The Fridge Photo as instructed...

English Mum challenged us all to a picture of the innards of our fridge -see hers here - EM's fridge photo and yes I decided to oblige and provide a photo of my own. Sadly mine came out all blurry and now Jess has the camera in Spain, but I love the idea and I am going to post it anyway!



















And if you are wondering about the funky arrangement of "things" ABOVE the fridge, that can be another Friday photo, an in focus one next time, so now how about the DOOR of the fridge next Em??

Fine Young Cannibals

In the OLD days....when I was YOUNG my little sister was MAD about Roland Gift....remember Trace?

In other AWESOME news, my friend Lizle starts her new job today - so best of luck to you AND I read on another friend (Melissa's) facebook that her scans got the all clear - a long fight bravely fought and won, CONGRATULATIONS. Have a great weekend everyone, with all this fantastic news it can only be good.

Acclimatising...

I stepped out of the office today after a hard days work and marvelled at the wonderful balmy evening that greeted me. It is light out when I leave work now, and still light by the time I get home -just! I walked home feeling fantastic and even noticed buds on a lot of the trees, spring .. she is coming! Then it dawned on me, if I was still in good old South Africa I would be moaning as to how cold it was... 8 Celcius, I must be acclimatising!

Slices of life...

Remember the new budget I moaned and griped about? Well I am loving it! Yes really. The groceries are comfortably within budget and my entertainment allowance has stretched remarkably well. I even managed to buy an outfit while out shopping with Jess, a real girlie something for a change - I love that leggings are back and got a dark grey pair with a nice dusty lilac dress, makes a change from jeans, don't get me wrong I LOVE my jeans but every now and then it is nice to wear a dress.
I also have an odd sense of power and achievement sticking to my budget, I am even beginning to think that maybe just maybe I can squirrel away some of my entertainment allowance so that I can have extra money for my hockey tour to Blackpool in May.
Of course it is only the first month but considering I thought it was going to be real tough going I am so pleasantly surprised. Taking my own lunch to work every day has helped tremendously!

In other news the weather is still lousy, the up side is that apparently the worse the winter the better our summer will be, so it is lining up to be a FANTASTIC one at this rate.

Kirstin is back in the nest after a fantastic trip to Spain which involved a lot of socialising, skiing, tours, paella (not eaten) very little sleep (surprise, surprise), a new doll (not sure how she managed to close her suitcase) and a brilliant present for me - a mosaic bull, he really is magnificent. Of course I am stressing about how much of her allowance she spent on the little guy. I think he deserves a spot on the blog....not tonight though!

Jess was thrilled to have her sister back, there was even a slight scuffle between the two of us as to who would greet her at the door (I acted like the adult and let her go first) a proud parenting moment seeing my daughters fling their arms around each other in pure delight...
Jess is on the final stretch of her mocks and I must say she has handled it all very well and the stress has barely been seen, long may it last! On Friday we celebrate the end of the exams and Jess has invited her friends to come over to our place for pizza and to get ready for their night out to Wes....pity Malcolm has spent his entire months allowance...the pub could be a welcome solace from teenage girls getting ready for a night out......

Best news for last then....Jess entered the schools art competition and claimed FIRST prize, she was shocked but thrilled and we are all very proud. If it were not for her friend C she would never even have entered, now that is what I call healthy peer pressure!

STARDUST

A magical movie, I was going to post the trailer but then I found this song which also gives a good diea of the movie...

He's Just not that into you!

This morning Jessica and I get to have a mom and daughter morning. She is off to Wes - the rugby club not the school - for a Valentine's dance and she needs an outfit, or so she thinks. We decided to make a day of it and are going to do some shopping followed by a movie - lots of big names let's hope it is good, I do know that it will be a real 'chick flick'. Last night we watched Stardust - it was a brilliant movie and we all enjoyed it, I will have to find a clip on YouTube but time is fleeting and we gotta go!

Beggar on a Beach of Gold

Okat not quite the upbeat Friday song I was after, but I do like the lyrics...

