June 30, 2003
Hi there, well what a fantastic weekend i have just had. I finished work at 6pm after a manic shift. I managed to practically finish training two of the stores shift runners at smack on 5pm. so thought i could actually finish on time. I then remembered that a new starter is having problems with his benefits and said i would help him sort them out, as his hours and pay are one of the problems. Ive never had to do anything like that before so it was a case of the blind leading the blind. Anyway we managed to get it sorted and gave him my mobile number incase the benefits people needed to ring me to confirm anything that i had filled in. I finally managed to leave the shop at 6pm. I didnt mind really as i then had three whole days off. I have been in London for the weekend as it was a shipmates birthday party. ( see oggs outpourings for details )
I got into Euston at about 4.30pm. The train from wolverhampton was absolutly packed, i dont think there was a seat empty. Anyway once in easton i had to then get to Ealing Brodway, again as it was friday teatime it was manic, but managed to arrive in good time. Friday evening all we did was veg out with an amazing takeaway ( arrived in 20mins, i was very impressed) and then picked up another shipmate from the train station. Saturday we had a lovely relaxing morning and then popped into town to pick up some stuff and get things ready for the party. I was going as a hippy. I managed to get myself a very hippy style top and me and mom turned a pair of jeans into really big flares. To complete my outfit, i was putting my hair into two pigtails and got some beige ‘furry ball’ bobbles to put them up with. I also managed to get some rather bold purple eyeshadow and mascara. The look was complete 
We were just finishing getting ready and disaster struck…. I was making my way down the stairs and got to the last three steps and i slipped. i managed to stop myself from falling on my bum, but managed to bend my toes in a bizarre way. The result is now a purple swollen toe that i cant move 
oh well atleast it matched my eyeshadow lol
Anyway the party was ace and i finally got to bed at about 3.45am. I also managed to break my camera, there were some great pics on there, but hopefully i will be able to get some copies off people.
We all woke up quite early today and made it to church. It was a really good service and then we all went out for a pub lunch. My train home was at 4.35pm so had to then say goodbye to people. Got home at about 8.15pm as i didnt realise it was a longer journey on a sunday. Ive spent the rest of this evening unpacking and relaxing, then im back at work tomorrow, im looking forward to wednesday when its my day off so i can catch up on some sleep.
night all xxx
June 22, 2003
Why is that you can have nothing planned for times when you are free to do stuff and then when you are already busy, you get invites for other things on that very same evening???????????? As i work shifts its so hard to juggle things and get to see people and do stuff . So sometimes i feel like i dont get to see people as often as id like and feel like my week consists of nothing but work and sleep.
Tonight i was asked to go to the cinema with jonathan and marcus. Hannah also textd me to see if i wanted to go out for a meal or a drink. In couple of weeks time we are having a staff night out and its all been planned as we have to get cover from another store, so i cant ask for it to be changed now. I didnt realise it was a housegroup night and i have been asked to lead it. On the 28th of this month a friend of mine is getting married but another friend has decided to have her hen night on the same evening. Also on the 18th july its mels leaving party ( she is moving to a cottage in cornwall with her boyfriend, its only a minutes walk to the beach. Im so jealous. still plenty of weekends away to be had there i think) Anyway this is the same day as dads operation so i cant go. I actually think its more important that im at the hospital though, so i dont mind missing the party. We will be able to arrange another time to meet up to say our goodbyes. She is my oldest friend. We have been friends since we were about 8 so we are talking 20 years. We dont get to see eachother loads but when we do, its like we have only seen eachother the day before. Its so nice that although some friendships come and go that there are other people who are always in your life.
Any back to this evening… As i was going to the cinema with two blokes i couldnt persuade them to watch a a chick flick, so we ended up watching Matrix 2. Its actually ok, although for about two minutes i fell asleep and i was snoring. They didnt bother telling me until we had got out the cinema. I was so embarrassed.
My ankle as been playing up today also, its been fine for ages now, although it still has the swelling on it. So its been really hard to walk on. I really need to get it sorted as its been painful for far too long now. Today after work i popped to virgin records to buy a cd as ive had a £10 voucher in my purse for ages. I decided to get "badly drawn boy" i couldnt decide which one to get so i ended up getting both. The only one i need to get now is the "about a boy" soundtrack but im going to buy the box set from work. Its only £18 in the sale so it seems a better deal than just buying the cd. Saying that though, i already have the book and the film isnt one of my favs, but for the extra £3 i might aswell get that. So if anyone wants a free book then let me know
Sunday i am going to go to church in the morning and was planning on not going in the evening, but hannah is giving her testimony so i really want to be there. She is off to Africa in september for a year doing teaching. She has given up her teaching job and is taking a year out. Im so happy for her as its something she has wanted to do for ages. Anyway its nearly 2am so i must head off to bed.
