Thursday, April 30, 2015

+ 365 Days 116, 117, 118 & 119

116 - MONDAY
117 - TUESDAY
118 -WEDNESDAY
119 - THURSDAY

Sadly I have come down with the lurgy! Saw throat, sniffly nose, ear ache, head ache and today I lost my voice completely. All I have done is work eat sleep repeat! Everyone in work is sick either with head cold type virus or D&V virus - yep it's great working in a hospital sometimes!

So the positives

Day 116 - Today's positive - made it through the day without falling asleep at my desk - it was a real risk as exhausted after the weekend away! Didn't feel too bad today slight ear ache and headache

Day 117 - Got some prizes in the post woohoo love getting parcels especially when you dont know whats in them! (if your interested it was a folded book, a fish slice, tickets to a craft show and my walking boots - all on the April wins page - check it out). Ear ache worse today, lots of sneezing and snuffling

Day 118 - Starting to feel pretty rough and other staff off sick not a good sign. Ear ache, snuffles, joined by random cough, sore throat and headache. Today's positive - home bargains had those kit kat chunkies in stock which are like 2 different types of caramel for 25p I bought 10!

Day 119 -Even more staff off sick and yup deffo feeling crappy - lost voice so had to turn phones off as couldnt answer them in work! Today's positive is this was my last day in work for a 4 day weekend! I'm pretty pleased about that can I get a woohoo?

Tomorrow I am supposed to be driving to west wales to stay with my dad for the weekend not sure if I am going as I feel so crappy :(

+ 365 Day 115

SUNDAY FAMILY FUNDAY

Today we checked out of the Premier Inn bright and early and set off to the St George's Day Festivities in Wrest Park. Due to road works and the fact I haven't updated my satnav in like 3 years it took us around 40 minutes to get there (should have been 25).

When we arrived they were getting people to park about a mile away from the park but disabled badge holders could park literally at the entrance so we were waved through and got a spot about 5 meters from the entrance to the park.

We were waved through all the queues and had our names checked on a list were given a map and schedule and then went through to the park.

It was HUGE and filled with lots of really cool and fun things to do as well as shows.

First off was the falconry show where we saw different birds of prey swooping after lures and learned a bit about their history and how they fly and work.

We followed this up with a walk over to see some Jesters :) Their act included juggling batons over people's heads, laying on a bed of nails and then having audience members stand on them and finished with a patio slab and a sledgehammer-ouch. They were pretty funny too cracking lots of silly jokes and acting out.

Next it was time for a snack - this was one of the downfalls of the day for us - the food options were all really expensive and there was limited drink options too. I got a coffee a lemonade and a 'sausage baguette' (thats in quotation marks because I dont think a single sausage on 1/3 of a baguette constitutes a sausage baguette!!!) this cost like £8.50!!!! We also got 2 diet cokes from the bar which came in teeny plastic cups and cost £1 each!

Whilst we were eating there was this guy in a robe with a woman and a chinese style dragon where people could go in and be part of the dragon and then they went off dancing around all the tables and over to another roped off area where some kids were training to be soldiers. They then got to try and defeat the dragon which was pretty cool.

We headed down to look at some of the stalls following this and bought a few items - some of the stalls were really reasonable priced and others not so much but we bought a few things and lost mum - she wandered off!

Lizzie fancied painting her own shield to give as a gift to her boyfriend Andee and as it wasn't too expensive (£6 for shield and all the paint you could use) we sat down and painted it. I helped her with it and when it was finished painted Andee's name on it for her and then we left it to dry off.

We headed over to watch a jousting match following this (after finding mum - she text me to say she was sat on a bench by some white tents - nearly all the re-enactors tents were white DOH)

After the jousting we wandered over to see some roman soldiers and armour and bits. We were going to have a go at striking a roman coin (£1 a go and you get to keep the coin) but then this trumpet sounded and all the roman soldiers got up ready to do a parade march - we missed their parade but did get to have our photos taken with some of them.

We then wandered around the re-enactors tents and met this guy who was an expert on old fashioned medicine - he had loads of tools and stuff and explained how they all worked - Lizzie wasn't impressed when he said he could help with her sore throat by strapping a live frog to her neck - LOL got a frog in your throat anyone?

We were all starting to get a bit cold then and Lizzie's legs were hurting as we had walked around a lot - we headed over to look at some more stall and I got us some victorian ginger bread squares - delicious!

We decided that we would head up and look at some of the house and gardens then for a bit. The house was lovely with lots of interesting information about the family who owned it and the different uses it had been put to during the war and stuff. The gardens were really beautiful and full of flowers.

By 4 pm we were all tired and I knew I had a long drive back so we headed out - stopping on the way out to get our photo taken with a large statue of St George :)

We had a fantastic day at Wrest park and I am really grateful to Premier Inn who provided our hotel and tickets as part of a prize :D

The drive back home wasn't quite as bad as the drive there although I did get stuck behind a bridge on the motorway for a few miles (yes an actual bridge on the back of a truck which took over 2 whole lanes). We stopped for food in the services and just grabbed a burger king meal and some cold drinks.

