Pizza Hut With Alan

Yesterday Alan and I decided to have a trip out to Pizza Hut in search of Cheesy Bites Pizza. I'm a proper cheese addict whilst he claims to be but really only has a mild fondness for the beautiful food. For starters, he's giving it up for lent. I couldn't even give it up for a single meal-time, let alone lent so a point had to be made.

Alan looked pretty psyched up and ready for the task at this point as he sat with his refillible Pepsi and we waited for our starters.

When our starters arrived I was that hugnry and excited at the prospect of garlic bread with cheese that I woolfed the whole lot down without pausing to take a photo. Alan still had a plate full of tatty wedges and green stuff at that point.

What is this green stuff and why do they put it on plates of food? Is it to decorate or something? Alan accidently put some of it in his mouth and tasted it and told me it was pretty disgusting. We tried complaining to the staff and asking why they'd put this green stuff on his plate and what it was called. Apparantly it's something called 'salad'. I must say, in all my years I've never come stumbled upon such a thing before. I think it's best to be avoided and should come with some sort of health warning as I certainly wouldn't want to risk it contaminating my cheese.

My pizza arrived and as tempted as I was to dive in I thought I should really document it as it was trully a wonder to behold besides which I can now have it as the wallpaper on my PC to drool over whenever I wish.

Alan had his cheesey bites pizza as well and the race was officially on!

I took a clear lead, he'd not even finished a slice and mine was a quarter gone. This was going to be a walkover!

He was at the half way point and I could barely resist my last slice and last few cheesy bites which I'd been trying to save but which were looking very lonely. I just had to gobble them up!

All done! Noooooo! I still had room for another pizza, look at Alan struggling. and he calls himself a cheese and/or pizza lover? Pathetic really!

I now set about coaching him on how to eat pizza and encouraging him as he stuffed his face, but he was struggling a bit.

He ran out of pepsi, it was time to wait for a refill. When the waitress came over I made sure he asked 'Can I have a refill?' in his best Craig David voice. (Bo)

I think there should be some sort of law against leaving cheesy bites but that's exactly what Alan did. I was disgusted really and had it not been from the fact Alan's from Oakley where people don't wash their hands after peeing then I would have eaten the rest of them.


Instead I was forced to just make them into a nice smiley face.

I love pizza... especially cheesy bites pizza!

Ozzy On Film

On Monday night I went to get some water and Ozzy started drinking out the tap as usual so I went to find the camera to see if I could get a photo of him still at it. When I came back he was still drinking so I just started filming it.

You can see what the end result was by watching it on YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GGsb-bhXis

Tidier Room

I never got round to taking photos of my new-and-improved tidier room which I did actually get done in time for the closing credits of "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". In some ways it's quite good that I haven't got around to it until now as it demonstrates that I've actually managed to keep the room that way!

It doesn't look too bad when you come in the door...

But I have a lot of stuff...

What am I meant to do with all the cables and boxes of things? I'm figuring that I'm not doing too bad as it is so long as I keep it like this.

Nearly A Week

It's been nearly a week since I last blogged which really isn't good enough. My only excuse is that I've been very busy. I can't really remember what I did now though.

I did tidy my room in the time it took me to watch Joseph. It really looks much much better now and I fully intend to keep it that way! I'll take a photo later when I get my digital camera.

On Thursday night Lizzie and I went round to Donald and Dorothy's for tea which was nice. They have kids and I enjoy spending time chatting to kids as they are much more on my level than adults.

On Friday I met La La for lunch at Subway before spending the afternoon shopping in Morningside. I was tired and had loads of bags of shopping and just missed a bus so had to wait twenty minutes for another one which was a pain.

