DIY Sunday

With Spring/Summer coming in I've found that my curtains are just not good enough to keep the early morning light out.  And this means I am waking up about 6 or 6.30am every morning...and hence I am tired...and then not sleeping great...it's a bad cycle!

So last week it got so bad that I was driven to put black refuse sacks up on my window.  

Oh dear God it looked awful! As you can see :-) 

Plus also because they are recyclable type bags they are light/thin and didn't really work at blocking the light out.  And yes I have some books blocking some gaps also.

How bad does this look!!!!

I was going to ring a blind company and beg see if someone could come out this weekend. But then someone in work told me that their husband put one up themselves and it was relatively easy - and much cheaper than getting a company in to do it.

 

This blind cost €29.99 from Harry Corry

It took me about 2 hours in total.  

It was not difficult but there were lots of different elements - measuring, cutting, drilling, screwing etc.  

As I said not difficult, but I wouldn't be rushing to put another one up.

Well this, I think you will agree, is much better than my previous solution!

Chicken dish - 3 ingredients and a slow cooker

You will remember from my last post that I bought a slow cooker. 

Below are the results of my first dish from it!

Because it was 4pm when I got home from the shop the chicken was only cooked at 10.15 (6 hours cooking) last night.  So I had just a little taster before bed last night.  This chicken above is from 2 drumsticks, and it just fell off the bone.

I poured the liquid from the slow cooker into a saucepan and reduced it for about a half hour.  The flavour was very intense, I have may have reduced it a little too much.

Plain chicken and rice waiting for the lovely sauce

Eh voila!

I think it looks very rustic.

In terms of flavour it is quite salty.  But nice!

I will list below the volumes I used below, but I think I will adjust next time.

Ingredients:

12 chicken drumsticks

1/2 cup of soy sauce - I am going to use 1/4 cup next time

1 cup of coca-cola - I am going to use 1 & 1/4 next time

Slow Cooking!

I've been hankering after some slow cooked meat for ages so today I went out and bought myself a slow cooker (or crock pot as I believe they are known state-side)

They really are not expensive.  This was €20 reduced from €26 in Argos. It has a 3.5l capacity.

What I particularly like about this one is the attractive bowl you cook in which can be brought straight to the table as a serving dish.

So! No time like the present! 

I got straight to cooking!

1/2 cup of soy sauce

1 cup or 8oz of coca-cola (next time I will just buy a can!!)

The soy sauce and coke goes in to the cooker with 12 chicken drumsticks.

Low setting for the next 6 hours.

Check back later (in 6 hours!!) for my next blog post showing how it turned out!!!

Edit.  Here is my my next post which shows you how it all turned out

Babyliss Big Hair

Over the weekend when I stayed in Enid's I used her Babyliss Big Hair.  I found it fantastic! 

I actually have one myself which I brought about two years ago and used literally once.  The difference I think is the length of my hair now.  It is mid length now compared to the LONG that it used to be.

So when I went home I went on a big search for my Big Hair.  I had intended giving it away when I never used it two years ago, and I was afraid that I had done so and I wouldn't be able to find it.  

Luckily I found it buried at the bottom of  wardrobe.

The secret behind the Babyliss is this big brush head which rotates, while hot hair blows out of it - this is what creates both the big hair/body, plus gives your hair a lovely shine.

I am really happy I have found this.  If I hadn't found it I was going to buy one this weekend which would be a crime considering I had never used this one - they are not cheap at approx. €55.  But worth every penny!

Ireland, 6 nations champions!

Don't you just love Saturdays!

Enid, Lydia and I met up in Starbucks where I had a hazelnut machiatto.  I have a feeling I was given a caramel machiatto lol, but whatever it was it was great :-)

Then we went to Enid's where we had the BEST Irish breakfast ever. Rashers and sausages (Tesco's Finest), Clonakility black pudding and  fried eggs.

An Irish fry is the best thing to eat on rugby weekend. Fact!

It was a really lovely bright day yesterday.  

So bright, that as you can see we needed our sunglasses on our way into the match.

The great news is that Ireland won the Six Nations cup in a thrilling match.

To celebrate we went and did some KARAOKE!!!!

St Patricks Day parade 2015

Enid and I were lucky enough to get to take part in the St Patrick's day parade in Dublin today.  My very clever sister saw on facebook that the Dublin Cycling Campaign were looking for cyclists so she quickly signed us up.

Here we are before the parade with our bikes decorated and our flower pot headpieces on our head.  The dress code was blue to match the Dublin Bikes.

Some of our group before the parade

How happy do I look to be in the parade?!

There is Enid on the right of the pic.  She had Bones in his "doggyride" attached to the back of her bike.  You would not believe all the attention that little mutt got!

"awwwwww, look at the dog"

Here are some more pictures of our group along the parade route.

I think we looked like the parades of my childhood - where if you had a flag on your person or your float you were all set for the parade.  Very different from the "artiness" on display at the parade today.

I liked our "kitschness" or "old schoolnesss" in this respect :-)

There's Bones in his carrier

Sunday Sunday

This afternoonI prepped my outfit for St Patrick's day. 

Newsflash!  Exciting news - Enid and I are going to be part of the parade in a bike group.

We have to dress "smart" and blue is to be the main colour (there is a lot of other green in the parade and the bikes we will be on are blue so blue will make impact).  We will be provided with quirky headpieces...

Here is my outfit.  I am trying to balance wearing something blue, plus staying warm.

And here is what Enid plans to wear.

Finally, finally I thought you might like to see my sister Katie's starbucks mug collection which she just texted to me.  I bought her the Abu Dhabi one :-)