Friday Quick Takes

• Remember my iPhone? The one that had the broken screen that then SOMEHOW, (ahem), ended up with everything except the screen broken? Well, the saga continues because apparently, the new screen was, (as luck would have it!), faulty and that's what's been causing all these problems... but now a new screen is winging its way here as we speak, so by the end of this weekend all should be tickety boo on the old iphone front. At least that's what my resident repairer of iPhone screens confidently assures me, and as I don't actually have a plan B at this point, I'm running with the 'faulty screen theory' as well.... Stay tuned for a (hopefully positive) update.

• November is traditionally the season of parent teacher meetings around here. A few years ago with four in the primary school, I had to run frantically from one ten minute slot to the next, with six month old Luke in tow, and I'm not sure that I heard very much at all. So this year, with just the two middle boys at primary, and a more manageable toddler, it was easy peasy. It would be fair to say that I was a teensy bit more apprehensive about what I'd hear about one boy in particular-his approach to the whole school thing in general is 'Less is more', but I needn't have worried, it all went swimmingly. Next up are the older two at the big school and that's a whole different kettle of fish. Gone are the laid back chats of primary school -this is an endless wait in a winding queue for 1 minute of teacher facetime, x10. The only possible way is to divide and conquer, and here's a tip-watch out for the opportunistic queue jumping that goes on among some of the parents-totally shameless!

• Staying on the school theme for a moment, I overheard six year old Rory asking this question about Jude's head teacher- 'Is Mrs Animal Tin a very strict teacher, Jude?'  To which Jude spluttered 'It's Mrs Hamilton, Rory!' 'Yes, I know,' says Himself surprised, 'that's what I said!'

• Finally, here's a picture. It's an escaped cow on the road to school this morning and it caused quite a bit of drama-The steady stream of cars (relatively speaking, you city folk!), slowed down and gave her a wide berth on their way past. Presumably though, the farmer was eventually notified and Daisy returned to her field to chew some cud with her buddies again.                                           

• Finally finally, I thought I'd let you know that I'll probably not be around here as much over the next few weeks. The truth is, the Christmas preparations are SERIOUSLY getting in the way of shooting the breeze with you, and I don't want blogging to become a chore or something that I HAVE to do, because then it all starts to feel a little stale. And who am I kidding, you'll probably be so busy yourselves, that you'll not even notice, but I just thought I'd mention it anyway. Have a good weekend, my lovelies, Em xxx

Monday Moan

I'm tired today and I really don't feel like chatting much. My mouth is sore- I got that dental surgery that I was telling you about last Friday, and although not in terrible pain, I  feel a little bit rundown.

There's lamb mince in the fridge that needs  to be somehow woven into shepherd's pie for tonight's dinner but I just can't face it...not yet. Maybe after another coffee.

My iPhone's currently broken and I feel like I've lost a limb, which makes me annoyed at myself for caring so much, and very pissed off at a certain Loverboy who broke it in the first place.

But there I go, you see, because that's actually not quite true. I broke the screen and not for the first time either - it was on my knee, I forgot it was there, and when I stood up, the concrete got to it first. What an utter klutz.

So Loverboy went online and ordered me a new screen (£25), which he fitted yesterday using the specialist tools he'd bought following my  previous breakages. Only this time it wasn't so simple, and three hours later the screen looked great but now the rest of it didn't work. Which, of course,  I took REALLY well. (Translation-I was a complete bitch)

Later I apologized, (kind of), and then he cheered right up when he clocked Ginger Spice on Piers Morgan. Which obviously was my 'kill a fantasy' cue, because the next words out of my (sore) mouth were,
'You DO know she's not a proper redhead, don't you? That hair's dyed off her-she's actually mousy brown.'  And I then proceeded to ignore the look of surprised disappointment on his face. And felt not even the tiniest prick of guilt.. Nothing. ...Nada.

So I DEFINITELY wasn't going write anything today, because who needs to hear from a grumpy cow like me on a Monday morning anyway? But then, with typical contrariness I thought, 'Well tough luck, it's MY blog and I can write whatever I want on here and it doesn't have to be just the fun and happy stuff and no one HAS to read it anyway!'......... and it'll put off the ironing and shepherds pie making for a little bit longer too.  And wouldn't you know,  the stupid thing is, I feel a bit better just by getting it all down on (virtual) paper.

And if you've stuck with me to the end of this snarky bad tempered rant, then you're a much better person than I am....so thank you. Normal service will, (if I feel like it) resume shortly.