Saturday was the big party day. I woke up and couldn't walk which is never good when you have lots to do. I had a flare-up of a type of arthritis that I have and my foot was quite bad so I couldn't put any weight on it at all and had to hop/hobble everywhere. It cleared up after a few hours though and it was fine by the time of the party. La La very kindly came round a few hours early to help me decorate and those few hours were really needed. It's a shame I didn't take any photos when the decorations were up as the place looked smashing with coverings all round the wall that were meant to make it look like a 50's diner, a jokebox and guitars on the wall (not real of course), a life-size cardboard cut-out of Elvis, loads of bunting, loads of streamers, loads of helium balloons including stars and giant '2' and '6' balloons to make up 26... they really are very big! I'd invited about 20 people and with my usual optimistic outlook on life I expected between 5 and 8 to turn up. Amazingly over 20 people came! I was well chuffed and it was a tight squeeze! John (usually referred to as Onion Boy) didn't come. I was worried that he hadn't come because of me winding him up but he had been fully intending to come but had been told he had to work. I'm not sure Arlene believed me though as she was in a bad mood with me all day on Sunday. Maybe I take my ribbing of John a little too far at times? Nah. Everything I do is quite mild compared to the level of ribbing that went on at the school I went to.

Anyway, the place was all decorated. When people arrived they got given their party hat and ordered to wear it. If it was their birthday they also got a male or female birthday medal to wear for the evening. They got a party bag with chocolate coins, a chocolate bumble bee, popping candy, a sherbert dip, a balloon, a party popper, a blowout, bubbles and stuff like that.

Once everyone arrived I set about cooking. I had a few things on my mind so was too distracted to do as good a job with the cooking as I should have. It all turned out fine but I think it could have been a sleeker operation and 'fine' isn't good enough! We had at least 20 oven trays worth of hot food so it was very stressful. One person was critical of me using the bottom of the oven to put trays on saying the underside of food would burn and the top wouldn't cook. I think that's true if the food is quite thick which is why I did thin things like pizzas (which get cooked like that anyway) on the bottom the 1st time round and these puff pastry things. The 2nd time round when I was a bit flustered I put two garlic breads sticks on the bottom and when they were fully cooked were more well done on the bottom (but still fine and I've had much worse). The criticism just made me feel like a much more inadequate cook, party host and human being in general though. If I was a more rational person I would probably know that they weren't criticising but just giving me some advice to assist me with my cooking and that they were being caring and helpful. Unfortunately I'm not rational though and it made me decide I'm never cooking again.

Back to the party though and once we'd finished eating and sucking all the helium out of the ballons we played "Who's in the carrier bag?" which was really fun. Some of the people had a real lack of awareness for who celebrities and TV stars and historical characters are. The lack of basic knowledge is really shocking! After the lightweights left at about 1am we played buzz for 2 or 3 hours before all the semi-lightweights headed home and Lizzie and I watched Casualty then went to our beds.

I was a wee bitty tired on Sunday morning. When Paul and Elizabeth came in to church (during the first song) I saw them carrying their wee baby boy Ben and it was the first time I'd seen him so I let out an audible (and high-pitched) 'awwwww'. I love chatting to people after the service and went to have a wee look at Ben and talk to Paul.

::skip this paragraph::
For some reason a couple of people decided to have disagreements with me yesterday and it left me feeling a bit low for the rest of the day. When everyone else went home after lunch I stayed in the church and did some stuff on the computer for Fraser before giving the place a good tidy up because there were mugs everywhere and loads and loads of books in the wrong place. We had a meeting about Young Peoples Lunches and then the evening service. I found it difficult to stay awake because I was really tired by this point but just about imagined it. Direction was a study so that was also quite tiring from me. One of my friends had been 'off' with me all day and I seemed to annoy them every time I opened my mouth so I decided it'd be best to keep quite when they were around so as not to annoy them any more. I think a few things contributed to me not feeling the happiest. Firstly, I already had things troubling my little mind. Secondly, I was tired. Third, when I've had a really good time I always feel really rubbish when I come back down to Earth with a bump. Fourth, a couple of people had been cross with me on Sunday and I didn't think I deserved it (usually I do deserve it). When I feel like this I can still have a laugh and a joke with people but it's much more of an effort and I get constantly plagued with thoughts and feelings that I don't like. I don't want to go in to any more detail than that but it'd be nice if some of my friends would pray for me in general... also, I need as much distracting as possible so if anyone wants to take me out anywhere of come and visit then I'd jump at the chance because I don't want to be left on my own too much. Self-indulgent moan over.
::start reading again::

