It looks like I didn't get the job I went for on Thursday as they haven't called me. I'm not too disappointed as the hourly rate was lower than I'm currently getting and there were so many that applied that I'm just pleased that I even managed to get to interview. Besides, I now have another interview on Friday for a higher paid and more important job. I don't have much confidence that I'll get it but I'm astonished at being shortlisted so I'll do my best and see what happens.

We had a very productive day at work this morning; me and Rebecca managed to relabel 118 books between us and also stripped a further five bin bags full of books alongside serving the handful of customers we had. All in all a job well done and we managed to beat our previous record of 103 books relabelled since we started having to tot them up at the end of the shift.

This afternoon we had visitors too because nana and aunty Janet were having their hair done so they and my uncle Malcolm, along with my cousin Nickeee for a few hours, came for lunch and tea. It was nice to see them again cos it's been a while and after dinner I made a pot of Nicaraguan coffee, which me, mum and aunty Janet had with a shot of caramel syrup. My dad's on conference in Liverpool this weekend so we didn't have to put up with his crap jokes and attempts to ply everyone with alcohol ;)

I'm at work again and I am wondering about the sign in front of me at the desk. It says " Service Point opens at 09:00", the same as the one in front of the porter who is at the enquiries desk (I am at the issues desk). So far tonight two people have tried to return books to me, one has asked for an Inter-Library Loan (not sure if I should have let him have that one), two more have asked if I can issue books for them, another one asked for help with the self-issue machine after he broke the receipt feeder, one wanted to reserve a carrell, and another wanted to know where she could buy printer credits (at least I think that's what she was asking).

The Inter-Library Loan guy was probably alright, same as the self-issue guy (even though he broke the machine and I don't have a key to be able to get in and fix it), printer girl and carrell guy (the information's on our website as far as I know but I helped them as best I could).

However, the whole point of self-service hours is that the library staff aren't meant to issue and return books etc. The porter's here for security, to lock up and make sure I'm alright. I'm here to process the books from the return bins and shelve them if appropriate, and issue any books that are on reserve because they can't be accessed without a member of staff. Most people get this and even those that I can serve usually ask if it's alright for them to have their reserved items but tonight I can't understand why people can't read my little sign when they seem perfectly able to read the porter's sign about five metres away LOL

Went for my interview this afternoon and it was OK I guess. There was a panel of three, all of whom seemed very nice and friendly people. They laughed at me saying I couldn't bring my degree certificate because dad's put it up on the wall and seemed to respond well to everything I said. They wrote loads down and had few questions for me other than the usual set they have for all positions in the county of that scale. Altogether it was good but I'm not going to get my hopes up too much because I don't want to be let down. They said if I was successful then I'd get a phone call between about 4-5pm so if there's no call, I didn't get it *crosses fingers*

On a slightly brighter note, my bits and pieces from CILIP arrived today including my membership card, which I have proudly shown dad and Chris cos it has my post-nominals on it LOL

Good news or bad news?

Bad news: following my trip to the colorectal clinic this afternoon, it has been decided that I need to have a barium enema in order to make sure that I haven't got polyps.

Good news: Vickie has asked me to be Evie's godmother and I said yes!

Every cloud has a silver lining :D

Chris and me went to have a look at Finchale Priory today but when we got there we discovered that they only open on weekends and bank holidays so we couldn't damn well get in. Then we saw a sign saying that when they are open, the adult admission fee is £2.30, meaning that the leaflet we saw the place advertised has both the opening hours and admission wrong cos we thought entry was free. Then we discovered that in order to get out of the place we'd have to pay two quid to get a token so that the car barrier would lift up and I could drive out! I asked Chris if he faniced trying again on Saturday when I've finished work but he reckoned, and I agree, that for the £6.60 it would cost us, there really wasn't that much there to see. I think we may be making a second quest to find Castle Eden Dene on Friday.

In other news, keep fit was good tonight despite me gaining weight this week rather than losing it and sweating like a whore next to a ten pound note during the routine. I did feel really good afterwards, even though me and mum looked like two beetroots, and my back didn't hurt too much this week. I'll be back on the diet wagon that my dissertation threw me off this week. I've already started today by refusing to even contemplate getting cake when we went out for lunch today.

