My Week In Words | #10 2016

"Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life."

James Cromwell

Welcome to this week's instalment of My Week In Words, yet another belated edition. I'm still getting used to having a second blog but I'm sure nobody means. I wasn't tell well this week but I was still somewhat productive. I wrote about toys, bought things I shouldn't and witnessed history. That's what we're calling Leo finally winning an Oscar, right? Anyway, read on to see how I spent the first week of March. Gosh, feels crazy that I'm saying March already. This post covers from Sunday 8th of February to Saturday 5th of March. Please do enjoy!



For some reason I woke up super early on Sunday and ended up scrolling on my phone for a couple of hours before falling back to sleep. I swear Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are the means to time travel because time legit disappears when you're on them. One minute it was 9am and the next it was 11am. I went back to sleep and by the time I woke up again it was 2:30pm and my fry up was ready. I have no idea why breakfast was so late.
On the morning of Sunday my first toy related post on my new blog was posted. I was excited to have the first toy post up but also a little nervous. I'm trying something different with my style of writing and I hope it's coming across okay. I'm not going to keep harping on about my toy blog forever. Anyway, after breakfast I moved into the living room with Eva to watch some anime while I worked on part two of my toy post. I ended up procrastinating and didn't get very much work done before I had to get a quick shower for my aunt visiting. She arrived while I was still in the shower.

Cute photo I got of Edwin and his big sister, Baby, while I procrastinated

We had our usual catch up and later on - when my aunt had left - I watched some live NHL games and took part in blog chats on Twitter. I also tweaked my blog, which you may or may not notice? I don't actually remember what I did if I'm honest. When Rue decided it was time to wake up I let her out of her cage for a little run about in her ball while I fed and egg checked the snails. This time the search was not in vain as I found a clutch. I think they were from Duro as there was one on the food bowl where I'd found them sleeping. I removed the eggs and put them in the freezer.

Sunday was the night of the Oscars and as with most awards ceremonies my Twitter feed was full of people watching, commenting on the different outfits and such. Usually I don't join in but with all the talk of #OscarsSoWhite and such I decided to watch. It was super fun! I was thankful to find a stream on my phone as it's the only way I could watch in bed. My favourite look of the night was Margot Robbie's. She's flawless in general but I loved this dress and her casual beachy style hair. Look at me trying to sound like a fashion blogger. Ha. 

Aside from being all heart eyes over Margot Robbie another favourite of the evening was basically everything Lady Gaga did. Her trouser dress, her interview on the red carpet where she talked about rape culture to her amazing performance. I've been pretty much listening to Til It Happens To You non-stop since.

The truth is this was the first year I've actually watched the Oscars so I wasn't as invested in Leonardo DiCaprio winning as others were but I still decided to try and make it to the end to see if he finally clinched it. I was able to make it with 5% battery power to spare and I wasn't disappointed. I'm not saying I'm the reason he won but I just think that it's a little bit of a coincidence that the first year I watch he magically wins, just sayin'...

I went to sleep around 5am on Monday morning and then got up about 1:30pm. Not bad really. I guess getting up at 2:30pm the day before paid off. Everyone was talking about Leo winning and all I could think about was Lady Gaga's amazing performance! Eva was working so I had breakfast by myself and chilled - which actually means procrastinated - after. At some point on Sunday I had written and scheduled a toy post which meant I didn't get My Week In Words written. I'm still trying to get used to having one or two extra blog posts a week. On Monday I did a little but not much work on My Week In Words. I wasn't feeling too well with a headache and my concentration was basically shot.

Rocking some NIV

Feeling rubbish didn't stop me from taking part in The Girl Gang chat. The theme was awards and it was so fun! I love the creative themes of this chat each week. Because I got so little work done I decided to post My Week In Words on Wednesday and just post one other post during the week. It took a little bit of the pressure off and I relaxed the rest of the evening rather than push myself to work with a killer headache. When Eva came in from work we ended up having something to eat before going to bed to watch Degrassi.

When I woke up on Tuesday I still had my headache. Usually sleeping clears them but I had no such luck this time. Luca - my cousin's son - was already at my house for my mum to mind when I woke up. I'd missed him the week before because I got up too late so I got up a little earlier so I could spend some time with him. He's growing up so fast! After breakfast I got on my mum's bed with him and we had a lot of fun. He's so mobile already - more than I am! - and he was climbing all over me.

