Goodbye 2011/Hello 2012!!

Well, here we stand on the verge of a new year.  The sun's gone down, so it's officially New Years Eve!

Highlights of 2011?  Moving to this house & seeing Motley Crue again.

Plans/goals for 2012?

Firstly, I need to buy tickets to Download, as we've heard a rumour that Poison will be playing...  If they are it'll probably be the only chance we'll have to go see them.....

I'd quite like to go see the Olympic Flame pass through town as well...

Goals-wise:

Have at least 4 rooms decorated by the end of the year.  That gives me 3 months per room to strip & prepare the walls, then repaper (if necessary), paint, accessorise etc.  If I stop procrastinating, that's more than easily do-able...

Get a lot more organised & Domestic Goddessy about the house...  I say this every year, but I say it as a resolution, rather than a goal....  So as I've decided to set measurable (& hopefully attainable) goals I can break it down into steps on route to the holy grail of spick and span-ness... 
As I said in a previous post, I'm signed up to Habithacker (I promise I'll blog more about this in a very near post) & that does seem to be helping (having broken down the steps for me!!! )

As part of this becoming more organised thing, I aim to actually be organised & zen about next christmas.  I say every year we're going to start getting sorted for it early so it's not a mad rush & every year we don't (other than getting veggies pre-prepared & in the freezer - & that's kind of ingrained in me after 30-odd years of it!!! so it doesn't count!) 
So I'm going to start a spreadsheet of what's needed, from pressies, to decorations, to food.
I'll add on what we already have & tick off what we need as we get it.
I'll start a plan of action with deadlines for when everything needs to be done...  honest gov!!!!


Anyway - I promise to come & break these goals down and share them properly with you, but you need to share your goals for 2012 with me!  Let's support each other to achieving them!

 Right now, I wish you all a Happy New Year! xxx

Nadolig Llawen!!

Merry Christmas, Yuletide Blessings!

Everything's done bar prepping the turkey which I'll do in a second & getting the pressies under the tree (which will wait till the boys have gone to sleep!!)

I do have a tiny bit of hat to finish but that won't take very long at all...

Hope you all have a lovely lovely time! xxx

A tale of two concerts...

I know, I know - I'm not very good at this updating regularly malarky - but at least this time I have a genuine excuse/damn good reason!!

At the weekend, when I would normally have been posting witty & entertaining thoughts, I was instead in Manchester with my lovely friend from back in the day Woody & his slightly crazy (but very sweet) girlfriend.  Now this wasn't just a social visit - we were in fact there to see the mighty Motley Crue!!  (well, he lives in Manchester but you know what I mean!)

And yes, many memories from 20 years ago were dragged up over a whiskey (or 2) which I won't go into - except to say that they all seemed to revolve around drinking & debauchery!!!  Ah - good times.

Anyway - the gig...  (at this point I suppose I should point out that Def Leppard were headlining but that really is just a minor point).

Steel Panther opened & I really was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.  And I still find myself humming "Community Property" to myself!!

As for Crue - they came, they saw, they ROCKED!!  They were fantastic & I have no voice left to prove it (& by the way - this isn't a gig review, so don't expect one!!)  Tommy brought over his rollercoaster drum kit - which looked absolutely amazing & I am so jealous of the girl who got to ride it with him!  Mick Marrs looked healthier than he has in a long time, Vince was Vince & Nikki was the sexy beast that he always has been!!  And they looked like they were really really enjoying themselves! (oh & it was Nikki's birthday so yes, a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday was sung by the crowd!)

I'm not going to go into Def Leppard - I wasn't impressed - I'm just glad I hadn't spent the money to go see them.  Thousands disagreed but I just thought they were meh....

My feet are still killing me though but I'm  not surprised considering the heels I was wearing!!  I'll post some pics of the gig in a bit & I'll include a pic of the shoes!


Right - fast forward to todays concert.  No rock chick moments today - just lots of Very Proud Mammy ones!  Yes - it was the kids christmas concert (well, for 2 of them - one still isn't at school & the eldest one has his on Monday)

They were absolutely brilliant - Toby was an elf & had a speaking role - he was so clear (mind you he did shout his 2 lines!!  I can't remember them both but one was "OK OK Sion Corn"

Brett was a shepherd & I think I was more nervous for him than I was for Toby because he's so shy bless him that I was worried that when it came to him saying his lines he was going to clam up...  I needn't have worried because he was really clear with his lines too!!!

