And We Had a Handful

Literally, we had five sets of visitors to our Open Huis today. As we expected no one, five was outstanding. In fact, we had more lookers in two hours than we have had in two years. No joke!

By 11:30 am we had resolved ourselves to reading a book or browsing Pinterest. You know who read the book.

Then a very enthusiastic couple showed up who just had to see the real apartment, since they had questions about the internet photos.

Then while we were eating a quick lunch, a lady who was coming back for the second time (1st time must have been last summer!) came with her daughter to see if the balcony view was to her liking.

Then another interested couple showed up at the door. While they were imagining how to reconstruct the spare bedroom for their children, a single gentleman asked if I could show him around. He would not leave his name, since he said he did not want to be pestered by real estate agents.

Then the last looker came with a friend, but the lady has to sell her own house. She was interested.

So that was our Open House.Whew! Now to find everything that we hid and enjoy our last four days here.

Who knows? Maybe there was a buyer in the handful.

On Your Mark

11:00 am and waiting.

Almost all of the Dutch homeowners who are trying to sell their homes are sitting waiting for the first " kijkers" (lookers). Just like us. We have put stickers on the car window and parked it on the street by the front gate. I tied balloons on the front gate and on the doorknobs of the doors leading to the apartment.

So if someone wants to find us, they will.

Nederlanders are waiting. It only takes one person to be interested in buying a house. Bring him/her on!

Hospitality

Dutch hospitality moves past Southern hospitality.

While here in Europe, my Dutch hub and I have been heartily welcomed by family, neighbors, and his former schoolmates. In the last few weeks we have had delicious coffee and special treats with family, neighbors, and Hub's former high school classmates. Some of those same friends and family have treated us to delicious meals and great conversations. And we still have more visits in our last week here. Thank you to all of you who made us feel so at home! Maybe someday we can welcome you to our home.

But the main thing on our minds is the Open House on Saturday. We still need to vacuum and swish through the bathroom, but we will be ready at 11 on Saturday morning. Today our new bed will be delivered, so we will need to pile that on top of the flattened existing guest bed and make it look "made up." But that should work.

So wish us luck and visitors curious and interested in purchasing the apartment. After two years on the market and only a handful of lookers, we are ready for this apartment to be someone else's home.

Hail Beat

Not long ago we discovered Speculoos.

Our son who lives in the US likes Dutch pepernoten. They are available only around Sinterklaas/Christmas time, and we were looking for a substitute to get for him. We discovered spreadable Speculoos by Lotus.

Actually his best bud (American) loves the stuff, but we were still looking for something yummy for our son. Yesterday we found The Original Speculoos Hagel. It is a nieuw product from Lotus, and we will let jr. try it for taste. Americans are used to spreading bread with PB&J, but I don't know that this "hail beat/hagel slag" or sprinkles will make it in the US.

Our son will probably just eat it out of the box, since I don't remember ever seeing him butter bread and then sprinkle on any kind of hagel. He ate chocolate hagel when I made it for him when he was a tot. Maybe he took it to school for lunch, but I don't remember anymore. Maybe he does.

And yes, stroopwafels are also on the way. Taking last requests. Mom, what about you? An email with requests is a good idea.

Het Goed and Kringloop Winkel

It is no secret that I am frugal (cheap!) and like old things. Liking old things is something my late mother-in-law and I had in common. I am not sure she was as frugal as I am, but the Dutch as a nation are rumored to be frugal. How else do you think that the saying"Dutch Treat" became popular? It certainly wasn't that the Dutch were going to treat ( or rather pay) for the entire bill!

But I digress. Both Oma and I loved to check out second-hand shops. In fact we visited Het Goed in Deventer several times together. We always found something interesting and usually old. I do not have my "junk" partner anymore, but my hub fills in pretty well. Guess it is in his blood. Yeah, cheap and son of Oma. Today he initiated our visits to Het Goed and also the Kringloop Winkel in Twello. Today I found some Delft blue souvenirs, inexpensive Delft blue cabinet vases, real KLM blue and white miniature Dutch houses (still full of Jenever), and foot pieces for my cake pedestal creations. So you could say I had a good, cheap afternoon with my hub. Now who could ask for more?

After our shopping trip, we met Christopher for the first time. He is my hub's newest great-nephew. What an energetic and bouncing baby boy of four months! He is ready to run, so he practiced on our laps. Bet we all have little blue footprints on our upper legs. I think he will run a marathon someday. What a cutie and a flirt!

Chris's big brother Sebastiaan aged 3 years speaks English, so he and I played a game of kickball. I don't really remember the actual rules, but he kicked the old soccer ball and ran around a small pile of dirt ( he called it mud). Then it was my turn. Don't laugh! I did my best. We enjoyed our visit with Chris and Seb.

Window Washing, Walking, and Wasted

Saturday is Open House day for the apartment. Of course I need to vacuum and dust, but today I did something very Dutch. I washed the balcony windows and cleaned up the sitting area on the balcony. Most Dutch ladies use buckets of water and squeegees, but I tried out Glassex and it worked. No soppy mess for me. Now to put a tablecloth on the little table, cushions on the chairs,and plants in the empty pots on Saturday.

After I finished windows, we walked to the bank, to have passport photos made, and back by Action (the Dutch version of Dollar General). Then we drove to get our groceries at Lidl. They have the best Greek yoghurt and Creme Brûlée! Why can't Walmart carry that really good stuff?

We ate Babi Pangang again tonight (and more tomorrow night!) and then crashed in our straight backed chairs with Ikea footstools. I am still not used to sitting like this while watching television.

I am still completely hooked on Pinterest. Even my Master Gardening project is one of my boards called Mastering Gardening. If you are interested in checking out my boards and pins, go to

http://pinterest.com/wetcreek/ .

Summer Temps Again Today

Summer temperatures in Europe are more like spring or fall temps in my part of the US. But today we had warm, sunny weather again . Until around lunch time it was foggy and quite cool outside, but when we did our late afternoon walk today the weather was outstanding. Hope it stays like this for a few days. The only problem is that our bedroom heats up with the bright sunshine. Hope it cools off fast, too.

Besides visiting a few high school buddies of my hub this week, we are planning for an open house on Saturday. This apartment has been on the market for two years now, so it is time for a sale. This morning I chopped up the only plant still in the apartment. I started that plant from a small shoot about 10 years ago. The original plant was from my mother-in-law's house in Olst, and we had that old plant for almost 20 years, too. Don't ask me what kind of plant it was. Just a climber with large green leaves and long roots/feelers. Now it is finally in the trash bin, and my sister-in-law does not have to come here to water it anymore.

While we were getting rid of the real live plant, we dumped the plastic ferns that had been decorating the top of the kitchen cabinets. No way was I going to dust them, and now the kitchen looks cleaner. Now to do something with the two fake plants by the front door entrance!