This is not easy for me

I am over at my other blog today sharing a very difficult story. It is Granny's Story, the beautiful story of her passing and you can read it HERE

*Note: bring your own tissues


And for you giggle for today, here is my tip of the day!

Tip of the Day:

It is not the best idea to put your makeup on while watching RuPaul's Drag Race.

Oopsies!

Tip of the Day:

In your attempt to wake up in the morning, putting your coffee in the cupboard instead of the microwave will not help your cause.


Today I don't have a music video but I have a hilarious type of video that a friend of mine got me hooked on! This was my favorite!

Tip of The Day - crazy theory addition

Tip of the Day:

When having a serious discussion as to how many guinea pigs it would take to pull a person in a cart, don't tell me '11' and not expect me to laugh and then look at you like you are crazy.

Note: Our current estimation is 40, based on theorizing how many it would take to pull a 5lb cat and then working up from there. Please let me know if you can come up with something more solid.

Old Mother Hubbard's Morning

Tip of the Day: Frosted Shreddies (or Mini Wheats) will disintegrate on contact with hot coffee. I don't suggest this as a substitute for milk.

It's been a busy past week and here's my new favorite photo taken yesterday while we were at the World Street Performer's Competition.

Since need to go grocery shopping I've got food on the brain so I am sharing a great new video I've seen!

Reason #537 why we won't be moving back to America

Tip of the Day: When moving permanently away from your home country*, be sure to look up videos of your country's "village idiots" to help combat homesickness.

*if your home country happens to be America then this will be easier than exciting a labrador.



Bonus Tip: Miley Cyrus will repel anything!

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!

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!

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...

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.

Needless to say, I'm never sleeping again

Tip of the Day: You will wake up much quicker from the discovery of a spider crawling out of your hair/off of your face than if you were to inject 4 espresso shots directly into your veins.

Bears in Ireland???

Tip of the Day: If you fall for the lotto commercial here in Ireland that says you have a better chance of winning the lotto than you do of being attacked by a bear, then you clearly are an idiot who shouldn't be gambling because there are NO bears in Ireland! With those chances, you could also have as many odds of turning into T-rex and becoming the next big soap opera star!

Join me today over at With a Meek Heart where I'm discussing the reasons as to why I can't work in Ireland. It makes about as much sense as their lottery odds.

Oh Husband, You Make Me Laugh

One night, Branden was done writing so I had the computer. I was sitting on the bed, checking my email, when I noticed something odd. Branden was standing next to the bed, facing his night stand, and was lunging towards it with his foot. He stomped in front of the night stand and then drew his leg back, and stomped again...and again.

Curiosity getting the best of me (and terror that he could be trying to kill a big bug!), I finally asked, "What in the world are you doing?"

He just looked at me with a quirky smile, pointed to his mug of water, and replied, "I'm playing Jurassic Park!"

I laughed at him, but I can't deny never trying to recreate the T-Rex scene with a glass of water. (Please tell me you have done this too!)

The next funny thing with Branden will be worded into a Tip of the Day:

Brushing your teeth is never an appropriate time to try and blow out a candle!

If he wasn't so high into his education, I might worry...

Tip for Caveman Convos

This came from yet another one of our bedtime conversations. We were discussing gender roles among cave peoples.

Tip of the Day: When given the answer to the question "How do you know that cavewomen weren't out hunting with the cavemen??" listening to your husband is key. "Cave panties" are completely different than "cave paintings"!

The poor man thought he gave an intellectual answer and couldn't figure out why I was cracking up...I figured out he didn't say "panties' a bit later and we both had a laugh!

My Plea to People with Pets

I have a slight miff with some pet owners...mostly dog owners. Besides the ones who look away when their dog awkwardly has his way with your leg and the ones who don't pick up after their dogs, I get so frustrated over the ones who name their beloved animal "Maggie". Currently "Maggie" is the #1 dog name, but I've also known some cats and other pets that have been dubbed this absolutely wonderful HUMAN name!

You probably have guessed by now that either I have an odd obsession with the name or that it just so happens to be mine. Ok, both are true so now you have another tidbit of information about me. I'm not a Margaret or Marge, I'm just Maggie...like every other female retriever out there. Now I love animals and probably have killed some of my husband's deeply intellectual brain cells from all of the kitty and puppy videos he's had to watch on Youtube, but I don't find sharing my name with a cute animal as an endearing thing.

