Småland

Today was a rough day. Nothing major happened, it was just long. The fact that it’s been raining the past 2 days probably doesn’t help much either. I guess that’s why everything is green and pretty, but I still don’t like the grey drizzle. I went to yoga again tonight. It was pretty intense. I really enjoy it though. It is fun going to an actual studio because she has all these “contraptions” that help. Like a little stand that mostly balances you to do a head stand. That was fun; I hadn’t done one in years!

I walked into the warehouse the other day and there is a page from a magazine torn out and put up on the magnet board. I didn’t notice it until my boss brought it up. He kept saying “Amalia wil graag worden opgehaald uit Småland.” Now, I have no idea what that means, and my one possible Swedish reader would understand “Småland.” That doesn’t leave much hope for the rest of us. Well, after a confusion round of “Whats” and repeats, I figured out “Småland” is basically IKEA’s day care area and Amalia wants picked up from there. I had to admit, after I figured out what it meant, it is kind of funny. So now, every time I’m in the warehouse they ask me how I’m liking Småland and if I’m sure I want to leave. They do spell the name differently, but it seems to be that most languages pronounce my name that way. I’ve gotten used to it.

I apologize this is a short one, but it is late and the morning will come too fast. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Lazy Sunday

Sunday was a lazy day for me. I wanted to go to Amsterdam and visit the Rijksmuseum in the morning then head to Delft in the afternoon for a bbq but I never made it to Amsterdam. I was awake but it just seemed like so much effort and the weather wasn’t awesome and visiting a museum alone is a hard thing to get motivated for so I stayed in. I am slightly disappointed with myself, but we are all human and have our lapses.

On the train to Delft we drove by field after field of blooming tulips. They were so pretty!! I need to get out there and take some pictures. I don’t want to miss them but nobody here is too excited about them and I can’t distinguish it between their general lack of attention to tulips or the fact that they aren’t that good yet and will get better. I’m afraid I will miss something if I wait too long! I also have to get back to Keukenhof and see their blooming St. Basil’s Cathedral. I have seen it so much sans flowers I deserve to see it with flowers! I need to make sure I get my usage of my season pass I invested in. Only a few more weeks before the park closes on May 18. I also read you can rent bikes and tour around the surrounding area which sounds like a great idea except it is a tourist hot spot on the weekends and I’m not a fan of crowds, nor have any free weekends left.

Thursday starts the Queen’s night party which then transfers (I’m guessing seamlessly) into Queen’s day parties. I’m not sure if I will venture out on Thursday (to Amsterdam) alone. Maybe I’ll check out the situation locally around Haarlem. I’m sure they have something good going on as well. It seems most of the country does something. Friday, though, I have volunteered some people from work to meet up with me so I don’t have to hang out alone in the crowds. I was looking at the web page that lists all of the major “Pleins” or squares where things are happening and I can’t wait. One of the major one has live music for 10 straight hours with The Baseballs in the evening. I finally got a copy of their CD but they have primarily remade other songs but into a rockabilly format so it’s fun to have that spin on the #1 hits. It will be a busy day and a half with tons of walking and hopefully good weather.

On Saturday I am trying to get Ben, Mark’s brother, to come visit so we can go to the Beverwijk black market. He loves to go and I’m not a fan of attempting things by myself so I figured if I could enlist an “old pro” I might as well try. I might also kidnap him and drag him along with tulip field visits. I’m sure he would LOVE that. Don’t give him a heads up Gina! It’ll ruin the look of pain and torture on his face if I get the chance to capture him.

"We are a large busines......"

I can see ash clouds! I’ve never seen ash clouds from a volcano before! There is still a chance it could be pollution, but we ruled out rain. I’m going with ash clouds because that makes all of the happenings a bit more exciting. I’m just so thankful I am not flying this weekend….or this past week. It would be miserable trying to deal with all of the delays/cancellations and the numerous other unhappy travelers.

