Assorted Assortments

My keyboard feels funny...this is because we just popped all the keys off, hoovered all the cat hair out of it, wiped it down and then stuck all the keys back in again. This means that some of them now feel worse than they did before, of course.

I had several things I wanted to post about this week, and then by the time I got home from work I was too tired to do anything except quickly check my email and other folks blogs and then flake out on the sofa. My sofa flaking was ably assisted by Anthony fetching me drinks, the cats being fuzzy and cuddly and the new series' of CSI and ER starting. Next week is Torchwood too!

We went to see Leyton Orient play at Nottingham Forest yesterday as a late birthday present for me. (we went to visit Anthony's sister too). I wore both my Orient tops (my black top with glitter logo underneath the team strip), tights under my jeans, my lovely scarf from mum and my big Christmas coat...and I was still freezing! But it didn't rain which was appreciated.
The score was 4-0 to Forest. Bugger. But hey, we beat them 4-0 at Forest last season so it's just karma (and we were bottom of the league at the time, they were in the top three). Best chants of the match have to be "one nil to the famous team", "you're not famous anymore" and "you're not famous anyway", attributed to Forest, Orient and Forest fans respectively.
Now I just have to persuade Anthony that going to the Walsall match in a couple of weeks is a good idea...

I spoke to Miss Campbelli the other day and she told me I had to blog so she'd know what I was doing. So just for Campbelli.

This week I have been mostly...

...taking Nytol so that I can go to sleep at a sensible time.
...watching ER on DVD.
...trying to decide how to decorate the drawer unit I got from Ikea. I like this one. (Mine is the version with two big drawers at the bottom).
...finding myself in fiction.
...ooohing over this book at work.
...trying to help Anthony choose whether to buy a lap-top, or a big TV that he can connect a tower to so that we can play WoW together at my house.*
...working on the sunflower cross-stitch.
...thinking about which cross-stitch I might do next!
...eating Creme Eggs.

*The WoW thing may sound more than a little bit geekish, but we like it.

Soothing Sunday

I did intend to post about my dad's funeral today. It's a month since the funeral and I've written most of what I want to say about it, but it's still not quite right. So that will appear at some point I'm sure.

In the mean time I have been having what Anthony called "a proper Sunday". Since I've worked three out of the last four (and that one I was at Center Parcs) it's actually the first Sunday that we've had together at home since the beginning of September.

Last week I was longing for a Sunday at home, I spent the day at work looking forward to this week and it didn't disappoint.

We had a nice long lie-in and then Anthony went to the shop for the makings of bacon sarnies while I did some washing-up. This afternoon was spent watching V for Vendetta (which I watched on Wed but wanted Anthony to see) and stitching (me), WoWing (him) and generally chilling out.

This evening we are going out to the best curry place in town, the fabulous Cafe Champagne. We are also going to be enjoying the company of the lovely Miss Campbelli and her Jamie. It'll be great to see her, can't believe I haven't seen her for nearly two months!

Anthony will be on nights next week so I shall have lots of PC time and mum's stitching may get sadly neglected.

To Do List

1. Wake up to Foley purring in my ear.
2. Have fairly productive morning at work.
3. Have horribly frustrating and unproductive afternoon at work.
4. Walk Campbelli to her car and share rants about work.
5. Get home to letter from bank informing me that because I have gone £30 over my overdraft (due to a £30 charge they did not inform me about), they will be charging me £30.
6. Throw boots across room in frustration and burst into tears.
7. Put on "Mr Brightside" very loudly and sing along.
8. Make delicious Black Russian.
9. Sing along loudly to "Fat Bottomed Girls", then turn music down as remember that double-glazing is pants and if I can hear the "brothers" sitting on the wall outside, they can hear me.
10. Blog.
11. Check email/blogs/FaceBook.
12. Put on pizza for tea.
13. Make another delicious Black Russian.
14. Earn 90 gold on Warcraft. while eating pizza, watching CSI and making more Black Russians when required.
15. Buy flying mount.
16. Go to bed feeling better.

Selection from Thursday's To-Do List.

1. Buy more vodka and Tia Maria for making Black Russians.
2. Go to bank.
3. Have better day at work.

Haircuts and other girlish things

Now we all know I'm not that good at being girlish, in fact I sometimes think that Emily got all those genes - and jeans come to that as I only have one pair of girls jeans and the rest are mens ones, cos they are long enough in the leg!

