Going to bed last night, I thought about the fact that everyone in the house had gone outside for at least ten minutes fresh air, and that there were no major arguments, and that nobody had cried during homeschool, and I felt like it had been a good day. This morning, I remembered to press the ...
One of my earliest childhood memories is of the time my mother went to see the Pope in the Phoenix Park, and I stayed home with my dad. My dad, not a seasoned cook, heated up tinned Campbells meatballs for lunch. He split the can between us, pouring the delicious juicy gravy-covered meatballs into two bowls, ...
Four years old. Just over three feet high. In a uniform that was ludicrously long. Tiny then, even tinier in hindsight, and in the pictures I can still find on my phone. The pictures I was going to use for the “First Day Last Day” post, like the ones I saw on Facebook last June. First ...
It's a year this week since we got the keys to our house and a year since we began the process of giving my dad back his house, after four months living with him. And every day of lockdown, I give quiet (and out loud) thanks that we are here and not still there, invading my ...
My kids have been asked to keep journals as part of their work from home packs. I keep telling them they should - that they are living through history, and they keep telling me they have nothing to write, because they do the same thing every day. Fair point. But it made me think. And it ...
Just your average day: 9 am: It's time for PE with Joe. We are not good at being organised for 9, so I pause the screen while one child gets dressed and one child asks me if he takes part in the PE class, does that mean less enforced outdoor exercise later. You know all those kids ...
This time last year, as I unwrapped the snowman and put him on the mantlepiece, I wondered where he'd be going next time round. We were Sale Agreed on our old house but hadn't found somewhere new yet. I tried to picture what the new mantlepiece might look like, in the new living room, in ...
The smell of wood-fire smoke. The curl of blue from the chimney. Will Santa be able to come down? Don't light the fire on Christmas Eve, okay, Dad? The sparkle of frost on grass. The shine from the holly bush. The clipped branches strewn in corners, on hearths. The crisp, bright mornings. The walks in the ...
We made it to mid-term! So, short and sweet, here are a few things that got me through Septober relatively unscathed - or at least less scathed than usual: Slow Cooker My slow cooker changed my life. I'm kidding, it totally didn't. But it's great for that one day each week when we get home later than usual. I ...
It's October 13th as I write this, and I'm thinking about what I was doing this time fifteen years ago. Checking the weather forecast (still rain). Checking the dress (still there). Checking the mass booklets (still not done). A last lunch with my first (and hopefully last) husband-to-be. The mood? Surreal. A little nervous. Very excited. And ...