Have you ever had one of those days? Silly question, huh? We've all had them. Some days just sail on with no issues at all, and then there are those other ones. The days when everything seems to take so much effort to accomplish even the tiniest of tasks. Running late for a big event on base, the phone won't stop ringing, the curlers that I plugged in to heat up mysteriously came unplugged and were luke warm when it was time to fix my hair...and then the biggie....no hot water. In fact, there is no heat at all. Ugh. Now you folks back in the states are thinking, "What's the big deal about no heat? It's not even really Fall yet!" I'll tell you what the deal is...this is Belgium. The Fall weather is typically overcast, rainy, foggy, and cold. The highs right now are in the mid to low 50's. Then you take into account that all of the houses here have concrete/brick walls and tile flooring. (A few have wood flooring, but NO carpeting.) Essentially, it means that without heat, your house is one giant refrigerator. So here I sit, wrapped up in my Snuggie and typing away. (Thanks Mom for buying it for Dad, and thanks Dad for rolling your eyes and handing it over to me.) It's my new best friend. And it will remain so until at least this weekend, when the mazoot guy can come over and find out what's wrong with my cranky heater and return warmth to my frozen family. No rush. These things take time. Have a cup of coffee and relax. That's the way things are done over here. They don't get wrapped up about much, and I guess that's why they live longer. Don't stress over the things you can't control. It reminds me of something a local lady told me when we moved here. I was frustrated with all of the spiderwebs in my house. I dusted, swept and vacuumed constantly, but the little darlings rebuilt their webs the minute after I destroyed them. She said as long as you have fresh flowers in your home, you will be happy, and spider webs in your home were a sign of a healthy house. In other words, just relax and enjoy life. So what if my flowers have icicles hanging from their blooms and I spend rest of the day wrapped up in a Snuggie? It's all good. After all, a bad day in Belgium beats a good day somewhere else. I'd better go now. I'm pretty sure I just saw a gang of spiders hauling one of my sweaters back to their web.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A Happy, Healthy and Chilly Home
Have you ever had one of those days? Silly question, huh? We've all had them. Some days just sail on with no issues at all, and then there are those other ones. The days when everything seems to take so much effort to accomplish even the tiniest of tasks. Running late for a big event on base, the phone won't stop ringing, the curlers that I plugged in to heat up mysteriously came unplugged and were luke warm when it was time to fix my hair...and then the biggie....no hot water. In fact, there is no heat at all. Ugh. Now you folks back in the states are thinking, "What's the big deal about no heat? It's not even really Fall yet!" I'll tell you what the deal is...this is Belgium. The Fall weather is typically overcast, rainy, foggy, and cold. The highs right now are in the mid to low 50's. Then you take into account that all of the houses here have concrete/brick walls and tile flooring. (A few have wood flooring, but NO carpeting.) Essentially, it means that without heat, your house is one giant refrigerator. So here I sit, wrapped up in my Snuggie and typing away. (Thanks Mom for buying it for Dad, and thanks Dad for rolling your eyes and handing it over to me.) It's my new best friend. And it will remain so until at least this weekend, when the mazoot guy can come over and find out what's wrong with my cranky heater and return warmth to my frozen family. No rush. These things take time. Have a cup of coffee and relax. That's the way things are done over here. They don't get wrapped up about much, and I guess that's why they live longer. Don't stress over the things you can't control. It reminds me of something a local lady told me when we moved here. I was frustrated with all of the spiderwebs in my house. I dusted, swept and vacuumed constantly, but the little darlings rebuilt their webs the minute after I destroyed them. She said as long as you have fresh flowers in your home, you will be happy, and spider webs in your home were a sign of a healthy house. In other words, just relax and enjoy life. So what if my flowers have icicles hanging from their blooms and I spend rest of the day wrapped up in a Snuggie? It's all good. After all, a bad day in Belgium beats a good day somewhere else. I'd better go now. I'm pretty sure I just saw a gang of spiders hauling one of my sweaters back to their web.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment