Tattoo Anyone?

My lovelies, I've something to share with you and I don't quite know how to say it so I'm just going to say it really fast - I'MTHINKINGABOUTGETTINGATATTOO! Thinking about it, haven't completely decided yet but seriously considering it. I know what you're thinking, and yes, I'm getting a distinct whiff of midlife crisis about the whole idea myself, but is that a reason NOT to do it?

Because this isn't something that I wish I'd done when I was younger- Oh No! I was the goody two shoes who wouldn't even get her ears pierced twice, never mind get a tattoo and I remember saying, with all the sweeping arrogance of my twenties  'Oh no! Imagine getting it now and then going off it. Or worse, being eighty and ancient and all wrinkly with a tat!'

Now though, and (only just !) past the midway to eighty point, I think 'Feck it! I don't care if I'm eighty with a wrinkly tattoo.' Frankly, I think I'd just be happy to still be around and I rather suspect my concerns would be more about being healthy, living a good life and loving my family, rather than worrying what others thought of Granny's tramp stamp.

Anyway, the cheeky, bold and utterly thran part of me (yep, it's there!) might even be inclined to flaunt it on occasion, just for my own amusement you understand, at the chiropractor's office for example, or the bridge club or even in the Classic department in Marks and Spencer's. Who knows? And one might even argue, that it would hint at a life lived fully... chances taken.... being comfortable in ones own skin?

 First, of course there's the very important decisions of what to get and where to get it, and this is where I'm a bit stuck.  I thought about getting it on my upper arm, but there's NO WAY I'm drawing more attention to the bingo wings - I need arm spanx for those bad boys, not a tattoo.

So I thought for about a microsecond about getting one on my hip or my stomach, but only when hell freezes over would I allow a tattoo artist anywhere near my 'zone'....and anyway, I'm blessed to have acquired a few 'natural' tattoos there thanks to five big babies.

Are you sure????

And as for doing a Cheryl Cole- puh-leez! I mean, what's the point when no one would ever get to see it? (Loverboy doesn't count.) For goodness sake, I couldn't even see it myself without a full length mirror and I'm fairly certain it would cost an arm and a leg to get my (rather more ample than Cheryl's) derrière  covered with roses.

Sooooo, so far I've narrowed it down to three body parts-the back of my neck (which you'd only see when my hair's up), my ankle or my inner wrist. I'm thinking fairly small and discreet- no giant spider webs, reptiles or anchors. Oh, and definitely no writing in languages I don't understand, which always seems a leetle bit pretentious, and anyway it could be list of groceries on there and I wouldn't know the difference.

I kinda like it!

I think my problem is, knowing what I don't want but not what I do, but I'm pretty certain my lifelong love affair with leopard print or shoes isn't likely to wane anytime soon, so that seems like a good bet? I may even combine the two?

 Or perhaps something more meaningful- like a few inspiring words or one with a family oriented theme? Or maybe I'm just over thinking it and a butterfly or a star or a cute little dolphin would be just the ticket.

So there you are, Peeps, I've put it out there and now I'd really love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the matter-for or against, I don't mind! And as long as it doesn't include my birth date in Arabic, a Chinese proverb or a dripping bleeding heart, I'm open to any and all suggestions as well.
Laters lovelies, Emx 

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

Let Them Eat Cake!

If there's one food group that I'm VERY partial to, it's cake-that's ALL cakes.....except fruit cake- I can take or leave that. It's funny because biscuits and chocolate can stay in the cupboard for weeks and I can be relatively restrained-the only exception being, as you well know, a good caramel square-but as soon as cake makes an appearance, I'm done for. It calls my name, no one elses, only mine over and over, until every last piece is gone.

