Long time no blog.................

It's been an ultra busy few weeks. Last weekend I had tonsillitis. Worst I've ever had it. Had an IT exam and a Civil Litigation oral assignment on Monday and Tuesday though, so had to drag myself in to college.

I was pretty much better by my birthday on Wednesday though. 28! Don't feel any older. On Thursday the 4 of us that made it to college, plus our teachers Debbie and Aidan went for a meal at lunch time. When we got back, Dan, Laura and I played Family Law charades (Debbie's idea - worked about as well as it sounds!), which was interesting.

Then I got ill again over this past weekend. Think it was because I didn't have a chance to rest and recover from the tonsillitis - that and I still have to run round after everyone else even when I'm at death's door myself. I have had the worst cold/flu the past few days that I've had in the past 10 years - the last time I felt this bad was when I was pregnant with Ruth. There were times then that I was actually delirious. Didn't get quite to that stage this time. So fed up of being ill though. Hoping I'll be better for Christmas. On the plus side I have lost weight on account of the fact that there have been days when I haven't been able to eat. Even fit into the jeans that I bought in the Next sale a while back but couldn't squeeze myself into.

Been enjoying taking photos of the Christmas decorations - the best of which is Pilchard of course! He looks so cute on the new white settee covers.

John's court case is finally sorted, and will all be over in a month, which means we can finally get our new sofa!

As I very much doubt that I'll be updating again in the next wee or so, have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year.

Forgetting to blog

Although I check my blog most days for the blog feed to my faves, I forget to blog myself! Well that and the instant gratification of Twitter :)

Things have been non-stop as usual. College has been a lot harder this year - they're getting us ready for working in law. Have almost defiantly decided to do the degree part time (one day a week) in September. If I carry on getting mainly Distinctions ( have 3/3 so far this year, and an overall Distinction for Year 1) I can do it in 3 years instead of 4. We're having a talk about it tomorrow, so looking forward to that.

Finished the Christmas shopping for the kids today - mostly stocking fillers which was fun, but I have Sciatica ATM and its agony. First damaged the nerve when I slipped in the bath when pregnant with Alex, and every so often antagonise it. Hoping its better tomorrow, cos don't know how I'll manage to carry my folders, notes etc if not.

Have to do a 10-15 min lecture on Care Orders tomorrow, so better go and finish making my handout for the class.

A great day for the world

I am proud of America today - defiantly the right decision. I have real hope that he will make a difference, not just to the USA, but to all of us. Loved his speech when he said that his girls will get their puppy! So cute! Just so sad his Grandmother didn't get to see this. I'm sure she's watching from heaven though.

So proud of my girl at the moment - she's in Year 5 at Primary school, and this year, all the years have been put into sets for Maths and English - and yesterday Ruth got moved from the 2nd to the highest set for English in the whole school. There is only one other boy from Year 5 in the class (he has been in with Year 6 for Maths and English since Year 3) - the rest are all Year 6. She said yesterday was the best day of her life - although 2 of her 'friends' said she was a goody-goody. Fortunately she realised they were just jealous.

On the flip side, Alex is still struggling - he hates being in the lowest set. He gets so frustrated, as his mind is far ahead of what he can actually get down on paper. Still waiting to hear if he will get tested for Dyslexia. Trying to get him to do lots of reading which he loves.

I'm fairly close to being finished with my assignments - just need to refine and rehearse my Plea in Mitigation.

Back in the saddle......

3 years, 1 month and 1 day. That's how long it took for John to get back on a bike after his accident. And what a bike it is! He's hoping to race - can't wait to cheer him on from the sidelines. This is John and Alex going for that first ride.

Tonight is Studio Calico reveal night - Alex helpfully posed in a few masks for the Avatar challenge. He's really poorly at the moment (again, yes I know!). Oooh scary!!

Having a hard time at the moment, trying to deal with a situation with a friend. Doesn't seem to matter what any of us say, she keeps going back to someone who's hurting her. Physically as well as emotionally. She believes him when he says he's changed. Arrrggghhh!!!!!!! Going to try stopping advising, and just be there if she needs me. Feel selfish, but its really draining me, and I even cried at college last week -I NEVER cry in college.

My poorly baby

Last Sunday, Alex was suddenly sick several times. Although he seemed better the next day, the school has a policy that the children can not go back within 24 hours, so we stayed at home. The next day John took him to school and he burst intotears - not like him at all, obviously under the weather, so the teacher said to take him home. Over the past week he has been up and down - no real appetite (but then when does he ever eat properly??), but not really ill as such. But then as he was playing on the Xbox 360 this evening, he had a nasty accident - at first we thought it was him ignoring the fact that he needed to go, ashe was so engrossed in the game (this happened a few days ago, to rather unpleasant consequences for me. TMI I think!). But e got him upsatirs, and hte poor baby has diahorrea. How I managed not to throw up as I cleaned him and the clothes, chair etc I do not know. So tomorrow we have aother 24 hours from school starting. Trouble is I was supposed to be having a lesson with the head of the Law school, and Alex was supposed to be going to the cinema with school - he's heartbroken!

