Everything Happens For A Reason!?!

Hmm what have I been up to recently well been to the job centre yet again. Almost (as Debbie says) "lamped" the women serving me when she told me yet again to visit the useless crown website (that directs you to places like the job centre website- genius) & that I had go round all hotels & businesses begging for a job... What the hell do they think we're doing? OK I'm not visiting people in their places of work, but I am sending out numerous CV's! There's just no jobs around at the moment.

Lisa & Liam have come down to celebrate Lisa's birthday, bringing with them 3 of Lisa's flatmates, Abbie, Katie & Emily. On Friday, 27th February, Mum & I nipped to Tescos's & bought the biggest chicken going (actually I thin it was a turkey pretending to be a chicken).

Then whilst Mum as at work I made a rather huge Keylime pie, using the new cook book that I've typed up, made sure everywhere was tidy & with Elena's help pumped up a couple of airbeds for the girls to sleep on.

Lisa & the gang arrived about 7.30 & after a tea of Shepperd's pie & Keylime pie Mum dropped us off at Bogeys.

Abbie, me, Liam, Emily, Elena, Katie, Lisa & Sam

We had a great night & on the way home Abbie & Katie decided to go for a paddle in the sea! It's far too cold for me in the summer when I will only venture in if accompanied by my winter wetsuit & wetsuit boots! Matt picked me up as I was staying at his.

Spent all of Saturday in bed, every time I go out I say to myself this time I won't mix. But I always manage it & regret it the next day. Thought the last time I went out I'd mixed cider & amaretto, this time thought I'd better not mix the 2 so I had cider, sambuca, tequila, sours & champagne...oops. Unfortunately it meant missing Shaun's 21st, but there was no way I could have drunk again that night.

Sunday, whilst Matt was out boarding with Christian, Elena & I went down Sandown with Lisa & co. First we visited the Rock shop, so the girls could buy some,yes you guessed it, sticks of rock, then down to the pier.

We all had a game of crazy golf, which was a laugh. Lisa's first shot bounced out of the 1st hole we were playing on & then landed on the 2nd. Abbie hit the ball so hard on one hole it ended up in a little well of water, where Lisa fished it out for her. Then on the last hole (where when I took Elena & Jake in the summer, Jake managed to hit some woman down the other end off the hole) Lisa hit her ball so hard it ended up on hole 1! Steve walked round & got the ball for her, she took another shot & it rolled all the way down to the beginning of the hole, so Abbie hit it up to us, managed to get it through a rather small hole in the wall & the ball ended up on hole 2!

Elena, Emily, me, Abbie & Katie playing golf on the pier

Dad cooked a huge roast dinner for all of us & we managed to sit 12 people around the dinning room table, it was like trying to eat your dinner on an aeroplane! There was Mum, Dad, Lisa, Liam, Elena, Sam, Steve, Abbie, Katie, Emily, Matt & me! I hope Lisa liked all her presents, I got her a hand blender & in a lovely folder had given her a copy of the Hopwood's cook book. Lisa, Liam & everyone left around 8.30 so they could go back to uni.

Have been watching Gavin & Stacey , it was 1 of the DVD's I got free from the Entertainment roadshow I went on for Woolies, I've never watched it because looking at the front cover I thought it looked rather chavy. Proving you should never judge a book, or in this case DVD, by it's cover! It's brilliant I can't believe I was considering getting rid of it!

Have done a car boot sale with some of my stuff & the stuff Mum & dad have cleared out of different places. Managed to get just under £40 & have also sold their old cooker for £65. Mum & Dad have very kindly let me keep all the money & want it to go towards fixing my car. So just got to wait to hear from the council. If the council do cough up then we're going to put it towards a big birthday meal when Lisa & Liam next come down. We're going to go to the Ponda Rosa in Ryde to celebrate Mum's birthday, Mother's Day, Sam's 21st & my birthday.

