Well according to the news, this is the day where we are all supposed to be feeling depressed and ill… I would love to mock and ridicule this but unfortunately it’s true! JT is cross because he can’t stop sneezing and I am in bed after a rubbish day at Uni and now feeling like I am going down with some weird fluey thing (which couples with my IBS to make something pretty flattening!!)

If anyone else is feeling cross, sad or poorly, then it is always good to play the thankful game… Here are ten simple things that I am thankful for in this moment (in no particular order):

1. Hot water bottles
2. JT who is kind
3. The kittens who follow me around and sit patiently on the bed keeping me warm when I am poorly
4. The Lord’s rest
5. A nice bed
6. Clean water to drink
7. A roof over our heads
8. The nice stir fry that we had for tea
9. That JT is battling to finish my Dad’s web site and has spent all evening helping me with my Uni one.
10. My parents who bought us lunch yesterday and gave me £10 to buy some cat food and other essential items.

There it hung in the window of leisure lakes… Shiny… PINK, lens flare cheesily placed on the handle bars, – I could almost sense the pink stars floating around it… And then it spoke: “We are meant to be together” it said. “Yes, it is true” I replied, with my nose pressed against the pane.

I thought of the times that I had ridden the ‘helltoskel’ton’ around Cheltenham, the humiliation of sitting down painfully at a desk at Uni trying to disguise the saddle sore and general bone decay existing within my body and decided that it is time… Savings project for 2007 which I anticipate to be a slow one!! Still, it will be worth it. Isn’t it a beauty?

JT has been ever so busy re-building his special trains board and it is so good that we re-arranged our bedroom this evening to make room for it so that it can be even better! I am liking the new arrangement actually (will show you a photo when it is vaguely tidy!) Here is a photo of JT hard at work building the base board – I thought it was kinda cute!

We will keep you informed of the progress…

PS Learn how to spell “coffee”!! Looks more like “cough”… here is a new competition, what does a “cough machine” look like?!?!

Someone sent me this via email and, whilst mildly offensive, it is also sickeningly true!

> Men Are Just Happier People –
> What do you expect from such simple lifestyles?
> Your last name stays put.
> The garage is all yours.
> Wedding plans take care of themselves.
> Chocolate is just another snack.
> You can be President.
> You can never be pregnant.
> You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
> You can wear NO shirt to a water park.
> Car mechanics tell you the truth.
> The world is your urinal.
> You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is
just too icky.
> Same work, more pay.
> Wrinkles add character.
> Wedding dress £3000. Tux rental-£100.
> People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.
> The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected.
> New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
> One mood all the time.
> A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
> You can open all your own jars.
> You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
> Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
> Your underwear is £4.95 for a 12-pack.
> Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
> You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
> Everything on your face stays its original color.
> The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
> You only have to shave your face and neck.
> You can play with toys all your life.
> Your belly usually hides your big hips.
> One wallet and one pair of shoes one color for all seasons.
> You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
> You can “do” your nails with a pocket knife.
> You have the freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
> You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.
> No wonder men are happier.

I have just experienced another culinary success, according to JT… I managed to make a Delia special (well, not ‘special’ exactly), toad in the hole with pepper mash and onion gravy!! How exciting!! I was so excited that I nearly dropped the toads in their holes and caught the dish with my bare arm This stung quite a bit and is still stinging now, whilst forming a vaguely impressive blister. Still, it was worth it to hear JT say that he really enjoyed eating the end result

I have a great blog tracker which tells me what words people search for on Google and thus stumble upon my blog (clearly not what they were looking for!) The latest offerings are:

01/17/07 10:08:14
“all ye who are weary” (Google)
01/16/07 22:00:42
rude people (Google)
01/16/07 16:55:52
ye who are weary (Google)
01/15/07 17:56:35
bible come to me all ye heavy laden (Google)
01/14/07 18:31:09
How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to
live.thoreau (Google)
01/14/07 17:15:23
ebay use body kite toyota corolla.com (AOL)
01/13/07 15:20:27
Barcelonian Cakes (Google)

I am intrigued about the Toyota Corolla one..?? And I can’t remember mentioning Barcelonian cakes either!! Curious…

Over Christmas and new year poor Twinkle had a couple of trips to the vet with cystitis which cost our insurance company a fair bit of cash (not to mention our excess!) The best solution to the little problem is to get the cats drinking more. So we invested in this ridiculously cool ‘cat drinking fountain’!! It oxygenates the water to make it nicer and filters it too! We decided to get moving water after discovering Twinkle (on more than one occasion) in the sink trying to drink out of the tap.

It is very cool, but makes you need the loo as there is the constant sound of *running water*!! The kittens like it, they keep trying to catch the water as it comes out of the top!

Weon got me! “The object of the game is to reveal 5 things about you, which most readers probably don’t know, then nominate 5 friends to do the same.”

1. I started school in a tiny village called Westcott in Surrey. When I was three I managed to lose my Mum in the school, which must have been the tiniest school going! Upon starting school I wrote a story which simply said, “when I was a baby I used to roll over”. This is the school where I was first bullied, some bigger girls thought that I ate too slowly, so they would steal my yoghurt and other bits of my lunch to speed me up!

2. One of my biggest frustrations is thinking that I create bad first impressions due to being painfully shy. I feel like I cannot fulfill my potential as I go through life because of the formed opinions that people have of me.

3. I like to dance and sing around the flat, but not in public. I often practice my hairbrush singing but usually without a hairbrush.

4. When I was younger I wanted to be a policewoman!!

5. I need to be cuddled a lot to feel valued, although I would say that ‘words of affirmation’ are my primary love language (if you have read the book!)

I tag: Hoggstar, Steve Clarke, Dave W, The Kemble Crew and Luke B.

Recently I have been praying for a financial miracle… Partially to help our permanently low bank balance but also to buy a cinema or something exciting like that

Imagine my intrigue when I was silently handed a little green slip with my Sainsbury’s receipt this evening with the words “The Big 5 Drive” written on it and, “Peel to reveal if you’re a 5 Drive winner!” “GREAT!” I thought, “This is the miracle!! I’ve won an expensive car to sell on eBAY or a million pounds!” I peeled it back to reveal the following demoralising text, written in a sickening cheesy tone:

CONGRATULATIONS you have won Sainsbury’s sweet potatoes, 1KG

Well… How about telling me some GOOD news?! What would I do with a KG of these phallic looking creatures?! (actually they look slightly more like dog poo?!) Still we must be grateful for small mercies and they can only increase