So guys I am going to be having a baby in October 2010! The due date is the 12th, I was hoping for Halloween but I can deal with the 12th. If it's 2 days early it's birthday will be 10-10-10 which would be awesome... will have to eat lots of hot curry etc on the 9th to try and self induce labour! Only kidding.
So I found out in January and had to keep quiet about it for a good couple of months which was quite torturous... having to make up excuses as to why I wasn't drinking and blah blah but in April the word went out and we could finally let people know after the 12 week scan. I am now 21 weeks and counting... I have a definite bump and bigger boobs but my body still feels like my own. I am enjoying it so far, I've been very lucky in having no morning sickness at all, I have had the most chronic indigestion but I will take that over puking, definitely.
During the first 3 months I started and ended a 7 week temping position at a fancy Landrover dealership then started a permanent job working for British Gas whilst battling extreme tiredness and awful wind/stomach aches. I was going to bet at 9pm and just sleeping for England plus sloping off to the toilet all the time, not pleasant! Anyway I sound like a real moaner, it was quite hard work though. I'm half way through the pregnancy now and I've just finished 7 weeks of training at B Gas so I'm doing the job officially now. They do know, I told them a few weeks ago which was quite nerve wracking - I'm only on a 6 month probation and I thought they might just show me the door. So far they have been really good about it though which is such a relief.
Nick is still setting up his business which is going quite well. Really want to get some business now but he's done a few jobs and the website is now set up: www.waitefilms.com - there are a few videos in the gallery as examples of his work.
I've obviously quit drinking and smoking, neither of which I really miss. I have the occasional half of lager/guinness/small glass of wine so not totally abstaining. No shellfish, soft or blue cheese, runny eggs, or pate for me at the moment though. No weird cravings really to speak of - in the first month I had a bit of a thing for raw carrots and I've gone off chocolate slightly but I still eat it, just don't go mad for it like I used to. At the moment I keep getting leg cramps at night, sometimes they wake me up and I have to jump out of bed and perform a crazy sort of Irish jig to get rid of them which is quite irritating, especially for Nick. That and numb fingers at night, both of which are common so my pregnancy book tells me.
The other day I thought I had a mosquito bite on my ankle - I had a small, itchy bite mark with what I thought was a little scab on the top of it but then I took a closer look and it was a tick!! Oh my GOD so disgusting I cannot begin to describe. It came out, head and all, fairly easily and I gave it a quick and painless death but I have been totally grossed out ever since.
Well I'm a bit sunburnt after a day at Highcliff beach plus a trip around West Quay shopping centre for pregnancy bras and pretty tops which have plenty of room up the front with my lovely mother in law.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Dark Crystal Dreams
So I had the most vivid dream the other night, it was basically the whole imagined sequel to the film 'The Dark Crystal' which has been one of my favourite films since I was 6 years old. I have no idea what brought it into my subconcious mind but it was quite good, although I remember being slightly vexed that they had chosen Keira Knightley to play the part of Kira and not a puppet. The details are fading now but she was sat in a large, gladitorial style stadium which a guy next to her who I presume was supposed to be Jen and there were definitely landstriders in it although they had horses heads and six legs, I think because I have watched Avatar too many times and I was getting confused in my dreams!
Well it's my last day tomorrow in this temping position, I like the people but OH MY GOD there is nothing to do every day. I am melting into a slack jawed puddle of boredom and can't wait to be outta here. Just thinking of the money clocking up hour by hour is what has got me through. I don't know how anyone could do this job full time, it is moronic. I am starting a permanent job on Monday which is for a well done energy supplier - good money and after my training period I will be working a 4 day week, Thursdays off, Woohoo! Although it's long hours the other days so I won't be able to go to my normal yoga class anymore on a Tuesday night, but luckily Perminder does a class on Thursdays so I'm going to change to that. Bit of a shame as it's at a College further away from where I live but I can't live without my yoga now, it's so good.
I've been up to London town for the weekend. Which was a belated birthday treat for my mother in law. We took her for afternoon tea at Browns hotel which was all finger sandwiches, mini scones and cakes (an infinite supply) and lovely, lovely teas to drink. Then after a mooch around Soho we went to Ronnie Scotts in the evening for dinner and jazz, baby! We saw the James Tayler Quartet which was really funky, Starsky & Hutch type music with much audience participation, although I didn't do too much dancing as I had eaten a massive house burger and fries and was feeling rather distended, belly wise. Still I sang a lot, he divided the crowd and each side had to bellow out 'In the Ghetto' or 'We're talking 'bout the Ghetto' really loudly in a sing off stylee, something I haven't experience literally since Primary school! Loved it. So a great night, and then on the Sunday we went to Colombia Road flower market and Spitalfields market.
And someone has actually given me a small amount of work to do!! Wow. Better sign off.
Well it's my last day tomorrow in this temping position, I like the people but OH MY GOD there is nothing to do every day. I am melting into a slack jawed puddle of boredom and can't wait to be outta here. Just thinking of the money clocking up hour by hour is what has got me through. I don't know how anyone could do this job full time, it is moronic. I am starting a permanent job on Monday which is for a well done energy supplier - good money and after my training period I will be working a 4 day week, Thursdays off, Woohoo! Although it's long hours the other days so I won't be able to go to my normal yoga class anymore on a Tuesday night, but luckily Perminder does a class on Thursdays so I'm going to change to that. Bit of a shame as it's at a College further away from where I live but I can't live without my yoga now, it's so good.
I've been up to London town for the weekend. Which was a belated birthday treat for my mother in law. We took her for afternoon tea at Browns hotel which was all finger sandwiches, mini scones and cakes (an infinite supply) and lovely, lovely teas to drink. Then after a mooch around Soho we went to Ronnie Scotts in the evening for dinner and jazz, baby! We saw the James Tayler Quartet which was really funky, Starsky & Hutch type music with much audience participation, although I didn't do too much dancing as I had eaten a massive house burger and fries and was feeling rather distended, belly wise. Still I sang a lot, he divided the crowd and each side had to bellow out 'In the Ghetto' or 'We're talking 'bout the Ghetto' really loudly in a sing off stylee, something I haven't experience literally since Primary school! Loved it. So a great night, and then on the Sunday we went to Colombia Road flower market and Spitalfields market.
And someone has actually given me a small amount of work to do!! Wow. Better sign off.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Living the Temping Dream...
So the job search continues and in the meantime I've found a 6 week temping placement which is at a big car dealership conveniently close to where I live. It's long hours, 8-6 but then I get paid hourly and I'm able to get home for lunch so I figure it beats doing a long commute in busy traffic each morning. The people are really nice, it's a bit of a joke because I literally know nothing about cars, especially very large, modern ones.
I'm still looking for permanant work but it's been pretty hard to find anything and quite demoralising. I've slacked off over the last few weeks as well as I knew that I had myself sorted for a while with this temp job. Wages are basically shit in Southampton and there are hundreds of people all looking for work. A bad combination!
Nick is taking the bull by the horns and is setting up his own business. So far he has registered the Company name, designed a wicked logo, bought a Smart car and is currently getting it sign written, been to see a solicitor for legal advice, oh, and bought a fancy pants video camera with a load of kit to go with it. He's going to be making videos, for weddings, companies, that sort of thing. I won't go into any more detail until it's a bit more fully formed. He's been really busy the last few weeks, plus I've turned him into a house husband as well because I've hardly been around. He's doing most of the cooking and cleaning as I simply don't have the hours in the day to do it and our weekends have been horrendously packed full of stuff. Fun stuff but all the same, leaves you with no time!
The kittens are just completely awesome and lovely. They are super affectionate and love company. They jump around all over the place like utter loons and are strangely fascinated by running water. If you're running a bath they fall in, if you're brushing your teeth they try to get in the sink and if you're on the loo they jump up on your lap which is a bit disconcerting. Max loves climbing the curtains up to ceiling height, but then he can't get back down again so gets ridiculously stuck. They have destroyed most of our house plants and I basically can't wait to get them outside in the garden where they can let off some steam!! We are just waiting for them, especially little Millie, to recover from their neutering operations which they had about a week ago. So about another week. She has a big shaved patch which feels like a shammy leather on her side. They seem completely unfazed by the experience which is a relief.
