Pandahs need maps or they get lost...

I am at a point in my life where I feel I haven't really done anything with it, so I must decide on something worthwhile to avoid reaching the same point in another 30 years. Oh yes, 30, I am approaching 30, and that is where all this has come from. It's not that I'm particularly bothered about being 30, but it's one of those 'landmark' ages where you feel the need to assess everything you've done.

My assessment? EPIC FAIL.

I'm going to have a good think and attempt to sort myself out.

It could happen.

I could do with a map.

Oh yeah, that Blog thing....

Well, I have realised what's going on here. I keep forgetting I have a blog. Actually forgetting, and then every now and then I think, 'Oh yeah, I should write something.'
Today, I had this same thought, and started pondering as to why I keep forgetting, or if I do remember, thinking I have nothing of interest to say. The conclusion I have come to is this: Facebook.

Facebook (and Twitter to some extent) has become my outlet for all thoughtage. The jaunty 'Status update' is now where I voice all my opinions, crazy-ass ideas, and general randomery. Once I've got all this stuff off my chest, it's gone, forgotten, dealt with. Whereas before I would be enraged or pleased about something and feel a compelling urge to get on the old blog and waffle on about it, now, I've already done it in brief summary format. Madness.

I feel like a bit of a twat for not realising this sooner, but hey, I've not had a great year so far, so it's unsurprising that the brain box isn't up to full speed. But what to do about it? I've become too reliant on FB now, and it's far too easy to provide an edited highlight of events to which I can elaborate on further as the comments roll in. I think what has essentially happened here, is that I have become lazy.

Clearly, I need to have a word with myself and sort this out, but in the meantime, my most recent news will have to be delivered in a selection of character-limited points. Sorry.

- This week I fell down the stairs and buggered my arm whilst acquiring a few well placed grazes and bruises.

- I got food poisoning from Nando's which was deeply unpleasant.

- Whilst having to use my other arm to compensate for the buggered one, I managed to revive a reccurring, deep-seated injury and have now buggered the other one (which is in a sling).

- We're going to Wales for the weekend on Friday for my cousin's wedding, which I'm rather excited about. Their invitations were Marmite jars with the relevant info on the labels and inside, so I'm expecting all kinds of wonderment.

That may be it......I shall have to confer with Facebook to check........eugh, I'm so ashamed.......

*attempts to get ass in gear*

iP

Banding about

Well, I can safely say that I was pretty much ill for the whole of last week. My gym quest isn't going so well, I managed Monday and Tuesday before experiencing a horrible 'pulled muscle' feeling in my stomach on Tuesday afternoon, whereby I had trouble walking!!!! I can't imagine how I did this, I go on the treadmill, cross-trainer, bike and stepper, no funny weights or lifting, it's utterly bizarre. Anyway, I'm going to keep at my 90 minute routine, but I'm going to be gentler I think, just in case. I have recovered from it now, but as tomorrow is a BH, Hefty and I are going to do something, so I'll make it up another time.

I did go to Ming and Francoise's on Wednesday night. I can never remember what we do when I go round, but there is always some kind of hilarity involved, and this week I seem to think it involved large nipples and Emos. Hmm. My memory really is rubbish these days, I don't understand. Long term stuff is fine, birthdays, anniversaries etc, all good, but ask me what I did the previous day and I'll look at you blankly.

I do remember that last night I went to my friend's (and the guitarist in my band) gig, which was mind-blowingly awesome! My bass player is also in the band, and it's a Prince tribute band called EndorphinMachine

I'm not really into Prince, I like some stuff but on the whole, it's not noisy enough for me, but I know how good my band-mates are, and Hefty has seen them before and sings their praises (not literally!), so I was looking forward to going! I was not disappointed!! I'm probably not the best person to write a review of a tribute band to an artist whose work I don't know a lot about and am not really in to, but I can honestly say, it was AMAZING! They're a 10 piece band, they even have a brass section, and it's just incredible to listen to. I've linked to their MySpace page but it doesn't do them justice, they're definitely a LIVE band. They played for 2 and half hours, and I thoroughly enjoyed it all! My drummer was there too, and we were stood around getting all sentimental saying 'Can you believe we're in a band with them' (at which point we would gesture towards the guitarist and bass player! It was frackin great! Hurrah for bands!! Trouble is, I really want to gig now, but we have nothing planned at the mo!!!

