No More Excuses!!

OUT OF THE CLOSET

2012-01-13T20:27:00.001Z

I ummed and ahhd about doing Darcy's postcard challenge here until I eventually decided to do it in secret. The idea is that you make a postcard each week inspired by the country that Darcy chooses and for the back you make up 2 characters that correspond with each other via postcards. So last week I made the back for my first postcard from Austria.

And that is as far as I got until yesterday when I got my pencil and acrylic paints out and created the front. It's 20 years since I did any type of drawing, painting so to say I was nervous was an understatement. I gave myself 20 minutes and made myself leave it after that.

After I had done the first one I found myself thinking about the second country, Spain, more and more until I couldn't resist the urge to make another one.

I created the background using acrylic paints and then I drew and cut out a bull to stick over the flag, decorating it with red and black sharpies. I have now decided that it will be much more fun to join in with the challenge properly rather than lurking in the background and doing it in secret and I am really looking forward to Monday morning!!

TWINKLE

2011-12-19T15:15:00.000Z

I'm trying to improve my photography but to do that I need a kick up the bum every so often to remind me to take the camera out. With this in mind I set up a photo prompt group on facebook called Image Quest. The idea is that I post a list of prompts at the beginning of each month which equals the amount of days in that month. These prompts can be tackled daily or just when you fancy it and there is no pressure to do a picture for each prompt. Anyone one is welcome to join so come and have a go if you would like.

Prompt number 26 for December is Twinkle and this is my interpretation. I got the twinkle effect by having a high aperture (the f number) and a low ISO of about 400 which means a slow shutter speed and the need for a tripod. I found that mine worked better using the timer too as that eliminated any camera shake.

ADVENT

2011-12-01T14:49:00.001Z

At long last I have an advent calender that I can bring out every year, something I have wanted for a very long time. It took me the best part of yesterday to finish, there may be a tweak here and there over the next few weeks but overall I'm relatively happy with the results.

INCY WINCY

2011-10-26T12:57:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the strange angle but it's the only way I could take it with no bright reflection from the window. I did this picture years and years ago, the frame was green so Pete took it to work yesterday and sprayed it white for me so I could hang it in the fire room.

GIVING IT AWAY

2011-10-18T11:27:00.004+01:00

So Pete was ill at the end of last week and over the weekend and being a true gent he has now passed it on to me so I'm currently feeling Bleurghh!

It was my step Mum's birthday at the weekend and I took the opportunity to experiment with my brown paper and do something fancy with the wrapping. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. All I used was some brown paper from Wilkinsons, some gardeners twine from Wilkinsons and an old paperback book which I used Tim Holts tattered floral die with to make the flowers and a little hint of pink ink added to the edges.

FLUTTERBY MY WINDOW

2011-10-14T18:11:00.005+01:00

A while ago my very good friend Sue loaned me her butterfly punch and before I gave it back I punched a nice large pile of butterflies out ready to do with when I figured out what! I have a fake flower display in my Living Room window but it was lacking a little pinkness to match the room as all the flowers are white with a hint of blackness and green thrown in. So the first few butterflies have ended up gracing this display to pink it up a bit. Now I've just got to do something with the remaining ones.

ANYONE FOR SCRABBLE?

2011-10-10T16:14:00.000+01:00

Over on PInterest a while ago I saw a link for a picture that I thought was rather cute. I had a broken game of upwords ready to be sold for spares, binned or crafted with so I got to work and made myself a picture for my living room.

I like it even if I do say so myself but there is no surprise that Kyle thinks it's "gay".

This afternoon I have caught up on "Downton Abbey" from last night. I don't get to watch it on a Sunday evening as the male members of the household would not been seen dead watching it. So on a Monday afternoon I get to curl up on the sofa and play catchup and I Love it!

GRANNY SQUARE MADNESS

2011-10-09T08:25:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling pretty smug at the moment as I have learnt how to make granny squares with some patient guidance from Anita via Skype and a HUGE crochet hook. I started trying to learn about 2 years ago and all my crochet bits and bobs have sat in a sad, abandoned Asda carrier bag, next to the sofa, ever since. But no more!

Now I am a master of crochet and have 2 nearly finished granny squares under my belt. Yesterday, I could wait no longer and had to go and buy these bad boys to attempt a poof blankie with. At a rough guess the after shots will be sometime in the long and distant future as I am still painfully slow and have a tendency to get rather tangled in the yarn.

To finish with I will share a wonderfully grimacy shot of myself showing off my new short, but not as short as I want it, haircut.

SPENDING SPREE & TREES

2011-10-03T15:54:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw a lovely tree on pinterest. Pinterest is my new found love and if you look right you can click and follow me there. We are lucky enough to be getting free wood for our log burner from a log cabin making company so when we picked some up last weekend I put some of it aside to make a similar tree. After a bit of prating about we eventually came up with this. I was going to paint and distress it but I love it so much Au Natural that it is staying as it is.

Yesterday I went to spend some money on useless items that I don't actually need. Pete even insisted I bought this advent calender ready to decorate

We went for a look see around some antique units and I spotted this piece which will make 7 snowflakes for my Christmas Tree. Hopefully by next Christmas I will be able to make my own.

The sewing shop was amazing and had the most beautiful fat quarters but I resisted and came away with some embroidery bits and bobs and some beads to use on things I make in my newly decorated fire room.

A visit to the scrapbooking shop completed my spending spree with these gorgeous papers which will match my new room beautifully and a template for making felt Christmas decorations.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

2011-10-02T17:20:00.000+01:00

In fact it's been a lot longer than a while! I've got a pretty good excuse though as we have been doing major decorating over the summer. We started in the hall which looked like this

and then after lots of hard work, sweat and tears it now looks like this.

The hard work was worth it as we both love it now even though it still needs those fancy finishing touches doing to it.

After we finished working on the hall we started on the back living room and installing a log burner ready for the winter.

So not quite a before picture as by this stage we had already started but it's the best I can do

It then progressed to this

and Pete found this old back boiler full of smelly water in the depths

More plaster than we expected had to come off

After a good friend plastered for us it started to get put back together again

Eventually it was finished and we LOVE it and are now looking forward to winter.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I blog again.

NO MORE EXCUSES.....

2011-04-15T08:51:00.004+01:00

Love this and am planning to do something similar to hang in the kitchen.

ROOM WITHOUT A VIEW

2011-02-01T20:35:00.001Z

So my aim to read more books this year is going well so far. A couple of days ago I finished reading "Room" by Emma Donoghue.

Room is written in the voice and perspective of 5 year old Jack which I found quite grating to start with and I wasn't convinced I could read a whole book written in this style. However, I persevered and it didn't take long before I was hooked, so much so that I sat in a cold bath for 2 hours as I just couldn't put it down.

The beginning of the book is played out in a 11ft x 11ft room occupied solely by Jack and his Ma. It quickly becomes apparent that Ma was abducted and that "Room" is her prison, where her abductor "Old Nick" is the only visitor and the reason for Jacks existence. Ma has created a world for Jack within the four walls and Jack is content in this world, he even has friends in the shape of meltedy spoon, rug, bed and wardrobe and has been lead to believe that nothing else exists beyond this.

The second half of the book moves to the "Outside" and explores Jacks reactions to the new experiences, relationships and situations that he finds himself in. I'm not going to be any more specific as to the story line as I do not want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it.

The circumstances in which Ma finds herself are undoubtedly horrifying and yet I found myself feeling uplifted and in awe of this amazing young woman and her resourcefulness, her survival instinct and her ability to protect her son.

This is undoubtedly a haunting story which is both thought provoking and heart wrenching. Even when I have put the book down for the last time it stays with me and made me see things in a different light for a while. Highly recommended.

AN OLD SURPISE

2011-01-30T18:47:00.003Z

I got a wonderful surprise in my emails this morning from my Dad's cousin Gail which contained some photographs that I didn't even know existed. I have very few photographs of my paternal Grandma as she died just two years before I was born. My Grandmother Violets brother Alan was a very keen photographer and my Dad remembers him using the Anderson Shelter in the back yard as a dark room before he used the cupboard at the top of the stairs. Uncle Alan emigrated to New Zealand when my Dad was young and then moved to Australia with his wife Joan and children Gail and Paul so we never knew about the photographs. I got in touch with Gail via Uncle Alan via facebook last year and our friendship has grown. Unfortunately Uncle Alan died a couple of weeks ago aged 80 and peacefully in his sleep at home.

As far as my Dad remembers these photos were taken at Whitley Bay on a Sunday School outing in the early 1950's.

This is the only picture I have seen with My Grandparents and my Dad together. The lady on the right is Aunt Joan who was married to Uncle Alan.

I love how Grandpa is sat on the beach in a suit and tie.

This has got to be one of my favourites of my Grandma leap frogging Aunty Joan.

This picture of my Dad reading his comic reminds me of my youngest son Kyle minus the dashing tank top of course.

ONE WEEK IN....

2011-01-08T16:30:00.005Z

... to 2011 and so far so good. I have done a review of how I am getting along with my Doings 2011 list which you can see here if you are interested.

This week we tried an amazing recipe which we will definitely be having again as it is not only delicious it's low fat too. The recipe is here and it looks like this.

ACHIEVE....

2011-01-04T20:58:00.001Z

.... is my word of choice for 2011. I am going to try and achieve or create something every day this year. Today it hasn't been easy as I have had a headache all day and it seems that my long past back problems are resurfacing a sure sign that I need to get busy and loose some weight. I did manage to sort out our new desk that we got for our backup computer and have a good sort out of my stash which in turn has got me itching to create something.

4/365

I love this lamp it has a lovely soft glow which I couldn't photograph with my phone. It has been sat in the Front Living Room for ever where no one ever sits so it is now next to the computer in the Dining Room which we go into frequently through the day and then all sit down in to eat our evening meal in every night.

3/365

Yesterday after sitting and scanning old photos for what seemed like an age we went for a walk along the Whitegate Way returning across the Golf Course. Kyle as usual did not cooperate.

SO FAR SO GOOD!

2011-01-02T19:59:00.000Z

I can't believe I am posting again so soon, this is very unlike me. Since yesterday I have added a couple more doings to my list ready for they year. One of which is the iphone 365project which is a photo a day from my Iphone. I am more likely to do this rather than getting my DSLR out as precious goes everywhere with me and yes that includes bed and the toilet as precious #1 found out.

Today we went out to B&Q, we know how to have fun, and bought a paper log maker so that we can make our own Eco fuel ready for our log burner next year. Our shredder died a few weeks ago so this is the replacement and it now means that we can recycle all of our sensitive paperwork without wasting electricity and hopefully it will save us a few pounds next winter too.

2/365

2011 DOINGS

2011-01-01T20:16:00.001Z

So that's another year done and dusted and we are on to the next. This year I am determined to achieve more than I did last year be more creative and be more organised. This is my list of things I am aiming for as it stands today, I plan for this list to evolve as the year passes and I expect that there will be some things on it that I won't achieve but I can but try!