Today is a pink day for me. The guys start singing the pink panther theme song whenever I walk by. I am wearing my fuzzy pink jacket, my new pink scarf (a birthday present from Doris), and my pink watch (a birthday present from Mom). The color just makes me so happy it is hard to give up. I’m also sure it brightens everyone’s day that has to look at me. How could pink not do that? It is just a happy color. I wanted to prove that it is a happy color so I looked up the meaning of pink. Bright pinks can encourage action and confidence and it has been used in prisons to decrease erratic behavior. In Japan, pink has a masculine association because of the pink blooming cherry trees representing the young Japanese warriors who have fallen in battle. Pink also encourages friendliness and discourages ill-will. Overall, I think pink is a fantastic color and I’ll slowly convince everyone here that I am right. If you want to read the entire profile of pink, or any other color, click HERE.

The warehouse guy introduced me to the typical Dutch candies for kids (according to him, anyways). They are little white mice and snails. The mice are made of this stretchy sweet stuff that I really like the texture of. The snails are made of the same, but have a gummy “shell” on their back. The snails are cute because they even have the little snail eyes/lumps on their heads like real snails! I don’t know why they made the mice white; I think they should have chosen a polar bear or something. I’m not a fan of mice ever; even as candy they’re less appetizing just because of their shape.

I received my ISO 9000 book in the mail today. I figured I better get read up on the latest ISO 9001:2008 standards that they want to implement here. It’s a nice 730 pages and very much like a text book but with a pretty pearl on the front. I guess that helps make the book a little less painful . It is a neat initiative that goes along with Total Quality Management. It is similar to 6 Sigma and other TQM systems. Companies who have these certifications are supposed to be able to better serve their customers due to their highly systemized operations and the clarity they are in place. I’m sure you get out of it what you put into it, like most things, so hopefully we can do it right and it will be very beneficial!

This past week I have been cooking for myself and I haven’t keeled over dead yet. I figure that is a good thing. I saw tuna steaks at our local grocer and I LOVE tuna steaks so I thought I would buy one and see how I did. I really like my tuna steaks rare (as tuna should be served) but I don’t know how much I trust grocery stores and myself to handle and serve raw fish. I seared it on both sides, well a little longer than the traditional searing but it was still raw in the middle. It was quite tasty too! I read that tuna pairs well with Asian spices so I dipped it in our sweet chili sauce that we have here and I was very happy with the outcome! I will definitely have to do it again next time I find tuna at the grocery store.

There was just a forward sent around the office of a copy of an actual quote from a vendor to another office. In the fine print it states “We are a large business and not a minority or woman owned business.” This company is based in San Francisco. We are all getting a laugh that a company actually put this on their quote. They, too, are ISO certified. I hope we don’t end up with things like that in our fine print after this process!

Travel, Travel, Travel

I think my life was more exciting when Kelly was here. I feel like I have fewer and less interesting things to blog about. If that’s true, my apologies.

This morning I brought an orange as part of my breakfast. Our grocery store is small, bigger than an Allsups but far smaller than a Wal-Mart. Like ¼ of Wal-Mart and strictly groceries and daily household items such as cleaning supplies, paper towels, toilet paper, and kitchen items such as dish washing gloves (which I need a new pair of an have forgotten the last 2 trips there). But besides its size, it does have a rather large selection. It often times has both the choice of organic or regular for a lot of products such as eggs, milk, and lunch meat. It also has about 3 types of oranges to choose from: the little ones that peel super easy, the medium size ones that are still easy to peel, and the normal size ones that aren’t easy to peel. I didn’t know this until I decided to splurge on the big ones on this last trip. Get crazy, try something new. I do not like high maintenance food. I get easily frustrated if my food offers to big of a challenge to eat it, which is also why I do not like sea creatures with heads and legs still attached. My orange this morning was very high maintenance. It squirted everywhere and got my hands all sticky. It put me in a negative mood. I now have a whole bag to eat of them and every time I’m going to get mad. Maybe I’ll Google to see if there is a trick to making an orange easier to peel……

Other interesting things, airspace around the UK has been shut down and all flights cancelled due to Iceland’s volcano eruption. I would love to see Iceland. Maybe one of these days. Also in my research of travel information for my excursion to Copenhagen and Stockholm in May there are relatively easy flights from Amsterdam to Tromsø, Norway. It is supposedly one of the best places to witness the Northern Lights during the winter because for practically 3 months they have 0 sunlight, as in the sun never comes over the horizon. I don’t know how people live like that but being inside the Arctic Circle comes with its advantages and disadvantages. In the summer, the sun never goes beneath the horizon. They have mountains that change some of the sun viewing, but still…that’s a lot of extreme sunlight conditions. If I ever get the chance, count me in for planning a trip there to see the Northern lights. Maybe I can get a few other curious souls to meet me there for the experience. That is just my early warning.

