Oldest Large Child starts school tomorrow (yeah don’t even try to understand the Irish way of thinking…) and is bubbling over with excitement about it.  We even have the sleep count down marked on the calander although once OLC was told how many sleeps she had to go (about 20 at the time!), she kept careful track of them and counted down each day. 

Now, there is one sleep left.  Even this morning when I was getting the children out of their bedroom, OLC looked at me and asked was today the day that she went back to school, and was crushed when she was told it was not until tomorrow.  Then I got the barage of questions about having to get up early and would I make sure that she was awake on time and make sure that her uniform was ready, and we can’t forget to take her books ….. is it bed time yet?  Because if it is, hopefully the questions will stop.

Okay see entry on 3rd April of this year.  I was excited coz Ikea was set to open in Dublin.  However since then there have been news reports about the planning board putting certain restrictions to Ikea’s operations blahdy blahdy blah….  so there was no way that Ikea Dublin is ever going to be open in this century.  I have to say that the Irish are way too in to politics and making life difficult when it needn’t be.  Like hello, they are (if they ever get to build and open!) going to be employing hundreds of currently unemployed people!  And then coz of the whole flat pack thing and many peoples not being able to sort that out there are business opertunities there AND 3/4 of Irish people don’t drive or own a car SOOOOOO there is the delivery people that are going to be needed …… Irish politics confuse me…

However, Ikea is set to open in Belfast on 13 December of this year.

I’M SO EXCITED!

Now watch the Immigration thing will come through and I’ll be back in Canada before then so I’ll not know the joy of shopping in Ikea in Belfast.  A twisted but good thing.

Yep that’s right, we are now in Autumn.  “What are you talking about?  Its only August, Autumn isn’t until the end of Septmeber!” you say.  Well here in Ireland we are in Autumn. It is now time to put away the summer clothing and bring out the winter clothes.  In the past week we have HAD to use the heating at least once a day if not two or three times!

You might think that I am just getting old and possible losing track of my senses just a wee bit, not to mention my marbles as my children drive me further insane.  But no.  Hate to break it to you.  I’m not.  It was an Irish person that had put it to me we are in the start of Autumn and not just because the children are going back to school.  Because ITS FREAKING COLD! 

One of my friends said she was hoping for an Indian Summer as we had no summer at all this year.  Well we did, sort of.  For two weeks it didn’t rain and was mostly sunny.  In April.

Or I am just really really homesick.

So you know that old saying that everyone has a twin that lives somewhere in the world?  Well I swear that they all live in Ireland.  I see people almost everyday that look exactly like people I know how live “back home”.  Now it could be that those people have possibly traveled to Ireland and possibly are being tourists in the towns where I live and go about my life.  But when I make a point to make eye contact with the said twin, I know it is not the person I know as there is a subtle difference in their appearance and they don’t recognize me.  But they really do look like that person!  It has even happened to Oldest Large Child, she saw a lady that looked like her old childminder from when we lived in Canada, and before I could stop her she went flying over to this lady and stopped just short of jumping in to her arms as she realized this was not Nantie.

I only wish I could get my phone out fast enough those times to take a discrete pic of the Twin so I could show you!  So is it a freak of nature OR is everyone in Ireland some type of clone?

Kinda makes you go hmmmmmm…..

So we move in to a four bedroom house (one ensuite) that has off street parking (a driveway) and a contained rear garden with grass.

With in days of us moving in we had a visitor from back home and this was as nearly a good time as it was ever gonna be as we NOW have a “spare” room.  This is all good and Jason stayed with us for about a week and then left and returned a few days later.  That was all grand.  It was excellent to have a friend from back home who could “just get it” with me when no one else over here could.

That was the beginning of May.  We are now in August and I still hear, “Mummy! (insert name of offending child) is in Jason’s Room!” at least once a day. 

Jason lives several thousand miles away and while he is more than welcome to come again and use the room, I think it is safe to say that it really is no longer “Jason’s Room”.  However in my childrens’ little minds, the room at the end of the landing will always be … Jason’s Room.

So we are having a Bank Holiday weekend this weekend and the weather is forecast for LOTS of rain and due to the amount of road accidents causing deaths lately, the Gardai (pronounced gardee), are “cracking down” with plenty of check points to deter drink drivers and boy racers.  Except that is just gonna put them on different roads, soooo we are safer just being at home this weekend.

yea! can’t hold in my excitement of spending four days cooped up with three children and a husband that will be climbing the walls by the afternoon of the second day…

is it Monday night yet??

So now we are in to August….what is significant over the past month??

• I have gained 10 pounds ~ this is good because I was shrinking and at one time weighed 9 stone 3 lbs (= 129 lbs something that hasn’t happened in over 20 years!).
• We got Healthy Weighty Wee Man’s passport …. now we have to get Oldest Large Child her Canadian one… (see last post)
• The Immigration Lawyer was sent more stuff…and we are waiting for more to come to send on.
• We have had over 40 consecutive days with rain, our back garden is very wet.  Many of the days did have sunny spells, but there was rain at some point in each 24 hour period!
• Healthy weighty Wee Man got a hair cut … well all of them really and very very tight in.  He looks a right different wee boy now.
• I signed up to Facebook.

That is what we have been up to in July…