For my birthday Matt took me bowling on the Wednesday & then out for a meal at the Dairyman's Daughter. It's a really lovely pub in Arreton & is usually really busy but tonight, even thought the car park was quite full, Matt & I were the only people in there! He also bought me series 2 of Gavin & Stacey.

Mum & Dad bought me a digital camera, so now I can take decent photo's. Lisa & Liam bought me a memory card for my camera, a couple of necklace, some earrings & a pink travel adaptor. Elena got me a pink heat protective mat for my hair straighteners & a cross stitch & I got money & Morrisons stamps from Nana & GrandJack, Nana- Jean, Teresa & co, Auntie Claire & Wendy.

Wendy bought Matt & me a curry from Taj Tandoori to celebrate my birthday. So I'm managing to make the celebrations last quite a while as the meal out to Ponda Rosa is 2 weeks after my birthday! Lisa would be proud.

Went to Newport Friday with Mum & bought myself a new hoodie, highlighter blue this time, & a white top similar to the top I wore to Bogeys. We met up with Dad for dinner & on the way back to the car picked up a brochure for Disney World Florida, ad Mum & Dad want to take Elena there. And if I get a job & can save enough money then hopefully I'll go to.

Saturday night Matt dropped me off in Newport as it was Sam's birthday, we went to school together & she worked at Woolworths but left quite a while before it shut. I didn't stay long as Newport's not really that nice a place to go drinking in. Cat was there as well so it was really nice to see her.

Sunday Matt dropped me off at the King's to meet up with every one from Woolies. We had decided last time that we'd all get together to celebrate all the birthdays in February & March. This time Cat, Shaun Debbie & myself turned up, I'm beginning o wonder what the point is as no-one can ever be bothered to turn up or to tell us they aren't coming.

Matt picked me gone 6 & we went back to his to watch Heston Blumenthals Victorian Feast, it was brilliant, he even manged to make a drink that was all pink but tasted of toffee, hot buttered toast, turkey, custard & cherry tart!

Kerri's husband Colin phoned me this morning to say I have an interview on Thursday at Ryde House, where he works & He is the one who has tried to get me a job. So keep your fingers, toes eyes & anything else possible crossed for me.

Well i think I should really get up & dressed now as it's gone midday. TTFN. x

Boat, Car & Pink Dumplings

Matt came round Wednesday morning & phoned the council for me so now I have a claim information pack on it's way.

We then went up to his to get the boat out of the garage (a lot of hard work as it fitted rather snugly in there, and was rather heavy) & gave it a good clean ready for the man from Cowes Boat-shed to come & take a few photo's for hiss website.

Matt dropped me off before the man turned up so i could get a much needed shower. I gave the under stairs cupboard it's first coat of paint before Matt picked me up again. We popped into Newport again to get the cheapest car seat covers possible form Argos, as the seats in the new car aren't that nice, but we've had worse.

Matt then dropped me back at Mum & Dad's for some tea, cauliflower & broccoli mornet, I love it it's so tasty. Lisa sent me a picture of what she had cooked for her tea steak & ale pie with pink dumplings! So after tea Mum called her up & we all had a good chat with her, I can't wait for them to come down for her birthday, I really miss her & Liam so it'll be great to see them again.

Spent a few hours with Matt after tea.

Car, Car, Car

We went into Shanklin today to get the car tax, these things always come round so quick don't they!

Nana and GrandJack have been really helpful, everyone has, it's always nice to have a great family behind you to keep you going. Over Christmas Nana & GrandJack gave Matt and me £25 worth of Morrisons stamps as well as chocolate and money for Christmas. GrandJack had also asked Mum to spend the money she'd spend on his Christmas present on car tax stamps for me instead, how kind is that! Mum got me £20 of saver stamps, and bought GrandJack a Christmas pressie, she's so cool.

Matt went into the post office to get the car tax, armed with Mum & GrandJack's saver stamps which was a great help, and I popped into the bank. The woman I spoke to was really lovely, when she found out I had been made redundant she got really upset and suggested I make an appointment with the bank manager to see if he could suggest any thing to help us out.