I will try to get that photo of my nice tidy room later today. Did I post that my sonicare toothbrush has arrived? I haven't given it a try yet... I've still been using my normal battery toothbrush. I probably need to see the dentist soon, that'd be a nice trip out for me. I'll read the instructions and charge it up later. Back to doing some boring work now :-(

Messy Room

Look at it will you! This the current state of my room. So much for my New Years Resolution of being really tidy! I have to admit that that one's going marginally better than my diet. On Saturday night after coming in I had my tea and then proceeded to consume three tubes of pringles and a large slab of chocolate cake. I've told Lizzie to do whatever it takes to prevent me from sitting in front of the telly eating junk... including any form of manipulation that I choose to use. I have to admit, though, that the fact she's blind makes it a tad too easy for me as yesterday I managed to eat a whole tube of them in total silence (had years of practice of eating food in class at school) without her noticing. Some would say that that's deceitful and the reason for that would probably be that it is. But in reality I know that the only person I'm cheating is myself... as well as all my friends who don't wish to see me eat myself to death!

Anyway, this post is about how untidy my room is. I'm hoping the picture above serves as a 'before' picture. I've got people coming round on Saturday and the whole house needs tidied before then. Believe me, that photo barely tells the story and is only the tip of the iceberg so with that in mind I've given myself from now until I finish watching 'Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' to get the room tidy although I'll just be 'listening' to it rather than watching it... and singing along of course, but that goes without saying!

I'll report back later and give an updated photo of how the room's looking!

PS I look handsome, I look smart, I am a walking work of art.

The Real Monday

OK, so by not doing a full post I'm really letting my adoring public (all three of them) down so let's see how my day went.

I was woken abruptly by a knock at the door and was surprised to find that it wasn't the bailifs, it was just a delivery man delivering something that I probably didn't need off the internet. I went back to bed having not properly woken up. I got up eventually and went through my morning hygiene and grooming routine... well, I had a pee and didn't wash my hands (I did really, and brushed my teeth... speaking of which, why hasn't my sonicare toothbrush arrived yet?).

Lizzie went out for coffee with Margo which she enjoyed and was really good for her. She was even out of bed before 10am! Hopefully she'll do it again. I made Margo a loaf of multigrain white bread. She texted me to say it was really nice... but hopefully she wasn't just being really nice. I want people to give me constructive criticism so that I can improve my breadmaking!

I was completely submerged in my work all morning and afternoon (like the good boy I am, even had MSN off some of the time) and came down late afternoon to find that all my party supplies/decorations had arrived! I'm not going to unpack them until La La comes on Saturday morning (after our 5am jog). Let me tell you this though, the boxes are HUGE! I think that, for once, I may have gone slightly overboard!!! I've actually ordered more stuff today, even after seeing the boxes. I never learn.

I had a lovely chat with Ali tonight on MSN and am hoping that she'll invite one of both of us round for coffee at some point in the next fortnight. I've also just had a conversastion with the 'real' Bubba too, which was nice. Basically he said that he was really really missing me and couldn't wait to be back here in my arms. He 'might' not have said that last bit... or the bit before... but I'm sure he does miss me!.

Alan was meant to be coming round today to watch real sport but didn't bother showing his face which was probably good because it meant that I could engage in some much needed work that actually did need done today and if he hadn't come then I wouldn't have got round to doing it all and that would be bad of me.

I really really really need to tidy my whole house (except Lizzie's desk and her 'locked' cupboard, I'm not allowed near either of those) before Satuday! Would anyone like to come and help me?!?!?!?

Oops, it's 2:20. I must say, I've really not kept to my new years resolutions very well. I am really really concerned about how quickly I'm putting weight on. My 'dancing' injury hasn't got better at all either.I don't think there's much point in me joining a gym until that clears up because I can't even tie my shoelaces, let alone pump iron.

Johnston and Elizabeth had their wee baby boy called Ben yesterday! Everyone was so thrilled for them and they sent a photo round the church mailing list tonight! They're going to make brilliant parents because they're two of the nicest people I know. Means I can't meet Johnston for lunch this week because he'll be up to the elbows in baby poo.

Monday

Got up, did stuff, went to bed.