nite all xxx
June 17, 2003
How lovely, is the reply i feel you are all saying at that title. hee hee
Basically i seem to have hands that are able to attract smells to them after the shortest of encounters. A few years back now when i was living in Newcastle. I was a youth worker for a local church for a year. Half the time we lived in a team house and the other half was with people at the church. The lady that i lived with was an amazing cook. She did the most amazing thick ( and i mean really thick) soups. Anyway on this one evening she decided to cook a curry. It was quite a mild curry. She had to pop out of the kitchen for about 2 mins and asked me to keep an eye on the food and to stir it if needed. I did that for about 30secs and low and behold my hand decided to smell of curry for the rest of the evening, even though i washed them a million times. grrrrrrrrrrr
Anyway that leads me to tell you about tonights smelly hand incident. I was cooking tea for my mom and myself and decided to do a spag bol. Even if i do say so myself it was lovely. I cooked it from scratch using fresh tomatoes, onion, mixed herbs ( i usually also use mushrooms but we didnt have any) and my secret ingredient which makes it oh so yum. Once that was cooked. i put the pasta on and started to cook the mince. And now alas my hands smell of mince even though i have washed them loads and even used the carex hand wash in the kitchen. Am i destined for a life of skinky hands???????????????? i hope not.
Ive been at work today. I was plannig on meeting up with a couple of friends for a quick drink after work and then head off home at about 7pm. We ended up having loads to do at work, so i didnt leave the shop untill 6pm. Boss gave me a lift home though so that was ok.
I know i always seem to chat about food in this diary, but i must tell you about a funny thing that made me laugh today. I am the queen of bizarre foods. I love sprout sandwiches with cheese and red sauce.( dont use cheese slices though as that makes it gross) Also cheese and stuffing sandwiches. They are fantastic. These combinations came about when i was a vegetarian for 7 years. I was trying to make a cheese sandwich more interesting. Anyway something that i love at the moment is boissan (spell) cheese on rice cakes. A good mix of healthy and not so healthy. I thought this was the ultimate in trying to be healthy but not quite making it, until today. My work mate for lunch had a large chicken pastie with a slim fast drink. How funny is that. She said she had to have the pastie as the drink alone wasnt filling. ha ha ha
Anyway, as usual i have waffled on for far too long so i will bid you all a very good night.
holly xxx
June 14, 2003
Hi there, sorry for the bizarre title but ive been a little bit miffed so to speak. It all concerns a dry cleaning company who’s name i wont mention, but it begins with a S and ends with ketchleys. When i did the weekly shop a couple of weeks ago i decided to take my winter coat to be dry cleaned and as i was there i thought i might as well get my crochet vest top and cardi set also done. ( yes i know that doesnt sound a very cool item to own, but it really is stunning and as the most wonderful stitch work and beading on it. It is in a dark silver grey) It cost me £65 when i brought it in november and it had been the perfect outfit when i had to go to an event in December and i was also planning on wearing it to my friends wedding in a couple of weeks. So anyway i took it to the drycleaners and they said they couldnt dry clean it as it was hand wash only, but they were able to hand wash it for the same price. I agreed as i thought i was better for them to do it properly than for me to mess it up and get it all mis shaped. I got it back from them yesturday afternoon and when i took it up stairs last night, i noticed that it looked a little smaller than i remembered it being. At first i assumed it was because it had just been washed and would still be ok. I tried it on just to make sure and i could have cried there and then. It as been shrunk in length by at least 6-8 inches and it is ruined. It still had the instuctions from them on it saying it is hand wash only. I was so mad. As i kept thinking what if i had just taken it somewhere to wear without realising it had shrunk and then wouldnt have had anything else to put on. As i dont have the receipt i decided to go to the chain of shops that i had brought it from. I had brought it in London, but thought they may be able to give me the product info on it, so that i can use that to try and claim my money back from the dry cleaners. The manager of the shop was so wonderful as she said she will help in any way possible and if i cant get the money back from the dry cleaners, i can take it back to her and she will give me store credit. I told her that she didnt have to do that, as it isnt the shops fault, but she said it doesnt matter. She had also had a simular experience with a dodgy dry cleaners so took pity on me. What a star she is. Im feeling a bit better about it now, and at the end of the day its only an item of clothing so it shouldnt matter that much, its not like ive lost a leg or anything, but it just made me mad that it is now ruined as it is such a lovely outfit. Plus ive now got to find something else to wear for the wedding. Anyway thats all for now, i will let you know what happens.
