Ramping Up

GAH! So much is going on!

I'm trying to keep track of all the stuff we're counting down to. Next month is going to be a complete whirl wind since I'll be going on a trip, packing to move, shipping to move, then twiddling my thumbs till it's time for us to leave. 

Like I mentioned, I'm going on a trip...to Scotland to be specific. I'm rather excited to get over there since I really REALLY wanna check out the castles. Plus, it's a gorgeous country. I mean, who wouldn't want to go there? 

Over the last week, we've been busy with appointments in order for us to get everything set up for the move. OH my gosh. There's SO much to get done, it's a little overwhelming. I still need to plow through my office to get it all organized for the movers. Not to mention, there's a lot of 220v we need to sell off since we obviously have no use for it when we're back in the States. I have a funny feeling that the movers are going to pack some of that stuff anyway because they'll literally pack anything / everything (including garbage). If any of those 220v items happen to hitch a ride to the US, at least we're going to a massive base where the odds of someone else moving to Europe is pretty high and we can still get rid of them...I'd just prefer not to deal with them at all, lol. 

THEN, I gotta ship off my beloved Xterra. That's going to be a little hard for me since she's my baby and I'm rather fond of having my independence. The last time we had to ship her off, the place where we dropped her off were jerks to me...wasn't exactly a good experience (in my eyes). Oh well, at least Eric and I will make the best of it since we'll be over by the French border and venture around there for a little bit...

Our flight has already been arranged to fly back to the States. I'm very...VERY sad about leaving Belgium. Well, Europe in general, but we're very very fond of our little Belgie. Luckily, the people in charge of our traveling managed to get us a straight shot to our destination since we're concerned about our fur babies enduring multiple layovers, especially since we'll be in transit when it's still fairly cold every where. 

Of course, once we're back in the States and get our bearings together just a smidge, Eric and I will be heading over to New Mexico to finish up all the paperwork required to get our home! I'm SO excited about having a place of our own! I've been corresponding with our Realtor ever since we found out where we were moving to ...finally found *the one* in terms of a home earlier this month and have been signing whatever we can. Luckily, a friend of mine was able to do a walk through on our behalf with the Realtor to make sure the house was on the "up & up"...gave us the lowdown and ultimately gave us the thumbs up. Like I said, I'm VERY excited to get our own place :) 

The fun part is the whole "waiting game" in terms of our stuff showing up. The guy in charge of the movers told us it'd take about 55 days for our household stuff to show up in New Mexico, and the same thing goes for my Xterra. What we'll probably end up doing is that I'll stay behind in California for a little bit in order to catch up with friends and family while Eric & John stick around in New Mexico since John needs to get back into school. My truck is actually being sent to California, so when that arrives, I'll be able to pick her up, hang out for a few days till Eric is able to meet up with me and then we'll tag team the drive back to New Mexico. LOTS and lots of work ahead of us...it's kind of crazy. I'm thinking that there really isn't going to be any sort of "relaxing" done until..hmmm...June. 

Aye aye aye..

PS: Like my new signature? I was fiddling with an app on my iPad and I was able to bust out with the way I actually sign my name. Now I'm all super legit..WOOT! 

Read More

Decorating Dreams

As I've mentioned in a few posts, we'll be moving to New Mexico at the beginning of 2013. The upside to the whole thing is that we're working on getting our own home. OUR OWN HOME! OURS! Not the Air Forces...not a rental...OURS! I'm over the moon about the whole things considering I'd FINALLY get to decorate my house the way I'd want to. When you live in base housing, you pay out the wazoo to fix things (like a smudge on the carpet, or a pin hole in the wall from hanging a picture)...and landlords can be jerk offs when it comes down to you changing wall colors and, again, pesky holes from pictures. 

In my current house, I only have a total of eight things on the walls...it's a little depressing. And I was only able to do that because the holes were existing. If you didn't know any better, you'd think we hated family pictures or something. SO, first thing in our new home is that ALLLLL the fun family pictures we've taken over the years will go up! Yippy! 

