I adore this bunny!

She really is the sweetest thing!

And yes, I am ignoring the fact that it is exactly one month until I am forced to leave this place. It hurts.

Things Have Changed

Thankfully, the situation is not the same as when I wrote this. When I wrote that I was pretty much in the depths of despair and convinced that it was the end of my beloved Darlington. I was sad but kind of resigned to the fact that it was going to be the end. I was even thinking through what team I was going to support. Someone suggested Manchester to me. I supposed that they meant United but either way the answer to that would be, 'Um, NO! Are you kidding??!' No Premiership teams for me, thank you! I support the underdog. Unless, of course, the team that I am supporting gets to the Premiership of their own accord. I'm not going to give up supporting them if they do that. Hopefully, it will be Darlington whom I support in the Premiership sometime. And, yes, I doubt that that will be in the next five years!

It appears that Darlington have a new buyer. His name is Raj Singh and he was the popular choice..... dare I say only choice.... to take over the club. Is it weird that I am not excited? Really. I'm not. At all. I mean Darlington have been saved! But my question is, for how long? When I first started supporting the club at the end of 99/00 season things were good. I mean, really good. Well, you know, apart from having a crook as the chairman. At that point George Reynolds was still parade around the ground with Darlo scarf held high being hailed as the be all and end all of DFC. He promised the world - new stadium, Premiership in five years. He had saved Darlington from the brink of extinction and could do anything.We were going to the Division 3 playoff final. The last at the old Wembley. We had a great team who really should have won automatic promotion and it was all hunky dory. Well, we didn't win promotion. We lost to a Peterborough side that played worse than us in the horrible conditions at Wembley that night.

It was downhill from there. Endless flirtations with relegation, an enormous and useless (although beautiful) stadium that really wasn't necessary at that point in time and a chairman acting like a dictator that you come across in recent history books. Thankfully, his reign of terror was not over a country but over a small football club and didn't extend from that.

He then put us into administration a couple of months after the stadium was opened and was later arrested for money laundering.

I was overjoyed when Darlo were taken over by new owners - The Sterling Consortium. We were Reynolds free! Hurrah! Since then Darlo have been doing ok on the pitch. We have been in the top half of the table consistently. Two years in a row we placed 8th which is one place below the play off places.

Blah, blah. Anyway, George Houghton became chairman in 2006 and we went into administration in 2009. We nearly went out of business and now have a new owner...... except old chairman Houghton is still involved.

Forgive me for being sceptical.

Maybe it is because I have been so far removed from the club as for basically the past two seasons I have been 3000 miles away. I only saw one Darlo game in that time and it was a preseason friendly against Leeds (0-0 in case you were wondering, or even if you weren't). Or maybe it is because Ryan Valentine left the club (two different links btw). What is even the point now?? I say that in jest but I will reserve my happiness about having a new owner until something good actually comes from it. So I guess that we will just have to wait and see. Don't get me wrong, I hope that this is a great thing for DFC. We need a break. A good run of things - like Hull, who my Dad and I watched in their old stadium, Boothferry Park, playing against Darlo in Division 2 on the day that the Queen Mother died, who now play in the Premiership. I'll just settle for moving out of League 2. Behind Rochdale, we have been in the basement league for the longest time of any club. They have been in Division 4/3/League 2 (all the same league) for 35 years. We've been there since 1992. I'm done with League 2. I'd rather move up than down though. League 1, here we come....... please?

Just need to rebuild the squad now...........

So we are safe. For now. It'll be interesting if nothing else!

Here's to another 125 years!

