Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Ruby Tuesday




As I write this, it's SNOWING outside!


I like snow, you all know that- hell, I love it!


But enough is enough. This is slush, it's not sticking. We can't make a snowman.. It's almost April, it's almost Easter, and we've had enough!


My brother and his family arrive on Friday, and I WANT SUNSHINE!!!

Looking at this picture, from last summer, and wishing.


And feeling a bit bad too, for not being satisfied with what's here.


For more Ruby Tuesday, click on the Ruby Slippers at the top.

Mellow Yellow Monday


Some friends came over for lunch yesterday, and their daughter made this beautiful gift for me.

She crafted it from playdough- isn't it sweet?
It's actually sweeter than sweet, because she taped 2 sweets on the back of it! A friend for life!
Drowsey Monkey hosts Mellow Yellow Monday- visit her to see more yellow pics.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Behind the parade

I haven't been to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin for several years, but today was different. I had agreed to take part in this "sideshow"- an 80 metre Stiletto Heel Dash down O'Connell Street just before the official parade - in aid of the Marie Keating Foundation. Marie was mother of Ronan Keating of Boyzone, and when she died of breast cancer, the family started the charity.

What a laugh! I can't even WALK in stilettos, and the heel had to be 3". I was terrified I'd get trampled on, but it was fine. Here we are, in our heels- that's me with one orange and one green! There was a prize for the most outrageous shoes (€1000 voucher for M&S)- I didn't win! The 2 different colours happened by mistake- shoes are belonging to daughter, who couldn't find the match of either this morning, so I just grabbed and ran!


If you don't like green or St Patrick's Day, close the window now.





Translation here is "Kiss my A**"! Hope I haven't offended anyone, I didn't even see the older boy when I was taking the photo of the cute little one, but when I loaded it onto the computer, there he was!




Now this is what I call a head!






The railings of Trinity College were good for a bit of extra height!




This restaurant wasn't quite ready on time.







What a vantage point- the 2nd floor window of a hotel! No idea how they climbed up, but they were happy to pose.








These girls were painting shamrocks on faces, in return for a donation for their (education)charity. I'm all for that!








Aren't these guys just so cute?







These ladies were all smiles!




I really liked the head gear these girls were wearing. The building in the background is a former bank, now a hotel.




And some people wore flags




The parade has definitely improved since my last time there- it was well organised, and everybody was in good humour.
And the sun shone, which usually doesn't happen either!



Monday, March 15, 2010

WSE Update and Mellow Yellow Monday

Just a quick update on the WSE.

It went fine! Phew! The students were fabulous- really rose to the occasion and showed off their knowledge. I was so proud of them!

And here are some more good things that didn't happen:
I didn't fall over in my high shoes.

I didn't forget anyone's name.

I didn't forget to give them homework.

I didn't forget to put on my clothes that morning. (This one is funny, cos I had a dream that I was teaching away, inspector in situ, then I looked down and realised I'd no clothes on! Not funny. At all.)




So, as it's Mellow Yellow Monday here are some pictures of a very special Christmas present that my daughter made for me in school.
It's a chopping board, but it's way too beautiful to be used for that, so I put some rope on it and hung it on the wall. Isn't she just great?
?

Drowsey Monkey hosts the Mellow Yellow Monday meme, so go on over to her place for more MYM!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Where did that week go to?

I'm sorry that I haven't been around much this week. I do not know where the week went to.



Life has been pure hectic, on all fronts.



In school, we have a WSE (whole school evaluation) next week, and boy did my inner perfectionist (IP) decide to come out! I told her to go away, but she kept coming back, often just as I put my head on the pillow at night. Whispering little things in my ear "wouldn't it be good to buy new folders for your notes, and to colour co-ordinate them?" - I gave in on that one. "It's time to do a complete clearout of your press"... "you need to re-write all your notes" - you get the picture. I'm struggling to keep her at bay, so if anyone has a magic cure, please let me know!


I've been busy with aromatherapy too. A local school invited me to talk to their Transition Year students, which I'm delighted to do. Just not this week, please. (Luckily, my available times this week didn't suit, so it's postponed for a couple of weeks). Which gives me a chance to properly prepare the talk!


And it's been busy with the kids- it's music exam season! And Feis season too! So lots of running around.


Then we got invited to a table quiz fundraiser at the primary school where our kids went. It was a fantastic school, our kids got such a good education there, and we've still loads of friends there, so we went along to that. IP kept whispering in my ear "you should be at home, doing more notes" . Guess what? Going out was the best thing I did all week- showed me there is more to life than WSE's. And guess what else? Our team WON! I feel a bit of a fraud saying "our team", cos in reality I contributed very little. I have no memory for general knowledge, but luckily Hubby is my opposite on that front, and a friend at the table could fill in the gaps in his knowledge. So the other friend and myself got to sit back and enjoy the night, and the team came home with 4 lovely bottles of wine for our efforts!

Plus I won this prize in the raffle.




Would you like to see what's inside? Of course!






Just what I need, and even though I could easily make these myself, it's nice sometimes to use something made by another. And Rose oil is one of my favourites!


So, it has been a good week, if a busy one.


I just hope that I can do myself and my school justice in next week's evaluation. My job doesn't depend on it, but my pride does.