Iccleannes ramblings!

Cute pic time

2007-07-11T19:31:00.000+01:00

I was looking through photos of Anna and Dans wedding, and came across a lovely photo of Andy and I taken by a friend. I might need to ask for an original copy of this picture, because saving it off Facebook means it's a low res picture, so enlarged it doesn't look so good.

Off to another wedding on Saturday. A couple from our church (also in our home group) are getting married in Worcester, so we're getting a lift up there by another couple in our home group. I'm looking forward to a few days staying in Bristol and travelling across to Cardiff on Sunday, as Andy's never been there, and being a Doctor Who geek (lots of programme shot in Cardiff), it's ideal.

Wordpress

2007-07-10T09:01:00.000+01:00

Well here's my new space: http://iccleanne.wordpress.com/
Feel free to come and visit. It is not it's final home, as it will soon be at http://www.iccleanne.room515.co.uk/, but at the moment that has not been set up. When Andy was going through showing me around Wordpress, I realised that although it had advantages, there were things that I have set up on Blogger that wouldn't work on the 'free space' version of Wordpress. To edit the code (to allow me my update-able avatar pic, stat counter, personal banner) I would need to pay Wordpress to upgrade, or as Andy told me, link Wordpress into my own webspace. I decided to be a cheapskate, and nab some of Andy's bought web space, hence the 'room515' part of the address. We are now just waiting for the site to be activated, then I'll "move in"!

See you there...

I'm sooooo tired

2007-07-08T17:29:00.000+01:00

It's been a long day. We were at church for 8 hours - arrived at about 8.50 to do set up, and after the service there was a football tournament and activities for the children, which included a bouncy castle, face painting, table football. Unfortunately as soon as the football started it CHUCKED it down with rain. We a few of us were huddled under a gazebo for shelter. The 4 barbeque's took a bit of a hit. I was helping with a face painting, which went through patches of busy and quiet. One little girl wanted to look like a soldier- hmm, not sure how to do that with white, black, red and orange, and wanting it nice, she's only little and the vicars girl! I went for a large pair of sunglasses - "so her eyes wouldn't be hurt in the sun". She was happy! At 5pm we'd had enough. People stayed to watch the wimbledon on large screen. My head ached. I'm now crashing at home watching a recording of Live Earth.

I will be soon moving over to Wordpress, hehe! It's about time I did something more with my blog, it is looking a bit neglected. I've been lazy recently, I'm looking forward to a redesign.

Sunday football fun

2007-07-05T20:48:00.000+01:00

I'm looking forward to a weekend off work, although Sunday will be busy. Our church is having a and barbeque and football tournament in the afternoon after the morning service. There is going to be a bouncy castle and kids area to entertain those not playing, and the wimbledon (tennis) will be shown on projector in the main hall for those interested. No I'm not in one of the football teams. I was never a football player.

Sadness

2007-07-02T23:18:00.001+01:00

If anyone noticed that my avatar girly is looking sad, its because my best friends father recently died following a stroke. Tomorrow is the time to go and help her go back to his house and sort out paperwork and official stuff. Astra our thoughts and prayers are with you, as of course is our hands on support.

Yay Mr and Mrs Lawson!

2007-07-02T12:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Anna and Dans wedding. It was a lovely wedding. They had a civil ceremony followed by a Christian blessing, which was really good - hat off to Stuart for leading the Christian part so well. Anna of course looked gorgeous, the dress, hair and makeup were perfect for her. Dan looked very smart too.

We have lots of photos to give them. For those of you on Facebook, have a look on there for photos - if you haven't added me as a friend let me know and I will.

Here's some pictures for the rest of you:

(Anna getting ready; Anna and Dan after the service; a cross stitch picture I made for them as a wedding present)

"I do"

2007-06-30T11:52:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is Dan and Annas wedding.

1st July 2007 at Reed Hall.

Click here to see their wedding website

They have been together for so long (since college), that I am so pleased to see them still together and getting married! As Bridesmaid/Matron of honour, I've seen the planning, stressing, sorting and now the trying to relax and enjoy it!

I hope it's a great day, they are having a civil ceremony following by a Christian blessing by my father-in-law. We're just hoping the weather behaves itself, and doesn't rain too much.

Relaxed to tiredness

2007-06-29T15:45:00.000+01:00

Wow, I've getting lazy on updating my blog again. My stomach is now fine, it was just that day, eased by the evening.

Yesterday (Thursday) I went to a Spa in Torquay with Anna and her Mum, as "wedding preparation"! We had a back massage, then time to use the pool, sauna, jaccuzi and steam room, then lunch (which was huge), then a facial, manicure and pedicure. Well I didn't end up having a pedicure, due to varuccas on my feet, so I got £4 refunded and just had my toes painted instead. I now have blue toe nails and a pale white on my fingers. It was very relaxing!

Today we've spent ages at the hospital for Andy's dental consultation - eek, a tooth needs to come out - and then time at a friends helping her with her Internet connection. TalkTalk are supported by a bunch of people not up to properly supporting their product. Andy ended up talking to them, as hey, he's normally the one of the receiving end of these sorts of calls (for Eclipse Internet), so he knows what they should do on the other end of the phone. The laptop was connecting with the previous broadband connection, which it wouldn't be if the need one had been activated (BT stops the old when it starts the new connection at the switchboard). Andy had done some tests, knew the problem was their end. The guy on the other end of the phone kept insisting that there was a password error. Andy knowing it wasn't goes along with it, asks for this to be changed and tries again, surprise still not connecting. Now all the calls to TalkTalk are outsourced to another country (somewhere like India, where English isn't the first language, but labour is cheap - very sad), so the person on the other end of the phone is not managing to understand everything being said to them, although from listening to the conversation, it really doesn't sound like they are trained as well as Andy. When Andy asked if he could speak to a supervisor none were available, or could be got, or could contact him back. Apparently there isn't even an email address to contact them by - hmm, why is there one on their website then? SO glad Andy doesn't work there! So it seems a very cheap phone & broadband package = bad tech support.

I am so hoping the weather will be kinder than is being forecast for the weekend. Showers are acceptable, but any more than light/moderate ones will not be very nice for Anna and Dans wedding.

We really need to go and print out service sheets....

Whats up with my stomach?

2007-06-26T14:35:00.000+01:00

I'm not quite sure what's up with my stomach today. I've "had the day off work" but it doesn't feel like it. The independent service user that I support has been on the phone quite a few times. My plan of the day has deteriorated as the day has gone on. I managed to get cover for the job that needed doing.

I've managed to get a few things done, while sitting in front of the TV. I think a walk to the postbox is needed. I need to take games and stuff to youth club, as Andy's at work until 4pm. Not sure what to do about the group though-I'm supposed to be helping lead the group.

A step closer to being ready for Sunday

2007-06-25T13:29:00.000+01:00

Yey we have the dresses! This morning we (Anna, her Mum and I) went to the wedding dress shop to have our final fitting! They are now fully paid for and at Anna's parents house ready for Sunday!

Today is a slightly odd day, as I've swapped shifts at work. I would normally be working 8-3 this week, but I swapped to 3-10pm. I haven't done this shift for a LONG time. I'm on with another regular staff though, and I'm not senior, so I really have no worries.

I just wish the weather would improve, I'm fed up with being chilling and wet in June (almost July).

I'm still here

2007-06-24T15:18:00.000+01:00

I think this is one of my longest gaps without posting. Well life has gone on as normal. Tuesdays kids talk went ok which was a relief. My ear is STILL blocked. I rung up the doctors to get an appointment for it to be sorted, and they said I needed to have put drops in for 1 week (used to be at least 3 days) - well it's been a week already, but the drops are doing very little. Oh well next Wednesday I will be able to hear again - in good time for Annas wedding. Maybe I should keep my head out of the water on Thursday if I go swimming. On Thursday I'm going to a spa with Anna and her Mum, and it's free to use the swimming pool, sauna etc.

I'm currently relaxing at home, watching Astra and Andy play Crash Bandicoot on PS2.

I've spent this week working, and catching up with little odd jobs I've wanted to do, like get up to date with things like writing penpal letters.

What? I can't hear you.

2007-06-18T22:57:00.000+01:00

Ok I've planned my talk for tomorrows youth group - scary! I'm talking about my trip to Czech Republic, when we went and helped at a Christian youth camp in the back and beyond (cough)... I mean North Czech Republic in the mountain area/national park. I have a few props, a flag, a large map and some pictures. I'm not a confident speaker, so it's not something I look forward to.

My left ear is blocked at the moment. It started on Friday after swimming, but has unblocked itself twice since then, but now I can't seem to get it unblocked. It's feeling a bit sore, but probably my fault for fiddling with it, and putting fizzy ear drops. It's annoying hearing out of just one ear. It's not the first time this has happened and probably won't be the last. Hopefully it will clear itself, otherwise it's a trip to the doctors to see the nurse and get them syringed - although I always feel bad, as if it's my fault when I get them syringed. My ear probably wasn't ready to cope with lots of water being forced in it at the water park.

Tshirt printing review

2007-06-18T16:58:00.000+01:00

For those in the UK, I wanted to post a review of a company I recently used.

For Anna's hen do, I thought it would be fun to make some tshirts for us to wear, and I found this site 1ClickPrint when I Googled for tshirt printers. It seemed like a cheaper and easier option than getting it done in town, so I designed and ordered on the 28th May. The site says to allow 5 days plus delivery - fine no problem, they've got 2 1/2 weeks. Over a week later I hadn't heard or received anything, so I rung them. They told me that they had had problems with the tape that they used for the Hen tshirt, the others were all done. They would be sent to me by the beginning of the week [before the hen do]. They also checked when I needed them by-which I said Thurs was the absolute latest. I waited, Monday, Tuesday - no sign. By Wednesday I was getting quite anxious, so I rung them again. They said the hen tshirt was to be done that day, and sent over night to the courier and I would get it before 4pm on Thursday. I was concerned that I might not be in when they arrived, so I asked them to add the delivery note that if no one is in, to get the shop below to sign for it. So Thursday, I was in most of the morning, out to a staff meeting mid-day. I was then hanging around wondering when it would arrive until I gave in at 3.45 and rung them. They said it had been sent, and should be at mine before 4.30pm, and gave me the couriers number. I was so grateful at 4.15 when they finally arrived.

What annoyed me was that they had my phone number and my email address, but did NOT contact ME at any point to tell me what was happening. I was hanging around on the Thursday, not wanting to go out incase they came when the shop was closed. If they had not got to me by Thursday I was ready to kick up a fuss and demand a full refund!

Anna's hen do

2007-06-17T09:05:00.000+01:00

It all came together in the end! The tshirts arrive late Thursday afternoon. We ended up all meeting at Crewe train station, because the trains running further up country were having problems with flooding on the line. Thanks Emma for picking us up. Alton Towers was great fun. We stayed in the Imperial Leather themed suite, which was fun. We had a large bowl of chocolates to share, a twister on the carpet, a huge plastic duck to sit on.... it was quite a laugh.

We spent Friday afternoon in the waterpark which had water slides inside and out, a lazy river (which I then struggled to get out of) and lots of watercannons/buckets... We had a cocktail at one of the bars, then enjoyed some wine (we brought with us) before having a lovely meal in the restaurant. We had a game of checkers and then returned to our room for some silly twister fun and a bit more wine. It was a fun girlie night!

Yesterday/Saturday we went into the theme park. We had passes to get us on the rides quickly by letting us jump the queue, which was great, and meant we went on SO many rides. We went on all the rides that we wanted to. We got bashed, spun, stopped, started, soaked, glided, dropped... Mad, but fun. I went on all but one, and got very wet! It was nice being in the park so early, because we don't normally manage to get there until about 11am (it's not close by).

We left the park a bit early and got driven to Uttoxeter (where we should have all met on the Friday) and Gemma and I got trains back to Birmingham, before I continued down south.

It was a long two days, and I was so tired yesterday, but so glad to have got earlier trains so I was back home over half an hour early.

Check out the back of Anna's tshirt (on the right). Anna got forced into a pale pink, the rest of us wore black! It had writing on the front too.

Delivery wanted

2007-06-14T14:37:00.000+01:00

Do you just hate it when you are waiting for something to be delivered?! I ordered stuff for this weekend (Anna's Hen do at Alton Towers), about two weeks ago, I've rung them twice about it, and the last time I called they said it would be delivered today before 4pm. It's now 2.45pm, so I hope that it's on it's way otherwise I will NOT be happy with the company. They explained why the delay, which is fine, and they said it would be sent out at the beginning of the week, as I said Thurs was the latest it could be delivered... no sign, so rang them yesterday and they tell me the item isn't even finished yet!! I will be fuming if it doesn't get here today, and I will expect a FULL refund. The thing that annoys me the most is that I'VE had to chase THEM, they haven't contacted me! I have a back up plan, but it's not as good.

Yesterday I went in town to get my final fitting for my bridesmaid dress, but the dress wasn't there! We've had a few problems with this wedding shop, they really need to get their act together really. They keep getting confused whos the bride and whos the bridesmaid, just because our names are similar (Anna & Anne), but our surnames are completely different! Anna's Mum took the morning off work especially to come in with me and learn how to do the lacing up, so it was a waste of money for her! We are now going to do both final fittings on the Monday before the wedding - I'm glad I swapped my shift that day from 8-3 to 3-10, as if I'd just asked someone to cover the fitting it would have been a longer request.

Oh well. I'll go and wait for the delivery people until 4, when I will ring the company. I need to go out and print the service sheets, but I'd rather not do that until I know what's happening, I've already had to leave home for a few hours for a staff meeting. If they don't follow the instructions to leave it with the company downstairs I won't get it in time - don't have time to call them back the next day! I leave home tomorrow at 6am! Eugh, early start!

...... I got impatient and called the company I ordered from. They say the courier has the order, and should be here by 4.30 (so not 4). They've given me the couriers number, and reference number, so I'll give it half an hour and then hassle them. I want to finish packing and get on with other things - like printing out sheets for church (in the church offices). I'm not coping well with the waiting! HURRY UP!

