Yes, I know.  I’m shit at posting lately.  I just haven’t been into the whole “blogging” thing as a whole right now.  A lot has been going on in teh last few weeks and I haven’t felt like sharing any of it.  Those who know me personally, know the changes happening in my life…and right now, that’s good enough for me.  But no worries.  I’m happy.  I’ve got someone new that I’m focusing on and that’s a good thing.  Time always tells the story with these kinds of things.

So that’s it for now.  I know this was short and sweet but well, that’s all you’re gonna get for now.  No worries though, even though I’m not blogging regularly, I’m still out there reading everyone’s blog and keeping up with all of you and your doings and whatnot.  Ciao for now

A:   Available?
Yep, I’m available, why? Are you applying? Yes, there is an application process! I find it necessary these days!

B:    Birthday?
September 12, 1970.  This should be a decent amount of notice.  Gifts are accepted!

C:  Cell phone?
AT&T in the U.S. and Vodafone in the Netherlands.  Pass the application test and you can get one of the numbers.

D:  Drink you had last?
Coffee.  Please…like you had to ask!

E:  Easiest person to talk to?
My sister.  She’s the person most like talking to myself.  Also, if I don’t like her response, I can easily say “Shut the hell up bitch and leave me alone!”

F: Favorite colors?
Red and black.  Hands down.

G: Gummy bears or gummy worms?
Neither.  I would prefer some really nice dark chocolate

H: Hometown
This is hard. Do I list the town I was born in and raised till I was 9 or do I list where I was from 9 until 18? Oh let’s do both.  Evansville, Indiana until the age of 9 and then Winter Haven, Florida from then on.  I consider Florida to be my home state even though I’ve lived everywhere except the Int’l Space Station.

I:  Favorite ice cream
Chocolate with Peanut Butter.  It can’t be peanut butter ice cream with chocolate in it and it can’t be chocolate ice cream with peanut butter candies in it. It must be chocolate ice cream with ribbons of peanut butter flowing throughout!  Publix has it.  Yum!

J:  Just something you always say on MSN or Yahoo
STFU, TTYLM!! Are you there??

K:   Killed someone?
Umm, seriously, how many mercenaries and serial killers are actually devoting time to memes?

L: Limeaid or lemonade?
Neither…Unsweetened ice tea without lemon

M: Love or Money?
Love, please. Money can’t buy happiness, this I know.

N: Number of siblings?
I have two siblings. I have an older brother (deceased in 1972) and my younger sister Joy

O: One wish?
To be a momma

P: Person you last commented on their blog
Umm, I can’t remember.

Q - Quiet?
Quiet what? Am I quiet? Sometimes. Do I like quiet? Yes Do I live in quiet? Hell no

R: Reason you smile?
Kiayla, Nathanial, Zachariah, Joy, Mom and Dad

S: Song you last heard?
Nobody’s Wife by Anouk

T: Time you woke up today?
The first time? 6:30 a.m. The second time? 9 a.m. The third time? 9:50 a.m.

U: U like someone right now?
Yep, kinda sorta in a round about way

V: Vegetables?
I LOVE veggies. All of them! My sister’s kale recipe! Yum! Brussel Sprouts! Tomatoes (it’s a veggie to me) I can pass on Okra though. Unless it’s breaded and fried. If it’s stewed with tomatoes…BLEH

W: Worst habit
Just one? Umm, smoking. Picking at my finger nails. Saying naughty words (sorry mom) SHIT DAMN HELL, SHIT, DAMN, HELL (that was for you Mom!)

X: X-rays?
Umm, chest, pelvis, right knee, right wrist, and C-spine (it’s good to work for a doctor when you’ve had a car wreck! Free x-rays rock!

Y: Your favorite food?
Hmm…this is difficult. My mom’s chicken and dumplings and her homemade noodle soup. My sister’s Chicken Enchiladas with her homemade guacamole. My grandma’s Swiss Steak recipe (which she thankfully taught me how to duplicate before she left this world!). My Dad’s spaghetti sauce (I’ll never learn to duplicate that because the jackass changes the recipe just a little bit every time he makes it. My recipe for chicken curry! Yum Seriously…I love food. That would explain why my ass is the size of a Buick.

