I guess not...

I had a cup of coffee and that lifted me right over my sleepiness and now the hands of the clock are starting to move toward the morning hour. One of the things I have done in the meantime is simplify the background of my blog to make it less cluttered and easier to read. Sometimes you have to go for the very simple design and not for the busy, full colored one. That's not always as obvious as it seems, but I did figure it out in the end. Less is more, as my friend Laura used to say.

Did you see that Blogger has a new feature? They now have "Design" instead of "Lay Out" and you can custom make your templates. It's more interesting than it was before, but that's not where I got my background. They do have some more interesting templates to choose from now, though, and more options for the colors you want them in, so it's not bad if you just want to stick with them. If I hadn't already picked out my background, I would have been tempted to go with one of theirs. I still may change my mind. you know how fickle I am. If it's there and it's available., I want to use it. Why let a good thing go to waste? I always want to try something new.

I've completely woken up now and will greet the early morning that will start with birdsong in about half an hour. That will be the official start of the day. Sometime after that the sun will come up, although it will most likely be overcast again. The temperature today is going to be 26C and we're expecting some rain this afternoon, but I won't hold my breath for it. It was predicted yesterday too and we never had any. I think we're too far south for it, tucked away in the valley of the Meuse.

I think the best thing I can do is take Tyke for an early morning walk, now that I'm wide awake and no longer under the influence of my nighttime pills. They're completely out of my system. I had taken them on time yesterday thinking that I would sleep early and long, but it didn't work out that way and turned into a nap instead. That's such a let down, when you're ready for a long sleep and it turns into a popcorn fart. I feel cheated out of my sleep, but no doubt I will make up for it later in the day. There's always the sofa to go lie down on for a few hours.

The first birds have started to sing early. They start earlier every morning and ever so cheerful. Birds must always be happy in the morning, how else could they sing such beautiful songs? I suppose they're not worried about hat sparrow hawk I saw the other day. We also encountered a dead pigeon on the sidewalk without a head. Tyke wanted to take it home with him. I didn't think so. I've seen more appetizing things.

I had changed the sheets on my bed, but now I've hardly slept in it and I was all ready for a long night. I washed the ones that were on my bed, because I'm completely caught up on the laundry. I have to go hang them up to dry in a bit. This way I'll never run out of clean sheets. Well. it's actually not the sheets I'm worried about, it's the pillow cases. I use four of them at once and run out of them. I have to invest in more of them, but have to go to Ikea to do it. They have the right size pillow cases there. A trip to Ikea is always interesting, of course, because of all the wonderful gadgets you can buy there.

The personal helper is coming in the morning and just as she's about to leave, the domestic help gets here. The one that works so hard until she's got a backache. She's an amazing worker. I don't want her to get a backache and she can take it a bit easier if she wants, but she doesn't want to. She likes to go hard at it. I thinks she likes to be really worn out after a job. It gives her a feeling of satisfaction.

The personal helper is a very maternal type, even though I am older than she is. She is a caring kind of person who mothers you. Although I won't say that I need to be mothered. It is nice to have someone be kind to you, though, and tough at the same time. She makes sure I do the things I'm supposed to do. That I'm committed to. We're supposed to go to the store together one of these days. I think I will make it an errand to the post office. That will give us a chance to walk there and not have to haul groceries back with us. I don't think I can carry groceries that far.

I think I will go look at the Blogger designs now and see if there's anything I want there. I am curious. It's also starting to get light outside, so in a little while I'll be able to walk Tyke. It will be real early, but it will be nice and cool. No dew treading yet for me, though. Tyke will want to walk in the wet grass and get curly fur. I always looks like he's been for a perm.

Ciao,
Nora

Complimentary...

I hope you like my background and header image in complimentary colors. I didn't take me that long to find them, because I knew which colors I was looking for. It was just a question of looking at a few dozen backgrounds and trying a couple on for size.

I haven't been to bed yet. I have taken my tranquilizers and my sleeping pill and will see what happens. I may get sleepy and move to the bedroom quickly, in which case you will not see this post. I will start another one some time tomorrow. In case I stay awake, I will finish this as far as I get, if I'm a ways into it. Does that make sense?

I just made the mistake of taking off my glasses and almost immediately got a headache, so that was not a good idea at all. I don't know why I thought I could. I suppose I thought I would see better without them on, as I was having a little bit of eye strain. No doubt this has nothing to do with the late hour. Or the early hour, it depends on how you look at it. My eyes have really gotten used to these glasses and find it hard to do without, nor should they have to, but I better keep my eyes closed the next time I take them off.

