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Daily Prompt But Later: Goals

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I saw Twindaddy use the prompt, and thought it might be cool to use it as well.

When you started your blog, did you set any goals? Have you achieved them? Have they changed at all?

Well, let me tell you about when I started blogging. It was eight years ago, and my goal was… my goal was… well, I think my goal mainly was to have a blog. After the first attempt it changed into having a blog and keeping it alive. I admit it took some practise. Several disappeared blogs later I kind of gave up; I found myself too boring, and too busy; I always forgot to post.

About four years ago I lost my job, I started a fulltime study again, and I moved out of my parents’ house for the first time in my life. Oh, and besides, I got a relationship with a man who was always broke, but who did have a daughter who sometimes needed clothers etc. So I got interested in blogs about frugality, which I mostly found in Dutch on Blogger, and I wanted to follow them. My google account came with the possibility to keep my own blog, and my former wishes came up. I started this blog, and hey, it worked, I posted regularly! I even got a couple of followers, and I kept blogging when my relationship ended – although I did not blog about the food supply and how I was the one being creative with the food my ex got anymore, or where to find cheap children’s bedroom furniture, but about the small things that made me happy and content.

My new boyfriend talked me into having a gmail account instead of hotmail, but then I had to switch from gmail to my old blogger account and vise versa, so I started a new blog with my new google account. To my astonishment people followed me from my old blog. And I set a new goal: I wanted to keep a blog in English, a blog that would be a little more about a subject, like the things I created and would put on Etsy. Right now it has evolved into still a live journal kind of blog, since that is what I can write best. I do try to keep it around things like thrifting, creating, budgetting and durability though. Do I still have a goal? Absolutely, I just want this blog to be successful – but not only this blog, I want to be part of ‘the WordPress blogging community’. Sounds pretty far-fetched, I know. But just keeping a blog and posting on a regular basis sounded far-fetched too a couple of years ago. And look at me now, I even schedule posts ahead because otherwise I have too much to say in one late evening. Which means I have posted three days in a row. I think it is pretty good after the attempts of once in a couple of months a ‘sorry I did not write’-post. The goals of when I started blogging are met, absolutely. The only problem is that I keep getting new goals.

2

Durability

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Now I am registered with the Chamber of Commerce and have to pay  VAT when I sell, it has become a more difficult question where I will get the materials I use.

Earlier I bought some fabrics of a fellow blogger, off course without any invoice. It is more durable, because the fabric is second-hand, and does not have to be made on purpose to be used into the bags I will make, but I cannot prove that I paid for it, apart from the money that moved from my bank account into hers. I also bought yarn through marktplaats, with the same idea; it is more durable, since it was lying around anyway, it does not have to be thrown away while someone makes me new yarn. However, buying like this from a person and not a company means no invoice – no ‘proof’ that I paid for it, and no VAT that I can pay less because I already paid for my shop. The fabrics, or clothes of which I use the fabric, or eventually yarns I buy in a thrift store might not count either.

That means that I have to find different ways for the proof, I have to look if I can put it under the balance post ‘Private Creditors’ or something like that. I hope I will manage it, because I think buying durable materials has to be one of the strengths of my webshop.

Do you want to know where the materials, of which handmade products you buy are made, come from?

4

Workshop progress

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The new workshop I would have still is nothing like a ‘real’ workshop, but we are making progress. This afternoon we bought some racks for in the shed, so that we can clear it out, and put some things in there that are cluttering the study and extra bedroom now. Well, mostly the study is cluttered, but some things in the extra bedroom that will be my workshop should be in the study, and they cannot move there before it is decluttered a little more. Meanwhile we have two more boxes for my boyfriend’s comics, that still are in some loose stacks too right now, and a rack kind of thing in which we can put those boxes and the picture-books and personal administration that still lies in boxes now. We will get rid of a lot of loose stacks that way.

We will sell the extra bed – and when we cannot, it will be brought to the thrift store. I kind of hesitated when we moved here, the ‘real’ bed I bought when I broke up with my ex, but it feels good to let it go now. Then there will be space to move the table out of the study there, we will make another table onto the rack in the study. The dvds will go to the study.

I will have to see where to put the boxes that are under the spare bed now, and where to put the other things stacked into the spare bedroom, but we will find a place for those too. We did not buy the racks for the shed to stay empty off course. I notice that I am looking forward to having my own space there, and my enthousiasm grows now it gets more real!

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Books, books, books

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I remember being five of six years old. My cousin is a year older than I am, and I was jealous; we slept over at our grandparents’, and she could read when we went to bed, while I could not read yet. As soon as I learned to read, I started reading anything I could. I loved going to the library, I even went there every day they were opened to get new books; I could read all books I could borrow within a day!