And the singing was beautiful (yes I'm a biased Mammy!)  I'm so proud of my gorgeous boys & all the kids in Meithrin, reception & Years 1 & 2 - they all did fabulously.... 
(but damn these hormones that start the minute you give birth & make you well up at the slightest notice...)

Snow

Have you had any?  None here, not a flurry, not a flake.  Well, it tried on Tuesday for a whole 30 seconds & we've had some hailstones but as hailstones are just as likely to occur in June as December, they don't count....

So why the bleeding nora have I seen a snowplough today?  Two in fact (although I suppose it could have been the same one coming back....)  Do we really need a snowplough for rain & wind?

(And that's a point - why has there been hardly any wind on the school run, including a stretch of road known as Windy Hill - EXCEPT for my village?  Driving out of the village & the car's being blown around.  By the time I got to the next village (a whole 3 minutes away!) it had died down....  Same on the way back - once I started getting into the village the wind was back.  Strange...  But then we are at the top of a hill I suppose...)

Anyway - snow...  are the council just panicking about the prospect of snow or are we in for a hard winter? 

What do you think?

December already...

and yes, apologies are needed as I seem to have been rather lazy this week & completely missed out my mid-week posting...  Oops.

So, what have I been up to?  Well, I HAVEN'T been decorating my eldest boys' bedroom.  But then, given their behaviour recently, I'm not convinced I really want to.

However, today I've managed to get my christmas veggies prepped & in the freezer.  Yep, 2lbs of carrots, 1lb of swede, mountains of brussels - all done & dusted.  And the chestnut stuffing & bread sauce....  *polishes halo*

But don't go getting the wrong idea - I haven't suddenly gone & got organised on you (you should see the state of the kitchen just now!) - it's just that I really really can't be bothered to be doing all that stuff on christmas eve....  no way, jose - not a cat in hells chance!!  Other than the fact that I'm working this christmas eve, it should be about relaxing, singing loads of crimble songs & tracking Santa on NORAD....  Maybe a quick trip out as early as humanly possible to get milk & bread.  But that's it - not flaming well peeling mounds of vegetables (apart from potatoes that is - but if I could work out how to freeze them in advance for mash, I'd do those early too!!!!)

What do I still need to do?

Cranberry sauce, mince pies, order the turkey & trimmings & a handful of pressies (oh & order the food from Tesco!) & I think I'm good to go!

So how are my lovely bloggees doing?

Cutting the cost of shopping...

So, today I was going to post about HabitHacker, but then I came across an article about Extreme Couponing...  (I promise, I'll come back to HabitHacker).

And we all love a good bargain don't we?  I have to admit that despite it being a Mail on Sunday article, I was quite intrigued..  I'm constantly skint, so I'd love to be able to cut the cost of my shopping...  (if I can halve the cost of my shopping I'll be very impressed!)

My main problem is getting vouchers (usually at the checkout with my receipt) then forgetting to actually use them...  So I really need to start remembering them!  But reading this article, it does seem that it would be more productive (cost-cutting) for me to find online vouchers & do my shopping online...


Tips include using price-comparison websites when making your shopping list in order to work out which shops you should be buying which items & using voucher websites in order to find money-off vouchers & codes for your shopping.

When you consider that one woman quoted in the article got £155 worth of shopping for £99 & over in America, "extreme couponers" make even more savings (£148 worth of shopping for just £4.45!!!) it's definitely worth a little bit of extra work...

I'm going to be starting with these sites:
www.mysupermarket.com
www.moneysavingexpert.com
www.savoo.co.uk

then I'll start googling for even more sites & offers!!

Happy shopping everyone! xx

The joys of potty training (could this be the most boring post in history?)

So now my youngest is 3, I figured that I've really got to stop being lazy & get on with getting him out of nappies & into pants...

So, this time last week I bit the bullet & put pants on him....  Cue lots of wet pants & no wees in the potty...

The first time he did a wee in the potty (which was completely through sheer luck, I'm convinced of it) prompted celebrations totally out of proportion to the actual act!! 

And still we had more wees "in the wrong place" (ie his pants & on the floor) than "the right place" (the potty)  buuut - he was able to tell me that he'd wee'd & that it was in the wrong place - result!!!

Then yesterday, he did a wee when asked to - & his little face lit up! He was so proud that he'd done it in the right place bless him!!

