Kristy's trip to Manchester

Kristy came to stay with me for just under a week on the last leg of her Europe trip. She'd been to Denmark, London, Croatia and finally Manchester.

It was lovely to finally meet her after so long, and we had a pretty good week despite having to take a trip to the fracture clinic to have my ankle re-plastered!

We went to see Blackpool illuminations and had fish & chips on the promenade, we saw the Trafford Centre and spent a little bit too much money! What else? Um...Oh, we visited Chester Zoo and finally Warwick Castle. We also had tattoos done.

Are you ready for the pics?

Chester Zoo:

Warwick Castle:

The Tattoo's:

The newly decorated cast...

A friend of mine gave me the idea to stick diamantes on my pink cast to spruce it up a bit. I did this on Wednesday and it's all still sparkly and still stuck on.

There's a chance I'll need to get the cast re-done because the bandage under my foot has slipped behind the cast somehow and the cast is cutting into my little toe and the underneath of my foot. I'm going to give it a couple of days, and if it's no better I'll go back to the hospital. As a temporary measure I've shoved a wound dressing there.

As you know, I'm so bloody accident prone. Today whilst at my parents' house, I stood up and fell straight back down after taking one step. Luckily there was a cushion to break my fall onto the floor, but the other ankle and thigh weren't so lucky! I have a sprained right ankle now and a deep cut which is about 7 inches in length down my right thigh...And I ripped my favourite jeans =o(

I'm already fed up

And it's been less than 2 days!

How I'm going to go on for upto 6 weeks? I'll never know!!

The new cast

Is PINK!!

My appointment was for 9:50 this morning, and after much prodding, removal of the temporary cast, another x-ray and application of the new cast, I didn't get home till after 2pm. It was so tiring, and the klutz that I am...I had another accident hobbling into the fracture clinic!

It was raining pretty heavily and as I was walking into the entrance, I put my crutch on a wet leaf and fell down. I was so embarrassed and I had to have the second x-ray to check I hadn't done anymore damage. Luckily I hadn't!

I go back in 2 weeks for removal of this cast and another x-ray. Fingers crossed that they give me a pressure boot so I can walk properly and go back to work.

And for the record, I bloody hate crutches! My shoulders are absolute agony, but at least it takes some of the focus off my ankle.

Almost a year to the day

On the 14th of October, 2007, I badly sprained my ankle...It resulted in this damage. Well today (technically yesterday), the 13th of October 2008, I broke the other ankle!

A clean break across the ankle bone and a chip in the bone that connects to the socket!

I have a temporary cast on at the moment and I'll get a proper cast tomorrow at 9:50am. I'm hoping they'll let me have a pink plaster, but it's already doing my head in having a cast on, and getting to the toilet is no fun at all! Ugh!

Only I could be this unlucky!

Almost finished!

The lounge that is!

You saw the in progress photos last night, well here I present you with the almost finished photos...

I need to get new accessories and cushions for the sofa on Tuesday, and the new carpet needs fitting, oh, and also the new fire...but the walls are FINISHED!!! It only took about 24 hours of solid work! Heh!

I promise I'll get some natural light photos tomorrow for your viewing pleasure!

Above is the feature wall and below we have...

Kitty corner (formely fishy corner, but we've got rid of the fish tank):

The evil that is nicotine...

I hate smoking, I really do. But it's an addiction and honestly? I do actually enjoy the occassional cigarette. Too bad I smoke 25 a day though! Probably 24 of the 25 I don't actually enjoy!

So last week Heather and I decided we would quit smoking. She's doing it because her boyfriend has recently quit and she wants to support him. There's many reasons I'd like to quit, but I can't truthfully say I'm doing it because I want to. I'm doing it because Heather will need the support of someone other than her boyfriend and I guess we can lean on each other.

Reasons to quit:

• My mum has horrible asthma, and seeing her in hospital after never smoking a day in her life makes me sad. I could so easily be there myself in a couple of years and I don't want to be.
  
• To be more healthy - It's easy enough to say, but I really mean it. When I have kids I want to be running around with them, and wheezing and coughing whilst doing it is not fun. When I play with my neice and nephew it's bad enough!
  
• Money - I hate talking about the credit crunch and all that jazz since I hear it at work every bloody day, but I want to have nice things and do some home improvements. By Des and I quitting smoking, we'll save around £70 per week, which will make a huge difference.
  