Youth group antics

2007-06-12T16:02:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd share this before youth group. I popped to the craft shop earlier, and picked up a cheap mini card/paper slicer. It was only £2.25. Granted it won't last long, but it's already meant that I can cut the A4 card in half without unstraight lines or hassling Dad to borrow his (don't really have time for). The card shop has a great way of selling card, fill a plastic wallet with as much paper as you can fit in it. It's £2.99 for a small one and £5.99 for the large one. I went for the large one, as she had no smaller ones there. I got easily an inch worth of quality paper in colours, tectures, patterns of my choice!

Here's the craft activity that I'm asking them to make. I'm hoping theirs will look better than this, because this was made with worse paper.

Last weeks talk on of the leaders spoke about his job..... he's a policeman! The talks are a kind of testimony about our lives. He spoke to them about the uniform, and why he has different bits, and what they use is for, and related it to the passage in the Bible on the armour of God. For each item of armour in the passage he related it to a piece of his uniform and how he needs to show this in his faith. It was really good. We had lots of questions from the children about things like CS spray and guns - No kids he's not going to bring either with him. He brought in a deodrant spray to show the size of the CS spray instead, and never carries a gun. I just had to share some photos of Mark showing off the handcuffs, with help from Phil one of the other leaders. I could NOT resist taking a photo with my phone! He looks like he could almost be a football thug from the whistle round his neck!

(All childrens faced are covered to protect them).

I'd like an extra portion of time please.

2007-06-12T13:22:00.000+01:00

Has anyone else had that feeling of being overwhelmed by the amount of things that need to be done in a short span of time, so that it makes you feel lost and you get the nervous stomach feeling!? Well in the next two days it feels like there is lots of things to do, so I just sat down and wrote some lists, and oh did it help! My problem is that I'm trying to fit things in around other things, in the attempt to be as productive with my week as possible, but not being an organiser at heart it's not something I find comfortable or relaxed about. Todays tasks seem so much less stressful when written down.

Tomorrow my challenge (which will probably take longer than I'd like) will be to look for a new swimsuit. I found one I really liked in Debenhams in store, but I needed a size down, which they didn't have. They had 14 and 10, but not 12. Wasn't even going to try the size 10 - would only fit my top half - don't wanna break the stitching in the process of trying it on!

Ok time for lunch, and then to work at clearing the to-do-list.

Busy busy busy beeeee

2007-06-11T23:18:00.000+01:00

I feel like I have less time at the moment. Saturday was busy but fun. I worked 8-2, then sorted service sheets. We hosted a TNT (twenties to thirties) BBQ at our place, which was fun, but required some work. It was nice to make good use of our balcony and the barbecue - which was starting to feel a bit neglected.

Sunday was mainly spent at church set up, service, chat (8-12.30), [home] welcome, set down, put away (6-8.30), then TNT at pub. I think we're getting old, because in the afternoon we both had a nap!

I don't have much work this week, because I've taken time off over the end of week/weekend for Anna's hen do. I would normally have Wed and Thurs off, which means I'm only working Mon, Tues and Sun (Fri & Sat as holiday). Wednesday I'm having a dress fitting for my bridesmaid dress - and then going shopping. I would like a better swimming costume, my old one still fits, but a more supporting one would be nicer (pull that tum in!) and I need some shorts/short summer trousers. Time to spend some money! On Thursday I've got a staff meeting, so I will be going into work for that, we don't manage to get everyone together often enough to turn it down.

Tomorrow we're running youth group. We thought we'd theme it on Fathers Day, since that's this Sunday. We're splitting the group in half and doing craft with half and games with the other, then swapping. This evening has been spent playing around with card, and working out a successful plan to avoid it all going wrong, or being too hard for them (which leads them to want the leaders to do things for them instead). I've gone for a piece of card with a shirt and tie, and the tie flaps up. I hope all the children can think of a male person in their life to make things for. I'm also getting them to make a poster/card with pictures. It was a struggle to find suitable ideas for Fathers Day, as most of our group are boys.

I am so looking forward to Friday when I'm off to Alton Towers! Friday we spend the afternoon in the waterpark, and Saturday we spend in the theme park!

Song needed.

2007-06-08T19:33:00.000+01:00

It is looking like a busy weekend (mainly Sat) for the young Mac's. We're both working part of Saturday, and we've got a TNT (twenties to thirties) BBQ in the evening. We've got the stuff for that, and asked people to bring stuff, that's not a problem...

...BUT we are still waiting for the songs for this weeks service sheets! Hmm. Not quite sure what the do. The ministers wife is due to give birth, so I am guessing that she has gone into hospital this week. I sent out an email yesterday to the minister (Jonny) plus the church wardens and anyone else I thought who might be able to help - but no response today! Doh, that means ringing someone. He was expecting her to give birth over a week ago, so made plans for then, but it's not happened that way.

Hey ho! We'll work something out, and have a mad rush around!

Better go tidy.

Feet

2007-06-07T15:10:00.000+01:00

It's nice just having a few hours of work today. Went to see my GP a few hours a go, to talk about whether my bloods OK and get verrucas frozen off my feet. I admit it, I have them, and they are so hard to get rid of. I don't know when I first got them but they have come and gone (or moved) on and off for longer than I can remember regardless of different chemicals used. I was resisting having them frozen but it turned out to be fine. One of my feet slightly stung when he did it, as that foot had a cluster of smaller ones more scattered than the other foot, where it's more like one large one. I can walk fine, and no pain...lets hope it works and I don't need repeated trips to get it done.

Cycling canalside

2007-06-06T18:36:00.000+01:00

Oh what a nice day! It's been hot today, and I am so glad I went to work in a "summer weather" top rather the thicker tshirt I first started off in.

At work I went down to the quay and went for a cycle ride with one of the residents - which was LOVELY! It's the first time I've had the chance to do this, and it was so the right weather for it. We hired bikes and enjoyed the relaxing views along the canal. As I peddled a long looking at the lovely views (as well as checking the resident was fine), I reflected how good my job COULD be! Hey I was getting paid to cycle along by the canal - not bad! After returning the bikes we went for lunch at Georges Meeting Place, a nice weatherspoons pub which is smoke free!

It was interesting riding a different bike, as I've had mine soooo long (since I was 16 I think). I really enjoyed the gears, which were so much easier than mine, which are sliding gears, so not always the easiest to get smoothly into the right gear, and they are quite clunky at changing. I can't justify a new bike until I've got more use out of the current one. I'm not the fittest person, so up and down hills (lots where we live) doesn't make me want to go out regularly. We'll have to pull out the bike rack and take the bikes to the river!

I'm just waiting for food to cook, before we enjoy sitting outside on our balcony with our meal and a glass of white wine!

Silly driver caught on camera

2007-06-04T21:41:00.000+01:00

I just had to post this picture. This is an example of being in the wrong place! This dark car pulled past a few cars including myself, and stopped in the middle of the road. There is NO right lane at this junction, as you can see from the lane marking! You can see from the car going past that there is not a lot of room for the traffic going the other way. I was waiting to see whether one of our long buses would come round the corner (from the right), as that car would HAVE to move to allow the bus room to swing round the corner.

Now which way would you think this dark car is planning to go:
1) Left
2)Straight ahead
3)Right
??????

Well right is what I presumed, but NO, they wanted to go straight ahead, the same as me! I'll put this down to the lady having a bad driving day! I hope she's now learnt that there is only one lane here! I've seen bikes stop right on the corner of the left junction, and almost get hit by cars coming round the corner, but never a car!

By the way I would never take a photo in the car when driving along, but I was stopped at traffic lights and knew I had time to grab my phone and take it before they changed.

The car has been "P"ed on.

2007-06-04T20:11:00.000+01:00

We had a busy weekend. I came back home on Saturday morning, took Andy to work, sorted service sheets and grabbed some lunch...then I was back to work for a few hours. I then picked Andy up from work - well brought the car to him would be a more appropriate description really, as he was the one to drive back. Here's the car with it's new P plates on it! Andy's driving has really improved in the last weeks, and he adjusted to the difference between his learner Peugeot and our Corsa.

Here's a picture I took on my phone of Andy when he was driving! He is looking very serious!

On Sunday we had an infant baptism during the morning service, and then in the evening we went to a partner church to see Astra get baptised. The baptism bit seem to happen really fast, probably not helped by the fact that there was four people getting baptised. The far away photo was taken on my phone (so no zoom). The other two were taken on my camera, unfortunately the camera turned itself off between them giving their testimonies and Astras baptism, and when I turned it back on I forgot to turn off the flash, so I got one photo and that was all it would take. It's probably a good thing that I took the photo at this point so that she was still dry - more flattering! She was sat in a birthing pool if you wonder what they used for the dunking!!

First time fluker!

2007-06-01T15:06:00.000+01:00

Yey Andy passed his driving test!

Wow, that's first time (better than me)! He got 7 minor faults.

Dad can we have the spare car key back please!

I looked out the window and spotted Andy and his instructor when they got back, but it took a while to read how he'd done! It wasn't until they are doing thumbs up at each other that I was sure that he had passed!

I felt so nervous waiting!

I'm off to work soon, so I'd better finish here, and spend my last bit of time with Andy.

Beep beep

2007-06-01T11:19:00.000+01:00

Andy's got his driving test today at 1.45pm. He's got an hours drive around beforehand, and he's just been for a bit of a drive in my car to get him in the mindset -his decision. I'm not working until 4pm, so I will get to see him briefly the test, to find out how it went. Kind of wish I didn't then have to dive off to work - but hey can't have every day off work! This is a NICE week in terms of hours, as one of the staff wanted to swap 8-2 this Sat for 8-2 next Sat. So I will do tonight's sleep in, and then go home at 8am, and come back at 1.30 (gives me a bit of time to do a change over and the other staff can leave a bit early and get the earlier train) and work until 5pm. Not too bad!

I've got Sunday evening off, as one of my colleagues kindly covered it for me. I wanted the evening off because my best mate Astra is getting baptised during her evening service, and I wanted to be there to see it. She's getting a dunking in birthing pool!!

Work time

2007-05-31T14:07:00.000+01:00

I'm getting very irregular at posting these days. I have been reading all my favourites, but I apologise for lack of comments, I blame the ease of using Google Reader (it's my laziness really).
I am "working at the moment". Well spent 2 hours with one service user (in own flat) and need to make up 3 hours for this week. There were some jobs that I could do for them away from the flat, which were much easier and more productive if done on my own. She wanted to make a written complaint about a faulty product, but her computer is OLD and only saves onto floppy disks (we don't have a floppy drive on home PC), and her printers not working. I offered to type it up at home, and print it out.

I have a sore left arm at the moment. I had blood taken this morning, and it was a bit of a struggle to get the blood to agree to going into the neddle, so she had to wiggle it around a bit. I have small veins!

Just going to have a lunch break and grab some food, before typing up the letter and driving out in the car to do other required jobs for work.

Am I thinner?

2007-05-26T20:43:00.001+01:00

Well the tailor that fitted my Matron of honour dress today (for Anna's wedding) seemed to think I'd lost weight! I hope I have, but I can't say I'm too convinced. When I last tried on the dress I've got, the zip would not do up, so she added in a panel. When I went into today she was wondering whether she should have left the zip in. I personally think this is a bit adventurous, as it was quite tight before, but I am very pleased that I have lost an inch or so instead of gaining! I really should start monitoring my weight again, but it can be a depressing task. I don't seem to next the lacing to be so wide anymore! The tailor is even taking the dress in at the sides. The photos didn't come out too well, so I'm probably not going to post them here.

After the dress fitting, I dragged Andy round a few sports shops looking for a swimsuit. I was not sure if my old one still fitted me, and it seems that one of the days at Alton Towers (in a few weeks for Anna's hen do) will be spent in the waterpark - so I really need a comfortable swimming costume. I found one I liked in Debenhams, but they didn't have the right size. I might have to have a look back in the next few weeks. Back at home, I found my old faithful swimming costume, and hey, it does still fit me (I can still squeeze into it)! I found out that tankini's aren't a good idea on me, as they start rolling up -not ideal, and I need different size top and bottom!

Just spoke to my Dad. The interesting news is that my brother Keith might end up moving into the flat next to our future/next one! We're happy as it's a shared stairwell up to the flats, and we know we can trust him. That is much better than having complete a stranger/s moving in next door!

I am so excited about 3 weeks time, when I'm off to Alton Towers for Anna's hen do. I got the leaflet through about the booking the other day, and it's made me excited!

Hmm, just been looking through this page on Javascript examples, which looks really interesting, must have a better look at it some time, it looks very useful.

ALARMS!

2007-05-24T23:53:00.000+01:00

My ears are going to be ringing by the morning. The alarm downstairs has gone off, something to do with a power cut or something. Dad's been called in to sort it out. It's not been that long, it's just a really bad time of day for it to happen...as we were going to bed. Hey, at least this time there's no been someone trying to climb through a window. I feel sorry for the neighbours, I bet they will be pleased when this company move it's works and office. I am hoping that it's not too loud in the bedroom so I can block it out with music and get to sleep. Andy's kindly stayed downstairs (trying to help Dad-if he'll let him).... No he's returned.

I have an 8am start, must sleep. Andy has tomorrow off, he can cope with a later night, as he can lie in.

Plant time

2007-05-24T20:30:00.000+01:00

I arrived at work this morning, to find that the proposed job was to put together a walk-in metal frame greenhouse. I can't say my job is completely predictable, it involves people, and this can mean some random jobs. I was quite pleased that the resident was visited by someone as I started putting it together, and they wanted to talk inside, so I was left to my "work out how to put this together" mind, without the constant distraction of conversation. I work best at puzzles without having to listen and respond to a conversation that has nothing to do with subject I'm working on....oh how will I cope with motherhood! You can see the finished masterpiece! She now has a walk-in greenhouse. I was quite tired afterwards (a good hr of building it) as it was really hot outside.