Which brings us to today - he's actually asking to go for a wee!!!  Hoo-fecking-ray!!!  Even though it does mean that I'm up & down like a whores drawers!!  I'm so hoping that we've cracked it with wee's!

BUT (& yes, there had to be a but) he doesn't seem to want to poo in the potty...  well he doesn't actually mind pooing in the potty - but if he does it's more luck than judgement (usually prompted by the eldest shouting "Mummy, Nikki's taken his pants off & now he's going to do a poo on the floor" leading me to run like a fecking mad woman to get him on the potty in time...)  He won't actually tell me that he needs a poo - which is leading to a lot of accidents & pants needing rinsing out before being flung in the washing machine....  gah...

Ah well - I've got nearly 7 weeks to get him to figure it out before he starts school!!!

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat....

and I've done my Christmas cake & pudding!  I normally use my Mam's recipe but put it on my computer using the Microsoft Works database (rather than word) then stupidly threw out my scrawled paper copy....  (yep, you know what's coming next, don't you!).

My laptop went kaput.  One of the lovely dad's at my sons' school managed to rescue all my data off the hard-drive for me, but my new laptop doesn't have Microsoft Works...  I've downloaded a program that can open Works files but still - no recipes......

So this year I'm using Delia's recipes for Christmas cake & pudding....  I've had to adapt them cos a) I've developed an allergy to nuts, specifically almonds & hazelnuts (with walnuts & possibly pecans thrown in) & b) none of us really like currants...

So, cashews in place of almonds & extra sultanas/raisins in place of currants.  Mind you, stupidly I substituted prunes in place of some of the currants in the pudding & then realised that prunes are dried plums & almonds are a member of the plum family..... (it's a good job I just get a rash & a tingly mouth really, isn't it!!)

What else have I done?  I've knitted one small green elephant for one small green elephant (gorgeous boy number 4 seems to think that he's a green elephant!) I'm just about finished one hat (one down, 3 more to go) & I'm hoping to have time to make a larger green elephant.

I've found a recipe for homemade FROZEN roasties - so we're going to test that out this week to see if it actually works - if so, they can be pre-prepared when I do the rest of the veggies & the gravy some time in the next 2 weeks....

I've ordered a couple of presents for the boys & we have a rough idea what else they're getting....

Just the food shopping & present buying for himself to do then.  How many shopping days left?

Till next time - mwah xxx

Scampi & Lemon NikNaks

Just don't taste the same as they used to...  Where is the overwhelming fishyness of them?  The only thing that's overwhelming about them now is the fake lemon flavour...
Scampi's never been anywhere near the flaming things...  They do contain lemon oil (albeit the second lowest on the ingredients list - there was clearly a drip, as opposed to the waving over of the spice jar from the lowest ingredient) so I suppose that technically they can claim that lemons were involved in the making of them...

sigh.  I'm so disappointed.

My bathroom - finished at last!!

Well, I say finished - there's still a couple of teeny bits to do.  We'll be replacing the doors soon, so I haven't painted the doorframes & there's a little bit of sealing to do.  (oh & the lights could do with replacing with nicer ones)  Other than that it's good to go!!

Here's what it looked like before...

Look at the nasty wallpaper...

 And the horrible floor...

Oh look - more of that wallpaper, and as for the toilet.....

Sooo, we stripped off the wallpaper - to discover that underneath the horrid yellow painted blown vinyl it was pink - with a layer of mould....

And underneath the sink, we discovered this...

So at some point in the past, the bathrooms been a fetching shade of orange.  With the distinct possibility that it was black as well.  We also found scraps of a dark blue flowery wallpaper...  tasteful!!

So, a lot of wallpaper/mould removal; tiling & painting later (oh & toilet replacement!)  May I present...

Waddya think?

Dishcloths

Mabu multi cloths to be precise.



These cloths are made from 100% biodegradable WOOD - yep, it's true.  But as the packaging says, once the starch has been rinsed out, it's hard to believe that this lovely soft, thick dishcloth is made from wood.

I bought some a few months ago from Waitrose, moved house & promptly forgot about them (you know what it's like when you move house - everything is in boxes & things get lost!)  I've rediscovered them & you know what?  I'm never using another make of dishcloth again!!  They do what it says on the packaging & rinse clean - they don't smell, even after washing up the smelliest of dishes & they are highly absorbent. 

There are many many uses on the website for them, including bathing babies or as a make-up removing cloth & yep, I'd happily use them for both those purposes, they are that soft!