Magazine Karma

Yesterday was good, but tiring! Went with my lovely husband to a Bike Expo at Earls' Court. We went down on the train, in one of the quiet carriages so it was relaxed. Relaxed that is, until I noticed the man in the seat behind me making strange deep breathing (think psycho on the phone just before breaking into your house to murder you type of thing) noises. These then turned to him chanting -loudly, yet under his breath if you can imagine that- something which I think was the Alleluia chorus. I was honestly too scared to ask him to be quiet in case he stabbed me or something! Another man on the carriage kept standing up trying to see where the noise was coming from, but the nutter was bending over so he didn't see him. John said he thought the nutter was chanting some kind of spell in Latin or something. Seriously weird!

I read Heat on the way down - I love a bit of eat for mindless gossip - great for on the train. I'd read it cover to cover by the time we got to Paddington, so I though I'd leave it on the train for the next person to read - wondered aloud if this would bring me magazine karma......

The underground to Earl's Court wasn't too bad, and the expo was great - John got to try a bike out, which he's fairly sure he's going to buy. He got some cycling clothes too (looks really hot in them!). I liked some of the ladies things on the Specialized stand - really pretty purple and black helmet, shoes and gloves, made me want to take up cycling myself! Then, on the stand that had the bike John wants, I spotted this -

It's the same colour as my bridesmaids' dresses were - so pretty! At £600, I thought it was far too expensive for me, but DH says that you shouldn't buy a road bike that coasts less than £500, and if he buys one of the 2008 Felt bikes, rather than waiting a few months for the 2009 ones of the same spec, he'll save £600 - perfect!

As we were walking past the Felt stand for the umpteenth time, I felt someone mess up my hair - unsurprisingly, this made me jump - especially as when I looked round, there was no one there. Then (after about 30 seconds - doh!), I realised the mannequin on the podium was actually a living statue! It was VERY funny, but scared me half to death!

We then went to Oxford Street, as I was desperate to get the new Ipod Nano, having seen the purple one in the new tv ad. Getting there on the underground was horrible - sweltering, packed, stressful. A very small lady was left with only the high rail to grab (which she couldn't reach properly), so I made space for her to stand between me and DH so she could hold the vertical rail - she looked so pleased and surprised - didn't realise that being considerate wasn't the done thing on the tube.

Oxford Street - hmmmm. Like many women, I'd always thought that I'd do well in London - all those great shops, and I do fine dodging pedestrians in Worcester - our local city where I go to college. People just walked at me in London - it was like I was invisible! Didn't like it AT ALL, but it did me appreciate how nice Worcester is - I don't feel like I'm at constant risk of being trampled underfoot, blown up or mugged, and the shops are pretty good - and I'd know my way around blindfolded!

I got the Ipod though! The 16GB was out of stock in purple, so I got the 8GB - probably won't fill that anyway. It's so pretty!

In the train on the way home, a lady sat down at the table opposite us - then she put her bag in the overhead compartment - in the process, knocking a 500ml bottle of water from the ceiling of the train on to my arm - it hurt so much it made me cry - but she didn't even apologise! I didn't tell DH until she got off the train, as I thought he might make a scene. Then she left her rubbish on the table. I was not impressed! The man sitting opposite us however, was really nice. DH was telling me about a story he'd seen about a lady being helped by a random stranger on a train, which nearly got him arrested, and the man opposite us gave me his newspaper to read it, and said we could keep it - so the magazine karma worked - maybe you should give it a try!?

Got a weekend of homework now - gotta draft a Particulars of Claim, and do a problem question on Divorce, and putting my music library onto my Ipod. And its lovely and sunny, and my dehydration headache from yesterday is wearing of, so I'm happy, happy, happy.

Oh, and best of all, my Studio Calico kit came last night, and I LOVE it!

Tired

Trying hard not to let things get on top of me. College is a struggle - not the work, just the actual getting there and staying awake all day! Hopefully I'll be over this glandular virus soon, and then I'll start feeling better.

Need to lose weight. Wanting to join Weight Watchers, as I think the meetings would help to keep me motivated, but not sure I can justify the cost. Might just buy some Slim Fast stuff and go it alone for a few weeks and see what happens. I'm only a lb. or 2 away from the top of my healthy range for my height, so need to start sorting this out soon. Trouble is that I'll miss junk food too much :( Ah well - would be nice to look ok in a suit again.

I know now how to sue people - know the academic stuff from last year, but we're doing the actual filling in forms ATM - quite a cool feeling to know that I could start a claim myself if I wanted.

My sister's fiance had an accident during a cycling race on Saturday night - hit a wall at 35mph and fell back onto steps - really nasty, and A&E are being absolutely awful - bordering on negligent if you ask me. He was going back again this afternoon so hopefully he'll get some answers.

Up at 5.45am again tomorrow, and Im feeling exhausted, so better go have a cuppa then off to bed.