Just a little housekeeping

I'm bored with my blog and I needed a change, but I'm wasn't ready to give up the birdies!!! I hope I can get some inspiration to make some little tweeks here and there. I was thinking about reincorporating my food blog into a tab on this blog, but it's not doing what I want, so I may just keep it as is. Blah. If anyone has any suggestions on things cool things they've seen out in blog land, I'm up for suggestions!

Random Thoughts

• Does anyone know a good song out there to get you jazzed about cleaning mold? No? Me either. 
• Damn me for having tall friends who will be able to see dirt in places I can easily ignore! But, does this mean I can ignore the stuff closer to the ground? Hmmm....
• A Billy Joel song came on my iTunes while I was cleaning. I knew a girl in college who was absolutely distraught when him and Christie Brinkley separated. I thought that was so freaking weird. That's all I really remember about that girl and I think about her every time I hear Billy Joel.
• I just read Liz's review of 'Leap Year' and I'm asking...no begging...anyone who reads this blog to please not see that film. Sounds like the only stereotype they were missing were the leprechauns.
• I don't work, have no kids, and live in a one bedroom apartment. Regardless, I'm thinking about suggesting we get a cleaning lady. Does this mean I'm lazy? Don't answer that one. 

And for your viewing pleasure....I was thinking about this picture the other day, most likely when I struggling for an interesting picture for my 365 blog. This is from last year's blog. I think it's one of my favorites, probably because I got it completely by accident. I was living in Bath and I decided to walk home a different way, passing the Royal Crescent. I'm glad I did!

Happy Friday!

Twitter

I joined Twitter. I need a place to release all the random thoughts that run through my brain all day long. Wes thinks I need a job.

If I had Twitter two hours ago I would have said:

1. A channel showing a movie with Eric Roberts in the opening credits begs to be turned.

2. If we have rice for dinner, I will have had rice for all three meals today. Weird.

3. I just made coffee in the afternoon...am I feeling okay??

Intriguing!!!

Thanksgiving preparations have begun!

I love Thanksgiving! I actually love it more than Christmas! It's all about the food, hanging out with family and friends, and watching The Sound of Music which typically airs around this time of year. There's no stress and expense of gift giving. Last year we were in the US the week before Thanksgiving and my mom made all the deliciousness even though it was a week in advance. Other years I've spent the day with American friends in England. This year we're in Dublin and it will just be Wes and I. He's taking the day off, just like a real American holiday! :)

I guess my preparations technically began when I started hoarding cans of pumpkin. I told Wes last night that I need to start getting all the bits and pieces for the meal because we all know it's not one stop shopping around here! Sadly, there's no Giant in Ireland. Further complicating matters is our dorm size refrigerator that does not keep things chilled properly, with a freezer that's already tiny even when you don't count the frost that has built up in there again. I can't really make too much stuff ahead of time, but I do plan on doing some of the chopping the day before and I'll make my dessert since it doesn't need refrigerated.

As you can imagine the biggest pain is the turkey. We have no place to store a whole turkey. Plus, with it just being the two of us I'm not interested in eating turkey for a week after. There are, surprisingly, more turkeys here at this time of the year than there were when I was in England. Most people in England have to order their turkeys from the local butcher if they want a fresh one. You can find some frozen ones, but they're not very common. I picked up this turkey breast at Marks & Spencers. If you're looking for turkey in Dublin they have a large selection of various sizes and prices - stuffed/unstuffed, turkey crown, turkey breast, fresh/frozen. I'm not a huge fan of turkey, so I'm hoping we have enough for the day and some leftover for hot turkey sandwiches the next day. I've thrown it in the freezer and I decided I would check for something fresh the day before and if I can't find anything that's appropriate we'll have this one. I may also buy a turkey leg (I've seen some at Dunnes) because Wes likes dark meat and then we'll definitely have enough for leftovers.