It's silly how I sit here in the wee hours of the morning and write yet another post when I should be in bed, but I find it impossible to go there as yet. The siren of sleep is not calling me. I have to make new cigarettes, because I'm smoking my last one. I did just now yawn, so maybe there is hope for me yet. All is not lost. Tyke has made himself comfortable on the sofa without bothering Gandhi who is lying there also. He must be seriously sleepy. Animals have a good life. They just lie down and go to sleep, anywhere and anytime. We humans are a little more complicated.

Th early birds have started to sing again and in about half an hour it will start getting light out. I think I will take out Tyke for an early walk to clear the cobwebs from my head. I can think of nothing nice to do right now. It will be great to go out there in the cool air and to breathe in deeply and to go dew treading in the grass. Well, I'm not sure about that last thing. It will get my shoes all wet. I think I better wait for really good weather before I do that. That way I can wear my flip flops or whatever you are supposed to call those things. There must be a decent name for them. Flip flops doesn't sound like the official name.

I have a light on in my bedroom and it's starting to look tempting now. I can look straight into it from where I'm sitting now. My bed is becoming a lure. Maybe that sleeping pill is beginning to work, and those tranquilizers. You see I'm full of contradictions as the time passes. I think any minute now I'm actually going to be under the covers. My resolve to walk Tyke is waning. I think I will just let him out back. I must get some sleep before the domestic help gets here. That would be very splendid. I can't be lying in bed when she gets here. The Exfactor is also supposed to be here. I hope he doesn't come to early.

Well, I'll say goodbye now. I'm going to bed in the end. I really must sleep now. I'm starting to topple over.

Ciao,
Nora

No sleep.

I haven't been to bed yet and it looks like I will not be about to for awhile. I am wide awake and I don't yet have a sleepy bone in my body. This is most unfortunate, because it is well past midnight when all decent folks are supposed to be asleep.

I've watched boring TV. I even watched Studio Football and that is really desperate TV watching when you're a woman, although I am probably going to watch all the games in the World Cup in which the Dutch team plays. Not that I really think we will become world champions, but you can always hope. There is the excitement of the well made goal or the terrible disappointment of a lost game, when everybody will say that we had lousy players nstead of the really good ones we have now. Or it will be blamed on the hamstring injury of Arjan Robben that we lost or the presence or absence of Wim Kuyt. It will be blamed on something or somebody. It will not be because we played a bad game.

There's a gentle breeze moving the blinds in front of the open windows. It is cool and I'm sitting here in my bathrobe. It's actually not that cool in the apartment, it's all in my imagination. I think I am cooled off because of the breeze, therefor I think I need my bathrobe. In reality it is 22.5C in here. That's more than warm enough. As far as I can tell, that's 72.5F. It's balmy. Well, it's not quite like living in the tropics maybe, but close enough. I could imagine that it is a tropical night, I suppose, although it is no summer night in the desert when you can go for a swim.

Tyke is sleeping beside me on the floor. He has decided anyway that it is bedtime. You can't fool a dog. He talks to me now when he needs attention. It's very funny and he reaches out with his right paw, so he is right handed. He has calmed down a lot. It is permanent. He's starting to leave his puppy ways behind him, but he is still lots of fun and full of surprises and he charms old ladies that he meets in the street. I just wish he didn't have to piddle every 20 seconds. It does keep us busy.

Toby is secretly eating Tyke's food. He has been trying to do that all day, but he got caught every time. I guess Tyke's not very hungry today, because he left half of it in his bowl. He is very protective of it, though, and absolutely doesn't want Toby to touch it. He sees Toby as a rival for everything. I'm sure because Toby is a male also. Gandhi is a sweet female, so Tyke tolerates her a lot better and bosses her around. I should almost say, tosses her around, but it's not quite that bad yet. Gandhi does know how to get out of the way on time.

The breeze has stopped blowing and now everything is very quiet. It's in the middle of the night and the town is asleep. At least, the suburbs are. It may be quite different downtown where the cafés are. I'm going downtown on Wednesday to meet my friend Yvonne. That's in the planning anyway, weather permitting. It depends on how serious this threat of rain is. Hopefully it won't be that bad and there will be many dry spells. It also depends on how hard the rain comes down. If it's just a gentle shower, and I'm on my bike, it's not such a bad thing, but if it rains buckets, I won't go out in it. There's nothing worse than sitting somewhere in drenched clothes with ruined hair. Luckily, I don't wear make up anymore or I'd worry about getting raccoon eyes.

I'm all ready for bed, so all I have to do is take off my bathrobe and go lie down in it. It gives me no incentive to actually go and do it. That's another matter altogether. Not even the clean sheets help me go. I'm sitting here very cozily and I'm not about to break the spell. My feet are cool, so that's good. The rest of me is warm. Eventually I'll have to go to bed, simply because there will be nothing else to do. I will go out of boredom.

