Confessions of a chocaholic!

A few things recently have conspired to make me think a lot about chocolate..A recent blog read re giving up alcohol for a few weeks and sleeping better made me think about the time I gave up chocolate (milk chocolate,that is!).

I have 4 magnets on my fridge that basically sum up how I feel about chocolate:

1. " Everything else is just food, but chocolate's chocolate".

2. "Chocolate is proof that God wants us to be happy".

3. "I'd give up chocolate but I'm no quitter".

and , my favourite, given to me by my friend on a visit from Brussels, with a big box of Belgian chocolates (she does know me well!)

"l n'y a rien de mieux qu'un bon ami, excepté un bon ami qui amene des chocolats".

So, to the time I gave it up..



I was following my own version of the Atkins diet i.e. I cut down on carbs big time. I had his book and there were some good recipes in it, including chocolate truffles. They were delicious! I lost 4 kilos in a couple of weeks, but the biggest difference I noticed was my sleep. Now I normally sleep very well, head hits pillow and out like a light. Sometimes if I've a lot gong on, I might think "I won't be able to sleep tonight", and next thing I know it's morning. Well, the difference in the quality of my sleep was phenomenal! It was as though I had been anaesthesised! I didn't miss the milk chocolate nearly as much as I would have thought. But of course in the end, I just drifted back to the chocolate, and that's where I've been up to now.



Just writing about it is making me think though that I might give the chocolate-free way of life another try. Also, I've a cholesterol test coming up and if it's high, as I don't eat cheese,the focus will be on chocolate.




To quit or not?? I have to think about it first!

Missing him like crazy.

My boy has gone off to a 3-week residential summer camp. He headed off on Sunday, all excited, with two bags.He doesn't know anyone else doing this particular camp- it's on novel writing, not football, so I suppose that explains that.

I dropped him off, and got him settled into his room- his room-mate's stuff was on the bed but the roomie was nowhere to be found. Looking around, most of the kids there seemed to be much older than him, and it was a bit daunting. He's just turned 13. Before I left, he realised that he hadn't charged his Sony Reader, so nothing available on that, and he hadn't brought any books because of the Sony. Also, he had only packed 3 pairs of socks!

So, as it's only a short drive away, and I'm not doing too much these days, I agreed to bring over his stuff. Went over today and dropped it off at the office for him. I got the following text tonight "Just had fire drill. Where's the office?", to which I replied "Hard to describe. Ask someone or ring me and I'll tell you". The reply "K". I take it that he's enjoying himself.

I miss him like crazy. It's as though a part of me is missing. The house has a totally different vibe with just the girls- quiet, very quiet, and too predictable. This morning I opened the spare fridge to find a bowl of pancake dough that he'd made on Sunday- I nearly cried! He loves cooking (well, baking mostly) and it's something that we do a good bit together. I realised that he is much more interactive with us than the girls are, but I'm not sure if that's a boy thing, his personality, or his age. Maybe a bit of all those. In the meantime, I find myself wandering round like a lost soul. What'll it be like when he moves out for good? I hope I won't be one of those "clingy" mothers!

He has the option to come home for the weekend, but hasn't yet decided if he will. I hope he decides to, but not out of not liking the camp...is that too much to ask for?

Return journey,and a funny link

On our return journey, as on the outward one, we had several hours (10 to be precise) in Toronto between flights, so this time we decided to rent a car and, armed with a Sat Nav, drive to Niagara Falls.




I've always wanted to see Niagara, and this was going to be the highlight of the holiday for me. It did not disappoint, as any of you who've been will know. I'm not into theme parks and have voluntarily sworn myself off clothes shopping for a year (recession and all that!) so Florida didn't have a particular interest for me. I hope I'm not doing a disservice to Florida, and did enjoy the sun, and I confess, a tiny bit of clothes shopping (J Crew to be precise, if it's good enough for Michelle Obama, it's good enough for me, go to mrs-o.org and scroll down a little bit to "Sunny Delight") .



So we had a really lovely day at Niagara, between flights, and saw some wonderful sights en route. I was very skeptical of sat navs up to that point, dismissing them as just more techie gadgets, but now I'm a total convert. We would never have attempted that journey in that timeframe without it! We didn't go on the boat, partly because we were all tired after a 4.30am start, and partly because we wanted to savour the sights from a height and save something for next time.



Now to the funny link (not the M. Obama one!)- while we were in Canada, exploring that wonderful country, a fellow blogger, Stephanie from Vancouver, was in Ireland exploring the sights of my country! She has posted some wonderful photos on her blog, which you can reach by clicking on her comments on this blog, or on her little pic at the top here "followers". I met up with herself and Anne in Dublin last night for dinner, and we had good craic, of the Irish variety.

Titanic Exhibition

One of the things we did while in Orlando was visit a Titanic "experience". It was billed as having lots of genuine items from Titanic, and you could also "experience" an iceberg so it sounded interesting, and it certainly lived up to expectations.

Queensland, now called Cobh (pronounce cove) in Cork, Ireland was the last port of call of the Titanic, and one of my ancestors was supposed to go on her, but something happened at the last minute, and she, fortunately, didn't go. So I have a personal interest in all things Titanic. Also, she hit the iceberg on 14th April, my eldest daughter's birthdate.

The exhibition was very good, actors brought the group around part of it, as though we were passengers on the ship. We got a real feel of the luxury in which these people lived -the 1st and 2nd classes. We were not, thankfully, treated to the steerage class experience.

