update

Friday 28 Nov - gave blood. It wasn't very comfortable, but I did it. Thats 2 now
Drank some wine when the beer trolley came round, shouldn't have and felt woozy ! But hey ho.
Bruised like billy-o ! looks like i've been jacking up or something !

Saturday - had hair cut. Anna and Si called in for lunch on their way to the airport. They are off to NY for 5 days - hmmmm, nice. Cold , but nice.

Sunday - I spent 6 lousy hours inputting crap into Kev's laptop. Ruddy data entry, and ruddy pillock that he works with that didn't put it all in at the time. grrrrrr, what a waste of a day.
Monday - Thurs . So far an ok week. ALL pressies wrapped and all to be delivered this weekend,excpet Lexie's.

Dawn gets the keys to her new house tomorrow - yeah !!!

Off to Wales on Sat/Sunday. Off work on Monday, aaaaaaaaaaaahhh

November catchup

Well the month of November, what's gone on ???
Same old, same old for the most part.
We had a lovely weekend visit by Emma,Paul & Lexie which was lovely. We all went shopping in Bristol, where Lexie made friends with the giant statue reindeer, and loved the large pile of Christmas baubles in Quakers Friar.
I put our Christmas tree up before they arrived, and Lexie loved it ! Its a brown tree with gold and chocolate baubles and stars. It looks nicer than it sounds, honest !All weekend it was the main topic of conversation, with Lexie counting every bauble each time she walked past it ! Soooo sweet, and it was a lovely weekend.
Anna & Simon are calling up tomorrow on their way to get their plane out to New York ! Jealous.
I am (hopefully) giving blood later today, if my iron levels are high enough !

all my pressies are wrapped. All my cards have been handmade. I've see the M&S Toffee Xmas Pud that I want . . . . . bring on Christmas !!!

Halfway through November already !

Xmas is coming , yeah ! I've bought and packed 95% of my pressies and my tree is up ready !!














Jack enjoyed Halloween - well, sort of !












I have Lexie's presents all wrapped and ready to go - Xmas 08 is all about Disney Princesses !!

Lexie's 2nd birthday

Made a flying visit to Wales for Lexie's 2nd birthday party on Sunday. She was dressed as Snow White !! Gorgeous. Everything is "princess, princess, princess" at the moment, so she was a princess for the day.
As always, she was full of smiles and cuddles, and sooooooooooo cute and comical. And despite the house being rammed full of people, all pointing cameras at her (!) she was a total sweetie for the whole 4 hours .


Fingers crossed also, but it looks like Dawn has bought a house. Watch this space . . . . .

rain, rain, go away !

the rain has settled in for the week now methinks. Grotty dark rainy mornings. My least favourite time of the year for 6am dog walking !! grrrr

Anna & Simon are coming to stay this weekend - looking forward to that. Plenty of shopping to be done in the new Cabot's Circus centre, plus a Bottelino's meal on Saturday evening - lovely.

Emma, Paul & Lexie are in Florida for 2 weeks - lucky people. I think they are going to "Disney-out" !!

I've nearly finished my Xmas shopping for Lexie (and got her birthday pressies too).
Got her some lovely toys, and most of "Zara" !!!
Her 2nd birthday party will be on Sunday 26th October - yeah !!

My shining light in these dark times is Austin Healey on Strictly Come Dancing !!
2 of my favourite things in 1 - it could only be better if Orlando Bloom was dancing too (although in a certain light Tom Chambers looks pretty similar !)
I never want it to end, I love it. And Austin is awesome !!!!

Sunburn, ouch

Kev is on his second week away in Aberdeen, not long now. He says they had nearly 2 hours of sunshine at the weekend , wow.

Clare stayed overnight at mine last Wednesday which was lovely and we had some wine, plenty of chat, and a Chinese takeout. Which unfortunately revisited me at around 4am, and didnt go away til 9.30 am. Not nice! felt very dehydrated and sorry for myself for the rest of the day.

