Ozzy

This is my puppy Ozzy! He's so lovely, with his little whiny noises and general squeaking! He's also uber fluffy! He's currently lying spark out on the kitchen floor, bless him. He's been very good so far, I hope it lasts!

Henry

This is Henry by the way. Let me tell you, there's nothing more wonderful than being attacked by a puppy that just wants to lick your face and nuzzle you! Whilst wagging his little tail and making squeaky noises!! It's the cutest thing ever! :0) I hope my puppy is as loving as this little guy!

December - The pros and cons

Well, my friend came round for dinner the other night and it was lovely! Hefty was on form and made the best veggie mince lasagne ever! We're not veggies but she is, and we had to come up with something we'd all want to eat. Luckily, there's this lovely stuff which I think is just called Veggie Mince (they have it in Sainsbury's and Waitrose) and it tastes like meat, not like nasty Quorn which is rank! After she'd gone, I realised how much I like entertaining, so I might do more!

Went to my sister's today as she's been uber ill with flu and was too tired to get to mine. Plus, her boss seems to think she's not actually ill and though she blatantly is, she was worried she might call round like she did the other day. We had lattes and did some chatting before going to pick the Biz up from nursery. When we got there she was asleep, which never happens, and then we couldn't find her shoes and spent half an hour scouring the place. Then we found them in another child's tray and think she did it on purpose cos she never wants to leave. Then, she still didn't want to leave but we managed to bribe her out with the promise of cuddling Henry (my sister's new puppy) and listening to Phil Spector's Christmas Album in the car. It worked, then when we got home she had a massive strop and wouldn't stop screaming, crying, and shouting 'No!'. She can be a right little sod and I really feel for my sister as she's so run down, she's ill all the time at the moment and it stresses her out big time. I tell people about Biz and they say "You should do this" and "This will work" blah blah blah. Unless you have her with you, I don't think anyone can appreciate how difficult she is. She's so stubborn and strong willed, she just doesn't behave and doesn't care what you think of her. She's a punk! I reckon even Supernanny would be stumped on this one. Maybe I should call her and find out!

When I got home there was a stack of cards on the door mat! Getting very excited now, I have lots of cards and some presents and once the tree goes up tomorrow that'll be it! The best things about having a December birthday are:

- You get to have your presents under the Christmas tree, or if you're very special (like moi) you have your own birthday tree! Which is just a Christmas tree that goes in your bedroom and is only for birthday presents!

- You get to open your advent calendar on your birthday!

- Most people are in a good mood cos they like Christmas.

- There's loads of nice food in the shops - yum!

There are downsides too though:

- Finding a birthday cake isn't easy, shops seem to think that only Christmas happens in December and therefore people only want fruitcake (I hate fruitcake).

- Shops also think that people only want Christmas cards, and sometimes you get pretty crappy ones, but it IS the thought that counts, and not the person who buys you one's fault.

- The later your birthday is in December the worse it is. I'm okay cos the 3rd is early enough for people to only just be getting to grips with the festive season, but poor Hefty's is the 17th. He's never had a party cos the kids had all broken up from school and were too busy. Also, everyone has got to that "Aagh, it's a week til Christmas!" stressed stage, and are no longer in a good mood. Also, booking to go out for a meal is nigh on impossible.

- You have to wait a whole year for your birthday AND Christmas, so you don't have much mid-year excitement. Hefty and I remedied this by getting married on the 25th June, EXACTLY 6 months between then and Christmas, problem solved!

- You tend to get one present which is classed as a Birthday/Christmas present, rather than 2. Let's face it, having 2 to open is much better, and anything less is just laziness!!!!

- Your Mum says stuff like "Once your birthday's out of the way we can concentrate on getting sorted for Christmas." Maybe that's just my Mum. Frankly though, it's not nice to be told your birthday is essentially in the way of more important stuff.

That's all I can think of, but it's a substantial list!

Looking forward to Monday though, Hefty's got the day off, we'll have a puppy, and we're getting a new TV. Also, SuperSaz is coming round - yay!! Ooh, I've got a good birthday cake too, it's a SpongeBob one, I'll be sure to post a pic!

I am currently loving a band called Shiny Toy Guns, which is kind of electro pop stuff. I'm also loving New Young Pony Club, and CSS. I'm going to get their CDs when I get my allowance in a week, as I've been thinking about it for too long now! I'm really bad at buying music, I just forget what I like and don't seem to get round to it. I suppose it's cos I only really listen to it in my car, so once I'm out, that's it! Blank memory!

Right, I'm off to find a top cos I'm cold. Meeting my friend for lunch tomorrow then getting puppy on Sunday!! Let's hope he looks distinctive and I can think of a name!

iP

Forceps and other tales

Well I've been busy again! I really should blog more often, with regular little snippets of information rather than mahoossive postings that look like too much effort to read! I shall do a brief summary and try harder in future:

1. Went on another mad cleaning frenzy last week, and discovered how much lovelier houses look when they have clean windows!

2. Saw my Grandpa who marvelled at my opening of the carton of Tropicana they'd struggled with all week.

3. Bought a new clock for our mantel piece - modern yet antiquey (I think so anyway).



4. Designed our new kitchen and got very excited, just need to save up a bit of money now!

5. Went out for dinner with some friends and had the nicest Hawaiian pizza I've had in AAGES.


That could be about it.......Ooh, I'm not sure if I blogged about my cousin's baby? Well, earlier in the year (I can't remember when), my cousin's girlfriend had a baby boy, and they called him 'River'. Hmm. So, now, my other cousin (his brother) and his girlfriend have also had a baby, and they've called him 'Blue.' So it just goes to show, being posh isn't good for you, or your children.

Today, Ming and I went to the Thackray Medical Museum, which was random, and wholly enjoyable. I now know what an iron lung does, how to amputate limbs, all about different types of medical instruments, and that no matter where you go, the gift shop is always full of tat. There were at least 3 groups of school kids in as well, and they were all mutants! They were all above 6 ft, even the girls, we felt like we were in Land of the Giants. There were also sections where they'd tried to recreate Victorian streets and houses, the kind where you walk through and everything stinks of shit. It was really good though, and we did lots of laughing. Especially in the limb section where they had a list of famous amputees. We only knew Heather Mills, but the others seemed to have actually achieved stuff, rather than just marrying a Beatle. Afterwards, we went to Burger King, mmmmm. It was a brill day, only marred by the headache I acquired just after I'd left Ming's house. Still it seems to have worn off now, probably thanks to the gel Ibruprofen (?) thingys I took.

Anyway, it's my birthday next Monday, that seems to have come round quickly! I'll be 28 - aagh! Getting the puppy on Sunday though, much more exciting! Still no name, nobody can agree, Hefty doesn't like Brillo, my Mum thinks he should have a good strong upper class name, it's a mare. I'm hoping he really looks like something or I'm buggered. Maybe I should ask my cousins, they seem to be quite good at coming up with unusual names

My friend's coming for dinner tomorrow night, she's lovely so I'm really looking forward to it :0)

So that's my news summed up. I shall try and be better, I just seem to start doing stuff and before I know it, time has run out!!

I'm rubbish.

iP

Never a pair

Well well, I've got slack again! I'm still not fully recovered though so it's not solely due to laziness!!

So I'm still very tired and congested since having the flu thing. Hefty got me some Sudafed tablets yesterday, which were a revelation! You're not allowed to take more than 4 in any 24 hours though so I can't have anymore until tomorrow! Still, they've done a pretty good job so far so I'm not complaining!

