31st December 2014 - NYE

It's the last day of 2014! Crikey! Where did that year go?! Feels like only yesterday we were celebrating the arrival of little Ted, or my birthday in York, or our holiday or wedding anniversary! Cripes, how time flies!

What better way to spend the last day of the year than at work! Just like pretty much every other day this year!

Once again, there were a few issues with the car when Paul went to drop me off...

Trying to capture the gorgeous feathery shapes in the ice. Can't really see it as well as I could in real life. They sure were pretty!

I got to work earlier than I had the rest of the week and still was bored. I have loads of work, don't get me wrong, but without the constant unpredictability of the phone ringing, loads of post to deal with or people to talk to, it gets very monotonous very quickly!

Today's calendar. Such a gorgeous little thing. I think the office should get a kitten! I would keep me entertained on days like this. Granted, my productivity would take a severe dive, but I'd be very loyal!

The closest I'll get to an office kitten is the local wildlife!

This is my friend the squirrel! He comes to visit fairly frequently! If I ever write a children's story, he will be one of the stars as he has a few other little friends who keep him company and the characters write themselves. I'm not going to say who they are though, so no-one can steal my story!

Once again, I was in work until about 1:30pm when BigBoss T let me go home. Paul picked me up and we headed home. I felt the need to be decidedly lazy for the rest of the afternoon. Why not spend the last day of the year the same as the rest of it?! :)

Barney agreed.

As part of our laziness, we decided to order some pizza, which is also a tribute to an early date we had on this day 7 years ago. Dominos finest whilst supping fizz? Don't mind if I do!

Check out all that unhealthy and fatty goodness! Mmmm!

We ate most of it, saving some for later when we might need it.

We decided to go out for a couple of drinks at a local pub for a while. If it took us to midnight, great, but if not, at least we got out of the house!

We got there at about 8:30pm or so and it wasn't as busy as we thought it would be.

A nice glass of red in front of an open fire was enjoyed. Perfect.

We stayed for a couple of hours but it wasn't the most excitable of crowds and we were a bit bored. So we headed home where we were able to have a few more drinks and see in the new year with a bit of Jools Holland!

At midnight the neighbours went wild and cheered in the New Year by going crazy and making a LOT of noise. There were also a few fireworks which was nice.

I think I managed to make it to about 1am before falling asleep.

2014 - you were interesting! Lots of wonderful things happened but some sad ones too.

I wonder what 2015 has to offer!

PREVIOUSLY...

2013 and 2013

29th December 2014 - Nothing new!

The alarm went off at 6:30am and I snoozed til ten past. Because it's Monday and I have to work today!

I wasn't best pleased but I had offered to, so T could have a decent break so I couldn't grumble too much. I knew it would be quiet so wouldn't be too bad.

Except, for some reason, I started running late, so when Paul offered to give me a lift to the office, we were greeted with a frozen up car.

So we had to defrost the car. Didn't take too long, thank goodness!

BigBoss T was in and was really perplexed as to why we were open. We had 2 calls all day and neither of them were important. Madness. So he let me go at 3pm!

Still, we were open and I proceeded as ever with my day.

I noticed that I hadn't played with my daily calendar yet, and was amused by the Boxing Day offering!

No idea why it's sideways. They have also never seen Barney running around and jumping. Graceful is not the word I would use!

I asked Paul to come and get me and then headed home to do a few chores and relax a little. It needed to be done after a day of boredom at the office.

Can't really remember what we did for the rest of the evening to be honest. Can't have been the most enthralling of pass times!

PREVIOUSLY...

2013

21st November 2014 - Shivers!

I started the Friday with a couple of grumps. Firstly, Paul had to work. Secondly, Felix let me DOWN.

We feed our fussy cats Felix 'As Good As It Looks' cat food. It's not the best, I know, but Maia is soooo fussy that it's pretty much all she would eat for a while!

Not much longer. Todays' offering was beef and carrots. Allegedly.

See - labelled as beef and carrots. So you get the idea of what you think you're going to get when you open the packet.

Um. I'm not convinced that there is much in the way of beef...or even carrot in there.

Maybe it's all fallen to the bottom half of the packet?

Nope. No beef in there either! I even mushed it up to try to find some. Nope. Just jelly. Cue unimpressed Cagga.

Anyway, I didn't feed them any of the packet. I threw it all away and gave them one of the expensive ones we know is pretty much only meat! Screw you, Felix!

After I had calmed down a little, I needed to make the most of my day, so I got the ironing board out and got all the ironing done. Will a little Hobbit commentary in the background for entertainment!

I don't normally do the ironing downstairs but as I was alone, why not? Maia came to join me and curled up on the radiator behind me!

I may have taken a million and one pictures of her because she looked so damn cute! She was also snoring. A LOT. She's very loud. I don't know whether to be concerned or not. Hmmm.

Barney was also being cute, just in case you were wondering!

He can't just sleep on the bed, oh no. He has to have the fleecy blanket as well.

More Maia. AW!

I got the ironing done and sat down for a while before preparing myself to go out. Yes, I had to leave the house. Shocking. I don't like having to leave the house but we had made plans!