The Xmas shopping is coming along since winning the auction yesterday. We sent the cheque off for that this morning so hopefully it shouldn't be too long before it arrives. That and my order from Amazon.co.uk. I saw a little bit of something for my mum today too so I just bought it cos it wasn't very expensive and I knew if I went back to get it that they wouldn't have any or I'd just forget about it altogether. Mum mentioned that she'd like a new one of these and this one's a rather different type to what she already had so I'm quite chuffed with it (yes I know I'm being very cryptic LOL). We also managed to pick some things up for Chris' mum's birthday but sadly we picked up the wrong box in Whittards (they all had the same damn packaging) so we'll have to get one of the pressies changed. Thank god I kept the receipt and got money off with my student card.

The dissertation has been finished and handed in. All my books for it have been returned so my account is clear. A strange sense of liberation is seeping out through the veil of tiredness. I am no longer a student and by Christmas I will have some more letters after my name; Lady Vampy BA(Hons) MSc! Who's a clever little bugger? LOL

This coming week's going to be busy with hospital visits and a new shift at work. Also I;ve got a job interview on Thursday for a library assistant position in a local public library. I'm hoping and praying that I'll get it cos I so want a permanent full-time job and this one's 37 hours per week rather than the 17 I'll be doing from the start of October if I'm still working for Durham Uni. The hourly pay rate will be less but the hours more than make up for that and in time the pay will increase anyway. Also if I do get this job, I'll actually be able to afford Christmas and my next car insurance payment.

Talking of Christmas, I've done something that I usually never do before October week; I've bought someone a Christmas present already. I saw it a while ago but Amazon.co.uk were doing a deal on the new Terry Pratchett book and Chris wanted something too so I figured I may as well add it to my order so that I could click for the free postage. I've also got two auctions on watch on eBay so hopefully by the end of tomorrow, my dad's pressies will be bought and paid for. I'm thinking of getting my brother a lump of coal...

The wall has been plastered, sanded, reskimmed, sanded again and given its first coat of paint. Sadly it looks a bit shit cos you can see really easily where one paint ends and the other starts when the light shines on it from a certain angle. Turns out that this is probably because I should have got emulsion in stead of vinyl silk but then I didn't choose the first paint colour and wasn't even here when it was painted so I can't be expected to know everything. The upshot of this is that it looks like I'll be painting the whole of that wall when I get back from work tomorrow afternoon. Thank god it's only a small wall (the width of the bed, about 4'6").

I had my final interviews this morning, which went really well and lasted an hour because the person I was talking to kept getting side-tracked and cos she knows my dad she was asking me questions about my work and studies etc. It was good though and at least now I'll know who I'm talking to when she phones for my dad in future.

Finally, we got some good news today; Chris has an interview on Wednesday for an admin assistant position with a local bathroom company. Dad also knows that guy that runs it and works with his wife so he's gonna try and put a good word in in the hopes that it'll further his chances against whoever else is going up for the job.

Today I have mostly been... in hardware stores. As the plaster began to bulge and come away from the wall yesterday I decided to go to B&Q as soon as I could and got some multi-purpose filler and a little tool to do it with. Unfortunately they didn't have a colour scanner to match up the paint we needed to the colour of the wall as it is now so we went to Homebase. They scanned a piece of plaster that I'd pulled off the wall and matched it to one shade above the one I'd picked out by eye. The guy that was doing it said he thought the colour I'd picked was a better match as it would be too light otherwise and when he put in that I wanted a silk finish rather than matt, it came out with the colour I'd picked.

So when we'd returned home, and I'd managed to get the sticky label crap off the plastering tool, I pulled away the loose plaster and set to work filling the 6" x 12" area that needed doing. It took about half an hour to get it all sanded, filled and smoothed out to a reasonable state. By the time I've got home from work it should be dry enough for me to give another light sanding and possible another thin coat of plaster if I think it needs it. If it looks fine then I'll give it a wash and then put the first coat of paint on. Otherwise, I'll be painting tomorrow as soon as I've got back from my interview.

