0ddness II - A New Beginning

For those of you living under a rock, or more specifically, that aren't on my Facebook (OR have me muted... I know who you are...) you will be aware that August has been, well, mentally manic at Chez 0ddness.

With it being Summer Holidays and all the kids being home, with Kellie working, it was decided that - what the hell - we'd sodding well move house too. Because why not?

We've been wanting to move for ages. Chez 0ddness is was beyond cramped. Granted, it was a three bedroom town house (ground floor, middle floor, top floor) BUT it was narrow. For a regular sized family, it was a little tight, but for the tribe...

Put it this way - our bedroom was in the dining room.

Finally, we found a house that we loved, and thus started the long process of acquiring said-house. It was lovely - big, open, spacious, big kitchen, big lounge, lovely garden, big living room... And finally, mid-August, we were given the green light.

And thus began one of the most stressful self-induced hellish fortnights of my life. I won't go into too much detail. It wasn't the move per sé, and it wasn't leaving Chez 0ddness exactly... It was the mess. The chaos. The disorganisation. The "Shit There Is So Much To Do But We Seem To Be Getting No Where" feeling...

My brain isn't wired for this sort of thing. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the loss of control, the upheaval, even the change... But I was a wreck. In agony and pushing through by day, sobbing in the dark by night.

People kept saying to me "It'll be worth it in the end" and "Think of how wonderful it'll be" and similar phrases. But they didn't help.

Being told those things, while literally surrounded by boxes, rubbish sacks, mess, dust and a list as long as my arm...

Quite how I didn't just run and hide I don't know.

Surprisingly, we were pretty much ready *cough*though not really*cough* in record time. The weekend of the 30th/31st August become Official 0ddness Moving Weekend, and all troops were mobilised. The kids were "helping", Kerry and James were slaving away, Mick from work helped, the 0dd Mother and the 0dd Mother-in-Law helped, Callum & Kathleen were beavering away with Dom & Molly...

Again, hell, chaos, nightmare, mess, disorganisation...

BUT by late Saturday evening, the new front door was closed, everyone had a bed, and all was quiet. We sat and ate takeaway on the living room floor. We could breathe.

We were in.

And thus begins a new chapter in our lives. Chez 0ddness is no more. Chez English is the in thing now. WE have a home. Kellie doesn't "live with me" any more. We live together.

Yes, we are still working our way through boxes. Yes, there is still plenty to do. Yes, I still want to run and hide and scream and cry. BUT there are no more deadlines. No more time limits. I cleared through a few boxes in the living room yesterday. Today, I might not do anything.

I want to thank everyone that helped out once more... Because without everyone helping, we'd never have managed it. Kerry & James were absolute troopers - Kerry had to drive the truck (I know, a woman driving a truck! AND there were ZERO deaths as a direct result of her driving!), and James was DIY Man (because I am still not allowed to use power tools). Callum & Kathleen (Kerry & James' two eldest) helped the kids sort their rooms. Our mums were amazing help - the 0dd Mother-in-Law was driving backwards and forwards, carting things around, buying food, and helping with the packing & clearing up, while the 0dd Mother sorted all the houseplants, made up big garden pots of flowers, and has been helping out with other bits as well. Mick from Work helped James with some of the DIY, and was brilliant at shifting and straightening heavy furniture. The kids were all great, helping out, carrying, lifting, clearing, tidying...

And for you that could see I was a mess, and keeping me sane via messaging, thank you... From convincing me not to kill anyone, for telling me murder is bad, and for keeping me as sane (yes yes, I know...) as humanly possible...

Thank you everyone.

I am aware that there is a distinct lack of pictures of the house so far... And I will remedy this as soon as possible. I was hoping to take pictures without boxes in frame, but suspect that might be a while away. So I WILL do pictures soon. Suffice to say, the house is like us. A bit strange, a bit 0dd, a bit weird, and the outside doesn't tell you anything about what's going on on the inside.

Welcome to Chez English.

Kellie: Still Not Dead (Somehow)

For those of you that have been listening/reading to me prattle on for the last 24 hours, you will know that this morning, Kellie has had yet another medical appointment in regards to her Cardiac Shenanigans. And her Triglyceride Hilarity.

For the previous instalment of "Limited-Days-Of-Her-Life" feel free to read the mini-update in the middle of this post here, or additionally you can see more of her nastiness going on in this post too.

