Wednesday 31 December 2008

So long 2008

You were interesting, you brought ups and downs, you brought laughter and tears. I learnt things, I forgot things, I'll remember things I might not want to and I'll forget things I'll wish I could remember.
Farewell, so long and adieu.

Here's to 2009 everyone. Thanks for keeping me company this year and let's hope 2009 brings us all joy, happiness, peace, kindness and love.

See you all in the new year.

Monday 29 December 2008

Well that was Christmas over with

now to get through the New Year fuss. Sorry I know I sound like a miserable moo. Christmas wasn't quite the day it should/could have been but the kids were happy with their presents and dinner was lovely.
Now we're all in the limbo land between Christmas and New Year when no one is quite sure what day it is. This is not going to be a long blog today, hopefully when I come back I can be a bit more cheerful. Off now to blow my snotty nose and drink some hot orange and try muster up some energy to tidy the house.
Ok I'm going, I'm going. I should have titled this Don't Read This. :)

Wednesday 24 December 2008

All of mine

wish all of yours a very Merry Christmas and a very very Happy New Year.
Let 2009 bring you peace, love and all the things you hope for. Let it be the year that we all work towards our goals and the people we want to be.
Jingle Bells xxx

Saturday 20 December 2008

Fireplaces, long days and work, work, work.

Off I went to work yesterday and guess what time I got home. Yes ridiculous o'clock or in English gone 4am. Have a guess now how tired I was today. Yep exhausted but I'm not looking for any sympathy. If you party hard you have to take the tiredness. LOL It was a great night though. Work was crazy busy but the end of my shift soon came round and then I could take off the santa thing that we had to wear. Trust me I have no problems with dressing up but I think they bought these tops from a special badly made santa top shop. Anyway I was over the bar and joining in the festivities.
Fortunately I woke up today feeling human (that was not expected) because I was working again tonight. The bar was mad busy when I went in but by 11pm the bar was getting quiet and the boss decided there was no need for two of us to work through till close at 1am so here I am sat on my comfy new settee, admiring my wonderful fireplace which I can't light until Tuesday. Yes there will be a grand lighting ceremony :)
Anyway I'm off to bed now to snuggle up to him indoors and tomorrow I can finally get my Xmas tree put up. Hooray!!!!

Friday 19 December 2008

Meme and you

Good grief it really is amazing some of the things you discover while browsing around the t'internet isn't it.
This website has had me a fit of giggles this evening. I've heard of giving animals human tendancies (what ever that big word is for that) but never doing the same to furniture. Crazy but really funny.

A worrying thing I did read about is that there may be new legislation coming into effect in February of next year meaning that handmade toys/crafts for children will become illegal to sell. Has the world gone totally mad? Check it out.
If it does come into effect think of how many people this is going to effect not only in America but across the globe.

Ok so I said a Meme didn't I? I came across this 99 things meme over on peasoup's blog. And thought it looked like a bit of fun and maybe something to take our minds of the fact that it's so few sleeps till the big C day now.

Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font


1. Started your own blog. Eh?

2. Slept under the stars.

3. Played in a band. Not so much a rock band but was an orchestra does that count?

4. Visited Hawaii. Nope but I'd like to

5. Watched a meteor shower. Again on the I'd like to list.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity. Not sure how this works but I've given a lot even if I could have sold it on ebay like other -stepfords- people do round here.

7. Been to Disneyland/world.

8. Climbed a mountain. I was born in Wales and live in Scotland...what are the chances?

9. Held a praying mantis.

10. Sang a solo. Yep even on a stage but that was when I was younger, now I have to have had copious amounts of alcohol.

11. Bungee jumped. Ummm no.

12. Visited Paris. Maybe one day.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. I think I did when I was a kid but my memory is getting worse as I creep ever closer to the big 4.0.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. Well if you don't include books, other lovely bloggers tutorials or craftster.

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning. Oh yes and isn't that a joyful memory.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Nope but have seen the Satute of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables. And will do again once I have built a fence round my plot to stop the dogs sleeping, digging and *****ing on it.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. Seen copies, prints and pictures in magazines in other countries though.

