I am Special Fundraiser Mum

Posted in parenting, reviews, Uncategorized by Maria Rushe - Blogger and Writer

Well what can we say?

Today, we had the most festive few hours with the most wonderful people and raised lots of money for two very worthy charities. The Jack and Jill Foundation and The Victoria Thompson Scholarship do such incredible work for so many families and children all over the country. What better cause to do a fundraiser for before Christmas, than Children and their parents?

A few months ago, I commented to The Him that it’d be lovely to watch the Polar Express on the big screen again. “Make it happen then” he said. So I did.

Thank you from us

He’s on his way!

Waiting for the train

Today, 220 smiling faces watched the Christmas Classic on the Biggest screen in Century Cinemas.

The queues began to form at the cinema from before 11am, with the excited crowd clutching their golden tickets.

Tickets were punched by the Polar Express Conductor, (The Him does have a fun side outside of Jim!) and everyone, EVERYONE, received a little Jingle Bell, just like the bell in the movie, as they entered. No one has any excuse not to believe now…

The Believe Bell

We thanked everone for coming and for supporting, before presenting a cheque to Sharon Thompson from the Victoria Thomspson Scholarship.

(We’re meeting a representative from Jack & Jill next week!) Then we told the girls and boys that the train needed some Christmas magic to get started, and so the crowd sang Jingle Bells before the much awaited feature.

Mark, Owner of Centruy LK with The Conductor

And, just as we’d hoped, it was WONDERFUL! It’s a beautiful movie and the runaway train scene was just as spectacular on the big screen as it was the first time we saw it. The most magical part for me was when everyone started to jingle their little bells as Santa arrived. It was AMAZING!

And this evening, I’m smiling from ear to ear at the photographs of families at the event, and of the kids hanging the bells on their trees at home.

Thanks to our followers and friends, we were able to present over €900 to EACH of our chosen charities; The Jack and Jill Foundation and The Victoria Thompson Scholarship. But tonight, I can happily announce that the final total for each charity is a whopping €1000!

The event was sponsored by Rushe Fitness and wouldn’t have happened without Anne-Marie, Pete and Mark in Century Cinemas. Thank you all so much for supporting yet another one of my random ideas.

So that’s that… for now! It might just need to be an annual event apparently, but I’ll get tonight over me before I start planning anything else!

We do hope that everyone who joined us today had a wonderful time and once again, thank you to you all.

The S-Mum & The Conductor…

1Dec2017

I am Sneak Peak of Santa Express Mum

Posted in reviews, Uncategorized by Maria Rushe - Blogger and Writer

The Santa Express at Oakfield Park was such a treat last year that I was probably one of the first to book for this year when it went on sale.

You all know how much I love this park, and one of my favourite things about it is that they add to it and improve it every winter. Well, with the Santa Experience, they’ve done it again. It’s bigger and better than last year.

We’re not going with the girls until later in the month, but Santa and his elves invited myself and The Him to pop over tonight for their opening night to have a sneak peak! Oakfield Park has once again been transformed into a magical Winter Wonderland and if you have booked tickets, you are in for a treat.

Date Night!

With Mollie Mistletoe…Chief Elf!

We didn’t go on the train or meet Santa tonight as we want to save that for when the girls are with us. We simply had a wander around the artisan market in the Plaza, which is new this year and full of fab stalls by local traders.

Beautiful pieces from Bernie Murphy

Gorgeous

The atmosphere is perfect…cozy and excited. Christmas music lilts subtly through the park and the lights are spectacular, all over the park. The piano background music in Buffers is beautiful…very relaxing.

The Elves, like last year, were brilliant. Lead by the marvellous Mollie Mistletoe, they were energetic, festive and fun. The Elf Workshop is running in the marquee with elves teaching visitors how to be an elf, arts and crafts and storytelling with Mrs Claus.

What can you expect when you get there?

You shall board the train to go on a journey through the woodland to visit Santa and meet the elves. Keep an eye out along the way for surprises and secrets in the forest such as the elf washing line.

