Hang on, wait a minute!

Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Can we just pause for a little bit, I have 2 more presents left to finish! Only have half a day at work to get through before swinging by the shop for last minute essentials and hubby's stocking gifts.

I cheated with everyone's presents at work this year, I found some Christmas scented tea lights on sale in Sainsburys, so bought a box of those (bonus for me, I get the left overs!) and some of the Soft Caramels from Tesco. Cheap and cheerful! I had some wrap left over from the easter eggs last year so I used the last of that to make them look pretty! It's OK, everyone has already received them ;)

Oliver made us some ornaments for the tree :)

 



And yesterday Elijah was playing at Nan Irene's, as it was the Saturday before Christmas we had a full house!

 



 

A lot of stuff is going on at the moment, so I will be missing in action (though I may tweet a little, so keep your eyes peeled and follow me! @mmmbisto ) I shall be spending time with family and will not be blogging again until the New Year. So I will leave you saying:

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

T'is the season to party & be with family

Wednesday I had the day off work, and it was nice to simply do nothing.
Well I say nothing, but I did blow the bulb in the lamp, had to change that & then I had the fire on & so checked the carbon monoxide detector and changed the batteries on that. And cleaned up a little. But other than that, I sat & watched Miracle on 34th Street... I find it hard to believe myself that I've never seen this movie before but I loved it! Then recorded Phineas & Ferb xmas special onto DVD along with another film "home for the holidays", 100 years of royal variety show... Just catching up on TV shows I can't watch normally because the darling husband of mine has been rather attached to Call of Duty. I don't know which one I hate more: COD or World of Warcraft LOL!



 

Saturday previous to that though I headed out with one of my favourite nephews. It was just me, Mum & Eljiah and we caught the bus into town. We didn't do much, it was just nice to walk around and I got to push Elijah around for a little too which was quite a novelty for me ^_^ and while mum went in to a small shop to get some stuff I chatted away to him & took some pictures. OK 10 Hipstamatic photos, but I need some photos to get cracking on his scrapbook!

Fast forward to last night & I got to go out with the Zumba ladies & I didn't get to bed until 1am! Oops! But we had a great night, and tonight is our work xmas meal. Erm, after last night I certainly won't be out late tonight!

Something to

How on earth is it the end of November already? While the last 10 days or so I have been feeling super festive, that might have had something to do with doing the first Disney Xmas party of the season on 9th November, I'm still feeling seriously unprepared.

My Xmas list keeps changing, I want to do a sort of "minimalist" one this year in the sense that I want to adopt the

"something you want, something you need, something to wear & something to read"

for this year. So not lots of stuff cluttering up, stuff that will be eaten/used up/useful, the something to read will be a book on my kindle to avoid adding to the already overflowing book case, but for the hubster his something to read will probably be a DVD, until as such time we get something like an Apple TV to store movies on ;) lol.
So my beloved bath products are OK as they will be used up, and when hubby has bought me Dove sets in the past it has saved my buying any body washes for a while & saves on the old grocery bill, so that's a winner too. My something to wear will be a pair of slippers that I could do with. Funnily enough my problem is thinking of my want & need.

I am mostly looking forward to the atmosphere & spending time with family & catching up on scrapbooking projects as I will have time at hometo do things other than my usual task of chores!



 

Coming to you live. From my sofa.

I apologise for being missing in action, but I got super busy before our trip to Disney World, then spent 2 weeks in Disney World where I got sick as a very bad cold was doing its rounds in the All Stars resort (well it was definitely in Music where we stayed and I'm sure it was in Movies and Sports too!) and Gareth got really sick too. We spent most evenings/nights snuggled up in bed watching American TV and a few days while walking around the parks we just were too exhausted to do much and ended up chilling out at Downtown Disney or back in the room to rest. I should have known we were doomed from the start when Hurricane Sandy turned up, not that Sandy actually caused any issues in Orlando though we did have to take a bit of a detour but at least we could get to Florida!

