Make the impossible possible Day!
Nuff said!
Monday, 27 October 2014
Monday, 20 October 2014
October Week 3!
Give up one thing and take up another - I decided to give up my mobile phone and take up a life but didn’t get very far haha!
I was inspired by the two clips below, which made me want to simultaneously abandon my phone down the nearest flushable facility and text Mine Truly to suggest a suitably romantic endeavour to enable us to focus our attention solely on each other. Oh, the irony!
What they have done though is made me much more aware of how much time, and how often, I spend checking my phone unnecessarily.
I never had this problem with my wonderful old Samsung F210 which I would have happily continued to replace with the same model ad infinitum if only it was still in production/available. The only function it had was phone calls and texts, so I wasn’t looking at it every 5 minutes in case I’d missed anything!!
Much as I do really like the ability to order my shopping delivery, ‘check-in’ (why?), get the latest weather report, check Trip Advisor (which I’m not addicted to at all, no, definitely not) and have the answers to those niggling drive-me-mad questions at my fingertips the more I think about it the less certain I am that it’s a good thing!
Wear a hat Day - as you can see below I really don't need any excuse to wear a hat (or tea cosy, or balloons) on any given day!
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I was inspired by the two clips below, which made me want to simultaneously abandon my phone down the nearest flushable facility and text Mine Truly to suggest a suitably romantic endeavour to enable us to focus our attention solely on each other. Oh, the irony!
What they have done though is made me much more aware of how much time, and how often, I spend checking my phone unnecessarily.
I never had this problem with my wonderful old Samsung F210 which I would have happily continued to replace with the same model ad infinitum if only it was still in production/available. The only function it had was phone calls and texts, so I wasn’t looking at it every 5 minutes in case I’d missed anything!!
Much as I do really like the ability to order my shopping delivery, ‘check-in’ (why?), get the latest weather report, check Trip Advisor (which I’m not addicted to at all, no, definitely not) and have the answers to those niggling drive-me-mad questions at my fingertips the more I think about it the less certain I am that it’s a good thing!
Wear a hat Day - as you can see below I really don't need any excuse to wear a hat (or tea cosy, or balloons) on any given day!
Monday, 13 October 2014
October Week 2!
After such a successful week last week I've failed spectactularly with the one and only challenge for this last week..
Feed some ducks Day - I went as far as to save some bread with the intention of finding some ducks (where does one find ducks in October - they seemed to be everywhere in the summer but I don't recall seeing any for ages!) but that was about it!
There may also have been a little confusion about this one - I ate some duck.
A totally unrelated adventure this week was the decision to go camping.
In the lounge.
We're fortunate enough to have a large lounge (and a small tent haha!) so we moved a bit of furniture around, put the tent up, ate our dinner at the camping table and chairs, by torchlight, played cards (with my fabulous ultimate deck of cards - watch the 7 minute review video below!) and drank whiskey and then filled the tent with beanbags, cushions and pillows and sat back to watch Supernatural (our indoor version of sititng round the campfire telling ghost stories). And yes, we slept in it overnight :-)
Feed some ducks Day - I went as far as to save some bread with the intention of finding some ducks (where does one find ducks in October - they seemed to be everywhere in the summer but I don't recall seeing any for ages!) but that was about it!
There may also have been a little confusion about this one - I ate some duck.
A totally unrelated adventure this week was the decision to go camping.
In the lounge.
We're fortunate enough to have a large lounge (and a small tent haha!) so we moved a bit of furniture around, put the tent up, ate our dinner at the camping table and chairs, by torchlight, played cards (with my fabulous ultimate deck of cards - watch the 7 minute review video below!) and drank whiskey and then filled the tent with beanbags, cushions and pillows and sat back to watch Supernatural (our indoor version of sititng round the campfire telling ghost stories). And yes, we slept in it overnight :-)
Monday, 6 October 2014
October Week 1!
