Gosh...

...so much for saying I'd be blogging more.

To be fair, I've got a pretty good excuse.

This picture was taken on the 15th of November.

Then these pictures were taken on the 13th of December.

So I'd say that's a pretty good excuse really. ;-)

What with my dreadful past history and all (2, 3, 4), the doctor signed me off work as soon as I went in there with my positive test. This was a very good thing, as apart from all the pre-planned pills I needed a course of antibiotics that basically led to me sleeping right through November. Seriously. For five weeks I was awake for about three hours a day and either asleep or dozing the rest of the time. Thank goodness for audiobooks!

But since I'm 14 weeks and two days pregnant today, oh and cos it's my birthday, I thought I'd spread a little bit of sunshine into the post-Christmas gloom. (I'm back at work tomorrow too!)

I also want to say a massive THANK YOU!!! to the lovely folks who have been aware from the start and kept me going through my paranoid days. You lot are real blessings.

(I won't finish this post by saying I'm going to blog more, cos that'll just jinx it...again.)

Well...

...that was number 4.

A few of you might remember this post about history repeating. (If you don't, follow the link and read it).

Well it did.

The day after we got back from our lovely Lanzarote holiday I peed on a stick. And it told me that I'd probably be avoiding chocolate for 8 months or so.

Unfortunately last Tuesday there was another little bit of history that repeated itself.

Namely, this bit.

Once again we went for the first scan, and once again there was no heartbeat.
The plan then was to go back in the following Tuesday (tomorrow) for another scan, and then to be "surgically managed" on Wednesday. My body had other ideas and tomorrow's scan is now to check that it's done it all itself with no help from any doctors.

I have spent the last week in a bit of a fog, well to be honest a lot of a fog. Anthony is pretty much the same, he just doesn't know what to do with himself or how to help me. Therefore when he hasn't been at work he has been getting himself hooked on The Walking Dead or having mad organising sprees in the garden.

I have been lucky enough not to have to go into work (fat lot of use I'd have been there anyway) and have instead been blasting through some achievements on WoW.

This had its own side effect, the PC had a fatal error on Saturday morning and we had to go and buy a new one. But that's another post

However every terrible thing brings good things in its wake. In this instance it has brought postmen bearing chocolate gifts from fabulous people, it has had me giggling at links on Twitter posted by people trying to get me to smile, it also had me in tears with surprise when the person knocking at the front door turned out not to be a salesperson, but instead a Kayels bearing flowers and cupcakes.

These people are my real true blessings from this. The people who may not live just round the corner (and those that do and offered to post me bread through the letter box one slice at a time so as not to disturb me) but who are no less my friends because of their geographical distance.

You have all been real heroes this week, thank you so SO much.

Blog Fail...

...Epic.

Since I'm on holiday there is absolutely no excuse for not posting. Well, apart from the WoW playing and book reading and naps on the sofa with the cats and trying to get the V+ box down to under 40 hours of recordings...

Sorry

Here is the meal I made two weeks ago (after the Chinese GP)

Chicken with Chorizo
It was ok but I won't be cooking it again. Partly because we discovered that Anthony is not a huge fan of chorizo, and partly because all the prep for it took bloody ages. (Which is not good when you are overtired and very hungry). Watching Anthony waving a red pepper over the gas rings in an attempt to char the skin so we could peel it was mediumly humorous, but since the unpeeled yellow pepper ended up fine, that step can definitely be missed out. So it was nice, but far too much faff for me.

Last Saturday I cooked the Chicken in Garlic Sauce for Angie, Paul and Joe and they were all very impressed. I was also impressed as after the pepper charring incident I had forgotten how straightforward the recipe was and was expecting lots of faff. No faff, just lovely food and lovely sauce and lovely people to eat it with.

Next Sunday I shall not be cooking as I shall be at work, but for the Sunday after that I think I'm going to go for something basic - possibly a nice Cottage Pie.

I have had...

...a very relaxing five days off. Well, four so far and then rest of today which will be the only one of those days sans Anthony. Which has been lovely too.

We have both had haircuts, we've driven round various areas of Wolverhampton trying to find bits that we'd like to live in, we've been to Waitrose three times and Hobbycraft once and we've got the V+ Box down to 40 hours of free space (rather than 5).

Anthony showed amazing patience when helping me choose a new pair of trainers:
K - Not those ones
A - Why not?
They've got too much white on them
What about these ones?
Too grey
How about these?!?
Yuck!
These ones? (said through gritted teeth)
Hmmm....
Eventually I decided on a pair of the Hmmm... ones (what do you mean you can't tell the difference?)

(pictures (in order) for those who did not want to link click)




They also ended up being men's ones rather than women's, partly due to the fact that all the men's ones were out for people to try while you had to ask for the women's ones (and I couldn't put the poor shop guy through it).

That's the first pair of trainers I've owned in 15 years...my last pair were for PE at school and they lasted through my gym moments at uni too. Since then I've not really worn trainers, and the pair of Anthony's that I "borrow" are a size too big and so unrunnable in. Not that I'm about to take up running. Definitely not.

On Sunday I cooked up some Veal Scaloppine. Or at least I would have done had Waitrose had any veal left. They did not, so instead we had Pork Scaloppine.


I very slightly over salted it (due to not being used to using salt when cooking but following instructions in the book to the letter) but Anthony said it was "Bloody lovely". So that was a success.

In two weeks time I have promised to cook Chicken in Garlic Sauce for Angie, Paul and Joe - eeek! Cooking for real people! People who won't be afraid to tell me if it is actually inedible (Joe), but who will also pour me more wine if it is (Angie and Paul). Angie also hit the nail on the head when she called me a 'dinner party cook'. It's true, cooking is such a big event for me at the moment. One of the reasons she therefore decided I should have a dinner party!

Back to work tomorrow...I have three days in, then one off, then four in, then NINE off! (Then my next break is June, then Monza!)

The company...

...that Anthony works for do an event each year for their top drivers. People at each depot put themselves forward for it and the winner at each gets some Supercheques (that you can exchange for vouchers for most high street shops) and also gets to go on a jolly.

They all go up to ProDrive and speed around in fast cars, play golf, or demonstrate how well they can reverse park an HGV (eep), for doing all these better than anyone else they can win prizes too, but bascially they have a very nice time. At the end of the thing the company announce an HGV winner, a van driver winner and second and third place winners (either vehicle).

Two years ago Anthony won himself an iPod (my iPod...) and last year he won a video camera. Last year he also won the second prize, which was a weekend away in the UK - which we still haven't taken yet. That was a great win as he hadn't been going to go as it was the weekend after Dad died, but my mother insisted and then he won that!

Last night I'd gone to the pub with Angie (my ex-next-door-neighbour) while he was out on his jolly. About 11pm my phone rang.

Partly it was so he could tell me that Tim Harvey had driven him round the track in an Aston Martin DB9 (jealous drool), but it was also to tell me that he'd won another prize.

This time he won the big one.

H.G.V. Driver of the Year

I'm so immensely proud of him that I could burst! But I'm not going to. Otherwise I would miss out on my weekend away in Europe...

Monza in September 2009 has been suggested...