Thursday 31 October 2013

Non working day is a work day

I work 10 days worth of contracted hours over 9 days so I get an extra day off work every 2 weeks.  So far I have used it to do chores so I can have a full relaxed weekend.  On my last non working day I spent 5 hours having my hair done along with various beauty treatments. It was amazing!  Granted it would have been better had I tagged an Indian head massage onto my visit but a girl can't have everything.  The chores were left and I didn't care because like Damon in the Vampire Diaries I switched my cleaning emotion chip off.  

Now I have a work laptop that I can, and have brought home.  It's in preparation for my move to the Commercial Directorate in 2 weeks.  Little old me was impressed that it had no problem logging onto my home network as promised because although an optimist I hate IT.  If it goes wrong I have no idea his to fix it and that drives my need for control insane.  

In a very sad twist of events I have started to dream about work.  Yes I know, I am ashamed, after all dreaming about my new job may just well be evidence of how much I am looking forward to it.  Even I would much rather be dreaming about runny babbits, flutterbies, cute aliens, in a world where I an eat all the sweets and chocolate I want without ruining my teeth and getting fat. 

The latest work related dream had me leaving all the accounts until the last minute and my bosses, bosses, boss who sits next to me at work was getting just a tad upset,who am I kidding she was going mental, because I still had to count up all the money and balance it to the cash book and we were against the wire.  There is a reason for dreaming about that and normally it would drive me insane but as I am leaving the team, pppffff.

Being one to analyse dreams, and I will admit most of them are a direct result of programmes I have watched that night, this dream was because my bosses bosses boss is not my most favourite fan and my re-design of the teams webpage needs to be with the publication team on Friday as I start training my replacement on VAT next week. 

Now, that is sad I admit but what is worse is forgetting you have a non working day tomorrow (now today) and you have all sorts of work plans for that day.  

Now you all know what I am going to say don't you? The laptop is dancing about in its bag downstairs as I type screaming 'Heeeellllllooooo, laptop to the rescue!  You know you want to press all my buttons......your need for control is knocking on the inside of your skull.  Come and play with me and all will be nice and fluffy tomorrow.  You will have everything organised ready for a telekit with the publication team tomorrow and your need for control will be nice and suitably in place.  Heeeeellllooooo, you know your not going to keep me in this stuffy bag for long.....'

Ignoring how my current management chain think they know my disability better than I do and will tell me that I was wrong to work today because after all, I have heard it all before and I'm leaving the team so go ahead and do your worst.......(rant over) I will do the weekly food shop with my mother in law today and then wire the laptop up to the docking station which will have a suitable keyboard and mouse attached to it as well as a headset for my own personal dragon who lives in the computer.  I will dock the laptop and silence its little cries for attention by writing Frequently Asked Questions and drawing up a much need flow chart on charging VAT in certain circumstances.  

After no doubt growling at the computer a number of times at the need for it to be much simpler to make flow chart boxes and arrows the same size and where I want them I will lovingly save the much slaved over work and dream of much more intense but fun time in my new Commercials team. On Monday I will ignore all telling off for working when I should be resting my hands and pretend they are thanking me for my diligence and dedication to my work because my need for order and control will be nice and sated. 

So yes today is a none non working day and I am happy with that.  After all, I can take a quick break and put a load of washing on or polish the furniture in a room or change the bedding.......I could even have tea ready in the oven for when Hubby comes home.  In a great twist of events though Hubby has decided we must splurge tonight and have a nice meal at the pub before going to watch a film at the cinema.  And that is one of the many reasons I love him. 

Happy Halloween folks!


Wednesday 30 October 2013

Happiness is......



Hubby and I are watching a programme called ‘Karl Pilkington – The Moaning of Life’ at the moment. 

Essentially Karl is a typical northern bloke who just happens to be friends with Ricky Gervais, who annoys some people with his strange laugh.  Karl originally agreed to take part in a series where Ricky essentially sent him all over the world to sample the culture but always sent him to do the horriblest (yes, this is a ribenaism) things and stay in the worst hotels.

This series has stemmed from that series. Karl says what he thinks and while he moans a lot he is incredibly funny with it.  This series sees him visit different parts of the world trying to find the meaning of life.

This week’s mission was to discover how different people find happiness.  In Mexico he met a group of people who use old used tyres with string and wire for shoes and a small wooden ball, the size of a tennis ball, to find happiness.  How?  Why, by kicking the ball as far as they can, over and over and running after it for miles and miles of course. 

