#GoHardOrGoHome

Today is the last day of the month, it's been a challenging one and I've got some way to go to hit my target. So today I'm putting everything on the line and chasing down my target 1 sale at a time. It's time to Go Hard Or Go Home, or as my boss once, mistakenly, put it Step Up Or Step Out.

I went hard but unfortunately today was not my day, I had 2 declines, 2 people requiring deposits and 3 contracts where they didn't have a bank account. But I gave it my all and left everything on the shop floor. No-one can take that away from me.

Tomorrow is another day, and month. I have a day off to regroup myself and get ready to start all over again. I don't plan on having to stage a 4th quarter comeback next month either.

Thanks for reading

Adam  Edward Grant

I think we're in for a long night

After another well timed start to the day, and an ok day at work, I got home to my poorly son. He's teething as well as having a cold. After giving him a bath, his bottle and putting him to bed, my wife and I sat down to dinner and to watch x-factor. Not long into the show, we heard our son making some noises and then crying. I went up to try and settle him down to sleep again. It didn't work. So we tried giving him Calpol, rubbing snuffle baby on his chest and rocking him back to sleep. It also didn't work. So in the end we brought him downstairs and let him sit with us until he eventually fell asleep through pure tiredness.

Hopefully I'm wrong but I think we're in for a long night.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

1st ever 1st birthday party/WBK

I had a day off today, but I still used the smart alarm and I still woke up refreshed. We had a birthday party to go to, one of my sons friends was turning one. It was the first of his friends to reach 1. We had a really lovely time.

This afternoon we just had some bits to do around the house. While in the garden I spoke to our neighbours and they said that the reason they don't put their bins out too early is because of WBK, weird bin kid, he is a kid down our road who has an obsession with bins, hence the name. I also found out that WBK has a name. His name is Harry.

Hopefully the smart alarm will keep me feeling refreshed and I can stay happy.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

The early bird catches the worm

I decided that I couldn't keep waking up tired. I found a 'Smart Alarm' which monitored your sleep pattern to wake you up at the right moment, it's supposed to stop over or under sleeping. Even though I've only used it once, it is amazing. At 9.32 last night I started it, it sent me gently to sleep to the sounds of waves softly lapping a beach, I didn't sleep soundly and woke at various points in the night, but when I opened my eyes at 6 this morning it told me through a gently tune that it was the right time to get up. It only took 3 minutes for me to get out of bed, and I feel great. Thank you Plus Sports.

After my great start, my day continued well, even though I didn't have the best day at work. I stayed energized all day.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

New Shoes

My wife made me get out of bed at 6.30 this morning to take our bins out, I was not impressed as I usually lay awake for 15 minutes before getting up. I got up anyway, took the bins out, and got ready for the day. I had noticed that our elderly neighbours hadn't put their bins out, so before leaving for work I knocked on their door to check they were ok.

I had a good day at work, made even better by a visit from my wife and son. We had ordered my son his first pair of properly fitted shoes last week and today we went and collected them. He looks so cute in them.

After getting home, my wife cooked us our special dinner, chicken wrapped in bacon stuffed with Philadelphia and mushrooms, it was delicious.

Overall a good day.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

4 more days!

The shop across from my work is closing down in 4 days, all day I've heard someone outside the shop trying to drum up business by shouting about it. By the end of the day it was really doing my head in. Apart from that it was a good day at work.

I didn't get my 100 page views, so no photo unfortunately.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

What happens when you give an 8 month old a plate of spaghetti?

I started work at 10 today. When my alarm went off, I stayed still for a minute before rolling over and cuddling my wife. After a few minutes she went and got our son. While my wife showered, I layed in bed and had cuddles with my son. It was a great start to the day.

As my wife was going out for about 10 she dropped me in town on her way. This meant that I could get the washing up from the morning done and leave the house with no washing up. It may be a first.

Work today was very quiet and I didn't achieve what I needed to. It's been one of those months and I need a big push over the next week to try and get to target.

As we were having spaghetti bolognese for dinner, we gave our son a plate of spaghetti after he had finished his dinner to see what would happen. I was expecting carnage. My son disappointed. Instead of throwing it around, putting it all over himself and generally making a mess, he just ate it. Fortunately I was there to show him what to do.

If I can get 100 views of this post I will add a picture of the results.