Then we cam home and I continued to be exhausted and ill, and ended up going back on my inhaler (despite not being asthmatic) as this chesty cough was really knocking me sideways and I was finding it hard to catch my breath and it seemed hard to breathe and for added measure I ended up with laryngitis too. On Monday at work I couldn't get through to the doctors and a nurse at NHS Direct on Sunday suggested I see one. Luckily I was allowed to just turn up and wait to be seen only I could only be seen by a Triage Nurse who told me: plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, prop myself up in bed with lots of pillows to help with the coughing, and rest my voice. For a week. Uh-oh. So I am getting up in the morning and moving to the sofa as we have more TV channels in here and the arms on the sofa make it easier to be propped up, then going back to bed at night. Except yesterday when I had to get up because of the police being around but I have a feeling that story isn't finished just yet so watch this space and I can elaborate if you haven't already read my twitter.

So to top all that off, my beloved 3GS bit the dust. He was giving me minor issues while we were away, however upon our return he just refused to play at all if he wasn't on wifi and even if he was he was being temperamental. I guess he knew he was going to be replaced soon, I just didn't figure out it would be so soon!



I love my new phone, all Disney-fied (well I bought the case ready for it as I knew I would eventually be getting one) and bonus it came with D-Tech screen protector - get in! My phone has a FLASH, like a proper camera, though could have really done with that in Florida haha! Only had a quick go with Siri this evening and asked to google Ali Edwards because I just had to play, and even with laryngitis Siri understood me (the reason I hadn't played sooner!). Impressed! When my voice is better I will have a proper play! Though I want Siri to be a woman and not a bloke.

So for now I go back to Pinterest and carry on listening to my Christmas playlist (I caved & bought Digital Pants vol 1 because it had My Favourite Christmas Sweater, Zombie & Hear Those Jingle Bells on it!) and I heard good things about this year's xmas song... and I LOVE Hear Those Jingle Bells :) So I have last year's great xmas song, and this years and Snowed In album to listen to. Looking at the positives ;)

Oh and in all that time I only gained 2 pounds. Not bad going at all ^_^

It's Complicated

True to my word, as I joked with 2 of the girls in the office this week, the word of the week most certainly was “complicated”. I have excitedly found out my “travel slippers” which was a cute gift from my nan for my honeymoon and have been wearing them, along with my Mickey Mouse earrings. It’s coming around so fast.



Time goes so fast. I remember back in April last year thinking that October 2012 seemed so far away, yet here it is. I left college over 10 years ago, I mean it didn’t seem that long ago, and even one image that has cropped up on Pinterest that reminds me of this:

Source: artpixie.tumblr.com via Kirsty on Pinterest

I have spoke to a couple of my college friends this week which cheered me up (especially when one conversation involved how awesome Max is from Tangled LOL, I am partial to Pascal too he’s adorable!) The other week I had a message from one of my old friends, we hung out a lot back in the day, but there was a misunderstanding that ended in us not speaking for at least 8 years I believe. I had messages before but I simply deleted them as I just wasn’t interested in hearing what they had to say. Probably such a silly thing to do and I realised this, so I finally replied  It’s been a nice catch up over this week, apologies were exchanged, and we have moved on. I feel like a weight has been lifted and it’s nice to know I have my friend back for random gossip sessions & pick me ups. Remembering all the other people we hung out with too & being told how they are doing. It’s been quite a week for sure.

Now it’s Friday night, I have to get some sleep before I have to get up early and have my eye appointment. Last one I hope! Contact lenses are a pain in my rear, and I am still rather fond of my glasses thank you, but I hate not being able to see in situations where I can’t wear my glasses. So when I get a month’s supply that should last me a good 30 weeks I should think! Night night.

30

So my gorgeous husband turned 30 yesterday (shhhh, he doesn't like to be reminded about this!) and so our weekend has officially begun as I have taken the day off work to join my husband in a lazy day to make a 3 day weekend. Bliss! Well I've only taken a day and a half off so far this year, so it's very welcome.



I'm also trying out a lot of cinnamon flavoured things. At the moment, it's cinnamon swirls, in a vain attempt to make it trigger memories, best case scenario of Disney, but at the least I'm hoping for Autumn!