I'm now on the lookout for turkey stock so I can make gravy. I'm thinking this will be pretty much impossible to find. M&S sells turkey gravy, but I'd rather make my own. Worst case scenario - I'll buy chicken stock and we'll have chicken gravy on our turkey. We do not have the culinary palate to truly tell the difference!

Let's be honest though...Thanksgiving to me is all about the side dishes! The turkey is ceremonial and makes the gravy necessary for the sides. This is where the crackers in the picture in to the scene. I asked Wes if he liked the cracker salad my mom made last year. He looked confused for a minute, then once I described it to him his eyes lit up! Great. One more thing for me to make! I like cracker salad when my mom makes it, but if I'm cooking for myself I wouldn't bother. It's an ol' Sproat Family Recipe and as far as I can tell it has saltine crackers that are broken up, hard boiled eggs, celery, and bits of the turkey in it. It's served at room temperature and you pour gravy over it. I've been told these Doriano crackers are similar to saltines, so we shall see! Other must-have side dishes are: green bean casserole, corn, mashed potatoes (of course!), and stuffing. If I have room in the oven I'll roast some brussel sprouts (I tried to introduce these to my family last year and they went over like a lead balloon) and I'll also make some deviled eggs. My mom makes candied sweet potatoes which I hate, so they will not make it to the menu. For dessert I'll make a pumpkin spiced bundt cake with buttermilk icing. I pretty much only like pumpkin pie that is completely covered in Cool Whip, but alas, no Cool Whip in Ireland.

So now I've just realized this is a very rambling post about what we're going to eat on Thanksgiving. I guess you can say I'm pretty excited! Next on the list of difficult things I need to find (in addition to the turkey stock) are french fried onions for the green bean casserole.

What are some of your must-haves on Thanksgiving!??

Honeymoon decisions

Between looking for a job and cleaning mold off our walls, I think about where the heck to go for our honeymoon. Yes, we were married in April and we still haven't gone on a honeymoon. With the cost of the wedding and my moving to Ireland we decided to hold off for when we'd have a bit more time and money. Wes wants to go to Italy. This is a GREAT idea! I'm totally on board for Italy. But what about Romania?? Or a Mediterranean cruise, we've never been on a cruise?? Or, ooo! Someplace warm and tropical!? We have considered every single country in the world and at this point, the only place vetoed is Canada. Sorry Canada. My only prerequisite is a spa. I want to hang out in a bathrobe. Wes said we could go to a spa in Kildare. Umm...no. I would like to go further than an hour away for our honeymoon. To further complicate matters Wes has signed up for the Boston Marathon which is April 19th. This is great since neither of us has ever been to Boston! The downside is that now 'Practical Kim' is on the scene. Yes, there is actually a practical side to me. Should we go to Boston for our honeymoon?? We could actually go to Cape Cod which would be lovely, but cold since it's April. On the plus side we would rent a car and I would be comfortable driving around. My internal conflict about spending our honeymoon in Massachusetts is 1.) I'm an east coast American who lives in Europe. Why am I going to the east coast of America for my honeymoon? and 2.) If we end up moving to America we could go to Boston any old time. It would be nice to go somewhere that we may not be able to go to again. Then we thought we could fly to say San Francisco or something and spend time in northern California, but the cost of internal US flights is ridiculous. We could just as easily (and probably more cheaply) fly from Dublin to somewhere on the Continent.

Sigh....

I'll go clean some mold now.

Patience is not my virtue

I'm all over the place these days. Well, mentally all over the place because physically I'm sitting in the same ol' spot that I sit in all day. I didn't get the job that I interviewed for last week. It's a bummer, but it's not the end of the world. The position was interesting, but not exactly what I want to do. There were parts of the job description that I really doubted my ability in doing. However, other than the obvious things this job would have offered, like a paycheck, the more important thing it was going to offer was clarity. It would have made things a bit clearer for the next, oh, five years! But, I didn't get it and now we're back to wondering what we're going to do when Wes' contract is up next summer. This is where my mind starts whacking out.

