Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The lead up to our wedding!

Today is all about the 10 months of our engagement...a difficult time spent mostly in different countries.



Monday, June 25, 2012

The Engagement Story

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my love story so now onto part 2! (if you missed part 1, then don't worry, there is a link to it in part 2)


This was the song that our bridesmaids and groomsmen walked in to.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Here it comes again!

Wednesday the 27th will be our 3rd wedding anniversary so Branden and I are taking a small, mid-week trip to Galway to celebrate. We've never been to Galway before and we're really excited and looking forward to a mini vacation! This means that I will be gone from Tuesday until Thursday so I won't be writing blogs at that time.

Last year I wrote a 4 part series on how Branden and I met, got engaged, and the train wreck that led up to our wedding! Since it's 4 parts, I will start with a link to part 1 today and have links for the other parts starting on Monday and ending on our anniversary on Wednesday! The posts do have links to the other parts already, so try to be good and not cheat (but if you do that's ok, I'm impatient too!) or if you were with me last year or happen to have already read this series, then you can take a break from my blog for the week and join back when it's done!

Just remember this was written last year so now you can substitute my references of "2nd anniversary" to "3rd anniversary"!



Thursday, June 21, 2012

The path of mental illness is a rocky one....but funny!

Tip of the Day: This is guaranteed to lead you to the path of laughter...and you most likely will find me there!


This was a road sign in Edinburgh that I used to laugh at every time we walked by!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

An "Average" Wife...

The amazing, wonderful Michele AKA BodaciousBoomer posted a marital test for husbands and wives that was published back in 1939. I took it and only scored a 7 which was bad because apparently you needed over 70some points to be "Very Superior". I could only see that there were 25 points possible so when I shared this on Facebook, my friends pointed out that it was actually a longer test and it gave the husband's side!

You can take the test over at BobaciousBoomer's site by clicking HERE and you also should make sure that you are following her blog, if you don't already, because she is hysterical and fabulous! She is an amazing artist, which I find it a bit ironic that my mom-in-law is an amazing artist as well and spells her name the same way "Michele" does with one "l". (TOP TIP: if you want an incredibly artistic child, name her Michele with one "l"). You can see some of Boomer's stuff and get updates on her items for purchase by simply liking her Facebook page: Ecofab Gifts

So back to the test. Branden and I took it and we had a laugh filling out the questions for each other! Branden had a whopping 109 merits and only 14 demerits so he got a grand total of 95! Well above the "Very Superior" range! And myself??? Ummm, well, I did get 84 merits....but I also got 30 demerits so I only ended up with a lousy 54 points! That puts me in the "Average" range. Some of the questions were hilarious though and Branden did say that I lost out on a lot of points since we dont't have kids...plus I would think that I am far from "Average"!

So how well did you do and do you have any favorite questions? You can leave your responses either here or just over at BodaciousBoomer's because I'm there all the time and love reading her comments!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Double Whammy!

Yesterday was not only Father's Day but it was also my Dad's birthday! I was my Dad's fishing and hunting buddy, he always changed our oil and took care of our cars, I had a blast screaming for him and video taping his vintage motorcycle races (he was really good!), and nobody barbecues salmon like he does! My dad put up a lot with my sis, my mom, and me, like the time we dyed his whitey-tighties pink and hung them on the clothes line outside. 

But when I got my pony for my birthday, he put up all the fencing and made a shed for her, if the dog got sick and pooped all over the garage (where she slept at night), dad shoveled it out while we all pressed our ears to the door and giggled while he loudly gagged, and if it snowed, he would make amazing sled runs with jumps down our hill. He'd send us flowers sometimes when we were high school because he knew how much we loved it, and then we'd carry them around all day for everyone to see.

My dad's the one who taught me that I never have to grow up, he's the one I get my bright blue eyes and long eyelashes from, my stubbornness, my soft heart, and the wisdom that I don't need money or things to be happy. As long as I have God, I will have true joy and everything else will be provided. Thanks for showing me that Dad. I never would have realized then how much it would mean now!


