Hopefully most of you will see this before you go off on your magical nights out.

Anyway, I have been in close contact with the judges all day (via text as some of us had to work ) and they told me over and over again how hard it was to choose a clear winner as they were all so good.

So the announcement of a winner looked as though it was going to carry on til next year!!

Anyway thay have yet again spent today rereading all the posts and they have made a decision.

Drum roll please maestro

The winner of Secret Santa 2007 is Kevin Wilson and you can find Kevin and his Secret Santa post here http://eagle-eye.blog.co.uk

Well done Kevin!!!

Thank you to every one taking part in this years Secret Santa and making it a load of fun. Here is to the next one

Monday morning with a difference, well no not really as I still have to go to work

Last week when I got back to work on thursday it was to a lovely thank you card from a critically ill client, I had gotten his last debt of nearly ten thousand wiped off and I had let him know just before Christmas. The best Christmas present he got he said. He also sent me a Marks and Spencers card with £25.00 on it, I went and asked what the policy was about accepting gifts from clients, and no one knew!? So I have bought food for work for today, chicken legs and fancy little pizzas and sausage rolls and cakes, they cant argue with that can they? Thing is the letter came direct to me as anything that is received with my name on does, it was not even opened and I really could have not said anything, my problem, too bloomin honest!!

But, the £25.00 is nothing compared to the lovely message he placed in the card and the releif and happiness in his and his daughters voices when I told them that all his debt was clear, he can live his final few years in peace now and that is worth more than money can buy.

Right, off to prepare for work now the pizzas are cooked, have a great day all and be good, lol, yeah right, its New Years Eve like thats gonna happen

There has been a slight delay to the Secret Santa results as a couple of people have yet to write their posts, as they have said that they will do this asap the announcements will be made tomorrow evening (I hope)

And now to bed, since I have work in the morning

Have a good night all, sweet dreams

Phil O'Donnell the 35 year old captain of Motherwell collapsed during the game with Dundee Utd today and tragically it was announced he had died at 5.15 this evening.

There will be a post mortem as no one knows what happened but tonight the world of football mourns the tragic loss of a fellow footballer and professional. Our thoughts and sincerest condolences are with his wife and young family at this time.

It is Saturday, the weather is horrible, I look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards after my walk with Molly out in the wild wild wind and rain.

Still, I dont really have anywhere to go, though I should go shopping, I do have some stuff in so I can put it off, I just feel like lounging on the sofa all day and doing nothing at all.

I know quite a few of the ladies dont follow football, but, I am going to speak football right now.

As a football fan it is always sad to see what used to be a great team drop out of the Premeirship and then go on to drop out of the Championship.

Leeds United are what is classed as my 'Home Team' as they are the local team for this area, though I dont actually support them, most of the people I know here do and many of my friends and thier husbands do. Their story over the past three years has been one of struggle and defeat, but is that about to change?

With threats of the selling of the ground to build a supermarket? Threats of Administration and Changes of ownership, having to sell all their best players just to keep their heads above water Leeds United dropped out of the Premiership in April 2004 and their fortunes seemed to just get worse.

The next two years saw the fortunes of the club spiral downwards as they consistently dropped further down the Championship. The end of the 2006-2007 season saw them not only in a dire position league wise but in a dire financial position which almost meant the end of the club altogether.

Plunged once again in to administration, brought back from the brink Leeds were to be punished by being disqualified from playing in league football, only by bringing in an 'Exceptional Circumstances' provision within the Football Leagues insolvency Policy were Leeds allowed to survive. Handed a fifteen point deficit they started the 2007-2008 season at the bottom of League one fifteen points adrift from all other teams without having played a single game.

Adversity it seems has sparked a new mood in Leeds, they sit at this moment third in the table with 37 points and a 26 goal difference thats only three points behind the leaders with a goal difference advantage of 6, of their 22 games they have won 10 at home, drawn 1 and lost 0, Away they have won 6, drawn 3 and lost 2.

Though they have a two game advantage on the leaders, hopefully that will not make too much difference and another season or so will see them back at the top and once again in the Premiership. After all that has happened to this once great club I think they deserve it.

Friday morning already only another four days of 2007 left, despite all the stuff thats gone on this year hasn't it gone quick? Or is that just me?

The Juzzmeister http://juzzzy.blog.co.uk is doing his 'My Year' again, for those that have not been to see the announcment, you simply write about your year, good bad, indifferent, whatever it was and mail it to him and he will post it on his blog New Years Eve and Day, pop along and have a look

Not got a lot to say this morning, pretty tired actually, but it is all downhill to the weekend now so thats something.

