Jan - Mar 06 TGIFs :-)

TGIS :-/ 070106

Yes, I know I’m late… Hello Friday peops,
Bit of a wild start to the new year with highs and lows.
Had a fab time in Borrowdale with my Golden Girls, and even work wasn’t too bad, but on the 12th day of Christmas I’m afraid things went a bit pear shaped!
For those of you who know (and still know…. I’ll add quickly) my lovely mad dad, and how he can regale you with stories of his electrician days when he was always shocking himself, well, he received a few shocks yesterday that hopefully he’ll never remember - but unfortunately my mom will.
I wont bore you with the whole story - just the ‘low’ highlights… mom queen of texters texted me at work to say she had called 999 as his angina pains were not going away - turns out he was having a heart attack and when the ambulance man (Carl) arrived my dad decided to go the whole hog and have a full cardiac arrest and needed to be shocked back. Mom was having to help cos Carl was on his own, so she was holding oxygen mask over his apparently purple face while Carl was pumping away. She was told to move away while Carl shocked him about 4 times and that’s when she amazingly managed to text me to "Come home" . By the time I got there a very frightened and grey (never his best colour) daddy was being carried out by the now 3 ambulance people - mom's road was blocked with the 2 ambulances so I drove my little pink thing up most of the pavement! In a nutshell, after a brief stay at Resus’ A&E in Selly Oak with my favourite and bestest Consultant Peter he was taken to QE where another top notch doc John put a state of the art stent in and would you believe it the bugger was fine by the evening - pink cheeks again - and even managed fish and chips despite having badly bitten his tongue when he arrested. He was rather incredulous at what had happened - and I reckon he’ll dine out on this one for a long time!.
Suffice to say, me and mom are fine(ish) - I’m staying with her at mo - and just to let you all know if ever there is a large attack of any kind in the UK, you must all assemble at her house because I’ve discovered mom has enough toilet rolls in the bathroom to wipe a whole army’s bums! I think she is secretly working for MI5 and that the SAS are probably planning to use the house as a base as all the cupboards are also stocked up with enough food to feed three regiments….
I’m really conscious though that despite all this happening here that a lot of you out there have your own worries, and some real recent losses - Kirbs and Sue - and I want to say that it’s been a real boon to have the kindest messages from you all - despite the fact that you have your own worries - so thanks.
The funniest texts were off sike this it does help… At Christmas she sent a text Saying "Happy Easter from all at the Alzheimner’s Society and all the best for 1982" despite her late mom suffering with this, and when I told her what had happened she asked if dad had been straddled across the gurney like ER and whether they had left the paddles to play with - fair play Kirbs!!!
My new Hartlepudlian boy is being sorely tested - we had to call off a meeting last week as he was really poorly, and now all this - I’m hoping at the end of all this if he sticks it out with me (not biblically speaking of course) that we can meet up and carry on having the laughs we have already had.
I have also told dad that if he is going to go I’d prefer it to be Monday as I like Fridays as you all know but have never been keen on Mondays - he’s going to see what he can do.

TGIF :-) 130106

Hi Friday peops
Normal service resumed…..first important update - dad is fine - discharged on Wednesday evening - who can believe it’s one week since all of that?
It seems a life time ago. Bit of a scary rollercoaster ride - but all is well in the Huddy household once more.
Fortunately dad cannot remember anything much about the heart attack and nothing of the cardiac arrest - and it all seems a bit unreal now for me and mom.
He has been really chuffed about all the sincere and sometimes really funny transatlantic/country/city/over the road phone calls and e-mails - so the hugest thank you’s to Lee (US) Manda (NZ) Stella (over the road), Loydey (DK), Sharpie, Ellsons, Ro' (Nepal), Nessa, Paul, Sarah, Tone, Marge, Issie, Paula (Ecuador), Sammy (NZ), Anne, Sean & Sue, Dekkers, both Lisa’s, and my Golden Girls…… for the good wishes which he received.
Got the good old Hartlepudlian boy ‘Post Two Date Dumping’ on the same evening as I dropped dad off home - don’t suppose there is ever perfect timing for these things - all a bit strange - he has returned to his ex girlfriend who he went out with for 3 months 15 months ago….. hmmmm…. shame….. cos I’d got him a nice bar of Kendal mint cake from the Lake District - now all safely deposited on my thighs :-)
Yet, in true Bridget Jones fashion, I will have all the Kendal mint cake sucked away by the hypnotic powers of the Paul McKenna CD which I am playing every night…
Bit of nice news though was that one of the guys who I chatted with on a Dating site, but never got round to meeting - Paul - spent a lovely romantic Paris Christmas together with the girl he met last year at work - Liz - it’s great that he still keeps in touch - he sounds happy - and I know these sites work as Millie has her Timmie.
Have a lovely weekend everyone

