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 !