One thing that I'd love to do is paint our stairs to look like iconic books. This is a FABULOUS example of what I'm talking about! We're all book nerds, so this would be very appropriate for us:

There's a closet right off to the side when you come in the front door. I'm thinking about making it like a "coat rack" sort of area where Eric can hang all of his junk, in addition to an area where I can hang my purse so it's not taking up space on the counter. I'm torn between the two different ways it can be done, but I'm sort of digging the first option:

Of course, I want to install roll out shelves in the closets for bath towels and various bedding things..

When it comes to the kitchen, I want to do something sort of like this (but in a toned down color) by using a flat paint then doing designs in the same color, but with a gloss finish. I think it'd really pick up the scroll designs on the kitchen table as well as the hutch we have: 

The main project I'm going to do is going to be awesome. Time consuming, but very awesome. I've wanted to do a family tree painting for quite some time, but since we're never allowed to paint on walls that didn't belong to us, I had to sit and bide my time. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Well, now that we'll have our own house, I can actually do the mural!!! After searching for a while in terms of something that tickled my fancy, I finally stumbled across a very colorful tree picture that would be *perfect* as a family tree for our families:

Now I just gotta do the footwork to get old pictures from when various family members were kids, or when they got married to add to the mix. I'm rather stoked to start that project once we're all settled in. Eric's pretty excited about it himself because he wants to see how OUR home is going to turn out once we're finished with it. 

Of course, there's lots and lots of other stuff I wanna do, especially since I'll still have a fair amount of free time on my hands till I manage to find some sort of job to pass my time. I'm already working on getting stuff set up for John in terms of a school...that should be fun!

At this time, we're still in the works for the house, but we've put an offer down, it was countered and we've settled on it. Actually, I just got an email while I'm writing this that the offer was accepted, so YAY! Still lots of stuff to do, but it's inching ever so closer to obtaining a home for us to...well..come home to when we move! 

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Read More

Last Ditch Trip!

I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Mentally, I'm wanting to just plant my feet in the ground and say "NO! You're not gonna make me move! I belong in Europe!"...alas, the Air Force is a thing you can't really argue with. 

Le sigh. 

With that being said, I'm going on a last ditch trip before we officially move back to the states. I'm going to Scotland, baby! YEAH! 

Actually...I think the landscape is gonna look like this more or less since I'll be going in January: 

Either way, I'm just thrilled to have the chance to even go there! Unfortunately, Eric won't be able to come since he'll be busy with work and doing all the important stuff he's gotta get handled in order for us to move. Being the awesome man he is, he told me go ahead and go since I'll end up kicking myself for passing it up. 

Ya see, an old friend of mine lives over in Montrose, which is about two hours from Edinburgh. He extended the invite for me to come over and visit for a bit because 1). We got lots to catch up on 2). He knows I've been wanting to go to Scotland 3). IT'S SCOTLAND! 

I'm actually rather excited to be in that town because I really...REALLY miss living near the ocean. Plus I can venture around a place I'm not really familiar with aside from checking out the typical tourist places. Of course, I want to check out Edinburgh and all it has to offer, possibly check out Balmoral Castle near Aberdeen..aghhhh..too many choices! Luckily, I'll be there for a week, so hopefully my friend is understanding and I'm gonna be on the move non stop to see all the things :D

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

Chik-chik-cha-chik-chik-chika-chik-cha-chik-Ding-ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip

It's no secret that I like old stuff. Personally, I think old stuff rocks. The majority of my house has antiques & vintage things as decor, and once we move back to the states, I'll be acquiring the rest of my cool things to give our new home some funky character. 

For those of you who don't know what this contraption is.. this is a typewriter. 

T-Y-PE-W-R-I-T-E-R. Ohhhh ahhhhhhhhhh!

 Now a days, everyone has a laptop, iPad, tablet, or other fancy do-hickey to converse with other people. This, my friends, is one of the many stepping stones it took to give you your current contraption. 

I kept debating back and forth about whether I really wanted to get this or not. I mean, it's heavy. VERY heavy. I struggled to carry it across the warehouse to my truck, lol

HISTORY OF REMINGTON TYPEWRITER:

E. Remington and Sons (1816-1896) was a manufacturer of firearms and typewriters. Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, and on March 1, 1873 it started manufacturing the first commercial typewriter.

