20 Signs Christmas Is On It's Way!

1. Christmas movie channels have been added to you TV package....although you have seen them all hundreds of times you still get that warm feeling when you watch them

2. The sudden need to buy lots more Christmas decorations even though the house looked like Santa's grotto last year!

3. Christmas music channels and fighting the urge to blast Slade all over the house although it's only November and what will people say!!

4. You start watching TV ads just to catch the big stores latest Christmas offerings, its the only time of the year when the ads are better than the actually shows!

5. Counting down the weekends till The Late Late Toy Show is on!

6. Going to coffee shops every day because you want to try every festive coffee on the menu and of course Instagram it too!

7. Every advent calendar you see you buy, because you know you can never enough advent calender's!

8. Spending a small fortune on festive scented candles because you can never have enough candles at Christmas!

9. You start adding random bits to your weekly food shop, bread, milk, chocolate orange, cranberry sauce, crackers, after eights and bucks fizz please!

10. Every non-alcoholic drink suddenly has alcoholic added to it, baileys hot chocolate, coffee with rum, apple cider, and of course mulled wine!

11.  The festive lights have been turned on in town!

12. You start watching Gold because you want to watch every Christmas TV special EVER!

13. You seem to have a social event every weekend from now till Christmas day!

14. Your monthly TBR for December is just Christmas books

(maybe this is just me)

15. Matching festive pyjamas for you, hubby and kids is a real thing!

16. Christmas FM will soon by playing over the airwaves in Ireland...yipeee

17. Bank balances start to get smaller and smaller!

18.  Panto's are every where! All the soap stars are in Pantos all over Ireland and UK 

19. The nearer it gets to Christmas the more your inner Buddy The Elf comes out

first we will have hot chocolate, then ice skating then six hours of waiting in line to see Santa

can't wait!

20. You don't care what people say it's never to early to get into the Christmas spirit! 

Our Favourite Christmas Ads 2016

One of the most magical and most anticipated things surrounding Christmas is the big stores TV ads.

This year most of them seem to fall a little short for me but there still a few gems this year

Here are our favourites;

6. Barbour~The Snowman & The Snowdog

This is one of Oisìn's favourites and while he hasn't actually seen
The Snowman or The Snowdog yet he is totally in love with this sweet ad
This is an updated version of Raymond Brigg's classic all it is missing is the
Walking in The Air theme to go with it.
It has made me realize that Oisìn is ready to watch The Snowman
Now I can't wait to snuggle up and watch it with him

5. John Lewis~Buster The Dog

This sweet offering from Christmas ad maestro John Lewis is about Buster and his love of jumping!
Looking at all the wildlife animals jumping around on a trampoline can't help but bring a smile to your face. Yet I think it's missing something and for me its not as good as previous years.

4. Waitrose~Coming Home

I personally like Waitrose offering more than it's sister company this year
Waitrose Christmas ad is a very cute story of a little Robin
and the little girl waiting on it to come home
It is filmed like a David Attenborough documentary with a sweet tear jerkier ending

3. Aldi~Kevin The Carrot

This is Oisìn's favourite ad this year he loves Kevin the carrot!
This is a tongue in cheek version of The Night Before Christmas.
It sees Kevin get through a maze of food until he ends up on Santa's sleigh
It's an original funny sweet ad and one of our all time favourites 

2. Marks & Spencer~Mrs Claus

This is one of the best offerings from any store this year
Directed by Tom Hooper this ad has Mrs Claus in the staring role when a young boy Jake
who is not often very nice to his older sister asks for Mrs Claus help to replace a pair of his sister's shoes. Mrs Claus is a very stylish woman with lots of high tech at her disposal, the ad itself is filmed beautifully. I like it because I can relate to being that older sister who has a little brother who drove her crazy growing up but had a heart of gold!

1. Salisbury's~The Greatest Gift

Once again Salisbury's has won in our house last year Mog The Cat captured our hearts
This year it's hard working Dad Dave who's time is escaping him, work is busy, commuting is a nightmare, he has lots of Christmas shopping to do and all he wants to really do is spend time with his family.
He makes toy versions of himself so that he can be with the ones he loves at Christmas time. The song is sung by James Corden who does a great job at narrating the struggling Dave.
Myself and Oisìn watched it first together when Oisìn snuggled into me and said that's my Daddy it brought tears to my eyes. For Oisìn I think the fact that Dave wears glasses like his Daddy's reading glasses, that made him think of his Dad. For me it was the fact the Paul like Dave works hard every day to give us the things we want and need, like Dave he struggles with busy work and commuting to and from it. Like Dave he would much rather be at home with us and for us the best present we get at Christmas time is his company and love.

What is your favourite  Christmas ad this year?

Slimming World Meal Plan Monday

I didn't get the loss I wanted this week but I think that was due to star week as I was 100% on plan last week. Now this weekend that's something different! I was so not on plain this weekend, need to get back on track today for the rest of the week!

