Merry Christmas!

The whole family is coming over for Christmas dinner tonight, so I'll be posting on that later, But I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, and just incase anyone has any last minute gift wrapping you need to do (I do!) here's something to help you out!

Father's Day Post

So I'm going to get a little personal for a second...

This is my daddy..

Harold Charles Larkin. He was born in 1924, and lived a long and happy life to the age of 86. He was in World War 2, raised two families, built the house that I grew up in, and never stopped enjoying life.

When people find out how old my dad was, they're almost always surprised. Growing up, people always thought I was his granddaughter. When I was little, my dad would take me places, and people would say "oh, how cute..is this your granddaughter?" and he would always start laughing, and correct them "Nope. She's my daughter." *cue awkward glances* I didn't realize it was weird. Once the neighbor boy told everyone in school that I didn't have a father. I yelled at him for saying it, but thinking back on it, I guess it was just an honest mistake. 

Growing up with a much older father was definitely a unique experience, and while I probably missed out on certain aspects of a typical father-child relationship, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Everyone who met my daddy loved him. He was such a young soul, that you almost forgot his real age...and he seriously knew everyone. We couldn't go anywhere without him running into someone he knew.

I'm an old soul, and for that I blame him. We used to listen to old records, and watch The Lawrence Welk Show. Because of him I'm familiar with old comedians like Red Skelton,  and all of Bob Hope's "Road to.." movies. Not to mention the fact that my dad's idea of a bedtime lullaby was this Irish drinking song which he would sing to me every night when I was little.

He was definitely a unique person, and I miss him more and more every day. It definitely makes me sad to think about the fact that my children will never get to meet him. But let me tell you..he was a great dad...and he raised his kids to be great people, and great parents themselves.

Me, and all my brothers

Even though I know that my brothers all miss him more than anything today, they all have reason to celebrate on this day. They're all either fathers themselves, or they will be fathers someday. Some of them are even grandfathers. So no matter what, this will be their day. As the only girl, it's hard for me to enjoy this day. I don't have my father with me anymore, nor will I ever be a father. So no matter how much I celebrate the other fathers in my life (brothers, uncles etc,) Father's Day will always be more of a burden than anything for me. 

But with that thought aside, I really do want to wish the sincerest Happy Father's Day to my brothers. They really are great dads, just like our daddy was, and they deserve to be celebrated today.

Solar Powered

Tomorrow is my last day as an insurance agent. I used up all of my left over vacation time today, and took the day off, which was really nice considering between my two jobs, I've been working 7 days a week for the past two weeks.
So I spent my day at home hanging out with my kitties, and Riley, and then in the evening my mom, brother, uncle and I met at my grandma's restaurant (The D&R Depot) for dinner. I had a lovely chicken caesar salad (I point this out because it's the ONLY healthy thing I've eaten in weeks #FitnessUpdate)
After dinner we went to a solar energy seminar which provided information on using solar panels to produce electricity in both residential and commercial settings.
It may sound boring, but I found it to be very interesting. It's something that we're looking into putting in at the Old House, so I'm trying to get as much information about it as possible.
We actually have someone coming out tomorrow to give us an assessment.


                                 Day 5: Self-Portrait

Road trip

I know I haven't posted in about a week, but there's good reason for that. I went on a road trip with my boyfriend, and one of our friends up to the mountains to visit my brother, and my cousins. (Our friend conveniently lives in that area as well) I left late afternoon on Friday, and just got back last night. It was a lot of driving, but I had fun. So as usual, let me see if I can just sum it up, as opposed to going on and on.

Friday: Drove for 6 hours. Planned on stopping half way at a Chinese restaurant that I love going to every time I'm in that area. Missed my exit. No Chinese food :(
Stayed the night at a friend's house about an hour and a half away from my cousin's so that he could spend some time with his family.

Saturday: Left my boyfriend and friend to have some guy time and enjoy their Saturday hockey game. (my boyfriend was not happy with the results of the game) Drove to my cousin's house where my brother, cousins and I went into town and enjoyed a nice pizza. Stayed the night at their house. Played cards, ate snacks, and had some good old fashioned family time.

Sunday: Drove back to my friend's house to pick the two of them up. Returned to my cousin's house to pick him up. Drove an hour to my brother's girlfriend's college. (an all girl school much to the delight of my friend.) Officially met my brother's girlfriend, and had a really lovely lunch at a tiny little diner called Manory's. If you're ever in Troy, make sure you eat there. The staff is incredibly nice, and very interactive. (plus the food is good.) All together a very enjoyable meal. We then went back to the dorm lounge and played cards. We stayed the night at my friend's grandpa's house, where we spent the whole night playing pool in his basement/man cave.