My afternoon involved driving around the city with a resident, and tuning in a video recorder. I just wish the car hadn't been so hot or I had Air-con! It was in the 20's the whole time.

When I was leaving work on Sunday evening I decided to take this picture. It was of the front garden of the "larger" house that I work at. The main (P*****n) one. I really am enjoying having a camera on my phone, it's been really useful, it now means that I can see something that one of the residents (who can't easily get out themselves) would like, take a photo, and see if they like it, before getting it. I don't want to walk around with the digital camera.

I am thinking I might buy myself some sort of gardening box, as my sunflowers are all being nibbled this year. The snails are getting at them, and enjoying a good nosh! They were looking really healthy, with a few leaves, now at least two are just stumps covered in slime! Grr! It's a box or slug pellets. For £14 I can afford a frame box, there's no point in anything bigger, this is our last year with space for plants outside.

AHHHHHH SKY!

2007-05-23T23:54:00.000+01:00

For anyone out there with SKY and insurance cover (esp through Mastercare/Currys) I hope that your SKY system doesn't play up to the point that you want to call out an engineer. It seems like such a simple thing to arrange, and really did seem like a better option than trying all the things on their tick list, but it made me want to scream!

Yesterday, I went into work, picture it: a small home where two men live, one of which has a SKY system, which is playing up. This man who owns the SKY system is quite a panicer/worrier. I go in, listen to what's going wrong (not the first time it's happened) and decide it's time to ring SKY. With him sat next to me, I ring, give his details, explain who I am (prepared to shove the phone at him if they need confirmation I'm not going against his wishes, or a fake).

1st call: I'm struggling to hear and understand the lady call operator, due to her accent, phrasing, and the line sounding terrible. She is obviously going through a list of things to try. The phone and the TV are in different rooms, so things are made more complicated. She suggests trying a few things, some are possible, some aren't (and I don't want to responsible for messing his system up- being on call techie is not my job description). She agrees to idea of call out, and says if we have insurance to ring them.
2nd call: I ring Mastercare, who he's covered it with. Tell them it's a SKY system. They put me through.... to SKY!
3rd call (so to speak): Speak to a much easier to understand man, who completely gets what I want, accepts that I just want the call out, and starts to organise it. However the reference number I have for Mastercare is the wrong amount of numbers.
4th call: Back to Mastercare. Straight to Customer Services. Check number with them, check validity of cover, as for another letter to be sent out, ask the 9 digit number (instead of one with letters in). They say any probs get SKY to ring them direct.
5th call: Back to SKY. Typically, I get back to the lady I spoke to at the beginning. She insists that SKY can't arrange the call out, it has to go through Mastercare. Tell her other colleague almost did it, and Mastercare said for SKY to ring them. She wasn't having it, and didn't fully understand me. Her last question of the call: "Anything else I can do for you" - I should have asked for her superviser right then, but too frustrated.
6th call: Back to Mastercare AGAIN! I am fed up by this point. Summarise to them very quickly. They are taken aback, but very helpful, and offer to ring SKY direct. They pass on customer details. I then get passed back to the nice SKY gentleman again. He enters everything with me just waiting and listening. RELIEF!! At LONG last, a call out is booked for Thursday. Because it is through Mastercare it's free, through SKY alone it would not be!

Sorry Andy for being so poor at replying to you after you tried to ring me.

Tidy up operation!

2007-05-22T09:35:00.000+01:00

Wow it's been a long time since I last posted. I can't be long now, as I'm trying to get our place cleaned up. We've got people from one of the house associations coming round to have a look at the place, as they are hopefully going to buy the property from my parents and develop it, and they wanted to see what state the building is in, so they can decide whether they keep the whole building and split it up into flats and build more flats/apartments around it, or whether they bulldoze the building. I hope they keep it, as it is a great building, and will be a shame to see it demolished. Whatever they do will be strange, as I spent most of my childhood in this home, and it has now been my first married home as well, so it holds a lot of memories. The land is worth money though, and that is what my Dad is betting on!

We have SO much stuff to get rid of before moving out of this place. I just started tidying up stairs, opened the windows, moved stuff that was in the way. We barely use upstairs or the stuff up there these days, and if it was all to be got rid of somehow, we wouldn't really miss it - well except for the clothes that dry up there, and a few memories! We so need a trip to the dump one day, and get rid of miscellaneous stuff like old monitors, printers, and other computer stuff we will never use and are not worth trying to sell.

Ok back to the clear up operation.

More shoes

2007-05-17T19:03:00.000+01:00

All's well today...well except for Andy's who's struggling with a cold. I am so glad that he moved in his sleep, thus easing his restricted breathing [snoring], so I could get to sleep. When I first got into bed, I was lying there thinking where would be the best alternative place to sleep if the snoring continued. The options were upstairs, on a bed that is already made up or the sofa, which involves going upstairs anyway to find a sleeping bag. I am glad I didn't have to leave the bed though, I much prefer to wake up next to Andy when I can (even if he is snorting away in his sleep trying to breathe).

Today was surprisingly warm. The last few days have brought showers, but today the sun really came out, and I was grateful that the newsagents had a two for 50p deal on bottles of water. When in town earlier I thought I'd have a quick look in the shoe shops to see if I could find any affordable flat shoes for the second part of Anna and Dan's wedding day. I love the pretty shoes I brought for the main part of the day, but I know that I will struggle come the evening. Here's what I found in Barratts for £16, which seems affordable to me. I need something I can walk around and dance in with no worries, and these are great. If I want to I can stroll the gardens without any fear of falling over (as I almost did last time I went to Reed Hall)! I've never worn these types of shoes, but I must say I like them more than I thought I would - I might have to buy some in black (as these won't stay clean for long).

This late afternoon has been a time of ringing people up. I sent an email to the National Blood service to ask them whether I would be able to give blood now (i.e. following non-invasive ASD heart op in 2005), and they left a message on the answer machine, the number they gave was busy, so I rung the normal number and they updated my details (name and address change) and have booked the health people to ring me back (I hope it's tomorrow before 3.30). I then rung the DVLA. One of the residents at work wanted to learn to drive and get his driving license, but the idea of him being let loose behind the wheel of a car on the roads is a scary concept! I now have the answers I was seeking. I wasn't sure whether the DVLA would do any checks regarding their abilities before issuing a license, and it seems doctors would be involved, so I don't need to worry so much. I have the alternative option to allow him a chance to try driving: which is to get him to try driving "off-road" at the local drivers centre, where he will not need a license (as confirmed by the guy over the phone). Through our local learning disability website, I have also found who to contact at the drivers centre, and that they have let people have a go at driving there before. It's nice when a solution comes together! I'm going to put down some hours for this, as I've been doing most of the research in my own time.

Revd Daddy M!

2007-05-15T22:53:00.000+01:00

Daddy Mac is going to soon be Revd Mac! He's been given the go ahead to go from Lay Pastor to Vicar of Broadclyst Baptist church! Exciting times!

I only had an hour and a half of work today - nice! That might sound odd, but it was an hour of support, and they wanted someone to hold their hand (literally, painful jab) at the doctors, they also got a lift out of it too.

This morning I admit I was very lazy, and didn't go to the Womens Bible study, even though I'd cancelled the option of a meeting because I'd wanted to be able to go to the Bible study, as last week I'd worked in the morning and had to miss it. My feeble excuse is that Andy is on lates this week, and I didn't want to get up early, and I wouldn't see him much today.

I made a start to catching up with stuff about the house (this is what I do when Andy is working during the day and I'm not - that's when I'm most productive): Dishes done [tick], one load of laundry done and hung to dry [tick], replied to emails that have been awaiting replies [tick].

Do I really look 17!?!

2007-05-13T22:35:00.000+01:00

OK not fair. I went in the pub that I go in at least every fortnight with a huge group of Christians from different churches in the area, I go up order a drink, and they ask me for ID! It's Sunday evening, quite dead and I want an orange juice anyway! I laughed pulled out my drivers license with the comment that it hadn't been check for some time now. I'm 26! Slightly amusing, slightly silly. I reckon she was younger than me - can I ask her for ID? In England it's 18 to drink, but many pubs and supermarkets now say that if you look under 21 you might be ID'ed. I should have said: "I hope you think I look under 21, not under 18!" Never mind, it has been a while, at least people don't generally ask me for ID anymore. I always bring it with my though, its in my wallet normally anyway, as it's an ID for many things: car, work and age ID if needed.

Early morning tomorrow, so bed is calling. I will try to remember to update my Flickr account soon, I have photos that I've taken and put on the computer, but not got round to uploading them yet.

False alarm

2007-05-13T16:03:00.000+01:00

Oh how foolish I feel. This afternoon, while we were cooking lunch, we noticed that we could see steam rising from the roof of the workshop across from our flat (which is part of the business below). We went to investigate, and we could feel what we thought was heat coming from it. We called out the fire brigade in worry that we weren't quite sure what what in the workshop, but there was lots of machinary, and could be chemicals. The fire brigade arrived, and no fire! The roof was just steaming from getting soaked and then the sun directed onto it. REALLY WEIRD! I don't remember seeing that ever before. Never mind, better safe than sorry.

Next Sunday, Andy will be off to Wembley Stadium with a friend of ours, to go and see Exeter vs Morecombe. That should be fun. I'll be staying behind and working in the evening. I know one of the residents from work is wanting to go to it too, so I'll ask him tomorrow if he's got a ticket. Unfortunately I won't get the chance to take him!

Weekend off

2007-05-11T23:04:00.000+01:00

Yay, weekend off work! I so want and need it! Tomorrow I am having a lazy morning, while Andy has his driving lesson. I might get some washing going, and grab something to eat, but then my bed will call me back. Once I've woken up properly in the morning I don't like going back to sleep - it makes me drowsy/more tired - so I'm thinking slobbing in bed writing a penpal letter or reading sounds good.

Advice to family or nearby friends, if you ring the doorbell before 11am then expect a delayed response!

The afternoon won't be quite so lazy, we need to do a big food shop (running out of meal worthy food) and print service sheets before the evening. In the evening we're going out for a meal with Astra and friends (late celebration for her birthday).

A week post

2007-05-08T21:15:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy week:

Tues: We lead youth group games, following busy days.
Wed: Day off - much needed couple time, and time to plan youth group and Andy's talk.
Thurs eve: Invited a friend round, ended up being a late night.
Friday: I was working 2.30 onwards and over night. The start of the plot for friends to come down and surprise Andy.
Saturday: Working til 4pm, then home, print sheets, pop round to Andy's parents to drop off keys so guests can let themself in on Sunday (unknown to Andy), pick up Andy from work, go to church office-copy sheets (grr stupid copier), drop off sheets, grab some food, home to start getting ready to go out and watch Doctor Who (a must-see in our household), then finish getting ready and leave the house and go to a wedding party (courtesy of my kind Dad)...lots of socialising later, we return.
Sunday: Went to church in the morning. We decided against staying for church lunch... Kind of a good thing we didn't as our friends were arriving about mid-day and it meant that they did not have to wait til we got back. More about that later. We went for lunch at The Imperial, then drove out to the closest car park, we were sure about (Powderham), to The Turf Locks/Hotel. We had a lovely walk...walk...walk along the path beside the estuary. Well lovely up until I hurt my foot. We had a drink and sat on the grass, and got peoples thoughts on whether it could be used for this years get-together. We walked (and hobbled) back to the cars. More socialising in the evening.
Monday: Spent time with friends: brunch at ye-old-Macs!, went down to the quay, town and cathedral. Return home, said goodbye to the lads and lass. Breathed for a little while before going out to Astras birthday get-together. Back down the quay for pizza and socialising with other TNT (twenties to thirties) people. I then had to be at work for 10pm to do a sleepin (someone called in sick).
Tuesday (today): Working 9.30-12 doing some one-to-one in place of person off sick (went home for lunch-save pennies) 2-4 work - lots of talking/listening and BIG shop, they only just managed to fit everything in the fridge and freezer! I then had youth group
6-7.15. We decided to give home group a miss...

There you go, a week in a post.

2007-05-06T16:00:00.000+01:00

So we went for a walk with friends to Turf locks, which involves a 30 min walk from the closest car park. on the way there I managed to twist my foot. I managed to walk to the pub ok with a bit of pain. Called work to tell them what I'd done, that I was in pain, and that I still had an half an hour walk to get to civilisation (well a car)! I'm hobbling around with the use of Andys old crutches.

Relaxing

2007-05-04T10:03:00.000+01:00

I'm glad that I'm not working until this afternoon, and the shift should be not too tough a one (possibly).

Wednesday was fun. Andy and I had the day off work (as we're both working at the weekend). It had been a while since we'd been able to spend a proper day together, so we decided to have a day of chilling together. We relaxed in the morning, and in the afternoon we went into town, did a few things and then went to the pub (The Imperial), sat outside. We planned a talk and the games for youth group - good productive afternoon! We enjoyed sampling different 1/3 pint glasses of real ale. We then got the train home.

Yesterday I decided to get rid of one of our plants, as it was dead, and it's an evil prickly thing, which is useless being there dead, as it is totally failing in the ability to block the view through the trellis. We burnt the twigs and decided to BBQ our dinner - we did put some charcoal on, not cooking from burning twigs.

Sun lovin!

2007-05-01T22:22:00.000+01:00

This morning, my brain did not fully wake up until 8.45am, by which time I had cycled over to St Leonards (10-15min cycle) church, where I go to the womens Bible study....which starts at 9.30am! Oh, I was really not thinking clearly about time. Unfortunately Andy suffered for the stupidity, because I told him that I couldn't give him a lift to the church grounds and walked down the hill to thwork (because I thought I would be back too late to cycle to the church, which I was determined to do)! DOH! I locked my bike up ine river (too big a hill for me to want to walk the bike back up, otherwise I would have gone for a ride down there). I took some pictures and sat down to read my Bible for bit in this garden area on the edge of the river - nice and quiet. Anyway it was nice to be back at the womens Bible study again-we're working our way through Johns Gospel at the moment, very meaty!