We got back to Cardiff around 8ish and dropped Lizzie off - then collected Jac (who had apparently behaved himself for once!) and came home to 4 cats who tried to make out they hadnt eaten for a year ( my uncle had fed them meat at 12 pm, refilled their water bowls with fresh water, given them biscuits and treats!!!)

We were pretty tired when we finally got home so didnt do much just crashed out.

Today's positive was we had a fantastic time at Wrest Park and are definitely considering looking at staying down that way again as there seems to be a lot to do and see there :)

Me & Lizzie stood in front of a statue - sadly we will never know which one as mum managed to cut the top of it out of every pic she took using my phone (and she took about 20 hence the fed up looks!)

Juggling Jesters

Bed of nails

Bed of Nails and a large bloke stood on his belly ouch

Weird guy in a robe with a staff leading the chinese dragon - didnt get good pics as too busy eating

Part of the dragon

Knight preparing to Joust

Wrest Hall

Mum & Lizzie with summer house and lake in the distance

Lizzie with a Roman guard

Me with a Roman soldier and holding the shield we painted - the dragons for Wales :D

This is where the cafe was :)

Pretty tulips - they smelled amazing

Wonky pic of mum inside the house

Lizzie in the house

The three amigos! or maybe stooges in a mirror selfie - the room was full of gilded stuff and decorated in blue and gold - very snazzy but I would hate to have to dust and hoover!

More pretty flowers in the gardens 

Lizzie & St George

Me & St George

St George bidding us farewell :)






+ 365 Day 114

Day 114 - Saturday

So I recently won an overnight stay at Premier Inn in Milton Keynes plus a family ticket to go to the St George's Day Festival at Wrest Park.

Me, my mum and my niece were all super excited to go but we didn't leave until quite late as Lizzie had tickets to go and see the rugby (Cardiff lost :( )

Whilst she was watching the rugby me and mum went for lunch at out fave indian, sorted out the animals and packed up snacks and drinks in the car.

We dropped Jac after to my aunty Kath, fed the cats super early and filled several large bowls with water and biscuits (and my uncle was going to be checking on them on Sunday so it was like 10 hours they were left for!) and then set off around 4.30ish

Now the furthest and longest I have driven for is only 2 and a bit hours down to my dads - scheduling in a break I reckoned we could do Milton Keynes in around 3 1/2 hours.

30 minutes into the drive my niece needed a wee, 30 minutes later my mum needed a wee, 45 minutes later my niece needed to go again, then we hit the road works - narrow lanes and 50 mph down to 30 mph, then more needs to stop and wee, then the M1 the ring road from HELL!!!

We finally rocked up at the hotel at 8pm so right on my target although if we hadnt stopped about 6 times I reckon I could have done it in 2 1/2 hours.

Anyways paid for parking and went to reception to be told sorry I cant find you on the system. Erm What?!?!?! okay let's try my dodgy FB id - nope still not on the system - at this point I developed a slight heart tremor - showed my phone with the FB message saying I had won - tried the reservation number nope still not showing. Receptionist knows NOTHING about our booking. She calls the manager who also doesn't know.

Panicking I check out the t/c's of the comp and notice the hotel is by a lake with a different name - I nonchalantly ask um this is the premier inn willen lake right? I dont suppose there is another premier inn nearby at something called furzton lakes?

They called the other premier inn and yeah I had brought us to the wrong one!!! Apparently Milton Keynes has like 4 premier inns 3 of which are next to lakes!!!Really should have read the small print properly instead of just scanning it oopsie.

Another 15 minute drive later and we arrived at the right premier inn. As Lizzie is disabled and we had the blue badge I rocked straight into the disabled parking bay which was good as it was now chucking it down.

Checked in and went to our room which was actually really nice

(read my tripadvisor report here)

The beds were super comfy and literally as soon as we hit the pillow we were asleep :)

Today's positive a super nights sleep







Friday, April 24, 2015

+ 365 Days 112 & 113

Day 112 - Thursday

I've had really bad ear ache all day so everything's been kind of blurred for me.

Today's positive was receiving 2 dvds I won in the post yay - one for me - the first season of Silicon Valley :) and one for my niece and nephew - Ribbit a kiddies cartoon one (which I'll end up watching with them lol)

Also won a fish slice on twitter which my dad has claimed even though its not here yet

That's it really

Day 113 - TGIF :)

Still have ear ache and its progressed up towards the ear entry - deffo another infection but I have a GP appt on 7th to look at the lump and they can check out my poorly ears then

Everyone was in a foul mood in work today - lot of stressed and grumpy people but I got through loads so am happy with that.

