Thing #1 that I love about living in the Netherlands

The husband has a thing against flowers. Not the flowers themselves, I should note, but the ultimate waste that they embody. Nevermind that they brighten up a room, your day, your soul... The fact that they take up a large area of arable land, a lot of water and die so quickly means that they are environmentally flora non grata in our household.

There's a loophole, though. It's absolutely the height of poor manners to go visiting in the Netherlands without a gift. This usually takes the form of wine, or cheese, or, if I'm lucky, flowers. Yesterday, I was lucky enough have a visitor who brought a bit of environmentally wasteful joy into my house and I thought I would share a picture...



(Apologies for the poor quality, it was taken with my Mac photo library since the husband was away and had the camera.) (Also, apologies for the abacus. Toys are unavoidable in my house.)

'Tis the season

I don't believe that it's Officially Christmas until I hear Do They Know it's Christmas by Band-Aid (it has to be the 80's version, thankyouverymuch). The catch, though, is that it has to be played independently. I can't play it for myself. Rather, I have to hear it on the radio, in a store, in someone's car... There are years when it comes down to the wire (the tinsel?) and I really think that there will be no Official Christmas, but the song has always come through at the last moment.

This year, though, I cheated. I was too excited to share it with the Dude. I've been playing all sorts of Christmas carols for her, by everyone from Nana Mouskouri to Boney M to random children's choirs in order to indoctrinate her. Sinterklaas just has such a following here; no one is really representing Santa and I've been working overtime to make sure that she gets in the spirit, or as much as a two year old can. She's been enjoying the carols to some degree, but nothing so far has really grabbed her the way that Sinterklaas songs had. Until. Until! Until....I played IT! We listened to it over and over and over this morning, and we were both in heaven. It makes me wonder if it is possible to pass an 80's gene on to your child?

Different Strokes

Am I the only person who finds this video to be completely paternalistic and overly saccharine?

Horse and Carriage

When I made the decision to move to the Netherlands to be with Jason, it was a leap of faith. We'd been a couple for just over five months and had only been on the same continent for maybe four weeks in total. We were lucky that he lived in a country that accepted at face value that we were, in fact, a couple. Had he been living in a country like the UK or the USA, I'm not sure if we would have been willing to go from zero to married in such a short time.

The irony in that, though, is that by the time we got through jumping through all the hoops required for me to live here, we actually felt married. First, our finances were tied together - we had to pool our money to meet the requirement, and then I stayed at home while Jason supported us that first year when I couldn't work. On a more subtle level though, we had to sign paper after paper after paper saying that yes, we were in fact a couple, and no, we were not married to anyone else.

We're three and a half years on from that and have added a few more trappings of a traditional marriage - one mortgage and one baby. Throw in the fact that it's easier in Dutch to say that Jason is my 'man', or husband, and he finds it easier to say 'vrouw', or wife, rather than the girlfriend alternative and I sometimes forget that we're not actually man and wife.

Despite our ambivalence, though, we've decided for a variety of those most romantic of reasons - legal ones - to tie the knot while we're at home in Canada this summer. To offset the fact that we're neither of us too excited about what feels like a redundancy of a ceremony, we're trying to plan the biggest and bestest party that we can. Even so, I'm finding that I'm not really the kind of person who gets overly excited about what colour the tablecloths should be, or whether or not we need a receiving line. I like parties. Party-planning, not so much.

What I do like is research and writing. We've got a lot of guests coming from out of town and to that end, I've created a website that will hopefully act as a helpful resource in finding a place to stay, a place to eat, and a bit of entertainment. You can view it here if you're interested. Like everything in my life, I do this around the small one's schedule so it's a work in progress, but I'm liking the way it's coming together. It's like my wedding gift to myself.

Ode to my Converse

Oh Converse,

When I was young and desperately wanting to look cooler than I felt, you made me feel like I could have been in the Ramones.

When I grew older and felt comfortable in my own skin, you were comfortable on my feet.

Now, when I am yet older still, but am once again needing to look cooler than I feel, you give my mom clothes, and my ego, the edge I need to not succumb completely into the fleece sweaters and elastic waistbands wasteland.

Thank you.

Saddlebags

I've got new ones. They're pretty and I love them.

Chomp

Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that a lone pansy had grown in the middle of our backyard. I don't know where it came from, because there are no pansies growing in the area, but it's little face sure was cute.

Last night, it rained.

Today, the head of the pansy is gone, save for a tiny bit of one leaf. I expect that will be gone soon, too.

Damn you, snails. Damn you.

Stumbling towards domesticity

Once upon a time, I *did* things. I read, I went to 'gigs', I drank lattes and read the paper in cafes, I went to the gym, I had a job, I traveled (Note: you can read a bit about that here). What I didn't do was partake much in the domestic arts.

Then, I got married, moved to a sleepy town in Holland and had a baby. Now, I do other things. I do laundry, I change diapers, I go for walks, I make dinner, I do dishes...Well, okay, I still travel a bit, but traveling with a baby is a whole different beast. Somehow, I've traded in being informed and worldly for being a housewife and mother.

Still, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it well, right? To this end, I've started teaching myself to cook. I've bought a sewing machine and have attempted a few items, I'm trying to make garden, I bake, I do my best to reduce, reuse and recycle and most important of all, I'm trying to raise my daughter as best as possible. This is the chronicle of my journey towards domestic bliss.