Birthday time part 2

Today was the actual day of my Dear Niece's 3rd birthday. At the weekend my sister told me they were going to Brewsters for a meal and I was invited if I wanted to go. Unfortunately DD and DS had other plans so it would just be me.

So this afternoon I went down to Ange's house to spend some time with the birthday girl before coming home again to get change for the meal out.
It's not actually called Brewsters any more and it isn't a Brewers fayre either but it does still have the same Kiddies play area which is why it is good for them.

Debz texted me when she was in the taxi as she was picking me up on the way. We got there about 7 and my niece and nephew were already in the play area. I got myself a pint and sat down with the rest of the family. It was quite weird not having DD and DS there but they had made arrangements with friends before they knew this evening was happening.

As I was on my own I thought I would treat myself and have a starter and a main course and if I had some room left maybe a desert too. I ordered Nachos with cheese for my starter and for my main course I asked for the BBQ Chicken. Then I produced my Nectar card like an idiot only to be told that they don't do it anymore.

The Nachos were gorgeous apart from the Jalapeno pepper - I did have a go at eating one but no I won't be trying it again.
The pub was virtually empty so our food arrived very quickly and there was no sitting around waiting like you can get in these places. My Chicken was gorgeous too and there were so many chips that I just couldn't eat them all. So much for my desert plans, I couldn't eat another thing.

The children finished their Pasta very quickly as they wanted to go back in the play area and when it closed at 8pm Ange produced another cake as we all sang happy birthday and my Dear niece got to blow the candles out again. There was lots of cake left and I was able to take a piece home each for DD and DS.

We left the restaurant at about 9pm. Debz and I shared a cab and when I got in I was surprised at all the trick or treat booty that my 2 had picked up. At least I missed out on callers to our door...

Its kiddies party time again

This month it will be my niece's 3rd birthday. If you read every entry in my blog you may remember that she is a Halloween baby so her birthday party was Saturday evening (27th October)
This year it was a joint party with a friend of the family - a little boy who was celebrating his 7th birthday. The venue was a local community centre and this year My Nan would be there.

We got a taxi up there after 6 and unfortunately we were a little late. I had thought the party started at 6.30 but it was a 6pm start after all. When we arrived the games were in full swing. We went and sat with my Nan and watched as the kids got excited.
Guess what? I got my camera out to take some piccies only to find that I had left my memory card in the laptop. I was so annoyed. I would have to resort to taking pictures and videos on my phone...Oh guess what?? I ran out of memory...D'OH

It was an enjoyable evening as we watched the kids play musical statues and bumps and musical chairs. We missed pin the tail on the donkey but we were invited to join in when they played a game with 4 chairs. The 4 of us took a chair each and we were given names...I don't know if Ange was trying to tell me something when she named me Goofy!!
So the music plays and the children dance and when the music stops they run to a chair, then someone calls out a name (Goofy/Minnie/Mickey/Donald) and if you are stood at that chair you are out.

After the kids party finished about 7.30 they got the Singstar and the PS2 out and it was singing time. Ange kept trying to persuade me to have a go but it is so long since I have sung that I just couldn't- especially in front of people that I sort of know but not very well. I am fine in front of total strangers however...

They had the use of the hall until 10pm so about 9.30 the big cleanup began. Ange came over to me and said that they were all going back to someones house and I was welcome if I wanted to. Bearing in mind I was the only one not to have had a drink that evening it could have been a disaster but I decided to go along if only to keep Nan company.

I did end up having a go on the Singstar later on. I sang twice with Ange, the first time we sang Dido (Thank you) and she trounced me but the second time we sang Duran Duran (Hungry like the Wolf) and i won. I actually could start to see why everyone was addicted to it. There might be a game or 2 of this in someones Christmas stocking this year...

We stayed there until about 1am and then walked back to Ange's. She has done a lot of work since the last time I was there (Last Christmas) and the place looks really nice...If only I could achieve such a look.

We rang and taxi which we shared with Debz and her bf and got home about 2ish I think...Hard to gauge as the clocks went back at sometime in between.

