Ellen In Amerika!

Finally back. The wrist and neck are all better now, so I cannot ignore my blog any longer I have to confess that I did have some kind of writer’s block. I have been pretty busy with all kinds of activities in and around the house, and when I had time, I did not feel I wanted to write about it.

Besides working with the children, I’ve worked a lot for the hospital as well, and we had some small projects around the house to do: The master bathroom has a new floor (finally!), I repainted the vanity cabinets, the doorpost and baseboards. Our curtains for the family room and kitchen arrived, and it took us a day to hang all the new rods and the curtains. I have to say, the curtains are exactly how I pictured it. Isn’t that a miracle?

Because we ordered one panel more, I was able to make the upholds for the curtains, pillow cases and I furnished with some other fabric as well, an old rocking chair. That was a hell of lot of work, and I am not totally satisfied with the result, but for now it is good enough.

Because we were so busy, and me working in the weekends for the hospital, we haven’t been hiking at all. I miss that a lot! But we still have done fun things together. We were invited to a friend’s house and had a great dinner and lots of good laughs and talks.  Also, some good  friends of ours, Dennis and Diane,  had a new book released, and we visited the reception of this event. The gathering was very warm, and it was a pleasure to be surrounded by so many friendly people. The food and drinks that were served, were amazing. And because they live more inland, the weather was much nicer than where we live. We have been under the so-called “June Gloom” for 4 weeks now, and it is getting a bit annoying. I know, I should not complain, but every day clouded weather and now and then rain, is almost like Holland.  Still, this part of the country is having so far so much luck with the weather though. The tornadoes, the floods, the extreme heat in other parts of the country are horrible.

Jackson, our beloved cat, is doing really well. He is such a loving cat, who can be terribly naughty but still it is impossible to get mad at him. He is not supposed to come in our the bedrooms, but of course, as soon as you open the bedroom door, he sneaks in and jumps right away on the bed. One morning, Dan opened the door and he ran to the bed, jumped on it and walked up to me, touched my nose with his nose, and fell on his side, with his head on my arm, just like a little baby. He looked at me with his big yellow eyes as if he wanted to say: “So, and see now if you can get me out of here!” How can you not love this adorable creature! When I have to be in the backyard, he goes with me, and I put him on a leash then with a rope attached to it, so it restrains him a bit in his running and jumping.

Last week, we went into the backyard and right away, Jackson ran after some birds who were at the other end of our backyard. I yelled at him: “No Jackson, DOWN!” And miracles exist because Jackson actually went down. I did “train”  him with some commands, (I’ve had dogs) but because it is a cat, I never thought he would really react on them without having treats in my hands

School ended yesterday. Now I have quite some weeks off, but I can be called by the school for helping with summer school, and the hospital can call too. But first we all will soon go on a vacation trip. We first will go to the Smokey Mountains, Gatlinburg, Tennessee to meet all my in laws. We will stay there in a huge cabin with about 25 family members for 5 days.  We will fly in a day before, stay over one night in a hotel and the next day we all will arrive at the cabin around noon. There will be so much fun to do. I have never been in that part of the country, but what I’ve seen on line, it is breathtaking.  I am sure it will be fun to be part of another big family! Then we will fly to Kansas city to visit Dan’s mom. I look forward to see her again!

I wish you all a great weekend and I will be back soon! XXX

I hope you all are doing great! My apologies for not writing earlier, but I had a little accident at the school perimeter, and I injured my wrist and neck.  I walked with two students toward the playground, and because I was talking with the two little people, I did not pay attention where I was walking, and my heel tripped of the sidewalk. I fell flat on my hands and knees.  I was afraid I would fall on my face, so I tilted my head in a reflex backwards. I managed to sit, and in no time, lots of students ran to me and asked, teacher, teacher, are you okay? I assured them all was fine and got up. It was the end of my workday,  so I headed home, a little bit in shock. At home, my neck and ears started to hurt more and more, and my wrist did not feel so good. I iced both of them, and the next day, I went to work because I had not arranged a substitute. At the school office, lots of colleagues came to me and asked how I was doing. Apparently, I must have made a show, because they all had seen me fall The principal came to me and said I should file a report and go see the doctor. I took the papers with me, because I still was not sure  I had to go to the Occupational Medical Center. Later that day, I felt more and more uncomfortable, and I was in much more pain. The next morning, Dan and I went to see the doctor, and he did a very thorough exam with lots of x-rays. Nothing broken, but the wrist was sprained and strained. His diagnosis for my neck was a whiplash. I got a brace for my wrist, a neck brace for my neck, lots of painkillers and muscle relaxers, and I could not go back to work! After 5 days, I had to come back, and I asked if he could put me back to work. After 4 x-rays, he told me I was allowed to do light clerical work. After another week, I was allowed to go back to the school site with lifting restrictions. Today I went back to the doctor, and unfortunately, I still have to wear the wrist brace for another month! Bah! It does give me some security for my wrist when I deal with the students. They are very impressed with that brace, so they are pretty careful with me So that was the reason I could not write a post! Of course much more has happened these three weeks, but I have to stop writing now. I will come back as soon as my wrist is better.

