12 of 12: November 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of November, 2011….

It’s nice to have the 12th fall on a Saturday, it means I get to potter around at home. I’d already decided to have a much needed duvet day, for the simple reason that the house is well stocked with food and I don’t need to go out to the store, and Julian is upstairs sleeping as he is on Nights. But of course, Nights brings a level of topsy turvyness to the house: I have to do cooking in the morning otherwise the house will smell of food when he asleep and that’s not nice.

The garden is holding it’s own in a slightly wintery way, but with some bizarre twists like my Rhododendron is out again as it has been so mild! AB is recovered from her poorliness earlier this week-a scare we do not wish to repeat. And hopefully I am also holding my own amid the winter germs, and definitely not doing a repeat of my extreme bout of illness a year ago.

Anyway, enjoy my diary day!

1  ) I was up at 6.30am AB however, was not!

2  ) 6.45am I coaxed AB out into the garden. The sun was still not up, so I put the patio light on to take this photo.

3  ) About 7.15am AB has had her breakfast and is sitting in her favourite spot in the window behind the voiles, spying on the street!

4  ) 8.12am I arrived outside the main entrance of the BBC to pick J up after his Night shift

5  ) 8.50am We got back to Ruislip Manor and stopped to pick up a bacon sandwich treat, and they were setting up for the Fun Day to light the Christmas Lights.

6  ) 9.10am OMG That bacon sandwich (it was delicious!)

7  ) 10am J was still up so I quickly did some cooking. AB was screaming for some steamed veggies so I gave her a few sprouts in her bowl!

11am J went to bed and AB and I accompanied him for a cuddle and a nap. I had another 1 hr 45 mins sleep, as I was exhausted and had planned for today to be a duvet day!

8   ) 12.45pm I sneakily took this photo of my sleeping family-cute or what!

9  ) 1.20pm I set to doing the chores, starting with a tad of mending!

 

10  ) 6.30pm I had a vegetarian supper of ratatouille with the added sprouts that AB had been scoffing this morning. Bit of a strange choice for a Saturday night but I was eating alone!

11  ) 8.00pm J was awake and having his breakfast. Strange to think he has his ‘morning’ tea and cereal not long after I have used the same tray to have my dinner!

12  ) 10.20pm And here we are back at the BBC! This is where I dropped him tonight, outside the horseshoe. There is an advertising campaign currently going on, encouraging people to phone up and pledge donations ready for Children in Need. You can make out the numbers on the building.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: October 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of October, 2011….

Well, it’s a school day, so I was up at 6am. The weather has been beautiful this Autumn, with some really hot high 20s at the end of September. We have been working hard in the garden, clearing and cutting back to keep it tidy through the coming winter months. And I have just started planting the pansies for some colour. J has had some leave from work and we have been concentrating on socializing AB, taking her to as many different doggie meeting parks and doggie walkies areas as possible. She is quite the little star and is now a dog meeter and greeter  not in the least bit scared any more-an amazing transformation, thanks to Poppy’s help of course!

Anyway, this is my diary of today.

Enjoy!

1 ) 6.15am. Somebody was refusing to wake up! Although she did with a bang about 20 seconds later when I opened the cupboard and a tin of beans fell out-crash!

2 ) 6.40am. It is so dark in the garden at this time-the clocks will be changing at the end of this month.

3 ) Around 7am ish. Logged on to google and saw what they had in store for us today, Fun!

4 ) 7.55am Arrived at school and the place looked really grim: deserted and grey skied. Sigh.

5 ) 8.00am. Who has stuck a food advert under my Orchestra schedule notice? Dumb or dumber!

6 ) 8.25am Getting ready for Choir in the Chapel. We are doing really nice music this term.

7 ) 9.15am Working on Sue’s computer in her office as I had a spare period 1 and no other room to work in. Rather bleak but at least I got a window with a view of the outside!

8 ) 11.40am Home for lunchtime nebs. And greeted by my hanging basket…..

9 )…..and newly planed tubs…..

10 )…..and gorgeous little Anna-Bell, still upstairs in bed with Daddy!

11 ) 7.10pm. Bath time and wonderful hot bubbles to soak in. Boy I needed this, have done so much planning today my brain is exploding! And that is lime cordial with my olives, in case you were wondering (I’m off wine atm!)