TGIF :-) 200106
Hi Friday peops

What a difference two weeks makes eh? Still can’t believe so much has happened… and not only to me it seems.
Millie sadly lost her brother Philip last weekend, and Stella over the road lost one of her cats Betty yesterday, and a work colleague is waiting for a scan on his one remaining kidney after having the other removed for the big C a few years ago – mind you when he told me he’d had his kidney and urethra removed, and I was like full of sympathy (as you would be) and cringing at the thought – but bless – his anatomical descriptions were null and void and it turned out it was his ureter – so thank goodness he does still have a willy – so once I sussed that out I told him that things aren’t all bad after all!
I thought I was fairly ‘back to normal’ after all that has happened (for me anyway…..) and was well chuffed that I’d coped well with a fairly hectic work schedule – and made a healthy start on my assignment – so hey brain cells working – back to normal - yay :-)
Anyway, had my hopes of all that dashed last night after having a complete ‘blonde’ moment in a local car wash I’d never used before…… pleased with myself that I remembered to remove the umpteenth roof aerial before I entered the swirly brush zone….
Sat there, I hate these bloody things anyway – KERCHUNK…… WHIRL….. WHOOSH…. heading towards my wind screen – and then I thought the swirly brush on the right seemed nearer than the swirly brush on the left… BUGGER! Pops my little pink think into reverse to straighten her up and tweak her over to the left swirly brush, and slowly reverse – but at the same speed as the swirly brushes, so I’m practically exiting the car wash in reverse – but unaware cos I’m watching the brushes and not realising that I’m actually moving….. suddenly realise what I am doing so move forwards again, but am not sure whether I’m too far forward as I’ve gone so far back so for the next few minutes am driving backwards and forwards in the car wash and hoping to goodness I’ll get out alive with my wind screen and mirrors (and dignity) intact.
Windscreen and mirrors = yes, Dignity = no
Dad’s ok – but he’s got a lot to answer for!

Have a lovely weekend

Kimmie x

TGIF :-) 270106

Hi Friday peops
Had my own private Burns night celebrations on Wednesday - treated myself to Haggis - and then shocked my colleagues the next day by having the leftovers in a toasted sandwich J… gorgeous if you haven’t tried it!
Been spending the evenings catching up with my assignment - which is due by the end of February - very exciting stuff - decontamination - there’s only so much you can write about dirt before you send yourself to sleep mind you.
Dad is still doing well - you can imagine how pleased he is to have survived so he hasn’t missed the latest Celebrity Big Brother!!! :-/ What a gross bunch this year - mind you because I’m so sad I am going to watch the final tonight to take my mind off how I’m going to spend tomorrow celebrating winning the £105 million on Euro lottery. I won £7.30 last week - they do take the pee when you do it on line - you get an e-mail with the subject title: "Exciting news about your lottery ticket!" and you are beside yourself logging on….and it’s £7.30. Mind you, out of the kindness of my heart I texted everybody and offered to share it. It’d be better this week if everyone got more than 8p though.
I’m doing that Paul McKenna thing - got the book and watch him on Sky One - and go to sleep every night listening to his CD - telling me to look in the mirror and love myself……so I had to smile when I saw this joke…..
Have a brilliant weekend folks - I’m off to the Headmistresses for a sleepover with the girls - anything to stop me going stir crazy with this dirty assignment!
Kimmie x

TGIF :-) 030206

Whoosh!
Still not got a real life in the outside world yet - am still burning the midnight oil on my dirty assignment! A touch of writers block meant I only managed 36 words last night - oops! The Golden Girls helped me escape last weekend for a brief moment - well I say brief, we had a gorgeous beef casserole cooked by the Junior Headmistress on Saturday evening and then on Sunday the Nursery Headmistress led us round Sutton Park using her guide to 'clear the cobwebs'... well, Iwasn't concentrating - one pool is much like any other - and what with half of us wearing bifocals.... Kidding girls..... it was great! Finished the week off by winding the boss up like a tightly coiled spring, always a joy to behold, and failed my work colleague miserably by forgetting to poke her with a pen (as promised) in one of our typical Friday afternoon zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... meetings! Oh yes, and this week I have been winked at on my site by someone who lookshalf decent from Worcestershire, so place your bets ladies and gentleman these are the odds....against him not really being separated..............little willy..............barking mad..................not sure of his gender............I could go on, but like mom says at least I can get on with my assignment - nothing like a bit of encouragement is there? :)We have to say goodbye to the City crowd on TGIF- as their IT bosses are stopping them from sending or receiving private e-mails at work -so this is the last one to Jas, Renu, and Loz - bye girls..... though Margie and Shirl will still be there.
Keep smiling folks
Kimmie x

