Glorious

Not much to say today except that it is glorious - I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

P.S - I can pretty much correlate the frequency of my posting on this blog to the amount of time Dave spends at home. I'm afraid that the more he is at home the less I seem to get online. How dare he have such an impact on my E-life!

Sleepy Sundays

This is typically how we spend Sundays in our house. Now, if I am being honest - Dave was only pretending to sleep but don't they look cute together! Today was church (twice!) and lots of walks to the park to work on Andrew's football skills. His teacher has told us that he is advanced in his hand to eye co-ordination and sports skills...Dear know where he gets that from!

Yesterday we had a great day - took the train to Belfast and went to St Georges market. It was the food and garden market and has a live band playing every week. My favorite part is that the stall holders are more than happy to let you taste their wares! Then we went out for lunch (courtesy of another of my mystery shopping companies) and came home and sat in the sun - perfect.

Miss me?

Oh - I missed a day! Okay, so I have to admit that when I started this I didn't really expect that I would put up something every day but it was kinda turning out that way. Anyway, now that the pattern has been broken I think I'll stick to every few days because, lets face it, not much happens round here!

Today was glorious - I wish I had taken my camera to the park today (on one of the 3 occassions I was there!) We had great fun playing football and just messing about - I love it! So glad that spring has sprung. I am a fan of long winter nights aswell but today reminded me how much I miss the sunshine. Long may it last.

My investigation on the picture is going nowhere. Here is what i know:
1. The picture is a lithograph designed by a dutch lady called Charlotte Reihlan
2. It was brought to England and subsequently translated by Gawin Kirkham
3. My version was printed by Marshall, Morgan and Scott in the late 19th century but they printed a number of editions.
4. The mention of a companion picture is only made on this edition so I have no idea if it is by the same lady or just on the same theme.

I will continue to look.....

Got a task

Today I've assigned myself a task (yet another way to avoid that pile of ironing) and this is what it is:


We have a picture in our house, that used to be in our old house in Derry Road, called 'The Broad and Narrow Way' I love this picture - it use to be in my bedroom and I would look at it all the time. Anyway, along the bottom of the picture it says that there is a companion picture called "The Pilgrim's Journey", so I have made it my mission to find it. Now, in this day of information at our fingertips I figure this can't be that hard. However, I have already drawn a blank on most of the places I would normally look. So I guess I'm going to have to be a bit smarter. I will keep you updated.

Not much else to report today. Dave's coming back on the 8:10 flight from Leeds tonight so that's pretty cool. Looks like he will be getting a bit more work in Belfast too so I might have to get used to being a full time housewife as opposed to just a weekend one!

Sleeping Babies

8pm, two sleeping babies and I'm about to head that way too.

Who said that sleepless nights only lasted for the first year? Rachael had me up every hour last night. I have no idea why - we tried Calpol, Neurofen and the secret recipe stuff from Colhouns chemist in Strabane - in the end, I just put her back in her cot and listened to the cries. Either she fell asleep or I did!

So I'm making up for it tonight with an early night and a hot chocolate.

The creche today was good - only had one little girl, Ellie, to mind. She was so cute and really good. She was only 18 months old so our language differences (Her Chinese and my English) were not a big issue! Neither of her parents speak much English to her at home so I'm hoping she'll pick up some at the creche which will make life easier for her when it comes to school and stuff!

That's it - I'm wrecked!

A new week

Monday, the start of a new week. Now, most people don't like Mondays but I love them. Now I know that you are saying - "That's because you don't work, Janine" - and you are probably right! I just like getting back into the routine of life and the predictability of the week. Does that sound dull?

Anyway, today was a little different because Dave didn't leave until this afternoon so he was able to leave and collect Andrew from school - a big treat for both of them! Tonight was Boys Brigade for Andrew so Rachael and I had our late night shopping trip to Asda to kill time. Actually, it was so freezing cold tonight that we took the car instead of walking - I'm a bit worried that we'll have slates off the roof tonight - it's wild out there!

Tomorrow, I'm running a creche at church for a group called "English Corner" which teaches English to people who....well...don't speak English! Anyway, I'm looking forward to it - it will make me feel useful. Also, doing some mystery shops to earn a bit of pocket money.

Today is MY day!

Mothers day - what a great invention! So, today I've had a great lie in, had my dinner made for me and been showered with lovely gifts - including this that my wee Andy made at Sunday school....

And this from Dave....

(Sorry - had to use the camera on my phone today and it's rubbish - I'll charge the other camera for tomorrow!)

Now you may wonder why I would get excited about a cake stand but I have been going on about one for ages. It's not that I bake, or even buy, that many cakes - it's just that every now and again, I love the idea of having proper tea from a teapot, with a cup and saucer and cakes on a cake stand! I also got perfume (Initmately Beckham - it's as close as I'll get to looking like Victoria) and a "No1 Mum" teddy...Ahh.

We started booking our summer holiday today with flights to Rennes for 2 weeks in August - I feel like we are only back from our last break but the summer will come around fast so it's better to get on with it!

Saint Patricks

I was also not going to post today when I was reminded it was St Pats (Thanks Jude!) and so I should do my bit. I think the green font may be as far as my celebrations go however as I am feeling a little deflated after watching the rugby. Those of you who are interested know what I'm talking about and I'll not bore the rest of you. Still, 2nd place is no shame and the boys did us proud!

So, I'm just cooking up some spagetti carbonara for dinner as requested by Dave (aren't I a good wife!) and settling in for a night in front of the fire. Dave has been telling me how happy I will be with my Mothers Day present tomorrow so I'm quite excited - I did remind him about it a lot this year so it looks like it will have paid off.

I will let you all know!

Happy St Patricks Day

5 things

It's 9:15am - kids are at school and nursery and I've got my "me" time. Now, if I was the perfect housewife, I would use this time to clean, iron, wash, cook.... but I'm not, so I use it to surf. I haven't much to say this morning but in the spirit of keeping this thing going I'll fill it with some lists, just because I love lists:


5 Things that make me happy

1. Rachael using every object she picks up as a phone and saying "Hiya"
2. Andrew squeezing Rachael's cheeks and saying "She's a wee squishy"
3. Dancing in the kitchen
4. Walking...even in the rain
5. Time alone

5 Things that make me cross/stressed/sad
1. Cooking meals for my family who then say "I don't like that"
2. Flying anywhere with my kids
3. Things not going my way.....selfish but true!
4. Political correctness taken to it's extreme
5. Slow internet connections!



Oh, here's something interesting - we got a new car this week. It's official title is an Audi a4 1.8t (160ps) quattro and for all you car crazy men, here's a picture:

However, even more interesting than that was how Andrew and I killed time while Dave did his negotiating - all 3 hours of it! I cleverly turned the only tool I had - my camera - into a game and we took photos of each other. Needless to say, I will not be posting any of me on here, but here's one of the better ones of Andrew.

My angels

There they are, the wee pets. That was on a blackberry picking day trip to Cairn Wood last Autumn, hence the tell-tale purple stains round Rachael's mouth.

Day1

Hmmm - what to say?
I'm documenting my life for the sake of posterity - well, to be honest, I 've been reading a few other peoples blogs and I find it so insanely interesting that I thought I should at least give it a go.

So here I am.

In my kitchen with my little chick-a-dee Rachael toddling round me. She's 15 months old and has been walking for a grand total of 2 weeks. However, she is surprisingly good at it and will no doubt be fast enough to run away from her big brother very soon.

And thats it for today, gotta break myself in slowly. But I will be back - with pictures and all the rest.