Tea and Coffee

Jimmeny Christmas! I am sitting at work waiting to finish my break so I can go home in 20 mins…time sure seems to stop when you aren't having any fun at all. Soon it'll be over and then I can god home. Unfortunately Leo wont be there because fortunately we were finally able to get a car. It is a Suzuki swift.

Humid air is weird. Its weird to breath air and feel heaviness and wetness. When you think of air who thinks of wet soggy stuff? Weirdos that’s who.

So as I stated before, Leo is back to work, finally, which means that we finally bought a new car! I really can't thank my parents, Karl I mean Brad and Karcie, enough for lending us the money!! The reviews Leo read about the Swift say it's the poor man's Mini. It is a lot nicer than his other car and is a lot more fun to drive as well :)

Elders photobombing Leo's picture. 

Last Sunday the Elders came over and brought us apple pie :) It was pretty good and I ate it for breakfast. It was not as good as Tristan's apple pie though….no pie can beat her pie. Eating pie for breakfast reminded me of two things. It reminded me of my mom eating donuts for breakfast and how much I missed those donuts and how I won't be getting Thanksgiving pie this year. It is a sad thing to miss out on all the Americany things that make me Americanee. Like blowing stuff up and eating burgers or getting together with a whole bunch of people you're unfortunately related to and eating until you want to throw up, Shwan knows what I mean ;) It is sad but it's ok because we will be back there soon….ish. Back to my original story, when the Elders brought pie over I was at work. Luckily I had been able to go to church that day or it would have been a really weird day. As I am typing this now, it only happened last night and I don't quite know what to make of it all. So that Sunday with the apple pie I worked the 3-11 shift. That was also the night of the fútbol world cup. Around three, when I started my shift, a couple of guys came in and walked out with a bunch of stuff. The cops and manager was called and everything was ok. At seven we get a security guard in to watch the shop. Security guard is just a fancy name for a man in a construction worker vest. They aren't allowed any kind of weapon. That goes for the UK as well. I don’t know why the people hired to protect others aren't allowed even pepper spray but nothing here really makes sense most of the time. It just the Celtic way. Our store doesn’t have any enclosure for the alcohol. So there's no way to lock any of it up. About 8 two guys came in and the security guard was keeping an eye on them as they looked over the booze. One guy realized the guard was blocking their way out so he started getting in the guards face asking him why he was following him and told him to go away and stop harassing him. The guard wouldn’t move so the guy started yelling saying that if he didn’t move he would kill him and stuff him in the ice cream freezer. The guard still didn’t move so the guy pushed the guard hard, so hard he nearly fell over.  The two guys then proceeded to walk out of the shop with 24+ cans of beer. We called the cops and our manager again. Everything was quite until about 10:20 when they came back but only one of them went to the booze corner. The guard told him he couldn’t take it and the guy said he was just going to take it to us to pay for it. The guard then told him we don’t sell alcohol after ten. The guy gave the beer back and told the guard he was sorry. He then saw a girl he knew and started yelling at her. She told him she didn’t have time for him and that he needed to leave her alone so she could get her shopping done. As she walked by the aisle he was in he started throwing magazines at her. As he was doing that, someone in the courtyard let off the fire extinguisher outside and inside. All the bakery stuff was ruined from the dust and we had to close the inside of the shop early to the public. That was Sunday or pie night. Monday I worked night shift again and one of the same guys who robbed us Sunday, Mickey, was back and robbed us twice Monday night as well. Near the end of my shift some guy was walking along the sidewalk and Mickey randomly walked up to the dude and started punching him in the face. The guy got away from him and came to the shop. He asked if he could wait inside and we said yes. I left around 11:20 and around 12:30 Mickey was back and trying to light the fuel pumps on fire. Super suicidal you'd think but nope, just super stupid. You don’t have to worry though because he was finally put behind bars and will hopefully stay there for a long while.

