Goodness.... almost a social life!

Sunday night has rolled round again...... and for once I've actually had a weekend involving being social!

Friday night admittedly was a bit of a wash out as 15 minutes before I was due to leave work the fire alarms sounded and we all got evacuated... only I wasn't on the 1st floor where I usually live, but on the 5th...... which meant having to walk down 10 flights of stairs.... because it wasn't a drill (the coffee shop had set something alight!) I couldn't stay in the muster point on the stair well, which I would usually do in a drill if I wasn't on my own floor, instead I had to evacuate...... 10 flights of stairs, standing outside in the freezing cold for 20 minutes then getting back upstairs (thankfully only 2 flights) and coming down again so I could go home for the weekend resulted in my arthritis kicking me in the backside...... resulting in a joyous pain reaction when I unceremoniously threw up in the corner of the car park as I got to my car.... suffice to say Friday night was a bit of a wash out involving rather heavy pain killers and lying flat.

Thankfully the weather has improved and it's been bright and more importantly dry for a few days so by Saturday morning though a bit stiff I didn't feel too bad.  I did the supermarket run first thing - with mother, which is always fun.  I decided the home deliveries whilst easy were costing me too much and resulting in me buying things I didn't eat so ended up throwing out.

Shopping safely away and I got to head out into Derbyshire to have lunch and spend the afternoon with a friend, who was also in need of getting out the house for the day.  It's amazing how long lunch can last when you start talking .... thankfully the cafe we went to weren't bothered by us taking up a table for so long.  The cafe is attached to a bookshop, so we had to have a short browse before leaving.... and I seem to have accidentally purchased real books..... 3 of them are reference books and only 1 a novel so I count this as reasonable on the grounds that the majority are for research.  After lunch we went off to play in the local craft shops where she got carried away looking at pretty fabrics for patchwork and I stroked yarn, but refrained from buying anything.

Today I went for Sunday lunch with the family at my sisters...... which involved much merriment and discovering that if you unexpectedly poke Mavis the cat when she's sleeping she makes the cutest noise ever... poor cat got a bit pissed off with us by the 5th time....

I also received late Christmas presents this weekend.... some of my favourite salted caramel chocolates and some fancy cup cake cases from my friend yesterday (and had to apologise profusely because I am disorganised and haven't bought her present yet).  Then today my sister, who last weekend took her partner to meet my dad for the first time, handed me a mug that dad's other half had bought for me, well had made, which appears black, but when you put a hot drink in it pictures show up.... mine has pictures of the evil naked cats on it (mum and sister got mugs with their cats on).... I shall take it to work tomorrow to frighten everyone with the ugly cats.

I suppose I should go get organised for tomorrow....... though I have made my lunch already.... after last week I decided to avoid the sharp knives at dawn fiasco I would be organised this week and make my lunch whilst I was awake!

An accidental kind of day....

Well today didn't get off to a good start when at 4 am the dog over the road started to bark hysterically... which of course meant that the mob decreed there must be at least a hoard of Viking raiders attacking the street and joined in with the attempts to see them off.  After pacification with stern words and biscuits I retired to the sofa with them till it was time to get up properly.....

By 6 am I had given up sleeping and was faffing about chopping veg to go into my pasta salad when I accidentally mistook the end of my finger for the red pepper I was cutting and, erm, sliced a chunk off the end of my finger...... luckily my kitchen knives are very sharp (erm, no this is a good thing really) and it was a clean fast cut, which didn't hurt till after I realised that my salad was no longer vegetarian!....after applying pressure with a wad of tissue and hopping around the kitchen whilst swearing quite creatively I realised it wasn't going to stop bleeding ..... I located plasters in the third first aid box I came to (what can I say, I know myself well enough to have first aid kits liberally spread around the house and car) after which I spent a creative 10 minutes applying plasters and micro-pore tape.... yep it looks stupid, but it's padded and there is no sign of it bleeding through the plaster....

