Point and Laugh

As you could tell by my last post, I enjoy a good tease of people's shortcomings. I snicker when someone trips, giggle when someone minces their words, and I will point and laugh if they completely fall (as long as they didn't hurt themselves in the process). Honestly, I am a very nice person and I feel I can do all of these because I am laugh worthy myself. Need a few examples?? These are just a few "Fail!" moments I had this past week (oh and I'm throwing some of Branden's in too because they are pretty humorous!)

1. My Mom's birthday was last week so Branden and I tried to figure out what to make for her birthday video (this is what po folk do for gifts when they live far away). I came up with a 'brilliant' idea that we would spell out each letter of Happy Birthday with our bodies...didn't work so well with our little non-wide angle Flip and our small living room space. However, we did practice on our bed and I almost got dropped a few times (ironic since we practiced on the bed thinking it would be safe and cushy). We then decided we needed to scale down the idea and just use our hands. So we sat on the end of the bed and spelled out Happy Birthday with our hands. Then we just cut and pasted all the parts together so Mom didn't have to watch all of our poor first attempts and random laughter outbreaks. As we were cutting and pasting the letters from the video, Branden asked, "Is there a 'b' in happy?" to which I sarcastically responded back, "Why yes, we just pronounce it wrong. It's really Habby Birthday!". This sent us into another outbreak of laughter and then we realized a small problem...we forgot to make the 'th' in 'birthday' so then we were really laughing over "Habby Birday!". We ended up reshooting to make the 'th' but when we put it all together, we noticed that Branden had done a costume change so our mistake was a bit evident.

2. We needed to get some groceries and we only had 7 euros on us. We figured out what we needed and about exactly what it would cost. After gathering everything but the cereal, we discovered that the store was rearranging the cereal, so there were no prices listed. Since we only had a bit left of our 7 euros, we looked for something else for breakfast. Lo and behold we found a box of 12 frozen waffles, and they were cheap! Quite happy with ourselves, and happy since I can't even remember the last time I had waffles, we headed home with our groceries. When we were putting them away, I noticed the picture of the waffles on the front of the box was of waffles on a plate with peas and carrots... Then I saw "potato waffles". "Um, Branden...these aren't exactly what we thought they were." And in my head, "Well, duh they are potatoes! Everything in this country is potatoes!". Branden however, took a more positive look at things and said, "Well we could still probably eat them with honey!" My mind ranted again, "Who are you, Pooh!?!" But instead I said, "Honey!? Eww! You don't eat potatoes with honey! Mmmmm, how about we put some Nutella on them too? Yuck!" We both cracked up at this and managed ok with our waffles as lunch instead of breakfast.

3. Yesterday we were watching some program where a woman from the UK went over to LA to see the gyms there. She took a spinning class and when they showed her pedaling away Branden all of a sudden said, "OH! That's spinning??" I looked at him as if he were a martian sitting next to me and asked the obvious, "Well what did you think spinning was??" to which he replied in a giggling tone as he realized how silly he was going to sound, "Like people spinning in circles." (sorry, I have to pause in my typing to laugh again!) Thank goodness I wasn't drinking anything or else it would have been shot out of my nose in an instant! I managed to ask in my laughter, "So you thought it was like what 3 year old little girls do in their twirly skirts?? How is that an exercise?!"*more ridiculous amounts of laughter from both of us* Could you imagine how dizzy people would get after an hour of that?!

So there you have it. I am allowed to laugh at people because you all just laughed at me. I am no better than anyone. But having said that, I do have a witty moment to share before you go. One of my friends on Facebook had as her status, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner!" to which I commented, "SuperNanny does!". I scoured the internet to see if anyone else had thought of this and to my surprise, I couldn't find anything!

So I created this:

Locksmith Memories

As I have mentioned before, I was a locksmith for almost 6 years and it was during these years that the original Padded Cell Confessions was born. As much as I loved being a locksmith, I had a major pet peeve.

Here is the original post that I wrote back in October 2005 (can you believe that was 6 years ago!?!).

I am a locksmith. I've been one for 4 1/2 years. When a customer comes walking through my door the first thing that is directly in front of them is a counter, me behind it (smiling of course), and 14 rows of keys hanging on hooks. This is your typical locksmith shop. The #1 question I get asked is, "Do you make keys?". Duh we make keys! We're locksmiths! What do you think all these keys behind me are...contemporary art?! I am soooo baffled by this and to top it off, not only does this happen to me but it is the #1 question of ANY locksmith. It is pretty much the locksmith's #1 pet peeve too. My word of advice for you is: NEVER ASK A LOCKSMITH IF THEY MAKE KEYS!!! Or else I will put you into the category of beyond brainless and shouldn't breed!