1. READ 25 BOOKS
2. CREATE 52 CARDS
3. CREATE 52 SCRAPBOOK PAGES
4. CREATE A BOOK
5. LOOSE 45lbs
6. EAT MORE FRUIT
7. BLOG AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK
8. TAKE 7 PHOTOS A WEEK
9. FINISH DECORATING THE HALL
10. EDIT 2011'S PHOTOS AS THEY ARE TAKEN
11. EDIT 2010'S PHOTOS
12. EDIT 2009'S PHOTOS
13. GET A LOG BURNER
14. DECORATE THE KITCHEN
15. WATCH GREY'S ANATOMY
16. BRING OUR TOTAL OF GEOCACHES FOUND TO 250
17. SCAN ALL MY OLD PHOTOS
18. LEARN HOW TO MAKE FABRIC FLOWERS
19. LEARN HOW TO CROCHET FLOWERS
20. CLEAR OUT THE ATTIC
21. MAKE AN ART JOURNAL
22. KEEP A JOURNAL OF AWESOME MOMENTS
23. TRY A NEW RECIPE EVERY WEEK
24. PAINT A PICTURE
25. HIT ALL THE BUTTONS IN A CROWDED ELEVATOR
26. GIVE BLOOD
27. TAKE UP YOGA
28. KEEP ALL THE PAPERWORK UP TO DATE
29. KEEP SMILING
30. MAKE A START ON A FAMILY TREE BOOK
31. USE THE DISHWASHER LESS
32. REGRET NOTHING
33. SEIZE EVERY DAY
34. WASTE NOTHING
35. PUT A NEW RADIATOR IN MATT'S BEDROOM
36. CONTINUE ADDING TO THIS LIST!

I have created a new page on this here blog of mine to house this list so that it always readily available for me to see. I will be updating my progress on here as I need something to blog about each week to enable me to stick to doing #7!!

So to help me on my way with doing#8 I took this after we had been for our evening walk in the dark and rain, not the nicest walk ever but needs must and it made changing into slippers and pj's that much nicer.

CATCHING UP!

2010-12-10T08:00:00.001Z

Looks like I'm on a roll, long may it last is all I can say. You never know I could be doing more than one post today.

Pete's appointment went OK yesterday, the news was mixed but nothing too bad. He has to have an iron infusion which is good as he was starting to get symptomatic with the anaemia. As far as I can understand the symptoms are worse when the blood count is actually dropping rather than when it is low. This is because your body gets used to the low count. The good news is that he is being given a new type of infusion. Usually he would have CosmoFer or Venofer one of these is a day in hospital and the other is about 5 half days in hospital to get the full infusion. This time Pete has to phone up to tell Lynn when he is available, he will be booked in, turn up and the infusion should take 20 minutes, which will make a huge difference to Pete.

DAY 3 JYC

2010-12-09T17:36:00.002Z

I'm still behind with this Journal Your Christmas but I'm still going.

We watched "Inception" last night which I found confusing to start with and maybe a little slow I didn't mention it though as I thought Pete would laugh and tell me it was my age. According to Pete most things are due to my age now, which is not bad going seeing as he's two years my senior. I was so relieved at lunch time when we were walking the dogs and he mentioned that he had found it confusing and slow to start with.

Pete is at the hospital this afternoon for an appointment with his Kidney Consultant. The appointment was booked for 3 something this afternoon and he phoned me at 5pm to say he was the next one in so he should be home shortly. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there is no bad news.

LET IT SNOW!

2010-12-08T17:11:00.002Z

I'm a bit behind with all this journalling and photography which is not really a great surprise. My mouse is completely at fault here you understand, it keeps jittering and jumping all over the place. I tried feeding it some new batteries but it wasn't having any of it so it's going to get replaced as soon as I get around to it. I don't think it will be tonight though as my Amazon order arrived this morning so now we have "The A Team", "Inception", "Rush" and "The Sorcerers Apprentice" to watch. "Inception" will be the film of choice tonight along with some popcorn and a nice mulled wine.

This is the second page of my Christmas Journal which has been adapted from last years failed attempt. Click on it if you want to see it grow.

FESTIVE PHOTO WALK

2010-12-06T14:38:00.000Z

On the fourth day of December we were instructed to go for a photo walk these are the results of mine. Mine was less of a walk and more of a dash out into the garden and then a quick retreat back to the Living Room where it is warm.

FOLLOW THE STAR

2010-12-05T18:59:00.001Z

The 3rd assignment of Cheryl Johnson's 12 Days of Christmas involved photographing outdoor lights and with the temperature on Friday being exceptionally low I took the easy option and stayed indoors. I held my kitchen sieve over the lens of the camera while I took these pictures and I have to say I do like the effect it has produced. As soon as the weather is a bit better I will attempt this out doors.

ANOTHER ATTEMPT!

2010-12-02T21:21:00.003Z

So here I go again to see if I can in fact see something through to the end. In an attempt to kick start myself into creating something I have once again decided to join in the "Journal Your Christmas" and I am also joining in the the "12 Days of Christmas" photography workshop. I have actually surprised myself as we are now on Day 2 of both workshops and I am up to date with both of them. Now admittedly I am cheating slightly with JYC as I am adapting the pages I have done during my last 3 attempts at creating this journal but I'm going in the right direction.

12 Days of Christmas Day 1 was to play with the White Balance button on my camera. I found this feature about 6 months ago and have been using it on and off since then so I was sort of familiar with it.

12 Days of Christmas Day 2 was entitled Spell It Out so I used these little guys that Pete and I made about 15 years ago. They have been out every year since and are now in need of a recoat I think.

Journal your Christmas Page 1 this is an adaptation of the one I had done another year.

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME BUT FINALLY .......

2010-10-13T15:43:00.003+01:00

... she blogs again. A lot has changed since I was last here the main thing being that I gave up my job in Aldi. The short version is that I really didn't want to leave but it was just not fitting in with our lives any more and it was making me miserable trying to keep everything at home ticking over smoothly and work there too, so something had to give. It's been a month now and I am finally starting to get over the guilt of quitting and starting to sort things out and looking forward. Looking forward to what will hopefully be my new job with any luck. I have already passed the first part of the training and the second part takes place on Friday morning so fingers crossed it will go well.

Me not working at Aldi has given us more time to enjoy the beautiful Autumn we have been having so on Saturday we went for a little walk near to Malpas that ended up being not so little.

These berries were resplendent in the sunlight and are going to be used as my "Above" picture for Our Space today.

and it wasn't long until we passed a farmer harvesting his crops, unfortunately the sun was in the wrong place to take a decent shot.

we then dropped down on to a tunnel like path

to finally emerge on a country lane where we spotted the following little Copper Butterfly (they look better if you click on them)

and these ivy flowers beckoned for my cameras attention before we headed back into the fields

The fields were full of corn so made it impossible to see a view from a low vantage point

Pete soon got around this problem and perched himself on top of a style

to look out on this - notice I have used the picture of me taking pictures of the corn and not attempting to steal any as I would not dream of doing that!

We finally emerged back at the end of the walk out on to this view which was not as peaceful as it looks as just out of shot was a football match in full swing with lots of shouting and swearing.

A DAY OUT

2010-06-29T14:53:00.003+01:00

On Saturday, after one of the worst weeks that I can remember for a long time, we decided we were going to take advantage of the beautiful weather and have a day trip to the beach. The beach of choice was on Anglesey at Llanddyn Bay, a place we discovered for the first time last year. On Friday night we got our picnic lunch and picnic tea ready along with everything we wanted to take so that we could start out reasonably early on Saturday morning. After a walk from the car park with all of our belongings on a trolley to save Pete having to carry anything we arrived here.

Where we set ourselves up to sit down and enjoy this amazing view

The next job was to get ourselves creamed up and protected.

Before enjoying the picnic

playing games, notice how I get the broken bat

and going fishing

unfortunately the only thing that Kyle managed to catch was a dead jellyfish which he promptly got stung by more than once. I had a little bit more luck and managed to catch this.

It was a lovely, relaxing end to a crappy week, just what we needed to get over Gastric Flu.

(H)AIRCUT

2010-04-21T14:42:00.001+01:00

This was my eldest son last Thursday just after school

This was him an hour later after a visit to the barbers and a very drastic (H)aircut.

it was such a relief to see it get chopped off, I just have to hope that he decides to keep a decent style for a while.

The last couple of days I have been playing with my blog, not sure why as I am not very good at the actual blogging bit! It's been time consuming but fun so not a waste of time. Hopefully it may have given me the incentive to post a little more often.

H is For ....

2010-04-15T09:56:00.005+01:00

"Hardening off" in this case some lettuce that is on my windowsill by night and outside by day.

While I was outside I spotted these "Hellebores" looking magnificent.

We are not doing much in the way of vegetables in our garden this year as most of the edible produce will be grown down at the allotment or lottery as Pete calls it. We are doing early potatoes which are peeking out ready to be covered over again later today.

Finally the Elephant Garlic is starting to look garlicky, I can't wait for them to flower!

WOO HOO I MADE A CARD

2010-04-14T14:24:00.001+01:00

I have no idea what possessed me to make a card this morning but I am glad I did. I have no idea what I am going to do with it as I haven't made it for anything specific but it can go in my box of cards ready for when I can use it.

I sell cards for Phoenix and when I first started they sent me a whole load of sample cards which were completely unusable due to the big SAMPLE stamped inside the card. Well not one for liking waste but loving recycling that's what I have set out to do. I must have about 200 sample cards just waiting to be recycled. This one came from a plain square card with bootie pictures on it.

HAPPY

2010-04-05T19:16:00.008+01:00

Today's prompt over on "Our Space" on Facebook is happy and Kyle was definitely happy when I took this picture of him in Llandudno yesterday.

WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

2010-04-05T09:53:00.006+01:00

I saw this here this morning as I was browsing around and thought it would be interesting to give it a go

If I were a month I’d May. If I were a day I’d be Sunday. If I were a time of day I’d be early evening. If I were a planet I’d be Jupiter. If I were a sea animal I’d be a flying fish. If I were a direction I’d be south. If I were a piece of furniture I’d be so comfortable. If I were a liquid I’d be fresh and pure. If I were a gem stone I’d be emerald. If I were a tree I’d have bird feeders hung all over me. If I were a tool I’d be a pair of pliers. If I were a flower I’d be in bud. If I were an element of weather I’d be a light mist. If I were a musical instrument I’d be in need of tuning. If I were a color I'd be lime green. If I were an emotion I’d be thoughtful. If I were a fruit I’d be a nearly ripe raspberry. If I were a sound I’d be loud. If I were an element I'd be fire. If I were a car I’d be reliable. If I were a food I’d be warming. If I were a place I’d be full of life. If I were a material I'd be soft and warm. If I were a taste I’d be savory. If I were a scent I’d have citrusy undertones. If I were a body part I’d be eyes. If I were a facial expression I'd be a smile. If I were a song I’d be dance worthy. If I were a bird I'd fly really high. If I were a gift I'd be cherished. If I were a street I'd be a country lane. If I were a city I'd be busy with many parks. If I were a door I'd always be open. If I were a pair of shoes I’d be green and flat.

And what would you be?

