18th September 2014 - Turf Wars!

Another morning spent in the gym! BOOM! 3/3! Sadly we can't go tomorrow but if we could, we would! Proud of us!

Again, I went to work a little earlier than I normally would to get some stuff done before people got in.

Today went really quick in the office, which was nice! I suppose there are plus points to being so busy! I wish every day could go that quickly!

Sadly, my voice decided to leave me today pretty much completely. I need to go on voice rest. Which is nearly impossible for me in my job. I'm a bit afraid it's not going to ever come back. I've had this problem before, about 10 years ago. Wonder if I can get a doctors note to stop me from having to be on the phone all the time?

Anyway.

I decided that I needed to get the ironing done tonight, as I hate it hanging around. There was far too much washing this week so I got all but two bits of ironing to be done.

I did get some entertainment whilst I was ironing. Barney and Maia were fascinated also!

Beautiful boy on the window!

He's hiding the real entertainment though!

The ginger and white one has been hanging around a lot more recently. The black and white one is a talker. A very loud talker. I don't think I've heard a noise quite like it! The ginger and white one was not happy with the black and white one. Think it's a bit of a bully.

It knocked the ginger one off the wall and took a chunk of it's fur with it. I shouted at it. It didn't run away, it just glared.

Bad kitty.

Then it was time for dinner, tv and sleep. Same old same old.

PREVIOUSLY...

2013

17th September 2014 - Foamy!

What should have been a beautiful lie in this morning was ruined by Paul having to go to work early for a do. Not impressed. Stupid work.

I got to work slightly earlier instead to get some stuff done before I had to give up my desk. Could have done with a lot longer than I had but that's my own fault for not getting up earlier!

I came home and did a small bit of sorting out before the evening's entertainment! Yes, it's #Whedonsday once more!

For dinner, Paul made Meatloaf in a spicy tomato sauce with green veg!

 The sauce was a lot hotter than we usually have. Must have got an extra hot chilli this time, but it was good! The lemon torte we had for pudding helped cool the mouth!

Our first ep of Buffy this evening was one of our personal favourites - just for being a bit daft more than anything else!

Key lessons learned from it, I think. It talks about about The ID and that the mind wants what the mind wants!

More importantly...

From Tumblr

From Tumblr

Very important lessons. We did, in fact, have foamy beer and we loved every second of it! :)

From Tumblr

Teehee!

After Chris left it was time for bed! We're such lightweights!

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2013

16th September 2014 - Damp.

You will probably gasp and faint and think I'm telling porkies when I tell you that we got up and went to the gym AGAIN this morning! Two days in a row! I KNOW!

I'm very proud of us. Even though my legs feel like jelly!

We got up and got ready for work when I noticed that the dehumidifier was full. No, scrap that. Not just full - overflowing. All over my carpet.

I had put it on the lid to a plastic box and that was so full (and flimsy) that I struggled to get it to the bath to empty it. So I spilt water on myself and all over the bathroom floor. It's about 8:30am at this point. Great. Guess we've found a use for the old litter tray when we eventually switch it back on again...just in case!

I put a load of towels down and put the dehumidifier onto the bathroom mat, all switched off and empty. We'll leave her for a few days to dry out and try to work out why she isn't automatically switching off when full.

Nasty evil dehumidifier, doing the opposite of your job. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO MAKE STUFF DRY!

I went to work and had another mental day in the office with the work experience girl! She's very bright and managed to get to grips with everything we taught her quite quickly. I just miss my desk!

I also fell up the stairs which wasn't bit or clever. My wrist is now a little bruised. Dufus.

After work I came home and did some ironing on my soggy carpet! It's not that bad and it hasn't soaked through to the ceiling downstairs but it's just annoying! Towels everywhere!

I got about 2/3rds of the ironing done, which is good as I really didn't want to do any, then settled in downstairs to watch some Stargate before bedtime, which is becoming a tradition I think!

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15th September 2014 - Crazy!

We didn't get a lot of sleep but what we did get was good. So good that we got up and went to the gym.

I KNOW! CRAZY!

So proud of ourselves, we went to work with the smug glow of people who have got stuff done!

Then the real madness started! For the first time in...a bloomin' long time, we had a full office. Too full, in fact, so I was relegated to my laptop on whatever desk space I could find. We had two ladies in helping with some calls that need making (both former Police Intelligence Officers...they have some interesting stories) and also a lovely young lady on work experience for a week! Great...but makes the day very difficult!

It was not helped by the fact that our connection to the work system was down until about 1pm. That's a long time to entertain and teach a work experience person! Luckily for me, she was finding anything that I was throwing at her quite interesting!

After work, I headed home and sorted a few things out but really just felt like doing nothing all evening. So I did. Nothing! Paul had treated himself to a new ipod, so he had to put some tunes on it. I just sat! As did Maia.

 I had neatly folded those towels and cloths to put away. Maia didn't want me to, it seems!

"MWAHAHAHAHA, MAMMA! Your're too soft to move me from this pile so will just have to stand there and wait for me to move my paws so you can get on with your chores!"

True story. I need man up!

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14th September 2014 - Napping and Nipping!

Barney did not believe that I should be allowed to sleep last night. It's naughty and not permitted.

