We had another lazy morning. It's Sunday...I think...it's so easy to lose track of days over Christmas...so we felt we deserved it!
Paul had football to watch, and me...well...I didn't really have anything. So I decided that the best thing for today would be...
Lord of the Rings Marathon! WHOOP! It's been so long since we've done one of those!
Paul watched football downstairs and I watched Lord of the Rings upstairs! I was a happy camper!
Barney spent most of the day being cute and curled up on the heated throw!
Maia spent most of the morning on the window, over the radiator, warming her belly! I don't know why but I thought this pic would look better in black and white! Probably because it hides the hideous state that the blinds and window are in. We have two cats. We can't have nice things.
Fellowship seemed to be over very quickly so I moved on to Two Towers. I have seen this movie more than any other in the world, ever. No lie. I could probably quote it in my sleep!
Barney's belly was a little distraction. The fact that he has rolled onto his back indicates that Paul came to join us in watching Two Towers!
We also needed to roll with tradition in another sense...
There had to be fizz. A - because it's Sunday, B - because we're having a LotR marathon, and C - it's Christmas. Kinda.
Work schmirk tomorrow!
We watched tv and ate pasta bake for dinner as Paul didn't feel like cooking - he's still pretty poorly.
He ended up going to bed at the end of Two Towers. I carried on watching Return of the King, but stopped when I had to change the disc to go to bed myself. It was getting late. I failed in the mission of watching it all in one day but then again, we did start quite late. Imagine when I have all 3 extended Hobbit movies to watch as well! That's going to be one weekend bonanza! :) I can't wait! :)
4:10am Paul came home. Yeah. Guess how impressed I was at that.
I pretended to be asleep as I knew that the alarm was set to go off at 7:30am and so wanted to get at least a few hours sleep.
I managed it and woke up with the alarm. Paul wasn't impressed at the alarm going off. Neither was he best pleased that he had to get up. Get up we did, though, as we had to get Barney to fat club for his last weigh in of the year!
We were bang on time, rather than early like we normally are, as we had to defrost the car as there were lovely patterns on the window. Probably should have taken pictures of that. Oh well!
When we got home, we headed to bed for a couple more hours' sleep. I was really grumpy so it was probably for the best to get me unconscious!
The time came for us to get up and go out again. We had a prior engagement that I wasn't going to cancel for ANYTHING!
We went to the local burrito place for a hangover-curing burrito for Paul, then headed from there into town. We had some time to kill before our important appointment so had a quick drink in a local mead establishment.
Whilst enjoying a cold foamy beer, I perused the extensive cocktail menu. I noticed something curious...
The Egg Nog contains 'some stuff'. What the heck is that?! Cat food? Steak? Ribena? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!
I don't really know what Egg Nog is. I can't say I've ever had any...so if people can tell me what the 'stuff' might be, I'd appreciate it!
We hurried out of the bar and over to our meeting.
One Last Time.
I loved it. I may or may not have had a little tear or two. I am going to have to see it again. Soon.
From there, we contemplated getting a little snack, but I started feeling a little poorly (I hit my head yesterday and the bump was a bit painful) so we went home. Paul went to bed as he was 'tired'. I watched Strictly and then X Factor. It was the final and seemed very...stretched. Got a bit bored so started watching comedy instead.
I then started nodding off so sent myself to bed. I'm so sensible.
Ah Saturday! How great you are! Even after a week off work I can appreciate a Saturday!
So much so that I didn't really do a lot during the day! Well, if not a lot is sorting 6 WHOLE LOADS OF WASHING. Yeah. That happened! Making sure all the winter warming wear is nice and clean now it's getting a little colder out!
As a treat, we decided to go for a late lunch/early dinner to somewhere we have been meaning to go for a while: Evil Eye Burrito!
We ordered some yummy deliciousness and awaited the same with a beer. I went to take a sip of said beer when I noticed an image appear before me!
Can you see it? Maybe from a different angle without the flash?
I can see a tiger in my beer! I realise that this would have been even more awesome if it had been Tiger Beer I was drinking, but it's a tiger all the same! Some people see the image of Jesus on burnt toast or The Grim in their tea leaves. Me? I see a large cat. Which makes sense!
