What's in my head today

Hmmmm, what to type, what to type? I am drawing a bit of a blank today and can't seem to come up with what to blog about . This means I will resort to the possibly worst option and just type whatever comes to mind. Oh wait, Branden just brought lunch in so I will be back in 5...

*elevator music*

...mmmm, tuna with green onions on tasty bread from the bakery in the English Market. It probably doesn't help that I can't think because I'm stressed out since the cleaners and the landlady are here. My anxiety doesn't like them.

I feel a bit like Winnie the Pooh trying to think of something. I once had a Pooh alarm clock. It was a plastic shape of Pooh holding a honey pot and the front of the pot was the face of the clock. A bee on the top of the pot was the button for turning off the alarm...which incidentally was the loudest possible rendition of the Winnie the Pooh song on the face of this earth. It woke the whole house up and always startled me awake with a severe jolt of terror! I never thought a willy, nilly, silly, old bear could strike such fear into a sleeping child, but it did.

I want to learn how to crochet again. Actually, 'again' isn't the correct term as I never knew how to properly crochet. I only knew how to do a single line and never figured out rows very well. The one time I tried to make a simple pot holder, it became a kidney and I gave up trying to get better. I fell in love with a ball of yarn at a store, which is odd I know, because it was a wonderful mint green color. Branden bought it for me and I've managed to so far make a couple of necklaces out of it. I would love to crochet with it though but I first need to get a crochet needle, and second, not give up when my next product comes out looking like anatomy pieces. On Pinterest, I saw something for teaching your 3 year old how to finger knit so I thought I'd give it a try. If a 3 year old can do it then I certainly would be a Jedi master at 28. No such luck. I hit up youtube to see a video version instead of photos...maybe that was the problem...still no such luck and it was a 7 year old doing the video. Not my brightest moment but I did show that I have a decent arm on me when I chucked the yarn ball across the room.

I love emo rock music; the more depressing the better. My Chemical Romance's Black Parade album will always be an epic favorite of mine and I still love listening to the entire thing and singing along the whole time. I once accidentally flooded my kitchen while having a sing along to this. Yes, a bit of wine was involved as it helps with the cleaning mood, and as I turned my faucet on to fill the sink, a particularly moving song came on. So I sat on the floor in my living room, wine glass in hand, and sang heartily along with fervent gusto and feeling. It was a moving performance until I walked back into the kitchen, forgetting completely about the sink, and walked into a puddle. Then in true emo fashion, I cried like a little girl, mascara pouring down my face over the mess I made, and sopped up the water with towels. It's still not as bad as the time I had a meltdown over the dishwasher...but that may have to wait for another day...

WhY d0 P30PL3 Ty3p3 L1k3 Th15???

Recently I wrote a post about my 7 pet peeves. I considered putting people who write in 'text language' but I found that I had already written a big rant about them back in February 2006. So here's something I dug up from my blog archives for you today (and maybe I can attempt at catching up on all your blogs today!)

WhY d0 P30PL3 Ty3p3 L1k3 Th15???

I was blog surfing on the updated spaces list...always looking for new people... and I ran into one space where the spelling was terrible! It's not like the girl didn't know how to spell, it was the kind that did it on purpose! This aggravates me to no end! I looked at her commments and sure enough, she had others like her. Here is an exerpt from one of the comments:

h3y thnx 4 da com3nt n nO probl3m i hop3 u 2 stay 2g3tha 4 a long tim3


What??? Computer jargon is not a language people! Do they even teach English in schools anymore? Whoever this kid's English teacher is, they should be taken out and flogged! My question is, doesn't it take a lot longer to have to type in numbers? And then there are the people who not only use numbers but they randomly capitalize some letters too! How is this efficient? That would take me like 3 hours to write a blog! *Add number here, capitalize that just because I'm a rebel who has my own big pimpin fo shizzle lingo!* Oh my gosh...I've just become an old woman making fun of teens...this can't be happening. I'm young; I can speak the hip lingo still...dang this turning 22!