Lunchtime drinkies

Friday it was that time again when I met me old friend Lisa for a session in town.
We arranged to meet at 12 outside the council houses and go on from there. In fact as soon as we met we didn't even discuss the venue, we both just automatically walked to the nearest Wetherspoons pub where we had met last time. The best thing about Wetherspoons is that they don't have pumping music going on so you can just chat away and not have to shout your heads off to be heard.

It was a great afternoon of chat, gossip, bitching, moaning and a lot of laughing.
We stayed until about 4.30 but then it started to get a bit busy and the bar waiting time was too long so Lisa suggested we go somewhere else.

Talk about rough! The the pub we went on to was awful. Neither of us had been in there before and we won't be going back in a hurry. The Woman behind the bar should have given us a clue to run while we still had the chance...added to the hard-faced barmaid was the fact that they have obviously just had a paint job and it stunk. We didn't stay too long before we were on our way and it was time to get back home.

I stopped off at the Chinese on the way home for King Prawn & Chicken curry with a bag of prawn crackers to go with it.

Car crash

We were sitting here Thursday night watching Dragon's Den on Dave when We heard screeching wheels then a big thud that shook the whole building.
I looked out to see a smoking car up against a tree across the road and 2 youths running away.

There were already people out there and 2 guys had phones presumably phoning the police. 1 of the guys ran to the car and opened the back door, I think he thought someone was still in there.
It took a while for the police to arrive but quite a crowd had gathered in the meantime. The fire service arrived shortly after and investigated in the car as well as hosing it down to make sure it wasn't going to explode.

It was about an hour before the tow truck got there but then they took away the car and it was all over. There is a lot of burning on the ground and the road and the residue of the foam which the fire service left behind to make sure there was no after burning.

I believe DD took pictures with her phone so I may or may not upload those for you to see lol

A day spent in great company

I have been looking forward to today for ages as my old friend Brian was visiting again. He hasn't been over to Derby since I moved and I was excited to show him the new home as well as take a trip to the new Westfield with him.

I got up early to do a bit of tidying and then left the house at about 10.40am to go meet Brian off his bus. It was very chilly and I was so glad of my big warm coat. Mind you by the time I had walked into town I was sweating a little.

The bus got in right on time although he told me it had left late. We took a walk up through town to the shopping centre.
Bri seemed very impressed and we took a walk around the whole place and even went up to the 3rd floor. The view of the Mall was amazing and yes I took more pictures.



After the grand tour we retired to Costa coffee for one of their extremely large cups of java (With 2 handles) and chatted about what we have been doing recently. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for lunch so I was hoping that Brian would fancy something in particular but he didn't. In the end we headed for Sainsbury's. I bought some Pizzas and Salad and Gorgeous Taste the difference Ice Cream (2 for £3) Cookies and Cream flavoured and Pavlova then we headed back home.

We watched a bit of Will and Grace and then I got the Blackpool DVDs out. Of course you know I could have sat and watched the whole lot but sadly Brian was on a time constraint because of the buses. He asked if he could watch the last 2 episodes of Skins. I couldn't find my copy anywhere so I downloaded them and burned them to disc. We watched episode 8 (Ahh Sid and Cassie) but I gave him ep9 to take home (Update is that disc was faulty so he still hasn't seen the great finale)

At 6.20pm we set off back into town for him to catch the bus home. I didn't want him to go as the day had gone so quickly but I reluctantly waved bye-bye. I walked up to McDonald's then so I could surprise the kids by taking them burgers back home. Big Macs all round!

Oh yeah DD and her friend also had eventful day as they made a very early start to go to Notts to meet McFLy - Well 1 half of the band anyway. It was Harry and Tom. They set off at 6am and got home about 2pm. They were very happy. DD has now framed her signed cds and vinyl and has them very proudly hung on her bedroom wall.

RIP Grandad

Friday October 19th was my Grandad's funeral. The only time they could book it for though was 9am which meant that we had to travel down Thursday night and stay over.

First of all though we had some errands to run.
I had made an appointment for DD to have her haircut at 10am. DD's hair is extremely long and thick so I imagined it would take a while. As it happens It only took around 40 minutes although most of that was the drying stage. I felt sorry for the poor girl doing the cut as her hand was close to dropping off - And if anyone says that it looks like it hasn't been cut then they should have been there because it looked like there was a great woolly Mammoth growing out of the floor there was so much hair.

