2016 Update

Hello Everyone!  It's 2016 and it only took me just over a month to write my first post!  Not bad considering my track record lately.

Let's start with a follow-up....

...in the last post I mentioned wanting to get involved with charity work.  Turns out getting into volunteer work here in The Netherlands isn't easy.  It's almost like taking on a side job, contracts, large commitments, insurance... c'mon!  What ever happened to having a couple hours of spare time a month and being able to just go and help people or animals?  Sure I know it's for every one's safety, but they are also deterring usable people.  My husband seemed to find a good solution, and managed to execute his idea.  So the one person not talking about it was the one that actually did something!  (He also got lucky they came to the door looking for help.)  My husband and daughter signed up to walk around the neighborhood and collect money for the "hersenstitching".  (A charity that helps with brain related diseases.)  Unfortunately my daughter & I were sick that week and he had a couple large deadlines, so they weren't able to hit up as many houses as planned but they still played their part.

...another similar post was about helping out.  I can at least say I have been doing a small portion to help.  I have been going through boxes and boxes of baby clothes and making different piles -  sell - donate to a 2nd hand shop - and donate to a charity.  The charity donations have been easy, literally put the stuff in a bag and deposit the bag in the collection bin in our neighborhood.  It might be easy but it's good to know we are helping a baby/toddler somewhere in the world.  Dealing with the rest of the stuff is going to be a bigger project, and an upcoming post.

...normal life abroad... yeah, last time I checked we were still normal, oh wait, tax season is rolling around again.  No, in that we're not normal... because being Americans abroad we get to pay taxes twice just because the US says so!  Not fair, and definitely separates us from so many other cultures.  (Complaining about an unfair tax system and FACTA, will have to wait for the appropriate future post.)

...where have we been... we moved from the city to a small village back in the summer.  In many ways it really suites us and has changed our lives for the better.  In other ways, the distance from everything has proven to be a challenge on many occasions, but I guess with the good comes the bad.  We love the house and surrounding landscape, but wow, I had no idea keeping up with a house and yard was this much work.  Remember, we moved from a small two bedroom apartment to a house more than twice the size.  At times keeping up with it all is quite overwhelming, but I wouldn't trade it for the apartment again!  I guess less complaining and more working will do the trick.

...how are the recipe clippings and cooking going, well, worse than ever!  I've stopped collecting recipes because I have come to realize I just can't cook well.  My cooking skills have actually regressed since moving, maybe it's lack of time or not understanding the oven here, either way wow!  Every meal gets served with an apology and it's growing quite tiresome.  A wife should be able to cook, especially a stay-at-home mom.  I never thought my cooking skills would contribute so much to how I feel about myself, but it's just getting embarrassing.

Well, after re-reading this I am wondering why the follow-up on everything has been more negative than positive???  Sometimes we just try and do everything, and we all know that's impossible.  Probably time to stop spreading myself so thin!  Have a great day!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste! Salut!

:) Danica

Where Have I Been?

I took a nearly 4 month hiatus from blogging, and boy does it feel good to be back.  When your schedule picks up you are forced to sacrifice something, and well, blogging was one of those things.  Now that school is out for the summer I am hoping to squeeze in a few posts over the next couple weeks.

The biggest reason blogging had to take a back seat is... drum roll please... we finally sold our apartment & bought a house!!!  It was a 4 year process, but definitely worth waiting for.

Not only did we buy a house, we moved cities.  We left the center of a busy city and moved to a little village with roughly 1,100 residents.  It's a big change, but a good one.  Now if I can just learn to sleep through the quiet nights!  Where are the sirens, motorcycles, and barhopping crowd when you need a good night sleep, ha-ha?

A lot of the roads leading from the main cities to our village are barely big enough for two cars.  But they are lined with trees & farms, which is a much better view than the concrete & endless buildings we had grown accustom to in the city.

Sure the house is going to require a lot more upkeep but so far we're happy to do it.  We were out doing yard work this morning with pleasure.  We often stop, look around, and smile at the improvement from where we used to live.  Patience does pay off.

There will be plenty more posts to come about this new phase of our lives, so be sure to check back periodically. 

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste! Salut!

:) Danica

Looking & Booking

I think over the past month or so I have definitely gotten another white hair, and by the end of the summer possibly a few more.  Why?  Well, I think after years of our apartment being on the market it has sold!  (Years as in 2011 and 2 realtors ago!)  This is great news!  That was until reality sunk in and I realized in a couple months my family would have no where to live. 

