House

Ooooo I've been waiting for this day for ages and ages. The brand new episode of House, Painless, aired last night across the pond on Fox 8/9 central. So after work and filling & switching on the washing machine & dishwasher, I booted up the lap top and sat back and indulged myself. Was it worth waiting 5 weeks for? You bet ya ~ it's the best program on the TV interweb :O)

Last night I spoke to Lisa on the phone for over an hour. Poor thing had had a REALLY bad day so I tried my hardest to cheer her up. I must have done something right because not long after she put the phone down, I received a lovely e-card with this message ... Thank you for making me feel better and always being there for me!!!! I love you! Your the best! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
How gorgeous is that :O)

Talking of last night ...

This is No. 9 of my 365 photos

Andrew fixed the washing machine last night by fitting some new shock absorbers. I love him more everyday, which is saying something, because I've known him for nearly 10600 days!

Gemma's been to see Elena & I this afternoon. We're going to Newport tomorrow when Elena gets in from school as Gem wants some shoes to go with the outfit she's wearing on Thursday. She's doing some voluntary work for Age Concern in their events department. I hope she enjoys herself.

The Jolly Sailor

Oh dear, poor Andrew, he's been in a bit of a tizz today. He's been waiting for Claire to phone to tell him how is Mum is and at one point he was ready to drop everything and go up north. The hospital said she's had a comfortable night but was still very poorly. Towards dinnertime he was feeling a bit better because he'd actually managed to talk to his Mum. They let you use mobile phones now in hospitals luckily. She told him she was feeling a bit better and not to bother going to see her. It still hasn't eased the way he's feeling. I don't think it will until he's been up to see her. We had a chat and he wants to finish work early on Friday and travel up to the hospital and come back on Sunday. Of course I'll go with him but it's going to be such a problem at work as I usually do the Sunday shift *tut*. I just hope she doesn't take a turn for the worse in the meantime.

No.6 of my 365 project :O)My keys; Andrew bought me the red fob for Christmas, it's a torch and will come in very handy :O)

This afternoon Gemma, Elena & I decided to go for a walk. We drove down to the Jolly Sailor car park in Sandown so we could walk to Yaverland & back. Just near the chip shop Gemma spotted Mum & Dad so we pulled over and had a chat, they were going for a walk too. We met up in the car park a few minutes later and set off to Yaverland.

Gemma, Mum, Dad, Me thanks Elena xXx Gemma's photo of the swan on the pond Elena's photo of the swan Me trying to straddle the wall ~ ouch! Mum, Dad & Gemma in the car park at Yaverland Elena with Culver Cliff in the background
A man actually windsurfing & it was freezing! The Champions with Gemma starring as Alexander Bastido lol A Pepsi for your thoughts :O) Gemma with a nice warm coffee Gemma, Elena & the Jolly Sailor

BNG

Yesterday I started clearing out the cupboards in the kitchen above the cooker, so when Andrew needs to take them down, they will be ready. I've thrown half the stuff away & found new homes for everything else ~ nearly! I was really surprised at the amount of muck *cringe*, I'm not joking, the only thing I can put it down to is my new glasses lol. Can I blame it on them? BNG (before new glasses) everything looked clean, granted not spotless because there aren't enough hours in a day (and shhhh ~ Andrew's a really messy chef lol) but it looked OK. Now I have new glasses I can't believe how grubby everything is, so it was lovely to have a good clear out & clean up :O) I suspect one of the main reasons really is that I spend far too much time attached to my laptop instead of investigating all the nooks & crannies around the house. Oh well, life's too short isn't it.

