Friday Favourite

I'm not sure how it happened but it seems to be Friday again. Now where did those last 6 days go? (Mmm, toilets and red wine come to mind - not good).

Aaaanyway.... fortunately I have been keeping up with my New Blog reading habits in preparation of the second 'My Favourite New Blog' (for the first see here), and boy do I have a treat for you. This blog is so new you could set aside 10 minutes and read the whole thing from start to finish (please do), but my! how beautifully this girl writes. The blog is called GTA: Moominland and you can find it here, and if you don't have a full 10 mins then just take 2 and read her exquisite post 'A Sense of Falling'. You can thank me later.

As you can tell by now I have a bit of a crush - but hopefully I haven't scared her away before she has had a chance to really join the BMB community. My last word on the matter: A - you need to set up your 'Followers' option!
Finally - one of these days I promise that I will figure out how to create an award button thingy, but for now this will have to do.

The eyes have it (or how to embarrass your husband...)

Last week I had an article published in the Irish Independent newspaper.  I was pretty pleased with myself and sent it on to my husband along with a few friends commenting that it was worth a look just for the ridiculous photo:

'They've doctored my eyes!!' Despairing Dad wrote back.
What followed has kept me amused ever since. In deed, next time we have an argument I am going to re-conjure these images so that the sound of my maniacal laughing drives him from the room.

So, here's the first email response I got, titled 'Seperated at Birth?':

Oh how we laughed (and when I say we I mean I).

And here's the next, 'Seperated at Birth too?':

I'm not sure which I like more.

Feel free to join in. I may get them all printed off and use them as wallpaper beside the naughty step. Now that'll definitely scare the kids into behaving.

Kate's having a makeover!

Let me know what you think of my new design.... I'll be playing around with it for the next few days so no offence taken at any comments. Promise!

What Did She Say?

Ok - I know it's not attractive to blow your own trumpet, but I'm so delighted with this shout-out from 'What did she say?' that I just had to blog it. 

Click here to read it

Thanks again to the wonderful T for making my week. x

And in the spirit of passing on the love I've decided to do a weekly Friday feature of 'My Favourite New Blog'. You know when you stumble on a blog that just sits right with you from the moment it opens? Well that's what I'm looking for. It doesn't have to be funny, or fancy, or have all the bells and whistles, it just needs to be new.

Each week I'll be trawling BMB and other sites to find a new blog that for whatever reason I think is great. If you want me to take a look at yours just post your link as a comment below.

So here goes, My (first) Favourite New Blog goes to....drum roll.......Mid 30's Life (round of applause), who started blogging last month and always, always makes me laugh. She's an aussie living in London and brings that great Australian self-depreciating humour to everything she writes. Go and check her out and say hi from me.

So do you want to know how to get 5 minutes peace?

Remember the time when you could spend a whole lazy morning flicking through the Sunday papers? Or when you'd pop out to a local restaurant for lunch? Or when you could hop on a plane for a romantic weekend in Paris? (No I know, I never did that either but the point is you could if you wanted to).
And then the kids came along.
Now you consider yourself lucky if you manage to go to the loo without a small child hanging off your leg or someone asking for the 54th time that morning if they can have another biscuit.

Sometimes you are just so desperate to get 5 minutes to yourself that you do things you know that rationally you shouldn't.
So I thought I'd share with you some of the things I have done over the years to get a much needed, I'm- going-to-flip-out-if-I-don't-get-a-, moments peace.

A common occurance in our household is the Cheerios \ rice \ raisons all over the kitchen floor scenario. It's not like I don't know they're doing it. It's just that at that particular moment the full cup of coffee sitting in front of me, or the article I can read from start to finish - uninterrupted - is worth the 40 minute clean up* and aghast looks from Disapproving Dad when he walks in.

Then there's the 'oh no I know he shouldn't be playing with that' moments. Not just once I have let one of my little darlings play with, and subsequently break, my only pair of designer glasses - 'yes sweetheart you just take them into the playroom and come back when they resemble a coat hanger'.

Which brings me to mobile phones...suffice to say - toilet, bath, garden wall. Grrr.

I should also probably admit here that yes, I did put three kids in the bath with a bottle of Fairy Liquid and a bottle of paint once. (Note: Once. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't worth it).

Ok, to finish, I'm not proud of this one, but, you know, needs must.

So go on, 'fess up then, what have you done recently for 5 minutes peace?


