So. Andrea's married. Weird.

I know she's been planning it for over a year, but that doesn't make it any less surprising when it actually happens.

As the irretrievable cynic that I am, I find it difficult to go all gooey over weddings. Having said that, it was lovely. Andrea looked gorgeous (oh all right then, so did Aidan, but I don't think he spent as much time on his make-up), and the lady doing the ceremony was very friendly and chatty. She bossed people around a bit, to make sure the photographers could get decent pictures. Andrea's uncle Nigel (who also works in our office) did a reading, which was the best bit.

Then came the photos outside, which took a while, and we got called out to huddle into the group shot. Did I mention I dragged Steve along as my "and guest"? Well I did. I think it was the offer of free food that convinced him.

We sat with some people I didn't know, and Nigel. He's wonderfully sarcastic. The hierarchy of weddings was rather apparent, with each table being served in strict order. I was secretly pleased to note that we were on Table 2, and that no-one else from work had been invited. No-one from the hen night was there either (except Aidan's sister Corine, of course). Not that it matters, of course. Honest. It's just nice to feel special.

Steve suggested seeing if they had any rooms free. I said it would save the taxi fare, half suspecting that he was being serious.

He was.

He wandered off in between the main course and dessert, and came back with a key. I don't know whether Nigel was surprised or shocked, or possibly just not bothered. I don't think he indulges in much gossip though, so I doubt it will get round work. After the food came cake-cutting and speeches, with embarrassing anecdotes and things. There was then what Andrea described as a "lull" between the end of the meal and the start of the night do, where people were expected to mill around and socialise. We went off to see what the room was like, and watched some TV.

Someone must have told Andrea where we were, because on our return a while later she just gave me a look and laughed at me. Fair enough, I suppose.

The night do was good, with cheesy music from the DJ. Left the party in time for Match of the Day. Which was the reason for getting a room. Of course. Silly me.

I was reasonably hungover this morning, with a headache and mildly queasy feeling. Could have been worse. I think I was still a bit drunk. We made it to breakfast though, at about five to ten. Again, Andrea laughed at me, although this time I think it had more to do with me still wearing last night's clothes. She was wearing a white T-shirt with a sparkly "Mrs Young" on it.

Colin kindly picked us up when we'd checked out, so again, no expensive taxis. I got in, changed into mooching clothes, drank lots of water, tried to go to sleep, felt too yucky, threw up, felt better, then slept for the afternoon. Then I watched Empire Records with the cat curled up on my knee. I didn't get any sanding done or pictures painted. I don't care.

It must be really odd to wake up and realise your name has changed. Scary stuff.

My postman must think I'm mad. Or lazy. Or both.

On Monday I noticed his van outside as I went downstairs, and then found one of those "You weren't here so we've got your parcel" things through the door.

Oh dear me, thought I, oh pants, I really must get that doorbell fixed. I ran outside and down the path to the road, and waved the red card thingy at the postman, who had just got back into his van. He drove over, I signed for my parcel and thanked him, then went back inside.

The weird bit? I was wearing bright pink pyjama shorts, yellow polka dot socks and a grey T-shirt I sleep in saying "back" on the front, and "front" on the back. I stood there with my arms folded because I was aware that in the morning chill, it could easily become apparent that I was only wearing the T-shirt. Oh, and the parcel said it was from "Figleaves".

This is nothing new for my postman. Whatever time he comes round, I am usually in my pyjamas and I am usually flustered about finding the keys in time. This could be why he's never very chatty. He probably dreads coming to my house, in case I'm naked or something. Oh dear, maybe he thinks it's deliberate! There was also a parcel on Tuesday (he knocked loudly on the door that time), so he's probably sick of me this week.

Tuesday evening was surreal. Bought a few cheap DVDs, popped round to Grandma's house, tried on my wedding dress...

No, I'm not getting married. In fact, that's the precise reason why I tried on my wedding dress.

I'm going to sell it on eBay, and things look better when modelled. Which I did. In Grandma's recently-landscaped garden. And I won't say that I split up with my fiancé, I'll say that we've now decided to get married abroad, so the dress won't be needed. Just in case people think it's bad luck.