Today's positive is another comp related one - got an e-mail to say I had won 2 tickets to go see the Sound Of Music - this used to be my all time fave film as a kid - literally we went through like 5 videos of it cos I watched it so much the tape warped - I am word perfect on the film even now. EEEE I'm excited to go see it - hoping to get tickets to the Bristol Hippodrome as the Cardiff showing has passed already.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

+ 365 Days 108, 109, 110 & 111

I'm behind on the blog this week - I have absolutely no good reason other than I am really tired at the moment - I'm up for work at 630am - I get home around 4.30pm check my emails etc then go for a nap around 5pm then sleep til around 9pm back up for a couple of hours and in bed usually by midnight/1am - this is not a sustainable routine eek

Day 108 - Sunday

I took my sister and niece home - when we got there she had a letter from Cardiff confirming she has an appointment / interview for social housing and another massive form to fill in (well for me to fill in my sis isnt very good with writing and forms)

Thats good though - we are getting somewhere slowly

So that's todays positive - short really but we didnt do anything else

Day 109 - Monday

Work - enough said

Weighed in at work and despite eating nothing but rubbish and not doing one iota of exercise my weight has remained the same - woohoo

Today was a good comp day for me - I won:
Crabtree & Evelyn Hand cream for my mum
Webbox dog treats for Jac
A signed movie poster for me
A family ticket to go to the St Georges Day festival this weekend plus over night stay at premier inn :) for me my mum and my niece

That's pretty awesome right?

Today's positive is remaining the same weight in view of how awful I have been diet wise!

Day 110 - Tuesday

Got my annual leave signed off yay - taking the friday's before the bank holidays off so I have a mega long weekend - 4 day weeks suit me fine :D

Today was also the most magical day of the month - PAYDAY!!!

Today's positive planned time off - its lovely to have something to look forward too each month - I'm planning a visit to west wales to see my dad over one of the long weekends and sleeping for the other :D

Day 111 - Wednesday

Humpday - sliding down towards the weekend now

Today started terribly - I once again managed to not close the door properly in the car - this morning got up to a dead battery. Had to get the bus to work which meant I had to go to the shop to get change to get the bus and I was late for work ack

I also had to get the bus home which sucked. I am a bus snob I hate the fact on the bus you end up sitting by people you would normally avoid - smelly people, dirty people, people who are just shit bat crazy! I was wedged in by an extra large smelly person who as well as a delightful stench of body odour also stank of stale cigarette smoke - it was a delightful journey

However I got home and my sisters partner (my other sister not the one moving) had been round and jump started the car and it's fine now

Today's positive is having my car I love it - I love the freedom and I love not having to rely on other people or public transport for lifts.


Saturday, April 18, 2015

+ 365 Day 106 & 107

Day 106 - Friday

So today I woke up with a stonking headache - literally it felt like someone had taken a hammer to my head - I knew that was a bad sign and sure enough when I got up it was 'that time' of the month which put me in a foul mood and made me crave carbs in a big way.

Being in a grump and still with a banging head work was difficult - I dont think people appreciate how noisy an office can be especially one in a children's centre:

- phones ringing continually not just in my office but in the offices either side
- people talking
- the shredder running
- families waiting to be seen yakking
- children playing
- breast feeding clinic (screaming babies)
- grass cutters
- cars and sirens from main road outside

normally I can filter all this out and it doesnt bother me (with the exception of the screaming babies they cut right through me and I have to work with the door closed to block them out) however with a headache its like all these sounds are amplified and personally being aimed at me.

and did I mention how HOT our office is? no? well its roasting - we are upstairs and heat rises they have the heating on still for the old people down stairs!!! We have a tiny window which opens onto a quadrant of walls so no air comes through and the door opens onto a narrow corridor so no air from there either add in the office equipment and people and it gets hot hot HOT

so work was miserable

and my sister and niece came in the evening - remember the bit about babies crying? my niece is like 20 months now and she babbles oh boy does she babble! when shes not babbling shes crying loudly

however the positive is we all took a nap and when I woke up the headache had gone yay so we played a bit and watched some tv and chilled :D

Day 107 Saturday

My sis didnt bring a car seat with her so today I posted on freebies about needing one and a lovely lady offered me one which I collected. It was pretty dirty which she had told me it would be so I stripped it down, covered went in the wash and rest of it was detol'd and then steam cleaned with zoflora, wiped down and steam cleaned again for good measure - managed to put all the covers back on and now we have a nice clean car seat to use. We are gonna keep this one here as my sis doesnt actually drive so bringing one down with her on the train plus the stroller and the bag and the baby is a bit much.

We played in the park and had fish and chips and generally relaxed and enjoyed the sun.

Todays positive is kindness from strangers. Because the kind person gave me her car seat (which she could have cleaned and sold - I checked it out on the webbie and this model is still selling second hand for £15-30!) it means tomorrow we can go to Roath Park and feed the ducks at the lake :)

Friday, April 17, 2015

+ 365 Day 105

Thursday

Today was one of those days where nothing seemed to happen.

