Dear Monday, I gave in, I got up this morning and went to work – I’d been at work about ten minutes and my colleague commented how ill I looked – and I agreed with her – I felt like my brain had been turned to mush. Somehow I got through about three hours of work and then came home. Due to Chris needing the car I had to fit in with when he could get me from work and bring me home but it worked.

Dear Snow, you arrived on Saturday during Tori’s 18th Birthday Party – my Aunt and her best friend were so excited about the snow – You know how in films they have like the young version of a person reacting to the situation then in a blink of an eye it’s switched back to the current time. That’s what it would have been like on Saturday – my aunt and her friend ran out into the snow without coats on – they ran around in circles before heading back in again. Then again I ran outside without a coat or a jumper on and wrote Tori’s name in the snow.

Dear 4pm nap, I’m not entirely sure where you came from, I heard Our Sidekick get in from school but the next thing I knew it was 5pm and Chris was heading out to his meeting. I’m sure I needed it though.

Dear Friend’s, Romans and Countrymen, let me your ears (or mouse clicking finger) please go and vote for us. If you want more information click here then follow the link. Thank you (That’s two clicks and a small bit of reading – it would make a huge difference to The Fountain (Bedford) project if you could take the time to click thank you muchlie).

Dear CJ, (you get two letters a la Today’s Letters) thank you for playing Hannah’s Taxi today – you took me to work (so that you could use the car lol) and then fitted in collecting me from work too. You then went out this evening in the cold and slushie snow to get ingredients for Our Sidekick’s Food Technology homework – technically this was my job but at 7ish when it was dealt with the idea of going out in the cold was just too much for me. Thank you lovely one.

We’d had the meal that my Aunt had cooked with help from her friend. We’d had lovely pudding. We’d done the quiz and my cousin’s team won. We were about to eat birthday cake when something happened.

At about 10:30ish, one of the girls from the party had been heading home and something happened so she’d come back to the building – a lady had slipped over in the alleyway behind the church and couldn’t get up – they’d called an ambulance but it was so snowy that the ambulance hadn’t got through yet.

Well a bunch of us, grabbed coats jumpers and a blanket and went to offer what help we could. When the ambulance did arrive I was shivering and my hands were hurting as I hadn’t stopped for my gloves or coat, I was in a hoodie and went for it (I know bright spark!)

We were waiting for the ambulance and it was getting to the point that this lady was getting really really cold the adrenaline from hurting herself wasn’t keeping her warm. The coats and blanket etc were just soaking up the snow and not really helping. She made the call that she wanted to get into the wheelchair (her friend had been to borrow it from a neighbour in the hope that she could get the lady into the chair without assistance but the lady couldn’t put weight on her leg and her friend couldn’t take enough of her weight to get her into the chair).

I was on the handle bars leaning on the chair to make sure it didn’t over balance. Various people grabbed a hand or an arm and then did what they could to manpurve the lady into the chair, my uncle then helped me push the chair in the snow for the lady to sit herself down in once we’d got her upright.

We all kept chatting to the lady and thankfully the ambulance arrived not much later. The chap in the ambulance got us to pull the wheelchair backwards round the alley way to the ambulance. I had one side, our “honorary” uncle (he’s the youth leader at my old church and everyone called him Uncle even though only 4 of the youth group were actually his nieces/nephews!) was on the other side and Chris was on the same side as me.

The lady kept saying how lovely we were and how lucky she was that’d we’d been at the church and been able to help and things like that.

My hands were red, very sore and cold and the snow had soaked into my socks (I wasn’t really dressed for snow) but I’m glad that our team of good samaritans were there to help otherwise she’d have been sat in the snow for nearly half an hour if not a bit longer given the amount of snow and how unclear the roads were.

Thank you to the ambulance service – it took some time but they got there and the guy was lovely and friendly.