One of the things she is good at and I'm not is haircuts. She always has beautiful hair and what's more she knows how to DO things with it. When my hair was long I would stick it in a ponytail, now it's short I wash, add wax and then go. No fuss. But this does mean that I tend to neglect my hair and only ever get it cut once in a blue moon.

It was a blue moon today.

Anthony was a darling and sent me off to T&G so it would be nice and short and under control for our holiday (in 12 days, but I'm not counting) as I hadn't had it cut for a few months and it was getting more than a little unkempt.

I did start to worry when after explaining to the guy that I wanted choppy layers, looking a bit like lovely Meg Ryan if he could manage it, he announced that he was thinking more Victoria Beckham and that I needed to be more feminine. So he washes my hair (always pure bliss) and then starts chopping away while I sit there with my eyes shut, only partly cos of getting hair in my eyes.

When he'd finished I was unsure, then I went over the road to work (T&G's is across and then three shops down) and realised again why I love my workmates.

Faye said "Wow" and that she nearly didn't recognise me, Chris gave me a thumbs up and said it looked good (extra kudos to him for noticing despite being male), Fiona saw me coming up the stairs to see Campbelli and said "Wow, here comes Kate looking gorgeous" and then Little Miss Campbelli told me that it looks fab. (Aren't they all so so wonderful).

So I am now feeling better about my hair, although I still don't know who it will behave once it has been washed and styled by me instead of Ruan (who was saying how my hair seems quite straight and under control naturally - afraid he got that VERY wrong), but we shall see.

Here we are then...



















Suitable for a week on the Costa Brava?

The End of Harry Potter...

Well, that's it. The end of Harry Potter. Three hours of overexcited customers including two of frantic bookselling, and then 2 and a half hours of reading and it's all over.

It was bloody good though.

The two major characters that she said died...it was more like 5 to me. One death I knew was going to happen from the minute I finished the Half-Blood Prince, one was totally totally unexpected and had me shaking and in tears. Another was a surprise but not such a shock, and the other two were so linked that if one was killed the other had to be.

There were actually quite a few characters who didn't make it to the end but couldn't really be described as major really. They were kind of accumlative deaths if you know what I mean. Big huge fights have to claim more than one victim and they need to be named characters.

I can't quite believe it's all over. But it very much is. That last chapter that she's had written for years is sort of a "happily ever after" one, it leaves the way open for a little more, but also means that you leave characters happy and getting on with life rather than just after the fighting has stopped and the dust is clearing.

Ah well.

Right then, I'm due back at work in 5 hours so I'd better go and get some kip. I wonder how many plot hints I can drop at Campbelli tomorrow before she thumps me?

Truths

Matt is very good at pool. Anthony and Katie W are pretty good at pool. I am not as good at pool as I was when at uni, but I still think I am until I start playing.

Contrary to a belief I have held for a long time, I CAN walk and dance in shoes like these without breaking an ankle. (although my calves are killing me this morning).



(For me, that is a very big heel!)

No matter how good Campbellis sexy pizza was, I refuse to believe it could be nicer than my BMT from SubWay.

Black Russians are still a very nice drink. Having them made of Kahlua, vodka and Pepsi instead of Tia Maria, vodka and Coke was something I thought would make them less nice, I was happily proved wrong.

The Quadrant is a nice place to have cocktails but the music is too loud for sensible conversation. This is why we spend most of our time in there stroking Campbellis legs.

Campbelli looks bloody gorgeous in a dress!

The Royal London has a chandelier that I may have to steal. Although I'll pass on decorating my loo with a collage of Barbie pictures.

One Barbie picture was a colouring page that said "Theresa has come over for a sleepover. Brighten up our night with your pens" Naturally someone had added an i to that last word.

Anthony is still asleep and snoring, this is possibly because he is trying to avoid the fact that we either have to go to Ikea today or next Sunday and he's trying to forget that fact.

We are going to Ikea to get a frame for my sexy picture that he bought me when we went to see the BTCC. (It's the one in the middle of the top row here.)

My sister is at Le Mans this weekend and I am very slightly jealous. I have been promised that if she enjoys herself I get to go next year!

I am going to wake up Anthony and remind him of Ikea...

Happy things for Campbelli

A collection of nice happy things has to be kicked off with It Is Just You, Everything's Not Shit which always has something on there to make me smile.