Literally nothing

I got up

Went to work

Came home

Took a nap

Ate Pizza

Watched TV

That's it - did nothing, thought nothing

I did speak to my sister - got her to call the council - she has a meeting in May to review her application - has to take in evidence to prove her medical conditions, my nephews medical conditions and that H is her daughter and lives with her.

So today's positive is that things are moving forward with her - hopefully following the meeting she will get her priority on the list reviewed and hopefully it wont be too long until they offer her a flat or house :)

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

+365 Days 103 & 104

Day 103 - Tuesday

Today was a bad day in work - everything that could go wrong went wrong. So I had a slight paddy - spat my dummy out and had a giant hissy fit. It went down very well in the office. I dont normally lose it so I think everyone was pretty shocked by it - I am normally grumpy and stoic so my being grouchy didnt shock them but losing my temper did - sorry guys

Anyways the positive to come out of this was the managers decided to actually take on board what I said - apologised to me and actually thanked me for all my work. Outcome is they had an emergency meeting and resolved a lot of issues and ones they couldnt resolve they are going to look into at the next meeting friday

Day 104 - Wednesday

Work was a lot better today - managed to get most stuff I needed done which cheered me up. Also a  couple of my fave colleagues who only work part time were in so it made the office environment nicer and more cheery. It's crazy when the mood of your colleagues can determine if you are going to have a good or a bad day.

Also today I came home to a couple of wins arriving - yay! some lick-e-lix for the kitties (video to follow as the nest not stable enough to upload), my sandals from wallis which are just sparkly goodness and my chocolate lovers box NOM

What made me happy today?

- happy colleagues
- happy kitties
- sparkly sandals
- lots and lots of chocolate :)

Monday, April 13, 2015

+ 365 Days 101 & 102

Day 101 - Sunday

Today I got up at the crack of dawn! Well 7am which is pretty damn early! To go down to a local car booty to have a look around and well despite checking every single stall I didn't find a single thing to buy :( Then I headed to ikea and got a couple of frames. One for my Lucille Ball metal picture and one for a cute hand cut cut of giraffes I won in an fb comp a while ago.

I got the frames I wanted and an icecream as a treat too.

I then spent a couple of hours prettifying my chest of drawers :) (excuse the mess in the drawers!)


I used 3 rolls of ribbon and 3 packs of butterflies and think it looks pretty cool - it cost like under £6 so pretty cheap

I also framed the giraffe cut - the lady sent me a coupe of different backing sheets to use with it and in the end I decided to use 2 of the sheets to get a different effect. I am really pleased with it - just need to find somewhere to hang it now :)

So today has been a good day and my positive is enjoying myself updating boring furniture to match my style for a really cheap price :D and now my drawers look unique and cool - just like me haha

Day 102 - Monday

Today was my aunties funeral. It hasnt been a good day. The funeral was not very good the preacher guy got all the details of my aunties life wrong including her birthday - that made me sad - my aunty deserved to have an amazing funeral to celebrate her life. I cried a bit.

After the funeral we decided to skip the wake at the pub organised by her husband - we dont like him and have no intention of keeping in touch. Instead we went to a lovely Toby carvery and had a fantastic meal with dessert and unlimited soft drinks for like £10 each.

We then sat in the sun and talked about aunty chris - this felt like a much more fitting send off for her.

When we came home an old couple my mum and family has known for years called round. They are a lovely couple who have kids of a similar age to me and my sisters. They are not the best educated, the brightest etc but they are a lovely couple - they may have problems with things like writing and grammar but the sentiment and thought behind their card and visit came through.

Today's positive is a bit of a double edged sword in that I guess it could be a negative too - for me the positive is I no longer have to make an effort to see or visit Paul my aunt's widow, I dont have to be polite to him or listen to him talking about himself or ever see him again. I am happy about this - I find it difficult to be pleasant and polite to people I dont like and I have nothing but disgust for this man so yes I am happy I dont have to see him or spend any more time with him.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

+ 365 DAY 100 !!!!

Saturday - Day 100

Kinda feel like I should have some big exploding banners and stuff - I made to day 100 - damn that's a great achievement for me :)

So I forgot to say yesterday that I got my new glasses - I won a £100 gift voucher to use with a local options so went for some funky new specs - wearing glasses everyday I like to have nice ones and I think these are pretty cool


Today my dad arrived - he had to come down today in order to make my aunt's funeral on Monday due to the way buses ad that work although he could have ridden his motorbike down but I think as he's getting on a bit he doesn't really enjoy biking as much esp when the weather is so unpredictable.

We went out for dinner at our fave all you can eat Indian - the Kismet - I managed to be restrained for the first time ever and came away feeling full but not OMG I need to curl up in a ball and hibernate whilst I digest type full.

Got some prizes and freebies in the post today which was cool.

Saturday is bedding day so I stripped the bed and put fresh on mmm fresh bedding.

