X Factor – X Sham!

Well the X Factor has finished with what I would call the worst performance ever!

Someone shoot the twins! I mean it!

I loved Danyl, Jamie nad Stacey tonight! Lucie and Olly were ace too!

Let me know what you think!

Much Love

xxx

So Long, No Blog!

I did not really get into the swing of this blog thing so will try and be determined to post more frequently!

It has been a couple of months since my last blog and has been a busy time!

Partner and I went on holiday with some friends and family and it ended in a massive fallout with one particular friend! Unfortunately that friend has cut all ties and this has been very sad for my Partner.

Have just finished a half term back at work which has been full of pressure! Head off ill so I have been second in command for 7 weeks! Very Scary! Lots of staffing issues and the subsequent fall out has been tough to cope with but luckily all has ended on a good note!

Went to see Michael McIntyre this week – funny as ever! Really want to see some more comedians live as I love that kind of stuff! Been trying to get tickets for Russell Howard and Frankie Boyle but no luck as yet!

X Factor – have you been watching? What do you think? Personally I love Jamie and Stacey and think Lucie is good too. Can not stand John and Edward (who does?) and Rachel is a bit annoying! Will blog some more after the show later!

Just about to go and cook chicken pie for tea! Winter always brings out the comfort food! Put your clocks back 1 hour tonight folks! What will you do in your extra hour?

Much Love

xxx

Groomzilla: A Monster Awakes!!!

Partner and I attended a family wedding this weekend just gone! It was a beautiful Scottish wedding held in the spectacular surroundings of St Andrews.

St Andrews is an amazing place, rolling green hills, beautiful yellow sands and a crystal blue sea, well that’s how it looked on the sunny day we were there!

After enduring a 6 hour drive from Manchester to Dundee, we also had a midnight hunt for some food after the trusty sat nav could not take us to the local tesco!

The next day dawned beautiful and sunny, a morning of preening and grooming to make us look wonderful!

The trip to St Andrews was lovely and the sun made a more prominent appearance. The place is so picturesque and looks like a postcard. The wedding was in a little catholic chapel and there were about 100 people there. The groom was wearing his navy uniform and looked fabulous but the bride was a stunner! A simple ivory dress with no embellishments – classy and sophisticated!

The service was lovely and ended with a guard of honour courtesy of the groom’s navy friends. The photos were taken on the courtyard behind the chapel and we were bathed in sunshine.

The reception was very nice and the food was scrummy! I tried salmon and haggis for the first time!

The whole point of this post is to warn the people I know about the fact that this wedding unleashed – GROOMZILLA!

My Partner now has taken a huge interest in our upcoming wedding! I suppose I should be pleased he is keen and interested!

Partner now wants to know the ins and outs of every aspect of the wedding and has an opinion on it all – even my dress – but he is not getting a say on that!

Watch out for more blog posts about GROOMZILLA! Coming to a bridal fayre near you!!!!

Much Love xxxx

My TwitFace and the like!

The world of technology! All these platforms for keeping in touch with each other and the world! It has changed so much!

I got my first mobile phone while at university – that sounds like I was a late developer but it was 1997/8 – not too long ago but long enough! The phone was a brick and was dirt cheap from the local chemist – a pay as you go phone! The only people I could text were my sister and her friend!

While at university i was introduced properly to the internet – and through the wonder of cable tv was introduced to chat rooms. I even met my now Partner through a chat room!

The point of this post is all these social networks – My Space, Bebo, Facebook, Twitter and the rest! Even blogging is becoming the extended Twitter!

My mother has just joined Facebook and is learning the ropes! I try so hard to keep up with everyone and everything but it takes me hours to check on my emails, update my status, check my tweets and blog about my day! Anyone else feel the same?

Much Love xxxx

Summer Days?

Just recovering from a very busy weekend! The weather was nice so we took full advantage.

Partner and I were meant to be meeting up with a mutual friend and spending some time with her as we had not seen her for a while. Mutual Friend called it off on Friday night so Partner and I made our own plans!

