December 14
Mike and I arrived back to Cork safe and sound. No issues on
the plane which was great because we kind of had to hit the ground running in
order to get everything done today. So first stop was my old office to
see if I could get the power cord that I couldn't get on the way out of
town...of course it wasn't at the front desk when I got there and we were
parked illegally so I couldn't really wait for to find it...I'll do it
later. Next we were supposed to meet the realtor to do a quick walk through
of the house but we got off of the plane to late and I wanted to go by work so
we pushed that to later so instead we just went to surprise Shaun at
school. He was so shocked to see us it was nice! We got the biggest
bear hug ever...there is nothing like those first 5min of being reunited after
being away for a few days...after the 5 min the novelty of it all wears off of
the kids! Nice part was that we got to spend a little time with Shaun
although I didn't really spend time with him. I was to busy trying to
write my previous and there was nothing that was going to get in my
way!!! Since I didn't have my phone or my photos (which was the most
important part) I couldn't really write it. Although I could have put
down the stuff we were doing and inserted the pictures later that is just not
my style. Anyway, I had to spend the next few hours up my memories...it
was harder than it should have been but I guess that is due to all of the
drinking!!!! Somewhere in the mist of this Lino made it home and
was happy to see us. We got the update from him about school and some of
the stuff that we had heard and his story was basically that he was only a
little bad or that that the kids were bothering him and he gets so angry he
can't help his self. I do believe that because he is just like his
father. We had to save the rest of that conversation for another time
because he was to happy to see us and it was way after the fact and who knows
who is telling the truth (or what the real story is) and more importantly Mike
assessed that the computer was dead. My heart almost dropped out of my
body I was so upset...mad. Of course I had to tell Mike that if he would
have backed up the computer more regularly we would have been ok but it really
wasn't his fault...I was just upset that it was dead. So our options were
to either spend e500 to recovery the information on the disk or toss it...we
were both very close to option 1 but after a little brain power I remembered
that I had backed up my pictures to the cloud...that only happen very
recently. I only did that because I had a ton on my phone the last time
and didn't have time to back them all up on the computer so I said I would give
the cloud a try...man did that pay off!!! I had all my pictures on the
cloud so the last few months that we would have lost were saved! Mike
didn't delete any of his pictures from his phone so we were actually
good. I know that we had other stuff on the computer but the most
important thing for us is pictures...we really don't use it for much
else. So we were very lucky and Mike proceeded to destroy the hard
drive...I'm not sure if the method that he used was the best but I guess it got
the job done...it also gave me extra time to work on the blog. Then we
met with the realtor and got ourselves prepared for the move out check
list...tons to do plus we had to start organizing the house into all the
different categories like: Singapore, Texas, Donation and Trash. We ended
up with more variants of this in the end but those were the main
categories. So we did a little bit of that in our room but didn't have
much time before it was time to head out for our going away get together.
When we finally realized the time we were frantically trying to reach mom to
see if she had heard from the babysitter because I didn't have her number
otherwise. And since this time we were all going out we needed a
sitter. We were in a panic and of course mom wasn't answering but
thankfully at 5pm the sitter arrived! So that meant it was time for me to
get ready to go!!! I had to do a very quick change but thankfully I had
showedred earlier so it was easy enough. Michelle was there soon after and
we headed out. It was freaking freezing and Mike & I were both tired
but w were looking forward to it but in the end it was a complete bust!!!
Only 2 of my friends and 2 of Mikes co-workers showed up so it was a very small
crowd. I had to laugh because we were going back and forth about this
party for a while because we didn't want to spend to much but we wanted to do
something easy too. And since we were not sure how many people would come
because it was like only 10 days before Christmas it was almost impossible to
budget...in the end I was right which was no surprise to me. Cesar on the
other hand had a bunch of friends show up so at least we were not there sitting
alone all night. And even though there were only a few that showed up we
stayed almost all night until they closed! We enjoyed ourselves either
way so it really didn't matter much. We got home before expected so I am
sure the sitter was happy about that. The house smelled like burnt
something so I am guessing the boys had a good time. I didn't get any
call from her so they didn't drive her away either...all in all a good going
away.
December 15th
Happy Birthday MOM!!!!
