We’re flying out of Glasgow at around 6:30 in the morning so I’ll be leaving for the airport at 3:45. UGH! I’m going to try and get some sleep before we go but I’m not sure if I will be able to! I’m actually quite calm about the whole thing and I think the long flight has something to do with it. I don’t think any of us are looking forward to it. I so wish you could just beam over there like they do in Star Trek. I’m not afraid of flying or anything - just thought of all those hours and trying to keep myself occupied. We have such a long time to hang about the airport too but I guess it could be worse since we could be flying from Manchester or something which would’ve meant a three hour drive to get there.

We should get to Florida around 14:30 or thereabout so the first visit on the agenda will be Walmart for supplies for the villa. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing the rest of Saturday, I suppose it will depend on how tired we will be. What am I most looking forward to? Feeding dolphins at Seaworld and visiting the Space Centre!

I really wish the kids were coming with us as originally planned because I would have loved to have seen their little faces and I so wish I could share my adventures with Grandma when I come home. I’ll be thinking of her when I’m with the dolphins. I’d give up this trip in a heartbeat to have her back again with me but I know she’d kick my ass for even thinking that way and she would be so excited for us. I think losing Grandma is part of the reason I don’t feel as excited as I was when we were first discussing our trip. She has left such a big gap in my heart and I don’t think I’ll ever fill that place.

Okay, that wasn’t what I intended to say in this post. Be assured, I am looking forward to this trip and I’m going to have the best time I can possibly have. I will buy loads of gifts for the kids and spend money like it is going out of fashion in the malls.

Catch you all later!

Tomorrow is my last day at work for three weeks and I fly out to Florida on Saturday morning. You’d think I’d be able to start easing up at work but you’d be wrong since S royally screwed up and I got left to clean up the mess since she didn’t even bother to come in today. She’s been absent more times in the past seven months than I’ve been absent in the past TWO years and it is so evident that she isn’t sick at all. I’m so pissed at her! We had a really busy day today and I really did not need to clean up her shit into the bargain. My boss could tell I was really angry though and she asked me to leave the evidence of the screw up on her desk so I hope that means someone’s butt is gonna get kicked. She stresses me so much I feel like screaming all the time! The good news is I’m going back out to Mission Control when I come back from my holidays and hopefully I’ll get my promotion soon after that. My boss is also recommending me for a bonus! I can’t really count on getting since the final decision is out of her hands but if I do get it - it’s going towards my MacBook Pro.

I’m all packed for Florida - finally! Just need to grab a book and some travel sickness tablets just in case! I don’t usually get motion sickness but I’m not taking any chances. I’m so not looking forward to getting up at 3:15 in the morning though. I think I’m going to be too excited to get any sleep so maybe it won’t matter but I really don’t want to end up shattered when I get there. I keep having little “woo hoo” moments as the realisation sinks in that I’m actually going to the States! It’s really exciting at work because so many of us are all going to Florida at different times during the year so we talk about it constantly!

I’m probably not going to have internet access the whole time I’m there unless there is something in the villa. I’m really not going to make a point of finding an internet cafe or whatever because that’s definitely not on the agenda for the fortnight. I’m taking a notebook and pen with me to record everything so will blog about it at some point.

I’ll probably be around Friday though so will say goodbye then!!

I never quite got round to doing my application form at the weekend so I made a promise to myself to get it done yesterday. So, as soon as I came home from work, I settled myself in front of the laptop and started. It took me 2 hours! I could’ve written so much more but they are only interested in a brief response so I had to chose the best examples and save the rest for the interview. I e-mailed it to myself at work and gave it to my boss to read this morning just to make sure I was on the right track. She said it was excellent and is going to get one of the other bosses to read it as well just to make sure. I just want to get it handed in so I can forget about it until I get back from Florida.

Speaking of Florida, we’ve started the packing! I’m not taking a lot with me because I can just buy whatever I don’t have once I get there. The others are buying most of their toiletries at Walmart but I’m so not going without my Liz Earle or John Frieda shampoo!

YEE HAW! My horse won!

My mother and I have this tradition where we pick two names from the list of horses running in the Grand National. Now, neither of us know anything about horse racing so it is simply just about picking names that leap out at you. We don’t place any actual bets because neither of us has a clue about that either.