12 ) 8.20pm Bit late, but Dinner is served! KFC. One of my favourite fast food take out meals. Julian was insisting I had a night off cooking as I’m so bushed at the moment, so we all went out and picked up some KFC for us, and yes, Doglet got a little bit too!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: September 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of September, 2011….

So here I am, back at school, and really enjoying it! Today is my Sister’s Birthday, so Happy Birthday, Sarah-Jane. We had a good end of the summer and were really happy to learn Anna-Bell has passed her Rabies Titration blood test and gets her Pet Passport. What a clever little doglet she is. We have finished our two sessions with the Trainer and have switched her to a different food which she is adoring. I have almost harvested all the vegetables now. Just the remainder of the beans, tomatoes and chillis left. It has not been much of a summer vegetable crop this year due to it being below average temperatures and above average rainfall. We were supposed to be getting the tail end of Hurricane Katia today-it is certainly very very windy out!

Anyway, this is my diary of today.

Enjoy!

1  ) 7.25am Out in the garden with AB. Well it’s drizzling and wet out here but the hurricane we were supposed to be getting never came last night!

2  ) 7.50am  It is mild-The kitchen seemed so stuffy, so I flung open the window to do some cooking.

3  ) 8.00am I prepared the vegetables (picked from our garden yesterday), and steamed them ready to make J’s meal which he has to take to work with him later.

4  ) 8.15am I went to see if Julian was awake and wanted a cup of tea-it appeared not! And AB was not in the mood to budge either!

5  ) 8.20am So I did the little bit of ironing there was to do……

6  )….8.30am And performed surgery on Moo Moo’s face and Duckie’s back!

7  )….8.50am And tidied her toys up, putting her little bit of foraging kibble down there too.

Then I had some ‘me’ time-washed my hair, pottered a bit, had some breakfast and watched a couple of episodes of the Dog Whisperer. At which point the sun started coming out-lovely!

8   ) 11.10am Anna-Bell wandered downstairs, found her chewy bone and jumped up to her favourite place in the sun in the lounge window.

9  ) 12.40pm Plonked my swimming bag in the boot of R2 and went to the club for a dip and a sauna, dropping Julian off at the station on the way as he was working a late shift today.

10  ) 2pm Sat outside in the gusty sunshine at the Club, staring at the empty tennis courts,  and ate my sandwich lunch and drink in peace after my swim. It was really warm today-just so windy!

Then during the afternoon I took AB out  in the car and we went for a mini walk in the park in Ickenham which has lots of nice seats for me to stop and rest on! We saw lots of dogs today, all of which she met and greeted calmly and happily. I am so proud of her new manners that Jo the dog trainer has taught her. The sun was still shining but boy! was it blustery!

11 ) 7.00pm Whilst my dinner was cooking, I quickly watered the vegetables and patio pots. Pointless running the irrigation as everything is pretty wet out there, but my  various tomatoes and beans were wilting!

12  ) 7.25pm A little later than I’d hoped, but still earlier than usual, I had my dinner. It tasted better than it looks-Fish pie, baked beans and a bit of garden in the form of some lettuce leaves.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: August: 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of August, 2011….

Well it’s mid to late summer here, and the weather has been really unsettled of late. The garden continues to do well and I am now picking tomatoes, courgettes and runner beans regularly. My marrows and Chilis are coming on well too. Anna-Bell had her 1st Birthday last week and we used the occasion as an excuse to have a little family get together here, and to celebrate our new Air Conditioning system which is superb at taking out the humidity from our damp almost Autumnal air, as well as cooling our hot stuffy house. It’s been a strange week, not just because of the terrible London and countrywide riots, but with Julian working a Night Shift, although he finished this morning and so will be asleep this afternoon and jet lagged this evening. But maybe, just maybe, we’ll get some Chinese!

This is my day so enjoy my photos!

1  ) 6.30am Anna-Bell was just waking up-she knew I was there and was only pretending to be asleep!

2  ) 6.35pm Good Morning vegetables-this side of the garden has lots of my veggies and they are all doing well.

3  ) 7am Medicines Time. This is what I take every morning, and again every evening, well minus the 2 red Pred (Yay for being back at baseline again today!)