The End

Windy Sunday

p>Today started when I woke up although I didn't especially want it to start seeing as I have a slight sleep deficit right now. I eventually dragged myself out of bed but didn't bother having a shower. After putting on the most comfortable clothes I could find even although it was a church day because I figured if I was going to not shave and look scruffy I might as well go the whole hog. The house was filled with the aroma of fresh-baked bread as before I'd went to bed I'd set the timer on my bread machine to bake some crusty fresh bread and have it ready for the morning just before Jamieboy picked me up. As soon as I'd brushed my teeth I went down and wrapped the bread up whilst it was still piping hot and I was ready just in time for Jamie coming to the door. I was sitting in the car chatting away and warming my hands on the bread and I was totally oblivious to the fact that weeali was in the back of the car. It was only when she eventually chipped in to the conversation that I realised she was there.

I gave the bread to Sbeila and she got to sit all through the service with a nice warm loaf of nice smelling bread next to her. Lunch was at her house today. I asked her not to pander to me and so I ate a whole slice of roast beef (which was a first for me) and 'green stuff' which is apparantly some sort of vegetable combination which I ate despite assurances that it was healthy. I felt I really should eat some vegetables seeing as last night when I got in I 'slightly' broke my diet by eating three tubes of pringles and a big slice of cake... mmmmmm... pringles and cake. We stayed at Sheila's all afternoon and then went back to church in the evening. Oh, the young people all ate the bread with their soup and nobody (to my knowledge) has died yet. I'm sure those who said they liked it were just being polite but even if it was good it'll be down to the breadmaker and not me. Onion Boy didn't bother coming to church but still came for the feed at lunch time.

After the evening service was a direction social. Onion Boy made rather rude comments about how much I speak so seeing as I was a wee bit tired I thought it'd be funny to just not say anything at all and just let everyone else go to the effort of making conversation. This lasted for a while before Onion Boy and Mervyn started picking on me. Onion Boy was also coming out with his social work pish about maturity and tantrums etc, not quite able to work out that I was just finding it funny... don't think me grinning and chuckling from time-to-time was enough for him. The final straw came when they poured a mixture of sugar and water all over me. I decided to leave because I knew that Onion Boy would then tell everyone I hadn't really gone home and I'd be back in a minute and I was just looking for attention and I was immature and pathetic etc etc... I thought it'd be really amusing to see, when he was proven wrong, whether he felt in the least bit guilty (Mervyn too). I can say with some degree of certainty that he didn't given that when he smashed my skull in by driving a golf ball at it he was more concerned about getting back for a BBQ than taking me to A&E... I say 'more'... but I should say 'only'.

I battled against the wind (did I mention I'd had my water stolen and poured on me by Mervyn) and made it to the bus stop and waited twenty minutes or so for the bus. Nobody came after me because nobody cares... I understand, nobody loves me. I got the bus home and then it really was a struggle to get up the hill to the house as the wind was really trying to blow me backwards but I made it eventually!

I'm wanting to see how long I can make everyone think I'm not talking to them but I can't afford to do it for too long as there's the party on Saturday and if I do too convincing an act nobody will come because they'll think I've genuinely fallen out with them! Oh dear!

Exhausted!

I am so so so tired. Words cannot describe how physically drained I am right now. I hurt all over and can barely type. Oh, before I get started I need to actually take some meds as I've not bothered to take it all day (bad boy) and it's downstairs. Lizzie's just said she'll go and get my meds and water for me, that's nice of her :-)

There's also a package waiting for me downstairs which could possibly be my digital camera but I can't be bothered finding out at the moment... even to take a picture of how ill I feel! I've just taken my meds so hopefully I'll perk up in half an hour or so.

I can barely be bothered typing but I've got a few things to say before I forget them all!

When Onion boy was either stealing or returning Buzz he claimed that the meeting he was involved in on Thursday (last night) would be finished just after nine and all those concerned would be free to leave to go for drinks. With that in mind La La, Mervyn and I headed off for Kings Bar at around that time but it was shut so we went to Montpelliers. We waited... and waited... and waited. Mervyn's a bit of a lightweight so he really wanted to go home for his bed. It was about midnight when they finally came swanning in. Onion Boy didn't even bother coming... how antisocial is that! Baileys Miniature and Ben the Beard came too. La La and Mervyn left almost as soon as the others arrived as they were very keen to go to bed ::cough cough::.