Not sure I have much to say today.......ooh, I went into town on Friday and quite frankly, it was shit! There was nothing in the shops, and what was, was rubbish! I've never felt so un-Christmassy whilst Christmas shopping!! It was most disappointing, so I'm going to stick to online shopping from now on. I know it's still November and they might not have everything out yet, but WHY haven't they? It's not like most shops don't start Christmas in September anyway, why is this year different?!!!!

In other news, there's a phenomenon that has had me puzzled for quite some time now, and I'm not sure if it only happens in my part of the world. Does anyone else ever notice that the roadsides are strewn with shoes (never a pair), gloves (again, never two), and other articles of clothing that you can't make out? Today, I counted two boots (individual ones), a glove, and something which I couldn't make out but appeared to be made of wool. I see these things all the time, whichever part of this city I drive through. I just don't understand where they're coming from? It makes no sense? You can't just lose a shoe on a road, surely?!! It's all very odd anyway, but I wasn't sure if it only happened in Yorkshire.

We're going to design our new kitchen tonight, which will either be really exciting, or extremely boring. The one we got in this house is pretty poor, to say the least. Not only is it crap quality, there's hardly anything of it! We have a big kitchen, but they only put a couple of units in as they were selling it as a dining kitchen. Fair enough, but the dining bit is next to the dining room!! Talk about dining over load! It really is crap for a 4 bedroomed three storey house. We have 2 main cupboards (one of which is under the sink and so can only house under the sink style products), 2 thin shallow ones, and another wide but shallow one. Oh, and 2 drawers. Big frakking deal. When we first came into the house having not seen it, I cried with disappointment. We've complained numerous times but Persimmon are clearly not willing to do anything about it so we decided we'll just have to pay for a proper one ourselves. If we couldn't afford to do so I'd be mighty pissed off, and even though we can I'm mighty pissed off, but at least I don't have to live with it for much longer. We're just getting a quote tonight, as Hefty likes to pay in full for everything, he doesn't do credit, but at least we'll get an idea of when we can have it done. I really can't wait, as though I love my house, there's always been something missing, and it's always been the kitchen! Not having one is really depressing, as it feels like a really big bedsit at the moment, and it made Christmas last year a nightmare. There's hardly any workspace either so we can't both do kitcheny things at the same time which is annoying. I don't know how we've put up with it for so long, but thank gods it's not forever!

Next week I'm going out for the day with Ming, as he's on holiday. As we only do random things together, we've decided to visit the Thackray Medical Museum, which should be a mini adventure. They have a Victorian Amputation Exhibition section, can't wait!!!

Well, need to do some washing now, a Domestic Engineer's work is never done!

iP

Illdom

Well, I don't know if illdom is a proper word but it would describe where I have been for the past week! I started with a sore throat last Wednesday, and by Thursday, I could barely swallow liquid, AND I'd started with a cold too! I don't normally get throat illnesses so it was most unpleasant, and I worry in case it spreads to my chest and aggravates my asthma. Colds I can deal with, but to get both has been horrendous!!!! I was really floored by the whole thing, and was bed-ridden for days, feeling like all the different medications I had acquired were doing nothing at all! When it finally did subside on Monday, I was left with a phenomenal amount of congestion, and I still can't get rid of it! I feel totally blocked up, and it's giving me a headache, so I think I'm going to have to invest in yet more medication to get rid of it! So I'm not amused, but it has made me paranoid about ever getting that ill again so I ordered a ton of fruit and veg this week and plan to consume it!

Tomorrow, I'm going in to town to start having a look at stuff for Christmas. Might get a few presents, in fact I'll have to get a lot cos my puppy will be coming to live at Pandah Palace on the 2nd of December! When he arrives, I'll pretty much have to stay in the house for a month or so, cos I can't leave him on his own, but he can't go out too much til he's had all his injections. I usually buy stuff from t'interweb, but because I don't work anymore, I thought I'd make the most of weekday shopping, and see if I can beat the crowds to some nice stuff. Hefty and I only really buy little things at Christmas, restricting ourselves to a budget of 50 squids, because we both have our birthdays in December (which we think are more important), and we spend lots of money all year round, so we treat Christmas as being mainly about eating, chilling out, watching TV, eating, and doing a bit of eating now and then. So, I only have to buy for my sister, her husband, the Biz, and a couple of friends! Brilliant! I'm going to the company Christmas party on the 11th (I think) and we'll be doing secret Santa, so I don't have to buy stuff for ALL my work chums either which is good. Also, they then don't feel like they have to buy for me, which would be a Brucie Bonus, as I don't give to receive, but people feel obliged. I hope I get some lovely things, and if I do, will be sure to share them with you! As in, what I bought, you can't have my presents!

So, as I mentioned, puppy is coming soon - very exciting!! I've bought a shed-load of stuff for him, it's like getting a new baby! He's going to be one spoiled pup! I'm waiting for the breeder to send me a photo of him, I hope it comes soon! Because I'll have to stay in for a month or so (apart from my Christmas party and a trip to the theatre to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), Hefty bought me my birthday present early. It's a spanky fab Mulberry handbag, with matching purse, and I love it! It gets harder to think of things you want when you get older, and because we buy a lot of stuff anyway, it doesn't help! But I really wanted this, so I'm well chuffed! As I'm getting the puppy the day before my birthday, I feel like I'm getting 2 presents - I'm a lucky Pandah! :0)



Looking forward to the return of The Mighty Boosh tonight, just wish they wouldn't put it on so late! 10.30pm?! I'll struggle to stay up but I'll have to cos it's on BBC3! Children in Need's on tomorrow, which essentially means there's nothing on TV so we'll have to watch a DVD. Friday night is the only night we really watch TV so it's annoying when the whole evening's entertainment gets pushed aside for utter crap. I know it's a charity thing, but I'd rather just donate some money than have to sit through newsreaders stripping and people like Westlife singing crapper songs than usual. Rubbish!

Anyway, dinner time! Ciao for now!

iP

P.S. I think I'm going to call my dog Brillo, cos he looks a bit like a Brillo pad! I think it's cute yet amusing! And original!

Puppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

This is a quick post cos I'm really busy this week!

I'm getting my puppy on the 2nd December!!! Just in time for my birthday!!! Yay!!!

Very exciting! :0)

Pain, pain PAIN!

Oh my gods! Last night was horrendous! We'd gone to bed after we got back from dinner, and were getting cosy watching an episode of Bab 5 (an AWESOME episode at that, there was some badass fighting and wickedace effects!) when I had this niggling pain in my left-hand side. Well, it niggled, and niggled, and by gods NIGGLED! Eventually, it got so bad, I was crying, shaking, sweating furiously with the unbelievable pain I was in! Hefty was freaking out at this point and was going to call an ambulance, but I'd been watching a programme about people who call the emergency services when they don't need them, and how it costs lives, so I didn't want him to. Instead, he called the NHS Helpline, and, well, got some help! I don't remember a lot about it, just that it seemed to go on for hours, and eventually some doctor rang us and I had to talk to him about stuff. He called or was calling the emergency doctor from our village for us, but then it went off!!! As if it had never been there!! I don't know what happened, but by that point I was so knackered I just went to sleep.