• Having a nice house and car. You know when you walk into someones house or get into their car and you can tell they're smokers? Yep, that's MY house and car! I try my best to keep on top of it, but it's evident that it's not working since I can even smell it myself!
  
• To smell nice! This is a big one in my job. As a smoker, I'm conscious that my clothes smell of stale smoke and also I constantly chew gum because I know my breath stinks of cigarettes. It's gross! When I'm working trying to train people, I hate that they have to put up with that! It's embarassing!

Reasons not to quit:

• That cigarette first thing in the morning, even if I'm choking on my own phlegm? Bliss!


• Those cigarettes after a big meal? Bliss!


• That cigarette on a coffee break at work after you've had to tell someone off or even worse, fire them? Bliss!


• The one right after sex?! You guessed it!

So here I am yesterday in my little dilemna...And I decided I wanted to redecorate our lounge. Not only is Kristy coming to stay in just over a week, but maybe, just maybe a fresh coat of paint is all it will take to convince me we should no longer smoke in the house!

So I grabbed the car keys and off to B&Q we went. A few minutes arguing over colours and there we were back home with a tin of white satinwood, 2 tins of magnolia and a tin of alzurian earth.

Even though it was 9pm, I got started straight away. I painted the fireplace and the daedo rails, skirting boards, doors, door frames and picture rails. Oh my god! What a difference! I cannot believe the place was that stained with nicotine! Gah-ross!

I must have painted for 3-4 hours last night, and then as soon as I woke up I was decorating again. So I guess it's been about 17 hours total. We're still not finished on one wall, but we need to remove the TV, Sky box, x-box 360 etc to get to it. That will be done before we head to bed tonight so it's all dry by the morning ready to put the electricals back!

So...to get back to my original point...I'm quitting smoking because my house was an embarassment! I thought I did a good job of cleaning it and wiping everything down each week and whenever else it needed it. I couldn't even tell that the painted wooden stuff was no longer white!

In usual Claire style, I present to you the photographs that make me shudder to look at:

It's been a while!

I've really been slacking on this blog!! Last time I attempted to post I got frustrated because my photos wouldn't upload, so I haven't been back since! Heh!

Anyway...Where to start?

In the next few weeks I'm going to become an aunty to twins. Zoe found out that she was having 2 boys at her last scan, and they'll be making their grand appearance in the next few weeks even though they're not due until December 4th.

In other news, Des' other sister found out she was pregnant after the longest time trying. So I'll be an aunty for the 5th time when Deb & Marlon have their baby in 2009. I can't help but wonder when my turn will come now!

Last night I placed an order for 4 canvas prints. 3 of the kids and one for our spare bedroom. They should arrive tomorrow, so I'm really excited about it.

And for your viewing pleasure...A few pics of my neice at the zoo! Des and I took her for a day out about a month ago! She's so fun to be around!

My New Toy...

I decided to upgrade my Nikon D40 to a Nikon D80. I gained an extra 4 megapixels and lots of fun features, including a grid reference! The focus points are amazing!


I've not had much chance to play around yet as I'm still reading the manual. Hopefully I should have some good photos to post soon!

Kitteh in a Dress!

I'm a mean pet owner! I put Yum-yum in a dress yesterday! Absolutely HILARIOUS! And not a single scratch...She actually didn't even notice it on her!

My humble abode

Well, I'm stuck for things to write, so I thought I'd do a virtual tour of my home! Des is upstairs sleeping right now, so I can't photograph the bedrooms, bathroom, hallway or loft conversion. The lounge and kitchen will have to do for now!

On another note - I started my new job today. I'm not impressed with Manchesters rush hour traffic to and from work, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I set off at 7am for a 9am start - that's how bad the traffic was! Luckily I finished work 15 minutes early, so I got home before tonights rush hour began!

The photograph above the text is out feature wall. The one directly below is a view of our lounge looking in from the front door - We need to get rid of the fish tank!

Next is the kitchen. A view from where the cats' food is placed!

A view of the kitchen from the dining table

A view of the kitchen from the sink area

A close up of my dining table

For all of my lovely friends at MOA...

...This is for you!

The Welsh Mountain Zoo

That's where I took my nephew, neice and neices best friend yesterday! Although the zoo is only little, I was absolutely knackered since it's located on a hill! I had around 12 hours sleep last night - that's how tired I was!

As usual, I took tons of photographs of the animals, and the kids of course! Enjoy...