My Rain Coat

Well, in the spirit of my birthday, I'm writing about another great b-day present.  (There will be more of these to come.)  A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was on the look out for a rain coat.  Well, I finally made a decision and when my b-day rolled around I crossed my fingers and suggested it as a b-day gift from the in-laws.  I found the hooded coat to be quite expensive, so since I'm frugal (do I mention this in every post?) I did my research until I found the same coat on sale.  The sale wasn't great but it was still less than buying it direct from Happy Rainy Days.  After suggesting it as a present I didn't really hear anymore about it, so when my b-day celebration rolled around I was ecstatic to see the box sitting in the eat-in kitchen.  I patiently waited until they handed it over, but once they did I ripped the box open, yanked the coat out, and immediately put it on.  (Despite breaking out into a sweat).  It's awesome... it fits great, it looks great, and I can't wait to use it.  Now I fully understand my b-day falls in the summer and a rain coat isn't actually practical until the weather cools off again, but at least I have it.  As of now it's hanging on the coat rack waiting for the first cool rain of autumn.  Since I live in a country known for rain and cool weather I should get a lot of use out of it.  As always I snapped a pic (don't usually take reflection pics). 

I didn't ask for the coat I showed you in a previous post, Happy Rainy Days has so many patterns and designs I searched until I found one that suited me.  It was hard to choose between the pink & white or black & white, but you see which one I obviously went with.  I'll be sure to write a post once I actually use it!  Thanks in-laws, you're great!!!

Happy Rainy Days

Living in a place where it often rains means you need a good rain coat.  And yet some how after all my years here I am yet to buy one.  About a month ago when it rained for around 3 weeks straight I went in search of a cute yet adult rain coat.  I'm an online shopper so immediately a world of options opened.  And I mean it literally... I found 3 coats I adore, 1 in the US, 1 in the UK, & 1 here in NL.  The bright yellow Steve Madden jacket from Macy's in The States was sold out so that was the end of that. The black & white daisy print jacket from ASOS in England was cute but returning it if it didn't fit would prove to be a challenge.  So I'm pretty sure I've settled on a brand here, Happy Rainy Days. They have a huge variety of styles & colors and now I just have to decide which one suites me best.  And since I have a b-day coming up it will be a perfect gift to ask people to pitch in on... they're not cheap, you definitely pay for the quality.

 

What do you all think of the jackets?

Do you have a rain coat and where did you find it?

Dog Diapers

For many of you this post is going to seem ridiculous, and for others, you're going to completely understand.  Our Wheaten Terrier is in heat at the moment, well the end of it, luckily.  We have full intentions of getting her spayed but here in The Netherlands they make you wait until the dog has gone through its first cycle to make sure it reached full hormonal development.  The States feel different, they encourage you to get your dog fixed before the first cycle in order to prevent certain diseases.  We aren't thrilled to have to deal with a doggy cycle.  Even though we also find it cruel to deprive her the chance of ever having puppies we know it's something we just couldn't deal with, we're barely getting through this.  I have a toddler, so obviously we survived all of her bodily functions, including diapers.  But dog diapers are completely different (I'm gagging right now).  It's a brilliant idea, as long as you're not the one dealing with it.  My husband took the easy road, because I'm a woman I supposedly have more understand around cycles and I have to deal with the diapers, thanks!  I had no idea what to expect, I checked online and apparently this can last 1-1.5 weeks, that's a lot more doggy diapers than I bought.  The dog absolutely hates the diapers, understandably.  The first day she stood for around 2 hours because she didn't want to sit or lie down wearing the diaper.  Over the past week she's grown more accustom to them, even though we haven't.  I'm not sure if I bought the wrong size or not, but these expensive diapers kept breaking and before I knew it I was almost through the pack.  Then it came to me, I had an unopened pack of diapers left over from my daughters potting training days.  I compared the sizes and it was a perfect match, all I needed to do was cut the hole out for the tail.  Last night we tried the Pampers on her, and she is much happier with them.  The Pampers are more flexible and give around the legs, they're obviously meant for active toddlers.  The dog has much more freedom now, it shows in how she lays and plays.  I wished we had used baby diapers from the beginning instead of torturing her through the stiff dog diapers.  I would say next round we'll use them again, but there will be no next round, we'll be making an appointment at the vet soon to get her fixed.  But I thought I'd at least pass the tip on to other dog owners suffering through heat. 
It wouldn't be a usual post if I didn't include pictures.  The first picture is when Maggie is bathed, brushed, and with long hair.  The other picture is when she is trimmed and stuck in a miserable dog diaper, poor dog!

