Love, hate relationship..

Inside or out - what is your fridge like? What does it say about you?

Mmm what does my fridge say about me. If it could talk it would probably say "she loves her food but hates what it does to her". Notice the 2 pictures on the fridge door they're both of me when I was fat and they don't work. I'm going to try a new tactic and put a thin picture of me on there as I am sure that will be more of an incentive to loose those few pounds that have crept back on over the last 3 years. I also keep a list of what we are eating for the next week on there, a shopping list behind that, post its with the kids jobs for the day on, a chart showing how much the kids have earned this week and then any other bits and pieces get stuck on there too.

The stuff inside is not very tempting to me at the moment as it all tastes of snot. I am getting really fed up of this cold now. The night before last I hardly slept at all but then again what can you expect when you take tablets that are laden with caffeine at 10pm! Last night I made sure I took Night Nurse instead of Day Nurse and had a great nights sleep so feel a lot better. It's just the runny eyes and nose that are getting on my nerves now as every time I bend forward to do something I drip - not a good look on Christmas cards.

I'm off to the hairdressers this afternoon to be pampered. Hopefully I will be brave enough to go for a whole new look. Before that though I am going to buy some wool as my mum is going to teach me how to knit. I am starting with a black and red scarf for Matt which should be ready for this 18th birthday with any luck. All this so I can have a bloody monkee!

Rach

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HS:MS - Bedroom

Do you have a fave spot or piece of furniture in your bedroom?

I love the curtain rail in our bedroom!

Not a happy bunny today as I have been awake with a sore throat most of the night which started half way through Doc Martin last night. Last time I had a really sore throat I ended up with acute gutate psoriasis which lasted for months and months and covered me in horrible red patches. Apparently it was as a result of having severe tonsillitis so now every time I get a sore throat I panic. Hopefully this is just a cold as I can't see white blotches yet.

The boys choose their pumpkins at the weekend and cut them out ready for Halloween. Kyle's is the grim reaper, he had a little bit of help but Matt did the other one all by himself.

A good tip for keeping them from shrivelling before the big day is to put them in water over night or rub Vaseline round all the cut out bits to stop it loosing moisture. We've gone for the water method as it's less messy and we are not sure how flammable Vaseline is?

Rach
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HS:MS - Window

Choose your favourite window in your house. Show the whole window, the curtains and window decoration.

It only took me an hour to get this shot and then after all that it turned out pants. It's Matt's bedroom window so I had to open the blinds, open the curtains, make the bed, clean the windows, clean the windowsill, find the desk (under all the crap) and then clean it and then I spent ages trying to get the Plasticine out of the carpet. He fancies himself as a movie maker at the moment so we have Plasticine figures everywhere while he makes the movie which usually involves blood and guts - well what else can you expect from a goth! I love the way his room is full of black, red and skulls but he still won't get rid of his teddy bear which lives on his bed - ahhhh bless. At least the room will stay tidy for a few hours as the boys are back at school today - yay, yay and double yay!!

Don't be fooled by the "tidy" room, I have just moved everything into a pile at the bottom of the bed just out of shot. I don't ever tidy the boys rooms I only ever dump all the things that aren't where they should be on the bed and then clean. That way if they want to sleep they have to do something about the mess - it's worked so far!

Matt's mess - not bad for a 14 year old boy!

Kyle's mess mountain!!

Rach

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HS:MS - SOS

I took this photo of Kyle last week in the Forest of Dean on the sculpture trail. It was his turn to read the map and tell us which way to go, which to his credit he did very well.

Well I have worked my way through the first installment of Kirsty Wiseman's Digi Course and managed to retain some of the information. Today I decided to take up her challenge of downloading a free digi kit and using what I have learnt from the first lesson to create a layout. So here is my first ever attempt at digi scrapbooking using Harvest Spice from Shabby Princess. I don't think Kyle will like the flowers and sparkle that I have used on it but who cares it's not for him! I could easily get addicted to this as it is cheap, it makes no mess and I don't have to cut into my precious papers.

