+ 365 Day 37

FRIDAY whoot whoot

Well today has been a pretty awesome day for me as it's been like a super lucky day comp wise and I have won several prizes which I am super excited about.

Just because I can here is what I have won today although when it will all arrive I dont know!

- 2 vintage style dresses from Lindy Bop on FB - they look gorgeous and I can't wait to get them and take pics to show you all!

- a new doggy coat from Jac - this was from one of the blogs I follow AnnaInWonderland - the coat itself is coming from PetShopBowl and she has passed my details to them and they have e-mailed me to say order confirmed which is super exciting and I think it will come next week - the coat looks pretty neat in smart tartan and it's waterproof so once it arrives there will be plenty of walkies and photos to follow :)

- something from Sunny Delight on their FB page - now I am not 100% sure but I think this is going to be a voucher to get a free bottle of SunnyD - I can't actually remember what the main prize was but I got like a runners up prize - but a free bottle of juice is always good and they do the low sugar ones too which is even better when your diabetic as let's be honest the regular one has enough sugar in it to keep my on a sugar rush for a week!

- a little gift pack from Jennings Brewery which has post-its, a luggage tag/lock and a compass keyring

- a bottle of original source shower gel - the new lemon and coriander scent (I want to say flavour as they smell good enough to eat)

So that's 6 wins if you count the dresses as 2 - now I am quite lucky and I normally win little bits maybe once a week so thats like a whole month's worth of wins in one day. Kinda wish I had bought a lottery ticket now!

So that has made me super happy today!

Also I have posted all my reviews from the purina proplan trial - just waiting for them to be approved and I'll post some links - basically the food is great - expensive without a doubt with prices ranging from £4.50-£8 for a pack of 10 pouches depending where you look - but worth it if your cat requires specialist food!

Today's photo's are of Lady enjoying the sunshine on the window sill she looks grumpy but she's actually just the happiest dumbest kitty around :D  (I think I might be turning into a crazy cat lady!)

In case your wondering why all the pics of Lady and Leo? It's because my little black beauties Morticia and Dena don't like having their pics taken so much and when I do take them the camera on the flash alway's catches them in an odd light but I will look out some nice pics of them to post tomorrow :)

+ 365 day 35 & 36

Day 35 - Wednesday

Short post today as my mum has succumbed to the lurgy I had all last week and unfortunately I am still not completely over it either but now have to look after all the animals and her!

Today what made me happy was a nap - I don't sleep very well generally I am a really light sleeper, it takes em ages to go off and I tend to wake a lot - average for me is around 4 hours but sometimes it can be as little as 1-2 hours. This makes me tired and dis-tractable and of course grumpy (I said at the start of this blog that I'm a grouch hence the postitivity challenge!)

Anyways today I got home from work and took a nap and it was fab - seriously I think compulsory hour long naps in work is the way forward to increase productivity I have suggested it on numerous occasions to my boss but shes not buying it!

Me and 2 of the 4 kitties snuggled up and read for an hour before going to sleep - I only slept for about an hour or so but I woke up and okay I was groggy at first but after about 10 mins I felt awesome! And I had plenty of energy to walk the hound too!

Day 36 - Thursday

Today is my Friday (remember the previous post on doing 4 day weeks whoop whoop until end of Feb?) This of course meant craziness in work trying to get on top of everything so that when I go back in on Monday I can manage stuff. I gotta be honest sometimes in work I feel like I am juggling, there is always something urgent I have to get done, there's always the backlog of stuff that is just general things like sending out reports and letters, responding to email and phone calls, plus monthly tasks like setting up clinics, plus other stuff comes in and it kind of feels like if I stop then everything will come crashing down around my head. It's not a great feeling and I wish I had a job that was less stressful - I remember doing data entry and scanning - they were jobs that required little thought the scanning especially - remove staples, put a piece of card between invoices, and repeat - simples.

My mum is still sick, I'm still taking care of the animals, I'm way behind on my responses and recording of conversation reports etc on the Purina Trial I have been doing - we have in fact finished so I really need to get them all done am hopeful I will do them all and the testimonials/reviews tomorrow. I think it's important to put all this stuff up after all the company has basically sent us around £50 worth of free cat food - they aren't doing it to be nice they are doing it to get genuine feedback on their products so the last I can do is submit all the reports and surveys etc I have done.

