Well even though I say it myself last night's food was simply fantastic. N&G came round and we had a great night,they finally got a taxi at 2.00 am and today we're shattered.

The bruschetta recipe is as follows: 2 ciabatta rolls sliced into two, lightly toast both sides of each piece, rub with garlic and drizzle a little olive oil over each piece. Baby plum tomatoes sliced up and placed on top of the bread, tear some basil leaves and put on top of the tomatoes, break mozarella into pieces and place on top and drizzle with olive oil, put under grill until cheese melts. (1/2 ciabatta roll per person is enough for a starter)

Lasagne, I add chopped bacon, red wine, balsamic vinegar, fresh basil to the ragu sauce which all help to add flavour. With this we had baby roast potatoes and salad which was simply tossed a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

The panacotta was made as per the recipe on Tesco's site along with the rhubarb compote. This was a very good choice after a heavy main course and the rhubarb gave a refreshing touch to it.

We had a good laugh and are looking forward to our next social event which will be a trip to Manchester in June (more of that in the coming weeks).

Today hubby and me have popped to Lakeside shopping centre at Doncaster and we've both got some new shoes. I also got Rob and Reb some bits and pieces for their house, it was lovely getting some stuff for them. It looks like the house might be theirs by the end of this week so my girl will be off soon.

I think tomorrow we might go to the pictures to see In Bruges which has had excellent reviews. Hope you have a good bank holiday.

I've decided to put my feet up for an hour after preparing tonight's Italian feast. The lasagne's ready to pop in the oven, the panecotta is in the fridge and the rhubarb puree is sat on the side. All I've got to do now is prepare the bruschetta and make the salad, neither of which will take me long to do. I love trying new recipes and the panacotta is my first try at making it, I'm just crossing my fingers that I get can them out of the ramekins but if not we'll just have to dive in with a spoon.

I'm budgie sitting at the moment cos my ma's gone away with my sister and her family to Zante. Its my twin nieces 10th birthday today, its amazing where the years have gone. I sent them a text this morning and got a reply back saying they're on the beach, mmmmm sounds good to me!

I took my car in for an MOT and service yesterday which ended up costing me £300 as the car needed a few bits doing to it.

Last night we went to our local which gets quieter each time we visit. Apparently the landlord's pretty good at upsetting people and the locals have now decided to stay away. I think we'll find an alternative as its not fun going to a people free zone on a night out.

Hubby's picking N&G up at 7.00 tonight so I'm planning for us to eat at 8.00. He's been busy on project patio today. Its really starting to take shape, we bought natural stone slabs which have got heather shades to them which are really nice.

Rob and Reb have finally got the money through for their house, Reb spoke to the solicitor yesterday and all the searches are completed and they've received the contract from the seller so it looks like they'll be moving in pretty soon. I'll miss my daughter, although we've reached the point where she needs to be the woman of her own house but it'll be very strange without her. Mat is rarely in so really it'll just be hubby and me most of the time.

I am very haphazard as I write my blog, apologies for the fact that it always tends to go from one subject to the other but I use this space to just write out what I'm thinking and it helps to get things out of the system and when necessary think things through.

Its getting cloudy here now and I think we might be getting some rain soon so make the most of the sunshine wherever you are.

Sometimes you get weeks when you don't go out at all and then others like mine this week every other day you seem to be going out. On Monday I went out on the works do for a Chinese meal. It was lovely and was made even better by one of the bosses paying for the whole bill. Well to be honest he's not short of a bob or two and it'll probably be peanuts for him but it was a really nice gesture especially as I'd never even met him before.

Last night I went out with S. I used to work with her and we get on really well although she does tend to go on a bit about work. Anyway she's pregnant now so the conversation wasn't totally work orientated as we did baby talk. The time went really quickly and its nice to catch up now and again. I can't wait till I can have a cuddle with her baby but its not due until the end of December so hopefully there'll be a bit of a wait yet.

Tonight I'm shattered. Hubby wanted to go to the pub quiz, we haven't been for about a year now but since I've been working on Thursdays I never have the energy to go.

On Saturday as I mentioned in my last post N&G will be coming and I'll be cooking for them which I'm really looking forward to. Hubby's going to pick them up about 7.00 pm. I'm getting increasingly worried though about N. She's really feeling the strain cos of work and I wish there was something I could do to help, its really hard to see your friends suffering and she's the type of person who takes everything on board and wants to do her very best even if it does end up making her feel ill.

Was surprised by the Apprentice last night. Can't remember the name of the bloke that got booted out but didn't really expect him to go.

Going to see what you've all been up to now so I'll see you later.

