Welcome To The Age of Metallic Farts

Leo's New Love

2015's First Adventure

 Click here for a video.

And here for another.

Happy 2015!!!

Yes, it's that time again when we start a brand new year. Will it be filled with good times? Most definitely. Will if be scattered with bad times? Of course. There are 365 days in this new year. Anything could happen. You could even be abducted by aliens. Anything could happen. It is also the time where many of us set our new year resolutions that we say we are 'really going to keep this year', but don't really mean it. One resolution I hope you do keep is to floss more. You still have some corn in your teeth from the last post. That's just gross.

On to the informativeish part! I did yoga yesterday(Dec. 31) and my arms are sore. I did so many push ups. My weak toothpick arms couldn't handle it. I tried to brush my teeth after words but my toothbrush was just too heavy once I put the toothpaste on. I never realized how much that stuff weighs. On a brief side note, we moved into an apartment in Northern Ireland. I think I'll skip yoga today and pick it up again tomorrow. Don't want to be too buff. It would make my dad feel like a wimp.

I hope everyone had a swell Christmas. We spent Christmas at Leo's work. We mostly watched movies and such because no one came in all day because it was Christmas! But it wasn't too bad. It didn't feel like Christmas so I didn't really get homesick, which was nice. It was also good to spend so much time with him. That's the longest I've been with him in a long time. He gave me a tour of his work and I found out that Oscar Wilde was Irish and that Wilde really does suit him. He is not a looker. Van Morrison is/was (is he dead?) a Irishman as well. Along with some dude, whose name I can't remember, that came up with a type of math. That surprised me the most because it goes against all irishness to do something that you don't have to do. Thank you all for the money that was given to us and Kelcie this Christmas. You are all very generous people and we are all extremely grateful. Well I don't know if Kelcie is but her being a missionary I feel pretty safe to say that in her name. You've helped us out so much and I really am very grateful for everything you gave. A special thank you to my parents who helped us into this apartment I am currently in. I love you all and hope that your Christmas was a good an magical one.

Awhile ago I had a mole that went all crazy. By crazy I mean it swelled up and looked something like a blood blister. It had a halo around it and eventually I was able to have it removed. Things always take their time in the ROI. For those of you who like that kind of stuff I've included pictures. Those that don't get to be squeamish.

I would like to thank all of you who fell for mostly Leo's kidney joke on the last post :) It made for many  laughs and enjoyable moments. Thank you to Jared for not being a good reader and posting a second comment so you wouldn't look so dumb ;) Leo and I appreciate all that you didn't read and just assumed.

December 18th we officially moved into our apartment in Newtownards. Our new address is:

28 Old Market Square

Newtownards

BT 23 4WR

Co. Down

N.Ireland

It has been really nice living in the north. We have better internet/internet that really works, we're close to everything, there are people here we know, things are cheaper, and we can keep a better eye on his grandma. Two days after Christmas we got a late night call from his grandpa in a panic asking for Leo to come help him get her up the stairs and into their bed because Barbara, his grandmother, wasn't feeling well. I thought he was taking them to the hospital but when he got home at 2 am he told me the doctor came to their house and he was just helping get her in bed. Ronnie, his grandpa, told me that she was in a bad way. So bad he thought it would be her last night on earth. The doctor gave her some pills and told her to drink plenty of water and left. Apparently her gout was acting up really badly. When I last saw them two days ago her hand was still swollen. Hopefully she feels better soon because she's only allowed to take them of ten days.

The other day I went on adventure. Instead of tell you about it I thought I'd just show you.

Click here if the video didn't work.

I'm not as out of shape as I sound. I'm being overly dramatic for theatrical purposes. I know it's hard to believe that I could be overly dramatic but after a few failed attempts I eventually got there. You should recognize where I am from other photos I've taken and pictures my parents took while they were here.

Before I left Dundalk I worked with a gal named Emma. She was going to college and had roomed with some Americans. I asked her about some sterotypical  things people say American's are and this is what she had to say.

Are American's…

	What Emma says:					What Leo says:
Loud:	It depends. Some of you can be.					Yes
Friendly:	Yes.					Yes. Overly, hehehe.
Optimistic:	Much more so than Irish people.					Generally no. From what I've seen.
Stupid:	It depends on the person.					To a degree yes. Navivish.
Gullible:	Yes! We would have a competition to see who could get away with the biggest lie.					To a degree, but so is everyone.
Over excitable:	It depends on the person.					Yes! Very much so!
Fat:	No, but it depends.					I've seen some fat American's hehehehe.
Do you get on with most Americans?	Yes.					Yeah!