So even though we didn't stay out too late I was still really
tired but not tired enough to sleep because I was up at like 6am typing up my
blog...I had to finish!!!! Of course I have crazy physco behaviors but
that is just me...Mike on the other hand is pretty predictable and I knew that
he would be super jet lagged which he was so I didn't think he was even going
to see us off. So after my blogging session I got breakfast ready for the
boys and before we headed out Mike joined us for the school drop offs.
Then it was back to sorting our crap before the movers got there on
Sunday! We actually did quite a bit but I of course didn't want to stop
but we had my Aspira Christmas party to go to so had to stop eventually.
I was impressed with Mike again because he stuck it out even longer than he
would normally and I think we got through almost 85% of our stuff which was
good. We still had another day to get organized but didn't want to leave
to much to do just in case. So eventually Mike dragged me away from my
psychotic obsession and we got ready to go to the boys last soccer
practice. It was freaking COLD out there...like ICE!!!!!! I was
frozen and I had no idea how the boys were dealing with the cold...I guess the
running around helped. I tried to stick it out but I only lasted about
1/2 the practice then I retreated into the car where I had the heat
blasting...I will not miss this cold weather that is for sure. Mom
had made it to Dublin but had an issue with bags so didn’t make the bus until
later so it worked out that we were able to pick her up from Cork after the
boys practice. She apparently had a great time in
Portugal. She was so excited to tell us all about her
travels. I am impressed with her adverntuous nature…I just wish she
would not require me to do so much of the planning. I guess she
doesn’t actually require me to plan but I don’t want her to be there stuck in
the middle of nowhere so I have to make sure she is OK…I know she will be OK because
that is the way she raised us but for some reason I am very protective of her
when she is with me. It doesn’t always seem that way because she
drives me bat shit crazy too but I think that is only because I love her too
much to see her not ok…anyway…she had a great birthday trip to Lisbon which was
great. That means she is ready to babysit for us
now! Next it was time to get ready for my Aspira Christmas party… I
was tired and Mike was tired...he even napped on the couch before we left. We
hitched a ride with Cesar and his ‘girlfriend’ to the city and met up with the
Aspira crowd at the Oyster Tavern. Aspira is an interesting company
because it basically contracts out most of the employees so you don’t actually
get to see how big it is. So this year we had a drink and nibble
party and it was nice to be able to get around to everyone and chat and catch
up. There were no special speeches but I did get a lot of hugs and a
few gifts for goodbyes. Pat even solicited the help of one of the
employees to do up a really cool water colored picture of me…so
thoughtful. Anyway, what was initially thought to be a short evening
turn out to be a very long night and early morning!!! While there, I
had to fuss at one of my co-workers because he was supposed to be helping me
coordinate the 12 pubs of Christmas tour for the next night. To me
that means that he was going to have a schedule and plan all organized but he
was too cool for that. We both work in PMO and are supposed to be
these amazing planners but the reality is when it comes to personal lives we
usually are a lot more relaxed. Anyway I gave him a big talking to
and I don’t think he really cared…he knows that I am all bark and no bite so it
wasn’t a big deal to him. Lets see what happens tomorrow…maybe I
will have to wing this 12 pubs thing on my own. So Mike headed out
about ½ way through because he just was to tired but of course after I got
going I just couldn’t stop so I was out pretty late. When we were
finally done and some of the other people were heading to the afters gathering
I had to call it quits. By this point my feet were so numb from my
shoes I was almost in tears. I was actually a little upset
because I had on my most comfortable heels but they were not even close to
comfortable at that point. So Mary, Orla and I headed out to find a
cab…we had to put the mammy of the group in the cab first then Orla & I
walked what seemed like 3 miles to find a cab. Of course I couldn’t
do it in my heels so after about 2min of walking the heels came off and I was
walking bare foot down the streets of Cork. Thank God it was pretty
clean at that point or God was just watching out for me because I didn’t set in
any puke or glass!!! Eventually we found a cab for me but in the
process I got to chat more with Orla about my time in Ireland and working with
her. She is good people and I hope for the best for her. Oh, yeah,
the cab situation in Cork is a nightmare! During this time of year
when every company or group are getting together in the city for Christmas
parties it is basically impossible to get a cab unless you schedule it
first. I know this and still do not plan for it properly so I suffer
for it instead…and this time I suffered big time. What can you
do…eventually I made it home but it must have been close to 3am at that point.
