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House Update: One step forward and well…?
Everyone is asking with the best of intentions, how the house is coming along. I appreciate all your kind comments and encouraging words, you’re all so sweet. We were absolutely promised July/August when we bought the house, September at the very-very latest, if Summer weather was bad-indeed it wasn’t, anything but! We were rushed into signing the contract for the house and knew there was something fishy when the builders refused to sign the contract unless we reapplied for our mortgage, for a sanction expiring at a later date- they obviously knew it wouldn’t be ready. Why were we rushed into it so quickly? We moved in with an elderly…
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Bloggies 2018 Finalists Announced: I MADE THE LIST!!
Warning:Flashing images/gif below I was having a rather tough day at work yesterday, you know the kind where nothing goes right, a sort of Murphy’s Law day? Packing up to head home at the end of the day, I decided to check my emails. Almost dropping my phone with excitement, there was an email to say that this little blog had made it through three rounds of judging to make it as a finalist at the Blog Awards Ireland 2018!! I had THE BIGGEST grin on my face during the train ride home that I’m sure my fellow passengers thought I was tapped or something. I 100% don’t expect to…
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Recipe: Courgette Chorizo Savoury Traybake
I have this horrendous battle with diets and food, yes Ketogenic diets like Dukan work for me but I’m allergic to fish and I’m not a lover of meat. We’re still staying with my Husband’s Grandfather whilst waiting to move into the house, it’s finished, we just need to snag. As all my kitchen belongings are in storage, I can’t do my usual dishes, the kitchen supply of a 99 year old Gentleman is pretty limited. The last two days, I’ve been feeling so unhealthy, we’ve been eating more convenient foods instead of cooking and it’s killing me! I am starting to feel my tummy getting bigger and I HATE…
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Wool Blankets: How To Wash Wool At Home
While we’re discussing Autumn, BLANKETS! Can I we please discuss these little wonders? They shroud us when we’ve a broken heart, sick & cozy on those cold winter nights. We even clutch them as children during times of insecurity, hence the phrase ‘Security Blanket’. But what happens when you wash them the standard way in your washing machine or dryer? I know of people who’ve invested in beautiful handwoven blankets and have put them in the washing machine, only for them to be destroyed. My Mum made sure I knew how to do this and understand treating different textiles, so I learned from her. There are Foxford blankets at home…
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Autumn: These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things
Autumn, oh Autumn, I do love you! I am lamenting that glorious Summer as much as the rest of the country but I do look forward to Fall and the coziness it brings, most of all layering! Isn’t it a gorgeous feeling when you’ve been resisting the ever so slighter crisp mornings and suddenly you resist and yield to cozy cardigans? You feel almost cocooned! All one needs now is a Pumpkin Spiced Latte… right, let’s not get carried away, shall we? Whilst we’re still staying with my Husbands Grandfather, patiently awaiting the builders completion notice for the house, I’m still living out of a suitcase. Having been assured our…
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The First Walk Through Of Our House!
Well now I feel it’s really happening, we got inside our new house this week. The company that installed our ‘air to heat’ system invited us to come along for a demo in one of the complete and occupied houses. Air to heat is like a big fridge in my utility room 😂. Basically, you don’t need gas or oil to heat your home, it’s an Eco friendly way of heating your house and works like a refrigerator only in reverse, pulling heat out of the air outside down to -22ºC. In the extremely unlikely event of Ireland going into a cold snap, below these temperatures, a back up boiler…
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Recipe: Chicken & Chorizo Paella – a sure crowd pleaser.