Please readers, tell me you've never done this!

Random Stuff About Me

Last night Branden and I ate ourselves into a sugar headache from some homemade peanut butter balls. Ok so we only had 3 each but that was enough! Of all the headaches I get, I don't mind sugar headaches since they are the most fun to get. I found the recipe on Pintrest and it was taken from a blog. You can find this super easy, minimal ingredient recipe HERE

They really do taste like a Reese Peanut Butter cups if not better! The only differences we made to the recipe were using butter instead of shortening (since we don't have shortening) and we melted a milk chocolate bar that we had for the coating. One of our housemates was in the kitchen as we were making these and he asked what they were. I told him "American crack" since it seems like most people we find over here don't like peanut butter. One of our past Spanish housemates would even wrinkle his nose up at the thought of us eating ground up peanuts (he wouldn't even taste it). I guess that means we won't be having to share!

Onwards and upwards! Elle at The Erratic Project Junkie was recently tagged and when tagging others back, offered me her final tag. With me actually having things to do today (what is this world coming to!?!) I am taking it! So on the the questions!

1. Favorite Color
Green. I love all shades and no this isn't a sense of "Irish pride" because actually the national color of Ireland is blue (see you do learn things from TV quiz shows!).

2. Favorite Animal
This is like asking me to pick a favorite hair on my head...it's just so hard! I have always been an animal lover so I don't know if I can narrow it down to one. I really like ocelots and wombats but pygmy marmosets are also super cute! And don't even get me started on slow lorises!!!

3. Favorite Number
24. I like how divisible it is and also my birthday is on the 24th (of March). Plus who else am I going to find with that as a favorite number!?! It might seem like a slightly odd favorite number but Branden's is 37 so I'm not that weird!

4. Favorite alcoholic/non-alcoholic drink
Again, almost like asking me to choose a favorite animal! My favorite non-alcoholic drink would be Sobe's Black and Blue Berry Brew. It is super sweet and I don't even think I've seen it over here, but my goodness it's like drinking a purple Skittle!
My favorite alcoholic drink is a toughie...I like wine...I like Irish whiskey...I like cocktails...decisions, decisions...
I think I'll have to settle on Brandy. No specific brand but I like the ones that have a nice toffee flavor running through them. I really like it when it is served slightly warm so then the smell is fabulous! It is a very rare occasion that I have Brandy but it's still my favorite.

5. Facebook or Twitter
Well they are two different worlds to me really. Facebook is my space for family and friends and Twitter is for my blogging friends. I am on Twitter a lot more though...

6. Your Passions
Crap, I thought this was going to be an easy, quick post!
I love reading. If I start a good book then I get sucked in and will ignore the world around me until it's done. Because of this, I had a rule to not read often because I have too many wonderful people in my life that I don't want to shut out because of a fabulous storyline. Since my cousin gave us a Kindle, Branden is busy with his PhD studies, and I can't work, I have started allowing myself to dive headfirst into books again. It's good to be back but it's still hard for me to tell myself that it's ok to start a new one.
I love creating things but I'm still trying to discover what my style is and how I can work it with my small living space and limited supplies. Branden's mom has sent me some crafty stuff so I'm working on figuring that out (plus Pintrest has helped!).
I love blogging as well! I loved it when I did it years and years ago, missed it when I had to stop, and have really enjoyed getting back into it!
I also love kids and elderly people. They are both wonderful ages. Kids are on one side of the scope where they are like sponges and are so creative in their desire to learn where as elderly people have gone through so much in life and have learned so much! I love learning from both of them and find it sad that both get put off too often...but that's getting more into 'soap box' than passion.

7. Your Wishlist for this Month
That I'll get to start babysitting for my landlady, that Branden and I get better at scheduling who gets the computer now that he's started a class, to read more books, and to see my family and Chrissy more often/regularly on Skype.

8. Favorite Pattern
I don't know if I ever thought of this before. I think I'll have to go with paisley...despite learning from living in Scotland that paisley came from a suburb of Glasgow called Paisley and it is now quite the sketchy place. Branden had to work there once and I told the guys he was going with to make sure to bring him back without a knife anywhere in his body! But the pattern is very nice and I like this one because it kind of reminds me of the shape of a peacock and I love all things peacock!

