Friday 24 April 2009

Prepared as we're gonna be....

Even though I felt like death warmed over, I stayed up to finish what I could of packing. I think we have most of what we need in the clothing department. Other than Lindsay's sweater, that I have to sew the other 2 buttons on, all the knitting I've finished for everyone is in the suitcase. I have most of the carry-ons finished. We got Hazel some meds to make her more comfortable for the long flight. I tried some this morning to make sure she mellows out and doesn't get super hyper instead, fear not, we have MELLOW. I'll give her some just before we go through Customs and she should be nice and happy by the time we get on the plane.

I have to copy the pattern mom bought so I can make her some boots, that way I don't lose the original, and so I have the pattern there so I can get some wool.

I have to color my pink hair this afternoon. Shold be very dark red. Not pink. Needs tending to.

Have to figure out what knitting I'm bringing. I wanted to be finished with Hazel's Jane Austen dress, but unless I get the chance to knit today, that won't happen before we leave the house. And I was really hoping to only bring the finished dress with us....

Right now, we're playing with stickers. Hazel has tiny star stickers all over her face. It's our new game. I put them on her, she tries to find them and pull them off. Hours of entertainment.

We bought a Portable DVD player for Hazel's flight. The first one we bought was a cheaper no name. WE figured that would be more than adequate for what we were using it for. It didn't work. Wouldn't play movies. We tried several. So I sped to the store to exchange it. This time we bought a Philips. Works like a dream. We're going to go buy a case for it enroute to Dublin this afternoon and I need to get a small CD case so the DVDs fit in the carry-on easily.

Lots to do. Only a few hours to do it....see you guys later!

Thursday 23 April 2009

Today is not the day....

I woke up this morning feeling the absolute worst I have so far. My chest is killing me, stuff is getting coughed up, my head hurts. The plan was to take Hazel to mom and tots to wear her out, finalize packing and laundry, go to the dr and get her ears checked for the plane ride, pick daddy up, get dinner, get my eyebrows waxed, spend the evening knitting and relaxing with my true love.

That, apparently, is not how this day is going to go down. Hazel's being a terror. I know it's not entirely her fault. She knows something's going on, and she's right, and she doesn't understand. I get that. However. I don't feel good. AT ALL. And that's thanks to people being in public who have no business there, sharing their diseases. Even if you don't THINK your contageous, you are. Keep your creepy crud home. And also, I have stuff that has to get done!!!!! Everytime I try to get the suitcase out and start packing, she unpacks it. For an independent child, she's being very clingy and unhappy if I'm not sitting with her or watching her...while I do nothing. The second I sit on the floor with her and do something she gets angry and doesn't want to do that.

I need a nap, I need to go to the store, I need a shower, I have a dr's appointment in 4 1/2 hours, I have to go to the library, I have to pick up Brett. And none of those include packing. Which absolutely must be done today.

Life will be better today for everyone not to comment about this blog post as you'll probably hear about it. And today is not the day for me to be nice.

Friday 10 April 2009

Your glass

So a couple of weeks ago, I was part of a discussion about people and their views of their "glass".
You know the old, "Do you see this glass as half empty, or half full?" Well, we were talking about which of us views it which way, and came to realization. That question comes with a social stigma. To view the glass 1/2 empty means you're a negative person...focusing on all that is wrong. To view your glass as 1/2 full means you're a positive person...viewing the world in all that is right. So under that presumption, who in the world would admit to being a "1/2 empty" person? Can you imagine someone introducing themselves to a room full of strangers (regardless of the social situation...work, school, church, etc) as a person who focuses on all the wrong? That's not going to happen, and as it turns out few people get close enough to each other to really find out if you're a 1/2 full or 1/2 empty person. So all those negative people can "masquarade" as a positive person and no one is the wiser. Which makes the question unnecessary to begin with, right?
But I think there's more to the question than just the black and white answer. I think it should be viewed quite differently than what we're taught. I actually believe there's a 3rd group of people. Those are the people who recognize that there is something in their glass, but refuse to see it as 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. Let me back up and explain myself.
I'm generally a 1/2 full kinda gal. Few things in life are really worth getting worked up about, and life is good. Life isn't perfect. Life isn't easy. Life isn't always fun. But life is good, and God is good to us. I believe that. I believe that, at the end of the day, life is what you make it. I live in a foreign country, moving here with no one to help me learn how to live, our apartment is crap, I miss my family and friends. I struggle all the time with how HARD it is to be here. But I'm so thankful that Brett has a good job. He enjoys his job. He makes incredibly good money. I can stay home with Hazel. We live somewhere that I would have never thought of to visit, but am just breathless with being able to experience things here that I never dreamed I could and may never get to again! My Daddy is very sick. Very sick. but I know that every single second I get to sit with him...even if it's at 4 am in the ER...is a God given second. And I'm so greatful. Now, all that being said, I do have my 1/2 empty moments...quite a few of them lately as a matter of fact. It's easy to focus on all that is wrong and how it could be much better. How the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. At the end of the day, though, being miserable does no good but make me a sour puss, raise my blood pressure, and generally make me unpleasant to be around.
Now, back to the viewing our glasses differently. What if we all stopped looking at the question as a black/white, negative/positive question? What if we thought of it like this....

