Things You really NEED to Know … About Me…

Thom passed this award on to me. It’s one of the many he passes on each week, and I’m afraid I cannot keep up with him! But this one came with a list of questions, and I think they’re always a nice way to share a little bit more about yourself.
Things you really really NEED to know about me.
Who I am, what I think, what I like …

Now I know this award looks a bit funny, but that’s just Dr John’s sense of humor and his interpretation of awards.

Do you think you’re hot?
That depends upon the meaning of hot. I looked it up, and there are 37 different ways to interpret “hot”.

6. Informal. having a strong enthusiasm; eager: hot for travel.
Hmm, I guess I am.

15. Informal. popular and commercially successful; in demand; marketable: A 105 followers and even more subscribers, dare I say I’m a hot blogger?
Hmm, I don’t know?

16. Slang. extremely lucky, good, or favorable: A poker player has to have a hot hand to win the pot.
Maybe I have a hot eye then?

Please upload your favorite picture

I can never do that. I can never pick just one picture.

Why do you love this picture?
I picked a collage of collages, happy moments, and things that make me smile …
There’s so much in there that makes my life.
When was the last time you ate pizza?
Last Friday, when we went to Pizza Hut.
What was the latest song you’ve heard?
The one that’s in my head now. Knowing me, knowing you, by Abba.
What are you doing while working on this game?
I’m thinking what else I need to do today.
What is your favorite nickname? Jientje
What kind of person are you? A happy one.
What is your favorite song?
Like pictures, I can never pick but one. It should be a never ending playlist.
What is your favorite food?
Like music, I have more than one favorite thing to eat, it all depends on the mood!
What is the most stressful thing to you?
Being LATE. I don’t get stressed easily, but the idea of not getting to an appointment on time and have people waiting for me is something that freaks me out. I prefer being an hour early to being late, even if it’s only five minutes.
Mention the 3 must-have items on your purse
Three sets of home keys.
What is your favorite color/s?
Purple, turquoise, yellow, green, white, brown black … again, I can never pick but one!
What is your not full-filled-yet dream?
The dream I had almost a year ago is now coming true for me. My dream was to one day meet some of my Blogging friends across the ocean. In less than three weeks I will be living that dream. A BIG thank you to the friends that are making this possible. Thank you Melli, Terri, Quilly, Thom and Lou. Thanks for having me and showing me your world. And thanks to my husband for letting me live this dream.
What is your favorite city to stay?
It’s not a city, it’s a small rural village. The village of my grandmother.

There is no limitations on how many you can tag or pass the awards on to.
I’m passing the award AND the tag, on to:

Kay, at thewroughtirongate.
Joyce, at Flour Power
Libby, at Neas Nuttiness
Margaret, at The French Bear
And Kathie at a Sparrow’s Home

A Meme from a Mama …

 

This little meme has been circling around the blogosphere for a few days now, I saw it at Quilly’s and Melli’s. Both had picked it up at Thom’s, who in his turn had stolen  found it somewhere else. I did not really feel like doing this meme since most of the books within reach are mostly dictionaries. BORING.
At least that’s what I thought. 
Until I took a closer look and spotted this little booklet on the bookshelf above my computer screen … And then I knew it could make a nice blog post.

1. Collect the book that you have most handy:


It’s the booklet “mama”, a little gift from my daughter a few months back.

2. Turn to page 161:

It contains lots of delicious recipes, beautiful pictures and thoughts and sayings about motherhood. It’s very precious to me.

3. Find the 5th complete sentence: There is only one, it’s an Italian saying.

4. Cite the sentence on your blog: It says: “ A good mother does not ask “ who wants …?” She GIVES.

5. Pass it on to 5 other victims (oops…bloggers):

Feel free to pick it up if you would like to do it. I’m not tagging anyone.
Besides, I think everybody has already done it?

 

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything. Katharine Hepburn

A Thousand words in Idioms: The Food Edition

"A Thousand Words in Idioms"

As long as people have been around, they have tried to communicate with each other. As a means of getting the message across as clearly as possible, idioms and sayings have found their way into our language. Now, because "a picture paints a thousand words", I thought it would be nice to make this a photo challenge. The idea is to choose an idiom, or a saying, (even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. You can find the first edition here if you need some inspiration.

