New home for new beginnings.

I have moved. Yep new name blog for my new experiences, because as Malcolm pointed out, this blog has served its purpose and my new journey has begun. So, I do have a new blog address and if you would like it please email me at natsrule at live.ie (and yes it should be @ but hoping this avoids junk mail) as the new one is a little more anonymous. I am not sure if Malcolm plans to keep this blog up and if not I think it will be deleted in the next month or so as I have exported the current contents to my new place, pop over and visit!

Look what the wind blew in!

I am sitting on the couch looking at the tip that is my lounge. If I needed a reminder that it is 'my week' with the kids a quick peek into my living area is all the verification I need. Like the seasons can be identified so can my weeks. When the girls are here it is like a messy breezy autumn day and books, shoes, bags and clothes look suspiciously like they have been blown in by a mighty wind. I think that must be the case, surely two girls cannot create such havoc? And then I see that more has been added, a scarf, gloves, hat, coat, handbag and the daily Metro...was that really me? Then the tales of the day get told, dinner gets eaten and I kinda forget about the state of things.
So yes, I have a week of chaos and this is followed by zen like peace and tranquility and a tidy house. I think it is the best of both worlds, just as the peace and quiet gets to much the bags, shoes and laughter return.
All this talk of wind, it must be because it was SO very blustery today. I walked out of the apartment to a wall of rain and wind which immediately picked a fight with my polka dot pink umbrella, turning her inside out and destroying a couple of joints. Somehow I manage to flip it back to normal but the poor thing is destroyed. I will continue to attempt to keep my head dry under its flailing skeleton for a while, after all it cost me £20! In all fairness though, the wind was so strong this morning that it actually even snatched my beanie off my head in some sort of cheeky game and I was sent running down the street after it..grr. I have to say I would prefer the wind WITHOUT the rain!
But I cannot complain because there is something very energising being blown about in such mad conditions. The weird thing is that it is not that cold, I was out at 22h00 collecting the kids from a school play they were watching and it was 14 degrees!
Tomorrow night I am playing in a hockey match, I really really hope the weather has settled by then!

Musings

A few lessons I learned this past
week...

Don't lose the lid for the milk bottle in a confined space. Yep, the recycling bins are inconveniently placed in the car park basement. This is very handy for regular motor vehicle users, but as a staunch supporter of the local bus corridor my car does not get to stretch its wheels very often. On a Wednesday however it has a little outing to the hockey club which also means a visit to the recycling bins. Now as the bins are near the exit and I am always in a rush I put all the recycling in my car and empty out on my way to the exit. Tonight the lid popped off the empty milk bottle in my car, the bottle that has been empty and in the warm apartment since Monday. LOVELY.

I can play hockey for 2 and a half hours on a cold, damp windy night. I went down to hockey to practice with the Vets at 19h30 and we ended up playing a match against the thirds. After that I was rearing to go home but Mandy and I decided to stay for the thirds and fourths practice so hockey continued until 22h00. Considering I only got home from work at 19h00 I was pretty pleased with myself.

Focus Ireland is a fabulous charity. Last week a whole bunch of us from work volunteered to paint a house and clean up a garden for the charity. It was a fabulous experience and was made very memorable when our 6 foot something MD managed to put his knee through the €1800 glass top hob while painting the kitchen. The thought running through everyone's mind? Thank goodness it wasn't me. Anyhow, the charity does great work in Ireland and I think what they do benefits all of us so thanks muchly.

To swine flu or not to swine flu..

I have swine flu. I am eating like an oink. I am not sure what it is but what I see must go into my mouth, croissants, pastries, ice lollies, cashew nuts, pizza, bananas...i could go on but I think you understand my predicament. It did not help much when Kirstin taught me the fine art of drinking tea through a twix, yes astonishingly it does work, unfortunately you need a LOT of twix to get through a cup of tea! Of course with all the input I then have to ensure a certain amount of output and so I found myself walking home in blizzard like conditions in the dark, to ensure that the Twix does not find its way to my ass, especially because the pastries already have.

