Welcome Zachary Thomas Caple!

It has truly been one of the most terrifying, traumatic and yet amazing weeks of my life and I can now say welcome home to my lovely little boy.



I make no apologies for the length of this blog, and have split it into days to try and break it up a bit. It all began last Wednesday...

Wednesday 5th

My waters broke at half-past midnight and, having woken Leigh up and stumbled down to the bathroom leaving a trail of devastation behind me, rang the hospital. I wasn't expecting to have to go in then - contractions didn't appear to have started and the antenatal classes had been saying there was no need to go in until they are regularly 5 minutes apart. Rang the hospital anyway to let them know and we were told to go in for an assessment at 9.

Once my waters broke, the baby's environment is no longer sterile and I knew that if nothing further happened I would be induced in 24 hours. Went back to bed but too excited and anxious to sleep (and making sure I could still feel the baby move!) - L put on some G&S which we listened to. Have no idea whether I slept at all that night, but must have done for a while.

Went to the hospital for 9 - I was now starting to feel contractions and they seemed to be about 10 minutes apart. The midwife we saw strapped me to a monitor which showed the baby's heartbeat (lovely and strong) and could also record my contractions, and further examination showed I was about 2cm dilated! I was really pleased with that - only 8 cm to go (which, according to one antenatal class could be timed at approx 1 cm per hour)... went home again with instructions to ring later when the contractions were about 5 minutes apart.

I had a bath and L made us lunch and attached the TENS machine, and we watched some TV - got through Murder Most Famous which I had been following earlier in the week and also Diagnosis Murder, but by this time the contractions were much closer together. Rang the hospital again and they said to wait until 3-4 minutes apart! This didn't seem to take too long at all, and we were back off to the hospital very shortly afterwards.

The TENS machine was really helping with the contractions - it works by stimulating your nerve endings with pulses of electricity, helping to release endorphins and also by blocking the pain signals to the brain.

In the hospital saw another midwife - again the monitor showed every seemed fine with the baby and further examination showed that in the 6 or 7 hours which had passed since we were last in I had progressed to...3cm dilated! How annoying!!! Went home again.

Rested more, watched Torchwood and the first episode of Cranford and then tried to go to bed. Contractions now coming thick and fast and even with the breathing exercises (ably assisted by L) and TENS the pain was getting worse and I couldn't sleep. About half past midnight I decided I needed more pain relief, so woke L up and we journeyed to the hospital for what we hoped would be the last time!

Thursday 6th

This time got straight into a delivery room where I was assessed again. Turns out I am now about 5 cm dilated, and we're looking at 4 or 5am before I will be ready to deliver! The midwife also noticed that when my waters broke only the hind waters broke and the fore waters were still in tact so she broke those in order to move things along a bit.

I realised that there was no way I'd go another 4 hours with my contractions the way they were and talked about pain relief with the midwife. I had been planning to try and manage with just the TENS and entinox, but the midwife was very clear that entinox was really only appropriate for the transition stage of labour and I could not have any now! We talked about using pethidine and/or an epidural and although I was initially reluctant, knew that I needed more than the TENS and agreed to pethidine. It made me feel incredibly woozy and light headed, but also let me get some rest as the effect of the contractions was much more muffled. The midwife set up a foldout bed for L and we both managed to doze for a few hours.

Probably around half 4, the contractions changed and I knew that I needed to push. It was then all systems go and I suspect that L's hand got a bit squashed! And let's just say that the position the midwife was getting me in to push was less than dignified! L was great throughout it all, keeping me encouraged and motivated and being so supportive re choice of pain relief. It was very hard work needless to say and at some point, the contractions dropped off a bit so that my pushing wasn't as effective. The doctor came in to assess me as it had been so long since my waters had broken and started to talk to us about possibly having to have an assisted delivery (ventouse or forceps). The midwife was confident we'd get through though - she set me up with a syntocin drip to help strengthen the contractions and finally Zachary was born at 7.14am! All 8lb 4oz and 53cm of him!

He was put on my tummy immediately and my heart melted. He was absolutely perfect.

Zachary was whisked away for measuring and a bit of cleaning up and it appeared that as well as an episiotomy, I had also suffered a tear during labour which would need to be stitched in theatre. I had one final cuddle with my boys, some photos and was then nipped off to theatre.

Was given a spinal anesthetic for the procedure and it is a completely odd sensation to be aware and to see your legs being moved (enter the stirrups...) but to not feel them at all. The main topic of conversation among the theatre staff appeared to be the new shoes which had been ordered - which apparently are fastened by velcro and did not find favour with the female members of staff!!!

I was taken to the recovery ward for a half hour or so after the procedure and then eventually down to the maternity ward where I finally caught up with L and Zachary again. With some help (!) I managed to give Zachary his first feed and it was then time to relax!

Zachary was great all day, and I managed to get the feeling back in my legs by mid-afternoon, so could eventually sit up properly! By the evening though, the staff were getting a little concerned about Zachary as he hadn't fed again and didn't really seem interested in doing so - there was a possibility that he'd picked up an infection after my waters broke and a doctor was called down to see him.

L had gone home by this time and the doctor decided that there might be something wrong and Zachary should go up to the Special Care Baby Unit. This was really quite scary.

The nurses on the SCBU were absolutely brilliant though and very reassuring, although because he wasn't feeding well they had to put a tube down his nose which was not nice at all, and it meant that he had to be fed with formula. On the plus side, because it wasn't a bottle it shouldn't interfere with the breastfeeding, but it was very upsetting. He also had to have a canula fitted so that he could received antibiotics - I guess that the fact that he barely murmured when the needle was being inserted showed that he really was not feeling well.

L came back to the hospital, but apart from the initial admission procedures, there was nothing else we could do until the morning and we were sent away to get some rest.

Friday 7th

We spent a lot of Friday up in the SCBU watching over Zachary. He was being well looked after, but was still not right. The tests they ran showed that he did have an infection, although they were unable to tell exactly what it was.

He was receiving 2 hourly feeds, extended to three hourly during the day and I was also trying to breast feed him to keep that going. We would go up to the nursery in time for a feed, change Zachary and then I'd try to give him a feed, which was then topped up through the tube. I was not convinced either he was taking anything or my body was giving him anything.

We had been hoping that Zachary would only need the initial 48 hours antibiotics and be able to go home on Monday, but unfortunately the latest set of tests didn't show improvement and we were told he'd need 5 days worth. This was a bit of a blow.

The next stage was for a lumbar puncture to be taken to rule out the more serious infections like meningitis, but the doctors weren't able to take a sample from him that evening. L had driven home but came back again to see his boy. Zachary was also put on a "billi" bed in his cot as he was slightly jaundiced. The billi bed provides phototherapy for babies with jaundice - Zachary only needed the bottom section and his jaundice was not severe, but I did see a baby with the top section as well on the ward a couple of days later. The baby looked as though it had its own little sunbed, complete with goggles!

During the day I was also moved down to another ward because my health was improving and I could go onto the ward where there had been no issues or difficulties with the birth or mother's health.

Saturday 8th

This was my worst morning and I was really weepy for ages. Had been moved into a single room, which although was great in the end, was awful to start with as I felt on my own and didn't even have Zachary with me. Breakfast was difficult seeing all the other mothers on the ward with their babies and I didn't think I'd cope with my mum and sister visiting later on. I had also tried to express the previous evening so that although I wouldn't be specifically doing a feed during the night, I kept my boobs active! The expressing was really dispiriting though as very little seemed to be produced.

But...we had a breakthrough that morning. I tried to give Zachary a feed - he seemed to be sucking much more strongly and the nurse was able to show us that he had taken milk from me! It was such a huge relief for both of us and reassurance that he was improving. He was also getting more active and we were confident that things were getting better. From that point, I was able to establish full feeding for Zachary and the feeding tube was removed altogether later that day. That did however mean the start of night feeds...

Because of the success with the feeding, and as Zachary had been moved onto 4 hourly feeds, we were able to bring him back down to my ward for my family's visit in the afternoon, which was great and much better than having to take them up to SCBU, as we managed to sneak all 3 visitors into my room (see, I told you it worked out all right in the end!). I think the sight of Zachary having a tube in his nose and being on the special bed upset my mum a bit, but L and I were both feeling much brighter by now.

The lumbar puncture was tried again and again without success, but the other tests they were running all seemed to show improvement, and the feeding was a big bonus.

Sunday 9th

Had a good night feeding Zachary - SCBU would ring down to my ward everytime he needed feeding during the night and I would drag my tired old bones up there! I also had my first experience of the joy of leaking boobs!!

Today was to be the visit of the Caple clan. I was discharged from my ward, but as I was by then feeding Zachary myself, was a priority for one of the Rainbow rooms they have on SCBU. These are mini flats which can be used by mothers and families for accommodation while their babies are in SCBU. It's a bit like university rooms - there are a pair of bedrooms with a wardrobe and cabinets (so more like a 'real' room than a ward bed) and a shared sitting room, bathroom and kitchen area. This was a complete godsend as we had been preparing ourselves to go home and then drive back to the hospital when he needed feeding.

Having the room meant that I could have Zachary in there with me all the time, except for when he needed the next dose of antibiotics (every 12 hours), so feeding at night was much easier!

The Caple visit went well, and again because of the arrangements we managed to squeeze in an extra visitor again!

Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th

The next couple of days saw us taking care of Zachary in the Blue Room, feeding going really well, and learning how to top and tail him (it's washing him!) and how to wash his hair. The latest tests showed his infection level had dropped significantly and the doctor confirmed that he would be able to come home on Wednesday - at long last! He had his Guthrie test, hearing tested and a new baby check over by the doctors to make sure that he was physically all in order. No problems there at all.

Wednesday 12th

Home today! Spent most of the morning getting ready, attending the last ward round and going through all the discharge papers and procedures. The nurse had to escort us from the building, checking that the car seat was properly and safely fitted, but by just after lunchtime we were at home.

It was such a relief to be back home and to be able to come back with Zachary - I had been dreading having to come home without him.

We're all adjusting and settling into life with 3 of us at home, but so far (and fingers crossed) things seem to be going really well. The night feeds aren't too bad, and I'm certainly sleeping better in my own bed than I was in hospital! One of the other best things about coming home (apart from L's cooking!) is having my own things around, being able to use a hairdryer again and finally getting out of disposable pants!

And because I just can't get enough of him, here's a piccie of my two lovely boys!

Leigh in print!

This isn't the only one he's done, but the most recent - game review of Pandemic.

Sometimes that's God's way of telling you to think on and look sharp...

...been watching a bit of Victoria Wood this weekend!!

Had a really good weekend and it really helped going to see my sister and brother-in-law, getting out of the house and Ipswich for a bit.

Watched "Stardust" on Friday evening which we both really enjoyed (Robert de Niro very funny) - so much so that I've now bought the book to try out as well! Finished off the cupcakes - these needed cream cheese frosting according to the recipe. Sadly, although I had been efficient and checked we had all the ingredients needed for the cakes themselves, I didn't check the icing sugar situation! The recipe called for three cups of it - I managed to cobble together nearly two cups from the rest of the normal icing sugar we had and the end of a box of golden icing sugar (which will never be bought again!). The golden icing sugar had got a bit damp so I spent a good few minutes scraping that through a sieve and the icing still came out lumpy! Because of the lack of icing sugar, the frosting is still pretty liquid even two days later...but tastes pretty good somehow!

Overall the cakes came out quite moist - whether that's a slight undercooking on my part, or the use of the very wet pineapple, or a combination of both, who knows??

Headed off to Norwich Saturday morning and had lunch at a department store called Jarrolds. I had the obligatory cheese scone from Jarrolds. This harks back to my days as a child when going shopping in Norwich was a real treat - half an hour away on the train was a long journey for us then! We always stopped at Jarrolds for tea and a scone to boost ourselves on arrival before starting to shop.

Did well in town - L managed not to buy any more board games, although I was unable to resist the pick 'n' mix stall in the Mall. Went back to my sister's house where they are in the middle of refitting the kitchen (impressively Ralph is doing most of the work himself) so it was an Indian takeaway for dinner - yummy, and most importantly, didn't set off any contractions! We played lots of board games that evening and Sunday morning - a couple of games of Ticket to Ride during both of which I was soundly thrashed (Ralph is getting far too good at that game!), a games of Thebes (which fortunately I won) some card games and a bonanza of Pandemic.

Pandemic is a new cooperative game which L has recently bought - it's basically the players teaming up against the game trying to find cures for 4 diseases spreading quickly across the globe. L and I had played a couple of times on our own - one to us and one to the game. We played 5 times over the weekend - game won 3 but we won the last 2. It felt as though we were getting more organised as the last game seemed to be won much more easily, but then part of the fun of the game relies on collecting special cards from the pack and avoiding Epidemic cards. As these are drawn randomly perhaps we were just lucky! I like to think we were just great!!

Have to mention L's poor puns at this point - Bangkok is one of the cities in the game and twice L followed up the announcement of the city's name with "ouch..." Sadly it took my sister some time to catch on...both times....

Back home on Sunday to enjoy a Nobbly Bobbly in front of the Gavin & Stacey reruns we recorded on Saturday. Plenty of bobbles down my cleavage - a great end to a really good weekend.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

Had another culinary adventure this morning - off to Norwich this weekend to see my sister (she was going to come to Ipswich but we're taking the opportunity to get out of the house while we still can - I know L's going a bit stir crazy now so a change of environs is called for!) so I thought I'd make some cakes to take with us.

L has a great cupcake book which I has used before successfully (apple and cinnamon swirl cupcakes) even though all the measurements are in US. There is a conversion guide in the book, but fortunately we've also got "cup" sized measuring pot things so could follow the recipe without too much messing about. The Hummingbird cupcakes were fairly straightforward to make (although I'm saying this not having yet tried one!) and there's just the cream cheese frosting to go on. Here's a piccie so far...



Was intrigued by the combination of ingredients - banana, pecans and pineapple are apparently what make up a hummingbird cake. Had a quick trawl through the interwebs...but it appears there is no definitive explanation as to how it got its name, although seems to be incredibly popular. The most suggested explanation appears to be to do with the sweetness of the ingredients and the sweetness of a hummingbird's diet. There is another suggestion that it was because people hummed while they made it... I am more dubious about that one! Southern Living magazine Feb 1978 is credited with its first appearance and there are numerous websites displaying the recipe now - also found a very interesting site called Food Timeline which you can email for free with any questions about food history. Here's the entry for hummingbird cake.


Also cooking related - watched the final of Masterchef last night. Agreed whole-heartedly with the judges' decision to award the prize to James. Started me wondering though how much time the contestants actually have between rounds of the competition and final and whether, for example, they have a few days to perfect the recipes they produce themselves in the kitchens. Found this blog from Ben, the cheese shop guy who got to the final last year (you have to scroll about half way down to get to the Masterchef stuff). Quite an interesting read, and although there is some time for them to prepare, it does also sound as though the tests come fairly quickly on top of each other.

And just in case you're wondering about the other 2 finalists, I've also located the blogs of Hannah and Steven.

Some sound advice

"If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the things is cats."


Lemony Snicket
The Wide Window

Lost Abilities

Bought some tasty cheese on Monday - double Gloucester with onions and chives. Yum. Been enjoying this on the final few crackers left over from Christmas, but (and sadly I suspect this is not baby related), I appear to have lost the ability to eat crackers, or anything else even vaguely crumbly come to that) without showering my chest and boob area with crumbs. Right down the front of my bra. Very annoying - perhaps I should stop wearing all those boobtastic tops...

Out in town today and saw a car from a local driving school called "L ABILITY." I managed to read it as "LIABILITY" - not too far off???

Over-emotional?

I'm starting to get a little concerned about my emotional state as the pregnancy draws to a close. I had thought I was doing quite well - no frequent mood swings or massive hormonal outbursts (except perhaps for new year's eve, ahem) - although that's my view and L may well say something different... I would say that I am not usually someone to let my emotions get the better of me - not crying at my own wedding is something which is often mentioned by L! (although a good film can get me going)

But the last couple of days have been weird - watched Ballet Shoes from Christmas and got really weepy during a couple of bits because I thought certain things were going to happen (they didn't in the end) and then yesterday got weepy (although not so bad) during The Strictly Come Dancing story when they did the round up of all the past winners at the end. Yes really. This is not good.

It has happened randomly before - I think it was after my first year at uni and I didn't have a TV in my room there so I was deprived of watching all the usual crap I like (the TV room was awful and the only thing I ever managed to see on a regular basis was ER as it seemed to be football all the way otherwise!). Got home at the end of the year and I remember watching a really awful game show at home, the player won the big prize and was over the moon - I was so happy for them I was sobbing for some time. Goodness knows what I'll be like when the baby's born...

An observation

There are at least 3 shops in town which have their maternity/baby sections upstairs. I realise they're probably not the most used parts of the shops, but given who their main shoppers are going to be, only one has a lift, the other 2 have escalators up (well, one of them has, the other you can access if you go in through the next door shopping centre entrance which has an escalator) but not down. Stairs are equally as difficult each way for me and if you're trying to manage a pushchair and numerous other small children as well... not the most convenient!

Organ Donation

Saw this entry and information on one of my friend's blogs and I think it's so important it's worth repeating here. Have been a blood donor now for a good few years - ever since me and another girl were dragged down to the Blood Donation centre in Nottingham by another friend at uni...who then couldn't give blood herself because her iron levels were too low!

Obviously can't give blood at the moment because of the bump (and for 9 months after birth)...so L has a chance of catching me up as otherwise I'm way ahead of him for donations!!

But I've always been happy with the idea of donating my organs, should anything happen to me and have had several conversations with L about it. It suppose you could say it's a bit morbid to think about, but I'm sure that dealing with death and Wills at work on a daily basis has made me more aware of the issues and that the earlier you sort them out and the clearer you are with your wishes, the easier it can be for families dealing with horrible decisions at a horrible time.

Here's the link if you're not strongly anti... Thanks Niles.

Another Monday...

another ante-natal check up. All seems to be in order - blood pressure, weight and baby's heartbeat all fine. Baby lying with back to my left side and head well down so in a good position. As I have no ongoing health issues, no appointment needed next week and scarily the next one the midwife booked me in for is on 10th March. My due date is 8th March. I could be with baby by the time it comes round! That is a scary thought indeed, but also quite exciting! Other than that pregnancy wise things have been quiet - the ice cravings have waned (although whether that's just the psychological impact of knowing that I am taking iron supplements combined with the effect of the article I read...who's to say?) but the Braxton Hicks contractions have been working up a storm in my tummy. No sign of the real thing yet. I need to get to the weekend for two reasons anyway - do not want baby's birthday to be 29th Feb (apologies to anyone out there whose birthday is leap day and they love it!) and L's mum's in Lanzarote until Thursday.