So now I have this as one of my screen saver pictures along with Hugh Laurie as House, Captain Jack Sparrow, Dr Who and generally any nice eye candy I find as I surf the net! Ooooh now that's a good idea - digi scrap the eye candy for my screen savers.

Rach
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Guilty as Charged

The blog police have been in contact with me and accused me of being mean and not sharing photos. So just for SuzyB here are a couple of photos from our trip. There are some more on the laptop of our visit to the Black Country Museum but to get them I have to get up and go and get the laptop so I can transfer the photos and that is far too much to ask.

Anybody that knows Pete knows that he is a total liability. In recent years he has been knocked off his bike and broken his shoulder, elbow and a rib or two, fallen off a skateboard while showing the boys how to do it and chipped his elbow, fallen 30 foot off a rope swing and broken a couple of ribs, severed his thumb tendon with a sellotape dispenser, broken his toe on a post and had more bruises and tiny accidents than I care to remember. So when we saw a swing in the Forest of Dean you would think that he would heed my warning of "don't you bloody dare" wouldn't you, ohhh no not Pete he has to jump straight on it.

As you can see he was having great fun. Until he decided that it would be even more fun if he was to jump off in my direction and run at me like a lunatic while I had the camera up to my face trying to take a photo. Unfortunately for him I didn't move apart from downwards and backwards rapidly. Pete tried to grab me round the waist but I took him with me where he landed face down on the forest floor with a bruised nose and bleeding lip. The thing is I don't understand how this is all my fault but apparently it is and I should have moved - at least I'll know next time. Don't anyone have any sympathy for the fool as he doesn't deserve it as he should know better at his age.

We found out that the swing was part of a sculpture trail in the forest so we carried on and walked the rest of it which took a few hours.

There were some pretty good sculptures there but this one was our favourite.

One of the other places we visited was Puzzle Wood which I can highly recommend. It is the remains of an Pre Roman open cast iron mine and is totally amazing. It's like being transported into another world where fairies, trolls and elves could happily dwell.

So all in all our little trip was a success and was well worth the £15 a night (not each) it cost us to stay in the Travel Lodge!

Well Suzy you asked for it, have I shared enough now?

Rach
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Violet

A quick post to put up my Violet as I hunted for this for ages so I am not going to let it be wasted even if we are doing Pink instead of Violet. I love this picture of my Grandma Violet who I never got to meet as she died before I was born.

HS:MS - Blue

My cunning plan worked beautifully, all I had to do was nag him to an inch of his life and he soon got in a mood, a blue one of course! Ingenious even if I do say so myself. As you can see he is going through a not wanting his hair cut and "I'll only wear black" stage - still!

Rach x

HS:MS - Green

This is a tiny bit of the green in my space today courtesy of my favourites the Japanese Anemone. It had to be something from the garden today but I promise it will be something different tomorrow, as I have no blue in the garden at all but I do have a cunning plan.

HS:MS - Yellow

No yellow flowers in my garden at the moment but there is this yellow hose pipe. I put the garden pictures down to the fact that when I am sat at the computer thinking I look out of the window and see the garden and that's easier than hunting round the house!

Ouch! Just had an accident with some soup, pity it wasn't red today! Just made some tomato soup for Matt's lunch and was pouring the bubbling concoction into his flask when I decided it would be fun to throw it all over my hand. I am sat here now with my hand in a bowl of iced water, never mind it will be OK in a bit. Just wish I didn't drop everything when I'm cooking!

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics

Yesterday Sue directed me to this as I had moaned about the boys. It really made me laugh and it is so true too.

HS:MS - Orange

These little beauties are living in a pot outside my back door. I've been waiting for them to flower all summer but they are just in full bloom now. For some reason I seem to be going on a garden theme this week, just hope the weather holds out.

Pete did the normal bloke thing and flicked through the channels last night as he said the TV had had an update. He found a new channel that has amused him no end it's called "Dave"! How on earth can you name a TV channel Dave? Imagine it "Can you turn Dave on please".

