A Catch-Up: Work

Work is hectic as usual. But thankfully now the Lockerbie case is finished with so some sense of normality can resume in the office. I've had a couple of great nights out with the guys from work... not too sure how Derek feels about that lol. I think he'll just have to come to terms with the fact that his Wife is hot!!! *Wink*. Still, nothing wrong with a bit of male attention. He worked with loads of chicks so I think it's fair! ;o)

Brainstorming

I'll be placing my 3rd Avon order at the start of next week and now that I've established my customer base, I thought I'd introduce some incentives. :o) Love making money! Lol.
I forgot to take my book on the train this morning so I started brainstorming instead lol. Here's what I came up with:

• Introducing the Points System. For each £1 a customer spends, they get 10 Avon points. Points can be used to 'pay' for items in their order. I'd back-date points so they start with a balance based on their sales up until that point.
• Enclosing free Samples with brochures for existing customers. I did this already and I'm not sure the level of success. So far nobody has bought the item I let them sample lol. But they have placed an additional order.
• Refer-a Friend! Offering my existing customers to recieve a 10% discount card valid for one order for each new customer they generate for me. I'm thinking this would encourage people to take their brochure to work, school, the gym, relatives... They refer 5 new customers to me, they get 10% off their next five orders!
• Enjoy a Free Gift! To encourage larger orders, I was thinking that all orders over say £25 would recieve a free bottle of room spray, or bath jelly or something. Maybe from a range that they wouldn't normally buy from.

Ok now I'm done brainstorming, it's your turn! What do y'all think about these? Any new suggestions are very much appreciated. :o)

THANX!

Wet

We've been having some crazy summer weather here in the UK. Friday night we had the worst thunder and Saturday night was torrential rain for hours! But England seems to be more badly affected (wish I could feel for them lol.) I read an article this morning about the fear of a dam bursting in South Yorkshire where hundreds have fled their homes after cracks appeared in the wall of the reservoir.
In Sheffield, there has been significant damage to the city, damage which they think could run into millions of pounds. I know that this "off the scale" crazy weather and its consequences are not to be taken lightly, but I can't help but think of New Orleans. To them this is merely a puddle and residents are freaking out! Hopefully it will take something like this close to home to open people's eyes to the natural disasters taking place all over the world.
I had to laugh though... There was a comment on the BBC news website from someone stating "It took me 4 hours to drive the 10 miles home from Sheffield yesterday." You know, sometimes it's ok to walk lol.

Ok that's my piece for the day. :o)

Barbados Cherries

I'm sitting here enjoying a nice tuna and sweetcorn pasta salad and a smoothie for my lunch.
The salad states that "it may not mend a broken heart but this tun pasta is seriously comforting." Lol. It's lunch and any sort of lunch is comforting 'cos it stops you being hungry!
And I also learned a bit of trivia. Did you know that the acerola cherry (also known as the Barbados cherry) is so much fancier than the regular everyday cherry? Lol.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Happy Fathers Day to the best Dad in the world! :oD

I phoned Dad and the first thing I said was "Happy Father's Day" to which he replied..... "Thanks, d'you want to speak to Mum?" *Sigh*. :oP

Today Neilston, tomorrow the World!

Today I spoke to my Avon Sales Manager on the phone about my the territory I get to cover. At the moment I have 2 streets but one of them isn't nearly as profitable as the other. And I clearly have a long way to go to reach my 100% target for Toronto. So, I decided to see if I could swap it for another area. Well, today I got given 4 more streets! They're all weensie so it's only like 54 houses. But I'm hoping that my total sales hit £400 a campaign! It's not too unrealistic considering my first campaign was £228 and my second was £328! Go me! Lol. We'll just have to wait and see. :D Loving it! :D :D :D

When I grow up, I want to be a hand model! Lol.

I'm famous!!! Our new work website was launched this week and I'm on it!!! Ok, it's only my hands and arm but it's me!!! I really must stop biting my nails now.....

Here I am!!
And again...
And one more time! :)

Here's my colleague Sarah's hands and Joanne (the more photogenic one of us all *lol*) is posing here and here!

I know what you all are thinking... how do the guys here get any work done with us beatiful ladies around??? ;) HAHAHA!!!

Quick Toronto update: I have my latest Avon invoice in, so with that and my last batch of babygrows, I can update my chart tonight! :D

Jen and Carol's International Photo Tag!

My Canadian friend Jen and I started a new blog that everyone should check out. (http://internationaltag.blogspot.com)

Here's the description:
"Canadian Jen posts a picture, then Scottish Carol posts a picture of the same thing (only Scottish). Then Carol posts a pic of something else, then Jen posts a pic of the same thing (only Canadian). And one day, with luck, we'll have a photo blog that compares Burlington, Ontario, Canada with Glasgow, Scotland in some interesting way."
t all started with squirrels and we've now covered street signs, "crosswalks" and now we're on post boxes lol.

So bad at blogging!

Blogging is hard... I always seem to come up with an alternative to doing it. And it's not that I don't want to, it's just I never get around to it lol.

So what's been happening?, I hear you cry...

Well, not really much exciting. The sun's been shining a lot, in fact, it's almost been (dare I say it?) Hot!! I was at the gym tonight and even with the fans on, it was boiling!! Still, surely sweating off the weight is good, right? Hahaha, and speaking of the gym, I'm not weighed myself in ages. I'm almost scared to! I don't think I've lost any more weight. Last time I checked I was 6lbs from my target weight which is pretty good. And since I started this routine I've lost 8lbs so I'm more than half-way which is good. Motivation still hasn't really kicked me up the backside yet, but I'm hoping it will soon!

Work is crazy ~ the usual ~ especially this month. I'd better not say too much here though, don't want the press hounding me lol. Btw that reminds me. I found a clip on YouTube of a guy, pissed 'cos his conviction wasn't overturned by us, who had chained himself to the doors of the office here and had to get cut free and escorted off my Police! Lol. It's a mad place!

Ok ER is about to come on, so I'll end here...

Onesies, 10 Years & My Birthday

Hi, how's it going? Can I please just take a moment to point you to Jen's blog... She has a beautiful photo of her Son, William, wearing his oh-so-cute onesie I designed! Here he is! Isn't he adorable??? I thought he was a cutie in the first photo but the second - wow!

Now you may have noticed my absence recently. Life's been crazy here ~ trying to juggle work, the gym, Avon, babygrows... But it's been totally worth it 'cos my chart is up again! I'm almost 1/3 of the way there! I added my Avon commission from my first order. And I started my next round last night so hopefully that'll be successful as well. :o) Mum and Dad are away on holiday today so I'm taking this week off work to chill. I'm going through to cat-sit Socks and Mittens and take the opportunity to start eBaying again! So much to sell that didn't sell at the bootsale last weekend. And I must admit, I'm really starting to get withdrawal symptoms lol.

