At Home

I'm at home today as Bekky woke up not very well. She's had what seems to be a cold for a few days now, but this morning was a bit feverish and had a headache, and looked pretty bad, so I kept her off school! Was meant to be a bit of a busy day at work today as the Archdeacon is coming for his visitation this evening, but I rang Michael and I'll pop in this afternoon with her (be good for her to get a bit of fresh air) and I'll also pick up some work that i can do at home tomorrow if she's going to be off then too. Shame she is off today as it means we can't see the fireworks this evening - but at least we saw some with Anne when we were at hers at the weekend. We had a really nice weekend at hers and went bowling on Saturday afternoon which was a good laugh. I'd forgotten how hard it is, and that was with the sides up!!

At least I can spend the day catching up on TV with Boo, we're currently watching Are you Smarter than a 10 year old which she really likes! We'll need to watch the X Factor too, although Anne and I sneakily watched it when Matt and Bekky had gone to bed - outrageous really that Futureproof went home, especially considering that two of the guys in Danni's group are weak I think. Talking of things off the TV - I am quite pleased that the Spice Girls have reformed, but I do think they're new video is a bit risque for Children in Need! I do like the song tho! And i probably would've been quite up for going to see them! My sadness reigns on!!!

Update!

As you can see we have been to see the lovely Alfie - well, we have seen him several times now and he's lovely!!!! As you can see Bekky was thrilled!!

Haven't blogged for ages- but my brother assured me that he reads it and so does Carl (hello!) so I should update it at least!

Let me think whats new......

Bekky is settling into year 2 at school very well - seems to like her teacher and doesn't generally complain about going. She is also now going to computer club after school on a Wednesday which is something that I thought I would never see!

Bekky has been to her first Arsenal game - we went with Neil and some friends from Church. It was only a Barclays Championship game (i think) so it was a reserve team, but she really loved it. I think for her it was mainly about the atmosphere. Arsenal did win 2 - 0, but neither Bekky or I saw the goals properly as we are too short and they were both our end so people obviously stood up! It was a really late night - but was a joy to see her little face. She got a new hat too - so that went down well!

Matt has passed his theory driving test - so hopefully not too long before he can take the practical, and then we can scoot about in a car.

We have booked a holiday near Devon next May with Matt's parents and Jenny and the gang which will be lovely! It's a really big cottage and I'm already excited about it even tho it's ages away!!!

Work is going ok! Michael has been away this week, so it's been great to finally catch up on some long outstanding work!!

We are still thinking about moving, but have shifted it now to somewhere in Sussex - maybe Haywards Heath - as I would like to still be able to come in for work which I could do from there. I will work more days, but less hours, and I think still have a day off a week so I can catch up on things and also have the availability of seeing mum.

Matt's off to the beer festival in Norwich this weekend with Andrew, so Boo and I are seeing Katie in the morning as she is down for the weekend and then we are going to see Ratatouille (it's meant to be quite good) then we'll come back and eat tea and watch the x factor! It's good to have a daughter!!!

Hope thats kept you both going!!!

Welcome Alfie!

Hooray....Jenny has had her baby!!! Alfie James blackman was finally born on Sunday evening at 7.08pm after a very tense weekend waiting for news! I would publish a picture, but i have nicked them off Jenny's facebook page, so I should either ask her first, or wait until we have visited him Saturday and taken my own! I'm so excited about going to see him! Bekky is probably more excited (if that's possible) about visiting her new brother!? She's into this whole thing about Jenny being her mum, and she is Charlotte's twin, so that therefore makes alfie her new brother! Anyway, photos will follow shortly!!!

Bekky seems to have settled into Year 2 well...she seemed quite pleased to be going back and seeing her new friends. Her teacher seems nice, and it's all very grown up now as we have to wait in the playground for them at the end of the day! It was such a big year last year with her learning to read, and write properly, I wonder what delights this year will bring!

Rain, Rain...PLEASE go away!

I'm so fed up with this weather! I know we had two good weeks whilst we were away and thats more than some people have had...but honestly...enough is enough! It is meant to be brighter over the bank holiday weekend, but I'll believe that when i see it!

Not really been up to much here....Bekky and I went to see Shrek 3 today...it was really funny in points, but don't think it lived up to the first two...but then that often happens. We also went to the library...unfortunately both these things had to be done today, so we've got no plans for tomorrow apart from getting the battery changed in Bekky's watch! How exciting!!!!

Here's a picture that Matt took of the beautiful Bekky on holiday.....

We're Back

We're back from our lovely holiday to guernsey for this year! The weather was lovely (think we definately chose the right two weeks) and we really didn't do that much. I read four books....very nearly five:

Marley & Me - about a family and their dog....not really into dogs myself, but really enjoyed this book
A Spot of Bother - really good, and also made me laugh out loud
A place called here - this is by Cecelia Ahern, i normally like her books, but was not that impressed by this one
Me & Mr Darcy - good old chick lit for a holiday
Close - a Martina Cole book which is exactly like her others, but still enoying it

Boo once again had a wonderful time playing with her friends Honor and William, and she also stayed over at their house one night, and we had Honour stay over at ours which they both seemed to enjoy! We just did the normal things that we do when we go there, town, pool, beach and reading....oh and lots of eating out! Brilliant!

I did have a slight trauma on holiday when i went to check my bank balance and realised that i had no cash....when i clearly should have had some....rang the bank and it turns out that a new card had been sent out to me to replace the one that expires at the end of this month, and that had been delivered to the wrong house by courier, and they have clearly used it! Man, i can tell you that i'm not happy! Such a big faff when you are away to be sorting all that out...not to mention the amount of money i spent on phone calls back here to try and sort it out (i will be claiming that back i can tell you)....and then tommorrow on our first day back i have to go up to the bank at 9am to order a new card! It's just so horrible to think that people are using your stuff to get stuff for themselves! Anyway, i'm sure it will be sorted out soon.....GGGRRRRR!!!

