Me and Mine

Universal Studios

2009-09-14T17:08:00.005+01:00

When we got to Universal studios we were disappointed to find that the new rolercoaster (the ROckit) due to open summer 2009 was not yet open. However, on heading out of Shrek 4D a park worker announced the Rockit was open for technical testing, the interested parties dashed off like a rocket (pun intended).

The intrepid few - Matthew, Sam, Peter,Andrew and Stuart decided to particpate in the "technical" testing. Now to my mind testing means it is not yet working properly but were they bothered? Nah not a bit. I felt physically sick at seeing the rollercoaster which actually takes you up at a 90 degree angle!

After getting off (they waited over an hour and a half in the queue) Stuart said it was the best roller coaster he had ever been on, one of the things that made it so good was that you had your own personal music track playing while you went round. So they can proudly say they were one of the first people in the entire world to go on that rollercoaster.
Being universal there are always the characters to see, and the boys just had to get a picture with bart!

Universal was an awesome day and the Simpsons ride was one of the best simulators ever!

Magic Kingdom

2009-09-14T17:00:00.003+01:00

Well Magic Kingdom is my most favourite Park ever. I absolutely love it, and seeing that magic castle for the first time is amazing. When we arrived at magic kingdom in bright sunshine we thought great, 10 minutes later the heavens opened for about 5 mins. and we were all absolutely drenched, 30 mins later the sun was blazing again and we were dry!

The Villa

2009-09-14T16:51:00.004+01:00

The villa we had in Florida was absolutely fantastic, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a swimming pool. Car wise we had a 12 seater van and a cheap and nasty 4 seater. Don't ask me what make they were one was white and one was black, what more do you need to know!

Florida

2009-09-14T16:42:00.002+01:00

Well, it has been a busy summer, in August we packed our bags and headed off to the sunny climes of Orlando Florida with some friends. There were 10 of us in total. The drama for us however started at the airport parking!
We were asked to leave the car parked outside reception and the key on the front seat, which we duly did. About 5 mins later one of the drivers came onto the coach asking who owned the quasquai! Apparantly it had locked itself - well we thought this was ridiculous, the key was in the car it cannot have locked itself! Sure enough we tried the door and it was locked!!! Panic ensueed as I had not bought my keys (or so I thought!) I intended to leave mine behind so as to not risk losing them in America.
The driver suggested getting a neighbour to get the spare key from home and press the remote down the phone (apparantly that works!). As I was rummaging about in my handbag for my phone lo and behold i found my keys! Considering it was 730 am on a saturday morning I am glad i did not have to ring my neighbour.

Leaving primary school

2009-07-16T20:01:00.002+01:00

Today was Alex's leaving assembly before she moves up to High School in September. I have to confess to shedding a little tear as it is the end of an era, no more trekking up to the primary school for me ever again! - well until grandchildren I guess :P

This evening Alex has gone to her leavers barbeque and disco as the picture below shows she really is growing up, my baby is growing too quick!

40!

2009-07-15T13:19:00.005+01:00

On Friday July 10th Stuart was 40 years old, as a "treat" for the old codger I booked him a tandem skydive. He absolutely loved it as you can probably tell from the photos below where he does not stop grinning.

Getting togged up

In the plane

Sitting on the edge of the plane 2 miles up waiting to jump!!

Freefalling above the clouds at 130mph!

Freefalling through the clouds

freefalling with the ground getting closer and closer

Parachute opens!

After the skydive we headed up to the green farm Hotel in Thorpe Market Norfolk. I would definately recommend it for a weekend away. We stayed in the paston room.

http://www.greenfarmhotel.co.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

Despite the fact I had a chest infection and spent most of the weekend coughing and spluttering I think he had a good birthday :D

Teenager in the house!

2009-07-01T18:07:00.002+01:00

So today we officially have a teenager in the house, Sam is now 13 years old. Trying to get her to have a photo she actually likes is impossible these days so no photo yet!
Mark my words I will get one.

Saturday we are going shopping so she can spend some of the ridiculously large amount of money she got for her birthday - better make the most of it I guess cannot see her letting me come along for much longer. Unless she wants me to pay of course!

microchip - OUCH

2009-06-25T17:41:00.002+01:00

poor poor Mazey, she had to go the vets todayu to have her second injections and they microchipped her too. Having had previous cats microchipped when they were being neutered I had never seen this before. OMG what a needle, it was huge and the poor thing was clearly in pain while it was being done.

I now feel like the evilest person in the world for putting her through that, she went quite happily into the carrier at home this time, I guess next time will be a different story!

Still hopefully next vet trip will not be for another 6 weeks when it is spaying time, maybe she will have forgotten by then!

All is well!

2009-06-16T20:42:00.002+01:00

Well I think we can say integration has been a success, this morning we woke up to find Tommy asleep in one computer chair and Mazey asleep in the one next to him.

Mazey seems to have settled in really well, Alex is absolutely thrilled with her as she is a very cuddly kitten :).

More Mazey Pics

2009-06-09T16:50:00.003+01:00

well, so far so good, her and Tommy have been in the same room together without hissing, they have touched noses and they have been eating in the same room at the same time, fingers crossed! Here are some more pics of her.

Tommy

2009-06-08T17:25:00.002+01:00

Last night I caught Tommy totally chilled lying on the sofa, he is one big cat!