Got up this morning at about half eight, to take Hefty to work, then came back and went to sleep. I slept all day really, having the odd break for some food, and then watching a bit of a typical channel 5 afternoon movie, which had Bruce Boxleitner in it (random!) looking really old. Then I went to get Hefty and we picked Flexo up, who has been in the Suzuki Spa for 3 days now. They showed us loads of pictures of the oil leak, as well as some they'd took of another car where the owner had stuck sponges in the engine cos he'd said it was rattling or something. There was about 30 sponges, all under the bonnet! What a weirdo! Anyway, apparently my Swift is the first one they've had to have this problem, but it's a manufacturing thing, so I reckon they'll probably send a letter out asking people to check theirs for any sign of leaking, cos they're quite good like that. So his engine was completely stripped, cleaned, and he had a load of new things put in, so he's good as new again (even though he's only 1 anyway!).

Tonight I'm hoping for NO PAIN when we retire for another thrilling installment of B5. Not least because it was a really good episode that was marred somewhat by my moaning and pacing about. We'll be watching The Peter Serafinowicz Show first though, cos it's hilarious!! I never knew he was so amusing, and so good at impersonating people. We loved Look Around You but I've only ever seen him pop up in other programmes, like Spaced.

Tomorrow evening we're off to design our new kitchen - citing! And maybe watch Syriana, which arrived in the post about a week ago, but we've not got round to watching.

Well, dinner time, I'd best be off.

iP

Happy Halloween!

Ah, you can't beat Mac-O-Lanterns on Halloween!! In that grand tradition of All Hallows Eve, Hefty and I went out for dinner. We're back now and off to bed to watch some Bab 5. I ache all over today, it's really weird, and painful. If I randomly poke different areas of skin, it hurts! Luckily, I still have some strong pain killers left over from when I was in hospital so I'm going to take them before I go to sleep.

I think it's tension, I've encountered bad drivers all day, and it's been quite stressful as I'm not in my own car. Poor Flexo had an oil leak so is in for 3 days while they fix him. So I'm in a jeep, which isn't at all sporty, and my ability to hoon around has been somewhat impaired.

Had a bit more of a play with Leopard today, it's really good! I'm still obsessed with the rollercoaster thing in Photo Booth but that's okay! The iPhone will arrive next week (with a free Playstation 3, random) so we're looking forward to trying it out and hooking up all our apps. Was moaning about The Gadget Show again today (yes, I'm still grumbling) to one of my chums, and he was telling me he has the Nokia they were making out to be so fabulous. Apparently, the battery life is shit, and he says for all the 'wonderful' things it apparently does, if it doesn't have the battery life to support it, what's the point? I like Nokias, and have one myself (a different one) but I have to agree. You'd think they'd give it a decent battery. It's a common complaint too, I read lots of forums about it today, seems really strange. Hopefully the iPhone's battery is plentiful! Though I'm sure it won't fail to disappoint. I worked out I've been a Mac user for 12 years now, and as I've loved everything they've ever put out so far, I'm thinking next week's going to be a blast!

:0)

The STUPID Show

The Gadget Show REALLY annoys me a lot of the time. I think this is mainly due to the hideous Suzi Perry and the fact she's just ridiculous. It hasn't finished yet, but this week they're testing the iPhone, and what really got my goat was that she referred to the camera function on mobile phones as being 'the single most important function on a phone.'

Er, NO!!! It's a frakking phone!! We have these things called 'Cameras' (without the word 'phone' attached) for which that statement is applicable. They then slagged off the iPhone's photo ability because it wasn't taking good pictures in a really dark, seedy club in Barcelona. *Note* - the kind of people who are going to buy an iPhone aren't likely to be hanging round dark, seedy clubs in Barcelona, trying to take pictures of dark, seedy people.

FFS!!! Very annoying. Also, WHY are they testing it in Barcelona? And now they're doing some ridiculous navigation test. Bunch of frakking FUCKRONS!!!

I am so annoyed I feel like crying.

>:0(

BIG frakking disappointment

Okay so we finally finished season 3 of Battlestar.

What a pile of SHIT! Where was the BRILLIANT, AWESOME ending that the internet has hinted at for so long?!! I have SO many issues with it that I'm actually REALLY angry!!!!

As part of 'Net-tiquette' I am obliged to write **SPOILERS BEGIN HERE** before I have my rant, so **SPOILERS BEGIN HERE**!!!!

- Part 1 of the 2 part ending episodes was boring as hell. It was OBVIOUS Baltar would get off and the Adamas' would be unhappy bunnies. PLUS, Apollo's little speech actually rang true with me, loads of horrible things HAVE happened and other people HAVE got off. Yes Baltar is an uber-prick, but is he really any worse than a lot of the others? And why did Anders sleep with that munter assistant of the President's? She's rank!

- Part 2, well, where do I begin? I have NO idea what the point of hearing 'All Along the Watchtower' was. It made no sense and was quite frankly really irritating. I found the bit near the end where all 4 were stood humming it to be just ridiculous. And yes, it was also OBVIOUS that Starbuck was alive and well, so I expected her to show up, but NOT looking like butter wouldn't melt with a whiny almost Northern tone going "Aiyaa Leeeee, s'alright, 'ave been t'Earth and am gonna take ya there."

You know what? I have absolutely NO idea what's going on, I am just plain confused. And extremely disappointed, cos I'm only going to watch season 4 now because I need to know what the frak is going on, NOT because I can't wait to see it.

>:0(

**SPOILERS END HERE** - though I am of the opinion they can't spoil the ending anymore than it's spoiled itself :0(

So I'm really upset, cos it was just crap, and I was expecting it to be so good. I'm going to have to go and watch some Babylon 5 now to redeem my belief in Sci-Fi entertainment.

Pah!

In other news, I was ill again, but then managed to tidy the study (at last), make more flapjack, and bake a fabulous big chocolatey cake for my sister's birthday tomorrow. We're going to an Autumnal event at a stately home to see seasonal baking, scarecrow making, pumpkin carving, and loads more stuff that I can't remember. We're also picnicking, but the weather looks horrendous, so it could be a challenge.

We now have Leopard, which is AWESOME!!!!! I'm loving the new background thing on Photobooth, especially the one where you can pretend you're on a rollercoaster! Stacks are a pretty cool function too, but that's about as far as I got, cos Hefty is installing it on EVERYTHING and playing with it.

My posting is all a bit disjointed today, sorry about that. Think it's cos I'm so tired....ZZZZzzzzzz.....and I'm still reeling from the BSG let down.

Well, as my writing has gone to pot and I'm knackered, I think I'll leave this be. Not all posts have to be works of literary genius (hurrah) so I'll leave this in the mess that it is.

Like BSG.

Sigh.

The wrinklypeeps aint lying

I'm beginning to believe that spiel old people spout about having no time when they retire! I've not stopped! Well, I've been ill, but when I wasn't being ill I didn't stop!

I had another tidying spurt on Friday, and Hefty was very impressed when he got home. In fact, he's very impressed every day with my various antics. It makes everything seem so much more worthwhile, as a simple thing like cleaning the fridge really cheers him up! He's very appreciative, and I really like doing it, so I definitely have NO regrets about packing in work!

On Friday night, SuperSaz came over, and we ate badass steak, watched Have I Got News For You, Not Going Out, and then Rogue Trader - the Ewan McGregor film about Nick Leeson, not that consumer programme on BBC1!

On Saturday, we had a bit of a lie in then went to the glorious Bang & Olufsen shop, which is at the opposite side of Leeds to us but well worth the trip! Within ten minutes we were the proud owners of a Beocom 6000!