Karl quickly determined he couldn’t cope with tyre flip flops after all, blisters in-between toes is never good a good thing.  He found a pair of boots (no idea where from) and deemed that while he couldn’t catch up he wouldn’t give up. 

The people who joined in this game from the tribe ran 28 miles, Karl managed 15 and I was quite impressed with that; especially as it was in a desert type area and no less than 32 degrees celcius.

One particular comment about how crazy it was to find happiness by running for miles after a wooden ball when the women and children were at home in a concrete square without a roof was particularly funny.  Reading this back it doesn’t sound funny at all so it’s obviously the way he tells it.

Anyhoo, to get to the point, some people have freaky, and I mean freaky ways to be happy. 

Karl met one man who finds happiness in how beautiful he is.  After 120 surgical procedures his face is triangular, he has bigger cheeks than a hamster storing dinner for later and the weirdest biceps in history.  I didn’t even know you could get bicep implants!  All well and good I guess if they are in proportion but when you have arms almost as thin as a skeleton and bicep implants that look like footballs that don’t move it just looks plain freaky!

It got worse!  Karl then went to visit a group of people who find happiness from pain.  One man had inserts in his ear lobes to make the piercing bigger.  There will be a name for them but as I am old I will call them earrings.  This man had holes in his ear lobes the size of door knobs.  Weird enough you may think until he showed you his arm which had strange hard implants up and down his forearm.  Yes, apparently they hurt but he gets happiness from it. 

I don’t judge people by the way they look, each to their own; after all I have four tattoos and he was prime evidence of that as he is a lawyer.  When Karl asked what he did about the ‘earrings’ during court appearances he showed how he twisted them and stuck them behind his ear with some duct tape.

The party progressed to people having meat hooks attached to their shoulders, back and knees to be hoisted up and suspended on them.  I have watched operations on the TV time and time again and never had a problem with anything I have seen but even I had to turn away from the TV.

I am still trying to wrap my head around why that causes people happiness, let alone wondering why the skin does not tear.

Enough of that, I am getting queasy again.

The last thing he did was visit a company that allow you to smash things up, to release your anger and frustrations on an inanimate object.  That I can understand! There are some days I could happily while away 30 minutes beating my frustrations out on a random piece of rubbish at a scrap merchants.

Karl found this somewhat confusing as he struggled to find something that he was frustrated or angry at.  His way of releasing tension is to moan about something at the time, not bottle it up.  By moaning he releases the tension and frustration and then just moves on.  A by-product of that is that he is quite funny while he is twittering about how stupid or useless something is.

He eventually decided to take his frustration of PPI cold calls out on a car….

The programme is definitely worth a watch and while I don’t think that moaning all of my frustrations out on those around me will help family life the idea of smashing something up would be rather liberating on some days.

Mind you, working from home I only have the 4 dogs during the day who can hear me moan at something so maybe I should give it a go.  After all, what’s the worst that can happen; the dogs get sick of hearing my voice or I give them depression.

I’m not sure moaning will make me happy, all I am going to need to do is pick up the nearest doglet and give them snuggles!

Tuesday 29 October 2013

What I learned this week



The clocks turned back this week which technically gave me an extra hour in bed on Sunday morning which would be good if a) my body and mind knew what a lie-in is and b) I hadn’t already been in bed for more hours than I cared about as I was poorly.  What I am loving is coming into work and it no longer being pitch black; and yes I know that will end soon too as winter draws ever near but I’m an optimist and I will revel in it until then.



This week has been similar to a bag of pick and mix sweets; you don’t know what you are going to get and some you will love and others not so much.



