Saturday 30 October 2010

The Time is Upon Us!

Just over 2 hours and counting.

The bags are packed.  I have packed emergency supplies of scarves and gloves and even a woolly hat - we are moving up the north end of the country for a few days after all.  The hot water bottle is studiously sat in the suitcase in case I get cold in the hotel.

You all think I am mad.  I would have to agree but for me I am being responsible; I have experience of that part of the country (well near it) when studying and more than enough experience of cold hotel rooms.

So yesterday, bills were paid, vet was visited, shopping was done, car was dropped off at the garage ( to find out how much more money we need to spend on it once we return from York) and Beautiful B and I went to the hairdressers.  I had the usual but am thinking of going from blond highlights to red streaks next month. 

I almost felt like I had bought a whole different person home.  Not only is almost all of Beautiful B's hair blond but she had a load whacked off it.  She looked at hair style magazines, found some she liked, stressed about having 7 inches cut off her hair.  Mum kindly took the books off her, browsed for a while and then said "What about this one?" Beautiful B said "Oooh, that's nice."  One wonders how she did not see it before, she had been looking at them for an hour.  She now looks (and if I am anything to go by, feels) like a new person. 

So, where was I?  Oh yes, bags packed which means the dogs are sulking and wandering around forlornly because they know that suitcases mean I am off on a trip.  Little do they know Hubby is going with me.  Beautiful B is looking after them this time:  I only hope she looks after the house the same way too.  Grampa is on standby to bob down the street and check on her a couple of times to make sure she is not throwing some wild house party or other similar heart attack inducing episode.

Hubby has packed most of his holdall.  It looks a bit daft - we are away for 3 days.  However, it means there is plenty of room for quaint Christmas decorations to make their way home to Blackpool with me.

Oh and the PS3 has been bought.  My mission to take over the house with blu ray games and films is afoot.  Now we just need the HD TV....

Thursday 28 October 2010

Today, I caught 3 dogs, a hamster, a giraffe and 2 elephants"

I quite like inventions that assist in my cleaning obsession regime.  Hubby regularly steers me away from anything with "NEW" splashed across it. 

Freddy fluff, the giraffe, moults like I have never seen.  The only other pet that could leave so many furballs around the house would be a persian cat - a cat he most certainly is not....

It can take an hour to hoover the stairs as not only does he moult at a mile a second, it sticks to the carpet like it's life depends on it.

So, when I discovered a new invention at the pet shop to get pet hair of the carpet, it went in the basket straight away.  Admittedly, I am strange - it's not normal to get so excited about something like that but Hubby knew as soon as I got through the front door that I had bought something new.  I think it was the manic shining expression in the eyes that convinced him.

The inventor may have been a window cleaner who owned a dog because "The Pet Magnet" looks like a window scraper type thingy and it works the same way - drag it across the carpet and it pulls the fur up for you to pluck off the carpet.  I was fascinated, the best invention I had found for a year.

I lined Hubby and Beautiful B up at the bottom of the stairs to show them how impressive I was.  The biggest reaction was a raised eyebrow and a shake of the head.

I went on a mad cleaning session, Hubby joined in if only to stop me working myself into a frenzy and claimed he dragged up all sorts of animals from the stairs.  I suspect he was secretly very impressed but could not be seen to be as impressed as he clearly was.

I now have a stock of them in the cupboard.

As you can tell, I am easily pleased.  The last time I was as weird was when I used Christmas money from everyone to buy a Dyson Animal hoover - advertised as good at picking up pet hair.

I lovingly (seriously!) unpacked it from the box, added the stairs attachment and set off on my mission.  I run in the living room shouting "You HAVE to get a load of this!!!!", dragged Hubby of the couch and made him watch a demonstration of just how fantastic the attachment was.  Cue, raised eyebrow but at the same time I saw the love and amusement in his eyes as though to say "...and this is why I love you so".

Said pet magnets are currently stored in the cupboard...you know, the one that is stuffed full of cleaning products (that are most certainly needed thank you!), patiently waiting for the day that the Dyson Hoover goes on strike and they are considered as important as they once were.

Little do they know, they will soon be needed.  We allow Freddy Giraffes hair to grow in Winter - after all, it's not fair to make him freeze just to protect the carpets.  They will pick up the worst of the tumbleweed to preserve the life of the hoover.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Found it.....

Not that I am obsessed or anything but below is the link for Cheryl Coles performance on the X-Factor - you know the one with the zebra stockings that only she could carry off.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVd_-inKQQI

She's tiny, I'm tiny - in height anyway.  If I starved myself for 2 years and exercised like a mad woman I might be that thin one day. 

