5 things Friday - the alcohol edition

By the title you can guess that Hubby did not collect his bicycle yesterday and to be honest it probably would have been a much funnier post. However, I had a very bad day at work yesterday and Hubby took me out for a meal and cocktails which prompted this post. 

I thought that today's Five Things Friday could be about a history of my alcohol tastes and how they have or have not (as the case may be) matured over the years. 

1.  I will drink alcohol God damn it! 

As a child I wasn't the most adventurous and really wasn't keen in trying anything new if I perceived I wouldn't like the taste. In fact, I convinced myself of this fact so much that I seemed to be unable to avoid the spontaneous retching at the slightest indication of anything new that my brain subconsciously thought may taste awful. It probably explains why I refused to take the pill form of any medication until I was in my teens and it may just be convenient to blame my mum for trying to introduce such awful food products as Brussels sprouts and an early age. 

I decided that alcohol in any type, shape or form would taste disgusting which is strange really as neither of my parents are alcoholics or even really big drinkers so there wasn't really any reason for it. Despite that claim, when I was 13, my mum did once decide to prove to an uncle that it is possible to taste vodka* in a non-alcoholic drink, claiming I would be able to taste it in any drink of his choosing (besides milk or plain water as I had already declared that both of those tasted vile - and yes water does have a taste!) 

*Lets just sketch over the fact that the legal drinking age in the UK is 18!

I did not notice the avid attention I was given following delivery of my next glass of pure orange juice but I do remember taking the drink to my mum and saying "This has gone off or SOMETHING because it is just URGH" (note the 13 year old dialect) and my mother turning to my uncle and saying "See?" at which point he declared me "weird" which may or may have contributed to me feeling few people like me. 

Needless to say I avoided all alcohol after that date unless I wanted to get hammered when I just put up with the taste until I had gotten my tastebuds drunk. Until I was introduced to Blue Curaçao that is at the age of 20.... Peeps, this drink tastes like a blue raspberry Mr Freeze ice pop when mixed with lemonade!  Considering I ate ice-cream and anything sweetly flavoured over anything else at that age (who am I kidding, I still do now) that pretty blue drink went down well and became my alcoholic beverage of choice. In fact, how Beautiful B was not born bright blue I have no idea because I was pregnant (unbeknownst to me at the time before anyone gets their pitchforks out) when I celebrated my 21st birthday and to say I drank a bottle of the stuff is not an exaggeration. 

2. "Ooooh, what is THAT green drink?"

Fast forward to about 27 years of age and I had become firm friends with a woman called Helen at work. Both virgos and both control freaks of sorts we bonded over many things. At work, we have a social club that opens at lunch, now not so popular since the indoor smoking ban, where alcohol is sold - I KNOW, dangerous yet great at the same time. Anyhoo, one day we all disappeared there for a colleagues birthday and not having the greatest choice in alcoholic beverages I reluctantly plumped for requisite vodka and orange; did no one tell them I was coming so they could or the pretty blue drink in? Only to return to the table and see Helen with a green drink. And so I was introduced and sold on vodka, lime and lemonade!  And yes it is true unless it is a double shot you can hardly taste the vodka because it tastes just like limeade!  8 drinks later I fell, well tripped, back into the office right into the path of my boss. Luckily, he thought me dizzy at the best of times so I got away with it or maybe he just didn't want to tell anyone off that day. 

And so that became my new drink of choice. It got me through many a drunken night out until alcopops took off in the bars and clubs of the UK. The only downsides: 

• the idea of drinking it at home while getting ready for an evening out so you can buy soft drinks and save money in the clubs just doesn't work; and 
• bopping around the house while getting ready with said drink left safely on the bedside cabinet may result in your 5 year old daughter saying "Mum, that limeade is scrummy" and you having to explain to your mum that her grandchild may sleep better than normal. 

(The latter reason being a disclaimer only obviously....ahem)

3. Cream Soda with a hint of alcohol

I really found this drink by accident.  When Beautiful B's dad and I split up mum and dad were wonderful and gave me and Beautiful B a roof over our heads and we moved back into their home.  They even let me have friends round; I know - wicked parents honestly.  Anyhoo, one night mum decided it would be a great idea to have me and a friend sample every drink in her drinks cabinet though I can count on one hand and have fingers left over how many times my parents drank each year.  Beautiful B was safely in bed and tucked away for the night and I decided that I would be brave and sample some, what for me can be counted as, unusual fare except for the Remy Martin because that is just plain awful and I don't care what anyone else says.