After dragging myself from the bed and into the shower, out again, getting dried and dressed, we trundled out into Deepest Darkest Basildonia. Full of Basildonians it was, too. But we got to the hospital forty minutes early. A nurse called her in and did some preliminary bits, and then they wanted her to have an ECG... For which the nurse made her get completely topless.

Not that I am one to complain, of course.

That done, we went and sat back in the waiting room for ten minutes, and the doctor called her in. At least, *a* doctor called her in. Not the man we were expecting to see, but an SHO - which, of course, was unsurprising. Seeing your actual consultant when it comes to medical things is a rarity at the best of times - as Kellie was walking, breathing and talking (and talking and talking...) she probably didn't hit the flags for seeing the man named on her letter.

The doc we saw (and his two students) was nice enough, and very thorough... However, little dingly-dangly bells were sounding when, despite us being there for Cardiac Arrhythmia, Cardiac Palpitations, and being in the Cardiac Department, the first thing he wanted to know about was...

Her cholesterol?

So - as is the normal for anything long-term-medical in this country - we had to explain what was going on, the last 2-3 years of medical history, things that have happened, doctors and procedures she's been through... BUT, as we pointed out several times, we were here for her cardiac stuff, not her Triglycerides.

Now, I will digress from this point, and go out on a limb and suggest that her Cardiac stuff, and stupidly-high-triglycerides are somehow related. I don't know how, and I am not entirely sure I am certain, but they have been two problems together from around the same sort of time - it was her cardiac stuff originally that prompted a blood test, and that blood test is the one that came back with the numbers through the roof: Her blood test showed her Triglycerides to be 21.6, which, in US terms is (apparently!) over 1900. A "Very High" rating over here is anything over 6.5.

Hence the blood test lab calling the GP directly.

Back to today:

So we tell the doctor about all the Cardiac stuff, and he actually does appear to listen and understand what we're saying, our worries and concerns and everything else. He flicks through the (worryingly) small pile of notes, none of which appears to show the fact a Paramedic attending one of her worst cardiac events, nor did it show that another of these events prompted me to drag her to A&E where the doctor there was more worried she was having a heart attack.

He goes over her ECG - which is, as usual, normal, because as we've told them over and over - her problems are intermittent, not constant - and he agrees with us, and proceeds to order a seven-day cardiac monitor to try and catch it.

At one point he did try to, shall we say, press her into going back onto Statins. Now, I may have mentioned it elsewhere, but not long after Kellie started on these statins, she changed. It's hard to explain how, but she lost interest in things, in family, in friends, in hobbies... Now, despite there being no official link between statins affecting a persons character, a quick search of Google will show countless reports of people suffering the same side-effect. They start the drug, their personality changes, they come off the drug, they slowly come back to normal. We managed to get her off the statins a while ago, and onto Ezetimibe (like a statin, but NOT a statin, and just as good apparently), plus high doses of Niacin which is also very good for combating lipids/triglycerides/cholesterol, and high-doses of Omega-3.

Like I said, he tried to get her back on statins, but she refused - we're not willing to go through that again. So instead, he's stopped the Ezetimibe and Omega-3, and started her on Fenofibrate... And while we're not officially dieting any more, we're going to be back to "more mindful" of what we eat. However, since being back on Slimming World, I do tend to cook most things from scratch anyway - just going to increase the amount of vegetables and oily fish in her diet.

Simples.

All in all, it did go quite well, though I think Kellie was hoping more for "This is what is wrong, this is how we're going to fix it" even though I did sort of pre-warn her this morning to not get her hopes up and that they may not have answers after an Xray, ECG and Echo.. BUT hopefully now we have a doctor that is A) Understand, and B) Paying attention, coupled with C) our GP who is very good anyway, I am pretty sure that we are getting somewhere... YES, it is taking a while, but if this medication reduces her levels better than the Statin or the Ezetimibe, that's one thing... If the reduced triglycerides seem to have a positive affect on her in a cardiac sense, then that shows the two are hand-in-hand. Lastly, the seven-day monitoring she will have (aside from being HILARIOUS for me, and I am sure, for the blokes at work) I am hoping will show the events that she suffers with - the arrhythmia, the palpitations, and what it is - if anything - that is triggering them, then even better.

I'm hopeful that, finally, she's on the right track, and that the meds and monitor and the doctor will make a difference. As a sign that they're not worried about her (like, worried-worried) her next appointment isn't for six months. At least, it SHOULD be six months - however, the clinic doesn't have any appointments till...

July 2013.

Guess who's going to be calling up every few weeks to pester for an earlier appointment!