You make me happy

We had a very busy but fun weekend. Both of us crashed just after 11pm, which is early for us, and Branden got up at 8:30am while I slept in till 9:45am. The morning has been a bit interesting because neither of our brains seem to be functioning properly. Branden told me that he almost put deodorant under his chin instead of cologne when he came out of the shower. I can't seem to form words so this short post is taking me forever to type...and I haven't had coffee yet...

It could have been a nice, long sleep last night but I woke up from a nightmare. Whenever this happens, I cling to Branden, whimpering, and trying to get as snuggled into him as possible. He woke up and knew what was going on so he just instantly started talking to me about the ridiculous dream he had been having and puling me as close to him as he could. He rambled for about 15 minutes until I got comfortable enough and calmed down enough to fall back asleep.

The simplicity of just being able to sleep in the same bed as my husband is something that I absolutely cherish. It's not something we did before we were married so it's incredibly special to me. Every night, I snuggle up to his back and wait until I hear him fall asleep, then I roll over, press my back against his, and fall asleep. I used to take forever to go to sleep before I was married, sometimes laying in bed for hours just waiting to drift off. There's nothing more comforting and more wonderful to me than to have Branden there every night, and I fall asleep pretty quickly now.

This is a bit mushier than my usual blog fodder, but I am just blessed with an incredible man who just got back from walking to the store so he could get me something for the breakfast in bed, which he brings me almost every morning. It's just under a month until our 3 year wedding anniversary and I feel more like a newlywed today than I did back then. I love you my wonderful husband and thank you for treating me like I'm your treasured wife.

I've found my new career path!

Greetings from the Emerald Isle! I have been quite busy the last two days, including taking full advantage of the Irish summer that came yesterday. Now that summer is done and over with, I can get back to typing! A note from my last blog: I haven't responded to everyone who comment but I did get the common question of "what do you do with cow's blood and cow's bile?". Blood, I know, bile, I have no clue. You can make black pudding with the blood, otherwise known as blood pudding or blood sausage. I have only tried this once (because it is fairly common over here) and it's not my favorite. Bile, I have absolutely no clue and I don't know if I want to know.

Now, I have to share a little funny conversation that Branden and I had before bed the other night. A lot of times we look at Pinterest to wind down. (brief fuzzy brain note: I just now realized that wind: to wind something up, and wind: or breeze, are spelled the same. Of course I always 'knew' this but I only woke up two hours ago so my brain almost exploded at the obvious realization of this). Anyway, we were looking through Pinterest the other night and we came across a photo of the largest swimming pool in the world. For those of you who don't know about it, it covers 20 acres and gets as deep as 115ft. Here's our conversation:

Branden: "Isn't that pool in Brazil?"
Me: "No, it's in Argentina." (I was wrong! It's in Chile.)
Branden: "Oh ok."  *pause as I'm now looking at other pins* "You know that's where they are going to film Titanic 2 don't you?"
Me: *slight mumble of acknowledgement that he spoke* "Ok" *more pausing as I keep looking at other stuff* "...Wait, wait, wait, there is no Titanic 2, they sunk the first one!"
Branden: *Laughing because he managed to totally get me!*
Me: "And why in the world would you even have another Titanic in South America???"
*We both laughed for quite a while

And now for the rest of your Friday enjoyment, I have some more ridiculous search engine hits!

All the llamas is ours - I didn't laugh when I first saw this, I cringed! I'm really hoping that the next website this person found was a grammar site!

Bad day waxing story - Is this not a given? I don't believe you could possibly have a "good day waxing story"!

Crazy cat lady job - PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A REAL JOB!!!! I'LL TAKE IT!!!

Leggings problem - If you are having a problem with your leggings then you most definitely came to the right place. GET RID OF YOUR HEINOUS LEGGINGS! There, problem solved!

Planet splitter ape - Um what? All I can imagine is a world where apes work as lumberjacks and wield giant axes. I don't know if they would like wearing flannel shirts though....

Pocahontas dog costume - For your dog's sake, go call an animal cruelty hotline now and turn yourself in!