Mazey

2009-06-08T17:18:00.002+01:00

So, despite the fact Paws only passed on Friday the house did not seem right with just one cat and Alex was really upset so we decided another cat was in order. we did not want to get an adult cat as we felt Tommy may adapt better to a ball of fluff!

Mazey is 15 weeks old and completely mental, I did manage to take a couple of pictures, the hardest part is getting her to stay still long enough!

RIP Paws

2009-06-05T19:09:00.003+01:00

Today our beloved cat Paws passed away aged 5 years old. We believe she was hit by a car as she was found at the side of the road. Alex in particular is devastated as Paws was her cat and she slept on her bed every night.

We collected her along with her brother from the cats protection league in December 2004.
Alex and Stuart are burying her in Alexs duvet cover as she spent so much time on it.

Paws September 2004 - June 6th 2009.

R.I.P.

Hair

2009-05-30T17:06:00.002+01:00

So Sam has the most gorgeous hair colour, hair colour I would kill to have and today she dyed it! I have to admit though the dye has bought out some lovely dark red highlights so it does look very nice.

Suffolk Show

2009-05-30T09:18:00.004+01:00

On Thursday the 4 of us went to the Suffolk Show for the first time in about 9 years, the kids quickly became bored hanging around wth the "oldies" so we sent them off with some money in their pockets and their mobile phones. They came back covered in sticlers and wearing silly hats so they must have had fun!

Stuart and I had fun too, we discovered a dalek and a tardis!

We were also transfixed by one of the acts in the main ring, Jive pony they were called, I was transfixed by the skill they were showing on the horses, Stuart was transfixed by smething else!

All in all a great day out.

Midnight Walk

2009-05-30T09:14:00.004+01:00

So Last Saturday myself and about 2000 other women decided to walk 8 miles around Ipswich at midnight! All for charity of course. It was a lovely evening just right for walking, there were a few perks around the course, particulary these at one of the refreshment stops!

It took us just under 3 hours and i finally staggered into bed about 330 am, my legs were really painful for a good 3 days afterwards!

Cars!

2009-05-04T14:49:00.005+01:00

So now Stuart has finished his garage he needs a car to put in it. He is still undecided what to go for but is thinking about a Bristol. So off we went to our local classic car event the annual Ipswich to felixstowe run. They all gather in Christchurch Park before setting off.
Alex and Stuart were looking at all the cars with me trailing behind. I decided I liked the Triumph vitesse but Stuart is still keener on a Bristol. To his delight he found 3 Bristols and was able to have a good old natter to the owners about restoration etc. Alex was the official photographer for the day and managed to take photos of the bristols from every angle much to Stuarts delight!

The red one!

The front!

the engine!

the dashboard!

Below are just some random photos from the 150 other ones Alex took!

Night out

2009-05-04T14:46:00.002+01:00

Saturday night we went to a ball, not often we get a chance to dress up all fancy. I do love a man in a Tux!

Garage finished!

2009-04-29T08:01:00.001+01:00

Paris

2009-04-26T21:10:00.003+01:00

Just got back from a wonderful romantic weekend in Paris. As you can see below Paris is so romantic even the pigeons are in,love !

Our first stop was the Louvre and wow what an impressive building, it is absolutely massive, we only looked round one wing, the one with the Mona Lisa of course - doesn't everyone! The painting is surprisingly small and you could not get very close

Next was the Eiffel Tower, it has always been a dream of mine to go up there. We queued for about 45 minutes to get in then got to the second platform by lift no problem but then had to wait 45 mins for a lift to the top. It was cold and very windy but I am glad we did it, the view was incredible.

The picture below is of the Notre Dam cathedral, after traipsing around the Louvre and Eiffel Tower we decided to view the Notre dam from the comfort of our boat as we cruised down the seine.

We had a fantastic time although Stuart seems to have got food poisoning and is currently curled up in bed feeling very ill!

cross stitch update

2009-04-21T16:52:00.003+01:00

it is progressing!

We have half a roof!

2009-04-20T16:31:00.002+01:00

Tiles going on nicely :)

Gables!

2009-04-19T19:04:00.003+01:00

The gables are bricked up, the tilers come in on Monday and the garage doors are being fitted Wednesday. Nearly done!

the roof goes up!

2009-04-14T10:05:00.002+01:00

The roof is starting to go up, next step waiting for the roofers to put the tiles on!

update!

2009-04-12T17:55:00.002+01:00

So the scaffolding went up and they bricked up to roof height.

garage pics again!

2009-04-10T17:17:00.002+01:00

Stuart trying to look like he is doing something but believe me he isn't!

More garage pics!

2009-04-05T17:10:00.002+01:00

garage update

2009-04-04T17:09:00.004+01:00

And the garage is starting to go up, pictures from today:

It dwarfs the garden!

cross stitch update

2009-04-04T17:07:00.002+01:00

Latest cross stitch picture :)

The garage part 3

2009-03-29T15:25:00.001+01:00

Ok so now we have bricks yay. First layer of bricks have gone on, now the builder has to come back and fill in with concrete and the rest of the bricks go on after or something like that anyway.

More Zoo pictures!

2009-03-29T10:13:00.006+01:00

So just a few more pictures the first ones are from the familiar friends section greedy goats!!!