If you can't see it, I've done a diagram below.
Can you see it now?
I almost didn't want to finish the beer...but once the food arrived, I knew I would need a bit of assistance. While I didn't order a really spicy meal, there was a kick to it.
Check out that beast! It was huge! Very delicious and reasonably priced too! Walking distance from the house...so yeah, we'll be going back!
Once we had eaten it all, we headed to the pub down the road from there to watch some of the football. The place was filled with rugby fans and people who didn't support Manchester United. Therefore while we were watching Manchester United, they were supporting Arsenal and basically stating that every time a United player tackled an Arsenal player it was a foul/red card/penalty.
Quite funny.
We left at half time and headed home for a little while. We had more plans ahead of us! I know! Get us! I do nothing for weeks and then seem to do loads in a short space of time!
Tonight we had a cinema date!
We were there quite early so ate a million and one sweets while awaiting the trailers. Admittedly, I wanted to see this film but I knew there would be a trailer for one I want to see more...
HI BARD! Why yes, I will watch The Hobbit trailer
Only a few more weeks to go! I'm so excited I can't hold my camera still to take a sneaky picture!
Then the main event:
It was good. Clearly the build up to the next film so not a lot happens but entertaining enough.
We went home, had a glass of wine, watched a little tv then went to bed.
Monday doesn't half come around too soon. Why can't weekends be longer? Do I say that every week?
I had set the alarm for gym o'clock but we had both sort of decided that we weren't going to go so went back to sleep. Naughty.
Then to work. Today is appraisal day so I had to be on the ball.
It went ok. A started out a little aggressive but I was able to counter it quite easily and had very balanced arguments to be able to put back at him in a calm and collected manner. It worked and I think it went well! Definitely better than last year!
I was in there for about an hour, which surprised me a little but at least I got everything off my chest that needed to be said! Then it was T's turn.
I got back to my desk and discovered I had a delivery. This is good!
Yeah! Extended Hobbity goodness! Will watch that later!
The rest of the day was just filler before I got to go home to watch the extended movie! There's an extra 25 minutes for me to watch!
So I got home, put the bluray in the player and waiting for Paul to get home for movie night!
I loved it. Lots of extra detail which I can see why they cut but it was good! Looking forward to the next opportunity I get to watch all the special features because Miss Nerd here loves that type of thing!
We had dinner during the movie and went to bed soon after it finished as we were both shattered!
I made it to bed around 1am. Then was wide awake from about 6. This isn't fun!
I did try to get some more sleep but it just wasn't happening. So there was me complaining about last week being up at 8am. Today was usual work o'clock. On a Saturday. Hmph.
I did the washing and a few other things but we decided early on that today would be a day of nothing. We would do as we pleased and rest as much as we could. So we did!
Paul did some shopping and then watched sports. I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Again. It's good.
After the sports, Paul had bought us some BluRay delights to watch. We settled on 'Catching Fire' as we haven't seen it since we went to the cinema to watch it!
It was just as long as I remember it but very good. Mockingjay Part 1 is out in November, so that's good!
We also ate pasta and vegetables (Paul is running tomorrow) and watched X Factor.
We both were getting tired. I headed to bed and Paul watched Match of the Day then came up too.
Today got off to a bad start. Did it get better? Maybe. You'll see.
Paul had to be in work early so he got up at our usual gym time. It's not so bad when you have to get up for it but when you can stay in bed and sleep it's a bad thing.
While he was showering I dozed for a while but as soon as he was done, I was awake. While Paul was getting dressed, Barney decided he wanted to do an impression of his Daddy.
"I'm businessman Daddy! Look how important I am in my suit!"
Paul wasn't too keen on Beep being in his jacket, so he soon had to scoot.
I lazed in bed for a little while with positively no desire to get up. I did though. I had to. That's the only reason I got up.
It was also absolutely pouring down with rain. Torrential. I was looking to leave the house but didn't really fancy it, to be honest.
Ick. Which is funny, because the weather forecast had other ideas!
What part of Wavertree is sunny? Clearly not any part around my house.