I managed to snap this one above while Our Sidekick got ready – he’d had to get the scales from our room as Chris had been using them for weighing items to put on eBay and then him and Chris got all the ingredients out of the cupboard and I retreated to the living room to stay out of trouble.

This was the amazing finished article – I posted a picture on Twitter and Facebook and the number of amazing uplifting encouraging comments that came in were awesome. I’m going to print off the Facebook page and stick it into Our Sidekick’s journal/scrapbook so that he can look back and remember how those people encouraged him.

We “met” via Twitter during NaNoWriMo and ended up encouraging each other along (I think she got closer to the end than I did this year!)

So here are the rules:

1. In a post on your blog, nominate 15 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.
2. In the same post, Add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

As per the rules, 7 facts you may or may not know about me:

1. I have one brother and six cousins, if you include Chris’s side, then it’s one brother, one sister and nine cousins.
2. I’m a movie geek – I saw Mamma Mia 3 times and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows twice at the cinema.
3. I’m knowledgeable but not clever. I’m good for pub quiz teams but I suck in exams.
4. I genuinely don’t like roller coasters but they are one of Chris’s favourite things so I attempt to suck it up and go on them for him.
5. I am attempting to read 25 books in 2012. At present I am 5 days behind target.
6. If I’d have known about Anthropology before I did my A Levels, I would have studied that instead of Performing Arts. Instead I am reading bits of course materials via ITunes U.
7. One day I will meet Ruby in person. We’ll drink tea, watch movies and go thrifting.

And the 15 bloggers I am nominating for the Versatile Blogger Award …

Ellefie @ Pipe Dream and Professions. Ellefie is fab plain and simply! She’s an aspiring writer (when she gets published I will be preordering her book and making sure that I read it when it arrives!) and this year is challenging herself to cook more – it’s good seeing her pictures ping up in Google Reader.

Ruby @ Sew, Cook, Create!. Ruby is one of my best friends. Me and Ruby haven’t met in person but we will one day. She’s married to Brandroid and I’m blessed to have watched their wedding via web stream and had a letter read out as part of the Best Man’s speech.

Becca S @ Just Looking…. Becca is a UK Blogger and another one of my best friends. But it was serendipity and our mutual friend Daren who introduced us to one another (and a particular song about Onions!)

Becca D @ Life in Technicolor (she’s American hence the spelling!). She’s mummy to the super cute Selah. She’s super talented when it comes to the graphics for her blog and one day if I’m over her way I hope to meet her. P.s. she loves Pez dispensers!

Kate @ Katie Blair Designs. When I first started reading Kate’s blog she was doing her design stuff but it was on the side lines whiles working a day job. In the last year or so she went self employed! Go girl! I love her notebooks and greetings cards – I swear I’d probably spend most of my pay cheque in her Etsy store if I was allowed!

Koree @ Unveiled. Koree is a student at College of The Ozarks in Missouri. She’s been away from the blogging scene for a little while but she’s back now. (and she’s Becca D’s Sister In Law!)

Kaleigh @ Rewriting Life. Kaleigh has an amazing way with words. She’s such an encourager. She has a huge heart for college students who might feel like they don’t quite fit in or that they are lonely. She’s recently set up HUGStronger (Helping Undergrads Grow Stronger) and I am so please to be part of it.

Lydia @ La Petite Lydia. Lydia is so cool – she loves reading and is attempting to read 25 books this year – including Les Miserables.

Crystal @ The House of Hearts. Crystal is from Montreal and lives with her boyfriend. She is amazing at design and her most recent blog design was by herself! Woot woot! Any sponsorship money from her blog goes to help support K-Miga who Crystal sponsors through Compassion Canada (My Mum sponsors a little boy through Compassion UK)

Lacy @ Lacylike. This girl exudes confidence. She’s pretty and has the most amazing curly hair. She’s the kind of friend that would pull faces at you to make you smile when your down after listening to what’s up. She’s fab and so caring.

