Having spent many frustrating hours Christmas shopping this year, I have decided that next year all my family will be getting homemade pickles and preserves for Christmas instead!

- is a lay-in.

I'm so tired.
I don't know why, but I am exhausted.
I have to go to bed as soon as I get home from work. I have had to cut short two evenings out with friends because I can barely keep my eyes open. The house is a tip because I haven't been able to quite keep up with it.

I would do anything just to sleep through Christmas day this year.

My first message on the new bcuk message service is spam!

How pleasant it was today, to travel home in only half the traffic! Yay! Local schools are on holiday!

Usksider: would this solve your little "flashing" problem?

Travel John Disposable Urinal
2 used & new available from £4.70

Sorry, no customer review of this one!

1) They will not buy anything that requires going out of the house: Therefore, if it cannot be purchased from Amazon, they won't buy it.

2) They will seriously suggest items like this as a present for your mother:

Here is a really helpful Amazon review of the item:

I bought this item on the spur of the moment whilst shopping in the Lake District. As we climbed our first hill the next day I packed it into the top of my ruck sack a bit unsure if I'd be able to use it or if it would work. Normally I'm running down the mountain, hiding behind a rock while my husband stands watch for passers by or exposing my rear to the midges but with the Shewee it offered easy to use complete freedom without exposing a jot. So good I'm now buying one for each of my daughters who both hate sitting down in public toilets. Really good to keep in your bag for all occasions anywhere.

Desperately trying to reduce the amount of packaging that passes through my home.

My target is have nothing in carrier bag this month. But is it ok to turn up at Morrisons with a pile of Sainsbury's heavy duty re-usable carrier bags?

Spent the morning putting poppies on war graves (including in the section that is fenced off because its unsafe!).

Am now relaxing, trying to warm up my soaking wet and freezing cold feet.

Not sure why I always apologize when I have to step on someones grave.

For the first time ever I have had a blog post dedicated to little ol' me!

Well I've never really been into halloween. But when I arrived home from work tonight, I found that nearly every house on my road was decorated with halloween type stuff, and I almost felt I had missed out: It must have taken a fair amount of co-ordination to put up all the fake grave stones and creepy spider's webs, (and without me knowing about it in advance!) However, when I just popped out to get a photo, my neighbours were hastily packing it all away.

Thats when it all clicked into place. The place were I now live is very famous for its ghosts, and when I went outside, there seemed to be a guided walk just leaving the street!

Anyway, while I have no inclination to take part in this stuff (i'm sitting in the back room with most of the lights switched off), I will however be hanging around my local cemetery at the weekend - putting poppies on the war graves.

I just realised, that even though I worked from home today, I wasn't disturbed by my neighbours dog barking all day like usual. (This might be why I seemed to get through much more stuff than usual)

I hope its ok. (but, also that it stays quiet)

I hope nothing horrid happened while I was away. Poor lonely dog.

I thought I would share the conclusion to my little shopping spree from the other week when I was buying clothes for work.

Whilst in M&S I spotted a suit that I quite liked that was on display. After hunting around the area I couldn't find any similar so I asked an assistant. She replied that they had been moved to another part of the store because they had a sale starting the next day and they would be in it. I don't like sales, there is never anything I want in my size, but she said, you should reserve the suit, and then pick it up tomorrow and you will get it for the sale price, even though its not marked down yet.

Anyway, I looked, but alas there were none in my size. "Don't worry!" said the assistant, "we can order it for you in your size!"

So, I managed to pick up the trousers before my holiday, and was quite chuffed to find that they were marked down from £25 to £12. However, today I picked up the jacket. It had been reduced from £39.95 to £5!!!!

A whole work suit for only £17.00!

Lets just say that I will be buying new (non-work) shoes with the money I have saved!

Just got that, "spent ages writting a post, but now its gone" feeling.

Again.