Hi, hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was ok, not very exciting but suppose that you got have exciting and interesting days all the time. Did a lovely dinner on Saturday night, I watched the Takeaway programme on Saturday morning and cooked the food which Antonio Carluccio did namely bruschetta followed by a bacon and tomatoe pasta. It was really yummy. We're having N&G round for a meal on Saturday and I've decided to go Italian for that. The menu's going to be bruschetta, lasagne followed by rhubarb panocotta. I've not made panacotta before so that should be interesting.

Tonight I'm going on a works leaving do and we're going to a Chinese restaurant. I've decided to drive for two reasons, one so that I don't have any booze as I'm trying to cut down and 2 hubby's away so it'd mean getting a taxi which'll cost about £10.00 and as I'm working tomorrow and can't drink much anyway I don't see the point in paying a taxi fare for a couple of glasses of wine.

Hubby's been doing the patio this weekend and we also went and got some bedding plants for the garden which I planted yesterday.

This morning I've popped to the local shopping centre with R to try and get something to wear tonight. We both came back empty handed but it was nice to have a couple of hours together.

My car's due to have its MOT done so I've booked it in for an MOT and service on Friday which'll cost me but never mind its nice to have a car to pop out in.

Hubby's away again tonight so I'll probably wake up cold again. He brought some lovely chocs back from Belgium and also came back with a bit of a dicky tummy.

Right better go and get something done now so I'll see you soon.

Hi folks, hope you've had a good week. Mine's been pretty good. On Sunday my bro invited me and hubby down to theirs for a drink. I had a lovely surprise my bro has been writing a book for the past two years and it'll be finally out on sale next month. Its about the Lake District and its called The High Places. What he's done is put together illustrations by Wainwright with journals written by Harry Griffin about different places in the Lake District. Its a lovely book and I'm really very proud of my bro for having this idea and bringing it together. We didn't know anything about it until a couple of months ago as he'd had to keep it secret. Anyway he gave me a copy of the book which I will always treasure.

On Monday I went to see my ma and got another surprise, she's just got an endowment policy pay out and she gave each of us £1,000 each which is lovely. Going to bank most of the money apart from using some of it to buy a new dinner service.

Went back to work on Tuesday and P once again has had a good week with hardly any negativity. I've been in a quandry this week as a job came up in another department which is full time and a level higher than I'm on at the moment. I rang up to see what the possibiities of job share or just doing 30 hours were and they were quite open to it. I'd arranged to go and have a look at the department but got cold feet. Although its been two years since I started recovering from my breakdowns I still feel nervous of taking too much on and although I wanted to go for the job my gut feeling was telling me to stay with what I've got, which is what I've decided to do. Sometimes I think its just me being too scared of moving forward but you've got to take account of your inner feelings which is what I've done.

Hubby went to Brussels yesterday so I'm feeling a bit lonely without him but he's back tonight. Woke up about 3.00 am as it was cold in bed without him.

Not much going on this weekend. Hopefully it'll be dry so that hubby can get on with the patio. Am going to get on with my housework now so see you soon.

Had to get up at 7.00 this morning as I've got a cold and couldn't stop coughing. On Thursday I felt fine and was looking forward to a busy weekend in the garden and going out with my ma but on Friday when I got up I'd got the lurgy that's been doing the rounds. Had to cancel my ma and although I've managed to get the housework done I feel rubbish really.

Hubby started on project patio yesterday and worked like a beaver all day. We had a really nice take away curry last night. We tried a new place recommended by my daughter and the foods fab except the nan which was a bit dried out but apart from that it was well worth £15.00.

Got some really exciting news. We've booked to go to Cuba for a fortnight next March. We're staying at a 5* all inclusive hotel and it'll be our silver wedding treat. We were going to go to San Francisco but decided on Cuba instead and I'm so excited. I managed to get quite a good deal as the web price went down by £100 over 4 days and the same holiday booked with Thompsons would have been £500 more.

Reb went and had her MRI brain scan on Friday. Not sure if I've already mentioned it but she's got an inner ear disorder which is very similar to Menierres although we've been reassured that its not that. She gets very dizzy and can be quite nauseous but since seeing the Consultant, being prescribed medication and advised to cut her salt intake down as much as possible she's been a lot better and over 4 weeks has only had one really bad episode. Its really hard though watching one of your children suffer although I know from working in a Children's Hospital that we are quite lucky really and on the positive the Consultant has said that eventually she'll get back to normal but it'll take a while.

