Delivery from England :)

A few weeks ago, I was visiting a friend of mine and noticed she had a really cute little plaque in her kitchen. When I took a closer look at it, it was actually a list of all the bases they've been stationed at. Pretty cool, hunh? I ended up getting the company info from her and talked to Eric about it to see if it'd be something he might be interested in. To my surprise, he actually LIKED it and said I could go ahead and order one for our house.

The company is called "Woodland Studio" and they're based in the UK. Their prices seem a little high, but everything is hand painted to what you'd like as well as custom "signs" for where you were stationed at.

Here's the one I ordered for our place :)

Eric wanted it to say "Hall Manor" rather than "Hall's House". Wanna know why it wanted it to say "Manor"? Think in the terms of Batman... yeah... Wayne Manor. Yeah, lol.

The little heart was panted on the Vandenberg sign since that's where Eric and I met and got married :)

I'm VERY pleased with how it turned out! The staff was awesome when it came to placing the order.. I think in total, this took about 3 weeks to get? Not bad! I should be expecting an additional package from them either this week or next week since I ordered another one for my Grandma. Although, hers is gonna say "Grandma's House" on it and it'll have pegs to hold keys on it. Hopefully she'll like it since I ordered that for her Christmas present.

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Festively Floral

Today was pretty mellow. Honestly, it was :)

Our landlord, Stanie, stopped in this morning since he needed to get the measurements of our standing shower. Ya see.. this house is..hmmm.. I'll say about 30 years old. I'm assuming the shower is the same shower that was installed the day the house was built. Well, Eric managed to step on the drain of the shower juuuuuuust right to where it actually smashed the entire drain through the metal portion of the shower bottom.. rendering the entire shower useless. Luckily, we also have a bathtub with a shower attachment, despite it being a pain in the ass.. we've been surviving with that for the last week. It was just funny when we were actually able to SHOW Stanie the shower on Saturday .. his response was priceless. Now, keep in mind.. Stanie BARELY speaks English, but I give him an "A" for effort cause he really does try his best to talk to us before breaking down and calling his daughter and we play "pass the phone to translate" to one another, lol. Anyway, when Eric opened the shower door to show him the damage.. I was in the kitchen, which is a good 12 feet away.. all I heard was "OOOOHHHHH.." but it sounded painful, lol. He had to stoop down closer to get a better look...pretty much, he looked either stunned or impressed that Eric managed to do that, hahahahaa... oh well. Hopefully it'll get fixed sometime this week! He ran out to get the replacement "tub" but never came back.. maybe he had to order it? I dunno....

A few weeks back, I signed up for a flower "class" so I could make some sort of fall type decoration. Today was finally the day where we got to bust out our artistic skills when it came to following directions from an instructor!

Startin' in on demolishing the quirky Belgian pumpkins!

All of us scooping out our pumpkins. We had to REALLY shell them out so there was plenty of room for the styrofoam block to stick the flowers in.

See? Waterlogged styrofoam..

When I got up to stretch my legs, I saw the instuctors display to show how ours are supposed to look. Uh.. I was only HOPING mine would come out that cool, lol. Given, she IS a professional and apparently has won some awards for her floral pieces. Cool, hunh? By the way.. see the little red things that look like cherries? Well, they're NOT cherries.. they're APPLES!

This is what we're gonna be sticking in our pumpkins!

All of us putting the first layer of foliage in our scooped out pumpkins

The instructor (I think her name was Petra) was going around the room and flattening the bottom of peoples pumpkins so they'd sit normally. Honestly, she was freaking me out cause the way she was cutting the pumpkins, I could SWEAR she was gonna slice her thumb off! It was freakin' me out!

Myself & Josie

Here's the finished product:

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Cock Goblin!!

Sorry about the lack of blogging ... I've been slammed with stuff!

Last year, Eric really REALLY wanted to be a "Goblin Cock" since it's an idea he got from watching a TV show on G4 called Code Monkeys. Well, since we didn't do anything for Halloween last year, he wanted to dress up as that this year. Luckily, I managed to find a chicken costume that'd fit him from a costume rental place in Lommel. I also got a costume from there since I honestly had no idea what I wanted to be. I finally figured out that I'd be something from the Renaissance period since they had TONS of old fashioned / tapestry style dresses. I was a dead Queen:) Only thing was .. I needed a crown and I was not willing to shell out 30 euros for a plastic crown that I was only going to wear for MAYBE 4 hours. Thank you Burger King for supplying me a crown!


Eric and I went to a Halloween costume party last night that was being thrown by the lovely Mrs. Josie and her hubba, Rudy. Here's some various pictures from the event ... and to be honest, I had to snag some of the pics from my friends considering I got off of some bad schnockered that Dana gave me.