*(I say 40 minutes but in actual fact it's more like 40 days - for weeks after there will be cheerios found stuck to everything from pyjamas to cushion covers. You have been warned.)

Naked blondes and other stories...

Most of us know by now that becoming a mother changes you in certain ways. You lose, among other things, sleep, the ability to watch without crying that John Lewis 'always a woman' ad (see here), your mind, the ability to fully relax (unless you're talking about your bladder which of course can become very relaxed).

But this week I realised there is something else that changes when you become mother, and that is the reality you live in. Whereas for twenty to thirty years BC (Before Children) we happily lived amongst other humans who obeyed 'The Rules' of being a civilised 21st century person, suddenly we woke up one day as a mother and that reality was lost to us.

Take for example last week when this revelation first came to me. I was in the kitchen chopping onions when the 2 year old casually wandered into the kitchen completely naked, swinging a garlic crusher in one hand and a torch in the other. What he had in mind is any one's guess, but the point is I barely batted an eyelid before going back to my onions. My only thought was a distracted 'Am I going to need that crusher for this? Bet he loses it'.

But it struck me later that day that I had become so immune to the ridiculous that it now barely registered on my radar. So here are some of the other peculiar sights I have witnessed along the years that have gone unacknowledged....until now.

Naked blondes in the bed. My daughter regularly used to strip her barbies of all clothes (and dignity) before putting them 'to sleep' in our bed. My husband would regularly call down to me 'Darling - there's naked blondes in my bed again...'

Superheroes on the sofa. Many's the time I've realised that the house is suspiciously quiet and found Batgirl, Spiderman and Wigman (don't ask) cuddled up together watching telly.

Deja Vu Bathtime. You take the time to bathe, dry, and clothe them then find that all 3 have decided to get back into the bath in their Pyjamas. Whatever.

Can I fit in that? Why oh why do they always feel the need to climb into cupboards, wardrobes, plant pots, bins....

So, what are the ridiculous sights you've seen recently? I'd love to hear them.

The best things in life are free....

Really? I bet whoever said that was bloody loaded.
However, purely to test the notion, and not at all because we are suddenly extremely empoverished, I decided that last weekend was to be designated a 'free' weekend.
It began with my sister-in-laws 40th birthday party. With no money to buy a present I decided to bake some cakes for her instead. Voila:

She's Scottish so I figured she'd appreciate the experiment. Now I just have to make sure she doesn't get me as her Kris Kindle this year. ("Wow C, socks with buttons sewn on....How very thoughtful."

Thankfully the next day was sunny so we decided to head out on a (free) family walk to the beach. "But wouldn't it be nice if we could go out for lunch after' Disapproving Dad commented. So, instead of expensive cafes we stopped off and at the local chippie and spent a grand total of €6.60 on three large bags of chips to share. Then we sat on the rocks in the sunshine watching the waves roll in and listening to the kids trying to make sense of their big wide world - 'Mum - how did the sea get there?', 'But how does it know where to stop?', 'Do fish sleep?' 'Are there any chips left in that bag?'. And I thought to myself - maybe there's something in this after all.

But by Sunday our virtuousness was running thin. We needed kicks and only hard cash would do. Problem was this wasn't just an experiment - our total funds that evening came to €6.67. Not even close to enough for a nice dinner and a bottle of wine - even if it was in the comfort of our own home.
"What about Lily?" asked Mr. G - "she's always loaded." (It's true, she may be only six but she always seems to have some funds stashed away somewhere). "No nothing" I replied. "What?' he said, clearly incredulous, "But she always has money". At this Lily's ears pricked up. "Oh I definitely have some" she said, a little too primly for my liking. "It's in my piggy bank".
"Yes, well, you may have done last week" I managed to fluster, "but I'm afraid you owed pork tax on it...."
Sorry Lily, pay you back next week I promise. xx

Pampers\Unicef Big Kiss Campaign...Well what are you waiting for?

Even if you don't have time to read this or don't know what it's all about, please just click this link before you go:

Pampers Big Kiss: 1 click = 1 vaccine


That's it. That's all you have to do, and you may just have saved a life. 1 click = 1 vaccine, it really is that simple.

You can pass on these ‘VIRTUAL KISSES’ through the wonder of the Internet and for every ‘CLICK’ (ie virtual kiss) on the link  PAMPERS will donate a vaccination to UNICEF for a child or mother in an under developed country.

You’re  only allowed one click per person, so PLEASE pass the message on to ALL your friends, family, colleagues, etc.

Now that's your good deed done for the day. Easy huh?