They also had an iceberg that we could touch to "experience" just how cold that is, and the water was even colder. It must have been terrifying for everybody on board, but 2 things stay with me from the exhibition- only 1 lifeboat came back to look for survivors, and one person who survived did so by consuming large amounts of alcohol as soon as he realised that the ship would sink; this acted as anti-freeze in his body. I'd like to think that if I had been on a lifeboat, I would have persuaded the other occupants to turn back, but which of us knows what we'd do ?

Arrived in Orlando at 11pm, expecting another grilling and possibly more rudeness, but nothing, we just walk straight out! We had booked into a hotel for the night, cheap and cheerful as we thought. The plan was to put our heads down for a few hours, wake refreshed and collect the car in the morning, then drive to the house we had rented. The big plus was the hotel had a courtesy coach from the airport, so no rummaging in the dark trying to find it.

The room was nothing short of amazing for the price ($60, I think, for the 5 of us!). We had a huge bedroom with 2 king size beds, a big bathroom and a big sitting room with pull-out couch and rollaway bed. I began to regret that we were only staying one night. Oh, the hotel also had a swimming pool, but we didn’t have time to use it.

Next, car to house, all fine. The house was bigger than we expected(though not quite as fancy as the one below!)- we had been upgraded from 5-bed to 6-bed! Everything was just lovely, much better than we expected, it even had a games room. Made me wish we could afford to do this all the time, but let’s not moan.

Most of the time in Florida was spent, as predicted, either lazing by the pool, eating or shopping. I did, however, go to the gym several days as I was determined not to put on weight. Heofinfinitepatience and son went to Universal almost every day for a few hours, middle daughter went with them a few times. We got 14day tickets in Ireland, which were a real bargain.

I’ll finish with my list of 5 things I loved about Florida and 5 that drove me mad.

LOVED:
1.The service attitude. Exceptional customer service all the way. And I don’t care whether or not it’s genuine. I’ll take a false smile and attitude with my food any day before grumpiness. Here in Ireland, we could learn a lot from them.
2.The “take-away box” for food you didn’t eat in restaurants.
3.The roads- well signposted and traffic moving.
4.The selection of fruit and veg, all at reasonable prices. Actually, make that reasonable prices all round.
5.Cracker Barrel– nostalgia at its best.

DISLIKED:
1.Lack of recycling facilities and will to recycle. We have gotten used to paying 26c tax on plastic bags in Ireland - this money is used for environmental projects. So most people bring their load of bags or “bag for life” with them when shopping. We thought we’d re-use our Walmart bags, but they were having none of it. Their best offer was a box at the door to recycle them. Not the same.
2.Rubbish facilities- this is much the same as no 1, but we went to lots of trouble separating rubbish, only to see the bin men throw the lot into one truck- waste food, glass, plastic, paper. Now, is someone going to separate that for recycling?
3.The fact that people don’t walk short distances to places. I know it’s hot, but even on cooler days, nobody seemed to walk anywhere.
4.Discovering the reality of the health system. Brother-in-law had a small cyst on his hand. It cost $45,000 to have it removed, including all sorts of experts and a general anaesthetic and overnight stay! He had a similar one removed a few years ago in the UK in a matter of a few minutes.
5.Portion sizes. It’s no wonder there’s an obesity problem.

I hope I don’t sound all lecturing about my dislikes, but the environment thing is a big one with me. What are your likes and dislikes about a country? Any country.

Return journey tomorrow!

Concert Pictures,at last!

Magnificent backdrop of Marlay Park, last May.
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This is the Tuba section, including my daughter, that would be she with the long hair!

Here's the French Horn section. I'm third in, between the girl with the white hairband and the girl with the blue bobbin.

This one is of the band, with a little of the audience and backdrop of Marlay Park.

All pictures were taken by my hubbie,Heofinfinitepatience.

Just posting them has brought back happy memories of a wonderful day, hope you enjoy them.

I'll hold the second instalment of the holiday till tomorrow, was too excited about learning to add pictures to hold them off.

The holiday!

Well, we're back from our holidays. It was great.

We did get to leave Toronto airport, which was a very good start. We checked our bags in only as far as Toronto as that gave us a better chance of being allowed to leave the airport, so that slightly reduced our available time to see the city, as we had to allow time for checking in again. So we decided to get the bus tour. I'm a total convert to city bus tours, having in the beginning dismissed them as a waste of fuel and a congestion to traffic. However, as a visitor to a city, it's a great way to get your bearings and see some sights. I then like, on day 2 and subsequent days, to walk around and do a closer inspection. I could walk around cities forever; I much prefer walking the streets to visiting art galleries or shopping(well, most of the time!). The bus tour was lovely, sunshine all the way. I particularly liked Casa Loma and Yorkville, and the port area. There was a lovely energy about Toronto, vibrant and young. I'd love to live there for a year or so.

Afterwards, we had a bite to eat and then took a taxi back to Pearson for our flight to Orlando. The US immigration procedure is, I found, very daunting. My daughter got separated from us in the queue, and they wouldn't let her in without the documentation (understandable),but I had real trouble getting back out to her. They just kept barking at me to "move here", "NO! HERE,NOW!" They wouldn't listen to me or allow me to show them that the details they were looking for were on our form. However, I also felt that I had to stay calm, as they could just decide they weren't letting me in the country.

From the point where we got to be interviewed by an official, all was fine. No barking.

Continued tomorrow.