And another month goes past. What have I done? Let me see where I got up to.

Well, that didn’t help much. Let’s just think.

I know it was Lent. You’re not supposed to talk about what you do for Lent, but Barbara has been telling everyone, so blow it, here goes.

The main thing was to give up Costa coffee. I was having two or three a week and getting quite addicted. But Barbara changed it to any shop bought coffee, so we couldn’t even go to our local coffee shop after Mass on Sunday. After a couple of weeks I managed to persuade her that Sundays don’t count. If you count Sundays there are 47 days from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. So Sunday coffee resumed!

I fell once. It was a beautiful spring day and I had an hour and a half to fill in before I picked John up from his counselling supervision, so I bought a coffee and sat on the Brough Marina wall with my Kindle. Bliss. I also managed a walk, so probably managed my 10,000 steps a day.

I have recently read a book called ‘The Year Without a Purchase’ where a married couple only allowed themselves to buy food and cleaning materials (and travel, although I don’t think they mentioned this). I found it very inspiring, and decided that for Lent I would get rid of one thing a day. (I can’t imagine not buying anything unnecessary for a whole year). As Barbara spread the word through the parish lots of people decided to do this. It’s very therapeutic.

Now Lent is over I feel a bit angsty. I need to carry on getting rid of stuff, and no way can I just go and buy anything. I have too many clothes, too much makeup and far too much paraphernalia I never use. I’m going to so some more sorting out when I finish writing here.

Easter was a really special time. We went to Martin’s and the whole family were there. Well, poor Mags had died last autumn, so there was a big gap, but everyone else was there, including two new babies, one being Mag’s grandson, who was born about twelve hours before she died, and the other one being my great-niece’s baby, so I am now a Great Aunt. This line of the family is from my brother, Niall, who died in 2003, so there were two people who died before their time and should have been there.

Here is a picture of the Cooney/Urquhart dynasty as of now!

The Cooney/Urquhart Dynsasty

The Cooney/Urquhart Dynasty

We got home from Martin’s on Monday, and straight away I rang Dianne, who fosters RSPCA cats. We had paid for two tabby kittens just before Easter, but didn’t like to take them home as we were going away. I think Facebook and this Blog are going to be dominated by Boris and Barney for some time to come!

3 comments on “Oops

  • Aileen, Toby arrived the day before Mag went, about 12 hours before. Sorry if that sounds a bit pedantic, but we like to think Mag hung on to make sure that Toby had arrived safely.

    Enjoyed the blog and the family gathering at Martin and Fi’s.

    I am currently reading a book “Free Country”, by two guys who set out to cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats without spending a penny. (They did go to the toilet). They started off by having a mate drop them off in just a pair of boxer shorts and tee-shirts; no bikes! I have only read to Day 5 but it is unbelievable the amount of stuff they have blagged.

    • Hi Kevin, Only just seen your comment. I don’t know how I wote AFTER instead of BEFORE. It is fimrly fixed in my head that Mag died after Toby was born. I have told several people how someone (nurse?) played the sound of Toby crying. I didn’t realised it was several hours before. I’ll change the post.
      Free Country sounds good. I am still trying to get rid of stuff. I don’t know how many pairs of shoes I have. There’s a photo somewhere, and I’ll post it if I haven’t done so already. It’s just so hard as I love them all, even though I don’t wear them all and they are stuffed into the bottom of a cupboard so I forget what I have, and can’t find what I want.

    • Hi Kevin, Only just seen your comment. I don’t know how I wote AFTER instead of BEFORE. It is fimrly fixed in my head that Mag died after Toby was born. I have told several people how someone (nurse?) played the sound of Toby crying. I didn’t realised it was several hours before.
      I’ll change the post.
      Free Country sounds good. I am still trying to get rid of stuff. I don’t know how many pairs of shoes I have. There’s a photo somewhere, and I’ll post it if I haven’t done so already. It’s just so hard as I love them all, even though I don’t wear them all and they are stuffed into the bottom of a cupboard so I forget what I have, and can’t find what I want.

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