PAGE C

2010-02-18T11:25:00.006Z

So this is it the end of the C's

and then we move on to the D's which I am finding a lot more difficult then any of the other letters so far.

We watched Kevin Costner in the film 'Dragonfly' at the weekend which was watchable, not brilliant but certainly not bad.

Then last night we watched 'Drag Me To Hell' which was a pitiful excuse for a horror film. The only thing it had going for it was some extremely good jumpy bits in it. At one point, I am ashamed to admit, I actually screamed out loud. In my defence Pete had put the surround sound right up and I was sat right next to the speakers. It did give everyone a really good laugh though!

At the moment I am sat listening to this

Now I am out of ideas for D so I am going to have to get my thinking cap on otherwise my D collage is going to be very empty!

STOP THE ILLEGAL BIRD KILLING

2010-02-10T11:13:00.002Z

Yesterday I was made aware of this RSPB campaign to stop the illegal killing of migrating birds in Malta.

Every spring, thousands of birds make astonishing journeys from their African wintering grounds to nest and breed in northern Europe.

Malta is a vital stepping stone for many of them on this journey, where they stop to rest and feed to build up their strength for the last leg of their journey. Sadly, many never leave the island - instead they are gunned down by Maltese hunters.

While there are law-abiding hunters in Malta, many just don't care. And now, Maltese hunters are waiting for their government to defy European Law once again and allow shooting in spring – despite the EU's conservation law that bans spring hunting.

Worryingly, this stance could encourage hunters in other European countries to try to engineer similar situations, which could have terrible consequences for endangered and protected birds throughout the European Community, including, swallows, swifts, nightingales, skylarks, and ospreys.

The RSPB have set up an online petition to stop this illegal killing you can find it here.

Continuing with C

2010-02-07T12:55:00.011Z

This book had been sat on my shelf for a while now and I am so glad that I finally got round to reading it for AtoZ

I managed to read this book in only two sittings. The second of which saw me getting out of a freezing cold bath.

As for the book it was fantastic, a thoroughly enjoyable read which gave a good insight into the world of an Autistic teenager. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone without any hesitation.

We have also watched the film Crank 2 this week which I really shouldn't have enjoyed but did. The Crank films are very tongue in cheek action films, with rather bad language and ill-advised sex in public which made me cringe but they both made me laugh out loud more than once and of course there was some rather spectacular eye candy in the form of Jason Statham.

Yesterday I did make some gorgeous Cookies but unfortunately the majority of them got eaten before I had the chance to take a decent photograph so I ended up with the 2 sadder looking ones that had been at the edge of the baking sheet in the oven.

After a little bit more Creativity in the kitchen this morning we had Carrot, Cumin, Chilli and red lentil soup for lunch I don't think we will be having it again though as neither of us really enjoyed it and there is a Chicken Chilli all ready to go for tonight's tea.

Pete and I went for a walk yesterday to one of our favourite places Neumann's Flashes where I took the picture. The colours are true to life.

Formed in 1873 following a salt mine collapse the resulting flashes were then filled with lime waste from the chemical industry and lay filled with an unstable alkaline paste, derelict and abandoned for years. Over the years nature began to fight back and has now created an area of calcareous grasslands containing a wealth of wildlife , birds and plants resulting in a beautiful and interesting place to walk.

THE WASP FACTORY BY IAIN (B)ANKS

2010-02-02T19:55:00.007Z

Jim recommended this book to me and gave me his copy to read. I found the book a bit hard going in places but I am glad I continued and finished the book as it had a surprising twist at the end.

I'M STILL HERE.....

2010-02-02T18:20:00.008Z

....just not doing very well on the blogging front. A to Z 2010 has now moved on to the letter C and so far we have had this for tea

watched this

which both Pete and I thoroughly enjoyed. I have listened to Coldplay's X&Y album today whilst chatting to Mima on the phone.

Now for a quick catch up with B
We made some of these delicious Brownies

and some of this equally delicious Bread

I ordered a couple of DVD's the other day for us to watch 2 for C and 1 for D. Tonight though I think it has to be "The Vampire Diaries" and we aren't going to wait until V to watch it either!

BORING BLOG POST!

2010-01-18T11:42:00.003Z

Last night we caught up with the new series of "Being Human" which we really enjoy the fact that there are usually a few sexy vampires floating around does help! Russell Tovy is fantastic as George the Werewolf.

Today was a bit low on B's but I did listen to these 2 albums this morning which were good to do the cleaning too.

For tea we had "Braised Pork with Prunes" which has been one of our favourite dishes for a while now since I discovered it in the back of a Good Food Magazine.

I think I could probably add another B to my list after doing such a Boring Blog post!!!

BORED - NO CHANCE!

2010-01-17T17:43:00.005Z

I thought I might have got bored of the AtoZ by now but to my utter amazement I'm not. In fact I am thoroughly enjoying looking for B's and Pete and the boys seem to be getting more and more into it too. They have even suggested some things for B today - Burger King, Bon Bons and some ideas for other letters too - Frankie and Benny's, Macdonald's, Chiquito's ......

As it was not snowing or raining today we decided to visit Brereton Heath country park which is relatively close to my Dad's house.

Before we went into the park I decided we would go and find a geocache that was very close by and began with B. On the way we spotted this sign on a barn wall can't you see how the boys love me taking their picture.

A bit further down the path we found "Brereton Scout Group - Green Lane" hiding next to a telegraph pole covered with very prickly brambles. Despite the facial expressions they did actually enjoy themselves. Not sure I am very happy though I look like a midget next to my boys now. :o(

After a very muddy walk around the mere at Brereton we drove to my Dad's where we spent a very pleasant couple of hours before coming home via Byley.

Last night we watched Bruno which Matt's friend had left at our house by accident last week. I think I watched most of it thorough my cardigan it was so cringy. I honestly don't know how he gets away with it without someone beating him to a pulp. Got to admit that I did find some of it funny though.

BLACK FOREST FLOP

2010-01-16T18:38:00.004Z

I had been looking forward to making a Black Forest Sundae since I first decided to do AtoZ 2010. Pete and I went down to Asda to get the ingredients, we managed the meringues and the low fat chocolate ice cream (apart from the fat we decided to ignore the low fat bit) but we couldn't get the tinned black cherries in syrup so substituted them with frozen cherries instead. All I can say is next time I will make sure I get tinned cherries as it wasn't sweet or sticky enough as the sauce turned out all runny due to the lack of syrup. That said they all got eaten and there were no complaints.

Yesterday I went round to Mima's for a diet coke and some Biscuits with her and Sue and while I was there I mentioned we wanted to play Backgammon for B but didn't have the game so needed to ask my Mum. Mima came to the rescue and has lent me this rather splendid set she has. Last night Pete and I played three games with a score of 2/1 to me! Yay We will be teaching Kyle and Matt to play over the next 2 weeks.

Tonight was home-made Burgers night and they were delicious, we used a Colemans burger mix for the first time, which was 50p from Morrisons, mixed in with some minced beef. Usually I would make my own burgers from scratch with bread crumbs, eggs, herbs but now I have found this mix I don't think I will bother in the future as this was sooo easy and tasty.

LETS TRY AGAIN!

2010-01-15T08:49:00.000Z

This is my second attempt at this post as I was a day ahead of myself with the letters and did it yesterday! DoH!

We bought one of these a couple of weeks back in the sales for all of us to use. On Wednesday night Matt managed 1hr 20 mins on it which really impressed me even when he informed me that he had rigged up the XBox to the TV in the spare room so he could play and exercise at the same time. I am going to claim this for one of my "B's" as I have (B)iked for 15 minutes this morning on the very lowest setting now all I have to do is wait and see what my knee is like later on today if it's OK I will go up and setting and do 5 minutes tomorrow. The GP had said that going on the bike was a good idea to strengthen the muscles around the damaged knee so who am I to argue.

Yesterday morning I have sorted out all the (B)edding into piles and cleared space in my wardrobe to store it all neatly. I have been intending to take the bedding out of the boys wardrobes and store it all together in one place for ages but never got round to it. As the boys have more & more sleepovers I need to have it all easily accessible and close to the spare duvets and pillows which saves me running around hunting in every room to find all the bits I need.

(B)logging daily for at least the next 2 weeks is also on my list of B's but I am not holding my breathe for that one!

A IS FOR......

2010-01-13T17:54:00.007Z

.....food! These Apple & Sultana Squares were sooo easy to make and as an added bonus are a Weight Watchers recipe so kind to the hips too! They don't taste too bad either.

One of my favourite snacks ever is baby asparagus lightly griddled or grilled with parmesan cheese and a generous drizzle of yummy Balsamico Creme.

Tomorrow we are on to the letter "B" which is for Best Ever Burgers, Black Forest Sundae and Blackberry & Apple Cake - can't wait!

ABOVE SUSPICION

2010-01-13T11:28:00.002Z

This is not the type of thing we would normally watch, I'm not sure why as I love crime books and films. The only reason we watched it is because it began with "A" and I am glad we did as I really enjoyed it.

AUSTRALIA

2010-01-12T16:31:00.000Z

Mima very kindly loaned us this DVD a while back and it sat next to the TV looking all lonely and rejected for weeks. So the AtoZ gently nudged us and we decided to watch it and very glad we were too. Pete was very happy watching Nicole and I was more than happy to sit and watch Hugh for a couple of hours, can't think why that would be ;o)

Aerosmith

2010-01-12T14:55:00.000Z

Another album in my collection that I had never listened to all the way through mainly because each time I put it on I get stuck at "I don't want to miss a thing".

Alicia Keys

2010-01-12T14:25:00.000Z

I have had this album on the computer for years and never actually listened to it. It is going on to my Iphone to be listened to again.

Anansi Boys

2010-01-11T11:54:00.000Z

AtoZYear

2009-12-30T11:19:00.005Z

Shake up your life. Spend 2010 doing something new one letter at a time. For each fortnight seek out new experiences alphabetically. Which is exactly what I have decided to do or at least attempt to do. So on January 1st I will start my "A" fortnight. Not sure what I am actually going to do yet but I do plan to photograph it, blog it and hopefully scrap it too.

FOR MY VERY, VERY FAVOURITE UNCLE!

2009-11-24T18:42:00.005Z

My absolutely, totally and utterly wonderful Uncle Clive's son got married a couple of months ago and I have had a play with a couple of the photos.

The reason that my Uncle is so amazingly wonderful?
He has threatened to put me on a "Witches Blog Thingy" if I insult him. I think it is probably an empty threat though as he had to go on an Age Concern course to learn how to use his computer - bless.

xxxxxxxx

The kisses are just for you Uncle Clive

Page 3

2009-11-13T14:37:00.013Z

It's been awhile, again, but here is the 3rd page of my Oman book. It's coming along very slowly.

There is really not a lot more to say. We have not got any further with the allotment as we are still waiting to see if we are going to be moving to a larger plot, we should find out shortly. Work, decorating and revising for GCSE's, or should I say making Matt revise, is taking up most of the days at the moment.