Feeding the elephants is always a popular albeit slimy experience

Just some random pictures of various animals.

Despite the weather everyone seemed to have a good day and I certainly enjoyed going back to the zoo again.

Colchester Zoo

2009-03-28T18:23:00.008Z

So today we took Alex and 2 of her friends to Colchester zoo for a late birthday treat. Just as we arrived at the zoo it started raining!! Fortunately it only rained in short bursts throughout the day - could have been worse. Colchester Zoo was a very popular haunting ground for us when the kids were younger but we have not been for about 4 years, even so I was still amazed at the changes for the better they had made. A new sealion enclosure and a wakthrough underwater tunnel, new orangutang enclosure, changes to the "familiar friends" area to name but a few.
Having already established the favourites to visit - meerkats for me and Alex, penguins for Stuart and big cats for Georgia and Leah we started out.
The first place we came to was a touchy feely centre - bleuugghh pictures below of the cockroach and alex holding it - made me shiver just thinking about it!

We soon found the meerkats much to everyones delight, who can fail to be charmed by these cute animals!

Stuart and i decided we were a bit cold and a coffee was in order so we dispatched the kids off for half an hour (mobile phones are wonderful things) and sat in the warm having a coffee!

Monkeys were a big favourite with the girls particularly these little squirrel monkeys, even more exciting because there was a baby to see. Pictures are a bit naff as it was hrough glass and most of them were indoors but never mind!

Of course we had to go see the big cats, I am rather proud of these photos considering they were through glass and at max zoom.

More pictures to follow!

day 2 in a tale of 2 garages

2009-03-24T20:09:00.003Z

ok so today I get home from work to find a lorry the size of the house pumping concrete into the garden. For some reason i imagined them filling in the metre deep trench by hand. There is also a pile of earth nearly as big as the house! and apparantly half of it had already been taken away.

So in my garden at the moment is a humungous pile of earth and a moat of concrete!

The lorry the size of the house!

cross stitch

2009-03-23T17:35:00.002Z

still plodding along with it, next progress picture below :)

A tale of 2 garages

2009-03-23T17:20:00.005Z

As I may have mentioned we are having a garage built, not just any garage oh no! Stuart decided he wanted a super duper long garage so he can restore cars! Anyway before the new garage can go we need to take the old one down. By we I do of course mean the royal we :) . He did however have some help from my dad and brother. pictures below of the demolition process!

So the old one is down work on the new one can begin! See below for day 1 in the garage process, you can also tell how big it actually is and how much of my garden it will swallow!

Cross stitch update

2009-03-09T16:11:00.003Z

latest picture showing the progress of my cross stitch, hopefully you can now see what it is! Still a long way to go though. I have also got a picture showing my fantastic cross stitch frame i got for free from the freecycle website. Fantastic site.

Clearout!

2009-02-28T16:48:00.002Z

In anticiaption of the new garage and having to knock the old one down we have been having a good old clearout! Today was the shed so we can move things from the garage to the shed.
The stuff we found and chucked out - mostly kids toys that have not been touched in years - pogo stick, cricket set, skittles, petanque, swingball, tennis net to name a few!!

Spiders were galore, Stuart saw one run across the floor and thought it was a mouse until he saw it again!!!

Tomorrow I head to lakeside shopping centre with my friend while Stuart gets to sort out the garage.

public speaking!

2009-02-26T18:13:00.001Z

Second public speaking for the week done phew! Was not as bad as I feared but I am still glad it is over! there were only 50 people to talk to today so not as many as I thought.

Stress

2009-02-25T21:46:00.003Z

So this last couple weeks have been a bit stressy, today I had to go and talk at a conference in newmarket, tomorrow i have to go talk at a conference in Norwich. although despite my fears today was okay, fingers crossed for tomorrow!

On top of worrying about this my next masters assignment module is due in on Monday and I really am not even sure I understand the question!!

But hey stress is healthy right?

I booked Stuarts 40th birthday pressie he is going for a tandem skydive, we are then headed up to a quiet 16th century hotel for the weekend which should be great :)

We were hoping to have a double garage built for Stuart to start his new hobby of building a classic car, we were going to do the block paving at the same time. Unfortunately the bulding society decided our house had dropped 50k in the last 6 months and refused to lend us as much as we need. After a couple days stressing (mostly on Stuarts part because he really really wants this garage) we decided to borrow what they will allow and find the rest of the money from elsewhere. It means the garage will get built but the block paving needs to wait.

Hopefully march will be less stressy! The garage should start being built middle of march - pictures as it happens!

cross stitch

2009-02-25T21:37:00.003Z

cross stitch still underway, taking shape a bit more though hopefully you can tell at least what the part I am doing is!

February

2009-02-16T10:37:00.002Z

wow well the year is whizzing by, and I am slacking yet again with this blog. Nothing very exciting has happened to me over the past month, my shoulder is not getting any better apparantly this impingement syndrome can take months to improve - joy oh joy!

Following on from my successful cross stitch attempt last year I decided to go for something a bit more complicated for my next attempt. Below is the start of it, much as i love doing it it makes my shoulder hurt if I do it for too long so it has to be done in baby steps. Can you guess what it is yet?

