Trick or Treat ...

Do we teach our kids to beg from a very young age? Emily was so excited about going trick or treating, we also done the house up this year and I bought loads of sweets for the kids who would come to our house as well. D really got into the spirit of things and put on his costume in the hope of trying to frighten some trick or treaters, but most of the kids just shook their heads and as they walked away muttered something about the weird guy under their breath.

Well it must have been the coldest night of the year, but at least it wasn't wet, so Em and I trekked around the neighbour hood. I taught her to look for the houses that had their lights on and also those with decorations, if the house was in darkness or only one small light on, then you knew there would be no treats there. Well Em had two small bags and I had another and I tell you something, the generosity is something else - after about 15 houses the bags were full. We noticed the kids that came to our house had huge sacks, but "HELLO!" how much can one kid eat? I ask you!

It was actually amazing most people who are in the spirit of things are really friendly and some houses really go OTT with decorations, the best one we saw was a house up the road, that was dark and full of bushes and inbetween there was a tombstone with all kinds of messages around, and Em was not one bit frightened at all. But by 7 o'clock she was tired and cold and just wanted to go home, so we did but it was a good halloween.

This is Halloween

Daddy's Birthday

All daddy wanted for his birthday was a chocolate cake, so Em and mom hurried home and proceeded to bake in the gas oven for the first time ever, and guess what? After an almost flop, we turned up the gas and left it in for an extra five minutes and Whola, the best chocolate cake I have every baked in my life.

Emily decorated it and was so proud of it.

Brrrrr... who left the freezer door open?

Oh my word, it isn't funny, what happened to Autumn and the beautiful weather we had last year from October to December, somebody decided that we need an early winter and my goodness we are getting it. It seemed to start yesterday afternoon when it suddenly got icy cold, then last night was freezing, this morning too and lots of frost on the car, although by the time I left it had melted (thank goodness the clocks were turned back an hour). Walking to and from work today, the wind coming off the Liffey was ice cold and I swear it was about ZERO degrees, driving home my car did not go much above 6 degrees, so tell me if this is Autumn I really don't want to stay for winter! The weatherman said we may have sleet and snow over the next few days, come on guys!!!

MONDAY

My Week ...

Well my broadband has become so slow that it is unbearable, especially when you are trying to do anything on the blog or of course catch up on news on facebook, so I do need to contact my ISP provider and either give them a boot or a kick up the ... old proverbial!

This week has flown once again, last Sunday we just had a pyjama / tracksuit day, did not budge out of the house, it was rather nice for a change.

Most of the week was just Work, home, sleep - however I did get an email from production company about a story they were doing for Discovery Channel on the Sinking of the Oceanos and Moss Hill, anyway he wanted to fly me over to the UK to do an interview with them for the story, and after a few emails backwards and forwards they would have wanted me to go immediately and just told them it was impossible, so within about 24 hours they had booked a flight over to Dublin and were coming to interview me on Sunday here, but I will get back to that story later.

Wednesday was college, then Thursday came and went and finally FRIDAY the start of the long bank holiday week-end, our last bank holiday until May next year! (That's besides Christmas, New Year, Paddy's day and Easter as those are public holidays). Em was also breaking up from school, and I had made an appointment at Revive, so sitting outside the school and Mandy gives me a call to find out if I want to pop over for a coffee and so Em can play with Aron. So grab Em off to revive, then to the creche to confirm her booking for next week (she is going to the creche for the week), then to the Spar and then off to Many, well it took us 45 minutes to travel about 3 miles, the traffic up to Dundrum was a nightmare and we found out later that it was because the new Hamleys store had opened the previous day. Anyway we finally got there and could only stay for an hour as my cousin Jannie was coming for Dinner, thank goodness I had made the lasagna the night before and just had to do salad and stuff.

We left there round five and thank goodness the traffic wasn't too bad from there to our place. Got home, got Em in the bath, made the salad, got Em out bathed and then wanted to turn the computer on to check my mail, D gets home and 15 minutes later the doorbell rings, it's my cousin and his early, mainly because he is flying back to SA in the morning on an early morning flight. It was great catching up with him, and because Em did not have ballet or Drama on the Saturday she got to stay up late.