STORM IN A TEACUP

2009-10-14T16:39:00.007+01:00

Page 2 of the Oman Book

not that keen on this layout but wanted it simple and sand storm like

CARLESS & STRANDED

2009-10-14T08:33:00.008+01:00

While I am sat here carless and stranded for the rest of the day while she is being MOT'd what better to do than procrastinate! And what better way than blogging is there to procrastinate?

I don't seem to be able to blog with out putting a photo in. I'm not sure why it just feels wrong with out one.

The first page of my Oman 2009 book.

click on the picture to see it larger

I'm not very good at remembering where I get elements from but I do know that the frames are Weeds & Wildflowers.

DIGGING IN THE DIRT

2009-10-13T15:20:00.000+01:00

Plot No 17 has been ours for a whole week now and this little spade has been used a whole lot

We've dug some soil here

and here

we have sat eating chocolate in the beautiful sunshine

we even still have a few leeks left waiting to be pulled but for the time being we are digging around them and leaving them in peace.

WHO'S GARDEN WAS THIS

2009-10-11T14:13:00.005+01:00

On Monday we got the keys to this place - Plot No 17

As you can see it is VERY overgrown and is going to take a lot of hard work to get in order.

We started digging and look what we found on the 2nd day!

It made some lovely Leek and Potato Soup.

COLD

2009-09-09T09:09:00.001+01:00

HSMSHS has now moved to a new Facebook group which means I am more likely to join in as I spend a fair amount of time there!

Taken at Nantcol Waterfalls - his face says it all!

Today Pete goes to the hospital for a heart scan to see if there is any reason that he ended up in A&E with a dodgy ticker a couple of weeks back. Fingers crossed that they don't find anything.

15 YEARS AGO TODAY

2009-08-25T14:31:00.003+01:00

AT ONE WITH NATURE

2009-08-22T19:37:00.001+01:00

......sort of. The weather was so nice today that we decided that a visit to the beach was called for. Due to the fact that it is only 10 minutes drive away from the campsite Shell Island was the beach of choice. Little did we know that we couldn't get to it as the tide was in so after a quick reverse and 3 point turn with waves lapping at our tyres we headed off to Barmouth.

After a couple of hours lazing on the beach or paddling in the sea we went to hunt for food. We found "Good Luck" takeaway and "Chucks" diner neither of which sounded very promising!!! After the boys had footlong hotdogs they decided they wanted to go back to the campsite to play in the river. (photos to follow off the good camera).

I did dip my feet (and legs) but I have to tell you it was freezing, I have no idea how Pete and Kyle went swimming in it. A quick climb up my
mountain so that I could get a signal strong enough to log on meant that I could look for any geocaches in the area. Amazingly enough we were practically sat on one where we were so a very quick find.

And so I have caught up to now where I am sat clicking away on my iPhone looking at this.

I promise the burgers smell more appetising than they look -a bit smokey maybe but nice. So now it's time to eat. followed by a quick climb so that I can post.

-- Post From My iPhone

ON THE MOVE

2009-08-22T08:20:00.000+01:00

This is now my third attempt at blogging whilst away. I did manage a full one last night at the top of the hill behind the tent (I need to go there for a signal strong enough to post). I had just pressed send and everyone decided to leave me there in the dark so I gave up and ran after them - what a wus!

I am sat here on the campsite with my cup of tea being amazed by how some people can behave. Whenever we go camping we get them, we seem to be drawn to them. You know the ones. They are the ones that don't think there is nothing wrong with shouting and banging car doors at 1am on an otherwise silent campsite. The ones who have 2 large dogs who think they own the site and can crap anywhere without it being picked up. The ones who have I don't know how many young sons who when the whole campsite is asleep at 6.30am run up and down screaming and the parents see no wrong in it. The ones who don't appear to be leaving anytime soon but will hopefully be too knackered to make any noise tonight.

I never ever sleep well on my first night of camping, never have, never will. Even the sheep and owls kept me awake and I swear that waterfall sounds like an approaching tornado in the middle of the night. Despite all this we are having a wonderful time and even have some very promising blue skies for the second day running.

Yesterday was Pete's 41st birthday and for a present we took him buggy driving near to Llandudno. It was a great success and we are planning to go again for a full day without the boys.

Right I have finished writing so now I am going to climb the mountain which allows me to post.

PHOTO TEST THIS TIME

2009-08-20T16:57:00.000+01:00

Photo taken yesterday while walking the dogs.

-- Post From My iPhone

TESTING TESTING

2009-08-20T16:56:00.001+01:00

Just thought I would give this a quick go before we are away for the weekend to see if it works. If it does I can blog from anywhere!

-- Post From My iPhone

NEW LOOK

2009-08-04T08:52:00.002+01:00

Yet another attempt by me to resume my blogging. So I will start with a new girly look which is so not me but I like it, I would prefer it in a nice green but pink will do for now.

I'm sat here relegated to the dining room again as the house is full of teenage boys who spent the night here last night. I really can't complain they are a good group and have not been a scrap of trouble my only complaint is that they have made my living room smell of boy. They all (4 of them) stayed downstairs last night in the two living rooms playing on the XBox's all night with not a lot of sleep going on. Matt is going to be truly obnoxious later on as he really doesn't do tired very well at all.

Just a quick one from me today to ease myself into it again. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow ........

RED TAMIFLU

2009-07-17T10:30:00.003+01:00

I seem to be feeling a little better today not 100% but not as awful as I have over the last few days. My appetite is not back to normal but at least I can now eat a small amount. and the headache has not gone completely but is definitely not as bad. I'm not complaining though as I have lost 7lbs since last weekend. Pete came home yesterday and said he had been listening to the radio and thought we had Swine Flu. This is something that hadn't crossed our minds at all until last night so we went and did a symptom checker which told us to phone the GP. As it turns out there is a good chance we have Swine Flu but seeing as they don't test you now we will never know for sure. I always thought that you got a runny nose etc with flu but apparently not. My temperature, chills, sweats, nausea, lack of appetite, fatigue, aches, pains and severe headache are all major symptoms. The Doctor said that Pete had to go on to Tamifu straight away as he is 2 of the high risk catagories and it is "better to be safe than sorry". and that there are lots and lots of cases of it in our town.

That only leaves one thing which is my photo for today's HSMSHS my beautiful RED day lily.

2 DRY CRACKERS AND HALF A PACKET OF QUAVERS.......

2009-07-16T16:35:00.005+01:00

..... is all I have had to eat over the last 48 hours so not really up to doing a long blog today. I don't think the 48 hour long (so far) headache is helping much either as I can only look at the computer screen for about 5 minutes at a time.

so there you have it my pictures for HSMSHS for yesterday and today.
x

Fun and bugs

2009-07-14T10:50:00.004+01:00

I'm sitting here with both of the boys off school with some sort of stomach upset, bug type thing. Not fun at all. So while they wallow in self pity in the Living Room I have been playing with Photoshop, stopping every so often to throw the boys a sympathetic comment or bottle of lucozade.

I have been scanning a lot of pictures lately and have been playing with some old family photos, removing scratches, stains, creases etc. I'm rather pleased with the results.

My Grandma - Violet in about 1927ish

My Great Grandfather Alexander Robert Farrow in India

Over the weekend I decided that my empty chimney breast needed a little bit of something to liven it up so went and bought myself a load of black frames to arrange into a collage. I have 4 pictures being printed in Asda as I write this - can't wait to pick them up. This is one of them. I will show the whole collage when it has been completed - don't hold your breath though it could take me years!

Seeing as I am here anyway I may as well have a go with HSMSHS so here are mine for yesterday and today.

I took this one at about 6.30 this morning while the sky was still blue

and this one is being printed for my wall

Look at me!

2009-06-30T12:54:00.003+01:00

Posting 2 days on the trot there must be something wrong. It might have something to do with it being too hot to do anything else - time will tell.

I have managed to get outside with the camera in the last couple of days and play around with some macro shots. Including this little "beauty" for todays's prompt at HSMSHS a Wild Orchid that we spotted whilst walking the dogs.

I'm off now to go and do some more pratting about with photos.

Back for Good ????

2009-06-29T10:26:00.006+01:00

I have been meaning to get back into blogging for a while now but never seemed to get around to it. Yesterday I started a new Flickr account and deleted my old one which meant that all my pictures on here have now disappeared so that means I have to come back here and sort it all out. While I am doing that I may as well blog too!

Today's word over at HSMSHS is Forbid and I couldn't resist sharing this picture that we took in Oman in Febuary - it made us laugh. Click the picture to see it larger.

Birthday Bonanza

2009-04-23T13:26:00.011+01:00

Last weekend to celebrate my 39th birthday, Pete and I dumped the kids and took ourselves off up to York. This little break away nearly broke the bank as the room cost us £9 a night, how good is that!!

On Saturday we got up real early so that we could get into York while it was still empty to take some photographs in the wonderful sunlight. This is after I got breakfast in bed with it being my birthday which involved Pete throwing a banana at me from the other side of the hotel room - who says romance is dead?

We entered the city through here

with these guys looking down on us

We strolled around the nice and empty walls

to look at views like this

we then dropped down into the city centre

took a walk down the very empty "Shambles"

a visit to the castle

a phone call from my boys to wish me Happy Birthday

luckily Pete took this shot of me pointing at something I was telling Matt about on the phone which is my shot for today's prompt over at HSMSHS

and last but not least we went shopping where Pete got me this

which contained this

CROWD CONTROL

2009-04-21T06:59:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we moved the doggy area to the back of the garden and as soon as we put the picket fence up Bilbo the border collie decided that he could jump it. For 5 years that dog has stayed put behind the exact same fence but now he decides he can get over it! Resulting in me spending the weekend painting lots of trellis so that it could be used to put him off jumping the fence anymore. A very tedious job but very handy for today's prompt of "paint" over at HSMSHS

The dogs are allowed in the rest of the garden when we are out there with them but left on their own they find their own amusement in the form of digging up my plants and swimming in the pond with the tadpoles and newts. This is the number one culprit don't be fooled by those sweet eyes he is trouble on legs and stupid with it.

Two plants that benefit with the dogs not digging are my 'tatoes which are growing very nicely and have loved all the sunshine

and my beautiful budding blueberries.

BRIDGE 32

2009-04-15T09:26:00.006+01:00

Just a quick one from me today as I have loads to do and I am in work at 2pm so I can only hang around here long enough to do today's prompt at HSMSHS.

To divide, wound or detach with an edged instrument.

Taken on the canal last week. We had to go through a lot of cuts like this one. We spent a night in a cut under a haunted bridge we never have found out why a screaming monkey would haunt a canal bridge in the Midlands???

NO APOLOGY NECESSARY

2009-04-14T09:53:00.005+01:00

It's been a while but I'm not sorry about it, I just didn't feel like it.

I'll just do a quick catch up with a couple of photos. On Mother's Day we went to Llandudno where we did this...

.... that's right we went all that way to look stupid at the top of the Great Orme.

Kyle had a birthday which turned him into a dreaded teenager, no photos of this I am afraid as for some reason I gave the camera to Pete and lets just say the delete button had to be pressed more than once.

Last week we spent the week ships ahoy on the four counties ring with 101 locks on a not so leisurely holiday.

