Walking for Shoes

The 2nd post in one day have I nothing better to do? The answer is no. I am sitting relaxing on the deck with a glass of Iced Green Tea watching a chipmunk running about in total peace and quiet - what better thing could I be doing than sitting editing some pictures. Pete has gone out with Nick for a spin in the car with the roof down and my cousin Claire and her friend Stacy (both 18) have taken the boys out to Canada's Wonderland to go on all the rides and visit the water park so they won't be back until late. When Pete gets back we will be repacking our bags ready to go to New York tomorrow morning. This morning we walked down this road....

to visit this tree .....

so that we could leave Kyle's geocoin in a cache that is hidden there. We then jumped into the car to go and find some more and I think someone may have enjoyed the ride.....

"SPS"
Some one elses portrait

We're Here

Well we got here safe after a very good flight that left on time and got us in half an hour early and with hardly any turbulence. I can highly recommend Thomas Cook for anyone who is tall as they have loads and loads of leg room which resulted in not one complaint from Pete the whole flight. The food was good (for flight food) and we got to watch "Enchanted" and the newest "National Treasure" so we were kept entertained.

Everything went smoothly at the airport and even the car hire was quick. We got the keys and went to find the car we were a little disappointed when we saw what was in space #20 but it would do. Pete clicked the button to open the doors, nothing happened, so he clicked it again and the next car lit up at this point the boys nearly wet their pants. We checked the paperwork and the reg number and make matched the car at #21 being the grown up in this outfit I suggested that we go back and ask if there had been a mistake but everyone else decided the best thing would be to jump in and drive so I was out voted (again) and that is what we did. Unfortunately in their haste they left the GPS to me - biiiggg mistake. I eventually got it off French and into English and put in Carolyn's address and we started to follow the nice ladies instructions. It didn't take long to realise that it was taking us in the completely wrong direction so Pete pulled up in a residential street to look at the GPS. To say he wasn't impressed is an understatement - the GPS wasn't switched on and we had been following a simulation for nearly half and hour which didn't make me too popular.

Even so we still managed to arrive early here .....

in this......



how cool is that!

Kyle is now best buds with Sierra the Husky again and they are following each other around everywhere. The boys are more than happy as they are sleeping in the basement with a HUGE TV and a Wii complete with guitar hero AND the dog - everything we don't let them have in their rooms at home.

Bon Voyage

We are heading off to Manchester Airport in about 2 1/2 hours to catch our plane to Toronto and you can almost taste the excitement in this house. I managed to persuade Pete to let me take more than 2 bags so we each have a small suitcase. The lovely Sue suggested that I should take an empty suitcase inside another one ready to be filled when we go to New York on Saturday. Sorry Sue I have ignored your advise BUT each of the four suitcases are half filled with bubble packet things so we are in theory taking at least one empty suitcase. I wonder what the baggage handlers will think when they x-ray our bags???

I am hoping to blog while I am away to keep my parents, Pete's parents and Mima (and Rose) up to date with what we are doing and where we are as we are taking the laptop. I am also hoping to do the prompts for HS:MS as I will have more time there than I do here and I really want to try and get back into the swing of things. For today though it will have to be a photo that I took earlier this year as the camera bag is all packed up and locked with teeny tiny padlocks.

"Insect"

A small arthropod animal with 6 legs and usually one or two pairs of wings.

No where near as good as Anita's AMAZING photograph which you can see here but under the circumstances it will just have to do.

It's been a long time.....

.....since I last posted and even longer since I last joined in HS:MS but I have a spare few minutes so here goes. First things first, today's HS:MS prompt....

"Peep"

To take a little look or show a little bit.

Now I have started this I don't know what to say so I am going to leave it short and sweet for today as we really haven't done an awful lot recently except work, a tiny bit of geocaching and a lot of holiday planning. We did go for a "small" bike ride on Sunday which ended up being over 16 miles long and resulted in a very sore bottom and wobbly legs for me.

Just grabbing....

..... a couple of minutes to say everything is fine here just really, really busy, thanks to everyone that has asked it means a lot. I am working a lot still, I have a holiday to organise (17 sleeps to go) and on top of that life keeps getting in the way of blogland. The camera has been out with us over the last couple of weekends when we have been geocaching but not one photo was taken due to the rain that seems to follow us everywhere so I have nothing to share with you today. I'm sure I will make up for the lack of photos now in a couple of weeks time!

Until the next time that I can grab a few.....

Sorry....

...I have not been around. Things are hectic round here with work and other bits and bobs so I'm not getting much time to sit around and blog. Here's hoping I will get a bit more time next week. x

I spent yesterday afternoon with this lovely lady who you can visit here.

