Forgot to say it's Sarah's birthday on Monday, so tomorrow we're going out for a little celebration - I'm taking Sarah, Thalia, Amelia (Sarah's friend from nursery) and Billie (from school - apparently Sarah's new "best friend" now that Millie has moved away) to have pizza & go to the cinema - to see A Cinderella Story. Actually, it should be fun (as opposed to Olivia's party, which is end of October, and will involve up to 25 4 & 5 year olds... - not in my house, I hasten to add!)

Ok, FINALLY got the rest of the pictures up on the kitchen page of our website. I know it's been a while, but well, I'm a busy person :)

I also put up some photos from Ireland on the main album page. So, there you go! More later.

This is on the first day of school (for Olivia), which was last Monday - Alex looks a bit worried by the whole thing, poor chap. 

Well, I know I'm a slug about blogging, and about updating the kitchen renovation page, but here's a picture to tide you over until I get it updated - some time this week. It's more or less done (I keep saying that, I know!) I need another coat of paint on the ceiling & to do the edges where the walls meet the ceiling. And we need a new floor - but that was waiting for the painting. Oh, and did I mention we are going to do just a little more work we hadn't decided on originally :) ? One more unit to the right of the dryer - we thought it might be too high there, as there's a low window, but actually, it will be ok, so Andy's going to come back and fit it for us when we have the stuff. But it certainly looks different! 

Sorry to be a slug about blogging - I do have a good excuse this weekend, though, as I was not near a computer for the entire weekend - more on that later. Kitchen is nearly nearly done now, only we've decided to add one more bit we weren't going to do originally - another unit next to where the tumble dryer is. I had originally thought the counter would be too high to carry on there, but we've decided it would look more finished to go a little further & round the counter off. Also, another unit (small drawers) would be useful. It may be a few weeks before that's sorted, though.

Anyway, both kids and Geoff seem to have survived the weekend without me, which is good & Olivia starts Reception tomorrow, which is also good. She's quite excited, and really, she needs to be back in school - it was quite a long summer break anyway, and for the Reception kids, it's been even longer. And for the parents, too! I'll try to catch up with news & kitchen stuff tomorrow or the next day, but there's still a lot to do putting the house in order & cleaning, as well as other things to catch up with. If anyone finds a place where they hand out extra time, do be sure to let me know, as I could certainly use some...

So, we're back from Ireland (which was great, more later on that), and kitchen is nearly done, just a few little bits (and my painting to come) - I have photos, but am too tired tonight to fuss with getting them out of the camera. Maybe tomorrow.

Back to school today, for Sarah, though Olivia doesn't go until Monday. Also, first day of Brownies, which is new - she did Rainbows before, but although they are technically supposed to be 7 for Brownies, the leader let her go up early as Thalia was going up, too. Olivia is looking forward to starting Rainbows after she turns 5 - not until the 2nd half of the term, which is a good thing, as it will give her a chance to settle into school.

Not much else - I have to have a root filling (root canal) next week, as I have an abcess in one of my teeth - developed it while on holiday in Ireland of course - well, I'm sure it was developing for some time, but of course that's when it became really bad - talk about serious pain - I woke up at 3 in the morning & it was so painful I wasn't sure whether to cry or throw up. I didn't do either, in the end, but it was a close call! I've seen the dentist today & he's given me some antibiotics to get rid of the infection & made an appointment to sort it next week, when the infection has cleared & also, when he has a longer appointment available - they are really good about seeing you in an emergency, but they are short appointments, for obvious reasons. And the REALLY good news is that depending on how much of the tooth is left (it's quite a big filling in it already), he might have to put a crown on to finish it off. Maybe I'll get lucky & there will be enough tooth left to hold a regular filling - I've had two crowns in the past 2 years, and frankly, that's plenty. I haven't had a new filling for years, but of course the old ones can break or get a little decay at the edges, which means they need redoing, and eventually, you just run out of tooth - hence crowns.

OK, that's enough, didn't intend to go on about dentistry for ages - sorry!

Off to Ireland tomorrow (early) for a long weekend to see Cathi, Dave, Aine and Aisling, who I've not met before, as she's only 10 weeks old or so. Long drive, but will be fun once we get there. Hopefully the kids will sleep some in the car, as we're getting a very early start. And when we get back, the kitchen will be done. Hurrah. Or rather, the builders will be done - I'll still have to put stuff away, paint, etc. I've probably said that before, but I have rather a one track mind at the moment. Not surprisingly. And it's back to school the day after we get back as well, so it's going to be a busy week...