23-04-2012

As usual, we had a busy weekend. We had such grand plans of having a weekend of doing nothing, then somewhere along the way we lost it and now it is Monday morning and I am in work feeling a serious need for caffeine and wondering where my weekend went.

Saturday night was a birthday night out in town and himself having had a migraine during most of Saturday we were at odds about whether we should go. The migraine cleared up and off we headed out remainly resolute that it would be an early one for us.

Roll on 3am when we actually got home to find the dog had completely ignored all his toilet training and use the kitchen floor as his personal potty place.

An hour later we crawled into bed, kitchen floor cleaned and no hope of a lie in on Sunday morning since we had family over for Sunday dinner.

An early rise after a late night followed by general house cleaning and much cooking was our 'relaxing' Sunday morning. After being the fabulous hosts that we are we got to crash on the sofa at about 8pm in front of the fire where I lasted a whole two hours before I fell asleep and had to be carted off to bed.

That brings me to Monday morning. Sleepy eyed and bleary I don't know what happened to my weekend. It disappeared in a whirlwind of socialising, hangovers, cleaning and cooking. At least I had Friday night to chill out. Although that seems like a life time ago so I really think it is only fair that I am given another night like that as soon as possible!



16-04-2012

Let me just state this for the record, I am terrified of heights. I know most people are not comfortable with heights but this goes way beyond that. I have an actual phobia. I hate going up the ladder into the attic, I feel uneasy at the idea of leaning over the landing, I always stay several feet back from the edge of any viewing places – Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, the London Eye, you get the idea.

Yet for some reason I decided I wanted to do an abseil off the roof of Aviva Stadium. It might not sound that high or even daring but at 70m in the air and the height of 12 double decker buses stacked on top on one another, it was more than enough to have me quaking in my boots.

Stating that I wanted to do it might be a bit far fetched. More like I was determined to do it. You might remember a post some months ago about a Bucket List and I had an abseil included on that list. An attempt at conquering my own fears if you will.

When I signed up to do it in March it seemed a lifetime away but god damn it time goes far too fast and before I knew it the week leading up to my impending doom was upon me. I had managed to successfully keep the whole idea at the very back of my mind, buried deep. When it surfaced I quickly reburied it telling myself it was ages away. Meanwhile I was gathering sponsorship feeling that at least if people sponsored me then it would be more of an incentive for me to actually do it.

I won’t lie, there were quite a few sleepless nights in the week leading up to the abseil. None more so than on Friday night when I am sure at the very most I slept for about 20 minutes. The bottom line is that the day was fast approaching and I was terrified.

I had prepared everyone for the fact that there was about an 80% chance that I would not be able to do it. I had apologised to my sponsors in advance, I had mentally prepared myself for the mocking I would have to endure as a result of my yellow belly. All in all I had everything covered.

The one thing I hadn’t been focusing on was that I might actually surprise myself and do it. And do it I did. With some unsuppressed cussing, nervous rambling to my instructor and some hand-holding from himself at the top with me, passing up his turn to make sure he could see me over the edge, I managed to climb over the railings 70m in the air, push myself off the gantry and release my rope to set myself sailing down.

I wish I could say once I was out there I was instantly relaxed, but that would be a big fat lie. I was still nervous and the aching muscles all over my body and in particular in my arms are a good indication that I was tensed up and clinging to my abseil equipment for all that I was worth. I did enjoy the view however and even managed to slow down my descent so I could take it all in – I wasn’t exactly getting back up that rope so I might as well have made the most of it while I was out there, who knows when I was have the guts or garters to do something like it again.

It was, I will admit, an amazing experience. My instructor was beyond great, he never faltered when he seen just how nervous I was and he gave me the best piece of clichéd advice – don’t look down. It was the best thing I could have done, I stared at him (probably extremely intensely when I think back now) as he explained the in’s and out’s and my eyes never left his face as I climbed over the railings. If I had looked down you can guarantee I would not have done it. Himself was there all the way as well, taking snaps and offering words of encouragement without being pushy and telling me to get on with it. I think he was able to enjoy his abseil all the more once he knew I had actually done it, was on the ground and not panicking up by the railings refusing to move!!

