Antique-y Decor

I really enjoy antiques. Love love love 'em. I especially love using them as decoration around my house :)

I went over to my favorite antique store yesterday to pick up another trog since I couldn't get that particular one outta my head since I saw it on Thursday. It's HUGE, and stained dark (which I love!). Eric was joking with me that it should be a dog bed since it's large..so, I humored him and put it on the ground. Low and behold:

Wasn't expecting that, hunh?

When we first got here back in 2009, I started collecting these things called "trogs", which are basically little troughs that farmers would use around here to feed their livestock. Over the course of various trips, I've picked up more here & there and actually sent one to a friend back in California because she fell inlove with the ones she saw on my blog. I can't remember who mentioned it to me, but I was told that Pottery Barn actually sells them...but, for a much steeper price! Of course I thought it was silly that these things were insanely expensive back in the states, so I looked it up..sure enough..lots of money for 'em. 

Keep in mind, I pay (roughly) 20€ (about $26) for the medium size trogs and up to 40€ (about $52) for a HUGE trog. When I say "huge", I mean I use it to store all of my dogs toys along with their harnesses and leashes. So, of course when I saw how much Pottery Barn was wanting for their "dough bowls", I almost choked. Honestly, I couldn't imagine paying $200+ for a wooden bowl, so I hopped onto eBay out of curiosity...most of the bowls listed on there ranged from $145-$550!! Seriously?? WOW.


Here's the ones I've picked up since we've been here. You can kinda gauge their size cause of my Dachshunds that were checking them out :) My husband had given me a fair bit of grief over collecting these things, but they're growing on them since I use 'em for decoration, a holder for the dogs toys, and various other little things. 

I will say though, that PB's site gave me some great idea's as to how else I can decorate them! Now I'm on the hunt for some staggered candles and some decorative pebbles to put in the super long trog I just picked up (it's in the above picture, lower left). Actually, I think I'll just use coffee beans instead of the pebbles so my foyer will smell like a coffee house AND they'll hold up the candles nicely:

So yeah, there ya go! Trogs (or "Dough Bowls) are pretty awesome things to have around your house in terms of adding some shabby decor with a new twist :) 

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Phoning in this post..

Well well well, it's been a smidge since I've done a post. Lots of stuff has been going on which has taken most of my attention. Our house is pretty much the "walking wounded" right now because Eric messed up his back (some how) and I blew out my knee. Not only is my knee screwed, but I've been dealing with some serious abdominal pains (yes, I have a doctors appointment to get checked out). Between dealing with my stuff AND Eric's, I haven't been too froggy to go raise hell like I usually do. 

Random, but I was actually up and coherent for sunrise! The weather here as of late has been pretty shitty...lots over overcast, rain, wind..blah blah blah. Any, the sunrise looked so pretty that I couldn't pass up taking a pic of it! 

In other news..

Last week I went to the Turkish market with a friend of mine and we popped into the Kringwinkel (it's like Belgiums version of Goodwill). After snooping around for a lil bit, I ended up finding a really cool side table I really couldn't live without. Then again, I tend to think I can't live without a whole lot of things! 

Here's the goody:

After cleaning it up a lil bit and adding some decorations, here's how it looks in the house: 

Not too long before that, I haunted my FAVORITE antique warehouse with the thought of "I really want an old vintage phone"...ya know, the rotary kind. I'm hunting for vintage looking things like old old alarm clocks (the type with the two bells and a mini hammer on top), a Yashica TLR camera, smaller old film reels, and a phone. As I'm looking around...I'll be damned, cause look what I found:

It's from the 50's, a very hard plastic, and VERY heavy! Ever watched a movie and there's a fight scene where someone grabs an old phone and hits someone with it? The person who gets hit ends up being knocked out? Yeah, I totally believe that's possible because this thing weighs at least 5lbs! After a lil cleaning, it shined up and looked good as new! When I bought it home, Eric rolled his eyes , but, at least he understands there's a REASON why I'm collecting this stuff and not just a random purchase. 

Other than that, not a whole lot going on aside from taking care of myself and Eric! I've been focusing on eating better and have lost 8lbs since the beginning of the year, working out as much as I can despite the bum knee, currently in the process of planning another girls trip to Poland for some pottery, and doing some personal assessments regarding various friendships.  

Busy busy, but nothing new, right?

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Project: Girly

It was bound to happen. 

Eric was told he's gotta go to NCOA (Non-Commissioned Officer Academy), which means when the time comes for his graduation ceremony..I gotta wear something pretty. By pretty, I mean a dress. I don't do dresses. To be honest, the last time I wore a pretty dress was when we got married...hmmmm..four and a half years ago:

I've worn a few dresses here and there when I was thinner, but since I've packed on weight, I haven't really wanted to put one on cause I feel like a pig wearing a garbage bag. Yeah, not flattering. So, since I'm working out and trying to get healthy...yet again...I have a goal dress in mind for what I wanna wear for his ceremony. Luckily, I have some time to actually work towards this dress so this isn't something I'm shooting for to squeeze into within a week (that's just NOT realistic). I have two-ish months, almost three,  to work on my figure :) 

Anyway, I found this dress at Kiyonna which carries plus size clothing for us curvy gals. I'm absolutely lovin' it cause it's got that retro look to it and looks classy. Plus, saving 25% off on it wasn't bad either since I just went back and checked their site and the sale isn't going on anymore. Good timing on my part, eh?