The afternoon went quite smoothly. I popped into work, grabbed the list (that the residents made last night - getting them to do some work, it's their food/meals) and money and went to get shopping. The evening at youth group went well. We did a "games circus" with different games for groups to use: pinball machine, table football, bean bag throwing, Jenga, remote control car, assault course on the play equipment. He seemed to go well, but we did have children arriving in stages throughout the evening, which is unusual. Two girls decided to arrive at 7pm, 15 mins before the end!

Tonight Andy was very pleased to see his favourite football team Liverpool win their match against Chelsea in the semi-final of the Champions Legue.

Having a break.

2007-04-29T17:55:00.000+01:00

Just been looking at Andy's updated blog, and had a look at the trailer for the new Harry Potter film WOW! It looks really good, but not for those with a nervous disposition.

Andy is currently asleep on a bean bag on the living room floor - not the most comfortable place for a nap! I can hear him snoring from across the hallway.

We picked up our camera from the shop, and the batteries, we're just waiting for them to finish charging now.

The last few days have been busy. It's nice to have the later part of this afternoon to just sit back and not HAVE to do anything in particular. There are things that need doing - like sorting the service sheets for next Sunday, and planning this Tuesdays youth group...but it can wait, I need the break.

Head spin day

2007-04-26T22:36:00.000+01:00

The think the following lyrics are quite fitting (but were too long for a title):
"My heads spinning, the worlds twisted. My heads twisted, the worlds spinning round..." "Gravity" by Delirious

Today has been quite a day to say the least! Different bits of work during the day went ok. During tea, one friend popped round, and then our home group leader popped round, and invited us to have Sunday lunch with them (fantastic!!) - which was slightly random, but cool! I then went to fire training at work. Then a much needed pub trip for a chat with my friend. Then bumped into Andy's parents and Jake (the Collie dog). Hmm, sleep is needed sooner rather than later today - need more time for my brain to digest the day!

Tomorrow I'm working 8-5. That should be interesting, as I'm on with a member of staff I don't know (so I'm senior instead of Care assistant, as the person who is normally senior is on annual leave), so I don't know what they can or cannot do - so I need to instruct, which I am never keen on. I also need to find cover for the Friday night and Saturday morning shift, and there are quite a few people on annual leave already this weekend -so it will probably be an unknown bank staff, which affects what can be done with residents. Oh I am glad I am not working until 10pm, so I won't be inducting them. The problem is that I was hoping all the out and about with the more at-risk residents could be done before 2pm, so I didn't have to work out how they could go out later in the afternoon - when I'm working with someone who I can't leave in the home, and can't send out with at-risk residents! Hmm! Oh well.

Brocolli carrots

2007-04-24T13:52:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, when we were cooking tea, I asked Andy to put the unwanted bits of brocolli in the compost container, which is currently living on our balcony (as it's fruit fly season, they are really annoying when they get inside). When I went out later, I saw WHERE he had put the brocolli...! Yesterday, I got some soil from my Mum, and planted some carrots in it, hence the carrot label on the pot! Hmm, the brocolli is really not going to grow! It made me laugh though!

Our camera went into the shop yesterday, as it has stopped working properly, after only 3 months of owning it. The camera would turn on, the lens would come out, and then it would turn off again. If you were really lucky, it would stay on long enough, to fool you into thinking that it would take a picture, but when you try it turns itself off. Now it should give a low battery warning, which is wasn't, which is a minor fault. The main problem is that once it's turned itself off, you can't turn it back on to get the lens to go back in. We have gone through a pack of batteries to get it to close - you have to change batteries for it to turn on, and close, but if you foolishly turn it on again (remember these batteries are brand new) it will turn itself off again leaving the lens out - hence another pair of new batteries needed. Now the guy on the customer service desk, claimed we were using the wrong batteries (Duracell aren't good enough for the camera then?), but weren't sold any other, or even suggested we did when we bought it, and that type of batteries have been fine up until now. They have taken it in to do diagnostic checks on it - if they say it IS the batteries, I will buy some there and then and check that it works fully before I leave the store. I am very greatful for having a camera phone - especially now that Astra has given me the card adapter so I can move photos onto my computer!

Hunt the receipt

2007-04-22T16:23:00.000+01:00

I woke up this morning with a headache. I took some painkillers, had breakfast - at the end of which a migraine started (mild in the general sense of the term - visual disturbance is what it really is). I had a lie down, napped a bit, but didn't feel quite right after. So we just dropped off the notice and service sheets at church and went home. I curled up on the sofa and chilled. Head was a bit achy, stomach didn't feel right, and I felt weary. I'm not feeling so bad now.

Our new-this-year camera has now died, and this time it wasn't due to it being dropped (last one got dropped on New Years, the lens opened and wouldn't close again. This one has done the same without the dropping part! If I put new batteries in it, it will turn on and the lens will come out, but then it turns itself off, with the lens still out. If I never press the power button, I might get one spark of life, with the light coming on, but the lens doesn't move. The batteries are not dead, I've been through three pairs of NEW ones, each did the same. We are now hunting for the receipt, which we are struggling to find. It's not in any of the usual places, which is annoying. We know where we got it from, and we know they will have our details on their system, as they did our whole sale at the computer. The plan if we can't find the receipt, is to take the bank statement - showing the purchase (which shows: store, date, price) and get them to look it up on their system. It's annoying as it's a great phone.

Unfortunately, I can't take off the pics from my phone yet, as I'm waiting to receive the cord or card adapter off my friend. I took a great 1 min video of the Guinness "surger" yesterday.

I'm off to work for the evening soon. Andy's kindly said he'd walk me to work (I think he's in caring mode after this morning, and ensuring I'm not tempted to drive and be lazy), he also said he'd walk me home, so I get company up and down the hill home! Aww! Should be a quiet evening, which is just what I need, although can be slightly boring.

Flickr

2007-04-20T12:17:00.000+01:00

I've given in, and got a flickr account! I took some photos of the new flat (planning to move near the end of the year, pending building work), and wanted to display them, without filling the page in photos. Feel free to have a look, and I'll try to update it pretty often.

Fatness

2007-04-20T10:41:00.000+01:00

There's nothing like clearing your wardrobe out to make someone who needs to loose some weight feel depressed! It was nice seeing my nice summer tops again, most of which still fit - phew! But I decided it was time to finally eliminated those trousers that don't fit, and just make me feel fat looking at them. I have kept a few, ones which have more of a chance of me getting back into without me locking myself in a padded cell and going on a starvation diet! It's so depressing seeing items that you used to love wearing, that no longer fit!

I might have to force myself back to the gym, and get a new induction, so that I have someone keeping track of my progress - random visits will never work. There is a gym next to my work place/10-15min walk from my place, so I have no excuse in terms of location! The only problem with gyms, are that they are filled with people much fitter than me! Or a simpler cheaper way might be to hand the car key to Andy! I then CAN'T drive (unless I arrange with him) and it forces me to walk. That might have to be the cruel solution - remove temptation to drive! Ok car key stays home today. If I must drive for work, it's not too far to walk back for it. I'm off for a walk to the post office, get some more stamps (postage has gone up, and it's annoying sticking multiple stamps on to get close to the correct amount)...

Sun sun sun

2007-04-19T19:47:00.000+01:00

Well today has been a much better day. I went to work this morning, got one guy ready to go to work - i.e. made sure he had at least something to eat before leaving for work, and that he took a decent lunch! Who needs kids with my job! I then met up with Astra for lunch at her workplace. I returned home for a bit, before onto a bit more work.

My dwarf sunflowers are growing really well. I am truly loving this hot spring weather!

I'm working tomorrow evening. Unfortunately there is a concert on tomorrow evening, by a U2 tribute band called U2UK, but I can't go, as I'm the "senior" and can't really swap roles with her, as she's not done a lot of hours, and I don't feel comfortable leaving her at the house with two men with uncontrolled epilepsy, and medication to sort out. So, I'm sending her to the concert with 4 residents, which she's really excited about! She gets in free as well, being carer - she's on the "guest list"! Well there will be no option of going to the pub tomorrow evening - I hope there's ironing and stuff to do! I might bring a film along to put on.

False dreams

2007-04-18T15:24:00.000+01:00

Has anyone ever had a dream that haunts them the next day?

Well mine has been this morning, and I'm trying not to remember it, so that it fades away. In my dream last night (well this morning, not long before I woke I would guess, since I remember it): I dreamt that Andy (my husband) and I had split up, and got divorced. It was all very odd (as if it could happen really quickly without much thought on both sides) and I was upset, and didn't want to be divorced from Andy.

Unfortunately it was one of those dreams that you can manage to return to again after waking (to say goodbye to Andy, when he left for work) and in the second part, we were talking to each other, and I was cuddling up to him, and I was hoping things could work out again. I asked if this meant that we were back on again, and he said something along the lines of seeing how things were after one of our female friends came to visit.

Don't worry folks, there's no truth in the dream. After I woke up the first time, I told Andy: who cuddled me, kissed me, told me he loved me and such a thing would never happen- NICE! Shame I had to return to the dream after he went!

Almost didn't answer phone in time

2007-04-18T14:49:00.000+01:00

I just had a call from my work place... but I've got a new mobile ("cell" for the Americans) phone, and it's the first time I've received a call on it, so I wasn't expecting the ring tone. Yeah, so yesterday, I got my next phone hand-me-down (thanks Astra)!! I haven't bought a new phone handset for many years, even the one I bought was a secondhand Nokia 3310. Back when I was 17/18 my Dad bought me one of those Motorola bricks, I then took to accepting other peoples phones that they didn't want. I think my first one or two was from my brother, when he upgraded. In the beginning stages, when I started to get into texting, I bought a text package which for the one of payment of £15, I got 5 texts a day free. I have hung onto the same sim card since then, and somehow managed to still keep my 5 texts a day free, which is brilliant! Those that know me and contact me, know that I don't call people from my mobile - unless it's an emergency, or need an immediate answer! I text, and crank people - to the amusement of my friends! On a few occasions phone companies have tried to sell me contract phones, to which I laugh and tell them that I spend less than £10 a month on my phone, so why would I want a £15+ phone contract - and loose my 5 daily free texts! With friends and a husband on contract, when their contract ends, and they upgrade, they have a spare phone.

A big thank you to Astra, for my new Sony Ericson! I can now take photos and listen to music!!!

Parenting/supermarket question

2007-04-17T11:36:00.000+01:00

To those who are parents out there (non-parents please comment too):
If you were in a supermarket with your children, and they start to get figety, wanting something to eat, would you:
*be prepared and bring a box of something for them to snack on - raisans....
*tell them they have to wait and try to distract them.
*let them eat food from the store, that hasn't been bought yet.

?????? Please be honest.

Now, I'm not a parent, I don't have the joy of managing children when walking round the supermarket, I struggle enough with coping with the crowds and choice, with just me and my husband.... but it suprises me the times that I see parents giving un-bought food to their child, to "shut them up". We did a shop yesterday, and witnessed it happening. In the past I have seen parents get to the till with only the wrapper. Before you get to the till the food is not yours, it belongs to the store, so by eating it, it's stealing.

On a less serious note, and a slightly different angle, I remember a childrens show, where they had to try and get rid of certain items before the other team, by putting things in unsuspecting peoples trolleys when they are not looking..... how many of us would notice if something was added or taken out before getting to the check out?

Where's the sun?

2007-04-17T10:55:00.000+01:00

The weather forecast seemed a bit like a lie this morning, when I wallked out of the kitchen door, onto my balcony to put the washing on the line and wished the wind was not so cold! The forecast said sunny and warm - and that's the local radio telling me that! It is in fact clouding, windy, and quite chilly. I really shouldn't grumble, because the last few days have been lovely weather, almost feeling like summer during the day - my car was telling me it was 22 degrees C yesterday, and it's been 18 most of the days before. I was at work most of yesterday, so missed most of the lovely sun!

Today I have no womens Bible study, no youth group, no home group! It almost doesn't feel like it is a Tuesday. Everythings off for the Easter hols, all starts again next week. The plan is to be useful and do stuff about the flat today, but not sure how well that is going to go, my motivation isn't at an all time high. So far this morning, I've write one and a half penpal letters (in bed), put the washing out, and sat in front of the pc reading blogs - hmm, not very productive really. Andy's at work til 4pm, and I know that if I don't get stuff done before then I won't.

I've just looked at my diary (the only way that I know what I'm supposed to be doing-as prooved today), and realised I'm supposed to be doing 4 hours at the "independent" house. I'm pretty sure that another member of staff did a shop yesterday - so I've sent her a text to check - there's no point me doing it today if she did some yesterday. I'm down to do the shop, not their evening meal, I'm pretty sure someone else will come in to do that. How annoying! I just need to wait for reply by text before I check the meal situation. I'm pretty sure I'm not expected to do the meal, but I'm a bit thrown at the moment, because the rota changed a bit from last week - enough to make it confusing, after getting used to the old rota.

Ala carte Sunday

2007-04-15T22:17:00.000+01:00

I don't seem to have had much time this week to add posts to my blog. It's been a busy week, as I had Wednesday and the weekend off, and had to fit 33 hours into the rest of the 4 days.

Saturday morning I did a bunch of housework while Andy was out on his driving lesson - so caught up on washing up, laundry etc... It was nice weather so I was able to dry the washing on the line. In the afternoon we did bits and bobs: sorted out Andy's parents laptop problem, looked at tiles for the new flats kitchen, printed service sheets. In the evening we enjoyed some time on the balcony, before and after watching Doctor Who - which was sooo good!

Today after church we went to a restaurant out of the city, to meet up with family (Andy's side) for the Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Most of the afternoon was spent with family, and this evening we went to the pub to meet up with friends. I'm very tired now, it's been quite a busy weekend really. I'm glad we've found some times to just have some one-to-one time as well, otherwise it would feel much worse.

Busy

2007-04-11T18:41:00.000+01:00

Busy day, and I'm off out of the door in a min. I am so glad I didn't do shopping for work this morning as well, I would be even more tired.

