First US Bloggie.......Again!!

Hey Hey Hey!!!
So I finally have a minute to sit and write about my adventures here in America-Town!!
Everything is going great so far, so Ill start at the beginning!!
My friend Emily picked me up from the airport and dropped me to my aunts, where I was treated to a lovely cup of Irish tea.....like I had been missing it so much already!! Then it was off to my very own little place! My friends had found it for me, and I hadnt seen it, so it was a big surprise for me!! Its in a place called "ClearWater Air Park" which is a huge park with lots of old war memorabilia. So when you drive in it looks like you are entering the set for "M*A*S*H :) The guy that owns the place was in the Korean war and has spent his life trying to collect all this really cool stuff, like trucks, offices, stations etc. He also is crazy about planes, so there are 3 hangars on the grounds, one which holds a jet that blew shingles (tiles) off the roof when they started it up!!
So my house is a small 3bed, really cheap, front and back porches, all mod cons, and is really cute!!! I got the TV, phone and internet set up, so I am in contact with the world, and for once I get to watch things like Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives when they are actually aired, not after downloading!! Im easily pleased!!!
My car is a Ford Thunderbird, a 1998, but its got a 4.6 litre V8 engine.........oh yeah!!! Ill put a pic up soon!!! Shes a real cutie!!
So things have been going great, everything is falling into place! We were supposed to go to see ACDC on the Tues 6th oct and found out the night before that it was cancelled, so we decided to go down anyways and hang out cos we had a hotel room booked!! It was fun!! Louisville has this great area downtown called "4th Street Live" its got a lot of cool bars, clubs and restaraunts, including an Irish Bar called RíRá......I had a few in there!!!! It wasnt a total dissapointment!!
I guess the best part so far is my family of Kitties (obviously!!) I have wormed and de-flea'd 2 of them, the mom and a boy, and I am gonna pick out a little girl kitty and do the same with her, but its harder to find the girls!! There is one of the babies that is really fluffy and he's completely "special" so I call him "Short-Bus" :) he chases his paws, never mind his tail!!!
So I guess thats it!! Keep an eye on FB for more blog updates! Actually, my life isnt that interesting......so why dont all of you send me your stories!!!!!
Miss you ALL very much :(
ca xxxxxxxx

Bloggie # 2.......a small bit late!!

Bloggie Number 2!!
OK, so I am only getting around to putting up this blog now, and I am at the airport waiting to check in for my flight back home!!! Go figure!!!! Anyways, its written so I may aswell put it up!!! Notice the part I wrote about time flying!!! Enjoy!!