If you're interested here are a couple other posts about our puppy, and there will definitely be more to come:

Dog Debate

Puppy Maggie
Puppy Class

Freebies (aka Monsters)

Freebies!!!  Who doesn't love getting a free sample of something???  In Dutch freebies or samples are called "monsters".  Sounds funny to an American, but so what, I love "monsters"!
 

Every once in a while I go in search of freebies online.  I wouldn't say they're as common here as in The States but you can still find them.  One website I use is ProefMonsters.nl  (I pulled it up to get the link for you and they had an offer for dog Dentastix, great!  Signed up and invited friends too!)  Now if you're not in The Netherlands this site will be of little use to you, but I am sure you can find one of your own.  My last round on this website has delivered at least 2 freebies so far:
 

I'm really happy with this one, it arrived a week or so ago!  It's a lid for cottage cheese.  Sounds so simple yet I didn't have it.  We often open a container of cottage cheese, eat half, and then leave it poorly sealed in the fridge.  Usually it gets tossed out because we don't trust our sealing capabilities (if we bothered at all).  Now, thanks to Danone's nifty little lid, we can rest assure that the cottage cheese will be good the next day and if we happen to tip it over (happened before) there will not be unwanted cottage cheese juice all over the fridge!  Thanks Danone!
 

My other freebie arrived today in the mail, it's a small mixed sample pack of labels/stickers from Avery.  Since I no longer have an office job I almost never print things out on stickers.  Even though I do occasionally feel like getting organized I can't bring myself to buy a pack of expensive labels at the store.  Again, through the freebie website I only had to give my address, wait a couple weeks, and voila, I now have stickers for my printer.  I'm just curious how long it will take me to get the hankering to actually get labels printed out and stuck on whatever the project of the month might be.  I do have some storage boxes in the shed that could use labels!!!
 

Hope you all find a website of your own and start signing up for freebies.  They're extra rewarding because they take so long to arrive that you tend to forget about them!

PhotoFunia

Just a quick tip for anyone who enjoys playing with photos, it's called PhotoFunia!  It's a fun app, that you can download for free.  I don't manipulate many photos, but if I do, I tend to use Picasa and then add just a boost or something simple.  But on occasion it's fun to go a step further.  This app allows you to apply all types of pictures (mostly human faces) to around 298 options of photo fun.  I've included one original picture to show you what you can do with the app, and I've also included a few other fun ones we have made.  (Wow, so far I've used the word fun, 5 times!)

Autumn Walk

Adding a dog to the family has changed the activities we participate in the weekends.  In the past we just looked for something entertaining for our toddler but nowadays we look for something that suits the entire family, dog included.  There are a lot of great places in and around Eindhoven to let your dog off the leash so they can run free and enjoy life outside of the bustling city center.  One of which happens to be near the golf course my husband belongs to.  We noticed the park we usually take the family walk in has been a little too busy lately so we headed the other direction.  Sure we crossed paths with a few people, but for the most part it was quiet and we could take in nature as it was intended.  Our toddler loved climbing up and down the small hills, shaking trees, and collecting pine cones.  And our Wheaten Terrier was over the moon running about, playing in the mud, and sniffing out rabbit & fox holes.  My husband claims to have seen deer, but the rest of us missed them somehow.  Days like this remind me to be thankful for these moments together, watching our family grow and bond... for the fresh air and beauty of nature... for the smile on my tots face as Dad saves the soccer ball from the tree... for the smiles on our faces when our daughter giggles with excitement... for the pleasure our dog gets from exploring and leaping... and for the invention of cameras so that we can capture these times and cherish them for as long as we can. 