Saturday - gorgeous day. Got up and finished painting our garden fence. Then had a bath and went shopping. Homesense, again. Bought a fabby new rug for the lounge, bargain (ish !). And a few bits of Xmas pressies. Spent the rest of the day sat in the back garden doing some cross-stitch. Then a pizza and some wine for tea.
Strictly Come Dancing is back - YEAH . Austin Healey is on, and danced an awesome waltz bless him. Can't wait for this series, really loving it already. And very sure that Gary Rhodes will make me cringe every week !! hee hee

I appear to have lost my little dog for a couple of hours. He has decamped to Sarah's next door ! When i peaked round the fence he was sat in their lounge, as if he lived there, the little scamp.

Sunday - glorious day. Did as little as possible, but sat in the garden all day with cross-stitch again. Realised later that my legs, chest and arms are quite nicely burnt - ouch ! hey ho, i seem to do it every time, my bad.

Grand Day Out

Still smarting from my fall on the bus on Monday last week. My left foot (yeah i know, i should write a book) is deeply bruised and my left arm too.

Worked from home on Wed, dropped Jack off at his hotel in readiness for our team day out.
The activity centre was great fun, it was really muddy and wet but great fun. We did blind driving, RAGEbuggies, clay pigeon shooting, archery and hovercrafting.
I loved the hovercrafts, but not the buggies. Everyone was covered head to toe in mud, but all had a great time.


Then off to Tortworth Court Hotel, which is gorgeous. An old, sprawling 4
* hotel set in amazing grounds. We had a lovely meal, and plenty (oh did we ) to drink. The Sift awards I made went down well, everyone seemed happy.
Much drinking and a very late night (early morning) followed.
Thankyou Sift - it was fab.

Friday - came back to the office, caught up on mails, etc. Kev came home around 5pm, but was off on a leaving do in Cheltenham on Saturday, so Jack and I were alone again !
Sunday flew by in a blur, Kev is away til Wed, and the winter weather is here with a vengeance. Its disgusting today, totally disgusting. And I look forward to spending the rest of the day in soggy jeans. YUK

Ouch

Not a great start to my week. I took a bit of a tumble on the bus.
Stood up to get off the bus, but the driver braked sharply, and I flew 4 foot down the aisle. Luckily the ticket machine stopped my face !

Bruised my feet, legs, left arm, shoulder and hand. My left cheek has a bit of a mark, but luckily not bad.

Doing that attractive walk today, when you can't bend or move any part of your feet or body - nice !!!

Happy Birthday Jack !!!

We've had another busy few days. Gav & Laura came to stay last weekend. We went shopping, bowling, and had a lovely meal at Frankie & Benny's. yum, yum, yum.
Picked Anna, Simon, Debs & Johnny from the airport on Bank Holiday Monday. Kev cooked pasta and chicken for all of us then all the kids went home. Packed Kev's bag and off he went again to Preston. Another weekend over !

Lexie has chicken pox bless her. At least its over with early.

Nipped down to see Lexie on Saturday. She was sooooooooo cute, you'd never know she was poorly. Full of fun and was a total Grandad's girl ! (which was lovely).
Popped in to see Anna too, and she gave me a lovely bunch of flowers.

Quite a quiet day on Sunday, then Kev packed off again for another week.

Work are going out this Thursday/Friday for our activity day. looking forward to that, and have a few little surprises up my sleeve for some of the guys too !! hee hee

this week

Friday 15th - 4am start. Arrrrgggh, not nice.
Picked Clare up at 4.30 so plenty of time to get to the airport for our 6am flight. But what's this ??? Someone appears to have moved Bristol Airport ! We can't find it for some strange reason. We drove through the same (very nice) village 4 times, but no airport. All of a sudden, I saw the sign, hung a sharp right, quick trip through Narnia, then out the other side to the airport. Phew. Grabbed a quick cuppa then off we went. Edinburgh was damp and busy, but we had a brekkie and managed to fit a bit of shopping in (Zara - good shop !! Lexie will do ok this christmas again )

Meeting. Back to town. Beer. Back to Airport. On the way back on the bus who do I see ? Gordon Bird from ADP !! Madness, havent seen him for 2 years, and there he is in Edinburgh for the week with his family for the Fringe festival. Good to see him. I like Gordon, he's a good bloke.
Anyhoo, back to the airport, bought the obligatory bottle of whisky for Kev, had a meal, plane delayed (grrrr), landed in Bristol at 8.15pm, home by 9ish.
Knackered. Kev was back from Preston and between us we sat in a tired stupor and drank copious amounts of wine for 2 hours then crashed into bed exhausted !

