All Change

It's been a while again since I've blogged. Not from lack of things to say, nor from a lack of time, but mainly from a lack of enthusiasm and energy. The cold that I got the weekend of Mamma Mia just won't shift and I've got a dreadful cough, a voice which keeps coming and going and a big headache from blocked sinuses and from all the coughing. I'm feeling generally sluggish and lethargic and just feel like sleeping most of the time. I am also completely fed up with feeling like this. Anyway enough of me moaning and onto the news.

After the bad weather warnings we did indeed see snow on both the 24th and 25th January, although to be honest it wasn't really a great deal to write home about, but it did look pretty for the short time it was around. So my birthday came and went without too much fuss. I had a nice evening at the pub to celebrate (very low key for me for a change), although most of us were suffering more or less with this cold. I was lucky enough to get some lovely presents and cards, including a gorgeous bathrobe from the White Company and some lovely jewellery.

Today I went to the hairdressers and had an overhaul. I woke up one morning a few weeks ago and decided I could no longer bear to be blonde, so today instead of the usual highlights, I had my hair dyed a dark chocolate brown. I've never been this colour before and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out. It'll be interesting to see what everyone else thinks. It will also be interesting to see if I can keep it in the style which Sally's cut it. She left it a bit longer than normal so that it can be spiked and messed - the big question is can I recreate the look.

Sleepy Sunday

Feeling very sleepy this morning as I had a really bad night's sleep. The hotel room on Friday night was very hot and I appear to have picked up a cough and a sore throat. By yesterday evening I was achy and feverish, fortunately the temperature has stabilised, now just achy.

Friday evening turned out to be much better than I was expecting. Fortunately my mood improved considerably once I met up with the others. We started with a meal at TGI Friday's - a place that's usually a bit hit and miss (or maybe that's just the Bluewater one?) Fortunately our meal was great - but very large and after a starter, main course and a couple of large cocktails we were all stuffed. A trip to the pub followed for a couple of drinks before it was time to go to the show. Mamma Mia was fantastic. Although very cheesy (but aren't most musicals?) the storyline was very watchable and funny and the way the songs were worked into the storyline was perfect. We we right at the back of the theatre, but fortunately it wasn't a large place and so we had a fantastic view and although high, I didn't get too dizzy. All of us had a fantastic evening - singing along and of course getting up for the song and dance section at the end. I would definitely go to see it again and I would guess there's no higher praise than that!

Bits N' Pieces

Firstly a very Happy Birthday to Dolly. Hope you have a great day and that you and FP have a fab time at the Rotherwick Crop (even if you won't send me any aubergine bake and courgette fritters). Also while I remember, the same to Pauline who is celebrating her 60th birthday today and a very Happy Birthday to Jen for tomorrow.

Well the weather WAS pretty awful yesterday - mum was right about the warnings. It took two attempts to get round the corner into Whitehall at lunchtime because of the gusting wind, and although there was little damage (in our area at least) the traffic was absymal going home and ended up taking 3 hours! At least I had been fortified by a few large glasses of red wine and a lovely Trifolata pizza from Pizza Express. The pizza is one of their new menu items and is well worth checking out, especially if you're a mushroom nut like me. It is a mixture of 5 types of mushrooms - porcini, portobello, shitake, oyster and closed cup - and also features smoked mozzarella and rosemary all finished with a drizzle of white truffle oil ... completely divine!

A relatively quiet evening followed with a drink at the pub with Andrew. Whilst there I heard that Michael's father had died that evening, quite unexpectedly. He was in obviously in shock, but the weather was too bad for him to travel to see his stepmother - mind you probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway in his condition.

This morning the weather had improved significantly, and although there was still a bit of wind, it was nowhere near as bad as yesterday. Now there appears to be no breeze at all, although I think the next thing is a drop in temperature in readiness for snow.

