Tuesday Challenge #11 Copycat

Stu's Tuesday Challenge this week was about as tough as they come.


Our task was to create our own interpretation of Dali Atomicus by Phillipe Halsman

You see where I'm coming from when I say tough? Oh yeah.....

Well, my brother came for dinner today and as a scriptwriter by training, he has a brilliant imagination for bizarre things and I couldn't have done this without his help. Thanks Rob! So whilst my parents stood watching aghast and lost for words, we took several images and I finally came up with this......



OK, it's crap, I know it's crap but I tried and you know what I am really excited about? I finally get layers! If you use photoshop or PSP, you know what I mean by layers, and for the last two years, understanding layers has eluded me completely. After doing this little exercise, the penny has finally dropped! Thanks Stu!

Oh, and I promise you that no chickens were harmed in the making of this photo. Nora wasn't really thrown through the air, she was sitting quite happily sunbathing in the afternoon sunshine.

Tuesday Challenge #10 - Food - Eggs it is!

Stu's Tuesday Challenge for this week is Food.

You thought this week would be easy?

Food photography is difficult. Really difficult.

We don’t want a picture of your lunch. We want a picture that makes us want to eat your lunch. A picture that would appear in a menu. A picture that appeals.

If the viewers’ stomachs don’t rumble while perusing the results, we haven’t done our job properly.

Take care to arrange the food nicely, make it look fresh, make it look hot (if applicable). Make it look appetising. Like one of those burger shops where you absolutely know your burger isn’t going to look that nice. Watch out for the background, if it supports the image, emphasise it; if it doesn’t support the image, why is it there?

I’m tempted to put fruit/individual items on a hit list, but I’m not sure I like hit lists. So try to go for a complete meal, but if not, make your fruit look really juicy.

Stu wasn't wrong. Photographing food is not as eay as it might at first sound. That said, I have two images and I'm not sure which one to put forward. Whichever one you all prefer by Sunday evening is the one I'll put forward!

**UPDATE: EGGS IT IS!

First one is "Egg on toast"! I do quite like this one as I think it does make you want to reach for a toasted soldier and dip it in the yolk! Well, it does me anyway!

The second is "Pudding and custard"

Any thoughts!?

Tuesday Challenge #9 - Vertigo

Stu's Tuesday Challenge this week is Vertigo:

In this week’s challenge, your camera must be at least 30 feet (10 metres) above the subject of your photo. You could try a hill or tall building, a kite, or if you’re good at throwing things very high and catching them again, maybe a Camera Toss (note - I will not be held responsible for broken cameras!)


I had a cunning plan for this but then it was explained to me there was a certain amount of perilous climbing involved in getting high enough up my local windmill. So I scratched that idea. My offering this week is a little more urban than I would usually shoot, and urban is not one of my strong points but I'm relatively pleased with it. It possibly doesn't look like I'm 30 feet up above them but I definitely was!

WHY do I do it?

It's official. I do not have a life.

I cried over a Star Trek DS9 episode for heaven's sake.

I so need to get out more.

So why why why why why have I signed up to Twitter?

Are blogging, Facebook, Plurk, Skype and sundry message boards not enough to keep me in touch with people already?

How many ways do I need to tell the whole world that I do not have a life!?

And if anyone can answer that question.....then they need to get a life too!

Our Fun Monday Hostess this week is Sayre Smiles and this is our assignment


What are you and your family doing to deal with the current economic situation on a personal level? Obama's got a plan for the nation, but how do you/will you deal with your own economic stress?

I am in the fortunate position of not being immediately affected by the current economic situation. I am lucky enough to live in a rent-free house that comes with my job so I am not encumbered by a mortgage and several of my bills are also paid for me. But nonetheless, I am not being complacent.

I have to pay for my central-heating oil, which is not cheap these days, so I try to use the central heating as little as possible and instead use my wood-burning stove.

I cycle back and forth to work as I really have no reason to drive as it's quicker to cycle, plus it gives me some exercise!

I have my own chickens who lay enough eggs for me and also enough for me to give some to friends and colleagues in return for the odd favour.

I've started a compost heap which will hopefully save me having to buy fertiliser for the garden and enable me to grow some more of my own food this year. Last year I grew green beans, courgettes (zucchini) and tomatoes but this year I also want to try potatoes, sweet corn and pumpkins.

I go to the supermarket less often, mainly because when I do go I end up buying stuff that I really don't need that goes to waste. I think more about what I'm buying and whether I really need it. If I just needed a pint of milk I'd go to the supermarket and come away having spent £50 so now if I just need a few staples, I use the local shops instead. Saves me money and helps the local economy too!

Now visit Sayre Smiles to read everyone's Fun Monday posts.

Tuesday Challenge #8 - Green

This week's Stu's Challenge is GREEN

I shall go to the Ball.

Unlike Cinderalla, I don't have a Fairy Godmother to turn the requisite pumpkin into a carriage or the mice that live in the shed into footmen but nonetheless, this girl has gotten her butt into gear and is going to the Ball.

Yes, you read that right. I AM GOING OUT!

There is no hot date (RC, did you get that? THERE IS NO HOT DATE!) but who knows? I do have a dress though. And that's a good start. And shoes. And given that about an hour into the evening my shoes will be giving my feet the kind of hell only heels can and they will have been kicked off under the table, some idiot may come running after me at midnight clutching my beaded evening shoe in his sweaty little hand.

Of such things are fairy tales made. Although I could do without the sweaty hands thank you all the same.

Friday Funnies

"ALL PUNS INTENDED "

1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4. A dyslexic man walked into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home."
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"Well, It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field.
Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," says Dolly.
"It's true; no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

10. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn't find any.

12. A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident.
He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!"
The doctor replied, "I know, I amputated your arms!"
;
13. I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.

14. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

15. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

16. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Not surprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

17. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office, and asked them to disperse.
"But why," they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said. "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

18. A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt, and is named 'Ahmal.' The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him 'Juan.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds,
"They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

19. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) ... a
super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

20. A dwarf, who was a mystic, escaped from jail. The call went out that there was a small medium at large.

21. And finally, there was the person who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Welcome!

It's just like the old place isn't it!?

I know it seems silly moving from one Blogger blog to another Blogger blog, but I do have my reasons.