  • As I am currently having my lunch; plain chicken sandwiches need mayonnaise; without it you spend a bit of time picking up random bits of chicken that have escaped from the sandwich.  
  • Having a small shop at the end of the room at work is far too tempting, in particular their slices of lemon gateaux, not to mention the meal deals.  As Hubby gripes that I don’t eat lunch (apparently a piece of toast is not lunch) at home I may well start to lose weight rather than gain it when I start working from home.
  • I should give up trying to control flare ups of a certain condition that had me housebound and in bed for most of the weekend.  If my body wants to play up it will, and I should just go with it.
  • The silver lining of having to be in bed most of the weekend is that I managed to read two books in one week instead of one.  Especially as one of them was read in a day.  After all, I may not have been able to summon the energy to do anything other than turn over in bed but it is impossible for me to sleep a whole 24 hours while my body kicks me in the butt.
  • If the IT technicians at work tell you that your work laptop will connect easily to your home broadband believe them, they know what they are talking about.  Note to self: stop being so cynical when it comes to IT.
  • Your family may think you a bit mental when you come home with a loaf of bread that has a hole in the side of it.  Apparently not everyone loves warm freshly baked bread to the extent that they eat it (more specifically just the middle of it) wandering around the supermarket.
  • It takes longer than anticipated to build a brand new webpage, all the pages that will link to it and associated documents for work.
  • After discovering the washer and dryer renders Wonderweb and some other stuff, used to hem my trousers up without the use of a needle and thread, useless I am slowly coming to the realisation that I may need to sit with my mum while she shows little old 41 year old me how to hem a pair of trousers. Either that or I have transplant surgery to remove my legs and swap them with some that are 5 inches longer.
  • Doing chores in the house other than cooking dinner because I cannot cut meat does not make me feel any less useless!
  • Two of the fluffers are going to have to have a bath tonight because they have sweaty feet, yes, sweaty feet!

So what have you learned this week? 

Usual rules apply - see below. I would love to hear from you if you also leave comments on my blog.
To join in on the What I Learned This Week carnival, simply follow these steps:

1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog and comment on my blog hyper linking to your blog.

2. Then go and visit Julie’s blog at From Inmates to Playdates, find her latest “What I learned this week” and link up with the Mr. Linky form at the bottom of the post. Please put the link to your POST, not the front page of your blog.

3. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week.

Monday 28 October 2013

Recovery on a Saturday

It's just before 3pm and I know you are thinking I'm talking recovery from excessive alcohol intake on a Friday night after seeing the title but you would be wrong.  Mostly. I mean I did have vodka last night but only two glasses, and no not the Ribena size glass that at least one of my friends is thinking I'm talking about. They don't serves those in pubs, apparently it results in no profits or something. 

I'm talking about an accumulation if things. Firstly, very little sleep on Thursday night when I was wide awake and moving around in bed that much even baby fluff lifted her head up and looked at me as if to say "Enough already!"  When you go to work tired you know you are going to crash early that night. 

Then there is the week long struggle to get a VAT recoverable decision on one of our contracts. Fun but emotionally taxing and luckily a successful outcome. 

Then add to that two vodkas, a lot of pizza and a roaring coal fire and it was no surprise I had to apologise to hubby, C and A and take myself to bed. To add insult to injury I didn't last as long as I thought I would. I had hoped to last until the heady heights of 9pm, but had to admit defeat 15 minutes earlier. I blame the alcohol! 

On the upside I slept like a log last night.  Whoop. 

Staying at C and A's this weekend Hubby and I were awake early to take his mum to do her supermarket shop and having suggested that A and I have a wander around a garden centre (specifically their Christmas display) while we sent the boys off to drink at the pub we have returned to have a rest. You know, before we meet up with the boys and drink more vodka. 

That is if my stomach decides to stop making funny noises!  It is incredibly sulky and really doesn't like eating a lot of gluten! 

2hrs later. Now I'm being told the guest decides whether we join the boys in the pub.  Good idea except now I've relaxed and could just snooze for a couple of hours. Typical! 

Update:  soon after I got rather poorly and spent the rest of the weekend in bed! Now I'm really going to have to find a way of making that up now aren't I?

Friday 25 October 2013

Five Things Friday

3 weeks today will see the final day on my current team at work.  While the move has been forced on me by my pesky disability, a whole 10 years earlier than I hoped for, I have lots of things to look forward to.  So today I thought I will share five things I am looking forward to.

1.     No more month end accounts

...and all the associated in-month stuff along with it.  No more chasing people for reports, no more days spent classifying thousands of lines on income to ensure the department pays HMRC the correct amount of VAT, and most importantly no more pain as a result of pesky MS Excel spreadsheet work. Not that I won't be in pain but it will be much more within my control and we all know what I am like for control. I cannot say I won't spend time explaining VAT to people because it is to be part of my new role but at least not all day, every day.