9. Favorite Day of the Week
Sunday. If the weather is dry, we manage to go to church and then some Sunday's we get a Formula 1 race. The most I love about Sundays are the fabulous midday times where everything is peaceful and lazy.

10. Favorite Flowers
I love lilacs. They are my favorite scented flower. We had one in our yard all growing up and when it bloomed, we would cut them and let the scent flow through the house. When I lived in my first house by myself, there was a miniature lilac bush outside my bedroom window and I loved when the sun hit that side of the house and heated the scent that came through my window.

If you would like to take a tag from me and do this little questionnaire yourself, then feel free to take it! I'd love to read some of your answers!

*Note: If you find any grammatical or spelling errors, that's because my editor (Branden) is away at the University all day. (and I woke up early so there may be a few!)

The Phantom of the River is Here...for you to laugh at

I am not a big sports person. I played volleyball and basketball in middle school but I couldn't stand watching football (US football). In over 2 years of living abroad, I have never had to watch a US football game because people here seem to share my idea that it is a boring sport, so the few times it is played on the television, channels give it a time slot in the middle of the night between the ShamWow and Zumba videos (I believe this is the true place for football).

The few sports that I do enjoy watching are Formula 1 racing, Motorcycle racing (usually Supercross), basketball (although I've never seen it on TV here but I hear it's popular in Spain), and although I have a lot to learn, I've enjoyed the bit of Rugby I've seen. Do you see a connection here?? I like sports that are more fast paced and don't stop every 15 seconds.

The other night, Branden and I were blown away by a new sport: Freestyle Canoeing

My first thought was, "Those Canadians do the oddest things for entertainment," but apparently it's in America too. I couldn't believe it was a serious competition but this is this guy's 3rd gold medal performance...so it happens more than just this once and other people are doing it seriously too. The first couple of minutes are almost like the same thing over and over again (because come on, how much can you really do with a canoe!) but the last minute he really turns up his drama and I don't know why that audience keeps clapping and doesn't just double over with giggles! There is no way I could have sat there without having a laughing fit. I think Pocahontas would even think it's cheesy!

So what do you think? Is this ESPN's newest and hottest thing or are you all just laughing your pretty little heads off like I am?

I may not have much, but I've got it all

As most of you could probably tell from last week's posts, Branden and I enjoy a good laugh. We are always making each other crack up and are willing to be ridiculous in front of each other. You know the phrase, 'if you weren't laughing, you'd be crying'? That's probably very true for us, but we choose to laugh. Some days we do cry though. The pressure of no job prospects and fear that we can't manage this for 3 years has eaten away at the back of our minds despite making it for the past 6 months. The worst fear of all was the thought of me flying back to the States so I could work and sending the money over to Branden while he finished his PhD in Ireland. Even if he's gone for just a few hours for something, I am like a labrador who acts like he's been away for years!

I know a lot of people thought we were crazy and especially thought I was crazy. Branden and I had only known each other for a year and a half and had only been married for 2 months when I willingly and excitedly moved to Scotland with him, knowing full well that I would never be moving back to America again. I left all of my family, all of my friends, a good paying job, and just trusted in the plan that was laid out before us. I think that it was the best thing we could have ever done for our new married life.

We live halfway around the world from our families and friends so if we ever have a disagreement or frustration with each other, we can't just call them or run off to find support with them. We have had to work everything out on our own. I had never even had a roommate before we got married so having to figure out how to live harmoniously with my new husband in a foreign country, in a 400 square foot flat, and Branden having to deal with my anxiety and depression, was quite the challenge!

But we did it.

Branden's mom was chatting to us on Skype last week and said something that struck me. She said that all the stresses and crazy things we have had to go through already would tear up even 25 year marriages let alone our little 2 year old one. It really got me thinking because I knew that a lot of things we have gone through and are going through are things that have caused divorces...but I couldn't understand why. In all of what we face, the only stable thing I have on this Earth that keeps me sane is my husband. We may have nothing else in this world but we have each other and that is really all we need. I could not do this without him and he could not do this without me, so why in the world would I leave him???

Branden's mom opened my eyes to really see the miracle and blessing that we experience by drawing closer together through all of these storms instead of letting them rip us apart. Sure there have been many, many days where both of us have wished and prayed for life to be easier but when we see just how much love we have for each other and know that somehow we will manage to love each other even more tomorrow. We find peace in our storms and bless them for giving us a great foundation so we can make it until death do us part.