Work wasn't sympathetic to my plight........ after said finger tried to join in with the typing of it's own accord there was further minor expletives ... followed by my team leader saying that I should try not to bleed into the keyboard!

I wanted to take the plaster off earlier to check how it was doing (and not to poke at it at all, honest) but the feeling passed when work insisted I go home early as we'd had rather a heavy snow fall and it was very icy underfoot (work bless em are a bit paranoid about me falling and hurting my leg.... though I think it's more to do with the fact that it might mean I couldn't come into work than about me actually being injured!)

This evening I was actually meant to be having a bit of a social life and going out for tea (or dinner/supper call it what you will) but alas I couldn't get the car back out the drive.... instead I have listened to my new CD's which arrived today (and copied them to my MP3 player - after a minor disagreement with the computer!) and then helped my friend whelp a litter of puppies over the phone ... all pups safely arrived and doing well.

And now I shall go cat wrangle in an attempt to be allowed access to some of my own duvet!

I am a valentines grinch........

Despite the fact that at heart I am in incurable romantic who loves nothing more than a happily ever after and wishes that all her friends could find that......... I hate valentines day.....

Today I have been subjected to 4 hours worth of radio programmes which were described as "valentines specials", not to mention being bombarded for adverts on TV this evening for special cards, flowers, gifts...... and then there are the e-mails that have arrived in my in box this weekend with special last minute "valentines offers" on them - which can be anything from chocolates to sex toys....(erm... this is no reflection on the usual e-mails I receive!)

Mother's free loader.... I mean lodger.....calmly told me (in her incredibly superior and knowledgeable voice) this morning as I was having a small rant about gross commercialisation of the day in question...... that it was just because I was single and if I had a boyfriend (at which point mother snorted loudly and muttered that that wasn't going to happen as I was a lesbian) then I would think differently about it and make a special effort for someone I loved ......... erm no....... even on the occasions when I was partnered on valentines day I didn't like it and most times the day passed by un-remarked upon

For me it shouldn't take a special day for you to tell someone you love them, to make it all about one dramatic act or gesture. It shouldn't mean spending a tonne of money on worthless crap that you will either shove in a draw and forget, eat, or in the case of that one off bunch of expensive flowers, chuck out a week later when they die....

So suffice to say.... I have had enough of the cheap pink plastic hearts and flowers for this year!

Surely if you love someone then you show it every day in the things you do and the things you say, from simple acts and gestures, spending time together, offering to help or to simply be there to listen and support and to receive the same in return.

Weekend waffling.....

Welcome, to another boring weekend in my so called life!

Last night was it's usual Friday night wash out of being far too tired after the working week to do anything remotely exciting except curl up on the sofa and read.

Today, I had to go out and do things..... because in a fit of optimism during the week I decided that I was spending far too much on doing my shopping on line and having it delivered, plus I wasn't actually eating half the stuff I ordered, so I could just take myself to the supermarket and do the shopping...... which in theory was fine!

I wandered round to mother's first thing... okay, well about 10.30 am by the time I'd got my arse into gear and stopped faffing about.... so that I could do laundry and catch up on her gossip..... she's very good at gossip!  I was subjected to answering the questions in the standard crossword and the general knowledge quiz in her newspaper as I sat at the table and got on with my knitting....... though she refuses to do the suduko whilst I am there as apparently it's not helpful to have someone calling out random numbers as she's trying to think......

I did discover that I come by my inability to complete things genetically... and for once not from my father (from whom most of my strange traits come from).....  Earlier in the week I'd asked if she had any buttons as I needed some for a baby jumper I am meant to be knitting (said baby safely arrived today).... anyway, this caused her to tidy out her sewing box (mum, my sister and I all have the same boxes, they belonged to my grandma and her sisters.... whilst mum and sister actually have sewing stuff in theirs, mine is full of yarn.... oh and old photos for some reason).  Anyway, she brought out a couple of tapestry things she'd done and was going to get framed for some of her fairly young nieces........ and then she produced a table cloth she was embroidering..... and proceeded to explain that she'd started it when she was 18 but never finished it........ I've suggested she should try to finish it within the next 3 years....... as then it will at least have only taken her 60 years to complete.......... At this point I was informed I was a cheeky baggage ......