Saturday - did boring stuff (washing, cleaning), did a bit of shopping, collected Jacky boy. More wine. Saturday over.

Sunday - Anna, Si, Debs, Johnny arrived, had lunch at the Beefeater and some beers (not for me cos i am driving later!). Debs loves Jack cos he is just like their dog Sooty ! All off to bed by 9ish. Up at 2.30, drove the guys to the airport. Waved Kev off too at 5.30. Day off Monday, and spent most of in and out of sleep !!

Normal week. Gav has just been 'crowned' Apprentice of the Year at his college, so he and Laura are coming up this weekend to celebrate !

what has happened in the last 2 weeks ?

Kev's new job is going well, although his first contract is for at least 4 weeks in Preston ! So barely seen him since he started. The pay packet is lovely though, so Homesense might get hit quite hard soon.

We finally found a kitchen table at Ikea. Fits into the kitchen perfectly, and it is nice to have Sunday lunch at a table inside, instead of on the garden furniture !!

No more room for anything else new now. But still need to tidy the garden, hang some blinds in the kitchen and bathroom. Plus the spare room needs a coat of paint at some point. And the ensuite has to be redone. But nothing urgent !

Got some fabby new boots from Cushe (well ebay !). Sooooo cute and comfy, and a total bargain too.

Anna and Simon are coming up this weekend, looking forward to seeing them, and Debbie & Johnny too,before they jet off on their Ibiza holiday.
Beefeater Sunday lunch well and truly booked.

I get to jet off too, to Edinburgh for a one day work trip ! Me and Clare are being let out together - madness !!!

Jack is off to the kennels for a couple of days - his own little holiday trip.
So tonight will be pretty quiet - just me in the house.
But as I have to get up at 4am (!!!) to get to the airport for a 6am flight, then I don't think I'll be up late !

Monday already ????

Phew how the weeks fly by

Pretty busy all last week at work. We've arranged our team day out to spend our winnings. Having a team activity day, then an meal and overnight stay at a swanky hotel - looking forward to it v.much !!

Called over to Homesense near Bristol Airport and bought some fabby stuff ! Never been there before, but I think it will have a swift revisit !

Spent Saturday afternoon building our new chest of drawers. Dawn, Mike and Mum called over for an hour or so on Sat eve.

Power cut at 9pm !! Kev and I sat in the garden with candles til 12.30 and just got pissed ! Fab
Sunday - bad heads all round ! Built our new butcher's block trolley, cleared some of the rubble from the back garden. Too hot so stopped, had food and slept on the couch for 2 hours !

Kev stars his new job today (good luck Kev). The new company seem pretty good already, and having a laptop not a pda should be good.

Whoo hoooo

Wednesday 16th July - Happy Anniversary to Emma & Paul.
Thursday 17th July
My department made the most cash in Q2, and therefore we win £5k from the bosses to spend on a team day out. Fantastic !! I love this job !
Company meeting after work and then (free) beers afterwards.

Gav & Laura came to stay so that Gav can help build a new fence in our back garden.

Friday - off to the Beefeater after work, lovely meal with Gav & Laura, and plenty of beer. New fence looks great, except the boys put up 5 panels, and 2 of them were upside down !! hey ho, can we fix that, yes we can !

Saturday - Gav and Kev moved the garden shed and the garden is starting to look much better. Gav & Laura went home and Kev & I did a bit of shopping, lots of food and lots of wine !

Sunday - Mowed the lawns at Dawn's house, much better !
Not much else today, bit of a relaxing day - for a change.