My days are consumed with two things.  Searching for a house to buy and searching for a rental for the period between selling & buying.  I've seen so many houses online and in person, they are starting to blend together.  The more I see the pickier I get.  Plus I have tried to make so many appointments for viewings, but the market is picking up and everything is selling.  The time of it being a buyers market is fading and our time is running out.  Even the rentals are booking up, and my stress level is rising.

But in the midst of all this stress there was one house that stood out, so we placed a bid and waited to agree on a price.  And today we heard they accepted our 2nd bid!  Nothing is on paper yet but this is really good news.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Now what do we do in the mean time?  I'd rather not move twice so we are trying to work something out with the realtor and people buying our apartment.  But to be safe I still have a few rentals lined up and will be visiting them next week.

One thing is for sure, I should have been a realtor because the majority of the companies have no idea what they are doing and are missing out on opportunities left & right.

I'll definitely keep you updated throughout this process.  And I apologize for not posting often enough but between volunteering at school and driving myself crazy with houses, my time is limited.

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste! Salut!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #89

Check my blog hop page for WW link-ups! 

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #88

Been a while, thought I'd throw this one out there!

Check my blog hop page for WW link-ups! 

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Summer Dress

Summer dress... party dress... something to wear to a wedding, whatever you want to call it I'm having a little trouble deciding what to wear to an upcoming event. 

When purchasing a dress for an acquaintances wedding many requirements arose.
#1)  It has to be multi-functional, I can't justify getting a new dress if I'm only going to wear it to weddings.  (At my age there aren't so many weddings anymore.)
#2)  It has to be able to handle weight loss & gain.  (This is unfortunately common for me.)
#3)  It has to be fun, I'm not really into formal, chic, or stuffy.  (Most people are surprised when they see me in a dress.)
#4)  It has to be summery with refreshing colors, patterns, or embroidery.  (Here in NL it's only warm enough to wear dresses in the summer anyway.)

 

Keeping all of this in mind, as well as a budget, I ordered 8 dresses from an online store.  The beauty of ordering online - you can try it on in the convenience of your own home and return what you don't want.  Generally the "fitting room" sessions are quite upsetting.  I went through this in the weekend at H&M, I left feeling like an elephant and that styles these days aren't made for my body shape.  Depressing!!!  But luckily the "fitting room" session in my own bedroom today went much better.  Shockingly I liked the majority of the dresses and they liked me.  I actually had to choose between what I wanted to keep and/or found most relevant for the event.  (This never happens!)

 

So, now I've narrowed it down to two dresses, and just have to decide which one to wear.  The old tradition says never to wear white to a wedding, but come on, it's 2014, and I'm sure that tradition is long gone.  But I also have to keep in mind I'm in The Netherlands and to be honest I have no idea what their norm is for wedding guest attire.  And to be fair, coral is my color, it makes me look tan and cheerful.  So most likely I'll go with the coral dress but I thought I'd first ask around for other opinions.

What do you think, which dress is more wedding guest appropriate?
(Keep in mind the white one is embroidered on the top, it's kind of hard to see.  And the stripe near the bottom is see through.)

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #87

 

Been a while, thought I'd throw this one out there!

Check my blog hop page for WW link-ups! 

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

National Pride?

I was a little disappointed in the Dutch today.  See tonight The Netherlands plays against Spain in the World Cup (soccer) and the lack of support I saw in town this morning came as quite a surprise.  The Dutch are known for being great sports fans, dressing up in orange and coming out in herds to support their national team.  But today, I think only 1 in 10 people even had on orange (or the national colors - red, white, & blue).  Maybe they're all waiting for the game tonight?  Maybe they're just waiting to see how Holland plays and then dress up next time?  You know, if this were The States, everyone would have been decked out all day to support the national team.  Where's the team spirit guys?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

What's Happening?

If you're not interested in reading me grumbling about crime in our area then I would skip this post over...