It only takes one little thing to ruin my mood. I was cleaning my sons bottle steriliser, when my wife pointed out that I'd put stuff down on a dirty side. My head goes straight to the place where everything I do is wrong and I end up feeling like crap. I hate it, I just want to get my head straight.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Toad in the hole. Grant style!

Today I had a day off, unfortunately I forgot to turn my alarm off. When it went off at 6.30 the dog took it upon himself to wake the whole house up. I was not impressed. As I had been lazy last night I had to do the washing up, so after a quick cuddle with my wife and son, I got on.

While we were having breakfast my mum called to see if they could pop over to see us. So at 10.30, just minutes after my son had fallen asleep they arrived. It was lovely to see them, and as they have been away recently they brought us presents.

After lunch, ham, egg and chips, we had a couple of bits to do in the garden before we sat down and watch a couple of episodes of Smallville. Then it was dinner time, we were supposed to be having toad in the hole, but as we had used the eggs at lunchtime we had to adapt. So we had sausages, mash, peas, carrots with Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Not your average toad in the hole.

Tonight is the season three finale of Smallville, so it's time to chill on the sofa with an apple crumble.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

A little bit batty.

Today, being a Sunday, I didn't start work until 10am. My alarm still went off at 6.30. At 7 I got out of bed, leaving my wife for a well deserved lie-in. I got last nights washing up done and by 8 my son was awake and he and my wife were downstairs for breakfast. It was nice to have breakfast together.

My day at work was neither here nor there, and soon enough it was time to go home. The great thing about Sundays is that I finish early enough to get home to bath my son. Once he was bathed and in bed it was then time for dinner and X-Factor. I have been using the app this year, it's a nice way to watch the show and get involved.

My wife had a bit of a scare tonight, she was outside when a bat flew near her. She was worried it was in the house, so I checked every room to make sure it wasn't.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Peeing in the dark

Today at work was a good day, but the wrong kind of good day, I sold a lot at work but not the things I needed to sell. I'll take what I get though. In light of my new positivity, what I got was fantastic.

It was also a funny but shocking day, particularly when I almost walked in on my colleague in the toilet because she was peeing in the dark with the door open.

Thankfully I didn't see anything and have recovered from the shock.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

5 1/2 minute blog

My wife and I both fancied a syrup suet pudding, so while that's cooking in the microwave I'm going to blog.

Today was as much of an anticlimax as yesterday, there were 8 of us working and most of the time there were more staff than customers. It definitely wasn't what we expected, but I've made a decision to try not to be negative. Negativity never got anyone anywhere. So I'm going to take a positive approach to life, grab it by the balls and squeeze until I get what I want.

The timer has just gone so that's my 5 1/2 minutes up.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Anticlimax

I should have learnt by now not to expect too much. Things never live up to their expectations. Today was the biggest anticlimax. After months of expectation, weeks off speculation, days of preparation our huge firework was nothing more than a little fizzer. If I had had low expectations I wouldn't be disappointed now, but I had high expectations so now I'm in a bit of a slump.

It doesn't help that my wife is ill, so I have to look after her so she can look after our son.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Best laid plans are easily forgotten

If I had remembered all of our plans for today I wouldn't have thought I could get some gardening done. I'm not upset that I didn't but I can't believe I forgot about my sons play date and about our visit to see my family as my uncle and aunt were visiting. Good thing I have my wife for remembering things.

Before either of the things we had to go shopping, which thanks to Tesco's scan as you shop was quick and almost painless, the cost is always painful. Then we had our friends and their son over for a play date with our son. It's nice because I used to live next door to one of our friends and then they attended the same (rubbish) antenatal class that we did. We saw them soon after and realised that she was my old next door neighbour, and she and my wife have become friends.

Once they were gone, and our son had woken up from his nap, we went to my parents.  When we arrived it was just us, my parents and my aunt and uncle, we were soon joined by my cousin, his partner and their son, then my sister and her four children, then my other cousin and finally my other sister and her three boys. It gets quite busy at my parents and very loud. It was quite enjoyable today and we had a very nice buffet dinner, followed by a trio of deserts, cake, crumble and lemon meringue pie, I had all three, of course, in one bowl.

Now we're back home, and back on the sofa for some more Smallville.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

A good day

I woke up before my alarm this morning, when my alarm went off I was straight out of bed. I put a loaf of bread on to cook, did last nights washing up. By the time that was done my son was awake and he was a happy boy. He stayed happy all day and we managed to get a lot done.