Resolution

2009-01-23T17:47:00.002Z

So new years resolution going well so far, 3 weeks in and 5lbs lost plus an inch off the hips and 2 inches off the waist :) Hopefully it will keep coming off.

January

2009-01-13T17:42:00.002Z

January sucks! Getting back to work and trying to motivate yourself when the weather sucks bleuughhh.

Took my parents out for a meal for their 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday, lovely meal, I had roast pork but Stuart had roast pheasant. The diet went a bit to pot though with the apple pie and custard, having lost 3 lbs last week I doubt I will lose quite as much this week.

Had a routine blood test last week and it turns out i am anaemic, so more tablets to take! I feel like I am falling apart and i am not even 40!

Had some good news this weekend though Stuart has booked our weekend away in paris - 24th April - something to look forward to.

On Saturday Stuart had a tooth out under sedation at a dental clinic - I had to accompany him, the actual proceedure took 10 minutes but when he came out he was as high as a kite talking about mushroom leaders!!!!!!!! He then proceeded to lose his memory of everything for the next 4 hrs. He did not remember anything from going in to the dentist at 1210 to waking up at 4pm on the settee. I could have done anything to him :D

Cross stitch

2009-01-01T18:22:00.003Z

So having done a tiny cross stitch card I decided to attempt a much larger project for my parents 40th wedding anniversary on 4th january. I finally finished it and I am very pleased with it if i do say so myself.Unfortunately the photographs have not come out very well but you get the gist.

Happy New year

2009-01-01T18:07:00.003Z

Happy new year to everyone. Well it is all over for another 12 months. The Risebrow household was very pleased with what santa bought although mum and dad did have to go buy a pair of headphones for Alex on the 27th!!. The noisy theme continued with a set of singstar microphones for the PS3 for me and Abba singstar! - woohoooo.

pictures below of the girls with their 2 favourite presents - Sam and guitar hero 3 and Alex with her electric guitar.

Christmas day was spent round my parents, where a fantastic dinner was had and a great time by all.

Unfortunately Stuart and sam were recovering from the lurgy but it did not seem to spoil their Day too much. They of course duly passed it on to me and Alex on the 27th although thankfully we were both recovered enough to enjoy new year.

New years Eve was spent with friends at their house as they have enough room for us all to stay over and the kids all get along really well, the evening was spent getting drunk and playing mario kart on the Wii and singstar on the PS3 - Abba anyone! We finally went to bed about 2 am think and the kids were racing around upstairs about 730!!!!!

Having come back home there are some new years resolutions I am determined to keep this year.

1. I will lose 21 pounds before going to Florida in August

2. I will try and be more tidy at home

3. i will try to be more organised at work.

Watch this space to see how it goes! diet starts today.

One final picture because i think it is really nice, Sam this morning.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T14:07:00.002Z

so only one more sleep until Christmas.

Realising I had forgotten a couple of things I headed into town this morning, surprisingly quiet. Went into Woolworths for probably the last time ever - very sad, fond memories of getting pic and mix from there before heading to the theatre or cinema. I guess that says it all though fond memories from childhood but Woolies has been overtaken by the internet for most things.

So I have 2 ill people at home both Stuart and sam have stinking colds, hope they feel better tomorrow and me and Alex can avoid it long enough to enjoy Christmas!

Just made sausage rolls to take to mums tomorrow - Stuart nearly collapsed in shock, baking is not something I tend to do.

This afternoon we are heading off to the crib service at our local church then we will come back, snuggle in front of the Tv and watch chrstmas films for the evening.

Have a very merry Christmas everyone.

finished work!

2008-12-19T16:05:00.000Z

Woohoo finished work now until 5th January. Christmas starts right here!

Getting ready for christmas

2008-12-14T19:18:00.002Z

Well i spent 4 hours in town today mooching round the shops finishing off my christmas shopping, was wonderful, not as busy as i expected although Woolworths was packed. I am very impressed at how cheerful all the staff were considering they do not know what their future holds!

Now all I am doing is waiting for about £100 worth of stuff from Amazon to arrive. According to the website it should all be here tuesday! Fingers crossed.

I have taken holiday from work this year so after Friday 19th no more work for me until 5th january! wooohoooo

2008-12-10T17:46:00.003Z

So when we put up the christmas tree samantha was in charge of the camera mostly, when i looked back over the photos it seemed she had spent a lot of time photographing herself at arms length. I have to say though there are some lovely photos.

Scary how quickly she is growing up!

Nearly Christmas!

2008-12-09T16:59:00.004Z

The Christmas Tree is up it's nearly christmas woohooo!

We put the Christmas tree up on Sunday,

Now all I have to do is write my christmas cards and finish the christmas shopping!

woohooo

2008-11-22T18:52:00.002Z

Got a letter this morning from our mortgage company - ING Direct - our mortgage has dropped by £100 a month due to the latest interest rate drop!!! Much love to ING for passing this cut on.

Going out tonight for a friends 40th birthday, heading to a chinese, Stuart is driving - yay. Well he had to do something to get back in my good books, yesterday he had a black tie dinner with work, he got home at 0130 but found he had forgotten his key!!!!!!!!!!! considering I had been in dreamland since about 11pm I was not amused.

Good job I love him that's all I can say.

Where has the time gone!