What's happening?  When I first moved to The Netherlands over 10yrs ago it took me a long to get used to how safe it is was.  It was hard for me to comprehend that I could walk down the street alone at night... that I never had to consider locking the doors of the car as we drove... that the kids hanging on the corner were still harmless, just big mouths... and that if you got into a confrontation a gun wouldn't even come to mind.  But now, one of the major bonuses of living in The Netherlands is starting to change.  Sure, there was always crime in the big cities or petty crime here & there in the smaller ones.  But lately every time I open the local online news I'm reading of more and more serious crimes, ones comparable to where I came from in The States, ones that didn't used to be so abundant here in the past.  Within the past 2 months there have been at least 2 store robberies at gun point, one was even across the street from my child's elementary!  (And another in a town not so far away.)  Then this evening I open the news again, and 2 gas stations within 10 minutes of our apartment were held up at knife point, then there was a 3rd across town.  The Netherlands has so much to offer, a healthy living style, great health insurance for the children, clean streets & parks (of course all paid for by the extreme amount of tax people pay, but that's besides the point).  Crime seems to be on the rise, guns are starting to become more prevalent despite the strict laws.  And besides weapons, it seems like some of the people are changing or maybe the numbers of criminals are increasing... it seems as if they have less respect for the world around them.  I hope this isn't true.

In The States, I can barely watch the news, they often use scare tactics to get viewers or get people hooked waiting for the next update.  And it often seems like endless negative report after another.  Maybe that's what's happening here.  Maybe the crime was there all along and the media just never focused on it.  But now they are, and the scare tactics are working.  It makes me question the safety of Eindhoven, makes me wonder if it's still the right place for us.  Everywhere has its pluses and minuses, I guess I'm just surprised as to what is happening here, somewhere I didn't expect.  I try and tell myself no matter where you go in the world there is crime, just some places worse than others.  I enjoyed living with little concern about crime around us, but I guess that was naïve anyway. 

Sorry for the depressing post, and I promise I will get around to happy fun posts about our vacation to Florida.

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

School Library

I'm a librarian, sort of!
My daughters elementary has just set up their first in-house library.  It's not really comparable to school libraries in The States though.  It's literally in the middle of the foyer with a total of maybe 10 racks that aren't even full yet, but it's a start!

Of course, a friend (another SAHM) & I jumped at the chance to volunteer.  Unfortunately we missed the demo and have very little understanding of how the library works, but we did our best this week to help out.  As of yet it's simple, return the books from the drop-off bin to the shelves & dust.  Since the order of the books isn't exactly clear, we did our best to find a suitable shelf (another mom said she spent an hour trying to figure it out).  Hopefully with time they'll get a better system (guess they never heard of properly labeling the books & shelves, or even the Dewey Decimal System, but whatever).  Needless to say, we put our SAHM cleaning skills to work, and dusted like crazy, ha-ha!

Never realized I was interested in being a librarian until the semi-opportunity arose.  But it makes sense, I love books, writing, sorting, & organizing. 

Who knows maybe the library will grow or maybe the one at her next school will be bigger... I can see it now, me pushing the trolley full of books around and finding their homes on the proper shelves.  Or possibly introducing a child to the book that changes their life.  I remember almost all of the libraries I ever visited, the best having to be the Trinity College Library in Dublin.  But the old public library where I grew up had a great view of a lake, also a nice aspect. 

Any of ever worked at a library?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Winter Fun

Each year around Christmas we try and pick out two unusual activities to mark the holidays.  (Holidays = Christmas, New Year, & vacation from school & work... there's a lot to celebrate.)  Last year we went to the Winter Christmas Circus here in Eindhoven and to see Disney on Ice.

And since we enjoyed the circus so much, we were sure to book tickets again this year.  The "Kerst Winter Circus" is 3 hrs long, which is a lot to ask of little kids, but between the entertainment and bringing friends along the time flew by for our 4yr old.  My husband & I thoroughly enjoyed the acts this year... laughing at the clowns (David Shiner & Jose Michel Clowns) and in awe of some of the difficult acts (Oktay Novruzov & Andreis Jacobs Rigolo).  But the one that stuck out most in our mind were The Astronauts, I can only compare them to an amazing tight rope act but on a wheel, you really should just look them up!  Of course there was everything a circus needed... balancing acts, magicians, and acrobats.  If you're near the Eindhoven area, you really should think about attending when the winter circus rolls around again next year.

Besides a fun afternoon at the circus we spontaneously went to the Efteling.  It's a pretty famous theme park here in The Netherlands.  We have never been in the winter and we actually enjoyed it a lot more than the summer.  The cold, the extra activities like ice skating, and the early sunset added to the feel & mood of the day.  There was something for everyone, young & old!  It was insanely busy but since we went with such a large group we were able to entertain ourselves in all the lines.  The young kids loved the fairy tale woods & ice slide, the older kids loved the rides of course, and the parents enjoyed the train & water show (Aquanura) rounding off the night.  By the time we finally all made it home some time after 10PM we still had smiles plastered on our faces, it was worth the trip & money.  And considering when we woke up we had no idea we were going, it made it even more special.
 

