Glenbeg

Mj and i haven't been feeling to well lately,i think we are stretching ourselves to thin and not enough time together. I think this does cause throat infections! lol. Well for those who were waiting on photo's of the house and also our nephews 1st birthday im sorry for the delay i just haven't felt like doing them. I made so baby thankyou cards last night for Rachael and Chris and that wore me out. Woke up this morning with a throat infection and managed 3 hours at work and then had to come home. The block layers have started the 1st floor now and Mj said the gables are up now but i hope to see for myself tomorrow. we had a great weekend with Ethans birthday party but now i need to get better so will sort those photo's out as soon as i can.

xx

Well im not sure at all where that week has gone! Ups and downs this week so hello to my friend who is a little down,she knows who she is. On the up is our house! The ground floor is now completed,all the block work is done on the garage also. The hollow core floor arrived on friday and was put in place and there is a ladder where the stairs will go and we can now go up onto the 1st floor. The blocklayers will be back on monday to start the up stairs blockwork. I cant believe we are only 3 weeks into the build and already we can see all the rooms in the downstairs of the house and we have a fire place. We cant wait for the plasterers to start so we can see the true size of all the rooms. There will be plenty of pictures on the website after the weekend but there are more exciting things going on tomorrow! ITS OUR NEPHEW'S FIRST BIRTHDAY. We have a little tea party to go to and lots of jelly and presents. Were so excited! So sorry there is not much news but will be more after tomorrow.

xx

I read a post on my brothers website the other day entitled "Helen can i book my bed now!" I wasn't sure what was so important but as i read on i was surprised to hear that the volvo ocean race had asked Galway to be a european stopover destination for the race in 2008-2009. 8 million euro later and i found out today that it is going to happen! I cant believe i hadn't heard about it before now! It will mean so much for Galway as a city and Ireland in general. Personally i cant wait to see my brother and sister in law and a few boats aswell!

www.volvooceanrace.com

xx

Well our day was great. We have bought a 12 month membership to our local gym and it was sooooo much fun! I went on the bike for 15 mins,the rowing maching for 10 mins and then the running machine for 10 mins and then i was f****d! That was enough gym for me today! We went down to the pool and i was swimming for half hour then sauna and jacuzzi! We have 6 months till our wedding so i realy have to be strict with myself and Mj has to suffer with me! haha! He loves the gym though.

Our new niece is so lovely and Ethan hasn't even noticed the new addition realy. All the family are well and realy enjoying everything going on right now. Chris has 3 interviews for jobs next week and Lee is sorting out work and college for himself. Mj and i are having some us time tomorrow and are off to join the gym in the village where we are moving to. I have gym phobia so will be fun haha! Let you know tomorrow.

xx

Finally i have managed to put the photo's on the new web site. So you can see the house build so far and from now on i will blog here and post on the new site aswell. We are two weeks into the build and i am amazed how much has been done! Im sure you will be to! If things continue like this im sure we will be in for the wedding!

www.glenbeg.co.uk

xx

My brother has made Mj and i a lovely new website and although i will be keeping the blog all photos of house build will be on www.glenbeg.co.uk It has taken me a while to figure out how to use it i have used photo's of my new niece to sort it out. So tomorrow i promise i will upload all the picture of the house build but for now if you want to see my new niece and my adorable nephew you can go have a look.

xx

At 4:40pm today Rachael and Chris bought a beautiful baby daughter into the world. Ella Nolan weighed in at 7lb 7oz and will be a sister for Ethan,11 1/2 months. Many congratulations and all our love and thanks for our beautiful niece.

xx

Well im realy sorry that i haven't blogged since day 2 of the build but im not sure where the time has gone. We started the house build and got engaged on the same day then after a few days of celebrations we were at the site alot and were not getting home till late. Then on thursday i wasn't to well but still made it down for an hour later in the day.
So the last time i posted we were having truck loads of stone put on the foundation. Well now all 30 truck loads are done and it has all been flattened with channels around the rooms for the steal to go into. Then on wednesday,thursday and friday the raft/steal went in and Sean our engineer came out to inspect the site so we can apply for our second stage payment cheque. Then on saturday the concrete arrived and in the rain (which is good weather for pooring concrete) they filled the foundation. Mj and i missed this as we were in Dublin but went over to the site as soon as we were home and you can now see the exact size of the house now. Its all so exciting and things are moving very smoothly and quickly as it has only been 9 days. The block layer is starting on wednesday when the concrete is dry and he will have 6 layers up in the 1st day (weather permitted) and 4 layers up on the 2nd day and it will realy look like a house by next weekend! Im sorry i haven't posted any pictures yet but i do have loads! My brother had made me a website and im still learning how to use it but when i have had a long chat with him i will be putting all pictures on there and a link on all blog posts for you all to see!

