Spend! Spend! Spend!

Well things have settled from the holiday.  Although the holiday is over, it appears we are still paying for it.  Like I said in the last entry, Chris got his wallet stolen while we were in Brussels.  He had his wallet in his back pocket (we do know now, not a good idea, but we didn't think about it or worry about it before hand).  He had a long T-shirt on and a long coat that covered his back pockets and yet, we both know when it happened because we both noticed the guy bump into him, but didn't think about it until we where about a block away and Chris noticed it was gone.  We tried to ask people on the street and in shops where the police station was but no one would speak English so we walked back to the hotel, asked the mean employee, who, wouldn't give us a phone number, only circle a general area on a map, and cancelled the cards.  Chris had 2 bank cards in his wallet.  We called and cancelled the card within 45 minutes (at the most) of the card being taken.  We took out the money we had put in there for "emergency holiday funds", loosing money by getting it out in Euros and felt quite assured that the man who stole it could do no more damage, until Chris remembered that the overdraft for the checking account was directly connected to the Visa card that had a bigger balance on.  We crossed our fingers that we had caught it in time. 
Monday morning we realized we hadn't caught it in time at all...  in that 45 minute space of time whoever stole the card had managed to spend around $600.00, not to mention all those foreign conversion fees.   We called the bank and they said they didn't know the details of all the transactions but two were for - women's wear, and one was at an art gallery.
I am sure the person who stole the card has it all down to a science and I am sure they were busy that night because at the police station there were 3 ahead of us that had purses/wallets stolen and 2 more come in while we were waiting, but we continue to watch the account and to be amazed at how much they got in such a short time.
So.... all we can do is say, Merry Christmas to someone out there who now has an extra wad of cash, thanks to their "Secret Santa"!

Brussels - Pros and Cons

Chris and I got back from a LONG (2 days but LONG) weekend trip to Brussels yesterday.  It was quite an eventful trip.  We took Chris' parents with us to split the driving, cost, and to just have some company.  Since so much happened this entry will be in the form of a list - Pros and Cons:
Cons:

*A Midnight leaving time - no sleep for over 24 hours, once we got there.
*No good food at the rest stop - no good food for over 24 hours, once we got there.
*Driving in Brussels where the speed limit was up to 90 mph sometimes, and a car that refused to go that fast!
*One hotel room that was ready for four tired adults to "wait it out" in - until after 15 minutes, I went down to the desk and asked for a 2 single bed room - to save everyone's sanity.
*A HIGHTLY rated, HIGHLY expensive hotel with HUGE let downs -- crap, really.
*FREEZING cold.
*The confusing subway system with scary, non-English speaking people... drunk men asking MIL (mother-in-law) for money or groups of rough teens ranting in French - are they going to push me in front of the tram?!?!?  Who knows!?!?
*RUDE people pushing past you like you are invisible.
*Crowds of people in a normally quite city.
*Chris getting his wallet stolen right out of his pocket as someone pushed into him - a walled with both bank cards in it, plus, all the money his parents gave us to split the cost of the trip.
*The panic that ensued trying  to find a police station in a country where NO ONE would speak in English to us and then walking back to the hotel to ask a very mean front desk employee where the police station was, and finding it was only 1/2 a block away from where the wallet was stolen.
*Spending 14.00 Euros to call the banks to cancel cards.
*Chris and me being treated like common criminals because we spoke English at the police station.
*Chris cutting his finger on a glass at Pizza Hut and the manager doing nothing but say, "I don't know what to do!" and giving him a band-aid.
*Finding out that the in-laws shower didn't work.
*Arguments, enough said!
*A horrible breakfast.
*Problems with the tyres all the way home.
*Walking around some french mall for ages trying to find out what to eat and not understanding enough French to order, finally ending up at a supermarket getting bread and cheese.
*Waiting for the train, getting some chicken dippers (against my better judgement - I am VERY picky with meat) and biting into a huge chunk of gristle, gagging so loud the entire restaurant heard and the rest of the trip Chris calling them "gristle dippers" and me still gagging at the mere mention of it. (It was funny too, quite a good laugh).
*Longer train journey for repairs.
*Being stopped at customs.
*Driving the whole way home - with, at times, 3 people telling me what lane to be in.
*Bloody feet (so much walking...)

Pros:

*Uh.... I get to visit Europe.
*Getting my passport stamped (the reason for the trip) - another year of driving in England.
*Vouchers so everything we buy at the rest stops is FREE!
*Buying motions sickness wrist bands (I suffer SO bad from motion sickness) and - THEY WORKED!!
*Parking the car in the train and a smooth, relaxing ride.
*No migraines or headaches all weekend.
*Not much traffic in France and Belgium (2:00 AM) so I could go 20 miles under the speed limit and feel more comfortable.
*Driving on the right side of the road.
*Hotel was easy to find and a straight road 99% of the time.
*Nice Christmas decorations around town.
*The passports weren't in Chris' wallet - best pro EVER.
*Belgian chocolate.
*An earlier train home (5:30 PM instead of 11:30 PM)
*No traffic on the way home.
*Good company, most of the time :).
*Belly laughs with MIL and Chris.
*Going to the beach at Dunkirk, feeing the history and actually getting Chris to come to the water with me and then on the way back him helping me pick up shells.
*Arguments between Chris and I stopped after the wallet incident.
*New adventures!!!
*The whole trip back taking only about 5 hours!  Can you believe I live only 3 hours from Europe?!?

So, there you go.  Sorry it is long.  The best pro about the whole thing was my new appreciation for England and my little apartment here that I complain about so much.
I know in an earlier post I was going to do the "12 Days of Christmas" in pictures, but that was spoiled by the trip.  I will do a week leading to Christmas though and hopefully that will be alright.  There are new pictures from the trip (not many) up in the photo album.
Coming up in the next few days will be blogging about the continuing disaster of the stolen wallet AND my new diagnosis of Celiac's Disease.  I will also hopefully be putting up some posts about Christmas in England and some pictures or updates about our upcoming trip to London (that is, if the dirty pick-pockets don't spend ALL our money).
Also, in the new year I will be picking up again on the infertility blog - if you are interested in reading it, please send me a message with your email address - thanks!!