Tomorrow I MUST get my arse in gear and actually start writing up these interviews or I'm gonna be in the shit with myself *smacks hands*

Today has been a productive day although not in the dissertation sense. I managed to get all the washing done and dried so now it's in piles in the spare room waiting to be ironed. I took my dad around on his errands this morning, which took an hour but he bought me a puzzle book as thanks so I didn't mind. Then when I got home I found that the council had sent one of the application forms I asked for so I filled that in then sorted out my application to CILIP, got the whole lot printed, put in enveloped and posted off. I should be getting two more forms to fill in this week, sooner rather than later I hope.

Unfortunately, this afternoon I noticed that there was a huge crack in the wall above my bed, which has got worse as the evening has progressed and the plaster is sagging quite badly now. Dad reckoned there was no way to fix it and the whole wall would have to be reskimmed but I stood my ground, backed up by my mum, and said that if I pulled the loose bits off I could easily replaster the whole and paint it up again. I've done it before on a smaller scale when a huge lump of blutack pulled an egg-sized piece of plaster out of the same wall about two years ago. I fixed up the coving that was departing from an adjacent wall at the same time so I reckon I should be able to do this. I'm gonna take the piece of plaster with the paint on to B&Q to get it colour matched cos they don't do the same colour paint anymore and I had to mix my own with acrylic paint and water last time to get a near match.

A very sad thing happened today too. My uncle's mum died in her sleep last night. We knew that she had some heart problems but she was waiting for test results to see if she could have an operation to fix them. She's not been well on and off for the past few years but I really can't believe she's gone. She was such an active and vibrant person regardless of the medical problems she had. I feel so bad for my uncle and aunt because they, and the rest of us, aren't over losing my grandad yet so this muct have been a real blow for my uncle. Also, they were planning on going down to Canvey Island, where that part of their family lives, for a wedding this coming weekend. I can't imagine how I'd feel on my wedding day if I'd lost my nan the week before. Sleep well Dot...

Why do people have to go on endless holidays when I need to see them for my interviews? I have my last interview scheduled for Friday morning, less than a week before my dissertation's due but I'm determined to get my head down and get as much done before then as possible. I have to be up early tomorrow to take my dad out so the rest of the day will be filled with getting the washing done and writing as much as possible.

Another pet hate of mine today is the Job Centre. Somehow, my claim for Chris still hasn't been processed properly, leading to me receiving a letter from the DWP telling me that I don't even have an open claim. Turns out that all the documentation I sent off was lost somewhere between Stanley and Sunderland so the powers that be decided that I hadn't sent it and my claim should be voided. Someone managed to find some of it and then had to hair round a building somewhere in County Durham trying to find the rest of my forms and all the shite they'd asked me to photocopy (twice). Some of it must have been found, the rest has been sent off again by post and fax (just to make sure). The people at Spenny Job Centre even said that I should complain because no one listens when they say anything about the messed up situation.

On a lighter note, last night me and mum went back to keep fit and really enjoyed ourselves, despite sweating like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately, since we last went we'd both piled on weight so we're making a concerted effort to get back on the wagon and try and slim down a bit before I graduate in December (I will wear that tweed skirt). Today has gone very well, so I allowed myself a small bowl (and it was small too) of ice cream as my daily treat. Tomorrow I may have a biscuit instead. I even made myself a proper lunch of pasta and spicy tomato sauce to keep me going in a healthy way, and there's plenty for tomorrow too.

Been to work this morning... my god it's getting monotonous in that place. We had all of three people come into the library and one of them only wanted to know if the computer room in the Education department was going to be open today. On the upside, me and my co-worker got to have two decent sized breaks (one of them included chocolate digestives) and had a good natter about her new house.