Not only did this wonderful friend of mine let me play with her macro lens while I was with her she let me bring it home with me so I can try it out properly over the next week. It was a bit windy outside last night for me to take many pictures but I did manage this shot of a teeny baby apple growing on my tree. I could get addicted to this very quickly!

"Hydrate"
To fill or absorb with water.

I took this shot a few weeks ago while we were at Buxton he was getting all his bottles out ready to fill them with Natural Buxton Spring Water at the free spring.

"Bell"

A hollow object with the shape of a deep inverted cup.

No actual bells in this part of the world so this pretty flower that lives next to my pond will have to do. Its a Geum rivale (Water Avens) which loves boggy areas and after the flowers are finished is covered with gorgeous round burrs.

I am off to visit Mima this afternoon on my push bike so I am hoping the weather stays as beautiful as it is now as I am hoping to have a play with her Macro lens while I am there to see what it can do and to see just how much I NEED one.

Matt (son No1) went on holiday with school last night and should be in France by now on his way to Paris for the week. I'm just hoping that he comes back in one piece - unlike last year when he went to Germany. They have got instructions to tape him into the bunk bed each night just to make sure he doesn't topple out again but I am sure that he will find another way of injuring himself.

Ketchup

"SOS"

I took this one this afternoon whilst playing with the camera settings.

"Reach"

To stretch out in order to feel or touch something.

"Drip"

To let small drops of liquid fall.

Thought I would just post a few quick catch up pictures while I edit some pictures taken during our geocaching outing earlier today.

Toe update: It stopped oozing liquid yesterday which was a bit of a relief and it is not hurting anymore unless I knock it or push it. The rest of my foot and leg are aching like mad though after a week of doing funny walks!

Brotherly Love

"trapped"

To be captured or help with no way out.

For the same reason as yesterday (and because I can't be bothered) I am cheating and using a picture I took last weekend at Trentham Gardens. Matt was "trapped" inside the beach hut thanks to his little brother.

Typically the weather is no where near as nice today as it was yesterday which doesn't surprise me at all as I am not in work today. Looks like I'll be doing the housework instead of sunbathing then.

Forgive me...

... for not rushing out and taking a new photograph today but walking is a tad difficult this morning. My toe is not hurting at all while I am sat still and I even managed a reasonable nights sleep as it stopped hurting at about 2am without the aid of any tablets too. I swear until that point the only pain I was getting was where the first hole was burnt into my nail and toe. Even when I walk it is not hurting as long as I walk very carefully I'm just not looking forward to having to put shoes on my feet again. I went on the Internet yesterday and ordered myself a pair of steel capped boots which should arrive tomorrow so I will be wearing them everyday (when I am in work) from now on regardless of what I look like. I just had to undo the strapping again this morning and have another look, just to check it's still in one piece you understand, which it is. The 2nd hole is still weeping but less than last night so I am still going to presume that this is normal as anything else means going to see the people in white coats and that ain't happening any time soon, unless of course the toe falls off and then I might go.

Anyway, enough about my manky toe onto my shot for today's prompt which is "track".

A Trip to .....

A&E and for once it wasn't for Pete it was for me after a bit of an accident in work this morning. I normally avoid the electric pallet mover like the plaque but this morning I had to move it to get to what I wanted and managed to reverse it into my big toe - OWWW! Or words to that effect! So I ignored it for a couple of minutes and carried on and then decided I better take my shoe off and have a look to find out that it was bleeding from under the nail and the nail had turned a gorgeous shade of blue/black. This meant that a trip to A&E was in order which is not easy when you suffer from White Coat Syndrome believe me. By the time I got into see them, which wasn't long as I was the only one there (we went to the local infirmary for minor injuries as the wait at the hospital was over 2 hours) I had sweaty palms, shaking hands and felt sick and it was nothing to do with my toe. The nurse very nicely asked if it was alright to burn a hole in my toe nail which bloody hurt and did nothing so he asked for a second opinion and a very nice lady decided to have another go at it which thankfully didn't hurt and did bleed a little bit which released the pressure. They were concerned that it didn't bleed much but wrapped it up and sent me away with instructions to keep checking it and to go back if the nail starts to lift. I just unwrapped it as the boys were desperate to see it and it is still weeping a little bit 4 hours later not sure if this is normal or not but my thinking is that as long as it is doing that the pressure isn't building up under the nail so I've wrapped it back up until tomorrow. I am in work tomorrow but luckily only for four hours so I can stay on the till for that amount of time with no problem and then I am off on Tuesday so it shouldn't mean taking any time off work.

So my SPS and SOS is of my big toe all strapped up I won't put you through looking at the actual manky toe just yet. Do you like the strapping? I did that all by myself just like the nice man nurse showed me.

Blooming Marvellous

Just a quickie from me today as I have lots to do before I go to work. Today's word on HS:MS is "bloom" - Matt may never forgive me for posting this picture but in his defence I did make him do it.