Right, am gonna sign off, I don't have much more news than this (that I can remember) and Hefty is snoring like a motherchuffer, which means it's time to go to sleep!!

Ciao for now!

Atchoo

Well, today was semi-productive, but only semi for one reason alone. I've got a bloody cold! I really am flipping from one illness to the next at the moment, it's beyond funny.

Because of this, I never made it to the gym, because I barely had the energy to get up the stairs with the shopping. Then I had to dash out again to meet my friend, then when I got home I had that thing where your eyes are all sore, tired, and overly wet, so I just tried to rest inbetween wiping my infernally runny nose. Boo.

I managed to make my cheescakes though, four mini ones for lunch tomorrow, one uber-one for dinner. Let's hope it's nice, we're going to be eating a lot of it tomorrow! I have also opted to make BBQ chicken pizzas, a garlic bread, and a ricotta and pancetta pasta bake, so by the time we get to my parents, we'll be full enough to make it through dinner. Does that make sense to anyone? Probably not, let me explain.....

It's not an interesting tale, but any member of my family will tell you that if you go to my folks' house, all that's ever in the cupboards is Weetabix, Vitamins (hundreds of em), and Aloe Vera juice. In the fridge, you will find skimmed milk, some form of sliced meat, and a cholesterol lowering buttery spread of some kind. Meals are meagre, and it's very rare you leave there feeling full. I might be surprised, I should give them the benefit of the doubt....

I should try and go to sleep, it's kinda late and I have to be up early to tidy and stuff. I do hate being ill, mainly cos that's all I seem to do at the moment!

Oh well. Nighty night night.

iP

*another great picture, who knew sneezing images on Google could be so entertaining?

Busy-ness

Yawn.

Am rather tired today, must be all this exercise. Managed to do another 90 mins yesterday, and will do so again this afternoon. Got to drop Hefty off at work and head to a real live supermarket for some supplies this morning, cos we've got someone coming round tomorrow. He's the guitarist in my band but we're both friends with him, in fact Hefty knew him first as they worked together. He's coming round so to watch wrestling! An afternoon of wrestlemania and smackdown or whatever, I'm not really familiar with the terminology, but he and Hefty like it so I'm going to do some cookin and turn it into an event. I also need to make a cheesecake cos we're going to my parent's house for dinner tomorrow evening and I offered to provide pudding. I'm making a fudge cheesecake (not chocolate fudge, just fudge) which should be nice (in theory).

I'm also meeting my friend for lunch, so I've got rather a lot to fit in! Sadly, it's chucking it down again today, I'm looking forward to this hot dry Summer we've been promised. We've had some nice days so far though, and I've managed to get a bit of a tan just on my face from having the roof down on my car!!! Bit of a random tan that one, like I've been hung upside down and dipped in something, cos it stops just below my shoulders!

Ooh had a mini-band practice last night actually, and have added 'Zero' by Smashing Pumpkins and 'Livin' on a Prayer' to our set list! Oh the hilarity, I'm angling for 'The Final Countdown' now...... :0)

Right, best get on!

Toodle oo!

*I have no idea who the people in the picture are, but I like the fact that one of them is doing a crazy-ass jump and the other has bitchin hair.

Gym Bunny

So I went to the gym today and did my first session. All in all I did:

5 mins warm-up on the bike
25 mins power-walking on treadmill
5 mins running on treadmill (hey I'm easing myself in!)
15 mins on crosstrainer
40 mins walking on treadmill

So, 90 minutes all in all, which I'm pretty happy with. The only thing I was disappointed with was that there are TVs in some of the machines but not the treadmills. I would have spent longer on there if there'd been a TV, not that I wasn't on there for a while, but watching Diagnosis Murder with no sound and subtitles wasn't as much fun. I managed to watch Doctors on the crosstrainer, but it's not my favourite machine (these ones are different to the one we have at home) and I couldn't do the DM time on it. Oh well! Got some good stuff on my iPod so I'll have to adapt. I'm not going to be there at that sort of a time most days anyway I reckon, as my plan is to go on my way back from dropping Hefty off at work, which would normally be about 11am. As long as I can get a couple of hours in every day I'll be happy enough. It was nice to get back into it and I really enjoyed it actually. I have to be gentle with the running as I have asthma that's triggered by exercise, so I can't currently do anything too intensive. I don't think you need to anyway per se, power-walking definitely gets you working, but I'd like to build up my asthma resistance so I can jog around the village when I'm at home. So 5 minutes sounds crap but for me is really good!