Monday:  Homemade Burgers, SW Chips & Salad

Tuesday: SW Herb Crusted Pork Chops, Mash & Carrots

Wednesday: SW Beef Hot Pot & Brussel Sprouts

Thursday: SW Taco Fries

Friday: Chicken Curry & Boiled Rice

Saturday: Pizza Topped Chicken & SW Chips

Sunday: Ham, Cabbage, Carrots & Oxo Roasties

Over The Weekend #56

 This weekend started off on Friday with a curl up with a festive read. Paul was off on a work night away so I read this throughout the day and when Oisìn had gone to bed I actually finished the book! I loved it that much that I started and finished it in a day. If you want a fun cosy festive read The Christmas Party by Carole Matthews is a must! I will be reviewing it in my monthly book review

 Saturday morning I had a bit of Christmas shopping to do so Oisìn and I popped into Costa for a honeycomb latte for me and a hot chocolate for him!

Later Saturday afternoon it was our neighbour and Oisìn's best pal Caden's 3rd Birthday party. Oisìn had a great time, he found it a little hard to understand that all the presents where for Caden, once he got his head round that he enjoyed himself! He had the most fun playing with the balloons!!

After a few hours at a children's party I was ready for wine!! Later when Oisìn was tucked up in bed and Paul was home, we curled up with a glass of wine and the first festive movie of the season my favourite Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

Sunday we had a lovely family day out we went for dinner, and then done some more Christmas shopping. Later the Christmas lights where switched on and Oisìn face was a picture! Oisìn fell asleep in his buggy something he hasn't in a long time, so he was wide awake when we got home so he ended up staying up and watching some of Planet Earth II which he loved! 

This weekend was a lovely one and it felt quite festive, I have itchy fingers to get the Christmas tree up but that is a big no from Paul!

On The Box Last Week

Warning-TV Spoilers Ahead!

Last Sunday saw the last episode in the second series of Poldark, finally after weeks of waiting this show picked up in the back half of the season. The last three episodes changed the pace of the show and I really enjoyed it. Elizabeth agreed to marry Poldark's sworn enemy George, Ross can't be having this and confronts his first love and they end up sleeping together.
Demelza found out and gave him such a punch that sent Ross sleeping with the pigs!
In this finale episode we find Demelza struggling with the idea of leaving Ross as even the fact the Ross as struck tin and there money worries are over brings Demelza no joy. Ross is thinking of joining the war and leaving Cornwall. Elizabeth is slowly realising that George is not everything he said he was, he is Lording over Trenwith although they could be living in his much larger estate. He is putting up fences all over the countryside and getting all the locals very annoyed. To the point when Jud rounds up the locals to march on Trenwith with the idea of burning it down. Demelza puts her distaste for them aside and tries to warn both Elizabeth and George who both just sneer at her. I so wanted to punch them both! Ross arrives and saves the day, he asks Demelza to leave with him and Elizabeth knows she has truly lost Ross forever. It's only later when George tells her he is sending her son (who is only four or five year old) away to bording school as he is too attached to her that she begins to realise how evil George can be! She is also facing the hard fact that she is now pregnant with what is looking very likely Ross's child!
We got a teaser of series three which will air in 2017 I am really looking forward more drama in Cornwall.

Unlike the UK version of the show which I think has got slightly stale this Irish version is new and fresh. It's only in the first series so it's still fun and has no big household names...yet! I liked how this version unlike it's UK sister doesn't feature much politics in the show. I think the UK show features too much of this now and its turned into a very satire type show.
This week on the Irish version the Tully twins where very vocal on how much they hated snakes when watching Planet Earth. I love all the families and friends, nothing feels forced we are really enjoying this show

We are on episode three of season seven of The Walking Dead and I am loving it.
Negan has brought fresh air into a show that was starting to feel a bit of a let down. The season opener was stunning and jaw dropping, with Negan not killing one but two of our favourites. It was hard to see Abe and Glen meet Lucille in the way they did, the writers and show producers make the choice to show the deaths in the most gruesome way possible! We saw Negan break Rick and Rick now fully understands who is in charge and its definitely not him!
In the second episode we where introduced to The Kingdom where Carol and Morgan are staying. We met King Ezekiel and his tiger Shiva. I loved how Carol didn't take any of his bull shit and he finally told her his story of how he got Shiva....he was a zookeeper before the dead started walking! While I liked this episode I don't really think the Kingdom or Carol needed a whole episode.
In season three we see how Daryl is doing after Negan took him after an outburst from Daryl in episode one resulted in on of the group getting killed. Negan has his group lock up Daryl in a cell with no clothes and feed him dog food sandwiches. He tries to break him any way he can playing the same song over and over, beating him up and show him pictures of his dead friends. Yet the redneck is strong and will not bend, although he is very close to breaking he will not give up who he is.
All of the acting has been top notch this season, but for me Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been acting the others off the screen. He has somehow made a sadist, bat wielding, psychopath, likable and dare I say it sexy!
I am really looking forward to this weeks episode when Negan pays a visit to Alexandrina  

Reading Habits

1.Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
In the Summer I love reading in our back garden, but I mostly read in bed with a toddler that's really the only chance I get the time to read. I do try grab a few pages while curled up on the sofa if the housework is done and the little one is watching Peppa Pig, but that only lasts 15 minutes if I'm really lucky! 

