Sunday, November 20, 2011

Mid November Update

Good morning, afternoon, and evening ALL!

I recently had a phone chat with my mother who persuaded me to write another blog, even though not much has been going on. James and I have been working like FIENDS! More him, really. But occasionally I pick up an additional shift.

However, when we’re not both working, we seize the opportunity we have together and (if we don’t have any laundry to do at mum’s) we go out for the day. This past week James had 2 days off—sadly I only had one—but we were able to go out both days because my shift that fell on his day off wasn’t until 3pm, so we drove to Hereford (the equivalent of driving from Canyon Country to the Mall) and hung out and did some shopping. That was Tuesday.

Tuesday we had fun wandering around Hereford. We went to a Gaming Store to sell off 15 or so of James’ PS3 Games so he could get 2 brand new games: Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3. Since he got it he’s been obsessed with playing Uncharted, which I have to admit is a really great game to watch since it’s more of a movie than a game. So he’s been playing that while I’ve been Nanowrimoing, although I do have to admit it’s very hard to concentrate on writing when there’s shooting going on in the background.

In any case, our day out in Hereford was fun. We did some shopping, looked around at things we might want to buy, and supported the local farmers by buying a few delicious and reasonably priced mini loaves of bread (individual sized zucchini bread, banana bread, etc) from the farmer’s market they had out.

Then Wednesday when we both had off work we went out to the Gloucester Quays (pronounced ‘Keys’) and did a bit of shop/wandering around there. Worst part of the day: we went into a clothes shop called “Next: Clearence” where they sell big name stuff that hadn’t been sold in season, so they ship it to these clearance outlets and reduce them down. James has been tired of me moaning about my weight and how I can’t fit into any of my jeans, so he wanted to buy me a pair I COULD comfortably fit into(yes….I’m gained weight while I’ve been over here. Don’t remind me!) Well, I pick out LOADS of jeans, Im talking 10ish pairs, and go to the dressing rooms only to find out that the ONLY dressing rooms in the shop are closed until January for Health and Safety reasons. Bummer. SO no jeans for me. BEST part of the day: I got 4 books: The Hunger Games Series, AND John Green’s Looking for Alaska for 7 pounds (what’s that like, $10-15?). Pretty freaking good deal!

We also went to Toys R Us and picked up out first board Game. Sadly we couldn’t find “Ticket to Ride” like James wanted, but we got a game called “Hare and Tortoise” instead. Basically a VERY complicated version of Chutes and Ladders, with no dice. We’ve played it already and decided we like it so, I think we’ll be getting more games like it in the future.

Not too many pictures today but there are a few of our adventures outside of Ross:



James and I doing artsy camera shots through a mirror in a café in Hereford.


We found this in Toys R Us. Toys R Us Lego Table… LAME and impractical! (look, some kid’s gonna bash his knee up against legos under the table.





Dad’s Lego Table….SO much cooler! Just look at those nicely hand crafty drawers!

Now for General News.


Lately I’ve been feeling a bit down, and we’re not exactly where to pin point the cause of it. I’ve been depressed about my weight, the Nanowrimo book, how dark it’s getting (seriously it’s 10am in the morning and my desk lamp is brighter than outside!), work, etc. For whatever reason I’ve been down, I’m slowly starting to be okay again.


The causes:

Weight Depression Cause: I’ve been gaining weight and I’ve had no outlet (gym—too expensive, walking—too cold, pilates—no time with my book writing!) to deal with it.
Solution: Luckily, James spoke to his dad who’s a member at Wye Leisure (it’s a spa, pool, gym…basically everything) and we’ve worked out that to sign up both of us on his gym membership would cost 80 pounds a month, which he’ll pay for for the whole year, and just take 20 pounds out of James’ wages each week. This way we can BOTH get fit and I can stop being depressed about freezing in winter cause my jeans don’t fit properly.


NANOWRIMO cause: Writing a book is flippin hard. It’s true what they say, after you hit 30,000 words you feel pretty low and down on yourself, which is where I am. I lack motivation to write and sometimes can’t be bothered to write in the morning before I go to work, but I get up and I do it eventually.

Solution: I’m almost done! One more week to go, then I’m done with NANOWRIMO depression!


Work cause: Work got me down the other day because Josie, my supervisor, said ‘You’re late’, to me when I clearly was on time. I was there exactly at 11am, but she said to me, “You know you’re meant to be here 10 minutes early, right?” I just nodded and apologized, but to me it’s B.S. because if we come in 10 minutes early and start working then, which is what they expect, they don’t pay us for those 10 minutes. So, I don’t see the point. As long as I’m there on time and not holding anyone up who’s going home when I come in. I don’t see the freaking problem. Solution: just deal. And get there 10 minute early and kill time in the break room after signing in on time anyway.


Darker Days cause: Since over here in England it’s darker in the Winter, that’s made me a little depressed. You know how when it gets dark outside, you mellow out and just chill before going to bed. Well here, it’s dark all day, so I’m mellow all day, but that turns into sad all day. I just really hope I’m not getting S.A.D. which is a disorder that makes people sad in the winter, in darker places of the world.
Solution: see very close to my desk lamp, and hope I don’t have S.A.D.

Reason why I’m moaning about all this is because James was very sweet about it. Even when I was unsure about my depression going away, he cuddled me and said everything will be alright. Then last night after work, he bought me a present, cooked us a light meal(because he knew I was depressed about my weight and how we’ve been eating lately), and surprised me with all of it when I got home from work two hours later.


He cooked us very yummy soup and salad, which sounds bland, but it was done in a way, with more ingredients that a normal soup or salad would have, that it looked like something that I’d order in a restaurant. It was very lovely.


And then he bought me this:



This is “Puddles”; Mr. Pudge Pudge Cuddle Pants. It’s a little pushie toy, but it has lavender/wheat inside a bean bag inside him that you take out, microwave then put back in him. It’s supposed to be something you can cuddle to bed to warm you up and it smells SO much like lavender when you heat it up that it relaxes you to sleep.


I love my Pudge Pudge , and my hubby!


That’s all for now. We’re supposed to go see Twilight and go to dinner with Lyndsey and Greg on Wednesday, so we’ll see if another blog comes out of that. Til then …..