Happy Birthday Ginger One

Happy Birthday to my one and only.  I will endeavour to give you a lovely day, I'm trying not to overindulge you but this milestone deserves to be acknowledged.  After all you only turn 40 once.  Thank you for letting me share your life with you.  I love the life we have created and I am so grateful that I get to spend my days with you.  You are a wonderful man; you are kind, funny and passionate and deserve to be spoiled rotten.  I love you more than words can say.  

Strolling round the neighbourhood

After a few weeks of being under the weather I needed to get out and wanted to find a new walking place.  We’d walked around the local reservoir in the spring but I was intrigued by all of the walkers heading up into the hills.  We had checked out the forest, it seemed to be a memorial forest of some kind and I wasn’t sure I wanted to picnic there.  This time however we went for a walk and it was glorious.  Dressed in my brand new extra, extra, extra long scarf with a flask of tea we went exploring.  The trees and bushes were all on the turn and the shades of red, yellow, orange and brown made for some delightful photos.  I was proud of the photos I took so I shared them online in a Burnley residents group and they garnered a lot of positivity, particularly from Burnlians living abroad.  

A know it’s naughty

I was a little bit fed up yesterday, It started with some shocking customer service I had to wait 30mins in Starbucks for a drink while twelve people whose ordered after me got their drinks straight away.  I have complained, they gave us free drinks but still it’s left a sour taste in my mouth. 

We we received the drinks (not good) we made our way to Blackpool for the last night of Lightpool, or so the website says.  Turns out it’s on for two weeks.

We saw some of the installations just by following the families in front of us but as we left the “Sun” we were encouraged to go to the Tower to see the “Earth” by some marshalls. 

Off we went straight to thebBallroom looking for the elusive Earth.  We searched high and low for it finally giving in asking a gentleman with a badge where it was “Oh you can’t see it there’s a private party going on in the Ballroom.  Come back tomorrow.”  We’re not here tomorrow, thanks.

Feeling deflated we went to the Seafront to see what was going on there, there was something going on in half an hour they guy on the speaker informed us, a band called Poco Loco (isn’t that the chicken shop in Breaking Bad? Would be playing in thirty minutes, seriously? I spotted another installation, it had a queue but at least we’d be queuing with a purpose.  We waited in line for the light arch, the guy in the hi vis was taking photos of everyone however, just a we got to the front of the queue he went on his break.  Hey ho we still got some cracking photos and videos selfie style.

By this point we were feeling quite peckish so decided to go to The Chinese Buffet, it’s a Northern chain.  There used to be one in Halifax but it closed down and is now a super Dental Centre.  There was a thirty minute wait, no worries seemed to be the theme of the day.  So we waited and were called to the table we ordered drinks, ate some yummy food, and decided to order another drink we waited and waited and waited.  Nobody knew who was taking the drink orders so we didn’t get a second.  As I was waiting for someone I got out my phone and spotted and article online.  I was checking to see how far the car was from the restaurant, as I was ready  to call time on the day because I was getting tired. The article headline was about a Chinese restaurant called the Mandarin and it had won best Chinese restaurant in Europe recently.  “We should have gone there.” I thought, then I stopped and looked at the map back to the car.  While we sat in a grubby over busy Chinese getting no service, the car was parked outside the award winning restaurant.

“Let’s go home!” I said.

 Funnily enough even though the day hadn’t gone well, by any stretch of the imagination, neither of us thought we’d had a bad day.  The Lightpool installations we’d seen were great, the food was yummy, okay the Starbucks wasn’t great, “You win some you lose some.”  On the way back I opened Facebook to find lots of posts about the clocks going back and how people with children wouldn’t get a lie in.  It triggered me, this was the straw....   I would give anything to be woken up an hour earlier.  I found it quite upsetting I made my first meme.  It went down like a lead balloon but in the infertility group it was very well received obviously.

Going forward

 The one thing that this year has taught me is that living a life in real life and online is challenging, so I’ve decided to try to post four times a month, whether in real time or retrospectively under four headings (all will be revealed later). Hopefully this will enable good quality pieces and help me to filter out the dross that inevitably always end up posting, so long holiday countdowns.  

The four sections, one for each week perhaps, are 

Gingerbread Haus - anything house related (decoration, purchases, news)

Gingerbread Travels - places visited (holidays, day trips, planned visits)

Gingerbread Love - anything related to couple news, family news (parents, siblings, fertility/adoption updates) and friends

Gingerbread Life - date night, updates on jobs, new outfits/hairdos/fitness/health

It’s beginning to look a lot like Halloween 👻🎃

I love a festival, and have become quite American in the way I celebrate, I like to dress the house particularly the living room up for the season.  So welcome to Halloween Gingerbread style.

The Haunting Of Blaine Manor

Did I work out the big twist early on?  Yes I did

Did I find some of the acting poor?  Yes I did

Was it hot and uncomfortable? Yes it was

Did I consider leaving at the interval?  Yes I did

We didn’t though, we got some cold drinks, we moved to some empty seats and we settled down for the second act.  It got so much better, there were twists galore, the actors stepped up and the story got really creepy with so many shocks.  I’m glad we stayed and saw the whole thing, I love the fact that we can walk to the theatre, although as always here the walk back is a killer.  I can’t wait for the day when I don’t feel the incline.