One other piece of news this week... Alison and I have been grat friends now for 10 years!! We went out to dinner on Wenesday night to celebrate a Decade of Friendship. :o) After a Starbucks, we headed to Le Monde in Edinburgh's George Street (super fancy!) where we had thee nicest 3-course meal! I had assorted warm breads with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to start, followed by lobster cannelloni. Alison had pitta bread with humous and chicken tossed in pasta. Then in true girlie fashion we finished it off with a milk and white chocolate fondue with fresh fruit and marshmallows. :o) Delicious! I took some photos but it was quite dark and I didn't have my good camera, so they didn't really come out. Great pictures on their website though. :o)

OMG I can't believe I haven't blogged about my birthday! Well I turned 27 last Saturday so I'm really starting to feel old now. :o( Mind you, I'll never be quite as old as Derek! Lol. On the Friday night Derek met me after work and we went for a tapas dinner at La Tasca in Glasgow's Renfield Street, which was delicious. I'd been there a couple of times for lunch with people from work but this was Derek's first trip and he loved it! Then on Saturday after the bootsale, Alison and Jason came through (Alison being my sister and Jason being her boyfriend) and we all went for dinner at China Buffet King at XScape. It's an amazing place! A real ski-slope, adventure golf, sky-high assault course, wall-climb etc, and loads of bars and restaurants. We could see the ski-slope from where we were dining which was pretty cool. I have some photos to post so I'll get them on here soon. I got loads of nice presents. Derek and I had decided not to do gifts this year but when I got back in the car after La Tasca he presented me with a beautiful orchid and a carton of smoothie. Most girls like flowers and chocolates but he knows me better than anyone lol. Amongst other things, I got money (which is always good), two bags, a lovely pen set, jewellery, gift vouchers and a Tatty Teddy top.

Ok I think this is long enough. I'm gonna go help Derek tidy up and then attempt to sift my way through the bootsale remnants lol. Hmmm easier said than done lol.

Oh one last thing ~ I've decided I'm going to keep the photo blog but only post occassionally. If I get a chance this week I'll start on revamping that.

Have a great weekend!

Take a Vote!

Hiya, just a quick poll. I've kinda stopped my 2007 daily photo blog on here 'cos I really didn't think anyone was looking... So can I take a vote?

Who here wants the daily photo to resume? No worries if you don't... I have my Glasgow DP Blog up and running anyway. :o) Show your hands now! :oD

Toronto Chart Update

In case you haen't noticed, I've updated my Toronto chart at the side. With the bootsale profits I was able to add another 3.1% on to my total. It's certainly not much but I'm getting there. My Avon sales this month should take it up another 5% and baby business sales another 3% but I'll add them when I know exactly what I made ~ hopefully next week! Gotta keep making money!! Lol.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Happy Birthday Me!!!
27 today!
I'm so old... :o(

Google Funny

My good friend Wendi sent me this and I had to share... :o)

Go to Google Maps, type in New York, New York and click on search.
When the map refreshes, click on direction from here and type in Paris, France.
Scroll down to line 24 and have a good old laugh!!!

Oh, and for reference... I typed in Glasgow to Toronto... Girls, according to Mr Google, if I left now in my car I'd arrive in Toronto in 29 days 22 hours and would have travelled over 4,000 miles (and gone via France!!) so thank goodness for KLM lol.

Rain Rain Go Away...

I did it! I did it! I did it! I met my target of £200 Avon sales! In fact I broke it! I'm at £205.25 at the moment and I still have at least another 2 orders to get in which is fab! So that's another 4.6% I can proudly add to my Toronto fund! Yay!!
On top of that I got another two baby clothing orders confirmed. Again, one from the same person the last huge order came from and the other from my friend Michelle. :o) I'm thinking I should now be coming up with a website and brand name etc, but I actually quite like how word of mouth is working. :oD Plus there are no overheads lol.
Really looking forward to the boot sale tomorrow as well. Between Mum, Derek's Mum, Derek, Ali and I we have enough stuff to fund my Toronto trip 10 times over lol. Well, probably! It's almost always sunny on my birthday so I reeeeeeeeeally hope the rain stops! It's rained here for the past three days straight and I so don't want it to be rained off tomorrow. I want people to take my junk and give me money lol.

Please all have your fingers crossed for dry weather tomorrow and your toes crossed for sunshine 'cos that would be a real bonus!

Hahaha, just as I was typing that I looked outside and saw blue sky but then a big raincloud started to blow over! Argh!

Rain, rain, go away... come again another day! :o)

WD-40

After getting a little fed up with all the talk about missing Madeleine in the news, I decided to go looking for something a bit more light-hearted. As usual this comes from the Barbados Nation News:

Jamaicans using WD-40 for Arthritis Pains

KINGSTON – If you have an annoying, squeaking door hinge or a corroded screw to loosen you'd probably reach for a can of WD-40. But what about a painful, squeaking knee or creaky elbow?
The Sunday Observer has learned that WD-40, better known for releasing rusted screws and lubricating corroded metal, is increasingly being used by Jamaicans to relieve arthritis and joint pains.
Some people are still willing to look past the warnings of possible irritation to the skin.
When the manufacturers said on a WD-40 tin that it could loosen rusty parts, stop squeaks and free sticky mechanisms, they meant metal – not knees and elbows. But the slick substance appears to be working for human parts as well.
"I suffered from arthritis pain, sometimes my knees just couldn't move. I've been using Voltaren, but it hasn't been helping, so I went on the Internet to seek a home remedy," one middle-aged woman who requested anonymity told the Sunday Observer last Friday. "That's when I saw it (the suggested 'remedy')."
The arthritis sufferer said she sprayed the metal lubricant on her knees, and within minutes the pain had stopped and she was able to walk unhindered.

Sunshine after the Rain

After such a disastrous attempt at getting rich through the craft fair, I feel more determined now than ever before to earn more money! All of a sudden I'm not afraid of hard work ~ which is a little weird for me to say the least lol. Mum gave me a PJ top a while back which reads "Wanna be rich but don't wanna work!" *Lol*.

So my latest venture (thanks go out here to Michelle for the idea!) is to become an Avon rep! :D I thought about it, I enquired online and now I'm fully qualified. By qualified I mean I've been given brochures and order forms and my own territory which consists of 2 streets totalling 112 houses. Market research shows that approximately 32 of these will be Avon 'friendly' homes and so potential customers. I've been thinking about sales targets, and it's really too hard to come up with one until I get out there. But so I have an aim, I would like to sell £200 worth of Avon products in this first campaign. So I went out on Friday night to do my first run and then again tonight to do my second. So far (including sales through family and friends) I've sold £171 in orders. Not too bad! :) When I get my order in next weekend I should be able to update my chart! :D Oh, and one more thing ~~~ I'm going to a car boot sale on my birthday as a seller with Derek, Mum and Mum-in-Law so fingers crossed for a big update then!! :D

Finally, this could be working out. :o) :o)

Sucky Craft Fair

Wardie Nursery sucks!
Yes you guessed it ~ the craft fair a couple of weeks ago sucked BIG time! Mum and I made £14 measly pounds between us. :( But with my new and improved chart to the right, that added on another 0.0054% to my Toronto funds... it's going to take a while...

*** Happy Birthday Wee Sis ***

Today's my wee sister's 19th birthday so would you all please join with me in singing...

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to Alison,

Happy Birthday to You!

! Hip Hip ~ Hooray !

!! Hip Hip ~ Hooray !!

!!! Hip Hip ~ Hooray !!!

Yay!!! Have a great day Ali! See you at the weekend! :D

Toronto 2007 - It's Official!!

Toronto 2007 is go!!!