It's been a great week this week, I think I've managed to pull off each of this week's challenges in a satisfactory maaner - in fact I've done some of them twice!
Duvet Day (about time!) - I can't believe we've made it to October without a duvet day already! I decided to have my duvet day on Sunday, largely owing to the fact that I suspected (correctly) that I'd be suffering a little after attending the wonderful wedding of Pete and Kim and dancing the night away with Mine Truly on Saturday. As I write I'm ensconced on the sofa, under a duvet, and wondering how much longer I'll be able to resist the insistent pull of slumber - at least I'm safe in the knowledge that if I do sucuumb to a mid-day nap there's no danger of me waking up and killing anybody as Mine Truly, bless him, has had to go to work. I'll still wake up wanting to kill somebody of course.
Be proud of yourself Day
- I thought this one might be tough, in fact I'd more or less decided, with Thursday almost over, that I'd just resort to waffling a little about the enormously funny Miranda and the whole M People thing. Oh go on then, I'll include a clip - don't say I never give you anything.
However, all unsuspecting of the imminent opportunity, I dutifully stayed up to welcome Mine Truly home from his late shift and as a result ended up in a stand off with a spider of monstrous proportions. I kid you not, it was big enough to tell me that it didn't want it's picture taking and that I'd better make damn sure I was holding tight to the glass and card in the event of a humane disposal attempt.
Unlike Mine Truly I'm not usually phased by spiders - don't get me wrong, I don't like them at all but, don't usually have a problem with sticking a glass over them, sliding a piece of card under and, lifting very carefully (with card firmly held against it to prevent even a single leg wriggling out), removing to an outdoor space before flinging the two apart with such vigour (to ensure that there's no way it can cling to either card or glass) that the impact of it landing probably kills it. Perhaps I should just squish the things and be done with it.
Anyway, I'm not ashamed to say that this beast phased me. Aside from the shock of it's discovery (more about that later), it was particularly large and menacing looking and when I say looking I really mean looking. At me.
It didn't just have a big body and little legs or vice versa, the whole flaming thing was enormous. So, making sure that Mine Truly didn't take his eyes off it I went and got a glass and card to attempt the capture, I would usually just calmy place the glass over it and then get on with the card but I was too wigged out to get that close to this one so ended up getting as close as I dare before kind of half dropping/half throwing the glass at it and then moving out of the way. A few deep breaths (and the realisation that I'd actually broken out in a cold sweat) later and I moved in with the card. More deep breaths later (I've never had to do this in stages before) and I was able to to actually pick the damn thing up but then realised that there was no way I was going to go outside and attempt release in the pitch black, bare legged and in a wide sleeved dressing gown - far too many opportunities for a pissed off arachnid to turn mid-flight and propel itself back at me landing either in my sleeve or on my bare feet and crawling up my leg. I never worry about this usually.
So then I had to go and get fully dressed leaving it sat under the glass on the kitchen counter, as I was carefully placing glass, card and spider on the counter Mine Truly was watching in fear from the safety of the hallway - until the automatic air freshner thing in the hallway hissed and scared the living beejesus out of him, his feet actually left the floor and he kind of crashed into the wall. Fortunately I'd already placed the glass down before I collapsed laughing at him but I swear that by the time I'd finished laughing, been upstairs to get changed and come back down again my 8 legged nemisis had moved the glass closer to the edge. So, breathing heavily and with my skin crawling we set off outside to find a suitable flinging area, which proved to be very difficult in the dark as it needed to be far enough away from the front door but not too far out of the reassuring light (thank you council for turning all the street lights off). I finally got a grip and just did it and am pretty sure I actually heard a thud as it hit the gound, followed closely by the sound of me squealing and making a lightening dash for the safety of indoors!
Mine Truly and I did laugh about it when we got back upstairs but at the time it was all mildly traumatic - and I'm proud of myself for dealing with it!