It was pouring with rain outside and the wind was really strong, so my umbrella broke fairly quickly into my outdoor journey.

I met Paul from work and we went to have dinner at Nolita Cantina, which is a little place we had never been to before!

Paul had a bacon and blue cheese burger which I didn't take a picture of. I had belly pork in Dr Pepper sauce.

I didn't use my flash as I feel as though people would judge me for taking pictures of my food. I'm a blogger! Don't they understand?!

The sauce was very rich but I enjoyed it very much! We will definitely go again!

From there we went to have a couple of drinks before our evening really got started. We went back to Brewdog, where we went last weekend for a few.

It's quirky. They encourage you to play games. On our table we had an interesting option...

Dinosaur Top Trumps! We didn't play but we had a look through at the various dinos. I found my instant favourite dinosaur of all time.

Obviously.

We also found something that I can't believe exists.

Really? REALLY?! That's something out of a horror movie, not real life!

Anyway, instead of a beer, as I didn't fancy a beer, I had a beer cocktail!

It was called 'Punch Drunk Punk' and it was very nice (and boozy) and I enjoyed it so much I had another one!

Then it was onto the Philharmonic. We were not going to see a show, though. Well, not in the way you would imagine anyway!

We were going on a Shiverpool Ghost Walk!

We were trying to look afraid. We more shivering more from the cold and rain than the fear!

The girls who took us round were good fun and there were about 20 of us! I was really impressed and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun evening!

We went back to the Philharmonic Pub where we started from and needed to warm up before heading home. So I reacquainted myself with my friend from earlier in the week!

Mmmmm! Mulled wine!

We went home and I went straight to bed as I was exhausted! Good times!

PREVIOUSLY...

2013

14th August 2014 - It's Done!

Not a bad sleep but too sleepy to be getting up to go to the gym. Next week = new start for us. Lots more gym and better living. I think we're having a weekend off the booze as well! Let's see if that keeps up!

It absolutely threw it down with rain this morning, literally just  for the duration of my walk to work. It came down heavy as I stepped out of the house and stopped as soon as I got to the front door. Grr. My legs were soaked!

It got so bad that I had to take off my shoes so they could dry out! Luckily for me I had my fluffy slippers here so was able to keep my feet toasty warm!

It's a good look, with my suit trousers, no?!

It was a mad busy day but got a lot done and was pleased with it! Go me!

The one kicker is that I was sending a LOT of emails out that were a bit on the snarky side, which meant that I was getting the retaliation. I'm just the messenger! Be nice to me. So whenever I saw the new email icon, I approached it in fear!

I quickly opened it to get rid of the notification then closed it again like a wimp! I'll print it later! I'm on my lunch! I don't want meanies ruining my break!

No rest for the wicked today though, as when I got home I was determined to get the ironing DONE. I mean all of it. All that holiday stuff that has been there since we got back. I want it GONE! So I got on with it, stopping for a quick 45 minute break for my tea (chorizo burgers...mmm!) and an episode of Stargate.

I did it. By 9pm it was finished!

Maia was so happy it was empty, she put her favourite piece of lace in there in playful celebration!

Yes, Frodo. I feel my ironing challenge IS as big of a deal as you casting the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom! Shame I didn't have an eagle to carry me to bed as well!

I played with Maia for a while once I finished as she was feeling feisty. Then Barney came and made it all about him so Maia wouldn't play any more. These two cannot play together. That it impossible. I feel sorry for Maia as I don't get to play with her very often as Barney always takes over. He's such a spoiler.

We then went to bed and hoped for a good night's sleep. As we do every night!

PREVIOUSLY...

2013

25/11/2013 - MY 500th POST!

Wow. I can't believe I've written this many! Although, admittedly it should have been more...my failure last year let me down. But I'm nearly there now! The end is in sight!

I don't know what I'm going to do about blogging! I don't think I have enough interesting things to talk about every day! I'm struggling as it is!

Non-photographic celebration of my half-century of blogging - Paul shaved off his beard! His face is as smooth as a baby's bum!

I, however, feel nasty! Not good at all. I dislike lurgy. I hope that it's just a little cold, not the full blown whopper that most people get this time of year.

It took Paul 40 minutes to shower and shave this morning. Making me late for work. I didn't get into the shower until 7:45am!

So I made Paul give me a lift to work as recompense! Except we were delayed further.

See the temperature on the dashboard? 1 degree celcius! Also see the time on the dashboard! I showered, dress and prettied for work in 35 minutes! Is that a female record or what?!

Oh yeah, and the frosted windscreen. There's that too!

Paul ran in to get some water to clear it quicker than the heater was doing. He used cold. He's not a dummy! I was taking pictures of the pretty ice when I captured this!

 The water defrosting! I think it's pretty cool!

*Since posting this, google+ decided that the above picture needs falling snow over it. Erm. Nope?!*

It wasn't worth rushing to work. Trust me.

The best thing was being able to help out an old friend from Uni with a Julie Walters' quote from her book. We love Julie! I met her at a book signing a few years ago.

Check out blond-haired floozy me! She didn't pose for pictures. Sadly. But I did get and read her book, which was great!






















We watched tv for the rest of the evening and then went to bed.