Haven't we been spoilt by the weather this weekend, its truly been fab and how lucky are those folk currently on holiday in good old blighty, to be honest you can't been our country when the sun shines but its totally impossible to predict holiday wise which is the only downside.

Well today we went to see ma in law in the old folks home and to be honest although she'd had a bad stomach all night and was tired she was quite alert really. The visit was helped along by my sis in law and niece also visiting which helps dilute the situation. After me and hubby did a bit of retail therapy in Meadowhall where we had lunch in M&S.

After getting home about 1.30 we had a bit of a rest before going down to the allotment. Hubby dug up his shallots and I planted some beetroot and carrots. We also brought up some beetroot, potatoes and rhubarb. We were going to go out for dinner but having such lovely produce inspired me to cook and what a meal we have had.

For main we had Jamie Oliver's chicken in a bag, potates with rosemary, beetroot and cabbage. For dessert I'd been watching Something for the Weekend where they did a recipe with rhubarb. Well I kind of did that but substituted the apricot jam for homemade rhubarb and ginger, honestly it was unbelievable. We had the rhubarb with vanilla ice cream (courtesy of Walls) and it was absolutely divine, the best summer pud ever. We had a lovely bottle of wine wine and finished off with a small glass of Amaretto - bliss!

I really enjoy cooking and am now getting to the stage where fresh ingredients excite me and I can't wait to experiment with them, sometimes the end results aren't so good but when you strike gold the feeling is absolutely fantastic.

So what's for tomorrow, well it'll be ironing in the morning followed by cleaning the bathrooms and then a trip to Next to take some sale stuff back. Work on Tuesday but hey never mind its seven weeks on Thursday till we go to Lanzagrotty! Life really is a gas!

What a glorious day it has been today. Me and hubby had a lovely lay in bed this morning with a bit of love in!!!! We finally got up about 9.30, had breakfast, and then got our packed lunch ready to go into Derbyshire for a walk.

We've had a great day, after driving to Bakewell we parked up and walked to Chatsworth and it was glorious. Even though I put sun lotion on I've still managed to get caught a bit by the sun. To be honest we prefer to walk in Derbyshire on a Saturday rather than Sunday cos there's not as many hikers.

After four hours we got back to Bakewell, changed our shoes and went into Bakewell for a welcome pint and a stroll round the shops where we managed to pick up a couple of books from the charity shops.

For tea tonight we've had burgers (courtesy of Aldi) and chips washed down with a glass of the white stuff, bliss!

We're getting used to R not living with us now though it's still strange and I miss our little morning chats when she came downstairs still clad in her dressing gown and we caught up wth what'd been happening. Most days since they've come back home from holiday I've spoken to her on the phone, she did hint at having Sunday dinner here tomorrow but me and hubby might be going out for tea.

Well I didn't get the job but to be honest it was a bit of a relief. I didn't really gel with the person I'd be working for and I think I'd rather move to a different job in the place that I'm currently at. P was supposed to be handing in her notice at work yesterday, I will miss her but it'll be good not having to work with someone who's a control freak and totally negative about everything. There's a 3 day a week job coming up soon in another dept which is more money and I'm quite interested in that so watch this space.

As for what we're doing tomorrow,well to be honest I've no idea yet but I'm intending it to be a bit more restful than today, see you soon.

Interview day tomorrow (3.30 pm). Its been a hard couple of years after my breakdowns and I've been lucky enough to find a job that's not too taxing (although medical terminology takes a lot of getting used to) and I'm lucky enough to work in a place where we get on with one another.

I've talked myself out of and into attending the interview a thousand times since reading the letter last Wednesday. The job's on the same grade as I was on a couple of years ago before I resigned after deciding I couldn't face going back and putting myself through it.

Now I find that I'm bored doing my current role and I want to do something more challenging but to be honest I'm scared of the old demons coming back and losing control.

My life is totally different now, how? Well finally we'e got friends and a social life, our kids are now at an age where they're no longer dependent especially R as she's flown the nest and is living with R. I had six month's counselling which helped me to realise some of my own problems which previously I'd never realised. So all in all its a different picture than two years ago.

Question is what's worse staying in a mundane job cos I'm frightened of stretching myself (lack of confidence me thinks), or getting on with it and ok if it goes wrong so be it but at least I'll know I tried and perhaps I need to think of a change in career.

Wow me and hubby went to see Kylie on Monday night and she was absolutely fab. It was the best show ever and I'm now envious of anyone who has tickets to see her in Newcastle or London - rest assured you will enjoy it.

We went out with D&R last Friday. At times it can be difficult as D currently isn't working but is looking for work, however, its difficult bringing up things to talk about. Firstly its difficult talking about work when D's not in that situation and secondly its difficult to talk about things we're doing leisure wise cos they obviously haven't got as much money to do stuff and they've still got kids which they financially responsible for which increases the money pressure. However, it was a nice night and it was lovely to see them.

Just to update you on the job I applied for. I've got an interview for next Weds at 3.30 so fingers crossed.