FYI: 10mg Pred, 20mg Nexium, 120mg Allegra, 10mg Metoclopramide, 2 x Sando-K potassium tablets, 375mg Mucodyne, Aminophylline 225mg, 2 x Feverfew-(for migraines-grey tablets) 2 puffs of Seretide (Advair 500) 2+2 puffs Nasonex, 5mg Ventolin neb, 0.4mcg Atrovent neb, 7% Nebusal Hypertonic Saline neb. All washed down with a carton of high cal high carb polycal (yuck)

4  ) 7.10am I made Anna-Bell’s breakfast. A 60:40 quantity of Chappie dog food plus some chicken, followed by some peas which she loves!

5  ) 12.40pm. I was hanging out the washing and took my camera around the garden. Back left bed.

6  ) Back right bed.

 

7  ) Chinese style hanging basket.

8   ) Rampant Runner Beans.

9  ) 2.00pm ish I went to the Club to try and have a swim, although my lungs let me down rather today. The sauna was helpful though.

 

10  ) 3.10pm When I left the building, I couldn’t help notice that Falcon was now in the middle of 3 black Mercs in a row. An A class, Falcon (C estate) and an R class.

11  ) 8.20pm Friday Night Chinese.  Our Starter

12  ) And our Mains. I had the soupy one on the left. Delicious!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: July 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of July, 2011….

The last month has been packed full! School’s been majorly busy with all the exams, which, I am told, went well! We had many BBQs taking advantage of the lovely sunny summer evenings. We had a visit from Asthmagirl and her husband which was great fun, and we celebrated 4th July with a Family BBQ. Anna-Bell would live in the garden if she could-she really is in her element now. She turned 11 months and is really quite a character!

It’s nice that with this being a Tuesday J and I are both off. Although the air is really bad today, heavy cloud, moderate pollution and so humid, so I’m not feeling very well and am extremely SOB.

But, nonetheless, this is my day so enjoy my photos!

1  ) 5am. I crept downstairs to take my meds. It was really cloudy and the sun was just coming up over the fence.

2  ) 6.15am. Moments after I took this, AB revealed that she was wide awake, although here she is doing a great impression of still being asleep!

3  ) 6.20am. Morning Garden shot. Most of the roses have had their first bloom now but other plants are coming into their summer element so the garden is changing all the time.

((I then made my breakfast and gave AB hers, and we went back to bed with  J as I was really tired after last night at Black Pepper, celebrating Kizzie’s Birthday!))

4  ) 11.30am. I’d forgotten to run the irrigation so watered the front hanging basket on the way to Waitrose.

5  )….and my lovely blue Hydrangea….

6  ) 12.30pm. I came back, and played with AB and gave her a snack of juicy fresh iceberg lettuce, which she loves!

7  ) Then I made a little light lunch for me-Waitrose now do GF bread sandwiches.

8   ) 1.28pm After lunch AB and I went in the garden and inspected the runner beans!

9  ) And we saw how pretty the day lilies are too!

10  ) Around 3pm. J and I popped over Uxbridge, and then came home and picked up AB and took her to play with Poppy. They both had new raw hide chews and had fun in the garden with them.

11  ) 6.15pm Bath time. So relaxing, I’ve pulled my back so I needed a soak. I put some of that muscle relaxant bubble bath in it tonight.

12  ) 7.40pm Dinner time. Chicken with BBQ sauce, vegetable rice and cauliflower cheese. Yummy!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: June 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of June, 2011….

Gosh-I cannot believe that it is exactly a whole year since my Brother’s wedding to the lovely Dr Sarah. You can track back to that wonderful day and weekend, here.

This past month since May 12th has been warm, dry and exciting in the garden. All our veggies are doing really well with many of them now formed and the rest are in flower. All the roses are in bloom, and as we have not yet had the predicted hose pipe ban, I am still able to run the irrigation and water the lawns. Anna-Bell continues to flourish and brings us more love than we could ever comprehend. She is now 10 months old! Half term came and went and I am now 6 weeks away from the summer break. The long upwards slog!

It’s nice that with today being a Sunday, I am able to go to visit my Parents with AB-sadly Julian is working a late shift, so it’ll just be the two of us driving over to Elbury. I’m having tea there so am taking her dinner with me! However, annoyingly, it is pouring with rain!

Anyway, enjoy my day!