1/2 full--I think of my glass as containing more than it could. More than I deserve. I recognize that there was more in there at one time, and I was so lucky to have a full glass, but look at all I got to enjoy and all that is left to enjoy! I realize that one day my glass may run out, but all the joy that is there right now will get replaced if I let God be in control.
1/2 empty--I think of my glass as having potential to have more. I don't have as much as I did, but all I have to do is be careful of what is left. Enjoy it, but be cautious. But I know that an empty glass doesn't mean the end of everything. Just means there will be room for more when it does.
Riding The Fence---Now, this is a group of people that I struggle with. To be honest. They're the ones who tug at my heart strings. These are the people who are sooooooo fixated on what is in the glass that they can't actually see how much or how little is left. They fixate on the air...why isn't that full? If I had THAT person's 1/2 full glass than mine would be full and life would be better. But then THAT person would be content with their empty glass and now I don't want a glass full of milk, I want a glass full of Kool-aid. And why do they get to be happy with their empty glass when I'm not happy with my full glass? Now I don't want their glass, because if I can't be happy with their glass or make THEM miserable with me, then I don't want anything to do with them or their glass at all. Now that I look at what's in there, it seems to be draining rather quickly! And I'm not doing anything to make it drain faster. Why isn't mine fuller? Those people who have 1/2 empty glasses couldn't possibly understand what it's like to have MY glass. The one with the imaginary hole and isn't Kool-aid.

Deep thoughts for a Friday, huh?
My challenge for you this Easter weekend is to take a deep look at who YOU are. And for every single situation that is wiggling under your skin, breaking your heart, raising your blood pressure, I challenge you to find 5....yes FIVE...positives about it. They may not fix the situation. They may not even make you feel better. But you'll enjoy the weekend much more...maybe even put a smile on someone elses face, which is the best feeling in the world.

Here's an example of my 5 positives....

I HATE living in this apartment.
1. It forces us to spend time together.
2. It's about $200 cheaper than anywhere else that is furnished, and after 2 years, that has saved us almost $5000. Yah, that should be #1.
3. Limited space means limited purchases of things that will just get donated, sold on ebay, or thrown away at the end of our stay...meaning more $$ that can go towards useful things...like paying off credit cards or student loans
4. We have a great landlord. Really crappy property manager, but the guy who owns this place is great.
5. We're 1/2 block from the bay and 2 blocks from the Leisure Center. 1 block from a park with a playground and a 10 minute walk from town. On a nice day, there's lots available to do if I get off my toosh.
6. I have a clothes drier. and that's a big deal here in Northern Ireland.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Crafty Monday

Yesterday rocked. It was a great day. We were worn out at the end of it...but yay!
Michelle, Beth (her little girl), Marina, and Emma (Mar's little girl) came over to hang out, have lunch and play. We had Oriental Chicken...THE simplest marinaded chicken btw (I'll put the recipe at the end)...and garlic green beans for lunch. The girls had hot dogs...well, they played with the hot dogs and spread them out evenly around the living area...but they're 16-18 months old. Can't expect much more than hot dog scattering to occur. Then we stripped the girls down and made Kool-aid Play dough. FANTASTIC. It was so quick and easy, and I think us mommies had more fun playing with it than the girls. The recipe is found here.

