DIARY - 26th March 2012 to 1st April 2012

This week has been about three things…
1. Logging my dreams and realising I have ‘issues’,
2. Training my brain into oblivion,
3. Finding out the guy I liked twelve years ago liked me back and I never knew!

At the beginning of the week I downloaded an app to log my dreams; needless to say I put a password on it! I don’t want everyone knowing the inner most bizarre workings of my mind. As dreams go there seems to be a theme this week of absent friends and things that could have been but aren’t. Cryptic? Woohoo, I think I have my groove back. :)

Tuesday I got another slimming award. Slow and steady it might be but I have lost 23lbs in twelve weeks. I feel so proud of myself. I have a bit of a way to go but I am getting there. I have set my goal for December, I am determined to wear a pretty dress for my friends wedding.

The next few days involved programme training that completely pickled my brain and trying to schedule my way around forty tasks to get done… that didn’t much help the pickling situation either. The use of the above programme will make my life easier at some point, I just need to remember what I was taught and then insert a little enthusiasm.

I was never so happy to see the weekend arrive!

Saturday involved a trip to the local town of Huddersfield where shopping and a three hour lunch took place. There is nothing like a bottle of wine and a cheeky cocktail to bring out the secrets and the heartfelt chatter. We, my best friend and I, are such a pair of women ha ha!

And then there was today. Sunday being the day of rest we took no notice and went for a jolly good walk around the local reservoir. Both child and dog are wiped out from all the fresh air which is making for a very peaceful evening.

My advice for next week… if you know you have a cake to bake and can’t bake cakes… practice. :) xx

Diary - July 30th to August 5th 2010

Diary – 30th July to 5th August

This week has been about three things…
1. Pitying the fools who don’t go to see The A Team at their local cinema,
2. Stocking up at the Library in anticipation of my days off,
3. Trying to survive without the presence of my husband for the first time in 8 years!

For weeks we have been tempted by the adverts; every time we have been to the cinema we have been presented with the Orange collaboration of tomfoolery but finally on Friday night… we saw ‘The A Team’. Doo dee doo doo, doo doo doo. (You get the drift). And it was fantastic. Everything about it stayed true to the original television series but at the same time it had the ability to modernise and even laugh at itself. The amount of well placed and dry humoured slapstick meant that everyone stayed entertained throughout. The castings were well placed as was the always welcome addition of Brian Bloom, an actor I have followed since my early teens. This is definitely a film to see on the big screen but be warned, it’s loud! :)

Saturday was spent in town. Two hours in the library choosing books to read on my break and then dress shopping for my friend. While wandering around, I overheard a conversation in WHSmiths regarding CDs and how this store no longer stock them. Halifax officially has no music shops other than those selling second hand copies. It’s depressing. Actually its more depressing that we don’t have a book shop but if I was to start listing all the things we don’t have this would turn out to be the longest blog diary in history.

Tuesday morning, through to late Thursday, Kieran was away down south with his work. This meant that it was me and Rohan all to ourselves. It’s the first time in 8 years of living here that I have spent such an amount of time in the house without adult supervision. It was strange, I missed him loads, I filled my time to the hilt in an effort to make the time fly. It failed; I just ended up being super efficient. It’s odd that I can’t settle on my own anymore; damn husband getting me used to him being around. Guess I will have to keep him. Over these days I was also alone in the office at work which meant that I felt I hadn’t talked to anyone for weeks. I felt silent but I know all the words are stored up somewhere waiting to get out. We did okay though, the pooch and I. We blogged, we cooked, we watched old re-runs of She-Ra and even learnt how to make an Origami Lotus Flower out of a square of flexible (after much trial and error) paper. It was fun. Without the crazy influence of her Daddy, Rohan was much calmer and less ‘Argggggggghhhhhhh’. Thank heaven; I don’t think I could have coped with a Border Terroriser on my own, ha ha.