The handset looks white on this picture, but it's actually light grey. It comes in different colours but we liked this one the most, as black was too obvious and the other ones would have looked silly. It's really cool, as you can have as many handsets as you like (up to 8) as long as you have the base station, and you can name them all depending where you keep them. It doesn't have an answer facility, but it tells you if you have any missed calls and what number it was, and time etc. and you can programme in all your names and numbers using the iPod-esque wheel. AND, you can use it to turn the volume up on the TV if you can't find the remote!! How cool is that?!! Obviously you have to have a B&O TV, it won't work on anything!



So when we got home, we programmed in some numbers and fiddled with the ring tones (there's 8) and then sat admiring it.
Ooh, but before that, back in the shop, we also looked at the Beovision 6 - 26, which we're hopefully going to get in time for Christmas. It's a V.pretty TV and will look super in the bedroom. Plus, we can switch the remote that comes with it:



For the funky new one that they've put out! Which we'll do, because once you've got the first one, you can use it on all your B&O stuff, so we may as well have the spanky fab touch screen jobby:



But we're going to use the old B&O remote upstairs with the new TV, and keep the funky one to use downstairs with our current TV. Which I may as well post a picture of as I seem to have put everything else on here today! This is our Beovision Avant (or something?!):



So there, a veritable Beofest! Very exciting!

In other news, I saw an episode of The Hoobs the other day, and James Bolam was in it, as a 'Wrinklypeep', as opposed to a 'Tiddlypeep', for those who don't know that that's what the Hoobs call children. It was well random, he was sat in an armchair looking confused, as Iver and Groove tried to cheer him up. I've never seen anything like it! And I'm not sure if it actually happened, it was THAT weird. But, he didn't have ANYTHING to do, which leads me to think he isn't really retired, otherwise he'd be busy, like me.

We also went all over the place looking for a new kitchen, and settled on one from MFI, which I didn't expect. There's someone coming out to measure up this morning, but we're not getting one til after Christmas cos we like to pay for stuff outright, and it'll take Hefty a couple of months to save up for it, especially with us getting the new TV and stuff.

On Sunday, we got up really late, and then watched TV whilst I made a thank you card for all my work chums. Then we went out for dinner, came home and watched TV again (though I fell asleep).

Yesterday, I did some cleaning again, and baked blueberry muffins and flapjack. I picked Hefty up from work and we went to look at kitchens (more specifically the one we wanted, and we arranged fore-mentioned vist) and Habitat, where we bought some pillows and other bedding stuff.

Ooh, my Chillow arrived! It didn't help much last night though as I had a hideous night's sleep. I could go on but I've just realised what time it is! I've got to take Hefty to work! Plus, I've written an essay already!

I shall love you and leave you for now. G'bye!

iP

P.S. Tim, I reckon you'll be getting some post today! ;0)

Sleeeepy nonsense

I'm not doing so well at this daily blogging malarkey am I? My first week of retirement I thought I'd be writing every day, but I've just been ill!! Which sucks! But then I remembered that's why I retired in the first place so I guess it was to be expected.

Cold has gone, was replaced yesterday by Uber-Headache Beast, with dizzy spells and a general feeling of crappity. Is crappity a word? I'm not sure, but I just wrote it and it looks and sounds good so I'm going to keep using it. CRAPPITY!

We saw Ratatouille on Wednesday night which was awesome!!! I now want to call my dog Remy, but I'm not sure it works, cos he won't be a blue rat.

Today I'm trying to get going again, and had a mad cleaning frenzy. The house looks great, but I'm now shattered and my eyes are all droopy. 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' is on so I'm watching that as I write/drop off. It's such a cool film, and though it's brilliant, it's exactly the kind of film I find so comforting I fall asleep watching it.

Doesn't help that it's sunny and warm....ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I"m not impressed that Murder She Wrote isn't on, it's staple daytime TV viewing! I'm also not loving seeing Christmas adverts, I don't want to hear 'that' Slade song when it is Christmas, so I really don't want to hear it in October!!

I need to go and buy eggs. But I've got a headache again.

Crappity.

Pah!

Well, it's day 2 of my new career as a House Goth, and not only is Murder She Wrote NOT on, I've got a stinking cold. I went on a cleaning rampage yesterday which was brill, but I wanted to finish off today, and I can't really cos I'm too ill. I have no energy and can't stop sneezing and blowing my nose :0( Was supposed to be seeing my sister and the Biz today but have had to cancel. Pah!

:0(

Retirement

Well, my retirement on Friday was absolutely AWESOME!!! I literally spent all day talking to everyone I know, eating, and getting presents!! And let me tell you, I got some WICKEDACE presents!!!

- Funky rubber gloves
- Funky washing up brush
- 4 Milky Bars (big ones)
- Open All Hours DVD
- 2 Emus (let's not forget it was also Rod Hull Day on Friday!)
- The Complete Transformers Boxed Set
- Optimus Prime Voice Changing Helmet
- Delia Smith's How to Cook - Books 1, 2 and 3
- Anthea Turner's How to be a Perfect Housewife book

As well as a shed load of cards! Unbe-effing-lievable!! Check 'em out!





I really had no idea I was going to get all these brilliant things, I feel like my birthday has come early!!

It was a bit strange really, quite surreal, and I'm not sure it's sunk in yet that that's it, no more work!!! But I'm rather glad, cos I really am knackered!!! I had my leaving do on Thursday night, which involved me and 16 other people moseying on down to the city centre for a slap up Italian meal. I'm pleased to report that a super time was had by all, and despite there being so many of us, the food was excellent. I got home and into bed for midnight, then woke up at 4am (as stated in my previous blog), so just got up! Don't know how I saw the day out to be honest, though it took it's toll later that evening, when I fell asleep on the sofa and missed Have I Got News For You, Not Going Out, Q.I and I forgot to tape The Tudors. Blast! I only watch TV one sodding night of the week and I missed it all in one fowl swoop! (Is that the correct spelling/expression? I'm not sure, I just know there's a swoop involved.)

Rod Hull Day was fab though, and I'm delighted to say that the cake debacle was quickly rectified! The new and correct cake was a stonker!!! Look out below...................!



Obviously, the highlight was getting TWO Emus! My friend Starbar bought me one, and then so did JT, who was gutted when she found out that SB had got in first. She told me about it and I quickly put her straight. TWO Emus is much better than one!!! It's like a nest! In fact, I could probably do with a 3rd!!! This seemed to cheer her up so all was well!

Phew. I tell you, the day was a bit of a blur, but I remember getting home and trying out the OP helmet - or rather, fighting Hefty for it! - and having a Chinese takeaway, something we haven't done for ages.

So there. That's me, a lady of leisure. Tomorrow, I'm going to have a good clean! And maybe make some muffins! Ooh, and I'll have to watch Murder She Wrote!

I'm also waiting for the solution to my night-time problems (hopefully) to arrive. I have ordered a weird but wonderful thing called a 'Chillow,' which is guaranteed to help me cope with my night-time hot flushes. I don't know how it works, but as long as it does that'll be good enough for me!



This is the spec:

- Relieves discomfort from overheating in any part of the body
- Uses a unique cooling pad
- Gives you a lasting, cool and comforting sensation
- Helps to give you a superior sleep
- Allergy free
- Always ready for use whenever you need it
- Use it on any part of your body
- It is light it so can be taken abroad when traveling in hotter climates
- There is no other product on the market like it
- Doesn’t need refrigeration
- Always cool not cold, dry not wet and soft not hard

I'll let you know if it's any good, though I'm not sure why anyone not suffering from some kind of overheating problem would want one!