I REALLY didn't want to leave the house. Walking in heavy rain isn't something I'm a fan of.
I got to work and the day was awful. No ins and outs for you as you really probably could care less, but I wasn't in a good mood and things weren't going well for me. Let's put it like that. There may have been a few tears. Joys of being alone in your office is that you can cry and no one will see!
I got to late morning and decided I needed to man up as things were not going to fix themselves. I had to do some of the work to make that happen. So I did.
By lunch time things were a tiny big brighter.
I titted about on the internet over lunch and when I started back to work I got an email:
Do I know Paul Kirkham? Hmmmmmm. Let me think about that one...we've only been together nearly 7 years and married for nearly 1...so I'd hope so!
I got through the day and got stuff done that I had never done before and it seemed to go ok!
I just wanted to get home as Wednesday evenings are always the best ones! This was no exception as this #Whedonsday we took a trip to the cinema!
First, we had to have some food. I got nachos. They were...messy...
HELL YEAH, JALAPEÑOS!
So last week's blog post title would actually be more appropriate for today! Oh well!
What did we go to see, I hear you ask? Well...this!
We saw it in 3D rather than imax as the timing was all a bit wrong for a 2 hour movie.
We enjoyed it! It's far funnier than most other movies in the Marvel-verse...and is meant to be, rather than being so bad you LOL at it! Lots of great moments and I'm looking forward to seeing it again!
Oh, and spoiler:
Not sure where it's from but I didn't make it!
I want one.
We got home about 9:45pm and I was shattered so headed to bed. I'm such a lightweight! Can't stay up late any more!
Paul had to leave for work early this morning. This made me sad. But instead of moping around the house on my own, I was productive and got some jobs done before heading into the office.
I was on my own in the office as well. Pretty much all day. T was at a funeral and A was in a meeting elsewhere. The phones were quiet, except for maybe half an hour where the phones went mental and I couldn't answer all the calls! It was proper switch board stuff! "Hello [insert company name], can I put you on hold please?" I got through that but was bored and alone. So decided Spotify was going to be my new best friend!
This is one of my new favourite play lists! All 90s britpop. Perfect. I may or may not have been singing and dancing round the office as I did my filing. You can't prove it happened!
I was also entertained by the wonderful drop cam as provided by Connie's Kitty Blog! Those kittens were hyper little so and sos this morning! It was adorable! Until mid late afternoon when one of them decided she wanted to lie behind the camera...promptly knocking it off!
Upside down swinging webcam is oddly theraputic! Sorry, Connie! I did get the odd glimpse of a kitten in the corner every now and again! Which was nice! Midday on the camera is 5pm here in England so at least I got the treat of active kittens during my working day! Anyone on a similar time zone to Connie won't have been so lucky!
Paul was late home as he had an event to attend. Called Prosecco Friday. Doesn't that sound somewhat familiar to you? It does to me! Anyone know how to trademark/copyright something like that?! T and I should be raking in the money from it! So I was at home alone as well. Obviously I had the fur-babies for company but for some reason this evening they weren't being entertaining.
So I decided that if I can't beat it, join em!
See, I finished my water like a good girl before starting on the fizz! Go me!
Paul was later and later coming home so I had to cook! Cook things for myself! Luckily, it was only simple, grilling some pork steaks, so that was easy. I can also prepare salad too! Go me, I'm growing!
While waiting for Paul I decided to watch "Much Ado about Nothing" as it has been a while since I've seen it! I enjoyed it very much!
Paul came in and kept me company but went off to bed fairly early. I wasn't far behind him. Long day ahead tomorrow!
So it turns out I went to bed later than I thought I did! I have no idea what I was watching but I was still up after midnight, which means I have pics for today as well!
Oh, LOL! I do remember what I was watching! The first part of the last Twishite movie was on tv so I watched some of that. It was so bad I needed to see the second part! Call it insane curiosity! I know what 'they' say about curiosity and cats and after that I was tending to agree with them!
It was AWFUL. REALLY awful. I don't think I have ever seen a worse movie! I've seen some stinkers but I think I was vocally heckling it out loud! Surprised I didn't wake Paul up! That baby was scary!
