Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

Flip a coin? Maybe?

I'm so torn right now.....

Earlier this month, there was a Bizaar in Ramstein, Germany. Unfortunetly, I wasn't able to make that since all my extra play money is getting diverted to Eric getting a set of wheels. Yes, we have the Xterra, but I usually have it since I'm running errands throughout the day and he's at work. It's starting to get nippy outside and we both know it's gonna get ALOT colder... did I mention he rides his bike to work? So, not only is it cold in the mid afternoon, it's freezing when he's peddling to work at six in the morning...EKKK!

Anyway, back on track...

I guess I should explain what a "Bizaar" is since some people may not exactly know what that is. A Bizaar is essentially a massive "market" that consists of alot of different vendors from all over Europe that sells things like tapestries, jewelry, pottery, wine, cheeses, etc. Instead of you having to travel to all these different countries, it's convieniently packaged in this massive market. From my understanding, the one at Ramstein is ridiculously massive and the one at Spangahlem is a little smaller. Since I missed the one at Ramstein, I was dead set on attending the one at Spang.

Now, here's why I'm torn:

The exact same weekend that the Spang Bizaar is happening, there's a trip to Boleslaweik, Poland. I think it'd be pretty cool to check out even though it's just a weekend trip. We'd spend the day driving there on the 13th, venture around on the 14th to check out shops, castles and such, then drive back to Belgium on the 15th (this is all happening in November). I should also mention the trip for Poland is a ladies / spouses trip.. so no kids or husbands are coming. It's just us ladies. Nothing wrong with that at all considering we all need a break from our loved ones, right? lol. Anyway... I'm not a MAJOR fan of Polish pottery, which is what Poland is known for.. but I just wanna check out a different place rather than Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany all the time, ya know?

Here's a picture of the hotel we'd be staying at...it's called "The Blue Beet Root"





Traditional Polish Pottery




So... I dunno... I'm interested in the Bizaar, plus Eric and John would be able to join me and check it out. On the other side, I'd stoked to check out another country. Atleast I got a lil time to figure it out.. although, they're going to need a head count pretty soon to make the hotel reservations...gahhhh....

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Fall Time





It's finally that time of year. Oh how I loves it!

I managed to get Eric to go sifting through the garage to find my container of Autumn / Fall decorations. I'm sure he wasnt too thrilled about it considering the garage is not only a nightmare, but he hates it when I decorate for the holiday season.  I love that my house is feeling more like "my" house, aside from the hideous wallpaper that's currently up. I'm damned and determined to take it down once we get our paws on a wallpaper steamer! So, here's some pics of the stuff I have up.. Josie actually showed me a store yesterday that had some cute Fall stuff, so I picked up a little squirrel as well as some hedgies to put in the hallway when you first come into the house.









Another awesome thing about Fall? BOOTS! I ordered these and they should be on their way :)






Saturday, September 19, 2009

Slow Ride... Take It Easy

Ughhhh... cold season is upon us and I think I'm the latest victim of it. Atleast that's how it feels. My head is thumpin', my muscles are sore and I'm getting all congested. THIS SUCKS! Especially since seeing a doctor around here isn't all that exciting. I mean, it's not a thrill to go to the doctor in general.. but the whole process here is different than in the states. The last time I went to the doctor here, it was to get a refill on Johns medication. The doctors office is actually in a house.. so you'd drive right pass it and not even realize that was a business. Then, you walk in the waiting room and there's no receptionist and you pretty much have to sit in a waiting room that can fit MAYBE 10 people and hope your wait isnt TOO long. Once the doc pokes her head out of a random door and is ready to see you, her examination table is in the same room as her office, lol. It just looked WEIRD to me! I'm just gonna load up on Emergen-C and hope that does the trick!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Seriously?

I've been at this base..hmmmm... 5ish months now.
I swear to God, I'm getting REALLY sick of peoples negativity regarding this specific base, this country, the weather, blah blah blah blah.....AGH!
Freaking A! We're in EUROPE...hell, let's be more specific.. BELGIUM..
YES -We're a tiny base.
YES- English isn't the main language and we actually have to put the effort out to speak to the locals *shocker*
YES- It's expensive to live on the economy, but that's what COLA and BAH is for..geeeeee.....
It's like all I ever hear is bitching and complaining about this place. Lesse... we're 6 hours from Paris, a hop skip and a jump from The Netherlands and Germany... we can take 20 euro flights to pretty much anywhere in Europe. Let's not forget, that people could spend the majority of their lives saving up to take a vacation to this place...
People act like this place is a prison sentence rather than an assignment. Sure, the guys work..but that's how it is at any base. In fact, this base doesnt deploy! Even better, right? Apparently not. It doesn't seem to matter..now matter how many events are going on, group trips, parties and such.. it seems like people are never happy and rather wallow in miserey than enjoy the little things.

Sure, I've been here "only" five months, but that means I have around two and a half years left. I've enjoyed my time here, thus far, so, it's definitely crappy when people are constantly pessimistic / negative. What's worse is that people dump all over this place to the brand spanking new people... geeezus! Let them form their own opinion about KB!

