Hope this gives you some enlightenment as to me and what goes through my mind on a Friday afternoon!
A - is for the Afternoon. This afternoon I have the office to myself, and have pretty much nothing to do, and thought it was time I did a Ciao challenge! From next week I will be inputting all the data from our old database into a new database, so am making the most of my free time before the Boredom commences.
B – is for Boredom. I don’t really understand it when hubby says to me “I’m bored.” I have so much going through my head all the time that I could never be bored (except when it comes to monotonous tasks at work which I have no choice but to carry out, and require enough concentration so I can’t really switch off and let my mind wander). I do worry sometimes about what’s it’ll be like when we have kids and they start saying “Mummy, I’m bored!” I suppose I will just have to say “Well, go and be bored with your dad!” Besides, is it possible to ever be bored once you’ve become addicted to Ciao?
C – is for Ciao. I joined Ciao towards the end of November last year. It feels like much longer though. It really has changed my life in a variety of different ways (although I intend to save them for another review – perhaps number 50, which seems a long way off at the moment) and I am having a great time here. The review of which I’m proudest of on Ciao is without a doubt my Depression review, as I really put my heart and soul in to it, and I have just be so chuffed with all the comments from everyone.
D – is for Depression. Depression is an important part of my life, since it has been part of who I am for over 10 years. However, I am not a person who suffers, I am a person who is affected by depression. I take things as they come, and have learnt to live with who I am. Depression has taught me the importance of making the most of the happy times. However, depression does have a way of sapping the Energy.
E – is for energy. A lot of the time I am tired, and I really do value my sleep, and am at my happiest when in bed! Sometimes I wish I had more energy. However, a lot of that is down to me and not being as healthy as I should be. E is also for exercise which I really know I need to do more of, and I also need to look at eating more healthy Food.
F – is for Food. I am a pig, yes I admit it. I love food, especially chicken, pasta, home-made bread, steaks……. This weekend we’re having friends over for dinner, and hubby and I are really looking forward to it – our menu is Waldorf salad, Sicilian lasagne (lasagne made with pork, and boiled eggs!) and chocolate and Ginger crumble with cream. Sounds pretty fantastic doesn’t it?!
G – is for Ginger. You see I’m starting to lose the plot now! Last time we had fresh ginger in the house it went off – it was in a biscuit tin and when we opened it all these tiny black flies came swarming out of it. It was just so minging and we put the tin in the yard for several days…anyway, hopefully that won’t happen again. Anyway, I’ll try to get back to the review being about me – it’s difficult though as I have an eye on the clock as it’s an hour and a half till Home-time.
H – is for Home. I had an awful dream last night (I seem to have had a lot lately), where it turned out our house wasn’t actually ours….it was a bit stressful actually. I was very pleased to wake up this morning to find that our house is still our house – our home. Hubby and I had a difficult time as we were living apart a year before we got married and for 6 months afterwards, and our home is even more important to us because of that. We are so happy to be together in our house – home really is where the heart is – that’s a lot of H’s I’ve got in here! Must be a sign of my Intelligence – lol!
I – is for Intelligence. Although I’m sure there are people who do not agree, I am a fairly intelligent person. On the other hand though, I don’t have a great deal of common sense which can be a bit problematic. It was only after I’d cut my finger on the tuna tin at the weekend and hubby told me that I should have scraped the tuna out of the tin with a fork rather than with my finger that I realised that a fork might have been a better idea. But yes, I am reasonably clever….my best friend’s mum said one of the nicest things to me at a time I was very depressed. She said that her theory was that the reason I was depressed was because I was too intelligent and think too much. Ok, so perhaps I’m not really super-intelligent, but I don’t think she was Joking in a nasty way.
J – is for Jokes. I have a very dry sense of humour….with a brother 11 years older to teach me, I was (according to him) the “only sarcastic 2-year old”. Of course this did have its problems, as adults often did not realise that I was being sarcastic and tended to take it literally – I was a misunderstood child. Contrary to popular belief, sarcasm doesn’t have to be the ‘lowest form of wit’ (and it doesn’t have to be used as an insult), especially not if used with skill – see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4384734.stm.
Whether or not my friends are laughing with me or at me when I joke or use sarcasm more subtly is another matter, but either way I make them smile, and that’s what’s important to me. Oh dear, I was on such a role, I can’t see a way to link to my next word which is Kissing.
K – is for Kissing. I’m not a huggy kissy person, and hate the whole ‘Muah Muah’ social thing. But in my misspent youth I must admit to snogging well over a hundred men (and a handful of women) – drunkenly of course. I think I must have experienced every different type of kisser there is – the washing machine impersonator, the one that tastes of tomato ketchup whether or not he’s been eating it, and not to mention the teeth clasher, and the three-way-kiss! Hubby and I really don’t kiss as much as we should, I think I should put that on my to-do list for when I get home tonight, as we do Love each other.
L – is for Love – of the husband and wife variety. When I was little (and not so little) I dreamed of growing up and falling in love and living happily ever after as many little girls do! Of course I didn’t then realise what love was all about.