What is it about the name "Maggie" that just says furry, drinks from the loo, and likes to smell butts? I may be short, find my hair absolutely everywhere and even chase cats down in hopes of cuddling with their cute little faces, but you would never find me peeing in the corner of your living room. I have embarrassingly been known to respond to random people in dog parks and in public just to find that they were calling for their four legged friend! 

So I plea with all of you out there to stop this naming epidemic out there and be a little more creative with your pet names...don't be cheap by stealing mine! 

Weekend Happenings

I had been dreading Saturday all week. We needed to go to the shops in town so I was dreading the long walk back home with 6 or so pounds of cold raw meat in the small of my back (that's where it settles in my backpack). Surprisingly we woke up at a decent time and could catch the cheap, early showing of the final Harry Potter movie. If you go at 11:30am it only costs 4 euros each which is about $5.75!

I have been a bit hesitant to go see it since it is a tradition that my dad and I always go and see Harry Potter films together. We have managed every single film, even the last one, despite that I was in Scotland when it came out and at the time didn't think I was going back to the States anytime soon. Luckily it worked out that we got to go back for a few months before moving to Ireland so dad and I had our traditional movie date. Since this was the absolute final film, I was a bit depressed that:

1) it was all ending
B) I wouldn't get to see the final one with my dad

I finally bit the bullet and we packed up our backpacks and shopping bags to go to the shops afterwards and made the 30 min walk into town. When the film started, I could feel my heart pounding. It raced and jumped and at times I thought it was going to just beat out of my chest! About 45 minutes into the film I realized this was because I had chugged my coffee before setting off on our walk to the cinema...count this as your tip of the day. I sat with tissue clenched in my hand the entire film, just waiting to burst into tears but I never did. I did like the film but that's probably because it has been years since I read the final book and actually couldn't remember how it all ended.

Ok, sentimental bit over, we did our shop run and packed our groceries like mules back home. Later, we managed to get everyone in my parent's house on Skype, which happens about as often as a solar eclipse. Ma, Dad, my sis Katie, 4 1/2 year old nephew Hunter and 10 month old nephew Brady were all beaming back at us on the webcam. My dad and I got to share our different experiences with seeing the HP film apart from each other and I got some fun updates about my nephews.

My sis caught Brady with her cell phone the other day. He was saying "Dada, dada" into it and then holding it up to his ear like it was a walkie talkie, hoping his dad, who is on deployment, would magically start talking back to him. I thought this was adorable and remembered back to when Hunter was about that age and his dad was gone, and he thought that his dad lived in a stuffed globe we would use to show him where daddy was on his boat. My sis also informed me that Hunter called her a 'sexy lady' the other day, so my sis asked him what makes a lady sexy? He thought about it and replied, "A girl with a nice shirt and pants". Sweet! I've got sexy made then!

Of course it wouldn't be an official weekend without our Romanian neighbors having a fire in the back garden and blaring bad 90's music hits, causing us to have to keep our bedroom and bathroom windows closed or be asphyxiated. If I hear the Macarena one more time, I think I will start chucking bottles filled with gasoline over the garden wall! Unfortunately today is a bank holiday so I have an extra day of putting up with their shenanigans. I suppose I should note, that I don't actually know that they are Romanian. The language they are speaking sounds Eastern European but Romanian has a better ring to it when blogging.

So that was my weekend. Sorry, it was a longer type up than I expected, so tomorrow I plan on a shorter post. I have a nagging pet peeve that I've been wanting to share...

Happy Monday Everyone!

Tip for Your Friday

Inhaling your coffee will not get it into your system any quicker! (Unless you consider coughing for the next 2 hours as being 'more awake')

Chemistry Lesson from the Weekend

Red wine on a white duvet cover will turn magenta with antibacterial hand soap and bright blue with powdered laundry detergent.

Tip of the Day!

Don't leave your power chair/mobility scooter parallel parked in front of your local pub when I don't have my camera!

Helpful Tip of the Day!

If you are painting with watercolors, DO NOT put your tea mug next to your water jar!