Monday: Drove home. Didn't miss my exit this time. Drove to the Chinese restaurant. Found out that it's out of business. No Chinese food :(
When we got back home though, my boyfriend took me out for Chinese at a different place. He's sweet.

So that was my weekend. I didn't take very many photos over the weekend, but here are a couple from my trip.

Mountains. Not the best photo as it was taken from my car window.

My very musical cousin playing his guitar for me

My brother's crazy cat. Her name is Demon, and her eyes always look like this.

My cousin is a Cat-whisperer.

Official Introductions

So I told you Riley's story, but other than in my first post I never mentioned my other pets. So let me start with the mama. Chloe

I know it's the same photo as before, but Chloe is not very photogenic.

Chloe was found in the city as an abandoned, (barely a year old) yet still very friendly kitty. She's a long-haired calico,  and is seriously the sweetest and most beautiful cat you'll ever see. She was found by my boyfriend's family, who unfortunately were not able to keep her. Being the sucker for sweet animals that I am, I offered to take her. She was small, and cuddly, and I could afford one cat. No problem.

What secret was Chloe keeping from us? (I'm sure you can all guess.)

She was pregnant. 

We figured it out pretty quickly, so at least we were able to prepare for it. So here are the 5 beautiful results of Chloe's one wild night in the city.

This is little lion (Officially named Rocko by his new family) He's a beautiful, long-haired white kitten who loves climbing up jackets that are hanging on chairs, and has had a very distinct crying face since he was tiny (as seen below)

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Next, we have "The white one" who turned into "The Orange One" He's a scaredy cat, though he's finally starting to warm up to cuddling. 

Check out his cute little tiger stripes.

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Now we have the twins

This one is Chubby. AKA Riley's BFF (and occasional pillow) 

Chubby loves to sleep. In those rare moments when he's awake, he spends his time playing with Riley, shredding tissues, and trying to eat me in my sleep.

This guy is called Little Racoon or Crazy Eyes for short. He loves to nibble on toes and run around like a crazy person.

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And last but not least,

This is Alien Head also nicknamed Grumpy Pants. He's the runt, and he's still very much a momma's boy. All he wants to do is cuddle with Chloe (who I think secretly hates him a little) He also has a weird obsession with tails. He loves snuggling into momma's tail, chasing his brother's tails, pouncing on Riley's wagging tail, and when no other tail is available he settles for attacking his own. 

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So those are all of my little men. Anyone happen to want to take one home?

Is it possible to have a mid-life crisis this young?

I am turning 21 in approximately 12 days, though I might as well be 30.

This is me.

My name is Siobhan (pronounced Shavon for those who don’t know Gaelic) I’m a licensed insurance agent for one of the top insurance companies in the country. I work full time to support myself, my full-time student roommate, a slightly brain-damaged dog, and an unknowingly pregnant cat that we adopted (Ms. preggers soon became 1 momma cat and 5 adorable babies.)

2 of the 5

We’re a unique family.

With my 21^st birthday approaching, I've realized how very young I really am.

People at work are constantly surprised when they find out that I’m younger than 25. The youngest of my co-workers is 28. Now that 7 or 8 years may seem like nothing to some but let me put it in to perspective.

These people graduated from high school in 2002 or earlier. At that time, I was in 5^th grade.

When they were graduating college, I was in my very first year of high school.

When I graduated from high school in 2009, they were celebrating 5^th and 6^th year wedding anniversaries, and the 1^st birthdays of their second child.

One year ago, I was still technically a teenager.

30 years of age is definitely not old, but I’m still almost 10 years away from that. It’s too soon for me to be settling into a career. Especially one as boring as insurance (no offence to the insurance enthusiasts out there)

So I've decided to change my life. If I’m going to be 30 years old, it’s going to be a 30 that I’m happy with. I’m done settling.

So with the start of the new year, comes the start of a new adventure for me. I’d love to tell you that I’m going to travel, or go back to school, or do something exciting, but unfortunately for me I have bills to pay, and no money for much else.

Instead I’m going to focus on creating a life for myself that will make me happy. Throughout this blog, I'm going to post about my road to happiness, beautiful thoughts, and inspirations, and hopefully one day very soon I will be living a beautiful, happy life.