So there you have it. That's all the information you will ever need to win Jeopardy. Good luck!

Speaking about friendly people, I haven't come across much of that stereotypical Irish warmth and friendliness here. Granted I've only lived here a year but still, I would have thought the odd person would smile and say hello. Where are me lucky charms?!  Would even do! I'm not asking for a lot here folks! I may have mentioned it before but the dogs here are just like the people. Normally walking around in the States, if you come across a dog on a leash the dog will want to meet you and get pets and attention but here I've yet to see a dog excited to see me. Most look at me like, "Ye come over here and I'll show ye how cute I look attached to your leg!" It's so strange. I guess there's something about the way we are as a culture that effects the way our animals behave as well. I think it's crazy that animals can be influenced by things like that. No wonder my mom's dog is such a chicken ;)

Our New Year's Eve was a good one. We made dinner and had Mick and Lou over for dinner. Yes, Leo did help me cook and yes it was still edible. Not only was it edible, but I thought it all tasted mighty fine. We taught them how to play Uno and then watched "Transformers: Age of Extinction". I wouldn't recommend watchin it. Then again, I didn't like the first one and never saw the second, but even Leo said it was pretty shite. I hope you all had a great night as well and I hope that this new year is a good one for you. Over and out (with a big big trout).

Adventure To Scrabo

Z Not Zed

Andrew. Its been awhile since I last typed anything up for you folks. I know at least a few of you enjoyed the video post which is good. I want to make another  video but Leo needs to help me but has been too tired and lazy. ;)

The news I hear about home sounds like all of you are doing well. Kelcie is in France now and is loving her mission even though she still struggles with the language. Don’t ask her if she likes dressing like a normal human though because she will just ignore you as it is a very indecent thing to speak about. If you are not on the email list for her weekly letter you should be because she'll definitely make you smile. And lets face it, you look better when you smile. Except after eating corn on the cob. Then you should just wear a mask. I heard that Aubrey is no longer a Scott. Her and Dylan got married in October and are not pregnant. Somewhere I heard, or dreamt, that someone said she was pregnant but she assured me definitely is not. Unless you can have your period and be pregnant at the same time….Nah. I don’t think its possible. No babies for Aubrey….yet.

Vlog watchers, remember how I said they are privatizing water here in the ROI? ROI is Republic of Ireland, btw. Well on and off the last few weeks we have had crazy amounts of rain in a day and streets flood, rivers swell into the streets, and everyone gets really wet. You would think that after so many hundreds of years of so much rainfall someone on this little island would have said, "Hey! Lets design our roads, houses, and areas near bodies of water to be able to withstand torrential downpour for days straight. That way we wont have as much flooding." Of course I cleaned it up a bit and made it sound educated but you get the idea. This country has serious flooding problems. Just like this girls in the break room has serious eating problems. Its not that hard to chew with your mouth closed and for pete's sake please stop smacking your lips! You are not a horse eating grain!! Finally she left to go smoke. Now where was I? Right flooding. Despite the fact that this country  gets so much water that the rivers flood stores and house and roads close they are charging for water now. Its always been paid for via taxes but now they have to pay extra. Just another example of how  Irish logic confuses me.

I found out that some local Utah eventers are trying to get a good cross country course and event ground in Utah. That would be so awesome!! Especially since we generally have to travel 10 hours to most of the USEA events. To read more on it please click here. If you are feeling super generous (even if you're not you still should) you can donate money to their fund here. They need $50,000 in order to get this project rolling. Nothing is too small and every bit will help!

About two weeks ago we mailed our EEA Family Permit application, what the Sinn Fien said we needed to live in the north, to UK Immigration. We haven't heard anything but Leo contact a politician of sorts in the north and she asked the Home Office in England and they said that my Stamp 4 EUFam that I got down here in the ROI validates me to live and work in the north for at least six months but can work longer since I'm married to a UK citizen. So we are in the process of moving north, finally!

It looks like everyone had fantastic Thanksgivings. Deidre even went to Harry Potter World, lucky….I would like to take this time, not to celebrate Europeans coming to the Americas, but to give my thanks to all of you who are apart of my life. All of you have helped, in some way, shaped me to be the person I am and I am grateful for that influence you've had on me. I am especially grateful to my parents and sisters. It's funny how a bit of distance gives perspective on how much you can rely on someone. It's like being maimed. You never realized how great it was to have all your fingers and both eyes until they are gone.  Wiping after a poo just wouldn't be the same without my hands, so thanks Shay, for being like my hand and being there when I need you most. Thanks to my parents who let me struggle and learn just enough but are always there when my head starts dipping below the surface of the water. Tristan is like a life jacket always there to support me, unless I'm wake boarding. Miki is comfy bed after a long day, there to love you when you need it most. Especially when you repeatedly die every time the parents go out to a movie. Kelcie is bright sun shine in an Irish winter, reminding me life isn't so bad. Thanks to my husband who continues to grow in patience and love for me and who is always there for me and my zitty face. Thanks to all of you. I'm not going to thank every one of you individually because many of you probably don't read this and those of you who do I'm sure are tired with this paragraph, so just thanks :D