Since today is Music Monday, you are all going to get a peek at a family tradition that my Dad does whenever it's one of our birthdays. He always sings (a slightly modified version) The Beatles "Birthday" song. Branden and I made him a video for his birthday, and I actually think it may be less embarrassing than last year's video! 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Friday, June 15, 2012

And I thought I had issues!

Every month brings more and more freaks who have found my blog by their odd search engine phrases. This month had me scratching my head thinking, "How on earth did my blog come up from that!?!". Since you all like analyzing my bizarre search engine hits as much as I do, here are my "favorites" from the past month.

Big hairy men in heels: Ewwwwww! This is a fetish I was not aware of and unless Branden has tried cramming his giant plank feet into my tiny heels and posting photos secretly on my blog, then there is no reason for you to be here!

Slaughter can't be written without laughter: Sure, I have good reason to have a slight fear of your finding me through this (especially if you are a stalker) but I actually like your style as this phrase always gets me giggling...I'm so bad, I know!

Elderly pinata: Do you have some urge to beat old people with a stick??? That's just sick and wrong...unless it's for some type of dominatrix nursing home and then to each his own I suppose.

Slow loris in bread: I'm sorry, but last I checked, a slow loris is one of the cutest animals on the planet and you want to put it in your loaf?!? I bet you have no soul.

Is coconut milk supposed to smell like farts? Ok so I'm not actually going to scold you, dear searcher. I had to do this exact search when I bought my first can of coconut milk, with the exception that I specified that it smelled like a monkey had farted into the coconut before canning. Even though I was told that it was ok, after buying a different brand of canned coconut milk, I have discovered that it should not smell like monkey farts at all! Get another brand and stop drinking fart juice!

Saggy grandpa butt from just like heaven: Again, who are you sick people with your odd fetishes?! But most importantly, why did your search for a saggy grandpa butt bring you to my site!?! I only just got a butt over a year ago from eating fatty foods in the States so it's hardly had enough time to be affected by gravity, thank you very much!

Mother in law caught me sniffing her knickers: You take the cake as the nastiest searcher! Why oh why would someone A. do this, and 2. want to search this??? I know my Padded Cell may be a place for crazies to flock, but my goodness I seem to have a herd of crazies this month!

I think I need to take one searcher's advice of padded cell vacation! Happy Friday everyone! See you in Blogland next week!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Scarring the Household Staff

Before I start my post for today, I have to let you know that I am thankfully not coming down with anything and yesterday was just an odd, sleepy day. Branden was sleepy and so was one of our housemates, but thankfully they were both out of the house at work all day so I can rule out gas leak! I'm much more normal today and so is Branden, although we had a bit of a boost of energy in our house last night...

Way back in February, I mentioned eating dried caterpillars provided by our housemate from Botswana. You can refresh your memory HERE if you need to. Yesterday, he had a BBQ for a lot of his friends from church, a lot of them were also from Botswana, so he prepared his dried caterpillars by boiling them in water, frying them in oil and then adding some seasoning and chopped tomatoes to the pot. Branden said they were pretty good. I saw that they looked more like a real, mushy caterpillar and decided to not kill my eating experience for the rest of the BBQ.

It was such a fun night and by the time everyone left and we had cleared the kitchen up, our housemate was too exhausted to take care of his pot of remaining caterpillars that he had forgotten on the stovetop. Apparently this morning was a bit of a rush for him too, so when I went out to get my breakfast and coffee (at 10:30am) the pot remained next to the stove, still containing bloated caterpillars. A few hours later, our house cleaners showed up and by the time they hit the kitchen, they also hit the shock of their lives!

Since my bedroom is on the bottom floor, I can hear kitchen conversations pretty easily. So this is what I heard.
"UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! BLAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
And another cleaner chiming in with, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Now at first, I couldn't figure out what they were freaking out over. I have been living with someone who regularly eats caterpillars for 6 months now so my mind has oddly adapted well.

"That is so BBBBLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAA!!"

The lightbulb came on and I remembered the pot of caterpillars on the counter. Branden called me on his lunch break in the middle of all this and I tried to quietly giggle over their reactions.

"UUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Are you Ok?"

"I've never seen something more disgusting in my life!" and then she called to another cleaner to come take a look where more shrieking continued.

Branden and I were both cracking up as he was still on the line and I was relaying their horrors. I will admit that I did have a slight concern that they would throw the caterpillars out and our housemate wouldn't have them for leftovers but then I figured they were too terrified to go near the pot so the 'food' would be safe.

Branden said, "You should go out and just pop one in your mouth in front of them!" but I shot the idea down with, "That would be hysterical and I would do it if they were dried, but since they are all plump and have been sitting out all night, I have no idea what kind of food poisoning nasties could come from those!"

I can't wait for our housemate to come home and I can tell him how he scarred the house cleaners for life!


The horrors of the house cleaners! And I'll just say "You're Welcome!" now for your appreciation in assisting your diets  ;)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Out of cell message...due to brain inactivity

I'm sorry buy my brain has checked out for the day in an attempt to fight off sleepiness and search for some form of mental clarity. Funny tales are far out of reach in my memory log and I'm not even sure that I can remember my age at this point. (NOTE: if you do know it, please don't remind me and let me live in temporary bliss)

I just saw something shiny and I have brief recollection of making something decadent that contained sugar, butter, and lemon so I may drag myself out of bed and see what wonders I can discover from foraging in the kitchen. I think I may be needing to do something that is often referred to as "cleaning" and "laundry" (do these words sound right?) but for some reason the only thing that I can think of is to specify the phrase "NO, I'M STILL NOT PREGNANT SO FORGET EVEN SUGGESTING IT".

Yes, that seems about right so I'm going to leave you now as typing is draining the slivers of energy remaining from my 2 cups of coffee and sugar from lemon yumminess that I ate earlier. And to quote a phrase by I don't know who, "If you see my mind wandering, please bring it home as it is too small to be out on it's own." It should look fuzzy, half asleep, and confused...so like a cat when it's just woken up...

Monday, June 11, 2012

How a dishwasher had me sobbing on the floor

A while ago, I mentioned crying over a dishwasher but saved the story. This was years ago, probably 7 years ago, but Chrissy and I still laugh and joke about it sometimes.

I was house sitting for someone and it was proving to be a bit more stressful than I thought. She was gone for over a month so it was practically more like living there while I looked after her frisky cat and fish. The cat kept me up most nights, and I ran across spiders so often in that house that I pretty much screamed and cried every time I had to go through the garage! I called my mom in hysterics one night because there was a huge one in the tub and another one on the living room ceiling. She did come over once and helped me water the garden where another large spider tried to bite my hand off  popped out of his little home that he made in the siding where the water faucet was cut into! I almost grabbed him and then mom and I had to figure out how to turn the water off with that nasty thing there. Mom sprayed the heck out of him and then turned it off as fast as she could.

Also, the woman's husband had passed away in the house earlier that year. They were practically my adopted grandparents so I knew him, loved him, and even got the cat for him. I am not a believer in ghosts so that wasn't even an issue, but I suppose the thought that a lot of people would have an issue sleeping in a house where they knew someone died, played tricks with my mind at night sometimes.

Needless to say, my nerves were on edge, so when I went to do a load of dishes in the dish washer I was not expecting something to go wrong there too. I put the liquid detergent in the little box in the door and then closed the little lid...but it wouldn't close. I pushed the little lid down harder but it still wouldn't click shut.

*Push *Push *Push *Push *Push!!!! No click; no shut little lid! Maybe there's too much liquid in it?? I'll scoop a bit out with my fingers and see if that will work.
*Push *Push *Push *Slippy finger Push *Soapy lid Push *Liquid's making fingers itchy Push!!!! NO CLICK!!
Why won't this stupid thing close!?! It's just a stupid little lid! It just needs to close!! CLOSE STUPID LITTLE LID!!!
*PUSH *PUSH *PUSH *PUSH *FINGERS COVERED IN NASTY SOAP PUSH!!!!

