Peru!! We finally went on my “Giving up smoking bribe” trip. It was absolutely fantastic!! Trip of a lifetime!!
We started off in Lima for a couple of days where we went on a tour round the city. As Lima was founded by the Spanish conquistador Pizarro most of the buildings are Spanish in origin. There are some pre-Inca sites still left and Huaca Pucllana was amazing, it’s from around 400AD and made of adobe and it still here because of the lack of rain in Lima. Lima is the second driest city in the world, is cloudy and overcast for 9 months of the year and has over 3000 earthquakes a year. What was Pizarro thinking?!
The next day we flew to Puerto Maldonado for a 3 hour boat ride into the jungle. We were really lucky that the people who were in our small group were lovely. We spent 4 days there and it was definitely my favourite part of the trip. The things we saw were spectacular – Black Caimen, Toucans, Capuchin Monkeys, Leaf Cutter Ants, Scorpion Spiders and Macaws. I really would like to go back some day.
After 4 days we flew to Cusco. This city is really pretty and there are a lot of Inca remnants still left that they have used as the foundations for modern buildings. We saw some amazing Inca ruins; Sacsayhuaman, Quenqo, Chinchero, Ollantaytambo and Tambomachay. OH tried alpaca which he stated was a cross between Beef and Lamb. The altitude effect was harder than I expected, you got out of breath just turning over in bed!! We drank plenty of coca tea which they recommend, it didn’t help with the breathing but the headaches disappeared quickly!
The highlight of the trip was a visit to Machu Picchu. We took the cowards route and went by train from Cusco alongside the UrubambaRiver to Aguas Calientes the town at the base of Machu Picchu. As we were the only ones in our small group who took the train we ended up having a private 3 hour tour round the ruins……fantastic! We spent the night in Hotel Machupicchu Inn and the next day chilling and shopping for gifts.
Time went really quickly after that as we returned to Cusco for a day and then flew back to Lima ready to fly home. :o(
Here's my shiny new kitchen, it's lovely and I have sooooo much more space! As you can see from the photo I've purchased a slow cooker. They are brilliant, bung in some ingredients, switch it on, go to work, come home and dinner is ready. And cos it's so big it makes around 8 meals at a time which I just pot up and freeze. Healthy ready meals and good for my purse too!
What else have I been up to in the last 20 odd weeks? I've changed jobs, the last one was expecting far to much...I was doing my job and half the job of the girl on maternity leave as they wouldn't replace her! How stupid is that. I'm now doing maternity cover for another company....lol! Far less stressful!
This week has been spent packing up the kitchen in readiness of stripping the old one out! Am really excited about having a brand shiny new kitchen but part of me will miss the old one as it reminds me very much of my Nan.
The whole family came over at the weekend and we smashed everything out, I now have a very empty sad looking room ready for the electrician next week.
Thursday was Valentines day, I had an amazing present from my OH. We had decided that this year we would only do cards and get a take-away as we were spending money on the kitchen but on the way home on the train OH was sat next to Professor Jim Al-Khalili who presented the BBC2 documentary "Atom" so he summoned up his courage and asked for his autograph for me. I was really impressed as we loved his programs and it is so not like OH to approach strangers.
Had my review at work this week, had some really good praise which was lovely but looks like I will be doing Purchase Ledger and Credit Control for a few more months yet :o( Did try and push to learn the banking/cashflow.....fingers crossed or I may go mad from boredom! It has been really busy trying to keep up with the extra work which helps with not getting bored and am just about managing to keep up so far.
Had a mystery shop (MS) this week so more money for my £10 a day challenge and a free lunch :o)
As OH was off to a friends for the weekend my friend came over for a "craft weekend" on Saturday.......neither of us felt particularly inspired so I made a quick Valentines card and a couple of Mothers Day cards which I needed and we just watched telly and chatted.
Sunday we had a lazy breakfast then went for an hours walk near where I work. It was a beautiful sunny crisp day and walking along the creek was gorgeous, it built up our appetite for a late lunch after we had picked up a very hungover OH from the station.