2008-11-17T16:33:00.002Z

Well yet again i have been slacking in my blogging exploits. This past weekend I went to Nottingham to stay with some friends so we could all head off to the NEC for the Hobbycraft show, they were also kind enough to put my mum up!

Tony cooked some fantastic food over the weekend and was a wonderful host in keeping us stocked up with food and drink (although he was a bit stingy with the chocolate :P)

It was great to see them again.

Spent a fair amount of money at the craft show but not as much as I could have. Journey back from Nottingham was really good traffic was light and there was no rain!

When i got home we all sat down and watched merlin from saturday - I absolutely love that programme.

Today dawned cold and wet, what a wonderful start to the week! Anyone else hate mondays?

High School Musical 3

2008-10-25T18:05:00.003+01:00

So this afternoon i took Alex to see HSM 3 and i have to say I really enjoyed it. It is just like Grease (but for kids obviously!) We got there half an hour before the performance was due to start and the queue was already snaking round the foyer!

It focuses on the senior year at East High and so is looking at the decisions they have to make, college, friendships etc with all the trademark singing and dancing. I think there is definately a HSM 4 in the works as they bought in some new characters from the year below including the trademark female bitchy character.

I liked the original HSM but hated HSM 2 so was really not looking forward to this one but I feel this is the best of the lot and left me with a warm fuzzy feeling. I expect Alex will be singing the songs all evening, hell who am I kidding so will I!!!

2008-10-24T19:43:00.002+01:00

Been a busy week this week, or at least it seems i have not stopped all week! Monday evening I was invited to an awards evening for the princes trust as someones guest - was to do with work but was still very nice!

During the day i was at a local high school doing some practical health skills with year 10 science students, that was fun and i think they enjoyed it. I had to squeeze into my uniform which is getting a bit tight!!!

Been busy at work as always but better busy than bored I guess.

Tuesday evening we went to Alexs parents evening, she is doing very very well at school far better than Stuart or I realised, very proud of our little girl.

Wednesday Stuart was invited to a Royal Acadamy of dramatic Arts(RADA) event as the guest of some company he deals with he was totally star struck having met Richard Wilson, Alan Rickman (what a legend!) and the new bond girl. Good news though he comes home having won a raffle prize - 2 tickets return travel to paris on eurostar first class!!! wooohooooooo

Then Stuart went on a course Thursday/Friday which left me all lonely, still at least he is back now.

Thursday evening was an open evening at Northgate high School the high school Alex will go to next year so we had to spend a couple of hours up there trying all the activities they had going on. Alex is really looking forward to high school now.

As I write this Alex is at her school disco so yet more running arund for me, athough I think I might send Stuart up the school it's too cold for me :D

Alex has been pestering me all week to book tickets for high school musical 3 because she is convinced they will all sell out, so finally I did! we are going tomorrow at 1530 so watch this space!

more photos

2008-10-15T20:42:00.004+01:00

So I have been doing some more scanning and found some photos i forgot existed.
This first picture was taken in about 1993 I think

This one was taken in 1999, the kids used to love dressing up!

I found some photos from our wedding, note where Stuarts eyes are in the last picture some things do not change!

Photos

2008-10-13T16:42:00.003+01:00

So I have been scanning all my old photos and look what I found - wasn't samantha a cutie :)

bored

2008-10-10T20:52:00.002+01:00

Sooo I'm bored! no-one to play with on EQ, kids are watching TV, stuart has gone to bed early and I feel really fed up and lethargic can't be bothered to do anything.
Guess i will go kick the kids off the TV soon and veg for a while but i have watched so much lately my planner is nearly empty!

I am so bored I have started making a list of things I want father christmas to bring me! How sad is that!

It's Friday!

2008-10-10T18:36:00.003+01:00

Yay it's Friday! and the sun has been shining and weather looking good for the weekend.
So You know I do a bit of scrapbooking/memory albums as a hobby, thought i would post a couple of my latest creations.

Cross Country

2008-10-09T16:56:00.003+01:00

Alex came 20th out of 120 in the cross country race, she was very pleased and we were very proud. Here she is before the race getting some advice from dad!

Slacking

2008-10-06T19:20:00.005+01:00

So nothing written here for a few weeks I am slacking big time.

We went to a wedding on Saturday a friend of mine from work here is a piccie of the 3 of us all scrubbed up and ready to go, as you may notice samantha towers over me!

Been really busy at work and also starting my new Masters in education module, it also looks like I will be doing my tutor subject support for numeracy too in the near future guess i am just going to get busier!

Stuart is studying hard, he has an exam to take on Friday, fingers crossed he passes it.

Alex is representing the school in a cross country competition on Wednesday, proud mum and dad will be there cheering her on. She is determined she is going to win even though we have told her doing her best is what is important, guess it does not hurt to aspire to be the best :D

Sam has informed me today she only has one christmas present she wants this year - guitar hero 3 for the playstation 3, I have to say Stuarts eyes lit up in anticipation, I wonder who it will actually end up being for.

Wow 2 weeks

2008-09-26T15:39:00.002+01:00

Well it has been 2 weeks since i blogged and what a busy 2 weeks it has been!

Last Friday I was given an early birthday present from the family (why it was early will become apparant!). It was a WiiFit!!! yay been wanting one for a little while, no idea how stuart managed to get one but get one he did.

Spent a good couple hours as a family on Friday evening playing on it - its a load of fun.