 So wisely, because I know this about myself, I very rarely buy or make cakes, and if I do I force feed them IMMEDIATELY to the children, and any visitors or delivery men who happen to call, just so that it won't be crying for Mama come supper time. I'll be honest with you though, birthdays are tough, and we have not one, but two here in January. And really, is there ANYTHING nicer on a cold, wintery night than a bit of Gok, a cup of tea and a wedge of M&S Madeira with balloon icing and jam and cream in the middle? I think not. Except possibly a generous piece of M&S chocolate caterpillar cake, preferably the face part, but at the very least one or two chocolate feet thrown in for good measure? (Yes, I DO favour M&S as it happens- it's THE best-just trust me on this, cos I've tried 'em all!)

An added complication of the January double birthday whammy is, as usually occurs, the boys' actual birthdays fall midweek, while their parties are scheduled for the weekend. You see where I'm going with this? That means not two but FOUR cakes, and I'm feeling quite faint right now just thinking about it. I've tried to think of ways around it- perhaps buying a boring old cherry cake, or a Christmas cake on sale, just to do our 'family' parties, and that way I'm not tempted to have even the smallest piece. But seriously, can you imagine? I'd be run out of the house before I got to the 'For he's a jolly good fellow!' part if I tried to fob them off with that..and rightly so!

What disaster?

Whoops-a-daisy!

This year for Rory's birthday, I decided to make a cake for the family gig and he requested a 'jam' cake, (my old nemesis the Victoria sponge), so I dusted off my Kenwood and got cracking. Actually, I used to do a fair bit of baking, but now I blog instead....and it shows. There was a teensy bit of a hiccup, as you can see, when the whole top of one half refused to come out of the cake tin. (In these circumstances, I automatically blame the Aga, but truthfully, I should have just greased the cake tin properly.)

It's wonderful though, how a buttercream filling, ( NOT margerine-cream), good quality raspberry jam, and a bit of icing sugar over the top, can pull a would be baking disaster back from the brink, and the end result was deemed a resounding success.... and not just by me! So good in fact, that Cormac specifically requested it for HIS family birthday party the following week, which has sadly been and gone, but I've PROMISED to do it this weekend instead. Hmmmmm, and that would be the weekend before Lent begins.....which is surely cake free....so stick the kettle on- I don't mind if I do!

Show and Tell

You know how I love a bit of jewellry bling?  I know, I know, probably more than I should... probably more than most...and definitely more than might possibly be considered tasteful. Welllllll, its taken me time, but I've gradually learned to accept, and even embrace it, because when you look at it, it's really a lifelong affliction of sorts, most likely incurable and getting progressively worse with age. 

So it should be no surprise to you, that when I was let loose to shop on Oxford Street last Monday morning, I went a wee bit mad on the old jewellry front. Not,(blessedly), in Harrods or even Harvey Nicks, but in lowly, Irish born and bred, Primark (code name Prada), H&M and Uniqlo. Be still my beating heart, because when my eye fell upon these little beauties, I found myself actually shaking with excitement...shaking, I tell you!  

IRL,  I'm utterly rubbish at playing it cool. If someone says, 'Oooooh, I love your bag! Where'd you get it?'
 Instead of calmly purring 'Oh this old thing? London, darling!', I gush excitedly and tell the truth. 'Marksie's sale, £80 down to (silent drumroll in my head) £20!' 

Given that tendency to overshare, I just HAD to show you my newest little trinkets.... and I won't even make you guess the prices!  And even though I can't see your face right now,  I sincerely hope it's wearing a suitably impressed expression. If its not....I'll just pretend it is! Brace yourself for a blingtastic Thursday....

H&M- £9.99

Prada £8 (necklace) £3.50 (ring)

Prada-£8

Orla Kiely for Uniqlo scarf -£9.99

Proving you can't win 'em all...my £1.50 purple knuckle duster bit the dust on it's first outing...ah well!

All that glitters....

Yummy Mummy Meme

Okaaayyyyy- yesterday I got tagged in this Yummy Mummy meme by Cakes, Babies and Other Ramblings. Of course, being relatively new to the whole blogging world, I had to then frantically google 'meme' to find out what it actually was, and on the off chance that you're interested, here it is!