Monday - Happy Anniversary to Anna & Simon.

back to work

so the holiday is over, booooooo. Back to work - for a rest ! hee hee

Saturday - Emma, Paul and Lexie came to stay. She is sooooo cute and growing up so quickly. It was lovely to spend time with them all, and have some quality cuddles with Lexie !!! We popped into Brizzle for a couple of hours, then went for food at the Beefeater just round the corner. It was way past Lexie's bed time but she was very well behaved and we had a lovely evening. Lexie went to bed when we got home and we stayed up with a few bevvies. Bed by 12.30.

4.30 Sunday am - Lexie had a temperature and then threw up, bless her. All day Sunday she was obviously not well, but still had a lovely couple of hours at the Avon Vally Country Park. But she was still very hot and flushed, so Paul & Em decided to take her home on Sunday afternoon. Shame, but I dont blame them.

Monday - Kev off today and I worked from home. Actually, yes I really did !!
Kev collected Jack from the kennels, complete with new hairdo ! soo cute.
Kev then attacked the back garden to get rid of all the horrid out of control plants, and to make space for us to put up a new fence and to move the shed about.
Jack slept. I spent half the day just reading emails from the last 2 weeks !

Emma text to say that Lexie was bit better and had some antibiotics from the doc, as they think she was getting an ear infection. Bless her, it was lovely to see her, even for a short while.

Back to work today, and sod's law after not needing the bus for 2 weeks, they strike tomorrow and Thursday ! Perfect guys, thanks for that one !!

Hey ho, normality is resumed.

days and days

What a busy few days. Sofas were delivered and are gorgeous. much more comfy than our old sofa ! They fit the lounge just perfectly and compliment the colours - a good buy I do believe.

Moved the furniture and most of the house on Friday. Knackered , and just need to clean the old house and fit all our stuff into the new one !!

Cleaned Dawn's house on Saturday - wanted to get it done before the viewing that was organised for midday. So scrubbed my little heart out from 7 til 11.30 !!
Kev had to stay in our house to welcome the Sky man ! At least we can watch the last Dr Who episode ! Whooo hooo

Miserable weather here, but Wimbledon managed to get through normal play.
Sunday - still sorting the house out, cleaning as we go. Had to pause to watch the Men's final (with a bottle of vino !!). What a fab match, loved every minute of it.

Bought a new microwave, some shelving units for the understairs cupboard, new chest of drawers for our bedroom, and a great (bargain priced) new vacuum cleaner - which just happens to be a stunning purple !!
Kev sorted all the sockets in the kitchen, so we have shiny stainless steel sockets which match the tiles.

Tuesday - popped over to Filton and found a Woolworths that was selling the Jeff Banks tableware that I love, and Kev very kindly let me buy it !!! Yippeee, I love it.
It is called Vintage Spots, and makes a funky edition to the kitchen!
Sky got our broadband all setup at last, so we are hot to trot - whoo hooo.

Wednesday - hung the lounge and kitchen doors back up. Now it feels like a home !! Still miserable weather and Kev and Jack are soaky wet after every walk !

Just a couple of days of our hols left - time has flown. Kev has to go to his office on Saturday for a company meeting, but as he starts a new job in 2 weeks time, its a crap waste of time. hey ho, i'm just glad he's leaving cos the company is crappy and a waste of space. roll on the new job which so far seems to be run by humans, and humans with a good level of knowledge about the job they do, which is a welcome change from the last lot !!!

busy busy busy

soo, the sofas get delivered tomorrow (Thurs), lounge curtains are up, lounge rug is ready ! kitchen lights and new sockets are done. wine is cooling !!
bedroom is painted, with clean carpet, new curtains, rug and lights.

Attic is getting loaded bit by bit. Phew, just got to move on Friday !!!

oh and by the way, our new phone number starts 01179 - not 01779 like i appear to have mailed !!! ooops sorry

2 weeks off !

last day, then off for 2 weeks.

popped into town yesterday with ClareBear and decided to nip into The Pier - why not.
They only had THE curtains and THE rug that I've been trying to find for ages ! Whoo hoooo

Bought 4 curtain panels (2 pairs of curtains) in gorgeous rich, deep purple satin(esqe) material for the bedrooms, and a 'Sparkle' rug in purple. I also bought a Chocolate Sparkle rug for the lounge. £70 the lot - Bargain !! Rude not to at those prices ! One Happy bunny ! and my sofa's get delivered early next week - yeah, we can sit down !
It's all looking good folks, all looking good !
see ya soon x

nearly there

2 more days in work, then 2 weeks off ! whoohooo

official moving day is Friday july 4th. But we plan to finish the painting and move as much as poss between now and then, and then get the 'man and his van' to help move the big stuff on Friday.
Then another week off to settle in - cant wait !!

just so many people to tell ! You dont realise how many people need to know you've moved - grrrrr !!!