Annnnd now I'm on the hunt for shoes. Buying shoes *here* is pretty ridiculous since I wear a 10, 10.5 or sometimes even a size 11 shoe. Those sizes are considered monstrous over here in Europe. IF I even find a pair of shoes in my size, they're absolutely ridiculously hideous. So, I'm hittin' the ground running and scouring the internet to find some cute heels to wear with my spiffy new dress. Here's the top contenders I found..I'm just torn on which one will look best with the ensemble! 

Of course, I'll totally post pictures when the time comes for me to actually wear the whole she-bang cause Eric will be wearing his Air Force Blues (hahaha). He hates dressing up, so at least both of us will be out of our comfort zones together, HA! 

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Photo Fun!

Ahhhh it's been a few days since I've posted! I've been getting into the swing of trying to start the new year off right by eating healthier (again), losing weight (again), and trying to work out (yet, again). To be honest, I started a health journal blog to document all the things I've been doing, but I'm not really comfortable with making it public just yet. 

ANYWAY! Here's some pictures we had done of the furballs:

Cali aka "Cali Momma"

Goofy dog!

Izzy aka "Momma Bear", aka "Izzle Momma", aka "Brown Dog ", aka "DPF", aka "Wurstbrooden".

My little weeeeenie! Who could resist that face??

Cole aka "Bubby", aka "Chunk", aka "Snarfle Bear", aka "Stoofles", aka "Smotebollen". Yes, lots of alias's . 

The look on Cole's face makes me think, "Yeah. I got this!"

Macie Mae aka "Mayness", aka "The PUFF", aka "Puffnator", aka "Little Wrecking Ball". 

Fatty...lickin' her chops. 

...and then, there's Piper aka "The Peeper" aka "Peeps!" aka "Beard Face" aka "Meat Mop". 

This pic makes me think of a lil man with a puffed out beard for some reason. 

I absolutely LOVE how they turned out!! There's so many that we're going to have printed and framed...ahhh! Love love love!!

Then, the photographer got a new spiffy camera for Christmas from her awesome hubby, so she asked me if I was willing to be a guinea pig for some shots. Sure, why not! We made a day of it since she's also a makeup artist, so she glammed me up & played with my hair..then we did various pics throughout her house with her awesome four year old entertaining us the whole time. Here's some of mine and Eric's favorite shots:

  

I really like how these turned out! Now if I can just get rid of my double chin, I'd be a billion times happier, lol. 

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*THE* Chair

We're a "gamer" family. It's not much of a secret if you know us..we have an Xbox upstairs as well as downstairs, although the upstairs is the official "man cave". So, whenever I wanna actually play some sort of game, I gotta bust out my folding chair since the rest of the seats are wayyyy in the back of the living room. 

One of the main "perks" about my folding chair is that there's a little pop up "side table" I can use for drinks... 

...but I rarely get to utilize it since Piper REALLLLY likes being near me. So instead of sitting on my lap, she gets a premo spot on the tray while bundled up in a nice blankey. Hard life, right? 

Anyway, as "comfy" as the chair is for her, it's not all that comfortable for me because it's not really supportive and not exactly designed for gaming. Which means, I can't sit and play Fable III for more than an hour at a time because it screws my back up. Sure, it could be seen as a "sign" for me not to sit on my ass and play games for that long, but sometimes I need that "stress reliever" to just blow stuff up for the sake of some satisfaction. 

SO..

There's a store just down the road from me called "De Kringwinkel" which is kinda like a Belgian version of Goodwill. Whenever you wanna get rid of something, you can just drop it off there and they resell it to the public...and if you're wanting to get something for fairly cheap, that's the place you go to. I've haunted that store pretty frequently since being here considering I've scored some super killer deals, like a set of dining room chairs for only 20 euros ($26.50), a really bitchin' chair my Dad picked up for 15 euros ($21.75), in addition to random wine goblets and beer mugs (usually $.50 a piece) rather than paying 20 euro a pop through the beer stores. 

I popped in there the other day to see if I could find a fairly decent chair (kinda like the one my Dad found) without having to fork out a ton of money. 

I ended up snagging this plushy chair. It's actually made really well and VERY comfortable, despite it being a burnt orange color..totally screams that it's from the late 70's or early 80's, lol. I'm actually debating on getting it professionally reupholstered, most likely whenever we get back to the States since I *know* I won't do a very good job with doing it myself. The frame is in fantastic shape and I just need to sand down the wood and restain it a walnut color so it matches the rest of our stuff. Not bad for 15 euro ($20):

Thing is, it's so comfortable...I barely get to sit in it! 

Freakin' dogs. 

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*2011*

I was a busy little bee throughout 2011. What did you do all year long? Here's a list of the things I did to make my time fly:

January

I began selling for Tastefully Simple! 