Big thanks to everyone that messaged in some form or another to wish her well and all the best, and for those of you that have kept me entertained - it's that or have a nervous breakdown!

New High Score!

Today, I broke two records. Most consecutive days survived, and most consecutive years survived.

Yes folks, if my mother is to be believed, today is the day a little bundle of joy arrived in her life, and grew to make her life a better experience.

At least, I'm sure that's what she meant when she says things like "bringing you up was a bloody experience"

Anyways, today would be my 36th birthday! Happy Birthday me! Thirty six years of bullying, victimising and harassing the people that I am better than - which is to say, everyone...

I have been inundated with messages on Facebook, Twitter and email, not to mention some phone calls and a metric shit-ton of text messages! Most interestingly was my first ever birthday vajazzling message* courtesy of Jenny!

On top of all these, I've been spoiled rotten by my Kellie and the kids, and will report on gifts later, but suffice to say, Kellie has pandered to my dirty little secret addiction...

On top of this, we went out for breakfast this morning, and being my birthday, I had two McDonald's breakfasts... And a JagerBomb when we got in at 11am!

This evening I am led to believe that the 0dd-Mother-in-law is coming over for dinner, so bring on the steak!

All in all, I've had a brilliant day so far, am exhausted from it all in fact, and will thank you all individually a bit later, but a massive THANK YOU to every one that has contacted me in some way today. It does mean a lot to me, and I promise I will be attempting to break my radio silence this week with news and everything else.

*The vajazzling taken seriously means you don't actually get many humor ;-)

P.S I'm publishing this on a school run via the phone, so apologies for random autocorrected typos!

And Another Week...

Time flies when you're having fun.  That's what they say.  It also seems to fly by when you're busy, when you've got loads to do, and when you want just TEN DAMN MINUTES to sit and chill out.

First off, Sunday was Fathers Day, and I was blasted awake by four kids at the crack of dawn... Well, I say crack but in actual fact, I was drugged up and it was 10am.  I barely had time to force my eyeballs open when cards, presents, balloon and THEM bouncing all over the bed.

Within minutes of managing to pry the gifts open, Kellie appeared with a plate of cooked breakfast.  Result! I was a bit worried, being Fathers Day and me being on a diet... However, Kellie did her homework, and the whole breakfast was lean or no fat, no fat used to cook it - so it was actually a healthy cooked breakfast.

And a coffee too!

I wasn't allowed to do anything all day, be it make a cuppa, put away clothes or crockery... Well and truly spoiled.  Plus, dinner was a massive roast, and Kellie had gotten me some lean sirloin steak, so I was in heaven.

I had a lovely day and it was wonderful having all four monkies charge around after me!  A very big thank you to the kids and of course, Kellie, for spoiling me, for my gifts and cards and everything.

In other news, I am now pretty much a week into the diet.  NO idea if I am losing weight or whatever, but I have to say, I am actually enjoying it.  I don't think I've ever eaten so much fruit and veg in my life.  It took me a few days to get to grips with it, but slowly but surely, we're getting there.

Last night, we took it to a completely new level, and decided we needed to do a BIG shop.  A lot of the recipes calls for various ingredients, but for most of them, I was missing one or two key ingredients, so most of them were off limits.  Last night, however, we decided to hell with it, and bought as many ingreidents as we could.  Then some more. Then general shopping. Then fruit and veg.

Long story short, we ended up with two trolleys of shopping. Yes, it cost a shed-load, BUT I can say, hand on heart and feeling very proud, not one item was a crafty sweetie, crisps, quick snacks or anything. We also got a new wok and kettle!

Two hours we were shopping. Then another 40 minutes to put it all away when we finally got it home. THEN I did dinner.  Normally, if we got in late, we'd pick up the phone and order Chinese, Pizza, Kebab, Curry - whatever.  But nope, we needed to eat, so I cooked.  Mixed vegetable stir fry, a splash of sweet and sour sauce, accompanied with chilli and lime noodles which were gorgeous.

Added to the diet, I am making myself walk, and pretty much everywhere I go is by foot now.  I've started using an Android App called CardioTrainer which was suggested by one of my friends overseas, Michelle. It lets me map my route, measures steps, speed, distance, climb... Very handy for me.

Downside... Despite trying to "push through it" I am completely drained today.  Granted, I've been busy cooking all day, but I am completely fragged, so aside from going to my second Slimming World meeting tomorrow morning, I am not planning on doing very much at all.

