Ramblings and Rants

Norton arrives

2012-01-25T09:10:00.001Z

Meet Norton - our latest arrival to the family!

We've been discussing this for a couple of years whether to get a puppy or not -and now that my maternity leave is not too far off we decided that this would be the best time to get one if we were going to do it. The Dude did some research and we found that the Whippet was probably the best breed for us - being a quiet, loving dog that has been breed for health more than "fashionable" looks. They sounded like an ideal family pet for us. We found a few local breeders and visited two sets of puppies before picking Norton. And he is very sweet. Now I'd like to point out that yes a puppy may be hard work and before people launch into telling us how mad we are for doing this - just keep your trap shut for a second. Not all dogs are the same. They have very different natures and purposes depedning on what breed they are. We have chosen this type of breed because of their nature and intelligence. And the fact that they will suit our lifestyle. OK? I'm a bit fed up of people telling us how "mad" we are in doing this so I had to have a little rant about that. We're a middle aged couple with two kids (third on the way), and luckily the Dude is at home during the day most of the week, I'm also on maternity leave for 9 months (budget willing) and hence there will always be people at home. And when I return to work Norton will only be left alone for a couple of hours for a max of 2 days per week and even then that will be infrequent due to the Dudes shift patterns. Oh and I only work 9miles away so popping home at lunch time is not a problem either.

Can you tell pregnancy hormones are getting on my nerves?

Oh and as for B-Baby - well nothing new to report on that front except that the consultants we saw at Addenbrooks don't seem to be too concerneced over the kidney situation. And anyway they tell us that maybe at the next scan (due 14th Feb - how romantic) may tell them a bit more but from what they see its not that too abnormal. Though they did play down the DS markers and still say the "golf-ball" they said it was less likely connected with Downs Syndrome. Does that make me feel any better - no not really. I guess after loosing a previous baby at 20 weeks into the pregnancy that I will never get over that fear, I will always have trust issues with hospitals.

2011-12-28T15:02:00.001Z

worrying times

2011-11-26T09:39:00.004Z

I know I haven't blogged in ages but well life is busy. In the end I decided to carry on with the masters course and now I'm fully submerged in books and lectures that I have little time for anything else. Though I have discovered that by not eating fruit that my morning sickness has almost disappeared - very odd but there you go. I now live for decaff coffee and minty flavoured things - thank god for mint chewing gum, mint sweets and after 8 mints.

But I blog with a heavy heart today as our 20 week scan didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. After discovering a "golf ball" (calcium deposit) in the babys heart and renal pelvis dilation we were told of the increased chance of downs syndrome this baby would have. After having an excellent result from the test at 16 weeks that said our chances were 1 in 10,000. This news was a total shock and left me feeling devastated. Those of you who know me will know that 13 years ago I suffered a missed-miscarriage at 20 weeks when the little girl I was carrying died. All they could tell me at the time was that the placenta had stopped functioning and that my little girl looked like she had signs of downs but could not confirm it. She also had major problems with her heart.

So here I am again facing an uncertain future and its left me reeling. A further scan a week later revealed that the renal pelvis dilation was not as bad as first seen in the original scan. Though what was seen was still a shock to us. The right kidney displays some anomalies that indicate there could be two renal tubes but at this stage the baby is still too small to get a good look. They again looked at the baby's heart and still the golf ball was there. A very distressing day as it was a lot of info to take in - but from what the consultant said this hugely increases the chance of downs in this baby. Still thats a 1 in 3000 chance. But these are just statistics and don't mean anything now. What is left is the fact that these two anomalies are soft markers for downs syndrome and I'm struggling to come to terms with that.

I've decided to speak to the consultant about having an amio - and I know this carries a 1 in 100 chance of miscarriage but I have heard that decreases the later in the pregnancy you have the procedure performed. I'll be considering this carefully as I'd rather know now than spend the next 18 weeks constantly worried. At least I can prepare myself in some form - I don't know.

Anyway that's it for just now

Apologies

2011-09-02T08:23:00.004+01:00

wow its been a long time and this is going to be a short blog. So to catch up here it is in brief form:

1) moved house

2) still emptying boxes

3) went on holiday with my girls (got tanned)

4) got seriously pissed off with being mistreated by Ryan air - they suck and I wont be flying again with them

5) holy cow I'm pregnant

6) panic

7) morning sickness - got anti sickness pills again

8) partner calms down

9) panic - me

10) start to tell everyone I'm pregnant

11) put blinds up in house

12) bought a soda stream because I'm nostalgic and remember my gran having one

13) morning sickness is going away - so this is an odd pregnancy, from previous experience (3 pregnancies) I've been horrendously sick with them all and through the whole 9 months

14) panic about pregnancy

15) what will be will be

16) well there goes my study :(

17) do I buy another car and will it be a bus or a cool sexy sporty number?

I'll blog soon I promise - oh and Happy Birthday Uncle M!

no more withdrawl symptoms

2011-08-12T21:38:00.002+01:00

broadband finally installed and now I can surf again
erm... what shall I surf first?

Last Days of...

2011-07-18T14:46:00.002+01:00

Play group

We're In!

2011-07-08T23:03:00.003+01:00

Exchanged!

2011-06-28T18:05:00.001+01:00

Contracts exchanged, just got to book a van, change addresses and pack!

The Girl Effect

2011-06-27T15:04:00.003+01:00

The Girl Effect

Nearly there

2011-06-26T12:36:00.004+01:00

still not exchanged contracts as buyer now wants an electrical survey at the last minute before exchanging. Frustrating to say the least.

But this is what it looks like empty

Living Room

Garden

Kitchen

Hallway

Garage

Naming Ceremony

2011-06-13T08:10:00.001+01:00

Lovely day matched by lovely weather!

Global day of Impact

2011-06-13T07:49:00.002+01:00

Last friday I used my volunteer work to help set up gazebos for the Cat Protection League fete in St Neots

Record Time : 5 minutes to set up a Gazebo!

Graduation Day

2011-06-09T15:20:00.005+01:00

still no sign of contracts

2011-05-29T09:09:00.005+01:00

Path from Garage to garden

the garage

paved!

garden

Living room window

View from the garage

the side of the house

garage back door

gate to front of house

Rendering goes on

2011-04-18T11:29:00.003+01:00

something beautiful for today

2011-04-18T10:38:00.000+01:00

http://seawitchery.tumblr.com/post/4070384205/i-started-out-clicking-strategically-and-by-the

give it a try

Kitty Loves Bikes

2011-04-17T20:57:00.001+01:00

You ain't seen these - Right?

2011-04-17T20:40:00.003+01:00

we didn't sneak in and take these photos - honest ...

the stairs
living room

cloak room and utility room

kitchen

kitchen againspare room

bathroom

bedroom 3

Bedroom 2

should'a kept it shut

2011-04-10T18:52:00.003+01:00

same afternoon after I last blogged I get a confusing email from solicitor saying that the figures from the mortgage lender and builders did not match and she could not do anything until it was corrected (finger was pointed at mortgage lender). I then called my mortgage broker (close friend of mine) she assured me it was ok and proceeded to call mortgage lenders. No reply. I was not happy bunny - felt like once again our house was being prised from my fingers.

But following day I get message from mortgage broker to say everything was ok, new letter was issued to solicitor to explain it all! Crises avoided once again.

Question - why was I the one who had to do the calling everyone? isn't that what everyone else is being paid to do?

anyway some new piccies to show everyone -

Front of house

Not such a great photo but side photo that shows part of garden and back of the garage - at the bottom left hand side of the photo.

don't want to jinx it

2011-04-07T13:12:00.001+01:00

but our house has another buyer!

Buga!

2011-03-08T17:43:00.001Z

After weeks of messing us and solicitors around our buyer pulls out - leaving us out of pocket by a nice sum of cash!
No reason given as she wouldn't discuss her personal life with the solicitor. That's ok but an apology would be nice. Karma.

3 Years of Hard Work

2011-03-05T09:36:00.003Z

blood, sweat and no tears got me this bit of paper!

Our House in the Middle of the...

2011-02-20T16:19:00.004Z

Field?

Not quite in the middle of the street, more at the corner of the new development.

This is the front - spare bedroom top left, bathroom in the middle, another bedroom top right.

bottom left is the living room and bottom right is the kitchen window.

Side view - doors to garden from living room and master bedroom window above it and some view of the garden too.

Right hand side of house showing bedroom window on top floor and dining room window below it

View from the front of the house - across a parkland area and in the background you can just make out the lights from the local football teams pitch.

And finally the path that runs to the wooded area

Not really much to see at the moment - we've only just finalised the paperwork today for the carpets, tiles, flooring and kitchen units today. Fingers crossed that I can get the network cable purchased, measured and cut before they put the plasterboard up. I plan to network the rooms in the house and the kind people at work have already given me some patch cables and a patch panel to get the network started. This is going to be my first geeky project, next is to get the surround sound cables in too.

biker gets rear ended and lands on feet

2011-02-09T22:54:00.001Z

Life after a BSc

2011-02-09T22:37:00.002Z

I was going to blog about life after studying for a BSc, but you know what it sounded really dull. Yep I got a BSc, that was exciting, I still have the graduation ceremony to look forward to but that's a few months away yet and that will be exciting too. I've been made an unconditional offer of a Masters in HCI (Human Computer Interaction) which I'm thinking about - yep that's exciting also. But what's really exciting just now (and also hugely stressful) is that we are buying a brand new house. Yipppeeee!

This may sound strange but (fingers crossed that all contracts are exchanged and there are no further little hiccups) this one feels like a proper house. Detached, with a garage, spare room for guests - or a study for me. A nice sized kitchen/dining room.. I could go on but I wont bore you. But you know what I mean - we love our current house but now we have outgrown her and we're ready to move on. Did I say I was REALLY excited about a brand new kitchen? yes? oh ok then

Out Little Vet

2010-12-26T20:46:00.003Z

Emily dressed as a Vet for Xmas day

Somehow the box was more interesting -:)

Oh dear not her best side ...

Well here it is

2010-12-24T17:51:00.004Z

Merry Christmas, everybody having fun?

This week I have survived the office party (just), been a teeny bit embarrassed to be mentioned in the Christmas Speech by the VP as being the latest "graduate" to Citrix and won a lovely Kellogs Hamper (thanks notsupermum)

as well as having dinner at Frosts Garden Centre with a visit from Santa!

Today I get a rest, well not really, as I still had to do the usual sorts of things like washing (erm because someone leaked tattoo ink onto the bed sheets - picture of tattoo will be shown another time), picking up a parcel, getting Emily's hair cut, quick visit to office to grab books, reading material and course work, along with digging up slightly frozen potatoes, carrots, parsnips, leeks and brussel sprouts for dinner tomorrow. Not too sure about the carrots and parsnips but the other veg looked good enough to eat.

Well we wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year for 2011!

Wooo I got educated

2010-12-17T18:45:00.003Z

This morning I received my exam result email from the Open University, probably the last time I see one of these (*grins*) but after three years, only 1 month off from studying and overlapping two courses for 5 months - double ouch - I was (un)officially awarded a BSc(Open) - that means I now have a Bachelor of Science Open degree - the Open part means I haven't followed a particular Open Uni course path but rather chosen what I've wanted to study all within the realms of the IT courses.

But what's best of all is that I actually achieved a Grade 2 (72%) in my last exam -the last exam that I thought I had failed (I even declared to the world that if I get 40% I would be happy because at least that was a pass) so anyhooo I've managed to outdo myself with this one, I have no idea how I achieved such a high score on an exam paper that I thought was a downright biatch. Go figure or is that Woo Go ME!

My gown is booked, the ceremony is booked at the beautiful looking Ely Cathedral for the 4th June 2011 and my allocated 3 guest places have all been booked and paid for - so there's my xmas money already spent :) easy come - easy go.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all the brilliant and amazingly talented brainy folk I work with at Citrix, for pointing me in the right direction when I could not see the trees for the forests, for my friends for supporting me and for my family putting up with the fact that I turned into a horrible ogre (well most of the time!)

I now have the next 9 months off from studying, and I'm now looking forward to starting a Masters next year.

Beauty and The Beast

2010-11-08T15:50:00.005Z

this week we are reviewing Beauty and The Beast on blu-ray. The first thing Phoebe said when she saw the film was "brilliant this is my favourite film!" I was amazed as she hasn't seen this film since her early childhood, I on the other hand couldn't remember if I had seen it at all.
Anyway we finally sat down today to watch the special edition of the film. What a brilliant film! It's been a long time since I've sat down and watched a really good film that not only had a great story, a great ending and made me cry. Belle spurns the affections of the arrogant Gaston, frees her father from imprisonment in return for her own freedom, and then falls in love with the Beast - aka The Prince (the hunk) :)

Official website: http://www.disney.co.uk/DisneyDVDs/DVDs/beauty-and-the-beast-dimond-editition.jsp

Blu-ray bonus features

Backstage Disney

- Beyond Beauty: The Untold Stories Behind The Beauty and the Beast

- Broadway Beginnings

- Composing a Classic: A Musical Conversation with Alan Menken, Don Hahn and Richard Kraft

Deleted Scenes

- Alternate Story Open

- Belle in the Library

Family Play

- Enchanted Challenge: A Disney Quest Game

- Bon Jour, Who is This? A Disney TelePlay Game

Disney Channel Music Video

· Classic DVD Bonus Features

doing nothing

2010-11-08T12:21:00.003Z

finally after doing too much my body has told me today to rest. I woke up with horrible pain everywhere - every joint and muscle was screaming at me to stop. My throat had that feeling that it was a bit sore or in the process of developing something slimey to cough up. We shall see what develops.

so in the meantime some piccies to show you our pumpkin art, later some photos of what we made out of the pumpkin flesh - *muwahahahah *

i am so tirrrrred

2010-11-07T21:37:00.002Z

since September -
ordered my own 40th birthday cake
I've sat my final Open University Exam - it was not a good exam (sighs)
turned 40
spent 2 days in Dublin for training
learnt to make some fine cocktails - shame I got too drunk to remember how to recreate them
danced the night away(and my feet didn't hurt the next day)
re-kindled my love for my allotment - though at the moment it resembles a weed patch
carved pumpkins
eaten pumpkins
made pumpkin cakes
made banana and choc chip muffins
(I won't list the house work and stuff as that would bore you tremendously)
started to tidy out my clothes storage (or lack of it!)
organised to do a sale (to declutter the house/attic) - then realised I wont have a car to transport my stuff - doh!
had a deep tissue massage using odd looking glass suction cups - but it was awesome and left me with some odd looking bruises and marks
re-acquainted myself with the gym - ouch
spent a day riding to London and back to test ride a ninja 250R - whoosh that was fast
went for my first run in 2 years - double ouch
.....
next I shall be making 8 cushion covers and a taggie and spending a week in a rehab centre - well I need a holiday and this one is free :)

Part-two

2010-09-12T13:47:00.003+01:00

wow sorry left it so long before talking about our second day at Disneyland. We visited the Studio park on day two of our trip. I've not visited this park before so this was going to be a treat for me, oh and Emily.

We got there early just as the gates were about to open so we quickly navigated our way to Toy Story PlayLand and took our first ride of the day on the Slinky Dog, brilliant! We both thought that that was a great ride, excellent for the very young kids. Next we had to queue a little while for the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop - Emily loved this one, I have to admit I didn't like the feeling at all (see reason for not flying - as this was what this ride felt like). Three of you sit in the row - biggest person in the middle, and it takes you high up and then drops you - you know that feeling when you are in the plane and the plane "dips" a little and you get that feeling in your tummy? Well yeah I DON'T like that feeling.