I chose Celtic Son and Silver Birch. I’ve no idea what happened to Celtic Son because he was never mentioned but Silver Birch won, baby! LOL! My mum has a good record of choosing horses that get in the top three but both of hers fell at different points of the race.

ETA: My cousin actually placed at bet on Silver Birch and won £78!

Okay, the reception job is finally up for grabs to all grades since no one applied for it and that basically means I can go for it now. I spoke to my line manager this morning, she gave me more details and told me how to apply. The team manager also made a point of speaking to me about it so I’m taking that as a good sign.

I need to study the role profile and come up with examples proving I am capable of doing the job. I’m not really good at building myself up because it seems like bragging to me but I guess I have to get over that. The advantage is I’ve already done the job for 3 months this year and have been on a few training courses specifically linked to parts of this job. I’m horrible at interviews though and I’m amazed I’m even going for this but I’m getting so bored with the main job I do. There are of course other factors involved like the people I’m having to work with and being left to do the majority of work on my own which really demoralises me. Being on reception can be quite a lonely job, but things are being restructured and I may not be sitting by myself anyway. The deadline is 2 days before I leave for Florida so I’m going to have to get cracking with the application. *rolls eyes*

If I get this job, it means I can start looking into getting my own flat. I saw one the other day that would’ve been so perfect but no way will it still be on the market by the time I’ll be getting my full grade wage and I can’t afford the mortgage without it. It would’ve been just a matter of moving in - no work necessary. Ah, well, maybe something else will come up by then.

Oh, and I’ve nearly decided to get myself an even better pressie - a MacBook Pro! I say nearly decided because I’ve only ever used a PC before and I’m a bit nervous of using a Mac but how can you go wrong with Apple? I’ve been seduced by my ipod which is positively groaning under the weight of all the music I’ve been adding the past few days to keep me occupied on the plane. We are talking three ballets here: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker Suite, and the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. Still got space…

The weekend went by far too quickly and I never got a chance to do half the stuff I wanted, mainly down to a bout of lazyitis. LOL! Saturday, I was out of sorts with “girlie trouble” and more or less lounged around all day stuffing my face with chocolate and Nurofen (painkillers). So much for the diet!

The kids arrived Friday lunchtime and since it was the day after A’s birthday, he still had our presents to open. On Thurs (his actual birthday), I decided to buy a birthday cake because it’s not often we get to spend time with the kids on their birthdays. Did I say not often, I should have said never. The last time we spent a birthday with either of the kids, my eldest nephew was turning one. Don’t get me started on selfish ex-SILs…. Anyway, back to the point, I got a Lightning McQueen cake from Marks & Sparks and then had to rush to get some candles since that’s not something we tend to have around the house. It was so worth it to see his face though - his wee eyes just lit up!

The boys had a good time playing with A’s birthday presents, so my niece and I settled down to watch Happy Feet which she loved. The boys pretended not to be interested but I caught them watching it a few times! They were really well behaved this weekend and they were exhausted by bedtime since they were kept so busy.

I was off work on Monday as well since it was a bank holiday and spent a fortune doing research into my family tree again but it seems like I’ve hit another brick wall so gave up for a while. I really wasn’t in the mood to do much else but surprised myself by starting a new story. I haven’t written anything for at least 18 months because I just didn’t feel like it - before I knew it I had the first two chapters down. I checked my fanfiction.net profile and I actually have a few more people on my alert list which made me feel a bit guilty for not having written anything for such a long time. Ah, well… the joys of writing for a fandom that is practically extinct.

Speaking of fandoms, thanks to the lovely Astra I now have a disc full of the rest of S3 of BSG! WOO HOO! If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that I’ve recently been denied access to Sky One (who have lost about 25% of their viewers as a result) and been cut off from some of my favourite shows. I’m being really good and not watching them all in one go but the temptation is so strong! Another show, I’m totally besotted with is Supernatural. I wasn’t too fussed on it initially but it is really starting to come together and I’m noting with some trepidation that is hasn’t been renewed yet. Ooops, probably just condemned it by even admitting I like it….

And, good God, what has come over British TV? We’re suddenly in the middle of a wave of fresh and witty new shows that aren’t soaps or reality based crap! I usually don’t watch much homegrown TV but have been really enjoying shows like Torchwood, Life on Mars and Primeval. I’m a new convert to Life on Mars so will be avoiding the big finale tonight.

I’ve just realised this post is nothing but babble….