So that's me for now.

Over and out.

iP

Happy Rod Hull Day!!!!

So today is Rod Hull Day!!!! It was my leaving do last night, I went to bed at 12am and woke up at 4am :0( So I decided to blog. Actually, I'm not really blogging, not properly, I just wanted to say Happy Rod Hull Day!! I'll write about my do later, I'm not quite with it at the mo.

Hope anyone out there celebrating the legend that is, Rod Hull, has a super day!!!!

I shall take photos today, and maybe put them up! I know I often threaten to put photos up but I'm a bit crap at it.

Ooh, and today is my last day at work! I am officially retiring at the ripe old age of 27!!

It's all a bit weird.......I think the look on Rod's face says it all....

May I just draw your attention to....

....these quirky items!



At least that's my funeral sorted. I'm not much of a planner so it's good to know I'm partially organised in some areas.

Have just realised that tonight's postings have been death-themed. Hmmm. Sorry about that.

Disaster!

Well, my Rod Hull Day preparations have had a 'spanner in the works' style moment. Went to Costco tonight, as I'd ordered one of their massive celebration cakes that you can personalise and choose a design for, for the bargain price of ten punds. I opted for pink balloons and the words 'Happy Rod Hull Day,' but WHAT'S THIS???!!!! I get to the bakery, they bring me my cake, and it's covered in big pink icing roses and a funereal style plaque! Okay yes, it has the words 'Happy Rod Hull Day' on it, but it looks like the kind of cake he should have had at his burial, NOT at all appropriate for the celebratory occasion that is Rod Hull Day!! So after some umming and ahhing, Hefty spoke to the baker man and told him it was WRONG! Luckily, the form I'd filled in was attached to it, so you could see they'd made an error. But they couldn't do it then and there, so I've got to go back tomorrow, and as it's my leaving do tomorrow evening, I'm going to have to do it at lunch time, which is uber annoying!! I hope they get it right tomorrow, or I'll be most upset. Also though, it's kind of embarrassing having to pick up and pay for a cake that says 'Happy Rod Hull Day' on it, but sending it back seems even worse!!1 What will they do with the one they messed up? They can't exactly put it out and sell it to someone else! Unless I'm not the only one who does this.....

Oh my gods! I just wrote a shed load of stuff, and blogger deleted it all and saved it!! Bastard!! I'm not writing that out again :0( That's really pissed me off, stupid thing!!!

FFS, I feel the need to go and kick something now >:0(

I'd written 2 more lengthy paragraphs, and good ones too! Pah!

Grumpy iP

Ramblings

Well, the thought of giving up work on Friday has given me a renewed sense of blogvitality, and I just can't stop myself! Having all that free time means I might actually be a proper blogger again, with daily postings, and a chance to be part of a real blog-community again, like I used to be. How exciting!

Having just said that, I think my main item for today was the dog thing. Hmmm.

Well, I suppose I can say that we're progressing with BSG 3, currently watching episode 8, and we're on to Season 3 of Babylon 5, so we're still sci-fi party animals. I'm not quite understanding what's going on in BSG, one of the Cylons is dreaming, some bloke called Bulldog has appeared, it's all a bit weird, but hopefully I'll know what's happening by the end of it.....

....hmm, no, that episode didn't shed a great deal of light on much. And now there's a lot of boxing going on, and hazy Apollo/Starbuck love scenes. Personally, I think Starbuck's pretty lucky she ever got anywhere with Anders, she's no oil painting, and he's a damn fine looking fella. I think it's sad she's with him but fancies Apollo, and it's not fair on Dee either, and the fact I'm analysing it this much probably means something too. I've turned into a 3AM Girl, and I'm not even sure what one of those is?!! Not loving this episode though, hope it gets better........

I've just remembered I need to make a birthday card. Bugger.

Some models are right dogs....

Well, here it is, the long awaited dog coat packaging with my sister's dog on it. It was a right faff to put up so in the end I had to do screen prints - rubbish!!




Model Factfile
Model: Sugar.
Breed: Maltese.
Hair Colour: White.
Age: 5.
Likes: Carrots, sleeping, Balamory.
Hates: Excercise, Jeremy Kyle, that 'I has Cheezeburger' or whatever it's called, website.

Genius

Let me tell you about a genius product that has revolutionised my life - Lyon's Coffee Bags. That's right, coffee, in a bag!! Obviously there's nothing quite like the good stuff, and I do frequent the usual caffeine haunts just like anyone else, but sometimes when I'm at home, I just CAN'T be bothered to put on the filter machine, spark up the espresso beast, or deal with the mess of my cafetiere. THIS, is where coffee bags come in, because it's coffee, in a bag!!! It works along the same principal as a teabag, you just have to leave it a bit longer. It takes a bit of faffing at first to get the strength right, but when you do, it's as good as cafetiere coffee, but without the mess!!! And, as if all this weren't splendiferous enough, it only costs £1.99 for 18 of the buggers (from Waitrose anyway, they might be even cheaper elsewhere!!)!!! It really is JUST brilliant, coffee, in a bag!!!!!

So I suggest any caffeine-heads out there give them a whirl!!! It has been pointed out to me that instant coffee is a suitable alternative to fresh, but this is, quite frankly, blasphemy, as we all know it isn't, and it smells of tuna!!! I refuse to drink it, so Lyon's Coffee Bags are the way forward, cos I can't be the only one!!!

In other news, to celebrate my last day on Friday, we are (at last) having Rod Hull Day again. It doesn't seem that long ago since the last RHD, but it's been 14 months!!! Scary! So we'll all be thinking pink on Friday, and eating pink to boot! I have ordered a cake from Costco with pink balloons on it, and the words 'Happy Rod Hull Day' on it. I'd love to see their faces when they pick that order up. Utter confusion I should think!! I tried to link back to the last RHD for anyone who missed it, but the link thing aint working, so if you care that much, have a look under August 2006, it was the 4th and is right at the bottom of the archive page.

So there!

I'm off now, to have some coffee, in a bag!

Butters

Well check out my bad self, I don't blog for a month and then when I do, I can't stop myself!!!

I just remembered that I had originally decided to get a dog and call him Butters, and I'm amazed I only just realised this!!! So I'm thinking Butters, is both cute, and cultured, it's a super name for a dog!

Yay the Butters!

Ooh and....

....can I just say, Hefty is getting an iPhone in November which is SPLENDIFEROUS!!!! It comes with a free PS3, which is NOT so splendiferous, but hey. I suppose if they can't sell them, they may as well give them away.

I'm looking forward to having my picture taken so that it looks like I'm trapped in his phone, that's my new fave Maclication I reckon!



Does the hand in this picture freak anyone else out? It's really odd somehow?!!! Shudder.

Slight return

At the risk of sounding like I've ripped off a Kirsty McColl song, there's a woman in my street who looks like Sylvia Plath. I think this is quite exciting, because I'm a big fan of SP, but I'm not sure I should tell her, as:

A) I don't know her that well, she's a neighbour at the far end of my L-shaped cul de sac.
B) She might not think that's a compliment, it's probably a bit like saying, 'You look like Kurt Cobain, before he shot himself."

Also, she's Australian, maybe she doesn't even know who Sylvia Plath is.