In 1886, E. Remington and Sons sold its typewriter business to the Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company, Inc. Included were the rights to use the Remington name. E. Remington and Sons changed its name to "Remington Arms".

"Standard Typewriter" changed its name in 1902 to "Remington Typewriter Company". This company merged in 1927 with "Rand Kardex Company" to form "Remington Rand", which continued to manufacture office equipment and later became a major computer company, as well as manufacturing electric razors.

After their invention in the 1860s, typewriters quickly became indispensable tools for practically all writing other than personal correspondence. They were widely used by professional writers, in offices, and for business correspondence in private homes. By the end of the 1980s, word processors & personal computers had largely replaced typewriters in most of these uses.

One of the main selling points for me was the fact that the keys are in French! How cool is that?  

....yeeet it says it was made in Ilion, New York, USA. The keys even have the accent marks you'd need while typing in your beloved "language of love". Spiffy, right?

I love how each side has a trap door so you can replace the ribbon wheels. They worked perfectly when I was hammering away on the keys to test it out! 

I'm positive that Eric's gonna roll his eyes when he sees this when he gets home. Then again, he really shouldn't be surprised since I talked to him about it last week for a while to kinda "test the waters" for his opinion. When I came home on Friday with the hutch and no typewriter, he even said "I'm surprised you didn't get it"....sucka. I had to go back to Slegers today anyways since I was returning the moving blankets they let me borrow to get the hutch to my house. I was in and outta that place in record time..even the owner was surprised how fast I was! I think I spent a total of five minutes in the warehouse, lol

To those of you who have been long time readers...remember the typewriter teapot I got while in England a few years ago? 

Well, now it has someone it can relate to :) I think they'll have a fabulous friendship together.

Let's just hope that this isn't the piece that causes us to be over our weight limit when the time comes to move! Eeeeeesh!

Read More

It Fits...It sits.

So, this is a follow up for the post about my newly acquired hutch. After posting pictures of it on my Facebook page, several folks inquired about where it was gonna end up in my house. Ya seeeeee.... my Belgian house isn't exactly spacious. In fact, it's pretty cluttered, especially since I've taken up the hobby of hoarding antiques & all things deemed "cool". 

I ran back over to Slegers yesterday to officially pick up my new wooden jewel. 

Of all the times I've been to that place, I've NEVER been asked to back it into the warehouse in order for them to load it. All the while, I thought I was going to have to pay them to deliver it to the house...but no, they assured me that it'd fit in the Xterra. Remember when I got that awesome old trunk? Well, THAT fit, so surely this thing would. 

After a little finagling, they got the hutch all loaded in and wrapped it up with some moving blankets, then proceeded to do intense boy scout style knots on the back door & bumper to insure that it wouldn't fall out on the way home. I could only imagine hitting a speed bump and that thing slide out and bust into a thousand pieces..oiy! Luckily, I made it home with it in one piece! Yay!

My original plan was to put it in my office since I *thought* I had room in there, but, I don't. I wasn't willing to take all my Venetian masks off the wall because, well, I like them there. I strolled around the house for a bit debating on where it could possibly go..and it ended up making it to the foyer...blocking our french doors, lol. We don't even use those doors, so it's no major loss to me, but it made me realize there's literally no room in the house for any more furniture (to Erics delight). 

Once we made sure all the shelves were stable, we went ahead and moved all my bakers, roasting pans and other various little pottery pieces into it. Ohhhh my gosh! I'm SO happy! I'm totally digging the little hooks that are on the top of the hutch so I can hang our soup cups to free up some space for my other polish mugs in the kitchen. 

As much as Eric likes to give me grief about my purchases, he actually ADMITTED that I did a good job with this find and really, really liked it. 

MAJOR VICTORY FOR ME! 

I'm elated that it's pretty similar to our dining table, so I'm so excited to see how it'll all look together whenever we end up moving into our new home . So for the time being, it'll stay in the foyer since we only have another month and a half till the movers come to take away all my precious treasures and relocate all of them to New Mexico. 

Le Sigh. 

Read More