Wednesday, December 28, 2011

tis the season!

well, technically, the season is just about over. but only now do i have the time/internet access to update this thing with a few (or more) pictures of our christmas season. and my oh my, it was a busy one!

we committed to do a christmas market for the 14 days leading up to christmas. it was held in a lovely location (mt juliet in co. kilkenny) where we could leave the stall completely set up over night, and even keep the espresso machine on to prevent the pipes from freezing! which, compared to last years experience with the christmas market in waterford city, was a dream! anyway, with this market taking up the majority (11am-10pm) of my everyday, and clay being kept busy with various church happenings, our  christmas season was somewhat lost in the, ironically enough, christmas season!





even after all that market madness, we had a lovely christmas. we managed to decorate our house before the market started, so to come home to a lit tree and a house full of shiny decorations, really  helped make the season feel not so lost.


we also managed, in the midst of the madness, to take our annual silly happy christmas photo (you saw the finished product in the last post). here are some out-takes! haha, the stupider, the better!




we also (and when i say "we" i mean clay) managed to play loads of zelda (clay's early christmas present) in all the other inbetween times.

christmas eve we had church, of course, which was lovely. we can never hear the christmas story too many times, nor can we ever fully understand the depth of the sacrifice Jesus made, even before the cross. his coming to earth, as a babe, is what christmas is about.


christmas day was wonderful.

we had a nice quiet morning together. starting it off with our yearly tradition of porridge with baileys and cream. yummm.

now, for the presents! (and for a little disclaimer). we live in the country now, which means we are kinda far from any convenience and must drive to get to anywhere. with us having a baby, and with clay needing to go to the office nearly everyday, we knew that a second car was going to be a necessity. we also knew, and was the reason we took on doing the christmas market, that we were going to need some extra cash to prepare for the babe's impending arrival! so, i decided that because i worked almost everyday of that market, i would get my husband the car that he has always wanted, but never thought he'd actually ever get! and believe it or not, in this country, with having to pay a monthly tax based on the size of your engine, and a flat (expensive!) rate for insurance, plus the rigorous nct test (vehicle quality test), an old beat up vintage car (25 years old or older) is cheaper to keep and maintain (vintage insurance, vintage tax, and NO nct needed) than an old beat up 90 something car. BUT its the vintage cars that cost more to buy to begin with. thus starts my scouring of the internets to find a suitable car! and so i did!

look at that happy little spoilt face! (dont mind the bed head, haha)

i think i came out on top though, as far as receiving the most awesome gift goes. do you have any idea how much easier my life is going to be with this thing?!


penelope got a big bag of coal (to keep the fire going for days), a free range chicken (because apparently thats all you can get in the shops around christmas), and plenty of used wrapping paper. i think she was pretty thrilled if you ask me.

made some really good eggnog. had to find a recipe that cooked the eggs first, so i could drink as much as i wanted, and was successful! 

honey baked ham and a turkey. done and done!


got all of our vegetables from a local organic farmer. 
brussel sprouts, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions. 

and there is our table, all set and ready for some good eating and good company! though, i must admit, i made WAY to much for just four people. could have fed over 10! (and it did as leftovers!) after dinner and dessert, we were pretty much in a food coma. 

and what better way to soothe a full tummy than a night full of cleaning up the dinner mess, doing some much needed laundry, watching my husband play zelda, see my cat rolling around in bliss by the fire stove, and feeling this bundle inside of me do eggnog cartwheels?

happy (late) christmas everyone. 

Friday, December 09, 2011

home.

we finally made it back to waterford. after a long and very tiresome transatlantic journey, full of overweight and oversized luggage issues, delayed planes, no sleeps, long layovers, super amazing stewardesses, customs scares, and a moldy, smelly, long drive home.
its cold. its wet. its windy. its dark. but we're home! and it feels so good!
we have hit the ground running (did you expect anything different?).  our few days back so far have been chalk full of unpacking, house organizing/deep cleaning, doctors appointments, church appointments, church events, people meeting, grocery shopping, and lots of general catching up on life here busy-ness!
just two nights ago we squeezed in some time, before a dinner guest arrived, to get a christmas tree. and after dinner, pulled out our decorations, put on some christmassy tunes and christmasified our house late into the night!
(dont mind the little grinch sitting in front of the fire)

Saturday, November 05, 2011

ULTRA-sound






can you guess? do you even know what you are looking at? yeah i understand, i pretty much dont either, but the nurse's verdict is in...

drumroll pleeeeease.....

.
.
.
.

it's a she!
.
.
.
here are some more ultrasound pictures for your confused viewing enjoyment.

(foot to forehead. she is going to be a gymnast or something!)

(cant you count five fingers and toes? phew!)

(alien face)

can you see a real life baby in this picture? well, there is a face, it has a leg in front of it, and an arm around the outside. ok, don't hurt yourself now!