Puppy Class

Like most responsible pet owners, or those of us with naughty dogs, I've enrolled us in an obedience class at Hond en Gedrag.  I went into it with great hope and high expectations and walked away with a much different impression.  My husband says I'm overdramatic and blow things out of proportion, but feelings are feelings (and I am a story teller, of course my wording is elaborate!)  I do my best not to let the Dutch language hold me back, but it can get challenging at times.  I attended toddler swimming and water aerobics in Dutch, I did all of my driving lessons and examines in Dutch, I even used to work 40hrs a week at UPS in Dutch, and now puppy obedience class.  With every new situation new words apply, this may seem strange to someone who gets to speak their mother-tongue all day but those of us speaking a 2nd language you understand.  Your vocabulary grows with each new activity.

Back to puppy class, here I am foreign and already a bit shy about speaking Dutch in front of a group of 10-20 Dutch people and of course I had the worst puppy in the class bringing a lot of unwanted attention to myself.  Maggie, our puppy - a Wheaten Terrier, is a different dog inside and outside of the house.  At home she listens for the most part and follows commands, outside of the house she is a hyper and excited wreck.  And of course she didn't let me down at class.  She continuously tried to get away from me, she jumped & flopped all over the place, and even took a dump in the middle of the group (the only dog that went #2).  She barely followed any commands, even ones she was accustomed to.  I couldn't get her attention to save my life, everything was more interesting... the other pups, the people, the rabbit poop, the grass, my toddler & husband, the sheep, the kids playing soccer in the distance, you name it.  The trainers have you work in a circle and if a puppy is too distracted (or distracting to the group) they ask you to step back a little.  By the time the last exercise came around the trainer actually asked me to go outside of the fenced in area to work with Maggie, it was that bad.  This is great for a foreigner, I could barely hear what was going on, luckily my husband heard a few key things I missed.  After class I was mad, mad at myself for not being able to take control, mad at the dog for acting like an idiot, just plain all around frustrated.  If I could have found a way to quit right then I would have (even though this isn't in my personality).  At that point I knew I had to get a hold of myself, all of this was my fault, I watch enough Cesar Millan to know my attitude and reactions drastically affect theirs (this is also common sense).  Besides the periodic comments from family that if the dog is too overwhelming we can get rid of it, I knew I had to prove myself.  I'm stubborn, I'm not a quitter, and when I set my mind to something, watch out!

Over the next week I worked with her as often as I could, but I was still nervous about class.  When class day rolled around my mother-in-law gave me a pep talk and a few simple instructions and off we went.  This time just me & Maggie.  I approached it with a different attitude, I knew she was going to act up, I knew she was going to embarrass me, and I knew this is what the rest of the class expected also.  It could only get better from there.  When we entered I let her greet a few dogs even thought the trainers complained, she needed to get it out of her system.  When she pooped, I made sure to have a baggie this time.  And I was better prepared in general, baggie for the treats, outside toy, and I did my best to relax and take it all in stride.  Between each command I would give her a break (tip from the M-I-T), let her eat the grass and rabbit poop then return to training.  She was focused, she was ready, and she made me proud.  What a difference a couple of adjustments can make.  Of course she had her moments, during one exercise they were off the leash and supposed to come when called, she took off.  Apparently I left too much distance between us, she realized she wasn't on the leash and high tailed it around the fenced in training area.  Maggie had the time of her life, finally she could greet the other dogs and check out the training area, I couldn't help but laugh (she wasn't the only pup that took off).  I left the class with a smile and pep in my step, let's just hope I can get out of my own way next class.  (Surprisingly a tip I picked up from my husbands golf training audio book).

I've included two photos of Maggie, one from about a month ago, and one now that she's almost two times that size and after a hair cut.  We asked for a puppy cut and ended up with something else, maybe next time my husband should go with to the groomer.

Puppy Maggie

We did it, after a lot of debate (which I even blogged about), we bought a puppy!

