well, life is a pond.... sort of. My toilet broke last week which was fun. So now its "sort of" fixed... but my overflow pipe is not connected to anything meaning if my toilet ever overflows it will run straight down through the ceiling, through a light, and make a nice puddle on my floor at my front door, not to mention screw with the electrics.... but its all fun and games...

Still not seeing much of Mr Rossi which is upsetting to say the least, but i'm coping... i think.

More updates later, the library's booting me off this comp.

S x

Centrestage

well, we had the last official centrestage before the summer on saturday just past and i thought it was pretty good. Andy Hopkins spoke on self-control which was pretty good and the music was decent too. I loved singing. Have to say the second lot of music / worship was better than the first. Could actually hear audience participation which was brilliant. Plus i think they knew the songs a little better than the first set. Was sad that "i've found Jesus" and "let there be joy" didnt quite get going in terms of people joining in. Perhaps it was more that they didnt really know them... or perhaps they were done too early in the night and the kids hadnt really got into the whole thing yet. Either way they didnt go as well as i hoped they might, but the rest of it was enjoyable and i think everyone taking part and just being there had a good time.
Went out for a drink afterwards with Ali, Bennett, Sandy and Steven, and Chris joined us at the pub. It was nice to just go and chill out with them all afterwards.
Things are a bit crazy at the moment cos aside from occassional walks / lifts home from different places, i feel like i've hardly seen Chris alone at all since we started going out. It sucks. But at least its not like i havent seen him at all since then... its always just been in more of a group context. And since the other physics teacher at the high school has been signed off with a bad back and definitely wont be in for the next two weeks, it means Chris is pretty much a one-man show in the physics dept. Which puts a lot more pressure on him. He not only has his own 21 periods to prepare for and teach, he also has Alec's 16 or 17 periods to at least prepare for.. he'll teach some of them but he'll have his own classes to teach at some points so he needs to actually have stuff properly prepared that they can work through with a different (probably non-science) teacher. So he's gonna be very busy over the next few weeks at least while Alec is off... and i dunno, but i get the feeling that Alec may not be back til after the summer.... so that's longer that Chris has to prep for. The joys of having a responsible job i guess.... :-S

Coupledom

well i've entered the happy state of coupledom now. Chris and i finally got together on Tuesday after months of comments / whispers / pestering / nudging / flirting and general interference from others! Am very happy just now :)

Quarter of a century....!

Imagine what you see there but in a wooden frame with the lyrics "Over all the earth, You reign on high, every mountain stream, every sunset sky" written between the pictures and you've got what i gave Chris for his birthday.

I soooooo wanted to keep it for myself!! And if he hadnt liked it so much i would have been taking it back! lol!

We went out for a meal on friday night to celebrate Mr Rossi's 25th, and it was a really nice night. Went to Pizzeria Il Fiume which is an italian (as the name might suggest!) and no it wasnt a coincidence that we went to an italian and Chris has italian genetics... cant believe Ali didnt twig it was deliberate! Was really nice that Anna could come down from Glasgow for it, it was just a shame that Ali and i had to work at 7.45am cos it would have been so nice to have been able to spend a little more time with her... And dont get me started on work yesterday... it deserves its own special individual post!!
Anyway, there were 7 of us at the meal - Chris, Hugh, Bennett, Anna, Ali, Claire and me. Lots of nice food and fun shared round the table and then we walked Claire home and headed down to the Bruce for a drink or 3 where Sandy joined us after he'd finished back shift at work. Would have stayed out slightly longer, but it was a good thing we went home when we did with the madness of the next day! Hugh, Sandy and Chris stayed out a bit later than us girls (and Bennett walked us home) so i dont know what time they all got to bed on saturday morning! The wee small hours i would expect! Chris seemed to have a nice evening which was the main thing :-)

pictures...

Thought i would post a few more pictures from the whithorn trip. It was brilliant :) i had such a nice time. Just so relaxing and chilled out.. just what i needed.

long time no post.....

