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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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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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Learning From A Two Week Digital Detox
Originally published in October 2015. Sure it’s only two weeks I said to myself as I mailed my essential contacts to let them know that I wouldn’t be available for a fortnight. I set up a blogpost so that readers would know what I was up to. Then I deleted social media applications from my smart phone. Yes. I deleted them so that I wouldn’t be tempted to use them. I turned off every single notification I could, after I’d made sure to take a note of all-important passwords. Yep I was ready to become disconnected. In August 2014 I did something similar, but this time it was for a…
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What Happens From Here?
I’m starting 2017 in a state of flux because so much is up in the air. What happens from here? How will we manage our mortgage/bills and what are my plans for the future? It’s a question I’ve been asked quite a bit over the past few weeks or so, since we finally got our letter and confirmation from Ulster Bank that we were indeed on the wrong interest rate for about the last 6+ years. We have been wrongly charged, we know that we ended up in arrears, needlessly for a substantial part of them.
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Let Me Tell You A Story
A long time ago in a kitchen far away, tucked into a corner of North County Dublin there lived a woman who didn’t know what she was going to do with her life. Nearly 8 years ago now, she waited for her first born son to arrive, and rubbed the curve of her belly, and wondered how things were going to be when she went back to work after having her first baby. She worked in an office in the City Centre you see, as a PA for a property company, which was as far apart from food blogging as you could imagine.
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Coming Over A Bit Pollyanna
You’ll excuse this slight interruption to the regular “2014 in review” and “2015 predictions/resolutions” blog fayre. I’m coming over a bit Pollyanna. “It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt” was ringing in my ears as I gracefully tumbled fell arse over tit off the bed when trick-acting with the boys a week or so ago. I ended up with my legs in the air and my back landed on a steel-toe-cap boot belonging to my hubby which was at the end of the bed. His foot wasn’t in said boot I hasten to add. I roared and the boys thought I was messing.
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All Hail My Cup Of Tea
The day didn’t start well. Today that is. We had run out of milk. Well there was a small amount but the kids needed it for their breakfast and I had no cup of tea. I should have known at that stage that the day was on a downhill trend. Rather than give a blow-by-blow account of how disastrous my day has been so far, I’m going to just stick it in bullet form so it doesn’t sound so bad. Tea (or lack of) Buggy off balance (tipped over on the way home from the shops as I overloaded it) Rodents Terrible Three Meltdown Toilet Training Mishaps Burnt Jam No…
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Make The Most Of Time
I wish I could just press a pause button. I look at the boys and I think that this is the best age. The 2-year-old is so much fun. He’s great at getting what he wants, especially if it involves tickles or kisses. He’s transforming from my precious miracle into a little man; and while it fills me with so much pride to see him growing up, I want to bottle him up. I often say he has just two speeds: Awake and Asleep.
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Walking A Marathon A Week
I’ve set myself the challenge of walking a marathon a week. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, in fact walking is becoming easier the more I do it.
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Time For Reflection
Since January my life accelerated at a ‘Turbo-Fast’ pace. You’ll excuse the kids’ film reference, I spend my days with 2 small boys after all. It became hard to stand still, take stock, make time for reflection. I’ve been feeling very tired and because I was so busy I became bogged down. The housework mounted. What I’m saying is, I’m taking a break from my blog for a few days. Just a few. I need to get stuck into the house. Clear out the stuff that we’re suffocating under; make way for more light and air. The aim is that when I’m done, I’ll have found the bottom of my…
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What Will I Do When Things Get Better?
People keep on asking me what will I do when things start getting better. Will we have more money to spend on groceries? I don’t think we will.
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It’s Not A Dream
I originally wrote this blogpost at the end of 2013 and it’s worth revisiting now as tomorrow I officially launch my first cookbook, “Wholesome”.