I'm so excited!!! Our trip to Toronto is booked! In 5 months we'll be there! It's not really sunk in yet... :oP To me it's not just a holiday... this is going to be an awesome trip! My friends Jen and Sarah *hi girlies ~ waving* are as excited as I am (which is lots!!) I've been e-mailing Jen since 1996 and we met up back in September 1999 when she came over to Scotland with her family. It's a trip I can't recommend enough to everyone btw! But you know, that was like 8 years ago and now we're both married and she has a baby... So excited!! And Sarah. Oh my goodness, Sarah! We started e-mailing each other in August 1995 ~ she's my longest running internet friend and the second person I EVER e-mailed! That in itself is pretty amazing, but we've never met! I've wanted to for the longest time but in September we get to hug for real! :oD 12 years is a long time to wait for that... *Smile*.

So Derek and I have booked flights with KLM so we get to stop in Amsterdam which is pretty cool. I LOVE Amsterdam! And we're splashing out and staying at the Marriott. :o) Ooooh aren't we posh! Hahaha. I now know how much the trip's costing so when I get home tonight I'll post a new chart. I have the craft fair tomorrow so *fingers crossed* I make some sales. I guess I'm not expecting to sell a lot, but it would be nice. :o) And I actually have a wee plan up my sleeve to make a few extra pennies so as soon as I have that confirmed I'll let y'all know. Michelle, you already know what that is. ;o) Thanks for the advice! I'll keep you all updates. ;o)

People are Too Weird!

Ok so I was on the train to work yesterday morning and I was sitting daydreaming out the window. Actually, if I were honest I'd say I was thinking about whether or not to treat myself to a Starbucks *lol*. I decided not to... So anyway there were these two guys sitting behind me having a conversation about architecture which, for a Barrhead train is unusual! It was quite interesting: they were discussing the aesthetic benefits of contemporary facades against the beauty and timeless elegance of traditional stonework. Yes, I really was listening! :oP But the thing that made me actually giggle out loud was when the train was pulling in to Central Station. The rain started and their conversation turned to weather:

"Oh look the rain's starting!" Stated one.
"It was sunny when I left, I didn't bring a jacket with me." Replied the other, who then went on to say ""The jumper I'm wearing is a little too big so hopefully the rain will shrink it."

*Lol*

An Unplanned Break & I'm Back! :o)

Hi Everyone!!

I'm back blogging again after a totally random and very much unplanned break. Since my last post, I suddenly got busy with work, home, crafting and everything else... Every day that went by I kept meaning to update and let you all know what was happening. But instead I let 4 weeks disappear! Now I could make this update HUGE ~ but to save your sanity I won't ~ well, I'll try not to anyway. *Lol*

Baby Business

This "business venture" seems to be growing faster than a baby! After I sold one personalised vest on eBay, the recipient loved it so much she ordered some for her friends! Well, I posted out 8 garments to her a couple of weeks ago and then she ordered another 4 t-shirts for her boys and just yesterday she told me she had another baby to buy for who I believe has 2 older sisters! On top of that I've sold one to Derek's Mum and one to my sister. :D And my friend Michelle (who got "the very first one") would like another couple for friends too! Oh, and Sarah I'll get yours posted asap! I've lost count!! :oD

eBay Business

Very quick update ~ nothing's happening lol. I've been busy with my crafting... see below...

Crafting

I've been kept ever so busy with craft projects recently. Since I got it into my head I wanted to open an eBay shop, I started buying in bulk for such eventualities. Poor Derek and Jazz are tearing their hair (and fur) out! There's boxes of paper and card everywhere ~ all different colours and textures lol. And cellophane bags all over our dining room table! Everywhere you look there are wee packets of fabric teddy bears, metallic stars, paper flowers...
But there's a reason for all this! :o) Mum and I are going to a craft fair on April 28th!! We've been making cards like crazy and plan on selling them along with my baby vests, kids t-shirts, maybe adult t-shirts for wedding parties and hen nights etc... personalised children's pillow cases, and our *NEW* lines ~ framed greetings cards and wrapping paper! Once we get enough stock together I'll post a pic for y'all! Seeing as it's being held at a nursery in Edinburgh I'm hoping the baby-themed items sell well. :o)

Toronto 2007

Plans are coming together! :o) I've got holidays off work confirmed for September and I think we've found the perfect flight and hotel. I won't say too much just yet 'cos I don't wanna jinx it lol. But my estimated fund is proving too low. So I must raise it and start selling on eBay faster! Which is just as well 'cos they have a 10p listing day coming up this Thursday. Not too sure how much I'll manage to list, what with the craft fair and all... but I'll definitely keep you posted!

The Gym

I'm still going but not really putting as much effort in as I should be! So last Thursday I suddenly decided to pull my finger out and start a serious fitness and diet regime. So I'm going to the gym 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes a time, and doing Pilates 2 times a week for like 20 minutes at home. Hopefully I'll build that up to 1 hour sessions at the gym and 40 minutes Pilates but baby steps to start with lol. Needless to say the weight's crept back up so I'll scrap my graph and start over. Watch this space... (well the column to the right anyway...)

Thanks for reading guys. I'll definatly keep this updated from now on in. I really want to try and get into the daily photo again too. I'd like to backdate it too but I don't know if anyone will look... But I'll start the photos again this weekend.

Bye for now!!! :oD
~* Caz *~

eBay Shop ~ Phase 1

PHASE ONE

~ A Name ~

Please, please, please help me!

Suggestions encouraged *lol*.

Derek's suggested

"Jazz it Up"

More Sales & My First Store!

I can't believe how well the babygrows and t-shirts are selling! After I made my first 6, I e-mailed my client to let her know. Well, she now has another 2 newborns I've to dress and on top of the other 7 I knew about she's added another 3! A popular line at the moment seems to be t-shirts for older siblings... Like big brother, little brother and baby brother in a vest. :o) So chuffed! I have some new design ideas which I'm working on photographing. When I get all my designs online I'll post the link here.

While I'm blogging... I was through at Mum and Dad's at the weekend and while Dad and Derek were talking football, plasma TV's and multimedia centres *yawn*, Mum and I were looking into opening up an eBay shop! To cut a long story short (and by long I mean at least 2 hours of conversation lol plus an hour with Derek in the car) we're doing just that. It's going to stock a mixture of craft supplies, personalised baby clothing, other baby clothing, skincare products, handcrafted stationery and cards etc. etc. I might even consider giving Derek a couple of shelves for IT bits and pieces. :o)

We need a name for the shop... but I'll post that in a new post...

Happy Mothers Day!!

* * * Happy Mothers Day * * *
MUM
I know you read this blog every day
(out loud to everyone who'll listen!)
(even to Socks and Mittens!!)
*.*.*
So I wanted to shout out a big thank you
for all you've done over the past
26 *gulp* almost 27 years!
*.*.*
Lots of Love,
CAROL
*.*.*

Advertising Well-Dressed Babies

Just to let you all know that I received a cheque this weekend for the first 6 babygrows of the batch I mentioned at the start of the week. So I updated my Toronto fund! :o) In provisional babygrow sales alone, my total will be nearing 30%! I put ads on some other sites this weekend... AdTrader and Families Online so here's hoping I have an update for you again soon.

Ok you know what ~ it's late and I need some sleep! Night night..... Zzzzzz.....

Paypal Sucks Big Time!

