An explanation for my absence and the $70 CSN Gift Card Winner

Yes, I do realize that this is the second post in a row I've started with an apology but bear with me! Sorry for not posting on a regular basis lately. I've had a lot on my mind the last few weeks and somehow the baking and cooking groups feel like a chore, so I decided to take some time off and post whenever I feel like posting.

Things that have been on my mind the last weeks were my trip to Paris, the operation my mother is facing for her neck hernia and going back to college to get a bachelor degree.

I feel now is the time to go back to college, however part of my problem is that I do have a mortgage to pay, so I must study part-time. The study that I find most interesting (International Business & Languages) is only taught part-time in Rotterdam, which is about 2 hours away from here. I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the travel twice a week 4 years long since I would have to attend classes two nights per week and study, do homework and go to work 36 hours per week... The sucky part is that this study is actually taught here in Zwolle too, but only the full-time version....

Other studies that I find interesting are Communication, HRM or Law. I would love to do something with languages, only option in college is Teacher English, German or French. Another great option was European Studies, since this is quite similar to International Business & Languages, but for a part-time student this is only possible as an online study, which I don't think is very suitable for me personally: I feel need the structure and commitment of having to attend classes.

So now that you know what I've been contemplating lately, let's get on to announcing the winner of that $70 CSN gift card!! Again I used the Random Integer Generator to pick a winner from the 20 comments on this post.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random integers, generated without replacement:

 4 

Timestamp: 2010-08-11 09:32:38 UTC

This means the winning comment was made by:
Hanaâ:

En ik volg inmiddels je blog (wat ik sowieso wou doen) :o) Ik Tweet van het weekend wel over je giveaway en dan kom ik wel terug op nog een comment te plaatsen hier.

23 JULI 2010 19:29

Congrats Hanaâ!!!

Update on the college plans

Today I found out that there will be no part-time study International Business and Languages in Rotterdam... So I guess that option is definitely out. Going to an information evening at my local college on August 25th....

No TWD - instead a package from Minnesota

Barely survived the weekend... Followed by a manic monday, what will the rest of this week bring me?

All the stress started last Thursday when most of the European airspace was closed and all flights cancelled due to volcanic ash-clouds from the erupted volcano Eyjafjallajökull on Iceland.

My manager was in Oslo and got stuck there... All the trains were full, cars were rented, hotels booked full, same for the restaurants. Luckily our business travel agency was smart enough to have booked some rooms for my manager and his colleagues. Eventually we managed to get them all back to The Netherlands by borrowing cars from Norwegian colleagues.

Friday I visited a friend in Meppel, we went shopping and had some hot cocoa after the shops had closed. When we returned to the parking garage at 21h50, we were unpleasantely surprised: the garage had closed at 21h30 and there was no way to get my car out!! We also managed to miss the last bus and ended up walking to my friends home, which took us about 30 minutes. She then drove me home in their car.

Saturday I got up early (7h30) to catch the bus to the train station, I managed to miss the bus by 2 minutes... When I finally arrived at the train station I bought my ticket and missed my train. Eventually I arrived in Meppel around 10h00, walked to my car and drove back home.

When I returned home I was pleasantly surprised when my neighbor told me she had accepted a parcel for me. I knew Cora from Minnesota had sent me something, but wasn't expecting it yet as the airspace above most part of Europe was still closed.

I love how almost all the sides of the parcel had stamps on them, I've never seen so many different stamps in one place :). Everything arrived in perfect condition: two packages of wild rice, a bag of mini peanut butter cups and two packages of normal-sized peanut butter cups. I shared one of the normal-sized packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with my mom and she really liked them. I can't wait to cook with the rice and bake with the mini peanut butter cups!

My new blog

Inspired by looking at all the beautiful blogs about food I decided to start my own blog. Why? So I can post pictures and stories about all the recipes that I'm going to try.

My goal will be to start with at least two new recipes per month. I know that this doesn't seem like a lot, but since I work fulltime as a PA at an insurance company, one or two evenings per week as a waitress in a bistro, study and go to school one day per month and want to keep some sort of social life it thought that would be enough!