Well, i havent blogged in AGES so i thought it was about time you got an update.... it probably is not likely to be a full update since i have SOOO much stuff to say and i cant actually sit here in this position long enough to type it all.... the joys of back pain. :-S

So yes, first piece of news - i have back pain. And specifically i have sciatic nerve pain which is causing me great amounts of soreness and tension in my right calf. Sandy can testify to what its done to my ability to walk anywhere! It hurts like nothing on earth! Had today off and went for a nice massage which was actually quite sore, but i'm sure its done me some good. The bugging thing is because of my physio training i kinda know what i'm dealing with and i know what i would really like done, but i dont want to have to be referred for physio through the NHS cos that'll take forever, and i havent been bothered to try to find a private physio to do anything about it. It just needs a little manipulation of my lumbar spine, but its irritating that i cant do it myself! My posture is appaulling and i know that doesnt help. So yeh, needless to say i wasnt at badminton tonight!

Second piece of news - i have a holiday from work next week :-D yaaaay! long time coming! And thanks to Ali and Helen swapping shifts / doing extra work, i get the whole week off instead of just mon-wed. Libby doesnt have the abundance of staff she thought she did so i was going to have to work thursday / friday.... actually i told her if she was really really struggling then i could work those two days (which would have been much to the annoyance of Chris and Sandy who have been pestering me for months about taking a holiday from work and would have shouted at me if i'd worked!) So i'm off down to london on monday (note to self - book tickets!) til wednesday. Staying at David's flat and spending tuesday with Neil. We're going to do the touristy london eye / thames cruise thing and also go to see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at night. Should be quite good. I'm looking forward to it, but i'm praying that things dont fall back into the ways they were a few months ago. But that's the reason i'm staying with David ... to avoid that situation happening.

Third piece of news - technically not mine, but i'm happy about it so i'll share. Chris bought (in terms of the offer has been accepted but the paperwork still needs to be sorted out) a flat on Lockerbie Road today. Well, the offer he put in was accepted today so that's brilliant :-) I'm really happy for him. Everything seems to be working out for him down here, he got his job without an interview, the first flat he's put an offer in on has been accepted... he's totally settling down here. Kinda scary i'll bet but very cool at the same time! So i'm looking forward to lots of flat-moving / decorating parties in the not so distant future :) I wonder if Hugh will actually move into the spare room when Chris gets the keys to the new abode... Its a distinct possibility i would think.

Fourth piece of news - I'm not going to blaithwaite in the summer any more ..... :-( I'm totally gutted about it, but i'm needed to work and to be honest i would rather work than have libby reduce more members of staff to tears over that week. I'm nice that way. that's how i ended up with very very little holidays last year. I worked over summer, and christmas... and easter come to think of it. But hey, i get next week off and i'm definitely getting the 3rd week in July off to do Glenshee and i think i'll try and get the last week of the summer holiday off as well to do a camp at Scoughall... and i actually would quite like the first week in september off too so that i can go to a Spring Harvest Holiday (which would be a holiday for me rather than a camp where i'd have to do work) so we'll see. Lots of things going on at work tho so i'll just have to play it by ear to see what i can and cant do. And i think i might have to try to be more forceful.... but i dont see it happening any time soon.

Fifth and last piece of news - I had a great weekend in Whithorn last weekend. It was just brilliant. Good company, great weather, great food... all in all a smashing time. Loved it. Was so nice just to chill out with the gang and get to know some of them a little better. Got some cracking photos too. Wanna see?.....

Muchos fun :-)

Anyway, i gotta go cos my back is causing problems being in this position.... will fill you in more on the whithorn trip in another post... plus there's probably other news i've forgotten to include....

its a mental lightning / thunder storm outside at the moment so i think i should probably switch off and unplug my comp before i fry something!

Adieu

Glenshee

Well i was up in Glenshee a few weeks ago and it was superb. I loved it. Perfect weather conditions since it didnt snow while we were there but it was still totally covered in the nice crisp white stuff which actually ended up being ideal for building igloos and sledging ramps. Yes that's right. IGLOOs. We built one. ------>

Quite a significant one at that... Helen and i could both stand up in it... and we could almost both stand full up in it while we were in there together!

Was a great weekend. Nice to get away from here for a wee while. Even if it was only a weekend. Group bonded pretty well too which was really good. Broke down some of the clique barriers that we'd unintentionally formed. Such a good atmosphere all round really. And one of the girls who came up to the weekend with us, who wasnt a Christian at the time, became a Christian on the Sunday night after the weekend so that's just amazing! Praise God!