Next we took the Studio Tram Tour and that was a pretty good experience and quite interesting to see some of the work behind the scenes of a "set". Be prepared to be roasted and soaked on this one ;)

We had to walk past the Twilight Tower of Terror - it looked like an awesome ride - sadly Emily was too small for this one.

Next we took the Armageddon Special Effects - where they theme of the experience is "your in a real set preparing to shoot a new scene" . Bit of a long winded start to get the audience warmed up, and I was quite surprised that even after all the signs saying that if you have small children who don't like loud noises then this may not be suitable.. blah blah... that some couple took their loudly crying and obviously upset small (yes younger than Emily) on this one!! I mean come on - the kid cried during the introduction, the guy leading us through this event kept saying "you know not suitable for people with nervous dispositions..." . Still this set of parents were adamant that they were going to subject their son to this. I'm just glad that it was so noisy inside that even if he was screaming , we didn't hear it! (is that bad of me?)

After we found the Stitch Live show and this had to be the best of all! We entered an auditorium where there were some benches to sit on and a large area at the front where the young kids could sit. Emily was more than happy to sit right in front of the large screen. The show started like a film but Stitch was talking directly and live to the crowd. I have to say we laughed and laughed through this one - it was really brilliant. Stitch was interacting with the kids and adults, making us chuckle as he took the mickey out of one parent, and then made friends with another girl, took her photo and then showed us the photo - how brilliant! Oh and then he swallowed the camera. Excellent - I'd give this one 5 stars.

By this time we were feeling pretty tired with the heat, so Emily played in the CineMagic area - recording her voice singing a Disney tune, playing with sounds and colouring in some of the characters.

Our last ride of the day, or last two rides, were on the Flying Carpets. I managed to quickly get a fast pass (only some rides offer this feature and is well worth doing early in the day as some get booked out pretty early on in the afternoon) , and we decided to queue for the ride in the ordinary queue anyway. Brilliant idea as we managed to get two rides out of it in the space of 10 minutes by joining the fast pass queue after our first ride!

After this we headed back to the hotel, picked up our cases and went to wait at the station for our first of 3 trains back home.

Oh boy we both were exhausted. I think its taken Emily a week to recover :)

Disney Daft

2010-09-06T18:00:00.003+01:00

You all must think I've gone a bit mad recently - well yes the overwhelming pressure of constantly studying for the last 3 years has had it toll on me - but I'm Disney Daft for a reason. You see I've just spent the weekend at Disneyland Paris! It's an awesome place to visit, and I know there is probably a bigger and better one in the States, but for someone who doesn't enjoying flying visiting the one near Paris is a far better option for me.

I last visited Disneyland with Phoebe oooh about 5 years ago. This year it was Emily's turn and at just being 3 years old I thought we could try a weekend away just the two of us. First option was how the heck was I going to get there without flying? ooh let me see - what has many wheels, some tracks and can travel at great speed under the ground? That's right Eurostar!!!

I booked tickets for travel (luckily Emily is under four and therefore didn't have to pay for a ticket for her unless I wanted to book a seat for her). The journey was was pretty good, catching an early train from our local station to Kings Cross and then walking across to the St Pancras Eurostar station, took only 5 minutes. We found a beautiful station with lots of lovely shops - so sorry I didn't have time to stop and check some out, perhaps next time. We checked in, went through security and passport control, grabbed some magazines from one shop and sat to wait for our train. Getting on the train was easy and straight forward - not like travelling by aeroplane that's for sure. I'd definitely say this was a more relaxed way to get there. The journey itself only took about 2.5 hours and it was lovely, arriving just outside Disneyland itself - what a hoot. I would recommend that if you get the Disney direct train to grab yourself the Disney Express service which checks in your bags for you, as they give you tickets to the park so you can just hop off the train and get straight on with the fun. We didn't do that so instead we waited for our coach to pick us up and we dropped off our luggage before heading back for some dinner at the Disney Village.

Our hotel was the Radisson Blu at the golf "area" of the resort which actually made for a nice quiet hotel (unlike the Kyriad I stayed at last time - noisy screaming shouting kids till very late at night). We had a great room - a large double bed for me and a sofa bed for Emily - though she took to hogging my side of the double bed. Room was very spacious, with not only a TV but a PS2 with its own screen - that if I had known the room had one I would have brought some films for Emily to watch. Our bathroom was lovely with double sinks - one for me and one for Emily.

After a nice nights sleep, we got up early, had a nice breakfast and then headed to the park to pick up our 2 day passes that let us visit both parks.

Our first call was to the main Disney park where we had our first ride on the Carousel-de-Lancelot followed by the Dumbo the flying Elephant, Peter Pans Flight, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, "It's a small world" which is a bit surreal. Next we took a stop in the Discovery Land but there weren't many rides that Emily wanted to go on, we did take a quick shot at the Buzz Light Year Laser Blast - which was pretty good. We then headed to Adventure Land and Emily wanted to explore the Pirate ship but sadly that was shut so instead she had a play in the Pirates Beach and the Adventure Isle.

By this time it was late afternoon and Emily was getting tired, so we made quick trip to Adventure Land but nothing tempted her there so we headed to the main street to watch the parade. Emily almost fell asleep on the pavement whilst we watched the parade - time to head off for bed.

Part-two tomorrow...

Film Review

2010-08-30T09:27:00.005+01:00

you all must think that all I do is watch films - well yes that is partly true, but I don't get the chance to see all the films I want to - for example I've been trying to find the time for the last 3 weeks to go and see Inception. We turned up at the cinema on one of the films last few weeks of showing , on orange Wednesday night and gah it was sold out.

Anyway what films I do get to see I like to talk about, for example I get to review Disney films which are fantastic - if you have kids plus a blu-ray player then any sane parent must buy these films. I have lost count of the times my youngest as put them on and sat through the films again and again. Best of all is that they come in dual format - Blu-ray and DVD - which is mighty handy for those long trips that the kids have to endure when they visit the relatives in Scotland (it's about a 10 hour trip split over two days - "Mum are we there yet?" - know what I'm saying?).

Ok so back to the subject in hand, this time I'm reviewing The Princess and the Frog
What I liked about this film was that it wasn't the typical fairy tale story - you know the one about poor girl makes good and her princess saves her. This was more like poor girl who has a dream to make it big, becomes a frog, has adventure with prince frog, then they make it big! I wont give too much away about the story but it was most enjoyable film I've seen in a long time and more in keeping with todays "fairytales"!

Fright Fest Virgin

2010-08-29T22:00:00.003+01:00

I have just spent a whole day sitting in a cinema watching 6 "fright" films. Fright Fest is a yearly 5 day festival celebrating new as well as classic horror films. And as a fright "virgin" Saturday the 28th was my official induction - and it was awesome. Our first film started at 11.00 am and we were treated to the Cherry Tree Lane - which was a tense film about a group middle age couple whose evening meal is interrupted by 3 teenagers looking for revenge on the couples son after he snitched on someone. On a low budget and short filming time they made an amazing film that had me feeling anxious and tense about what was going to happen.

Next at 1.15pm we sat down to watch The Tortured - which was quite gorey in the torture scenes, loved that, but sadly was a tad corny in their lines and acting.

3.15pm was 13 Hours - nice up to date UK take on the old werewolf theme. Can't say too much about this one as it looked good, but the baldcaps kinda ruined it for me, get the clippers out next time.

6.30 I Spit on Your Grave - was a quite disturbing story reminiscent of that film (which I cannot name - but lets say hillbillies, banjo theme tune and a fishing trip going wrong) . Yes I was disturbed by this film, my heart was beating, the adrenaline was pumping around my highly sugared out body so much that my blood almost turned to syrup. But the ending scenes were truly awesome and I have never ever heard an audience grimace, laugh and generally praise the originality in the thinking behind those scenes!

