New puppy, new friends, new house!!!

So. Many of you know that I now have a dog that I rescued from the center. We decided to call her Blue, and we have no idea what breed she is. The vet reckons she has Springer Spaniel in her but, to us, she's a total International dog of mystery. She has huge paws so she will be a big dog. Blue is only 3/4 months and she is already the size of a small adult dog i.e Jack Russell. She is a typical baby; chews alot, sleeps alot, pees alot. She bites too, but only because of exuberance. I've taught her to sit, lie down, come, stay and she knows her name & all of her nicknames; Bluebie, Bluey, Blubbit, Dog etc. Blue is a real handful, but I have to admit, she's alot of fun!
Lately I've made two friends who live on the estate: Mikey and Keaton.
Mikey is 12 and has recently moved to Castlebar. He has alot of brothers and sisters. Keaton is 11 and from Manchester. Occasionally Keaton knocks for me and we go for a ride on the bikes. We take Blue sometimes, and try to tire her out. She absolutely adores Keaton and gets all excited when he rings the door bell. Awwww!
Now that Blue is in our lives, we desperately need a garden! This house we were supposed to be building doesn't look at all promising so we searched for another place to rent. We found a 6 bedroom dormer bungalow for long-term rent in Knock. We saw the house and saw its potential. The Landlady is allowing us to redecorate. Yay! So work has started and we are due to move in on the 15th August.
I'm looking forward to unpacking!

Livling
x

Tragic News!!!

Dearly beloved,
We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Mitzy De Santos. The friendly family cat, that we all new and loved.
Mitzy passed earlier today, at the vet. We brought her to the vet yesterday, after she submissively peed on Mum's bed. He told us that she had a very bad, and rather serious chest infection. He hospitalised her and kept her over night. Early this morning we got a call, from the vet saying that she has responded well and has improved. Things were looking up, until we recieved another call from the vet several hours later, saying that Mitzy had a fit and never woke up.
Mitzy has always been in our family for 16 years. She meant alot to Mum and Me. We've had some good times with her and we will never forget her. I'm glad to know that she is in a better place. A warmer place.
R.I.P Mitzy

xx

Not a lot to say!!!

Dad came down yesterday and he's staying for a week. Yesterday we showed Dad the site and took him to meet the Kelly's. While they were chatting, Connor and I played with the dogs, Rover and Murphy, who were tied up out back. That was fun, but it wasn't much fun for them, being tied up and kept from the rest of the family and all.
Dad spent the whole drive home talking about how similar Mayo is to the Caribbean.
Today we went on a drive down to Lough Mask. While Dad wondered around the hill and enjoyed the scenery, he spotted a small strip of golden sand in the distance. We drove up to it and the view was pure bliss. You can see from the pictures how blue the water is. In real life it's even more breath taking. Sand is a bit grainy but the temperature is perfect and it also exfoliates your feet. Dad and I tried stepping in the water and, truth be told, the longer you stand in it the colder it gets! But that's a good thing because the water is as pure as drinking water, so you could have ready chilled drinking water! Another fascinating fact about that beach is that if you rub the sand on your skin, it leaves gold glitter on your skin. It was all over my feet and I didn't want to put my socks back on. As you walk up and down the beach, you can see the glitter and some of them are quite big, like a five pence piece. Mum thinks it might be real gold, and that if we dig deep enough we'll find nuggets!
Horse riding was cool this week. I didn't have Spot or Merlin. I had Guinness. He is a dream to ride, responds really well. They put me down for him for next week. But they put me down for Merlin last week and I got Guinness, so who knows who I'm gonna get.:-s

Speak soon
O xx

Barking Mad!!!

ATTENTION EVERYONE! I am proud to declare that we are members of the Mayo Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (Yay!)
Let me explain...
I am currently working on persuading Mum to get a dog. Mum said that if we do get a dog, we will adopt from an animal shelter. So we went to check out the animal shelter to see what it was about. Before we knew it we joined the M.S.P.C.A and agreed to start our volunteer work the very next day! So on that Thusrday, we walked the abandoned, abused and lost dogs. There were only a few dogs and cats so we only walked four doggies; Cilla, Pepper, Jack and Puppy. (Puppy hasn't got a name yet, she's gorgeous though.) My favourite is Pepper. He is buzzing with energy and has a little yellow ball that he offers to all who comes near him. We played fetch with his ball in a big open field with high untamed grass, and he loved it. He answered to his name and found his little toy wherever it landed. (I'll see if I can get a picture next time.)
It was the last Orchestra this Saturday and there were a few iteresting announcements:

1. The Orchestra will have it's own concert next year and we'll have to perform ELEVEN PIECES. (I don't know if I can play that long!)
2. And hopefully next year we will be performing at a concert in HOLLAND with other orchestras all over Europe.(HOLLAND!)

