11th July 2014 - Busy Day!

I didn't feel great this morning. Paul had to work this morning but I wasn't in work. I felt sorry for myself for a little while but there were more pressing matters to attend to...

That's right - it's holiday time! As if you hadn't already guessed! Which means a lot of work, stress and heartbreak. Let's not thin about that right now. Let's just get on with the packing.

Which is difficult, when you have cats.

I think Maia wants to come with us. I'd let her in a heartbeat!

 Barney got strapped in and ready for take off!

We got it all done pretty quickly once Paul got home which is good in some ways and bad in others. Being done means that the kitties have to go on their holidays as well. They go to Kennotels for the week and have for a few years now.

While we were there showing the cats their home for the next week, we also got to meet their neighbours, a couple of Sphinx cats! It's the first time I've ever seen a hairless kitty and got to stroke one of them who had leathery skin. Weird! They look so grumpy but we were assured they were purring away!

I came home and sobbed. A lot. I hate this house without kitties in it.

So we went out! If you've read last year's post you'll know that every year we go to Frankie and Benny's for our dinner to get out of the cat-less house relax a little before going away!

Not that this is the only way to relax. It helps. It helps numb the pain of my lack of kitties. I miss them already. :(

Paul had a pizza and I had barbecue chicken skewers. They were lush. We also had an extra cheeky portion of macaroni cheese. It wasn't the best mac and cheese I've ever had but it was pretty yummy! :)

Polished off the lot. Awesome!

Not to be sent home early, we headed to the bar for a cheeky drinky before heading back home.

 I had a 'bramble' (gin cocktail) and Paul had a Long Island Iced Tea. Very nice they were too.

Then home to our sad and lonely house. It's not home, not without the kittens.

We got the last few things we could get done sorted before heading to bed. A looooooong day tomorrow!

PREVIOUSLY

2013

18th March 2014 - Sadness and Happiness

Can't believe it's been 2 years since my wonderful Grandad passed away. We still miss you so much. :(

Photograph borrowed from my Uncle. We're very proud of his war medals.

I had another pretty bad sleep but instead of being a wimp, I got over it and went to the gym with Paul. He did a light jog and I did a kinetic circuit, which meant I still worked out but didn't have to put as much effort into it as cardio. Excellent!

Then home to get ready for work. Then work. Which was much the same as yesterday. Nothing exciting to report there. Far from it. I had a horrible day, being asked to do things that other people couldn't be bothered to do, basically! WHY DO I WORK WITH LAZY PEOPLE?! Am I just the schmuck that they know will do it so it all gets put on me? Probably. I don't think that's very fair though. Urgh.

I was cheered up when I got home by a lovely new picture of my totally gorgeous nephew, Teddy!

Photo taken from the photographer (Little Poppitt Photography)'s facebook page. Her website is here.
Photo not my own. Sadly.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

He is just the cutest! Annabel only had the pictures done yesterday! Not even 3 weeks old and I think a wonderful model! Such wonderful pictures by the photographer! I hope Annabel lets me see them all!

I had a nark on and bashed some pots and pans around the sink when Paul came home.

I had a gin and tonic to calm down, and we had dinner, watched Castle and How I Met Your Mother, then had an early night again. I'm really crap, aren't I?!

PREVIOUSLY...

2012
2013

So...here we are!

So I did it! I blogged a year of my life. A pretty big year really! I got a whole new name and everything!

I don't really know what to do with myself now! Even Paul has got into my blogging habit, and prepares food ready for me to take a picture of! I think he was a bit sad when he realised that I don't have to do it any more!

My challenge was a post a day. OK, I didn't post daily but there is a post for every day, so technically I win, right?

So maybe I should keep going, but no pressure on myself to get from 1st Jan to 31st December this time. If I miss a few days due to LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENING I won't feel bad. Although I know me and I will.

I just don't want to bore you with those post like: "Got up. Went to the gym. Went to work. Work was dull. Came home. Had dinner. Watched TV. Went to bed. Here's a cat." They made up a substantial amount of last year and they bore me and I lived it!

I think I have some mind making up to do. I could post weekly maybe? Do some blogging challenges (not that I know any)?