It's my Dad's birthday today, must give him a ring. And it was my mother in laws 60th yesterday, we went around for dinner and drinks last night. At the weekend, for her birthday, we went to the most amazing hotel - http://www.limewood.co.uk/ which is in the New Forest. We stayed overnight and had the most incredible meal of my life. It was cooked by Alex Aitkin who has 2 Michelin Stars no less! And it was at the 'Chef's Table', literally a big oak table actually in the huge, bustling kitchen of the hotel and you get to watch all the cooks bustling about like something out of Hell's Kitchen (but without the swearing and they all looked quite calm). Anyway there were 9 courses, it was a taster menu, and with each course we had a Sommelier come and match up the wine to go with it, there was so much interesting wine and even vintage pink champagne with the scallops course!
OK now because I want to remember it for all time and this is my blog, this is what we had to eat. I know it's boring! It's more for me.
1) Pre dinner nibbles of chicken liver fois gras and aubergine caviar with little toasts.
2) An amuse bouche of little espresso cup of what tasted like very rich cauliflower cheese topped with fois gras and reduced balsamic vinegar
3) A sealed jam jar that they popped the lid off for you at the table, filled with wild mushroom risotto, a bantam poached egg on top and slivers of truffles. Possibly my favourite course, this one.
4) Scallops in a sort of salady vinegrette with the pink champers to drink. Yum.
5) Monkfish chunks with a sort of olive tapenade on top and a triangle of something like hallumi cheese underneath which was very nice
6) Slowed cooked venison with poached pear and walnuts and a small individual haggis on the side. nice but weird with the haggis!
7) Lump of some British Brie type cheese with a 'deconstructed' waldorf salad next to it! So funny, just all the ingredients laid out prettily rather than all mixed together. Very nice though.
8) Basically a shot glass with a basil froth at the top, sweet coconut mush underneath with lumps of lime jelly. The only course I didn't really like if I'm honest.
9) Passionfruit souffle which they pop the top of with a spoon in front of you and pour into it a rich passionfruit sauce. It also came with a little cornetto thing on the side which was very tasty.
10) Coffees and little homemade chocolate truffles in the bar afterwards.
Oh my God! I was so bloated! I actually couldn't sleep afterwards. The hotel is so posh as well, but feels very relaxed so you don't feel too self conscious which is good. My sister in law works there and got us a very good deal, to say the least.
Anyway I know that was so, so boring to list al the food but I really want to remember what a fantastic evening we had there. We're also taking the mother in law to London for the weekend which will be the weekend after next. We're going to do afternoon tea at Browns then a night a Ronnie Scott's Jazz club, hurrah! That will be amazing too, I'm sure.
I'm still looking for permanant work but it's been pretty hard to find anything and quite demoralising. I've slacked off over the last few weeks as well as I knew that I had myself sorted for a while with this temp job. Wages are basically shit in Southampton and there are hundreds of people all looking for work. A bad combination!
Nick is taking the bull by the horns and is setting up his own business. So far he has registered the Company name, designed a wicked logo, bought a Smart car and is currently getting it sign written, been to see a solicitor for legal advice, oh, and bought a fancy pants video camera with a load of kit to go with it. He's going to be making videos, for weddings, companies, that sort of thing. I won't go into any more detail until it's a bit more fully formed. He's been really busy the last few weeks, plus I've turned him into a house husband as well because I've hardly been around. He's doing most of the cooking and cleaning as I simply don't have the hours in the day to do it and our weekends have been horrendously packed full of stuff. Fun stuff but all the same, leaves you with no time!
The kittens are just completely awesome and lovely. They are super affectionate and love company. They jump around all over the place like utter loons and are strangely fascinated by running water. If you're running a bath they fall in, if you're brushing your teeth they try to get in the sink and if you're on the loo they jump up on your lap which is a bit disconcerting. Max loves climbing the curtains up to ceiling height, but then he can't get back down again so gets ridiculously stuck. They have destroyed most of our house plants and I basically can't wait to get them outside in the garden where they can let off some steam!! We are just waiting for them, especially little Millie, to recover from their neutering operations which they had about a week ago. So about another week. She has a big shaved patch which feels like a shammy leather on her side. They seem completely unfazed by the experience which is a relief.
It's my Dad's birthday today, must give him a ring. And it was my mother in laws 60th yesterday, we went around for dinner and drinks last night. At the weekend, for her birthday, we went to the most amazing hotel - http://www.limewood.co.uk/ which is in the New Forest. We stayed overnight and had the most incredible meal of my life. It was cooked by Alex Aitkin who has 2 Michelin Stars no less! And it was at the 'Chef's Table', literally a big oak table actually in the huge, bustling kitchen of the hotel and you get to watch all the cooks bustling about like something out of Hell's Kitchen (but without the swearing and they all looked quite calm). Anyway there were 9 courses, it was a taster menu, and with each course we had a Sommelier come and match up the wine to go with it, there was so much interesting wine and even vintage pink champagne with the scallops course!
OK now because I want to remember it for all time and this is my blog, this is what we had to eat. I know it's boring! It's more for me.
1) Pre dinner nibbles of chicken liver fois gras and aubergine caviar with little toasts.
2) An amuse bouche of little espresso cup of what tasted like very rich cauliflower cheese topped with fois gras and reduced balsamic vinegar
3) A sealed jam jar that they popped the lid off for you at the table, filled with wild mushroom risotto, a bantam poached egg on top and slivers of truffles. Possibly my favourite course, this one.
4) Scallops in a sort of salady vinegrette with the pink champers to drink. Yum.
5) Monkfish chunks with a sort of olive tapenade on top and a triangle of something like hallumi cheese underneath which was very nice
6) Slowed cooked venison with poached pear and walnuts and a small individual haggis on the side. nice but weird with the haggis!
7) Lump of some British Brie type cheese with a 'deconstructed' waldorf salad next to it! So funny, just all the ingredients laid out prettily rather than all mixed together. Very nice though.
8) Basically a shot glass with a basil froth at the top, sweet coconut mush underneath with lumps of lime jelly. The only course I didn't really like if I'm honest.
9) Passionfruit souffle which they pop the top of with a spoon in front of you and pour into it a rich passionfruit sauce. It also came with a little cornetto thing on the side which was very tasty.
10) Coffees and little homemade chocolate truffles in the bar afterwards.
Oh my God! I was so bloated! I actually couldn't sleep afterwards. The hotel is so posh as well, but feels very relaxed so you don't feel too self conscious which is good. My sister in law works there and got us a very good deal, to say the least.
Anyway I know that was so, so boring to list al the food but I really want to remember what a fantastic evening we had there. We're also taking the mother in law to London for the weekend which will be the weekend after next. We're going to do afternoon tea at Browns then a night a Ronnie Scott's Jazz club, hurrah! That will be amazing too, I'm sure.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Job Seeking... Kittens...
So it's coming towards the end of January now and we are finally done with the renovations. December was a complete mother of a month, it was the most tiring and un-Christmassy run up to Christmas I have ever had in my life, which sucked because I flipping LOVE Christmas and all of the festive stuff that comes with it. We did buy a tree from B&Q back in November which sat out in the back garden for several weeks waiting for the lounge to be done. We brought it inside just a few days before Christmas day and managed to get the baubles on just in time.
Christmas day itself was lovely, however, and so was the following week. We had my Dad and his partner come to stay with us, and also her daughter and daughter's husband so not only did we have to have finished all the DIY but I also had to be organised and do a bunch of shopping/cooking. Maggie was a sweetie though and turned up with an entire hamper of food which included fresh coffee, twiglets and a Christmas pudding. I think they were worried that we wouldn't have any food in the house at all.
Then everyone got the flu apart from me, and we were planning to have some friends round on New Years Eve but it ended up being just 6 of us so I cooked a big fancy meal and we all just got drunk and played a bit of Cranium. I love Cranium! Nick bought me the new version for Christmas, it rocks. You need at least 6 people to play it properly though I would say. For Christmas I also got some lovely sheepskin gloves from my mother in law which are so snuggly and warm for my poor zombie dead hands. And what else... Nick bought me both Iko and Shadow of the Colossus PS2 games which is awesome, I haven't really had time to play them yet but I knw they are there waiting for me...
Then we just spent a couple of weeks doing nothing at all - really chilling out and enjoying having our own space around us again and our amazing new home. Getting our stuff out of storage was such a great day for me, opening up all those boxes and discovering all the stuff we have that I'd forgotten completely about. All my books! They are stupidly precious, I am such a nerd. And old keepsakes and photo albums - I spent ages just going through them all.