Now Jess did have the H1N1 virus - and that would have been rather handy to contract. With H1N1 you CANT eat, I reckon they call it s-w-i-n-e flu to reduce the street cred's of the marvelous side effect of the virus. If everyone knew that you could lose up to 3 kg's (ask Jess) not many people would be buying anti bacterial wipes now would they? Of course I kept a safe distance from Jess, using my polo neck jersey as a barrier - she was not impressed but in all fairness I had not discovered the merits of swine flu at that stage. In all seriousness though, I did NOT actually want o get sick, shame Jess really was not well but I must point out that considering how contagious it it meant to be, none of us got sick.

Sweet and Sour

Sitting in my car at the traffic lights, and notice that through the darkened window of the BMW x5 in front of me little hands are waving. Of course who can resist waving back at friendly children and so I smile and wave, not that I can see much but the small hands through the windows! Next thing there is a notebook but I can't read it, I use the international sign language for 'I can't see what that says' and the notebook is shoved against the window with the word SWEET in big bold letters and it hits me. The game my children used to play when they were little, if the driver smiled and waved they were sweet....and yes a grumpy unmoving person was sour! Wow time sure does fly, now my children are as tall as me, gone are the little hands and rosy cheeks peeping up from the back seat. SOB!!!

Am I back?

Oh boy, I really do battle to find time to blog, in fact it is so bad that I was going to delete this monologue of my life but my girls begged me not to. Instead I closed it for a while, invitation only without inviting anyone. Sorry. I am not sure I am back, no promises that I am actually going to start spewing out irrelevant stories again.
Life has had some interesting turns, no internet at home for a week at a time, weird! The girls spent 10 days with Malcolm while his folks visited from SA, very odd for me, I missed them a lot but it was also quite a new experience not having to rush home after work every day, not feeling bad tearing off to hockey practice on a Wednesday etc.
Overall life is still good and I am still playing hockey, have had my first Vets festival committee meeting and have made some fabulous new friends, lost a few old ones and realised how lucky I am to have such strong unwavering friends in my life. My favourite saying "some people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime" has never been more relevant.
Back? If not on my blog then in my life you betcha!

When the sun shines in Ireland...

It is heaven on earth. I am sure I have said it all before but amuse me, won't you? There really is something special that happens on this green isle when the sun shines. The traffic jams to Brittas Bay are horrendous, so don't do that, instead head out for a walk up the Dublin mountain and sit on the rocks overlooking the sea and the land below. On your walk up every person who passes you by will nod and smile and say hello, hi, hey or some form of greeting they particularly like. You will pass people with dogs, people bending over the hedgerows filling pales with black berries (wish I could say big fat blackberries but they are not genetically modified up there) and marvel at the way the light filters through the forest bits of your walk. Or get up early and head for the beach or go further afield to Wexford if you like....just DO NOT stay home and do the chores!
I reckon that in SA we get so used to our fabulous weather that we take it for granted, here a sunny day is a gift, a thing to enjoy and boy oh boy we do.

Bagless

Engrossed in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the bus this morning and my phone rings and I am rudely yanked from Hedeberg Island in Sweden as I hear the panic stricken voice of my youngest....
She got off the bus and left her school bag behind, a rather ingenious way of avoiding the dog ate my homework excuse, only the bag was a brand new Roxy one and she was not a very happy young lass.
I sprung into action, luckily Jess had her bus ticket so the number on the top right corner helped dispatch contact the driver who confirmed that Kirstin's bag was on his bus.
The fact that I had done this all before for my eldest ensured a sleek operation, only this time I had to go to Donnybrook garage to collect the abandoned bag. Last time we just met the bus on its return loop, very handy that was! BUT having said that I felt a true sense of belonging when I hopped in the car and headed for the Donnybrook garage this eve without my sat nav! Silver linings on every cloud.

Forms of torture

Hockey season has started again, I did play summer hockey and had a fabulous time, scoring three goals per match towards the end of our short season and feeling like a real pro, okay an IMPROVER is more accurate, but hey this is my story!
That is until I ventured out on a cold and wet Wednesday night and reality came tap tapping. I am not very good at the drills, in fact I wanted to lift a corner of the astro turf and hide. The weird thing is that once we started playing, unfortunately only after 1 hour and 15 minutes of humiliation, I was actually quite good. I thoroughly enjoyed getting soaking wet and having rivers of water running into my eyes, slippery grip on the hockey stick and soggy shoes. It somehow added to the satisfaction of going out there and getting some exercise!