December 16th
Hangover city!!! Well not really a hangover as much as
just over exhaustion. I was so wiped out at this point I couldn’t
really believe that I was out so late. I just wanted to sleep and I
actually couldn’t! So even though I was pretty much dead to the
world I was up when the boys got up (but I didn’t move from the bed) so Mike
got up with the boys and let me rest. I didn’t get to see Lino at
his last rugby practice but I’ve been to so many I think I get the
point. Instead I took a nice long shower and tried to will away the
tiredness and alcohol…I think it actually worked. I even thought I
felt good enough to drive myself to the store to get ready for Lino’s play
date!!! But I didn’t!!! I knew better than to drive…even
though I was feeling good I knew it was just adrenalin. So instead I
did a little more packing and organizing and sent the shopping list to Mike to
get. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Lino and his 4 friends
running around the house screaming and playing like little
terrors!!! It was great! That was one of the things that
Lino asked for when we told him we were moving so I wanted to make sure it
happened. Even though only 4 of his friends made it over I think he
was pretty excited about it anyway. The friends that he wanted to
come were Paddy, Jamie V, Killian, Cathal, Patrick and Nedus (I don’t want to
forget his top 6). So the boys tried to kill each other and ate
about 4 big bags of jellies (the normal Irish kids party) and they were
dripping in sweat at the end of the 3hrs! I think it was a success
and Lino was so excited to have them over. Him and Paddy have been
friends since we moved here. I think Paddy was his 2nd friend
here (the first friend was Sasha from France) so they have a long history
together. It was so funny when Paddy arrived Lino dropped everything
that he was doing and went to make a plan with him. Mom went to go
check on them because the other boys were in another room and when she found
them they were in Lino’s room. Lino said they needed some “privacy
talks” then he closed the door! Those 2 are so much trouble
together…they are too cute! Lino loves Paddy to death it is
crazy. Eventually we were able to convince them to join the rest of
the boys and I had to remind Lino that it wasn’t nice to only play with one of
his friends when he asked them all to come over…so to be fair he did a pretty
good job of trying to include all of the boys the rest of the
afternoon. Oh, him & Paddy came up with this game to make sure
everyone was involved…they made a ticket which was entry into Lino’s room and
they made the other boys race down stairs and back up again and who ever got
back first won the ticket into the room! It was a very clever game
and they even gave the smaller kids (Shaun and Tadgh) a head start so that it
was more fair. I was impressed! Of course not everyone
liked the game or the rules so there were a few tears here and there but I
stayed out of it for the most part. The only time I stepped in was
when I could hear someone not being fair or when one of the boys belted out a
mouth full of swear words!!!! I think they forgot that I was
there…and I enjoyed it too. I feel like I got a small glimpse into
their crazy world…thank the good lord that it was only a glimpse because it is
a rough crazy world! All in all it was a good afternoon and I was
very happy when the last boy left. Oh, I almost forgot one of the
boys snuck out of the house with about 20 cars in his hoodie. I
think he thought that I didn’t notice but I did. I wasn’t sure how
to deal with it at first but I decided I didn’t actually care. I
don’t know if Lino/Shaun told him he could have some or if he just took
them. I do know that Lino use to get toys off of him all the time
from school and Lino said they were ‘trading’ but Lino would only have small
cars and would give him 1 small car for a huge toy of some
sort. Once he even got a fidget spinner off of him. I
wasn’t sure of the deals that were going down in the school playground but I
did have a talk with Lino about it and told him that he needs to make sure that
the trading was fare because it wouldn’t be nice if someone trading him for
something that wasn’t even. After that Lino brought money in to
school one day to pay for one of the toys that he wanted from the other
boy. I couldn’t say no because I had told him to make sure it was
fare…he did listen I guess. It was funny. Anyway, all
that to say that there have been so shady deals with this kid before so it was
probably fair enough. Then I also thought 1) we are leaving so no
reason to get upset because we won’t see him again and 2) he is taking some of
the hot wheels so we won’t have to take them with us which was a