Saturday we got to sleep in a little bit, however I had a hair appointment and was then meeting a friend for lunch. I hadn't seen her for ages so it was great catching up and before we knew it, it was four o'clock and the rain was coming down in torrents, so I got D to come and pick us up, then it was off home to get changed as we were going to Diep with the gang to celebrate Kelly's birthday. Funnily Kelly landed up next to me at the hairdresser so we ended up chatting for ages which was so nice, because I knew we probably would not get too much of a chance to chat later. So get dressed, get D to fetch the baby sitter, and off we go a little early mind you, but we had a bottle of wine before everyone arrived.

It's amazing how there are 5 couples and in actual fact it was Natalie that introduced us all to one another and we all tend to get on well, even the husbands - so Thank You Natalie, if it wasn't for you I would not have met such wonderful people. So there was Moi, Nat, Tracy, Mady, Kelly, D, Charl, David, Warren and Malcolm. We were seated about 9 and the whole evening seemed to go so quickly, the food was wonderful, the company was wonderful and the evening was really really good! It all ended too soon, Tracy, Warren and I spent a lot of time talking about growing up in the South and the conversation just tended to be around everything and I suppose the common element is us all being from South Africa. By the time we were leaving to go home all I could think about was the TV crew arriving at 10:00 in the morning, so we went off to get in the car and we were Clamped! Thank goodness they did not take long to arrive to unclamp us.

Sunday morning ... I am up at about 8 too nervous to eat breakfast and then down to the study to look for all my Oceanos paraphernalia, which luckily did not take me long to find. Then quick bath get dressed and wait, they got lost so ended up only arriving after 10:30. Eric & Chris, they transformed our lounge into a Studio in a very short time, D took Em off to the dump to take all the garden refuse and then to feed the ducks just so that she was out the way. And then the interview started, I must say that they are the nicest people I have met in a long time, besides the French guys who interviewed me, but they were equally as nice. They made me feel really at ease and the interview although it went on for over an hour did not feel like it.

They then did some shots of me in the kitchen paging through my scrap book, D and Em came home just as Eric & Chris had finished packing up, we all got in the car and went off to the Dockland to get something to eat, Eric treated us to lunch at Milano's. It worked out really well as Milano's which is an Italian restaurant really caters for the children, they had a children's section with a box of toys and all the kids just congregate round the box of toys, giving the adults a time to chat and not really have to worry about them. After lunch and a bottle of wine, we went out to the River and Chris did some more shots and then some of D, Em and I. We had a lovely afternoon and headed home, only got home at about 4:30 but it was really nice.

I was exhausted by last night and fell into bed at 9:30, only to wake up 3 times and then get out of bed at 6:30 this morning (on a bank holiday). Em and I are going shopping today so lets see how the day pans out, till later have a wonderful week!

My Friday Song ...

I thought this would be appropriate seeing that Halloween is almost upon us - Emily came home singing a song today, wait let me see if I can find it on youtube!

Thought for today!

Amy's Angels

Emma Emmily, gonna write your name high on that Silver screen Emily ...

Yes little Em is going to be on the stage in a production called: "Amy's Angels" it will be on at the Olympia theatre in Dublin on Saturday the 6th and Sunday 7th of December, tickets go on sale tomorrow at computicket! She is in the Matinee on Saturday with the Ballet class and then in the evening on both the Saturday and Sunday with her Drama class. Let me know if you can make it!

You can read about it here: http://www.npas.ie/news/ and you can book here: http://www.ticketmaster.ie/

It's all go, go, go ...

It seems that in the run up to Christmas, the weeks are just flying past, we have had something on every week-end for the last few week-ends and this week-end was no exception, except for today - a day to relax and do absolutely nothing, catch up on my blogging and then study!
The week started off pretty slow, I took the morning off on Tuesday as I had to go and sort stuff out at the bank so I could get paid, that took quicker than I expected, so I went off to Dundrum did a bit of browsing round the shops, the weather was absolutely awful. I then picked up Trish from her office and we went through to Coffee to Go for some lunch, then picked up Em and came home.

Wednesday was college but I ended up with a Migraine before I was supposed to leave so went to bed instead, so probably missed out on some crucial information, but I will go in early next week and see what I missed.

Thursday was swimming and then Em and I went off to Dundrum, home and I got ready for my dinner date with all my ex work buddies, we went to "The Winding Stair", which is just next to the woollen mills on the quays across from the Liffey. The food was wonderful, but I will not be going back, the service was rushed, rude and it was really expensive and to top it all at 8:30 the waitress brought our bags and coats to the table, even though we had not finished our drinks and said Thank you, have a nice evening, Goodbye! And gave us all dirty looks, what a RUDE cow! Hopefully Bob phoned and complained, a few people have already asked me how the restaurant was and there is nothing like word of mouth criticism.

