Whittering Wednesday

Outside my window... it's bloomin' snowing, sleeting, blowing a gale and freezing cold.  I am not impressed.

I am thinking...that life really is shit sometimes.

I am thankful... that it's pretend Friday tomorrow and I have four wondrous days off work! 

In the kitchen... I have a pile of lemons.   Oh yes I do!

I am wearing... Yawn... work attire... black trews, a black and white top and some rather funky wedge lace up ankle boots.

I am creating... a crochet ripple blankie.  A red white and blue one! How very patriotic of me!

I am going... to go shopping this evening for new gym wear. 

I am wondering... if I have taken leave of me senses! (see above)

I am reading ... The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad. (still!)

I am hoping... that my Dad gets some respite from the chronic pain he is in right now
:(

I am looking forward to... the la la la la long weekend and beginning a new fitness regime.

I am learning ... you have to put all of your self doubt in a box and float it down the river...

Around the house... there are signs of Easter approaching!

I am pondering... Whether my typing pile will actualy ever go down!

A favorite quote for today...

If life throws you lemons - make Lemon Drizzle Cake. ;)


One of my favorite things... my laptop.... and my wondrous wonderful man who has, once again, fixed it so I can ooo and ahhhh over my favourite blogs.  I've missed you all loads!!

A few plans for the rest of the week...  Tomorrow evening - gym...properly - for the first time.  Am v.v.v. scared!!  I may die!!!  Or fall over in a spectacular manner when I get off the exercise bikes a la Bridget Jones.   Friday evening - we're off to see Punk'd - a punk covers band at local venue The River Rooms.  I. Cannot. Wait.  The eyeliner is sharpened and the gel-spray is primed!


A peek into my day...  well I'd share.... but now my lap top is back up and running sod's law dictates that the batteries in my camera are as dead as a very dead thing.   Maybe tomorrow......

Lots of love!!

Blogging Inspiration

I love my little blog but much of the time, particularly during the week, I find it difficult to think of things to post, especially as being a 9 - 5er in an office very much akin to Eeyore's Gloomy Place doesn't give much food for thought.  I stumbled upon this ttp://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ link in someone else's blog recently which gives some good blogthinkingfodder (yes that IS a word!).

Outside my window... well at the time of writing this (nearly 1pm on Thursday afternoon) I'm at work - just finishing my lunch break (booo) and it's beautifully sunny but the skies are hazy.  There's a strong breeze whipping over the tops of the trees.  It's not a particularly pleasant view - an estate road and a warehouse.  Joy.

I am thinking...that I shouldn't have eaten cucumber and onion on my lunchtime wrap as this afternoon I will probably die from indigestion.


Ok I had to finish this at home!! So now it's nearly 8pm.

I am thankful... that it's Friday tomorrow! 

In the kitchen... there is the debris from dinner (Spanish omelette with chicken and a huge salad)  cooked by Lovely Man and pots and plates awaiting my attention.  They're going to have to wait a bit longer!!

I am wearing... Doc Marten 12 hole boots and a purple afro wig.  And that's all.    HAHH!! Not really - I'm wearing my usual work attire of a black tee shirt (ancient), black skirt (ditto), black crochet cardi (cos I is a Goff!!) and black patent stillettos. Oh and my work key fob which I laughingly call my dog tag.  Pah!

I am creating... a crochet ripple blankie.  Although having scrutinised it recently I'm going to scrap it and start over cos it's rubbish and the edges which are supposed to be straight are, in fact, more ripply than the ripples.

I am going... for breakfast with some friends on Saturday morning!  How novel!

I am wondering... if my son can play his music any bliddy louder before the walls begin to melt.

I am reading ... The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad.

I am hoping...with all of my heart, that my Goddess is looking after us.. that my Dad's bone scan next week will reveal nothing more than arthritis and that the medics are just being over cautious ... please?

I am looking forward to... the weekend, spending time with my man and my family.

I am learning ... that moaning and complaining about something won't get you anywhere. 

Around the house... its as eye winceingly messy as ever.  But it's home.  And I love it.

I am pondering... what the weird camera angles on Emmerdale are all about!!

A favorite quote for today...