I wanted the blog to reflect that we are now a multi-sighthound house, with a Greyhound as well as Lurchers. And yes, I know I could have just changed the title, and indeed I did do that, but some years ago, I did something a bit stupid with my Google account and since then I've always had to sign in using the ex-Himself's e-mail. Quite frankly, I wanted to move on from having to do that.

I did try out WordPress but, although I consider myself reasonably technically au fait, WordPress had me completely flummoxed.

So here we are! Do please comment and let me know you've found me!

What am I missing?

I've been having a play in WordPress but I'm finding it quite difficult to set up. I've imported all my blog posts with no problem but I can't find a theme that I like, so I've tried to pick the best and then adjust it - which is a pieceof cake in Blogger - but for the life of me I can't see how to do it in WordPress. I can find edit CSS but it doesn't seem to let me do anything.

Any help for an ignoramous please?

EDIT: OK, it seems if you want to change things in WordPress, you have to pay for the privilege. Unlike in Blogger, where you get to do all that for free. Not sure I'm going to be moving over there then.

We may be moving

I'm toying with moving my blog over to WordPress. I'm exporting everything over there at the moment and will have a play to see how it goes before making a final decision.

This blog is unwell

It has a temperature, a sore throat and it aches like hell. Now it's going back to bed.

My apologies for missing Fun Monday. Today's not really been much fun.

Prejudice is alive and well.

My fellow countrymen never cease to amaze me. And not in a good way this time.

Cerrie Burnell is a television presenter. She co-presents a programme on CBeebies, a children's television channel. An actress by profession, Cerrie is a pretty, blonde haired 29 year old. There is, however, one slight difference between Cerrie and a myriad of other pretty blonde television presenters. Cerrie is missing her lower right arm.

A minority of parents have expressed concern that Ms Burnell's appearance was "scaring" children. One father said he feared it would give his daughter nightmares and a mother said her two-year-old girl could not watch because she thought the presenter had been hurt.

Cerrie says she doesn't take these criticisms personally. But, as she rightly says, these kind of comments highlight the prejudice that disabled people face.

In an interview this week, she said:

"Children come up to me in the street every day and say 'What's that?' I wouldn't say they're frightened but certainly they're inquisitive.

"I would always take the time to explain to a child. All they want is an explanation. They want to know 'What's that?' and 'What's happened?' and 'Why are you different?' And then they will move on."

She hopes that her presence can show young children what they can achieve on merit.

I am not a parent so maybe I'm talking out of my hat here but surely parents should be encouraging their children to accept people who they might see as "different". Surely this is an ideal opportunity for parents to explain to children that some people do have physical disabilities but that this doesn't make them any less a person. If, as a nation, we want to stop prejudice of any description, then I would have thought that the younger the child, the more chance there is of moulding their thoughts against such prejudices.

Parents who can't face explaining this to their children must surely run the risk of passing on their own prejudices and fears of anyone who is "different".

As I said, I am not a parent but I'd be interested to know the views of those of you that are.

Boiing!

That'll be the sound of spring in the air then.

Just a few weeks ago we were knee deep in snow, and today? Spring has most definitely arrived. The reasons I know this are:

The sun is shining and there is some warmth in it's rays.
People are walking around in t-shirts
My daffodils are preparing to burst forth
We've now started our Summer Routine at work
Office workers are strolling the Common in their lunch break
I spend my lunch break doing things instead of spending it hiding indoors in front of the computer
Today I threw the windows wide open to let in the fresh air.
I'm sitting at work with the doors wide open
I've just ordered vegetable seeds for my garden
My thoughts seem to be turning to lust.....having a young, broad-shouldered hunk of a rugby player turning up in ones office on a Friday afternoon can do that to a girl you know.

Oh yes, Spring is most definitely here.

Obituary

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, whohas been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
Why the early bird gets the worm;
Life isn't always fair;
and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

The sink?

You lot are bonkers! And that's why I love you all!!

Of all the things that I have in my kitchen, the last thing I expected you all to fall in love with was my sink! Do you not have sinks like that in the States then!?

Actually, it might look great but it's not that brilliant. The sink bit is fine but the draining area is completely flat, so it doesn't drain properly.

To answer Faye's question about how involved I was in the whole remodeling project...quite simply, it was pretty much all planned by me from the start, although I did talk to a kitchen designer at the store I bought it from. Ari said she expected it to be more rustic and, if truth be told, I had wanted a more cottagey feel to it, but when I went to look at kitchens and sat down with the designer, we came to the conclusion that it simply wasn't big enough and, whatever I chose, it was going to have to be pretty basic. But I knew the colour scheme I wanted, that I wanted light coloured units and where I wanted everything to be to make best use of the limited space. The designer just tapped it all into his computer and told me whether it would work or not.

Choosing what to have as a backsplash took the longest. I couldn't find any tiles I liked and finally plumped for the wood that you see.

I have to say that planning the kitchen was the best bit of the whole renovation project for me!

Tuesday Challenge #7 - Out of the Frame

Well, here's a turn up for the books! Stu issued his Tuesday Challenge this morning and here I am with my entry already!

This was Stu's Challenge:

This week, the subject is absent from the frame. This could be for various reasons - location: your subject is present but off to one side of the frame; temporal: your subject was present but has now gone.

There should be sufficient clues in the frame that the viewer will have at least some idea about the subject, even if they don’t know its exact nature. Use shadows, gestures, lingering artefacts… whatever you can to give away as much as you can about your subject without showing it.

I really thought I'd struggle with this one because I'm not very clever when imagination is required. But I hit upon this idea and rushed home at lunchtime to see if I could pull it off.

So did I pull it off? I'll let you decide!

Fun Monday - The Kitchen!

Ari at Beyond my Slab is our Hostess this week and this is our assignment.

Topic: It's time for show and tell. What does your kitchen counter look like right now? (And no fair cleaning just for the picture!) Do you have any favorite or unusual items on your counter?

Well, I'm going to double up on this post because I realised that about 2 years ago I posted pictures of the kitchen how it was when I first moved in, and I've never posted any "after" pictures.

So this is how it was before:


And this is how it is now...

This is an overall view. It looks longer than it actually is because I used the wide-angle lens to get these shots...excuse the patches of water on the floor but I'd just emptied the dishwasher!


This is the view to the left of the door. You can jsut see the corner of the microwave, the hob, my utensils, nestled in the corner is a bowl of eggs from my chickens, and in the slow cooker is a chilli for dinner this evening!