I bet almost everyone reading this uses Paypal. When you buy & sell on eBay it's an essential part of the trading process! Up until now I've been happy, happy, happy with their performance but this week I've lost all faith in them altogether. :(

Basically, I'd sold an item on eBay. The sale was a complete success. It was purchased, paid for through Paypal, posted and recieved - no problems, glowing feedback and not a bad word to be said. 2 or 3 weeks later I was shocked to see that the payment to me has been held by Paypal while they address a "dispute". The annoying thing is that there was no dispute code - to this day they can't give me one! After requesting a huge amount of information, Paypal's investigation began. What a bloody joke! Within 5 days they concluded that the buyer was rightfully due the refund!! A refund that neither the buyer of I had instigated. When I try to contact Paypal, well I can't. I have rightfully sold my item and now the buyer has their original payment as well! Both my pockets are empty! I'm so annoyed with Paypal! Considering the mammoth fees they take and slow service they provide, the least they could do it treat you with a bit of courtesy!

I filed a complaint with Watchdog yesterday so we'll see what (if anything) comes of it...
Here's a link to the BBC's Watchdog Website.

Red Nose Day :O)

It's Red Nose Day today! :O) I'm ashamed to say that I don't have a red nose yet... must go buy one at lunchtime.
Lol, for those of you who are non-UK residents and think I've gone mad, click on the big nose above to learn more about this eventful day.
Accross the UK, people are bathing in a bath full of cold custard, men are being waxed, heads are being shaved, cakes are being baked and sold, and literally everyone in the UK is wearing something red today. WHY?? I hear you ask! Well, they're all raising money for thousands of poor and disadvantaged people across the UK and Africa. They're helping them get the help they need to turn their lives around. Whether it be a woman living down their own street who is being abused by her partner or a child struggling to survive on the streets of Africa... all the cash raised is helping to improve, and in some cases save, lives.

We've got a sweepstake going at work ~ a poster with 40 people all dressed in red and white ~ each person costs £1 to bet on. We've all picked people and whichever one is revealed under the scratch-and-reveal nose wins £20 ~ the remaining £20 goes to Comic Relief! Plus there's been donations handed in all week. I'll let you know by the end of today how much money we've raised! :O)

Finally a medical justification for shopping at lunchtime!

There was a front-page article in the paper this morning which has generated quite a bit of discussion here at work...

"Sitting at Your Desk is a Killer!"

NOT to be interpreted as you yourself actually being a killer, or somebody else sitting at your desk about to murder you, but the action of sitting at your desk killing you. Am I making sense lol.

Basically, research suggests that workers who spend excessive amounts of time at their desk could be putting their lives at risk. Researchers at The Medical Research Institute in New Zealand found that a third of patients admitted to hospital with DVT were office workers who spent hours at a computer. The study will be published in the New Zealand Medical Journal if anyone's interested in reading the whole thing. DVT is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most commonly in the legs. The clots can travel to the heart, lungs or brain, causing chest pain, breathlessness or possible death from a heart attack or stroke. Lead researcher Professor Richard Beasley said some office workers who developed clots sat at their screens for 14 hours a day. He said: "Some of them were going three to four hours at a time without getting up."
People nowadays have a tendency to work longer hours than ever before, and often don't take a proper lunch break, preferring instead to eat a sandwich at their desk while attending to emails.

Hands up who's guilty of this! *Putting my hand up* I don't go out of the office at lunchtime. Yes, I sit and eat at my desk... not while attending to e-mails... but while blogging lol. I always get up and walk around though (I go to the printer, the water cooler, to get a coffee...) But starting today I'm going to start going out for a 30 minute walk each lunchtime, at the request of the Chief Exec. He's a Starbucks man so I have a lot of respect for him lol. Mind you, I think he meant a brisk walk, whereas I meant a walk to and around the shops lol.

And just to finish this post on a real downwards spiral, DVT affects about 100,000 people and kills up to 1,000 people in the UK each year!!

The full BBC story can be read here.

*Huge* Catch-Up!

Sorry again for the delay in posting. I always run through things in my head to say but never get around to typing them. :oP So I'm making up for it here! Grab a coffee, sit back, put your feet up and enjoy...

Healthy Living

Unfortunately I've not been noticing much change in my weight loss, but that's probably because I took a week off from the gym when I had my cold. But I feel a lot better now so I plan on going 4 times this week to make up for it. So far I've been twice lol and it's Sunday night so time's up lol. I've also re-started my healthy eating plan (after munching through what's left of the Christmas chocolates... and going to Starbucks 3 times in the past 10 days lol) so it's back to the herbal tea and fruit for me! I got some sorrel and ginger tea in Barbados which I'm liking, and green tea with peppermint... and I bought green tea with pear and apple but it's a bit bland. Oh, and I bought Danone Activia yoghurts on special offer so eating one or two every day will improve my digestion and make me feel great too. Or so the tub says..... And fruit ~ I can't get enough apples and grapes at the moment!
So it's all good! Hopefully I should have a positive update on the graph soon! At least I've not put on any weight on!

eBay

I'm taking a break! I had a great wee run and managed to make enough money to finance over 20% of my Toronto trip! Derek did not bad either ~ he made around 11% ~ plus I made Mum and Dad loads of cash too. Speaking of which, I better write them a cheque... *Hmmm*.
And guess what else I did? I set myself up as a trading assistant on eBay so if anyone's interested in selling but can't be bothered or doesn't know how, I'll do it for them for 20% of their item's sale price. So minus all the fees I should still make a wee profit for my troubles. No calls yet... :( I'm thinking of making up flyers and posting them through every house in my street. Start nice and local. :) Then maybe branch out to local shops and stuff. Lol I'm never happy unless I'm working on something lol.
In any case, I'm going to wait until another free/cheap listing day and get some more auctions running.

Dentist

Remember how I told you I had the dentist last week? Well I have to get root canal done next month! :'o(

Business Venture

I mentioned a few days ago about starting a new project. Well, I can now officially unveil it!

*Drum-roll*..........
*Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*

Personalised baby clothing!! :oD Baby vests and t-shirts for older siblings. :) It all started when I made one for my friend Michelle's baby daughter, Beth, and her older daughter, Amy. Since then I've made another 2 for friends, 1 sold on eBay, and generated from that sale I've just recieved an order for another 15!!!!! So chuffed!!! Once I've fulfilled that order I plan on advertising locally. Pretty soon, every new baby will be sporting a Carol Reid designer baby-grow! :D

Here's one of my baby vests being modelled by a super cute wee man in Ontario! Thanks for doing that Jen! :)

Mad March

Can you believe it? We're into March and this blog is still up and running! That's pretty impressive! Not much has been happening the past few days, hence the lack of posting.

I've developed this really annoying cold again. Sore throat, slight cough and stuffed up nose... Yuck! :o( Not helped by the fact that I trailed round the shops for ages yesterday in the rain with my Boss tryign to find a laser printer for work. What happened the modern-ness of buying online?? Then this morning as we were pulling out the driveway we noticed we had a flat tyre so I had to walk down to the train station. Luckily it wasn't raining but it was cooooold!! So now my throat really hurts. :o(

Apart from that I've been busy with my "secret business", a wee something I have in the pipeline... I'll be able to say more soon hopefully! *Mysterious Look.* And I've made some more cards which is good. Keeps me out of trouble. :o) Oh, and eBay sales are still trickling in so I'll update the pie chart over the weekend.

My Weekend

Did you all have a nice weekend? Get up to anything exciting?

Friday night I went out for an Indian with Louise and Derek. Mmmmm, so good! I met Louise after work then we had a glass of wine (which is so weird 'cos I don't tend to like wine!) in the house before heading out to the Mount Shimla, a local restaurant, for their buffet. Three courses, a coffee, and almost 3 hours later later we headed home!