Let me tell you more about my Partner! He loves to drive! Adores driving! We like to go for drives and Partner likes to choose places that are over 2 hours away or it is not worth it! We may only end up spending an hour at the place we drive to but he looks forward to driving home! All our holidays are in this country and we drive there! This year we are driving to Cornwall – with 4 other friends and Partner is driving the van! So that is a snapshot about Partner.

So we were up early on Saturday for our day out! We decided Whitby would be a nice drive! We live in Manchester and it should be about 2 1/2 hours drive, but oh no not with my Partner! Partner decided on going via Chesterfield which is quite a detour over the Penines the LONG way!  The journey would now take us at least 3 1/2 hours!

The weather was glorious and luckily we had air con and a sat nav that alerted us to the traffic up ahead! We exhausted the cds in the car and listened to Vernon Kay on Radio 1 – a personal fave of mine!

When we got there it seemed like the whole of the north had the same idea as we did and descended on Whitby – it was chocca with cars! I have never seen so many cars parked in one place!

We enjoyed a walk along the front and some lovely fish and chips. But as it was so busy there was not a lot to do and the sea had come in and the beach had vanished! We decided to drive down the coast to Scarborough. It was pretty similar there, busy and full of cars! We enjoyed some cold drinks by the sea and an ice cream. We had a nice leisurely walk as well.

But Partner was itching to drive home! So we were homeward bound 4 hours after we got there! At least this time we took the easy and straight way home!

Much Love xxxx

Iggle Piggle and the rest …

I have had one of the best days ever! I love days like today – even if they do leave me feeling absolutely shattered!

I spent the day with my sister and her children. My niece is 4 years old and the youngest diva I know! If you read my blog last week you would have read about the wedding dress shop and how she tried on nearly every dress in sight and adored parading around and posing in front of mirrors!

My nephew is 18 months old and a fully fledged charmer! He is full of character and has a wicked sense of humour!!!

Our day started in the car when they came to pick me up (as I don’t drive!) and my niece revealed her new hobby! Singing Take That’s ‘Said it All’ out of the car window at the top of her voice to whoever wants or doesn’t want to hear! It made me and my sister laugh so much it was hard to breathe! My nephew meanwhile spent the trip home reading his picture books avidly.

We arrived home and Nephew instantly switches on the tv to watch In The Night Garden. He is obsessed with Iggle Piggle. For those of you who does not know who Iggle Piggle is – first of all where have you been? – he is a blue chappy that carries a red comfort blanket around the Night Garden which is where dreams are made! Nephew watches this programme in a mesmerized trance! Niece on the other hand got out every game she owns and wants to play them all with me – now!

The agenda for the day involved swimming. Our local pool was closed due to a burst pipe so we ventured further afield to Manchester Aquatic Centre. It was Family session which means balls, rubber ducks, mini watering cans are floating all over the pool and children can have a whale of a time. Niece loves it -  she couldn’t get her costume and arm bands on fast enough and was tumbling, sliding and splashing all over the place! Nephew on the other hand… hates it! He clung to my sister like a baby monkey and would not let go for anything! If the water touched him he screamed blue murder! Eventually he got braver, my sister lowered herself to sit on the pool floor – it was about 30cm deep – and this made Nephew cling some more. Then as we encouraged him to splash us, which he enjoyed, then all of a sudden he stood up off my sister’s lap and began to paddle around! After 15 minutes of clinging and crying he was splashing and paddling like all the other toddlers in the pool! Brave boy!

After working up quite a hunger playing in the pool we moved on to our next location which was Pizza Hut! A treat for the kids and for me as I am trying to cut down ready for a certain big white dress I want to wear!

Back to my sister’s house for some serious playing. We went outside in the rare glimpse of sunshine and were having a great time on bikes, scooters and in the sand pit! Suddenly Niece spotted some ants and has a whale of a time stamping on them! My sister ventures over to see what they are both up to and finds a huge army of flying ants on the ground and Nephew covered in them! Cue mad hysteria of getting the kids inside and pouring boiling water on the ants nest – not Nephew!

