Help Whip Cancer!

"Cancer affects the lives of families every day. Breast cancer, in particular, affects grandmothers, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and friends. One in eight women has a chance of developing invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. But thanks to early detection through regular mammograms and effective treatment, the five year survival rate has improved to 98 percent.

At The Pampered Chef®, we feel it is crucial to educate and promote the importance of breast cancer early detection. To support this effort, between May 1 and 31, independent Pampered Chef® Consultants raise funds from the sale of pink limited-edition products and Help Whip Cancer® Fundraiser Cooking Shows.

Funds raised by the Help Whip Cancer® campaign are distributed to breast cancer education and early detection programs across the country.

Since the campaign's beginning in 2000, Consultants and customers have raised more than $6.5 million to Help Whip Cancer®!

In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Consultants can hold Help Whip Cancer® Fundraiser Cooking Shows. To increase our support of the American Cancer Society®, The Pampered Chef® will also support Making Strides Against Breast Cancer® by forming a National Corporate Team. We hope you will join our team."

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One Down...!

Alrighty, so I went ahead and bought into the Pampered Chef empire.. so now I'm officially a Pampered Chef consultant. My kit should be here in the next few weeks, so then I can start hustlin' and making some sales. I'm pretty excited about it considering I know quite a few people who enjoy their products, so, that's rather promising.

I was in the process of ordering my consultant stuff for Thirty-One Gifts, but they seemed to have some snags about being overseas even though I have a stateside address *technically*. So, when I get that all ironed out, I'll sign up again and get that taken care of. That way, when I host my shows, I can have two different things to offer my guests. YAY!

Side note, which I thought was pretty spiffy ....especially for people who wanna buy from me... since I'm registered with an APO / AE address, I have NO sales tax. When you buy from your consultant, you pay the sales tax that's offiliated with their state...seeing how I'm registered with a Military address, you don't pay any tax (like me). Otherwise if I registered with my Belgian address, people would be paying a 21% tax....NO THANKS!

So yea, pretty cool! Saves ya some dough :)

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Hustlin'

I've been flip flopping back and forth on things I wanna do here... I'm most definitly going to travel, no if's and's or but's about that.... but I want a job :( I miss working! I miss having my own income! AGH!

There's a gal here that does Pampered Chef & it actually looks pretty good (income wise). I think I'm savvy enough to make sales, work my magic and make some money. Then an online friend (thanks Suz), told me about another company called 31Gifts. That's totally something that's my type of thing since it's purses, totes, monograms and such.. really awesome stuff! Thing is, it's $150 to become a consultant for Pampered Chef then another $150 for 31Gifts. I'm debating on joining..the main thing holding me back is the sheer fact that it's a small base, and frankly, people aren't gonna want to buy this stuff all the time. I'm sure people I know from the States would be interested.. I just don't wanna be a hassle to them. Know what I mean?

It's tempting to get both companies considering when I host a party, I can sell either company rather than just shove cooking supplies or just purses.

I dunno! I wanna do something!!

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Yesssssssssssssssss!

I GOT MY BIIIIIIIIKE!

I GOT MY BIIIIIIIIKE!!

la la la la laaaaaa laaaaaaaaaaaaa

*NE NER NE NER NEEE NERR*

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*Lovey Love Love*

I've been looking into a bike ever since we got here since, well, bikes are literally the main source of transportation. Our house is in the country, but it's not TOO far from town.. but I don't wanna drive my Xterra into town just for a few items since gas isn't all that cheap (even with a ration card), but walking with all the stuff is gonna get old, fast.

I've been eye balling this bike ever since we got here, but it's just way too expensive and I'd feel super guilty for spending that much. We went all the way to Germany today, checked out bikes... Eric and John ended up getting bikes for themselves, but those bikes are meant for screwin' around with. The bike I want is meant for (literally) grocery shopping and being a errand runner.We got back and Eric disappeared for a lil bit.. then he came back and said,"Come here, I need you to give Mister Jovan some information".