After DD was finished it was the turn of DS but I took him to a trendy new Gents Hairdressers in the Westfield. It is called Bloke and it is very posh. Each seat had a TV screen showing Sky sports and also on the wall was a large screen showing music channels. So at least there was something for me and DD to do whilst DS was having his barnet coiffured.
That didn't take too long and next job on the list was to get tops for the children to wear to Granddad's funeral. I had already gotten them trousers.

It wasn't as hard a job as I had anticipated. Matalan was our first stop and Bingo! DS chose a very smart black shirt and DD chose a smart fitted black jumper with the fake white shirt. OK so it might have looked like her school uniform but I like it and at least my over-critical sisters couldn't say I hadn't made an effort.

As we were finished early we had time to have a look round the centre and spend time in some shops that we hadn't had chance to explore yet.

We planned to catch the 18.24 train to Cov (change at Brum) but we arrived earlier so caught the 18.06. When we got to Brum I looked for the next available train to Coventry and it was about to leave so we hop-footed it down the platform and only just got on by the skin of our teeth. DD had visions of getting left behind but all was well. Unfortunately the train was quite packed so DS got a seat and me & DD stood in the vestibule near to the luggage rack. We arrived at my Nan's an hour later at 19.30 which was good going if you ask me. We were starving when we got there so Nan cooked us Bacon and Eggs. I was surprised at how well she was. She seemed very upbeat and not at all nervous or sad about the following day.

We had a long day ahead of us so 11pm was time for Bed. The children got snuggled up in their sleeping bags on the living room floor and I shared with Nan. I really couldn't get any sleep though. I was freezing cold all night although I was sweating. I think I was feeling mixed emotions about the next day.

We got up about 7am Friday. The funeral cars were arriving at 8.30 and my sisters and their partners would be arriving little before that. We all managed to be up and ready though and not embarrass ourselves.

Of course this was not our first funeral but it was for the children so i wouldn't have been surprised if they too had mixed emotions about it.
The cars arrived a little late and we all piled in. My sisters and my children and I rode with Nan in the main car and the partners rode with the other neighbours and friends in the second car.
It was a mighty long way to the Crematorium and I didn't think I would make it without having to spew my guts up. So many things were running through my mind.

When we arrived and the undertakers opened the doors for us, I suddenly cracked. I watched them take my Grandad out of the hearse and a huge lump formed in my throat. I thought I was going to start crying before I even went inside. My auntie appeared at my side. She is my Dad's younger sister so I don't know what that makes her to my Grandad but she said she had to be there to represent my Dad's side of the family as since my own parents died, My Nan and Grandad had been there for us more than they had. I was so glad she was there as it has been quite a few years since I saw her last (Ange and Rob's wedding I think which was 2000)

We were lead into the chapel and seated at the front. My Nan had chosen to have a Methodist service and it was a woman vicar but she gave a fantastic service and a great account of my Grandad.
I was bearing up well until she started talking about The family and how Grandad was so proud of all of us. This is where I just lost it and started crying. I noticed my sisters also were crying and also DS. Unfortunately he had sat at the end with DD in the middle of us so I couldn't reach to hug him and all I could do was put my hand on his leg. I could hear my Nan sobbing and I wanted to be strong for her.

Once the service was over and we got outside, I could comfort my boy. I gave him a big hug as did each of his aunties and my auntie too.
After a few moments chatting we went over to see the flowers. Finally I got to see the gorgeous spray of Lilies I chose. It was huge and what great value for money. My sisters had also sent gorgeous flowers. Ange a beautiful wreath with Grandad on and Debz a beautiful yellow cushion also with Grandad on. It is such a shame they don't last as they were all beautiful but of course the best of all was Nan's gorgeous Red heart made up of red Roses and Carnations.
When we had said our goodbyes to the other guests it was back to Nans to devour all the fantastic food she had laid on.

