MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

My husband and I walked down to one of my favorite places to eat today for lunch - Twist Cafe.  We had to leave the house because our landlord said someone was coming to look at it to see if they wanted to rent it.  As we were walking back home down main street, I thought to myself that if I owned one of the shops in that town, I would sweep the sidewalk in front of my store every single morning.  Then I'd get a bucket of hot water mixed with bleach and pour it on the sidewalk and scrub it with a stiff push broom.  Then at least the sidewalk in front of "my" store would be clean. :0)

The other day we went to the grocery store where I have shopped 3 times a week (at least) for the past year and a half.  Every time I bought groceries I would charge it on my American Express card, because I get frequent flier miles for every dollar (or Euro) I spend.  Most credit cards here in Ireland are what they call "chip" cards.  They have a computer chip in them, unlike the "swipe" cards we have in the US.  When I presented my American Express card with my ID, the cashier informed me that they no longer accept "swipe" cards.  I said, "Are you kidding me?  I've used this every week for the past year and a half here."  She called over a manager and he agreed with her.  I told her, "Then I will no longer be able to shop at this store, and most Americans will not shop here, because we do not have "chip" cards."  She didn't care.  Fine.  I went to the other grocery store a few days later.  Then one day I needed just a couple of things.  My husband got cash out of the ATM and we went back to our regular grocery store.  As we were waiting to check out, the guy in front of us handed the cashier his "swipe" card.  She told him the same thing.  He assured her (in his Irish accent) that he used it all the time there.  She accepted it.  ???  Whatever, I'm leaving.

We've had incredibly beautiful weather here the past couple of weeks.  It has been sun-shiney every day and mild temperatures, and hardly any wind. You still need a jacket, but it's nice.  I love jackets anyway. They are one of my favorite articles of clothing.  I've even had my windows open. 

I'm glad my husband could go fishing one more time before we left.  He went today right after we got back from lunch, when his friend texted him to tell him he was done at work and would meet him at the river.  I was also glad we decided not to send his fishing equipment with the movers.  He thought he might fish when we got back to the States, and didn't realize he'd be able to go one more time here.

You know, even though we had to stay here an extra week, it really hasn't been that bad.  My husband has worked from home almost every day.  We had dinner one night with our US friends and are having dinner with them again tomorrow night (minus one couple that went home yesterday). 

We've been without television since Tuesday afternoon.  The cable company wasn't supposed to turn it off, but they did anyway.  Our relo liason argued back and forth with them about getting it turned back on.  I didn't think she would win, but she did.  I just thought I'd check one more time this afternoon and lo, and behold - it was on!  Way to go Fabiola!  We compensated by buying 3 dvds on sale at the grocery store - one was 3 euro, one was 5 euro and one was 7 euro.  It's cheaper here to buy a dvd than to go to the movies.  We went to the movies last Saturday and it cost us 12.50 euro apiece.  That's like $18.00 apiece US. So add that plus a large popcorn and 2 diet cokes - $$$.   And that was Saturday afternoon.  They've never heard of "matinee prices".  We went to see "The Blind Side". 

I wonder if it will take me awhile to get used to hot weather again....

RANDOM THOUGHTS

When the movers come to pack and load, you know they really want to exclaim, "Holy cow!  You guys have way too much stuff!"

Does it make anyone else nervous when 2 guys show up to pack, verses the 2 guys and the woman (in charge) that came in the States when we moved over?  Somehow, having a woman in charge makes you feel your stuff will be safer and packed more carefully.

Tuesday night at midnight I realized we forgot to put out the garbage can for trash day, so I went down (yes, at midnight, in my robe) and put it out.  They come at like 6am.  That night I had a dream that the trash man came, but I hadn't heard him, I had just seen movement out my window.  I went outside to look and there was the trash man walking with an elephant.  The elephant was picking up the trash cans and dumping them in the truck.  In my dream, I thought what a clever idea that was.  Go figure.

Last night I had a dream about a big spider.  Possibly from side effects of listening to HP6 where Aragog dies. :0)  Anyway, this spider was at least 5-6 inches long and 4 inches wide.  Gross.  We were trying to kill it.  It had dropped from a web in the ceiling.  I finally got a baseball bat and beat the living daylights out of it. 
Yikes.

I'd love to get a bar stool and go sit in the living room and supervise each box of packing....you know, just to make sure they're being careful....

Wonder if I'm going to have to leave anything here?  I have a pile in the foyer that they're not supposed to touch until everything else is weighed.  Then we'll put stuff on one at a time.  I'm allowed 1650 pounds.  Do I have 1650 pounds of stuff?  Supposedly their estimate is that I have 1350 pounds.  I'll believe that when I see it. 

PS.  I really hardly ever dream.  Or maybe I do and I just never remember that I do.