Honestly, I'm gonna explode.

Monday, September 14, 2009

And the beat goes on..

I guess I've had a bit of a writers block for the last few days considering it's been.. hmmm.. 4 days since my last bloggy. 
It's starting to feel more and more like Fall ...and I LOVE it!  LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it! The leaves are turning, it's getting cooler which means... HOT CHOCOLATES! Woot!  Not to mention, it's hoody season..double woot!

On Saturday, I had some "me" time and went out to a scrapbooking party since it let me enjoy hanging out with some of the ladies without it involving Pampered Chef or me cooking food. It was nice! Got to spend time working on random things, BS'ing with the gals and over all, having a good time and spending some of Eric's hard earned money. Well, not really.. wait.. yes, I spent money. It's only fair! For what I bought in supplies, Eric spends on two xbox games!
3D Tape
Liquid Glass (this stuff ROCKS)
Exclusive Inks Markers - Summer Colors
Embossing Glitter - Daisy White
Versa Mark Ink for Embossing
Acrylix Spritz Spray
Double Scrubber
"The Works" Alphabet Stamp Set
Made With Love Stamps
Give Thanks Stamp Set
No Peeking Stamp Set
Free Stamp Of The Month
Travel Ticket Stamps
Travel Paper Pack
Since I spent so much money, I ended up getting this "Celebrate" card pack in addition to another series of holiday stamps AND pearl embelishments.
In other news, Halloween is coming up next month! Eric and I have been invited to an adult Halloween party, so I'm stoked! I'm so torn between dressing up as a Beer Girl or a French Maid. There's benefits in both costumes since Eric likes the look of 'em (ha!), but I'm also taking into consideration that it's gonna be October.. in Belgium... and it's already starting to dip down in temperatures here. So, I'm only imagining how cold it's gonna be by the time the party rolls around. Thing is, since the postal system is rather fussy with us, it looks like I'm gonna have to place my costume order this week so it makes it here in time for the party. Yeah, I have to order a month in advance JUST IN CASE. Sucks!

Hopefully all of my snazzy images distracted you enough so you didn't notice my lack of scripture throughout this blog post. High five!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

* GASP * Really? You Don't Say....


Ok.. I gotta vent a little bit because I'm rather irritated with people right now. I know they're asking me cause they're concerned, but, this is getting on my last nerve.

I was taking College Math, despite getting tutoring, I was doing horrible in there. Failed my first test even though I had studied for hours... the second test, I could only answer 5 out of 12 questions. That was enough abuse my confidence could take. It's frustrating because it's ridiculously hard for me to remember things, yet I study for hours and hours and nothing is registering. I get help, people explain things to me and yet, I still bomb my assignments / tests.

After completely bombing my test on Tuesday, I made it a point to drop my class on Wednesday morning because this was the last week I could do it without paying a large chunk for the class ($700).

I dont understand why people are feeling it's their right to get involved in MY personal business when it comes to MY decision to remove a class from my school schedule!!! I understand that they're curious and want to know what's going on with me, but the fact that some people feel it's necessary to advise me and essentially book thump me.. it's PISSING me off.

I'm happy for those who can glide through mathmathics as if it were effortless.. that's fantastic for you. Really, it is. Not everyone has that ability! Another thing that's starting to ruffle my feathers... Yes, I got the accounting job. YES, I know it involves Math! Geezus people.. the math that's involved in accounting doesn't involve quadratic equations, algebraic equations, linear lines, blah blah blah.... It's VERY frustrating that people feel like I need to explain to them why I dropped my class. Then, I get told over and over again as to how easy Mathmatics are to them...it's essentially slapping me in the face repeatedly. Makes me feel like a million bucks.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Retail Damage.

The title is pretty self explanitory...hahaa... and I'm validating my purchases because it's getting cooler here and I need more cute hoodies. The yoga pants are because the dogs decided to eat my other pair and the skirt is something I liked. I'll probably rock it like a Belgian with some bitchin' boots... yay me!

Yet another thing to consume my time.....


Yes... The Beatles - Rock Band officially hit shelves today. I hopped onto Amazon.com and purchased it considering I'm not taking my chances with our "local" BX. When I say "local", I mean it's 45 minutes away... and half the time, they never have anything in stock. When they get New Release movies, they only get 5 copies. Once those copies are gone, they're GONE. No back stock. Lovely, hunh? SOOOO within another week or so, I should have my spiffy new video game that'll consume endless hours of my life, hordes of more Achievements for my XBL gamer tag.. yadda yadda yadda. It'll get to the point where I'll think, "Red, Yellow, Green, Green, Blue *hold*, Red, Red, Yellow" when I hear certain songs.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

WOOT!

First of all..... I GOT A JOB!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! While I was back in the states visiting family and such, Eric forwarded me an email about a job opening at our base. Now, it's hard to get a decent job back at a stateside base.. it's almost nearly impossible to get a worth while job while overseas. I was told that I'd have a semi good chance at getting a job at a base that's 45 minutes away, but the pay was ridiculously low. Let's put it this way... it wouldn't pay for my gas expense.  I ended up applying for the job that Eric told me about back in June and I got an email earlier today informing me that I got the job! I'm STOKED! If I didn't get a job within the year of getting here, I wouldn't have bothered getting one at all considering I want longevity with an employer.. looks better on the resume :) Tomorrow I start my paperwork to get the ball running so I can officially start!  EEE!!