Z: Zoo animal
There was nothing else that you could ask for “Z”?? Umm, I’m not much of a zoo person. Spending the day at the zoo is just spending a day smelling various and sundry varieties of shit. I guess I’ve always been enthralled by the chimpanzees though. They’re cool.

I’ve got a secret!  I’m not really here today.  Figuratively speaking anyway.  I’ve done my first ever guest post blog jacking over at The Dutch Files. So head over there and check out the top secret info that I found it necessary to divulge about Dutchy and the Casa de la Dutch Bitch!

Holy Hell….EVERYTHING on this list applies to me.  I mean EVERYTHING.  I loved it and feel free to copy and paste on your own blog!  I mean, if you want.

You had that Fisher Price Doctor’s Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked.

You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it.

You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels.

You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!)

You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island .

You had either a “bowl cut” or “pixie”, not to mention the “Dorothy Hamill”.

People sometimes thought you were a boy.

You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots for snowy days.

YEAH! You owned a “Slip-n-Slide”, on which you injured yourself on a sprinkler head more than once.

You owned “Klick-Klacks” and smacked yourself in the face more than once !

Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession.

You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.

You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.

You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple satiny shredded outfits, or the sunshine family

You spent hours in your backyard on your metal swing set with the trapeze. The swing set tipped over at least once.

You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color. (Oh yeah!)

You had a pair of Doctor Scholl’s sandals (the ones with hard sole & the buckle). You also had a pair of salt-water sandals.

You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in at least one school picture and you despised Nellie Oleson!

You wanted your first kiss to be at a roller rink!

PONG! (”video tennis” ) was the most remarkable futuristic game you’ve ever heard of !

Your hairstyle was described as having “wings” or “feathers” and you kept it “pretty” with the comb you kept in your back pocket.

You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as well as her friends, Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie.

You carried a Muppets lunch box to school and it was metal, not plastic. With the thermos inside some were glass inside and broke the first time you dropped them.

You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend.

YOU had Star Wars action figures, too!

It was a big event in your household each year when the “Wizard of Oz” would come on TV. Your mom would break out the popcorn and sleeping bags!

You often asked your Magic-8 ball the question: “Who will I marry.

Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or David Cassidy?”

You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame soundtrack record album.

You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and Popsicle-stick God’s eyes, decoupage, or those weird potholders made on a plastic loom.

You made Shrinky-Dinks and put iron-on kittens on your t-shirts!

You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker.

You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat.

You learned everything you needed to know about girl issues from Judy Blume books. (Are you there God, It’s me, Margaret.)

You thought Olivia Newton John’s song “Physical” was about aerobics. (?? its not??)

You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes, or shoelaces with heart or rainbow designs.

You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.

You drowned yourself in Love’s Baby Soft - which was the first “real” perfume you ever owned.

You glopped your lips in Strawberry Roll-on lip-gloss till it almost dripped off.

PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR 30 OR 40-SOMETHING GIRLFRIENDS. IT WILL MAKE THEM SMILE TOO!!!

So as my mom and my sister have so graciously pointed out that I haven’t written anything in a week, I thought it best to try to get something posted.  Truthfully, I haven’t had anything to write about.  Well, I mean, I have, but I don’t blog my entire life.  Just the interesting parts.  Ok, and some uninteresting parts, but whatever.  My mind has just been in a lot of different places.  It’s been in Florida and its been wrapped up in ending a bad relationship once and for all.  It’s been on people that I’ve recently met and people I’ve known for what seems like a lifetime.  Right now, my mind is going in about 200 different directions all at once.   The one thing that I’m certain of right now is that my family is so very important to me.  Words can’t describe how much.  We have always been a one for all and all for one family.  We hit bumps and shit along the way in life, but what family doesn’t?  Sometimes they get on my nerves and I may have gotten on their nerves once or maybe even twice in the last 37+ years.  But regardless, we’re family and family is there for each other no matter what.  So that being said, it looks like Dutchiestyle will have to take a bit of a detour along life’s path and head back to Florida for a bit.  It’s been a rough decision, but ya know, my sister and my babies come before living out dreams.   And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

I have been fighting the headache from hell for the last week.  I think it’s tension and just emotional stress but no matter the cause, the shit hurts!  Last night I was in bed by 9 p.m.  It’s still daylight here at 9 p.m.  I didn’t care.  That’s how much my head was hurting and how exhausted I was feeling.  I slept till about 10 a.m. this morning.  One would have thought 13 hours would have done the trick, but yeah, no such luck.  My head is still pounding away here.  I canceled a movie date last night and am supposed to try to go this evening but frankly, I’d be content to just stay home in my pajamas and stay up under the covers for the next seven or eight days.

