Just a few of the things that I’ve done this weekend. It started quite energetically as we all went swimming in Porthcawl. Finlay loved it, he looked so adorable in his little armbands and it gave him so much confidence when he was in the water. He also had a great time going down the slides and jumping in from the sides.

After swimming we went back to Bridgend and Rachel and Finlay went to Tesco shopping while I enrolled myself on my next course. In September I will be starting my HNC in Design in Interactive Media and I will be completing an extra 2 modules to get my HND. From there I will look to do my degree, hopefully in UWIC but we’ll have to see.

After enrolling myself I joined Finlay and Rachel for dinner. The afternoon was then spent relaxing and playing.

Today he weather has been wonderful so I started the day by taking Finlay down to the park where he enjoyed playing on the swings and slide. After that we played in the house until going for an all you can eat Chinese dinner at The New Garden in Aberkenfig. Finlay loved it there as he enjoyed watching the fish swim around in the indoor pond.

We’ve spent the remainder of the afternoon just playing. When Finlay went to bed I did about 45 minutes of ironing before sitting at he computer and designing some CD labels and boxes. I also ordered 100 blank DVDs as I plan to create some backups of all my media files.

I’m now sat up in bed watching the DOI skateoff, I hope Mikey and Mel go through – did you see Mel’s spin earlier? Wow! That girl can gyrate like you wouldn’t believe!

Just gonna browse the app store now for some more useful apps for my business.

Right, that’s it for now. Catch you later x

I’ve been somewhat of an early bird the past couple of days. I’ve been getting up at 5.30 to get into work for 7. Wednesday was good as I only work 5 hours so I got to finish at 12 and spend all afternoon with Rachel and Finlay. It was excellent!
Today I had to work my usual 7.5 hours but still managed to finish at 3 so I was still really happy. It’s amazing the difference a few hours makes. I get much better time with Finlay so I am over he moon about that.

I’ve been busy over the last few days integrating CMS into my new websites. I’m using wordpress on one and joomla on another. I will decide which CMS I prefer and then change the other site accordingly.

These next few days and weeks are going to be super busy for me. Websites to finish, invites to design and print, flyers to design and print, open day to attend, drinks with friends, food with friends, family time, formula one, I could go on all night!

As it is though I plan to get into work for 7 again tomorrow so am going to have an early night and look after my beautif wife who is suffering with back pain at the moment.

Will write again tomorrow

Night x

And the weekend is finally here, do I hear a cheer?

This week has felt really long, I’m not sure whether that was because I was waiting for payday or just because work just hasn’t been as relaxed as it normally is. Anyhow it’s the weekend now and I feel good knowing that.

The plan for tomorrow is to take Finlay swimming, put boxes in the attic, clean the car and take Finlay to the country park in the afternoon, it’ll be busy with all that to do but it will be great, especially as Finlay will help with everything.

Once I’ve put the last 2 boxes in the attic I’ll have my nice looking office back. At the moment I’m sat in my nice comfy chair that I picked up in Ikea and I’m admiring my bargain magazine rack that is neatly holding all my web design magazines. As I look around a bit more I am thinking perhaps I need a few cable ties for all he extra things I’ve plugged into the computer.

Well it’s getting late and as comfy as this chair is, I don’t really want to sit in it all night. Just remembered need to do a food shop tomorrow too! Busy busy busy

Right best get to bed quick!

Night x

This evening we took Finlay to our local fire station to have a look at the fire engines. A few months back when we had our smoke alarms fitted we were told that if we took Finlay down on a Tuesday night then they would show him around. Tonight we did just that. It was great! I loved it just as much. Finlay and I got to sit in the driver’s seat. I decided that to drive it at speed would take incredible skill as they are whopping when you get inside.

Finlay enjoyed getting to look around the engine and try on he boots and fire helmets. I got to speak to some of the guys down there about what they do and I’ve got to say it’s great work that they do. Firemen definitely deserve their salaries.
I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the Pontycymer Fire Service for being so hospitable and encourage anyone to do the same. These everyday heroes don’t always get the recognition that they deserve. Support your local Brigade, you may need them someday.