Once back at Nan's house, we managed to banish Nan to the front room to be with her guests whilst the 3 of us sisters and the 2 children fixed the food and drinks. Debz was in charge of making the teas while I set to cooking the Pizzas - Ironic as I never get them right at home.
My Nan was over the moon as Grandad's nephew had come with his daughter and they had a lot of catching up to do. It was great to have a little role reversal for a change.
Once all the kitchen jobs were done, we joined them in the lounge to here stories of days gone by and of Grandad and his family. I couldn't believe how much he was like him.

They stayed until nearly mid-day which was great for Nan as she didn't have to put up with just us lot. After that she tried to force as much food down us as possible. Unfortunately DD wasn't feeling too well and everything she did eat ended up back in the toilet within an hour. This didn't look good for going home. Another couple of hours though and she was feeling better and eating more.
I had printed out the train times home and decided to catch the 16.24 train home as it was straight through...Bad decision!!!
Nan packed us up some of the remaining food to take home and although I hoped Rob might offer to take us to the station a little crisis occurred with Nan's neighbour so while he took charge of that Nan called us a cab. We got to the station in plenty of time but when the train arrived it was already packed to the hilt. The children managed to find themselves seats as others got up ready to get off at the Airport but I had to stand with my case just in the aisles. Luckily though there were a lot of people getting off at Brum and we managed to sit down together for the rest of the journey. It went by without incident although the train manager was appealing for passengers travelling through to Northern destinations to get off at Derby and get the next train but I don't know how many did this.
By 6pm we were home and DS was planning on going to Youth so all was well.

It is weird in a way but I am already missing my Grandad. In my later years we weren't that close but although we are only his step-family since my Mum died he has treated me like a daughter. I will never forget the things he and Nan has done for me and I know that sometimes he has favoured me over my sisters (Although for the most time he always tried to treat us equally) He will be sadly missed by all of us. My Nan is being so brave and looking forward to the future but I know she misses him dearly. I am just so grateful that she has so many great friends and neighbours who will be there for her through the hard times.

RIP Grandad, we love and miss you.

Sleeping in my own room

I might still be surrounded by boxes but I can now at least sleep in my own room.
I put a bit of carpet down and have DS' spare mattress for the time being until I get a new bed.
It beats sleeping on the sofa I have to say as I can now turn off the TV and go to bed rather than just dozing in front of the TV all night which is what I have been doing.
My room is really warm too as the radiator is quite big and the room is really small so even lying on the floor is warm and I rarely need the duvet.

Back from Cov

So I finally got to spend some time with my Nan over the weekend.
I got the train at 10am on Saturday morning. The journey was so easy which is unusual as it always goes wrong when I go down there. I got to Brum and there was a train just about to go out. I was sat on my Nan's sofa by 11.30am

We sat and had a coffee and a chat then we caught the bus to town to get our flowers for Grandad's funeral.
The woman at the flower stall was loverly. She was very helpful and although she showed us the catalogue she said that she could do any arrangement in any size for any price. I chose a gorgeous spray of Lilies and Nan chose a red heart. They were priced very reasonably too. The hardest thing was writing the cards. Nan got very upset and could hardly write her card.

We had look round the market. It was amazing how many people and stall holders stopped us to offer their condolences. So many people knew and thought a lot about my Grandad.
We then went on the hunt for somewhere to eat.
We ended up in the Woolworths cafe which probably wasn't the best choice. They were just closing and didn't have much.
The woman offered to make us some sandwiches but it seemed to take an age and we were the only people in the cafe. In fact the whole store itself wasn't very busy. It isn't often you see Woolworths half empty whatever town you are in.


We did get our sandwiches eventually and my Tuna sandwich was lovely. We left pretty quickly though as it was like being in a ghost town.



We then made our way to the bus stop to get back as Nan was adamant that I shouldn't miss the football (England V Estonia)

On the way back we visited Nan's neighbour who has been a great support to her during Grandad's Illness and also since he died. It is great that she has such great friends. This particular neighbour is making a collection of the whole neighbourhood in my Grandad's memory to donate to the Air Ambulance which is my Nan's charity of choice.

When we got in I had already missed the goal but we had a drink and watched the rest of the game.