I highly recommend them - they are soooo good!

As I already said, you can get them from Waitrose, but for those of us nowhere near a Waitrose (I'm one - we were in Newark visiting family at the time) you can also get them from Lakeland.

Try them - they're fantastic!

Organising tips

So in the spirit of trying to be less complete slattern & more Domestic Goddess (like that's EVER going to happen!!)  I've borrowed a whole load of organising tips from the lovely Damsels....

1) Divide the day into hourly slots.  (use a diary!) slot in the important stuff (work, appointments etc) then use the remaining time slots to book in the housework.

2) Meal plan & do grocery shopping online.
     -have a list of what's in the freezer/cupboards
     - list meals that get eaten regularly (including recipe info if necessary)
     - have a list of "future" shopping to write things as they get low.

3) Wash up after every meal (guess I need to go wash the dishes now!!)

4) Set up present/card file - wrapping paper, sellotape, cards, stamps etc... (use the Ikea carrier bag recycling container...) 

5) Deal with paperwork as it comes in (although another tip is to put all post in file & deal with it once a week - I'll try both & see which one works best for me)

6) Leave the washing out on the line till it's dry.  (although how that's going to work in winter I'm not sure...)  Another washing tip was to just do it all once a week, although I think that's one that would only work if you had a dryer, which I don't...)

7) Premake sandwiches for lunch & freeze.  Take out night before.

Soooo, I'm hoping that these tips will help me.  Of course I've also got my babysteps written in my diary to be added every 3 weeks.  I WILL get this place under control!!!

November already....

The year is rushing rapidly past me!!  I really don't know where the past month has gone, I really don't...

Well, last time I was here I was aiming to get the bathroom decorated, the dining room decluttered & start planning for Christmas...

I guess 1.5 out of 3 ain't bad???  The bathroom is finally decorated (just about - a couple of finishing touches to do - mainly sealing & putting the blinds up...)  I'll post pics when I get round to taking them.

The Christmas planning?  Well, I've got 1 present bought & 1 half-made, so at least I've started THINKING about it, even if I haven't actually started planning properly...

As for the dining room - I'm going to hang my head in shame, for not only have I STILL not got round to decluttering, I swear it actually looks worse than it did to start with.....

Housework really isn't my thing!

OK - November goals...

Yep - the dreaded dining room
Decorate the big boys' bedroom
Finalise the Christmas planning & have most of the presents bought...

In which I rant about driving....

Other people's driving that is...

In particular, people driving at 30mph in a 60mph zone - aaaarrrggghhh!!!  Either these people NEVER use their rear-view mirrors (& I don't look in mine that often but I know if there's anyone behind me.  I have to admit actually that I mainly use mine for seeing what the kids are up to but I still know roughly how many people are behind me!)

So yes, either the slow-pokes never use their mirrors or they are extremely arrogant & don't care that they have a queue of extremely frustrated drivers behind them..... 

And before anyone says that the speed limit is the maximum speed that you can drive at & that you should drive at a speed that you feel comfortable at as long as you don't exceed that limit (this argument comes around fairly regularly on a forum I frequent...) driving too slowly & therefore holding up traffic does actually count as a minor on a driving test (I should know, I picked one up on my first driving test) & you can be pulled over by the police for driving too slowly as you are creating a hazard & people start to be tempted to overtake you in less than safe places.....

And my other gripe for this evening - roundabouts.....  why can't people use them properly?  Check for traffic from your right people!!!  If there's nothing coming, then go!!!


And breathe!!!


OK - update on my September goals which were:
1) finish decorating the bathroom
2) declutter the dining room
3) start planning for Christmas

Well, I don't seem to have made headway with any of them (oops) although I have made a start on deccorating  the big boys bedroom & have started knitting a toy elephant for the baby...

So guess what my goals for October are? (and how is it October already?)

Ah well....

So, how much stuff CAN you fit in a zafira?

So on Sunday, I took a trip up to Scotland, to go & collect some furniture from my Mam.  Did I hire a van to do this?  Nope, I took the childseats out of the car & folded the seats flat...

Now, I know I have a Zafira but I was still mildly surprised to see just how much I could actually get in...

1 double wardrobe (dismantled); 1 bookcase (dismantled); a chest of drawers (assembled) a kitchen table (dismantled) 4 chairs; a set of dishes for chinese meals; 2 small wooden boxes; 2 mirrors (1 full length, 1 large to fit on the chimney breast); 1 small corner shelf unit; 2 single duvets & a TON of bedding; a heap of vinyl records and lots of books.....  phew 

and here it all is in my living room (I forgot to take a pic whilst it was still in the car tho...)