Learning Patience

It's the summer holidays and already I'm having to learn to be patient! We went out today to meet our friends for lunch and then we all headed to the National Art Gallery which was good as the weather was a bit rubbish (for a change)....Bekky quite likes it in there for about 2 minutes.....just gives us enough time to find her favourite painting and for her to look at it and then she wants to be off! Anyway, i was a bit concerned that I didn't know where it was, but eventually we found it. Quite an interesting choice for a child I think....Matt used to have it on his computer as a screen saver and I also have a postcard of it at work, so I guess she was bound to be fairly interested in it! Sadly Bekky had no concept of keeping quiet in the gallery, i even resorted to calling her Rebekah a number of times, and they haven't helped themselves by having tempting shiny benches in each room which her and her friend promptly slided all over!

This time next week we will be in Guernsey....feels like it's been a long year without a holiday, not sure what the weather will be like, but I'm not too fussed about that!

Bring on the holiday!!

Year One.....Done!

Boo finished Year One today! We went in with presents for her lovely teacher today...boo had bought her a mug and a little candle holder and she'd also bought the helper a candle holder. Clearly her teacher was a little tearful this morning as she was opening them, and some of the children had written some lovely things in her cards. I was thinking this morning that year one must be a great age to teach....if I think about all the progress Boo has made this year it's pretty amazing. The main thing has been her reading, she's come on in leaps and bounds and a lot of that is due to her teachers hard work and encouraging her self esteem. Her teacher had also made them all a little card with a picture of her and the class on it and in Boo's she'd written inside "Thank you Bekky for all your hardwork this year and for being an all round lovely girl. I hope you have a fun and safe summer with your lovely mum and dad. Hope year 2 goes well and come and visit me soon." Honestly, when Boo read it to me, I could no longer hold my tears back....such a nice thing for her to say. I'll miss seeing her in the mornings and having little chats! Boo has a male teacher come September which I think she'll really enjoy.

Anyway, feels like an end to a chapter in her little life so far!

Too Tired

I'm so tired this week! I think it's a mixture of it being near the end of term, work being really stressful and waiting for our holiday to arrive.

Work's been really difficult this past couple of weeks...we had a sad situation where a young guy who was due to get married at the church passed away, so we have been busy sorting things out for the funeral which was last friday.....it's all been incredibly sad and is definately the hardest part of my job. I did get to ring the church bell tho....that was exciting!

Boo had her school report through on friday and found out that her new teacher is going to be Mr Lankford. She seems ok about this...she really wanted Miss Finney, but she spent some of the morning in her new class and said he had said they will go on lots of school trips...not sure he meant as many as she seems to think he meant! Her school report was brilliant....her teacher said she had been amazed by how her reading had come along...and she also said she was grateful for the support she had recieved from home which i was really touched by. It's going to be a sad day on Thursday when we say farewell to Ms Saunders....she's been such a good teacher , and just what Bekky needed! (Clearly I'm tired....my eyes are welling up as i wrote that!)

Boo has been so tiring this week, and that obviously hasn't helped! She's been shouting like a trooper about everything...and throwing fits left right and centre! Roll on August when we go off to Guernsey for two weeks!!

Star Spotting

Today I went into the west end after taking Boo to school. On the bus on the way there I saw Rowan Atkinson getting into a cab....thought that was pretty exciting....but then I went into New Look and Trinny and Susannah were filming in there! This was the best picture I could get without blatantly asking them to pose! They were in there with about 50 elderly ladies (which seemed an odd choice of shop) and Trinny especially seemed to be getting a bit cross. She's so tall and uber skinny....and Susannah was much taller than I thought she would be and also much slimmer! I'll have to look out for the show on tv....if you see it i'll be the one in the jeans and blue hoody aimlessley wandering around trying not to stare!!!

Bad Bad Mother!!!

Can you believe today that I sent Bekky to school without her lunch! In fairness she didn't remember it either...but still! I didn't even realise until I went to pick her up from the childminders where we had the following conversation:

Me: where's your luchbag?
Boo: I haven't got it
Me: You mean you left it at school?
Boo: No, I didn't have it at school
Me: where is it then?
Boo: must be at home
Me: Oh no....what did you do for lunch?
Boo: I had to have school dinners, and i didn't like anything so i had an apple
Me: you only had an apple all day?
Boo: yes
Me: oh i'm really sorry boo
Boo: thats ok

then later on walking down the street she came out with

Boo: I was really crying at school about not having my lunch!

She knows how to put the knife in!

The good point to it is that it's one less thing to do tomorrow morning as it's already made!!!

Library

Yesterday Boo and I joined the library. I joined her up as she wants to read more "chapter" books as she calls them, and then she realised you can get out DVD's, so that meant I needed to join too. So today after school we decided to go, and it was great! Boo came out with about 6 six books, and then I said i'd quite like a look for myself, so she settled herself down on a chair and read one of her books, i was ready to go, and she wasn't, so i managed to find the book i'm reading at home at the mo, and settled down with that for awhile! It was so civilised, and as i'm a great reader I love it that she seems to enjoy it too!

Not much else has been happening here...the waether's starting to get me down! It's apparantly going to be like this all summer....great! Just what we want! Wimbledon's behind by quite a few days which probably now means the final's will be during the week, and i'll miss them as i'm working....honestly....the rain has a lot to answer for!!! Plus Boo and I haven't been able to wear our new Birkenstocks!!!

MOAN, MOAN,MOAN!!!

Grown Up??????

Been contemplating whether I should be a bit more grown up now that I'm 34! In some respects I guess I am grown up to some people, I've been married nearly 11 years, I have a 6 year old daughter, we have a house, I have a respectable job etc etc! But still I love things that I'm not sure I should still love at this age....I love watching programmes such as Dawson's Creek, and One Tree Hill, I admit to really enjoying watching High School Musical with Bekky, and would possibly even watch it when she's not here! I love screaming at Take That with Jenny, or Will Young or S Club (Jen you know what you did!) or whoever we're into seeing at the time! I love getting over excited about my birthday and what presents i might get, I love going dancing, and then wandering home late at night giggling with my friends....

Is there an age when i should grow out of these things?....will I always love watching Dawson's Creek and things like that.....i hope i will!

I'm 34!

Today's my birthday! I'm the grand old age of 34!

