-
Recent Posts
Search This Site!
Blog Topics
Tag Archives: Moving
I Thought I was Ready for Christmas, but . . .
I love Thanksgiving and I love Christmas, but I’ve never rushed to put up Christmas decorations Thanksgiving weekend. In fact, I usually start with just Christmas music for a week and THEN decorate. And the tree goes up about a week later. The week of music was on purpose, and the week of decorating was just me dragging things out. But I thought this time would be different. We moved back from Ireland last November and spent a couple months in a temporary apartment. The only Christmas decorations I had were a few small items we included in the small air shipment. Everything else was coming by slow boat, or was left here in storage in the first place. So this year, eager-me wanted to bring the Christmas boxes down two weeks ago. We visited out-of-state family on Friday, so Saturday my ever-willing husband and son made multiple trips from … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays
Tagged Amy Grant, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Music, Jennifer Jensen, Moving, Thanksgiving
2 Comments
A House in Ireland
We have a house and a moving date! The house is brand new, actually not even finished yet, but it will be by the time we get there. Or at least by the time all our stuff gets there. It’s about 5 miles NW of Kinsale, which puts us definitely out in the country. It’s about two miles from Blaik’s work in Dunderrow (dun-DARE-oh), and he’ll walk back and forth each day. The house is big–5 bedrooms! Small master bedroom for us, two smallish downstairs bedrooms that will be my office and an exercise room, and two larger bedrooms upstairs under the eaves. Translation: TWO permanent guest rooms! Lovely large kitchen (although the small refrigerator and freezer will take some getting used to), and I think the best part is a conservatory–a sunroom to us Americans. The grass isn’t planted yet, so they’ll leave a square for a vegetable garden … Continue reading
Choosing White Paint is Not for Wimps! (and other fixing-up advice)
Choosing white paint is not for wimps! I didn’t think it would be any big deal, but it was. The off-white we used at the Lebanon house seemed fine. So I dipped a stick in it, had Home Depot do a color match, and bought 5 gallons. Along with the paint, I also picked up some other bathroom accessories. I’d been on unclutterer.com the other day and found some interesting bathroom ideas I could implement. My plan was to paint white over dark color (read more for some tips). Painted one coat in our bathroom. It was green! Was it because of the green drywall underneath? No, the second coat wasn’t any different. Dip a stick in the new paint, lay both above the edge of the shower surround. The original was a tad green, but Home Depot’s was definitely greener. If those frequent Home Depot visits tire you out, you can entrust … Continue reading
Posted in Home & Family, Misc
Tagged Home Depot, home repairs, Lowe's, Moving, paint, painting, remodeling, renovating, selling a house
1 Comment
Orientation for Ireland Move
St. Patrick’s Day (last Monday) was our orientation about the move to Ireland. Four-and-a-half hours cramming information into our heads, with two-and-a-half of it being about international taxes. What the US requires, what Ireland requires, when we don’t have to double-pay, how Lilly pays the extra to make up for Ireland being higher, and on and on. Suffice it to say that it’s complicated enough that Lilly arranges for PriceWaterhouseCooper to do our taxes for us. Good thing! Some of the rest of it was info we already knew, like the cost of living allowance and how they “gross it up” so that the money we get after taxes is what they promise (which is part of what makes taxes complicated), and they provide one car for us, trips home for us and to Ireland for the boys, they’ll buy the house if it doesn’t sell, etc. Some of the info … Continue reading
Welcome to Jennifer Jensen’s blog!
This is a big experiment for me, but one I’ve been thinking about for quite a while. I’m not sure where to start. I want to record some of what we’re experiencing right now, preparing to move from the United States to Ireland, plus some of my writing projects. Undoubtedly some family stuff will show up, too, but I don’t want to get too personal. It snowed again last night, but I hoping spring will show herself sometime soon, even if it’s just for a peek. I’m desperate to walk outside again, in between sorting out what we’re taking, what we’re storing, and what needs to go to Goodwill. Today includes wrapping up my look-ups for the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness requests, and writing two articles for Suite101, getting boxes to put books in, and possibly sorting through old videotapes. Wish me luck!