My hubby really is my best friend (despite having an official best friend as well of course – but she’ll understand!), and I am not lying when I say I love him more every day. I know we’ve only been together 7 years, but I just cannot imagine my life without him. Saying that though, I do think that it’s important not to be too dependent on each other, and I do have a Plan B if things ever do go wrong – Plan B is my Moose collection.
M – is for Moose – of course I am obsessed with moose, and if I had my way I would spend all day every day cuddling my favourite moose. I’ve only had him since December, but he’s just the best – he is called Marty (according to his label) and has tartan antlers. Of course I don’t wish to neglect my other (well over 100) cuddly moose (the plural of moose is moose), Marty the moose really is great, and I’m sure hubby does get a bit jealous sometimes. I did a bit of a half-hearted moose review in my earlier days on Ciao – I really must rewrite it sometime when I have time….Never mind….
N – is for Never – one thing I’ve learnt in life is that it’s a good idea not to say that you will never do something, as things do change. I used to have the philosophy that I’d try anything once except something (I’m not going to say what it was – in case my mother does happen to read this!) but then I ended up trying it (and no it wasn’t anything dodgy like cocaine, as I hope I wouldn’t be that silly!)…..so all I’m saying is that it’s good to keep an open mind, even if like me you do tend to be a bit Opinionated!
O – is for Opinions – I have always been very vocal about my opinions, and while I do try to tone it down a bit nowadays, I do find it very hard to keep my opinions to myself. I am a very honest person, and with that unfortunately also comes bluntness – I say things how I see them. I am trying my best to work on this, but I think I’ll always be quite opinionated – perhaps that’s good for Ciao, I wouldn’t like to say! My Secret Santa at work bought me a T-shirt which says on it in big letters “Everyone is Entitled to my Opinion!”. I think my colleagues know me too well. Talking of work, since writing this review I have been informed that the Print job was ready for me to collect.
P – is for Print jobs. Ok, so it’s not really, it’s about the monotony of work and the boring things I have to do, like stuffing envelopes (which I’m meant to be doing at the moment). At the end of the day my job does not stretch me…in fact it’s two years today since I started working here, and I really do need to start thinking about my options and what I am going to do with my life. After all, I do have Qualifications.
Q – is for Qualifications. I absolutely love qualifications, and although I know it’s probably a bit sad and pathetic, but I do like the BA MSc after my name. The MSc cracks me up because the thought of me being a Master at anything scientific is just a joke really (if anyone is interested it’s in Applied Social Research). I would love a job where I get to use my skills gained through the work I have done for my qualifications.
I think that was probably one of my new year’s Resolutions.
R – is for Resolutions. So, we’re 5 months into the year, and I’m very aware that I did a Ciao review on my A-Z (very optimistic I know) of resolutions back in January. I had a brief glance at it just now in order to make sure that this review wasn’t going to be repeating what I said then (it doesn’t appear to be). But this was a brief glance as it worried me that 5 months in and I haven’t really done much yet – my socks are still not matched in my drawer (even to the extent that today I have one elephant and one monkey sock on), but more importantly the diet, the exercise and all of that doesn’t seem to have happened. But not to far, there’s still 7 months to go, and at least I have stopped Smoking.
S – is for Smoking. I stopped smoking on 31st May 2006 at 11:30pm, so I see today as being the official one year anniversary. In celebration I have updated my review of Allen Carr’s ‘Easy way to Stop Smoking’ book review. I really do urge anyone who smokes to read my review (or anyone’s review about the book!), especially if you want to stop smoking before the ban in public places on 1st July. I absolutely love not smoking, I wonder now why I ever started! The only time it ever really did anything for me was when I was killing time waiting for the Train.
T – is for Train. I get the train to work – it’s 50 minutes from Workington to Carlisle on the train, which is about what it would take at rush hour driving – plus it works out cheaper once parking and petrol are taken into consideration. Besides, I don’t really do driving – still! I like to sit and read my book and generally Unwind.
U – is for Unwinding. I am getting towards the end of this review now and I can feel myself unwinding as I write this. I am looking forward to a nice weekend of cooking, entertaining our guests, and watching DVDs. No, it’s not an exciting life I lead, but I’m pretty content. Hubby and I also like to make the most of spending our money and treating ourselves while we still can before we settle down and have kids! It always gets ridiculous when it gets to the end of the alphabet, because there is really nothing interesting to say. And all this talk of unwinding and relaxing is making me
V – Very lethargic and I want to go home to
W – Workington to see my hubby, give him lots of love and kisses, and er…….play with my
X – Xylophone (not that I have one), because apart from X-ray it’s the only word I can think of beginning with X….and now I am
Y – Yawning. I would just like to apologise for my pointless rant of this afternoon. But it has passed the time.
Z – is for ZZZZZZZZZ. But I can't fall asleep as I have to catch the 17:27 train!
Have a great weekend (or week, depending on when you’re reading this!)
From Afternoon to Zzzzzzzzzzzzz 