This went on for a half an hour (because it was just a little lid so I must be able to do it!) before I finally snapped!

*Tears streaming down a mascara stained face, soapy fists pounding the kitchen floor.
"WHY GOD, WHY!?! WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET THE LITTLE LID CLOSE!!! OH GOD, PLEASE JUST LET THE STUPID LID CLOSE!!! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANY MORE; I CAN'T DO THIS ANY MORE!! PLEASE GOD JUST CLOSE THE FREAKIN LID!!"

A few minutes later, the lid closed. I wiped the mascara and snot from my face and got ready for another sleepless night in that spider house with the crazy cat.

Now for your Music Monday, here's a music video that does make me cry, but I think for decent reasons. I love this song and the music video story is just brilliant. You probably won't cry but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Picture Perfect!

Yesterday's sign was taken on our trip to Kilcrea Friary and Kilcrea Castle. If you click on them, they will take you to some info about them. The Castle isn't on Wikipedia, probably because it's in a farmer's cow field and we had to jump 2 fences to get there. My friend Jo took a group of us out to see it on Wednesday. The rain poured down on us when we first arrived and wandered around the Friary, so the photos do show lashing rain if you look closely and also the hint of my umbrella on the upper left corner of the second photo.











The last photo is the Friary from the top of the Castle. Thankfully the weather cleared up as we headed for the Castle and it was amazing! The inside of Kilcrea Castle wasn't hugely impressive as it's mostly an empty stone shell, but on top of the roof, there was almost like a secret garden and it was gorgeous!

 Walking across a field to get to the Castle. We started joking that tiny raptors would come out and nip at our heels since the field was like a mini version of the field in Jurassic Park 2.
 This is the smaller tower which you can't really climb up because it's pretty much hollow inside.
 On top of the roof of the large tower. This was like a secret garden.


 On top of the walls of the roof, looking into the 'secret garden'. It's about 70ft up so I didn't go very far out on the wall...
 It's a good thing you can't see my knees shaking. Branden looked terrified with me standing out there and he decided to stay in the stairway.

 A view of the distant landscape.

That's the tower we were up on. It was an absolutely amazing place and I was so glad we got to go. I also was shocked at how wide the spiral staircase was as most castles I've visited seem to have tiny, narrow and steep staircases that you practically have to climb like a ladder. There was nobody else out there except our group as this is pretty much off the beaten path and not widely advertised.

And now, for Joshua, some of the sky shots of the day.

 From the Friary looking over to the Castle

 The ledge on the top of the Castle where I was standing.
Looking up from inside the small tower.

Now that I have thoroughly rubbed in the fact that I live in a magnificently beautiful country, I hope you all have a good weekend and I will see you around blogland next week!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Tip of the Day...Hobbies and Activities

Tip of the Day

If you are looking for a new 'activity' to fill your days (or nights), be sure it is approved and check to see if there is a local group who also participates in your activity. You might be surprised at the types of activities you could do!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Oh how I love June!

We had a good weekend for the most part. The not so good part was just that my throat decided that it wanted to make it extremely difficult and painful to eat or drink anything. The worst of it was Saturday, when Branden had to work all day, but he brought me home some good numbing lozenges and I significantly improved throughout Sunday.

Friday night was wonderful though. My throat was starting to bug me but we were able to go out and enjoy a gorgeous June evening. We brought the camera and headed to the park by our house, and then our usual walk up the river. The weather was nice, the sun was setting, and I somehow managed to not even inhale a single bug! Here are some shots we got.









It was a wonderful walk, especially since it chucked down rain the entire next day! Oh well, it's green here for a reason!