Gotta get ready for work, catcg ya all later have a great day

Slightly shattered due to going back to work, not that I was supposed to until next week but my bosses would not have been suited had I not gone in, though to be honest I am not sure I really care that much anymore.

I am thinking that working for a firm that places in charge of a department someone that knows absolutely nothing about what that department does, not once, but twice, is not the way that I want to go or the place that I want to be.

All that is happening is that she is piling work on us that we really dont have time to do and that really is nothing to do with what we do anyway.

OK enough of the moaning, at some point either tomorrow night or saturday morning I am going to post links to all the blogs that have Secret Santa posts on so you can all read what others have written, on Sunday I will announce a winner, sounds simple but I have a few to chase yet

Right off to put the feet up for five minutes, have a good evening.

Back to work today, it is pouring it down and there is a gale force wind blowing, oh Joy!

There are still a few people that have not done their Secret Santa posts, I shall be chasing them tonight and the announcement for the winner of Secret Santa will probably be on Sunday, my independant adjudicator has moaned about how hard you guys have made the judging so I brought in a secondary one, and they have been discussing the posts done so far, and now they are both moaning about how hard it is to choose a clear winner

All the posts done on Secret Santa so far have been brilliant, and it is obvious that you have all enjoyed doing them, as much as I and the judges have enjoyed reading them.
One of the things that I love about it is the fact that it opens up so many new blogs for people to read and helps to keep this community of ours thriving.

Great work guys
Right off to do the ablutions and stuff, catch you later have a great day.

Every time I visit my Mother I tell myself that I wont come away feeling guilty and like a bad daughter, and every time I fail in doing that.

Today was no exception, in fact if anything I feel even worse than I normally do. Mother is no longer 'all there' she isn't bad, yet, but she definately wanders, mind wise, one minute you are having a conversation and she suddenly goes off on some completely unrelated subject then a few minutes later back to the conversation at exactly the place she left off

She can no longer get around very well and has to use a stick, she doesn't like using the stick so she wont go out, she tells me all these things as though it is my fault! I tell her I will come and take her in town but it has to be weekend because I work, no she doesn't want to go to town on a weekend,she will 'manage' in that tone of voice with that sigh that makes you feel you are letting her down for daring to be independant and work!

You would be better off on the dole she tells me, what! well they will pay your rent, and stuff. She doesn't get it

She is finally moving in with my sister, and the news gave me such a feeling of huge relief, knowing that I dont have to feel guilty for not being able to visit enough, for not being the Daughter she thinks I should be, for not being beautiful or clever or having a husband that will make it possible for me to do the running round after her that she wants.

And of course that now makes me feel guilty and ashamed of being glad and relieved

Gooood Morning and a Very Merry Christmas to All Blogland

One of the problems with not sleeping is that it gives you far too much thinking time. The less one sleeps it seems the more one thinks. Of course that is not always a bad thing, you can sort out problems that normally would gnaw away at the back of your mind and eventually start to stress you out, so in that way it is a good thing as it eases stress.

I may ramble a bit while I write, another side effect of not sleeping, erm, well no actually, that is normal

I sat at four this morning with a half decorated Christmas tree, (there is a tale there, in a moment or two) after having just mopped the kitchen floor, sorted all the washing and drying, taken it upstaors etc etc, ready to throw in the towel and the tree in the yard, when I strated that terrible thing called thinking.

It started off with thinking about pulling yourself together woman! After all yes, it has been a bad year, but it has been worse for others, it went on to all the people that will be alone tomorrow, for whatever reason, and how being alone on Christmas day is one of the worst times to be that way.

I am talking about real loneliness, that deep dark place that many of us think we are in, but in reality we have only visited for periods of time. The type where you sit holding your phone hoping that someone will call, knowing they wont because noone knows your number, after all there is noone to give it to apart from strangers you have met in the pub, in the street, who probably threw it away the minute you were out of sight. Such loneliness is hard enough to bear but worse at Christmas, for this is family time, friend time, a time of being together and it enhances loneliness, especially as it is also a time when there is nowhere to go for that one day.

It flicked from there to thinking about how much people miss, I watched them the other day, walking with their eyes stuck to the pavement, or straight ahead, head bowed a little, as if they were afraid to look up in case they saw something they didnt like. Yet if they had they would have seen the beautiful scenery that is just there right in front of them on the walk in to town. So much is missed by not daring to raise the eyes, so much beauty, so much wonder.

Which of course set me off on the path of wonder, and wonderment, and mysticism, and Myth and Magic, and all of those things come down to hope and faith. We all have something that keeps us, um, sane, something that we believe in, as farfetched as others may believe it to be, this is the thing that gets us through the hard times, that shines light on us when the way ahead is dark, often it is hard to think that good times will come when things always seem to be going wrong.

Me? I believe in Fairies

I love this

You just gotta!

I am still here, just in case you were wondering, have spent the day trying to relax, no sleeping though *sigh*

I am preparing for the foray in to the depths of hell tomorrow, yep I am going shopping, on the last Saturday before Christmas, this wouldn't happen under normal circumstances but this year has been far from normal and as I have only just got paid (Yayyyy) I have little choice but to enter the Demons cave and forage in the pits of hell, I shall be accompanied as my daughter-in-law is coming with me just in case (antibi's are kicking in) though that also means that Juniors Cyclone and Tornado are also coming, looks like a fun day is in store

It feels like snow out there tonight, though it is still cold it feels to have warmed up somewhat, sure sign of the white stuff, I love watching the snow coming down, and that lovely clean whiteness when it first covers everything, I dont like it when it trails through the house and it is all slushy and grey where the cars have run through it and it starts to melt away.

Right lets see if the sandman wants to play tonight

Sweet dreams all xx

Just look at the time, and I have yet to close my eyes and do that wondrous thing called sleep! I will when the Anti-biotics kick in, well thats the theory anyway?

Just what I need on top of everything else that christmas is bringing me (And I am not talking about nice surprises here) is to be ill, especially when I am making Christmas dinner this year. I will be glad when this year is over for apart from meeting a couple of great people it really has not been a good year for me, but I think it has been that way for a lot of people. Never mind soon be over

Right what shall I do now? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I will think of something, catch you later

Only five days 17 hours and however many minutes to go before the big fella arrives. This is the message that has been on my computer at work for the past week, followed by 'If you are excited click here' we have to 'click here' to get on to the database, our top IT mans sense of humour is getting out of hand Still at least he has one unlike the last one whose sense of humour never raised above the zip on his trousers He sure fancied himself as a ladies man, wonder why guys in that position seem to think they are irresistable?

Right some of you are lagging in the Secret Santa draw, not chosen your numbers yet, I will be chasing you (figuratively of course) I sent out the PM's last night of those that have chosen and expect to be reading some Secret Santa posts very soon

Right am having a day off today so will be back later, have a good day

Here we are with less than a week to Christmas, have I got everything done? You know presies bought and so on and so forth I got my wage slip yesterday and it is a joke, except not a funny one, between tax insurance and the Government in the shape of the local council, they have taken over three hundred pounds out of it, and they expect you to survive on that for a month as well as pay everything.

My bosses, bless em', have told us that after the assesments we had last week no final decision will be made until um, February! So how hard is it to say yes you can have your pay rise? It will be back dated to January the 2nd, oh cool, more joy for the tax man! What was interesting about the assesments was the fact that I and one other person were assesed by a senior Director and everyone else was assessed by someone lower? This other lady holds a degree in Social Psychology, I am studying for a BSC, coincidence?

OK Secret Santa is up and running, now quite a few of you have chosen your numbers, I will let you know by PM who your victim subject is but it will be tomorrow morning when I do that or later tonight, I would preferably like everyone to have chosen, but, not mentioning any favourite reporters name it doesn't always work that way

So for those who have not yet chosen a number these are the ones left, 3,6,16,22,24,26,27,28,29,
So lets get this show on the road!

Catch you later lovely people, have a great day

As promised the second part of Secret Santa, though some people have jumped the gun somewhat

Either a darn good memory Mister or you peeped back at last years

Stage two, as you can see from the comments on this mornings post is to choose a number between 1 & 26, I will then PM you with the name of the person you have to write a post about.

For the new participants, the idea is to write a post about either the person or the persons blog that you have been given through the number that you chose. The best one will be awarded the prize of Secret Santa of 2007 and will receive a certificate and um, something (Not quite decided yet)

I may even award runner up prizes

OK get choosing!

Tis Tuesday only four more days and I get five days off, and I cannot wait!

Tonight I will announce the second part of Secret Santa, now those that did it last year will know whats coming next, for those that cannot remember I will refresh you and for those that are taking part for the first time, I will be telling you what happens in detail in the post.