Also discovered LeoCat peeing on my stuff which I left on the floor (never leave anything on the floor!!) I was super mad at him so put his nose in it - whilst I am holding him upside down yelling LadyCat comes from nowhere and bites him on his for want of a better word NUTS!!! Leo went ballistic which I can hardly blame him for and scrammed the crap outta me - Lady went in for another bite and all hell broke loose. Sadly I was too busy weeing myself with laughter to tell Lady off. Oh well serves Leo right for peeing next to her food bowl!!! That kinda cleared my bad mood although I then had to clean up my room which involved me also spraying disinfectant all over the floor and mopping it up. Gonna have to steam clean when I get time.

I also got some more pretty ribbon and butterflies to do my furniture make over - I just wanna make it look less Ikea and more me :)

I also did a load of washing and dried it on the line - love the smell of clothes and stuff coming in off the line smells so much nicer than from the tumbler. Little things and all that :)

So today lots of little things made me happy and cheery and positive :) And I am super happy I made it to 100 days - only another 265 to go phew

+ 365 Day 99

Friday (Sorry it's late internet probs again - thanks sky!)

TGIF :)

Isn't it crazy how having a 4 day week time still drags on in work?

So nothing much happened today except I got the best baguette ever - seriously - I would give up chocolate for this baguette it was that good! It was chinese chicken in black bean sauce with peppers, mushrooms and onions and it was so good - I think it's going to become my new favourite lunch spot - move over noodle bar the baguette's are a -calling!

AHEM

aside from that my Guinness Hamper arrived at like 8.30am this morning - seriously super speedy delivery I only won it yesterday!!!!

and my free samples from the YourHealth Food Store also came in the post again I only won them yesterday

Both were pretty amazing :)

Today's positive has to be finding the best sandwich ever :) sorry its a bit frivolous but sometimes you need frivolity :)






























Thursday, April 9, 2015

+ 365 Day 98

Thursday

So today didn't start brilliantly for me. Last night I got a bit upset about my aunty and had a bit of a cry in bed so I woke up with a pounding head and gritty eyes and basically feeling like crap. This is why I don't do the whole getting emotional and crying thing - for some people it provides relief for me it provides a bad head and a bad mood!

After dragging myself to work I was still feeling pretty grim. When I got into work I literally had liked 50+ notifications on my phone from FB I was like WTF is going on has someone else died? But no it was good news. I had somehow managed to win 3 FB competitions and all the kind people in the various comping groups were going mad tagging me and notifying me of my wins so that I could claim them. It's super kind of them to do that because not all pages tag you or message you when you win so people tagging you is kinda the only way you find out especially if you enter loads of comps.

So I perked up a bit when I saw I had some wins :) I won an amazing Guinness hamper, some treats for my kitties (happy kitties happy me) and some samples from a healthy food page. Anyways as shallow as it sounds that really cheered me up - food always does!

Then at lunch time we discovered this little cafe tucked away down one of the side streets by work that we hadn't noticed before which did amazing baguettes - huge filled to the brim baguettes - delicious

When I cam home I had the "tickets" I had won to see Fast n Furious in IMAX - except cos my local IMAX is an Odeon they just sent me an Odeon gift card. I checked it out and its got £40 on it! so I can either go and see 1 film in IMAX with a mate or I can go and see liked 3 films in regular viewing whoot.

So my positive for today was having all my fb friends - I might not know them offline but online they make FB a happy place for me :)

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

+ 365 Days 94, 95, 96 & 97

So I am a bit behind with my blog - oops my bad - have had some issues with the laptop the cats kindly booted it to the floor and the pin in the charger snapped so when the battery went I couldn't recharge it - happily I was able to order a replacement from ebay which arrived today and I am now back on the laptop (can't blog from my phone I have fat finger syndrome and hit all the wrong buttons when I type!)

So...

Day 94 - Easter Sunday

Today I went to see my sister. The whole purpose of the visit (apart from giving my lovely little niece and not so lovely large nephew their easter gifts) was to complete some housing request forms with her. My sister has diagnosed learning difficulties as well as an adult form of ADHD, she suffers with depression and anxiety and has a spastic bladder (she gets botox on it) IBS and an ulcer. So it's safe to say anything that increases her stress levels really has a negative impact on her emotional (obviously) and physical well being. Losing my aunty who has been her support for the last 20+ years and who has been more like a mother than an aunty to her was a terrible thing. However for my sister the worse has been coming from my aunty's husband.

My sister currently lives in my aunties house. My aunty and her hubby lived next door (he still does). My sisters rent is paid via her benefits and having my aunty next door meant she had reliable support to help her with day to day stuff like managing her finances, cooking and cleaning etc.

