TT #95: about me

Thirteen random things about me I've been tagged for several random-things-about-me-memes and I decided to do them in the form of a TT. The first one (tagged by Mike) exists of 9 random questions, the other two (tagged by Randilin and Beverly) just ask random facts about me. Have you ever been on TV? Yes, years ago Patrick Stewart (Capt. Picard) was in The Netherlands to promote the first Star Trek The Next Generation DVD-box. I was interviewed with some other Trekkies for a live morning program called “Goedemorgen Nederland” (“Goodmorning Netherlands”). Have you ever sung in public? Not solo, but several times together with others. Have you ever had your hair blond? My hair is darkblond and I have strings of lightblond done, like I had them naturally when I was younger. Have you ever eaten frogs' legs? Yes, but I didn’t especially like it. I prefer chicken. Have you ever received a present that you really hated? Not that I remember. Gifts that weren’t really me, but hated? No. Have you ever walked into a lamp post? I’m sure I have, I’m clumsy enough to do it again. Have you ever cooked a meal by yourself for more than 15 people? Noooooo way! I hate cooking and I never do. Ron is the cook in our household and a very good one too. :) Have you ever fallen or stumbled in front of others? O yes, often. I have fear of failure. I have learned to hide it by acting sure of myself, but before I could do that I was a mess. Still am sometimes. Have you ever done volunteer work? Yes, since my teens. I like doing it. I have worked for a cultural foundation in our city for quite some years. Later I switched to the local Animal Welfare Unit and pet shelter. I still do work for those. In highschool I had a lot of foreign penpals (no e-mail back then): in Lithuania, England, France, USA, Philippines and lots more. The most letters I exchanged with a girl from Denmark called Lene Andersen. She played in a school orchestra which came to The Netherlands one day, so I could meet her. Over the years we lost touch. I met Ron in a drumband. I was a majorette and he drummed. I had just broken up with my fiancé and Ron was fooled by his girlfriend. We took it slow, but the only way was up! That is almost 23 years ago. I have done my driving exam 8 times. I was so nervous I failed the test 7 times. The 8th time was different. I had a nervous breakdown before I stepped into the car, so the driving went okay. I couldn't believe I finally did it! That was in 1991 and I wouldn't want to miss my license! I don't drink alcohol and I don't smoke, but I have several addictions. To name a few: chocolate, books, internet! :) ~*~*~*~ The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted Unfortunately the original TT website doesn't exist anymore.That's a pity, but I'll keep on doing TT's and I hope everyone else will. There's a perfect new hub : Thursday-13!

COT #24: together

CATS ON TUESDAY is a group of cat lovers

who share pictures and/or stories about their cats once a week,
hosted by Gattina.

I finally feel somewhat better. Wow, that was some flu... Completely knocked me out! I slept a lot, in bed and on the couch. When I was downstairs, all cats and dogs were close to me. They especially liked my blankets. :)


I'll just share some pics I made the last few weeks. Freyja, Bastet and Maia can chase, fight, hiss... but in the end they love each other!

Flu

I haven't disappeared... I'm in bed with the flu (lousy bedmate!). Ron has caught it for the fourth time. I escaped three times, but alas... this time he infected me too.
I'll be back a.s.a.p.! :)

TT #94: diet quotes

Thirteen quotes on diet and weight(loss) It's the most talked about subject in January and this time I go with the flow! Yes, I'm trying to lose weight too; aren't I always..? ;-) A diet is the penalty we pay for exceeding the feed limit. If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush. ~Dawn French I'm on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it. In eating, a third of the stomach should be filled with food, a third with drink and the rest left empty. ~Talmud The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out. I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren’t in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets. ~Dolly Parton If hunger is not the problem, then eating is not the solution. I have gained and lost the same ten pounds so many times over and over again my cellulite must have déjà vu. ~Jane Wagner Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake. I don't diet. I just don't eat as much as I'd like to. ~Linda Evangelista My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people. ~Orson Welles Never eat more than you can lift. ~Miss Piggy In the Middle Ages, they had guillotines, stretch racks, whips and cahins. Nowadays, we have a much more effective torture device called the bathroom scale. ~Stephen Phillips ~*~*~*~ The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted Unfortunately the TT website doesn't exist anymore.That's a pity, but I'll keep on doing TT's and I hope everyone else will. The link to the code doesn't work (comes automatically with Mr. Linky). Leaving your link is extra important now, so please do! update: There's a temporary solution: Thursday-13!