2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?
Both! I do love themed bookmarks but I always losing them or the toddler gets his hands on them! Recently my cousin bought me a beautiful angel bookmark but Oisìn got his hands on it and now I am back to using a random piece of paper!

3.Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/certain amount of time?
I always have to stop after a chapter I can't just leave a book down in the middle of a chapter
but I do have to limit my time reading as I read in bed I could read into the early hours of the morning with an almost three year old that wakes at the crack of dawn its not good to be reading till 2am!
I done that once when reading Dragonfly In Amber and was like a zombie the next morning!

4.Do you eat or drink while reading?
I don't normally eat much but I do drink I love a cup of tea or hot chocolate while reading so cosy!

5.Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?
Neither! I don't mind something on low in the background but I definitely can't watch TV while reading!

6.One book at a time or several at once?
Normally I can only read one book at a time but this month I am reading two together and am enjoying it

7.Reading at home or everywhere?
I read anywhere I can get a chance! I have had lots of hospital appointments the past few years and always bring a book for the waiting rooms!

8.Reading out loud or silently in your head?
Silently bugs the life out of me when people read out loud to themselves!

9.Do you read ahead or even skip pages
No....if I am struggling with a book I might skim over pages but I don't skip pages

10.Breaking the spin or keeping it like new?
My Mam and I really disagree with this she breaks the spin on her books so when I get a lend of books of her I think they always look tatty! I like to keep them look newish and I never break the spin, I do bend them a little but never break them!

11.Do you write in your books?
No never! I am currently reading a library book and someone before me unlined random words in the first few chapters with pen and it so annoyed me!

What are your reading habits?

Over The Weekend #55

This weekend we didn't get up to much to be honest!

Paul was working all weekend so it was just Oisìn and I for most of the time

Saturday morning we done a bit of Christmas shopping and went for a festive coffee

When I ordered it I didn't realise that it would be so big!

We then went to my parents for a chat and a cuppa

Oisìn wanted to bring his green car but his legs got tired half way to Grandparents house so I end up pushing him most of the way!

I wasn't feeling 100% for most of the weekend but tried my best to be fun for Oisìn!

  Sunday was a mostly do nothing type of day!!

We snuggled on the sofa and watched the new Sky Christmas Movie channel!

It is early to be talking about Christmas but this was just what I needed!

We had a late Sunday roast when Paul got home and then later watched the last in the series of Poldark.

Slimming World Meal Plan Monday

Had a nice loss this week in Slimming was very strict with myself over the weekend

so hoping will have a good loss this week too...its always slow and steady with me due to my PCOS

Monday: Left Over Roast Chicken, SW Chips & Salad

Tuesday: SW Chilli & Baked Potatoes

Wednesday: Slimming World Fake Away Taco Fries

Thursday: Slimming World Diet Coke Chicken

Friday: SW Meal For One

(Hubby at a work event)

Saturday: Slimming World Burgers, Salad & SW Chips

Sunday: We are out for a family dinner

Over The Weekend #54 Halloween Edition

This weekend we did lots of lovely Halloween things

Friday Oisìn had a little dress up party in daycare

He wasn't 100% all weekend due to an ear infection, chest infection and was tired due to the meds he is on. Yet on Friday he was so exicted to dress up for all his friends to see!

He wore last years pumpkin outfit and it was crazy to see the difference a year makes!

On Saturday Paul's parents invited us up to there's for dinner

We had a relaxing afternoon and then later the local pub put on a firework display for the children

It was great fun sweets and fireworks for the children with wine and beer for the adults!

Oisìn loved seeing his Uncle Jamie dressed up! It was so sweet to see the little children's faces when looking at the fireworks and the adults dressed up!

Sunday was a bit of a chill out day we watched Halloween family movies

I chanced watching A Nightmare Before Christmas with Oisìn liked it but he LOVED Hocus Pocus!

While watching it he decided he wanted to be a witch!

Later we carved pumpkins it took a while for Oisìn to agree to it he was having so much playing with the pumpkin!!

Then he finally done some carving with Daddy, he asked for a happy pumpkin and not a scary one!

Monday was a bank holiday here in Ireland its nice to have an extra one before Christmas!

We went to my parents for dinner and we had the Irish tradition of colcannon with a money surprise inside which took me straight back to my childhood.

Oisìn ate his dinner so quickly he was so exicted to get out and do some trick and treating!

Oisìn loved getting ready and getting his face painted when he saw me as a witch

He said I was a brilliant witch! Although he was dressed up as Frankenstein he though he was the hulk so we didn't disagree with him! 

Our little man loved trick and treating he loved the firework display but his favourite was the bonfire

He asked to go back to it three times! My parents neighbours loved seeing him all dressed up and he got lots of sweets and treats to last for weeks!!

After all the trick and treating was done we had a glass of wine and watched Monsters Inc before heading home

Then we settled down with a glass of wine and watched The Walking Dead

Oisìn enjoyed Halloween so much that he thought he could dress up again this morning after breakfast and do it all again!!
Hope you all had a Happy and safe Halloween