9pm saw us sitting down (did I say that our bums still felt fine at this point? comfy cinema seats make so much of a difference !) to watch the Monsters . A beautiful film, beautiful locations and so well put together - I definitely recommend watching this. Not so much a fright film but almost like Close Encounters of the Third Kind film - know what I mean? I don't want to give too much of the story away but see this one when it's out on general release.

Finally, 11.30pm, onto some Japanese gore - and boy these guys know how to make it! Dream Home - supposedly based on a true story is about one persons frustration on trying to buy a house to please her hard working but poor parents. This was gore, gore, gore and pretty darned good gore too.

I'm tired now - only got three hours sleep before my youngest monster decided to wake me up. That will teach me to come home at 3.30 in the morning from London.

Yes I did buy this

2010-08-29T15:21:00.003+01:00

Yes this is officially my first bike - Honda CG 125. Nice little runner :)

And this is now officially Drew's new bike which he gives a :) :) :) :) :) (5 smilie rating)

My next bike... well let's just say it's going to be a Monster :)

25 - it's a magic number

2010-07-28T21:09:00.002+01:00

Today I donated my 25th pint of blood - so that's taken me approximately 9 years of regular donations!

The allotment is still doing very well - courgettes are turning to marrows. No pictures but for the first time ever I grew cucumbers - yeah go me! A bit tough skinned but actually quite nice. Phoebe on the other hand has been getting creative making Pandora style bracelets and now wants to sell her wares :)

A jolly nice person

2010-07-22T18:21:00.003+01:00

I had a rant at the ever so un-helpful post office staff this week. I got some passport photos printed for Emily but after getting the passport documents through the door with the leaflet of rules and regulations on how the photo should be presented I thought I'd go for some advice - and who would be better than the people who check and send. Ha I thought wrong. The late opening (yes they finally opened at 9.05 am rather than 9am - grump 1), next they didn't smile or say good morning (is a friendly hello these days too much to ask? - grump 2), I then asked if they could advise me about passport photos and if the ones I had were ok to use. All I got from them was "for £8 we do a check and send", I explained that I could check and send my own form and all I wanted to know was whether the photos were suitable or not. So she chatted with her boss, came back and said again "for £8 we do a check a send service". I explained that I was more than capable of checking and sending forms, all I wanted was a yes or no answer on these blasted passport photos. GRUMP3. She said no after I repeated my question again, so I politely said that their customer service was awful and they should be ashamed to be called a service of any sort. Grump 4

I then popped into Boots store and asked a nice gentleman at the photo counter what he thought. Gladly he obliged in measuring the photo and said that he didn't think that they would be suitable. I thanked him gladly for his advice, popped across the street to a photographer and had more photos taken (and a tad cheaper than that god awful un-usable badly designed user interface of a photo booth at Tesco - passport quality my @rse)

I then thought hey - it's not often I get a nice caring person in a shop who actually gives a darn about you and goes out of their way. So I popped Boots a nice email saying "thanks for employing people who care". And the lovely people at Boots send me a nice box with 4 eyeshadows - coolio. I'm going to start emailing more companies to let them know if I get a good service from their staff. Ahem not that I'm after freebies, but heck they are nice to get :)

Hero of the Week

2010-07-20T23:59:00.003+01:00

I haven't blogged about anything significant for a long time. But after watching The Cove this evening I've been in tears. Watch baby dolphins being separated from their mothers, and callously slaughtered - all in the name of food - highly poisoned food, food so laden with mercury that it causes severe deformities in the unborn.

Richard O'Barry you are a hero

Green things part 2

2010-07-12T22:10:00.007+01:00

ok since I last posted pictures of the allotment here's an update. Now I'm praying for rain as my poor potatoes are looking a bit yellow and wilty :(

Laughing cat says

2010-07-12T22:03:00.002+01:00

CHEEZE!(ps no animals were harmed in this production. Cat bed proudly sponsored by Catit Design Senses Play Circuit - yes its a toy not a bed and he sleeps in it!)

What a difference a day can make

2010-07-10T12:29:00.005+01:00

I forgot to take the camera with me to the allotment this morning, but I did take photos of the 12 courgettes we harvested this morning.

I managed to fob off 8 of them to a couple of my neighbours. Whilst using a couple more for making some gluten free chocolate zucchini cakes and muffins.

Next year I need to remembner not to plant so many courgettes ;)

2010-07-03T18:30:00.003+01:00

Brassica section

Parsnips and carrots

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Strawberries and rasps

Peas and Beans

Corn salad, lettuce, leeks and flowers (edible flowers) cabbages

Spinich

Cucumber house (loofas too!)

Radish

Crikey it's still growing

2010-07-03T18:22:00.002+01:00

The allotment has started yield us some veg ! hurrah hurrah - courgettes anyone?

Some of the crop - 1 over grown green courgette! a couple of yellow and green courgettes and some radish.

I was there first

2010-06-17T22:28:00.003+01:00

oh my god I've stayed at the same hotel as Peter Andre (though I stayed there first!)

Prestonfield House Edinburgh - total lushness :)

2010-06-15T17:06:00.003+01:00

Woo wow wow! Kerry from Digital Outlook gave me this film to watch last week - have to admit I went to the cinema to see it in 3D and was pretty impressed. Would the 2D version be the same - sure was!

This film will actually make my collection of Ultimate Favourite Films to watch again and again. I thought I would find the story dull - the book never interested me - but the film is a technicolour feast for your eyes, and the characters are played brilliantly throughout. What other stories or films does Tim Burton have in mind to recreate? Each one his magical mind has worked on so far has turned into wonderful films with a dark edge to them - they are really so good!

And as for Johnny Depp futterwacken- wow :)

http://www2.disney.co.uk/DisneyDVDs/DVDs/tim-burtons-alice-in-wonderland.jsp

Tea Party
http://www.totaleclips.com/player/Splash.aspx?custid=1064&clipid=e67375&playerid=69&affiliateid=-1&bitrateid=378&formatid=10

Hatter Futterwackens
http://www.totaleclips.com/player/Splash.aspx?custid=1064&clipid=e67377&playerid=69&affiliateid=-1&bitrateid=378&formatid=10

Eat Me Cakes
http://www.totaleclips.com/player/Splash.aspx?custid=1064&clipid=e67379&playerid=69&affiliateid=-1&bitrateid=378&formatid=10#

I'm a what?

2010-06-13T21:47:00.001+01:00

Emily has reached the age where she now invents new words and phrases - best so far is "snootigator"

go figure what that means - but it sounds ace ;)

Green things-a-Growing

2010-06-12T23:12:00.002+01:00

Though our allotment is starting to spring into life - its still a little behind some of the others. But hey-ho(e) never mind - but its slowly coming along. My friendly allotment keepers have been very kind, one lent me his rotovator so I could finish prepraring some soil, another gave me some lettuce today and a friend also came down and help to strim some of the weeds out for me. Without them I think I would not have got this far for sure.

But I'm pleased to show you some photos of the fruits (or veg ) from all my hard work.
This is the bean/pea section - not much to look at really.

This is the view across the strawberry and raspberry patch to the end of the allotment.
This is the view looking back at the top of the allotment - shed, water butts, flower patch and the squash/courgette/pumpkin patch.

Some raddish.

A small flower bed on the left and on the right the lettuce I received.
The little plants sticking out of the black weed sheet are cauliflower (I hope)

The lettuce again

Spinich patch

Loofas

and cucumbers

Yellow courgettes

What Shall We Do Today?

2010-06-02T22:13:00.003+01:00

is often a question I think when we are stuck indoors with the kids! But we were introduced to the Disney Playhouse Website which had some really good games for kids about Emily's age. She really liked the Handy Manny - and she loved to play the Handy Manny Puzzle Pipes. The game involves her trying to fit the missing pipe and using the right tool to turn the water valve back on so the water can travel up the to tap. I was amazed she quicky got the hang of this game and now she loves it - plays it all the time we come to visit the website. I did manage to get her to look at some other games but she found the Flicker Lights the Way a little to difficult because instead of using the scroll pad on the laptop she had to use the up/down/left/right arrow keys which she's not too familiar with.