The only other thing that is left for me to share is the answer to the mystery photo the other day - hope you are ready for this.

It was an upside down monkey butt of course not 2 naked ladies or some legs and feet like Jenga and Mima suggested ?!?!! I don't know if I am more worried about them or Pete for taking the picture in the first place.

Long time no blog

I thought I was back last week but obviously I wasn't so I am making no promises today either. Nothing is wrong it's just life getting in the way as it does. Pete is now feeling a lot better, he's not right but he is moving in the right direction. I only have 7 weeks to get him fighting fit ready for Canada and New York so blood tests in the next 2 weeks are in order so that we can get him in for blood or iron before we go. We now have a good idea of what our holiday plans are and I can't wait. We are spending one day in Canada before we fly to New York for 4 nights which will include a helicopter ride over Manhattan (my dream) and a visit to Coney Island (Pete's dream) and then we fly back to Canada where we will be staying in a number of places including Niagara Falls, Parry Sound (lake front cottage), Claremont (nr Toronto) and a tent in the wilderness in the middle of Algonquin Park with bears, moose and wolves potentially roaming around. Pete still thinks we can manage with 2 small suitcases between the four of us but I have a sneaky feeling that, that just won't happen!

Over on HS:MS today the word is "lumpy" so here's mine ....

this was taken on Sunday over at Trentham Gardens while we were doing "Barfus" the barefoot walk.

Here's another picture that Pete (I am having nothing to do with this one) took on the day, bet you can't guess what he is!!

I'm Back .....

...I hope. I am going to really, really try to stay back for as long as I can now as I have missed HS:MS and blogging over the last couple of weeks. Pete has improved over the last couple of days he managed a walk on Monday and work yesterday. Today he is in hospital all day getting his iron fix while keeping company with 90 year old transparent people who try and discuss all of their ailments with him. The iron should kick in pretty quickly so within a few days we should see a huge difference - thank goodness.

I have more time to myself today than I thought I would have thanks to my wonderful Mum. I went to work yesterday leaving the boys on their own for the first time. My Mum came up to check up on them as requested and ended up staying for about 4 hours and doing all my housework while she was here. My wet washing even found it's way to her house for drying and ironing - just how spoilt am I??? So today I only have my craft/work room to sort out and then I can relax doing things I want to do rather than have to do - total bliss.

If it wasn't peeing it down I would go out and photograph some Flora for HS:MS but it is so this picture I took about 2 weeks ago will have to do. One of my favourites, the teeny weeny forget me nots. I just love the way they change colour.

I might even attempt a catch up later. x

S is for ....

.....Son Sitting on a Step on a Sunny Sunday

Goofy I can do

When I saw today's prompt I knew I could do it so I just had to join in as Pete is settled in front of the TV so no danger to himself (or others).

I took this picture last weekend at Walton Gardens. I asked Kyle to go stand against the tree with the intention of getting a nice thoughtful shot of him. Hmmmm look what I ended up with - Simon Cowell after a lobotomy. Why can't I have a willing model to take pictures of like SuzyB, Maz and Louise, why do I end up with the "goofy" one who won't do anything I ask him to do? It's just not fair.

Pete's feeling a bit better today but that is only because I am not letting him do anything at all, as soon as he does try to do something his heart races like mad so I push him back on to the sofa(gently of course).

I'm off out in a minute to fill up my new baby, I just have to remember to get diesel and not unleaded. Now I have read Shannon's blog I am even unhappier about paying the price for my fuel as in the US they are only paying $3.77 per gallon which is the equivalent of 43p per litre compared to our £1.22. Just shows how we are being totally ripped off over here as from what I can see the last time petrol was that price was 1992 at least.

Since my last post Pete has not been good at all. He came home on Tuesday sick and has been home ever since. You know it is serious when Pete has time off work, even with his long list of ailments and conditions Pete never takes time of work. He started off with a bout of Crone's last weekend which has made his usual severe anemia even worse. He is booked in next week for an iron infusion but we suspect that they will have to give him a blood transfusion or 3 on top of that but there is a problem. The more blood transfusions he has the fewer kidney's he will be able to accept when he needs a transplant so they are only ever given to him as a last resort.

On a happier note a picked up my nice new car today which we bought last Friday by accident (we had no intention of getting one for another couple of years). We both went to Crewe to pick up the car as we both had to sign for different things the unfortunate part was that as we got to the garage Pete's heart started beating far to fast (side effect of anemia) and he thought he was going to die, this meant he started to panic a little bit which in turn exacerbated the heartbeat situation. At this point we were no longer insured on our car but were insured on the new one so we had to carry on into the garage where there was a queue. So after I had a quick word we were rushed to the front of the queue to be processed as quickly as possible. At this point the intention was to grab the car and head for A&E but after about 5 minutes Pete got back to normal and started to feel a lot better so instead we headed for home and had a Chinese takeaway!! Don't ask me I just live here but it's what Pete really wanted and seeing as he hasn't eaten all week and is living off fortijuice, lucozade and the odd jelly baby who am I to argue? He is now feeling a lot better but at the moment he can't do much so I have cancelled my shift at work tomorrow so that I can keep my eye on him and make sure he doesn't have to do anything other than watch TV.