xx

Hello family and friends. Just wanted to let you know we are still here haha!
Mj and i have been soooooo busy this week i havn't even had time to blog. We have just arrived back from Dublin after completing our pre marriage course. For those who don't know its a day long course (or done over a few weeks) that gives you advice on marriage from communication right down to the laws about marriage in Ireland. We have to have this certificate to get married! We started our day on saturday with a 4:30am wake up scream from my alarm clock! We snoozed for 15 minutes then i dragged myself to the kettle and toaster. We threw together an over night bag and at 5:20am headed on our way to Dublin. We arrived at Terenure College at 9:15am after stopping for coffee on the way. We had a meet and greet with 48 other couples and then settled down in a classroom enviroment for the 1st session on communication. An hour and a half later i was pleased that Mj and i could relate to almost all of what she was saying and was secretly very proud of how we handle alot of things in our life. We had a break for coffee and biscuits which i was sooooo excited about and they are not on my diet but as the letter said food and drink provided i had not packed any fruit! How awful haha! yummy! At 11:30am we went back in for the next session on relationships and sex haha it was sooooo funny and the woman doing it was very humerous! She gave alot of family planning advice which i found interesting and useful and the rest of the session is a blur as i found it very hard to stay awake. We broke for lunch at 1:00pm and after soup and sandwiches we both felt refreshed and ready for the next session at 2:00pm. A priest took this session on marriage laws and religion in the marriage and the wedding ceremony itself. The priest was very down to earth and funny and made the session go quite quickly (thank god haha) as by this time Mj and i were feeling the effects of our 4:30am start. Mj realy enjoyed this session and i realy learnt alot. As i am not catholic but Mj is i was worried what parts of the ceremony i could change but not to take away the catholic meaning. At the end of this session we grabbed a coffee (and more biscuits!!!) and went back into the room to have a chat to the priest about our ceremony and he put our minds at rest about a few things. At 4:00pm the last session started. A couple who had been married for 26 years came in to talk to us. The were soooo nervous and he was very quiet and shy but his wife was CRAZY! She didnt stop talking and when the husband was talking she would jump in. It made the last our more amusing! At the end the called all the couples out 2 by 2 and it was like a graduation,they shook your hand and gave you the certificate. All in all a good day but very tiring. We drove a short way down the road and checked into a nice hotel,we have a lovely meal together in the restraunt,we had a few well earned drinks in the bar and then went to bed.

xx

Sorry this is such a quick post but Mj and i have not been in our home much lately. We seem to work and then go to the site to see the house. Well yesterday we had the sewage tank delivered. We also had 14 (36ton) loads of stone delivered and emptied on to the site and then flattened with the roller. This will build up the level of the house to slightly higher than road level so that rain water runs away from the house. more later.................

xx

Mj and i went out for our house build celebration dinner/hot date last night. When we arrived we were shown to a little tabe in the bar area with 2 champagne flutes and a huge bunch of balloons. I realised the balloons were from my sister and family as thats what my sister does for a job. Written on them were congratulations for the 1st day of the build. A waiter came over with a bottle of pink champagne and told us that the Nolan family had paid for it. My sister is so sweet and we have always made a fuss over special occasions and its one of the things i have missed until now! I turned to Mj and said how nice it was of them and how when i saw the balloons for a split second i thought he was going to get down on one knee............. and he did! I burst into tears and said yes of course! He gave me a beautiful white gold ring with a princess cut (square) diamond and a lovey bouquet of pink roses and calla lillies. At the end of a lovely meal we ordered desert and out came a plate with candles on and written on the plate was "congratulations on your engagement" and 2 bowls of icecream. Then the waiter behind gave us another even larger balloon with the same inscription. After a huge round of applause from everyone in the restraunt we ate the icecream and paid the bill. Chris picked us up and we went to their house so i could show Rachael my new ring! We had a few drinks and then Chris took us home. Amazing night. I must still be excited as i was awake at 6:10am haha!

xx

Well what an exciting day. The digger,dump truck and steam roller arrived about 11:00am and its now 5:00pm and they are almost finished digging out the garage area. Mj and I have come home as we are off out for our long awaited celebration dinner tonight/hot date. Lee has been out on the site with Mj all day and they have had great fun with Lee on the steam roller putting a temporary surface down on the drive for the trucks. Mj has been on the dump truck moving all the earth for the digger. I had a half day at work and arrived about 2:00pm to find Rachael,Chris and Ethan there aswell. Along with Mj's dad John who is in charge of the build and Teresa (Mj's mum) it was a real event. Im sorry but i will have to put the pictures of today on tommorrow as were in a hurry and it wont let me do it. mmmmmmm must ask Paddy....

xx

Mj has been working very hard this week on the site with his Dad. The weather here is very hot and they spent tuesday and wednesday marking out the site with lime and spray paint. Mj is shattered and has blister's on his blister's. When i arrived at the site from work yesterday evening i could actualy walk round our flat house drawn out on the ground. It is very real now and very exciting! The steel arrived today although we wont need it for a while it is very hard to get so we had it delivered early. Well tomorrow is the daythat the digger goes in and it will be officialy day one of our house build.

xx