Business Side of things--Busy time of Year

Guten Morgan Friends, Family & Fellow blog followers!!!! How has everyone been doing? Things on the "Business Side of Things" has been wonderful & busy. We have a lot of fellow furry friends whether they are cats, dogs or bunnies visiting Pets Can Vacation Too Doggie Services the past few months. For some it's just that time of year where your travel steps up a bit more & for others it's pcs season. We have had lots of play days with friends. It's just safer when the movers are coming to have your furry friend over at a safe vacation place. Certainly don't want your 4 legged family member to go missing right before a move! We have also been helping foster pets when the new place families are moving too is too hot & the airlines won't fly their pet until Aug. Or the airlines just won't fly their breed of dog or don't have enough room. Needless to say we have been more than happy to take several trips up to Frankfurt International Airport to make sure our friends get safely on the plane to meet their families in the states. The main company we have been working with is PetAir and in the 4years I've known about them, I've never heard an ill word about the company...with the exception of their pricing. Other than that, I've heard people use their services for horses, dogs & cats and all those clients have been satisfied customers!!!!! We at PCV2 doggie services, are so blessed that so many old & new friends intrust us with their very special loved ones. As of August 1,2012, we will officially be taking euros for payment since our German business license & all that goes along with it finalized in June. We wanted to allow a grace period & I firmly believe in keeping your word, especially when it comes to price quoting. So we have stuck with, if you were quoted a dollar price before a certain date & have confirmed booking we will honor those rates! For any confirmed bookings after the rate will change to euros, fair enough we think :o) Everyone has been so warm & accepting & understanding about some of the new policy changes. I was very nervous, but all has gone very well! Another change is the creation of our Services & Agreement Statements, which we are wanting to also create digitally for families to have the option of filling out & then either re-emailing it back to us or them printing it out and bringing at drop off. It is a one time fill out & then if there are not changes needed then they just simply sign...and if there are changes they can make them & sign/date. We have also created and finalized our business cards & we just LOVE them! On the backs are the 2012 calendars and a slot for you to fill in your next booked vacation :o) 


Pets Can Vacation Too Doggie Services Pet Services & Agreement



Pets Can Vacation Too Doggie Services Business Cards

My next goal in the next few months......hahah I'm so funny ok, so really we have a million ideas for our business so I guess I'll just list them.

1. Create a logo for shirts & to put on our walking bags

2. Sell doggie bandana's with our log on them

3. We would like to start designing & creating my favorite around the world suites! So Italy, London, Germany(obviously), the US & Greece are just a few suite themes that I would like to start working on.  So each room our friends will feel like they are traveling on their own world vacations! 

4. We also are going to be changing up the backyard a little bit...this one I am sure will be a long term project as we always have friends vacationing with us & want to make sure their play area is always safe! Backyard design's are in the works & any tips and ideas you may have are of course always welcome. As my mom always says, two heads are always better than 1!

We are continuing to always test out new products/toys, our favorites so far are the JW gummy bear/bones/balls(all rubber), the dog whisperer frisbee and the dog whisperer outdoor/indoor house. We are also huge fans of the dog whisperer pet cleaners, they are safe and honestly what does it for me is they DON'T make me gage! For all you pet owners you know what I'm talking about...there are just some cleaners that not only are not pet friendly...but are so strong that you seriously need a face mask to use those products they are so strong and harsh! Our favorite shampoos we have found so far are an Oatmeal shampoo that is all natural & one made my Hartz that is pink and the smell is tropical, very very nice! Our local KMCC has started to step up their pet supply department and we got a few new KONG toys...which we are HUGE fans of! I've washed the balls/football so many times and large chewer dogs have had tons of fun with & they are STILL going strong. Now I am referring to the large size ones...the smaller balls don't last as long but that's to be expected when larger dogs are playing with them :o) Soon we will be making a big purchase for some awesome leashes. Now, you can get leashes for super cheap, but these will run around 200.00 total for 2 & they are to help alleviate strain/injury for our friends that are "pullers" for example huskies & beagles. Now, with that said any dog can be a "puller" So these will work with any breed & size dog. As soon as those come in I'll definitely be blogging about them & add a link to where you can find them too! There are just so many injuries a dog can get in their back/neck/chest area from a simple walk.