I wouldn't wear zebra stockings because that would just look silly in the office but I would be safe in the knowledge that I could....

On a different note Beautiful B and I are off to the cinema to watch Paranormal Activity 2 - I thought the first one was rubbish but the best bits are always about watching Beautiful B jump about in her seat like a Mexican jumping bean.  I must avoid the tacos, I must avoid the tacos.

Vampires vs Aliens

The only problem (if it can, indeed, be considered a problem) with having Sky HD fitted is that a) you have sooooo much more space to record things and b) they kindly fit the old Sky+ box in the bedroom for more inane recordings.

Since then I have been recording all sorts of things including Oprah.  I'm not really into it, so I tend to read the ditty about what that particular show is about and delete most of them.

I watched the Pink episode because, well, you just would and I missed her in concert (but I was with her in spirit), I delete all episodes related to doctor type things, I watched the episode about hoarders because I wanted to see if they were the complete opposite to me (they weren't).

However, I was intrigued by the episode with Stephanie Meyer so deemed that watchable.  I find it amazing that she, like the lovely lady who graced us with Harry Potter, just seemed to wake up and decide to write a story.

If her story is true, I have great respect for Stephanie - not many people have a freaky dream, wake up and think "mmmm, I am going to write about that", let alone make squillions out of it.  She seemed a bit obsessed about writing the story, I wondered if she even neglected her family for a while as a result of her obsessiveness.  If so, they will obviously have forgiven her now they live in a huge mansion and enough money to paper a small island.  I also wondered how she managed to write a whole story and not tell her husband what she was feverishly doing on the computer - I am sure my Hubby would have got suspicious or at least worried that I was losing what very few marbles I have left.

I have freaky dreams - I once dreamt about vampire zombie babies - I thought they were cute, my friend (in the dream) wanted to empty to petri dishes (because evidently that is where you would grow them if you decided to do so and on a cruise liner which was hanging off a cliff no less) and kill them.  I thought they were cute and wanted to keep them.  I remember wondering why the cruise liner was precariously perched on a cliff and not falling off, why we thought it would be an idea to hide on a cruise liner, how the fire that totally stopped the adult zombies from boarding the ship and eating us had got there and why I knew I was dreaming.

I did not, however, wake up and think I could write a story about them.  I just turned over and told Hubby about the dream.  He has since stopped asking what my dreams are about.  Unsurprising really.

I'm not convinced anyone would read a story that I wrote, my dreams tend to be totally out there and I don't think I would have the imagination to spin it out into a book.  Nor do I think that most of the population (or enough to provide me with a nice income) would be able to relate to the world that is my brain.....

Is it really ice?

So it is not even the end of October.  I got up at stupid o'clock in the morning, let the dogs out and thought "bbbrrrr, it's a bit chilly outside this morning" - not unusual in itself, it was only 5am after all and I am known to walk around with a hot water bottle in August.

I went upstairs, snuggled up in bed, thought about going to work for a couple of hours, ignored the little voices telling me I had enough work to last me a weeks worth of 24hr a day working and stayed there until 7.30am.

I dragged myself out of bed, threatened to make Hubby get the bus to work if he did not get out of bed.  The doglets snuggled into the warm spaces we left in the bed and hoped we did not notice.

Hubby would leave the bedroom curtains closed permanently - his argument being he gets home after work and closes them again to get changed into his scruffs - but being the good ex-army daughter that I am (or maybe just "normal"....there's a novelty) I opened the curtains and said "Wow, the car is iced up".

Here's where it got amusing for me.....

Hubby arrives at the window, ponders the green car that is mostly covered in ice and says "Are you sure it's ice?"

A small part of my brain......okay, all of it thought "What?!?" For a split second I pondered asking out loud rather than just to the aliens that live in my head "What else is it going to be, icing sugar?"  I mean, seriously, it clearly wasn't snow so what else could it have been.

"No dear, I am not sure.  Some random crazy person may have walked down the road and thought it would be a good idea to throw a bag of icing sugar over the car as a bit of fun."

I love Hubby, I adore him, I would walk to the ends of the earth for him....and that is saying a lot considering I haven't managed to walk to the gym in the last week....so I dismissed the aliens and didn't say it out loud.  After all, that could be construed as sarcasm.

So.....Winter is here, early even for the UK.  I do not like Winter, it's too cold for me.  I don't like getting out of bed.  The heating causes my migraines to be worse, Hubby gets too hot and has to go and fan himself outside in the cold at random points in time on a daily basis and I long for the days that I do not go to work in the dark and return home in the dark.

