They came from outer Spain

Well, it's Christmas eve eve and the outlaws are coming to stay for a while...they are arriving this evening at some point.

We have spent most of the week cleaning, by we I of course mean she, she has moved things and tidied things and move things back and tidied things that were already tidy. The house looks great for it, but seriously, I tidied my clothes last week, they didn't need re-organising, re-fold and then put back all my clothes, complaining that I have 40 t-shirts in the process.

Oh well, at least now it's all done and dusted. Now we just have to deal with the outlaws, which will be so much fun. Last time they stayed here for Christmas, m-unit (the mother-out-law) declared that it had been the worst Christmas ever and she wasn't enjoying any of it. Bear in mind she had previously said she was looking forward to it because she wouldn't have to do anything, she could just relax and put her feet up. I cooked everything and banned her from the kitchen, this isn't unusual, I hate having people in the kitchen with me. But, because she wasn't in control or able to do anything she complained.

Last year she was much happier because they rented a house in York and we all went there instead, meaning she could cook everything and be in charge and in control the whole time.

Oh well, I'm sure it will be a great week and we will not kill anyone and just enjoy the time that they are here.

But if you don't hear from me again, the week hasn't gone to the plan above and I'll have killed someone and either be on the run or locked up.

Happy holidays though, I hope you have a stress free time and enjoy yourselves (responsibly and in moderation)

Tyred

(I amfully aware of the incorrect spelling)

This week has been a thoroughly mixed bag, I've had some very good training in different ego states and the ways in which we should engage people depending of the ego state they are displaying. I painted the kitchen, this was the last of the major jobs to do with the new kitchenand although it will need checking over and maybe touching up, it signifies the end to the kitchen work. I had my second Christmas meal, with another on the way tomorrow.

Today, though I've had a failed attempt at Christmas shopping, I succeeded in getting nothing of any use to anyone apart from me. I spent £340 on getting new tyres (hence the title) and having a new rod fitted on the car, all things that needed doing, and surprisingly, I had the money to do them at this time of the year!

For tomorrow's Christmas meal, we've all been given the secret santa challenge of buying/making/restyling a Christmas jumper, so part of my mission today was to find a suitable jumper that I could alter, I got my jumper at just before 5 after wandering around many shops and failing to find anything. Just another reason why today hasn't been a great day.

Anyway, I've got to decorate the flaming thing tonight, ready for tomorrow now, so this post really is done, if I can, I'll post an addendum photo of it later.

"Maverick" man

Today I had my 6 month review and it was pretty good, weirdest bit was being called a maverick. And do you know what, the first thing that came to my mind was? I feel the need, the need for speed!

Seriously though, apparently I don't copy in my line manager in enough when I work on things and send them out. But if I did that she'd have an inbox full of my emails. But she did comment on how well I'm doing my job and that she is aware that some of the work I'm doing is above my pay grade. But she didn't say she'd pay me more...

In the rest of my life:
Weekend was good, we got the last stuff completed at work on our project, no more Saturday working.
Failed to make a pumpkin cake, actually, that's not completely true, I made a pumpkin cake, but the mix was way too wet so it didn't really work, but I did get the flavour spot on!

Well, it's the start of the week and I'm actually quietly confident that this will be a good week, it helps that I'm off for a day and a half AND I've got two Christmas dinners coming up :-)

Last week was a Dropkick Murphys kind of week, this week I think will be more of an AC/DC week

Thank Friday!

So it's finally Friday!

This week has been a mixture of feelings. Monday came with good news, my team at work had been told that our service was being considered for outsourcing several months ago, but Monday saw the end, when it was confirmed that the company bidding for the job couldn't make the cost savings work. Tuesday saw me get grumpy at work as the realisation that although my job was now safe, I would also be stuck in it, with little room for advancement and even less challenges and opportunities. Wednesday saw this grump get worse when I inadvertantly found out that my line manager appeared to be holding me back, saying that a new challenge that had been suggested by another team member would have a "detrimental affect" on me, yeah, thanks for that! Thursday was an improvement though, mainly because you just can let the bastards get you down! Today has been in a similar mindset, I'm just going to continue doing what I do, and continue to do it better and faster than my line manager could dream of doing it.

So that's been my week, and now I'm ending it with AC/DC live show on my tellybox. Man, I hope I get to see them next year when they are touring, hell I'll travel to another country to see them if I must! (Although, not the US, but that's a different story!)

Right tomorrow I have a few hours overtime, and then the remains of the weekend are mine, with lunch at mum's on Sunday being the ONLY planned thing.

Bringing it back

Ok, so I used to be a blogger many years ago, it helped me clear my mind and get things off my chest. It was great for me and very theraputic to just put it all out there.

This blog is marking my return to blogging so that I can once again get things out there and clear my head.

The last time I blogged was probably 3 years ago, but it's been probably closer to 4 or 5 years since I blogged properly. A lot of things have changed over that time and to be honest, I'm not going to go through it or re-hash history, what's done is done.