Hi guys!!
So my internet is limited, so these will be few and far between unfortunately, so I hope you are eating them up!!
OK, so last blog I was about to go out to the lake. We headed out and had a lovely meal, Fish Tacos with hicama salad (I don’t think that’s how you spell it but that’s how it sounds) and mango salsa, followed by smores!! YUM!! We were hanging out with Barbs friends, and I met another “Cathy Ann” there! I was delighted, but she only goes by “Cathy” so my joy didn’t last that long!! We sat out till about 10 and even though I had pants AND bug spray on, I still got mosquito bites really bad. I get a really bad reaction to mosquito bites so one mosquito could give me 10 or more big itchy hives L so I have been lathering on the cortisone all week! It stinks!! I’m soooo glad we don’t have those little bastards back home!
So the next morning we went to a place called “Treasure Mart” I was in heaven! It’s this store that has antiques and really cool old stuff for really cheap!! I got some cute stuff, mostly for my kitchen table (for those of you that don’t know, I LOVE having people over for dinner, and I am collecting things to make the spread really nice!!!) Barb, my friend that I was staying with got some really cool stuff, but she was decorating her house, so she was looking for specific stuff! We found a really cool old gynaecologists lamp, with the tool table attached and all! Very Barb!! She also got a really hilarious bird feeder with glitter and gems, and pictures of the Virgin Mary all over it!! I have pictures so I will put them on FB!!
So after treasure mart, I walked around Ann Arbour and did some shopping! I ended up walking into this festival with tonnes of stalls and music and food! It was the “Annual Ann Arbour African American Appreciation” festival!!! I was probably one of about 3 white people there, but everyone was really friendly, plus they had a petting zoo!!!
I stopped by a yard sale on my way home, and then when I got back to the house I ironed Barbs linen curtains that she was gonna put up on her bedroom windows!!! Then her friend Jeff put up some of her photos and we moved around the furniture for a while, and then it was cocktail hour!! I had a gin Gimlet, yum!! But I only had half of it, cos we realised that we had to go to the shop for some stuff for dinner!! We had steak salad and rosemary roast potatoes, and then I made Banoffee for dessert! It was so good! We watched the next 2 episodes of “Tru Blood” during dinner. It’s pretty good!! So it’s about this tiny village somewhere in the very south of USA and for those of you that are Home & Away fans, Vinnie is one of the main characters in it! He has a really hot body, but he’s a total man-whore in it. Basically these vampires live in society, away from the rest of the community, but when people start dying, everyone turns to the vampires, as all the dead people have vampire bite marks. It’s kinda strange, and it’s most definitely not for the squeamish, but for those of you that love a good porno, it’s perfect! Tonnes of sex scenes, actually the whole show is just one big sex scene!! I’m guessing I just lost any of my male friends that are reading this, as they search for it online! Haha!! Predictable!!!
So on Sunday I packed up my stuff and hit the road around 3pm for Cincinnati! I had been in email contact with my friend Becca, who is Emily’s sister. She had organised to meet me at their parent’s house and bring me over to a family graduation party where Emily was. It was really funny, I was walking up the garden and Emily’s dad asked her who was with Becca........Emily looked so confused!! It was hilarious!! So we hugged and cried and hugged some more!! And then I met her beautiful baby girl Carson for the first time! For those of you that don’t know, Emily used to work at my sisters restaurant in Cinci and that’s how we met! She is an angel and even though we live 3000 miles away from each other I would say she is one of my closest friends! So it was really great to hang out with her and all of her family, including Becca (younger sis) Karl (Younger bro) who also used to work at the restaurant and are very good friends as well!! So then I stayed at Emily & Scott’s (her hubby) and of course we chatted for hours! We had 3 and a half years to catch up on, I think we did well!! The next morning then she had to go to work, so I skipped off to buy a phone and went to visit The Hopkins’s! They were my sisters next door neighbours when she lived there and I used to baby sit the kids, who are all growd up now! I can’t believe it! Hannah is starting high school in sept and Casey will be finishing next year! And Chris is moving in with his girlfriend!! OMG! Of course this means nothing to most of you, but it was pretty big for me!!!!
That evening I made my way out to Batavia to my aunt’s farm where I will be staying for the next 3 weeks or so. It’s this big old farmhouse that my family spent a summer renovating and a new extension that we built (I made the tea, so I played a part!!) and they have tonnes of animals, 5 dogs, 2 cats, a pig, some hens, turkeys, peacocks, goats, sheep, and a Llama named Leroy!!! He’s hilarious!!! I am in heaven! The dogs are great, 2 pugs; Yoda and Rowley, a great Dane/bull mastiff; Cuchulainn (he’s MASSIVE!!!!), Mimi, a great white Pyrenees and Guinness the chocolate lab! I brought Guinness for a long walk this evening and it was so funny, he got so tired after about 20 mins and every puddle he saw (which was not that many, it’s been 90 degrees here all week!) he had to drink and lay down in! I thought I was unfit!! Haha!!!
I was assigned my jobs today and thankfully they are not too stressful, mostly cleaning and organising which I am really good at!! I am hopefully gonna meet my friends this weekend for a BBQ and I’m gonna see if I can borrow my cousins spare car while I am here too!! So time is really flying! Before I know it I will be blogging about how I miss it and wish I was going back again! Haha!
Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Still no juicy gossip to report back! I do hope to meet the gay contingency at some point (Troy, Steve, Brady, Douglas....if you are reading this.....call me!!) and can imagine that there will be some debauchery to write about! There always is with them lot!!
Hope everything is going good at home! I still haven’t gotten any emails from any of my so-called friends back home!!! Obviously not missing me at all.....sniff sniff............No pressie for anyone that doesn’t email me at least once!!! Haha!! And I will do my best to put up my photos ASAP!!

Miss you all terribly
Xxxxxx ca

1st US Bloggie!!!

