January Photo A Day Challenge..

Argh, I have only just seen this over on E's blog - Whining at the world.

I'm trying to get into the habit of blogging regularly & this is the perfect way to start :) Of course I've missed the first 5 days, so I'm going to just post those five pictures here & then hopefully carry on throughout the month :)

1. YOU

(Me sleeping on New Year's Day morning)

2. BREAKFAST

3. SOMETHING YOU ADORE

4. LETTERBOX

5. SOMETHING YOU WORE

Oops..

So, on Tuesday night, we decided to bury Gene (& the three little dwarf hamsters) in the garden. So, we went outside, keep in mind that Britain at the moment is being battered by gail force winds & that Colin doesn't come home from work until 5.30pm (which means it's dark outside). After we'd buried them all - which was a funny scene, Colin digging away & me in my dressing gown with my huge leopard coat over it & walking boots, trying to hold my phone (with the torch on it).

So, we come back inside & Colin goes online & he is quiet for a while, so I ask him what he's up to & he explains this whole Hamster Hibernation business to me. How hamsters apparently can slip into hibernation when they get too cold etc. So we both sit there like, oops. Then, yes, we did. We went back outside, dug Gene back up & brought him inside for a while & placed him in front of the fire for a while. Unfortunately, we ha been right the first time, he was dead for sure. I can gladly say that we both don't regret it because I would have HATED to think we'd buried him alive!

We went outside for the third time & buried him for the last time, lol.

When Colin had come home that night, he said to me that he really wanted to buy me another hamster, but didn't want to bring it home the SAME night we wer burying Gene. So instead, last night, he told me he was 'held up' in work on the phone etc & when he came home.. he had a small box & inside was a little white & red hamster boy. Colin said he'd gone to the pet place & asked to see all the hamsters & he picked the cutest one. We have called him Sam (Sticking to the Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes name theme) & I'll post some pictures soon when he's awake!

R.I.P Gene :(

Last night, when Colin & I arrived home from my mother's house, we went upstairs to get some bedsheets for the bed (also the room where we keep the gerbils, Gene & the three new dwarf hamsters we bought).

When I walked in I went to play with the three little hamsters & realised that there was NO movement whatsoever in their cage. Colin reached in for their little house that they shared & when he pulled it out, it was just awful. One of the small hamsters had more or less been eaten by the others, one had it's face covered in blood (dead) & the other one was also lying there, dead. From what we gather, the two that always seemed to be picking on one another had fought to the death & we have no idea how the other one died.. but the saddest part of last night was finding Gene.. our little Grizzly Bear :(

I walked over to Gene's cage - the gerbils were fine btw - & when I went to get HIM out of his cage, he was also lifeless. He was curled up tightly in a ball with his eyes closed, at first we thought he might have been hibernated. The temperature outside HAS been colder than usual the last few days & I recently moved Gene's cage further from the radiator.. so Colin tried to see if he'd wake up or if he was breathing, but he wasn't. I'd fed him yesterday & he seemed absolutely fine. He's crawled out of his bed & had his eyes half closed (he just looked tired as he always did when he woke up), but apart from that he looked normal. I was devastated with the whole thing :(

Going to crank the heating up in that room for the gerbils tonight.

Hello 2012!

Hope everyone had a great night last night :)

So.. Colin & my quiet night in turned out to be a little bit different. We were just finished eating the Pizza & fries, when my mum (who had locked herself in the house & was determined to have a quiet night) called us & said she'd had a phone call from Josh (my 15yr old nephew, who lives with her).

He had caught the bus to town to see some girl he's dating & at 6 o'clock some thugs (that were older - 17,18 & 19) had started a fight & smashed a bottle over his head slashing his cheek & then they'd kicked him while he was down & he'd ended up in an ambulance on the way to hospital. A lot of other people were involved too.. including a thirteen year old boy, who'd been hit by a bottle & ended up having 8 stitches in his head. It was apparently a 28yr old that did this!!

So Colin drove mum to hospital & I went too & Josh ended up having two stitches in his lip. We waited in the waiting room for an hour & a half then Josh's mum arrived & said she would take my mum home later). We drove home & resumed the movie we'd been watching & had our ice cream - then we bought in the New year with a kiss & watched some fireworks outside as well as the amazing London display!

Us in the Hospital waiting room last night..

Today, Colin still wasn't feeling 100% so we took a walk for some fresh air & then spent the rest of the day cleaning the house & watching movies again :)

New Year's resolution - to blog more/take more photos (the usual resolution) & treat Colin like a King, for making me feel like a princess everyday.

Goodbye 2011..

One of my New Year's resolutions will be to blog more often! So much has happened since I last blogged & as usual I'm prrrobably going to miss loads of stuff out but I'll just go ahead & post some pictures.

Last year, I didn't have my tree up until the day before Christmas. It was the first Christmas without my dad too which didn't make it great. Plus I was ill with a chest infection, my mum had broken her wrist & cracked her ribs etc, etc the list goes on, last christmas basically sucked.

This year, I started early & had all the cards written out the first week of December. Colin had all my presents ready by the first/second week too - I was a little more behind, but still organised compared to last year!

Christmas labels & the first of Colin's presents all wrapped up :)

lol, we took Garry with us shopping to Tesco one evening & since he always wears a suit & was pushing our trolley.. people were assuming we had ourselves a butler :) The drinks in there were mainly gifts btw, well, the Cokes were ours, all 72 cans :P - Gotta love Coke.

During December, Colin & Garry also had a Travelodge Charity (Breast Cancer) Football game & Colin was in goal & did great - they won & raised over £400.

While I was in Canada, I was addicted to Corn Pops so Colin ordered me these as an early gift! Two boxes actually, when they came I had NO idea what the hell they were, lol.

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately on my camera(s). I was actually considering selling my SLR since I don't use it that often anymore.. but here are a few pictures of the tree & other decorations..

The Santa sack is a lovely Velvet sack that Colin bought me for all my presents :)

He also bought himself a Santa Costume, which he wore to his work Christmas dinner & party (which was down the road in The Boathouse Restaurant/The Ship Inn, Red Wharf Bay). I went along to join him afterwards for drinks, which was nice :) It was funny when I dropped him off, he had to walk in to a full bar of people, dressed as Santa & apparently it was just my brother (that works there) that recognised him, even though we'd said nothing of his disguise!

On Christmas Eve, Colin surprised me by getting me out of bed early & driving me to the cinema for the 10am showing of the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which was brilliant! :) & we went shopping & had an Indian meal out at the Royal Tandoori restaurant. We also pigged out earlier in the week with friends at the chinese restaurant which was nice, even if some people never turned up!

Christmas Day finally came & this year, to keep Tats entertained as the present opening happened, we gave him a huge rawhide wreath to keep him entertained..

Colin opened all of his presents from Santa first, which included a Playstation 3 & different games, DVD's & also a Truck driving experience :) Then it was my turn, it took ages, since Santa was naughty this year & had brought me over 30 presents even though I didn't ASK him for that many! - My gifts (in the picture above) included more chocolate, imported cereal/biscuits (BN BN's!!) & Root Beer. I also had lots of books (including a huge Lady Gaga one, which I love), DVD boxsets, a Betty Boop Glitter lamp which we leave on at night.

My main presents were tickets to go watch the Strictly Come Dancing Show (which I love)! Colin's mum's birthday is a day after my mum's birthday & she also got tickets off her friend to go see the show the night before! He also bought me some Sennheiser (bluetooth) headphones which means you can listen to the music/tv etc up to something silly like a 100 metres away. Oh & my favourite gift off Santa was an Ipad 2 & lots of accesories to go with it, including the smart cover! Every time we have been out shopping somewhere I've been close to buying it & Colin kept saying how silly it was because he'd obviously already bought it & was teasing me :P

It was one of my best Christmases in a long time :) That day we went up to my mum's for dinner. We arrived at 1pm & left.. godknows when. My mum kept giving Colin drinks & we were just talking & laughing all night which was nice. Colin & I bought my mum a box full of gifts, including chocolates, Bacardi, a book & two remote control helicopters (Colin bought those) seeing as she is obsessed with Helicopters!

In the few days after Christmas, we just relaxed but we also visited Farrar Road, for the last ever football game there (Bangor City F.C). Oh & the day before, I had dyed my hair red (I was bored & had boxes of dye lying around & felt like a change)! It looks a light brown in the picture below & below that it looks really light in the floodlights - but it was more of a darkish pinky red, it was nice while it lasted!

Me & Colin at the last game in Farrar Road!

It was freeeezing that day. We made it on TV too, welsh TV that is, lol. You can see me rubbing my hands throughout the match!

Today (New Year's Eve) I decided to dye my hair darker, as in the darkest colour you can go, lol. I've always wanted to do it dark & Colin doesn't mind me experimenting - so I chose a blue/black colour (think of a crow's feathers shining - that kind of blue). It is the messiest thing I have ever done in my life & I still have blue dye on my ears & nails, lol - but I actually like the results :) It's hard to show in pictures, it looks totally different in person. And no, I haven't cut my hair, as you can see in the second photo - it looks short in the first!

Our plans for New Year's Eve - Colin is cooking me Pizza, curly fries & for dessert I'm having the Frenchy Special Ice Cream (lots of different sauces & hundreds & thousands)! We also have a lot of movies lined up! Colin is full of cold so we're not up to going out too much. Lucky we have enough coke & chocolates huh :P

Hope everyone had a great Christmas & HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all :)