Leo has a job interview on Tuesday which is super exciting. Hopefully it goes well so he can get out of this job he has because he hates it so much. I'm grateful that he has a job, but it would be nice if he liked his job :) It's an IT support position which would be perfect for him and give him an in with IT careers.

I'm glad to hear everything is going well back home. Elsie Ann Morris now shares Lilja's birthday and Aleah's surgery went well :) I wish both Loren and Aleah quick recoveries and am glad that all parties involved with life are doing well :)

My sisters are also home now and I'm sure many of you have or will be seeing them shortly and hearing about their adventures. It sounds like it was an all-round success and I'm glad that they had such a wonderful time. I wish they would have left the sunny weather here a bit longer but oh well. While they were in London they were able to meet up with our friend Deidre and have a Mad Hatter Tea party.

The only other new thing in this edition is that I received my acceptance letter from immigration saying that my application has been accepted and I can get a residency card. We meet with the Immigration Police on Monday to get that sorted. I'm hoping that this residency card will allow me to move and work up north without having to go through the UK's immigration. From what Leo's looked up on the line all we may have to do is fill out a form stating I'm married to him and have a residency card. That would be so nice to live up north closer to his work and school. It would be even nicer to get out of this dodgy area. I don't know about you but suicidal or not I don't like living around people who have their mind set to light a gas pump on fire.

Everyone have a great week! Over and out!

Anything Will Do

Well here we are again with another installment of what the heck goes on inside Leo’s head…? If anyone knows please let my shrink know as he seems to have no clue and me of course. Well, maybe if anyone knows let my shrink and me know, cheers big ears. 

Well so far for Mr. Me I’ve had a wee run in with a wee bit a bad luck. So much for the good luck after finding a four leaf clover. Who ever said they bring good luck should be shot or hung whichever; as long as they die for the mistake they lead people to believe that they bring awesome good luck…

Oh let me begin me ole tale of yore, it all began on the sixth month 2014. Roughly about four weeks ago we took an ole wee dander down the banks of the Castletown river. Upon walking back up towards me old place of residence I spotted a four leaf clover. I bent down and picked the feckin thing and went,”Oh look Kai, I found a four leaf clover,” we put it in a vase of water. A few days (to a week later) it died and shriveled up and died. That my friend, is when the bad luck all started. I had a day off work, lucky me I thought, unsuspecting of the fate my car had in store. So we decided to take a trip to Dun an Ri forest for the day. We set of from home and we pulled into a local gas station filled the car up with petrol and as we approached the road smash, bang, wallop!!! We had crashed. The car sustained far too many injuries that the car doctors had decided to pull the life support as they couldn’t save the life of my poor Megane but in compensation for my loss the life insurance are giving me 900 (minus the excess) to get a new steed.  Well my friends, I can not wait to show you the Swift when she finally shows her face around here with her glimmery blue make up and her white shoes she is a real beauty. She is small, like the size of a Mini Cooper, but very big breasted for being a 1.3 L. She is super nippy and fun to play with. It makes the 1.4 L had before look super ugly, feel super sluggish, and that she didn’t wanna play but I cant speak bad of her she served me almost well. She had two things going for her; she was very comfy and had a huge arse, which was awesome. Sad that she has passed but glad of the new steed. I will post pics of her soon. 

Then on kai’s last post we had been drawing on each other and she had drawn on me arse a nice shamrock and saying kiss my arse. She had taken pictures of all the drawings she had done on me and there was one in particular, that was the very first picture, she had on her blog she didn’t notice I was naked had me arse out and it was taking at the side were I had my hand around me well dick, penis and it was still hanging out of the other side of my hand. So I had received an email that she had posted a new blog and I started to read it when I came across that picture and went, “WHAT THE????’ Very surprised Kai asked what so I show her and she goes. “Wow! I didn’t even realize your arse was out in that picture!” So I look at her startled and said, “That’s not the bit I was worried about! My dick is hanging out in that picture!” Then we both laughed. So she tried to access her blog to remove the picture and the internet was being slow and her blog wouldn’t load at first. Now all the readers were about to see my pee pee hahaha but a few lucky readers from across the world got a glimpse of that penis that somehow got through the vetting process. If anyone who would like to see that picture Kaiya would be more than happy to show it to use ;)   