I ♥ My Mum

*This post was written last week sometime but the internet has been very tempremental here so I haven't been able to get this post on the blog until now. I also want to add more photos but Blogger is being unreasonable just now so I'll try again later! Keep your eyes open for them!*

I had such a good weekend with my Mum. We packed so much into the time that she was here that it felt a lot longer than just a few days.
On Friday evening we went to a fondue restaurant. Swiss cheese fondue, salad and then chocolate fondue. She has the pictures so maybe she'll send some to me and I can put them on here (hint, hint - and btw, I mean send by email, not snail mail!). *By the time that I managed to get this post out onto the blog, the pics have been put on Facebook!* On Saturday we went into the city and geocached. Naturally. We found 10. Chen Li joined us too.
The highlight (for me, anyway) was the red velvet cupcakes. Hmmmmmm! SO good!
We went to see Billy Elliot the Musical on Saturday evening. I was dubious about going. Really. I just couldn't see how Billy Elliot could be a musical. I just could not imagine it. Well, what can I say? I LOVED it! Really, truly loved it. The music was great, the dancing was great. The accents were a little interesting at times. But I think I am going to start using 'nowt' in conversation. Let's see how confused I can make these Americans!

On Sunday we went to church and then to Alex's confirmation dinner. It was really so enjoyable. My Mum got to meet a lot of the people that I had mentioned to her in phone conversations.

On Monday we packed up a lot of my stuff for my Mum to take home with her. It made me really sad actually. My noticeboard is looking very empty right now.

I had a really great weekend with my Mum and I was sad to see her leave. It really felt like she was here a lot longer than just a weekend! So much fun!

Crestwood Wildlife

This morning as I was walking passed the side door I spotted this:

Actually, it wasn't quite this. It was this little fellow here...

......doing this.

But, of course, my camera was upstairs so by the time I got it and came back downstairs the scene was a little different than the one that I had seen originally. Thankfully, though, Mr. Gray obliged and let me get a picture. Mr. Black tried to come back and claim the winnings but he'd lost out at this point.

They were licking the inside of a Nutella tub that I put in the recycling last night. That'll teach me to recycle.

We have a pair of cardinals that made a nest in a tree just over the fence in our neighbour's garden. Yesterday, we caught a glimpse of the babies. We aren't sure how many there are but there are at least two.

Here is one in the tree (if you can spot it). He's kind of to the right in the middle.

Don't worry, Papa Cardinal was watching out for his babies. Mama Cardinal was flitting about too.I love cardinals..... but not when they sit in the tree outside my bedroom window and sing very early in the morning.

I Love My Friends

My friends really know how to make me happy. Really.

When my Mum was here she passed on to me an envelope from Beth and Sarah.

In it was the Euan Murray autograph:It was meant to be a surprise but Beth posted a picture of it on Facebook.A note from Sarah and a note from Beth:Most special was that I got Beth Ainscough's autograph too! Special, I tell you!That had my Mum and I giggling in our hotel room for quite a while. Too long probably. Maybe it was tiredness!

My Auntie Kathleen is funny too. She sent me some Bochox.Now. I'm sure that the chocolate is delicious but what is written on the outside is just stinking hilarious! My favourite line is, 'If seal has been broken suspect everyone.' Ha!

Like I say, I ♥ my friends!

Mother's Day - A Week Late

Mother's Day in the US was last Sunday if you didn't know. It is different from the UK. Although Father's Day is the same day in both countries. One of those little US oddities.Tomorrow I get to see my Mum. Actually, it is today for her. Funny. Can't wait to see her. Hope we don't argue too much!

And I hope to get an updated picture. I couldn't find any newer ones. This one was taken at Christmastime '07.

*UPDATE: Oh, wait! I just found one from Summer '08 when we went to Betty's*

Cinnamon Toast and Hot Chocolate. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! Going to introduce her to Red Velvet Cupcakes this weekend though and you can't beat that!

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

*WARNING:*

This post contains pictures of my feet. Please try to concentrate on my beautiful new sandals and not on my horrible feet. Although please do take a glimpse at my new polish on my toes. Jumping Jade - I LOVE it!

*This has been a public service announcement.*

DSW, I love you forever and for always.

This post is about my shoes and not about my fat toes. It is all about the shoes, people!And a little about Thumper cos she is just so stinking adorable!