In the meantime, I want to pay my sympathy with all the people in the United States, who have suffered so much due to the terrible, terrible weather in the Mid West and the South.

Another week and weekend have gone by. Just like that. It is almost scary that the older you get, times go by so much faster. Work at school went fine. My pupil was in some trouble, but he also has shown he can do his work. So there is some hope  I have to say when he is sweet and cooperative, he endears himself to me, and then we get along pretty well. But, when he decides not to listen and damages properties or runs away, I really have to do my very best to keep my patience.  The other children in the class are a handful also, but they are manageable and very cute. Last Monday, my sister had her final chemo. We are so happy that that part of her treatment is over now.  It has been 4 months of suffering, physical and emotional, but she is one of the bravest and toughest women I know.

Friday I did not get up to watch the royal wedding of Kate and William. The broadcast was at 1.00 AM. I watched it later that day, and I was able to see more than enough. I think they both looked so elegant and happy together.

It was awesome to see how the British population cheered and partied. I also had to work Friday the late shift in the hospital. It went really well, but I was pretty tired when I came home around midnight!

Saturday was our own Dutch event: Queen’s day!!

I read all the Dutch papers online and watched several videos about it. It made me feel a bit closer to that event.

I put the Dutch flag outside, and our little statue in the front yard is wearing an orange wig, which I bought in the Netherlands. I think it is pretty cute I will leave it there till the 5th of May when it is the Dutch Liberation Day. Furthermore we had a busy day with working on the master bathroom, and in the evening,  I had to work again in the hospital.

Today we went to the Chili Festival in Thousand Oaks. The weather was sunny and pretty warm.

This is a yearly event where you can taste all kinds of Chili recipes. We were there around noon and surprisingly, they also served beer and a lot of people were already pretty wasted. There were all kinds of bands with rock and county music.

I loved it! The food was great, and the atmosphere was perfect. Some people who drank a bit too much, were dancing. They were hilarious.  Ryan had a good time too. He loves chili and it was nice to have him with us.

At the end of the festival ground, there was an old automobile show. The owners were able to win a contest of  having the best looking auto for 2011. I have to say, they had really nice cars there. The owners were sitting next to their cars and were willing to let you “touch” the door nob I could not resist that possibility!

Around 3.00 PM we were stuffed and decided to go home. The drive from Thousand Oaks to our place is so beautiful. The view of the mountains and the valleys with the cities in it,  is stunning.

Ryan’s friend had a birthday party this evening at Topper’s pizza. He will stay overnight at our place tonight. Tomorrow we will drop him off at school. This week will have lots of appointments (dentist, doctor, pest control). I silently hope I will not be called to work for the hospital as well.

I wish everybody a wonderful week with lots of sunshine and happiness.

Tags: Chili festival Thousand Oaks, oldsmobiles, Queen's Day, Wedding Kate and William, Work

Back home. It feels so good. I feel I am home here. Maybe strange to say it this way, but back in the Netherlands, I felt pretty comfortable with the way things go there, as if I still lived there. I was a tad concerned I would not feel at home anymore in California. I was worrying again way too much. One step on US Soil, and I felt at home! The flight went awesome. Again I was sitting next to very nice people. This time from Norway, and we had some interesting deep talks. I also manage to sleep a lot. At the airport, all went smooth, and I was so happy to see Dan again. We drove home via the PCH, and I admired the scenery as always.  At home, after playing for a while with Jackson, I started to unpack. Ryan came home, and it was good to see him again. After dinner I could not keep my eyes open anymore. I took a shower and went to bed. On and off, I slept for 10 hours!

As I wrote in my previous post, my sons and sisters were very surprised to see me. I still think about their faces and smile! It is a great feeling.

I stopped my previous post when I was back on Monday from my stay at my sister Marja’s house.  My friend Sonja picked me up, and we had a marvelous time at her house with her family. This friend is so much more than “just” a friend. We know each other for 28 years, and it feels more we are sisters who get along great. Because of the gorgeous day, we spent the afternoon in the backyard. Her 12 year old daughter made dinner, and we ate outside. That is pretty rare for April. In the evening, Niels picked me up, and Sonja and I had to say goodbye again. I was pretty heartbroken.