1  ) 6.45am AB and I went out to a cloudy morning spitting with rain. Our lawn is long, the gardener was due at 5pm yesterday but it rained in our slot so he didn’t come!

2   ) 8am I made AB her breakfast. Chicken, rice and kibble and we tried her with some mushy peas for the first time. 

3   ) 8.20am I went through the two heavy bags of yesterday’s newspapers. J brings them home from work. I am something of a newspaper-a-holic–always have been. We get them all, every day and have a lot of recycling at the end of the week!

4   ) 10.30am I had to do some mending. AB dismembered the legs off Ducky, an arm and a leg off Teddy and ripped through Donkey’s neck with her piranha teeth!

5   ) 11am Sadly no walk today-pouring rain across the south of England……((and AB has now chewed the eyes off her Ducky so out comes the mending basket again!))

6   ) 1.00pm Packed up Julian’s dinner for his evening shift at work-I made us fish and chips today! And we found out doglet likes those mushy peas!

7   ) 3.15pm Arrived at Elbury to visit my Parents. Mum made me GF scones with lime curd and a lovely cup of Lady Grey tea.

8   ) 4.00pm Doglet was quite happy playing inside, and settled in with one of her new raw hide chews, on the warm rug.

9   ) 4.45pm Took AB round the garden before tea and took a few photos whilst we were out there in the wet…..

10   ) Mum’s little wildlife pond-complete with Newts and water lilies.

11   ) The Elbury garden.

12   ) 5.30pm My high tea. Smoked trout. Yummy!

 

((8.35pm: AB and I are home now-the Canadian Grand Prix is still waiting to be restarted))

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: May 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of  May, 2011….

So what’s new this month then? We are currently enjoying the most fantastic weather-hot temperatures and no rain. The garden is looking beautiful and very ahead of itself and all our vegetables are planted and growing happily. AB continues to flourish. She is 9 months old now and we have had her 15 weeks! She has completely healed from her ‘op’ last month and you can hardly see her scar.

Anyway: today is a school day for me so I have no idea how interesting these pictures will be. But here goes!

1  ) 5.20am. What do they say about sleeping dogs? let them lie? This little girl would sleep for England. I left her until 6am when I got her up, took her in the garden, and then she went back to bed with her Daddy upstairs!

2  ) So this was our garden at 6am this morning. Beautifully green as we do water the lawn and run the irrigation, with practically every flower ahead of itself and ready to pop open signalling summer.

3  ) 7.45am. I left AB asleep in some crazy position under the duvet with Julian!

4  ) 7.55am. Arrived at school and found the gates were broken again and chained together.

5  ) 8.02am. Therefore I had to waste 7 minutes driving round to the other entrance just to get in to school.

6  ) 9am Period 1. Gamelan with Year 7. I had to rearrange the room so we could do practical work.

7  ) Starving and needing sugar. Tucked into some Haribo Cola bottles-around 12.20pm, I think.

8  ) Crazy day. Hadn’t eaten so the second I got home, at 3.20pm I made a bread buttie (bread and butter sandwich!)

9  ) 4.10pm. And then I took AB for a little walkette round the block.

10  ) 4.50pm. I crated AB whilst I watered the front lawn and she had a nice nosey look at everybody who walked by and the occasional Grrr Woof!

11  ) 6.40pm Picked Julian up from the station under a beautiful blue and warm evening sky. He went in to work this afternoon on overtime, for a meeting .

12  ) Dinner! 7.45pm. Roasted BBQ chicken breast, colcannon Irish mash, and green vegetables. Very tasty indeed!

Right, well we are settling down to watch the second Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest now!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: April 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of April, 2011….

So what’s new this month then? Well, our 5lb 11oz 8 month old Chihuahua, Anna-Bell whom we have had 10+ weeks now, had her ‘spay’ operation yesterday, so most of my day today is focussed on her recovery and post anaesthestic grogginess, poor love.

Both J and I are on Easter Holidays now. J has taken some leave to devote the necessary aftercare to AB, so one of us can be with her at all times this week. I’ve got a mani/pedi booked this afternoon as it’s my Birthday, tomorrow, so I must also find a moment to bake some good old Betty Crocker cup cakes for my family who are coming for coffee.

Anyway: Enjoy my diary day!

