Ok, ok, you can stop all the cheering and clapping, this post title doesn't signify that gemmak's-ville is closing down, you don't escape as easily as all that, it is merely a reference to this being the very last post in my 'post every day for a year' challenge!
I can no longer remember who it was who set the challenge or if it was just me that challenged me but however or whoever, I did it, this post is the final one in a year of getting a post published, by hook or by crook, every day since the 1st January 2005....I did it! Yayyy.
Perhaps only a small discipline I know but there have been times I promise you when it felt like a small mill stone around my neck, when I could think of absolutely nothing worth typing, yes I know that has been apparent from my content on many occasions, or was for one reason or another unable to access the internet.... but with a little help from my friends ....thank you Lisa, I managed it one way or another.
This morning at 5 am I thought I was going to be thwarted at the final moment. I got up for work and to post 'Saturday silliness' only to find that the ever efficient Wanadoo had killed off my connection yet again. Panic set in, given that last time it took them almost three weeks to rectify (something for which we are still enjoying months of free service), I left PG with instructions to get me a connection, any connection, up and running by this evening! He did not receive his instructions well at that time in the morning but none the less he got it fixed and here I am.
So that's it, my year is over, all that remains is to thank my tirelessly loyal readers for tolerating a year of such drivel and to wish you all a happy 2006.
Saturday, 31 December 2005
Friday, 30 December 2005
Tilly toes
A Tilly first....... I might add though that she didn't get much further, she's still testing her 'snow paws'!
Thursday, 29 December 2005
Playing catch-up
Is it only me that can go away for just three days and then find that it takes forever to catch up? Surely such a short period away from home shouldn't cause such disruption? Who knows, but for me twas ever thus and this 'post festive' spell is no different.
I feel as though all I have done since we arrived home is one load of laundry after another, followed by copious amounts of ironing, cleaning and sorting out of one thing or another.
I have blogs waiting to be designed, emails protruding from my ears, as yet unanswered, comments barely read and on and on the list seems to go! Tomorrow I get the payback for Christmas off work, the first of four full days back in retail hell, I hate it, the boredom and frustration that goes hand in hand with it is enough to drive me demented, all the more so when I have so much here I need to get done.
Ahhh, but then there is the snow, the beautiful, beautiful snow that is still very much in evidence in gemmak's-ville. Maybe I am so behind because I have spent way too much long gazing out of the window the last two days watching the flakes fall silently, creating a pristine white carpet as they gather on the floor. It is truly beautiful, every tree and branch is laden, my whole panoramic view is white from top to bottom, the stuff of my dreams........ though when I attempt to get into work tomorrow I may feel a little differently!
So far we have only perhaps 2.5 inches but we have more forecast for tonight and tomorrow. The roads in the sub zero temperatures are already like a slick of ice out here in the middle of nowhere and despite the forecast suggesting we should be at minus 2 degrees, at my back door the mercury is showing minus 7 already. PG had some difficulty getting his car out of here earlier this afternoon, courtesy of a hill between us and the main roads and I spent over an hour just trying to get into my little car to defrost it and clear the snow from it a little in readiness for my 7 am start tomorrow.
Hey ho, it's all worth it just to see the pure white fields glistening in the sunlight and hear the crisp sound as it squishes underfoot.
I feel as though all I have done since we arrived home is one load of laundry after another, followed by copious amounts of ironing, cleaning and sorting out of one thing or another.
I have blogs waiting to be designed, emails protruding from my ears, as yet unanswered, comments barely read and on and on the list seems to go! Tomorrow I get the payback for Christmas off work, the first of four full days back in retail hell, I hate it, the boredom and frustration that goes hand in hand with it is enough to drive me demented, all the more so when I have so much here I need to get done.
Ahhh, but then there is the snow, the beautiful, beautiful snow that is still very much in evidence in gemmak's-ville. Maybe I am so behind because I have spent way too much long gazing out of the window the last two days watching the flakes fall silently, creating a pristine white carpet as they gather on the floor. It is truly beautiful, every tree and branch is laden, my whole panoramic view is white from top to bottom, the stuff of my dreams........ though when I attempt to get into work tomorrow I may feel a little differently!
So far we have only perhaps 2.5 inches but we have more forecast for tonight and tomorrow. The roads in the sub zero temperatures are already like a slick of ice out here in the middle of nowhere and despite the forecast suggesting we should be at minus 2 degrees, at my back door the mercury is showing minus 7 already. PG had some difficulty getting his car out of here earlier this afternoon, courtesy of a hill between us and the main roads and I spent over an hour just trying to get into my little car to defrost it and clear the snow from it a little in readiness for my 7 am start tomorrow.