Also, out of vegetating and trying to make the time fly there have also been an abundance of films watched in the Redmond house this week:
- She’s Out of My League (8/10)
- Inglorious Basterds. (2/10)
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (6/10)
- Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief (7/10)
- It’s Complicated (7/10)
- Pandorum (6/10)
- Public Enemies (4/10)
- Almost Famous (8/10)
- Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (7/10)
- Because I Said So (7/10)
- 10 Things I Hate About You (6/10)

Next week… I’m on holiday, whoop whoop… well from work anyway. I just need the relaxation time.

Photo - Trees that lead me...

Here are the trees that lead me slowly up the path to work.

This morning they are calm and green yet only a month ago the branches were laden heavy with blossom.

Diary - July 23rd to 29th 2010

Diary – 23rd to 29th July

This week has been about three things…
1. Bizarre conversations that have left me shrugging,
2. Pondering over the fact that every dream or aspiration I have is getting further and further away,
3. Loving a film… up until the last ten minutes when it was ruined.

Friday was the first of many days over the summer when I will be the only staff member who is manning the office. It will happen within both the departments that I work for but strangely I am looking for to the quiet and lack of drama. I found I was able to concentrate on the jobs I had that needed no distraction, though by the afternoon I must admit that I was getting a little sick of the silence. So I logged on to http://www.we7.com/ and listened to some back albums of Jason Mraz, Lady Antebellum and the latest from Plan B. I now have some definite ideas for my birthday. :)

The weekend saw me searching in the town centre for an 18th birthday present for our niece. It took me a while and a lot of different shops but I finally decided to get a variety of amusingly random gifts rather than a typical traditional piece of jewellery or what not. She’ll love them and if she doesn’t I’ll have them back because I do! I can’t tell you what they are in case she happens upon this blog but once Monday is over I will fill you all in.

The 25th was my friend’s birthday so we had a girl’s day. We had Sunday lunch in the Toby Pub and Carvery where we were provided with Yorkshire Puddings the size of a child’s head. It was a delicious lunch and she liked the presents that I had gotten her. We then took the Leeds Road and headed to the Showcase Cinema to watch the newly released ‘The Rebound’ starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha. It was extremely funny and flowed really well… up until the last ten minutes when it seemed to have no where to go so decided to baffled the audience with a montage of travel clips, to show time passing, before ending with a stilted awkward conversation in a restaurant supposedly five years later. We left disappointed when for most of the film we were enjoying ourselves. Tut.

Monday was my day off, another random day to use up my holiday hours, and I spent it at home doing more painting with my Mother. We were doing the white gloss which ended up everywhere courtesy of the lovely Rohan, ha ha. She does love to help out. The day, as expected, went very fast but knowing that I had accomplished something during the day rather than just sitting on my ass meant that I didn’t mind. Enough time for relaxing when I am off for the entire week; which will be happening in five working days time. I can’t wait. I am starting a list of stuff that I want to do which involves the sofa and a giant bag of Minstrels.

The rest of the week, as usual, was spent going to work and coming home wiped out. Everything drains me at the moment but I know that it is more psychological than physical. I did manage to stay awake long enough to watch ‘The Book of Eli’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Both were surprisingly entertaining in completely opposite ways. I would definitely recommend either, though Johnny Depp is once again a little too sinister for a children’s adaptation.

Next week… I’ll be ‘loving it when a plan comes together’.

Diary - May 7th to 13th 2010

Diary - 7th to 13th May

This week has been about three things…
1. A very full weekend indeed,
2. Being trained, and trained so well that I completed months of work in two hours,
3. Getting flustered and realising a crush is still a crush.

Saturday was full of filmtastic fun.

After taking the bus, very old school, to Huddersfield we trekked around the town to the Odeon Cinema. First up we watched ‘The Last Song’; based on a Nicholas Sparks novel and as expected a steady watch with a lake of tears at the end. Miley Cyrus did herself proud as did Greg Kinnear as the ailing father. It wasn’t a bold and action packed couple of hours but I definitely came out wanting to read the book.