Which brings me on to my next subject of "Aw poor laptop" which is also fragged.  I may have mentioned a few months back, I ended up doing a repair on the part where the power lead plugs in, as some wires had come off.  Well, yesterday in a moment of stupidity, I caught my foot on the cable, and the noise told me that I had undone the work I did to repair it.

Oops.

To be honest, yesterday was a crappy day, I was bumping and farting all over the place, the laptop incident pissed me off, and it went downhill from there.  I'm really hurting, I was clumsy all day, the things I had to do didn't get done...

After a few calls, I've found someone that is going to collect, repair, and return the laptop for next to nothing, so thank goodness for that.  And if I get desperate, I've got the phone and the computer upstairs... HOPEFULLY it won't be in the repair shop for too long!

Otherwise, everything is going swimmingly.  I am soooo in my cooking bug.  I love to cook anyway, just not very confident with it, but I've got a couple of days of decent things to make.  Can't wait!

Fingers crossed for tomorrow and a weight loss.  Even a little bit is fine for me. Just going to take it a bit easy for a few days, plus Thursday, Kellie and myself and actually going out and playing Adults and not Parents.

A very big thank you to everyone that has been sending me positive stuff for my diet... I'm getting there with it, but being cheered on really helps!!  I've been updating my Diet Blog with various bits, food diary, a track of my exercise a couple of recipes to boot... 

Blog Header

For those of you asking what you missed... The blog header is a swipe at this post, with me discovering I am a misogynist .  It was made - as usual - by the fantabulous Kim Cross.

And no, we've still not had a reply from the crazy woman.  Must have been on her period or something!

Ha har! Zing!

Anyways, the offending item that started this off is still on my tagboard, 18th October 2010.  Scroll down and have a lookie see :)

It's Ma Burfday!

Yesterday saw me mark the milestone of my 34th year of existence.  For thirty four years, I have managed to not only evade Mr Death, but also evade being murdered by people I know, associate with or generally take the piss out of...

No mean feat, really, for something that is as accident-prone as myself, not to mention someone as gobby as myself.  So many times I've said or done something so stupid, it's a wonder I've walked away from it.

Yesterday, in true Dan-style, I told Kellie that I don't want a fuss, don't need pressies or spoiling or anything else...  I don't like or need a fuss and am quite content to have those I love around me.  What more could a guy want, honestly?

However, in true Kellie-style, she answered with Uh Huh and set to completely ignoring me and doing what she wanted to do for my birthday.  So, once I rolled out of bed I was instructed to go downstairs and sit.. From the bedroom door, down through the house, there are banners and balloons up everywhere.  The kids were also battering the crap out of one another with spare balloons for good measure.

So I sat, and was handed a mountain of cards from the kids, from the family, from the Kellie...  Well, actually, two from Kellie.  See, she got my card a couple of weeks ago, a "to the one I love" style.  Then after the events of last week, she decided she had to get me a "to my fiancee" card.  Bless.

Then the gifts came.  I have to be honest, I made Kellies life hard with the gift buying.  When she asked what I wanted, I honestly couldn't say "I want so-and-so" because there is nothing that pops into my mind.  So, she had to make do with things she had seen me looking at, or things I needed.

As usual, she and the kids spoiled me, got me far too much and I feel bad that they got me loads of stuff.

However, the day wasn't over, and with James & Kat down with Baby Harry (Kellies brother, sister-in-law and nephew from Devon) we were heading up to Colchester Zoo for the day.  Very nice.  So we finished getting ready, sorting out picnic bags and such like.

We nearly got there in one trip, though somehow Kellies mum, Diane, managed to miss the twenty-foot sign that said "Colchester Zoo" and we went straight past it.  Oops.

The entire day was spent looking at animals and critters and monkeys - kids included - and we had an excellent time.  Tam - who is already scared of bugs - managed to get stung by a wasp, but after liberal application of "Magic Baby Wipes" and "Magic Cream" by Auntie Kat, she was fine and dandy soon after.

We didn't get in till early evening, and after a quick dinner, we managed to throw the kids to bed, and one of my birthday presents - a bottle of amaretto - we had a nice chilled quiet evening.

Today - Saturday - I am officially knackered, but a bit later, Kellie, the kids and me are heading out once again to meet up with all of Kellies family at a nice restaurant for the afternoon.  Table for TWENTY FIVE, please...

Bring on the steak!

And again, much like my previous post, I find myself having to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone out there.  My Facebook, my email and my mobile received message after message of Happy Birthdays, so to everyone that took the time to wish me a happy birthday, Thank You!  I had a lovely day, and my lovely weekend is continuing!