My wife repotted our veg and herbs in the greenhouse, and until our son woke up I tidied up the garden and started to attack the jungle, I didn't get very far as our son woke from his nap, so I went and sat with him while my wife finished in the greenhouse.

After lunch we headed in to town, we had a few bits to do and a few things to buy and we even got some Christmas presents sorted. Then it was back home, give my son dinner, a bath, his bottle and put him to bed. I had a bath myself and sat down on the sofa, sorted our contents insurance, hopefully getting us another free meerkat, and our TV license and finally settling in to watch some Smallville.

Overall a very good day.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Living the dream

Having missed my sons bedtime last night, I took some extra time this morning to see him. I never realised how much I could miss him. It was a great start to the day seeing him, and it made me very happy. It also meant that I didn't have time for breakfast before I left the house, good thing we have a toaster at work.

Once at work, having had toast and coffee, I was ready to go. I started strong and had a good day, well I would have done if our systems hadn't been down all day. I can only work with the tools I am given and I think, given the circumstances, my performance was good. Most importantly I didn't let it get me down.

I now have 2 days off with my wife and son. I plan on enjoying them.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

1 ha ha ha 2 ha ha ha

Today at work we had a stock count, normally it is tediously boring and takes far too long. Today it was still tediously boring and took far too long, but it didn't bring me down. It was frustrating that I didn't get to put my son to bed. It was very satisfying to be able to get the stock count done effectively and to learn a little bit more about the process.

One more day at work and I get 2 days off, so looking forward to that.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Getting around

I got home from work today, to be greeted by my son, helped by my wife, walking to meet me at the door. Then he was placed back in the living room, to be back in the hall minutes later, having shuffled, commando crawled and crawled his way out. I can't believe how quick he's getting around.

It was a good day at work too. After the recent lows, it's nice to be back on an even keel.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Give me something to break!

It's just one of those days, when you don't wanna wake up, everything is f****d, everybody sucks. You don't really know why, but you wanna justify, ripping someone's head off. No human contact, and if you interact, your life is on contract. Your best bet is to stay away motherf****r, it's just one of those days.

These are the lyrics to my favourite Limp Bizkit song, and they pretty much some up my workday. It's been one of those days, I spoke to all the wrong people and either got problem customers or had customers with the wrong paperwork or who failed their credit search. Everything I touched went to hell. I'm glad it's over.

My day brightened up as soon as I left work, I had a missed call from my wife. When I called her back I found out that she had called me to tell me that her brother has proposed to his girlfriend. So as soon as I get home were off to see and congratulate them.

I'll be glad to get to bed and put today behind me, tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Sweet yellow gravy

The effects of yesterday carried over into today. So when the dog took rubbish out of the bin, it was my fault for not emptying it. Other than that I had a very up and down day. I had a very good day at work, but I had moments where I felt like banging my head against the wall. My brain is also all over the place again and I keep messing up what I say. We had crumble for desert and I told my wife I needed to make gravy.

Not good. On the plus side my new ringtone for my wife makes me smile.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

The day I ruined everything

When I woke up naturally at 6.15, I should have got up. When my alarm went off at 6.30, I should have got up. When my wife got our son up and brought him to see me, I should have got up. When my wife and son went downstairs, I definitely should have got up. At 8.10 I did get up and because I got up so late, everything went wrong.

We should have been at the supermarket by 9/9.30, we got there at 11.30, it was my fault. We should have given our son a snack at 10.30, we couldn't because he was asleep, it was my fault. It rained at lunchtime while we had washing out, it was my fault. We should have been at my wife's uncle and aunties at 1.30, we were late, it was my fault. We didn't make my sons milk for bedtime, it was also my fault. In short nothing went right and it was all my fault.

On the plus side, my son has started saying dada.

Pretty lousy day mood wise other than that. Hope I feel better tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Heigh Ho

Today I returned to work, it was hard. It was hard to leave my son and wife at home, but I had too, so I did. My day at work started well, soon after we opened I had my first customer and my first sale of the day. The rest of the day didn't pass so well, it was very slow. Fortunately it didn't last too long and before I realised it was time to go home.

Once home it was time for some family time and to put my son to bed before dinner and to watch Smallville.

Oh and today was the day of just a little announcement by a small company called Apple.

Thanks for reading.