All suggestions are welcome. I just can't imagine not doing this any more! I hate it when my favourite bloggers disappear for ages on end (LOOKING AT YOU, ROBYN & CHRIS!) and I know I don't have that many avid readers but I do get feedback, so I don't like the idea of disappointing.

I'll think on it. Writing is just so addictive! And at least my cats are cute, right?

11/12/2013 - This Girl is on FIIIIIIRE!

My poor little Barney boy had another bad night. I used to start blog posts bragging about getting up for the gym at silly o'clock in the morning but that is no more. Now it's all about lack of sleep due to Golluming Barnacles. **Great name for a band right there!**

Luckily, we were off work this morning. So even though Paul got up and worked from home, I tried to get another few hours sleep. I think I got a little more but not enough. I can really feel the fatigue.

If this video works, you can see what he's like.

Note that I had brought some biscuits to him and he was still wanting to eat those even while retching. Daft boy.

I got to work just after one, and it immediately felt like I hadn't been away. I was just as tired as if I had been in work all week already!

I went through the motions of the day and confessed to T that I thought I'd be asleep really early tonight.

That was not an option, as we had a hot date!

Due to the cancellation of #Whedonsday, we decided to take advantage of Orange Wednesday (or is it EE Wednesday...I'm not clear on that...) which means you buy a cinema ticket and you get one free!

So we went to see Catching Fire!

 We enjoyed it! It's been a while since I read the books - I think it was last year some time - so I couldn't remember exactly what happened, but I think it was very good. Looking forward to the next instalment!

It was after 10 when we got home, so we had a quick drink, medicated Barney and went to bed.

10/10/2013 - Sad Face.

Another bad night of Barney/Gollum my poor little sausage.

I stayed in bed a while and got another hour or so sleep. Paul went downstairs to do some work as he had some catching up to do.

When I got up I decided to be productive as well, so I did some ironing. Barney came to join me.

I don't think he wanted that iron to come any closer.

My poorly boy.

He really was uncomfortable. He was 'coughing' while not doing anything. In fact, when he's playing and active, he's fine. He only 'Gollums' when resting, which is why he's disturbing my sleep, I think.

The more I ironed, the worse I was feeling about leaving him suffering. So I called the vet.

We managed to get an appointment as soon as we liked, so we packed Barney up and headed to see the nice lady vet.

He did NOT want to come out of his carrier. We had to take it apart to lift him out!

She listened to his chest and groped his stomach. She asked a lot of questions and gave him the dreaded thermometer up his backside. He was thrilled, as you can imagine.

She was concerned about the amount that he's retching, and thinks he could have swallowed something that's stuck maybe.

She picked him to to weigh him and was a little surprised by how much of a lump he is! In fact, she referred to him as 'a bit of a Unit'! Which is true. He's around 7.8kg! She didn't say he was fat or overweight so I'm not going to worry about that. Not to sound like a defensive parents but 'he's just a big boy!'

She gave him an injection (can't remember what it was for) and gave us some medicine to squirt into his mouth twice a day.

...yay...

We also have to not feed him until tomorrow. Easier said than done. He was hungry and we have Maia to feed. He was giving us the 'sad' eyes. Yep - most effective guilt trip in the world, kitten.

So we had a sombre evening, staying up a little later than usual and avoiding the big sad eyes in the kitchen!

26/06/2013 - Wedding dress Wednesday

Nice morning off the gym today! It's a good thing! I need a break!

Today I only did a half-day in the office as I have pressing matters in town with need attending to.

Today is the day of my first wedding dress fitting! The day when I get to find out whether all my hard work has been worth it.

Yeah.

I got to put the dress shop and it was very quiet. They got my dress out and asked me to put on a hooped underskirt.

Um. What?! I hadn't had to wear one of those before.

Apparently my dress is supposed to have one. I put it on and they helped me into my dress.

I won't be wearing the hoops on my wedding day. It looked...wrong.

The dress itself fit like a glove. Which made me sad. I wanted it to be too big! All these hours in the gym and it FITS?! Urgh.

With a few pins here and there, and the scissors to the bottom of the dress, I got to walk around all fancy.

