1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
   Wrapping paper. I love wrapping presents, I’m the official present wrapper around here. Might also be because I’m damn good at it, if I say so myself.
2. Real tree or Artificial?
   Artificial tree. At my mother’s apartment it’s impossible to keep a real tree. With Jan, we opted for artifical as an “investment” that will last us lots of years of decorating it together.
3. When do you put up the tree?
   First weekend of december is about right.
4. When do you take the tree down?
   In the first week of January.
5. Do you like eggnog?
   Never tried eggnog, not a traditional thing here.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
   I don’t remember, perhaps some Clicks by Famobil/Playmobil: a set for camping in the snow.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
   My mother, who never knows what she wants, or gives any hints.
8. Easiest person to buy for?
   Uhm, Jan, thanks to his wishlists. I only have to pick out something in my budget.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
   Nope, technically I shouldn’t even bother celebrating Christmas, but I like the wintery feeling of it. I should find a different name for it!
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
    Mail Christmas cards. We even make them ourselves for the last two years (this one will be the third), and it’s already a tradition for us.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
    Mmm I can’t remember anything I didn’t like.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
    The nightmare before Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
    When I remember it. This year it’s been before November is over!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
    Nup.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
    Chocolate-Ricecrispies “turron”. It’s more like a praline, tho.
16. Lights on the tree?
    Yes, colorful and blinking! But only when we’re in the room, and by night. We don’t like leaving the lights on when we’re not in the room.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
    Don’t think I have a favourite.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
    I pass actual Christmas (Christmas eve and Christmas day) at home with my mother, and the 26th I fly over to spend New Years with Jan.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?
    Wait, there is more than one? I guess I can’t, then.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
    Neither, a pinacle thingy. Has a ball and then a needle going upwards. How the hell do you call those? A finial??
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
    Depends. When I was a kid, a small present on Christmas’ Eve with dinner with my grandparents, and the rest on Christmas morning. Now, Christmas’ eve and New Years’ Eve.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
    From the end of November, people start to forget how to drive, how to talk, how shop, and they look like they’re all the time drunk. That, and the shops are crowded and there are Carrols everywhere.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
    Real glass ornaments. I like to mix colors and shapes.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
    It used to be Almond soup and whatever else. Now it’s my turn to cook, so I try to change the menu every year.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
    All I want for Christmas is… (guess) :p
26. Who is least likely to respond to this?
    Dunno
27. Favorite thing about Christmas?
    Cold weather, snow, snuggling with the boy, baking sweets!

Yeah, there, it’s Christmas time! Don’t forget the no-contest where you can get a nice Christmas Card in your mailbox!

Conscientious, Fulfilled, and Spiritual

37 Renaissance, 14 Islamic, 30 Ukiyo-e, -35 Cubist, -43 Abstract and 3 Impressionist!

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life.  Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosopy, religion, art, politics, science, and all other aspects of intellectual enquiry. Renaissance artists looked at the human aspect of life in their art.  They did not reject religion but tended to look at it in it’s purest form to create visions they thought depicted the ideals of religion.  Painters of this time had their own style and created works based on morality, religion, and human nature.  Many of the paintings depicted what they believed to be the corrupt nature of man.

People that like Renaissance paintings like things that are more challenging. They tend to have a high emotional stability. They also tend to be more concientious then average. They have a basic understanding of human nature and therefore are not easily surprised by anything that people may do. They enjoy life and enjoy living. They are very aware of their own mortality but do not dwell on the end but what they are doing in the present. They enjoy learning, but may tend to be a bit more closed minded to new ideas as they feel that the viewpoint they have has been well researched and considered. These people are more old fashioned and not quite as progressive. They enjoy the finer things in life like comfort, a good meal, and homelife. They tend to be more spiritual or religious by nature.  They are open to new aesthetic experiences. 

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at Hello Quizzy

Da rulez:

1. Link to the person who tagged you (see above).
2. Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading).
3. Write 6 random things about yourself (see below).
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them (This is only a game)
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up

Six Things About Me (that you couldn’t care less about)

1. I’m a Scorpio, and it does show, sometimes, when I’m pissed.
2. I love Linux. I loathe Windows.
3. I’m dabbing in too many hobbies at the moment, but loving it.
4. Paracetamol gives me trippy dreams.
5. I lurve chocolate.
6. I only started liking plush toys (teddies, stuffed animals and so) in my laaaate teens.

There, that’s it, Six random things about me, that you most likely don’t care about. Know me better? I doubt it :p

Da taggin’

Uhm, yes, I’m supposed to tag six people who haven’t done this lately. Lets see…Smartash, CJ, Zanne, Asa, KnittingKitty and Purlpower.

