Category: Personal

As I get older I find it harder and harder to make new friends. I was never the most outgoing person in the world but in school and in college I made some great friends, the kind that I’m still in touch with and whenever we meet up it’s like no time has gone by. Then I went travelling and again I was blessed with meeting some of the coolest people and forming the kind of friendships where you stay up all night talking, or watching Gone With The Wind followed by the whole of the (dreadful) Scarlet mini-series and laughing at the terrible acting.

But then three things happened…I turned thirty, I moved back to Ireland and I had a baby and all of a sudden I have no social life; the friends I had when I lived here are all now living in other parts of the world. Poor, poor me, I know…I don’t mean this to be a pity party; I want to be proactive about it and start making some friends but how do you do that?

Strictly speaking I’m not a Stay At Home Mum because although I’m at home I’m working pretty close to office hours. This pretty much rules out Mother and Toddler groups (if I could find them). So I’m working but I don’t have colleagues I can hang around with; the neighbours are all older people who are very pleasant but we have nothing in common.

So what do people do when they find themselves with a baby, work and no natural situation to make friends? I’m close to putting an ad in the paper.

“Desperately Seeking Grown Ups for Laughs and Late Night Chats (babysitter permitting).”

…maybe not.

For my last post before Christmas I’ve been tagged by Sinéad of Sigla so I feel like a proper Blogger now…

The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits of yourself,” and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You are tagged” (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

I kind of already covered my insane quirks in this earlier post but hey, I’m not short of weird habits so here’s five more:

1. When I’m sleeping I have to have the duvet pulled up over my ear, it can’t cover my head or face, but it has to cover my ear.
2. I prioritise the food on my plate, the required order is 1. meat 2. veg 3. potatoes…because, of course, potatoes are the best bit.
3. If I’m walking and I accidentally slap my arm against my leg, I have to slap my other leg with my other arm to even myself out.
4. (This is a family one) I can’t leave one baked bean in the bottom of a tin…either get all the beans out or leave two in the bottom to keep each other company.
5. And following on from that one…tins can’t be placed upside down in the cupboard because then all the beans will be standing on their heads.

Now for the next victims…I’m tagging:

Ryan of Rymus{dot}Net
Donnachada of The Daly Blog
Frank or Bif of BifSniff Cartoons
Cyberscribe of Shitty First Draft
Nelly of Nelly’s Garden

So, Happy Christmas to all of you and last one out of the blog building please turn out the lights.

“Get Ats” is the phrase coined by my mother to describe those little actions we have to do in order to stop something bad from happening. You know, like not stepping on the cracks in the pavement so as to avoid breaking the back of someone you love. Now, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. My husband tries to be all cool and deny that this is a very normal fixation but I’m positive everyone’s got something they do that makes no logical sense but is a compulsion. Now there are different levels, I will admit this, and I’m not talking about the psychological illness “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”, although I’m sure that has to start somewhere.

At the risk of having the men come to take me away, here are a few of my “Get Ats” in the hopes that some of you lurking readers might leave a comment and prove to my doubting husband that this is something that goes beyond my crazy family.

1. Shoes, when taken off, must be left in a position that would be comfortable if someone was wearing them. This also applies to trousers and shirts.

2. Toothbrushes can’t be left in their holders with their faces mashed up against other toothbrushes just in case they don’t get along. I mean how horrible would it be if you were left with your face smushed up against the wet face of someone you don’t like for hours on end. Have a heart.

3. All food, shampoo, drink containers with a twist top must not be closed while their bottoms are touching a surface like a countertop or table. If you do their air supply is cut off…they can’t breathe! Lift the container, twist shut then place on the surface/countertop.

4. When you buy a new bottle of shampoo or shower gel, don’t put them next to the nearly empty bottles they will soon replace. It’s not fair to highlight their shortcomings.

5. If a spider or other insect survives your first attempt to wash them down the plughole in the bathtub you have to help them out and set them free into the wild. They deserve it and obviously have something to live for like a family back at the web.

OK, I’m stopping now because I’m worried I’m scaring away what few readers I have!

In Fact, Ah mentioned the limited edition Brew 39 from Guinness a couple of weeks back. I’m not a Guinness drinker myself, not much of a drinker full stop if truth be told, but my Dad, my brother and, through their influence, my husband all consider themselves connoisseurs of the black stuff. They are very fussy about where they drink their pints and will walk out of any bar that only sells the extra cold trendy version. They prefer to drink in slightly quieter pubs since the barman is less likely to be rushed, they know which barmen in which pubs pull the best pints (controversially they avoid barmaids since they maintain women don’t know how to pull a good pint). They claim to know what times of the evening the pints are the best depending on how full or empty the barrel is and they won’t take the first pint after the barrel has been changed. One favourite watering hole was the Queens in Dalkey but this has changed because the head barman left and now the pint just isn’t as good. Finnegans has become the new local although if a better pint is found they are sure to follow it.

My husband was out with my brother not long ago enjoying their usual pint and were just about to order the last one of the evening when they spotted one of the Brew 39 beer mats. Being dedicated Guinness guardians they decided to give it a go purely in the interests of research. To cut a long story short, they got home so late I didn’t see either of them that evening, but I am told that somewhere in Dublin a poor unfortunate taxidermist was phoned at 2 in the morning and asked if he could take a fare from Dalkey.