There are a few little 'issues' I have with my dress. I'm not going to list them here. I got quite upset about one of them and I am still trying to deal with it, but it's not information that I feel able to share with you all, as I cannot provide evidence as to why.

I'll get over it. Until I do, I'm not going to think about it for a little while, if that's ok. My next fitting isn't for another couple of months, so I have plenty of time to get over myself.

Trying on the dress did have it's uses though. I got to pick my veil, which is pretty, and put that on order. I also got to try on my jewellery with the dress. I have a borrowed item from my Mum which belonged to her Mum, given to her by my Mum's brother who passed away before I was born.

I'm not going to reveal. Sorry. But here's the box!

It's from Southport! We're getting married in Southport! It was meant to be!

I was on a bit of a downer, so didn't get everything done it town that I had wanted to get done. I got home and carried on being a grump. Paul was wonderful.

Chris came round for usual #Whedonsday fun. To be honest, I don't really remember much about it. I was in so much of a funk. Sorry Chris, for being bad company.

We ate Italian Shepherd's Pie for dinner and Sicilian Lemon cheesecake for pudding. Still no smiles from me.

Today should have been an exciting day. It should have been one full of smiles and joy. Instead, I am incredibly miserable.

Oh, I forgot to say above - the dress fit like a glove because it was the wrong size. I ordered one size, they ordered the same size and I got the size smaller. Seriously. So I guess I should rejoice in that I have clearly lost a dress size, and wedding dresses are notoriously smaller than other dresses, so yay me?! I just wish I had had the feeling of being smaller. I know it's saved me money on alterations, but it would have been nice to have seen the fruits of my labour. I only discovered that the dress was smaller after I had taken it off and saw the label. So I was probably in a negative frame of mind during the whole appointment as I thought I hadn't lost anything.

Sorry. This isn't a happy post. Brides to be, if you want my advice, send me a message. I have some words of wisdom that I am not going to post here in public. I don't want my full feelings on today to be remembered in this blog. I want to forget about it to be honest, so in a few years time I will recall everything being a-ok!

I had a lovely cuddle with Maia though, which was nice.

24/05/2013 - RIP Boutr0s

Guys, today started badly.

I slept for about 4 hours. I woke up at stupid o'clock because the baby next door WOULD NOT STOP SCREAMING. Seriously. I don't blame the baby. He's a baby. But he was screaming for over an hour.

I understand that when you're a parent, you can't go to your child every time it cries. I know that. I also understand the whole thing about letting it learn to sleep in a room by itself. HOWEVER, an hour of screaming?! This wasn't attention-seeking screaming, this was genuine DO SOMETHING screaming. You know what they did? They put on the AWFUL CD that they always play. Granted, not at the volume that it's usually on during the day, but that's what they did to stop the baby crying. Spoiler. It didn't work.

After an hour of me huffing and puffing and generally being really p***ed off, I remembered my secret weapon: ear plugs. In they went and back off to sleep I went.

Until 3.30am when Barney decided it was a perfectly acceptable hour to stomp all over me asking for attention. I gave him a tickle - he purred and curled up next to my head. Until I stopped tickling him as I fell back asleep, where he started stomping again, then jumping onto the side and knocking bits and bobs onto the floor. With a dramatic exclamation of "Mummy can't do this, Barney! She just can't!" (yes, I refer to myself in the third person), I got up and went to give them more biscuits. Anything to get them to let me sleep!

It worked. I got to go back to sleep. Until 5.40am when the alarm went off for us to get up and go to the gym.

I didn't want to go. But we went anyway. I did some weights. It was tough.

I came home and showered. As I was getting ready for work, I got a text from my Mum to relay the devastating news that my fishy, Boutr0s-Boutr0s, had passed away in the night.

WAAAA!

I have mentioned Boutr0s-Boutr0s before, but for those of you who have not been paying attention, I have had him for over 10 years. Probably more like 11! Granted, Mum has had custody of him for the whole of that time, but he was my fishy. He was a pink kissing gourami and had been a lone-fish for some time. His tank-mate, Ghali, passed away a little time ago.

I can't remember why we decided to name them after an Egyptian politician, but that was his name.