We left at one which was about chucking out time and being the chivilrous gentleman I am, I walked Arlene home... possibly because I was after her cake. After she'd cut me a bit of cake I went on my merry way. She offered me a lift but I thought that was unfair as it meant she had to go out again and that'd take her an extra half hour and she was already shattered and defeated the purpose of me walking her home... that makes sense doesn't it? Oh, did I mention that when they hadn't arrived I was calling Onion Boy all the names under the sun for telling lies about how long the meeting would take? To be honest, I was also gunning for Arlene for not texting me to say they were going to be very delayed and was all for going straight home and moving her down my list of friends on my Bebo page... I mean right down.... all the way below EVERYONE!

When I got in I wasn't too tired so sat and watched TV with Lizzie before finally going to bed at about 4am. That meant that I didn't get up until 10am today and even then I was still a bit tired. I was meeting La La, Baileys and Arlene for lunch at Cafe Grande and had been looking forward to it all week! I really like having a ladies lunch, I love all the gossip! I was going to get my hair done and had great bold plans of getting highlights and some elaborate spikey hairdo like Oor Wullie but in the end I just asked for the same as last time... maybe next time? I met them at 1pm in Cafe Grande and La La had to go back to work at 2pm but Baileys, Arlene and I were still sitting gabbing at 4pm... I'm surprised they didn't turf us out. I needed a couple of things (mainly for my breadmaker!) and I always like a day out so asked Arlene if she'd mind me tagging along with her. I don't know if she was just being polite but she permitted me to anyway... hopefully she knows by now that she needs to just tell me 'no, go away' when I'm not wanted. We trailed up and around Princes Street in horrible miserable crappy stormy windy wet weather (I hate outdoors... I like days out inside!) and I managed to get the ingredients for my breadmaker (Vitamin C, Strong White Flour, Milk Powder) and I also got some cake tins from Lakeland Plastics. I didn't even know they had one of those in Edinburgh... I'm so ignorant... I don't know why I'm going... so much tonight... I think I'm too tired to construct proper sentences... normally I'm just too thick.

After getting the bus back to Arlene's she offered me a lift home and as exhausted as I was (well, in agony as much as anything else to be honest) I managed to resist the temptation of saying 'yes' because as much as it's very convenient to get lifts of friends I can't ever offer them that in return and it's unfair to keep taking them for a ride... or making them take me for a ride. Besides which, she had plenty of things to be getting on with. She's probably online right now on MSN but in 'invisible' mode because she's that busy! My feet hurt... they're red raw. Lizzie says it's because I've never broken these shoes in... I wish I had a foot spa! I wonder if eBay... hmmmmmmm... I think that's something else that can be added to my 'want' list. Oh, I got cake tins so that's them off the list!

It Arrived It Arrived It Arrived!

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!

WHY? Why you ask?!?!?!?!?


My breadmaker arrived!!! Woohoo!!! Woohoo!!!

Unfortunately I neglected to buy milk powder from Mr Sainsbury (having never made bread before) so I substituded some of the water in the recipe for normal milk. Also, I thought that the amount of seeds it recommended you put in wasn't very many so I chucked more in... and added some garlic puree for fun... and some ground coriander... oh, and mixed herbs... and mustard seeds... never had them in bread. Possibly your first loaf isn't the time to experiment as if something doesn't work you don't know exactly what hasn't worked but I'm stupid that way.

We'll find out in four hours! Fingers crossed!

Happy Birthday Arlene!

Well, today started at the beginning and then proceeded to go towards where it is now. But as nothing interesting has happened I'll just do a quick recap.

Where is my breadmaker? It still hasn't arrived yet and neither has my digital camera. The memory card arrived today but that's not much use on its own. Sainsburys are bringing a shop today... well... not a whole shop... more the selection of products I've requested they bring 'from' the shop and among those ingredients are various bags of flour, yeast and different types of seed to put in my bread. Maybe I'll get more adventurous once I've made a few loafs.