Still have to walk Ozzy but the weather is against us at present. Can't go til Hefty gets back from work anyway, he's doing some kind of computer-fandanglery, no idea what.

My parents have invited us for dinner on Saturday which is bizarre but nice. We were supposed to be going to an antiques place during the day but it's off so it's compensation!

Anyway, Hefty has called, best go, ciao!

Star Trek - Go and see it, NOW!

OHMYGOD! So, Star Trek is the BEST film EVER! I was captivated, mesmerised, thoroughly awesomed out the whole time! I want to see it again and again and again! Truly, it exceeded all my expectations, and I was expecting something pretty darn good! I can't discuss it much without giving it away, but I think one of my favourite things about it was that unlike some remakes, references to the original aren't thrown in in a clanging hit you in the face kind of way. They're there, but there's not millions of them, and they're done well, so well, that if you aren't a fan and you go see it, you're not going to feel you've missed something. But then if you are a fan, you go 'Ah, cool' and smile more!

All round bitchiness people, go see it!!!

*for some reason, you can't get a decent picture of the new peeps when you Google it, which is really weird frankly, but hey. So I just stuck with the original chaps!

Silk and Steel

Has anyone seen that advert for Robinson's Be Natural? With the bird? I love it! It makes me happy to think of lickle birds having all that stuff in their lickle homes!

I just made two key purchases from Amazon, 100 Hits of the 80s and Legends by 5 Star.





Bit random for 8am on a Monday morning you might think, but for some utterly bizarre reason, because I got up to accept my Ocado delivery, I stayed up (don't usually) and am sat watching 'The 80s at 8' on VH1. It was on when I turned the TV on and 5 Star were playing (Can't Wait Another Minute), and I remembered how much I LOVED 5 Star as a child! And as I sang along I realised the chances of me still having the tapes of their albums anywhere was slim to none, and I don't have a tape player anyway, so I went on Amazon.

I love Amazon, especially because I have Amazon Prime which means I get it the next day, however little I have purchased. They messed up with it last week which was annoying, but that's the first time it has happened to me so I'll forgive them on this occasion. Anyhoo, 5 Star, the 3CD boxed set was £4.98, bargain! And because I liked some of the other stuff playing on this show, I decided to invest in a good 80s comp whilst I was at it. 5 CDs, 100 hits (as the title suggests), £6.98. I'm happy with that!

Off to look at a gym today. We have an in-house gym (wow, I made that sound posh), but it caters more for Hefty's Arnie regime, and there's not a great deal of CV equipment. Plus, if I do venture in, Ozzy gets in the way due to his nosey nature and natural capacity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's a couple of gyms near me, but the nearest is a JJB Sports one (I had no idea they weren't just a shop!), and I had a butchers on the t'internet and it seemed pretty good. The best bit is, I can just pay monthly, it's not that expensive, and I don't have to sign an annual contract or anything. Plus, it's cheaper because I can choose Off-Peak hours - hurrah! So I'm going to go and have a proper look on my way back from dropping Hefty off, so I can see if it's any good. Hopefully it is, then I can go on the way back from dropping Hefty off every day, yay!

Right, best get ready, toodle oo!

Scurvy Dog

Goodness, I thought I'd last blogged on Thursday, goes to show how crap my sense of time/space is!