2.     A new dawn, a new day

Somebody once said, and then millions of people jumped on the bandwagon and copied that bright spark including me, that change is as good as a rest and procurement and commercials will certainly be that.  Gone are the monthly processes you get bored with as an accountant and in are the constantly different contracts and ever moving goal posts of the commercial arena.  Having spent just under a week with one foot in both camps I have loved every minute of it. As the icing on the cake I can maintain both my accounting and procurement qualifications in my new role so 4 years accountancy training has not been wasted.  

3.     It's not how you do it, it's what you do

Out with managers who micro-manage like their lives depend on it and in with a manager who doesn't care how you do the job as long as you get it done well and on time.  Out are the army of 'No's' to disability related requests for a laptop so I can work around the worst effects of my drugs, different work pattern (same reason) and unfair decisions on flexi leave, meeting attendance etc to the detriment of work completion to a manager who has accommodated all of that before I have even joined the team.  

4.     Big picture, little picture (or was it big box, little box?)

Labelled as a so called VAT expert (laughable) I may well still have a VAT key work objective to up-skill the team I am joining but my new manager has listened when I explained the knowledge on his team is not sufficient and that it must be widespread across commercials.  As he can see me thinking 'big picture' he is going to let me run with that. In fact, it was only yesterday that I have managed to talk my way into an additional two, yes two, large pieces of work before I even get there! 

5.     What was that about working from home?

Oh yes, that would be rolling out of bed, being able to stay in my PJ's if I wish, have doggie cuddles on tap all day long, being able to stay on top of the washing, work out of bed if I so wish.  I may have to make myself a timetable of what chores I do each day to fit around lunch times and breaks so that I don't get carried away cleaning but if that means that instead of cleaning on an evening I can spend quality time with Hubby and Beautiful B then that is what I will do.

Yes, 3 weeks sees the dawn of a new day and I cannot wait!

What would your five things Friday be?

Have a great weekend everyone.

Thursday 24 October 2013

Not black and will know when I see it

This would be a longer post but I have spent the last hour on eBay trying to find a laptop bag that I like.  Why must they all be black and boring?  A Radley black laptop bag I could cope with but that is about it.  

As a rule I like colours, though in a laptop bag not too bright but you get the idea.  I have settled for a blue laptop case as it will hold more paperwork and as I will potentially be in any one of 3 offices the case makes more sense than a bag.  

Oh and then there is the need to buy the Harry Potter books on the kindle, not that I am going to read them for a while.  It's just that it is on my to do list and so I can knock it off if I buy them.  I know, mental! 

Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday 22 October 2013

What I learned this week

Another week, another dollar as the saying goes.  It has been a mixed bag of sorts which is, of course, always the case but I've felt it more than I would normally do.  Having a wonderful husband who recognises that is a fantastic thing though as he ensured I relaxed the majority of the weekend to recuperate.  

-     I really should have had some shelves put up in the living room years ago!  I have places for those ornaments bought for me by those who I care about most and it really breaks up such a large wall.

-     It's much less frustrating to remember to put your security pass around your neck as soon as you have stretched your short arm out of the window and randomly waved it in front of the security pad because its much less frustrating to not have to keep walking back to the car to put it around your neck to get into work.

-     Clearly 30% on the Sky planner over a weekend can leave you with a sense of achievement and yes that may well be that you managed to stay awake long enough to watch that much TV.

-     It does not matter how much work you have and how important that contract is that people need your advise on; if your medication is going to make you fall asleep at your desk it will fly in the face of your work responsibilities. I only hope I wasn't snoring!

-     Hubby now has a new (old) phone after leaving his very expensive one on the bus (numpty!); luckily I had been too lazy to put my iPhone 4 on eBay when I got the iPhone 5; I am taking bids on him replacing it with an iPhone 5 when his contract is up for renewal.

-     I will pretend I didn't suspect this....My pain level on a Monday is much reduced if I do not play computer games at a weekend. Already the pain is increasing as a necessity of some of the things I have to do at work so I may be falling asleep again on Friday (joke....I hope) so it's probably a good idea not to play them next week either. Those 10 years I was hoping before before my hands dictated my pleasure activities have disappeared in less than 3 months! 

-     The new handheld scanners at the local supermarket are so much fun. Scanning your shopping and bagging it while you shop? Yes please!  Reduces the level of pain lifting things in and out of the trolley repeatedly to go through the till, adds up my spend as I go and is sooooo much fun!