Then last week we went to the RSPCA and the Blue Cross rescue centres to look for cats. I was totally up for getting a smelly old, unwanted 3 legged one with bad breath but in the end we were enchanted by a pair of kittens that a lady had hand reared. It was so traumatic walking around all those cages with cats in, at the RSPCA they had around 150 cats all waiting for a new home and some TLC. I just wanted to adopt them all. Nick really had his heart set on kittens though so when this lady mentioned about them I caved in totally! The Mum had been found in a shed with them when they were really little and when they brought her in she got so stressed that she stopped producing milk so the kittens had to be taken away from her and reared by hand. There were just the 2 of them, they are brother and sister and we've had them 5 days now. They are both white with small beige/pale ginger patches and the girl is tiny. We're calling them Max & Millie - the rescue centre were calling them the Mingmongs/Tango and Fanta which were shit names. Actually I quite like the Mongmongs as a collective name for them but Ming and Mong are rubbish.
So I am trying to find a job in Southampton right now and I've applied for quite a few. I had one interview yesterday and the job sounds great but they didn't mention salary... I'm worried it might be rubbish. I don't want to jinx anything I've applied for by going into it here in great detail cos then I'm bound to not get it.
Max and Millie are great, really playful and crazy. They sleep quite a lot, eat and poo loads and are lovely to be around. Millie is currently watching me type and when I move the mouse she tries to attack it. She keeps walking on the keyboard and pressing the caps lock button, she seems especially fond of capital letters. Max is the boss and Millie follows him around, she miows pathetically if he leaves the room for too long. He is the one trying to get into the dishwasher/up onto the worktops and generally knocking over everything. They are both so small and around 3 1/2 months old right now - I don't think they're going to be massive cats, she is quite runty like our old cat Molly. Anyway they are great, I love them already.
Christmas day itself was lovely, however, and so was the following week. We had my Dad and his partner come to stay with us, and also her daughter and daughter's husband so not only did we have to have finished all the DIY but I also had to be organised and do a bunch of shopping/cooking. Maggie was a sweetie though and turned up with an entire hamper of food which included fresh coffee, twiglets and a Christmas pudding. I think they were worried that we wouldn't have any food in the house at all.
Then everyone got the flu apart from me, and we were planning to have some friends round on New Years Eve but it ended up being just 6 of us so I cooked a big fancy meal and we all just got drunk and played a bit of Cranium. I love Cranium! Nick bought me the new version for Christmas, it rocks. You need at least 6 people to play it properly though I would say. For Christmas I also got some lovely sheepskin gloves from my mother in law which are so snuggly and warm for my poor zombie dead hands. And what else... Nick bought me both Iko and Shadow of the Colossus PS2 games which is awesome, I haven't really had time to play them yet but I knw they are there waiting for me...
Then we just spent a couple of weeks doing nothing at all - really chilling out and enjoying having our own space around us again and our amazing new home. Getting our stuff out of storage was such a great day for me, opening up all those boxes and discovering all the stuff we have that I'd forgotten completely about. All my books! They are stupidly precious, I am such a nerd. And old keepsakes and photo albums - I spent ages just going through them all.
Then last week we went to the RSPCA and the Blue Cross rescue centres to look for cats. I was totally up for getting a smelly old, unwanted 3 legged one with bad breath but in the end we were enchanted by a pair of kittens that a lady had hand reared. It was so traumatic walking around all those cages with cats in, at the RSPCA they had around 150 cats all waiting for a new home and some TLC. I just wanted to adopt them all. Nick really had his heart set on kittens though so when this lady mentioned about them I caved in totally! The Mum had been found in a shed with them when they were really little and when they brought her in she got so stressed that she stopped producing milk so the kittens had to be taken away from her and reared by hand. There were just the 2 of them, they are brother and sister and we've had them 5 days now. They are both white with small beige/pale ginger patches and the girl is tiny. We're calling them Max & Millie - the rescue centre were calling them the Mingmongs/Tango and Fanta which were shit names. Actually I quite like the Mongmongs as a collective name for them but Ming and Mong are rubbish.
So I am trying to find a job in Southampton right now and I've applied for quite a few. I had one interview yesterday and the job sounds great but they didn't mention salary... I'm worried it might be rubbish. I don't want to jinx anything I've applied for by going into it here in great detail cos then I'm bound to not get it.
Max and Millie are great, really playful and crazy. They sleep quite a lot, eat and poo loads and are lovely to be around. Millie is currently watching me type and when I move the mouse she tries to attack it. She keeps walking on the keyboard and pressing the caps lock button, she seems especially fond of capital letters. Max is the boss and Millie follows him around, she miows pathetically if he leaves the room for too long. He is the one trying to get into the dishwasher/up onto the worktops and generally knocking over everything. They are both so small and around 3 1/2 months old right now - I don't think they're going to be massive cats, she is quite runty like our old cat Molly. Anyway they are great, I love them already.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Ola!
Hi dudes, tis me with another quarterly update...
So it's now November the 4th, Bonfire Night tomorrow. We've just had Halloween which involved a house party in Winchester with a bunch of Nick's Southampton mates. Mostly old toots from his Days of Yore whose friendships have been rekindled since we moved to the big smoke. A really very nice bunch too if I do say so. It started with a night out at the Hobbit pub, a studenty dive of a place with dodgy booze and since then we have been hanging out most Friday nights. So we went to a great Halloween party where everyone made a massive effort costume wise. I was a black cat, as facebook pics prove, and Nick was a most authentic Ghostbuster with his homemade Proton Pack.
I am still mostly knackered with all this DIY malarky. Still, the house is looking better and better with the downstairs pretty much complete now. I spent this morning painting the woodwork in our shower room and then this afternoon tiling the bathroom. It all takes a long time but we're getting a really good finish, better than our last place in Guernsey as we're more practised now and have definitely learnt from our mistakes. Another month and we should be in.....
Lots of interesting wildlife going on at the house, with loads of bluetits and wood pigeons in the garden. I hung a few bird feeders in the little magnolia tree we have and this grey squirrel keeps coming along, grabbing the feeders and shaking them up and down like a lunatic. Brilliant! I have a fascination of squirrels as we don't have them in Guernsey so they can eat the nuts, I don't mind. In our loft we have found heaps of old wasps nests which are so beautiful and delicate, like little paper lanterns that fall apart when you touch them. A couple of days ago Nick found a most peculiar thing which looked like this up behind the felt which turned out to be a bumble bees nest. It looked incredibly alien and I don't know why but I had to have a good sniff up close and it smelt like a cross between honey and bitter mould. Then our next door neighbours have a very cute little chocolate brown cat called Coco who comes to visit us every day which is nice. She's a bit of a madam but generally cute.
I've started doing Hatha Yoga which is very lovely although the chanting gets a bit of getting used to. Lots of Ommmmmm shanti shanti's and such like. I love it though, am going to try to keep up with it.
Well its Trinity and True Blood night on the TV tonight, two excellent shows. I'm sleepy so hope I manage to keep my eyes open. Just getting over a cold which has lasted about a week so I'm ready for it to be over.
So it's now November the 4th, Bonfire Night tomorrow. We've just had Halloween which involved a house party in Winchester with a bunch of Nick's Southampton mates. Mostly old toots from his Days of Yore whose friendships have been rekindled since we moved to the big smoke. A really very nice bunch too if I do say so. It started with a night out at the Hobbit pub, a studenty dive of a place with dodgy booze and since then we have been hanging out most Friday nights. So we went to a great Halloween party where everyone made a massive effort costume wise. I was a black cat, as facebook pics prove, and Nick was a most authentic Ghostbuster with his homemade Proton Pack.
I am still mostly knackered with all this DIY malarky. Still, the house is looking better and better with the downstairs pretty much complete now. I spent this morning painting the woodwork in our shower room and then this afternoon tiling the bathroom. It all takes a long time but we're getting a really good finish, better than our last place in Guernsey as we're more practised now and have definitely learnt from our mistakes. Another month and we should be in.....