Basket of spring flowers arrived unexpectedly from my mother this morning ...



...and she is apparently sending on some more carrycot sheets she has been fashioning from other bigger sheets. Also, she's finally had broadband set up and now has email! This has taken some years to accomplish.

Today has also seen the cleaning of the bathroom, making of another batch of yummy yoghurt and am now settling down to watch Ballet Shoes which we recorded at Christmas. Richard Griffiths is so huge. Saw him in The History Boys last week (also recorded from Christmas)...just as huge.

Just a quickie

Just trying to squeeze in a quick blog while L gets dinner ready - I'm supposed to be looking at Alhambra expansions on the Geek, and I've got a tab opened up for it ready.... Played 3 games this afternoon - I did abysmally at Alhambra...even Dirk beat me! I could blame it on starting to feel quite queasy during the afternoon - but that appears to have been down to lack of a proper lunch (I thought I could manage on a cheese scone and pear after my lovely scrambled eggs and mushrooms breakfast - but sadly it was not to be) - toast and marmalade has sorted me out! Pork chops and lemon sponge pudding for dinner - I love having a husband who cooks!!!

Car Park Machines

In a stunning display of lack of forethought and planning today paid for a £2.80 car park ticket with a £20 note. Yes the machine accepted notes in payment of fees. No the machine did not give out notes in change...I have very heavy pockets!

On another note, this appears to be my 200th Blog!! Hurrah!

Pregnancy update

We have been taking a few pictures of the progress of the bump (although not regularly) and here we go...

August 4th (approx 9 weeks)



October 27th (approx 21 weeks)



December 1st (approx 26 weeks)



December 16th (approx 28 weeks)



December 25th (approx 29 weeks - yes I am being forced to do the washing up!)



January 23rd (approx 33 weeks - note the washing up theme!)



...and finally today! 38 weeks tomorrow...



Not long to go now.

My husband is skiving work, sitting by me readingg

The electricity man has been and gone (and completed a very nifty and efficient removal of our old "spinning wheel of death" meter and replaced with new digital meter), and the health visitor has also visited. Left some useful leaflets and an NHS book called "Birth to Five" which looks as though it will be really helpful. Apparently I should have also received the "Pregnancy" volume from the midwife...but no show on that!

The health visitor will basically take over looking after us and the baby once the midwife's remit finishes at about 10 days. Health visitors are all trained nurses, and will be looking after us until our child starts school, at which point a school nurse takes over. There appears to be somewhat of a shortage of health visitors in the area, so we won't get many fixed visits after the first few months, but she emphasised that they're only a phone call away and will always come out and see us if we need help. That is very reassuring! I had thought she would want to look round the house, check where the baby's going to sleep etc, but she didn't - just took some basic details and brief medical histories for each of us and our respective sides of the family.

Had last ante-natal Parent Craft class last night which was pretty good and covered a wide selection of topics - induced labour, forceps, ventouse...all those nice things, but also bathing and putting baby to bed, a bit on breast feeding and we finally watched a video called "the Social Baby" demonstrating how babies are ready to communicate and be social right from birth. Oh so looking forward to meeting my little one now!

Also had an exciting parcel delivery this morning - 10 Kinsey Millhone books and 2 surprise matinee jackets from friends in Nottingham. Fantastic! Sadly this means that Don Quixote may need to be shelved for now - I'm only about 80 pages through this weighty tome. I thought I would be all literate and clever by reading it after it's closely referred to in The Shakespeare Secret (also recently read), and I have had a copy for many years now "meaning to get round to reading it" but....haven't really got into the swing of it yet, so I'll have to try and return to it between Kinsey, Dr Who and the Series of Unfortunate Events books which I'm also working through!

Finally, just been out to the shop to get out of the house for today and bought a KitKat for each of us to have with a mug of tea - L has just found the holy grail of the KitKat world - a completely chocolate finger. Mmmmmm.

Today's round up

Was just about to start blogging when there came a knock at the door - a deaf Polish girl trying to sell me a drawing. I didn't buy one. Ho hum, only another half hour to fill to Diagnosis Murder. L's been finding things for me to do - this morning I dismantled the old office chair (as BT have sent him a new exciting one - all mod cons and bells and whistles) and counted out the components of his newly arrived game Hero Quest. Only one piece missing as expected (it's a second hand game).

Have also been to Mothercare this morning and bought what will hopefully be the final part of our armoury (at least until we know what sex the baby is and how big it is) - a baby bath! All now washed and clean. We also got sidetracked at the baby clothes again and bought another sleepsuit - the excuse being that it is another one without feet so can be used at the hospital...

This afternoon I'm planning to sort out some kind of labour timetable chart (?) so that L has a ready reckoner of when he needs to be taking me into hospital. The midwives keep saying don't come in too early, but I guess that once things start, it might be difficult to stay at home, because we will just want to know what's going on in there! Last ante-natal Parent Craft class tonight as well.

Tomorrow's looking exciting - man from British Gas is coming to change the electricity meter (as the old one is now at the end of its life), and health visitor also due for an ante-natal check. I have no idea what to expect from that - the title "health visitor" still seems to conjure up negative associations, although my cousin's wife reckons that they're completely different now and she got on really well with hers.

That's it for now - time for a quick Hanjie methinks. Okay, that sounds more dirty than it actually is...

Ice cravings

Having another lazy day today - catching up with some TV on BBC's iPlayer, which is great - although I have had some problems with it stopping while it continues to download - watched Masterchef from last night (which we missed due to a tryout of L's new games San Juan and the Carcassonne Traders and Builders expansion - little pig meeples, but an abysmal performance by me as I completely ignored the farmer effect and L scored a whopping 220-odd!), and am in the middle of Being Human, which was a one-off pilot on BBC3. I'm enjoying it, although only 15 minutes in and waiting for another blockage to clear. May have to restart it and fast-forward to where I got to. This afternoon am planning to re-pack my hospital bag (since it appears that the hospital do in fact have towels which I can use and that will save some room in the first already too-full bag...) - oh the excitement!!!

Had another ante-natal class yesterday - this time on breathing and relaxation. As well as learning breathing and relaxation techniques for getting me through the contractions, we also discussed good posture and positions for me to try to get the baby in the right position (ie head down and its back on my left side) and the head to engage. Have been trying a few out this morning, but the sitting backwards over a chair is now starting to get a bit achy - not to mention the bump is pretty squashed against the chair back!

I had previously thought that I hadn't really had any cravings during the pregnancy, but am now starting to wonder if in fact ice was/is one. It's only been noticeable the last few weeks, but I now have to have ice in my drinks (sometimes having a glass of water to get to the ice...) and I rarely let it melt completely before having a crunch. Someone at work mentioned they'd had a similar craving, and I had a bit of a trawl on the internet to see if there was any particular mention of it and found this article. Interestingly, the last 2 blood tests I had showed I was slightly anaemic so perhaps there is something to it?? On Pregaday tablets now to hopefully sort out my iron levels so will wait and see if this has any affect on the ice situation.

Approaching geekdom...

I am slightly worried about my general geekness status. It started badly with borrowing Doctor Who books from one of my friends, I have also been indulging in the many and various graphic novels L has bought over the years, and have more than a passing acquaintance with various superhero backstories and lore, not to mention a lot of things murder mystery related and a bit of Star Trek...Mario...Nintendo/Wii-related stuff...

It is not getting any better and is in fact now extending to board games - L mocked me for "using the word 'meeple' in general parlance" (see the blog about Carcassonne...) - and I'll leave it up to you to make your own minds up about his use of the word 'parlance' (!) - and this afternoon when we couldn't resolve a token retrieval query in Thebes, I suggested (yes, me) looking it up on The Geek.

Whooopsie. Although I will probably not get too concerned until I reach the point that I can identify the Star Trek episode (from any one of the series except Enterprise) from a ten second or so excerpt. And recite the entire plot of the episode. You know who you are.

Blogs of Note

Having a look at another one today - some people do indeed have too much time on their hands...

Balloon Fashion show

78 points!

Played Carcassonne with the Inns and Cathedrals expansion last night. L worked out quickly that getting a cathedral into a rival's city which they are unlikely to finish is a good sabotage move as a partially completed city with a cathedral scores no points at the end (whereas a partially completed city without a cathedral does).

Within the first few tiles of the game we were fighting over supremacy in a new city and desperately trying to make sure that our two bits of cities joined up to share the points. I managed somehow to block out Leigh's third meeple, which left me with 3 men and him with 2 in the city. He gave up trying to muscle in on the pointage action and instead tried desperately to sabotage my plans by adding a cathedrals and other big city pieces in an attempt to make the city unfinishable. But he was foiled! Marvel at the wonder of the 78 point city!!! See the cathedral! See the shield pieces!

Funny, But No: Rejected Valentine's cards

Idly looking through the first "Blog of Note" on the Blogger homepage - Shoebox Blog - came across this ...

Gaming

Well, after the last thrilling installment, you may (or may not) be pleased to learn that the brownies did in fact turn out pretty nice (despite a lack of choc chips in them!) and even better smothered in custard! They are now all gone...