Tomorrow I’m only working 5 hours and then if the weather is nice I’ll be off to the Amelia Trust Farm with Finlay to see if there is anything we can get involved with there.

Fingers crossed for dry weather tomorrow!!

I woke up this morning and Finlay had gone to the window and was telling me that outside there was snow. I like the snow but its arrival had meant that I would not be able to take Finlay to the park as it would have been very icy.

We played in the house until around 10.30 when I decided we had to go out somewhere and make the most of the day. And so, we went to Dunelm to look for storage boxes. It also gave Finlay the chance to run around. We didn’t really find suitable storage boxes that were in keeping with the design of our bedroom, however I did manage to pick up a lovely wooden magazine rack for my office.

After a good run around we went home for some dinner. After dinner I took Finlay to Bryngarw Country Park to see the ducks. The ducks were at the farside of the lake and so we crossed the road onto the lawns and played on the the snow that was starting to disappear from the grass. Finlay had fun running up and down the hills and getting the knees of his jeans muddy. We played on the lawns for about 20 minutes before walking up to he park to go on the swings. We had to wait a while as there were other children on the swings. When it was Finlay’s turn though he loved it.

About 5 minutes after Finlay had gone on the swing I heard a woman call my name from behind me. I turned around and it was Niki and Rhian with Iestyn and Maizy. We chatted for a bit while the children played before Finlay and I headed home for tea.

I made tea tonight, peppered chicken with tagliatelli in a cheese and ham sauce. It was delicious. Finlay wasn’t keen on the chicken but he gave the tagliatelli a really good go.

After his bath and a little playtime it was time for Finlay’s bedtime. I took him upstairs and read him a story before he fell asleep.

The rest of my evening has been spent ironing and sorting all the legal stuff for PSWD.

It’s time for bed now as I’ve got work early in the morning. Hopefully it’ll be a nice sunny dry day tomorrow. We’ll see!

Night all x

This evening I have started re-writing my terms and conditions and my contracts for work so that I never find myself in a situation again where I have my time wasted and nothing to show for it. From now on everyone will be required to sign both documents when requesting work by me. I’ll also be ensuring that I get a non-refundable deposit upfront. I’ve learned a valuable lesson – there are no friends in business.

Hopefully going forward through 2010 I will pick up more and more work for the web design and graphic design and I’ll also have taken care of all the legal stuff to protect myself, my time and my bank balance!!

Right then, enough about that, my next post will be about my day!!

Today I met up with my good friends Rhys and Lee for the first time in 2010, and it was great. These are my longest known friends, I’ve known Lee forever as we grew up in the same area, went to the same schools and got on well. I’ve known Rhys since the first year of comprehensive school when he joined my form class.

Since school we’ve all done very different things, Lee joined the army and has been really successful and has been lucky enough to travel to various places around the world. Rhys has studied law and he too has been very successful. He’ll soon be a barrister – something he’s wanted since the day I met him.

It was great to hear everyone’s news about what they’ve been upto and what they are set to do, and just to enjoy each others company for a few hours. It’s made me more determined to travel around more to see everyone more often. I’m going to try and get to London before our next baby is due in May as I know that when the baby is here it’ll be a little more difficult to plan best times as everything will be around baby.

Speaking of baby everyone commented on how small Rachel was considering she only has 10 weeks to go until she gives birth. Hopefully now she will believe that she is slim and will always be beautiful to me.

I can’t wait for the next baby to arrive, to have another addition to my wonderful little family. Finlay is amazing and just makes me smile with just the thought of him, I can’t imagine that feeling doubled, but that’s what it’ll be like seeing my two children, holding them in my arms and seeing them smile back at me. I feel pretty damn good already just trying to imagine it.

So I guess you’re probably starting to realise that I value family and friendship above most things in life, as long as I have those I’ll always have happiness so no matter what I do in life I can always feel successful for having the best family and friends that anyone could possibly have.

