I am sorry it’s been a wee bit quiet here in my corner of the ‘net. I’m stuck at home looking like a puffy death-beast with flu. I have black eyes from the infection in my head and chest, cant wear make up as my temperature keeps making me sweat it off, oh and to top it off my rosacea and eczema have flared up and I’ve got a lovely acne breakout going on.
I have products I want to test and review for you, but currently eating cereal, reading Agatha Christie and smothering my skin in various stinky medicated lotions is pretty much all I’m good for.
So, I’m asking you lovely people to help me boost my mood and hopefully my immune system by sending me cute things on Twitter, tagging me in pictures of your pets on Instagram (@ramblingmads) and telling me what awesome stuff you’re up to in the comments please.
A lot has happened this week, as Ferris Bueller says “life moves pretty fast if you don’t stop and look around once in a while” and this week it’s been pretty whizzy! If you follow me on Twitter then you already know some of this.
Last Saturday I received a phone call from a lady who wanted to invite me to an interview for a job not far from where I live.
Monday morning I made my way to her office for the interview. 45 minutes later I said my goodbyes and left feeing very happy with how it had gone. I had been at the bus stop for all of five minutes, when one of the managers came running out waving her hands at me and trying to light a cigarette at the same time.
We went back inside and they offered me the job right there and then. After months of job hunting, applications and interviews, temping and panicking, I finally have a permanent role.
I started yesterday (Thursday) and I’ve made a good start, mastering the report running process in less than an hour today.
A three day weekend lies ahead of me and then back to more learning my role (and sorting out the stationery cupboard, seriously it’s a mess in there!)
So far everything’s gone well, my team are lovely and warm. This morning we all went out for breakfast before work, a monthly tradition in the office, which was really fun, and the sun shines on my desk which is lovely. It’s a fairly short commute on the bus (free of the Underground!) and in a nice place, which all helps.
Onwards and upwards we go. Have a great bank holiday weekend everyone.
Let’s be honest, the world is full of heartbreakingly sad things, and people arguing about them.
My anxiety levels are through the roof in general at the moment and all the carrying on online is only making it worse. So I removed the app from my home screen, I didn’t delete it because I genuinely don’t know my password and should I ever go back, I’d like to be able to get into my account.
I haven’t used Twitter much recently, and having deleted dozens of random accounts I was following, I’m going to try to use it more, bite sized info that I can handle. I’m also on Instagram. Imaginatively my handle on both is ramblingmads, so do come say hi.
Facebook was overwhelming, too many voices screaming for attention. If I do decide I want back in, I think scaling back groups and “friends” will be a must. I’m starting to think my friend Jack, who does not use any social media, may have a point.
If you need me I’ll be reading a book and painting my nails.
My grandparents celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary recently and on Sunday the entire family went out to lunch with them. It was postponed from the beginning of the month as my poor Grandad had shingles, but he’s all better now.
We gathered at the rather posh Oatlands Park Hotel in Surrey, not far from my mum’s hometown. Amusingly the ‘children’ now outnumbered the ‘adults’ at the table as both of my cousins and I brought our partners along.
Their story is sweet but also rather sad.
My Nan had a fairly tragic childhood and although it had a happy ending, her life was full of loss. She married her childhood sweetheart, Bill, at 18 and had two daughters (my mum and auntie). Bill died at 30 from Non-Hodgkins’ Lymphoma, leaving her a widow with two small children to support.
Meanwhile in Yorkshire, a young man lost his wife to cancer and decided to head out to ‘The Smoke’ to find work and start over.
My Nan was mainly raised by The Aunts, and it was Auntie Doll (a pretty kickass woman in her own right) who introduced her niece to the young man whose accent was so strong, she thought he was Scottish!
It was love at first sight, and then he met her little daughters and a family was formed. My mum and auntie were bridesmaids and got a new dad.
They are still very much in love and Grandad is one of my favourite people on the planet. He has taken such good care of my little Nanny. She hasn’t been very well in the last few years and he has done everything he can to keep her well.
Here’s to many more family get togethers and love.
My best friend and I have been evil twins since we were 11 year olds just starting secondary school.
We took our first girlie holiday last year, it was well overdue, we went to Venice.
We are so in sync that we once bought each other the exact same thing for Christmas, and frequently get very similar things for each other for birthdays.
My addiction & a dedication to my evil twin
I am very lucky in my friends, bunch of weirdos that they are. Most of them have been my friends since we were kids, builds a hell of a connection between you.
Who's in your gang?
Most of my friends have been part of my life (and family) since we were kids. Those deep, lifelong friendships are so satisfying. Built on a history of in jokes and ‘remember the time…’ stories.
It can be hard for new friends and partners to break into the group, but those that do, can never leave!
Those friends, who’ve known you for years, those are the ones that you can lean on when things get tough, and vice versa.
So go find them!
I have been so lucky in my friends, the ones that are like family, my brother from another mother, the ones that are always at the end of the phone. The ones that even if you haven’t spoken for a while, you pick straight up the conversation like there wasn’t a gap.
Remember to tell your friends how awesome they are and how much you appreciate them.
This weekend we went to get a few things to make my new flatmates at home.
My new flatmates won’t be human though, instead they are rodents. I know some people (including my mum) hate rats but they’re cute, fluffy, smart and squeaky.
Mine are two brothers courtesy of the lovely Georgina of Fuller Figure Fuller Bust whose girl rat had some babies a few months ago.
I’m allergic to cats (which is a shame) and we can’t have a dog in the flat so small mammals it is.
My cousin used to have a rat as did a good friend of mine, so I’ve handled them before and have knowledgeable people on hand.
My boys will have better digs than me, their cage has three stories, toys, tunnels, a hammock, water bottles, food troughs, a litter box, ladders and soon, a wheel. They’ll also have lots of things to play with outside like a zorbing ball and the entire front room to explore when I come home to them.
They even have room service and a cleaner – me! Regular baths and new toys and treats.
Wish I was that lucky!
We have named them Justin and Algernon. Both are literary references. Justin was one of the super intelligent rats in Mrs Frisby & the rats of N.I.M.H and Algernon was the mouse in Flowers for Algernon (which is one of the OH’s favourite books).
Justin munching apple
Algie is brown and Justin hooded (a mix of colours, in his case brown and white), which makes telling them apart easy.
Algie all snuggled up
At the moment there are curled up in the corner sleeping, all wrapped up together, probably exhausted from their exciting day of moving and rampaging round their new home.
Pictures will appear on my Instagram. I can’t take any when they’re curled up in the corner.
Rats are very clean, intelligent animals, capable of learning their names, how to do tricks, they spend a lot of time grooming themselves and each other. They can be toilet trained (mine have a litter tray).
They’re affectionate, social animals who use social grooming to bond (and will apparently groom you too), they like hiding and have an abundance of tunnels to scoot through.
Rats didn’t spread the plague as was previously thought – it was gerbils! The gerbil PR machine must have gone into overdrive spinning that one.
ramblingmads 