Friday I had my presentation in front of the managers, I had never met most of the managers that came to the presentation so it was a bit never racking, however the presentation seem to go off well there were probably about 20 managers and then the HR team which was 5. The only thing was nobody really asked questions, the only questions I got was about the module I had never worked on before, so I guess I am going to have to educate myself on that one. So all dressed up to the nines high heel shoes, I had been standing since 9 o'clock, then I had to run a work shop with the HR team from 11 to 1. We over ran the 1 o'clock finish and still have loads of work to do, so I guess next week it is back to the drawing board.

I rushed out of the office to meet Emily's school mates mom as I was taking the kids to movies at Dundrum, it took a wee bit of time to get the car seat fitted, get them changed and then get them off to Dundrum, I still had to meet Mandy, Dana and Aron has they were all coming with to the movies as well but we managed to make it before the movie started. We saw Igor which has just been released and is all about a mad scientist. The movie finished at 4:30, I then rushed home to bath Em and change beds in her room and the spare room (long story). Start the washing get dinner on, Mandy and the kids arrived we sat chatting till about 7 and then still had everything to do. We managed to get everything done without a problem!





Saturday is another early day as D takes Em to Ballet and Drama, and Ballet was a bit of a Drama again, Emily not wanting to co-operate (it's the subborness from her father's side). In the meantime, I had to rush off to the post office in Edmondstown to collect a parcel, which is a whole nother story as well, off to the shops to get milk and veggies and then home, unpack and into town on the LUAS to meet K, D & E for lunch and then the Ballet as the Gaiety which was Swan Lake.

I parked the car near the Milltown LUAS station which is really good, because you only have to pay up till 1 and then it is free, can you believe I left the car unlocked! Anyway bumped into one of Em's old creche buddies and her parents, jumped on the LUAS and off into town, I had a bit of shopping to do before meeting them so managed to get that all done. Got myself a really nice pair of shoes from M&S, their shoes this season are really nice and so reasonably priced.

When I arrived at St. Stephens Green there was a huge crowd at the top of more than a hundred people and I got quite irritated because I had to fight my way through the crowd, but then I heard the buskers it was a group of them doing Irish dancing, playing the fiddle and OMW really really good. So I had to stop and listen for a while, I thought I would watch them when I came back from the shops but by then they had dispersed.

So we all met at the front of St. Stephens green shopping centre and then headed down to "Pasta Fresca" I think it was called, and had lunch, it was a nice treat. We finished at about 2:30 and headed off to the Gaiety, got our program and then in we went, we had a box which was really nice and the view was brilliant. The show was awesome and really worth the effort!

I had seen Swan Lake before when I was in standard 8 at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg, in fact I think I saw it twice and we even went backstage and got autographs from the ballerinas, but I had forgotten the story, so K quickly refreshed my memory. Swan Lake is long and I think Em got a bit restless after a while, but all in all it was a wonderful day.

Now it is Sunday and time to breath again, except there is too much to do! Have a great week everyone! Next week-end is K's birthday at Diep which we are all looking forward too and then just another week for the BIG Halloween housewarming birthday bash!

The 45 Lessons Life taught me!

Written By Regina Brett,
90 years old,
of The Plain Dealer,
Cleveland, Ohio

' To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here goes:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else. 20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift. '

The return of "Desperate Housewives"

Well, I couldn't wait for the return of "Desperate Housewives" and tonight it is finally upon us,
I sure hope tonight is not a disappointment, from the promo it looks like it is going to be pretty exciting:

One of my favourite Movies

They don't make movies like this anymore! See if you recognise the Mayor from Spin City ...

The Best Chain-letter Email in the world ever!

Hello,

My name is Billy and I suffer from guilt for not forwarding 50 billion fucking chain letters sent to me by people who actually believe, if you send them on, a poor six-year-old girl in Scotland with a breast on her forehead will be able to raise enough money to have it removed before her redneck parents sell her to a travelling freak show.

And, do you honestly believe that Bill Gates is going to give $1000 to you, and everyone to whom you send 'his' email? How stupid are we? Ooooh, looky here! If I scroll down this page and make a wish, I'll get laid by a model I just happen to run into the next day!

What a bunch of bullshit!! Maybe the evil chain letter leprechauns will come into my house and sodomise me in my sleep for not continuing a chain letter that was started by St Peter in 5AD and brought to this country by midget pilgrim stowaways on the Endeavour. Fuck 'em!!

