Should get it all unwrapped and installed this weekend. The house is really taking shape now and with Schattie giving the living room and kitchen their final colors, it's starting to look just wonderful!

Can't wait to really move in.

Off to bed now, got another early shift tomorrow :(

Working shifts again has seriously affected the plans we had made for the new house, and as such we've changed things around and adapted to the situation as well as possible.

I sure hope it'll all become more manageable at the start of April, though I don't really expect it to do so just yet. Could we ask for some peace and quiet in May maybe?

Thanks to the help of B&H, as well as M, the Disney Castle in Yenthe's bedroom was completed, the old furniture and sinks in the bathroom was removed and two new cabinets were installed. Schattie covered the walls in our bedroom in a layer of painted and several more kitchen cabinets were cleaned and disinfected.

More wall paper was removed and everyone was working hard and it shows. The kids' bedrooms are almost finished and we are slowly moving away from the phase were you only tear things down and create a mess, towards a phase were you see things change and get finalized.

Still loads to do though and March will be a true challenge, especially with me being forced to work shifts again, which means less weekends or days we can work together in the new house :(

Went to see The book of Eli in the theater and liked it. Off to work some more, late shift this afternoon. If you wanna reach me, just call my mobile phone, I won't bother with putting my schedule online as I'll be at work all the time anyway (either at my job or in the house).

Did quite some shopping in Venlo - Tegelen itself where the Chateau is located has hardly anything worthwhile mentioning - and arrived at our temporary "home" with new shoes, clothes for her and I and something to eat.

It was a very nice and recommendable trip, that's for sure. When we were wondering what to do on Saturday, we opted not to go shopping again - we did so on Friday since the weather was too overcast to go walking - but came home to work some more in the new house.

That's it for now folks!

Yesterday we signed all the paperwork to call our new house truly ours now, yay!
On Monday the heating problem was fixed and the leaky valve was planned to get fixed today, but that fell through due to some unforeseen problem called "snow".

I left for work at 06h45 and arrived at 10h30, which means I've spent 3h45 minutes just to get to work. It took me another 1h45 to get back home later. No fun, especially since I was (and still am) suffering from a serious case of diarrhea, and it was only thanks to the immodium I took this morning that I made it to work without erm... incidents. It was close though, so I popped in with the medics to score another one to get me through the day.

Last time I took 1 immodium, I didn't feel like using the toilet for 4 days. I'm on my 3rd already today, and it's still flying out as if I was a clay pigeon throwing machine. Either I'm getting used to the drug, or I've something that can't be subdued by it.

Due to all the traffic troubles, the heating technician texted me that he wouldn't make it today, but we're rescheduled for tomorrow.

While I was trying to get to and from work, Schattie managed to put up another layer of paint on the ceiling of Siebe's room, with two kids in tow that were quite energetic after being stuck in traffic on the way to school for two hours. It's quite an accomplishment to get a room painted that fast, let alone take care and look after a 5 and three year old at the same time. Multitasking at it's best!

The leaky valve will be replaced/fixed on Wednesday, which would or should end the heating problem.

The seller - who was exposed to Schattie's wrath on the phone last night - has cleaned out most of the garden of his filth and rubbish as he promised, but he still left some things behind, which will need to be taken out as well. We'll handle that tomorrow while signing the final act though. Go Schattie (apparently she's a Goddess and I'm a Wussy)

It seems the circulation pump on the heating has broken down, so we'll need to have that checked, confirmed and fixed, preferably before next weekend when the kids will be at the house as well. Small kids don't do that well in a chilly place.

More working in the house tomorrow, we'll be doing more grinding, tearing down wallpaper and cleaning out the garden. The painting is mostly Schattie's job, as she's pretty good at it, while I'll be taking care of wallpaper and garden duty. I also hope to be able to get some final notes on paper regarding building a storage level in the garage box, which will help us when we move to store things we don't really need every day, yet can't throw away (yet). All that, without losing any free parking space in the garage.

Off to bed now, need to take care of some other things now.

kids - school - key - new house - shopping - work - doctors visit - hard work - afternoon - paint - wallpaper - removal - eye - pain - notary - emergency room - french fries - 21h30 - eye specialist - damaged cornea - bandage - eye drops - rest - 2 days off.

That's it for the time being. I'm tired and heading off to bed, once I get my totally exhausted Schattie awake and in bed.