Just got tomorrow to do then its the weekend again for me. R&R will be coming back from holiday tomorrow night so it'll be lovely to see them. On Sunday we're going with N&G to see the Abba movie and then on for some tea afterwards. Will have to go shopping for something to wear at the interview, I think I'm just going to get some new trousers as I have a jacket and top that I can wear.

That's it for now so see you soon.

Rain, rain go away! Will it never stop raining? Summer 2008 is an utter washout and thank goodness we've got 11 days booked in Lanzarote in September.

Today has been a day off as usual and to be honest I've been a bit lazy but after the last couple of weekends I needed to chill a bit.

Workwise its been an interesting week. P as usual hasn't been happy at work. Why she bothers coming I don't know cos she doesn't need the money and to be honest for the people that do its hard to keep hearing her moaning about it. Anyway, our boss got her back up even more yesterday. Our team needs some admin systems changing which necessitates P making changes to the way she works to become more proactive and do what she's actually paid for. This necessitates her passing stuff over to a lower paid member of staff so that she can get on with the work appropriate to her grade. Problem is she is a control freak in a big, big way and letting go is not something that comes easy to her.

Anyway, when boss was with P yesterday I kept stum and just got on with work unless I was asked something but I could see that P was getting more and more steamed up. If I'm honest I'm hoping that this will be the straw that breaks the camels back and may end up with P handing in her notice. It'd be lovely to be able to go to work and not having moaning minnie sat across from me.

Right got that off my chest. Onto the weekend. Tonight we're going for a pub meal with D&R which will be nice as we haven't seen them for a few weeks. Tomorrow night we're off to my sis's for a Chinese takeaway.

Sunday's weather forecast is that its going to be mainly dry so me and hubby might go for a walk but I can't wait for Monday, why? Cos I'm going with hubby to see Kylie at Manchester and I can't wait.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Oh what a fab weekend. Went with N&G to the caravan which is in Lincolnshire. When we got there I couldn't believe it the van is on a field with about 5 other caravans in what feels like the middle of nowhere and going onto it felt a bit like going onto a gipsy site but what a great time we had.

N&G are lovely people and really wanted to give us a good time (which they did). We got there on Friday at about 6.00 and we went off for a lovely walk along the side of the river then feeling very hungry we got into the car and went into Woodhall Spa and had a lovely pub meal. Then back to the caravan we went for drinkies and boy did the lads drink!

Got up on Saturday with a bit of a headache but after a lovely bacon buttie courtesy of G and a couple of paracetamols we went off to the village for a look around. Although it had been raining very hard but we managed to time our visit during a dry spell and we were also lucky to do this in the afternoon when we went for another riverside walk. Then Sat night after watching Dr Who we ventured out for a lovely curry and finally went to bed at about 11.00.

Sunday morning as usual we were all woken up at 6.30am by the cockrel and after sausage sarnies we went out again. Me and hubby got home about 5.00 last night and what had been a great weekend suddenly had an upsetting end.

Our son M, left alone in the house for the first time, had asked his mate to stay on Friday night. Now to be honest I don't much care for J but that's another story (see post done in Jan for a catch up on that one). Anyway J turned up with six mates and boxes of beer, M let them in and chaos ensued.

Luckily the house wasn't trashed and funnily enough what gave it away was the fact that the house was too tidy although a beer can in the garden border was also a good clue.

Hubby gave M a good talking to last night and for once was the bad cop and me this morning I woke M up with a cup of tea and asked him to come for a chat when he was ready - which he did (I was playing the good cop). Anyway, M told me exactly what had happened and I think we got off fairly lucky and he says in future he's not going to mention to J when we're away but I'm a bit unsure what to do. Me and hubby are booked to go to Lanzarote in September for 11 days which as you'll understand I'm now pretty anxious about. i've thought about cancelling the holiday but M will be 20 next month and I think that might be an over reaction.

My hunch is that M's had a scary experience as he says himself he felt things were getting out of hand at times and I think he'll have learnt from the experience but can I trust him and my instint? Can anyone advise?

Well it looks like we've got a wet weekend ahead and by sheer luck we're going with N&G to Woodhall Spa for the weekend to stay in their caravan so it looks like raindrops falling on a tin roof could be keeping us awake, never mind its a free weekend away.

R&R have gone to Sharm al Sheik for a fortnight today and after the last few weeks of house buying, second year Uni exams and work, work, work I think they're very ready for it. As for me well I've decided to apply for a job at a local hospital - the closing date is on Tuesday so I'm going to finish off my application in the morning and then get it posted before getting ready for the weekend away.

The job's on a higher grade than I'm on now and if it get it I'll be on the same band as I was a couple of years ago when I gave up my job for health reasons. I enjoy where I am at the moment but as a support secretary I've now got a bit bored as the job is 95% audio typing which for the past two years has been great as I didn't particularly want a challenging job but now I'm ready to move forward. Anyway I'll let you know how I get on.