If you're going to forward something, at least send me something mildly amusing. I've seen all the 'send this to 10 of your closest friends, and this poor, wretched excuse for a human being will somehow receive a nickel from some omniscient being' forwards about 90 times. I don't fucking care. Show a little intelligence and think about what you're actually contributing to by sending out these forwards. Chances are, it's your own unpopularity. The point being? If you get some chain letter that's threatening to leave you shagless or luckless for the rest of your life, delete it. If it's funny, send it on.

Don't piss people off by making them feel guilty about a leper in Botswana with no teeth who has been tied to the arse of a dead elephant for 27 years and whose only salvation is the 5 cents per letter he'll receive if you forward this email. Now forward this to everyone you know. Otherwise, tomorrow morning your underwear will turn carnivorous and will consume your genitals.

Have a nice day.

Billy Connolly

The Magic Flute

D mentioned that there was a South African group doing a show called "The magic flute" I had no idea what it was about, but we decided to book anyway.

Em now does Ballet and Drama on a Saturday morning, so while D took her down to the Docklands for her sessions, I did the normal household routine (and moaned and b*tched while I did it). D & Em eventually got home just after 1 so we jumped in the car and headed to the LUAS station in Milltown, jumped on the LUAS and headed into St. Stephens Green.

We got there with plenty of time to spare so D and I managed grab a sandwich and a cup of coffee. I always pack a lunch for Em when she goes to Ballet 'cause I always think she will be hungry after the exercise.

We got into the theatre and had really nice seats (but we moved - don't ask).

Now to show you how uncultured I am, the magic flute which I thought would be penny whistlers from Africa, is actually an Opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The version that was on at the Gaiety was performed by South African performers and had an African touch to it, it brought a tear to my eye. Even Em said she really enjoyed it, even though she could not sit still for the last half.

It really was fantastic, very ethnic and absolutely worthwhile seeing. Especially when some of the songs have Xhosa clicks sung in opera style. I was impressed and I was a little homesick and very proud that South Africa are really producing world class shows. Well done south Africa! It is really worth seeing if it is in your area. Oh yes and my mother would have been proud to know that I sat through a whole opera without falling asleep!

Next week week we are off to the ballet to see Swan Lake and we have a box!

Here is a write up about the show:

Words and Music Mandisi Dyantyis, Mbali Kgosidintsi, Pauline Malefane and Nolufefe Mtshabe Lighting Designer Mannie Manim
Choreographer Lungelo Ngamlana
Costume Designer Leigh Bishop
Technical Designer Dan Watkins

This life-enhancing, joyous production is the greatest piece of music theatre performed as you've never heard it before -the South African way.

Effortlessly relocating Mozart's magical and mysterious kingdom to colourful, contemporary South Africa, The Magic Flute is a story about the trials of life: growing up, finding the love of your life, learning to be wise. It's adventure, fairy story, comedy and drama, gloriously played on African instruments.

Winner of the Laurence Olivier Award (2008) for Best Musical Revival and the Theatre Goers’ Choice Award, The Magic Flute is played in a township setting, encompassing the various languages of the nation including English.

From the creator of the 2002 Festival smash-hit, The Mysteries, Mark Dornford-May’s production is faithful to the story and score of Mozart's opera, wonderfully re-imagined with marimbas, drums and township percussion.“Packing enough energy to power a couple of national grids, and enough decibels to lift several roofs... exhilarating and vibrant.” The Times

We Feel...Blasting the cobwebs off a great operatic classic, this South African version of The Magic Flute is likely to be the best night out during the entire Festival!

Proud Parents ...

What a week, it just seems to have flown past. I had 2 presentations to prepare for, which were cancelled at the last minute, homework that I managed to do before I went to college on Wednesday, and for the life of me I can't really tell you what else happened I just know it was busy!

Friday was our first parent / teacher meeting, and they do it in an interview style, the teacher sits behind a desk and their are 2 chairs for the parents and you basically get a slot of 15 minutes where you can ask questions and she tells you what is going on. I was rather nervous as the teacher has already spoken to me 2 or 3 times about Em when I have gone to pick her up, so I was really expecting the worst.

I had arranged a play date for Em at Mandy's house with Aran and Mandy told us to come for supper after the school meeting, we really had a nice time but I will leave that for another post.

