Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The view from here

Everyone in the United States seem to be talking about the same thing, the devastating tragedy that occurred Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.  As 28 people lost their lives, including 20 of Heavenly Father's youngest and sweetest, the news ripped around the world. 

I'm not much for listening to the news or radio during the day.  My home page for my Linux OS is RTE news but once my Internet is up it typically stays up and I rarely see my homepage.  And so it wasn't until later that evening (local time) that I heard what had happened.  Here is how it has been covered by RTE News, BBC News and Sky News.  Between these sources and the U.S. sources I've been able to keep up on what exactly is going on.  And it's heart breaking.  On Saturday night I had a chance to sit down and watch some of the news coverage done by NBC News.  I sat with my father-in-law and watched clip after clip as the gunman was discussed, the shooting scene was explained and various ecclesiastical leaders spoke.  I realize now and would caution others that this is not a great idea.  It is soundly depressing to spend that much time neck deep in information on such a tragedy.  I wanted to cry.  Literally curl up into a ball and cry for every child and educator who lost their life.  It's not healthy and it's not helpful to the situation either.  I've seen so many posts on Facebook and blogs that I follow going deeper and deeper into the nitty gritty details.  We want to honor the victims, we want to search for solutions to prevent this from happening again.  We can't do that if we ourselves are sunk deep in the mire.  So please, be informed but don't be discouraged.

I'm not one to get on my political soapbox.  I think I broke that thing into firewood a long time ago having learned how dangerous it can be.  So this is not my "this is how we should fix it" post.  This is my "grieving and understanding" post.  As I understand it the shooter suffered from mental illness, a sad situation in itself.  He had easy access to guns. And so there appear to be two issues on the table to be dealt with, gun laws and the overall attitude towards mental health.  The former I believe to be the symptom while the latter is the real disease.  Here's hoping that the people we voted into office make the right decisions.

The Scarecrow and I have been getting a lot of comments and questions lately about when we plan to extend our family.  I think it's the only question people know to ask newlywed couples.  While always well meaning it is also generally very awkward.  PS, the answer is none of your business.  But a thought briefly swept through my head after reading and listening to the news coverage.  Is it safe?  Just because we live in Europe right now does not make us immune to these types of situations.  Our kids will probably do some school in both countries. Should I worry about sending even our little children to school every day?  But because of my belief in Jesus Christ, because of my faith that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us, I know that no matter what happens it will all be OK. 


Monday, December 10, 2012

Tis' the Season to Be...

Would it be nice if this was a weekly blog?  Yes, yes it would.  Is that going to happen every time?  No, it most certainly isn't.  So here we go, a bit of a re-cap over the past few weeks and the end of one holiday as we approach another.

We last saw Oz at the build up to Thanksgiving.  It was pretty funny to have an American holiday here.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy it.  I got to experience what it is to spend almost the entire day cooking.  I started the day before with broccoli salad, a personal favorite of mine which I think may have stolen the show.  I made it the next week for a family function in Dublin and everyone kept saying, "It's so different, but it's so good!"  So if people ask you if the food is different in Ireland I think we have confirmed the answer.  There were honey glazed carrots, green bean casserole (thanks Mom), stuffing, mashed potatoes, HOMEMADE rolls involving YEAST and a chocolate pie made by Toto and me.  PS, we couldn't get the meringue to work so we substituted it with whipped cream.  We'll be doing this again.  It was a nice night to just sit around, get stuffed and play Bop It.  Oh, and look what my crazy father-in-law got for me!

Yes, it is a turkey hat.  No, I did not cook the turkey.  I've had a bad turkey cooking experience so I left it to my FIL, the expert. He had a friend in the States secretly send him some Thanksgiving decorations, including the hat.  It was so sweet.  I think the American flags are going to be a new tradition in our house.  Besides, what's more American than Thanksgiving?