On Sunday, we heard music coming from the park so we decided to go explore. Sure enough, there was an event on with 2 music stages, lots of kid's activities, and a good number of food and drinks vendors. We stopped by a baker's booth since she had a 3 for 5 Euro deal. Branden got a Belgian chocolate mousse, I got a white cupcake with little chocolate pieces and sugar glitter on top, and our third item was a giant chocolate chip cookie which we heated in the oven and ate today after lunch...mmmmmm! We also got some coffee and then went to the main stage and listened to a band finish their set. With it only being about 3 in the afternoon, and bands set to play until 5, we decided to pop back home really quickly to get a blanket to sit on, some water, snacks, and umbrellas (since the rain wasn't making it's mind up on if it was going to mist on us or pour on us). We had a great time listening to a few other bands, and even got a CD. There were lots of people, lots of dogs, tons of kids dancing, and great music. At one point I discovered that I had been sitting on a very large earthworm, but other than that, things were fabulous!

Today, Branden and I set to book a place for our 3rd wedding anniversary that will be at the end of this month, but things didn't go the way we had hoped. Our original intent was to book a place in Killarney since we haven't been yet, but it just ended up being really frustrating trying to find a place and oddly didn't feel right. So we got random and now have a B&B book for 2 nights in Galway! We've never been there either and I think a quirky Irish town on the coast is just what we need. We're pretty excited now and we'll be anxious for a 3 day little holiday since it's been a while since our last one.

I was going to share with you some music that we heard yesterday, but I couldn't find it so I may have to share it at a later time. Thankfully though, a friend of mine on facebook shared this video that had Branden and me cracking up! I love "Misheard Lyrics" videos anyway but this one is brilliant! It may just brighten your Monday up a bit!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Don't cross the passive aggressive...

If passive aggressive fury makes your heart quake with fear, then I'm not the person you want to tick off! Last night I snapped, and someone faced my anger in the form of a very snippy worded note. There is one particular house mate who knows as much about a dishwasher as I know about performing surgery on a beluga whale. He loves to put his dishes in the dishwasher without so much as a rinse that have so much baked on crap that 3 days of soaking in turpentine wouldn't even clean them, AND he places them in the most ideal place that they are guaranteed to not have a drop of clean water touch them through the whole wash cycle...if it weren't so annoying, it probably would be considered a talent. AND since he refuses to ever unload the dishwasher, he never sees that his nasty dishes come out just as nasty, but now with the nasties steamed on, making it even harder for those of us who generously unload the dishwasher to scrub off by hand. It could just all be a clever plan on his part to insure that everyone else ends up doing his dishes, but if that's the case then IT'S STILL ANNOYING!

So last night, I had it! He placed a disgusting casserole dish in a place that would yet again ensure that it would never get cleaned and with our dinner dishes filling the dishwasher, I took his dish out so I could start the dishwasher. I seethed to Branden about how I would just love to unload my wrath upon him verbally because of his countless times of dishwasher ignorance. I even told Branden what I would like to say, but of course, when Branden said that I should actually just say it I declined since that would make me look mean and I would feel bad, so I'd be better off letting animosity build inside of me that would never be released...that's healthy right? My frustration had been building for quite a while though, so I decided I'd leave the worst type of sound lashing that I was capable of...the angry note!

Now the angry note has disappeared so I have to paraphrase, but it was basically:

"This dish was taken out of the dishwasher because it was placed in a way that it would be impossible for it to come out clean. Please be mindful of how a dishwasher actually works when you load your dirty dishes so then the rest of us don't have to hand wash your dishes whenever we unload the dishwasher. THANKS"

I felt invigorated, but then also had a bit of a mental panic as I realized that Branden and I were the only people in the house at the time, besides the dish offender, and so when he came down a few minutes later he must have easily figured out that we had written it. So I did what any seething passive aggressive person did...I hid in my room all night and have been keeping hidden all day in case I run into him. But also by a stroke of luck, he apparently is moving out today! I had a moment of celebration at the thought of never having to mess with his dishes again, but then my passive aggressive brain started working again, "What if the note hurt his feelings and he's moving out because of it!?! This is why you are nice and keep your mouth shut! You may have crushed the poor guy and now he's leaving! Maybe you should make another note, apologizing and offering to hand wash all of his dishes from now on, and do his laundry, and clean his bathroom! It's the least you can do, you big meanie!"  


On a happier note, this was the highlight of last night. Branden out of the blue asked, "Why does my toe jam smell like actual jam?"