bonus!! So all the kids left and Mike had been sleeping for a while
at this point so I decided to join him for a quick nap before our night
out…again! So even thought I was so exhausted I couldn’t barely hold
my eyes open I couldn’t go to sleep for my life!!!! I basically laid
there for 1.5hrs and didn’t sleep…I might have dozed in and out for a few
minutes here and there but it wasn’t any real sleep! I was so
upset!!!! The whole time I was thinking about all the things that I
needed to do or should be doing or wanted to do but instead I laid there. I
am not sure if it was worth it or not…oh well. So up I went and
quickly got ready to go because Gernot & Ha Eun were picking us
up. Oh wait…12 pubs… So this was a source of great
debate! Arron actually did coordinate the 12 pubs and set up a group
for us which was great! But the problem was that I didn’t tell my
friends that it was going to be a big thing…I didn’t think it was
either. The other problem is that whenever I drink I always invite
people over for parties so that probably happened too. So what was
initially supposed to be a last night out for the 4 of us ended up being a
bigger party…well actually it didn’t but I’ll get to that later. So
the 12 pubs…these last few months I have been hearing about this Irish
tradition of 12 pubs of Christmas and I thought that it would be a great idea
to do it with my friends before we left. So I kind of turn our last
outing into a 12 pubs of Christmas tour. This tour is supposedly
supposed to consist of 12 pints of beer at 12 different pubs. During
the course of this tour you are to follow various rules that have been outlined
by the coordinator or use the standard rules as we did. I had no
idea what the rules were but I heard a lot of funny stories about different
varients of this tour. So it is kind of a pub crawl, scavenger hunt
and session all at the same time (session being a group of people out
drinking). Soooooooo…we are now linked with this group for the 12
pubs. We have been sent the rules (see below) and we are supposed to
start around 6:30pm. So our plan was to meet and have a quick bite
of food before starting the night. I had a little surprise for Ha Eun when I
saw her…I got us these cheesy Christmas T-shirts from Aldi that we were to wear
for the night. I had originally thought to get all 4 of us Christmas
jumpers (sweaters) but I couldn’t find any that I liked and they were all like
€30 each which was to much for what I wanted…anyway the shirts were
perfect. Ha Eun was exhausted too and we were convinced that after
2-3 beers she was going to pass out so I had to make sure that didn’t
happen…that is an easy mission for me! So the meet up time got
delayed so we thought that we might have time to have a quick sit down dinner
before our session started…that was so not possible! Have I complained
before about how ridiculous it is to get a table in Cork? If I
haven’t I shall now…it is absolutely ridiculous!!! We started out at
Tequilla Jacks which is the new Mexian place and it was busy but not all the
tables were full but since we didn’t have a reservation they wouldn’t seat
us…ridiculous. Next we tried our favorite place, Elbow Lane and we
already knew there was a wait there because they don’t even take
reservation…ridicoulous!!!! Gernot was determined so he even called
a couple of the burger places and they all had 30-45min waits…even more
ridiculousness. We popped into a few more places before we decided
to go to Burger King! Did I say how ridiculous the dining out
situation is in Cork? I know its because of the Christmas season but
even on a random Friday or Saturday night if you don’t have a reservation you
are pretty much screwed and not in a good way! So BK it was… and oh
was it good!!!!! I love these 2, they can have the classiest meals
one day and BK the next and be just as happy. You do not find many
people like that…that is what makes them so special to us. We just
wanted to be out together and it didn’t matter where we ate. We
enjoyed our Whoppers and they were delicious …and the perfect base for our
night out! So since we had a quick dinner we were ready before the
rest of the group so we started our 12 pubs tour! I forgot to mention that in the mist of our
night out I finally posted the red car up on done deal to sell…lets see if we
get any hits!
1) Drink with bad hand
2) Use a different accent to your own
3) The parner - your buddy has to feed you your drink
4) No phone
5) No swearing
6) No pointing
7) Selfie with a stranger
8) Pint of water
9) Get fed your pint
10) Call the barman Guiness eg 'Can I have a pint of Heineken
please Guinness'
11) Hug a stranger
12) If you need a rule for last pub you haven't played the game
right.
December 17th-19th - Packing Time!!!!!!