I met up with Anna and her Mum in town, to sort out dresses for her wedding. We weren't sure if her dress would be in, and it turned out that it wasn't in when it went in at 2pm. I got my dress measured up for adjustments, and arranged to have Anna's wedding dress fitted on the week of her wedding, to save the huge expense of coming back from Aberdeen again! We went into town, and bit down-heartened, and did a bit more wedding related shopping. We then went home, in different directions. Anna then had a call from the shop to say her dress had come in... fortunately they had not got far on the bus, and I hadn't got on yet, so we all dived back down that end of town again, and she got to see HER dress at last! It's a good thing, because it needs to be adjusted a bit, and doing it on the week of the wedding would be a bit much...and added stress.

I'm now off out to meet up with friends at Ben's house. I'm so tired, and my feet hurt. I bought some new shoes, and I'm glad I did, they are much more comfy than the ones I wore in town.

I'm out the door.

Mmmmm pudding

2007-04-09T22:48:00.000+01:00

Happy (slightly "belated") Easter everyone!

It's been a good but busy weekend. Saturday I was at work most of the day, but it was quite easy and relaxed, and I got to catch up with some girlie chat with one of my colleagues. There was only two guys home over the weekend (at work) during the day, so it was really laid back. Most of the jobs had been done. Unfortunately my plan to take one resident out for a day trip never happened, because his friends party was at 3pm, and he decided he didn't want to go out before. The party was interesting though, I got to meet a few of his friends...always nice to learn a bit more about that guy as I'm his Key worker.

Sunday we weren't sure if we were needed for set up on Sunday morning (having failed to be able to be there Good Friday morning), so we went in case, and didn't need to. So we paid another visit to our future flat, to see what had changed, have a bit of a picnic breakfast (hot cross buns and chocolate) and imagine where we would put things. After church we had lunch at home, and I made my first Yorkshire puds from scratch - not a big milestone, but I was pleased to see they worked out well. I love my student cookbook, it has the simplest recipes without too many ingredients and stuff that you will never use again. There are so many versions of batter mix: varying amounts of eggs, flour and milk! Sunday evening was great. I went to work at 5pm, and there was me and another member of staff on, and only one resident (well from 5-8pm), so the other member of staff, said I could go home early, as there was no point both of us being there for one resident, or three (by the end of the evening). So I left at 7.45, and went to church to "help set down" (but ended up talking to people, as it was almost done). I am glad I didn't need to stay at work those extra 2 hours, as there was really nothing much to do, I was sat writing up notes for another part of my job.

Today I spent a bit of time shopping, a bit of time gardening and quite a bit of time with food! We had Anna and Dan over this evening, and I made two banoffee pies. We were told how to make it from friends ages ago, so when I saw condenesed milk in the supermarket I couldn't resist it - I'm just hoping the spare one will freeze, as I don't want to eat the rest yet.

Google Reader

2007-04-05T15:09:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid I can't remember who informed me on Google reader on their blog a little while ago, but I am very greatful. I've entered as many of the blogs I read on it as I can (some won't work), and it then means when I go online, I only have to click on one page to see whether anyones blog has been updated. FANTASTIC!

Well I've done my work hours for today, I just need to go and print service sheets out now. I've got a Friday and Sundays to do (so greatful I can do them all at once, saves a repeat trip on Sat eve). Not quite sure how many sheets to photocopy for Friday, but I'm make it up as I go along! Somewhere between 50 (Sun eve) and 120 (Sun am).... 80-90?!?!

I am loving this penpal thing, I just got another letter through the post this morning - exciting! I just need to get writing some letters back now. Unfortunately the cost of stamps has gone up, but hey it's fun to get that's bit of joy to receive post that isn't statements/bills/junk!

Quite looking forward to this Saturday, normally I'm not so excited, because I've worked the evening and night running up to it, so I'm more tired (nothing beats your own bed), and everyone wants to go out and about. Well since it's Easter weekend, many of the guys/residents are going to visit family, so there should only be 2 left at the home for most of the weekend, so I'm planning a trip by car to the beach! Not sure what the other resident and staff want to do... I'll ask her when I see her.

Oh it's a lovely day, I'm off to enjoy it some more. This room is light, but doesn't have enough of the spring feel to it - oh I need some fresh flowers in here!

Spring rambles

2007-04-05T09:36:00.000+01:00

I love all this sunny weather at the moment, it's so nice! Life seems quite busy this week, although I'm not quite sure why. Yesterday I spent sorting out service sheets, and spending some time with Astra, before going to pick up Anna and Dan from the airport.

Dan's Mum is getting married on Saturday, so "thats why Anna and Dan are down", but it's useful that they can use the time (on non-Easter hol days) to sort out their own wedding stuff. I am really hoping that Anna's wedding dress has finally come in by Wednesday, otherwise she'll have to make another trip down, just to get the fitting done. We ordered the dresses in September last year!! My matron of honour dress is in, and waiting for me to have it fitted, but it would be nicer to do both next week.

Today I have a few hours of support work, and service sheets to print out for Good Friday. Anna's staying over tonight, and in the morning we're off to Tiverton to work out her wedding hair do.

Ok I must drag myself from this computer, finish sorting myself before I need to go to work, and open the curtains up in house, to let the lovely spring sun in, and help to wake me up!

B.O.T needed - Brain operation test!

2007-04-03T20:39:00.000+01:00

I wasn't feeling very well earlier today. It felt a bit like when I had the amnesia episode about 2 years ago. Now don't panic, I'm feeling fine at the moment. I went to work this morning and did a food shop for the guys. When I came back I was feeling a bit odd, like confused, like I had two patterns of thought - real and not real, at the same time. I'm not talking voices or anything. I think it all started with a deja vu, as if the event/or thought was a repeatition of a previous one. Any way I knew things weren't quite right, so I didn't hang around at work. I had no problem doing things, but not all my thoughts were real/current/relevant - I can't even remember what they were, but I know they did not make sense when I thought about it. Well I wrote about 2 sides of A4 of how I was feeling, which helped focus my mind, and give me something more concrete than memories to look back on. It lasted over an hour, and was weird. I did not really have any memory blanks, just confusion/muddle thought.

I don't know what was going on, but it did go away, and I was able to go to youth group (dressed as the "cool" Sandy from the end of "Grease"). I had fun doing my hair. I quite like it actually, I've never really tried to curl my hair fully before (with exception to curling wet hair round material and leaving over night, as a child - and looking like Goldie Locks in the morning). The photo is from after youth group, so the curls have come out a bit, but you can get the idea. What do you think? It's not the best photo, but you kind of get the idea. It was much more curly when I first did it, but it's very hard to do the back yourself. I was using my gas powered curlers - which I haven't used for years. I'm just glad I didn't run out of gas half way through, as I didn't have time to buy more by then.

I have more photos to post some day, but I'm too tired and lazy now to upload them. Night all.

Facebook?

2007-04-02T22:19:00.000+01:00

Does anyone else use Facebook? I keep hearing that different people have a Facebook account. It's a bit of a laugh, and a way to share photos and have a random chat and also the fun of sending people a "poke". I just need one more friend on it, then I can play the friend game! I've just asked too people to add me.... so hopefully not long. The friend game is answering questions from what the people had put about themselves.

It was nice having a weekend off work. Saturday was good, I got lots done, enjoyed an evening at home with Andy (watching Doctor Who). Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then went with a bunch of our friends to Buckland Monacoram on Dartmoor, to check out a youth hostel - to see if it would suit a bunch of 20-30's for a weekend away in Sept. We had a lovely lunch at the pub. When we first asked about food they said they'd finished serving, but we were very greatful when someone from the kitchen said there they still had some roasts left - WOW that was a good roast!

Today I was at work 8-3, with a staff meeting in the middle. It's a shame they don't tend to happen more often, it's often a bit of a laugh as well as working out how to do things. I found out today that I should be able to do my NVQ3!!!! Wahey!!! I have been wanting to do level three in care for over a year now, and I've had a long wait for a decent answer. When I did level 2 I had no option but to do level 2 first, but now it's possible to go straight into level 3. I won't get paid anymore when I get it, but it will make it easier for me to get another job, and hey if I leave before 2 years of finishing the course, it will just mean that I have to pay back some/all of the cost-probably about £400. I am hoping I can use stuff from my level 2 towards level 3 otherwise I'll sulk, as it will mean more work! I hope the assessor is clued up.

What shall I dress as?

2007-03-31T13:55:00.000+01:00

Tuesday evening at youth group we are having an end of term party. Everyones been asked to dress up as a TV or film character. I am completely stumped on what to go as. Anyone got any good ideas? Mum do you know where the funny wigs went - I can't seem to find them here?

Tile shopping

2007-03-31T12:35:00.000+01:00

Well I got myself up for a decent time this morning, by giving Andy a lift to work. My decision to do it (other than out of the kindness of my heart) was because I wanted to look at the tile shop near where he works, which I spotted the other day when we drove past. We are in the process of helping to design our next home! It's a flat above a shop, about 10mins walk away from where we live now. It's much smaller, but nice. The place we live in now is bigger than we need. The new place is still in the process of being sorted, and not just redecorated, I'm talking redesign: kitchen and bathroom were swapped over - so completely new. New flooring throughout, new windows and doors.... At the moment it has an external staircase, but there will be an interior staircase which is shared with the next door flat - but the next door shop and flat have yet to be built!

Anyway today I dragged my Dad (who owns it, and will sell/rent it to us) out to have another go at looking for tiles for the bathroom. We ended up in B&Q, and found these tiles. We ended up buying the bottom blue ones, and the divider tiles, so we'll have a blue bathroom! It's quite exciting helping design, and the great thing is that I'm not having to any of the work. It's like having a new house designed the way you want it, but it's not new - which is WAY out of our price range.

Well I'd better grab some lunch. I need to check and print out the service sheets for Sunday, and go and photocopy them. I can just potter around this afternoon doing things. It's nice. The washing is on the line being BLOWN dry - it's windy, hope they stay on the line.

Our dining room looks tidy at the moment, it's lovely. The reason is all due to having our friend Laura round for a meal Thursday evening. Here's yet another random photo. See this is what the table looks like. We have the keyboard and monitor on the far left, and SPACE on the right! It won't last though, because the printer needs to go back in the top right corner, as it connects to the network through the router, which is on the chest of drawers. The two blue things on the top right are the tiles - a sample for Andy to see later. We'll have to leave this table behind when we move!

Wipers

2007-03-29T17:23:00.000+01:00

My car windscreens seem to be playing games with me today. I changed the wiper blades the other day, and today as I was going through the supermarket car park with my wipers on the left one started going the wrong way, and the two wipers ended up crossed over! When I'd got the left one to not go any further right I then realised that it started slipping downwards, so that it was hitting the body work. I popped into my normal garage and they had a look and tightened up the base of the wiper - much THANKS!

I'd better get back to tidying - got a friend over for a meal tonight, and we've left the house go a bit recently! Haven't had people over enough.

Illness update

2007-03-28T11:43:00.000+01:00

Ok I've made a decision, that has been agreed with by the resident I'm taking out. I didn't want to drive as far as I had suggested before, so I went for an easier option. I'm supposed to be working 1-6pm, which includes helping them cook an evening meal. I came up with a solution to feed and entertain in one: I'm taking both residents out to Exmouth (closest seaside town-half hr drive) and we're going to get some fish and chips to eat somewhere over looking the sea. It's a nice day, and I know where I can get nice chips and where shops are in that town, so it requires less thinking. I'm hoping therefore to be able to finish earlier, as I don't need to do their evening meal, they can make themselves sandwiches or beans on toast. I told them I'm not feeling so great, and it would be a short trip.

As tempting as phoning in sick is, I can't justify it. When I rung up the residents, the first thing the guy said before he took the phone off his housemate was "I bet she's ill and not coming". So the first thing I said to him was: "I am coming, BUT...."

Oh I do not like it when my eyes feel hot, as they do now. It's a sure sign I'm not well. Might go and take some Day Nurse if we have any.... I'll check the label first in regard to driving of course!

Lazy ill-ness

2007-03-28T09:20:00.000+01:00

I'm having a lazy morning. I'm not working this morning, and I'm still not feeling very well. I slept pretty good. This afternoon I'm supposed to be working... unfortunately I feel I'm in that limbo place between well and ill. I don't really feel ill enough to justify calling work and telling them I can't come in (also disappointing the person I was taking out), but I have a sore throat and runny nose, which makes working annoying. I'll see how the morning pans out, can't drive around if I'm sneezing, could swap tomorrow and today's job tasks, and do the shopping today and the trip out tomorrow...depends how I am in an hour or so. Also I've been put down to do 1-6pm, but the guy prefers to leave at 12. I had suggested going for a drive further away...so not feeling like it at the moment. Maybe they will make do with staying in. Also need to make a call to Sky to ask them why the guys reception/picture messes up so often - fun fun fun! I just want to stay in bed all day! Bed is so comfy!

I'm sat in bed at the moment, with the laptop on a pillow on my lap!

Yesterday was a busy day, in a good way. I was at work 8-2pm - which involved monitoring lots of fits, dashing into town, getting two men to have hair cuts.... In the afternoon Andy and I watched some Doctor Who. Dad invited us out to look at tiles for the new place - the ones we liked best typically were the end of an order, and would cost extra to order more, so we're still looking.

In the evening yesterday we were leading the youth group. We brought in four (only used 3) black bin bags of materials (boxes, bottles, toilet roll middles etc) and gave the challenge of building a chair that would take the weight of one of their group. None of them fully worked, but it was fun to see them trying. Another game was getting them to move sweets from one bowl to the other with chop sticks, and at the end of the evening everyone got a small bag of sweets to take home. The winners of the group challenge got to choose a fun size sweet/choc bar. It was a really small group this week, only 10 children, which I think is an all time low since the beginning.

After youth group we went to our home group, where we were throwing an early 50th birthday celebration for Carol! Her birthday is on Sunday, so we did a bring and share meal. It was a nice evening. By the end of the evening tiredness was kicking in and so was my cold, so we were the first to leave at 10.15pm.