Amy M @ Amyschmamey. Amy is super lady! She gave birth to her third child – the gorgeous Avery about a month ago – not only that she’s gone back to school this week to study Anatomy and Physiology (or something like that!). I think she’s a bit overwhelmed by all the crazy but I know she’s going to be awesome at it!

Chantilly @ Chantilly Songs. Chantilly lives in Brooklyn, NY and is a fabulous singer/songwriter. You can find her videos on YouTube. I love her songs – they are a bit like KT Tunstall, Birdy, or She and Him. (That’s what it reminds me of anyway!)

Amy S @ Lemon and Raspberry. Amy is fab! She shares lots of tips and inspiration with lots of other bloggers out there. She creates fab art work too!

Cardiogirl @ Cardiogirl. Well CG is so top secret that very few people know her real name – she’s like The Stig in a way lol. She has a hilarious sense of humour and regularly blogs about crazy situations from her life. Take a read.

Nathan aka Wez @ Wez Wanders. Nathan is one of those people that you get introduced to by their nickname and you then never (or rarely) remember their real name. On the other hand Nathan is good friends with Brandroid and Ruby, therefore he is cool by association! He has serious wanderlust and loves to travel. He recently went to Cambodia but has been all the way over here to the UK.

HUGStronger stands for Helping Undergrads Grow Stronger. If you’re in or around the college years, we’re here to give you the extra oomph to get going in the morning or a second set of hands to pick you off the floor at night.

We don’t want you ducking for cover for the next four years. We don’t want you holed up in your dorm room or bedroom, afraid to show the world you’ve got spunk and attitude, strength and power. We want to help you grow up satisfied with where you are in this wide, wide world.

Each post is short and sweet for you to scroll through in-transit to the library for a long night of studying or at the bus stop waiting to hitch a ride to class. We want to offer you whatever you need, however you need it.

Well let us help you. We don’t have all the answers but we want to help you out. So follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook and take a look at the website – there is more to come and we want you to be a part of it.

Places visited
Oldham
Ulverston
Coniston
Windermere/Bowness-on-Windermere and The Beatrix Potter Museum
Tarn Hows
Keswick
Lake Coniston
Lake Windermere
Wast Water
Honister Pass and Slate Mine<>
Derwentwater
Conkers
National Forest around Ashby-De-La-Zouch
London – BBC Western House
London – Royal Albert Hall
Centre MK
Hobbycraft
Cath Kidston Factory Outlet, St Neots.

Celebrities Met
Cliff Richard
Chris Evans
Lyn Bowles
Moira Stewart (Well we were stood in the same room she vanished before being able to ask to have my photo taken with her)

The Month In Bullets

• Had an amazing time in the Lakes and came home feeling chilled and refreshed (which is unusual for one of my holidays lol)
• We had two visits from our Social Worker – both were okay she’s lovely and friendly and seems like someone who is on our side.
• Wrote an epic letter to the girlies explaining everything that’s happened with Our Sidekick and how he’s now with us but haven’t heard anything back and not sure how to take that.
• We had our first parents evening which was scary, exciting and funny – especially when I bumped into my Year 5 Form Tutor and pointed out me in the Year 8 picture – Our Sidekick didn’t believe that it was me.
• Me and Our Sidekick now have a challenge – each day he has to read for 10 minutes or more. I then match what he’s read time wise. (I think I owe him 10 minutes ago which is a bit of a fail – it could be 20 by this evening!)
• I didn’t finish reading Breaking Dawn before I saw the film (the first time I went to the cinema with Our Sidekick) but I did notice chunks missing (the whole car thing at the beginning) and goofs (like Bella’s phone still being locked when supposedly she’s talking to Rosalie – fail!).
• Got to write a guest post for Ruby and Branden at Sew, Cook, Create!
• Went to MK with Mum to have a girlie day. It was so good – we went to Centre MK to do Christmas shopping and get outfits for #DecemberWedding (As I’ve been calling it when I tweet!). Then we went to Hobbycraft – I bought some wool and a pattern to make a baby cardigan to try and get better at knitting – I’m making it for Little Love who is 1 next year (I figured that 4-5 months would be long enough to knit it). After that we went to St Neots – which isn’t really on the way to MK or on the way home but had become part of our plan for the day. It was good fun – I’d expected it to be a bit bigger but there were lots of bargains.
• I failed and didn’t complete Nanowrimo – feel kinda gutted about it but there was alot going on in life. Instead I’m trying to complete by NYE.

