Short hair pics and guess what...snow

Risking you guys running off screaming and getting severe hick-ups after looking, but here are the pics of my new shorter look.
Sigh, really have to start losing weight soon. Sportschool is scheduled for January. Because I gained several kiloos since moving here.
Anyway, make sure you sit down....

Btw, it is really short on the back.

Ok, everyone survived?

Than we go back to our regular stuff, like snow!!!

Just like the Netherlands we got hit with a good amount of snow.

It snowed all day Saturday and we shoveled the driveway at least 8 times to keep on top of it.

Since we didn't need to go anywhere we just sat back and relaxed. We had gotten enough wood on Friday to keep us warm for quite some time, we had our groceries in and didn't have to go anywhere but across the street for a visit with neighbors in the evening.

We ended up with just over a foot of snow and it looks like a winter wonderland now.

Today the roads were clean enough to go x-mas shopping with another neighbor and I had time to soak in the beauty of snow in the mountains. (That is how Jack calls them, I think molehills is more appropriate)

I know, they look far away, but believe me, you don't want to run the roads we drove today, too hard for us flatland people.

Also made a few pics while it snowed.

My son shoveling, he better get used to doing that.

And this girl is waiting for her warm wintercoat that I ordered through this place in the Netherlands. The proceeds go to the Spanish galgo's and I have gotten to know the owner, Elsbeth, as a wonderfull person.

And this is how the house and the yard looked today, enjoy!

(Going to hide under a chair now)

Ohhhh, and I really want one of these...and I have the feeling my son would agree;-)

Short, shorter.....

After pushing it ahead of me for weeks, I finally made an appointment with a hairdresser this week.
The number had been given to me by a friendly neighbor after my first experience which ended up in (as it felt to me) a disaster.
Jack, happily unaware of the fact that getting a haircut at the local Holiday Hair might be a good idea for him, no appointment needed, walk in, sit down and be out again in 10 minutes, but for me it turned out to be a bad experience.
I mean, when you know nothing and don't care about nothing, just want it out of your face, than it is fine.
But I need some input, not a bored face and a young girl who cuts of exactly an inch from ' almost' every hair I have.
I need advice and someone who looks like she knows what she does.

Unfortunately, I knew of no hairdressers in the area at that time.
2 days before our wedding....
How I have regretted going there. The girl probably did her best, but I have never had such a bad haircut. In the weeks after, I kept finding longer strings of hair that somehow showed up miraculously and had to be cut off.
Sigh, I should have given myself the 16 dollar it costs.
Which in itself should have told me enough.

So now you probably understand why I had to gather all my courage yesterday to go to the new place.
First impression was good, there were plenty of cars in the parking lot...
Second, it looked like a salon.
Third, they were friendly even though the ladies behind the counter were very busy with their cellphones.

In comparison with the other place, it looked expensive.
And with a difference like that, I started to worry about how much it would cost this time.
And when I was taken to a chair and had my hair washed without asking, it made me even more worried. But, since I was already there and really needed the haircut, (no one would have a space this close to X-mas) I sat tight and hoped for the best.

Even worse, after talking to the girl for a bit, I decided to give her a free hand and let her do what she thought would look good. And, I went a lot shorter this time.

Now Jack keeps telling me that it looks good.
I still have to get used to the new look, no more curly layers, but styled and cut, close to my face.
Somehow it looks really American to me. It is more styled than I am used to and I will not get away with letting it dry naturally after washing.
But I kind of like it.

And much to my amazement it was still a lot cheaper than in the Netherlands.

Sooo, I have found myself a hairdresser.
Who would have thought it was going to be this much of an adventure.

Getting comfortable

Als er iets is waar ik geen moeite mee heb in dit land, dan is het wel het gemak waarmee de Amerikanen het zich gemakkelijk maken zodra ze hun werk kloffie uit kunnen trekken.
In de paar maanden dat we hier nu wonen ben ik me te buiten gegaan aan super zachte sweatpants, cozy sweaters, snuggly socks.
Vanmiddag nog heb ik geen nee kunnen zeggen tegen een paar knalroze, super zachte sokken die je onmogelijk in je schoenen kunt dragen.
Voor het eerst in mijn leven heb ik me pyama's aangeschaft, simpel omdat ze zo superzacht zijn.