Nearly forgot the car is a black VW Touran Tdi Se and I LOVE it!

Back Next Week...

...hopefully. Things are much too busy round here for me to spend much time blogging this week.
On top of all the hours I am working Pete is not good at the moment which means nothing is getting done at home when I am in work so the little time I have off is spent running round trying to keep the house and garden in order. Here's looking forward to Sunday!

Grumpy....

... you must be kidding there is no grumpy in my space today. The kids are out so again no willing models (not that they are ever willing) and Pete and I are in far to good of a mood to pose for a grumpy shot. I can't even find anything in my archives that is suitable for the shot. I'm off into work again this afternoon but hopefully it will be slow with the cup final and then tomorrow I get a day off - YAY!

Today's word from HS:MS is bashful and mine is a cheat as I have a total lack of willing models in my space today. Again no time for editing and fancy bits so take it as it is.



Rushing off now to get some jobs done as the list is getting bigger and bigger all the time as nothing seems to be getting crossed off the top of it ?!?! Maybe Pete can't read my handwriting ?

Spare Two Minutes

Well I haven't really got any minutes to spare but I thought I would join in and post today anyway. Sorry it's a naff picture but it's all I had time for. I have gone with Suzies idea for "DOC" and taken a picture of a selection of Pete's daily meds as prescribed by the doc - the injection thingy is only once every 10 days though much to Pete's relief as he is a bit of a wus when it comes to needles. Not had time to edit it at all so you will have to take it as is.

Until next time whenever that may be....

Shortest Break in The History Of Breaks!

That lasted a long time didn't it!! This is just a very quick post before I do take a break for a while. There is nothing wrong it's just that the little part time job that I wanted is nearer to a full time job at the moment.

We went to Tatton Park today after I had finished in work and we played with this ...

and then we did this ....

I'll see you when I see you.

PS The bed is sooooo comfortable I could stay in it forever and ever.

TAKING A BREAK

Not sure for how long. I am hoping to get back intermittently but who knows....

Look what I made this morning ....

I don't mean I put the covers straight either. I mean I got a hammer and a screw driver and when the rather nice men from Bensons took all the bits upstairs for me I unpacked all the boxes and put the bed together all by my lonesome, working up rather a good sweat in the process. I then realised I could use the shot for yesterdays word "Square" over on HS:MS. You see the space over the headboard Sue? That's the space that is crying out for your idea to fill it.

So now on to today's word of "Dome" for this one I am using a picture taken a couple of weeks back when we were in Buxton.

There are no fancy edges or pretty words on my pictures today as the sun is out and my lily white pins are in desperate need of some rays.

To NIce to Blog today

Just a very quick one from me today as it is far too nice to waste time on the computer editing pictures and blogging and apart from that the BBQ is nearly done and tea is waiting to be gammed as Pete would say.

Lost Views

We went to Thurstaston on the Wirral yesterday for what we thought would be a nice trip out - Ohh how wrong could we have been. We did want to do some Geocaching which included a walk out to Hilbre Island when the tide was out so I looked up the tides on the Internet and we arrived in time to start walking or so we thought. When we got there the tide was right in so we headed inland and went to Thurstaston for a walk in the gorgeous parky thing there and to have our picnic at the big rock in the middle. As we walked back to the car it started to rain at about the same time we realised we were one person down. For the next hour Pete, Matt and I walked round in circles shouting, screaming and crying for Kyle. We asked every person we met had they seen him and if they did could they direct him to the big rock or if they had a phone they were given my number. One man had seen him walking in the other direction away from the car looking worried and shouting so at least we knew he was OK. This is when I realised that I am totally ignored all of the time as I can't remember how many times I thought I had drilled it into the kids that if they get lost they go back to the last place that they saw us and wait. After over an hour of searching we phoned each other and arranged to meet back at the car to phone the police which is when we got a call from Matt saying that he had found Kyle who was now in floods of tears with relief. The stupid child had decided to beat us back to the car by going a different way and then thought it would be fun to hide so when I checked the car straight away he was nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes he thought he had better come looking for us and then got lost!! Arrrrggghhhh and to think we didn't take the dogs because Twig gets lost and is too much trouble when we are out. Needless to say we didn't find any caches. I did get this naff photo of the view from Hilbre Island though the tiny black dot in the sea is a seal, there were loads of them swimming around.