Went to church last night even although I couldn't be bothered and it was cold and wet because it was Donald speaking about Evangelism (that's not the reason it was cold and wet, it's why I decided to go). Ian told me that Wee Ali wasn't well and had to go into hospital which is a shame. Ali is lovely so we'll be praying for her and sending her get well vibes via the internet. We'd still probably pray for her if she wasn't lovely, just not so hard probably.

Elizabeth was at church!!! Now, that might not be significant but she was due to have her baby yesterday so should have either been getting on with it or at the very least sitting at home resting in front of Desperate Housewives or something.

Donald read a passage from Ezekiel and I started to giggle. I really couldn't help myself. When you've got to laugh, you've got to laugh. Of course, sitting in the front row didn't help divert attention away from me. Donald even told the congregation that it must be because I'd heard him refer to that passage repeatedly as one of his favourites but he surely knows it's because I'm childish and was thinking of my favourites verses. Ezekiel 23:19-20.

When I got in Lizzie was totally bladdered. She'd had at least a couple of bottles of wine, possibly more. She did the same while I was out at church on Sunday. You know someone's drunk when:

a) They ask you for toast which they then keep dropping on the floor but then pick up and eat, with cat hairs all over it.
b) They turn the cooker on and start trying to cook when they don't normally cook when they're sober... possibly fire hazard that one.
c) They stagger all over the place and keep falling over. I remember the time I had to take Lizzie to hospital after she walked into a door whilst drunk. I'm sure they didn't believe that she'd walked into a door!
d) They start accusing people on the TV of stealing their cigarette papers and then start an argument with the TV that they then lose.
e) They burn their nose and burn of their eyelashes/eyebrows because they haven't a clue what they're doing with their lighter.

After passing out on the sofa she woke up at 5am looking for codeine and claimed (again) that she was never going to drink again because her head hurt... oh, that's another thing I forgot to mention... rain was pouring in my window last night! That's not normal is it?!?!?1? I need to phone someone to come and fix it. I must mention that the window was properly closed at the time. It was really windy and pouring rain outside... but part of the purpose of windows is to keep the rain outside! I don't mean a bit of a drip... I mean pouring. I went to bed and was lying there and thought 'why do I hear running water?' and got up to investigate. Water was cascading down the wall underneath the window as if it was Niagra Falls. The carpet (and all the junk on the floor) was soaking. I looked at the window and moved the blinds and that caused the huge reservoir on the windowsill to also cascade... well, it was much like a Tsunami actually! Seriously, there was a LOT of rain in my bedroom... and no, I didn't wet the bed!

Where is my breadmaker?!?!?

How Old Do You Act Test

I came accross a test that Alan had done on his LiveJournal to see how old he acts in different ways. I thought I'd do the test and see how our scores compared.

I came out as - Just a Pup
He came out as - No Spring Chicken.

My maturity - 44
His maturity - 43
My youthfulness - 34
His youthfulness - 23
My reasonableness - 49
His reasonableness - 51
My outrageousness - 29
His outragenousness - 51

I'm slightly more mature than him. So, 3 years earns me one point of maturity? What is clear is just how more youthful (or maybe imature) I am! We're about equally reasonable but he's far more outrageous than I am. I think it's probably because I avoided the whole getting drunk and getting naked area which I'm sure he was well up for because he's like that.

One worrying thing it did say was that the ideal partner for a pup was a no spring chicken meaning the quiz believes it's only a matter of time before Alan and I get together... I think I'd like to question the validity of that claim although I think that's another thing that Alan's all for... again, because he's like that.

Buzz Off Onion Boy

Yesterday I puchased some of the things on my list of things I need to get round to buying. Thanks to Amazon and eBay I now have a Panasonic SD253 Breadmaker on the way, a Philips Sonicare Elite e9882 toothbrush, a battery recharger and batteries, 4 HP black ink cartidges, some calvin classics and a Samsung Silver Digimax i6 with case and a 2 gig SD Card. I felt a bit guilty after spending money but figured that I don't treat myself often enough and if Lizzie can get two more cats for a thousand quid then I can jolly well get a few bits and bobs seeing as it's my money anyway... and the fact that she was so against me getting a breadmaker just made me all the more determined. I will now need to use it regulardly, even if I don't want to... just to proove to her how much I 'needed' it.

