Good Friday Quicktakes

1. Much as I adore shooting the breeze here with you, my lovelies, today I don't have much time so I gotta be quick. To start with, the kids are all off school and are high on Easter excitement and thoughts of Easter Sunday's impending chocfest. I've discovered several of the boys just gazing at their impressive stash of eggs with a certain far away look in their eyes-clearly lost in a reverie of unadulterated gluttony. Neil Young must surely have been thinking of Lenten promises when he sang ' Good times are coming, but they're sure coming slow.'

2. Speaking of which, I've been less than exemplar in regards to my own Lenten challenges. One by one they fell by the wayside, EXCEPT my self imposed Facebook ban, which truthfully, was the toughest of the lot for a l'il ol' social network queen like myself!
What can I say? The first week was the worst - I HATED being out of the loop- I mean, I'm still on Twitter obvs, (Sure, the Pope himself is on there!), but it's just not the same. After that tricky first week though, I got used to it and I'm glad that I did it...but no, I' won't be doing an about turn, and preaching on about how I now appreciate real life conversations and the old fashioned telephone so much more, because I don't. Truth is, I probably went on Ebay a bit too much, texted friends a good bit more, and now and again, peered over Loverboy's shoulder when he was on FB, but that's about it. Yes indeed, you can all relax now, because I'll be back again on Sunday with bells on, clogging up your news feed and generally making a nuisance of myself. (I can hear your groans from here!)

3. We're off to the caravilla for the Easter break. Now, I don't know how long we'll stay (possibly only a few hours if its REALLY Baltic), but its the first trip of the season, and that means MAJOR packing. Here's what our sunroom looks like right now AND I'm only halfway through, which is precisely why I'm dilly dallying around here chatting with you.
The real bummer is that even when the car and trailer are packed to the neck, and we set off like Duffy's Circus, the work's only half done. When we arrive, there's the caravilla to be cleaned, the unloading and unpacking to be done AND it'll be feeding time at the zoo again too.
As tempting as that sounds, I've a good mind to load them all up and quietly sneak back into the house- with a bit of luck,  they won't even notice I'm missing until they're over the border and I'm half through a bottle of Oyster Bay and the second series of Dallas.... a girl can dream!

4. Assuming that won't come to pass, I'm packing plenty of books, magazines, a 1000 piece jigsaw and the entire first series of 'The Killing' to bring up with me. Oh, and of course, wine, chocolate and ...my knitting. Or more accurately, my beautiful jewel coloured, Cath Kidston wool, with the metallic red knitting needles, (who knew!), presented in a beautiful 'book' tin.  Unfortunately, there's no actual knitting in there though,'cos I can't actually work out how to 'cast on'. I tried last Saturday night (party on, dude!) and despite reading the 'Knitting for DumbAsses' booklet from cover to cover, and desperately, SOS ing  Mr Google, I simply couldn't do it.After about an hour of trying, the terrible truth dawned- my horrible HE teacher was right all those years ago -I DO have special needs. (Specifically, 'senile' was her word of choice.)
I looked so forlorn that even Loverboy felt sorry for me, so HE asked Mr Google, and even with half a bottle of Cab Sauv in him, managed to cast on and was smugly clickity clacking away within minutes. Ouch! So, last chance saloon, I'm taking it with me to the caravilla, giving it one more go and THATS IT. Maybe I'm just not a knitter? Alternatively, I may start up my own Stitch 'n' Bitch , cos even though I might not be too good at the first bit, I flippin' excel at the other...even if I do say so myself.

5. Finally petals, I just wanted to say thank you for all the votes over the last weeks in the MADS. It's all done and dusted now until the Awards in Septemeber, and don't I have a wee trip to London to look forward to now, thanks to y'all. So, win or lose, thanks to you, I'm feelin' the love.
 Oh, and a very Happy Easter too- whatever you get up to, may chocolate play a major role.(Easter wishes don't come much better than that now, do they!)

6. Finally finally, I'm renaming Luke's 'Boogie in the Car Seat' to 'Booster Seat Boogie', (on account of him reaching this vehicular milestone). Now, I know I've gone a bit 80s on you the last few weeks, and to prove  I was waaaay cooler than that, I was all set to treat you to David Guetta's 'Titanium' (which incidentally I love walking to!)... but then this came on the radio and I was lost-it used to literally gives me goose bumps back in the day. Turns out, I'm not remotely cool after all....but you knew that. Enjoy-you can thank me later. Happy Easter peeps xxx

Carry on Camping!

