Seeing as I went away for a week, I guess I should really mention my 'holiday' in Portugal.

Well, I took the munchkin to go and see my blood father....and apart from a couple of times that she was too young to remember, it was her first time meeting him. It was also her first time on a plane - and I was really worried how she'd find it all, but she was great. the only bone of contention was that everything 'tasted funny' out there, and she totally adored me the day I took her to Burger King, LOL. I even gave her the choice of Maccy D's or BK and she chose BK cos she knows I don't like Maccy's! Bless her.

So, we did a lot of swimming, a lot of getting to know my dad and my two teenage half-brothers, a lot of getting fed 3 times our body-weight and a hell of a lot of sleeping.

It was OK, but i just wanted to get back homt to The Northerner, work and normality.......the munchkin on the other hand had a fabulous time!

The one thing I gained out of it all was that I am SO pleased that my parents divorced. Being brought up by my dad would have killed me! He's an absolutely crap father - even worse than I'd ever thought he was!!!

And my back's peeling which is extremely skanky!