 Had the pleasure of taking Eric to London for the first time so I could show him around the city in the midst of seeing a TNA Wrestling event.

February

I traveled to Mechelen with a group of friends to check out some old world tapestries from the De Wit company. 

My tickets to go home to California for a two month vacation were officially booked!

March

Checked out a killer farmers market in a near by town called Zolder.

Found an amazing scale at my favorite antique warehouse. 

Scored an antique coffee grinder from the same warehouse a week later :)

April

My fashion forward Dachshund gets a rain coat.

Went on a great adventure back to Poland with some awesome friends. 

Experienced the Spring Bazaar at Spangdahlem, Germany

May

Found our rhythm when it came to making a lot of food for the upcoming week. 

My beloved Blackberry went to the great cell phone tower in the sky.

Did some retail damage in Germany while visiting some friends. 

June

Movie dates with my lover face. 

The horses in the field next to our house had another baby! 

Began experiencing one of the wettest summers in Belgium's history. 

My landlord broke ground right next to us to build a duplex :-/

Three whole days of summer! 

July

I put a deposit down on my dream table! 

Went blueberry picking!

Eric and I spent our four year wedding anniversary in Venice, Italy! 

August

FINALLY organized my office! 

My spiffy dream table finally arrived!!

We realized our landlord is filthy rich.

Scored a nifty old school clock!

September

I went..went..back back to Cali Cali.

Adopted a $2k puppy from the SPCA (cost after fees, buying a new plane ticket, carrier, vet bills, etc) 

Drove to Oregon and Washington!

Met my brand new baby cousin!

Won FIRST PLACE in a photo contest! 

October

Made some awesome blankets for my son and husband

Visited Stefanie!! 

Missed my old stomping grounds in San Luis Obispo

Got my Dad hooked on a video game. 

Invaded Pier 39 in San Francisco with my Dad. 

November

Got pictures done with my Dad

Date day to France to buy some Le Creuset 

Lovin' on some European Christmas Markets

Discovered the black hole that is Pinterest

Finally obtained Steve

The goodies I acquired while in California finally arrived! Eee!!

December

Finally came across something quite useful for my Scentsy warmers after being here for almost three years! 

Made arrangements for Eric & I's FIFTH wedding anniversary !

I've come to realize that Belgium likes messing with me. 

Turned my kitchen into a cookie factory.

Took a crack at being a couponer...and failed. 

Here's to hoping for a productive 2012!

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Couponing...Bah Humbug!

I'm sure at some point, you've heard about TLC's "Extreme Couponing". If you haven't heard about it..lemme explain how it works: It's a show where people spend ridiculous amounts of time hunting for coupons to maximize their savings when it comes to grocery shopping. In most cases, they get hundreds of dollars worth of food for a fraction of the price. That's fantastic, right? Yeahhhhh....'bout that...

The new year is right around the corner and, of course, it's time to start eating healthy all over again. We're about a year out from potentially moving, so we're tightening our purse strings even tighter so we can save more money just in case we move back to the States, although, I'd really prefer to stay in Belgium. That's to be seen, though. Anyway, eating healthy isn't exactly cheap. And by that, I mean it's usually expensive. So I got a wild hair up my tail and decided to see if I could save some money via coupons..YAY!

After several mind numbing hours, dozens of websites, registering with fake emails for "exclusive" deals, fiddling with my fussy printer...and an Excederine Migraine pill.. I ended up with this: 

 I already had the Dryel coupon, the Benefuls "Snackin  Slices" coupon, Challenge Butter coupons and "Finish" dishwasher coupon from previous purchases...the majority of the headache clearly came from finding coupons online. I don't have the luxury of having coupons readily available just down the street in the newspaper stand since, well, I'm not in America. So, I can't just gather up a bundle of those lil buggers and clip clip away..instead, I gotta click click click...click...click...sigh...click.......click.... 

I think the frustrating thing is that I really couldn't find any coupons for "healthy" things...if I was wanting a killer deal on Poptarts, soda (lots of soda), anything Pillsbury, Spam (really??), cookies, candy, blah blah blah, I would've hit the jackpot. I felt like I was on a hunt for the great Dodo bird since I wanted coupons for stuff like Birds Eye for frozen veggies, or even Libby's for canned veggies, and various other things that weren't slathered in fatty happiness. I'm not on a mission to build up any sort of treasure trove of all my killer deals (also known as "stockpiles") like some of the people you see on the Extreme Couponing show. Shit, we have weight limits when it comes to moving and I CERTAINLY don't want to waste my limit on food! I rather put that towards kick ass European antiques:

So, after my purchase of sixty six items and with all the effort of twenty five coupons, I managed to knock $22.50 off of the final total (a saving of 12%). Not too shabby, but honestly, not worth all the headache it took to find the coupons. It's no wonder the people who are featured on that show dedicate 8 HOURS a day to couponing..anywhere from forty to sixty hours a week! Great googly moogly!

At least I stayed under my budget, but I can thank my grocery list for that since I ONLY bought what I wrote down what we needed verses "window shopping"..which is what really racks up the cost for most people when they have their adventure in the grocery store. 

Meh, oh well. At least I gave it a shot. 

 

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