One other problem we had was that it took a little while for the website and games to run on our old XP machine, it was ok on the Vista laptop which is not great for playing games as we don't have a mouse attached to it. Still we got lots of other games to explore and if the weather turns miserable again we'll have another look at the other games.

Things you should do

2010-06-01T20:22:00.003+01:00

most of you have probably read or listened to the news about what's recently happened in international waters near Gaza - if you do one thing today please go to this website and sign your name

Please also read this blog which is being written about the organisation of the aid to Gaza, it lists the people on the ships - it also shows you how generous, kind and passionate people have been in assisting and working hard to send aid. Also note that this blog has stopped being updated - the known condition of the author is unclear at the moment as she was on the boat.

Thank you for reading today

Birdtable - FAIL!

2010-05-23T15:45:00.005+01:00

long time no see?

2010-05-23T15:22:00.004+01:00

yeah I apologise for that - it's been crazy busy in the household. Not only have I been working hard on getting the allotment ready for planting, but I had a university TMA (tutor marked assignment) to finish and get ready for a well deserved holiday.

The allotment is still moving slowly, sadly we lost a lot of the pumpkins, squash, sweetcorn and courgettes in the early May frost. Luckily today I see we still got some still alive but my allotment partner and I quickly devised a plan to purchase some young plants to quickly make up our loss. The other seedlings are looking well and I think the tomatoes are ready to plant out along with cabbage, raddish and more squash. I also purchased some marigolds today as I read somewhere that they help rid the tomatoes of bugs :) I'll update with a photo whenever I remember to take the camera with me.
Still on the news of the allotment - we had a break in, well everyone at the allotment has had break ins. 10 sheds in one weekend ! Annoyingly this time they did a real good job and mangled the lock, padlock is still ok but they mangled the metal plate. Luckily the dudes handy work secured the fixing to the shed so at least that wasnt knackered.
For now we've decided not to fix another padlock, and when i ventured down this morning to water the seedlings I was told that they had another break in last night :( They never really take any stuff - word on the street is they are looking for power tools. Broke my heart though when I heard that they had done alot of damage to the sheds.

But onto other things - yep had a brill time in Egypt - for those of you who know me the pictures are on face book.

Cats are enjoying the heat!!!! I'm enjoying the heat and I'm proud to say summer is officially here as we broke out the paddling pool this morning and filled it up. If my laptop was lighter I'd be standing blogging in the pool right now :)

Emily put Marvin to bederm not sure why but she is on the table

Marley finds another bed!

Normal?

2010-04-18T16:32:00.002+01:00

5 points if you can spot whats wrong with these pictures.

****Answer - yes he has an extra paw growing from his back!

Wild Britain

2010-04-05T19:55:00.004+01:00

Just been watching the one show and they had a section about butterflies and that reminded me to blog about our trip to Wilden Butterfly park or Wild Britain as it's now called.

Since we last visited (a good 3 years ago) they have done a lot of work and made some nice play areas like Moley's Mines - where kids can don the oversized helmets with torches and clamber in and around a "moles mine"! Not something for the claustrophobic!

Classic Films

2010-04-05T19:26:00.004+01:00

We received Dumbo on blu-ray this weekend. Not a film I really remember seeing as a child so I was very pleased to be given the chance to see it again. And it's very good, short at only 63 minutes but still a good film. I did find it odd watching a film in the original 4:3 format (which is very square looking compared to wide screen!) . I decided to watch it with Disney View Presentation where disney add a boarder to both sides of the screen to fill in the missing gaps. To be honest I didn't feel like I missing anything and it took me a while to notice that the boarders of the screen changed colour throughout the film to blend in. Nice touch. Today I watched the film again but without the added boarders and didn't really feel I was missing out on the look and feel of the film.

Can you believe this film is almost 70 years old and Emily still loved watching it - which really pleased me as it is a lovely story of a baby elephant who is ridiculed because of it extra large ears - which actually turn out to save the show at the end of the day. Did Disney like to put morals in all his stories?

But lets get down to some clips

Some comments from historians about the films ...

Some more history about Dumbo ...

Emily's Photos

2010-03-30T18:21:00.001+01:00

Photos taken with her logitech digital camera

Photos of the week

2010-03-30T07:54:00.003+01:00

Marley and Phoebe

Chrysalis shells

Spot the Alien?

Awwww so cute

Eyeing up the butterflies

At the allotment

Our first flower bed

Black sheeting - I dug all that!

Emily's butteflies are released

Butterfly cakes

Cats cats glorious cats

2010-03-27T16:15:00.004Z

Nothing quite like them

The Big Caterpillar House

2010-03-27T16:13:00.001Z

Days 7: Still no sign of butterflies

the caterpillars move house

2010-03-20T10:53:00.003Z

Up

2010-03-20T10:25:00.005Z

-lifting
Awww I so like UP! Up and Wall-e have to be two of the best Disney blu ray films I've watched so far. They contain so much more than just an entertaining animation but they both have such lovely stories in them. And stories with a point too! We should be taking care of our elderly and kids - they have so much to learn from each other - you'll see this if you watch the film.

Though the first part of UP always has me in tears as the lovely Ellie grows old, doesn't have kids and doesn't get to visit South America to see Paradise Falls - I cry everytime I see that part. But it also has me in stitches with the talking dogs - what is it with dogs and squirrels?

Dug the dog (hey who doesn't want a dog like Dug? - he's awsome)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Russell meets Kevin - but Kevin is a...

Russell

Well thats just typical

2010-03-20T10:21:00.004Z

it's Saturday, my weekend off from work, and it's raining. It's wet and miserable and here I am still sitting in my dressing gown contemplating what to do and how to entertain the kids without involving a long walk anywhere (the dude has the car today as he went to work)

Sigh. I'm thankful for the rain as I know it's helping the allotment, after all the digging and manuring I've done this week I'm thankfull it has rained to help mulch down the manure but I'm still annoyed at the weather. *shakes fist*

I'm going to watch UP instead this morning :)

UPDATEUPDATE**

2010-03-17T20:27:00.002Z

the lazy caterpillar was not dead - he was just lying down!
All five of them are now chrysalises and have been safely rehomed to their net basket, ready for their next stage.

Chrysalis

2010-03-16T20:37:00.002Z

Two of the caterpillars have suddenly turned into chrysalis, and two are just about to go, but sadly one looks like it has died - so a bit of a sad day.
We will report more new as it happens

little wrigglers

2010-03-11T20:48:00.005Z

Sorry I forgot to add that I ordered some caterpillars - for Emily's butterfly garden. Well the 5 little uns arrived last week and have grown from the size of a couple of rice grains to large hairy things that measure about 3cm long! The arrived in their own cup like container which had food already in it, and with instructions to leave them in a warm room until they have formed chrysalises before we transfer them into their home.

Burlesque Bird

2010-03-11T20:36:00.004Z

I won a prize! I won a prize! I won a single ticket to a Burlesque workshop!
For those of you who are not familiar with this form of dance I suggest you google for Dita Von Teese :)

Anyway I'm a bit nervous as I'm not known for my dancing skills (unless you include raving till 6am in the morning - ahh the good old clubbing days). But I am looking forward to it. I had a quick look around the internet and there seem to be lots of classes and workshops going on that I never knew existed. Could this see me giving up my gym membership in order to study the art of the Burlesque? Just wait and see.

I'm not feeling to great just now - I seem to be very tired at night and with a slightly sore throat -maybe coming down with some sniffles? But to keep you all amused some piccies that I didn't have time to blog ...

The Cup Cake Fairies visited again

Dotty Spotty

Ok queue the "awwwwws"

this has been the only time I've managed to get her to wear a party dress, it only lasted about 40 minutes at the part before she was down to her undies.

