happy as i am

Is how I'm feeling right now. I am so frustrated I feel like tearing my hair out.

My hubby has two close mates (brothers), who both have longterm ladies. I get on well with brother a's lady, but can't stand brother b's...

On finding out that I get on with the friends of Lady A we arranged a girls night out, which I've been looking forward to for the best part of two months.

The OH's are having a lads night in whilst we go out, at brother A's house, which is fine, except that Brother A wants to invite brother B, which would be fine except that Lady A now feels obliged to invite Lady B on our girls night.

And I really don't want her there.

I know I'm selfish, I've said it before, we all like a bit of alcohol, Lady B's idea of drinking is half a lager shandy. She'll go to the pub 'with the lads' and then sit looking bored all night as they talk war, computer games, films and music. Last 'social gathering' the girls and the boys split into two huddles. Guess who stuck to the side of her man like glue all night, looking bored.

I'm sorry, but as we have the same friends in common (most of the lads went to infants school together for gods sake) you'd think she'd let him out on his own if she is going to be blatantly bored. She really just annoys me in every single way.

I shouldn't be such a coward, I've always been polite to her, just, but never had the guts to say 'f*ck off' because at the end of the day she is the wife of hubbys mate.

Just drives me mad, I really don't want to spend the evening in her presence and I'm sorely tempted to stay home and sulk instead of going out.

Damn her!

Damn Lady B. Damn her to all eternity with a verucca!

Damn!

x

1. Are you married or single?
Married 4.5 years.

2. Do you have brothers and sisters?
One half sister.

3. Are they older or younger than you?
Younger as I'm sure you've heard.

4. Have you ever met a famous person?
Not that I remember. I have served coffee to Paul Daniels & Debbie McGee and 'Mrs Munroe' from Grange Hill - all anonynmously though. Didn't have the guts to ask for autographs!

5. What countries have you visited?
Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland, Barbados & France.

6. What do you do on Sundays?
Sleep late, eat too much, two hours looking after a friends little girl and read.

7. What kind of people do you not like?
Those that can't be arsed to try to get work.

8. Who had the most influence in your life?
My mum

9. Would you like to be famous?
If it was for discovering something or writing something amazing.

10. How many different towns or cities have you lived in?
4

11. Which do you prefer, sunrises or sunsets?
Sunsets are cool.

12. What was the last book you read?
A short history of tractors in Ukrainian

13. What's your favorite food?
Chocolate or home made cake fresh out the oven.

14. Do you live in a house or an apartment/flat or other?
A 1 bed flat

15. How tall are you?
5ft 3 and a 3/4's (that last is very important!

16. What are your hobbies?
Reading, film watching, running (on treadmill), blogging, chilling with hubby, interested in trying rock climbing (didn't notice that in Jembajrs post til now!) oh and foreign holidays!

17. What's something you do well?
Bake cakes.

18. Which sports do you like to watch/play?
Formula 1

19. Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?
Definitely a night person.

20. What is your motto?
Enjoy, you only live once.

Three cheers for the PIL who has arrived and is working with hubby to de-install the old bath. It had got to 6.30pm and we were both getting a bit tetchy and annoyed as no contact from the PIL, and just as we started to think of using the loo and cooking dinner, the doorbell sounded. All be it faintly as the bell was on the kitchen table. (We never got around to attaching the chime to any one place, so it moves frequently, from top the of stairs to kitchen table, to back garden when whether permits - guaranteeing we never miss the bell!).

Poor PIL had been in traffic from leaving work (ordinarily a 25-35 minute drive) for an hour and a half or there abouts! Yet he was straight into it. They are now scrabbling about the cold bathroom floor, removing, bonding and faffing. I fear there will be no bathing facilities tomorrow morning, hurrah for the foot long new sink installed last week!

But more importantly:

Hurrah! For the PIL who turned up as agreed to fit our bath. Saving us over £2000 on the installation price at B&Q. Hopefully hubby will remember enough that when we next install a bath he can do so himself! We have bought the PIL some beer to say thank you, and I guess the next meal out will be on us.

The only problem? I'm busting for the toilet but I daren't interrupt them. Oh well, a small price to pay.

or not?

Ohhhh Kay,
So, this is my long awaited long weekend, and so far it has run like a dream. Since I left work on Thursday night I have been soo relaxed. I think we watched a film on Thursday night, oh I remember. I was supposed to rush home and cook a stirfry before going out fo an 8pm body attack class. Instead I chilled out, and cooked a leisurely dinner, finishing dinner at about 7.25pm.

