The Week in Review #15

Another week has passed and we're just a week away from another bank holiday weekend (Woo! Another reason I love Spring!) and another 7 days closer to my birth month (Woo! Any excuse for a fun time out!). Life doesn't get much better than that. :o)

Deceptively, this positive mindset of mine doesn't accurately reflect my attitude this week, which was a little moody as usual. But the beautiful sunshine today really lifted my mood and got me feeling all energetic - even though I ashamedly didn't actually go anywhere, other than the corner shop (for baaaad stuff) and the Indian takeaway (which is even closer than the shop). Still, best to write when I'm feeling good, especially if I'd like to keep any readers I may have. :o)

OK, so this week in summary form? Here goes:

• We had a week of fine weather! It was warm, sunny and really quite pleasant. Not quite warm enough for the over-abundance of bare legs that I was subjected to this week, although I did have fun checking out whose legs actually matched their upper bodies for skin colour (one of fake tan's many drawbacks). It was especially not warm enough for the many bare chests (all male, it wasn't quite that scandalous) on display on the lawn outside our office window. My boss jokingly suggested we petition for a dress code for that lawn. Seeing scrawny 19 year-old students with their pale chests out feels slightly wrong and is a tad off-putting when eating lunch.
  
  
• My mini-me colleague was still off work unwell. I'm concerned that she gets better soon but doesn't rush back to work before she's well enough (very easy to do when you're a temp and don't get paid for sick days), but am also concerned that our management seems to think that because we appear to be 'coping' without her, this implies we don't actually need her. *Sigh*
  
  
• My wonderfully vocal colleague, Miss T, was back in the office after having half term off work. It's always fun having her back. She tells us about completely random things, whether we want to know or not, but I love the banter. I also love that she brings us treats into work - this week, extra chocolatey biscuits from M&S.
  
  
• The Mrs broke up with her boyfriend. It was a tough decision in many ways, but one that seems to have been a very sensible. Sometimes, there are things that people can change, but quite often, it's just a case of incompatibility. We exchanged a few emails and had a couple of nice long chats about it. Luckily she can laugh about it, for the most part. Among many other things that just weren't quite right (and should not be repeated here), he had terrible taste in music. The final straw, I tell you! :o)
  
  
• I exchanged quite a few emails with Lolly, which we've not done for a while. We seem to possess our own unique shared vocabulary, made up of words we have either completely made up, or appended with a French/Spanish/Italian-sounding suffix (see 100 Things). She observed that whenever she emails me, spell-check goes utterly haywire. I cracked up because I had noticed exactly the same thing when I email her.
  
  
• I had quite a bad week, relationship-wise, in the sense that the distance was extremely apparent to me this week and rather difficult to cope with. The Boy had a busy week at work. His employer announced 1700 job cuts (that's in addition to hundreds they already cut before Christmas) and so he was working extremely hard and was very busy. It meant we didn't get to talk much while he was at work (which is when we have the majority of our contact due to the time-difference) all week. It's hard to talk about how difficult things are when you have very little contact. Plus, it doesn't feel like the best time to say "I'm not coping too well," when your guy is at work and is so busy he barely has time to have a quick catch-up chat with you. But we spoke about it and I discovered he has been feeling exactly the same. He doesn't always really show when things are getting to him and it's easier for both of us to hide those things because of the distance. At times, it can feel to me like I'm having a much harder time with it than he is, but now I know that's not necessarily true. We had a good, albeit brief chat about it and it felt a lot better to know I'm not in this alone.
  
  
• I made plans with my Uni girlies for another Sunday lunch date in June. I'm really happy we're trying to see more of each other. They are such good fun and we always have a really good time. Even though we were planning for 2 months in advance, we still didn't get a date on the first go!
  
  
• It was my Ma's and my friend Lolly's birthdays on Friday. I called Lolly at work and tried to put on my posh telephone voice to throw her off the scent, but since I did this and managed to fool her last year, she knew it was me straight away this time around. We had a nice chat and we made plans for her to stay over at mine next weekend (to make up for the fact that I couldn't make it to her Friday night birthday jollies). I went to the rents' as usual on Friday night and found my Dad had made Mum a chocolate birthday cake. She was the last to arrive from work (Big Sis got there before me), and as she walked in the front door, I was instructed to light the single candle on her birthday cake. Dad opened the door in dramatic fashion and promptly blew out the match. We had a giggle, Mum opened all her cards, we had dinner, went to a quick talk at church and returned so Mum could open the flowers we'd had delivered and have a bit of cake (at Dad's instruction - "you have to at least taste your cake on your birthday!"). So she did. Here's the proof:
  
  What's that? You can't see? Shall we go in a bit closer?
  
  Oh, there we go! :o)
  
  
• I got paid! You cannot underestimate the joy this brought me. The fact that the joy dwindled as the funds depleted is by-the-by. I spent so much money on pay day (withdrew my tithe in cash, ordered my Mum's birthday present [an external hard drive for all her photos], did a toiletries big-shop, bought some vests and a tee on sale in Gap) that my bank stopped my debit card working and made me talk to fraud prevention over the phone for a £7 purchase in Boots (two bottles of Lucozade Sport and an eye-shadow, if you're wondering). Lol!
  
  
• I'm going through an eBay-obsessed phase again (it comes and goes; it has been a while). I've probably bought more than I should have lately (although all of it is stuff I really wanted and like - when I start buying crap that makes me question my sanity when I receive it, it signals the obsession has reached a very dangerous peak), but I've also been selling quite a lot. I say I have become obsessed because I even dreamt about things I was bidding on last night. It wasn't even abstract or symbolic, the items were the real items I was bidding on and I was panicking I was going to be outbid. Get a grip, woman! For the record, I just won one of the items I dreamt about, with the starting bid! Wo0t! Here's a pic:
  
  
  I probably won't wear it with quite that amount of pout, but hopefully the smug look is optional. :o)
  
  Big Sis played foot model, rather delightfully, for me today. I took pics of her feet wearing the approx. 15 pairs of shoes I am selling. Yes, I said 15, virtually all of which I have worn less than three times each (some not even once) and none of which I have worn in the last year at least. Yes, I have that many shoes. It's a disgrace. Don't even get me started on the unwanted clothes, jewellery and bags I still have to list this week. I haven't even mentioned random nik-naks (old mobile phones, ornaments, soft toys, etc.) I also have to list. I'm going to have to start my ticket-to-New-York fund from these profits...

Can you believe how fast this year is passing? My next Week In Review post will be in May. May, I tell you! How did we get here? I'm thankful for all that happened this week and for the anticipation of the week to come. If nothing else, I only have to count down 5 days till the 3-day weekend of fun and games with Lil' Miss Lolly Lil! Can't wait. I hope you all had a blessed week, or at least had a nice weekend to make up for a not-so-great week. Huge congratulations to all the London marathon runners who probably sweltered in the mostly-blazing sunshine for 26 miles today. Wishing you soothing balm for your many blisters and massages-a-plenty for your poor, aching limbs. Here's hoping for lots of Spring sunshine for the 7 days ahead...