Later I did not have enough time to read that much anymore, but books still are important to me. I still go to the library, and I downloaded as many books on my ipad as I could. I borrow books to read from my mother. I buy books myself. I have so many books to read! I do notice that I often grab my ipad for reading now, since I can then read while I work with my hands, although those book cannot replace ‘real’, paper books. The books I love the most are the books I got from my graddad, which I read when I were there. Books in beautiful bindings, from writers like Charles Dickens. Granddad certainly inspired me in the books I read.

Do you like to read?

0

Tag – Let’s Get Personal

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On Selma’s ‘PuurBlog‘ I found this tag, which I found a very nice one, so I decided to share it with you. You can take it over if you want to, but no one has to.

1. What do you hear while you are writing this?
The washing machine, my boyfriend was so, so, so great, he put it on while I were gone. I hear him walking around the house, doing things. No music at the moment…

2. Do you feel like eating something right now?
Chocolat, chocolat! Pleeeaaaasssse? Oh well, some yoghurt would be nice too.

3. When was the last time you were emotionally broken?
Last summer, because of some matters that are so personal I do not feel confident to write them down here. Before that: when I was in England, being totally homesick. I never expected it to be that bad, or myself to be such a crybaby, but it was that bad.

4. Would you prefer ten children or no children?
I think I would prefer ten children right now. I am the eldest of a ‘big’ family of five, one of my friends is the youngest of eleven children. I know how great a big family can be, and I do not expect to get them all in once, so I would grow into it, wouldn’t I? Besides, I always wanted to be a mum, so… the other option seems by far less pleasant to me.

5. Do you think you care too much for your looks?
Sometimes I think I do – especially at moments when I am insecure about my weight – while at other moments I do not. I hardly ever wear any make-up, basically because I tend to smear it all over since I have hay fever. Luckily there are people who even prefer me without make-up. Clothes are important to me, but I can have quite a strange taste in them – I love cute dresses, but wear comfy and too long jeans too, and I like to wear clothes from a thrift shop. So I do not care for new-new clothes, but I do care for nice ones.

6. What do you think about at the moment?
Sniff, gurgle, can the plants and flowers give me some rest and some breath please?

7. Are you always ready to help your friends?
At least I try to be. When I am honest, off course I have bad days too, and sometimes I need them to help me instead. But yes, they can call me any time of the day or night when they need me, and when I can I will help them.

8. Who is the last person who has seen you cry?
My love. It is great how he is always there for me, even when I am crying for ‘nothings’ like being completely and utterly tired.

9. What do you do when you are nervous?
My hands need to find something to do then. I fiddle with my fingers, my hair, a pen… Or when I am lucky I can find a knitting- or crochetting project, and keep my hands busy with that. Oh, and I tend to gaze… at anything.

10. Is there a person who completely understands you?
Nope, not even me. My boyfriend and my father come closest I think.

11. Do you have a reason to laugh now?

The sunshine, the way the laundry can dry outside, a long weekend, enough reasons!

12. Has anyone ever told you that this person does not want to lose you for anything in the world?
My parents, my brothers and sister, my boyfriend… I feel blessed :D

13. Would you be happier if life had a ‘rewind-button’?
No, without the more difficult lessons I would not have been where I am now.

14. Do you tell everything to your parents?
I tell them a lot, but I do not tell them everything. There still are things they probably do not want to know, just like there are things they do probably not tell me.

15. Do you think more about the present, the past or the future?
Right now mostly the present and the future. The past is what it is, I cannot change it anymore – while I can make most of the present, and have hope for the future.

16. How many hours of sleep do you get during the night?
Mostly somewhere between 7 and 10. 7 when I go to bed way too late and have to wake up in time, 10 when I go to bed early an can ‘sleep in’, although I hardly do that. Right now the sun shines into my face at half past 6 in the morning, which wakes me up.

17. Are you easy to have contact with?
Not more or less than any other I guess, although I have my odd ways sometimes – but I am prepared to take others’ odd ways too, which evens it out.

18. What is the last thing you drank?
Coffee – I am a total coffee addict.

19. What kind of bed do you have?
A big two-person bed I bought at Marktplaats (which was quite some work to collect, with my inlaws’ car, which it was slightly big for, so bf could not drive and I had to drive a strange car in a strange town), with Ikea-mattrasses.

20. Do people see you as an optimist or as a pessimist?
Some people will see me as an optimist, but with what I posted on facebook lately others will think I am a pessimist. I think I am an optimist myself.