Hamster horse centaur - Now there is a mystical creature that I would like to see! Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of people quite like a huge, muscular horse body with a teeny, tiny, fluffy hamster head! But on a more practical note, how would it eat?

Dog fart myself awake - Just blame it on your human and go back to sleep.

Good Question!

I'm over at my other blog With a Meek Heart today so you can join me by clicking HERE. For those just looking for the funny, I have a good one for you today.

We were on skype with my sis and her two boys yesterday and my sis told us that she went to a store that sold cow's blood and cow's bile. My 5 year old nephew responded to this by asking, "How do you make a cow throw up?" at which we all died laughing! I told him that you just stick your finger down it's throat but I'm not sure he bought it. That kid is a kick!

Epicness

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. We had a pretty good one, except for the 45 mins or so that Branden and I were on the verge of killing each other...but that's what we get for not getting dinner until 10pm. Have you ever seen footage of two lions fighting over a dead warthog? Apparently people have that same instinct when they haven't eaten in 8 hours. Thankfully no limbs or faces were ripped off in the process.

On Friday night, we were watching one of our favorite chat shows, The Graham Norton Show, and since Will Smith, Gary Barlow, and Tom Jones were on the couch, epicness was bound to happen. Random side note: "epicness" isn't a real word (unless you count Urban Dictionary) which I'm revolting against and going to use it anyway because there is too much epicness in my world to not say so!

So anyway, this is the clip of epicness that ensued from that show.



I do love how EVERYBODY knows that song...except Tom Jones... He's allowed to get away with it though, especially since he actually appeared on The Fresh Prince show and did a sing along with Carlton (and the Carlton Dance to Tom's song is amazing as well!). I also loved how Will kept cracking up over Gary's playing and also his vocal impersonation of what Gary played! It truly was a great show that night and that moment was priceless!

NOTE: I did get this clip on Youtube from BBC so if for some reason it won't play for my US readers, please let me know.

My very own comic strip

Once upon a time, I was a locksmith back in America and I started a blog. On a particularly day, I had just accomplished a lot of work and with a fried brain, decided to take a break and have some fun with the whiteboard. And since my art is something unique and should be shared with the world, I will bless you all with my impeccable skills...and somewhat morbid sense of humor...

A few things to note: Yes, I too am cringing over the fact that I wrote "sux" but I did do this over 6 years ago, and no, my handwriting hasn't gotten any better...or my stick figures...

Happy Friday!

Things that drive me insane!

The lovely, wonderful, fabulous, and hysterical Melynda, tagged me in a fun little award. I am supposed to give 7 pet peeves which initially I thought would be easy. After numbering 1-7, I filled out number 1 and then stared in wonder at what I would fill the other 6 with. So I did what I always do, discuss it with Branden!

"I have to come up with 7 pet peeves and I only have one!" I semi-whined.

Branden looked at me in his absolute best "are you freakin kidding me???" face.


"Ok, well I could write a list for you, but that wouldn't look very nice!" I answered his skeptical face.

"But the things that I bug you about also bug you if other people do them."

He had a point so I got on with my list pretty easily...

And here it is:

1. People on their phones constantly. I particularly mean cases like when you are having a meal with someone or spending some genuine time with someone. (there are some atmospheres and situations where it is totally appropriate) Since moving away to a place where I couldn't call or text my friends or family, I have completely lost connection with my phone. I am a super slow texter and whenever I have to get a new phone, I ask for the most basic model as possible. So many people are in a love affair with their phones and I know what wonderful freedom they could have from it so it drives me extra nuts when people are constantly checking their phones.

2. Obnoxious gum chewers, open mouth eaters, and those who bite their spoons and forks when they eat. These are like nails on a chalkboard to me.

3. This may just be something for people who live in shared housing, but I can't stand people who put away dishes from the dishwasher and don't check them! The dishwasher can leave dirty dishes so please check and stop putting them in the cupboard so that I find floaties in my mug the next time I make a cup of tea! I also can't stand those who seem to have no concept of how to load a dishwasher. Placing a cup in an upright position will never get clean; it will just collect all the dirty water!!

