Somebody loves me!

 Breigh loves my blog!!  And this is my first blog award from someone, so I feel especially honoured that a fellow expat Canadian has given it to me.  Since I’m new to the blog scene, it’s kind of cool to get noticed.  And lately I’ve noticed more and more people have been stopping by to read up on things here in the Netherlands.  I originally started this blog to keep family and friends back home in Canada updated on things here, and I thought that only they would be the ones to take interesting in my blogging, but according to the stats I have more people reading it then I do friends and family!  Or at least friends and family with computers.

So according to Breigh this is how it works:

The “I Love Your Blog Award” rules:

The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

Link the person you received your award from.

Nominate at least seven other blogs

Put links of those blogs on yours.

Leave a message on the blogs that you’ve nominated.

Lets start with the one that gave me the award to begin with  Canadutch,  I love this girl’s honesty about all things Dutch and Canadian.  She was the very first blog I started reading before moving here and I can’t get enough of it now that I am here.  Her and I have become pretty good friends through chatting on line, although we haven’t met up yet.  That will come very soon though and I’m sure when it does both of us will blog about it.  Breigh and I have the same interests in a lot of things, our pets, home reno, and photography.  She’s much more artys fartsy then I am… ok I don’t have a crafty bone in my body, but she’s like a craft show all her own.  One of these days though her and I will meet up in either Rotterdam or Amersfoort and go markt-ing.

A Touch of Dutch is a great blog, especially for people either looking to come to the Netherlands or those that are already here and need some information on living here.  She does an amazing job with her “Dutch Word of the Week”.  She keeps her blog very updated and fresh and with lots of Dutch things to read, look, and learn about. Her pictures are great and she also has many links to help you along the way. 

Gone Dutch this blog takes you around Europe.  I just recently started to read Nan and Luke’s blog on a regular basis and so far I’ve been to Hungry, Paris, Germany and Poland, all for free!  Well not really for free since now I want to go there and that’s going to cost me money.  But this blog is updated on a very regular basis so it gives me my dose of reading for the day.  The pictures they take also are just amazing!  This is a blog that you should check out.

Jen of Nunavut, yup as in Nunavut Canada, waaaaay up north.  I started reading her blog after I found it on another Nunavut blog (will post that later) and just fell in love with her pictures and experiences up in the Arctic of Canada.  Jen is originally from Southern Canada and went up to live in Cape Dorset with her husband who was transferred there.  Her love of her sweet dog Tallinn, and now she is pregnant and expecting her first child in the north.  Her blogs are always entertaining!

The House and other Arctic Musings This is another Nunavut blog!  Actually this is the first Arctic blog that I read and went from there.  Clare has a great eye when it comes to photos around his tiny town of Arctic Bay on Baffin Island.  He writes about life up there so that you can get a taste of the north with out having to deal with the cold.  And here I thought northern Ontario was cold!  He runs a B&B with his wife and two children.  His blog also has a bunch of links to other Northern blogs (see above and below) and I’ve pretty much gone through them all.

The Adventures of Matt, Kara and Baby Hunter in Faro Yukon – This is another blog that I found through the two mentioned above.  I actually started reading this blog when they were located in Kugluktuk Nunavut.  Recently moved to the Yukon they have now hit all three Territories!  I love how Kara keeps up with the daily updates of Hunter (an adorable little boy with “oh you just wanna kiss them cheeks”) and her and her husbands daily adventures.  She also makes these really great booties!  She puts a great spin on things living in the north and I love seeing what the land looks like with her countless photos.

Invading Holland unfortunately Stu stopped with his blog writing this year *sniff* because he was too busy with work, his new love, and life in general here in NL.  But if you want a great, hilarious, laugh until you pee read about someones expat life in Holland, this is the blog.  I know this isn’t an active blog and I don’t know if it can count for the award but too bad. I still go back occasionally to read some of his funniest posts. The Lift of Terror has to be the best in my books.  Now if only I can convince him to come back and write a bit more… Stu.. come back Stu… we miss you!!  Stu….

 

Ty Pennington has nothing on my guy!

We are in the process of redoing the hallway since it is the first thing people see when they walk in, I wanted to freshen it up a bit and then we’ll start on the living room.  But right now we have stripped the walls of the old wallpaper, patched up the holes and sanded.  Frank has already started to edge the walls tonight and tomorrow I’ll continue with the primer.  I really would like this to be done by the weekend, I’m anxious to finish it.  The colour scheme we are going with is, a sage green (very grey green) on the walls with black for the stairs and railing.  Our floor is fairly light so it will still keep the room bright, plus we have a beautiful mirror from 1933, that is the dark wood frame.  I’m going to get pictures of the kids in black and white and they will either go up the stairs in different sized frames and scattered along that wall or on the wall leading to the living room. 

