It’s always Autumn in England

Evan and I hiked Weets Hill today.

7 miles, up a hill, down a hill and through farmers fields!

I’m tired now.

Evan and I had plans to camp this weekend, since it is my last 3 days weekend before going Mon-Fri. We didn’t plan far enough in advance and most campsites were booked up because it is Bank Holiday Weekend.

But since our computer died, it’s probably a good thing because now we need every penny to pay for the computer we bought Saturday. Plus it meant we could take the time to shop for a new one.

Today though, we are going hiking. Should be lots of fun. Plus, yesterday I went to a carboot sale and got lots of goodies.

Evan and I are also having a good clear out and selling lots of bits and pieces on ebay…loads of fun! I think I am going to go through all my clothes and then do a ‘job lot’ on ebay. Individual items dont sell too well, but I figure a ton of size 10-12’s will go pretty well!

The frustrating thing about our computer is that I think we have lost lots of small things that we didn’t have time to back up. Some of my most recent scrapbooking stuff- both layouts I have done and items I have bought; our address book; emails; and all of our website ‘favorites’. So, we might be asking peopple to send us their contact details again. The thing is, I have spent a lot of time putting that together, and it wasn’t just contact details, I had peoples birthdays/anniversaries etc on there. Oh well…I guess I need to think of a better way to store stuff, or back it up more regularly.

Well, off to hike. Later

Our computer died this week. We had about 12 hours warning that it was failing. On Wednesday evening our computer restarted itself and gave an ‘error’ message, so we backed everything up. By the time Evan got home from work at 1 the following day the computer was in a continual circle of rebooting and before Windows could load it would restart itself.

Today we spent the day trolling Bradford looking for a good deal. Evan bought three magazines and we got quotes from two different stores on the cost of them building us a computer. We found a great deal at Comet on a computer that was discontinued and the last one in stock, so we got a good discount because it was the display model!

Anyway, that is why we disapeared for a couple of days.

I have had a great weekend off, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the minute. I love to think/talk about the future with Evan and dream about where we will go, where we will live, what jobs we will have…all that fun stuff…but today it just overwhelmed me too much and now I don’t know what to do with myself.

I haven’t blogged in a while, but just to say, I am here. Life carries on. Not much exciting going on. Evan bought me some climbing shoes from ebay, but they were too small, so I need to resell them and get some new ones.

Next weekend Evan and I are going camping. We are going to head to Scarborough. Neither of us have been there and there are several lovely beaches…if the sun comes out and if not, there are lots of other things to do. It is bank holiday Monday, so we get to stay for 3 nights! Hooray!

On 3rd September, I start 5 days a week at Mercy. Fun times. On the 8th September, Mercy is having a 1 year anniversary celebration, by having an Open House! Abigail & Jacob will be staying with Evan and I that weekend, so we will take them to the open house for a couple of hours!

Since I mentioned that I was going to go climbing with Evan, I thought I should follow up with how it went.

The weather was great…it was about 75F…perfect summer weather. Shipley Glen is beautiful and not too many people, so that encouraged me.

We arrived and I got out my seat pad, book, sunglasses and camera. Took several pictures of Evan climbing and watched him from the top of the rocks. I decided to climb down and join him at the bottom and took a few more pictures. I don’t have climbing shoes, so I just figured I would go to enjoy being outside. Evan has a book that describes all the climbs that are on each rock face and I noticed there were two that said, ‘Easy’. Then I looked closer and one of them was the exact place I had climbed DOWN the rock! LOL

I figured if I could climb down, I could get back up again…so I did…and I did it barefoot! Encouraged even more, I did one more climb. This one was ‘easy-ish’ and without shoes it was hard to get a good foothold to start, but Evan put his hands on my back and waist, which gave me enough courage to jump up and start out. I managed that climb too! However, on this rock, I injured my knee as I climbed over the top of the rock.

Evan promises me that bouldering is not dangerous if you are careful.

Here are a couple of pictures of us climbing. I am not going to post the one of me actualing climbing because Evan took a direct shot of my backside…why would he do that? Maybe to get back at me for taking one looking up at him as he climbed!  LOL

 
Celebrating at the top of my first climb and Evan climbing
 
My artistic photo of the day         Nursing my injured Knee

The views at Shipley Glen. This was sitting on top of the rock that Evan was climbing…and where I injured my poor little knee.

Today is my first day off in far too many days, unless you count the 3 hours on Monday when I was not working.

We were supposed to be babysitting for two friends tonight, but they called and changed to next Saturday, so Evan and I are going to take off and go to a park. Evan went there for the first time last weekend when I was working and it is great climbing for all expertise (including me apparently). So we are going to venture over there and I will see first hand what bouldering is like (and if I like it). I am prepared to get close to the rock, but I can’t promise anything more than that. I am taking a blanket and a book too!

After that we are going into Bradford and watching Harry Potter. We have not been to the cinema in a long time and the last time we went was because we had been given vouchers, so it was free!

I think it will be a great day off!

Autumn Simpsonised

Evan Simpsonised

I had fun on this website this morning. I think Evan looks better than me, but I did mine first and got the hang of it with Evan’s. I might have another attempt this evening. But it’s definately a fun way to waste 10 minutes!

I am exhausted. Last night I fell asleep on our spare bed about 8pm. Then I woke up groggy and grumpy, so fully clothed I moved into my own bed. I woke up around 9:45 because I could hear Evan watching Will and Grace, so I moveed upstairs to the sofa and slept/watched Will and Grace. I made my way back to my bed just after 10. I woke up at 6:30 this morning, still tired.

But, things at work are going from strength to strength. I am glad I am working in a place where my managers recognise my strengths and skills. It is a new experience and I realise how much I can enjoy a job where I am given more and more responsibility as time goes on.

In September I start full time Mon-Fri. NO MORE WEEKENDS! I met with my ‘new’ manager this week…I have worked with her all year, but she has not been the person I reported to, we just shared an office. We basically wrote my job description together and since then she has been including me in all the decision making. Today, I even interviewed a potential member of staff to replace me on weekends!

It is exciting, but I also know that I have a lot of growing to do. One of the responsibilities I will have is dealing with all crisis management and discipline with all the residents. I was told this week, with much wisdom, that it will challenge my personal relationship with God in my new role, because I will be so much more involved in the day to day care of the residents and their discipline and running of the house. I can’t wait to see how far he can take me and how much he can teach me!