I'm wearing my boots again today for the first time since the jelly fiasco! I have managed to salvage them by bunging them in the washing machine. I really didn't think that it would work but thought I may as well try it as they were heading for the bin anyway. At least I have saved some money much to Pete's relief as I did have my eye on a nice pair of Timberlands.

Rach

Roses are .......

Red. Which is the prompt for todays HS:MS.

I have no roses in flower in the garden at the moment but I do have a Virginia Creeper that lies on the gravel. It did used to go up the side of the garage before we knocked it down and since then we haven't had the heart to dig it up so it just creeps across the floor. One of the boys' spades seems to have ended up in amongst the leaves as they are both incapable of actually using the hooks that I put in the shed for their spades, skateboards etc. Rather like the wash basket, coat hangers, towel rail .................

Rach

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HS:MS - Tongue

A fleshy muscular organ in the mouth.

This is the biggest tongue in my space and the cutest.

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I had a culinary disaster on a grand scale last night the culprit .... a jelly. That's right a simple jelly caused carnage in my kitchen. It was one of those new quickset jellies that do what they say on the packet and set really quickly. They actually start to go gooey in the jug as you stir it. This is when I dropped it and it splatted EVERYWHERE, my jeans, my boots, all over Kyle, cupboard doors, the floor, the ceiling, the walls you name it the jelly splatted it and promptly set. So Pete came in from work to see Kyle topless and me on my hands and knees scrapping red jelly off the floor in my knickers! You must understand I don't normally clean the floor in my pants, well not when the kids are at home anyway, but my jeans had set and were in the washing machine. I don't know what surprised him most, the jelly everywhere that looked like someone had been murdered, me in my pants or me actually cleaning the floor!!

You've all heard of jellied eels, heres my take on it - jellied boots. Seriously though has anyone any ideas about how I should clean these?

Rach

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HS:MS - Game

A form of play or sport.

Not a difficult thing to take a picture of in this house. I would have had more choice but the 2 bearded dragons that we are babysitting for our niece are currently living on the toy trunk in the playroom so I can't get to most of the games until the weekend. I couldn't make my mind up between the old fashioned type of board game that we enjoy or the more modern games consoles so I have taken a picture of each. The only choice then was should it be the Wii, PSP or PS2 we have 2 of each here. Couldn't get the lighting right on the Wii even though I put it right next to the window so in the end I gave up and went with what I had got.

Steps: A series of flat surfaces to enable movement from one level to another.

I didn't manage the prompt yesterday so have caught up today this is one of the steps that we made at the bottom of the garden with reclaimed railway sleepers. Unless you have actually carried a sleeper you have no idea of how heavy they are. We ordered 30 of the damn things and after moving the first one, instantly regretted it. I must admit all the straining and huffing and puffing was worth it in the end, as they do look good. I am so glad that we went for the dirty reclaimed ones over the nice neat clean ones as they have so much more character. The metal bits are still on them and we positioned some so they were pointing up which the thrushes love to use to bash the snails on.

Crockery: A collection of ceramics, porcelain and china.

Not a chance of taking one for this prompt. We only have crappy white crockery here as it only gets bunged in the dishwasher or broken so no point in us having anything else. Kyle has his own special bowl, plate and side plate which are the same as all the others apart from the chips in the rims. For some reason he loves having the chipped crockery and we have to make sure he gets it every time.

Rach

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HS:MS - Autumn

The third season of the year.

I didn't go for leaves as I did that a couple of weeks ago and wanted something different today. I just love the way that these fungi look furry and soft.


I had another bout of can't be arsed over the weekend but only where photos were concerned. I really had no inclination to subject you to a picture of me, not that I mind having pictures of me on here, I just couldn't be bothered as you have all seen me before. Yesterday I couldn't be bothered to hunt for a picture that I wanted to show off as I really don't have that many and am not a very show offy type of person hence no weekend posts from me.