So it's been a while since I last blogged, my health has, as you might expect, gone to the dogs. This menopause thing is a right mare, and I'm up 4 to 6 times a night having hot flushes!! Thank the gods D-Day is finally nearly upon me - I 'retire' for want of a better phrase this Friday. About time!! This last 2 months has really dragged. I seriously need sleep too, but I now have an irrational fear of going through the REAL menopause, even though it might not be for 30 years!!! I'm sure I should be committed.

Am on to series 3 of Babylon 5, and it rules!! I still HATE Londo and wish I could be G'Kar's assistant, but I have to say I also really like Captain Sheridan. He's much better than Sinclair, I hope he stays!! We're progressing with BSG 3 too, though not as quickly as we would have liked. I'm pleased to report that the fat suit has come off Apollo, and he's now back to his original size and shape. I still think that it was the most pointless plot line EVER, as nobody else got fat, and it didn't seem to have any effect on anything?!!! But hey, he's back to how he was, hopefully he'll get in on some of the action from now on.

I have got a free National Geographic DVD with the paper this morning, it's about sharks. I'm liking this new free DVD and CD thing, it's got a lot better. And beats wall charts.

Puppy update: Still waiting for the birth of my impending new arrival, I can't wait!! My friend sent me a pic of hers and it's got me dead excited!



In other dog news, my sister's dog has done a spot of modelling, and is now on the packaging for a dog coat!! I have the artwork at work so will post it this week, it's cool! She got free coats for the dog that modelled and the other one. Maybe my dog could be a model. Then again, I don't go in for the whole dogs in clothes thing, so it wouldn't be much of a career option.

Has anyone seen that gorilla advert where he's drumming a long to a Phil Collins ad? Monkey folk creep me out but I rather like it. Have no idea what it's got to do with Dairy Milk though.

Right, gonna give this DVD a go I think, Hefty's still in the Dream Zone so it'll give me something to do.

Peace out people, keep on keepin on.

iP

9.9.99

Ooh, just realised it's 8 years since my Grandpa died, today :0(

He did it in style though, well, picked a good date!

R.I.P Grandpa

Ramblings

Well, another uneventful week. Can't wait to give up work now, it's really starting to get me down. It's the illness/work combination, it's lethal! It's a bit like in Batman (the film), where they discover that mixing talcum powder with baby lotion can prove fatal*, except that instead of producing a big smile, I have a big frown, and am not actually dead. God what the hell am I talking about?!! See. LOST the plot!

Had Friday off again, and spent most of the day in town. Was supposed to meet my friend but she had to cancel, so I met Hefty for lunch instead. We had Japanese - hooray! A beef teriyaki bento box - my favourite!
I also bought a book that I spotted randomly on Amazon. It was in some subsection I'd clicked on by mistake. I was only killing time waiting for Hefty, but it sounded good, so I popped into Borders and had a look at it in the flesh. Looked pretty good, first page had my interest (that's the official iPandah test - if you read the first page and turn to the second, it's probably a winner), so I purchased it, even though it was a whole four pound more than it was on Amazon.
Well, got home at about 2pm, started reading it - couldn't STOP reading it!! What a fab book! Am nearly finished, have been at it the whole weekend, and have had to order the other 2 in the series from Amazon. So what is it?

'Dissolution' by C.J. Sansom

And here is the synopsis, shamelessly stolen from Amazon, who themselves nicked it off the back of the book!

'Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved.

But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic.

Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes ... '

If you like this sort of thing (think 'Name of the Rose'), then it won't disappoint. It just flows brilliantly, really well written, and it isn't bogged down in historical facts like some books like this are.

So there. That is my view, do with it what you will.

Not much more to tell, as I've just been reading all weekend.

Off out to dinner in a bit though, so should get ready really. Or read a bit more of the book........


*Couldn't find a picture of those two models that died in it, or the news reader woman, so I settled for a classic JN one.

I love a bit of dust(er)

So, Season 3 (or Series 3, if you're British) of BSG arrived on Saturday, and Hefty and I started watching it. We missed it when it was on TV cos it aired not long after we'd moved, and we'd cancelled SKY on account of it being shit. Anyway, it's brilliant, REALLY good, have loved it so far, but one thing puzzles me. What is WITH Apollo's fat suit? Okay, so he's not been doing that much since everyone decided to go to New Caprica, but nobody else is fat, is it integral to the plot? Hefty thinks there might be an episode where he's trying to escape from something and has to get through a hole or tube and can't fit or something. I'm not really sure, but whereas I used to look at Apollo and think "YES! You're my favourite character, you rule hero-type dude!", now I just think, "Hmm, Tim Allen in The Santa Clause." It's so bad, it's funny, so I REALLY hope he either loses it, or it somehow plays a part in the plot. I guess as we've only watched 4 episodes, only time will tell....

In other news, I have purchased a lovely French Connection coat, that will not only keep me warm and look cool, it's the same colour as Flexo (my car)!! I also got some very funky dish cloths and dusters from Waitrose the other day, with a super-kitsch design on them, tremendous!!! We've been shopping with Waitrose online for a couple of months now, and it's brilliant!! Much wider variety of stuff than Sainsbury's, and we get freebies sometimes too! Plus, the website's much easier to use, and less faff all round is always a Brucie bonus!!

And that's about all I have to say today.

£8.60

So, I went to IKEA. I skipped all the furniture stuff, cos we are, after all, strictly a Habitat only house in that area. I had a dodgy trolly, always annoying, and by the time I got to the market-place, it'd pissed me off so much that I resorted to kicking the wheels in rage! It didn't do a sodding thing, but it allowed me to vent spleen whlist appearing normal to the outside world (just). Ooh, I did go through the children's section first, hoping to pick something up for the Biz, but it was rather uninspiring, which upset me, cos kid's departments in any shop are usually my favourite bit. But anyways, in the market-place, I bought:

- A big stripy bag for 79p
- A pack of 10 storage bags that looked like party bags to me but with a seal at the top and in yellow and orange rather than Disney themed, for 99p
- A soap dish for the ensuite cos we didn't have one and Habitat have stopped doing most of the ones we liked, for 99p
- A pack of 2 bendy chopping boards for Hefty, for 99p
- 3 scented candles for my sister, 99p each
- A pack of 100 tealights, also for my sister,
- 2 funky green plastic dog bowls for my impending arrival, only 19p each!

So, for £8.60, I think I did quite well, cos the last time I popped into Habitat for a few bits, I spent £57.80.
It wasn't too bad in there either, though there was a scattering of chavs (it's to be expected), but they were mostly in the food bit eating hot dogs (at half 9 in the morning).

I then nipped to Borders and had lunch in Starbucks, but resisted the urge to go next door into Habitat, and instead bought a couple of books for the Biz. Then I went home via the chemist and doctors, and decided to have a snooze, cos I was pretty knacked out at this point.

I left at 4.30pm to pick Hefty up, and spent an HOUR queuing in gridlocked traffic in Leeds city centre. It was a nightmare! It usuall takes about half an hour for me to get to his office, pick him up and get home again, so this was ridiculous! When I eventually got him, we went to Costco for some goodies, then went home for Chinese, which was pretty damn good. We watched 'An evening with Kevin Smith' whilst we ate, then turned it off so we could watch 'The IT Crowd.' Last week's episode was hilarious, and this week's was rather funny too, so I've changed my mind about it.