Heard of lolcats? I LOVE lolcats. I can only cope with them in small doses though as otherwise my incorrext spelling gene kicks in. I love going to I Can Has Cheezburger? for a daily dose.

Miss Campbelli has the most beautiful umbrella that has blue skies and clouds on the underneath of it. I've never seen another one anywhere but this one comes close to it. Pretty!

Another happy thing (but unlinkable really) is the fact that among the other things I did today at work, I removed 31 copies of a book that was cluttering up her children's section!

Love you Campbelli! xxx

Curry and Lyrics

Curry:
I am going to be eating a fantastically nice curry in a minute.
We bought it from Asda the other day, Limited Edition Buttered Chicken Marsala. I had it on Thursday night along with three naan breads and a large glass of shandy. It was bloody lovely. So lovely in fact that we went back to Asda tonight after I finished work so I could get another one. Anthony is just dishing it up now... YUMMY!

Lyrics:
It's not just Green Day that suffer from me mishearing the lyrics. Everyone knows that ABBA sing the line "When I saw you last night in Tesco", but have you ever heard of the Yappy, Yam and Yead songs?

John Denver sang the first one "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy". Yes if you get all proper and sound your haitches then it's fine, but when you're singing it mutates into "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me yappy". This is what I used to sing when I was little and later led to the second song...
Take That and Million Love Songs - "A million love songs later, here I am". This one was pointed out by my dad when they came on TOTP and he said "Not that bloody yam song again!"
The Yed song is a relatively recent addition. Sung by Blink 182 it talks about the fact that "you're just a voice inside my head", again with the haitches!

(Pause to eat some curry)

I really do mishear lyrics all the time. The most famous example is a song my parents have that apparently talks about Alan being an Elfchild. Not to me. To me Alan will be forever an Eldron, whatever one of those might be.

Classic.

I just googled for the song, and got the lyrics below. No Alan mentioned! So the line I have always sang as "Alan was an Eldron, Eldron, Eldron. Alan was an Eldron down beneath the sea".... was not even close!

Ok, I think I need to stop now!


Steeleye Span - Elf Call Lyrics


i heard a bonny cow low, cow low, cow low,
i heard a bonny cow low over the lea.
and it was an elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and it was an elf-call calling unto me.
and the little elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and the little elf-call said unto me:

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

“what do you moan for, moan for, moan for,
what do you moan for?” the elf king said to me.
“i'm moaning for my own child, own child, own child,
i'm moaning for my own child far across the sea.”
then the little elf king, elf king, elf king,
then the little elf king said unto me:

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

i heard a bonny cow low, cow low, cow low,
i heard a bonny cow low over the lea.
and it was an elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and it was an elf-call calling unto me.
and the little elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and the little elf-call said unto me:

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

Looking for the Moomins

Today I made a promise to Campbelli that I would write a blog tonight, one on Saturday, one on Sunday and one on Monday because she wanted something interesting and strange to read. It would probably have been better if I had some vague ideas of things to write about before vowing to do this, but then again if I'd HAD ideas for stuff to write about I would have blogged it anyway.

My head seems strangely empty at the moment. It's like my internal dialogue has turned itself off. I don't know if this has anything to do with my mother telling me that she worried herself when she did something silly and the little voice inside her head said "Now we both know that you didn't want to do that." Both!?!

Anyways, my head seems mostly vacant. It might be because my life has changed completely since I moved house. Not in a "I've had a stroke and have to learn to talk again" kind of a way, just in a "I've pretty much stopped watching TV and now spend my evenings attempting to unpack boxes and then giving up and going to play WoW" kind of a way. Surely this should mean that my head has more time to do its own thing without trying to figure out who did what in CSI, but this seems not to be the case.

I've also developed even wonkier eating and sleeping patterns than normal! This is something I'm working very hard to sort out as it's quite annoying spending mornings at work like a zombie and then being bouncingly awake until 1am. I've even started trying to eat breakfast again. Ok, so it's either a SlimFast cereal bar or shake, but it's breakfast! (and a bit more nutritious than a Mars bought on the walk to work). I've even cut down on the alcohol. Again, it's mainly cos I've got a taste for bitter shandy at the moment so I'm drinking that rather than Kronenbourg but it's an improvement.

I've taken to listening to my iPod when I go to bed in an attempt to switch my mind into sleep mode. A nice dose of Pratchett audio while I play solitaire and the light dims down. I just have to try getting to bed earlier. I did try playing music instead of the books but that wakes me up too much so I shall just have to hang onto my Audible subscription for a little longer.

