Rein's Cookumentaries and other Stuff

after dinner tea

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

The nephews are staying over for a week – it’s never easy finding child care for the full 9 weeks of summer holidays, so ‘Tante Rein’ takes over for a week. Midweek mum and dad came for a check and took us out for a slap-up meal – but we had dessert and tea at home afterwards, otherwise the bill gets too enormous
I could have finished all the apple cake, but I restrained myself
Yup, new IKEA catalogue checked for useful stuff, newest DVD we watched yesterday, shown to my brother – I thought he would take it home with him, but he probably forgot.

Now it’s almost midnight and I need to clear the table for breakfast for tomorrow morning – better switch on the dishwasher too, or we haven’t got any breakfast plates – we were down to odds and ends already.

Why I made this pic? Because I thought special photo domino number 11 could use a boost – and I can use it still as my daily pic, which has fallen quiet again with the kids being home

Birthday present for a 7y old

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

Eldest girl of the neighbours across has her 7th birthday today – what better stuff to give than lipgloss, body glitter, hair ties, a necklace and sweets and all that in a crackly, red, shiny paper? Problem is, her (almost) 3 year old sister wanted it all too, so was bawling her eyes out, until I promised her she would get such a present on her birthday too – which is in only a few weeks

Tomorrow and the day after no post, I’m in London, fetching the girls back – WOOHOOH!!

Let’s hope the weather is a bit clear and not like it is here now – I hope I will get to the Eurostar without looking like a drowned cat

The TV is on too – with half an eye watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing (of course I’m recording it!) They really have pushed the boat out – all very nice of course, but I do hope that later on the people who have been evicted and those in the poorer regions of China will profit one way or another of those games too…

I shouldn’t have complained about the hot weather yesterday Today I woke up with thunder and lightning and the roof being pelted with rain as if a thousand mice were dancing a tarantella on it. Having a modern house with high sloping ceilings is nice, but a pain when trying to sleep when it rains – not as bad as a tin roof, but it comes a close second!

So I’m scratching my head again for a subject for ‘picture of the day’. Maybe I’ll go to the park later, inbetween rain bursts, and see if the deer are out, otherwise I could go to the rose garden for a few scenic pics. I will have to pop over to the shops too. Eldest girl of the neighbours across has her birthday tomorrow – 7 I thought it was – and I have to find her a birthday present, so I can go and give it before I leave for London tomorrow evening. Which also implies no posts on Saturday or Sunday. The kids already txted me they would like to go to Camden Town. If we make that, it should be a good photo opportunity

Proof

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

Yesterday I had a ‘blah’ day and didn’t post a pic – so I got a worried txt this morning from the girls. When they were re-assured I just had a little ‘dip’, missed them something awful and couldn’t sleep as I was missing their nightly noises but would be there on Saturday morning, bright and bushy-tailed, they were quick to ask for the latest ‘Joepie’ (a teenmagazine that already existed when I was young – now that is a long time ago – not that I bought it, I rather went to the library for ‘proper’ books – I know, I’m a geek and proud of it ). So here is proof I went and bought it and – oh joy – no Tokio Hotel on the cover this time!

Today it has been hot, hot, hot. I really should cut the grass, but I rather not scorch to a crisp. If the mower doesn’t get through it, I always still have the strimmer to do it next week

You know what? I can always squeeze a pic of Oki in from yesterday as #14 – I caught her red-pawed when she was on the table checking out Rooz who came out for a nibble.

13-Hamsters all present and accounted for!

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

Normally I never do the hamsters. My kids are very good – each looks after their own pet and they’re doing a splendid job. This time though, I have to make sure they’re fed and watered and have a not too smelly house.

So here’s the proof I’m still performing my duty and both hamsters are safe and sound!

I had to chase Oki off the table a few times as she came to investigate, but no animals were harmed during the making of this mosaic!

Meh – it’s dull and grey and I just can’t find anything interesting to photograph today. It’s Sunday, so I’m not allowed to mow the lawn, so no pics of a clean garden. Oki’s been sleeping all day, the hamsters haven’t left their house for the whole day – they will have to tomorrow though, they’re getting a bit smelly, their ‘pooh corner’ needs cleaning – and I don’t seem to be able to find a nice juicy snail for some gory pics with the turtles…

So I’ll just leave you all with this Lolkat I saw today, which fits in beautifully really

btw – you know what is worse than PMS? PMS and having no-one to shout at

So, after almost 24 hours loading etc., here’s Oki’s first appearance on Youtube:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCJrQsym3AU]

I do apologise for the wobbles and strange non-cat noises (especially et the end ) but as I said before, editing it – even taking 30 seconds off – increased the size with 100 Mb from the original 200 to 300 Mb * Anyone knowing a good program – or how I could make better use of Windows Movie Maker – feel free to suggest so

* even the shock icon has given up it seems – let’s try that again 80 8-0 – meh… now one of them seem to work, typical…

btw – anyone trying to figure out the background noise? It was a Classic Disney Cartoon – Micky, Donald and Goofy Building a Boat – just before the news at 8

Pink

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

It was a rather cloudy day, so no garden pictures. Nothing much to do either. I could hardly give you another one of my food pics (although today’s chicken tajin with carrots and mushrooms was simply delicious ) so we go with one of Oki’s food pics today

Never realised she’s that dusty!

A video of her snoring is uploading on youtube – I really have to take lessons on how to edit vids – even with the program included with the pc (Windows Movie Maker) I can’t seem to be able to bring it under 100Mb. Funny thing is, the unedited version is 2 minutes and 200 Mb, the edited one is 1min 30 sec but 300 Mb – weird or what? So as 1Mb of video takes about 1 to 5 minutes to upload – according to Youtube – I went with the unedited one. It will take a few hours then before you can enjoy her song

11-Red, green, white

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

I had invited the neighbour across for a cup of tea as it was her first day of her holiday, but her kids were watching a movie so she was shooed out, poor thing While I was putting the tea things out, the white cat – don’t know her name, but she’s bold as brass – didn’t move an inch.

She’s the cat of the back neighbours (diagonally) and I have to keep a very wary eye on her, as she’s always spying on the fish. It could be her colouring of course, but I think she’s got a rather snooty expression (a bit like her owner really )

It’s funny how a lot of the neighbourhood cats like to come and snooze in our garden, maybe there is a certain ‘ambiance’ they like?

There’s no love lost between Oki and this cat. The moment she noticed that cat was in the garden, she chased her out…