John came round to take photos, and if he could have stopped laughing at me for more than two minutes, it might have been easier. Although, if the veil had stopped getting caught on twigs, and if there hadn't been so many scrunchy layers to the thing, that would have made it easier too. And if it hadn't been threatening to rain...

So that was weird. John and I then went for chips, and didn't get time to watch any DVDs. He stayed over, and I rudely left him in the spare room as I went to work on Wednesday.

Mum's now lent me her sander, so I can attack the bench over the weekend. Hurrah, project! Although after work I went and bought more tester-sized paints to continue Euan's jungle-themed room, so project shortages will not be a problem. I might just woodstain the bench, or I might paint something funky on it then protect it with clear varnish... I'll wait and see how smoothly it comes up with the sander.

Had pizza at lunch today - buy one get one free at Deep Pan Pizza, so five of us clubbed together... which meant six pizzas to eat! I couldn't eat all of mine, but Steve kindly helped out. He got a free lunch, I didn't feel guilty about leaving half a pizza. Everyone wins.

Pub tea with Nicola (gammon, yummy) before going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight. It was really very good. I liked it. Having watched the old one last week with Euan, I was acutely aware of the similarities and differences. I liked both for different reasons, although both seem to suffer from Washed-Out Ending Syndrome. Still good though. The kids in the new one were excellent. Want to read the book as well now, so I'll add it to my To Read list...

Had a really good weekend. Took Euan to a on Saturday, to celebrate Megan's 2nd birthday. He didn't eat much food, didn't want his face painted, but spent most of the afternoon going crazy on the bouncy castle, to the background sound of Agadoo. I took him home when he started getting tired and naggy. Well, several hours of Mambo No 5 is enough to make anyone irritable.

I made us beef bourguignon for tea. I didn't intend to, I just kept adding more ingredients that I thought would taste nice until I realised what I'd made. It was rather tasty.

On Sunday we didn't really have anything to do, but I was on a roll. I painted a big on Euan's bedroom wall, followed by a tree with a snake in it. Euan helped to paint the splodges on the giraffe, and a lot of the leaves. I'll add birdies to the tree at some point, and add a bit more detail. I ran out of paint and daylight, and Euan ran out of patience, understandably.

Omelette for lunch. Euan turned his nose up at it, until I added cheese, worcester sauce, tomatoes, and some of the nando's spicy ketchup, then he shouted "Pizza!" and couldn't get enough of it. He'd rather believe his eyes than his tastebuds, but at least he eats.

Made a giant to fill with the leftover beef stuff from the day before. Since it was pure guesswork (if I grease a cake tin, will the sides rise?) I was really surprised it worked. Must try that again, but fill it with ice cream. And maybe some golden syrup. (A stolen idea...)

I was really tired and distracted in work today. Couldn't focus on anything. No idea why, other than the fact that it's Monday and it was raining? Have been good since getting home and kept up the domestic goddess act - the house is spotless. I've also dismantled the child bed that Karl's taking tomorrow.

Just a non-stop productive motivated crazy person... if I could bottle this, I'd be a billionnaire.

On Monday, Rose gave me a lift up to my house at lunchtime, so we could unload an old pub-style garden table of hers. I'll sand it, woodstain it, and put it back together.

Tuesday morning was taken up with a meeting. Then straight off to the Nag's Head for Tracy's birthday lunch. The food was yummy as always, but somehow a huge row erupted over the bill. We had ordered 21 meals in advance. We were down to 18 guests. We explained this on arrival, and they said they had started cooking. We said OK, we'll have the extra meals. It was decided who wanted extra portions, and we all agreed to chip in with costs. The extra meals never turned up.
They then tried to charge us for them anyway.
Unbelievably, this fairly simple misunderstanding caused 30 minutes of arguing, in a busy pub, for the sake of about £8, when we had spent around £130 already. In the end, we paid for the food we had received, and they lost 21 future customers, and anyone we told all about it on our return to the office.
I'm particularly disappointed, because it's my favourite lunchtime place for good pub grub and a calm atmosphere. If I go there in future, I'll have to remember not to tell anyone in work, in case they lynch me for breaking the boycott. Mum, if you read this, that last bit was a joke.
Popped round to Steve's on Tuesday evening, so he could laugh at me for cancelling my TV Licence. I laughed back, because stealing the remote and flicking through his thousands of channels didn't really inspire me to get a TV Licence again.