Friday, November 04, 2011

an update via instagram & camera+

my darling husband, played a sneaky mcsneakster and woke up early (not hard to do when jet lag is your best friend) and put together a lovely birthday morning for me. complete with a kindle as my present! im loving it, just ask him. he's thiiiis close to taking it away! 

do you see that thing? its called the sun. and yup, you guessed it! its out everyday.



clay went on a day fishing boat with his dad this saturday. came back with some yummy eats! and a farmers tan yet to be compared!

i stayed home, and hung out with my two new friends. mr kindle and mr golden sun.



in the meantime, we drink lots of coffee and tea's from various places. first up, peets. then the coffee bean & tea leaf. then, at our old stomping grounds, the overflowing cup (the coffee shop on the bible college campus) (with, of course, the obligatory open bible in the shot)


thats all for now. expect an exciting post coming in the next few days. big stuff coming up for the worrells!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

a list...

for the past couple weeks, ive been making little notes and storing them away for later (all of this in my head, of course!), of all the things that constantly remind me that i am no longer in ireland. but im not just anywhere right? im in america! the land of the free! the home of the brave! and southern california, at that.

anyway, this list is by no means exhaustive, although im pretty exhausted thinking about it. but here goes.

you know you are in southern california when...

the sun is out everyday!

you get this weird red burn-like rash when you spend too much time in that sun!

you breathe a sigh of relief when you exit the freeway, because you know that you just eluded death!

you don't "go" at a green light. you wait for the five or so cars that are running their red and then proceed with caution.

you drive to target!

you are driving to said target, pass by home depot on the way and see a makeshift tent made out of blue tarp in the parking lot, with 30+ immigrants waiting under it for work.

your legs stay shaven for longer than a day!

bushes rustle and varying reptiles run/slither across your footpath!

you are amazed at the variety/quantity of food items they can fit in one aisle in the supermarket! (just don't read the ingredients!)


you can think up any genre of food that you want to eat, and find a good restaurant around the corner!

you can drink a 30oz smoothie for lunch everyday, if your heart so desires! (mine has so far, eep!)


you are awake at 5am and can find a good place to get coffee with little effort, and you don't even need to get out of your car!

in fact, there is little that you need to get out of your car for around here...

oh! and you get to hang out with cool kids like these ones...







aaaand, that concludes the few thoughts that i've had on this subject so far.
for now, i'm going to collect my husband from the airport. and thats something that you can do anywhere, but its dang good to be in america when you do!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

so this one time i was in san diego. spending time with people i love, eating really good food, getting roasted by this so called "sun" that spends everyday in the sky uninterrupted by clouds and rain.

pictures to come soon!

Sunday, October 09, 2011

a time to mourn


he may not be on earth with us anymore, but I know that Dermot Heffernan is more alive at this very moment than any of us still here. may his death shake us into reality of life, and may we continue to seek hard after the God from whom all blessings flow.



“but for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in his wings. you shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”
malachi 4:2

Friday, September 30, 2011

on things exploding & other big news

if you know me well, or even not at all, you might know that i have a weird irrational fear of things exploding.

I.E.

if i drop a battery, will it explode? if i improperly connect the barbeque to the gas tank, will it explode? if i dont open the air release valve on the wood stove, will it explode? if i pour water just off the boil into a glass, will the glass explode into a million shattered pieces and cut me as they all go flying every which way? the list goes on...

ok ok, you might be thinking im crazy, or maybe you agree with some of these examples. but let me tell you, after this past month or so i believe that my fear has been confirmed! now, i don't mean things actually bursting violently as a result of rapid combustion or intense internal pressure into a fiery ball of rage, but i mean many many life shaking/changing events all happening within close proximity to eachother...

I.E.

explosion number one.
we impulsively moved to the country! yes, we left the comforts and conveniences of the city and up and decided to move out. i had been feeling for awhile that the house we were living in was just too big for two people. i mean, there were rooms i never really went in unless it was to hoover and dust them! thats just craziness i tell you! downsize and simplify! so yes, that was a big reason. also, the house that we found straight away was right on the harbour so my husband could walk out and fish anytime his heart desired! oh, that look of hope on his face when we were viewing the place! how could i say no?
now, i know me listing all these reasons make our move sound like it was diligently decided and thoroughly thought out, but i can assure you, it wasnt! on the day i found the house online, and sent the link to my husband (on a whim, to cheer his spirits on a tough day, to give him an imaginary place to go to) he rang the landlord and set up an appointment to view, that day!! and within the next day or two we made the decision. it was moving time!


