Tinkerbell's Pages

On being almost there...

Well, despite the thunderstorms and torrential rain going on outside my window, I am in a positive frame of mind today. Firstly, I have had the day off work (always good on a Monday!) Officially it was an INSET day, but 'unofficially' it was just a day off. Many people in school will have spent the day finishing off their reports, but MINE are already finished *smiles smugly to herself*. Anyway, the day started off like a proper summer's day, so I got up early and took myself off to the high street to do some chores. Then I met up with mum and mum's friend who were babysitting baby niece for a while. I tried to ring the solicitor but couldn't reach her, so emailed instead, pleading for information about the flat, in an attempt to avoid being made homeless in the next few weeks.

Anyway, there is at last good news! If all goes to plan (fingers crossed!), the flat will be ours at the beginning of August, which is when the lease on our current flat runs out. Now I can start planning the summer properly (hadn't even been looking forward to the end of term because it meant one step closer to becoming homeless!) So, boyfriend and I have decided to have his birthday party at the current flat the weekend before we're due to move out and then we've got a couple of weeks to sort the new place out before we're off on our hols. When we get back, we can have my 30th birthday party in the new place. Should all work out perfectly (I hope!)

COUNTDOWN TO THE SUMMER HOLS: 11 and a half school days

On wondering who the f**k stole summer?!!!

Hi, I'm back! Just realised how long it's been since my last blog! I've been busy, busy, busy over the last few weeks and now that my internet connection is finally working again and I have finished all 36 of my reports for school (round of applause please), I can sit back and enjoy the summer a bit. Except I can't, can I? Because the weather is quite frankly crap. Got a school trip tomorrow, so it's bound to rain. Today someone at school said that the weather is going to be like this all summer. That better not be true. I will not be happy if it is. At least I am going away for a week in August... The crappy wet weather is making my body think it's winter (or autumn at least), so instead of eating healthy fruit and salad (which I would be if the weather was hot), I am craving comfort food. I've got bikinis to fit into by August 20th and at this rate I'll look hideous in them!

Anway, here are just some of the exciting 'highlights' of the weeks since I last wrote:

• got absolutely soaked to the skin at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre a couple of weeks ago;
• had to fork out almost 150 quid for a new back windscreen when mine decided to spontaneously shatter into a million pieces for no appparent reason one day after school;
• have been to see several new movies: the new Pirates of the Caribbean, Fantastic Four and Shrek the Third - still to see this summer are: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Simpsons Movie, Transformers (the boyfriend's choice!) and The Bourne Ultimatum;
• played croquet on the lawn at boyfriend's brother and sister-in-law's one evening (all very civilised) followed by a more uncivilised drunken game of football (me and an over-excited seven-year-old versus two thirty-something-year-old men!);
• have had fun chasing up all the paperwork, but alas we are STILL waiting to move into our lovely new flat...

Can't remember any more at the moment. I don't really know where the time has gone. Will write again soon, I promise. x

On looking forward to a sunny half term...

Have finally re-surfaced from under five days worth of SATS paper marking and at last the sun is shining! I have got 36 reports to think about writing at some point, but at least I've still got a few more weeks to sort that out. Am looking forward to next week - not only is it a bank holiday on Monday, but it's also the start of half term. Yippee! Have got some nice things planned too - going out with big sis in London on Friday night, watching the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie on Saturday and will probably go down to Brighton for the day on Sunday (hopefully the weather will be good.) Must also use this rare opportunity to catch up with at least two or three poor neglected friends sometime over the course of the week. Will also be celebrating  six months (!) since baby neice was born next weekend.

Am helping big sis to move into her new flat on June 9th - alas, still no news on our flat. Got lots of paperwork through from the solicitors today, but still nothing from the housing association. By the end of this week it will be a MONTH since I originally sent off the paperwork to them. Was hoping to be settled in the new flat by the beginning of the summer holidays, but as time goes by that's starting to look less and less likely.

On becoming a little impatient with life...