20. Slept on an overnight train. No but have fallen asleep on trains that were not overnighters.

21. Had a pillow fight. Yeah but the pillows never burst with the feathers going everywhere like they do in the movies.

22. Hitch hiked. Yes but don't every tell my mother.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.

24. Built a snow fort. What exactly is a snow fort because I might have built one but we just called it something different.

25. Held a lamb. And fed them... with a bottle.

26. Gone skinny dipping. Yes but it wasn't quite the romantic thing people might invision. I like boys and so does he LOL

27. Run a marathon. I do NOT do running.

28. Ridden a gondola in Venice. Nope

29. Seen a total eclipse.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. Both and probably all in the same day too. ;)

31. Hit a home run. Yeah I wasn't bad with the old rounders bat in school.

32. Been on a cruise. Not something I've ever wanted to do.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person,

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. Not sure where my ancestors were from but think most of them were from where I was born anyway. :/

35. Seen an Amish community.

36. Taught yourself a new language. Not taught myself, but was taught French in school.

37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied. Again eh?

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing. With and without ropes, safety harnesses and helmets but once again....don't tell my mother.

40. Seen Michelangelo's David in person.

41. Sung Karaoke. See question 10

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt. On tv but I'm guessing this means in person.

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.

46. Been transported in an ambulance. But I wasn't the patient.

47. Had your portrait painted.

48. Gone deep sea fishing.

49. Seen the Sistene chapel in person.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling. But nowhere exotic. Scuba diving in local pool when I was a teenager and a bit of snorkelling when on holidays.

52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud.

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre. I wish we had them over here.

55. Been in a movie. No but I was on Play School when I was about 11.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies. Neither Girl Guides nor Scouts have cookies to sell over here.

62. Gone whale watching.

63. Gotten flowers for no reason. Him indoors does do that and infact big one bought me a bunch last weekend just because she wanted to.

64. Donated blood. All the time until they brought the new ruling in that if you'd been the recipient of a blood transfusion you're not allowed to anymore. The recent give blood adverts drive me demented because I would gladly give them my blood :(

65. Gone sky diving.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.

67. Bounced a cheque. According to an old bank that I subsequently left I did but I did NOT and they did apologise but I closed my account anyway.

68. Flown in a helicopter. Yep in Florida last year and it was amazing.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. Yep first ever Teddy that my Dad bought for me that was 4 times bigger than me when I was born.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar Yes but can't say I'd rush to do it again.

72. Pieced a quilt. I like the idea but think the fiddlyness of it would drive me insane.

73. Stood in Times Square. Oh yes indeed last month :D

74. Toured the Everglades. Is that where you hear banjo music?

75. Been fired from a job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London. Several times, going to London was our annual holiday as kids, mother has family down there.

77. Broken a bone. Bones in my foot when big one was 6 months old but I can state that it was nowhere near as painful as when I tore the ligaments in my ankle 4 years previously.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle Lots and lots of times.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican.

82. Bought a brand new car. I haven't but him indoors did once. Mad fool that he was back then.

83. Walked in Jerusalem.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper. Never by choice but yep, infact apparently my mug shot was in the paper the other week when I was doing the face painting up at wee one's school Xmas fair. I didn't see it though and no-one kept me a copy.

85. Read the entire Bible.

86. Visited the White House.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. If you can't do it then you shouldn't be eating it.

88. Had chickenpox. 2 weeks before my O levels and they still made me sit them. Grrr.

89. Saved someone’s life. Not that I'm aware of.

90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club.

93. Lost a loved one. Too many. :(

94. Had a baby.

95. Seen the Alamo in person.

96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.

97. Been involved in a law suit. I use to work for the prosecutions department and then the police if that means anything.

98. Owned a cell phone. Not being picky but mine's a mobile phone :)

99. Been stung by a bee. But only because I had made it perform bee gymnastics by rolling it between my thumbs as I was twiddling them half asleep while camping at about the age of 8. Poor bee I think I cried more for the bee than I did my thumb.