He’d not finished what he needed to do that day so he couldn’t go out to play – I felt kinda bad but at the same time knew it was exactly what my Mum and Dad would have done to me when I was his age.

But it wasn’t all that bad as Lambkin was coming for a sleepover so that Caz could go to the curry night at church plus another party/outing she’d been invited to. We had pizza for tea, then I watched Strictly while CJ wound Our Sidekick and Lambkin up something crazy. No wonder they both looked shattered by the morning lol. The boys all went out into the garden and made a fire in the chimnea (is that spelt right?).

The morning was tough because CJ was tired still and I don’t really do mornings. Add to that, Our Sidekick was in a proper stinky mood because he was tired even though he wouldn’t admit it. We got to church and we were both shattered and I guess hadn’t really thought about how crazy it would be to have a 12 and 10 yo under the same roof and sleeping in the same bedroom (or not so much sleeping lol). Anyway it was good fun and was good to see Our Sidekick smiling and laughing.

One that pinged up was by Crystal from The House of Hearts it was all about honest blog posts and being true to yourself.

Crystal asks

“What is something you have been sweeping under the rug and not taking head on?”

It got me thinking and I went to read the three posts that Crystal had recommended. These are This is Real Life by Dinosaur Toes (aka Danielle), Why I Disabled Comments by Pugly Pixel (aka Katrina) and The Grand Pep Talk from White Hot Truth.

I read the first post by Dinosaur Toes and got rather excited by the whole idea. I tend to avoid posting what I wore posts because I don’t have nice designer clothes or because I’m wearing my really trashed jeans (like this – below) and a hoodie.

Or I take my picture and realise that I look really grumpy or that I smile and I look like a dork! But at the same time – those trashed jeans and that hoodie is what I am wearing because I like wearing that – if I want to blog about it why don’t I. Well today I’m wearing my new jumper – it’s got a Christmas-sy pattern on it but I love it even if it is only November.

And guess what I look grumpy lol. So let’s try it – lets try and be more honest where possible about how we are feeling rather than pretending it’s all rainbows and sunshine.

So a few weeks back I went to see the film Bridesmaids. I’d seen the trailer, it looked okay and so I figured I’d go see it. Generally I enjoyed it (and the fact that Chris O’Dowd was in it that was cool lol). Anyway, the lead character (Annie) has an amazing best friend (Lillian) who is there for her, each time she screws up her best friend is there for her. In HIMYM, if Lily needs a girlfriend she calls Robin. In Friends there is Rachel and Monica, In Grey’s there is Meredith and Christina.

SO – this is my point btw lol. Is it possible to “fall in love” with the idea of having a “perfect best friend”, you know the one you can call just for a chat because you felt like it, and not feel like you’re interrupting that person’s evening, or you hang out just because and not because you need to particularly go and do something special, you trust them with everything and that’s the first person you call.

Now maybe I’m tired and grouchy and that’s why I’m pondering this at 23:34 while listening to Jar of Hearts and Arms by Christina Perri, Breathe (2am) by Anna Nalick and Satellite by Lena (yes it is a Eurovision song but I like it! Don’t judge me lol!).

I know that you can’t make someone like you – it’s just the way things go, and so this isn’t me begging for a new friend but more pondering on the idea. What do you think?

celebrates her 24th Birthday!! Woot Woot

Please wish her Happy Birthday on Twitter or leave her a comment on her blog

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