Saturday I went to the gym, came home and didn't really do much the rest of the day. Actually I spent most of the afternoon playing the Sims lol. Oh, I chatted to Charms on MSN for a while and she sent through some really cute photos of Daijah! Don't kids grow up fast!! Then at night we were up to my In-Laws for an Italian night of lasagna and horse-racing (well, the DVD version anyway lol.) I established I'm not a gambler lol. Even with plastic poker chips!

Sunday I was busy! I got up early to give Jazz his breakfast (left Derek sleeping), washed a load of dishes, washed clothes and packaged a LOT of eBay stuff. Then Derek woke up lol. We were planning on going to Ikea but the thing we want is out of stock 'cos of a manufacturing fault, so we went out to Morrisons to do a food shop instead. And also to see Derek's cousin Karen, 'cos it's her son's 16th. But Sean wasn't in so we had tea and donuts there then came home. I then did ALL the ironing, ate pizza for tea, watched Ugly Betty and ER, then played the Sims and went to bed.

Phew!

Toronto Fund Update

eBay sales have broken... no... shattered the £100 barrier so I'm now over 15% of my way to Toronto!! I'm expecting a load of auctions to end this weekend so hopefully I'll have an update for you again on Sunday. :o)

It's Gonna Be A Good 'Un!

It's Friday!!!!! :oD And it's going to be a GOOD Friday!!! Lol, that may seem a little presumptuous of me but, although it's only 10:45am, I feel fab! Some contributing factors:

~ I slept really well last night.
~ Jazz didn't get my feet this morning! (I can't recall when last I didn't have to kick him off the bed!)
~ I managed to run for my train this morning and sit down before it started moving!
~ I got the free paper at the station to read at lunch.
~ It's not raining.
~ In fact, it's quite sunny!
~ The morning's going quite fast.
~ I solved a big invoice problem at work... Yay!
~ And the best thing of all (so far)... I got a letter from my old work saying their pay deal had been granted so they were backdating my pay 2 months! :o) So I get an extra £100!!

But what to do with the money? It's basically free *lol* 'cos I wasn't expecting it. I'm going out to dinner tonight (Indian... mmmm) with Derek and Louise so should I buy them dinner? Or should I put the money towards Toronto, or *boring* savings... or should I buy myself something (not sure what) or what? Any suggestions? I'll let you know what I decide.

Shopaholic

I've just started reading the first book in the Shopaholic series, Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, and so far I'm loving it! It's proven to make me giggle on the train (much to the entertainment of other commuters lol.) I don't know how many of you have read it (Az and Sarah, I know you have) but I can totally relate! Like the part just now is about Becky, the shopaholic girl, is trying a new frugal spending regime. So she starts by not buying coffee every day at the likes of Starbucks and brings her own from home instead. Lol, but she ends up having to buy a real hip, expensive flask to carry it in which costs like 10 x the price of coffee to start with! And a fab little designer notebook to chart all her savings in lol. Remind you of anyone?? *Innocent Look.*

*Charts*

I added a couple of charts to the sidebar of my blog last night. They're not at all fancy or interactive but... they help me (and you guys) follow my progress towards affording to go to Canada and losing weight! Lol, this blog is just getting cheesier by the day! :oP

Btw I had a request in for my photo blog ~ 7 days showing my favourite 7 things about my street. So I'll go out at the weekend and get those photos. I'll have to give it some thought... But thanks for that idea! :)

Catch-Up

My posts have been a bit thin on the ground the past week and so I apologise for that. I'm back-dating a pile of photos (to the start of February!) so plenty of viewing over in my 2007 Photo Blog!

But ok, a few wee updates for ya...

As you've read, my friend (and quite possibly my most loyal reader) Jen had a baby boy on Thursday! :oD So congratulations to Adam and Jen!! And welcome to the world little William. I have no idea how long mail takes to reach Canada from Scotland but expect a package in the next week or so. :o)

Work's been keeping me busy! I spent 2 days last week doing a course on system development training. Pretty intense technical stuff like learning the scripting for our case management system so I can build a new HR records database (which is both interactive and useable!), setting up data extract reports and other such stuff. I also helped with interviews for our new Admin. Assistant which was pretty cool. Very enlightening - I'm not used to being on the other side of the table lol.

The gym's going ok. I'm still a member lol. Been twice so far but I'm aiming for 3 sessions this week. And I've lost another lb since my Special K diet! Slow and steady..... 11 lbs to go 'til I reach my target!!

Apart from that, what have I been doing? Em, eBay stuff. Been working on that quite a bit actually. I had around 90 listings up and I'm down to 71, so things are selling. I figured that I can make enough with this batch of stuff to raise between 15 and 20% of my total Toronto fund. Which isn't too bad considering that leaves me with another 6 months to get the rest lol. I also have a new business venture idea but I gotta keep it under wraps for now. ;o) All will be revealed in due course... *Mysterious Look*.

What else?? I've been playing The Sims 2 quite a lot. I'm not sure if anyone else (apart from Az) actually plays it, but I'm getting pretty addicted! Please, please, please let me know if you're at all into sim-type games... I think I'm boring Alison with updates ~ it's about time I shared with someone else lol.

Remember, requests are welcome for photos. Charms, I'll get the curtains posted for ya soon!!

Toronto Fund Update

Well it's been a good week for eBay sales. Nothing enormous but I'm up to £51.69 which I'm pretty chuffed about. :oD And on top of that I've made Mum and Dad over £30 as well! Now I see that eBay are having a half-price listing day on Tuesday so I'm gonna stop typing now and start designing more ads! It's kinda sad in a way but it's good fun! :o)

New Baby Boy

* * * Congratulations * * *
*.*.*
to my Canadian friends
Jen and Adam
on the birth of their new
Baby Son
*.*.*
William Adam
2:42am, 8lb 13oz
*.*.*
a wonderful addition to their family

Introducing The Gym's Newest Member

I did it! I joined the gym yesterday AND worked out for 45 minutes!

And this morning I'm sore... *lol*.

*Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching*

Picture coins falling into a bucket, or a bank, or really any container-type object suitable for holding money. Anyway, that's what I mean by cha-ching! :o)
eBay's going well. I listed a total of 122 items at the weekend ~ mostly CD's ~ but also craft stuff *I cleared out*, clothes, DVD's and Vichy products. Already 11 CD's have sold: 7 of mine, and 4 of Dad's. I've not made my million quite yet but that's at £14.50 towards my Toronto trip. It'll be a bit more 'cos I should make a weensie wee bit from the P&P costs. So not much but it's a start! And you need to have a start in order to have a finish, so meh! *Sticking tongue out.* Technically I'm 2% of the way there already!

Getting Fit & Making Money

Since I did so well with my Special K Diet resolution, I decided to try out another! Another New Year's resolution that it, not another diet. :o) I went to the gym on Tuesday night for a show-around ~ I'm going to go back Monday and join. I was SO impressed!!! Let me tell you, there are 4 levels of fitness, so I'll have no excuse! Check it out! There are two pretty intense weights rooms in the basement, a resistance room on the ground floor with ultra-modern pneumatic resistance machines, a boxing training room with Pilates area on the first floor, and finally a massive cardio room on the top floor ~ which is probably where I'll be living. So I'm excited about it! Hopefully I'll start to see the lbs fall off. I'll update this often so keep checking back!