TGIF :-) 10.02.06

Hi Friday peops
Short working week cos the first two days were spent working on my dirty assignment - up to 6500 words now - only 1500 more to go! Daddy decided to flip back into a funny rhythm this week which spooked him a bit, but he's been for an 'Impromptu brother arranged emergency out patients' check and he's ok - apparently a rare occurrence after a heart attack - typical dad!Other than that - nothing to report - last week's winker drifted off with a feeble excuse that my e-mails were getting bounced as Spam and that was why he hadn't responded blah blah - anyway so all those who placed bets lost - as even I hadn't considered that one! This week's winker is a fell runner from Telford - very nice legs and cool beanie, and we've been chatting a lot on MSN and he seems really nice and dare I say 'normal' so place your bets again ladies and gentlemain.....they're probably not really his legs...................he'll be barking mad................... or has server problems which bounces e-mails as Spam...............he's after a fitter bird to run with him........
Happy remainder of your birthday Lisa W aka Numpty One.. Hope you ok over there in Nepal Ro and Chris? Maybe see you Monday Sarah B?

TGIF :-) 170206
Hi Friday peops
Well, fruitful week - have finished my assignment - all 9300 words of it - yeeeehaaaa! ….and what a profound discovery I made - I find out that the Medical Devices Directive that I have been unravelling and trying to interpret the gobbledygook for the last few weeks was written by our wonderful friends in Europe who apparently also managed to write a 26,000 word document on the export of duck eggs! Needless to say my conclusion reflected this! Oh yes and then I discover that the Loughborough University Central Records Administration for Personnel (abbreviated to CRAP!) got the wordage count wrong - and I need only have done 6000 - bit of a change from the original 12,000 words I was told via e-mail by ‘He who knows nothing’ . Needless to say if am forced to reduce the word count I have decided to take out all words beginning with P - for prat, pathetic, pompous, pillock, pig lover…………………….
I suppose I must sound bitter, and maybe it’s because it’s Valentine week - and all I get is a fake E-card and three winkers - and an invite to Copenhagen as long as I go Dutch - well - I’ve declined all the pseudo-sympathetic offers of luuuuurve and will endeavour to stay strong! (LAAAAUGHHHH!!!!!!!)
Took Numpty One and a colleague Ann out to lunch today to celebrate Numpty’s 42nd to a nice new bar in Moseley - and first off we had difficulty climbing up onto the bar stools - and when we did they were too heavy to drag to the table - so a true test of our bras - three middle aged women bobbing up and down shuffling towards the table - Numpty losing her shoe and having to scale down the chair again to get it!
It’s Philip’s 13th birthday tomorrow - so both Alex and Flips both in their teens - must be lovely and peaceful for Issie and Rob ;-) Off to Symphony Hall on Sunday to hear the virtuoso Alex play in concert again - so looking forward to that.
Have a fab weekend folks - I know I’m going to - and look out Steve D - I may be doing one of your walks soon to get back into the swing ready for the mountains of Arran!

TGIF :-) 240206

Hi Friday peops
Funny old week at work…. Boss has been getting all excited for weeks as she planned for a visit from Aidan Halligan (who? I hear you ask?) Deputy Chief Medical Officer Department of Health – along with all the great and the good….. anyway little case of bird flu and personal stuff..….has kept him from coming so all the lovely cucumber sandwiches – Gone!. The hysterical laughter around the place when news spread around was a little disconcerting – but also quite amusing – I mean…. how easily impressed we all are! Mind you not me as I declined being one of the ‘Showers arounders’ as I mentioned I might just let slip how I felt about the NHS in general – what with cutting my salary……needless to say she let me off!
I’ve had to go and give my dentist bank details this afternoon cos they’re all going private thanks to Tony B’s unrealistic pricing policies. Figured it was better to do that rather than risk facing arrest by queuing outside an NHS dentist – as Tony doesn’t allow that any more. Mind you NHS dentists seem as rare as hen’s teeth these days…..and you think democracy is rough in Nepal Ro!!!!!
Mommy Wickles is 80 today – that’s one of my neighbours from when I was lickle – I used to call her ‘mommy’ so I apparently had to add the surname to make sure I ended up in the right house with the right mummy at the end of the day!? Sarah B’s birthday this week too – 21 again I believe? And of course it was Philip’s 13th last weekend – I popped up to see him and deliver his birthday cake and left pretty swiftly when he got his foil out and was waving it about! Honestly you’d think mommy and daddy could have got him a chess set or something! Hopefully he will be a champion fencer one day. Sunday was fabulous too – watching his big sister Alex playing for the CBSO youth orchestra – Elgar’s Enigma variations - with the CBSO conductor no less! His name escapes me – he’s a Fin – sounds like Origami – in dire need of Trinnie and Susannah makeover – I think his trouser variations were quite distracting – you know what I mean – pulled up under his chest like Simon Cowell. Conductors should have nice trousers and good bums – if that’s what the audience have to sit and watch!
Have a great weekend folks – snowy here this morning you down unders and across and right a bits – just in case you were wondering!