Hellooooooooo to all across the pond!!!
So my trip started off a bit panicky........as I am sure most of you heard, I got on the wrong bus and had to get off after the bus didnt turn off the dual carriageway for shannon and wait along the side of the road until super-mom came to get me.
Now I have accepted that I am brain dead, and that this is one that I will NEVER live down, so everyone is allowed to make as much fun as possible!!
So amazingly enough, I managed to make it across the water without any other hiccups! I had two seats to myself, so I was very comfy and got about 3 hours sleep, in between watching "He's just not that into you" (Good movie, easy watching, funny, happy ending mush etc) and Disney's "Bolt" (Hilarious, lotsa good quoting material, great animation, def recommend it, if you like that type of animated stuff!!)
I got my lovely Ford Focus sedan with satellite radio in Chicago and made it all the way up to Ann Arbor, MI safe and sound!!! Barb has a fantastic place, and best of all, a beautiful Siamese cat named Chet!! He's still a little wary of me though, I tried to cuddle him as soon as I saw him, and that was too much for him!!!!
So early Wed morning, I hopped in the car again and drove 4 and a half hours to Toronto to see Nicole. I had Facebooked with her sister and made sure it was ok to visit, and she was super surprised!! I got there on the day that she had 2 shows, so while she was dancing, I went to the CN Tower and took some photos of Toronto. FYI, its only an ok city, nothing jumped out at me and gave me the "I wanna live here" vibe :( So we went for a lovely dinner in a place called Pickle Barrell and had some Bellini's and then she had to dance again, so I went to see Terminator Salvation. It was good, a small bit tacky, but a good action flick all the same! Then when her show was done, we went back to her hotel and talked an caught up on all the gossip and watched another movie. We got up early the next morning and went to the market district, found some really cool stores and shopped and walked around until the evening when she had to get ready for dance again. Then I left Toronto and made it back to MI safe. Barb's friend Jeff had just come into town too, so we went out for Ice Cream and watched a show called "Tru Blood" about a society where hillbillies live with Vampires..........I wanna watch more episodes before I comment!!!
So this morning we went to an "Underground Breakfast". Its where you go to this house, and they make you breakfast and you leave a donation that goes towards a charity called Growing Hope. Its basically like an illegal restaurant, with really good food, and you meet lotsa cool people there!! Tonight we are going to a camping ground where Barb's friends are camping out and we are makin some Mexican street food! And probably gonna have some drinkies!!!

Thats all for now. I realise that its a relatively boring blog.......I will juice up the next one!!
Hope you guys are all well and keep an eye out for my photos on FB, I dont know how to put them up on the blog just yet!!!!

xxxxxxxx

Boys Vs Girls

Hurray for Champions League.............

There are possibly 9 boys in my living room watching the smelly final and although I would have enjoyed watching Man U get taught how to play soccer, I cant stand the bull shit that boys pull out when they watch games. My dad used to say that girls were squealers because when we got excited we would do the whole "OoohhhhMyGoooooood....." (repeat X 10)

I think boys are way worse. At least with girls, we get excited for five seconds and then we get over it and move onto the next thing. We are generally honest about our emotions and like that would never be bashful about it.

Boys on the other hand.......the complete and utter biased verbal diarrhoea that sprouts from their mouths during any game is laughable. If someone clearly dives and gets a card for trying to get a free or whatever, their fans will shout all sorts of blasphemy at the referee, hoping they might actually be heard and have the ref see their point of view.......

Now I know I have shouted at the TV during several Grey's Anatomy episodes, however, it is more for my own heart-braking benefit than theirs. As it is pre-recorded entertainment, I know for sure there is no changing the outcome. APPARENTLY......I don't understand anything about the game.....

Anyways, I am venting as I listen to the roars coming from the living room. I have gotten way off track, my point is I am much happier in my warm bed, with the remote to myself and, quite unexpectedly, a bag of Pick 'n' Mix that I found!! So whats on....

10 Things You Need to Know about Losing Weight. BBC1 at 8pm

Not many of you may know this but I have four weddings this year, one of which I am a bridesmaid at, and so am a small bit conscious about what I eat and how I exercise these days. So I was interested to see what this programme was gonna tell me, as it was recommended on Today FM's Tony Fenton show. So for all you "Foodies" that might have an interest, here's the best bits of the show!!