Tonight is a trip to the Prince of Wales theatre to see 'Mamma Mia' with Lynne, Andrea, Tina, Odette, Chris and Maureen (Kay was supposed to come but she dropped out this morning). We booked the trip towards the end of last year - one of those theatre/hotel special deals. The whole organisation thing has been a bit fraught and to be honest I no longer really want to go, but having paid the money I can't afford to just write it off. I am sure that once I am at the theatre everything will be great, but not feeling particularly sociable today (slight understatement) and am a bit prickly and ultra stressed so going to have to try pretty hard not to lose my temper with anyone (perhaps I better just not talk to anyone!). The hotel is the Thistle City Barbican so we have a bit of a trek after the show, but hopefully we'll be getting a taxi rather than trying to deal with the problems on the Tube (and in normal fashion all the lines that we need are either closed or severely delayed). I really hope that tomorrow I'll be reporting what a fantastic night we all had. I suppose at least one positive point is that I'm not working at the pub tomorrow!

Well Done BCFC!

Well it's been a week since my last post. Mainly due to recovering from the tummy bug (which took a damn sight longer than I'd anticipated) and also not having much of interest to say.

Tonight I HAVE to post to congratulate the fantastic Birmingham City Football Team for their magnificent effort in tonight's FA Cup match against Newcastle United which they won by a stunning 5-1. To be honest I didn't really want them to win before the game started, as I'd much rather they dedicate their efforts to staying top of the league and getting promotion back to the Premier, but after the first goal, I was screaming for them all the way. I am so proud of the way they are playing at the moment and I am definitely proud to call myself a bluenose.

Spent a good evening chatting to Jo last night discussing her wedding plans - everything from venues to dresses to bouquets - what would we do without the internet and Google? We also booked our flights to go to see Mum and Dad in March as they are having a party for their 45th wedding anniversary, which should be excellent.

I'm off to check out the weather reports - I understand bad weather is on the way ... maybe it'll be snowing on my birthday (again)

sing hard friends!

KEEP RIGHT ON TO THE END OF THE ROAD

music and original lyrics by Harry Lauder

Revised lyrics by Birmingham City Football Fans submitted by Russell Hill

As you go through life, it's a long, long road,

There be joy's and sorrows too.

As we journey on, we will sing this song

For the boys in royal blue.

We're often partisan, la, la, la,

We will journey on, la, la, la.

Chorus

Keep right on to the end of the road,

Keep right on to the end.
Though the way be long, Let your hearts be strong,

Keep right on to the end.

Though you're tired and weary, Still journey on,

Till you come to your happy abode,

With all the love, we'll be dreaming of.

Will be there, WHERE?

At the end of the Road.

Birmingham! Birmingham!

Thanks to http://www.sirharrylauder.com/lyrics/index.html for the lyrics

Urgh

Unfortunately, it appears I spoke too soon about feeling better. It wasn't long before I was feeling sick again, but fortunately managed not to be sick this time and I also managed a good 12 hours sleep overnight. Woke feeling brighter than yesterday, although still a bit queasy and in pain around the ribs and back. A glass of fruit juice was fine, unfortunately a glass of water was not. So we're back to square one with me hanging over a bucket again.

I decided to visit the chemist for help. The woman behind the counter was completely useless. I explained about the sickness and that I was having trouble keeping water down, but explained that I need to rehydrate urgently as I can feel a headache coming on (the last thing I need at the moment is a dehydration migraine). Her comment was that perhaps I could try not eating to see if that helped! Stupid bloody woman. Having explained that I hadn't eaten for almost 2 days except for 2 glasses of fruit juice, she suggested dioralyte to rehydrate me and some anti-sickness tablets to stop me feeling sick.

Not entirely sure that the tablets are a good idea as I assume there's a reason for me keep being sick, but I have taken both and am going to head back to bed again for another sleep.

I'm feeling very sorry for myself

Yep I really do today. I have a tummy bug and have been sick at least 20 times, and the thing I really hate most in the world is being sick. What’s worse is that it came on so suddenly – no feeling generally not well and then being sick, but while I was working at the pub last night/ One minute I was fine, chatting with friends, doing a crossword (we were very quiet last night) and the next I was suddenly boiling hot, feeling incredibly bloated and running for the toilet. Annoyingly, even after the 4th time of being sick Gary still wouldn’t send me home, so poor Andrew got the job of cleaning the pub for me, while I was in the toilet for yet another visit. In the end I just had to leave – the only thing worse than being sick, is being sick in a public place.

Once home though, things deteriorated pretty quickly and I spent the whole night with my head in a bucket, amazed that I could possibly have anything left to bring up, and getting more and more dehydrated. Every time I had a sip of water it started a whole new wave, and every time I lay down I felt nauseous. I was also swinging between being boiling hot and freezing cold and sleep was definitely out of the question. My throat was raw, my ribs and muscles hurt like crazy and yet still feeling queasy every time I took a sip of water. By 9am this morning I was definitely feeling sorry for myself, and couldn’t believe that I was still being sick.