In other news i've got a sore back... and though i dont know exactly what caused it, the more and more i think about it, the more i think that perhaps it was the landing after Sandy and i went down the "ramp" at the weekend together. it was fun at the time... tho i do distinctly remember Sandy shouting in my ear just before we came off the ramp "ooooh this is gonna HUUUUUUURRRRRRTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!" *and he was right!* So yeh, i feel like i need a good thumping or someone to walk over it and crack my spine a bit... Is rather irritating.

i got today off so that's really nice. Its Helen's birthday so i have her party to look forward to tonight. At the Mount Sydney. So just up the road... quick exit for me if necessary but i dont know that i'll really need it. Am sure it wont get too out of hand with her parents being there in the background... its after the party that things could get "interesting".

Anyway, gonna go eat something cos actually i havent eaten yet... and i'm quite hungry.

would you like cream on your hot chocolate?

Is it really wrong for me to ask that question??

Apparently so... according to my boss. Got another row today for asking people if they want cream. (yes another, cos she has told me before) Cos apparently "our hot chocolate / mocha / milkshakes come with cream. It says it on the menu." .... so instead of being polite and courteous and asking if people really do want cream on their drinks they just get it with cream unless, of course, they specifically ask not to have it.
I actually dont understand why libby has such an issue with the whole me asking if people want cream. It takes what? an 2 extra minutes to check and it doesnt make the drink price any less and actually you enhance the customer experience / satisfaction because you actually take into account what they want rather than just spilling out a whole heap of standard drinks. But no, i'm not allowed to ask... (but i probably still will cos its in my nature to be a little stubborn and to try to be helpful to my customers.... especially when they actually cant really read the menu board very well anyway cos it is a greenish/grey colour on a black background which no-one actually really pays any attention to!)

*rant over*

My ideal frenzy line-up

Have been thinking about this topic for a few days now and have come up with a fairly substantial list of bands / folk that would make my ideal frenzy / concert line up. The list goes something like this - tho not in any particular order of preferrence (i shall also mark whether these bands were at frenzy 05 / are (hopefully) at frenzy 06)

1. Starfield (frenzy 06... hopefully!)
2. David Crowder Band (frenzy 05 and 06 - YAAY!)
3. Delirious? (frenzy 05 and 06)
4. Tim Hughes (frenzy 06)
5. Matt Redman
6. Nichole Nordeman
7. Newsboys (frenzy 05)
8. Sporran Again (frenzy 05 and 06)
9. Jennifer Knapp
10. Switchfoot
11. Yvonne Lyon
12. DC Talk
13. Jars of Clay
14. Third Day (frenzy 05)
15. Chris Rice

please feel to leave comments about who you'd like to see on there. I realise that i'd have to have more than one day to get the full effect of them all but hey, it'd be nice. I also accept that DC Talk no longer exist as a band and therefore would be unlikely to be able to make it... but i can dream!

18-12.... what a wonderful few numbers :)

yes, i did watch the rugby..... what a superb match :) and after me saying for so long that we were going to "thrash the english"... its so nice to be right about that for once! :)
My mother even wanted someone to play Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture before the service started on sunday morning at church.... but then she thought better of it. Mainly because she didnt necessarily think that everyone would get it / appreciate it / recognise the piece of music. Was a fun thought tho.