Sadly since my aunty was ill and has now died the house has passed to her hubby. He is not supportive in fact I would go so far as to say he is a vindictive nasty mean minded little man who is slowly killing himself with alcohol. Since my aunty has been ill and in the coma he started to threaten my sister with eviction - which has caused her huge amounts of stress especially as she was upset and worried about my aunty. Since my aunty has died he has made it his mission to cause her as much stress as possible. As my blog is about positivity I am not going to list them here but needless to say its been causing a huge upset. I spoke to my sister the last week I was there and persuaded her it was time for her to move away. I know she has many fond memories in the house and she has a good friend who lives nearby but she cant continue to live in fear like she is.

I agreed to bring the housing forms for Cardiff to her so we could get her on the housing list in Cardiff. If she moves back here then she will have me, my mum, my other sister and our various uncles who all live here an nearby to help support her.

So I completed the forms with her and my nephew who also had to sign them (he is registered disabled but over 18). I am relieved to get them completed I know the move wont be instantaneous but at least its going to help her in the long term. I also took some advice form a friend of mine who works for women's aid with regards to the form and because of my sis diagnosis and that she has a small child she said it's highly likely she will get a high priority for social housing. So thats really positive - although I dont fancy extra baby sitting duties!!

Day 95 - Easter Monday

Well we were up at stupid O'clock today so we could go have a look at the local car booty. We took the dog and my niece with us but didnt really find anything to buy - form the booty we headed out to Cosmeston Lake in Penarth and took the dog for a nice long walk and had a picnic in the glorious sunshine :) It was beautiful and really relaxing and Jac loved every minute of it - he met his first ever swan which was funny as the swan as twice the size of him!!!!

After that I dropped my niece home and we came home and chilled until I had to go collect my dad at 8pm as he was back from his trip. He had brought me a stack of Belgium chocolate - I have to admit I am starting to feel a bit chocolated out here (I've got easter eggs, I've belgium chocolate, I've regular chocolate and I just won a chocolate hamper too!!!!)

After I picked him up we chatted and watched some tv and that's about it.

It was lovely today to be out in the fresh air and relax. The whole day was pretty good the weather was fab and everyone enjoyed themselves :)

Day 96 - Tuesday

Today was back to reality and back to work - I can't really remember much about work other than it seemed to drag a lot - probably because the office was super super quiet and I had the mind numbing job of sending out standard letters which require little to no thought!

After work I called in to see someone who was getting rid of some magnolia paint on freecycle which she said I could have as i need to do my room. When I got there she also had a box full of random ornaments for me to sell for the kitty people. I lvoe how kind people are - she didnt need to give me the paint and she certainly didnt need to give me a donation for the kitties but she did and I already sold 5 items making £12 - may not sound much but that's 3 kitties treated for worms or a months supply of food for one cat.

When I got home my free bar of dairy milk had arrived woohoo that I won on FB (yet more chocolate - seriously need to start entering comps for salads or something right now!!!!)

Anyways I managed to kill my car by leaving a door open transferring the stuff into the flat. Had to call RAC out at like 10pm when I realised and they told me the battery was gone - but they were wrong it was just flat - after jump starting it and leaving it run for 10 mins plus a quick 15 minute race up the a470 and back battery was fine and I didn't have to fork out £80! whoot. Oh and I won some IMAX tickets too so yeah a pretty good day :)

Anyways today's positive is freecycle - seriously I love it I get loads of stuff for kitty rescue from there and I give loads away on there :) its win win

Day 97 - Wednesday

Today was another sunny glorious day in Wales :) work was same as always. I weighed myself and I am surprised that I haven't but any weight on - of course I haven't lost any either! So I need to buck up my ideas and  get back on the healthy eating and living train as the last few weeks have been pretty bad. I have decided this week and next week I am going to eat and drink what I like. My auntie's funeral is on Monday and we have family coming down so plenty of meals out and stuff so it's pointless me saying I am going to be good then when I know I wont. I am also going to join a gym I think the exercise classes were fun but they keep changing the time and the length of them and I need my routine (slight ocd tendencies) and also I think if I am paying for the gym I will use it just to get my monies worth! Need to investigate a few - the one I used to go to is really nice but there's one nearer to my house so it just depends on the cost really.

I went to costco today on my lunch break - I love it but I spend way too much money there! and OMG had the chilli cheese hot dog from their cafe - £2 for a beef hot dog and it was massive and smothered in chilli and cheese plus you get a free drink with free refills total bargain! I didn't buy much actual stuff in there just 72 cans of pepsi max and a pack of cat food still cheaper than super markets.

After work I met my mam at the vets as Jac had to have his flea and worm treatment and check up and then came home - car's running fine by the way battery is charged and all good still :)

That's about it - came home had a nap, watched tv, did some comping etc etc

Today's positive - saving money - I saved like £12 on the cat food and pepsi compared to buying it elsewhere :)

And phew I am up to date! No pictures because blogger doesn't want to upload any which is a shame as I had a super cute one of Jac running in the park to put on - maybe tomorrow it will work

Saturday, April 4, 2015

+ 365 Days 92 & 93

Day 92 - Good Friday

Today I woke up happy - probably because I got to sleep in until a decent time of 11am ahhh bliss.

