Sunday 30 December 2012

Shake rattle and roll

And so the illness continues for us both. In a desperate attempt to have done with it once and for all we're trying everything we can possibly think of. Started off with the usual dosing up on paracetamol and ibuprofen, some "man" medicine for Wavey and some horrible brown stuff for me, but it frankly doesn't seem to be touching the sides of this thing. Yesterday we tried eating a whole box of mint Matchmakers - well they do say to feed a cold...when that didn't work we cracked open the whiskey: single malt for Wavey and some not so good stuff topped up with lemonade for me. Two glasses later and things were starting to look a little rosier though I'm not sure it made any real improvement healthwise. Laying down and cough cough coughing I knew I had a tub of Vicks menthol somewhere. So it was kind of out of date, just put more on though right? A few good rubs later and I had at least stopped coughing. We're bored. We're grumpy. We're even a wee bit miserable now. Does this thing ever go away?!

Friday 28 December 2012

The house of ill

It started about 2 weeks ago when we looked after three ratbaggy kids who all had snotty noses and cough cough cough coughs. A couple of days after that Wavey started with a cough. This in itself must make this cold virus some kind of kickass muthafooker as the man is never ill. Trust me, if he is ill it literally lasts for about 20 minutes and then he's all ok I'm feeling fine now, let's jump about and be all healthy and well. But not this time. Oh no. By Christmas Eve he was kind of a weird grey colour and I had to pack him off to bed. Of course, selfishly, we all got a bit worried about our Christmas lunch and was it going to happen and would Wavey be okay? The man valiantly soldiered on and despite having a sore throat to make his normal deep voice on the point of gravelly no return, we made it up to my parentals for our Christmas nosh. And delightful it was too. Boxing Day we always had plans to hole up, watch heaps of tv to make our eyes square, and eat chocolate until we were sick, but that wasn't the plan for the rest of our holiday. 

Yesterday I woke up with the most evil cough ever. It goes a bit like this now, me: cough cough cough cough, him: cough cough cough sniffle. It's like some weird echo in the house of ill. Today's high point came when I put on some washing and Wavey attempted to iron about three things and we were both so exhausted and a little bit lightheaded that we had to sit down. What is this evil thing? Were those three little bright eyed rattybags really the carriers of such doom? Was it when I went to the house of bronchitis to visit an ailing friend and brought it back with me? Who can know? What we do know is that we're bored now, pretty fed up and would like to feel better please. 

There is one positive side to all this though. As we're both ill, we both look like shit and can huddle on the sofa feeling sorry for ourselves as well as each other. Happy coughing Christmas. Cheers mystery bug bearer, we're so appreciative you shared! Pass us a tissue someone...

Monday 24 December 2012

Merry Christmas!


This year is all about the homemade and so I've designed a beautiful message just for you, my blog friends. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2013 xx

Sunday 23 December 2012

The boy who stopped believing

Yesterday was all about the parties. We went from one straight to another, the final one being an open house at my parentals. My sis was here with my fabby niece and nephew and there were lots of Aunty Dizz moments including some serious dancing to some Christmas choons, a charades game that bordered on the ridiculous (how are we supposed to know someone's teacher / best friend?!), and a quiet chat on the sofa that nearly broke my heart which went something like this:

Me: what have you asked for, for Christmas?

Him: A slap hat (insert: at least I think this is what it's called...) and FIFA 13 and a red and white top to go with my red and white Converse ... (small pause) ... but I know the truth now ...

Me: (trying to keep voice from cracking) Oh ... but it can still be special and magical even when you know the truth ...

Him: (so not believing his Aunty Dizz) maybe ... 

First of all I think it's brilliant that he was able to believe for as long as he did and kudos to my sister for managing that, but big boo to the boys at school who called him a baby and told him the truth. Where's the harm in believing? I'm pretty sure that there's still a little part of me that believes it's true after all...

Friday 21 December 2012

12 days of Christmas...ok 11 then

1. On the first day of Christmas I have to make amaretti cupcakes and go to two parties...it's a hard life
2. On the second day of Christmas I will be mainly sleeping
3. On the third day of Christmas we will be wrapping heaps of presents, playing Christmas songs all day long, and enjoying a merry tipple or two
4. On the fourth day of Christmas we will be eating too much, merrily drinking too much, and seeing if Santa has decided if we've been naughty or nice
5. On the fifth day of Christmas I reckon a bit more sleeping will do the job
6. And more sleeping...
7. And a bit more sleeping...
8. Oh and maybe some more sleeping...
9. By day 9 Tizz is home and Christmas take two can begin!
10. Decorating Christmas cakes (oh it will be mighty fine!), cooking a whale that is supposed to be a salmon, some more merry tipples, lots of laughs with friends and loved ones
11. Definitely some more sleeping to recover from day 10

Sadly it's back to work on day 12 but before that there's a whole 11 days of fun fun fun! Merry merry and a happy holidays to you all.

XxX

Sunday 16 December 2012

Deck the halls





We love Christmas we do!

Sunday 9 December 2012

If you go into the town today...

...you'll be in for a big surprise!
 How cool is this?!

Wednesday 5 December 2012

White stuff

Just a little bit, but I love it so! 


 

Sunday 2 December 2012

Jack Frost




Saturday 1 December 2012

Who ate the baby?

We did! 


 

Friday 30 November 2012

Mini-me?

