Not Dead!

Man oh man! It's been a bit of a whirl wind since we got back to the States, but now that I finally had a chance to relax, I can bust out a lovely blog for you folks. Don't you feel special?

Ok, so we managed to finish up cleaning the house in Belgium and did our final walk through. 

Luckily, we got our 1,900 euro deposit back (thank gawd!) and proceeded to migrate over to our temporary apartment till it was time to catch our flight out of Amsterdam. The final few days were bitter sweet..not going to lie. We absolutely love Belgium, the travel opportunities and everything else that's awesome about Europe, but, we're ready to move on with our lives and get settled into our new home. 

If you're a frequent reader of my blog, or actually know me, you know that we have a small horde of dogs. By small, I mean five...and it's definitely interesting when it comes to transporting them, that's for sure. I had to do a "system check" on all the crates to make sure they were all up to snuff when it came to airline requirements. Luckily, all of my prepping paid off because the check-in crew for KLM were stoked that I had everything re-enforced, paperwork in hand, and anything & everything else you can think of that's required to ship a pet internationally. 

Of course, the dogs needed to get their beauty sleep before the big journey, so they made it a point to pretty much push us out of our own bed...

On our last day, Eric and I went on one last Belgian date day and went over to my favorite cafe to grab some awesome tomato soup with a side of cappachino. It was a little depressing, to be honest. I went there so often that the staff knew me, it's always mellow so you can sit & people watch...and their coffee was ALWAYS awesome. Hopefully we'll find a place like that in New Mexico..so that seems to be something to add to our "treasure hunt" in terms of things to find. 

The day had finally arrived for us to leave...it was pretty sad, although, we didn't really have much time to dwell on it en-route to the airport. Once we rolled our six pieces of luggage and five carriers full of dogs, we were immediately directed over to a special ticketing area that takes care of...uhhh...individuals like ourselves, lol. After an hour of checking in, getting the dogs all situated and grabbing a quick lunch, it was time to board the plane and head off to beautiful California! The flight actually went pretty fast, at least to me...it didn't feel like an eleven hour flight, lol. I suppose taking naps and watching all the various "The Real Housewives of blah blah blah" killed time for me. I'm just relieved that we were able to get a straight shot flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco without having to deal with a ton of layovers. Oh, and KLM, if you happen to see this..I love you and your airline ROCKS!

We got to unwind for a few days before Eric had to head out and take care of business in terms of the home we're in the midst of buying. Yes, I stayed here in California while he and John jetted off to brave New Mexico. As of today, we're officially the owners of a home! I'm so excited! Eric went through all the paperwork earlier this week and signed off on everything, including my part of the paperwork with a handy dandy POA...he was displeased with the amount of writing he was required to do in order to officially get the  house. Oh well..he got the keys today and that's all that matters! lol

All the while, we're enjoying our time at Casa de Vandegrift. Izzy and the other furballs have taken quite a liking to my suite and it's awesome bed. You'd think they had been roughing it their whole life or something by the way they burrow into the bed ...

I've been plugging around, meeting up with friends and hanging out with family since my time here is limited. I have about a month left till I need to head on out to New Mexico...well, I'm guessing a month, but it all depends on when my vehicle shows up. Once Big Blue arrives, it's time for me to mosey on out of here so I can start decorating my new house :) I'm sure Eric will be relieved once I'm outta here so I'll stop haunting the Le Creuset place in addition to the various antique places around here...lol. 

I ended up getting a killer deal on a cast iron skillet, oval skillet, 2.5 qt container and a pie bird (all from Le Creuset) for 30% off in addition to another 40%...can you blame me for jumping on that sort of deal??

Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to start posting some more blogs as I run around California and throughout the trip to New Mexico for you guys. It's interesting trying to work on my iPad, then my Eee PC since my old faithful laptop isn't functioning at the moment...le sigh. 

Toodles!

Read More

Dumbing Down

The time has come. 

Grimms...uhh..."brains" have completely matured now that he's on the verge of being eight months old.  Not that he's any smarter or anything since he is still rather derpy..anyway...he's not allowed to keep the "brains". For the sake of his health and my sanity, those suckers gotta go. Sorry, Bub! 