4. People who wear track suits everywhere and all the time. I don't know if this is just something that is going on over on this side of the pond, I don't remember it in the States, but considering that most of them only run for a bus or sale on beer, I don't think they are qualified to be wearing such a suit....plus it's about as schlubby as wearing your pj's in public.

5. Parents who swear at their kids, especially little kids! I had to bite almost through my tongue when I recently heard a lady in a store get mad at her adorable 3 year old little girl (over nothing!) and dropped an F-bomb at her in her anger. I can understand getting frustrated and even angry at your kids, but there is no need to swear at them!

6. The 'sexy duck face'. This is just plain nasty and your lips do not look better that way at all!! After my attempt at the duck face, I realized that I really couldn't do it...because I've never tried!! Yay for living 28 years and not knowing how to look like I made out with a plunger!

7. Nobody seems to get that we are from Washington State NOT Washington DC when we initially tell them where we are from. We even say, "Washington State, on the West Coast, above California, we're about 3 hours from Seattle..." and they sometimes still don't get it. I've never even been to the East Coast so no, I haven't been to New York a lot!

Alright, now that I got the list done, I realize that Branden only occasionally does one of these but he at least got the ball rolling!

Now, Melynda did tag a lot of people afterwards so I'm leaving this totally open for anyone who wants to do it! It is pretty fun to do and I'd love to hear some of your pet peeves! If you just like reading about them, then pop over to Janie's and read her list that she also posted today! CLICK HERE

Before and After

So as I posted yesterday, I got my hair cut. It was actually Branden's idea. His hair was getting a bit foofy and I was struggling to do something with my long, heavy locks. With both of us having a bad hair day, he thought it would be best to head to town and get our hair cut. I should make a note now, since I was asked in my comments and also by some friends and family on facebook about if I donated my hair. Locks of Love is not in Ireland and I haven't heard of anything like it over here. Plus, they want a minimum of 10 inches and I wasn't going that drastic. There has only been one time in my life that I ever cut that much hair off and thankfully I was living in the States so I did donate it.

Anyway, there were a couple of younger hair dressers at the salon, both girls, and when I said I wanted to cut my hair (not even saying how much) they both voiced objections...isn't this what they get paid to do??? I was almost put off as they told me how nice and long it was, but thankfully, I had just published a blog with a list of my frustrations over my 'nice and long' hair which I started telling them about. Plus I let them know that my hair grows back quickly so it would get long again soon. That apparently convinced them enough and one of them finally started cutting while the other seemed to quake with every snip. Branden was in the chair next to me, since the lady who usually cuts his hair came in during the time the girls were trying to talk me out of it, and his hair was done pretty quickly. As he was sitting on the couch waiting, he was looking a bit hesitant. One of the girls asked what he thought, and he gave an uncomfortable giggle and a ,"It's looking ok..."

At this point, I was feeling fantastic! The weight of it was so much better and it already was looking healthier and smoother. She finished up, took of that cape thing, and I thought it was great! Branden even agreed and so did the 2 girls! The girls were even saying how much it seemed to suit me and just how nice and healthy it looked.

When we walked home, it was quite windy and I didn't put my hair up...but I didn't need to! It was amazing to walk in the wind and not have a tangled bird's nest of hair that would take forever to brush though! Technically it's still "long" by most standards (not mine though) but I am quite enjoying it. My head feels fabulous and I oddly find that it makes me look more my age but also younger at the same time somehow. I have no clue how that works but it just seems to. I have played with it quite a bit and I can do all sorts of fun stuff now and I don't even have to use a bajillion bobby pins to hold the weight of it up!

I am very pleased and Branden is really loving it as well. Unfortunately he's off at work so I had to try and get a shot of my new do by myself which isn't the easiest with my short arms.

So here, for a reminder, was before:

And here's the best I could do for an after:

It's about 6 inches, give or take an inch. 

Now, since I was in my bathroom, taking photos of myself, I had to attempt to be stereotypical and do that duck face shot that all the 'sexy girls' like to post of themselves on facebook:

This leads me to a Tip of the Day: STOP DOING THIS FACE! IT'S NOT ATTRACTIVE AT ALL!!

