Spaghetti

Now, if you look closely at my plate of home cooked spaghetti, you can see that I don´t like the long spaghetti. I will break it in half before cooking and then I will cut it up even more before eating. The taste stays the same, but it will be much easier to eat: no long spaghetti strands that you try to slurp up all the while leaving a large trail of tomato sauce all over your outfit. Instead I have a forkful of spaghetti AND meatsauce every time.

PS: as to the home cooked part, I cooked the pasta myself as well as the ground beef. The tomato sauce did come however in a glass jar, all ready and raring to go!!

The dress

Well, here´s how I looked from the front last Saturday. I don´t particularly like this photo, because a. I am not smiling and b. my hands. But, it´s the only one showing off the dress in a slightly better way.

Also note the ´jewellery´ I am sporting in my ears!!

Photo on Sunday on Monday 2015-36

If I can´t see Strictly, I have to create it myself! Here we´re doing a... ehm... well... ehm... dance!

Oops

Now, I was planning on writing every day in November. Or at least try to do so. And it went belly-up after only a week! What´s to become of me? Anyway, it´s not as if there was so much new happening. Although my not so nice year so far, has become a little less nice still. More about that when it is resolved, let me just say that some people are not as nice as they seem.

My new computer is working a treat. Apart from when I am googling and I get so much rubbish ads that I am quite peeved off at Google for allowing that. Fortunately I have been able to find what I have been looking every time, but to sift through the amount of ads that have nothing to do whatsoever with what I am looking for is annoying to say the least. 

My genealogy took a little step back. Not because I am not working on it anymore, I am, but because I had to delete more than ten generations. I had had my doubts as to whether one person was an ancestor, but thought that hey, it happened that men had children while they were very young as well. And then I started the research and found that he was 10. Which meant that his grandfather was no ancestor. Which in turn meant I lost a really nice story from my book. I have however found several others in the mean time. One about a woman who became a maid while well into her seventies and one who wasn´t born where I thought he was. 

A little something I made for my sister several years ago.
If you turn her upside down, it´s the dirty Cinderella.

As for the knitting? I promised myself to finish at least the other front half this past week and ... I haven´t. Sorry sis. But, I will get going today, as soon as I can tear myself away from this screen. Oh, and have put the laundry in the machine, taken a shower and done the dishes. 

Tonight is our annual Christmas dinner from work. It is set to become another great evening, even if I have to miss Strictly and the Doctor (I will record to watch when I get back). Next week is the second evening and I will go again, as a washing up elf. Now, where were my elf shoes??

Okay, time for shower, dishes and laundry. And then the knitting of course. After all, I only have a few more weeks to finish the whole thing. 

Oh cripes

Well, I did it. I got myself a brand new computer. A snazzy screen, a new keyboard that kept me looking for about a day for the / sign and a lot more besides. However, to save some money, I decided I would do without the service part and set it all up myself. I am after all digilliterate (meaning I haven´t got a clue about computers), but not stupid. I hope.

So far, so good. I got the thing connected. I managed to hook it up to the internet and even managed to transfer some files (taking it slow there, mainly because the other computer is slow). But, and this is a big but, there is something very annoying with this new computer and I don´t know how to get rid of the very annoying thing. 

Whenever I click on something, a site I don´t want pops up. And when I read my blog just now, several words were in capital letters and would lead me to other sites again. 

HELP!! How do I get rid of that, because it is extremely annoying!! The other thing I still have to figure out: all the interpunction thingies. They are not where they are supposed to be. Now, that might have something to do with the fact that I changed the setting of the keyboard to Dutch, but even then they are not where they are supposed to be. 

However, other than that I am quite pleased with my new computer. Even if it does take up some room on my dining table. It´s a good thing I never eat at the table!

Update: I think I found out about all the unwanted ads. Now about those #$"%&§

Oohing and aahing

For a while now I have been very annoyed with my laptop. It is slow and lately I have had some trouble getting online. I have had this thing for about five/six years now and a lot has been put on. I have tried to clean it on occasion, but I am quite digilliterate. 

