It will have to do!

I don't like cakes that much, we never have them in the house - I am a cruel mother. Pete will buy some occasionally but they never interest me. Cookies do, I like cookies but cakes I can take em or leave em. So with the distinct lack of cakieness in this house this card I made last year will just have to do.

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HS:MS - Cake

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Pete went to the hospital yesterday to see Dominic, his Renal consultant (sounds posher than kidney guy) for his 3 month check. His kidney's are still functioning at the same level (Yay), his iron levels are still high (Yay) but his blood count has dropped back down to 86 (Boo) when it should be around 160. So he now has to have the EPO injections every 10 days instead of every 14 in the hope that this will use up the iron he has to make more blood. At the levels he is at he should be really having a blood transfusion BUT every time he has a blood transfusion it means that he is compatible with less donor kidneys so they need to be avoided if possible. He is feeling good at the moment and the news yesterday wasn't bad so all is good in the Tunbridge household.

Surprise

HS:MS - Surprise

When I looked at our local paper today this article on the front page surprised me as it happened where I walk my dogs. Apparantly they took the mans £700 camera and his wallet, so that's me not walking there on my own again.

Did it move for you?

It certainly moved for us. At 12.53am we were woken up by a shaking bed, a rumbling sound and rattling in the bedroom. We lay there, looked at each other and pondered about what had happened before we got up to go to the loo. When I came out of the loo Pete was stood looking at the light fitting intently and a minute later I found him starting at the fish tank in Kyle's bedroom. His comment? "It can't have been an earthquake the light wasn't moving and neither was the water, I must have been having a fit"... ummmmm and just think I choose to marry him.

As I have a distinct lack of towers in my garden I had to resort to the archieves for today's HS:MS prompt and now it has gone and got me all excited about our hoilday again. I can't wait to get back over to Canada in the summer and I am SO excited about New York.

Tower: A tall narrow construction, either free standing or forming a part of a building.

This next one is just for Sue as I know she will love it!!

Sorry Sue but I really couldn't resist showing you this beautiful view that you can see through the glass floor.

The bogeyman?

HS:MS - Fungus

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I Spy : Pattern

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Thank you everyone for all the comments left about my new job yesterday. I have another 2 weeks of freedom before I start but I will let you know how I go on. For the record I was plopping my pants when I went for the interview as it was my first one in about 17 years, I'm just glad I got it and don't have to go through that process again!

I'm a working boss..

Trying to get my two boys to cuddle anybody is getting to be an impossible task let alone actually getting a picture of it so I had to delve into my archieves. I eventually managed to find this one from last year - awwwww.

cuddle - snuggling up to one you love

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The last two Sundays have seen me going for interviews in my one smart pair of black pants that actually fit me! The first week it was a group interview and then yesterday it was just me on my own some and I sort of knew I had the job as he asked me to take my bank details etc with me but I didn't want to tempt fate and mention it before I got the nod. Now it's nothing swanky or high faluting (sp?) as I just wanted something to get me out of the house, off my butt, bring in some dough but part time so I could still run my business from home. It ticks all of the boxes especially the active one as I can see the size 10 jeans trying to creep forward in the wardrobe already. So in two weeks I will be starting to work at Aldi part time for what is, quite frankly, excellent money. I did contemplate going back to working in an office but quickly decided against it as I hated every minute of sitting behind a desk all day. My favourite ever job that I had was when I worked in a country pub that was frequented by Hells Angels. They used to form an orderly queue out of the door of the tiny, very busy, pub that had no till. I had to remember the long lists of drink orders I was given (usually by a young Hells Angel wearing a collar and lead), the price of each drink and then I had to total it up in my head, all this after a full days work in the dreaded office too - brilliant. Hence my decision to go back to a part time job in the service trade, I would love it to be a pub but the hours do not fit in with Pete and the kids so Aldi it is.

Show Off Sunday

Just a quick entry for me as I have places to be and people to see this morning. This was taken on the same frosty and foggy morning as my SPS from yesterday.

SOS

SPS, COLD AND WOODEN!

