...Did I fall asleep?...

...for a little while.

Soooooo...it's been a while, hasn't it?

It's strange - for the first few weeks, it was very odd that I wasn't writing every day. Now I don't know how I had the time to do it all! It's probably a good thing I stopped though, as I am very boring and am running very short on storage space for all the pictures I was taking! Am currently working on that though.

So. What's been happening since I last blogged in January? I honestly can't really remember!

This may be a looooooong post. Soz.

In January I had a mass clear out in my loft. I thought I had a LOT of stuff up there but it turns out it was just a right mess and whilst I was able to throw a lot away, the space is a darned sight better than it was!

 So. Much. Stuff.

It is always a good idea to sort through the stuff though. As you never know when you'll find those long lost wasp nests that you were keeping for a rainy day.

Yup, was real happy to find those. Luckily, Daddy Hartley helped me sort them out and they were empty. Phew! Now it's tidier, they will hopefully not come back...wishful thinking, I know!

What else have we done?

Well, it's not all been fun. Paul was off work with depression for a couple of months, which was horrible. One of the worst times in our lives, in fact. He's over it now, with the odd off day and was very lucky to work for a company who couldn't do enough to help and support him.  It has been a struggle but with the aid of CBT treatment and a Mindfulness course, his outlook on everything has changed and he has come out stronger and more awesome.

While he was bad, we didn't really do a lot, to be fair. We did go to Wales for a long weekend with the intention of climbing Mount Snowdon, however Paul did his back in the day before so we got the train 3/4s of the way up. Couldn't get to the top, sadly, as it was still snowy. Which means we'll have to go back again! It would have been the perfect day to climb, the weather was lovely but alas, it was not meant to be.

This is the train, by the way.

Shameless selfies!

This was the view from our room in the guest house. That is Snowdon (apparently) right there. How lovely is that?!

That was in March, I believe. We've not made it back yet. One day!

Hmmm, what else?!

Barney got a collar and tie and he lived up to his name sake from HIMYM!

Maia turned 9 and carried on being a mama's girl, of course

We ate a lot, drank a fair bit, went to the cinema a couple of times and planned some home decoration that we've been meaning to do for YEARS! Literally!

Our bedroom was the first room we decorated when we got the house back in 2008. We haven't touched it since. Except to peel off paper which I can't confirm was ever stuck to the wall properly! It was on when we moved in but had been bubbling and hanging off for as long as I can remember.

We chose our colours, got the equipment and got on with clearing the room of all the crap that generally seems to accumulate in a room that never changes!

So we had all good intentions. Strip the room of all the paper and clean down the walls then get a base coat on the plaster, then the next day we can start painting.

Yeah...slight set back on that one...

This was lurking behind the wallpaper!

Yep - I screamed. Out loud. It scared the wotsits out of me so can you blame me?!

Just so you get an idea of scale:

It's rather large. Just for comparison, Paul is 6'3".

We can't just paint over it though. I mean, that would be cruel to the future occupants of our house! So we made the decision that the wall needs a layer of wallpaper putting over it to save that moment of fear for someone else as well.

But that would need to wait for the next day. Until then, the wardrobe would have to go in front of the face so I could sleep in there!

Paul's Dad came over and helped us wallpaper. He made the decision that he'd wallpaper all the walls for us, which is fine. It did mean it would take a little longer to get everything done, but if it all looks good then it's worth the wait.

Wallpaper done - time for colour!

 Yep - a lovely shade of cream called 'Galadriel' graces the wall.

Very nice!

Then for a feature wall, we went for a brave choice called 'Sail the Seas'.

I was a little scared of the colour...but went with it...

And I really like it!

Then gloss which really made it work!

Next came carpet! We had horrible plain floorboards which were scratched and uneven before, and it was my new year resolution to get carpet before winter comes. I DID IT!

 Before...

 After!

Yes, we have new sockets as well! Isn't it purrrrrrrty! We got the best underlay that we could and it's so plush! Love it!

Then we had to furnish the room!

 Drawers, wardrobes, everything.

We did end up putting doors on it!

One of these days, I'll take the 'after' pictures of the room. We finished in June and I've not done that. Oops.

What else has happened...

We went on holiday and I only took pictures of french kitties (see my instagram account for those pics!).

Paul's friend John married his lady love Becky in July!

Photo courtesy of Becky's facebook page and is not mine. Thank you whomever took this photo!

My very good friend Chris and his wife had their first child, a little girl! She's totes adorbs and tiny and stuff!

