This is the weekend that I need to focus, focus, focus on my assignments. By Sunday night I need to have one of them finished (or at least be really really close). But the problem is…I don’t want to do them. Why would I want to write about phenomenological psychology when I could watch DVDs, count how many days I have left or chat with people online.

I know I will do the assignment…its too painful not to…but I have decided to begin a list of all the reasons why I shouldn’t…just for fun of course (and to waste some time):

1. The cats have not mastered elementary level Dutch yet, so I should spend some time with them.
2. The kitchen floor needs to be cleaned…and I have read that the best way to clean the stones is with a toothbrush.
3. Its a really nice day out, I should make the most of it and go for a walk.

To be continued…

Cloggie In Training

Late nights and semi-early mornings are doing me in. I’m exhausted but hopefully will be feeling better after the weekend.

Off to sleep…

Cloggie In Training

Argh! What an awful morning. It started when I began working on the psychology experiment I have to produce for one of my assignments. Things were going well as I followed the instructions and set it all up but when I went to test it the experiment was not recognising my keyboard. Further investigation and I found that this is an issue with running EPrime on a laptop. But the really bloody stupid dumb thing is that the University knew this last year…but did they warn anybody???? No!!!!! So now I have to do the whole thing over on the PC including installing EPrime again.

In order to vent and not kill anyone I decided I would do some packing…there isn’t much left and I thought now would be a good time to pack some more things up. As I was packing I realised I am missing two cds. Most likely they are behind something so instead of packing them up I thought I would just dismantle the computer desk and clean up the study making sure they aren’t in there. The desk needs to be dismantled as it is and the cds are most likely in the study if they are going to be anywhere. So I set about dismantling the desk. Things were going well even with a curious cat trying to help at every stage and then came the problem. The allen key (a stupid L shaped tool that unscrews a certain type of screw) of course is missing and I know that there is no allen key in the house because I have already packed that all up. Now realising I will have to go to the shop to buy an allen key I figured I might as well combine this with a trip to the storage space. So I decided to go through the stuff under the stairs in order to get the rest of my Christmas stuff and pack it in the box upstairs that is waiting to be closed…that way that box can also be taken to the storage space with the other things.

So under the stairs I go to find not a single Christmas item. Collapsing on the stairs I was trying to think where they must be. As the missing items are some ornaments from my childhood I was keen to find them. I knew they couldn’t be in the loft as that is 100% cleared out, now I knew they weren’t under the stairs so the only place they could possibly be is the building in the garden…my worse nightmare. Psyching myself up for the task at hand I grabbed a screwdriver a. to actually get in the building and b. to fend off all the horrible spiders that live there.

Very cautiously I poked open the door with my screwdriver…to the left not many things but many cobwebs…to the right, behind the door (so yes I had to step in at this point) the missing box!!! Hooray but its covered in cobwebs and moving spiders. Poking the box I managed to dislodge it from the main cobweb and get it into a position where I can easily get it out the door…turning the box round I came face to face with the worlds biggest spider. Ignoring my first urge to scream and run out of the building I managed to then ignore my second urge to fling it across the room with my screwdriver. Calming myself so as not to end up with the spider on me I calmly encouraged it to move off the box…oh okay I flung it across the room with the screwdriver. I then grabbed the box turned round dropped it on the step and attempted to jump down onto the step…of course my fear of falling had me looking for any available spot that was not covered in cobwebs to grab hold of but in the end I just had to jump. I placed the box near the door and with great bravery went in for a second look.

Now to the right and behind the door really does look like a horror movie…it is covered in cobwebs and huge spiders so I had decided if I didn’t really really really want the item I wasn’t going to take it. A quick peek in a very nice and would have been handy storage box revealed painting materials…nope that’s fine they can stay and the box is less appealing covered in spider goo. Dang…a box in the far back…oh…oh… that’s okay it says air mattress and pump no need for that…..and then the clincher…a huge suitcase that after a few kicks revealed it definitely has something in it.

Now at this point I should have just left. Of course it probably is filled with clothes that don’t fit, are out of fashion, are all damp and that I am not going to want anymore but I just had to know what was inside. So I undid the buckles but there was no zip in eyesight and the big wheelbarrow on top wasn’t helping either. Somehow I managed to dislodge the wheelbarrow and pull the suitcase out slightly. But then all I could do was stare at it…yep that is correct…I was so scared to look for the zipper that I couldn’t do anything. Yet that stupid desire to know what was inside kept me rooted to the spot. So I quickly grabbed the zipper (down by the floor of course) and opened it up slightly and looked inside.

Clothes!!! Of course, I knew it would be…all damp, wrong size and way way way out of fashion. Yet here is the stupidest part….my brain then thought about dragging the spider infested suitcase out and taking the clothes to charity!!! Luckily for me my senses then kicked in and I kicked the suitcase back into place leaving it for the next happy owner. I turned round to jump out of the building and run back to safety only to give myself a huge fright by seeing my reflection out of the corner of my eye in the oddly placed mirror in the building and imaginig it was a huge flying spider. At that point I stumbled out and locked the door.

