Taking A Step Back

I'm off to London today, (or 'Londing England' as a friend of mine insists on calling  it!) . Yes indeedy, as my prize in last September's MAD Blog Awards, Loverboy and I will be living it large all weekend - nibbling on afternoon tea, taking in a West End Show (Mamma Mia-here I go again!), quaffing cocktails and inhaling the 'all you can eat breakfast' - seriously, what's not to like?
Which is why there's a certain irony in what I'm going to say next... I've decided that it's time to take a step back from my blog. Not forever, mind you, but for a while. After almost two years and over 300 posts, I feel like I need a wee break.

'Adventures of an Unfit Mother' began as a much needed outlet, a place to find my voice, somewhere I could  be creative and completely honest.(Possibly toooo much at times!) It's been all that and more and amazingly it's grown steadily along the way. From just my sisters and a few friends, I now have 500 people visiting on a daily basis. Which, incidentally, is nothing compared to the big blogging fish out there, but quite an achievement for l'il old me. It's a massive compliment when people take the time to pop in, and even better when they come back and stay on to shoot the breeze as well.

The writing of it has always been the the fun part for me.....but I'm really useless at the rest of it.  For you non bloggers out there, I'm talking about the whole PR side of it all - the Twitter presence, the numerous blogging platforms, Instagram, Pinterest and the rest. Then there's the commenting on OTHER people's blogs (I know one blogger who rotates visits on 30 different blogs every freakin' night!), the blog hops and the forums. Because the truth is, if you want to grow your readership,  you've got to do all of that and more... but I can barely keep up with writing my own posts, never mind that side of it as well. So it all comes back to the initial purpose of the blog, which was as a head clearing space for me...so maybe none of the PR stuff  matters anyway at the end of the day. (Although honestly? I think it does a bit...maybe I'm more ambitious than I first thought!)

My main problem is time, or really the lack of it. Some posts take longer than others but I'm finding it hard to keep up with 3-4 posts a week while juggling everything else and holding onto my sanity. It's making me snappy and stressed and somewhere along the line it's become less of an outlet and more of a job... without the nice salary part! Other things have changed too - I used to read voraciously, always did, only now I seem to read other blogs (many of which I love, by the way), but I miss the newspapers, books and magazines too. As well as the time, I feel its all sucking up too much of my emotional energy, which leaves a whole lot less for the stuff that matters. A classic case of self induced burn out - hence the step back.

So I wanted to let you know my thoughts, even though I'm probably  flattering myself to think that you'd even notice my absence!  I'll still be here from time to time ...just on a less regular, more 'now and again' basis..like when genius strikes ...or I get a new pair of shoes and I'm hoping that you won't be a stranger and you'll still pop in to say hello.

I'm not one for big goodbyes so I'll  not go all tote emosh on you and that's not a tear in my eye. Let's just say, thanks babes and I'll see you when I see you - I suspect it'll be sooner rather than later - and in the meantime, look after yourself, wont you?
Love Emmaxxx

Ps I simply COULDN'T leave without showing you my gorgeous new summer shoes...soooo practical and quite deliciously  happen to match the scarf that I bought a few months ago...I suppose sometimes the accessories stars just align!

Silent Sunday #51

Friday Quicktakes

1. Well, I promised y'all I'd be honest about my 5:2 program so here goes.... I weighed myself yesterday for the first time in 2 months and I lost .....nothing. Nada, zip, zilch. So that's a total of half a stone since the end of January- not exactly stellar and I wanted to burst into tears right then and there on the scales in Boots (none at home thanks to the full blown phobia I have going on there, but thats a whole other blog post.) Truthfully, except for one week off fasting at Easter, I've been sticking rigidly to my 2 fast days per week so they're not the problem. But when a fellow 5:2er's husband cheekily asked her recently, 'Is today  a 500 calorie or a 5000 calorie day?, he may have inadvertently hit the nail on the head! Let's face it, it doesn't take Einstein to work out that I'm overindulging somewhat on the other days.

