Happy Birthday Nicole

You were born on a Monday under the astrological sign Aquarius.

Your Life path number is 9.

Your fortune cookie reads: The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

Life Path Compatibility:You are most compatible with those with the

Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9.You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 1 & 5.You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 7 & 11.You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 4, 8 & 22.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2439156.5.
The golden number for 1966 is 10.
The epact number for 1966 is 8.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 1/21/1966 and ending 2/8/1967.You were born in the Chinese year of the Horse.Your Native American Zodiac sign is Otter; your plant is Fern.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Justin Timberlake (1981)
Minnie Driver (1971)
Kelly Lynch (1959)
Nolan Ryan (1947)
Charlie Musselwhite (1944)
Richard Gephardt (1941)
Suzanne Pleshette (1937)
James Franciscus (1934)
Ernie Banks (1931)
Jean Simmons (1929)
Carol Channing (1923)
Norman Mailer (1923)
Mario Lanza (1921)
Jackie Robinson (1919)
Thomas Merton (1915)
Garry Moore (1915)
Zane Grey (1872)

Top songs of 1966:
I'm a Believer by Monkees
The Ballad of the Green Berets by S/Sgt. Barry Sadler
Winchester Cathedral by New Vaudeville Band
Soul and Inspiration by Righteous Brothers
Monday, Monday by The Mama's & the Papa's
We Can Work It Out by Beatles
Summer In the City by Lovin' Spoonful
Cherish by Association
You Can't Hurry Love by Supremes
Wild Thing by Troggs

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 6.00391389432485 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)
Your lucky day is Saturday.
Your lucky number is 4 & 8.
Your ruling planet(s) is Saturn & Uranus.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Leo.
Your opposition number(s) is 1.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

Your birthstone is Garnet -->The Mystical properties of Garnet
Garnet is used as a power stone

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Emerald, Rose Quartz.

Your birth tree is Cypress Tree
The Faithfulness - Strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give, happy content, optimistic, needs enough money and acknowledgment, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered, unruly, pedantic and careless.

The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was waxing gibbous.

Go give her some b'day wishes here !

Birthday Boy

This cute boy turned 7 today !

He came out of his room with a huge grin and I don't think that has stopped yet ! We gave him his presents, colin gave him a pokemon duvet cover(dekbedhoes) and we gave him 2 Wii games Avatar and Barnyard (which was a great deal last month so we've had them ready for a while) before we went to school with his treats (we made pokemons from candy which he loved seeing this morning) and he chose the restaurant for this evening which will be Burger King (sorry weight watchers LOL).

Tommorow we will host his Pokemon Party and on sunday the big Pokemon birthday bash (notice a pattern LOL).

Please leave him a message on his blog, he just loves it when the counter goes up, but even more if he has a comment ;). Thanks !

* ps. the photo is from Florence Bavinck Photography.

Catching up a very random post

We've been very busy this last week, 2 little boys with the flu, DH busy clearing/sorting the attic (so he can start building next week), preparing for a birthday bash (we always start preparing tooo late on M's celebration), updating the shop, and going to physical therapy. Wow the week went by so fast .... and the weekend even faster with 2 birthdayparties !


I've also been in a bit of indecision about a scrapping tool and needs some help here. I have a silhouette but have found I don't use it enough (Let's face it, it's too pricey not to use) and it does cut out smoother and all swirls and edges are nice and prettier than the small cricut. I'm still opting to maybe sell it and buy a cricut expression instead. Although in the end that is more expensive as a silhouette is just as expensive as a cricut and a cartridge are together and you don't need any cartridges for the silhouette just the pc; the fact that the cricut can cut thin chipboard makes it more worthwile with giving workshops and such ...
So help me out which one do you have and what are your experiences ?


Also I've been so happy that I finally started to use bloglines, I had so many blogs in my favorites but just didn't have enough time to visit all my blogfriends and other blogs I love. Let's face it I'm a busy gal and want to maximize every minute ! I love to keep up with my blogfriends lives and this way I don't have to miss any posts, scrap inspiration or any other lovely eyecandy and it only costs me about 10 minutes a day.... gotta love all the technology that can help us busy women out ;)


And on the blog of a cool scrapping gal (Sarah van Wijk ) I found this:









so glad I didn't miss this and just had to share it with you just in case you haven't spotted her blog yet !

Dutch Dare and Photoshop

I have never worked on such a recent foto (wel at least I don't think i have) and it was fun. I totally thought out of the box with my colorchoice this time and I'm really happy with the result !


The rest of the lo's and the fabbo projects of the dt kan be seen here of course !