I am (yet again) not enjoying life much at the moment. Apart from spending yet another joyous week of suffering with an agonizing sore throat (am currently living off a daily mixture of Nurofen, disposable aspirin and antibiotics - YUM!), the house-buying venture is becoming a real nightmare. At present, the vendor is having a go at the estate agents because nothing is happening and the mortgage people are having a go at the mortgage advisor because nothing is happening, so guess who they're both having a go at? Yup, you've got it - little old me! Since none of this standstill is my fault, I decided to have a go at someone else. Except I'm not really like that - I politely phoned the chimps who work at the housing association who are supposed to be sorting out our loan, just to enquire if they had got my paperwork. About three calls later and after being passed from pillar to post and being told everyone was in a meeting or had gone home, I finally got to speak to a charming woman who argued that she had already told me my paperwork had been received (not true) and that I would have a reply in the post by today (not true). Then she hung up on me (great customer service skills.) Anyway, the postman has merrily been on his way and gone again this morning, unsurprisingly leaving nothing from the loans people. Rang them this afternoon to 'politely enquire' once again what was going on, but of course, they had all aready gone home. Again. So now I face receiving phonecalls tomorrow from all those who I promised I would have answers for. But I do not have these answers. Due to the chimps in the office who have sat on my paperwork for the last two weeks and are probably going to make us lose our flat altogether at the rate they're going : (

On juggling different aspects of my life...

I am knackered. Had a lovely day out in Brighton with big sis yesterday as a treat since I finally finished tidying the flat AND did some work for school on Wednesday. Today I've had one of those days where you just don't stop. And I haven't even been at work. I'm juggling my life at the moment. Didn't particularly want to be in the flat when the woman from the estate agents came round to nose around first thing this morning, so I escaped until she had gone. Walked over to see little sis and baby niece. Baby niece was promptly sick over my leg. Walked home again and changed out of my jeans and put a load of washing on. Went out again and walked to the Post Office to post five VERY HEAVY parcels (boyfriend and I have been selling stuff on ebay). Took myself off and walked to find the flat we were supposed to be viewing tomorrow morning (although was informed this afternoon that it has now been sold). Walked into town to drop off mortgage paperwork at another estate agents and did a bit of shopping. Walked home and had some lunch. Rang another estate agent about new flats on the market. Walked over to view one which he highly recommended and disappointedly walked home again (I was somewhat unimpressed with over-hyped flat). I have therefore done a lot of walking in the sun today (even got a little bit sunburnt on my nose!)

Going to have a quiet night in with a DVD tonight and then it's off tomorrow to see the one remaining flat which appears to be on the market in this area at the moment (it's only in the next road to us, so not so much walking to do!) Then tomorrow night it's time for our first BBQ of the year - my friend Miss M does like to be the first to host a BBQ once the weather starts to get nice... : )

On a little update on my life...

Just a quick posting today because I actually got up an hour later than I meant to this morning and have got loads to do! Maybe it's because I've been living in my own little bubble over the last week or so because of all the dramas which have been going on, but I had no idea the clocks were going forward this weekend! I guess I haven't read any newspapers or seen the news for days either. Usually my mum reminds me when the clocks are due to change, but she didn't do that this time, so I'm feeling a bit disorientated. Good job it wasn't yesterday because I was working at Saturday school and would have been an hour late! Talking of which, the two Saturdays in a row I had sacrificed have turned into nice little earners (once the money finally comes through), so I can now pay off the final instalment for the summer holiday I booked on a whim at New Year!

On the homebuying front - after a frustrating start, I finally managed to talk to a financial advisor at the beginning of last week, so at least I know how much money the boyfriend and I have got to spend on our little home. Have been trawling the internet for somewhere halfway decent within our price range, but alas, nothing worth looking at has come up yet. I'll go and see estate agents and start the hunt properly during my easter holiday (only four and a half more days of school left!), but I'm well aware that there's only two weeks left on my loan offer and then who knows what will happen. Don't know if we can just get an extention or if they'll make us go through the whole process again. Must find out. I'll keep you posted...

On feeling a bit angry and grumpy...

I am feeling a little bit angry and grumpy today and here are a few of the reasons why: (1) I am knackered and therefore, like a small child, am getting what my mum used to describe as 'overtired and a bit grizzly'; (2) I have received the approval to go ahead with my homebuyers alone 'in principal', but apparently I need to find a home I want to buy within the next THREE WEEKS (!), or this offer 'will automatically lapse' (and that just isn't going to happen!); (3) I have to see a financial adviser before I can go any further with my application anyway and I've been trying to set up an appointment all week; (4) My student is coming in after school tomorrow to prepare me for the piles of extra work I'm going to have to do to help her over the next five weeks; (5) I've got to work at school all day this Saturday and next Saturday; and worse of all, (6) MY THROAT HURTS. It has been killing me for the last 24 hours, so no doubt I've picked up some life-threateningly hideous disease from the horrible brats at school!!!! Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!! END OF RANT.

