23

Today is my hubby's birthday and sadly he has to work tonight so we couldn't celebrate hard core. We did go to our friend's house last night and we made dinner; grilled chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and fried rice. We were all very stuffed afterwards with plenty left over- especially rice since I doubled the recipe per my hubby's request. So, today we have laid around the house with the dogs and been fairly lazy, also per my hubby's request. He did want fries pretty bad so ate hotdogs and fries before he went in to work at about 5, he will be back in the morning. :(

So I am working on a surprise cake for my hubby to have tomorrow and will post pictures of that soon but in the meantime let me share some other things with you about my hubby.

1. He loves to make me laugh, and has helped me mellow in the years we have been married. I know all men are really just little boys but with my hubby only being 23 I think this applies exponentially to mine! :) He loves to pick at me and make me laugh. I used to take things he said too seriously and get my feelings hurt. He has taught me how to not take life too seriously and find the humor in all kinds of different situations. I love him for that.

2. He loves to see me happy. I know my hubby gets such a great feeling when I am happy and therefore, he does whatever he can to make me happy. He is so thoughtful. I don't get flowers a whole lot, but when I do it is randomly and for no particular reason and it just fills me with such joy. Let me clarify for his sake not a whole lot does not mean I am disappointed in any way.

3. He brags on me. My main love language is words of praise and therefore this one means so much to me. My hubby loves to brag on me and I love it when I hear from someone else how he talks so much about me, and good things!! He brags on my cooking, my looks, and how I take care of him and our house. I love him so much for being proud to have me for a wife.

I think that is enough mushiness for now but let me leave you with this: my hubby is a wonderful man who I love spending my time with and look forward to growing old with.

Bright Side

I know it has been a while since I posted but in honor of "Look on the Bright Side" Day, you should be happy I am posting now! :) Anyhow, I am officially on my winter vacation from school and I am reminded of one of the reasons I love teaching- breaks. Do not underestimate the love your teachers have for your kids because we anticipate these breaks. But in case you are unaware, teaching those rugrats can get exhausting and we need that little break to recharge our batteries and go restock on patience! :)

This how I have spent the past few days of my break. Saturday morning Jon, Doug (our friend), and I drove about an hour and a half to pick up our new addition to the family, Trooper. Doug insisted on calling him money since our other furry boy is Cash! So silly! Anyhow, on the way there I desperately needed to stop at a restroom. I am not sure if you remember me mentioning way back when we first got there that you have to pay to use the restroom sometimes here in Germany! Believe me- I find it just as ridiculous as you do that you should be charged for something you have to naturally do. Anyway, so here is my story. We pulled into a place after being on the lookout for one for a good thirty minutes so I was not the most delightful person. I jumped out of the car as soon as we parked ans discovered the bathrooms were around the other side so I start a light jog- so as not to look like a complete idiot. So I finally see the door with those blessed little figures on them showing restrooms and go through the door. I am immediately met with one of those metal turn things you have to go through when entering the subway, a baseball game, or six flags. This was not your everyday-you-pay-bathroom. Normally, when they want you to pay, they put a bathroom attendant there to give you a cold deathly stare if you do not put 20 euro cents in the bowl. NO- you had to insert your money in this machine in order to get to go through the little turn in order to even get into the restroom! I wish now that I had taken a picture of this to show you how ridiculous! So I am forced to do a slightly more idiotic jog back to the car to beg for euro change, and not 20 cents- 70 euro cents!! That is basically equivalent to our dollar! We had nothing!! SO my sweet friend Doug had to go in the little shop, buy a sandwich and get me change so I could go to the bathroom. I, totally idiotic jogging by this point, return to the darn bathroom and put my euro in and it spits out a ticket!! Like seriously!! What am I going to do with a ticket saying I had to pay to go to the bathroom!!! UGH! So yea by the end of the whole ordeal I was quite ill but relieved at the same time. So next time you have to make a bathroom stop and want to complain about the bathroom- remember this story and think, "I am glad I didn't have to pay!"

OK, so back to our new addition. We brought Trooper home and Cash wanted nothing to do with him at first but they are wrestling, playing, and getting along quite nice now. Sunday evening I hosted a cookie swap party. Some of the girls I invited were unable to make it but we still had a lovely time with those who did. We laughed, cut up, and just had a plain old good time- plus got yummy cookies. I will put up the recipe for the cookies I made later because I have to admit- they were pretty darn good! Other than that we have been switching off between relaxing and cleaning!