Lots of interesting wildlife going on at the house, with loads of bluetits and wood pigeons in the garden. I hung a few bird feeders in the little magnolia tree we have and this grey squirrel keeps coming along, grabbing the feeders and shaking them up and down like a lunatic. Brilliant! I have a fascination of squirrels as we don't have them in Guernsey so they can eat the nuts, I don't mind. In our loft we have found heaps of old wasps nests which are so beautiful and delicate, like little paper lanterns that fall apart when you touch them. A couple of days ago Nick found a most peculiar thing which looked like this up behind the felt which turned out to be a bumble bees nest. It looked incredibly alien and I don't know why but I had to have a good sniff up close and it smelt like a cross between honey and bitter mould. Then our next door neighbours have a very cute little chocolate brown cat called Coco who comes to visit us every day which is nice. She's a bit of a madam but generally cute.
I've started doing Hatha Yoga which is very lovely although the chanting gets a bit of getting used to. Lots of Ommmmmm shanti shanti's and such like. I love it though, am going to try to keep up with it.
Well its Trinity and True Blood night on the TV tonight, two excellent shows. I'm sleepy so hope I manage to keep my eyes open. Just getting over a cold which has lasted about a week so I'm ready for it to be over.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Laaaaaaaaaame
Shit I almost forgot what my username and password were, I haven't blogged for so long. Well I evidently haven't died or had a horrible accident. No I have been here lurking for quite a while, thinking to myself... "I really should try and summon the energy and brainpower to write a blog update.... oh bugger it nevermind, to bed it is. Zzzzzzzzzzz."
It's been a bit like that. It's been a totally like that. I have been tiring myself out with lots of DIY, which is both physically exhausting and also not all that interesting to write about. It's very monotonous and I keep getting what I am think is RSI in my right wrist, which leaves it all clawed up like a dying spider at the end of each day, so no typing. We are making progress with the house which is the good news, although there is still a SHITLOAD to do. We've had Fernando the plumber in to do the pipes and rads, he didn't have swine flu like the last guy Toby did. At the moment I am reconditioning the old sash windows which all have lots of little panes and are a total bugger to sand/prime/undercoat/paint. Arrrrrrrgh!! I'm also getting through tubs of easifill, sacks of bonding and pots of wood filler like you wouldn't believe. See, I said it was boring.
We did have a lovely few days in Guernsey last month, and then we also had a roadtrip to Plauen in East Germany for a friend's wedding which was totally awesome. We took a week there and back so saw lots of scenery and stopped off for a day in Brussels on the way back. East Germany was very beautiful with lush countryside and ruined castles on hilltops. Our mates John & Kristin had a really beautiful wedding in this green wooded valley that had a river running through it. Just breathtaking. We took our rather large people carrier that we have bought for all the DIY and just slept in the back of it which was surprisingly comfortable.
My sister, her hubby and their two little rascals are in Bournemouth on holiday at the mo' so tomorrow we're going to pop down and see them for the afternoon. Then on Wednesday we're off to Guernsey again for a longer break and also for SJ & Mike's wedding which is this coming weekend. So some time off from the house to look forward to.
Hopefully Nick will be with me on the flight but he's thinking of changing it to later in the week so he can be around for his little sister Holly who is poorly at the moment. The poor girl has a nasty condition which flares up every now and then, called Ulcerative Colitus. Right now she's having a bad flare up and is basically bed ridden. She's been off work for a few weeks and is living with us at Nick's parents until she gets better. It's so hard for her as it's quite painful and she has to deal with it for the rest of her life, I can't imagine how difficult that must be. It's not life threatening, just very uncomfortable and luckily it's been 2 years since the last flare up. Nick is really good at cheering her up with all his antics and distractions.
Apart from the DIY I am still trying to practise my cello although I haven't done much recently cos of the old spider claw of doom. I've been reading Wuthering Heights, which is impossible to do without humming the Kate Bush song in your head the whole time. And I've been watching Jam & Jerusalem which is the best thing on TV at the moment and pretty much the only thing I watch these days, I can't get enough of it and it's chintzy English loveliness. I'm looking forward to the Guern and seeing all our mates and of course going to a wedding! I love weddings so much and I know what a stylish girl that SJ is, I bet it's going to be super stylish and amazing.
It's been a bit like that. It's been a totally like that. I have been tiring myself out with lots of DIY, which is both physically exhausting and also not all that interesting to write about. It's very monotonous and I keep getting what I am think is RSI in my right wrist, which leaves it all clawed up like a dying spider at the end of each day, so no typing. We are making progress with the house which is the good news, although there is still a SHITLOAD to do. We've had Fernando the plumber in to do the pipes and rads, he didn't have swine flu like the last guy Toby did. At the moment I am reconditioning the old sash windows which all have lots of little panes and are a total bugger to sand/prime/undercoat/paint. Arrrrrrrgh!! I'm also getting through tubs of easifill, sacks of bonding and pots of wood filler like you wouldn't believe. See, I said it was boring.
We did have a lovely few days in Guernsey last month, and then we also had a roadtrip to Plauen in East Germany for a friend's wedding which was totally awesome. We took a week there and back so saw lots of scenery and stopped off for a day in Brussels on the way back. East Germany was very beautiful with lush countryside and ruined castles on hilltops. Our mates John & Kristin had a really beautiful wedding in this green wooded valley that had a river running through it. Just breathtaking. We took our rather large people carrier that we have bought for all the DIY and just slept in the back of it which was surprisingly comfortable.
My sister, her hubby and their two little rascals are in Bournemouth on holiday at the mo' so tomorrow we're going to pop down and see them for the afternoon. Then on Wednesday we're off to Guernsey again for a longer break and also for SJ & Mike's wedding which is this coming weekend. So some time off from the house to look forward to.
Hopefully Nick will be with me on the flight but he's thinking of changing it to later in the week so he can be around for his little sister Holly who is poorly at the moment. The poor girl has a nasty condition which flares up every now and then, called Ulcerative Colitus. Right now she's having a bad flare up and is basically bed ridden. She's been off work for a few weeks and is living with us at Nick's parents until she gets better. It's so hard for her as it's quite painful and she has to deal with it for the rest of her life, I can't imagine how difficult that must be. It's not life threatening, just very uncomfortable and luckily it's been 2 years since the last flare up. Nick is really good at cheering her up with all his antics and distractions.
Apart from the DIY I am still trying to practise my cello although I haven't done much recently cos of the old spider claw of doom. I've been reading Wuthering Heights, which is impossible to do without humming the Kate Bush song in your head the whole time. And I've been watching Jam & Jerusalem which is the best thing on TV at the moment and pretty much the only thing I watch these days, I can't get enough of it and it's chintzy English loveliness. I'm looking forward to the Guern and seeing all our mates and of course going to a wedding! I love weddings so much and I know what a stylish girl that SJ is, I bet it's going to be super stylish and amazing.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Blimey where to start?!
Ah well let's go back to the big birthday... I spent the day at Champneys spa in Forest Mere which was bloody ruddy fantastic. Just pure luxury all day. We arrived in the morning and immediatly were handed white, fluffy robes which we then wore for the rest of the day. We swam, steamed, jacuzzied, cycled (not in the robe for that part!), sunbathed, got massaged, listened to talks and gorged ourselves on healthy-but-very-tasty buffet food.
I went with Den because it really wasn't Nick's cup of tea and it was just brilliant. Guess which celeb we saw there? Only Helen Mirren! The Queen no less. In the evening I went out with Nick for a thai meal to Mango's, a really cute little restaurant in Southampton. So a good 30th birthday and just what I fancied after weeks of grotty DIY.
Then it was back to working on the house, work work work blah blah for a couple of days before a weekend up in Berwick Upon Tweed with our friends Bob & Miles. There were about 17 of us in their huge, regal house all there to have a great time and they didn't disappoint. They cooked for all of us on the first night in true formal dinner party style, we played croquet at a manor house on the second day and finally all went to see Re-Take That. It was Bob's 30th and Miles had booked the band to play at the local theatre where he's the artistic director, all for her benefit. What a guy! Steve came with us in the Enema (new car) thank God to share the 9 hour drive there and back. So anyway a great weeked with such lovely people. There was much drinking, clubbing in dodgy clubs and eating of toast and cake.