Right must go to bed now. Him indoors has just swayed in from his night out with the boys and I've got a loooong day tomorrow. It's the workman's Xmas dinner and trust me it's a very very loooong day with that lot. :)

Oh I'm not tagging anyone but if you fancy giving the 99 things ago let me know ;)

Thursday 11 December 2008

Alien gingerbread men and online shopping

Am I the only playing the title game?
Ah well...anyway alien gingerbread men, well you can't beat a bit of festive fun with a sick child. As we made snowflakes I needed to think of something else that would be fun for her to do which wouldn't tax her too much or be too complicated that her poor poorly attention span couldn't cope. So i sat and drew round our gingerbread cutter, cut them all out, filled the coffee table with sharpies and glitter and stick on eyes etc and we had great fun. The one's she made as aliens with only one eye on their forehead were definately the winners of the day. Of course Mummy then dutifully sat threading them all together and then hung them up in the the hallway. As I said over on jellybellyjellybrain's blog we haven't been able to decorate properly for Xmas yet as the living room has bits of fireplace all over it and the hall is full of chairs and sofa ready for freecycle collection. Still at least we've got our snowflakes and gingerbread men :D

Wee one if feeling much better this evening so we think she'll manage school tomorrow, she is still disappointed that she missed out on the Xmas dinner school lunch but at least today she managed to eat more than one packet of wotsits.
Had big one to the Drs this morning,she's had a sore throat for over a week and coughing for weeks, he's given her some antibiotics so we shall see if that shifts it. Last night she finally decided what dress she would like for her school xmas dance so ordered that at some ungodly hour hence why I am filling you in on Tuesday and Wednesday's goings on in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Uuuuggh work tomorrow and I am so not feeling the love for it at the moment. Boss can be a bit moody sometimes (yeah I know we all can) and she had been a bit funny with me this last week or so. I am seriously considering jacking it in after Xmas and going back to being a full time mum and part time student. I only have one more course to complete with the OU and I'll have my degree but I've been putting it off for..for..well years now. Stupid really I know.

Anyway great thing happening tomorrow him indoors is coming home and he will be home with us for Xmas and New Year. Woohoo! First time in years and years and years that he's been home for both celebrations, we only usually get him for one or the other. Best go get his Xmas presents hidden so he doesn't come across them when he gets home and I'm still out at work.

Monday 8 December 2008

Gnomes and snowflakes

I think I'll try to make my blog titles as weird as possible well might as well I seem to be doing so without even trying. Anyone up for a game of weird and wonderful blog titles? :D
As I am still having laptop and phone pic issues I'm having to trawl through all my old pics to bring a bit of colour to my blog
So here are my wee gnomes.




I bought them a while back out of a Betterware or Kleeneze catalogue, you now the one's you get shoved through your letterbox. I rarely actually look through them but I was glad I did when I spotted these guys. They were some silly price like £1.99 for a pair or 2 pairs for £3 or something. So I had to have 2 pairs...well who wouldn't? Ok that's just me then. They are pot waterers or whatever the proper name is for those things you fill with water and they slowly release it to the plant when it needs a drink. Answers on a postcard please.

Can't remember if I shared this with you but this is the work in progress fireplace. See that wall, that was hidden behind the hideous panelling (trust me it wasn't the nice stuff you see in Country Living) As you can see the fire is currently a big hole but my lovely man 'A' came to take out the old liner from the gas boiler (that was also hidden behind the said panelling) and measure up for the new solid fuel liner that we need because the poor old chimney is not in good enough shape to just let the smoke meander up there by itself. So that's been ordered and hopefully will be in the shop by the end of the week. I'm really not holding out much hope of having a roaring fire for Xmas day anymore but who knows.