Flirt outrageously Day - I had an impromptu opportunity to flirt at Charlie's on Friday night when Doug walked in, he's been absent for a while but can always be relied on for some harmless flirtation - especially since I know he loves Mine Truly as much as he loves me ;-)
And I flirted outrageously at the wedding on Saturday night, mainly with Mine Truly but I was also just feeling flirtateous in general - this may have possibly had something to do with the consumption of alcohol but who knows - or cares!
Mine Truly and I even flirted with the idea (see what I did there) of getting a room and staying on at the hotel but good sense, a healthy respect for our finances, the recollection of pets requiring food at home and an unexpected summons to work earlier than expected the next day all conspired against us!
Jump out of something Day - I absolutely jumped out of my skin, and also off the bottom stair in the hallway where I was sat catching up with Mine Truly on his return home, when all of a sudden Mine Truly swore loudly mid-conversation and physically jumped back from the hall into the kitchen. I instinctively followed suit (and screamed a little I confess) wondering what was going on only to find out that his reaction was caused by the aforementioned spider.
You could say that I also jumped out of one duvet (bed) - and into/under another (sofa) this morning. That was the plan anyway, jumping was just a tad beyond my capabilities though so I'll have to make do with shuffled instead.
(I really wanted to jump out of a cake but I think I'd need to put a lot more thought into that one!)
Duvet Day (about time!) - I can't believe we've made it to October without a duvet day already! I decided to have my duvet day on Sunday, largely owing to the fact that I suspected (correctly) that I'd be suffering a little after attending the wonderful wedding of Pete and Kim and dancing the night away with Mine Truly on Saturday. As I write I'm ensconced on the sofa, under a duvet, and wondering how much longer I'll be able to resist the insistent pull of slumber - at least I'm safe in the knowledge that if I do sucuumb to a mid-day nap there's no danger of me waking up and killing anybody as Mine Truly, bless him, has had to go to work. I'll still wake up wanting to kill somebody of course.
However, all unsuspecting of the imminent opportunity, I dutifully stayed up to welcome Mine Truly home from his late shift and as a result ended up in a stand off with a spider of monstrous proportions. I kid you not, it was big enough to tell me that it didn't want it's picture taking and that I'd better make damn sure I was holding tight to the glass and card in the event of a humane disposal attempt.
Unlike Mine Truly I'm not usually phased by spiders - don't get me wrong, I don't like them at all but, don't usually have a problem with sticking a glass over them, sliding a piece of card under and, lifting very carefully (with card firmly held against it to prevent even a single leg wriggling out), removing to an outdoor space before flinging the two apart with such vigour (to ensure that there's no way it can cling to either card or glass) that the impact of it landing probably kills it. Perhaps I should just squish the things and be done with it.
Anyway, I'm not ashamed to say that this beast phased me. Aside from the shock of it's discovery (more about that later), it was particularly large and menacing looking and when I say looking I really mean looking. At me.
It didn't just have a big body and little legs or vice versa, the whole flaming thing was enormous. So, making sure that Mine Truly didn't take his eyes off it I went and got a glass and card to attempt the capture, I would usually just calmy place the glass over it and then get on with the card but I was too wigged out to get that close to this one so ended up getting as close as I dare before kind of half dropping/half throwing the glass at it and then moving out of the way. A few deep breaths (and the realisation that I'd actually broken out in a cold sweat) later and I moved in with the card. More deep breaths later (I've never had to do this in stages before) and I was able to to actually pick the damn thing up but then realised that there was no way I was going to go outside and attempt release in the pitch black, bare legged and in a wide sleeved dressing gown - far too many opportunities for a pissed off arachnid to turn mid-flight and propel itself back at me landing either in my sleeve or on my bare feet and crawling up my leg. I never worry about this usually.