Yes, I did briefly consider chucking the whole thing in completely, but the honest truth is this program suits me. Overall, it brings a balance to my eating patterns, I feel healthier and I've lost SOME weight! (Oh, and there are loads of health benefits associated with intermittent fasting too, which I totally overlook).
Obviously I could do with reining it in on the non fast days, but overall I'm enjoying my food, not putting on any weight and I'm into size 14 jeans for the first time in years. And even though I'll not be winning 'Slimmer of the Year', or falling down a grating any time soon,  for once I'm eschewing the quick fix in favour of the long game, so I've decided to keep 'er lit for now...I'll keep you posted.

2. Years ago, before I had kids and a minivan we moved to America and I watched the Oprah Winfrey show. One day there was a woman on talking about a book she'd written called 'Simple Abundance- A Daybook of Comfort and Joy.' Basically, it's a series of daily reflections which show  'how your daily life can be an expression of your authentic self' and it also involves keeping a 'gratitude journal', where you write down 5 things you are grateful for every day.
 I know it all sounds a bit American and new agey  but I figured if it was good enough for Oprah, it was good enough for me!  I must've gone on about it a fair bit, because Loverboy later went to Barnes and Noble & bought it for me. Sadly, despite my initial enthusiasm, I lasted about a week and it ended up gathering dust under the bed.
Looking back, while I could appreciate it as a  worthwhile exercise, I just wasn't there yet myself. Maybe I  needed life experience and a few more years on the clock before I could apply it to myself?
 Then, lo and behold and as if by magic, what turned up this week when I was doing all my redding out, only the (slightly mildewed ) book and accompanying gratitude journal.  Maybe five kids later and now in my (earliest of ) forties, the time has come to give it another try. And just for the fun of it, here's a little peek at my old  gratitude journal... I DO find it reassuring that I'm still grateful for them all these years later!

3. Speaking of pics, here's how my kitchen looks... so whaddyathink? Can I just draw your attention to the lack of checked wallpaper and the smell of fresh paint? I even managed to hound Loverboy into making a photo wall for me, instead of having them all higgledly piggledy over every surface. Love love love it!

Wise up to yourself!

4. The 'rents are in Vienna this week- for the past few years we've all clubbed together and bought them a city break for Christmas, because apparently they've enough ornaments. They'll have the feet walked off them and my dad will take about 1000 pictures of old buildings which will never be labelled, and now I've got that Midge Ure song 'Vienna' playing in my head. Which randomly reminds me of a psycho I knew in college who properly stalked him! He found out where he lived in London and actually went over there and hung around his house like a bad smell-this was all pre-internet too- he'd done all his stalking research by post and phone for goodness sake! I remember listening to him talk one day and just thinking  'You're a Nut Job! Why would ANYONE want to stalk Midge Ure?'

5. We're off to the Caravilla but I've mixed feelings because it means we're going to miss the GAA festival weekend right here at home. There's a local 'Strictly Come Dancing' -closed rehearsals have been going on for months and the competition is FIERCE! There's also Bingo, a big Sunday morning breakfast but I'm most gutted to be missing Con Jovi on Saturday night. I know it's not the same but I'll just have to put on my 'Slippery When Wet' album up at the caravilla instead.

6. You know what's coming, don't you?.....Here's this week's Booster Seat Boogie. Enjoy every long haired moment, skinny jeaned moment and do have a fabulous bank holiday, whatever you're up to, Emmaxx

Living with Rory

(Casually).  'Mummy, I'm going to need my school jumper washed.
I had to use it to clean my brush when I was painting my 'Mary' picture in school today.'
                                                  ......................

(Inquiringly) 'Mummy, is it rude to put your middle toe up to people or is it just your middle finger you shouldn't do?'
                                                 .........................

(Chancing his arm) 'Mummy, I've got a big ulster and it's distracting me from doing my homework. Look!'

That Old Thing!?

I've been a bit hit and miss on the blog over the last few weeks. My problem is never a lack to things to talk about-  (Yeah, Yeah, I know!)- but a lack of time to get sitting down and say them. It feels like we've been dismantling our house (or parts of it) and putting it all back together again...only somehow it feels different..in a good way.

