Check out my new blog

I'm pleased to announce the new home of See Jayne Blog. Please bookmark the new site.

http://www.jaynebingler.com/blog/

See y'all on the other side.

Jayne

Check out my new blog

I'm pleased to announce the new home of See Jayne Blog. Please bookmark the new site.

http://www.jaynebingler.com/blog/

See y'all on the other side.

Jayne

Happy Birthday James!

Jimmy is turning a very young 34 today! Happy Birthday!

It's Dutch tradition that on your birthday, YOU are the one to bring in cake and treats to your work or school. How weird is that? So yesterday I baked 50 cup cakes and a tray of Rice Krispie treats for James to take to work today. For those of you who know me (and love me) y'all know that I don't bake. I cook... but I don't bake. So I think that these litle sparkle-laden cakes look pretty good coming from me. Icing, like a good matte foundation, hides alot of flaws.

Birthday Surprise Ruined

On Thursday, Jack and I went out on a quest to get James a birthday present. Seeing as he was complaining about the week-long rainfest we call 'summer' here in A'Dam, I decided to go to Bever and get him a nifty rain coat that he could call his own. Bever which is Dutch for... beaver.... is a lot like Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada. It's a huge store and they have everything for outdoor living and sport. I ended up getting him this swish North Face one - with a hood. And then I augmented the gift with a Swiss Army knife to replace the one that he had that got lost in the move over here. And I picked up a nice, new, airplane-friendly first aid kit.

After the purchase, the cashier wrapped it all, because that is another 'Dutch Surprise' that I've discovered. It doesn't matter where you are or what you buy, the Dutch will gift wrap everything for you for free. (This includes their version of Home Depot, Toys R Us, their version of Shoppers Drug Mart... etc.) So I was done. I explained to Jack on the tram home that these presents were a secret and that we couldn't tell Daddy about them until he opened them on his birthday. He was totally with me on this one.

Hours later, James arrived home from work and as usual, Jack met him at the door with a big hug and kiss and a "Daddy I missed you so much." This was immediately followed by, "Daddy, we bought you a rain coat!" I was so pissed at him, I started to cry. James just started to laugh. And Jack laughed too.

Once I calmed down a bit, James and I recalled how the story resembled the great Sheppard lore of the time that a young James, ruined the surprise of his Uma's birthday present by yelling out, "It's a pink housecoat!"

Like father, like son.

Side note: Luv this pimped out car I saw on the Overtoom. The purple tinted windows were all I needed to see before falling in love.