Day number one about an hour after setting off while everyone was still walking and reasonably awake.

Towards the end of the week even I was brave enough to drive. Oooo aarrrr me hearties.

In another attempt to keep up with my blogging and photography here are my HSMSHS pictures for the last 2 days.

Taken at Coney Island Aquarium last year and I promise the only editing I did was to unsharpen it a little bit.

Taken in Oman in Feb

I know I haven't taken them today but at least I have managed to edit 2 pictures out of my HUGE to edit file.

I now consider myself caught up, even if it is very brief, so tomorrow I will hopefully start afresh and as I mean to go on.

A DAY AT THE DRINK

2009-03-12T10:08:00.006Z

Today's word over at HSMSHS is "drink" which is perfect for the next instalment of my holiday pictures as it is the day we spent at Sefeer Beach.

Feb 16th 2009

I couldn't believe it when we got to the beach and saw this it couldn't have been more perfect. We had gorgeous blue skies, blue sea and a stunning beach.

For the boys we had rock pools to investigate.

This little guy made Pete jump out of his skin and squeal like a girl.

I spotted this dead fish when we were beach combing.

and then accidentally kicked this poor little puffer fish as I was walking past. I say little but he was rather on the large size as you can see by my footprint below him.

After a lot or searching we eventually found an empty spot to set up ready for our picnic

ready for the locals to drop by for a spot of lunch.

Whilst sitting we saw this.

After lunch it was time for a little walk along the coast where all the shells seemed to move.

Just to show that we did put him back and no wildlife was harmed in the making of this blog

The beach was littered with coral.

We clambered over some rocks at the far end of the beach and came across this

The boys did a lot of this

and Pete did a lot of pebble searching

and throwing. I will add here that it was hot he just doesn't strip off due to the fact he burns easily and with the immuno-suppressants he is on he has to be extra, extra careful in the sun.

These are the only other people we saw all day

The journey home was equally as spectacular

A couple of days later I read the local paper and there was an article in it about Sefeer Beach. Unfortunately it has been earmarked for development and in the very near future 4 hotels, a golf course, some residential flats and many other things will be springing up along that beautiful beach it really is a crime.

It went on to say that they need to get it right unlike Dubai. Apparently Dubai has grown so quickly that the infrastructure is not sufficient. Sewerage over there is collected and transported to the sewerage works via tankers. Oman has green, yellow and blue tankers for fresh water, used water and sewerage. In Dubai the amount of sewerage has grown but not the works so the tanker drivers, instead of queueing in large queues, have been piping it out to sea to save time. Consiquently the waters around Dubai are now contaminated and will remain so for many, many months to come. They are now looking in to starting a flag scheme for their beaches similar to the one we have over here.

MAMMOTH BLOG

2009-03-09T20:19:00.005Z

Be warned this is a very photo heavy post mainly due to the fact that I couldn't choose between them and the day I am blogging about was fantastic. And of course the pictures tie in with today's word of "Travel" and yesterdays word of "consume" over on HSMSHS.

Feb 15th 2009

At 7.30am we were sat in Roberts car at a petrol station while it was being filled up with petrol, no self service here you understand a little man sits on his chair waiting to fill you up even at the Shell garages. The grand total for a huge 7 seater 4x4 filled from empty? An amazing £16, unbelievable.
I will mention at this point, seeing as I am on the subject of cars, that while we were over in Oman Robert cleaned his car no less than 3 times. The reason for this is that it is actually illegal to have a dirty car, it was during the journey I am blogging about that, Robert told us that a friend of his had been pulled over by the police and fined for having a dirty car!!!

Our first stop was at this abandoned village called Birket Almuz.

This house is still lived in.

We climbed up through the village in the heat.

Until we reached the top and found a falage. The breeze block building over the falage in the distance is a bathroom that is still used daily!

I mentioned before about the lack of health and safety. See the roof? We were walking on that.

But the views were more than worth the risk.

We spent about an hour at the village wondering around before we carried on up the mountains to Nizwa. Where this amused me.

The shop signs are all very obvious we saw "Sale of Chickens", "Repair of Car Batteries", Fauq Money Shop" and many more.

It wasn't only the shop names that amazed us. This bridge is being repaired after the typhoon that hit in 2007. Amazingly enough the car park we were in, the road, in fact everything you see is on a Wadi bed and is devastated when it rains. I just find it very strange that they still just rebuild everything back where it was.

Our next very brief stop was to take pictures of another abandoned village with a working plantation next to it.

Further up the Jabals we needed to stretch our legs, amongst other things. So we stopped in the middle of nowhere and to our amazement found a football pitch. That light patch on the left of the picture about half way up, it has goal posts and everything. No sign of a village or anything!

Pete very kindly took a picture of me trying to find a bush. I can tell you now that they are very few and far between in Oman!!

Eventually we reached our destination Jabal Sham. Jabal Sham is about 2800m above sea level and the last leg of the journey saw my knuckles turn white as it was a very steep dirt track.

We parked up, got out and started to walk towards the viewing spot when I looked down and spotted this.

You can't tell from the picture but the round bit it larger than your fist and they were everywhere, all over the floor.

At this point Margaret (my mother in law) was more sensible than we were she sat down and watched from a distance. Notice the wry smile on her face - she knew what was coming.

Pete of course had to get as close as he could to the sheer 1000m drop. Not sure how I managed to take pictures as at this point I was close to panic.

At this point I was nearly wetting myself.

And by this time I was yelling at them all and as soon as the camera was put down my arms started to flap in panic.

While we were up there we did feel the effects of the altitude as if we tried to move quickly it was a struggle. We couldn't believe that people actually live up there in this village.

When looking down over the ledge Pete took a picture of this abandoned village half way down the rock face. Don't worry I can only see the terraces too but I am assured that there is a village there somewhere.

Right down at the bottom, 1000m away Pete zoomed into this village sat right on a Wadi.

We then moved across the mountain a tiny bit where the locals decided to join us for a picnic. I swear there was not a goat to be seen until the cool box was opened and then within minutes we were surrounded by loads of the greedy little buggers.

"Consume"

On the ground we had the goats surrounding us trying to get food and above us we had some Egyptian Vultures circling us trying to get food. It was worse than being at home with 2 dogs coming running every time you open a cupboard.

We left the Jabal and drove to a cave (can't remember the name and I can't find the leaflet). We were supposed to get a train to the entrance but the damn thing had broken down so we had to walk in the heat instead. When we got to the cave we were told that cameras were not allowed so we had to hand them over to be put in a box. I can tell you the next 45 minutes were panic stricken for me, worrying about my baby. We did see some rare bats flying around and some blind cave fish, the cave as a whole was pretty impressive too. Pity I couldn't get any pictures.

After another stop in Nizwa, a drink and a snack in a hotel we headed home seeing some wonderful views on the way.

CRAFTY LINK

2009-03-07T13:41:00.005Z

Today is SPS on HSMSHS which means Self Portrait Saturday so I thought I would tie this in with the next day of our holiday as there are plenty of Self Portraits or somebody else's portraits to choose from.

Feb 14th 2009

This day was to be a quiet day as Robert had to go into work. Saturdays in Oman are like Mondays in the Western world. So we spent the day shopping and then looking out on this view from the beach at PDO for a couple of hours.

It was then time for us to go and get ready for our first ever hash. Pete's parents have been hashing for donkey's years and were not going to miss out on one because we were there so we were taken along too. A hash is a fitness / drinking / socialising event. Basically we turned up in the middle of nowhere to follow a trail of flour. As soon as we got there the boys ran up the first hill they could find, I don't think they realised that they were going to be doing that for the next 90 minutes.

I looked on nervously wondering how on earth Pete was going to manage to do this and then carry on with the holiday. We all had to sign in for safety reasons - basically they would know what name to call when we got hopelessly lost in the wilds. Health and safety is not top of the agenda in Oman.

Then we were all off, about 40 of us in total. See the man in the yellow stumbling well that's what I thought you had to do so of course I followed suit and ended up on my bum on top of a thorny dessert plant.

So for the next 30 minutes I was picking spikes out of my arse. In fact I looked last night (not a pretty sight) and the marks are still there 3 weeks later!!!

After we got back to the cars, knackered, hot, thirsty, dusty and in my case sore it was time for the circle. Well it was when everyone else got back I am pleased to say we did not shame our selves as Matt and Kyle were first back to the camp with Pete and I not far behind. Everyone then had to stand in a circle while announcements were made which highly amused the boys as everyone has a hashing name. My inlaws are known as "Techinical Fornicator" and "Easy Wider" also there were "Dr Death", "Testicle Chicken Legs", "Where the **** are we" as you can imagine this is an adult hashing group, we had been warned and decided that the boys heard worse language at school so didn't have a problem with it. It was then our turn to stand at the front and be handed a drink each. Matt was nominated the spokesperson so he said a few words on our behalf and told the group we were staying with "them 2 over there" after the laughter had subsided everyone started singing and we had to down our drinks in one and put the cups on our heads. We all got a T-shirt with the date and event on it and I got a single red rose along with all the other lady hashers. We left in the dark very tired but looking forward to our next hash in a weeks time.

Since our return we have found a local hashing group which isn't just for adults and we are hopefully going to go and try it out tomorrow.

JUST AN OUTLINE

2009-03-06T08:54:00.002Z

This picture taken from inside Nakhal Fort while we were away is perfect for today's prompt over at HSMSHS so I thought I may as well join in today.

I'm struggling with my holiday photos, all 1500+ of them, as I just don't seem able to find the time to sort them out and share them. I will get there eventually and don't panic I'm not going to share all of them just a select few.

LONG OVERDUE POST

2009-03-02T18:03:00.004Z

FEB 13TH 2009

We woke up this morning to clear blue skies, sunshine and less dust in the air. The boys jumped into the pool before breakfast again while Margaret and I got a picnic ready to take with us on our trip out.

There were plenty of pit stops to grab more drinks from the cool box and stretch our legs. During the climb up this Jabal to get some photos I managed to get a thorn stuck in my forehead much to everyone's amusement.

Our first call was at a place called Nakhal where we visited the Fort which stands proudly surrounded by plantations.

In Oman the different districts are called Wilayats and the "Governors" of these areas are called Wali's. The Wali would have once lived, with his wives, in the Fort, now they live in beautiful and large houses.

After wandering around the amazing Fort we headed up through the very narrow, very crowded streets, due to the Mosque just closing, up to the hot springs for our picnic.

The people in the foreground are bathing and washing clothes in the warm water

We found our spot in the shade ate our picnic and hunted for fish in the warm water and found some along with a frog.

A bit further on we ran out of "black top" and dropped down into the Wadi Al Abyad to continue our journey. Wadi's are dried up river beds that become full when the rains come. It can be years between rain falls and a relatively small amount of rain (a days worth in the UK) can cause devastating flash floods filling the whole Wadi (all the grey stone in the picture).

We got out on the Wadi bed and listened to absolutely nothing, total silence like I have never heard before and played about in the small amount of water still there.