RESULTS OF A CHARMED LIFE

Well, it didn't rain.  The turkey turned out perfect.  Everyone loved it.  Did you doubt that it wouldn't turn out this way?  :0)  Like I said, the man has a charmed life.

On another note:  We went to London this weekend, and coming back we had lots of souvenirs in our suitcase.  There was one particular item that we forgot about that should have gone in our checked bag.  It set off the alarm and we were pulled aside.  I couldn't figure out what had caused the alarm to go off until she pulled out this particular item.  (Can't tell you what it is, because it's a gift for someone.)  She held it up - she was very nice - and said it was considered a weapon and she couldn't let us take it.  She suggessted we go back out and into one of the stores where you can mail it to yourself.  My husband did, but he had to mail it to our Ireland address because the guy didn't have any international stamps.   Hope it gets here before Saturday. :0+ 

Then when we got to our gate, our plane wasn't even there yet, but was on approach.  Of course all the rabid Ryan Air passengers were all ready lined up, so we did the same.  Our feet were so tired, I told my husband I wished we had paid for the priority boarding so we could get on the plane first.  When we left Dublin, a airline person was going down the line and selling the priority passes last minute - in London they were selling them at the last minute.  We saw a Ryan Air info booth nearby, so he went over there to ask them if they would sell him one.  They couldn't and wouldn't  - they said it had to be the gate person.  When he came back to where I was standing, he said, "I guess my charmed life has run out."  :0)
I sincerely doubt that. 

LIVING A CHARMED LIFE

My husband lives a charmed life.  I've told him this many times.  Lately it has become more apparent in various situations here.  One day I said to him, "I wish I lived in your world!"  He said, "What world do you live in?"  I said, "I live right next to you, in the REAL world!" 

My husband always talks like he knows everything there is about well, everything.  I do have to admit that he is a very smart person and does know quite a lot - far more than me.  However, I have "caught" him in a few situations where he really didn't know what he was talking about.  I then tell him he is "making up crap".  I got this from a birthday card I gave him one time.  It had an old man on it who was standing by the sea with his wife, pointing out at something.  He says to her, "You see that thing sticking out over there?  That's called a Stick-Up."  Inside the card it says, "One year older, one year closer to making up crap."  If my kids are reading this, they will know what I'm talking about.

Well, one of the managers at the plant here was talking to him one day about turkey fryers. He had heard that in the US some people fry their turkeys for Thanksgiving in a big turkey fryer that is used outdoors.  My husband was telling him that "Sure, lots of people do it and they taste great!"  (He's never had one in his life.)
Well, this guy just wouldn't leave it alone.  He kept bugging him about it and basically making fun of it and would bring it up all the time, even in meetings.  He told my husband to buy him one and bring it back on one of his trips to the States.  He had planned on doing that at Christmas, but we got busy and really, he was hoping this guy would just give it up.  So after Christmas, the night before we left to come back to Ireland, he got online and ordered a turkey fryer from Cabelas and had it shipped to Ireland.  $$$$$$$$$$$$$ - Don't ask. 

Well, they decided they would do a dinner party for about 15 people and serve this.  So I went to the butcher shop and ordered a turkey the week before.  The next day I found out that the place they wanted to do the dinner at, wouldn't let them.  So then they were scrambling to find a place to have it.  I had visions of having to cook this turkey myself and serve it at my house.  :0+  Well 3 days before the dinner, they found a place to have it. 

The night before the dinner (last night) this guy was going to bring a tank of propane and some kind of regulator to my husband.  I guess the turkey fryer didn't come with one, so they bought one.  My husband was up until midnight trying to get this regulator fixed but couldn't.  He stayed home this morning so he could go to the B & Q  - which is our local hardware store like Home Depot - to find parts to fix this regulator.  He found exactly what he needed, fixed the regulator, tested it - it worked like a charm, of course - went to work. 

When he came back in from the patio he said, "It works like a charm!"  I said, "That's because you live a charmed life."  He said, "That's because I have you for my Lucky Charm!"  See, he knows how to get me - just at the point when I'm about to strangle him, everything works out.  Just like a charm.

ADDENDUM TO A RUDE AWAKENING

Well, we checked all our windows, doors and skylights.  All were latched tight except 2 skylights that I have in my foyer.  These skylights are in a high ceiling about 20-30 feet up in the roof.  If you stand on my stairs and look at them you can see that they are not latched tight.  But they also do not have burglar alarms on them (what were they thinking - don't they know ninjas can drop through the skylights in the roof with ropes?).  We are wondering if the bad wind gusts sucked those skylights open a bit.  They don't have burglar alarms on them, but there is a burglar alarm in the upstairs hallway that my husband said is a "sonic" alarm - or something like that.  He said if there is a loud noise - like someone breaking a window - then the alarm will go off.  We didn't hear any banging (but then we were sound asleep) but they could have banged when the wind sucked them open a bit and then caused the alarm to go off.  Why they are not latched, I have no idea.
That's all we can come up with.