Christmas is cancelled – well, sort of

Firstly a brief catch up on what’s been going on since my last post: Stuart and I spent a lovely day with one of His best friends last weekend, we went up to Stoke and did some shopping and had a very interesting discussion over a very delicious pizza hut! Sadly she lives in Wales so we don’t get to see her often, but it’s fabulous when we do
We also popped up to Ellesmere Port to see His cousins and Nan, it was great to see the kids as it’s been about 6 months since we last saw them and they’re such fantastic kids. We took the eldest shopping and got something to eat and had a good chat with her about all things teenage! She was thrilled when I asked her to be a bridesmaid and is so excited that we’re going to be related! Stuart is in her bad books at the moment for not telling her that we were engaged! lol! We also spent an hour or so with the two younger kids playing the lesser known version of rock, paper, scissors: snot, tissue, sandwiches! We also learnt that you can moore a boat with a bull’s penis stuffed with brain – don’t knock what an 8 year old can teach you!
We intended to see Stuart’s Grandma as well but He’s still ill so we thought we’d best not pop in in case she catches it. Hopefully we will be seeing her on Christmas day though.

This week I had my hair cut for the first time in 4 months, I was thrilled, my head is now so much lighter it’s fantastic! We also finally managed to find a dress, we bought it online! It came very quickly though and I have tried it on and it’s gorgeous, fingers crossed I will look stunning on New Years Eve.
On Friday we went to a friend of mine’s flat warming, despite her having moved in several months ago! We had a good time though playing on the pool table that her other half is keeping in the middle of her lounge! It was good to see her again as we haven’t seen her in almost a year so we had a catch up and an interesting, if slightly inappropriate, night!

When it comes to Christmas neither of us are in the festive spirit despite our best efforts: we bought a tree and decorated it, we wrote cards, we decorated the house, we bought and wrapped the presents, we listened to festive songs, but we’ve still got nuthin’. This year has been manic, especially this past month, and tomorrow Stuart, despite still being poorly, is being dragged to France despite the massive delays, failing eurotunnel trains and treacherous driving conditions on both sides of the channel. As a result Stuart will miss Yule, which is tomorrow, and won’t be back until late Christmas eve meaning he may also miss the Christmas eve celebrations with our friends. I’m just hoping that He won’t be stranded in France and unable to get back for Christmas day.
I plan to do some thinking while He’s away.

In a fortunate turn of events, a Yule miracle perhaps, Stuart is home for the run up to Christmas, and therefore for Yule today! I am thrilled!
Happy Yule to anyone celebrating, I hope you have more plans than I do!

Blessed Be!

Decisions Decisions

The Wedding planning continues. Having booked the Church on Wednesday we have been viewing the short list of reception venues; Crewe Hall and Wrenbury Hall, having pretty much decided on Wrenbury Hall we found out that they were already booked on our date Super bad times. It was all just going too smoothly!
We are now trying to decide which is more important; the date or the venue. The 21st April happens to fall on a new moon which is mainly why I wanted it and sadly it is the only new moon that falls on a Saturday in 2012. We have pondered bringing it forward to 2011 but Wrenbury is booked up through 2011 already so  that’s pretty much out. At the moment the only solution I can think of is that we get married the week before and have a Wiccan blessing or handfasting on the 21st. I will be running said idea past Stuart tonight and we shall see.

On the bright side, we have sorted the cake. A lovely local lady is making it for us, she will be sending us the design and confirming the price in the next week or so, how exciting! Once we have the date sorted we can put a deposit down on the cake and that will be one less thing to worry about!

Christmas planning has taken a back seat this year due to Stuart and I being so busy with Wedding planning and Stuart working. We only picked up a tree yesterday and haven’t decorated it, or the house, yet, hopefully we’ll get round to that tonight or tomorrow. We still have Christmas shopping to do and cards to deliver and only 2 weeks ’til Christmas! So much to do, I’m not used to this last minute panic!

Ding Dong the bells are gonna chime

Since Stuart arrived home we’ve been pretty busy, but I come bearing good news! Having seen the Vicar at the Church we want to get married yesterday we have a set date and time for our wedding! We had a nice chat with the Vicar and it went very well, aside from a brief glitch at the start when he asked about me getting confirmed, so I filled in the Banns application form last night and it’s booked! YAY! We’re looking at hymns and readings now, readings will be more difficult as I want something Wiccan but obviously it can’t be too Wiccan due to being in a church! Fun times! I’m sure I’ll find something, it will just involve much trawling of stuff, but I’ll get there! Stuart is choosing the bible reading, mainly because I have no idea what I’m talking about; we make a great team!
We’re planning to do some florist hunting soon too as so far we have no idea what florist we’re going with or even what flowers we want, aside from Gerbera Daisies. I’m sure Stuart is really looking forward to days spent in florists, not only is He a man but He also has hay fever!