Looking forward to seeing Gayle & Scotty boy on Saturday.

heavy weekend

took jack to his 'hotel' then drove to Wales for Kev's sister's 50th - big family meal.
Met Anna & Si shopping (no surprise there !), then met Gav & Laura. Then called to Emma & Paul's to see Lexie. She is gorgeous and a real cutie, all smiles and giggles. Nannie H spent a lot of the time in the hallway on all fours growling like a tiger and chasing Lexie's toes ! Well, why not eh !!

Then over to Anna's, grabbed a quick sarnie, all got ready and off out by 6.30.
Met up at the Baltic in Ponthenri, and a good night was had by all. Lots of good food, good company and beer was had by all. There was a singer later singing 60/70s covers, and pretty soon we were all singing, dancing, and in Simon's case, hijacking the microphone !! Poor Steve Rider(Si decided thats who the singer looked like !!) - he didn't know what hit him !! But it was a good night all round, and we finally fell (literally) into bed at 3.30.

Woke up at 7.30 (bah) and couldnt go back to sleep - something to do with the man hammering inside my head ! The others got up 2 hours later, had some brekkie and made our way to Mum's and caught up with Mum and Dawnie for an hour or so. then home, got Jack, and vegged on settee for the rest of the evening ! Totally shattered, but we enjoyed !

another step closer !

Carpet was delivered Wednesday - whoo hoo, looks good. Love the lounge/stairs colour, suits the wall colour perfectly. And the bathroom colour gives the room a lift.
I finished painting the bathroom then undercoated the main bedroom.
Also managed to clean the kitchen tiles and units.

Was a bit mad at myself, cos i got a new mobile, but lost half my numbers in moving them across from the old one! grrrrrr

Like the phone tho !

Knackered !

Thursday 12th June: i took the day off and started to give the hallway its first coat of basepaint, tidied up the kitchen and 'touched up' the lounge ceiling.
Took Jack into the office with me, while i picked up some boxes and Clare's power-washer. Jack got quite a lot of fuss !! Bavk to the house and more painting.

Friday 13th June (!!) : Kev off today too. More painting ! Gave the stairs and landing 2 coats of paint. Kev spent most of the day balancing off the extended ladder ! Glad he did, cos no way I would.

Saturday 14th June : Richard tiled the kitchen walls for us - they look lovely and I'm really pleased with the kitchen now. Kev and I painted - for a change !
Also took Jack for a lovely walk round the estate. Some really lovely walking places, and a lovely quiet area. Really chuffed we bought this house !

Sunday 15th June : Queued for ages to get petrol ! Over to the house. Finished painting the hall/stairs/landing, all glossed too. Glossed the lounge skirting, cleaned and painted the radiators. Dumped the old carpet, sink,kitchen worktops and various other rubbish. Made room in the lounge so the new carpet can be laid on Wed. Painted most of the bathroom - but the rest is for Wednesday.

Totally knackered, but a very productive few days, and we are on track for what we wanted to get done at this time.

BTW - Happy Dad's day Dad !!


Kev spoke to Gav, who got "Player of the year" for the Trimsaran 2nds team - well done Gav !!

What a lovely weekend

the weather this weekend was fab, beautiful sunshine all weekend.

We spent all of the weekend inside the new house, painting !! What a waste, but had to be done.
Jack had a lovely time in the garden though, making the most of the sun.