If "language is the dress of thoughts" ( Johnson), then idioms must the wardrobe

From now on everybody can join in. No need to follow the alphabet, just pick two idioms and illustrate them with your pictures. Grab that camera or look in your archives. Just be creative, that's all I'm asking!
And don't forget to have fun and visit one another, okay?

So here we go ...

Make a meal:

If someone makes a meal of something, they spend too long doing it or make it look more difficult than it really is.

Have your cake and eat it too:


If someone wants to have their cake and eat it too, they want everything their way, especially when their wishes are contradictory.

Now, as usual, I’m very curious to see yours. And please, join us, play along it’s fun! The more the merrier, I would so love to have a couple more players? Sign Mr Linky if you’re playing and I’ll visit you back, okay?

One more thing....

Lose your bottle:
(UK) If someone loses their bottle, they lose the courage to do something.
I accidentally stumbled upon this idiom while I was browsing the idiom site, and I thought it was quite funny, but this is really something I'm doing for Thom.
Don’t worry, he’s alive and kicking, and he has not lost his courage!
BUT he got himself into trouble AGAIN (click on this link to read more) , and I promised to send a message into the blogosphere to help him.

Here's what he pleads: "I need all the help I can get and the way I figure it is the more that send that old battle axe a message in the bottle the better my chances are for getting out of the dungeon".

Here are the rules:

You are about to send a virtual Message In A Bottle across the Blog Ocean. Leave a message in the sand or on the bottle. Write anything you wish. Be a pirate or a poet. Serious or silly. Rant or ruminate.

Anonymous or not.

What message would you like to send out to the universe?

1. Compose a message to place in your virtual bottle below.
It can even be ANONYMOUS message.
I will not reveal your identity.

2. Right click and Save the graphic below

3. Use a graphics program of your choice to place the message on the picture

4. Post the meme and these rules on your blog

6. Tag a minimum of five people – or your entire blog roll – to do the same.
Notify them of the tag.

I am going to break rule #6 though. I am not going to tag anyone. Feel free to play along if you wish to do so, or if you want to get Thom out of the dungeon. But bear in mind he’ll get himself in there just as fast as you will manage to get him out. ROFL!!

Anyway, here’s mine …






WOOT!!! Want to know something? I swear, it's true. I wanted to submit my "bottle" to the site, and I nosed around a little on that site. I found two Belgian bottles floating around there. I got curious, so I clicked on the link and to my astonishment I discovered that my friend Gattina had thrown a bottle months ago with the very same message! What are the odds? I googled the quote, true, but I DID NOT COPY it from her, it's just a coincidence!! LOL!!
Great minds think alike eh?

A Thousand Words in Idioms Y and Z

 

 

"A Thousand Words in Idioms"

As long as people have been around, they have tried to communicate with each other. As a means of getting the message across as clearly as possible, idioms and sayings have found their way into our language. Now, because "a picture paints a thousand words", I thought it would be nice to make this a photo challenge. The idea is to choose an idiom, or a saying, ( even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. Each week we'll cover two letters of the alphabet, okay? You can find the first edition here if you need some inspiration.

 


If "language is the dress of thoughts" ( Johnson), then idioms must the wardrobe ...

Here we go! Already the last two letters of the alphabet, who would have thought we would find them all?  Some of them were quite a challenge, but even the hard ones were fun! To make it even more fun, we’re going to keep the photo challenge and loose the alphabet. Starting next week everybody will be free to choose the idioms they want. All I’m asking is to have two each week and to use your own pictures, archived ones, or new ones. I hope to see more players each week?

Okay here we go …
Y is for ....

You could have knocked me out with a feather means you are very surprised or shocked to hear something.

And Z is for ....


Zonk out : Zonk out means to fall asleep very quickly. (source)

 

 

Now don’t forget to sign the Mister Linky if you’re playing? Please use the link to your post, not your homepage, okay?
I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with this week!!

A Thousand Words in Idioms, U and V

As long as people have been around, they have tried to communicate with each other. As a means of getting the message across as clearly as possible, idioms and sayings have found their way into our language. Now, because "a picture paints a thousand words", I thought it would be nice to make this a photo challenge. The idea is to choose an idiom, or a saying, ( even slang is allowed) and illustrate it with a picture. Each week we'll cover two letters of the alphabet, okay? You can find the first edition here if you need some inspiration.

"A Thousand Words in Idioms"

If "language is the dress of thoughts" ( Johnson), then idioms must the wardrobe ...

