Graduation!

Yesterday I graduated. And it was amazing! You have to love an event where you get to wander around in amazing robes, get lots of applause and then all your family turns up. All in all a pretty cool day!

So with out further ado I present to you me in a very swishy gown!



Yes we got to throw our hats in the air. I look like I was having fun, no? Do not let my happy face fool you, about 2.7 seconds after this photo was taken I got hit in the arm when it started raining mortar boards. Man oh man do those puppies hurt!


Me and my Dad, I love this photo of him!


So there we go. You will probably hear alot more about this, because I really did have the most fun!

Happy Thursday! xxx

Saturday Steals Vol 15

Well strike me blind, i'm amazed that yet another week has passed! It barely feels any time at all since I was here last week, which is weird considering how busy i've been since then!

Tragically i'm now starting what I think is my eight straight day in a row working, yet I don't feel completely overwhelmed as yet, something which I can only attribute to my incredibly supportive and loving family. James has been utterly stellar, (more on that next week).

But this weeks Saturday Steal is somewhat connected and comes in the form of a present from my mother-in-law. She saw me at work last night, and because she thinks that I work too hard and that I looked tired she brought me these...


How thoughtful is that?! I was completely touched by her thought and it made my night an awful lot better! Defiantly a steal in my eyes (even though I didn't really do anything!)

Anyway I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, what with the beautiful weather that we have been having recently. For more excellent steals head on over to Archive of Our Lives and check out everyone else's great contributions.

xxx

Up-ta-ma-date

Well hello my lovelies I hope everyone is having an excellent week.

The new job is going very well, it is possibly the most interesting job I have every had, which can only be a good thing. I've just done my first six days in a row without a break, and I am knackered. Completely so. When you combine working 37 hours a week at my new job, 12 hours at my old and then 6 at my 3rd job (yes I know i'm insane), 59 hours a week is pretty much killing me stone dead. And I don't know when my next day off is. Tragic!

Anyhoo I thought I would share with you the embroidery I did as a present for my Dad on fathers day a couple of weeks ago.



This was my first attempt at stitching letters, and I think it went quite well! Although it looks pretty, I have decided that stitching with metallic is one of my least favourite things to do! It just catches at every possible opportunity!


The quote reads, 'I will love the light for it shows me the way, but I will endure the dark for it shows me the stars' (Og Mandino)

I hope everyone is having an excellent week so far! xxx

Other members....

Well hello! I thought I would take this little opportunity to introduce the other little members of our family here. Since they were in the mood to be co-operative and photogenic this evening, I thought it was the perfect time!

So without further ado, meet Astrolabe. Astrolabe is a greek word which means 'star- taker' and its an astronomical instrument used by astronomers, mariners and astrologers. I got it from a pair of medieval lovers, Abelard and Heloise who named their son after this instrument, in the only recorded use of the word in this context. Well, that and now for a rather shy guinea pig!


Living with the shyer Astrolabe is the more out going Simba.


His names is rather self explanatory considering how utterly ginger the little bloke is. He is also the more outgoing of the two, motoring around his cage at top speed.

And there you have it, the two other members of our little family, and considering how small they are, they don't half know how to make a huge mess!

Happy Sunday xxxx

Saturday Steals Vol 14.

So for this weeks Saturday Steals, i’m back to talking about office clothes! As I mentioned earlier in the week I have got a new job, one in an office which requires, you’ve guessed it, office clothes! Now one of the great ironies about getting a new job is that you have to get more clothes before you’ve had your first pay check, thus, deals were needed to make this doable!

So without any further ado I visited one of my favourite places to score steals, the reduced rack at Marks and Spensers, where I found...

This pretty little blouse, reduced from £25 to just £3! A saving of 88%!


I also got this pink stripy number which was reduced from £15 to £3, a saving of 80%!


And this green silky blouse which was reduced from £29.50 to just £5, a saving of 83%!


With Marks and Spensers pretty much cleared out of any office clothes in my size I moved on Debenhams who were having a mid season sale. Where I managed to get a few more bargains.

These grey trousers which were reduced from £25 to just £12.50. I think I might remove the belt though, what do you think? A saving of 50%


This two piece set which was reduced from £35 to £12.50. Now I will happily pay £12.50 for this, but i’m not convinced that anyone would pay £35!


Head on over to to Archive of Our Lives to see some more great bargains.

Happy Saturday everyone!

The World has gone Bureaucracy Crazy

It is official, the world had gone mad. Earlier in the week I missed a postal delivery for some replacement sofa covers that James and I had ordered from Ikea. So far so good your thinking. An eminently respectable and sensible decision you say. If your sofa covers come broken, of course you would try to get some more, where is the problem in that? And I agree. So far there is no problem.

Then you encounter the British postal service, and your morning goes rapidly downhill.

The problems start when I discover that for some unfathomable reason the postman had not dropped them off at the large sorting office, from which I live all of five minutes away from, oh no. He had dropped them off at a small local post office on the other side of town which I had never heard off and had no idea how to get to. Heart on hand it took me ten minutes this morning to convince my sat nav that I had no desire to go to Kettering and that all I really wanted to do was drive across town. I should have listened to the sat nav. Kettering may have been preferable!

So I find the post office. I'm feeling proud of myself. I go in. Clutching the missed delivery slip and my ID. (Of course I remembered that to pick up a missed delivery you need your ID. I've done this hundreds of times.) And my conversation went something like this.

Me: Hello, can I pick up this parcel please
Postal Worker: Sure. Is that your slip?
Me: Yup here you go. (Handing her the slip and my ID)
PW: Thanks. I'm sorry are you Mr J Pawsey?
Me: No i'm not. He is my partner. I'm just picking the parcel up for him.
PW: Oh. Oh i'm not sure about that. You see it has to be the person whose name is on the tag to pick it up.
Me: Sorry but he works full time, and can't get here, so i'm doing it for him, you've got my ID there.
PW: So he's you husband then?
Me: No. No he's not. He's my partner
PW *tuts* (I kid you not she tuts at me!) Let me go speak to my colleague.
Me: Okay
PW: (Comes back) Very sorry but to give you this parcel I need to see ID from both of you
Me: What would that achieve? How would seeing someones ID whose not here, for you to compare the two change the situation in any way? How would that help?! All that would prove is that I could steal both parcel notifications and passports!!
PW: Sorry but its the rules, I need to see ID from both you. (At this point she has my parcel in her hands)
Me: (I'm so annoyed at this point I can't be bothered to argue any more) No worries then.

I grabbed the missed delivery slip and my passport and left. Tell me if i'm being unreasonable here people. But seriously. Why would seeing someones ID who wasn't there change a thing? The parcel was addressed to J Pawsey. He and his Mum have the same first initial. By this logic I could bring her passport and get the parcel! I can't be the only one who thinks this is crazy.

So my sofa covers are being held hostage for who knows how long on the other side of town.

I should have gone to Kettering.