How has the last 2 years just whizzed by? Seriously? I can't believe it's the end of September already. The anticipation is the best part ;)

Short and Sweet

I am feeling beyond lousy right now. A cold has managed to sneak up on me this afternoon & I've been struggling ever since, so I shall be very brief:

Saturday:


I had my contact lens appointment. I haven't worn any in 8 years. I remembered why. Alas I need them, so I just need to make it work for a couple of months and then I shall go back to being perfectly happy with my glasses. I love my glasses. I'm rather attached to them. Sadly to get around a water park I need those contact lenses! And I look silly without my glasses.



I actually got around to Smashing last night. I've not touched any scrapbooking stash since I last did some smashing back in April? or June? Either or. I worked on my Disney Smash Book which I'm particularly fond of right now :) It's hard to believe that we've waited for so long and now our time is almost here! My American sim has arrived (I've decided on Red Pocket) & my halloween costume has been tried on & I looooove it! I will be a brunette Alice lol. I was lucky enough to find an official Disney one on eBay pretty cheap, and I'm already excited to get to wear it properly at the party. I have already warned my work colleagues between now & our departure date shall be pretty much unbearable ;)

Right, bed calls. I need some rest, and hope that I can sleep it off.

Autumnal

Well hello there. Yes I am still here, but to be fair I didn't think there was much to blog about. I have come up with a few ideas for topics to get on my soapbox about the next time that happens. My car got fixed! I was so happy when it started back up thanks to wonderful uncle!

I have been entertaining all my Facebook friends with old family photographs, and as a result myself and 2 of my cousins have changed our profile pictures to old school ones. Well, all the kiddies are back to school and little Lauren had her first day so it seemed fitting. To be honest talking about old photos is another post in itself and I think I may save that topic for next week if things are the same old, same old.

The weather is certainly changing. I have been happily curled up on the sofa at home, apple & spice candle going with our small lamp on as the night draws in early. And eating beef casserole (Will have to get some part baked rolls for the cupboard!)

I have done a free website mockup class in photoshop which for me was a perfect excuse to have a play learning new techniques that I was doing the long way round so now I know a quicker way. Some of the tips will also help when I get around to doing a few other of my crafty bits (when time & inspiration allows it shall be a freebie kit and some more Hanson crafts). I've not scrapped in ages, but I want to focus a bit more on design right now. That's where my head is at.


I had some fab news at the hospital as well: I definitely have more proctitis and because it's only affecting 10cm in a few months they reckon I should be off the meds all together and in remission! So fingers crossed :)

Realistic

Sat on the bus as I begin to write this post (18.42pm). You would not believe the week I've had, and it is going to continue into next week. Right now I just want to savour the weekend and get my car fixed and then wish it was Thursday lol. Actually better still, wish it was the following weekend and get to catch up with Oli.

Tuesday I did my usual morning routine to jump into my car. It wouldn't go. I have spent the week catching the bus and then walking the rest of the way to work. But on the walk to the bus today I stopped and took a couple of photos which was quite neat.



I haven't had a weekly bus ticket since I finished college back in summer 2002! Still, I get to rise early on my weekend to try and jump start my car and get it down to Discount Tyres to buy a new battery. As my dad pointed out: it's the same battery I've had since I had the car and it's the summer. I need a new one. Getting up earlier was a bit of a nightmare, and just 4 days of it and I am exhausted. Tonight I didn't get home until 7.10pm and I couldn't be bothered to cook anything and I was tired by the time I got home. Heck it's taken me almost 4 hours to write this post alone!



And what do you think of the cool print we have up in our living room now...? :D



Anyway, I am off to bed because it's really late and I am beyond exhausted!

Goals

I am actually quite shocked myself to be honest, I have not been counting the calories for weeks now, it's been and going to be some time before I get to go swimming again. I've been snacking on the usual crap (I've been super busy at work lately though it shouldn't be an excuse, I know) just on Monday we had no food in the house and shopping want being delivered until 8pm and I was hungry. I happened to find a bag of Doritos in the cupboard and that was my tea. Then the shopping arrived and I had hot buttered crumpets! I really didn't want to weigh myself as I have not been feeling great on the meds I have been given after my hospital appointment & *ahem* my "lady" issues too. But I knew I had to face it and come to terms with my slight hiccup of a 1 pound gain.