Now, as is clear from the story so far I drink little and rarely unless I am off to paint the town red and am not keen on trying anything new that may taste awful, except for on my hen night to Beautiful B's dad when, after spending half an hour at a bar talking to a strange man for 30 minutes about peanuts but insisting I had in fact been to the bathroom when I returned to the table (yes, I was beyond drunk), I decided it would be a good idea to drink my sisters Tia Maria; which when you know me would amaze you because I hate coffee. So, back to the sample everything in mum's drink cabinet episode, I approached my latest foray into the alcoholic world with some trepediation, because yes you guessed it I was sober and decided that I would take the smallest sip of each of these unknown drinks.  

To be honest most of them were just downright disgusting and I was not overly keen on trying the yellow drink that materialised from the cupboard reminding me of the oil you fry chips in because of it's colour and consistency when mum rolled it round the inside of teh bottle so I insisted on adding a dash of lemonade....and I was almost in alcoholic heaven which could have been anything better than "Mum that is just disgusting!"  To my surprise this latest drink tasted of cream soda and so I was truly in heavenor the earthy equivalent of.  I am not sure if the USA have an equivalent of Cream Soda but in England that is one of the sweetest, sugary fizzy drinks available and so called to every inch of my body while the birds sang.

From that moment forth mum went on holiday to Spain with money from me to bring back a bottle of that stuff.  To this day I have no idea what it was called or what it had in it.  It didn't stop me introducing my friends to it though before we went out for an evening on the town.  In fact, one friend enjoyed it almost as much as me and before we even got into the taxi to town that evening we had drunk 3/4 of a bottle of that beauty and then partied until 5am.  Which turned out better than the night I partook of a bottle of pear schnapps my mum fetched me from abroad - yes, I was home very very early that night.

4.  Alcopops by all most kinds of flavours

Here is a waiver and it is probably a bit late but I am really not an alcoholic nor am I a serious party girl despite what any of this post looks like. Some would argue that I had lost my mind for a little while, I may have once argued that I enjoyed the 'I have been in serious relationships since I was 15, got married at 20, had a baby at 21 and divorced at 24 and so I didn't do the whole late teenage night on the town girl so I am now' a bit overboard but I didn't do a whole heap of drugs like some do so all in all I could still argue that while I wasn't the requisite 'girl next door' I may be (on a good day) the 'girl round the corner' but not in a derogatory way if you know what I mean.

In the early 2000's alcopops took off in a big way in the UK and may or may not be to blame for the prevalence of underage drinking but I am not here to argue the merits of that statement.  However, they did open up an ability for me to drink alcohol without wanting to throw up at the flavour because as their name says they tastes like pop and I will drink anything if it tastes like pop.  The only problem is I drink them like they are pop otherwise known as 'quickly' so ignoring the need to rob a bank once a fortnight because of how many I went through on a night in town during the 18 months I did the 'I am of legal drinking age and I can drink what I want when I want' I enjoyed going to the bar with friends and hanging over the bar (on my tippytoes because I am a shrimpet) and saying to the barman "So what new drinks do you have for me to try this week?"

I say that I tried most flavours because I know without a shadow of a doubt that I do not like aniseed flavour and never will so if there was even a hint of that baby then I was avoiding it like the plague.  After all, a person can make themselves poorly enough drinking without trying something with a taste they know will make them wish they had never bothered.

With alcopops I got to try all sorts of alcohol I wouldn't have tried before such as bacardi which I know is kind of lightweight but to know me is to love me.

5. Cocktails!

I say this with an exclamation mark because I cannot believe it took me until meeting Kirsten and having a meal at Frankie and Benny's when I was 34 to even try one of these babies.  I cannot remember them being available during my 18 month teenage but not a teenager phase but maybe that had something to do with drinking alcohol before I got out of my front door.  Having said that, being a wimp I may not have tried many, if any, when I was 27 for fear of not liking them and even now am loathe to try some of them.  Now at least the reason is that they cost a fortune and who wants to pay a fortune for a drink they may not take more than a sip from.

So I started on Strawberry daiquiris; I mean how wrong can you go when it is made with fresh strawberries, lime and ice with only a shot of rum?  Not far I can tell you.  Leaning over the bar at F&B's one evening K and I watched the bartender use a strawberry puree to make the cocktail which is cheating quite frankly but did mean that we identified we could make those suckers at home much easier and safer than being let loose with sharp knifes after partaking of alcohol.

