Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Flip-Flops

So I saw a picture of our neighbor (looking gorgeous!!) holding her new son and wearing flip-flops and I became insanly jealous of all of our Texas friends who can wear open-toed footwear with no fear of frostbite. I know that I will get used to the weather here so much that I will once again wear flip-flops, but that day has not yet come. Perhaps in the summer when I am hugely pregnany, hot, and swollen will I be able to once again don some thongs. . Until then, I will resist begrudging our warm Texas friends for being able to wear shoes that do not resemble galoshes at all times. . .

But on to something less psychotic-sounding. . . John and I left County Cork to head north into County Clare (yes, little Clare has a whole county named after her!) for the Shannon Airport today. Tiny, tiny airport. It's about 120K away, and it takes about 2 hours to get there. Round-trip, it's a pretty long journey. Most of it is on two-way-two-lane roads with a 100k/60MPH speed limit and you're praying that you don't get stuck behind a piece of farm equipment for too long. You'll never understand that phrase "It's not far as long as you don't get behind a tractor" until you live here for a while. Absolutely nuts!

Anyway. . . I saw John off and turned right back around toward Cork. To break up the trip, I stopped at the hugest TOURIST TRAP ever: the Blarney Woolen Mills. www.blarney.ie This place caters exclusively to tourists, and if you can't find it here, it's either not Irish or you're blind. Since everything was on the post-Christmas reduction, I picked up a few choice items. And then I was back on the road. . . made it home no problem!

So I have a pretty wild weekend planned. Going to the gym with one of the American chica's; I have a girls' night out planned. Mostly I will nap and track John's flight progress and pray that he makes his connections and gets all of the stuff done he needs for the wedding and with the dogs.

Let me share with you that it is MUCH easier to travel with children than dogs. Kids may need a lot of crap to travel with, but they do not need approval from the USDA! We found out yesterday--fortunately--that the dogs need to get in with the vet ASAP so I can get paperwork processed (with the USDA and the Irish Department of Agriculture) so they can be approved for entry before I can book our flight. I can see the dollar signs rolling by as tickets prices increase with every week we have to wait to get the flights booked. . .oh well. . .what can you do? Once we get all this paperwork turned in, then we are a few steps closer to getting them here. But there is still a lot of paperwork. Exporting dogs is all in the details, and the details are making me nuts!

But enough about that! The weather has cleared for a few minutes, and although I still am too cold to wear my flip-flops (even inside--just way too cold), I'd better go soak up these few minutes of sun!!!

Wear those flip-flops with a sense of accomplishment, people!!!