The thing that has annoyed me most recently however is office. I have an older version on my laptop and it just doesn't have all the features I would love to have. Especially as I am now writing a book. Yes, the book about my ancestors is taking shape as I write. 30 unedited or 52 edited pages already and getting bigger by the day. And I would love to have a few more options regarding lay-out and all sorts of other things. 

I could of course have gone for an update of my current office program, but my computer is getting fuller by the day as it is. So, the only option (I feel) is getting a new computer. Which means that I have to go shop for one. In the past I would just head over to my local Turk, who knew me and what I used my computer for. He then suggested and I always accepted. 

Unfortunately there is no local Turk here, so I went to an ordinary shop. Where I told them what I wanted and asked how much it would cost. It's not going to be cheap. But the guy who was helping me, told me that in that price everything would be included: the computer itself, the screen, keyboard, unlimited office, service for a year (they will do all the transferring from one to the other) and the safety. 

Well, after an hour yesterday in which it took me ages to copy one paragraph, I have decided to go for it. I will get myself a new computer. As a very early Christmas present. Now, where is that credit card?

PS: no, I won't be getting an apple. They were even more frightfully expensive!

Miss Oswin explains...

Miaow

Mara wanted to post a photo of me yesterday. Something I was very happy with, since I know that everybody loves to see photos of the most beautiful cat in the www. But, you didn't get that chance, because the interweb didn't want to do it. In the end Mara closed down the interweb and got her knitting out. And I wasn't even allowed to play with it...

But, today Mara tried again to put the photo on the interweb and I am crossing all four paws. It is not the best photo Mara ever took, but she said she did it through the kitchen window. Excuses excuses! 

Anyway, the photo shows me while I am catching a mouse. I love catching mice and am really good at it, but this time it was very difficult: the grass was a bit too high. I will catch it next time though...

166

One of my goals this year is writing more posts than last year, in which I wrote 171. I certainly wanted to beat the 165 of 2011, which was the worst blogging year. And no, I am not counting 2008, because I didn't start until August.

Well, I beat my record low of 2011, since today is my 166th post of the year. On to the 172nd...

(Mind you, writing nothing posts like this, will certainly help me get to my goal)

I am telling you

I seem to be having a bit of trouble lately in filling my blog with interesting tidbits about my life. I could write about the weather, but it's autumn, northern hemisphere, close to the sea. I don't need to tell you that that means wind, rain, nice, rain, nice, wind. 

However, despite having trouble in the recent past, I have plenty to tell. Like the fact that I just preposted 2 posts for November. Both posts containing giv... not telling you yet. 

Like the fact that I am doing better headache wise. Yes, I had a headache last week, but I know exactly where that came from (the seat) and I managed to get rid of it, not by swallowing a pharmacy's supply of pills, but by using heat and massages (although yes, I did take a few pills). 

Like the fact that I am feeling very proud of myself over the whole food and dishes thing. I do have to do the dishes from yesterday, but I think there was two plates and a food container. 

Like the fact that my knitting actually looks quite similar to my sister's. Even if I have to knit in a way that is not my way, I knit a lot looser (more loose?) than she does, but for the sake of not wanting to unravel everything she has done already, I stick to her way. 

Like the fact that I am doing a lot better inside my head. Perhaps because I have been so busy with my genealogy, but I love doing that. If you let me I would talk about that all day long! Every gold nugget I find gives me more impetus to continue. I now have asked my family to come up with contemporary stories about the experiences of my ancestors. Have things changed or are they still the same? So far, I have one story submitted and a bit of my own story and a letter from my father to me. 

Anyway, time to do the dishes and/or the laundry and go back to work for a few hours. 

Photo on Sunday 2015-35

I was told off this week for not posting a Photo on Sunday last week! Anything would have been okay, but there was nothing at all. So, here's this week photo: of my home made pizza. It tasted fine, although there was something missing. Which I found after I had eaten one half and frozen the other half: fresh basilicum in the kitchen window sill! 

PS: Sorry, I couldn't find a spider...