Niels and I went to his house, where his mother in law waited for us with some nice home made cakes. Around 9.30 PM, I had a major headache and was so tired. Niels brought me to Thomas’s house, and I went straight to bed. I first thought I had sit too much in the sun, which caused my headache and nauseousness, but later I found out some kind of virus was going around, and I had it too!

Tuesday,  it was Myriam’s birthday. I already had bought her some gifts in the States, and luckily she liked it. Later, Coby and I met in Amsterdam, and we went shopping. The heartwarming greetings of this friend felt so good. It was as if I hadn’t moved to the other side of the world. We felt right away in the same rhythm as we used to have when we went shopping!! The fun we always had was there and the great talks about things that are on our minds, are the best. We often rested by sitting outside on terraces and having a nice drink and lunch.

The downside was that I still had a bad headache and felt nauseous. Around 7.00 PM I was home again. Myriam’s family came to congratulate her and we had a nice evening.

Wednesday was planned differently, but eventually it was for the better. I had more than enough time to do some laundry, pack my suitcase and some last errands. Around 5.00 PM, Marja and John picked me up (they did a lot of driving for me!). We headed to my oldest brother Jos and his wife Truus house where we would meet the other brothers and sisters and have dinner together. We were stuck in several major traffic jams but we made it “in time”.  We had a great evening with lots of laughter and so much love for each other. I enjoyed every minute of it!

Around 10.00 PM I was at Thomas and Myriam’s house again. Because I had to get up very early the next morning (5.00 AM), I went to bed in time. The next morning, after kissing my son goodbye, Myriam brought me to the train station. We hugged and said goodbye. We both felt sad. It was such a relaxing time I had with them.

At the airport, all went well and during my McDonald breakfast, I got several calls from family members and my good friends. They wished me a safe flight. In the plane, I sat again next to a very nice couple. I was able to sleep quite a bit during the flight. The only silly thing I did was eat a lot of Dutch salty licorice. I am not used to it anymore, so I had some stomach cramps. As I said, silly!! At LAX all went smooth as well and then there was Dan again and we hugged for a long time! I missed him terribly.

I can say out loud, I had a great stay in Holland!

Tags: Amsterdam, family, friends, fun, Shopping, sons, The Netherlands

Surprise! I am in the Netherlands. Because one of my sisters  is going through a very difficult time and Dan and I were so lucky, to receive some time ago a gift from my father in law and Ann, Dan suggested me to go visit my sister and my sons during my springbreak. I could not write about this, because they also read this blog and I wanted to surprise them. After a very smooth flight to Amsterdam,and sending all my friends and family a text message I arrived safely,  my daughter in law picked me up from the trainstation and we drove to her house. My youngest son was still sleeping. I entered his bedroom, he looked up and was very shocked!! He got up and we hugged and he was very pleased with this surprise. In the afternoon, I went to my other son’s house and he was also very surprised to see me sitting on his sofa when he came home from work. The expression on his face was priceless.

The next day, Myriam and Thomas took me out to Dofinarium, a small version of Sea World, and we had a great time.

We laughed so much and we felt very happy with each other’s company.

Then, after we came home, I ate something small and went straight to the train station and drove up to my sister’s town. There, my brother in law picked me up and the face of my sister, when I entered her livingroom was and will be unforgetable. It went from, “Who is this?  to oh oh, how is this possible, how did you come here, to lots and lots of hugs and kisses.” For this only, I would do it over and over again! I had the best time ever with my sister and her husband. They were so warm and welcoming me and we did fun things together.

Throughout my stay with them, my sister said several times how happy she was with this surprise and she thanked Dan for his suggestion and letting me stay with her. My sister and my oldest brother organised a gathering at my oldest brother’s house for this coming Wednesday, so that will be fun and great to see all of them again!!

On monday morning, I went back to my son’s house and  had a nice morning with him. After having some nice and needed talked with my husband, one of my best friend Sonja, picked me up and we went to her house. It was great to be there and have nice and helpful talks with her and seeing her kids and husband again. This family is so warm and makes you feel family. In the evening, Niels, my oldest one, picked me up and we went to his place. His mother in law was there as well and it was a nice evening. Back at my other son’s house, I went straight to bed. Very tired of so many great times in one day!!

Today,  it is Myriam birthday and my other best friend Coby had invitied me, to go into Amsterdam with her, and we will do some shopping, sitting on a terrass and having some drinks. The weather will be very warm and sunny In the evening she will cook for me and I will meet her boyfriend. I cannot wait to see her!

Tomorrow It will be laundry, packing morning, and in the afternoon Marja and John will pick me up, and we will have a dinner with most of my brothers and sisters and their spouces. I cannot wait again to hold them in my arms again.

As you see, again I have a very busy schedule, but I enjoy every minute of  it!

Thursday early morning, I will fly back home.

Tags: family, friends, fun, joy, sister, sons, visit to the Netherlands