Had a lovely day yesterday with mum....i met her in Norwich and we spent the day shopping, which is always a good thing! Plans for today are to meet Been and Mark for lunch, and then after school we are going to Bethany's house, who is Bekky's friend from school! Hoping Matt may cook dinner tonight! Tomorrow I'm going out for drinks in the evening, so that will be lovely!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today Boo will be......

learning to ride her bike! She did it!!! She's had her bike since last August with one stabaliser on it...Matt noticed on the way home today that she was not really leaning on it that much, so once i got home and she had shown me i decided it needed to come off! she was a bit shaky and nervous to start with, and after a few small falls she was off! Bless her, it was really exciting! I did video it on my phone which i have now transferred to the computer, but i can't work out how to get that on my blog! So here's a photo of her the day we got her bike! It's been an exciting weekend for the little Boo! :)

Today Boo will be trying......

Ham and Cheese and Onion crisps! The result was that she liked them both! Feeling that real progress is being made!

Weather is grim today here...so expect the day will be spent indoors!

The four new boys went into the BB house...can't remember names yet but they are:

a model - seems like he may be slightly annoying...bad hair, and came in wearing a headband!
A millioniare - from Islington, so bound to be nice! a slightly older man, but seems ok!
A tree surgeon - Bit of a LAD! the twins seemed to be fairly keen on him!
A guy who i can't remember what he does - he seemed like he might be quite sweet, charley reckoned that she already knew him, which i guess is possible!

Anyway, we'll wait and see how they settle in! Shabnam was evicted which to be honest in just a blessed relief in my opinion!!!

Boo's just asked for some proper cheese.....I can't keep up!!!!!

End of the week

Well, it's the end of my week off...and whilst I have gained a bit of colour, and seen friends for coffee, and generally had a good week, it has made me realise that I really like working! My brain feels like it has slightly turned to mush, and I'm quite looking forward to getting back into it all on Monday.....I may not feel like that Monday morning when I wake up, but we'll wait and see!

Matt's been in Madrid for a couple of days on business this week, and I took Boo out for dinner which was great and we had a really good laugh! Talking about Boo, she's been really good about trying new things to eat. They have had a Healthy Week at school, and yesterday they made "Honey and Oat Energy Bars". I could see all the ingredients on the table when we got to school yesterday, Boo made me laugh by saying 'are we making Jaffa Cake bars'...clearly they were not as it's 'Healthy Week', so when she got home she said they had made them for the Health Fair today and they had been able to try some in the afternoon, and she liked them!!! I would never have thought she would. They had the health fair today and she bought some more to eat! She also said that she tried cucumber today and she liked that! I'm thinking that maybe because we have had a little run of trying things and liking them, she is more up for trying things...if that makes any sense at all!

Been out this afternoon with Alison to the House of Lords for a fundraising and awareness event for Alkaptonuriawhich the boys of a couple of my friends have got. It was a really good afternoon and was interesting to hear about how it affects people and what research they are doing to try and find a cure or at least medication to ease peoples pain. It was great having it there, a real experience, it was really posh, and we had cream tea and strawberries!

Well BB is on....get Shabnam out!!! Charley needs to go, but she's not up for eviction, so that will have to wait! There are also four...yes FOUR...new boys going in! Bring it on I say.....been getting a bit fed up just watching the girls going on at each other! Will report on what they are like soon!

Week Off!

Yes this week i have the week off work! How exciting! Not really got that much planned but that's a good thing! Weather's been lovely today again...hoping it lasts this week too.

Think thats all i have to say!!

Oh i do like to be beside the seaside......

Today Boo, Bee and I took a jaunt into Brighton. Matt was writing his talk today so even though he's happy to have us here I thought it best that we went out! Didn't think the day was going to be that great as when Boo came through at 7.45 this morning it was raining! Decided to go with it though, and by the time we got there it was lovely! First stop was a little sit down on the beachthen we moved on to have some chips sitting on the beach and then it was quick turn on the carousel which I love. We then moved down to the pier so that Boo could go on a few rides! First up was the teacups (like waltzers) which I had to go on with her! All started pretty well and then the man seemed to spin us around unecessarily fast until boo looked exactly how i feltNext stop was a ride in a Barbie Car, a bit like a gentle rollercoasterWe then headed back to the beach for another sit down before we got the train back! The sun clearly came out to stay as my arms and neck are feeling particularly hot to touch! Will all be worth it when they are brown!

Tonight has seen the Joseph final....wanted Lewis to win, but sadly he came third and Lee was victorious! Boo will be a bit disappointed when i tell her, but to be honest i think the right bloke won and he's clearly going to be amazing in it! We will be off to see that as soon as it opens in the west end then mum wants to go for her birthday in November! It was also the Grease final this evening which i haven't seen yet, but did see the result on the news! just great!!! Lesley has apparantly left the BB house after 10 days! Not surprised really....didn't think she would last very long....all a bit too young for her i think! Wonder how the new boys are getting on...Ziggy didn't look all that chuffed to see new boys in there....don't think he has anything to worry about tho!

Well after all the excitement of today i must rest........

Books

Realised that I hadn't blogged what books I had read recently so thought I should add them now whilst I wait for the Joseph Semi Final result. After reading The Girls i read the latest paperback in the Ladies Detective series. This one hadn't had such good reviews as the others, but to be honest I'm still finding them as good as they we're at the beginning! I think it's best to read them in order as you really get to know the characters. I like them as they are quite easy reading too. Last night I finished reading the latest Jodi Picoult book. This was one of the best one of hers that I had read I thought....it's a bit odd as the guy who tells the story is a comic illustrator, so at the end of each chapter is a little bit more of the comic book. Again, it hadn't had particularly good reviews, but I enjoyed it and read it in 3 days! It was one of those where I had to read a couple of pages whenever I had a few mins! Anyway I had better send it off to Jenny, my sister in law, otherwise I'll never hear the end of it....eh Jen?xx

Half Term

It's been a really nice half term with boo! On Wednesday Matt bought us tickets to go and see the Lion King at the theatre...it was truly amazing! We had fairly good seats right at the top on the front row, and both thought it was brilliant...boo got really into it, and the way i could tell that was that she didn't ask for food during the whole show! She loves going to the theatre which is great as i do too! If you haven't seen it, you really must go! The weather was quite nice yesterday so we took Boo's bike to the park, and one of her school friends was in there so they were able to ride around together whilst i read my book...she's getting really good on her bike with one staberliser...and announced when we got home about 5 hours later that she thinks she's ready to have it taken off...i'm excited about her being able to ride her bike properly....think she'll love it!