Following that it was back to the grind of daily DIY, dust and plaster yada yada. Then the weekend following that one was again another cracker with a trip up to London to see James & Donna and stay with them in their lovely house. I managed to get to the Royal Academy to see the opening of their Waterhouse retrospective which was wonderful and magical in equal parts, and I also went on an afternoon hen party for my friend SJ who is getting married next month. We met up at a Pottery Cafe in Fulham to paint jugs then went back to Tania's flat for afternoon tea and a game of All Star Mr & Mrs featuring SJ & Mike on video! After a lovely afternoon I met up with James & Donna again and the 4 of us had a barbecue. It was swelteringly hot and the tube was unbearable which was the only downer.. I just could not handle London every day.
On Sunday afternoon we left them and drove up to Suffolk to see Leni, Dom & Huckleberry at their cottage in the countryside. Dom had built a homemade hot tub in the garden which involved a fire, pump, pipes and a large water tank. It worked really well! They are so clever at that sort of thing. Little Huck had grown up loads and was brilliant fun, and even Squeak the cat kind of behaved. He wasn't quite as wild as last time we saw him. We stayed with them for 2 nights and now we're back in Southampton after the WORST M25 drive I have ever experienced. Some big accident with a lorry on fire and 3 hours extra added on to our journey on one of the hottest days of the year. Cheers.
I've spent the last couple of days bagging up loads of rubble and taking them down to the recycling centre. Lots of patio slabs and bricks as well. Hot, tiring, sweltering work if I'm honest. The good news is that while we were away a guy called Dave has taken down the wall between our kitchen and our dining room and put in a very neat, boxed in steel beam to keep the ceiling from falling down. Also a guy called Toby has dug up our entire driveway with a mini digger, put in a soil pipe and filled it in again. The driveway now looks like shit but it means we will be able to have a shit under the stairs with a proper drainpipe. Hurrah!
It's Nick's birthday on Saturday so I'm looking forward to that, we're going up to Salibury for a party at Alex & Jess's house which is in fact for Alex's 30th (2 days after Nick's) so we are going to totally gatecrash and make it a joint party. I might even sneak in a cake...
I went with Den because it really wasn't Nick's cup of tea and it was just brilliant. Guess which celeb we saw there? Only Helen Mirren! The Queen no less. In the evening I went out with Nick for a thai meal to Mango's, a really cute little restaurant in Southampton. So a good 30th birthday and just what I fancied after weeks of grotty DIY.
Then it was back to working on the house, work work work blah blah for a couple of days before a weekend up in Berwick Upon Tweed with our friends Bob & Miles. There were about 17 of us in their huge, regal house all there to have a great time and they didn't disappoint. They cooked for all of us on the first night in true formal dinner party style, we played croquet at a manor house on the second day and finally all went to see Re-Take That. It was Bob's 30th and Miles had booked the band to play at the local theatre where he's the artistic director, all for her benefit. What a guy! Steve came with us in the Enema (new car) thank God to share the 9 hour drive there and back. So anyway a great weeked with such lovely people. There was much drinking, clubbing in dodgy clubs and eating of toast and cake.
Following that it was back to the grind of daily DIY, dust and plaster yada yada. Then the weekend following that one was again another cracker with a trip up to London to see James & Donna and stay with them in their lovely house. I managed to get to the Royal Academy to see the opening of their Waterhouse retrospective which was wonderful and magical in equal parts, and I also went on an afternoon hen party for my friend SJ who is getting married next month. We met up at a Pottery Cafe in Fulham to paint jugs then went back to Tania's flat for afternoon tea and a game of All Star Mr & Mrs featuring SJ & Mike on video! After a lovely afternoon I met up with James & Donna again and the 4 of us had a barbecue. It was swelteringly hot and the tube was unbearable which was the only downer.. I just could not handle London every day.
On Sunday afternoon we left them and drove up to Suffolk to see Leni, Dom & Huckleberry at their cottage in the countryside. Dom had built a homemade hot tub in the garden which involved a fire, pump, pipes and a large water tank. It worked really well! They are so clever at that sort of thing. Little Huck had grown up loads and was brilliant fun, and even Squeak the cat kind of behaved. He wasn't quite as wild as last time we saw him. We stayed with them for 2 nights and now we're back in Southampton after the WORST M25 drive I have ever experienced. Some big accident with a lorry on fire and 3 hours extra added on to our journey on one of the hottest days of the year. Cheers.
I've spent the last couple of days bagging up loads of rubble and taking them down to the recycling centre. Lots of patio slabs and bricks as well. Hot, tiring, sweltering work if I'm honest. The good news is that while we were away a guy called Dave has taken down the wall between our kitchen and our dining room and put in a very neat, boxed in steel beam to keep the ceiling from falling down. Also a guy called Toby has dug up our entire driveway with a mini digger, put in a soil pipe and filled it in again. The driveway now looks like shit but it means we will be able to have a shit under the stairs with a proper drainpipe. Hurrah!
It's Nick's birthday on Saturday so I'm looking forward to that, we're going up to Salibury for a party at Alex & Jess's house which is in fact for Alex's 30th (2 days after Nick's) so we are going to totally gatecrash and make it a joint party. I might even sneak in a cake...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Big One
So... it's my thirtieth birthday coming up next week, bit of a big occasion. We've been working every day on the house and I'm feeling physically knackered pretty much every evening. What I wanted for my birthday was the complete, total opposite type of experience to being covered in bleach/plasterdust and feeling very unnatractive.
My mother in law and I are going to go and spend the day at Champneys having massages, lazing around on sunbeds, swimming, cycling and eating lovely healthy food. I absolutely cannot wait as I've heard it's just amazing. And in the evening my husband is taking me out for a thai meal.
The house is progressing along... we're doing as much as we can ourselves. We're concentrating on the lounge at the moment which has taken a lot of preparation to get it back to bare, healthy looking walls. We've treated all of the mould with neat bleach, replastered and sealed the walls now ready for painting. Today Nick replaced the plug sockets and we took up all the upstairs carpets and lino and ran them down the dump. Interesting eh!
Ah well not much energy at the moment so going to sign off, sorry not a very exciting post...
BOO!
there you go
My mother in law and I are going to go and spend the day at Champneys having massages, lazing around on sunbeds, swimming, cycling and eating lovely healthy food. I absolutely cannot wait as I've heard it's just amazing. And in the evening my husband is taking me out for a thai meal.
The house is progressing along... we're doing as much as we can ourselves. We're concentrating on the lounge at the moment which has taken a lot of preparation to get it back to bare, healthy looking walls. We've treated all of the mould with neat bleach, replastered and sealed the walls now ready for painting. Today Nick replaced the plug sockets and we took up all the upstairs carpets and lino and ran them down the dump. Interesting eh!
Ah well not much energy at the moment so going to sign off, sorry not a very exciting post...
BOO!
there you go
Monday, June 01, 2009
The DIY Begins...
It was the first day of full on internal work at the house today. Nick's sister Holly came too and we spent the day peeling back layers upon layers of flock and woodchip wallpaper - nice. It had been painted so was a bastard to soak off hence a day of solid work with not much to show for it at the end of the day. Oh well still it all counts towards the finish line eh. It was also very, very mouldy and fungal so we had to wear dust masks as we were making clouds of spores rise into the air with every scrape of the paper.
Slightly distracted as am watching obese teenagers on the telly while typing this and also stuffing my face with popcorn at the same time. Thems real big fatties! If I eat enough popcorn maybe I can look like that one day! Oh my goodness so BGT finished and now SueBo is in the Priory in London after having a breakdown. Such car crash tv you've got to love it/hate it but ultimately watch it! We recorded it and watched it yesterday, fast forwarding all the crap bits which is the only way.
So we had the weekend off from working on the garden/house. Instead we spent Saturday sunbathing then drove to Devises in Wiltshire for a wedding reception in the evening. It was a gorgeous do in a very posh boarding school building, like something out of Harry Potter . It's half term so luckily no kids around and it was really fun walking around reading all the rules on the boards and stuff.
My Dad & his partner Maggie were there and it was lovely to see them, especially to give our support to Maggie as her daughter very sadly just lost her baby girl. She was 2 weeks old and had been very poorly from the start with a very rare muscle condition. It was poor Maggie's first grandchild and I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, Kirsty & Andy. They live out in Budapest which makes it hard as all their family and friends are back in the UK. it was just been incredibly sad and horrific for everyone and poor little Ella never really had a chance. It's so hard to even know what to say, everything you can think of sounds trite and cheesy. Anyway Dad & Maggie came to Southampton yesterday to see the house which was good. I'm glad they've seen it at the start of the renovations, it will look very different next time I hope.