Anyway, I think I must have gone to bed at about 1am. Oops.
I didn't wake up overly early and had a lazy few hours once I did! Which was good. Actually, we had a fairly lazy day! We did get some chores done which was good, we watched the Monaco Grand Prix which was good and we relaxed some, which is good! We also coo'd some more over Barney who was being extra cute all day!
Slurp!
Aw! It was too bright for a Barney! Oh, and Barney is wishing you all a happy Towel Day! See - he has his towel! Good boy!
He's also going a bit grey in his young age! Aw!
After the Grand Prix we decided to watch a movie. I blindly pointed to one of the DVDs on the geek shelves and we ended up with The Beach! Not a bad movie to pick so we watched it!
I hadn't seen the film since it was out at the cinema! I remember that I missed one bit of it and didn't have a clue what was going on at the end! I got it this time. Phew!
Then, time for another film. Sadly my random pointing at dvds didn't work so well at picking anything for us, so we scrolled through Sky Movies and came upon Iron Man 3. We hadn't seen it before. We enjoyed it.
We had time then for another film! Get us! 3 in one day! I didn't want anything too serious as concentration was starting to wane. So another little look through Sky Movies gave us This Is The End. Harmless fun. A little bit nuts but what do you expect?
We had dinner, pizza and nibbles, and a nice bottle of wine. Very relaxing!
I also noticed that some of the ouchies from yesterday's massage are starting to reveal themselves...
That's some definite bruising on my bicep! Attractive!
Then to bed. At a more reasonable hour than last night!
Rubbish night's sleep had by all so we didn't gym this morning. The alarm sounded and nothing gave me greater pleasure than resetting it to a more reasonable hour!
Work was blah, as always but at least it was Friday. That brings some comfort to the proceedings! It was warm in the office today, which was nice but on the side of the building we are on, we can't see the sun shining. For sanity-sake, sometimes that's nice as it means we can't see how lovely it is, but it's not good when sunshine puts you in a better mood!
I did have the radio on a cheesy station all day which helped matters! T and I were singing along to some 80s ditties which made us smile!
When I got home, guess what? Paul's out! Hmph. Whatever. So I sat in by myself listening to some happy songs and catching up on my blog reading. I also helped myself to this:
A nice Australian Sauvignon Blanc, witnessed by my koala which has been on that lamp (and it's predecessor) for as long as I can remember. Except when one of the cats decides they want to play with it!
It went down rather nicely!
Paul came home rather merry. As I expected he would. He bought a pizza which he cooked, we enjoyed, then he took himself off to bed at around 9pm. GREAT. So I had a look through the Sky catalogue for a nice crappy cheesy rom com to occupy me.
Found one!
New Year's Day. It was...blah. Mindless entertainment. I did cry at one bit though but it's sad and therefore I was totally justified. Waaaa.
I also did my usual weekend trick of when I'm left unsupervised, I fall asleep on the sofa! Only for an hour or so but it became pretty obvious that I needed to go to bed. Shouldn't be allowed to be alone, should I?
I woke up at silly o'clock (after coming to bed at a slightly earlier silly o'clock) in that awkward in-between phase where you're slightly still drunk and bordering on hangover. I had a headache so took some tablets and stayed in bed to get more sleep. I then slept on and off for the best part of the day!
Ah tea, my saviour.
I don't really have a lot to say today. I lay in bed in the dark for most of the day. I got up at around 4pm as I could have quite easily stayed in bed all day but figured it wasn't the best thing for me. If I slept all day I wouldn't sleep that night. So I got up and joined Paul downstairs. He was just watching football. I was a bit of a zombie.
I channel hopped and found the original 'Pride and Prejudice' on tv. So even though I have the DVD, I watched it through!
You're welcome, ladies! :)
I was pretty much the worst company ever so after all the football was over I gave the remote control back to Paul. What did we watch? The Stargate movie.
I hadn't seen it before. Paul's a big nerd fan! It was harmless enough. Although the character who I thought was a baddie wasn't actually a baddie at all and is probably my favourite character from the series, but ho hum!
We didn't stay up late. Funnily enough I was quite tired!