So then I had to go and get fully dressed leaving it sat under the glass on the kitchen counter, as I was carefully placing glass, card and spider on the counter Mine Truly was watching in fear from the safety of the hallway - until the automatic air freshner thing in the hallway hissed and scared the living beejesus out of him, his feet actually left the floor and he kind of crashed into the wall. Fortunately I'd already placed the glass down before I collapsed laughing at him but I swear that by the time I'd finished laughing, been upstairs to get changed and come back down again my 8 legged nemisis had moved the glass closer to the edge. So, breathing heavily and with my skin crawling we set off outside to find a suitable flinging area, which proved to be very difficult in the dark as it needed to be far enough away from the front door but not too far out of the reassuring light (thank you council for turning all the street lights off). I finally got a grip and just did it and am pretty sure I actually heard a thud as it hit the gound, followed closely by the sound of me squealing and making a lightening dash for the safety of indoors!
Mine Truly and I did laugh about it when we got back upstairs but at the time it was all mildly traumatic - and I'm proud of myself for dealing with it!
Flirt outrageously Day - I had an impromptu opportunity to flirt at Charlie's on Friday night when Doug walked in, he's been absent for a while but can always be relied on for some harmless flirtation - especially since I know he loves Mine Truly as much as he loves me ;-)
And I flirted outrageously at the wedding on Saturday night, mainly with Mine Truly but I was also just feeling flirtateous in general - this may have possibly had something to do with the consumption of alcohol but who knows - or cares!
Mine Truly and I even flirted with the idea (see what I did there) of getting a room and staying on at the hotel but good sense, a healthy respect for our finances, the recollection of pets requiring food at home and an unexpected summons to work earlier than expected the next day all conspired against us!
Jump out of something Day - I absolutely jumped out of my skin, and also off the bottom stair in the hallway where I was sat catching up with Mine Truly on his return home, when all of a sudden Mine Truly swore loudly mid-conversation and physically jumped back from the hall into the kitchen. I instinctively followed suit (and screamed a little I confess) wondering what was going on only to find out that his reaction was caused by the aforementioned spider.
You could say that I also jumped out of one duvet (bed) - and into/under another (sofa) this morning. That was the plan anyway, jumping was just a tad beyond my capabilities though so I'll have to make do with shuffled instead.
(I really wanted to jump out of a cake but I think I'd need to put a lot more thought into that one!)
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
October Mission!
October Mission
Put yourself on a personal bootcamp to...
This October: Go forth and BE BEAUTIFUL!
Put yourself on a personal bootcamp to...
- Set the alarm a little earlier
- Throw yourself into things with some serious gusto (note to self - this does not include lamposts, doorframes etc)
- Do health stuff
- Wear a headband and lots of lycra
- Meditate on what you really want in life
- Expand your mind while contracting your waistline
- Break a sweat and revel in the endorphins
This October: Go forth and BE BEAUTIFUL!
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
September Mission - The Results!
Mission recap here!
Having had an operation on 3rd September and then spending pretty much the rest of the month recovering I’m afraid there wasn’t much grabbing of life (or anything else) by the round things going on this month!
I do already have a bit of a bucket list though (some more achievable than others!) which I keep in the front of this lovely note/scrapbook gift from Nadine...
And speaking of films I did manage to achieve a bit of DVD/movie marathon doings during my incapacitation (you may or may not remember that these have featured heavily in the diaries in previous years but seem to be lacking this year) before I got utterly bored of staring at the box in the corner!
Having had an operation on 3rd September and then spending pretty much the rest of the month recovering I’m afraid there wasn’t much grabbing of life (or anything else) by the round things going on this month!
I do already have a bit of a bucket list though (some more achievable than others!) which I keep in the front of this lovely note/scrapbook gift from Nadine...
- Go to China to see the pandas
- Storm chasing holiday
- Break a world record
- Past life regression
- Paraglide
- Murder Mystery weekend
- Country music festival
- Helicopter ride
- Singing lessons
- Save a life (I give blood but that's it so far!)
- Follow the F1 season - first class all the way!
- Watch a sunset and sunrise
- Take up archery
- Stay in every room at Crab Manor
Speaking of bucket lists, I absolutely love the film so here's a clip for you!