1  ) 3am. Sorry it’s blurred, but I took this in the middle of a rather broken night, when I was sleeping on the other sofa and AB had this one to herself. Poor little doglet whimpered most of the night. I feel quite zombified now too!

2 ) 7.30am We gave AB her pain relief medicine, using the syringe dropper. 2.5mls on a bit of salmon. She began to perk up almost immediately. She also has some rehydration salts. I am trying to encourage her to lick off my fingers-anything to get the fluids into her.

3 ) 8.15am. I actually took my first picture of the garden at dawn when AB and I went out for her wee! But then the sun came out so I reshot it at 8.15am.

4  ) 9am-ish. I sat and went through AB’s paperwork from the Vet yesterday. We also had her idENTICHIP put in under anaesthetic, and so we had to fill in her details and send it off to the company who have the data base last night. “Collar on at all times” yes well, we removed it immediately. Poor girl was freaked out. We are watching her. If she goes to pull at her stitches we will put it back on. Simples!

5  ) 9.30am. I managed to wash my hair and tidy up the downstairs chaos whilst AB and J were having a lovely cuddle in bed. I am now also in our bed typing this and she is comfortable, beside me now.

6  ) 11.30am. I set about making my Lemon Cup cakes ready for my Birthday coffee tomorrow.

7  ) 12.45pm. And here is the finished display. Too bad I wont get to taste one as they’re not GF of course

8  ) 1.15pm. And then it was about time I had some food so I made a really nice lunch. Smoked salmon submarine roll and accompanying bits and pieces!

9  ) 2.30pm Had a lovely Mani/Pedi for my Birthday treat a day early!

10  ) 6pm. Dinner time for the doglet. I fed Anna-Bell some poached salmon in chicken broth and she guzzled it down in her old style fashion. Truly feeling so very much better than 24 hours ago.

11  ) 6.50pm I didn’t fancy a bath tonight. I felt pretty chilled actually. So I left Julian to have his bath and did some things on my computer with a glass of spritzer and some olives whilst the dinner cooked.

12  ) 7.40pm So what was dinner then? Well, it wasn’t pizza-we had that on Sunday. I made roasted garlic chicken breasts with tomato kebabs, buttered peas and mini onions, and bubble and squeak mash. Very tasty and warming as it’s been quite a blustery, chilly day.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month.

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: March 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of March, 2011….

And with February having been exactly 4 weeks long, March’s 12 means it’s another Saturday. We have now had Anna-Bell 6 weeks and she is more than settled in to our life and routine. Daddy Julian, alas, started his week of Nights last night: so whatever photos I take, they will be silent ones as he will be sleeping all day. It also means I have to alter my day’s routine slightly, as shown by my 6am excursion to do the Groceries in picture 2!

Anyway, enjoy my diary day!

1  ) 5.40am I watered the dog before throwing my long coat over my PJ’s and heading off to Sainsbury’s.

2  ) In the Fruit and Veg section at 6.10am!

3  ) 7am The hungry pup got fed-and wow! is she scoffing a whole lot at the moment. 5lbs 3oz now-and clearly having a growth spurt!

4  ) 8am A parcel arrived for Anna-Bell. It was her new harnesses. One is for when Daddy Julian walks her on his own! I wonder which one!

5  ) 9.40am Julian arrived home from his first Night of the 7 he has to work. A-B decided she wanted to play Tug of War with him!

6  ) 10.30am This is Julian’s supper before he went to bed. Hot milk and a toasted, buttered Hot Cross Bun!

7  ) 12pm Gardening Time. Whilst I was weeding, Lady Muck assumed her Royal self on my kneeler!

8  ) 12.30 pm ish! This was the first area of the beds I managed to clear of weeds and hand hoe. 30 mins to do this much! This will be my herb tub and mint tub with a big Zebrano grass bush behind.

9  ) 1.00pm Quick break for a cuppa soup and a few kibbles for A-B then back to it. This is the sunny back right hand corner which will radically transform itself into my vegetable plot during the Easter holidays. I need to keep hoeing fertilizer and mulch into this patch now.

….And, after all the weeding, at 2pm I came in cleaned up and changed, put A-B down in her bed for a long sleep, and legged it in Falcon up the the Club for some sort of a swim/soak/sauna. My muscles were aching and my lungs were twitching and the pain in my side was needing heat and rest!