Big Brother has started....brilliant! Thats me sorted for the next 13 weeks and 2 days! For those of you who haven't watched it yet..there are 11 girls and then 1 guy went in this evening....Ziggy!!! To be honest they all seem pretty nice at the mo...well apart from one girl who i'm not all that keen on...but sure it'll all change when they start fighting over Ziggy. Anyway, this is going to be the year that i don't religiously follow it....it started Wednesday and I missed last night, but watched tonights. Doing quite well don't you think?!!

Wales

Got back yesterday from a lovely weekend in Wales camping with friends from Church. Yes, it was wet...but guess what....we didn't camp! For those of you who don't know me...i really hate camping! Yes, that opinion is based on the one time i went camping with some friends when i was about 17, but still....i have decided i don't like it! The main reasons for this are:
1. It's cold
2. Trekking across a field to get to a toilet is not my idea of fun
3. Everything gets damp when it rains
4. The toilet reason is important enough to appear twice!
So, anyway we hired a little self catering apartment not far from the campsite, and that was fine! We had heating, a bath and shower, and comfy beds! i didn't even have to put socks, wellies, a jumper, trousers on when i needed a wee in the night! The weather wasn't as nice as it could of been, but i think if you go away on a bank holiday weekend you're kind of asking for trouble! We did manage to get a bit of beach action on saturday, and then went back to the campsite where the boys played cricket for a bit, boo and i had a good time joining in. Sunday was a wash out, and we went to a little town called Mumbles (sorry, i didn't hear you properly!) for a while. This consisted of time in an arcade followed by lunch in a cafe, then coffee in another cafe, and then off to the pub! Monday, was packing up, then a few of us braved the beach and some of us sat round in a cafe drinking coffee and playing cards! Guess which group i was in? Overall it was a lovely weekend, and good to spend time with my friends!

now it's back to normal at work...although clearly i'm not doing much work now!!!

The Boys

Here's the latest offering from the boys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrYxhLyy9cE
how lovely they are! Only 7 months to go!!!

Little Girls

This is the book that i have just finished reading. It's taken me awhile to read it...but i think that was probably because i've not ben feeling that well, so haven't concentrated much! anyway, i chose it because it was a 'Richard and Judy' read and i generally like them. I did really enjoy this book and even had a little tear at the end. It's a bout Rose and Ruby who are twins joined at the head just by their ear. It's so lovely how much they care about each other and don't seem to get annoyed that they can't do anything on their own! I would recommend it as it's a nice read!

Onto other things now...had a really nice day watching cricket at Lords with Matt. It was the first day of England v West Indies. We had really good seats right at the front and considering the weather we've been having we managed to get quite a bit of cricket in. And we were also on the highlights programme this evening....brilliant! Matt might be able to get tickets for saturday too so that will hopefully be something to look forward to!

Yucky!

That's how i feel...sore throat has now turned into a cold! Why are cold's so annoying....you can't do anything without stopping every second or so it feels to blow your nose! To top it off i've got to go to work tommorrow....going to feel well up for that i can tell! Bekky is coming down with it now as well.

We had a bit of a to do with her at school today. I found out last week that she has been chucking her lunch in the bin in her eagerness to get out into the playground before the big kids come out to play. Anyway, we had a bit of a chat about it in class today with her teacher, and Boo got really upset and started crying and didn't want me to leave! Anyway, at about 1.00 the school rang to say she wasn't well and could I go to get her, so off i went, but when i got there it turns out that they had tried to get her to eat a bit more of her lunch and she had got herself in a bit of a state. I was a bit torn because she clearly has a cough and might feel a bit rough, but she was also reacting to the "lunch" episode! So i chatted to Mandy who works at the school and boo loves and i made the difficult decision of leaving her at the school for the afternoon. I felt that if i took her home and the fuss was about not wanting to eat her lunch then she will think she can do it again! Her teacher said she was fine this afternoon so i think i maybe did the right thing! Well, i hope so anyway!

Day of rest

I had the day off work today as holiday so my planned day was to drop Bekky off at school, go to the Angel and have coffee and potter about, then come back and watch everything i have taped off the tv till i had to pick up Bekky at 5pm. Sadly only the first two happened as at midday my childminder Tracy phoned to say that she thought her mum had had some kind of stroke and had gone to hospital....so i obviously dropped everything and ran round there whilst she sorted out getting all the other kids back to their parents etc before she could go the hospital. Anyway, just spoken to Tracy now and they reckon her mum had some kind of fit, but tests showed that she has had a stroke at some point but they are not sure when, so they will need to do more tests to find out. I was so worried and upset, i love Tracy and her family, feels like we have always been mates, and weird to think that we only met four years ago when i took Bekky to round to meet her new childminder! anyway, i'm going to take her son to school tommorrow and then i'll pop back in to see how they are all doing.

Let's hope tommorrow is less adventerous! (Is that how you spell that word?)

Rough Bank Holiday

I'm feeling poorly! Got a really bad sore throat and have been feeling a bit feverish too! Fotunately i'm off work tommorrow so don't need to worry too much if i don't feel better, although obviously i will have to get up to take Bekky to school etc! We had a nice weekend away visiting our friends in Leicester and their three kids.....i love going to see them so much and miss living near them...why they can't move back to London i don't know! Was meant to be going to the Church football tournament today but obviously didn't feel up to it...hope it was good day for them all despite the rain! Haven't been blogging too much recently...been caught up in the Facebook world...it's brilliant and fairly addictive! Always good to get new friends on there and to find out what you other friends are doing!

Oh the good news is that the kitchen is finished...i will post some pictures soon! We're really pleased with it! Good job too!

Well that's all the energy i have now for this evening...what a weakling!

Very Strange

Well, i'm not sure whats going on with my blog, but when i check it at work, the heading and the first post are not there...but they are there when i check at home....very strange! Anyway, probably not worth harping on about!

I did however want to blog and say how excited i was that Caridee won America's Next Top Model, I really liked her! Canada's Next Top Model starts on 8th May so I'll obviously have to give that a bit of a go as well!