Photo taken by me on Chris's camera and therefore even though it's my artistic skill, it's technically stolen from Chris's Facebook page. Hope that's shiny, pal?!

My friend Stevie married his lovely lady Danni at the end of September!

Photo taken by my friend Karina Fullwood and borrowed from her Facebook page.

And last weekend, my friend Lee tied the knot with the beautiful Bernadette!

Photo taken by Lee's friend Abby and taken from Lee's Facebook page.

 (I really need to take more/better photos at events. Mine were all shaky - hence the borrowing of other people's pictures)

What else...

...

Hmmm...


...


Oh yeah...


...


Paul and I started work on what could possibly be our greatest ever creation!

Yup. So this is happening! I'm not just eating all the pies! This picture was taken back in June.

This one in August at 13 weeks!

And this one today at 20 weeks!

Our little Puddin' is happy and healthy and waves it's foot at all of you blog readers who still have me on your feed!

We haven't really advertised my little situation. There are many reasons for it, some silly and some sentimental, but mostly because we wanted to make sure that everything is ok and healthy as far as they can tell and it is! Yay!

So, blog readers, you gorgeous lot, this is our little secret, k?! Because it's fun to know things that other people don't, dontcha think?!

I have been ridiculously ill with morning sickness and whilst I wasn't so bad I ended up in hospital, the nausea started around week 5 and got worse and worse and worse. Week 16 is when it started to ebb and I'm mostly ok now, despite a few days a week with me feeling (and sometimes actually being) sick. There are things I can't eat or drink because it reminds me of my morning sickness. I hope that goes away soon. I don't miss drinking alcohol one bit (that is the only positive I have from my morning sickness!) and am a big fan of Victorian Lemonade. The slightly sour cloudy stuff. MMMMM. No other cravings as such. As yet. Is that disappointing?

I have some ideas for blog posts for further down the line before the end of Feb when Puddin' is due, so hopefully I won't be so much of a stranger for the next 20 weeks.

20 weeks. Crikey.

Here's me, this morning, full of cold and caked in make up to hide the greyscale (eczema) which is slowly taking over my face.

Iccle bump! I still just look fat to myself when I look down so I'm trying to embrace the bump as it's only going to get bigger! EEK!

And to end the post with images far prettier, here are my fur babies, who have NO idea what's going to hit them in 20 weeks time!

Catch you on the flip side, folks!

Oh, and all name suggestions are more than welcome. We are stumped for a male name! The cooler and more literary the better! :)

You're all great.

26th November 2014 - Grumpychops

*Another one which didn't publish. Silly me!*

We got to have a teeny tiny lie in this morning which was lovely. I do love a Wednesday. But then time for work rolls around far too quickly.

It was even more difficult to leave for work, as when I walked out the door and turned to lock it, I noticed this on my front windowsill!

They never sit downstairs and look out the window (which is a bit of a blessing, as they've destroyed the blinds upstairs!) so to see both of them watching me leave made me want to come straight back inside and cuddle them both!

I did go to work and had a productive morning. Only morning though, as I was on a half day so got to come home at lunch time! Yay for using up the rest of holiday allowance! :)

The plumber only said he was coming Wednesday afternoon. No idea what time. So I was able to clear up the last few things and sit and chill. Except the plumber still hadn't arrived. I got bored. I didn't want to start watching something for him just to arrive and interrupt me. All I wanted to do was put on some comfy clothes and watch something that Paul had no desire in watching. Nope.

So I sorted through some work emails and got a few little bits and bobs done towards catching up on what I missed while I was off last week.

Paul came home at about 4pm saying that the plumber would be another hour or so. So I sat on the sofa with him, both working and waiting.

Still nothing.

5pm came and went.

5.30pm came and went.

6pm came and went.

As you can imagine, I was not a happy bunny. I still wanted to go put my cozy clothes on and go to bed as I wasn't feeling amazing. Still cannot. Grr. I started pacing the floor.

6.30pm came and went.

Paul started dinner as he was hungry.

I watched some old eps of Big Bang Theory to try to distract me. It wasn't working.

at 6 bleedin' 45 they turned up. 2 chaps came in and looked at the lav. They couldn't fix it, saying a part was missing.

Once of them looked at the sink and sorted the drip on that. So job 50% done.

He left it really filthy though. Don't want to remove the bucket just yet, just in case. Even though these chaps seem just stellar. Hmph.

They said they'd call us tomorrow and let us know if they could get the part for the cistern and if not, when we could expect them to be able to or what we can do next. I said I'd be in from about 5:15pm so someone would be here all evening.

When they left, we ate our slightly cold dinner, watched some more tv then headed to bed.