The last ever pic taken of Boutr0s-Boutr0s, taken on 10th May 2013.

Rest in Peace, Boutr0s-Boutr0s. I missed you anyway, but Mummy Hartley will miss you the most. She won't miss how much you cost her over the years, but that empty tank won't be nice for her. :(

On that sad note I went to work and lamented my loss to my colleagues, who thought it was really funny. Meanies.

After work, we debated going to a yoga class, but as a full box of envelopes had just fallen on my head in the office, making me go a little dizzy, we decided to just go home.

I can't remember if I tweeted the picture of the cat grass I started growing last week. This is it now!

 It has come along a treat!

Speaking of treats; as the kitties get one, I feel like we deserve one as well!

This chocolate has been getting a lot of press recently. It's completely Marmite (either love it or hate it) according to the people I know who have tried it.

My verdict: I really don't know! The jelly bits are also popping candy which is the stuff that crackles in the back of your mouth when you eat it.

I can't decide if it's fun or just plain annoying. I only ate the above. Will have to try some more just to see!

Absolutely exhausted, I managed to watch this week's 'Revolution' and then headed to bed. Pretty sure I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

Today's #FitTeam13 #PhotoFitChallenge: Weights or Body Weights.

I did weights at the gym this morning. I didn't take a picture. Nobody needs to see that. Plus it's a bit weird taking photos at the gym! Instead, I got Paul to take this one of me doing dips at home.

Ignore the crazy amounts of dust on the side of my trousers. Pretend I meant for that to be there...

07/04/2013 - A little perspective

Today's post is going to be a little different. I don't apologise.

This morning I found out that on Friday night a lad I went to school with has died. I don't know details, nor will I ask but the news has come at somewhat of a shock to all of us who went to school together, plus countless others who had met Carl.

The fact is that he was 30. That's nothing. He was married to Fay, whom he met at school and had two young children. It is just so cruel that someone so young has been taken away from his family, just as it is beginning.

This is Carl on the last day of school before our A Level exams. He was 18 here. The boys dressed up in female school uniform, just so you know. It wasn't a regular thing. At least not as I recall!

This was taken at our Sixth Form Ball. Only a few months after the other.

I don't have any sensible pictures of Carl. Except maybe our Year 11 photograph as a class but it's really not a great picture as a whole. I guess that probably says something about the type of chap that Carl was. Always having a good time.

I was never a great friend of his, nor did I really keep in touch after school, but social networking etc keeps certain connections alive. You can see family lives and how people's lives change and grow. I was 11 when I first met Carl. He was in my form for 5 years. During those awkward phases when girls really don't like boys. And then when girls start to quite like boys after all!

I can't write a lot about what he was like after the age of 18 as I don't know. He was a great friend to people that I am still friends with. A caring husband and a loving father.

The news took me by surprise as previously stated. It has shocked me to the core. It's a reminder that things like this can happen to anyone at any time. I know it's not the way to think, but it really puts things into perspective in my own life. I complain about work all the time. We're not going through a great time in our lives at present for a few reasons I won't go into here. Yet we're happy and healthy. We're planning our wedding and the rest of our lives together. I really can't complain any more as we don't have it as bad as some.

I should leave this post here as it's very sombre and not my usual tone. One thing I will be taking from today is that I will tell the people that mean a lot to me exactly that. I know it's not the way to live your life, fearing what is around the corner, but telling loved ones that you care about them is important any day. There is never any harm in making sure that they know that. Telling them one more time is no bad thing.

Sleeping Maia. Just so there is some happiness in this post.

29/03/2013 - Not-so-Good Friday

The start of a 4 day weekend! WHOOP!

We had a nice lie in and did some work on our wedding website which is pretty much ready for public consumption. We need a few tweaks here and there but on the whole I'm happy I think.

We headed over to Paul's parents' in Manchester early afternoon so we could prepare for a feast of a dinner. It was while we were there that we heard some awful news. Our wedding photographer (who Paul has known for a couple of years through work) reported that her husband had died very suddenly. It's just so awful. There's nothing you can really say when you hear these things.

