Found!!!

Yahoo!!! I was in Fresh picking up some things for dinner. I found a recipe last night for peach cobbler and I decided I would get some canned peaches. I literally jumped back when I saw this on the bottom shelf! It's a bit rich at 3.10 per can, but I do plan on stocking up. There is no reason why one should be reduced to having pumpkin available to them for 2 months out of the year. That's a crime against humanity!

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.

Botanic Gardens

Saturday was a beautiful day and I was anxious to get outside and enjoy the fall weather. We decided to go to the Botanic Gardens in the hopes that we'd we would see some leaves changing. There were some, not as many as I'd like, but I was able to kick through some leaves and hug some trees. Wes wouldn't take any pictures of me hugging trees. :-( The gardens were really beautiful and I look forward to going back in the spring! Here are some pictures from the day, in no particular order.

Flowers as big as Wes' head!

Little wee pine cones

Pretty foliage

Our standard shot!

Very, very tall palms!

There was a sculpture exhibition. This one was my favorite.

Tiny little orchids

One of the greenhouses

The ONLY fall display in the place. It was a little disappointing.

After the Botanic Gardens we went across the street for lunch at the pub. Then we went into town and met Mary-Liz for a coffee. I had a chai latte which was delish! I love to drink chai when the weather cools down. After coffee we headed over to the Market Bar for a pint. Neither Wes nor I had ever been there, so it was nice to go someplace new! All in all it was a really great day!

My baby's in the hospital

That's right....I just dropped my laptop off to be fixed. WAAHHH!!!! I'm thinking it's something with the ethernet card because it's not connecting to the internet, but if I really knew then I probably could have fixed it myself! If that is indeed what is the issue, it shouldn't take too long to fix. Or so I've been told. I'm using Wes' laptop which I H.A.T.E. So, I'm anxious to get mine back.

In happier news, I went to Fallon & Byrne to check on the pumpkin situation. Still not canned pumpkin, but I did manage to pick up some sourdough hard pretzels made in Altoona, PA (Grandma Furry represent!) and strawberry Twizzlers. I stopped before I bought some Milk Duds and A&W Root Beer. Maybe that's what I'll get the next time I go looking for pumpkin!

Gifts for little wee ones

There are some wonderful people in the world. I am not one of them. But, Sara Nunn is. She has a project where she collects gifts to give to families who have preemie babies in the hospital. Here is the mission from her blog which can be found HERE:

Preemie Presents Mission

The goal of Preemie Projects is to give gifts to parents who are stuck in the hospital with preemies over the holiday season. I am a stay at home mom of two boys, one of whom was born 6 weeks prematurely. My hope is that with each holiday this project gets bigger and I receive more help, therefore giving me the ability to touch that many more lives. Please contact me if you want to help in any way.

How selfless is that?? She's located in Illinois, so if you are reading this from overseas and want to help out, you can contact her and ask how to help!

I'm really glad there are people like her in the world.

Sweet ride!

This picture is from the Amazon.co.uk website

We saw one of these contraptions yesterday when we were in town. I think it's genius! I told Wes we need to have a baby so we can get one of these. Then I'll sit on the attachment and he can push the baby and I.

I am a lazy so and so.

Six months of wedded bliss?

Yesterday was our 6 month wedding anniversary, so I thought that might be a good time to reflect. I also haven't posted anything in awhile and I've been racking my brain as to what to write about since things haven't been too terribly exciting around here.

Being married is hard. There, I said it. In the first few months that we were married, people would constantly ask me, 'How's married life?' I really hate that question and I will never, ever ask anyone the same thing. This is because the answer everyone wants to hear is, 'Oh, it's wonderful!'. No one really wanted to hear my response of, 'Married life is hard.' I could tell this perplexed people when I said it. So I started saying, 'Oh, it's wonderful!' and they would go away. I should also qualify this statement for people who don't really know me very well....I'm not the overtly romantic-type. I'm not a gusher. You're not going to hear me screaming my love for my husband from the rooftops. Not because I don't feel it, but because I'm not that type. In fact, I wish I was more that type and sometimes I try, but it just doesn't come natural to me.

It's not Wes that makes being married hard, it's me. Getting married for the first time when you're 34 has its pros and cons. I am a very independent person with a good sense of myself and am able to bring my own personality to our relationship making us a great team. This sounds like a pro, right? Well, I could say I'm a very independent person who knows what she wants and is used to thinking only for herself and now has to learn to compromise and be part of a team. Then it kind of turns into a con. No one wants to get married, only to discover how much of a bitch they can be, right?? Yeah.

My unwillingness to give up my bitchiness led to disagreements about whose way is the better way. And it's hard to believe, but my way is the better way only about 90% of the time. Who knew!? Some of the best advice I can give to newly married people is to talk to already married people. I was in the US chatting with some of my girlfriends and they reflected on their early days of being married: 'You use Tide?? But I use Cheer!!' And my one friend told me that her and her husband bought their own milk for a whole year (her's was organic skim and his just skim) because they couldn't compromise on this. THANK YOU! This is what I needed to hear!!! Oh, thank god we're normal! You can even take it to the next level by hanging out with old married people. You can learn a lot from them.

Six months on I can say that being married is awesome. A few weeks ago I said to Wes how I feel like we've turned a bit of a corner and things just keep getting better and better. It's been hard, probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was the best thing I've ever done. Ever. I've learned my capabilities, my limitations, my strengths, my challenges, and the depth of my own feelings. I've tapped into feelings I never knew I had. Should I head to the rooftop to start proclaiming my love for this man?? Erm...no. I'm not that type.