-     When you stop at the new hair and beauty salon half way round the store for a cut and blow dry and gel nails you can leave your shopping and the scanner, though it will beep at you after 20 minutes, repeatedly, to let you know you may have forgotten to spend what may be a mammoth spend as you peruse the aisles. Clearly no-one programmed it to understand flighty women who may decide a new haircut along with the weekly shop is a great idea! 

-     It is possible to put in ebay's search engine 'giraffe iPhone 5 cover' and get one! Whoop.

And now for a few facts picked up courtesy of quiz shows- 

-     A collective noun for bears is sloth

-     An edible crab is also known as the brown crab

-     Recipients of the George Cross can add the letters GM after their name.

So what have you learned this week? 

So what have you learned this week? Usual rules apply - see below. I would love to hear from you if you also leave comments on my blog.
To join in on the What I Learned This Week carnival, simply follow these steps:
1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog and comment on my blog hyper linking to your blog.
2. Then go and visit Julie’s blog at From Inmates to Playdates, find her latest “What I learned this week” and link up with the Mr. Linky form at the bottom of the post. Please put the link to your POST, not the front page of your blog.
3. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week.

Monday 21 October 2013

A weekend of not getting very far

I find myself in a different position than most others because my child is 19 so my evenings and weekends are not solely based around physically caring for her and entertaining her. While I have a to do list almost as long as my arm Hubby insisted I do very little as the last week at work has been, in one word, horrendous.

The beauty of having two sky boxes is that I can usually tell Hubby which recordings I wish to catch up on and that will dictate whether I sit downstairs or lie on the bed upstairs to watch TV. This weekend Hubby told me which TV he wanted. How dare he, I hear you say. I know he is getting brave but as he is doing overtime and that is paying for Christmas pressies I didn't protest. 

After helping me tidy up the dining room ready for my home-working when I move to my new job in mid-November we needed a bit of a rest. The dining room unfortunately has become a bit of a storage room so holds all my treasury role paperwork, heaters for work, a random photo frame which is waiting to be filled with wedding photos, a vegetable rack which has been used to store hair straighteners, gloves and a rucksack......you get the idea.  

Our rest consisted of an episode of a quiz show and I am now reasoning an answer to questions I don't know the answer to rather than randomly picking A, B or C so that is an improvement! 

I spent Saturday catching up on Saving Hope, a programme about a Dr in a comma whose soul wanders the hospital helping dead people pass over while he watches his fiancée who is also a doctor try and wake him up. What?! I know but trust me its better than it sounds.  

While I only has 25% left on the planner I am restricted to the series I can watch. This is down to my own stupidity. I record too much and when the recordings clash Hubby will ask which he can delete, I will take a stab at one is best to switch off and they all seem to have been episode one of a new series. I can't watch what I have on the planner without finding the first episode on iTunes to watch first, now can I? 

Sunday was therefore for catching up on Castle after an emergency run to Tesco for Yorkshire Puddings for the Sunday dinner and padding out examples of my achievements at work, for what good it will do.

So as you see a weekend of doing very little but it does feel somewhat productive as the planner is now at 58% and no longer in danger of running out of space.  Though hubby's prediction that I would be most likely to fall asleep lounging in bed watching TV was uncalled for even if I have previously, and frequently, done so.  Between me and you, I sat up in bed and it worked even if it wasn't quite as comfortable, I did stay awake until about 30 minutes after I started snuggling further down the bed. 

I would say Hubby knows me too well but it's probably the snoring that gives the game away......

Being a bit weird I'm going to apologise for the lack of formatting (I'm on the iPad) and any grammatical errors (not proof read as I should ave showered by now and be on my way to work).

Thursday 17 October 2013

Two sides of a coin

A and I have a common interest (among many others) and that is watching real life documentaries or those that question our beliefs against fiction. 

Admittedly A prefers the latter more than I do evidenced by the avid watching of a documentary that questioned the myth of mermaids against them existing as a result of evolution.  

This week I watched programmes about female prisons in the USA, where Trevor MacDonald visited Rockville Women's Prison in Indiana. 

The first thing that struck me was the grass in the outside areas with benches, not something you see in UK prisons in the main. Not that I thought they deserved it or not; it was merely an observation. They have only 3 hours a day outside, more or less than some UK prisons and it houses 1800 women. 