Moving around to the right you can see three bowls of dog food lined up. If I had turned around and taken a photo you would have seen three hounds standing there, saying to me "Enough with the camera, FEED US!! You can also see my toaster, and my peelings bin and on the shelf are my old-fashioned scales which I absolutely love and wouldn't swap for a more modern set for a minute.


Then we come full circle to the doorway and you can see my kettle with the tea and coffee pots and that's my mobile - that is the best place in the cottage for getting a signal so the phone tends to live there. That white thing lying next to the kettle is a candle. It's there because my front door is sticking so I periodically rub some candle wax on it until I can get the door sorted out!


So there you go, that's my kitchen counters!

Tuesday Challenge #6 - Blue

Stu's Tuesday Challenge for this week was "Blue"

A Bowl of Blue Beads

For women over 40

I have shamelessly pinched this from my friend Nettie who posted it on the Greyhound Gap Forum


60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS)

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, 'What are you thinking?' She doesn't care what you think.

If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.

Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize.


Andy Rooney is a really smart guy!

I am such a bad blogger

There has been a distinct lack of blogging on my part over the last week or so. There have been various reasons for this but mainly work has been really really busy so by the time I get home, walk The Lurchers and The Greyhound, feed them, and do a few chores, all my mushy brain is capable of is collapsing in front of the TV.

On top of that, Lurcher No.2 has been poorly. There are a lot of gastroenteritis-type doggy viruses circulating at the moment and, when that happens, you can bet that he will catch at least one of them. So the beginning of last week he was vomiting and then just as he was starting to get over that, the enteritis bit hit and we experienced projectile diarrhea. At 5.30am last Saturday morning, neither of us made it to the door in time. My poor boy, he never soiled in the house even as a puppy and he was mortified.

Then just as he is getting over that and was eating normally, he suddenly stopped eating again yesterday and was sick again overnight. He has eaten a little breakfast this morning though so I'm keeping fingers crossed that it was just a blip.

I have a load of blogging things, and blogging pals, to catch up on and Jo, I promise I haven't forgotten my interview!

Tuesday Challenge #5 - One out of One

This is Stu's Challenge for this week

Allocate a time this week to the challenge. It can be a day, it can be ten minutes, as you wish.

During the allocated time, you are allowed to take exactly one photo. No more. No “take a few and see which is best”. No “let’s try that from another angle”. Do everything in your power to get a good photo before you press the shutter. This is a great exercise in spotting problems in the background, dodgy camera settings, and so on. To make it even harder on yourself, try shooting a dynamic subject - changing light, or moving objects. Wait for the right moment and go for it.

Well, I didn't manage to get anything "dynamic" but this was a difficult light situation as it was early in the morning and I was shooting almost directly into the sun. The only post-processing this has had is cropping and a little sharpening.

Pamela at The Dust Will Wait is our hostess for this week, and this is our assignment

The subject: Show me in pictures or tell me in words what defines the place where you live.


OK, there are two things that define the place I live.

The first is this:




The Windmill on Wimbledon Common. It's historically important to the area and also a major feature and it's part of my job to help look after it, although I only play a minor role.

Secondly, and probably the thing that will be instantaneaously recognisable to you all, is of course the All England Lawn Tennis Club

and it's famous courts

The tennis courts are literally a mile or so away as the crow flies and, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, I can hear the cheering crowds from my garden.

So head on over to Pamela's and see who else is participating.

Tuesday Challenge - Red

This week's Tuesday Challenge, as set by Stu, is "Red"

Here's my effort!

One for Pratchett fans

..as I know there are a few of you out who that read this blog.

In case you weren't aware, there is a programme on BBC2 at 9pm tonight about his journey with Alzheimers.

We have a host for Fun Monday!

Pamela at The Dust will Wait has stepped up to the mark!

Thank you Pamela!

We need a Fun Monday host for 9th Feb

Any volunteers?

Fun Monday - Books!

I am your hostess for Fun Monday this week and this is the assignment I set you:

Firstly tell me what book you are reading now. What's it about? Are you enjoying it and why? If not, why not?

And secondly, if you were to be stranded on a desert island, what one book would you take with you.

PLEASE SEE THE LIST OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE BAR TO THE RIGHT OF THE BLOG

At the moment I am reading Sepulchre by Kate Mosse.

This is what I call a split-story. Part of it is set in the 1890s and the rest is contemporary and the story flits between the two. Although I'm half way through, I haven't quite figured out what the story is yet. There seem to be several threads which I presume will come together at some point. The historical aspect of the story seems to focus on Tarot cards and evil goings-on associated with them, including the calling of demons. The modern aspect is more confusing. The heroine is an American travelling in France carrying out research for a book she is writing about Debussy. At the same time she is researching her family history. Neither aspect of her story is dominant and the author seems to be linking the two but why escapes me for the moment and the Debussy aspect is, I suspect, a bit of a red herring. What is obvious is that you know that three of the characters in the historical part all die on the same day and their story is leading up to that. Slowly. Very very slowly.

Am I enjoying it? No.

I've been having a problem for a few months now in that I've found it difficult to stay with the books I've been reading. Consequently I have a pile of half-read books. So I've been determined that I would stick with Sepulchre until the end, thinking that the problem was with me and not with the book. But whilst getting the Amazon link I scrolled down to read the reviews. It seems I am not the only person having a problem with the book. The reviews give it a serious slating.

Kate Mosse's first novel was a good yarn, Labyrinth, and the story held together even if the writing style left something to be desired. Ms Mosse's characters don't develop terribly well so you don't engage or feel anything for any of them. And in Sepulchre it's even worse. Now I know it's not just me, I may well stop torturing myself and get stuck in to the Twilight series which is burning a hole on my shelf!

As to the second part of Fun Monday - what book would I take with me to a desert island. No question it would be The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I've mentioned a few times that this is my all time favourite book and it's one I could read over and over again and always continue to find something new in it. Always a good recommendation in a book!

What to do?

The garden is in desperate need of attention. I still haven't raked up all the leaves from the Autumn. That's how far behind I am.

The chicken coop needs cleaning out. That's a must.

I need to go shopping. The cupboards are bare.

I need to clean my house. Goddamn I only did it last week how can it need doing again!?

The bed needs changing.

The dog beds need washing.

Paperwork needs sorting.

Or I could just sit here and have my ass whipped at Lexulous on Facebook by Janet and RC.

Decisions decisions.

One for the girls!!