Lots of Thanks

This last week has been, shall we say, a wee bit hectic with the "things" front. 

Let's be honest, getting engaged is waaaay up there, and the amount of congratulations we've received has been astounding.  Comments, Emails, Text Messages, Phone Calls...  Pretty much most of my known world has dropped some sort of congratulatory message my - sorry - our way.  To everyone that has sent messages, thank you.  Really, Thank You. 

Despite my lack of interest in the human race in general, the people I know always disprove my reasoning...  I am beyond lucky to have so many friends out there rooting for my - sorry, our well being and good stuff.  And those two silly little words - Thank and You - seem so... Inadequate? 


I've had people I've not spoken to since school, people I've worked with, people I've not seen in years appearing on Facebook or here, sending me - sorry, us, congratulatory messages.

So again, to everyone that sent a message of some kind, we are both so grateful and appreciative to know that so many people are happy and sending us love, prayers, support and everything else.  Thank you to everyone, and I hope that reading about the plans and stuff in the coming year or three isn't going to bore you to tears!

Thank You All

Yesterday was rougher than I thought it might be.  Granted, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I found myself struggling to stay focused, positive and on track.

However, one of the things that kept me going was all the support and help being sent my way.  Message after message on here, Facebook, email, text message.  People saying prayers, sending love, and making comments on how gorgeous my little Bethy is.

Kellie was there for me as she always is, listening to me prattle on about everything, holding my hand and being my shoulder to cry on and my rock.  OK, she's only tiny, so she was my pebble ;)  On the downside, she had to run off early as her son decided to go crashing down in the playground and bump pretty much his entire body.  Bless ;)

The afternoon before I got Jaysen, I hung out with Ruth, just chatting and putting the world to rights.  She had had Tam for me all morning - I didn't want to take her up to Bethys garden with me, and Ruth offered to have her.  For a couple of hours, I drank all of Ruths coffee, watched her make a stew and generall chilled out.

After the school run, Jaysen, Tamsyn and me piled back into our house and did some clearing up and tidying up before I set to doing dinner.  At which point my brain decided I wasn't quite done, so while frying some beef, I had another cry.  I blame Leona Lewis this time...  Her new song - which is a cover of a song I loved already - just seems to choke me up, and low-and-behold, it decided to come on.

Tamsyn caught me weeping - as she does, and I suspect was probably sent downstairs by her sister - and gave me a massive cuddle and kept telling me "it's OK" and "I love you daddy"  Of course, that choked me up too, so I just gave her cuddles.

After that, things seemed... I don't know - I've always been a firm believer in crying.  I'm not one of these manly blokey-blokes that holds back and grunts.  If I'm sad, I cry.

And I felt better for it.

After dinner, I felt positively more focused and with it.  Bathed the kids, got them to bed, rocked out to Dutch Trance!

So, again, to everyone - yesterday, and over the last eight years, thank you.  Thank you for being there for me, thank you for your words of encouragement, thank you for the support I've had.

But damn that Lewis woman for choking me up!

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

A Good Post

Today is V-Day. This is my positive V-Day post. As mentioned before, we don't do Valentines day. Nothing to do with not loving one another, but today has too many bad memories attact from this time in 2005. However, this post is not about that. That's next.

No, this post is to show thanks and appreciation and love to people. First, the computer saga. After lots of digging, running around and price comparing, I have to say a massive thank you to the In Laws. They might be strapped for cash, but they helped us out after much umm'ing and arr'ing, and as of this morning, I recieved a brand new computer. After spending the day fiddling and tweaking, it's as I like it, and I am once again connected.

Second, just because I can, a big hug and a kiss to Jo. I love you dearly, beautiful, and can't imagine my days without you. You put up with all my shit, my mood swings, my grumpiness and my whining about "ouch" and, more than anything, you "get" me without question.

Thirdly, to all my close friends that I harrass chat with, day and night, email, text, messenger. I'm not naming names - those that send me messages, random photos, smiley mails, or just come around to say Hi, thank you to you to.

And lastly, to all of you readers, lurkers, wanderers and everything else. 0ddness passed 50,000 hits this week. Clearly you suckers coming back for more are interested, and that's all I need, so thanks to you lot too.

Happy 14th Feb ;)

Thank You

Wow. After a day, I am still getting messages from people around the world, people I don't know, people that have read someones post on a forum elsewhere, that have sent it to their friends and family, and so on.