A couple of busy days just gone - cleaned the oven on Thursday and then went out for a Valentines Day lunch the The Vanilla Pod in town. Delicious - I had Welsh rarebit followed by Guiness braised beef and L had tomato and sweet pepper soup followed by sea bass. Yum, but sadly no room for pudding.

Spent most of the afternoon reading (The Shakespeare Secret and a brilliant graphic novel version of The Big Four (V Day present) - I have now ordered the rest of the series!) and then dozing and sadly drooling on the sofa....

Had another ante-natal class in the evening - much shorter this time, just a quick look round the delivery suites and the maternity ward at Ipswich hospital. There are 3 wards servicing the needs of birthing and post birth mothers and babies and we had a look round the quiet one. Strangely made me more nervous than the 2 hour step by step description of labour and birth we had last week!

Yesterday went over to see my cousin's wife in St Neots and collect some baby bits from her - including a huge bag of clothes! We shall not be wanting for vests...but a fun afternoon ahead sorting those out. Meanwhile, L's board game empire is slowly expanding with a Ticket to Ride - Switzerland expansion, Carcasonne Inns and Cathedrals expansion and a new game called Elasund arriving this week. Tackled Elasund and Ticket to ride last night - both pretty good, although all I dreamt about last night was bloody board games! We were playing Elasund in every dream I had that I can remember! L thinks this is a good sign...I'm not so sure.

Fishy ambition

Felt completely sapped of energy yesterday - didn't really do much other than sit on the sofa, finish my Doctor Who book, and watch crap on TV! Went out to post some letters in the afternoon, but that was it for venturing out - and spent all day in jogging bottoms...lovely and comfy.

Today much better - got out into town and sat for a while in Starbucks enjoying a cup of tea and a cake! Wrapped the Valentine's day presents and made sure that we're booked up for lunch tomorrow and that the Mother's Day flowers I thought I had ordered yesterday were in fact ordered! Watched the end of "Shall We Dance" this afternoon (lovely, lovely) and have just made brownies. Unfortunately it appears that of the 3 recipes I have for brownies, I've used the wrong one, so they may in fact be vile. Oh well.

So that's been my exciting day - except to say that I spent a happy hour this morning looking at the Wikipedia entries for some of my favourite TV programmes - Quantum Leap, The Crystal Maze, Knightmare... and following a link for Hugo Myatt (Treguard to the uninitiated) turned up an interesting fact... he apparently has a burning ambition (note that, not just any old ambition, but a burning one!) to one day play Captain Haddock, whom he resembles. Yes.

Spreading the load

I have a list of jobs to do while I'm on maternity leave and I've been trying to spread them out across the weeks. Today's tasks included cleaning the bathroom, shortening the curtains in L's work room and phoning the health visitor. All done.

Also met one of my old school friends for lunch in town - it was great to have the time to do that and to catch up with her. Then appointment with the midwife who seemed to cock up taking some blood from me leaving me with a lovely bruise on my arm!

Now watching the third "Who do you think you are" we have saved on the Vision box from last year... It's Griff Rhys Jones looking at old railway records at the moment. He met up with a "railway enthusiast" to glean some more information - oh dear. Now I don't like to stereotype, but if I just say that the enthusiast was wearing slightly too short trousers, white socks, had very thick glasses and was carrying a clipboard (I kid you not)...well, I'll just leave the rest to your imaginations...

Long time, no see

It has really been an age since I last blogged and so much has happened - particularly pregnancy-wise. Last time I blogged, L and I knew, but we had decided to wait until the all important 12-week scan (confirming that it was in fact a baby inside and not just trapped wind...) before letting everyone know. It was really difficult keeping it quiet - especially from family, but we felt happier knowing that we had at least got to 12 weeks, up until when, miscarriages can still be quite usual as there is little the medics can do to prevent them. What also made it particularly hard was that during that first 12 week slot, we had various family "dos" (my sister's wedding...L's 30th birthday party...L's aunt's 50th birthday party...) at which nothing could be said and we had to come up with various sneaky plans and reasonings as to why I wasn't drinking at any of them!!!

But 12 weeks safely came and went and the first scan showed no problems. Told everyone, then the next big stage was the 20-week scan. By this time we had spent a couple of weeks in Florida (!) and I was getting worried that I wasn't big enough and hadn't felt (or at least hadn't recognised anything I had felt) as being the baby moving around. But the scan was again absolutely fine, all measurements safely within the average brackets. It was really amazing how much could be seen on the scan - they can check length of bones, positioning and shape of the main organs and also the chambers and major blood vessels of the heart! Was really quite incredible.

And now, somehow we've made it to 36 weeks! I'm on maternity leave from work (which quite frankly couldn't come quick enough after Christmas...tiredness really starting to hit me), L has started working from home, we've had the first couple of ante-natal classes (I am still trying to work out whether the 2 hours of explaining labour has reassured or terrified me further...!), I've been to see my friend from high school who had a baby in September and feel better now I know that she is coping and still seems normal (!) and I feel absolutely huge! Definitely beached whale territory.

Physically, finding things much more difficult - I am getting out of breath incredibly quickly, which isn't helped by the fact that the little one keeps wanting to stretch its legs out just underneath my ribcage (!) and can no longer put on socks, knickers or trousers without sitting down! Getting in and out of bed...the bath...off the sofa....also proving to be a challenge on occasions, and I seem completely incapable of sitting in one position for more than about 20 minutes at a time. L is being incredibly patient (although am slightly concerned at some of the things about "mummy" he has been whispering to the bump!).

The nursery is now almost ready as well - we have most of the big things we need now (like somewhere for the baby to sleep and a car seat to get it home from the hospital!) but we've tried to hold back from buying too many clothes until we know whether it's a boy or a girl and how big it is! I have been steadily washing through everything we have so far - and we're going to try the Mothercare Smart Nappy (which has disposable and washable liners) so have been washing those as well. I think we're nearly ready?????!

Midwife appointment tomorrow and then a tour of the hospital maternity ward on Thursday in the antenatal class. And hopefully plenty of time to now catch up with some blogging!

Oh, and other than that, L has become obssessed with board games - spends a lot of time on "the Geek"! Fortunately so far he has been choosing games which I actually stand a chance of matching/beating him at. Thank you!!! See what we did last weekend...

Pachelbel Rant

My sister pointed me towards this - maybe you'll have had to play the damn thing to understand but it's still pretty funny...

Coincidence??

Oh heck has it really been that long since I last blogged??? Well a lot has happened since then, most of which you can catch up on on L's blog ('him indoors).

The reason I'm blogging now is to record a strange coincidence which occurred on Thursday. One of my clients has died and her daughter came in to start off the probate process. Her mother is being buried in a plot in Nottingham, but because the burial deed was in the deceased's name, there is no one to authorise the re-opening of the plot (her late husband's already there)
so the whole thing is being transferred to the daughter's name (I've not come across this before - strange Nottingham thing?). This has created various documents on which I need to witness the daughter's signature. She provided me with the business card of the funeral director (because I had to ring them for a bit of help with the form...) and lo and behold, the funeral directors are none other than the office below the flat where L and Richard lived for a year when I was doing the LPC!!! How odd!

It's real cake!

Honestly.

Gay

By the way, I appear to be 50% gay - which according to the test means I'm a happy well-adjusted hetero babe. I'm a babe! But one of my gay friends is only 43% gay. I'm not sure I trust the results.

That'll learn 'em!

I need to do some article writing for work - we make use of a "Lawspot" in one of the local papers, and have been trying to think of some kind of hook to link my efforts together. Needless to say, 300 words isn't an awful lot of space to establish a hook and get across the actual law point! I haven't actually written any yet although Lasting Powers of Attorney is looking a pretty good bet.

Anyway, L and I have been talking about this - some kind of witty catchphrase to make will writing seem more exciting and appealing. After the success (dubious or otherwise!) of the recent "Ditch the Bitch" and "All Men are Bastards" posters a few years ago (extolling the benefits of some divorce lawyers) we came up with "That'll learn 'em" or variations on a theme :

- Husband told you your bum looked big in that skirt? Cut him out of your Will - that'll learn 'im!
- Grandchildren never visit you? Cut them out of your Will - that'll learn 'em!

ad infinitum....

Blog apathy

This isn't good - I was all keen about updating my blog last weekend, then have had a really busy week and can't get motivated somehow...but I shall stop moaning.

So, last weekend - pretty great really. Went up to Nottingham to help celebrate a birthday - drank far too much wine and champagne, ate at a great restaurant in Southwell called Funny Peculiar. Went to see Magicians on Sunday afternoon - very very funny. The finale was filmed at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham and some of our friends went along. You can see them in the film! There's a great shot of R giving a very disapproving look to his neighbour. Definitely buy that when it comes out. Sunday evening we went to see Richard Herring live at a club in Nottingham - generally very funny even if some parts of the set I really didn't get on with.

Back to Ipswich Monday and trying to sort out by email getting a laptop and projector organised for my presentation Tuesday morning - never have the day off before a presentation when you haven't made sure that absolutely everything's sorted! But anyway the talk went well and I managed to coordinate powerpoint, the laptop and the projector - hurrah. Even gt a couple of choccy biscuits out of it!!

Been out every night this week so far - but it's bank holiday on Monday which can't be bad.

Play it again

Okay, okay this is the last one today!

