BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Man oh man... I went to take my dogs out this morning to do thier business and the temperature outside shocked my system! At 8am, it was 28*..I can only imagine how cold it was when Eric rode his bike to work at 5:45a :-/ Good thing he's gettin' his truck by the end of next week!! GEEEEBUS!

I must say, it was rather amusing to watch the weenies dance across the grass. Mean mommy, I know.. ...they're little ankle biters, so I'm sure they weren't very appreciative of their bellies dragging across frozen grass. Tell ya what, they were pretty quick and to the point about droppin' their loads and bookin' it back into the house! They normally screw around for an hour (literally) before willingly coming back into the house.  Once we were back inside, I quickly fired up my Senseo and hammered out some pipin' hot chocolate!MMMmmmMmMMmMmMMMmmmMMMMmmm....hit the spot!

The view from my backyard

Frozen. It actually snapped off when I touched it!

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* play heavenly music *

We officially have a Senseo now!! :D Eric and I went over to Lommel today and looked through all the different models they have and figured out which one we wanted. Not only that, but we picked up the extra "loaders" for it so we can switch out from espresso maker, to latte, to hot chocolate.. ahhhhh! In love!

I must say.....we looked absolutely ridiculous when we went to the Del Haize on the way home to pick up Senseo coffee, espresso, hot chocolate packs. When I got to the check out counter, the girl must've though I was playing a prank on her:

We've been thoroughly enjoying all the different flavors! Not to mention, we're pretty tweeked right now off of all the caffiene...aye aye aye!

In other news, Eric and I attempted to make Gorilla Bread last night and it actually came out pretty good. I tried making it last week and I completely screwed it up.. I mean.. BAD. Cardboard looked more appealing, lol.  Here's a picture of the one he and I made together:

Lesse... we currently have a friend of ours visiting, Mr. Aric... he's normally stationed in Ghedi, Italy (8 hours from here), but he happens to be up at Ramstein for some classes. SO, he drove down to spend the weekend here in lovely Belgie with us :) We were gonna take him out to dinner at "Sweet Name of Jesus", but when we got there.. they were actually COMPLETELY booked for the entire night. Of ALL the nights, this was the one night that we couldnt get in. TOTALLY ruined our plans, then again, I didn't call ahead...figures! lol. We ended up driving to Eindhoven since Eric kept telling me about an awesome sushi bar there. We meant to go there for our wedding anniversary, but we never managed to make it there since we had other things to take care of. Well, we got there and it was a total trip. Eindhoven itself is really cool. Unfortuntely, we really didn't have a chance to look around since we got there later in the evening (around 7ish) and all the stores were already closed.

Anyway, here's some pics of the place we ate at (Sorry for the crappy quality of the pictures, it's with my cell phone):

The food actually came on a convater belt!! It was pretty cool cause you could figure out what you wanted as it was going by. When you saw something you like, you just picked it up. The prices were marked with either a little green or red sticker that was on the lid. Green was 3.50 euro and red was 5 euro. Needless to say, John kept grabbing the 5 euro items...uggghhh, lol. Our bill came out to 113 euro...it burns so baddddd....Then again, that was for 3 adults and 1 child.

Delicious idunnowhatitis in an oyster shell! It tasted like bacon and something else, but honestly, I dont wanna know what it was. All I know is that it tasted damn good, lol

Random rainbow in Eindhoven, lol

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.........WHAT.

How the fuck does someone get the Nobel Peace Prize for just talking out their ass? SERIOUSLY? He got the fucking Presidency for talking out his ass ("Change" and "Hope") and lying to America...so why the fuck not give him a prestigeous award for it? Fuck man. REALLY??

"For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples"

COMPLETE. GARBAGE.

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These Boots Were Made For Walkin....

My boots finally showed up!! :D :D :D

I got these from Torrid and LOVE them! Very very comfortable even with a heel and the leather feels good! There's straps on the top that you're able to adjust if you're needing to tighen up the boot since they are rather large around the calf area. .

I also got this pair from Torrid. As cute as they are... I dont think I'll be wearing these too often while there's ice and such on the streets. I only say that because there's really NO tread to the bottom of the boot. I mean, literally none. It's smooth, lol. SO, if I go out in these while it's rainy outside, reminder, I'm in Belgium.. I'll slip and break my ass. Too bad.. I'll just wear em' around the house or when we're running errands and I can sit in the truck, lol.

This is the pair that I managed to get off of eBay. I'm genuinely surprised by not only how comfortable they are, but they actually fit my calves! I'm so pleased with 'em that I'm gonna go back and order the black buckle pair that they had listed.. if you go back to one of my posts from September, I have a picture of 'em listed.

Just in time for the cold weather! :D

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Rainy Days, Pumpkin Dreams & Senseo Wishes

I'm soooooooooooooo stoked on it being "Fall" now, although I'm starting to believe that Belgium thinks it's Winter. I only say that because instead of it being nice "crisp" weather, it's been soggy and rainy. Not that rainy is a bad thing, but, I was hoping to frolic around in the yellow and red leaves just a tag longer WITHOUT them sticking to me like stucko.  Oh well, all the more reason for me to rock all my heavy wool winter coats! Yippy!!

Below is a picture of my newest purchase from Old Navy I scored since they took 15% off of my order AND free shipping! I'm assuming they're going to use the slowest / cheapest method of shipping possible...possibly via snail or even, dare I say, sloth mail? So, I might have it by the time winter rolls around next year. Oh well, I got it on sale :)

So, word through the grapevine is that Libby's, a company that's owned by Nestle, has a shortage of canned pumpkins. Now, call me crazy... but if there's gonna be a shortage STATESIDE, I'm only imagining how ugly it's gonna be for us overseas folks. When I went to the Commissary last week, I managed to score 4 coveted cans of orange goodness... they were literally the very last ones on the bottom shelf on the very very back. Yes, I had to get on my hands and knees to get them, lol. Then Eric and I happened to go back to the Commissary (by the way, it's an hour from us) since I completely brain farted on picking up dry dog food. Behold! I got 3 more cans even though people looked like they were going to jump me for them (once again, I got the last ones on the shelf). So, now I have 6 lovely cans in my pantry (I used one yesterday to make pumpkin pudding).