 First off, apparently it's meant to rhyme with 'theme', but as I've been happily rhyming it with 'gem' in my head instead, it's only gone and stuck like that. At times like this, I'm very grateful for potentially less embarassing virtual conversations.

 In science, a meme is a self-propagating unit of thought, that is spread from one host to another. Richard Dawkins invented the term as a kind of idea-gene. Like genes, as Memes spread they mutate or die. Only the fittest Memes survive.

 In the blogging world, Memes have become synonymous with internet quizzes, surveys, and novelties that people link to and pass around on their blogs, and popular ones are often interesting and give you an insight into different peoples thoughts and behaviours. And perhaps a little more cynically, they're also about links to other blogs and potentially getting new readers for your blog too! Of course, in my case that could totally backfire..... but here goes nothing!

The Rules
 When answering the questions, give as much detail as possible. It's all about the finer details people! Leave a comment Here  (BusyBee blog where the meme was created).
Tag three or more people and link to them on your blog.
Tweet # yummy mummy when you share on Twitter.


 What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Much as I'd love to say that I begin my meditation, the truth is I usually cop a feel of a sleeping Loverboy and then stagger to the bathroom to do something about my dog breath. ( TMI?)

  Do you shower daily?Are you an early morning shower or an evening bath type?
Jeez, is that a trick question? Surely the only answer to that is 'yes', otherwise you'll be calling me a right minger. I have to say though that I like to mix it up a bit - when I go for my early morning walk, I shower straight afterwards, although this is generally a speedy affair because our two year old insists on opening and closing the cold shower door on me the whole time. Otherwise, I love a long lazy bath after the kids go to bed- peace, magazines and a glass of wine and I've died and gone to heaven.

 Do you wear make up daily? 
 Mostly yes....except sometimes when I'm sure that only my nearest and dearest will set eyes on my pale and freckly bake. But then that's never the case is it? Sod's law means that as soon as I decide to do a Waynetta, perfectly coiffed and manicured friends pop in unannounced.

 What's in your make up bag?
Right now, I'm mad into BB creams that, to be honest, seem very similar to tinted moisturizers, only Grazia says they're more moisturizing(?) and have better sun protection, and that's good enough for me.  Either way, I look better with them on. That and a slick of mascara and lip gloss for day time.
If I'm going out though, it's time for the big guns. I LOVE my Naked 2 pallet from Urban Decay, all things Benefit and my Lancôme Doublewear lip duos. (I don't mind telling you I was GUTTED last year when they stopped doing my favourite 'coffee' one-I mean why they couldn't have retired the manky coral one instead, I do not know.)

 When you're having a slummy mummy day what do you normally wear?
 Waaaaaayyy too easy!  Jogging bottoms, a sweatshirt and my fleecy pink leopard print crocs. (Yes, you read that right.) Can I just say in my defense, that on these days I DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Although people do tend to call.(see above) 

Nails - how often do you get them done?

Like this, except with diamonds as well...

Almost never. Funny you should ask though, right now, I really fancy leopard print toenails with carefully positioned diamonds on. I'm currently sourcing a nail technician...because, quite surprisingly,  it turns out that not everywhere does it. But school's almost out for the summer, and I feel the need to fortify myself with fabulous toes- more is more, I say. (And no, before you ask, I'm not getting vajazzled as well.)

 Your top tips for tired eyes?
 Bloody hell- sleep of course! If that's not possible, and it's usually not round here, Benefit Ooh la Lift eye brightening boost is almost as good.

 Are you a Starbucks or Costa Coffee kind of girl?
 Both and all the others as well! I adore coffee shops and would happily set up home there. Free wifi, endless coffee and lots of cake- what's not to love? Now that we live in the country, I don't get my skinny latte (extra hot, extra shot), as often as I'd like, but I suppose that only makes me appreciate it more when I do!

 How many children do you have/want?
 I have five- four boys and one girl and yes, they are all mine and we do have a TV.  But I think that'll do us, thank you very much! 