The next day I had a girly weekend with some friends in London - earlyish start caught the 930am train from ipswich. Got to London about 1030 was glorious weather, found our hotel dumped the bags then found a nice pub with outside seats for a couple hours - perfection. We then headed down regents street and finished up at Covent garden for more drinking. In the evening we went to a persian restaurant and even tried our hands at belly dancing!! we then headed off to a little bar in Soho before staggering back to the hotel.

Sunday was another glorious day, we walked to regents park and sat there for a bit drinking coffee, we then caught a boat from embankment up the Thames to St. Catherines dock where we spent the next 4 hrs sitting in the sun drinking before catching the train at 1630.

The next day I head off to a work conference in Oxford on Adult guidance, it was very interesting and worth going to. The Tuesday was my birthday and the conference did not finish until Wednesday (hence the early birthday pressie :) ) returned home on Wednesday absolutely knackered and back at work Thursday.

Thankfully it is now the weekend and i can relax!

Stuart is heading off to the ipswich beer festival tonight so i expect he will come rolling in at some ungodly hour drunk as a skunk!

Friday at last!

2008-09-12T17:22:00.002+01:00

wow what a week at work I've had I am absolutely shattered.

I did however find time yesterday to donate blood. I am always being contacted by the blood donor service asking if I can give blood as my blood type is o resus negative. Not a rare blood group by any means but a blood group that can be given to anyone no matter what group they are. Usually O- blood is used in emergencies when there is no time to cross match or find out what blood type the patient is. Hopefully that will stop the telephone calls for a few months!

I have a girly night out tonight at a local chinese restaurant looking forward to it, looking forward to relaxing.

Nothing much planned for the weekend, we have a wedding next month to go to so me and the kids are going to go clothes shopping!

Florida!

2008-09-06T17:20:00.002+01:00

Yay our Florida holiday is booked. We head out on 15th August 2009 returning early hours of 30th August. Staying in Highlands reserve - details below. http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/brochures/florida/holidays/florida_homes/orlando_homes/highlands_reserve/

I am so excited, even more excited than the kids are I think.

Been at my scrapbooking day today, so much fun but i always come home exhausted.

September

2008-09-01T17:13:00.006+01:00

So 1st September, before we know it the shops will have father christmas and all their decorations up.

August has been fun, had a great weekend this weekend when Tony and Grete came down, had a barbeque, went paddling in the Sea (Holland-on-Sea) - well some of us went swimming. Went to a car boot sale on Sunday - always fun :). Pictures of the weekend below :)

Once our guests had left i sat down to finish my assignment for my masters module, 4 hours later and it was done yippeee. Next course starts in October - I'm a glutton for punishment!

Last night Alex says mum I need some handwriting pens, some pencils and a pencil case for school and sam says oh yeah and I need a spanish dictionary. Bearing in mind we went shopping for school stuff a couple weeks ago and they were asked if there was anything else they needed.....

So me being a sucker took Alex into town when i finished work today and we managed to get everything needed for school on Wednesday.

Weekend

2008-08-28T23:25:00.002+01:00

So friends coming down this weekend which I am so looking forward to, but it means i have spent the last 6 hours cleaning the house. Sometimes (hell in fact all the time) I wish i was a good housewife who did housework on a regular basis so these mad cleaning episodes are not necessary.

Still housework takes up valuable Everquest time or reading time, or TV time or scrapbooking time. Whats a girl to do?

Mamma Mia

2008-08-27T22:29:00.003+01:00

Just got back from the pictures where me and some girls from work went to mamma Mia singalong version. Had a few drinks before we went in and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic, had a fabulous time.

Lots of singing and dancing :D the only question is when shall i go again!

Payday

2008-08-27T07:50:00.000+01:00

It's payday!

Long weekend

2008-08-25T16:15:00.002+01:00

So its the end of the long weekend and in true british style the weather was pretty crap, still at least it did not pur down all the time. Saturday Stuart went to the football to watch Ipswich town lose err i mean play and me and the kids did some scrapbooking. Saturday evening we had a family DVD night and watched 10,000 BC (actually quite good) and Hellboy (in preparation for watching the sequel at the pictures). We had some popcorn and crisps, lights out surround sound turned up just like being at the pictures :).

Then me and stuart watched Sweeney Todd - we did not realise it was a musical Stuart detests musicals. Fortunately it was not too bad although very gory and very very dark.

Sunday Sam and a friend went to the ipswich carnival, when i was a teenager the carnival was great - usually had a big funfair and lots to do. Well i got a phone call 2 hours later asking if i could pick them up apparantly there was no funfair and the stalls were pretty unusual - testing for chlamydia anyone!!!!!

Alex had a friend round for the afternoon and sleepover so they commandeered the living room and the TV, there might only have been 2 of them but they were more hassle than sam and her 5 friends put together! I think it was 3 am before they got to sleep but unlike sams friends they werent quiet about it.

Monday dawned bright and at 930 the whole house was still asleep as i snuck out to a car boot sale. It was huge the biggest I have seen in a long time, got a couple of books which i was pleased about but i was even more pleased that was all i came back with. This afternoon I went to the pictures with Sam to see wild child - was a good teen film I enjoyed it and sam thought it was brilliant which is praise indeed from her.