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
John Burroughs

One of my favorite things... (at the moment!) Chocolate Philadelphia Spread. mmmmmmmmm so wrong but oh so right! ;)

A few plans for the rest of the week...  hmmm let's see.... colouring my hair tomorrow evening, an 'all you can eat' buffet breakfast on Saturday with a potentially new circle of old but new found friends,  haircut in the afternoon, then another bric-a-brac faire on Sunday where we shall make our fortunes.  Cough.

A peek into my day...  Evil Edna marching on poor DD's belly!! hehehe.....

 

Monday Giggles

I've had the day from hell at work.  This is nothing unusual.  I needed a good old cheer up this evening I can tell you.

Whenever I'm in need of a good giggle I watch some old clips of the Fast Show on Youtube.  The Fast Show was a comedy programme shown in the mid 1990s, starring Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, amongst a supporting cast of bright young stars such as Arabella Weir, Caroline Aherne and John Thompson.   It was completely ahead of its time. 

I absolutely LOVE randomness - and this really does make me howl with laughter, no matter how many times I watch it - sometimes with big embarrassing snorts and tears streaming down my face.  That may be hysteria though!  Mark Williams (who some of you will recognise as Mr Weasley in the Harry Potter saga!) plays the old guy and Paul Whitehouse the 'experienced rambling hiker'.  I think it's made even more hilarious by the fact that the mad old bloke speaks my language!  This is the reason I don't walk down Lye High Street any more on my own for fear of this happening! 

(A mad part of me also wants leap out at some poor unsuspecting soul going about their business and warn them about the 'ole down the road in the fog with an owl! - I wonder what the reaction would be?!

Now look........  if this doesn't make you laugh....well.... you're dead, quite frankly!!!

What comedy sketch is guaranteed to make YOU smile, no matter how many times you watch it?  I'd love to know.

Monday over and out!!

Weekend Round Up.

Evening all

(bends knees with arms behind back in a policeman styley)

I do hope all of you Yummy Mummies out there have been spoilt rotten today. I know I have. I received two lovely bright polyanthus plants which will be planted in the raised bed amongst the ignorant daffodils(!) (Y'know - the ones that have all turned about face and refuse to look towards the kitchen window!),  a GORGEOUS Wiccan trinket box in the shape of an acorn and some perfume from my two Wondrous Offspring, together with a 'Green Man' china mug from Lovely Man.  We've had a pretty full on day; shopping this morning as we didn't go yesterday, then this afternoon was spent making lasagne and brownies for a family tea.  My Dad wasn't feeling too good today so didn't visit as arranged, but Mum and my little Bro came around and we had a really lovely evening eating yummy food and playing lots of daft games, sharing giggles and family time.  We've been dealing with some family angst of late and this close, carefree time was very much needed and appreciated.  Some times it's the little things isn't it?

Yesterday was pretty busy too.  Whilst LM was asleep, I took the HTH for a good old yomp over the fields.  I walked a little further than usual and noticed that some trees had been cleared from an area of one of the fields which had opened up a little clearing. 

This is the view from the other side - see how it forms a natural 'pool' shape? 

I spotted bullrushes growing and imagine that this area was once a natural pond or bog area.  

 Spring certainly is beginning to show itself now; acid green spears of bluebell leaves are well above ground.

Tiny celandines push their starry little faces towards the weak sunshine.  

The willows are in bud....

Pushing a little further along our walk, I walked through another little clearing and found this amazing fallen tree - just look at the colours of the lichen on this - and fungi too!  I spent ages just looking at this fella!

Oh and this one - which reminded me of a graceful gymnast doing a backward bend.....

Seems like other people like this little area too according to the telltale ash remains of a fire.  Shame they can't bloody well clear up after themselves too.  Beer cans and bottles everywhere.  I didn't have anything with me to clear it up - it makes me so cross to see this. 

But mad as HELL to see this.     

This  is appalling.  Just lazy, disgraceful and disrespectful!!  This little patch of ground which is simply the opening to a field is a prime spot for fly tipping and there's usually a few bin bags strewn around which are tidied up at regular intervals by, I assume, the local Council - but this takes the biscuit!!  There's a whole bathroom just dumped at the side of the road!!  Unbelievable.  I'd like to gather up the whole lot and dump it back on the responsible person's front lawn. 

And breathe.

