My nohohon life

Nohohon, also known as Sunshine buddies: Solar powered bobble head figurines supposed to have a relaxing effect.

The other day I was listening to a Ted Talk podcast about changes. We may not be aware of it but we change all the time. But are we all changing?
It is both strange and interesting. That blog I loved and checked every day for several years, I have not opened it for the last 2 years…I went to have a look, and wow, so boring…always the same stuff… So is that person not changing, staying just exactly the same? Or does he/she  feel he /she has to keep the blog the same for fear of losing readers?
We all know people who are stuck in their teen year era when it comes to hair and fashion style. Lack of change is comfortable but does it make you happy?
I know comfort doesn’t keep me happy very long…yet as years go by, I find it harder and harder to implement changes. So right now I am physically comfortable but my mind is going crazy. Not good.
 I have been doing the same things for ten years, nothing worked, I see no end to the tunnel. Have I become that person stuck in the past?
I used to hate neutral colors…now I’m all about neutral colors…so I have changed, but have I become boring? I know I am bored.

I am overwhelmed by stuff I have no control over. House stuff with things needing fixing and replacing. And that crazy amount of gardening I have to keep up with. Family stuff with me having to deal with sick people and mean family members. Having to deal with my increasingly difficult mom. Unemployment stuff, will I keep my benefits if I don’t keep applying for jobs I have zero interest in?  In the last year I sent about 200 applications. 200. I had one in-person-interview (didn’t get the job because I didn’t qualify for enough state salary subsidies) and 2 over the phone (I didn’t qualify because I was overqualified…). Will they force me to go follow some stupid classes again? Oh, which also reminds me I have to entirely re-make my resume website as it was in Flash and Flash is no longer supported by major browsers. I SO DON’T WANT to do it, yet know I will.
I am sick and tired of doing the same things over and over again. It’s like being stuck in a nightmare.

I want out.

I still haven’t been able to come up with a new business cards. Now I am thinking about doing something green LOL

And I have decided to move my shop from Shopify to Smoolis (because it allows several languages)

I am into photography classes right now…but just realized that my old Photoshop won’t open RAW files. So that overwhelms me a little too too (but have not reached the editing classes yet, so hopefully I’ll know what to do then). I need a new lens but can’t make up my mind.

But it just feel like I’m bobbling my head from left to right and right to left…

Cats

Mercutio's impeccable leg work

A gratuitous cat photopost was long overdue ;)

Chloé, tiny but sassy

Mercutio has had enough with my BS

Pookie's paws...look at his little feet *_*

And what about Bunny's paws...and chipmunk tail? 

Just look at that little feet...

Eugénie enjoying the sun with bodyguard. 

Bob

Bunny making sure my leg doesn't go anywhere

Surveillance

Pookie needs to hold my arm to fall asleep...

Frank, grumpy Frank

Follow me on Instagram for lots of cat photos 

Life updates

It looks done from this POV 

 Someone finally came to check the chimney and water damage. According to him, the problem is indeed the chimney. He’ll send an estimate…not in 6 months hopefully because I cannot replace the flooring until the problem is fixed and in the meantime everything that was in that room is spread around the house and the mess and chaos are not good for my fragile mental health ><
But the painting, curtains and decoration are all done…

But not quite in real life

The chair is still not finished because mom broke it again…I think I’ll just throw it away now because I have already spent too much time, energy and money on it.

In the meantime I am obsessed with apples…each time I’m stressed my answer is, let’s eat an apple! Which, I guess, is better than chocolate, junk food or drugs LOL. But I am eating a lot of apples right now (I am  at 5 kilos for this month alone... Cats are totally uninterested, Bunny even gives me advice: “you’re gonna puke if you keep eating all that green stuff, I tell you!”

Bunny giving advices

Business cards are still note done. Now I’m thinking I’d rather have something green than pink.
Not that it matters as I am not getting any sales at all.

I’ll have to take my laptop to be fixed soon. No software problem, it’s the casing giving up on me.
A couple years back, there was some water damage on a corner. There was no problem at first, but then it rusted and broke…so it’s pretty much keeping in one piece with a clamp. White trash classy there…

Well, at least it’ almost spring.

March for climate, March 15th, 2019

Frank would like to be able to keep taking naps in the shade without burning to a crisp

 Long political rants ahead...

Today is the worldwide March for climate.
Unpopular opinion: climate change is a political issue. 

But let's face it, most people don't even want to think about it. And many of those who do will fight you and tell you you're stupid and know nothing.

Here in Belgium, students have been protesting every Thursdays for weeks. Not a few dozens but thousands every week. We have 2 young girls leading the movement.
They are both teenagers, they are not extremist, they just say common sense stuff and yet they get death and rape threats from adult males.