The other resolution was to save money and make money. Well that's going ok... It's not going great but it's going ok. I devised a spreadsheet (I have one for like everything!!) and it details ALL my expenditure separated into categories and sorted by date. Then I have a summary page so I can see at a glance what's what. Incredibly organised, eh?? And as for making money, I've been working on a load of eBay listings so the next cheap listing day they have I can upload them all. However, last night when I was online, I noticed that eBay are doing a special CD and DVD weekend so it'll only cost 5p to list an item instead of 20p which is fab! But I only had like 5 CD's to sell. So I decided to be ruthless and completely slaughter my CD collection 'cos I never listen to CD's now ~ it's all MP3 to me! :o) So I ripped almost my entire CD collection onto the laptop and now I'm selling the originals. I have of course kept a few for sentimental purposes lol. Besides, no guarantee they'll all sell. But it does clear a massive section of my bookcase lol.

Derek ~ 2 Years from the Big 3-0!

Happy Birthday Derek!!!!! Awwww, today is my Babes' birthday and he has to work. I have to work too ~ which is weird 'cos we're normally enjoying a romantic city break for his birthday... Amsterdam, Rome, Oslo... But no, this year we're working. :o(
So my Hubby's 28! That's almost 30 lol. He was a young, dishy 21 when I met him. But having said that, I was only 20 and my wee sis was only 12! Hahaha, he's seen her go from 12 to almost 19 lol. What a transformation!
So last night we went through to my Grandparents for the birthday tea. After doing the food and cake and presents and stuff, we played cards (which they love to do!) for pennies lol. Hey, don't laugh, I made 32p lol.
Flick over to my photo blog for a picture of the birthday boy!

My Special K Diet - Last Day!

Well I did it!! I completed my two-week Special K ~ Drop a Dress-Size diet..... But I only lost 1lb and certainly didn't drop a dress-size. :o( But I realise it's because I am already eating healthy and cereal isn't and lower in fat/cals/carbs than my usual lunch. But on a positive note, I feel better. I've been feeling a bit more energised and that's just as important to me. In fact, I've been feeling SO energised, I've decided that I want to join the gym! I've got the healthy eating sorted now and so I just gotta take it that step further. I'll keep you posted!

Success!

I just wanted to let y'all know that the carrot cake I made last night is amazing! I posted a photo of the finished product over on my other blog. If you think it looks good, you should taste it! Mmmmm..... Also, I would like to thank Mum and Az for their input into the new design of my blog. I chose the blue and cream scheme as they're wintery colours but not icy if that makes sense. I think the cream helps to warm the blue... But don't worry Az, pink will be back in the spring! ;o)

Oh and one more thing, any baby news Jen??

Low-Fat Carrot Cake

Who here loves Carrot Cake?? Now, who here hates that it's so unhealthy?? Well I have a solution! Actually, Delia Smith has a solution ~ I'm just borrowing it lol. Low-fat carrot cake!!
I made this today to take through to my Grandparents tomorrow. We're having a family birthday meal for Dad and Derek (although Dad's birthday was January 18th and Derek's is on February 5th...) but it's a good excuse to make cake!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
~ 87g dark brown soft sugar
~ 1 large egg
~ 60ml sunflower oil
~ 100g wholemeal self-raising flour
~ 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
~ 1.5 rounded tsps mixed spice
~ grated orange zest
~ 100g carrots, coarsely grated
~ 87g sultanas

For the Topping
~ 125g skimmed-milk soft cheese
~ 10g caster sugar
~ 1 tsp vanilla essence
~ 1 level tsp cinnamon

For the Glaze
~ juice of very small orange
~ 1 tbsp lemon juice
~ 20g dark brown soft sugar

How to make all that into Carrot Cake!
1.) Whisk the brown sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl (electric whisk for 2 minutes.)
2.) Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the mixed spice into a bowl.
3.) Stir 1.) and 2.) together, then fold in the orange zest, carrots and sultanas.
4.) Pour the mixture into a prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf for 35 minutes.
5.) Make the topping by mixing all the ingredients until light and fluffy (cover and chill.)
6.) Make the glaze by whisking together the fruit juices and sugar.
7.) When cake is ready, stab it and spoon the syrup over it. Allow to cool.
8.) Remove from the tin and spread topping over it.
9.) Cut into pieces and serve dusted with a little cinnamon.

Now it should be noted that when I made this, I halved her recipe so in case I made any typos when changing the amounts and you end up with 23 cups of something instead of 2, here's Delia's version lol.

Help design my Blog

I'm not too crazy about the pink and purple and yellowy colour scheme anymore. It's a bit sickly sweet but I don't know what to change it to. So guys, help me! What colours would you like to read off of???

My Special K Diet - Day 11

I'm afraid I don't have a huge update for you today... I've just been happily munching away on cereal, cereal and more cereal. I decided to expand on my cereal choice and have not started on Oatibix! They're just like Weetabix but made with oats. Anyway they're tasty!! I'm sure Mr Kelloggs won't mind that I strayed from Special K.
I'm going to do another weigh-in on Sunday but although I don't seem to be losing a lot of weight, I feel better. My work trousers and jeans feel just a teensie bit looser. :o)

Btw, thanks to everyone for your support with this! It's the comments and e-mails that keep this blog (and diet!) worth while. :o)
Speaking of which, it's February and I'm still updating it!! That's gotta be a record for me!

My Special K Diet - Day 7

I've reached the 7 day mark and so I'm half-way through my cereal diet. It was going so good when I was at work all week but this weekend's been pretty tough. The whole snacking thing is getting to me. I found myself have a few sneaky chocolates and more cereal than I was supposed to over the past two days. And I drank loads of coffee! But this has been a good thing ~ it's pushed me to try harder this week! Now when I reach for a snack I'll think how disappointed I was in myself before. Oh and I weighed in this morning 1lb lighter than last Sunday! So it's not been a complete success but it's definately been a weensie step in the right direction. :o) If I manage to lose 2lb this week I'll be thrilled!

Spring has come Early!

One of my "unofficial resolutions" this year was to stop procrastinating and get a huge list of things done! I'm sure you all know what it's like... you have something to do but for one reason or another you just never seem to get around to doing it, and then you forget about it, then when you remember again it just seems to fall to the back of your mind again. Well, my list is a mile long - no joke! So this weekend I'm going to put every task that I have to do in my PDA and work through them one at a time. I've even set up recurring ones so we get our chores done lol.

So far I have:
~ Every chore imaginable, from ironing clothes to tidying the spare room!
~ Letters I have to write to various organisations.
~ A list of photos I want to print or have printed for frames around the house.
~ Birthday and baby presents I have to buy.
~ Cards I have to make.
~ Websites I've been meaning to order stuff from.
~ Numbers I need to call to get details changed.

And so the list goes on... and on and on... lol.
But I'm doing not too bad. Derek and I have done so much today! We took Jazz to the vet for his check-up, went to Makro for ink for the printer and cat litter, gave the living room a good tidy (and clean and dust), moved some furniture around, did 2 washings, and put pizzas in the oven! All by 6:20pm! :oD

Not only am I a Racer Idol... I'm a Road Relic!

Yay, it's Friday!
I love Friday!! I bet you all love Friday too! Well, not you Az, I know that. It's only your Wednesday. :o)
Anyway, I came across this really cool webpage that gives you alternative words and phrases from the letters in your name. Sounds weird I know but it certainly made me laugh. If I tell you my best funnies, will you tell me yours? (*Az* I only put yours in 'cos I thought they were too funny not too!)