I used cherry kool-aid and my hands were pink from the heat of the dough and the kool-aid, but it cooled off and stopped making people who touched it pink when I was done kneading it. I loved that it smelled like Cherry. Mmmmmm. I think Emma liked it, too, as she decided it smelled yummy enough to eat until she actually took a bite. There's 1/2 cup of salt in that recipe, and it tastes like it :). And the recipe makes a crazy amount of playdough. I sent a bag of it home with Michelle and still have quite a bit left. I can't wait to get back home to buy more and try different scents and colors!!!!! It, amazingly, actually feels like playdough, which I wasn't prepared for! I expected the grainy feeling most homemade doughs feel like. Nope! Now we'll just have to see how long it lasts....

Hazel smacked the front of her head on the floor this morning at Mom and Tots. Broke my heart. She just cried and cried and cried. So I decided to bring her home and have lunch, read books and snuggle vs. going to Ballyclare and get groceries. We desperatly need food in this house, but I didn't feel right making her sit in a car seat for the 1/2 hour drive there, in a shopping cart through the store, and back in the car for the drive home. I'll go to the store tonight or order Tesco for the morning, I can just hit the butchers for dinner tonight. I'm thinking it's more important to have Mommy/daughter snuggle time.

So, Little Miss has developed quite the vocabulary. It's actually getting to the point where she's able to copy many of the words we say. So, #1 we have to be careful...but we've always been careful around her, so there's no adjustment there. But #2 I'm working very hard to getting her to use her words for things now instead of throwing fits or grunting or whining. It'll take some work, but I know she's capable of TELLING me what she wants for many things now and so it's our newest project. She gets frustrated quickly, but it just takes time and patience. It'll happen.

I think we've decided that we're going to try for baby #2 starting in July. I think that's a safe time with us moving home in December (provided that IS when we're transferred home). With Hazel making the attempt to be born early (8 weeks if she had her way, thankfully it was 3), I'm forever considered "high risk" meaning I have no business being on an airplane after my 2nd trimester. Actually I'll be lucky if they'd let me on the plane during my 3rd trimester anyway. If we get preggo right away in July, I'll be due at the beginning of April which makes me safely able to move home in December. All I can say is how glad I am that the next 2 months are full of travel. I'm hoping the next few months will go fast...I'm ready for morning sickness! (Not really, but I think it's been romanticized this far from my last episode.)

Oriental chicken
(this is not my recipe, but I can't find the name of the library book I borrowed that had it in it...will post when I do find it...just know this isn't mine)

2 Tbl Sunflower Oil
2 Tbl Soy Sauce
2 Tbl Hoi Sin Sauce

Mix marinade in a ziplock bag. Drop in up to 4 chicken breasts. Marinate at room temperature for atleast 15 minutes. This marinade works very quickly so there's no need to marinate longer than 1/2 hour.
Grill chicken.
We found that preparing the chicken any other way burns off the sugar in the Hoi Sin, and leaves a very salty chicken. I highly recommend just grilling it....

Well, Hazel's done with her lunch, and I've got some Wii Fit to do while she's napping...

Hope everyone has a great day!

Monday 6 April 2009

Another week ahead...