And speaking of films I did manage to achieve a bit of DVD/movie marathon doings during my incapacitation (you may or may not remember that these have featured heavily in the diaries in previous years but seem to be lacking this year) before I got utterly bored of staring at the box in the corner!
- Stand up guys
- De-lovely
- Hannah and her sisters
- Seeking a friend for the end of the world
- I love you man
- Traitor
- Unthinkable
- 17 again
- The Joneses
- 50/50
- Abandoned (and it should be)
- Shutter Island
- Death defying acts
- Surrogates
- Invictus
- Watchmen
- Series 1 (and half of 2) of Vikings
- From time to time
Monday, 29 September 2014
September Week 4!
Recover from weird phobia Day
- Fear of the netti pot, pah, I'm sooo over it! And it's now consigned to the back of a cupboard :-)
Tweet something amazingly funny Day – well that would be this blog wouldn’t it? ;-)
Be 84% naughty Day – only 84%? Why? And how do you measure it?
I may not have tweeted anything amazingly funny but I did text something funny - by accident.
You need a bit of background for this...
Mine Truly makes an awesome cup of tea, so awesome in fact that I have been known to sit at home dying of thirst waiting for him to come home to make me a cup of tea rather than make one myself (I realise that some would suggest this is more to do with laziness than Mine Truly's tea making skills but that's not so - honest...).
It's become such a long-standing 'thing' between us that he even got me these fabulous Bright Side cups for my birthday :-)
Tweet something amazingly funny Day – well that would be this blog wouldn’t it? ;-)
Be 84% naughty Day – only 84%? Why? And how do you measure it?
I may not have tweeted anything amazingly funny but I did text something funny - by accident.
You need a bit of background for this...
Mine Truly makes an awesome cup of tea, so awesome in fact that I have been known to sit at home dying of thirst waiting for him to come home to make me a cup of tea rather than make one myself (I realise that some would suggest this is more to do with laziness than Mine Truly's tea making skills but that's not so - honest...).
It's become such a long-standing 'thing' between us that he even got me these fabulous Bright Side cups for my birthday :-)
Anyway, back to the point. Mine Truly had sent me a text on Saturday night asking how my evening at home was going, owing to the rock and roll life style I lead (and the fact that it felt arctic in the flat) I'd pretty much decided to go to bed and read - conversation went as follows...
Mine Truly: Hey beautiful lady, how's your night going?
Me: Hey baby, it's blummin freezing here!! Was going to bake cookies (random urge to bake lol) but think I'm just going to take a cup of tea (which won't be as good as tits), a hot water bottle and a book and go to bed!
Clearly I meant 'yours' rather than 'tits'.
Monday, 22 September 2014
September Week 3!
Develop a weird phobia Day – I already have a phobia about eyes and now I think I have one about netti pots. Thank god the advice was that I didn't need to use one if I didn't want to, having psyched myself up to the task when it came to it I just couldn't do it!
Dance to work Day - I didn’t go to work! I have occassionally in the past found myself feeling like breaking into dance on my way to work early in the morning, the advantage of the past is that is was a secluded and little used path to work - as it's now a busy main road I doubt there's any danger of this happening haha!
Be lovely to everyone Day - this was easy as I didn't see anyone! Except Mine Truly - and I'm always nice to him (well mostly) ;-)
Notice small things Day – my life has reduced to revolving around the interior of my flat, it’s amazing how much you start to notice (that needs doing!) when you’re staring at the same walls all the time!
Dance to work Day - I didn’t go to work! I have occassionally in the past found myself feeling like breaking into dance on my way to work early in the morning, the advantage of the past is that is was a secluded and little used path to work - as it's now a busy main road I doubt there's any danger of this happening haha!
Be lovely to everyone Day - this was easy as I didn't see anyone! Except Mine Truly - and I'm always nice to him (well mostly) ;-)
Notice small things Day – my life has reduced to revolving around the interior of my flat, it’s amazing how much you start to notice (that needs doing!) when you’re staring at the same walls all the time!