I feel like he finally knows me and actually likes me. We started minding him when he was a lot younger than when we started minding his brothers, so I wasn't used to interacting with such a young baby. No shade but they're kind of boring when they don't acknowledge you. But I digress, we rolled around on the bed until I started to get breathless. Earlier in the morning Eva had taken Baby - my Labrador - to the vet about a lump we'd found a few days previous. Baby is prone to fatty lumps but it's still important to get them checked out, especially as she's nine years old now. She'd also been having an upset tummy and we were worried they were connected. The vet said the lump had to be removed as it was near her vagina and he didn't want it obstructing anything because of it's size. He also gave us medication for her stomach upset and wanted us to collect a poop sample. I'm super relieved that the lump is benign but nervous about the impending operation. Please send her all the positive vibes you can!

When Luca left I finally got around to being productive. Nope, that doesn't mean I actually started writing My Week In Words. I decided to have a clothing clear out. I'd been putting it off for ages as I hate throwing things away but my drawers were jam packed and it had to happen some time. It took me quite a while to get through this mountain and split into a keep, charity shop and bin pile.

I had to take a couple of breaks when I started to get tired but I eventually got through it. I felt pretty accomplished that I'd done it mostly by myself. By the time I was finished I had gotten rid of enough clothes to have an empty drawer. An empty drawer to fill up with new clothes! In the evening I settled down to write but I still didn't get My Week In Words finished before I went to bed. Eva came in at 11pm from work and after something to eat I sacked off writing to get into bed to watch Degrassi. All in all it was a pretty productive day, though I guess not where my blog is concerned.

I was up early on Wednesday for a meeting. I had my housing officer and occupational therapist coming out. They were supposed to be separate appointments but we decided to combine them as they were both coming out about housing. I got up just before they arrived so I didn't have time to do anything other than brush my teeth. My OT arrived first and we chatted about what adaptations I need... for the third time. The housing stuff takes so long that they have to keep reassessing me which just takes more time. My needs haven't changed so it's a little frustrating. The housing officer finally arrived and they chatted a bit about the adaptations as my OT is basically giving them a recommendation for what I need. The whole thing could have taken fifteen minutes if it wasn't for the fact my mum could talk for all of Northern Ireland, and probably the south too. I was so hungry it wasn't long before I was over the whole thing, especially because there was no real reason for my mum to be there. Eventually the OT had to leave for another appointment and I had to answer some questions the housing officer had which took about five minutes.

It was basically just a check in they have to do after you move in so a lot of it wasn't really applicable to me as the house was just transferred into my name and my parents haven't yet moved out. Finally my housing officer left and I had my breakfast. Wednesday was a bad anxiety day so obviously my headache made an appearance. Since I didn't fancy going on my laptop with such a headache and it was pretty bright outside, I took the opportunity to take some toy photos. I used my mum's Canon camera to see how it was compared to my iPhone.  While I did that my mum took Edwin for a walk.

When he just got back from his walk

Edwin hasn't got a good history with walks but we've renewed our efforts to get him out more and less fearful of the outdoors. So far it's going well. Although he doesn't eat much he's heavier than I would like, so he's also on a diet! Wish him luck. After some photography I finished off My Week In Words and got it posted. You can check it out here if you missed it. In the afternoon I took part in some blog chats and also got around to reading some blogs. I'm looking for more blogs to read so please leave your links in the comments or Tweet me them! As I already said, Wednesday was a bad anxiety day and it got a lot worse in the evening. I ended up having a bit of a meltdown about my toy blog. I suddenly felt like starting a second blog was a big mistake as I want Bloo 'n' Stuff to fully represent me and by taking toys out of it it felt like taking away a bit part of me. Really I think I was just fixating because I was stressed about other things and my blog is the only thing I really have control over. I'm glad I had my blog to concentrate on as in the past I would have controlled my food intake instead. So while fixating isn't exactly healthy, it's the healthier option. I spent so much time stressing it somehow got super late so I ended up going to bed later than usual.

Mum was working on Thursday as usual so Eva got me up before she left for work. We had breakfast while watching YouTube and then Eva left at 2pm. I'd learned some things about SEO after everybody was talking about the Moz update, so I spent Thursday afternoon deleting broken links from my blog. I want to learn more about SEO and be more conscious of that kind of stuff but I need to educate myself more. If you have any blog posts about that sort of thing please do drop me the link! My headache reappeared so once again I ended up on my mask, I was feeling breathless too for some reason. Naturally all this meant I wasn't very productive throughout the day and spent a lot of time mooching around online. Then when I finally did decide to be productive my internet died. I did write some of Friday's post offline but it was difficult as I needed the internet for some of it. Still I got done as much as I could and then thankfully the internet came back on just in time for the Crazy Bloggers chat. I took part and then got back to work on Friday's post and scheduled it for Eva coming home at 11pm. We had a little catch up before bed.

