A little update

I've been wanting to write a post almost every day in the last two weeks, but somehow every time something got in the way. A little update...

The finances for Ron's business are finally done. The normal banks weren't interested, didn't even take a look at the businessplan. We don't have personal money to invest, so the verdict was an established fact: not interested. We didn't give up and turned to Qredits, the only nationwide operating microfinance institution in The Netherlands. We got a visit of one of their business advisors and he liked the idea and plans. Finally, after almost a year of pursuing this goal, the business can really start.
Sounds good, huh? It is, really! But from that moment on eveything seemed to be doomed. Whatever we did, it all backfired. Whatever we started went wrong. It would be too much to spell it all out, but man... it was exhausting and undermining our motivation. But again... we won't give up! Things can only get better... Luctor et Emergo! ;-)

I haven't been feeling very well the past weeks. Something went wrong with my heart and blood pressure medication (my fault). Last week after I went countrydancing I collapsed at home. My heart rate and blood pressure were skyhigh. I really felt very bad. My medication is okay again, but still my heart is racing regularly and my blood pressure is too high even in rest. I'll have to make a doctor's appointment next week. Perhaps my medications have to be adapted; they all interact. We'll see.

Last saturday we went to the Elf Fantasy Fair in Haarzuilens, a festival for fantasylovers, pagans, live action role play (larp), re-enactment, etc. with great music, stands, workshops, lectures and more on the grounds of Castle De Haar. We had a great time! You can see our pictures in my Picasa webalbum:

Elf Fantasy Fair

Reiki Master

I got my Reiki 1st degree in 2003 together with my sister Joke and in 2005 we got our 2nd degree together. Unfortunately our Master decided to stop with courses and attunements. It took some time to find another way to continue this path. When I finally found it, I started the Master study at 1st degree level so I could refresh my memory and learn some new things. Because of the fatigue and concentration problems it took me longer than expected but I did finish it!

Friday morning I got my Reiki 3rd degree attunement / initiation together with 4 others. It was a very intense experience for me and very emotional. Water kept running from my eyes and it weren't tears, a strange feeling! My body felt very heavy, but not uncomfortable. Afterwards I couldn't stop yawning.
After lunch we immediately started giving 1st and 2nd degree attunements to a group of people. Attunement is hard work for me. I got energy from it but my body was exhausted. I'll have to be creative to find a good way for me to do this, but that shouldn't be a problem. The Reiki Master gave me some tips already. It was a long, but very instructive and nice day. After taking my time with studying I can finally call myself a Reiki Master!

Berner Sennen Beach Walk

Yesterday Ron and I went with Arwen to an organized walk on the beach of Noordwijk with 50 to 60 Berner Sennen (Bernese Mountain) dogs from all over The Netherlands. For us it wasn't far, just a 45 min. drive. The weather forecast had been very bad for this afternoon, but fortunately they were all wrong! It was dry, quite warm and even sunny from time to time. Almost perfect conditions for dogs on the beach. We didn't bring Foofur this time. The beach is not his favourite and we had already been to the IJmuiden beach the day before. Of course Arwen had a blast! We walked along the beach near the sea. She loves the water and was soaking wet in no time. We enjoyed ourselves very much, but at the end we were dog-tired! ;-))

I've put our pics in an album here.