Well I got rid of my grotty cold of last week but have a lingering hoarse throat so sound really gruff and manly. Feeling OK but really physically tired still from all the physical work. OH I just sneezed twice I shouldn't have written that I've jinxed myself.
Slightly distracted as am watching obese teenagers on the telly while typing this and also stuffing my face with popcorn at the same time. Thems real big fatties! If I eat enough popcorn maybe I can look like that one day! Oh my goodness so BGT finished and now SueBo is in the Priory in London after having a breakdown. Such car crash tv you've got to love it/hate it but ultimately watch it! We recorded it and watched it yesterday, fast forwarding all the crap bits which is the only way.
So we had the weekend off from working on the garden/house. Instead we spent Saturday sunbathing then drove to Devises in Wiltshire for a wedding reception in the evening. It was a gorgeous do in a very posh boarding school building, like something out of Harry Potter . It's half term so luckily no kids around and it was really fun walking around reading all the rules on the boards and stuff.
My Dad & his partner Maggie were there and it was lovely to see them, especially to give our support to Maggie as her daughter very sadly just lost her baby girl. She was 2 weeks old and had been very poorly from the start with a very rare muscle condition. It was poor Maggie's first grandchild and I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, Kirsty & Andy. They live out in Budapest which makes it hard as all their family and friends are back in the UK. it was just been incredibly sad and horrific for everyone and poor little Ella never really had a chance. It's so hard to even know what to say, everything you can think of sounds trite and cheesy. Anyway Dad & Maggie came to Southampton yesterday to see the house which was good. I'm glad they've seen it at the start of the renovations, it will look very different next time I hope.
Well I got rid of my grotty cold of last week but have a lingering hoarse throat so sound really gruff and manly. Feeling OK but really physically tired still from all the physical work. OH I just sneezed twice I shouldn't have written that I've jinxed myself.
Monday, May 25, 2009
You may have noticed...
... that I haven't been bothered to update my blog in the last couple of weeks. The odd video is all I have been arsed to do. Nick's only just shown me how I can put vid's on here so it's the complete novelty factor and you can expect many more.
Seriously though, at the start of it I didn't have anything to tell you or much to say. Then we went and finally exchanged on the house (YAY YAY YAY) and since then I have been too exhausted and knackered to find the time. Lame excuse, but I'm not used to intense physical exercise plus I have a stinking cold which is not helping matters. It's either a cold or it's hayfever but I'm pretty sure I don't get hayfever and I have that kind of buzzy head ears feeling which only comes with a cold. So. Busy busy busy.
The two of us have been spending the last few days clearing the garden, which isn't huge but is hugely overgrown and we have made 8 trips so far to Southampton recycling centre with a minivan load of garden waste. That's a lot of waste! And a lot of snails and spiders too. We found two slow worms today (is that how you spell that? Looks wrong.) which I am very excited to have in my garden. I love slow worms.
Obviously we went to see Juliette Lewis and the New Romantiques last Tuesday which was just amazing, then we exchanged contracts on Wednesday. We haven't completed yet, just waiting for the money from the bank but we are allowed to do the garden. Just can't get inside the house so luckily the next door neighbour Lucy is letting me use her outside loo! And there is a tap so we have water, although it runs at a trickle.
My arms and face are covered in scratches, I have weird sunburn marks on my back and I feel hideously unnatractive in my dirty, dusty gardening clothes which is what I've been in to meet all of our new neughbours in. They keep popping round to offer us cups of tea, tours of their own houses, gardening sacks, stepladders, garden chairs and one guy even came around with his petrol mower to do our back lawn! How amazingly nice are they all!!??? I have never known anything like it. Hopefully bodes well.
Ah well I am finding it hard to type as my fingers are tired and besides, Britain's Got Talent is on later and I need to save my energy to shout at the telly. Night! x
Seriously though, at the start of it I didn't have anything to tell you or much to say. Then we went and finally exchanged on the house (YAY YAY YAY) and since then I have been too exhausted and knackered to find the time. Lame excuse, but I'm not used to intense physical exercise plus I have a stinking cold which is not helping matters. It's either a cold or it's hayfever but I'm pretty sure I don't get hayfever and I have that kind of buzzy head ears feeling which only comes with a cold. So. Busy busy busy.
The two of us have been spending the last few days clearing the garden, which isn't huge but is hugely overgrown and we have made 8 trips so far to Southampton recycling centre with a minivan load of garden waste. That's a lot of waste! And a lot of snails and spiders too. We found two slow worms today (is that how you spell that? Looks wrong.) which I am very excited to have in my garden. I love slow worms.
Obviously we went to see Juliette Lewis and the New Romantiques last Tuesday which was just amazing, then we exchanged contracts on Wednesday. We haven't completed yet, just waiting for the money from the bank but we are allowed to do the garden. Just can't get inside the house so luckily the next door neighbour Lucy is letting me use her outside loo! And there is a tap so we have water, although it runs at a trickle.
My arms and face are covered in scratches, I have weird sunburn marks on my back and I feel hideously unnatractive in my dirty, dusty gardening clothes which is what I've been in to meet all of our new neughbours in. They keep popping round to offer us cups of tea, tours of their own houses, gardening sacks, stepladders, garden chairs and one guy even came around with his petrol mower to do our back lawn! How amazingly nice are they all!!??? I have never known anything like it. Hopefully bodes well.
Ah well I am finding it hard to type as my fingers are tired and besides, Britain's Got Talent is on later and I need to save my energy to shout at the telly. Night! x
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Stinky Feet
So it's probably my own fault for buying shoes at Primark but my GOD do my feet smell at the moment. My £3 pumps were clearly that price for a good reason.... that reason being they are lined with the crusts of cheese wheels. But I can't blame Primark really because my espadrilles also stink and they came from Debenhams.
The worst culprits are my Primark grey slippers. A couple of days ago we went out in Nick's Mums car to go on a muddy countryside walk and we all grabbed a pair of clean shoes to wear on the way back as she'd just got her car back from the garage, it was nice and clean and we didn't want to muddy it all up inside. So we went for this lovely walk in the warm sunshine and I had hastily picked up my slippers as we ran out of the door. Being left in the nice warm car they started to pong so intensely that the entire interior of the vehicle was imprinted with their foul odour. Poor Nick & Den had to suffer it the entire drive back. I found it funny which didn't help the situation; for some reason when it's your own smell it's not so bad. I think it's like that with farts isn't it, lets be honest. Weird how certain shoes smell and others don't at all though, isn't it. Don't worry, they've been boiled in the washing machine and smell like roses now. My slippers not my feet.
I am still jog jog jogging across the common here in Southampton a few times a week. Not sure whether I'm actually improving as I still find it quite hideously tiring and am a bit start/stop every few minutes. Got to be good though, that's what I keep telling myself.
I don't want to drone on about the house right now but it is still happening despite the efforts of the surveyor and we live in hope that it will all be resolved soon. I am enjoying the calm before the storm, so to speak, as when it completes my life will begin again as 24/7 DIY torture which I am slightly dreading. Nick is looking forward to it and I am dreading it. At least we're coming into the Summer. At least I won't be around there in gloves, scarves and two jumpers.
This will be the third place I've tackled in terms of renovation/decoration. The second project was our last home in Guernsey which was a three bedroom maisonette. I was in the middle of doing that when I started this blog, all those years ago. Before that we bought and did up an apartment in Plymouth on the waterfront. That was a one bedroom top floor place and my first attempt. It was very hard work, not least because it had no lift and we had to carry everything up several flights of stairs. The Guernsey project was much bigger and took much longer. This is bigger still, and is a house not a flat. I am slightly scared, it will be a lot of work and I am quite workshy, let's face it. It is, however, a beautiful house and in my mind I can see it finished. I've just been watching flipping Kirsty flipping Allsopp on the telly with her new show where she does up her Devon farmhouse by prancing around making candles and blowing glass. If only it were that simple Kirsty.
Although I really do miss my old home in Guernsey I know we sold it at the right time. I think I will always feel a bit sad about selling it because we did that place up with such love and effort it was a real emotional wrench when we left. I think it has made me stronger to sell and part with it because it was only a possession at the end of the day. Anyway why I think we sold it at the right time is because they have just announced house prices in Guernsey are down by about 12% and also because the land around it is now being developed so it's surrounded by noisy building sites.