My blog buddy, Janet, is having a giveaway on her planet.

And it is some giveaway so get over there girls!!

Fun Monday 2nd February - Your Assignment!

OK, I know that pretty much all of you out there are bookworms.

So for Fun Monday on 2nd February, firstly tell me what book you are reading now. What's it about? Are you enjoying it and why? If not, why not?

And secondly, if you were to be stranded on a desert island, what one book would you take with you.

Let me know in the comments if you want to sign up.

Fun Monday - Diets

Grace is our hostess this week and this is our assignment:

Many people make resolutions during the month of January and they usually include diets/eating healthy/losing weight and all that good stuff. I myself decided to try the Weight Watchers this time round. My assignment is to tell us about a diet or two (Atkins, Sonoma, Weight Watchers, South Beach, the You on a Diet, Best Life, The Abs Diet, The Zone, Cabbage Soup, E-Diets, Dr Phil, Jenny Craig, The Meditteranean Diet, Nutrisystem, Slim-Fast, Suzzane Sommers or No Name diet etc etc) that you have tried and what you liked or did not like about it. You can tell us about one diet that you had so much success with, or another that was a torture to follow or both.

AND/OR
Photo assignment: post a photo of something/someone that makes you feel good about yourself. It could be your loved one, your pet, your part of the world, anything goes.

Dieting. Oh yes. Been there done that. Many, many times. Although to be honest, I don't usually do fad diets. The last two years I've been to Weight Watchers. It really does help and I managed to get down to my target weight both times. The problem I have is keeping there. By the time I reach my target weight I am bored silly of dieting and slowly but surely go back to where I was before. I just can't seem to manage the maintenance.

That said, Weight Watchers is the only diet that I've followed that I have actually managed to stick to. It's pretty easy to do, at least, I did the Core Plan and I found that easier than Points. I tried the points but that just made me obsess about food because you have to be constantly thinking about it.

But the weight is sneaking up again and I really need to crack down and eat sensibly. My biggest problem is my sweet tooth. It overrides everything, and my willpower is not very strong at the best of times.



I was also going to include a feel-good photo but someone has done something so incredibly, mind-bendingly stupid that has hit me hard in the pocket that I am struggling to feel good about anything right now.

Tuesday Challenge #2

Stu's second Tuesday challenge is "Water". We've had a fair bit of that around this week that's for sure. However, instead of the rain, I had another go at capturing water drops. I first did this a while ago but as Stu's challenge requires us to take new shots, I spent another evening being terribly amused by a dripping tap!

I'm a bit late getting this shot up but I've been sitting on four shots since Thursday because I couldn't decide which one to choose. But this is the one I've finally gone for

A birthday treat

This morning my friend and I took ourselves off for my birthday treat - a De-Stress Full Body Massage at a local salon, the Ark Spa. I've never had a proper massage before so this was one to knock off the bucket-list.

But last night something occurred to me.

Having a massage means getting butt-naked. Don't ask why that only just occurred to me.

Now don't get me wrong, personal hygiene is way up there as a number one priority in my life but, people, it's winter. The time of heavy jeans, boots, lots of layers, thick jumpers...... and infrequent depilation. Yep, the legs, the armpits and the bikini line were in need of some desperate attention if I was going to save any face.

And, AND...underwear!!? How could I go to a spa that no less an august newspaper as the Sunday Times describes as being frequented by the "Well-heeled Wimbledonites and the racket weary top-seeded tennis players and their beautiful other halves during Wimbledon Fortnight" with grey knickers and a well-worn, if comfortable, bra? Well I couldn't could I? Cue a rapid emptying of the underwear draw to find bra and knickers that were at least the same colour.

And what was really funny was that as we were driving there, my friend confided that she had gone through exactly the same routine that morning!

But despite this being a top-end salon, the staff were not in the least bit snooty, made us incredibly welcome and were very friendly and relaxed. The massage was amazing and I'm going back in 10 days time for a facial. I could get used to this sort of life.

Happy Birthday to me!

Last week I was thinking about what to post today. With a birthday looming, I was feeling a bit introspective and wondering just how the hell I got to this age. Where has the last 44 years gone for heaven's sake?

And what had I achieved in those 44 years? At first, I thought "not a lot".

When I was an idealistic teenager I, probably like everyone else, wanted to leave my mark on the world. I wanted to be known for something, anything. I looked back and thought well, life's been pretty mediocre really. But today I think...no, I know, that we are not all cut out to achieve greatness and to change the world. Most of us do live normal, ordinary lives and it's the greatness within our own little worlds that is important.

Today I can see that I have achieved my own greatness. I have a job that I love, a home that I love, a family that I love and love me, friends that I trust, can turn to and depend on and, most importantly, three hounds that I love more than life itself and who love me back unconditionally. Today I have stopped wondering when life is going to happen. Life is here right now and I am living it. Not necessarily to the full, but to do as little or as much with as I want.

Am I happy and content with my lot? You know what? I am.

Mmmmmm.....

Weightwatchers sticky toffee pudding is very good.

Particulary good when smothered in extra thick double cream.

Oh wait.......

Damn.

Fun Monday - 2nd Anniversary Edition

Wow..I can't believe another year has gone by already! The first FM anniversary feels like it was just yesterday. I mean, obviously it wasn't, it was a year ago but where has the time gone?

Our Hostess for this week is Julie over at Another Chance Ranch and this is our assignment:

This week is the 2nd Anniversary of Fun Monday. Fun Monday began by everyone showing photos of their view out their front door. For the 1st Anniversary, we did it again. This time I wanted to change it up a bit. I asked everyone to take a photo from their front door facing the interior of their home instead of the exterior.

This is going to be a pretty boring post from me because you can't see very much from my front door. It opens up into a narrow hallway and you can just see through into the office/dining room/library/everything else room. But what you do get to see from my front door is the welcoming committee, who bring you toys!!

I can't think of much I'd prefer to come home to.

Tuesday Challenge #1

A couple of years ago, one of my blog pals, Stu, started a Tuesday Photography Challenge. Every Tuesday he would set a challenge to stretch the boundaries of a few novice blogging photographers and jolly good fun it was too.

Stu has now resurrected this and is pushing our boundaries out even further this time.

Yes, I realise tha today is Thursday and not Tuesday, but Stu gave us all week to come up with an image of "People at Work", to be interpreted as we see fit. This is my interpretation....

Farrier at Work

Clicky to make biggy!