New nose please

2007-03-27T23:41:00.000+01:00

I've had a good day..... but now before going to bed a cold is attacking my body. My nose and I are not on good terms! So hoping a good nights sleep solves it...can't drive a resident (work) around tomorrow if I keep sneezing and blowing my nose this much!

Night all.

Sun chilling

2007-03-26T19:59:00.000+01:00

The last few days have been lovely weather, it's been soooo nice! Saturday night the clocks went back in England, and we forgot until Sunday morning (so glad Andy remembered, otherwise we'd have been late for church), so we ended up with an hour less sleep. After church we went to celebrate Stuart M's birthday (Daddy-in-law is 51 again!). We had a lovely lunch at theirs. In the afternoon we sat down to watch some Doctor Who (trying to watch the last two seasons before Saturday, when the next season starts), and both fell asleep on the sofa for a few mins!

Today the weather was gorgeous, the best yet. I only had a few hours of work this morning, and Andy had the day off, and was only busy in the morning with his driving lesson, so this afternoon we decided to make the most of the weather and go down to the quay for some lunch. We then put the car through the car wash and then decided to have a drink at Gypsy Hill Hotel (where we had our wedding reception). It's been a nice chilling day with Andy.

Work and stuff

2007-03-26T17:17:00.000+01:00

Andy passed his theory test, very well - congrats Andy!

Saturday was a day of relaxing. We were invited out for dinner at the Imperial pub with some friends of ours and their kids. We made use of the local trains, and picked up a couple of Tarka Line Rail Ale Trail leaflets at a train station in town. We've been waiting for the train station to get more in, and each pub we go to on the leaflet should give us a stamp, and we can get souvenirs for so many stamps. It's a more interesting way to do a pub crawl! It's not something you can do quickly, the pubs are a distance from each other, but we'll get to see some ones we wouldn't have considered trying otherwise.

On Sunday our church, became a Church! Well it's been a partner church for the last few years, as it was a plant church from a larger church. It's now become it's own district within the Diocese. I don't quite understand the Anglican ways, but hey. So on Sunday we had the Bishop come to make it official.

Sunday evening was I at work (after having Friday and Saturday off as holiday). I got asked if I would do the sleep-in, and said yes (because I hadn't got a decent reason why not to, and had not done my contract one this week (took it as holiday)). I was less willing to do the Sunday night sleep-in, because I knew that I would end up doing the care assistant role (normally do senior) and on a Sunday evening this included getting up early to assist one of the residents getting ready for work. The resident (who I listened to over night in case of seizures) woke at 6am, and went downstairs at 6.20am. This meant an early morning for me! The not so fun part is that after they'd got themselves up and ready for work, and had eaten his breakfast he decided that he was not well enough to go to work. Hmmm, cry wolf I think, but I could not persuade him that he really did want to go to work. He had a "stomach ache", but showed no visual signs of it. The difference between a child wanting a day off (school) and an adult with autism wanting a day off, is that the child will use over exaggerated body language to persuade the adult (holding stomach, groaning....). Although it does make me laugh (to myself) when for example one guy who has hurt his ankle, and starts hobbling around (to gain attention), and then is later spotted hobbling with the wrong leg!

TOO EARLY!

2007-03-23T10:42:00.000Z

I am not a happy bunny! I got woken up at 7.30am this morning! I was looking forward to a bit of a lie in, as I'm not working today, and only needed to get up in time to get Andy to his theory test at 10.15. I started hearing the sound of stuff moving around, and following the burgulary I have been aware of what's going on when I heard noises below. The noise turned out to be coming from the pavement below our bedroom window, they were putting up a barrier on the pavement. A few minutes later (I'd given up on trying to sleep) the house was shaking from the force of them drilling a hole in the pavement. It's 7.30AM!!!!! It seems they are putting water pipes in, but there's no-one out there now to complain [shout] at! The work was done by Avent, so I've sent them a lovely email! This is the second time Avent have caused problems to us, without telling us ANYTHING. The last time they dug up the pavement, hit a gas pipe and left us without gas for a few hours - they told downstairs but not the "hidden" flat above. Most shops don't have two floors above (with curtains etc) and an external stair case. I think we need a big banner across the front of the building pointing out that people live up here and want to know what's going on (only kidding Dad)!

Well Andy will be half way through his driving theory test at the moment.

This afternoon my plan is to make a banana cake (I have some very ripe bananas that are waiting to be cooked). I need to make sure that I use oil based margarine, as one of the people at safari supper tonight (who is hosting our first course) is unable to eat dairy. I'm going to just make a basic banana cake with water icing on top...and maybe some glace cherries. I will try and make the mixture also stretch so that there's a few cup cakes made as well, so we get some cakes over the next few days as well!

Tired with a glass of wine nearby

2007-03-22T22:02:00.000Z

Andy is in study mode at the moment. He's got his driving theory test in the morning. He's been doing practise questions and hazard perception tests, but it's all about what comes up on the day. Some of the questions really are not that needed to be able to drive, like the last question Andy told me about, which asked how much you should fill up the battery with fluid!? I'm sorry but I had no idea, if the problem happened I would check the manual or more likely get the car to the garage. It's certainly not something taught in driving lessons, or obvious in the theory book (although I haven't read it cover to cover). I think everyone that passes should be rewarded with a free car maintanence session! I know how to check and fill oil, and how to jump start a car (although never succeeded yet - other car was DEAD), and how to change a tyre (but haven't done it in practice - friends took over when I got a flat, it was midnight, and needed more strength to unscrew it!)

This week has been fun, I'm not working much this week. I worked Monday 4 hours, today 9 hours, Sunday 5 hours and sleep-in - NICE! Well I got roped into the Sunday sleep-in today, but never mind. I've got tomorrow and Saturdays hours off as holiday. We were off for a meal out on Friday night, but plans have been changed, so we're going to the TNT (twenties n thirties) safari supper instead. Saturday we can do WHATEVER!!!!! Lovely! We would normally be printing off the service sheets on the Saturday, but because it's a special service someone else has offered to take over and do a different format - we have no problems with that! We do need to make sure that we get to church for a decent time on Sunday morning though, because Trinity is becoming a "real" church. Well in Anglican terms, it's becoming a District, so it's a church of the area....I don't claim to understand the Church of England church....I'm not Anglican, I just go to an Anglican church. I've very low (i.e. no bells, smells and gowns) otherwise we would have run a mile.

I've been feeling tired and unfocused today. Yesterday was much more productive. I went into town, bought some great bits and pieces. I found a lovely new paper craft shop, with so many great things. I love making cards, so I was loving it walking around there. I sorted out dress fittings for me and my friend Anna (for her wedding, while she's home over Easter). I left town feeling like I had achieved a lot!

I'd better go and spend some more time with Andy. I'm in another room to him at the moment, as it would be unfair to grab the laptop off him when he's using it for revising.

Camping and snow wanted

2007-03-19T19:49:00.000Z

Hey to all those who might want to come down to visit in August, The Turf Locks DOES let people camp there! Here's the proof!! The only slight problem is that we can't drive there, but we can either park at the nearest point and walk around the pathway or get the boat down and back from the quay. Here's another pic to look at: 1

The weather here is VERY windy, and where we live doesn't block out any of the wind, it comes blowing straight across our balcony, so that we have to hang on to the door as we go in and out. Different parts of the city have had a taste of almost every type of weather today: wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow, cloudy, sunny with blue skies! I was sulking a bit earlier, because I have not seen ANY snow this season yet. I saw a minute of sleet/hail, but NO SNOW! Other parts of the city have had it, but I've been in the wrong place when it snowed!

Penpals

2007-03-18T23:58:00.000Z

Yey, I've found a site for finding pen pals! I've been meaning to get back into penpalling for a while now, but never knew where to start. Earlier I looking through Yahoo Answers, and someone asked the question about where to get snail mail penpals, and the link turned out to be really useful! I've added my own post, and there's a few people I would like to contact and see if they want to write. The great thing is that you email them, and if they like the sound of you they email back with their postal address, and you start writing! Yay!

OK must go to bed, early start tomorrow.

Mothers day

2007-03-18T08:54:00.000Z

Happy Mothers Day!
Mum, I hope you have a nice day!

Foolish couple

2007-03-18T08:21:00.001Z

My husband and I, after over a year and a half of marriage are still learning how to do things, and especially how to sort out our mistakes about the house. I think our phrase "we need to grow up first before we have kids" is quite relevant considering the following:

The last few days we've been noticing a smell in the kitchen, around the fridge/bin area, but it did not get stronger in any particular area, and we were baffled. Yesterday we worked it out... Oh fools are we! The stale sour smell still lingered after emptying the bin, moving the floor mats outside (which need a wash, following a previous tomato explosion on them) and moving the empty bin full of chemicals outside. We turned to the fridge... we got a smell from it, but not anywhere specific... so we eliminated things. The fools we are failed to find the smelly culprit immediately - which turned out to be some raw chicken on the bottom shelf of the fridge!! How did I ever pass my Food Hygiene course?!?!?! Well after disposing of the foul meat, I cleaned the fridge out thoroughly!

We really must make all these stupid mistakes while there is only the two of us to poison! At 26 I do feel the pull of motherhood getting closer, but I don't feel broody yet, and know that we need to do any travelling stuff we want to do before we start a family because we'll find it much harder with a child/children in tow. There's a possible option next year to go out and visit a couple from our church, when they are on mission to Indonesia. Not sure, not something we've really thought or prayed about much, it was just something they suggested. I feel so torn between the idea of getting a house and settling down, and doing something more spontaneous while I'm young. Boredom is setting in at work, I'm less motivated, and know too much about the company's negative points than is really helpful. I am sure that if I left my job it would not be too hard to return to if wanted.

Anyway better be off....

I haven't forgotten my blog

2007-03-17T20:44:00.000Z

Wow it's been 4 days since I last posted. My inspiration always comes when I'm not at the computer though, so by the time I get to the computer I'm too tired to type up my thoughts and what's been happening.

It's been an ok week. On Thursday I ended up spending 3 hours in the citizens advice bureau with a service user (work). The wait turned out to not really be worth it, I think we could have got the same information without seeing someone in a private room. Oh well, next step is a visit to a solicitor! That's all I'm saying about this!

This is the picture of the popcorn flower! It's rather basic, and not the most artistic, but hey the children seemed to enjoy making them at youth group on Tuesday.

I was having a play with the camera the other day, and decided to take some pictures of my hair. We all have good and bad hair days, and I was having quite a good one...washed, dried and styled well! I haven't posted a picture since the hair cut, so you can see what it's like now. I am enjoying the hair straighteners that Astra came me, they really help me to get the ends (esp at the front) the way I want them. I'm not going to have it cut any short though in the next few months though, because I want to make sure it's long enough to put up easily at Anna's wedding. Hey I also had an eye brow tidy up the other week, it's something I'm learning to do. I made use of our new printer/copier/scanner this week, and put the camera memory card straight into it, and printed off this photo for Andy. He tells me he's put it on his desk at work! Sounds like I've had some compliments from his collegues - wish I always looked as good as posed photos!

We went out for a meal with my family today (Mum, Dad, Keith-bro, Andy, me) for an Italian lunch. Dad had been trying to plan it since Keiths birthday (end of Feb), and with it being Mothering Sunday tomorrow it all tied in well together!

I'm off to watch episode 13 of 24!

Popcorn flowers

2007-03-13T22:55:00.000Z

I'm not blogging so much these days. The last few days I've been too busy doing other things. I've still surfed around looking at other peoples sites, sorry if I haven't always commented. The last few days were spent planning this evening youth club craft activity. It all ended up turning out OK, although I am very grateful to the other leaders there who pitched in and added some power, ideas and decisiveness. Most of them made their popcorn flowers really well - no major mess and they were relatively calm.

Tomorrow evening we have a K@tch leaders meeting which is good. It's nice that it's going to be a bit of a social as well, because we'll be eating together and gonna have a game of "Knowing me knowing you" which can be fun, and is a great way to get to know each other better. Andy will have the advantage on quessing what I put as my answers to my questions, as he knows me better than all of them.

I'm tired, it's been a long day. Andy has been a star today. He had the day off work, and had an early morning filling at the dentist. He then went in town, got me some PVA glue for this evening, came back did some stuff including putting a load of laundry in the machine and most of it on the line to dry! He's been my right hand man today, sorting things and helping me out with youth group stuff. I love you Andy!

I'd like a dish of motivation please?

2007-03-12T12:48:00.000Z

Today is one of those days that I wish I could just stay in bed all day, not for any particular reason, it's just you feel tired and unmotivated!

The weekend I felt great, really on top of things, organisational skills were on 100% power, and things were working out pretty well. But I feel none of that this morning! Maybe I didn't sleep very well, I'm not sure. I enjoyed yesterday, even if we did need to be at church for 8.30am to help set up. We made it at about 8.35 which is very good for us! We did the teas and coffees this week, which we normally dread being asked to do, but we got it sorted this week and had no problems. In the afternoon I planned what is happening on Tuesday evening at youth group. We're doing stuff for Mothers Day, so I needed to come up with a craft activity to do, so I searched around the Internet, and after a bit of experimentation with popcorn and food colouring, I came up with a variation on one of the suggestions. The suggestion was to make hyacinths, with different coloured popcorn - I didn't want to make it on a stick, so thought they could put it on a card, but the only successful way of colouring the popcorn with what resources I had was to use red food colouring, which gave a mottled red-white colouring to the popcorn, which I think looks more like a carnation, so that's what flower they are "making" on a card. I did read that carnations are traditional Mothers Day flowers. They should really be red, but the ones that soaked up enough colour to go completely red also shrunk and went soggy! I never realised the effect of water on popcorn until yesterday. Can't add a pic of the plan until I get some batteries for the camera.

Any one got any good run around games for a school hall (15+ 7-11 year olds)? Trying to think of a different game, not involving too much explaining. Don't want to repeat dodgeball again if I can help it.

Being refined like silver....does it make full sense to you?

