end of Summer....

and today I am linking up with Mary and Renae for their Tuesday EASY blog hop.

Eating well I'm doing too much of this and am going to have to 
tape my mouth shut soon.

I don't know what it is about this weather but with all these wet and dreary days 
it just makes me want to eat and eat and eat!

At this rate of going I will have to pretend 
I have turned Muslim and wear long loose black clothing to hide all my 
newly acquired lumps and bumps.....

so it is going to have to be less of this

and more of this....

even poor Charlie is fed up with  the rain...

August is at an end 

and I am sad to see summer go

even though we only had it for about

a week or so here in Ireland!

These flowers always bloom in the last few weeks of summer and are a reminder that Autumn is on the way and that the days are getting shorter.

 

 Mr. Raindrops came home after working away  he was home for 3 days 
but has gone back to Spain this morning

 but it was great to see him.  

We had lovely family time together 

and went out to our favourite restaurant

  chatted, laughed with the kids and had fun

and of course I got him to do a few little jobs around the house and garden 
just to keep him busy 
and make him feel wanted!!

Sunday-exhausted...

 after a late night I was'nt feeling the best,
too many glasses of wine!

I am too old for late nights!
How about you? 
Can you cope with late nights?

So on Sunday it was a quiet walk along the lake in the afternoon and a lazy dazy day

Yippee I am so lucky because I won
the giveaway over at

The Crafty Gardener's Blog

Linda has a beautiful blog and it is one that I love to visit. 

The prize was a My Memories Scrapbooking program

I am so delighted because I have never won anything, 

never, ever ever ever.....

I think maybe I should do the lottery this week.

I am going to use the program to display some photos for my Mum.

My brother took his own life a couple of years ago and my Mum has never really got over it, well being honest none of us have, so with the memories kit I can put photos of Cíaran into it and do you know what my Mum will have a smile 
as wide as the ocean when she sees them.

Thanks Linda for a great prize.

A favour please.....

any of you who have word verification on your blogs can you remove it
please please pretty please?

 It is so difficult to decipher

and even with my reading glasses on it's impossible and usually takes me 3 or 4 attempts before I get it right.

It is easy to disable and you won't get any spam, honestly...
 but I bet you will get more comments

To get rid of it is easy peasy

go into settings...

posts and comments

word verification - click no

 save your settings 
and hey presto it's gone!

Wishing you all a lovely happy week
full of
 sunshine, smiles and lovely things

♥♥♥
 

sunshine, shopping and super men...

Well hello there!

I have been missing for a while
as I have had my Mum staying and so blogging was put on the back burner..

I am busy trying to catch up
 and it might take a while!



Now that I am back I better fill you in
on what has been happening...

Mr. Raindrops is working abroad 
and so the house is quiet. 
He jetted off last week

I miss him ♥ but have to admit that
 it is wonderful having the bed to myself.

I can wiggle and jiggle and toss and turn, throw the covers off and put them back on
read until the early hours
light on light off

and
best of all it is a snore free zone,

well apart from my gentle little noises!

 

Sad daughter is smiling again ♥

I think her broken heart is on the mend.

She is spending lots of time with her

girlfriends and was in London
at the Olympic Games. 

She went to the water polo event

and really enjoyed it,

hmmm...

looks like a sport I might like too!

While Mum was here we enjoyed a litle

 retail therpy and I nabbed a bargain or two in the summer sales!

I saw this dress on a rail, the last one

and in my size and reduced to €20

well I had to buy it didn't I?

I love the colours and am hoping that

 the sun keeps shining

 so that I get to wear it!

 I bought the sparkly flipflops too
they were €12

and this little number also caught my eye

tried it on and sure what can ya do?

We have had sunshine and warm days 

Charlie soaked up the rays

 and even the owl looked hot!

I spent some time in the garden

bought lots of potting compost hoping it might help the plants improve

 - well God loves a trier!

The roses are lovely but a bit wet
after some rain showers today!

pretty hydrangeas

and for those of you that asked...

I am still getting to grips with the iphone,

I can make a call and text (well sometimes)

it's still a bit hit and miss

more miss that hit...

 last week I went to take a photo and saw this raggy old woman looking at me

gave me an awful fright

well you guessed it I had the lens pointed at myself!

You never saw anyone run so quickly 

to brush their hair and put on some lipstick as me that morning!!!

Wishing you all a lovely happy week
full of
 sunshine, smiles and lovely things
♥♥♥
 

Fun, Flowers and a fizzy head ❤

{Monday}... 

visited a lovely garden centre in the Irish midlands
bought a few bits and bobs
spotted this colourful fella
and thought he was perfect for "Green Day"

 

{Tuesday}...

 paid a visit to Avoca

one of my favourite places to browse around

but I had to hold on tightly to my wallet

as I was sorely tempted to buy absolutely everything! 

Wonderful throws and shawls

China in all colours of the rainbow

Lovely mosaic delph and scented candles

Jams, chutneys and sauces - aaahh!

Yummy sweets and goodies

 and after buying lots of lovely goodies to take home

 I did order a healthy and delicious lunch!