This Saturday I didn't have Spot, I rode Merlin,who was quite nice. I was a bit more confident with him and he was quite affectionate; when we gave him a piece of carrot, he bent his neck all the way round to mum, asking for more. (Aww.) I also did my first jump with Merlin and it went smoothly. (YAY!) I'm riding him again next week. Looking forward to it.

Today we were going to have Sunday lunch at the Kelly's again but Joan went to hospital with yet another asthma attack. So we decided to go on another one of our beautiful drives. We found a waterfall in a forest at Tormakeady (as you can see from the pics.) Enjoy them....

Speak soon

Doggie De Santos xx

Do You Want The Good News, Or The Bad News!!!

Ok. So I haven't been updating my blog lately. But I'm doing it on purpose because I have more to talk about. See. Win win! Now that's out of the way, let us begin.
I'm feeling in a good but sluggish mood, since the sun is shining brightly over the rolling countryside... (haaaaaa....)
So I'll start with the good news!

The good news is... I've graduated from the beginners class in riding school. I'm now in a longer, later, and more expensive trot and canter class. I feel this is a real achievement on my part.
The bad news is ... I was given a pony called Spot, who doesn't want to trot or canter! He is really lazy and stubborn but Arlene, the teacher, said all I'm lacking is confidence. Once I've mastered the confidence and some other stuff then Spot and I will be fine. But if I can ride Spot, I can ride anything!
The good news is ... We had a good BBQ at the Kelly's recently. Mum had a lot of fun, chatting away with Joan.
The bad news is... The weather was rubbish! Windy and pretty chilly but thankfully no rain.
The good news is... Our stuff has arrived safely and we've unpacked the computer and we now have internet!
The bad news is... We can't upack any of our stuff and the internet is a dial up service and it is soooooooooooooooooo...o slow! Annoyingly slow. Slowly annoying. Seriously I could go on all day! And you know Mum and I live on and for the internet. So if the phone line is busy, you know why.

Well that's just about everything! Speak soon people!!!

yvviL

xx

Horsing Around!!!

On Saturday I went to horse riding again and I was really looking forward to it as I'm starting to get the hang of the trot. The last lesson, I rode a horse called Guinness but this time they put me on a horse called Finbar. I jumped on his back and he was really sweaty. He must of had a really hard morning! If you put your hand over him but didn't touch him, you could feel the warmth and moisture oozing from his fur. Weird! Anyway, Arlene, my teacher, told the group to start walking around. Finbar obeyed and started walking. We got half way around the ring then he started shaking his head furiously. The boy in front laughed and I laughed with him. Then.... Suddenly.... Finbar dropped to his knees, rolled over to the side (flinging me off) and started rolling around in the sandy mud to cool himself off. So I stood there watching the crazy horse rolling in the dirt. One of the helpers in the stable, Emma, came over and asked if I was ok. I was ok, it didn't hurt. After all he didn't roll on top of me! Emma took him out of the field and I waited for someone to get me another horse. They brought me a horse called Ginger. She was ok. Trotting with her seemed surprisingly easy. In fact, Arlene got me to trot without holding on to the saddle, just the reins, because I was doing so well. Scary stuff, but Arlene said that next lesson I can trot by myself without someone running along side me. That'll be fun!

Also on Saturday, I joined the Castlebar youth orchestra but some of the people there were OAP's which was strange. I did quite well. Some of it was really easy. But as an Orchestra it sounded pretty terrible but a man explained to mum that it was because we were playing new pieces. So the only way up! There was a girl about 18,Catherine, sitting next to me playing first flute as well. We started chatting. She was nice, helped me out a lot. She actually wasn't supposed to be there. She was just filling in for someone else. She's a teacher and finished all the grades as well as music leaving cert (A levels). Catherine also said that Irish music board exams are way easier than Associated board. She's a nice person to talk to but after 3 weeks she wont be there. :-( Oh well.

Still enjoying the sunny weather and going on some beautiful drives.
Can't wait to start this house!!!

Signing off,

Aivilo xx

Exciting Weekend..!!!