Iggle Piggle made another appearance on the tv and then it was time to go home! I am absolutely shattered but had such a great day!

Tomorrow brings a day of shopping with my mother! Will let you know how I get on!

Much Love xx

Busy Times

Have been so busy the past few days that I have not had much time to blog! Apologies if this is a long and tedious blog entry – feel free to comment!!!

Thursday night was a great night, went out for a girly meal and drink with my Mum, sister and new sister in law to be! We went to a quaint little pub which was very cosy with sofas and little nooks and crannies to sit in! Food was great and the conversation inevitably turned to weddings! We also told sister in law to be plenty of stories about my brother! In the end we went back to my sister’s house to look at her wedding album and keepsake box – made me feel quite excited about my own wedding!!!!

Friday was a quiet day, spent most of it sorting out my many books! I have so many! I am a very avid and quick reader. When I lived at home with my parents and had a more disposable income, I would spend money on amazon each month buying the latest chick lit or recommended reads! Since moving into my own home, time for reading has decreased and so has the amount of money I have to buy books!

I decided it was time to get rid of the books I had read and did not want to keep. I was suprised at how many I had not read yet and also at the amount I had put in boxes to get rid of! They will be coming soon to a car boot near you!

Saturday was busy yet uneventful really. Trips to the tip, tesco and car wash were the highlights! Spent the evening out with my sister and her husband, brother and his fiancee and Partner! Out for a curry and then cocktails after. It was a lovely night apart from Brother going on and on about how their wedding was going to be great! I am sure it is but hey – mine is first!!!!!

Sunday brought bowling! My Partner took a tumble on the way to the bowling alley and twisted his ankle pretty badly but bravely carried on and enjoyed the three games of bowling we had! Was a nice family day and all to celebrate my brother’s 25th birthday – hopefully with age will come sense and tact!

It’s now Monday morning and I am ready to start week 2 of the holidays! Bring it on!!!!

Much Love xx

Wedding Fever!

Well the day finally arrived! I was going wedding dress shopping! I suppose shopping is the wrong word as I was not going to be buying anything, I think browsing is the right word to choose!

I already have a fair idea of what kind of dress I want. Most girls do! I want a bit of sparkle but nothing too fussy! So being the organised and prepared person I am, I went online to look at the shop I was about to visit. I looked at the designers they stocked and went on the individual sites. I found a dress that looked almost perfect! But I am not the smallest of figures and my luck is NEVER in! I didn’t go with high hopes of seeing anything let alone trying anything on!

I have already picked out the bridesmaids dress style I want so my sister tried that on and it looked amazing on her and I am sure it will look as equally amazing on the other two bridesmaids as well! I also took my 4 yr old niece who will be a bridesmaid as well and she modelled some gorgeous dresses. She looked amazing in all of them, it was hard to narrow down ones we liked best!

Then my sister says ‘Aren’t you trying anything on?’ to which my reply was ‘They’re not going to have my size in here!’ After which my sister pushes me down towards the wedding dresses and says ‘Just look! You never know!’

So there I am, while my niece tries on the 10th dress of the morning, I am browsing the rails of white and ivory satin, silk and taffeta! Then out of the corner of my eye I spot a bit of sparkle. It can’t be! There it was! I checked the computer print out and low and behold it was the exact same dress I had spotted online! Then came the next hurdle – do I check the size label or not? Do I risk it? I squinted my eyes shut and reached for the tag – YES! It was in my size! Well a size below but still! It had a corset back so it could still be done up just not properly!

I silently beckon my sister and show her! She grabs it and rushes down the shop to tell the wonderful assistant that I would like to try this one on please – all this before I have time to breathe in!

So there I find myself – in a dressing room with a strange woman tying up a corset backed sparkly ivory dress (that’s all the info you’re getting!) I couldn’t believe how good it looked, Mum was choked, sister was choked, I was choked! My niece was too busy still admiring herself in the dress she was wearing! Then to top it all off my mum grabs a nearby veil and tiara and completes the look! I could not stop staring at myself in the mirror! I was a bride!

