Sunday, lazy Sunday!!!

I have not been too good this week, stinking cold has weighed me down; I had Monday off in the hope that if I stayed in bed and dosed up I would be okay but it didn't happen so I had to go into work for the rest of the week armed with tissues and paracetamol to counteract all the aches and other side effects that go with a cold. I am feeling brighter today, slight sore throat now and a tickly cough but otherwise not too bad!!

I spent part of yesterday baking cakes, I find it therapeutic and takes my mind off feeling rough or if anything is playing on my mind. I made 2 large coffee sponges and loads of chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing and white chocolate sprinkles......well pleased with myself!!

The band gigged locally last night but as it was such a small club I did not go for fear of passing on my remaining germs!!! Shame because it was an excellent evening by all accounts.......I just hope next weekend is just as good when we are at Sutton Bridge, near Spalding in Lincolnshire.

Because of this damn cold I have not been able to see Max as it would not be fair to inflict my germs on him .......or his mum - Angela does not do colds very well!!! I have not been to see Kevin, Lucy, Alfie and Leah either as they have had enough of their fair share of colds lately.........plus .......mmmmmm won't say anything - will keep you all in suspenders, lol!!!

I have been debating a haircut again as my hair is getting quite long again and proving a chore to keep under control......I like it long but the hassle of keeping it tidy gets to me, but at the same time it looks nice when it is long.....decisions, decisons........and to be honest I have not seen a shorter style that inspires me much just lately either so guess it is going to have to stay long until I get the 'got to have it cut NOW' point!!

Rob and I ventured into Kettering town yesterday to go to a couple of shops......butchers, chemist, Marks and Sparks, etc. I was saddened to see the town has changed a lot; let me point out that I do go into Kettering occasionally but is just normally to the bank at the far end of town and back out again, yesterday was the first time in ages that we actually walked round to do some shopping and could not believe the empty shops. Unfortunately it is the same scenario in a lot of towns these days, but when I moved to Kettering from London in 1986 it seemed to be a thriving town with lots of promise and I was happy to settle there. We moved to just outside Kettering (to a small town called Burton Latimer) in 2001 and consequently don't have much need to go into Kettering town centre, hence the shock at seeing how it had declined.......now with the news that Peacocks and Bon Marche are in receivership it looks like there may be 2 more empty shops to add to the list in the high street. Sad, so very sad.....and the immediate future does not appear too promising either as the local council don't appear to have a clue!!!

Anyway, time to go and sort Sunday dinner......roast chicken etc and all trimmings, followed by cherry pie and custard........yum!!  

Happy Birthday Leah!!!

14th January 2008 was the day our lovely Grandaughter Leah came into the world so she is 4 years old today!!! She is a gorgeous girl, precocious but love her to pieces!!!

We are going to see her this afternoon, hopefully there may be a bit of birthday cake around, LOL!!! We also have her brother Alfie's birthday due a fortnight tomorrow....29th....when he will be the grand age of 6!!!

2nd week into the New Year just about done and dusted and I have to admit so far it has been a pretty good start......I won't get complacent tho cos when I do something comes along and kicks me in the stomach when I least expect it!!! I hate January as a rule, always strange as it is the run down after all the festivity of Christmas etc and also a tendency to be a grey month weatherwise, but today we are sporting lovely sunshine despite the very cold temperature out there; we woke to a heavy frost and both our dark green car's were very much white but the sun came out and hey presto it is like a nice spring day out there now!!!  

Robbie was at the dentist this morning for a moulding to be done for his new false teeth; we had hoped he would be sporting his new dentures in roughly 2 weeks from now, but it is now looking like 4 weeks as he has to go back for a couple more impressions to be done to ensure perfect fitting. He is surviving quite nicely with no teeth and gumming everything to pieces,  lol, he is quite happy at the moment but can't wait to have the dentures so he can resume eating favourite foods i.e pistachio's.......and steaks!!!!

We aren't out with the band tonight, having an evening off but as of next week it starts getting busy and are out most weekends till the end of March. Yep, it gets hectic but wouldn't have it any other way!!! Mind you I will be having an early night tonight as I am so very tired just lately, even after a decent nights sleep I still end up yawning all day and can't wait to get into bed.....beginning to wonder if I need to see the doc tho cos it has gone on quite some time now and it is beginning to get me down cos all I want to do is sleep!!!

Well, time to love you and leave you. I'm going to prepare a casserole and leave it to absorb the gravy so it is nice and tender when it is cooked later on. Then we are off to see Leah, hope she likes her birthday present!!!! Catch you later!!
Love

Nearly the weekend so a time for something funny methinks!!!

Haha......I've been a bit like a bus with blogging this week, lol......you wait for ages for one and then 3 come along in a short space of time!!!

The following was sent to me today.....by my husband .......and having read it I am now of the conclusion that I must be male!!! See what you think, lol!!


THE LAST BASTIONS OF MALE SUPREMACY


MALE V FEMALE AT THE CASH MACHINE


A new sign in the Bank reads:


'Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through cash machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles.


Customers using this new facility are


requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts.


After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE Procedures have been developed. Please follow the Appropriate steps for your gender.'


*******************************

MALE PROCEDURE:


1... Drive up to the cash machine. 2. LOWER your car window. 3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN. 4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw. 5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt. 6. Raise window. 7. Drive off.