Imagine me getting bored. There ought not to be such a thing. It is impossible. I can always write a post, after all. It seems I never run out of things to write about. I don't know if they are all fascinating, but to me they are amusing enough to write down and they help the time pass. I could probably sit here all night and do nothing but write posts, one after the other. I don't know if I would do anybody any favors with them, but it would sure keep me out of trouble. That's the main objective, isn't it?

I will be good and end this one now, but there are no guarantees that I will not write another one. It depends on if I'm able to sleep. I don't yet feel it in my bones or anywhere else Maybe I'll play around with the look of my blog. That will keep me busy for a few minutes.

Ciao,
Nora

Taking a break.

I've walked Tyke and washed the dishes and changed my bed. Then I fooled around with the look of my blog. You know how it is, while I was waiting for the washing machine to get done, I couldn't leave well enough alone and I found a great website with lots of blogger backgrounds. Well yes, I am fickle and I do change my mind. That's my prerogative as a woman and I must be very feminine. Not that I hadn't noticed that before, but I do exaggerate sometimes. At least I don't wear nail polish on my toe nails. I haven't quite gone as far as that. I'll let you know when I get to that point.

I've even changed my glasses and put on the pair that I thought I had lost, but that showed up in the box of art supplies. They are rectangular, as opposed to my other pair which are oval. They look quite different and until I get comments on them, I don't know how I feel about them. You see, I can't make up my own mind. The woman in the shop helped me pick them out, but once I had them, I got enormous doubts about them and didn't wear them that often. Well, just often enough to lose them for a while. I thought they weren't meant to be until I found them again.

I've misplaced a denim mini skirt and I have no idea where it is. It's not in any of the usual places, so it's a mystery to me. How can a mini skirt disappear? It's not that little. I did have to fit into it. It will probably show up in some odd place where I haven't looked yet and that is completely illogical for a mini skirt to be. I'll let you know when it shows up.

I just walked Tyke again in the hot noontime sun. The clouds that were here earlier burnt away and now we have blue skies again. There are some clouds at the horizon, so there may be rain yet, but I doubt it. It doesn't look threatening enough. It's hot in the sun and I didn't make it a long walk. We did that in the morning when it was still cool. There's all sorts of shrubbery blooming now, which I can't identify, but which smells good. Most of them have white flowers. That seems to be the most common blossom here, except for the fruit trees which are pink and white. Some of them are still blooming too.

I should now get the laundry out of the machine and hang it up to dry, but my feet are sore from walking. I want to get some black high tops with white laces and wear those with my black leggings. I think they will be comfortable to walk in instead of these summer shoes and sandals. There's always some area of my foot that's being pinched by something.

Well, I took care of that quickly. I just ordered some on line and they were very reasonably priced and I bought them on credit. They will be mine in less than four payments. That's the way to do business. I will pay them off quicker than that, though. I don't want to walk on unowned shoes and I can't buy anything else until they're payed for. That's my rule. It will be nice to walk in something comfortable and not be pinched everywhere. My toes and my heels will be very grateful, I'm sure. So will the soles of my feet.

I will try not to take a nap today, even though I got up very early. It's better to be totally beat tonight. I think I will just find more chores to do instead. I've cleaned out that cabinet I was talking about the other day. It turned out not to be so much work. I just needed a plastic bag for the junk and a paper bag for the obsolete medicines that can go to the pharmacy. The rest of the things in there needed to be organized and that was done quickly.

I need the same kind of initiative when I clean out the chest of drawers. It just needs to hit me that it is what I'm going to do and then nothing will stop me. Actually, the Exfactor needs to look through them first and see if there's anything that belongs to him before I throw it away, because I'm ruthless. I have no mercy when it comes to tossing things out. I don't like to hold on to useless items.

Speaking of useless items, I have to remember to put the trash out tonight. It's that time of the week again. Last week I forgot to put out the recyclable paper and I now have a big box of it sitting in my hallway waiting for the next pick up day. These used to be the Exfactor's jobs and I'm still not used to doing them and have a tendency to forget. I'm only reminded because I see other people's stuff sitting out on the curb. Then I walk inside and forget about it again. I'm very absentminded. It's a good thing my head is screwed on tight. If I live carefully and pay close attention to the details, I do okay. An agenda is a very handy thing to have, though. Especially if you look in it every day.

Well, I'm going to hang up the laundry now and dust the living room. It looks pretty spotless, but you never know... A domestic help sees hidden dirt. Dirt that an ordinary person is unaware of. I see some myself now on the baseboard under the radiator.

Have yourself a nice day. I will take some pictures of the living room and post those soon.

Ciao,

Nora