There are obviously women in the prison who have committed very violent crimes such as murder and who are not repentant but Trevor chose to concentrate on 2 women both of which gave me food for thought and some would say provided 2 sides to a coin - one story you may understand and another may spark very strong feelings. 

The first replayed to a women who had been convicted of murdering her 3 month old baby 17 years earlier. As she tells it she had difficulty controlling her emotions particularly anger. 

On the day she killed the baby as a result of shaken baby syndrome she had been talking to her mother about her excitement of his first Christmas and she had bought his first Christmas stocking. Later that day he cried and cried, she lost her temper and he died. 

She immediately called 911 and told them without being asked what has happened in a bid to save his life. Not that it wouldn't have been discovered but she signed her own prison sentence voluntarily and pleaded guilty. 

I am not saying that I felt much sympathy for this woman. What she is guilty of is considered to be one of the most heinous crimes and it evokes strong feelings in everyone. What struck me was her extremely mild nature and in a different setting and without the prison uniform you would never have suspected. Of course that means nothing  as looks and manner do not a murderer make. 

The story continued and she explained that her first two children had been taken from her as a result of abuse. This left me with some thoughts: did she think it unfair that her two children were taken from her at the time, did she feel she was a good mother at that time and that the social services had made a mistake, what possessed her to have a third child when she hadn't been able to care for the first two? 

And what if the social services system?  I am not saying the UK equivalent is better than it's US counterpart but in the UK her third child is more likely to have been removed from her care at birth to prevent such a thing occurring, based in her previous record. 

She had tried to commit suicide 5 months into her sentence because she couldn't live with the guilt. The slightly cynical part of my brain wondered whether it was more a realisation that the rest of her life would be spent in prison but then I recalled the immediate admittance of her actions to the paramedics. 

I couldn't say I felt much empathy for this woman, after all I would guess thT very few people in prison for death of a child by abuse set out to kill a child. 

That was the story on one side of the coin and it would likely evoke a much stronger negative reaction than the next woman's story.

The second story was of a 72 year old woman who looks like your average doting jolly Grandmother. The first time we see her she is making a patchwork quilt for a local charity. This woman is in prison for murdering 6 people. Again, to look at her you would never guess that is the case. 

We are introduced to her as the woman who escaped from prison and was not caught for 38 years. She changed her surname, keeping her first name and changed her social security number by one digit and with these 2 actions she was able to build a new life, get married, have 2 children and 8 grandchildren. When she was caught the local policeman who had known her all this time could jot believe it. In that time she had not committed one crime and her family knew nothing of her previous life. 

When she was caught she did not deny it and her family and friends do not believe that she intentionally killed 6 people. She claims she is not guilty of murder but accepts that as a result of her actions 6 people died. She knows she is unlikely to never see freedom again. 

When she was 15 she lived away from her family home after having been abused as a child. Being abused again and locked in a house she planned to set a small fire in the house and escape when she and 6 others had to evacuate. Except the fire spread out of control and 6 people died. Instead of running she suffered severe burns trying to get back into the house to save people. 

Essentially, yes she killed 6 people but there was no intention to cause any harm  to them. She accepts they died by her actions. 

While murder is murder my reaction to this woman was one of sympathy. I can understand her need to escape and at 15 years old and scared do you think through the potential pitfalls of setting a small fire?  

Is her crime as heinous as the woman who killed her baby by accident? Or is it murder regardless of the reasons behind it?  Obviously the first woman did not intend to kill her child so that could be argued to be a mistake to but is that worse than killing people unintentionally by fire because of the previous abuse record? 

Is it a natural human reaction to consider the death of a baby more heinous than the second story?  Of course. 

Yet, the second woman although understandably feeling she was not guilty of intentional murder then escaped from a prison and started a new life. There is obvious guilt for the results of her actions when 15 but does such an escape demonstrate an unwillingness to pay for the results of her actions. Or should she not have received such a strict sentence originally? 

While I do believe that the UK imposes much lighter prison sentences than deserved and that we should be much stricter as the US are the grandmother's story left me feeling that at worst she should have been found guilty of manslaughter with a chance of parole. 

Having said all of that one cannot get the full story in 2 hours worth of programmes and all of the facts may paint different stories entirely. 

It would be interesting to get a view from different countries as those opinions will be based on the reactions relating to crime of their counties governments, beliefs and traditions. So tell me, what are your opinions of these cases? 