Here goes:

• CAROL REID becomes... A Rice Lord ~ Racer Idol ~ Road Relic!
• DEREK REID becomes... Kidder Ere ~ Dried Reek!
• ALISON CAMPBELL becomes... Imbalance Polls ~ Policeman Balls ~ Collapsible Man!

Go on, share the funniest of your with me! ;o)

You'll find the anagram doodah here!

Some other brilliant ones listed on that site are:

• Dormitory = Dirty Room
• Clint Eastwood = Old West Action
• A telephone girl = Repeating "Hello"
• The Morse Code = Here Come Dots
• Slot Machines = Cash Lost in'em
• Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler
• Snooze Alarms = Alas! No More Z's
• Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one

Any my favourite ones!

• A Decimal Point = I'm a Dot in Place
• From Hamlet by Shakespeare:
  To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune..... it becomes..... In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.

Drunk on Country

I don't know what got into me tonight but after I watched ER and Skins (what is that all about???) I had a sudden energy boost and started aerobic dancing round the room lol. For real!!! I love 3C, the country digital music channel and the songs were just totally fuelling me! This one song made me laugh so I had to stop lol. It's called 'Watching You' by Rodney Atkins ~ these parts made me giggle:

Drivin’ through town just my boy and me
With a “Happy Meal” in his booster seat
Knowin’ that he couldn’t have the toy ‘til his nuggets were gone.

A green traffic light turned straight to red
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath
His fries went a flyin’, and his orange drink covered his lap.

Well, then my 4 year old said a 4 letter word
It started with “S” and I was concerned
So I said, “Son, now where’d you learn to talk like that?”

He said, I’ve been watching you, Dad ain’t that cool
I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are

Only country singers can sing about stupid stuff and get away with it! So of course it got me thinking ~ What's the funniest or best lines of a song you can think of???

Oh and before I sign off, if you want a laugh, go see the photo from today lol.

My Special K Diet - Day 3

Ok so I'm half-way through day 3 at the moment and so far it's going very well. Yesterday I ate grapes for breakfast, Special K for lunch and then my lovely Hubby made a vegetable balti and basmati rice for tea. The only snack I had was one weensie wee chocolate biscuit when Mum and Dad were through. So not only was I healthy, I also managed to squeeze in 4 portions of fruit/veg! ('Cos I had orange juice as well.)
Today I had a yoghurt for breakfast and Special K for lunch. Feeling pretty full actually which is good.
It's actually really hard to stop snacking, especially at home. I get so nibbly after dinner! But I'm hoping to see results by Sunday. If not, I may not have the motivation to go on with week 2.

After this 2-week plan I'm considering a 2-week dairy-free diet, or maybe a low carb one, just so I don't get bored. But I need to do some research. I have no idea what counts as low carb... Any ideas?

Water, Water Everywhere!!

Oh my goodness! These past couple of weeks have kept me so busy! The house has been falling apart ~ well not literally obviously but it feels like it. It all started 2 weeks ago on Sunday when, after a long relaxing soak in the bath, I drained it as normal and then heard Derek screaming from the kitchen below! The bath water wasn't draining to the outside, it was gurgling through the pipes and coming out the open washing machine door and overflowing the sink. The floor was soaked!! I swear, we used every towel we own to soak it up!
Then of course the drain problems just seemed to spiral out of control lol. Geez, I can laugh now but it really wasn't funny at the time I can tell ya. It was so bad, it got to the stage where we were doing dishes and the dish water was filling the washing machine, and when we washed clothes in the machine the soapy suds ended up in the sink lol. What is with that??
Last Saturday, after unsuccessfully trying to use a home-made drain-cleaning concoction made from baking soda, vinegar and salt *talk about chemistry* we went to Asda at 1am to buy Mr Muscle lol.
7 days later, we called the plumber lol.

New Baby Girl

* * * Congratulations * * *

*.*.*

to my friends

Michelle and David

on the birth of their new

Baby Daughter

*.*.*

Bethany Rachel

8:06pm, 7lb 5oz

*.*.*

a new Baby Sister for Amy

and a wonderful addition to their family

Such a Sweet Tale

I was reading (seriously, that's twice in one month lol) an article in the Barbados Nation News today that made me smile and I thought I'd share!

Basically it was about a Husband, 100 and Wife, 97 who have been married for a whopping 73 years! Their secret? They've never argued a day in their life! :o) Can you imagine??
They first met while working as labourers at a Plantation and were married on Christmas Eve back in 1933.....
"All I can tell you is our secret was loving one another. We didn't have any arguments; no fighting; no quarrelling; and we didn't leave each other. We kept like that from the first day up until today," said Ma as she is called by everyone.
"From the first time I saw her, I knew I loved her. We courted for a little bit before we got married. And though it was the custom back then, I didn't have to ask permission from her mother or father," said Pa who has a remarkable memory for a man his age.

Hahaha, Derek can barely remember what he did yesterday never mind 73 years ago!!

This part made me giggle - When it was time to pose for pictures. Pa jumped at the opportunity to plant a kiss on his wife's cheeks and was happy to accommodate when the photographer asked for a few retakes. Heehee.

They had 8 children and Pa worked until he was 70 years old - phenomenal! And they have a wealth of knowledge ~ staggering for a combined age of almost 200 years! :oO

And when asked if they were still in love after all these years, they affirmatively responded.
"Oh, yes," said Pa emphatically.
"Yes, yes, yes! Praise the Lord!" Ma chimed in.

Apart from being a nice story, I also learned that they used to use shillings in Barbados ~ I didn't know that!

All Trained Up!

You may have noticed the serious lapse in posts over the past couple of weeks... well, that's because of two things ~ 1, we've been having serious house troubles which I'll tell you about in a minute ~ 2, I've been in Edinburgh a lot training.
I've endured 4 days of finance courses 'cos my new job is oh-so-important lol. So now if you want to know about journals, audit trails, trial balance reports and budgets I'm your woman! :P But seriously, it was really helpful and the few days in Edinburgh were very welcome.
I won't bore you all with work stuff so go read the other posts...

My Special K Diet - Day 1

Well my New Year's resolution of eating healthy hasn't really gone with a bang yet. I'm so good at work but at home it's a disaster zone! We have so many chocolates and biscuits left over from Christmas that I can't bring myself to throw out. But instead of ignoring them, Derek and I are eating them!!! :o( It's so bad!

So I decided to bite the bullet (rather than the choccies) and just go for it... start a diet. But where to start? As we wandered up and down the aisles at our local Tesco, I spotted the ad on Kellogg's Special K. They were promoting their drop-a-dress-size healthy eating plan PLUS the cereal was on special offer! So I bought a box of original and a box of chocolate/strawberry. Wondering how cereal containing chocolate can be as little as 3% fat? There are like 2 chocolate flakes per box lol.

The plan:

• Breakfast ~ 1 bowl of Special K
• Lunch ~ 1 bowl of Special K
• Dinner ~ A healthy meal not made from Special K lol
• Snacks ~ You're still allowed them as long as they're cereal bars or fruit
• Drinks ~ Water

So ok I'm on Day 1 but so far so good lol. I had a yoghurt and small bunch of grapes for breakfast (which I know isn't Special K but is still super healthy and super yummy!) and I just finished a bowl of Special K for lunch. In case I'm starving by 5pm I brought an apple and another yoghurt with me so I have no reason for popping to Starbucks! :oP

I wonder how day 2 will go.....