Adam Edward Grant

Hibernation of the Bar-B-Queue

Today was my day off making my time away from work a little longer. I didn't have much to do today so it was mostly spent chilling out. My wife had a funeral to attend this morning and I looked after our son, I also had a visit from my parents. My parents had just left and my son was asleep, so I thought I'd have a little play and watch some wrestling. I had just about sat down, when my wife arrived home, so that plan went out the window.

I needed to clean the Bar-B-Queue down ready for hibernation, I was going to start after lunch. Unfortunately at lunchtime the rain came. So instead we all watched Smallville, after one episode the rain had stopped, so I seized the opportunity to clean Bernie. By the time I had finished it was tea time, then once I had washed up it was time to bath my son. Once he was out of the bath, I jumped into the shower as I'm starting to use my medicated bandages on my legs again.

Now it's time to have a last chill out before returning to work tomorrow. I'm a little bit anxious about going back, but I'm also sure it will be fine.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Bernies 2013 farewell

Bernie is my bar-b-queue, and today was our last bar-b-queue of the season. We went out in style, steak, lamb, Mexican chilli chicken, salmon, corn on the cob and new potatoes. Apart from undercooking my wife's salmon and only cooking one side of the corn it was delicious. The rest of the day has been a perfect day of relaxation ahead of my return to work.

Amazingly my first day back at work is one of my days off this week, so I get to enjoy another day at home. Yippee!

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

How long does it take to make a cup of coffee?

It was lovely to sleep in our own bed last night. It was lovely to wake up semi-naturally this morning. It was really lovely to have a chilled start to the day. Once we eventually left the house we were on the hunt for a new change bag. After looking at the exorbitantly priced John Lewis collection we ended up getting a reasonably priced one from Mothercare. Then it was time to pick up the dog.

After 48 hours away from him I had completely forgiven him and I was excited to be picking him up. While in the kennels he had also been groomed, so once again he looks like a puppy. I was especially happy when I saw him that he came to me first, then my son, then my wife. This goes to show that I am still his favourite. I know it won't last forever and I can already see the relationship between my son and the dog blossoming, but for now at least we can still be best friends.

After that it was back home to chill for the afternoon, including a family nap. The nap did us no favours when it came time to leave for my Mother-in-laws birthday party, we forgot to take the cheese slices! Thankfully it didn't ruin the bar-b-queue too much. We had a thoroughly good evening and we all had a good laugh, mostly at my father-in-law who took forever making the birthday girl a cup of coffee.

Now that we are semi back to normal, I can only hope for a lay-in in the morning.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

After a not long enough sleep in a hotel bed I woke up at 6.30 with my alarm going off. I got up and got ready for the day. Before long we were on our way to Whipsnade Zoo, after a quick visit to McDonalds drive through. The weather wasn't great but this didn't take anything away from our visit.

We started by visiting the Lemurs and seeing them get fed, one even used me to propel himself from one side of the walkway to the other! Then we headed to the chimps to see them getting there mid morning snack, we got to throw the bears their food, I lobbed it as far into the woods as possible, my son threw it straight at a bear. Then we had a talk on the wild boars.

We were going to have our lunch after this, but we decided to watch the elephant show. I'm very glad we did as we got to see some very talented elephants and it was a lot of fun to watch. After lunch we went to see a few of the other animals. Having already seen bears we went and found the tigers and lions, the lions were so close I could have touched them if it wasn't for the glass separating us from them.

One of our final things to do before we went home was a bird show, my wife was very brave and came along to the bird show despite being ornithophobic, I'm very proud of her as she is trying to overcome her fear so as not to pass it on to our son. The last thing we saw was the sealion show, as they are my sons favourite we thought he would like it, unfortunately he slept right through it. Good thing my wife could video it for him.

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a trip to the shop. As has become our tradition we got a magnet, we also got a magnetic pen, a sealion key ring for use in entertaining our son while changing his nappy and we let our son chose a soft toy. He chose the animal that he had seen the closest, just inches away as it jumped from a fence onto my shoulder and onto the other fence. That's right he chose a Ring-Tailed Lemur.

We stopped for some tea at Pizza Hut, before making the journey home. Once home we put our son to bed and sorted ourselves back to normality, unpacking bags etc.

I'm now ready for bed after an exhausting but fun couple of days away.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter!

I was woken up at 4.30 this morning, and not by my son. It was the dog who had decided that he needed to go out to eat some grass, he had already been sick the night before. So up I get to sort him out, my wife had already tried once. Eventually, an hour later, I manage to get back to sleep. Another hour after that and I'm up again to get ready for the day. I'm not very happy at this point.