Children will receive a certificate to say they have been on the nice list as well as a small gift, and a mulled wine or hot chocolate for the adults is included in your ticket.

Things to know for your visit:

A photographer will be in Santa’s Grotto to capture the magical moment you meet Santa with prints available to purchase during your visit.

Wrap up warm. It was dry and mild tonight, but it was cold! Lots of layers and hats!.

Never seen him before…

Some of the artisans participating in the market are:

Amelia’s Irish Design, Ballyholey Farm Shop, Bernie Murphy Textiles, The Counter Deli, Hammer & Tongs, Marina Hamilton Painter and Sculptor, Modern Eire (Printmaker and Designer), Rathlin Knitwear.

We’ve had a lovely date night tonight and are even more excited about coming to visit Santa later in the month now. I can’t wait to see the wee faces on my two little Rascals. Oakfield Park has once again created a magical experience for the whole family.

Tonight was the perfect start to our Christmassy weekend. We have our Polar Express Fundraiser in Century tomorrow and then Sunday will be the Toy Show and decorating the house. Any notion we had of waiting until next weekend has gone well and truly out the window after tonight.

1Dec2017

I am Starting December with a Smile Mum

Posted in blog, Uncategorized by Maria Rushe - Blogger and Writer

It’s December!

It’s officially Christmas and I’m officially back on my heels after 3 days of horrid flu. It’s a long, long time since I’ve been forced to my bed for a few days, but I am up and ready to rock once again!

And what better way to start the final month of the year, but with an email from the prestigious eumom.ie with a link to their featured “Writer of the Month”… who just happens to be little old ME for the month of December!

Read my piece here

I am so excited to be featured by eumom.ie and even more chuffed that it’s this month. I am taking it as a sign, a sign that after another crazy year of writing and blogging, I am on the right path. Where it will take me, I still don’t know, but it’s fun and it’s going somewhere… And I am ready to walk it, bumpy or not!

Here’s the link to my post. I hope you enjoy!

30Nov2017

I am She Hates Me Apparently Mum

Posted in parenting, Uncategorized by Maria Rushe - Blogger and Writer

“I hate you Mammy”

Ok, well I haven’t quite heard that one yet, but it’s coming. However, I do hear “You are the WORST Mammy EVER!” at least once a week. I reckon we’re building up to the H-bomb…

“I HAAAAATE YOU!”

My answer to her when she screams at me is usually “I love you too”, or “Why thank you very much.”

What I want to say is this:

“My Darling Daughter,

No Sweetheart. I am not the “worst Mammy ever”.

OK, I might be crap sometimes; I might shout and scold and sometimes I scream so loudly that I wonder if the neighbours aren’t putting on their shoes or finding their coats in fear; but this does not make me the worst Mammy.

OK, I might put awful food in front of you, like soup or vegetables, but just because you would prefer colourless Freezer food doesn’t make me the worst Mammy. Sometimes Mammy doesn’t have the time or energy to cook 3 different dinners and do you know what? Sometimes, you’ll just have to eat what’s given to you.

OK, sometimes Mammy says no. “NO”. One little word that frequently ruins your little day. This is something you might have learned to get over by the time you turn 26. I’m not going to give you everything you want, when you want it. I am going to make you help me to unload the dishwasher, or pick up your dirty clothes, or tidy your toys. Not because you are my “Servant” as you so frequently tell me, but because I don’t want you to grow up being a useless and entitled cretur who expects the world to owe them something. I will teach you what my parents taught me. You want something? You work for it. You try and you fail and you try again. You are entitled to nothing. Harsh? Now maybe, but when you’re older, you’ll get it…along with a job as soon as you’re able to get one.

One loaded little word…

OK, Mammy might be bad when she doesn’t always do what you want. When she doesn’t give you your way. When she turns off the TV or tells you you’ve had enough chocolate. When she doesn’t allow you to be completely in charge of the house and our day and the mood in our home. Because sometimes, we have places to go, or Mammy has work to do and while these things might interfere with your colouring or PJ Mask binge, they have to happen and it’s nothing personal my Darling.