I took him to our awesome Vet this morning ...I think he new the jig was up. I mean, I told him we were going to the market and I was gonna get him some bacon & chicken meatballs (he loves those things), so of course he had some pep in his step. The second I pressed the buzzer for us to go into the waiting room of Dr. Hildes office, he started pawing my leg. He knew. 

Sigh. I picked him up and made our way in. Instantly, Dr. Hilde opened the door straight into the exam room and exclaimed "Oh wow! Grimm has gotten big!". Indeed! He's now tipping the scales at a sturdy 17lbs and he's longer than Cole (thankfully, not as heavy). Looks like he's gonna turn out to be a standard size rather than a mini (fine by me!). She was lovin' on his coat color, the fact that he was a very very happy dog, his weight was perfect (yessss!!) and that everything looked wonderful in terms of his health. 

While she let him run around the exam room for a little bit to burn some energy off, she helped me out with all the Puppy Passport stuff I needed to get done for the remaining hooligans. Then came the part where I felt like a bad Mommy. She had me hold him while she shot something into his hind leg that'd make him very..very relaxed. Poor booger screamed like a banshee. I put him back on the ground so he could run around a little more. I swear, within two minutes of the shot, he was PASSED OUT. He was sprawled out under her desk and sawing logs. Man, if only it were that easy to knock him out when we try to sleep at 10pm! Once all the passport stuff was done, she took him to her operation table and had me keep him company while she injected the rest of the anesthesia into him. By doing it this way, he wasn't stressed out with the sight of me leaving him behind or anything like that.  Ohhhh that little booger knew how to pull at my heart strings! He thumped his tail till he couldn't thump it any more and he was in La La Land. I really didn't want to leave him, but alas, I had to...

The time came for me to pick up my little Grimmling from his procedure and he was VERY happy to see me. Dr Hilde told me that the moment I buzzed the main door to come in, he started whimpering and pacing his kennel since he knew I was there for him. Such a smart booger! He was all wiggly (and piddly) and was oh so ready to head on home. Sure thing, buddy!

He's actually fairing pretty well, ya know, considering all the facts. For the next four days, he has spiffy pain meds and antibiotics to take. Then over the next ten days, he can't take a bath and we need to be very proactive about picking him up & setting him down when he wants to get on/off the couches & beds. THAT is gonna be a challenge since he likes to bounce all over the place. Oh well, I suppose it'll be payback for doing *this* to him in the first place. 

On that note, time for me to hug my tender wiener. 

Read More

Afscheid 2012!

Time seems to have flown, especially since the movers will be coming next month to pick up our household items, then we'll be flying back to the States the following month. It's kind of crazy to me that it's already the end of the year, not to mention, our time in Belgium is almost up! 

Here's some memorable events from 2012: 

In January, I got to go to my first TNA Wrestling event with Eric over in Brussels. I mean, we traveled to London the year before, but Eric went to that event on his own while I chilled out at the hotel and got pampered at the spa. Hard life, right? Anyway, it was pretty cool to see in person, especially since the place wasn't super super packed and we got to sit fairly close to the ring :) 

In April, Eric went to Non-Commissioned Officers Academy and graduated! He was gone for a total of six weeks and he learned to be extra responsible, lol. I was (and still am) EXTREMELY proud of him! AND, he smiled willingly! VICTORY!

In June, I had a fabulous "girls trip" to Poland to do some more pottery shopping. We ended up staying at a place called "Palac Brunow" and it was absolutely AWESOME! 

In July, Eric and I celebrated our FIFTH wedding anniversary!! Oh my goodness! It feels like we just got married yesterday. It's rather crazy how much time has flown and all the things we've experienced together. Obviously, I'm looking forward to many...many more years together :D

In August, I got to see the last Flower Tapestry in Brussels for quite a long...long time. Hopefully Eric and I can come back for our ten year anniversary or something to see it again :) 

Oh, and we welcomed Grimm to the family in August :) He's a standard sized Wirehair Dachshund with a massive personality. Since his arrival, he's brought loads of entertainment, laughs and snuggles to our lives...he's definitely a perfect fit for our family.

In November, I got to spend my 30th birthday with Eric in Rome! We stayed at a fantastic B&B, got to see some amazing sites, and made some wonderful memories :)

Also in November, Eric, myself & a group of gals went to Poland to do our last round of shopping. I realize when I went in June, I said it was gonna be my last one...but obviously I couldn't stay away from the place. Not to mention, Eric was really wanting to go since he was jonsing for some Polish food. 