That following Sunday while M and Hubby were cooking up a BBQ K and I were in the kitchen making daiquiris though anyone could be forgiven for thinking they had walked into a badly designed laboratory just after a bomb had gone off.  It probably wasn't a good idea to water down the later measures with bacardi when we decided they were too thick because that results in you deciding that to save time you may as well just pour the mixture into the biggest sundae glass you can find and be done with it only to have everyone remind you of the night you drank it out of a "fishbowl" for the rest of your days.

So have I progressed from one type of cocktail I hear you ask.  Well, of course I have.  That would be thanks to A and C though because they are partial to mojitos (not so keen though the latest invention of a strawberry mojito at a bar near A&C's are GORGEOUS) and cosmopolitans which at first were drinkable but growing on me rapidly.  And, lets not forget K who is more than partial to go to F&Bs with me to sit at the bar and just work our way down the list of cocktails trying each and every drink.

Why, only last night, after a particularly bad day at work I tried a new cocktail - Strawberry Shortcake; which sounds very sickly and some would argue was but to me it tasted like a strawberry milkshake (and yes, I know I don't like milk but if it is thick and more of a melted ice-cream consistency then I will drink it).  Even though I knew it had Amaretto in and after Hubby informed me that Amaretto tasted of almonds which I don't much like, I thought I would give it a go.  After all, it was made with strawberries; how awful could it be?  Well, not much I will tell you because that baby was scrumptious.  I was sensible (your first and only clue that it was my first alcoholic drink of the evening) because I only had one deciding as it was very much like a milkshake they would fill me up very quickly and as we were also eating it wouldn't be a good idea to fill myself up before the starter arrived.  Of course, I did not stick to one alcoholic beverage...I just swapped to strawberry daiquiris.

So there you have it, my trip down alcohol lane.  So what would your trip down alcohol lane look like?  Go on, comment; you know you want to!

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An unexpected day off work

Well, it is but it isn't.  Tomorrow would have been my non-working day (I work 10 days worth of hours over 9 days) but I have swapped that for today (which is Wednesday but this will post on Thursday - just to confuse you all.  So it isn't really another day off just unexpectedly a day early.  So far, I am really quite enjoying it.  Except for the fact that Abi fluff is poorly.

 

A frantic call from Beautiful B last night because she came home for work and lets just say she had a lot of cleaning up to do.  Fredster was poorly last week with a stomach bug and I was all prepared to be taking him to see the vet - after all, everything you read says they should go if their stomach has not settled within 24-36 hours.  Except it wasn't Fred, who is getting better.

 

This time it was Abi Fluff and obviously we were not home to help her out.  The poor little mite spent last night cuddled up to me with a stomach that was rolling every 2 minutes and no energy at all.  She was in and out of the garden like a yo-yo as the saying goes.

 

She is much better this morning but still very clingy and sorry for herself, as she should be.  She survived the night without accident but like I would with Beautiful B I want to be here so the door to the garden can be left open and I can make sure she is recovering.

 

As I type she is snuggled on the dog bed with her mum and nanny snoozing away.  I know it is only my imagination that makes me wonder if she is now too thin - it has only been the last 24 hours that she hasn't been able to keep food down.

 

So it turns out that my fluffbags are more important than work, just like my family - which in some ways is kind of worrying and doesn't really say a lot to show whether I like my job or not.

 

Having read back yesterday's post a quick update:

• no I have not started eating healthily yet, I still haven't got through my bag of goodies;
• no I haven't finished the accounts - that is today's job while I doggy sit; and
• no I didn't get the cleaning done on Monday night - I feel asleep in front of the TV and then took myself off to bed for an early night.

So today is a day of accounts and cleaning.  Joy!  Hubby has gone to work with all of his bicycle gear ready to pick the bike up if it is ready to collect.  It's likely to be a good job I am out tonight to spend an evening with Angel as I suspect he will be fast asleep and recovering from the 5 mile bike ride home by approximately 7pm. 

 

He is going to be so impressed when I insist he stretches his legs properly to cool down before he goes to the land of nod.

 

I may write Friday's post before tonight, if I don't Friday's post may be Five things about riding a bike when unfit or similar......

