You scream, I scream, we all scream for Ben & Jerry's.

I'm a bit busy with christmas decorationg on the cheap.

I'm recycling the wrapping foil and strings from J & M's birthday gift so nothing goes to waste here.:) I'm really not a girly girl. So whenever people ask me to help them to decorate something I'm gone in 1 second in Road Runner style (meep, meep). Don't get me wrong I like decorated windows during christmas. I just didn't have the talent for it. But today, for some reason, I suddenly felt a chutspah to be a girly girl.;)

The reason for this post is mainly ice cream, Ben & Jerry ice cream to be exact. Last wednesday I saw a coupon for Ben & Jerry's with a € 4,- discount, so 99 cents per jar. My idea was to ask everyone on my block for the local (free) news paper so I could buy loads of Ben & Jerry's. But for some reason I didn't go the Poiesz (it's a Frysian grocery store) till today. So in my mind I already prepared myself for no Ben nor Jerry's left. The moment I entered the store they were refilling the freezer. Yay. But they were out of Peace of Cakes. Boo. So I left with one jar of New York Super Fudge Chunk cause I only had one coupon. At the counter they told me I didn't need the coupon anymore (for that store particularly, Oostersingel 78 in Leeuwarden). They've ordered more ice cream than they've spread coupons.XD I didn't mind. The lady at counter told me the last order will be coming in tomorrow morning. I was told there will be some Peace of Cakes. Yay!

Last year during the ladies retreat from the Salvation Army I've learned friendship is sharing and sharing is multiplying. I've paid it forward to my neighbour R (a Ben & Jerry's junky). Tomorrow we will be in front of the Poiesz store at 8 a.m.XD

Calimero, the reason I wake up in the morning.

Day 10: Wallpaper on your mobile phone.
Dag 10: Achtergrond op jouw mobieltje.

One day this little guy was on my mobile phone. I already had the Dutch theme song from the television show Calimero as my alarm signal.
Op een dag stond Calimero op de beginscherm van mijn mobiele telefoon. Hij stond niet mis bij mijn wekker ringtone die ik reeds had.

Story of my life.XD

Day 9: bible verse / Dag 9: bijbelvers

1 John 4:20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

New International Version

1 Johannes 4:20 Als iemand zegt: 'Ik heb God lief,' maar hij haat zijn broeder of zuster, is hij een leugenaar. Want iemand kan onmogelijk God, die hij nooit gezien heeft, liefhebben als hij de ander, die hij wel ziet, niet liefheeft.

Nieuwe bijbelvertaling

We are all the same in eyes of God, made from love. Lets treat eachother with respect.

In de ogen van God zijn we gelijk aan elkaar, uit liefde gemaakt. Behandel elkaar met respect.

She works hard for the money.

Day 8: Work

The next cartoon shows how I feel when I work on projects.

So true.:(

The cartoon is from Barcelona based artist Alex Noriega. Lasts christmas I was given a gelaskin, designed by Alex Noriega, for my iPad because I managed to drop the iPad during an electricity shortage. Till this day I've covered the huge dent with a cheesy lady bug sticker. It was time for a professional cover.

Maybe I should find a real job next year. A job that pays minimum wage but at least you get paid for the hours you work. My goal is to buy a house but that's impossible if you earn next to nothing.:( I don't understand why houses are still so expensive when the current home owners can't really afford to pay off their mortgage. They rather wait for a fool with way too much money to rescue them from their overvalued bricks than lower their price of their house. So basically a lot of people live in a situation next to bankrupcy because they have gambled with their debt. In the west we think we are rich but we are rich on paper. The bank crisis showed us we all live with a debt (student loans, mortgage, personal loans, etc ...) Your house is yours when you have paid of your loan. Besides that we all are paying off our country's state debt. I don't really want to know how much that is. TOO Much if you ask me. But we all want solid high ways, the public transport to be on time and we take care of the poor.

Today there was an item on the Dutch news about poverty in The Netherlands. We have about 1.000.000 people living under the poverty line. I wonder how many people in The Netherlands are really poor. The item showed a woman with a 17 years old son with a household income of € 1.100,- per month. I was like, I don't earn a lot but my life is less depressing than hers. Sometimes I refuse work so I can go on vacation. This year three times (Barcelona & Toulouse, Berlin and Mexico).XD I know, it's decadent.:/ Besides that, if I ever dare to ask for social support, my mother will personally kick me in the @** like they do it in Street Fighter, Tekken or Mortal Kombat games. Trust me, my mom is a trained ninja.;)

2012 is going to be a tough year for everyone I guess. If I'm going to find more work I'm actually going to improve my financial situation. Two things are for sure. I'm going to boost up my investment portfolio and my emergengy fund. So to save money I've bought a crisis proof christmas tree (never bought a christmas tree on my own before. So this is my first christmas tree ever).^____^

The christmas balls are from my friends J & M. They gave me an emergengy food package . My birthday invitation said something like: I have everything so I don't need anything but if you feel the urge to give me something, food for my food supply for a potential zombie apocalypse would be nice (no idea what to do with the christmas balls by then).

