The One that Got Away....

I don't know what the weather's like with you, but here its horrible - a freezing, windy, rainy AND its January AND a Monday.  The sort of day that you remember on a typically wet, but somewhat average day in April and think, 'Well, it could be worse! It's not as bad as THAT Monday in January !'

On the upside though, ('cos there's got to be an upside...there HAS to be), and in no particular order, January is at last nearly over,  Loverboy gets back from India this week, AND Luke has just produced an impressive load in his potty. (It took a day and a half of near constant sitting, but still, it's progress and I  KNEW you'd want to be the first to know!)

So just because its Monday, and I'm still on a poo high, and  feeling uncharacteristically benevolent as a result, I'm going to tell you a story that will make you feel good about yourself. If you've ever felt like a less than perfect parent, as I do most days, then this will definitely make you feel better.  From now on, you can think to yourself, 'Yes indeed, I may well have been fairly rubbish at this parenting lark today, but thank God, I'm nowhere near as bad as that Unfit Mother one!' Hence the name, which although may have started out as an LOL play on words regarding personal fitness, has wound up being unsettlingly prophetic.
 
Here we go-a week or two ago, not long after Luke had started potty training, he was having a spot of bother with the old number twos. (Oh whoops, I forgot.... he still is.) Anyway, on this particular day, and despite hours of sitting, there was nothing happening and he was becoming distressed but  then things finally got moving. Hurrah! After several rounds of applause, and the ritual waving off Mr Poo, I put Luke into a nice warm bath. And when I say bath, I actually mean sink. (We've got a big, deep kitchen sink which all resident and many visiting babies and toddlers have been regularly bathed in).

Anyway, all was good in the hood until it became clear that the previous job was not entirely finished, and to cut a long story short, and despite immediate evacuation, we had a code brown on our hands-a rogue floater in the bath water. Well, these things happen, but of course, I sprang into action, dealing first with an hysterical Luke, then with the bath water and offending floater, and finally cleaning the sink with bleach and antibacterial spray, and that was that...or so I thought.

Later, as it happened, we had a birthday party for Rory's 7th birthday, so we'd a houseful of kids, and my sister, sister in law and Mum were also here to give me a hand. First was a disco, (which was actually just  'Gangnam Style' played over and over),  Pass the Parcel,  Musical Statues and then it was time for the food. So far so good.

It was at that point, after I'd put a movie on and the kitchen clear up began, that the unfortunate discovery was made by my sister Mary. There was soapy water in the sink- she'd been wiping down the work tops - and when she let it out, she called me over and said 'Look, maybe it's just me, but this sink smells like shit. I mean, not just a bit smelly, ACTUAL shit.'

Distant alarm bells began to go off in my head, and I felt myself begin to twitch. 'What? What? What'd you do?' So I told her...and when she wrenched out the plug- you know one of those big metal ones that usually stay in and catch the debris? Well, below that, and lodged snugly in the plug hole was a  second, ever so slightly bleached, pebble of poo. There, it had happily remained all day long while I filled and refilled the sink..you get the picture.

And even though I can assure you that a MAJOR deep clean followed, I understand that there's just no way back from that. So the only upside that I can dredge from the entire sorry scenario, is that YOU can now go away with a spring in your step and a freshly renewed confidence in your own vastly superior parenting skills, secure in the knowledge that there's MUCH worse out there.....Yes, I'm leaving now. Emmax




  I've joined up with Sarah Miles at Hello Wall today-go on over and take a peek at the rest! 

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

All roads lead to...

So we're home now from the Caravilla, having just done a three weeker up there, and a very fine time we had too! After a washout week weather wise over the 12th, THIS time I went prepared- as in, I  ditched the heels and pashminas for welly bobs and a raincoat! (Before you ask, OBVIOUSLY, I still brought a makeup and jewellry selection-that would be a step too far.)
As it turned out though, this time we were SO lucky with the weather, that the wellybobs didn't even get a wee turn! The kids lived in shorts and t shirts, the sun (mostly) shone, and life was good. If I've learned one thing about Donegal summers, it's that just because it's pouring in the morning, doesn't mean you won't be sunning yourself and skinny dipping that afternoon... and vice versa. Once I realised that, I actually began to like it, because it forced me not to plan too far ahead. I tried to just let the good times roll with the weather, because Irish chances were, we'd probably be listening to the rain beat off the roof later on!

