Tag: Moving

A Happy Stomachs Heart

Sunday Oct 1st –

Breakfast by Bob and then off to church. 

It was communion service that evening at church, so we had been invited for lunch and to spend the afternoon with friends at the home of a lovely human, whose cooking  I haven’t gotten to enjoy for a looong time 😉👌🏻

Borscht soup and a ham, apple, cheese and pear butter sandwich filled my plate and my heart was very happy 😁🍴

 

 

Or would that be my stomach? My stomachs heart? 😜

Anyways, it was delicious and followed by the second choice of soup, lemon chicken rice and a caprese style sandwich 👌🏻

A leisurely afternoon of visiting followed until it was time to head back to church.

It’s always an uplifting evening and many share testimonies of what God has been doing in their lives 💕

Psalms 26:7 

That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous deeds. Continue reading “A Happy Stomachs Heart”

House Renovations – Before/During


 

So we got this house, knowing it was a fixer upper and needed more than a little bit of work but after Mike tore through it, pulling up floors and breaking walls, it needed more than a little😏😜

(Before)

The uneven slope of the floors aggravated Mike so he went to work pulling up the laminate, the linoleum under that and the plywood… and some of the main floor boards themselves, so that he could try levelling some things out a little and get rid of some of the loudest floor creaks 😬

It went from safe, to ‘proceed with caution’ real quick 😜 Continue reading “House Renovations – Before/During”

The Secret Project

The secret project.

So by now, a whoooole lot of you know exactly what this ‘secret project’ is.

Turns out, we suck at secrets 😜

Anyways… *drumroll please maestro* …
We are on our way to being first time house owners!

I didn’t want to say anything earlier, just because the whole process wasn’t super finalized and there were still some questions and formalities but now we’ve talked with the seller, looked into papers and are working on getting it signed over to us and since most of you know anyways, I figured I might as well start typing ‘the house’ rather than ‘the secret project’ 😏

The opportunity to buy this house came up last year but since we weren’t sure of our plans and how long we’d be in Europe, it didn’t happen for us and we knew it wasn’t the Lords will just then.

I know I’m closer to my parents now then I ever was way over in Holland, but I still wanted to be in the same area as them to a point and the house is a five-minute drive away and the seller was now ready to sell, so… it looks like we’ve found our starter home 😉

It needs ‘love’, as a cousin so wisely phrased it😉😋

It’s a fixer upper for sure but since we know the seller to a point, they gave us permission to begin construction, or more like, DE-construction, before we’d officially transferred all the needed papers and since Mike has no patience, he took them up on the offer 😏

So we have been tearing out, ripping up, figuring what needs changing and what to buy first, for the past couple of weeks and it’s going decently well… but you know those home reno shows you see with a happy couple in full agreement, always?

Ya, those are fake 😜

It will be getting an almost complete renovation and ideas are flying and yes it will be lots of work and stress and decisions but it is exciting to be able to make it our own and we’re just thankful a house in our price range and the area we were interested in, came up and we have the summer to work on it and a place to stay while we do so 😉

So, that’s ‘the secret project’… our first house
🏠😁

‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Home Edition

Disclaimer: The following observations are things I noticed during my time living in Holland.
They are in no way about certain people and the opinions stated are just that, my opinion.
I don’t mean to portray anything as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ difference, simply ‘different’ then what I was used to.
😊😉🇨🇦•🇳🇱

As time goes by, I plan on sharing some of the things I learnt/noticed/experienced during my time living and traveling in Europe.

This is the second such post and I apologize in advance if I repeat some things, when moving around the different subjects, you can read the first post here ‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Kitchen And Surroundings

‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Home Edition.

So, once we leave the kitchen space of a *typical Dutch home, we head to the bathroom.