If you notice our front door is yellow, I can’t do anything about that on the outside because we are in a rental unit and they will paint over it.  Our window frames are pink if that gives you any indication of the colours scheme they were going for here in Kattenbroek.  And it’s not just pink, no no … it is a lovely bubblegum pink. Oh and let’s not forget the baby blue door to the shed.  Again… rental… we can’t paint the outside. 

But back to the blog… the inside is slowly coming together, and Frank is doing a great job!  I have my own Ty here with out the annoying megaphone!

Ears like a little bat.

While taking a break from stripping wallpaper for the majority of the morning, I thought it would be time to grab a quick snack before getting back to the grind.  So I made a favourite of mine, Knäckebröd (which is actually Swedish) and smeerkaas  (the Dutch version of cream cheese).  I sit down here at the computer to surf while eating when I feel a little pat on my leg.  I look down to see this…

Ignore the mess on the carpet, we are renovating and everything gets tracked through the living room.

What kills me is that he was outside, at the back of the yard sound asleep.  He didn’t even hear me make the snack.  It wasn’t until I took my first crunchy bite did the little beggar show up.  Of course he sat there and stared at me the entire time.  But not once did I bend, not once did he get just a smidgen of cheese or Knäckebröd.  Nope.. not… well ok, maybe just the corner of it.   How can you say no to a face like that??

He loves me, he loves me not

I love flowers, that is no secret.  I love getting them, growing them, giving them, having them in the house, around the house, in my office (when I worked) anywhere.  So when Frank came home with 3 bouquets of flowers on Friday it was a great night. 

The orange flowers were to spruce the place up.  Flowers can add so much to a room.  And in this vase with those flowers it looks so nice in front of the new cabinets.

The roses were for our 2 year.  Yup 2 years, who would have thought eh?  We were going to go to Zandvoort for the weekend, since that was the first place we meet but the weather wasn’t going to hold out so instead we went shopping to get a new bookcase and paint for the hallway. 

And the big bouquet was for me getting my permit.  Yup the IND has decided that I can stay!!  Which now mean…. JOB HUNTING!!  Oh Lord how I needs me a job!!  So as soon as I get my CV together it will be massive pedal power to get my papers out there.  I don’t have my card yet, I will get a letter from the IND telling me when I can come get it in Zwolle.  Also now that I have my card I can start my Dutch lessons, which I am looking forward too.  So needless to say the flowers were a great surprise, especially since the weather has been so grey and miserable.  The flowers have brightened up the room. 

Thanks handsome 🙂

Love internet shopping.

This is for my friends who can’t believe I spent so much money on 4 items via the Internet.  But I am telling you this mascara and eyeliner are OMGSOFREAKINGAMAZING that it is worth it.  The site is www.blincinc.com and YES baby they deliver to the Netherlands!!  And the delivery price was great, only $5.95 (US) for International Direct shipping from the US.  Which took about 10 days to get to me, not that I was counting the days from when I ordered it. 

My mom bought me my first mascara, and she was introduced to it by her colleague Denise (for you Essex County readers…Look for the Laser Eye surgery tv ad – CBC-  she’s the teacher one). 

The whole idea of the eye makeup is that you don’t need soap or chemicals to remove it.  At first I didn’t like the mascara since I was use to the new wand that was out, but once I started to use it on a daily basis, I forgot about the old stuff and now this is new love.  As for the liner it took me a few tries to get it straight, but now I can do the one handed application like a pro. 

As I mentioned above the best thing is that you only needs lots of warm water to take it off.  The mascara literally comes off in the shape of your lashes.  That’s because it “tubes” your lashes not “paints” them.  As you can see in the picture the strands of black is the mascara.  It doesn’t run or smear or flake (hello contact wearer here).  I’ll be honest… the best part is taking off the mascara, I have more fun taking it off then putting it on or wearing it.  Yes I know before anyone comments, I need a life.  As for the eyeliner, you just run your wet finger along your lid and it comes off in a strip. 

 

So if you are wondering if the money is worth it… OMG YES!

I’ve become one of them…

I thought this would never happen, I blame having too much time on my hands being unemployed…

 

I actually went to three different places today to get groceries.  Three!  Trois! Tres! Drie! (see I am learning Dutch).  First to the markt that is held here in Emiclaer.  But I love my chicken guy, his breasts are plump and juicy,  his legs are to die for,  and when I want the whole of it, it’s lean with very little fat.  Delicious.  Don’t worry dear, I am talking about the chicken.   And today he had pre-cooked ribs, no biggie, I still froze them and we can re-heat on the bbq when I want them.  Also the cheese was on sale in the market and the eggs were cheaper so I picked up a few of those.  Then I headed over to the Aldi in Hoogland, I’m beginning to know the area well enough I can go alone.  Aldi is like the Candian version of No Frills, only German.  Some things are a lot cheaper then at the C1000 (Dutch version of Dominion).  Then I headed over to the C1000 to finish my shopping adventure. 