So. other new in the world of me... erm... ... ... ... ... i'm ill at the moment. there's some news. I have developed this horrible irritating cold-y type thing this morning. Totally bugs me. I hate being / feeling ill. Dont want it! take it away! all bunged up and icky feeling. Not nice. And had to start work at 8 this morning... that wasnt fun. And also worked longer than i was supposed to. That also wasnt fun. Technically it wasnt just sprung on me that i was going to work longer... i knew yesterday that i was going to have to work longer today because Lisa (swedish girl at work) was going to see "Joseph" with the RoL school (matinee performance in Carlisle) so she couldnt do her whole shift. Work was relatively ok tho, all things considered. I sneezed far too much tho.... hate sneezing cos i never just sneeze once... its always about 3 or 4 times in succession and there's nothing i can do to prevent it.
Since coming home til now i have eaten almost a full tube of smarties... now that doesnt sound like much, but when you understand that this particular tube of smarties was bought in Switzerland and has a "twirling disney princess" on the top... measures approx 25cm in height (not including the "twirling disney princess" that is actually the stopper) and 3.5cm in diameter... its quite a large tube of smarties. Was a birthday present from a friend. In case you're wondering, which i'm sure you are, the disney princess on the top is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. And i'm pretty sure that by the end of this post i shall have devoured the remaining smarties in the tube. I really need some proper food. But i cant eat tea til Dad comes home with the food... which i'm really hoping is soon cos its already 8.40pm... if not i shall probably resort to eating the BBQ pringles that are in a bag up here.... again, another not so good idea cos as they say "once you pop, you cant stop!" (make that the end of the paragraph to finish the smarties!!... all gone!)
In other news we made pancakes at prayer group last night which was fun .... tho we burnt the first few. And for someone who has never tossed a pancake before, Chris does a remarkably good job!.... except when attempting to toss a pancake and a grape at the same time....both fell on the floor! We also made an extra special pancake and wrapped it in tinfoil and hid it it Cheryl's fridge with various notes around her kitchen / house about "killer pancakes" and the fact that all the monkey nuts that Sandy had been "lovingly" scattering around her house were really hidden cameras / microphones placed in strategic locations to ensure she did not remove the genetically modified killer pancake until the appointed time. *Cheryl was dozing on her futon at the time of said pancake / monkey nut posting* Ah the joys :) Twas a very fun evening!

Verse for the week comes from Isaiah 43:10. Its the one that sprang out at me at prayer group when we read it last night. Also happened to spring out at Cheryl and Chris so there's obviously a lot to be said about the verse. I read it from the NLT last night and it was just so nicely put. It says:

"...and you are my servant. You have been CHOSEN to know me, believe in me and understand that i alone am God. There is no other God; There never has been and never will be."

so there you go. The emphasis is mine. Have a nice day / evening.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

i'm quite happy actually :-) SCOTLAND WON THE RUGBY - yes i know it was yesterday, but still... i am allowed to still be happy about that!! All i can say is BRING IT ON!!! Would have been goin thru to Edinburgh to see the Scotland/England match on the 25th from the sidelines but cant make it now that i'm YF contact person and should probably be there instead. A bit gutted about that... but hey, what can you do!?

Plus i am getting all psyched up for FRENZY (www.frenzyfrenzy.com) on the 10th June!!! I know it is a while away but it will be great! Especially since the David Crowder Band are coming back :-D T'will be soooooooooo goood!! Cant wait! And the reason i am totally psyched up about it so early on is we're bookin tickets in the next few weeks cos if you book before the 4th March its cheaper. And i'm excited cos Chris has said he'll come as well. That'll be good :) he normally doesnt like loud things, tends to get a headache like an old man - his words not mine! but he's said he'll come and i'm sure he'll enjoy it even if some bits are quite loud!

3-6 shifts...