Belle testing out the dog toys....JK rubber ball is the first one she Picks

Lijah is one of our friends that vacations with us & more than willing to test new products for PCV2

 

On that note:  Thank you so much for following my blog!!!!  Stay tuned for the NEW LEASHES, MORE PRODUCT TESTING & for a special segmant on HOME MADE DOG & CAT TREATS!!!!!!  They are sure to be paw-licking but we will let our 4 legged friends tell you themselves how they like them!!!!!!

Bev

Chalk Board Paint Recipe

So today I just found out that I no longer need to spend $15.00 plus for Chalkboard Paint!  I'm making a chalkboard and need a lot of the paint, but for only about 4-6ounces at 15.00 bucks a pop, it's been a slow process.  So what am I to do with this newly found information?!  Why Share my dear friends.............

So here it is from the Martha Stewart website, free tips/tricks/design ideas: 

Pour 1 cup of paint into a container. Add 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout. Mix with a paint stirrer, carefully breaking up clumps.

2. Apply paint with a roller or a sponge paintbrush to a primed or painted surface. Work in small sections, going over the same spot several times to ensure full, even coverage. Let dry.

3. Smooth area with 150-grit sandpaper, and wipe off dust.

4. To condition: Rub the side of a piece of chalk over entire surface. Wipe away residue with a barely damp sponge.

 Stay tuned for the finished product of my dinning room Chalkboard.

Thank you so much for following my Blog!!!

The Re-decorating Frenzie....

The Re-decorating Frenzie


So after a morning of breakfast at a german cafe, "forest treasure hunting" &  shopping at the Fundgrube in Kusel....I excitedly drove home to partake in 3 things:  1.  Clean up the back patio & make it look more inviting 2. take all the clutter out of my kitchen and re-decorate and 3.  Clean up and re-paint my bookshelf back to its vibrant white.  All were completed and then some.

 

Back Patio getting cleaned up


I scrubbed the tile with good ' ol fashioned soap and water and then bleached the wall/patio.  Since my business is also in my home, it's important that when I use harsh cleaners such as bleach that I either rinse it all away or re-rinse with a pet friendly cleaner.  I chose to use vinegar.  Works great & the bugs hate the smell!  Though honestly, I'm with the bugs....something about being a kid and my mom rinsing my hair with vinegar left a gagging memory burned into my brain.  Lol....The patio table broke not even a few month after we purchased it so nothing like strong duct tape to keep it all together.  A lot of times we have a table cloth on the table anyway, so no one even sees it.  The umbrella I found at the Fundrube in Kusel for 8Euro!  The same one I had seen for 20.00usd at the base.  Way to save 10bucks!

My beautiful wooden Chandelier find from my favorite store nestled around the town of Idar-Oberstein.  It was down in a basement, wooden and looking slightly dusty.  At first glance, I turned up my nose and kept on walking.  A friend with a talented eye saw more...much, much more & by the end convinced me to make my purchase of wait for it.......20EURO!!!!  Did I meantion it worked?!  Yup, that's right, now the way it was wired only every other socket works, but with as much light as it puts out, I'm 100% ok with that.  Anway, back to my story.....I cleaned it up, went to the local hardware store, here the store is called Hela, in the states they would be something such as Lowe's or Home Depot....and went to purchase my paint.  Haha, easy enough right?  Did you know there are more than 6 cream choices???  I figured 2 cream glossy or cream matte...well finally after about 10minutes of deciding, I walked out with my 11euro can of spray paint.  Man spray paint is expensive...I thought.  A few days later I realized if I had looked through a few more of the isles I would have come across spray paint for under 6euro, which is about 7.50usd.  The paint I had purchased was for vehicles!  No wonder it was so flippin' expensive...hahaha...
So after spending 20.00euro for the working chandelier, 11euro spray paint & 4 ikea light bulbs I already had at the house....my gorgeous chandelier cost me a grand total of 31EUROS...which is equivalent to $38.08!