 

Odds and sods….as my mum would say

It is never a good idea to take some work home along with your ‘to do’ list and then leave it at home when you return to work on a Monday!  Having returned from an overnight stay and a very late night at my brothers the night before I did intend on doing some work but that didn’t happen.  Instead, Hubby came upstairs and told me to turn the TV off at 7pm because I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

So I am wondering what to do at work.  Not that I don’t have anything to do, I have lots and lots, I just can’t remember where I intended starting today.

Abi Fluff looks very strange without a collar on, after she keeps repeatedly chewing it we have agreed it is probably a good idea to throw it away and buy her a new one.  It didn’t stop her walking up my chest as I sat in bed last night, wagging her tail and looking very pleased with herself!  Having said that, I cannot work out how she managed to get it in her mouth as it wasn’t loose so maybe she is double-jointed and keeping it a secret.

Hubby is playing pool tonight and I am already guessing that this evening will be a night of washing and cleaning as I neglected those duties in favour of an evening catching up with my brother and his fiancée followed by an afternoon with said fiancée and best friend A watching and laughing hysterically at Despicable Me 2. 

Having done the cleaning I will have to force myself to sit down and do some of the accounts as I cannot put it off any longer.  As it appears the sun isn’t going to show itself today I will not be tempted to sit in the garden and read in the new rocking bench.  It is probably best to do some accounts while the sun isn’t shining because I won’t have to decide between the accounts and sun at a later date then, will I?  The only problem with that is that it is sensible and I am not.

As you can tell this is a very rambling post and I really don’t care.  I should I know but then I don’t necessarily write this blog so that others will love it or find it amusing.  I write it so that I can dump my thoughts and give something for Beautiful B to remember me by should someone not invent the miracle of life so we can live forever.  I would like to point out, however, that I would only want to live forever if I didn’t age; wouldn’t it just suck if we could live forever but we still looked old and wrinkly.  My hands are already looking old, my knuckles especially which seem to have far too much skin, which is amazing really as I have gotten fat so you would assume that I would have less skin there, not more. 

See a completely rambling post……

So…what else? 

Well, there is the need for me to start eating very healthily soon….as in from tomorrow.  Yes, I know everyone says they will start tomorrow but I do.  Firstly, I have lots of goodies to eat, including Snowballs and French Fancies and I know I should throw them away because I will only have to lose the consumed calories but they taste so good.  Secondly, my wedding ring fit very nicely when I got married in October and so did my engagement ring which is more to the point because the latter doesn’t fit at all now.  My wedding ring is in danger of cutting my circulation off anytime within the next month or so and as I refuse to have my wedding ring made bigger because it is precious I don’t really have a choice but to lose weight. 

All of that does not include the need to lose weight because I feel tired all of the time and I miss having far too much energy for one person to deal with, as do the fluff bags as they went on my extended walks with me. 

Hubby is picking up a bicycle on Wednesday as work are closing the site I work on and transferring me to one closer to home.  A great idea you would say except it means that Hubby will work in the opposite direction to me and I refuse to do a 20 mile round trip twice a day to drop him off at work because he refuses to drive.   Hence the bicycle, except…Hubby hasn’t ridden a bicycle for 20 years and having practiced behind our house he was struggling to breathe fully after only a couple of minutes and about 200 yards.   Peeps, he will be doing 6 miles a day!  This isn’t a lot but when as unfit as him and a family history of diabetes, cancer and more importantly heart issues your wife can have kittens worrying….

So all told, there is quite a bit going on which probably explains the slightly unsettled feeling.  Or maybe it is just because it is Monday and I am not in the mood for working.

What I learned this week

Good morning, afternoon or evening to you all.

Right now my nose is itching and driving me mad!  Yesterday was a day of sneezing and today is going to be a day of an itchy nose. 