Hey ho, it's all worth it just to see the pure white fields glistening in the sunlight and hear the crisp sound as it squishes underfoot.
So what of Christmas
Our Christmas was fab, a far cry from that of last year when PG was working and I was sat here on my own for most of the day with a Marks & Spencer 'Christmas dinner for one'. Oh that every year we could escape the perils of our employers just for a day or two!
The journey South on Christmas eve was a breeze, the roads were clear, there were no hold-ups, no accidents and we had it cracked in a little over four hours. We took PG's new car and what a difference. I have never had a big car with all the bells and whistles and associated comforts and boy, do they make a difference. I didn't arrive feeling like a wrung out dishcloth for once.
Our arrival was met with much excitement from my nieces, who we haven't seen since the summer and then only very briefly and immediately any feeling that 'it didn't feel like Christmas' that I had harboured before evaporated. Games were played, dens were built, and the usual rules such as 'no chocolate before dinner' were utterly broken.....well, that's what auntie's are for isn't it?
Christmas day began as is the way of small children very early. Whilst the rest of the party slumbered on E & E my nieces crept into our bedroom at the crack of dawn full of high excitement and clutching their stockings to eject me from my bed to join in the manic opening process. This was kind of agreed the night before with one proviso, that once up they had to allow me two minutes to make a coffee and smoke a cigarette before we got underway! Hell, even on Christmas day some things are sacrosanct!
Much excitement later we deemed it a civilised hour (ok, it was only 7.30 but these are children and it's Christmas) to wake the rest of the household, trying to contain the enthusiasm of a 9 and 11 year old any longer was proving impossible when they were aware that behind the living room door 'Santa' had left the most enormous pile of parcels.
And the rest of the day passed in a blur of screeching, laughing, tearing of wrapping paper and wild exclamation at the contents of each parcel as it was revealed and then 'tested'.....just about every gift had to be wrenched unceremoniously from it's packaging for a little 'investigate' before rapidly being abandoned for the next unopened package. By lunch time the place was it's usual Christmas day midden of wrappings, half opened toys and various chocolate bits and pieces left half eaten....... just as Christmas day should be!
Copious amounts of festive fare were consumed, my sister is a qualified chef and her husband and my parents good amateurs, my family (aside from me who hates to cook but loves good food) 'do' serious, yummy, to die for food and this occasion was no different, the non stop round of culinary delights and treats on offer was as ever amazing, every tiny spare space in my little body I think was stuffed full.....and some!
Boxing day was another day of juvenile madness and fun, punctuated by the obligatory walk in the afternoon to walk off the previous days gluttony, no one really wanted to go as ever but the elders insisted as they do and we duly complied though who they are kidding that an hours potter might in some way make up for such gormandising I don't know! heh.
Tuesday arrived way too soon but that fact that it arrived covered in my much wished for snow made up in some small part for the fact that the long awaited time with my family was almost over and way too quickly. There was much joking that of all the day, after all my wishing that it would snow it chose to on the day we had to drive 300 miles home. We bid our sad farewells and off we set on what turned out to be a long and arduous, snow filled drive punctuated only by the pleasure of visiting Kitty en-route as blogged yesterday.
The up side of arriving home of course was to be reunited with Ditto and Tilly who we had so missed. Ditto was duly collected from the cattery and immediately registered her annoyance by peeing in the car, gah! Tilly on the other hand, who had seemingly had a marvelous Christmas with our friends, couldn't have cared less whether we collected her or not and was returned home with something approaching twenty new toys and a multitude of cat treats in her little travel bag!
And so that is about it, gemmak's Christmas 2005, it's back to work for me tomorrow, assuming I can get there of course, right now my wished for 'white stuff' is causing somewhat of a problem but more on that later.
The journey South on Christmas eve was a breeze, the roads were clear, there were no hold-ups, no accidents and we had it cracked in a little over four hours. We took PG's new car and what a difference. I have never had a big car with all the bells and whistles and associated comforts and boy, do they make a difference. I didn't arrive feeling like a wrung out dishcloth for once.
Our arrival was met with much excitement from my nieces, who we haven't seen since the summer and then only very briefly and immediately any feeling that 'it didn't feel like Christmas' that I had harboured before evaporated. Games were played, dens were built, and the usual rules such as 'no chocolate before dinner' were utterly broken.....well, that's what auntie's are for isn't it?