With Cliff Richard back in mothballs, and Union Jack cupcakes half price, it can mean only one thing - Jubilee weekend has left the building. Then again, the best thing about a lovely long weekend, is the wee hop to the next one! Eight year old Cormac, has actually pronounced this to be his best week EVER - off school on Monday and Tuesday, school trip today, Family (so not!) Fun night on Thursday, and sports day on Friday. No doubt about it, summer's just around the corner.
On that theme, the big news around here is the decision to procure a mobile home,  because as those of us with larger than average families know only too well, unless your name is Brangelina, the bigger a family becomes, the more holiday choice dwindles. So called 'family deals' to sunny climes assume a neat family of four and not an untidy seven, and despite California dreamin', family holidays for us in the forseeable future, will probably involve renting a house somewhere in Ireland.
 Reluctantly, we ruled out the possibility of owning a second home, mainly because most of our first belongs to the bank,  but recently we began to flirt with the idea of a mobile home instead.  Now, everyone reliably informs me, that these aren't the mobile homes of old. No chemical toilets, plastic floor strips, folding tables and nasty tie backs, these babies are mini palaces, with central heating, double glazing, flat screens, en-suites, and huge wraparound decks! A home from home..better even.
So, it was with high hopes that we called at two suppliers yesterday. New to this game, it's a learning curve for me-for instance, I didn't know that the suppliers had ties into the sites themselves. You have to buy exclusively from them, and you can't buy any old piece of tat either. Most sites have a certain standard, and vans of a certain 'vintage' aren't allowed. With the recent recession, these rules have relaxed somewhat, but they're still very much the norm and some sites are stricter than others. Honestly? Between you and me, I wasn't nearly as gutted as Loverboy upon learning these particular guidelines. Oh aye,  I tut tutted along with him, but inside I was thinking 'Thank Feck for those snobby site rules, because God only knows what seventies flashback we'd end up in otherwise!'
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand his reservations about spending a fortune on a depreciating asset, especially as I'm not what one might call the outdoorsy type. A wardrobe of running shoes and fleeces make me slightly queasy, and when an experienced caravanning friend happily confided that she didn't bring any jewellery  at all, as though this was a good thing, I don't mind telling you, I was shocked. I mean, how much space do you need for one or two statement rings and a few key pieces? What's next, no make up?
But back to yesterday's window shopping. I had just spent a delightful half hour en route imagining myself, reclining on a plush sofa in my new 'holiday home', glass of Oyster Bay in hand, surveying our children frolicking  in the sand, through my double glazed floor to ceiling windows. Any lingering doubts, about my not being  cut out for this sort of holiday, had magically melted away. On arrival, greeted by the sight of rows of shiny new mobile homes, I was only too ready to embrace this new shopping experience. Our stipulation was a 3 bedroom, the bigger the better, not brand new, but definitely not old either. The owner nodded thoughtfully, then led us down through the park, passing lots of lovely, very acceptable looking vans....but he just kept on walking,  past row upon row of these glossy specimens, until he came to the back corner of the site. THEN he took out his keys.

What he's thinking....

What I'm thinking.....

Aghast, I looked at Loverboy, expecting to see the same horrified reaction, but no, he was already climbing enthusiastically  into the first rust bucket. 'Come on in, love. It's really very spacious.'

 'I'll give you spacious, as soon as we're back in the car', I thought, because it was suddenly very clear to me, even before I gingerly peered into the tatty, grubby interior, that he'd had a quiet word about certain unrealistic expectations and necessary budget restraints. Standing there in Caravan Siberia with tumble weed blowing past us, you probably won't be surprised to learn that we didn't reach an agreement yesterday, but negotiations are ongoing, so watch this space!


Today is the very last day to vote in the Mad Blog Awards! If you'd consider voting for me , just click here and pick me in the Family Life category! http://www.the-mads.com/vote.htm
It only takes a sec, and thank you very much!

Thinking out of the box

Here's my little workman on the job! Despite the fact that I only asked him to sweep up the inevitable rogue Cheerios after breakfast, he found it necessary to utilise his new (real!) tool kit. A particularly stubborn piece of cereal had glued itself to the tile and after preliminary attempts to unstick it failed, the big guns were called in and a Stanley knife carefully used  to prise it off. Job done and what a guy! The workman's bum was simply a delightful bonus!

Speaking of boxes, it doesn't seem to matter how many toys are available, there's always a scrum  when large cardboard boxes appear. Here Luke shuns traditional seating to watch TV in the comfort of customized cardboard. 

This week, the two youngest boys upgraded to the increased square footage of this bijou studio. Many happy hours have been spent relaxing, eating and conversing, all within its cardboard confines. Their favourite game is to take it in turns to be the 'present' while the other unwraps it with delighted (and quite realistic) surprise. It hasn't got old yet.... not for them anyway.
Have a great weekend. What's that you say? What am I up to? Well, since you ask, Himself and Myself are off to the lovely Nuala and Stewart's wedding today, followed by an overnight stay and that elusive hotel breakfast I ranted on about missing a few weeks ago. Oyster Bay stowed in bag for later-check. Bottoms up!