i discovered today that 3-6 shifts are actually rubbish. You think they would be all right, since technically you're only working 3 hours.... but in reality, it has to be the longest-feeling shift ever. I just did not like it. I dont like working til 6 at the best of times it has to be said, but my whole work ethic and motivation / enthusiasm (which to be fair, is lacking somewhat at the minute anyway) was just screwed today. It was really weird starting work at 3, hitting the "teacher rush" at about 3.45 and then just hanging around waiting for them to leave for what seems like forever. Incidentally, we have two different groups of teachers who come to us for their friday afternoon coffee kick. Maybe we should warn everyone else that although there may be tables free, they'll be hard pressed to find any seats! It amazes me really, how many teachers you really can fit round one of our dinky tables. Its quite a few i can tell you!
It was suggested, thanks jill, that i should have a girlie day tomorrow. It is a great suggestion with a few flaws. 1) i am going crazy being on my own and finally having a weekend when i'm not working is something i actually want to share with people. 2) my parents would not allow me to have such a day, since they already think i dont pull my weight around the house enough and they'll probably be in most of the day so it wouldnt be like i'd be able to relax properly with them around anyway. 3) i could probably do with some fresh air and exercise
Hence, i have decided that i am going for a long stroll somewhere i've never been before... like along one of the cycle paths that go out past heathhall into the back of beyond. This will be both exercise and fresh air - please note, i will probably not end up going if it decides to pour down with rain... which in all fairness, is probably the weather forecast for the weekend here! - So i shall set off at around 2.30pm and walk til i decide to turn round and come back. It will give me some thinking time. I have invited Hugh if he is bored enough to come, i shall also text the other guys to let them know my plan tomorrow morning so they can choose to come if they wish, or suggest something else that i may be interested in... and so i have my afternoon sorted. Shall be exceedingly glad of any company i may get, cos tho its nice to have alone time, i get lonely and bored easily these days. Need some company.
My morning will consist of making up a YF programme from now til Easter. Kinda daunted by that prospect since i think we need to have some kind of structure, but i also never really got a response from the other YF leader about meeting for a discussion about what to do with them, so i actually feel a little overwhelmed at having been landed with the "YF contact person" role and very little idea about what to do / how to go about it / how the other leaders actually feel. Its very hard trying to organise anything because both main male leaders have young kids and the other female YF leader has other problems to deal with.....

i think we need more leaders.

*sigh*

Am feeling in quite a flat mood this evening. Nothing has happened to cause me to feel deflated particularly, but i just feel a little down. I dont know why really. It may be because i finally have a saturday off in what seems like a long time, when in reality it was only about 3 weeks ago since my last one... but i have NOTHING to do. Normally would be able to organise something with someone, and normally would have Cheryl or Ali about to do something with them. But Cheryl is in Edinburgh for a wedding this weekend and Ali is working 11-6. And i have YF from 7-9ish... so i might suggest a film / dvd evening .... but i need to do something in the day. I need some social interaction or i will go crazy. Thing is, i dont actually think i could ask the guys if they want to something if they are free. Its not that i wouldnt like to do something with them, its just not a typically me thing to do. Cheryl and Ali get away with that easily and with me, i dunno, its just not a natural thing. Plus i dont know that they would necessarily want to spend the day with me as the only girl. Perhaps a little paranoia coming out there. Dunno.
I may just do something like go for a long walk somewhere... take in the scenary - providing its not raining! - get with nature.... or perhaps i shall just waste another day doing not very much and then feel frustrated with myself! *hmmmmmmmm* *sigh*

My day...

well i didnt get enough sleep last night, and i really didnt want to get up this morning. Starting work at 8 is never a nice thought... especially when staying in bed is so much more appealing. Managed to drag myself out of bed at 7.25am tho.... so no time for a shower this morning. Thankfully my hair didnt look too bad cos sometimes its just ugh if it hasnt been washed but then there are days like today when it actually can look better than it does when its just washed... why is that?!
Anyway, work was.... much the same as it normally is. Fairly quiet morning. We have cleaned pretty much everything possible in the shop this week. Because of the new health and hygiene laws we have a lot more cleaning to do during the week of various things like the chiller cabinet, all the surfaces, the syrup shelf, the fridge upstairs, all the shelving under the counter, the ice machine, the big bin, the top of the coffee machine.... etc etc etc.... plus each month we have to defrost two freezers (we have 4 altogether so we rotate what ones we clean from month to month).... the problem has been that its been quite quiet in the mornings so we've busied ourselves with all the odd cleaning jobs that we need to do and then come thursday and friday we've pretty much done all of them or we cant do the ones we havent cos, for example, you cant exactly clean the big bin when there are customers in the shop cos you need to use it. Colleen and Mhairi defrosted a freezer this morning. It was upstairs so that was ok. No floods in the shop with melting ice... thankfully. We have had enough floods to last a lifetime in that shop! The floor is already buckling (AGAIN) and i think lib will have a fit if we have any more disasters with dishwashers. Levin (our ice machine) is doing much better in his new home upstairs in the kitchen. He seems to really like his elevated position and hasnt wet himself once since he moved. *thinks to herself*... oh that would be sooooo funny! I might see if i can do that. *is considering doing an online JK Gazette :-) - Bennett'll get what i mean* Could even have multiple authors...... interesting.... hmmmm.....
So yes, i was working at 8.... til 4. The day seemed to drag and yet now it is after 10pm and it seems to have passed quite quickly. Work got a little busy at times but nothing like it has been in the past. i even let Mhairi go for a break at 1255pm! and that is not normally recommended cos come 1pm it normally gets busy. But it was actually ok. Luke, Colleen and I managed fine... fair enough the dishes did pile up a wee bit but it was manageable.
And then when i finished work i came home, got changed and felt really hungry but didnt feel like eating. Plus i was going out to an alpha celebration evening thing at 6pm which had a buffet so i didnt really want to eat anything before i went. I was playing / singing in the little worship band and it was actually a really nice evening. Got to see a few people i did the alpha course with, plus spotted a number of people who come into the shop for coffee on a regular basis which was bizarre. It was a very encouraging evening tho. And really nice to see Colin and Fiona again - they were on my alpha course and became christians during the course. Its great to see them continuing with their new found faith and they are so fun to talk to. They shared a little about their experience on the alpha course in the meeting - kept everyone entertained!
So now i am just back home, chillin out... gonna play some "painted yahtzee" online when i finish this.... its brilliant... kinda like normal yahtzee but you get more points for other things like "rainbow" and "painted house" ... its on games.com - that's one of my links... i think its the "online games galore" link.... tho i could be wrong.
Apologies if this is boring... i'm not as naturally witty as Alastair or as random as Colin!