On recapturing my youth (again!)...

Well, it's been a busy week and I'm totally knackered, but am still up at what my mum would call a 'reasonable hour' as I've got work to do today. After the joy of seeing 35 parents over two nights (Tues and Wed), I dragged my tired bones out of the flat and took Miss S to see Ash on Thursday night. We were not disappointed! Ash are a band who I've always wanted to see play live, but for some reason over the years I had never quite got round to it. We went to Kings College Student Union, which is quite a surreal venue that looks like an old office block from the outside. It is tiny inside and only seemed to hold about 1000 people, which meant we were able to go upstairs and get a fabulous view at the front, without getting bashed and battered around by everyone trying to crowd-surf and getting a little too over-excited downstairs! We're just too old for all that business now. Been there, bought the T-shirt...

Actually, did by the T-shirt. I finally procured myself a fetching orange 1977 t-shirt (see pic above). This t-shirt was originally available and widely worn by students and the like circa. 1995/96 and as a teenager I always wanted one. For those of you who don't know, 1977 was the name of Ash's first major album release and is the year Star Wars (a popular film with the band) was released and the year the band members were born (me and Miss M too!) Anyway, decided it was about time I finally got the T-shirt I wanted all those years ago, so I did. And despite the fact that it is bright orange - I love it. Also realised that I still quite like Tim Wheeler the lead singer - although he is now a hot 30-year-old rather than cool 18-year-old!

The band were fab and some of the songs brought back so many memories. I remember listening to their songs all the time during the summer of 1995. This was a period of great significance in my life which I think back on now with such fond memories. This was the time when I fell in love for the first time (or thought I did anyway); I first met the boyfriend (although back then he was just a good friend); I went away on my first drunken holiday with friends for the first time (boys and girls - how exciting!); left school and only had a Saturday job to worry about and turned 18. Happy exciting days. As the lyrics to their song Oh Yeah go: 'I don't know why these things ever end; I sometimes wish it was that summer again...' (*sigh*).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WLaOdHi94

On another busy week and mortification on the dancefloor...

The boyfriend is out paintballing with his friends from work today, so I've got the flat to myself. I'm supposed to be doing all the housework and the usual work for school, in addition to making notes for parents' evenings on Tues and Wed night, but although I was up early, I'm not really doing to well so far! I've got another busy week ahead - am taking my lovely friend Miss M to see Ash at Kings College Student Union on Thurs night for her 30th birthday pressie (yay - we're so excited!) and then a group of us are going to Jongleurs in Clapham on Saturday night for her main birthday treat (incidently, this is also the place where Miss S and I go to salsa). Having the parents' evening on Tues also means that I'm going to have to miss my salsa lesson this week : (

This brings me neatly round to the tale of last Tues night's salsa lesson which I've yet to tell! My group had a different teacher this week, who was very impatient and quite scary compared to the guy we've had the last couple of weeks. He kept telling people off when they went wrong and seemed to think we were all useless. Not having Miss S there again meant it was quite a uncomfortable experience at times, but I was speaking to some others in the group and at least they felt the same as me! I hope we don't end up with him again next time. Then, in the break (without Miss S there for me to hide behind), a guy from another group just grabbbed my hand and swung me onto the dancefloor in front of everybody. There were literally about four other people dancing and about forty people standing around watching. I tried to explain that I was not very good, but it was too late and I had to dance with him for the entire song (which seemed to last for ages). I was totally motified! If only Miss S had been there to experience my gut-wrenching embarrassment! When I got home and told the boyfriend about it and he thought it was absolutely hilarious!

On Happy 1st Birthday Blog!

Can't quite believe it, but I've just realised that my darling little blog is one year old this week! It's just scary to think it was 12 whole months ago that I first sat down in front of this very computer to document the life-changing, random and frankly quite mundane events of my life! I still can't quite believe that anyone ever bothers to read it either, so thanks for the support! It's much appreciated. Don't really want to dwell too much on everything that has or hasn't happened over the last year, but it's been interesting to say the least. Don't really want to dwell on the fact that it's only six months til my thirtieth (!!!!!!) birthday either, but just thought I'd mention it : (

Have more to say, but that will have to wait until another day I'm afraid. Must rush off to find a costume to wear to school for World Book Day tomorrow (don't ask!)