Tag Archive for: 2021

MADPL 21/22 – Week 3

Week 3 and this week we are away at local rivals Boars Head and wanting to keep the winning streak going (ok it’s only one match but it’s a streak to us!) Looking at what went right last week I decided to stick with LF and OJ as the openers but this back fired when both fought hard to get into a winning position only to snooker themselves and throw their frames away. At 2 nil down I thought it needed a captains frame to steady the ship which is exactly what I did even when the referee awarded a full ball snooker to my opponent without even looking but I took a deep breath and avoided letting it affect me. 2 -1 and PL needed to be patient and just wasn’t potting well but eventually running out of lives.

So at 3 – 1 and staring down the barrel DR played a solid frame followed by MC who barring one “odd” miss made no mistake to make the score all square. JL up next playing his first frame in possibly 2 years showed it makes no difference if you have the talent He will admit that some shots were fortunate but no-one would have known watching With a point now in the bag SH just needed to be steady and not do anything rash, well, that’s what I thought, his mind was on playing the pots he could see superbly and if they weren’t there play safe. This left him 4 reds to clear up with the last needing good position to pot it and boy did he deliver to win the match 5 – 3 A great comeback and a well deserved win in the end!

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14 year MySpace’iversary

14th December 2007 Jamie messaged me on MySpace saying she was “intrigued”, and wanted to say Hello. Well, 14 years have passed, and since then you emigrated, we got married, Reagan was born, Lincoln was born, you graduated, you built a business but these are all big things. We have done so many more things, little things that are insignificant in isolation, like laughing everyday, saying I love you everyday or just enjoying being together and missing it when we are apart.

It’s only when you realise, these little things in life are really the big things and they should be cherished, that you will find happiness.

I think we realised this a long time ago and I hope we enjoy millions more little things for many more years to come

Happy MySpace’aversary Dude.

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Jamie on Radio Stoke

Taking an hour out of a busy work day, on Friday, to go get a coffee with her best friend at Drinks’n’Bites in Middlewich she had a chance meeting with a DJ from a local who picked up on her accent and asked her if she would like to be interviewed about the cultural differences between a British and American Christmas lunch. I doubt it took Jamie long to jump at that opportunity and this morning at 09:10 she went live on local radio station BBC Radio Stoke. Below is a copy of the transmission

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Worrying about happiness?

Looking through photos for our The Forsters 2022 calendar the photos I am looking for are the ones where we are happy enjoying ourselves and it is a really good experience to look at this years moments captured searching for 12 moments that will portray that our family is living the dream. I have done this for a few years and its always been my thing and we then give the calendars as Christmas presents, and everyone seems to love them.

The fallout this year was how I felt afterwards and I can’t remember having these negative feelings in the past?

The feelings I am talking about is fear, fear that I am not doing enough for my family to make them as happy as they are in the moments all the time? I am aware that these thoughts are ridiculous (I hope) but they are the dark thoughts I have a lot of, at times, and it’s always about my families happiness and my responsibility for it! My happiness I feel comes a lot from them being happy and when I look at lots and lots of moments filtering those moments down to about 50 and then 12 makes me think life has to be always like those 12 moments and this makes me feel pressure when I look at the effort it takes to make those moments.

I worry that I have to try harder to make my family happy and I found myself asking the kids if they are happy as if they were going to give me the in depth inciteful answer I was looking for to put my mind at ease.

Reagan said: Yes I am going to drama club tonight, duh!
Lincoln said: Of course, schools finished, can I have a Coke…..please?

Tonight I made them happy, I made them both the teas they asked for and we sat and watched Strictly the food was good but the time we spent together was great I was hilarious OBVS! and we just enjoyed each others company. No photos no forced smiles for the camera but a moment made that will only ever exist in our heads (and here in this blog post) proof worrying is wasted time but I still do….?

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Nannie for Christmas

We didn’t have a Christmas with Nannie last year for two reasons, the first was COVID and the national lockdown we were in the middle of, so we all stayed at home which is fine if you love your immediate family as much as I do, it meant we had lovely day together but traditionally Nannie would have been with us!

The second reason and probably the reason she wouldn’t have come over to us, even if we weren’t locked down, was how extremely ill she was a couple of months earlier, which she was still recovering from. Up until that day in November 2020 I had probably not thought about a time when Nannie wouldn’t be around but I think about it a lot since.

I was driving today listening to the radio and they were taking about another COVID Christmas and I thought “Have we actually officially invited Nannie, for Christmas Day?” so I called her and she said that we had not invited her but she would love to come over on Christmas day we chatted for about 20 minutes while I drove and then she added that she is intending to do Boxing day this year too. Gobsmacked is how I would describe my reaction. Most people who know how ill Nannie was can’t believe me when I tell them how impressive her recovery has been throughout this year to the point where she is saying she’s going to do Boxing day for us all.

I am so happy we’ve got Nannie for Christmas and can’t wait!