Oh come on! You should know me better than that. There was no way I would have lifted my butt from the sofa at that time of night anyway. We watched Igby Goes Down, a very weird film, described on the packaging as a comedy, but not too comedic. Some laugh out load and some cringeworthy moments, but on the whole it was just a 'coming of age' story of a boy who hadn't gotten on with his mum. The opening scene freaked me out, but it did ensure I was hooked the rest of the way through.

Following that, I slept. Until 8.30am on Friday morning. Rudely awoken by the telephone ringing, thought i could bury my head under the pillow, but the sound got louder as hubby brought the phone thru, mouthed 'it's your mum' and held it to my ear. Thwarted! Mum wanted to make plans for Saturday, and to be fair it was time I needed to be up.

Dressed and breakfasted in record time - I've styled myself a 'new' breakfast - peanut butter toast with chopped hazelnuts and raisins. Yummy. Then we went up to Sainsburys via B&Q, Brantano & Boots. Hubby bought me a gorgeous new handbag for only £13 and two pairs of shoes for himself.

Sainsburys was enjoyable as it wasn't mad busy, and we had the time to relax and stroll round. Spent £85 on nothings, before calling for a taxi to take us home again. And then it was lunch time. After lunch hubby sat down to do his study, and I?

I called a friend and arranged to meet her up town for coffee (not that either of us had coffee) and after that we walked up and back through town. I bought a new pair of running trainers and that was all. Despite browsing at purses, falling in love with one, only to find it was £33 so not really viable.

Homeward bound was good to see the hubby. We watched a pretty cheesy film (27 dresses) and then some telly before sleep over took me.

Today? Today I got the train into Brighton, headed around the mahoosive new New Look and the Primark even bgger Primark. Bought myself some new black jeans and rushed off to my hair appointment. My hair looks fab by the way. Headed homeward, intending to meet mum, except she blew me out, deciding to have lunch at home.

We met up a couple hours later, perused the shops and again stopped for coffee. Yum yum. She came home for a second coffee hit and we gossiped til mum had to go home. Now hubby and I have just eaten a most delicious (even if I say so myself) pie - chicken, potato and vegetables - home made of course. And he wants me to bake a cake as we have no sweet goodies (apart from cooking chocolate) for his munching on.

Hopefully my cake will not sink in the middle, and I will get to the gym tomorrow.

TWO MORE Days off, I will be totally blissed out before I return to work, At some point I should maybe do some housework and some study but who knows?

Missing the Usky but hoping he has a fab break. The weekend just isn't right without a teaser to trouble me. Oh well.

Blog Action Day has finally arrived but my mind is blank! I'd intended to have a well written post part planned, essay style, but then I ran out of day. And now I run out of time.

So, the question that made me think, is What actually is poverty? In light of the current financial situation I seem to hear the word bandied around a lot. But actually? Here in the UK how many people are poverty stricken?

I start with the basics, a definition borrowed from Wikipedia:
Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, and may also include the deprivation of opportunities to learn, to obtain better employment to escape poverty, and/or to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens.

When I think of poverty I immediately think of the images remembered from childhood, of famine struck African children with distended bellies, the barrios and slums in third world countries, people really living hand to mouth.

And I am grateful that I live in a country where I am able to live in more comfort than many people can even dream of. To me this credit crunch is as close as I'll ever get to being poverty stricken. If cutting back on meals out, borrowing books instead of buying them, re-heeling my shoes instead of buying new pairs and putting extra layers on rather than turning up the heating I have a lot to be thankful for.

As a child we weren't rich, but I never felt poor. We always had enough to eat, heating and clothes. I saw mum struggle with a couple of jobs to keep us going, but I can't begin to imagine how disheartening it must be to have to struggle for the basics or to go without. I grew up respecting money and understanding that you have to make an effort to have a good lifestyle.

As an adult the poorest I've been was whilst at college as I was living semi-independently in a grotty bedsit. My part time job had to cover the bulk of my expenses. I had to live on restricted means, shop in Lidl and climb into bed when it was too cold. I remember eating instant mash on many a night as it was quick and cheap if not nutritious.

I guess I've been fortunate, not to live in a place or time where the basics are restricted permanently. Reading through other peoples blogs today has brought home to me how lucky I am and how many ways there are to help other people. The saddest thing is to realise quite how materialistic both I and modern society have become. I hope this is something that can be reversed. I certainly hope my children have the opportunities I have, and the understanding of how lucky they are not to be living in poverty.

I read an article last week in Red magazine which had me thinking, and I don't do it often. It was entitled 'Mingle and loving it' and in a nutshell discussed how some couples give up socialising separately once they're married, whilst others mix it up by doing stuff separately, with the knowledge that they have their loved one to go home to.