And for those who are wondering, I’m not dead or falleth off the internet, I’m just very busy. Last weekend (8th-10th August) we were on a city break to London. This week (11th-14th August), we’ll be renovating the bathroom. First stage done (everything removed and ready to tile and paint), more to come. And next weekend (15th-17th August) we’re on another city trip, this time to Düsseldorf. We have booked a weekend special at Relexa Rattingen City (10 minutes away from Düsseldorf), with a candle-light dinner, use of spa, breakfast buffet, and more things for a nice price. So yeah, I’m not much online at the moment. More about the London and Düsseldorf trips when I have time to write all the stuff down!

On knitting news, I “joined” the Ravelympics (Ravelry inside link, if you want to read you have to be a member. I joined cause they made me join). I’m knitting the Anastasia Socks, in Opal Neon 1934.

1. Diana ……greek goddess of the hunt, 2. Chocolate Sushi, 3. Meta Arturo Soria, 4. 80 Red Roses,
5. Sean Connery Filmhouse, 6. water droplets in the shower – o.k. bokeh, 7. To relax on the meadow, 8. homemade matcha green tea icecream.,
9. don’t worry be happy new year, 10. Sign of Life II, 11. Eclectic, 12. Sade 13.09.2007

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys (mosaic).

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?¹
2. What is your favorite food?²
3. What high school did you go to?³
4. What is your favorite color?⁴
5. Who is your celebrity crush?⁵
6. Favorite drink?⁶
7. Dream vacation?⁷
8. Favorite dessert?⁸
9. What you want to be when you grow up?⁹
10. What do you love most in life?¹⁰
11. One Word to describe you.¹¹
12. Your (flickr) nick-name¹²

 
 
check out the notes:

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.

We will be resuming the normal not really regular programation soon. Probably with the new (Not So Big) Great Vegetable Gardening Experiment of 2008. Stay tuned.

1. This award must be given to blogs you consider as good. Understanding as such, the blogs you visit regularly, and on which you leave comments.
2. If and only if, you receive a “It’s not a bad blog”, you should write a post:
   • Naming the person who awarded you, with a link to the respective blog;
   • The badge for the nomination;
   • The rules;
   • And the nomination for other 7 blogs for receiving the award.
3. You must display visibly and proudly the badge for the award received, in your blog, preferably with a link to the post where you talk about it.
4. Optional. If you wish to grant some publicity to the creature with too much free time to spend in silly things, Skynet, you can do it on the post itself. He’ll appreciate it. (He really does have too much free time (-; )

So after the rules, here it goes.

The Badge:

Right now I’m too lazy to put this on the sidebar, so it’ll stay on this post, and that’s it.

Who has given me the award: Åsa, on her post Premiada.

Who do I nominate. This is a hard one, I have dozens of blogs on my RSS reader, and I check it every day, and read them. I’m not that good at leaving comments, tho. Anyway, blogs of friends that deserve an award, in no order, are:

1. Yorkie, because she is Yorkastic, always.
2. Zanne, because four kids and a trucker husband deserve one.
3. Fiona, lovely Fee of ours, she’s fun, don’t need to say anything else.
4. CJ, in an attempt to make her write more on her blog.
5. Lía, down there in the south, and she knits, my hero!
6. CBear, because I want to.
7. Adam, because he’s living abroad, and he knits, and learnt German. Really!

Pss, the names are links to their blogs, go and visit them!

I could give this award to more people, but it says seven. I had to chose!

This picture shows the “hard copy” of all the recipes. The five red folders (3 in / 7.5 cm wide) on the right are my cook book / recipe box. Each recipe has exactly the same format, there is a nice index to browse alphabetically, and even better, they are all in a database that makes searching recipes easy. Also, I can access this database wherever I have internet access, which makes having my “cook book” at hand even easier.

Of course, this does not include my growing collection of cookbooks. Because those are not in the recipe binders!

Now, sharing a favourite recipe, that might be hard. I have too many favourite recipes. I will however give you one recipe I tried yesterday and that came out delicious. Sautéed Apple Pie with Short Pastry crust. Serve with Panna Cotta for an extra kick! (I went with the vanilla pod version, so very worth every cent of that pod!) By the way, if you click on that nice “Get this recipe as PDF” link at the bottom of each recipe, you’ll see the format all my recipes have in that bunch of folders.

