A very busy week and 12.5 hours of work!

I haven't blogged the past week, as it's been an extremely packed half-term, so I'll try and fill you in on everything I've been doing! On Monday I worked from 10.30 - 4.30, and we were extremely busy: the dishwasher had broken down, which was a nightmare, and we ended up having to ask my sister to come in and do some washing up for a few hours, as the four of us couldn't get everything done: at one point I was making food, taking it out and attempting to clear tables, not easy when you have lots of orders waiting! Still, I much prefer it to be like that: Wednesday I was in from 10 - 3.30, and it was so quiet, time really dragged. I worked again Friday, which was another hectic day (yay!) and ended up doing 9 - 5, so I was pretty tired. Then, yesterday (Saturday) was vey busy again - and I did 8.30 - 4.30, and was exhausted when I got home: I really enjoy working, but I'm used to doing five days of sitting around at school, and only one physical day, so I tend to get tired by the end of it. However, that wasn't nthe end of my day: the night before, the lady I babysit for had rung me and asked me to do three more dates - one of which was the Saturday night! So, I got home by 5, and went to bed for a bit (re-read a bit of Twilight; yes, I've succumbed again!) and then went to sleep for a little bit. At 7.45, I was babysitting, and I stayed there 'til 12.15: all in all, twelve and half hours work in a day! I slept in until eleven today, to make up for it =]

Babysitting didn't go as well as last time: boh the kids were in bed by nine, but by quarter past on of them was downstairs, feeling ill. I went back upstairs with her, hoping that she would fall to sleep, but she didn't. I tried everything I could think of: offering her drinks, reading to her, sitting with her, but she just kept asking me to ring her parents. After forty minutes, I didn't have a choice, and she was getting quite anxious. I didn't want to spoil their evening, but I had to ring -as it happened, they had no signal. So, I left a message, and had to tell her that I'd rung but there was no answer. So, I sat in her room and, finally, after half an hour she fell asleep. I sat outside her bedroom til midnight anyway, just in case something was wrong, and filled her parents in when they got home at quarter past, so luckily everything turned out alright. I also managed to get some homework done, and re-read the entirity of Twilight...I'm so addicted, it's worrying!

So, onto the rest of my week - the non-work related stuff. Monday night I stayed at J's, and we had a really nice night - her little brother and sister and very sweet, and after they'd gone to bed we stayed up playing silly games like boggle, which ended up being very funny. In the end, we didn't go to sleep until around 4.30 - and for once, her brother and sister didn't wake us up the next morning! After a lie-in until around 10.30, we got up and had a lazy morning around the house - mostly playing with the kids, and we both worked a little on my novel (more update on it's progress in a bit!) Then we spent the afternoon on the beach - it was the first sunny day for a while! - where the wind actually wasn't too cold, and we went looking in rock pools and played with a bat and ball. If you've seen Twilight, then I'm sure you can imagine J trying to recreate the baseball scene: she was doing the bowling, I was humming the muse song 'Supermassive Black Hole' that accompanies the scene in the film, whilst twirling the bat. Lots of laughing ensued! Later, we all cpollapsed on the sofa, exhausted from a late night and a busy day. J went up to the shop to buy something for dinner, and I ended up watching CBeebies (Mr Maker, Grandpa in My Pocket and Chuggington!) with her two year old brother asleep on top of me. I couldn't be bothered to find the remote to turn it off!

I got back home at around eight-ish, and then had to go shopping - I had fifteen friends coming round to celebrate my birthday the next day (although my birthday's not until next Friday!) and had to go buy the food. Then, I went off to bed, for an early night! After work Wednesday, I tidied up, prepared the food with mum (Pizza, pasta and garlic bread!) and then my friends started to arrive. We had a really good night - lots of food, including chocolate profiteroles and a delicious birthday cake made by my friend D, and ended up watching two films between 6.30 and 11: Wild Child (very little in the way of a plot, but we all have a thing for the gorgeous Alex Pettyfer!) and the Holiday (such a sweet film!). Then, once everyone had gone, three of my friends stayed over, and we chatted and watched What Happens In Vegas (possibly the funniest film I've ever seen) until around 2am. They all had to go pretty early the next day, so I had a free day - I went back to bed for a bit, started on an essay, read a little of Twilight, and work on the novel - I'm only a couple of hundred words of 60,000 now!! It was nice to have free day, although I did get quite a bit done. Then I finished the essay Friday night.

