Tuesday 21 October 2014

What I learned this week

A busy week again but we all know by now that isn't unusual.

Beautiful B and I disappeared to the cinema this week for some girlie time and a horror.  It was so lovely to sit with her and catch up on her week.  That has been the theme this week as travelling resulted in me catching up with Hubby too. 

  • It can be really annoying when waiting for a prescription to be filled a mum walks in with 3 kids that she does not know how to control.
  • It is astounding to me to see a father allow his child to pick things up in the pharmacy to examine them and to use the walking sticks for sale to slam them onto the floor.  Let alone seeing the father only try to control the child once the said walking stick almost knocked a display over while the child swung it around.
  • Sometimes it is heartening to be able to sit there and think that being rather strict with Beautiful B as she grew up has paid off.
  • Seeing Beautiful B go and care for other patients while in hospital visiting our uncle even though she wasn't on shift.
  • Herbal based products to help ailments are REALLY expensive.
  • It is silly week in Blackpool and I know that because I could hardly move in town for visitors to Blackpool wandering aimlessing around.
  • I am still confused as to why holiday makers have a tendancy to forget what a pavement (sidewalk) is and walk in the road.
  • Though he is not my son-in-law I felt really proud when Beautiful B's boyfriend helped to deliver a baby this week while working on the emergency telephone number.
  • Seeing Beautiful B worrying about the older loved ones in our family as she suddenly realises just how old they are getting after my Uncle broke his hip is very sad. Knowing just how she felt as I comforted her because I had done exactly the same thing when I had the same realisation after my dad had his second stroke. 
  • My youngest dog, Abi, has overtaken her grandma in the 'always hungry' stakes as she sits underneath the kitchen counter where her food is stored each time the kitchen door is opened.
  • Re-potting the only plant I have managed to keep alive for more than 12 months will result in it doubling in size in less than 2 months. 
  • If said plant gets much bigger I will start to form ideas on how I can decorate it for Christmas.
  • I have less than 3 hours before Hubby comes home and expects me to be organised and fully packed and I haven't done anything yet.
Oops.

So what have you learned this week.

Usual rules apply - see below. I would love to hear from you if you also leave comments on my blog.To join in Julie's What I Learned This Week carnival, simply follow these steps:

1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog and comment on my blog hyper linking to your blog.

2. Then go and visit Julie’s blog at From Inmates to Playdates, find her latest “What I learned this week” and link up with the Mr. Linky form at the bottom of the post. Please put the link to your POST, not the front page of your blog.

3. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week.

Monday 20 October 2014

Things I would ask......

.....the person who decides what should be sold in the Supermarket I use

1.     Whose bright idea was it to only sell large tubs of coleslaw?
2.     Why do you sell only one type of plum?  Oh, and by the way Victoria plums have so much more flavour.
3.     Can you increase the price of dark chocolate digestives because my Hubby is growing by the packet?
4.     Don't worry, some of us know why the beer, wine, spirits, chocolate, crisps and carbonated drinks are the first things you want us to consider buying after the fruit and vegetables.
5.     It doesn't really make a lot of sense to put the dog food aisle right in the middle of household goods.
6.    Why are razor blades so expensive?  Furthermore, please would you reduce the price of women's shaving gel because we have larger areas to shave daily than me?
7.     Have you banned or do you not like cakes in your house because I cannot find icing sugar anywhere in your store?
8.     If you insist on removing salt from your brand of meals please find some spices to use because they really need more flavour.
9.     Cola flavoured donuts are just wrong.
10.   I am trying to stop drinking Pepsi Max. I know this is very selfish of me but would you remove them from your store so I can avoid temptation.
11.   Please consider giving away free wine with an alcohol content of more than 13% because Hubby loves it.
12.   Would you start to make BBQ deep pan pizza without peppers because my Hubby is very fussy?  Better yet, make it with absolutely no calories in so it makes up for those in the chocolate digestives.
13.   Beetroot with juniper - gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.
14.   Why do your fresh ingredients never last as long as other supermarkets?
15.   Additional larger spaces for older people who struggle to get out of a car but are not blessed with a disabled badge would be fantastic! (and may save the potential for a paint job on my passenger door.
16.  One of your staff members on the till is so very friendly - any chance of cloning her to put on all of your tills? 
17.   Your store large cookies are amazing as are your ginger characters - any chance of 0% calories in them?
18.   Reaching the top shelf of the fruit and vegetable shelves for little people is a bit more than difficult - just saying.
19.   I am a little obsessed with cleaning products.  You have some of those new scented ball things that go in the wash to keep your clothes smelling fresh for weeks on end.  Can you be a darling and reduce the price of them please because I will need a loan to buy however many of those bottles I would need a month.
20.   And finally, thank you for the no quibble refund for my trousers when I ripped them on one of your displays. 