Today headlines in the major news outlets (in that order): football, the gruesome terrorist attacks in New Zealand…and somewhere deep down, the climate protest.
This may change later in the day (it’s only noon here as I write)...maybe.

Belgium is a strange little microcosm. No one talks about Belgium. Not many people noticed/cared when it fell into the hands of far right parties. Here you’re not even allowed to say they are extreme right parties. Let’s just ignore the fact that their leaders and members attend all extreme right rallies in Europe, attend birthday parties of old Nazi collaborators. All is good in the kingdom of Belgium.

And which political side is opposed to any laws against climate changes policies?

Here we also have a very odd tax oddity, “business cars”.  It has been going on for years. In short, your boss gives you a car and he gets tax cuts, and you don’t pay taxes on that gift either.
Now, Belgium has a population of about 11 millions. There are 700.000 of those business cars…700.000 that’s half the cars in Belgium. And it’s just an estimate, because, believe it or not, no one in the government/state officially keeps count.
Most of those cars are German. The Belgian roads and motorways are completely
saturated. Yet, no one in the political world addresses this problem. “ we would lose too many jobs if we change the system”…but the truth no one will admit is that car lobbies are omnipotent and very generous.
How can you fight climate change with that many cars in such a tiny country? There are close to zero investment in public transport. If I wanted to go to the seaside (140 km away) using public transport it’d take me about 5 hours one way.

Shall I talk about how food and health are also political? Shall I talk about how obesity is a political problem? (and immediately get accused of fat shaming…) Food lobbies are just as powerful and bad as car lobbies, and energy (read oil and nuclear) lobbies, and health lobbies. Shall I talk about our decrepit nuclear plants that are all past their prime (like in: all spare parts providers have gone out of business).  

Shall I talk about how anti GMO activists are being convicted to actual jail time for tearing off some GMO plants in a field? When at the same time politicians convicted of major frauds only get suspended sentences?

 “You’re attacking my freedom, my choices with your idiotic political ideas!”

Your freedom of choices? Really? You go into a standard supermarket, you get the choices in between 200 fresh products and 80.000 processed food items. You really think you are choosing?
You think it’s your choice when you’re constantly told that happiness is a big car and lots of useless stuff and deadly food?

So yeah, I am really happy  young people are protesting. It gives me hope!

Business cards act 2000042

 
The remodeling of the second bedroom is at a standstill as I have finished everything (paint, curtains, lights, wall decoration) I can do for now. I still need to do the floor but the water damage has still not been assessed + I have a pinched nerve on my back.
So it's back to the business card.
Those 2 ideas are by now means finalized.
The orange parts will be gold in final print.

All in all I like the top version better but I am not sure about the calligraphy font(as much as I like it, maybe it's not easily readable).
I think the "thin" straight font of the bottom one doesn't work as well...

I like the full cat head background better...in any case I'll use both, one for the front, one for the back...I think ;)

Also I am not sure about the tagline either. I am hesitating  between 200 different ones:
- Cute
- Cute jewelry & accessories
- Jewelry & accessories
- Jewelry and more
- Bijoux
...

So here's some  questions...
1. Full cat head of hollow cat head background?
2. Calligraphy font  or staright front?
3. Tagline?

 I'd really appreciate your opinion... As you can see it's far from done.

Remodeling the second bedroom

Remodeling has really started after the floor setback.
I decided to paint the wall and worry about the floor later, when some sort of professional has a good look at it. Said professional still has to be found, as everyone we askedeither were not interested or never showed up when they said they would. Always the same problem here.

Anyway...
I forgot to take some "before" pictures. So in short there was one pastel pink wall, flower print curtains and some hideous paper butterflies (which I thought were so cool when I got them).
Also the board trimmings had never been finished for some reason, so I did that and patched the thousands holes all over the room.
The white walls are still white (sightly off white this time), the pink wall is now blue/grey. Very stylish if I do say so myself.
I still have to look for curtains and check if the photo prints I like from Ikea match the colors here.
I already got a ceiling brass light fixture and need a new shade for the bedside lamp.

Frank the forecat is supervising the work so everything should be fine.

March updates

Keeping up with my New Year resolutions!
I still haven't repeated an outfit 2 days in a row (even when I'm painting LOL), have meditated every day and only missed a couple of blogging days (once because the weather was too nice to stay inside, the other because I had the flu).
I am still in the middle of the remodeling mess.
My business cards are still not done...lack of sales makes for zero motivation. Lack of motivation = zero promotion work. No promotion means even less sales. Vicious circle. I am just tired of working for no money...which is kind of the story of my life.
At least it's March now.

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