Moving on....

My ikkle boy has been attending a music course for the last ten weeks.  Music inspires him; it's his life and I'm so glad that he shares my passion for it.  He's been learning how to play the bass guitar.  The course culminated in a little 'gig' yesterday, where the student groups took to the stage to play two songs each.  They did so well to say that none of them had any prior musical knowledge and I was so very proud to see him playing like a pro, checking the amps and all the other malarkey which goes along with being a rock god!

Look at the concentration on that little face!!

Guess what he wants for his birthday?!! 

Sigh.

Hope your weekend was jam packed too!!

Much love

xx

   

It's a Mug's Game

Friday night is usually treat night in our house.  Just a little something nice of an eaty treaty nature for getting through the worky/schooly/collegey week.  Nothing OTT - just a little family tradition we have here. 

Alas, it's a week from pay day and we are, as they say dahhhn sarf.... boracic lint mate.  There was nothing of an eaty treaty nature in the house. Nope.  Nary a chocolate bar, a crisp nor a crumb of a biscuit in the cupboards and I can assure you we checked every nook and cranny!  My son was lying on the sofa all pale and wan recovering from a streaming cold and declared that he was positively weak with hunger. My poor boy.  What a terrible Mother I am.   This was clearly an emergency of epic proportions. 

After doing a quick costume change in the broom cupboard I emerged triumphant as Super Mum and headed to the kitchen to see if I could remedy the situation.

It was time for a storecupboard staple - Choccie Mug Pudding!! It's so simple and quick to do and satisies a starving teenager's sweet craving.  It's probably even cheaper than chips and there's no messing around with mixers, bowls and all that malarkey usually involved in cakey bakey goings on.

So - find yourself a good mug sized mug.  A delicate and dainty teacup simply will not do on this occasion.

Into it chuck 4 tablespoons of SR flour,  2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and mix together.  Then add 1 egg, 3 tablespoons milk and 3 tablespoons of oil (or melted butter if you can be bovvered to melt it!), 1/4 teasp of vanilla essence (or peppermint, or orange) 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips (if you have em - we didn't!).  Mix reaaaaaallly well so the dry ingredients are integrated into the wet ingredients and there's no little pockets of flour lurking in the bottom of the mug. 

Then - whack it into the microwave for 3 mins until the puddingy cakey thingie has risen well and has set nice and firm.  I usually check after about 2 and a half mins as my microwave is a bit feisty.   Turned out onto a plate and accompanied with some vanilla yoghurt - or cream if you feel decidedly decadent - or custard if you feel so inclined - and there you have it!  

To be honest you could cut it in half and share 'cos it's quite a large portion really.... Master Pod didn't feel like sharing tho....   shocked aren't you?!

Ya Get Me Blud?

So.  I'm 44 years old.  I must have had about 20 blood tests or more over the years and I've had two pregnancies.  So my GP would be able to tell me what blood group I am, yes?

Well, erm...

No.

Actually.

He couldn't.  "It's not something we'd keep on file as a general rule.  You may find it on your hand held pregnancy notes".

Well.... my last pregnancy was 14 years ago.  I haven't a clue where they are or even if I still have them.  I can't remember for the life of me whether it was on the notes or not. 

When I went for my last blood test just last month, the phlebotomist was surprised that my blood group wasn't on my records.  I asked her whether she could put it on my results.  No she couldn't as the GP hadn't requested it.  (pauses to roll eyes in a dramatic fashion).    Her advice was to 'Give Blood.  They have to check your blood group".  Well... one thing I would dearly LOVE to do is actually Give Blood.  But given that it always takes at least seven attempts to get anything more than a slow trickle of the red stuff into a test tube from me, I'm not sure that they'd want me!

I do think it's daft that such a fundamental part of your biological makeup isn't deemed important enough to keep on your medical notes as a matter of course. 

Thoughts, people?   Is this a general thing?


Oh... and Cro........... Tis Number..............4!  

Head Clearing and "Secret" Gardens

As some of my regular readers will know, my back garden gate opens out on to open farm land and we consider ourselves to be very lucky in having a wealth of lovely paths around the fields on which to walk Harvey the Hooligan Hound.    I've been 'off the hooks' for the last couple of days and so have been confined to home.  Whilst yesterday was spent moping and hibernating, today I felt the need for fresh air and open spaces and so H and I took ourselves off for an hour. 

