Apologies

I have been a very bad blogger, I have been very lazy in writing in here, and have even.....(hangs head in shame) started a new one, just to document my Slimming World journey. So I have been neglecting this, more general blog.


I will continue to share my randomness with you, exciting things have happened, including seeing the Olympic Torch...

Losing a stone in weight....

and attending the awesome Lowestoft Air Show

So life has been busy, and I've been working as well! Please take a look at my Slimming World blog, it has lots of recipes and things on there, and to be honest, I'll be updating it more than this one.

Diamond Days!

As you *may* have noticed, this last weekend has been the Diamond Jubilee. I've been off all week and so was suitably excited by the time Friday rolled around. I loved the documentary on BBC One, with the Prince of Wales watching childhood home videos, a truly lovely show which showed another side to the Royal family.

Saturday, despite all the weather forecasts was gorgeously sunny! We went to the Jubilee Fete in a park in town and had a lovely time, eating cake, watching donkey rides and maypole dancing and mulling over the outrageous size of sheep testicles....

 The Park, in the wonderful sunshine.

 The cute donkeys :)

Check out the size of THOSE bad boys lol!

We finished off with a stroll along the seafront, arriving home just minutes before the heavens opened! How's that for timing?

Sunday was a Barnsley visit, and despite the weather Hague had a wonderful time with the boys whilst I tried to watch the outrageously bad coverage of the Thames Pageant on iPlayer....seriously, how hard is it to actually show the boats and hear the music?? Seriously bad work from Auntie Beeb :(

Monday had been decreed a lazy day (by me) so we had a few beers and relaxed until the evening when we headed out again for the lighting of the beacon and fireworks (boy, do I LOVE fireworks lol). It was packed  on the sea front, full of people out to celebrate and enjoy themselves!

 Fireworks (red, white and blue of course)

Jubilee Beacon

The fireworks were fantastic, all red, white or blue and it gave me a chance to practice firework photography too!

Tuesday heralded the 6th birthday of my youngest Niece Carys, a lovely way to end a lovely weekend, with family and a very excited little girl playing her new guitar and showing off her red, white and blue dress.

Shame every weekend can't be like this eh? Gawd Bless Ya, Your Maj :) 

Sleep. The Final Frontier!

The time is almost upon us. On Monday I shall (once again) be heading back to work. This time I'm hoping it's for good, no more trip ups or bumps in the road, just a straight up back to work and back to normality!

My moods are pretty much there, no more wild swings and deep depressive days. My anxiety seems to be under control, I still feel anxious, but am more able to control those feelings. However, there is one stone in my return to work shoe.....my sleep. I'm still not sleeping well, I either sleep too much or not enough  - waking up shattered and wanting to nap again later. This is the last hurdle I have to overcome, and I'm sure that when I'm working the sleep will be easier, at least I hope so.

This last week was supposed to be a week of fun, of enjoying these last few days and making sure I was in a good place ready for Monday. We did manage to head out and enjoy the sunshine on Tuesday, but on Wednesday I was walloped by a migraine, that has only just retreated today, so that wiped out Thursday completely :(

That means the (free - yay) visit to the cinema to see Avengers Assemble as been held off until the weekend. So here we are again....returning to work, having normal weekends, and getting back to myself! This time it's for good!

I succumbed

I did it, what can I say? I have no defence, I've been sucked in....I'm officially a FanGirl.

After lusting after the 4S since it was released I've finally got one. I called up my phone company, as I was close to my upgrade I figured they might match the deals I'd found online...but no! I was advised that they wouldn't match the £36 a month deal I'd found so I decided to throw caution to the wind and sign up for a new contract (with the same company lol).

So I've now had my pretty little iPhone for 2 days. I've played with it, downloaded things to it, taken pictures with it and have fallen utterly in love with it. I'm guessing this is why they are massively popular - it's not just style over substance, they are beautiful little pieces of technology. I've also discovered iMessage, so have been merrily texting away to friends from foreign climes - for free :)

Every day I'm finding out something else it can do, for once, I've had no doubts about the phone I've upgraded to, which is a pleasant change. Now all I have to do is wait for it's skin to arrive so I can personalise it a wee bit and it'll be utterly perfect :)

Little iPhone....I <3 you! 