Tabatha, Karla, and Boyd are going to be here in a little over a month. I can’t wait to see them! I’ve got to get my plans booked and lined up to meet them in London. I plan on going a few days early and making a small tour through England and seeing some different sights. I need to consult my book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die, on the top locations I should be visiting. All of these trips take a lot of time and patience to figure out and price compare and research. It is definitely not my favorite part of travelling. Kelly was also much better at figuring these things out so I let her do it. I miss her helping to take care of me (among many other qualities and traits). I guess I don't have much of a choice but to be a big girl now. I guess I better start working on it....again......

Ouch!

This morning I burned myself…..twice. The first was with the hair straightner/flat iron on my forearm. It is not a bad burn, just a little blister. But the other one! Now, it is more serious. I happened with my egg steam my mom got me when she was here. I was taking the lid off and instead of tipping the lid over; I grabbed one handle and brought it over the steamer to the other side. Of course, when my hand was over the steamer, all the steam came rushing up and burned the top sides of my pointer and middle fingers. Now this one hurts! It hurts when I move my fingers, or look at them, but not when I blow on them. Now, that isn’t real constructive to sit at work and blow on my fingers, but I think it will happen from time to time today as well as hold them against my cold water bottle.

This weekend I will head direction of Bremen, Germany to visit Nina for a few days. Nina was the exchange student of my aunt and her family, so she is my exchange cousin and only lives 3.5 hours away. We have to take advantage of the short distance and I have never really been to that part of Germany. So far the weather is cooperating but I’m sure it will rain on the weekend just to spoil our fun. The country seems to me against me in that way.

Work is going well. I got myself involved with a project that I can work the wonders of Excel that Kelly taught me. It is fun feeling like the smart one, even when a few months ago this VLOOKUP function was a complete mystery to me. Hopefully, I will now be able to pass on the knowledge as well to make everyone’s life a bit easier. Technology does have its advantages, if you know how to use it!

Since I am not happy this morning, and slightly crippled, I wanted to put up pictures of Keukenhof from my visit there with Mom. I don’t think I blogged about our afternoon there, but it was very enjoyable with tons of great flowers. I was there again last week with a man and his wife from work. They’re Americans but living and working in Scotland. I knew the wife would love the flowers, but he ended up enjoying them as well. It is just such a neat area! I have more pictures from there but I don’t have my camera to upload them. The tulip fields are slowly starting to bloom so we took a little canal tour so we could get a better look. Upon returning, our boat had a stall out when the driver tried to put it in reverse so we were stuck, in the middle of a small canal, about 20 feet from the load/unload dock. Those boats always seem to give people trouble, it doesn’t matter what country your boat is in, and they all seem to have their own personalities. Luckily, though, we had a handsome young Dutchman as the driver so he got us fixed up with only minor delays and successfully back to the dock.

So, enjoy the pictures, be happy like the flowers and I’ll try not to bore you with more flower pictures for awhile.

Lost in Translation

I’ve learned many things working with different cultures in different countries. Some things are more profound than others, but I wanted to share a few of them.

Did you know the saying “curiosity killed the cat” has a reply? “Satisfaction brought him back!” We (2 Americans, 1 Scotswoman) were talking one day and I brought up the first half then the Scotswoman came back with the answer. The other American and I just looked dumbfounded (he is of a well mature age with lots of life experience). We had no idea what she was talking about. It rhythmically made sense, but we just always thought the cat died! We didn’t know the cat could live again (although it would made sense since they generally have 9 lives). I guess the reply sunk in the ocean on its way across so many years ago. We Googled to confirm what we were hearing, and it is true, satisfaction really did bring the cat back!

Candy floss = cotton candy. The Scotswoman brought me jelly beans as a little present so we were looking over the 36 different flavors and I came across candy floss. I was so confused. I could guess being it was a pink jelly bean but still candy floss? I made a generalized question of “What is Candy Floss?!?” and one reply I got was “Is that a stripper girl’s underwear?” Leave it to a Dutchman to come up with that association! We all had a good laugh over that one.