We had to do a veg run, as we didn't have enough potatoes. We found this chap who looks like something out of a movie...

Ok, it was funny to us!

We usually take the kitties with us when we go to his parents' house, as they love it there. Serious amore with that place! While Paul and his Mum were cooking, I took to finding out where they were hiding!

I found Barney on top of the wardrobe, happily sitting on a pile of Paul's old CDs. From his perch he can see down the corridor to the rest of the house.

Maia was at the other end of the wardrobes, curled up on a box (which says Rohan...so I love it!) happily watching me! They both love the top of the wardrobes, and more often than not, one or both of them will be up there!

Other sights and sounds from the evening:

Here is the ham joint which had first been boiled in ginger beer before being glazed with ginger preserve, soy sauce and honey then roasted. Spoiler - it was delish.

Paul's Dad's saxophone. Also known as his baby. He loves that thing!

These are the first present I ever bought Paul's Mum. They're wooden roses, as she doesn't see the point in spending lots of money on real flowers as they just die. I'm quite impressed that they've still kept quite a lot of their colour! Plus, they match the curtains! WIN!

Here is dinner - the ham roast, with sausagemeat and cranberry stuffing, green beans, carrots, sprouts and roast sweet potatoes. Not shown is the apple and onion gravy which is divine!

We chilled out for the rest of the evening as we were all pretty tired. We put Skyfall on, but the boys both fell asleep and went to bed. I stayed up with Paul's Mum and chatted about various things, and took more pictures of the kitties!

I love this pic of Maia, as the light coming from the basket it just ace!

Barney's glamour shot!

18/03/2013 - Mopey Monday

Today marks the anniversary of the passing of my Grandfather, who died a year ago today.

I'm not going to go over old ground again, as it's still very sad, so if you want to read my post on him, you can read last year's here.

Anyway. Work was...guess what...BUSY! What's new?!

I did get to leave early though, as I had a nice check up to go to at the doctors, as I had a nice note on my repeat prescription that they wouldn't give me any more medicine until I went.

Turns out, I didn't need to go after all. I'm not due in until June. So why did they call me in? To tell me I can only have 1 inhaler a time, rather than the 2 I have been getting for years. Bloody Government cuts.

£7.65 per item, the current NHS charge. I have to get 3 things a month. My poor wallet. I know we are luckier than other countries, so I shouldn't grumble. Still...WAAAAA!

My sadly smaller bag than usual from the chemist. Still, at least I'm still flyin', right?

The rest of the afternoon was a bit blah. I stayed at work late to get the AssHat off my case, as he's asking for loads of stuff to be sent over to him, which he was too lazy to sort himself before he left, and apparently I have to do it as we don't want to give him access to our system.

Came home and chilled. It was nice!

1st June 2012

I took loads of awesome pictures today. However they now seem inappropriate. I may share some tomorrow, I don't know.

The reason I'm not sharing them today is down to the fact that when I got home from work this evening I had a call from my Dad to tell me that my Grandmother had just passed away. Dad had only been with her a few hours before.

This news came just over 10 weeks after my Grandfather passed away. Naturally it's very hard for all the family, and I just wish I lived closer to my parents so I could just pop over and give my Dad a big hug.
I don't have many pictures of my Grandma, as she was on a care home for many years and not fit enough to make many family events over the past few years. The last one I have pics from is my cousin Nicola's wedding back in 2007, so my pics today will come from then.

This is my grandparents with my cousin, Karen. It's such a nice picture so I wanted to share it with you.

I may have used this pic when my Grandad died, so forgive me if I did. The proud parents and their children. I love this picture.

Rest in peace, Lilian. Grandma. Say hi to Grandad for us. Glad you are back together again.

30th March 2012

Today we said goodbye to my wonderful Grandad who passed away earlier this month.

While it is always good to spend time with family, the circumstances were not the most enjoyable. Still, as it a Hartley trait, we sent him off in style!

This whisky is about 50 years+ aged. He saved it for a long time and my uncle said he would only open it at Grandad's funeral. We all had some and it was actually very nice! Yes, I had seconds!

 Rest in Peace, Grandad. We will miss your jokes, stories and mostly your love of us all.x