He stomped on me a LOT. Hmph.

So I had a bit of a lazy morning. Paul didn't, though. He went for a good long run with Imaginary Iwan!

I did some blogging and drank tea, mostly!

Apparently I also took pictures of Maia's paws. I do love them so! I have this view under my laptop tray quite frequently! The fur on the bottom is so soft! I love it when she lets me stroke them!

I did eventually get up! Paul got back from his run and needed to get ready pretty quickly as he had football to get to!

I did more washing and some cleaning up in the kitchen but was then a little bored. So I decided to make some toys for the cats!

Inspired by Connie's blog post the other day, I grabbed some of my craft stuff and made some hessian cat nip...things. They're not balls...I don't know what they are. Will think of a name!

Maia wasn't so fussed about it but it sent Barney a little bonkers! It was very funny!

I made a couple of them and I have no idea where either of them are now! Which is good!

I watched last week's first episode of Strictly Come Dancing where we discovered who is coupled with whom and then moved downstairs to see if there was anything on tv. There wasn't. Rubbish! So I started watching 'Ripper Street' which is good but not jovial Sunday afternoon entertainment!

Paul got back quite late from the football where his team won for the first time in ages! WHOOP! We had fake Nand0s for dinner (which is a bit naughty but so nice) and watched more X Factor. It really is nearly Christmas now that's back. Depressing.

We meant to head to bed but Paul wanted to watch Match of the Day. I left him to it and came to bed on my own. He wasn't far behind me.

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13th September 2014 - They see her rollin'...they hatin'...

We were awake far earlier than we should have been this morning. My Mum is an early riser as she can't just lie in bed when she wakes up. She has to get up and do something. This is one way I do not take after my mother at all!

I got up and chatted a little. My Dad then got up too and went for a paper. 8am is too early for any sort of activity on a Saturday! At least for me!

Mum and Dad left just after 10am. We sat and watched some tv for a while but then it became too much so we went back to bed for a nap!

Paul went to do some shopping and I sorted out some washing. That's about the highest level of activity we reached today!

Much the same is true of Maia, who has decided that the futon in the spare room is the bestest bed in the world (much like Barney) so instead of me getting cuddles while being lazy, the bed got all her attention!

Rolling around purring her little head off!

She decided I needed a wash!

And a nibble. Probably because I disturbed her rollin'.

Silly girl!

We had dinner and watched X Factor then headed to bed. Boring Saturday night but we needed to chill!

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12th September 2014 - Rocking All Over the North West!

Had all good intentions of getting up and going to work early this morning. Then remembered that Mum and Dad were coming to stay, so needed to make sure everything would be ready for them! They would be coming over while I was at work, so I couldn't even rush home after I finished at 5 to make sure things were spick and span. Nope - all pre-8:15am!

I think I left it relatively acceptable. They didn't complain.

It was a bit of a mad day at work, getting things done, so really didn't have chance to think about everything, which is good! It was stressful though, but hey - what day isn't these days?!

When I got home, Mum and Dad were chilling. They couldn't work out how to switch the tv on though. Didn't think to text me or anything, just sat in silence! Random!

We had a chat then started to get ready to go out. Plans for the evening and all that. I introduced Mum to Fizz Friday, but she didn't seem that taken with it. Plus with 4 of us, the fizz didn't stretch very far. At least there was some fizz, which makes a change from usual.

Tonight was two of my cousins' birthday party! One turned 30 and the other 40 within a few weeks of each other, so they held a joint do...at a golf club in the middle of nowhere!

We caught up with the extended family and got a drink...then discovered that they had a live band doing karaoke! Normally I would have been in line with no problems but my voice hasn't been right since I had a cold a few weeks ago and can barely talk, let along sing.

Which makes me really unhappy. I'd have totally done it!

I just had to drink and take pictures/video instead!

My cousin Daniel (30th birthday boy) was up first with his girlfriend Kristina. They sang the Amy Winehouse version of Valarie.

Fun fun fun. Then it was my lovely cousin Adam's turn!

He sang at our wedding. We know he can do this!

In fact, instead of all the pictures I took, how about a gif that google made for me?

He sang "Rockin' All Over the World" by Status Quo. He was ace!

The funniest part of that gif is this still image...

Their faces crack me UP!

You rock, Ads!

Then, my cousin Nicola (40th birthday girl!) took to the stage with my cousin Karen, singing "Torn" by Natalie Imbgruglia.

More gifs, google? Well, go on then!

My favourite sill from the set...this one!

Of course, the family were all on the sidelines, cheering them on!

After all the singing fun, it was time for cake! For course!

Icing effigies of the birthday peeps! Complete with flags of the places that they have been! Great idea!

Yep - full of chocolate-y goodness!

It was lush as well!

My cousins were trying to get me to go up and sing with them but it was getting a bit late and unless it was the next song, I couldn't do it. It wasn't, so we left. My Dad was getting a bit antsy to get home as he was sober and we couldn't necessarily be classified as the same!

We got home and Paul was in the house before we even registered the same. We walked into the house and Paul presented my Dad with a well-earned glass of red!

We stayed up and shared the bottle but then headed to bed as it was going on for 1am! Dirty stop outs!

Fun though! :)

PREVIOUSLY...

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