The last house we were going to buy in Claremorris fell through. Apparently there is no planning permission for the extension and there are some other concerns with it too. Solicitor said, and I quote, 'There are a lot of issues with this property regarding planning, so I advise that you don't buy it. But if you still want to proceed with the sale, you would have to sign a disclaimer saying that I advised us not to buy it.' Woah! He feels really strongly about it so, forget that!
So we went on another house hunt, but looking closer to Kiltimagh because I'll be going to school there. We looked at a few properties but one in particular really caught our eye. It was a two bedroom bungalow with beautiful views and a stream right at the bottom of the garden. The house was a real mess. Not structurally. The people who lived there were really rough and there were undergarments, Budweiser cans and cigarettes everywhere! Sad really! We also found some other flaws; damp, and a hole in the ceiling. But we were still enthusiastic about it. So...
Later that night we drove out to Kitimagh to see if we could find the house by ourselves. We found it easily and Mum wanted to know a little more about the area. So she knocked on the door of the local farmer, Paddy. He came out and mum started asking him questions. When he realized that we weren't Jehovah's Witnesses, he invited us in to meet his wife, Joan, who was over the moon that Mum was there to keep her company, and his 13 yr old son, Connor, who is going into the same secondary school and was also glad for the company.
Connor and I went exploring the open countryside while Mum and Joan talked, laughed and sang, badly. We stayed there till 11:30. Joan enjoyed our company so much that she invited us to Sunday dinner.
Yorkshire puds, roast lamb, the works! It was nice. After dinner Connor and I went exploring again to meet the donkeys. It was absolutely beautiful up there! I'll take a picture!
Now this is the best bit. Paddy owns a site, just across the field from them, for sale with planning permission for a big 3 bedroom house! We had a look at the plans and jumped at the idea of making our own house! Best of all, Paddy is in the building trade himself. So he knows the best people to do the job! We trust them and because we're buying the site and acre of land of them, we'll be seeing a lot more of them. Guess how much?

50,000 EURO FOR A SITE WITH PLANNING PERMISSION ALREADY AND AN ACRE OF LAND! DYNAMITE PRICE!
Also it'll cost less to build than it would be to fix up the other house. There's only one teeny tiny problem. Mum doesn't think he can cope with mowing an acre of grass. So we're thinking of getting a donkey. Paddy and Joan suggested it, and hinted that they might give us one of theirs as one of their donkeys is in foal. If we do get one we're going to call it Muffin. So we'll have Mitzy, Monty, Midge and Muffin. Great!

So today we start the ball rolling. Mum and Paddy are going to meet up with the architect to discuss the plans for the property, while Connor and I go exploring again.
The weather has been amazing, 25 degrees! So things are at an all time high for Mum and I; new friends, brand spanking new house that we're going to build ourselves, a possible new donkey, and great weather! The open countryside is doing wonders for my skin too! ;-D

Signing off, looking gorgeous,

Olliee xx

Yet another school!!!

Yes. It's true. After the embarrassment that I faced at that GIRLS school, we went to visit another school in Kiltimagh called St Louis CS. It was a bit far but the facilities were way better than the GIRLS school. The head teacher was a bit deaf but he meant well. It's a big school and it's mixed. He also said, and I quote, 'we've had black students attending here before, and were treated to the highest regard because they were black.' I'm up for that!
I've decided to take up horse riding lessons. It's just a trial really. I might be really good at it, you never know. It's cheap too, 12euro for half an hour. Pretty good if you ask me! And guess what?! The coach's English. There's no escaping them! Even that dude in the fruit shop that gave me a free mango, used to live in Tottenham! MADNESS!

Signing off

Riding Rasta Queen xx

A Lot to Say!!!

Hi everybody,
I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, I didn't have much to say. But now I do! So listen carefully....

Wednesday
On Wednesday, I got my flute exam results. (Drum roll please, dunnananananananananana...) MERIT! WOOOOOOOT! I got 124 out of 150 making it a very close but well earned.... (dunanananana) merit. SCORE! I was really surprised at the sight-reading grade ; 17/18. I thought I did terribly but the examiner obviously thought otherwise. The problem with sight-reading is you have no idea what the tune is supposed to sound like, I guess that's a good thing! (Well, in my experience it is.) I got minor errors in everything but still came out top. This has taught me a well learned lesson; it's easy to make mistakes, getting away with them is the hard bit! (LOL!)
We also went to visit our good friend Carmel. She is the hostess of a bed-and-breakfast we stayed at in February, called the Oakdale Manor. She's a plump woman with a really beautiful, Lassy-like dog. She offered me a job for the summer, making beds, cleaning bathrooms, looking after the dog and vacuuming. Well, I can vacuum. I have also proved my skills of cleaning the bathroom (it's true ask mum!) I love dogs, especially Poppy. It's the making beds part I'm stuck on. :-~ (Any tips, write a comment.) There's also going to be a wedding rehearsal held at the manor, which she might want us to help with. Well, we do need something to pass the time.