So that’s that.  Now you know everything that is going on with me.  I’m going to try to fit a lot in over the next five or so weeks.  I plan to fly back to Florida on the 23rd of September but that’s still up in the air as well.  If I have to go back sooner, I will.  I’ll still be blogging on Dutchiestyle for two reasons…I have the damn domain paid for and my hosting is taken care and I love this blog and my dutchiestyle’esque self will just be on hiatus in the U.S.  So maybe I’ll rename it to Doin’ it Dutchiestyle via Orlando! Who knows.  At this point, I’m not worried much about it.

Alright, I’m off to try to nap a bit and clear this excruciating pain that is stabbing through my skull.  Tot Ziens!

My two favorite guys in the whole wide world are NINE YEARS OLD today!  I seriously cannot believe they’re already 9 years old.  It seems like just yesterday that I got a call saying that they’d been born nearly 2 months premature and weighing next to nothing.  They were so tiny.  So fragile.  The first time I ever held them, I fell in love with them instantly.  They’re my boys.  They’re the best nephews that I could have ever hoped for or dreamed of.  They  make me laugh and smile when I feel like I’ve nothing to smile about.  They are wild and crazy and smart and so compassionate and tender hearted towards others.  I’m very proud of them.  Incredibily proud of them.  They have their moments, as do we all, but they’re going to be wonderful men when they grow up.

Happy Birthday Zachariah and Nathanial.  Sue Sue loves you so very much and I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

• If you need anything from a shop, you better get it before 5 p.m. unless it’s Thursday night as that’s “Late night shopping” and you can shop till sometimes 9 p.m.
• My weight sounds much better when referred to in kilograms! I could tell you but then you’d do the conversion and well then you’d know my weight. GAH…like that would ever happen! NOT
• Unless you’re really into porn and half naked and sometimes fully naked women, late night television isn’t going to be your thing here in the Netherlands
• Washing machines are small! Really small!
• Shit is EXPENSIVE! The coloring kit to do my hair…yeah, 11 euros or roughly $18 U.S. Dollars
• Wine is cheap and good!  There are a lot of South African wines sold here.  I love them all
• Beer is plentiful and cheap
• I can get drunk at a relatively low cost but covering up my gray hairs will require substantial collateral.
• The dutch staircases are narrow, steep and the stairs themselves are very skinny.  It is possible to get rug burn on one’s ankle whilst going down the stairs.
• Do NOT and I repeat DO NOT make the mistake of placing a quick international call on your mobile phone and talk for 15 minutes.  It will cost you roughly 20 U.S. Dollars.  Hope you love me Joy!
• It’s difficult to find flat shoes in the NL that are sexy and attractive.  What does one do when they suddenly find themselves dating someone who isn’t exactly Goliath’esque in height?

So those are just a few tidbits I’ve learned during my first six weeks of living here in the Netherlands.  I’m sure as time goes by, I’ll discover many more quirks and irritations and whatnot.  That is all.  I’m now going to go read a book since it’s a Friday night and after 5:30.  The sidewalks have been rolled up and everything put away until tomorrow. *sigh*  I miss you my beautiful Target!!

1. Where is your cell phone? Table
2. Your significant other? Negative
3. Your hair? black
4. Your mother? Pajamas
5. Your father? Music
6. Your favorite time of day? 9 pm
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? Coffee
9. Your dream goal? Happiness
10. The room you’re in? huiskamer
11. Your ex? dickface
12. Your fear? loneliness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? married
14. What you are not? tall
15. Your Favorite meal? Dumplins
16. One of your wish list items? iTouch
17. The last thing you did? chatted
18. Where you grew up? Florida
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Your TV is? off
21. Your pets? None
22. Your computer? Red
23. Your life? Progressing
24. Your mood? Relaxed
25. Missing someone? Indeed
26. Your car? Null
27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
28. Favorite store? Target
29. Your summer? Changes
30. Your favorite color? Red
31. When is the last time you laughed? Today
32. When is the last time you cried? 1week
33. Your health? good
34. Your children? non-existent
35. Your future? Hopeful
36. Your beliefs? Firm
37. Young or old? Young
38. Your image? Transforming
39. Your appearance? Classy
40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Yes