This week we have had the new cooker and sink plumbed in (and christened the cooker with bacon sarnies on Saturday !). The new fridge/freezer arrived, which is lovely cos now we can keep the milk and stuff chilled.
We also had to put 3 coats of "Earthstone" paint on the lounge walls ! The walls are sooooo dry and have obviously not been painted for 10 years, so the paint just sinks in. 3 coats makes it look nice, and covers up some of the imperfections too !

I have Thurs/Fri off this week, so the plan is to gloss the woodwork in the lounge and kitchen, and start the painting in the hall/stairs.
Kev is off Fri too, so we will rip out the old carpet and finish painting the stairs and bathroom.
And the kitchen wall tiles are due to be finished too !

new kitchen floor

Richard the tiler guy laid the new tiled floor in the kitchen today, I love it and think it looks gorgeous.

i have also finished painting the kitchen, pretty pleased with the result. Its called Latte !

Jack likes his new house

Took Jack to the new house on Saturday - and he loved it ! Sarah (next door) thinks he is gorgeous, and says he is welcome to pop under the fence into their garden any time he likes. So he did a few times !
He met Montague (the sheepdog) on the other side of us - but only nose to nose through the fence . Which is a good thing for Monty cos Jack would have had his nose off. There are a few dogs in nearby gardens, so Jack was busy sniffing and listening. He was in the garden all day, from 9.30 to 5pm, bless him. Really enjoyed himself. The weather was gorgeous and he loves sitting outside.

Then on Sunday morning I walked him and went upstairs to get dressed. As soon as he saw me dressed he started jumping up and crying - he wanted to come with me again, bless him.
But Sunday it rained, so he ended up sitting inside the kitchen back door, gazing out at the soggy garden !! Not so much fun.

I basically painted the kitchen - 2 coats - at the weekend. And caulked around the window and doors, so they look nice now.

Next job - plumber calling round later to fit sink and cooker.
Then tiler man to lay kitchen floor.
Then paint lounge, hall, stairs, landing.

back at work . .

had a lovely weekend away in Leicester with my matey Katie for little Callum's christening. Drove up on Saturday by lunch time, watched the rugby in the pub til 8 ish, then back to Kate's for some food, then stayed in drinking wine and playing 'saucy charades'. Much fun. And my mime of "An eager beaver" had to be seen to be believed !!!

Up and in church for 10.30 (I know !!!!!!!!!). Fabulous 'Family Service' - noisy but fun, then the main event, which the little fella slept through ! Bless him. Then off to the pub, there til 10 ish. Very full of beer. Off to bed. Drove home and picked Jack up by Monday lunch time and then the 3 of ish had some grub and fell asleep on the settee ! Back to work this morning - booooo !

But a lovely weekend - if a bit boozy. But then it wouldn't be a trip to Leicester without booze !

Since Thursday . . .

have drunk wine mostly ! Yeah me. Also did a little bit of shopping with me burfday dosh. Managed to mow the front lawn on Saturday afternoon. Then it snowed on and off most of the day on Sunday. Garden always looks nice when covered in pristine white snow - pristine except for the Billy badger tracks !

Plenty of snow around this morning still - in our road anyway. But our road always seems to attract frost, snow, ice etc, when the next road up is totally clear ! hey ho. it won't be 'our road' much longer.

Wished my mate Kate in Leicester a Happy Huffty, and looking forward to a long weekend up there next weekend for Callum's christening (and to watch the Tigers in the EDF final , albeit watch on the TV only, cos we turned down tickets for Twickers!! well its the day before the Christening - and a bit expensive at the mo) .

Anyhoo. Just noticed that Whitless @ ADP appears to have got married - swift work after a 10+ year courtship ! Each to their own I guess. I do hope there are no little Whitlesses on the way - urrrgggggh !

Happy Birthday to ME !!!

21 again - how time flies !!
Had some lovely pressies- amethyst ring, perfume, LOADS of craft bits and pieces for cardmaking, photo album,mug,chocolates (yummy) and dosh. Yeah me !!!!

Thanks for all my cards too - some really lovely ones.

Stopped off to get petrol on the way to work - and came out with petrol and a sausage bap !! Oh well. . . . .