The reason it struck a chord was that only last Friday gone I was due to go to a party in Brighton, but hubby wasn't in the mood/well and so I came within an inch of deciding not to go too.

I didn't feel comfortable socialising without him, which is really quite sad. Thankfully, in the end I decided to go out, hubby is more than comfy at home alone, and I had a great (if brief) evening, when I got home hubby had stayed up to hear all about it.

I did feel intimated going into the bar alone, indeed I nearly left when I saw the bouncers on the door, but once I went inside and caught up with a few familiar faces I felt fine. I was very quiet (couldn't get drunk as needed to make way to train station in time for last train), but fine. Indeed, I was soo fine that several of our friends thought hubby was just around the corner rather than 11 miles away.

See, so this brings me back to the magazine article, I know I'm not brill at small talk, I know I rely on hubby to carry conversations, but when did I become a total shy & retiring person. When did I stop socialising?

I kinda shoved the article in hubbys face, but he wasn't interested. He's never stopped me going out, indeed is often happy to finance me, so why and how did I get so stuck in a rut? I don't really know where this post is going, but it's nice to air my thoughts.

I've become lazy as I've matured, I've never got into politics or finances (other than my own) so the only opinions I have in this whole 'credit crisis' situation, and with the US elections coming up, sadly are just regurgitations of hubbys opinions. Isn't it sad?

So, somehow I bought the Independent and didn't even read it I need to start to understand politics. I need to broaden both my financial and business knowledge and i need to get myself back out there.

Astronut has suggested a walking club to meet people, and I am desperately scrabbling about trying to re-arrange a social life, but honestly!

Has anyone else found themselves slipping into this situation?

Is it just a 'female' thing?

And what have you done to reverse the situation?

Many thanks if you've read as far as this, and if you post any replies.

Loadsa hugs

Happy
x

Or was my taste not yet developed at all? I seem to remember thinking that Apache Indian was one hot man, and one groovy singer.

How foolish I was!

DELETED - couldn't look at him any more.

Thank goodness it was more than 10 years ago!

has anyone else seen Stormbreaker?

I'm not too sure what possessed me to put it on my film wish list, but as it was here we figured we'd watch it and get it sent back asap.

It is truly aimed at kids but it was a pleasant hour and a half. We laughed and laughed and tried not too cry. There were so many OTT bits, and the hammed up acting from Bill Nighy was funny.

The action sequences were quite good, if not believable for the fact that a 14 year old boy beats the sh1t out of grown men. Yeah RIGHT! But there were sooo many links to the Bond films at one point I was sure there was a mixed up version of James Bond tunes.

Well anyway, it made me chuckle.

Over all my long weekend has been a good'un. I've caught up on sleep, done a bit of baking, borrowed some more library books, chatted to a friend by email throughout the day, done a bit of cleaning, been driving and seen friends galore. I keep thinking it is actually still Sunday.

I've 3 four day weekends on the trot now which will break things up a little. Hubby still hasn't broken, and told me where this holiday is to. I've got another month to wait. I just hope the hype lives up to the reality.

Signing out,

A happier Happy28

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or very bored. Are there any I've missed out?

I know I've mentioned my film subscription before, but I must mention it again. I've just had a look at my list of films rented since I joined Lovefilm at the beginning of July 2007 and it is an absolutely MASSIVE list.

I have rented 156 films in the last 15 months, of which I have watched all but 10 of them. Those ten having arrived at the wrong time to be appreciated and noted to re-order in the future.

I only ever intended to keep my subscription going for a few months, maybe til the spring, yet I have found a whole new world out there. If I had bought each film I have seen at the sale price of £5 each I would've spent a stupid £780. Instead I've spent about £240 in fees.

And the range of films I've seen has been something else entirely, from the weird Delicatessen to the cheesy The Marine, downright awful Sunshine to the moving Little Miss Sunshine, I've seen comedys, war films (from Japanese, Algerian, French, Korean and other perspectives instead of Hollywood interpretation), oldies newbies, classics.

It really has broadened my film viewing horizon. I still wouldn't call myself a film buff, good job too as I can't return the films quicker than 10 a month, but I have snippets of many stored in my head.

Ten films a month may not be that much if you watch a lot of films on telly, but we do not. My hubby is a film buff and has a large collection and this has been a way of watching stuff together.

Our list is now a living growing thing. Currently 87 titles hold my attention, waiting to be posted to me, so I frantically devour films. It's great. If anyone else fancies trying the film worlds exotica in the same frenzied way, I can give you the code to a 30 day free trial of lovefilm instead of the 14 days advertised on their site. All you have to do is remember to cancel before the end of the month, or at least drop to the minimum package of £4.99 a month.

You know where I am.