We planned the Sunday free to work on Matthijs' new winter coat, for which we already have the pattern cut out and the fabric in a box, however we ended up tidying the hobby room instead.

It all started with the livingroom being littered with empty banana boxes which we used to transport our larp stuff for Lex in. We thought we might put some stuff from the hobby room into boxes and ended up rearranging most of the stuff in the room.

That's all a good thing because Jojo and her boyfriend will be staying here next Saturday after the Noabers balfolk night and they'll be sleeping in that room. There's actually space free for their bed now.

Still, Matthijs' winter coat isn't really progressing. Let's just hope it gets finished before spring. I was planning to work on a little vest made out of tie-and-dye fabric to match a skirt I made, but that didn't happen either. Ah well, better luck some other time.

Survived, barely. I haven't even been close enough to the pool to get wet from splashes, had no time to read, draw or lucet. Of course I could have taken some breaks but next to cooking there was a lot of cleaning/tidying to do (which I can't ignore) so now my feet are complaining and I'm not going to sports tonight.

It was quite an experience, though I don't know if I'd do it again. The kitchen was really good with enough pans, sieves, large cooking isle, great dish washer and trolleys for transporting the food. I don't think I would've been a happy camper with any less than this.

It all started on Friday afternoon. We planned on leaving at 13:30 but of course some last minute printing made it 14:00. No sweat, we had enough time (though I already started fretting about the groceries and all the pancakes) and arrived somewhere around 16:00 in the middle of nowhere in Friesland.

We were called while on our way that Sna had a flat tire and would be later. Unfortunately Laurens was also in that car. Laurens would be the second cook and coordinator of the kitchen and he would be late. Even later when the spare tire turned out to be flat too.

I asked Nokey to help me do the grocery shopping, since he would be cooking for the vegetarians on Saturday and needed some supplies for that. Together we went to the supermarket where we spent about 2 hours getting only the stuff for Fridaynight and Saturday morning. Fortunately a helpful manager personally packed all our groceries into banana boxes so that we could tetris it all into the car easily. (I love my car!)

We had only been back 10 minutes when Laurens arrived and we quickly went into the kitchen to get to work. Later than planned of course. E voila, first problem arises. I had not gotten everything that was needed. There was no butter on the shopping-list, I forgot all of the ingredients for snacks (didn't look further on my list than Friday dinner) etc. Fortunately Peter and Jo were nice enough to drive to the supermarket for us to get the remaining stuff while we started cooking.

Working strategy: unpack what is needed for dinner, put everything else somewhere in a corner to unpack later and get to work. I did most of the baking, some people helped cutting paprika, onions and mushrooms and Laurens took care of the appetizer (soup with baked bread) and the heating of the prepared pancakes in the oven. I was really really glad I'd made those 40 pancakes on Thursday.

Lots of dishes of course (thank heavens for the dish washer), and the occasional person popping in for some of the last pancakes or a soda/beer. Vampires don't eat, so there could be no more food in the 'field'. We unpacked the rest of the groceries and prepared a food-trolley in the hallway for people to get some refreshments.

We (mostly Laurens) made some fresh midnight snacks (chocolate cake) and prepared a breakfast trolley. Went to bed at 06:30 because the room I slept in was also the 'spelkot' and in use.

Saturday saw another run to the supermarket in the afternoon. However, we had prepared a decent list this time, grouped by category and that worked so much better. At dinner we concluded that we had not made enough potatoes to accompany the stew, so we threw in some bread. Which meant two things: we had probably not bought enough potatoes for the Sunday ('stampot') either and bread was going faster than planned. It was 20:15 and most supermarkets were already closed. Matthijs looked up a supermarket that was still open (30 minute drive to Assen) and I jumped into the car and drove all the way to there (the navigation system telling me that it was in an unreachable area... nice) and had 8 minutes left to do the shopping.

That got my stress level up allright. Had a small nervous breakdown in 'my' bedroom and then went back to the kitchen to pick up work again. I made salt-pepper sticks from puff pastry and we did some more salty snacks and some more cake. It was all received very well.