In December, we started the process of buying our first home! I'm SO excited!! I'm looking forward to having a place that's OURS rather than renting a place or living on base. Decorating ideas have been running through my mind non stop in addition to finding lots of things I can do in our soon to be new city. 

Hopefully, everyone will have a very Happy New year and start off 2013 on the right foot :)

Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book.

 Write a good one.

Read More

Grimmy Snow Time!

Actually meant to post this last week, but I've been a little side tracked with other things...

Alrighty, so a week ago, we started getting some snow! YAY! I remember when Piper experienced her first time with it, she was in heaven! Sadly, I wasn't able to get it on video then, but this time around, I managed to get Grimms first experience on my handy dandy iPad!

I wish I could get this excited over the little things, lol. Unfortunately,the snow melted off the same day...and ever since, it's been raining on and off. The weather forecast is calling for some more snow this week, but we'll see how that goes. I just want some more Belgian winter weather before we roll out to the desert! 

Read More

Animal Party!

As you all know, we're dog people. Hell, we better be considering we have five oh so rambunctious ankle biters! From time to time, co workers of Eric, or friends of friends, like to come by with their fur baby either to have us puppy sit for them, or just help with socializing...even though some of our dogs are rather bratty (Macie, to be specific)..so it makes life interesting in the house. Either way, it leads to entertainment..

On that note, let me introduce you to Doc:

He's a super sweet American Stafford who is like a XL version of Grimm..and he's about as stubborn as a brick wall. We're watching after him for the next week since his Daddy is back in the States to get married to his beautiful fiancee'. 

Doc is about eleven months old while Grimm is just hitting around seven months..so those two have been playing NON STOP. I'll hear random things crashing throughout the house, skidder skattering around corners, yipping and growling..all sorts of mayhem. LOTS of mayhem. Their favorite thing to do is play around my kitchen table. Ehhhh wellllll...play isn't the word. Grimm uses it for hiding purposes from Doc in order to get some sort of relief from the constant stompings and smushings:

For the most part, they play together rather well even though Doc is still learning that he's a lot larger than Grimm.  In the midst of playing, he can get a little carried away and pins Grimm to the floor then proceeds to lay all over him. Who helps to keep him in check when he gets a little too skitzo? Macie, of course! I think she takes over with baby sitting Doc when I'm either worn out from chasing him, or when I actually need to attend to my house and work on things. Eric refers to her as "The Protector of the House"...and she's definitely a force to be reckoned with!

I'll tell you what, I'm seriously shocked as to how "sturdy" this dog is! I realize Staffords are a beefy breed, but this guy is SOLID muscle, and his head is like a ....I dunno how to describe it. I can totally see why they're used as guard dogs, intimidation and all that other manly crap. When he yawns or gets a treat, the noise his mouth makes when he snaps it shut reminds me of an alligator..that large hollow "snap" sound. Then whenever he rests his head on me, you can just feel the weight and how solid his skull is...MUCH different than what I'm used to with my little Dachshunds. But...aside from all of that, he's a complete love bug (as the breed is in general) and it's rather disheartening that the mass has such a bad reputation. When in doubt, cookies get them to behave...

So, there you have it. I'll definitely be kept busy for the next week whilst I wrangle a super wiggly Doc, attempt to make progress on prepping for the movers next month, trolling for a home in New Mexico and trying to squeeze in a nap at some point. 

Whhheeeeeeeeee!!

Read More

Update On The Grimmling

Grimm is officially a little over five months old now! I can't believe how big he's gotten! The first video was taken a few days after we brought him home, and the second video was taken a few days ago. As you can see, he's the main instigator when it comes to rough housing with the other furballs:

Oh, and he's learned an interesting little trick. He's commandeered Izzy's trog bed and made it his own since he's bigger than her now. He'll turn the bed when it's just me and him up late at night so he'll be able to watch the TV show while sprawled out on a cushion. Smart little booger, hunh? I've been trying my best to catch him in the act and video it, but I always seem to notice after the fact...le sigh. 

