Oh Sunday.

I've had the ultimate relaxing Sunday; slept until late morning, enjoyed a full-english breakfast and basked in the sunshine of the garden. Adam's mum is looking after Skye this weekend, so I had the ideal opportunity to have the ferrets in the sun lounge for a much needed runaround. They really are the most adorable little creatures, dooking and jumping through their tubes - it's just a shame that Skye doesn't really share the same opinion.

We made the spur of the moment decision to drive over to Sainsbury's yesterday evening to buy some cocktail equipment and a basket load of spirits. I'm not 100% sure where the incentive came from but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with an old Desperate Housewives re-run that happened to be on TV at some point. Needless to say, we now have the urge to build ourselves a minibar though I haven't the faintest idea where we could put one. Adam will find somewhere, he always does. He turns this house into Mary Poppins' bag - give him an hour of rearranging and I reckon he could find room for a small African republic upstairs. Having said that, I'm dubious as to what lurks underneath each of the spare beds.

And now Sunday, the day of rest is almost over. I'm contemplating prizing myself from the sofa, ready to navigate the stairs to bed but part of me despairs at the idea of wasting the final precious moments of the weekend. I'm a nightmare that way. I've always been a night owl, absolutely detesting the idea of going to bed - unfortunately for me, this often results in too many late nights and I'm one of the most loathsome of humans first thing in the morning. I've noticed that my work colleagues have started giving me a wide birth when I first walk in at 9am. To be honest, I've tried convincing myself that it's down to how busy everyone is. I know I'm wrong, but a little self-delusion never did anyone any harm, did it?

Sunny-day.

Today is the first day that it has really felt like spring. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, birds are tweeting and every man and his dog seems to be milling around the streets. It's that strange time of year where humans appear to awaken from the hibernation of winter - they're literally everywhere and seem somewhat confused by the correct attire for this time in February. Old ladies march by in winter coats and scarves, young children run to the parks in football kits, teenage girls meander into town wearing just skirts and t-shirts. It does amuse me.

I took Skye to the park this morning. I was expecting it to be chaos with joggers and fellow dog walkers but I saw no-one the entire time. We've had quite a few issues with her lately - I informed you of her great escape a few weeks back but it appears that her inner Steve McQueen hasn't quite subsided yet and this week as I was walking her after work, she started leaping around and slipped her harness again. It took me 2 hours in the dark, running around the icy pavements before I finally found her hiding under someone's Chrysler Voyager. If there was any amusement to gleaned from the whole debacle, the lady that owned the car came out of her house believing I was a burglar. I calmly informed her that my dog was under her car and it took me a good two minutes to convince her to look. Even when she did realise, she did not find it all that funny. Neither did I to be honest. What angered me more is that during those two hours of running around, I saw her three times and each time she saw me, she just ran faster. Disobedient isn't the word.

Needless to say, she is now on her third harness - a small black number that slips over her nose allowing me to lead her by the face. My initial reaction is that it looked cruel but after looking into it, I realised that it is actually an ingenious design. After all, you wouldn't lead a horse by the body. Not only does the lead clip to the harness but the harness clips to the collar so even if the nose piece comes away, she is still attached. I was dubious upon her first walk but was soon converted - the harness is amazing! Admittedly, it has taken her over a week to get fully used to it but whereas before she was pulling me along like a sled, she now walks naturally by my side. Best pet purchase we have ever made and you also get the amusement of her rubbing against your legs (and anything else she can find) when you first put it on in a bid to remove it.

Due to the subsidence of the pulling and general improved behaviour, I was actually able to take some photos on the walk this morning. Absolute miracle. 

Oh and remember 'C' from this post? Well you were all correct (as per usual) - she handed her notice in  this week. After what seems like forever at the company, she has found another job as a support worker for children with learning disabilities. I can imagine her being amazing in that role, dealing with people and no systems work involved. Sometimes you really do have to trust people to help themselves as, the majority of the time, they actually do.

Have a happy, sunny Sunday everyone!

A relaxing Sunday.

The garden looked particularly colourful today. It isn't a huge backyard but it's ours, tended by our creative hands and I love it. It's just such a shame that we have to keep that awful netting over the raised bed on the left because the neighbourhood cats seem hellbent on using it as their personal litter tray. We had such big plans for it too.

Summer seems to be clinging on for dear life. I say Summer yet, in reality, the only sunny warm weather that we have experienced occurred way back in April and then again on and off for the past week or so. The actual duration of 'Summer' itself consisted of torrential Autumn-like downpours and clouds; lots and lots of clouds. I guess I shouldn't be surprised having lived here for the past 23 years but it still makes me insanely jealous reading your blogs and hearing about the tropical climates in the far reaches of Australia, Florida, Texas and Japan. One thing I do hold dear when it comes to the crazy Northern European weather is that you never quite know what you are going to get. At risk of completely crucifying a well loved Forrest Gump quote - life really is like a box of chocolates.

The fact that the topic of weather has crept stealthily into this blog post may provide the hint that I haven't really been up to much this weekend. Despite a lot of relaxation in preparation for a manic week of 12 hour days at work, all we've really done is watch films, do some housework and pop out occasionally to peruse a few local shops.

I came terrifyingly close to buying an iPad today during an impromptu trip to Curry's and if they hadn't known better, anyone would think that Adam was on their payroll. He already has an iPad of his own but he is constantly trying his best to guilt-trip me into treating myself. The trouble is, I'm one of those annoyingly practical people that has to find at least 5 valid, practical reasons before I can justify purchasing anything. Needless to say, after 20 minutes of umming and ahhing, I forced myself to leave before I made any hasty decisions. I love my Macbook and I also have an iPhone - I just can't think why I would ever need an iPad. Maybe I'm just stubborn? I prefer the term sensible.

The trip wasn't completely void of fruits though; I bought a laptop table to match the lounge furniture - something I've been meaning to get for a long, long time. There have many near misses in the past with my beloved Macbook balanced precariously on my knee so it's nice to now have a solid table top on which to scour the interwebs.

The ferrets (yes, I'm one of those people) came away with a new tunnel too. I'm constantly on the look out to find new things to keep them occupied; they're like hyperactive children, permanently moving from one thing to the next and it takes all of my effort just keeping them engaged. I attempted to teach them to beg earlier; Fez mastered it well though I soon gave up on Moomin - I think she has some kind of learning disorder...

Aside from my uneventful weekend, I'm having so much fun surfing around and discovering an abundance of new blogs. Like I say, I've posted a lot in the past in various guises but I've never really attempted to reach out and get involved properly. I've read so many posts over the past few days; happy, sad, anxious, informative, abstract, poetic and it has really helped to open my eyes. I've also received some extremely kind comments on a few of my own posts and I whole heartedly look forward to discovering more hidden gems.

I hope everyone has a nice, relaxing Sunday and that the start of the new week holds well.