I went to a BBC Play it again event in Cambridge today - it's the series of "roadshow" events taking place up and down the country to accompany the BBC1 series. It's an attempt to encourage people to become more involved with music - start up an instrument if they've always wanted to, dust off the instrument they learnt as a child and just get back into playing again. The events welcome all ages and abilities and if you can't play, you can sing or play percussion.

There were tons of people at the Cambridge event this morning. Started off by listening to the BBC Concert Orchestra playing the overture from West Side Story and they we got a chance to join in. The director of the day had adapted the theme of "Tonight" for orchestra and written some new words for the singers. Basically there were four different lines which could be played - all of which fitted together and moved from basic to quite tricky. The orchestra, singers, percussion, saxophones (because there were 24!) and guitars all practised as different sections, then came together for a final performance at the end of the morning. It really was great! I'm enthusiastic about music anyway but it was great to play with the BBC Orchestra. All the members of the public were seated next to a professional so we got help and encouragement from them and the chap leading it (Tim Steiner) was ace - really made everyone feel totally involved.

Had a surprisingly large range of instruments too - the guitar section was most varied, there was a mandolin, banjo, accordian and melodian as well as the guitars.

I really enjoy this kind of thing, but do tend to get a little carried away and start thinking about taking lessons again or doing other musical things like learning a new instrument, but realistically, it would be very expensive and I probably wouldn't be able to put in the time needed for practise. Maybe later in life?? Anyway, fully enthused for the concert at the end of June I've just downloaded to whole programme to my iPod so that I can at least get more familiar with how the pieces sound! And apparently the Pines of Rome are on Fantasia 2 - I think that might be coming out from the cupboard again....

Flying the Flag

Not the clearest of pictures, I must apologise, but a representation of our views of the songs last night at Eurovision!!! Note the UK flag at the top - we all thought Scooch were brilliant - but it was not to be...

The party was great though - went up to Nottingham to see our friends there for the do. The host had kindly split Europe into 4 geographical regions for the various couples to support, but a rather too enthusiastic elimination of western European entrants in the cunning semi-final meant that the host's region only ended up with 3 songs! We had 7 which wasn't too bad, and our themed contribution was from Germany - Holten Pils, Reisling and home-made black forest gateau. A triumph in the taste department - but don't talk to me about grated chocolate and how you can get it on to the side of a cake ... Greece was one of ours, which we thought was a good song - other favourites were the Ukraine and Sweden - although emphatically not Serbia (bah).

Chris had also kindly prepared rather dubious fact sheets for each country - some facts true, some facts blatant puns and others just ...well... rather strange. Take Turkey for example :

3. The Turkish National Football Stadium is lit by 4 floodlights; Light A, Light B, Light C and the famous Turkish D Light.

4. Turkey is often criticised for their oppression of the Kurds. They also oppress jam, marmalade, chutney and preserves of all kinds.

Yes.

There were also special awards for Scariest Lead Singer (think that went to Finland in the end), Most Sexually Offensive Dance Move (the Ukraine for that one groin thrust at the end of the song) and Least Clothes on by end of set (Sweden for the removal of the jacket - but disappointingly for all party goers, a lot less stripping on stage than in previous years!).

All was going well until the voting - but we're all off to Malta on hols next year!!!

House of Fun

Listening to Radio 2 on the way to Nottingham yesterday - a caller's claim to fame was that he'd been in the video for Madness' "House of Fun" which was apparently filmed at the Pleasure Beach in Great Yarmouth!! I have carefully scanned the video - I think I recognise that roller coaster!!!

STEPping on

Friday - STEP conference in London, update on Trust and Estate matters. Pretty good really, although a massive bundle of notes to have a read through. First section was on the FA 2006 changes and the recent case of Phizackerley. Fortunately one of the speakers was Chris Whitehouse - witty, sharp and acerbic about the Revenue. Very entertaining and has the uncanny ability to imbue all his advice with a very relaxed air as though there really is nothing to worry about at all. Also reassured us all that Phizackerley wasn't really the catastrophic herald of the end of tax planning in Wills certain newspapers would have had us believe.

Second section on contentious estate issues was a but dull - although enlivened by a tale of the almost perfect crime committed by a solicitor - sadly the devil was in the detail and trying to buy a car from the estate for around £25 less than the market price was apparently the undoing!

Lovely lunch - although as usual really pity the poor souls who have the first afternoon session. And it wasn't the most interesting of topics either - the Mental Capacity Act. The main problem being not being that the subject itself isn't interesting, but that the bits of the Act we're most interested in haven't yet come into force, so there are no interesting cases or anecdotes to keep us awake and instruct us in how to work with the new rules. Just lots of going through the act's provision and the Codes of Guidance.

Final session was on unusual Grants of Probate - not anticipating this to be particularly stimulating but it really benefitted from a lively speaker with lots of tales of how she and her department have come across them.

Even managed to get a seat on the train on the way home. Hurrah.

Cheers

A big thanks to L for making my snack all the more enticing. (It's Nutella)(really)

Whoopsie

Dropped my rosin at orchestra on Thursday - saw it slip gently from my hand and slowly drop to the floor as if in slow motion where it promptly smashed to smithereens. Well...good excuse to buy a new shiny block!

Clumsy

Somehow managed to smack myself in the chin with a lever arch file as I was getting in the car to come home tonight. Bonus.

BD

Work's been pretty busy as usual - and if actually getting on with the client stuff isn't enough, we are all being encouraged to get out there and business development our little socks off (so much so that where there was previously one non-chargeable time recording code for "Business Development," now there are 7!!!! - or 8, can't remember).

So, last week my Thursday afternoon to evening consisted of a tax seminar at the neighbouring accountants, followed by a reception marking the opening of new offices of a stockbroker in town (office very hard to find - above the Alliance & Leicester - very small signs!) followed by orchestra. Then 2 meetings on Friday, one with a thoroughly pleasant IFA and then another stockbrokers in the afternoon. This week I spent Tuesday evening with a group of my work meeting a group of accountants from the town and Wednesday out for lunch with another IFA. I'm getting my hours in!!

It's really strange - I'm so used to being the "junior" person at one of these BD meetings I've never really developed a knack for the kind of small talk/business talk you need to be able to make when you go to one...and be able to start up conversations with complete strangers! Slowly getting there - but the point of this is, having always been a junior member of the team, it somehow felt wrong that at the Wednesday lunch I was the senior colleague! I kept looking round for backup from one of the partners!! Still, I know it all takes time and the more I do the better I'll get - well.. that's the theory anyway!

Still, although my general conversation isn't great, my conversation stoppers are absolutely marvellous! Take Tuesday evening - there we are all sat in the restaurant, people at my end of the table (two men from my firm older than me and 2 ladies from the accountants, a little older than me but much more trendy) have been happily chatting about their pinups - Debbie Harry, Simon le Bon etc. Then someone asked me. Now you wouldn't think this would be too terrible, but I've never particularly been one for pinups or idols, even as a child. No posters on my wall, or cravings to go to concerts. So I panic. I could lie, but a) this doesn't really occur to me until too late and b) I get worried that someone will ask me a followup question about that person that I can't answer and my lie will be revealed - embarassment all round.

Okay, so first thing that comes into my head - Scott Bakula. Had a BIG thing for him in Quantum Leap (and he's still pretty cute). So I say him. Have to explain who he is. Still not much comprehension. So, and this is the really, really clever bit - the only other thing I can think of he has been in recently is Enterprise. Star Trek. Yep. Conversation dead as a dodo.

I really need help.

(on the plus side, I did see a good menu in the pub afterwards - one meal being served was brocilli and cheese bake. Yum - sounds almost bacterial)

Return to work blues

Actually, despite the cold which L has kindly managed to pass on to me, first day back wasn't all that bad. Lots to catch up on but no hidden nasties which is a bit of a relief - I always have this fear that something will have gone crazy wrong. But if it has, it didn't surface today!

The only slightly annoying thing was a judgment of the Special Commissioners in which the Inland Revenue won an argument about some will tax planning schemes. This was reported (sensationally and badly) in the press last weekend and I had several clients on the phone worried that this would affect them. In the most part it does not - but the press reporting makes it sound as though every single one of these arrangements is now totally worthless. Which they aren't. Bah to the press.

Perfect day

Heard it on the radio last weekend and we spent a happy few minutes trying to remember who sang each bit - this may help (and apologies for the blatant BBC plug...)

The Invisible Woman

I think I am slowly disappearing- had my hair cut and gave blood yesterday...either that r there's some kind of black magic going on somewhere!

Had a good day yesterday - finally managed to finish off cleaning and sorting out the house which has been on my mind (I'm a strange sort really) and then time for a bit of Warioware on the Wii. I've also been cajoled into starting the next Phoenix Wright game on the DS. I've got through the first game which was basically a reminder of how to play and have started the next main story - the big black space behind the screen has aroused my suspicions!!

Off t sort out more little jobs today - get my car serviced and through the car wash and then back to the tip and B&Q to get rid of the last of the spare room rubbish. Managed to get rid of a lot of things though Freecycle - some of those people must just be sitting at their computers waiting for stuff to come in - had some freakishly fast responses!

Oh, and we must also welcome our Swedish houseguests Mikael and Billy all the way from the province of Ikea!! And they eve managed to get constructed without us killing each other...

Holiday spring clean

A whole week off work - wonderful. Decided to stay at home and catch up with a few bits and pieces...like sorting out the computer room, which is long overdue. Had a long session at Ikea yesterday choosing furniture which now needs to be assembled and the room put back together! Well, that's most of today sorted.

Tomorrow there's a haircut and blood donors, followed by a play (Travels with my Aunt) on Thursday and a meal at Midsummer House on Friday. And in between that, hopefully some cross stitching and Diagnosis Murder time.....

Eva Longoria

Blimey. Who'd have thought it.

Sunny days

What a lovely day again - beautiful outside and we'll hopefully be off for a bit of caching this afternoon. This morning it's a bit of catch up stuff - L's busy outside gate building and blister acquiring, and I've given the bannister a second coat of paint and cleaned the oven. And the shower curtain's in the wash - oh domestic bliss!!

Not been too bad a week at work - L's been a bit down, but I think it's just general frustration with work and the old "being told one thing by one person and something else by someone else" syndrome. It's month and year end at my work so I have been obsessed by billing for the entire week - my supervisor mentions it in every email and the intranet keeps being updated with the departments who've now met their annual target. Ho hum. I think it's a bit of an uphill struggle for our department again this year, not helped by the fact that the staff in our bit keep changing!! Oh well, still got a day and a half left but I'm pleased with what I've done. Just have to wait and see how the firm's performed.... Bonus in sight?? Sadly I think not!

As Easter fast approaches we've been warned to keep the fridge free for defrosting over the holiday weekend - sadly it beat us to it - this email arrived Friday morning :

> Subject: CAUTION WET FLOOR
>
> The upstairs kitchen fridge has got bored waiting for the weekend and decided to defrost itself all over the floor. So please take care and remember to take out anything you have left in the fridge before going home or it will be a sorry mess by Monday (a bit like me!)
>
> thanks


Looks as though the gate frame's just been finished though so we'll be off to B&Q soon!! Happy days.

Expanse of pants

Over the years it has become abundantly clear that normal trousers do not sit well on my body shape. I have a large hips, bum, saddlebags area, but a proportionately slim waist. This usually results in either trousers fine at the waist, too tight on hips, or too loose at waist, fine on hips. I have a feeling that I may have described this unnatural state of affairs before...

Anyway, low riding trousers seem to be the key - no waist problems because they're designed to sit on the hips, and I can then just get the size that fits my thighs. Woo-hoo. I've been wearing my lovely new birthday low trousers today - only problem being I made completely the wrong pant decision to go with them. High waisted pants do not go well with hipsters - I have at least a 3 inch expanse of pants showing above the top of the back of my trousers. And they're not sexy pants either. Think Bridget Jones.

Fortunately didn't need to do too much bending down today and my top is quite long so it remained mostly hidden - but it gave L a good laugh in the kitchen when I showed him!

The Doctor

I think you all know who I mean. Been watching the trailers ready for Saturday. I cannot wait.

Wiggly Wigglers

L's invested in a wormery from Wiggly Wigglers - I think his post says it all. was quite funny though watching him in his dressing gown this morning shouting at the misbehaving worms and trying to flick them back into the soil with a spatula....

Ear, ear

Had a bit of a blocked ear since I had a cold a few weeks ago. Was starting to get a little concerned because it didn't resolve itself and Oatex had no effect whatsoever...but on a visit to the doctors it was confirmed as just being hard wax. Nice. And the solution? Not Oatex, which is apparently not very good and can irritate your ear (oh yes) - olive oil. Good old find in the kitchen olive oil. This was news to me, but apparently all my friends knew this already. I'm so behind in home doctoring!

QVC

After having managed without digital or Sky for ages, we now have access to some digital channels through a BT Vision box we now have. This is great and means that I can watch the Crystal Maze again (!), but also means we get a lot of the home shopping channels - pretty dire but usually good for a laugh. Last night sat watching a bit of QVC while I waited for L to finish cleaning his teeth. He came through with the toothbrush. They were selling some really awful ladies' jewellery which was funny in itself although slightly uncomfortable watching the woman modelling the jewellery stroking it.. But it was the names of the people phoning in for it that got me - we had a Winefryde last night, and the one which precipitated a toothpaste spray and basically dribble on everything was ... Bedelia. What??!!

Then flicked over to another to see Vevette extolling the virtues of Gem Magic. What??!!

Weekending

I've had a really good weekend. Got up early yesterday to go into town - L to have eyes tested and me to try and find a photo frame for Mum. Had a coffee in Cafe Nero and found a window ledge full of books - and lots of them BookCrossing books. This is something one of our friends bought us a kit for but we've not really grabbed hold of it yet. So I took a Point Horror book crossing book and then investigated the website further at home. Have set up 2 books for travelling - one of which is already now on its way.

In the afternoon we tried out hand at Geocaching - got the new GPS handset out and went for a wander round the River Gipping (saw a man proudly showing off the fish he had just caught - that's us with the cache at the top of the page) and through some poor farmer's field in Westerfield (dodging the two adults playing with a petrol powered radio controlled car). Great walks, both of them with the added bonus of discovering a little cache of ... well ... tat! I left one of my bookcrossing books at the second walk so am waiting anxiously to see who (if anyone) collects it and send it off again.

Then home for Casualty and CSI : NY.

Off to Acle today for a belated 60th birthday lunch with Mum and Chris - nice restaurant, but a bit too heavy handed with the gravy if you know what I mean! Back home now for a good bit of cross stitching and a cup of tea.

I have rediscovered the Crystal Maze

All thanks to our lovely digibox thingy - showing on Ftn at 7pm every evening!!! Watched it yesterday while I was doing the ironing - it's still got it!

Doh!

Left the house for orchestra this evening with my slippers on. Fortunately noticed before I got in the car.

Hanging around

Something slightly odd happened this morning - as we were leaving for work, turned to look at the front of the house as L was locking up and there was a hanging basket there on th hook. This is not our hanging basket. We did not hang it. It was not there yesterday. Strange and ever so slightly creepy.

Anyway good day at work, got loads done because I didn't have too many client appointments - my secretary's away on hols this week so am trying to keep myself up to date which is no mean feat. Went out for a walk to Tesco at lunchtime and was listening to my iPod on the way (other MP3 players are available...) - had to make a real effort not to start bobbing and singing along to S Club - oh the tragedy of it all! But got to thinking how some songs, as well as reminding you of a particular time in your life also evoke a really strong picture of a specific time when you heard it. "Linger" by the Cranberries always reminds me of hearing it on the radio coming back from a hockey match when I was about 17 as the sun was setting. I can really see myself sat in the back of the car even now. "Nightswimming" and "Losing my Religion" by REM just take me back to bombing around Yorkshire with Methsoc on our Easter retreat in my first year at uni. And anything from the Medusa album (Annie Lennox) just puts me back in my room in my second year revising for exams. And that's not to forget Dick Dauntless' song and hornpipe from Ruddigore which will always put me back doing exercises behind the tight white trousers..... and possibly most bizzarely there's "Rocka my soul in the bosom of Abraham" which conjures up the rather graphic actions by one of our Sunday school lads on the way to Shell weekend in Ipswich - where are you now Brian Jeffs??!!

Rainy Day

I can hardly believe it's been 3 weeks or so since I last blogged - time is running, nay sprinting away from me at the moment.

Went to a murder mystery party at the weekend - Dallas theme. Whoa there cowboy! spent 4 hours wandering round town on Saturday trying to cobble something together - Leigh looked fab in his cowboy get up. I was going for something more particularly 80's than cowgirl, and think I got there, but sadly was completely outglammed by most of the other ladies there!! I think I just have to accept that this must be my fancy dress lot in life!

Still on the bright side we're slowly building up lots of stuff for a dressing up box for our eventual children - something I think both I and L craved as a child. Certainly growing up watching Let's Pretend only fuelled that desire further......

Never...

...make Jordans multi-grain porridge with just water - tastes a bit like soggy cardboard, or better still never buy Jordans multi-grain porridge (stick to Scots).

Oh, and while we're there, never think you can wait an hour long journey to do a wee when you've already been holding it in for the last half hour of the course you're attending (I did make it home - just...)

Weekend

Another fab weekend! Spent most of Saturday at home sorting out the house and cleaning and then went off to Nottingham for a meal out with all my friends in the evening. Great times - and a special mention to the staff at Punchinellos who made the whole "feeding 16 people at the same time without waiting hours between courses," seem like a quite easy task!

Yesterday saw the arrival of the new sofa - big and high but totally lovely. I had a day out in Kent with two colleagues giving a presentation on personal injury trusts, and then headed out for a church meeting in the evening which had taken place yesterday. Whooops.

Friday

Cold tea incident. Key elements - cold tea, slight trip up, white blouse. I don't think I need to go on.

Strange day

It's been a bit weird all in all. Found out this morning I'd won a STEP prize because I scored the highest mark in the Accounts paper I took in November which is brilliant! But then dealing with one of my clients who has had an eviction notice served on him for Tuesday because he hasn't been paying off the ex-wife. Had a meeting in Bury, then went to Thetford for a spell and ended up in Norwich to see a client at the end of the day. And I've had a hideous headache and sore throat all day, which Neurofen and paracetomol don't seem to be able to touch. So have been eating strepsils like they're going out of fashion - yummy honey and lemon.

I'm hoping the cold won't develop - I think i feel better than this morning, at least my skin seems to have lost that kind of hypersensitivity it seems to acquire during illness. Still feeling grotty though so giving orchestra a miss tonight to rest up for my business breakfast tomorrow. Bacon and eggs here I come!

Birthday surprises

It's about 3 in the afternoon and I've got the day off work to entertain the carpet fitters. The middle room, stairs and landing were all successfully sorted this morning and now they're fitting the front room. It's so lovely and soft and bouncy - which I'm sure has plenty to do with the v expensive underlay which we've also got!! Smalls good too, but leaves a lot of mess. Also, as you might expect, all the furniture from the front room is crammed into the middle room, and most of the middle room's contents have been distributed about the rest of the house so it's going to be a fun evening putting everything back together...but worth it.

So I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on my emails and blogging, and to read some others that have been sadly neglected for too long. Have had a wonderful second weekend of birthday treats, and a meal out with my friends in Nottingham beckons for nest weekend so there's still that to look forward to.

My birthday was actually on Saturday - finally reaching that dreaded threshold of 30. I don't feel too depressed about it - hopefully that's a sign that I'm accepting of my moving on in life and not denial (BTW watched the Fraiser episode "Denial" this morning - hilarious!)! Several of my birthday cards welcomed me to the 30s club - but in my heart I'll always be 25!

Weekend started early on Friday with a personal shopper appointment at Debenhams. Spent a happy couple of hours with Caroline trying on numerous articles of clothing, loving most, rejecting some and being able to share my trouser problem with someone else! No, this isn't some kind of nasty rash, but that fact that my waist appears to be a size 12, whereas hips and bum are squarely in the size 14 camp. Which usually means that my trouser choices are 1) far too big round the waist but comfy on the hips, or 2), nicely fitting at the waist but far too tight on the hips (as in very VPL). But somehow a low riding pair of trousers she found solved the problem and look great! Was also looking for boots, but that's another of my bug bears with clothing and sadly no success. A bit of a long shot really as it appears to no longer be boot season! Then if that were not enough I also went to M&S for some new undies - lovely - although L had to ferret down the back of my trousers to check the size of the pants I had on!!

Then quick lunch at Cafe Nero and off to the hairdressers for a cut and colour in the afternoon. Brilliant. Home for the evening, a dvd-fest and Ugly Betty. Not to mention the 3-course spectacular served up by L - the best bit? Homemade baked Alaska. What a feat!

Saturday saw a bundle of cards and presents, muchly appreciated. Then off to London for shopping and a show. Only we were staying at the Covent Garden hotel. Very posh (as evidenced by the Concierge racing to take our bags as we entered, and the drawing room complete with log fire and honesty bar!) and very expensive, but oh so lovely. Gorgeous room, wonderful food in the restaurant and bathrobes!!! Not to forget the hour long all-over body massage L had arranged...or in fact that he had brought my Murder She Wrote dvds along so we could enjoy (although that's perhaps a little strong for L's view of it!!) an episode with a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit - although sadly due to some unfortunate event, no tea and coffee making facilities in the bedroom - perhaps another indicator of high class???? And a fantastic breakfast - there was a huge choice for the continental breakfast, and I think L almost regretted having the full English! There was a lovely yoghurty granola plummy mix and I nearly went back for seconds (after the bagel, muffin, fruit...)

The show in the evening was Wicked - quite literally! The two principals were being played by the standby actresses, who clearly had all their family and friends in! It was a brilliant show - great music, set, costumes, and storyline...really made you look at the witches in a different way. We avoided the merchandise stalls with great skill but got caught in the melee at Leicester Square tube station. Fortunately we were arriving there, not trying to leave - there was a lot of crowd control going on!!

After a leisurely start on Sunday we trekked forth to the Science Museum which was packed (well certain areas anyway... notably not the history of agriculture exhibit!) with hoards of children, screaming and otherwise. Spent an hour and a half in the Game On exhibit, bemoaned the fact that their Spy Skills exhibit wouldn't be operational until 10th Feb and vowed to come back then, particularly as half the space exhibit was under wraps as well. But a good day and with mucho aching feet returned to Ipswich on the half 6 train, only to have the fun of clearing the middle room of furniture before being released to bed.

And it was all a surprise - L, thank you and I love you.

And now back to reality - well, that was a good idea - the men have just finished! Out comes the vac...

Wii Boxing

Beat Leigh at this last night - will probably be the first and only time, so hurrah! Hurt my arms though...

Skating on thin ice

It's my birthday next weekend, but somehow I've managed to get 3 weekends of stuff organised - brilliant. This weekend was the family one - went to see my sister and her fiancee in Norwich on Saturday. I wanted to go ice skating because they've just opened a new permanent rink there - the first one in Norfolk! I love ice skating - am really crap, but can stay upright for long enough to pretend I can manage it! It was pretty good, although the rink was a bit smaller that we'd been expecting - L managed to get round without holding on the the sides by the end of the session, but sadly Becks had a vice-like grip on the edge for basically the entire time we were there (it was because her boots were too big... oh yeah...)

Then went out for a lovely meal with them and Mum and Chris at Loch Fyne, which included a bottle of champers care of L. Delicious. Went back to the house and drank too much rum and coke, but fortunately sobered up enough to see Dad and Chrissie today. Whew! Back home now and even had time to squeeze in a bit of Scrubs and Jessica this afternoon.

Ironing still to do, but who cares!! This week sees the removal of the old sofa in preparation for new carpets on the 29th and new sofa on 6th Feb. Ace.

Foolish girl

It's been a while since this happened, but L thought it was worth blogging. Took a can of coke with us in the car to the supermarket last week to drink on the way. I opened the can and then tried to wedge it between my legs whilst I put my seatbelt on. Sadly the can was not quite as well fixed as I thought, and as I turned back from grabbing the belt, saw the can slowly tilt over and spill coke all over my skirt. Which then dripped down the side of my leg and to the back of my bum where I was sitting. It was everywhere - and I still went to the supermarket in my coke-covered knickers. My sister tried to suggest today that I should have removed the offending article of clothing and go to the shop like that. What?! My whole shopping would have been tainted by that experience. No way.

As you may expect, mucho mocking from L.

Decorating times

Had a bit of a decorating frenzy over the weekend. Ages ago, a big hole "appeared" in Leigh's end of the sofa so we started looking for a new one. Saw one in Debenhams which we loved but sadly due our usual faffing/titting about, the sale had ended by the time we actually got round to being brave enough to order it. Brilliantly though it was in the Christmas sale...even cheaper! So ordered that in the new year. I thought it would be a good chance to recarpet downstairs before the new sofa arrives - easier to move furniture etc. Okay, but if we're going to do downstairs, may as well do the stairs and landing as well. And if we're going to do those, need to paint the landing first (which has been covered in fresh new plaster waiting for paint for a good few months now).

So weekend devoted to painting and ripping up old carpet, which was quite fun, but now our bin is full of old carpet and they're not coming for that bin for another fortnight!!!! Still can't seem to get photos into my blog so can't show you the end result yet but have a look on Flickr...

Also went and ordered lovely carpet which will be here in a couple of weeks - hurrah! Was surprisingly easy even after the half hour wait for an assistant and toing and froing between 3 colours!! Sadly however made a bit of a fool of myself - offered to pay for the carpet on my credit card and amidst joking with the sales lady about not knowing my credit limit on the card, it was refused! Then I remembered that it expired at the end of December - my new card is sitting at home waiting for me to put it in my purse. Whooops.

Fingers crossed...

...the washing machine appears to be fixed!! Hurrah! appears to have been a cracked clip which broke with the water pressure on the first wash. Clip has been replaced and wash on for about 20 minutes now with no water apparent under the machine.

Took today off work anyway to use up my last bit of holiday from last year - just updating my iPod and then time for a bit of Diagnosis Murder. Brilliant.

Bogging annoying

The washing machine saga continues....

Man came yesterday with the new parts ready to fit them. This was a different chap to the one we've had the previous 3 times - he looked at what the other chap had left for him and then ranted about this for a good ten minutes or so including having a go at the other chap over the phone for leaving a bit of a bodge!

We felt in safer hands by then. Took him 2 hours, but at the end I was assured that the new bits were all in, the electronic module had been upgraded and despite the fact that you usually have to leave the adhesive for 24 hours to dry, he had used extra strong stuff and I could do a load by tea-time!!! Hurrah!

But it was not to be. Load went on at about 7 - kitchen and bathroom flooded by half past. Poo. Although that was not our exact choice of language.

Ringing them again today to get someone to come and fix. No idea where the water is coming from although it would appear to be from in the machine because a load of scale came out with it! Really quite fed up now.

But on the plus side - off into town this morning for retail therapy. Found an expenses cheque for £80 from October in one of my handbags yesterday - wahey!

Christmas!

I've had a great Christmas - busy but great. Started off at L's parents in Derby for a family "do" last Saturday at which Leigh's brother's new girlfriend was thrown to the wolves...well the Hutchins women! They had a rowdy afternoon of working themselves up into a frenzy about what she would be like, and then followed her around for a good half hour when she arrived! But bless her, she seemed to take it all in good heart. A quiet Christmas eve and then Christmas day with L's parents, his nan and brother. I got a very lovely Radley handbag from my husband (amongst other things) - unexpected and delicious!! Then sent the rest of Christmas day (apart from Dr Who) Wii-ing in the front room. L's parents have completely taken to the Wii, especially the sports games, although L's dad wasn't too happy that he couldn't crack the golf game, having been Captain at his golf club a few years ago!

Exchanged pressies with our uni friends on Boxing day and then went to Yarmo the next day to see mum and Chris. Some other friends I haven't seen for nearly a year popped in as well and it was good to see them. Back home to Ipswich and then off to Cambridgeshire to see the rest of Mum's side of the family - again so glad we made the effort to go up there.

So, busy but great. and now we have 2 full days to recover before going back to Nottingham for new year. Murder mystery dinner again - my character is Mandy Seever the femme fatale. Hmmmm.

He came, he saw and STILL didn't fix....

Had this afternoon off work to wait in for the washing machine man (again). After much grunting, exclaiming and complaining to his mate on the phone, he managed wrench the inner drum from the machine. I then hear "I don't believe this!" This removes what little hope I had left that it would get fixed today - it appears that the new inner drum he has been given has been manufactured differently to the old drum removed. The door seal now does not fit and there is a blanking plate missing. He's got to go and order these and come back again!!! He'll be here again on the 29th and I spent another hour or so at the launderette - but at least I'm up to date before we go away.

Not sure whether this will ever end...perhaps should suggest they just give us a new machine...

Christmas has arrived1

It's definitely here - have now been to 2 pantos, eaten 3 or 4 mince pies and been to a carol service. Hurrah. Had to laugh at the carol service - someone clearly hadn't proof read the carol words (and sadly some mistakes had carried forward from last year!) - the best line being "from our ears and sins release us..." (fears...)

And the weather's finally turned nippy which seems to be an excuse for jack-knifed lorries on the road - my usual half hour journey to work this morning took a record hour and a half.

But on the bright side I found a plum in my handbag at the weekend - no doubt left over from some work lunch I'd taken in, but have no idea how long it's been there. It's certainly been weeks since we had plums in the house! Tasted all right though.

He's behind you!

Went to the Playhouse panto in Nottingham last night - absolutely brilliant! It's not the big "star" panto in the city but we all agree it's much better! The show was Cinderella - the 2 dames were fantastic, the songs were ace (especially my favourite from Hercules) and it was really funny. My hearing was only slightly impaired by the frenzied shrieking Brownies on the row behind...but who thought orange and peach would be good colours for the final wedding scene???

'Nother panto next weekend - Dick Whittington in Ipswich. It's a Rock and Roll panto and has been great for the last couple of years (oh yes it has) - roll on next weekend!! I love Christmas.

He came, he saw, he didn't fix

Washing machine man turned up during Murder She Wrote this afternoon (star-studded episode - Cynthia Nixon and David Soul). Heard him banging away in the kitchen for a good 20 minutes and then he came through to tell me the good news and the bad news. Good news - he was all done and would be "out of my hair," bad news - the washing machine still is not fixed. Humph! It appears although the electronic diagnosis thing is pretty good, it only told half the story - when the back of the machine came off and something called a spider (?) needed to be removed, it was discovered welded to the back of the inner drum with rust. So new part on order again - waiting for the depot to ring to say it's in. Could easily be another week.

Back to the launderette this afternoon - spent my time having fun reading CRAG...

Got home just after 5 - Wii still not arrived. L's been up since 6 - last time Parcel Force had a package for us they came at half 6 in the morning! Not this time though... we have a controller, but no console...

Is it wrong to miss church coffee mornings?

By that I don't mean is it wrong to not go to them! Had a day off today and went to Yarmo to see Mum. Marvelled at all the work she's been doing in Chris' garden (which now looks less barren bramble-filled wasteland and more cleared scrubland) and admired the new sink and toilet upstairs (very handy). We then went off to Newtown for a coffee morning to raise funds for a child they sponsor through World Vision. Visits to Newtown always make me very nostalgic - it was a huge part of my life until I went to uni - and this morning was reminded of the cameraderie on coffee mornings. Everyone pitches in - setting out furniture, pouring tea or generally just standing around catching up on all the gossip! I found myself engaged in washing up, wiping down tables and sweeping the floor by the end of the morning! Also found one of my aunties and Jane's mum there for a chat. And only 2 people thought I was my sister - it's getting better.

The church looks great at the moment though - they've got some new banners up and are also having a Christmas tree festival, so the church is full of decorations at the moment! Becks' school concert is at the church on Friday so they're also preparing for the onslaught of 200 children!!! It will be cosy in there!

On way home, realised that my mobile phone clock and car clock are 5 minutes different. Rang the speaking clock - phone is 3 minutes slow, car is 2 minutes fast...

Is it possible to overdose on Strepsils?

If it I think I may have! Feeling grotty today - head full of cotton wool and my throat is v sore . Sneezing has also started - I think I've started the slippery slope...

So it wasn't too bad

The launderette I mean! Been and sorted out three loads of washing - and most of it's now dry, although you don't seem to get long for your 20p. Hadn't quite appreciate how much you can get into one of their machines - if I have to go again I'm taking everything!

It was pretty full when I got there - although mostly it seemed to be one woman who seemed to be using 3 washers and 3 dryers at any one given time... But at least there isn't smelly clothing lying around at home now. Managed quite well too - fortunately there were clear signs on the machine to say what the cycles are and how to operate it, otherwise could have been a nasty embarassment - sadly like when I was leaving thinking I'd done pretty well, and the attendant (male) handed me a pair of my knickers which had fallen to the floor. Oops - and they weren't the best either!

The attendant also tried to engage me in conversation earlier when he was telling me about the alcoholics who lived upstairs and had thrown their TV down the stairs! With the cables still attached and everything - fortunately cycle only had about 3 minutes left.

Started "The Ode Less Travelled" while I was there - I am now instructed to practise my iambic pentameter :

I sit and watch the clothing spin around

I wonder if I've coins enough to dry

Enough of all the knickers on the floor!

Nobody's Watching

My Beautiful Launderette

Yep, the washing machine is broken. The (some of?) bearings have gone and there's something else amiss. One part needs to be ordered so we're without machine until next week! Time to rediscover my "love" for launderettes...

But on the plus side, my new ASDA skirt billows most satisfactorily when I run down stairs.

Bogging washing machine

It appears to have broken - at least the dial just keeps turning and the programme doesn't run properly. Got in the queue for an engineer on the phone - left it to have dinner and when I rang back the office had closed. Bah.

I've been away too long!

It's been an exciting (well... busy) few weeks since I last blogged - so what's been happening?

The big thing was the Gilbert & Sullivan shows which went off last week. All went pretty well really - the first rehearsal on the actual set is usually pretty disasterous (and it was) because you suddenly find there are real steps to go up and down (rather than pieces of matting with steps painted on them!) and there's less/more space on stage than you had been imagining at rehearsals. The women's chorus also had massive hats to contend with in HMS Pinafore - whilst these looked superb to the audience, they could be awkward buggers to get through doorways and there was no way you could get too close to any of the other ladies without a major hat wobbling incident! Which was perhaps a hidden bonus for anyone very protective of their personal space!

The shows were brilliant though and all seemed to go really well. Not too many fluffed lines, and no major incidents with the set. The orchestra were ace as always and it seemed to go really well. L's posted a review to his blog - read it here, and some of the photos are now on the G&S site - see them here (you'll need to click the "This Year's Show" button on the left).

One downside to the week was the exam I had on the Thursday afternoon! Trust and estate accounts - not too bad really and certainly not the huge amount of learning statutes and cases that there was in the previous 3 exams. But still it was on a show day...I went to London the Thursday before to practice getting home and thought it would all be a doddle. How wrong could I be?? Left the exam early to make sure I got the train I wanted but there had been vandalism somewhere at the extremity of the Central Line somewhere meaning those trains were delayed and there were huge numbers of people waiting at platforms. So I caught a cab - took longer that I was hoping but still got the Liverpool street on time only to lose 1/2 hour at Stratford because of an earlier broken down train!!! So sadly missed Trial by Jury on Thursday, but made it back in time for HMS Pinafore. And the exam seemed to go okay - the accounts balanced anyway!! Find out in a couple of weeks.

This weekend had the IOS concert - extracts the the Gadfly, Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto (think of Brief Encounter) and Tchaikowsky's 6th Symphony - he died about 7 days after the first performance! So lots of discussion about whether it was in fact his "swan song," but there seems to be debate both ways. Still a great concert - the Tchaikowsky in particular has lots of dark brooding music. Lovely. The soloist was ace - born 1976...only a year (if that) older than me.

Decided to try and do some Christmas shopping this afternoon, including ordering a sofa from Debenhams for ourselves. we've been looking at this sofa since the summer and it's the only one we've really liked (and we have looked everywhere). Finally decided to go and order the thing today and found that the half-price event for sofas which seems to have been a permanent fixture since the summer has ended and the one we want is now £1700!!! Damme that's too bad.

Went to a new place for lunch - describes itself as a pasta buffet, but there's pizza and salad too. Not bad, although never have ham and pineapple lasagne. If you've ever had evaporated milk on pineapple you know what the juice does to it. It also does that to the white sauce in a lasagne. And it looked as though someone hadn't really drained the pineapple before using it....

I've updated my book list again - finally finished Philip and Elizabeth which was pretty good. Read the latest Harry Potter during show week - it only took a couple of days so didn't have chance to put it on the blog. I enjoyed it - at least Harry's not so angry all the time any more! But it's certainly setting the scene for the final installment...