Presents, gardening & a loony cat

Hello again everyone, this weekends been a bit busy for me so its nice to be sitting here having a rest ( for now ).

Had to get up early on saturday so I could collect a parcel from the sorting ofice in town. Then it was time for shopping at Aldi, that place is so busy but they do seel some good stuff at reasonable prices - plus its walking distance from my house. When I got back I decided it was about time I cut the grass again, I've been putting it off for weeks because of the weather but when you lose sight of the cats once they're in they're on the lawn its time to cut it ( only kidding, I could still see their heads ). This took ages as the grass was so wet & quite long, finally it is done, also had to cut back the bushes & other plants at the side of the garden before it gets too cold. So now the garden is looking a bit better, I still need to empty the pond so think I will have to invest in a submersible pump which is going to cost about £30, but as the pond is about 2 foot deep & full i think it'll be worth it. I started trying to empty the pond using a bucket a couple of weeks ago but my back was soon complaining & I don't particularly want to take time off work with back problems again.

Later on saturday Nic's parents came round with presents from their holiday in Turkey last week - the present I got is shown above!! Although L'il Vamp won't fit in the jacket until he's about 18 months I love it. I can just see me now walking with my boy, dad wearing a Ferrari ( well Schumi to be honest ) cap & his little boy wearing a Ferrari jacket - do I sound at all sad?? Nic was given loads of baby clothes by her friend this week too so we're not doing too badly. The bump is getting quite big now & I cannot wait to meet my son. I talk to him all the time & sing to him sometimes as well, the worst thing is going be going back to work after my paternity leave as I know I will be wanting to stay home with him. I'm even considering trying to find a job where I can work from home so I can be around more.

Today we have been cleaning the house & Nic has cooked a wonderful roast dinner again, I'm quite traditional in that I love my roast dinners on a sunday, its just not the same without one. It is a trade off though, I had to do her ironing today while she cooked dinner. There's a film on Disney later she wants to watch so I had better go & have a shave now so I don't miss it. I will no doubt spend half the film watching my loopy cat Bailey, he runs all over the place playing football or launching himself at his scratch post/activity centre & nearly knocking it over...he's completely insane!

 

 

I hope you've all had a good weekend, before I go nearly forgot, the following link is to Kate's journal index that she has been working so hard on for all of us. Please take some time to check out the index & maybe find a few new journals to read. I have also added the index to my other journals links on the left. Thanks for doing such a wonderful job Kate, everyone in j'land owes you now!!

http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/20062007-journal-index/entries/130

Take care all.... Vamp x

Midweek update

I'm on lates this week so don't get time to update my blog when I get home & usually too lazy to get out of bed in the morning to update it. Today I have to go to the post office on the way to work so thought i'd better get up earlier.

Yesterday at work we managed to embarrass my friend as it was her birthday & she had been keeping it quiet but made the mistake of telling a couple of us, she had to stand up while we gave her the card & waterstone vouchers we got for her after having a little collection. I was quite annoyed doing the collection because although we all generally get on there are a few of us who are no part of the 'in crowd' & don't really have any great desire to be part of it, however we always put in when there's a collection for someone's birthday regardless of wether its their 21st or 33rd. When we did the collection last week many of the supposed in crowd claimed they only put in when it's something special like a 21st or 30th - which I will remember every time they ask me to donate in future. Don't get me wrong I'm not a petty, tight fisted old scrooge but they cannot have there way when it suits them & then change their mind when its their birthday. 

Things have been pretty quiet at home, the new bed is sooooo comfortable i never want to get out of it, mind you I have to have a ladder to climb in every night - it's so much higher than the last bed. We've been buying more baby clothes as well, they are really cute. I reckon people buy too much or get given too much as some of the stuff we've bought on ebay is brand new with the tags. It's saved a fortune on shop prices. Nic collects cows & I managed to get a set of mothercare cow sleepsuits which she absolutely loves. Her parents are on holiday in Turkey at the moment, every tie they go away they bring me something back to do with Ferrari, wether it be t-shirts, towels, or a lanyard for my id tag at work...they tx'd Nic to tell her they have bought something really cool for L'il Vamp, Nic says if it's anything to do with Ferrari she's not gonna let L'il Vamp have it!! I can just see my son in a Ferrari t-shirt with little Ferrari cap!!

Those of you that read my blog regularly are probably wondering why I didn't add any entries after this weekends race. Well to be honest its because I still am not sure how I feel, yes I'm disappointed that Schumi didn't win when he had the pace to do so easily but Alonso is a deserving champ so no sour grapes or anything. In a way I am glad Alonso was in the points because if he wasn't Michael would have soon got up to 2nd place & the n his team mate Massa would have moved aside for Michael to take the win & the championship. I would love to have seen him go out with an 8th title but Massa went on to win & become the first brazilian to win his home grand prix since the late, great Ayrton Senna back in 1993. Much as I love seeing Schumi win I always like it when we get new winners or when I see someone who hasn't won much winning their home grand prix. But now its all over, no more racing until march 18th next year. At this time of year I generally get a bit depressed as I love my racing more than anything else but this year I am struggling to sort out my feelings , Schumi has now retired so I will never get to see him race again. I have watched him racing for half my life so it is a big change, one that I guess unless you are passionate about a sport the same as me you may not understand. I am happy to see him quit while he's still able to challenge for wins & if you saw the race on sunday you will know just how amazing he is behind the wheel ( he may not have won but his drive was truly awe inspiring ), I would hate to have seen him struggling on in mid-field or at the back as that would only destroy his image & reputation. So I am sad to see him go but also glad he's got out alive without any major injuries. I will probably still get up in the early hours to watch the first race next year but will have to see if I will do the same later in the year.

Anyway its that time again, gotta get ready for work so I can get to the post office before going to work. Take it easy people, nearly halfway to the weekend again... Vamp x 

Lots of new things

My new bed's arrived, so has my new bookcase....along with the kettle & toaster during the week & the units we got last week our house is starting to look loads better than it did 2 weeks ago!!

I love getting new things & defi nitely can't wait to go to bed tonight on my nice new king size bed. Mind you Nic doesn't believe me how they make the king size beds bigger, I have tried to explain that they take the double bed frame & then add the extra bit on to the left hand side of the bed ( as you look at it from the foot of the bed ), I mean its not as if its my fault she chose to have the right hand side of the bed is it. Can I help it if it's my side that has the extra space!! Somehow though I don't think I will get to enjoy the extra space, although Nic's paying half for the bed I will still only get to sleep on a quarter of it.

Got to go into town shortly to post loads of stuff I sold on ebay, we are making quite good progress with the spare room now, not chucking stuff out just selling on ebay or giving stuff away on freecycle.org ( a great site, the aim is to stop stuff going into landfill so you can advertise your stuff you want to get rid of or if you want anything so long as its all free ). Nic's never really been a big reader & doesn't like that my books take up so much space but she has finally decided we can have a bookcase in the lounge as well as in the bedroom, just got to put it together this afternoon when I get back.

Right gotta dash to the post office now.... have a great weekend ...  Vamp x

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Warm & toasty tonight

As you might have guessed by the title of this little entry ( if you read my blog regularly that is )I now have the gas reconnected. The 2 guys who came last night worked very hard to ensure all was well & then another guy had to come out to make sure they had done their jobs properly & switch my meter back on ( I told him he really didn't need to put the meter on if he didn't want to, I don't mind getting free gas ). So this morning we awoke to a warm house & again tonight I came home to a nice warm house...it is so nice & you don't realise how nice it is until its gone.

Another nice thing was that I didn't have to spend all day at work today, I had an appointment with an orthopeadic surgeon. She' been asked to compile a medical report ( another one!! ) for my case against mr numpty driver dick who drove into my car back in 2003 - yes you did read that right it really was that long ago. To be honest I am getting sick of waiting for the case to go to court, when I got home I had another letter from my solicitor asking if I will accept a 75/25 split on responsibility in my favour. Now considering I have refused all other offers & that the barrister my solicitors legal firm are using has even said i'm either right or wrong - there is no middle ground so why would I accept responsibility for an accident that has taken away my mobility ( only in so far as I no longer have a car, i can't afford the double insurance while the case is still pending ). I'm pretty sure its just so my solicitors don't have to go to court, I say bring it on.

Other nice things were waiting for me at home though not just boring solicitors letters, my new kettle & toaster from speed auction tv arrived today. Sad that I find happiness in getting new kitchen appliances but as I cannot live without my coffee & also like nothing better than soup & toast for dinner on cold winter nights I don't care wether you all think I'm sad. My old kettle/toaster have definitely seen better days as they have moved with me several times over the last 10 years....so its out with the old & in with the new - even more so on saturday when my new king size bed & new bookcase arrive from argos.

Other good stuff this weekend is the next grand prix, although I am excited about the upcoming race it is also going to be a very sad occassion as this will be the very last time Schumi races in formula 1. I will probably be very emotional so expect a mixed response in my journal after the race. It is going to be very strange next year watching the races without being able to cheer him on, oh well I guess its a case of out with the old & in with the new for my racing as well.

Well thats all for tonight, except to say congratulations to all the j'landers who have been nominated for a Vivi & good luck to all of you. Before I started my own blog I had no idea how much I would enjoy becoming part of this lovely family of people from all over the place. It's so nice to know that whenever one of the j'land family is not feeling too good for whatever reason there's always a bunch of people to leave encouraging & kind comments. And its great that we can all join in with each others lives in our own little piece of cyberspace. Peace & love to you all..... Vamp x 

A cold day in october

So before we go any further hands up thise that have visited CarnivAOL this week.......if you haven't then you need to get along there ( but not before you finish reading this of course ), there are some new journals on there to check out as well as some old favourites :

http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/CarnivAOL/

So last night I left you wondering wether the good people at transco would come & put my gas back on, well a man did turn up & he did look at turning it back on but.....the dumb ass mutherf**kin contractors had removed the gas feeder pipe to our house so he had nothing to connect it to!!!!! Anyway, he told me that if the idiots at MorganEst ( for legal reasons let me publicly state that all my comments regarding this company are my personal opinions only ) did not reconnect the supply when Nic got home today to phone up & report a smell of gas outside - so this is what we did. I currently have 2 transco chaps desperately trying to sort the piping out right now so we can ( hopefully ) get reconnected tonight. The problem being that even if they can get the pipes installed properly, & there's no guaranteeing they can do this without digging up all our pathway to lay brand spanking new pipes all the way to the house, they still then have to call another engineer once the pipes are connected to switch the meter back on & that may take 4 hours for him to get here after these other guys are gone. If ever you have any work done on or near your properties by MorganEst make sure the arseholes do the job when they say they will & if necessary hold their van keys to ransom until its done - these contractors would be better suited to working at eurodisney or the american adventure if you get my drift.

Anyway I guess you don't want to listen to me whingeing all night. Had another nice surprise when I got in tonight, Nic's dad has made some stew which smells delicious so I think I will have to force some down shortly. I really do wonder what her parents are up to, home made cake, home made stew, they're buying us a pram/pushchair...what are they after do you think? Maybe they finally feel safe that Nic isn't going to go leaving me & running off back home so they can relax!! only kidding they do quite a lot for us what with taking us shopping most months as we don't have a car, also they are always inviting us round for dinner & when they get back from holiday ( they're off to Turkey on friday ) we're all going out for dinner to an indian restaurant ( the same one we got the curry from last week - yum! ). I just know they are going to be so helpful once L'il Vamp arrives too, its just a shame my mum can't drive anymore ( for medical reasons ) so she won't get to see as much of her grandson as she'd like.

Right well enough boring you lovely people, I'm off to see what these gas chappies are doing. Take care all.... Vamp x

 

Cold heating-less tuesday

I am sitting here in my cold house waiting for the gas engineer.

Last friday we had a letter shoved through our door ( not literally, they used the letterbox ) advising us that they were laying new gas pipes outside & would need access to the house on monday to switch off the gas, so they tell us on friday afternoon & expect us to just tell work to get stuffed because the gas people need access. Yeah Right! So monday rolls around & just as I'm about to leave for work the engineer knocks on my door - I tell him he has 2 minutes otherwise he'll have to wait for Nic to come home at 3.30, so he agrees to come back at 3.30. I get home last night at 6pm - nobody's been. Today Nic gets home & there's a knock at the door - 'you're gas is off' - at this point Nic kicks off saying he should have done this yesterday, she tells him we need the heating on tonight & he reckons he'll make a phone call to see if he can - then buggers off. I called the emergency gas leak number when I got home because there was no answer on any other number, now waiting for an engineer to come out & see if there is any gas in the pipes, if so great we can have heating - if not, tough.

Now I have explained to the nice guy in the call centre that I am asthmatic & the cold effects my asthma so I need heating, also that Nic is pregnant so needs heating, do they care? Do they hell. I can tell you this, the guy that comes out to check if we can have the gas on had better hope that he can sort it cos otherwise he's gonna be facing one seriously pi$$ed off man!

Other than this today's been pretty uneventful, typical tuesday, went to work, came home again. Last night was busy, mum & sister got the cards with the scan piccies in so was talking to them on the phone & both can talk for hours. Still they're both really happy & excited now they know its a boy, my sister has 2 boys so she's got lots of stuff to hand down to her  nephew. Nic's aunt lives near my sister so she said she will bring some of the stuff up to coventry when she comes up next month. Nic's mum & dad have offered to buy us a pram so even more money saved, they went looking at prams in toys r us on sunday ( would've been nice if they'd taken us with them but maybe next time ). This little chap is going to be spoilt rotten, i can see we're going to have to be careful though, shopping last week we were looking at the baby stuff & could easily spend all my entire savings in less than an hour.

Right well I'm off for a shower to warm myself up, then its time to find something to eat ( even though I've already had 3 samosa's & a slice of stollen tonight - I can't help it I love my food ). Talking of food Nic's mum has made me a fruit cake again, she makes great cakes & knows how much I love them so I always get one just for me, what a greedy pig I am but I don't care. Take care dear j'landers & if you hear reports on the news of any fires in coventry tonight its probably just me trying to keep warm... Vamp x