TGIF :-) 040306

Hello Friday peops

Had an OK week – hope you all have. It’s nice having my life back! Apparently I’ve passed my assignment – 76% - so that’s out of the way now – and never more to grace Loughborough’s corridors and see the weasel – wonderful!
Went to see ‘My Fair Lady’ at Crescent Theatre on Wednesday – preceded by a posh dinner at City inn – one of our Occupational Therapists at work was ‘Professor Henry Higgins’– lots of people from work went to see him over the week – and we are all looking forward to seeing him around at work again next week so he can serenade us down the corridors – he sang ‘Why can’t women be more like men?’ so well – he was utterly pompously fabulous! I’m more like Eliza Dolittle before Henry Higgins turned her eloquent!
Not much more to report this week – dad is spotty – he’s either developed an allergy to mom or has shingles again – which would be just plain greedy and attention seeking if you ask me. Bummer!
Off to walk round Edgehill on Sunday with one of the Golden Girls – and Timmie – so looking forward to wearing my snuggly rainbow Mohican hat.
Happy Birthday for Sunday Faith J. Congratulations on getting the school of your choice with all your friends Cherise!

TGIF :-) 100306

Hi Friday peops

It’s been a slow news week at work – well, unless you count the fact that the NHS is so overspent, it is collapsing inwards and sucking everybody into the big black hole of despair – nothing new there then. No major incidents – except that the new electronic incident reporting system has crashed – we’d report it…….but we can’t! :-)
Had a great walk last weekend with SPICE in the hillocks – thank goodness Timmie and Millie went – the other two Golden Girls (Timmie is our honorary Golden Boy) had pathetic excuses – but they’re like that sometimes! I say thank goodness, because it was like a ‘nutter on the bus’ day – I keep saying I wont give people lifts – and I keep letting myself down… poor thing, well in all fairness she has lost her SAS boyfriend in Iraq, her SBS father in Vietnam, so I guess she has a right to be barking….was handy having her on the walk though – a wealth of information – did you know that if a glider can go faster than a Jet Provost? No… nor me….. and she could even tell how long a deer had been dead for by the state of it’s eye sockets – how SPICE have ever managed without her on their nature treks I’ll never know! Needless to say my alcohol-free week went by the board that very same evening….
Family-wise – dad is getting spottier and rashier by the minute? Cousin Andrew has had a lump removed from his neck – his loving niece reckons it was his head….but is keeping me informed of his every movement since the op – yes the painkillers have bunged him up – poor thing…. and another distant cousin is about to drop a sprog – but it has gone on strike and turned the wrong way up so it’s bound to be a boy!

Hope you have a great weekend – I’m off for a whole week now – which’ll be nice for my work colleagues!!
Keep everything crossed for one of our Friday crowd – the lovely Owen – he has a job interview next week - him and Numpties 1 and 3 kept me sane at Loughborough!