As usual I've included a couple pics!  Did you do anything extra special this holiday season?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Sinterklaas & Santa Claus

It feels like endless weeks of holidays around here.  Being Americans that live in The Netherlands we end up celebrating some of their holidays and some of ours.  And occasionally they overlapse.  Sinterklaas celebrations last from the middle of November until the 5th of December... and Santa Claus celebrations last from Thanksgiving until the New Year.  In years past we toned down the Sinterklaas stuff, some years she only put out her shoe once and we didn't bother with "pakjes avond" (present night) on the 5th.  But now that our kid is in a Dutch elementary school we didn't have a choice but to join in the 3 week celebration.  Every night she would place her shoe at the door with a drawing (and sometimes a song) for Sinterklaas & his Zwarte Pieten, and when she checked the next morning their would either be something yummy to eat or a present.  This takes more effort than you think, trying to fill a shoe for 3 weeks and keep the budget down considering our big holiday is still to come.  I managed though, picking up little toys on sale and even reusing things.  Yes, I did, I reused things she forgot she had, like unopened packages of stickers, strawberry milk mix, and even fruit we had in the kitchen.  (Keep in mind she's 4 yrs old.)  There were also a couple close calls, come on, it's hard to remember to fill the shoe every night, luckily we never let her down.  And her reaction when she found a burlap bag of presents by the door on "pakjes avond" was priceless.  But because the holiday carries into Christmas celebrations, we've had to put off the Christmas tree and Elf on the Shelf until this weekend.  We really enjoy the Elf on the Shelf, this will be our 3rd year!  So last night I happily read my daughter the book, and this morning she awoke around 6:30AM (as usual) ready to find the elf.  Oh no, I forgot to put the elf out!  Day 1 and off to a bad start!  My saving grace is that my daughter doesn't get out of bed in the morning unless given permission... I darted to where the elf was in the cabinet, yanked it out of the box, and in the dark found a shelf in the living room to place it on.  Whew!  After 3 weeks of remembering a shoe every night, we now have to remember to move the elf, what have we gotten ourselves in to, ha-ha!  One thing I do love about these holidays is being able to play the "if-you're-naughty-you-get-nothing" card, it's great!  Our kid is pretty good for the most part, but I still love using the card when she tries to be difficult.  We've decided to tone down Christmas this year though, we want our daughter to appreciate what she gets (plus there were plenty of Sinterklaas presents).  This year she gets 1 big present from Santa, and of course presents from the family.  It's kind of hard to explain the flow of deliveries arriving at house, so we told her that families also exchange presents, plus Santa Claus brings stuff to the kids.  How long will we be able to keep up this charade?  When I grew up my parents were too religious to allow me to believe in Santa Claus, but now that I'm a parent I'm doing things different.  Do your little ones believe in Santa Claus?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Sports & Kids

I am really curious how many sports or activities are your young children involved in?  Why?  Because now that my daughter is in Pre-K at a Dutch elementary school, I am realizing a lot of these kids lives are jammed packed.  Personally I feel one sport or activity outside of school for a small child is plenty.  They're young, they're worn out from school, and they need free time to rest or play quietly away from the hustle & bustle of school and sports.  My daughter takes swimming lessons (she's been in swimming lessons since she was 5 months old).  But when she started going to school 4.5 days a week, I questioned if the 45 min swimming class once a week after school would be too much.  But since she has already swam for so long, we figured we might as well keep her in until she gets her diploma.  Now that she's at school and hears other girls attend dance class, she wants to sign up also.  Dance & swimming, on top of school, at 4 yrs old, that's just too much right?  Like I said though, at her school some of the kids have 2-3 sports they are enrolled in outside of school.  Now I know American kids often have sports incorporated into school, Dutch kids also have P.E., but I am talking about after school activities, whether it be through the school or not.  At what age is it o.k to be enrolled in 2 activities?  When is it considered too pushy?  Sure I want to expose my daughter to sports & music, but I also don't want to overwhelm her and keep her so busy she misses out on just enjoying herself and being a kid.  What is your take on this? 