Limerick has now gone Christmas-crazy.  Both the city centre and Crescent shopping center have fully decked their halls.  The only two topics that anyone seems to be talking about now are the recent budget (pretty scary) and Christmas.  A true conversation now contains both.  Scarecrow and I have been getting ready bit by bit.  We looked at each other one night and said, "Are we really getting ready for Christmas together?  This seems so normal!".  This is, in fact, our first Christmas EVER together.  Can you believe that?  We've known each other nearly 6 years and have never once spent Christmas together.  I've always come over here around New Year's so we've actually rung in a couple of new year's together.  We put up the Christmas decorations and decorated the tree the other night.  It's a real tree that our neighbor grew.  He dragged it through the yard Friday morning and said, "Here you go!".  That night we decorated the tree and in general just relaxed.  Christmas is BY FAR the Scarecrow's favorite holiday.  He could have told you in July how many sleeps till Christmas.  Even if I'm in a bad mood, feeling sorry for myself or what have you, he is brim full of Christmas cheer and it's infectious.

This week it's finishing up Christmas shopping for our American side and shipping that off, Christmas caroling with the youth on Wednesday and two Christmas parties.  Oh yes, tis' the season to be jolly.
 


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Why did the turkey cross the ocean?

This is the obligatory Thanksgiving-in-a-foreign-country post.  But you'll find out more on that in a minute.  First up, this past weekend.  It was a roller coaster for me and, as any good weekend should, taught me a lot about what I want my life to be like here in Oz. 

The highlight of the weekend was our regional youth activity.  The church in Ireland is not huge.  There are 2 stakes, one centered in Dublin and one in Belfast.  Then there's our district based out of Limerick.  The activity was all day Saturday and involved youth 14-18 years old from all over the island, about 120 all together.  It was a hoot seeing them all together.  Carpools from the south and west came along with buses full of kids from the north and dropped kids at our church building around 9:30am.  It was pretty much all go from there.  Morning speakers, games and a service project, lunch, seminary (a kind of Sunday school), a talent show, dinner and lastly, a dance.  Scarecrow and I were there consistently from the beginning till the end.  I counted and by the end of the day (we left and came back after the dance) I had sat down a grand total of 4 times.  But I loved every bit of it.  I can't wait till next year when Toto is old enough to go to these kinds of activities.  It was great to see how much the kids care about each other, how close they are despite the distance.  I loved meeting other leaders from around the country and getting to know them better.  Scarecrow and I had a great time and really wished that a lot of people lived a lot closer. 

Church on Sunday was great, the little primary kids had a program which is always an uplifting thing.  Our lesson in Young Women's was great.  But when we got home I just found myself getting overwhelmed and frustrated at little things that normally wouldn't bother me.  Scarecrow proved yet again why I love him so much and just let me cry it out.  And contrary to every male stereotype, he knew just what to say.  Everything always seems brighter and better after a good solid cry.

And wouldn't you know, Monday was even brighter.  I got my gang out the door that morning, went upstairs to work for awhile, and was greeted when I came back down by a package!  A lot of my amazing friends have been asking me if I need anything for Thanksgiving.  I've felt really loved at all of the offers and had said I really don't need anything.  I know how much it costs to ship things over here and didn't want to put anyone out.  One sweet friend never even asked, just surprised me with a fabulous treat.
Leslie, one of my oldest friends from way back in the day, sent a couple little things to make it feel more like Thanksgiving.  And so, why did the turkey cross the ocean?  To get to the other side, of course!  Scarecrow was pretty amused by that one.  So now Oz has perhaps the only set of turkey salt and pepper shakers along with Thanksgiving tea towels and Leslie's favorite Thanksgiving movie, Son-in-Law.  She's also a great reader, something we share, and so she sent me a book she thought I would like.  My mother-in-law got a good laugh when I pulled these things out.  Clearly it's not a holiday that gets much attention outside of North America.  Toto has been asking if we get presents for Thanksgiving.  I'm learning it's a hard holiday to explain.  Last night we went and did the shopping for the trimmings.  I'm feeling a little intimidated at what I've gotten myself into cooking wise.  I actually like to cook, don't get me wrong.  But my reputation precedes me.  Not to mention I'm nervous to be introducing so many new things to my Irish family.  They've been good sports about the whole thing, not even just Thanksgiving.  When I cook it's not in the way they're traditionally used to.  No one has ever complained, but I don't want to go pushing people too far out of their dietary comfort zone.  So next week you'll see if this holiday got pulled off or not.