Alex has headed off with her friend to go on a boat trip, at least the weather is dry if a bit overcast.

knackered!

2008-08-22T17:01:00.003+01:00

So, 4 days at work this week 9-5 and I am absolutely shattered. It seems every man and his dog wanted to see me this week! Still a nice long weekend to look forward to lets hope the weather improves.

I have an assignment to be finished for my Open University masters in Education course and i am so lacking the energy to do that - only a week left to do it - help!

Have been enjoying watching the olympics the last couple weeks, I still feel an immense sense of pride when I see that Union jack being raised and the national anthem being played. The kids do not seem to have the same sense of pride in the union jack and the national anthem, I don't know "when i was a young un........"
Think happy sunny thoughts for the weekend :D

Shopping

2008-08-18T23:24:00.002+01:00

So today was shopping for school day. Shoes - always a trial, Alex was her usual fussy self and ended up trying at least 15 different pairs on before finding one she was happy with the poor fitter must have been at her wits end. Sam was much easier, first shoe shop found a pair - fantastic.
Trousers next, found some nice black ones fairly cheap for Sam, the trouble is I am a sucker for clothes and sam found a very nice blouse (not school related) and Alex found a very nice coat (in the sale I might add). Me being the soft touch agreed to buy them for them - not such a cheap couple of pairs of trousers after all!
Stuart ordered himself another pair of glasses after losing his in the lake (hahahha) and we went to an all you can eat chinese buffet while waiting for them to be ready.
We have also decided on a date for our trip to Florida next year - 15th August so we went into a couple travel agents to get some quotes - I am so excited already how can I wait 12 months!
Stuart then decided to buy sam a new phone as hers is the same as the one he lost in the lake (hahah again) and he likes it more than she does. So off they trotted to carphone warehouse and sam is the proud owner of a samsung phone that slides up (apparantly the feature she most wanted).
After 2 weeks off it's back to work for me tomorrow, still have to earn a crust.

Sleepover

2008-08-15T10:29:00.003+01:00

So last night Sam had a sleepover, she had 5 friends over who all arrived about 430pm. Not sure how but Sam insisted they would all be able to sleep in the living room so I left them to it. They were watching DVDs most of the evening and I know they were watching a scary one at one point due to the screams that kept emanating up the stairs.
I went down at 11pm and asked them to be quiet as i was going to bed, that was the last I heard from them although apparently they did not go to sleep until after 3 am!

While this was going on Stuart decided to go fishing for some peace and quiet and relaxation. He left about 5 and returned home just after 10pm absolutely soaked. Apparently he had fallen in the lake, while it was funny and I laughed he does appear to have lost his designer glasses and his phone looks beyond repair.

Alton Towers

2008-08-13T16:36:00.008+01:00

So on Monday we set off for a few days away intending to have a day at Alton Towers. We left about lunchtime and made a stop on the way at http://www.hamertonzoopark.com/. I particularly loved the meerkats who are always so cute. I also saw something I have never seen before a wallaby with a baby in its pouch. Check out those claws!! I bet that hurts!

We arrived at our travelodge just off the M6 and decided to head off to the cinema, we watched the dark knight. Good film but i must confess to being bored for about the last 30 mins. as were the girls.

Tuesday was Alton Towers day http://www.altontowers.com/pages/theme-park, we woke up to rain, after a quick discussion it was decided we would still go as we could not guarentee the weather on Wednesday and as we were returning home Wednesday it would be a shorter day. So after a quick breakfast at the little chef next to the travelodge we headed out for a 30 min drive to Alton Towers. When we arrived it was raining but not too badly.

Throughout the day we had periodic rain showers some very heavy some not soo bad, we all got very very wet despite raincoats. Sam, Stuart and our niece Maddy all headed straight for oblivian which is basically a huge vertical drop straight into the ground. Made me feel sick just looking at it. This followed with rides on Air, Nemesis, Corkscrew, Rita racer (o-100 in 2.5 secs!), and too many more to mention. even Alex went on most of them (I chickened out of most of the rides !)

Despite being absolutely soaked we had lots of fun and left at 1830 ish having done everything we wanted to.

We were absolutely shattered after our day out (and wet) so we returned to the travelodge for a hot shower and headed out to a chinese restaurant. We were all in bed and asleep by 10pm!

Wednesday we returned home arriving at 3pm.

Car Boot sale

2008-08-10T21:56:00.003+01:00

So last week I promised the girls we could do a car boot sale this weekend as long as the weather was OK. Despite a very late night the previous night I set my alarm for 0630. I looked out the window and it looked pretty bleak to me, black clouds and the ground was soaking.
I went back to bed then poked Stuart to confirm for me that the weather was too grotty to go, he said it looks like it will brighten up "I would go for it". Muttering under my breath i got up and started to load the car up. I woke the kids up and just as we were about to leave the house at 0715 it started to rain! I said no way we are going if it is raining much to Samantha's disgust and irritation - huh why was i woken at 700 on a Sunday if we aren't going blah blah

An hour later the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky! Typical!!! so we piled into the car and arrived at 0830, very late to start selling at a car boot sale but we still had a good spot.

The kids were having a competition to see who got the most money although they had agreed to divide everything equally at the end of the day. We left at 1200 with only 1 box of stuff remaining out of the 7 big boxes we had - result!