Should report also that boo has been much better too! Obviously having alittle funny turn about something or other.

where's my heading gone??????

Another one done!

Just finished this! I'm reading like a trooper at the moment! Guess this isn't the most taxing of books I've read but I really like this series of his...and it is a real page turner! Hmmm what shall i start next???

Revolutionary Road

This is the book I've just finished. Really god but pretty depressing. It's currently being made into a film too with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio...their first film together after Titanic. Personally i think she will be brilliant in the role of April Wheeler,but I'm not too sure about Leonardo playing Frank, he's bit too young looking i think, but I'm no film director so we'll have to see! Anyway, I really enjoyed it and Richard Yates has got a really easy style of writing! Think I'll definately be reading some of his others.

Boo on the other hand has been much better since Friday...we've had a lovely day with her today and she was great yesterday too. Swings and roundabouts i guess!

Anyway, must go as we need to watch 'Any dream will do!'

Is it nearly the end of the week?

I will be SO glad when this week is done! Work's been ok, but there was an issue to deal with on Monday and Michael is away so that wasn't a great start to the week! And then Little Miss Boo has in all honesty ben a bit of a nightmare! We've had so much shouting, and being nasty that it's starting to grind me down slightly! I will admit that i am quick to shout at her (it's part of my personality!?!) but honestly the slightest thing that she disagrees with makes her fly into an outpouring of various comments, mostly including "i'm not your friend anymore"! Anyway today we went out after school as she needed some summer school sandals, and we had a great time out, she got some summer clothes too, had to justify whether that was 'treating' her, but i don't think it is as it is hot here and she is still wearing tracksuit trousers from the winter, we then came back and she had some dinner etc and all was fine! We then decided to clear out her old clothes, most of which go to my friend's little girl... she kept asking if she could keep things for Jordon aka Winnie-the-pooh, and in the end i said she could choose three things, she clearly wanted five, and all hell broke loose in the Wall household where she slammed doors and screamed! I somehow remained calm and said if she was to make a fuss she would have none of them and put her in the hallway to think about it. Eventually we came to a decision, and strangely she chose only two things...not quite sure how that worked! But i just hoped we could have one day where she didn't throw some kind of fit about something...so we'll have to try again tommorrow!

Then to top my day off....did a load of washing today....just looked outside and next door are having a BBQ, everything now smells slightly of sausages!!!!

Slide show

I know i've added it to my sidebar too, so it's a bit overpowering on the old photos but thought it would be good once the posts go out of date to still have it on there and i can update it!

Check out my Slide Show!

Still Here!

I'm still here...just haven't blogged for a few days! Not really had that much to write about and not sure that i have anything thing to write about now, but we'll give it a go. Easter holidays we're ok, think boo was quite bored so we ended up getting a bit annoyed with each other...is that only going to get worse as she gets older? Yet today we sat watching The Simpsons on the tv and she wanted me to cuddle her! You have to take these opportunities with her when they arise! Kitchen's coming along nicely...the tilers have been and done their bit, and Neil comes to paint it on Monday...must go and get a colour chart tommorrow to decide what we want. The flooring guys are coming tomorrow to measure the kitchen floor and then we can get that laid in a couple of weeks! It's going to look so good!

Boo went back to school today and seemed to have a good day. She got put in the "good as gold" book, and i think thats the third time so she should get a little letter home telling us. She read me Hansel and Gretal when she got home...i'm still amazed that she can sit and read a book and understand what she's reading! I really hope she is going to enjoy reading..she seems to for now! She is currently meant to be going to sleep but is up and down the stairs like a yo yo....taking her awhile to adjust to the fact that she is now back at school and needs to be getting a slightly earlier night!

Well...seem to have wittered on for a bit now and should go as here she comes down the stairs AGAIN............

Anybody Out There

I've decided to start blogging about the books i've read, so the plan is to blog the book everytime I finish one! For those who don't know me i like to read a lot! I always write down what books i have read on a postcard (something i got from Matt's parents) and thought it would be nice to do it on here too. My perfect holiday would be getting through about 10 books in a fortnight. Clearly that doesn't happen now that we have Boo but I seem to do fairly well. I'm not going to really go into what the books were about...just of i liked them etc etc! Anyway this evening I just finished reading the book you can see. Just my cup of tea....I have read all of Marian Keyes books and it was back to her usual standard. It followed Anna Walsh and for those who haven't read any of her books, they are a family who have appeared in a couple of her previous books! It made me cry and laugh out loud so all in all pretty successful!

Changing the subject, had a very nice day out on Hampstead Heath today...never realised it was so easy to get to from here!

Bed for me now...back to work tommorrow...and got to start reading my next book!

The Holidays

The Easter holidays have been good here! My mum came to stay for a few days which was lovely and she was very well and not too hard work which always makes it nice! Then Andrew joined us on the Saturday and we went over to Greeenwich for the day. Sunday was church and we had a nice Easter Day service, then mum and Andrew left. Then on Monday we went to Regents Park with Matt's parents and their friend Debbie. Lots of fresh air and the weather has been really nice! Gotta try working on my tan already!

The kitchen has now been plastered and the tiler should be coming Monday, then Neil can start painting it...it's going to look so good when it's finished! I'm really enjoying it already!

Anyway, one more day left before i have to return to work! Going to Hampstead Heath tommorrow with Katie and the boys, and Peachey and her boys! Really looking forward to it!

She's so brave!!

My beautiful niece Charlotte was an absolute star last night when she performed with her ballet group at Sadlers Wells. They did two dances and she was excellent in both! The title of this post refers to Bekky saying earlier in the day that Charlotte must be so brave to be on stage dancing! And she's right...she is! She looked so sweet and I felt really proud of her! I love her to bits and was nearly crying whilst she was on! Bless her little cotton socks!!!

The Next Stage!

The plasterer came today to do the bit between the worktop and the cupboards on the wall, makes it look much better! So the next step is the tiler coming on Monday 16th! Be good to have a bit of a break from getting up early to let the workmen in!

My mum is coming to stay on Thursday which should be good, and then Andrew comes Saturday so we will go out for the day. Thinking of the National Maritime Museum, looks like it might be pretty good!