On a very unrelated note to this post:

1. Elaborate on your default icon:
   I have to “default” icons for forums, etc. One is four pictures of my giant teddy, one normal and then three imitating the “See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Say no Evil” monkey. The other one is a shot of my hair up in two buns over the nape of my neck.
2. What’s your current relationship status?
   Happily together with Devil_Kin, alias Jan. Nearly three years and a half already.
3. Ever have a near-death experience?
   Nope, never been close to dying.
4. Name an obvious quality you have:
   Long, brunette, straight hair. That’s me!
5. What’s the name of the song that’s stuck in your head right now?
   Therion‘s “Son of the Staves of Time”, from their album Gothic Kabbalah
6. Any celeb you would marry?
   Nyerhe!
7. Who will cut and paste this first?
   I have no idea, who reads this? Besides Jan, I mean.
8. Has anyone ever said you look like a celebrity?
   Nup, Never been told I look like a celebrity. I’ve been told I look like someone they met long ago, or an old friend, but no celeb look for me to get into the super duper parties.
9. Do you wear a watch?
   Nearly never. I use my cellphones’ clocks to check the time usually. I have a wrist watch that lives in my backpack for when I’m in the air (flying) and need to know the time, and I have a semi-fancy silver Swatch for those rare occasions when I want to wear a watch.
10. Do you have anything pierced?
    My ears. Tidbit: left ear has one earring, right ear has two earrings, and none of the holes in the right ear is at the same place as the one in the left.
11. Do you have any tattoos?
    Nej! I thought about getting one something like five years ago, I think. But couldn’t decide about it. The two options were: a naked fairy, or a Chinese letter meaning “love”.
12. Do you like pain?
    No pain, no gain! At least at the gym…
13. Do you like to shop?
    I don’t like shopping. If I have to shop, I’ll first look online, failing that, I’ll go to the shop, and be out of there in 30 minutes, having tried on every single thing I think might suit me, and deciding for about two pieces, tops.
14. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
    Jan’s Christmas pressies shhhh
15. What was the last thing you paid for with your credit card?
    Flight!
16. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
    Jan, this morning, cause the computer was flipping. Other than that, my mother yesterday night, cause their computer-server was flipping.
17. What is on your desktop background?
    This Angel by Luis Royo.
18. What is the background on your cell phone?
    Pic of my big teddy bear.
19. Do you like redheads?
    I’m with one!
20. Do you know any twins?
    Used to, before they moved out.
21. Do you have any weird relatives?
    Dunno. My family is tiny.
22. What was the last movie you watched?
    At the theater: Stardust
23. What was the last book you read?
    The Wishsong of Shannara (The Shannara Series) by Terry Brooks
24. Is there such a thing as love at first sight, or it is more likely to be lust at first sight?
    There might be any, both or none.
25. What’s your favorite book?
    Don’t have one.
26. When was the last time you visited the street where you first lived?
    I passed by a few days ago. Not a visit, was driving by the neighborhood.
27. When was the last time you googled your own name?
    Long ago, didn’t find anything about me.
28. What was / is your favorite subject at school?
    Math, physics, chemistry…
29. What was / is your least favorite subject at school?
    Gymnastics.
30. Do you like having your photograph taken?
    Nup. I’ve even menaced to pull the film out (when film cameras were still usual), or crash the phone / card, now that’s all digital.
31. What time were you born?
    Nine A.M. on a rainy cold day.
32. Ever seriously questioned your sanity?
    I don’t have any sanity left, nothing to question there.
33. How many phone numbers do you have remembered and can say off the top of your head?
    About two :p
34. Can you Limbo?
    Don’t think so, never tried tho.
35. Have you ever killed your own dinner?
    EW! That’s yet another reason for me being vegetarian.
36. How long have you been living at your current residence?
    20 years, more or less.
37. What phobias do you have?
    Bugs. I hate bugs (not a phobia, I just hate them).
38. What’s your ideal breakfast?
    A cappuccino, warm toast with butter and homemade jam, freshly squeezed orange juice.
39. Where are you right now?
    Jan’s couch.
40. Why do you blog?
    Because I want to. Readers are optional.
41. What would you call your autobiography?
    I don’t think I’d write one.
42. What’s the longest time you’ve stayed out of the country / where?
    About two months at a time, in Belgium. I’m moving to Belgium soon!
43. Do you use ICQ, AIM, etc..?
    I use ICQ, MSN, Jabber, G-Talk, and IRC.
44. Do you have nightmares frequently?
    Depends. Sometimes I will have nightmares for a week, then I won’t remember any dream for a month.
45. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?
    I’d have to think about it, because I don’t know what like I’d be as other person.
46. Which TV character could you be friends with?
    No idea!
47. What’s on your mouse pad?
    I use the laptop’s trackpad, so no mouse pad for me.
48. What is your ring tone?
    An old phone ring tone.
49. What did you watch on TV last night?
    Didn’t watch TV last night.
50. Scary movies or happy endings?
    Both! Depends on the mood.

Seen at Fee‘s.