The winners were
me - £28.65
Alex £27.50
Sam £13.50

Despite a bit of gloating by Alex they were both happy when I said they could have my money between them too, they had £34 ish each - not a bad mornings work. To top it off I got sunburned.

Rain!

2008-08-07T12:59:00.002+01:00

Last night was eventful, a thunder storm started about 2300 that was so close it was making the front door rattle. The thunderstorm carried on and was still carrying on when at 130 all the power went off, a quick glance outside showed that the whole street was in darkness. Of Course Alex woke up and was scared meaning we had to rummage around downstairs for candles and torches. Fortunately Stuarts phone has quite a powerful torch on it.
We found some large candles and put them on the windowsill in the hallway to cast at least a bit of light for alex. She wanted one in her bedroom but with the cats wandering about we felt it was too risky.
I phoned the electricity helpline to be told it should be fixed by 0430, told Alex this and went back to sleep. Next thing I know Alex wakes me up to inform me it is 430 and the power isn't back on yet! was I happy to be woken up?!!! At least the street lights were on now so I woke Stuart (who was even happier than me !) and it seems when the power went out our main switch had tripped so we flipped the switch and power was restored. Alex went back to bed happy and finally woke up at 11 am. Of course poor Stuart still had to be up at 0630 to catch his train.

So I have a week away from work and what do we get? Rain and more rain! The kids are going crazy being stuck indoors, they have done swimming seen everything worth seeing at the cinema, rented DVDs what shall we do!!!
In desperation I looked at the internet and found a little craft place called Crafty Coffee Stop where the kids will be able to make and paint - hopefully Sam won't find it too beneath her. So that is where we are off to any minute :)

Wow where has that year gone

2008-08-05T17:28:00.003+01:00

Ok Ok so its been a year nearly!!

So what has happened over the last 11 months, well Samantha finished her first year at high school with an excellent report and seeming to have enjoyed it.

At 12 years old she is now taller than me at 5 foot 5, and has a bigger shoe size than me - no more pinching her shoes for me!

Alex is now 10 and will be going in to her last year at primary school in September.

No proper holidays for us this year we are saving for a big trip next year to Florida! although we are heading up to Alton Towers next week for a couple of days.

We had a bit of a splurge earlier in the year on gadgets - new LCD huge Tv, Playstation 3, DVD player, cinema surround sound system. We also spent a load of time redecorating the hall stairs and landing and carpeting the living room. Still at least it looks nice now :)

I make a promise to myself to update this at least weekly.

Tata for now

Tracey

2007-09-18T17:44:00.000+01:00

Ok i am not very good at keeping this blog updated!

The weekend just gone I went to London with 3 of my girlfriends, we decided not to use the tubes as the weather was so gorgeous and ended up walking about 9 miles! On the Saturday we went to Oxford Street and Regent street for some shopping. Then we headed over to covent garden. In the evening we went to a restaurant in Soho called Little Italy, the food was fantastic. we then found a small club in soho - cannot remeber what it was called - and danced until the early hours falling in to bed about 0230.

Sunday started with an amzing buffet breakfast, you name it , it was there. We then decided to take a walk up to Camden market before heading down to the embankment and taking a boat up to tower bridge.

Having had a very nice weekend away and not worrying too much about my diet I was thrilled to find out I had lost 1 1/2 pounds this week.

On to the kids! poor Alex has a rotten cough at the moment, dry and continuous. I kept her off school on Monday but like the evil mother I am I sent her in today.

Sam is loving high school but is coming home tireder and tireder every evening. She joined the netball club on Monday- something else to tire her out.

Day off!

2007-09-06T20:01:00.000+01:00

Day off from work for me today, saw the kids off to school and spent an hour relaxing with a cuppa in front of the TV. Went to Tesco to buy healthy food for the diet I am on! Decided it is beef strogonoff for tea :)

Had another physio appointment for my temporal mandibular joint dysfunction, progress is really good and I have cut my painkillers down to 1 a day.

Samantha and Alex come home from school stay just long enough to get changed and inform me they are headed to the park with their friends. I like this new found independance!

The beef strogonoff was yummy (if I do say so myself) Stuart liked it too. Kind of defeated the healthy idea though as he finished off the strogonoff sauce from the pan with a few rounds of bread!

Home!

2007-09-05T16:22:00.000+01:00

so Samantha came home stopped long enough to say she had a fantastic day and went straight out to her friends house. Still at least she looked happy. Some pictures attached of her in her school uniform.

Alex said she had a good first day at school but was not very forthcoming as to what she had done!

School!

2007-09-05T08:08:00.000+01:00

First day back at school today, just waved Samantha and her friend off to their first day at high school. It makes me feel old particularly since she is going to the same high school I went to!

Sam has been complaining of a headache and tummy ache and has had no breakfast, hopefully just first day nerves. Fingers crossed for a good day for her.

First Post

2007-09-03T16:28:00.000+01:00

First time ever writing a blog so here goes.
Monday again! does anyone actually like Mondays? Not too bad a day at work but a friend is dragging me along to a diet/fitness class tonight - aiming to lose at least a stone!

Samantha starts her new high school on Wednesday, we walked the route today to make sure she doesnt get lost although I believe she is meeting her friends and walking with them.

Not sure who is more nervous about it me or her!