Exciting Day!

Good times ahead, because today I'm getting my first foster placement! I'm lucky, because the three year old will be staying with us for a week, and this weekend is the August bank holiday. So my husband will be off for three days of it.

Things are still fairly chaotic, as is our way, and we discovered last night that the stair-gates that we bought because they were the only ones that fitted our super narrow staircase need a drill to put up. Do we have a drill? No. We're currently ringing our way around friends and family trying to find one before she arrives. This afternoon. Our disorganization will come as no surprise to those of you who remember us losing our keys the week we were moving house, and came close to having to move the contents of our three bedroom home, including furniture, via Dublin Bus. Dublin's bus service should not be confused with bus systems in other world cities, which usually arrive on time. The Dublin Bus schedule is more a hope of what could happen, rather than a prediction of what will happen. It is the New Year's resolution of transport timetables.

In other exciting news, my main journalism job is stopping for August. That means that while I may still have some random projects to work on, my Monday to Friday job is on hold for four weeks. Which means that my plan of finishing the first draft of Lemons in August may actually come to fruition (See what I did there?). Good times.

Right, I'm off to write my last business segment for the summer, and to locate a drill. Hope you all have a good weekend!

Tag, I'm it!

Thank you all so much for the kind messages yesterday. Today I'm feeling much the same, but my attitude is more upbeat. Which is good news, because self-centred pity gets old after more than a day.


The lovely Kate Larkindale tagged me, which means that I have to answer some questions and pass it on. So here we go...


Do you think you're hot?


Of course I don't, I'm Irish. We're generally a self-deprecating lot. If someone gives you a compliment, we consider it impolite to take it at face value. We have to argue with the person, repeatedly insulting ourselves and driving down our self-esteem. Here's an example:


Non-Irish person: 'You look really lovely in that dress.'
Irish person: 'This old thing? I have it ages. It's horrible, really.'
Non-Irish person: Yeah, well it sets off your skin tone.'
Irish person: Really? I think I look really pasty. Like I have some type of disease. A contagious disease.'


So no, I don't think I'm hot. If I did everyone here would think I had 'notions above my station', a term used for people who think too highly of themselves.


Upload a picture or wallpaper that you're using at the moment.

This is something I have everywhere at the moment, because I need all the motivation that I can get. In typical me style I have bitten off more than I can chew and am struggling to get one book out on submission, another edited and to write 50,000 words of my current WIP before I go on holiday on July 2. Sensible is not my middle name. As a matter of fact it's Nicole.


When was the last time you ate chicken meat?


I had a lovely chicken burrito from one of my favourite Mexican places yesterday. I like my food spicy, and they do frozen margaritas. What more could you ask for?


The songs you listened to lately


I'm a big fan of Florence and the Machine. My favourite songs are Howl and Drumming Song, so I played those today. I also love Bjork, especially her Vespertine album.


What were you thinking as you were doing this?


That I married a geek. My husband is currently painting more models for one of his Warhammer armies, and I just realised I know the names of a lot of them. I can tell a night goblin from an orc. I'm a normal 24 year old woman, I shouldn't be able to do this. Then again I write YA urban fantasy, so we're probably well matched.


Do you have nicknames? What are they?


The only person who has nicknames for me is my husband. He calls me 'C' or 'kitten'. Some people call me 'Chris' occasionally.


This is the part where you usually tag eight people, but I don't want to burden anyone by making them do this. I found it quite fun though, so feel free to take the questions and answer them on your blog.


Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. It's a bank holiday here, so I have no day job tomorrow. Woot!

M is for...Moving On. Both Figuratively and Literally.

I'm moving house this weekend. This is a scary thought because me and organisation do not go hand in hand. We're moving to a nicer house in the same area, so most of the work will be in flinging our belongings in the back of our car and doing many car trips. Did I tell you my husband lost his car keys? Two people as disorganised as us should have super organised spouses to balance ourselves out. But we married each other, so we continue to live in barely concealed chaos.We may be carrying boxes back and forth along the twenty minute walk. My chocolate Labrador may have to double as a pack mule.

I managed to write 3,000 words yesterday, so at least my book is progressing. I hope to write a good bit today if my wrists hold up, they're grumbling a little from yesterday.