Today was a bit more relaxing as I volunteered to work as it was double time and I thought if I do this one I won't feel obliged to do the August one as it falls on our Wedding anniversary this year. I'm off now to do some hair removing while watching Dr Who and Flood so if you hear someone screaming that will be me.

Ladybug Love

In the midst of my gardening activities yesterday I spotted this pair on my apple tree so I just had to get a shot.

Not sure what we are going to do today but the provisionally plan is a visit to the Wirral but it's all weather dependent. Looks like tomorrow is going to be the better day but I stupidly volunteered to be in work as it is double time so we won't be able to go out and enjoy it - doh!

I said I didn't want one...

.....but as usual I was ignored completely and ended up getting a cake anyway. They even put my age on it so I couldn't forget and pretend otherwise.

As for my birthday present from Pete it was one of these....

He wasn't supposed to be getting me anything as the Canon 40d was my early birthday present last month and the Tamron lens was an even earlier birthday present the month before that but he said he couldn't resist getting me one of these as he thought it would be fun to watch me in pain!!! I could be getting very hairy from now on as so far I have only managed to epilate one shin!

Birthday Strings

These are the "strings" that are on my birthday present from Pete which is sat in the Living Room waiting for everyone to be here before I can open it. I was in work early this morning, much to my bosses disgust as apparently I shouldn't have been working at all on my birthday, so I missed seeing Pete and the boys before school so it will just have to wait until this evening. I have opened my cards and Mima has sent me a beautiful handmade card **thanks Mima** and the boys, predictably, got me rude ones.

I got a bit of a shock yesterday when I got home as when I opened my front door I was greeted by 2 goth girls that I have never seen before who were here with Matt. Hannah was sat on the Sofa looking terrified with the Bearded Dragon on her knee. Kyle had apparently dumped it there about 5 minutes before and she didn't dare move - poor kid. The other girl then turned and said "Hi I'm Emily and by the way I have never been out with Matthew" right OK where did that come from, she doth protest too much me thinks!!! Watch this space.

What a specticale!

I admit it is a bit of a cheat as I didn't take this shot, Pete did, but I am wearing some glasses so it fits in with the prompt of spectacles. Not much else to say really.

Wild and Wonderful

Today's prompt over at HS:MS is "Wild" so I actually ventured out into the garden with my camera and caught this shot. The flowers are on one of the apple trees that my Dad bought for me this time last year and the bee, well he's a wild one that just happened to be passing by. I know the bee shouldn't really be in the middle of the shot but it just seemed to work better with him there so there he stays.
The next couple of days are going to be busy as I am in work until noon, both days, I have a hair appointment tomorrow and Friday is the day I dread when everyone reminds me how old I am getting.

Blogless day.

Yesterday was the first day that I haven't blogged this year - it had to happen sooner or later! We ended up in a bed shop of all places and on the spur of the moment we bought ourselves a huge leather bed and a gorgeous mattress. We now just have to wait until next Wednesday to get it delivered. Our bed has never felt so uncomfortable as it did last night and I am sure by next Tuesday night it is going to be like sleeping on a bed of nails. Other than that not an awful lot was done due to the horrible weather we had, and still have. So for the rest of the day I attempted to organise my photos into some sort of order - not an easy task.

Today's photo is a complete cheat not only was it taken weeks ago I didn't even take it but Hay Ho it will have to suffice. It was a very very long way down though.

My Boys

I took this picture of the boys this afternoon in the park at Buxton. I only noticed the total look of disgust on their faces when I got home and downloaded the pictures. The reason for this look? A couple of adults had found a birds nest and decided to pick it up to show their young children. The boys were horrified and said in very loud voices how you never touch a birds nest and certainly don't move it. So today I am a very proud Mum.

It's Here!!

And it is brilliant - totally brilliant I LOVE IT. It took me a while to sync it with the console but I eventually managed it after reading the instructions - derrr. It has weighed me and told me I am overweight, like I really needed to know that but to compensate I have an excellent centre of gravity. My Wii fit age was then calculated and turned out to be 4 years younger than me so I'm well pleased. For the rest of the afternoon I have been doing yoga, step, jogging, skiing, ski jumping, hula hooping and lots more I haven't even touched the muscle toning section yet. Matt has just come in which meant my turn was over (for now).

If you have a Wii you just got to get the Wii fit!

Still not here!

It's now 8.53am and my Wii fit hasn't arrived yet and I have a nasty feeling it isn't going to arrive until just before the boys get in probably only giving me enough time to install the thing before they descend on it.