Anyways enough waffling and complaining this blog is supposed to be about being positive so today I found out that I have been selected for another product trial via supersavvycircle and I am really excited about it - its for the new vidal sassoon salonist hair dye range and I am hoping I get my chosen colours for me and my mum and friends :) I don't have any gray in my hair yet which at 33 is pretty cool but I do like to dye it as I have a natural blonde streak which makes me look rather like a fat Morticia Addams! I am pretty keen to try out the red dye and have been putting off dying my hair for last couple of weeks since I knew about the trial in the hope I would be chosen. Packs should be sent out next week and then it's trialling time :D

I thought I'd finish off today with an awesome photo or 2 of me from back when I was 18/19 - I'm sure you will agree that dying my hair red is a definite improvement on this look :) Poor quality due to them being old pics hehe

Goth with Falls & Dreads

Rocking the hot pink and black look

+ 365 Day 34

Tuesday :) (in case your wondering I'm including the days so I can remember who I am and when I am posting)

Nothing stands out about today - got up fed the cats went to work came home took a nap watched tv entered some comps and thats it.

Nothing has leapt out at me waving its arms going hey you should be thankful for me or happy about me or anything so I am going to fall back on something that most deffo makes me happy.

HOLIDAYS!!! Today's happy is I just paid £500 off the holidays for September. I will prob drone on and on about my hols nearer the date but for now I will just post some of the details in brief :)

Wed 2nd Sept - travel to Gatwick stay at airport hotel
Thur 3rd Sept - Fly to Toronto and travel to Niagara Falls
Sun 6th Sept - Fly to Las Vegas :D
Thurs 10th Sept - Fly to Orlando and check in at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort Whoop
Thurs 17th Sept - transfer to Enclave Suites on International Drive (also Orlando but nearer Universal and Seaworld)
Thurs 24th Sept - transfer to second hotel on i-drive cant remember the name oops
Sat 26th Sept - Fly back to Gatwick

Pretty neat huh? I have £1000 left to pay off it so it should be paid off completely by end of March and include pretty much everything, transfers, day trips, food, tickets, flights, hotels, and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm pretty excited and I saved over £2500 per person by booking it myself rather than through a travel agent - I know those guys have to make money but seriously they would have made nearly £10k off us on 1 holiday if I booked via them - ouchies!

+ 365 Day 33

Today is Monday and my first day back at work after being off sick for a week. I have to be honest I wasn't looking forward to going back in but it wasn't too bad although I did get an official looking letter from my boss informing me I am having a sickness review which isn't so good.

Anyways I was dreading going to work but it was made easier by a really kind colleague actually sorting through all the stuff on my desk and putting it into sets of piles of things to do to make it easier for me.

It prob took her an hour to do that but it meant instead of coming in feeling stressed as hell I could come in and look at my desk and not freak out.

I am really grateful that my colleague did that :) and it made it a much more pleasant day for me

And that's today's positive short and sweet

Oh almost forgot got a cool freebie in the post today - a new product to try - Head and Shoulders Hair Thickening Spray  (excuse the clump of fur in the pic the cats decided to fight behind me as I took the pic and fur flew everywhere!!!!) Gonna try it for a week and see if it's any good

And to finish a picture of Lady cat who recently added bathroom guard to her repertoire of things to do to annoy your human number 52 lay in front of the bathroom door so it cant be closed, bonus points if you trip your human up on their way to the toilet!

+ 365 day 32 - FEBRUARY

Day 32

Wow can't quite believe I have actually managed to keep going for a whole month - finding things that make me chuckle or be grateful or happy is not as hard as I thought it would be - although updating the blog daily is way more difficult which is kinda odd as I really thought it would be the other way round!

Today is Sunday and has been spent sorting through photos (I promised my mum I would scan and sort all our photos and get them printed to go into 2 of those large multi-frames to go in the living room) and making mini kitty bed pads for the cat rescue.

Vale cat rescue is a small rescue based in South Wales who help cats and other animals in need in the local area and further afield. It's managed completely by volunteers who foster, fund raise and care for the cats in VCR's care.

If you know about cats then you will know that kitty parvo unlike dog parvo is pretty much deadly - it was almost wiped out but due to idiots not getting their cats neutered spayed and vaccinated has now come back. Kitty parvo is a nasty disease and 99% of kittens who get it are going to die. If a pregnant mamma cat gets it her kittens are likely to be born deformed or with brain damage.