He doesn't fit in the kitchen sink anymore, so we've had to move him over to the bath tub in order to wash him down. Grimm DEFINITELY knows how to push mommy's buttons because he'll intentionally roll around in mud, rip up leafs and drag them throughout the house, brings in more dirt than I thought was humanly possible (I swear he's got hidden pockets he fills up).. so he's constantly getting dunked and scrubbed:

Of all the dogs in the house, he's totally bonded with Cole the most. They're practically inseparable!

Last month, we got some firewood since it's starting to get a little chilly here and Eric was rather stoked about the whole thing. He's a bit of a firebug in the fall / winter time. Not only was Eric stoked about the pile, but Grimm was as well since he liked checking it allllllll out to make sure it met his high standards:

Isn't he such a cutie?? He's looking more and more like a little old man :D

He definitely knows how to keep himself amused when the other dogs are too tuckered out to play with him:



Last month, the shop we bought Grimm from, Allemaal Beestjes, had a celebration for their store being open for five years. As a thank you to their customers, they offered up a free photo session of your dog if you came by. So of course, we were super dorks and decided to go ahead and get pics of Grimm since we had nice pictures done of all the other dogs. In my mind, I guess I was expecting like a light hearted sort of photo where you see him playing or something like that. Well, the picture came out like a picture your grandparents would have from the 80's:

Total cheese ball factor, but it's still a cute pic and it was for free. Can't really sneeze at that, right? lol

He's got a very hard life around the house with all the rough housing he does with Piper, then snuggles up with everyone when he's not running around like a cat on fire whenever he's outside. He's a VERY sweet little guy...always wiggles and thumps his tail when you smile at him. Definitely a happy lil pup! 

At this point, all of his shots are finished and his puppy passport is all taken care of for when the time comes for us to move. Eric and I are debating if we're wanting to get him "snipped" here or just wait till we move back to the States, which will be in late February / early March. Either way, it's gonna happen..it all just comes down to *when*. Oh the joys of being a dog owner!

Read More

Damn you, red ball.

This is a red ball. 

A simple...red...squeaky...rubber...ball. 

I wanted to buy said ball for Cole since he's the destroyer of all things that squeak...and yet...we ended up with....

Grimm.  

 

On Tuesday, Eric and I were making our way home from the Commissary since we needed to pick up some additional groceries since he was going to be home all week. Since we were in the town of Bocholt to look for some special salt for a friend of mine, I remembered that there was a pet store in the town so I could just pop in there and grab a toy for him. 

That, folks, was our downfall. 

In the midst of looking at the various toys, Eric disappeared to the back of the store where the puppies were kenneled because, hey, who can resist puppies? I wasn't really worried about it because I didn't think they'd have any particular breed we would've been interested in. Yeah...I was wrong. In fact, very very wrong. They had two bulldog puppies and two Dachshund puppies. If you know us, you know that Eric has wanted a bulldog forever, and we have an obvious weakness for Dachshunds. Of course, I play with the doxies and he's looking at the bullies...those lil boogers were a thousand euros a piece! GAG! The dachshunds, not so much..hah. So of course, we're making our way out of the puppy area and the owner comes in to see what we think of the puppies...and I think he saw how inlove Eric was with the bully babies. A thousand euros is absolutely out of the question since that could go towards our mazhout order (stupid diesel used over here to heat the homes)...THEN the guy tells him "I have a six month old bully for sale. He's three hundred euros and his name is Hummer". Oh, lovely! So, he brings Hummer out. he's insanely cute, very very sweet and gets along well with other dogs. If we didn't use our brains, we would've taken him straight home...but...the main factor that clicked in is: Macie. 