After all the anticipating the time has come...the packing has
started. We have been through this before so we had quite a bit of stuff
tagged and ordered so we thought we were ready to go. The first few
hours were a blur…between the movers asking us what was going East and what was
going West and us packing at the same it was a mess. We originally thought to have them save the
beds until the last day but we decided that it was better to just let them go
for it so that we could get it done. The
requested to start packing on Sunday so we anticipated 3 days of packing which
didn’t seem right because when we left Texas it only took them 2 days and we
had a lot more stuff…maybe it was more complicated because of the 2 different
shipment…idk. Either way it was a long
day. I had told mom to go to the 12pm
church service because that is what we had agreed with Gernot but it turned out
that they went to the early service.
After we got into all the packing we just said skip church because there
was just too much going on. So Ha Eun
& Gernot picked up some KFC for us after church and brought it over to the
house. 2 days in a row that Ha Eun is
eating fast food…I think that is more than she has had in the past 10 years
combined! So the kids got to have one
last play date which was nice and we got to reminisce about our night out. Everyone was tired but it was very nice of
them to stop in and bring food. Poor Gernot
was ready to go soon after but he stuck it out for us for a while so the kids
could have more time together. Another
goodbye…these kids spent a lot of time together so it will be hard. Ha Eun was telling me about how the kids
associate BBQ with us. So every time
they talk about BBQing Hanno gets excited because he says they can invite all
of us over (he invites us all by name).
I don’t think Hanno and Shaun will be impacted as much as Hami &
Lino but everyone will remember the other one…at least for a while. So this to must end and our friends headed
out…this will only be a see you later because there is no way we will not meet
again. I could barely look at Ha Eun
without snotting up and my eyes filling with tears. Even as I type the keyboard is damp with
tears. What great people and great
memories…we are so blessed to have such great friends. It is very hard to find a couple that matches
so well and the kids get along so well too…so lucky. We will miss this gang for sure.
The rest of the afternoon was all the same and the guys were
really making a dent in the packing so we decided to get a room. That means we will done on Monday for sure so
we can start the clean up sooner. At one
point I was in a panic because I realized that I still had the boys school
clothes in the drawers but the guys had emptied the clothes into the boxes
already so I had to be a bit of a pain and ask to go through a box to pull out
school clothes. Thankfully they didn’t
have their box of clothes taped up yet so I only had to go through one box and
he had to open one box with their bedding so that I could find something
else. I couldn’t find Lino’s red school
shirt but he had his other one so I just went with that…everyone at school
knows that we are packing so they shouldn’t give us any problem. Once they were all done we got our stuff to
the hotel and I headed over to Michelle’s for a drink…but I was to tired of
drinking so it was just for chats. It is
always good to chat with Michelle, she has such a good heart and is so
entertaining. It was nice to just relax
and not worry about the crap that I had packed or not packed. Even though I was thinking about everything
that needed to be done I was also very relaxed and happy to not be doing
everything that needed to be done. I
know this will not be the last time I see Michelle so there is no need to think
about the goodbye that must happen…even still I was crying in the car ride to
the hotel…man these people have made such an impact on our lives it is
incredible. I will miss them so
much!!!! Michelle also got us a really thoughtful gift that says in Irish 'You will always have a home in Ireland'.
Monday was very interesting…we had to get ready at the hotel but
then go over to the house to make some sort of breakfast. Why do we have to be so complicated??? Mainly the reason is that I hate to waste food
but there must be something else there too.
Either way we had to go back to eat some of the food that we still had
in the fridge. I got up early because of
course I couldn’t sleep so I started to clean up a bit and get organized and
then tried to find cups or bowls or any sort of utensil to use for breakfast…I
finally found a cup and some plastic spoons so I was sorted. Poor Mike was exhausted too because I woke
him up at like 5:45 with my tossing and turning and he tried to go back to
sleep but by the time I decided to give up and go to the house he was stuck in
the hotel…sorry. So I had to clean out
the cars quickly because we had people looking at both…whoppie!!!! Maybe we will get them sold before we
leave. Next to drop the boys off…we
could have kept them out but it would have been more complicated for all of us
so they went to school which was good.