It's been a great weekend. Saturday....we did nothing. :) It was fantastic. We had Indian for dinner and then Daddy surprised us with ice cream cones and a stroll through town to "walk off dinner". It was the perfect Saturday. Sunday...we all got up around 7:30, then Daddy and Matt went fishing at a lake nearby while Hazel and I went to breakfast in town. We had fried eggs and english muffins and pancakes. Great breakfast btw. Yum. Then we decided to surprise Daddy and Matt with coffee and an egg/bacon muffin sandwich since neither got breakfast and it was freezing. The lake is huge and (of course) our guys were sitting on the opposite side of the lake from the car park, so we hiked it all the way around the lake to them. There was a father/son pair that we passed enroute, and the father-figure looked at me, looked at Hazel, then looked at our coffee/breakfast. "There's a couple of VERY spoiled people around here somewhere, huh?" He said with a smile and a wink as we passed by. "Nope, just loved." was my reply. :) There were tons of people walking with their dogs, which put Hazel in heaven. I think the guys got an extra skip in their step from being brought breakfast. Then, freezing, Hazel and I headed home. Brrr. Fishing in Northern IReland is much to chilly for us.
This week we have a break from mom and tots for Easter break which is 2 weeks. I think Hazel and I are going to go see a movie tomorrow in Belfast. Well, there's an Easter party at one of the M&T's that we go to, but I don't know if we'll go or not. I kind of feel like H and I need a day out alone. Ya know? Watch a movie, have some pizza together, walk around the mall. It's a mommy daughter date! We'll see what happens today, though. We may just hold off on Movie morning until next week when Daddy can go.
I'm starting to make a mental note of all I need to pack to come home in just under 3 weeks. We're going to try to pack light as I'll be traveling with Hazel, but even if I manage to pack the checked luggage light, the carry-on is still a disaster. I've decided to make some homemade play dough for the flight. I thought it would be fun to make one batch and then just divide it and make 3 or 4 different colors. Put them in a clean butter tub and we're set! That way if I end up throwing it away, I won't have spent more than about $2 on the whole thing. That'll buy us atleast 1/2 hour entertainment on the plane....
Late Breaking News:
Mommy just dropped an entire glass container of Nutmeg on her tile floor. The glass shattered, spilling ground nutmeg and throwing glass shards to the 4 corners of her living area. Yay. Can we just discuss the fact that a little nutmeg smells heavenly. Lots of nutmeg smells like dirt. And not in that Spring planting, natural yummy dirt smell. More like, tobacco meets mold meets wet dog scented dirt smell. And now my house smells of the later. Ick.
Speaking of things that smell. I've found another thing to add to my 403 reasons I hate living in this apartment list. We have new neighbors. Right next door in 44. The way this stupid complex is built, our little "alley" doesn't allow any air to escape as it sucks in all the wind and it just swirls around and around in here. Well, #44 are smokers. Now, to each his own. I personally do not understand smoking. It stinks, it's stupidly expensive, and if you have a history of cancer in your family, then you're basically slowly writing your own suicide note. But everyone is entitled to make their own decisions, and I respect that. I do know that it's hard to quit, especially when things in life get hard, but I digress. I don't want it in my house or around my child. And that is MY decision. So, back to #44. They smoke. and even though our little alleyway is windy, their doorway is sheltered from the wind and rain, so it's the ideal place to smoke. Now, our house only lets out in that little alleyway and then at our front patio (both on the same side of the building). Theirs, however, lets out in the front (in the alleyway) and then on the other side of the building. So there are 2 places that they could smoke. Well, because we don't have a recess at our front door, and the door is very poorly insulated, all the smoke they produce gets SUCKED right under the crack in our front door. These people smoke like a chimney during a bitter winter. So for the past week (they've just recently discovered the advantages to smoking on this side) our house has STUNK of cigarette smoke. Our downstairs bathroom smells like it belongs in a pub. And we can't open our side window (which if you remember is our ONLY downstairs window and this place gets really hot with it closed) because then it's almost direct 2nd hand smoke. I kept trying to catch them out theree, so I could politely ask them to smoke on the other side of the house, but I would be too late every time. Well, finally, last night, I caught them. I honestly was as nice as anyone could be, explaining the situation about the wind and the door and window and such. That woman looked at me like she could not believe I was asking such a thing...how rude of you (me)!....and then, as bi*%&y as possible, she responded, "Sure." Didn't smile. Nothing. Now, let me tell you, she was smoking with a friend. And that friend was CLEARLY pregnant. It took all I could do not to stare at her big belly while she took drag after drag off her cigarette. Obviously if they have no qualms about smoking while pregnant, then they're going to have no problem subjecting us to it. My heart absolutely ached for that baby in there. I know I was very strict as to what I would and wouldn't eat while I was preggo and all that jazz. I was probably more strict than most people would agree with, but I don't regret a second of it and I will do it again for every other baby I have. But the thought of subjecting your poor unborn child to something like that strictly out of selfishness, just leaves me speechless and dumbfounded. I just don't get it. And I really don't want anyone to "try and explain." Thanks though! Okay, I've had my vent. Long story short. I wanna move. The kitchen sink has sprung a leak, and the plaster on a good portion of the wall at the top of the stairs is pulling away. Is it time to come home yet?
You can see our Patio doors at the front, our lonely window around the corner, and our front door right next to the window. #44 sits in a slight recess immediately to the right of our door (it's the one facing you), the wall to the right of #44 (that you can see a thin sliver of at the edge of the pic) juts out a bit creating a corner for #44 but aiming the smoke right at our door. Shelter for them, suffication for us. Sigh.

