The joys of the holidays

It is so freakin’ cold out there! I just got back from a walk with Mocca and my cheeks are frozen stiff. This is not what winter in Belgium is! Hasn’t been for the past five years. And the one year I decide I don’t need to bring my thick winter coat with me? Yep, I need it. At least I can borrow my mom’s other coat. And I’ve just given Jaz the only scarf I have with me. So hopefully Oliver will be able to bring me my coat and a scarf when we meet up in London next week. Hmm, I wonder if he can fit my boots in as well… Anyway, during the past few mornings I’ve taken Mocca out for a walk when my mom hasn’t had the time to take her to the park. And since it’s so cold over here (and it’s going to stay at just a little below freezing for the next week) everything has this layer of frost on it. We have no snow, just a lot of frost. And this frost has crystallized onto the spiderwebs. I finally remembered to take my camera with me on the walk, so now I’ve got a few pictures which I’ll put up when I get my laptop back from Jade (she’s playing Sims2 on it).

The plan for the rest of today? Shopping. Yes, I know I said I am done with all of my presents. And I am. I’m not buying anything (except some 5mm dpns if we’ve got the time to stop by the yarn shop in the mall but those are for me so they don’t count). Everyone else still needs to go buy stuff though. And they want me with them. So yay, lots of crowds to annoy me! o/

Did some cleaning yesterday. I was delegated the task of doing all of the bathrooms, vacuuming the downstairs and washing the extractor fan thing in the kitchen. What I don’t quite understand is why people get so stressed out about Christmas, the whole cooking and cleaning and shopping shebang, and then come up with tasks like cleaning the extractor fan when there are other things like simply tidying up that should be done instead? I mean, seriously. Okay, the fan needs cleaning, but why not do that in November or January instead of a few days before Christmas? Or make it a bi-annual thing and do it every spring and autumn? All of these little things wouldn’t be so stressful if there was some planning involved.

I went through some of my old things yesterday and gave away stuff I didn’t want anymore. And some stuff that I was reluctant to part with but the takers really really really wanted them. Basically I gave away old nail polishes, make-up and jewelry. Today, I’m going through my hair things and giving the extras away as well. And after that? Well, I do have three boxes of stuff in my room that I need to go through before I can move on to the ones in the basement. This moving out business is actually kinda fun. I can get rid of junk I really don’t need anymore. Like papers that I’ve been hanging onto for several years because they might have helped Jaz with her school work while she was still in high school. But now that she’s moved on to uni, and therefore we don’t have the same the teachers anymore, I can throw it away! I like being clutter-free. And I’ve made myself stop buying stuff as well. Like two days ago I was at the store with my mom. We were in the beauty section because we needed to pick up another box of hair dye for Jaz (her hair btw looks awesome). I saw a moisturizer that I would’ve liked to have, but then I remembered that I’ve got loads of bottles of that stuff both back in Aber and in my room, so I need to use those up first before I buy anything new.

The water over here tastes kinda funny. Even though we cook with bottled water, and use that in the kettle as well, it still leaves this odd taste. And the bottle of the kettle is filled with white stuff (lime?) so that gets into the bottom of the mug as well. :(

I am so tired. I am being woken up by the dog earlier and earlier every single day. This morning, it was at 7:45. Interrupted a very nice dream too. Kinda weird, but nice. My conclusion from my dream? I’ve been watching Desperate Housewives too much. Mainly because in the dream, I was sorta dating Mike Delfino. Not the actor James Denton, but the character Mike Delfino. So yeah, too much DH. Although, he is kinda hot for a guy who’s twice my age… XD