Rip Off!

So this is a photo proving that my new multipacks of fudge have smaller bars than they used to have 😭 3.5g smaller to be exact - what a swizz! Is this BoJo surreptitiously trying to get me to lose weight ⁉️ 

Furry Sleepover!

 

So guess who came for a furry sleepover on Friday evening as a bit of practice for moving day??? This gorgeous girl that's who - ANNIE!!!

She settled right in albeit on my bed for most of the night, whilst she seems happy to stay downstairs during the day time when you pop upstairs, bedtime seems like a different scenario. Every time I offered to take her bed upstairs she promptly jumped in it but then followed me back upstairs the minute I turned my back! She's a cheeky girl ;-)

Anyways at least it means she can stay overnight when Julia and James finally get to move house and therefore, hopefully, avoid some of the angst that everyone else will be facing on the day. Annie suffers with anxiety due to the constant moving around that she endured during her brief time with the Guide Dog association. Not only different boarders but then different families whilst they decided her fate as she never made the grade to be a fully fledged guide dog. Something that most of her various siblings over the years have also failed at. Probably something to do with the GSD in her, they don't generally have the right qualities for guide dog duty but unfortunately the charity continue breeding them which seems somewhat pointless. 

Took the opportunity here to take a quick snap and test out the new baby flash for the Canon M5 at the same time. Whilst most of Annie is typical GSD, the shape of her head and the fluffiness is all Golden Retriever. She is a striking combination and attracts a lot of attention when she is out and about. Given that this is not a popular combination of cross-breeding outside of the guide dog charity she makes for a very unusual pet. The guide dog's loss has been very much our family's gain 💕

Naughty Boiler!

So, having over-rode the heating last night when I went to bed to turn it off early, I woke with the tablet alarm this morning at 6am to find the house chilly and disturbingly quiet :-( Came downstairs to find that the timer clock stopped at 10:30pm last night - bollocks. How come it gives absolutely no warning that it's about to play up??? Fortunately the heating/hot water still comes on, but only manually. Had to go online and book a repair and a BAXI guy should be rocking up sometime on Tuesday - so not long to wait. Just hope he'll be able to keep to his 100% success rate for repairs... Given the system is 20+ years old and has only been having recent annual services since around 2016 when I think it broke down for the very first time, it's had more attention in these last four years than at any time previous. At least working from home means he can call and do his stuff whilst I work and I don't have to leave the office to let him in or fit it in to my day off schedule. It also means that whilst turning it on/off manually is a pain, at least I'm here all the time to do it ;-) Every cloud and all that.

Happy Birthday Julia!!

Happy 29th Birthday to my gorgeous girl! I can't put into words just how proud a Mum I am to this wonderful woman, and I'm so grateful that we have just the same kind of relationship that I had with my Mum. We're more best friends than Mother & Daughter, she is my everything and I would be lost without her.

So have a wonderful day in spite of Covid-19 and the current crappy weather, let's hope all is well next year for celebrating your 30th :-)

xxXxx
 

Bluewater Shopping

Me and Julia up at Bluewater for the first time since way back before Lockdown, good to be doing some retail therapy for a change! Albeit with face coverings, which is still seriously weird and I confess to being annoyed by those who wear them around their chin or underneath their nose, little point in wearing it at all if you can't wear it properly. And those who can't follow simple guidelines on the floor, have we all gone blind or lost the ability to read? We lasted longer than I thought we would, 5hrs, having pretty much arrived when it opened. Thought it best to beat the crowds - although we found them in Primark whilst queuing for the tills! Although to be fair they got through us fairly quickly. Popped in Costa in Waterstones and this is a big shout out for the young assistant in there who bagged us a table as we were being served, much to the chagrin of some woman who promptly threw her sandwiches at the assistant and stropped off muttering something about racism under her breath. I mean please, that card is so last year. We'd bought food and needed a table whilst her other half was still queuing - you snooze you lose. So well done young lady for standing up for your customers in the face of someone with extremely bad manners 😊 We had a good wander around the Christmas stuff, including the dedicated shop, I bought a set of ornaments, one of which is a camera, how cool is that? Oh and next year's calendar and this year's advent calendar - a fairly large one so I can read the numbers without a magnifying glass - hopefully! Bought Julia's birthday present, extra set of dinner service plates - she did request them, a sign that she is well and truly all grown up! We even bought a birthday cake, Connie the Caterpillar from M&S for her and James to nibble on - maybe not so grown up after all ❤️