One from a few years ago during my exchange that I just think is too funny: My host father came down the stairs on day and asked me if I had ever heard of the “Chicken Dicks.” I got a confused look on my face and asked for him to repeat his question because I don’t think I understood it. Same thing, the “Chicken Dicks” so I pondered his question then, trying not to burst out laughing I ask him “Do you mean the Dixie Chicks?” He got really excited and started saying “YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!” and that is when I lost it. I died laughing, almost rolling on the floor laughing. He didn’t quite understand what I found SO funny so I asked if he understood the meaning of his first question, he didn’t. I had to explain. After that, we both started laughing! Every time I bring it up to him, we still get a good laugh. That was a priceless moment.

My German Family

On Easter Monday Mom and I were lucky enough to get to celebrate the special holiday with my german sister's family. They are a very special family to us. When I was 12 Mom decided it was time for us to host our first exchange student. She came to us under less than desirable circumstances. Her first family wasn’t ideal. We still wonder why in the world they hosted an exchange student, and who in what organization thought it was a good idea. This family had little financial stability, numerous drug problems, and had little respect for personal boundaries. That is the downside to the exchange program. "Schwester" then moved in with a teacher who already had an exchange student and the original student’s program said 2 German exchange students cannot live together. So since "Schwester" was the newbie, she had to go. My mom knew Bob back in high school and he called her up and asked if she would be willing to host an exchange student. We had her for around 6 months. It may have been more or less, I was young then. My mom told him to bring her over so we could meet her and then decide. Well, we all spent about 5 minutes with her and were asking her where her suitcases were. She moved in very soon afterwards and it has changed our life ever since.

When I was 14 the family made a trip to visit her and meet her family. Then we met her fun brother, "Bruder", as well as her loving parents. On that trip we also toured Bavaria including castles and the Dachau concentration camp. It was very humbling for 2 young kids to see that (my brother was 12). When I was 16 I made my first solo trip ever to jump the ocean and travel with Doris and her friends on their graduation trip to the south of France. We had a fabulous time and still laugh about the stories. I also had one of the best tans of my life then. It’s probably why I now have my freckles and sun spots already forming.

"Schwesters’" parents, Hans and Regina, don’t speak any English and they were the reason why I wanted learn. They were such nice people and I had to learn, which is what inspired my exchange year in Germany. I can now speak to them! They probably wish I had never learned and was quieter at the dinner table.

"Schwester" and her brother made a trip (or two) to visit us several years ago. They stayed for about a month and we always have an amazing time. It seems when they are around we always have at least 1 run in with the police and always a good story to laugh about later. Never a dull moment with my german family. "Bruder" has also let me drive all of his cars in Germany. Some go faster than others, but either way some important lessons have been learned. The lessons include:

1) I am not born to be a race car driver. I cannot pop the clutch and I tend to stall out
2) Traffic on the autobahns at 1am is generally light, handy when “opening her up”
3) Driving at 150 mph is TERRIFYING.
4) Throwing innocent toys out the window driving the above speeds is scary, for both the toy and the thrower

So having my german family part of our family the last 12 years it is only natural we keep in touch. "Bruder" is recently engaged to Natalie. Everyone loves Natalie and we are all so happy for both of them. Their timing could not have been more perfect for everyone and there should be a wedding in September and kids shortly thereafter. I guess what they say, when you know you know, is really true. I’m still not a firm believer but I guess it is growing on me.

Patience is a virtue in all aspects of life and I keep working on that trait. Maybe one day I will learn. I just booked my tickets to go back to visit my german family and attend "Schwester's" cousin's wedding as her date. This will be my 2nd German family wedding and I am VERY excited since the last one was so much fun! She is also marrying a Mexican and that culture knows how to party as well. It will be a very merry time for everyone.

The German family clan, from left to right (around the table) Regina (Mom), Oma (Grandma, I can't remember her name for the life of me!), Me, Hans (Dad), My Mom, Doris, Klaus, and Natalie

The happily in love couple. They are so cute together!

I'm Alive!

I’m sorry I have been a bad blogger. I have had quite the whirlwind last week and a half. My Mom arrived for a visit on Friday, March 26, 2010. She wanted to come for my birthday and I greatly welcomed the visit, especially since Kelly was leaving on Monday. The last post covers this. Included are some pictures of the flowers from Keukenhof. I want to go back again this week and see if I can catch the fields in bloom since it has been warmer. We’ll see what happens since they have some CUTE clothes out for spring and I need a new pair of shoes.