Fun Monday - Sneaking in under the radar

OK, so I've left this a little late, but it is still Monday. Just.

Our host for this week is my lovely blogging buddy Jan over at The Prytz Family and this is our assignment

What is the quirkiest thing in your home that you will never give away?

Before we moved into this cottage, the ex-Himself and I had lots of quirky things. Many of them had to go as there simply wasn't the room. Many of the quirky things that did come, went when he left. But I do have one quirky thing left. A clock.


This was my Mum's clock and she gave it to me about 12 years ago because she had nowhere to put it when she moved and my step-father wasn't too enamoured of the chimes. Oh yes....it chimes. A real ding dong chime. And it's loud. I grew up with this clock and fell asleep to it's rhythmic tick tocking, because it really tick tocks as well.

My Mum scrimped and saved to buy this clock. Mum was a single parent and there wasn't much money spare for non-essentials but a jewellery and clock shop in the town where we lived let you pay an amount every week and then when you'd paid the full amount, whatever you were saving for was yours. And Mum did just that. And because of that, it holds a special place in my heart. It's not an antique, it's just a reproduction, but it is probably about 20 odd years old now.

So what's quirky about a clock?

You see that it says 8 o'clock? Well, it's said 8 o'clock for as long as I can remember! When I lived in the flat, ex-Himself wasn't too keen on the chimes either. So it stopped at 8' o'clock one day and there it stayed. You can wind it up so that the chimes don't sound but I never figured out how to do it. So it came to the cottage, was hung on the wall and still says 8 o'clock! I would love to get it going again but the problem I have here is that it hangs right next to the wall that divides this room from my neighbours bedroom and the walls are not that thick. I can't see the neighbours being very keen on the chimes at 2am somehow. And there's nowhere else to hang it.

At least it tells the right time twice a day!

What do you do with a dead chicken?

Indeed. What DO you do with a dead chicken?

One of my chook chooks headed off to the great chicken run in the sky last week. She'd been a little quiet for a few days but was still eating fine so I wasn't unduly concerned but I came out one morning to find she had died in the night. It happens when you keep animals and you have to deal with it.

But what do I do with her? Someone said I should have plucked her and put her in the pot. Someone with an even harder heart than mine might have been able to do that. Not me. That's why I keep chickens for eggs and not for the pot. How can you eat an animal you have given a name? A little hypocritical of me as a meat eater perhaps but there you go.

I buried the first chicken that died and she's now doing her bit fertilising my garden. That's not an option here at the moment. It's -2 out there at the moment, and has been as low as -9 overnight this past week, so the ground is frozen solid. I could leave her out for the foxes, they need to eat too, but she may well be picked up by a dog and give their owner the fright of their lives when they re-appear out of the undergrowth with a chicken in their mouths. Or I could throw her in the skip to be taken away with the rubbish. But both those options seem a little undignified.

So at the moment, Cora is resting in state in my shed. Which is fine whilst it remains cold but might cause a few problems as the temperature rises. I'm just hoping the ground thaws out pretty quickl because I can't think what else to do.

The Great British Weather

The British are renowned for their pre-occupation with the weather and I wouldn't normally want to bore you with details of what the weather is doing over here, particularly when many of you experience weather a lot more than we do.

But given that the weather here is a bit more extreme than we usually experience, it would be wrong of me not to mention in it in my blog. When I'm reading back through this in years to come and sitting with my cronies, we can ask each other whether we remember that weather we had in 2009.

So let me just say for the record.....

IT'S F***ING COLD!!

So there I was, up in the attic.....

....but let me start at the beginning.

I took the Christmas tree down today and carefully stored the decorations in the big plastic storage box. Because I have so little space here, I needed to get it up into the attic. Not the easiest thing in the world to do because I have a very narrow hallway and it's all a bit of a squeeze. I brought the ladder in and put it safely in place. Now I'm not good with ladders at the best of times. Heights are fine but it's having to climb a ladder to get there that gives me the willies. But, I got the damn box down, so I would get it up again. Getting the box of decorations down was fine because it was quite close to the hatch and I could reach it without getting off the ladder. And ditto putting it back up. It actually turned out to be an easier task than I anticipated.

But, and there's always a but isn't there? The weather over here is cold. And I don't mean the normal UK cold which is usually a degree or two above freezing. According to the forecast, it's barely going to get above freezing this week and at night it's heading down towards -9. So it occurred to me that whilst I was up in the attic I would get down the big faux fur throw that I have stored up there.

Except the throw is in a big bag, right across the other side of the attic. Now, the attic, whilst quite big, doesn't have a lot of headroom. 4 foot at most. So getting to the other side requires crawling along on hands and knees. I've never had to go all the way in before. Ex-himself always did that. The attic is boarded out, but only just. Put your knee on the corner of the wrong board and the other side will tilt up to slap you in the face.

So I get myself to the top of the ladder....and bottle it. I climb down again. Then I tell myself not to be so bloody silly and get my butt up there. Did I mention there are no lights up there? I got myself to the top of the ladder again and strategically place the torch so I can see where I need to go. I climb through the hatch and start crawling. Realising I'm going to block the light from what was obviously not such a strategically placed torch, I grab it and move it.

I get the bag with the throw in it then start to crawl backwards dragging it with me. I'm half way back across the attic when the torch goes out. It's dark up there. Very very dark. And I can't see a thing. I very carefully keep crawling backwards with visions of me falling either through the ceiling or down the hatch. After what feels like a lifetime, I reach the hatch and gingerly put my foot through it and start feeling blindly for the ladder. It's not there. Except it is there but I'm too far to the right and my leg won't bend that far to the left. I bring my foot up again to swap legs. Put my knee down and the previously mentioned wrong board tilts up to meet me head on.

Be still my beating heart.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and tried again, and found the ladder this time. Ripped the bag open, got the throw out and dropped it behind me. Right on top of The Lurchers and The Greyhound who are standing at the bottom of the ladder wondering what all the noise is about.

It's been an eventful afternoon.

Shhhhh......they've all gone home!

My parents arrived on Wednesday, complete with their two Whippets. My brother and his girlfriend arrived on Thursday and apart from me, the Lurchers and The Greyhound (who were already here of course), I've also had The Neighbour's labrador staying.

That's a lot of people and a lot of dogs in one very small house.

