It’s been a while since I posted. Lots has been happening, although the thing that is forefront in my mind is the fact that I have been ill for the past couple of week. As someone who refuses to get sick I spent most of last week trying to work through it. That didn’t help and I probably ended up making myself feel worse as a result. I had 2 half days off work last week and didn’t come in on Monday. I’ve spent the week coughing and snuffling away as quietly as I can in my corner.

My corner has changed as I’ve moved desks in the last couple of weeks. I now sit right next to our head of department which means that I’m right in the centre of everything that is going on, but I have to be careful to see if she is around before I say anything. It’s only a matter of time before I drop myself in it! On the positive side from my new desk I can see the outside world of houses, trees and fields which is much better than looking across at people in the other buildings

So what has been happening? Well, it’s the year of the baby. I saw friend Boopsie Venus recently who is 7 months pregnant. I hadn’t seen her for well over a year and I hadn’t seen her house or met her fiancé. We finally managed to get together as I had to see she was pregnant to believe it. It wasn’t an elaborate lie, she is with child although thanks to her I may never had children as she insists on giving me all of the gory details! I managed to put my foot in my mouth as soon as I arrived. Boopsie Venus offered me a drink and I went into my ‘I don’t have caffeine anymore’ routine. Minutes later she came down with a belated Christmas present for me of a really cute teapot and mugs set. I suspect I won’t be invited back again soon.

Continuing on the baby theme friend Chloe Bounce has announced she is expecting Baby Bounce II in July and friend Patty Pierce is expecting not one baby, but two in August. In addition to this friend Hard John Rod will become a father in April. It’s still only February so more babies could well put in an appearance before the end of the year.

At work things have been continuing in much the same way i.e. people are flooding out of the doors. We are averaging one leaving presentation a week. I went out for a leaving do in London a couple of weeks ago where everyone spent most of the evening moaning about the rest of Finance. It got boring after a while, especially as some of the people they were complaining about I don’t think are that bad. There were 7 people out that night including the girl who left. Two people were contractors and of the four remaining permanent employees, two people have since found new jobs and one person seems to be taking a lot of time off sick at the minute (incidentally that isn’t me – I may have taken time off sick recently, but it’s been genuine)

My sister and her boyfriend have been trying to set the world record for the longest time taken to move into a first house. They got the keys to their house in October and will finally move in this weekend. As a generous sister I have equipped them with a new microwave, although I had a degree of self interest in doing so. I can now invite myself round for dinner as a result!

I’m going to finish up now as it is time to go home, but you can expect a post early next week. I have a sneaking suspicion that there may be some changes on the way…

You will see that I changed my blog description. I've lost the weird and wonderful bit as it was so not true. The dull and mundane life of The Girl Shelby doesn't quite have the same ring to it, so it's just my life now.

I got my grubby little mits on my ipod last night. For those of you that have them, you'll know that's exactly what it looks like you have when you look at the back. Whose idea was it to use a material for the back of the case which enables you to leave fingerprints so clear that the police could use them instead of messing around with black ink?

I ordered my ipod from a south American river online retailer so I had it sent to my Grandad's house as my postman has a nasty habit of leaving parcels propped under the letterbox where anyone can steal them. My Grandad, full of curiosity as to what an ipod was (and also expecting a much bigger box), was unable to contain himself and opened my parcel. I got round there last night to find a very sheepish looking relative. Luckily I didn't mind, I think it's funny, and he hadn't completely lost control and opened the ipod packaging itself so at least that pleasure was spared for me. I did have to open the packaging at his house so he could actually see the ipod.

I haven't actually got as far as putting any music on the ipod yet as I had to go the gym last night. However, I have installed itunes and already have a big list of songs that I want to download. I think that this is the way forward - often I don't like an artist enough to buy the album but they have one song which I love, for example

Kayne West Golddigger
Snoop Dog and Justin Timberlake Signs
Ice T You can do it
Nelly and Tim McGraw Over and Over
Notorious BIG Nasty Girl
(all the above are the result of listening to Kiss, which has a lot to answer for)

I'd better get on with some work. It's an effort as my manager has been off sick all week. I doubt she will be back in today so we won't see her again until next week as she is part time. It is frustrating how she never seems to be sick on a Thursday and Friday when she doesn't have to be in the office. However, as she's not here I really do something useful so I can tell her about it next week!