Christmas day began as is the way of small children very early. Whilst the rest of the party slumbered on E & E my nieces crept into our bedroom at the crack of dawn full of high excitement and clutching their stockings to eject me from my bed to join in the manic opening process. This was kind of agreed the night before with one proviso, that once up they had to allow me two minutes to make a coffee and smoke a cigarette before we got underway! Hell, even on Christmas day some things are sacrosanct!
Much excitement later we deemed it a civilised hour (ok, it was only 7.30 but these are children and it's Christmas) to wake the rest of the household, trying to contain the enthusiasm of a 9 and 11 year old any longer was proving impossible when they were aware that behind the living room door 'Santa' had left the most enormous pile of parcels.
And the rest of the day passed in a blur of screeching, laughing, tearing of wrapping paper and wild exclamation at the contents of each parcel as it was revealed and then 'tested'.....just about every gift had to be wrenched unceremoniously from it's packaging for a little 'investigate' before rapidly being abandoned for the next unopened package. By lunch time the place was it's usual Christmas day midden of wrappings, half opened toys and various chocolate bits and pieces left half eaten....... just as Christmas day should be!
Copious amounts of festive fare were consumed, my sister is a qualified chef and her husband and my parents good amateurs, my family (aside from me who hates to cook but loves good food) 'do' serious, yummy, to die for food and this occasion was no different, the non stop round of culinary delights and treats on offer was as ever amazing, every tiny spare space in my little body I think was stuffed full.....and some!
Boxing day was another day of juvenile madness and fun, punctuated by the obligatory walk in the afternoon to walk off the previous days gluttony, no one really wanted to go as ever but the elders insisted as they do and we duly complied though who they are kidding that an hours potter might in some way make up for such gormandising I don't know! heh.
Tuesday arrived way too soon but that fact that it arrived covered in my much wished for snow made up in some small part for the fact that the long awaited time with my family was almost over and way too quickly. There was much joking that of all the day, after all my wishing that it would snow it chose to on the day we had to drive 300 miles home. We bid our sad farewells and off we set on what turned out to be a long and arduous, snow filled drive punctuated only by the pleasure of visiting Kitty en-route as blogged yesterday.
The up side of arriving home of course was to be reunited with Ditto and Tilly who we had so missed. Ditto was duly collected from the cattery and immediately registered her annoyance by peeing in the car, gah! Tilly on the other hand, who had seemingly had a marvelous Christmas with our friends, couldn't have cared less whether we collected her or not and was returned home with something approaching twenty new toys and a multitude of cat treats in her little travel bag!
And so that is about it, gemmak's Christmas 2005, it's back to work for me tomorrow, assuming I can get there of course, right now my wished for 'white stuff' is causing somewhat of a problem but more on that later.
Wednesday, 28 December 2005
Guess where we went for coffee!
Yesterday, 'post the perfect Christmas' we woke to the icing on the cake.....snow! I was of course overjoyed though it is safe to say the PG, only too well aware of the 300 mile journey ahead of us, was somewhat less enthralled. My only reservation was that a tentative arrangement we had made just prior to Christmas might have to be foregone under the circumstances.
Thankfully as we set off and made our way onto the M1 the weather improved a little and we decided that we would try to fullfill our little plan. With that in mind I sent a short text to someone asking if she was free and immediately my phone rang and a cheerful voice confirmed that our litte plan was going to come together!
And so it was that PG and I made our way to the home of Kitty, she of 'Kitty's Scritchings' fame for coffee!
Kitty (left) and gemmak
This was a first for me, the first time I have managed to meet another blogger for 'real' and we had a fab time.....there was most definitely no shortage of chattering, nor of cats to cuddle and fuss. For those of you not familiar with Kitty's blog, she has four of the most beautiful friendly felines, so adorable in fact that PG made an attempt at kidnapping 'Pixel', though he was thwarted by Kitty!
Sadly we were on quite a tight schedule having a deadline by which we had to 'rescue' Ditto from the cattery. We had intended to only stay for half an hour but as we women will we managed to drag it out to nearer and hour before PG reminded us that we really ought to hit the road. Left to our own devices we could have happily sat talking all day no doubt.....whether PG or Wookie, Kittie's partner, who was unfortunately poorly and who had been given dispensation to remain in his sick bed, would have been keen on listening to us gossiping all day is another matter!