So there you have it, the ramblings of a bride to be! The first of many dress trips! Felt so overwhelmed!

By the way – the kitten is a lot better today!

Much Love xx

What a day!

Well – I thought today would be a quiet one but I was wrong! Up early again – only because Partner was due some parcels and muggins here had to wait in for them!

I was casually eating my breakfast of crumpets and juice when Tinker the kitten entered the room. I would not usually notice this but there was an unusual amount of noise that accompanied this entrance! With every step she took, poor Tinker uttered a painful meow! As I looked more closely I could see the rather large limp she was walking with!

Let me tell you more about Tinker! We brought Tinker home on May Bank Holiday just gone. She was the most charismatic kitten from a litter of 5. Now I wish we had gone for the quiet one! Tinker got her name about 10 minutes after we got her home! She was everywhere! Up on the sofa, behind the TV, climbing the dining chairs etc etc! She was only 6 weeks old and could barely see the top of the coffee table but within minutes had discovered how to get up there! Our previous cat, Graham, was the complete opposite! He was laid back and easy going. He would sleep all day and do not much more at night! He spent equal time on mine and Partner’s knees! Tinker on the other hand likes to bite toes, scratch and play a little too aggressively for my liking!

So back to the limp. I was understandably worried. Vets bills loomed in my mind! I picked her up – no biting – good sign. I felt each of her legs – no flinching or biting – another good sign! She ate when I fed her and used her litter tray – good signs all round. All that is left is this limp and occasional painful meow! Going through the day she has been a lot more laid back and sleepy. I’m hoping she can sleep off this obvious twist or sprain. She was probably up to no good when she received it!

Back to my day! Parcels arrived all well and good – I was free to enjoy the second day of my holidays. Now you may find this weird but I love to organise and sort! My classroom is very organised and well labelled! My home is not so! My job for the hols is to sort and give purpose to the two spare bedrooms in our house. At the moment they are dump rooms, stuff is dumped there! There used to be purposes for these rooms but they vanished under the pile of boxes, wires and goodness knows what else!

Today was day one of Operation Purpose! All junk was cleared out of both rooms and dumped into one of them – the largest one! The aim is then to sort the smaller one and then move on to the big room! I’ll let you know how this progresses!

Another big piece of news! My little brother came back from his holiday to Egypt today. He arrived back a little different. He went with his girlfriend of 5 months, and came back with a fiancee! Yes they got engaged while they were away! I am very pleased for them – as long as they don’t get married before me and Partner!

So my quiet day turned into quite an eventful one! Roll on tomorrow though! Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid dress shopping! Yay! I will let you know how it goes!

Til tomorrow fellow bloggers!

Much love xxx

Holidays!

Well today is the first day of my long 6 week holiday – it sucks being a teacher! The weather has been as changeable as my mood today and the kitten’s mood too!

Was up at 8am – yes 8am for the first day of the hols! I hate wasting the day and not much of a lie in person! Partner had already left for work so it was just me and the cat! Toe nibbling from the cat indicated to me that it was time to get up!

After feeding the cat, showering and then feeding myself it was time to hit the shops! Not as exciting as you may think! Dropping of a prescription, picking up some storage baskets and buying plug unblocker is hardly glamourous!

Back home and the cleaning commences! I hate a clutterd and untidy house, but the past few weeks at work have been so hectic my house has slipped into the bog of eternal stench! (if you love the film Labyrinth you will appreciate that!)

Kitchen, downstairs loo and utility room done before lunch! Phew!

Then came the real challenge – the clutter of the living room! Partner had recently bought a PS3 so there was relevant paraphenalia lying around plus games and controllers! They all fit neatly into the new storage baskets bought earlier! Hope Partner appreciates my organisation!!! (doubt it!)

Vacuum came out from the cupboard under the stairs and made a rare appearance all over the house – yes even upstairs! Kitten really hates the vacuum and I haven’t seen her since!!!!

So there you have it! The glamourous life of a teacher on the first day of the hols!

Wednesday will be a highlight – wedding dress and bridesmaid dress shopping!

Can’t wait!