These were the awesome little chairs they had. It's like a little seat back screwed onto a pitchfork and shoved into a log. Not the most comfortable, but still cute and enjoyable!

I just had to include some pink and red flowers! They are all just so pretty!!!! To bad flower time is limited, I could spend many days taking pictures and enjoying the serenity at this place.

Yup, more pink ones! I wouldn't stand by them in my pink jacket because I would clash!

There is still so much to tell including our trip to Belgium, German, and Prague with many pictures but I have to get back into blogging slowly. I am trying to rest up after a week of running wild across the continent and it is my bed time. I also got a kindle for my birthday (along with a cute watch) so I’ve been playing it and should be in bed. I am anxious to start reading it though! I think I will really like it, and I might be emailing books instead of mailing them. It will definitely save on the postage!!

I promise a better update tomorrow with pictures and stories. I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter and that this week isn’t too rough on anyone. Good night!

She's Gone.....

The past few days have been busy and exciting. It is all, now, overshadowed by the fact that this morning I took Kelly to the airport. I hated having to take her, but I’m happy for her to be able to be with her family and Stu these next few months. She has a fantastic wedding to plan!! I’ll keep touring Europe (just alone) and she’ll keep me updated about her new exciting life in Houston.

Over the weekend Mom and I went to Keukenhof (again) and then to The Hague to see “The girl with the pearl earring.” The flowers were blooming even more so than last week when Kelly and I were there. I have taken PLENTY of pictures and will put them up soon. I forgot my camera today. After spending several hours ogling over the flowers we headed just down the road to The Hague. I am slowly learning my way around this country! We parked and headed to the Mauritshaus. They have an amazing collection. It is a smaller museum that used to be a house. Each corner of the building is a room which houses the pictures. They have 3 Vermeer paintings and I think one of my favorite is his townscape of Delft. He really is the painter of light! You can see a picture of the painting HERE.

Mom and I had fun wondering around the museum and hearing the histories of the paintings from the audio guide. After about 2 hours we were art-ed out and our parking meter was about to expire. We also had a dinner date with Kelly so we headed back. Mom was a bit put out by me that we didn’t go to the beach since we were so close but I told her we would go before she leaves. It’s not exactly warm around here but I guess it is beautiful to see.

On Sunday we headed to the Van Nieuwkoops’ for Erik’s confirmation at church. It was neat to go to such an old church. The royal family is buried in the church, dating back to 1584. The service was extra long due to the confirmation and the benches are of the true, medieval style of hard wood and straight backs. I can see why all of the children wanted to go off to Sunday school during the service. I expected the church to be cold since it is rather old but they had installed heaters under the benches so it warmed your legs and tush. It was quite a nice little treat. I will admit though, my upper body was a bit chilled and it was terribly early (and we just had our time change to make it worse) and I wanted to curl up and the floor and take a little nap. My mom and I had headphones so we got an English translation of the service which was nice to know what was going on, but it wasn’t the best translation ever done. We found it rather entertaining at times.

After the service everyone headed over to Ton and Gina’s (Erik’s parents) house for coffee and tart. There were so many people!! It was multiple generations and cousins and aunts and uncles and friends. It was a lot of fun to see all of the people and be able to put faces to names that we have heard from Mark about his family. They were all very nice and Mom and I had a very enjoyable Sunday. We were exhausted afterwards though! I met some great people and they invited me to visit them so even though Kelly is gone, I should have plenty of things to do and people to see.

After we got home from Delft, Kelly had made us reservations for Wilma and Albert, our favorite place. We thought it was appropriate for her “last supper.” She had the garlic butter steak, I had the spicy ribs, and Mom got the salmon. We all traded a bit and had a super tasty meal. I also learned that they have little portion of the ribs which is ½ of what is normally provided. A great discovery!! We all also had a bowl of French onion soup to start. That is the best soup! Kelly is determined to learn how to make it and I keep warning her I might move in if she isn’t careful. I’m sure the newlywed couple wouldn’t mind!