On Friday I was supposed to go into Belfast with Eva to get our outfits for the Belfast Giants Awards. However we woke up to the news a car bomb had gone off somewhere in Belfast. Only the prison officer driving the van was injured but it was enough to freak Eva and I out so we decided not to go. Mum needed Eva to post a parcel to my granny in England and Eva was going to meet her friend Jodie in town to get an outfit for the evening as they were going out with work friends. I decided to tag along into town as I'd been looking forward to getting out of the house. So I got dressed and headed to meet Jodie in all my no make up glory. I was hoping I might see something for the awards in town but I had no such luck. I had vowed I would only buy something for the awards and a Mother's Day card but I ended up seeing a handbag in Topshop and falling in love. I have a few handbags but I don't use any of them as they're all over the shoulder bags and they hurt my back and chest. They're also all hard bags which are awkward to carry on your lap, so this bag was pretty perfect as it was big, soft and could be a non-shoulder bag. £38 is a little more than I would like to pay for a handbag but it's not like I'm buying them all the time so I thought what the hell and bought it. I also got a bra for £10 as it's a little less fancy compared to other bras I have which are lacy ones from Urban Outfitters.

It felt odd buying something more grown up as usually I splash out on toys. I'd think nothing of spending £38 on toys if I'm honest. Though now I have a nice big bag to put them in when I go shopping! I actually ended up asking my parents if they would mind if it was their birthday present to me even though my birthday is more than a month away. I figure every year I struggle to think of something for them to get me so I might as well have them pay for this bag rather than them just buying me something for the sake of it. So when they agreed I felt a little less frivolous at a time when I'm about to have a big vet bill.

After Eva and Jodie got outfits for the evening and I'd paid for my bag and bra we went to Asda to get Mother's Day cards and some food. We were all starving so we got twelve chicken legs for £5 at the hot food counter. Gosh, they're so good. In Asda I seen they stocked the original Monster High doll re-releases and if I hadn't have already spent more than I should have and forbid myself from buying toys on this outing I would have been all over this Cleo as I don't own a Cleo yet and the original line Cleo is my favourite!

Once the abundance of chicken and giant Mother's Day cards were purchased we started off on the walk home. On our journey we encountered the most adorable pavement obstruction EVER.

How completely adorable is that little munchkin? I wasn't sure how I was going to get around him because after living with a Shih Tzu for sixteen years I know they don't move for just anyone. Jodie was like, "If you get close enough to it it will move." Nah mate, that's not how Shih Tzus work. The shop owner noticed us and came out to try and move the doggy but it wasn't budging so they had to get the owner to come out and then it was up and moving right away. I swear I could have taken it home with me but sadly it seemed quite taken with it's owner so we continued on our walk home. Jodie came with us and we settled down for our chicken once we got there. It went down a treat! When Jodie left I retreated to my bedroom for the rest of the evening. I took part in the Spoonie Speak and Bloggers Do It Better chats and chilled most of the night while working on blog stuff and watching NHL games. I also let Rue out for her evening run and fed my snails before I headed to bed. My 'To Read' List blog post was also posted on Friday and you can check it out here if you missed it.

I woke up to this adorable boy on Saturday. I didn't want to but eventually I had to get up to have a shower before my usual Saturday Ulster fry up. I took so long to shower I was bummed out to find out I missed The Superhuman Show this week. After breakfast the afternoon was pretty uneventful as I mooched about online before I got around to doing my make up and getting ready for the ice hockey game that evening. Eva and I didn't have to rush to make the train as I'd gotten an extra ticket  for my aunt to go with us so she was driving. It was a full bowl so we decided to leave for the arena a little early anyway as we had to pick up my aunt Karen's ticket before the game too. I was having another bad anxiety day for some reason so I wasn't looking forward to the big crowd but I was happy to find when we got there it wasn't too crowded yet. Before the game started we decided to get some hot food as we'd skipped dinner. The chicken and chips kid's meal went down a treat and we were back to our seats just in time for the pre-game videos and lights down. This season they've started to get everyone to turn on their phone lights when the arena goes dark and with the full bowl it looked particularly magical. The photo doesn't do it justice. Soon the guys came out on to the ice and the game was under way.

Full bowl basically means there are seats right around the arena.

Usually there wouldn't be seats at the far end as can be seen in the photos. 

Although I was initially anxious about the big crowd it's still awesome to see and makes for a great atmosphere. I would like to see the arena packed out like this more often. I hope that those who were newcomers weren't put off by the bad result as we ended up losing but only by one goal. The game was a little flat and the highlight for me was definitely during the break when they had the Junior Giants playing! They were beyond adorable.

For such tiny, little people they are so good! I could have watched a full game. I love seeing the up-and-coming talent and hopefully one day we'll be seeing some of them play in the Elite League. When we got home I had something to eat and then Eva and I got into my bed to watch another bunch of Canadians in Degrassi.

Which brings me to the end of the first week of March! 

What did you get up to?