bigfoodiemama

So the PTA asked for volunteers to clean the church today, it having recently been painted and the Holy Communion and Confirmation looming. As I have a child in both ceremonies, I thought I should offer an hour of my time, so after a morning watching Under 10 Gaelic and Soccer, I left the boys with GASP and headed up to the church. Only Mother Mary was present so I asked what she wanted me to do and she suggested I start with the windows. Thankfully she volunteered to take the stained glass while I took the clear panes of the entrances and Crying Room. Very soon The Galway Girl and Manolo Blahnik arrived and commenced the harder job of polishing the pews and hoovering underneath them. We got the chance to chat away and I asked then not to tell GASP that I had been spotted cleaning windows as I refused point blank to do so at home. I then went on to suggest that cleaning the church might be a form of confession in itself absolving one from one's previous sins. " Great" sa...

So, after two weeks of begging GASP to whip it out, he finally reached into his shed and extracted the patio cleaner. Oh the excitement ! I had visions of our " outside room " ( you've some imagination Dermot Bannon !) resembling that rear of a Kardashian property ( unlike my own rear !) I had kind of prompted this positive response from GASP in a couple of ways. His new career as a football coach has seen 3 sets of jerseys come home this week for washing, without a squeak from me. I had taken the liberty, in the midst of a much welcome pause in my hormonal imbalances, to pre load favours ( ahem!) and this morning, as he woke one year older, he was greeted with a home made chocolate truffle cake and a small choir before I cooked a full Irish....I was on a winner. We happily went to eldest son's soccer game, they secured a win and we all arrived home, happy out in the spring sunshine.Just as I served the chocolate cake, I mentioned it might just be the perfect day to ...

So the youngest child is due to make his Holy Communion in 20 days time, unfortunately falling exactly 20 days before the Confirmation of the eldest boy...very bad planning on my part, and most unlike me. My slightly frazzled ( see previous blog) brain has had some difficulty in accepting this twist of religious fate ( or should that be faith?) and for some time the two dates have appeared large and looming my mind, as I try to ensure I have everything covered. Thanks to the kind words of a friend who also has Holy Communion I booked the all important bouncy castle over a year ago...the lady advised me I was her third call that day for a booking the following year ! The caterer has been booked...my Boeuf Stroganoff being rejected by the men in my life for the cheaper ( and far more common!) Chicken curry. In an effort to minimise financial ruin, I have been circumspect in relation to the clothing and both boys will wear something old, new, borrowed and blue and I will don the Lennon Co...

So a few days before Lent began, we all came down with the bug known as the " 40 day cough" with symptoms of tiredness, shivers and a hacking cough. I entered an involuntary period of abstinence as I had had absolutely no interest in my BFF's Merlot and Montepulciano. Valentines Day and Pancake Tuesday fell on the same day, early in my recovery, so without consciously considering it, I realised I had given up alcohol for Lent. Facebook had bitten the dust in January, my own " Frexit" and I was enjoying the extra hours in my day, but was unsure how the whole Lent thing would play out teetotal.Turns out this was not really the best Lent to give up the booze....or was it ? Day 2 and my mother in law got admitted to hospital VERY unwell. This in itself would not lead to anyone drinking but might be a reason to imbibe when one is in regular close contact with ones in laws. Luckily, this is not the case with my in laws, so I managed to stay sober throughout her near ...

Today I attended the funeral of a truly great man, a humble, generous, compassionate, charitable, hard working, kind, wise lovely man. His funeral was a true celebration of the gifts he gave to the world. This is not a flippant expression as this man actually gave gifts across the world. His charitable donations went among other places to Uganda and Moldova and his kind acts saved people the world over. Most people won't know this man as unlike those who broadcast their achievements across the world today, he kept his activities to himself, gave without expecting recognition and sought no congratulations nor award. Thankfully he was recognised, rewarded and awarded for his immensely christian acts but his family are still only finding out how much he meant to how many, their hearts touched and warmed by the number of people who came from far and wide to share their grief, offer their condolences and pay homage to a great man, a great friend, a great father and grandfather, a great...

January....what a month...every long dark broke day of it ! To add insult to injury it also brought the boys opticians appointments,the eldest's dental appointment, singing lesson payments and a new set of tyres....squeak ! The eldest is in his in last year in primary school so with delight the optician advised me that his next appointment would need to be a private one with him. That I could cope with until I took same child to his last public dental appointment. A very nice dentist advised me that he still had about 10 of his baby teeth and that he should have lost a few more by now . I advised him that I still possessed two baby teeth with no adult teeth behind them." Ahhh Hypodontia" he exclaimed and promptly referred the eldest for an x ray to establish whether or not the adult teeth were actually in his head. "It's no issue if he's only missing one or two, but any more than that and you're looking at bone grafts, surgery, implants....anything up to ...

Ah.....yes the spirit of Christmas and alot of other spirits finally entered my soul.Christmas 2017 was a good one...and very social. BMM retired after 49 years last on December 20th, so having watched " Santa" and "Joseph" (with my heart bursting with pride and love) at the school Christmas plays, I got dolled up, GASP donned a sports jacket and we headed to The Kitchen restaurant to celebrate BMM's final day of work. The Burmese Scot started the party from afar by ordering two bottles of Prosecco and the Ambassadrice, The Hairy One , The Mad One, Spud Farmer, The Line Dancer and Gone to Stud joined us in enjoying a wine filled, giggly evening of funny stories and delicious food...a trend that was to continue for this festive season. On Friday 22nd we celebrated the Gorgeous Goddaughter turning 21 in the home of the Aged Aunt and the Belgian FOB. Their magnificent glittering home proved the perfect venue for a glamorous party and the Legal Eagle, Jim Bob and th...