I also asked for toilet paper especially this one.

You can get a refund if you buy this overexpensive toilet paper (€ 3,99 0_o). So basically my guests could have given me a super cheap gift. Only one guest gave me toilet paper but he has bought another brand. But I guess no one really buys toilet paper as a birthday gift. Would be insane if you really did that ...

I also don't have to worry about sweets, Sinterklaas gave me enough to last till 2012.

And this is just a cookie. It's twice my head. Crazy Frisian people.:D

Last year's speculaaspop (speculoos doll). Didn't have the patience to take a picture this year. I'm wearing a work uniform underneath the fleece jacket so I look a bit fat. Maybe I was having my fat day. Maybe, maybe not. And my hair is like that because I was wearing a hat outside. It was snowing. I don't know about you but I'd rather have static hair than a cold and make other people sick because of my vanity. You are welcome.

An ode to kitty cat Maus.

Day 7: A picture of something that makes you happy.

Dag 7: Een foto van iets dat jou blij maakt.

Everyone knows I like kitties. Even bff W complaints about the overload of cute cats I share on Twitter and Google Reader. Last saturday M was here and he's the dad of my favourite cat, Maus. I even wrote an diary entry about him.

Iedereen weet dat ik gek ben op katten (behalve Hello Kitty dan). Zelfs BFF W begon over mijn overdaad cute cats shares te klagen. Afgelopen was M hier, de vader van mijn meest favouriete kat Maus. Ik heb zelfs een stukje over hem geschreven in mijn dagboek.

Somewhere around November 2009

Ergens rond november 2009

....... I also had the pleasure to meet the notorious Maus V., the bad boy from Nijkerk. Already the first time our eyes crossed he had a bleeding ear. He probably had to keep up his reputation.;)

....... Ook heb ik de beruchte Maus Verweij mogen ontmoeten, de bad boy van Nijkerk. De eerste keer dat ik hem zag, had hij een bloedend oor, schijnbaar heeft hij een reputatie hoog te houden.;)

I asked M why he didn't tweet about Maus anymore. My prayers were answered. He sent me several tweets with Maus pictures in it.

Ik vroeg M waarom hij niet meer over Maus tweette. Vandaag kreeg een cute overload aan tweets met foto's van Maus.

This one M's wife sent me (I decorated the picture). / Deze kreeg ik van de vrouw van M (ik heb zelf de foto bewerkt).

Day 6: Money, money, money.

Day 6: What are you saving for?

I'm saving myself for Noah Huntley.;) No, I'm just kidding. *No, I'm not* Yes, I am. *No, I'm not* Oh whatever, who am I kidding, le sigh.=)

Some may know I respect the Islam for their traditions. Especially the ramadan. During the ramadan muslims go on a hunger diet and wait till the sun goes down to feast on yummie food. During the ramadan muslims practice the zakat. Zakat is giving money to the ones who are in need. In the bible Jesus says:

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the thruth, they have received their reward in full.

I can't afford to pay people to play on their trompets every time I donate money anyway ... One of the biggest arguments people give me why they don't go to church anymore is because of the manditory 10% they have to give to their church. I've never got a letter from my church to give them 10% of my income. Maybe they think I'm poor.XD They did aks me to give them my time. And so I did and still do my duty.

I want to proof a point. You will always have enough money to give away to charity. It's on the street. I've started to collect coins I find on the street since last Chinese New Year (I don't know if this is correct English :/). The first week was fruitfull. I found 90 Euro cents.XD Since then I was kind of busy (lazy) to scavenge the streets for abondend money. It's also suspicious if you hang around ticket machines too long and putting your arm in without even buying anything. Concidering everyone is a bit frantic after 911. There was that time I end up with two municipal police following me.:/

I also have a tin can I call the funny money can. I started with € 1,- and every month I added another Euro ( month 2: €2, month 3: € 3,-, month 10: € 10,-, etc ...). I use the money to pay for entertainment. So the first month I was allowed to spend € 1'-. Searching for cheap deals becomes a sport if your budget is low. So the last 27 months I was on a boat (Old spice whistle), among other things.