A busy week

I'm having one of those weeks where I wake up feeling as tired as I did when I fell asleep the night before. I am so tired I am in bed around 9pm each night if I haven't fallen asleep in a chair before that. 

I am rudely woken during the night in pain and pill popping has increased this week. I have something other than Tramadol now so not as cuckoo as I could be. So the pain is likely to be contributing to the tiredness. 

Today is my fortnightly day off work and I plan to spend over 2 hours with my hairdresser magically making the grey badger streak disappear. Then I may treat myself to some threading. Yes I did say treat and no I am no a masochist. 

Let's call it a mini celebration of sorts as a move at work has been confirmed and so excel will not be used 99% of the time from the 18th November. While I have had to come to terms with the realisation that I trained to be an accountant for 4 years and medical reasons now dictate I cannot continue that in the strictest sense of the word I will be working in the commercial arena and having worked there years ago I know I enjoy it. 

Although accepting the restrictions of the disability are much harder than I expected I am positive about my future career. It helps that my mentor of 8 years has hired me and has more faith in my abilities than I have! 

I will be working from home some days as my new boss is more than happy to work around my disability and so the fluff bags will be happy with that. 

I am turning the dining room into an office as the only time the dining table is used for conventional reasons is Christmas Day and so I have visions of working with the fire on and 4 dogs lined up in front if it fast asleep. I will have the biggest desk in my life and the dining table is huge but I bet I can fill it! 

There may or may not be days where I work in my PJ's and just get dressed just before Hubby comes home. I mean it's only right to make an effort for the man I married..... 

This week I will have managed to spend an evening each with 3 of my 4 best friends and along with Hubby they have help the de-frazzle my brain and to see that occurrences at work in what has been an extremely bad week are small when I have such wonderful family and friends. After all, family has always come before work and a career for me and always will. 

So this week I choose to concentrate on the wealth of love I receive from those who know me best and not the feelings of injustice felt from the realisation that no matter what your intentions sometimes you cannot do right for wrong. 

It takes the love of your family, friends and a conversation with another manager to make you realise that you are not the person with the problem and that no matter how hard you work you will not change the mind of those who have formed an incorrect and unfair perception of you and prefer not to make concessions for your disability. 


Wednesday 9 October 2013

What I learned this week

Firstly, I apologise for dropping off the planet.  It has been very hectic and the pain in my wrists and arms has caused more trouble than I am sure it is worth.  What I learned this week is a day late because yesterday was a very important day - my first official anniversary with my Hubby and so of course I concentrated on him rather than the blog.

I thought that I would do What I learned this week a day later than normal and dedicate it to my Hubby so it may not necessarily be what I learned this week...
  • Hubby is extremely patient, or appears to be all the time.  He could well be a bit like a duck and nice and calm on the surface and furiously trying to maintain his temper when Beautiful B and I are not making a whole lot of sense or telling a story that takes 30 minutes instead of 5....
  • Hubby is much soppier than even I thought he was, evidenced by the personal wedding anniversary I received from him yesterday with "To my beautiful wife on our first anniversary" on the front with a photo of us on our wedding day on the front and a photo of the wedding cake on the back with the words "Together Forever".
  • Hubby can be a bit of a numpty - evidenced this week by him leaving a very expensive mobile phone on the bus, just before a load of school children got on it.  The phone, although locked and totally unusable, has not been handed into the bus company, the police or Hubby.
  • Hubby is more upset at losing what was on the phone than the phone itself.  Apparently there were some video clips of our wedding day that I didn't even know he had taken on it (more evidence of how soppy he is) and those are irreplacable.
  • Hubby has taken over the ironing, some of the cooking, some of cutting up my meat, carrying not so heavy loads, and opening bottles in the last year as my illness deteriorates.
  • Despite the fact that me potentially working from home in the new job I start next month will create additional cost to us, when I asked for his opinion he said "Whatever is best for you, that is the only thing that is important."
  • I catch him looking at me every now and again with a look of adoration in his eyes.
  • He is the calm to my storm and will hold me to provide comfort when I sob for a long time in his arms with frustation at the deterioriation in my illness.
  • He loves the fact that he can buy me cards with "wife" on.
  • He would never dream of forgetting an anniversary or event that is important to me; a card is always waiting for me.
Yesterday was the first official anniversary of our wedding but he has ensured that on the 19th of every month since we met he has wished me "Happy Anniversary" and even works out the number of months we have been together.  My save haven is in his arms, which are always open to provide comfort.  He would walk to the ends of the earth and back for me. 