21. With whom (except your family) did you sit in a car lately?
Ehm… with my boyfriend.

22. What is the last film you saw in the cinema, and with whom did you see it?
Les Miserables, with… guess what… my boyfriend :P

23. Have you ever been hurt by someone of whom you did not expect it?
Yes…

24. What are your guilty pleasures when food is concerned?
Chocolat and cookies, and too much coffee

25. Did you buy clothes in the last week?
No, I didn’t.

26. Who is the last person who made you cry?
Pffff dunno, that would be myself I guess

27. What will you do tomorrow?
I will go to my parents, who are married for 30 years tomorrow (yayyy for them!) and knit some more.

28. Is there someone you would love to see right now?
Some of my friends I have not seen in a while.

29. Do you like cotton candy?
No, it is way too sweet and sticky and blegh…

30. Did you ever fall asleep against someone?
As a child I did, I believe, but I have not for as long as I can remember.

31. What is your mood right now?
Happy, content

32. With who were you last night?
My boyfriend and his friends, at the birthday of one of them.

33. Do you have plans for the weekend?
Just like I already said for tomorrow, apart from that the weekend is almost done. I will watch some Herman Finkers with Jos, and enjoy the weather.

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Pink, It’s My New Obsession!

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Somehow the little prinsess in me just loves the colour pink. As a kid I wanted a prinsess bedroom, so I had pink blankets and cusions on my bed, a pink reading light, etc. Later I got weary from the pink, and it changed to blue and even later red, and the pink disappeared to the back of my mind.

When I moved into my own appartment, the walls were painted yellow, and I got all my furniture for free or from thrift shops, so I couldn’t be too picky about colour. I really had no clue how to match those yellow walls too. Anyway, after a couple of months I already half moved in with my ex-boyfriend. He off course already completely furnished his appartment, and since I hardly was in mine it was no use to do a lot there, so I missed a big deal. Certainly because his taste of house decorating was boring, dull, at certain points vulgar… I did not like it at all, but hey, what could I do? He did not have money to change it anyway, and I did not have enough money to do something about his appartment – somehow I felt pretty soon that things were not made to last there. Best thing I could change there was a huge bookcase which we found on Marktplaats – which is the Dutch craigslist – and which was awesome. After more than a year I finally got a bookcase into his house… And there was his daughter’s bedroom, she still had a crappy bed and Winnie the Pooh little kids things, while she turned 8 about a month before I left. She was deseprately in need of a ‘real big girl’s bedroom’. With, you can guess I think… pink! My parents had an old desk that would turn towards the bin otherwise, but we could take it too. It was 40 years old and had been brown, my sister already painted it light blue once… and now we painted it white and pink.

Although I thought the pink in her bedroom to be too fluoriscent, my love for pink was awakened again. When I left the ex and lived in my own snug little place again, I found out that pink matched the yellow walls quite nice. So I bought some pink things, like this fly-curtain:

I really liked it, but when my boyfriend and I moved to a new appartment together this summer, it was kind of the only thing I was not allowed to bring. It just was too pink. On the other hand, I did bring my canvas with pink roses (which made place for an awesome old drawing, but it has been there for more than half a year anyway), my pink-clothed porselain doll, and my pink stools. The colours we try to keep in the living room now are blue and pink. Although the couch I got from my auntie is red. Ehm… ;-)

Still pink is something the little prinsess in me likes a lot. I cannot make my house too pink, it would be too mean to the man here. So I stick to small things, like this cotton yarn I use for a pair of armwarmers:

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I love the way it looks too, although I did leave the grey behind and just took the pink. I still am a girl, you know.

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Reading and Knitting at the Same Time

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I am a reader, I read if I can, and if I could I would read all the time. At 16 I started to read English for myself instead of for school, when I bought the first Harry Potter book in English, Later I learned to appreciate classic English novels more. I got Dickens’ Bleak House from my granddad, and have read it several times. The bookcover is broken now, and when I want to read it, I do so on my ipad.

And that is what I do now most of the times, reading from my ipad. For my webshop-stock I have to keep on knitting and sewing, and I need both my hands for that, so it is harder to turn pages or keep a book open while doing that. On the other hand, when my hands are busy, I often want to keep my mind busy too.

A book I read recently is Tom All Alone’s by Lynn Shepherd. I saw the book in Dutch in the bookstores, but since I want to read books in English when that is it’s original language – and because I prefer books on that ipad now – I went looking for the English ebook. Funny enough I found the kindle ebook on amazon.com as The Solitary House, which seem to be exactly the same book. Anyway, I really liked reading it so much that I forgot to knit sometimes. While several people are taken from Dickens’ novel, which gave it a kind of familiarity to me, it seems to be even more disturbing.

Needless to say that when I finished it, I started Bleak House again. ;-)