Whenever I visit my Mum, I rarely get to see her these days, she lives in Galway. We always plan to go out for dinner, big plans, get all dressed up and head out- it never happens. When I say it never happens, I mean my Mother likes her home comforts and her favourites, without fail, she always gives me that look and says “Can you make some Paella and I’ll buy you some wine?” How can you refuse such an offer? In fairness, Mum loves anything with rice, give her risotto or creamed rice and she’s happy -and it’s important to keep your Mother happy.. The thing about Paella…
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Interiors Update: Downstairs
Whilst we’re still waiting for our snag notice to come through from the builders of our new house, I’m doing all the fun bits and picking necessary pieces of furniture like sofa’s and dining tables. Okay, it’s fun to shop but not good for your blood pressure when you see your account balance getting lower and lower, it’s sort of like seeing your favourite expensive bottle of perfume fall and smash on the floor whilst the precious contents seeps down through the floor, once it’s gone it’s gone and you can’t pick it up. I’ve designed the kitchen, ordered it, got a great deal on floor tiles, bought them and…
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Shaping Up To Ship Out: Asian Style Red cabbage salad
In my mission to make more salads for lunches, eat more whole grain, natural plant proteins and fruit, I wanted to try my hand at getting more adventurous, I literally went shopping and bought all the fresh ingredients with the aim of using larder foods up before the move. The first night was a red cabbage Asian salad, normally I HATE cabbage, I can tolerate coleslaw so I was planning on making something similar. I sat with a mandoline, watching a movie as I planed the cabbage away into nothing, my hands turning regal purple from the cabbage, not sure if it was the hard work planing or just the…
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Shaping Up to Ship Out
We find ourselves surrounded by boxes and packing tape as we prepare to leave the apartment, in one of my last posts, I mentioned that our landlord had served us notice at the start of the year, he’s intending to sell the apartment. I never thought moving home was as stressful until now. We’re moving in with my husband’s 99 year old WW2 Veteran Grandfather until August, he’s a widower bless him and I adore him, so that’s ok. However, I never was one to be able to live out of a suitcase for a while, I like to be able to spread out and be comfortable. In the meantime,…
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The Women’s Mini Marathon 2018
Sooo, I’m signing up for the Women’s Mini Marathon this week for my third time, I’ve already made my fundraising page and roped my cousin into coming with me.. My Father in Law is fighting cancer for the second time and received treatment first time round at St.Lukes Oncology and Radiation Centre in Rathgar. I’m sick of losing people to this horrible disease and I swear I will do everything I can to help in the fight to find a cure, even if it means running a few mini marathons..every little helps, right? If you haven’t done the Mini Marathon before and tempted but afraid, can I tell…
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That place between here and home..
Hi guys, you might have noticed that there hasn’t been much action on my blog lately, I haven’t lost interest, things are just a little bit chaotic at the moment. I sort of feel like my mind isn’t clear, unsettled even, I’m not sure how to describe it really. No, nothing bad has happened, I’m delighted about our ‘house in progress’, we even went to see the building site last weekend and the foundations have been poured. However, our landlord gave us notice that he’s selling last week and now we’ve to be out (in May), three months before the house is finished- great, isn’t it? We have to pack…
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A Week to Recover..
It’s almost come to the end of my week off and I’m just about back to myself, fell in love with baking again, loads of sleep and a through clean of the apartment with an imminent pack in mind, it won’t be long until everything is being boxed up for the new house… We’ve gone to visit the site a couple of times since they broke ground a month ago and last weekend, the houses behind our one had the ground floor built already! I’ve never seen anything go up so fast! Is it premature to say I’ve picked my colour scheme already? I’m not going to get into interiors…
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Recipe: Leftover Christmas Ham- A Very Irish Carbonara Recipe
I’m sure you’ll agree, Christmas isn’t Christmas without Ham & Turkey, Irish families will cook enough ham & turkey to feed a small village, no matter how many people they’re cooking for, if, like my family, there’s only a handful of you, you’ll know what I’m talking about.. you’ll be eating it for days until you get the turkey sweats. Luckily, I was in my Mother in Law’s for dinner this year and there were 10 of us, and then the kids, so over two days, it was demolished. My ham, has become a little bit legendary, I’m saying that in the most humble way possible. We make two full…
A lifestyle blog by Sarah Cooke-O'Neill