Ever wake up and know within the first few hours that your day is going to suck? Yeah, well that. That happened today.
Naff night's sleep (beeping Barnacles) but we got up to gym because the dice told us we should. Yes, we really didn't want to go and it was the hardest decision to make! I don't think it's ever been this difficult to decide whether we were going to the gym or not! So odds meant we went and evens meant we went back to sleep. A quick roll of the dice app and it was a 1. Can't say I wasn't a bit disappointed, but the app decreed that we go, so we went!
When we got back it was shower time, so in we got. Just as I got into the shower and closed the door I heard a familiar riff to a song that I detest more than any other. Yes - it belonged to a certain ditty by Neil Diamond, the name of which I will not utter here.
This is not a good omen for me. Sure enough, the day lived up to it's bad morning.
The only good bit of the day was I had a delivery (which I was expecting yesterday) which cheered me up!
DRAGONS, PRECIOUS!
Stuff at work was really crappy. Got a load of stuff to do but couldn't do it because of other things I was getting asked to do, calls that were coming in etc etc. I didn't enjoy today and was in a very bad mood. So going home was the best thing for me.
Paul had more revision to do tonight so when I got in I headed straight for the ironing board and made a start on the whole heap of ironing that I accumulated over the weekend! To make it better, I started watched the special features on the first Hobbit bluray (the cinematic release, not the extended ones I watched the other week) which I hadn't seen yet. It helped make the ironing go quicker, anyway!
We had dinner (left over duck and risotto) and watched the start of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Well, I watched it, Paul revised.
Barney groomed himself rather loudly from atop his perch as well. He wanted to cameo today!
It got to about 9pm and I decided that it was time to head to bed as I was knackered. Paul agreed (but did more reading. I just went to sleep.
*"something is out there" in elvish. Had to be done.
I woke up stupidly early this morning, after not a lot of sleep, just like last week. I am not amused. So I shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep to see if I'd fall back to sleep. I did! Success!
Paul got up early to watch Match of the Day, which he missed last night, and I stayed in bed. He also had to energise as he was going for a run with his imaginary friend (old joke! :P) and I stayed in bed.
He went for a run and I stayed in bed. I continued the special features that I hadn't watched from The Hobbit yesterday. I still had about 4 hours left. So I thought I should probably watch them. The best place for that - bed.
Barney agreed! He even let me tickle his belly! I class today a success!
Paul came back from his run, showered and I was still in bed. He then went to meet his imaginary friend (lolz) at the pub to watch some football. I was invited! You guessed it, I stayed in bed.
"You did the right thing, Mama!"
When the special features finished I was at a loose end. To watch the movie, or to watch something else? I realised I couldn't deprive Paul of the film, so I watched more Veronica Mars! I've nearly finished it now! I should be on track for the movie! Yay! Not that it's being released anywhere near here. Boo.
Paul eventually came home, made dinner and we watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - extended edition. It's great. I am so excited for the next movie to be released! I even pre-ordered it today!
Yep - over 9 hours of special features watched by me this weekend. Proud of my nerdiness!
We then went to bed. We are crazy! I was out of bed for all of 4 hours today! I love Sunday! :)
My niece or nephew is due to be born today! But as per pretty much every due date ever, (s)he won't arrive today. But I can still hope. COME ON, BABY! :)
We had a pretty poor night's sleep. When the alarm went off for the gym, I was pretty sure I was going to fall back to sleep if I didn't get up. I let it snooze once and fell asleep. As soon as it went off again I had to get up otherwise I would go back to dreamland!
We did gym and I did some weights. I can feel the aching starting from yesterday in the gym so it's going to be an ouchy weekend!
Paul was working from home today, so I had first shower then procrastinated about going into the office! I tried to give Barney a cuddle but he was having none of it.
You may not stroke me, Mama. Leave me ALONE.
There might have been teeth after this!
Nothing exciting in work. As ever. Very busy day and we cracked on with it. The first hour was SO SLOW. Then the rest of the day was slightly quicker. But only slightly. :(
Thankfully, the end of the day came and I was able to head home. I sat and had a beer and we tried to decide what to watch.