On the walk home we stopped at the newly opened ice cream shop. This place is always packed so we had to try it out. None of us needed it, or really had room for it, but we couldn’t let Kelly leave without one more taste of the country’s amazing treat. After that Kelly and I curled up on the couch to watch one last episode of Grey’s Anatomy together illegally over the internet before we called it a night.

I got Kelly to the airport this morning with no major incidences and she got all of her luggage check in and had no problems. I headed to work where I claimed a new desk so I wouldn’t have to sit in the office by myself. It’s interesting to be back in the middle of the office and around everyone. I now hear a lot more Dutch so maybe I’ll pick it up a bit faster! I also get control of the radios since it is on my desk and I threaten to make country CDs for everyone to listen too. I might be kicked out then!

The rest of the week Mom and I are going to be travelling so I’m not sure how much I’ll be updating the blog. I will do my best to figure out mobile blogger but I won’t make any promises. If anything, you will have so much to look forward to next week!!!

I hope everyone has a great Monday!!

Last Day

Today is Kelly’s last day in the office; our last day to share our glass aquarium like room/office. We had to go out for one last lunch at our Neighbor’s Wife. That’s the English translation of the restaurant. We can’t remember it in Dutch. But they have great food and a wonderful chicken and pesto sandwich. We each had a bowl of soup as well. Kelly opted for French onion, I went with the mustard soup. Mustard soup is popular here and Kelly’s dad told her about it and that she had to try it. The first time I had it was a few weeks ago on our trip to Utrecht. The soup there was better, but this wasn’t horrible. Kelly’s French onion was delicious though! It seems to be such a safe bet in these parts, I might just start having to opt for that.

My mother arrived this morning. I went to get her from the airport. It was an interesting challenge. Not that I haven’t made numerous trips already, but I parked in the bus lane (since I wasn’t going to leave the car) to keep an eye out for mom. A young police like officer on a motor cycle came up and knocked on my window and told me to move. He was a bit nicer than that, but not a lot. So I make another lap around the airport worried I’m going to miss mom but then I find a new road to a new parking area. Now, I don’t know if I’d be able to get there from how we usually come in, but maybe. I now know where to look. I was able to park the car and get out and stand looking for mom. I didn’t have to wait too long and out walked my mother! I was so happy to see her! She had her stuff on a little luggage stroller and pushed it over to the car. I eyed the 3 larger suitcases and got a bit worried. I also eyed the instructions on how to lay the back seats in our car down. I figured now would be a good time to try it out. Turns out, Its pretty easy! Just lower the board thing that covers the “trunk” when in normal use and pull the little handle and they flop forward. The car has some pretty spacious luggage room when there are no seats in the way!

I got mom to the apartment, showed her the direction of downtown, and the windmill, and any other sights she might want to get out and see. There isn’t a lot open in the mornings so I figured that would be a good time for her to sleep and unpack. Hopefully, she’ll make it out for a stroll this afternoon. The weather doesn’t appear to be great, but I haven’t seen any precipitation fall from the sky yet either. I guess we have to count our blessings. If she doesn’t make it out, I guess that’s alright too. Before we left I wanted to give her some money in case she does get out but I left my purse in the car. Kelly was nice enough to shell out the cash for my mom. Such a good roommate! (I promptly paid her back when we got to the office!) For dinner we are going to head down that way anyways for dinner at XO and a glass (maybe 2) of champagne.

On Saturday my mom and I have planned, well, I’ve planned for us, to go to Madurodam and Keukenhof. I feel bad leaving Kelly since she only has a few days left but I know she doesn’t want to re-tour those places. Sunday, mom and I are headed to Delft to visit the Van Nieuwkoop family (the source of two Christensen family exchange students) and to catch up with them and see how their life is going. Mom also brought several things for them as well as hauling some of their son Chris’ belongings back. My mother is a bit of a pack mule on this trip, I hope she doesn’t mind! I guess that’s what happens when you start having children.

I’ll work on Monday then on Tuesday we are headed for a tour of Belgium. On Thursday we fly out to Nurnberg, Germany to visit Doris and her family and then go to Prague for the weekend. I’m not sure how much blogging I’ll be able to do during the time but I’ll try to keep everyone semi posted. This is a forewarning if I fail at my attempts.