We spent today viewing two reception venues, Stuart hasn’t seen any of them before so it’s all new for Him! We’ve narrowed it down to two possible venues now so by the end of next week we should have decided and hopefully booked! I am also newly armed with some flower information which I didn’t have before so I’ve been pondering flowers tonight. Stuart is totally bewildered by flowers, and the term “Wedding Breakfast”, bless Him!

Ooooh I’m so excited, all the Wedding planning is falling into place now! It’s fantastic seeing it all come together, by 2012 it will be perfect!

In the airport

Ok, I need entertaining and I forgot my book and my earphones! So here I am, sat in Manchester Airport, Terminal 2, with one hour left to kill before Stuart arrives. I kid you not that I am so excited I’ve given myself a poorly tummy, I can’t sit still or even think straight! I don’t think I have ever been this excited, ever! And yes, I am aware that I sound like some teenage girl raving about something stupid, but I don’t care.

It feels totally surreal, it still hasn’t really sunk in that I’ll be seeing him in person, and actually able to touch him and hold him and stuff, I’m so used to seeing him through a computer screen it isn’t registering that I’ll actually have the physical body back. It’s very weird, I can assure you but I’m sure I’ll get used to it!

Nick (the brother-in-law) made his plane ok so he’s happily in Italy again Had a good chat with him in the car on the way to the airport, I’m chuffed we’re getting on well again. Everything’s going right finally!

I’m surprised by how fast these 5 hours in the airport have gone, although walking from terminal 1 to terminal 2 takes longer than you’d think! The next challenge will be finding the car! I am currently looking at a multi story car park wondering if it’s the same multi story car park as the one we parked in! I hope so otherwise we have to walk back to terminal 1 to find it, and I’m wearing heels!

Damn, I am so excited! From the looks of the arrivals board he’s coming in 10 minutes early but I don’t trust my eye sight, mainly because I can only barely see the board! So I will check in a minute from closer! Stupid poor eyesight, these are new glasses too!

It’s so stupid but I still get butterflies when I see him, or know I’m going to see him! I’m so soft, he’s a bad influence on me! I used to hard as nails!

Ok, I’m rambling now! ARGH!!! So close!

Bathing the Girls

Yes, the highlight of my life at the moment is bathing the girls, I don’t need your judgement!

So, anyway, the other day I decided that the girls hadn’t been washed in a while so I thought “hell, I’ve got time on my hands, that’ll kill some!” and so it did! Henrietta is really not keen on the whole getting wet situation, Heidi on the other hand was more in a “Oh dear lord help me, I’m going to die” panic! Happily, I did manage to get them both washed and dried without any injuries to anyone involved and let’s face it, this blog is just an excuse to post adorable picture of them all wet!

12 days and counting

I’ve started packing! It is progressing slowly. Stuart refuses to throw anything out so, once again, I am having to be more ruthless with my stuff. I’m gradually adding stuff to the sale list which will be going on ebay in the next couple of weeks (once I figure out how to use ebay to sell!). So far the stuff to come with us stands at 9 boxes and that’s only from one and a half rooms, it’s not looking good! Only 4 or 5 boxes in the store pile at the moment and hopefully I will be getting rid of those in a week or two so they will be out of the way. The lounge is a bomb site at the moment, boxes everywhere, stuff that needs sorting everywhere else and the small areas that would be empty are stacked with stuff to sell, it’s a nightmare!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still have no idea what’s happening with the Guinea Pigs, I’m hoping and praying that they can come with us. On the plus side Stuart has found some lovely houses and we have pretty much decided on the bank that we’re going with. Slowly but surely it’s all coming together. We still have no firm date for the move but by the time Stuart comes back home we should do. I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later because I’m fed up with the society in Britain and the attitudes held by the people in it, but that’s a rant for another blog.

In Wedding news: One of my Maid’s of Honour and I went to Crewe Hall on official Wedding business last night, it was by invite only, how posh are we?! lol! Jess got to see the hall, and the atrocious new bit that they’ve stuck on the side of it. We both pondered over why on earth they haven’t licensed the beautiful chapel that they have and despaired at how horrendous the new part is and how much it ruins the rest of it. Were it not for the new glass and steel addition to Crewe Hall I think it would be one of our favourites but the more I see the new bit the more I hate it.
Anyway, we saw yet more photographers, bringing to running total up to one million and one, and I am now sold on chair covers which I had already ruled out! Oh, and we’re having a chocolate fountain, because wow was it yummy and it smelled fantastic!
We also got fireworks which were very pretty Although I am still undecided as to whether to have anything at all going on at the reception aside from drinking and dancing.

