自從由愛丁堡回家後，我們就忙個不停。我們做了不少Home Improvement。在外國，不少人都是DIY (Do it yourself)，不是真的因為我們那樣鍾情於自己裝修，而是外國人工費高。甚麼也以時薪計。找黑工做，質數就有差別，而且你又怕人家知你住所一切。我們遇到不懂做的，就上網查資料，有時也會碰釘，做錯了就要由頭做起。

Since we got back from Edinburgh, we had been quite busy. We have been doing quite a lot of home improvement. In the western world, plenty of people are doing DIY, and that is not really because we enjoy doing it ourselves so much, but it’s also because it is too expensive to get someone to do it for you. The hourly rate is very high, and if you go for the black market, you end up giving in quality, plus you are never sure if those people are to be trusted or not. They may end up breaking into your house in the future. We sometimes are confronted with things which we don’t know how to do, so then we will get the information online. And sometimes we end up screwing up and having to do it all over again.

這是Julian房，今次做的是換地板。上一手業主在樓上鋪的木地板花得很，而有見我們最近買給Julian的衣櫃當時還未有貨，所以想襯小些傢俬搬動，就快快換了地板。我們先把他房內一切搬到我們房內，感覺即時像回了香港一樣，濟得很滿很滿！跟著，我花了一日半把舊的地板用一錐一釘折掉。看上去容易，但因為上一手業主用了漿糊黏在水泥地上。折好後，又多了六七大袋垃圾。老公在浴室維修天花，然後就接力負責鋪地板。我們用的是QuickStep，原來說明書也有以中文寫的！

This is Julian’s room as this time we were re-doing his floor along with the hallway. The previous owner of this house messed up the floor and made a lot of scratches over it. Seeing the clothing closet we ordered for Julian had not arrived yet, so we decided to take advantage of that moment where we had less to move around, so we quickly did his floor. We first moved everything in his room into our room. It really made me felt like being back in Hong Kong again, all cramped up. I spent a day and a half on removing the old wooden floor, which was glued onto the cement by the previous owner. Then I ended up with some 6-7 bags of trash. Once my hubby was done with his repairing the bathroom ceiling, he then started with putting the new floor on. We chose QuickStep, and even the instructions were provided also in Chinese!

這已是第二第三天的成績了！

This was from Day 2 or Day 3.

除了地板外，我們還買了新梳化。那間公司可以四十八小時內送貨。這在荷蘭很少見的，因為通常都要等起碼三四個月才送貨，就如Julian的衣櫃。不過，起初我們擔心未能搬走舊的那套梳化就吩咐人家遲些送貨。怎知在我把舊梳化放上網免費讓出後，一個小時內我得到不少回應，最後，對方就送了一箱啤酒來換取我們舊的梳化。遲些我們會把那個大暖板換個細小些，多些空間。

Besides the floor, we also got a new couch. This company could deliver within 48 hours which is very rare in Holland. Normally you’ve to wait for some 3-4 months before they can deliver, just like Julian’s closet. But as we were not sure if we could get rid of our old couch so quickly, we decided to hold it off at that time for a bit longer. Just that we didn’t expect we could actually get plenty of responses after having put out an ad on internet for people to come and get it for free. Within an hour, there was someone who was trading a crate of beer for our couch. Yeah, why not?! Next thing we may change would be the radiator that is now quite bulky in the living room.

另外，之前老公把廳內的牆紙換了，我們最近就買了個大鐘，夠清楚！

After my hubby has re-done our living room wallpaper some time ago, we decided it was time to get also a new clock. It is quite big, so easy to read the time then.

另外，又買了這個放在花園的傘，擋太陽。我們還有另外的一把太陽傘，但訂了新帆布，等了四五星期仍未到貨，希望在夏天完之前可以收到啦！不過這把新太陽傘就可以讓Julian在花園他的私家池玩。

We also got a new sunscreen/ umbrella to block the sun. We do have another bigger one, but we have ordered a new cloth, which has now been taking over 4-5 weeks, and it’s still not yet delivered. Hopefully, it will be delivered before the summer ends. Julian can now just play under that umbrella in his private pool.

他要求要把舊牙擦，用來清潔他的玩具。跟著，他好像是擺了個像在打功夫的動作，笑死我！

He asked for an old toothbrush to clean his toys, and then he went doing this funny pose, like doing some martial arts. Quite funny.

最近荷蘭，其實是全個歐洲，都很炎熱。有時還廿幾三十度，又無冷氣，真想死！我的辦公室都無，只得風扇，但室內氣溫可高達廿七八度，有風扇也只是在吹暖氣。所以，最舒服就是坐自己車，有冷氣。你看Julian幾嘆！

Recently it’s been very warm in Holland, actually in the whole Europe. Sometimes it even goes over 30 degrees. There aren’t any air-conditioning here except our cars, not even our office! We have only some ventilators but with the room temperature of 27-28 degrees, the ventilator is only blowing warm air. The nicest is sitting in our own cars that have air-conditioning. See how much Julian enjoyed it too!

連貓貓也熱到儍了！

Even Mac, the cat, was knocked out by the heat.

六月七月過得很快，我的生日在要服侍我奶奶中渡過（請不要對此用英文留言，多謝合作！），而我們的七週年結婚記念就可二人世界，因為剛好Julian去了嫲嫲家去。於是中午我們就去了吃越南餐。我很少外出把美食拍下來，老公常說我們中國人老是想著吃，連食物也要拍下。那又是的，要他停下讓我拍照又好像破壞情調。當日，我們沒做過甚麼特別，只是一人買了條Livestrong wristband。自從我參加過那個單車馬拉松後，因是由Lance Armstrong 發起的，是為癌症機金籌款，我就特別留意關於Lance Armstrong和他發起的Livestrong Foundation。而現在正值是Tour de France，我就更加對此多了興趣。很敬佩Lance Armstrong的戰鬥力，耐力，愛心等等！

June and July have been passing by quick. My birthday and our 7th wedding anniversary. We got to have time to spend together alone on our anniversary because Julian was by coincidence at my mother in law’s. We went to have lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. I don’t often take pictures of food when we are out together since my hubby points out that it’s odd that all Chinese love food so much that they go taking pictures of food. Well in a way, it’s kind of strange when indeed you’ve to stop to take pictures with the food standing there. On our anniversary, we didn’t really celebrate much, but got a Livestrong wristband for ourselves. Since I took part of the cycling tour event, originated by Lance Armstrong, that raises funding for cancer research, I now have been paying more attention to Lance Armstrong, and his Livestrong Foundation. Plus with the Tour de France going on, these all are drawing a lot of my attention. I really admire his courage, his inspiration, his strong will to fight against cancer, and his caring others.

上星期我得知兩位美國同事患上癌症，一個是肺癌，一個是腦癌。患有腦癌的已是末期，做了手術，但仍有癌細胞，現在在嘗試新藥，希望有效。其實，我舅父去年也是腦癌而病逝，所以我真的希望可以多些新醫療方式，可以令小些人受苦。

Last week I learned that two colleagues from America have been diagnosed with cancer, one with lung cancer and the other with brain cancer. The one with brain cancer is already at the last stage. He already had a surgery but there are still cancer cells left, so he is trying out clinical trial drug which hopefully will help. In fact, my uncle also died last year from brain cancer, so I really hope that there would be more new medical means to treat cancer, to stop the suffering.

LIVESTRONG!!!