We're just back from our 7 day trip. We mostly had a great time, Will try to post a detailed report later, but here are a couple of notes:

Corey: Thanks for the walking tour of Kilkenny--we were there on Sunday and the visitor center was closed, so it was a good thing we had your tour printed out! It was great. The only place we messed up was toward the end, Talbot's Bastion, where we couldn't quite get the street right, and it was starting to rain again. But it was a great help--Thanks so much! We left it with the B&B.

For those hunting for Green Spot Irish Whiskey: The Dingle Pub's off-license up from the Small Bridge is where you find it. Around 41 Euros.

Car rental was through Nova, from Irish Car Rentals. Nice deal, but it was banged up on the side and I told them before we left that the tire was bad. they said, no it's fine, and it went flat second day. We paid 100 euros for another (couldn't go to dingle without a spare) and lost some time. They did reimburse us when we returned to Dublin, hopefully there won't be any more repercussions to it. Good thing I had a cell phone with me, with Irish Sim card.

Michelle took the nice weather with her! We had cold and rainy most days, but we had done Chicago a couple of years ago in early December--everyone thought we were crazy then, but we had a good time. Same thing here.

Our B&Bs were wonderful, I would recommend all of them with no hesitation:
Hillcrest View B&B Kilrush
Emlagh Lodge Dingle (get Maggie to make her marscapone yogurt for breakfast!)
And Alcantra in Kilkenny.

Our hotel at the Dublin airport was the Days Hotel, and it was very good and reasonable. I booked through centralr.com, and had a small problem when the reservation didn't show up on Days Hotel system, but the centralr and Days people took care of it very nicely, and ended up with 69 euros per night per room (no food). close to the airport with a shuttle. Right near a bus to city center too.

I really want to thank the people on this forum for their advice, it was good advice and I probably should have followed more of it! We did, like a lot of first time visitors, try to do too much, and ended up cancelling or missing a few things due to time, weather or car troubles. And driving was a distinct challenge.
Like most too, I do want to return some day, but will do it better next time! thanks for all your help!