But everyone was on best behaviour. At least, the dogs all were. Mothers, bless their hearts, only want to help and I did appreciate it, really I did, but I'm just not used to having that many people in my house and unfortunate timing meant my very irregular period chose to arrive and I was a little, erm....tense, shall we say. But once that passed it was fun and nice to have most of the family together.

But today it feels a bit like a whirlwind descended, did it's stuff, and then moved on. Now everyone has gone home and it's quiet. Bliss. I have my house back.

And just for Patience, a little mini Whippet Waggle

Blog 365

I guess I shouldn't get too far into this year without mentioning Blog 365.

I did it. I blogged every day in 2008. I set myself the challenge and I made it.

Am I doing it again this year?

Not a snowball's chance in hell!

New Year Resolutions

I'm not usually one for new Year resolutions. I make them, I fail. What is the point in setting yourself up for a fall?

But with the coming of this New Year I feel the need to make some changes. A lot has happened in the last few months and it's time for me to make a few emotional leaps and what better time?

I have had several difficult conversations with ex-Himself over the last few weeks, the last of which found me telling him in no uncertain terms that he had to move on, there was simply no point in him ringing me every two weeks with the "You're the best thing that happened to me/I shouldn't have left/now I know what I've lost" routine. It's not helping him and it certainly isn't helping me.

But I've realised that I too need to move on. I need to move myself out of the adjustment stage, think positively and step forward and embrace my new life.

Which leads me to my second resolution.

I am having comfort zone issues. There. I've said it.

I can get out of the house and walk the hounds, go to work and go to the supermarket with no problem. They are all well within my comfort zone. But going out anywhere different has started to give me pangs of anxiety and I need to nip this in the bud before it really takes hold. I don't mean that I need to go partying every night of the week but I do need to push myself a little. It has been all too easy to come home and shut the door and lock the world away.

Now where is that switch that I need to flick?

So long 2008

And hello 2009.

Happy New Year everyone!

Useful advice

Handle every stressful situation like a dog.

If you can't eat it or hump it, piss on it and walk away.


(Thanks to Vickyanne on Gap for that!)

I have two days.

Two days before the parents arrive to stay.

So why, when my house was clean and tidy two days ago, is it now a complete and utter tip? Two days ago everything was where it should be and now? Now there is just stuff everywhere.

I really wish I had been born with the tidy gene.

So. Did we land on the moon?

There was an interesting programme on television last night about the Apollo moon landings and whether or not man did actually set foot on the moon, or if NASA pulled one of the biggest hoaxes in the history of....ermm well, hoaxes.

I've heard about this before of course, but I've never been big on conspiracy theories. I'm a take things at face value kind of gal and, I mean, come on, with the number of people involved, how the heck could they have kept it quiet all this time?

But, as a mere mortal whose knowledge of science is minimal, I have to say that this programme put forward a convincing argument for the hoax theory. I was on the way to being convinced.

That was until I did a little more research and found equally convincing arguments from NASA that debunked the conspiracy theories.

So now I'm just plain confused.

But why, when something significant happens, are there always people who will try to find a dark and sinister side to it? Human nature I guess.

That's all out of the way then

...sort of.

Now that Christmas is done and the shops, given that we are in the midst of a credit crunch, should be nice and quiet, I can go and finish my Christmas shopping.

Yes, I said I can go and finish my Christmas shopping. In plenty of time for Christmas on Thursday.

You will be forgiven for thinking that you have stumbled into a temporal paradox but there is a very simple explanation. As my family couldn't be with me on the first Christmas Day, nor I them, they are coming for New Year, so we are having our family Christmas Day on New Year's Day. And because I have been so completely disorganised this year, I get a little extra time to finish buying my family presents. Although I suspect that New Year's Eve will still find me running round like the proverbial blue fly trying to find a unique and witty, yet useful, gift for my impoverished step-brother and his girlfriend. If you have any ideas, throw them over this way please.

Boxing Day

Do you know why Boxing Day is called "Boxing Day"?

Boxing Day dates back to past centuries when it was the custom for the wealthy to give gifts to employees or to people in a lower social class, most especially to household servants and other service personnel. As with Christmas itself, some elements of Boxing Day are also likely related to, and ultimately derived from, the ancient Roman Saturnalia, which also had elements of gift giving and social role reversal. The name 'Boxing Day' originates from the tradition of putting gifts in boxes for the less fortunate.

Although, given the state of my house yesterday with boxes everywhere after I'd been shopping, you could have been forgiven for thinking its meaning was more literal!

I have had....

...the most wonderful day.

Hopefully you have too.

It's Christmas Eve....

...the Lurchers and the Greyhound are walked and fed and are sleeping and farting peacefully, the fire is burning in the grate, there are carols on the radio. Oh, and most importantly there is a box of Turkish Delight in the fridge. All is well, then.

I will raise a glass to you all tonight and wish you a very merry Christmas. May tomorrow be everything you hope it will be.

Merry Christmas!

Ughh.....

The last of the work Christmas parties this afternoon. We have lunch, followed by a quiz. Which is fun. Except I am the Quiz Master. So it's not such fun for me.

I have nightmares over this damn quiz. Trying to be tactful here, we have quite a mix of intelligence amongst our staff so I have to try to balance the quiz so it's not too hard but also offers a bit of a challenge.

Then there are the teams to be organised. Bad enough when you have odd numbers but trying to get the intelligence mix right on each team also gives me nightmares.

Right now I am in a cold sweat just thinking about it all and the thought of eating lunch is making me quite nauseous.

Although that might be the bad back which is back with a vengeance this morning. But at least it's just my back and it's not spread to my shoulders and head yet. That I can live with.

Well....

....last night, I went to church.

At this point, those that know me will fall over in complete shock. For those of you that don't know me, I am an athiest. So you can see why the fact that I went to church would come as something as a surprise.

Now don't get me wrong, I realise that faith is important to many people and I have a great deal of respect for that. It's just not for me.

So why was I in church? My colleague and I decided, it being Christmas, that we would like to attend a carol concert, which just happened to be in the local church. I think we both had visions of choirs and children singing carols and someone dressed as Mary riding into the church on a donkey.

Except it wasn't a carol concert, it was a carol service. By the time we realised, we were penned in to the pews and couldn't get out without making a bit of a scene, and neither of us wanted to do that. That would have been rude after all. So we sat through it, and it was absolutely lovely!