Nu beperk ik me tot het dragen van dit soort kleding tot ons eigen huis maar ik kijk er al niet meer van op als we tijdens onze wekelijkse boodschappen mensen in hun sleeppants zien lopen. Maar ik moet zeggen dat ik toch even twee keer moest kijken om zeker te weten dat de dame achter de kassa bij Old Navy echt waar in een pyamabroek liep. Dat schijnt niet ongewoon te zijn, maar ik moet er nog even aan wennen.
Wel weet ik inmiddels dat er hier in de buurt niet opgekeken wordt van een pyama broek als er iemand aan de deur komt of als je in sweatpants en een t-shirt je boodschappen gaat doen. LOL, over make up hebben we het helemaal maar niet.

Maar goed, dat gaat me iets te ver. Ik beperk me tot het uitlaten van de honden in sweatpants. Maar in huis, daar geef ik graag toe aan de verleidingen van de zachtheid, knuffeligheid en comfort van de kleding verkocht in de amerikaanse winkels.
En als er aangebeld word, dan doe ik rustig open in mijn sweatpants.
Maar geef me nog even de tijd om te wennen aan het dragen van sleeppants in het openbaar...
Hoewel, ze zijn zacht, flanel en warm....

Het is nu echt winter!

Toen we zaterdag ochtend wakker werden leek het nog op typisch Nederlandse sneeuw, gesmolten voor het de grond raakte. Maar terwijl wij van winkel naar winkel reden om kerstinkopen te doen werden de vlokken steeds groter en groter.En ja, dan blijft het op een bepaald moment wel liggen.
Met als resultaat dat het er zondag morgen zo uitzag:

De sneeuw had een leuke bijkomstigheid. Eindelijk lukte het me om de Northern Cardinal op de foto te krijgen.
Een tijdje geleden heb ik een aantal voedingsstations voor vogels opgehangen die een flinke hit zijn bij de plaatselijke vogel en eekhoorn populatie.
Ze worden druk bezocht en met een gids in de hand kan ik de meeste nu identificeren.
Jammer genoeg hangen de ' feeders' te ver weg om een goede foto te kunnen maken.
Dus togen we onlangs nog een keer naar Lowes om nog 2 te halen. Een daarvan hangt nu aan de reling van ons deck en ik kan de vogels zien vanuit het keukenraam en het raam van de pc kamer. Maar tot afgelopen zaterdag werd deze alleen maar bezocht door verdwaalde koolmeesjes. Deze heten hier trouwens Chickadee's.
Maar zaterdag was het dus feest, we hebben 3 Cardinals in onze tuin en samen met een heleboel andere vogels werd er flink gebunkerd van die ene feeder en kon ik er lustig op los fotograferen.

Santa drives a Toyota

And if you don't believe me, here's proof.
We spotted him in November around Harrisburg on the highway. First thought was:"Anyone can get a plate like that".So we decided to check out the driver. Unfortunately I don't have a picture from him, but believe me, it was Santa.

I probably needed this wake up call, since I had more or less my doubts that this younger nephew of our Sinterklaas was for real. But there he was, in his pre-December clothes, driving this bright red Toyota. What more proof does one need.

And how convenient, since we didn't want to ask Sinterklaas to come all the way to the States, we can easily swap him for Santa. Lets just hope we will be forgiven for preparing for X-mas before Sinterklaas left the Netherlands.

Yesterday we took of the Thanksgiving decorations and started out Christmas decorations. We aren't done yet.
A few power cords need to be replaced for proper outdoor stuff en we don't have a wreath yet for the frontdoor. But we are getting there.



The whole street here looks like a fairytale. Sunday the weather was so nice, most people were taking advantage and started decorating in their t-shirts
Quite a difference from today since there was ice on the car this morning.

Well, we are almost done and hope to get our tree this weekend.Which will look nice next to the fire place that we had burning for the last two nights.
LOL, we actually may get some snow this weekend.

All that is missing than is eggnog, and that is easily fixed.