Well I'm back from my holiday. Have had a lovely relaxing week, where I finally seemed to shake off the horrid cold/flu/chest infection type bug that I seem to have had for weeks.

Have been back two days, and I already have a sore throat and a snotty nose.

Maybe I'm allergic to the UK?

But its just not working today.

Came home from work with a horrible headache. Probably just because I'm tired. Went to bed last and next doors dog woke me up early barking. They are so cruel, to have a dog and then leave it locked up barking all day everyday. Its not the dogs fault, its just lonely. They have a lovely garden but I never see it out.

I just barks and barks.

Well the weather seems crappy now I'm home. I don't really get to see the weather these days. My new office doesn't exactly have a view, and we have to have the lights on all day, so I don't even notice when its nice out. I had a few pangs for my old place today. I admit it, I had got really comfy there, and I still feel out of place here, like I'm on holiday without all my home comforts, living out of one suitcase. But I miss it all the same. The grass isn't always greener, I wish I had learned that before.

Oh well, off to have left-overs for tea! And put the washing on.

What a truely uninspiring day!

I don't usually mention work much but this has been brewing for a while and I need to let it out somewhere, otherwise I am likely to swear at the person concerned and end up with a disciplinary

I like to think that I can get around on a computer, but I'm no wizz. I can manage all the things I need to do for my job: Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc. However, it isn't my job to do anything more technicaland I have never really had any proper training in anything else.

Thats because in my office we have a "technical support" guy, and as far as I am aware, technical stuff is his job.

So when I can't do something, or I am a bit slow on the uptake of some new computer thing, why does he shout at me??? He gets paid to help, but every thing I've asked him about for several months now, he just shouts at me, and when I ask him not to shout, but to explain what I am doing wrong, he just walk off in a huff.

I can't help it if I didn't study computers, and don't have diplomas and things in IT. I get paid to help our customers, and I can't shout at them if they are a bit slow on the uptake.

This is starting to upset me now, and I must admit to having a little weep in ladies when he did this last week.

MEN!

(I would just like to point out that this is the same "technical support" guy who removed my old but working printer in June, and replaced in with a brand new one late July, but has so far made no effort of allocate it to my computer, so I always have to log off my own computer and print every document on someone else's)

When you get dressed and you find that the pair of shoes that just go with the outfit you're wearing, you sold for a pound at a car boot sale three days ago!

I can tell its Autumn for the following reasons:

My car is so covered in leaves it looks like a compost heap, even though I washed it on Sunday.

Slates have started falling off the roof of the outside loo.

I have had a shocking cold for over a week.

I have this uncontrollable urge to eat nothing but jam donuts and homemade soup.

I have had to have the lights on in my office all day.

In the last week I have started wearing my coat to go to work (first time since early May)

I have been home from work for an hour, but I still have my coat onbecause the house is so cold.

I have had to put my "winter" duvet on my bed.

However, I have only a week and a half before I go on holiday - to somewhere warm

I thought I had a free weekend and had big plans for tidying up the house, getting little jobs done like putting up shelves etc, and just lazing about.

However my SO thought it might be nice to catch the train to go to a beer festival. No problem I thought, nice afternoon out, home for tea, relax by not doing much in front of the TV.

Well I would tell you all about it, but I can't remember much apart from a lovely old man who kept showing me photos of busses, missing the last train home and then waking up this morning with all the curtains open and a terrible hangover.

Lets just say, no chores have been done so far!

"Knackered"

Sorry its nothing more profound, but I'm too shattered to think!

Wrote a long post about the reasons why today I am "fed up".

I just lost the whole post.

This just about sums up my whole week.

I am too fed up to type it all again, but the idea is that: I need to learn to say "no", and I think I need to go on some kind of assertiveness course.

*Hhhmmmmpppphhhhh!*

I would just like to point out that the horrid, ill-matched wallpaper/paint combination that you can see on my previous post, was NOT my idea!

This is the next bit to be hit by my revamp!