Ever bought something gotten it home and then end up not using it?  Well almost 4yrs ago that happened to me.  But I finally found a use for it.  If you look closely there is a silver bar that I nailed into the wall, used the matching hooks that I just happened to have in a drawer, still in the ikea packaging and hung my coffee cups on them.  I would recommend using 2 hooks for each cup.  I can't remember for sure but I believe the bar was about 5euros or less and the hooks I honestly can't even remember how much they cost, but they too weren't expensive.  Since my walls are concrete I did have to rummage through my husbands nail stash...but other than that this little project took me a whole 15minutes.  Not to shabby for a girl who is anal about making sure things look straight.  :o)  In the same photo:  I re-painted my bookshelf the same color, white with left over ceiling paint I had in the house.  It really brightened up the kitchen!  I had used it for extra storage, but it ended up becoming more of a catch all.  Kind of an eye sore!  Not anymore though, wine glasses that I used to have to search through my cabinets for are now easily accessible & used quite frequently.  My plates were on the counter in a 3 tier rack, but not all the plates would fit, so they too were scattered, now they all fit on the bookshelf, are easily accessible & look great to boot!  I have a metal basket with potatoes and a polish pottery bowl that holds my onions.  The 2nd to last shelf holds ALL of my cookbooks and the bottom I added a wine crate to store my coffee pot and other extras.  

 My dinning room.  It's not completed but the working metal chandelier I found for 10euros, I added potted fake orange flowers to the table , the back bar has pots that I have collected throughout the years all at flomarkts and all for under 10euros each and on the back wall will be a chalkboard.  That's another one of those bought and never used it items.  A few years ago my husband and I went to a flomarkt in Homburg, Germany and there was a man selling frames.  We had been looking for a large frame for a painting we had won on our honeymoon cruise but ironically hadn't been able to find a large enough frame.  Of course the specialty shops had them for a nice chunk of money, but for a painting we won was not something I was willing to spend over $200.00 for!  Anyway, So we purchased this frame for 40.00euros got home and IT WAS TOO BIG! Ugh, really?  Now what the heck do we do with this thing, its huge!  The only thing we could do, put it in the storage closet...until now :o) All I need now is to get over to the Hela with my exact measurements for the wood, make a stop at the arts and crafts store to buy some chalk board paint and then fit into the frame like a piece of glass.  For now it's a great conversation starter!!!!!

A closer look...

 Had a foam medallion on my ceiling that I finally took off.  Ugh, that was a nightmare.  I had a round light fixture that blew and needed to be replaced.  Well as you can see we replaced it, but then the medallion looked strange around this basic light fixture.  It took me 2 1/2 hours of trying to scrape this thing off!!!!  Foam and plaster were flying everywhere & my dog kept trying to eat it!  So after finally grabbing a baby gate and keeping him out of the living room and dinning room, which I might add, Orian was pissed off about....I went to scraping again....by the end I had foam pieces in my hair, down my shirt, somehow in my shorts, some had flown in my eye & of course all over my living room this was the end result.  As of right now, YES it does still look like this, it will probably take another week or me starring at it and then avoiding it to finish it.  It's definitely been a love hate kinda project.  I know I'll love it once finished but for now, I've hated the whole process!


So as you can see I've been in a re-decorating frenzie....literally!!!!  I've pulled all nighters running on excitement of wanting to see it all done & coffee.....lots of coffee.  I have several more projects in mind and are already in the works & will be sure to blog again soon with updates.  Until then, thank you so much for reading my blog!!!!!


Bev :o)

Strasbourg, France

Bitche, France

Must See--Notre Dame Cathedral, Pont Saint Martin Bridge, Church of St. Paul & simply walking the streets around the Notre Dame Cathedral(lots of shopping and food).

 Strasbourg, France is a quaint town with beautiful architecture, the tallest cathedral and wonderful food!  On mapquest it's about 2 1/2 hours from the Kaiserslautern area, so perfect for a day trip.  A simple day pack with a bottled water, pack lunch, camera, small umbrella, passport & euros is just about all you would need.  There were several restaurants and bistro's in Strasbourg, but us girls decided to hit the bakeries, meat markets, wine and cheese shops & sample everything.  It was an amazing food experience.  Each of us got to try a little bit of the local food without spending a bundle.