We left the house at 9, dropped the dog off, I had forgiven him by this point, and we were on our way to Leavesden for the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Film Studio Tour. Our booking was for 1.30 and we arrived at 12 so we had time to have our picnic and visit the shop, so I could pick out all the things I wanted. At 1.30 we were on the tour, it started with a video highlighting the successes of the film series before going to a cinema for a film introduction by Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson).

The rest was us wandering casually round, taking in everything. We started in the great hall, then moved round looking at all the different sets, the Griffindor common room, Harry's dormitory, Dumbledores office, The Weasleys house, Hagrids hut, the potions classroom, Umbridges office, Diagon Alley and parts of the ministry of magic. There was also an outdoor area including the knight bus and privet drive. My favourite part had to be the scale model of the hogwarts grounds. As well as all the sets there were lots of things about the props, creatures and other details that went into making the films.

It took us 3 hours and I loved every second. On our way out my wife said we could afford to get me something, so I had to choose between lounge pants and a t-shirt. I had a little strop because I couldn't have both but I chose the lounge pants in the end. I'll get more use out of them.

Once we left the studio, we went for a nice dinner at Frankie & Benny's, other than a waiter calling me mate it was fantastic.

It's now time for bed and I'm laying here in my new lounge pants ready for sleep ahead of another busy day of relaxing tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Howdy Doidy (cup)

Today was the last really busy day of my time off. It was up at 7 then shopping, both at the farm and the supermarket. After a stop at home long enough to have lunch we were back out, this time to the hospital for my wife's last session of hydrotherapy. Then we took our son to get weighed, 17lb 11.5oz, before back home to prepare everything we need to sort to ensure tomorrows trip to Harry Potter Studios is relaxing.

We got a parcel in the post today as well which included a Doidy cup. It's a special cup with a slanted side to help children progress from bottles to cups easier. It looks hilarious and watching our son tip all the water out over himself was even funnier.

Looking forward to chilling, but exhausted.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

Just one of those things/ 112 giraffes

Today after a busy morning in the garden, we spent the afternoon at the zoo. As they are celebrating 50 years this year, colchester zoo have had 112 giraffes, 30 2.4 metres and 82 1.3 metres, painted by various people and places. They have been located all over colchester and the surrounding areas. This week however they are all in one place, the zoo itself, ahead of the auction for them. We found the big ones straight away, but we couldn't find the littles ones. We looked all over the zoo and just couldn't find them, we even asked someone where they were, he told us and it wasn't until the very end of our trip that it clicked where they were. In the end we found them, all 112. We even entered a raffle to win a blank one to paint ourselves.

After that and a lovely dinner from the chippy, we settled our son down to bed and got on with preparing the apples that I had picked yesterday. It took ages, but eventually we had prepared enough and started to cook them. We then had a few other bits to do so we left them cooking, going back occasionally to stir them. Unfortunately we both got distracted and it wasn't until I heard them sizzling on the bottom of the pan and smelt the burning did we remember them. They were ruined and all that hard work wasted.

As my wife would say to me in a situation like this, it's just one of those things! She knows how much it annoys me so I just couldn't help but get her back.

It's been a busy few days and I'm feeling exhausted and we have another busy day tomorrow before I can relax.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

How do you like them apples

Today was a very slow starting day. I didn't get out of bed until 10, my wife and son did their best to wake me at 8 but it didn't work. Once I did wake up it was out on the garden. I removed all the bad pears I could reach, hopefully the wasps will disappear too. Then I got to work on the apple tree, this time sorting the good from the bad and we ended up with a bag full of apples. If anybody wants any let me know.

After dinner and our sons bedtime it was time for the season finale of Smallville season 2. After that, as it is a very special day (transfer deadline day) I stayed up to watch the deals roll in. A big signing for Arsenal made me happy!

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant

The very first roast dinner

After the busy but fun night last night, I got a lay in this morning. It was glorious. It left me feeling so refreshed. The rest of the day was just as refreshing. My wife was out this morning, so I was on babysitting duty. I decided to fall back in love with wrestling, and I took the opportunity to introduce my son to it. Then my youngest nephews came round to have a haircut. After that it was just me, my wife and my son for the rest of the day.

My son even had his first proper roast dinner, chicken, potato, sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, peas, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. It was a 10 out of 10 dinner for me and my son seemed to enjoy it to.

Thanks for reading

Adam Edward Grant