The evening was lovely as Nan and I sat and watched TV and chatted together. It reminded me of the days when Nan used to come and stay and we would sit in my house and chat about random stuff and watch TV together. We went to bed about midnight.

Sunday we were up at 8am. By the time I got up Nan had already got dressed and gone to the shop for the paper. I am not used to getting up so early on a Sunday. When she came back we sat and read the papers.

My train back was 13.24 so at 12 she cooked me a late breakfast of Bacon, Egg and Sausage. My taxi arrived at 12.30 and it was time for me to say goodbye. I really didn't want to leave her but I had to get back to the kids and get their uniforms washed for Monday (Did I mention my washer still isn't working??)
Ironically the taxi driver remembered picking Nan and Grandad up occasionally and was shocked when I told him the news. We laughed at how Nan always seemed to be nagging him when they got in the taxi.

The journey home was straight forward again. In fact it was running early and I was home for 3.30pm

Visitor

I got a visit from my friend Dot today. She has really let herself go recently...

Sad News

My Nan called at 7.45 this morning to tell me that Grandad passed away in the early hours.
They had called from the hospital at 4am to tell her that he was deteriorating but she couldn't get to the hospital at that hour so she waited until it got light but unfortunately he passed away before she could get there to be with him.
Luckily Debz had planned to go down today and she will stay until Friday so I think I will probably go down on Friday to stay with her.

Grand opening

Today was the highly anticipated opening of our all new shopping centre by Westfield.




Derby always had it's own lovely little shopping centre called the Eagle centre. So named after the street where it was built on. It was taken over a few years ago by multi-National company Westfield and that saw the end of our unique little shopping experience. For the past 2 years they have been building and expanding to bring it into line with it's Malls across the world.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for progress and I love shopping in the Victoria centre/Broadmarsh in Notts so I have no problem with it, it is just a little daunting.

I paid a visit to the new centre this morning to see what all the fuss was about and I have to say "WOW!" It is massive. It goes on forever and it is full of shops that frankly I have never heard of and I am afraid I shall probably never have cause to visit.

It is very impressive though and I will probably just enjoy walking round and maybe having a drink in the huge food court or in one of the many coffee bars.



This is the stage where the grand opening is to be held. I hear it was Tess Daly booked to cut the ribbon although I missed all that as I had to get back home to wait for the delivery of my new carpets lol

Another accomplishment

Sorry its been nearly a whole week since i posted last. This is because I have really had nothing to report.
I have done little jobs round the house and we are getting there. If only I could shift this cold I could do a hell of a lot more but my asthma is really holding me back right now and this is frustrating as I really want to get into my bedroom but any heavy lifting is right out of the question.

Friday night I got a call from my Nan telling me that my Grandad had been rushed into hospital. He has pneumonia and was on machines to help him breathe as well as on a drip. He had severe pain down his side and was unable to move. Nan seemed to be upbeat about it but she never tells the full story. I rang both my sisters to tell them and eventually did get through to Ange.

Downstairs had another all-nighter Friday night although the music wasn't as full on as last week so I did finally manage some sleep. I don't think that it ever actually ended as there was a lot of noise coming from the flat all day Saturday.

Saturday I finally got my cooker on. The guy had come round Friday but I still hadn't found one of the ring discs so he was unable to do it. Luckily I found it and he was able to come Saturday morning. That was great as I was really looking forward to cooking a Sunday lunch (Saturday tea actually)
We also went shopping for carpets on Saturday afternoon. I was desperate to get carpets for the kids rooms so that they can finally get unpacked and settled in their rooms. It actually ended up being really easy. I gave the kids a budget and let them go off to look round. DD wants Green and DS wants Blue. I was also looking for a carpet for the hall although it isn't immediately important. I didn't find what I was looking for but DD found a nice carpet at £5 a square metre and DS found a nice blue rollend that fit the bill. It cost £200 altogether so I have about 180 left for a hall carpet or maybe a new bed (Which I really need to get )

Saturday morning Ange phoned me to say that her and Debz were going to Cov to see MY grandad in hospital. She didn't ask if I wanted to go but DS wasn't here and we had arranged to go for the carpets anyhow. I told her to let me know later how he was.
In the evening it was the return of the BBC hit series Robin Hood. Of course, It was during this that Debz rang me to tell me what had happened at the hospital.
Grandad is a lot better now and is able to eat and talk and get up to go to the loo on his own so that is a big relief both for us and for Nan. She is going to be exhausted though with all the travelling to hospital and back as it is a 2 bus 2 hour journey each way and the visiting hours aren't exactly OAP friendly either!

