Christmas Eve

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!

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

Getting ready for christmas

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!!!

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

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

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

bored

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!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

It's payday!

Long weekend

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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