I love to go for an aul drive. Hit the minty highway as my Da used to say I have happy memories of my Dad letting down the back seat for us to sleep after a day trip to Dublin. In those days Dublin seemed a lot further away. Continue reading “The Raging Roads”
So motherhood happened. Not once but three times. Yet despite my experience I really don’t feel like a mother nor do I feel like a grown up. It’s like a poster I saw on Facebook. I think they call them memes or something even though I have no idea what that means or how to pronounce it. When a crisis occurs and you look for someone more adulty than you. Woah there Nelly. I’m the adult. Well I must have missed that memo.
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My son told me I was just a kid cause I still had a Mammy and Daddy. And yes he used the word kid. Because, yes he watches too much American television. He even asked me for candy one day. I was like I’ll candy stripe your arse for you and attempted to get him to watch Fraggle Rock on tg4. That’ll snap any Yankee notions out of ya boyo. By his estimation I’m not an adult and I’m beginning to think he’s wise beyond his years. Continue reading “Teenage Delusions”
You have your hands full
These words are directed to me at least once a day. I get it. Three children is a lot. The fact that I’m no longer with their Dad probably makes it seem like more. I don’t do as much as I should from a motherly perspective but between the jigs and the reels life is fairly busy. When they go to their father’s I really do enjoy the peace. The doing nothing way of life suits me down to a tee ( or is it tea ??). In the midst of one of these marathon nothing sessions in which I relish a post that often pops up in my newsfeed reared it’s head again.
The post was a heart felt plea from Cara Rescue Dogs for foster homes for puppies in their care. Now I’m not overly mad about animals and I’m not overly mad about the number 1 and number 2 that comes from said animals. I’m not overly mad on the smell of dog hair, dog breathe or dog farts. That being said my fingers started moving and I was texting and I was having some sort of a turn because the next thing I knew I was going to be considered as a foster parent for two very small puppies.
How the hell did that happen!!!
Sunday afternoon at 5pm after a home check was completed I became the rather petrified carer of two teeny balls of fluff. One brown and white the other black and white. Cara provides everything you need to take care of the pups for how ever long they are with you. All you have to do is love them. Well feeding and watering them wouldn’t go a miss either but you know what I mean.
The best part is the children had no clue and when they arrived home at 6pm tired and hungry after a busy weekend I was gonna reveal two puppies. Sure what could go wrong?
Two minutes after my grand reveal all hell broke loose someon wet themselves there was whimpering and begging and that was just the children ( that joke never gets old). The two boys didn’t end up in bed until ten. Yes, Monday morning was torture.
Once everyone calmed and settled in the lovely part of the experience began. I have never heard the children laugh so much. The TV has hardly been on in days and the house has never been as clean. I’m really enjoying having the dogs as my guests.
Our little fur babies are called Flake and Krispy kindly named by Karla at Cara. My children keep calling her Caramel so Aunty Caramel gave us our dogs to mind. I have explained to them that the dogs won’t be staying and I am fully aware that they will be upset but I’m hoping they will see the good that we are doing. Let’s face it they get upset when I give them the wrong the wrong coloured bowl for breakfast so I’m prepared for the hysteria.
I suppose the purpose of fostering for me is to see if I’m willing to put the work in that is needed to care for a dog. I don’t want to be the type that takes on an animal and realise that it doesn’t fit in with my lifestyle or my children especially. That’s one of the reasons why Cara are kept so busy. People think it’s all cuddles and sleeping. It’s far from it. I can tell you one thing though it’s very rewarding. I’m teaching my children about giving back in this world. Doing what you can when you can. How to care for something other than yourself. Also how important it is to respect other living things. I’m hoping this will be something that I can do regularly.
Cara Rescue Dogs Facebook page is <<<<< there if you click on the link. You’ll find everything you need to know all the contact details. If you feel like taking on a dog is not for you there are loads of ways to donate. You’ll feel great and you’ll make some dog’s day. I would like to just say that it’s a completely vouluntary orgainsation run by people with full time jobs and familys and lives of their own so if you have more than you need build a bigger table… not a higher fence.
Be well
Ellen
Although I am a stay at home mother every year at Christmas I am fortunate enough to get work in the local Ice Rink. Every year the owners recognise the skills that I have and implore me to become a vital part of a vibrant team of young ambitious workers. There’s that and the fact that the owners are my aunt and uncle!! Either way I love being a part of the work force even for such a short time.
Serving the public is not for the faint of heart. The vast majority of people are kind and courteous, wait their turn and are grateful for anything that you can do for them. Then there are the others……
A great source of amusement at the box office was the numerous people who would attempt to get a ticket at a reduced rate. 12 and over is a adult ticket so therefore logic would dictate you had to be 11 to get the more appealing price for a child. Men at least 6 foot tall with a mustache would plead innocence when challenged about their age. You gotta love a trier.
