Had a lovely day today. Temperature was 23 degrees by 11 o’clock so we decided to go for a picnic, to a great park just a twenty minute drive away in Bolton. There’s loads of open, perfectly manicured lawns, a small animal zoo, a minature railtrack plus excellent play equipment suitable for both children. My uncle called just as we were about to leave and as he lives not far from the park he walked there and met us so it was quite nice for me to have male company for a change. I’ve always got on very well with the opposite sex and love being with men but now I’m married, it’s not so easy to find male friends. So we walked, picknicked, played, saw the animals, played some more, ate ice-creams, went back to my uncle’s for a drink and then came home. “Ground Force” is on as I write this and I’m feeling inspired to get out into the postage stamp that is my front garden and take out all the crap that’s been growing, bearing in mind it hasn’t been touched since August 2002! There’s a fair amount of weeds, let me tell you. So whilst I crack on with that, here’s my Sunday Brunch: Just Cruisin'.

1. Do you prefer to be the driver or passenger?
Driver, driver and driver. As a passenger I stay alert as if I was driving anyway and rarely go to sleep. On long journeys Stephen starts off and when he gets tired, I take over because I’m still awake and he tries to get some sleep.

2. When you drive somewhere, do you prefer to take the long way or quickest route?
Usually the quickest route but I do like to vary it because I get bored! LoL

3. What is the longest road trip you taken?
Although the UK is small the amount of traffic on it’s roads is unbelievable!!! That’s why we don’t travel around our own country very much: it’s nothing to do with its size but the sheer volume of traffic. It once took a total of 9 hours to get from Manchester in the N.W. of England to my sister-in-laws in Devon on the S.W. coast. We set off at 1 pm and arrived at 10pm… we do the journey later in the day now and if we leave here at 7pm it only takes us four hours. Yet when we lived in Saudi Arabia it took us just under 3 hours to do twice the distance because the roads are so empty.

4. Do you have road rage?
No, not at all. Funnily enough, I’m assertive in everyday life but once I’m on the road I have the patience of a saint. Well, almost.

5. What would your reaction be if you were driving and saw an animal run into the road?
I almost broke my bloody collarbone when my ex. boyfriend jumped on the brakes to avoid a flippin’hedgehog! If it was a large animal, such as a dog or fox, then I too would jump on the brakes but anything else… forget it. I think I hit a rabbit once whilst driving along a foggy, country road in York. I must stress that I do love animals… but I’m not one to risk my life - and those of other drivers who may be behind me - for the sake of any small woodland creature.

Whilst I enjoy time spent on the computer it is such a small part of my life these days that I’ve decided to cut my blog posts down to just two a week, probably Sundays and Tuesdays. My computer time is becoming less and less these days. I can’t even check emails each day and my computer is constantly crashing so my blog posts have become less and less and that’s the way it’s going to continue. As I am taking care of my two children during the day, it only leaves evenings for me to exercise or take a nice bath or paint my toenails and test out a new fake tan, which is what I’ve done tonight. I haven’t had to use a fake tan since being a teenager so I’ll let you know which shade of vibrant orange I turn out! LoL. I will be updating my Hippy section but with possible a revamp after next week and also doing my CoW questions, which for this week can be found here.

Once Stephen returns to the U.K. my time will be even more limited and perhaps I will call a halt to blogging but for now, I’m just cutting back. I still hope to be visiting you all when I get the time but there are just too many other things I’d rather be doing over the summer months than playing on my computer. Thanks to all of you that have sent me lovely gifts of late and I promise to try and get them up over the weekend. Catch you round like a rissole =)

“Ain’t no stopping me naaaaw…” Updated my HIPPY section. Hehehe - another two off! Is there no stopping me?! LoL. It's strange now I'm back in England because I'm working in stones and pounds again: there are 14 pounds to a stone so 10 stones is 140lbs. I hit 10st 13lbs this morning and it's so good to be under the 11st. mark.
Lost around 8 kgs so far but they seem to take longer to lose so I don't work in those! My clothes are fitting so much better - it's fantastic! My exercise has suffered lately due to my cold and just the running around shopping for groceries and cleaning products etc. so I dug out my step tonight and did that for a while and some plies (plee-ays - I can't spell it LoL). Here I am trying to lose all this weight when I got the muchies after my shower and sat down to watch Big Brother 3 (v. boring this time round - get Lisa out! *grrrr*) and Graham Norton - love him - with two shortbread biccies and a packet of bloody Marmite flavoured crisps. I don't even like bloody Marmite! But the crisps are nice and that's my downfall over chocolate. I'm a crisp fiend. I gotta call it quits ladeees. My daughter has just come downstairs to see what I'm up to, despite the fact it's after 11pm. Her hair is all stuck out at the sides like one of those Precious Moments girls. LoL. She seems wide a wake too. =( Night night.

I've just watched a documentary on the story of Charlie’s Angels, how the T.V. series began etc. God it brought back some memories... me as a seven year old sat in my nightie on a Friday night, hair still wet from my bath, drinking pop and eating crisps and wishing I was Sabrina! LoL. Yeah, I was a tomboy and wanted to be Sabrina – the ugly one! LoL. Looking back on it now I think Kelly was the better one. I've got a wee bit more glam as I've grown up! Y'know I don't actually remember Farrah Fawcett in it. Cheryl Ladd was the blondie when I watched it as a child. She was in this documentary too and O.M.G!!! She looks absolutely gorgeous... better now I'd even say than back in the 70's. The film has just opened here I think and I can't wait to see it! Have any of you lot seen it and if so, what's the verdict and which angel - present or past - would you like to be? Use comments or tag board below.

I spoke to Antoinette live online earlier! It was sooo weird chatting with an online friend in 'real' time. Holland is only one hour in front of the U.K. so I was hoping we'd get to chat whilst I was home. I needed it too. I've had a rotten day. My friend is back in Candada and her baby was born 6 months ago with a cyst on her brain. They thought the surgery she's already undergone, successful, but it now appears that scar tissue is causing another cyst to form and she has to undergo surgery again. I just checked on my two babes and there they are sleeping top to tail, fast asleep and looking so adorable! A time to be grateful for all their running and jumping and shouting, don't you think? On another note, I met my best friend's MIL in the supermarket and just discovered that my B.F. is currently in hospital. I thought contact had been a bit sporadic of late, but I know she's been suffering from depression the past couple of years and so I figured I'd surprise her when I got back... only it won't really work now, will it? I'm waiting for her hubby to call me with the details but as he too is now playing single dad to their son, I will have to give it until after the weekend perhaps when I know more. *sigh* Another day to be grateful for what we have and not what we want, for what we want is probably right there under our nose... only we're too damn greedy to bloody realise it. So if you can all say a little prayer for what you already have, I'm sure you'll see things a bit differently. God bless x x x

Well my Circle of Words are up for the week and can be found here and I've updated the Hippy section of my blog... which I don't have time to blog in anymore! LoL. Cold is still hanging on, still have that watery deafness in my ears and still cannot taste nor smell anything. I have just discovered the delights of internet grocery shopping and am wondering if I should give it a bash. Thing is see, going to Tesco's 3 times a week is actually the highlight of my week! LoL. Sad but oh so very true. I will blog soon. Honest =) ROFLMAO.