Sunday 19 October 2014

Out in the world again

I am working away in 3 different cities that span the country this week and in typical fashion my preperation is running late.  Clothes are still being washed, packing isn't done, paperwork not completed or printed.  I still have a presentation to write so I know what I will be doing in the hotel room tonight before I sleep.  Rather than worry about the procastination maybe I should be energised by it instead and just organise myself better to get things completed.
 
This week has been a busy one; my Uncle has fallen and broken his hip so in hospital waiting patiently for an operation to pin his hip on Tuesday.  As Beautiful B works on the male orthopaedic ward she is one of the nurse looking after him and that will help him feel more comfortable; mind you the morphine appears to be doing that too.  Apparently all the nurses have been telling him how they will miss Beautiful B when she leaves to start her new job next week which is just lovely to hear.
 
And so to join in with last week this coming week will be very busy with a train journey to Sheffield tomorrow to work a day there; catching another train tomorrow night to go to Birmingham where I will work a day there and on Tuesday night catch another train to London to work a day there.  The final train will be my favourite as that is the one that will bring me home to Hubby and hopefully a visit from Beautiful B over the coming days.
 
There are 3 presentations to give this week and so further chances to improve my skills in that area.  Where possible I don't do the standing thing if I have a relatively small number of people in the group as I find that sitting with them while presenting provides a more friendly atmosphere for questions.  That has involved my groups running late as there have been so many more questions than I expected for a subject such as the one I discuss.
 
My only worry this week is that I am trying desperately to eat healthier and that is difficult when I am travelling and staying in unfamiliar hotels and surrounding areas.  I may just be a total pain in the butt and ask the hotel kitchens to make me something different than that which is on the menu to make sure I can at least be assured that unhealthy fats haven't gone into the dish.
 
Aren't they just going to love me?

 

Thursday 9 October 2014

There is a reason I rarely watch the news

Well, there is more than one reason and yes the primary would be that it is just war and misery. Yes, I know it is important and we should all be interested in it but it is worrying to watch so much hurt and pain on the news on a daily basis.  

Overhearing on the news that without a bigger influx of troops some fear that one of the towns currently being protected from ISIL will fall is just awful.  And I can't help but think of the soldiers etc that go to these areas to protect us all and of course how much worry it must cause for their families.

Discussions on politics have started again as we are approaching an election and frankly I think they are all as bad as one another so I don't like listening to them tell us how they will improve the economy.  Basically I don't trust anything they say.

And then they have a nice story to follow all the bad which normally is great except before I could turn off the TV they told me who had won the Great British Bake Off last night.  So tonight I will watch it on the planner with Hubby and try and remove the name of the winner for the hour that I watch it.

Normally when Hubby is home he only watches sport on the TV and listening to Sky News repeat itself every 20 minutes or so gets tiring.  Last night he stayed at my brothers hence I put the news on this morning and I began to think that sport was the better of two evils.

Hubby all is forgiven; lets listen to sports results.....

Wednesday 8 October 2014

2 years and counting



2 years ago today you made me happier than I already was.  Happier than I ever thought possible.  It was a day that suited both of us and one that you could relax into.  A day where seeing you in a suit for the first time in your life would have been ridiculous; a day where I wanted you to be you.  And so, you stood at the end of the aisle in a white short sleeved shirt and didn’t turn round to see me walk to you on the arm of my dad because the register had told you that you shouldn’t but instead waited until I met you and said ‘Oh, there you are.’  And I breathed a sigh of relief that you had relaxed enough to not feel as almost overwhelmed at the idea of being the centre of attention as you thought you would be and could enjoy it.

It was a day where all you saw, and still see, is the dress I turned up to the wedding in instead of the one you and I had bought earlier that year.  You don’t see the different bulges that I do, all you see is me and how beautiful you thought I looked that day. 

I remember asking you to take off your glasses when the photographs were being taken outdoors because they were reactor lights and I couldn’t see your eyes and wanted to look at them every time I looked at the photographs.  I remember you goofing about with the best man and how overjoyed I was that you were enjoying it.

I remember your delight at seeing the engravings I had secretly had put in our wedding bands that signified the 3 important days of our relationship to date; the day we met; the day you asked me to marry you and of course, our wedding day.

I remember your delight at the personalised bride and groom I had commissioned for the cake because I couldn’t find one with a bald head and glasses in a white shirt and how perfect you thought they were.