Another night out sponsored by the city of Leeuwarden. To promote the 'Nacht van de nacht' (night of the night).

- I went to a gueririlla movie showing from Cinema Ascona in an old Philips factory. The theme was called girls with guns.

Free enterance for girls with guns.XD

If I didn't touch the funny money can I would have saved € 378 till this day. Hello I'm cheap *** not stingy.;) € 87,80 is not bad concidering the thing I've done the last two years. I'm not going to name everything. I need at least 8 blogposts for that.

People say I should share my budget tips on my blog. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. The media always manage to find weird people to promote frugal living. I'm not going to eat bird food or use an electric tooth brush as a vibrator (I don't have a vibrator though) to save some money. I kid you not, there are really people who live that way.:/ That's not frugal, that's crazy.

I do want to share with you my current favourite show, 2 broke girls on CBS. It's about two girls who are broke, simple as that. Two waitresses trying to survive in Brooklyn. Max has been broke her whole life. Caroline was born rich, lost her money after her dad got caught in a Ponzi-scheme. They live together wit a horse named Chestnut and they try to save $ 250.000,- for their future cup cake shop. At the end of every episode a tally shows how much they have earned so far.

I like Max because she is so sarcastic and shows, the born rich, Caroline how the poor get their daily stuff (online painkillers from South America with adverse effects XD). In episode 4 Max introduces Caroline to Goodwill. I love charity shops. Fortunately I don't depend on charity shops but I choose to buy some things second hand if I don't use them that very often. Books are a good example. When I'm finished I give it away to charity. I think the Goodwill stores get more from me than that I've ever bought from them. There is one thing I refuse to buy second hand, pressure cookers. This year a man was convicted for a murder he committed in 1997. He murdered his brother and cut him to pieces and used a pressure cooker to dissolve (do you say it like that?) the head (of his own brother). The case is known as the 'snelkookpanmoord' (pressure cooker murder). That's sick. I'm not sure if someone else in The Netherlands got inspired by this murder but I'm not taking my chances.:/

Anyways, the theme song from 2 broke girls is from Peter Bjorn and John and it's called Second Chance.

Is it just me or do they use a lot of cowbells in songs.

Proof 2. Listen at 1:48


Proof 3 (cowbells all over)


I guess you can't ignore Christopher Walken and SNL. Everyone needs more cowbell in their life.

Birthdays and Jeans 21

I've been celebrating birthdays every weekend since I'm back from Mexico. Including my own birthday. Next saturday it will be for the 4th or 5th time (I'm always in for a suprise party ;)). Grandma might have thought I have gotten used to drinking away tequila after noticing the cover of one of her gifts.

Yup, it is holding a can of beer. I already gave it a name, drunk uncle Teddy. I might start writing my drunk diary stories in this little notebook.

Remember the time I won two tickets to a musical? Last thursday I went to theatre 'De Harmonie'. De prize included a 'Theaterplus-arrangement'. A coffee/tea and some coockies before the show.

A coffee/tea and a sweet treat during the break.

And a drink and some snacks after the show.

We went to the musical Jeans 21. 21, because it is the 21st season of this show. It's a bit like Glee. Guys and girls singing, acting and doing dress ups. Music from rockabilly to disco. From Dutch pop music to a Dutch children's song. I've read in an online review the songs were for an older audience cause the writer didn't know lot of the songs. I knew a lot of songs. I grew up with Sting and Motown ...... Gosh I'm old.:(

After the break the show became a bit cheesy with songs like 'Ademnood' (dyspnea) from Linda, Roos & Jessica. Good looking soap stars from my childhood. Nowadays they are a recent divorcee (husband fell in love with the neighbour), dead and a drunk-driver-turned-mom.

And one of the last songs was 'De kabouterdans' (the gnome dance) from a very popular Belgian children's show. We were asked to dance and sing with de performers several times. I was the most enthusiastic during this song cause I was the only person at the back of the room twirling ... -___- Singing Roxanne from Sting with one voice like cats in heat is okay but twirling is a big no no?

I want to thank all the tax payers from The Netherlands for supporting my left-wing hobby.XD

Puccho

Question: Why do they sell disgusting food wrapped in super cute/sophisticated paper at Asian markets? Answer: So that wannabe Asians like me would buy them for lots and lots of money.

