The Livingroom Project 2007 - work in progress
Two years ago I painted the right wall, this vacation I finally had time to do the left wall: 9.50 x 2.60 m + piece of wall surrounding the back-window.

This is what it looked like before:
Front...

...to...

...back...


First step of the project:
taking the bookworm off the wall - I had a little help from brotherdearest


You need two people to prevent the bookworm from going all over the place;)


Hans thought the bookworm worked really well as a racetrack: wahey!


Step two: moving the furniture to create workspace




Those vertical window blinds had to be taken down
(thank you mom and Jan for helping me with those;)




A work in progress: the first coat of paint(yesterday)






And the result after the second coat (this afternoon;)







The sunset caused really beautiful colors on the back wall (also thanks to my painted door;)


This weekend I will finish the project by adding some colors... and putting the furniture back... Pictures will be posted:)

I had to proof a point to tanisafan, so here are some old travelpics of my brother and me: Backpacking with my brother or How to not take pictures of your sister

1994 USA, New York - I'm really not that bored (Nice finger)


1994 USA, Graceland - I'm really not that depressed


1994 USA, Mississipi Boardwalk, New Orleans
Sister waits for model to get ready. Brother does not. Very attractive slurping.


1994 USA, Key West - Catamaran Cruise:
Again: notice the difference in photography:
1. I had the decency to wait for a striking pose...


2....My brother did not wait for me to get ready.
Don't I look charming. Ahem.


1994 USA, KeyWest - Catamaran Cruise.
But(t) he did manage to get my good side here *g*


1994, USA Greyhound bus from Washington.
Before we travel on: a lovely picture to show off how gorgeous we were back then


I have to admit there weren't as many fuck-ups during our other trips, but I did manage to find some;)

1996 Indonesia, Bali - interesting pov


2000 Australia - with Gayleen (Katherine's Gorge Campsite iirc)


And for good measure a picture that made me giggle:
1996 Indonesia - he's my LITTLE brother, dammit


I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Brother J makes much better pictures now. Check out his arty archive.

Bobotie (recipe by Oil & Vinegar)

Ingredients:

600 g lean beef mince

25 ml sunflower oil (I used margarine;)

2 chopped onions

1 jar Bobotie Curry Paste*

80 ml apricot jam**

2 slices white bread

220 ml milk

30 g slivered almonds

4 egges

4 bayleaves (I left those out)

salt

Break bread and soak in 120 ml milk. Fry onion in oil. Add mince, fry until lightly brown. Add Bobotie paste as well as bread, jam and almonds. Add salt to taste. Transfer mixture to greased oven-proof dish. Push bayleaves into mince. Beat eggs and 100 ml milk and pour over meat. Bake at 180C for 25 min. Serve with yellow rice, tomato and coriander sambal (nope) and Apricot & Almond Chutney (see picture 3 for alternatives)

* Paste (or Bobotie powder) contains kukurma (aka turmeric) and/or sweet currypowder, mint and oregano.
** Other variaties: use apples, bananas, or apricots (instead of jam;). Add raisins. Or try it with green (string) beans.


1. Beefmixture:




2. plus eggs/milk over top



3. result! (will be served with yellow rice and apricots + apple/apricotsauce;)



I think this is supposed to serve 4 people. But mom and I will probably only leave enough for one (guess what I will be eating the next day;)

Pictures of my mom's birthdayparties (yes: plural;)

1. Her actual Birthday: mom, brother Hans and girlfriend Benthe:


2. The familyparty with the grandparents:


3. My brother Jaap took pictures with his fancy old fashioned camera:
-link may follow once he puts the results online-

I went a little wild in the bookstore last week:
(click for big picture;)



I had planned to only buy a book for my mom's birthday, but as usual I went a little wild and I also bought: two new Classics for my collection (both in Dutch): Mark Twain - The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer plus Cicero - De Oratore and I couldn't resist to finally get my first Manga(!): DeathNote by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, which is published back to front, like the original. It's a very pretty edition.
I received a free booklet because of thriller-theme-week in the bookstore (so not my genre) but to my surprise I got more; the sales-woman was very excited about DeathNote and went to the back of the shop to get me a special banner she was supposed to put up in the window. Look at the picture: it's huge! How awesome is that?! *loves booklady*

It is rather special when someone is willing to visit me I invite people in my house, so of course I had to take pictures when Tanni came over for a Harry Potter Marathon-weekend...


Food = very important :-)


Preparing to watch a 'very important' film. (we didn't just watch Harry Potter you know;)


An alp of Tanni and me.

Picture of my arm, taken the day after a bloodtest... One tiny tube filled by a tiny needle... WTF?

My mom's lovely children made alp's for Mother's Day: here we are, eldest one first;)

For my livejournal-flist: I show you mine, now show me yours:

Please take pictures of the following:

1. a regular breakfast

I don't use a plate for breakfast, since I'm eating it while I walk around getting ready to go to work: I'll make my lunch and watch the morningnews (with Jan de Hoop)


2. your bedside table

And bear! Aka my comfy pillow;)

3. the view you get when stepping outside your front door

Since the view from my personal frontdoor is rather dull, I took some pictures walking down the stairs and standing in front of the building;)

My spare-bike was acting up: the handlebars moved without guiding the frontwheel, that's fricking scary and dangerous. After I almost fell and the handlebars hit me in the thigh, I decided to get a new bike, well a second-hand one obviously.
The cheap one I wanted, turned out to be too high for my short legs, so I had to spent a bit more than I'd hoped.
I chose an adorable bike, made for senior-citizens, which means it's extra low with smaller wheels *g* Lookit!

New bike in front, bike of doom against the wall:

Now that I have a shiny new computer I all of a sudden felt a bit frumpy and decided it was time to refresh my own look as well. So I found this old box of hair dye...

Before:


After:


Oh dear


It's not that blonde, is it?


Not sure if I'm relieved or dissapointed;)

Because one colour is too boring: