When I was a kid I always used to ‘play shop’, it was my favourite little fantasy. I had my own little till and stock and even had imaginary customers, ah the innocence of youth.

Of course when I actually got a job in an off licence at 18, after the initial excitement of it all being real and getting to use an actual barcode scanner rather than a hairbrush and making my own beep sound, it got boring real quick.

A dream come true, but what a lame dream it was haha

I have to go shopping tomorrow and I don’t want to. This never happens, I always want to go shopping, always.

I have not been well all week and I still don’t feel 100% so I would rather just stay lounging around the house to be honest — I don’t have any money to spend on any thing for me any way so it’s not going to be much fun.

But I need to get some Valentines day gifts — a card for my fiance and a card and gift for someone else.

It’s not how it sounds, there are no romantic intentions there — it’s just as part of a ‘Secret Cupid’ type thing we do.

Oh well, hopefully I can get what I need quickly and then head straight home

My Aunt is a real artsy type, always has been. We were catching up recently and she told me she was really into ‘Rock Tumbling’ at the moment and she and my uncle had had a row about how much she had spent on her Lortone rock tumblers — I just looked blinking at her for a few moments because I had no idea what she was talking about.

Turns out that it is basically putting rocks into a machine and shaping and smoothing them. She made me one to show me, it’s a little blue heart and it is very beautiful — it’s so smooth it actually looks more like glass than stone!

I wish I could go to the Isle of Wight Festival again this year, I have been a few times before and it’s always been a great event. But this year it falls on the same date as we are going to Wales for a few days to celebrate our anniversary!

We went in 2007 and just stayed the one day — we saw Ash who I just lurve, but as much as I like festivals I am afraid I can’t stand the mud and grime, so I always either just stay one day or stay in some proper nearby Shanklin Accommodation, but that doubles the cost of the trip of course.

This year I don’t know who is playing, I have avoided finding out because I don’t want to get all jealous thinking about who I will be missing out on!

Aww man!

I have only just really become active over there and was loving the site. It went down for around 20 hours and I was having withdrawals, from afar I noticed that I had a new email from them so excitedly came to my computer thinking they must be back up.

The email said I had broken a rule and would be banned for one week.

Doh.

I got the ban for posting ‘I have sent you a private message’ in a thread, which is against the rules — fair enough, I understand they have rules and I have to agree to follow them, but it was just an innocent n00b mistake, am I the only one who thinks a weeks ban for that is complete overkill?

I think 24 hours, or maybe 48 hours is a much more appropriate punishment for the crime.

Oh well, it won’t kill me…I will just have to wait it out and make sure I behave in future.

Someone mentioned Infrared Saunas to me a while ago and insisted they were great for helping with weight loss, and my first thoughts were — What the heck is an Infrared Sauna when it’s at home and how can sitting doing nothing burn so many calories?!

So I hopped online and started doing a little reading, I came across MidWestSaunas.com who sell far infrared saunas and offer a wealth of information on the subject. Apparently you really do burn a lot of calories while using one, because your body is working overtime to try maintain it’s core temperature and producing sweat — it makes perfect sense now I have had it explained, but I’d never given it any thought before…and I would have bet my bottom dollar my friend who originally mentioned it was telling porkies.

Oooops. Good job I don’t make bets with friends, huh?

If only my new house were big enough, I’d be all over getting me one of them!

Well, I do actually.

Just recently I have been trying to lower my consumption levels…partly because I am trying to save myself money on my bills and also partly because I care what I am doing to the environment.

I have been reading about Carbon Offsetting recently, it is basically a way of working out how much carbon pollution you are producing each year and then learning how to offset that by saving it in other ways — lowering your overall carbon footprint each year.

I hate people who lecture others on this sort of thing, so that’s not what I am doing…I am just telling you about this site so that if like me you do care, you can go and learn more about them and their unique initiatives

I was out of action most of the last 24 hours with a migraine, boo. I am feeling a lot better today but I am not going to push my luck and spend too long on the computer.

I have finally, after years of suffering with them, found a non prescription pill that makes the worse symptoms ease off enough that I can actually function and not just lay in a dark quiet room crying and waiting for it to pass.

So happy about that

I am going to look at vacation rentals in Ocean City MD when I get up tomorrow, because I am craving a vacation somewhere hot and exotic!

Partly because I have seen nothing but snow for over a week now and I don’t feel very well, and partly because I have watched Shipwrecked today, where they live on a tropical island for a few months and it always makes me super jealous!

We won’t actually be going any where though, we can’t afford it at the moment — but it’s a treat to look, it cheers me up haha

I wish I still needed to wear eyeglasses, I wore them from a very young age up until I was around 20 and unlike a lot of kids — I actually loved wearing them, especially as a teenager, they were just another accessory and way to express myself.

I was sad when I was told it was redundant me wearing them, and as an adult I no longer had my parents to pay for them for me so I stopped wearing them.

That is until a few years ago when I discovered Zenni Optical, an online eyeglasses specialist who have had much recognition in recent times, even getting a nod in the New York Times.

They sell frames for as little as $8…at that prices, who cares that I don’t need to wear them? I have already had 3 pairs off of them with clear lenses and I am sure I will buy more in the future also.

I am tempted to go for these ones next, they are so delightfully nerdy that I fell in love with them the second I saw them. However I am not sure I could really pull off the look — I want to look nerdy cool, not nerdy nerdy.