I didn't do much - me and mam took Jac for a nice lone walk down the village and had a nosey in some of the charity shops, we came back via the park and let Jac off his lead for a good run which he loved. However, small dog with little legs + muddy park = BATH TIME!

I had to give the hound a bath when we got in - he hates the bath, we had woofs, we had growls, we had whimpers and eventually one clean but incredibly soaked dog. Trying to dry him off is impossible. The bathroom got wet, I got wet, the towel got wet and the dog stayed soaked! He also tried to bite me a couple of times when I as brushing him too - but because of his fur he needs to be brushed out - I eventually finished brushing him and he looked super cute and fluffy and innocent afterwards!

Then I took a nap which lasted like 3 hours - I dunno what is wrong with me at the moment I am taking daily naps! I dont sleep normally although I did have an excuse for it today - I mean although I slept til like 11am originally I was up til gone midnight plus I then had to get up at 4am to drop my dad off to get his coach so I didnt get back to bed until like 5.30am!!!

So today's positive wasn't really anything in specific it was just having a good chilled out day :)

Day 93 - Saturday

I won an Easter Hamper today!!!! So I originally planned to get up and take part in the ao.com Easter egg hunt to win £1000 but after the first clue was released I didn't get it and then when they released the second clue it was soooo easy I figured by the time I got there it would have been won so I decided not to bother.

However I logged into facebook and I had a message from a local garden centre saying I had won their Easter Hamper comp which more than made up for it and they wanted to know when I would go collect so I agreed to head down there asap.

So a HUGE thank you to Pughs Garden Centre & Ty Nant Farm Shop for this amazing hamper :)


















I'm not going to eat the entire thing myself (I was tempted!!!)

The choccy lollies are going to Drake & Harmony, the white bunny is going to my big sis to cheer her up and the little eggs are going to my nephew Josh. That leaves the mahoosive choccy egg (and it literally is massive its like the size of my head!) for me and mum to share and the little Praline egg. The praline egg's really interesting as it's inside an actual egg shell!

I also headed into town today as I wanted some double sided clear tape so I can jazz up my chest of drawers - I bought the ribbon and butterflies a while ago but I didn't have the right tape for what I wanted to do so got it today.

Whilst there I popped into Primani and got some new daps for the summer - at £3 a pair it doesnt matter that I'll end up throwing them away at the end of summer (they will be stinking I got them last year and the year before too :) )

I actually really like them :D


We then went for a Kismet and again came home and again took a nap :)

So today's positive is spending time with my mum. She's been pretty down since the passing of my aunty - that isn't surprising though - losing her baby sister so was nice to spend some alone time with her and again just spend the day relaxing and wandering and chatting :)

Thursday, April 2, 2015

+ 365 Day 91

Thursday

Today is a good day - today is the last day of work before a 4 day weekend. Seriously is there any other need for a reason to be positive than that?

Well okay there is a whole host of things to be positive about today :)

- 4 day weekend woohoo
-  Lindt easter egg prize arrived - egg and 2 bunnies - triple woohoo
- Jar of strawberry preserve arrived - I love the jar its so damn cute and I bet the reserve is tasty too it looks it!
- ate at a new italian place for lunch - food was so amazing and so filling (I did pig out!) that I actually didnt bother with tea!
- got my winnings through from online bingo - only £50 but that pretty much covers the cost of the MOT kerching!
- I won WallisWednesday over on twitter and am getting a pair of green sparkly blinged leather sandals sent to me - bring on the summer - gonna have to get some matching nail varnish now!


No pics as its like midnight (so technically tomorrow) and I have to be up at 4am to take my dad to catch his coach he's off to brussels or some place for an easter break. I'll add the pics of the items to my winnings page tomorrow :)


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

April - Wins and Freebies

These may have been won previously but they have only arrived this month :) items will be added as I receive them :D - all pics and links will be completed at the end of the month

Catnip Easter Egg for my Kitties which I won from PurrBoxes over on twitter - all 4 cats have been enjoying it :)














Dena
Morticia





















Lady
Leo





















Also a lovely Yankee candle car air freshner also from a comp on Twitter - with Bristol Street Motors :) Just need to clean my car now to put it in :)



My Lindt Easter Egg from Bob's Books :) Daily Spin to Win Game on their website. They had a fab comp running over christmas too and they also offer regular discounts and deals on their stuff. I was a bit gutted that the box arrived all torn up - not their fault though as it came directly from Lindt!





















Why Can't I meditate Book (I am going to pass this on to a local mental health charity I used to work with as I think they will really benefit from this) I won this from the author's facebook page - Nigel Wellings I'm going to read it before I pass it on because it sounds pretty interesting. I do use meditation especially when I am having a really bad migraine as a way of focusing my attention away from external things such as light and noise and spinning rooms - by having something to focus on it helps with the management of the pain I get with the migraines and also helps reduce me throwing up!





