So while I wait impatiently I got my baby out of it's bag for the first time in weeks so I could take a shot for today's prompt at HS:MS about time too. I think it is beginning to feel neglected.With not being in work this weekend (or next) we have decided we are going to go out picnicking, geocaching and photo snapping, two (three in this case) birds one stone and all that. Or should I say we are hoping to do that if we can drag the boys away from the Wii for long enough. Not sure where to go but the Buxton area and the Wirral are both strong contenders at the moment. At least it will stop me obsessing about time, years and my most hated day of the year which happens next week sometime.

10:14 Starting to pace now.

14:14 If we had a carpet it would have a huge hole in it by now.

Up and at 'em...

....barely. Yesterday I did a nine hour shift from 7am - 4pm and 5 of those hours were physical work hoicking pallets around and depositing the contents in various places. To be honest that is the side of the job that I love as I am getting paid to do a really vigorous workout which is doing what I intended it to do as I have lost 14lbs since I started the job 6 weeks ago.

The Wii fit still hasn't turned up but that could have something to do with me not reading the email properly the first time as the damn thing isn't released until tomorrow so that is when it is arriving. Luckily after my shift today I am off for 3 days so plenty of time to play. It would be nice if it arrived in the morning so that I could have it all to myself until the boys get home from school.

Got to stay awake tonight after work as my bestest ever programme is on again - HEROES! Totally can't wait.

I may be back later with a HS:MS prompt but at the moment it has not been posted so no can do.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

The title says it all. x

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work I go. There will be no road shot from me today, I have looked through all my achieved pictures and haven't found one suitable shot and I am certainly not going to stand on my road to take pictures. I have already been knocked down by a car and I ran into the side of a moving one once so I am not risking doing either of those things ever again.

Yellow? More like Blue

The word over at HS:MS today is yellow and that is not a colour I can identify with at the moment as I feel less than bright today. I am totally fed up of being a nag trying to get the boys to revise for their exams, so much so I am even considering giving up on it completely and just letting them get on with it themselves. I pre-ordered a Wii Fit thingy a couple of months ago as a surprise for the boys (read that as I wanted one) with the understanding that it would be delivered on the day of release, which was last Friday and guess what it still isn't here so I am getting slightly miffed about that too as I wanted to use it as revision blackmail. Then on top of all that I seem to have injured my hand somehow and it has been really giving me grief for the last couple of hours.

On the upside I visited Mima this afternoon, just a quick one but enjoyable all the same it's just a shame that Sue couldn't make it again.

Yesterday was a good day even though it was busy. I got up to find an unexpected email from my Aunt Carolyn (the one we are visiting in Canada in the summer) from China of all places. Carolyn is currently over there visiting different Universities and checking out their teaching methods, she then returns to Canada to go straight out to Arizona with 20 students to do a 10 day field trip and then as far as I know they are going off to Australia with work for a while before we arrive at their place in the summer. Well anyway I digress, after getting the email which answered a few of our questions we decided to book the other half of our summer jaunt. The flights from Toronto to NY are now booked as is the 4 night stay in a hotel next to Central Park, the New York City Passes and the trip up the Rock, needless to say my Visa did a bit of groaning yesterday!

After the excitement of booking all of that we took ourselves off to Chester for a couple of hours to spend even more money so when I got a phone call from my boss asking if I could go in a couple of hours early I jumped at the chance.

Today I have no idea what we are going to do as the weather is pretty grim, revision is definetly on the list but the rest I will have to make up as I go along.

Too Busy Today Will Catch up Tomorrow

Oops A Daisy.

Not had what you would call a brilliant day. I was in work from 7am - 3pm today, which is the one day a month when I get a stonking headache, nausea, the shakes, stomach cramps, a bad case of dropsy and the need for frequent toilet breaks - lovely stuff. I am amazed that nothing went wrong for me until this afternoon, I thought it would be about 7.30am when I got the first breakage but I shocked myself and lasted until 2.30pm. It started with a full pallet of beer that I couldn't manoeuvre into it's little space so I thought "I know brute force and ignorance will do the trick" so I yanked - hard. This is when 8 cans of beer flew off, one of which exploded on impact with the ground. I quickly mopped this up and took the remaining 7 dented cans into the warehouse to deposit them in the bin. Upon turning round to come back out I knocked 48 glass jars of Anti Pasta onto the floor from about waist height, how only 1 of them smashed I will never know. After 47 of them were safely returned from whence they came I picked up the broken one and threw it in the bin, unfortunately for me it landed on top of the cans of beer which exploded in turn all over me leaving me dripping wet and smelling like a brewery! I now remember why I usually hide away and spend this day in bed every month. The upside to this is that it only ever lasts one day so tomorrow I should be safe to be around again.

So there is no photo from me today as I really don't want to risk the health of my camera so it is staying safely tucked away in it's padded bag.