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Find something to smile about. Pt1

Reagan made me smile tonight, Daddy I got a raffle ticket today so I am in the draw for a laptop, as she TikTok danced in front of me. She has been fixated on the school raffle for a couple of weeks since they told her the top prize was a laptop, and she became convinced she was going to win. It was lovely to see her so excited that she got a ticket and the conversation was about what she was going to do with it when she won. Me be the voice of reason just tempered her excitement just a little in case her ticket doesn’t get chosen, how do you get tickets By being kind Daddy…then I am sure you’ll get a couple more before the draw then. She really is a kind soul most of the time! It just made me smile

Daddy when I went back into school to get my coat that I’d forgotten, the Deputy Head Teacher spoke to me he asked me why I was still in school and that I should get a move on, he asked me who I was and we talked while I got my coat. It was like meeting somebody famous he does the assemblies and everything. This just made me smile even more.

Daddy when you go for a job do you have to tell them it is not the one you want? Confused I asked why she wanted to know, to which she said “I want to be an actress but I know it’s very hard to do so I think I am going to work in Starbucks while I learn acting but do I have to tell them at Starbucks that is my plan? I had to supress a laugh. No darling you just have to tell them you want to work for them more than anything and then just work hard at both.

My advice would be to do well at school and aim as high as you can Starbucks is a great place to work but only paid £8 for each hour you work for them and there was a different job in the same street that paid you £20 for each hour you worked for them you might think that was the best option while you learn acting? Oh yeah, what kind of job the one up the street Daddy. It will be a really interesting one if you do well at school is all I said and she went off to play upstairs leaving me with a smile on my face and a lot of love in my heart

As I was just about to finish this block Reagan returned home from drama group and told me about the Mad Hatters tea Party and the card game they acted out I asked if she loved doing drama because her mates do it or is it because you love acting she said Daddy I love acting. I hope she always has dreams and dreams as big as possible because the world is her lobster right now and life has a tendency to stop you dreaming. She went off to bed and left me to tear up with joy

Today I found lots to smile about! I love you Reagan dream big baby.

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Boosted

Went to get my COVID booster jab today and it was really well run as it was when I got my first two jabs in the summer, from arriving and the car park attendants showing you to your spot right the way to being shown off the car park the same attendants.

On arrival I was asked if I felt ill or have a persistent cough etc and then had my temperature taken and booked in, I was then asked to wait a couple of minutes for a station to come free, I then sat down at station 1 and received the booster jab.

Afterwards they showed me to the 10 minute waiting area, as I walked towards it there were very few chairs available but I was shown to a spare one and told to sit down. As I sat down I looked around and everyone was just sat there staring at this big clock because they can not get up until their 10 minutes is up. I asked the lady next to me if this was compulsory to which said I have no idea.

I beckoned the guy that showed me to my seat and asked if sitting here was compulsory and he said it was advised in case you feel nauseous or light headed…I thanked him for the information and got up and left. I didn’t look back until I was outside but smiled to myself as I saw a lot of the people who were at near me were pouring out, it just made me think how the British find it very difficult sometimes to question “authority” they just do what the majority do…?

Hey Ho 15 minutes from leaving the house to being back in the house, brilliant!

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My teeth are cleaner

Not because I now brush with an Oral B electric toothbrush but because I brush them twice a day everyday. I know that’s what you are supposed to do but sometimes if you nod off in the chair you just don’t want to clean your teeth at 2am even if you remember?

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SNF on a Monday

Having been bumped to Primetime, because the NFL thought it was a significant AFC West divisional game between The Broncos and The Chiefs, means I have an early start on a Monday morning to watch Primetime Sunday night football. So having made sure everyone was ready for Monday morning we all went to bed at 9pm and my alarm was set for 01:15

#KCvsDEN since 2015 has been very one sided in favour of Kansas and this morning was a winnable game up until the end of the third quarter but as it’s been all season Denver defense can stop a good offense but if the Broncos Offense can’t score either all 3 phases struggle and last night both the offense and special teams were awful both giving away the ball for scores and although we scored a garbage time touchdown that made 22 – 9 scoreline look respectable we are now 6 – 6 in the division and the post season is a possible not probable.

Primetime is easy if we win the tiredness doesn’t matter but when you go back to bed at 04:30 after plying so poorly and losing the day arrives fast and passes slowly. Anyway next week we play Detroit and I can’t wait, win or lose I love watching the Broncos #DBFL #GOBRONCOS

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I reckon I can do this!

Am I saying I can stay sober for a year…not sure yet, but I used a phrase yesterday which resonated with me “I am making, not having a drink the habit” and I think that’s what I am working on? It’s the daily drinking that brought me here not the special days, yesterday and Thanksgiving were relatively easy because there is a build up, a preparation time and when they come along I am ready to negotiate not drinking. If I can get into the habit of not even thinking about drinking on a “normal” day what is there left to do…?

Sparkling Water, ice and lemon

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