Right am running late this morning, I am having problems sleeping at the moment and always seem to want to sleep when I should be getting up, so best go before the white rabbits turn up

Catch you later, have a good day :Wave:

It is quite crisp out there this morning, the stars are hidden behind volumes of pinky white clouds, look ominously like snow clouds to me, though it is unlikely they are thi early on.

I appear to have my numpty head on at the moment, deleting things that I should keep and missing birthdays of my friends, SweetLadyJane and FlimFlan, so belated happy birthday to you both and to any one else I missed, sorry, it has been a rough few days.

This time next week it is Christmas Eve, two weeks today it is New Years Eve, can you believe that the year has gone so fast? It is hurtling, or so it seems, will I ever have enough time for the things I want to do?

On further news, I failed my end of year exam, I shouldn't be surprised at this is par for the course this year. But by so little that they have allowed me a resit, however it means I have to drop a course again this coming year. Although the extra course I was doing was not towards my BSc so it wont actually place any more time on my acheiving my goal.

Right got to get ready for work, catch you all later

It seems that people are thinking that this is a friends only thing. Well it is a Blog wide thing, one of the lovely things we found about Secret Santa last year was that it got people reading blogs that they had never been on before, meeting new people, reading lots of different blogs and making new friends.

Blog.co.uk is by far one of the most community minded blog sites in respect of interaction between bloggers, so come on put your name down and be a Secret Santa!

The closing date for entries is tomorrow night at midnight ( Monday the 17th ) it was to have been tonight but things have been delayed somewhat due to unforseen circumstances.

Here is the original post for Secret Santa at the beginning of the month.

So last year Secret Santa went down pretty well, if you remember, good, if you dont or are new then this is what happens, you can either leave a comment or PM me to say you want to take part, I usually give it about a week or just over for everyone to join in, then I ask you all to pick a number and you then write a post about the person you have picked, either about them or their blog, the best post will win a prize and I will choose an independant adjudicator to choose the winner.

Dont know what the prize is right now but it will be after Christmas when it arrives

Due to the absence of several bloggers that are up to Shennanigans in the City of the Pool, I will repost this in a couple of days.

Remember it is all in fun, like the Bloscars, so come on join in.

I cant write much at the moment as we are all a bit shellshocked, thank you for your lovely comments and hugs.

In brief, my Auntie Mo died on Thursday, and it was quite sudden and unexpected, she only had a cold! Anyway within a week of getting the cold she had Pneumonia and two days and gone All we knew was that she had a cold, the next was that she had gone, in only a week. My Mother is devastated, she is the only one left now and Mo was the youngest.

Will post later when I have a little time, and once again thank you xx

Sorry folks no post today,family bereavement. Post later xx

So we are sat there, in the 'shed' some work um colleagues, and I, just having a little chat during the evening lunch break.

The chat somehow turned to how we see ourselves and how we think people see us. For a few minutes the words ran through my head, would be poet/Author, mother, friend, lover (actually scrap that one) friend, then I stopped and looked at them, one of the girls said "I see you as this strong person, sometimes quite aloof, but also approachable with some things, though we know very little about you even though you have been here so long"

So I asked her why she would want to place labels on people, including herself, she insisted that she wasn't doing that, but yes you are, I countered, I am just me, and even though others might look at me and think that they know I am this or that, the fact is they dont know they are just trying to place me in a category they can understand.

Unfortunately the conversation floundered somewhat there as the concept went over her head!

We all do it of course, place things and people in to categories, even when we dont think we are, it is a human failing, that we have to be able to understand things, so we turn them into things that can be understood.

OK, food time, this late shifts are a killer

Ooooooohh twenty past nine and only just doing the morning post what a lazy ( insert own word here)

Anyway the reason for the late post is that I am not in work until Twelve and don't finish until nine tonight, there are apparently no evening staff as some 'new' manager decided to change the rotas for the call center staff and messed it up! I am getting paid extra for the hours so it made sense to do them with the way that things are, so today and tomorrow those are my hours. Friday as normal cept I have the Terrible Tornado for the weekend and am picking him up on the way home from work. Oh Joy!

Molly isn't sure about what is going on, she doesn't like her routine being messed up so she is sulking

It has given me the chance to get the cleaning done that I keep putting off as I cannot be bothered when I get home from work.

I am apparently to have an assesment on friday morning, this is being done by a Director no less, though I have no idea what I am being assesed for?