Anyway, after I'd run out of excuses not to leave and go shopping I went to the big supermarket... and drove round the car park...... and out of it....... having been struck by a complete feeling of "nope, not happening".  Now I know that I do get stressed out by busy large supermarkets - particularly when there are lots of kids, long queues and the cashiers are obviously in a hurry and throw things down the check outs....... but I just couldn't face it....... so I went to the much smaller (and in fact a lot cheaper) little supermarket (well hardly super) and managed to get just about everything I needed ....... though they don't do cat food that their imperial felinities find acceptable so I had to trog round to the pet shop afterwards.

Shopping was unpacked with only minor incident when I knocked over an open box of dog biscuits, which poured into the fruit bowl, over the side and down the gap between the cupboard and the cooker........ at which point I had to disconnect said cooker to pull it out and remove the biscuits, before the mob went through the front of it!  Yes, I switched off the gas first and did it very sensibly!

Tonight I have finished the scarf I was knitting for a Christmas present..... okay, so I didn't actually buy the yarn till the new year, but it's done now and only 6 weeks late... I shall send it with the postal fairies early next week and hopefully the recipient will get some use of it before spring arrives!   I should really get on with new baby's jumper..... though the last time I promised to do a baby jumper for a new born was just over four years ago...... and the "baby" is still waiting......

I think it is time to retire with a book now....... and then tomorrow I have a short story to write and housework to tackle before apparently the snow returns..... but as it's nothing like the people in parts of the US and Canada have at present I shall refrain from being typically British and moaning about the weather!

Wednesday witterings.....

So, I am no longer lost in the ether - work found me..... alas..... though I was locked out my user area and needed a password re-set....... which apparently can't just be done by the IT team, oh no, your team leader/supervisor has to e-mail them to tell them that you genuinely do need a new password.... yeah, cos someone else would like to break into my area and do my work... wouldn't they? Please??  Anyway, due to sudden blizzards (no really) my team leader wasn't able to get into the office.... and the head of the team was stuck in traffic somewhere ..... the IT teams solution........... I should wander to their part of the building and present myself and they would verify I was who I said I was....... I haven't got a clue how that works, I just turned up said "hi" and they said, okay and re-set the password...... I could have been anyone....... I sometimes wonder if you have to be a complete  muppet to work in IT.

Today started as usual..... though my morning routine has a new element to it...... It has been decreed that there will be at least 5 minutes of cat worshipping time...... no matter how rushed of my feet I am trying to get organised.... Basically I come out the shower, drape myself in towels and Gina promptly runs up them to demand attention....... I currently have an impressive array of scratches on my right thigh, stomach and right shoulder ..... I have now given up arguing with her and will just give her the attention.

Tonight there was, erm, a small amount of chaos at home..... My kitchen cupboards, save for the one where I keep mugs, glasses and tea making paraphernalia, are all under the work top cupboards......which is fine..... until I have "help" in getting something out from them.... As  I was reaching in to find some chilli flakes a small helpful critter (who was possibly called Gretchen) was nosing around in the bottom of the cupboard, where I keep the cake making ingredients...... she found the caster sugar...... and pulled it out, spilling it liberally over the floor..... I got to the sugar with the mop about 8 seconds after it fell..... but alas this was too late and the three evil ones had managed to lap up most of it....... the sugar high hit them about 30 minutes later after which they barked at everything and nothing, ran around like loons, beat each other up (in a playful way) and generally made a nuisance of themselves....... They were starting to crash by the time I put them to bed thankfully..... I wonder if they get post sugar high headaches, cos if so I am going to have three very grumpy critters come morning.

