My baby’s growing up.

Not a baby any more.

I’ve found the last week very hard. Nic is growing up now & she’s wanting to spend more time with her friends, going into town, going swimming & stuff like that. I know this is a great thing. I’m delighted she has friends I can trust to let her out with. I loosened the reigns a little & now I feel I’ve loosened them too much & she’s running away from me. I see her running so far ahead of me. She doesn’t want to spend time with mum any more.

I guess this is what my own mother went through when I decided to grow up & spread my wings, but the difference with me was I soared so high I was like Icarus, I burned my wings on the Sun & came crashing down to Earth with a bang.

I know Nic isn’t going to do this, but I’m still not ready to let her go. I miss her so much already. I just want to have her here with me, to hold her & never let her go. I don’t want her go grow up & go out into this big bad World. There are so many horrible things out there. Things I don’t want her to have to deal with. Things I want to shelter her from. I don’t want her to live the life I did. I don’t want her to get hurt the way I did. I don’t want someone to take her childhood the way mine was taken. When she’s out there & I’m not there to stop bad people hurting her.

I miss her so much. I miss my baby.

Spot the difference.

Just a little fun. Remember the Spot the difference we had when we were kids, well here it is again. I’ve decided to edit some of my photos & make them into a Spot the Difference game. So here are 2 for anyone who’s interested in playing.

In this shot there are 11 differences. Can you spot them all?

Can you spot all 11 differences?

& here is a bit more difficult one. How well do you think you will do? There are 15 differences in these shots. Happy hunting.

Can you spot all 15 differences?

& here’s another. I’ve gone all out with this one. There are a massive 24 differences in this one. Lets see how well you can do.

Can you spot all 24 differences?

The older generation.

I'm not an Angel, I'M A CHILD!!!

Ok, I get that the older generation is different to ours, I really do, but I don’t see how some of them feel that gives them the right to be just plain mean & nasty.

I know Nicola is not an Angel, but she’s not a horrible child either. I could show you a kid here a year older then Nicola who was falling around drunk a few days ago, 13 years of age!! I could show you a bunch of kids half Nics age who know more curse words then I do, & that’s saying something. Nicola plays. Oh my God, that’s a hangable offence to some people. Kids need to be allowed to be kids. They can’t just be kids when you want them to be, it doesn’t work like that.

Ok, I could go on, but rant over.

My Little Star.

Once again Nic was on the telly again today. So there’s going to be more “Mom, mom, I seen that girl on the telly” from kids every time we walk into a shop. It had just died down from the last time. Oh the price of having a talented daughter. Ok, is that enough of the beeming Mammy bit?

Nicola & Evelyn were both filmed this Easter for CSI Ice on RTE TWO. They had a great time. I almost had to tie them down so that fly away they were so high.

Insane Ladies.

This was 1 small moment of calmness, so you can imagine whagt they were like the rest of the time. They went through all the filming & everything, having a great time all along.

Getting mic'd up.

We then heard nothing more off them since. That was a month ago. Suddenly out of the blue I got a phone call on Saturday morning saying that she would be on today at 4.35pm. I was so proud of both of them. They looked so well. You can check it out here:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/theden/ice/icewatchtheshow_avlong.html

Hit the small R at the bottom right hand corner of the screen & skip the recording on to 13.23. That should get you on to the piece of the show with Nicola & Evelyn. Watch & enjoy.

Nicola wants a new pet.

Oh God help me. I had to go to the pet shop today to get a new brush for Millie & 1 of those gloves for Addy’s fur. As we were getting out of the car I started explaining to Nic that we weren’t going to be buying any new toys for any of the pets.

This was the conversation:

“Not even a new fishy friend for Goldie?”  “Nope!”  “Well what about something new for Lilly? She hasn’t had anything new in ages”  “No!!”  “Ok, can I have a new Gunipig then?”  “How many times do I have to say it? No!”  “Well what about a Bunny then?”  “Don’t tempt me, I want a Bunny, but still, NO!”

We then walked through the door & all Hell broke loose. Inside the front door of Pet World in Terryland here in town they have a Chipmunk. The bloody thing is insane. It flies about the place. I think someone has given it Speed. lol It flies up one side of the cadge & down the other. Nic started squealing “OH MY GOD!!!!! It’s so cute!!!! Mum can I have a Chipmunk? He’s so cute!” She then spent the rest of the time in the shop begging me, reasoning with me, pleading with me, promising me, you name it. She explained to me that it would be in her room & I wouldn’t have to worry about it. She would look after it. “Honestly mum!”