So, now it's Sunday, and I'm in bed with my laptop, watching Hollyoaks and eating chocolate :P I will start on the mountain of homework in a little while, but for now I cannot face getting out of bed - and as it's my last dsay of freedom before school, I don't feel overly guilty :P Best be off, lots to do, and if you've made it through this essay of a blog post without falling asleep, congratulations! =p

P.S: If you're reading this and aren't following/commenting on my posts, maybe say hi =] I'm interested to know if anyone other than the two I know about are actually reading this!

Keane & Roses

Sorry it's been a few days, I always go to look at who has updated their blogs, think 'I must update mine!' and then get distracted reading everyone else's! But I'm updating now.

The Keane concert I mentioned was absolutely amazing: they are the best band I've seen live, and they're so good I've seen them twice! Whilst I love their albums, I have to say they are at least ten times better live - not something you often find - and their albums are actually a slight come-down once you've seen them live. I wasn't too sure about their latest album, Perfect Symmetry, the first couple of times I listened to it, but after listening to it repeatedly, and hearing it live, I'm as hooked as I am on the rest! If Keane come anywhere near you, I would thoroughly recommend going: their shows are so energetic, lively, atmospheric and so good!! We were only 2 people away from the stage, so we got a great view - and some great pictures, which I'll put on here as soon as my friends get round to uploading them onto the computer!

It's been a pretty busy week, hence why I haven't blogged, and Keane was just the start. On the same day (Monday) as Keane, weather warnings actually effected us, and we had torrential rain - so bad we thought we might not get to the concert. The town where I live was flooded all over the place, but luckily we got through before the worst hit, and were back after it had finished. Snow, we don't get, but rain is always plentiful! Then I had a hair appointment on Wednesday, and after 2 1/2 hours (:O) I am now technically blonde :) very happy with the result. Homework's been occupying the rest of my time, although I did get round to seeing a film called 'The Pursuit of Happyness' which a friend of mine lent me. Very good film, although I did cry a couple of times! Now, thankfully, it's half-term - although the teachers have gotten very homework-happy, and have piled on the work. I'm also working 4 days of the holiday, staying at a friends tomorrow night, and having loads of friends round on Wednesday night to celebrate my birthday (it's not til the 27th, but it's so much easier to organise things in the holidays!) so it's gonna be a busy one!

I babysat Friday night, from 8 until 12.30, which went really well - the kids were really good, and there were no problems. Hopefully it'll lead to more work! Then, yesterday my mum, dad, sister and I went to the crematorium to leave a rose for my gran. We've done this every year since she died on Valentine's Day, 2000. It's still an emotional day, despite it being 9 years, as she was such a huge part of our lives when me and my sister were younger. We left a rose, along with a little card each from my mum, my sister and I. Mine read 'Always in our hearts and thoughts'. I still can't believe she's gone - and that it will be the first anniversary of my grandad's death next month. That's the really difficult one at the minute - I honestly cannot believe it was a year ago. It doesn't feel that long. So, not the most cheery Valentine's day, but that's what it means to us. It feels good to be able to write this stuff, as I don't really tell anyone - it's not the sort of thing that's easy to discuss, and I think a lot of people would think I was strange for still commemorating my gran's death, 9 years later.

Anyway, a friend of my sister's stayed last night, and we had a 'games night' (they've been having themed nights for weeks: Australian night, chili night, Irish night, shark night...they're crazy!) and I joined in, we ended up having quite a laugh. Now, I'm still in my pajamas (despite it being nearly 2!) and am enjoying probably the only lazy day I'll get this week. Still, I need the money for my America Trip fund! My novel-writing has been put on hold for the last few days, the same as my blog writing, but I'm hoping to get another chapter finished today! J (the friend who's editing it) is bugging me for the next chapter!

Whisky-related publishing and another chapter

An odd title, I know, but all will be revealed in this blog post! =] I've had a nice weekend: spent Friday night reading (another Meg Cabot, called 'She Went All The Way' - another romance, but I'm a sucker for them!) and then worked on Saturday. We were surprisingly busy, but I prefer it that way - at least the time goes faster! Plus, all the extra money I can get to go into my America fund helps! I then had a friend of mine (J) who is the one who edits chapters of my novel for me. J was quite down, as a big walking event she's meant to be doing has been cancelled because of the snow (we don't have a lot, but on the moors where she was meant to be walking, it was pretty heavy) so I invited her round to stay the night. We had profiteroles and Ben N Jerry's ice cream (cookie dough, my favourite!) and had a real laugh. We worked on my novel again, and I ended up getting another chapter done, which she then edited. My word count's rising steadily, reaching 55,000 now.