So that pic shows some of it, here's another view, just to show the height of the wardrobe.... ignore the bookcases that you can see & the telly - they're not part of my haul. Oh & neither is the racing track you can see!

Here's the final pic, even tho I don't think it shows much to be honest...



phew...

Tell you what tho, the journey back was insane... (although of course, if you know me from elsewhere, you've probably already read this next bit, so feel free to ignore!!)

 I'm so glad I didn't have the kids in the back of the car cos on the M6, the language coming out of my mouth was disgraceful . I was fighting the wind every step of the way till I got to Wales where it wasn't so bad but feck me, the wind was desperate to blow me out of my lane....

Mind you I've never seen a motorway where everyone was happy to crawl along & there was no traffic in the inside lanes before!!!   And no pressure when I was overtaking & doing so at a measly 60mph either!!!

Ah well, I made it back in one piece!

Now to get all this furniture put back together....

September Goals

Somethings gone awry in the Myzzterri household....  5 people treated for headlice & bathed/showered; meal prepared/cooked from scratch; 4 people fed & watered; 4 sets of teeth brushed; 2 stories read & 4 little bodies in bed & the kitchen cleared  - And all before 7.30pm!!!  Good grief - it's almost like I'm a proper Mummy...!!!

(But it hasn't been a totally cataclysmic change - the washing's still sat on the kitchen floor & the dining room's full of Avon junk waiting to be put away/delivered....)

Anyway - September Goals.  Back on Damsels.org, we used to set ourselves goals that we wanted to achieve in any particular month...  Now we don't seem to have done that for some time but I feel it may be an idea if I set them for myself anyway even if I am just sharing them with the whole 6 people that read my blog!!  It could hopefully help me get to where I want to be...

So here goes..

By the end of September I would like to have:

Finished decorating the bathroom
Sorted the junk out of the dining room (I came to a halt in there - it used to be the kitchen I could never get my head round, now it's the dining room...)
Started planning for Christmas (I know, I know)

little goals but hopefully achievable....  I'll let you know how it goes!

Creating calm from chaos

Well that's the plan anyway!

So, all is quiet upstairs (thank the Goddess!!), dinner for me & him is in the oven & I've got a chance to actually sit down & think about HOW I'm going to create this lovely organised household that I really really want to have...

I'm signed up to Google calendar, set myself up to have it synced to my phone & now I'm thinking about the babysteps I need to follow & putting them on the calendar so they're in front of me, ready to put in action at the appropriate time...  Let's hope it works...

On a less boring front, I need to work out what music I want to dance to in the forthcoming showcase at my pole-dance class.....  ooh decisions, decisions!!!

The noise, the noise...

One of the disadvantages of having 4 boys is the constant noise...  Even when they're just talking to each other they're SHOUTING!!  So when they start playing whatever make-believe game it is (currently Jake & the Neverland Pirates) then it's just an absolute cacophony!!

Add to that one heading out of tantrums, one smack bang in the middle of the tantrum phase & one heading into it and sometimes my house is a recipe for disaster!! It's no wonder it never seems to be organised...

I did hear back from the council about the garden mind.... apparently they need to send an inspector round to examine the rubbish/asbestos to determine the best course of action.  As for the oil tank, apparently that conforms to the minimum legal requirement... well if the minimum legal requirement is to put it smack bang in front of a window, then fine...  However, I do know that the concrete base needs to extend out 30cm further than the base of the tank & ours doesn't, so I'll be emailing them about that shortly; along with asking why other tenants have their tanks more discreetly placed....

Still drowning in paperwork...

So decided I should actually try to do something about this paper clutter... (motivated by finding something that should have been sent off weeks ago - oops)

So today I've updated my address details for my driving license, started my self-assessment, updated my address details for my student loan account...  god it's been boring!!!  And still there's tons of rubbish to go through... sigh.

On a more interesting note, we started to do something about the back of the garden - only to discover a load of asbestos roof panels down there - aaarrrgghhh... waiting on a response from the council at present to see if they're going to come & deal with it for us...

So this was the garden before we started pulling the fence down (that rotary line isn't there anymore - it collapsed & broke in a storm!)  Before you ask - the fence was put there randomly & isn't actually at the back of the garden - which is why we were pulling it down!