Looking at the news Gordon Brown is taking a real battering. Personally I think he's a rubbish PM and think that the Labour party have dug themselves into a really deep hole. I can't believe that they made the change to the 10p tax rate which has affected poorly paid people - I thought Socialism was about helping people like this, not the richest who are the ones that have benefited from the tax changes.

Looking forward to watching Something for the Weekend in just over an hour. Am currently about to bid on ebay so will see you soon.

Well I've done my work stint this week and am off work now until next Tuesday. Work has been good this week, Catherine our ace clerk came back to work this week and got loads of work done for us. Sadly for us she's finishing next week to start her new job, we'll be sorry to miss her but she'll be doing the job she's worked for over the past 3 years so will wish her good luck.

P has been great since I've gone back to work after my holiday. She's not moaned once which feels absolutely fantastic, I've not been having to fight off her negative vibes which is quite mentally wearing and its been lovely just to go to work and get on with the job in hand without negativity flowing across our desks.

Texted S my newly preggers mate and we're going out for tea next Thursday so I guess we'll be doing a fair bit of baby talk instead of her usual talking about work non stop.

We've arranged to go the caravan with N&G in July so that should be good and they're coming to us for a meal on bank holiday Saturday. If its fine I think we'll have a barbie.

Me and hubby have been discussing our holiday next year. It'll be our silver wedding anniversary in Sept 2009 and we're going to have an expensive holiday. We were planning on going to San Francisco and then touring round but instead are going to go to Cuba. We looking at going in March next year as we don't fancy been away during the hurricane season and then on the actual anniversary we'll go to Lanzarote (our fave holiday place).

It seems sometimes that all we do is plan holidays but I suppose what's life about, as they say you can't take it with you.

So what are your plans for the weekend? We're having the patio slabs etc delivered tomorrow so hubby will be starting that project this weekend. I'm doing the housework tomorrow and am out on Saturday with my ma (not sure what we're doing yet). On Sunday whilst hubby's working on project patio I think I'll make the most of the fine weather and get the garden fence creosoted.

Typical bank holiday weather, rain, rain, rain. Hubby managed to get the grass cut yesterday but I was hoping to get some weeding done and get the border hoed but not had chance to do that yet.

Last night we went out with N&G. We went drinking and then finished off with a ruby murray which was absolutely delish. N's really got me worried, she's not been sleeping properly for a couple of weeks and last night she looked awful. She's so stressed about work, it's hard to watch her going through the same process as I did a couple of years ago and although I try and encourage her to try and forget about it when she's off work I know from personal experience its easier said than done.

On the plus side G's mum has a caravan and has asked if we fancy going for a weekend with them which should be great. Apparently its in the middle of nowhere but so what it'd be lovely just to have a weekend away with them. Its only seven weeks till we have a night out with them in Manchester and we're all really looking forward to that.

Whilst we were out my friend S text me to say she's pregnant. I'm really thrilled as Her and M make a lovely couple and they've been trying for about six months now. It'll be great to have a little baby to cuddle.

Had a nice day today. We went to a car boot this morning and bought a couple of books each, then we been looking at paving as we want to redo our patio.

Not sure what we might do tomorrow although I do need to get some housework done. Might go and see a film in the afternoon will have to check out what's on at the moment.

Hope you're all having a good weekend and see you soon.

Hi all, well I've managed to get through my 3 days back at work. It's not been too bad really, got some good news as well. It looks like my job could become permanent eventually which is good news, I had started thinking about looking for another job but think I'll leave it now. P my workmate has been brill this week. For the first time whilst I've been in this team she's managed 3 whole working days without moaning once. I think we've finally turned a corner in getting a workload down and it's helped P to relax a lot.

I'm a bit worried again about N. She's having a bad time at work, one of her team mates left recently and now the other has handed her notice in. N's really stressed with work and she's not sleeping well. She looked ill when I saw her on Wednesday. Apparently the bosses have got plans afoot but we'll have to see what happens, meantime she's started looking round for another job. Can hardly blame her, the workload she's got is massive.

Reb & Rob had an offer accepted for their first house on Wednesday. We're so pleased for them and its great because they're going to be living only a ten minute walk away from us so it'll be nice to know that they're not too far away. They managed to buy it for 10k less than the selling price, it really is a buyers market at the moment.

So what are you doing this weekend? Our grass is major long so hubby's going to have to give it a short back and sides tomorrow. We're out tomorrow night with N&G, we're going drinking and then off for a curry which should be good as I've been yearning for a curry for about a week now.

Me and hubby might go for a walk tomorrow but we'll see what happens. I know he'll be wanting to get onto his allotment.

Just realised Corrie's on so got to go. Bye.