You've got a friend in me

2010-03-07T09:21:00.017Z

The lovely people at Disney have sent me Toy Story 1 and 2 to watch this week. Very exited about this as I haven't seen Toy Story for a long long time - and so far Toy Story (number 1) was a winner. Did I say I never had a Mr Potato Head and I feel deprived - I may just go out and buy one. But back to Buzz and Woody - it's a great story and one that has been watched practically every day since we got blu-ray discs. I have to add that once again the clarity of the picture was amazing. Can't wait to watch Toy Story 2 - but that will have to wait for this weekend as I've got to catch up on some study just now.

So here is an introduction to Buzz

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Toy Story 2 – The Round up Gang
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Too Infinity and Beyond
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

The icing on the cake

2010-02-26T22:06:00.006Z

It's been a hectic week with Emily still being a little sick in the evenings, I suffered from mild food poisoning on Sunday night and then on Tuesday Phoebe had the most awful vomiting virus.

The poor washing machine has been on several times a day just to cope with the loads. Glad to say everyone is better - though I think Phoebes stomach muscles really have had a work out. I've never heard her vomit so so so horribly before :(

love is a fluffy kitty cuddle

Anyway to cheer us all up (and spend some of my bonus and full time earnings) I bought this beauty -

And then we decided to have a practice run - the colours are dramatic!I also bought the Australians Woman's Weekly cup cake book that was recommended by a fellow employee in Australia and who I now have regular recipe swaps. I now have a fantastic red pepper soup which is simple to make and also very yummy - and I'm glad our picky-eater loves this soup.

Some good films I've recently watched have been Moon and The Hangover. Moon was a great film and story, definitely recommend it to anyone who likes films that are not so mainstream but have a great twist. Now The Hangover was one of those films that will make you laugh, shake your head as you think it can't get any worse and then laugh out loud as it does get worse! Funniest film I've seen in a long time.

Well this about sums up our week - but right now I'm so tired I could fall asleep whilst typing this. So I must go to bed. Sleep well everyone.

A glimpse of our world

2010-02-22T21:49:00.004Z

That doesn't look comfy.

This has nothing to do with me (I blame her father)

The draft excluders seek warmth

Very cheesy looking cat

Erm a slighly better photo.

I've been quiet

2010-02-07T15:03:00.004Z

I know, but it's been the usual hectic routine. This week I finally got verbal confirmation from work that I could come back full time, this is brilliant and I have to thank my boss for making such an effort in proving my worthiness to come back on flex-time. It's a 3 month trial but already I'm feeling the benefit of working a more "normal"day. Previously I was working an 8.5 hour day, through in a lunchtime of 30 minutes and travelling time and that was totalling 9.5 hours easily. Not a great system and I was feeling squeezed all the time. Now I feel less stressed by it all, knowing that I'll be in the office 5 days rather than 4, I wont miss the normal day to day goings on either.

That's enough about work. My Open Uni course started this week, and it's been really lovely to see that the University got rid of their horrible First Class software that acted like a forum and email system - to be honest I hated it and finally stopped reading emails and only looked there if I was desperate for help. This year they have taken a different approach and I can see my fellow students emails pop into my personal email account. It's been nice reading the relevant ones and just deleting the ones I don't want. Though it does clutter up my hotmail account on the odd occasion when a discussion heats up.

I decided to stuff the separate Web Design certificate course after completing the first of the 6 courses I realised that I really REALLY hated writing reports and that in all honestly I was crap at writing them too. I went back and looked at my options and decided to get it all over and done with and just do another 30 point level 2 course but when I looked there was very little left that I could choose from and it came down to picking either "Developing Concurrent Distributed Systems" or another course that involved a project - I decided I'd rather face my Achilles heel than complete another report or project, so developing concurrent systems it is!

I'll let you know how it goes - but fingers crossed, after the normal 3 hour exam in October I'll get my results in December and then hopefully I can attend my award ceremony. The cool thing about this is I get to choose where I accept my certificate, and I really fancy Ely Cathedral. Looks impressive doesn't it?

So what else has been happening - not alot, but I did make time to host 2 dinner parties for some friends. For the first one we did a Burns night and had some Cock-a-leekie soup, followed by a nice haggis with mashed neeps and tatties, and for pudding I made some Cranachan with raspberries but instead of using whiskey in the cream I used some mead and it was very very lovely.

For the second dinner party I skipped making a starter and went straight to Pheasant in a claret and orange gravy, with roast potatoes, peas, carrots and sweetcorn. Very similar to the recipe in the link above but with some minor differences. We then followed this with a choice of either apple or rhubarb crumble with Cornish ice cream. Lurv-ley :)

We (Tosha, Lisa and I) tried to arrange a night out for some grub but it all fell through when two of us became ill. I came down with some nasty viral thing again that had me feeling really nauseous ( I was a little sick) and now I have the most awful sinus infection. It was so bad even my teeth hurt. Sinus infections totally suck , suck suck suck. I've now been taking sudafed decongestant for 3 days and this has been my only source of relief though I still have 3 litres of nasty sticky gunge that is lodged in my head - grrrr.

Anyway I'm being called to watch Wall-e for the hundredth time. Enjoy :)

Cheshire Cat Says Smile

2010-01-24T12:13:00.001Z

Budding David Bailey?

2010-01-22T21:39:00.001Z

We bought Emily one of those VTech Kids Camera this week and let her go take her own photos (saves me hovering over her when she's pinched my camera - just in case she drops it!)

So here are her first photos:

Whoops

2010-01-16T19:56:00.003Z

So much for the items listed in etsy - they were removed because of infringement! I had to laugh at this as there were lots of other people on etsy doing exactly the same. So maybe I'll go and sell on ebay or freecycle?

So what have we been up to this week - well I thought I would have time to blog a bit more but I've been cramming in stupid amounts of housework, taking the kids swimming at my gym after school. Cooking meals from scratch - I made some lovely red pepper soup today and everyone loved it. Many thanks to Vicky in Australia for that recipe - she's given me a recipe for Turkish Delight cake. I've got the ingredients for that so I'll be making it later this week after we finish of eating the cakes Phoebe brought home from school. Yum Yum

Emily has started at the local playgroup, and she loves it. She goes there most mornings and one afternoon, and the rest of the week, apart from Tuesday, she's with her childminder. It means I can go back to work full time now - which is a bonus.

My last uni course starts in two weeks time - so I'm going to try to pack in as much of the allotment as I can just now. I should have a Bsc in something by the end of the year- whoop whoop!

I need to start to dig in some of the compost and get some seeds planted for the first crops of the year. We have some great plans for the allotment - hopefully Beckie can keep me right on what to plant and when we should be in for an excellent year of fresh veggies and maybe some fruit if we are lucky.

We are looking at putting our house on the market some time soon - I think its time we gave up on the council getting the garage next door to adhere to the jet wash opening times. So fingers crossed we can get the house tidied up without too much cost and find somewhere a little bigger, thought I doubt we'll find anything that has a great garden like we currently have. We could go for a similar aged house and possibly find something that has a great sized garden - ideally it would be fantastic to have a completely walled in garden so the kitties can run around outside and have more freedom. It would also be nice to move in somewhere brand new - that would be exciting.

I wonder what this year holds for us all. :)

The other list

2010-01-06T10:56:00.001Z

Things I have accomplished this year

1. Put baby blankets on my etsy shop - whooop!

Things to do

2010-01-06T10:52:00.002Z

List of things I want to accomplish this year

1. Organise 40th Birthday Party
2. Sell my homemade baby blankets on Etsy
3. Start final Open Uni course, sit exam and get my Open Degree
4. Chill
5. See my friends more
6. Buy a bigger house (well one with 4 bedrooms - we could live with a smaller garden)
7. add more things to this list

Happy New Year !

2010-01-01T11:25:00.002Z

Happy New Year Everyone!

Snip! Snip! Snip!

2009-12-31T21:09:00.003Z

Yep the boys got neutered this week - doesn't he look happy?
Snip!

Snip!

Snippity snip - first hair cut!