I think the only thing I managed to accentuate in that shot was my nostrils...

Revenge will be sweet!

Dear hair,

Consider this your notice. In a few hours, you will be meeting your doom. I am no longer going to put up with your shenanigans and have every intention of making your attempts to show up in every part of my room, bed, clothing, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom drain, and even my shoes, to an end. I have been kind and turned my head at the times where you have matted yourself around my tank top straps while in the washing machine, but when my housemate tells me that he finds you in his laundry, I draw the line!

I also don't appreciate how you always tend to blow into my armpit while I walk in the wind, because it makes it difficult for me to turn my head! Also, I don't like how you trap my head when I sit down because you find a nice cosy spot between my lower back and the back of the chair. You apparently like my cooking as you make your way into my food much too often, which causes the odd conversation with my husband about having to wear a hairnet like a cafeteria woman. Branden also doesn't appreciate that you like to find yourself down his shirts and even in his beard.

We've had a good run and maybe I should be blaming my age instead of you for finding strands of you everywhere, but oh well,  you have no choice. I'm taking you in and I just hope my frustration with you doesn't cause me to mutilate you to oblivion. I would like to keep you long but you need to learn to cooperate. Luckily, my round face has put in a good word for keeping you long so I may just listen, but you will definitely pay a hefty price today.

Farewell and good luck. I do hope you survive but I also hope you suffer a bit...like the suffering you put me through when I accidentally inhale you when you blow into my mouth and you practically visited my stomach, causing much gagging when I have to pull you out!]

Deepest sympathies,
Maggie

Before (stay tuned for after)

I also have to note that my hair actually looks fairly decent in that shot. Don't let it fool you! It's just trying to make a last attempt at saving itself!

Dont Bite your friends!

I have attempted to write this post 2 different times now, one is sitting in time out in my drafts, and it's just not been my writing day. After explaining to Branden that I just wasn't able to write today but I still had to do it anyway, I broke down and had a cry I left it alone and then ate lunch. Lunch is over and I'm still extremely frustrated over both of my posts being impossible to work with, so without working myself up again, here's the video basis of what I wanted to share today. 

With Mother's Day being just yesterday, I find this very appropriate as well.and also a good reminder because if my blog was a person, I would totally bite it right now!


I hope you all had a good weekend and I'll see you around at your blogs today! ANYTHING TO GET AWAY FROM MINE BECAUSE WE ARE SO CLOSE TO NOT BEING ON SPEAKING TERMS!

Freaky Friday Search Hits

One of the perks about writing odd, random stories, is that I get odd, random search hits. Recently I've had some that have cracked me up so I must share them with the rest of you!


Chuck Norris poked you - which I believe translates to "You've just been flung across the Universe!"

I don't know how to say this but you don't have a hamster anymore - Ummm, I know and I also don't care that I don't have a hamster...nasty, racist little things...

Just married cats - Only interested in newlyweds? What about cats who've been married for years? I think that would be much for interesting.

Teenage mutant emo turtles - This is brilliant! ...unless they are cutting themselves with their ninja stars...someone call ASPCA!

Coloring book llama cute - I'm not sure how cute a llama anything is, let alone a coloring book.

Hairy Brunet - My first instinct was, "Branden is more brunette than me!" ...oh yeah, and he's also hairier...


Now excuse me as I go cry because I ran out of cupcakes for breakfast and lunch and dinner...they were really tasty too and I made everything from scratch...

You should pay close attention (and by 'you' I mean Branden)

Tip of the day: which is actually a tip for my husband


When I come to you with "OH HOLY CRAP!!!" written on my face and then tell you my big scary problem, you can't give me the "OH HOLY CRAP!!!" face back! You're supposed to tell me something to make my face better, not freak me out by seeing how freaked out you now are!

On a side note, when Branden and I took photos of our bunnysicles yesterday, he was a slightly opposed to me posting the first photo of us...

