Berry Balsamic Vinaigrette – With Just 3 Ingredients
You saw pictures of my wine fridge kitchen fridge in our temporary Irish home, right? There’s not a lot of room for condiments let alone wine food. It’s like having a dorm room-sized fridge and having to feed a wild pack of hungry beasts a family of four one gajillion meals every day. I should really get over my resistance to eating out. Also, when we get our permanent residence, we have to move all of the stuff we have from here to there. My suitcases were already overweight when I arrived. True story. Now I also have to consider moving the “extra” stuff like food as well. Did I mention…
Moving to Ireland: Temporary Home, Floor 1
Moving to a foreign country is exciting and full of adventure. It is also full of paperwork and more paperwork. You need paperwork to enter the country. More paperwork to stay in the country. More paperwork to open a bank account. And so on. Needless to say, the powers-that-be want to be certain that you really want to live there. While all of that resolve testing is underway, you need a place to stay until you are legally able to lease a home. Handy Husband’s employer provided temporary accommodations for our family while we searched for a permanent Irish residence. The company assisting us with the relocation, Irish Relo, gave us three choices of homes…
Dragon Cake
You might think my longest relationship is with my husband. Not so. My longest relationship is with my friend Kari. She moved across the country road from me when we were about 12 years old and pretty much brightened my whole world. She still does that! I’m well aware of the friendship code, so there’s no way I’m going to talk about our actual ages on the Internet. It is safe to say we’ve known each other since big bangs and AquaNet were all the rage. In other words, a really long time. She knows stuff about me that I have long forgotten – sometimes purposefully. And vice versa. One…
Moving to Ireland: House Viewing #2
To recap: We moved to Ireland. We need to find a place to live before our household belongings arrive on the slow boat. Ready. Set. Freak Out! The first house we viewed was in the town of Raheny. The second home we viewed was located much farther north in a college town called Maynooth. This quaint village is home to St. Patrick’s College and Maynooth University. (Mayooth Harbour with train station in the background.) People. I big, fat LOVED Maynooth. I was ready to settle down with my afternoon tea and my new Irish accent and make that place my home. Maynooth is about 40 minutes via train from Dublin’s City Centre.…
From Sea to Shining Sea
It’s a little strange celebrating America’s 4th of July along the Irish Sea. My kids, who love a good 4th of July parade as much as I do, asked me if we could just go throw candy at people on the street today. Um. Well. Let’s see. No. Definitely not. I think that would be an excellent example of good intentions, but poor execution. Besides. We don’t want to waste good candy. What will mommy eat after you go to bed? Whether you are throwing candy in a parade, catching candy, watching fireworks or celebrating the 4th with friends please know we are with you in spirit! Thank you to all…
Free 4th of July Printable
Just a reposting from last year in case anyone wants to print off these 4th of July images. And if the links at the bottom don’t work, let me know. I don’t have a printer setup at our temporary residence, so I can’t actually test it. Details, details. n 1776, the Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia. I don’t know that this group of individuals considered themselves extraordinary. I’d venture to guess they considered themselves quite ordinary. They varied in education levels, in occupations. They disagreed about a great many things. But they had a common ground – declaring and gaining the colonies’ independence from the dictatorial rule of Great Britain. Whether they would…
Great Idea: Stacked Book Pub Table
Eating out used to be one of my favorite things to do. Then I had kids. The restaurants in the United States I frequent the most are Chipotle and Panera because they feature relatively quick, healthy and inexpensive meals in an environment that is kid-friendly. Emphasis on the kid-friendly. Neither of those restaurants are available in Ireland. I’ve had to put on my big girl panties and try new places since we arrived. GASP! Consider my comfort level stretched. Imagine me walking into a new restaurant and in the midst of trying to figure out if we seat ourselves and how we order food (which isn’t as intuitive as it…
Moving to Ireland: House Viewing #1
This is our mission: find a house in Ireland to rent ASAP. For those of you who are curious about corporate moves, they come with a variety of benefits. These benefits vary based on your company, where you are going and your negotiations. For this international move, Handy Husband’s company pays for us to live in temporary housing for 30 days. They also pay a realtor to show us 15 different properties. I’m not sure what happens if you don’t find a home within that amount of showings. No one here, so far, has needed more than that to find a place. *knock on wood* Two days after the kids and…
Moving to Ireland: Human Kindness is Overflowing
Our first week in Ireland has been a WHIRLWIND. Apparently, the motto in our house is “hit the ground running.” Just once I’d like to try dialing it back a notch to see how “hit the ground after this Netflix binge” feels. I’ll bet it feels nice…and not jet-lagged. Jet lag aside, I don’t want to give the impression that this week has been without any bumps in the road. Every good adventure has a few of those. However, as I keep my eyes focused on the big picture, I can’t help but feel I’ve seen the kinder side of humanity this week. Surprising? It sure as heck surprised me! In…
Riveter Tool Turned Hanging Flower Basket Holder
(House hunting in Ireland has commenced! Updates coming soon! If you’re just joining me today, I wrote about why we are in Ireland on Monday.) If chippy paint makes your heart skip a beat, then consider yourself warned. Heart palpitations may follow. Behold the machine I call Red the Riveter. (Rosie was already taken.) This gorgeous, chippy red hunk of equipment is an old rivet press. At least, that’s our best guess. It would have been used to make rivets in leather and textiles. Now it stands tall and proud in the backyard of the Junk Whisperer’s home. (The Junk Whisperer is my stepmom and she really needs her own page on this blog.)…