Sunday, 14 September 2014
September Week 2!
Have a doughnut Day - I didn't even get close to this one, sorry! In fact, the closest I got was coming across the photo of Mine Truly's birthday doughnut cake from last month. Given that the majority of my diet this week has, by necessity, been liquid (and I don't mean of the alcoholic variety!) there wasn't any chance of me eating a doughnut!
Learn a new fact Day - I learnt on Wednesday that Tuesday was Wonderful Weirdos Day, how could I have missed this one?!! And Saturday was, amongst other things, Fortune Cookie Day, I didn't have a fortune cookie but it's the perfect opportunity to tell you about the best fortune cookies I've ever had.
Learn a new fact Day - I learnt on Wednesday that Tuesday was Wonderful Weirdos Day, how could I have missed this one?!! And Saturday was, amongst other things, Fortune Cookie Day, I didn't have a fortune cookie but it's the perfect opportunity to tell you about the best fortune cookies I've ever had.
- Your next fortune cookie will be better than this one
- Help! I'm being held prisoner in a chinese fortune cookie making factory (a slightly inebriated Bernie and I found this one hilarious despite our concern that it might just be true and some poor soul may be counting on us for rescue haha!)
- You deserve the very best that life can bring to you
- Your home is a pleasant place from which you draw happiness
Monday, 8 September 2014
September Week 1!
Nothing at all in the diary for this week - good job really since that's pretty much what I did!
Other than moving into the new office premises on Monday and going for my septoplasty op on wednesday of course ;-)
Other than moving into the new office premises on Monday and going for my septoplasty op on wednesday of course ;-)
Saturday, 6 September 2014
June Mission - The Results!
And this is where it all started going wrong a couple of months ago! I'd been writing my June results post all through the month of June and had put loads in there - then I deleted it by accident. I was so peed off with myself and couldn't bring myself to start again, but, I'm caught up now so here's take 2 (which is an abbreviated version of the original!)...
So, my June Mission was...
And of course June was also the month I saw the amazing Billy Ocean with Bernie (thanks Bernie!) and did my Geordi La Forge impresson haha!
So, my June Mission was...
June Mission
Perfect the art of the Flipside
Turn any situation to your advantage
Love the rain as much as the sun
See the positive on the underside of every negative
Go forth and ALWAYS see the flipside
Perfect the art of the Flipside
Turn any situation to your advantage
Love the rain as much as the sun
See the positive on the underside of every negative
Go forth and ALWAYS see the flipside
This month included telling you about The Way of F**k It, a fantastic little book Helen bought me a few years ago, and which led to the whole grounded foot statement thing (in case you were wondering) - anyway, f**k it, read the book, it'll make you smile (and possibly write things on various parts of your body in permanent marker pen).
As for loving the rain as much as the sun...I've always loved the rain anyway so this wasn't a problem. For a collection of rain themed songs read this post here!
And finally...we were hoping to be able to get away for a short break abroad during our week off in June but finances wouldn't allow. However, the positive of that negative is that we wouldn't have been able to have the great week at home which we had instead, we wouldn't have been able to go with Maddie to have her stiches out or enjoy;
- Harlow Carr Gardens (where we saw some lovely art and learnt a bit about the art of bonsai)
- Lunch al fresco at Cafe Rouge (in the blazing sunshine!)
- Free 4 course meal and wine at The Majestic Hotel (with free goody bag too!)
- Day in London (with £10 upgrade to 1st class on the train)
- Roman day out in York (where we ate lunch in the most haunted pub The Golden Fleece and then went on the fantastic York Terror Trail - highly recommended!)
- Walk to Ripley and back (where we ate our sandwiches in the rain and failed to get an ice cream!)
- Lunch at the Slug and Lettuce
- A couple of great nights at Charlie's!
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