Right, thats me done for now! Completely shattered and it's only 7.30pm!

Day Three!

HOORAH! The fitters are done! They finished about 5.30 this afternoon...so next we have to wait for the plasterer to come, then the tiler, then next week matt is going to get new flooring, and then after that our mate Neil is going to decorate it! I'm so pleased with it already! It already looks so much bigger than it did before and i'm going to enjoy it! The plan is to keep it clutter free!

Right...off to watch Desperate Housewives!

Day Two!

Well as you see it seems to be coming along pretty well! Matt cleverly figured out about the different colour of the cupboards, and thats because the lighter cupboards are the ones that you are not going to be able to see the sides of..and the ones that you can see the sides of have a slightly darker side.....that make any sense to you? Anyway as you can see the cupboards are now looking fine and the guys reckon they will be done on there bit by Thursday! We will then need to get the plasterer in to tidy up the bit which is going to be tiles and then the tiler will be coming in! Matt's going to try and get some flooring next week!

Slightly less stressful today so thats a relief!!

Bekky had her school review today...bless her she's coming a long a treat! When we went last time her teacher said she wasn't that confident about reading....but this time she said she had really improved on her reading...you can tell she loves it by the way she brings home about 7 books to read before bedtime! I was really proud!

I also had my work review which went well today! Michael didn't seem to have anything negative to say about me at all! Brilliant!

Just got back from the cinema where i went with some girlie friends to see Becoming Jane. It was truly beautiful!!! Just my cup of tea!!!

Day One!

The above pictures are what the kitchen looked like this morning before the workmen arrived! The microwave and new cupboard arrived this mornong and then the workmen at about 9.00. I left for work at 9.30...then got a phone call about 11 to say that they had burst a water pipe! For crying out loud!!!! They tried to make out that it was our fault the pipes are old...but i reckon things like that should be picked up in the survey...so the plumber i had called spoke to the workmen and then called me back to tell us to ring Kitchens direct and get them to pay for it! So matt called them, and they have agreed to pay for it and we just need to hear from them as to how that will work! Hopefully that won't take too long as it is temporarily repaired and could go at anytime!

So i arrived home from work and the kitchen now looks like this......




As you can see one of the cupboards looks like its a slightly different colour so will have to talk to them about that tommorrow. Hopefully they will arrive before we leave for Bekky's parent/teacher conference!

We're Ready

Looks like we're finally ready for the kitchen fitters tommorrow! They are due between 8 & 9, so once they are in i can go off to work and just let them get on with it. The living room doesn't look too bad considering and i've stocked up on food that can be microwaved! We've got a little box in the lounge which has all we should need for the week! Anyway will be great to finally have it started!

Can't think of anything else to write about....too tired!!!xx

New Hair

Not normally keen on posting photos of myself but wanted to show off my new haircut...i'm so pleased with it! It took Tracy forever due to the fact that my hair was long and black when i got there this morning! Anyway i'm so chuffed i had it done and was definately the right cut to choose....well i think so anyway.

Kitchen drama has moved on slightly.....nobody had called me by lunchtime today so i phoned them again and spoke to 'surveys' who were meant to be calling me, and they said i needed to speak to 'customer care' who then put me on a voicemail and i had to leave a message...anyway they do seem to listen to their messages and she called me back to say she had spoken to the technical department and that they are still coming monday to start and someone from the technical department will ring me! Anyway he did (they must b going for a record today) and he said the microwave and new cupboard has been ordered and will either come saturday morning or sometime monday.....so it's all looking ok now! Just got the last bit of sorting to do and then we'll be ready!!!

Slightly less AARRGGHHH...but it's sill there!

Well the update is that they didn't get back to me, i had to call them again at 3 and leave a message and then again at 5...and the result is that the surveyor is going to ring me tommorrow to see what th best way forward is! I'm not taking any mucking about.......!!!!!

Thats my second rant of the day over!

Just picked up Boo from school and she's a bit hyper sensitive today....burst into tears twice in M & S...but seems to have calmed down now that we are back home!

I need beer and chocolate!!!

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Question: How hard can it be to deliver one of these with the kitchen order?
Answer: Extremely

The new kitchen was delivered this morning and is now spread over various rooms in the house. Thats fine and doesn't bother me.....what has bothered me is that after getting the survey redone to include the above item...they have still delivered the first order! So i am assuming that includes the old cupboards which will be replaced by the above item! I'm so cross (ask Bee and Mark and Matt) that i could barely speak to them about it. Anyway, i have and they were meant to be ringing me back about half an hour ago. I'll give them till about 2.30 and then i'm going to be back on the phone! They don't want to be messing me about today....i'm not in the mood now! They'll have to deliver the microwave next week whilst they are making a start on the rest of the kitchen!

Managed to do a really good clean out of the kitchen cupboards last night and now we only have to sort out the drinks cupboard and the food cupboard! Shouldn't be that hard and i was pleased with the progress that i made!

Can't speak about it anymore now!

Sun, Rain, Hail, Snow, Sleet, Wind

That's what it seems to have done today! If it wasn't one it was the other!

Good day at work today...managed to get lots of bits done that had been sitting in my tray for a week or so...but felt like they had been there for months! Got my review next week...GULP!

Weekend was nice....Matt's parents came round for lunch which was lovely...boo wasn't really that well..got a cold and a runny nose! I got some lovely stuff from l'Occitane(?) for Mother's Day, really nice bubble bath and a lip gloss and rub on perfume in a little tin...all lovely and now hidden away from Bekky, she sees them and i might as well kiss them goodbye! I also got a flower from church, Matt had to give it to me in the end as she had some kind of hissy fit about giving it to me! Bless her!!!!

Having a little wobble about my haircut...worried about:
a - it being too short for me
b - it suiting me
c - being too high maintenance

sure that's all normal when you are going for something different.....

Not much planned for this evening...Matt's out so i could do a bit of clearing up in the kitchen...but no, it's a monday night and it America's Next Top Model night....i know it's the recap night...but you never know i may have missed something in the previous episodes which was important. Plus i have the end of Shipwrecked to watch...oh and ER...hmmm....lots of tv!

Progress!