The church was lit with hundreds of candles and looked wonderful, And there was indeed a choir singing carols, and they were superb. There was a lot of religious stuff in there too, but I let that slip by me and enjoyed the singing, and watching parents trying to keep toddlers amused through the hour and half service!

Back to normal...ish

Thank you for your kind thoughts for yesterday. Maybe the rest helped but I'm feeling almost human again today.

A waste of a day

Today has not been a good day.

I woke up with back, neck and shoulder pain and it rapidly spread to my head. I attempted to get into town to finish my Christmas shopping this morning but after 20 minutes I couldn't cope. The pain was making me feel nauseous.

So I gave up, headed home, lit the log fire and have spent most of the day on the sofa, wrapped in a duvet watching tv.

Fingers crossed I feel better tomorrow.

Two down......

Tonight was the second of the work's Christmas parties.

I was in two minds whether to go. Someone had apparently invited ex-Himself and I was really not in the right frame of mind for that confrontation. And I dare say he wouldn't be either. But one of my colleagues rang to say he hadn't turned up and why didn't I come over? So I half-heartedly threw on some tidy clothes and headed out, despite not really feeling terribly sociable.

But, as is ever the way, the evenings you don't really feel like attending turn out to be the most fun!

It was a very simple evening. A curry and snooker. I haven't played snooker in 20 years but I discovered it was like riding a bike and I won both the games I played!

I is a happy bunny this evening.

Office Christmas Party

It was the usual riot. Ahhhh...Chinese Karaoke, you really can't beat it.

Bah humbug

So having made even more mince pies last night, I decided to treat the boys at work to their deliciousness. Doused in icing sugar and neatly laid out on a plate, I walked into the yard bearing my gift to be greeted with howls of pleasure. There is nothing quite like food to have them eating out of your hand....in a manner of speaking.

An hour later there is mockery.

There is mockery across our radio waves as to the need to watch out for loose teeth when partaking of the said mince pies.

OK, so my pastry is not the soft pappy stuff that shop-bought mince pies are made of. It has a bit more substance to it. But a danger to loose teeth it is not. I learnt how to make pastry at my mother's knee and it's tasty and yummy. She says adamantly.

Bloody ingrates.

But it does lead me to ask all you pastry makers out there what your recipe is. I would like to make a slightly softer pastry sometimes.

That'll be a FAIL then.

Plumbing has never been my strong point. Actually, being honest, and if I can't be honest with my blog buddies then what have we come to? Being honest, I have never actually plumbed before in my life. Therefore it wouldn't really be a strong point would it? No.

So quite why I thought I could take my first tentative steps into the world of plumbing by plumbing in my spanking new dishwasher is completely beyond me. But that is what I did.

You'd have thought, these being my first tentative steps, that I would have read the bloody instructions. Oh no. How difficult can it be? Screw a few pipes, turn on the water and off we jolly well go!

OK, first things first. Screw in the waste pipe. Except it isn't a screw in pipe. You put one pipe over the other and then fix it in place with a claspy thing (yes, "claspy thing" is a technical term). Except to fix the claspy thing in place you need a pair of pliers. Do I have pair of pliers? That'll be a NO. In equipping myself with all the spanners and screwdrivers that a girl might need, it seems I inadvertantly forgot about a pair of pliers. But, hey, this girl can improvise and the claspy thing was soon in place. With just a smidge of brute force and a minimal amount of swearing.

Then fix the inlet pipe to the water supply pipe. Ach...that was a piece of cake. At least, it was a piece of cake once I stopped the pipe disappearing down the back of the dishwasher.

Then plug it in. That I can manage.

Then open the dishwasher door. And find the instruction manual. Discover that I seem to have forgotten to attach the legs to the dishwasher. Dishwashers have legs? Who knew?

Not being able to face undoing everything I'd just done, I gave up, decided to call Mr Whizziness in the morning....and made some more mince pies instead.

It must be Christmas

I know this because I have just made mince pies. Oh, and the Christmas tree in the corner is a bit of a giveaway too.

I am so lucky

I really am lucky to have such good friends.

To those friends who leave their own partners and dogs at home to come and stay the night with me and mine and make me giggle; and to the friend that's always at the end of a phone and gets mad on my behalf (Lisa, I wish you lived nearer) and those friends I don't keep in contact with as much as I should but are there for me anyway (Niki, Ali, Em, I wish you lived nearer too). To these friends, I send you all big hugs.

With friends like these at your back, you know you can take on anything that life throws at you.

Mamma Mia!

Here I go again, my my how can I forget you....

Girly evening. Guess what we're watching!? (The clue is in the title...you know, if you were having trouble guessing.)

Beep Beep Beep

Beep Beep Beep...that's the noise my dishwasher is making. I turn it on, it goes whoosh whoosh whoosh and then stops and goes beep beep beep.

That is not good news.

It is particularly not good news when the beep beep beep is accompanied by an ever increasing puddle at your feet. I removed the kick boards to find not just a puddle, but a veritable flood of water. Bugger.

I could not see why it was leaking and I have no idea where to start to fix it. So I buckled, and asked for help.

Help duly arrived in the form of our Maintenance Manager who is a bit of a whizz with such things. He took all the pipework apart (which meant clearing everything out from the cupboard under the kitchen sink - and we all know what those cupboards are like) but nothing was blocked. So he poured some water into the dishwasher and whoosh! (as opposed to whoosh whoosh whoosh) it all piddled out of the machine and I had another flood.

He shook his head and informed me that to fix it was beyond his whizziness and that, basically, it's terminal.

I swore. A lot.

Update: Just to add insult to injury, where Mr Whizziness was fiddling with the pipework under the sink....it's now leaking. So every time I let any water down the drain it pisses into the cupboard. I don't possess a washing up bowl so will be washing up in a bucket. Which is just what I need when I have friends coming to stay.

Feel like getting crafty?

Got a little spare time on your hands? Got some tampons going spare? Then this is the site for you....

Tampon Crafts

Lisa found the site and I just had to share it with you!

Spam Spam Spam Spam

As the Tresurer of Greyhound Gap, my "official" e-mail address for that role is necessarily plastered across the internet, which results in me getting a heck of a lot of spam e-mail.

The regular stuff I've managed to filter out; the viagra, pills, erections....etc etc. But the spammers are getting cleverer. They now choose subject lines which, whilst easy to filter out, could actually be legitimate e-mails. The two current favourites seem to be "delivery failure", which does need to be checked...just in case. And the other is "Your order". When you buy a lot of stuff over the internet you do get a lot of legitimate e-mails with the subject "Your order" so they all have to be checked.