Winter Wonderland

Yes, even through the office windows it was MAGIC. The snow came down in BIG FAT floaty flakes and it was absolutely awesome! What a sight, the walk home on the other hand was anything but, no wellies for me, just runners with breathy bits - enough to cause me to fear the length of time it takes before frost bite sets in -seriously people, I could not feel my toes. There was a bizarre stinging sensation, but semi numb at the same time and I got a little scared...OKAY I am not such an idiot, but it was SERIOUSLY cold. Of course Little Miss Clever had no gloves or hat today but she marched on fearlessly and made it to tell the slushy soppy tale.
In other news, Kirstin made it to Spain, sadly the Dublin airport closed a while later and so the French students missed their departure to Disney Paris, I think Kirstin was patting herself on the back for the Spanish language choice today. She is in her element - we have been told not to text as it is too expensive (who do you think pays the bills?) and she is well impressed with the dinner arrangements so far. They all go off in little groups for dinner and meet up later...party in room 401 (so we were told via EXPENSIVE text) may SOMEONE be looking out for them....that's my girl!

Globe Trotters

And she is off! My BABY is winging her way to Spain tomorrow - Madrid to be geographically accurate. Malcolm or I have to be up way before the crack of dawn to deliver her safely to school for a 5 am departure on the bus. We are still waiting for her to decide who the lucky one will be. I had already volunteered my services as I could not imagine NOT taking her as I have always been there waving the bus off for tours, but she burst my little bubble by informing me that she might want her dad dropping her off, now she is in a quandary as to who should take her. Jess prepared a farewell dessert of strawberries and ice cream in a wafer basket and we were chatting about the upcoming trip and she said, "Two years ago who would have thought that we would be off to Europe on a school tour?" Too right....
The packing has been done, chocolate purchased, clothes co ordinated and perfumes selected, my baby is certainly growing up. She is so excited because they are staying in a hotel and she gets to share a room with her friend Ellen. Have fun Kirstin and make lots of fabulous memories to last a life time, oh and PLEASE look after the camera, and try not to stay up too late!

Jessica follows in Kirstin's footsteps in 9 days time, but she is going to Léon Spain. She is a bit more nervous as she is staying with a Spanish family for a week, it should be interesting apparently they have dogs, cats,a horse, squirrels and turtles quite the menagerie, not to mention 3 sisters and 1 brother (part of the menagerie?)...they had better look after her, we get to repay the favour in March/April and our hospitality could go either way.....KIDDING!!!! The kids have exchanged pictures, Jess sent a couple of family ones and we had such a laugh because she emailed Jessica in English and said:
I leave you some pictures of me because of my family just got old.
We had a good giggle, but as Jess says she has probably had a good laugh at some of Jessica's mails too! So Jess, have fun too and live a little, but not too much!!! Make some moments to remember, and yes you can also use the camera!

Snow!!!

Finally. After many promising weather reports it really did happen, we got snow. We woke up yesterday morning to a fine white dusting and flurries of stuff coming out of the sky. I opted for my car to get to the luas - reluctantly as I am really battling to shift this Christmas weight and walking to the luas HAS to help somewhat, but I digress. The roads were slippery and the drivers all very sensible, some overly so but Malcolm and I made it to work and back unscathed. A lot of the snow was actually like polystyrene balls, teeny tiny snow balls falling from the sky, and no it was not hail because they were sort of bouncy and soft, not hard. Weird.
This morning most of the evidence has been washed away by rain but our flower bed against the wall has not succumbed to the elements and it is still all pretty and white - so yesterday it really did snow!

The Good Doctor

On an on you will hike, And I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems whatever they are.
You’ll get mixed up of course, as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s a great balancing act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

Dr Seuss

Waiting your turn

I was standing in line at Aldi on Sunday afternoon and there was a young girl in front of me with a bag of potatoes. The lady in front of her had a trolley full and she told the little lass to go ahead of her. I was really pleased to see that because if I have a load of stuff and the person behind me has one or two items I always let them go ahead of me too.
Enter grumpy old couple.....an elderly lady asked the man behind me (he had 5 things) if she could go ahead of HIM as she only had TWO items and was in a big hurry...he politely declined as he was also trying to make a speedy exit. We had paid and were walking to the car when the woman's husband marched up to the five item man and gave him a severe (and very loud) tongue lashing for not letting his wife go ahead...I was absolutely gob smacked! Obviously the older couple were not in so much of a hurry after all, as they had plenty time to go looking for the unsuspecting man. I was absolutely shocked at their audacity, I would have understood them being a bit upset if he had a trolley full, but he WAS ahead of them and only had three more items than them.