Reading, Radio and Lots of Coffee – My Little Loves this week!

I’m having a rather unusual Saturday morning here at the Four Walls, Rainy Days house – there was sleep, lots of it, uninterrupted in fact. The joys of E being taken off to a sleepover at his Granny’s house on a Friday night – we got to have a lovely date night, a chance to celebrate some good news we got yesterday, and topped off by a lie in! Who knew this was possible in parenting? Apart from that, it’s been a pretty okay week, a couple of health bits gone bad (thank you athsma for showing up to join the party), it’s been nice having Himself home and getting to do things as our little family of three again. Here’s a bit of a round up of what’s been going on and what we’ve been loving this week – my contribution to the Little Loves linky (from the fab butwhymummywhy) which you can see more of here.

 

Read

Bookwise, I finally got to read “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins. After waiting for ages for the library to get it in – making use of that membership – I read it within 24 hours, unable to put it down, dying to know what was going to happen as I flicked every page. It’s been a while since I’ve been so excited to find out what happens to different characters – I was so disappointed when I realised that because this is her first book, there wasn’t another in a similar style that I could turn to while waiting for her to write another! The main character Rachel does take some getting used to – she’s got some personality flaws which definitely make her more human, but the writing is so cleverly done that you can find yourself wanting to throttle her and give her a hug all in the one instance. I didn’t see the ending coming at all, which is nice, since I have found a lot of thrillers I’ve read in the last few years do turn quite predictable in the last act. I’d definitely recommend it (but you’ve already likely read it, since everyone else has, I seem to be very late to this party!). If you haven’t already, you can get it in any decent bookshop or on Amazon here.
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Blog-wise, I’ve had a few lovely bits that have made me smile and/or nod along this week. This very familiar sounding tale from the fantastic Office Mum made me smile – and look at my uneven fringe caused by Crayola Safe Scissors with sadness – damn you hair that won’t grow back right! While last week she was waiting for her baby to arrive with great impatience, The Airing Cupboard has updated us on her son’s birth story – probably not suitable for work or anyone who isn’t partial to the odd swear word, but definitely an honest no-holds-barred account! On a much less swear-y (but equally as heartwarming) note, Bumbles of Rice was making memories and being the Mammy she wanted to be during her gorgeous post about a beach day this week.

Heard

Absolutely thrilled this week to be asked to contribute to Cork’s 96FM Opinion Line twice – once even as someone who was meant to know what she was talking about as regards parenting stuff – I even managed to get a shout out for this here little blog, which was great. To add to this, I also got a fantastic mention from Darragh Doyle on his web slot on the Moncrieff show last week as a website worth checking out – felt very good to hear people talking about my work, my efforts, in such a positive way. You may have seen more about it here.

Music-wise, these two have been stuck in my head. Two quite different love songs; both very lovely and both make me smile quite a bit.

The first, an original by Irish musician Bry (formerly Bribry) “Staying Together” – it reminds me of a lot of music I listened to in my teenage years, while having an absolutely lovely (and very catchy) message to it as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwuy5sC-yNU

The second one has been one of my favourites for about five years now. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Mr Bublé, and this song has never failed to get me singing along. I’ve found myself singing it to E recently to get him to sleep, which he seems to be taking to (yay!).

Watched

We actually got to have a grownup date night this weekend (two weekends in a row of babysitting, we don’t know what’s hit us!) so to celebrate some good news we got, we decided dinner and a movie was a good idea! We headed to the cinema to see Trainwreck starring the very funny Amy Schumer and containing one of the funniest opening monologues I’ve seen in a while. Very endearing, a nice twist on the norm but a predictable feel good movie with lots of laughs. Check out the trailer, you’ll want to see it.

I also fell into a bit of a Youtube black hole during the week, which you can see more of here. I apologise in advance for any songs that get stuck in your head and will not leave. Welcome to my life.

Wore

This week has been back to a denim uniform for the most part – nothing quite as glam as my wedding guest dress. I’ve been quite liking (to my surprise) these denim leggings from Next which I got in their sale about three weeks ago – a lot of my pairs of jeans seem to have gone into hiding, potentially in fear of all the konmari-methoding going around- so I’ve been semi-living in these with long tops and flat shoes. Simple, effortless and toddler-life-friendly.

 

 

I’ve also been like a kitten with a laser beam all week with a very shiny bracelet which Himself brought me home from his travels, I feel like a very spoiled lucky lady! I’m not a full on jewellery person, I prefer simple things, not clunky costume jewellry (I’ll leave that kind of bling to my Mammy for the most part) and he got it exactly right with this bracelet from Swarovski. (Very, very lucky spoiled girl is how I feel).

 

 

Made

Quite a lot of coffee. My athsma flared up last week which resulted to a visit to the doctor on Wednesday thanks to some lovely dizzy spells caused by not being able to get enough oxygen in when I was breathing. It’s not normally an issue anymore since childhood but when I get run down it does have a habit of kicking in to say hello. I don’t recommend using a zero-gravity treadmill while in this state; it’s not the safest idea I’ve ever had! Because of that, I’ve been put on steroids for a week to give my lungs a bit of a kick in the ass, which when combined with medication I’m already on for back pain has meant NO SLEEP. Because sleep is for sillies of course. I lie in bed and I can’t sleep. So I’ve had one all nighter, two nights of less than three hours sleep and quite a bit of coffee (and some afternoon naps). Absolutely blessed to have the Nespresso machine in good working order – hopefully once I come off these my sleep patterns will be back to normal (rare interruptions from a tiny night time cuddler).

And Lastly…

There have been some really nice days this week where we’ve gotten to enjoy the sunshine and relaxing as our little family of three – yay for Summer actually kicking in. We’ve yet to get a chance to try out the new playground in Fitzgerald Park as the only way I could describe it any time I’ve gone past is “swarmed” with children – E would be a bit out of his depth – but I’m looking forward to checking it out when all the bigger kids are gone to school!

I’ve also had a nice amount of good feedback from a piece I wrote earlier in the week about religion dictating whether or not my child gets a school place. As someone who isn’t sure where she’ll be four weeks from now never mind four years, the adding complications to school applications is definitely not what we need. If you missed it, you should check it out here, and let me know what you think!

 

What have you been your little loves this week? Let me know in the comments below!