03/04/2013 - Domestic troubles

Work. Was work! Otherwise it would be called 'easy' or 'fun'.

At lunch time, I had to take a stroll to a nearby suburb to go to the bank and the post office. It's a good few miles there and back again. It wasn't the wisest decision I have ever made. For the rest of the day my ribs hurt from the exercise. I don't like it! Why can't I be well again?!

Anyway, I survived and made it home. Sadly not for rest and relaxation. Tonight is the time for ironing. BOO. I don't enjoy ironing very much.

So instead of a boring photo of piles of laundry, here is a line up of my glasses as I realised I wore my office pair home.

Which are your favourites? Admittedly, they're all fairly similar...

02/04/2013 - It's Tuesday but it feels like Monday but isn't.

Back to work after a long weekend. Anyone else feel jet-lagged today?! That hour hasn't half made me feel wonky!

In nice and early for the arrival of our newbie! Who's lovely. Fingers crossed I still think this in a few weeks time! It's a time of change in the legal industry which I have previously mentioned and so today, as well as teaching the new lady how things are in our office, we were all learning what we have to do with the changes that are being brought in. Not fun.

The day dragged to start off with then went really quick towards the end of the day. It's usually the other way around.

Still, when I got home, there was no rest for the wicked and more tidying up to do. Can you believe that the spare room STILL isn't done?! You can only imagine how bad it was, huh?!

Anyway, I came across one of our Christmas presents from Paul's Mum, and decided it was the perfect time for us to display it!

This is a welsh love spoon. It sounds a bit kinky, but isn't it pretty?! It now has pride of place on the chimney breast in the spare room!

01/04/2013 - Pinch punch...

It's the First of April. Seriously. It's April already. How did that happen?! It's my last month of being in my 20s so it best be awesome!

How did we start this amazing day? By going to Hobbycraft. Which was interesting. We were looking for wedding supplies. We got some, but not what we wanted. Starting to think that they might not actually make what we want. We're running out of time. Really have to get this sorted!

Just to prove we were there, there's a picture. It was that quiet we could park right outside. Crazy, huh?!

From Hobbycraft we then headed to the Hell that is Ikea. There, we had breakfast (which was surprisingly good, and pretty cheap too) and then went to wander for a few more wedding supplies, which we picked up. And tealights. Because you can't go to Ikea without getting 100 tealights for £1 or whatever ridiculously cheap price they are!

Yup, it was busy. Urgh. I hate this place.

We got home at a suitable time for Paul to watch the football and for me to chill for a little while before carrying on with the tidying up. I wasn't alone though.

They're touching! This is a cuddle in my book! Yay for cute sleeping kitties! :)

After the match, Paul helped me put some stuff into the loft. Yeah. The loft has had a bit of an avalanche up there at some stage. It's a mess. And why do I keep the box for EVERYTHING?! I don't need the old microwave box or the old hoover box. It's madness. If I'm bored when it's a bit warmer outside, I'll give it a good spring clean up there and throw out the mess. It's only going to get worse and we want to move house one day!

Then it was time for a lovely steak dinner and then Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on dvd. Well, it's been a while since we had a Potter-fest!

31/03/2013 - Making mucky things shiny!

We lost an hour! Flaming springing foward. It really messes things up! Sure, more hours of sunshine but WHATEVER! I wants me my hour back!

We left Manchester fairly early so we could get back to normality. And by normality, I mean our messy house. Why did we leave Paul's parents again?...

Right, we need to tidy said messy house.

While I took care of the storage cupboard that was once our spare room, Paul started on our utility room...which is actually just the extension between our kitchen and shower room, which houses the back door and the fridge...but utility room sounds so much better that 'anti-space' don't you think?!

Anyway, he moved out the shelves that are in there with our library of cook books on, and moved the fridge to one side to clean behind/underneath it.

Guys, we have two cats. The following may alarm and disturb anyone with clean OCD. We did not realise it had come to this.


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This is what we were greeted with behind/under our fridge.

Just in case that's not clear enough for you...

In no particular order there are hair bands, magnetic letters of the fridge, at least 2 old cat collars, cat toys, straws, A TOOTHBRUSH?!?! And gunk. Lots of dusty gunk. Bleugh.

The cats were so happy we found all these toys, as you can imagine! I, however, washed some of it and threw the rest away. Urgh.

While Paul cracked on with cleaning up the ickiness which is our utility room, I sorted out some clothes which are really just taking up space, so can be donated to charity.

Please tell me I'm not the only person who has loved an item of clothing so much they've bought it in every colour?!