 Where is your favourite place to shop for babies/children's clothes?
 Mostly online. I LOVE Boden, especially in the sale, but my daughter's getting to old for all the big printed dresses now- booo! Obviously M&S, and Gap too, and Primark's fab for jammies, socks and vests. Having four boys means there's a lot of passing down the line, so I find that the good stuff tends to last longer. Buy cheap, buy twice and all that...

 Flats or heels - everyday shoes are?
Heels, heels, heels! I do love the look of flats on other people, especially the ones adorned with jewels or Converse, but when I put them on,  I feel and look like a farmer. The only flats I wear are the aforementioned crocs, flip flops and running shoes. Otherwise, it has to be a least a wedge. Does that make me a bad person?



 As you can see, I was obviously tagged by mistake, as I'm clearly NOT a yummy mummy but too late! Now, in the spirit of the meme, I have to tag three fabulous ladies and hope they don't give me the cold shoulder...
 Sarah @ http://www.apartyofseven.com/
Another Sarah @ http://www.thevoiceofsarahmiles.com/
Dara @ http://mumofalltrades.blogspot.co.uk/

Summer Dreamin'

Come to Mama.....

I don't know about you but once Christmas is over and we're plunged headlong into a cold, dark, overdrawn January, I start to dream of summer. I suppose that I should come clean and openly admit that surfing holiday porn,( along with shoe porn), is one of my all time favourite pastimes. It calms and clears my mind, just the way meditation or yoga might do for you. Every week the top holiday deals land in my inbox, and with one short click I'm chilling out in a blue skied fantasy, somewhere fabulous, cocktail in hand.

 But here's the kicker-having five kids not only severely cramps your holiday style, it kills it stone dead. Yes, like oil and water, an insatiable appetite for travel and a much larger than average family size, do not mix. It's something you don't think about when you stare down at those blue lines for the third, fourth or fifth time. Oops! Bang goes our relationship with Thomas Cook for the next twenty years! For 'family' holidays don't cater for your average woman living in a shoe- they cater for the 'happy meal' family of two adults and two children and not the 'Extra Value meal' family of two adults and five children. All those free child places in sunny climes? Not for us, unless we deposit three of them at a Travel Lodge en route! (See you when we see you. Let's skype later! Byeeee!)

Most hotels are just as bad. I'm currently trying to organise a family weekend away with my parents, brothers, sisters, their spouses and our collective twelve children (almost half of whom are mine). One local hotel quoted us triple that of my brother's family of five. It took all I had not to politely enquire if they were taking the complete p***!
Owning a caravan isn't an option either because they only go up to a 6 berth. Between you and me though, I suspect that I'm not cut out for caravaning anyway. I've tried to like it over the years because I know that I should- it's so family friendly after all....but I just can't. I hate rolling up beds and sleeping bags and walking in flip flops across wet grass with a toilet bag under my arm. And it's SO off putting trying to eat breakfast while watching men file past, their turd filled pullalongs bouncing along behind them. And what of the prospect of a little 'summer lovin'?' Let's just say that the cosy proximity of 5 children is a most effective deterrant. Enough said. 
Another problem is to fly us all anywhere is so expensive! I was quoted €5000 for us all to fly to Boston this summer to meet up with family on Cape Cod, but as this didn't include car hire and accommodation, it's back to the drawing board. Last year we did take the children to Canterbury to stay with my cousin. We flew into Gatwick, and as I went into the M&S to stock up on wine and goodies, Loverboy took the 5 kids to pick up the minivan we'd rented. As I came out of the shop, laden down with bags, I stopped for a moment or two to organise myself. A policewoman standing close by came over and asked me, totally unprompted, if I was looking for a man with five children. (Cue instant internal vanity panic ' Do I look like a mother of five? What does a mother of five look like anyway? Old? Haggard? I must look like shit!') Quickly composing myself,  I admitted that I was indeed, so she informed me that they'd passed her a few minutes before. With a certain amount of dread, I then asked her how she knew that we were all together, and she replied that she'd noticed them because a man with so many children is very unusual .Then she'd spotted me, and the family resemblance and baby bottle had given the game away. Give that woman a job in MI5!