Her teacher is absolutely stunning she looks like a barbie doll, with blond hair, really nice figure, she is young and not intimidating at all. She spent most of the time raving about Em and how good she is with helping, she also said she is such a brilliant speaker and if she did not know better, Em could be a politician when she grows up. She said that sometimes she needs help explaining things to the other kids and Em is the best person to do it. She said her English and vocabulary were excellent and her "Irish" was very very good!

The only down things she said about Em were her stubbornness, now we all know where she gets that from and her temper, so I guess it is things we are just going to have to work on. I walked out feeling really proud of my little Angel!

To have and to hold, from this day forth ...

Owen had this on his blog and I just had to share it with everyone:

House Warming - Halloween Party

I wanted to tell you all about our house warming party, we decided that the 1st of November would be a great day to celebrate and we could do a joint celebration of D's birthday, Halloween and out House warming - it's going to be a fancy dress and I am already so looking forward to decorating the house. It will be our first Halloween that we will be able to decorate the house and hopefully have kids come to our door trick or treating. I have already bought some decorations but hope to get lots more, Emily is so looking forward to it as well!

Ms. Em - Swinging on a Star

I still can't believe my blog is gone, I was thinking today that I had written so many personal accounts of our day to day lives and it is lost. I will keep trying to get it back but at this stage I have given up hope. Well this post is about Ms Em, we started school on the 1st of September and on the 27th of September the term at the National performing arts school started. This year she wanted to do "ballet" as well as the "Song, Dance & Drama" class. Last weeks first ballet lesson seemed to go very well, however this week the teacher spoke to D about our princess not wanting to participate, hmmmm so we will just have to see.

Song, Dance and Drama seemed fine and they were given a song to learn as they are going to be performing on stage at the Olympia on the 6th of December! My little Star here is the song they will be singing:

Book Cases

We moved into the house about 3 months ago now and still I had boxes to unpack but nowhere to put the stuff and you'd think that with all the cupboard space in our house there would be space. One thing that got to me as well was that all my books where tucked away on shelves in the cupboard and one thing I like is having books on display, for me - so I know where to find things and they are easily accessible.

For the last 6 months I have been scouting for book cases and could just not find anything that I liked anywhere, I even looked at web sites in the UK, but nada ... so just on the off chance I searched for a carpenter and found this website: http://www.pickapro.ie/carpenter/Carpentry+And+Maintenance/gallery/3/

Turned out the carpenter Steve lived just down the road, he came to get measurements for a quote round the 16th of September and on Saturday he fitted the book case. It needs a varnish, but I decided that my books were in more need of a home first, varnish can be done later. But I am so impressed and now my study / office, really does look like a study / office.

Work

I started working last week after being home for just over 2 months, it was quite reluctantly that I took this job, but on the other hand I feared that if I didn't the opportunity may not present itself again.

It's actually been great, I get in at 8 in the morning and then work till about 1:00, the office is situated down near the Dublin Docklands just off the Liffey, it is really stunning compared to the first time we ventured down there 7 years ago and everything we really derelict. The whole area has been given a face lift and "The Point" where they have a lot of concerts with big international stars has been renovated and is now called The O2 Arena in the point village, this is because they are building a village with shops and a mall and all kinds of stuff.

Em does Ballet & Song, dance and drama on a Saturday morning at the National performing arts school or NPAS and this is down in that area as well. Bono from U2 is building the U2 towers and the whole place is becoming the next trendy place to go in Dublin.

The traffic is a bit of a nightmare but in order to get as much done as possible and then go and fetch Emily and then go home and do everything else, I have to use the car.

The company I am consulting to at the moment is really nice and yesterday the Director gave me my very own office which is a few doors down from the CEO's office, who is a lovely man from Belgium. My office is bigger than my ex directors office and has a little conference table, everyone there treats me with so much respect it just feels so different and I am really liking it.

Tomorrow I have to work the whole day but it will be my first full day I will be working since June, so I guess I shouldn't complain - will take my Camera in and get some photos and post them here.

Welcome

Welcome to my Brand NEW blog, a funny story - I was sitting at the computer filling out some or other form for my NEW company and they asked me for the website name of my company. So just as a laugh I tried to create a web page on blogspot, I looked at it and thought it looked a bit silly and then deleted it, however I must have had some other screens open at the time and ended up deleting my threenewirish blog, which had all my posts from the start of 2006.

I was mortified and have sent numerous requests to Google to try and recover it but sadly with no luck, so I am now going to start a brand NEW blog!

So happy reading and I hope you will become one of my followers!