So, what have I been up to. Hmm. Well, not a lot! Hefty was away on Wednesday, he went to St Albans (muchos fun for him) to do his computer fandanglery gubbins, so it was just me and the Ozster. We mainly slept and watched Poirot from what I can recall. I'm not really very well at the moment, various things, so I've been trying to rest, and though I do do some stuff, I have trouble remembering cos my brain is a little out of order at the moment. I know I baked cupcakes, and that I saw SuperSaz, and that I spent today in bed cos I felt a bit low. No idea what I did yesterday, which is bizarre. My long term memory is really good, but recently I have had great trouble remembering things I did the previous day.

I really need to go back to the doctors and sort out my medication, but not only is it impossible to get in, once you do, they're not really very helpful! I remember when I went through a horrendous period of insomnia a few months ago, and when I went to the docs for help, he said he didn't believe in sleeping tablets, I needed to eat more fruit. THANKS! He was pretty crap generally, and told me off for not going back sooner to sort out some of my other meds, but what's the point?! They're shit! I need to go really, and when I do, and inevitably get bollocked for leaving it so long, I feel that this time I am just going to say:

- Getting an appointment (or trying) is usually more stressful than whatever problems I'm having
- When I do come, nobody seems to read my file and I have to list my history
- If I don't feel my medication is working, I get told to try it for 2 more weeks and come back - what's the point if it hasn't been working for 6 months? What's another 2 weeks going to do?
- I'm bipolar, STOP offering me counselling! I have nothing to discuss, I just need better drugs!!!

See, just writing all that has got me feeling very tense, and that's why I hate going. I always feel like they don't believe there's anything wrong with me which is why they don't want to help me. Grrr.

Anyhoo, I'll shut up about it, it's not very interesting to read and it's making me feel worse!!!

Hoping to go and see Star Trek this week, can't wait!! Not sure when we'll manage it but as long as we do it'll be all good!

In other news, my friend is having a Pirate BBQ Birthday Party in June, and because we can take Ozzy, I'm working on making him a wickedace 'Scurvy Dog' costume! Am struggling to buy a costume for him (if I lived in America it wouldn't be a problem) which is why I'll have to make one, but he's only little and it'll be a nice little project for m, something to keep me occupied. I'll post pictures when I have some!

Not much more to report today, mainly cos I can't remember anything! So I shall sign off!

Ciao for now!

iP

*Sigh

Eugh, BBQ NOT a success, it went out, Hefty was furious and is gonna buy a gas one, and we suspect the bit of food I did eat was partially raw cos I've been helluvva poorly sick :0(

Hefty and I both feel crap in point of fact, though he seems to have a fever of some kind (NOT swine flu before anyone suggests it!).

He has to go to St Albans tomorrow too, boo :0( Double boo actually, as the work he has to do starts at 6pm so he has to stay overnight :0( So me and Oswaldius will have to chill on our own. I might actually watch TV (shock horror), but I'm not holding my breath.

Weather is shite today, I generally feel ill and miserable, and most people I know do too. Roll on Summer I say, I need cheering up!

iP

Death of a Tomato

Well, had a bit of an event today. Went to Harvey Nichols yesterday and bought some Daylesford Organic Ketchup because we're having a barbecue today. This is what it looks like for anyone who doesn't know:



So, I opened it at lunchtime cos I was going to have a bit with some pasta - EPIC FAIL! As you can see, the lid is one of those poppy Grolsch cork things and despite being such a little bottle, the top popped out with such force, it pretty much exploded all over me! I was a bit shocked, but wiped myself down and got rid of the splatters on the floor. Then I noticed it had gone on the walls so I cleaned that too. Then, as something caught the corner of my eye, I spotted the mess on the ceiling! Good god! Dexter would have had a field day with this one, it literally looked like a murder scene. The more I cleaned (and Hefty cleaned too, we needed to act quickly so it wouldn't stain), the more I found! It was a ruddy nightmare! So we're thinking of suing HN for the inconvenience of it all. Why the hell not? They can afford it!

That's pretty much my news for today, we haven't done anything, I'm still in recovery and Hefty needs a rest.

West Ham won 1-0 yesterday, we're 7th, which is really good for us. Yay for the Hammers!