And the packing continued…the guys were sure that they would have
everything packed and loaded by the evening which was good. Shaun had his last birthday party later that
afternoon and Lino ended up going with him because we only had one car. I had dropped the small car off to my
mechanic to have someone look at it and the guy who looked at the red car in the
morning was interested but we also had about 5 calls from people off of done
deal who were interested as well. The
funny thing is that we had to pack up all of our food (because we couldn’t take
any food at all with us) and we had 6 huge boxes of crap to give away and the
relocation people were helping us to do something with it so they sent a guy to
pick it up and to look at the car. We
couldn’t tell if he was really interested or not but Mike was really trying to
get the car sold. He was making such a
deal out of it I couldn’t believe the guy left without taking the car! Mike basically was giving the car away…too
funny. When I tried to sell it for cheap
he wasn’t having it but I think that is because he didn’t feel the pressure of
limited time but now he was. Anyway that
guy called us back and was interested but he wasn’t able to make an offer or
provide any money for a few days. So in
the mean time we had a few other views set up…one was after Shaun’s birthday
party! I got a surprise visit from
Lorraine and she dropped in to say goodbye and to bring a little gift for the
boys which was nice. I met Lorraine at
Cuidiu and she has always been a good friend.
It was very thoughtful of her to come by… even though she was loading me
with more crap!!!! Hahaha…I can’t
complain to much. So the plan was to
drop the boys and mom off at the party and we were going to go to the city to
get tattoos as a homage to our time in Ireland but the guy who wanted to see
the car sounded very serious and he had cash in hand so we had to make a plan
for that. My brain was not prepared for
that and neither was my patience so Mike took care of coordinating all of that
and the taxi and stuff. What we didn’t
coordinate properly was the timing of the train…so after I dropped off the
boys & mom at the party and one of
the movers to our storage unit went back to get Mike and finish up with the
movers. They were having a hell of a
time getting down the head board from our bed.
It wasn’t funny…that thing is massive and not meant for an Irish
house. They were working on it for over
1hr and finally when I got back they figured it out. After all the different methods they went
back to the first way they started and it worked…it was crazy. They could have had it down after about 15
min (they needed to unwrap it and turn it a special way) but eventually they
figured it out. So we sorted them out
and headed out to drop the car off and race to the train station. Why do we make everything so complicated???? We made it there and checked the board and it
looked like we were just in time for the train!!! But after the train came on the opposite side
(going to Midleton and not going to Cork) we realized we had the wrong schedule
and our train wasn’t coming for another 30min!
That was going to make us super late for our appointment so we had to
make another adjustment. So Mike went on
and I went back to the party to chat with the other moms and be there to talk
about the car with the guy. It was nice
to chat with the moms from Shaun’s school but after telling our story about 3x
I was so tired. After that the guy came
to check out the car and after trying to haggle me down another €100 but I
didn’t allow it…he bought the car!!!! So
we are 1 car down and 1 to go! I had a
taxi pick me up and take me to the airport and the guy who bought the car was
nice enough to take mom & the boys to the hotel so that they wouldn’t have
to get a taxi too. I got the rental car
and all was good. We got our tattoos and
mom got the boys to the train station and to Son of a Bun so that we could meet
up with Miguel for a last dinner. It was
nice to catch up with Miguel and the boys love to abuse him…I think that is the
way they show their love for him. It was
funny because they kept calling him Cesar which is ironic because when Cesar
started they kept calling him Miguel.
Funny how quickly things change…but even though they had the name mixed
up they knew the difference between the two.
Shaun loves to mess with Miguel’s Adams apple because he just thinks its
so cool or strange and Lino loves to be a pain.
It was like old times. When we
were finished Shaun was begging for Miguel to come with us so that made it
hard…so Miguel walked us to our car and we had one last teary goodbye. The boys were not sad like we are but you can
tell they will miss him. The goodbyes
are very quick and they move on to the next thing very quickly but later they
always ask if they will see that person again.
Poor Miguel was just as emotional as I was so it wasn’t good…I could
barely keep myself together but I knew if I let go it wasn’t going to stop so I
had to be strong. He was so good to us
and the boys we will definitely miss him but we told him over and over again
that there is no way that is the last time he will see us so again this is not
goodbye but see you later. Since we had
to do a lot of juking and jiving Mike & I had to go back to the house to
get things in order. So we dropped off
the boys and mom and went back to the house to clean up for a few hours. Mike was not feeling it at all but I think I
needed it. There are so many emotions
going through your body during this time and even as an adult it is hard to
understand them all. But for some reason
cleaning felt good so that is what I did.