But even when you are determined that Mammy is indeed the “Worst Mammy ever”, you don’t REALLY think I am. No. Of course you don’t. You probably think that Mammy is a royal pain in the ass and you’re angry and frustrated that you’re not getting your way.

Life’s a bitch. Mammy isn’t. It’s just my job to prepare you for it. All you see is Mammy blocking or ruining your fun. But that doesn’t make me the worst Mammy ever. It just makes me a Mammy.

And when I’m doing all of these annoying and frustrating things that are driving your little emotions to a new level of anger and tantrums, it’s not because you’re bold and really hate me, it’s because you don’t yet have the logic or words required to make sense of them. And that’s OK. Sometimes Mammy doesn’t have the words or the logic to figure out how she feels either.

I could say all of this until I am blue in the exhausted face and you’ll still only see that I turned off the telly, or that I didn’t buy Coco Pops… because you’re 5. (and a half and three quarters). But someday, (probably when you have your own minions and find yourself saying No more times a day than you blink), you’ll get it. And you’ll understand why sometimes, being the worst Mammy in the World makes you the best Mammy in the world…and it’s the hardest thing to do.

Because as long as when I say “No” and you say “You’re the worst Mammy ever”, we both know that underneath the snarls and snots, we are really saying “I love you”, then you keep shouting. And I’ll keep saying “No”. (Most of the time.)”

Giving in would be much easier. But I won’t have you being brought up thinking that you are the centre of a world which owes you everything you want. Yes you are the centre of mine. Yes, you can have whatever you want, but only with hard work and determination and resilience. And to learn these fading life-skills, (and trust me Darling, they are fading), you have to learn the word “NO”.

It’s because I love you…

Because if you don’t hear it at home, where you ARE the most important person in the world, how will you cope when you hear it in real life, where you aren’t?

To you, I might be the worst Mammy in the world, but to me, you are the best daughter, so I guess we balance it out nicely eh?”

I love you,

Mammy xxxx

26Nov2017

I am Surviving a Mary-of-the-Poppins Christmas Mum.

Posted in blog, parenting, Uncategorized by Maria Rushe - Blogger and Writer

This week’s Thoroughly Modern Mammy column for Donegal Woman is an updates post on Christmas Survival for the Mary of the Poppins types…

“Surviving Christmas,” “Christmas Survival Tips for the Working Mum”, “How to Survive Christmas”…

I googled these last night.

Some of the “advice” online is nothing short of HILARIOUS. I fear most of it may have been written by one of the following:

🎄Mary of the Poppins herself

🎄Someone without kids

🎄A Man… 😂😂😂
Here are some of the best pieces I gleaned, followed by my honest and polite responses: (Buckle up!)

1. “Be Prepared.”

No sh*t Sherlock. As opposed to waking on Christmas Eve and remembering to buy a turkey and gifts? Seriously… This is a useless piece of advice. It’s like telling a woman to calm down. When in the history of the world has telling a woman to calm down, resulted in her calming down? Never. So telling a Mammy to “Be Prepared” for Christmas, is NOT helpful.
2. “Buy gifts throughout the year and wrap them as you go.”

Now this one I can partially agree with, except S-Mum’s version would read “Buy gifts throughout the year, put them somewhere safe and then forget all about them until the week before Christmas, when you have all the gifts bought and then open a box or bag or suitcase and find all the PawPatrol jigsaws you bought in July. Or even better, find them when you’re putting the decorations away in January!”

3. “Choose a theme for your gifts to add that personal magic”.

Here’s a theme. Shut. up. Most of us just about manage to buy for everyone we have to buy for. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll remember someone on Christmas Day and freak out with guilt and embarrassment and mumble some crap about it not being delivered on time, before popping to the loo to order on Amazon with next day delivery.

(But if you doooooo want to add a personal touch and be remembered fondly by your loved ones, put glitter🦄 into all of the cards and gifts so that their floors get clattered and you are applauded for spreading the magic of Christmas. Go ahead, I dare you! 😂😂)
4. “Place delicate or expensive ornaments on higher branches.”

