Murphy has arrived at our house....

So since we got back from our weekend trip I have been noticing some things about my truck that just aren't right. The brakes sound like they are grinding but no biggee I can just take it to a shop right?!?! Oh yeah I am in Germany and I am driving a Chevy so that is more of a chore then I even realized!!  So I had resigned myself to calling the few shops that were reccomended to me and so far still had no idea how much this was going to cost us. Again I wasn't worried and was just hoping it wouldn't take too much to get done.

Well yesterday Murphy stepped in and kicked us in the behind!!!  I woke up and started getting the house clean and laundry done. As I went to put the first load of laundery into the dryer the door won't close....lovely!!!  That means I will have to sit at home all freaking day waiting on some worker to decide when they are going to come fix that. After figuring out how to jam the door so I could atleast finish the laundry I go to the bathroom to start cleaning. After scrubbing the toilet I go to push the button to flush(in Germany our toilets have push buttons to flush instead of a handle) and the button falls off....WTF?!??!!!  Ok so all I am thinking is  "well atleast I won't be sitting at home for just one thing now". So I then make my way to the kitchen to do dishes and guess what...yupp Murphy had been in there too. The flipping dishwasher keeps shutting off and I have to reset it 4 times to get it to finish one stinking load!!!  Can Murphy please give me a break?!?! Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz!!!

So I have now calmed down and reserved myself that I will call the work order in first thing in the morning and just be done with it.  So I go into the kitchen and start making a dip that I am supposed to take to this babyshower I am going to around 3pm.  As I am finishing up the dip Mr. M comes to tell me he is taking off to get some work done that he needs to do by Monday morning. No big deal. So I finish the dip, grab the present, tell the girls all the rules of what to do when we are not home and head out. I get down to my truck only to have it NOT START!!!  Oh yeah as if my day hadn't already sucked now Murphy has taken his stinkin' little behind all the way to my truck... Aaaarrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!  So I try to call Mr. M to see whre he is at. As I am sitting in my truck and dialing his cell phone I suddenly hear a phone ringing...OMG Mr. M had apparently left his cell in my truck from Saturday...ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!!  Seriously can anything else go wrong now?!!?  So I come back up stairs and stick the dip in the fridge and wait. I had already texted the woman holding the shower to let her know I wouldn't be coming any time soon since my truck wouldn't start. About an hour and a half later Mr. M calls and says " hey I just stopped by the shower to check on you and you are not there why?"  Now everything in my head told me "don't yell because he has no idea what your day has entailed" so I said very calmly.."my truck won't start and so I can't go" so he says "fine I am coming home to help you".  I am thinking great now maybe we can jump the truck or whatever. He comes home with an attitude..apparently his day hadn't gone so well yet either...so as he begins barking at me I simply say "Babe I have had the worst day so far and you are yelling at me for no reason"  Mr. M is usually pretty good at telling when he better just shut up and listen so he puts his head down and says"ok tell me" so I proceed to tell him all about my day.

After all of that we go downstairs to try and find our jumper cables that I swear are in his car and he swears are not...I was right btw!!  As he takes the bazillion things out of his truck and finally finds the jumper cables I try to start the truck. It sounds like a 1957 car with it's sputter and cough and then finally starts..yayyyyy I was sooo happy!!  Of course Mr. M is just smiling as I walk over to tell him "thank goodness it started" He jsut laughs and says " Yeah it sure did"  I smile and say "don't start with me mister" and we both finish cleaning his trunk out and put the jumper cables in the truck just in case.

So now not only do I have to find a shop to get my truck fixed and hope to god that they do not charge me an arm and a leg to do it..which they totally could be we are in a foreign country driving an American vehicle so they pretty much know we are at their total mercy and can charge us whatever they dang well please..and all of this has to be done while still doing all the things that normally go on in my week plus a class I am to take today and volunteering at a school this week as well... Yaaayy for me!! NOT!!!!

So I do wish that you all have a fabulous week and that you feel good knowing that Murphy is at my house so he is too busy to visit yours!! lol

5 Question Friday!!!

Holy cow this week was loooooooooooooooooooooong!! Why is it that the short weeks always feel so much longer then regular weeks?!?!  I am so ready for this weekend and I have so much to do today so by the time the bell rings for the end of the week I will definitely be ready!!