And now what would I mean with the photoshop in my titel ? Well I really want to learn to work it and just cannot find an affordable course, don't think I will be disciplined enough for an online course although i know there are some great ones out there. So I think I will have to do it with friends, and that's where you come in. If you have a laptop, photoshop on it and would love to explore the wonderful world of photoshop with me drop me a line and I'll see how many people we can fit around my table. DH is also close and he knows a bit, I have a book or two on photoshop so we should be able to get reasonably far .... I was thinking once every 2 weeks orso or once a month on a wednesday or a friday maybe ... So who of my blogfriends are interested ?

Dutch Sis Crop

I had so much fun saturday, everything was great (except for the weather driving in such hard rain is not funny) I met fun new and old friends, made 2 cards (sorry they are being mailed out and cannot show them or it will spoil it) and changed my last Dutch Dare. You know how you should always go with your gut feeling (in my case use this was the background paper) ? I didn't and the lo didn't make me smile when I looked at it, now it does !


Old version:





New version:








I didn't buy anything that's probably why I got some scrapping done, when you own your own scrapstore it's no fun shopping for scrapbook stuff as much as it used to be.


And I took part in my first round robin ever, wow that was scary but after the 3rd lo I got into it. This is what the girls made with my photo ( I started it off with this lovely photo made by Francien, the scalopped circle and a bit of leftover cardstock) and I love it ! Thanks Linda, Mireille, Martine, Fauve, Iben & Jo-Anne !




I'm looking forward to the next crop, it was a real nice getaway, everyone was really friendly although we didn't know each other, we had a good lunch, yummy foods, I got a cute atc from Lucie and a cute RAK from Corinne.


Oh and if you'd like a chance to win something, check out our monday quiz on the mls dt blog !

I'm off

For the day ! I so hate to pack for crops ... I never know what to bring and always end up bringing too much ...

But now I'm all set and will drive to Ede for the Sis Crop and although I am leaving behing so much work I really need this to keep my sanity, DH has been going to the gym to get some time to himself we're trying to find our way to relax more and endjoy our hobbies. Hope to show you something that I've made this weekend, but then I might just end up chatting and eating way too much and won't get any scrapping done LOL.

So what work am I leaving behind you might ask, well thankfully only a tiny bit of admin, lot's of b'day planning for Michael (he would like pokemon party) but explosions about everywhere else in the house I'm afraid. Today I spent most of the day purging the attic, my god we have so much stuff and I have to make some space so DH can start building a spare room for guests (a special one is coming in march and I hope another in june ...) and we haven't even finished the hallway so you can imagine the state of our home .... This will be continued on sunday and we have to bcause we have so much stuff.... But once it's cleared I'm confident he will get lots done over the next 2 weeks !

Speaking of my DH, last week his blog had his 1 yr anniversery, very funny if you think about it as he made this as a joke and a year later he's kinda famous in scrapland and almost being published more than me as his 2nd interview for an e-zine is coming up soon. He is however a bit dissapointed about not getting enough comments as you can tell by his post from today .... So leave him a little comment, he'd love to read who his fans are !

I'll leave you a few photo's from our recent trip to the efteling, that I'd like to share with you, have a nice weekend !

Public anouncements

First off, I so forgot to congratulate Daphne with her birthday, but your card is on the way sweetie !

And psssht have you heard, Florence delivered her baby daughter yesterday, Olivia (beautiful name) !

Did you see our sketch on the blog this week, pretty cool what the girls did !

Oh and I'm going to the SIS crop in Ede saturday, looking forward to it and not, you see I have a hard time packing when going somewhere else to crop. I never know what to take so I take way too much, very frustrating since this is an all day crop so I want to bring enough.
Anybody else going ? What are you taking ? Does anybody need a ride, I'm coming from hoofddorp via Utrecht (Mandy) to Ede....

Presents

I don't often get prezzies but I so love receiving them whether they are expected or unexpected (the latter is of course the most fun LOL). I wanted to share some prezzie's frommy Secret Santa, a friend and myself (also great just giving yourself something because you deserve it ;) don't you agree ?).

In the Secret Santa Swap (I still don't know who had me ...) we were supposed to give scrapbookgifts, a personal gift and a handmade gift and I've shown them here in that order, thanks SSS whoever you are !










I received this gift last week from a sweet friend, because she thought I was a great friend. And to tell you the truth the wrapping and message alone was lovely, but she knows I love movies with lot's of music and dancing so this was right up my alley. Thanks M !

I gave myself this little treat to pimp my new not so girly phone (and I'm all about girly). It made me smile, reminded me of the supercute teddy bears (handmade by her) I had seen over at Jo-Annes and fell in love with. Isn't she cute ?

And this is my new phone I got last month, it has a gps system that I really wanted but didn't think I could afford. Thank goodness it was free with my new mobile subscription, just what I need as I have a hard time finding my way now and then ;)

Healthy Body = Healthy Mind

Or is it the other way around ? Or not ?

I don't care all I can say is I have finally found my word for 2008 ! Health ! I want to take better care of myself not only foodwise but also in the form of relaxation and a bit more fun.

