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Published: January 1st 2009
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Skating at Hyde Park
Holly, Jonathan, Rhiannon, Alex and me! Hey everyone,
Well, I forgot to mention that on Tuesday last week I went to a pantomime. Basically, it's a theatre show based on stories as Beauty and the Beast, the one we went to see. It was quite hilarious and they have a lot of audience input as well so very entertaining. D, L, the kids and I went for the show and it was a total blast.
On Saturday I went to the charity shop and volunteered for a few hours before heading into Nottinghill to get a few missing cross-stitch colors. I had found an amazing little craft shop there with 2 floors, amazing for this country as there is a lack of supplies here! I got there after an hour or so travel and the shop was closed! Closed on a Saturday. Shoot. So, I had heard a shop on Oxford Street had colors so I went there. I managed to find the colors I needed which was terrific but the traffic was insane! The people traffic that is. Apparently everybody saves their boxing day craze shopping for Saturday. Sheesh. So, it took me about 5.5 hours to get 2 colors. I got home after the
trip and dropped off a few things, got changed and went to meet my friend Luis from Alpha. We were headed to meet his friend Josef from our church. I had seen Josef but never really talked to him so I got to know him a lot better during the visit wherein he cooked a french meal, potatoes and chicken with vegetables in a sauce of French Onion soup and beer. It was actually pretty good. I also tried Italian cheeses and french bread. He is originally from Portugal but lived most of his years somewhere else. He had some life changes and basically lived on the streets for a while before the church reached out to him. I don't know the full story but what I understand is that they helped him get off the streets and back into school, reviving his life. I was so happy to hear that the church was involved in a ministry that is sooo very needed. I later found out that there are several homeless people that come to the church to have somewhat of a family life. It really made me appreciate all the things that i take for granted on a daily basis and at the same time, even more thankful to be a friend to someone who really needs it.
Sunday I was planning to relax but of course, managed to keep very busy. I went back to the shoe shops to pick up my new running shoes that I desperately needed and a pair of cute boots. Yay. I realized that i was missing other x-stitch colors and figured I might as well go and get them while I had a free tube pass this weekend. SO, I went back to Oxford St. and found that the shops were actually pretty blah. I guess everyone stayed home which was fine by me. I picked up a cute little shawl and some other bits and pieces for great prices. Primark is a really good cheap shop and I went there. It's crazy because you usually spend at least 30 minutes in line because everyone else wants a deal too. I spent only 2 minutes and there were no lineups for changerooms either! I came home later on and had Christmas pudding which was very yummy. Dave lit it up but it didn't fire for long. After dinner and dessert, I went to church and met up with Luis. It was a good service and by the time I got home, I was done in but managed a couple calls home.
Monday we went to Hyde Park anld went skating. Dave looked after Jonathan, 13 because he wasn't interested in skating. Dave is a bit afraid of it as well so it was Rhiannon, Alex, Holly (15) and I. For those of you who don't know, Luke, HOlly and Jonathan are Dave's kids from Ireland although Luke lives here in England. We had a lot of fun, Alex did very well on his own and Rhiannon tried a couple of times for a few seconds alone. After skating, Jonathon actually fed a squirrel which was pretty cool! It was a short trip out because then we came back home. We really didn't do too much for the rest of the day.
Tuesday I did a bit of housecleaning and ended up having to chase guinea pigs a little too. Alex loves animals and got 3 guinea pigs on Sat. as well as 3 fish. So, he has some pets now but anyhow, he was too nervous trying to get them out of the cage. I had rabbits as a kid so I just picked them up, hay and all. Lynne was quite impressed as well because they'd been trying to get them out for an hour! Yay me. Anyhow, it was kind of cute and I told Alex I would get them out of the cage anytime but I wouldn't be cleaning anything to do with them.
Wednesday was a relatively easy morning. After lunch, H, J, R, and I went to see Madagascar 2 at the Borehamwood Cinema. I got new years plans sorted around 6pm. I met Hannah and Chris, Emma, Asha and Marc for a spanish new years' dinner in Whetstone. It was really good, we had several tapa's, paella, dessert and drinks. I got some great food pictures that I will get on Facebook at some point. It's been busy to say the least. After we were "full up", we made the plan to go back to my home and party the new year in with my aupair family. I was really excited about that because there was a feast of food and lots of great people there! It was an awesome time where I tried to play Family Fortunes, aka Family Feud but it was abit of a miss because there was so much confusion about the rules. I got to bed around 1am and laid in bed on the phone until around 2:30 because it also very noisy!
Thursday - woke up at 12noon! Luckily, i had been cleared of work duties as per D and L the night before. After getting ready, I helped the kids with the guinea pigs and we gave them some cuddles. I have to say I actually kind of like the little creatures. Ruby is the extra one so I usually look after her. After a brief cleanup and whatever, we were off to Anne's, Dave's mom's house. We had a pretty good meal with dessert there and visited with Dave's sister, her partner and 3 kids between them. I enjoyed a nice chocolate fondue with the kids. I thought we should try some fruit instead of marshmallows though with the hyper activity anyhow. So, my suggestion was a big hit and the fruit was eaten up quickly! Traffic was decent both ways so it didn't take long which was nice. Oh, we drove by the Beatles recording studio on Abbey Road which is on the way to/from Anne's house. Other than that, it was catch up time for phone calls, facebook, updating pictures and such. So, that's my story - Happy New Year. Hugs, Chloe
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