Progress has been made on cleaning out the kitchen....the bookshelves which were in there are now upstairs in Boo's room and the table is now in the lounge. We're going to be living in chaos but it's going to be worth it. They are delivering the new kitchen on Wednesday so we need to make room for that!

Been a big rugby day today with the end of the Six Nations....France won overall which i was quite pleased about...but it was very close! Sadly England didn't have a great game against Wales!

Good news is that Kyran won 'Dancing on Ice'...I was very pleased about that and next week is Champions of Champions....Matt looked thrilled!!

As you can see i have now got the hang of putting the links in...what fun I can now have!

New Hair!

This is how i'm going to get my hair cut! Hope it's going to look ok! And not be too high maintenance either! Apparantly Honey in Eastenders has just had hers done so i need to watch that Sunday to see what I think, but i'm going to go for it anyway...be nice to have a change and to have my highlights back in!

Manic day at work today....been doing the magazine for the AGM meeting!

Not loads planned for the weekend...3 rugby games tommorrow so don't imagine that we will venture far and then Matt's parents are coming for lunch on Sunday and Matt is cooking so i'll look forward to that.

Matt's just come in from work with a jar of Marmite with Guiness which he got given from Gill at work.....expect he'll love that! In aid of St Patricks Day!

Painful!

I'm back...and yes it was painful! To be honest he did do me a favour...he's been bugging me for ages about going to the hygienist and i keep putting off as it's almost more painful than the actual dentist.....anyway i got into the chair....he'd already told me i looked like i was going to be sick! He injected my gum TWICE which i thought was a bit odd as he's not done that before when repairing my tooth and he repaired the tooth and then proceeded to do the hygienists job! Man, i was really crying!!! anyway all done now and £90 (!) lighter!!!

Done now tho and they look much better!!!!

Waiting.......

I'm just waiting for the surveyor to come and look at the kitchen again to build in the microwave. Then after that i'll have to wait for my dreaded dentist appointment! Shouldn't be in there long tho and hopefully he won't get too cross with me!

Seem to have sorted the links thing out.....i downloaded firefox and if i access my blog through there all the little buttons are on the top of the page....we still can't seem to copy and paste the links in but that's not the end of the world!

Well the surveyor has just been and microwave is now in place!

Off to the dentist now!!! AAARRGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Links

Does anyone out there know how to put a link into your post?

Clearly my take that one below didn't work!!!!

HELPPPPPPP

Good or not?

Wonder what this will be like?

Guess it will either be a brilliant chance for a sing along...or it'll be slightly on the naff side! I will of course have to go and see it!

The Delayed Kitchen

Well, i finally managed to speak to someone at Kitchen's Direct after spending another lunch hour calling them! They then called me back to say it was all going ahead as normal....then they called again to say that the surveyor needs to come back out and redo the bit where the microwave is going. so it's now going to be delivered next week and then they will fit it the week after.....gives us a bit more time to clear out the ktichen which is good...it's getting there slowly!

Got an appointment at the dentist tommrrow at 11.30.....already worried about it....but guess it will be fine and i won't be in there long!

Getting my hair cut next week! this is what i'm thinking of going for.......a graduated bob....i'll look for a pic later and post it!

Right better go and hang out the washing!!!

The beginning of the week

Well it's Monday agin and the start of another week! Not been a bad day for a monday...we are working on the magazine at work so that will keep me busy this week. It's my mate Bee's birthday tommorrow so we are off to the pub tommorrow evening! Kitchen is meant to be arriving on Thursday but i realised to day that the microwave was not in the plans and when i checked them it hadn't been put in the original order...so we're currently waiting for them to ring back and let us know what we can do! Guess the options are going to be getting the surveyor in to do it all again, or hopefully get the money back for that bit and go for it as it is! Anyway, hopefully they will get back to me tommorrow sometime!

And to end the day nicely my tooth broke! And its at the front!!! Charming!

Fingers Crossed

Well hopefully we have cracked the internet problem on the computer. I rang Applecare during my lunch break yesterday and spoke to 'Brian' who was very helpful considering i don't really know that much about computers and i kept uttering the words 'sorry, where is that on the laptop'.....but eventually he worked out i needed to download a programme (couldn't tell you what it was called) so he kindly emailed it to me and i cleverly put it on Matt's memory stick, transferred it on here and TA DAH!!! i've been online ever since! It flicked off a couple of times yesterday evening but came straight back on so i can cope with that! Anyway, big thanks to Brian! Not that i think he'll be reading this!

Not done much today which has been nice....tommorrow i am off to Norwich to meet up with Mum for the day and wander round the shops. She needs to get Boo a birthday present and we need to look for Andrew's birthday present too if we have the time! Hopefully all the trains will be running as last time i went for the day i was delayed for an hour which was just typical.....but not really what you want when you are only there for a few hours anyway!

Kitchen

We're getting a new kitchen! Kitchens Direct came last night and we're going ahead with it! It's going to look so lovely!!!!! Anyway, they rang just now to say they would like to start fitting it on March 19th...thats pretty soon! No doubt it's going to be complete chaos and pretty stressfull all round...but it is so going to be worth it.

Still not having much luck with the MAC! For some reason it seems to be fine during the day but loses the internet connection in the evening which is when i'm at home wanting to do stuff on it! Pretty annoying! Anyway i'm going to ring Applecare a bit later and see what they say if not you can take it to the shop where they have a desk where they can look at it! It's so annoying to get something new and exciting and not be able to use it properly!

Kew Gardens

Had a lovely day out yeserday at Kew Gardens with Matt's parents...weather was lovely except for a little dowpour, but we were having lunch so didn't affect us at all. It's a really nice place to go to for the day and really easy to get to from our house! Boo seemed to enjoy herself to and did quite a bit of skipping along the paths.

The internet connection went down last night which caused the MAC to put up a funny little message when i turned it on...was very frustrating and Andrew tried to help me sort it out to no avail...then this morning it was still the same, so spoke to Mark and he just suggested turning it all off and start again...and bingo...here i am!

Poor Boo has got a cough and a cold.....the cough has given her a bad headache as well...but we both had a sleep this afternoon and her headache seems to have gone! I always quite like the idea of a sunday afternoon sleep...but i think i actually feel worse afterwards and now we have to hope that Bekky goes to sleep tonight too!