Then even more recently my grandma has been taken to hospital with deteriorating kidneys. She didn’t look so good in the days before hand and looked even worse in the hospital but a couple of good things are she’s been in good spirits in the hospital having great craic but most of all she was flying with the pink fluffy pigeons or were they puffins? Maybe even piles of pink fluffy puffin…Whatever the doctors have been giving her would be enough to either A) tranquilize a horse B) make an elephant drowsy C) give me an awesome night’s sleep and still be legally high for a few days after I awaken.  

On a super positive note we met up with kelc, shay, and little tall miki. It was really super awesome to see them again and to actually spend time with them in Ireland. We didn’t have nearly enough time together but with the small amount of time we had was super great. We showed them are shitty town, that even the people that live here don’t even like living here. It does have that effect on ya but I agree with kelc and them all, it’s by far better than Dublin. We then showed them are apartment, went for a picnic up at an old castle, and played cops and robbers. By popular belief I did not fall through stingy nettles and brambles and then crashed at the bottom of a hill. Then we then set sail to the bus station to catch a bus to Dublin to allow the lassies to get back to their wee tour group. I hope they are still having an amazing time and hope they further enjoy. Enjoy Scotland and don’t forget to hate England. NOT BEING BIAS at all. 

So to all that’s maybe interested I have been doing well in technical college. All 15 exams/assignments were completed and all were passed which mostly involved intense computer programming proper geeky stuff. Kai would tell ye I’m a nerd and would most likely be able to hack into your computer after all I certifying myself as an ethical hacker but with a broad range of very in depth computer skills, from making software to designing and setting up all sorts of networks.

One my way to Dublin

Views from Train

A reunion so awesome not even my camera can handle it.

As my hubby has stated we had a super fab-tastic time with my sisters. I miss them all very much :( I woke up early Saturday morning and took the train into Dublin where I met my sister. After a hug in the road ( we're dangerous like that) we quickly walked to our bus stop while listening to my sisters talk about their adventure so far. It sounds like they have had a real awesome time and I hope it continues that way :) While waiting for our bus some guy told us that we should check with the bus station around the corner if that was really where our bus was going to pick us up at because it was kind of a sketchy place for us to be. We thanked him but I made a ruling dictatorial decision not to ask and remain where we were. After getting on the bus and getting half way to Dundalk. Kelcie told me that the place they were earlier waiting for the bus some guy said was sketchy. That's what the air here does to you. Yes, I know it is Kelcie we are talking about but let's forget that fact for now.

Leo met us at the bus station and we gave them a quick tour of the city center, after getting some lunch-ables for lunch. After a quick stop at our place we headed up the hill and had a picnic at the castley thing and then played some cops and robbers where Leo may or may not have fallen into a patch of nettle and brambles and Miki may or may not have been bitten by the awful brambles. 

They gather in groups, encircling one another with long tendrils and razors, as if to claw their way to the top. Where they sit does not really matter, not when you have teeth jutting out extending in every direction. Unsuspecting pray come drawn by the sweet scents of the dark juices. Coming to close they latch onto the pray. Where they sit does not matter as they all get the chance to stick their sharp spines into the flesh of the latest catch. Struggling and quick movements cause slicing of skin and deep piercing into limbs. Pray never escape unharmed and most take with them small broken fractures of the razor sharp claws. These beasts of old never loose, and that is why you do not fight a Bramble.

