The post with no name

How has your weekend been. Mine's been fairly relaxing, apart from having to do the housework and chase Barney round the garden a few hundred times (and fish him out of the pond a couple of times too).

I had my friends over on Saturday. It all started so civilised, I had even baked cakes for the occasion...then Barney decided to make an entrance. Within the space of 30 seconds he had caused absolute chaos, weeing on my friend's foot (fortunately he saw the funny side!) and then tipping over a vase of lilies that were on my hearth- it took me quite a while to remove the orange pollen stains from my pale coloured carpet. Fortunately, Barney redeemed himself the next day, after his disgraceful(!) behaviour, by being impecably well-behaved on his first walk. I'm sure it won't last!

Today, I've been for a walk and nearly got stampeded by a flock of sheep. I decided against walking through the field of cows.

Just before their friends decided to stampede

Safely on the other side of the fence

I have a busy week at work ahead. Last week I took a group of 30 disabled children and young people to Camelot Theme Park, trained a group of volunteers, learned how to change a colostomy and urostomy bag (not my own I hasten to add), and got asked out by a lecherous coach-driver...let's see if this week can be any more bizarre.

I'm getting old

I ought to feel bad that I am having a week of relaxation whilst most of you have your nose to the grindstone, but I don't. Sorry. It was my birthday at the weekend afterall, so I think I deserve some time off. It's not easy turning 35...I am now closer to 40 than I am 30 which is all a little scary, though fortunately I still feel 21 (most of the time!) so can't grumble. Must find myself a husband at some point I guess, time is ticking on.

So what have I been doing with my time off work? Not too much which is good, sometimes it is nice to be able to mooch around and allow the batteries to recharge. Had my friends over to celebrate my birthday at the weekend- food, alcohol and sophisticated (?) company...what more could one ask for? Today has been retail therapy in Manchester with my mum, always a priority when I am on annual leave. Disappointingly I failed to come home with much but a pleasant day all the same. Yesterday I met up with Voley for an evening in Birmingham which was excellent- we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner which was delicious though I made that age old mistake of having a starter (they are just so tempting) and then ended up not managing to finish my main course...diet starts tomorrow (especially after the huge chocolate tiffin biscuit I had today!).

The rest of the week I think will be devoted to a little decorating. I have been procrastinating over it for ages and now I have run out of excuses. The bathroom and a couple of windows need painting and then I need to put up some new curtain poles. Not my favourite pastime but I am looking forward to putting up my new curtains and having my new downstairs lights fitted. Other than that I have very little planned. Hopefully weekend will bring some entertainment.

Merry Christmas!

How have all the festivities gone? Had plenty of new socks? Fallen out with the family? Eaten and drunk too much? I've enjoyed my Christmas, apart from my dog being rather poorly again- he seems to be on the mend now though. However, I've really struggled this year to feel festive- Christmas just seems to come round far too quickly... I think Christmas every two years would be far better!

My last two days at work before finishing for twelve (yes, a whole twelve) days were fun, if rather hectic. We were charity bag-packing at Morrisons on Tuesday...fun, but I wouldn't like to do it every day. It appeals to the people-watcher in me. It's fascinating both seeing what people put in their shopping trolleys (an awful lot of alcohol) and listening to the conversations/ arguments between husbands and wives at the checkout! Some people really haven't heard of Christmas cheer. We raised just over £520 which wasn't bad for packing a few shopping bags, but I didn't half ache the next day.

Wednesday was our party for the children and young people who come to the Playground. What could be better than a load of over-excited children just before Christmas- poor old Santa nearly got crushed! I do enjoy it though, it reminds me of the excitement I felt as a child at Christmas.

Christmas Eve was busy. Had to clean the house, wrap all my presents up (I was as disorganised and last minute there as usual) and drop presents off all over Stoke-on-Trent. Called in on my brother and saw his new puppy, Boddington. He's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier which isn't one of my favourite breeds of dog- I prefer large dogs- but I must admit he is rather cute.

I spent Christmas Day with my family and that was a lovely relaxing day. Just wish there had been some snow. I love my turkey dinner, and Christmas pudding with rum poured over it (my grandad started me on that one at a very young age!) is one of my favourites. Actually that is a good enough reason not to have Christmas only once every two years. Yes, I had some socks, but no, I didn't have any arguments and no, I didn't drink too much, though I did eat quite a bit. Had some fab presents including another new bookcase from my parents (Voley is very jealous), some Morph and Chas bookends and books to go on my new bookcase (by the way Voley, did I mention about my new bookcase?!!), vouchers which will be happily spent when I next go shopping, and a variety of other bits and pieces...oh, and a mini Radley bag keyring, just to feed my obsession.

Christmas Day wouldn't be Christmas Day without Doctor Who and I wasn't disappointed there. Fab. David Tennant is soooo good, can't wait for the New Year's Day episode. I may well cry when he regenerates though (and I never cry at television programmes or films...well, except for when E.T. dies, that gets me every time- sorry) and I think an official week of mourning may be necessary. Matt Smith is going to have to be very good to top David Tennant, don't think it's going to happen.

Voley came to stay Boxing Day, bringing me more books for my....wait for it....new bookcase. Much appreciated. We watched Doctor Who (yes, it was good enough for me to watch twice) as Voley's family didn't quite get the timing of their Christmas dinner right and I actually spent most of an hour not annoying Voley with my incessant waffling...didn't last, especially after I had drunk a couple of Archers. Yesterday we had lunch at my brother's pub and then went to the book shop (no surprises there!).

I've done very little today. Had a lie-in and mooched about. Am off out later for a post-Christmas buffet soiree with my good buddies. Hopefully I will be able to follow conversation tonight as when we went out for dinner last weekend I was deaf in one ear- the whole evening was a bit like a game of Chinese whispers!

Toodle-pip for now.