Today Stuart and I have made some decisions on cake and Wedding Breakfast menu  (based on us having the reception at Wrenbury Hall). We have finally been able to compromise on the cake as it was the only thing that we were disagreeing on, now I just have to get the nice lady to design it and give us a price! Hopefully we can book Wrenbury Hall when Stuart gets back and sees just how fantastic it is in real life and then I can start booking everything else too! I’m getting a bit nervous about seeing the Vicar on the 3rd December, he was quite pushy the last time I saw him and I don’t do well with people trying to dictate to me, especially on an occasion that is only going to happen once so it is going to be perfect and no bugger else is going to stop it! It’s our Wedding, not his, if he wants this that and the bloody other, he can get married again! Sorry, rant over!

In health news, I am not sleeping very well at all. Well…that may not be entirely accurate, I am sleeping well once I get to sleep, it’s just that I’m not getting to sleep until 5 or 6 am! I think it’s partly due to running on Mexican time so that I get to talk to Stuart and I really hope it sorts itself out once he’s back because it’s driving me insane and means I’m not getting up ’til 2 or 3 pm. That in turn is affecting my eating meaning that I’m only eating one meal a day because I’ve slept through breakfast and lunch, the joys of long distance relationships. Do you know what my advice is? Don’t do it! Either move with them or break up, it’s not worth it.

Oh, telly wise I am shocked and appalled that Jamie Afro is no longer in X factor, he was my favourite to win. So now I’m a Jedward supporter 100% Go twins, you rock!
I was really looking forward to I’m a Celebrity get me out of here and enjoyed the first episode, Stuart to win! But I am now boycotting because they’ve put that tramp who calls herself a mother back in and I refuse to have everyone of my senses offended by trash like that.

Right, I’m feeling like I’m rambling now so I’ll shut up!

Is it ‘cos I’m geek?!

Well yesterday my google wave invite came through from one of the wonderful people I follow on twitter! I have a few invites but am getting friends and twitterers on wave first, sorry, but you can request one from google from here or ask around on twitter like I did!

Overall

So far, I love it and I can totally see it catching on. Basically it is a combination of IM and email, meaning that you can attach photos and documents to it and have a history of the conversation, like email, but also add other people and have a real time discussion, like IM. You can see what people are typing as they type which means that you can reply before the other person has even pressed “done” making the conversation a lot smoother and quicker.

Main Features

One of the main selling points google is using on wave is the “playback” feature which allows you to quite literally playback the conversation as it happened. Exceptionally useful for new additions to the wave who need to catch up and see how the wave has developed. It’s pretty interesting to watch as the conversation develops, you can not only see each “blip” in the order that it appears, but also any edits are highlighted meaning that you can see the original idea and how it became what it is now.

In my opinion the main selling point should be the language feature. On google wave you can set your language to, in my case, English and every “blip” sent is immediately translated into English meaning you can communicate with anyone in any language with no need to be sat with a foreign dictionary by your side! You could have a wave with British, French, Italian, Chinese and Russian people in it and everyone of you would be able to view the wave in your native language, invaluable for business! Alongside that you can easily add maps and weather reports and even stock reports to the wave.

The drag and drop function for attaching things to the wave is also very useful and the other people in the wave can see each photo as it uploads from your machine. There is also a “download” button that downloads all the photos posted by everyone in the wave, or you can view them all as a slideshow. From what I can see so far the same is true of documents.

Bots and Extensions

There are also bots on wave which can do all sorts! From conversation bots so you can wave even if you’re alone, to twitter and blog bots. Yes, you can tweet directly from wave, you can get all your updates to wave and you can search twitter all from wave. Also you can blog directly from wave, I haven’t tried it yet, but from what I see you can send a whole wave to blogger (obviously!) including the photos. The example google uses is organising a BBQ with friends, followed by discussion of said BBQ and photo, all uploaded to your blog in one easy click. Not only that, any responses to your blog are added to the wave so you can view them without even opening your blog!
Alongside this you can also set up wave to work as an RSS reader. I have no idea about RSS but I know a lot of people use it so I thought I’d mention it!

For organising social events, which will no doubt be my biggest use when it is released, it is fantastic. There are extensions to allow people to click “yes”, “no” or “maybe”. There are also polling options.

Geek use and novelty items

For the geeks and role players among us, there is a dice bot that allows rolling of dice, making role play easy. You can also create a wave within a wave, a “ping”, so each player can have a private wave with the GM/DM that other players can’t see, but both that player and the GM/DM can see it in the same window as the original wave. Genius!
The wave in wave idea obviously has other applications but I thought the best example was role play (how geek am I?!)

For novelty value there is a “pirate speak” extension, that turns anything you type into pirate speak, much like the facebook option! Also a “swedish chef” speak for those who want to say “bork bork”. There are also games, so far sudoku, hangman and rock, paper, scissors.
Other useful extensions are a wikipedia one which can replace specified text with a link to it’s wiki page and a URL to pic bot which replaces the URL of photos with the image itself allowing you to see the photo in the wave.

