Nom Nom Nom Nom

Tonight I did some actual proper cooking.



and it tasted flipping gorgeous!

So I can add Toad in the Hole (or Sausage Toad as my mother calls it) to my very short list of things that I can cook.

I am so very proud of myself I am going for a very hot Lush-filled bath! (and Anthony is going to do the washing-up while I'm in it)

Is it Thursday?

It's certainly been one of those days today.

It started off ok, not late for work or anything, but the day got crazier as it went on.

Campbelli (who came in when she's supposed to be on holiday) and Fingers were coming up with grand plans for the kids department and none of us noticed the time so the breaks all got a bit late. Then I ended up in a HUGE queue in Boots when I went in for some more Sudafed Max.

A school phoned up needing a list of books that they wanted five minutes ago (if you know what I mean, it's a phrase that's easier to say than write!).

Then just as we thought things had calmed down a bit an old lady came in to sit down as she'd felt a bit faint while in the bus queue and ended up fainting into my arms. I was trying not to drop her and put her down carefully (since she was quite frail) while Fingers tried to track down Rich Daws (our first aider). Then we had ambulances and first aiders turn up and try to convince her to go to hospital while I sat on the floor supporting her for half an hour or so. Despite the ambulance crew trying to convince her to go, she held firm and got a cab home. (I hope I'm that bolshy at 86).

Just as we'd all got back into the swing of the afternoon, Rich Daws announced he could smell burning plastic and we all started hunting round the shop for the source. It turned out to be the sign above the lift, so we turned the light out and hoped it would stop. The smell went away but we're hopefully getting it checked tomorrow...

At least it did a good job of distracting me from the fact that this day last year I spent the day in hospital.

Thanks to the fabulous Tim from Random House I managed to get my mitts on a proof for the new Katie Fforde so I've decided my evening will be well spent by running a hot Lush bath and spending a few hours reading my new book, drinking wine and eating chocolate. That way I should get a good nights sleep to cope with whatever the real Thursday decides to throw at me!

Girly jeans, proofs and the Burning Crusade

Anthony bought me some girls jeans on Sunday. I haven't had any for years. The ones I've been wearing have been blokes ones (good old M&S) as they are so much easier to size. But we went into Dorothy Perkins and I tried on 5 or 6 different pairs until I found a style I liked. Anthony loves them, apparently they give me a "proper girls bottom". (I'm not sure what type of bottom I usually have in that case).
I haven't worn them to work yet as they sit a lot lower than my other jeans and since work is mainly pulling returns at the moment (lots of bending over) I'm not quite ready to reveal quite so much of my nice new short pants to the world.

I've also had a bit of luck (although nothing compared to the jammy git who won himself £26 on a scratchcard and £100 on the Premium Bonds on Mon) in that I managed to find the proof of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters lurking in Goods In today. I didn't think it would be something I'd be interested in from what I'd heard about it, but we've had some samplers for customers so I had a flick through one and quite liked it. GI Chris had seen a set of the proofs in Goods In but didn't know where they'd gone to. Today I found them and have them sitting on the sofa waiting to be delved into.

I shall have some time to be reading them in this week, as Anthony is working "normal" hours (7-4) and so is monopolising the computer. Since The Burning Crusade expansion pack has just come out I sense that he'll be rather preoccupied with it for a few days/weeks/months (but then again, me too!) so I shall inflict Buffy on him and perhaps actually do some of my sadly neglected cross-stitch.

It's been partly neglected because I've been having lots of baths and showers due to my rediscovered love of hot water - which I dearly missed for the week I was without it. My stash of Lush goodies (32 things) has been taking a hammering, although I've been trying bits of all the solid bubble baths rather than using up all my precious ballistics all in one go.

Right, I'm being evicted...

Breathe out

I have hot water and heating again!

Anthony came round today after his night shift and waiting in for the gasman while I went off to work. The gasman came round, changed the valve, and now my house it starting to get warm again.

I have got all my supplies (2 books, bottle of vin rouge, box of 12 Creme Eggs) and now I'm off to spend the evening in the bath.

Still cold pt 2

Still got no heating or hot water...for now.

But we got randomly lucky yesterday when I got home from work to find a message from my landlady on my answerphone.

When I phoned her back she'd actually called to ask me to forward a letter to her, but (obviously) I took the chance to mention to her that I was a little cold.

Five minutes later she called me back having contacted British Gas on the emergency call-out system. They should be with us tonight between 6 and 8 so fingers are crossed (as crossed as they can be when I'm trying to type anyway) that I might be able to see in the New Year in my traditional fashion - in a hot Lush-filled bath.

Alf has just come round to entertain us for the evening so I had better go and be sociable for a few minutes.

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...