We went to Mum and Dad's whilst waiting for my 3 o'clock appointment at the bank. No one was in but I wanted to be nosy and have a look at the fridge freezer and have a nice cool drink of water with ice cubes- all thanks to the fridge freezer- it looks fab.

Ice and water maker on Mum and Dad's fridge freezer

When we got there the woman next door was in the process of filling up a couple of cars with different bits and bobs, and not long after she had gone 3 removal vans turned up. I assumed they were for her, but she didn't come back, the only person I saw turn up was a lad on a push bike who looked younger than Elena! Mum came in just after 2 when a couple more blokes turned up and started unpacking the vans! They looked quite chavy, but I know you shouldn't judge book by it's cover.

About 2.40 Matt and I headed off to the bank where I spoke to the manager and he suggested a few things that might help us out.

Before going back to the flat we went to Morrisons, Matt went in and I stayed in the car as I really couldn't be bothered to move and for some reason felt in a bit of a bad mood. Matt had been gone about 5 minutes when I heard a noise, I turned round to see and old man driving an estate car, with his wife, pull into the space next to me. He seemed to just force the car into the space instead of straightening up, and scraped the side of my car in the process!

So I got out, went round to the drivers side and had a look at the damage whilst trying to keep my temper. The couple got out of the car and walked off, not even a backwards glance let alone an apology! Well that really annoyed me, I know if I had driven into his car and gone to walk off they would have gone up the wall with the usual "the youth of today".

Completely losing all self control now I phoned Matt, crying my eyes out, to tell him what had happened. He ended up having to phone Mum to see if she could get any sense out of me as I was in such a state!

It's not that I wanted to claim on the man's insurance or anything (unless he'd been really horrible about it), as nearly every panel of my car has some sort of dent in it, and not all of them due to me, (even the steering wheel looks naff. It went off for no reason whilst Matt was driving it a few weeks ago. Luckily he managed to pull over and only came out of it with a swollen lip, where he'd had his hand on the wheel, the force of the explosion made his hand fly up and punch himself, I know I shouldn't but rofpml. We took it to the Toyota garage where he said it would cost us over £300 to have a new one fitted, which is what I paid for the car in the first place, but it wasn't compulsory to do so) it was that they hadn't apologised to me.

The couple eventually came out, Matt showed them what had happened, and the man was really sorry, he hadn't notice it happen. Him apologising calmed me down a bit so we just left it.

Matt took me back to Mum's to let her know what had happened. When we got in Elena told us that the lad I'd seen come in on the push bike was in the same year as her and was the school bully!!!

Mum had a phone call from Lisa about 5.15 to say that her and Liam were on the fast cat, so her and Elena went to pick them up. Matt and I went back home to have some tea. After tea I carried on my book.

I only put my book down to watch Gorden Ramsey's British kitchen Nightmares, it was great but I really don't know how he has the patience to put up with these people, some of them really don't deserve the business, but he always cracks them and gets their business booming. His USA version starts next week I can't wait.

Anyway I'm off to bed now. night night.

Snooker and Inauguration

Ok well first of all I have to say sorry for not doing my blog for the last couple of days, but to be honest I haven't really done that much.

Ronnie O'Sullivan won his 4th snooker masters on Sunday, much to Matt's delight, it was a cracking game.

On Monday we went to Margaret's, the local snooker hall, to have a game or two, unfortunatley I am absolutley terrible! I am so bad that the only time I could make the cue ball hit any other ball (which was very rare) the other ball would shot off in completly the wrong direction, leading to me not scoring any points. I'm also vertically challenged so being able to reach some of the shots on such a big table was really hard. Matt very kindly took me home after about 45 minutes as I couldn't bring my self to carry on playing, well actually I flatly refused. When I look back now I can kind of see the funny side, but at the time I just wanted the earth to open up and swallow me!