holly xxx
June 11, 2003
Hi there,
Well yesturday was such a long day. I didnt get to bed until really late as i was waiting to tape Jack and Jill. I could just set the timer but i dont for some reason. I actually woke up feeling quite awake so that was good. My bus arrived into town a couple of minutes early so decided to go to boots to get my brekkie and lunch, to save me having to walk into town later in the day. I have got to say im a big fan of the boots meal deal. For £2.70 you can pick any of the sarnies. a drink and then either a choc bar or a bag of crisps. I was very good and picked the paprika hoops at a wonderful 68calories. They tasted mmmmmmmmm whats the word im looking for??????? ahh yes spicy cardboard Anyway for a extra 50p you can add something from the meal deal extra range so decided to get a Blueberry muffin for my brekkie as i can never be bothered to eat before i leave the house. As an extra so i wouldnt be tempted to buy a double decker at work i picked up a bag of chopped up apple. I cannot believe i actually paid 70p for one apple. Did it taste any better…… nope. It did mean though i could share it at work with the 2 others i was working with. Did i share my blueberry muffin???????? errr no. That is the cake that will be eaten in heaven. I love them. hee hee.
Anyway today at work the sale started. Yesturday they had some of the price changes come down off the system so it wouldnt take aslong today, and yet we still had 9 whole pages of price changes to do. The bonus is though we get to see all the bargains first. Some films on video and dvd are now as little as £1.49. I managed to finally get a copy of Josie and the pussycats for only £2.60 ( got staff discount ) and also 5 friends vids from series 8 and 2 from series 9. Which my discount of 20% i got each one for only £4. It would have been wrong to not buy them
Anyway i finally got out of work at 5.20pm and just as i was about to cross the road my bus turned up. so i had to run to get it. (not a pretty site). My dad was meeting me later on down the road as we were visiting mom in the hospital. She seemed a bit better and they told her she would be able to come home the next day.
Mom arrived home at about 10.30am , just in time as id just finished cleaning the house from top to bottom and had just put the hoover away as they pulled up. She is in a bit of pain and so after a cup of tea she went straight to bed. Its good to have her back.
The dog is not impressed he cannot do his normal greeting of jumping on her lap and generally being bouncy, but he is being a bit quieter now. He is a cute dog, and is quiet happy to sit on your chest while you watch tv or sit at the comp. although it does make it hard to type.
Anyway apart from helping mom when she as needed it today, i have spent most of my day slobbing at the computer, so i feel i need to do something else for a hour or so. bye for now.
holly xxx
June 10, 2003
Hi there.
It is so long again since i last posted. I must try and post more often, cause i keep thinking of what i should now add to this entry.
Work is busy as per usual. I seem to be given more and more work to do each week. Being the instore trainer means that, aswell as my usual workload i also have to find time to train up the new starters right up to the shift runners who im trying to get their management training sorted. I have managed to complete one and so there are just another two to go. The trouble is as they are shift runners i usually only get to see them on a change over. So unless there is another member of staff working and the shop is quiet and we dont have a delivery, price change,customers to serve then its all a bit tricky.
I have also been in charge for the last couple of weeks as boss as been away on holiday, but hoorah she is back now.
Things have been a bit manic at home also with mom and dad both being ill. Mom had her operation today and my dads is due in about 4 weeks time. I will be happier when everything gets sorted as i hate to see them both so poorly.
A good thing that as happened lately is that we are back in touch with my brother so we have been able to get to meet my neice. She is 2 in october and soooo lovely. I got given a great photo of my neice and nephew together a couple of weeks ago and they both look absolutely beautiful on it. Im not just saying that as a proud auntie. they really are wonderful and both have fantastic cheeky personalities. I love being an auntie
Well im off to bed in a bit, im waiting up so i can record something off sky 1. There isnt much that i watch on tv but a couple of years ago, i got into a great program that was on channel 4 about 3am on a friday night. Its called Jack and Jill. I noticed it was on sky 1 on the off chance and fortunatly i have only missed the first episode, so in true geeky form i have saved a space after the first one i taped and then carried on from there. It is on every night so will be able to get them all on tape quite quickly. When it is repeated again . i will tape episode 1 and then retape the second episode. <blush> how sad am i? lol.
Anyway as usual i have rabbited on for far too long. I hope you have managed to read all this without falling asleep, and hopefully i will get round to posted more often so there wont be as much to read in one sitting.
nitey nite
holly xxx