10  ) 4pm On the way back from the Club I stopped by Graham’s Pet Shop in Ruislip to pick up the bag of new food I had ordered in. (BTW: She had some for dinner and loved it!)

11  ) 6pm My Dinner: I had a TV Dinner: Shepherd’s pie, roasted tomatoes and a salad with piccalilli rather than dressing as that was what I fancied!

12  ) 7.30pm The little pooch is already asleep for the night, totally out for the count….on top of me! What’s new!

((And at 7.45pm I woke Julian up to have his breakfast and get ready for work, poor guy!))

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. 

Night, night from us here, and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.

12 of 12: February 2011

…. So here follows my series of 12 photographs taken throughout today, the 12th of February, 2011….

So what’s news this month? The year is flying by. We are rapidly approaching Valentine’s Day,  I’ve got one more week until Half Term and I’m up to Day 257 in my Project 365. With Today being a Saturday, there is lots more variation going on in my life, but the most noticeably different thing this month is that we now have our little doggie, 6 month old Anna-Bell. We adopted her 2 weeks ago and she is quite the most gorgeous little girl. So if you like Chihuahuas there are a few photos below.

Anyway, Enjoy, my day! I hope to read and enjoy yours too!

1 ) 4.15am I woke up for more water and of course found myself in the garden potting the dog at 4.30am! This is my shadow on the fence. Julian’s night time search light is so bright it makes our back garden almost like daylight in the dead of night.

2 ) 6.20am. J’s alarm went off and he was amazed to find Anna-Bell sleeping next to him in the bed. I’d taken her up with me at 4.30am and she’d burrowed her way under the covers!

3 ) 6.45am Poor J is on Earlies all weekend, so I made his breakfast before taking him to the station.

4 ) 8.05am My Tesco’s online shopping turned up-2 hours early! As we have it delivered the ‘green’ way, sans bags, I just have to dump it all in the hall these days else the dog will do a door dash-(something we are working on preventing!) She is of course, naturally inquisitive and was right in there sniffing out the packages!

5 ) 10.45am I pottered about and did the ironing, and Anna-Bell settled down in her bed  in the kitchen for a sleep. This photo is taken from our Slingbox. Julian installed a dog-cam so I can keep a check on her wherever I am, rather like a baby monitor!

6 ) 11.30am Anna-Bell was still snoozing so I took the opportunity to do 10 minutes of tidying in the back garden-it was so windy last weekend that we had bits of our ornamental grasses blown everywhere, so I raked them up. It’s amazing how much neater it all looks after just one simple chore.

7 ) 12.15pm Lunch time. I fancied  a prawn roll. So here’s my GF sub, and prawns with Hellman’s extra light mayo as I am still watching my cholesterol. The grapes were my attempt to eat something other than a carb lunch which I needed!

8  ) 1.05pm Anna-Bell and I went to visit my Sister’s family so they could meet her for the first time. She travels in a very smart pink travel box in the back of  Falcon, our big Merc. She was so good and just slept in her box-no whimpering or whining at all!

9 ) 2.30pm The Boys, S-J, Dave and I took Anna-Bell for a walk around their estate. It was a glorious sunny afternoon and she was bounding along so excitedly, totally out-walking me, who had to sit on selected house walls to recover both energy and puff. What a fab time we all had.

10 ) 3.20pm After our walk, S-J made tea and had these delightful little cakes the Boys has made at school, complete with doggie style decorations on the top. I’ve brought a couple home for Julian. She also got me a GF banana cake. I was thoroughly spoilt by my lovely big  Sis this afternoon!

11 ) 6.45pm The bath photo! I was so tired I literally sank into this bath-complete with my Times Jumbo crossword from today’s Times newspaper. I haven’t had a glass of wine in 3 weeks so I was drinking Roses’s lime cordial. A totally heavenly, bubbly soak!

12 ) 7.35pm Dinner. And we had Mexican! Well, you can’t own a Chihuahua without being a fan of Mexican food now, can you?! I made beef burritos, green veggies, salsa, and a few refried beans and we had a delicious Caesar salad to start.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my diary day, 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month and complete with a little Chihuahua now!

Night, night and see you next month!

….If you’d like to read other bloggers’ 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog.