SL Therapy

I still have a cold, and a really bad chest, but I've been back to work and seen some family. Alexia is sleeping better, which is very nice, and she's been really cute lately. She's been singing random songs at pretty random times and potty training her teddies! She's as crazy as her mother, that kid!

For the rest of life's tribulations I've invested in some Second Life Therapy. Not literally, although you can apparently buy therapy sessions in SL, which is an odd concept to me. No, I've just been playing it a bit which means I get an hour or two where I'm thinking in a completely different character in a completely different world. It works too, I feel really relaxed while I'm playing and a bit saner when I stop.

Here's the latest picture of SL me.

Lets Play Catch-Up...

Well, where to begin. There's been some family shit going down, I won't go into it, but it was shockingly unpleasant. Then on Friday whilst full of cold, and against all odds including weather and babysitter issues, me and Mr Wonderful went to Leeds to celebrate our four year engagement anniversary. We did some Mother's Day shopping, went to see Cloverfield at the Vue Cinema (which was amazing!), and went for a meal at Wagamamas (Which is Japanese, delicious and not very expensive). There was horrible wind and rain all afternoon and basically until we'd gone home, which wasn't good considering how ill I felt. Yesterday I rang in sick for the first time in ages and today I was sent home from work even though it was really busy.

I think my cold is now an inner ear infection and is sending me seriously off balance, so maybe that needs attention.

Alexia slept at my Mum's on Friday. She had a good time and it seemed like she hadn't missed us, until she got home and then she seemed really glad to be back. She gave me a big cuddle and we had a long, deep and meaningful conversation about eyes, giraffes and doggies, among other things.

Last night at midnight I got a bottle of Baileys and a Mother's Day card that nearly made me cry!

And that's about it really.

Tiredness and Bad Time Management

I haven't updated this for ages because I haven't had the time between work, parenting and my Second Life addiction!

Also I had a migraine on Saturday and was asleep all day as a result. In fact looking through some of my recent blogs it's fair to say I'm quite often ill with something, which is disturbing because I'm not usually a poorly person. I'll blame work, why not? I blame it for everything else!

Want to see where I've been instead of here? Take a look at these!

I've been moping in a jazz club.....

Visiting in Hell.....

Sightseeing in Nexus Prime and.....

Meandering through the forests and villages of Faerieland

So there we go, that's what I've been doing all week. I won't let no poxy migraine stop me in my tracks!

I ought to update you more often!

I have dry skin on the backs of my hands that cracks and bleeds if I don't moisturise twice daily and Alexia is going through one of her sleepless phases again. It's been really busy at the cafe and we've been short staffed, so I don't feel like I've touched the ground lately and the weather has been weird again, sunny and almost warm last week and constant freezing fog this week. My weekend off is coming up and I'm really looking forward to it!

On the upside I've started playing Second Life again, not often because I don't get time, but enough to appreciate the escape. It's like living art, you can customise your little person to look more or less exactly the way you want them to, and build things without the limits you would get in real life like say, gravity or cost because it's a virtual world and you can just create the materials you need from nothing and turn the physics off and just go mental. I don't tend to build things but it's good fun to look at the amazing things that other people have made, from replicas of real things or things from books, films and legends to completely new creations conjured from some of the most bizarre imaginations you're ever likely to come across!

I might post some pictures later.

It's been a whole week!

I had hoped to keep up with this blog, which would be a first since I've never even managed to keep a diary for more than a few days, so maybe that was ambitious of me. I am already showing signs of trailing off and no one reads it, but I will not let it die!

Today is Valentines Day. We went for a meal at a local Mediterranean restaurant with Alexia in tow, which wasn't bright to begin with. Also I have a cold, I slept in today and looked after my eight year old nephew, TJ, for a while which was exhausting. So by the time we got home we had thirty five minutes to get ready for the meal, me and Paul weren't feeling well, I was tired, Alexia was tired, full of cold and attention seeky and everything seemed to be going wrong. We were barely five minutes later than the time we'd expected to be there, but we were tired and stressed. The staff at the restaurant were really good though, they gave us things to keep Alexia occupied and stop her from getting upset and they were fine when she was wandering around or crying and generally causing havoc. The food was good and the atmosphere was excellent (especially when we left I imagine!) and we couldn't fault the staff, but I felt really guilty because we were quite loud and if I'd been out for a quiet meal without Alexia and another couple had brought a loud and annoying child with them I think it would have ruined my meal. I don't think we'll be doing that again in a hurry then!

Nothing much has happened this week apart from that, we went shopping in Leeds on Saturday and we let Alexia walk around for most of the way, that went quite well and tired her out nicely. On Sunday we went for a nice walk near where my Dad lives. We see him every other Saturday and he loves walking so naturally he was dying for Alexia to get walking so he could take her with him! That made her nice and tired too, but she's had a cold ever since and so have I.

I still hate my job, but I don't think I've come any closer to thinking of one I'd like more this week. I'm still thinking of engineering, something to do with the environment (which is a bit at odds with the engineering idea, or is it?), or something that involves a bit of exploring.

I want to be an adventurer!

Yay for Fields, Boo to Racism, What About a Cafe?

Today I made scotch pancakes for breakfast. Alexia loved them, they turned out really well! While I was searching for a good scotch pancake recipe I came across this which made me think a bit. It's a lovely idea, but like all good, olden day recipes the ingredients for this one are becoming more and more hard to find. Sad really, but fields are only around now if they are being used for something, brooks are being filled in and built over (causing all manner of natural mayhem), and children just aren't children any more.

My Top Gear newsletter this month contained this, which got to me. I really like Lewis Hamilton. No you don't understand, I really like Lewis Hamilton. And I really hate racism in any form, so this made me want to scratch out the eyes of the people responsible! I'm going to think of some words and make use of the e-mail link, I think.

Maybe if I ran my own cafe I could stomach working in a kitchen, but I don't know where to find a money tree at such short notice!

Tired and Hurty

Tomorrow is the end of another six day week at work and I feel so tired. To make me feel better I managed to stab my hand at high speed with a butter knife in a really creative way, leaving a wide cut about an inch and a half below my little pinkie on the palm of my right hand. I can't begin to tell you how painful and annoying that is! It has now gone really red, with a dark bruise forming around it, making it almost impossible to hold things with my right hand.

Lovely.

I didn't get to make a snowman with my daughter because the only snow that fell was whilst I was sleeping or working and had gone by the time I arrived home. This annoyed me, but not as much as that cut is annoying me now!

I wish I was a doctor, I'd know what to do about the pain! I'm still thinking about the idea of being a geologist or engineer. I'd rather not be a firefighter, the injuries that are likely in that job make my aching hand pale into insignificance!