Added to the congratulations:

• Phone call from my mom.
• Sms from Olga and Jan
• Birthday card with present from grandparents Haeke
• Birthday card, kissing hippo's, from my father and Mieke
• Birthday card from Matthijs' motherBirthday card, mewing kitty, from my mother and Moniek
• Phone call from my dad
• Birthday mail (very happy and crafty birthday) from Cut Out & Keep
• Sms from my boss and Annemieke (design)
• Mail with weird webcam picture from my colleagues at Brevidius

I called both grandmothers to thank them for their cards. They will both attend my 'party' the 7th of August.

Today at 09:20 it was 26 years ago that I first saw daylight. Can't quite remember ofcourse but tradition dictates that it should be a special day because of it. ;-)

Since it's a normal workday there hasn't been payed much attention to the birthday-fact. Matthijs greeted me with a birthday song in a sleepy voice this morning. He had tried to put up some decoration in the workroom yesterday, but they lay on the ground this morning. We had a nice breakfast with buns from the oven and boiled eggs. I opened the birthday card that was one day early; grandparents Hellenthal, and then I got to work.

The first happy birthday mail was in my spam account: an automated message from the (long dead) Dummnoni forum. Oh, and don't forget the one week early "it's your birthday and your glasses deserve some special attention too" card from the Pearle. The second e-card was a funny Hallmark card from Cora and Rene.

Matthijs ordered a birthday gift online yesterday. We've no idea when it will arrive. I hope the postal services will deliver some more birthday cards today.

I will celebrate with a small party for my family on the 7th of August. Haven't heard from my grandparents Haeke if they will come. My aunt (mom's sister) declined. Mom and dad will be there with partners and my father will bring grandma Hellenthal. Matthijs will not be present so I did not invite his family. Haven't heard from my brother yet either.

On the 11th of September Matthijs and I will throw a combined party for friends. Count so far: 1 person who says he'll come and 2 noes. For most people it probably is too early to decide whether they want to or can come that weekend. I had lots of doubts about this party. History tells us that lots of people find Enschede too far away, or we're just not worth the trouble. I do hope history will not repeat itself....

After that gloomy thought (it's the weather, I swear! Stupid rain and cold) I'll end on a happier note. This evening we will pack for the Summoning and we'll be gone for a long weekend. I do need a bit of a holiday.

Last Sunday and the whole weekend before that we helped Cora and Rene in their new home. Matthijs is helping Rene build a lounge windowsill. It's not finished yet so next Sunday we'll be over there again to hopefully finish the windowsill and do some more random things. Up till now I have already: painted a ceiling, painted walls, smeared icky stuff over a wall to make it flat, sanded window frames, pick plastic sticker from glass and made a mess with primer...

It all makes me want to get a new house too! However, it did feel good to leave all the mess behind and come home in a clean house. I'd done some cleaning last Saturday, which was really needed. And next to vacuum cleaning, cleaning the toilet and bathroom and finally getting the tea stains out of the kitchen sink, I also repotted some plants, washed the living room curtains + pillow cases + couch coverings and lengthened the shower curtain with 18 cm of fabric. Especially that last action was very satisfying because now we can take a shower without the whole bathroom getting drenched. Next up: microwave, fridge, oven and freezer...

The two boar skins are in. Very large and very heavy! No good for making clothes but perhaps we can sleep on them. They're larger than sheepskins. The doeskin is in as well. It's very soft and pretty, but a bit small. Next to that I've raided a local second hand clothes store for suede jackets and a skirt. I've already taken them apart to use the suede for my under dress. I'm still stuck on 1 leather shoe and 2 wool socks (= same pattern as the shoe, but smaller and stretchy).

Up until September my weekends are already planned again. Sigh. Upcoming: EE stock clearing on Saturday, helping Cora and Rene on Sunday, weekend after that Summoning, then my birthday and going to Castlefest, LARP games in Amsterdam/Utrecht, Dead Fox Junction. OK, the last weekend of August is still free. First weekend of September has a new Taboe meet (and 'boeldag' in Ermelo... )

Matthijs and I would like to celebrate our birthdays together for friends, but we'll have to plan around the LARP calendar if we want to have anybody show up... somewhere in September/October.

The belly dancing party last Friday was nice. The performances were really good but the music in between the performances was way too loud. I left at the end with my ears stoppered up. My own performance (with two other ladies) went very well. I made one little mistake but was quick enough to correct so that not many people noticed it.

My mom and Moniek were there too, participating in the workshop and watching my performance. When my mother saw me in my self-made costume she immediately went to the photographer that was present and ordered a picture taken. She bought 2 prints of the photo. One for herself and one for my father. Shortly after my performance they left because the music was too loud and there wasn't much to do for them anyway. Matthijs stayed till after the second block of performances and I stayed until the last one and then went home. We made a few videos that we (all belly dance students and teachers) will be watching this evening at our last get together before the summer break.

So, now everything that I can feel nervous for has passed. Time for some costume plans for Taboe. I already made a mock-up for a shoe and started on the 'real thing' (in couch leather...) but I need something more sturdy to keep the stitches tight. The tutorial writes about using a thong cut out of the same leather as the shoe piece, but my leather is too weak for that. It would snap at the first pull. The tutorial says to use buckskin, but I don't have that (and it's mighty expensive!).

Yesterday I sketched a costume design, drawing each layer of clothing. I think I'll need some 'under clothes' made out of linen or cotton to keep me warm underneath the leather and furs. At the Celtic summer festival (which was quite small...) there was a stand that sold skirts and poncho's of the softest leather, but one skirt costs 170 Euros... a bit much. We wrote down their url to think about it and check their website later, but the website sucks. It lists only a few products. Too bad.

The cow skin I ordered via Marktplaats has been delivered. It's huge and pretty. A very good deal for 50 Euros. At the moment I'm buying a doe-skin and negotiating about two boar skins (one for Matthijs). If all goes well I won't need any reindeer hides.

Perhaps I'll try to make my own shelter too (out of canvas... no hides there, that would be way too expensive), even though one of our group is planning on making a big shelter. So far I'm the only female in the group so a separate tent could be explained. I just want to know if I can pull it off. And I might buy a few straw mats from the Xenos and try to make a cape/cloak out of them. Otzi the iceman mummy found in the Alps was wearing a cloak made of woven grass against the rain.

Exciting! The only thing is that testing the costume parts at this moment with the nice weather won't tell much about how it will feel at the end of October.