Today I started my day eating healthy and ended it that way too. Tommorow I will go visit the Weight Watchers to lose the 5 kilo's I gained somewhere this year that results into my clothes not fitting .... that somehow I cannot seem to lose. After both boys I lost 12 kilo's following the WW regime (without attending, so I did it all by myself) but at the moment I'm so busy and not in the right state of mind and I cannot seem to do it on my own.
So I need a little help from them and my support group :D
My mother also has (we're jojo's each in our own weightclasses, yes just like boxers LOL) having weight problems (it's definately in the genes we can look at choc, chips etc. and gain weight which results in me always having to make choices) so I dared her to go to and promised ourselves something after 5 kilo's and I'm thinking of jewelry or a wellness centre.
I know that once I fit in my clothes I will feel happier, my leg will have less to carry (you see it should take another 6 weeks to heal WITHOUT surgery phew but in the meantime it's a heavy load for my other not so ok knee) and I can buy some fun new summerclothes. Things could be worse I know, but for me now, this is keeping me busy.

For relaxation I plan to scrap more, get together with friends more and with scrap together with some of them and dinner or dancing with others and go out more with DH and have some fun by going to movies (we LOVE doing this), we already have theatertickets and I want to go away for a romantic weekend together.

So have you found your word yet ?

And for those of you going on the health kick, what are you giving yourself (or receiving) to keep yourself motivated ?

Dutch Dare # 30

I just uploaded the new dutch dares on our blog and they are so great ! I'm still not sure about what the wow factor is in my lo, I'm such a "twijfelkont" when it comes to making lo's always thinking it's missing something and are the colors right etc. (you get the image right ?) , well let's hope my photo is the wow factor this time ....

Here's a sneakpeak, check out the rest and what the dt made here.

journaling : on 9.12.07 I was hit on the cyclist lane by a driver of a car who was in a hurry. The fact that I was riding with 2 bikes did not help when you want to avoid a collision ...

Back to work

Wow what a difference a good night of sleep will do for me ! Yesterday I went to the orthopedic doc and he gave me some good news (well it's just how you take it but I was so relieved, as you can imagine). Turns out only my cartilage/gristle (?) is badly damaged and needs time to heal (about 6 more weeks orso and a little help from a physiotherapist).
And damaged it is as my knee only started turning blue a week ago (the accident was om dec. 9th) ... I will take a new pic today to show you if you don't belive me.


These 2 weeks holiday have just gone by so fast. What have we been up to you may ask, well loads;


Seen the Bee Movie

Went to the Zoo

Played lots on the new Wii

DH worked hard on our hallway which is coming along nicely


Treated each little boy to a meal of his choice so 1 x NY pizza and 1x Mac Donalds


Spent a lot of time looking for new lampshades (Wendy would you mind if we got the same lovely green ones as you have ? hihi)

Counted the whole MLS stock (had some help from Corinne and DH which helped so much)

Cleaned out the scraproom (again)

Went to visit Nicole in Geleen (a good opportunity to see if the boys liked each other and they did so we can meetup more, get the boys to play so we can scrap LOL and I got to try out my new mobile with navigator and yay it works like a charm)

Organized the boys rooms (again)

Organized a Baby Shower with Nili for Flo

Sent out all overdue RAKS from my old stash

Gained a bit of weight :(

Went to the winter Efteling

Got the admin sorted for 2006 (waaaaaaaay overdue)

Washed numerous laundry piles (and I still do not see the bottom of my 4 laundry baskets)

Spent time with friends

Learned not to play 2 consecutive boxing matches on the wii (ouch)

Thought up/Made fun new workshops for jan/feb


What I still need to do SOON;


Organize a Pokemon Party for Michael (all ideas are welcome)

Clean up the attic so Ed can build a guest room for a special guest in March

Lose weight 5 kg = 1 waistsize = no more tight clothes

Get scrapping again ! I just have not had the time and this has to change this year

Xmas & New Year's impression

Here are some impressions from our christmas. First xmas day we stayed in, pj's only, nice old school tradition : "gourmet" (lot's of meat and the kids cook it themselves with little cooking pans) and playing with the wii the whole family received as a gift from santa ! Second xmas day we went out to the Zoo and walked around a few hours enjoying the nice weather and being together (although I was in pain the rest of the evening ;) ...) and then the boys played some more on the wii while we prepared a chicken roast.

New Years Eve we played with fireworks a bit (Colin found out you cannot touch sparkles even when they stopped burning .... we learned a good lesson here, when we tell children (ours or others) not to do something we need to repeat it specifically to Colin or else it will just not reach him (a problem we run into a LOT with him), before the boys went to bed and then woke them up just before 12 to traditionally eat "oliebollen", toast and watch fireworks from our bedroom. That was fun but after an hour the fireworks died down (really soon this year) and we all went to sleep.