{Wednesday}...

my one and only peony bud has flowered (eventually)!!

I hope that I don't have to wait another 7 years for a bloom!

I was so proud of it that I had to take two photos

and put them into a collage (what a show-off I am)!!

 the alliums planted last year are looking gorgeous

{Thursday}

Oh dear dopey ditzy me

 was looking for hairspray

went into lovely daughter's room

flippity flippity flip

sprayed hair with false tan instead of hairspray

well the bottles do look the same (sort of) eeeek...

{Friday}

Happy Happy days

 school's out for Summer!!!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy week
full of
 sunshine, smiles and lovely things ♥

linking up toaday with Green Day &

Beverley's Pink Saturday

{a little bit of this and a little bit of that}

My goodness we certainly have some weather changes here in Ireland

you could never say it was boring

blue skies and sunshine one day and  pouring with rain the next!

 Monday's sky

H A P P Y   D A Y S

but later during the week, rain, rain and lots more rain

and what day did the  school pick to go

on their trip to County Wicklow?

Beautiful scenery but viewed through a haze of raindrops!

and later it got worse and we couldn't see the scenery at all!!

The field behind our house is so  PRETTY   at the moment

it is full of beautiful golden yellow buttercups which glisten

in both the sunshine and the rain!

This guy lives there

he isn't the friendliest or the prettiest

but he  is very nosey!

and finally, I have been challenged by the lovely Heidi 

 to tell you five random facts about myself

so here goes -

 *   when I met my husband it was love at first sight

something just clicked inside my heart

and hasn't stopped since

he made me laugh and still does....

*   I am  what style experts describe  as an "apple shape"

wide shoulders, slim hips and store my weight on my tummy

yep I'm a  jelly belly!

*   my favourite drink is  red wine

 and I love the glug glug sound it makes when poured into a glass

I like drinking it too
 oops maybe that is why I'm a jelly belly!!!!

*    I hate that my eyesight is going

once I hit 40 my eyesight started to go downhill

and I needed glasses for reading. 

 It makes me sad that I can't read without them....

plus I am always losing them
- couldn't find them on Friday
but low and behold I opened the dishwasher
and there they were having been through the wash
they were SPARKLING!!!

*  I adore shopping,
I love mooching around shops and picking up pretty things.
I even like food shopping and am a bit like Mister above
 as I look into other people's trolley's to see what they are buying!
blush, blush......

*   I love being a mum

it is what I do best

I met someone yesterday who told me

you are such a "mum"

but sure that's my job

and isn't it a privilege to have that job!

Oops that's 6 things!

another thing is that  I do get carried away at times!!!



I have to challenge 5 others now
but I am going to take the easy way out
and hope that perhaps some of you might take up the challenge
 and divulge some bitsy bits about yourself.
As I said, I'm a bit nosey and so would love to hear about you!

anyone willing?

***

oops and oops again before I go I almost forgot to tell you

that Raindrops and Daisies is now on Facebook

click the badge on the right of the blog to view or here

I would love if you would  visit me as I'm a bit lonely,

 maybe say hi and you could even "like" the page,

so what do you think......

Wishing you all a wonderful week full of happy times

{the week that was}

sunshine and showers

a head cold which arrived to visit and hasn’t said goodbye

sniffling runny nose that is rubbed red with tissues

black mascara smudges under sunken streaming eyes
certainly not a good look
I would scare away small children and even bigger ones!

But the good news is
 that because I was coughing,sniffling, snorting and sneezing

I didn't have much of an appetite and so am

***

Mittens our 16 year old pussycat is still hunting
we had a dead mouse on the doorstep one morning
(won't post a pic of that though)!!!

***
I'm excited because my peony has produced it's first bud in years
what am I doing wrong with this plant
I just don't know!!


Looking forward to the flower popping though
and will probably have you all bored to bits
with photos of it!





***
I treated  myself a new pair of  oven gloves
the old ones were an embarrassment
so thought I had better replace them
with something a bit more respectable


 these are the pretties I got
I like the colours and the lovely flowers
now I will just have to start cooking
{well maybe later....}

***
I learned a useful tip too

 if you put a copper coin into a vase of water

It will stop the flowers from drooping

so I tested it out with my tulips

and it really does work no hangy dangy sorry looking flowers!



Wishing you and your loved ones a week

filled with sunshine and happiness


 ♥

the week that was...

sunshine and showers

This week we had a lot of heavy showers,

this photo was taken while I was waiting for my son to come out of school

it's funny because even though
we are always complaining about the rain here 

 I love the feel of it on my face

When tucked up indoors rain is so comforting and when you are out and about

it is fresh and invigorating

I don't think I could live in a country that has long dry spells and very little rain. 

do you like rain ?

long walks

and

lovely horses

kiss kiss....

 love you Mum!

 crafted wooden horses too....

pretty pink

 clematis
 

at home

my two boys studying

 for their exams -
one for his university finals 
so is pretty stressed
- the other guy
so laid back he is almost comatose!

♥

I hope that you are having a

h a p p y week

and that life is good.