My brother's birthday this week, as we've missed out on the Terracotta Army Exhibition I'm hoping to get tickets for the Tutankhamun Exhibition instead. Will have to pull my finger out and get on with it before we miss that one too!! Had a yummy Thai for the birthday meal :o)
The girl at work has left for 9 months on maternity leave and I have to take on half her work load, hopefully I'll manage to add it to mine without getting behind. Am due a review in two weeks so will be able to see how it's affecting me and also talk about where I hope to move to within the Finance Department.
Week 5
First week with extra work duties, not going too badly so far, have managed to keep up, let's hope it stays that way!
Was another friends birthday this week, went for an Indian this time to celebrate. It's not really helping with the healthy eating regime! Need to start exercising and eating properly as I now have a month till we go on holiday and I will have to wear a swimsuit!! Will not be a pretty sight otherwise!! I have started doing squats but need to add in much more exercise.
Have been doing the Earn £10 a Day for January Challenge with www.moneysavingexpert.com, managed to earn an extra £53.41. Not great but am going to try again for the February challenge. Wish me luck!
Stitches removal day!! Monday saw the stitches taken out so we can stop worrying about him pulling at them now. We will keep the baby-gro on a little longer to stop him licking at the scabs (also he does look ultra sweet – any excuse!). Just got to keep up the physio now to get him to strengthen the muscles. I am amazed at how quickly he is recovering….cats definitely have nine lives!!
We have started getting quotes to have our new kitchen from Wickes fitted. The two quotes so far range from £1200 + the cost of plastering + the cost of tiling + the cost of moving the gas pipe + any electrics that need to be done (how much!!) to £860 + plastering + any electrics work (all the other things are included). Think the second quote may be the one who gets our business.
This weekend went to Lincoln for our regular meeting of “The Three Witches”. Had a spa day planned for one of my friend’s birthday. Went to Eden Hall Spa for a pamper day….WOW….it was amazing! Had the most relaxing day, spent most of our time in the Aqua Detox Centre and Salt Pool only breaking for a gorgeous 3 course lunch (plus many extras from the buffet) followed by an hours sleep in the conservatory….pure bliss!! We’re planning on going next January…..must start saving those £2 coins again!
Well, after one night of staying up watching the cat we realised it wasn't going to be feasible for us to do this for 10 days and work full time till the stitches came out!! We called the vet for ideas the next morning and also looked on-line and we came up with several solutions to try.
Firstly we had read something on-line about "bitter apple" as apparently animals don't like the taste but we couldn't find this in the UK so we tried other strong smelling/tasting things. Germolene and Vicks were recommended but neither worked for us, despite not liking it our boy persevered anyway. The next solution was to try a bandage to put a physical barrier in the way but as with the collar he totally freaked out and managed to rip it off. The last option was a babygro, we didn't expect to get him in it let alone keep it on but as is always the way the least expected idea always works the best! So for the last week much to his chagrin he's been sporting a fetching babygro. We've still had accidents where he's managed to wriggle out of it and had a good chew at the stitches but overall it has made the whole process much easier!!
The good news is that on Friday he really started to walk and look much brighter in himself!! Over the weekend he's come on in leaps and bounds and we're really pleased, just got to keep on with the physio now to build up his muscles again.
Well it's been quite a busy, stressful week! I hope it's not a sign for the rest of 2008!!
One of our cats has managed to break both his back legs. Apparently some male cats can suffer from bone weakness if they are neutered before they are a year old and unfortunately ours was one of them. The head of each hip bone just snapped. The first went just before Christmas and he was due to have an operation on this when the other hip bone went. We've spent the week rushing between vets and specialists. He's now had an operation called a "femoral head and neck excision" to remove the head of the hip bone on both legs. The theory is that tissue and muscle can form a "false joint" and they can lead a fairly normal life. Thankfully we have pet insurance so the approx. £2500 bill will be reimbursed. I can't recommend getting it enough!!
We only got him back home today so it's very early days yet and he's supposed to rest for a week before being encouraged to walk around and play. He has tried to stand a couple of times and was very wobbly on his legs but it's a start. Our main worry at the moment is him pulling his stitches out as he's licked most of the dressing off, we've tried to put a collar on him but he totally freaked out and got it off both times so we've decided the best thing to do is take it in turns during the night to watch him. I'm on first watch :o)
This is the rare occasion we got the collar on!! As you can see he's not a happy boy.