For me it was fab to get together with Kitty, I was only sorry that we couldn't disrupt her day longer, I could happily have stayed for hours chattering, cat cuddling and looking at the spectacular view from her living room window....really, you have to visit her blog to see what I mean but you won't have seen anything like it!
Hopefully, given that each time we go to my sisters or my parents we pass within four miles, we will manage to get together again sometime in the future and carry on where we left off yesterday.
Thanks Kitty, a great end to our Christmas holiday. :o)
*You can read Kitty's take on the proceedings HERE.
Thankfully as we set off and made our way onto the M1 the weather improved a little and we decided that we would try to fullfill our little plan. With that in mind I sent a short text to someone asking if she was free and immediately my phone rang and a cheerful voice confirmed that our litte plan was going to come together!
And so it was that PG and I made our way to the home of Kitty, she of 'Kitty's Scritchings' fame for coffee!
This was a first for me, the first time I have managed to meet another blogger for 'real' and we had a fab time.....there was most definitely no shortage of chattering, nor of cats to cuddle and fuss. For those of you not familiar with Kitty's blog, she has four of the most beautiful friendly felines, so adorable in fact that PG made an attempt at kidnapping 'Pixel', though he was thwarted by Kitty!
Sadly we were on quite a tight schedule having a deadline by which we had to 'rescue' Ditto from the cattery. We had intended to only stay for half an hour but as we women will we managed to drag it out to nearer and hour before PG reminded us that we really ought to hit the road. Left to our own devices we could have happily sat talking all day no doubt.....whether PG or Wookie, Kittie's partner, who was unfortunately poorly and who had been given dispensation to remain in his sick bed, would have been keen on listening to us gossiping all day is another matter!
For me it was fab to get together with Kitty, I was only sorry that we couldn't disrupt her day longer, I could happily have stayed for hours chattering, cat cuddling and looking at the spectacular view from her living room window....really, you have to visit her blog to see what I mean but you won't have seen anything like it!
Hopefully, given that each time we go to my sisters or my parents we pass within four miles, we will manage to get together again sometime in the future and carry on where we left off yesterday.
Thanks Kitty, a great end to our Christmas holiday. :o)
*You can read Kitty's take on the proceedings HERE.
Tuesday, 27 December 2005
I'm home
Finally, after the majority of the day on the road, trundling much of the time somewhat tentatively through my much wished for snow (yes, we got it today of all days when I needed to make a 300 mile drive....that'll teach me) we have arrived home from our Christmas gathering. Ditto and Tilly have been 'reclaimed', I have a cup of much needed coffee in one hand, a cigarette in the other and then it's off to bed for me. Last night among the hilarity we only managed three hours sleep, tonight I'm hoping for closer to thirteen!
The day was not all bad, there was a very definite highlight, something that had been tentatively planned prior to the festivities but that we weren't sure would come to fruition ...in the event it did, but I'll leave that for tomorrow..........
Good night ;o)
The day was not all bad, there was a very definite highlight, something that had been tentatively planned prior to the festivities but that we weren't sure would come to fruition ...in the event it did, but I'll leave that for tomorrow..........
Good night ;o)
Monday, 26 December 2005
Sunday, 25 December 2005
Saturday, 24 December 2005
I'm gone
That's it, we are all packed, the presents are wrapped, the car is loaded up and Tilly is safely ensconced in her Christmas holiday home, silly I know but I am sooo gonna miss her and Ditto over the next few days :o(
We'll drop Ditto off at her temporarily residence en-route and then we are ready to hit the road and face the worst the A1 and M1 can throw at us on a Christmas eve!
You don't escape that easily though, it may be Christmas and I may not have internet access for a few days but having got this far through the year with my 'a post a day for a year' challenge I'm not going to fall at the last fence! One way or another....(and with Lisa's very generous help) you can be rest assured there will be a post here every day........ not that I imagine Bloggers servers will be disrupted by the traffic!
All that remains then before I press the 'off button' ....hell, can I find it?.... is to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas, may it be all that you wish for it to be.
I'm gone.....have a fab one guys. :o)
We'll drop Ditto off at her temporarily residence en-route and then we are ready to hit the road and face the worst the A1 and M1 can throw at us on a Christmas eve!
You don't escape that easily though, it may be Christmas and I may not have internet access for a few days but having got this far through the year with my 'a post a day for a year' challenge I'm not going to fall at the last fence! One way or another....(and with Lisa's very generous help) you can be rest assured there will be a post here every day........ not that I imagine Bloggers servers will be disrupted by the traffic!