Snowed out

2009-12-26T16:31:00.003Z

Emily's first tattoo

Emily and her icicle lolly

Emily wearing her hat and gloves (thanks Aunty LoLo)

me and the gals spent about an hour this morning just sledging up and down the drive. Thoroughly exhausted but it was fun.

Vid's

2009-12-25T18:44:00.003Z

Piccies and stuff

2009-12-25T18:34:00.004Z

Emily took this photo of my feet and at the top left you can see Phoebe's new spotty socks

Em's and her Dad

This is a picture of the super present that didn't arrive in time :(

Erm...

Do I look like I'm excited?

Well I could be if I could get the box open

Stocking filler

Silly big sis

Hahahhahaha

ok the blog looks a bit odd at the moment - once I get some spare time and don't feel like falling asleep because I've eaten too much, I'll get round to sorting out the margins of the columns.

In with the new

2009-12-25T15:55:00.000Z

time to update the look of the blog i think

Cowabunga! Now that's snow...

2009-12-23T12:57:00.004Z

The Dam (cold)

The Dam (frozen)

The hills

Exactly where is it though?

Smile!

Erm...

The view of the drive

Icicles

Santa wont be parking his backside here for sure.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2009-12-19T15:44:00.005Z

I booked afternoon tea with Santa at Frosts Garden Centre last week. It's a really nice early evening event for the kids to have some dinner, be entertained by a clown and then quickly see Santa and get a present. Thoroughly recommend it - next time I'm going to try to get tickets for Breakfast with Santa to see if it's any different. But here are some piccies to show.

Emily and her (2nd) present from Santa
(she didn't like the first one of the toy baby deer)

This was the only shot I got of Emily and Santa

Emily and her afternoon tea

Phoebe not so sure she could she could eat the huge cream and jam scone

Partially eaten but you get the picture how huge it was!

Saying goodbye

2009-12-06T15:28:00.003Z

I flew up Edinburgh last Wednesday to attend my grandmothers funeral. She passed away peacefully the Wednesday before. She was a beautiful person, heart and soul, and will be missed by all of us.

A strange thing happened though - the nursing home had lost my Grandmothers wedding ring, they all thought it had gotten mixed up with laundry and had probably perished in one of the industrial washing machines. My father and aunt were pretty upset by this, but 2 days after they were clearing out my Grandmothers room and lo-and-behold they found her ring under a cupboard. My dad presented the ring to me before the funeral and I had to fight back the tears as I was over whelmed. It's beautiful thin gold band and fits perfectly on my index finger. What is strange that when I take it off for any length of time I get a weird feeling of pressure in my index finger - like it's telling me to put it back on. :) I'd like to think that's my Grandmother telling me not to lose it!

Just a Quickie today

2009-11-29T14:35:00.003Z

Hit the gym at 9am this morning - my work out was pretty sluggish. Did I say I'd joined the gym? oh dear I am a bit behind on things aren't I? I joined a gym at the beginning of November (now those that know me know that I'm not a gym fan - to me the world is your gym all you need is some good running shoes!) But after some thought, dark nights and a good chat to a physiotherapist about my back and foot problems I decided to take up a very cheap student offer from Harpers Gyms. Turns out my core muscles are shot after having Emily - no I really mean SHOT. Hamstring it tight, no muscle in the glutes, no anything in my abs!! I needed to get an expert to check and she found my problem all right. Now I have a huge list of core strengthening exercises that take about an hour every day to do (sheesh). Hence why I joined a gym - I need to get my ahem 6-pack back (well I can dream about it). What has worrying was when I was being poked, prodded and pushed by Purdie (physio) she pushed down on the base of my spine and it all went "crunch" - she did as if it had done that before :) Sadly it hadn't but it made me realise just how knackered this old bod is getting.

So I went to the gym this morning and managed to pop up to the allotment to see what kind of state it was in, and I wasn't looking forward to it either as I had rather neglected it over the last 4 weeks. I do apologise for that. But it wasn't looking too bad. I decided to stay and do some work on it. I removed the now rotten aftermath of the squash patch - I only managed to save 3 small squashes. But the sprouts have grown and I picked some today for our dinner tonight. The runner bean canes I removed, along with the decaying courgette plant and I started to dig out some proper borders this time. Managed to get two thirds of the way down one side and about a third down the other before I called it time. I could have easily spent the rest of the day digging out the rest but I really needed to get home and do family time.

Marley helping with the washing (again)

I found some time to finish off a blanket with the Cath Kidston material I bought :) Any buyers?

One of the squash's from the allotment

And some of our crop of brussels :)

Winter Blues already

2009-11-27T21:31:00.006Z

Feeling a bit blue this morning I thought I'd try to get into the Christmas spirit of things and watch a couple of films - so I firstly popped on Santa Buddies and yes it was an OK film but to be honest not something I would actually go and buy unless the kiddles requested it. I guess the blessing was that this was quite a short film so I didn't watch it for long but I kinda got fed up of seeing static looking puppies with animated mouths. This might entertain really young kids, but did nothing for older kids or parents.
http://www2.disney.co.uk/DisneyDVDs/DVDs/santa_buddies.jsp

What was great was G-Force - you know the one with the guinea pigs? Yep it was much much better, more entertaining and I much prefer the very well animated guinea pigs to stiff looking puppies, in fact at some points during the film I was really sure they had filmed real ones!

http://www2.disney.co.uk/DisneyDVDs/DVDs/g_force.jsp

For my Grandmother

2009-11-25T22:01:00.002Z

1913-2009

Happy 13th Birthday!

2009-11-22T11:00:00.002Z

Hand over the wonga

2009-11-20T21:37:00.002Z

Today is Children in Need day - so what have you done to raise some money ?

I baked 2 pumpkin pies and made £24, plus got my work to match that, so a grand total of £48!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/

Give, give and then give some more.
Thanks for reading

We're all sick!

2009-11-19T20:33:00.002Z

I feel the need to mark my front door with an X to say stay away. Phoebe was very ill last week with a very bad cold/flu symptoms. She's now bouncing around with excitement for her birthday party this weekend - sadly I'm not as I have some awful viral infection in my chest that is making me nauseous 27/7 - so I feel like a large bag of horse manure. I dread to cough because it hurts so much and the phlegm is so god-damn awful tasting it makes me wanna hurl even more. Emily has a cough and is a but under the weather, the dude still has his cough (that's been hanging around for at least 4 months now!).

And back to Marvin, he smells like cat poo! I thought it was just because maybe he had accidentally slipped in the cat litter tray - well it's not. He had is visit to the vet (third this week) to see how he was reacting to his antibiotics - and well ok his temperature is normal, but his mouth was covered in ulcers. Queue guilty feeling owner for not checking. But he's been eating and drinking, though not as much as normal and he still looks very peaky. The vet and I had a chat and he may have some viral infection akin to cat flu. So the plan of action is firstly to change his antibiotics to treat possible viral thingy, and tomorrow she's going to organise a swab for analysis. Which I was surprised to learn has to be sent to Glasgow to be analysed!

Anyway he's in good hands, though Marvin may not be too sure as every time he gets to the vets he now tucks his tail between his legs, and now I (well dude and I) have to wrap the little furrball up in a towel and shove 2 pills down his gullet followed by water -to prevent pills sticking. As if we don't have enough to deal with we can't let the pills gets stuck to his throat because that would be horrid horrid horrid. Remember that feeling of getting paracetamol or an antibiotic stuck in the back of your throat?

It's all a bit worrying as the vet said that this viral infection could be the type that may come back, a bit like the Herpes virus. :( I'm really glad our pet insurance covers him for any illness for the rest of his life :) Pet Plan - I'd recommend them to anyone.

It's not who let the cat out of the bag

2009-11-14T17:48:00.003Z

it's why he's in there in the first place!