Where else would you go after being in the kitchen 😜

Anyways, they generally have one small bathroom near the entry as the houses kind of main bathroom/guest bathroom and that one contains a toilet and a sink.
A sink that fits one hand at a time, no joke 😳

(And it’s usually just a cold water tap)

They will have a ‘normal’ 😉 sized bathroom somewhere else, with a sink you can wash in, a toilet you can sit on without hitting your head on a slanting ceiling and usually a shower/tub of the size I’m used to.

Though I hardly ever seen a bathroom that had a fan in it?
They have brick houses, so humidity, post shower isn’t such a worry to get rid of as it is for our dry walled/wooden homes in Canada.  I guess the Dutch must not smell when they go number 2 either, because personally, I like a fan for that reason, be it my stench or someone else’s 😝

They are big on subway tile in the bathrooms and for the most part, they had an older, more sterile feel then the decorated bathrooms I was used to.

Having three bathrooms, all with a shower/tub and all diversely decorated in the home I grew up in.

I think it’s due to the fact that the homes last longer and can be years old by the time someone else moves in and if a bathroom is tiled and usable it would be one of the more costly/left last, to renovate places in the house?

Not really sure, if you know why, better, let me know in the comments! 😊

On to stairs… the blasted, narrow little slats sticking out of an almost upright incline. Continue reading “‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Home Edition”

A Home For Shakespeare And A Home For Us

Saturday April 22nd –



It had been slightly suggested/half planned but not really, that Becca, Spencer and I would go into town for some ‘fun’ shopping opposed to Beccas regular rush for groceries and high priority needs only, since she’s got a toddler and the baby to lug around.

I readied myself and was just finishing my last bite of beautifully buttery toast when they arrived to pick me up.
Mike had the day off and I listed tasks he could do if he so chose, to occupy his day.
Country life may not be his strong point 😜

Becca proclaimed that since ‘she never knew what to buy me, as she doesn’t know my taste’ that she would be a dear and purchase a pot I’d seen and liked for Shakespeare, my mint plant… He’s very dramatic… one moment strong and reaching towards the sun and the next, he’s fallen down, his leaves turned floorward within not even hours of each other 😏🙄

At least I know what he wants, maybe I’ll actually be able to keep this plant alive 😬

(RIP to all my Orlandos, Bernard and one other plant who’s name I forget)

A weak reason to buy me a gift indeed, but a kindly gesture 😉

We accomplished this and that, nothing monumental but still getting the little bits done that are oft pushed to the side during a busier trip.

Mikes ‘kind of’ boss was in town and wanted to meet up for lunch.. a.k.a, my bro 😏

Once we returned home, Mike was found working on the prototype for a project I’d wanted to try but didn’t really have any idea where to start, so we shall see how that progresses 😉👩🏻‍🎨💡 Continue reading “A Home For Shakespeare And A Home For Us”

‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Kitchen And Surroundings

Disclaimer: The following observations are things I noticed during my time living in Holland.
They are in no way about certain people and the opinions stated are just that, my opinion.
I don’t mean to portray anything as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’, simply ‘different’ than what I was use to.
😊😉🇨🇦•🇳🇱

 

 

As time goes by, I plan on sharing some of the things I learnt/noticed/experienced during my time living and traveling in Europe.

This will (hopefully) be the first of many such posts and I apologise in advance if I repeat some things, when moving around the different subjects.





‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Kitchen And Surroundings…




To start with, if someone had told me ‘go big or go home’… I’d have had to go home because ‘BIG’ isn’t a size in Holland, unless you’re referring to the height of its citizens 😋

Whether it’s a big coffee or big truck, chances are you’ll have to search to find either, and all things between, because they are all about saving space.

As a small-ish human myself, the size of things (or lack of) didn’t affect me too much, except for when I wanting a cup of coffee and was given a couple of tablespoons 😉

But if I was a larger person, as many of the Dutch are, height wise, I can’t help but think the little cars, cups, bathrooms, stairs etc. would have gotten on my nerves pretty fast 😋

As a lady, I gravitated to noticing the differences in the kitchen. Continue reading “‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Kitchen And Surroundings”

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