I blinked at him with a surprised look on my face, "YOU?? YOU have a problem with THAT photo??? Must I remind you that you are on this blog as Kate Middleton???" (seriously click that link if you haven't seen it!)

Thus, the bunnysicle photo was posted yesterday.

The Molds Have Eyes!

I went shopping on Saturday, and one thing on my list of things to look for was a popsicle mold. For the past few months, I have been making my own 'ice cream' out of canned coconut milk, and Branden suggested that it would be nice to make them into popsicles. I headed to a new, super cheap store in town and found 2 types of molds. I picked the one that had the biggest cups, because in the dessert world size completely matters, and headed to The Market for some meat shopping. Since Branden works at the market and I sort of needed more cash I stopped in and let him know of my find.

"So I got a popsicle mold," I proudly beamed, "They are decent sized cups with multi-colored tops that have sippy straws in them!"

"Great!" Branden happily contributed to my proud purchase.

"They technically are for little kids though," I began to let the cat out of the bag a bit and Branden looked questioningly at me, "They are VERY brightly multi-colored...and they have eyes."

"Eyes? How do they have eyes?" he managed to giggle his question out.

"Well, they have these random eyeball stickers on them for some reason so they look a bit childish, but they should work!" I defended my now seemingly ridiculous purchase...which still only cost me less than 2 Euros. (Yes, that probably should have explained a lot!)

Not wanting to pull out the silly things from my backpack, I got the money from Branden, went to my usual butchers for pork chops, sausages, and ground beef, and headed home. When Branden came home from work, I showed him the molds. He giggled a bit and pointed out that the 'sticks' that you hold were actually 'ears'...bunny ears to be exact.

"So that's why they have eyeballs!" I stated my revelation out loud, "they are bunnies!"

At this point our African housemate came into the kitchen, had his eyes drawn instantly to the colorful neon plastic thing on the counter, and took a few more notches out of my pride, "What's with the kid's toy?"

"It's a popsicle mold, you know, for making popsicles with," I maturely demonstrated by grasping my plastic bunny by the ears and popping it's head off from the cup tray, sticker eyes staring oddly back at my housemate who is also a doctor.

"But those are for little kids," he laughed out at me.

"Well, they were the only ones at the store that I could have got! The other ones were rocket shaped, which I would have preferred, but the cups were too small!" my voice squeaked out like an 8 year old trying to get out of climbing that horrible rope in gym class.

He laughed more at this and then gave a fabulous compliment, "You guys are just a bunch of kids at heart!"

"I can't argue there, and none of my friends or family would either!" I now beamed, pride totally restored.

If my bunnysicle had a mouth, it probably would have smiled too...but it only has eyes.

Oh look! Our first awkward family photo! (this actually got us laughing which brings us to the next photo)

I'm cracking up and so is Brandon so he's can't hold the camera right which cuts my face off! 

I get him back by licking his bunnysicle! Haha!

So, as you can tell, we made popsicles and they are fantastic! They are blueberry fudge and are so decadent! Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

1 can of coconut milk
1 pot of blueberry yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
2 teaspoons of unsweetened coco powder (we did heaping but you can do it to suit your chocolate needs)
4 teaspoons of sugar (but you can adjust this to your taste, or put in honey, or an artificial sweetener if you prefer)
1 big spoonful of blueberry jam (optional. We had some that Branden brought home from work and it's not sweet since it's organic and has only apple juice concentrate used to sweeten it, but it did add some extra blueberry flavor)

Directions:

Dump the coconut milk into a pot, turn your heat on fairly low since you don't want to boil it really, and  stir out all the lumps. Add the yogurt (and jam if you are using that option), slowly add the coco powder, and then add the sugar one teaspoon at a time, tasting to make sure it's the way you want it and not too much. Let the sugar totally dissolve, and I noticed the liquid started to thicken a bit but not much. Pour into your molds and them pop them in the freezer!

If you are wanting to make ice cream, just put the liquid in a tupperwear tub and make sure to take it out and stir your mixture with a fork about every 30 mins until it's the consistency that you want it. Also, you don't technically have to heat this up. I just did because it's easier to dissolve the sugar but if you use honey (like I normally do) then you don't need to heat it at all. Just stir everything together in a bowl and freeze! It's as easy as catching a cold and much more pleasant!