The problem is I find things so embarrasing, evreryone tells me I shouldn't that I should just carry on and not let it affect me, which sounds easy but it really isn't. I really wish I didn't feel like this but it's just so hard. When it happens I alwys feel like I want to drop dead, melodramatic I know but thats how it makes me feel. I hate the thought of people laughing at me and Matt tells me that they aren't and to just ignore how I feel, which I know again sounds easy but honestly it isn't. I know when I look back that people aren't laughing at me it's just so hard to control at the time. I really wish I could explain it better as no one understands when I try to tell them what it feels like.

Well after that we came back to the flat and bummed around for the rest of the day. Mum emailed me Lisa's Christmas thank you letters, so I finished off mine and sent them back to her, now we can get them printed and sent off.That night we watched a program called Big Chef takes on Little Chef, it's about Heston Blumenthal taking Little Chef back to it's former glory.

Everything about the higher management screamed out Woolworths, which I think rather annoyed Matt as he was sat there trying to watch it and I kept saying Woolworths this and Woolworths that, OMG I sound like Triggy aargh (a woman we worked with who did everbody's head in). The top man of Little Chef wants to change everything completely but he's not listening to needs or wants of his customers or staff (they don't even have some sort of pan to cook scarmbled egg in they have to cook it either on a griddle or in a microwave!), to be honest he was a complete idiot, which seems to be a general job description for higher management!

The more we've watched it the more it seems Little Chef are using this as some sort of advertising ploy, but I personally don't think it's giving them the sort of publicity any company needs, as I think they are just showing their customers that their opinions dont count, but hey that's just my opinion.

On Tuesday morning I got woken up by my phone going off, which scared the living daylights out of me. It was a lady called Ellen from Age Concern, who runs the events department, phoning about the voluntary work that Amanda from Edutainment had set up for me. So I start on Thursday, I can't wait it'll be great to have something to do. I just hope I get a paid job soon as I really can't wait to be earning some money again. There's just nothing around at the moment, unless I want to be a carer, which I really couldn't do, and I have a lot of respect for those who do those jobs.

After prising myself out of gorgeously warm and comfortable bed, and then out of a beautifully warm bath, I watched a couple of films. The first one was Spiderwick Chronicles, I got it free in May when I went on an Entertainment Roadshow for Woolworths. It was quite a fun day out, no general public for one thing, it's a shame there won't be another one.

I had volunteereed to drive, as the roadshow was up in Reading. On the day I met Carrie from Newport, Emma from Shanklin, Shapla from Ryde and Kathryn from Cowes at the end of Ryde Pier, it was really nice to be able to put faces to the names and voices I had often spoken to over the phone. We took the Fast Cat over to Portsmouth and then made our way to the Portsmouth store where I had a hire car waiting, paid for by Woolworths. It was a lovely new black Vauxhall.

Once we had managed to get in the car,as there was no key hole, and then slowly negotiated my way out of the car park, I really didn't want to scratch it and who ever had parked the car in the first place had parked it right in front of a Bifa bin and someone else had parked stupidly close at the other end, we set off for Reading. The car was certainly differnt to drive, for a start it had 6 gears and the indercators were on the opposite side to my Corrola, which I didn't find out until going round a round about with my windscreen wipers going and people honking their horns at me. The stalks where also touch sensitive, so you only had to tap them to get them to work, I'm used to having to pull and push mine, so that was a bit of a problem to start with.

Now I should say that my only other experience of driving on the mainland (other than the one time I had a potter around Portsmouth with Matt), it took me half an hour to get out of Southampton. After taking the wrong route, due to talking to much and not paying enough attention, then ending up in the city center continuosly missing my turning and subsequntly leading to Mum having to get out and asks some blokes in a garage for directions.

Well this time we did take the wrong route out of Portsmouth, but after asking some guys at a petrol staion, who had very strong Indian accents, for directions we found the hotel. The next problem we had was that we had to park in a car park in a shopping precinct, and we couldn't find our wait out from the shops, so we had to ask a member of staff for directions in there as well! Can you tell we don't really leave the island much, lol!