Ok this one, I can empathise with. Especially if you have toddlers or dogs. 🐶But in reality, put delicate or expensive decorations in the ATTIC and leave them there until 2026.

5. “Ice the Christmas Cake 2 weeks before Christmas”

Or in real life, remember on the 23rd that for some reason you need a Christmas cake to have in the kitchen which will never be cut or eaten. Then you’ll either pop to Marks of the Spensive or decide not to bother with cake this year. Either way, it doesn’t really matter does it?
6. “Decorating the home should be a family occasion followed by a family meal.”

Oh really? Should it really? If by “family meal” you mean a bottle of wine after the kids have all gone to bed, then yes…yes this is true. 😅

Decorating the home is, for most, a painful and highly stressful process which generally takes more than one afternoon and involves tears, mess and even declarations of divorcing children… and husbands. If you can get the actual tree up in one go, save yourself the stress and put everything else up by yourself, on your own, without the rest of the family annoying your head. After bedtime is ideal.😘😉
7. “Keep alcohol locked away.”

Out of the reach of children yes, but keep the key in your frilly fricking apron Mammy Poppins.
8. “Stock up on essentials: batteries, bread, milk and cream.”

Why there is no gin or wine on this list, is beyond me.

9. “Go Christmas Shopping without children. Bring a drink and a snack with you.”

Who the hell wrote this? It is common knowledge that drinking while shopping with your children is frowned upon in civil society. Oh… they meant for the children? Ohhhh… I knew that. Well, here’s an idea. If you can get someone to mind the minions for an hour, OF COURSE, go Christmas shopping without them. Then, if you really want to follow the Perfect Mammy rule book, have a drink and eat all the snacks… by yourself!
10. “Create a cleaning schedule for your home to keep on top of things this Christmas”.

There aren’t enough swear words for this one. A Cleaning Schedule? Who the hell has time to write a cleaning schedule? In the time it would take me to write a cleaning schedule, I would probably have half the cleaning done. If you can keep floors lego free and counters salmonella free, you’re doing great! You deserve a treat. 💚

Riddle me this Mammies? Why would you spend hours cleaning before opening the boxes of decorations that are going to cause the whole place to need hoovered and dusted again in an hour anyway? Why?

So there were the Top Ten pieces of advice from the various Perfect Mammy websites…

There were a few little nuggets in fairness. Some of the better advice included “Scale down your expectations”, “Invent your own traditions”, and “Give yourself a break.”

Another gem that I completely agree with is “Buy disposable baking trays”: I stock up on aluminium turkey trays every year and everything is cooked in them. It’s a life saver!

Alos, Yes to shopping lists. And sublists. (Any list! I do love me alist!) Plan your meals for Christmas week and do the shopping based on the list. It will save you from buying piles of stuff that you won’t actually use. Will you actually use that goose fat or are you only buying it because it’s beside the cranberry sauce you’ve lifted…that no one in your house eats.

AND remember to factor in Christmas Eve Dinner too. Don’t do my speciality… realise you have a fridge full of food and nothing for the dinner when you finally get back to the house on Christmas Eve. This will lead to arguments about who is going to the shop AGAIN, or toast for dinner.

The “Preparing for Christmas” articles largely did what they always do however; they put undue pressure on already busy parents to stress themselves to create a Hallmark worthy perfect Christmas card-esque scene that, in reality, is nonsense.

Do what YOU want to do. Buy what YOU can afford. Cook what YOU like to eat. If you don’t like mince pies, don’t fricken buy them. If you want to let your kids open all of the presents on Christmas morning, do it! If you like to wrap all the everything, do so. If you don’t, DON’T!

It’s that simple. We don’t need a survival list to survive Christmas, we need to give ourselves a break and enjoy it, because if you take a second to stop and look around you, often in the midst of lost presents and superfluous food shopping, you can see a little bit of magic without having to buy it.

A perfect family Christmas is like a Perfect Parent… all that’s REALLY needed is love and what works for YOU!
What is your favourite “Survival tip” and why?

The S-Mum

…the superbly honest blog of a Thoroughly Modern Mammy

Author Archives: Maria Rushe - Blogger and Writer