Day 31

A most excellent way to see in the New Year. A day of more decorating and some cooking, rounded off by an evening at the Williams'. Poker, Wii, beers and yummy food.

Day 30

Decided to make some changes today so we started to remove the nasty green wallpaper all over the hall. We've made pretty good progress and used a lot of elbow grease. Green was obviously the colour of choice at some point as it's on the walls underneath too, don't think that's what I'll be going for when it's painted.......

Day 29

We left earlier than planned today due to threats of 20cm of snow in east Wales/far west Shropshire. There was some snow on the way back but missed the worst of it, though getting back to a house where the temperature guage reads

10C was a bit of a nightmare. Four hours later and it's up to 15C. To cheer up we cooked a scrumptious butternut squash, ricotta and chorizo risotto for tea. And I've decided I need to take more pictures of people.

Day 28

After waving of my aunt and uncle on their long trip back to St Andrews, we decided fresh air was needed. Me, Matt, Dan and Dad risked life and limb on what turned out to be some exceedingly icy paths and roads. It was very chilly and the apparently lovely view was masked somewhat by fog that had drifted in. The half frozen water on the roads was particularly pretty once we'd managed to negotiate it safely.

Day 27

I'm realising I took virtually no people photos this holiday for some reason. Anyway, Sunday involved picking Matt up from the station and leaving Stafford to go see the sheep in Shropshire. An alternative Christmas tree was in place and seven of us ate a beautiful piece of beef after opening some more presents.

Day 26

Boxing Day was possibly the least challenging - didn't leave the house once......TV, Wii and a jigsaw followed by more tasty food. I don't like Christmas Pudding but enjoyed the spectacle.

Day 25

A lovely Christmas Day was spent with an enormous turkey prepared. A walk to work up an appetite wended its way along the frozen canal

with a couple of swans and ducks making merry too!

Day 24

Up early on Christmas Eve, serving the Liverpool public. Then drove down to mum's, thankfully the weather wasn't too bad but I was shattered and collapsed straight into a warm bed. The power nap revived me enough to enjoy my first tasty meal of the festive season. Desert was a highly impressive ice cream concoction, constructed by mum and Dan. Coffee ice cream, layer of chocolate sauce and sprinkles, surrounded by vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate sprinkles. Divine. Unfortunately though the coffee ice cream was far colder than the vanilla, so cutting into it was somewhat of a mission!!!!

Day 23

Photo pending a download from my phone, I sorted the post today. A range of unexciting letters were correctly sorted. First highlight - letters with stamps on from Christmas Island, Second highlight - finding a Christmas card for Cath and Alice. You have no idea how slim the chances of that happening are and I was soooooooo excited!!!!

Day 22

Trying here to demonstrate the scale of the hail stones in my back yard. My screensaver is still this picture and it managed to flick on so excellent timing, I decided to keep it there!

Day 20

A gathering.

Day 20

Home alone so I became all domesticated - tidying, sorting, hoovering and cleaning. Don't manage it often so the house is feeling the benefits! Then alone no longer, a trip to the gym and a tasy homecooked meal. Yum.

Day 19

I had a slow morning at home, wrapping presents and being lazy. Then a quick late afternoon dart into town where I felt fairly artistic and took this shot into the sky in Liverpool1. Then had an evening of M and S food and watching the dancing delights of Ricky. Cor - those lifts!!!

Day 18

I had rather a short day at work as we all headed off for our Christmas celebrations in Chester. We had a very tasty meal, and a fair few drinks before running to catch our train home!

Day 17

I seem to be getting a bit slick lately on taking pictures and posting them on time so I make a 17th Dec resolution to do better. I spent a couple of hours after work today going slightly mad doing some Xmas shopping. Here's a ginormous Santa that I spotted in L1.

Day 16

I was lucky enough to get a birthday parcel from New Zealand today and look - Santa is even on their airmail packages!!!! Pity Sal's already forgotten where I live..... ;-)

Day 15

A day being Santa's Little Helper and an evening of sorting. Brightened by being loaned this dvd so I can catch up!

Day 14

It's official, I have a perforated ear drum so it's attempt two to knock the bugs out with some antibiotics. As long as these ones don't make me feel as bad as the others....... After work, time to make the most of the free 12day pass for Matt.

Day 13

A very lazy day spent trying to do some Christmas shopping. Vaguely successful for both of us but my key success was picking up one of my own Christmas presents - what's inside the big big box?!?!?!

Day 12

One of the most satisfying hockey

matches of the season so far against the top of the league. You'd have thought we'd won the cup when we left the pitch! Followed by a lovely afternoon of team bonding and drinking at the club. The Colliers then joined us (three of them at any rate) and Townie was far too cool for school!

Day 10

This came out slightly bizarrely - an outside decoration - Rudolph on Vikki's road. A very busy evening of gym, furniture removals and then the music quiz. I wrote the answers down.

Day 9

Copying an idea from Cath I know, but apart from my card from RM, this was my first of the festive season.

Day 7

I got positively nothing useful done all last week due to being ill so thought I should make a start on the Christmas shopping at lunch time. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in my search but I decided to pop in to Hawkin's Bazaar for inspiration. Didn't find any, but did find a whole rack of ducks. Giant ducks, duck families, ducks that changed colour with the temperature and even these so called disco ducks. Ours are better.

Day 6

I feel that wii games have been a too familiar sight on this blog but here is one I got for my birthday. After a slow Sunday and putting mum on the train, it was Mario and Luigi against the world.

Day 5

Another chilly day in Liverpool spent running around the hockey pitch. The first team refreshments were super healthy in preparation for their cheerleader responsibilities for the club derby. Then I went home and mum had baked me a birthday cake. The day was rounded off by a truly scrumptious meal at Simply Heatchcotes with Matt and mum.

Day 4

Happy Birthday to me. Spent a lovely day in a spa with mum. Vast majority of the time wearing nothing more than a dressing gown and paper knickers. Could have slept all day long it was soooo relaxing!

Day 3

Feeling slightly better this morning, we went for a wander around Newcastle and round the garden. Homegrown veg order of the day and spied these grapes in their greenhouse - in December!

Day 2

I went to visit dad and Paula for part of my week off. Unfortunately a cold now kicked in to add to the antibitoic effects so spent some time zonked in bed. To cheer me up dad had collected some of my stuff together - in it I found cards from my 10th, 18th and 21st birthdays. Baaaad timing!

Day 1

Not my ideal way to spend my time off. Taking antibiotics for an ear infection - they have made me feel worse.