You Know You're Dutch When...

You Know You're Dutch When...


The temperature is so low in your house that 2 sweaters is a bare minimum if you want to be remotely warm.
During the winter it's warmer outside than it is inside.
You open the freezer and are excited to find a container of ice- cream,only to open it and discover it's full of homemade soup or stamppot..
When looking in the fridge, you never trust that the yogurt or margarine containers contain what the label says.
You were green before it was popular. Why recycle when you can just reuse!
You have a pair a wooden shoes in your house.
Your china cabinet is filled with Delft.
You like pickled herring.
You've eaten oliebollen at New Years.
You enjoy chocolate sprinkle (hagelslag) sandwiches.
You have cousins who wear size 14 shoes and are over 6'4"
You wash and reuse plastic cups and plastic cutlery.
You have soup and open-faced sandwiches for Sunday lunch.
The most frequent phrase uttered growing up was "Turn off the lights!"
You get a chocolate letter every year for Christmas.
All the tables in your house are covered in tablecloths.
You like krokets.
You know that Vla is better than regular old pudding.
You drink tea with breakfast, coffee at 10 am, tea at 3 pm, and coffee again at 8 pm (with cookies or biscuits of course!)
You have an afghan knitted by your Oma.
You collect coupons like they're going out of style.
Your Oma had a calendar with everyone's birthdays & anniversaries spelled out in capital letters (bonus points if it hung in the bathroom!)
You've been known to recycle aluminum foil. And ziploc bags.
You own a special utensil that is only used for cutting cheese.
You know that Gouda is the best cheese ever.
You have at least 5 relatives with the same name (and somehow you always know which one is being talked about).
You reuse teabags.
When you hear all the "new ways to save energy" you yawn and say "I've been doing that all my life!"
You eat your sandwiches open-faced. "What?
You want another slice of bread? I'll make you another sandwich."
You rarely have both meat and cheese on the same sandwich.
You have never met half the relatives at your family reunion
You have 100 rolls of toilet paper in your house because they were on sale.
You put a little water into the jar of tomato sauce and shake it to make sure you got it all out.
You have trouble shopping for hats. There should be at least two sizes: 'one size fits all' and 'dutch'.
You wipe the last of the butter out of the container with your bun.
All your cookies taste like almonds.
You make the bed in your hotel room.
You have lace on your windows but not on your underwear.
You like dubbel zout drops, and have occasionally tricked a friend into trying one.
You've put mayonnaise on your french fries.
Your kitchen is filled with milk bags drying, waiting to be reused in the freezer.
You drink Heineken out of pride.
You have a front room but nobody sits in it (or it's only used for special occasions).
You have a spoon collection.
Your favourite mustard comes in jars that can be reused as drinking glasses.
You leave a window open year round to get fresh air.
You eat stroop waffles.
You love the colour orange.
You have a vegetable garden because there's no way you're paying that much for veggies at the grocery store.
Your fridge is always stocked with leftovers. Throw out food? Never!
You go to the "Dutch Store" because the smell brings back so many childhood memories.
You have pictures of windmills around your house.
Everything is Do-It-Yourself - it's cheaper than hiring someone.
You use "washandjes" (facecloths that you can put your hand into).
You have to explain what 'om' and 'tante' means when you're discussing your relatives with non-Dutch people.
You own tea towels and oven mitts patterned with windmills and dancing women in clogs.
You call it "MELK" not "milk".
All your cousins have the same names as your brothers and sisters,because everyone is named after Oma and Opa
or Paka and Beppe.


And finally, you know you're Dutch when..


You're laughing along with this list because you can relate to most it!

Thanks John and whoever made this list for this list.

Leash Laws for Lawn Mowers?

So why is that lawn mower tied to the fence post? No, we are not trying to use up all the gas so it can be stored away for winter. Nathan is using it to move the fence post into a straight upright position. We are trying to get all of our pastures fixed up so the steers will not escape. This west front pasture needs the gate posts straightened up, a strand of barbed wire strung around the top to keep the animals from leaning on the fencing, and any loose fencing nailed back to the posts with horseshoe nails.

Homemade Tote

Janine wanted a tote to carry her toiletries to the common bathroom down the hall in her dorm. I had large scrap of pink fabric and this flowery shirt that I liked.

I cut out the pieces using another tote that I had as a reference. I used the pocket on the shirt for an outside pocket and made another pocket on the inside.
Here is the front.

And the back. It was a lot of fun to make because the sewing machine was really cooperating that day. I had to consciously think out every step ahead of time so it would turn out the way I envisioned.

Homeschooling

Ironing is not one of my favorite chores. While ironing the other day I thought of how nice it would be to send all of Keith's dress shirts to the dry cleaners to be cleaned and pressed. Of course it would also be great to get the windows washed professionally and have a regular house cleaning service. But I seem to have more time than money, so I do it myself with the help of the family.

I am blessed to be able to be a stay-at-home Mom. And the reason why? This quote from Gregory and Martine Millman's book, Homeschooling: A Family's Journey, summarizes the decision that Keith and I made.

"One of the most important decisions we made on the road to homeschooling was that our children would have a very costly "luxury": a full-time mom."

I know that homeschooling or being a stay-at-home mom isn't for everyone. I enjoy getting out to work at Koetsier Ranch at my very part-time job. But this lifestyle works for this family and I am glad for the 19+ years we have been able to do it!

Chemistry

You know how when you are busy or immersed in some activity you start dreaming about it? Well, the other morning when Keith was getting up, I glanced at the clock and saw this:

I wasn't dreaming, but I read that as SO4 which is the chemical symbol for Sulfate. I am teaching Nathan and Lorissa chemistry, and I must have gotten too much of it the other day. They feel like any day with chemistry is too much!

OK, Kids and Keith...

My dear husband Keith did admit to opening a new jug of syrup the other day. He was busy fixing breakfast and did not spend a lot of time checking to see if there was an unopened bottle. And I am spoiled because Keith and the kids usually are the ones to fix breakfast. Nathan makes burgers on Saturday nights and the kids take turns cooking up some eggs on Sunday evenings. So all are forgiven for the extra open syrup jugs.

Thanksgiving 2008

The tables are all set for Thanksgiving 2008 at John and Rita's house. Mom and Dad Brower, Joel and Irene and kids, Ed and Jennifer and kids, and our family ate with John and Rita in the garage. With 19 people it would have been a bit crowded in the house. Lorissa made little cards for each person with a picture and a Bible verse about being thankful.



Irene and I caught up with the latest while doing dishes.

Pake played games with the kids.

The girls served up dessert while the rest of us relaxed. It was a nice evening without too much work because we all brought something. Hopefully Rita did not have too much to do before or after, but it was very organized and the evening was over too fast.