It's been quite foggy here in the Black Country for a few days now.  The trees have been shrouded in mizzly mist and the air feels heavy and damp.  Whilst it's not freezing, there's a rawness in the air which gives no indication that Spring is just around the corner. 

I get so cross with digital cameras.  The lag on them and lack of decent focus for close work even when in macro mode drives me insane.  I've more or less given up with trying to photograph anything other than landscape shots with that posh new GE that Charl got me for my birthday last year as it simply doesn't cope with close ups.  I've borrowed my Dad's Panasonic Lumix this last week or so and I'm still not getting the shots I'm looking for on macro setting. Out of about 20 shots, this was the best of a bad lot!  It's so frustrating.  What cameras do you have bloggy peeps? 

I enjoyed our walk despite the fact that due to my not feeling 100%, it felt like I was dragging my sluggish
body around for most of it. 



The hedgerow birds were in fine voice; the blackbirds diving here and there, shrieking their annoyance at our intrusion, and scaring me half to death as they did so!  I watched the instantly recognisable dipping and swooping flight of a couple of blue tits down in the corner of the field as they flew towards one of the hawthorn bushes.   A little further down the path you can hear the chuntering of some chickens in a garden a few doors away from us.  We used to hear a very vociferous cockerel but he's been conspicuous by his silence of late - methinks he may have been moved on!! Although I couldn't see him today, I also heard the plaintive call of one of the many buzzards we have in the area.   On a clear day it's not unusual to see two or three of them wheeling around above the house.  Harvey loves to chase the ubiquitous crows.  They tease him relentlessly, waiting until he is almost within snapping distance then taking off and fluttering down to land just a few feet further away.  Call me odd if you like (ok, ok, I know that's an open invitation for abuse!) I love to hear the crows.  It's such a countryside sound and reminds me so much of one of my favourite children's tv programmes, Worzel Gummidge!  I wanted to live in that very village when I was younger!

Ahem.  Moving on.

I also have a 'thing' about secret gardens.  My imagination is far too vivid for its own good sometimes.  I was looking at the row of garden gates as I wandered back towards home.

I love how each one is different; each one opening out onto the same vista, but opening inwards on to who knows what?  I wonder what lies behind these back garden gates?  Orderly borders or wildernesses of wildflowers?  Gangs of garden gnomes or elegant statues?  Chickens coops or pigeon pens?  

Can you guess which one leads in to Peapods? 

 We had a welcoming committee chorus when we got back.  Betty was most affronted.

And just WHERE do you think you've been?  Gallivanting off when there's feeding requirements to be attended to!

See you soon!

Goings On

Howdee doody!

This week I 'ave mostly been:-

Attending a 'fashion show' at a Church Hall whereupon the roof did not fall down around my ears and I bought a green M&S top for £2.  Rawk an' flippin Roll!!!

Getting increasingly annoyed at the woman on the Perle du Lait yoghurt advert and her ridiculous enunciation of "LAYdeez".  Makes me teeth itch!

Admiring my photographs of  a spark surrounded Till Lindemann on stage a couple of weeks ago.

Going to a local venue to see a Specials/Madness tribute band, boogying the night away (I just can't stand still when there's Ska playing!), people watching, loving the fact that I'd never before witnessed more men than women dancing in one place, sniggering childishly at the sax player's very apparent lack of undercrackers, being hugged, kissed on the cheek and told 'it's really GREAT to see you' by a random bloke of unknown identity who obviously knew me back in the mists of time.  Or school perhaps.  Hum. 

Waking up the following morning feeling like I needed a double hip replacement and realising that shaking a booty the size of a number 10 bus for a sustained period of two hours really wasn't one of my better ideas.

Smiling at my very tall daffies nodding in the sunshine, which are now coming into bloom in the raised bed planter - then frowning and pouting as I realised that every single one of them is facing away from the house.  How very rude!

Moving boxes away from the wall in the brick built outhouse thingie to find humungous black spiders the size of saucers and wearing 12 hole Doc Marten boots lying in wait.  Retiring (at a speed not usually associated with ladies of such Reubenesque proportions) to the house where I had an attack of the vapours, felt sick for at least an hour and realised that I really do not care very much for any arachnid bigger than a pin head.