 This is it at the moment - all work halted while we get the asbestos dealt with... sigh...

On a positve note - it looks like I've worked out how to post pictures!!  Yay me!

Night all!

Paper, paper everywhere....

So finished surface decluttering in the kitchen (well, if you ignore the clotheshorse & laundry basket full of clothes - I'll go sort them out in a second, honest).  It's only taken me a week... (I need smiley's here so I can put an embarassed one in)  I suppose that's only just over an hour if you consider I was doing it in 10 min/day increments....  I've bought a new bin (oh the glamour!), one of those twin recycling ones, which takes up the same footprint as what we had before but is one bin instead of 2 stacked up so in practice takes up less space & is actually easier to put stuff in... (the old stacking ones are currently soaking in a bleachy bath to be recycled as toy containers for the boys - I have an exciting life!!)

Anyhoo, I've moved onto the dining room/office today.  It took 10 mins just to clear the top of the boiler & another 10 mins to clear the table - which is re-cluttered already...  Which brings me to the point.  Along with dishes, another one of my (many) weak points when it comes to being a calm, tidy, organised domestic goddess is filing (or rather the lack of it)  I have so many good intentions but alas, I can never keep up with it... and I constantly seem to have a paper mountain to deal with... (if anyone has any tips, please DO NOT send a postcard, but do feel free to comment!!!)

So the reason I've re-cluttered the table after clearing it, is I'm going through some of my Avon paperwork & attempting to put that into some sort of order...  I promise that for once we'll be able to eat at the table tonight!!  (where I'm actually going to put said paperwork once I've sorted it is another matter - the stuff that's not being kept is obvious - it's the stuff that needs filing that's stumping me!!!)

Anyway, ciao for now!!

Cutting the Clutter...

OK, it's time to stand up & admit it...

My name is Terri & I'm a slob as far as housework is concerned...  I don't want to be - I'd love for my house to be neat, tidy & organised but it's not....
Maybe I'm a perfectionist (therefore if I haven't got time to do a perfect job, I won't bother at all), maybe I'm just lazy, maybe my inner teenager is STILL rebelling against the idea of tidying up, maybe it's a little of all 3...  Either way, my house is an absolute tip....  And unfortunately my boys are copying the idea.... (which doesn't help!)

But I've decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - it's time to do something about it...

I've devised a babystep-by-babystep program for myself to start getting some routines/habits down as far as changing my slovenly ways is concerned.  I'm going to add a new step every 21 days (it may be a little longer - there may well be (ok, there will definitely be) times when I need to just stop, take stock & stay where I am for a little as I get overwhelmed...  Hopefully there won't be too many of those times.

Anyhoo - first step for me is to declutter/tidy for 10 minutes a day & to make sure the dishes get done every night before bed...  I usually fall down at this stage.  I don't know what it is about dishes, but I can't get it into my head that yes, they do need to be done (although admittedly, it was a lot easier when we had a dishwasher...)

6 days into my new regime & I've actually only missed one day (yay me!)  I'm so hoping I can stick to it this time round...

I'm taking pics as well, so I'll share those when I've figured out how!!  I started the decluttering (tidying) in the kitchen (I figure that part of the whole dishes problem is that the kitchen never seems to be tidy...)  I made the mistake of not taking "before" pics till today mind, but as there is currently no cooker & it needs decorating, (plus I've only surface decluttered - the cupboards are awful) then we should still see a difference....

Anyhoo - that's me signing out for today.. I'll see you soon!

Happy New Year!!

Time for a catch up I think!!

So, when I last posted, we'd not long moved house....

Now, I have a new job (working p/t in a store cafe with very lovely, if ever so slightly nutty colleagues!) and we have a new kitten - a dark grey/black striped feisty little thing called Noodle... He's completely insane (fits in well round here then!) and has a penchant for attacking feet - ouch!

Christmas was noisy (although it could have been noisier I guess - Nikki was ill so not his usual boisterous self) but we have 4 little boys who are very happy with what they were brought by Santa, so that's all good.

As for New Year - all quiet on the Western Front here - hubby fell asleep in front of Alice in Wonderland but was persuaded to wake up to actually see the New Year in, we were permitted a "lie-in" by the kids (if 8am can be classed as a lie-in!) and we had a walk on the beach...  it's a far cry from the days BC when we'd be crawling home at 5am!!!

Ah well!  Catch ya later blog-spotters...