Another Facebook win - the pics not brill but this is a pot of strawberry preserve from Cartwright & Butler - cant wait to have it on my hot cross buns and I am loving the jar it came in - once it's eaten I am going to be washing the jar out to reuse it - its far too pretty and solid to chuck in the bin!














I won this AMAZING Easter Hamper from the Pugh's Garden Centre Facebook Page for their Easter Giveaway. It has loads in it:- a massive chocolate egg (the size of my head) in a lovely felt basket, a white chocolate bunny, 2 chocolate lollies - white choccy chick and a milk choccy bunny, a bad of mini solid chocolate eggs and a really unusual praline egg inside a real egg shell. I'm sharing it with the family :)





















Bar of DairyMilk from Winneroo on Facebook :)


Tee shirt from Facebook comp by We Roll - also came with a tobacco tin and some rolling papers - which my father promptly swiped the git!


My new glasses :) from Pearce and Bowler - won £100 gift voucher to use from a comp run on FB by my local paper :) Cardiff Times


Girl in Progress DVD from Hey U Guys :) This arrived super fast I won it on the Friday and it arrived on the Saturday


Free perfume sample but cant remember where from - another one to add to my nieces gift hamper :)





















From YourHealth Food Store - weekly FB comp to win a bunch of samples of the products they sell - it arrived super quick like the day after I won

My Guinness Hamper from Duerr's FB weekly giveaway - another one that arrived super quick I won it on the Thursday morning and it was with me by 8.30am on the Friday!!!

























So I won 2 tickets to go see Fast N Furious in IMAX from Connected Digital World BUT when they arrived they were just an Odeon GiftCard with £40 credit so I am kinda thinking I will go see the film in regular cinema and then I can actually go see 3 films with a friend for free rather than just 1 :) Again this is a site all about media and entertainment and they host tonnes of giveaways as well as interviews and reviews and stuff so deffo worth a visit.

Choccy Lovers Box from Cult Noise Magazine on FB it's a magazine about all sorts of random stuff with some really interesting articles - why not have a look






Beautiful sandals from Wallis' WallisWednesday which runs on twitter  (where I won) and FB every wed :)




Webbox lick-e-lix from their freebie friday give away on FB (also runs on twitter) which they do every week - this went down a treat with Lady who literally ate it from the pack! Morticia also loved it but Leo and Dena weren't so keen.






















A signed poster of the film Kon-Tikki from FilmFlex on Twitter - they provide on demand films for loads of companies and also hosts lots of exclusive giveaways - I dont have a picture as I dont want to damage it and everytime I try to get it out to take a pic the cats leap on the bed after it

Ribbit DVD from madhouse family reviews - they host a tonne of giveaways and also review lots of different items on their blog so always worth checking it out :)



Silicon Valley Series 1 DVD (blog) from addicted to media's site - a site reviewing all kinda of entertainment (films, tv, radio, books - you get the picture).



Overnight stay at Premier Inn Milton Keynes & family ticket (2 adults 3 kids) to St George's Day Festival - won this from Premier Inn's FB page and took my mum and niece. We had an amazing time and I wrote all about it with loads of pics on the +365 pages so here is a pic of the 3 of us taken at Wrest Park where the festival was held :)



Crabtree & Evelyn Hand cream (twitter) - It's from their TreatTweet comp which they run on fridays. I entered for my mum as her hands have been really dry lately - as you can see she's super please with it.




A fish slice from Fish is the Dish on twitter - it's a weekly comp they run - my dad's having this seeing as he enjoys fishing and preparing and eating fresh fish (I like fish I just prefer mine to be boil in the bag with all the hard work done for me)




An Arts & Crafts folded Heart book from Too Beautiful For Earth's FB page - I have donated this to the kitty rescue to sell as I think it will get damaged in my house with the cats. Also I dont think this is the best of the folded books they do - she has some really clever and ingeniously folded books available on her etsy shop and lots of pics of them on her fb page



A pair of keen walking boots from Outdoors Magic website. These are amazing boots - super comfy and light yet clearly sturdy and well made (and they cost £140ish - my othe rpair of walking boots cost a grand total of £40 in mountain warehouse!) They run loads of amazing comps on the site and have loads of reviews and articles about equipment for walking, camping kayaking etc and generally being outdoorsy :)





Tickets to Kent Craft show which I won on FB on the Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine Page - sadly I couldn't go as my dad wanted me to visit him for the weekend but I gave them away free on FB so I hope the person who did get to go had a fab time



Another Friday Freebie from Webbox - this time we won on twitter and some treats for Jac the dog - which he loved - I mean seriously the dog literally inhaled this massive treat in seconds and came looking for more! He's nto a chew stick kinda dog but he LOVES Webbox treats - he had a sample dream bone from them a month or so ago and he wolfed that down too. Anyways these were black pudding sticks and they look gross and smell gross and Jac loves em!