Lovely Weekend Away
I am sat here, basking in the glory of coming back from a lovely weekend away in the Lake District. We stayed in Castlerigg at a great dog friendly farm about 5 minutes drive outside Keswick. Our room was lovely, the views were breathtaking, the company was fab (always) and the whole thing filled me with love and sunshine. 
The highlight of the whole thing, was a 5.4 mile walk along the same railway path that Moochy ran for his trail race in September 2010. It was a nice day, we climbed a steep hill and just enjoyed being out and about. We even had a moment where we took a mental snapshot of the view… no words could ever describe just how amazing.
Tonight is cake decorating and as far as I know we are making daffodils…. bring it on xxx
p.s today is a bad period pain day – one of the worst I’ve had for a while actually – this also meant a sudden onset of IBS this morning too and a mad dash to McDonalds in Birchwood (thank god for the McDonalds app & Tom Tom). I’ve had Monday morning’s that have started better I think.
Sarah Millican here we come
Yay, for the first time this morning I woke up feeling “normal”. I have been suffering this week from a mix of having a bad period and a little irritable bowel syndrome – not a good combo at any time to be honest. Also, I have to say here that if you have just screwed up your face at the mention of “periods” then get a grip – every woman alive has them, so at least 50% of the population knows exactly what I am talking about. (So there).
Ahem, anyway, I felt rubbish all week, but this morning a lie in seemed to do the trick and I felt OK – which was a change because yesterday morning I felt just short of suicidal when my alarm went off. For some reason, my periods are leaving me feeling exhausted and I am just glad I am going to see the specialist next Tuesday. Actually, this is another reason why women shouldn’t suffer in silence, sometimes we are too guilty of just putting up with things and pain becoming a norm. Men might disagree with me about the whole “suffering in silence” thing, but you can insert your own Les Dawson joke here if you feel the need.
Tonight, Moochy and I are off to see Sarah Millican, who is a commedienne that I have come to think of as hilarious. She is on a the Liverpool Playhouse theatre and even though it might be a rush etc etc, it should be good – I’ll let you know. Also this weekend I am having my hair re-straightened, which means that I have a sort of reverse perm……
This is how it worked the very first time I had it done.
So tonight is Sarah Millican, tomorrow is Hair Straightened and then on Sunday we have to walk 10 miles as part of our Shine training. Feck me xxx
Wampy Sunday
Oh here we are then, another Sunday night, after another weekend of stuff. Today was my niece’s 5th birthday party at “Jellybeans Play Centre“. Previous birthday parties have been at the ChillFactore in Manchester with varied degrees of success. My niece seemed to love it… from the second we go there she was running around like the almost 5 year old that she is.
There was a Princess party with chips and chocolate cake, oh and by the way, even at the grand old age of 36, I would still LOVE a party with chips and chocolate cake!!!
When we got back, I was still a little tired so put myself in bed for a bit whilst Moochy watched Liverpool batter Chelsea. Then of course my IBS kicked off and now I feel a bit bleeurgh. 
Well, next week’s training is:
|
Day |
Training |
|---|---|
| Monday | 3 miles |
| Wednesday | 4 miles |
| Friday | 5 miles |
| Saturday | 7 miles |
With an invitation to The Lowry for lunch next Sunday to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. Yay February!!!
Sunday 5 miler
Wow, so today was supposed to about our 5 mile walk in Delamere Forest, but unfortunately Moochy coughing was bad again overnight. So this meant that we both spent time on the couch and were both suitably knackered this morning. So by 11:30 this morning we were still on our couch, under the slanket trying to get the motivation to move our arses.
However, this walk is important to me, so eventually about an hour and half later we were out of the door and walking. We walked for 5.5 miles in just over 1 hour and 50 minutes and it felt good. Our knees and a few other joints started to hurt near the end and I did of course need to go for a wee in the Ship Inn, but other than that it was great. Peggy loved it and is completely sparked out as we speak – perfect.
Oh and last night Moochy and I totally rocked our mini-glam dinner party.