This was a present from a very dear friend about two years ago, and with lots of nurturing I have pursuaded it to flower again. It looks even better than when I first had it!

:D

I may ruin my credibility by admitting that I love antiques roadshow, but not anymore after I heard this:

The husband of my mum's best friend is an expert on historic clocks. Antiques Roadshow apparently got in touch with him and invited themselves round to his house to talk clocks. They then chose two old clocks, and invited him to a roadshow, where they promptly filmed him with his clocks, while he pretended to know nothing about them and their "expert" repeated back to him everything he had already told them about his favourite clocks!

WHAT AN INJUSTICE!!!!!

I will never be able to watch this programme seriously again.

This is a new track called "Mirror Ball" (first new track recorded for about 10 years I think) from one of my best friends. I have heard this evolve from a rough first recording to this polished version

If you love electro-pop you'll love it!

What do you think? 

I know, its Tuesday! But it still feels like Monday today!

I slept really badly last night, so got up at 2.30 and watched 3 episodes of Twin Peaks on DVD before going back to bed.

As a result, I missed my alarm, and turned up for work looking like a bag lady!

Well I am feeling quite chuffed with myself, because instead of wasting my time on my highly skilled procrastination techniques, I have actually had a really good couple of days workwise, and have made a real breakthrough on a project I am working on.

I shall treat myself, with a nice glass of wine and a night infront of the TV as a reward!

My home grown veg have been really disappointing this year, especially my tomatoes. There are hardly any one the plants and they just aren't ripening.

Until yeaterday, when I got all excited to see one small tomato blushing slightly.

Unfortunately, in my excitement, I promptly knocked it off the plant!

Having grown up living the outskirts of Nottingham, my worse memories of childhood all revolve around the tedious journey every year to our nearest bit of seaside - Skegness, that bastion of Brish seaside tat! Most of those memories also involve getting VERY travel sick and vomiting, and the very word "Skeggie" makes me feel nauseous!

Today I hear that many of the building's on the parade will have to be pulled down due to a large fire. But I can't help thinking that someone missed a trick here, and should have bombed out the whole place while they were at it!

I’m tryin to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no
Yes I been black, but when I come back
You wont know, know, know

I don’t ever wanna drink again
I just, ooo, I just need a friend
Im not gonna spend 10 weeks
Have everyone think im on the mend

It’s not just my pride
It’s just til these tears have dried

They’re tryin to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no
Yes I been black, but when I come back,
You wont know, know, know

Amy Winehouse has cancelled all her tour dates today. I can't pretend to know it must be like to be famous in today's love-hate media climate, but again and again we see creativity hand-in-hand with self destruction?

Whatever her demons, I hope she feels better soon.

As if reinforce the point about how peaceful and quiet it is, and how much work I can get done whilst working from home, now I am back in the office there are workmen making a God awful racket somewhere in the building nextdoor!

My sandwich break just couldn't come early enough!

In the last couple of days I have had a couple of "friend" invites to my hotmail inbox, but they are not in the "invites" section on blog when I press the link.

Is anyone else having this problem, or are people just changing their minds and deciding I'm not worthy??? (Obviously if you are on my friends list, it worked!)

I'm sat here in my dressing gown trying to muster up some effort because of my massive hangover. I yearn the long lost days of my youth when I could drink pretty much what I liked without having to suffer the consequences the next day.

Unfortunately my SO doesn't quite take my working from home seriously!

When he works from home he tends to sit on the sofa watching daytime TV mixed up with strutting around shouting into his mobile phone or spending a two hour lunch break in the pub.

When I work from home, its because I need to get some important project work done, which I can do with the constant interuptions and answering the phone etc in the office.

My SO obviously thinks I'm not really going to be doing any work today, so he has taken it upon himself to make sure that I don't slack off my giving me a massive list of jobs to do as well!

Suppose I'd better be getting on then, hadn't I?