So here is what I learned this week:

• Weather men/women are mostly wrong.  This week has been a day of being sunny when it was supposed to be raining and vice versa.
• My garden furniture was delivered on Thursday; in time for summer.  I am wondering whether my garden furniture jinxed the weather.  After a lovely day on Friday, it has been raining and the wind howling.
• My dad makes a much better back gate than the gardener who made the last one! 
• My back wall now needs rendering again - the blown plaster stuff did not stand the vibration of a drill and to be fair I am not surprised at all.
• It costs much more for a car roof box than I ever expected - not that I needed one, Angel was selling one and it sold second hand for more than I thought it would cost brand new.
• Angel has the skinniest but prettiest ankles - having known her over 20 years I am not sure why I have only just noticed that.
• Waking up with backache makes you wonder if a) you spent too long in bed in the last 24 hours (for perfectly legitimate reasons I may add!) or b) your mattress is on its way out or c) you are getting too old.
• It is possible to stay awake until 3am in the morning putting to world to rights with your brother.  For someone who doesn’t really ‘do’ lie-ins you can do a really good impression of one until nearly noon the next day.
• Despite sleeping 7 hours when you get home later that night you won’t be able to stay awake beyond 7pm and sleep straight through until 3am.  I suspect without backache I may have slept merrily until 5.30am when the alarm went off signalling work was on the horizon.
• Your daughter can sit and tell you about her day at work and you will find yourself not understanding half of what she is saying because it is too medically confusing.
• It isn’t possible to eat a snowball without getting coconut flakes all down the front of your clothes.
• Whoppers taste like strawberry flavoured Maltesers and are lovely but there will be a 50:50 split in your brothers household as to whether they taste ‘sickly’ or not.
• A python can live up to 30 years.
• You can start worrying whether Hubby will have a heart attack riding home on a bicycle for the first time in 20 years a whole 2 days before he picks the bike up from the shop.
• Abi fluff is able to get her collar in her mouth to chew it even though you can attempt to do the same thing with her and it be impossible.
• If you return home from a night away and find a sink full of dirty pots and leave them for the Beautiful B that left them, she will get the hint when she returns home and wash them before she goes to bed.

So what have you learned this week?

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.

Two films in one day makes for a spoiled woman

Warning:  There is a spoiler for the film The Purge in this post so if you intend watching it you might not want to read the whole post.....

Last week I agreed to go to the cinema with Beautiful B and her boyfriend, Ry to see The Purge.  Having already got excited about the release of Man of Steel and canvassed for interest only to find there was none I concluded I must go alone.  

So instead of working until stupid o'clock and meeting BB and Ry to see The Purge I took myself off to the cinema early to watch Man of Steel first.

We will skip over how incredibly sad I am for sitting in the cinema with a pad and pen jotting down ideas for the works intranet page or the fact that I managed to munch my way through numerous satsumas - shut up, they are the one type of orange I can eat and that I like.  

Instead, the film.  Some people, including Hubby, do not see the point of a remake of the original films and that you cannot make a film as good as the original.  This makes me giggle because Hubby has never seen all of the original or any other Superman film.  I'm going to be magnanimous and say that the youth of today (ooooh, get me sounding old) would watch the original and ignore the concept of the simpleness of the story line and instead comment on how rubbish the special effects are.  So I think that a remake that sticks to the original story line but brings it into today's world introduces our children to some great classics with a modern twist.

Having said that, although his chest and arms are very nice it did feel strange for Superman not to be Christopher Reeve and for his suit to look completely different.  The special effects were amazing and the level of destruction in Metropolis huge.  The destruction all done for effect obviously because it added nothing to the film.

All told I really enjoyed the film but then I was always going to because mum and dad (mostly dad) brought me up on the classics; superman, ET, spiderman, star trek, star wars etc.  

After the film, I sat in the foyer waiting for BB and Ry making more work related notes (again, incredibly sad) until they arrived.  While watching the film BB munched her way through a family size bag of Doritos and I did not eat one - helped by the fact that I didn't like the flavour and probably because I wasn't hungry after eating 6 satsumas.

Let's turn now to The Purge......

I am tempering my first comment with the fact that I know I watch all sorts of horror and thrillers and films about serial killers and murder and read more books in those genres than any other but in my own twisted little way there is a sort of 'happy' or 'satisfying' ending of the film/book because the baddy always gets caught.  Therefore, the world is righted slightly.  A's hubby is a policeman and when I said this last night he said "A happy ending where numerous people have been killed....." translating to 'how is that a happy ending' and he is right but you get what I mean.

My first comment: The Purge is disturbing and trust me I don't get disturbed by much in a film or book.  I have read one book up to Chapter 3 and thrown it away because it disturbed me so much so it takes a lot.  The Purge was strange.  The whole context of the film is about a law being passed in the US in the 2020's that allows a 'purge' once a year where any crime, including murder, to be committed without any repercussions for a 12 hour period.  This law has apparently resulted in no crime at all for the rest of the time and the US is affluent, zero crime and life is great.