I had a lovely visit with Mima, who was good company even if she wasn't feeling the best yesterday, but unfortunately Sue couldn't make it :( I even got to taste one of Mima's gorgeous, homemade biscuits and if Rose hadn't taken the box away when she did I could have easily eaten the whole lot. I ended up going round in the car instead of on my push bike but to ease my guilt we all went for a bike ride last night.

The photo today is of a tile floor that I thought looked gorgeous in the dappled sunlight. The kids were not happy with me as it was a public place and I ended up down on my hands and knees taking this shot with shouts of "Dad, Mum's at it again can't you make her stop, she's embarrassing". One day they will realise that embarrassing them is my main purpose in life and the reason that I had kids in the first place.

Early Bird for a change

No work today but I am still up nice and early, raring to go! I am continuing my quest for a clean house this morning 4 rooms down only another 7 to go, including the kitchen. Then this afternoon I am getting on my push bike to go and visit Mima and Sue, I'm really looking forward to hearing Sues tales from New York and to having a good girly catchup afternoon with them both and of course my cold can of coke. Tonight we are back on the revision, no arguments last night (so sorry Suzy you haven't won a prize yet).

It's pretty hard to take a picture of investigate when you are all on your lonesome and now is the only chance I am going to get to do this today so it has to be one I prepared earlier. Matt and Kyle were investigating this pile of wood for a geocache and they were successful too.

Three today!!

Seeing as this is the third time we have had the word window on HS:MS since I have been doing it and I am going to post all three of my windows in the order I did them. Not stopping long as I am in the middle of spring cleaning and I have to get it done before I am on revision duty - again. I learnt all about enzymes last night as Matt had been given some revision homework from school. If I am honest I am finding it fun, don't think the boys are though.

The same old puddle

I thought I wasn't going to be able to put a picture up today as all the puddles that were around first thing this morning have dried up in the glorious sunshine. Then I remembered the picture I used last time we had this word.

I have been busy planning tonight's revision for the boys. Kyle is on reproduction, cells, algebra and angles. Matt is on cells, rain forests and a little bit of French wonder how many arguments we are going to have tonight?

Nothing Much Happening.

That just about describes today. We did go for an interestingish dog walk this morning in some steep woods with a stream at the bottom. I say walk it was more of a slip and a slide and it had us laughing more than once. At the end of the woods is a geocaching site which we have searched 3 times now and we have still haven't found it, maybe next time.

Yesterday afternoon I morphed into Evil Mum and declared it revision time. Kyle just got on with it and was finished after an hour. Matthew dragged it on and on it took him over an hour to write 6 lines of notes on rainforest's, which mostly didn't make sense and then he sulked later on when I told him he had to do more. I have more fun planned for him tonight. The Wii has been unplugged and hidden as has his laptop and the keyboard off his desk top, they don't have TV's in their rooms so that won't be a problem. He gets everything back when he has done his revision to my satisfaction. Muuuhahaha

I might think of a title later but then again I might not

I've decided I don't do Saturday's anymore, well I don't do HS:MS on a Saturday anymore. There are only so many pictures of me and my motley crew that I can inflict on the world and I think I reached the maximum amount weeks ago. So from now on I am hanging up my camera on a Saturday. Apart from that it is the only night of the week with anything worth watching on TV. I might post a picture tomorrow but then again I might not as I am not really keen on Show Off Sunday's either as it is not something that comes naturally to me. I'm off now to watch dancing dogs and dodgy keyboard players.

Recycle and Reuse

That's what we do with most things in the this house. I was spoilt for choice for today's picture I tried the little compost caddy in the kitchen, the box of used loo roll middles, drinks cartons, plastic bottles and cans that is ready for one of the boys to sort out, the 2 red boxes the council gave us for plastics, the 2 green boxes they gave us for cans and glass, the 2 bags they gave us for paper, the brown bin that is for green waste, the 3 compost heaps in the garden or the recycled bread bags that we reuse as dog pooh bags but they all looked a bit uninspiring and disgusting. Instead I took this picture of one of my many bags for life that I possess as like I have mentioned before I don't do carrier bags.

I have the day to myself today as I am not in work until 4pm and then I have the whole weekend to enjoy, bad weather and all. I think it could be a good opportunity for some extra revision and bedroom tidying - won't I be Little Miss Popular.

Disclaimer

I had a great day yesterday, work went well and then I had a lovely time visiting Mima, where I think I may have talked her to death. Then after tea we went for Kyle's parent teacher interviews which were interesting to say the least. We now have 3-4 weeks of hard revision every night for both of the boys which seems to be involving me as they haven't got a clue how to go about it. I'm finding it very difficult at the moment to find the time to take any pictures for the HS:MS prompts as, like Sue says, life is getting in the way but I am going to try and join in when I can - just not today.

Nothing from me today.