I spent all day yesterday... no... I spent the whole of the week... no... month to date... year to date... my life to date... looking forward to playing Buzz last night with Arlene, La La and Mervyn only for Onion Boy to turn up about thirty minutes before they were due, wobble into the door and said he'd come to borrow Buzz for the night. I wasn't having any of it! I told him how much we'd all been looking forward to playing it and that it would really upset my friends and such a trauma could never be fully recovered from. He didn't listen and practically unplugged the thing himself.. although he probably wouldn't have known the difference between a PS2 and a DVD recorder, he's a bit dim that way.

So, it was to be an evening without Buzz :-( We had some ER, Simpsons and X Factor auditions to watch but it was still little compensation!



When I say Arlene was livid that probably doesn't give a full picture of just how furious she was! Oh, John is in big trouble when she next sees him! Seems that she only comes round to my house to play Buzz when all this time I thought it was for my charm, good looks, magnetic personality, sharp mind, stimulating conversation, body to die for, superior personal hygiene, palace of a house, fashion sense, great taste in music, did I mention magnetic personality? Anyway, she still came... I think she must have really wanted to see Lizzie and the cats or something. She brought some bread from her breadmaker (which happens to be the same model, useful for exchanging recipes!). Lizzie even complimented her bread... not to her face of course... and more a compliment to the bread than Arlene.

You're lucky blogger was down last night as I was ready to come on and have a big rant about onion boy... with some (all) of the language I was planning on using I'd have probably got myself banned for life!!!

Mythical Creatures

I found this test on Alan's livejournal page and I seem to have got the same results as him and we're very different creatures in real life. For a start, I'm solid and he's a wimp.

You Are a Chimera

You are very outgoing and well connected to many people. Incredibly devoted to your family and friends, you find purpose in nurturing others. You are rarely alone, and you do best in the company of others. You are incredibly expressive, and people are sometimes overwhelmed by your strong emotions.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

It's our party and we'll cry if we want to... we really don't want to cry though.

It's January and it really is birthday month at Direction.

The date is now set for our 'joint birthday party' and the invites will go out in the next week. The date is the 20th of January as it's a Saturday and it also falls exactly nine days after Arlene's birthday and exactly nine days before my birthday meaning neither of us has to feel less important than the other thus damaging our self-esteem. Nobody else has that issue although Mervyn was quite chuffed in saying his birthday on the 24th was closer than either of our birthdays! Jamie's is on the 25th and he shares that with Liston who will still be in Texas then but we'll celebrate in his honour. Squeal has his birthday on the 22nd of December which is less than a month before and Lindsey has her birthday near the beginning of February so she can get honoured at the party too! It's even Onion Boy's half birthday as his birthday is in July but he'll probably be too depressed as I think he's going to get kicked off his Uni course at some point in the near future for being a big lazy onion.

I'm so looking forward to Buzz... speaking of Buzz... well, not speaking of Buzz.... ER is back and we're going to start watching the new series on Tuesday night! Hoorah!

I want it all!

Right, here is my initial list of things I want! Some of them I'll probably be waiting a while for and some I'm probably going to buy in the next week!

My Life Application Study Bible that I left at Scoughall on the Direction weekend away! - Duh
HP Black 56 Ink Cartidge
Canon colour cartridge for the IP1600
Cake tins
Bedside cabinet (preferebly pine).
Large Bin for my office.
Calvin Classics (Yes, boxer shorts!)
New smart casual clothes (Someone with taste PLEASE take me shopping and dress me)
Talking Bathroom Scales
Sonicare Toothbrush
Battery Recharger + AAA Batteries
A Decent Digital Camera
A Decent Digital Camcorder
Stepladder for getting in and out the loft.
Light fixtures
Laminator
Buzz - The Big Quiz for the PS2
The Sims Pets for the PSP
Breadmaker
Gym membership for Living Well
Sony Eyetoy
Sorround Sound Speakers
Good IBM Thinkpad
New PC with good specifications
New Mobile Phone
Kenwood Mixer

I know that I don't ask for much!