Ignore the fact that zero crime for 364 and a half days a year just would not happen or that the country would just eventually have more and more murderous crime year on year and lets go to the fact that the film is about a family who have to survive the night in their home....from people who think it is their constitutional right to murder whomever they want for 12 hours a year and that those who are not as affluent cannot afford the security required and therefore are on the earth for people murderous entertainment once a year.  What?!  Yes, of course the less affluent are enjoying the rest of the year and not trying to work out how they can secure their home and lives during the next 'purge.'

Then lets jump to how, having their home invaded and trying desperately to survive from strangers who want to murder them for entertainment, the family are rescued by neighbours who kill the strangers but not to rescue their neighbours but because they want to kill them instead.  The reason they want to murder them: because the families husband sells the security equipment used on their houses and he has made a lot of money (some of it from them) that year as yes, you guessed it crime increases each 'purge'. So essentially they are murdering his family because they are jealous that they were able to build a lovely extension on the house.  A legitimate reason to murder a family I am sure you will agree....

They are rescued by someone the youngest child had let in the house earlier in the evening having seen him on security running from people who wanted to murder him for fun and the neighbours are forced to wait out the 'purge' in the families house where the husband now lies dead.  At 7am a siren signifies the end of the purge and the film ends showing the neighbours being told to f*** off back to their houses and so they walk across the street to their houses while radio and TV broadcasts are heard stating how it has been the best 'purge' ever.

So no 'happy' or satisfactory ending for me which left me thinking I had spent 2 hours of my life watching people be scared half to death and murdered for entertainment and for there to be no change to society or way of life as a resolution to the film.

Firstly, I'm sorry but that is not the way films are supposed to end and secondly what was the point of the film exactly.  Unless it was to prompt blogs, comments and conversations such as this one I don't see the point of a film with such a premise being classed as entertainment.

Yes, that sounds hypocrytical because I love programmes such as Criminal Minds and that is all about the most depraved of society but they are always caught.  I know in reality this does not happen and that it can take years to catch a killer even with the help of the FBI but there is a resolution and even if there weren't there is a concept of good at least trying to triumph over evil and I just did not get this with The Purge.

Have you noticed how my rant about The Purge is so much longer than the comments about Man of Steel which I enjoyed immensely?  Maybe that was their aim.

Oh and have I mentioned that a Wolverine film is due for release and Hugh Jackman seems to have his shirt off quite a bit in that film? Yes, oh well, I am likely to mention it again.  

Phwoor!

Just in case you are thinking he uses a body double, he clearly doesn't!

Sunday is a day of rest

Okay, so following on from my post about what I do on a normal Saturday, here is what I do on a normal Sunday.  Sunday is a day of less work and more fun but I wouldn't necessarily say it was a complete day of rest so here is a typical Sunday:

• Woke up at silly o'clock because my body is incapable of a lie-in
• Did a blog post while Hubby snoozed upstairs
• Had a bit of a play on a different computer game than Saturday, ensuring I get a gold score on every level because I am far to OCDish for my own good
• Put the drying up away and cleaned up the kitchen as Beautiful B brought far too many pots downstairs
• Ate some toast, made lovingly by Hubby
• Watched two episodes of The Chase with Hubby
• Spent an hour with Mum and Dad and got told off for getting Dad a Fathers Day present
• Dropped Hubby off at home and went to pick up the replacement Vax Steamer and bought Emilia some clothes as I couldn't resist the top because it had a giraffe on it.  I'm also going to buy her a Hello Kitty bed too - .  Her Build a Bear Hello Kitty does not have her own bed adn little Emilia covets the bed every time she goes into the shop.  If I can't spoil my God-daugther then something is seriously wrong with the world. 
• Nipped to Tesco to buy Beautiful B some shopping and some lunch
• Had lunch with Hubby, watched another episode of The Chase
• Helped Hubby cover the garden furniture up to protect it from the rain and swept the garden
• Had a bit more of a play, replaying 3 levels until I got gold
• Updated this blog post
• Picked up Beautiful B from work and took her to her dad's grave so she could say hello on Father's Day
• Plucked eyebrows while in the car waiting for Beautiful B at the grave
• Played a different computer game for 2 levels; no gold scores on this one but I insisted on finding the 3 hidden shells before I finished the level
• Fed the fluff bags because I can't steam floors if they have chewed my feet off in hunger
• Swept the ground floor
• Put the new Vax Steamer together
• You will be glad to hear that it works wonders on a marble hearth
• It also works wonders on a white tile kitchen floor!  I am one very happy woman and all is right with the world at this precise moment....because I am sad
• Made tea
• Washed the pots up
• Ate tea and then washed the second load of pots up
• Watched two episodes of perception
• Washed the final round of pots and pans
• Played a level on a computer game; failed miserably
• Polished the furniture downstairs
• Sorted the post and filing
• Sat down to some good TV watching in bed with the fluff bags while Hubby watches the US Open golf