I was prepared to chastise myself for giving up once again and wondering why I keep doing it to myself.
The truth was that I had actually lost two pound! Say what? There has got to be some mistake, surely? Hey, not that I am complaining mind you! I thought I was stuck at 9 stone (126lb) and was never to break through! I am now 124 (8st 12!) woo-hoo!
I've come so far and I will inevitably put weight on when I get to America and my goal is still achievable. I can still do this! I have but 4 pound left to lose unto I reach my first goal weight. Yes I'd love to get down to about 8st. Sure the old muffin top is still there, but it's a work in progress, and I wore a dress on Monday and I felt positively fabulous in it. Sometimes it's just nice to dress up and it's easy to lose that, especially for me as I very very rarely get to dress nicely.



It's also been a time for a bit of reflection for me as the August bank holiday approaches, autumn is right around the corner (a season I've not been a fan of until the last year or two!) and back to school shopping is in full swing (hmm, note to self: I need new trousers for work) and some changes are in order around this place. Starting with an "autumn deep clean" around the flat for sure this bank holiday and some quality husband time as I've been retreating and hiding myself away after work because I've wanted a bit of an escape, and he's been so understanding of it and hasn't complained though I'm sure he wants to lol. I do feel like I'm constantly battling with myself over things, and it's time I overcome them and be the better person I strive to be. Only I can make the changes and I have to stand up and finally do them, and I shall start by cleaning the bathroom and sorting the bedroom out this weekend! The bigger projects (the kitchen and lounge!) will be on my list for the next few weekends after that, not to mention keeping my fingers crossed for some dry weather to get cracking on the garden!

Glad it's over!

The whole experience at hospital itself wasn't that bad, thanks to the drugs that's for sure. I wasn't quite away with the fairies as my UC buddies suggested, but I was woozy and it made the whole thing a little more... manageable.

No, what got me was the whole "prep" thing. I was sent a big bag of medicines by the hospital to take the day prior to my appointment, and oh my gosh. It was horrific. The medicine I hated the most out of all of it, moviprep, was a lemon and salt flavour powder that I had to mix with a litre of water and drink over an hour. On Sunday it took me well over 2 hours to drink it, but I somehow managed to chug it down. Monday morning at 6am I had to drink a further 1 litre over an hour. With 10 mins left on the clock, I barely drank a quarter of it when I just couldn't physically drink anymore. My body was literally rebelling against me. "Just one more sip" I thought... I sipped... and I threw it ALL back up again.

It was a hard decision to not go swimming on Sunday morning, but at 10am I had to take  tablets and wash it down with 2 litres of water (and after that much water, swimming was just not happening!), and I had to explain to my 3 year old nephew that I wasn't swimming as I had lots of medicines to take that day and drink a lot of water too. Then come lunch time as everyone tucked into their Sunday roasts... I had a small bowl of vanilla icecream, as no solid food was permitted, but some vanilla icecream was permitted. To be fair, I'm glad I had it because no food that day was HARD. By Monday morning I was just feeling terrible from the lack of food, not to mention I had hardly slept at all the entire night either.

I thought that I would have been positively ravenous afterwards but I really wasn't. I happily ate the fruit shortbread biscuits and hot chocolate, but for the rest of the day I couldn't manage a lot of food. Only today am I getting my appetite back, but I'm still not eating tea at night.

I also got rather excited when a friend of mine (a fellow UK Scrapper) posted for help on her Wordpress site, and I absolutely jumped at the chance! I hadn't designed anything in aaaaaaaages. So I did this design for her :) Check out her site: Foxys Fancies.

On to the Disney Prep!