Going to The Old Fish Market at lunch with some of the guys. They do a Thai menu and its scrummy so looking forward to that already. I'm sure as soon as I finish my sausage bap, and the pain au chocolate I bought in, and some of my chocs, I'll be starving by lunch time !!! hee hee

House on the market

So the house we rent (which is my sister's house) is officially on the market.
You can see it here

If you look carefully you may be able to see that each and every room has a pretty damn fine collection of pigs !! No one would know I was piggy-mad would they eh

flying visit

Took a fleeting flying visit to Wales on Saturday,just to catch up with the folks.

Called with Em & Paul. Lexie was sporting a cracking little bluish/purplish bruise on her cheek where she'd knocked herself on the lounge table - bless her. What with that and a cold to deal with , she was still full of smiles and laughs. And plenty of thankyou kisses too for her new clothes. Little sweetie !
Then dropped into Anna & Si's for a swift visit. Anna appears to have recovered from excessive enjoyment in Cardiff !! But still finding that last Ebay bid very very frustrating !!
Then to Mum's and out for a meal with Dawn, Mum, Mike & J. Fabby steak. The sods got me a birthday cake (not big enough for all my candles !!) and the waitresses forced everyone to sing Happy Birthday to me by switching all the lights in the restaurant off ! Subtle . . . ! I completed my meal with "punky the penguin" - an ice-cream filled plastic punk penguin. Fantastic ! he's on my desk at work watching me now.
Then a shitty drive home in wind and rain, 2 glasses of wine and bed by midnight !

Sunday was shopping, cooking (Kev not me obviously) and ironing (grrrr). I had remembered the clocks springing forward, and still slept til gone 9am.
Back to work - a full 5 days of it !!
Nice weekend though, no matter how brief.

Packing

March 20th - 4 day week (and next week too ) yipeeeee !
Looking forward to 4 days off - fully expect them to be filled with packing and packing, with maybe a bit of packing thrown in for fun too.

Woooaaaah

where did the last week go ? Busy busy busy. Did some house hunting and had some viewings. Fell head over heels for one, offer accepted, mortgage request submitted. Hold breath and wait !
Went up to London for 2 days to fill my brain with Drupal. Well worth the trip, but I can confirm without any doubt that I loathe London with all my being. I just hate the travel (trains late on both days). I hate the Tube (which just groung to a halt on both days). And I hate the busy-ness of it all, no one looks happy, no one speaks. Hate it hate it hate it.
Hey ho, my sis is coming to stay this weekend, which will be lovely.

feel like crap

woke up today feeing like crap - again. coughing and spluttering - and thats not just because of my age ! I can't believe how long this cold is dragging on for. I'm bored now thanks, move on.

Hectic day yesterday, how many things can go wrong at once ! Well they did, but they (mainly) all got sorted and the day flew past. Half empty? Half full ??

houses houses houses

House hunting day booked for Saturday - viewings booked up so far ! I am now a woman on a mission . Don't get in my way !!
I am the support desk today as the others are providing one of our clients some useful hints and tips on running their site, so tea making may be low today !
Have to book train tickets for London next mon/tues for a course. How much ?????????? blimey

Going to shop (online) for Lexie's Easter pressie - NO chocolate ! Maybe a new charm for her bracelet ? Yes, I think so.

Thats that

Agreed with Dawn that the house goes on the market and we are on the move ! eekk
It will be a shame to leave the house cos we've loved seeing the badgers and the deer in the garden. And it is pretty convenient for lots of attractions, in Bath or to the South instead. But hey ho, needs must, and I'm sure we'll find another place soon. Somewhere nearer Brizzle, nearer the M4 corridor, no massive gardens to mow every week in summer, and hopefully low maintenance. Thats the requirements - oh and a small enclosed back garden for Jack and at least 1 guaranteed parking slot.
Not much to ask , eh !!

catching up

Last week flew by in some kind of blur !
We sort of decided that we won't look to stay in Dawn's house and buy it when she sells, but will try to spread our wings and move - probably a bit closer to Bristol, but keeping in mind we need fairly easy access to the M4/M5 corridor for trips home and Kev's daily jobs.
So a few areas to look at. We pretty much spent all weekend driving round getting ideas of areas - good and bad. And have a few we'd like to view.
Work is v.busy still, and somehow I cant see March will be any different !