The whisky related publishing ties in with this: I bought a copy of the 'Writers' and Artists' Year Book 2009' from Amazon, as it has a lot of good advice for people who are writing books, and has the addresses and requirements for loads and loads of publishers. I don't know what's going to happen with this book, but when (I refuse to say if!) I finish it, I think I'd like to attempt to have it published, after all the hard work I've put into it. Anyway, I was reading through all these publishers, marking off the publishers who are looking for fiction, teen fiction etc., and I kept finding publishers with very odd and restricted requirements - one of them being 'whisky-related fiction and non-fiction.' (!) what an odd type of manuscript to request! That got me and J laughing, and we didn't stop for most of the evening, which was nice. We took her home at around eleven this morning, after a nice lie-in, as we both have homework to be getting on with - although as you can see, I'm not doing much now! I'm hoping my dad's going to put some shelves up for me today, as my books are piling up by the side of bookshelf, and it's getting a bit ridiculous now! Perhaps I read too much...I do just keep buying them, and I seem to run out of room very quickly!

As usual, I've got a couple of books that I'm waiting to read - one of them is 'Ransom My Heart', a historical romance by Meg Cabot (yes, I accept it, I have a problem!) and another is called The Luxe, which looks good. I also have another couple on order, so I need to be trying to focus on my homework rather than reading all the time! Today I have a lot of dull history notes to make, so I'm going to get them done before I start reading again. Tomorrow I'm off to see the band Keane, which I'm very excited about, so I need to get all my homework that's due Tuesday done today too, as I'll be out late tomorrow!

I've got one more week at school, then it's February half term, which I'm looking forward to. I'm not working next Saturday, as it's the anniversary of my gran's death, and I like to visit the crematorium and leave flowers each year. I have, however, got my first babysitting job on Friday the 13th - good job I'm not suspicious! Then during half-term I'm working most days, and I'm having a movie-night with all my friends coming round to watch DVDs to celebrate my birthday. My birthday's not until the 27th, but it's much easier to get everyone together during the half term than it is during term time.

Well, I guess I'd better get moving, and get something done! =]

Snow: What a let down!

I think where I live must be the only place in England (and most of the UK!) which has not had any serious snow this week. Woke up this morning to find some snow, but it wasn't long before it was gone, and it was nowhere near enough to even consider getting a day off school - and when snow began to fall later, it didn't settle. I think I will have to accept that there won't be a weather-related day off school for me!


I've just got back from a friend's house, and she has a lovely little brother and sister, who are so sweet - we had a real laugh, and got some homework done too, which is always good: I have finished hnomework for this eveing, so have spent half an hour on my book, then read for a little bit (my latest is 'She went all the way' by Meg Cabot - although only a chapter in!) and then thought I'd update on here. I'm planning on an early night as well!


Sunday night I was extremely annoyed; I went to bed at ten, turned my TV, laptop and light off and and tried to go to sleep at around quarter to eleven. By three in trhe morning I was still lying there, not sleeping - I really hate it when that happens! So, having finally fallen asleep some time after three, I was pretty tired the next day. Luckily, last night's sleep was better! Still, I'm a little tired, so I will try to get to bed early.


I now have another job, which I'm very happy about - babysitting for a local woman, both for her kids and for those who come and stay at the holiday homes she has surrounding her house. It's going to be greta, both for experience with kids (and I love babysitting, which is an added bonus!) which will look good on my CV, and the money towards my trip to America. Have I mentioned that? Not sure I have: next February, I'm off to New York and Washington DC for a week with the school - so now I'm saving up so that I can afford the trip! At the minute, I'm working quite a bit, but I enjoy it all, so I have nothing to complain about =]


A little update on the novel: over 50,000 words now, and 150 pages!! Glad you like the sound of the blurb, Molly. I'm going to write some more tonight I think - I'm emailing it off chapter by chapter to my friend who's going through and editing it. She's enjoying it, which gives some hope that it's ok!


I'm off to see Twilight again tomorrow - there's a whole group of us going, and most of us are seeing it for the second time, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also going to see the band Keane on Monday, which I'm very excited about! So it's a busy week coming up, with homework and then a babysitting job coming up! I'm also planning what I'm going to do for my birthday: it's my seventeenth on the twenty-seventh of Feb, so I think I'm going to do something to celebrate during February half-term. Now, I think I'll try and finish another chapter of the novel... =]