In other news, here's some quick bulletins about what else has been going on.. yes, I'm being lazy. It's 11pm and I'm ready to pass out for the night but I'm overdue for a blog posting:

* My Dad has officially joined Facebook! Mainly, it's so he can see when I upload pictures and such. But still!

* I just submitted a  good sized Pampered Chef show from this weekend! WOOT!

* Had a blast at Josies yesterday for Labor Day. One of the guests brought his bulldog pup to the party and Eric wanted to smuggle her home. I dont think the owner would've appreciated his 750 euro pooch to go missin!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Gas-A-Go-Go

Since today is Labor Day, Eric actually had the day off.. ..true to our nature, we took advantage of it :) Normally, he's never able to go to the town market here in Peer since he's always at work, so, we ended up spending part of the morning out there cruising up and down the street and checking out the vendors. After we picked up chicken from our favorite butcher, 2 kilo's of Eric's beloved oranges and some awesome apple strudels.. we made our way over to one of the local cafe's, took a seat and ordered some cappachinos. Europeans love to just sit out infront of a cafe, sip on a cappachino and enjoy the scenery... I think this is the first time in a LONG time that Eric and I were able to do that without rushing off to take care of more errands! Here's a pic of my cappachino... it was AMAZING!

When we were all done with the market and our cappachinos, we were gonna hit up the Total station just around the corner since the Xterra was running low on gas...aka, I was running on empty. Well, we pulled up and the pumps were out of order for the 98 pump, which is what we use. So, we had to bust out the Tom Tom to find the nearest Total considering the gas card we have ONLY works for Total..not Esso or any of the other stations in town. Nice hunh? I ended up plugging in Total stations for the local area and we were off to one near Bree. Once we got to Bree.. turns out the station it took us to was out of commission and wasnt going to be open again for another month.. just our luck! I plugged in another gas station and it took us another 15 minutes away to a town I've never been to, lol.
On our way to finding the gas station, we saw this store and the name of it just made me laugh. Doesn't look all that promising for a kids toy store...
When we finally got our gas (once the light of death popped on), Eric was talking about how he was starving and really wanted McDonalds. Yes, low and behold.. there IS a McDonalds on this side of the globe. In fact, we traveled so much to find a gas station that we ended up in The Netherlands, lol. I'll tell you what.. their McDonalds put ours to shame! I mean, REALLY! It was really nice, state of the art and their employee's were dressed VERY nice considering it's a fast food place! Not to mention, for being fast food, it didn't taste as greasy and fatty like the ones back in the States, lol

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Smells like.... Fall :)

I gotta say... Fall is absolutely my favorite season. I mean, what's there not to like? The leaves are changing colors, the air gets cooler, not to mention... there are awesome holidays in the Fall timeframe. Especially "Adore Erika Day"..which is code for my birthday and all..didn't you get the memo?

Anyway, it's been progressively getting cooler here in Beligum. It's about damn time! Seeing how before we even moved here, we were warned about how it's always cold, be prepared for shitty weather and all that jazz. Honestly, the summer reminded me of Georgia (yes, including the humidity) and the weather, when it was cooler, reminded me of Monterey. So all in all, I havent had too much to complain about. However, I AM very ready for the cold! Man oh man.. did I ever get my wish granted. The winds today were so bad that it knocked me from one lane to another while on the highway to The Netherlands (rather frightening experience). Plus, it was raining so bad that it knocked out the satellite feed for the TV. Yeah, it was rockin', lol.

In other news, our base had a Hail & Farewell tonight. I will say, it was pretty entertaining since they had a "Pie In The Face" sort of fundraiser. Now it doesn't sound like much, but basically you can nominate someone to get smushed in the face with a pie. Now, keep in mind, these aren't regular lovely pies. Oh no no.... this is the Air Force. These pies are some sort of demonic nature that's disguised with whip cream on top. It's the stuff under the whip cream that's evil. Oh.. lets say.. SPAM, string cheese.. or ketchup..or god knows what. SO, several guys were nominated throughout the event. For every dollar (I believe), it gives 2 points to that persons name. Well, one of the guys in Eric's shop was nominated..ALOT. To the point where it was down right painful.. 318 points to be exact. That's ALOT of money that was spent so this guy could get a pie in the face. Sounds stupid, right? No... the guy that got the coveted #1 pie more than deserved it. What made it even better was that John volunteered to help with getting peoples dishes during the dinner (roughly 100+ people at this thing), by doing that, he was allowed 100 points to dish it out to whoever he wanted. All 100 points went to the guy with the 318 points, so, that chaulked it up to 418 :)  He wasnt happy about the whole thing (the guy), but ya know what.. there was a reason why everyone in his Flight targeted him so much. I guess you can call it.. hmmm.. Karma :)