Also, my legs are still fairly smooth :D

Today, for the first time in so long I can't remember, I shaved my legs with a proper razor. Most people would think "eww yer hairy cow" but there is a reason for this. Up until now my psoriasis has been so bad on my legs that shaving with a normal razor was impossible and if I tried to have a go I lost so much blood that the water would run red. Even shaving with an electric shaver proved difficult as it irritated the skin on my legs. Now, however, I am as smooth as a baby's arse despite a little blood loss from the few remaining patches of psoriasis. This is a rare occasion hence it's blog-worthy-ness :)

In other news, the Lost board game that I ordered back in July for Chris' birthday finally arrived this morning. I guess that emailing Amazon.co.uk and asking if I was ever going to receive it did some good. I also got a £3 voucher for the inconvenience, which cut a nice little chunk off the cost of the new Sims 2 mini add-on, especially as that order didn't qualify for the free postage that I usually opt for.

So very tired *yawns* I was woken up early this morning by the combined sound of my dad yelling at my brother to get his arse in gear and get off to college and my mum trying to jump-start my brother's car because he left his side lights on and it drained the battery (for the second time).

Chris is also a bit under the weather, which always makes me feel down too so I'll probably end up having a sleep this afternoon. I might be able to persuade Chris to join me for a nice bit of nuggling :D

I uploaded the few pics my mum took of Evie yesterday to my pooter so if anyone wants to see the little babba, leave a comment and I'll see if her mum will let me post one on here.

I got to see the little baby today and she is amazingly cute. Her mum looked tired but then she kept them up last night wanting feeding every hour. This afternoon she slept most of the time although she did rouse a little when she was being passed around for a cuddle but she fells asleep again when I was holding her. Every now and then she makes little squeaking noises like a little guinea pig and it's sooo cute. I am smitten :D

We didn't get to see baby Evie today, or the new parents for that matter, cos mum's still out of it from her travel sickness pills LOL I even had to drive home from the supermarket this afternoon cos she couldn't manage it, thankfully we went in my car so we didn't have to swap them around on the drive before going shopping. We should now be going visiting sometime tomorrow. This kid's gonna be walking before we get to see her :D

On Friday, Chris and me decided to go for a walk round Castle Eden Dene, a nature reserve not far from here. We set off in the car but couldn't find the place anywhere so ended up at Blackhall Rocks where we walked along the coastal path for a bit, looking for a way down to the beach. Turns out that you can't get down to the beach from the rocks so we went back to the car park and had out picnic lunch on one of the tables there before making a second attempt at finding Castle Eden Dene. We ended up in Hartlepool this time *rolls eyes* I was sure though that I'd seen a sign for this place the last time I was in Peterlee so we went back through Blackhall and on to Peterlee but were still unsuccessful. It was getting on a bit by this time so I said we should give it up as a bad job and just go for half an hour on the beach at Crimdon Dene. We did manage to get there and had a nice bit sit on the pebbles and Chris chucked a load of rocks into the sea, but on the way there we actually saw a sign for Castle Eden Dene so we decided to go there on Saturday.

However, soon after we go home that day my aunt phone to say that my cousin had given birth to a little girl at quarter past six that evening. I said we'd come and visit her after I'd finished work on Saturday afternoon but we ended up not going because the hospital said they were going to discharge her. By the time this had happened the sky had clouded over so we ended up not going to see the new baby or going to Castle Eden Dene. Never mind :)

Last night was a bit mad... actually it was a lot mad. Jamie tried to smuggle his girlfriend, who is persona non grata, into the house but me and Chris could hear them talking and turfed them out into the living room to give them a damn good talking to. That lasted an hour before Jamie finally agreed to take her home and then when he got her there he rang to ask if she could stay anyway cos she couldn't get in to her house. I was livid that he was willing to wake us up to ask something he knew wouldn't happen (not that we'd got to sleep by then anyway) but not willing to wake Polly's family up to let her in the house (apparently the doorkey was in the lock on the inside so she couldn't open the door). So we ended up not getting to sleep until well after five this morning.

