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!

Monday, Monday!

September was a bit bonkers around here-there was the hen weekend, the  wedding, the  birth, the London trip, and that was all on top of the usual September ramp up  -a new academic year, classes, schools, settling in, extra curricular activities...so between one thing and another, I was definitely ready for a quiet weekend, so very ready!  And thankfully, for once we had no major plans or commitments,  just an easy weekend at home with the fam.

But as so often happens, it didn't work out quite like that .. don't get me wrong, still good, but just busy good. I spent Friday purging yet another wardrobe- mine this time (everyone else's is finally done-yay!), so now there's a humungous bag for charity, another one with for my sister to have a poke through, and a lovely tidy winter friendly wardrobe for me. (Hello, Oh lovely boots, how I've missed you! Au Revoir, open toes and sling backs, we'll meet again in the Spring!)

Saturday, after doing my walk, (my first this week- bold girl), I went to the Big Bus for my very first mammogram. Yes, you read that right. Its a (questionable) perk of being a lady of a certain age you see - my boobs are now deemed old enough to have their picture taken. 

The Big Bus

I'd been chatting with a couple of my friends who'd taken the plunge, so to speak,  and very aware that I'm woefully neglectful about giving the girls a once over once a month, I thought I'd treat them to the works. So I rang the wonderful Action Cancer in Belfast, and found out that by complete coincidence, the Big Bus was in my neck of the woods on Saturday afternoon, so it was as handy as popping out for the paper. If a little more revealing. ( It's a great service- the Big Bus offers mammograms and health checks and covers the whole north of Ireland, so there's no excuse not to go just because, like me, you live in the sticks.)

 The lovely radiographer kept me right-she explained everything and put me completely at my ease. Saying that, all sorts of inappropriate thoughts popped into my head, like 'Thank God for under wired bras!- in my case, they have their work cut out for them, and 'The lighting is soooo unflattering in here....or am I really that blue/ white colour? The radiographer reassured me that at this stage, she'd seen every shape, size and variety of boob there was to see, (I'm paraphrasing-she put it much more professionally than that), and therefore she was utterly unphased. 
The actual mammogram was a wee bit uncomfortable as the machine squashed the ladies a little, but definitely not sore and it was all over in a few minutes. Job done!
Then, it was off with our oldest three to visit my mum in hospital-she's okay-on the mend and thankfully nothing too serious. This was followed by a quick grocery shop and a trip to KFC for a Big Dipping' Bucket as a Saturday night treat for the kids ...and a 'no cooking' treat for moi!
 Except that when we got home and opened it - it was chipless! Not a single chip, just industrial amounts of chicken...and dip.  Well, quite understandably, there was a great deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth, but they eventually all settled for toast instead, and after a phone call to KFC, I even secured a complimentary bucket for next time, and suddenly life didn't seem so bad after all. 
 Sunday, we had Loverboy's family here for dinner- two sittings- seven children, then seven adults - a quick mop of the gravy off the table mats and we were good to go.
 I don't know about you, but I've found that it's easy to have good intentions about getting together, but then  weeks and months fly by and life gets busy and complicated and before you know it, it's Christmas again and where did the time go? So it was so lovely just to talk and catch up- we lingered over coffee and (kindly gifted) dessert and the kids played all afternoon. 
 Before we knew it,  it was 6 o'clock and we were straight into the Sunday bathtime/school lunches/uniform sorting and was  the weekend over already? Almost, but not quite- there was still Downton in bed with tea and chocolate to look forward to! All in all, a full productive, fun weekend...and anyway, sometimes quiet is soooooo overrated! 

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!