And the move is on hold as another complication has arisen, luckily my Son knows that as frustrating as things like this are if it isn't the time it will not happen, I taught him well, it is through thinking like this that he has managed to cope through the curves that life throws, just as I have. It will not and never has prevented him from trying and working to make things happen, he will get there in the end.

Right coffee time, then the ironing, well work stuff anyway

You know Winter is here when you can't open the gate because of the ice Brrrrrrrrrr.

Though I have to admit the stars look clear and bright and sparkly in the crisp air, one of the things that I do like about winter is the sharpness of the world around, it seems to have more focus,more edge.

I guess every season has something about it that makes it good, Spring is vital and alive, Summer is soft and fuzzy, and Autumn is vibrant. At least to me and that is just describing it in one or two words there are more of course, cept I dont have the time this morning.

Are we awake yet!!! ?

Isnt it strange how we look at the world through the seasons? What we wear, how we feel, even what we eat is predicted by the time of year. In Spring we feel that coming alive feeling after the winter, we beging to eat more healthy food as we begin to dream about summer and the holidays, the new life growing around us encourages us to take another look at our own, guess thats why we have spring cleaning in more ways than one.

Summer is the soft season, the time when you want to laze about in the garden spending languid nights with friends or a good book, or both sometimes, glass of wine, music, a gentle time.

Autumn is the preparation for the dark days of winter, it is a vibrant season full of deep rich colour, still warm for the most part (providing you have had a summer of course) it guides you gently into the winter.

Winter is the dark time of the year, with short days and long nights, but despite this it is crisp and clear and makes you think of log cabins and open fires, it is also party season with all kinds of different celebrations going on.

So each season has its merits, and though Winter may be the hardest it too is beautiful.

Right got to go, tis that time again, catch you later have a great day.

You know how I like to complicate my life somewhat? And we all thought (Well I did anyway) that after the mad, rushed, helter skelter move into the place of residence that I am at this moment residing in that there might be some months if not years of peace and restfulness before even contemplating a slow move let alone a rushed one.

Apparently not!

Some months ago I wrote that my boy wanted to get his own house and that he had been offered one at a very reasonable price especially as it had been valued for more than he had been told he could buy it for. At that time I also mentioned that for the first two years the mortgage payments would be a little high, but once that time was over he would be able to change his mortgage.

Remember all that?

At the time we had discussed the fact that I might move in with him to 'help' him through this first two years, there were some things to be ironed out and one of them was Miss Molly, I would have to give her up and I was not happy about it, but h too had a dog and we went through all the whys and wherefores, anyway it became a mute point as the woman selling the house had been dragging her heels and then there were some things that had to be put right first, and so I took this house and it was decided that he could manage as things were and the money he had coming in at that time.

Things have changed somewhat since then, firstly he is no longer manager of the night club/sports bar, though he us now manager of a bowling club (Dont ask) and he also does gigs where they get top DJ's to come and 'do their thing' etc etc, I dont understand it but it makes him some money though it is extremely hard work.

Anyway, it appears the house is still on, well more than still on as the final signing is this weekend, but with things the way they are now he is back in the position he was in at the beginning. So he calls me and asks for a pow wow, he explained the situation and said that he knows he is asking me to make all the sacrifices as I will be giving up my home and possibly most of what is in it, I sat for a minute, or two, and thought, hmmm, see he doesnt have his dog anymore, he wasn't happy that she didn't get enough exercise when he was working most of the time. But his wife wants a cat.

So I said OK, but, Molly comes too, so you have to give up the idea of a cat!

Not a hard decision as she does love Molly and she loves the idea of her own house more than the idea of a cat.

Now comes the fun part, do we move before Christmas with only two weeks to do it in and both of us working full time, see neither of us can afford to pay the rent and the mortgage as well.

Looks like it is helter skelter time again!!

A very quick hi this morning as I am chasing white rabbits, or they are chasing me? Anyway, have a great day and I will be back after work

I know that my blogs have had a downward side to them over the past few months, not all of them mind, but there have been rants and moans about work and finances etc.

I have lost a friend, not literally, but off my list, because apparently my blog does not reflect true life? My posts are boring and they have noticed that my readership has 'fallen off' erm well excuse me, but I dont actually check my 'readership' which I am presuming is my stats! As I know that like me people have busy lives and will read and comment when they can as opposed to when I want them to!

As for not reflecting true life, hmmmmm, well I suppose I c