BBQ in process of being lit, ciao for now.

iP

Books and shoes

Well, despite saying I needed to get on with reading the two books I already have on the go, and so not having time to get through the Twilight books as well, I only went and bought another ruddy one today! I bought this:



It's a factual fictiony story (if that makes sense) based on a real murder that happened in 1860. And, according to the back cover, an 'unimaginably gruesome murder' at that. I'm about 10 pages in so can't tell you much about it other than:

a) I like it so far
b) It had a Richard & Judy Book Club sticker on the front when it came

R&J, that's good enough for me!

In other news, Ozzy is now on Twitter! The settings bit is playing up and so he can't get his picture up yet which is a bit rubbish. It keeps saying something about 'Twitter is stressed out about this at the moment so the function has been temporarily disabled.' Bizarre. Anyway, if you want to follow him he's @OzzleBozzle

I still haven't watched Dexter or written any of my book, instead I continued with the mad cleaning. There is nothing left to be cleaned in my house now, all three floors are spotless and tidy. This is good news, but Ozzy brought some bark in from the garden earlier and made a right mess chewing it in the lounge, at which point I told him off and got the dustpan and brush. Hope I'm not going to be one of those mental OCD types, like Monk!!!

I heard about these trainers called MBTs that are supposed to help your posture and rid you of your thunder thighs and such. They aint cheap and when I scouted around, they do look a bit Spice Girls meets Special Bus, so I avoided them. Now, Skechers have made their own version, and though they still look a bit orthopaedic, because they're Skechers, I'm thinking I could get away with it, cos they just look like big trainers. Not sure.....? Any thoughts?

Here are the MBTs:



And here are the Skechers:



The reviews I've found (there aren't loads) seem to be positive so I'm very tempted but I was thinking of getting this tiny Mulberry bag I saw so I'm not sure. Part of me thinks I really don't need another Mulberry bag, especially a small one (where will I put all my crap?!) but I do like it. Decisions decisions! Look at me, shoes & handbags, how very un-iPandah-ish! Must be all this cleaning, it's sent me snooker loopy!

:0)

Doing my bit

Well, I successfully did some washing, and cleaned the uber messy utility room. It's now spanky clean and beautiful. I also vacuumed the stairs, that was pretty tiring, three storey houses are all well and good until you have to clean them. In fact, that pretty much wore me out, and as I am now very schnuffly from all the dust, I have come to bed, to start watching Dexter.

I also made it to the Post Office to send off three parcels, so I'm feeling quite productive, though it was hard work, as I'm suffering very badly at the moment with my anxiety. Sometimes I get outside and freak out, and though I didn't do this today, when I was in the PO, some mega chav came in speaking really loudly (and chavily) on his phone, and it scared the bejesus out of me. Still, made it back in one piece (I can walk to it) so it's all good. Will walk Ozzy later on when Hefty gets home, for one thing the weather has been crappy, but also, at this time, there are a lot of school kids hanging about and that also makes me anxious!!!

I'm a nut-bar! Medically confirmed though so I shouldn't be surprised.

Just found this anyway, and thought it was worth posting:



What a marvellous excuse to keep shopping, I'll certainly try and do my bit :0)

Right, my eyes are so sore I can hardly see, so I'll sign off. MIght not make it through Dexter actually, if I can't see then I can't watch! I'll never get round to this......

Thursday Ramblings

Last night I went to Ming and Francoise's house for dinner and a film. The film in question was 'Twilight,' which I still haven't made my mind up about. We spent a lot of the film shouting 'Get on with it!' and looking confused at some of the mega randomness going on. I half wondered if I needed to watch it again to 'get it,' but I've now come to the conclusion that it's the concept that appeals to me, so really I should just buy the books.

I really need to watch series 2 of Dexter because 3 is currently showing and we've been Sky+ing it. Agh! That means I need to put a whole day aside and just sit and watch it! It's not that I don't have a whole day (or all the days) to do this, it's just one of the reasons I'm so crap at watching TV is that I have to be in the mood, and I'm very often not. I can pick up a book any time and just start reading, but watching something is a real chore. I know I'll enjoy it once I've got going, but I'm struggling with the 'getting going' part.