It’s 22:20 as I write this now and I am sat in bed. Everyone else is quietly asleep and this is my time when I reflect on everything. Life’s good, I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ll sleep well tonight.

Good night all, sweet dreams x

Today was a really miserable day as far as the weather went. When I left the house this morning it started sleeting quite heavily, then it turned to rain which lasted all day – and it was just cold cold cold all day!

Finlay woke up really early this morning, at around 5am. He then proceeded to say every word that he knows, from Scrambled Egg on Toast, to counting to ten, talking about the dob dobs, monsters – he just chatted away merrily. Usually on a Wednesday the early mornings catch up to him and he has a really long sleep in the day. Not today though. He wasn’t a happy chappy for it either. He had a sleep in the car on the way home but with only 15 minutes of the journey left I knew I’d have to wake him up as soon as we got home – and then came all the tears. It’s understandable though, he wasn’t having tantrums or anything like that, he was just really upset as he was so tired and I’d woken him up. It took about 15 minutes to calm him down – and showing him the present that I’d bought for him. A Jenson Button McLaren cap! He didn’t seem all that keen, but I’m putting that down to him being tired. He loved the Jenson Button Brawn GP cap I bought him last season so I’m sure he’ll like this one. He’s got a thing for hats and caps at the moment so it arrived at a good time!

Tonight I’m finishing off the tidying in the office so that I can start working in here again. I’ve just got a few boxes that I need to sort through and then put them up in the attic for storage. I haven’t worked in here for ages because of the cold weather – it’s the coldest room in the house, but it will get milder now so I’m hoping to get in here a couple of nights a week to carry on my studies and build more and more extravagent websites.

The boxes are calling so I better crack on. Might write again a little later when I’m tucked up in bed and am playing on the iPhone!!

I’ve had my iPhone for a fortnight now and every day I find something else for it that I think is amazing.
I’ve already downloaded 60 apps for it. When you hear on adverts “there’s an app for that!” it really is true. I’ve downloaded wordpress to update my blog on the go, got a facebook app and tweetdeck to stay on top of my social networking. I’ve downloaded a piano and a drumkit which Finlay and I both love. To list them all would take some time but they are all really useful to me and for my business.
I went in to the Apple shop today as I wanted to get a screen protector. I found one but when it came to paying I didn’t know where to go. I was asked did I need any help to which I replied that I was just looking for somewhere to pay. I was asked if I was paying by card before being presented with a mobile card reader. I paid for my screen protectors and I was asked would I like my receipt emailed to me as they had my email on file as I have an iTunes account. I thought it was great, not only because it meant I was in and out within 5 minutes but the paper saving was great, my wallet wouldn’t get full of scrunched up receipts!
I know it probably sounds really sad but I think that if I didn’t have my iPhone I would feel a bit lost as I have everything I need in one place – and Finlay loves it too as it’s touchscreen and he loves the drums and the F1 car racing game that I downloaded.
Speaking of cars and on a complete tangent to my previous paragraphs but on the way home tonight I drove passed a car that was fully ablaze on he hardshoulder of the link road. Everyone was out of the car fortunately. I imagine that the road will have been shut while firecrews put out the blaze, I think when we passed the car it must have recently caught fire as traffic was still passing in both lanes freely enough. I might check the news for any mentions.

Right I’m off now but will try and write everyday now that I have this app on my phone. Night all!

Now I’ve not got any websites to build I finally get to spend loads and loads of time with my amazing son Finlay!

Another thing that I can do now is play with my iPhone lots and lots and know that I haven’t got any deadlines to meet for the next week or two!!

I’ve been really busy of late so it’s nice to have a week or two off before I go out pitching at potential customers again. I’ve spent the weekend decorating the house and getting everything finished before Finlay’s party and before the baby is born in May.

The master bedroom looks absolutely stunning even if I do say so myself. It’s like living in a show home!!

Right, I’m going to keep this short and sweet as I need to wind down for the evening after a long couple of days. I just wanted to post something as I didn’t want you thinking that I’d vanished off the face of the earth.

Will write again soon, and with a bit more to tell you all!

Night