A bit of local wildlife taken from a moving car through the window

Before heading home we drove up to Barka to watch the bull fighting. The bull fighting here isn't like we know it instead it is bull against bull. They turn up on the back of pick up trucks to be unloaded and tied to a post to wait their turn. We are not sure how the bulls are chosen as it all seems a bit random. Two bulls are lead into the centre of the "ring" to face each other, the men let go of the tethers and the bulls fight. Each bout lasts only a matter of minutes before the bulls tethers are caught and the bulls removed from the ring. As far as we could work out it was rather like Bull Sumo and the bull pushed out of the ring lost. The spectators were all male and they seemed to be there more for the social aspect than the sport. No one cheered or clapped during the whole time we were there - very bizarre indeed.

HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING

2009-02-23T09:58:00.006Z

FEB 12th 2009 2.20pm

It's about 28c, the boys are in the pool, Pete is asleep and I am sat on the deck in the hazy sunlight writing this. Despite going to bed at 2am Oman time (6am our time) we were up at 7.25am and Kyle was in the pool by 7.30am.

Yes this is how he sun bathes!

So far the day has been spent having a driving tour of Muscat, a quick drive up into the mountains where I didn't take any photos due to the dust storm that we are experiencing. From what we CAN see it is totally stunning here and I can't wait to start snapping away.

We ate lunch at a little place called "Stomach" which was delicious and now it is Siesta time. In a little bit we will be heading out to enjoy the last day of the Muscat Festival before going out to a Hawian themed party, held by Robert & Margaret's friend, later on this evening.

Taken just outside "Stomach"

Pete's Dad outside "Stomach"

FEB 12th 2009 10.50pm

The Muscat Festival was amazing the sights, sounds and smells were a totally new experience for us.

Pete's Mum playing odd one out

The men were mainly dressed in dishadasha's some of them even carried a khanjar which is a curved dagger worn at the waist.

The women were dressed in various ways but many wear an abaya some are fully veiled but most are not. Each region of Oman has different national dress for the women if they are not wearing the Abaya. Needless to say we stood out like sore thumbs as there are not many western visitors over in Oman at the moment.

We tried a traditional dish that was basically eggy bread cooked on a flat plate thingy and got some freshly squeezed candy cane drink which I can honestly say is the most revolting thing I have ever tasted strangely enough everyone else loved it.

The different tribes were singing and dancing.

There were displays of local culture and crafts.

The boys enjoyed a camel ride.

The small boy guiding Matt's camel wasn't so happy though as he got the fright of his life when Matt nearly crashed over the camels head onto him.

Look how quickly his arm is moving in panic!

We finished the day off at the party eating the most delicious Indian food I have ever tasted before going home for a well earned sleep.

I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked at the festival as I knew that in Oman you are not supposed to take pictures of people or their belongings with out asking permission first as it is frowned upon. Since returning home I have learnt that the pot of burning stuff on top of the ladies head is frankincense which is burnt mixed with charcoal. There are a lot of young women now choosing to wear the black Abaya's when they go out according to Robert this is a trend that has become much more popular in the last couple of years.

ARE WE THERE YET?

2009-02-23T09:46:00.000Z

Or more to the point are the bags there yet?

FEB 11th 2009

After a night of no sleep at all I was bright eyed and bushy tailed, the numerous pig parts were packed away in the bags and we were all ready to leave for the airport at 5.55am.

Manchester Airport was as tedious as ever with the only bit of excitement being provided at security. It started when my boarding pass, which we had printed at home, was rejected meaning I had to go all the way back to check in to get issued with a new one while the males of the party waited for me on "the other side".

Once through Pete and Kyle set of the bleep machine that you walk through so whilst Pete was stripping himself clean of anything metal and Kyle was being frisked, much to his disgust, I was attempting to persuade a nice man that we needed Pete's cough medicine to be allowed through even though it wasn't prescription.

We flew with Ethiad airlines and the plane was complete luxury compared to the Canada flights we have been on. We got complimentary flight socks each, padded headphones, drinks of our choice soft and alcholic and a menu to choose our inflight meal from. The next 7 hours were pretty boring really with the time spent watching films, in my case Wall E and City of Embers, and playing games on the entertainment system. I even managed to win £1m on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" just before we landed in Abu Dhabi.

The landing cameras were then all turned on and we all watched our descent down to the brightly lit runway. Just as we were bracing ourselves for touch down the thrusters roared back into life and we were suddenly hurtling skywards at a rate of knots. Now despite what Pete says I wasn't scared, I didn't nearly wet myself and I didn't clutch on to him for dear life and if I did happen to do one or two of the above it was only to make him feel better. 10 minutes later a new attempt was made on a different runway with no strong tail winds.

After a short wait the 2nd flight of the day turned out to be much more interesting than the first. We all filed onto the plane where everyone other than ourselves and one other family were Arabs. This is where we learnt pretty quickly that they must bathe in smellies as the stench of musky aftershave was overpowering. Everything was ready for take off apart from a missing passenger who arrived late and then the silly man decided that he didn't like the seat he had been assigned and refused to sit down and no-one was going to persuade him otherwise, well not for another 45 minutes anyway. During this time we were sat in an enclosed space where at least 3 Omanie men had the most horrendous hacking coughs, probably due to the perfumed atmosphere. At one point I did suggest that Pete should either a) stop breathing so that he didn't catch anything or b) give them all a slurp of his cough medicine that I had managed to hold on to. Eventually Mr Stroppy Arab man decided to stop tantruming as they had threatened to throw him off the plane, and sat down so we were finally on our way.

Upon arrival we had a small queue for our hand luggage to be x-rayed and to purchase our Visa so that we could enter the country. We then had to pick up the hold luggage and this is when my worst nightmare became a reality with the dreaded missing bag. I surprised myself by not panicking, not even slightly. We filled in the forms, met Robert and drove to his house about 30 minutes away which meant we arrived there 15 hours after we had locked our front door AND we had managed to avoid the pork sausage, pork pie, ham and bacon smugglers prison.

I know that I am slightly behind with these posts but they were written on the day that I have set them as in a little notebook. I just couldn't get them onto the Internet due to the crappy Internet connections available in Oman and it seemed a shame not to post them like I had originally planned.

BELLY SURFING

2009-02-08T17:16:00.003Z

I was going to be really busy today making sure that the house was nice and clean before we jet off to the sun but things conspired against me - mainly Pete. Pete has a fixation with the snow, he loves it, so this morning I was hassled to go up to Buxton to go sledging, against my better judgement I may add!!! For those that have read my blog for a while you will know that Pete is accident prone. He has fallen off a skateboard and chipped his elbow, he has been knocked off his push bike resulting in a broken shoulder, broken elbow and broken ribs and just before a big holiday in Canada a couple of years ago the rope swing he was on snapped and he fell 30 foot breaking a few ribs in the process. Pete going sledging just 2 days before a long haul holiday is not the best idea in the world but he promised he wouldn't have a go and I believed him. The sledge that Kyle and Pete made a few weeks ago was packed along with 3 plastic ones and some spare clothes and off we went.

Remember I mentioned we took 4 sledges with us??? This was the preferred method of getting down the slopes for both of the boys - anyone for belly surfing?

I won't go sledging I'll only watch - yeah right Pete.

Mrs Blobby on a sledge....

I can say that the hugeness is in part caused by 2 pairs of pants and 4 jumpers.

According to Kyle this is what gay sledging looks like from behind.

TOUGH LOVE

2009-02-07T07:17:00.004Z

I may have found my chat, I haven't claimed it back yet but it is definitely starting to peep out of it's hidey hole. I now just need to find the desire to use my camera again.

My wonderful eldest son put me in a difficult spot this week. Due to us being somewhere hot and sunny next week on the day of the parent teacher interviews I had asked his form tutor, during a telephone conversation, if I could write notes to all his teachers for feedback. Instead she took it upon herself to write notes to them all requesting the information I needed, collect all the resulting notes and then post them out to me - wonderful woman I can not praise her high enough. The reason I was on the phone to her in the first place??? She called me last Friday night, from home, to let me know that Matthew had an important piece of English homework (she is his English teacher too) that he had not handed in and it needed doing over the weekend and then explained exactly what was needed to me - like I said a fantastic teacher.

I digress. Mr Posty bought us these notes on Thursday lunch time while we were both at home. They were opened and read accompanied with lots of tuts and sighs. This is where I must stress that I don't mind what grades my children get as long as it is their best effort whether it be a D, C or an A*. Matthew, according to his teachers, is capable of A's and A*'s in all but one of his subjects. The maths teacher even commented that he has a "real ability" just before he mentions lazy and childish. They also say that he had improved before Christmas making a real effort - now could this have been me threatening to cancel his Christmas I wonder??? but since New Year he has slipped back.

He was warned, more than once, what would happen if he did this again. As always, true to my word and not one for idle threats I got on the phone to his form tutor. We discussed the notes and then I requested that he be put on report. So now every lesson he has to hand in a sheet to his teacher at each of his 5 lessons and they have to grade his effort and behaviour from 1-5. If he gets a 1 or 2 for any of these he gets an instant detention that night and he is banned from the Xbox at home. 3 and above means he gets to go on the Xbox for a limited time that evening AFTER I have inspected his homework diary, school books and his homework. This way I am getting to know everything that happens in lessons and can act accordingly. Yesterday was his first day and I am pleased to say that he stepped up to the mark and got 3, 4, 4, 5, 5 which isn't bad. It was his form tutor who gave him the 3 due to him loosing his book ???!!! Guess what he is doing today until he finds it.

Does parenting ever get any easier??? At the moment it just seems to be getting harder and harder. I was 100 times worse than Matt at his age so I am sure that this serves me right, I can almost see my parents nodding as they read this last comment with a wry smile on their faces.

I will be back at some point soon with a photograph as SuzyB has tagged me to do the 6 of 6. Thanks Suzy!

COLD & CHATLESS

2009-02-05T09:08:00.004Z

I keep meaning to post and then I realise I'm not in a chatty mood and stop, this seems to have been happening for a while now and more so in the last week. Not sure why as everything is OK and it's not like me at all, I am sure I will find my chat lurking in a dark, cold corner very soon.

Pete had 2 hospital visits to attend last week which were very well timed as it happened. Out of the blue 3 weeks ago Pete's driving went a bit strange and he ended up reversing into a kerb thingy at Matt's friends house to cut a long story very short it ended up costing us £112 to replace the tire that he shredded. The following Sunday he decided that he was on holiday and started to drive on the wrong side of the road, stopped only by my very loud screaming and grabbing at the wheel. The scary thing was he didn't realise he was on the wrong side and he wasn't even looking at the road while he was driving which explains why he didn't see the car heading towards us at speed. We had also noticed that he was having problems when he was speaking as he frequently couldn't think of the word he needed. Pete was worried which never happens. We re-read the leaflets that come with his medication with no luck so it was looked up on the Internet and hey presto his new tablets can cause, dizziness, confusion and hallucinations.