Eric got me the bike I've been wanting!!!! It's got a welded luggage rack (really important for here), self regenerating headlight (there's a generator that's in the front wheel), an automatic functioning brake light that responds to my handle bars, a front removable basket (to take into the grocery store since you DO NOT get the luxury of being asked, "paper or plastic?"), front suspension because of the cobblestone, a wheel lock for the back wheel so you don't have to worry about a lock & chain, 8 shifting gears...ahhh!!! I'M EXCITED!!

The owner was really awesome.. he tried his best to speak English & was super informative. He asked me if I could pick it up on Monday since they're closed tomorrow.. I have NO problem waiting, especially since I'm literally right next door. Since I wasnt upset about having to wait, he took 6% off (yay!) then he filled out the form for the VAT Tax (Belgium has a 21% sales tax), so, that form he's giving us allows for us to get that 21% back. *The bike pictured below is the model I'm getting, but mine is a different color. The gray part is actually Navy Blue, the blue part is Navy as well..and the orange lettering is lime green. Definitely different coloring, especially since my luggage bags are purple, lmao.*

I GET MY BIKE ON MONDAY!!! EEEEEEEEE!!!!!

As for other news... Eric, John and I went to Germany yesterday to check out Spangdahlem AFB.. on the way there, the drive was absolutely gorgeous. I seriously love living in Europe because the countryside is just breath taking. Sure, it rains here alot, but I'd rather have the rain and beautiful scenery verses vey very dry / brown landscape like we had at Vandenberg.

Side silly note...

I'm sure you'll think I'm immature or just plain silly..but everytime I saw one of *these* signs, I just started gigglin' non stop. It means "Drive Out", but just saying it sounds like "AW-FART"..anything with "fart" is just laughable...or gag worthy.Hum.

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Mish Mash

First off.. I gotta wonder WTF is going on at the base.. since we've been here, I just experienced my 2nd sonic boom or whatever the fuck it is. It shakes the house, sounds like a massive explosion and scares the shit out of me & the dogs...agh! I don't like it.

I'm stoked that I've been able to get back into the gym since one of the spouses here offered to bring me along with her. Apparently she goes 4 days a week, so hell yea I wanna go! Today is day #2 and I'm SO sore, but I love it :) I wanna make some additional progress on my weight loss, especially since this PCS has brought some unwanted weight gain. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things, get my schedule set up again and back on track. I'd love to lose about ten to fifteen pounds by the time I head out to Washington for my cousins Graduation. I guess we'll see how things go! I just know I wanna atleast feel healthier even if it means I can't work out everyday.

Speaking of healthy...hah.... I've been dead set on getting myself a bicycle. Seeing how we're not gonna be living "too" far out of town, I'd rather walk / bike to the store for things rather than using my Xterra. I know it sounds silly, but I'd rather conserve the gas, PLUS, I don't wanna deal with the crazy ass streets and drivers! The crappy thing is.. bikes here aren't cheap. The one pictured below is € 449, which in American money,that's $580. UGH! FOR A BIKE!? Given, the bikes here are pretty nice.. but for a BASIC bike, it's roughly $580. One speed, front brakes, NO front suspension, a headlight, back reflector light and a welded luggage rack. Not bad. There was another bike I was really interested in getting, but it's € 899 ($1,160).. I can't bring myself to spending that much money. I'd seriously feel too guilty! The bike John want's is just as expensive if not more! UGH! The bike Eric wants is € 850. So, if all of us ended up getting a bike, we're looking at almost $3k. Daaaaaaaamnit.