Sunday 'stampot' with for desert ice and (freshly!) whipped cream. Way too much 'stampot'.... Then a plan to get as much foods and drinks consumed so that we would not have as much stuff to take back with us. It really helps when you expose people to the food and drink (instead of having it in the fridge) and occasionally even bring it to them. Went to bed 'early' (02:00).

Monday morning breakfast and then cleaning everything up and leaving. Matthijs and I went to Terherne to scout a possible location for Exodus but that one is not going to be it. Too far away, not enough space and soon non-exclusive. Tonight some improvised macaroni dinner and an early night, tomorrow evaluation.

Sometimes it's the small things that make you feel good. Like finally replacing the handle of your car door (which broke off one time when the door was frozen shut) and the broken outer mirror (vertical breakline just off-center) by a new one. Of course after the boyfriend has gone to the junkyard to get the spare parts. He got the parts, we fixed them together.

As Sna stated on the orga forum: Brenda going to Lex? Gehenna must really be approaching.

Lextalionis isn't quite 'my thing'. I'm really not into politics and shady night life. I'm not really into World of Darkness, Vampire TM and such. Out of character I get very cranky from staying up until the early morning. So until now I always wished Matthijs a good weekend and stayed at home myself. However, this time there was some Murphy or miscommunication thing going on that had us short on cooking crew. When no one else seemed available to help Laurens do the job, I volunteered.

So I asked the Friday afternoon and Monday morning free from work (and got it, yay!) and I'll be going to Friesland with Matthijs this afternoon. The location is said to be awesome. It even has a pool. Don't know how much time I'll be in the pool, since I have to help with the cooking and stuff, but still it sounds good.

I'm a decent cook, if I may say so myself. However, I have never cooked for a 60-person group. I hope everything will work out ok with the evening meals. I do like to bake cakes and make yummies for people and I am looking forward to making the midnight snacks. I'm not looking forward to the grocery shopping that has to be done.

Tonight is pancake night and to get a head-start I did some baking yesterday. I already baked about 40 pancakes to prevent a queue of 60 people while we're baking our @$$ off. We should start baking really early but our estimated time of arrival is 16:00 and 'really early' would be defined as 17:00, which leaves not much time for grocery shopping. Well, people will just have to be patient, I guess. I am planning to make only pancakes that are actually done, and not still wet in the middle.

Back to work now. Have a good weekend everybody.

Went to Apeldoorn on Saturday to work on the new website for my mom. The current website was mainly about the dog-school part of the business, but my mother has quit that. She focuses on counseling and teaching now. The school is continued by her (former) business partner and he has largely copied the site (layout, colors, content) for his own dog-school.

So my mother wanted a new website, mostly a new look actually. Blue and gray are the new colors. A vertical menu instead of a horizontal menu. However, the little dogs lifting their front-paw on rollover are still there. My mother originally made those herself and is still very proud of them. The website was already nearly finished when I left on Saturday with only a few images and the actual content missing. The framework stands.

On Sunday I made a new tea-cosy out of an old (malfunctioning) tea-towel and some left-over padded lining. I embroidered the tea-towel with flowers and swirls of wool. It's quite a cheerful tea-cosy. Then I traced the remaining pattern pieces for Matthijs' new winter coat. (Not sure if it will be finished before spring though... at this rate) He had already traced pattern pieces 1 and 2, so I did 3 to 8 for him. Except for the sleeve, because he needs to elongate it.

While I was at the sewing anyway I also put new sleeves into the underdress of Enid, my Vortex character. The old sleeves had been adjusted to allow my arms more space, but they were still confining. So now I made the sleeves even wider. I can now actually lift my arms higher than shoulder-height and I can roll up my sleeves, which was impossible with the old ones.

Still leaves enough to do: baggy pants for under Enids dresses (tights weren't warm enough last time), a new bellydance skirt and a belt, decorating my new balfolk skirt (nice work for at an EE meeting or in the train), a winter-dress (no frabic for that one yet), a tie and dye vest that will match a skirt I already made out of the fabric, a balfolk/bellydance set out of some brown fabrics I have lying around and an artsy fartsy skirt involving lots of zippers and buttons. There's also a vague idea for a bumroll, but perhaps I'll need to think about some use for it before making it.