Friday 31 October 2008

Halloween Clouds

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


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


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

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

Thursday 30 October 2008

Today ......

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

Look at the boys faces, see how miserable they are. The heat was unbearable and I don't think that they were impressed with me insisting that we walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We didn't get far in the end as we all got too hot and gave up before we were even over the water, even so it it a pretty impressive structure.
Today I have been warm, today I have a boiler that works, hot water, heating, gas and a huge new sofa to sit and enjoy, bliss, total bliss.

Today I got a new lamp.

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


Today Kyle and I took the dogs for a walk and I wore the hat I bought in Ottawa at the Byward Market. The last time I had it on my head it was about 30c and I was glad to take it off, today I couldn't wait to put it on.
Today, Kyle and I played along with Amanda Magpies "What the cook" now you have to understand we are about 5 recipes behind with this but in our defence we have had a plumber camping out in our kitchen for most of the week. I did intend to take a picture of all the cakes in their full glory but I was a little late with that thought and this was all that was left, apart from 3 that are tucked safely in a box waiting for Kyle to take them to Mima's.
Tomorrow is another day.

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Making up for lost time

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

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




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


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

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

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

Tuesday 21 October 2008

Reflect

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


Monday 20 October 2008

Sunsets & Smiles

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


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

Where we did some of this

lots of this

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

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


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

Thursday 16 October 2008

TITLELESS AGAIN

With DIYing and work over the last four days I have just not managed to find the time to post. I have now done my 2 shifts in work for this week and now have a whole 4 days to do as I please - well nearly. In a couple of hours I am going to go and meet Sue and we are going to drive to Wales to spend a couple of days with Mima at her Mum's holiday home ready to indulge ourselves with chocolate, diet coke (maybe a little wine), a little photography and some girly movies. Upon my return on Saturday I will be donning my painting overalls ready to cover our newly plastered walls in paint.
Last night I finally found my way to facebook after originally signing up a while back but not doing anything about it. Jenny, from work, had signed up yesterday and mentioned that she is a billy no mates and seeing as I was in the same boat we said we would be friends to make ourselves look better - how sad are we? So if you want to be my friend on facebook the link is on the right - this is only so that I have got more friends than Jenny as she is horrible to me in work. ** love ya really Jen **
My camera is all packed and ready for it's little trip out later on today so I am using this picture taken last month at Formby for today's word over on HSMSHS. See his face, he wasn't impressed with me asking him to stand like that. "Dad she's making me look stupid again" was said more than once that day.

Friday 10 October 2008

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

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

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

Wednesday 8 October 2008

200

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


LAST NIGHT WE WATCHED

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

I HATE THINKING OF POST TITLES

Tonight I am a happy bunny as we have a floor once again and the house has stopped smelling like an allotment. I would take a picture but it is dark so I will leave that until the morning. Now that we have something to stand on again the walls are waiting for me to strip them ready for our rather nice friend to come a plaster the whole room for us next Monday - he is a gem and half believe me.
There was a huge amount of excitement here last night when Pete ventured in to the allotment to wire in some new plug sockets and came out with a baby great crested newt which had made its home under our floorboards ready for the winter. The cute little guy got fussed over for a while before he got put back in his little hidey hole (before I could find the camera). It's nice to know that the great crested newts that live in the garden are healthy and breeding as we don't see them very often.
I have been trying to think of something to photograph for "Welcome" all day today but have come up with zilch, Nada, nothing. This could be due to the fact that nobody is welcome at my house at the moment as it is a complete tip and I so wanted to join in HSMSHS today, never mind I will just have to try again tomorrow.
Last night we watched .....

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

Monday 6 October 2008

Tranquil? My Space? You've got to be kidding!

My space couldn't get any further away from tranquil if I tried. After accidentally ordering a huge sofa last weekend and realising we didn't have an actual room to put it in we decided it might be a good idea to go and order a carpet this weekend. Pete didn't enjoy this process one little bit as I got myself in a huge strop on as I HATE carpets, really hate them. For 15 years we have not had one downstairs and if it were up to me all the bedroom carpets would be ripped up too, the only reason they are still there is because Pete refuses to help me lay wooden floors if I do. So anyway he persuaded me that we should have a carpet in the Winter living room which does make some sense as it will make it warmer. I eventually found one that matched and I could put up with and it was ordered ready to be fitted next week giving us 3 whole weekend days to paint the room - no problem - easy job.

