already for newborns and our son had always slept in such a bed since I came home from hospital. I learned that times have changed and they are now squeezed into their pram when they stay overnight somewhere. I think I have to update myself on how to "handle" children today. I wonder how all kids born in the past survived ?? Even I who was sleeping in a drawer because there was no bed !

Toby of course has changed a lot since Christmas when we saw him the last time and is now a big boy of a little more than 65 cm (26 inches), a friendly, easy baby which loves to smile and has a very good appetite. He gets all excited when he sees his bottle !



The young parents were very busy and also quiet tired, little babies take a lot of energy !



Mr. G. interrupted his peaceful routine life and played the clown for little Toby. It was amazing that Toby mostly smiled with his Nonno (Grandpa) and less with me and I would even say less with his parents, but there I may be wrong. I recognized my old Mr. G. behaving like he did when he was a young father. Of course meanwhile he got a little rusty.




I too had my fun with Toby and when he didn't want to do his nap, I read him the instructions of "how to safe electricity" and "how to use Internet" because I didn't have another text near to me to read to him. He was really very interested and .... almost fell asleep but only almost ! Mr. G. who sat besides me was fighting not to fall asleep with my sweet explanations about electricity bills !



Saturday night, when Toby slept we had a nice Sushi, with some interruptions because the very conscientious young parents had to check on Toby each time he made a little noise, and as you can see Arthur replaced them at the table.

On Sunday, while they went to the Waterloo market I visited an exhibition of a Photographer who is specialized in Photoshop and also gives lessons. As it's already some time that I wanted to take Photoshop lessons, I asked him if he also teached. And he did ! So now I have to decide on the day and will finally learn at least a little about photoshop. It's also nice that the guy is living just around the corner.






27 Feb 2011

THE MISTERY OF A PEWTER PLATE

When you repaint rooms there are always things which disappear. At least that was the case in our house. An engraved pewter plate from my Grandma's home town which had always hanged on the entrance wall, had disappeared. Instead I found two handpainted plates from Italy which had hanged on a wall somewhere but we both couldn't remember where.

Mr. G. pretended that he had never touched the pewter plate and didn't even remember that it had hanged for years in the entrance. This is not unusual because most men have potatoes on their eyes when it comes to decorations unless they are their own once. I too hadn't taken the plate away because for that I would have needed a chair or something, and that I would remember.

Mr. G. started a thorough detective work and checked all cupboads, wardrobes, closets and drawers, as if the painters had hidden our plate inside some wardrobes and under our underwear. Of course the resulat was zero.

Then one day in the middle of the week he stormed in my room like a elephant who had found a banana and shouted happily "I found the plate" ! Where ?? I asked.



It was sitting in a vitrine just in front of his bed, where he also kept the soldiers of Napoleon's Waterloo army. Apparently years ago, I had moved the plate from the entrance into the vitrine.



But these two plates are still there and I don't know where they were. Meanwhile I have put them away in the hope I won't forget where I put them, until we find a place to hang them up. So one mistery is solved, but the other still remains open.