My Exploring Shoes

Today we had planned to go to the Valentine's Beer Festival at the BlackFriars Brewery, but neither of us had a great night and it took an enormous effort just to drag ourselves out of bed and into the car to go and pick up a freecycled DVD player.
When we were driving home we passed The WaterWays on the seafront. Due to it being absolutely bloody freezing just about all the water was frozen - it looked gorgeous, but I hadn't brought my camera or a coat and so we headed off home.

Indoors I snuggled up on the sofa, fully prepared for a whole lot of nothing, but the blue sky outside and the thought of the beautiful frozen gardens kept gnawing away at my head and so I gave up, and in the name of taking some pictures and getting off my butt (part of my ever exciting Get Off My Butt And Do More regime) I wrapped myself up all cosy and set out.

Now the WaterWays are way up the North end of the sea front, past the piers and I guess past the radar of some of the tourists who confine themeselves to the Golden Mile, but they have been there since 1928. When they were built the water contained boats which were electrically propelled around the gardens. The boats are long since gone, but the bridges are still there, and it's still a pretty little hideaway away from the bustle of the arcades and beach.

I'd never had a wander around there before and took the opportunity to take quite a few pictures, avoiding the ice and snow that was still surprisingly abundant. Most of my time was taken around the lake, where the ducks where crammed into a much smaller area than usual, and as such were easy to get nice and close to. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk, getting some fresh (cold) air, and taking some pictures and once again I find myself wondering why I don't go exploring more often.....

The WaterWays ...

Big Plans!

Next week I'm off work. "What?" I hear you cry from through the t'interwebs..."You've only just started to go back!" Well yes, that is indeed true, but my job involves working three weeks of shifts and then having a week off. This may sound heavenly but I don't get paid for that week off, and during those weeks of work I'll have rather a few 12 hour shifts, so it works out that I work roughly 48 hour weeks when I'm there...Anyhoo, that's not what I'm blogging about - but I thought I'd set the stage as it were :)

This is my first proper week off since back in August and I'm not planning on wasting it. I am going to get all those niggly little jobs done that I have been neglecting. The various piles of Things That Need Sorting Out will be getting sorted out. I'm starting small :)

Things That Need Sorting Out...

I am pondering sorting out the smallest bedroom, but it might not get done, so I might save that for my next week off in 4 weeks time!

Tomorrow, the little things in the living room WILL get sorted! I might then have a rest day on Tuesday and tackle the little bedroom on Wednesday. That leaves the rest of the week to do absolutely nothing except enjoy being at home, enjoy walking the WigglePig and enjoy my birthday - did I not mention that?? It's my birthday on Friday as well.

When you add to all this the fact that right now Great Yarmouth is covered in snow, Hague has declared that I am to be spoiled rotten today AND we have Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the house and you have one happy Karen! Long may it continue!

(January Book Club coming soon - I promise!)

Gah! And Stuff!

We've been up in Barnsley for a few days. Hague was seeing his boys on Sunday, and then had a Family Court hearing on Wednesday. Now, petrol is ridiculously expensive and it takes a tank to do the journey there and back. It seemed sensible to spend that money on staying somewhere for those 3 nights and skipping the 350 miles of driving and so that's what we did :)

Good Points:

• The fog driving up - the light as the sun came up was so beautiful, and if we hadn't of been on a schedule I would have been constantly stopping to snap away!
• Getting to relax on a comfy bed whilst Dan saw the boys.
• Being able to chill out 3 hours earlier than normal - bliss!
• Treating ourselves to a lovely meal.
• The 3 hours spent in a state of utter relaxation.
• Finally getting the chance to take a light trails picture - and being really pleased with the result.
• Spending more time getting to know Dan's family :

I don't want to dwell on the bad points - there weren't many to be fair, and the ins and outs of the court hearing are not really to be discussed here as, much as I love the boys, I am merely a third party in the workings of the case.

We're now safely back home, Flumpy has attached herself to me, Boo is sleeping/sulking in her bed and we're trying to warm up after turning the heating off whilst we were away (BIG mistake lol). I was planning to once again change the url of this blog and turn off the google search after hearing (again) that I'm being "monitored" (again), but you know what? I'm not going to - I wouldn't write things here I wasn't happy with, I wouldn't share things I wasn't comfortable sharing, and so I shall leave things just as they are.