Butterfly Diaries

Part 1

Ok so 5 weeks in and the attic is cleared, the shed has been culled, the weeds live in constant fear, even the patio doors are all cleaned!!!

The grocery shopping takes forever and it is all utterly irrelevant because the fridge and the cupboards like black holes - whatever I plan for dinner someone decides to eat for lunch !! I am demented.

I spent 1 hour 45 minutes getting to the fruit and veg section of Dunes last weekend - I keep going to Cornelscourt for a little fix of homewares on the long queue in and a slow push of the trolly through PJs and socks on the exit route !!!

Never did I think a 3 pack of sports socks could get my little retail heart thumping.

I got a little orange pair of Pedro Garcia runners as my Easter egg - the Easter bunny arranged for them to arrive at my door and they are keeping me sane ! It’s that or vino 6 nights a week.

What are we having for dinner my younger teenager asks every night before she goes to sleep and the older one who doesn’t get up before 2.30 any day thinks it is ridiculous to have dinner at 7.30 when he has only had his lunch at 5!!!!

Then there is the endless what to cook, oh what to cook. We need a new meat !! Honestly, I have done everything possible with the ones we have with the exception of lamb which I have always disliked !!

A friend mentioned a recipe swap by email the other day which I thought might prove useful, however by the time the GDPR rules had been followed about who should appear in what address line and who should be bcc ed etc I lost the will to live and decided that every second night I will do a roast which they all love and in fill the other nights by making teen 1 and teen 2 cook one night each per week and then pot luck !!

As the roast takes a bit of time and effort to prep, I will take my leave until tomorrow!!

Remember all we have to do is remain sane.

Part 2

So fellow Flutterbys, last night I cut the tube of very expensive cream in two to squeeze and poke out the remaining valuable smears of basically what holds my face together !!

Every time I shell out an embarrassing amount of money to purchase this or one of the many serums I am prone to believing will turn back the hands of time, I wonder are they actually worth the money. Then I scrutinize my face and think maybe it would be 100 times worse if I didn’t so I reach for the Visa debit and walk away with my tiny bag !!

For those of you new to cutting the tube open there are two important things to note:
1. pay attention when stabbing a plastic tube with sharp scissors, they have a tendency to slip
2. there is a surprising amount of product left in the normally discarded tube !

So this morning I went to the many boxes and toilet bags in my en suite and grabbed a sample that I got
in some magazine. I tell myself to keep them for flights etc.

Lashed on the freebie product and so far my face hasn’t fallen off! It is still early in the day however.

So now my predicament is go to one of those brands of my teenage self such as simple, readily available in the supermarket or try one of the Aldi range, some of whom I have heard are as good if not better than the high end versions. My experiment will begin.....

What’s the worst that can happen ?? I break out in a few spots, I go a little red (which I can blame on the vino), my face clashes with my grey roots and in any case who is going to see me?

Part 3

So I have lost the will to go to another supermarket and stand on yellow circles for hours - we are going to clear the cupboards and freezer and eat whatever is in this house. So what if we all eat a different dinner !! The children will be delighted !!

This inevitably means the Aldi/Lidl face cream experiment has to be postponed but I am emptying all sorts of sachets and samples and my face hasn’t fallen off yet !!!

Hopefully I can get my supermarket mojo back over the weekend and face it all again. It’s not exactly hardship but one has to be definitely in the mood !!

All I can say is Thank God I did do the MC Sport dash to Ballymount before the lock down !! I bought Olympic bars and weights and other things I’d never heard of for the boy child as his gym was about to close!! The entire Leinster rugby squad had the same idea and much equipment was sold out !!! Now apparently one needs a bench in order to make all these weights etc work. So the bench  was sourced on line but a few days after order confirmation, they contacted us to warn us that delivery could not be guaranteed!!!

Two days later I found myself with said teen no 1 driving to their depot in Castlebar !!!!  Yes that is Castlebar Mayo as opposed to Castlebar on the long mile road where you might expect a depot to be !!!

3 hours there, 3 hours back with no Supermacs or McDonalds open en route for carb refueling which is needed on a round trip like that !!

Bench was secured though and thoroughly sprayed with detol on the long drive home.  Those of you who say I was mad to do such a thing, I can only tell you how it has saved my sanity these past 4/5 weeks.

Whilst the Xbox is played until all hours with friends on line, rising time for teen no 1 is any time after 2pm - he then spends 2/3 hours lifting and grunting and skipping and  speed running and more lifting all whilst admiring oneself in the various reflective surfaces !!!

Whatever we have to do to stay sane people !!