This and that...
Well now that the excitement of the weekend out is all over and done with it feels like it is time to post again.
We left for Inverness a bit later than planned, taking our time in the morning which was nice. Finding the kennel however proved to be a bit of a disaster as the directions the woman had given me were absolute rubbish. We spent what seemed an eternity driving around the scottish highland countryside in roughly the right area. Attempts to ask for direction did not go down too well as the person we asked gave pretty bad directions himself and didn;t really know where it was. However eventually, mostly due to Shaun's inbuilt sense of direction we found the place.
After leaving off the dog we headed back to the main road on the considerably shorter and straighter route than had taken us there only to discover that it very quickly brought us to the main A9 and that the place was signposted from the bloody road. It would have helped if she had told usjust to follow the signposts for that village *rolls eyes*.
Anyhow after all this we were a bit later than planned getting to Inverness and lunch and I was at this stage starving. As we did know that in time to eat before the party we would need to have dinner about 6 or 6.30pm we chose Burger King for a quick lunch. Partly it is right next to the shops we were going, partly they have food, partly they are quick and partly it was almost 3pm so we just needed something to tidy us over the next 3 or so hours. For some reason the girl taking the order gave me one of the truly huge burgers which I immidiately told Shaun I would not be able to finish... if I had drunk water instead of coke with the food though I would have. Tere was not much left of the burger by the time I was finished and none of the chips/fries. it was good. It was food. My belly likes food.
Then it was time for shopping. We went to Boots for Shaun to return some lent items and for me to get a few small bits and pieces. While we were tehre I also explored their baby department and found the cutest little pramsuit which I almost bought. I should have, really I should have but it just felt...early...
Next stop was tesco's for some cheap but neatlooking flat shoes to wear that evening and on the way there we went into Borders where I was proised I could get one book. I looked and looked and first picked up the first book by Joe Acercrombie mostly cos he is one of those writers that always seem to be recommeded to readers that likes writers like KJ Parker, Steven Erikson and Scott Lynch. However I decided that I do not need to start a new series right now, especially since I have books at home I want to read once I can concentrate again (Reaper's Gale being the main of them), I am rereading WoT which we all know is a project in itself and I have a parcel of lent books on the way from the lovely gillybeans and falkon. I did consider the latest Pratchett for a while too but it was just so much more in Borders than it would be anywhere else so I refused to buy it on principle.
Then it was time for the big pre-shopping-planning-working-things-out stop of Mothercare. The baby store that knows it all. Most of all I wanted to get an idea of what things we would be buying before pre-baby arrives and also what kind of pram/buggy we would get and what one of those would cost. (It is a gift from my parents, love them to bits). After much looking, much useless questioning of the staff (I was useless not them, I just didn't know waht to ask or look for or anything) I finally found one I fell in love with. It is brown and beige so nicely neutral (and very much my colours *lol*) but most important it goes from a lie down pram where the baby faces me when out walking to a sit up buggy where the baby/toddler faces away from me and faces the big wide world instead. It also comes with a car seat, a changing bag and some other nifty thingses. What amused me most was the fact that it has cupholders in the handlebar bit and a little themormeter telling you how cold/warm it is outside. Gadgets but it looked fun. Oh what else I loved on this pram is taht is is a solid handlebar rather than two sepearete ones. So I think the decision on the pram is taken.
After that we looked at other things and now have a pretty firm idea of things we will need to get. We even decided to do out big baby-shopping after the Halloween weekend when we leave our guests (GilShalos and Falkon. YAY!) back to the airport in Inverness. We don;t really go down the road that often and we both doubt we would be going down the road between then and the birth of pre-baby, also up here there isn;t really anywhere that we can buy these things so it all makes sense. Just over a month until babyshopping! Time flies!
After this is was almost 6pm already and so we decided to do mattress shopping online (I really need to figure out which ones are good kinds though) and head to the hotel. Now the hotel was amazing! The room was huge and the bathroom was to DIE for! Absolutely huge and shiny and cool. And the bed....soooooo comfortable (apart from the pillows which were rather sucky). My back was by this stage absolutely killing me. Sitting/standing/walking hurt like hell and I waddled more than a penguin ever does trying to move. As time was flying away for us we went to the restaurant for dinner which was absolutely amazing. I decided not to have three courses, I just stole half of shaun's starter instead LOL. The venison for dinner was perfect as were the ice cream and fresh berries I asked for for dessert. I was one happy Uli. As we ate the bride spotted us and came into the restaurant for a chat *lol* It was very nice.
It was now time to get ready for the wedding reception. I ended up with a saree as the dress that mum made didn't really fit that well. After turning and twirling and wrapping it around me I decided that it had been hard enough work so screw make-up *lol. It was also after 8pm when the evening reception had started. (Before anyone asks I looked like a pale pink and silver beached whale ;) )
The wedding reception was lovely, Jane was radiant and beautiful with a very very nice big white dress and a gorgeous necklace. She spent quite a lot of time talking to her friends from work that were invited which was good as we got to see her quite a bit. Unfortunately we have no good photos as our camera decided to die on us that evening. It had been having issues for a while so I tried it earlier that morning and it was ok-ish but when evening came it never started up. Bad camera.
I gave up the entertaining evening shortly before 11pm as I was too sore and tired to do anything than lie down by that stage but I had touroughly enjoyed myself until then.
Shaun came back when it ended about 2 hours later.
Despite my fears of being more or less immobile by the next morning I woke with a back that felt pretty good and I ahd to ooh and aah at the miracles a good mattress can do to a back. Unfortunately the dog ahd to be picked up before noon so we didn;t have time for anything but eating breakfast before leaving Inverness but it was still very very nice.
After that not much has been going on. I have a slight cold and my bloodpressure has been up for two days before finally starting to lower agian tonight. We have been researching second hand cars as we need a bigger one soon and I swear the cars are trying to kill me merely from me reading about them. Car hunting is not fun. At all.
In other news pre-baby enjoys kicking me every five or ten minutes which makes me think it MUST sleep during the nights. If it continues that once it is born I will be one happy Uli. The bump continues to grow although I think most of the rest of me is thinner now than before I got pregnant. Not skinny, just not as chubby ;) of course it may be hard to tell when comparing to the significantly sized bump.
A new camera has been bought although we are expecting delivery. Mothers and mothers in law has informed us that a camera will be absolutely neccessary by February and that they expect to see the ultrasound pictures asap, whcih also means we need a way to get them from the picture to the computer (yes the scanner is broken too LOL).
Last of all we have more or less named pre-baby if she would happen to be a girl, if he happens to be a boy we do now, after today, have a shortlist if names. For some reason my mother claims we are evil for refusing to share any of these names with her before pre-baby's birth and on that note I am going to leave you for today.
Hope you are all well and shiny and happy
*hugs*
Memonster!
(Shaun ignore the typos! Spell check finds too many faults.)