1. Can you drive a stick shift?

Why yes, yes I can!!  Does that make me special or something?! Would you like to know how I learned to drive stick..of course you do..duhhh!! So I was 16 and dating this guy a jerk and he drove a stick shift truck. He said I needed to learn to drive it and so one night he drove me to a parking lot up the street from his house, gave me 1 lesson that probably lasted 3 seconds with him yelling, and then left me there. He said as he was walking away "I will see you back at my house and you better not wreck my truck" What a charmer eh?!?!  Yupp I did learn to drive stick that night but let's give a cheer to the moronic boyfriend who left his 16 yr old girlfriend in an empty parking lot in the middle of nowhere on a Friday night!!! Cheers dirtbag!! I was TERRIFIED!  Oh I made it back to his house but not before I hit a dozen things, killed the clutch and took out his mailbox..haha on him!! :)

2. What are two foods you just can't eat?
1. oysters: raw or cooked they sucks..yuuuuuuck!
2. snails: they are chewy and disgusting..ewwww!

3. Do you buy Girl Scout Cookies? What is your favorite kind?

Heck yeah I buy girl scout cookies!!  Who could resist thin mints and tagalongs?!?! Mmmmmmmm  Matter of fact I have a big box on the way with 5 boxes of each...jealous?!?!!  

4. How do you pamper yourself?

Well there are many ways I pamper myself. I could:

a. just chill at the house and refuse to do any housework..oh yeah baby!

b. go to a salon and get my hair, nails, or a facial done.

c. go shopping for some retail therapy...of course this is my favorite one!

5. What is your nickname and how did you get it?

I had a nickname in highschool and college...The suz...not exactly sure why but I had it on my license plate because I was soooo cool!!

A year or so ago I had a dear friend who started calling me..coach...not because I coached any sports but because she said, and I quote.."I swear you have everything ever made by Coach and still find things to buy from them!"  She was not correct by the way..I do not have a coach watch nor do I have a coach scarf(which I am dying to get one). 

Ok so now do you feel like you know me just a weee bit more?!?! I love these questions and I think I love the fact even more that they come from the fabulous Mama M.  Have I told you all about her?!  She is fabulous and I adore her. Go check out her blog and while you are there why not try on some Friday questions for yourself.

Have a fabulous weekend ya'll I know we will!!!

Our trip to Belgium!

So we left Amsterdam and headed to Belgium. We were so excited to see the next country and yet sad to be leaving Amsterdam and all it's beauty and fun.  We actually stayed in a small town just outside Brussels called Mechelen. I highly reccomend this little gem of a town for anyone going to Belgium and wanting to see more then just big city or those who really like small town feel and gorgeous architecture to go with it.

 Yupp again with the signs!!  It was only a short 1 1/2 hour drive from Amsterdam to Mechelen.

 Such a gorgeous town.

 I love it when things work out and you end up finding hidden gems you never would have found had you not chosen the out of the way hotel. Gorgeous cathedral!

 This was a garden on the inside of an old building..beautiful!

It was a beautiful place to spend the day and we even were able to get some fine Belgian chocolates while we were walking around..yummmm!!!

 Gorgeous Brussels!!!

 The Grand Place.

 Of course we had time to stop at a quaint little cafe and have some warm yummy Belgium waffles. Here is my waffle with strawberries and chocolate right next to my latte machiato!

 Thought maybe you would want to see a close up...can you see the cocoa powder on top?!?! OMG it was sooooooo good!! Only problem is now that no other waffle or chocolate will ever compare...sighhhhhh!!!

 The Atomium. A fabulous place to take kids after a full day of sightseeing. You all know how we need to keep the kids happy or else!!

A look over mini Europe. Of course they were closed while we were there....mehhh that's ok that just means we can make a repeat trip to do that too!!











So I hope you enjoyed our little weekend trip and hopefully if any of you are planning a trip to either of these countries you will feel you know a little more then you did before.
Have a fabulous day!!

Our trip to Amsterdam!

 Yupp I am one of those people who takes pictures of the road signs so that I can keep my pictures straight when going to multiple countries!! :)

 The one thing you expect to see when traveling to Holland!! They really are beautiful.

 Now I have no idea what these signs mean but they were all over the highway once we entered the Netherlands. 100% BOB  0% OP    Any ideas?!?!

Told you they were everywhere and we were fascinated by them...crazy Americans!! lol

 Our hotel...I can not say enough for Holiday Inns in Europe!! Love them!! Their breakfasts are always fabulous and most of them have an indoor pool so you have bribery for your kids to make them behave while you sightsee around town...Huuuzaaaa!!