It's damned annoying and spammers should, IMHO, be put against the wall and shot.

oops

This blog comes to you by the power of Blogger's Post Options!

Yes I forgot to blog on Tuesday. Although if you're reading this it will look like I blogged on Tuesday but it's really Wednesday.

I was just so busy. Walking hounds, working at home writing minutes of a meeting, walking hounds again, pottering about, watching a movie. You know the sort of day. The sort of day that well....you just forget to blog.

Ho hum.

Fun Monday - Christmas Carols

Mamalang is our Fun Monday host this week and she wants to know our three favourite Christmas carols.

It's been a long day and I've had a Board meeting and a drinks party this evening so, in true Fun Monday tradition, I'm cheating! There are only two and they're not really carols.

I'm not usually swayed by advertising but there are two adverts on British TV at the moment that have some great music in their adverts.

The first is the Marks and Spencers ad which has Macy Gray singing a version of Winter Wonderland. It's a song that's been covered many times but this is most definitely my favourite version!



The second is an ad for the Co-op. Once the store of those on very low budgets, the co-op has successfully re-branded itself as the one supermarket with morals and ethics. Their Christmas ad has Gabriella Cimli singing a version of Warm This Winter and I've been singing it all day!



Enjoy!!

The evidence

OK, Janet wanted to see the pictures of the disastrous Christmas decoration making attempt, so I salvaged them out of the bin......


You see? Disaster!

However, after I wrote my blog yesterday, I decided to have another go with some of the salt dough I had left.


The result is still not pretty, and they do still need tidying up around the edges, but you can just about see the glitter in them and I think they are sort of good enough to hang on my tree with some satin ribbon to set them off.

They do have a certain rustic charm don't you think? *said whilst snorting with laughter*

And the moral of the story is?

When you know you are hopeless at anything that involves the word "craft", do not try to make your own Christmas decorations from salt dough. Or any other kind of dough come to that.

I was so sure that even I could manage to do this but it was an unmitigated bloody disaster.

Friday Funny

2008's First Christmas Joke

Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.

"In honor of this holy season" Saint Peter said, "You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven."

The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. "It represents a candle", he said.

"You may pass through the pearly gates" Saint Peter said.

The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, "They're bells."

Saint Peter said "You may pass through the pearly gates".

The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women's panties.

St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, "And just what do those symbolize?"


The man replied, "These are Carols."

And So The Christmas Season Begins......

HELP!!!!!

I need to make salt dough but all the recipes I can find are in American "cups" and I can't find a straightforward conversion. Is there a rough guide? The one I found said 4oz for flour but 8oz for salt and I got very confused at that point.

HELP!!!

Just to explain...

I wanted to follow up on the comment that Lesley left on yesterday's blog:

"No matter how much women want to be equal with men they simply cannot match their physical strength. It must have been wonderful to have fit able men help you. I would have loved it but then I have never needed to feel equal."

Lesley is absolutely right of course, most men are built stronger than women, but I do need to explain that this isn't just about being equal. I've no doubt that's part of it but there are other factors.

The main reason I wanted to split the logs myself, and do many other things, was that I need to prove something to myself. I'm rebuilding my life and my confidence in my abilities and trying to prove to ME that I can be independent and look after myself.

But it's also about work. When the majority of the staff you work with live on the job you tend to develop into a community. Most of the time it's like a small village and everyone gets on fine and we all look out for each other. But every now and again petty bitchiness raises it's ugly head.

When it first became known that I was going to be moving into my cottage, one person in particular went out of their way to create a lot of bad-feeling about it. It wasn't aimed at me per se but it affected me nonetheless. Although that person has now left, the whole incident made me be very careful about not taking advantage and appearing to be getting preferential treatment. Some of the staff can get quite bitchy about having to do things for other staff, particularly if it happens a lot, and I don't want to find myself at the end of that bitchiness by constantly asking for favours. I'm walking a fine line here and I'm very careful not to wobble off it!

I hurt.

I hurt everywhere. Including places I didn't know could hurt.

Including my pride.

I finally had to admit defeat on the log-splitting. I had to give in and ask for help.

I was so full of intentions of getting myself a chainsaw and an axe and doing all the log chopping myself. But I finally had to admit that a) my back is not strong enough to wield an axe, b) handsaws and me just do not understand each other, c) what the heck is the point of me buying myself a chainsaw and parting with the best part of £150 for the pleasure when I work with a team of men who play with chainsaws all their working day and d) we have a nifty tractor-mounted log-splitting machine complete with a man to operate it at work?

Exactly.

So this morning the nifty tractor-mounted log splitter and the man to operate it made their way to my back yard and split all my logs for me. But I did my bit by lugging all the logs to him and taking away all the split wood. Which is why I hurt. 3 hours of physical labour was a bit of a shock to my body!

But I now have more wood for the fire than I can....than I can....well, shake a stick at. My pride and my body will heal and at least I did my bit.

And I did at least try. Sometimes there is strength in realising your own limitations.

Fun Monday - Neighbours from Hell

Our hostess this week is Ari over at Beyond my Slab and this is our assignment

Tell us about your all-time worst Neighbors from Hell. You know, the family of Irish clog dancers who once lived in the flat/apartment above you? Mrs. Nextdoor and her banshee-like multiple orgasms? Mr. and Mrs. Hard-of-Hearing with their television on full blast? The guys across the street who set off 4th of July fireworks starting in March and didn't stop until the first real snowfall?

Ive been really lucky with neighbours pretty much all my life; from the lovely couple who used to look after me when I was a shrimp when Mum had to work, right up to the neighbours I have now. Despite my grumblings about Nosey Neighbour and Nosey Neighbour's Children, they could be a lot worse. Mrs Nosey Neighbour is lovely, and no nosey at all, and in some ways Mr Nosey Neighbour can't help but look over the fence, he is over 6'6" tall after all. I could do without the children screaming in the garden all summer, and the hammering on the walls at ungodly hours, and I could also do without what I suspect are the regular phone calls from Mr Neighbour to ex-Himself telling him every bloody move I make. But, on the whole, it could be a much much worse.

So, a very boring Fun Monday from me, but can you tell I am trying to not let myself get wound up by things these days!? I am trying to be calm, calm, calm, and not let anything get to me. I can rise above it.

Ahem.