I went to pick up my ornaments box and as I placed my hand on it there was a huge spider on it which began crawling all around….once again the screwdriver came to the rescue!!

So I have now officially declared the outbuildings as 100% clear and plan to never step foot in them again.

Off to breath into a brown paper bag to calm me…

Cloggie In Training

P.S. The one nice flower pot I was going to take is now officially staying….covered in bugs and green moss it has also lost its appeal.

Dear Fellow Readers,

My humblest apologies for not writing a new post sooner. Unfortunately there was no grand reason for this…I was not stuck inside a moving box, I did not get attacked by the new oddly soap coloured people and I didn’t even finish my assignments. I have really just been packing up my office at work, dealing with the aftermaths of an idiot reversing into my car and just driving off (I was upstairs in my office but am now patrolling the car park looking for damaged cars) and ticking off items on my moving list as I get them done.

I must say (touch wood) that everything is moving along nicely and in a very orderly fashion. As it stands everything is up-to-date and exactly how it should be. I am crossing my fingers and toes that this continues in this way so I do not suffer a nervous breakdown.

The move is getting close (three weeks left!) with just two more Fridays at work. Work plans in Holland seem to be going surprisingly well with a few things nearly secured for an April start. More on that once they actual are secure but it does seem that my use of the SCT has paid off.

I am looking forward to arriving in Holland and getting settled in so that I can go off exploring…which I would hope would make this blog even more exciting!!

Until later…

Cloggie In Training

Last year for Christmas (that’s 2006) I was trying very hard to get meaningful yet not super expensive gifts for people. Christmas is always a bad time of year in the first place because there are so many birthdays around that time and I have to post many things to America.

I started my venture at a very handy craft store called Hobbycraft where I found some cute Christmas ornaments to make, a couple of Christmas wreaths to design and some glass painting materials. Now I like arts and crafts type activities but I do not pretend to be good at them, in fact I am usually pretty hopeless. Take for example home economics in school…when we were supposed to be sewing a straight line I had a curvy one and when a curvy one was demanded I had a semi-straight one. So it was no surprise when my glass painting did not come out as planned and I had to scrap the project.

While in Hobbycraft I also saw a soap making kit. It wasn’t a brilliant one but looked kinda fun and it gave me the idea to look for a Christmas version which I found on ebay. Making soap wasn’t actually that hard…you just melted the clear soap added your scents, colours, dried flowers etc and let it cool. But what was difficult was getting the colour amount correct…to get beautiful colours you had to use a decent amount and attempt to get it all mixed in…although there always seemed to be some powder that had settled down to the bottom. As I wrapped up the soaps I was a bit worried that people using them might end up with some of the powder on them as they used the soap but figured it would just mix in with the water and be fine.

So why am I reminiscing about making Christmas soap in February?? Well when I went round to SF’s on Sunday to help her move furniture for her new floor to be put in she was asking if I thought her hands were looking red and that she thought it was because of my soap. I just laughed it off and said of course not.

Today I went round to SF’s house for lunch and when in the bathroom I noticed that the soap was no longer there.

Me: What happened to the red soap?

SF: In there (pointing to the rubbish bin).

Me: (Gasping) What? Why?

SF: Because I didn’t want the workmen thinking I had murdered someone in the bathroom.

Me: (Laughing)

SF: I was worried that I would wash my face with it and turn all red. What were you thinking trying to turn me all red?

Me: Well you could have been yellow, pink, green or dark blue because I used those colours too.

SF: (Laughing) What did you do match the soap to the person you thought would look best when they were that colour?

And so continued another round of laughing and further jokes. Therefore I would like to formally apologise to anyone who received my soap for Christmas and in turn became the colour of the soap. I shall adjust the colour amount this year.

Off to look for another fun craft activity…

Cloggie In Training

I have just been informed that my current employer would like to fly me back (all expenses paid!) to London in order to be on the interview panel for the replacement for my post and for a second worker we were in the process of hiring.

I have really mixed feelings about this as yes it will be really cool and funny to come back to England and have no home but at the same time I won’t even have been in Rotterdam for a week when I go back for 3 days. However I shall be saying yes and as long as there are enough applicants I shall be flying back to help out.

Today I managed to lug some bags up to my office so that I can start going through stuff and bring home that which will be going with me to Holland. At the moment I feel like I am on two ends of a very long scale. On one hand the move seems ages away and as if I will get very bored by the end of the week. But on the other hand, especially with two assignments due before I go, I feel like it is just around the corner. I am going to try the strategy of getting everything done straight away even if it feels like I have ages of time. Then if I do happen to end up with loads of days to do nothing at least I can sit back and enjoy.

Off to clear out a cupboard…

Cloggie In Training