1. Choose Low Cal Options of your Favourite Foods.

Ok, this is pretty obvious. We all know that if you go to MacD's you can get salads, but did you know that the MacD's Classic Caesar Salad with grilled chicken has the same amount of calories as a regular hamburger, and the Caesar salad with crispy chicken has the same calories as a cheeseburger. The point they were trying to make is that there are plenty of opportunities to eat healthily, its just that we have too many choices. Next time you have a choice to make, go for the less creamy option of the same meal, e.g. sauce on the side, vinaigrette instead of ranch, olive oil instead of mayo.......easy!!

2. Change your Plate Size- Smaller plates will help you lower your portion size

Duh...........I've tried this, its very strange but it actually works. Once you have cleared you (smaller than normal) plate, you don't feel as stuffed as you would a large plate and your mind will think you are full, as you have licked the plate clean! Now some of us fatties will inevitably always go for seconds, but that's a choice we must battle with!! Who would have thought that your appetite was linked to your psychological subconscious!! ;o)

3. Protein helps keep hunger at bay for longer.

I'm copying this directly from the website;

Protein is better at staving off hunger pangs than any other food type. So, if you're trying to lose weight, you'll feel fuller for longer if you start the day with ham and eggs, rather than muesli and orange juice. This is because protein triggers the production of a special hormone that tells the brain we're full.

4. After exercising your body continues to lose weight.....Even while you sleep!!!!!

When we exercise our metabolism starts working quicker than normal, but when we get off the treadmill and stop "working out" our metabolism still keeps working inside. So we actually lose weight while we sleep. What an awesome theory.....I'm somewhat sceptical!

5. Keep moving and lose weight.

Even if its walking around the house while on the phone, rather than sitting down, you will make a difference. For those of us that have bus services (and actually use them) getting on a stop later or off a stop earlier, or walking up escalators instead of just standing are two simple ways of keeping active without going to the gym! Do I sound like a PSA yet?!?!

6. Soup will keep you full

This one I really like, but Jonathan was very sceptical. See if you drink a glass of water with your dinner, it will pass through your system quicker than your food and leave your stomach with only your food left in it. You may feel full during your dinner, but about 20 minutes later, you don't feel full anymore. So if you take the same meal and make it into soup (easy to do, add water, blend, boil it up, small bit of butter or milk to taste, mustard powder does the trick too!!) and the food will take longer to digest! Now Jonathan's theory is that drinking water with dinner will dilute the stomach acid, therefor it will take longer to digest the food, and you will feel fuller for longer! I have no scientific evidence of that, so bear with me, and I will investigate!!!

7. Don't Blame Your Metabolism

This one is great. A lot of people say "I just have a slow metabolism" Bullsh*t!!! If you think you have a slow metabolism and cant lose weight, then try this little test; document everything you eat for a few days, absolutely everything, even if its a sneaky choccie digestive.....or four! Then after a few days of documenting, count the calories that you have eaten for the past few days. Try to get the exact calories for what you eat, and be specific!! You might be surprised about the amount of food you eat!! Simple!!!!

8. Low Fat Dairy can help you excrete more fat

This is my Favourite!!!! Before I go any further, I would like to let you know that if I were stranded on a desert island, cheese would be the only food I would take with me! I'm that crazy about it!

So I was very interested to see this part of the show. I have copied this part from the website too, cos its a little scienc-y!!

By far the most intriguing revelation, however, is the fact that a diet high in low-fat dairy products (skimmed milk, cottage cheese, crème fraiche, etc.) can help you excrete more fat. Now concentrate, here's the science bit: the calcium in dairy products binds to fat molecules in our small intestine, forming a soap-like substance that we can't absorb – so the fat and calcium pass straight through you. This means that, rather than sitting on your hips, the fat ends up in the toilet. Brilliant!
To prove it, Blur guitarist-turned-farmer Alex James sportingly agreed to follow a high-dairy diet for one week, while sending off regular poo samples to a lab in Holland. He followed this with a week-long low-dairy diet, which contained exactly the same number of calories. Amazingly, Alex excreted more than double the amount of fat on the high-dairy diet.

So I am now gonna start drinking a glass of skimmed milk with my dinner and cottage cheese with lunch instead of regular cheese with my lunch!! I cant wait!!