- Home made Focaccia Bread with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
- Posh Chicken and Chips
- Chocolate Cake
All the food was gorg and we had a great night.
p.s. I had originally planned to make the Parmesan and poppy seed lollipops, but can I let you into a secret… they were a bit horrible, so they went straight in the bin.
Ok I am officially feeling sorry for myself
So in my opinion I have had a pretty rubbish year with one thing and another. Nothing major had happened, nothing has fallen on my head, no-one in my immediate family has died and I haven’t had a horrible diagnosis. But here is my list of woes:
In no particular order:
- The pitched roof on the house became “holey”
- The flat roof on the extension started to leak
- I’ve had some family difficulties
- For the first six months of the year, my IBS was horrific and I felt like an incontinent old lady
- The toilet flush stopped working properly and had to be replaced
- I have put a stone on
- I hurt my back
- I injured my achilles tendons
- The drains blocked and United Utilities had to come out and jet them
- Moochy had unexpected heart problems and was on a cardiac ward for 3 days
- The central heating still isn’t fixed
- My job is officially “at risk”
- & today in particular, I have toothache
*sighs*
Of course the year hasn’t been TOTAL crapola, I have had some lovely holidays in Anglesey and Ambleside and I am going to Centre Parcs for the New Year, which I love. I went to the Good Food Show and climbed Pendle Hill. I have also been featured in an article which was in a National Magazine, which was great…. but even so… I am feeling sorry for myself today.
I think I have finally lost my last bit of umpf…
Give me a break
Give me a break… please……. 
So I mentioned last night that our central heating was playing up, and at 5:00am this morning, things got a whole lot worse. Firstly, the smoke alarm’s battery on the landing started to go and it started to make that horrible high pitched bleep. Fast Forward to Moochy balanced up a ladder at stupid o’clock in his dressing gown trying to turn it off.
You would think that would be it, but NOOOO, the smoke alarm stops bleeping and we hear a horrible vibratey humming noise and upon investigation into the airing cupboard, we find one of the boxes attached to the pipes in the central heating tank buzzing and not sounding too clever. We could do no more than turn the whole thing off and jump back in bed. The trouble with that though was that we were both awake and there was zero chance of any more shut eye. In the end Moochy got up and took Peggy out a little earlier than normal and I just checked twitter and waited for my own rise and shine time.
We go to work knowing that we are going to have to get a central heating engineer to come out and look at the problemo. This doesn’t end well. Moochy tried 2 engineer, no joy, I tried one and he promised to call at 16:00. I finished work early and raced home – he didn’t show up. I then tried to call another 6 central heating engineers and eventually got through to a 24hr one who seems VERY reluctant to come out. We didn’t hold out much hope.
However, mid-post – he has just arrived…. let’s hope it’s not mega bucks.
But the other nightmare thing was that I bought an IP camera from eBay which would go onto Peggy’s blog so that we can view her during the day… would it work…. would it duck!!!!!! I tried, Moochy tried and let me tell you – I am at the moment, millimetres away from slinging the whole lot in the bin…. but I am going to take lots of deep breaths and just see if I can get it working tomorrow when I am in a better frame of mind.
Honestly, I feel like my whole year has been a bit rubbish… so could someone give me a break please… just a small chink of light…. please…..
p.s. Central Heating update… new pump needed… £160, hopefully should be fitted tomorrow night. phew.
Still Full
What a great weekend! Yesterday’s food shows haul made it’s way onto today’s “Winter Barbecue”. Moochy’s sister & her partner came as well as Moochy’s mum & dad and they even stayed to watch Moochy’s poor LFC get beat.
I took it a little easier food wise today, as last night a day full of indulgent food tasting met my IBS head on and it left me feeling a poorly. Still overall it was worth it as a one off
I also made a start tonight on my work based assignment for my management qualification. Sometimes with the unfamiliar it’s tough making a start, but I was ok once I got going.
I’ve also got to lead a “summary discussion” in my classroom session tomorrow and whilst I batted from one subject to the next, I’ve eventually decided on “Trade Unions in the Workplace”.