There will be ice crystals in the 'ice cream' since it's coconut milk and not done in a machine, but with the fabulous taste you get, who cares!?! I've done lost of variations including a Thin Mint coconut ice cream that was amazing, a chocolate Tia Maria version, and even just a basic vanilla. You can throw candy pieces in, flavor however you want, or even throw in some cream and make it more rich. Just have fun and make it how you like it!

 ...preferably in a bunnysicle mold  ;)

*Santa and Tooth Fairy spoiler alert!

Since Branden works a full day on Saturday, I usually try to go into town and meet him for his lunch break. This last Saturday was no different, except I was also planning on meeting a friend of mine for coffee afterwards. My friend took me to a quirky little coffee shop I hadn't been to before down one of Cork's many little alleyways.

My friend is originally from Spain and I was curious to know if they had things like the Tooth Fairy back in Spain. She informed me that instead of a Tooth Fairy it was a mouse, which would crawl under your pillow to take your tooth...sure that might be more believable than a fairy but I don't think I'd like the idea of a mouse on my pillow!

This got us onto a wonderful Christmas conversation.

My friend informed me, "We didn't have Santa when I was growing up although he's part of Christmas now because he's so popular everywhere else."

"So did you have something else then besides Santa?" I questioned her.

"Oh yes, we have the Three Wise Men!" she stated.

Slightly chuckling, "Well I suppose you would get more gifts with Three Wise Men than with just one Santa!" She laughed a little too and I continued, "We leave milk and cookies for Santa that our parents eat and drink when we sleep..."

She jumped in, "Oh we do that too for the Three Wise Men."

I was definitely laughing at this thought, "That would be pretty tough for your parents to have to eat everything for Three Wise Men!!"

And then, as if I should have thought of it myself, she stated, "And their camels!"

At this point, I lost it and was just dying! "What do you leave for 3 camels!?! A hay bale?? The poor parents that have to eat that!"

She sadly didn't really know what to leave for the camels because she never did it when she was little, but I couldn't get over the thought of leaving a massive plate of food for 3 Christmas visitors and a bale of hay for their camels!

On a different note, she also said that she never knew anyone who was vegetarian back in Spain, which really got me thinking. Since we had a Spanish housemate who's family would send him the most amazing sausages and cured meat, Branden and I came to the conclusion that Spain has the best meat in the world! With this in mind, I wondered out loud, "With the incredible meat that you have in Spain, I can't imagine why anyone would want to be a vegetarian there. Maybe vegetarians only live in countries that have not so great meat? I just think it would be torture to be a vegetarian in Spain!"

Maybe I'm onto something???

Anyway, for your music today, I'm giving you something super cute and fun! Britain's Got Talent is going on over here and even though we haven't been watching it faithfully, we have caught some bits of it. Thank goodness we saw some of it last night because this was the sweetest thing! Since most of you are dog lovers, I know you'll love it too!

Isn't that the cutest ending ever!?! I about died from overdose of adorableness! I really hope they win (although I am a bit bias, especially since I haven't really seen any of the other acts!) and Simon really is rooting for them too. He has wanted a dog act to win forever so he loves these two...and can you blame him?

Where's the Beef??

One of our housemates is moving out soon so a few of us are going out to dinner tonight. We are going to a fantastic little vegetarian restaurant called Cafe Paradiso. I am not one to think it's worth spending a lot of money on food where you don't get meat (prices are on the higher end) but apparently Bobby Flay, BBQ King, went to Ireland and loved Cafe Paradiso! I have also had rave reviews from my friends so Branden and I are excited to finally get to try it.

As exciting as it is to get to go out for great food, it is sad to be losing another housemate. He's been in the house since before we moved in and he is always great for stories. I don't think I've ever met anyone who has been around the world (literally) more times than him. One job he had, had him flying totally around the world every 6 weeks and he was there for I think about 3 years. It's also sad since he has a similar sense of humor as I do. Although he probably had it first, being originally from Scotland, and mine developed more from living there.