Yesterday we celebrated with a romantic meal at the restaurant that held our wedding reception, reminised with the owner about how beautiful it was and while we stared into each others eyes and talking when the background music changed and the whole restaurant sang a song of celebration as the restaurant staff bought out a dessert topped with a candle.  Apparently, they could not let us go "without celebrating with us." 

The night was perfect and I am still on a high.

So what have you learned this week? Usual rules apply - see below. I would love to hear from you if you also leave comments on my blog.
To join in on the What I Learned This Week carnival, simply follow these steps:
1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog and comment on my blog hyper linking to your blog.
2. Then go and visit Julie’s blog at From Inmates to Playdates, find her latest “What I learned this week” and link up with the Mr. Linky form at the bottom of the post. Please put the link to your POST, not the front page of your blog.
3. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week.
 

Tuesday 1 October 2013

What I learned this week

Okay, it has been a couple of weeks since I posted on What I learned this week so I suppose this should be what I have learned in the last fortnight.....
  • I am so very tired! I am not sure these iron tablets are working as they should despite the fact that I take two a day.
  • Peel Park is a nice place to work as I see bunnies every night when I go home and even saw one this morning practicing the green cross code by using a zebra crossing; granted it only managed to hop along half of the crossing before scampering of but it is obviously a work in progress.
  • It is possible to spend a whole 4 solid days with my 19 year old daughter on a trip to London without bickering or snapping at each other once; if we exclude the time she had to tell me to calm down when I got a bit over-excited in the Harry Potter studio.
  • Despite being so fantastic the Harry Potter Studio lets itself down by not selling Dobbie teddies; personally I think they are missing a trick - they would make an absolute fortune.
  • Apparently Dobbie teddies are not sold because they are still in development - really! Alledgedly they cannot get his nose right.  Considering the owl and the cat (whose names I cannot recall at this moment though Crookshank for the cat is ringing a vague bell) teddies look nothing like the actual film characters I am not sure that anyone, especially children would care about an imperfect nose on a Dobbie teddy.
  • Never fear; I consoled myself with a wand, Hermione Grangers wand to be exact when a Dobbie could not be found.
  • You can buy wands in different designs; one for each of the main characters.  It is a shame that you could not see the true designs in the film but Hermione's had a pretty trailing leaf design on it.
  • A single chocolate frog in the same box and design as that depicted in the films is £8!  Proof of the power of film....
  • The only reason I did not buy the huge book that tells the story of how all of the films came to life is because I was concerned Beautiful B and I could not carry it around London all day while shopping.  Again, I found an alternative - still a book but it weighed less and was £30 less. Makes up for the price of the wand.....
  • I'm not quite sure Hubby knew how much the wand cost when I told him I had bought one in consolation for a Dobbie teddy - the text response "We will need a loan by the time you get home" was a tad dramatic!
  • Back pain must also be caused by flat feet.....after being fitted with shoe insoles to provide support for a non-existant in-step and raisers for the heel due to a severe flare up of plantar facilitis and an achilles heel injury (wait a mo while I fall about laughing at an achilles injury when I do no exercise....) my foot and heel pain is much reduced when wearing shoes and my back pain has disappeared - evidenced by not one jot of back pain while walking all over London for 4 days.
  • When you find a gadget that opens bottle tops (amongst 4 other uses) you can get so excited at being able to open bottles without asking others for assistance that you will forget that the gadget would also be very useful for your own mother and her arthritic hands - how awful of me!
  • Despite leaving it over 14 hours between doses of Tramadol the second dosage will still send my brain haywire and no matter how much I try to stay awake I can fall asleep during a sentance - according to Beautiful B and Ry who found it absolutely hilarious!
So what have you learned this week?  Usual rules apply - see below.  I would love to hear from you if you also leave comments on my blog.
 
 To join in on the What I Learned This Week carnival, simply follow these steps:
1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog and comment on my blog hyper linking to your blog.
2. Then go and visit Julie’s blog at From Inmates to Playdates, find her latest “What I learned this week” and link up with the Mr. Linky form at the bottom of the post. Please put the link to your POST, not the front page of your blog.
3. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week.