Friday
On Friday, I had my first flute lesson here. But turns out, the woman's English! She's from Plymouth and moved here four years ago. She said she was in exactly the same situation as us; the long drive, the renting situation, the finding a house. Her name is Clare and she's really nice. We did the lesson in her music studio. It was a really cool space with pictures of saxaphones, and trumpets on the walls. The lesson went quickly and at the end Mum came to listen to us when we were playing a duet of 'My Bonny Lies Over The Ocean'. It was really pretty, (pretty easy too!) Clare said that I was a really good sight reader and gave me things to practice until next week. That'll keep me busy!

Saturday, (Today)
Today I had to do a test at my new girls school with all the other girls who were going to be in my year. And I'm telling you they were such ... well... GIRLS! As soon as I walked in the room I wanted to melt into the ground. They were all so delicate and small, THEY SERIOUSLY LOOKED LIKE 6YR OLDS! It made me feel... like the odd one out; which I was! I mean, they all had shoulder length straight/wavy hair and were either pale or paler; Irish or Polish.
I probably looked like a Rastafarian nutter to their eyes. They were all so surprised when I spoke to the teacher about some help with filling in my name, English accent instead of a Jamaican one. IN YOUR FACE GIRLIES! (evil laugh; muh hu hahahahahaaaa!) I told Mum and she's worried about whether I'll fit in. So I guess we have some more schools to visit. ;-D

Signing off with an evil laugh,

Nutty Rasta. xx

YAY! I Found A House, I Bought A House! YAY!

Dear all,
As you can tell from my amazing headline, WE FOUND A HOUSE!(at last.) It's 3 miles from Claremorris town, the school and the 24 hour Tesco (LOL) , and is easy to find. It has an Outhouse that we're going to convert into a guest suite with a bathroom. The offer has been accepted at 132,500 euro, it was originally 145000. (Lucky or what!)
The other good news is that the NTL people came today. He told us how it all worked so I finally have TV! YAY!
Also, my day was made a little brighter by a man in the fruit shop who gave me a free mango because it has a small bruise, but it's firm. I'm looking forward to that later on!

Signing off,
LivNuts xx

More Sad News...!!

Yep, yet another teething snag in our plans. That house that I told you about, well, no one knows who it belongs to because there's a problem with the title deeds. So we can't buy it! DRAT! Also there's some sort of problem with getting to the sewage system because it's on someone else's land. DOUBLE DRAT! So we're back to square one.
:-(
Good news Bekio, I found a school. I'm going to go to a girls school called Mount St Michael, in Claremorris. The Principal was really nice but she had a weird name; Fionnughuala King. (At least I can pronounce the surname :-D) She told us how to pronounce it though: Finnula. We had a long talk about how the school works and she showed us around. It was way nicer than the community school.
Leaving on a possitive note, I'm getting NTL installed on Friday. I'm finally getting TV! YAY! Can't wait!

Signing off, properties to see,

Livla xx

Our Journey Continues....

We've now chosen a main location, Ballyhaunis. We visited the Ballyhaunis community school on Thursday.
To be truthful it was a bit of a dump so mum doesn't really like the idea of me going there. But on the plus side we may have found our new house! It's in a great location. We'd be surrounded by really rich people, close to town and still have the tranquility of the country side. YAY! Trouble is it's kind of derelict and needs a whole lot of work i.e dry lining, floor replacing and stuff. DOH! The estate agent said it would take 40,000 euro to make it habitable, but others say differently. So we've sent off for a structural survey and contacted a bulider who is kindly going to look at the house and give us a price on fixing it up. (fingers crossed)
Yesterday we did a really long drive around the Connemara and it was really beautiful. It's a real shame that I can't upload the pictures I took of it, but hopefully when you guys come over, we'll be able to take you.
We're having a great time here! Looking forward to seeing you all! Oh and thanks for the comment Nat. I see if I can call you sometime soon! :-D

Signing off!
Olivia xx

Top Of The Mornin' To Ye!!!