Standing in the skate dock one afternoon a lady on the ice grabbed my attention. She sat her child over the barrier and said to me without a smile on her face said. ‘Is he supposed to have skates on him?’ It took me a minute to actually understand the situation. She had come to a rink, paid €13 to bring her child out on the ice and somehow thought that he did not have to put ice skates on to go ice skating on ice. My jaw still drops when I think about that one.
Working behind the shop could be full of fun. Once such phenomenon is the six giggling teens who all want a diet coke and a bar. Here’s the catch… they all stand behind one another and order individually… the…. exact….same….thing. No chance of…. Oh while you are over there all five of us want drinks. Nope. They would rather see my little legs work like a flintstone outcast over and back and over and back. On the plus side it was great exercise.
Well it’s all said and done for another year and I feel lucky to have been a part of the team. It gave me an outlet from the children and also made me feel very lucky to be able to stay at home and watch them grow. See you all for the next big freeze!!!
I want to give people a little insight into my daily struggle with food. It’s something that I’ve been giving a lot of thought to lately. Food, our source of nourishment, the fuel we need to live, the sustenance that drives us, is none of those things in my mind. Simply put it’s a source of pleasure for me. There is nothing I enjoy more than sitting down and indulging in my favourite foods. Savoury or sweet it’s irrelevant as long as there is plenty of it and I don’t have to share.
In preparing for Operation Transformation myself and the mother had a few frank conversations. I told her things I had never voiced to anyone. One admission being that if myself and the children are eating something I love, I’ll sit and hope that they won’t finish so that I can eat their leftovers. My mother and I laughed out of embarrassment and nervousness. Does that mean I’m a bad mother? Does that mean I’m selfish? Greedy? What I do know is that it’s a big problem.
So addiction is a big word at the moment. Sex addiction, internet addiction and the good traditional ones like alcohol and gambling. Continue reading “Food is My Addiction”
Well as most of you know by now I was not chosen to lead the country in our battle against the bulge. I have to admit that I’m seriously disappointed. I really doubt myself when it comes to my ability to loose weight. Turn harmless statements into dirty sexual innuendo (in your end do …. snigger) I have down to a fine art…. weight loss not so much.
Not one to dwell on my failings I am moving forward with a positive attitude. There is a certain amount of relief in not being picked as it would have meant two days a week away from the kids. Bliss for me (joke) but would have put a lot of pressure on my family and friends and they already do enough for me as it is.
So my basic attitude moving forward is to move more eat less. I’m not dieting I am just going to make better decisions as much as I possibly can. I am going to get busy living and stop dwelling on my downfalls.
The last few weeks have been amazing and the support people have offered have been really heart warming. Everyone I know has faith that I can do this so I’m gonna give it a good aul go. I have now declared to the world I want to loose weight so there is no going back.
The five leaders are a great bunch of people and I can’t wait to follow them. I have already decided that Clare will be my leader. She already made such a huge impact on me on the assessment day so I’m backing her all the way.
I have to buy a sports bra because I’m going to be attempting to learn to jog 5km come the end of February. I may have to go to the credit union for a large personal loan to buy one cause in my size those babies are not cheap!
Thanks for the support and I promise I won’t bore you with Op/Tran stuff ( that’s what the cool kids call it ) all the time. Here’s to a healthier me.
Thanks for reading
Be well
Ellen
Well the cat is out of the bag. You now all know that I have applied for Operation Transformation. For those of you who don’t know Operation Transformation is a show that helps people loose weight and get healthy. Simple eh? Well if it was simple I wouldn’t be looking for help from a television show would I?
So the process began with a very lengthy application form. Continue reading “Operation ‘Have I lost my mind?’”
I called this blog Blush because I love make up, Babies because I love my children and Belly because I hate my weight. They say you should write about what you know and I certainly know a thing or two about weight. I would like to think that my posts are generally amusing but writing about my weight I find jokes hard to come by. I’m such a cliche, a big girl with a big personality to match. It’s that bubbly disposition that hides, for the most part, how I really feel about my body.
I hate my body
That’s quite a tough sentence to write and even a bit extreme you might say but it’s true. Continue reading “The Belly Part”
Everyone loves a bit of trivia.
So when I’m a famous blogger and they are writing table quiz questions about me, you might just wanna commit these facts to memory so that you will that top prize of a €25 car valeting voucher.
So there are ten things you didn’t care that you did not know about me.
Thanks for reading
Be well
Ellen ( the original )
Blush, Belly and Babies 