Wednesday again, time to dress up our language with idioms again. You know, my grandmother is the inspiration behind this meme, she always used such colorful sayings , we always knew what she meant, and she often made us chuckle. The first picture I’m using is in her honor, it’s from the village where she lived…

U is for ....

“Under a cloud”: If someone is suspected of having done something wrong, they are under a cloud.

And V is for ....

“Variety is the spice of life” means that life can be made more interesting by doing new and interesting things, the more experiences you try the more exciting life can be.
I could not agree more!

Let’s hope the Mr Linky works today eh? Don’t forget to click on the box and add the link to your post (not the homepage of your blog). This will make it easier to track the posts down if we want to look them up sometime in the future!  Have fun everyone!

I can’t wait to see what you’ll all come up with this time!

Friday’s Fave Five, Treasures …

Friday AGAIN. Now when did that happen? I can’t believe Summer is whizzing by so fast, we’re halfway through July already? I must be getting old or something!
Anyway, I think I’ve said it before, I LOVE doing this meme, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story . It’s been another great week and I always look forward to share some of the highlights. I find myself collecting happy moments throughout the week, like pebbles or seashells on a beach. Some are big, others are small, but I treasure them all…
And there are always so many ...

1. We spent a day with my parents last Sunday. Some of you might remember how worried I was in December when my father needed that operation? Nothing major, just a prostate issue, but still, when they mention cancer “might” be involved , you get more than just a little bit concerned. Anyhow, we spent a lovely afternoon together, and it was just wonderful to see how active, talkative (my father is never a man of many words though) smiling and happy he is. He looks radiant, he even looks ten years younger than before the operation!
THAT my dear readers was the biggest treasure of the week. I mean, look at him, isn’t he the most handsome dad in the whole world?

2. I love this quote , because that’s what last Sunday was all about.

When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood. Sam Ewing

We made a tour of my grandmothers village again. The same tour we made when I fell into that ditch and both my camera and I got soaked, remember?
One of the very few places I know that have not been spoiled or altered all that much. It still looks (almost) exactly the way I remember it from my childhood days at my grandparent’s. The beautiful nature, the wildlife, the cows in their green pastures, the creeks …
It all brought back wonderful memories from the past. We all miss my grandmother,
- last Sunday it was 39 years ago to the day – since she passed away, but not a day goes by without thinking of her …

3. As you probably already gathered, the village of my grandmother is my most favorite place on this planet. I SO love it and I’m always very happy to be there. But it seems like every time I wanted to do a photo shoot there, it rained or something else went wrong. And for days it looked like it was not going to be any different this time either! When we left in the morning, the rain was pouring down. But by noon, it stopped, and as by magic, blue skies appeared and the same white fluffy clouds painted the skies as the ones I remember from my childhood days of Summer.
And the weather has been kind to us for the rest of the week. That might change today or tomorrow I heard but still, I enjoyed being outside a lot this week.

4. The tickets for my trip to the States have been booked!! Because I already announced that last Saturday, I almost forgot to mention it here! WOOT! Another BIG treasure, it looks as if there were only BIG things this week! What originated as an invitation to visit Hawaii has turned into a three week trip! I will be city hopping from Washington to Portland, spend a week in Hawaii and visit Chicago on my way back. Thanks to the hospitality of my blogger friends I am able to do this.
Much thanks to my husband too, who encouraged me to take this once in a lifetime opportunity and booked my tickets. He DOES seem to turn just a little bit pale around the nose these past few days. Poor guy, oh dear!

5. I cherish the message my daughter sent me yesterday through Facebook.
She said … “ You’re special”.
Even though she was not feeling too well, she wanted to invite us over to her house tomorrow for a drink and a bite to eat. But I reversed that invitation and invited THEM over here. I’ll be a very busy bee tomorrow… And I love it!

All in all a great week, busy, sunny, warm and wonderful.

UPDATE: I will be a little less busy than I thought. My daughter's visit is not going to happen tomorrow. Her Fybromylgia has gotten the best of her yet again and the pain is keeping her from doing all the nice things a young couple should be able to do on a long weekend.
I'm so sad she has to suffer so much. Please send her all the good vibes you have within yourself.
It worked miracles for my father...
Look for more Fave Five posts hosted by Susanne at Living to tell the Story.
Have a great week!