 Our group tour included a glass boat tour, I personally would have preferred to see the rest of the town on foot.  For those interested though, the tour comes with headsets & several language options.  The boat was completely enclosed except for two open windows, one in the front and one in the back of the boat, which caused a glare on the photos.   On the positive side, if it were to rain we would stay dry :o) 

 

We took this as a group tour, which was nice so we didn't have to drive, but this is definitely a place you could drive to and tour on your own. Happy Traveling & Thanks so much for following my blog.

Bev

2012 Kusel Hutmacherfest

Most of the group

:

The band: Buhaa and the rhabarbers

EPIC! Yup, that about sums up the night my husband, neighbors, friends & landlords just had!!!!!!  The Hutmacherfest is one of the biggest festivals in Kusel, Germany & we attended the "band" portion last night.  We had drinks, some crepes( fyi: the most awesome invention to mankind...its nutella in a thin pancake like tortilla)sang & danced.  We danced when no one else in the crowd was, we sang and cheered and by the end of the festival, so was EVERYONE else.  Again, EPIC definitely sums it up!  I love being in the town of Kusel, I love the people & throwing myself into the German culture, day in and out.  I've learned so much for this community and am more open to just dancing to the beat of my own drum, sometimes literally hahaha.....and not caring about peering eyes.  Ok, so this post was quite short but I just had to share with all of you.  Life is amazing & my husband and I HANDS DOWN....are truly blessed. If you are in the KMCC or Baumholder area and are looking for something wonderful to do on the economy, let the 2012 Kusel Hutmacherfest be your next stop. 

Bev

Moving on....

Left: My first day working at the elementary school Rt. going on a field trip with the kindergarten class

top:field trip to the zoo bottom lf. to right: My doctor theme, Diavion this little boy taught me so much & made me <3 special education programs, At home organizing my children book collection for my class

Fall festival (halloween carnival)elementary tech prep teachers

 

 Moving on....is it really just that easy for some? I for one know that depending on how I'm presented with change I don't entirely do well, but sometimes, change is what is needed.   See, I went to college and graduated back in '03 with a degree in Child Development.  Prior too, during and up until '09 I diligently poured my almost entire life and money into working with children in: accredited military child development centers, working in the public school for kindergarten and then moving into the "leave no child behind" program working with 3-5yr old special education in the public school, I even dabbed in being a nanny for a brief time.  No matter which job I was holding, I would always go all in, one lesson was music, I got in contact with my friend who's a musician, talked him into bringing his band, performing at the daycare center and he allowed the children to "test out" the instruments!  It was awesome, several of my lessons were always like that.  I loved my job, I loved making my classroom kids smile & always did my best to keep things fresh/new.  At some point though, I stopped LOVING my job.  Friends and Family would ask, are you feeling ok?  I physically wasn't looking well.  I was becoming emotionally/physically drained and miserable.  I became "that" person who hated going to work, bottom line, I had lost passion.  I truly believe that children are our future & they deserve the BEST.  It is very hard to come to a point where you say, I'm burnt out and have to walk away in a job you've committed so much too.  However, it was time & in May of '09 I realized I was no longer giving the best to a group of small people who deserved just that & sadly walked away from being a Childcare Professional.  After about a month, I hadn't yet realized but had physically/mentally done a 180.  People I hardly saw would see me in the shoppette, commissary, at functions, picnics and all say the same, Wow, you look great!  You look so happy.  I'd say, "thank you" and then quickly say, "wait, did I look sick?"  "Yes & tired," was the reply.  Ya know, until people pointed it out, I did always feel tired, I would get sick a lot, I always felt on edge...very snappy at people.  I now felt great...always laughing, smiling & just plain enjoying my life.  So the question presented was, " is it really just that easy for some"?  I can't speak for everyone but for me, no.  Someone had a bigger plan for me.  So big that I would find my once lost PASSION.  It amazes me how people are strategically placed in our lives to offer say "a vet recommended socialization technique for my dog".  Which then guides me into being my own boss and running my own legitimate german business .  Who knew how much bigger and better my life would get.  From broadening the new and amazing people I would meet to making my already loving marriage into an even more passionate one.  I truly am very blessed! 