2007-03-08T19:39:00.000Z

Wow, this is a cool image/story that I just read on "Girl Gone Wilds"'s blog. Please check out this page, it's such a great story, to help us understand the meaning of when God is referred to as the refiner and purifier of silver. It's explains how silver reacts to metal - to those scientists among you, this might be less interesting, but I am not scientist, so I found it interesting.

Shoes and bras!

2007-03-07T16:08:00.000Z

Oh, that was an interesting two hours in town. I went in to put cheques in the bank, and look for stuff for Anna's wedding in July. I wanted to get measured for a bra, and get shoes. I went in the shop recommended by the wedding shop that the dresses are from, which is a small one-lady-run place. Lets just say it was an interesting experience, with me coming out with a larger size than I expected! Not sure about the one I bought though, I'm going to have to go back into town another day and get a second opinion from somewhere else.

The best news of the day is that I bought the shoes for Anna's wedding- I'm Matron of Honour! I was trying to find something to go with a cornflower blue long dress, which gives the best options as getting shoes that can be dyed the right colour (not sure if they do the colour, or if I do - would could go very wrong) or a natural skin colour. The other week I saw a nice pair in Clarks, but being a casual shoe gal, I wanted to be sure in mind I could walk in them ALL day, and that they were the best choice, so I left them. I had a look around the wedding dress shops today, well two of them (& BHS), and there was nothing I liked. I was looking for open toe, with good strap support around the back of my ankle, and a low heel. Most of their shoes were closed toe, and they are more expensive. When I looked at the ones in Clarks today I still loved them, and realised that the heel wasn't very high at all, any lower would be almost flat, and the detail is lovely. I bought some gel pads to support the balls of my feet, to make them more comfortable. For £30 I am very happy! I will look forward to wearing them after the wedding as well!

Mouse view

2007-03-06T15:16:00.000Z

I was looking through Lauras blog and spotted an amusing picture of two ladies (Mother and Daughter) who went to Disney Land with two Mickey Mouses on their tops....however the mouse was made up off their breasts with bits stuck on! Well they won't be welcome back there again!

Birthday fun

2007-03-06T12:33:00.000Z

I am so glad that I have today off. Last night was fun, over the course of the evening 15 friends came to the pub to celebrate my birthday. We made use of the pool table which was fun. I got some lovely presents, like the top and lightweight zip up hoodie that I am wearing at the moment - thanks Astra! I got allsorts of goodies. Colin if you are reading this, thanks for the pres£nt, and thank Granny and Grandad for me - I will send a letter of thanks though the post.

Unfortunately my stomach is not feeling quite so great this morning - and I didn't drink THAT much, I had a half of ale and then I just drank 3 large glasses of wine. We ended the evening at Cafe Sozo, across the road from the pub.

I am so glad that the weather is nice today, as it was so nice yesterday. We were planning on going to the cinema in the afternoon, but when I went to pick Andy up from the dentist it turned out that that we needed to start another course of antibiotics, which ended up needing an hour wait from the pharmacy, so we went for a wander around the shops in the area (Heavitree). We would not have had time to go to the cinema, so we went in the rental shop and rented a film. We got out "Children of men" which is a great film. I'd never heard of it before, but thought it sounded interesting when I read the back of the DVD. It's gritty and thought provoking!

Happy Birthday tomorrow

2007-03-04T22:40:00.000Z

Well our weekend away was good. As always we came back tired. We had nice weather on Saturday afternoon, and enjoyed learning how to do archery in a barn (missing the rain shower!) - which was fun.

I don't have much energy to post much. Need to go to bed in a minute, after I've dragged Andy off the PS2 playing Kingdom Hearts. Tomorrow we're both off work for my 26th birthday. The plan is lazy in bed for a while in the morning, have a cooked brunch, Andy pops to the dentist for a filling. We're thinking of going to the cinema in the afternoon, and then eat. We're then meeting up with people at the pub for 7pm - seems like it's going to be quite a number of people, at least 11 at the last count! I hope we can find somewhere to fit everyone. It's our local pub, so not far to walk back.

In the local paper

2007-03-04T19:27:00.000Z

It seems that the break in downstairs was in the local paper, as a couple of people asked us whether we were the people in the flat above that called the police. Here's the article on their website. I love how they didn't get all their facts right, it was closer to midnight not 1.35am, and we didn't get woken up! Dad should be proud of his alarm system, it was worth that arm and leg!

Church weekend away

2007-03-02T12:31:00.000Z

Just a quick post before we're off for the weekend. Don't you hate that butterflies in your stomach feeling when you are packing. I've been there a three times now, but I'm not a fan on motorway and dual carriage way, which what we need to go on for the first part of the journey. I know I'm a wimp, but I much prefer smaller roads: no over moving lanes/over takers to worry about, not at such fast speed - so reactions don't have to be so sudden. The second time that we went to Heatree House I missed the Trago Mills turning, and then wasn't sure which exit to take to correct myself - we ended up having a little detour around other parts of Dartmoor, before getting to the correct bits of Dartmoor. It did enable us to check out some snow though!

Must go and finish packing.

Birthday celebrations

2007-03-01T11:12:00.000Z

Happy Birthday to Keith (my brother) for yesterday - if he happens to read this! Wow he's hit 30 years old!

It's nice this year that my birthday is not during the church weekend away! The last two years we have been away, which has good and bad sides to it: good because it's lots of people to share your birthday with, bad because you can't do your own thing and either feel odd with lots of people wishing you happy birthday or have the anticlimax of only a handful of people realising! This year it is on the Monday (5th), but I have NO idea what to do at the moment. Ok that's a slight mistruth, I have a few odd ideas, but nothing organised. I just don't know what to do. The problem being that it's at the beginning of the week, so people will be at work all day, and not be able to do anything too late in the evening. So far Andy and I have the day off work, and we're going to have lunch out....where I don't know, but thought it would be easier than an evening meal. I am hoping a few people will be willing to join us at the pub for a few drinks. There are a few other birthdays around mine, so I think joint birthday celebrations are called for. Hint for those who know me, one thing I really would like is a birthday cake! (Note: check with each other, so I don't end up with lots of cake, I don't need to put on anymore weight). This year I will be 26 years old. I can't say I really feel it, and I certainly don't look it - I've only just stopped being ID'ed (grrr "If you look under 21" scheme in shops).

Andy is now insured to drive Pett! That's our car! We didn't name it, it named itself, it's a P reg, and has ETT as the other letters on the number plate. Lets see if he's willing to
drive at all on Dartmoor! Kind of depends on what the weather is like. It unfortunately looks unlikely it will snow this year :( I'm still hoping to see some snow this year, as Devon hasn't had any this Winter yet - we didn't get any when the rest of the country did!

I'd better go to work....

A few days off

2007-02-27T23:19:00.000Z

Two days without blogging, what's wrong with me? I've been popping in on the regular blogs I read, but not really had the time to blog myself.

Sunday was nice, after church we went to the olde Mackays up the road (!) for a lovely roast lamb. We then crawled down the hill again, and started planning for K@tch on Tuesday (this evening). I then had to work at 5-10pm - which was really quite boring, as there wasn't much to do. I spent most of the evening on the computer upstairs playing around with someones "All about me" (a person centred plan about their life/likes, dislikes etc), and adding lots of pictures so they could understand it.

Monday I only had to work a few hours, and Andy had the day off to go to a dentist appointment. In the afternoon we were free, so we went in town for a cheap Wetherspoons lunch, and did a bit of shopping. I bought a really nice pair of shoes - ok I know I bought a pair not that long ago, but these are more comfy, the others I need insoles in so they don't rub. I also found a possible pair of shoes for Anna's wedding, which trust me, is quite amazing, I'm terrible at finding shoes for myself, esp smart ones that are comfy. I would still like to look around at other shoes, probably wedding shop ones, that could be dyed, but the ones I saw might be where I go back to. They are strappy, not too high a heel, neutral colour and something I would definately wear again - I just need to check that I can walk around in them ALL day!

Today, well I was at work most of it, which went ok. K@tch was good thing evening. Andy and I were leading the games, and our basic games style seemed to work well. We didn't have too much trouble, actually I have never seen them sit still and quiet so well during a talk for ages! We're talking about kings in the Bible, and today was about David before he was king: David and Goliath, with little pictures for a visual cue. It was told very well by Phil. After the youth group, we grabbed some food, and then went to House group, which was also good.

I'm looking forward to this weekend, when we're on Dartmoor for our church weekend away. We found out this evening that a friend of ours is going, and she's bringing a friend with her. Oh, can we have some snow please, but only a small amount, so I can still manage to drive there and back without getting stuck! LOL!

Friday and Saturday

2007-02-24T21:30:00.000Z

Yesterday was good, enjoyed the "Holiday on Ice" show. Really glad Laura went as the other member of staff, as she'd never been before, and really loved it! She's so much fun! The guys all enjoyed themselves, and there were no fits, or lost people!

Well todays been a good day, I certainly benefited from sleeping at home instead of work, even if we didn't get to bed until after midnight, because we both needed to unwind and we were watching the News - about the train that derailed in North-west England. I still managed to wake up well this morning, helped by the sunlight coming through.

Work was ok today, although I did still hit the tired wall at 2.30pm.

This evening after Andy and I had finished work we went to play with sheets of A4 paper and a photocopier. We also ended up having to play with the church office trip switch! We turned the photocopier on, and after no response and lots of variations of switches in different plugs and with different electrical objects we realised the electrics for the plugs was not working! After a bit of confirmation we located and flipped the trip main switch back on. THEN the photocopier showed us how much it loved us, but getting us to repeatedly un-jam the paper from within it! Covered in toner later, we got it sorted enough to have the essential amount of sheets. We very much deserved a takeaway fish and chips after all that - getting back about 9pm!

"Rain down......"

2007-02-23T11:40:00.001Z

Ewwww it's raining lots outside! Don't you hate it when you get a chill go up your back and you can feel the hair folicles on your head stand up - or is it just me. Maybe I should go and hug the cooker, where my jacket potato is cooking.

Oh when I went to the hairdressers earlier in the week, I found out that it wasn't just downstairs that we broken into last night, as the hairdressers and a bike shop in the area! Unfortunately for the hairdresser and bike shop, stuff was stolen from them. BUT on a more positive note, a drop of blood was found at the hairdresser (as they smashed the window), so at least they have DNA as well as finger prints to go on. Thanks to the alarm system downstairs they were scared off!

...... hehe! I just had a funny 2 minutes! I was just sorting out stuff to go with my jacket potato, and I moved something on the work top, which nudged the open tin of macreal in a tomato sauce.... in slow motion I saw it lean towards the floor, and fall off the worktop! Fortunately it fell the right way up, not so fortunately the sauce flew everywhere! It was so funny, my jacket had splashes all over it, and the side of the work top was covered, it was on the floor, some even got in my hair! I cleaned up and flung things in the wash!

Long awaited ramble

2007-02-23T10:19:00.000Z

I just haven't got round to posting over the last few days...don't think I had the energy. On Wednesday we went to PC World just before it closed at 8pm, to find that the printer I'd set my heart on was out of stock, but "more would come in tomorrow". So yesterday, Thursday, I ended up finishing work early (two hours of nothing much to do seemed pointless, esp when food had already been sorted for them), and decided I would go and buy the printer. Once again they had none in stock - doh should have ordered. I went home feeling tired and still without a printer. I had offered Andy a lift home from work, so I had a look on the Net at Argos, and found they had THAT printer in stock and same price and it comes with a free electronic shredder! So I picked up Andy and we dived across the city and put up with some rush hour traffic! Hopefully we can now have STRAIGHT service sheets!

Tonight I'm going to Holiday on Ice with 5 residents from work. Laura (another member of staff) is also going, which is great, as she's never been before, but has loads of energy which the guys love. I am hoping the evening goes smoothly, as one of the gentlemen going has uncontrolled epilepsy, so could potentially have a few fits during the evening. Hmm, must put together an emergency kit. This week I'm trying to get my head around the fact that I'm not sleeping in tonight. Once a fortnight I normally work Fri 3-10pm, sleep-in, Sat 8-4pm, so 25 hours solid. At the moment I'm only doing one sleep in a fortnight, but I have 4 sleep-ins to take as holiday, so I decided I would use the chance and use them all - which means I don't do a sleep in until April, unless I choose to!

I keep having to remind myself that I don't need an over night bag tonight, because I will be coming home. It will be nice to come home, even if just over night, it will break up such a long time at work. It can be really hard to take a proper break at work, because if you start at 3, and finish at 4pm a decent half an hour or "your own time" never really happens. I go to bed about 11pm, by the time I'm sure the house is secure and peaceful and get in bed it's 11.30. Even then I'm listening to someone over night, and it's not much "me" time, because I need to sleep so I can manage to wake up at 7am. I then feel quilty in the morning taking time to eat breakfast if it's after 8am, but I struggle to get myself up and downstairs much earlier than 7.45.

I very much feel at the moment that there is lots of things that I need to do, but I am lacking the motivation to do them.

I'm still unsure about my hair cut. Not sure if it's a bit too short. I had a different hair dresser, who should be better, as she runs it, but seemed to spend ages on my hair, and had a different idea to the other girl. She cut 2 inches off, then I asked her to cut another inch off the back later on. How I feel about my hair is often determined but how it's dried, but I'm too lazy to spend hours sorting out my hair each day. Today I'm letting it dry natually which seems to be working better. I can then fling it about a bit and it seems to curve in the right places!

Frustration

2007-02-20T10:41:00.000Z

Don't you hate it when I plan fails. I dragged myself out of bed this morning half asleep (really wanting to sleep more) and got ready to go out. I drove to where the womens Bible study is, to find that there were no cars there (at all) so obviously it must be off for the half term hols - I can never keep track of the school holidays, as the half term can differ depending on the school. Anyway, I drove home, booked myself a hair appointment for later - I'll post some pics later if I get round to it, and can take a decent photo of myself.