In my opinion

My biggest problem with wave is the scrollbars that they are using. They are small and strange, I can’t get used to them! Obviously with it being in beta testing it has some glitches and can be slow if there is a lot going on, but other than that I think it’s fantastic, I’m totally hooked!

Links to better explanations!

You can google or youtube “google wave” and that will give you loads of information or just check out these links:

Quick explanation of wave, “15 features” is a simple explanation of 15 features of wave and this is google wave’s official overview. Hope that helps all you non geeks out there!

“Die for Me” – Karen Rose

A fantastic and gripping book that follows a sarcastic and dry police officer as he investigates a series of horrific murders.

Initially I thought I was hooked because of the plot, which is incredible, and not the characters, which are what usually draw me into a book. However, halfway through I realised that, without even realising it, I was fully engaging with the characters and had become very attached to them. They are very well written and we learn a lot about each of them but through their interactions with others rather than because of a lot of wordy descriptions.

The plot gripped me immediately, there is no build up in this book, it begins in the action and the story flows unstoppably from then on. There are plenty of expertly places twists and turns that you can’t see coming and some are very shocking, well they shocked me!

If you’re not a fan of gore it’s not an excuse not to read this book! Despite the killer using instruments of torture from the medieval period there are no graphic descriptions of the damage done. In fact she manages to get across the horrific nature of the wounds without any need for imagery that would leave you scarred for life!

Overall this is a 5 star book. The writing is flawless, the character’s come to life beautifully and the plot is fantastic. As soon as I finished it I wanted to start it again.

Mexico and Jedward, what a combo!

Firstly a little TV update. I am loving X factor this year, especially Jedward who were absolutely fantastic tonight singing Queen’s “We will rock you,” which I will hopefully post a link to when it’s up on youtube! I know they can’t sing, or dance but they are hilarious every week and you can’t deny that they are entertaining. I’m not voting Jedward to win though, my money is on Lucie or Jamie Afro, love them both to pieces, Danyl however is just not as good as everyone seems to think! The man can’t do anything but yell, that’s not what I want to hear, if that’s what I wanted to listen to I would buy some cats, put them in a bag and swing them against a wall, but I’m not that mean! He proved tonight that he can’t sing a melody or in tune and I hope he goes this week. Hate me all you like folks, it’s true!

Right, now to reality! It’s looking more and more likely each day that next year we will be moving to Mexico. We have found out today that we can get a bank account out there with no problems, so now we’re looking for a house to rent and trying to find out if we can take our babies (the guinea pigs) out there, and if we can, how?! I’m not 100% sure how I’m feeling about the move yet but I miss Stuart so much. Having heard so many awful stories about certain parts of Mexico it does kind of taint your view! I’m sure it’s not all violent and third world… Anyway, we shall see, it’s a Rupert Bear Adventure as my Mother says!

Speaking of my Mother, Happy Birthday! She was born on Halloween!

On a Halloweeny note: Happy Samhain to everyone (or at least everyone who celebrates!)
I don’t need to tell those of you who know me that this year has been pretty rough for us and for our friends and family. Despite us getting engaged, which was the best news ever(!), Stuart has been away for most of this year which has been really hard on both of us because we both put such value in family life and being at home, Stuart has started His new job which has been a big challenge for Him but He is rising to it every day and I am so proud! Of course I attempted Uni this year as well, sadly it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped but I’m not especially bothered, I have the rest of my life to get a degree. My step-dad has had some heart trouble again which is still causing some worry so I’m sending all my love to him and hoping he goes to get his test results soon.
2009 all round seems to have been a pretty rubbish year for everyone I know; a lot of people have been lost and a lot of bad stuff has happened, anyway hopefully next year will be much better. And on that note:

Thank the Goddess for bringing it round,
Let us leave behind the pain this year has found
And find happiness in this new year
Let’s pray for no suffering and for no fear.

Blessed Be

Acceptance: Good or Bad?

I’ve been thinking, and that alone is never a good thing! Anyway, while Stuart has been away I have been piling on the pounds and it got me thinking whether accepting the way your body looks is really a good thing.

Before I met Stuart I was massively unhappy with my body, however I was also a lot slimmer, and healthier, than I am now. Since I’ve been with Stuart I have learnt to accept that I’ll never be skinny and gorgeous and initially I thought that was a fabulous thing because it made me so much happier and I felt a lot sexier and more confident, but the down side is that now I’m so comfortable that I’m not making an effort to stay healthy, let alone in shape.

Maybe it’s just me but it seems that that hatred of my body was what drove me to not put on too much weight and to watch what I was eating a bit better and now finding the drive to lose the weight again is really difficult.

Well I was intending this to be a deep, thoughtful and interesting post but can’t win ‘em all, eh?!