We came back and played a game or two of mow or something like that. Totally a Jared and Jaden game. We showed them along the river and then quickly walked back to the bus station where we almost saw the missionaries but not quite. Once in Dublin we again quickly walked around. We had a quick look at Carroll's Irish Gifts and then found a chippy where we got dinner. It was Slovakia all over again. Food on the run. We even made it back to the place the rest of the group was having dinner in time for the sisters to have desert. Lucky duckies. We mournfully parted ways and they've had what sounds like an awesome time :)

Miss Muppet

Hello everybody.  It's been so long since I last typed one of these I don't even remember what was said…mmm yes. I've just synced back to my previous interface (I've done a lot of updating since then) and I now know where to begin.

For those of you who have never lived above the latitude of Utah, it stays light here ALL FREAKIN NIGHT LONG! It doesn't get dark here until about 12am. It's pretty ridiculous when you're use to daylight going away completely at 10:30. Thank goodness to dark curtains is all I can say! With this extension of daylight has come a bit warmer weather. Instead of being in the 40's and 50's it's now in the 60's and sometimes 70's. It's not a huge change like what most of you have experienced this year, but I am grateful for the slightly warmer weather, even if it's not sunny as often as I'd like it to be. One day a few weeks ago it got to 76!! Everyone in Ireland was roasting alive but I was loving it :) It's funny because when it's that warm the papers almost always seem to find a warm place that they were warmer then for that day. That day Ireland was warmer that  Portugal. It's almost like they are having a weather contest and are trying to prove that it's not always cloudy, cold, and rainy here. Silly Ireland, don't you know everyone still wants to visit you even if you are cloudy, cold, and rainy. My mom wanted to come to see you, and that's saying something.

The day of 76 degrees: Around Town

Surprised face that it actually was a completely blue sky, aka why I'm not an actress.

Ravensdale

About two or three weeks ago now Leo and I were heading out for an awesome day of hiking and making goofy films but we stopped to get gas. As we were leaving, Leo couldn't see oncoming traffic because of a sign the gas station had placed on the sidewalk and was blocking the view. So he pulled out a little and WHAM!! A car hit our car and ripped off the bumper and headlights. Luckily everyone was fine and their car only received cosmetic damage and a flat tire. The Garda came and took down details of what happened and then told us that they don't investigate stuff like that and really just came down to make sure we swapped insurance information then they radioed a tow truck and drove off. That's how useless the police are here. The people we hit were nice enough to drive us down the street to our place. Since then there's been high amounts of stress at our place. The Insurance company finally got back to us on Friday that the car is totaled and they are giving us £900 but are taking £500 of it for excess, which is essentially a stupid way of saying fees. Leo has been super stressed because without a car he can't get to work at the times he needs to in order to keep his job, but we aren't getting enough money to buy a new car. Thankfully I have been blessed with two amazingly wonderful people for parents, and double thankfully they still love me after putting up with me for 25 years (man that's so weird to say that I'm really THAT old…. :/ ). They lent us enough money in order to get a car. Leo went up north yesterday and put a down payment on a little Suzuki Swift. We are just waiting for the money to transfer to paypal so that we can purchase the car.

Yippie skippy!!! Three of my lovely sisters are on their way to the emerald isle as I frantically type!!! :D :D :D :D :D or as Deidre might put it （≧∇≦）Luckily for me I will be able to spend more than the hour I thought I would get with them on Saturday! I will go down to Dublin and pick them up and then bring them back to Dundalk where we will go to Ravensdale and whatever else they wish to do. Their trip sounds pretty groovy and I hope they have a fantastic time!

I don't remember ever telling you lot but if I have forgive my bad memory. This Irish water does stuff to you. Anywho, I got a calling awhile back as the young woman first counselor.  There's only the President and myself and we have three girls. Two of them are sisters and the third very rarely shows up. It's going ok but I don't really feel like I am of much use. We all know how girlie I am (whacking your face with a clay pigeon does not count as girly, Shan. Only embarrassing and stupid) and  all of them are pretty girly, and white. Super undead kind of white. I teach every other Sunday and I am not doing a good job. My lessons always end way short. Last time we had 30 mins before church ended to kill.  Hopefully I will get better and teaching and filing up the time.

