Happy Thanksgiving!

One of my students reminded me on Thursday that it was Thanksgiving. I had forgotten! We did celebrate yesterday though with Clifton and Karmen. The turkey looked more like a chicken, but we had a really nice time. The girls actually had pretty good manners at the table!

I finished up a couple of things in the workshop this week, so it is nice and clean. Always a relief. Tomorrow, I will try to get the bed put together. Hopefully it works...

Today it is rainy and cold, so we will probably light a fire and just hang around the house. Seems like everyone could use a day of rest.

Thanksgiving Dinner

The Return of Sinterklaas

Racism returns for another round. There is still a bit debate about whether or not the Dutch version of Santa is a racist tradition. He comes on a steamboat from Spain, surrounded by a bunch of little people with faces that are painted black. They help him to do his work and make lots of mistakes. They all have the same name - Black Piet. And yet, according to many Dutch people, there is nothing racist about it...

The entourage came to our village last night. Abigail was pretty scared, but she did alright. We lost her scarf though - that brought more than a few tears. Amélie wanted to stay longer.

I made good progress at both jobs this week. The bed for Hessel should be finished up on Monday if all goes well. I managed to finish all my school work without a problem, unlike the week before. We also have the only free weekend in about a month, so Naomi is busy with grading, of course. Should be a nice morning for a walk to the Bosrand...thinking more and more about buying one of those...

Car nap on the way back from Oma's 97th birthday. 

The Piet's taking care of Sinterklaas's white horse.

Music getting louder...

Loud music. Lots of people.

November Stress

November is the worst month of the year for teaching. I had forgotten that, but starting up again at the beginning of the worst month reminded me. Everyone is stressed out, lots of extras to do, no light at the end of the tunnel. Christmas is still a fairy tale. It is good to be back though. I am pushed to the limit of what I can get done in two days, but I am staying afloat for now.

I am expected to have a lot of things figured out by now since I was supposed to be working since the beginning of the year, but in reality, I am just starting. The 'figuring things out' period is over, and now the extra tasks come. That means a lot of extra work for me, but it is manageable. Luckily I have had to do this before, and I am a quick learner.

Naomi got the girls all dressed up for winter this week. Abigail loves her scarf! A couple days ago Amélie hit her head really hard on the front door, and when we tried to wake her up at night to see if she was ok, she didn't seem ok. So Naomi took her to the hospital. The doctor said she was fine, and she seems fine now, but it made us a bit nervous. I have a suspicion that this won't be the last time Amélie gets a big bump on the head...

Ready for the cold!

Full Time +

This week was the first time I have worked a normal week since the kidney problems. In fact, I had a couple extra hours added onto my schedule, at least until Christmas, so things will be a bit busier than 'normal'. It went really well at school though. I still have yet to hear much complaining - teachers just seem to do what is expected of them, and they expect a lot at this school. Strange to be in such a positive environment!

The downstairs toilet broke this week, and I tried to fix it, but it was just too cheap. So I found out that you could just buy a new tank and so we did! I was able to install it yesterday and what an improvement! We decided to leave the sink alone though. It looks ugly, but I don't think replacing it will be so easy. Luckily, most things lined up with the new tank.

Amélie was the one who got sick this week at daycare. Stomach trouble. So once again, I had to stop early with work to pick her up. This time Abigail stayed behind though because she was playing in a different area and didn't see me. She wasn't so happy about later on, but she was having a lot of fun and I didn't want to interfere. By the time we got home Amélie was feeling much better though, and now she is fine. The girls have been playing really nicely!

Carving pumpkins for Halloween!

Amélie's

Mine

Abigail's

Musical Chairs

This week has been a pretty good one. We were able to get back into a normal routine. I started working at school again, although I won't see my students until this coming week as they were in London. Nice to have the time to catch up on grading, prepping, and talking with some colleagues. Of course it all took longer than expected.

We picked up a couple new chairs at Staples this week, so now I am a bit more comfortable as I type this message. Another load to the second hand shop. Good to be clearing more things out!

Last night we enjoyed dinner with some friends for whom I just finished up a project. It was stretched out due to those kidney issues, so it is nice to have it finished. They were pleased with the final result! Should be making some good progress this week with Claire's liquor cabinet...

Fall Vacation

Once again, it wasn't much of a vacation! We got a lot done. The big projects were cleaning out the cellar and the garden shed. Still need to take another load away. Went to the kitchen store to check on my display, which they made a lot nicer, and to get a new frying pan. A German one this time. Seems to be a lot better than the French and Dutch versions we had before...

The girls have had a lot of fun this week. On Wednesday Naomi took them to Amsterdam to visit Ron and Edith. Today they will go to visit Naomi's Grandma. We even had a couple bonfires in the backyard. They have been getting lots of attention!

I pretty much finished up the bedside cabinets. They just need to be rubbed down with a bit of steel woll and installed next weekend. I started on Claire's liquor cabinet. My shelves look empty now after getting all the wood cut and glued!

New display, new frying pan.

Bonfire with roasted marshmallows! 

Back to Normal

I have been able to get back to feeling pretty normal this week. Had my last appointment with the surgeon and she said everything was fine. What a relief to be done with the hospital! Also nice that this coming week is Fall break, so we don't have to teach.

Managed to finish up a couple projects in the shop this week. So nice to have things cleaned out!

Yesterday we went on a bit of an adventure. What a treat to be able to do that with our new car! We took a road that goes across what used to be a huge bay. Back in the 30's the Dutch sealed it off with a massive dyke and drained some of it to create a new province. We also drove across that dyke. Amazing that it was basically built by hand. We made some stops in Enkhuizen and Sneek. It was a fun little trip!

Handles for some bedside cabinets - tricky to make.

A new kind of cutting board.

Amélie on top to the road dividing what is now an inland sea in two.

Enkhuizen.

The dyke that created the inland sea.