And now we've also sold our campervan which was kind of our second home after Guernsey so now I feel like I am really homeless and don't have any possessions in the world. Although that is rubbish becuase I have a Fiat Punto and a room packed to the ceiling full of possessions in a secure lock up here in the city. Still, I have that vagabond feeling. Can't really explain. It's a bit frustrating because I really like having my own place and taking care of it and having friends round and most importantly having my own space. I have the best in laws in the world, I really couldn't imagine any better people to live with but sometimes I crave my own space. I think it's because I'm self concious and a bit of a twat at times and it' nice to do embarrasing things in private.
Alex I love your reading suggestion. Right up my street I would think. I have just read Silence of the Lambs which was yes, very good, but my favourite was Hannibal. That is one of the best books probably that I have read. Just so well written. I have a lot of time on my hands for reading at the moment! This blog is turning into my weekly book review.
The worst culprits are my Primark grey slippers. A couple of days ago we went out in Nick's Mums car to go on a muddy countryside walk and we all grabbed a pair of clean shoes to wear on the way back as she'd just got her car back from the garage, it was nice and clean and we didn't want to muddy it all up inside. So we went for this lovely walk in the warm sunshine and I had hastily picked up my slippers as we ran out of the door. Being left in the nice warm car they started to pong so intensely that the entire interior of the vehicle was imprinted with their foul odour. Poor Nick & Den had to suffer it the entire drive back. I found it funny which didn't help the situation; for some reason when it's your own smell it's not so bad. I think it's like that with farts isn't it, lets be honest. Weird how certain shoes smell and others don't at all though, isn't it. Don't worry, they've been boiled in the washing machine and smell like roses now. My slippers not my feet.
I am still jog jog jogging across the common here in Southampton a few times a week. Not sure whether I'm actually improving as I still find it quite hideously tiring and am a bit start/stop every few minutes. Got to be good though, that's what I keep telling myself.
I don't want to drone on about the house right now but it is still happening despite the efforts of the surveyor and we live in hope that it will all be resolved soon. I am enjoying the calm before the storm, so to speak, as when it completes my life will begin again as 24/7 DIY torture which I am slightly dreading. Nick is looking forward to it and I am dreading it. At least we're coming into the Summer. At least I won't be around there in gloves, scarves and two jumpers.
This will be the third place I've tackled in terms of renovation/decoration. The second project was our last home in Guernsey which was a three bedroom maisonette. I was in the middle of doing that when I started this blog, all those years ago. Before that we bought and did up an apartment in Plymouth on the waterfront. That was a one bedroom top floor place and my first attempt. It was very hard work, not least because it had no lift and we had to carry everything up several flights of stairs. The Guernsey project was much bigger and took much longer. This is bigger still, and is a house not a flat. I am slightly scared, it will be a lot of work and I am quite workshy, let's face it. It is, however, a beautiful house and in my mind I can see it finished. I've just been watching flipping Kirsty flipping Allsopp on the telly with her new show where she does up her Devon farmhouse by prancing around making candles and blowing glass. If only it were that simple Kirsty.
Although I really do miss my old home in Guernsey I know we sold it at the right time. I think I will always feel a bit sad about selling it because we did that place up with such love and effort it was a real emotional wrench when we left. I think it has made me stronger to sell and part with it because it was only a possession at the end of the day. Anyway why I think we sold it at the right time is because they have just announced house prices in Guernsey are down by about 12% and also because the land around it is now being developed so it's surrounded by noisy building sites.
And now we've also sold our campervan which was kind of our second home after Guernsey so now I feel like I am really homeless and don't have any possessions in the world. Although that is rubbish becuase I have a Fiat Punto and a room packed to the ceiling full of possessions in a secure lock up here in the city. Still, I have that vagabond feeling. Can't really explain. It's a bit frustrating because I really like having my own place and taking care of it and having friends round and most importantly having my own space. I have the best in laws in the world, I really couldn't imagine any better people to live with but sometimes I crave my own space. I think it's because I'm self concious and a bit of a twat at times and it' nice to do embarrasing things in private.
Alex I love your reading suggestion. Right up my street I would think. I have just read Silence of the Lambs which was yes, very good, but my favourite was Hannibal. That is one of the best books probably that I have read. Just so well written. I have a lot of time on my hands for reading at the moment! This blog is turning into my weekly book review.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Achy Legs
Well I've just come back from two laps of hoofing around Southampton Common. It was my first jog for over a week and it really felt extremely knackering. Can't say as I particularly enjoyed it but I do need to fitten up. Because I've been doing nothing but fattening up for the last few months and I need to turn that around. I've invested in some Nike running shoes from TKMaxx so I'm not buggering up my knees any more when I stamp around with my head down and the earplugs in. I do have achy legs now though, hence the title of this post.
I was watching some old home videos the other day from about 8 years ago and I was a stick thin beanpole and didn't even know it. I think my metabolism must have altered over the last few years because I never used to bother to diet, just ate what I liked and didn't seem to have a problem. Arrrrgh cruel world! Now I have old ladies flabster upper arms that I want to lipo nad make a strawberry smoothie out of.
I have just come back from a week in mid Devon at my Dad's place. He was there with Maggie and the three of us went on some Devonshire rambles... across Dartmoor, Exmoor and through Lyndon gorge and it's big waterfall. I finally dug out my poor old cello and have been making lots of screeching wails on it... so depressing to think I used to be able to play grade 7/8 pieces and now I am so rubbish. Totally my own fault for not touching it for 11 years though... Anyway it's a lovely sounding instrument, must try to practise.
So the house is still being a nightmare. We are still trying to buy it but the surveyor was a right anus and put a 100% retention on it so we can't get our money. We're now having to get a buildings insurance claim instigated on the property by the current owner so we can satisfy the stupid bank. Even that might not do it, it's a total depressing disaster at the minute. We know it doesn't have subsidence, we've had our own surveyor plus a foundations expert look at it but that isn't enough for the dickhead surveyor that's doing the valuation for the bank.
And I've got unusually good hair today, which makes a change from the frizzy, mushroom cloud norm. Den has been at me with her original 1970's heated rollers and they are awesome! My hair looks Hollywood-curl chic. I literally feel like a filmstar from the neck up.
I've been feeling Jane Austen-tastic recently and am currently on Sense & Sensibility after just finishing Persuasion. I finished the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer which was highly enjoyable, in a kind of Christopher Pike/Point Romance teenage angsty way. Alex I see your point about it being Mormon propaganda but I still think you can read and enjoy them without having to take that on board. Very similar to CS Lewis and Narnia which I loved when I was little. There is some disturbing stuff going in the last couple of Twilight books which didn't sit that well with me, such as the imprinting, but in general I just like them in a Mills & Boon guilty pleasure kind of way... you know they're kind of shit and full of plot holes but you can't help enjoying them... kind of like a Big Mac or an episode of Hollyoaks. I will say that they arent anywhere near as good as Anne Rice's books if you're into your Vamp literature, but they are silly and easy to read.
I'm now also reading the Dr Strange and Mr Norrrel series, which is awesome. Adult Harry Potter set in 19th century London and written like a tongue in cheek Jane Austen novel... just genius.
I was watching some old home videos the other day from about 8 years ago and I was a stick thin beanpole and didn't even know it. I think my metabolism must have altered over the last few years because I never used to bother to diet, just ate what I liked and didn't seem to have a problem. Arrrrgh cruel world! Now I have old ladies flabster upper arms that I want to lipo nad make a strawberry smoothie out of.
I have just come back from a week in mid Devon at my Dad's place. He was there with Maggie and the three of us went on some Devonshire rambles... across Dartmoor, Exmoor and through Lyndon gorge and it's big waterfall. I finally dug out my poor old cello and have been making lots of screeching wails on it... so depressing to think I used to be able to play grade 7/8 pieces and now I am so rubbish. Totally my own fault for not touching it for 11 years though... Anyway it's a lovely sounding instrument, must try to practise.
So the house is still being a nightmare. We are still trying to buy it but the surveyor was a right anus and put a 100% retention on it so we can't get our money. We're now having to get a buildings insurance claim instigated on the property by the current owner so we can satisfy the stupid bank. Even that might not do it, it's a total depressing disaster at the minute. We know it doesn't have subsidence, we've had our own surveyor plus a foundations expert look at it but that isn't enough for the dickhead surveyor that's doing the valuation for the bank.