Well i had better get the tea done before Shipwrecked is on later!

Fun!

As you can see Matt has been having fun with the "PhotoBooth" option on the MAC.

This evening i've been playing games on here with andrew which was pretty cool .....even he didn't know you could do that!

Anyway i should call it a night!

p.s I am still excited!!!!

HHHOOORRRAAAYYY!!!!!!!

We're going again!!!! Courtesy of causing Jenny a lot of stress she managed to get some tickets this morning! They were pretty pricey but who cares!!! We're going!
Just heard on the radio they sold 370,000 tickets in three hours!

Am i going to be this excited till December? YES!
Should i maybe get a grip as i'm 33 years old? MAYBE!
Am I bovverred? NOOOOOO!!!!!

The Mac has arrived

We have the MAC! I like it! Andrew was incredibly helpful in letting me know what i needed to do......got my MSN sorted and also my IPOD is back in use.....with Take That on it....so that's brilliant! Think its going to be quite cool having this!

Not done that much the past couple of days...was really sick yesterday so that was prety unpleasant....fortunately Bekky was a complete angel after school and more or less just let my lay on the sofa! Feeling much better today. Tuesday evening we went to Rob's Licensing as a Chaplain at St George's which was nice......Matt, Jenny and Charlotte were there and also Diana, so was lovely to see them all!

Not got any plans for the weekend which is nice...so not sure what we'll do!

Check out my photos!

Big thanks to Mark who directed me to the right place to create the mosaic you see to the left of the screen (hopefully!) Brilliant!!!

Boo and I are getting a new laptop this week (a MAC eek!) so once i've located the lead to hook up the camera to the computer you'll be seeing a lot more photos! Probably all of boo...but thats not a bad thing!

The show must go on!

The boo's birthday turned out a lot better than i thought it would at 1.00am on Tuesday morning! We were able to have her little party with pancakes (lovingly cooked by Alison) and birthday cake (also provided by Rob and alison). Her Auntie Nessy came with Luke and Benny which she loved! She got the Sylfamily Canal boat which is fantastic...it's sleeps about 6 of the little animals and she seems thrilled with it! She also got some money so i feel a little trip to the Sylfamily shop looming! A photo of the boo will appear when i can find the lead for the camera and work out how to do it!

I've just come back fron a lovely time at Jenny's. Boo is still there and they are returning her tommorrow after work! Boo had a slight wobbler last night about being left there today but she seemed to have got over that this morning and to be honest charlotte and her played in Charlotte's room nearly all day...only coming out to get a drink and food! I realised last night as i was trying to get Boo to sleep in a single bed with me, that she really grinds her teeth! I've never noticed it before! She was meant to be sleeping on the mattress with Charlotte but wanted to be in the bed....so i topped and tailed with her, but man, she doesn't half move about...must be about every 20 seconds or something! By 2.00am i had had enough and also slept on the mattress with Charlotte! It was fine actually and the cuddle i had with her this morning more than made up for it!

Matt and i are making the most of this evening and going to go and see Hot Fuzz! I can't but help think the title sounds well dodgy...even tho i know it isn't! iIm going to eat lots of popcorn too! Brilliant!

Six and sick!

The booster is 6 today! Sadly the booster is also ill after being up three times in the night being sick! Not the best way to start your birthday! But to give her lots of credit she's still being fairly chirpy about it all...she's slightly worried she may not be able to participate in her birthday cake.

She seemed thrillied with her ever growing collection of Sylfamily (sylvanian family for those who don't know the way boo says it). Willow Hall seemed to be a great success when I left. I suppose the good thing about her being off ill is that she gets to spend the day playing with them. Matt has taken the day off work to be with her as i need to hold the fort at work!

Speaking of work....Id better get on with the accounts!!!

All Change!

Thought i'd have a bit of a change around on my blog - plus got a bit fed up with the pink! Think it's looking a bit more stylish now!

Would like to get some kind of photo montage on here....but not sure how to do that.....think you can do it with "Flicker" but not sure how to do that either! Oh well...took me long enough to work out how to change my blog about so sure i'll crack it in the end!

Time Flies

Just realised I haven't blogged since January and if someone is reading this then i at least owe them something new to read!

Things have been ticking along nicely since January.......we've done various things.....had a lovely weekend when Matt and Gemma and the gang came to stay....had my friend Diana come to stay which was lovely and great to catch up with her! Last Saturday Matt and I went to Twickenham to watch England v Italy.....not a particularly great game.....but i still enjoyed it. We were in a corporate box with some people from Matt's work and Stephen and Jo came with us too. Really nice food and whatever drinks you wanted, so can't be bad! I never thought hearing the national anthem at the start of a game could be quite so moving (not that it takes much to make me shed a tear!)

Bekky had a lovely time staying with Rob and Alison in their new flat in Tooting. She was a bit concerned as it was her first night there, but we all knew it would be nothing to worry about really! Bekky is on half term next week, and it also happens to be her 6th birthday on the Tuesday, nicely coinciding with Pancake Day. She's not having a party this year (as she's lost her birthday party buddy Callum) so she's going to Tracy's for the day as I have to work and then we'll have some pancakes at home and Rob and Alison and Nessy, Luke and Benny are all going to come over. Got to do another visit to the Sylfamily (as she calls it) shop this week whilst she's still at school. Bekky and I are then spending a couple of days at Matt and Jenny's house which will be lovely!

The high heels mission is going fairly well! I can walk in them and my feet don't ache too much! I think i may have missed years of lovely shoes! Should of persevered sooner!!!

Happy New Year

What an original title!

Well, Christmas and New Year are all done for another year. They were both nice....had Mum and Andrew staying for Christmas and we spent time at Rob and Alisons...good to spend it with family! Presents were great....got a Nintendo DS Lite from Matt, plus some Next vouchers (from Boo too) and some high heeled boots. i know i never wear high heels, but this is going to be my year! They are really lovely! Got some great pyjamas and got Take That album too...really pleased with everything!

Things are almost back to normal now...i'm back at work today and Boo goes back to school on thursday. Matt sadly went back to work last week.

Well considering its an exciting time of the year, thats all i have to write about!