Well, that's that!

This weekend I'll put away our one Christmas decoration that we had out and that's Christmas done and dusted! We were blessed to be able to spend the holiday season with both of our families this year and we received lots of nice gifts.

On Monday I arrived back from the in laws to a DRY flat. Whew! I was really worried that I'd be cleaning up water all night. We finally got an update from the management company as to what happened with the water pouring into our flat the previous week. Apparently the girl upstairs left her kitchen tap running to keep her pipes from freezing, left for a few days, and it overflowed the sink. Neat! Thanks idiot! We've had some back and forth between the management company, our landlord, and the landlord for the girl upstairs about who is responsible for the repairs, thus dragging out any sort of progress. Hello, why are the innocent victims (i.e. US) being penalized here?? Thankfully, the management company's maintenance guy took pity on us and yesterday we got a brand new cook top, oven, and exhaust hood! We still have stinky carpet, but at least we don't have to eat salads and cold quiche for dinner anymore! Incidentally, they're making the girl pay for the damage which is too right.

Now we're busy dodging water restrictions. The week before Christmas our water was shut off from 7pm until 7am. This week it's 6pm to noon the next day. Fortunately the water in our bathroom comes from a tank, not the mains, so we do have water in there for showers and flushing the loo.

Next up is January which is the single worst month of the year. Even though the days are getting longer you can't tell and it's just cold, dark, and rainy. Of course my birthday month is the following month, but I'm getting too old to look forward to that anymore!

Happy Christmas!

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas season! 

Love,

Kim and Wes

What a difference a day makes!

I had to trek up to the vet's office for diva food, so I thought I'd take some pictures. It was lovely, but cold!

Santa came early around here!

We're having a white Christmas in Dublin this year. This is what it looks like outside our condensation-covered window:

If I'm feeling adventurous I may venture out and take some pretty pictures. Since it's noon and I'm still in my jim jams, I'm thinking it won't happen.

We're heading to the in-laws this weekend for Christmas. Santa's already been to our house though. Last night he dropped off some presents to put under the dehumidifier which is still drying out the carpet from last weekend. I did put up some Christmas decorations though.

We bought this nutcracker when we were in Germany a couple of months ago. We have more things, but no room to put it, so this is all that's going up this year!

Wes gave me my gift when we were in the US.

I'm so glad he picked out a watch for me! I was having the hardest time deciding and needed someone to pull the trigger on that decision!

I got Wes this:

The show is hilarious and I highly recommend it. You may need subtitles because that Manchester accent is brutal!

Then Santa brought us this:

Why? Because someone in my family gave Wes Scrabble for Christmas and apparently want us to get divorced. To say I'm a Scrabble-Nazi is a bit of an understatement. I can't help that for 6 years I played everyday at lunch with the Yoda of Scrabble. So yeah, I'm pretty good now. The last time I played was with my sister and BIL. My dad had to sit on his computer and verify my words were legit because they challenged everything. Amateurs. My husband is smarter than me and he'd definitely beat me at Trivial Pursuit, but I kicked his ass at Scrabble the other night. Now I can pull out the big guns and he can challenge me all he wants!

What's your game?

My friend, Kennedy, made me this picture when I was visiting a few weeks ago. I have to say, she's dead on when it comes to describing me. She asked me what subjects I like. She's only 7 and she's all about school, so I figured I needed to say a school subject. While I'm standing there contemplating which makes me sound less nerdy - band or science - her mom saves the day by saying I like to cook and I like traveling. Good thing she knows me better than I know myself! This was the finished product:

I've never cooked for her and she still knows I'm a great cook. Perhaps she's read my food blog?? But, my favorite part is 'traveling is your game!' I love that I have game! It makes me feel very cool, canceling out my thoughts of band and science. Oh, and Samantha was nice enough to add 'like super stars'. High five!

These girls love them some Kim....good thing I love them back!

Peace out!

Back in Dublin!

Nothing like walking into your apartment (that you already hate) after 4 weeks away to find water all over the floor. Now we just hate it more. At least the cat was happy to see us! If anyone needs a cat sitter in Dublin I'm happy to recommend Alice at Maow Care. She was great keeping us updated with texts and pictures and it really put our minds at ease.

We had a great time in the US! We ate before eating, then had some more to eat. Thumbs up that I only gained 5lbs. Wes gained 8 AND he ran every morning (even when it was 12 degrees F)! I'm the winner of the Lowest Gainer competition! Woohoo! Besides eating (or while eating) we managed to hang out with lots of friends and family. Unfortunately we didn't get to see everyone, which means I come back feeling guilty. I tried Zumba for the first time and had a blast. I wish classes here didn't cost 10 euro each. They were only $6 in the US. Oh, and we went to the pizza shop 5 times, Panera 4 times, Chik Fil-A 3 times, shopped at Target, drank Dunkin' Donuts coffee, used fat free hazelnut coffee creamer in the mornings, visited some museums in Washington, DC, drove what felt like a million miles, babysat our nephews, had a delicious steak dinner finished off with awesome cheesecake, went to a wedding in Pittsburgh, had my hair cut and colored, drove up and down I-83 like 10 times, and listened to NPR whenever we had the chance.

Basically we did all-American things. It was fabulous! Here are a few pictures:

Kim, Samantha, and Kennedy invited me down to make gingerbread houses with them. I've never done that before and we had a blast!

Here is our completed gingerbread village! I don't like to brag, but I made the bakery....

We had Christmas with my family. It looked a lot like this - manic.

We chased a bird out of Kim and Frankie's house. Here's a tip: when you live in the woods and you put a wreath on your front door, there's a good chance a bird will build a nest in it. Then, when you open the door for guests, it will fly right inside! Voila! Too bad they already had a Christmas tree topper...

 
We went to a wedding in Pittsburgh. It was at Heinz Memorial Chapel on the Pitt campus. Gorgeous!

This is the only picture of us at the wedding and I'm highly annoyed that it was fuzzy. It looked okay when he showed it to me...probably too many Yuenglings!

We celebrated my nephew's 10th birthday. Yeah, yeah, he's cute and all, but that buffalo chicken dip in the front of this picture was to die for!!!

And we got to visit with my Grandma a couple of times. Awesome!