It was nice to get back in to swimming on Sunday :) I swam around with Elijah as he sat in his little rubber ring. I love this time we have on a Sunday in the pool and am tempted to get a waterproof case for the old cybershot because if it leaks, well the old gal had a good run & we have Gareth's camera now anyway ;) I think that shall be another thing to add to my wunderlist. Then I can have some pretty shots and video for Oliver and Elijah to look over when they get older, and think that I'm the cool aunt for documenting such things :D And the case would come in handy for the trip (I shall be taking!) to the water parks. If only I can persuade Gareth on the day to go on crush'n'gusher with me!

On the positive side I shall be doing some more Disney planning with Gareth this weekend as we shall be home pretty much all the time. We will be doing the odd little bits like our ESTAs and APIs, looking at our itinery which still needs more work. Gareth is super upset that one of the tasters at the food and wine festival (the rib dish at France) is not on the menu! I have to admit I am quite sad too because it was gorgeous! It was a rib dish encased in mashed potato with red wine gravy. We had already said one day at Epcot we would have lunch in World Showcase and eat 2 or 3 of those dishes each! LOL


We shall be bringing home american food for sure! We already plan on bringing an extra suitcase home ;) Gareth treated me to some froot loops for breakfast on Sunday and they were goooooood

Allergies strike again!

Gareth often jokes that I should stop falling apart. I hope you forgive my lack of blogging for the last few days but I am suffering a little because of my UC, I feel like I could sleep for a week, and so I decided to relax on the sofa and catch up on The Glee Project and Tia and Tamera (love those shows!) and try out my Red Leaf bath goodies which arrived! I was so excited! They are gorgeous!


I also had a tickle in my throat for the last month keeping me up at night and so I've not slept through the night until Thursday night. It seems my wonderful allergies (my perennial rhinitis) struck again and I'm back on the steroids, but in nasal spray form to get to the back of my throat to help with the irritation. I feel exhausted and my illnesses are starting to bring me down right now. My nan cheered me up with an old photo of myself from 1983. I wasn't nicknamed punk rocker for nothing. I adore old photos!


I sadly don't get to have a nice weekend this weekend though, however I will not get into that, it's purely for my hospital appointment and it includes fasting and lots of icky medicine and I shall say no more. I am however looking forward to Monday afternoon next week where I will get to sleep and have a perfect excuse for lazing on the sofa with my husband taking care of me as I shall have been sedated, and will not remember much and will be forbidden from everything that requires brain power and concentration from driving to cooking.

Did I mention I cannot wait for my holiday? I am looking forward to having a bit of fun and forgetting the stresses of home! It's coming around fast and I am so excited! But still so much stuff to do!

Oh hello there summer

That was quite a nice surprise this week seeing as not that long ago they warned us the grey icky rainy days were with us until at least August 5th! It was super hot in my car, but I do think my temperature gauge was a little off, the temperature wasn't that hot outside I am sure!



We had an ice cream van at work!



I got to stand outside and soak up the sun on a short break and play with hipstamatic (but of course!)



Wearing flip flops...



... and at the weekend I got to wear my new yellow summer dress. I don't normally wear things like this, nor in this colour but I saw it and HAD to get it (and I got it in an electric blue colour too!)



I got to hang out with the best nephews in the world too! Me and Oli built sandcastles in his sandpit, and had some little flags to adorn them with.



And Elijah was a little grumpy and tearful wanting to be with his mum as my dad and my bro worked on their new bedrooms.

I only wished we had this weather more often!  And in other news, I have had my hospital appointment through for my tests to find out a bit more firmly what is wrong with me. Scared, but my fabulous support group have had me giggling and relaxing over their stories of their tests. I couldn't wish for some better support. *waves* Hello guys! You are AWESOME. It's funny that in this short week, they have become my extra little "family".

And I've booked my Halloween and Christmas party tickets. Oh yeah! Nothing going to stop me from visiting Florida now, not going isn't an option for us. Now to decide what to be for halloween... Alice in Wonderland or a CSI...?

