New Sony Vaio netbook

My four-year-old beautiful pink Sony Vaio was giving me signals that its time to say goodbye and move on. Sadly, my pocket was not allowing me to buy a new laptop just as yet, but one good scare made me shut down my laptop, clean it up and put it on marktplaats for sale. The responses started coming in minutes after I posted and I closed a deal within three hours of posting my advert. I must say that later I thought I could have sold it for a higher bid, but what was gone was gone.

After bidding farewell to my laptop I did start having withdrawl symptoms though. I thought I was stupid to sell my laptop so quickly without buying a proper substitute. I had visited BCC a few days ago and had totally fell in love with Asus VivoTab Smart 400C1A024W. However, along with its dockboard it turned out to be way above my budget, which I was somehow stretching to 500 euros. Any good latest laptop was obviously not an option in this price range, so I settled on buying a netbook.
My demands were simple: lightweight, good battery life and good looking.
After looking at many Acer, Asus, HP netbooks, reading reviews comparing prices I was on the verge of tears thinking I would never be able to find the perfect replacement for my pink Sony Vaio.
I narrated my agony in front of dear S who hurriedly set down on finding a good machine for me. Minutes later he calls me with excitement. On his screen I see another pink Sony Vaio SVE-1112M1EP. Its a netbook, lightweight, beautiful and with great specs and just in my price range. Looked like S had saved the day once again.
I decided to go to Media Markt right that night, where I carefully saw all my other options but finally decided to take my new Sony Vaio home. But this time I ditched pink for white, to match my white Samsung S3 mini.
Happy me typing my first blog on my new Sony Vaio netbook, trying to get the hang of Windows 8.

New buggy!

After dragging along our disappointing and stupid purchase of a buggy for seven months we finally decided to test our luck and try to sell it. After advertising it on marktplaats.nl we got a respectable bid and S wasted no time in selling it. The buggy was gone, we were happy, but at the same time confused about our next purchase.
A trip to Prenatal helped us in choosing our next buggy. This time we knew what we were looking for. Our old buggy was very heavy, it was very difficult to lift it into trams and buses and it was not easily maneuverable. The only plus point with that buggy was that it had a very large spacious shopping basket under it, which has spoiled us.
We wanted a buggy which was small and smooth, but at the same time provided some storage space. On this basis we rejected our original choice of Quinny Zapp, even though we loved the way it just rolled around and closed into a compact little thing. Anyways we thought about how many times we had to close our old buggy and decided that size wasn't that big an issue for us.
Our eyes fell on Prenatal's own brand of buggy, which is basically an imitation of Mclaren Quest. It may not be the prettiest little thing, but it rides smooth, is light and easily maneuverable and has a decent size shopping basket under it.
All I have to say is life is 100 times better with a better buggy!
http://www.prenatal.nl/shop/Kinderwagens-Buggy%27s/Prenatal-Prenatal-Buggy-5-standen-Staal-92669.htm?startValue=&rangeValue=&prevVisit=&id=92669

Baby loves BabyBjorn

We have discovered that our baby doesn't like being treated like a baby very much. He is not even four months old yet but he likes to be at our eye level and look around, rather than sit peacefully in his place like other babies his age do. Some days he is happy in his buggy, but some days it seems just too boring or tight for him, we can never figure out. He keeps crying as if something is wrong but as soon as we pick him up he is fine and begins his cute coos. Hence, the solution we thought of was to look into baby carriers.
It is unbelieavable how many different types and styles of baby carriers are available in the market. Unfortunately, you do not know which carrier would be best for both you and your baby unless you actually try them on. We made a big mistake by ordering a Tomy carrier online. When it came we found it very complicated to use, by the time the baby was actually strapped in he would be crying to get out already. Plus, it didn't suit my body structure and put a strain on my back.
I looked at other moms walking around comfortably with babies double the size of mine, and thought that there must be a carrier perfect for me as well. I began snooping around and found out so many new names - Ergo, Moby, BabyBjorn and many more.
That's not it, every brand then has many kinds of carriers - original, sporty, organic etc.
On review sites every parent states their own personal preference, advantages and disadvantages. I was saved by a new mom-friend I found, who offered me to try on her BabyBjorn Active carrier. Her baby is the same size as mine. I found it very easy to put on and quite comfortable, but the best thing about it was the baby loved it.
Hence, I set out on a mission to find a cheap, second hand BabyBjorn, since we had already wasted money on a brand new Tomy carrier, which apparently no one wants on Marktplaats.
Not too long after, I found a seller, for only 15 euros she was selling her BabyBjorn because her baby girl had outgrown it. I was happily ready to spend that money on it. So I bought it, tried it and having been using it since. Its a nice feeling to have your baby attached to you, and the baby is happy with his full view of the world. The only disadvantage I can think of is that because he is facing outwards I don't get to see his cute face anymore.

The perfect bike

Impressed by the Dutch cycling culture, my husband was determined to make cycling a usual habit when we came here, a year and a half ago. He already had a cycle, which he used for the first couple of months, until it had a problem with its pedal. "I think its time I buy a new bike." So, out he went on a bike search and came back shocked at the high prices of cycles in Netherlands. Even though cycles are the most common household items here, they are not cheap at all.
Hence, my husband bought a second hand mountain bike from one of his colleagues. It looked super cool, but we soon realised why his colleague wanted to get rid of it. If you want to ride a bike in the city, you don't want a mountain bike. What you want is a typical dutch bike with a large frame and large wheels, which doesn't look trendy or modern, but is just right.
My husband sold the mountain bike on marktplaats (another very important discovery we made, the local ebay), and ordered another one from there. This time again he was conned into buying something that was not worth it. That bike got returned and the search for the perfect bike continued.
When the perfect bike was found and bought, all he needed was the perfect weather to start cycling to work. But every morning as he referred to my technique of looking at the bedroom window to judge the weather outside, he would be disappointed. Netherlands would always be windy and rainy, and only true Dutch people can cycle in this kind of weather, the rest of us will just keep waiting for the perfect day.