explosion number two.
after the first day or two of living in the new place, my sharp nose picked up a strange uncomfortable smell. at the same time, i noticed that the skirting board was a good inch off the carpeted floor and every time i got down low the smell worsened, so i was convinced that it was coming from inside the walls and was just a general old muskiness odor considering the house was an old one. it took a couple weeks to convince my husband that the smell was real and i wasn't imaging it, that i really do have a special nose to pick up on these things! once i nagged him to no end, he reluctantly agreed to remove the skirting and lower it.
oh, the horror!
meanwhile, we noticed another wretched stench, this time coming from the box of the electric shower (click to see what one looks like) every time we showered. again, i convinced my husband to remove the cover and have a look inside the thing.
oh, the horror!
meanwhile another meanwhile, i decided to look in the tiny space under the counter and on top of the washing machine just for fun. why do i do these things? i don't know.
oh, the horror!
would you like to know what these horrors are? ok, maybe i am being a tad dramatic, but i like to know the ins and outs of my surroundings, especially the ones that i call home. everything has a place, and every place i must know, and every place is to be clean and also be a right angle (the right angle part is kind of a joke...kind of).
horror number 1. after removing the first skirting board we were startled (but i guess not all that surprised) to discover the drywall beneath to be damp to the touch and eaten with black mold. yes, black mold! the kind that is really bad for you! we continued to remove the boards, and continued to find more, right through the sitting room and into our bedroom. because of the exposed mold and destroyed skirting in our bedroom, we consequently had no where to sleep! so on the floor it was for the next week or so.
horror number 2. as clay removed the cover to the electric shower, he found two dead mice. two mice that were being roasted and cooked and boiled in the inner electric workings of the shower, every time we turned the thing on to take our shower! the time we are meant to get clean and wash away the dirtiness of the day, the stink of two dead rotting mice fills the bathroom within the steam of the hot shower surrounding our supposedly clean bodies! yuck! (you can shudder if you'd like)
horror number 3. i asked my ever patient husband to move out the washing machine to further investigate what i saw. and i was right, the entire top of the washing machine, covered in mice poo and pee! and behind the washing machine, there was more black mold a-plentiful!
would you like to see some evidence? click to enlarge if you dare!


explosion number three.
as you can probably guess, because of the throughly explained explosion number two, we decided that we needed to move house again. and for a big reason (see "big news" below) it was very important for us to move to a safer, drier, healthier, more comfortable house. after working things out with our landlord, who was nothing but amazing and supportive throughout this whole process. it was moving time! (again)
so as of last week we moved to an even smaller terraced house down by the water in a little town outside of waterford called passage east. and we are glad we did! we look forward to spending a warm winter by our little wood stove, making a big christmas dinner in the beautiful spacious kitchen, enjoying walks on the beach thats right over a wall outside our front door. all for less rent than we were paying in the city and less than what we paid at the horror house! 
we are still settling in, and things are becoming more and more like home around here. 


mini explosions happening all throughout.
-all the things on the usual moving house checklist. call and change your address with every company you can think of, getting the utilities changed and switched over, figuring out how to get internet and a cell phone signal in the country (still working that one out), TWICE over. 
-planning and preparing for the second annual Calvary Ireland conference. then attend it, of course!
-going through the motions of ending our twice weekly coffee stall in the local markets. the church is getting too busy to give up two days of the week to continue the stall. it will be missed, but we will never be too far from Badger & Dodo, naturally! we need coffee to survive, right?
-and of course, our usual weekly schedule of duties, which musn't be neglected! 


big news
now, if you are still with me, and suffered through reading all of that, then you well deserve to read this next bit of information!

we are with child! yes, its true! i am 14 weeks on, over a third of the way through! 


also, this time next week i will be in sunny california for a nice, long, (lets not forget, sunny and warm!), overdue visit to our family and friends. its gonna be so awesome! ill be there for the first couple weeks without clay, then he will fly out and our usual november craziness will begin. i am excited, clay is excited, even our unborn baby is excited! woo! 

there you have it. a long update to fill the long gap in updates.
in the weeks to come, expect some nice pictures with nice words to illustrate our time back stateside! hope to see you's while we're out there. email us!

love,
the worrells
(all three of us)!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

10 steps to eggs for breakfast

Step 1. get some supplies to build a coop. (do not try fitting these lengths of wood in your small car at home, for professional micra drivers only.)

Step 2. start doing some complicated maths in your head to figure out just how this coop will come together with little supplies. then, saw and hammer and screw your little heart out.

Step 3. form a triangular shape so its the proper length & height for two fat hens.

Step 4. don't forget to add some vertical planks to keep the thing sturdy. also, get started on building a door.

Step 5. finish the door, and start the painstakingly long process of hammering on the chicken wire.

Step 6. work late into the night building the housing unit out of scraps of wood found in the garage. 

Step 7. get some sleep and triumphantly finish off the housing unit the next morning. 

Step 8. let your hairless cat investigate the coop and give it a test run. yep, its dumb animal proof.

Step 9. put some hens in and let them investigate the coop. yep, it will do.

Step 10. collect two fresh eggs every morning and enjoy your breakfast in an omelet, over easy, scramble, or how ever you prefer. also, for perfectly eggy eggs, make sure to feed and water the little guys daily.