Yesterday after I finished emptying the room of my crap we had a great time pulling up the 15 year old laminate. This "fun" stopped the minute we pulled up the under lay and saw the state of the 100+ year old floor boards and joists which had damp, dry rot and woodworm damage - not actual wriggly things they are long gone. To cut a long story short this is what I got up to this morning

Living Room ....

Dining Room ....

Outside the back door...

The Winter Living Room .....
(the black on the wall isn't damp or mould it is the dust that was behind the computer table - eughhh)


I have to admit that I did panic briefly yesterday but then I made a call to our friend across the road who came across to see us. It took him about 5 minutes to measure up and tell us what we needed to order and what we needed to do and then this wonderful man, who happens to be a builder, offered to spend Wednesday here helping us to get a floor back again. He's even going to re plaster some walls for us - as I said a great guy which is one of the reasons we are going away with them next month for a few days.

So please forgive me if I can't take a "tranquil" picture today I will just have to resort to a cheat instead.

HS:MS - TRANQUIL


This is Beaver Pond, Algonquin, Canada. A totally beautiful place to visit and so, so tranquil.
*** Louise thanks for the tip about the picture size as you can see I have had a play with the Html ***

Sunday 5 October 2008

Oooo I'm messing about with my blog again, will I ever be happy with it I wonder?

Friday 3 October 2008

Happy hours

Well look at that I don't feel obliged to write or do the photo prompts and I have ended up doing both more this week than I have done in a long time. Must be because I have taken the pressure off myself and have started enjoying it again.
I was in for a 10 hour shift yesterday and got next weeks hours while I was there and I am pleased as punch with both of my shifts - yes I only have 20 hours over 2 shifts, perfect! So Tuesday I am in 7am - 5pm and Thursday 10am - 8pm, Mima you can take your pick of the other afternoons.

Pete started his new tablets yesterday which I am not too happy about but what can you do. A friend, with Crones, came into work yesterday and told me to make sure that Pete gets his Liver checked regularly as the same tablets shot his liver recently. The hospital had warned us about this and he has got to have bloods taken every week at the moment, I still can't help feeling uneasy about it but I suppose that is too be expected when it was tablets that gave him kidney failure.

The Winter room is not progressing very quickly at the moment, maybe because I am blogging instead of getting my arse into gear. The room was my craft room / office but seeing as I haven't the time to do much craftyness anymore I have decided to down scale and go digi as I can't justify a whole downstairs room being taken up with crap that I only use for about 5 minutes a week. I have managed to get most of it stashed away upstairs in drawers where it is easily accessible so I can still have a go when the mood takes. I think Pete is planning for us to move the desk top, printers and scanner into the playroom tonight ready for me to start pulling up the floor when I get back from work tomorrow. He's very optimistic my husband.

I'm off now to do the HS:MS prompt and dream about what I am going to do next week with all my free hours I could bake, make cards, garden .......

More likely it will be cleaning, decorating, washing, ironing tidying etc

HS:MS - WAIT

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Pink or Not?

Over the next few weeks as I am going to busier than usual due to a rash decision that we made at the weekend while we were having a lazy day in Chester. For some reason we decided to go and have a wander round the sofa shops and ended up ordering this little beauty to go in our winter living room. We ordered the poof thingy in the plain grey material and my plan is to make some bright covers for some of the cushions. The first colour that came to mind was bright pink but I don't think I will get away with that living with 3 men so I have now narrowed it down to lime green, dark red or orange, the problem is my gut is still telling me to go pink.


So instead of the 12 weeks that I thought it would take for this sofa to arrive at we are now left with only 3 weeks to rip up the laminate floor, replace the rotten floorboards and beams, strip the walls, re wallpaper, paint and get a carpet fitted before it arrives. All this on top of me going away for a girly few days with Mima and Sue, having a plumber in to fit a new boiler which will take 3 days, school holidays, my step sister visiting with her 4 year old and 2 year old for a few days, work and college work. Hmmm not sure how this is going to work but I am sure I will make it, somehow. Just to make things a little more complicated I am picking up Pete's new medication tomorrow ready for him to start taking tomorrow night. Apparently it may make him feel really ill but unless he is actually sick or gets bad pains in his pancreas (not sure how he will know that's what is hurting) he has to ride it out until it eventually stops. Which means that he may not be a lot of use over the next few weeks - how well timed is that?


HS:MS - PERCH


That's it from me for now as I have to go and watch Heroes as I am finding it difficult typing and reading subtitles at the same time.