For beer Friday Kelly and I (but mostly Kelly) brought stuff to make guacamole and queso for the chips. I have to take note of Kelly’s ability to make these simple things since I will be on my own soon. I knew I should have been paying attention to all of those fabulous meals she made. Now I’m going to have to try and figure it out by trial and error….hopefully not too much error though. I might starve. If worse come to worse, I can always count on the Albert Heijn premade section. I don’t have to worry about it for a few more days though.

An Uneventful Weekend….In the Netherlands

Now, I didn’t say it was uneventful everywhere. In fact, this was one of the most dramatic weekends I’ve had since moving here. All the drama happened in America though. I was far removed from the “action” which I consider a positive thing for all parties involved. Now, many of my dear friends know how I can become passionate about a subject and don’t always choose the most tactful way to show my feelings/beliefs/opinions. I continue to work on it, but no miracle has happened yet. I got news of some behavior back home that I am disappointed it. Such is life. Not everything goes how you idealistically want it to. I am glad I wasn’t there when the “main event” took place. I admit it, I probably would have made a scene and enjoyed my evening a lot less had I been there. My friends have told me they were happy I wasn’t there. Thank you friends.  It is just hard to realize that no matter what, life goes on. It doesn’t stop because I am in Holland. My friends still go on dates, and more often, with people I don’t know. The reverse is true too, though. My life hasn’t stopped because they are not by my side either. We all continue on in this search of grown up behavior and responsibility and pick our way at a path we think is best suited for our individual selves. It is hard when things go on and you’re not part of it, but I guess that is the price we pay for in our quest for life experiences and we have to figure out the balance of when that price may get too high.

Besides drama back home, this weekend was uneventful. It rained the entire time. It was also “warm.” Oh, don’t forget wind. It’s a new factor into the equation of “lovely Dutch weather.” At one point on Saturday the rainy drizzle was coming down in sheets with the wind. It was like being back in New Mexico; the only difference was it was rain instead of dirt. That’s the plus side; there isn’t a lot of dirt and sand in this country. I guess it’s just figuring out the lesser of the evils.

I picked Kelly and Stu up from the airport Saturday evening. They had a fantastic time and thanked me for the recommendation of Munich. I’m glad I did not let them down! They also brought me a mug from the Munich soccer time. I have a Hefeweizen glass and now I have a pilsner glass. I am slowly creating a collection of proper beer glasses. Considering I only have one of each, I can’t start a bar just yet, or really even serve my family a beer. Good thing they don’t mind drinking out of the bottles if that occasion rises.

Speaking of family, my parents are off. Hopefully they will return in 3 weeks but my mother gave the run down if anything should happen to them. I guess it’s best to be prepared, but it was still slightly morbid. I learned my dog was left with my cousins. I have no doubt they will take excellent care of her. They dote over their own dog plenty and I’m sure Mimi will just continue to get more spoiled. I did get a report though; she is still a great “sitter.” Least my parents haven’t ruined her of that skill, yet. I hope Mimi can come to terms with Colie though. Colie is a sweet dog when she is in the arms of one of her family members and her mouth is duct-taped shut. (Sorry Todd!) Maybe the two will come to an understanding and Mimi can show her the ways of an older, calmer (usually) dog. They will have plenty of time to spend together! I figured since I haven’t included pictures in awhile, I would put up a few of my beloved Mimi! Enjoy!

Mimi loves to chew. In my old house she had a doggy door and would take her bones outback, get them dirty then bring them back in. I hated it. We got her a bone so big it would keep her busy forever AND she couldn't get out of the doggy door. She eventually outsmarted us learned how to drag it out by one end. It sure was fun watching her try all those times though!

She once upon a time had puppies. They were so cute!! It killed me to get rid of them, but one dog is enough in my life. They are immortalized in photos though. Cute puppies!

Mimi and her funky ears. Boston Terriers ears should both stand up, like a chihuahua's. Mimi has a 50% success rate with ear properness. One is lazy, one functions (looks wise, she hears just fine...when she wants). As you can see we also like to play with her ears. Poor dog never had a chance of being a "normal" untortured dog. :)

My mom snaped this photo not too long ago. She is laying in her bed. She is starting to look so old! She is about half way through her life designated life span (according to the books) but she is crossing the thresh hold of a "long life" according to our family's dog keeping habits. I hope I don't jinx her. She is such a good dog and I miss her so much! Can't wait to play with her again!