As you can see nowhere near as busy as yesterday!   And this post isn't in the slightest bit amusing so if you think some of my others are I apologise.....

Why C and I love each other so much

One of the reasons we get on so well is that we are entertained by the simplest of things. He thinks I am a complete nutter but he loves that about me; he loves the way I see things, almost childlike and the way I relish the little things in life.

When in Centerparcs we had a chalet that backed onto the forest, no-one over-looked us and it was perfect for BBQ's.  During the first day there we heard strange noises and soon along came a pheasant.

Are these endangered?  I really don't know; I should google it....but I won't.  Turns out the pheasant was following a female pheasant - what are they called?  Peahens rings a bell but it is likely the wrong bell.

That male pheasant stalked the female for 4 days!  If I was a male pheasant I wouldn't bother!  Seems far too much like hard work.  Regardless, I spent most of the weekend when in the chalet and not drinking stood at the patio doors watching the pheasant who, to be honest, seemed to be wasting his time as the female pheasant just seemed to be ignoring him completely.  I have to admit that I do love the idea of the female having all the control.

So how does this particular story show how C and I are alike - well, I will demonstrate.  C was almost as obsessed with the pheasants and the first morning we woke up there I found him at the patio doors having a cigarette and watching the pheasants who had found a man made den made from the lower branches of the trees to provide some shelter.  Why were they in the den (separately of course because the female still had all the power in this would be relationship)?  Well, because C had been there earlier in the morning laying bits of pork pie down for them! Granted, I may have used bread but you get the idea.  If pheasants aren't carnivores these ones certainly were now.....

The next day C found me at the patio doors enticing a pigeon with bread because I am entertained by the smallest of things. I know they are greedy little things but I was quite impressed with myself for getting it so close to me but I have no idea why considering pigeons that live in London will sit on your hand for food.

And lets not forget the ducks because they were really friendly or maybe they were just hungry or greedy and really could care less what we were doing as long as it meant we were feeding them. C and I were trying to entice a duck into the chalet as you can see from this photograph but then we decided it might be difficult to get it back out of the chalet and Hubby would likely have a heart attack.

And lets not forget C loves me for my caring side.  On our travels to the pancake house we saw this little bunny wabbit.  Though you cannot see it in the photograph this little mite was smaller than my hand and scared to death.  You could touch it and it would not move.  A and I were so upset we insisted on going to customer services to get the rangers out to rescue it before it died of stress.  As much as I love pancakes little scared bunny wabbits come first.

So there you have it, C loves life as much as I do.  There is good in everything as far as he is concerned and he loves to the fullest and is not afraid to show his feelings.  Sometimes there is nothing better than going to your brother and being enveloped in a great big bear hug knowing that he loves you for the person you are and wouldn't change you for the world. He even puts up with the aliens in my head.



A Saturday in the life of Ribena

This is likely to be boring for most, if not all of you, but I had a bright idea.  Unusual I know.

Seen as I am convinced that I procrastinate and I know I do and so do the treasury accounts I thought I would document everything I did on a Saturday (well, except for the urgh bits because that would just be wrong but you get the idea) so I can prove to myself just how much I do.  A little experiment if you will.  I'm not putting times in because that would just be wrong, other than to say I woke up at 6.15am.  So here goes:

• Let the dogs out
• Put some washing in the washing machine
• Wrote a blog post and started another
• Wrote a shopping list
• Checked the leaking pipe with Hubby
• Updated shopping list based on Hubby's needs
• Asked Beth to clean the back garden before she goes to work; promptly told her I will do it myself.....
• Took Hubby to work
• Took Hubby's mum shopping
• Insisted on putting the huge, heavy bag of potting soil in the back garden on a chair so she did not have to bend when potting her plants instead of the kitchen floor as she suggested!
• Put the freezer goods away after shoo-ing all the fluff bags back in the house after they decided the front garden was a new play room when while I fetched the shopping bags in
• Updated a blog post I had started earlier this morning
• Decided to play a bit of a computer game before unpacking the rest of the shopping while simultaneously thinking that I might get more done if I deleted each and every game
• Decided this blog post might be a good idea and started it
• Went back to playing the computer game
• Unpacked the shopping
• Folded the washing and put away
• Put washing in the dryer
• Emptied the bins
• Took my pills, realising I hadn't taken them this morning, noticied my inhaler was empty explaining why I couldn't really taste it when I sucked on it last night.....
• Did the washing up
• Had a quick lie down (by quick I do mean 2 minutes) on Beautiful B's new mattress to see if it is as comfortable as mine (it's not) while the girlie fluffs took the opportunity to try and smother me with kisses
• Had another bit of a play on a computer game
• Hacked away at the triffid in the front garden so that it didn't take anyone's eye out when innocently walking past the garden
• Played tag with a wasp and wished that I had a hedge strimmer because surely it must be easier than using secateurs
• Noticed one of the dogs had thrown up some of the banana I fed them earlier; grateful it was outside and not in the house as per usual
• Danced about the house to P!nk because that is what you do!
• Moved the washing from the dryer, folded the drying and put it away
• Had a play on the computer resting the back in preparation for cleaning the stairs and landing
• Cleaned the back garden
• Pet magneted the stairs to get all the fluffer fluff off
• Re-evaluated how long it will take me to clean the stairs with the Vax because it has taken me an hour to do 5 stairs; maybe I am being too strigent in trying to get all of the water up back into the Vax
• Decided that I need to get a Vax because the colour of the water, even if I have also done the front door mat is just WRONG and I am seriously thinking I cannot live knowing that is in my carpets
• Seriously considered saving for new stairs and having wooden stair without carpet; at least I could clean it every two days and know it was clean!
• Cleaned the toilet properly;
• Cleaned another 5 stairs
• Had a bit of a play, filled the water bottle up for the Vax
• Give Cala a bit of a love because the Vax is freaking her out
• Finished the last 2 stairs and decided by comparison the landing and bedroom should be much easier!
• Filled the car up with petrol
• Picked Hubby up from work
• Told Lily off when I got home because she had been in my work bag and eaten a full pack of Cadbury's fingers, a packet of strawberry laces and most of the pistachio nought - waiting in anticipation for one of them to throw up on what will be a clean carpet
• Hoovered the bedroom and landing
• Vax'd half of the bedroom while Hubby made tea (bless him; he comes in from work and cooks for me 'because I have worked all day too' apparently)
• Ate tea
• Vax'ed rest of bedroom and landing
• Had a mini row with Beautiful B in the middle of the last Vax session, got annoyed
• Cleaned the Vax during which Hubby fetched me a strong vodka, lime and lemonade
• 5 hours after I started cleaning carpets.....and polish the bedroom. Hubby begs me to stop working.
• So I have a play and have my second vodka, lime and lemonade
• Ignore Hubby and find a job he won't really notice - break up a load of boxes and do some shredding - he did, told me I would hurt my hands!
• Comforted Beautiful B while she cried at her dad not being here for Fathers Day tomorrow as she apologised for shouting at me when she came home from work
• Shredded some more boxes
• Did the washing up
• Cleaned the dogs bowls
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Put the empty cans and bottles outside
• Rescued a cheddar biscuit from under the TV unit for Cala who was so grateful she kissed me
• Wrote a blog post for Father's day and had a third vodka, lime and lemonade
• Took myself to bed to watch Perception and Hubby brought me a fourth vodka, lime and lemonade
• Fell asleep not long into the second Perception episode

So that, folks, is a normal Saturday in my house; minus the carpet cleaning obviously but I normally find something equally time consuming to do such as scrubbing the grime out of the grooves in my wooden floors with a scrubbing brush because all sorts of things can collect there, I imagine. 

In conclusion; yes I do procrastinate!

A sleep later.....

It is now Sunday and I have been awake 20 minutes.  Hubby is still sleeping so I am taking the opportunity to write a blog or two.  Beautiful B has just come downstairs ready to go to work (smelling gorgeous; having asked the perfume is Flower, explaining why I love it because I introduced her to it) and has brought a pile of dirty pots from her room so the jobs start again - should that be another post?