(I'm rambling now and have lost all direction in this post, can you tell)

Right. The title for this post came from the fact I was listening to Green Day on the walk home and discovered that in When I Come Around he does sing "I'm just looking for the Moomins" at one point. I thought that this would be a good title for a blog post in which I could ramble on about the music I've been listening to lately. But it's too late and I shall do that tomorrow instead!!!

Lack of blogging and unpacking...

Hello folks! (in best Neddie Seagoon type voice)

How you all doing out there? Well actually I know how most of you are doing as I've been reading your blogs but not actually writing one of my own. Campbelli told me she was shocked at my lack of bloggage so I thought I'd better whip up some inspiration from somewhere.

I'm still unpacking, naturally. In fact, there's still stuff at the old house to be moved over here! Most of it is bits and bobs that weren't essential to be moved straight off (xmas tree and decs, boxes of stuff from school and uni) but there are occasional things over there that I really wish I had moved that weekend (like the microwave). Since it is only a two minute walk between the houses, moving things hasn't been too bad, it's just getting up the umph to go and get them!

Most rooms are mostly done, but there's still boxes and bin bags scattered round the place. I've taken some photos of the house so far (which I will post when I've uploaded them) including my current wardrobe arrangements (black bags scattered across the spare room floor), the front room (with boxes of odd things that currently have no home) and my bookshelves in the middle room - which are about the only things that are "properly" organised so far.

Those bookshelves actually nearly drove me round the bend, trying to fit my favourite authors onto them in combinations that made sense but that also fitted! Then yesterday I made the mistake of buying the new Meg Cabot book (Size 14 Isn't Fat Either) and nearly cried when I realised it wouldn't quite fit! Luckily my bookselling skills came to the fore and I was able to fit it on in true bookseller style - the kind that usually fits 8 hardbacks in a space that should only hold 5 paperbacks, you know the style.

I have been "nesting" like crazy. Not in a broody fashion (although I am and trying to resist it), but in a wanting this place to feel like my home quickly fashion. The nice people at Additions decided to raise my credit limit just before I moved so I have splashed out on new throws, cushions and curtains. Now I just await my new statement and monthly payment total...eek!

In other news:
- I got to speak to Mark today after one of his colleagues was an absolute star.

- Campbelli didn't win the award she was up for :-( but she is still the best bookseller in our Division and we are very proud of her for that :-)))

- I have become far too enamoured with Facebook. I'm not spending hours and hours on there, but with the broadband changing (and thus the browser I use) it has become my new homepage... Once I've come online and poked everyone and then gone round and read blogs, whatever it was that I'd planned to blog about has just whooshed straight out of my tiny little brain!

Oh, and the various problems with this house (back door now broken) should all be getting fixed next week as the guy phoned me today to sort out coming round on Monday to start work. Yippee!

Right, I'm off to see what goodies we've got for dinner and to see if anyone has written on my Wall...

Rollercoaster Ride

So this morning I went off to sign my new letting agreement for my new house. Got there at 10.30, read through and signed the contract, then had to take a quick detour into town as they couldn't take my deposit off my debit card and I don't have a chequebook.
Holding £950 in my sweaty little hands was quite nice, although Anthony insisted that we didn't walk back to the car past work in case I was overcome and spent the lot on books.

So, contract all signed, money handed over and key obtained! Yippee!

Then we went over to the house...

Basically for a house that's just had new heating, new carpets and been decorated, it wasn't really "finished" (as those TV people would say). There are marks on the walls by the paintwork and stains on the new carpets. Fine I thought, I'll just make a list and take photos so I don't get penalised at the end. Bit of rubbish in the garden, again, this can be sorted.

Came back here and did a bit of packing and had a nap as I was shattered, although Mr Nightshift couldn't get any kip so he's been up now for 24 hours... (not good when he's trying to disconnect my washing machine).

We went back over there to hoover the carpets ready for tomorrow and to write a list of the marks etc. Three A4 pages later I decided we'd better go see the letting agents. Basically, as well as the marks and unpainted pipes (which are just cosmetic so not that hard to live with), only two of the doors actually shut properly, we couldn't find any way of making the shower work, and in the passage between the houses where you can take the bin out, you can look up and see the floorboards of one of the back bedrooms. Most of the things were there when we viewed it the other week, but then they hadn't put the carpets down (they only went in yesterday) or finished off so I just thought they'd have fixed them.