Eventually Mike as able to nail down how much cleaning was acceptable
and when we reached that limit we left for the night. By the time we got the hotel and showered up
it was midnight…what a long yet productive and exhausting day.
Tuesday was all cleaning!!!
The boys were having their going away parties at school and I had
planned to make cupcakes for them but after they packed up all of the kitchen
on Sunday I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Luckily I had made a batch of my famous chocolate cupcakes a few weeks
ago and I had those frozen in the freezer ready to go so I only had to
supplement a little bit with a few aldi cakes.
I was going to frost them to try and make them a little nicer but even
decided against that too. I was really
going for the easy route but I think it was the right choice. The kids really don’t care about all that
fancy stuff anyway, they would just be happy to have some cake and probably
would only eat a bite or 2 anyway before moving on to other things so why waste
my time and mind space on it. So I
didn’t. I took the boys to school and
for some reason the emotions hit me before I could even get into the drive of
Shaun’s school. I could feel myself
getting choked up and I was not prepared at all. I dropped Shaun off and had a quick chat with
Joan and Olive and I could barely breath from being so choked up…I was a
complete mess!!!! The boys have been
going to Joan’s school since we arrived and she has been so amazing to them it
will be hard to go. I know that if we
stayed in Ireland May would have been the end of Shaun’s time there but it just
seems so much more final now. Of course
Joan and Olive were so supportive and understanding…that made it even
worse! Somehow I picked up a few pieces
of strength and I managed to get to the car without completely collapsing. The drive to Lino’s school was full of tears
as well. He didn’t notice it at all and
after I dropped off the cupcakes to his class I went to talk to the teachers
aid and ask her to take a picture of the class for me please and all that stuff
and I started balling again…what the fuck!!!!
Seriously, his teacher has been all over Lino these last couple of
months and now I am all teary eyed about the last day. What the hell is going on with all my
emotions…my fucking period!!! Damn
Eve!!!!!!!!!! I'm not even sppose to be on my period for another freaking 4 days so what the hell is up with this??? Some sick joke apparently...ugh (if that is TMI for you then you don't know me very well). Well if its going to be
like that I mine as well embraces it. I
tried to get my mind off of the fact that this was the last full day in Ireland
but my body language didn’t gave away my mood regardless. There were a few things that needed to be
done so I loaded up the car with stuff to go to charity or dump and headed
out. Lorraine had told me about a dump near me so I
tried and eventually found it. It was
pretty cheap like she said and they took all the stuff that I had in the car so
it made things a lot easier. After that
was to the old office to finally pick up my laptop charger then to see Liam to
see about the car. He wasn’t able to
sell it so we would have to come back to get it later and figure out a plan for
it. Since I was in Glanmire I stopped by
our favorite locale coffee shop and got us all coffees. We had a lot to do and not so much to
do…tried to clean and fix a few things.
Tried to throw out stuff and donate stuff…all the stuff you have to do
when moving. Mike went to run a few
errands and they left me at the house because I was in such a fowl mood. Once I realized that I was going to miss
Shaun’s last day of school I got super sad but there wasn’t much I could do
about it. It was mom picking up Shaun
from school and she didn’t have a way to be contacted so I wasn’t able to get a
last day of school picture…I was upset about that naturally so I cried
again! I made the same mistake with Lino
because of my mood too…it was probably for the best that I didn’t do the pick-ups
and I think that subconsciously I was
avoiding it for that exact reason.
Instead I was cleaning!!!! Not
sure how effective I was but I did something and Mike did a lot of other
stuff…together I think we did all that needed to be done. So the house was cleaned and our relocation
lady came to do the walk through with us because the landlord couldn’t do
it. We are a little worried about how
the walk through will go with him because apparently he isn’t the most
reasonable person ever. He made us get
the windows cleaned inside and out and a bunch of other stuff which most
landlords don’t ask you to do…oh well.
So that is the end of our time in the Glenmore house…it was a quick
stay! The relocation lady took away all
the charity boxes that we had so we didn’t have to be bothered with that and
there were a few other things that needed to be taken care of and she did that
as well so that was very nice.