I tried explaining to her that the things were nocturnal & that she would get no sleep. Her answer to that was “It’s ok, I can sleep in school.” The girls working in the shop just bust out laughing. I paid for what we were getting (which did end up being more then I had intended) & got out of there. I had to physically steer Nic out of there. She fell in love with the little thing. Not a chance though, a budgie, a fish & a dog here & a cat & a dog in Dads, I think she has enough pets around her.

A choice to make.

On Wednesday I got a letter in the post from Presentation Secondary School where Nic was supposed to go in September. It seems for some reason they have decided to combine their school with another in town here called the Mercy. Nic had asked about going to the Mercy when we discussed but we quickly ruled it out because there were certain ‘friends’ of hers that were going there. I don’t mind her mixing with them a few hours a week, but all week in school… no,  wouldn’t be happy about that.

Anyway, it was actually a good thing. Myself & Trev discussed it on Wednesday night & we were really worried about what was going to happen. It turns out we needn’t have worried at all. On Thursday morning I got a phone call from a woman in Salerno Secondary School wondering if Nic was still interested in a place there. I couldn’t believe it. What luck. I asked her if she could wait for an answer until tomorrow & she said no problem.

When I told Nic about the phone call I had to almost pry her from the cieling. It was so funny. I can’t remember the last time I seen her eyes bulge so big. I think this almost comes close:

We didn’t make any decisions until we spoke to Trev last night, but he asked one simple question:

Which is the better school?

Salerno wins hands down, simple as that. So today I rang the school to accept the place. We’re waiting now for the forms to come out so I can fill them out & confirm our acceptance of the placement.

I’m really glad she got in there, but I think it’s going to cost a lot more to send her there. We’ll just have to wait & see. It’ll be worth it though. 

Meowwww!

No, unfortunately that’s not my impression of a cat. It’s me being sore!

4 years ago Nicola got a Brats runway thing from Santa & we were getting ready to go up to Grannie & Grandads for Christmas dinner. Dad pulled up outside waiting to give us a lift up so I ran down the stairs to finish getting everything sorted. The next thing I know I am sitting quite strangely on the stairs & my shoulder is very sore as is my knee (which I had injured previously in a crash). When I eventually get my head together I realise my left heal is digging into my left shoulder (I ended up with quite a bruise on my shoulder).

As I get myself up I figure out Daddy was tying Nics shoes so she had left her Bratz stuff on the stairs & I had slipped on them. I had bent my knee up so far behind me I had effectively kicked myself in the shoulder. Which for a person of my size is not very easy at all!
At the time everyone asked me to go to the hospital, but with it being Christmas day I wouldn’t go & then after that I kept putting it off.

Long story short I now think I’m in trouble! I have constant pain in my foot & the pain when I’m walking is crazy. But where I have the problem is that I am loosing power in it when I’m driving. Which is not good when you’re trying to press down on a clutch. I got a bit of a fright this evening when I was coming out the gate of mum & dads & I lost all power in the foot & I couldn’t hold down the clutch long enough to get the car going so I stalled. It was not good because there was a red van speeding over the hill. I was in the middle of the road. Thankfully I got the car started & moved off in time but it hurt like hell.
It’s just driving me mad.

Anyway, I have promised mum I will go to the doctor tomorrow & see what he says. But if it has to be rebroken I can’t get it done until at least April or May of next year at the earliest!

My wonderful little hooper!

On Thursday we were told about something going on in the Eyre Square Center for People in Need & that they needed performers. I rang & left my number because I thought well Nic would have fun walking around the center hula hooping. Little did I know what we were getting into.

The woman called back & started telling me what was going on. She told me she wanted someone who would do something a little different. As I said to her “You don’t get much different then my daughter!” She said she wanted her be there between 5 & 6. I said ok, still thinking it was going to be a simple thing. Little did I know.

Anyway, Nic went into school & then into Irish Dancing. I went down to pick her up. (On the way almost being killed by some idiot driver on her phone!) We had to come back & get her old hoops to make her “Giant” hoop & then in to town.

Nic was dressed up as Minnie Mouse. She looked great. So cute. We had about 20-30 minutes to work out a routine. She did it to “Jump” by Girls Aloud. Bad I know, but we didn’t have much of a choice. She set out her hoops & the DJ announced her.

Then the music started. She was brilliant. There were people standing all over the place watching her cheering & clapping. The whole balcony was packed. Nic really got into the swing of things very quickly.

She was having a great time. She went on then to one of her main routines, 13 hoops at once!

She went on then to the “Giant” hoop. People were going mad clapping. She was having a great time. The whole time she was being filmed for People in Need on RTE on the 26th of October this year. So everyone keep your eyes peeled! You never know you might find you know someone famous!

I hope for her she does get put on. For a 10 year old she worked quite hard. I was really amazingly proud of her. She was a great representation of The Galway Circus Project.