All that remains then before I press the 'off button' ....hell, can I find it?.... is to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas, may it be all that you wish for it to be.
I'm gone.....have a fab one guys. :o)
Friday, 23 December 2005
Audio greetings!
You thought you had escaped didn't you?..... but no chance, if I have to suffer then so do you! Having done this last year, it seems I have been 'persuaded' to do it again this year! Eekkk.
Listen here.
(File size approx. 512kb)
If you detect a very slight racket in the background..... I'll give you just one guess at who it is 'bouncing off the walls'!
(File size approx. 512kb)
If you detect a very slight racket in the background..... I'll give you just one guess at who it is 'bouncing off the walls'!
Almost there!
At last, the 'big day' that all these past weeks hoo ha have been about is almost upon us, we have almost made it and surprisingly unscathed!
For me this is a one off, I saw the back of my last day at work yesterday evening and I have a whole week off for the festivities, no more retail hell for me until new years eve! Yayyyyy. This is almost unheard of, a true miracle in the sad world that is retail and corporate gain, a whole week off over Christmas just doesn't happen and for me, to the best of my memory, it hasn't happened for something approaching fifteen years! :o) Can you see my broad and cheesy smile?
So what remains to be done? I have to finish the parcel wrapping process and then pack for our impending journey tomorrow. This time it's not the 400 mile haul to London but merely 300 to my sisters in the midlands, where the 'gemmak clan' will assemble for the festivities, well most of them anyways. We get to spend almost four whole days with not only my parents but also my sister, her husband and my nieces, who I haven't seen for soooo long. I can't wait!
We will miss the 'feline brigade' of course. Ditto will be deposited in her usual holiday home tomorrow morning and Tilly, who it was decided is still too young for said establishment, is off for her holidays at a neighbours, our friends W and A who love her almost as much as we do and very kindly offered her 'room at the inn' for the festive period. I hate to leave her behind, Ditto is used to it, she knows the drill but Tilly is still relatively tiny and unaware that she is not being abandoned forever. We have taken her over the last week or two, on a couple of 'practice' visits in the hope that it would familiarise her with her temporary home and teach her that her abandonment is only temporary. On both occasions she shook like a little leaf for ten minutes but then seemed to settle down and begin investigating, so hopefully she will be fine........whether W & A are quite fully aware of what they have let themselves in for from the small tornado is another matter!
And so that's it, a day of organizing and packing and perhaps a little bit more 'playtime' on here, hell I'm going to have three whole days without internet access, I have to get my fix somehow before we leave, one more sleep and then we've made it! We're outta here and heading for our Christmas pud!
But you don't escape 'gemmak's-ville' that easily..........
For me this is a one off, I saw the back of my last day at work yesterday evening and I have a whole week off for the festivities, no more retail hell for me until new years eve! Yayyyyy. This is almost unheard of, a true miracle in the sad world that is retail and corporate gain, a whole week off over Christmas just doesn't happen and for me, to the best of my memory, it hasn't happened for something approaching fifteen years! :o) Can you see my broad and cheesy smile?
So what remains to be done? I have to finish the parcel wrapping process and then pack for our impending journey tomorrow. This time it's not the 400 mile haul to London but merely 300 to my sisters in the midlands, where the 'gemmak clan' will assemble for the festivities, well most of them anyways. We get to spend almost four whole days with not only my parents but also my sister, her husband and my nieces, who I haven't seen for soooo long. I can't wait!
We will miss the 'feline brigade' of course. Ditto will be deposited in her usual holiday home tomorrow morning and Tilly, who it was decided is still too young for said establishment, is off for her holidays at a neighbours, our friends W and A who love her almost as much as we do and very kindly offered her 'room at the inn' for the festive period. I hate to leave her behind, Ditto is used to it, she knows the drill but Tilly is still relatively tiny and unaware that she is not being abandoned forever. We have taken her over the last week or two, on a couple of 'practice' visits in the hope that it would familiarise her with her temporary home and teach her that her abandonment is only temporary. On both occasions she shook like a little leaf for ten minutes but then seemed to settle down and begin investigating, so hopefully she will be fine........whether W & A are quite fully aware of what they have let themselves in for from the small tornado is another matter!
And so that's it, a day of organizing and packing and perhaps a little bit more 'playtime' on here, hell I'm going to have three whole days without internet access, I have to get my fix somehow before we leave, one more sleep and then we've made it! We're outta here and heading for our Christmas pud!
But you don't escape 'gemmak's-ville' that easily..........
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