Kicking myself

I'm not in work today so I have actually managed to put a photo up for the HS:MS prompt even if I didn't take it today. Yesterday was my first shift as a proper worker and not just a pretend one (trainee). It went well and my war wound didn't hold me back too much. Whilst defurring my legs at the weekend I sort of took a huge slice of skin off my ankle bone - nice. While in work yesterday I kicked the said ankle with my other foot (accidentally of course I don't normally go round kicking myself) and by the time I got home my sock had gotten itself stuck in the wound - even nicer. It took me over 10 minutes to remove my sock from my foot and then another 10 minutes to remove all the black fur from my ankle with some tweezers - lovely.
Today I am going to kick back (very carefully and away from my ankle) and relax as tomorrow is another busy one. I'm in work at 7am until 1pm, then I am visiting the lovely Mima at 2pm(ish) and then tomorrow night I am off to Kyle's parent teacher interviews so I may not be around until Thursday.

Oh No it's the dreaded .....

can't be arseditus. x

Another photoless post.

This time it is down to pure laziness as I did take some pictures in the snow, I just can't be bothered to load them at the moment. Pete took the boys sledging early this morning while I had a nice long hot bath in peace and quiet - total bliss. When they got back Pete and I took the dogs and the camera out down near the river before the snow melted completely. As soon as we got back from there we got back in the car and went to Cheshire Oaks to have some lunch and to go and watch 'Spiderwick Chronicles' which turned out to be not a bad film. It even had Andrew McCarthy in it who I had a HUGE crush on when I saw him in 'Mannequin' and 'St Elmo's Fire' as a teenager. Such a shame he was only in it for a few minutes as boy has he aged well. As an added bonus we managed to get Kyle a pair of new 'Vans' shoes while we were there and believe me getting Kyle anywhere near a shoe shop is not easy. When we got back home we took out the beef brisket that had been cooking for 8 hours, in the slow cooker, in a full bottle of Chilean red wine and had it for tea with gravy made from the winey, meaty juices - Mmmmmm totally delicious. Now I am going to settle down in front of a coal fire and watch a DVD with a cup of tea and an apple. I would prefer wine and chocolate but I HAVE to loose weight before the summer.

Nothing from me today.

Busy at home, busy shopping, busy walking the dogs, busy at work, busy watching Dr Who, then busy watching Atonement.

I don't do this often...

.. but I am going to rant! I am so very, very annoyed at the moment. I just opened a letter that came today, I know it's late but it got hidden by a pile of ironing. It was from my solicitors about the accident I had last July. Apparently, I have to inform them of any days I am not available in the next 6 months as it looks like I will have to go to court about the hire car that I was given at the time. From what I understand the other drivers insurance company are refusing to pay my insurance company the car hire fees so I have to go to court to explain why I couldn't afford to pay these myself at the time of the accident. What you need to understand is that I pay EXTRA each year so that I am GUARANTEED a like for like hire car in the case of an accident as long as the accident is not my fault and this accident was certainly not my fault. I was stationery waiting to enter a roundabout where as the other driver entered the roundabout at about 65 MPH, hit it, span round and hit me and then he was prosecuted for drink driving. I just can't believe that his insurance company think that I should have paid out over £4000 (no idea where they got this figure from) in car hire fees out of my own money!! Like I have that type of money sat in the bank waiting to be paid out because of some other w****s stupidity. The upside to this (if there is one) is that I will not be asked to pay any of the money at any point, this is just to help my insurance company claim the money back. Rant now over, and breathe.

Need for Speed

A bit of a cheat today I am afraid as this was taken last October when we went on the old fashioned rides at the Black Country Museum near Birmingham.

Pete came in last night and found the bike lock key straight away (much too my annoyance) so today I am planning to go for a bike ride with the boys, if the rain stays off for long enough. As I am not in work this morning I have even managed a picture for HS:MS. The light here is pretty naff this morning so I have had a little play with it in photoshop.

Good Blogger - Bad Photo Taker

Once again I don't have a photo for HS:MS as I just can't be arsed. Just got back from a lovely dog walk in the drizzle with make shift dog leads, Pete took the proper ones to work, 2 moaning kids and a smelly hat on (don't ask). We did try for a bike ride earlier but it seems that someone has lost the key for the lock that ties Pete and My bikes together so that was a no go. So with no car and no bike it looks like we are stuck in the house for the rest of the day.

Woooo Hooo

Had a busy day today that's why there is no HS:MS photo from me. Work this morning and then cleaning carpets with a rug Doctor this afternoon - how exciting is that? What was exciting is the phone call that Pete made to me telling me that he has got a pay rise and it's a pretty good one too, I think we both ended up dancing around a little bit with big stupid grins on our faces. Oh and my £100 cash back, for my new camera, from Canon arrived in the post.