Lexie (well Emma) bought me a lovely little jewellery box, a little "Wonderful Nan" glitter/snowglobe and a fridge magnet that was a pic of us together . That was my treat for being a Nan on Mum's day !!

Jack had sardines and boiled rice for his tea last night - he loves it as a treat. And then the little sod woke us up at 5am - by barging into our room and tip-tapping all round the room (the bedroom has laminate flooring so tiptapping at 5am is blinking loud !). Grrrrrrr

fabby weeekend

had a fabby weekend. Popped down to Wales to see the family. Had a great 4 hours with Lexie - basically crawling round the floor ! She's a little poppet and a totally cutie. Loves to give you a cuddle and looked really sad when we were leaving bless her. Kev and Paul knocked a few beers and some wine back watching the rugby (well done Wales again).
Then over to Anna's for some more rugby. Simon picked up a bad foot injury playing footie, but not half as bad as that Arsenal chap - ouch.
Anna & Kev cooked some homemade burgers and chunky chips - which were lush.
Then we had a bit more vino collapse whilst watching England stuff France - whoo hoooo.

Popped over to see Dawnie & Mum on Sunday. Still seems weird with Sox not being there,bless him. Dawn loved her little Sox photo book. She got one of those Memory mattresses, that shapes itself to your body but then springs back to shape as soon as you move . Very comfy ! I have a pillow like that, but couldnt afford the mattress at the time. Maybe when we change our bed . ... . ?
Picked our little lad up on the way home, he is totally knackered and slept all evening - all tucked up in his bed - aaah.
Kev got up at 4.30 (!!!) and drove to Falmouth for the week. Bleeding freezing here this morning, and took ages to defrost my car. Bring on the weekend !

No blood letting

I turned up, signed in, but failed the test ! my cold is still too bad so they didnt' want me.
Sods law really, the one time i get the courage to go, cant donate.
Hey ho, next time I'll try again.

Shaney was a first-timer and she was fine.
Craggle was fine although her arm bled madly.
Simon was fine but Craggle's bleeding arm made him faint, bless him.
Swiftly whisked off home to recover !

Blood letting

Stupid bus - had over a 30 minute wait - again ! argggggggghh. Stupid Bristol traffic

Enjoyed the training session yesterday. Nice bunch of people, and it looks as though our sooper dooper new software is pretty damn good - so bring it on !!

Stupid cough won't stop, hurts my chest and throat. Someone make it stop.

Kev is taking Jack on his holidays later (to the kennels, which Jack lurrvvvves cos he can bark and bark and no one tells him to stop !!)
So I get to blood let later - hope Craggle is ready for this , not sure if I am, but I know its the right thing to do.

Off to Wales tomorrow to visit the kids, so will be knackered by Monday ! But its worth it

stoopid cold

why do the weekends fly by ? grrrrr
Sunday evening i started to get the dreaded feeling of a sore throat. By Monday morning felt like crap, so walked the boy, then jumped back into my cuddly dressing gown determined to call in sick today. 7.30 - Craggle calls to ring in sick ! AAarrghhhhhh. got dressed and went to work !
Rubbish day, couldn't wait to get home. Slept on the settee so Kev could get some shut eye (cos he gets up at 5). Rang in sick - whooohoo. Cuddled up on the settee with Jack for most of the day, streaming nose, barbed wire in the throat, blocked sinuses - stoopid stoopid cold.

Back to work on Wednesday - still feel like crap, but hey ho.
Dog picture books arrived - soooooooooo sweet, really really chuffed with them.
Fridge magnets arrived - soooooo sweet !!

Sitting in on some client training today, should be interesting, cos its the first working model of our new software venture, so gonna pay attention - honest !!!

And for some reason I 've signed myself up to give blood tomorrow ! Eeeekkkk, papping myself.
Not good with needles, so have always skirted round the issue of my conscience - but no more. Tomorrow is D-Day (or should that be B-Day (blood day !!)).
Either way, Craggle is gonna hold my hand and hopefully all will be ok.