Called in to work that I wouldn't make it, and I'm glad I did. I'm on the couch right now and feel weak, have trouble staying up and have a terrible headache to go with it.

Schattie has managed not to catch it (for now), and I sure hope she doesn't either. First day at the new office today and not feeling all that well, I don't envy her. Gonna give her a call later today or text her to see how she's doing.

Enough sitting up for me now, I'm gonna lay down and go back to feeling crap now. Laters!

In short : my mail will be forwarded to the new house, my phone line has been canceled and if you're trying to reach me, use my mobile number. If you don't have it yet and think you should, ask me in person, or shoot me a mail requesting it.

Went ice skating with the kids today, was fun though a looooong time since I did try. I managed to stay up, lol.

It may not sound or be very romantic to get things in writing, but we're both adults and know it is for the better.

That's all for now, folks!

We also went looking for two different set of lights (one strawberry red, one lime) but both stores were closed on Saturday.

It's all coming rather close now, and we're so looking forward to it!

We'll be calling in help for sure, so if anyone is up for it, let us know. We'll need at least a painter for the kids' room and may need someone experienced in electricity to read the plans or check things around the house. I've got little to no experience with it.

Wednesday morning Schattie went to the clinic to have her blood sugar levels measured, but she was turned away before the testing even commenced. Apparently her sugar levels were so high they couldn't give her any more to actually perform the test. Off to the doctor we go again to have the reading verified and off to a specialist later to confirm or test further. As soon as I heard when she called me around 09:25AM, I went over to the paramedics at work to request some info and hear their opinion on things. Sure enough they said they couldn't give individual advice since they ain't doctors nor do they know the levels, but they were able to give me broad information about diabetes and what can or can't be done about it, but more importantly even, they were able to put me at ease that even though it is a serious illness, it is not totally life rupturing or altering. Food is still allowed, so is sugar or candy, fruit and exercise. Key is to measure regularly and know what a certain type of food or exercise will do to your blood sugar level and to anticipate.

Definitely things will change in all of our lives knowing this, but none of that scares me. I'm here to help, aid, love and take care of those I love.

On Saturday the two of us went out on a shopping spree, got ourselves a nice new garden table, and - believe it or not - we even found a clothing cabinet and a nice new bed. Our style when it comes to furniture is sometimes quite different, yet we we both rather fond of this set we spotted. I think we'll be heading off to the shop again later this week (well, next week since I'm writing this on Sunday evening) to have the order taken and a deposit made. Then we can have it all delivered at the new house and enjoy it as well.

While we were over at the new house - we had to take a look at the garage - our soon to be neighbor popped his head out of his door to see what was going on, and immediately invited us in to meet the family. We accepted and sat down to meet Mehdi and his family, had coffee - which I normally never drink, but it just didn't feel right to refuse their hospitality, so I finished my cup while talking to them - and fresh dates (dadels in Dutch for those who wonder). Mehdi is Iranian and has been living here for years, and the whole familiy was eager to know who would be moving in next to them in a few short months (67 days and counting we think).

I think we'll have great neighbors there and hope they had a good an impression of us as we had of them.

Saturday evening I was thrown to the lions as I was about to meet two aunts and an uncle of Schattie, but - as you can read - I wasn't eaten alive. In fact, I was accepted it seems. It was quite a fun evening as well...

Off to Sunday (them weekends sure look longer than 2 days, don't they?). We got out of bed rather late (that's what you get for spending time with family on Saturday evening) and I went out to get some food while Schattie cleaned up in the house a bit. Later in the afternoon when everything was more of less tidy, we faced the snowy roads to head of to an erotic fair where we did some shopping (mainly clothes, massage oil that doesn't taste bad when you happen to taste it "by accident" (editors note : according to Schattie, I should have just written "lickable" and be done with it) and a couple of toys, before we returned home to wait for the kids to return home.

Had food, showered the kids and now we're ready to take a shower ourselves. Tata!

@nurse kody : I've never had a flu shot before, so neither did I get one this year (or last year, since I'm writing this in 2010). Don't know what I had, guess it was the I'm fed up with everything and my head is full of snot and slime and I feel generally like crap illness.

@Kenny : thanks dude! Wish you the best for 2010 and we may run into each other again soon, who knows.

@Hilda : I think they are just doing their job and don't get rewards of bonuses for making ill people go back to work anyway. They're just evil.

So... this is two thousand and ten! I wish you all the best and I may post an overview of 2009 later, if I get to that, it is.