The Griswolds off to Wally World- at least it's sunny!

 I know we're not THAT unusual though - most of my friends have four children, a few have more. It's just that I suspect we're not found en masse in airports very much- we're in a 4/5 bed rental in rainy Donegal. Or in Kerry as we were last year, which was, in the kids opinion, our best holiday EVER. Jude did his 'All about me' powerpoint presentation in school this week and stated that it was his favourite trip, the only minor downside being the wood lice. Only downside? It was a damp, wood lice infested shitty dump with no dishwasher or microwave, an ancient cooker and plastic settees. Oh, and it rained so much that we came home two days early. And yet....the children reminisce about the beach, the picnics, the boogie boarding and the fish and chips. Go figure!
So maybe it's high time that I wound my neck in and instead felt grateful for the fact that my children, maybe more than their mother, know what really counts is time together ..and lots of ice cream. And despite the tempting holiday deals, I won't be selling any children on Gumtree this year after all......But I will make absolutely sure that next time we get a rental house, it'll have a dishwasher, a comfortable settee and definitely NO wood lice!

Lounge Lizard

I do so love this interlude between Christmas and New Year, which inevitably arrives for me not a moment too soon. Just as my head is about to explode, and I'm ready to call Christmas off completely, along comes a week where the livin' is easy, the TV is stellar, the chocolate and wine are plentiful and the elasticated waist is my NBF. Yes indeedy, that new loungewear set you got for Christmas? It's about to come into its own, my friend. (sidenote-hats off to whoever took the lowly PJs, doubled the price and sold them to us all as loungewear - genius!)

Mine, all mine!!!!

Now that the leftovers have been covered with cling film, and the industrial amounts of packaging are stuffed into the recycling bin, its time to sit down with a reheated mincepie or three, surf the sales, watch 'The Wizard of Oz' and turn a resolute blind eye to the numerous selection boxes being quietly consumed beside me by my offspring. I'm enjoying a gentle stroke of  my new hairy leopard print iPad cover, (You gorgeous thing! I shall never tire of your beauty), while luxuriating in clouds of new perfume, and wearing my new wedge heels with my Jammies....just cos it's Christmas.
As a stocking filler,  Loverboy had thoughtfully bought me piles of magazines - 'Cosmopolitan', 'Company' and 'Marie Claire'. They're all far too young for me of course- I just can't muster up the interest for 'decoding his body language' (I'll just cut to the chase and ask him), or even in oglying the naked Christmas 'Mc Fly' shoot. (Manboys just aren't my thing). So I'll quietly change them for the more age appropriate 'Grazia' and 'She' and even (eeeeek) 'Good Housekeeping'- more spanx than spandex I suppose! The contrarily twisted irony is, that if he HAD bought me a subscription for Good Housekeeping, I'd have been bloody raging- it would have been the equivalent to unwrapping a new ironing board. (Is that how you see me!!!!!!)

In the same flattering vein, was the too small underwear I received- (36C as opposed to my more generous 38DD), and the compliment was all the richer for it. Admittedly though, had he unwittingly erred on the larger side, my reaction may have been decidedly more chilly. In truth, half the pleasure of this gift is perversely imagining him wandering aimlessly around the lingerie section of M&S, desperately avoiding the eye of the helpful matron with a tape measure round her neck, praying he won't bump into anyone he knows, and fumbling to pay and get of there as fast as possible....Yep, still loving it!
So, in the immortal words of Freddie Mercury, thank God it's Christmas, and consequently my plans for the rest of the day will be full on between  programming the sky+ for the week ahead, having a bath, reading Hello, eating turkey on toast, and drinking wine. And not necessarily in that order. But first, it's high time I slipped into that loungewear.......