Eric being himself

Meeeee

Dana & Bobby ... they were dressed as a light socket and a plug: D

Rudy and Josie

.... all I gotta say is ... Reno 911, lol. John is something like 6 '7! Melissa is the same height as me:)

Melissa and Crissy (the bar wench)

Crissy & Josie

The girls! (Me, Dana, Ghetra, Josie, Melissa & Crissy)

Tina Mummy wrap after the contest:)

Our Mummy wrap victim, Andy

The tissue was put to good use after the contest was over

Kelvin, the Pimp, with all the ladies

Ron Jeremy. 'Nuff said.

Kirby, the Priest enjoying the ladies as well

Andy got a lil lonely so he wanted some attention from the Priest

That Jello Shot was EVIL!!!

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Penne & Kaas!

Aye Aye Aye... it's 8:40am and I'm exausted. I was up till...hmmm..1:30 this morning cause I had a hard time getting to sleep,  then ended up getting myself out of bed around 6ish. I just couldnt sleep very well, tossing and turning.. and guess what? I woke up sick. A huge round of applause goes out to Eric and John for that.. thanks guys :-\ Plus, I was up late making cake balls for Jody's Pampered Chef party and I finished them up this morning since they needed to be dunked in chocolate after spending the night in the fridge.

Yesterday, I went to this awesome little restraunt called "The Banana Split" in a nearby town called Overpelt. I'm really sorry for my lack of pictures, but, I didn't have my handy dandy camera with me and my cell phone was MIA. I swear! Anyway...Josie, Tina and I had lunch at this place. The espresso's were awesome, the food was fabulous...but... the service. Uh...it was less than stellar. Now keep in mind, alot of places here speak English, but atleast we're considerate enough to ASK "Spreekt u het Engels?". Tina even tried to speak to the waitress in Dutch but the lady kept responding in English, good enough, right? Ok, well.. Tina fired off her order first which was "Penne & Kaas" which is pasta and cheese, Josie asked for Tomato soup and I also got Penne & Kaas. The gal double checked with us what our orders were, plugged it into her lil machine and took off. When the food was ready, Tina's order was Penne & Kaas with Bacon...she's vegetarian. Josies soup wasn't Tomato..it was...uhh...something..lol. It looked like baby pukey. My pasta was the same as Tina's, but then again, I didn't have a problem with the meat in it (it was delicious). SO, Tina calls the waitress over to tell her (nicely) that her order is wrong...this waitress got REALLY uppity, was raising her voice and scolding Tina! Kept repeating "NO, That is what you ordered!". I gotta say, Tina stayed VERY calm despite this lady not only getting vocal with her in a restraunt, but she was belittling her and telling her that she needs to learn to speak Dutch. Tina TRIED ordering in Dutch to begin with!! Anyway, after ..hmm..3 minutes of this lady argueing with her and being just an absolute shit, she finally took her plate to get her the correct food. Before she left, she asked Josie, "Is YOUR order wrong too?".. Josie told her "Yeah, actually it is. I ordered Tomato Soup. I dunno what this is"...then the lady went off AGAIN! "You ordered TODAY'S soup, NOT Tomato Soup!!". Holy geebus, lady! When Josie told her "No, I didn't. I said Tomato! This is fine though, I'll take whatever this is. Just replace her food since she's Vegetarian", the gal huffed off. She must've plopped the plate off, turned right on her heels and came back for another round cause she came right back with a menu, slapped it down infront of Tina and told her, yet again, "You ordered THIS!"...  Once again, Tina said "No, I didn't! I ordered 'Penne & Kaas'" in which she pointed to it on the menu that CLEARLY states that it's Vegetarian. The waitress stopped, stared at it for a second and said "Oh, my mistake." and quickly retreated. All three of us were stunned with how she was damned and determined she was to be "right" even though she was clearly in the wrong with her behavior. I've NEVER seen someone talk to a customer as if they were idiots.. then experiencing it first hand was even more, uh, shocking.  For the rest of the meal, that waitress avoided us as if we were carrying the black plague! When we finally got the bill, she barely mumbled "I'm sorry" despite her shouting at Tina, stomping around, practically shoving a menu in her face..did I mention that she tried to grab Tina's wrist to get her to listen to her and everything she had to say? Yeaaaahhhhh.... that shit wouldn't fly with me if someone tried grabbing me aside from them being extremely rude.  So, aside from the pre-meal drama, the food was delicious and I'd be interested in going there again with Eric and John. I'll just have to make sure I point out what I want from the menu JUST IN CASE I happen to get the psycho waitress.

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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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