And I've got unusually good hair today, which makes a change from the frizzy, mushroom cloud norm. Den has been at me with her original 1970's heated rollers and they are awesome! My hair looks Hollywood-curl chic. I literally feel like a filmstar from the neck up.
I've been feeling Jane Austen-tastic recently and am currently on Sense & Sensibility after just finishing Persuasion. I finished the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer which was highly enjoyable, in a kind of Christopher Pike/Point Romance teenage angsty way. Alex I see your point about it being Mormon propaganda but I still think you can read and enjoy them without having to take that on board. Very similar to CS Lewis and Narnia which I loved when I was little. There is some disturbing stuff going in the last couple of Twilight books which didn't sit that well with me, such as the imprinting, but in general I just like them in a Mills & Boon guilty pleasure kind of way... you know they're kind of shit and full of plot holes but you can't help enjoying them... kind of like a Big Mac or an episode of Hollyoaks. I will say that they arent anywhere near as good as Anne Rice's books if you're into your Vamp literature, but they are silly and easy to read.
I'm now also reading the Dr Strange and Mr Norrrel series, which is awesome. Adult Harry Potter set in 19th century London and written like a tongue in cheek Jane Austen novel... just genius.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Christmas Art
Here's a couple of drawings I made for people for last Christmas. The one of Mickey came out alright and the one of the twins is OK but it's really hard to draw babies facial expressions. I also did one of Nick's Mum & Dad but I don't have a photo of that one. Nick made me take these two.Well I am off for another run this morning. My fourth time since coming back from Spain, I'm trying to go most mornings and I think my muscles are getting a bit less achy.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Via Espana
We're back in Southampton where is quite a bit colder than Spain. Southern Spain was gloriously warm for 5 out of the 7 days we were there. The other 2 is was kind of windy and cold, but that was OK as we found stuff to do. It was a very relaxing week and we visited a lot of places and found time for lots of sunbathing as well.
We visited Gibraltar, which is bizarrely British and quite tacky (the town part). The rock is lovely though, with friendly monkeys and an impressive cave system that I didn't want to leave. I could seriously become a cave dweller if they all have cool lighting and play soothing, classic music like this one had, it was really magical with crazy droopy dripping stalactites that looked like melted candle wax and fishes gills.
We also drove a couple of hours north from the coast to visit the Alhambra Palace in Granada. It is more like 4 Palaces, all perched on an impressive hilltop, and I'm so pleased we had the chance to see it. You can see from the photos below that there is a lot to take in, and I'm really glad we went in March when it wasn't too hot.
Aside from those two highlights, we also went out from Calahonda (where we were staying in a friends apartment) to Mijas, a pretty hilltop town, Marbella which is pretty and massively touristy, and Puerto Banus which is quite expensive and not that impressive. Both in Marbella and Puerto Banus it is pricey, but if you go to the smaller, less touristy towns close by it becomes cheaper for drinks and food.
So a good week. And now we're back to the house buying shenanigans here with lots to sort out. I have a lovely tan but I'm sure it is soon to fade.
I am loving the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer at the moment. Just watched the film which made me laugh unintentionally, but the books! The books are cool. I think all romantic girls everywhere can't fail to enjoy them, but boys will probably not, in general. Anyway I've got Nick's sis reading them and we're both loving them and can't put them down. I also read Wetlands by Charlotte Roche the other week, now that was something a bit out of the ordinary. Wouldn't say it was brilliant but it's quite unusual! Quite un-British in attitude.
We visited Gibraltar, which is bizarrely British and quite tacky (the town part). The rock is lovely though, with friendly monkeys and an impressive cave system that I didn't want to leave. I could seriously become a cave dweller if they all have cool lighting and play soothing, classic music like this one had, it was really magical with crazy droopy dripping stalactites that looked like melted candle wax and fishes gills.
We also drove a couple of hours north from the coast to visit the Alhambra Palace in Granada. It is more like 4 Palaces, all perched on an impressive hilltop, and I'm so pleased we had the chance to see it. You can see from the photos below that there is a lot to take in, and I'm really glad we went in March when it wasn't too hot.
Aside from those two highlights, we also went out from Calahonda (where we were staying in a friends apartment) to Mijas, a pretty hilltop town, Marbella which is pretty and massively touristy, and Puerto Banus which is quite expensive and not that impressive. Both in Marbella and Puerto Banus it is pricey, but if you go to the smaller, less touristy towns close by it becomes cheaper for drinks and food.
So a good week. And now we're back to the house buying shenanigans here with lots to sort out. I have a lovely tan but I'm sure it is soon to fade.
I am loving the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer at the moment. Just watched the film which made me laugh unintentionally, but the books! The books are cool. I think all romantic girls everywhere can't fail to enjoy them, but boys will probably not, in general. Anyway I've got Nick's sis reading them and we're both loving them and can't put them down. I also read Wetlands by Charlotte Roche the other week, now that was something a bit out of the ordinary. Wouldn't say it was brilliant but it's quite unusual! Quite un-British in attitude.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
*~*~*FAIRY GODMOTHER*~*~*
Here are a few pics of Catherine, Damian and their gorgeous little girl, Samantha! She's about 5 weeks old in these photos and as you can see she is already getting to grips with the camera. I went up to see them in Dunham Massey for a few days last week which was really lovely. Their tabby cat Tom was also a complete tart in front of the lens as you can see.Damian works as the Head Gardener at the National Trust place there and they live in the most wonderful crazy old house, with a menagerie of animals including chickens and chinchillas. Catherine is pretty much the oldest friend I have; when we were little we used to pretend we were Princesses from the planet Zultria and through our teenage years we developed a penchant for Guns N Roses and the film Lost Boys.
Anyway they have wisely (?!) asked me to be Sam's Godmother which is awesome and a first for me. VERY exciting.
In other news we have negotiated a few grand off the house as the drains have all collapsed at the back, and it's pretty much all steam ahead with the trying to buy it thing. Went looking at kitchens in Ikea this afternoon, it was rather overwhelming.
Nick & I are flying to Malaga this Friday for a week. His folks are already out there and staying at a friends villa so we're all going to hang out and get some sunshine. We're going to Calahonda, but where I really really want to go is Granada so that I can visit the Alhumbra Palace. It's kind of a 'must see' for me. I think it's a couple of hours away so that's do-able.
I've started jogging! How about that. Not very far and not very fast and in completely unsensible shoes but nevertheless. I swallowed a fly last time I went out and even that didn't put me off, even though it made me retch. Need to lose a few pounds and generally be a more healthy person so while I'm not working it seems like a good thing to do. Makes me feel all smug and self satisfied saying that I go jogging, I think that's half the reason people do it if I'm honest. I'll most likely give up soon so better enjoy that feeling while it lasts!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Pictures of the House...
I like the front door. It is wider than average and with the pretty window above it.
2nd pic is the dining room, complete with a couple of original cupboards.
The 3rd shows the view from the front a bit better than the last picture. Also here we have the inside of the garage and one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Then no.6 is me looking very seriously at the cracks up the side. Someone told us it was old bomb damage from the Second World War! It is entirely possible which is very exciting.
And a few more pics of the outside at the back. The garden goes back about 70ft but it utterly overgrown and hard to make out in this pic. The second to last pic is the kitchen which yes, does need some work. It's still early days.. looks like we are buying this place. Whether that is a sensible idea or not I'm still not sure but I feel a bit more chilled out about it now!In un-house related news I have been not working, just behaving like a retired person really! With lots of walks in the countryside and visits to the New Forest. We went for a picnic there on Monday and I had to shout 'BAH!" at the naughty ponies and wave my arms at them because they caught a whiff of the mini cheddars and were trying to trample down our picnic blanket. Earlier that day we did a 5 mile walk called the Lepe Loop and we saw a field of Llamas plus a buzzard. Wildlife a plenty! Yesterday I went JOGGING can you believe around Southampton Common and today my legs ache so much I can hardly do stairs. And this morning I had my hair highlighted for £16 at Southampton College by a student. Bargain of the century as it's turned out really nice. I don't think I'm ever going to pay for a proper hairdresser again! They also do a whole range of massages and facials which are all under a tenner... fantastic. I will definitely be going back.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
