Too much work!

I have done far too much work this week! I need an early night, or even better, a holiday!!!

I feel chuffed that I have completed so much of my 'to do list' (including marking 31 pieces of unaided writing and planning guided reading questions and activities for 4 weeks (for 6 groups!), sorting a French display, as well as the regular planning and marking grind...

Much of my productive-ness is due to my self-reward scheme. I don't reward myself with chocolate (as I am trying not to eat to much of that!), but with a level on Lemmings! I used to love the game when I was younger, and it is just as addictive now! So, once I have completed a task, I am allowed to play a level (or two) of Lemmings. Sound like a fair system to me!!

Let's go Bisons, Let's go!

That was the chant at Ice Hockey on yesterday. We went for Lou's birthday and I had a great time! Ice Hockey is fast paced and fun to watch (especially when the players get squished!) Lots of chanting, a bit of dancing and lots of Ooohing and Ouching basically sums it up! The Basingstoke Bisons were playing the Edinburgh Capitals...when I say playing I mean defeating...a lot! The score ended 10-2 to the Bisons! Hurrah! I would definately go again, so thanks to Lou for introducing it to me!

Happy Birthday Loue!!

2008...already!

Well, it is 2008...it seems hard to believe! 2007 went by very quickly...I must be getting old!

We had a lovely Christmas. We went to the Isle of Wight on the Sunday before Christmas and returned to 'the mainland' on Boxing Day to then drive to my parents for a couple of days.

Christmas Day itself was er...hot! Although most places seem hot compared to our little house! There was a relaxing morning, followed by present opening, a delicious dinner, playing card games, watching some festive TV (including Dr Who), more playing games and bed!

We didn't get to my parent's house until late afternoon on Boxing Day. After dinner, mum watched the soaps (hours of them!!) while I read a book (the Richard Hammond book...very good - although Carl did ask if it had a shock ending where he died...he's such a joker!!) and Carl played on his Rubik's Cube (fastest time to date...approx 30mins!)

The following day Paul, Sarah and Joshua came for dinner. We game them their presents...and I was very pleased that Joshua loved his bus!!!

The Saturday after Christmas we (the Newbury lot) went to see 'I am Legend' at the cinema and then had a nice pub dinner and exchanged presents. It was a really nice idea, as no one had to be host and we took our time sharing our pressies. Carl got a some 'quality' DVDs (and we got a DVD player to play them on!!) and a rather special bottle of wine amongst other things. I got a super 'Spider Pig' poster, Monsterz stationary, IoW fest DVD and a rosy cheeks Mr Happy and more. A lovely evening...

New Year's Eve...we went to the Castle Pub. We drank far too much wine/ beer/ champagne/ vodka and some parts of the evening are pretty hazy for all of us. There is much photographic evidence of the evening...which speaks for itself...

A

A great night...but a not so good morning with hangovers all round!!

It is now back to normality. Back to work/school. Miserable weather. Not enough money...

Last night was spent at the Pos for a few drinks and a game of Taboo. Kim, Bertie and Baby Alex joined us too. I still have images of Putin's baby invention that is poo/methane powered, soundproof, occupies the baby and hoovers!

Today we are going to Basingstoke to watch the Bisons play Ice Hockey for Loue's birthday. I am really looking forward to it...I just hope I understand the rules....

At last...the school holidays!

The last month has whizzed by...so fast that I am having problems remembering what has been going on! I really should update the blog more often!!

Christmas shopping has been ongoing this month...and almost finished! Fortunately quite a bit was done on-line. I think I have only got a couple more items to get tomorrow morning - when town will be even more hellish than today!

So, what have the Plugs been up to? We visited my family a couple of weekends ago for Joshua's 2nd birthday. I finally, after hours of trawling the internet and shops, found the swimming jacket I'd wanted to get him...in Argos of all places! (Which is where I also found his Christmas present! Hurrah for Argos! Who would think a toy bus for a 2 year old would be so hard to find?!?!?) I am pleased to say he still remembered my name and said 'bye bye Carl' too! Soooo cute! He loved his swimming jacket so much he didn't want to take it off!!
We also had a visit from Caro and Andy, who we hadn't seen since...er....May! Disgraceful! We (and the Newbury lot) went to a couple of pubs, had a carvery and lots of fun conversation....as always! We have had a few nights in video watching, played CoD4 (which I was shockingly bad at!) and last weekend the girls had a girlie day and the boys a blokie day, which I enjoyed a lot!

School has been hectic, the kids hyper and I am so glad it is the holidays! Our school Christmas do was on Monday at the Madagascan Gin Palace - yummy food and a bit of a boogie - sadly nowhere is open on a Monday night to continue partying! We had the Carol concert, Christmas lunch and Christmas Party this week, and although there was not a lot of actual teaching, it is exhausting!!

DIY - the kitchen is still ongoing! We are now focusing on moving the door, and spent a couple of hours making grooves ready for the pipework (as the radiators will be moved.) We put up a curtain across the door, to keep the dust in the lounge, and we are soooo glad we did! The dust was unbelievable!! We left the curtain up and it has kept the lounge much warmer...so the kitchen is where we seem to be losing all our heat downstairs! More curtains needed I think!

This weekend, Lou and I are shopping (again!!) and having haircuts. I am not 100% sure on what I am having done...I want a complete change! We'll see...
Tonight is festive night at the Noo & Putin residence, which I am looking forward to. Roll on the mulled wine and mince pies....

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Fireworks, cars and wedding bells!

It has been a busy couple of weeks since the last blog.

Kitchen-wise, things are progressing well...the plinths are now done, and the pelmets too (although we are not having them hanging down (like you would have to hide lights), they are side on so are about 1cm thick, giving a nice edge to the cupboards :o) We returned the cornices (when we put them up to see and they looked hideous!) and are pelmetting the top like the bottom, the ends of the upstands are in place too and Carl is in the process of starting to seal the worktops. The light at the end of the kitchen tunnel is getting closer...especially with the 2 new power tools Carl has brought...it is like B&Q in our house!

The Fireworks at the cricket club were good...especially the heart shaped ones, although the guys were gutted that all the hog roasts had gone!! I only saw 6 or so children I knew...far less than I thought! :o)

Also, I got a new car...well...new to me! I part exchanged my little blue Fiesta...which was dying en route...with a shiny silver Toyota Corolla! I only got £190 for the Fiesta, but considering it was kangaroo-ing on the way there, I didn't think that was too bad! Also, it saved us the hassle of trying to sell it! I love my new car. It does things like accelerate when you press the accelerator! It also has electric windows, central locking and a 'pleeper'...all new things to me! Shame the insurance was doubled!!

Thursday we received a shock email from DL announcing that Joey had 'set the date!' She always said that she would just do it one day...and she has! So BIG congratulations to the Flitter-Brooks' We had a meal out at Cafe Uno to celebrate.

Friday night we all went to the Po's Place for an evening of B-movie entertainment. I 'enjoyed' the movie, which was so dire I can't remember the name of it or anything that happened in it! I recall a 'comedy fart' (which wasn't really one)...and that's about it! Guys - anyone remember anything about it?!?!?

The weekend I spent on the sofa doing absolutely nothing apart from watch TV! I think I needed a break!! I had no energy for anything and felt a bit coldy. So now we have watched season 1 and 2 of Lost and are eagerly awaiting season 3...

Kitchen, Dad and games.

Well, the worktops have now been fitted!! Hurrah! It took the kitchen guy and Carl 2 days to do it but it looks great! Apparently the kitchen guy said he has never seen a house of this age with such wonky walls! I will put some photos on soon...when I have taken some! This week Carl has also straightened the cupboard doors and rehung one of the cupboards as it wasn't quite straight. There is now light at the end of the Kitchen DIY tunnel!

Dad went in for his eye op this week. He was supposed to go in 2 weeks ago, but was told the day before his appointment had been cancelled as the doctor was on holiday. How ridiculous! Did they not know this before?!?! Poor Dad had psyched himself up was then let down. We were not happy bunnies! Anyway, he went in this Tuesday and came out Thursday. Without going into squeamish details (mainly as I didn't want to know the squeamish details), the op took 4 hours and the removed fluid and had to put silicon-stuff (I can't quite recall what it was) to seal it up and help the eye keep its shape. So he now can't see anything out of that eye! The apparently have to suck that stuff out in a few months, and then hopefully we should see some improvement. Dad was also told he had a cataracts on the other eye, which explains the cloudiness, so that will be sorted in about 6-8 months time. dad says he still feels sluggish due to the anaesthetic, so get well soon Papa Bear!

Also, a 'Joshua can say my name' up-date. I thought that when I left he would stop saying my name and I would have to try to get him to say it again when I next see him. Well not so far! Last Sunday Paul, Sarah and Joshua popped to the Bunglehouse to see Mum and Dad and Joshua starts shouting 'Rayyyyy!' Also, Mum gave them some photos we had taken, one being of me and Joshua, and whenever Joshua saw it he'd point and shout 'Rayyyy!' so much so that Sarah had to move it to get some peace!! This morning, Mum said she was showing them photos of when me and Paul were little and when she pointed out Auntie Ray, he'd shout it again! I am so proud!! :o)

On Friday, we went to the Flitter-Brookes residence with the Pos to play some games. We played girls vs boys Trivial Pursuit...and the girls won!!! We also played a guitar game on the Nintendo 360 (NINTENDO! ATARI!) which I thought was great...and Joey took pleasure in taking the mick out of me. Well, I was concentrating, with my tongue poking out, my feet tapping and goodness knows what else!! So thanks to Dave and Joey for being great hosts.

This week I have the joys of Parent Teacher evenings (boo hiss!) and a firework night (Hurrah!)

York.

Carl and I went away to York for the weekend last weekend. We left home at about 1.30pm and arrived at our destination at 8.15pm! Yes, we travelled on a Friday, but even I wasn't expecting such an awful journey. We hoped to arrive at 7pm!!

All was well...at first. We kept our ears peeled, listening to Radio 2's travel updates...hearing that the M25 was more like a car park than usual! Luckily we didn't have to go that way. The first nightmare (which I usually miss out when telling the story) is our near death experiences on the M1. The first one was us driving along in the 2nd over taking lane when an idiot in a new 57 reg car pulled out in front of us. When I say 'in front of' I mean 'if Carl hadn't put the brakes on, into the side of.' He obviously has no idea what mirrors are for, and when Carl beeped him (to say 'Oi, we were there!) he decided to slow down! So we pulled in and let him get on with it. A bit further on, we were back in the 2nd overtaking lane when suddenly everyones brake lights went on. There was smoke, squealing tyres and we missed the car in front by millimetres! We think it was the idiot from earlier, pulling in front of people...and if it wasn't, we like to blame him anyway!! We got going again and heard that the M1 was backed up for miles, so we got off to take an alternate route....which was all fine and dandy until the stretch of road that goes onto the A1...where we sat for 90mins...most of it with no reception, so it wasn't until the last 30mins we could phone the B&B to let them know we would be late...only to discover the cutting off time was 7pm and no one would be there to let us in! Luckily, the lady we spoke to was lovely, called us back and said she'd leave the key with the landlord of the pub next door...phew!!

So, after all this we finally get to York. We parked up in a public car park (the B&B one was full due to our late arrival) and headed off to find food. We were hungry, miserable and had bad heads! Great start to a weekend away. Carl fancied a curry, so off we went in search of a curry house. We passed a takeaway, minutes from the B&B and headed into town. After an hour of walking around, we decided to go for the takeaway and steal borrow knives and forks from the B&B. On arrival, I notice the sign says restaurant and takeaway...something that wasn't clear when walking the other way! So in we go. The food was OK, but I was feeling pretty awful, so we took the rest to go in a doggy bag. No sooner had we got outside I felt really sick. We got as far as the car park before projective vomiting...twice! At this point we decided to just write off the day and go to bed, hoping for a better day on the Saturday!

Luckily it was a much better day! After a yummy breakfast and lots of tea, we felt ready for the day ahead! We went to the Minster first, going up the tower (where we could see our B&B), in the understudy/crypt and exploring the Minster in general. On our way out, via the gift shop, we heard a strange noise outside and went to investigate, only to see York being invaded by Romans! They were having some kind of show in the market place and were marching about advertising it. We then went to find somewhere to have lunch. Being picky, I wanted somewhere that wasn't a chain or fast food, and wasn't horrendously busy. After walking around for a bit, we found a little cafe and had more cups of tea and lunch. In the afternoon we went to the Jorvik centre, which I enjoyed. Carl went years ago, when it first opened. We went in the car around a Viking village and looked around the museum. We then had a stroll along the shambles, popping in the shops and trying not to but things! We then decided to pop back to the B&B and drop off our purchases before finding somewhere else to have a cup of tea. We had seen a tea room earlier that seemed very popular as it had a huge queue outside. It was called Betty's Tea Room (or something similar!).The queue was a bit shorter now so we decided to go there. We queued for a while, but managed to get in a bit early as we were a couple and the queue in front were in larger groups! We had teas with finger sandwiches, scones with cream and jam and a selection of mini desserts all served on a silver 3-tier tray. Very posh! The sandwiches were delicious (smoked salmon and chicken! Not together though), the scones were nice, although the cream and jam made it a bit sickly for me so Carl had one and a half! The mini-desserts were lovely too! It was then back to the Minster for a Ghost Walk, via a pub for a quick drink! When we arrived the place was heaving! We weren't sure it it was all people for the walk, or people outside the Minster having a go on the 'light-art' (microphones rigged up to lights to when you shout into them the lights on the Minster change...it's better than I have described it!) About 120-150 people were for the ghost walk...being Halloween weekend it was rather busy! We walked around parts of York, being told Ghost stories. The guy doing it was brilliant. He had a way with words and managed to arrange everyone so they could see and hear him. After that we booked our dinner at Cafe Rouge before having a drink in another pub. Dinner was delicious and all in all we had a fabulous day!

On Sunday we had breakfast and left at 9.15am, worried about the traffic and not wanting a repeat performance of Friday. Our journey home only took 4 hours, so we had the afternoon and evening to chill out, and get ready for the worktops to be fitted in the kitchen!

Check out the video!

Check out my gorgeous nephew saying my name in my previous blog entry. I am a genius...it runs in the family! :o)

HE CAN SAY MY NAME!!!!!

The kitchen is coming on...slowly! We (and by we I mean mainly Carl!) has been doing bits each night after work. Right now our weekend away can't get here fast enough!!

So, from the list, we have:
- removed brambles from back garden (this took me ages..and was painful too!)
- sprayed the new(ish) fence panels (the 1st two took ages...as I hasn't pumped up the spayer enough...I was too woosey! Also, it took sooooo long I missed BA on Monday!)
- finished plastering the socket area and other bits
- moved another socket that was in a stupid place...and the wire runs across where the door will be! Why is nothing ever easy!
- brought more bits from B&Q - including a new sander!
- at the moment, Carl is sanding all the pasterwork!

We still need to:
- rewire the sockets (washing machine and dishwasher)
- level up all the cupboard doors
- pit the end panels in place
- clean up the mess!
... before we go on holiday tomorrow!



On a much more exciting note...JOSHUA CAN SAY MY NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He seems to like my name. Ray is a word that can be shouted and elongated...a lot. I went 'home' yesterday to see my folks and family and had a lovely time. Thanks M&D for letting me use the washing machine...and sorry it is now broken! I am sure it wasn't my fault! I got to see Joshua twice - he has changed so much! He is sooo chatty and loves vehicles - cars, buses, lorries and woo-woos (trains!) I think he knows quite a lot...much more than when I saw him a couple of months ago. He is such a sweetie! I even experimented and managed to get a little video of him saying my name imported into Blogger. Rayyyyyy!

I also met up with Gail from RPLS and we had a lovely chat over a cup of tea...for two hours! Maybe we should have brought refills?!?!? We were far to busy catting up on gossip and having a good natter...after all, it had been over 12 months of chat to catch up on!

Right...I am hungry...I am off in search of food!

More kitchen DIY...

It is now half term! Hurrah!! I had a lovely lay-in this morning...and it was still a struggle to get out of bed...especially as we now have the thick winter duvet on - snuggletastic!

The last week of term went well...but slowly! On Friday we had 'English Civil War Day' in the Lower Juniors as part of the local history we are doing. We had 21 re-enactors come in who told the children about muskets, pikes, weaving, food, drumming, surgery etc. A great day was had by all...and a super end to the half term!

On Friday night Putin, DL, Carl and myself watched Cthulu Mansion - a cheesy 80s horror flick. It was pretty shocking, with a random storyline and no real baddie! After watching and taking the p**s out of it, I went home and left the boys watching some other film. One was enough for me!

The weekend has been DIY overload, with more to do before we go on holiday! We:

chiseled out a hole for the sockets to be moved to
brought lots of bits from B&Q
moved the sockets and started to plaster them in
cleaned the cooker
tidied the 'sunroom'
started tidying the lounge and moved the table and sofa
removed all the worktops and sink
levelled up all the units and fixed them to the walls

put a shelf in the cupboard under the sink

filled in the pipebox to stop giant spiders attacking (and for insulation)

put the worktops back replumbed in the sink
trimmed the bush outside the front door

We still need to:
finish plastering the socket area and other bits
sand the walls
rewire the sockets
level up all the cupboard doors
remove brambles from back garden
spray the new(ish) fence panels
buy more bits from B&Q

Apart from the DIY, we did watch the rugby (disappointing) and Blades of Glory which was hilarious. Carl laughed so much at one point we had to stop the DVD...then he rewound it to watch it again!!

So, I am off to B&Q now, to get more supplies, before spraying the fence panels. I am going to Attack tonight (as I didn't go yesterday) before cracking on with more DIY this evening. Tomorrow I am going into school to do some planning with Anna, in our attempt to be organised. Then Wed and Thurs I am back 'home' to see my folks before going to York on Friday. Can't wait!