Hectic times

UPDATE on the cat: No way we can ship the cat as cargo, it costs $485.00.
Sad to say - we are not going to spend that much money on a cat.
So the next option is to have her travel with Wim and the kids (I wonder who will get more stressed - oh, and I am not thinking of the kids)...

We have read a 'recent' bad review of air7seas so now we are again researching other moving companies out there. It stressful, we have only a few more weeks left (I only have about 2.5 weeks left). Good thing is that we at least got our boxes numbered that were in storage. Can you believe we already have 91 boxes!
We are also considering to ship the items middle of June and not together with the car in the middle of July.

I talked to my manager here at work - he again wanted to verify that I did not want to work for TAC in Brussels. Nope - really not. So there is really nothing he can do now, I guess I have to send in my resignation. I was surprised I can do this by email. Thought it had to be a little more official. My first resignation... weird.

I had tears in my eyes this morning when driving to work. It seems to happen a lot at that time. The sun is out, I have a beautiful look over the mountains, I am really going to miss this place.
I keep intending to take my video camera to work and tape my "routines" from the last 9 years. I always forget though...

Traveling with a cat

Why oh why are we taking the cat to Belgium? She's giving us so much trouble!

First we lost all the paperwork that we already had done when we packed things for selling the house. Few weeks later we find it back though.

Then the new owners don't want to look after her for the short time that we live in the apartment. A cat is easy - just give her some food and water - she's happy. No, instead she is now locked up in the apartment all day - meowing at night cause she wants to get out.

Now I want to book her a plane ticket so she can travel with me (as checked in luggage) but since I travel through London, apparently she can not travel with me?

Wim is not traveling through England - but since he already has 2 kids to look after, the last thing he wants to do is look after a cat as well.

I am now thinking about sending her as cargo to Belgium - maybe a week before I leave.

Selling our stuff

It seems like we are getting rid of our last items.

After Tony and Clarinda visited us and decided to buy almost all our furniture - we still got stuck with: sofa's, entertainment center, kitchen appliances, kitchen ware, foot spa, humidifier, fan, etc.....

Well, yesterday, a Cisco colleague and his cousin dropped by and wanted to buy almost everything that is left (even what Tony and Clarinda already bought). They apparently just moved to the U.S. so they still need a lot.

They are still undecisive over a few items but it seems like we finally got rid of the entertainment center... We should know by tonight what they all take..

Takes off the stress a little

A day in paradise (Santa Cruz)

Only four more weeks and I will leave Sunny California. ... and we sit in the apartment all day long.
So instead of bumming out at home yesterday we decided to take a little daytrip to Santa Cruz.

The weather was beautiful, nice and warm, a little bit of a breeze - perfect.

Elias and Mendel had a blast playing in the sand, and eventually even in the water. This is a first for Mendel who normally is very afraid of the waves. She was screaming and laughing of pleasure when she ran in and out of the waves. The last wave surprised her though - topped her over and she ended up underneath a wave and was soaking wet - sand all stuck in her cute swimsuit and all over her hair.

That was the end of 'that' adventure :-)

We ended the trip with a walk downtown, ate an ice-cream and headed home....

It was a perfect day - I hope we have these kind of days in Belgium as well!

My return ticket to Belgium

Wow - just booked my ticket back to Brussels.

Now it's certain - no way back - we are going!
(ok, selling our house and buying a new house was a bigger thing then buying an airplane ticket).

But still, I know my return date - June 8, 2007 - this day will go in history (at least mine).

Oh ... it's a return ticket - so worse case I can fly back on June 14 (it was cheaper to book a return ticket than a one-way ticket). What a waste...

Our Tremelo House

Since I'm posting houses Niv is gonna check out - let's post our own house as well.


Can't wait to move in and paint, decorate, buy, buy, buy, ..... (better save a little)

Mean time - Wim is gonna have a blast doing the front and back yard. We are already talking about what kind of plants etc....

Isn't it beautiful? I love it!!!

Nivea goes House Hunting

Not so great news today...

My best friend went to Belgium yesterday to check out a house in the same street where we bought ours, kind of hoping and expecting they would buy it and we would be neigbors.

Unfortunately it seems that the house is overpriced. But is it??

Hubby and I spent the night looking at houses on the internet with her husband and didn't find much interesting, except one (see picture). So I emailed her and asked whether she wants to check this one out. It's not in Tremelo, but Keerbergen, which is still pretty close.

Arghh.. the stress of moving to Belgium ....

Oh, hubby Wim just got a good offer from his manager to stay an extra 1.5 month a Symantec. So it looks like he will drop off the kids on June 13th, but then a week later is back on a plane to CA for another month. He can stay with April (who can keep an eye on him ;-)