Our 'The Hills are Alive' moment

But anyway, now we're home, and the house seems MASSIVE and our bed super duper luxurious! (Now, dont get me wrong, the bed in the caravilla is cosy and snug..... but more than a tad vertically challenged, and a teensy bit too compact and bijoux pour moi on a long term basis.)
And don't even get me started on the emotional reunion with my bath! Having been bathless for three weeks, it was SUCH a treat to fill it with Jo Malone bubbles and sink into it, Grazia in hand. Showers have their place-they're functional and fast- the hygiene equivalent of a rocky bar, or a penguin, or possibly even a club milk, but a bath...well, it's a really good caramel square, or a slice of home made coffee cake. There's simply no comparison. One scratches an itch, the other is an itch all of its own!

My usual morning walk

And yet....after a day or so, the novelty of baths and beds and space has begun to wear off, and I find myself missing the beautiful simplicity of life in the Caravilla. The way that after the few days it takes me to wind down, real life with its many pressures, appointments, to do lists  and complications begins to seem very far away.
And the simple things like a walk on the beach, or the sun on your face, or the sound of the waves, can bring a contentment you only get to appreciate away from all the hustle and bustle.
It's probably something to do with the fact that the summer is drawing to a close, and although we'll be up again for a few weekends, our long stretch there is over until next year, and that makes me a little sad. The days are shortening again, a new term is looming and the mundanities of school shoes, hair cuts and potty training are on my immediate horizon.
Soon the long, sunny summer days will be only a memory...(And a hazy one at that, because obviously I'm already forgetting the quare bit of torrential rain and the numerous times we shook our heads muttering 'It's desperate- you'd think it was November! Sure you wouldn't live here unless you had to!')
But where there's a yin, there's a yang, and a whole lot of good stuff is coming up for us too. My little sister is getting married in a few weeks, and my brother and his lovely family are coming home from California for the celebrations. My other sister's new baby is due at the very same time, (although fingers crossed, Junior won't make an appearance till after the ceremony, because like me, she's signed up to be both bridesmaid and wedding singer!) And then, after all that excitement and family time, at the end of September, I'm off to the MAD awards in London ... and 3 whole nights away with Loverboy! As I said,  plenty to look forward to.
So here's to the end of one season and the beginning of another....but, hold on, not quite yet, it's still August after all.

Be my Valentine.......

And that's an awful lot!

Twenty two years ago today, I sent a Valentines card to a boy I'd enthusiastically kissed on New Year's Eve. Three days later we went out on a proper date for the first time. Still at school, barely eighteen, looking back we were only babies. Fast forward to right now, and we're an old married couple with a house, a mortgage and five kids to show for it. So I'm sure that you won't be surprised to know, that Valentine's Day means something very different now than it did all those years ago. Then, it was all about the grand(ish) gesture. Whether it was flowers, a cuddly Garfield or heart shaped balloons, it was important to me and, I suppose, to our identity as a couple, that Valentine's Day didn't pass unchecked. But that was then, and this is now, and life's very different and we're no longer eighteen. Please don't misunderstand - I'm not saying for one moment that I don't love getting flowers (all types except chrysanths and NEVER from a garage), and chocolates (you can't go wrong with Lindor), but I don't NEED them on Valentine's Day.... Gestures of love change and evolve along with a relationship and although the BIG GESTURE is very exciting, it's just the icing and not the cake. What's far more meaningful for me, are the countless little gestures on the ordinary days in the ordinary weeks that tell me I'm loved. Like getting into bed and finding my blanket already turned on, or my nightly cup of tea brought in on a tray. It's getting up with the kids at the weekend to give me a lie in, and then making breakfast in bed.  It's holding hands while watching the News or having a bath together late at night. It's being told that I'm beautiful with greasy hair and no makeup, and letting me warm my cold hands on his back. It's defrosting my car on a freezing morning, or quietly filling it with petrol just so I don't have to.

My card this year-the bar has been raised!

This everyday romance of ours may not be dramatic or spectacular or the stuff of movies, but it's the glue that keeps a relationship alive amidst homeworks and laundry, bills and school runs. It's the real deal. So a Happy Valentine's Day 2012 to my one and only Loverboy and here's to many more....