I didn't check which flavour it was before I bought it. I just bought it because of the colour ... But you can't deny it's damn cute! Look at the bottle of milk and grape holding hands.:D

Every silver wrap had another drawing and story. Japanese people have too much time or are like very overachieving modern slaves.

It's soft, almost like a chewing gum. It also had some kind of jelly beans in it (which was kind of grose). Overall I wouldn't try this flavour again. I can't recall the price anymore but I guess it was cheap. I'm Dutch, I don't like expensive. But we do like cute little piggies.:)

Puccho also has an insanely cute website, www.puccho.jp. Typically Japanese, colourful and super kawaii cartoons. And they have free downloads:

Who doesn't like smiling apples in a green apron? http://www.puccho.jp/img_present/other/memo.pdf

An envelope with strawberries on it. I wish I had a colour printer. http://www.puccho.jp/img_present/other/pucchoco_futou.pdf

Day 5: Mom and dad

What shall I say about my parents without sounding cheesy. I can't beat the sentence, I wouldn't be here without them. And biologically that's correct.:) My dad is my hero. Period. I was a rebel in my teenage years. I was quite terrible. There I said it. But after an incident where my dad had to pull me out of a situation, me and my dad have grown closer to eachother. I'm talking about peanutbutter and jelly.

Dad
By the way, last year my dad celebrated his 25th job anniversary. Hereby I want to thank Emma Safety Footwear for our happy family.

My dad earns money with being a rock star in shoe making.

FYI: Not my dad's hands

The money takes care of the food and food makes (Asian) people happy. And that's how we roll.

Someone at Emma safety shoes asked us if we could spread the word about their shoes. They already have big customers like the Dutch government. Emma designed shoes for operation Dessert Storm, shoes for construction workers, scientists who needs solid shoes, etc ... Need Italian leather protection shoes for an Italian job? Sure. You name it, they have it.

At the end we went to the conference room where some of the shoes designed by Emma over the years were displayed.

Brutus was really heavy

Can't remember the name of this one. I can't imagine this one could have been popular. It's so not masculine.

This one reminded me of Mike *infomercial* Levey .:D

If you don't know who Mike is, you probably aren't as old as I am or lived under a rock during the 90ies.

Back in the days when Google didn't exist. When we had to memorize the Alt codes on the numeric keypad, Alt+0131 was my favourite. Money! :D

Anywayz, you can buy Emma protection shoes from last season for a reduced price at the factory store. And if you become bffs with my dad you can get shoes from the current collection with a pretty good discount.


Emma Safety Shoes

Horizonstraat 57

6446 SC Brunssum

The Netherlands

www.emmashoes.nl

Mom

My mom taught me to work hard for my money, take care of the less fortunate, not to gossip and save my money for food and fun things. I've got my fashion sense from her. If you see me wearing something awesome. No doubt I would be wearing something my mom has bought for me. She also gave me the 'Lets-take-pictures-of-tourists-traps-gene'.

Ritter Sport chocolate store

Berlin, Germany. 2011

A message from my Dopper.

Hello humans, look at your plastic water bottle, now back to me.

Now back at your plastic water bottle, now back to me.

I'm an egg cup

free-range eggs of course

Sadly your plastic water bottle isn't me but if you decide to stop using plastic water bottles and switch to a Dopper you will contribute to a reduction of plastic (bottle) waste. And since we only have one world, that's super nice. For each Dopper sold Dopper will also donate 1 Euro to ngo Simavi. Clean and safe water for people in developing countries.

Look down, back up. Where are you? You are on a boat with a Dopper cup you can drink Frisian white wine from. Or just plain tap water. So much cheaper than those fancy plastic water bottles at the grocery store. If your Dopper is empty you can use the free phone app and search for tap water locations (also outside The Netherlands) where you can refill your Dopper for free. We adore free stuff here in The Netherlands.:)

What's in your hand, back at me. I have it,

I'm a mobile urinoir with an public transport chip card (Dutch insider's joke). Look again,

I've turned into a water reservoir for plants who don't have a plant sitter when their owner are on a vacation. Anything is possible if you stop using plastic water bottles and switch to a Dopper.

I'm on a hamster.*Old spice whistle*

Check for more information about the Dopper on www.Dopper.nl

Happy belated 1st birthday Dopper. I'm very content with my dopper. There is one problem though. He's missing a friend. A lady friend.

I've noticed you will release a pink Dopper soon. You know it wouldn't be bad to 'donate' a lady love for my blue friend.*big fat wink*