Andrew did a bit more filling etc. We have a delivery date for the new monster size fridge/freezer. It's arriving next Friday 23rd Jan. It's going to be so nice to be able to fit everything in there and not have to take a dozen things out to find the grated cheese that you know is somewhere amongst the stacks of food lol. One of the things I threw away yesterday was the ice cube trays because *drum roll please* we won't be needing them. The new appliance makes it's own ice cubes!! How cool is that, well yes I know ice cubes are cool, but you know what I mean :O)

Andrew finished filling etc last night. Usually the alarm clock wakes us up in the morning. It's not a horrible buzzer or anything like that because that would be just cruel. Instead we are woken up by music being broadcast from the best radio station in the world ~ Wave 105. Well this morning, while it was still dark and we were still in the land of nod, the telephone rang. Talk about stick you to the ceiling! Andrew's sister Claire was on the other end telling Andrew that his Mum is in hospital. Now this might sound horrible but what can Andrew do at that time in the morning? Could she not have phoned an hour later? Andrew's Mum's always ill so you never know if it's serious or not. Maybe I'm being a little harsh.

This is the fourth photo of my 365 project, only another 361 to go lol ...

No 4 The cupboards have been emptied ready for Andrew to work his magic in the kitchen & utility room :O)

This morning, while I'm sat here typing, I'm listening to the Beach Boys singing 'Wouldn't It Be Nice'. It always reminds me of the film 50 First Dates. If you haven't seen it, watch it, it's hilarious. Right I'm off to work now, toodle pip.

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OMG what a day at work. The one thing I've been dreading for weeks has happened. The Sun £9.50 bookings have started to arrive and to cut a very long story short, I have no computer programme that works beyond 23rd September. The big boss has now got involved and is 'kicking his son's bottom' as I type. Those weren't his exact words ;O) His son has been installing a new booking system since Whit week last year. The panic button has been pressed a few times today I can tell you!

Gemma followed me in as I got home from work. Bless her heart, she had picked up some minced beef from Lidl's for me on her way. She's taken Elena to see the film 'Bedtime Stories' isn't she the best :O) Look how gorgeous these two are.

I Am Thankful - Honest

I have the most gorgeous daughters in the world & I love them to pieces!

Yesterday when Elena came home from school we had a bit of a natter and she relaxed in front of the TV for a while. Then she started doing jobs around the house, made our bed, tidied up the kitchen etc. how lovely is that :O) I didn't ask her to do it she volunteered. Well I'm going to treat her to the cinema tomorrow. She's going with Gemma after school to see 'Bedtime Stories' starring Adam Sandler. I have one of those BOGOF tickets from McDonalds so I said I would pay. Just got to find some drinks & sweets for them to take and they will be sorted. See I told you they are gorgeous :O)

Here's the third photo of my 365 project ...

No.3 I adore necklaces. I have a lovely collection now, nothing expensive just colourful and something to go with every outfit. I couldn't find anywhere to keep them all for ages until I found a little zip up bag. Every necklace sits in it's own little see through plastic wallet so they don't get tangled up and are easy to find. It's ideal and sits in the cupboard over the top of my bed :O)

The title of this post is 'I Am Thankful - Honest'. Do I sound convincing? The big boss rang me this morning at home, asking if one of the girls in the office, is leaving? The straight answer is yes but I haven't had anything official from her as yet. Someone has told him I have had a letter about it ~ news to me! Anyway he was OK about it all and then, before he said goodbye, he dropped a bomb shell. 'With things as they are I probably won't be replacing her'! OMG knowing the boss man that means he WON'T be replacing her. I am going to lose a member of staff who works 40 hours a week. So there will be 3 of us left getting paid for 16, 20 & 24 hours respectively to keep an office open 7 days a week, 11 hours a day! That doesn't sound so bad until you realise that you can't do change over days without 2 people & all holidays have to be covered. I am really grateful in this economic climate to have a job, but piggin hell, I'm not superwoman! I wonder how far he's willing to compromise?

Whilst I'm writing this blog post I'm listening to this man ... ... the one & only Lionel Richie. He is so easy on the ears with fab songs like Lady, Easy, All Night Long, My Endless Love & Hello. I love his music, maybe he will have to be added to my bucket list as a 'must see in concert' :O)

Don't Panic Duck!!!