Free Tony!

I've adopted black panther Bagheera at Big Cat Rescue. They do excellent work. I found this appalling case on their website. Please take the time to read and watch this!

Tony the Tiger resides in a truck stop/roadside attraction in Grosse Tete, LA in a concrete cage that is overrun with feces and overwhelmed by fumes from 18-wheelers. Louisiana state wildlife officials have given the owner 30 days to find Tony a new home. Instead of doing that, the owner filed a lawsuit...
Big Cat Rescue, the world's largest accredited sanctuary, is willing to commit to the lifetime care of Tony, providing him clean conditions to live in, proper veterinary care, and an appropriate diet.

Watch the video to see what's happening:


Tony's owner has filed a lawsuit to block the state and local officials from enforcing the "no exotic pets" ordinance. Further, the judge has issued a temporary injunction preventing the removal of Tony until the hearing for a ruling by the Parish which is scheduled for January 20th.

I signed the petition and wrote a letter online to the parish. You can help too! Visit the Free Tony page on the Big Cat Rescue site to see what you can do, preferably before January 20th!

Feel free to take this and post it on your blog or website.

I love autumn

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

Look what I won!

Leanne Wildermuth is a very nice person and an amazing artist. I follow her for quite a while already. Every time she shares her work, I'm in awe. She's so talented. On her website you can have a look at her portfolio. She is specialized in lifelike, detailed custom pet portraits in oil, but also makes other beautiful paintings and pictures. I'm a big fan of her artwork. If I had the money, I'd let her make portraits or more of all my pets.

In 2009 she added a new feature to her blog: a weekly graphite portrait giveaway! Each week, one winner receives one 5×7 inch graphite drawing from their photograph. That was a chance I didn't want to miss. I decided to enter with my favourite picture of Foofur and added our story and the story of the picture. I so hoped I would win and I did!! The result is on top of this post. Isn't it great? I think so!

Leanne, thank you very, very much! I love the portrait! You are blessed with a special talent and share it so freely with everyone. You'll make someone very happy every week. Thank you!

TT #93: online pet peeves

Thirteen online pet peeves I like surfing, reading my favourite blogs, browse websites, etc. Sometimes bloggers and/or website designers (amateur AND pro) don't make it very easy to enjoy their work... pop-ups – I have pop-up killers, but still I get them from time to time. Even if the content is appealing I click them away. pop-unders – See pop-ups websites that automatically play music – I play my own music, thank you very much. Please add an immediately visible button to kill it! Or even better, make it an option to play in the first place. too much advertising – I don’t mind ads, my blog has them too. If I have to search through the ads to find the actual content, I give up very quickly though. unreadable text – Too little, unreadable font, colour… If you want me to read your website at least make the text clear! too busy background – It’s a BACKground, people! It shouldn’t get all the attention. If you really want that lively picture on the background, set the text in a box with plain background. page loading too slow because of content – I know you want to show everything you got, but if the loading takes too long I’m off to the next site. dead or wrong links – I hate those! I double-check every link I use and click old links regularly to see if the pages still exist. If you ever find one nevertheless, please let me know! writing in all caps – Especially when used with lots of !!!!!!! You’re screaming! No need to scream online. I won't listen to real-life screaming, so I won't read online screaming. stealing content from others – If you use content from another site, ask permission or at least mention the source. It’s unfair to get credit for something you didn’t create. And it is even more stupid if you copy and paste text without removing the language errors. use of unknown abbreviations – Everybody knows what LOL means, IMHO is fairly well-known too, but otherwise: if you use an abbreviation, explain it at least once after the first time it occurs in your text. back button switched off – I use the back button of my browser quite a lot. Why switching it off? I hate it when websites do that. I know there’s a solution (use the little arrow next to the back button), but still! long text without structure – If something seems to be interesting I’m willing to read a long text but without use of paragraphs, new lines, etc. that’s hard! Make it a bit easier for your audience! ~*~*~*~ The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted Unfortunately the TT website doesn't exist anymore.That's a pity, but I'll keep on doing TT's and I hope everyone else will. The link to the code doesn't work (comes automatically with Mr. Linky). Leaving your link is extra important now, so please do! update: There's a temporary solution: Thursday-13!