Wish me luck xx
Things I have seen…
Today I have three things, one which was slightly disappointing, one which was shocking and one which made me smile inwardly…
Slightly Disappointing
So today Moochy and I have been to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. Of course we have read the book and we knew the story, but even so, we found the film a little boring… Moochy and I agree that the part of the story where Harry, Hermione and Ron leave Hogwarts gets a bit lost as the forest doesn’t seem like a natural resting place for them. For me there was too much narrative and not enough umpf! Don’t get me wrong, the opening where Mad-eye Moody get killed* and some of the parts in Ministry of Magic were spectacular… but the forest does nothing for me. I love Harry Potter for the magical world and the magical school… I walk the dog in the forest all the time.. there is nothing magical about that.
Shocking
After seeing the film Moochy and I went into St Helens town centre to maybe look for him somthing to send away to Father Christmas. It is at this point you should know that we both LOVE Christmas and I am the self appointed Christmas Fairy. Some people say that as you get older Christmas is all about the kids… well we don’t have any and in our house, Christmas is all about US!!! But I digress, Moochy and I were going into Clarke’s shoe shop which is situated next to McDonalds. We were passing just in time to see a 10 year old boy (max) come out from the burger place and shout loudly to his companion “Come here you freak!” and then he exclaimed “Oh for F*cks Sake!”
Can I just point out again that such profanities came from a boy that was no more than 10. I hope his mother is very proud.
Inward Smile
Peggy with the hiccups. Priceless.
♥♥♥
Also, a slight bit of IBS trivia for you…. tonight on our way home from St Helens, I counted 13 places where I could have stopped and gone to the loo on my journey home…
- Pizza Hut
- Cineworld Cinema
- Wetherspoons
- Tesco
- Park Inn Hotel
- Burger King (Retail Park)
- KFC (Matalan)
- Parr Baths/Hong Sing Chinese Restaurant
- Primrose Vaults Pub
- Princess Royal Pub
- The Ship Inn
- The Huntsman
by which time I would be almost home and could probably manage to wait. How geeky am I though xx 
* In answer to anybody who is about to complain about spoilers, I am happy to quote @ImperialRoseZay‘s tweet which read:
Dear people who moan about the RIP Dobby TT because it’s a spoiler: Snape dies in the next one. Yours sincerely, the people who read books.
Weight Watchers Innovation
So today is Saturday and I’m not having a 100% brilliant day. I suffer from chronic Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and whilst sometimes it doesn’t bother me at all, sometimes it can be horrible and really affect my life. It can often make me feel like an incontinent old woman or give me painful constipation. I know you are probably screwing your face up at this point thinking TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!! But this is my reality and they say that a silent disease is a dead disease. If you aren’t sure what IBS is, check out this videoToday hasn’t been a good day in terms of IBS, but I think that is down to me being a bit worried about my job which is officially “at risk”. I had a bad experience working at St Helens Council in 2007 and left under very stressfull circumstances, so working for GMCVO has really restored my confidence – I would be gutted to have to leave.
But anyway, the title of this blog is Weight Watchers Innovation and that is what I am waiting for in anticipation. I have been following the Weight Watchers points system on an off with a variety of succcess for about 10 years. I have lost 3 stone and put it all back on again in a yo-yo stylie and I have to admit, I have got a bit bored with the whole thing, although I know that it works. I
However, I got an email from Weight Watchers about 10 days ago which said:
It’s new.
It’s breakthrough
It’s coming.
November 7th
So after trawling the internet today (a day early), I found this Daily Mail piece about it. Which sounds like they are ditching the points system in favour of something which sounds more like a healthy eating plan than a diet. Shying away from calories and fat and centering on the amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fibre. Obviously all will be revealed tomorrow, but it does sound like a huge change and something that might even kick start my own bum into bridesmaid weight loss.
So I will find out exactly what the craic is tomorrow and even though I am going for a full on Sunday dinner at The Lowry in Salford, it doesn’t mean that I can’t check it out and make a plan. Brillo pads. xxx