The end of October our landlord told us we had 30 days to move because he had some issues and the bank was making him sell his properties. That 30 days ended 23rd of November. Luckily we asked him for an extension, because all the realtors told us there was a housing shortage in Ireland, and he was kind enough to let us "unofficially" stay until The end of December. I don’t know why its unofficially because we are still living there with his approval but he's Irish so….The next day Leo got up to go to work and someone had stolen his license plates off the car in the night. Because we are in the ROI and the car has northern plates he thought it was a was some group being terrorist like they are here in Ireland. The Garda and PSNI were both called and notified. Leo was given approval to drive up north and get new plates. It took four hours before we found a place that would do it and got back on the road for home. It was not a very fun day.

Jaden, if you cut your hair you will become 12 again. Do not cut your hair unless you want to go back to being 12. I foresaw this in a mental image the other night. It is most definitely 100% accurate. I think when you cut your hair grandma and grandpa get that ugly orange carpet back in their kitchen so Please, do not cut your hair!

I, on the other hand, did cut my hairs. And there was much rejoicing! I was told that I looked like a fluffy bunny and a fluffy chicken before I cut my hairs. 

I don't know why look so much like two different types of animals. I must look like a bunny and a chicken now because there is definitely no fluff.

Leo and I had our own small Thanksgiving. We had turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rolls. It was very nice but not like home. Probably because my sweet potatoes didn't seem all the way cooked and there was no cranberry sauce. Oh yeah! And none of you were there. My mouth still tastes like garlic. I think it's time for me to brush my teeth again.

Tristan's not the only one with a surprise.

We found out today (November 28) that I officially have healthy kidneys! I know! I was relieved to finally find out but I had them ultrasound and was told they are normal healthy kidneys. So that means my UTI's are not due to kidney problems. That leaves a stinky Lelo as my problem.

The thing with the kidneys didn't end up happening today because the courier that was suppose to pick up Miki's gift didn't come until really late and here in the ROI hospitals have closing hours. Don't ask me, that's Irish logic for ya. Cya for now!

Reasons And Things

Helllllloo,

This is my vlog for this time.

If that video didn't work you can watch on youtube here.

Wee Bit O' Luck Designs

Hello!! I have some exciting, but quick news!! I have opened up an Etsy shop!! Please, don't be shy, visit it and tell others to visit it as well!! Click here. I don't have many postings now but here is a small preview of the stuff I will be posing on it.

Cards

 Party Invites/Announcements

 Home Decor

I will have more about it on my next post. Thanks!!

Rational of steeling sheep

Word of prior warning please don’t read this if you are easily offended by the F word or Sheep. (He's not joking!!)
Hey ho lets go right? Ok, so we did the weirdest thing the other day. We hiked up our local mountain, the Coolys or Ravensdale as you all know it to be yep, right to the top and what a damn good view towards the Dublin and the Wicklow mountains (which we will be going to sooner rather than later keep a wee eye out for that hopefully some good photos in the pipeline if not I’ll defiantly be disappointed).

This time in the mountains there were not two goats but darn herds of them but none wanted to eat me (that kinda sounds dirty).  I’m defiantly not a goat whisperer but then again there is footage of them loving me up like they even wanted to get into my pants, the dirty wee rascals. That’s probably were the term sheep shagger came from. There were also sheeples but no sheeples wanted to come near me. Even after all my best bas to try attract them over as I wanted good mutton and lamb on my table. I could nearly just taste it! Yumm yumm. I wonder if the sheeple farmers would notice a missing sheeple? Do you think so? Well I don’t. I just need a sheep dog now to round them all up and pick the best one of the bunch and hope to feck I don’t end up with foot and mouth disease, as that already can be quite common from me. If I do slip up I will just start twitching and pretend I’ve got Tourette’s and shout even more obscenities. No one could or would be able to prove I don’t, unless you’re a god damn genius, a doctor, or maybe even my hamster. Use all think I’m like Granda Micky. Outta my wee head on peyote pills. Aye ya dancer ye!!