Yesterday, 0ddness received a lot of visitors. While statcounter tracks them all, I can only see the data for the last 100 to come through, and they were all coming from either "No Referrer" which is someone coming here direct, or for various mail programs online.

It still amazes me the massive number of people that know of us and, more importantly, Bethany, and what she went through. Not to mention how she has actually touched people she has never ever met. Then on top, there are the tributes that others have put on their blogs... Amazing.

So a big thank you to everyone that took the time to think about Bethany. It means so much to us here at 0ddness Central.

Lurkers!

So, to all the lurkers that said Hi, Hullo, Howdy and, er, something else vaguely "H" Like, Hi to you too! I received 20 comments on the actual Lurker post down there, and about a dozen mails from people that didn't want to comment, didn't know how to, or would rather just email. To all of you, thanks, and feel free to stick around!

I didn't get any questions except two, which were "Why don't you put some advertising or a paypal account on there - you could make money doing this, get a new laptop" and "Why don't you write for a living as I think people would buy your books if they were published?".

For the first, this is a hobby. I hate adverts, banners, popups and everything else out there, and to make money off people that come here and read my ramblings just seems... I don't know... Wrong, I guess is the first word that pops into my head. The fact people take time out their day to see what I have to say is gratitude enough for me, but to have them pay me? Doesn't seem right. Same goes for people asking for Link Exchanges. The links on my page are places I go a lot, blogs I read daily, sites I visit for chuckles. I'm not going to link to a site or a blog that I'm not personally interested in. As much as I'd like to buy that extra-sparkly laptop, I'm not going to force you lot to deal with banners and pop-ups because I want something.

As for the second question, hehe you have NO idea how often people suggest "You should write" or "Why don't you do a book?". So why don't I? Well, truth be told, the thought scares the bejeezers out of me for one thing, sitting, writing, in order to make a living, earn some money. Knowing that what I am writing would mean the difference between us eating or not. The second thing - what would I write about? People say I should write about our time with Bethy, but that book wouldn't have a happy ending, and I'm not sure I'd be able to write such a book. I often potter around with various types of writing - short stories, mostly - but they either end up on a dusty shelf or tucked away on the hard drive somewhere.

I've always enjoyed writing - obviously, from the crap I churn out - from D&D Games to rambling to some sort of ickle story that blossoms when I go to town, but then, I used to enjoy tinkering with computers - when it became a part of my job, it got less fun. Articles, Reviews, Magazine Columns, I don't think I have what it takes to be honest, and I am just too self-critical.

But anyway, to all you lurkery-sorts out there, I hope that answered the couple of questions I received. Now you've said Hi, feel free to comment on posts or on the Cbox to the side more often :D

All in all, Hug a Lurker week worked very well!

Merry Christmas!!

Hey Everyone!

Just thought I'd take this moment (aka, Calm Before The Storm) to wish all you of - my online family - a very Merry Christmas, and here's to a decent 2007!

Living the oh-so-hard-life that I lead, Jaysen didn't get up till 8.45am, and Tam & Jo have only just dragged themselves from the bed at 9.30am! The turkey is on, the pressies are laid out, and Santa, the messy git, made footprints throughout the house and left crumbs on the table. I think we'll have words next year...

Hope you all have an excellent few days of food/drink/friend/drink/family/drink/food/food/drink.

Thank you all of you that have been there over this year (and, of course, all the previous years!), helping us through everything and generally being there to read my rants, either here or via my emails. It means a lot to us that people we've never met are willing to give us help and advice and bear with my ramblings! So thanks to all of you!

With thanks, christmas greetings, and a hope that everyone has a great day, no matter where they are or what they are doing, Thank You, and let the good times roll!

(PS, Tim, hope you had a great Xmas Day, being that you lot are probably winding down today! hehe Crazy upside-down people!)

Happy, Well, You Know

It's been a long, interesting year, but I won't do my "round up" until the end of next week. Suffice to say, it's been busy with ups and downs, but importantly, I've gotten through it mostly intact. The reason I blog is to rant and rave and ponder and generally put crap out onto the ether. The fact people actually READ said crap is even better, so to you, my readers, Thank You.

Thanks for your input, your advice, your comments, and your sarcastic witticisms. I'm not sure that I'd keep writing if people weren't reading, but you never know. I run a few blogs, but this is my general one that everyone knows about, so this is where I keep track of everything.

To everyone out there, regardless of race, colour, creed, sex, orientation, which ever continent you live on, which ever religion you tip your hat to...