Thankfully there was still some breakfast left, the hotel had made us croissants with cheese and tomato, very yummy, and much needed coffee, as to be able to get to the meeting, which started at 9.30, we'd had to be up at 4 am!

Well it all got under way. There where Ent. Spec's. there from 3 differnt areas and one of the first thing Andy, the souths EUK rep, did was to give an award to the best Ent. Spec. from each area. Cowes won from our area. They got t-shirts and dvd's, everyone was rather jealous of the free dvd's.After a lot of boring chat we broke up for lunch, provivded again by the hotel. I had Cottage Pie, veg and olives, weird mix I know but I love olives, and a fruit cocktail for dessert.

After lunch we spoke to a rep from Nintendo, who was useless, his response to anything we asked him was "it depends upon the demand", I'm not to sure if he realised that the demand for anything Nintendo is huge.We also spoke to a rep from EA games, he was great, he could give us decent answers to all our questions and gave us a free demo of spore creature creator. Then just before we left Andy handed out a goodie bag of dvd's to each person there, well except those that had won the award for best ent.spec. as it was the same dvd's! We got 27 Dresses, Spiderwick Chronicles and Gavin and Stacey season 1.

Well the journey back was terrible. We got so lost it was unbelievable, and to make matters worse we'd had a phone call half way through the day to say the ferries had been cancelled as the weather was really bad!I still don't know how we managed to find our way back, we just kind of stummbled across differnt places we recognised and ended up in Porstmouth!We dropped the car back off at the Porstmouth store then went back to the Fast Cat, where thankfully they had resummed service. Back at work the next day when telling Cat about what happened and what we came away with well she wasn't to happy. Cat had gone to the roadshow the previous year where they didn't get any food and only came away with a catalogue!

Anyway back to Spiderwick Chronicles, I think Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland) is a fantastic actor. He plays Jared and Simon Grace, twin brothers, and if I hadn't looked it up on IMDb I would still think that he had a twin in real life, even Liam thought it was 2 people, which I think shows how good he is. I hope when Daniel Radcliffe can pull it off when he has to do it for Harry Potter. I also watched Penelope with James McAvoy (Chronicles of Narnia, Atonement) who I think is a great actor and very good looking.

Around 3 o'clock I made my way over to Mum's, driving down to the high school and back first just in case Elena was still walking up. When I got in however Elena was sat on the settee and had been for about 10 minutes! Mum was watching the latest episode of House, and had also just put some washing on, the previous night Dad had fitted some new shock absorbers as the old ones had had it. It was still rather load when I walked in but once it had got more into the cycle it quietened down loads.

We were supposed to go to Newport today, Mum had invited me in her last email, but I hadn't read the email, which was sent Monday night, until Tuesday morning, so I took the tomorrow in the email being Wednesday. We have now decided to go on Wednesday after Elena finishes school, just so we have a bit more time.

Elena made me some of Dad's wonderful chicken soup and homemade bread, it was so tasty. We sat and ate it whilst watching Poirot, one of my favourite tv programs. Dad came in just after 5.30 and I asked him if I could get a lift in to Newport with him on Thursday morning, as parking is quite expensive, well not as bad as on the mainland, and I have no idea about how long I'm going to be there. I had a quick look on the Cineworld website to see if we could go and watch Inkheart after Dad finsihes work on Wednesday, only to find out that it's only playing at 4 cinemas on the mainland now, I'm so gutted as I really wanted to watch it and I know Dad did too!

When I got back home Matt had made tea, chilli con carne, and we watched the next installment of Big Chef takes on Little Chef, which was even worse than the previous one. Heston has actually walked out now as Little Chef won't commit to anything he asks, furthering both his and my thoughts that it is just a marketing scheme, but we'll see on the next episode, perhaps they'll prove me wrong.

Tuesday also saw the inauguration of Barack Obama, I hope it goes really well for him, but it's not as if he can do a worse job than Bush is it!?!

Well that's it for now, I really need to go and have a bath and get ready to go shopping