I haven’t been blogging much of late but this recently launched website is definitely worth a visit, if you haven’t seen it yet.
Cork based Sabrina Dent has done a brilliant job giving a number of options for the voting public to make their feelings known to the government on the appalling lack of breast care services available in Ireland at present.
It’ll only take a few minutes of your time so head on over and add your name.
Add comment January 26th, 2008
Santy brought this for the 2 year old a few weeks ago.
So far so good. It was a bit of a pain to put together on Christmas morning, a smidge more work than we had anticipated. But ultimately it was worth it. He now spends much of his evenings up and down the road on it. We’ve only just gotten around to attaching the loader part, but the rest of it seems to be lasting well. The bonnet opens as does the trailer for easy loading. Wheels and steering appear sturdy to date.
The trailer and tractor are connected by sliding a plastic pin through slots on both. The only damage so far is a crack in the attachment part of the trailer to the tractor which I can see becoming a problem if it continues to grow as the pin mechanism will then just slide out and not function properly. It may have been advisable for the manufacturers to have made this from stronger or just thicker plastic to avoid cracking and possible failure.
Overall though, Fionn is delighted with it and gets great enjoyment out of it.
It retails for approximately €110 from Smyths toystore.
Add comment January 18th, 2008
Just two episodes in of the new season of Desperate Housewives on RTE2 and I’m enjoying it again. I felt the last series meandered a smidge towards the end and lost its momentum but this series seems to be back on form again.
Main mystery this season is the arrival of Katherine Mayfair, her daughter and new husband after a 12 year lapse, when she left Wisteria Lane very abruptly. What’s her secret and why does her daughter have absolutely no recollection or memories of living in Wisteria lane previously. Her rivalry and one up manship with Bree in the “most perfect housewife” stakes is quite amusing as they battle over best lemon meringue pie recipes and more, both maintaining their superficial smiles and air of politeness.
The other source of humour so far has come from newly wed Gabrielle’s affair with her ex-husband Carlos and his twists and turns trying to get out from the clutches of a now rather desperate Edie.
More seriously Lynette commences chemotherapy to fight cancer and the different reactions she recieves make interesting viewing.
Susan, probably the character I find least interesting, discovers she’s pregnant. It may be interesting to see how this changes her relationship with teenage daughter and newly wed husband. Bree’s fake pregnancy is also a much weaker storyline.
That said, its not a bad hour’s entertainment and escapism.
Add comment January 17th, 2008
Yep, another New Year’s Resolution, to get my lardy arse once more running. Its been a while, but so far so good: baby steps, baby steps.
Have started on the treadmill again which was probably one of the best purchases I ever made. Yep, it was expensive but it avoids me heading out on my lonesome, jogging at night in the dark or the hassle of joining a gym. We have it stationed in the playroom, so once the kids are in bed, I just plonk on the telly in front of it at loud volume, shut the door and start walking/jogging.
I hate dogs and so I don’t really like running outdoors unless I know its a place I’m very unlikely to meet dog walkers with their dogs unleashed. People who think its ok to let their mutt bound over to me as I’m jogging do my head in. No I don’t like your gawdawful pooch, I don’t think its cute, keep it the hell away from me.
Its been a long while since I’ve done any serious running though. At heart, I guess I’m lazy. I need motivation big time and usually I need to be goal driven. Two days after completing the Dublin marathon in 2004 I discovered I was pregnant and as usual, my energy plummeted as did any level of exercise and I lost all the fitness I had achieved through the previous months of training. I’d love to get that fit again. Since, I have been slimmer and weighed less but I haven’t been even remotely as fit. It felt brilliant. I always felt exhilarated returning from a decent run.
Unfortunately that doesn’t happen by magic and there’s the hard work between now and getting there. Still at least I’ve started. Last night 7km: 11mins run and 50 mins walking. Tonight hopefully I’ll do a couple more minutes of the total running and less walking.
It would be deadly to do another marathon, preferably a smidge faster than my last time. The training schedule is a big commitment, but the feeling on the day makes it worthwhile. Who knows, maybe I’ll make the Cork marathon in June or Dublin in October. We’ll see.
Add comment January 12th, 2008
I used this webiste in the run up to Christmas primarily to buy shoes for the baby, who’s just toddling around and not ready for “real” shoes yet.
Firstly, I think this is a lovely looking website. They have a large range of unusual kids clothes and accessories as well as toys, books and more. Its very easy to use and completely “browse friendly”. They cater for ages 0 to 10 and I couldn’t resist buying a top for our 2 year old son, as well as a cuddly toy for the baby after perusing the site for a few minutes.
The jellycat toy is gorgeous, really soft and squishy. I bought the bunny one and the baby loves it. Its really huggable.
The prices of the clothes and toys range considerably. Most of them, I would think are good value, with some priced more expensively in the occasion wear or gift bracket.
That said, I haven’t seen these clothes in any of the usual shops so they are different. The top purchased for Fionn has washed and tumbled dried very well without losing its shape or appearance.
The shoes I initially chose for the baby were unavailable but I was offered an alternative by email within a day. This pair of baby shoes has worked out great for the baby who is now tentatively walking.
Payment by credit card, the goods were delivered quickly. As it was approaching Christmas, I used their courier option costing €8.50. Standard delivery by AnPost was cheaper. They have a member’s club which you automatically join after your first purchase and this gives a 5% discount on further purchases.
I will definitely be using this website again.
Add comment January 7th, 2008
Its lashing hailstones here today so not much hope of the kids getting out and about. So the 8 and 4 year old settled down to their first game of Monopoly, which the 4 year old won hands down. Her strategy of only buying “girl coloured streets” worked a treat!
Meanwhile the 2 year old decided to tackle a Peppa Pig jigsaw.
Here’s his completed version of it:
And who am I to argue its not perfect???
1 comment January 4th, 2008
I purchased these over 7 years ago when our firstborn son was just over a year old. Every bathtime that the younger kids have the dolphins get thrown into the bath too. They love them.
As can be seen in the photo above taken from the website, they are pretty basic: 8 assorted coloured plastic dolphins, each having its own ring to float in. As you tap on the each floating dolphin’s head a different musical whistle is played.
To be honest our kids aren’t as much into the dolphin’s musical capabilities and prefer instead just to splash and play with them.
As far as I recall, they weren’t expensive costing around £10.
Would definitely recommend for their lasting appeal and durability!
1 comment January 3rd, 2008
This present was the highlight of the Christmas for our 4 year old daughter, who insisted on wearing it all Christmas day and then again and again as soon as it was cleaned.
The “Ballerina in a box” consists of a pink tutu, tights and a pink long sleeved leotard. The ballet pumps were purchased separately. As Santa was a bit disorganised here this year, the kit was purchased online from Dance World, who are based in Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Their service couldn’t be faulted. Easy to navigate and order on their website, no additional shipping costs and very efficient delivery.
The cost of the Ballerina in a box combo was €40 and the pumps were another €19, which isn’t cheap. The leotard, tutu and pumps have lasted well but the nylon tights have too many runs now and are beyond wearing. It would have been preferable to receive heavier dernier rated tights, which would hopefully mean, they’d withstand a bit more wear and tear.
That said, she still thinks its awesome and loves dressing up in the leotard, tutu, pumps and practising her ballet moves!
2 comments January 2nd, 2008
LouderMinis