Do we move to the US? (sub categories of this include: expensive visa for Wes, moving an older cat, when would we start looking for job, how would we handle the extra expenses of healthcare and a car if we're only on one salary to start, I could get my stuff out of storage!, what if Wes hates it)

Do we move to the UK? (sub categories of this include: pitiful salaries compared to the US and Ireland, we would have to sort out a visa for me, it wouldn't be as far of a move for Little Kitty, no healthcare concerns, most of the jobs we would be interested in are in London and we don't want to live in London, we're further away from both our families, we both liked living there)

Do we stay in Ireland? (sub categories of this include: if I stay for 3 years I can get citizenship, no extreme moving for Little Kitty, the lack of jobs in our field right now is staggering, we would have somewhat of a cushion as Wes could claim benefits for a little while after his contract is up if necessary, the proximity to Europe is a definite bonus, healthcare is cheaper, we both like living here)

Throw in the whole 'when and where do we start a family' conundrum and my mind is racing! I do try to think about how it is an exciting time for us. The world is our oyster! We could go anywhere! But, it would be nice if we had an idea where that was going to be. Some days I feel like I'm just sitting here waiting for the rest of my life to start and it's not a nice feeling.

Apparently something is supposed to be happening in the budget for higher education in Ireland in February. Wes wants to wait until then before we make any decisions. Waiting involves patience and this is definitely not my virtue.

Ode to Rain

Rain isn't really something I ever thought about. I would run from my house, to the car, to the office, to the car, to the gym, to the car, to the grocery store, to the car, to the house. Whew! Safe! Of course I would use the same umbrella I got for Christmas years ago. It hardly got used. If I didn't have my umbrella and I was running from the house to the car I would be ticked! My hair was getting messed up! Eek!

Then one day I decided I wanted to move to England.

People would tell me about the rain. I got umbrellas as going away gifts. As with most first-time US expats in England, I would look out at the rain and think that maybe I'll put off going to the grocery store and running those errands once the rain lets up. After day 4 of continuous rain and no food, I'd put up that umbrella and battle my way down to the shops. I had no car in England so I was schlepping my stuff up the hill (of course) through the rain. I learned to not pay any attention to the useless weather reports - 'periods of rain, periods of sun' - and just plan for rain. Remember that umbrella I used to carry around in my car? Yeah, it died an early death in England. I had 5 umbrellas in the 2.5 years that I lived there.

People tell you about the rain, but what they don't tell you about is the wind that usually accompanies it. Umbrellas and wind don't match. I started determining what level of rain made it worth opening my umbrella. The worst kind of rain is the heavy, swirling mist. It's heavy enough that it's annoying, but it's swirling all over the place so no umbrella can keep it off you. The obvious answer to keeping rain off of you and not having to battle the wind is a raincoat. I can't recall owning a raincoat anytime after the age of 5. No need when I always had a car to jump into!

Then I got engaged and started planning my move to Ireland.

First things first....get a raincoat. If the rain is bad in England, surely it's worse in Ireland! Umbrellas would be futile. I told my coworkers in England that I wanted a raincoat that was stylish and had a hood. I was laughed at! This coat does not exist. If this coat existed every girl in England would have one! So, I ended up with a Berghaus coat. I told the guy at the shop that I was moving to Ireland and needed to prepare myself! He assured me this coat would protect me against all elements. This coat stinks. The hood is too short so the top of my head and face get soaked. So, I've been in Ireland for 5 months now and my second umbrella is about to die.

I remember visiting Ireland about 4 years before I moved here. We were at a street festival and it started to rain. I was amazed at how the crowd handled the change in weather like it was no big deal. People weren't running for cover in the shops, they put on rain gear and covered the strollers with the clear plastic covers and just kept on enjoying the music. Spot the American looking like a drowned rat! I'm highly jealous of Irish women and their ability to not look like they just walked in the rain for 30 minutes. I remember the first time I met one of Wes' friends. It was raining and not only did she not have an umbrella, she didn't have a raincoat! She just had on a cute knitted cap and a little jacket. She pulled off her hat, shook out her hair a bit, and looked perfect. I wish I could say the same about me. I think they have a gene for this that American women lack.