The Euro is too damn expensive, if you ask me. Yes, the Dollar isn't as strong as it used to be, but good grief, EVERYTHING is expensive here! Thanks to Belgium being a Socialist country, there's a whoppin' 21% tax on EVERYTHING (I think except food). Guess how much it costs of a HALF GALLON bucket of paint? Just guess.. it'll make you think twice about painting your house. How's about € 90 ($116)? Yeah. Lovely. I gotta repaint / re-wallpaper my house once we move into it. Not to mention, the curtains aren't going to be any cheaper considering the ones that're currently in there are horrific and NEED to be replaced (think in terms of easter being barfed up onto fabric). Oh yea, they don't sell the paints I normally use for my projects, so I know once I get back to the states, I'm gonna stock up on ALL of my usual supplies and ship 'em back to here. Otherwise, there goes my art projects!

Oh yea.. I've been entertaining myself with this spiffy thing called "Puzzle Ball". Here's a picture of it.. it'll explain itself, lol. I have another one that I just started yesterday..it's an old school world globe so it looks nice and artsy like this puzzle ball.

Yeah...that's all I really have to post about at the moment. Yes, my life is THRILLING. Be jealous.

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Hum..

As I sit here on my assumingly Ikea pleather couch, surveying my temporarily apartment and listen to one of my pukey dogs slopping her jowls nonstop.. it kinda dawns on me..

Is THIS what I get to look forward to for the next 3 YEARS?

Yes, we're moving into our house in almost 3 weeks..yes, I'll be busy setting up the house, putting OUR things in place, decorating, repainting and such... but..then what? What else do I get to do after that? Getting a job here is about as scarce as the DoDo Bird, so I get to stay home. Whee. Yes, I can venture around and "see" places which I fully intend on doing.. but everytime I want to do something, it's a matter of "safety" since I'm an American in a foreign country. Apparently there's 10,000 registered terrorists in Belgium. In BELGIUM.. WHERE? This country is so small, it's hard to fathom that amount, especially here.

I'm gonna go stir crazy with 3 years of no work.. I wanna feel like I'm contributing to my family rather than sitting on my ass all day looking at the clock & wondering when Eric and John are coming home. I've attempted some job applications already, odds are, I'm not gonna get them considering other spouses who have been here longer will get them first. By the time I probably do get a job (that isnt a 40 minute drive for minimum wage pay), it'll be time to move again.

Just AGH!!! I'm really frustrated right now. And Cali won't stop smackin her damn chops which isn't helping me what so ever right now.......

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8 days

We've officially been in Belgium for a lil over a week and it's been really eye opening. I love how everything works here, I love the stores, the people, everything. I'm SO glad to know that Eric's assignment has him here for the next 3 years! I could definetely see us living here again at some point in the future (if the USAF allowed us to stay in Europe).

The only drawback is that everything is freaking expensive (except food) because there's a 21% sales tax. Yeah.. I bitched abot paying 7.75% tax in California.. shit, lol. When I was out at the Market on Monday with my upstairs neighbor (Brooke), I saw some doggy beds for sale. Normally, I wouldn't worry about getting them one, but the floor's here are all tile / marble so the dogs REALLY don't wanna sleep on the freezing cold floor. So, I took a look at the beds which would fit Izzy (she's 12lbs), and they were wanting 90 Euro for it! Holy shit! That's almost $120 dollars for it!! No freaking way! Luckily, Eric and I happened to go to Schinnen's Army Base that's located in the Netherlands and they had some beds there. There's no way I'm paying $120 (essentially) for a single dog bed when I can get 3 for the same price! Now the living room floor is covered in large, fluffy doggy beds and smothered with some pretty happy campers!

Lesse, what else..... I've been trying to get together some goody care packages for friends and family since I live right down the street from a fantastic chocolate store (Leonidas). AMAZING chocolate, but then again, what else would you expect from Belgium? :)

Other things I've noticed since we've been here:

-Belgians (or just Europeans in general) LOVE Techno Music. WTF?? That's all I've heard since we've been here!

- They're about 10 years behind on music, or so it seems.

- They LOVE to stare at you. Doesn't matter if you blend in with the same color clothes.. you're new, therefore, they stare.

- If you wear any colors other than Black, Brown or Gray, you're odd.

- Europeans are psycho drivers.

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