I'm here now. It was a long, long, long, long, long, journey though. The ferry was cool but we slept all the way there! But when we got to our rented house, it wasn't exactly ... comfortable.
It was freezing. The heating and hot water took ages to heat up so I couldn't even soak in a hot bath after my long journey. And... the house was cold and soulless, well it was a new house. Brand spanking new! And the icing on the cake was.... NO TV! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
The NTL was supplying the aerial so absolutely no TV, not even the 5 basic (Irish) channels.
Luckily there was a DVD player in the house so we bought some DVD's to play instead of calling NTL. We bought: Along Came Polly, Minority Report, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Big and Charlie's Angels. But we need some more. Any suggestions.... (write a comment)

Whoopsy. Time's run out at the internet cafe.
Signing off, Missing you all

Olivia xxx

Sad News!!

Yesterday, my GREAT Grandma in Antigua died! She was old but loads of people knew and loved her. Uncle Curtis, the favourite, will go to the funeral and support Grandad.
Another big event happened yesterday, the house is sold and the money is in the account. YES! But we have no where to live... DOH!
Yeh well that's not the only thing to worry about...
Today, we got a text from Irish Ferries saying and I quote:
'The 12:00 Swift ferry is doubt. If sailing is cancelled you will be automatically accommodated on the 14:10 cruise ferry.'
Let me explain. If we got on the 12:00 Swift ferry, we would get to the house at about 8pm. But if we got on the 14:10 Cruise ferry, we would get to the house at about .. MIDNIGHT. Luckily, the woman that we're renting from, Aisling, said she'd wait there even if we get there at midnight. AWWW! So that's our prblem sorted... for now! LOL

Need to pack now, sorry.

Olivia xx

Flute Exam!!

I did my flute exam today! It was really scary! The examiner was trying to be friendly, and meant well but her big open smiles and heavy make-up just made me even more nervous! I mean, wouldn't a lady with drawn on eyebrows, bright reddy-purply lipstick, and big black 80's glasses scare you! LOL!
Anyway, I got through it without having a nervous breakdown, so that's a good thing. The rest of it.... well... it went...OK! Yeah! I went ok! I messed up on my sight reading, and one of my scales but the rest was ... passable. Or was it?! LOL!
My flute teacher said I did well (YAY!) but I'm really happy that it's over.
This morning the removal dudes came to move all our stuff from the house(No turning back now!) AND the buyers came to pick up their new keys. They are practically pushing us out of the door! I mean we got a letter in the post for them and they didn't even have the keys yet.... well it is their house.
Now that I've moved in with my Nan's, I'm a lot more relaxed. But we still have a lot to do before we move. :-(

Signing off while eating Lindor chocolates,
Olivia xx

Happy Easter Everyone!!

It's Easter everbody! Lent is over! Yay!!
I gave up mango for lent, but I still haven't recieved my mango! :-(
What did you give up? (let me know, write a comment.)
My big move is getting closer and closer. You probably think I'll miss you all... NO WAY! I'm kidding. Of course I'll miss you. Anyway....
I think Mum's going mad! This morinig, really early, I heard someone moving boxes and drawing tape. I asked Mum if it was her and she denied it. Seriously, between you and me, I think Mum's sleep packing. LOL!
But it's true, all of us have been really unsettled and stressed lately. Even the chinchillas are a little edgy, especially Midge. He made the most jaw clenching squeal the other day!
I'm really looking forward to Nan's Easter Sunday dinner! It's world famous you know... well it should be! ;-)
Anyway, must love you and leave you. I'll report back on that Sunday dinner!
Olivia xx

Continued...

Just got back from Sunday dinner. It was great! The food was fabulous! My cousin Khaleeq and I played hide and seek. It was really funny because Khaleeq couldn't find me and got really upset! AWWW!

There was one thing missing from that Sunday dinner...

I kept on thinking. Was it chicken? No. Was it Macaroni pie? No.

Then it dawned on me. It was my favourite of them all... Yorkshire Puddings. I was really disapointed. I felt like I was going to cry (but I'm not that pathetic!!)Oh well. Maybe next time....

Signing off.

Olivia xx

My Opening Day!!!

Hello and welcome to Olivia's blog.

This will be a complete diary of all the events that happen to us while we move to Ireland (cool huh?!)
This blog will contain all sorts of information that I can't be bothered to phone or e-mail you about.
This may include :

• What my area is like
• What the bad, terrible, unappealing weather is like
• What it's like at my new school
• Who's my latest boyfriend (like I'd tell you!)

Anyway, visit often because it's going to be a different story every time...

Olivia xx

P.S My permanent address will be posted here first. Capiche!