Anyway, I finally finished the book I was reading - it's a Dreamspinner published book and the formatting is terrible.... there are no spaces after any of the full stops and on nearly every page there are words which run into each other making it bloody difficult to read..... Oh and there are areas which could have done with much tighter editing......... I actually feel sorry for the author that his book as been put out like this.....

And now it is bed time...... oh no.... now it is time for more cat worship apparently.......

Lost in the ether....

I no longer exist!!

This morning I arrived at work nice and early (well the roads were quiet) and traipsed up to my desk, fell into my seat and switched on the computer..... and then tried to log in......... "user and or password not recognised".... Eh..... so I check my log in id and re-type my password (which is stupidly long but not that complicated - my former dogs pedigree names combined with birth dates are very useful sometimes) ... and nothing... so I log a call to IT..... eventually, apparently no one answers the phone till 9 am in IT... never mind that I start at 8.30 am.... only to be told they have a major server/network issue and some users are finding it difficult to log on .... no really?  Oh IT bods, you do surprise me with your intellect sometimes!

Roll forward an hour..... by which time I am bored out my tiny mind having had to resort to filing *shudder*..... and I phone the IT team back....... oh yes, we are fixing the problem, they tell me, only you don't exist....... eep!!

Was I fired and no one told me? Or more seriously, am I lost in the ether, condemned to roam around the broken and frayed ends of decaying networks, amid the scraps of data and lost bits of virtual memory for ever more??....... Thanks to the power of my smart phone I was able to connect with the usual subjects, who were willing to send out a virtual search party to find me........ I am not sure why they automatically thought the best place to look would be the gutter though?? Though something about me being a collector of dinted halos, mistress of the hell hounds, hunter of pocket demons and collector of smut had something to do with it...... I don't know where people get these ideas about me from!

Alas, as far as work goes, I tried to persuade the powers that be that I should have the say off..... but instead was handed a Dictaphone machine and told to get on with my work........ 

Hopefully by tomorrow normal service will have resumed and I will in fact exist once more!

Going cold turkey on the shower gel.....

Is there anything quite so nice as getting into a freshly made bed, with nice laundered and ironed (thanks mum!) bedding having had a nice long hot shower?

Nope, I don't think so..... which is how I am about to go round off my weekend very shortly as for once after stripping the bed I actually put on the new bedding rather than leaving it till I was stupidly tired and the cats were far too awake to make life easy!  I even got the new bedding on without either crippling myself or ending up in the king size duvet cover....  I should add, that thankfully my fingers are now out of their strapping and not really that painful (unless they get knocked.... thank you Gretchen!....) they are still a lovely shade of lavender.....

Anyway, there is now a down side to my showering plans .... in fact to all future showers......for alas my shower gel addiction has hit a snag..... due to the problems with my leg I have been left with stupidly sensitive skin and one of the things I've been advised (read told!) is that from henceforth I will not use highly scented soaps and shower gels.... I should only be using (preferably unscented) moisturising shower gel or natural soaps!!  This does not bode well for someone whose idea of stress relief is to go spend a long time sniffing shower gels, buying them and then glorying in long showers with lots of bubbles........ moisturising shower gels are, for the most part, really really boring........

Another huge down side is that shower gel purchasing and use makes me happy.  It also stops me going out and impulse buying things that aren't good for me (or things that cost far more money than I should be spending), particularly when I am either pissed off or depressed.......

I also have to decide what to do with the, erm, *counts* 12 bottles of unopened shower gel that are waiting in line at the end of the bath.......stupid as it sounds, I can't throw them away.... and I don't think I could give them away either...... maybe if I used them in very small quantities...... perhaps with a plastic bag over my leg........ Usually I have to just go cold turkey when giving up things (like caffeine, and bread.... and all other yeasty products...) but I really don't think I can do it this time......

Oh sod it, I am going for my shower, and using the rich chocolate shower gel for at least one last time....