After a lunch of make your own pizza and cookie dough ice cream we headed back into the darkness for ‘The Back Up Plan’. Now I have to admit this film could have been absolutely awful and I wouldn’t have noticed; the second Alex O’Loughlin is on screen I don’t really pay attention to anything else. Bit of a crazed fan really though not on a stalker level. I can’t afford stalking on my wages. :) The film was entertaining in a typical fluffy Jennifer Lopez way and surprisingly the two of them worked well together. She was much more believable with Alex O than Ralph F. Anyway as a package I liked it and will probably purchase the DVD. My friend hated it, “It was full of the two things I hate most in the world… pets and kids”. I know what you are thinking, I own a dog and an IVF schedule, and so I agree she couldn’t have been more insensitive. Tut.

Sunday saw me in Leeds wandering between a strange boat pub and the university building that was housing the first LS INK Tattoo Convention. The £15 entrance fee was ridiculous considering that inside were only 5 tattooing stalls, 3 pierces, 2 clothes stalls and some sort of noise coming from a staging area hidden somewhere near the bar. It was good to watch all the tattooing and to see all the designs that I would never have but still the price was a lot for very little. I took my camera with me in anticipation of capturing something entertaining but it only came out of my bag for ten minutes and that was while my sister in law got inked. I have posted the photos in a previous blog. Apparently there is a convention in Doncaster over the summer… might ask what will be there this time before I hand over my Queens.

In the middle of the week I had a training day, a whole day learning a new system so that I can devise timetables and get them up loaded. It wasn’t as difficult as I expected, the system is relatively easy which is surprising for a workplace that insists on making processes as convoluted as possible. The strange part of the day was that HE was there, sitting next to me, unsettling me, no doubt doing it on purpose. I really need to get a grip on my reactions; I am a married woman not a fourteen year old girl with a crush. There is so much more that I could write here but I guess I will have to keep this to myself.

My final exam was Thursday 5.30 – 8.30 in the evening. A red hot room, a power surge that turned of all the lights and the computers loosing twenty minutes of solid typing… yet I think that it went okay. Time will tell.

Next week… I will be in Haworth as the turn back the clocks to 1940!

Photo - View from almost at the top (floor)

This is the view from my window at work. The People's Park resides below.

Once spring fully arrives the view will be completely hidden by the trees.

Photo - Signs that caught my attention...

Here are two signs that caught my attention this week. Both made me smile and as I think smiles are something we should always pay forward I thought I would share them with you.

First, here is a sign from the wall of a Service Station somewhere along the M5.

Really? What are these watches and why haven't the 'salesmen' just been forced to clear off?

Next, here is a sign that I spotted within my place of work. The words are put so simply but they say all that it needs to say.

Something tells me that the caretakers have run out of patience. Who would have thought paper was so heavy ha ha.

From now on I intend to snap those things that erupt a chuckle. Long live the Camera Phone!

Diary - March 12th to 18th 2010

Diary - March 12th to 18th

This week has been about three things…

1. Finding entertainment in the most random of places,
2. Finding that ‘team’ is only a labelling word for a group too easy fractured,
3. Finding that I am ill prepared to welcome in the 60th.

‘A crazy ass week’ just about sums up this middle of March week. Sure February and January had a certain amount of the ludicrous and the lunacy but March… always seems to out do itself.

With my father’s 60th birthday looming at the end of the week I found myself lacking any substance to ‘get the party started’. The gifts I had bought seemed inadequate for such a milestone, the balloons were still flat in their packet and the cake had yet to be bought. Speaking of the cake… me and the mother of my family unit had picked out a couple of embarrassing photos so all that was needed was for my local leading supermarket chain to work their edible magic and adorn the sponge with a grinning Frederick. I also got the idea that a novelty t-shirt might be entertaining so I purchased a round-neck, some iron on transfer sheets and dug out the family album. Pictures will follow!

