What have I been doing for so long ???????

Well I've been shamed into coming back on my Blog - my last post was in September!! I can't believe how long it has been - you know how it goes- one day leads to another, then a week , then a month , then two or more!!

My 1st Year Blog - versary has passed also - I've been looking back on what I wrote when I first started up - but scary as to how quickly time goes by.

So what have I been doing for so long - well Sam starting secondary school has really thrown my daily life out of the window - what with masses of homework and new routines to cope with and also home and family commitments - three of my family have had major Ops or procedures this past few months and thankfully all are well now. Work has been pretty hectic too and really daily toils have taken priority over everything else.

But now I'm back !

Luckily I've kept a note of everything that has gone on via my trusty kitchen calendar so can report back on some things...

Following our fantastic summer holiday with Lyzzy dee and her folks and my long awaited 40th birthday - Malc took me away to Florence and Pisa for a belated birthday surprise weekend.

We had a great time but as all of our other holidays / trips away nothing is ever normal.

We did the normal touristy things - climbing the Leaning tower of Pisa ( not easy with a man who is terrified of heights and gets the urge to jump off anything higher than the bottom step of a ladder - still as I kept telling myself - he is well insured !!!)

The Tower was amazing to climb - I walked out around the edge with poor Malc stuck like Garfield up against the stair wall - I must admit though at one point it was so breezy that I thought that I would be blown off the top -it also felt very lop sided but not sure if this was psychological or not !


I forgot to mention that just before our epic climb we decided to go for something to eat in the square surrounding the tower. There did not seem to be a huge choice but we found a small place which was selling filled rolls and cooked food. We only had half an hour to fill before our time slot for the tower so we decided on a chicken pannini - this was the biggest mistake of the day !!!

When it arrived the chicken inside the pannini was half cooked - on the outside only and practically raw and very cold in the middle. I decided that if we ate it we would probably end up with salmonella or worse. So I did the wifely duty and told Malc to take it back and speak with the Chef. Malc came back and said that the Chef would put it back under the hot lamp and warm it up a bit !!! I had images of us both having the squits for the rest of the stay so politely went to speak with the Chef myself.

My knowledge of the Italian language is sadly very limited but in pidgin Italian and the use of Mime I reconstructed a rendition of " What will happen if you dare heat up that piece of chicken that you want to feed me scenario". This involved me holding my stomach and pretending to vomit whilst demanding that the Chef produce his meat thermometer so that I could check the temperature of the chicken !!

Looking back now the whole scene was completely bizarre - but fuelled by this man's attitude - he waved his hands in the air and refused to give a refund or offer anything else to eat instead of a raw chicken sandwich ( not that I would want to eat anything there- noticing his grubby apron and equally grubby nails).

Reluctantly we went outside rather miffed but still wanting retribution, whilst knowing that we only had 17 minutes until our tour started.

Outside the premises was parked a police car with a male and female both wearing sunglasses , regulation thick moustache ( him not her) , peaked cap and carrying a large side arm and guns.

I decided ( still being very annoyed) to report my displeasure to them ( I'm not sure why I did this but at the time I was so cross). Again I gave a starring performance - but this time with chicken impressions ( Malc joining in ) it was a bit like the game " Give us a clue" - you know - two words, five syllables with the Italian police participating. The male officer with the sunglasses hardly said a word but must have understood as he got on his radio, muttered a gruff noise and marched into the cafe.

He then ushered us over and said that we could have another meal instead of the raw chicken or something to the same value.

It was now about 5 minutes until the tour so we decided to have 20 euros worth of tubes of Pringles crisps and marched out of the cafe leaving the rude Chef to his nasty food with very smug looks on our faces - We had a really good laugh at the situation afterwards as looking back it was unbelievable - it was almost like an out of body experience!

The weirdest thing is that Lyzzy dee wants to go on holiday with us again next year !!!! What a great friend xx

Halloween was very cold this year - last year we spent at Disney in Florida and had the best time ever - again the kids came home with loads of sweets. I had bought a huge tub to give away but they seemed to bring back just as much as we had given out to the neighbours kids.

October also saw Sam's birthday - my baby is now 12 years old and growing very tall. We had a lovely time in an indoor snowdome sledging - great fun!

November saw an awards ceremony in London for my work which was really nice, dance exams for Georgina, Flu jabs for us all and a lovely day spent at Lyzzy dee's.

When we arrived Tom ( Lyzzy dees husband) was wearing a home made T shirt with various holiday phrases on which was hysterical and must have taken ages to make. As usual we had a lovely lunch and spent the time chatting and catching up on our holiday photos and reminiscing.

Today I ventured into the loft and got out the Christmas decorations. I'm not ready at all for Christmas but love all the preparations. I am working right up to Christmas eve on a late shift which will be busy but have Christmas day and also New Years eve off !! Both kids are in the pantomime again this year and I am helping out backstage.

Again looking back at my Blog - which Lyzzy dee inspired me to do has been fun - It's a shame that I have not blogged as regularly as I would have liked to do but hopefully now everything has settled down I should be able to post a bit more and catch up on every one's news - Nice to be back ...