 We always go to Hard Rock Cafe in every country that has one. They best food and it is pretty much a guarantee they speak English too.  Although I have to say for anyone thinking of going to Amsterdam..they all speak English very well and are not afraid to use it!! Score!!!

 A war memorial in Dam square. It was beautiful and so detailed we spent a lot of time there looking at it.

 Believe it or not this store was actually in our Rick Steve's travel book!! We had to see "the cows grazing on the ceiling" for ourselves!

 We stood in line for a while to get into The Anne Frank house...so worth it and something I will NEVER forget!!

 The Hermitage Museum. Huge building and too bad we were too late and it was closed!!

 Europeans do not like you to look at construction work so they have all kinds of things for you to look at instead..this one was a string of people ducking down and walking around the construction. Europeans are so clever!!

 Ohhhh yay baby....the Gassan diamond building!! We were given a tour of the factory and showed how they made their diamonds and then were taken into a room where we were able to see a ton of diamonds...can you say heaven?!?!

 We were comparing the different size and color of some of the loose diamonds. Can you see that the smaller diamond is only 16, 240 Euro?!  What a steal eh?!?!

I told Mr. M he could come back and buy me this for our Anniversary..it was only 6,000 Euro!! I am totally worth it right?!?! hehe












So that is most of the highlights of our trip to Amsterdam. We weren't able to take a boat ride down the canals and a few other things we really wanted to do but we did make up our minds that we would be going back when it was warmer and staying longer next time.
Amsterdam really is a beautiful city and so worth it to anyone who goes!!

Post it note Tuesday!! We're baaaaack!!

Ok wow this weekend was so much fun and we had the best time despite several mishaps..will tell you all about it the next 2 days promise. I have tons of pics to share as well so be ready to read and gawk your hearts out tomorrow and Thursday!!

Here is a sneak peek at pics to come....now do you see why I miss my waffles so much?!??!  sighhhhhhhhhhhhh

I.Am.Sick!!

Ok so I am guessing you could tell from yesterday's blog that I was feeling a little under the weather. I am doggonit sick!! I tried to blame the neighbors and their dirty house and then I blamed my girls and then I blamed Mr. M for bringing it home to me. I have no idea where it came from or how long it is going to be with me but I am too busy to be sick!! Why is that when you don't have time for an illness it always pops up?!?! I mean sheesh can't my immune system tell I don't have time for all of this nonsense?!
I woke up this morning feeling again like my head was going to explode into a million pieces and could not breather through my nose...at ALL!!  I was cranky and ill and just had no patience for anything. As I go to wake up my youngest I ask her.."can you pick out your own clothes this morning so mommy can go lay on the sofa?" She says "yes mommy you go be better" What a doll right?!?! So she comes out to the living room with a sun dress and asks if she could wear that. Of course since it is 30 degrees outside I say no and she stomps back into her room. As my head is still pounding I am now realizing why I pick out her clothes for her every morning to save the drama and the hassle of this. Still I am so not feeling well and so I let her continue as I pray for the dang medicine to just kick in already. She then comes out with the sundress on with sweatpants underneath and a hoodie on over the dress. She says "mommy I figured if I wore warm pants under the dress and a warm jacket with it then it would be ok" I laugh/cry and drag my behind off the sofa and pick out something for her to wear. She grumbles at me, stomps to her room and begins to cry. Right at this point Mr. M come home from the gym and asks me how I am doing. I look at him and he says "ok you go to bed and I will deal with it" What a man!!!  I still didn't want to go to bed because although I love Mr. M dearly and have complete confidence that he will get both girls ready and out the door in time he is not the one who usually does it so I am skeptical of what they will leave the house with.
I sit on the sofa trying to keep my eyes open and going through the other half of the tissue box..I am on box number 3 since yesterday! Mr. M comes over and says " Go to be woman!!" now to me it sounded like he was yelling..it was probably the fact that I am all stuffy and so everything seems to echo in my head right now but still it was loud.  Sooooo I start to cry!! Yupp you got it.. poor me balling my eyes out as I stomp off to the bedroom and give Mr. M  a dirty look!! Hmmpffff!!
Needless to say both girls got to school with everything they needed and I got to rest a little more before getting up to try and knock some errands out. I only have today and tomorrow before our trip and so much to get done it's not funny!!
Off to do more errands and hopefully get everything in order for our trip this weekend..Amsterdam and Brussels are waiting for us!!

Post it note Tuesday!