A few days previous we girls took a trip to find a sofa. We looked and looked but as the person buying the thing wanted it to ‘jump out at her’ in order for her to buy it we ended up in Pizza Hut empty handed or rather without receipt; I don’t think we had actually planned on carrying a three-seater home with us. Anyway in The Hut we found ourselves entertained. Davey B was to be our waiter. Not only was he cute as a button (in a 26 year old way) but he was training to be pilot. For a waiter he also had an over familiarity that was endearing, a memory that was impressive bearing in mind he remembered all our toppings and a cheeky smile that evaporated any of our ennui.

With regards to the workplace move, which I have been wittering on about, not only did our belongings change hands but so did our loyalty. For a team that last week was understanding and strong we very quickly fell apart. Tensions rose, tears fell and tantrums took hold. The situation was stressful enough but finding that we didn’t actually have anywhere to go, realising that others were favoured above ourselves and running into a manager that frankly spoke to us like they didn’t give a damn… the week was hard. Some even found the idea of coming in so painful that they didn’t even bother to show up. I hope it gets better. I don’t think I can work for 18.5 hours in deathly and tension filled silence. Alas.

On a brighter note my car passed its MOT. But sadly Kieran’s Nan passed away on the Sunday. She was ready though bless her and I guess at the end that is all we can ask for.

Next week… it’s party, party, party. Literally… three parties!

Diary - February 26th to March 4th 2010

Diary - Feb 26th to March 4th

This week has been about three things…

1. The escapades of Saturday; I didn’t understand a word he said,
2. Packing, moving, hoisting and the emotions attached,
3. Visiting Becca and loving her place (as did Rohan who got an invite).

Saturday started with avid expectations, I always look forward to going to the cinema with child like glee. After having my hair cut, very fetching, I collected my friend and we headed along the ever trudging A629. Why is it that on the days we decide to visit the flicks we always encounter the Galpharm Stadium on the day of some ridiculous hillbilly sports match!?

People walking in the middle of the road (50 points please), no car parking spaces and an attendant with an accent as indecipherable as the murdering chap from True Blood. He had the cheek to scoff at us though I couldn’t quite make out what he scoffed. It was just his tone you know… arse.

Finally after being forced to wander around Huddersfield for two hours, get stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes, we ended up arriving for the next showing thirty minutes late. Luckily we had only missed eight minutes of the film, however, which was a good job as ‘Leap Year’ was amazing. I will post a review for sure. Come to think of it I still owe one for Avatar.

Also this week I jazzed up my blog. How do you like it? Who knew that Photoshop could wield such creative wonder. Not me but aha I do now. I especially got excited when I ‘plastic wrapped’ my title painting and got such a great effect. Geek? Me? For sure!

There has also been some progress this week with regards to the site I work at. After two years of ‘umming’ and ‘ahhing’ we are finally moving out. On the 15th. Short notice much. So the rest of this week has been spent packing and sorting. I even found a box that I had never sorted from moving sites the last time. Oops. It feels kind of odd to be moving back to the main site; probably because once I am there they don’t actually know where to stick me. Again.

Next week… more moving both at work and at home. My friend has a new flat whoop whoop!

Observation - Did he really just say that!?

While in work today I observed the most ridiculous showing of intimidation gone wrong.

Two work colleagues were, today, going to be interviewed for the same post. A promotion.

My female colleague was preparing herself quietly at her desk when the male colleague came into the room to stand beside her.

He said...

"I wouldn't by any big novels if I were you, you don't look so well today." (Sniggers and walks off).

Now is it just me or is this guy a complete and utter fool? Actually I am not feeling polite, he is a dickhead! Who in their right mind would say that to a person. I admit if he had meant it to be funny we might have laughed but he didn't so there was silence.

Tut.