Friday 3 April 2009

Brett's Birthday (aka Catch-up pt 2)

So continuing on my 2 month catch-up....

Brett Turned 30 in March!!!!!

I think he was trying desperately hard to get out of having a birthday party (I think that was secretly the motivation behind Scotland that weekend), but Jenn Smith (Matt's fiance) and I planned one anyway...for the Friday night a week prior! We
went to Chili's restuarant (yes the American chain) in Belfast on Friday night the 20th with a bunch of his co-workers! It was great!!! I baked a cake for him that morning, which by the way, stressed me out to no limit, but Mom gave me a great cake recipe that was very easy to follow and (thankfully) turned out perfect!Including Brett, and I, there were 12 adults and one shorty (Hazel). It was a great crowd and although I think Chili's is a little worse for wear, I think everyone had a great time!

Here are some pics!

Here's a little video of Brett blowing out his candles!


Wednesday 1 April 2009

Missing March

So, I've been a little MIA this month. I really don't have any explanations as per WHY I've been unable to blog this past month, but, well, I didn't. Hmmm.

What's new in our world....

Hazel's growing daily. Has become a huge fan of Hello Kitty. Has decided that running is her favorite form of travel. Has watched Horton Hears A Who more times than I like to admit (though we do other things while it is playing). Has stopped eating all of a sudden. Well, she's decided that 2-3 bites per meal is sufficient for her energy through the day. Everyone assures us that it's normal around this age as they don't grow as fast and don't need quite as much as they did. So we're basically letting her eat as much as she wants. I don't want her developing a bad eating habit b/c Brett and I force food on her, and as she's growing and not losing weight, we figure everyone's right and this is just normal. She's become a HUGE fan of beans. Baked beans to be more precise, and she eats quite a bit of them, so we keep them stocked in the cabinet. She's become obsessed with babies at our Toddler groups, which is making the fact that we have to wait to get preggo until July hurt just that much more. My heart goes out to those families who try for years to get pregnant. The waiting just SUCKS and at least I know I only have to wait until July (well, provided I get preggo quickly which is doubtful). I know the waiting for me is agony, so I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for them.

Hmmm...What else....

Brett turned 30 on the 28th! We celebrated on the 21st with all his co-workers at Chili's in Belfast and had a great time (I'll post more about this along with pics on our family blog) then we were in Edinburgh for his actual birthday. It was a great weekend together!

Last week was a rough one. Brett was sick all week, and our washing machine gave out, which was 2 days of un-ending drama. But atleast we got a new one quickly! Let's just say I cannot wait to get back to America where the wash takes 1 1/2 hours from start to finish..including the drying. But that will come soon enough I suppose!

Speaking of moving home....I'm not sure where we'll actually end up, but if we do (please Lord) get transferred to Lafayette, then I've found 2 houses I love. I think I'm tempted to take a look at them when I'm home. If for no other reason then to get a general idea as to the areas we wanna live and the size house we want to get. After living in this closet for 2 years, I'm positive that ANYWHERE we live will feel enormous. All I ask for is a dishwasher that works and a washer/dryer that takes a reasonable amount of time to do one load.

Well, I should get back to wrestling the shorty....here's a clip from our trip to Scotland for your viewing pleasure. It's Hazel and I sitting in the front seat of the car, parked, waiting to load onto the Ferry to come home. We're playing backgammon on my DS.