Oh yea, speaking of Pumpkin.... while I was strolling around the Aldi (it's a Belgian grocery store) I came across this:

It's freaking DELICIOUS!!! Never considered having Pumpkin soup before.. but hot damn! It rocks! I went back for more today and ended up making it for dinner so Eric and John could enjoy some of it.. and after 3 boxes of the stuff, it's all gone. Tell ya what, it's great for when you're wanting to get warmed up on a chilly night like tonight.

FOR STEFANIE:

Ok, now I'll explain what a Senseo is....  :)

I didn't realize that they're actually available in the US until I went to the Philips web site (go me!). Anyway, they're pretty common in households around here. I mean, Europe is known for it's cafe's and such, but sometimes people can't always go to an actual cafe to get some kickass espresso. Well, that's where a Senseo comes in. It pretty much pumps out a kickass glass of espresso, coffee.. even hot chocolate for you in a perfect size cup! I know a few people who have one and they're amazing little things. Not to mention, pretty slick looking. Eric and I have been looking into getting one even though I couldnt figure out the different models, ya know, cause everything is in Flemish. All I can figure out is that they cost anywhere from 70 euro to 300 euro (gag). SO, once I finish my thorough investigation as to which model we want.. which is the one that whips out hot chocolate and espresso.. I'll just day dream about having my hot drinks in the cold winter. LOL.

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October 3rd, 2007

Two years ago today... I lost my mother to Pancreatic Cancer....

Even though it was two years ago, it still feels pretty fresh. I mean, I'm  turning twenty seven years old a month from tomorrow.. she was in my life for twenty four.. almost twenty five years.. so in a sense, two years is no time at all, right? Right.

The last few days as been somewhat rough for me considering I thought about where I was two years ago a few days before she passed away. I was making sure she had her morphine, dealing with a Hospice nurse who kept reminding me "She's GOING to die, you need to come to grips with that.", trying to comfort my Grandmother because not only was I losing MY mother, she was losing HER daughter. Just a week earlier, my Dad and I drove my mother to the "Queens of Heaven" cemetery for her to pick out her own plot... I mean... geezus. Talk about a real eye opener about the situation at hand, right? She insisted on the "family trip", despite it being rather gut wrenching.. at least it was something we all did together. The last time we did something together as a family, honestly, I don't remember.

God. This is hard..

I have to say.. I'm so unbelieveably grateful for my husband. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to handle alot of what was going on. It was SO emotionally draining to come to grips that my Mom was going to die. Eric and I got married July 27th, 2007.  Shortly after we got married, I started driving back to Salinas every weekend to help my Dad and see my Mom. When time with her started to get short and her health was fading, I took a month off of work since it was more important to spend time with her. There was a point where I didn't see Eric for 3 weeks and I was going insane between the lingering feeling of unavoidable death and missing my husband. I managed to drive back to Vandenberg so I could see him for a weekend..the entire 3 hours on the road was a blur since my mind was else where. Honestly, I dont even remember how I made it from point A to point B. Anyway, I did fine for the first hour being home.. but I really needed to take a shower to try to relax. In the midst of taking the shower, it hit me like a ton of bricks that my Moms cancer isn't going away. This isn't a TV show where the doctors magically find a cure and it's a "close call" but she's back to 100%.  I essentially broke down and was sobbing uncontrollably to the point where I was hyperventilating. Eric came in and saw I was a complete wreck. Instead of saying, "It's going to be OK. It's going to be alright", he stepped into the shower while fully clothed in his uniform, and hugged me. I have NEVER cried so hard in my life. He stood there and held me while the shower was drenching him and just let me cry my eyes out. Even though he didn't say anything, that was the best thing he did that I NEEDED. I needed to just let it out and sob. Later the next day, I headed right back to Salinas since my Dad called to let me know my mom was getting worse.

A week later, she passed away.

Two years have gone by... I sit here in Belgium. I called my Dad to touch base with him to see how he's doing. Like me, this "anniversary" is hitting him harder than the one year mark of her passing. My Dad and I have always had a close relationship despite having a minor falling out when I was younger, but, we've gotten so much closer and have a clearer line of communication since she's passed.

Ever since she's passed, it's made me realize I need to appreciate the people I have in my life... you never know when they're going to leave.

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"You seem unhappy. I like that"

That seems to be a motto around here, atleast that's how it seems.

I don't understand how people get pleasure off of feeding a constant stream of negativity to others. I mean, honestly.. what's the point? I understand that this is a small location and people find themselves getting rather bored, BUT, you'd think they'd find something else to do with their time rather than investing the effort to convince everyone else that this place is horrible.

This subject is becoming so absolutely frustrating to me.  No matter how positive I am about a situation, someone makes it a personal mission to dump crap on it. I look forward to upcoming trips, I catch flack for the people that I'll be traveling with. I'm seriously amazed at the lack of self control when it comes to people and keeping their unwanted opinions to themselves.

I'm starting to want to be anti-social and not attend any events around here considering you're under a mircoscope and judged for every little thing you say, do, interact with... it's ridiculous.

It's almost a "Damned if you do. Damned if you don't" scenario.

"Bastard-coated bastards with bastard fillings. But I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive bubble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine."  - Dr. Cox from Scrubs

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