As wee one was home poorly today I haven't got much done housework-wise oh dear what a shame as wee one needed Mummy to sit with her unless I was off getting her cups of tea or substence in the form of Wotsits. But we did have some crafty fun this afternoon during one of her more perkier half hours. We cut out lots and lots of snowflakes I'd share pics but again with the pic/laptop issue :( Anyway we had fun doing that although I will at some point have to get the brush out and sweep up all the tiny wee bits of paper. :/ Anyway then I threaded them on to some cotton and hung them up in our downstairs front windows. And they look ever so pretty even if I do say so myself (yes I know I just did)

Once big sis had gotten home from school and took my place next to wee one I managed to rustle up some cinammon and apple muffins (yes I used my new silicone cases and no they are not muffin cases but actually cupcake cases oops) Anyway very tasty muffins they are too. Big one was most impressed and has managed to eaten one or two this evening but wee one just isn't up to any muffins and the wotsits were enough for her today.

And the last thought for today.

15 Perfectly Good Ways to Put Off Doing What You Should Be Doing

1. Clean the extra icons off of your computer desktop.

2. Reorganize your cutlery drawer.

3. Stand in your shower and yodel. (Have you ever noticed how nicely your voice echoes in a shower stall? Anyone can sound like a rock star in there.)

4. Wipe down all of your telephones and computer keyboards with antibacterial cloths. (Safety is as safety does.)

5. Make everyone in your household a set of matching pyjama bottoms.

6. Sterilize all of your shoes with a steamer.

7. Separate all of the M&M's you have in your desk drawer by color.

8. Watch the news every 30 minutes just in case there is a new world crisis that needs your immediate attention.

9. Write notes to your neighbors thanking them for not laughing at your failed attempts at growing a garden for 10 years.

10. Alphabetize your CD collection.

11. Make a napkin holder out of toothpicks.

12. Audition new talcum powders. Of course, since your particular system demands that you must take a bubble bath before you put on talcum powder and since you are auditioning many talcum powders, you have to take multiple bubble baths to figure out which talcum powder you like the best.

13. Learn how to signal your neighbors using Morse Code by opening and closing your window blinds quickly. (This one could save your life someday!)

14. Count all of the chocolate chips in the package to make sure that you haven't been ripped off when you bought them at the supermarket.

15. Write lists of ways that you can put off doing what you should be doing…

Sunday 7 December 2008

Party dresses, sick kids and freecycle

Yep another of my wonderful blog titles (eh Karan?)
Yesterday the small and I went up to Aberdeen to do some party dress searching we did manage to get wee one a dress she thinks is lovely but no joy for big one. Well teenagers do tend to be a bit more choosy (cough cough)
As usual we left Primark with a big bulging bag well how can you not buy a pack of hair clips for £1 or a sparking tiara headband for £1.50 But I have to say that my bargain of the day were the 12 silicone muffin cases for £2 in Asda. Needless to say I bought one pack of pastels and one pack of brights. Now to find a nice new recipe to try them out with.

Sick kids is for wee one, she had an gippy tummy yesterday afternoon but was doing ok but by tea time she was complaining of a sore head and was hot. Today she's mostly slept but was awake to watch Miracle on 34th Street. Great feel good movie. So it was early bath and bed for her and I forsee us spending tomorrow cuddled up on the sofa. :)

And finally Freecycle. As I told you we're in the middle of sorting out the living room and my new settee is arriving soon. So I have the three piece that a) we should never have bought in the first place but that's a whole nother story, fortunately we didn't pay a whole lot of money for them as we got them second hand. and
b) that it is totally the wrong time of year to attempt to sell so I figured I keep my Karma in the right place and offer it out on Freecycle but no one told me that my inbox would be inundated with requests. Now I really need someone to help me decide who I offer it to :(

Ah well tomorrow is a whole new day as they say.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Snow, Fireplaces and Tags


Doesn't it look pretty?