Yesterday, I was uber pro-active and successfully organised our study. This was a major task, as although we have the main components of a study (book cases, filing cabinets), we have thus far failed to do any kind of filing. Small piles of post turn into big piles of post, and with nowhere to put them (without effort being involved), they invariably get stuffed into a bag and re-stuffed in a cupboard. SO, I decided enough was enough, and I was gonna do me a cull! Seven (yes SEVEN) hours later, all our post was filed and nicely put away. All envelopes (because if we know it's a bank statement we don't bother opening it) in the recycling bin, along with the junk mail, and the shredding box is now full of stuff to shred (funnily enough)! I can keep on top of it now that I have drawers to put things in, so I really feel quite pleased with myself :0)

Today I might try and get some Dexter in, but I also wanted to have a good clean of the house. However, I'm also trying to write a book, and I really need to get on with it, as I have an outline, a title, characters, plot, but so far, one paragraph. I think I tried too hard to write it, as in, I was trying to write what would be the finished version, but I have now realised that really, I just need to write lots and lots and then I can go back and change stuff. Blimey, seems like I have a lot to do today.

The weather is pretty miserable here today, rainy and grey, most depressing. But, I guess it means I can do all of the above without thinking I'm missing out on the funshine.

I'm sat in bed as I write this, large mug of filter coffee, Ozzy at my side, it's all good, but I feel the need to mention a phenomenon that has become apparent. For some reason, Ozzy smells like digestives. Mainly his paws, but when he moves, a whiff drifts my way. I've noticed this throughout his lifespan, and have no idea why this should be. However, there's something rather comforting about it, so it's all good by me.



Right, it's nearly 9.30am, best get up, will need to take Hefty to work shortly, and then on with my 'To Do' list.

Toodle.

Top Tip

Sometimes, tips appear near the top of my Gmail account. They're mostly a load of tosh, but I saw this one today and thought it was a bloomin good idea! So I decided to share it!



Genius.

Slight return

Well hot diggity. The SHAME. I haven't blogged since January! There are no acts of apology big enough to redeem myself on this one, but I think it's pretty clear I lost my blogging mojo. I want to call it 'blo-jo', but that sounds far too much like something else so we'll stick to the original phrase.

I did a lot of thinking last night, and that's why I decided to get back on here and slap some words down. I went through a period of not writing because I believed I had nothing to say, certainly nothing interesting, and who would care anyway? Then I realised that that's not necessarily the purpose of a blog, and it's not why I started one all those years ago. It was a place for me to air my thoughts, adventures, general ramblings etc. and keep track of them for future reference, hopefully so I can look back through the archives and exclaim 'Oh yes! I had forgotten about that!" and other acknowledging statements. Obviously it's pretty darn cool if people do read it and comment, but I need to force myself to do it for my own sanity, for recently, that is something I have been lacking.

So, I'm going to ease myself back into it by talking about two recent acquisitions that have been very welcome additions to the Pandah Palace, DVD boxed sets of Poirot and Columbo.

I'm a big fan of boxed sets, I love the packaging (even if it's crap), I love the feeling that you've got em all there, and mainly I like them because I am utterly rubbish at watching TV. I might see something advertised and decide it's worth a watch, but then I forget, or I see the first part and miss the rest. RUBBISH! We recently got Sky again which has helped with this because I have set up series links for the two programmes I watch, CSI: New York, and The Mentalist (a new show that I FORCED myself to get into because I thought I'd like it, and I do!). However, most of the other things I like to watch and have missed, are now in my collection as boxed sets, which means I can watch em when I like, and it works a helluvva lot better than me trying to remember anything! My favourite boxed sets that I have watched in their entirety but still dip into because I love them so much are:

Murder She Wrote
Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection (the Jeremy Brett one)
The Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes Collection
Tru Calling
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
Pushing Daisies
The Tudors

Now, I had been looking at the Poirot BS for YEARS, but it was always mega expensive, and all the others I have were the result of clever internet shopping and continual price checking:

- Murder She Wrote was actually a gift from Hefty for Easter last year so we'll ignore this one!

- Sherlock Holmes should have been £149.99 and for some bizarre reason, HMV had it up one day for £39.99 so I pounced! It quickly went back up to £114.99 which leads me to wonder if it was an error, but what do I care, it cost me 40 squids!

