It has been quite the week chez Bartlett.

I should have known it was going to be a lively one when it started with my friend’s birthday party last weekend.

She is one of my mum mates and if there is one thing my mum mates like it is a party.

No matter how exhausted they are from juggling work, parenting, household and family dramas or anything else for that matter, the wildest of horses would not keep them away from a chance to thrown on a jazzy top and go out for a dance.

Most of them were moaning on WhatsApp ahead of the shindig about having colds, sore throats, migraines and the like.

But they still managed to drag themselves from their cosy homes to

a pub in Hove to prove they have still got it.

Their lovely little tired faces soon perked up as a heady cocktail of Lemsip and toffee vodka kicked in (do not try that at home, kids).

It only takes one of them to mutter the word “shots” and they are all at the bar, lining them up like they used to when they could handle the hangovers, because those days are long gone.

You will notice I am talking about them, not us, because as you may have already gathered, I am the token non-drinker.

Every friendship group has one and I am she.

I have just never got on with booze, it is a simple as that.

It has been many years since I realised I have a much better time without it and I am still always the

first, and often the last, on the dance floor.

Of course I remember every detail of the night too, which is fun for me, but deeply irritating for my friends.

They are pretty well behaved these days, and at least they know I will always get them home if they have overdone it on the shots.

The entertainment continues as they share their agony and struggle through the morning/day after the night before attempting to keep it all together.

There was further excitement here after the weekend as Monday

saw the beginning of our loft conversion.

Dull to the rest of the world, granted, but the depth of joy I feel about finally having two toilets is indescribable.

It is the simple things that make all the difference, right?

So far the work has not really made much of an impact on our lives as it is all going on in the roof above us, but my kettle is doing overtime.

The expression “rod for my own back” springs to mind, but I have never made so much tea and am probably funding an entire sugar plantation somewhere with the sheer volume of the sweet stuff the builders like in their cuppas.

It must be an age thing, but every time I scoop heaped teaspoons into each of their mugs, I find myself muttering under my breath about the state of their teeth and the dangers of type 2 diabetes.

Also sugar in tea is just plain wrong and completely spoils a decent brew, in my opinion.

So, a good start to the week with a decent night out, the start of the loft work and then on Wednesday, we got a new cat to throw into the mix.

We have not had a pet for around 18 months so having a new moggy to fuss over is just epic.

This one comes with a story too as she turned up in the playground

at my son’s school a couple of months ago.

After a few days parents and staff started to question whether she had a home to call her own as

she was spending more and more time on the premises and the kids adored her.

At playtimes she had more than 300 children vying for her attention and was not fazed in the slightest.

Never have I seen a cat so bold and at home with crowds of over-excitable children.

Yet she did not seem to have her own family to go home to at the end of the day.

Despite Facebook posts and pictures stuck on lampposts etc, nobody came forward.

So the brilliant Lost Cats Brighton stepped in and took her to one of their amazing foster homes.

We decided to put ourselves forward as potential adopters and, three weeks on and no owners in sight, we had the call to say she could be ours.

It has only been 36 hours, but we have all fallen for her.

As I write, she has climbed the curtains a couple of times

and is currently balanced on the top of our TV, looking pleased with herself.

The fun has only just begun with this one.