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Changing Charities

After over a year of small monthly donations to the KWF (the Dutch cancer society) we are switching over to another charity organization, Hulphond (Dutch charity for service dogs).  There are so many charities throughout the world, at times it is hard to pick one over the other (donations are also great gift ideas for the holidays).  So, we do our best to spread the donations, at times we change charities per quarter and at times per year.  The KWF was important to us because we have known many people throughout our lifetime with cancer, one of which, my husbands aunt.  After watching her fight with breast cancer we wanted to do our part to help support others with cancer.

But now it's time to switch and coincidentally we ran into collectors who had spent the entire day outside of supermarket with a service dog drumming up new donators.  Knowing someone first hand that uses a service dog helps us to see just what they're capable of doing.  The woman we know is confined to wheelchair with little use of her hands.  The service dog does everything from turning on the water in the sink to pressing the button at the crosswalk.  It is quite amazing.  When speaking to the collector we found out that some dogs can even peel a banana for their owners.  And it's not just wheelchair bound people that need service dogs, the other day at the park we met a middle-aged man who went blind 3 yrs ago and now is dependent on his dog.  This service dog gives this man a chance at living a normal life, at safely leaving the house, and also having a companion.  Being a dog owner and seeing just how much they can do when trained properly, we see the double fold benefit of this charity, we're helping people and animals.

Do any of you support charities?  Is it because of life experiences or just because you want to help out?

Fresh Veggies #2

I'm not so thrilled with the weather changing, but I am definitely happy that the autumn vegetables are back!  The first thing that crossed my mind when the chill hit the air was the road side veggie stand in Riethoven (Walik)!  Last year we stumbled upon a beautiful assortment of pumpkins and squashes, and I was eager to head back.  We took the risk of going a few weeks earlier than last year, but luckily the stand was up and running.  She didn't have as big of a selection yet, so I think we'll be taking the 1hr round trip again later in the month.  Besides the stunning, colorful display being perfect for a hobby photographer, the vegetables are actually delicious.  I don't cook the pumpkins though, as of yet we gave them to family and also displayed one in the living room (maybe we'll get around to carving it).  But I do cook the large squashes.  This year I picked up a butternut squash and a spaghetti squash to bake, and they were both soooo delicious!
 

I can't help but show you pictures from our stop at the self-service veggie stand (but I'm saving my favorite shot for a Wordless Wednesday)!
 

Wordless Wednesday #74

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Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Driving Decisions #2

Way back in 2011, I wrote a post about the stupid things I had seen cars do while on the road or in a parking lot.  At that time I didn't have my Dutch license and was always on foot, so I saw my fair share of crazy driving decisions and had the easy access of my camera to snap pics.  Nowadays, I have a license and a car, so taking pictures isn't as easy but I still see a lot of craziness on the road.  One thing you see often at Dutch stop lights are pushy motorcycles.  When there is a double row of traffic stopped at a red light, a motorcyclist will often squeeze between traffic, riding down the middle line, making his (or her) way to the front of the row.  They wait in between the cars until the light changes, then speed off before the cars even get started.  (Keep in mind, this is against the law in The Netherlands but often overlooked by police.)  Personally, I think the motorcyclists are crazy to do this, how do they know no one is going to switch lanes or toss their door open.  Why should they get privileges because their vehicles are smaller?  On one hand I understand, it speeds things up for them... but at such a stupid risk.  And it's not only at traffic lights you'll see them squeezing between cars, I've also seen this on the highway during traffic jams!  My mother used to ride a motorcycle, and my step-dad still does, and in a million years they would never make this decision (plus in The States you'd be pulled over right away!)  Have you seen any crazy motorcyclists in your area?

(Sorry for the quality of the pic, but that's what you get with your phone at a stoplight!)

Adopting US Kids

Did you know that many American kids are now being adopted by foreign parents?  In years past I had often heard of children being adopted from poor countries or countries with an abundance of unwanted children... but I never pictured it being the US.  The first time I heard a Dutch family adopted an American child I was speechless.  Should I have really been so shocked?  I guess I naively thought adopted American kids stayed in the US.  When I saw an article on CNN online this morning it brought back those first memories and realizations, and it made me want to share the article with my readers:

CNN : Rising Overseas Adoptions

Wordless Wednesday #69

Link up here for Wordless Wednesday!

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Wordless Wednesday #68

Link up here for Wordless Wednesday!

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...