I was in the mood for a bit of action, but not straight away as it was too early. So I gave the remote to Paul. He chose Ghostbusters.
Yep.
Always enjoyable!
After that, we had to see what was suggested by Netflix. Paul wasn't paying attention, so I decided to watch a favourite of mine from back in the day - The Addams Family!
Harmless entertainment!
Neither of us could decide what to watch after that so we finished The Good Wife! We just need to see when the new series is showing over here so we have another show to keep up with! :)
We also had a nice glass of wine, or two, while we enjoyed our retro movies!
We had a case of this a couple of years ago! It was good so we ordered some for Christmas and got around to having one tonight! :)
We didn't have an overly late night. But it was a nice night!
I don't think it was the wine or the gin or the beer, as I didn't have that much. There was something that wasn't working out for me all day and the gin suppressed it for a while, but it came back with a vengeance at around 2am.
So I came back to the bedroom after about half an hour feeling as though I might be able to get some more sleep and noticed that there was FINALLY some room for me on the mattress! SCORE! So I clambered in and settled down to go to sleep. Paul decided (in his sleep) that he wanted a cuddle and slammed his arm onto my stomach. WONDERFUL.
I managed to shake myself free and got some more sleep until just after 5 when Barney decided that he wanted to play in a plastic bag that I had missed when preparing myself for sleep. Damn cat. I moved it and he decided to stomp (yes, on my stomach) and then come for a cuddle too. Maia came and sat on my legs and I finally felt ok.
I got back to sleep and woke up just after 9, parched. So I got up to make a brew and had a chat with Paul's Mum for a while before Paul got up.
The cats sat with me and watched the birds, then a little friend came for a visit.
I know you can't really see very well but there's a little robin next to the bird feeder pole!
I love robins and if you believe in reincarnation, then my maternal grandmother would absolutely have come back as a robin! So it's always nice to see them over the festive period to remind us that she is still with us somehow.
The cats were chattering away at it, so I told then unless they were being nice and friendly to leave the birdy alone!
While Paul cooked breakfast (and I hid in the bedroom as I really didn't fancy breakfast and Paul's Dad was being...odd...) I packed up our bits and bobs while trying to be stealthy so as not to alert Maia. If she got even so much as a hint as to what I was up to, she would be under the Christmas tree and not coming out for love nor money!
We managed to do it! Luckily for us, the sun was shining outside so instead of huddling under the Christmas tree next to the radiator, she was sunning herself in the window! I picked her up and gave her a cuddle. She purred loud. Until she saw Paul appear with her box and she tried to get away! AW! I feel so bad taking her from her favourite place.
We had to pull Barney down from on top of the wardrobes (no easy feat!), pack up the car and get on our merry way. Maia was NOT. HAPPY. And she vocalised this on plenty more than one occasion on the 45 minute drive home!
We got in and started unpacking. I had the crazy notion of tidying the living room. My enthusiasm did not last long and I begrudgingly finished the job. I do like it when it's clean and tidy but it's a pain in the backside to do! Especially when your little helpers decide to knock things onto the floor when you've moved them out the way to sort later on. Urgh.
I gave up and decided to watch tv for a bit. There really was nothing on, and now all the reality tv (Strictly and X Factor) have finished, there really is just drudge on to fill the gap. We put on a fan-made documentary about Firefly/Serenity (which was interesting, and also made us feel like we weren't the biggest nerds in the world, which is nice! No offence to any of them though. Fair play for your passion and you're welcome to join with #Whedonsday any time you like!) and then were still stuck for something to watch for the rest of the evening.
We decided on Tucker & Dale vs Evil. We didn't really know what to expect. It was fun!
Very predictable, but fun!
Then, stuck for ways to fill time before Match of the Day for Paul, we watched some Russell Brand stand up from 2009. It was quite funny actually! I am surprised by how much I enjoyed it! I don't mind Russell Brand at all, but that did amuse me! Especially when reading out some of the offensive emails he had received!
Then it was time for Match of the Day. I managed for a while but then felt it was time to retire to bed after a cup of peppermint tea.
We made the bed and I got into OUR comfy bed with my amazing pillow and a purring Maia. Happy place.