After she left I raced to Glanmire with the boys and mom to meet
Matha and Michelle for one last cuppa!!!!
We met up at Café Beva because it was the place where it all began. This is where I met my first
friend…Martha. Its funny because we
absolutely hate this place because the guy that owns or manages it is such an
ass and is never nice to us so we never go there. It is a shame because he could have more
business but most of the people that we know don’t go there for that exact
reason. Anyway we had a nice catch up
and I was able to sneak a picture of Shaun & Freya together even though
Freya didn’t want her picture taken.
These guys are so special to me I can’t believe that I was lucky enough
to have them in my life. Martha is a
crazy Irish lady who has a heart a big as earth and Michelle is the same. Patrick and Tadgh were the first kids that
Shaun & Lino played with really when we first moved here. There are just so many first and last
memories with them. Poor Patrick was
very sad about Lino leaving…he wasn’t crying but you could tell that he wasn’t
happy. Lino & Patrick have been best
buds for a long time…it is hard for all of us.
So again…more tears and more hugs.
Martha wouldn’t even leave before us because they wanted to wave goodbye
to us! So sweet…of course Lino &
Shaun do not seem as sad but I think they just express their emotions
differently. It is unfortunate for them
that their mother has a hard time expressing her emotions so they start out at
a disadvantage. After that we headed
over to Michelle’s to wait for Mike to pick us up. Michelle is such an amazing friend she was
willing to look out for the car for us until it sells. We dropped the price a bunch in order to make
sure it sells right away so hopefully it won’t be to much work for her. The last for minutes with Michelle were really
really hard and I am having a hard time even expressing my emotions for her
now. She is such a strong woman but at
the same time so vulnerable. We made
such a good pair because she would always smack me back into place when I was
lost and I was always there to smack her about her crazy emotions about not
being a good mother which she is an amazing mother. I think it is important to have these anchor
of friends in your life or else you are out in an ocean called life with no way
to know where you are going or where you have come from. Michelle is a constant reminder for me and I
am very thankful for that. I know she
will miss me but I know that she will make other friends and will be fine. There is not many people that come across her
that are not instantly drawn to her. So
just again…not a goodbye but see you later.
I told her I would come back for her wedding so maybe finally her and
Dee will stop procrastinating and do the damn thing!!!!! I can’t wait to be there for their
marriage. So either it will be that or
something else but I will be back. And
as Martha says I’ll be back regardless and she thinks I’ll be back to live…lets
see what happens because I am not sure about that. But for now…until next time Michelle &
Martha!
So for our last meal in Cork we went to Amicus because it has the
best Seafood Chowder we have had! We had
a pretty quite dinner but it was good. I
had to have a Murphy’s since this is the only place I will be able to get it. While at dinner I had the boys do a little
video about there last days at school.
Lino’s was filled with parting which is great and I asked him if Ms
O’Driscal was sad or happy that it was his last day and he said she was sad…I
was shocked! Shaun was just worried
about missing his girlfriend Wendy…did I mention that he got a nice Christmas
gift from Wendy!!! She will miss him
too! Those too are so cute
together. I know that they are to young
to remember all the details but we remember it.
And with that…it is time to say goodbye to Ireland. Mom got up early and took the aircoach to
Dublin and after breakfast I had to have one last kiss from my girl Ha Eun
before we headed to the airport. Ireland
has been so good to us there is no words that will ever be able to encapsulate
the feelings. Shaun had all of his first
here and as a family we have had so many first as well. This was our first country to live in
overseas, our first countryside home, our first time having an aupair, our first time going to Europe together as a family,
first time for so many other things. The
friends and memories that we have made here are one of a kind. There are no people in the world like Cork
people…that I believe with the bottom of my heart. And the people who are not Cork people but
live here are also included in that group.
There are so many memories here that we must come back!!!! But for now it is time to say goodbye Ireland
but we will see you later!
Our life for the next 2 months in suit cases...and the boys needed so many cars that they needed a carseat!
School pictures and going away card fro the boys.
The boys before the flight to NYWe couldn't even get a last picture of Ireland because it was so foggy!!! We will miss you Ireland!!!!
I can't believe how busy you always are! It's insane!
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