I also got a job about two weeks ago. I work as a cashier at a gas station. I work part time and it's just a temporary thing for now as I am on a trial period for three months. It's an ok job. I don't particularly like being responsible for so much money. It gives me funky messed up dreams. The kind of dreams I'd imagine a junky might have. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep a little bit before I see my sisters so that they recognize me. Otherwise I will be forever known as the bag eyes just as Shayli will be forever known as the poopsmith.

At my job I've come to realize some things:

1. I think everyone in Ireland smokes or lives with someone that smokes.
2. I don't know what it's like in the States, but most women here don't wear pants just leggings ALWAYS
3. There are a lot of people who are always drunk here.
4. There are a lot of people that never eat home cooked food.
5. There are a lot of people that don't shower(or maybe they do but just roll in poo every night).
6. Thank you is here is thankin you.
7. Cash is the preferred method of payment.
8. The radio only plays classical, traditional, or popular music and there are no genre stations

There are plenty more but I'll spare you some boredom, for now. There are some people I still have a hard time understanding. Especially when they speak to me quick. I guess it's a problem with some of the people who have lived here their whole lives. I was told that the day I started an older man came into the station and asked the cashier, who was an older Irish woman, where the boarding kennels were. She thought he was meaning boarding kennels for dogs and she said that she didn't know of any. He was confused and asked again and then she got confused. Luckily the manager was out and about and was able to help clear things up. He hadn't asked her where the boarding kennels were; he had asked her were the birthday candles were.

Just a quick thank you, again, to all of you who have helped us with our hard times. You're love, prayers, thought, money, fasts, and words of encouragement have been much appreciated and don't go unnoticed or unwelcome. We love and thank you all.

It's kind of funny because most of the time, not all the time, when I'm alone people know that I'm a girl but as soon as I get with Leo they look at us like we're gay lovers. I don't know what that says about Leo….

Ireland is a beautiful country and it's can be like living in a fairy tale here. In every aspect as well, not just the landscape.  It is a hard country to live in. The price of goods keeps rising but from what I understand the pay does not. But many people don't have jobs. In fact jobs are pretty hard to come by here. I'm lucky that I found something as quick as I did. I saw about a week ago that the UN had, according to this paper, said Ireland was the best place to live in the world. This was based on several different standards such as way of life, technology, economy, leisure activity sites, and so forth. If it's the best place to live in the world I want to know that when over 2k visa's to Canada became available they were all gone within 5 mins of them opening for the taking, almost all being taken by the Irish. As much as Leo loves his country he tells me how it's a hard place to live and  I agree. It's a beautiful country, but I'm glad that I don't have to live here my whole life.

One thing that makes it a little bit harder for me is that I really don't feel like I belong here. I feel like an outcast. When you ask people what they like to do here 90% of the time they will say going out for a night with friends. Most people don't really seem to have hobbies here besides drinking. Maybe I'm just not asking the right questions or phrasing them in a way that they can understand, which is possible. I essentially can't relate to many people here and the bummer thing is they don't get my humor. Ever need a humbling experience, move to a different country where the culture difference is so different that the awkwardness that follows a joke you cracked almost makes you feel like insulted their much loved dead grandmother. I'm not meaning to complain but merely explain how I don't feel like I fit in. I don't stop trying though, regardless of the number of dead grandmothers I've insulted, I still try to make some kind of connection so I can feel more at home here. I really hope that Leo doesn't feel like this when we move back to Utah. He probably will but I really don't want him to. I hope that it only lasts a little while and then he feels right at home and finds his spot in the puzzle. I hope he feels loved, happy, and like he belongs.

Life is going well, overall. We are learning, loving, and living through mistakes and good times. Keep moving forward and in the spirit of Kelcie, dress like a weirdo and keep on dancing.

The other day we had in house tattoo parlor.

The river by our place.

Burned bed.

Forgot to zoom out.

Trash is everywhere here :(

The train by our place.