Marvin was very ill last week. On Friday morning I noticed he wasn't his usual self so he took a trip to the vet and got some much needed antibiotics and anti-inflammatory shots. Thankfully he perked up 2 hours later and ate some food and had a good long drink. Today he almost seemed his usual self but still not perky. He had a prior appointment for a checkup with the vet and thankfully his temperature had gone down by one degree - but it was still high. He had another smaller shot of antibiotics and I got a stash of pills to give him over the next five days before he goes for another checkup. I've now got to keep and eye on both of the boys to make sure Marley hasn't caught it and that Marvin is getting better.

The boys have also been infested with flees and no matter how much spot-on I've given them I had to douse them in the most foul smelling spray last night - it stunk real bad. I had to do it in the bathroom as it was the only room where I could open a window without the risk of either of the cats escaping. The boys hated it. I hated it. I'm sure anyone else doing this would have hated it. As it turns out I gave the boys a good combing today and any flea that I found was well and truly DEAD! hurrah I hope I've gotten rid of the little blighters.

Some huggage from his bro'
"yeah like I'm REALLY enjoying it"

yerugh - off ill with sinusitus

2009-11-13T10:21:00.003Z

feeling grotty and snotty
but some things I've been doing recently - made 24 pumpkin muffins - very yummy, 2 pumpkin pies and a cheese and leek pie!

Emily pretending to be asleep - and Marvin happy for a snuggle

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T17:34:00.002Z

Climbing Kitty

2009-10-31T14:02:00.001Z

Marley (AKA Mr Naughty) seems to have a "thing" about climbing - so far he likes to climb chairs, people and now ladders!

Had a bad day?

2009-10-28T21:16:00.001Z

Hmmm thought so!

Blu-ray clips

2009-10-26T19:23:00.006Z

So a while back Tosha, I and our families were invited down to London to be filmed discussing Blu-ray movies: so here are the clips, I'm not sure where and when you will see them, but maybe they'll be appearing in a cinema/website near you soon!

Clip1

Clip2

Clip3

Fun and Games

2009-10-24T17:26:00.002+01:00

I've been chilling a bit more this week - though I'm just a tiny bit behind on reading my current course material I'm actually finding it a lot less work!

I even managed to go to Cambridge (last minute decision) to have some drinks with some workmates - how about that? I haven't done that for such a long time, and I think my body noticed as I woke up this morning with a sore head and tummy (personally I blame the chips with cheese that I ate).

Today my folks arrived safe and well, and after a walk to town for some coffee and to pick up some bits, my folks headed off to their holiday cottage to relax for the evening. Tomorrow we brave Tesco and maybe the allotment :)

Despite the rotten weather Emily, I and the "boys" played twister :

Green and brown stuff

2009-10-18T17:22:00.002+01:00

Emily and I spent a couple of hours at the allotment today - I was sad to see someone had tried but failed to break into the shed, the door frame was splintered at the opening as if someone had tried to crowbar it open. Everything is ok, the lock is a bit bent but easily fixed. I just hope the little buggers don't try it again.

Ok back to the green stuff - well its starting to turn brown now. I could see one small courgette left, and I think the runner beans have come to an end. Whats left of the late tomatoes are just starting to turn red but I think some more green tomato chutney may be made this year. The cabbage looked a bit worse for wear after the caterpillar battle but still edible. Brussel sprouts are still to appear, but lettuce is still plenty - did I already ask you if you wanted one? no - go on take TWO, spoil yourself. We have about 3 smallish squashes and the possibility of another 3 making an appearance over the next few weeks - I'm actually delighted with these as Bex put them in late for the year but they've still come up trumps! Today I moved the cardboard off the last area of prepared soil and spent about another hour preparing more ground for the raspberries. Did I tell you the fab guy at the allotment behind us gave us some raspberries? Well he did, and I took 12 (a bit cheeky I know) and planted them today. A couple of them don't look too great but I'll make some effort to go down and water everynight to make sure they get a good start.

I feel a bit tired after all that digging - still not easy to dig and week when I can only use 3 fingers and a thumb on one hand. The one I cut a week ago? Well it's healing but as the nail is cut through it's starting to flap about and I'm really worried one wrong move will erm remove the rest of the nail (cringes).

Today I've also managed to do 4 loads of washing, hanging out to dry, hoovered and dusted most of the house, as well as the allotment! So I'm a bit berty bushed as they say.

Oh Phoebe made the most lovely tasting apple crumble this week - one of her classes at school at the moment is cookery (though they probably call it something like domestic science these days) and this week was apple crumble - most yummy indeed that in fact it's been polished off as I speak.

Ok I gotta go - got to bathe Emily bunny kins and get her PJ's on
Ciao
XXX

Let's get ready to rumble!

2009-10-18T10:19:00.002+01:00

Exam - shazam!

2009-10-18T10:00:00.004+01:00

Sat the Interaction Design exam on Friday morning, phew so glad that that's over. Not the best exam to sit as it's all speculative (oooh a big word for me at 10am on a Sunday). Ah well, now I have to do a quick catch up on my TT280 course - which I also think involves some interaction design theory.

But back to blogging normal day to day stuff, right now Marley is being the inquisitive cat that he always is, and Marvin is being shown that you can shove a banana up your sleeve trick by Emily, whilst teenager-to-be is in her pj's on the couch playing Animal Crossing. Actually she hasn't played that one in a little while, she's been hooked on the Bonsai Barber - she even discovered it can do some magical things - eg if you spray the apple it gets bigger and bursts, and the leaves turned pink. If you keep knocking the apple a worm pops out and then turns into a butterfly - cute hu? If you change colour of the bells they play in a different pitch! I'm just wondering what other secrets it holds.

Anyway just a quick update on what's been happening - took the girls to see the Peppa Pig Big Party show in Dusntable and Emily LOVED it. I'm now considering taking them to a pantomine after new year - but I can't seem to find any in Cambridge so if anyone knows of any let me know? The allotment is coming to the end of its summer season and now we have some little squashes growing which I'm thrilled about as I like squashes. The brussel sprouts and cabbage are coming along nicely and we still have a tonne of lettuce to eat - anyone want some lettuce?

The very kind man in the allotment behind ours has given us some raspberry canes so I need to pop down today and try to dig out a patch for them to be planted in. The strawberry runners didn't fair so well but I've still got some runners at home and I'll try to get them planted in the October hols. I think that's it for just now, but I'm hoping to blog a bit more frequently!

Ramblings and Rants

Norton arrives

worrying times

Apologies

no more withdrawl symptoms

Last Days of...

We're In!

Exchanged!

The Girl Effect

Nearly there

Naming Ceremony

Global day of Impact

Graduation Day

still no sign of contracts

Rendering goes on

something beautiful for today

Kitty Loves Bikes

You ain't seen these - Right?

should'a kept it shut

don't want to jinx it

Buga!

3 Years of Hard Work

Our House in the Middle of the...

biker gets rear ended and lands on feet

Life after a BSc

Out Little Vet

Well here it is

Wooo I got educated

Beauty and The Beast

doing nothing

i am so tirrrrred

Part-two

Disney Daft

Film Review

Fright Fest Virgin

Yes I did buy this

25 - it's a magic number

A jolly nice person

Hero of the Week

Green things part 2

Laughing cat says

What a difference a day can make

Crikey it's still growing

I was there first

I'm a what?

Green things-a-Growing

What Shall We Do Today?

Things you should do

Birdtable - FAIL!

long time no see?

Normal?

Wild Britain

Classic Films

Emily's Photos

Photos of the week

Cats cats glorious cats

The Big Caterpillar House

the caterpillars move house

Up

Well thats just typical

**UPDATE**UPDATE**

Chrysalis

little wrigglers

Burlesque Bird

You've got a friend in me

The icing on the cake

A glimpse of our world

I've been quiet

Cheshire Cat Says Smile

Budding David Bailey?

Whoops

The other list

Things to do

Happy New Year !

Snip! Snip! Snip!

Snowed out

Vid's

Piccies and stuff

In with the new

Cowabunga! Now that's snow...

UPDATEUPDATE**