Confusing enough title? Yeah thought so but am I really the only one who struggles on how to title a post? Probably. :)

It snowed here again last night, seems we're having all the snow early this year. I awoke to my radio (which for some reason was on the wrong channel) informing me that some of the schools in this part of the world were shut. So I looked out the window saw the white stuff and then rang the two school numbers that inform us as to whether the schools are open or not. Big one's school was not opening until 10am and pupils who came to school via bus were not expected in today. Wee one's school was open as normal but again no pupils on the school bus would be in. We live in a very rural part of Scotland so a high proportion of the kids travel in on the school bus everyday. Big one informed me that today was filled with watching films, playing darts and generally not doing much schoolwork. As so many kids were off they would only have to repeat the lesson again once everyone was back! :/ Wee one was not impressed that her big sister got to go into school a whole hour later than her and she had lessons as usual. Tough life eh? Hopefully it will be school as normal tomorrow but as it's freezing out there and has snowed on and off this evening who knows. Big one is most concerned as it's her school show this week and they had to cancel tonights performance and if they have to keep doing that when will the show happen? Wee one and I have tickets for the Thursday night show so fingers crossed the roads will be clear by then.

Ok fireplaces. We have spent ages trying to get our living room into a condition that makes it a nice place to be and not the souless room it was when we bought the house. Carpets have been ripped up ugly carpets , wallpaper has been stripped, panelling has been torn down trust me it was not nice panelling, it was cracked and uneven and had strange wee cubby holes in it that were neither use nor ornament, the useless gas fire was removed, the old boiler removed and a nice efficent one that gives us hot water all the time installed in the back of the house, the walls and ceiling were replastered, the gorgeous old (original) stonework of the house hid behind the panelling has been repointed, coving has been installed, walls have been painted, doors, skirting and wood flooring ordered and the piece de resistance was delivered today. Our lovely new open fireplace with oak mantlepiece. The manny from the shop phoned me yesterday to say it would be arriving today but when I saw the snow I seriously doubted it would make it. But make it they did (and I didn;t growl at them when they walked half a tonne of snow into my house) AND my fireplace installer manny came round at lunchtime as promised to check out the fireplace and fittings and he will be back on Thursday to start the job. Weeeeheeee! I may just have a fire burning on Xmas day as I recline on our new sofa (which is arrving in 2 weeks) I now want to rifle through all my fabrics and find something scrumptious to make some stockings. I guess I'll have to add that to my list of things to do when I can stop sleeping.

And finally Tags. The lovely Samsara has tagged me. I get a great big smile on my mush when I get a comment or a tag. I know I'm writing this blog for me but it's always nice to know that someone sees me too. Anyway here we go.

The Rules:

1) Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.

2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs

4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

The Facts:


1. I am 6ft tall and take a size 9(uk) shoe so feeling dainty and protected is not something I'm used to.

2. I haven't had a haircut for at least 6-8 months possible longer.

3. I love music and have it on as much as is possible. I can however be a bit of a teenager if I love one particular song or album as I play it over and over again. It has been known for the smalls to plead with me to change the music and/or turn it down.

4. I have 11 piercings and 6 tattoos and plan to have at least another 2 tattoos in the near future. Apart from my nose ring all the other piercings are in my ears although I did at one time have my eyebrow pierced.

5. My brother and I used to catch whitebait in a plastic carrier bag on our local beach when we were kids so we now laugh ourselves silly when we see it being sold for ridiculous amounts of money on posh restaurant menus.




6. I love history although I hated it at school. (Thanks to Mrs Thatcher and her war years) I would love to be able to go study Social History at Uni full time...maybe in my next life.

7. I have difficulty getting hats to fit. I tell the smalls it's because my brain is so big that my head has to be bigger, unfortunately big one is too old to believe that anymore.

Right now the difficult bit tagging 7 other bloggers who Samsara hasn't already tagged. Ok here goes.
pinkfeatherparadise
attic24
jbjb
mollycupcakes
justfee
cooplet
thriftygoodness

I'll have to let them all know tomorrow though as it's now 2.45am and I have to be up in 4 hours oops

Monday 1 December 2008

Popping Cherries

Today is a history making day... I have finally actually bought something off Ebay. Well actually not just one thing but 3 things. :o I bought something that I'm not going to reveal as you never know who is lurking but I can tell you that I bought some buttons and beads. I can see now how addictive ebay is.

Another first for me is that I've claimed something off Freecycle. I have offered on it before but never claimed but I just couldn't resist the offer of 20 years worth of Country Living Magazines. Could you?