As luck would have it he was seeing the nurse 2 days later about his medication and it was here that he told them he would not be taking this medication any longer due to the side effects. They have now prescribed a better drug that does the same thing and that he was due to start this week but Pete has postponed this until we return from our hols. The next day he went to see Dominic, his kidney Doc, to get some results and have his quarterly check up. So for our records his kidney function is stable, low but stable it may have even gone up a little bit but Pete's weight has gone down so that could be effecting the results. Blood pressure and cholesterol are both OK. Blood count had dropped from 100 to 92 (160 is normal) in the space of 5 days which is not good but on the other hand it is high for Pete even with the sudden drop. His folic acid levels are high so he has to reduce that tablet to once a week. His epo injections are now ever 8 days instead of every 10 much to Pete's disgust. His B12 levels are low so he may need to start having injections of that in the near future as the tablets are not doing enough.

Since he stopped taking the immunosuppressants last week we have noticed a difference mainly that he is making a lot more sense when he is talking and his driving is back to normal and we feel safe again!
Last week we all had to go shopping for summer clothes, which is not easy when it is so cold outside and the shops still have their winter stock and dark colours. I failed miserably on Sunday at the Trafford Centre but thankfully Pete and the boys managed to get what they needed. I was luckier yesterday in Chester and managed to get enough things to see me through the holiday. I didn't need a lot but I did need some very light weight things to cover my shoulders as I am not allowed to show them when we are out and about in Oman and my whole summer wardrobe is full of strappy tops. So now the only thing left to do is get the suitcases out of the attic and pack them ready to go. I'm just hoping that this snow stops and Manchester Airport doesn't get closed before we fly out as I need to get warm and we will definetly manage to get warm in temps of 26c in the day and 18c at night.

I would like to thank.....

2009-01-21T08:23:00.003Z

... SuzyB for this lovely award.

Not sure what the rules are if there are any for passing it on so without further ado I will award it to Mima, Sue (I know Suzy already awarded her but I can't leave her out of my list), Eleanor, Jenga and Rach.

FRUIT

2009-01-20T11:15:00.002Z

Just a very quick post from me at the moment as I am attempting to be productive today which is not really working. I have made a zero point butternut squash and chilli soup so I have managed something. I will try and do a catch up with the words I have missed on HSMSHS later on today.

This was taken in Canada at Ottawa's Byward Market.

Sport

2009-01-14T09:07:00.002Z

It's too early for me to have anything of interest to say today.

Getting a Handle on things...

2009-01-13T13:19:00.002Z

... well that's what I would like to be doing but it ain't happening at the moment. I seem to spend more time procrastinating than I spend doing, something that has to change. My doctors appointment went as expected in that I ended up very angry and panicked. The doc ended up taking my blood pressure which was rather over what is expected at about 175/155 but then again I could have told her that but would she listen to me about my white coat syndrome - would she hell. Her answer is for me to go to the hospital next week to be fitted with a 24 hour blood pressure monitor which I have to return to the hospital the next day. I tried to tell her that it would give false readings as not only have a been to the hospital but I am returning the next day so I will be highly agitated but she didn't listen. Since then I have been taking my own readings and they are all around the 109/70 143/76 123/81 mark so I know I don't have high blood pressure so we will just have to wait and see what happens next week, apart from me throwing up on the way to the hospital that is!

So for another quick catch up before I dash round to Mima's house to watch Mama Mia with her (much better than watching with 3 men/boys).

This picture is of my paternal great grandfather with his siblings and parents in the late 1800's. He is the youngest boy sitting at the front. Just look at my Great, great grandma I certainly wouldn't want to cross her she looks formidable.

A big thank you to everyone who has visited Matt's blog and left a comment. He is pretty short on time during the week but I am sure he will do some blog hopping himself at weekends to see everyone.

Queen of Hearts

2009-01-06T08:37:00.005Z

I did mean to blog yesterday, I had even got most of the post written but then we went to play Badminton instead. I spent most of the time in my coat moaning about how cold it was so the decision was made not to go again now until the weather warms up a little as the sports hall was large and unheated. By the time we got home all I wanted to do was a have a drink and snuggle up in front of Big Brother for a mind numbing hour.

So now I am playing catch up with HSMSHS again.

I have managed to do today's word in good time mainly because it was taken last year. It is one of my favourite photos of Matt. We went for a walk near to a golf course and he found a lost and lonely ball so as we walked he played with it to cheer it up and of course I played with my camera.

Talking of Matt he will be starting his own blog shortly and joining in with HSMSHS. He has chosen photography as the skills part of his Duke of Edinburgh award and we decided that joining in with this would be the best form of motivation for him. He has to pursue this skill for at least 3 months and at the end of that time he has to make a presentation of his work and the skills he has learnt.

I'm now sitting here getting rather stressed out as I am going to see the Doc in an hour and my White Coat Syndrome is starting to raise its ugly head. It is the first time in years and years that I have been to see one about myself so I am not a happy bunny. There is nothing wrong with me it's just a precautionary thing because as of about 4 weeks ago both of my parents now have late onset diabetes. My Mum was told that it would be advisable for me to go and see a Doc straight away as I have a very high risk of getting it myself. My hands are starting to sweat already and I have a feeling that my teeth will be chattering like mad in the waiting room and my blood pressure will be through the roof.

Beginning of a New Year

2009-01-05T11:27:00.002Z

A bit of cliché but yes it is the beginning of a New Year and yes I am going on a diet. It's not really a matter of having a choice in this I have to do it. We got a phone call on New Years Day from my In Laws asking when the next school holidays were and then saying that they were looking to book us flights out to Dubai so that we could spend 10 days with them in Muscat. It will be so nice to get some hot weather for a change and to spend some time with them the only problem is I don't fit into any of my summer clothes at the moment and there isn't much chance of buying any in the shops so Weightwatchers it is.

We had a lovely Christmas and we spent a lot of time out with the dogs and geocaching to then come home to a warm house, hot chocolate (not me I hate the stuff), XBox games and Wii tornaments. Most nights I was well and truly whopped at Mario Karts on the Wii but more often than not I got my own back on 10 pin bowling. I'm amazed that we have had the Wii since the first day it came out and we still play it regularly - well worth the money.

CHRISTMAS IS NOT CANCELLED .......

2008-12-21T07:13:00.003Z

.... which to be honest with you is a huge relief as for a while it seriously looked like Matthew, our 15 year old, was going to spend the big day in his bedroom with no presents. It all started in the last school holidays when we got a letter from school saying that due to the large amount of minus points Matthew had incurred over the previous half term they were going to have to monitor him with a view to him going on report. To say I hit the roof was an understatement. However I am pleased to say that none of the minus points were as a result of him being nasty and rude they were for things like throwing a pencil, forgetting his PE kit, not concentrating, late homework and general tardiness. So like I said I hit the roof - rather hard.

So you can imagine the size of the bump on my head when we walked in from a weekend at Center Parcs and I opened his interim report, I am surprised you didn't all hear me yell. It is predicted by the teachers that Matthew will get mostly A and A* when he does his GCSE's next year but this report had C's and D's on it - not good. Don't get me wrong I don't mind what marks my children get as long as they are putting in the effort and trying to get the best grades that they are capable of. These C's and D's were for behaviour, effort and quality - not good at all. On one of the occasions I hit the roof (there were many) he was told that if he didn't buck his ideas up he wasn't going to have Christmas this year, instead he would get IOU's which could be cashed in when his attitude improved - basically his Christmas would be cancelled. Hard? Damn right it is and I meant every word of it he only gets one chance at this and I am not going to let him throw it away and he has lived with me for long enough to know that I don't bluff. He learnt that the hard way when he was in a slamming door faze he was warned that he would loose the door, and low and behold he did - for a week. We don't have a door slamming problem in this house anymore.

Anyway I digress. The school was closed on the Monday after the report was sent out for the parents to go in to meet the form tutors with their children. So off I went with my boys to see what was going to be said about them. I can't praise Matt's form tutor high enough, bless her, she was brilliant. I told her what I had said to Matt about Christmas and SHE suggested that she would ask for another report from all his teachers before the end of term so I could make a decision about his presents. So on Friday there was a message on my answering machine reporting that his work and attitude has improved greatly and in a maths test he had come top of the class. Miss Hall-Jones has even said she will do the same again at the end of January so that we can keep on top of him which I am very impressed with. So well done that boy he has saved Christmas!

Another little catch up for HSMSHS.

I personally prefer Quality Street, love the green triangles, but everyone else prefers Roses so Roses it is.

Pete is improving day by day. He goes for a blood test next Tuesday so we will find out how his blood count is then but for the time being he is back at work and seems fine.

On the up at last

2008-12-17T08:46:00.004Z

I have nearly posted a number of times in the last couple of weeks but stopped myself as I wanted to be positive when I next posted. We now seem to be coming out of the other side of it and Pete is returning to work tomorrow. Since I last wrote he started with a cold which turned out to be worse than a normal run of the mill cold - which is really not suprising as we are talking about Pete here. On one of the 3 occassions that he was in hospital last week he passed out, I thought it was due to his wussyness with needles but apparantly it was due to a rather bad chest infection. He is close to finishing his course of antibiotics so the infection has now nearly cleared but not before he cracked his 2 weak ribs in a coughing fit. This is actually an added bonus, in one way, as he now has to lie stock still in bed all night or be in pain - great for me. His anemia now seems to be under control but we will know more when he has a blood test next week but so far he seems to be on top of it.

Not much else has been going on around here for the last month apart from a few wonderful visits with Mima and a great one with Sue. Most of Christmas has been sorted out over the internet this year as I have not really been able to go out shopping much. Just the worst bit to do now - food shopping. Really not looking forward to that.

Now for a HUGE catch up with HSMSHS.

Starting with todays. I really don't do tinsel in the traditional sense as I'm not that keen on it. However, I do have some black tinsel on my windowsill in the new room and some rather spiffing brown stuff that could sort of pass as tinsel on the tree in my front room.

Done and dusted the jobs a gud 'un.

Having a Whinge!

2008-12-02T22:21:00.003Z

I'm in a moaning mood tonight and like Sue I think it is a good idea that I start making a record of what is happening health wise so that I can look back on it when I need to. Pete has been to the hospital today to get the results of his blood test from last week and to check on how his new drugs are going. The drugs (immunosuppressants (not sure this is how you spell it)) are going OK and he has to stay on the same dosage for the next few weeks and as they are not effecting his Liver at the moment the blood tests are now every 2 weeks instead of every week. They want him to start lowering the dosage of steroids down but he has told them that with the way he is feeling at the moment that there isn't a chance of that happening and it will just have to wait. The blood test taken last Tuesday says that his blood level is about 74 (should be 160) and the iron level is 3 (10 is very low). We know that it is now a LOT lower than that as he has was really ill on Thursday and Friday which will have effected his blood count with out a doubt. He was booked in for an iron infusion tomorrow BUT the hospital phoned late this afternoon to tell us that they could not get the iron until Monday !!! So now we have to wait and Pete has to suffer until then. He is going to see the Doc tomorrow to get a sick note for the rest of this week and next as there is no way he should be going in to work like he is.

Sorry that this post is a little depressing and boring but as I said this is more for me than anyone else. I will try and make the next post a little more up beat!