After all that running around I decided that a more gentle approach to exercise was a good follow on and so S and I took her Scottish terrier for a walk up Kilmashogue, a poorly timed walk it has to be said. We met at 7h30 and began our ascent with Alfie happily leading the way. At 8h15 we decided to turn around and head back as the evenings have shortened alarmingly and we found ourselves stumbling back in near darkness towards the end of our descent! Of course we had Alfie for protection and S and I did not feel the need to speed walk, or jog on our way back to the cars, at least we got to appreciate the sights of lit up Dublin spread peacefully below us. I think form now on our mountain walks will have to take place on the weekends and when the urge of an evening walk attacks, we will prowl the streets of suburbia instead.

New Beginnings

This post has been postponed and put off for a very long time but I guess I have to bite the bullet and get it over and done with. I think I have not been blogging because things are so different now and even though all the important people in my life know about this, it is still a very awkward topic that will hit a nerve with loved ones. I also do not want to upset anyone with posts, but I guess at the end of the day reading what I write is a personal choice.

Simply put I asked Malcolm for a separation and after a year I moved out into my own apartment and started a very new and foreign journey. The girls have been absolutely fantastic and although I am sure it is difficult for them they have settled well and are very encouraging and supportive.
I am not going to say much else about it, as it is obviously very personal but perhaps after getting this out the way I can return to blogging with some enthusiasm, instead of treating a hobby I used to enjoy as a duty and a chore.

Eureka! Ikea.

Armed with bottles of mixed cordial, CD's and the promise of lots to look at, the girls and I made our way along the M50 to the new Ikea in Ballymum. We were happy enough to wait in the long queues to get into the car park, in fact we had decided that it would be part of the whole experience, and at least I knew I would not get 'Are we there yet?' because they would actually be looking at Ikea while stuck in the car!
The amount of QT we ended up getting would make speed dating on telly look slow, it took us a horrifyingly quick 10 minutes before we were in a parking space slamming the doors. Oh well.
The store is massive, I heard on the radio that it is either the size or Croke Park..or twice the size, considering 80 000 people fit into Croke to watch Bono and the gang...that makes Ikea rather humongous.
We meandered around upstairs in the show area - they even have a 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartment fully kitted out in Ikea, pretty cool.
Lunch was a mere recession busting €10.70 although admittedly the order was 3 fries, smoked salmon, brown bread, 2 juices and a coffee (free refills on drinks) but still!!!!
All in all it was a great day out and we will definitely be going back for mattresses (if my Internet research can unearth some good feedback), book cases and anything else we might need in the near future, oh and maybe, just maybe LUNCH!

Get on your boots...

And walk down to Croke park for the final night of the U2 concert! We are lucky enough to have FOUR tickets for Monday night in our little paws. Getting the tickets was....interesting. See we really, really wanted to go, so we logged on to Ticket Master using all three computers, feeling very very clever...until we discovered that when Ticket Masters website sees multiple log ons from the same IP address you can't get tickets! Needless to say we had a highly annoyed Mr Rule and a very sheepish Mrs Rule...it had been my idea to attack from three fronts after all. So...we missed out.

Of course when Bono heard what had happened, and that the RULES had missed out on tickets he said that he simply could not perform in Dublin without us being able to experience the magic and so it transpired that a third date was added to the Dublin tour. Now this is all top secret, Dubliners think that it is because he likes playing to his home crowd. In reality he had to sell another 59996 or so tickets or it would not have been financially viable for the band...

So yes, tomorrow night we are taking two very lucky teenage girls and four very, very expensive tickets (that is ANOTHER ticket master disaster involving panic and the option - Best seats available, and had NOTHING to do with me this time) to the 360 degree tour with The Script opening...who just so happens to be a band we really enjoy too. Lucky, lucky US.