Then, we went to bed and watched 'Babylon 5.' It was about halfway through the second series, where the Centauries start a war with the Narns for no good frikkin reason at all! G'Kar was so upset that it made me upset and I was crying my eyes out and calling Londo every name under the sun. I HATE him, and I felt bad for G'Kar cos Na'Toth was nowhere to be seen! So he was all alone and upset, I just wanted to hug him and help him destroy the evil Centauries, those mothereffing punks! >:0(

Sigh. Poor G'Kar :0(

Today, Hefty's getting his hair cut, so we're visiting the rents, getting his hair done then having lunch at Caffe Nero, as per the usual Hefty Hair Cut protocol.

Oh dear, I'm having a nosebleed, will catch you later people.

Bleed......

Flat-pack filth

I'm off today, hurrah! I've just done a spot of tidying, then I'm going to the Post Office for Hefty, then I'm going to do something I don't do very often.............go to IKEA! As a Habitat-aholic, IKEA aint somewhere I frequent much, but JT wants a catalogue, so I thought I'd pop in and get her one and have a good look round! It makes me feel kind of dirty......but also kind of good...!!

Reminds me of a story my friend told me actually. Her Mum was on one of those gay HR team building things that you get forced to go on, and they were in a room where some woman had put large pieces of paper down. She said, "Right, if you try and build flat-pack furniture without instructions, stand on sheet A. If you read the instructions first, stand on B. If you start building it and then realise you're probably going to need instructions, stand on C." So all these people stood on the various bits of paper, but my friend's Mum stayed sat down. "What's wrong?" said the woman, "Don't you understand the concept?"
"Oh it's not that," said my friend's Mum, "I just don't buy flat-pack furniture."

Genius. If I wasn't giving up work I'd devote all my spare time to dreaming up the kind of shit these nobbers HATE! Maybe I will anyway, and then market it. Though that might make me as bad as them. Ooh it's a quandry....

So anyway, I'm offski, will report back soon!

:0)

Woof

Oh my hat!! It's 29 days since my last post! That's bad isn't it?!!!

What can I say, once again, illness has prevailed. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of this ear thing, and as for my Endometriosis, I'm being put into a state of Menopause for 6 months!!! It's all madness, utter madness! So, because of all this rubbish, and because Hefty earns super bucks at his new place of work, we have decided that I'm going to give up work and try and get better. I can do the housework (which I rather enjoy) instead of us getting a cleaner, and I can do some bits and bobs for Hefty's company. So in October sometime (haven't confirmed a date yet) I'll be a free agent! Hooray! So I might actually have more time to blog, wouldn't that be a novelty?!!!

I'm also getting a dog, a Bichon Frise (it's hypoallergenic) which I am still trying to name........I don't get him til December, but I need a good name! I wanted to name him G'Kar after my favourite Babylon 5 character, but it's not terribly catchy. What you name your dog is pretty important I think, it says a lot about you! I also quite fancied Phillip, cos it sounds cool. Ooh I don't know, it's a tricky one!

So, I don't think I have a great deal more news.........ooh, but I did watch something called Numb3rs last night, which was really good, and might be my new tv show of choice! It's on Five US - rocking!

So yes.

iP (at last)

One big headache

I know my postings are getting more and more sporadic, and it's rubbish, but my health is just so crap at the mo. Last Wednesday, I had an appointment with a new Ear, Nose & Throat specialist, which I was so looking forward to, as I believed this would be the beginning of my journey back to health!!! WRONG. Quite frankly, it was the worst experience of my life :0(

As soon as we walked in, I didn't warm to the guy. He was very blunt, unfriendly, and aggressive. I basically had to describe all my symptoms, which I did, though he kept interrupting me to say I was telling him the wrong things. After a ten minute description, he then told me I was being too vague. So I tried again, and again, and then he told me he didn't want to know what I did about my problems just what they were. Then he did some tests and said I didn't make any sense. He asked about migraines, and I told him I'd had them when I was about 13, although that was due to some medication I was taking at the time and I hadn't had any since, but he kept harping on about how it was that, even though I don't get them!!! He ignored my ringing/buzzing and deafness in the ear thing, and was generally a twat. I was dreadfully upset when I got out and had to be taken into a room by some nurses, who luckily, were lovely, and not nobbers like him. They said I could complain, but I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

Brilliant.

So, Thursday morning, having had the worst night's sleep ever due to worrying I was never going to be rid of these issues, I got up to go to an MRI scan. The scan was cold and noisy, and I felt so crap when I got out, I had to go home again, where I spent the rest of the day in bed, sleeping, feeling depressed, and watching Battlestar Galactica.

Sigh.

On Friday, I went to my GP and asked to be referred to someone else (bit pro-active for me but hey). She was great, and explained what she thought he was getting at, but said a lot of consultants might know everything in the world, but their social skills are non-existant. She's going to read through all my notes, see what the results of the MRI are, see what this consultant has to say, then either treat me herself, or refer me to someone else.

Hooray!

So I should feel better, but the past week I've felt sick every day, slept horribly, been knackered as a consequence, had headaches (oh the irony, but NOT migraines), and not been able to concentrate. Work's been shit, and I seem to be drowning in stuff and have got behind in some things, so am getting pulled up on it. I feel like everything's a battle at the moment and I just want out. Am job hunting, in the hope that there might be something out there that's easier, and doesn't require me to work late, or through my lunch, or have to crunch numbers, but then I'm paranoid my sickness record due to all this stuff will mean nobody would take me on. It's just SHIT and I don't know what to do to change things.

Double sigh.

Am off this morning cos Hefty started his new job today and I dropped him off! He looked very smart, and I was so proud :0)
Thank heaven's for Hefty, god knows what state I'd be in without him.

Had a good moan to SuperSaz about all this last night, she's also feeling pretty shit, but we both feel like we're in a catch 22 situation. It's really quite naff. I want out.

In other news, we saw Die Hard 4.0 last week which was AWESOME!!!! Most impressed, most impressed indeed! As well as Transformers, which I was originally sceptical about, as I didn't want to see an important part of my childhood raped by Hollywood execs. Luckily, that was AWESOME too! It didn't really tie in with the cartoon, but the robots were cool, and I just really enjoyed it. I want to see it again!!! Hefty and I went out and bought the new toys on Monday. We got Optimus Prime and Megatron. They cost £40.00 each, which was a rip off, and it took us over an hour to work out how to transform the bastards, due to them being much more complicated than they used to be, and having shit, nonsensical instructions. Once we got there though, we felt proud, and had a good old battle. Not that good, OP (who I was fighting with) would win hands down, due to him having a gun that actually shoots this blue crystal missile thing, compared to Megatron's grapple hook arm thing (WTF?), but this is the way it should be, so perhaps it's a good thing that Megatron's best weapon would be better suited to burglary. We're buying the OP voice changer helmet next. I'm going to ring the Chinese takeaway and say "Hello, sweet and sour chicken with boiled rice please, roll out!" It could work. I might wear it for driving too, that'd be cool.

So that's me, ill, depressed, and exciteable due to expensive toy robots.

Triple sigh.

Fed up-ness

I'm having a rubbish day. Following on from the utterly rubbish day I had on Friday. I'm so fed up I can hardly do anything.

Work sucks.

:0(

Chuck Norris Action Jeans

Brilliant.

Days out and gacky eyes

Well, my migraine continued (or rather, re-started) on Tuesday, and I also had a horribly busy day at work. But, on Wednesday, as part of our annual dossfest, I got to go to the Great Yorkshire Show! After a lot of the torrential storms that have been frequenting the country of late, I was concerned it would be a water-logged washout of an event, but, it was sunny, sunny, sunny! And the ground was dry! A good start I felt. I went with a fellow comrade called Lise, and we were at the company stand for 8am (thanks to a nifty travel idea I came up with), tucking into fancy bacon sandwiches, and chin-wagging with the field team. We then hit the stalls at 9am, and they were nice and quiet, enabling me to purchase 12 packets of Seabrooks crisps in a big fancy Seabrooks bag for 2 punds, and a Jordan's cereal goody bag for 5 punds, which contained a box of cereal, 2 bags of muesli, and a couple of boxes of cereal bars! Bargain! Cos 1 bag of stuff (my fave is maple and pecan) normally costs £3.49, so to get all that was a steal! I also bought some Biltong (3 bags) for Hefty, as he loves it. It's a beef jerky type thing from Africa, and he fell in love with it after South African Caryn sent him some last year. We also managed to caj some free samples, and went to this fab ice cream parlour, where we had Toffaberry sundaes, which were cinder toffee ice cream things with rasperries, caramel, marshmallows and raspberry coulis. Yum! They were really good, almost phenomenal! We then went back to the company stand for lunch, which was also pretty good, and we chatted some more to the field team and some farmers. The ones from the ASDA advert turned up, and it was a surreal Hollywood style moment - for a lot of people it seemd - but not for me and Lise. We were forced to meet them, but we were trying to slope off and get some free bread from the Warburtons stand! We had another wander round, tried to win a giant stuffed cow but failed and cried, then nearly wet ourselves with laughter at this wooden carvings stand, cos there were some very clever carvings, but some of the wood had been left on and the animal ones looked like they had club foots! Or should that be feet?!! Anyway, they looked WRONG!
We left at about 3pm and didn't hit any traffic which was another Brucie bonus! A good day out all in all!

On Thursday, I can't remember what I did. At all. Worrying. Hmm.....

Oh well. On Friday, it was just me and JT in our department, but she was super busy all day so we hardly spoke. Luckily, SuperSaz was also in, so I spoke to her instead! It was a pretty shitty day though, a lot of stuff went wrong, and I started to think there might be something in this Friday the 13th malarkey after all. I also walked in to a coat stand, and really hurt my left-eye :0( It was bloody painful, and I even cried. By the time I'd left work and gone to pick Hefty up, I was just sat in the car crying cos I'd had such a bad day! Not something I do very often, but it really had been that bad! We went home, and SuperSaz came round and we had Chinese. She stayed over too, but we all went to bed quite early cos we were all knackered for some reason!

Today, we got up and went to the village gala, held at the fire station. It was pretty good, though I wanted Hefty to win me a giant stuffed dog (to make up for the cow), and as he'd stayed at home, we had to wait for him to get ready and walk down. He only had to have a shower and a sammich, but it took him an hour and a half!! By the time he arrived, a lot of the stalls had packed up! Also, we discovered he's not really good at EVERYTHING, cos to win a dog you had to throw balls at tins and knock em off, and he was rubbish. With 4 balls he missed twice and managed to knock over 1 can. Useless. Then he got pissed off because he's used to being good at everything. He wouldn't have another go either because he was in a mood, so we all went home.

When we got home, I had a really bad hayfever attack, and had to go to bed. When I woke up, my eyes were so gacky they were stuck together and I couldn't open them! We had to bathe them, and now they're still sticky, but also really sore. Not amusing!

Tomorrow, I'm meeting my sister and the Biz, at the shopping centre near us. Who knows what it will bring! Chaos I'm sure if the Biz has anything to do with it! Little punk! She rules! :0)

So there. Me and my sticky eyes are going to try and watch CSI:NY.

Atchoo. Pah! >:0(

Bag

This is for Tim's benefit. It's what I tried to email you, but you couldn't open.

Remember me? I used to blog here....

Bless me Blogfather, for I have sinned. It's 12 days since my last posting........

Do you know what I hate about being ill ALL the time? Not only can I not write on my own blog, I can't read anybody else's, and I have got one hell of a backlog to catch up with!

So I came home early this afternoon cos I had a migraine. A migraine? Whatever next. Not content with sickness, deafness, blindness and fatigue so bad you feel like you've got boulders hanging off your eyelids, I'm now having headaches that feel like my eyes are going to explode. Pah. It's really pissing me off now, I want my life back.

I was in hospital this morning seeing the specialist (an ear doctor, not Sly Stallone) and she showed me some exciting graphs that show what my ears do under certain circumstances. Most people's ears will have parallel lines on this graph. Mine looked like Lindsay Lohan's legs, i.e. so wide open they might never meet again. It looked quite cool, but I'd rather have NOTHING wrong with me, believe you me.
Before I went in for my appointment, I nipped to the loo, and noticed the woman in the cubicle next to me had her hands on the floor. They were moving, but I thought this was well weird, so I washed me hands and got the hell out of there. My appointment ran half an hour late, because some woman had collapsed in the toilet apparently. My heart beat a little faster as I heard this news, and then I saw the oldest woman in the world being wheeled out of an observation room and my heart nearly stopped! I recognised her hands! It was the woman in MY toilet! Ooh eck! I felt terrible then, but then I thought, meh, hospitals are full of psychos, if I had tried to help this woman, you can guarantee she wouldn't have been some frail old bird who'd collapsed, she'd have been a hardened druggy, on the floor cos she was shooting up and ready to stab the next person who tried to interfere with a hepatitus, HIV riddled needle. Course, if I had done something sooner, I'd have got in sooner, but I wasn't in a rush, I was only going back to work after all.

I still have the remnants of a headache, so I've woken up to have some food, but then I'm going back to bed, as I need the sleep, and a darker room than the one I'm currently in.

But before I go, I feel the need to slag off Live Earth. Everytime I turned it on, which was only about 4 times and only to exclaim, "Bloody hell, is this STILL on?!', they were rambling on about Al Gore's film. It was quite an event, and yes I'm sure I'm not the first person to point out how much energy/fuel/blah blah blah must have been wasted to run the thing and get everyone there, but it seems utterly bizarre to put on such an epic concert based on a film!!! Now, I'm not opposed to being green, saving energy, recycling, all that kind of thing, that's cool, it's the whole C02 thing that pisses me off, cos I've seen too much evidence that blows their theories out of the water. Not least because in Gore's film he uses graphs with no x and y axis!!! Uber dodgy Al, sort it out!! BUT, based on this, I've decide I'm going to put on a concert, based on the Rocky films. I'm going to put on a concert to raise money and awareness, to have the Rocky Balboa statue re-instated outside Philadelphia town hall (or is it a museum?). I feel he's earned it. I'm not sure who'll play, but they'll have to play the songs from all the Rocky soundtracks, particularly 'No Easy Way Out' from Rocky IV, that's my favourite (I even have it as my ringtone!). I'm not sure what to call it either.....hmm...will have a good think about it. But I'd much rather see a bronze Rocky re-appear, than stop breathing because I emit C02.

I watched Click and A Scanner Darkly at the weekend. Both good, especially the latter cos it was a wicked effect, the whole film/cartoon thing. Not sure what's on the menu this week, but we've seen loads now, and saved ourselves a fortune, so it's all good.

Well, ciao for now, I may make it back here sometime soon.

iP