Dragging Wondrous Man out of bed at stupid o' clock on Sunday morning to accompany me to a bric a brac fayre (natch!) where we attempted to make our fortune selling on my old Partylite products and assorted books.  8 hours later we emerged blinking into the sunlight clutching fists full of... erm... well... not much really.  We took £19.  The stall cost £12.  We had four styrofoam cups of coffee each during the day at 50p each.  Oh.  That'll be £3.00 profit then. 

Stop.    Laughing!!!!


I love my life!!

OH!!  To cheer me up, Man sneakily purchased this hare for me as he'd seen my eyes light up when I spotted it being unpacked earlier in the day.  It's a Heartwood Ridge March Hare by Jim Shore. 

Makes my heart go all hippity hoppity!!

Mercury's gorn retrograde again.  The varmint. 

I predict a riot!!

 

Weekend Catch Up

Hello Bloglies

Just a quick post from me to assure you that I'm still alive and will be back to full blogging duties again very shortly - we're just dealing with family stuff right now which is a little distracting to say the least.

We've had a busy old week though - last weekend Lovely Man and I went awol and treated ourselves to lunch at a splendiferous Chinese restaurant on Brindley Place in Birmingham.  We then travelled over to Birmingham Airport where we checked into the Ibis hotel for the evening (Late Rooms cheapie special), then took ourselves over to the NEC (ok - new fangled LG Arena but it will always be the NEC to me!) to see the awesomely heavy Rammstein.  My rock chick roots were showing I can tell you.  We had a fantastic evening and as well as watching an INSANE pyro show and all the usual gubbins which goes with seeing a metal band, we did a huge amount of people watching too.  One of THE most diverse of demographics I've seen in a while!!  It was great not to have to queue for hours to get off the car park, nor to spend ages waiting for trains/buses/taxi's back home.  We simply caught the sky shuttle back to our hotel to sleep on the hardest mattress known to man!!  Ah we had no complaints really - we awoke to an 'all you can eat' breakfast of a decent quality and seriously good coffee which is always a bonus.  After a chill out in our room (hey you have to make the most of these things - only check out when you absolutely have to!!) for another couple of hours, we made our way back in to Brum centre and meandered around in the sunshine, window shopping for a while before heading home.  A truly lovely weekend on our own which recharged our batteries perfectly.

Unusually for me my social calendar has been very busy of late.  In total contrast to Rammstein - on Thursday I took my Mum to watch an amateur operatic society perform their annual 'Gotta Sing Gotta Dance' show which featured songs from the musicals! 

Friday evening was a trip out to the local balti house with some workmates to partake of a chicken passanda , puffy naan breads as big as tablecloths, and several glasses of pink stuff whilst we put the working world to rights.

Won't have done any good though.  Guaranteed that no magic wand will have been waved over the weekend and the place will still be there radiating malevolence tomorrow morning!  

PAH!!  

See you soon!
  

Snugglesome Saturday

Hello there!!  Thank you to everyone who visits my little blogeroo -you're all very welcome!!  I'd love to hear from you - so if you feel inclined to do so, leave me a little comment and a link to your blog.  I love discovering new ones.

Today has gone exactly as planned.  A little housey-work here, a little relaxing there.  Some daydreaming out of the window watching the birds foraging in the frost hardened garden.  Blimey it's been cold.  The temperature has refused to drag itself above freezing for most of the day.  Poor Man of mine is a night worker and he tells me that it was -7 in the warehouse last night. Brrr!!  Luckily he'd taken a couple of pies to heat up in the microwave at work so at least he was able to warm up his  inner central heating system slightly mid-way through the night!!  Last Friday the temp sank to -9 and the food he'd taken with him had frozen by the time he came to eat it! 

Diva Daughter and I had some snuggly time this morning.  She tends to stay at her boyfriend's house most evenings now and so any time we spend together is precious.  We sorted out 5 huge bin bags full of surplus clothes ranging from baby clothes to clothes that I'm shrinking out of.  A little shop has opened not far from here which apparently pays £5.00 per 10kilo bag.  We've dutifully weighed them all to make sure they fit the criteria and DD and her boyfriend will take them on Monday for us.  I could of course fill some of the ubiquitous charity bags which pile up on my door mat on a weekly basis but with respect I've given soooo much stuff to charity over the years - and times is hard.  At the very least the WF (wedding fund!) coffers will benefit from a few extra pounds. 