 Its been an upheaval, no doubt about it. There's been a run of late nights, dust everywhere, loads of clearing and now I've a huge pile of stuff for a car boot sale, another  for charity, another for my sister. And of course there's still all the other day to day stuff that needs doing too-kids' routines REALLY get in the way of home improvements. BUT, before you write this off as a moan fest- it's actually okay!  More than okay- it's great! I'm enjoying feeling motivated because for so long I just didn't.

In fact, it  reminds me of my camel coloured coat (Bear with), that I bought years ago when we were living in  US. It was a really good, warm, full length one and every time I wore it my mum unerringly scolded 'That coat'll take you anywhere- I don't know why you don't wear it more often'. But then I  lost a bit of weight and anyway, camel didn't coordinate well with baby sick, so it hung in the back of the wardrobe for years and years. Too good to get rid of, too 'granny mush' to wear. There it hung t until a year or so ago,when I went along to a clothes revamping evening and finally saw its potential. A few weeks later and my old bag lady camel coat was 6 inches shorter, with a cheeky half belt on the back and I've hardly had it off my back since. I fell back in love with it again (sidenote- it also happens to work fabulously with leopard print so what's not to love?)

So anyway back to the house-  what I'm trying to say in a hopelessly roundabout way, is that sometimes you CAN fall back in love again with a thing, or a place or maybe even a person-even if you think that ship has sailed and your bags and your heart are packed up-just by seeing it in a slightly different light. Then, if you're really lucky, you look around and slowly it dawns on you why you fell in love in the first place.

 One lovely evening last week,  I glanced out into our garden and counted nine children- mine and most of our neighbour's - all playing there together. From toddlers to teens, they were just swinging, climbing, talking, bouncing, scooting....if ever I needed a decision affirming moment, then that was it.
In fact, the only thing that could possibly improve on it would be leopard print carpet on my stairs and landing.... watch this space!

Not my stairs...but it COULD be!

Silent Sunday #50

Friday Quicktakes

1. Oh my goodness- I'd forgotten how disruptive and messy home improvement is! It's been a week of making tea and small talk, peeling off wallpaper, washing curtains  and cleaning up dust. There's been no space for homeworks,  the tv remote and phone have gone AWOL and we've eaten breakfast for dinner.  Midweek my kitchen looked like this and I wondered if we were mad in the head to pull down perfectly serviceable wallpaper & replace it with utter chaos. But just a few days later and we're definitely coming out the other side. There's still loads to be done but its now it feels brighter, fresher..and mine! Who knew a lick of paint could be so therapeutic AND the effects last longer than a facial and massage!


2. The paint will barely be dry when we host our first party this afternoon. Talk about up to the wire! Luke's birthday party has long been scheduled for today, and I'll admit to being a teensy bit concerned earlier in the week as to how I could possibly throw a party for 20 kids amid such chaos. Now, let's just say I'm quietly confident we'll be able to pull it out of the bag-if 'Sleeping Bunnies' doesn't cut it, 'Gangnam Style' surely will and with a Percy Pig cake and sweets thrown in (thank you M&S!), sure we'll be grand!




3. On that very same note- my baby is three!! Three! A babe no more, he's now a fully fledged, potty trained (this never gets old) chatty little toddler-man. Even though we have our power struggles from time to time-he believes he's the boss of me and vice versa- he's my shadow and constant companion.

Tired out!

This week alone, I've been dragging him from one carpet warehouse to another, and still he turned to me and said 'Mammy, I just LOVE carpets!'.... which is just as well because we hit another two places in the afternoon.

The little gent

I really love this age, more than the baby phase if I'm honest...the problem is it flies by far too quickly! You turn around and suddenly they're big boys who run outside to play without a cuddle or even a backward glance, and I know that someday he will too...but not just yet. Happy 3rd birthday to my funny, stubborn, beautiful, brown eyed boy xx


4. This week's Booster Seat Boogie has to be a song which will always remind me of our Lukey, most especially the words at the very beginning. Unlike our first four, we decided to find out we were having a boy on a wet day late in 2009...then this song came on the radio on our way home. Enjoy and happy Friday my lovelies, Emmaxx