Lastly, had a nice night out a few nights ago.  I went and caught a movie with a couple of girls.  And not just any movie, Breaking Dawn part II.  Oh it was good!  It was sad, not the movie, but during a part of it I almost cried when I realized that I wasn't seeing it with my MoH, my Meg of Honor.  I saw this bumper sticker a few months ago, not too long after I moved here.  I'd been meaning to post it but I think it's more appropriate now.
Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I'm celebrating with the newest extension of my family and I'm very excited to be able to do that.  I'm grateful for them and for all their love and patience as I've learned to adjust here.  I'm grateful for Toto and how sweet and funny she is, even in her teenager moments.  I'll always be thankful for my Scarecrow.  Do you know why I call him the Scarecrow?  Do you remember at the end of the Wizard of Oz, right before Dorothy leaves Oz and goes back to Kansas?  She's saying good bye to everyone and she turns to the Scarecrow and says, "I think I'll miss you most of all".  He was her best friend, the one she felt like she couldn't have made it without.  This ruby slippered girl feels the same way.   

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

There's no place like home, or a home office

I feel like it's been raining A LOT the past week or so.  The odd thing is, it's actually been pretty warm.  Yesterday we got close to 14 C (or 57 degrees F for our American friends).  I hear the weather reports in Kansas and as soaked as I feel I'm not really ready for sub-freezing temps just yet.  And yes, I did just begin my blog post with a weather report.  Meteorologist till the end.

There have been no big adventures this past week.  There weren't any major revelations or Irish quirks that seemed to jump out at me.  It was just...normal.  I'm sure that the land of Oz still has things left to surprise me, it's just that it didn't really surprise me this week.  Scarecrow and I seem to have settled in and now that we've passed the 3 months married mark (woo-hoo!) we seem to finally be accepting the fact that the other person isn't going anywhere.  Can you blame us?  After 5 years of an on again/off again, trans-Atlantic relationship we had some decent adjusting to do.  This morning, for instance, was a bit manic.  Wait, that was just me?  Still a good lesson in normality.  We had Toto (my step-daughter) with us last night and so I got her up, ironed her uniform, got her up again, made her breakfast/his lunch, dropped her off at her bus stop and barely made it back in time to swipe a quick peck before Scarecrow's lift to work showed up.  It was strange, but in a good way.  Does that make sense?  No, probably not.  But like I said, we have adjusted to life as we know it.  Are we done adjusting?  Absolutely not.  He still laughs at the sound I make when I brush my teeth and I still get woken up by his grizzly bear-like snoring.  It's funny how life progresses.

As I said, I don't have any witty anecdotes to share with you this week.  Instead, I have something else.  I work from home on my thesis.  Well, I try very, very hard to work from home.  I'm still trying to figure out what works best for me in order to stay focused and accomplish as much as possible in a day.  Some things have been great and others not so much.  I think it's very person dependent but I thought I'd share some tips/things I really wish I could have to help make working from home much easier. 

Working From Home 101
  1. WAKE UP AT A REASONABLE TIME, exercise, eat breakfast, shower.  Get everything out of the way that could be used as a potential distraction later.  I don't mean clean the house from top to bottom but I'm finding that if I empty the dishwasher or maybe catch up on reading my blogs BEFORE I start working than I have fewer excuses later in the day to stop what I'm doing.  Oh, and put on real pants.
  2.  If there are other people in the house (it feels like my house is the Times Square of the Emerald City sometimes) make sure they know that this is what you're doing during the day.  I really don't mind this kind of distraction once in awhile during the day.  I do get to feeling very anti-social if everyone's around and I'm holed up somewhere on my laptop.  But, and this is more a message to me, don't let it distract TOO much.  
  3. Set "office hours" for yourself.  This is one I am still experimenting with and want to get better at.  I will typically work off and on, here and there.  But I know when I had my office at the university that when I had a dedicated chunk of time to work, it was go time.  So make sure you know what time "go time" is and stick to it.
  4. Have a dedicated space.  Again, this is a tricky one right now.  On the days when Scarecrow leaves me the car I try and go to the library and work for awhile.  I know this is contrary to the title "working from home" but sometimes I just can't find the right space at home to work.  Some things that I love about working in the library that I wish I could have at home: a chair with a straight back that is short enough I can put both feet on the floor; a clean, blank, flat surface to work on; lots of big windows.  All I want is my laptop and my notebook on my work surface.  That's it.  They have these great white tables at the library that are a bit mod looking.  If I could have one of those and put it in a space with a lot of natural light I think this whole working from home thing would be so much easier.  Or maybe something along these lines.    
    http://www.homeooffice.com/wp-content/uploads/a-modern-desk-table-for-modern-home-office-design-ideas-photo-01.jpg source

