Ten on Tuesday

I'm playing my favorite blogging link up with my favorite blogger Lin who is awesome and gets to drink McDonald's iced coffee whenever she wants. No, no I'm not jealous about that at all. (ok well, maybe I am.)

1. Speaking of McDonald's- I actually don't eat there...I think their food is disgusting and I'm not a fan of them as a company. BUT I do love their chocolate milkshakes in addition to their iced coffee and I'm not so high and mighty in my "values" to not give in to a thick and creamy milk shake every so often. Especially while preggers. I'm technically not meant to have any soft serve ice cream from a machine since it could have listeria but I'm pretending like milk shakes don't count. (Denial never tasted so yummy!)

2. Pretty much all ten of these things are going to be baby related. Already it seems that my brain power which was devoted to things like politics, art, business and other adult related topics (ok and lets be honest, a healthy serving of reality tv and gossiping) is becoming slowly replaced with questions like "Do babies use pillows?" and " What is this pain?" "Did I look this big yesterday?" and every time I hear a name I automatically pair it up with my last name to either make it a potential name or dismiss it. (right now the majority of names don't make it past the reject process) I can only imagine how bad this is going to get when I ACTUALLY have the child. SIGH.

3. I went to the doctor today. Here is something super frustrating about living overseas....not being able to directly access your medical records from childhood. I mean, I got copies of my records before moving to Ireland, but apparently they aren't as comprehensive or extensive as the doctors office would have. I got a card from the Maternity hospital saying that my bloods came back as type O negative, rhesus negative. But as far as I was aware I am blood type A negative. What the what? who is right?!? I tried calling my old doctors office in the states. They had no way of verifying I am who I am and wouldn't release any information to me and so the only way of resolving this mystery is getting more bloods taken. And it really hurt last time (whine whine whine!)...also I really hope I'm not O neg since that would mean I need those anti-rejection shots. Huzzah. (whine)

4. I found sour cream and onion Taytos today...they are special edition or something but that doesn't matter...totally made my day haha. That flavor is quite uncommon here...instead cheese and onion is the favorite. Now that doesn't sound like its much different but trust me it is. Way too oniony. Blech! (and for the record, the sour cream and onion taytos taste almost exactly like lays. NOM)

 

 5. We went to Dublin recently and got our baby room furniture ( I wanted to do it while I could still drive up and back to Dublin the same day without being exhausted). I love Ikea but NEVER AGAIN on a Sunday. It was like black friday. I nearly had to beat someone with an efficient Swedish kitchen utensil.

 

I took this picture while waiting in line to check out....I was trying to show how insane the lines were....I totally failed. And also inadvertently took a picture of this guy in mid-dig. Oops. I didn't notice it at all until after I had uploaded it to facebook and everyone was commenting on it. Poor guy (bwahaha) 

6. I've started showing. I probably was before but its more obvious now. I still don't feel like I look pregnant, but that I look more like I've had wayyy too much take out. Sigh. Its happening FAST though...I took these pictures 4 days apart...FOUR DAYS. 

 

 

 07/10/12

 

And a few days later...

 

 

 07/14/12

Maybe there isn't but I feel like there is a BIG difference in just 4 days. Pants that zipped the weekend previous don't even come close to closing now! I am firmly in maternity pants now...and yes, they are as comfortable as everyone says.  

 
7. What is this Magic Mike that everyone is going on about? I haven't seen a single commercial for it...only seen people talking about it on facebook. Hate it when I'm out of the loop like that!

8. The weather has been so crap here lately! No more rain....I protest! I have given up on summer for Ireland once again. Third time unlucky! Maybe next summer....hope springs eternal?

9. I heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time today. It was pretty cool...and so weird to think that was inside of me! Kinda makes it all the more real. I want time to slow down and speed up all at the same time so I can get a 3d scan and see what this little person looks like! (and if its a boy or a girl!)

10. I haven't been blogging much lately but I plan on getting to it as soon as I'm not spending every day off running errands all day long. I'm so over due for a sitting on the couch watching bad day time tv day. Must be more lazy. My bed misses me.

An expat grumble

Here in Ireland sometimes things happen that are absolutely unacceptable and ridiculous and the worst part is that people just accept it because, well, what else are they going to do? This part of the culture DRIVES ME MAD because these are things that typically would not be allowed to happen in the States....like for instance what is going on with the banking system.

Banks here are, well, not so popular at the moment. Banks are not popular universally but I think here in Ireland there is a special kind of highway robbery that the banks here get away with well, because "no one else is doing anything so why should I" kind of attitudes that exist here. The government fees and levy's on each account are insane as are the amount of money you need to keep in your account to avoid such fees (like the Bank of Ireland, I was told the amount I need to keep in my account to avoid charges was 1,400 Euros...seriously who in these days has that kind of money to keep lying around in their checking account?!? Not I friends, not I.)

Anyways, The bank I am with (Ulster Bank is the bank in reference...I am all for calling them out!!)  has been having a few issues...and by a few issues I'm talking about the total and complete collapse of their systems. They are having "technical issues" which mean that NO ONE is getting their money into their accounts, Their direct debits aren't being paid and basically your SCREWED. This started about 2 weeks ago and I figured that no bank would seriously let an issue that big extend beyond a day or two, at most a week. And since I only get paid once a month (Seriously. It blows the big one.) I wasn't worried about not getting my pay in my account.

 This means "Show me the money" in Irish

Well I haven't been paid. And I've been waiting close to a week now. Its been over TWO weeks and they still have nothing fixed! Last Friday we were told it would be fixed by Monday, over the weekend we were told it would be fixed by the middle of this week. This morning I heard on the radio it is not expected to be resolved by the end of this week. HOW FRUSTRATING. I know banks are having issues, but this is beyond ridiculous! And no offense to any Irish person reading this blog, but I know that it wouldn't fly in the States. Something would have certainly been resolved by now, maybe another bank stepping in or something, but it wouldn't have gone on two weeks extending into three! The banks have a bad enough reputation over here without a total and complete failure of its entire consumer base. And for some reason, we as a collective community are bending over and "taking it". There is nothing that anyone can do and it personally makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes!  This is the flip side of the laid back Irish cultural attitude which is so prevalent here. There are some great things to being to easy going and laid back (like getting pulled over by a Guarda and him giving you a wink and a smile instead of a ticket) and some things that for me, as a type-a American can make me feel enraged (and give the rest of the country something to complain about other than the weather)

Fingers crossed that our money (since James and I are both Ulster bank....how lovely!! That will be changing as soon as possible!) will appear in our accounts soon. I'll end my expat rant now...once I get myself started it can be hard to stop myself!