I thought "hey, I've got some time, lets see what car insurance quote I can get online". I want to insure three people on the same car this year, as I'm the main driver, but I've always added my Dad as an extra ("if needed" driver) as since he's been driving so long it doesn't increase the policy, but can reduce it. This year I want to add Andy. He's still on his provisional, but will have passed before the year is out (there you go Andy, there's confidence in you)! He needs more driving experience, and it's expensive to get all of it from his instructor. Anyway....I went online, went through entering all the details for all three of us (can't seem to go to current details and add another driver) and came out with a NICE quote. I was just playing with the compulsory excess option, and seeing how much different it made, and it timed out on me! Grrr! I should have emailed quote to myself first!!! It means I have to go through all of it again!! I couldn't quite understand why by increasing the voluntary excess, the compulsory excess seemed to be increasing too (unless that was a total?). Never mind!!! I will go through the hassle again, because Astra told me that if I get a better quote online than I did on the phone, I can still ring them up and get the online quote....They benefit from commission and I get to check it with a human being. I hope I can understand the person I talk to this time. At least by going online it told me exactly which company currently insures me (I go through a broker). I'm off to type in the info again.

Bristol report

2007-02-19T15:54:00.000Z

Bristol was good fun. We went up by train, and walked to the harbour side. We stayed at the Ibis Hotel which is just on the other side of the big silver dome (which is actually a planetarium).

We had fun playing with this machine. You choose where you want it to point to on a touch screen, and the big pointer turns in the direction and gives what distance away it is.

Here's a side profile picture of Andy!

TNT

2007-02-19T14:17:00.000Z

Oh it was nice to have what felt like such a long weekend off work! Friday felt like Saturday, Saturday felt like Sunday (except no church) and Sunday felt like an extra day.

I was back to work this morning, but it was only a short shift - 4 hours, so not bad. I would normally have done the food shopping for half the week, but when I looked around the kitchen I found plenty of food for a few days, and really not needing much more. I pottered around the kitchen, tidying, putting away stuff on the draining board... the place has become a true bachelor pad - i.e. things don't get put away, things are taken from the draining board when needed; I found LOADS of cakes in the fridge. It was one of the guys birthdays yesterday, and from the sounds of it everyone gave him cakes as presents! I moved some into tins in the cupboard....lets hope most of it's not gone in the next few days, it's a lot of cake to eat between two! Healthy diet out of the window, and no staff there in the day to monitor. I was intending to leave the house before 12, and go to the other house, catch up with things that went on last week... but I started sorting paperwork in the staff room and before I knew it I was in deep and needed to finish it.

TNT (Twenties N' Thirties from local churches, meets at the pub Sun eve) was good last night. We always take over a section of the pub, by rearranging the tables in a long line, increasing in length as the group increases over the evening. I feel the group is very useful, because there are many young adults who want/need a chance to meet up with other Christians their age, in an informal no pressure environment. Many churches have youth -up to Uni age (18/19), student, mothers and toddlers etc groups. But this leaves out the 20-30's, many of which haven't started a family or got married yet. I chose not to go to University, as there were no courses I wanted to do, and I knew I didn't want to get into a debt of thousands of pounds, just to go to Uni. I'm not all that academic (if it wasn't for spell check that would be wrongly spelt), I prefer much more practical approaches to learning. When I started looking for a church to suit my needs I was 19, so I was more the age of the students, but not being a student meant I did not fit in with that group within the church. I was very glad to hear about TNT. I think it's a great group for a young Christian adult, new to the city, to get to know people easily and have the opportunity to go to other activities going on. Many churches struggle to hold onto the 16-30s group, and I think it's often because there is not enough support for them.

I really should upload my Bristol pics... another post needed for that I think.

999.....Police please!

2007-02-17T10:29:00.000Z

There was a break in last night in the shop below us! It was a bit after midnight, and we were just about to go to bed, I popped to the toilet, and thought I heard a bit of noise (like moving furniture) but wasn't sure if I did or if I was hearing things, as it's an old house, and we often have false alarms. I listened for a bit, and heard nothing, then the alarm system started. We grabbed shoes and dashed downstairs, to find that the bottom panel of the shop door at the front of the property was not there. They had broken the frame around the glass (must have been what I heard) and moved the glass around the corner. When they came to climb through the hole in the door, the alarm went off [and they ran off]. After realising there had been a break we dived upstairs for phones, and I rung 999 Police. We then rung my Dad, who owns the property - woke him up! The police arrived and we filled them in... there was 4/5 police cars in total came to check the situation, and one had a sniffer dog who sniffed the area. Dad arrived and confirmed nothing had been taken.

It was quite a night! The police said they would send forensics round in the morning to dust for finger prints - we're still waiting for them to arrive. It was really hard to get to sleep afterwards. Andy and I talked about it, then we read for a few mins and by about 2pm tried to get some sleep. I couldn't get warm, and couldn't sleep because Andy was snoring or his leg was twitching in his sleep (dreaming of catching the burgular?), so I lay there for a while considering whether to find the sleeping bag and sleep on the sofa, but I did drift off.

We're back!

2007-02-15T23:04:00.000Z

Well Bristol was good fun. I'll post some pics when I get round to plugging the camera into the laptop/PC. We followed Bens recommendations and stayed at the Ibis Hotel. On Tuesdays we took the train to Bristol, and after checking in, we looked around the town centre. We both needed new shoes, so I dragged Andy round lots of shoe shops and didn't find anything comfortable/nice that day. On Wednesday we went to Explore@Bristol, which was fun. The planetarium was probably the best part. Our hotel was rather posh, but the bed wasn't very comfortable, we woke up with aching backs. Andy's done a good post on the time away, pop over to his site, so see a pic of me playing with an electrical device which points to different points (planets, moons, satellite, asteroids...etc).

Printers are pains

2007-02-12T17:21:00.000Z

OH stupid printers. This morning I was having problems printing out service sheets straight - on the print preview it's fine, but the printer messes it up, and prints it out at a bit of an angle. The main problem with this is that the service sheet is double sided. It had been working until recently. We went to the church office to try and copy the sheets (and angle them in the copier to compensate), but it was still out of toner. We managed to get someone to put more toner in, but then it wouldn't work - just chucked out blank sheets! So we'll need to go back there in Friday... they will have used the copier for their churches services in the morning, so it SHOULD be working in the afternoon - we hope! We came back to the computer this afternoon, with the intention of printing off our accommodation confirmation info, and the printer no longer "exists" on the PC! The drivers have all gone.....NO idea where! How can they just disappear, when we haven't done anything?! We trying to install new drivers so far hasn't gone too well either, it thinks they have been installed - if so where are they hidden?

Week off!

2007-02-11T23:27:00.001Z

I'm on holiday for a week now! It's been a busy weekend, but it's now over and I can relax. Work was ok yesterday, I finished at 4.30pm. The more frustrating part of the day was trying to sort out the photocopying. We went to the church offices, and had trouble with the first lots of morning sheets getting jammed in the machine, so we changed paper and that was fine, then we did half of one side of the evening ones and it ran out of toner! There was nothing more we could do, we don't know how to change toner, and know that it we attempted people wouldn't be happy with us. So glad the morning ones were done. We got in touch with my Dad and asked to use the business photocopier which is downstairs....so we got keys and sorted that this afternoon. It's been a long day, but a good one. We were at church for 8.40am to help set up. We also had ended up doing the teas and coffees- which was our best ever this week, it's normally something we dread. They've got a coffee peculator as well as an urn now, so life is easier. Because we'd had the job thrown upon us yesterday, we got sympathy and had lots of helpers to carry trays for us!

I finished work at 10pm, and was planning to walk home, but it was CHUCKING it down with rain. I knew Andy had gone to the pub/TNT (twenties to thirties group) after church, and was getting a lift home from Ben, so I gave him a ring to find out if he was still there and if Ben could give me a lift on the way to taking Andy home.... Instead I ended up joining them at the pub. An old friend of ours called Charlie was at the pub, so Ben came out picked me up, and took me back to the pub to chat to Charlie before she had to go. Really nice to see her again, it's been a while!

Off to bed now. Looking forward to a week off work with Andy!

Colin!

2007-02-09T11:11:00.000Z

OK, couldn't resist searching out a few pictures of Colin! On both pictures he's on the left. The first was obviously taken on my wedding day, we were in the middle of working out where the photographer wanted us, which why the strange looks on our faces.
The second one was taken from the Quay side, where we stopped for lunch.

My Grandparents are the other two (other than Andy) in the picture.

Hey we have a new shower (THANKS DAD!) which feels so much nicer! Yey I can have a longer shower without fear of the water getting cold while I'm covered in soap!

It's very wet today, which doesn't inspire me much. I tidied a bit though, and the washing is currently spinning (and possibly annoying the guys downstairs), so will need putting out to dry in a min.

I am potentially working from 1.30 today, until 5pm tomorrow! I think it's more likely I'll finish at 4pm though, because by 4pm I'll be so desperate to go home that I won't want to go and cook a meal at the small house (which they won't want to eat until after 6pm anyway), so I might be lazy and just give them money to get some fish and chips or something - but not give them £15 like the manager did (all of which they spent on take away for two people - just a bit excessive)!

I'm really looking forward to next week, I have the whole week off! Andy and I are spending two nights in Bristol then it leaves us lots of time to relax back home.

I'll leave you with a last pic for now. I took this the other night. Andys not been feeling 100%, so to warm the bed up at night I've been heating up the lavender bean-filled bear I got for Christmas. Here's a pic of the poor thing being zapped in the microwave!

What a day

2007-02-08T20:44:00.000Z

Wooo, that was a busy morning. At the moment quite a few people are using up the last of their annual leave, so it's not always the person you expect to be on with you at the moment. Today was one of those days, and since I hadn't been at that house for a while I didn't know. After studying the diary, and making a plan for the morning (made up of the appointments recorded) I realised that between 9.45 and 12.15 was going to need to be a structured plan. It was all fine, and going to plan until one of the residents informed me he had a dental appointment this morning - which was not written on today's diary page....when I looked again I found that there was an appointment card. The problem here is that there were two appointments at the same time, and only two staff one - hmm, who's going to stay at the home?! Fortunately I able to ask another member of staff to come over to help for 3/4 hr.

My day got better though, and now just relaxing with my husband! I'd better go and let Andy have the laptop!...

I want to say a hello to Colin, who might be reading this post (so my sources tell me). Colin is my uncle (Mum's bro). Hey Colin say hi to Granny and Grandad from me! Unfortunately I don't have embarrising photos to post of him on the computer.

It's cold outside

2007-02-06T21:22:00.000Z

Today has been a day off work. This morning I went to the womens Bible study, which was good, and a friend of mine came along for the first time and liked it - I'm so glad she came along, sounds like she'll come again.

I spent most of this afternoon on the computer sorting out two weeks worth of service sheets for church. So glad I got given the songs for two weeks, as then we can enjoy our time off work without the hassle to sorting sheets as well - more of a week off that way. We'll be home for most of it, but not as much fun if there's lots of serious stuff to do.

The weathers turning cold here now, on our local radio station say were saying that someone had reported snow in Pennsylvania (highest area of the city) - we of course saw none of it, and it seems to have warmed up a bit since this morning (3 degrees C at 9.30am, 7 degrees C at 7.30pm). We've got the heating on full blast though, and keeping the doors closed to contain the heat. So glad we've got our duvet combo on - snug!

Andy's trying to not give in to a cold. He's got a runny nose, sore throat, aches..... and cold fingers. We've got some decent pure orange juice and I'm trying to get him to look after himself. Unfortunately he's on the 8-4 shift this week, so it's lots of early starts. I was glad not to need to be up so early this morning, so I snoozed (in and out of various dreams) on and off until about 8.45. The shower was kind to me, and gave me a warm enough shower, better than the one that resulted in Andy's screams last night! After talking to Dad today, it won't be long until we'll be able to have HOT water again (if we're that mad). It's useful having a landlord who's also your Dad!

Walking in the woods

2007-02-05T15:32:00.000Z

It was nice to have a short day of work today - I so did not want to get out of bed this morning, but it's a good thing I did. I came back and had lunch, put some washing on and went out for a walk. The weather was so nice today I could not stay inside all day, so I grabbed the camera and drove to the nearest (Stoke) woods. Other than lots of mud as I got further down the hill, it was a lovely wander around. I found a decent stick and worked out my own path around. It was lovely to have the sun shining through the trees. I didn't stay too long though, because of the sun was starting to hide behind the trees.

I didn't realise until today I can get that just ironed smell in a room without touching an iron. I did two loads of bedding washing today, and I wanted to get the pillowcase protectors dry so we could use them tonight (yey they are pure white again!) so I put them on the hot radiator (we have no tumble drier), and they dried lovely and gave out a smell as if they had been ironed- warm and clean smell!

This evening we had pancakes! I defrosted some chicken this afternoon and was going to do a stir fry, and then the idea of pancakes came in my head....Andy was very pleased..... so we had savoury and sweet ones! Mmmm chicken, pepper, onion, garlic and herbs! The different recipes I found on the Net confused me though, they all asked for different amounts of eggs to the same amount of flour etc.....did two different batches using different recipes and it all tasted good!

More photos

2007-02-03T21:50:00.000Z

Here's Andy in his new glasses. It's not the best pic, but the best photos were taken on his camera phone and I can't be bothered to sort them right now. I'm still getting used to seeing him in glasses, but I like them....well I did help him to choose them, so it would be silly if I didn't like them. Andy's been having fun all day enjoying being able to see distances he couldn't see clearly before.

Here's Astra after she had her hair done today. She popped round to show us.

It's been a good day, with lots of relaxing and doing things with Andy. Tomorrow we've got the church family lunch - yum fun!

17 year old fun

2007-02-03T10:31:00.000Z

This was last nights fun. Andy's lil bro and mates. We had a tap on the window at about 11pm from Ross to ask if we wanted to see what they'd found!

So this is what 17 years olds do when they are bored!

I ran upstairs and grabbed the camera and Andy's phone so we could play with the photos modes at night time.

Andy and Ross looking at Andy's phone.