Do you want the good or the bad news from work today? The good news is, that Lauren has got engaged to the man of her dreams, Jay. I hope they will be really happy together :O) This is her engagement ring, unusual isn't it. The bad news is, Paul STILL hasn't done anything about updating our bookings system and I am getting really worried now. Never mind, Teresa bought me some extra buttons for my keyboard at work, which have been stuck in place this morning, I'm sure they will come in very handy, lol. Last night after tea, Andrew, although he felt cream crackered, continued working in the utility room. He took out the double cupboard on the left hand side, finished plumbing in the washing machine & dishwasher and plastered over the wall where he'd moved the plugs etc. It's getting there now and should be ready for the new mighty fridge freezer that's due to be delivered sometime next week. Here's the second photo of my 365 project ...

No. 2Andrew thought I'd lost the plot when I bought Elena these ducks for the bath at Christmas but I knew she'd love them ~ and she did (cos she's quackers) :O)

One headline that caught my eye in the news today was this...

Almost the entire 1911 census goes online for public access on Tuesday. Organisers hope to avoid a repeat of the deluge that shut the 1901 census website last time.

The answers to thousands of questions lurk within the two kilometres of shelving space taken up by the 1911 census documents at the National Archives in London.

Among the eight million returns are family secrets that have lain undiscovered for generations and pages inhabited by the previously unknown relatives of those alive today.

I hadn't realised the 1911 census was due out so soon. I presumed it would be out on the 1 Jan 2012 as the 1901 was online 1 Jan 2002. I've downloaded a couple of pages of my family which is really exciting. It was the first time people filled out the census returns themselves so it's great to see their handwriting :O)

Andrew's not very happy today, his beloved Stargate Atlantis is coming to an end. Tonight they are showing the last ever episode and he's gutted. Me, I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment of House. It's being aired in the USA on Monday 19th Jan ~ roll on!

I Love SuzyB

Yep, I love SuzyB, it's official :O) She is my source of inspiration in the blogging world (thank you Suzy) and if I could chose anyone to write my diary for me it would be her. She is fab at taking photos, creating scrapbook pages, designing and making cards and has a wicked sense of humour. I was reading the wonderful tales about her family last night and how there seems to be a new craze going on at the moment, where by, everyone's taking a photo a day for 365 days. After googling it and reading more about it I thought I would join in. Don't know how far I'll get but hey. Luckily it doesn't have to be a super dooper photo, just an everyday 'something' or other. I sort of do it already but I really need to get into the habit of taking my camera everywhere. Note to self: I may need a bigger bag ;O)

No.1 Everyday before work I look around to see what I can take with me for lunch & nibbles. I always end up with a couple of pieces of fruit from the dish. You can't beat Comice pears, Pink Lady apples & satsumas :O)

The sad news today is that Lisa & Liam have gone. Now we are back to three bodies rattling around in a much emptier four bedroomed house. I managed to grab this quick photo before they said goodbye and this one as they were getting in the car (I was in the porch still in my dressing gown ~ maybe a bit too much info lol). Elena will be home from school soon, probably soaking wet because it's blowing a hooley out there so I'll say goodbye and go and run a nice hot bath for her. Did someone say they were making tea?

Back now for a late news flash. Gemma's made a blog and it's fab :O)

Mum & Dad have been to see us and have been telling us about Auntie Mal (Marilyn). She is my Dad's youngest sister and is only 1 year older than Andrew. She lives in France with her husband. They went on holiday to Egypt just before Christmas and on the flight back she complained of feeling ill. To cut a long story short she is now in intensive care in a hospital in France. She is paralysed from the waist down with a disease called Guillians Barre. It's an auto immune disease caught in African countries and there is no cure! Poor thing :O(

Other family news; Uncle Vaughn has lost his job and cousin Lee's working a 4 day week. He's split up with his partner & is living at home. Cousin Matthew has lost his job (bless him) and his sister, Alison, has split up from her husband. Everyone else seems to be OK.

Oh and Teresa *waves* you need to update your blog xXx