Of course I am not at all prepared for this sort of illness, and had no idea what I could do to stop the vomiting long enough to get some much needed sleep. A quick trawl of ‘Google’ gave me the answer – fruit juice. If I could manage to keep that down then it would help with my dehydration as well. Fortunately, I still had a carton of Mandarin & Raspberry Juice left over from Christmas that I hadn’t got round to drinking (there is no way I could have left the house) – and I’m pleased to say that it worked (so far). Unlike the water it didn’t instantly leave me retching, and I even managed to get to sleep for a couple of hours, although following it with some water wasn’t the best idea ever as it set off a whole new wave of sickness. However, I’ve now managed just over 3 hours without being sick so maybe the worst is over. I am still feeling very dehydrated and completely wiped, but as long as the sickness has gone I don’t care!

More Music

Having found the Blue October, I thought I’d see if I could find the new single by My Chemical Romance (yep I still love ‘em and can’t wait to see them at Wembley) ‘Famous Last Words’ which is released on 22 January. This is one of my favourite tracks from the album so I am really pleased to see it being released as a single and the video is quite extraordinary, I’m not at all surprised that Bob and Gerard both got injured during the making of it – in fact you can see Bob checking out his burnt leg at the end of the film.

Disappointingly (for me), Gerard has dyed his hair black again. I much preferred him with his beautiful blonde hair, although I’m sure many of his fans will be pleased to see him return to his usual look. Perhaps it was too much trouble keeping blonde as the roots do need touching up so often to get that perfect blonde, and it really does do a lot of damage to the hair.

More Good News

I just heard that my friend Sharon and her bf Ed got engaged on New Year's Eve (must be something in the air). In the excitement of my sister getting engaged I forgot to mention that Kate and Paul also got engaged on Christmas Day and Vicky finally got her engagement ring from Mick after a 7 year wait. Hearty congratulations to everyone who has got engaged recently!

Here is the video for ‘Into the Ocean’ by Blue October. Taken from their last release ‘Foiled’, this is an album I would thoroughly recommend checking it out as it’s wonderful. I am completely smitten by this band and I think I love this track even more than ‘Hate Me’. Such a tragic subject covered in such a sweet way.

It is my eternal annoyance that I am unable to share this band with friends over here as they don't seem to appear on any juke boxes, with the exception of 'Calling You' and that's only because it was on a movie soundtrack.

Congratulations etc.

First some wonderful news. Congratulations to Jo and Paul who got engaged on Christmas Day while they were in Las Vegas. They (very sensibly in my opinion) chose not to get married while they were out there but instead wanted family and friends with them so will be doing the deed later in the year - I do love a good wedding. Perhaps the photos will even give me the impetus to do a bit of scrapping.

Last night Andrew and I went to see Deja Vu. It was a nice evening out after a crappy first day back at work. It was a pretty silly plot, but we both enjoyed it anyway. Of course being set in New Orleans helped for me (although they weren't exactly geographically accurate) and it stars the lovely Denzil Washington which was another bonus. It is definitely worth a look and it was nice to have an evening out (that wasn't at the pub) for a change.

Here is my new mini me which I created at http://www.blessthischick.com/btcmachine/index.php. I think she's rather sweet and looks just like me *LOL*

A cool challenge

Chrissie on UKS posted this list that she found on Two Peas in a Bucket. The idea is that you mark off on the list all of the things you have done (mine are in purple). It seems I have completed just over 1/3 of the list. Of course there are many things on there that I will never do, just as there are things on there that I would love to do - it would be interesting to do this again in a few years and see what, if anything has changed.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

2. Swam with wild dolphins

3. Climbed a mountain

4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

5. Been inside the Great Pyramid

6. Held a tarantula

7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

8. Said “I love you’ and meant it

9. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44. Watched wild whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Posed nude in front of strangers

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theater

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”

83. Got flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Had a one-night stand

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children (or…raising children)

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour

98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Packed up and moved to another city to start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication

106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Petted a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a T.V. game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone on an African photo safari

115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Petted a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes ... yum!

134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life