However, I can ignore that (most of the time) because it also means that it is nearly Christmas and I love all things Christmassy.  Hubby no longer allows me to put the Christmas Tree up on the 1st of November but he does follow me round shops and garden centres while I "ooh" and "ahhh" over the pretty decorations.  He tells me to buy them, I say no...I'll wait until the Boxing Day sale and he lovingly deals with the disappointment when they have sold what I should have bought in the first place.

Not this year though.....Hubby is taking me to York for a romantic weekend away.  Granted it is over Halloween but I KNOW they will have little quaint shops already selling all things Christmassy and so I will revert to being a child in the requisite sweet shop for the weekend and spend a fortune because this year when Hubby says "Darling, if you want it then buy it" I will indeed listen.

Sunday 24 October 2010

Drop Dead Gorgeous!!


I may have mentioned this before but I have no problem looking at other women and thinking "Wow! How gorgeous is she??"  Angelina Jolie is an often discussed subject and Hubby's friends are always commenting on how lucky he is to have someone who does not get jealous.  Mind you, the fact that they know they can ask me any question, no matter how rude, knowing I will answer it without batting an eyelid always helps. 

Suffice to say, the first time I met Hubby's best friends on a drinking session (after having been out with my friends for a few drinks which helped immensely), Sean enjoyed watching their chins hit the floor after he bet them they could ask me the rudest question they could think off and not make me blush, angry, embarrassed or upset. 

Cheryl Cole is the latest.  I think she is fabulous.  She seems down to earth but at the same time seems to effortlessly look damn good, all the time lol. 

Tonights episode of The X Factor was the latest episode of watching the TV and being amazed that she can wear some of the outfits she does and carry it off with such confidence and attitude.  Who else can strut around a stage with zebra type striped stockings and a jacket and get away with it. And don't even get me started on her legs - I could exercise 24 hrs a day for a year and not have legs like that! 




I can't find a picture of her outfit tonight but I like this one also!! 

I'm on a mission to lose weight and get fit.  If I can look half as good as this woman I will be over the moon.

One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, A, is the same.  She wouldn't believe it but she is the same - effortlessly gorgeous, tiny, petite with a pixie haircut that frames her face and gorgeous eyes so wonderfully.  I will have to send her the link to this blog, because she needs reminding a lot at the moment, just how stunningly beautiful she is, inside and out when both well and poorly.

Friday 1 October 2010

All Things Gym

Jeez, she is going to drive us nuts with the gym!!  I won't....oh, maybe I will, just a teeny weeny bit.

So, since I was there last year it has almost trippled in size.  It takes a while to get round it - that's my excuse for not finding some of the new weight stations for nearly 3 weeks.  They weren't well hidden, I have to admit. 

I decided to be semi sensible and start off at my less than "jump in with both feet" speed and build up my exercise tolerance on the treadmill.  Then I worked my way to some of the weights that I used to use on an almost daily basis.  4 nights ago I worked my way round the other side of the weight stations and found the new stations.  One exercises the obliques, one the lower back and one the butt - Yay - all (all right, not all but my most stubborn) problem areas.

Beautiful B is busy now that college has started so between college, nursing placements, McDs and all the jabs she is being subjected to (latter being a whole other blogging session) she has missed a couple of gym sessions with me and is making up for them at different times than me.

I miss her, she does her own thing in the gym and I am glad - I don't understand the premise of going with a friend only to take turns on stations.  Surely that means you spend half of your time standing around doing nothing - is that a waste of valuable time or just me? 

Anyhoo, she wanders off, does her own things, wanders back for a quick smile and a wave and then goes off again.  She is that small that sometimes I wander round the gym looking for her like a little lost sheep and finding her hiding on a weight station - everyone else is tall enough that I can see their heads over them.

Maybe she leaves me alone when on the treadmill because I plug myself into my iPod and get my, often needed, fix of Morgan in Criminal Minds.  He is VERY fine!  I could watch him all day - the fact that I enjoy watching programmes about murderers and FBI profiling (because lets face it, in the pretend world all the bad guys get caught!) is an extra special bonus.

I am not obsessed yet.  Honest, I am not but now when I go I get a little flutter of excitement that I am off to the gym - I could say that is because I am going to spend a delicious 40 minutes with Morgan but I know that is not the only reason.  Sad?  Yes.  Bothered? Hell, No!

Beautiful B is working her little socks off at McDs all weekend after caring for our older generation in their homes (and loving every minute of their story telling) so I will have to enjoy my own company at the gym this weekend.  After all, no point staying at home as Hubby is spending it all watching the Ryder Cup. 

The only problem with all of this is that it may not just be the cost of the gym membership that I subject Hubby's bank account to but the cost of TV series downloads from Apple that I will need on a monthly basis.

Good job I work so hard earning half the money then.....

Toodles.