The rescue has had an awful awful week with this horrible disease - kittens who have been rescued and who seemed healthy have died one by one - each tiny little life gone. Additionally a cat found injured and taken to the vets didnt make it and a mamma cat in late stages of pregnancy was diagnosed with FIP and had to be put to sleep as she was too unwell and in pain.

So I have been making what I like to call throw away sleep pads for the rescue - these are little square pillows covered in material which can be used by a cat that comes in to the rescue in quarantine and then be thrown away once the quarantine period is up. All the materials I have gotten for free from Me2U Freebies a fab community in cardiff for freecycling your unwanted goods.

Because Parvo is so virulent the only way to get rid of it is by deep cleaning and bleaching. This would obviously destroy most kitty beds so my kitty sleep pads can be used until a cat is deemed out of quarantine and then when they can mix with other cats they can use the regular kitty beds.

It's not a lot but it saves the rescue money on beds and gives a kitty somewhere warm to sleep :) and that makes me happy

January Wins :)

So these are all the items I have won or had for free from comps and freebies in January - these are items that have arrived this month (although I may have won them in December) - I have won other items but they haven't arrived yet so they will be in next months wins and a huge thanks to the people who were hosting the comps/supplying the prizes

So in no particular order:

Advent win from Betta Living on FB - a massive gorgeous glass star candle holder

Give away from Carolina Dress Room on FB  a stunning Wiggle dress - Lydia Satin Bombshell in Teal - they have a website and sell vintage style dresses from size 8-28 and they are pretty fab this isnt my fave dress on the site - but it looks pretty good on

Purina ProPlan Cat Food Trial - they chose 3000 people to take part in the trial and I was lucky enough to be chosen to take part - pack included 1 bag of dry food, 2 x 10 packs of wet food and a kibble roll for my cat and 1 x 10pack wet food and 6 x sample packs of dry food plus vouchers and info to hand out to family and friends. Trial is still going on although my kitty has finished the wet food now. I entered to take part in this trial via the insider website and form the looks of their site its a bit like the savvy circle where they trial products for feedback

A bottle of Carob Fruit Syrup from Clarks It! FB page They gave away several bottles on facebook and on twitter for people to try to replace sugar in their diet and to use this healthy alternative. It was pretty tasty and good in drinks and in cooking but I still prefer maple syrup on my pancakes :)

A banks beer T-Shirt - from their website - you can enter 3 x a day and they have runners up prizes of Tees plus a first place prize that changes weekly and the competition is still running :)

A stunning Peg bag and shopping bag designed by Betty Boynes - won from the Your Cat Magazine FB page. They run regular weekly competitions on thier FB page and also on their website.

2 x mens designer Polo Shirts from the Social Discount Network FB page - They have a great website where they sell off a variety of goods at ridiculously low prices and they also run regular competitions on their face book page.

I asked if I could have the tops in purple and a size small which they honoured although all prizes are subject to availability and if they dont have your chosen colour they will send what they have in stock

Love Heart Star Wars Quote Dangler - okay so I don't know how to describe this but it's super cute and I won it in an FB Giveaway from Lippin's Treasure Trove  - she sells lots of these little hand printed hearts in a variety of designs and they make super cute and unusual gifts.

This is a little made to my design Card Frame from the lovely Jolly Spoon  - another FB give away - where I could choose the initial, the background colour and the frame of choice. I chose to get this one made for my niece and her bf who have been together for a long time now. They both have learning difficulties and special needs. I chose the colour blue for the background as it's my nieces favourite colour. Jolly Spoon does a few other different designs again some are really unusual and would make some excellent gift ideas so please check out her page

And I think that's it - not a bad haul and have found some really unique and cool sites which I can run to when I am looking for different gifts. Happy comping people lets hope February is just as AWESOME!

+ 365 days 30 & 31

Day 30 - Friday :)

Today I am happy because I took Leo to the vets and his eye is healing - we still have to carry on with the drops until the redness is completely gone but there's nothing nasty indicated or damage

I swear worrying about pets has to be what it's like when you have kids! Such a relief to know hes going to be okay

Day 31 - Saturday

I didn't actually do anything today I spent it in my pjs - did the usual bedding change and tidy and that't it.

I did however stay up until like 4 am watching youtube clips lol So today's positive is youtube parodies - some of the people on youtube are so creative and so funny yet we would never know it without youtube.

Some of my fave parody channels:

Key of Awesome

Bart Baker

Venetian Princess