Woo! there are links :)

Thanks to Alastair (or Bennett as he is affectionately known as down here) there are now personalised links on this site. More shall be added as and when i remember what the site details are! Cheers m'dear :)

chapters...

only as one chapter closes can another begin.

... that's what i've been thinking about recently ...

This was spurred on because of a few things that happened. The main one being Steve announcing his engagement to his girlie. He's been my standard for all guys. And to be fair, its totally unfair to all other guys. He simply was my Mr Perfect. And i idolised him. He was my benchmark for all relationships or potential relationships. Everyone was matched up to Steve. And none of them really came that close. There has always been this part of me that has always hoped beyond hope that perhaps someday we'd get back together. That everything would be able to be perfect again. Not that it was actually perfect when we were together cos we lived 300 miles apart at the time. But it was perfect in my eyes because he was everything i ever wanted. Kind, considerate, sarcastic (yes, that is actually an attractive quality to me... tho it can get taken too far), musical, tall, dark, gorgeous, athletic, strong faith in God. He made me smile like no-one has ever done before or since. We just got on soooooo well. I just felt i could be totally relaxed around him. Anything i said or did would be accepted and not judged (well, unless i was way off line or just being incredibly blonde!) and i could just be me. We could talk about anything and it was ok.
Now, that chapter of my life has to end because he's getting married to Elaine and i have to move on. And only once i have put that to rest can anything be done about any other potential relationship. He was an unreachable target. And there are a lot of other guys with very good qualities and different qualities to Steve. And i shouldnt be limiting myself to a specific ideal. God has the perfect guy for me. And i just have to face the fact that its not Steve. But whoever it is will be just as perfect for me as he appeared to be. Am feeling a little gutted tho.
But i surprised myself because i actually managed to put my feelings aside on Thursday night and say congratulations to him over the phone cos he called me up. I'd been avoiding the issue for about a week and a half because i couldnt bring myself to actually say "congratulations i'm happy for you" when inside my heart was breaking and i was actually not happy for him at all. But i have got that initial congratulations thing out the way, now i can move a bit further forward. I will phone him sometime this week to talk to him properly because i didnt get the chance on Thurs as i was round at Al's setting up for her massage.

So, roll on the rest of the book.... i wanna read the next chapter!

Rough Stones, Smooth River

title for my blog came from an idea in a song i heard by a woman called Nichole Nordeman. She has a song on her first album (Wide eyed) which was called River God and its lyrics were along the lines of:

"rolling river God,
little stones are smooth,
only once the water passes through"

and so i pinched it for my blog title. i was gonna have just roughstones.blogspot.com but someone had already knicked that.... might have to check who that was / what the site is like....