Me lovely bezzie mate popped for coffee this afternoon and we had a long over due catch up and a big cuddle after I'd shared my woes with her.  Her calm rationality as usual acted as a salve to my PMT-ing stressy-head and she's made me realise that I  probably haven't done anything wrong per se  - it's just that it seems this other friendship has simply run its course.  She's right of course (as usual). I need to build a bridge and get over it. Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened and other assorted  twee references.

The chooks were put to bed early this evening in anticipation of another cold evening, fortified with warm porridge and sweetcorn.  I'm hoping that it sticks to their ribs as well as it stuck to their beaks!!

I have to share this random recipe with you.  Now bear with me on this one because it sounds hideous!!  It's.... steady there.... Mushy Pea Curry!  Another concoction from those wonderful  Slimming World people!  I think every club member has their own way of tweaking this to their tastes, but mine is:  1 x tin baked beans, 1 x tin tomatoes, chopped fresh peppers, onions and mushrooms, 2  x tins mushy peas.  3 x Oxo 'Curry' cubes.(the ones in the delightfully retro box!!).   Simply dry fry the onions, peppers and mushrooms, then whack everything else in and simmer away for around 30 mins.  You can either leave this as it is or blend it to produce a lovely smooth curry sauce.  I was incredibly trepidatious when trying this but was intrigued as so many of our class members rave about it.  It's lovely!!   For the carnivores amongst you then chuck in some chopped up cooked chicken.  Now don't be turning yer noses up before you've given it a go!! I had this tonight with some syn free chips and it was really tasty and it makes loads!  Carnivore Man agreed - although he'd already eaten sausages just in case his meat levels dropped! hee hee..

I suppose if you were reaaaaaaaaallly childish and puerile (me) you could possibly cast aspersions that consuming such foodstuffs may result in nocturnal digestive rumblings. 

Well it's cold!  And times is hard. 

And we've no electric blanket.

Parp!

Pahahahahaah!!!

Hurting ...Healing ... Moving on

I'm a little out of sorts this evening. 

I've learned that no matter how good a friend someone is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while, and you have to forgive them for that...

~Anonymous~

So difficult to forgive though when you don't know why they've hurt you in the first place.

This weekend will be spent amongst my beautiful family and hopefully the dent in my equilibrium will heal as I throw myself into the usual household malarkey and count my blessings.

Turning to more positive things now.  We have booked our wedding venue! 

We have looked at a number of places including stately homes, chain hotels and barns and have been completely appalled by the ridiculous prices they charge.  Basic 'all in' packages initially look ok - but woe betide you if you have additional guests or require something out of the ordinary and an additional £50 - £70 per guest is required on top of what you're paying.  No thanks!!  We simply don't have £10,000 to spend on a wedding breakfast and even if we did - then we wouldn't!! (still with me?!! )

Neither of us 'do' church so our ceremony will be held in a Registry Office.  Unfortunately we can't book that until exactly 12 months before the date we need so that means waiting for a good few months before we can firm that up. 

We've found a lovely rural village hall not too far away from here which was only opened this time last year.  It's a lottery funded new build, very easy on the eye and the hire charges are within our extremely limited budget.

We're a little unconventional - as you regular readers will know(!) - and so we're thinking of hiring a vintage fish and chip van to cater for guests in the afternoon, and then a hog roast in the evening. So that's the plan in very basic terms - but by heck do we have some saving to do as we have zero capital right now.  Belts will have to be tightened to spine snapping proportions but we're confident that we can do it.  We're going to sell what we don't need, I shall have to really push my chocolate bouquets and frugal measures of an extreme nature shall have to be taken. 

Bring it on!!!

I've sold an old Blackberry and a bouquet today!!  The pot is £55 richer already. Long may the momentum continue!  It's a free listing weekend on Ebay - guess I know what I'll be doing then! 

Now then - who'll start the bidding for a loony 14 month old Collie?!  ;)

Have a wonderful weekend!!