       
  5. I feel like every good "how-to" list should have 5 things.  So here it is.  Be accountable to someone.  I think a lot of people who work from home have to report up to someone.  I am grateful I have a weekly meeting with my adviser via Skype that keeps me on the ball.  I want to be sure that I've accomplished what I need to before I talk with him.  But there are those lucky people who are their own boss.  Who do they report to in order to stay on the ball?  I would suggest to those, find someone you can check in with.  Friend, colleague, it doesn't really matter who.  Just someone you can call and say, "This is what I wanted to get done and this is what actually got done".
With that out of the way now that it's 10am in Oz I'm going to have a shower, eat breakfast, and get to work.   Hopefully...

 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Holiday in Oz Part II

 I would first like to make an apologetic statement.

Dear Dingle Peninsula,
I have long held you as one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen.  I love the salty sea smell, the crashing waves and of course, Harrington's.  Who doesn't admire the fortitude of the people who once lived on the Blasket Islands or the many seamen who set out from your sweeping bay?  But, I'm ashamed to say, I have found a new love.  I have found a place that is so rugged, so lovely, that I can't ignore my feelings anymore.  Yes Dingle, you will always hold a special place in my heart.  But a new love has come in.  And that place, dear Dingle, is Donegal. 

The Scarecrow and I pulled out of Limerick on Tues, Oct 30th.  It was a long drive but overall we were pretty lucky.  With the trusty Garmin programmed we set out on the 5 and a half hour journey to the north of the island.  With only one detour (ok, that sucked) we made it to our hotel, the Gweedore Court Hotel.  Even though it was only about 6:30pm it was pitch black so we really didn't see much of our surroundings.  You'll see momentarily what we woke up to outside of our hotel window.  That night we checked in, went to the pool/hot tub/SAUNA (!!!)  and ate dinner in the hotel restaurant.  We were completely beat from the drive so after dinner was a relaxing veg and some much needed sleep.

In the morning I opened the curtains of our room and was astonished to find this view:

I audibly gasped, it was so beautiful.  The mountain in the first picture is Mt. Ergil.  With better weather we may have tried it, but we had other hiking plans for the day.  So after a full Irish breakfast we jumped on our trusty broomstick and took off for Glenveagh National Park.

But first, the drive to the park.  It was incredible.  We couldn't have been luckier for the weather and we were ooo-ing and aww-ing the whole way there with a photo op stop.

I married a goober.
How cute is that church!
Please ignore the fact that I look like a 15 year old boy in every picture.  We were hiking, not clubbing.
Now, Glenveagh.  It's a fascinating place with a quirky history which I won't go into.  But these nice people did so you can read about it there.  We began with a 4 km (2.5 mile) hike to the castle.  They had just upgraded the trail and it was only finished 2 weeks before us.  Can you say score!  It wasn't overly straining but felt great to fill the ol' lungs. 

Scarecrow on the "beach".  Can't say he doesn't take me exotic places.
The castle itself.  The second owner had a very interesting story, and a book is shortly being released about his life and disappearance.  I really wish I could have hung out with the last owner of the place.  He seemed like a real character.  He put in exotic gardens representing countries from all over the world, false doors, and an outdoor swimming pool.  Yes, I think we would have had fun, he and I.

Read the plaque for the statue below.  It really caught me off guard to see this in Ireland!
This one's for you Erin!
Belleek swan.  This one's for Grandma, she now loves all things Belleek.
After that we grabbed lunch in the tea room and set off on our next excursion.  Our tour guide recommend we take the View Point Trail, which is another 2 km (1.2 miles) hike up to a point where you can see almost the entire valley.  Tough trail, completely worth it. 


New favorite picture
We were pretty well beat after that hike so we took the bus back to the car.  We went and had a look at the Bloody Foreland which, with the rain, wasn't as impressive as perhaps it could have been.  We decided to be a bit lazy again and have dinner in the hotel another night.  So after a soak in the hot tub and dip in the pool it was dinner and lounging around.  Oh, plus it was Halloween so there were cute little kids staying in the hotel running around in their costumes.