I remember being almost overwhelmed at the wonderful job that Dave and Rachel had done at the restaurant when putting the tables together and noticing that every place setting was exact – so typically Rachel and that she knew that it is what I would have wanted.  I remember you giving the grooms speech and how nervous you were; so nervous that you had your hands in your pockets to help relax you.  

I remember looking at each of the 40 guests and loving the intimacy of close family and friends knowing that everyone there loved us as much as we love them. 

I remember the beautiful words you spoke about your dad who sadly could not be there with us and how you spoke about how much he would have loved me and how that made your mum and Beautiful B cry.  I love the words you said for Beautiful B and how much she loved them; so much she sobbed and the lovely, sweet words you built into your speech for my mum and dad.

I remember discussing commissioned framed extracts of the speech for Beautiful B, your mum and my mum and dad and how touched they were to receive them. 

I remember appearing from upstairs with Angel ready to cut the cake in the dress that we originally selected for the wedding dress and you not even remembering what it had looked like; it having disappeared from your mind as soon as you saw the one I did wear at the wedding itself.

I remember the feeling of completeness that enveloped me when we were pronounced man and wife and how 2 days later while holding my hands in town you said that I had been right; that marriage did feel different and that ‘it just felt right’ and how my heart sang at those words.

I am reminded of the feeling I got taking your name that day every time I sign my name, say my name and think about my name.  I am reminded that my mum was right and that I did know I had found ‘the right one’ as soon as we started dating because it does feel totally different than any other relationship that I have had.  I feel how right it is right down to my bones, in every heart beat, in every breath. 

I thank myself lucky that you walked in mine and Beautiful B’s life and never left; that your felt you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me despite knowing we could never have children of our own.  I love that you consider Beautiful B your own while respecting the place her father has in his life, that you knew just how to look after her without her feeling that you were trying to take her dad’s place; that you love us unconditionally.

I love that you fill every void that I didn’t know that I had and that I cannot imagine life without you. 

I love you and I could rabbit on all day about what I loved about our wedding day and what I love about being your wife.  But I won’t because I will tell you all this in person as soon as we wake.

Happy Anniversary my sweet.  2 years down and decades to go.

I love you until all the stars fall out of the sky xxxxxx

Tuesday 7 October 2014

What I learned this week

Another week of not completing all the jobs on my to do list.  Granted I keep adding things to it; 2 for every one I complete so I guess I don't help myself.

Today I am on leave doing all the jobs I need to as it is my anniversary tomorrow and I intend on spending it with Hubby and not completing one job on my list.

So on to this weeks lessons:

  • When my best friend Rachel disappears on a sunny holiday with her mum to the same Moroccan hotel complex that I spent my honeymoon in I can pine to be sharing the experience with her and her mum;
  • I giggle a lot when I receive a text from Rachel telling me that she enjoyed 99% of the spa as much as me despite the unexpected bonus...;
  • I am astounded that Rachel can read 15 books in a week whilst on said sunning holiday and again I would so love to be able to do that on a sunlounger with nothing to do but relax;
  • When the weather turns colder I realise how spoilt I was during the unusually warm summer and attach myself to the trusty hot water bottle;
  • The post man is possibly very grateful that Beautiful B moved out and took Fredster with him as his bark was most definitely worse than his bite;
  • When Fredster comes to visit the girlie fluffs go mad and kiss him; even Lily who is very selective with her kisses;
  • A visit from Beautiful B and Ry can be hilarious when she relays just how much she has turned into me now she is in her own house - everything has it's place, everything has to be clean and tidy.  Oh I made a little mini me!!
  • I think I am potentially going to have to mourn the death of the fireplace in the front room.  It appears to be struggling keep itself alive and lit.  That is Hubby doing more overtime to pay for a fire.
  • Drinking water as a replacement for Pepsi Max takes some getting used to;
  • As does the need to go to the bathroom much more often which begs the questions where did all the Pepsi Max go when I drank 6 cans of it a day;
  • Hubby and I are off to our favourite restaurant tonight, the one that held our wedding reception, so food and vodka are on the menu....salad it is for the rest of the week and more than worth it;
  • So far (fingers crossed and touching wood) I am not missing chocolate despite not eating it for 10 days; and
  • I forgot just how gorgeous a home made smoothie is!
So what have you learned this week?

Usual rules apply - see below. I would love to hear from you if you also leave comments on my blog.To join in Julie's What I Learned This Week carnival, simply follow these steps:

1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog and comment on my blog hyper linking to your blog.

2. Then go and visit Julie’s blog at From Inmates to Playdates, find her latest “What I learned this week” and link up with the Mr. Linky form at the bottom of the post. Please put the link to your POST, not the front page of your blog.

3. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week.