She's a 12 wk old Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, and we named her Maggie.  Maybe we're crazy, we're not out of apartment yet and we have a toddler (almost 3 yrs old) running around but we did it.  The drive to the breeder in Belgium took about 1.5 hrs, so I was a bit worried about the ride home, but she did brilliant.  I was worried about her 1st night here, the breeder said she heard back from other new owners that their dogs whelped until 1AM, but she did fine.  (I'm a worrier.)  Maggie was up at 6AM, but since she slept through the night I couldn't really complain.  I must say, she knows very little yet and we have a lot of training ahead of us.  I haven't mopped so much in my life (even while potty training our daughter)!  Just because there's a puppy in the house it didn't stop my daughter from wanting to head to the playground, with or without Maggie.  I decided to give it a shot, we walk everywhere and she needs to get used to it.  At 1st I put the puppy in the stroller with my daughter, but after she leapt out near the fire station and scared us all, I decided she would walk from there.  Halfway to the park I seriously considered turning around, but this is how they (all of us) learn what to do and how to act.  Of course the park was packed full of kids, which was very exciting for the puppy, I could barely keep her in one place.  And my daughter was having trouble grasping why I couldn't go on the seesaw with her, but once the dog is trained we'll get back to playing together like before.  Or we'll just leave the dog at home.  My husband is a real softy for dogs and tried to get her to sleep in our room last night, but I said if our baby handled her own bedroom alone on the 1st night home, so can the puppy!  We did end up sleeping on the couch for a while, just to make sure the dog fell asleep, and in all fairness it worked quite well.  Besides the excitement of the puppy we added a small hangover and bad weather to the situation.  The night before, our daughter stayed at her aunt's and we headed into town, we knew if we bought the dog we might not get nights out together for a while and took full advantage of it.  The headache followed me all day, and I was ready to fall asleep by 9PM, but luckily everyone in the house was exhausted!

The plan was for me to drive home from the breeder in Belgium but the weather and hydroplaning on the highway made my husband nervous and he decided I should pull over and he drive (men)!  Once we crossed the border and the weather toned down (the photo is the tail end of one of the storms) he finally let me drive again.  Actually it worked out nice because the puppy had time to cuddle & bond with both of us on the drive.  Wish us luck, because we've just entered a new phase of our lives!  Next phase, get a house.

My Crocs!

I used to be good at maintaining a blog but I have slacked off over the past year, but here it is, I'M BACK!  If you know me at all, you know I like to talk and I'm very opinionated.  So what better way to get it all out than through a blog.  This one is an ODE TO MY CROCS.  I love Crocs, I don't know many adults that wear them, but my wardrobe wouldn't be complete without them.  There were my white Prima Ballet Crocs, then my khaki Crocband Crocs, and now my purple Crocband Jaunts!

 

I received them as a b-day gift back in July and I've been waiting for just the right occassion to wear them, and today was that day!  Autumn's here, it's cold and rainy, when else better than to slip on a pair of rain boots.  Of course with the boots I had to wear a outfit that fit the theme, I pulled out a pair of tighter fitting capri jeans (everyone knows I tend to wear loose fitting jeans) so that I could tuck them into the boots and an old Brunotti winter/athletic jacket (pink so that I looked bright and cherry among the dreary weather).  I was very pleased with my assemble (I'm not the best at matching clothes).  You'd think I was ready for a walk in the woods or maybe a trip to the pumpkin patch, but no, I was ready for a visit to the pediatrician with my 2 yr old daughter.  I don't have a car or even a license so I walk everywhere, sun, rain, or snow!  This trip seemed to be the perfect occassion for trying out my new Crocs.  I must admit, they're my first pair of rain boots, so walking in them took getting used to, but I managed.  I wasn't walking my usual pace (fast), but I was still on the go and managed to make the appointment on time.  I felt like a pro, stroller in one hand, umbrella in the other, and of course my rain boots.  Funnily enough, my daughter didn't notice my new shoes, she noticed the large box.  I can't wait until she wears her first pair of Crocs, she has a pair but won't be able to use them until next year when it warms up again.  I grew up wearing "jelly" shoes (some sort of slip on plastic shoes), I guess that's what makes me love Crocs so much.  They're so easy to clean, you can get them wet and they survive, plus they're comfortable, what else could a busy stay-at-home Mom ask for!  If you're wondering right now, what did I just read, an infomercial for Crocs, nope, just a random rant from yours truly!  Oh yeah, I can't forget to include a photo of my Crocs on the go!