I loved that jumper. I bought the grey one first I believe, then the pink, then the blue.I wore them all the time.

Apart from a bit of bobbling, they're still in good nick. I just don't wear them any more. They remind me of times gone by, and I have new chunky knitwear which has taken it's place in my affections. Now I feel like I have cheated on my clothes. I'm a bad girl.

Here's the pile of wonderful warmth that will be winging it's way to a charity shop near us in the near future. Hopefully it can raise a few quid to do some good in the world.

We both got quite a lot done so we had a bit of a relax with a tasty pasta bake and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on dvd, followed by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I might have tweeted along with the movie. It made Chamber of Secrets more fun, make no mistake!

30/03/2013 - How the other half live!

I was woken up this morning by singing cats. Plural. Seriously. Both of them at one point of another was meowing their little heart out in the hallway of Paul's parents' house. Barney can be quite vocal but Maia usually saves it for car journeys. This morning she made a LOT of noise. She seemed happy though, so maybe she was just singing a happy tune?!

If we thought we had a lazy morning yesterday, today trumps it by far! The joy of not being in your own home is that the pressure to do anything is lessened!

That being said, Paul and I staying on bed, channel hopping through all of the music channels on Sky. It seems as though there was a 90s weekend across the board and we got to listen to many a classic song from our youth. Yes, the music was rubbish, but at least you can laught about it now.

We then took a trip to Sainsbury's, the closest supermarket, to get some supplies for the next week and also to fill up on petrol. Word to the wise - Sainsbury's is expensive. Even their cheaper stuff is expensive! Glad it's not the closest shop to us here! Asda would win hands down for value. **

I didn't actually mean to get Paul in this picture, but as I was waiting in the car for him for such a long time, it just happened this way! Petrol, too, is expensive. Urgh.

We came back and Paul and his Mum were watching the football. I was sitting and feeling sorry for myself as my ribs and back were aching like nobody's business! I felt like I had been run over!

Barney's light reflective belly dot is judging you.

Seriously, I can't even cover that thing. He just wants to show his nipple off!

How awesome is that cushion, by the way?!

After a nice long shower and relax, it was time to head over to Paul's cousin's house (that they pretty much built themselves) for a family gathering to celebrate Paul's cousin's 40th birthday! Happy Birthday, Grant!

As I walked into their dining room, I was greated by this:

A giant stuffed giraffe. This is terrifying. I hate giraffes. They are scary scary creatures. This one is sinister. Why would anyone have this in their house?! I have a good mind to take Barney over there to show it who's boss!

I didn't really take any other pictures that evening as my battery was going very low. Needless to say, there were lots of drinks enjoyed and catching up with the family (to be). Lots of wedding questions, which I think I detracted from quite well. It was also nice to see another cousin of Paul's who is expecting a baby at the end of May! Ok, yes, it's another body at our wedding, but as it's a baby body, it doesn't count! YAY!

It's a bloomin' big house. Probably about 4x the size of ours, at least! We need to get wealthy. I want a big house with giant beanbag chairs and a massive kitchen! Pretty please?!

As I say, I didn't take many pictures, however Paul's phone uploaded this picture to our computer...

You can see where his head was at. Apparently it's nice?!

Upon returning back to Manchester, we were both pretty knackered, so it was sleepy time for us. However as Paul's dad is a nocturnal creature, he stayed up and watch the TV. You could probably hear the volume of the tv back in Liverpool it was so loud. :( No sleep for me.

Bouffle was happy to see me, though.

**Other supermarkets are available.

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!

28/03/2013 - Thursday...that's like a Friday...but it's not

The Thursday before Easter weekend is always an odd one. As it was an end of life as we know it in the legal industry (and it's not going to be a fun place to be...not that it's been much fun recently) and so we were having to prepare for new beginnings, plus also our newbie starting on Tuesday (if she shows up!). Busy busy. I probably did a lot more moving around than I necessarily should have with my current ailment, but it had to be done, so do it I did!

The end of the day came, and I have not looked forward to coming home as much as I did tonight in AGES!

Even though we didn't really do anything, it was lovely! We sat and relaxed and watched The Hunger Games on Blu-Ray, which was nice. We debated various merits and enjoyed some of the fashions on show!

No picture for you today, folks. Sorry about that. Especially as it's my mission statement. Here's a video instead! It's Maia. Dreaming away. You need the sound on high for this one. It's an 'AWWW' moment. Then I ask you to picture this noise next to you in an otherwise silent house at silly o'clock in the morning. Not so awww when it keeps you awake!