At last she posts!

2008-11-28T14:48:00.005Z

Wow that was a big break from blogland by me, the longest one yet. I have started posting more than once and then decided against it, hopefully I will get as far as pressing the publish post button today. I have been visiting HSMSHS daily to have a look but it has been a long time since I felt inspired enough to get my camera out of its bag to actually do a prompt. I am hoping that one day soon the desire to join in will once again return.

We went away last weekend, in the freezing cold up to Center Parcs in the Lake District where we had a great time during our fourth visit. The boys loved it all the more this time because we let them go swimming by themselves. We also played a lot of Badminton which we have decided we all like so are planning to go as a family once a week and hire a court. This will have to wait for a while though as Pete is currently not well at all. He was in bed all day yesterday, he has managed to get up today but has only managed to get as far as lying down on the settee and watching a girly film with me.

His comment at the end? "That was gay".

Those of you that know us or have read my blog for a long time will know that for Pete to actually have a day (let alone two) off work is virtually unheard of. We have contacted the hospital and he is going in next Wednesday for a course of Venifer or Cosmifer (sp?) hopefully it will be the latter as that one is only a day the other is a 3 week course which means he will have to go to the hospital for one or two days every week for that length of time - not ideal especially when he is prone to not feeling good after it.

I'm off to go and subject Pete to another girly film now - who's the lucky boy then!

FRYING A BARGAIN

2008-11-05T11:59:00.004Z

I had a good 10 hour shift in work on Monday, long but good and then yesterday I went to Mima's to visit her, Sue, Sheena and Rose (I know better than to miss gorgeous Rose out) which was lovely as always. All this means that today I am playing catch up with all the jobs that have been left since before the weekend. So I really, really didn't have time to be making a delicious soup for my lunch but seeing as the word today on HSMSHS is fry I thought "Why Not"! So here are my sweet potatoes, onions and butternut squash frying away a few minutes ago. All the veggies are a bargain in Aldi at the moment I got a HUGE squash for 69p this morning and a large pineapple for the same price which I am going to chunk and freeze ready to plonk into the blender to make smoothies with.

I'll share the recipe and a picture of the finished product on my "Not a Size Zero" blog later when my job list has shrunk a little bit.

Broken Man

2008-11-03T08:14:00.005Z

Just managed to find the time to dart on and post this before I get ready and head off for a 10 hour shift in work.

This was taken in 2003 just after Pete had been knocked off his push bike. He had a broken shoulder, broken elbow and some broken ribs. Not sure what Kyle is doing at all looks like he thinks he is superman ?!?!

Arrgggghhh I give up - why won't blogger let you space how you want too?

I would like to thank ....

2008-11-01T17:48:00.003Z

Suzy for giving me this award.

Its the BFF award (Blogging Friends Forever award). The rules are to pass it to four friends who are regular followers of your blog and live in the same country and unlike Suzy I am going to be a good girl and listen to the rules.

I am going to give this to Mima who I am sure will be my blogging and real life friend forever and also to the lovely Zoe, Rach and Jenga.

Halloween Clouds

2008-10-31T08:32:00.005Z

Yet again I have resorted to an old photo for the days prompt. When I first saw what the word was in my side bar I had the brilliant idea of getting my book out to take a picture. Then I visited HSMSHS and saw that Suzy had, had the same idea but I can tell you that my book is no where near as mucky as hers (mores the pity).

In recognition of Halloween I decided to share this picture with you. It is my most favouritist picture that I took when Sue, Mima, Sheena and I went to Trearddur a couple of weeks ago. This is exactly how it looked, I haven't edited it at all I love the way that it seems to be curling its way out of the chimney.

Noises have just started to filter down from upstairs , so another school holiday begins. More baking may be in order today along with a little shopping, some bedroom sorting, revision doing, dog walking, dog washing, photo editing, coursework doing and Mima visiting. Happy Halloween everyone.

Edited to add a couple of pictures of the nearly finished Living Room. I have to get more nick nacks and pictures to hang in the room. The one picture that is in the room was my "O" level piece that I did when I was 15 it hangs behind Pete's seat as he hates it but it matches the room perfectly so it is staying in there.

Today ......

2008-10-30T17:41:00.006Z

......I have been looking all day for a "structure" to take a picture of for HSMSHS but I have drawn a blank so it will just have to be an old picture, bet you can't guess where it is from.

Look at the boys faces, see how miserable they are. The heat was unbearable and I don't think that they were impressed with me insisting that we walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We didn't get far in the end as we all got too hot and gave up before we were even over the water, even so it it a pretty impressive structure.

Today I have been warm, today I have a boiler that works, hot water, heating, gas and a huge new sofa to sit and enjoy, bliss, total bliss.

Today I got a new lamp.

Today I put hooks up so that a could put tie backs on my fabulously tactile curtains.

Today Kyle and I took the dogs for a walk and I wore the hat I bought in Ottawa at the Byward Market. The last time I had it on my head it was about 30c and I was glad to take it off, today I couldn't wait to put it on.

Today, Kyle and I played along with Amanda Magpies "What the cook" now you have to understand we are about 5 recipes behind with this but in our defence we have had a plumber camping out in our kitchen for most of the week. I did intend to take a picture of all the cakes in their full glory but I was a little late with that thought and this was all that was left, apart from 3 that are tucked safely in a box waiting for Kyle to take them to Mima's.

Tomorrow is another day.

Making up for lost time

2008-10-28T08:51:00.004Z

I week between posts? I really didn't intend for that to happen but I have been feeling pants with a cold (woman flu) over the last week so something had to give. The Winter Living Room is coming along nicely and the sofa is being delivered at some point today which means we can stop sitting on the floor at night. We do have sofas in the other room but for some reason the boys would rather camp out on the floor to watch TV on the nice warm carpet. This weekend bought me an experience that I thought I would never ever have. On Sunday morning, just as we were about to go out, Matthew came downstairs with guy liner on. So we ignored it and went ten pin bowling and then clothes shopping for the boys before ending up in Pizza Hut for lunch. At the end of the meal we all had to sit and wait while Matthew went to the boys room to go and fix his makeup !!!! We just sat there stunned, totally stunned. I think we may be progressing from a goth in training to a full blown goth, the lipstick and nail varnish will be next.

A little catch up for yesterdays word on HSMSHS. This is one of the new cushions that are sitting patiently on the floor waiting for the sofa to arrive, very glossy I am sure you will agree.

This is the light that is keeping me warm while I type this. We have no boiler at the moment as the old one is outside and the new one is on the kitchen floor in a box so it is freezing here, hence the heater.

And finally I couldn't resist this one ...

This is the new remote control light switch in our new room a boys toy if ever I saw one!

The plumber has just arrived so I am going to make him a cup of tea before I make a nice sweet potato and chilli soup to warm me up at lunch time.

Reflect

2008-10-21T07:37:00.004+01:00

Taken in New York in the summer.

Just a quick one from me this morning before I climb the ladders to sand down the alcatrave before painting that and then ceiling. It sounds easy but when the ceiling is 10ft up (we have very high ceilings in this house) and you don't like ladders it's no fun at all.

Sunsets & Smiles

2008-10-20T18:56:00.006+01:00

Well I suppose I will start this post with my picture for today's prompt on HSMSHS which is "Set". After spending a wonderful couple of days away in a fantastic place the only possible picture I could use is one of the amazing sunset we saw on the first night which believe it or not is taken from Mima's bedroom window and is totally unedited.

I was of course away for a girly couple of nights with these two lovelies.

Where we did some of this

lots of this

and Sue and I went out to do this which included making fools out of ourselves in front of the local fisher folk.

and this last one is just because it is a lovely picture of her.

And look at that I have not posted any pictures of certain people who shall remain nameless in silly party hats - yet!

TITLELESS AGAIN

2008-10-16T08:33:00.004+01:00

With DIYing and work over the last four days I have just not managed to find the time to post. I have now done my 2 shifts in work for this week and now have a whole 4 days to do as I please - well nearly. In a couple of hours I am going to go and meet Sue and we are going to drive to Wales to spend a couple of days with Mima at her Mum's holiday home ready to indulge ourselves with chocolate, diet coke (maybe a little wine), a little photography and some girly movies. Upon my return on Saturday I will be donning my painting overalls ready to cover our newly plastered walls in paint.

Last night I finally found my way to facebook after originally signing up a while back but not doing anything about it. Jenny, from work, had signed up yesterday and mentioned that she is a billy no mates and seeing as I was in the same boat we said we would be friends to make ourselves look better - how sad are we? So if you want to be my friend on facebook the link is on the right - this is only so that I have got more friends than Jenny as she is horrible to me in work. ** love ya really Jen **

My camera is all packed and ready for it's little trip out later on today so I am using this picture taken last month at Formby for today's word over on HSMSHS. See his face, he wasn't impressed with me asking him to stand like that. "Dad she's making me look stupid again" was said more than once that day.

2008-10-10T08:58:00.004+01:00

This is a real quicky today as I am just about to go and start stripping the walls in the room that is no longer an allotment. Then this afternoon I am going to go and see the lovely Mima before going to the dreaded B&Q for some supplies. Inbetween all of that I need to go shopping and I am desperate to start organising the photos on my computer, which, at the moment could be compared to loads of photos spanning about 8 years just thrown into a cardboard box.

Today's word on HSMSHS I can do as we do plenty of looking for buttie boxes when we go geocaching.

Last night we attempted to watch an episode of this ....

... but I fell asleep at a ridiculously early hour. For some reason Pete loves Monk so we are watching all episodes in order from start to finish - sad I know.

200

2008-10-08T21:08:00.009+01:00

A very quick post from me this morning as I have loads of jobs to do before I go to work for a 10 hour shift. I have no idea what this sign is for I just noticed it when we were out for a walk one day and thought I might be able to use a photo of it at some point.

HSMSHS - SIGN

LAST NIGHT WE WATCHED

Love it and I quite enjoy looking at Peter Petrelli and Mohiner Suresh while it's on.

I HATE THINKING OF POST TITLES

2008-10-08T18:53:00.003+01:00

Tonight I am a happy bunny as we have a floor once again and the house has stopped smelling like an allotment. I would take a picture but it is dark so I will leave that until the morning. Now that we have something to stand on again the walls are waiting for me to strip them ready for our rather nice friend to come a plaster the whole room for us next Monday - he is a gem and half believe me.

There was a huge amount of excitement here last night when Pete ventured in to the allotment to wire in some new plug sockets and came out with a baby great crested newt which had made its home under our floorboards ready for the winter. The cute little guy got fussed over for a while before he got put back in his little hidey hole (before I could find the camera). It's nice to know that the great crested newts that live in the garden are healthy and breeding as we don't see them very often.

I have been trying to think of something to photograph for "Welcome" all day today but have come up with zilch, Nada, nothing. This could be due to the fact that nobody is welcome at my house at the moment as it is a complete tip and I so wanted to join in HSMSHS today, never mind I will just have to try again tomorrow.

Last night we watched .....

Not a brilliant film but very watchable as Nicole is very believable in it and Daniel is rather dashing. Very much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.