Totes autumnal babes

Came home to a card telling me my parcel was behind the bench.  Don’t remember ordering anything... it’s not for me.  I phone the number on the parcel and explain I have a parcel that doesn’t belong to me.  The young girl says “we’ve been looking for that all day.” She had received a text telling her it was hidden in her garden.  She says she’ll be right over. Ten minutes later I hear girlie giggles walking to the door. “Oh my god this is the cutest door I’ve ever seen.” Says the first “Now I need pumpkins in my life!” Says the second.  Is this the way youngsters (yep I’m that old) say “lovely display you have here.” I think it is and I’m taking it as a compliment.

This is ridiculous

Almost a year to the day that I was signed off work for two weeks I have again been signed off for seven days.  While last year it was either flu/heart issues, it was flu.  This year it’s been a little more traumatic, I woke up on Thursday with blood in my knickers from my back passage.  It’s just a year I decided and made my way to work on autopilot.  I’ll make an after school appointment I said to my teacher partner.  He was a little more concerned and told me to speak to the head and go straight to the GP.  I did, I had half an hour to get to the doctors, just at that moment there was a dramatic outburst from two colleagues, even with blood leaking out of my bum hole I can’t be the centre of attention.  While explaining what had happened I knew what would happen next, I had prepared myself but still that exploration was horrible and very sore.  The doctor said she suspected it was a haemorrhoid, and that I would need to use a suppository for a week but then she dropped the clanger.  So you cannot go back to work, not with blood leaking from your behind it would be horrific. She had a point I thought, back to work tomorrow but no she signed me off for seven days.  I didn’t need seven days, everyone will think I’ve done it on purpose.  Turns out she may have a point, I’m taking stool softener and using a suppository I don’t think I could cope with school life as well.  I’m not doing much just lounging on the sofa trying to make any sudden movements.  Am I still bleeding?  Yes not as much as yesterday which was gruesome, the blood went through to my dress and my coat.  So for the next few days I suppose these emojis sum up my life; 🚀🍩💩 

Mindfulness in Action

BBC Countryfile Magazine and Calm Moment.com have put together a weeks full of mindfulness activities in the week that we have World Mental Health Day.  I am going to try to make an effort to try each activity this coming week, as I missed it last week.

Monday - Stargazing

Tuesday - Creativity

Wednesday - Foraging  

Thursday - Seaside

Friday - Wildlife

Saturday - Cooking & Baking

Sunday - Walking

I am going to try interpret these in my own way but take some time for myself.  The weeks are flashing past so quickly and I feel like I am missing out on time for myself.  I can see myself slipping back into the work-eat-sleep-repeat cycle that leads to problems and need to stop it, change the path and take a moment.

Me, watch too much TV never....

Apparently, you never know how much tv you watch until you fill this out.   Put a heart by the shows you have watched more than 10 episodes of and two hearts if you’ve seen it all.

Grey's Anatomy: 💖💖

Stranger Things: 💖🧡

The Vampire Diaries:  

The Walking Dead: 💖🧡

Dexter:💖

American Horror Story: 💖

Orange is the New Black: 💖

Breaking Bad: 💖🧡

Prison Break:

Suits: 💖

Riverdale: 

House of Cards:

Once Upon a Time: 💖

House:

True Detective:

Shameless: 

Pretty Little Liars: 

Bones:

Criminal Minds:  

Chicago Fire:  

Game of Thrones: 💖🧡

The Big Bang Theory: 💖

Lost: 💖 

NCIS:💖

Law & Order SVU:💖

How I Met Your Mother:💖🧡 

Blue Bloods:

The Simpsons: 💖

Grimm: 💖 

Sons of Anarchy: 

The Originals: 

Chicago P.D.: 

Chicago Med:  

Friends: 💖🧡

True Blood: 

How to Get Away With Murder:  

The Sinner:

You: 

Lie to me: 

Orphan Black:

Breakout Kings:

13 Reasons Why: 

Making a Murderer

The Haunting of Hill House: 💖🧡

Power:

Arrow: 

The Flash:💖

Supergirl:

Jessica Jones: 

Scorpion:

Teen Wolf: 

Call the Midwife: 💖💖

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: 

DareDevil:

Marvel's AOS:

Atypical:

Gotham:

Family guy: 💖

Designated Survivor: 

You, Me and Her: 

Shadow Hunters: 

I Zombie: 💖🧡

White Collar: 

Instant Hotel:

Supernatural: 

Nurse Jackie:

Boardwalk Empire:💖🧡

The Affair:

Big Little Lies:💖🧡 

The Crown: 💖

The Following:

Dracula:

Hannibal:

Santa Clarita Diet:  

Dead to Me:

Cougar Town: 

Black Mirror:💖🧡

Luther:

Sherlock:💖🧡

Lucifer:

Mad Men:

Homeland:💖

24:

Travels with my Father:

The Tudors:

Reign:

The Borgias (European not American):

Castle:

Elementary:

Blacklist:  

Queen of the South:

Charmed (original): 💖

Charmed 2018: 

Buffy: 💖🧡 

Angel: 💖🧡

Glee: 💖🧡

Dawson’s Creek:💖🧡

Sex in the City:💖🧡

Outlander: 

Roswell:

Doctor Who (Nu Who):💖🧡

Doctor Who (Classic):

Torchwood:💖🧡