So long 2009....

....I will not be sorry to see you go!

2009, probably, no certainly, the very worst year of my life to date, unsurpassed in obnoxious horrible-ness and that despite one or two in my past not having been particularly good to say the least.

I find it pretty hard to imagine now, when I think back to this time last year, quite how much has changed and none of it in a positive manner. I began the year relatively happy and feeling I had achieved much of what I aimed for in life. Yes, I was unemployed but that was the biggest problem I had, oh happy days! Such a simple existence now seems something I can only dream of, something that happens to other people, like winning the lottery or finding a priceless work of art in the loft.

Those of you who read here regularly (for which I thank you) know what happened next, for those that don't, briefly I lost the man I loved when he ditched me unceremoniously in the space of a few hours, as a consequence I lost my home, along with my sanity it seemed at times..... and having just begun to recover from that my father, who we thought had beaten cancer, was given a terminal diagnosis and required nursing to his recent death, which was preceded by a good friend also being claimed by cancer, just a week earlier.

It's been a logistical and emotional roller coaster filled with heartache, hospitals, chemotherapy and hopes dashed time and time again and it's a ride I never want wish to experience again! So like I said at the start of this post, I won't be sorry to see the back of 2009 and whilst I have no wish to tempt fate I can't imagine how 2010 can be anything but an improvement! Here's hoping!

There were along the way one or two positives, we had a few laughs, I learned that I'm stronger than I thought and that we cope with what is thrown at us somehow, I made some very good friendships that I hope will endure a lifetime, my best friend got married and I discovered that despite everything, I wouldn't now have back he who ditched me so unkindly if he was offered gift wrapped and with a bright shiny ribbon wrapped around his 'interesting bits'. I just don't need that crap.

So then, happy new year guys, lets hope it is a better one......and thank you to those, who along the way, kept me from capsizing spectacularly and were there 24/7 and way beyond the call of duty when I needed them, you know who you are.

Ejaculation not allowed!

Picture the scene, it's Christmas night, the family, myself, my mother, my sister and her husband and the two teenage children, plus one miscellaneous boyfriend are sitting around the table playing the obligatory Christmas games. There are carols playing gently in the background and all is relatively peaceful.

The game, don't ask me to name it, involved making models from 'play-doh', one person per team modelling the damn stuff against the clock, the other guessing the word the model represents.

There was some small degree of cheating going on and in the excitement of the moment my modeller, youngest teenage child, tried to indicate to me what it was she was modelling, exasperated at my apparent lack of ability to identify the blue 'blob' infront of her.

Oldest teenage child at this point, much miffed at the bending of rules was heard to shout across the room at hight decibel levels and in all innocence........."you are not allowed to ejaculate".

I suspect the word she was looking for was probably'gesticulate'.

There was one of those silent moments, offending teenager utterly confused and the rest of us trying our damnedest not to fall about hysterically.

We failed dismally!

Love it!

Done and dusted

Well that's that done and dusted and over with, Christmas is behind us and I have to admit I am not sorry. I know that's pretty much of a 'bah humbug grumpy bint' attitude but there it is, it wasn't my best festive season by a long way!

We did I have to say, make the best of it and being with my sister and her family made it a whole lot better but for all of us it's our first 'event' without my dad and for me my first for a very long while single, definitely a status I am learning to dislike intensely and particularly at holiday times. It just isn't nice. I know there are many that hail female independence in the 21st century, yada, yada, yada but it just isn't for me, I wasn't built to be a solitary soul in this manner and whilst I may be getting used to it, I have no wish whatsoever to tolerate the single life for long!

Hey ho, onward. We have the new year to get through and then maybe some semblance of normality can begin to resume. What my normality will be now I have no idea but my life is set to change again quite significantly over the next few months.

Did I mention I am fed up with change? A spell of stability might be nice for a while.....I'm not holding my breath!

Winter wonderland

After the second snowfall....


(Click to enlarge)

Merry Christmas!

Lesser known!

:o)

It's official....

...that I have failed dismally this Christmas one way and another and as a result I should apologise here and now!

What for?