PREVIOUSLY...

2013

19/12/2013 - Busy little bee!

Didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Barney had a bad night again. Poor little lamb. He's been doing so well but last night it was Gollum a-go-go. He's still in good spirits, but I hate that I can't do anything. :(

I got to work and had a VERY productive day! Go me! My to do pile doesn't look that bad at all!

It was still a long day though. That's the problem when there are only two of you in the office! Plus there was loads of post, but it didn't arrive until pretty much 2pm! Not good that it's coming that late!

After work I wandered to the supermarket (it was a tad chilly!) to get a few bits and bobs that we needed. Ended up spending a small fortune as I remembered little gifts that we needed to get (for the cleaner etc). I also managed to speak to Paul while I was in there which was good.

Then I came home, had dinner (which was no more impressive with mashed potato and a day to infuse with flavour) and decided that the time had come to get my craft on again.

I have thank you cards to make for the wedding and by golly, I'm actually looking forward to doing them! Enough time has passed after the wedding now, so I think I'm ready to get the ol' glue gun out again!

I made a couple of prototypes to show Paul and if he approves (and is willing to help) then this weekend will be filled with last minute Christmas shopping and crafting!

I worked until about 9 and then felt too tired to do any more. I vegetated in front of the tv for a while before retiring to beddybyes!

12/10/2013 - Coz we're FAMILEEEEEEEEE!

The alarm didn't go off. Oops. We should have been up and raring to go at 7am. We both woke up at 7:22am. Ouch. That 20 minutes makes all the difference, guys! It meant no breakfast!

We packed up and headed off south down the M6, for we were going to visit my older sibling, and his pregnant wife to help paint the nursery!

Baby isn't due until February, however this was the only time we were really able to help! I love painting (even though it gives me ouchy ribs) so of course I volunteered!

We got down to my bro & sis's house by 10:30am, where we managed to persuade my bro to make us a brew and bacon sandwich before we got started! Very nice too, even though there was pretty much no brown sauce left. I had a slight spatter of it over my bacon. Fail, brother of mine. Fail.

Then we set to work. First up - clear the room and cover the carpet to protect from paint splash.

Bro working hard.

Spouse also working hard!

 So we're starting with a large white room. The house is only 1 year old max (less than 1% of the age of my house!) and so has been newly painted already. Therefore we are only painting the walls. No ceiling or skirting, thank goodness!

So then it's time to prep the paint!

You know that piece of wood that you keep to one side, knowing that it's perfect for stirring paint, and how that's a good sign you're getting old? Well. My bro has just the piece of wood. Only, it's a little larger than what most people would consider for paint stirring...

I think he enjoyed it though.

Yep - we're painting the room yellow. They haven't found out whether they're having a boy or a girl, so nice neutral yellow is the way forward! Not just because they had yellow paint...I think...

Anyway, the boys did the main body of the painting and I did the edging and cutting in. I find it quite theraputic!

We did the first coat and then went for lunch at the local pub. I was still pretty full from the bacon sarnie earlier but nibbled on some potato wings as I watched my siblings and spouse devour their dinner. Although the baby then decided that it wasn't hungry any more, so Annabel gave some to Paul who promptly polished that off as well!

We went back and while I was chatting to Annabel, Michael got back on with the painting. I went up to join him, and then Paul joined in, so we got it done. I carried on doing my corners but it was giving me a bit of a headache. So I did what I could and then bowed out to let the boys finish off.

Annabel and I went shopping for a few bits for dinner, and to get some air. Still not working. I took some pain killers and had a banana. Still didn't help. This isn't good.

My parents came over to join us for dinner but I still wasn't right. We had Spag Bol, cooked from scratch by my bro, and while people were enjoying a nice drink, I had water. Yep, that's right - no wine for whiney!

I had to leave to sit in the dark a little as their new house is very bright. It made me appreciate how dim our house is! I don't like bright lights!

I also made friends with my niece and nephew kitties!

This handsome chap is Boris.

 This pretty lady is Bellatrix!

She is teeny tiny. About the size of one of Barney's legs I reckon! She's so lovely though and daft as a brush!

After a bit of rest, we had pudding of New York Cheesecake, and then headed back into the lounge to give people the slide show of our wedding pictures.

I think there were some tears from the mother. Which is nice. I do like tears!

Mum and Dad eventually left to go home, and we stayed up and chatted some more. My headache had gone so I had a little tipple of wine.

Paul started on the bourbon, and I started getting tired, so us girls (and bump) went to bed and left the boys to it.

Ever felt like you're being watched?