Friday was a pretty good day for me. I spent a couple of hours with Mima who is a lovely girl and great company and then Pete and I went to eat goose at my Dad's, which was delicious **Thanks Dad**. Other than that we have had a nice relaxing weekend which involved a little shopping, a lot of attic sorting out and some tip running with the crap taken out of the attic.

HS:MS - Blade

A flat sharp cutting edge.

Didn't fancy doing a knife, scissors or lawn mower so in the end I went for a blade of grass. This grass is over 5ft tall and stripey it looks wonderful in the garden.

I'm going to visit my new friend Mima again this afternoon which I am really looking forward to and then Pete and I are going to my Dad's tonight to eat Goose which I know will be delicious coz Dad's cooking it.

Rach
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I've been tagged

I've been tagged by: Hazel

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Here we go get ready to be either riveted or bored stiff!

1. I have a tattoo that I hate. I had it done when I was 18 before everyone and their dog had them. It's a little bee on my left shoulder blade and I hate it now it has faded. One day I will get round to getting another one over the top of it.
   
2. I used to be a size 22. This was about 6 years ago now before I started dieting. At my slimmest I went down to a size 8 and am currently a size 12 but trying to slim back into an 8 or 10.
   
3. I have lived in the same house all my life. My Mum and Dad bought this house when she was pregnant with me many years ago. She got fed up of me not moving out so moved out herself and then gave us this house as a wedding present 13 years ago.
   
4. I hate milk and I mean really, really hate milk. I drink black tea and I can't eat cereal.
   
5. I have been proposed to by 4 different men but only ever said yes to one.
   
6. When I was 19 I went on a blind date with an Australian who was living in London. He took me to Notting Hill Carnival and I spent the weekend in London with him, which looking back was slightly dumb on my part. Luckily for me I had an amazing time and he ended up proposing to me a couple of weeks later. It was about this time that I met and fell in love with Pete.
   
7. I love being scared. Horror films do it for me the scarier the better. Horror books, supernatural shows, rollercoasters, white water anything that gets the old adrenalin pumping. I would LOVE to free fall from an aeroplane, I would probably pee my pants but then I'd want to go again!

Consider yourselves tagged ladies!

SuzyB
Angela
Aubrey
Jolanda
Charli
Bobs
Linda

HS:MS - Mesh

A material made from a network of wire or threads.

Oh no my can't be arsed has mutated into writers block.

Rach

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HS:MS - Tray

A flat , shallow container for carrying food, drink and small items.

My tray is for the birds in our garden. I did contemplate cleaning it before I took a picture but 1. I couldn't be arsed and 2. I thought it might be more interesting with a dead caterpillar and grass cuttings in it.

I seem to be getting my mojo back a little bit but unfortunately this new found energy is going to have to be used on cleaning the house as I've neglected that over the last few days too. I suspect a combination of dark mornings, dark nights, cloudy skies and the time of the month have all contributed to my dark mood and lack of umpff.

I slept much better last night but we were disturbed in the night by a wailing 14 year old boy. Matt had decided to look at his snake in the middle of the night, as you do, and had come to the conclusion that he was dead so ran through to us breaking his heart. We resisted the urge to ignore him and dutifully got up to see the dead snake only to find that the damn thing was only asleep. Matt had forgotten that he doesn't have eyelids and presumed that because he was still with his eyes open he was dead. I wouldn't mind but this is the second time in a week that this has happened, talk about the memory of a goldfish!

Well I best go and put my mojo to good use before I loose it again.

OOhh I'm back again as I have just caught up on yesterdays prompt - card. This picture shows some of the card I have here. The grey drawers to the right are full of card bits, each drawers is colour coded and I shove any off cuts into it to use later, it works quite well.

Rach

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It's getting worse.

My can't be arsed itus is turning into something much worse - can't be arsed itus with insomnia. I have lain in bed awake since 1am listening to Pete fart intermittently and I can't stand it anymore so here I am at 4.27am up and trying to find something to do that is quiet which isn't as easy as it sounds. It's amazing how loud everything is in the middle of the night, even typing sounds horrendous.
Rach
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