Almost two weeks later

Remember the removal of my xanthelasmata? It has been two weeks now. The stitches were removed on December 31st; that was fixed in a minute and didn't hurt a bit. Since then I apply a gel with aloe vera on my eyelid twice a day. It works very good. I have a difficult skin; every little wound or scratch gets infected, no matter what I do to prevent that. Therefore I'm extremely pleased that my eyelid is healing this good!
The only inconvenience is the little muscle in the corner of my eye near my nose. It seems to be more visible and on the surface than before the surgery. If you look closely you can see the difference, but it's not very clear in this picture. It isn't really troubling me, but I'll keep an eye on it!

New Year's Wish

May the dawning of this New Year

fill your heart with new hopes

open up new horizons

and bring for you

promises of brighter tomorrows.

Have a great New Year!!!

Reminiscing

The last day of the year... A day to look back, reminisce. Of course my parents are always part of that. Although they weren't there physically in 2008, they are always with me. This picture stands in our living room (without the heart). It reminds me of the good times. It is taken during the opening of christmas presents in our former home. It makes me smile. I love them, I miss them, but I know they love me and I cherish the memories!

Time for me to go now,
I won't say goodbye
Look for me in rainbows,
way up in the sky.

In the morning sunrise
when all the world is new,
Just look for me and love me,
as you know I loved you.

Time for me to leave you,
I won't say goodbye
Look for me in rainbows,
high up in the sky.

In the evening sunset,
when all the world is through,
Just look for me and love me,
and I'll be close to you.

It won't be forever,
the day will come and then
My loving arms will hold you,
when we meet again.

Time for us to part now,
we won't say goodbye
Look for me in rainbows,
shining in the sky.

Every waking moment,
and all your whole life through
Just look for me and love me,
as you know I loved you.

Just wish me
to be near you,
and I'll be there with you

sung by Vicky Brown

COT #23: Buddha for cats

CATS ON TUESDAY is a group of cat lovers

who share pictures and/or stories about their cats once a week,

hosted by Gattina.

I moved my Buddha-statue/fountain from the kitchen to the top of my computerdesk. The cats adore it! They like to drink from it, sit in front of it (praying?), sleep close to it...

Awards shower

I have received several awards the last month and now I finally have the time to show them! Thank you to all who thought me and my weblog are worth an award!

Chica & Pumuckl gave me the "I Love Your Blog"-award.

1. Those who have received this award, can add the pic.
2. Add a link to that person’s blog who awarded you.
3. Choose 7 others to receive this award and add links to their blogs.
4. Leave a message to their blogs so that they know about this.

Duni at Lovely Purses passed on the Lemonade Award to me.

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude.
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Lorianna at Twilight's Muse awarded me with another "I Love Your Blog"-award.

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.

Both Mike Golch at Rambling Stuff and Kat at Candles, Crafts & Whatnot gave me the Butterfly Award.

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate outstanding blogs that you follow.
4. Add the links to those blogs.
5. Leave a message for the nominees on their blog.

I want to pass the awards on to:

• all Entrecarders who've dropped on my blog
• all my furry-friends with a blog
• all regular visitors
• did I miss anyone? :-)

Xanthelasmata

As I told you before I had my xanthelasmata removed on December 24. They are a sharply demarcated yellowish collection of cholesterol underneath the skin on my eyelids. Harmless and painless, but I saw them with every look and all day. Time to get rid of them!
My appointment was at 7.45am, so I was the first in the OR. The local anaesthetic was the most painful, the rest wasn't. I could feel what the surgeon was doing, but without pain. Before I know it, I was in the recovery room! After some thorough cooling I could go home.
At home I felt a tear in the corner of my eye. It was blood. When I wiped it very carefully I looked straight into the wound on one side. Oops... stitching had come loose (before I wiped). I called the hospital and they told me to come back immediately.
Fortunately the surgeon was just starting with his last patient, so I was in time. I had to wait for a while and then I was back in the OR. The old stitches had to be removed, so I got a local anaesthetic again (ouch!). New stitches, extra adhesive plaster... ready, again!
Now it's getting better day by day. The worst day was the day after surgery, but it could have been worse. I'm not complaining. On the pictures you can see the progress up until this morning.

COT #22: Freyja loves tea

CATS ON TUESDAY is a group of cat lovers

who share pictures and/or stories about their cats once a week,

hosted by Gattina.

Cats are known to be curious, but Freyja is even more curious! Last week I was rearranging my tea drawer in the kitchen, when she decided to come and help me. Being in the way, sniffling the boxes, playing with tealabels and strings, eventually taking over my drawer! :-)