I've joined up on this post with the fab Sarah Miles at Hello Wall for her Monday Club link.

Monday Club ....in a midweek sort of way!

I'm late for the Monday club, as it's actually now Wednesday, but never mind, I'll be fashionably late and hope they won't notice. What's the craic since I last tuned in?

Wellllll, we had our weekend in Donegal, which was unfortunately a wee bit of a washout. Which isn't so  terribly unusual for Donegal, but irritating because, by all accounts, the rest of the North of Ireland had a perfectly bright crisp Autumn weekend.  Couldn't have been nicer apparently, or so the texts informed me as we looked out at the driving rain and bickered.

I'm telling you, I don't know how the travelling community do it with their big families, and in a touring caravan too! At the very least, they must be world champions at Trivial Pursuit, but I don't mind telling you, my head would be turned. I'd be putting down a deposit on a nice chalet bungalow before you could say 'chemical toilet'.

For us part time caravilla dwellers though, the moral of the story is quite obvious, (so obvious, in fact, that I don't know why we didn't think of it before)-we must remember to check the weather forecast before we go. Genius.  Our next visit in a few weeks is the last of this season-we'll be closing her up for the Winter, (thanks so much for all the tips by the way), and keeping our fingers and toes crossed that the mildew gremlins will stay away.

What else is going on? Well, look away now if you're of a delicate disposition, but I've got a most  impressive abscess in my mouth. It looks like a nasty ulcer but it's more sinister than that, because it's hiding a load of infection in my gum, and jeopardising a few lower teeth in the process. Very luckily for me, one of my BFF's is an oral surgeon, and so yesterday I had an appointment with a colleague of her's for a consultation.

Now I don't know about you, but if at all possible, I try to ensure that any male doctors or dentists I see are....how shall I put this?...fairly unattractive. Downright ugly is even better. You can call me vain or contrary, and yes, I know they're professionals and see these things all the time and are well used to it, blah blah blah, but  if it makes you feel any better at all,  I don't actually SHARE my quirky preference with them.
So, when Dishy Dentist walked in, all dark haired and beardy, as if made to order, my heart sank just a little bit. I was flustered anyway, given the monstrosity on my gum, and what with being in a surgery with needles and stainless steel, so this development didn't help.

On climbing into the chair, I first managed to whack my elbow so hard and noisily off his instrument tray, he seemed quite concerned that I may have injured myself. But it was later, when he had the delightful task of lancing and squeezing the aforementioned enormous gum zit, and then releasing all the horrible yellow pus and then hoovering it up, that I felt the last of my dignity ebb away. I took small comfort in the fact that, unlike a previous dentist, he didn't then sniff the pus appreciatively, expertly pinpointing its exact vintage... but still, it was a personal low point.

And it looks like I've lots more similar dental fun, (that's an oxymoron surely) to look forward to. Surgery and implants have been mentioned ( in the teeth sense, obviously!), but I'm not going there in my head just yet-I'm still working through yesterday's trauma, if you must know.
 The only little silver lining of it all, was that I DIDN'T have to start an antibiotic which would've meant that I couldn't have had a few drinks on Saturday night with friends, so it definitely could've been worse.

(To be honest, I always assumed that the old 'antibiotic' excuse on nights out was just the universally recognized code for 'I'm pregnant but it's too early on to tell you.. stand by for an announcement' scenario.  I've certainly used it a few times myself over the years, so I'm very relieved that I now don't  have to spend Saturday night completely sober AND convincing my tipsy chums that, no, number 6 isn't on the way!)

Other breaking news? I got a new phone cover for my iPhone. Loverboy rolled his eyes to the heavens when he saw it, but I just love it...I  know, I know it's  the opposite of classy and probably entirely too young for me, but I can't help myself. Why, oh why, am I ever drawn to such tack? I'm exactly like a magpie... Or a five year old....if it's animal print, sparkly or even better has my name on it, then I'm sooooo there.

It's an affiction, and sadly worsening over time. In fact,  my (incredibly unattractive) doctor recently informed me that its now so severe, that  inevitably by the time I hit eighty, I'll be resplendant in leopard print lounge wear, clutching a sparkly wand and wearing a tiara. Bring it on, I told him, bring it on!
Till next time, loveliesxxxx

I've joined up with the fab Sarah Miles at Hello Wall for the Monday Club-if you fancy it, you can take a peek at the others over there too!