Kimmie x

TGIF :-) 170306

Hi Friday peops
Lovely week away from the crumbling NHS – not even sure if it will still be there when I get back – hearing the news about a thousand jobs going in North Staffs NHS – but has anyone mentioned anything about ‘Dur management’ being amongst those? No? I thought not.
I did mostly what girlies do best – spending….. Ikea trip – mom beat me – I managed to spend under twenty! I got a nice Brazilian – we’ll say no more – grass. My bestest buy is a bit girlie too – a pack of mini glass dishes – too small even to put a tealight in – but I fell in love and now need to find a use for them :-)
Also went to Studley Papercraft – got a few more crafty things – so we are now saving any envelopes with pretty patterns inside cos mom is going to have a go at Iris folding – hmmmm – don’t ask – I’m not sure – but it’ll keep her out of trouble. Managed to find 3 nurseries on the way home so have got all my hanging basket stuff too – ready for dad to create his show stoppers for me – so I can padlock them to my frontage – lovely neighbourhood y’see!.
Managed to meet up with a friend I’ve not seen in a while – the lovely John – who hopefully if I’ve got his addie right is part of the Friday crowd again (at his own request!) He has been brave and left behind the NHS and opened a gorgeous ‘posh’ delicatessen called ‘Fromage et al’ 160 Stratford Road with cheeses, jams, nuts and stuff in Shirley – so all you cheeseaholics and posh bods - it’s well worth a look. I got some gorgeous cheeses – so Gary you can sit with me next time……. you’ll love my Stinking Bishop – mind you I was cursing John when I could still smell it on my fingers at 10 o’clock last night – at least I hope it was the Stinking Bishop! Needless to say – I now need to go to Touchwood on Sunday to get myself a posh pong retaining cheese keeper from Lakeland! I also got myself what must be the poshest fig in the World – £4.95 for ONE fig – a Calabrian baked fig – looks very interesting – it’s twice baked and wrapped in fig leaves – sounds delish.
Today we spent a chilly hour visiting the National Trust ‘Back to Backs’ in Brum City Centre – brilliant - fortunate cos there was a group of 10 – and the old ‘uns all had a bit extra to add to the occasion – and the guide was really enthusiastic – so again – if you’re at a loose end – it’s a fab way to kill a couple of hours.
Off to Hatton tomorrow for a chilly walk with Stevey D – see you there Stevey – I need to walk off all the pub lunches I’ve had this week so work me hard!
Have a fab weekend folks – Congrats Owen for re-entering the NHS at such an interesting time :-/ ! Ness – hope you have a nice week in the lakes and a job to come back to – bless the NHS and all who are slowly sinking in her eh? Happy St Paddy’s day Matt – I guess you’ll be nursing a hangover until at least Wednesday?

TGIF :-) 240306

Hi Friday peops
Had a great (but freezing) walk last weekend with Stevey D round Hatton Locks - a fellow SPICER rode up on his bike and stopped alongside us for a chat - and then sped off and met a cyclist coming the other way - attempted a 'flying bike ET' manoeuvre and ended up in the canal! Good job there were two of us nurses there - cos we must be the only people who could get away with demanding he removed all his clothes and dressed him in various bits of spare! We asked the other guy (who was a gorgeous thing in Ron Hills - you know what I mean girls....they can be fugly and still be gorgeous if they are wearing Ron Hill's!) to take his clothes off too - but he refused - mind you he hadn't fallen in the canal .....

Two more Lucy's born this week - one is Kirby's new grand daughter and the other is my Cousin's Dean & Karen's - so lots of excited texts and photos being bounced around - also had a new shot of Lucy in Kiwi land - with little brother Sam - so a week of Lucy's! Are there any more I haven't heard about?

Hope you all have a fab weekend - especially all you Mothers - hope you get spoiled this weekend for Mother's Day. I've spoiled mine with a special 'laughing cat' card - which says "I'm smiling because you're my mum... and below it says.... and I'm laughing because there's nothing you can do about it!"

TGIF :-) 310306

Honestly, You sensitive lot - for the people whose PCs I crashed due to the gorgeous new baby photos - am I bothered.....get broadband! For my 'Golden Girl' who got all upset cos I got one baby's name wrong - what am I supposed to do when they all begin with 'L' and I have the attention span of a gnat cos really I'm not bothered! So this is a formal apology to LILY and Kirbs.... only got two letters wrong if you're going to be picky! It's been a pooh week - last weekend they had sold out of farmers AGAIN by the time I got to the Farmer's market, so I've had to make do with ostrich again. I tried to relax in the brine pool with the headmistress on Sunday but my scabby snozzer and the brine were not conducive to a restful hour. Tuesday was moderately better with a nice muddy torchlit evening ramble round Earlswood Lake - and Sarah B (Old SPICE) joined us in the Red Lion after for a natter. This weekend I am going with the headmistress to the SPICE Diamonds are Forever Ball - I'm not hopeful about pulling because I'm hanging out of all me frocks like a Pre-Raphaelite slobette - mind you might attract a bit of attention and detract from my snozzer if I wear as much as they did... hmm good thought...... oh yes, and the other reason is I'm just going to enjoy myself and the thought of attracting a man thing whilst I'm having such a fun time with my snozzer is distinctly unappealing - and the telly is quite good at the moment too. On a serious note, have heard a couple of things this week about new speed cameras on the M42 - not sure how true it is - but thought I'd pass it on anyway: Between junctions 3b and 7, they are going live from April - and are hidden and only have a lee way of 2mph?. First you'll know is a fine through the post! Personally I drive my little pink thing at the right speed at all times - because I don't like the farting noise she makes when I take her over 100mph......Have a Happy April fools weekend