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Preparing For A Power Cut
Ever since the power went one Christmas Day when I was growing up, I’ve compiled a contingency plan so that I always have particular supplies in the house, just in case. This can apply in times of bad weather, snow or just when there are supply problems so it’s a good idea to prepare now – you never know when these tips will come in handy!
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Self Acceptance
I decided that I wasn't going to stress about how I looked. I was going to stress about not being part of the fun.
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Surviving Job Loss
All of a sudden in the past 10 days 100’s of thousands of people lost their jobs. That’s people with mortgages, rent, children, responsibilities, and in a literal night and day shift they go from having money to pay for all these things to not. That movement from having a job to having none was brutal and life changing and terrifying. I’ve been there. I know what it’s like. There’s a gut wrenching worry and the unrelenting terror that keeps you awake at night and makes you think of nothing else. Then you see people outside going about their regular business and you feel like shouting at them because they…
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Online Resources For Isolation
Here we have it. My free ‘what the heck do I do with my kids while they are at home in isolation’ guide to online resources. Bookmark this; in all likelihood we are all going to need it. Just to mention; don’t unleash your kids at all of this in the first day or even days. There is loads for them to work their way through. If you let them do everything all at once they will become overwhelmed and disinterested. Learning to Code Suitable for all ages, Coding is something that we have been doing for a few years. Code.org is a free resource which starts your kids from…
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The Parenting Path Less Travelled
I’m more conscious about what I post online in the past few years. I’ve always included the boys in the conversation surrounding the blog. I have a blog and they understand that what I do is online. However, they are getting older and they are starting to make their own individual footprints in the online world so I’m trying to share what is going on without too much identifying information. When you parent a neurotypical child your path through life is fairly predictable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not without its twists/turns/bumps/surprises, but society and the educational system is geared towards the normal child progressing to be a normal adult.…
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Lunchbox Tips
I can safely say that I’ve literally made hundreds of school lunches over the years and I’ve hundreds more to make. If you’ve got a child starting school this year or if you are looking to freshen up your lunchboxes, here are my top, tried and tested, tips for packing a lunchbox:
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The Brexit Kitchen Stores
Did I get your attention there? Or maybe, like me, you rolled your eyes a little bit at the thoughts of stockpiling certain food items in advance of Brexit (in whatever form it eventually takes). Bear with me here though, because a fully stocked store cupboard is a thing of beauty and regardless of the UK imminently leaving the EU it’s a good idea. What’s in my pre-Brexit store cupboards? It’s probably easier to list it out according to category: Dry Stores Beans – Black eyed, pinto, chickpeas (garbanzo), and butterbeans Lentils Seeds – Pumpkin, Sesame, Sunflower, Poppy, Nigella (onion seed) Sugar – Caster, Granulated, Soft Brown, Dark Brown, Demerara…
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The Big Christmas Food Shop
If, like me, you’ve got that slightly rising panicked feeling about Christmas Dinner and what the last shop before Christmas Day will cost, stop now and have a little read of Day 17 of my Christmas With Caitríona series.
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Simple Handscrub & Lotion Bars
Simple Handscrub This is the kind of gift that a small child can make, and actually they’d probably love the feeling of squishing the oil and other ingredients together. We used organic ingredients because we’d rather use them where we have the option.
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December 2018
With the Toy Show being on last night Christmas season has officially kicked off in Ireland; in fact I have a Christmas party to go to tonight. The kids are obsessed with Christmas and their pure joy and delight in decorations in the shops and music playing on the radio is brilliant. As usual for the start of December though I don’t have the decorations up and I’ve no Christmas Tree in the sitting room quite yet. I know I’m not the only one. I suppose it’s a hangover from the days of being so stressed out about money that we tried not to put the decorations up early or…
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45 Days To Go – Dublin City Marathon
The photograph? That’s me completing the Great Ireland Run 10K race in the Phoenix Park in the Spring this year. I hate running photographs with a passion. They are never flattering. I’m embracing the running photographs though. I started running in December 2017 when I previously wouldn’t have even run after an ice cream van. Each photograph tells a story that is far much more than a race. You know all those photos you see tagged on Instagram with #FitFam? The vast, vast majority of those photos are posed and edited by people who want to appear their best ‘for the insta’. My running photos however can’t be edited, they’re…
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May Update 2018
Oh look I found the blog again under a pile of laundry and paperwork in my so-called-office (aka the laundry area). I didn’t stop blogging for a spell on purpose, I just had so much stuff on that I struggled to find the time. Anyway sure look-it. I’m back and I’ve got loads of interesting things coming up and good news that I thought I’d share it here! The recipes are back; I have a shed-load of recipes in drafts which I’m going to drip-feed to you over the next couple of weeks including some beautiful main courses for family meals, along with some simple sweet treats. If you’ve been…