Today was “Hop the Train and go to Amsterdam Day”.  It started off rather shiteous because it was raining, although I do believe the rain cooled things off a wee bit.  Once the train pulled into Central Station, the rain magically disappeared and the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.  We roamed along some of the side streets in the city and browsed in a few shoe shops.  We then made it our mission to find a bar/grill that we’d visited when I was here back in September.  SUCCESS!  We managed to retrace our steps and we found CoCo’s Outback. Can I just say that this is my new favorite hangout?? I love it there. The food is fantastic and the selection of beers is phenomenal. I had a beef and mushroom pie with aussie fries and OMG, it was heaven on a plate. Our cute South African bartender/server was a real cutie and he kept us giggling with his little flirtatious comments and remarks. Hell, I think he was probably all of 22 or 23. Whatever. I’ll take some flirting whenever I can get it! I think we’re going to plan on taking the train into Amsterdam every other week and hang out at CoCo’s. We can grab a tram from Central Station and skip all of the walking and maneuvering through copious amounts of tourists, all of whom like to stand RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the damn sidewalk! Seriously….move your asses to the side…but I digress!

So we hung out at CoCo’s for the better part of the afternoon and we even picked up a tee-shirt which you can see on the website link I gave you above. I didn’t get a sleeveless shirt though. Screw that. If God would have wanted me to be showing my upper arms all of the time, He’d have given me skinny ones!

I’m hoping to figure out the train system even more in the next few days and head out on my own to Rotterdam. I want to go and hang out with the new guy and let him show me his city.

So that’s the day today. Now it’s back to a quiet evening here in Hilversum. I’m thinking I might actually take my ass to bed before midnight. This gives me 2 1/2 hours to find something on television that I can actually understand, or I might work a bit more on my Dutch language lessons that I’ve been doing. Either way, I figure it will be a non-productive evening on my part. Tomorrow I’m actually thinking of taking a walk and heading into the Centre and see if I can make it there on my own. Keep your fingers crossed. Knowing me, I might just end up in Portugal!

By the way, if someone sees this dude…and yes, it was a male…can you please inform him that having to walk behind something looking like that is just grosstacular!  I mean seriously.  WTF??  If the lime green pants with the purple shirt wasn’t bad enough, I had to see his deformed ass cheeks and something tells me he wasn’t wearing his Fruit of the Looms!  My retinas just very well might have some permanent damage done to them!

Yesterday afternoon I went out with a new friend.  We went to go see The Dark Knight.  I have to say, that while I’m not a big Batman fan, the movie was really good.  I thought Heath Ledger did a phenomenal job as The Joker.  It’s a shame about him.

Anyway…the movie was good and the company was great.  We had about three hours to kill since we’d just missed the previous showing of the movie.  We grabbed a table at a little outdoor cafe and got some drinks and spent about three solid hours just talking and getting to know each other.  You can learn a lot about a person in three straight hours of conversation, lemme tell ya!  After the movie, we walked to another cafe and met up with Tracey and Richard and a friend of Tracey’s.  They’d just finished up dinner so we met them for coffee.  I finally got home around 10:30 p.m. and then proceeded to text back and forth with the new someone for another 2.5 hours.  So yeah, we definitely hit it off well and I think we’ll be getting together later this week.  We’ll see what happens.

Today a wall is being built upstairs to divide one room into two.  Needless to say, it’s been quite noisy but I can contend with noise.  I gave my parents a quick call since I haven’t talked to them on the phone in over a month.  My dad says he knew right off the bat it was my voice on the phone but I know him.  He didn’t know it was me!  Such a dork!

So yeah, it was a good weekend and its been a pretty decent Monday thus far.  As soon as Tracey gets home we’re going to go and do a little shopping and pick up some miscellaneous groceries.

That is all for now.  It’s nearly 2 p.m. and I’m thinking it’s time I actually wear something besides my Eeyore pajama pants (yeah, I do have a top on too, thanks!)

Till later…..  Peace out!