It’s Sunday afternoon and the Club Sportive has been postponed for two weeks due to the shitty weather that has hit us this weekend. Yesterday was rain and today it’s wind with more rain on the way. With dangerous gusts and some exposed sections on the route the hard but sensible decision was taken to postpone. It puts some pressure on other plans I have for September but at least I’ll have 2 weeks to work off the holiday excesses.

I’m not ready to start thinking about or preparing to return to work tomorrow so continuing with this update is the best way to avoid both! Part I is here if you missed it.

Work

3 days ago I passed my 1 year anniversary in my new job, although still calling it new feels a bit weird at this stage. I guess the significant change from customer facing retail to sales rep brought so many new experiences and challenges that it definitely does still feel new at times.

It took me a while to get comfortable in my new position and there have been a lot of changes in the company just in the last year but I really do feel that I’ve found a niche that fits me. Despite a period of “imposter syndrome” and a very challenging retail environment I’ve settled well and have grown in confidence, especially over the last 3-4 months.

A large part of this is the respect and value that is given by those that I work with both at my own level and above. It’s a welcoming and supportive environment to work in and I really didn’t realise just how bad my previous working environment was. Just as that had a very negative impact on my mental health this new environment has helped me leave that behind and begin to move on.

Closing a number of big hotel contracts and developing new leads within the hospitality sector has contributed significantly to my standing within the company, has proven my value to both my managers and myself and has given me confidence that I am good at this job.

I’ve been asked a number of times recently how I’m feeling about the job and changing away from working in shops. Although there are things that I do miss about shop working I can honestly say that I’m very happy with the change and don’t see myself going back.

Family

I’ve spoken here and on Facebook a number of times about my Great Aunt Ruby. Unfortunately, Ruby’s time was finally up and she passed away in March. At the time of her death she was the oldest living person in Ireland at 109 years old. She had gained a lot of celebrity in the last few years and there was a lot of attention for her funeral. It seemed as if Donegal had taken her as their own and so many people in our home village and beyond simply called her Aunt Ruby.

While her death was very sad her wake and funeral were a celebration of a full life, lived to the max and a lady that touched so many lives with her kind nature. She was always full of stories so it was very fitting to hear so many people bring their own stories of her. She had friends across all ages and generations and it made me proud to call her family ❤️

Within our own home it has been a pretty busy Summer. Owen finished his first year of college at Letterkenny ATU and has been working most of the Summer. It’s been a lot of hours and early starts for him but it did allow him to buy his own car at the beginning of July and to rebuild a solid savings account!

Conor started working earlier this year too at my brother’s coffee van in Castlefinn. It’s been mostly weekends with some extra shifts over the Summer and has given him an extra confidence and a huge injection of independence with his own money. He’s also started driving lessons with the aim of getting his license maybe by the end of the year depending on the waiting lists.

It has also been a Summer of football as Owen continues to play with our local GAA Club Senior team. With the lack of a Minor team this year Conor has also been attending quite a bit of the training. He’s ineligible to play due to his age but he’s been welcomed to training. A minor setback in the middle of May saw him break his collar bone in a bad fall at training. He was laid up for 6 weeks which kept him off work but he’s recovered completely and was back training at the end of July.

And of course the big football story of the Summer was Donegal’s progress in the Championship this year. We spent a fair bit of time watching them conquer Ulster before progressing to the All Ireland Final before sadly being outmatched by Kerry. We watched some of the games at home, some in our local pub and even made it to Croke Park for the Semi Final.

At the beginning of August Catriona and myself took a day to ourselves and headed on a great day trip to visit Gola Island off the West Coast of Donegal and we’re all just back from a great family holiday to Benalmádena in Spain 🇪🇸

Over the last couple of years I’ve very much neglected the outside of the house. Whatever motivation I could gather up was spent getting the boys to cut the grass and responding only to anything urgent that needed attention. The house really was showing significant signs of neglect! This Summer I spent a lot of time getting the driveway, kerbs, sides and back of the house tidied, weeded and powerwashed before painting the outside of the house itself. This occupied a lot of evenings and weekends over 4-6 weeks but the result is worth it with a house that I’m no longer ashamed to have visitors calling! A few other small jobs remain to be done indoors but it’s been a pleasant change to have some motivation to tackle these things again!

Cooper

In the style of Unironedman it seems to be de rigueur to finish with dogs…

It took from January to March to get over the loss of much loved Rosie who we had to put to sleep on NYE. Then we were joined by the madness that is Cooper!

When I told my friend Jim that we were adopting a Springer he sent me this video. It’s scarily accurate!

On our home check the lady from the Rescue told us adoption works on the 3 x 3s  (3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to settle in and 3 months to feel at home). Cooper seemed to settle very quickly but it definitely took the 3 months for him to be at home. His energy, behaviour and lack of training was a definite challenge and it took a lot of work to calm him down enough to be able to get him to behave without upsetting the entire house. He’s still mad as a box of frogs but all the work has been worth it and he’s a part of the family now. Leaving him at a kennel for the week we were in Spain was surprisingly difficult!