Next day was another Irish breakfast and slowly getting ourselves together to hit the road.  Have I mentioned how much the Scarecrow loves me and how good he is to me?  He even stopped in the POURING rain in Sligo so I could see W.B. Yeats' grave.  Yes people, that is love.


All in all it was a great trip.  The rest of the week went quietly.  Just a couple more pictures to display.  The first one is just after the Scarecrow was given a heart attack by this furry little dog toy that is a motion sensor.  He leaned in close to read the sign next to it and I thought he'd been shot he jumped so high.  Priceless.

And lastly, my Button turned 1 year old!  Grief, how did she get so big so quick?  And by big I mean still itty-bitty but at least bigger than she once was.  And a big thanks to my sister for making the bow at least somewhat proportional to the size of her little head.  That is hands down my biggest baby pet peeve.  That's all from Oz!


Monday, October 29, 2012

Holiday in Oz

Everyone loves baby llamas!  At least I think that's what they are since it's a little late to be shearing sheep.


This is where I tell you all how awesome my husband is.  Seriously, he is the best thing.  I don't brag on him nearly as much as I should.  I've been...lonely.  There, I said the words out loud to someone other than the Scarecrow.  Bless his heart, he came home from work one day and I sort of melted down.  Poor guy, he really didn't see it coming.  So I've been trying to keep myself busy outside of the house.  The Dooradoyle library and I have become excellent friends over the past couple of weeks.  Some days it's easier to get out of the house than others, especially on the days that the Scarecrow has to take the car to work.  I know it's not uncommon for expats to feel like this.  Anyone that moves to a new city I'm sure deals with trying to find their place in it.  I'm pretty sure "Eat, Pray, Love" is one of my new favorite books and there is a line that said, "Happiness is the consequence of personal efforts".  So this is me, making a personal effort.  I went to IKEA in Dublin with a couple of ladies from church this week which was a great excuse to do something different.  Had a really great time with them and it reminded me how much I love IKEA.  I didn't expect this move to be easy.  Easy or not, it's completely worth it to be in the same place as Scarecrow.

Fun Irish tid-bit for the week: Bank Holiday Mondays.  It's a free day basically, random holidays tossed in throughout the year for reasons that no one really seems to understand.  Mind you, my day has been pretty similar to any other.  The only special thing I did was bake bread.  Good news, it's delicious.  

 
But Scarecrow is off work this week and only had to take 4 days holiday because of today.  Score!  We're heading up to Donegal for a couple days which we're really excited about. Pictures to come!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Over the rainbow

I really couldn't help myself.  We all knew it was going to happen, it's Ireland after all.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a rainbow. 


I saw it when I was out walking Maybell.  Or was she walking me?  Shes does this thing were she holds her leash in her mouth so it's hard to tell who is actually leading the walk.  One of her many little quirks.



One of my big accomplishments last week?  Reversing into a tiny parking spot at the Crescent Shopping Mall.  I rarely ever did that in an automatic, let alone a manual transmission!  I've done it a few times now and I must say, I'm getting pretty decent.  Look how centered!  This one I think I only had to adjust 3 times.  The overall number of times that I stall out is much less as well.  Little victories people, take them when you can get 'em.

Saturday was probably one of the nicest, most relaxing days the Scarecrow and I have had in awhile.  Woke up at a respectable hour and then lounged in bed watching Top Gear (yes, we're that cool).  He then proceeded to make Nutella pancakes.  They're really crepes if we're being accurate but he refuses to concede that they're anything but pancakes.  Call them whatever you like, I love this man!  Got up, got grubby and went out to pick blackberries.  It's getting to the end of the season but we still got nearly 3 lbs. worth.  There's a field just by our house that has blackberry bushes all around it.  If you've never done it before I warn you, you've got to really want them.  We were out for a couple of hours to get that 3 lbs., not to mention the scars we are both sporting now from reaching through the thorns.

Came back, washed the dog (who was FILTHY after tramping through the field with us) and washed a couple of the cars.  We tried out a couple new recipes and surprised ourselves with how good they really were.  Going to have to keep those in the back pocket.  Yesterday as well was really nice.  I taught the Young Women's lesson and came home to find some company at the house.  My sister and brother in-law had made a lovely dinner and we all ate, relaxed and just enjoyed the day.

