Seat pads

I bought this great flamingo fabric in Key West.  I love how tropical it is.

I decided to make seat pads for the garden furniture.  It took me less than a day to make the first one.

Photoshoot for Dean Cooper

Most of our built in furniture was supplied and fitted by Dean Cooper Furniture.

On Friday, Dean arranged for the kitchen, wardrobes & TV unit to be photographed for his new brochure and website.

The kitchen was staged beautifully!  I'm looking forward to seeing the photos in print and online.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Trip to the dentist!

On the recommendation of a colleague I signed up with a dentist close to my new house.

The Beechwood Dental clinic is a short walk from my house close to the Luas Station.

I had a check up with Dr. Alex Creavin who took X-Rays and photographs of my teeth.  He then talked me through my teeth.  I've only ever had 2 fillings in my whole life but he reckoned one needed to be replaced as it was possibly leeching(?).  The two fillings I have are silver but he offered me the choice of having the replacement in silver or white.  After listening to the pros and cons of silver versus white, I still didn't know which to choose. Luckily I was able to text my dentist friends in the States and was advised to go with the tooth colored fillings.  I have an appointment to get this done in 2 weeks time.

I also made an appointment with the hygienist for a clean after the filling.  

Dr. Creavin then talked me through what toothpaste and floss he recommended.  He also strongly suggested I use an electric toothbrush with a soft to medium brush head.  I popped in to Boots on the way home and bought some supplies to keep my teeth clean.

When I am next at the clinic I hopefully will also get to talk to the orthodontist.  My retainer badly needs replacing and Dr. Creavin showed me more modern types than my old metal type that will also help with my teeth grinding. I think a new retainer is a worthwhile investment.

Colgate Total Toothpaste

Fluorigard mouth wash (I think this was recommended because of the high fluoride content)

This is the floss that was recommended by the dentist - it doesn't fray!

My new electric toothbrush!!

Blarney Castle

6 years ago we visited Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone.  I was going through some boxes and I found the photos from the day.  Looking back at the photos I remembered how great Blarney was and what a wonderful weekend we had!

Legend has it that by kissing the Blarney Stone you get the gift of the gab - the gift of eloquence.  Somehow I think this a gift that I don't need!!

www.blarneycastle.ie

Dinner disaster

Yesterday's dinner was a disaster after a disaster.  At lunchtime, I went to marks & spencers and bought food for dinner.  I got chicken kievs, some vegetables and cos lettuce for a salad.  When I returned to work I put them in the fridge to keep them chilled.  As I drove home that evening I rembered that I had left the food in the fridge.  :-(

So just as I neared home I stopped in Superquinn in Ranelagh and bought a stuffed chicken with prepared vegetables.  All was good, I had rectified the forgotten food situation.

I switched on the oven set the timer for 70 mins and popped the chicken in.  With 20 mins left of cooking time I went and checked the chicken. This was when I discovered that I had put the chicken in the other oven.  There was a lovely warm oven that was empty and above it was a stone cold chicken sitting in a cold oven.

At this point when I moved the chicken in to the warm oven it would be 10pm before we would be eating.

A decision was made, we rang Siam Thai, drove around and collected food and were sitting down eating noodles by 9.20pm.

Any dinner disasters on this scale (all down to my stupidity) ever happen to you?

Lidl - 4th of July

Obviously we don't mark American Independence Day in Ireland, however over the years lots of shop have started selling speciality items and 4th of July parties are becoming somewhat popular - particularly if it falls on the weekend.  Bars promote the event in order to bring in more patrons.

The German supermarket Lidl is selling some special products for 4th of July celebrations.  Most of them I would think are vaguely American.......except for fajitas.  Are fajitas not Mexican??

Fast day

It's a fast day of 500 cals today. 

Breakfast:

Lunch: Hummus

Dinner: Small bowl of All Bran & rocket leaves salad

After work we got in to the hot tub for the first tine since we refilled.  The water was sparkling and perfectly warm.  It was divine.  After our soak we went straight to bed - surprisingly unhungry.  However, Ciaran did say he felt like making cheese and crackers even though he wasn't hungry but that it was just habit.  

It was Ciaran's first day fasting - men can eat 600 cals on the 5:2 diet. For breakfast he had muesli sprinkled with seeds.  Lunch was 2 poached eggs, half a tomato & a slice of multigrain toast. Dinner was a banana and an apple.  He then went for a physio session followed by a boxing class.  He got home about 15 mins before me at 8.30pm.