I do think about it from time to time, have great "stories & experiences" to share but don't see myself going back, I can honestly say, "It was quite a ride & I wouldn't have changed anything for the world but......I've moved on.

Bev

More than meets the eye The Schwimbadd--aka swimming pool

More than meets the eye The Schwimbadd--aka swimming pool

 A brochure I picked up on my way out

http://ourmilitarylifeabroad.blogspot.de/2012/06/more-than-meets-eye-schwimbadd-aka.html

After driving with friends in the rain for about 40minutes, we finally reach a swimming pool--aka schwimbadd.  Ya know the basic pool(shallow to deep) & then the separate baby pool area.  However, this place was nothing short of impressive.  We paid by the hour for swimming up front & were each given a bracelet with a chip in it.  Any services past the upfront swimming we paid for would be tallied on the chip and you would pay at the end.  Um, what....any other services? I'm confused...I thought I was here to swim, didn't I just pay you??? Ok, so I'm a little puzzled but follow my friends to the locker rooms.  We get changed, pick a locker, use the chip bracelet to lock our stuff up, rinse off and head out to the pool area.  We see a lap pool, which is the size of a city pool in the states.  I scan a bit further and see an elephant slide in yet another city size pool for everyone.  It goes from shallow to about 4 1/2ft deep. (I'm guessing) Then I see a gigantic slide...for those of you from the San Antonio, Tx or S. Padre Island area, I'm talking Schlitterbahn sized slide!  The guys look at each other and darted off.  My friend and I headed over to a kiddie pool area.  The water was nice and warm, no babies were shaking from getting too cold, no blue lips, no crying.  Everyone was playing, laughing, having a great time.  There was a built in slide that you could move from the top kiddie pool to the bottom one.  Right next to it, but separate was a tiki hut slide that went into another small kiddie pool.  We hung out there for awhile, as my friends 2yr old daughter played.  Soon the guys showed back up, laughing like school boys.  My curiosity peeked.  Ok, so how was the slide?  Justin tells me, it was pretty cool.  Each part of the slide which is fully enclosed had different colored lights and then all of a sudden it goes pitch black, which makes you panic for a sec because now you can't tell which way your twisting and turning.  Both guys re-tell their experience, we all get excited but I'm not sure about the whole pitch black thing.  Though I like to thrill seek, so it maybe something I try later.  We ended up moving from the kiddie area to yet another area that I would refer to as the "lazy wave pool".  The guys slide down the slide into the pool and I followed suite.  That in itself made me feel like I was a kid again.  It was awesome!  Little did I know it was about to get even better.  The closed sign goes up on the slide and I see people getting excited moving a circular shaped side of the pool.  Water starts moving stronger and you start to float.  Omg, we all laughed so hard while in the "wave pool."  I even had a few close encounters with a wall, but that's because I wasn't paying attention...luckily Justin saved me from kissing the wall :o) After it was over, I realized.....WOW this place is way more than meets the eye!  It seems to have it all....a snack bar and a restaurant, tanning beds, offered several massage spa packages, swim classes, aquatic zumba & had not 1 pool area but....wait for it....yup that's right, 7 swimming areas! I would definitely recommend this to anyone!  You don't even have to know how to swim, there are plenty of shallow areas that only go up to your waist & there are lifeguards on staff and patrolling the areas to help keep everyone safe.  Though I'd like to point out, unless you were looking for them, they stayed un noticed.  I loved that they weren't looming around waiting for someone to do something wrong and "blow that whistle"....I for one didn't miss that! 

So if your looking for a place to go that isn't too far...look no further than:

Erlebnisbad Schauberg Tholey :o)

Open 930am-1000pm M-F

8am-800pm Sat/Sun

Bev