I don't really have an Irish quirk this week, but more of an observation.  I recently checked out the book Eat, Pray, Love from the library.  Yes, I now have a library card here.  I think that makes the move really official.  It's been a really great read, I was inspired to pick it up by my girl who is currently teaching English in Bali.  She is fabulous.  Anyway, even if you've seen the movie you'll remember when she is in Italy and they're talking about when a city has a word.  It's the thing that everyone seems to always be thinking, the word of the street that singularly defines the city.  Of course they go on to say that Rome's word is SEX while New York City is ACHIEVE.  I looked out the window and tried to think what the word on the street in Limerick is.  I'm sure others would contest me on this point, but I have to say that Limerick's word is HOPE.  Limerick was hit really hard by the recession, boasting one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.  And yet the people here seem to hope for everything.  I hope I find a job, I hope the rain clears, I hope Ireland qualifies for the World Cup (in that case I think their word might be DELUSIONAL). 

What is the word on the street in your city? Post your city and your word here.  Doesn't matter if someone else has already posted for that city.  I'm excited to see what you all come up with.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Of course it's green in Oz

And here's the news from the island:

Maybell is now known to be afraid of dogs, cats, cows and apparently donkeys.  Learned this on a recent walk.
General Conference weekend, awesome.  Obviously the time change makes watching the sessions at the chapel at the exact times difficult.  Saturday they showed the Relief Society broadcast in the afternoon and the Saturday morning session in the evening.  Sunday morning was the priesthood session, 1pm was the Saturday afternoon session, followed by the Sunday morning session at 5pm and the Sunday afternoon session at 9pm.  We didn't go to the Sunday afternoon session at the church but it still made for a marathon day, especially for the Scarecrow.  It was really amazing, especially the Sunday morning session.  For those unaware, General Conference is the major conference held twice a year in Salt Lake City, UT.  The president and other general authorities of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, address the world on topics that are important and relevant to our time.  Things like dealing with adversity, family relations, all kinds of things.  Here's the link to watch the broadcasts if anyone is interested:

182nd Semiannual General Conference


Elsewhere in the news, Scarecrow, Toto and I are all trying to be more active.  I was really proud of Scarecrow last week.  He plays soccer off and on with some fellas but he's been "off" for quite a while now.  So he's going to start playing with these guys again on Wednesdays while Toto and I are at the church for Young Women.  As for me, I'm trying to get back into yoga.  I was practising earlier and realized how COMPLETELY out of shape I am now.  Downward dog is always uncomfortable at first.  When I first started really seriously with yoga I finally got to the point where it was what it was supposed to be, relaxing.  Let's just say that today downward dog was more like face planting chihuahua.  So thank you, Yoga Download, you and I are going to be good friends after all is said and done.





 And now, we come to the portion of our program where we highlight those pleasant little oddities of Oz.

Many of you who know me know that I'm a bit of eco-geek.  In a lot of ways, Ireland is ahead of the States when it comes to cutting down on waste, saving energy, etc.  And so, here are a few of my favorite GREEN things about the island that has 40 shades of green:


  • If you want a plastic grocery bag, you have to pay for it.  Check out this NY Times article on it Bagging It.  It's not a lot, 5 or 10 cent 22 cent (shows how often I pay for a bag!), but it's enough to make you stop and think.  Even better, it's enough to make you think before you leave the house, "Do I have reusable bags in the boot?"

  • Alright, so I felt like a bit of a lunatic taking these next couple of pictures.  What freak goes into her bathroom and takes a picture of her shower?



The thing is, our shower is just that awesome.  It has a tankless water heater which has a lot of great perks.  A) You only heat the water you need ($$$) and B) the water is hot almost instantly which makes for a blissful shower experience.  And yes, that is nice to have.

  • This one is somewhat self explanatory.  It's becoming more popular even in the States.  You too can have a little more control over your water consumption.  So one dot is for, ahem, "One" and two dots are for, well, "Two".  The waterways thank you for making the informed decision.


  • So this thing, while more energy efficient, is a bit annoying at times.  It's a condenser dryer and doesn't need a vent, meaning it can be anywhere including interior walls.  There's a water tank under it that you empty out periodically.  Hence the "condensing" bit.  If you put really damp clothes in it doesn't always dry that efficiently.  But once the clothes air dry (which is what we do) it gives them a nice fluff.  And your conscience feels good about being kinder to the environment.


And so begins another week.  Here's to bluebirds and rainbows.