I never understood people that would go from shop to shop to save a few pennies, I used to laugh at them, mock them,  roll my eyes when I saw the different bags in their cars…now…I am one. I can see my mother shaking her head as she reads this.

Stuck in the Middel(burg) with you….

After our trip to Vlissingen we took the train to Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland.  I really can’t tell you too much about the attractions in Middelburg since we got here at 5pm and everything was closed.  Now this is going to be a bit of a “About the Netherlands” rant.  I don’t understand why a city like Middelburg or Valkenburg, where it is fairly touristy would roll up the sidewalks at 5pm during tourist season?  I mean, there are tourists around willing to spend money, lots of money.  I know everyone wants to go home and spend time with the family, but that is what students are for.  I wanted to go up the Lange Jan (the belfry), but I would have to be able to climb up the 207 steps and down in 15 minutes.  Ok so that’s not going to happen. And we all know that they wouldn’t bend to let us up and give us the extra time.  So that didn’t happen.  Then I wanted to go into a museum, but that closed at 5 also…and anything else we wanted to go into.  So, still not understanding why you would close up shop at 5pm in the middle of summer during tourist season.  Annoying really. 

So all I can offer on this post are some pictures of Middelburg, I do hope to get back there one day soon so that I can tour the city and go up the Belfry and into the museum.  Oh we did go into the church attached to the belfry, but because they were closing I didn’t get any information on it, just pictures.  I do have to say it was a beautiful church, and it had a chapel attached that had a refurbished organ.  I would definitely love to go back into the church and take a tour.  There is a convent that is also attached to the church.  I’m going to have to do more research on the church and area before going back. 

Middelburg is a gorgeous city, with wonderful history, architecture and climate; as Zeeland receives the most sunshine in all of the Netherlands.  It also had a significant role during the 1953 flood. 

Well since I’ve run out of things to say concerning this city, I’ll leave on some departing photos of the church and the area.  You can also see more on the flickr account to the right.

By the seaside

I’ve been meaning to write this blog so that I can finish up with the day trips we took while the kids and Frank were on vacation…so here it is…

I finally made it down to Zeeland, granted I didn’t get to see everything I wanted but as least I made it there.  We took the train down to Vlissingen and Middelburg, and that was another 3 hour trip.  One bonus about train travel is that  get to read until my little heart is content.

Our first top was Vlissingen, located right on the North Sea.  The day started off pretty crappy, the weather was just miserable, cold, rainy, grey.  Also for some reason, the train station isn’t located near the centre of the city so we had to take a little walk along the dijk to get to our destination.  But I’ll be honest, this was a poorly planned trip, it was a last minute thing, as in like I have 20 minutes to hop on line and get some sort of info on Zeeland, make lunches, get on the bikes and cycle are tired butts to the train station.  So once we arrived in Vlissingen, it was a free for all.  The walk along the dijk would have been really nice if the weather was a bit better, but going against the wind and then it started to rain, pretty much turned me a bit grumpy.  I hate the feeling of wet clothes, and by the time the rain stopped my jeans were wet *ugh*.   We found the VVV of Vlissingen (tourist centre)  and got some information on what we could do, which wasn’t really much in a short amount of time.

The first stop was to Sint Jacobskerk, a beautiful Protestant church built in 1308.  We were one of the first ones inside and I was able to get a few good pictures.  Unfortunately I lost the information sheet that was in English to give you more details about the church.  So if you can read Dutch then the link will be helpful.  If I find the paper then I’ll update the blog.

After the church, Frank took the kids to some Pirate/Aquarium thing that cost a small fortune, and I headed over to the MuZEEum.  I thought that it would be something that I could zip through and learn about the history (basics) of the sea with Vlissingen.  I am not a huge museum fan but an hour and a half later I had to drag myself out to meet up with Frank and the kids.  This place was worth the 7 euro fee.  Located partly in the Lampsinshuis.  It has about 6 floors of artifacts and then you can go to the roof to get and amazing view of the harbour.

We didn’t have much time to spend in Vlissingen, because I wanted to go to Middelburg.  So after the museum, a quick bier, and the long trek back to the train station it was already 5:00. Luckily for us the weather was clearing and it was going to be mostly sunny, which meant the walk back to the out of the way train station wasn’t too bad.

As for right now, I’ll post a few more pictures here of Vlissignen, or you can take a peek at the flickr account to the right and there is a set labeled “Vlissingen”.  I’ll continue about Middelburg on another post… right now… it’s time for bed!