Jail sentence lifted

He's freeeee! He has gotten all of his vaccinations now and we've waited the recommended week and now he isn't restricted to the front yard. Hopefully these longer walks will wear him out!

Oscar's first bath

He hated it! Couldn't wait to get out. For his second one, we tried in the tub so he could run around, but he still didn't like it. Let's hope that changes!

LOOKY!!

Everything's bigger in.... Ireland??

The "real" Paddy's day

Dublin has a lot of work to live up the the celebrations in New Orleans. In Dublin, I did not have to dodge any Irish foods: cabbage, potatoes, carrots, moonpies (huh??).

We just caught the end of the parade. Apparently they don't really throw anything, but it does attract over 500,000 people so there must be something great about it. The last thing that went by before they opened up the barricades for people to roam through was a Ferrari:


People go through great feats to see this Irish parade. Climb the nearest traffic light:


Or a post on a really spiky SOLID IRON fence!! Crazy kid.

We found our way through the crowds:

To our first pub: The Old Stand. Anyone who's come to Dublin and done the Literary Pub Crawl will have visited this pub. Started with a few Guinness appetizers and settled in for a little Irish stew and fish 'n chips. Mmmmm....After a stroll down Grafton Street and stopping for a little traditional Irish music:


What are they, like, 10???

Then off to a few more pubs for a few more Guinness-ii and back home to Oscar.

All in all, a great day!

Our boy

Isn't he adorable?? We love him!!!

Happy meat

Actually called Billy Roll and can be found in your local Tesco's - it's in mine!!

Nola had to be put down today. Her little body just couldn't take the stress.

Rest in peace my beautiful baby girl. You were so loved and will never be forgotten.

Nola's first (and hopefully only) surgery

My poor little baby girl had emergency surgery this afternoon. I came home early because she was so sick and when I got home, she had it coming out of both ends during the day. I watched her for a while and then just got too nervous so I took her to the vet. He said that she was losing weight rapidly and that he wanted to keep her and to call back in an hour and a half. That hour and a half was torture!

When we called, the vet said that he opened her up as he was sure there was a blockage somewhere and he found that her bowels were twisted. He said that it isn't common but he has seen cases like this. He says it can happen with playful puppies. Unbelievable really.

Back home now - exhausted from the stress, sadness, and praying. Then Derek dropped his cell phone into a big pile of her diarrhea and I got a good hearty laugh out of that.

Hopefully good news to come...

Young adventures

Nola had her first "my mommy is a hypochondriac so I had to go to the vet" day. She went from her normal playful self to sleeping constantly and very lethargic. She also wasn't eating or drinking. After a few phone calls to emergency vet numbers that no one answered, I did lots of internet research - cause whatever the internet says is true - and finally found the number to a nearby vet with a 24 hour number.

The result of the visit was that it was basically a big tummy ache from eating solid food (oops). In my defense, it says PUPPY on the bag. But oh well...I'm out of practice. Another possibility is that she may have worms. The vet seems to think that the breeder may not have wormed the mother as they should have.

He gave her a worming tablet and apparently what happens when they take one of those is the worms COME OUT. So I say, "will that happen while she's there with you???" Well, it didn't.

Current report = no worms yet. Let's hope the vet's hunch isn't all correct. She's much better now and sleeping as we speak.

Nola's first day in her new home

The drive from where she was born to here is almost an hour, so we made sure to stop a few times to let her stretch her legs. She's already spoiled, but she's too cute not to be! She woke up every 2-3 hours last night and would only stay awake to tinkle, eat a little, play for a few minutes and then she was out again. She loves her new bed and let's hope she'll love her new brother that comes next weekend!













More to come!

Meet Nola

Oscar's new sister.

It's a boy!

His name is Oscar:

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!! (and Pancake Tuesday)

Happy Mardi Gras!!! And Happy Pancake Tuesday to all of my Irish friends. For Mardi Gras, I had a little neighborhood party, which means that I was absolutely required to make a king cake, as Mardi Gras just isn't the same without it. My wonderful mom sent along 2 boxes of mix (in case I completely screwed up the first one) and lots of decorations and beads.

In the case that you are ever living outside of the US and would like to make a king cake, here's how it goes:

1. Ask nicely for someone to send you something like this:

2. Combine cake mix and yeast (first error was me not knowing what yeast looks like and dropping the frosting powder in there - had to scoop out carefully):

3. Combine butter and knead til it disappears. Then add hot water and an egg and knead for 15 MINUTES! (Owwwwwwww)

4. After letting it rise til it doubles in size, roll it out:

5. Then mix the praline filling...mmmmmm:

6. Mmmmmmm......

7. Wrap up and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm oven:

8. Bake for 20 minutes:

9. Ice and sprinkle:



10. Add baby and serve! Important to have it surrounded by loads of alcohol (hurricanes included), pralines, jambalaya, and red beans 'n rice.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!

Winter freaking wonderland

Yesterday it was chilly, but sunny and completely free of ice and snow other than first thing in the morning. When I left the gym, the only ice left was under the cars and in the shadows.


Made plans today to head to a few places - go shopping with a friend. I wake up this morning and look out of the window and it's not raining - perfect. But wait, is that snow on the trees??










What the hell happened??? Unbelievable. I watched two cars try to drive up the hill - not happening. The field across the street now has big green circles everywhere, which are snowman making tracks. I saw a kid make a snow angel in the street. Winter wonderland indeed.

Look out Chicago!

It's snowing in Dublin! At the time of this post, the snow has basically gone even though there were a few flurries this morning as I waited on the train. However on Monday, there was snow EVERYWHERE!! I knew that it was snowing in England as I watched if fall during the Liverpool match on Sunday but I still didn't believe that it would head this way. Lucky us! Well, lucky until it started to hinder transportation...

We woke up to find snowflakes:

Covering the driveway:

Look at the poor car!

Yep - it's officially snowing.

My train station from my current client...it snowed all day (as you can tell, I go to work in the dark and leave in the dark - it is getting lighter a little earlier and dark a little later but it's still only light from about 8:30 - 5:00).

In Leixlip it was MUCH snowier than in town. My walk from the train station:


First official snowman - haha!

Drive into the estate from the train station:

And the fun begins...

Much better aim than I thought:

It's thick!

It was so freaking cold that making a snowman was aborted, but there were lots of snowball fights on the field (or pitch as they call it here) - including a few neighbors. That night the transportation issues started. The following 2 days, the snow started to melt and turned the roads into ice. We live at the bottom of a hill, so cars had to be parked at the top as on Monday we were sliding down it to the point where the cars at the bottom of the hill backed up just in case.

A co-worker said that it may start to snow again, so here we go!