Anyways, the list is with the letting agent and they're going to speak to the landlord tonight. I will almost certainly be moving in tomorrow and Sunday as I can't really move at any other time due to work etc. The guy at the agents is going to sort it all out apparently - I'll just have to trust him.

I did annoy myself by almost crying when trying to explain to the letting lady about why I had to get this done. Work this week has been very stressful and next week with certainly not be any easier so I wanted moving to go as smoothly as possible.

Ah well, that's life. It's all a learning experience.

I'm off to pack more things, I just hope that everything in the house gets sorted double-quick, that Virgin Media can connect me up nice and quickly, and that I hear some fabulously good news about Miss Campbelli on Tuesday night!

PS: I do have a 1kg bar of Dairy Milk for when I get overwhelmed!

Happy Valentines!

This is what I got for Valentine's Day...



It's nestled just between my shoulder-blades and currently aches.

I think the aching is also possibly due to the fact that Anthony bought a Wii yesterday too. All that nunchuk waving as I try to spank Rabbids and bowl strikes has made my arms ache. It's exercise though!

That's one of the contributing factors behind its purchase, the fact that Campbelli has one and has stopped going to the gym because she's getting lots of exercise from it. Also the comments that one of his co-workers made about "sitting back and watching her bounce up and down" (ahem) - I can't even work out how to explain that so it doesn't sound smutty so I won't.

Anyways, it's stonkingly good fun, although the cats are a little confused by it.

You'll get a photo of the actual tattoo when it's no longer covered in clingfilm and antiseptic cream - in about two days.

So that was Christmas...

...I had a very nice time. I shan't blog about it all now as a hot bath with some of my new Lush stuff is calling and I have a new book to read courtesy of Miss Campbelli.

Emily had a new shiny camera for Christmas (joint with her 21st birthday) and spent lots of time taking photos.

Some of the best are here...

...and my hair definately looks more blonde in person...

Frustration

(written on 19/11/06)

I still can't get Blogger to work when I want it to!

I think of something to write (usually while I walk home) and then get in all eager to write it, then Blogger tells me there is an "error". I've then been too grumpy to write whatever it was in Word and so my musings either blow away on the wind or Anthony talks me through whatever it was. Not that I wouldn't talk about it with him anyway, but I wanted to write about it too.

So this one I have put into Word, after a week of trying to post nightly (well, barring Wednesday when we were in the pub) and a weekend trying to post every 3-4 hours (barring Saturday afternoon/evening when I was in Nottingham).

Things haven't been out-of-this-world exciting, but then life rarely is. Things have been important-to-me exciting, which is far more likely.

I went to see the Bonzo's with my dad way back on the 9th (I wrote a whole post for this but will add it later), and Miss Campbelli came back to work on Monday! (the 13th)

It has been very, very nice having her back. In the five days that we've had her, she's helped us rearrange the shop (seriously - the whole ground floor layout has changed), filled a whole notebook with her plans for the children's section, and entertained us all at the Xmas meeting on Wed - by NOT getting drunk! I don't think I'd realised just how much I'd missed working with her. Hearing that dirty laugh from the back of the shop, hearing her tell me or RichieFingers to focus, and even just seeing her bombing around with an armful of stock that you know will be in exactly the right place when you go to look for it later.

This weekend I went to Nottingham to meet Anthony's sister's family for the second time. We're going to theirs for lunch on Xmas Day and I'd only met them once so Anthony decided that a visit was a good idea. I had a very nice time too. Yes, there was the moment when I got there and I suddenly didn't want to get out of the car, but that's normal for me. We chatted about random things, discussed food choices for the Xmas lunch, and even played a little Guitar Hero with the boys (Jon and Matt, very much his nephews). So now I'm much more relaxed about spending the day there, which is one bit of Xmas less to worry about.

That does make it sound like I'm stressed out, but I'm not. I'm a lot less stressed than I was this time last year, when I was trying to organise buying presents for 10 people (including myself) so the fact I have three to buy for my family, all of whom have actually told me exactly what they want this year, and a few to buy for Anthony, who doesn't know what he wants at all. I have fairy lights up already (but only in my bedroom) and I'm gradually getting the high at work that enables you to serve on the till while helping two other people with enquiries!