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning and into Tuesday afternoon we had our first snowfall of the winter. Sadly Jon didn't get home before nightfall to play in it with me and the dogs. Most of it has turned to ice by now and is already surrendering to the grass below. It was still nice to finally get the first one!

Market Mayhem

My sweetie and I decided to venture out to the market on Saturday, yesterday. He had something he wanted to look at and I had no objections as long as it meant that I could get a favorite treat! So we walked down to the straus, the train, and went for a ride down to the water tower in Mannheim which is where the market is. If you remember I mentioned going to the market the day after Thanksgiving. It was a little busier today so we didn't spend as much time down there as we did that day. We walked around a little. Jonathan had found some very interesting woven bracelets he wanted to look at. He ended up finding a couple he liked and is still trying to figure out how they were made.

My stipulation on going on this outing was that I got to get a favorite treat, as I mentioned earlier. I even knew how to ask for this favorite treat in German, "ein erdbeere." They do them a little differently here in Germany and frankly I think they have the right idea- put them on a skewer! If you still haven't figured out what I am munching on- choc covered strawberries!! They always choc covered goodies at these markets and they usually are always on a skewer- pretty good idea if you ask me! They also had choc covered grapes, bananas, and numerous others but I stuck with my tried and true strawberries!! They were good to the last bite!

Jon also got a treat but a somewhat more traditional German food. He got a sandwich from the meat stand. When I asked him what kind of meat it was, he called it mystery meat. :) I think it was the best mystery meat he has ever had because it didn't take him very long to finish it! While I really enjoyed the whole day the best part of the day for me was the train ride. Jonathan brought his ipod along and we just sat and shared headphones like a high school couple and listened to favorite songs and enjoyed the scenery. It was just fun to sit together and listen to songs and enjoy the German buildings on the ride home. It was a day that made me glad to be here in Germany.

German Christmas Tradition

Psst, psst, Nikolaus may come to your house.
German children believe that Nikolaus (the German Santa Claus) secretly visits their houses
during the night from the 5th to the 6th of December while they are asleep. He fills their shoes
with tiny things like candy, a hair band, a sparkly pencil, a little toy car, etc.

Since we live in Germany we have a chance of having our shoes filled if we put out
our shoes either in front of our bedroom doors or - if you have nice neighbors - in front of
the hallway doors. So do not be surprised if you find a pair of shoes where you think they do not
belong.

Help your children believe in one really exciting German custom. (In case Nikolaus does
not make it to your house, you might want to back him up with a little surprise for your
child…). :)

Gift idea for today:
Get your family a new game so that it is something you can all enjoy together. Our household just consists of my hubby and I but we still love playing cards and games with our friends when they come over. Here are some ideas of good family games:

If you're looking for dinner games which the whole family can join into, take a look at the family time fun dinner games and activities. These are a set of extremely simple, and yet highly enjoyable dinner games and activities for families with kids aged 5 to 12. These dinner games promote unity within the family, and make dinner time pleasurable and fun. The set of game cards is nicely packaged in a colorful metal tin. The games and activities are of a wide variety, ranging from puzzles, counting, naming your favorite things, to guessing games and more. Young kids are even encouraged to eat their veggies and drink their milk via the fun games and activities. The games encourage the kids to open up, share their experiences, and get to know a lot of things about each other and their parents. It is a boxed set of fifty-one games for families with kids 5 to 12 years to play at the dinner table while they eat. The quick and easy-to-play games, like counting moo, the last bite and pass the pepper, break up dinnertime routine and add fun to family meals. No game board or game pieces required just food and family. Kids learn creative thinking, social skills and more. The spill-proof game cards are durable and easy to clean.

If your crew is more likely to get into a video game- please do not fret! There are answers for that problem! Try one of the video games with fun family games in video game format. These video game collections usually include up to four different "old school" games that are fun for the whole group. Those are just two ideas, feel free to incorporate your own "classic" favorites! Who remembers these classics?

Slice and dice in style!

Got another pinterest project done today, well possibly done. Still try to decide what would look best as the finished project. What do you think? My sister got me the letter but instead of immediately rubbing it onto the wood, I used a spoon to gently rub it where it would just take up some of the paint that I had just painted on- leaving the R behind. I am still trying to decide if I like it this way or if I want to paint over it and actually apply the black R. Let me know!!

The Christmas gift idea for today is going to be a simple one. Buy your loved one a gift you have been thinking about getting them and then get their favorite candy, in a small size to use as packing peanuts when you box and wrap that gift.

And just so you know that knife that is not all the way down in the block is driving me nuts in this picture!! lol