Fast forward 4.5 years and I think I'm finally starting to get it. Rain doesn't bother me nearly as much as it used to. I carry my umbrella with me, but it doesn't go up with the first drip of rain. Last night was the true test. It started to rain when I was at my bootcamp class. So far we've had really good weather and I've been a bit worried what would happen if it rained during class. Would I still go? Could I handle it? Would I melt? It started raining in the middle of class, so I had no choice but to keep going. And you know what? I felt like a total bad ass out there! I mean, it was raining and I was doing lunges and pushups! It's like I was giving Mother Nature the finger! I think she got the hint....it's a lovely sunny day today.

England is Target

I was in England for a few days, getting some much needed girl time with my friends there. Wes had to stay in Dublin to bring home the bacon and take care of Little Kitty. I had a few hours to kill in Bath before heading to my friend's house. I was headed to my favorite shop, Rossiters, when I got distracted by the Lakeland Crack Shop. This is where I picked up my new beloved butter dish. I think what surprised me most about the trip was how inexpensive things seemed to me. When I was new to England everything was ridiculously expensive. I made the mistake of constantly converting everything to dollars which is not a good idea, especially when the exchange rate is 2 to 1. Compared to Ireland though, England is Target. I could have done some serious damage, but I was fairly loaded down with all my stuff as it was and Ryanair had me restricted with baggage charges.

Speaking of Ryanair...they still don't have their shit together, which is no surprise. They have this new thing where they will charge you if you don't check in online and have your boarding pass printed off prior to getting to the airport. They wanted to eliminate the need for people at the counter. They have a place where you can drop off your bag and if you're like me (a non EU/EEA citizen), you have to show your passport and have your boarding pass stamped. So even though I had no bag to drop I had to stand in line, which was fine. When I got there a passenger was at the counter being told that her teeny tiny carry-on bag was too big. The passenger was arguing (as I would have been) that she always travels with this bag and it's fine. Because of the wheels on the bottom it wouldn't go into the bag measurement device, so I gave her the top tip another Ryanair worker was nice enough to give me once. Flip the bag over and put it in handle first. Of course it slides right in and the robot Ryanair worker acts as if she wasn't just telling her two seconds ago that her bag was too big. Have a nice flight!
At Bristol airport, things are not any better. I had to check my bag on the way back and had to pay for this at the airport. I went to the counter, their machine wouldn't accept Maestro, so I had to go to the ATM, back to the counter to pay and get my receipt, off to the bag drop off line which wasn't moving, bitch about the cost of utilities in Ireland with some Irish women who were in line (Wes would have been proud of this), finally got up to the front drop to drop off my bag and get my boarding pass stamped as non-EU. I'm then told that I have to go BACK to the counter where I paid for my bag to get the stamp. The girl at the bag counter just CONFIRMS the information, the girl at the customer service counter actually POSSESSES the stamp. What?? How about you have everything all in one place?? I guess that would just make too much sense.
THEN, we're about to land and I ask the flight attendent for a landing card. He tells me I don't need one because it's a UK to Ireland flight which would be correct if Dublin airport had their immigration set up properly. When you fly to the UK from Ireland you're shuttled through a special door that avoids immigration due to the agreement between the two countries. When you fly into Dublin you go through the same immigration as everyone else flying from lord knows where. So yes, the flight attendent and I know that I flew from the UK, but the immigration guy doesn't. So the FA proceeds to give me a landing card for the UK and tell me that it's useless. Yes, I'm aware of it's uselessness, thanks. So, I figure I'll wing it with the immigration guy. Fortunately for me, I'm a white American female and there is no issue at immigration. The immigration officer practically invites me around for a cup of tea.

Sorry for my ramblings...if you're still reading this I appreciate it. I'm avoiding the gym. All in all, my trip was great! I got my dose of girl time, hung out with their extremely adorable children, did a bit of shopping, and had lunch with my old work mates. Two thumbs up!