One of my libraryland friends brought a picture over to show me yesterday. She said, "Look it's just like a mini version of you"

It definitely made us all chuckle. And I would agree, it kinda could be a mini version of me...

Monday 26 November 2012

Rainy days and Mondays...

...always get me down. It's nice to cast my mind back and remember the sun and the fun. 

 

Friday 23 November 2012

Feeling very familiar...

I know this time of year so well. It's the time when you feel like a crazy dog running around in circles trying to chase his tail and never...quite...reaching...it! I'm sure I blog about this same topic every year and I wouldn't want to let anyone down. So here it is. The crazy dog time of year when time seems to whizz by at an astonishing rate:
 Check that out, even time flies in Paris! 

So knowing the day when meltdown was about to approach, this year I played it smart and booked a day off. I got up at the same time as I would to go to work, prepared a mental list, and set to it. At 11.39am I'm feeling like I've already achieved a whole bunch of stuff and made a really good start. Here's the achievements so far:
  • Finished the ironing
  • Changed the bedding
  • Washed the bedding
  • Hung the bedding out to dry
  • Emptied a wardrobe so that we can pass it on to Fizz
  • Made a Christmas shopping list
  • Ordered a couple of presents from said Christmas shopping list
  • Arranged to collect a meat package that I ordered via Groupon
  • Rearranged a courier to come and deliver a parcel 
  • Had a well earned cuppa and watched Stephen Fry play with gadgets
  • Sorted out some publicity for theatre
  • Sitting down to type up blog post
There's still a whole heap of stuff to do but this is definitely a good start. I'd even go so far as to admit that I'm a little bit buzzy or should that be busy, heehee. It feels so good though and means that the weekend can be spent doing nice things as well as doing busy stuff. 

I know it's the time of year for it, it's the same for everyone, people trying to organise stuff, trying to avoid the urge to punch people who smugly tell you that not only have they got all their Christmas presents but wrapped them as well, receiving Christmas cards from people who are so organised they've written them early to save on stamps - gawd who are these people?! They clearly have more time than me!

But I don't feel disheartened. Not any more. Today is my action day! But I reckon that by 9pm I'll be ready for my bed! Best get back to it. Soonest, good blog friends. 

Thursday 15 November 2012

Starting over

When you were 8 did you want to be a teacher? Or a nurse? Doctor? Vet? Insert 8 year old chosen job title here. I'm pretty sure that when I was 8 I had plans to be a teacher. Mind you my 8 year old self also used to go through my mam's catalogue picking out which cot I would have in my nursery and which buggy my 2 children would need to make sure they were comfortable...ah those days; I wonder what my 8 year old self would think if they could see me now? I like to think that self would look at me and think yep, she rocks, even if she's not exactly what I had in mind...

The reason I'm thinking of my 8 year old self is that I'm trying to write a personal statement that will essentially help me start all over again which got me thinking about what I used to think I was going to do for a job and career. I'm not going to reveal too much at the moment as it's still very much in the planning and hoping it will happen stage. When (and if) it's finalised I will of course do the grand revealing on this, my old faithful blog. 

I think though, fundamentally, I struggle with the idea of just choosing one thing as what I want changes on an almost daily basis depending on what I've seen or done or read that has inspired me. Take today for example. Today I would have merrily left work after a crackin' lunch with my ladies, come home and packed a bag, and taken myself here:

Spent a couple of hours looking round for the perfect apartment:
Before heading here:
For some quality cafe and delicious patisserie:
I really should stop reading books about living in Paris - all it does is make me want to do it! One day...

In the meantime I shall stick with my secret(ish) plans, survive the 5 days that start on Monday and end on Friday and live for the 2 glorious weekend days before we start all over again. Au revoir...


Sunday 11 November 2012

Weekend adventures

Generally I firmly believe that weekends are the best. I definitely believe that weekends when you get to go away and have adventures are even better than the best - they quite simply rock! This weekend took us up to Alnwick for some adventures in:

Interiors:



Beach walking:

Bird watching:

Spying on otters:
Autumn glory:


And jolly japes all round:


Roll on the next adventure!

Monday 5 November 2012

Sunday 4 November 2012

Closing down

It's time, yet again, to close the garden down for Winter. I have no idea where this year has gone. I know I probably say that every year at around the same time, but seriously, November already? How?! 

Despite the lack of sunshine and extremely wet conditions the year hasn't been too bad. We had huge success with the green beans, enjoying them with practically every meal for a couple of months, and the peppers and chilis were doing really well. If we'd had more sunshine this little lot would be a huge variety of colours:

I think these two are my prize specimens:
So it's a fond farewell until the season begins again. I've moved the strawberries into the greenhouse to let them stay warm and dry over the winter, and might even leave them in there. It would be good to keep them away from the pecking birds and in the warm. Oh and they're keeping the two lemon trees company - two lemon trees that I grew from two lemon pips. I have faith that one year (who knows how long down the line) I will one day find a lemon on one of them, maybe even two. A girl can dream...
 

Sunday 28 October 2012

The morning after the night before...

You know when you wake up looking like this...:
...that you weren't entirely feeling like yourself last night...:


Halloween parties are the best!  

Saturday 27 October 2012

Classy Class

Dizz, C. and I attended the best class ever 2day. We learned how to make our own jewellery! How cool is that? C. Made earrings...

Dizz and I made rings...

We are all chuffed with our handy work. Next time we get to make Christmas decorations. Fun fun fun!