Eating Out in the January Sales

Ok so I'm taking saving money in the January Sales to a whole new level tonight! Derek, my friend Louise and I are eating out at this lovely Italian restaurant in town called Di Maggio's. Anyway, the point of this post is that we're getting a starter and main course (pizza or pasta) for 10 pounds! That's pretty good considering the menu is usually around 15 pounds! Ok ok ok I'm easily bought lol. But it was actually advertised in the January Sales! How bizarre!

I was actually going to post this before we went out but decided to wait until I got home.

The meal was great!! I was meeting Louise straight from work and had some time to spare so I hit the shops. I shouldn't have 'cos one of my resolutions was not to but non-essentials, but I justified to myself that PJ's and underwear are essentials. :o) Only spent money in La Senza. I bought 2 pairs of cute shorts n vest jammies and a matching bra and shorts undies set. 'Nuff said lol.
Anyway, met Louise at the bus station and of course by now it's raining. Typical! The shops are closing so we seek refuge in Starbucks before meeting Derek at Di Maggio's. The food was great! I had mussels to start (yum!) and then a sausage gnocchi dish. No room for dessert so we walked in the pouring rain up to the Counting House bar. And that's where the photo from today was taken. :o)

So ok my not spending money thing ain't going so well, but my increased social life one is! A happy balance I think you'll agree! :o)

I'm drafting as you read

As you read this post, I'm drafting the past 2 weeks worth of entries. Ok, so maybe not something for EVERY day but there's been a lot going on and I've just not had the time or energy to post. It's a pathetic excuse, I know, but I'm making up for it now. Promise! Make sure you check my photo blog as well, 'cos it'll be updated over the weekend too.

Luv y'all!
~ Caz ~

P.S. I learnt that the cute wee ~ that I use a lot *lol* is called a tinde... did you know that? :)

Crafty Chicks

I think I told you all at some point that I wanted to start making and selling more cards? Well, after designing and handcrafting all of my Wedding stationery, Mum and I thought we'd branch out and try to reel in some orders from other people. Well, so far we've only had one but hopefully *fingers crossed* it should generate more! Tonight we finished the order! Yay! 85 invites, 85 reply cards, printed envelopes, 60 order of service... yup we've been busy.

If you take a moment and swing by the photo for this day you'll see me and Mum at work. :o)

Oh, and something else today... I bought Derek's birthday present but ~Shhhhhh~ don't tell him!! ;o) 21 days to go..... which means... Jen's baby is due in 3 weeks too!!! And Michelle's in 5 days!!!

Desperate Housewives v. ER

Ok, so hands up if you're a fan of the residents of Wisteria Lane! I am! :o) The first two episodes of series 3 were on last night so I was happy for 2 hours lol. Derek even watched them with me (but I think he was only watching to see the pretty, rich ladies...)
I had kinda forgotten what happened at the end of the 2nd series but really wasn't disappointed last night! What other show can squeeze so much hilarious drama... a body discovered, a mix-up at the fertility clinic, a wedding, a couple meeting at the hospital where their partners are in comas, a man accused of murder on his wedding day... into 2 shows?!?!
Now series 13 of ER is starting tonight and I really, really, really hope it's going to be a good 'un!

Yes, I Read the Papers (the free ones anyway...)

On the train into work this morning I had time to grab a copy of the Metro, the free commuter newspaper. After skimming through the pretty drab pages a wee article caught my eye and my immediate thought was "Ooooh I could post this on my blog tonight!" And post it I did lol.

The article was entitled "The jargon we should all sunset" and basically it was all about new indecipherable management speak likely to be hot in offices around the country in 2007. Currently used expressions like "thinking outside the box" and "park that thought" are likely to have passed their sell-by-date but here are some buzzwords you can come to expect this year...

• Getting down with the kids meaning a manager trying to interact with junior staff.
• Open up your kimono meaning putting your cards on the table.
• Let's raise the anchor and let this one drift meaning to forget about a bad idea.
• A thought grenade is the result of a productive thought shower, it is an explosively good idea.
• Let's sunset that is what happens to bad ideas - they never surface again.
• Workers will never again attend meetings... information touchpoints will be on the agenda instead.
• Little 'r' me is the new request for a private answer to an e-mail.

So there ya go. I'm not totally convinced these little gems will appear in my office any time soon! I do like a couple of them (let's sunset that and information touchpoints) but seriously, open up your kimono lol. And how patronising would it be to get down with the kids?!?!

Anyway, while I'm on the subject of newspaper articles, I was reading a pretty funny one in the Scotsman online today about the warped view of the foreign tourist to Scotland. Click here for the full article. Basically it was saying that although tourists to Scotland in 2006 may have displayed excellent taste in their choice of destination, they really could and should have researched a little more. Here are some of the stupid questions put to VisitScotland (the tourist board) last year...

• Clearly confusing Loch Ness with Sea World in Orlando... "What time of night does the Loch Ness Monster surface and who feeds it?" Answer - Nessie is pretty much a mythical creature who tends not to leap through hoops!
• Not realising that an island in Scotland was the same as an island anywhere else in the world raised the question of "Which bus do I get from the Orkney Islands to the Shetland Islands?"
• Because Scotland's two major cities often get confused *sarcastic roll of the eyes* the question of "Is Edinburgh in Glasgow?" was raised. Just while I'm on this, I'll clarify that Scotland is, in fact, not in London!!
• "What time does the midnight train leave?" There are no words!
• The small island of Iona was pointed to on a map while one tourist asked "How do I get to one zero NA?" *Sigh*

Oh I could go on and on and on and on and on... but I won't! Lol. Ok just a little (Az this is really for your benefit 'cos I know you deal with these eejits everyday lol. A couple of other really bizarre questions were "Can you tell me where the mountain is in Scotland?" and "Are there any curves in the roads here, or are they all straight?"

I know we all have our moments and hey, I even have ditsy and dense moments lol, but come on people! Would the same people ask which subway line runs between New York City and Seattle? Or where the ruin is in Rome? Or if Canada is in America?

Actually... I think they would.....

Feeling Inspired

I had a great idea today!! To start a photo blog of my everyday life! I realise that most of you guys have been my friends for like 10, 11, 12 years but because we've been e-mailing it's been really hard to share little things with each other. Things like my home... my favourite pair of shoes... my commute to work... what I see out my bedroom window... where I keep my CD and DVD collection... So much!

Click here to see a little piece of my life today (and every day!)

OMG it's 2007!

Happy New Year to all my friends around the World! While I was wandering about the house this afternoon my Uncle and his family in Australia were raising a glass to bring in the New Year. And then when I text Sarah in Canada at midnight it was only evening where she was... It's an amazing feeling to have such special connections in so many places around the World.

Ok so what are your resolutions this year? My main ones are:

• Keep this blog going all year *lol*.
• Do Pilates twice a week.
• Join the gym!
• Arrange more social events with friends.
• Go to Toronto to visit Sarah and Jen (Jen the only reason Sarah's name is first is 'cos I started e-mailing her first lol.)
• Save money.
• Continue making cards (and hopefully get more Wedding orders!)

What did you all do to bring in the bells? Derek and I were through at Mum and Dad's with my Grandparents. Kinda cheesy I know, but we spent hours playing the Family Fortunes DVD game and card games for pennies lol. My poor Grandad lost loads to Derek!

Anyway, have a great year and let's keep this going! :o)