U to the C

Wednesday afternoon my life & my future turned upside down. Believe it or not, though I am quite open in general to my friends & family, only my parents & my husband have known I've been a little bit poorly recently. And as it has been in the past I was given a diagnosis that didn't quite make sense to me and I ended up going to the docs a few more times until they decide to investigate further to be on the safe side.
However, my first test the doctor could told me what he suspected, a month later I went to the doctors for my results and was just given medication and told I would need to go to the hospital to see a specialist. So I got there not knowing what on earth was going on. I got weighed (weight has been staying at a steady 126 for weeks now!) and then i got to see the consultant. I was still completely in the dark as I was told I would need one more test done & talking about "my condition". I explained I had no idea what this supposed condition even was and that was when I got told I had suspected ulcerative colitis, and the test was to rule out crohns disease as they are both very similar but crohns is the worse of the two. To put it simply: my body is attacking healthy tissue in my intestine, and it's not good. I will need medication for the rest of my life.

I was ushered out of the room with a nurse with an information pack and it just hit me. I cried! The nurse was super nice to me and put the request in for my test instead of me doing it so I could ring my mum, and the nurse gave me the advice of "whatever you do, don't google it!" I was instructed to read the information pack, but I spent 20 tearful mins on the phone to my parents who were on their holiday, so I feel bad about quite possibly ruining their last couple of days because they will worry about me. Then I called my bro and went around to his house because Gareth wasn't due home for a while & I knew my nephews would cheer me up (which they did, as Elijah was smiling and giggling at me and Oliver showed me all his toys and told me he was spelling my name in the bath with the letters)
I'm still getting my head around all the information and a lot of my plans for the future are up in the air. Even Florida plans are difficult right now as I need my next test to rule our crohns before they can put it on my policy as they need a firm diagnosis, and I need a letter to say I am fit for travel. Thank heavens for the fact we took the policy out April 2011 when we booked the holiday! I do not have much luck otherwise... Holiday with my parents I got sick and ended up in hospital with pneumonia the week before we were due to leave and couldn't go as I was banned from flying for months. Florida for honeymoon? Had to have a polyp surgically removed in hospital weeks before we were due to fly. And now this. I'm sensing a pattern!

Still, at the weekend I made some cupcakes, but I need to start using proper butter as the stuff I have been using is spreadable butter and I can't pipe it, merely just "dribble" it on! But I did pull out all the stops and I made donuts... But they took HOURS!

(Love the fact that instagram made it look good haha!!) Well it's an evening of relaxing and more research on my condition. I've joined a group on Facebook and the people there are fabulous and so welcoming and not afraid to talk about everything, and they've made me feel a part of their group already. It's a scary time for me right now, but I won't let this disease bring me down!

Craig & Holly

On Saturday we had a great day at my cousin's wedding :) It was good to see family, and then quite a few people who I hadn't seen in years!



Leanne, my other cousin and sister of the groom, looked fab!



We had a disposable camera on the table and I shot a few, mum shot some and my uncle snapped a few pics too. He grabbed me up on the dancefloor, and I have another shot of me and my other uncle (father of the groom) which I still need to take off the camera lol.



The tables looked stunning too. I was teased over the cupcakes, I ended up having 1 and a half, they were soooooo good!



And I love this one of nan! "Cheese!"



Leanne also got a rare photo of us together. I went a little bit hipstamatic nuts that day, and then I continued well past the weekend and into this week. I will share some of those snaps for next week ;)  I seriously need a new iPhone than my 3GS, and a hipstamatic case *drools* That's my goal at the moment, I was going to wait until november to get a new phone but for the sake of my iphoneography, I am undecided :\

I also want to apologise as people have been leaving comments via facebook but my dashboard widget wasn't showing any, it was only by chance I clicked on a link back to facebook which showed a list of them! So I shall keep an eye on them that way, but thank you everyone I didn't realise!

Just 5 more minutes

I have had this horrible tickle in my throat for sometime now, but it's keeping me up at night so I've not been sleeping so well :( I'm looking forward to catching up on some sleep this weekend! In fact it's only 9.15pm but I am so tired I think I'm going to call it a day.
Speaking of this weekend, my cousin is getting married, so big family party! I took the opportunity to buy myself some nice stuff: I have a new dress, new shoes and a new bag. I never buy myself nice clothes and accessories ;) so perfect excuse to spend a little money... Seeing as a friend of mine told me about this website called "everything 5 pounds" and I bought some shoes from there, my dad got me the dress and the handbag was cheap off eBay. Bargain!
So next time I will have some pretty pictures of a wedding lol. Though I won't be photographing it with my SLR, I will have my hipstamatic and a camcorder instead :)

Holy swimsuit batman!