A Bit Behind - But it's the New Year!

Wow,

It's been four months since I posted but you know what? It seems like so much longer.

Challenging times - A lot has happened in my life and I'd like to say that I've grown a lot as a person and as Christian... but I'd probably be wrong about that but I live in hope anyway.

You can't really use a blog as a diary because there are a lot of things that go on in your life and a whole heap more that go on your head that you really can't share with most of those that would be considered near or dear nevermind the whole world.

Rather than spreading every detail of my private life I'll leave people knowing what they already know. Suffice to say that certain friends are very much appreciated. Some people might like to post every detail of what they do and think on the internet but that's not for me! When friends are there for each other to share and support each other through the tough times and also share the fun times together that's really special. I think we live in a fallen world where friendship has lost its innocence and love is not found on its own anymore, freely given with no expectations in return... and I certainly don't mean the sort of 'free love' others might consider!

New friends - In the last few months I made two 'new' friends. One was Alan who I'd known for years ever since school and we rubbed each other up the wrong way a bit... little did we know about our two mutual passions. The first is that of our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour but much more important than that... WRESTLING! It's the only sport I like because I know that it's real unlike all these other fake sports like Athletics, Rugby, Football, Rowing etc although I often admire the athleticism of some professional dart players too. The second is Laura who's only here for a year but she's on MSN all day while she's meant to be working and she's a pretty fast mover as we've already managed to set her up with Mervy McKeown. I feel very blessed to have the circle of friends I have, especially seeing as I'm such a git and I don't deserve any friends!

New year, new start - I'm determined that this year I'm going to improve myself as best I can and all my friends need to encourage me in that because I've got no will-power! I have a list of new years resolutions as long as my arm and some of them have already been broken but I'm also not going to give up on them either. If you all know them you can try and make me stick to them.

1) Closer to God
a) Read the bible every day.
b) Pray more
c) Be more involved in church activities and services.
d) Be more considerate and more complimentary of people.
2) Better diet
a) Wholegrain cereal for breakfast.
b) No crisps on my own in front of the TV.
c) No biscuits, cakes, sweets etc to replace said crisps!
d) Do I really need what I'm about to eat or just being greedy?
e) Regular meal times rather than waiting until I'm starving them stuffing my face.
f) Less takeaways!
3) Better routine!
a) Bed by 1am unless I'm out or have guests (ok, given that it's later than that while I'm writing this I'm maybe not doing too well at that yet).
b) Up by 9am!
c) Showered, Shaved, Breakfast and Brushed Teeth before starting on the computer!
d) Regular exercise... really wanting to join the gym!
e) Keep the house tidy! Anyone who comes in should point out any untidyness and give me a good ticking off! Lizzie's desk doesn't count as I'm not allowed anywhere near that.
4) Money money money! I should be saving more so here goes...
a) NO gambling. Winning or losing is irrelevant as this should never happen. Up until not very long ago it was a part of my life and whilst the bible doesn't specifically forbid it it doesn't tie in too well with the general lifestyle.
b) Budgeting - I've discovered a program called Microsoft Money and it tells me that I should be saving an awful lot more every month than I am so just by entering transactions in to it more that should make me pay more attention.
c) No more reckless spending just for the fun of it!
d) Budget for the year and not for the month... that's right I'm now saving for next Christmas and my holidays to ease the load.
e) Want list. Anything I want I'll add to the list and if I still think I need it then I'll buy it at some point but I don't need to buy everything straight away (assuming I have the money) as then that makes me really difficult to buy for!
5 Communication!
a) I still haven't done many of my 2006 Christmas Cards. If you're expecting one then sorry, I'll get around to it!
b) Blogging. I really need to keep up-to-date with this otherwise I just forget what I need to add! I'll update each of my 'profile' type pages with the same thing.
c) Websites - I need to keep these all up-to-date including doing something with www.philt.net when I get round to it.
d) I'm going to remember to do all my Christmas cards the first week in December this year and also try to work out what I'm getting people.

If you see me breaking any of these rules then try to stop me although I'm very stubborn so you might have difficulties!