Sunday was just supposed to be a chill day. Sit back and watch Derby on the TV but they lost again so that put paid to a great Sunday...

Bumper Tuesday Blogpost

Tuesday was the first Target setting day of the new term. As usual neither of my children managed to get appointments with any of their lesson teachers. You could understand it if they were underachieving but they are reaching all their targets well before time so I think it is just laziness that they never let me see any of their other teachers.

Our appointments were 1.30 and 1.40 but I had a busy morning before that as the men from the council were coming to repair my security features.

First of all at about 10am the man came to fix up the intruder alarm and finally show me how to use it. It feels so good to have it finally working. The control panel has been sat there staring at me the whole time and i got frustrated that I wasn't able to use it.

Next at about 11.30 the guy came to fix the video intercom system. It was so messed up that he put in a whole new unit. It is absolutely cool. I can now see who is at the door and I don't have to run down to let anyone in as I can just press the button and the door opens itself. It will be great for Jehovah's witnesses and the like as I can just tell them to go away without having to run up and down the stairs.
The best thing I like about it though is if we are out or indisposed and don't answer the door then it records a picture with the time and date so we will always know if we have missed visitors. I just can't wait now until we get some actual visitors...

My meetings at school ran as they usually do. DD is on course for great grades in her GCSEs. I am a little confused though as it seems that 3 of the exams she took at the end of last year have already given her 3 GCSE grade Cs. When I was at school we took our exams in the spring of the 5th year but It is all different now as they take them right from the fourth year(yr 10) all the way through at odd times.

I got to meet DS' new form tutor and although she did have more info for me about his grades than his old one, she didn't particularly have much to say other than how brilliant he is. Ok so I know that and I couldn't ask for much more but I would like to know exactly what he is so brilliant at in a bit more detail.

Next we had a special meeting with DS PE teacher - surprisingly for me as PE was always his weakest activity. He has been picked to take part in the gifted and talented program working towards the JSLA (junior sports leadership award). The (very easy on the eye) Sports teacher told me that DS has a talent for picking up strategies and routines and is often given the task of leading class warm ups. With this course he could go on to get refereeing qualifications which would be excellent for him. Of course the major good thing that I could see to come out if this is it will make great reading on his CV along with all his academic achievements. DS is all blase about it though and doesn't seem to see it for the big deal it is.

The great thing about living here now is it took 10 minutes to walk home and downhill all the way.

I spent the rest of Tuesday working on my website. http://jembie.co.nr The music page needed updating since the break up of Albion. I really want to put a music player on there though so that will be the next job to find a decent music player so I can add some music from the artists featured on my page. Next job is the TV page to add such shows as Eureka, The 4400 and Bones

Premier league All stars - Boro the Champions

Well as you know I don't have Sky TV so I have not been able to watch any of this series but I found out this morning that Middlesbrough got through to the final and beat West Ham to take the title of Premier league Allstars 2007.

Not only that, It was our very own (OK I can dream) Alistair Griffin that scored the winning goal to win the game.
So well done Al. I am glad you got to play in all the games and got yourself a bit of screen time and some column inches too.




I still wish I could have seen the show though, as another old favourite of mine was playing for Boro - Craig Hignett. As well as Jason McAteer playing for Liverpool (Against Derby no less)

Lazy Sunday afternoon

DD and I were supposed to be sorting all the junk from my new bedroom so I can lay the carpet and actually start sleeping in there but I was distracted by the computer and never got round to it.

DS wasn't here anyway as he had stayed over at a mate's house Satdee night. He didn't get back until nearly 6pm and by then it was too late to start so I guess it has to be Monday now. I really am getting fed up on sleeping on the sofa.