Macie is Eric's pride and joy..his defender of the house...his little body guard. She DOES NOT like other dogs very easily. In fact, she's earned the nick name of "Puff" because she puffs up double her size and basically hulks out on other dogs. Sooooo bringing a bulldog into the mix would be hazardous. Luckily, the guy said he'd hold Hummer for us since Wednesday and Thursday were Belgian holidays, so they'd be closed anyway. In addition to holding Hummer, he also held the little male Dachshund for us since I was wondering how Macie would react to him. Over the two days, we flip flopped back and forth a lot...ultimately decided we'd see how Macie would act and go from there. Wellllll...when we introduced Macie to Hummer, it went over like a lead balloon. I've NEVER seen her try to crawl up Eric's leg to get away from another dog, not to mention, she made so many ugly faces..it was kinda entertaining (to be honest). After about fifteen minutes of trying to introduce them to one another, it was VERY clear that it wasn't going to work out with Hummer. I, of course, was bummed for Eric because I know how badly he's wanted a bully, and he got attached to Hummer. Then, they allowed us to bring the baby Dachshund out...talk about a complete one eighty! She was instantly intrigued, kept sniffling him and started wagging her tail! Eric and I were both shocked because she never does that sort of thing. After letting them walk around one another for a bit, it was clear that she didn't have any sort of problem with him and basically gave him the thumbs up.

 We filled out paperwork and got a "Welcome home puppy" box, then we were on our merry way with the newest edition to the Hall house. 

 He even got an official "Puppy Passport" so we can keep tabs on his vaccinations and what not. Cool, right? None of the other dogs got little passports like this, so it'll definitely be easier to figure out which one is his when the time comes to move.

Over the last couple of days, it's been a riot with Grimm getting adjusted to the house, not to mention, gaining three bossy sisters and a dopy big brother. For the most part, Grimm just lounges around on dog beds, gets checked on to make sure he's still breathing, then he doses off for a few hours before running around and causing havoc with Piper. 

 Here's a pic for some size reference as to how small this furball is. Izzy wasn't even this small when we got her at 10 weeks old, so I'm kind of at a loss as to how tiny Grimm actually is. He's using Pipers old collapsible travel bowl set to eat from since the portion size is appropriate for him. Thing is, I have to collapse it all the way so he can actually reach the food! Otherwise, it's too tall for him and he knocks it all over the place by trying to stand on the ledge in order to get the food. His belly is about an inch and a half from the floor, he weighs about a pound and a half and he's the length of Eric's foot (size 13). His paw is the size of my thumb! 

LITTLE DACHSHUND! HUGE personality!

 Oh yeah..and I noticed something hilarious that Grimm does when Eric hold him. Eric tends to cuddle him like he's a baby, so of course Grimm goes limp because he likes having his belly rubbed...then I noticed the faces he makes. 

It took me about ten shots for me to actually get this pic cause I couldn't stop laughing... no, Eric isn't doing a choke hold on him. He just makes this derpy face when he's getting his belly rubbed. Epic cuteness, right?

The girls have been super inquisitive and try to figure out "what" he is since he's so tiny, while Cole on the other hand, follows him around and plops close by to keep an eye on him. Macie took all of us by surprise because she acts like she's his mother / protector and tries to keep the other dogs away from him. Definitely wasn't expecting that! Grimm is completely oblivious to all of this and just runs himself ragged in the mean time.

We've had a bit of a heat wave here in Belgium...and by heat wave, I mean someone turned the outdoor temperature setting to "HELL". It was in the low 90's yesterday while it was in the high 90's today...very hot and very miserable, especially since our house holds all the heat in despite all the windows being open & having fans circulating air around. All of the dogs found a way to cool themselves down throughout the house except the littlest derp. So, we gave him a bath to cool him down a little bit since he really looked like he was struggling to find some sort of relief.

 Wet weenie baby is not pleased.

After his quick cool down and a fast toweling, he was off and running around like a bat out of hell to pick up where he left off in terms of harassing Cole and gnawing on his baby Kong toy. Tomorrow's his first visit with our vet to make sure everything is on the "up & up" in terms of his vaccines and anything else he might need to be checked out for. Grimm fits in PERFECTLY with our family! I really couldn't have asked for a sweeter puppy...really, I couldn't have. His little tail goes a mile a minute, plays wonderfully with the other dogs and knows how to sleep in (that's a MAJOR plus in our family!). 

 He's definitely a total love bug!

*** To those of you who could possibly be making comments about us having "another" dog, which brings our total to five k-9's...in all seriousness, shove it & keep it to yourself. Our dogs are our kids who are extremely well taken care of, they have a "forever home" with us and all are spoiled rotten. I refrained from posting about him earlier or even posting pics of him on my Facebook because I don't want ignorant & judgmental people making brainless comments about our decision to add another fur baby to our family. But, screw it. On that note, Tah! ***

Read More