************************* ******

FEMALE PROCEDURE: (Unfortunately, most of this is the Truth.!!)


1. Drive up to cash machine. 2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine. 3. Put hand brake on, put the window down. 4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card. 5. Tell person on mobile phone you will call them back and hang up. 6. Attempt to insert card into machine. 7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car. 8. Insert card. 9. Re-insert card the right way. 10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.11. Enter PIN . 12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN. 13. Enter amount of cash required. 14. Check makeup in rear view mirror. 15. Retrieve cash and receipt. 16. Empty handbag again to locate purse and place cash inside. 17. Write debit amount in cheque book and place receipt in back of it. 18. Re-check makeup. 19. Drive forward 2 feet. 20. Reverse back to cash machine. 21. Retrieve card. 22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card
holder, and place card into the slot provided! 23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you. 24. Restart stalled engine and pull off. 25. Redial person on mobile phone. 26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles. 27. Release Hand Brake.

Personally I do know there are a few ladies out there that would be as ditzy as the aforementioned......fortunately none of them are friends of mine........ but I have seen antics at normal cashpoints (ATM's) that leave me totally bemused and on one occasion my gast was totally flabbered!!!

Robbie (my ever-wonderful and patient husband and he who thinks he should be obeyed ......some hope, lol) has just given me a diary for 2012....entitled 'Do it later......A 2012 planner (or non-planner) for the Creative Procrastinator'..........Yep he knows me well!!! We did debate who was the worst procrastinator and I am afraid it is definitely me - why put off till tomorrow when it would be better leaving it for a bit longer in the hope someone else will do it or it may even sort itself out!!! No seriously, I do procrastinate a bit but not a lot!!

Anyway, time to go and think about dinner and I will leave you with this thought......Multi-tasking is a good thing, it means that you get at least one thing done if nothing else!!!

Love to you all

Stuff on a Tuesday!!

Hmmm, where to start!!

I guess I could tell you all about our ditzy Sascha! She loves TV and this morning surpassed herself with watching a Jack Russell on BBC's breakfast show; said JR was doing lots of tricks and Sascha so wanted to play with it......so much so she fetched one of her toys and put it in front of the tv screen (on the tv stand) in the hope the JR would pick it up and play with her!!! She was whining at the tv big time, then when she found that the JR had gone she went round the few soft toys I have round the room (Meerkats - courtesy of Compare the Meerkat.com, white lions - from W Midlands Safari and Pudsey to name but a few) trying to get them to play, lol!!! Don't you just love pets....especially daft doggies!!!!!!

I have been naughty!!! I have been searching for my all time favourite Lindt Chocolate bar for ages.....Raspberry liquid.......and no shops round here sell it! Imagine my joy when I found that it is alive and well on the Lindt website, so I ordered some.....along with orange and strawberry to make up the minimum order value. Said bar's arrived this morning and I have to say the urge to eat some is fast getting the better of me!!! I am surprised I have lasted this long and did not succumb to taking some to work with me!! Yes, I know I should not be eating chocolate as I need to lose the weight I put back on after my fall a couple of years ago but I've not had the delicious raspberry choc for many moons (and some!!) so I will have some later, relish every piece and make it last a very long time.........I might even let Robbie have some, LOL!!!

I have just been browsing through some of the blogs on my dashboard.......one made me laugh and cry at the same time; laugh in that the lovely lady that wrote the blog was sooo funny and I loved her to pieces as a friend....we even joked that we shared the same husband!!! Cried with the knowledge that she is no longer with us and it is almost a year since she left us, yes I am talking about the lovely Angie of 'Can you hear me at the back'. Just days before she went into hospital we had an inane conversation resulting with us planning a holiday on a cruise ship without the menfolk (which would probably have never come about but it was lovely thinking about it, lol), and with all the crew at our beck and call cos we were so special, lol!!! She was a star and I miss her so much!!

Anyways, time to go and sort dinner for us humans and open a can or two of mutley nums for our Sascha.....she is definitely fit as a Butchers dog, lol, wish I had her energy!!!!

Love to you all 

Joan  xxx

Woo Hoo, I'm back!!

Crikey, seems like forever since I've been here!!!

Life has been pretty hectic, 2011 was a good year in some respects and not so good in others.

The highlight of 2011 was the arrival of little Max,  our daughters first baby and our 3rd grandchild; he is a little star and is now 4 months old

Rob and I both had our fair share of ill health of 2011 but hopefully that is all behind us now and 2012, if the first full week of it is anything to go by, should be a good year with a few things to look forward to.

Alfie and Leah are doing really well, does not seem possible they are growing so fast......this was them back in the summer, only seems like yesterday I was talking about them being born and now Leah will be 4 next week and Alfie 6 at the end of the month

Now we have 'Formerly J-land' on facebook I think it is inspiring a lot of us to start blogging again here on blogspot; I know the lovely Lainey has started again and I have decided to start again as since J-land closed I have felt there was that element missing in my day to day thoughts.......it was an amazing community, lots of friends made (unfortunately some no longer with us - Sylvia and Angie to name but 2) and these friendships have lasted through the internet despite the loss of J-land. No, it will never be the same but whilst there is the internet, facebook and blogspot will keep us all in touch.

Anyway, I am off to have some lunch and now I am back in I will definitely be backand post regularly.....that is one of my new year resolutions!!!

Love to you all

Joan xxx