Today I met Mad Will at lunchtime, and he talked non-stop for an hour. It was good to catch up, but he should be served in small doses. He's the only "Will" in my phonebook, so it's not like I need to differentiate, but I still put him under "Mad Will", just to remind myself. Went swimming with Mum after work again, did lots more proper swimming, because I didn't feel the need to take it easy quite so much. A quick Chinese back at Mum's, then off to pick up Grandma, then a quick stop at Paul's to collect some of my stuff from the weekend, then on to Mum's friend Julie's, for an evening of Aloe Vera stuff. She's going to start selling it to support her horse whispering business, and this was her launch party. It was a really nice evening, but I was getting really tired by the end, and dozed off in the car.

Tom came to stay on Thursday, then we all went to Alton Towers on Saturday. Dressed as superheroes. Well, why not? Photos, predictably, in photo section. Euan stole the show as Spiderman though, complete with face paint and hair streaks - just a shame it was raining most of the day! I was Supergirl, Dan was Batman, and Tom was Superman. I almost didn't make it; I was supposed to get the early train, but tiredness and a failing alarm meant I woke up late, and ended up getting a lift with Paul, who was already driving Dan and Tom there. A very enjoyable day - Euan was just tall enough for the Runaway Mine Train, which he loved at first, then wasn't so keen on after the tunnel. The Berry Bish Bash was fun though - firing foam balls at each other. Naturally, as superheroes, we were obvious targets for all the oiks we shared the room with, but it added to the fun. We rounded off the day with a trip to Cariba Creek I sat in a jacuzzi with Euan, then off to Peakstones Inn (finally, my recommendations have paid off) where we had a delicious pub tea and stayed in one of their very pleasant chalets.

Today we headed back to Alton Towers, where I was meeting Jason, and where the others were spending the day. Assorted goodbyes, thank yous and greetings later, Jason and I tootled off in his car, with an excitable Euan who insisted that every car he saw was "geen!" It was fantastic to see Jason again, albeit with innumerable tangents along the lines of: "Yes Euan, Mummy can see the cows! What do cows say? That's right... Sorry Jason, where were we?" We meandered along countless picturesque country lanes, before stopping in a gravel car park in a glacial valley. It was clearly very popular with cyclists. You could tell by the number of bikes. See, I should have been a detective! There were also a few people with serious-looking rucksacks, and brick-like boots on, but I couldn't see any mountains in the immediate vicinity, so I thought Euan and I would probably be OK in our sandals and trainers respectively.
Sprog was asleep, so I gently slung him over a shoulder and we set off for a stroll. He woke up after a while, and shouted randomly at the countryside in general. He stopped saying "green" at everything, ironically enough, because the path was bordered by green plants, trees and grasses. I'm sure he does it deliberately. We reached Thor's cave, and decided it was worth trying to climb up to it. It was one big adventure in the woods for Euan. When we got to the cave itself, the scale of it struck me. It really is rather huge. I was happy to admire the view then start the descent, but Euan couldn't wait to get climbing. After a few seconds' doubt (how would my decorative impractical trainers handle the steep, slippery rock? Would Euan unbalance me?), we attacked it, basically playing Pass-the-Euan between good footholds. It was worth it.
Having conquered the mountain, we wandered back towards the car, and Jason treated us to ice creams before getting a lift back to Stoke station in time for our train home.

Dad's birthday. He got the watchstrap I sent him OK. The Amazon gift voucher didn't arrive though, so I'll have to chase that one up.
Gave blood today. Went swimming after work with Mum, then stopped for fish & chips on the way home. I don't mind if the greasy food negates the effect of the exercise, at least it means I don't feel quite so guilty.

Didn't make it into work on Monday. I was far too exhausted and, to be honest, moody. I phoned in and explained, and they were fine with it. Spent the day lolloping around the house with Euan, which was just what I needed.

The week progressed normally... still extra-busy, so it felt like surfing a tsunami, but just about stayed buoyant. Last night I got a lift home with Ian, then Chris gave me a lift to Chester for a night out. Saw a few familiar faces and stayed the night at Simon & Chris's house. Made it into work OK as well, and went for a meal with the group at the Plas Coch. Quite tired now though.