So college starts again real soon. A pretty darn easy year apparently. The tutor said before we left for summer break it will be a bit of networking switching and routing, photoshop, and system building stuff. Even my granny could do with her eyes shut but still it has to be done to earn me my qualification just to make everything official on paper.

I’ve also been working on re-building my pc. This time with an even more powerful liquid cooling system I was slightly nervous about doing it as I had to literally butcher the motherboard and add new parts to it and also had to insulate some parts of it so I wouldn’t get nickel shorting out my board. That’s the last thing I want is a huge bang when switching on the computer. I currently also own a mac book pro (I’m making a disgusted face for even having one about me) which was really cheap off eBay. I’m just going to do a very basic refurbishment and re-sell it to make a decent wee profit. I would also like to thank Mrs. Tristan Soelberg for the donation of her old laptop. We went and watched the film Guardians of the Galaxy. Quite funny in places. “I am Grute!” It’s a decent movie you should see it if use haven’t already. Grute will tickle ya and make ya laugh. 

***start of rating rant*** 

To be honest it’s hard to find a decent film that’s not R rated for use. Kai will not watch anything if it’s rated R. Over here we would call it a 15. Yep, that’s right. It’s not an R rated film it’s a 15 for fucks sake. If it has a lot of for ‘fuck sakes’ in it, dirty graphic shaggers, and/or super loads of gory graphic madness, like the Hansel and Gretal: the Witch Hunters, then they might, just might, consider rating it 18. All half decent films seem to be rated R or 15 for us here. I think the rating people need a re-check and not rate everything R just because it has one fuck given or a single flash of a tit. It’s not like a fucking tit will kill ye ya know.

 ***End Of Rating Rant***   

I think this is a good place to mention this. I was also thinking (and said to Kai the other day) when I live in Utah how many people may get offended by me especially hard liner stuck up themselves people that may tick me off. I could just imagine the faces of some shock and horror. I also think it would make a good comedy tv show for Irish reality tv. It was also funny as around the same time as this Kai mentioned that people all think the Irish and Scottish are all nice and fluffy people but in reality we aren’t. We are a bunch of fecking headers. Just watch Braveheart and you’ll see. One of the Irish guys in that film is a pure cracker! Just all the one liners and such he does it’s crazy especially to William Wallace. He said “The Lord is sure he can get me outta this but he’s pretty sure your fucked” before a crucial battle. 

Please Note: I have now declared this writing as R rated because of instances of the F word and any offense taken needs to be dealt with by the federation of federal writing laws USA. Under 2003 section 98, and the misuse of the communication act 2010 and another fuck wont be given. The air-show it was amazing although I didn’t get to show Kai the aircraft I worked with and love. Instead I got to see a North American P-51 Mustang called ferocious Frankie (below) which Kai loved the sound of. The beast made her feel all patriotic. Didn’t it kai?

In the war, Ireland stayed kinda neutral although were secretly planning on taking out England from the back door with german help. As far as I know Hitler and his cronnies were in Ireland planning at one stage, but a lot of irish men and woman at the time joined into the british ranks and after the war they were persecuted by the irish government. It wasn’t until 2004-2005 they issued and apology and  stopped the persecution. This is why to this day irishmen can still join the british forces. When England owned all of Ireland we were the only country within Britain to not have conscription like England, Scotland, or wales. When the 1^st world war happened, most people joined the 36^th ulster division which formed up to thirteen additional battalions for the royal irish fusiliers, royal irish rifles and the royal inniskilling fusiliers there most famous battle, The battle of the somme. Though where I’m mostly tied to is the Desert rats and the Royal Air Force. Some person in my family going back yonks ago was a Spitfire pilot for the airforce the Newtownards airfield was actually a training range for them nifty little planes. The reason I went to the air show was to see the battle of Britain memorial flight which had two avro lancaster bombers (the bbmf usually would only have one lancaster, a spitfire and a hawker hurricane) but a lancaster came over all the way from Canada to join up with the BBMF which was pure incredible 12 merlin engines  all together which sounded incredible.  (heres the BBMF pictures below)

We got to see some aerobatic teams doing some very crazy assed stunts. We saw the RV8tors, The Blades, and of course the most famous and best aircraft display team in the world the royal air forces own RED ARROWS which fly red Hawk T1 jets. In their display team there are 9 jets which they fly at near 800Mph between 2-4 feet away from each other. A lot of people across the world would have seen them flying. They even flew at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. The blades are ex-raf red arrows pilots which set up there own civi display team which is awesome and they currently have the world record for formation looping Pics below 

  The Blades 

The red arrows video over New York City full display to give use an idea of how awesome they are(click the word 'video' above). Lately, while driving down the road home from work, I’ve been seeing cows. Yes, that’s right cows. Out on the hard shoulder out for leisurely strolls and cool as ya like. Stopping every now and then to eat grass at the side of the road. Last night there were about five calfs out being cool. Ireland is probably the only country in the world were animals can mix with traffic, especially sheep as they normally get herded up some roads and things. Hit and kill one you will have lots of lamb chops or yummy beef if it’s the cows out for the craic.

If you read this and have been offended, please see the first sentence of this post.

Pictures from the previous blog are found here

Leo's pictures from London including some of the HMS Belfast.

The other day Leo found this little guy on the hood of his car :)

A time laps Leo put together

Airwaves

Hello travelers. I call you travelers because even if you've only crossed the small area from your bed to this internet wielding device you currently hold in your hand, you have indeed traveled a distance to virtually stand in internet space claimed by Ireland. It is no longer google.com that you use to search the web, but google.ie. Strange how something you can't see or feel is able to link us all together, despite the 4,000+ miles that stretches between us.

Leo and I have recently returned from the northern part of the country where we attended the Airwaves flight show. Up in a place called Portrush we watched planes, jets, and helicopters whiz by. Leo loves planes and was very excited to show me some planes he loves and to be back at a flight show again. We stayed the night at a B & B so we could be there for both day. Saturday we woke up at 3:30 and were on the road by 4. The goal was to get to Dunluce Castle before sunrise so Leo could get awesome photos. It just so happens that the sun does not rise in a very convenient spot for Leo's picture taking needs. It is a cool castle any way :) I saw a cave this weekend. It was under a castle and went out to the sea. There was a sign that said to be careful because of falling rocks and that you shouldn’t go in the cave because it was dangerous. Some nice person listed on the sign that the mermaid cave was not dangerous and was actually fantastic so I decided to go down and check it out myself. I almost got to the bottom but then Leo was a dark figure above me and the waves were too loud for me to hear him so I when back up so I could hear him ask if I could read.

From there we checked in at the B & B and then took a nap before getting a taxi into Portrush. There were all sorts of booths. A lot of the were military related and trying to recruit people. The BBC had a cool display of life during WWI but of course I forgot my camera back in our room and so I only have pictures of the second day. My favorite plane the first day was a P51 Mustang. Really cool planes :)

After that we were able to get a taxi back to get in the car and find food. That was a bit of a challenge and Leo almost lost his cool but luckily we were able to find a place to eat and he had a nice gammon steak that made everything almost better :)

The second day we had a nice breakfast and made a quick visit to Carrick-a-Rede to look and walk upon the rope bridge. It was a bit shorter than I thought it would be so I was a little disappointed. They had even laid planks of wood along it which was also a disappointment. Not nearly as adventurous as I was thinking it would be. The irish country side, however, never fails to disappoint me. It was as beautiful as you'd see in brochures or on tv. This country really does have 40 shades of green and you will never see anything like it anywhere else. Which makes me so mad because people litter here like crazy!! They have such a beautiful country and they treat it like garbage!! DON'T LITTER!!! If you litter I will haunt you when I die. Even if you die before me, I will still haunt you.

We then made it back to Portrush before the air show started. Unfortunately it was almost the exact same as the previous day. The only differences were the only two Lancasters remaining flew around with some spitfires. Lancasters were big bombing planes in WWII that couldn't really defend themselves against the smaller quicker German planes, which is why little spitfires accompanied them. Most Lancasters didn't ever make it back to their base which is why we only have two left. The other difference was the performance by the Red Arrows. The Red Arrows are the RAF's performance flyers. They were really cool to watch. I have some of their display on video but it is hard to see them because they are too far away for my little camera.

Also, if you haven't done so yet, you should ask to see my sisters' Comic Con pictures :)

Afterwards we waited 1.5 hours for traffic to calm down before setting out ourselves. It still took a bit of time to get home because these roads are not made for heavy use or any sort of congestion. We are having internet issues so I can't put the pictures up right now. If you can't wait until our internet is sorted and you have an apple product, email me and I can share the pictures with you.

No word about how to live in the north and work is still cash-tastic. Kelcie has her farewell this weekend so go and tell her she's a great little Elvis. I wish her luck with her talk. I know she will make a great missionary. It's crazy that her, Tay, and Mitchy will all be out at the same time for almost a year. Unfortunately Kelcie won't be able to listen in on the Morris boys secret Spanish conversations. I wish the best for all three of them and hope the Latino serving boys continue to do well. I am grateful for you all and wish you all a greatness. Shine on you crazy diamond!