My swimsuit had what started as a small hole in the side but eventually became ten times larger! I had visions of me needing to get a new one but mum had sewn it up for me after she washed it (I do my laundry fri and sat normally, and my mum had hers and my dad's towels and swimwear to wash anyway so she took mine & Gareth's to save my having to do a wash just for them) yay mum! That should last me a little longer, but I will probably need a new one for Florida.

(My swimsuit with the small hole!)

(my family swimming! Mum, Dad and Oliver with Stewart leaning into the pool lol)

Otherwise nothing at all has happened that's worthy a mention, apart from I started a new zumba class with my mum this week and we loved it! Let's hope that will help me shift that muffin top! And I'm about to watch the last episode of Season 1 for Smash :(
Though I do have a cute little story to share, which ties in to swimming which I started the post with, seeing as I've shared it on Facebook and twitter already this week :)
After the absolute horror that was wearing my jewellery into the pool the other week, I learned my lesson and took it off! I placed them on the side and figured I'd put it all back on after my shower after swimming. When we got back we were in a bit of a rush because we had to head off to Cardiff for my Mother-In-Law's birthday dinner and I couldn't do the clasp up on my favourite necklace so I remembered in my jewellery box, an 18th birthday present from my friends at Safeway when I worked there, I had a star necklace that had a toggle clasp at the front and was easy peasy to put on and my neck felt so bare without one! I took the whole drawer out as we were in a rush and emptied the contents and low and behold! Look what I found!



Anyone who is not aware of my old diaryland days (the shameful horror!) won't know the story but basically my best friend at Safeway signed it, gave it to me and told me I'd keep it forever. So you can imagine the chuckle I had to myself when I stumbled upon this nearly 11 years later. I had enough time to snap a picture before we headed off, and you know what? I was going to throw it away and remembered that I hid it for the very reason of finding it again later, so I tucked it back away for the next 11 years when I get to discover it again and laugh my ass off at the fun all of us guys had when working at Safeway. Without a doubt one of my favourite jobs because I had such a great bunch of people to work with :)

In fact, here's the diary entry itself, from 24th august 2001:

Anyway, James was being an idiot and had a pocket full of Out Of Stock tickets in his pocket. They're new and he said he really liked them, signed the back of one and gave it to me! "You're gonna treasure that forever..." He smiled at me.
"Phish! no I'm not!" I replied. Wanna know the funny thing? I haven't got around to throwing it away yet. I got home, put it somewhere and it's lost forever!

Row your boat!

Friday after work I had the nice treat of my "no sleep for banditos" members only EP from Hanson. Bit of "up all night" cranked up on the headphones was just what I needed after the return to work after a 4 day weekend!



Saturday I had a bit of a surprise. Gareth and our friend matt in Florida both concocted a plan that involved me stood in the living room scratching my head wondering where on earth this noise was coming from only then to hear matt chuckling away to himself so I brought up his chat window when I realised what was going on. Lots of plans for our trip coming together though :)



On Sunday it was up bright and early for swimming! It was just me, mum, Stewart, Claire, Oliver and Elijah. But we had lots of fun. Me and Oli sat on one of the floats they have in the pool with the noodles in each hand "rowing" in the pool both singing "row, row, row your boat". I will have to make little "memory Journalling cards" to put in the boys albums so I can note such gems down ;) cannot wait for this Sunday as my dad is coming too so I will get to see him on fathers day, and Gareth has been instructed to join in as well!







And best off all? Tuesday I weighed in and was delighted to see 2 whole pounds lost this week! Plus the pound I lost the previous week even though I was convinced I had actually put it on, I am now back on track before my hiccup! 8 pound left to go!