A big thank you to everyone who sponsored me and offered words of advice and support! You have helped me check something off my list that I thought would be there for an eternity!





12-04-2012

The pooper himself
The pooper himself

Meet the new addition to our house. Well he is not so much the new addition anymore as we have had him for a full nine weeks. He is called Frodo. ‘Aint he cute as a button?! He is a soft coated wheaten terrier. If that means anything to you.

As cute as he is I won’t lie he has been hard work from the very beginning. First off he wasn’t sleeping and instead seemed to prefer howling for eight hours straight from the moment we went to bed. We tried everything. Ticking clock in a jumper of mine, nightlight, no lights, radio, long walks in the evening to tire him out, DAP infuser. In the end it was a combination of all these things that seemed to work. We brought him into our room in his bed for a few nights, with the DAP infuser, clock in my blanket and a night light oh and a stuffed kong to distract him when he actually went to bed. Night by night we moved him out into the landing, down the stairs, in the hall and finally back into the kitchen. Now we are back to enjoying a nights sleep. He usually sleeps until 7am or so before needing out. Which is a monumental improvement.

If I have heard it once, I have heard it a million times. Think of it as practice. You know. For later in life when other little things that like to cry all night come along. I like to think of it as practice for what life will be like when I lose my sanity. Two solid weeks of no sleep I was up the walls and slowly losing the will to live. Thank god for caffeine. Survival tip number one. When getting a dog stock up on the caffeine levels.

At the moment we are now training him to pee and, um, defecate in a particular area of the garden. Our doors are very close to the grass and if he does his business along there then there is more of a chance of it being dragged into the house on his paws. Not such a nice idea.

The toilet area training is going far from swimmingly. Basically he has decided that every other area barr the corner of the garden we picked, is a much more desirable place for him to get down to his business. When we take him to the corner he simply sits and looks up at us with those doleful eyes. We have been following all the rules, keeping him contained inside the house and taking him out when he is ready to go, treating him if he does go in the right area and so on and so forth but so far, no dice. Still, on we plunder with it and hopefully something will stick soon. Just to the corner rather than to his paws.

Apart from that he has been a great addition to the house. He is lots of fun and just loves to play. He likes to sneak into rooms and grab whatever he can from the floor, wagging his tail as we chase him. A particular favourite of his already is fetch and he will regular come up to us with some toy or other willing us to throw it for him. A bit of a messer really which suits us down to the ground. Although I will say this, all tips on training welcome!!

Waiting to play fetch
Waiting to play fetch




27-03-2012

I have sun times ahead to look forward to as I booked a 5 day break in Malaga with a close girl friend and when I say I can't wait, I mean I am practically counting down the seconds!!

After quite a few hectic weeks in work and the stress of the house move I am looking forward to a bit of a break during which the plan involves, lying around by the pool, eating excessive amounts of Spanish food and sampling some fine cocktails in our lovely hotel.

My holidaying partner in crime is very much of the same opinion as myself - let's use these days away to recharge the batteries, eat as much as we can and be sure to test the cocktail skills of the bar man. There will be no mad crazy nights on the town as we only have 5 days and neither of us fancies be stuck indoors all day suffering from a hangover. There will be nights of drinks and giggles - it's only to be expected from the two of us but enough that we can still rise and shine in the morning to take advance of the hotel breakfast and grab a good spot by the pool. A good spot is defined as one that gets the sun most of the day, is walking distance from the hotel bar and far enough back from the water that you avoid any splashing. We are a particular twosome :)

The only downside is that we don't fly out tomorrow. Still some bikini shopping with a few beverages afterwards with the very girl tomorrow should boost my spirits!!