Well, I haven't so much as purchased a Christmas card, let alone written or posted any, so if you would normally expect to be seeing one from me popping through your letter box, I am sorry but it won't be happening this year. I'll say again, I'm am sorry but pressure of circumstances and all that, I just didn't seem to get to it. In fact Christmas is pretty low key here this year for obvious reasons. None of us can really get into it so my mum and I will head off to Leicestershire tomorrow to stay with my sister for a few days, we will do Christmas for the children but that will be about the extent to which we go, it will just be nice to be together.

So, again, my apologies but not much festive to see here this year.

On pride and falls and getting marooned!

Bugger! So last night full of confidence and against my overly worrying mothers advice I went out in the car, I know how to drive in the snow, I have some experience (that's another tale)and thus far in my life I have never got stuck! Thus far!

Off I went and when all around me were abandoning vehicles and causing minor bodywork damage I made it to my destination, albeit only a mile away and albeit having taken me a half hour.

Things were looking good. I parked in a place suitable for making good my escape later in the evening and enjoyed my evening. At 2am I decided it was time to go back home and set off on my one mile trip. All was well....until 500 meters from home where my pride took a considerable jolt.

Suffice to say, much digging of snow from around my wheels, much clutch burning and swearing, an hour later I had moved approximately five foot, just enough not to have to abandon the car right in the middle of the road, I arrived home at three bloody thirty! One mile, one and a half hours! Ooppsss. *Blush*

The remaining short distance home was on foot and this morning I am off with a shovel to try again....failing that I may have to completely swallow my pride and get my brother and his Land Rover over here.

Tomorrow my mother and I are supposed to be travelling to the Midlands to spend what will already be a pretty strange Christmas with my sister and her family....not making it is not an option!

Iced!

(Click to enlarge)

Short dog in snow!

Remember 'short dog', he who I borrowed from my brother way back in the summer sometime...well he's rather partial to snow too, specifically catching snowballs!

How many cats?

This little festive offering amused me...but don't expect me to know the answer to 'how many cats'...each time I count them I come up with a different result!

If you think you have the definitive answer, let me know!


*Update.
As has been pointed out to me in comments it's twelve, as in the twelve days of Christmas! Duh @ me. Hey, I told you my brain is addled recently but I like the picture just the same! :o)

The snowmum!

Intrepid as ever, at eighty, in six inches of snow, 7.30 in the morning, minus 5 degrees, slippers on feet and without even a jacket, the snowmum feeding 'her' birds on time!

There is just no telling some people!;o)


(Apologies, poor image but I was so surprised I didn't have time to organise my camera properly!)

Snow....

...I have snow! Big snow, beautiful snow, wonderful snow! Unfortunately I also have a failed central heating system...snow pictures once I have sorted the heating issue! Dammit, where's my dad when I need him!


*UPDATE
Have fixed the heating and at last taken some snow pictures. I don't have quite the scenery here close at hand as I did in Scotland or Cambridge but hey ho, it's still snow!







(Click to enlarge...and the rest are HERE.)

About bloody time!

So, I was pontificating recently over the multitudes of surgeries and treatments my dad had to undergo and endure in his fight against cancer, he was amazing, he went through some really major stuff including 8 hour surgeries,chemo and many other less than lovely things, and he barely uttered a word of complaint or showed more than the minimum of fear.

It kind of put into perspective my dental phobia, (which is well documented here if are are bored enough to want to read it) ok, so we are different people and we all react differently to fear but nonetheless, to be so terrified of having one tooth extracted, that has caused me pain for almost two years, began to seem a little pathetic.

It was thus that yesterday I took the bull by it's proverbial horns and made an appointment for said procedure to be carried out today....and I did it, the offending item is gone!! Yayyy!!

I will admit to having to have my sister in tow and to visibly shaking but I did it and I did it without my usual dental assistance, Valium!

If my dad can go through what he had too I can damn well have a tooth out, he kept telling me to get it done every time he saw me 'winding' food around my mouth or taking pain meds trying to avoid the pain, so I did it....and about bloody time!

*Oh....and it's snowing!!! Yipee :o)