The Mystery of the Lost Debit Card

I feel better today. Mostly, anyway. I think that a good, long sleep and a good, long cry helped. I know that it is sport that I am upset about but I have supported that club for 9 of my 23 years. That is a lot really.

Anyway, today I had planned to do a lot of caching but I just wasn't up to it so I decided to go to White Plains and just look around the shops. I got on the train at Crestwood just like normal.

Now, I'm going to give you a bit of background. I lost my Debit card probably about two months ago now. It was getting on for two weeks before I was leaving for Nashville and I couldn't find it anywhere. I was worried, not because I thought someone had stolen it, but because there was no way that I was going to go to Nashville without some kind of back up. I knew that someone hadn't stolen it because I had used it to buy something online and hadn't used it since but I could not, for the life of me, put my fingers on it.

I lost $300 in my room before and found it months later so I guessed that it was in there somewhere. Actually, I only knew that I had 'misplaced' $200 so the extra $100 was just a bonus! It has got to be genetic. If there was a prize for losing things then my Mum would win every time. There isn't any denying it. It is just fact.

So, I went to the bank and got them to send me a new card which duly arrived 5-7 working days later. I all but forgot about the original card.

Back to the train. I was getting out my train ticket that I put into the card section of my purse (in proper English a purse is a wallet, not a bag!) and I noticed something behind my medical insurance card.

You have got to be kidding me!

My lost Debit card was in my purse the ENTIRE time??!

THE ENTIRE TIME!

I use that purse every day. My beautiful 'Hattie' Radley purse! I did not see it once!

Well, it is pretty useless now but at least the mystery is solved!

A Long, Hard Week

This hasn't been a fun week. Really. It isn't even over yet. I'm still doing laundry. I dislike laundry intensely and can't wait to get it over with this evening. Unfortunately, I still need to do my own.

The reason that I am still doing laundry at this time is that I have spent most of the last two days at school. Everything has been going on at once - 8th grade raffle, Italian Club, 1st grade plant sale.

But I got through it all. I had no doubts about that. I am also all bunged up. I can't tell if it is a cold or allergies but my nose has been really, really itchy.

I can't wait for Saturday. No, I can't wait for later this evening when I can go to sleep. Please let me sleep in tomorrow! I need it!

I was speaking to my parents today and my Dad asked me this, 'Do you think we'll bounce back from this?'
My answer, 'No.'
Darlington Football Club is pretty much done. I think it is all but over. Wow, this is so painful to write. I'm actually in tears. Thank goodness that no one else is home! Last weekend couldn't be the last time that my Dad ever texts me the Darlo score. It just couldn't.

When I wrote this I never truly thought that it would turn out this way. Darlington would be saved. Of course they would! They had to be.

Doesn't look like it is going to happen.

It hurts too much to write about it. Read this article and you will see just how bad it is.

Yes, the black writing is symbolic.

A Day with Two Good Friends

I started the day geocaching with Chen Li. Nothing unusual there. We found 3 and then I found another when I was going back to Grand Central at the end of the day. My total is 60 now.

After that I met Megan at Union Sq. It was so good to see her!

First we had lunch and then went to the Strand and looked at the books for a few minutes.

Death.......... & Dying. Who could resist this photo op? Then we met up with some of the other Chorus kids because they had to be in groups of at least 6. Unfortunately this meant that we were stuck in DSW because one girl wanted to get shoes to go with her prom dress. So dull! But at least I was with Meg. Sweet, sweet Meg!

A Name and a Half

A baby was born in 1883 and given this name:
Ann Bertha Cecelia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypanthia Inez Jane Kate Louisa Maud Nora Ophelia Quince Rebecca Starkey Teresa Ulysses Venus Winifred Xerophes Yetty Zeus Pepper

Starts of normal with Ann
Gets a little iffy at Hypanthia
Goes all out crazy at Quince, Ulysses, Xerophes and Zeus.

If you haven't worked it out, she has a name beginning with every letter of the alphabet. The only one out of order is P for Pepper which I guess is her surname.

I think this beats out even these names!