Who knows though, maybe we'll get another girl in the house and finally we can outnumber the boys!

On a different note, it was actually really nice yesterday so we went to the park along the river by our house. As we were peacefully sitting on the bench along the bank, we heard this loud air spout type noise. A good sized seal had someone managed to get up the river and was swimming along by where we were! There was a row boat with 2 people paddling slowly behind the seal which almost made us think that it was 'pushing' the poor thing further up the river. The seal's breathing when it would surface was really loud, making me think that it was tired as there was no bank for it to get up on for rest.

Once it swam past us, Branden and I decided to walk up the path along the river to follow it and see where it would go. The boaters pulled up to some steps and started to get out, but we still headed up the river, since the seal was a bit ahead of them. At first we walked slowly, listening for it's loud breath when it would surface but we heard and saw nothing. Fearing that it was swimming faster than our slow walking, we headed up river faster, hoping that maybe it found the sandy bank up ahead and was finally getting to snooze in the sun. When we got to the top of the trail, we still saw and heard nothing. This had us thinking something a bit different.

"I know this seems a bit far fetched," I started, "but what if the seal was actually the people in the boat's pet, and they were just taking it for a swim?"

Branden surprisingly didn't look at me as if I had lost my mind, "I oddly was thinking the same thing."

"Since we didn't stick around to see the people get out of the boat, we may have missed the seal getting out too and I could have snuggled it!" I practically moaned.

We headed back to where the people got out of the boat but there was no sign of anything. No boat, no people, and no domestic pet seal for me to cuddle. Ok, so maybe the seal just swam back down the river once the boat left but it is more fun to think of some random eccentrics taking their pet seal for a swim!

Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera with us so I don't have any photos to show you. Sadly, the weather is back to nasty with no signs of getting nice again but it was great to get out for a bit yesterday...can you tell we probably needed it???

This was taken at the end of February but this is the section of river where the seal was.

Well, I'm off to do some cleaning! Happy Thursday everyone!

Why do we say these??

Back in October 2005, when I was the ripe old age of 21, I wrote this blog post:

I have come up with a list of sayings that I've heard over the years that are either stupid, don't make sense, or both. Unfortunately I have used some of these.

Beauty is only skin deep.

(Well duh! Not many people have a beautiful spleen!)

Smart as a whip.

(How many smart whips do you know?) 

A watched pot never boils.

(We are giving this pot way too much credit to 'know' when we're not looking)

Going to clean their clock! 

(There is nothing more threatening than a good clock cleaning!)

Not over until the fat lady sings.

(Is there a magic fat fairy that's supposed to appear and end things?)

He who laughs last, laughs best.

(No he's just the slowest!)

Cat got your tongue?  

(Eww, I hope not!)

Fit as a fiddle.

(Because you know how much fiddles work out)

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

(They should also get dressed in their basement!)

Barking dogs seldom bite. 

(Tell the dog that!)

Cute as a bug's ear.

(Bugs have ears?)

For Pete's sake!

(Who the heck is Pete and why do we care about his sake?)

Well I'll be dog gone.

(Huh?)

Knock on wood.

(The only thing it will get you is bloody knuckles!)

A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. 

(Baffled at what this could possibly mean)

For crying out loud!

(I have never heard this said while anyone was crying out loud)

Between a rock and a hard place.

(Isn't a rock a hard place?)

Who spilled the beans?

(Would be easier to say "who told?")

Happy as a clam.

(Because I'm sure they are very emotional creatures)

You're pulling my leg!

(I don't usually touch people's legs let alone pull them)

Deader than a door nail.

(First off, you can't be deader than anything! And secondly, what's a door nail?)

There's no such word as can't.

(Umm, you just said it)

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

(I'm sure there is a culinary class in China that teaches the many methods)

You can't have your cake and eat it too. 

(Then what's the point of having cake!  To look at?!)

AND: One of my favorites that I actually use often

The world is your oyster!

(still don't know what it means!)