- The Basil Rathbone SH Collection was a Christmas present from Hefty, but by all accounts, it had randomly been dramatically reduced, so it's all good!

- Tru Calling, possibly my most successful bargain. Was around thirty punds on all the main sites for ages, then one day Amazon had it on there for £6.97! £6.97???!!! Bat-shit insane I say, but once again, I pounced!

- I bought Randall & Hopkirk (the original, not the shitty Vic & Bob one) before I went into hospital last October. It wasn't that much of a bargain, about £30 again, but I pictured days of boredom whilst I recovered and cos it was my favourite show as a child, I couldn't resist. As it turned out, I was SO ill that I never watched any of in hospital, but when I eventually got out, I made up for it!

- Pushing Daisies was £11.98, which I think is pretty good, though I pre-ordered series two for about £18, but I love it so much I'm prepared to bare the increase!

- The Tudors was craftily marketed. To buy series one was £7.98, to buy series two was £13.98. To buy series one and two in the same set was £17.98. Clearly, not a huge saving, but a saving nonetheless, and more convenient because there's a lot less packaging to contend with and it's all in the same box. SOLD.

I'm currently contemplating the 'Maid Marian and her Merry Men' set, it's on Amazon for £28.98, the complete set, very tempting, but I'm scanning the other sites in case a Summer Sale pops up and it drops. It's not that I'm tight, far from it (as anyone who knows me and my shopping habits will testify), but sometimes you feel like you're being ripped off, and my random checks on other sites soon turned the art of DVD price comparing into a sport. And when you bag a bargain, it's very satisfying!

Anyhoo, I love Poirot, always have, but it never seemed to drop in price so I had begun to think it would never be part of my collection. Then, when Good Friday rolled around and the Pandah Palace Easter celebrations began, there amongst my other giftages was 'Poirot: The Complete Collection'. Good old Hefty! And what a boxed set it is! It's glossy and shiny, fabulously packaged, and even has the most recently televised episodes in! I have pretty much made my way through it all, but I've also watched a fair few episodes again, I really do love it that much!



Now, I don't mind Columbo, I used to hate it but have grown to appreciate it over recent years, but Hefty loves it. So, when it appeared on Amazon for £35.00 (the full set again) he felt it was too bargainous to miss! So, we have also been watching that and I have to say, I have rather enjoyed it! I still find Peter Falk kinda creepy, he looks like he needs a ruddy good wash, but there's no denying it, Columbo is a genius, and I have taken great pleasure in seeing the smug looks wiped off more than a few famous faces (including Shatner Tim!).



So there you have it, a lengthy discussion about DVD boxed sets. Citin ey?!!

I'm going to watch some more Tudors soon, Hefty is working from home today which is always nice. I'm not very well at the moment so spending a lot of time in bed sleeping and just chilling really. I'd like to get back in to reading, I have a couple of books on the go, 'Sovereign' by C.J Sansom, I loved the first two books he wrote, all part of the same series, and 'Dexter in the Dark' by Jeff Lindsay, again, I've read the others, this is the latest one. Got a headache at the moment though, so I need to get off here and be text free for a wee while!




Ciao for now people, nice seeing you again.

iP

Dolly Pandah

The sleeping tablets worked a treat the other night! However, I felt helluvva groggy the next day, and as my supply was limited, I haven't bothered since. Thus, I am still Tyler Durden for the time being.

So, tonight (this morning) I found a doll that looks like me on t'interweb. I am very pleased AND excited about this, because for once, she's not a sex doll, she's a classy lady :0) Check out my cute headscarf, I am a woman who picnics and has one of those new-fangled refrigerator thingys. Bitchin!

I would like a proper doll of me to have and hold. I guess I do look sorta dolly, so it'd be nice to see a lickle me in the flesh (plastic) so to speak. The Supergirl doll also looks like me, so I guess I could order one of those. Hmmm. See now I'm wondering if that makes me weird?



Well I'll have a good think about it and see!