So for the perceptive ones that are reading this, you may notice there are only 8 things, not 10 as advertised......I was watching and writing at the same time....I missed two of them, plus I cant find them on the net just yet!! I'll keep ye posted if I find them, but I think I got the best ones out of it anyways!!

I hope I have wasted some of your precious time and that you are more educated in the ways of men, soccer and weight loss!!

Peace out Bloggers!

The Cathyann's of the world!!

I'm pretty bored at the moment, so what better way to pass the time than googling......
Here are some of the other famous Cathyann's in the world.......pretty impressive bunch of people if I say so my self!!!!

http://www.google.ie/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=cathyann&meta=lr%3D

I particularily like this: http://cdbaby.com/cd/cathyann
"Power pop punk princess that seduces you with her lyrical vulnerability and in the next breath cuts your throat and kicks you in the balls for giving a shit."
That actually sounds like me!!!

How coincidental is this one........check out where its located........
http://national.citysearch.com/profile/37532224/tracy_ca/cathy_ann_s_party_rentals.html

So this is what I would look like if Mom had "Gone Black"......
http://emmalinpierre.hi5.com/friend/p42855019--Cathy-Ann--html

If I were a house........
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=d0081e36ecf7c232948f7e6cf45477aa

So it seems that I am the only "Cathyann Dempsey" and "Catherine Ann Dempsey! allthough I did find one girl called Catherine Anne Dempsey.......not the same.......

Its almost getting too dark to keep writing and I am way to lazy to get up and turn on the light, so Ill keep this short. I have deduced something..........

It seems that the Cathyann's of the world share some common characteristics. We are all highly intelligent (if I may say so myself), doctors, lawyers, teachers, and tend to use the right side of our brains more, artisits, musicians, photographers. I found it quite interesting to see the personality similarities that I shared with these complete strangers. It made me think about the bigger picture, you know the "Is there a reason for everything" conundrum, and how perhaps we are given predestined names, to be a certain type of person to fulfill a certain destiny. Now I have something to do.....google to see if anyone has ever done a study on the psychological background of names relating to personality carachteristics........and if not, maybe I'll get someone to fund a PhD out of it!!!!! Anyone have anything to add to the ponderings?

Thats all the "CrazyWords" for tonight............from a slightly famous Cathyann ;o)

CA's Domestic Service

Had to post a link to this website, I'm cracking up reading it........"Does your House pass the 'Premium Cleaning' Test?
Check out my alias......I wanna be her!!!

http://cads-nj.com/

Welcome to Blog-A-Palooza!!

Well, here it is.........Tatty's 1st Blog!!!

So there's a story behind this, I'll begin with the reason I am blogging.
1) Mona dearest was complaining a while back that I am the only one of our family that doesnt have a blog.......technically not true, as Kin has a wedding website and a company website, neither of which classify as blogs......
2) I am going on my big exciting trip in a week, and figured this would be the easiest way to keep in touch with everyone, rather than writing individual emails!!

Now, you may wonder about the name of the blog. I wasnt sure what to call it, I mean a name can entice or put off a reader and I really wanted to catch peoples eye. So I did what any self respecting blogger would..............I googled my name and this is the funniest thing that came up!! FYI, there are a lot of talented Cathyann's out there, artists, authors, photographers.....Maybe Im in the wrong line of work!!!

Anyways, welcome to my Domestic Service!! I hope you enjoy the fresh clean feeling you get from reading! Here is one of my favourite testimonials from a happy client:

"Cathy Ann - Thank you very much for cleaning my house on Monday. I was so pleased to go home after work and see how clean and fresh my house was and smelled wonderful. I look forward to you coming again. It is a wonderful feeling to walk into a house that is clean and fresh. I am grateful to find someone who does exactly what they say. My house was just spectacular. Thank you for all the hard work you put into my house. I know it was a lot. You got me motivated to finish the baby's room b/c everything else was so nice. Have a great Memorial weekend, and I'll see you in two weeks. THANK YOU, THANK YOU."

Disclaimer:
i) Please excuse any spelling mistakes.
ii) I am not responsible for you losing valuable time or brain cells by reading this. Read at your own risk!
iii) I am also not responsible for any cleaning mishaps or injuries.