That meant that I ended up not getting out of bed until way later than I wanted to. I had most of the house to clean before going to get my parents from the airport this evening so it's just as well that their flight was delayed leaving Larnaca or I wouldn't have managed to get it done. As it was, I had to get Chris to do most of the dusting and then forced Jamie to do some hoovering for me. I also asked him to some tidying for me and bring all the crockery down out of his room but that obviously proved too difficult for him. I also didn't manage to get any ironing done so I had to come clean to mum about wearing one of her tops to go out last Saturday :D I did manage to clean both bathrooms and all of the kitchen from top to bottom, which is one less job for my mum this week. Mum also commented on how clean and tidy the house was looking when she got in and apologised for promptly messing up the dining room table with all her post and camera bits and pieces.

Tomorrow, we should be going to visit my cousin and her new little baby so until then, tata!

Another Thursday evening, another Main Library shift. This time I've actually had some work to do; it took me and hour and a half to get all the returned books checked and shelved onto the right trolleys. Here's a question; does the plural of 'trolley' take '-ies' or just '-s'? Despite my linguistic background, I can't remember for the life of me. I also appear to have lost the ability to type *doh*

I got a call from my Aunty Barbara yesterday to tell me that my cousin should be giving birth to her first child sometime today. She said she'd ring and let me know whether Vickie's been deemed ready to be induced and if little Evie's made an appearance yet. Vickie's currently two weeks past her due date so she's getting a bit edgy and wants to get everything over with. Good luck to her, rather her than me LOL I'm not saying that I don't want to have children but I am so not ready to have them yet.

Today I have been mostly eating Pralines and Cream ice cream... well this evening I have at least.

Mum and dad have been away in Cyprus for a week now and apparently it has been unbearably hot. Completely different to here then cos it's pissed it down almost every day so far. Hopefully it'll brighten a bit for the rest of the week so that me and Chris can get out and about. We did manage to get out to Crook Hall and gardens on Saturday but it rained there too so we had to have a cream tea inside :D

Other than that I've been interviewing some people for my dissertation but unfortunately one of the people I need has been very elusive so I may have problems finishing the third level for analysis unless she checks her email as soon as she gets back from holiday. Thankfully, the people I've interviewed so far have given me some other useful names so I should at least me able to ask them some questions via email. That'll bulk up the methodology as well I imagine. I still have to write the damn thing so I'm gonna have to lock myself away for a week or so to get it all down and then send as much as I can off to my supervisor for her to look over.

Until next time, nanu nanu!

So I'm back at work again *yawns* I've only got one more hour until my shift is over though. It's been fairly uneventful thus far, other than learning where the 005 books have been moved to on level 3 and finding that one of the self-issue machines has decided to stop printing out reciepts. I have, however, managed to read about three chapters of my book. Oh the heady world of the librarian LOL!

So then, I'm finally back. After a lovely week at Chris' mum's I was only in the house 15 minutes before receiving a call from the hospital to ask me to come in. I was admitted before 5pm that day and only just came out. Thankfully the treatment worked so the methotrexate should see me right for a while and I may even be clear for a bit.

Contrary to my original reason for starting this blog, I am not going to give a day-by-day account of my stay in hospital as most of the days were fairly uneventful. I will say though that I met some lovely people in there and took great comfort from them. Having people around you that have the same illness as you and understand everything you're going through from their own perspective is definitely a bonus. I just hope that when it comes to the crunch our voices will be heard and we'll get to keep our dermatology ward. We're not bothered about being left in the old part of the hospital because although it sets us apart (I believe the powers that be see us as the lepers of modern society) it also gives us a level of independence that the other departments / wards don't have. Unfortunately, it also means that the pharmacy don't seem to give us much importance, which is why I had to wait hours and hours for my prescriptions before being allowed to go home. I waited that long I could have had another day's treatment.

Anyway, I'm home now and crossing my fingers that my skin will not go back to how it was. I'm also hoping that the other patients are keeping well and that their treatments are working. I know that it's the consultant's rounds tomorrow afternoon so I'll ring and find out how they're all doing and who's been let out etc. It's very saddening to see people who think they're skin is improving to be told that they've got another three weeks stay ahead of them, especially for one particular person who has been in there for nine weeks already.