I need to set up a businessy blog for my burgeoning career, and am going with Wordpress, but can't think of a name. I feel it should be Pandah related like erm, PandahMonium? But not sure. Hmm.

Looks like hmm is my new word for this evening (morning).

Hmmmmm - iP

Stats and weird things women do

Today, I noticed my blog productivity over the years, and spotted the rather obvious decline:

116 in 2006
98 in 2007
43 in 2008
2 in 2009 (including this)

Okay, not sure 2009 counts, we are only 8 days in, but I decided to keep my stats up to date nonetheless! Anyhoo, this is something I feel I should remedy, though I'm concerned that my life isn't interesting enough to do this. Solution? I need to make my life more interesting. Still not sure how to do this, but am thinking that my newish job might help. Have been dabbling in some marketing, copywriting, online stuff etc. and have amassed an array of invitations to random events. Next week, I'm off to a bar launch, so that might be worth writing about. Hmm, but that could be it. I need to think up some more stuff to do. This is harder than I thought. Hmm....

In other news, it came to my attention today that some girls wax their arms, something I find most odd. I have had it explained to me, and I am unlikely to get it because I myself am blonde, so I don't notice how hairy my arms are, but I can't help thinking how painful it must be. Not very interesting but there you go.

Good lord, it's probably better when I don't blog at all, what on earth am I on about? I clearly need to get back into the swing of things sooner rather than later so I develop some kind of flow. *shudders at ridiculousness of self

I have some sleeping tablets to take now which apparently work, so I'll report back tomorrow if they did or not. Fingers crossed.

Over and out.

P.S. Couldn't find a picture of an arm being waxed so er, well, I just went with the wax!

Hmmmm-ness

My god, I totally lost my blogging mojo. I didn't realise how long it was since I last wrote anything, and now I know, I wish I'd never looked!

The dregs of 2008 were pretty shitty to be honest, and I didn't feel like doing an awful lot in general, let alone getting on here to scribble it all down. I had a horrendous hospital experience where I thought I was going to die, and actually saw someone else pop their clogs instead, and then took aaaaaages to recover, mentally and physically.

I can honestly say, I could have happily skipped Christmas, as I didn't feel in the least bit festive (not like me), so much so, the decorations (which normally go up from 1st Dec and come down midnight on 6th Jan) didn't even get up til the 10th or something ridiculous. Despite the fact Waitrose started selling the good Egg Nog that I usually have to import from the US, thus meaning I could get as much as I wanted, when I wanted, instead of having to be organised and order enough for the whole month, it was all I could do to crack it open. In fact, there's still a tin of it left in the cupboard, and half a jugful that was decanted about a week ago (really should pour that away). The funeral I went to on Christmas Eve didn't do much to lift my spirits, and I'm ashamed to say, that despite my attempts, I was a total Scrooge this Christmas (though in a slightly less tight way).

I am unmotivated people, UTTERLY. I am currently going through one of my insomnia phases, something I also did a lot of last October and November. If I could use the time productively and be all creative and stuff, I'm sure it'd be pretty radical, but I just feel uninspired and unmotivated. I have now been up since 3am (my body's current favourite time to wake up), but only went to bed at 1am, so I anticipate another day of feeling and looking both rough and sick! Last night, I tried sleeping tablets, which, unbelievably, kept me WIDE AWAKE til 5am! Which is worse than usual! I at least get a couple of hours in before my brain wakes up, so this was ridiculous! Thought because of this, I'd sleep better tonight, but it clearly wasn't to be.

Meh.

God this sounds like such a moany depressing rant. Apologies. Still, if you can't write what you feel on your own blog then where can you do it. I'll try and be more positive, witty and generally amusing (I'm sure I used to be) from now on, though I guess the total lack of sleepage isn't helping any.

I can't even think of a picture to put up, which is most uncharacteristic. Hmmm, well, I'm currently reading Watchmen, so I may as well stick that up, as I think it's a pretty good cover.

Right.

*slaps self round face with slippers in an attempt to extract some positivity and optimism!

I'm going to see if I can find a DVD to put on that might make me sleeeeeeepy. All attempts have failed so far this week, but I keep searching for the one that can send me off into the Dreamzone. It could happen.

iP