SPS : 23rd Feb 2008

.I took this picture of Kyle last week when we took the dogs out in the early morning frost and fog. Today has been a lovely day of shopping, gardening, dog walking and watching American Idol. I do like my garden but I must admit I am a fair weather gardener and much prefer the end result to the journey. Today I chopped down all the dead bits, trimmed the sleeping bits and pulled out the weeds that are just starting to wake up. The veg patches have had an over haul and tomorrow they are going to get tested to see what they are deficient in so that I can add what is lacking and grow some GIANT veg this year. Wooo Hooo spell checker is working again - finally!!! I just found a new photo challenge site through Karen which is put up on a Tuesday so I thought I might just give it a go you can find it at We Spy : You Spy.

I Spy Something Cold

And finally the last picture for today is a picture of Kyle on top of a wooden sculpture which is part of the sculpture trail in the Forest of Dean. Perfect for this weeks word over at Photohunters.

Busy Little Bee

That's what I was today and it is only set to get worse, I might tell you about that on Sunday. I didn't really feel like doing a picture for HS:MS today as the word was packet and I didn't have any inspiring packets around so I couldn't be arsed. I might do a picture tomorrow but then again I might not!

I spend my life ....

...in a state of confusion so I had lots to choose from for my photograph today. I went with my work table after I had been stamping for the very first time. Which card should I stamp on? Which Ink should I use? What medium should I use to colour it with? Which papers should I use? How do I cut it straight? Arrrgghhh how can something so simple be so confusing??

confused - lacking order and difficult to understand

After a quick visit to my local craft shop to ask some questions I was sorted AND I didn't spend a penny there. So here it is my first ever attempt at stamping.

Insert Drumroll here!!

Credits: Stamp "For You Fairy" from Willow Designs (thanks Sharon), basic grey papers, making memories cheeky flat clip, American Crafts ribbon.

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I'm not happy with the pink flower so I am going to change it for an orange one later on but other than that I'm quite pleased with myself and it also fits in with the DCM challenge - Oh So Juicy.

Back to haunt me.

I've felt naff all day today with a cracking headache which would not shift for anything but it seems to be easing off a bit now - finally. To add to my crappy day I got a letter this morning, which looked thick and ominous, so I put off opening it until late this afternoon. It was from a solicitors about the car accident I had last July when the drunk idiot smashed into my car on Friday 13th. Apparently his insurance has refused to pay for the hire car I was given while mine was being fixed. There is no question of us having to pay for this, which is a good job as it totals over £4000, but I may have to go to court as a witness which should be fun as generally speaking I can't remember what happened yesterday let alone what happened 7 months ago. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that the threat of legal action will be enough for them to pay up.

Shhhhhhh Don't tell Pete

There are strict rules in our house for the dogs. They are not allowed upstairs - ever, they are not allowed on the furniture - ever and they are not allowed in the Living Room - ever or until I need a photo for HS:MS that is. Twig had sneaked into the Living Room this morning to bask in the sunshine, he looked so cosy in there I really didn't want to move him. ** Post Man Alert ** Arrgghh I have a stamp to play with. ** Thank you Sharon, thank you, thank you she is gorgeous ** I just hope I can do her justice. Anyway, back to Twig and him being my subject for today's word on HS:MS - cosy. Just see that guilty look on his face.

I had a request from one of my Mum's friends to make an 80th birthday card for her Mum which was sloppy, flowery had her name, date of birth, shoes, a handbag and Happy 80th Birthday Mum written on it. Here is what I came up with yesterday.

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Here is the one I have just made for my Aunts birthday next week which is based on a similar one that I made last year for my sister in law of sorts.

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Did anyone else see the comedy drama on BBC3 last night called "Being Human" about 3 house mates who are a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost? We all loved it. BBC3 are doing a batch of one off, one hour dramas over the coming weeks. I'm just hoping that they decide to make last nights into a new series as there is a serious lack of good TV at the moment. Just done some research and the 6, one hour long dramas are all pilots, this one was written by the writers of Torchwood and Dr Who so that explains why we loved it!

Right I'm off now to play with a fairy ........

It's a beautiful day.

I seem to be getting on top of things finally. The walls are now all plastered and we just have to wait for them to dry before we paint, I have repainted the Living Room wall where the bricks flew through and that is now passable until we need to decorate again. The boys went back to school this morning complaining loudly about the temperature at 7.45, which was unbelievably cold. My cold seems to be going which just leaves me with an annoying, hacking cough but at least that is easier to cope with than a snotty nose. So at the moment the sun is shining and life is good so what better day to start taking photos again.

Hole. A hollow place in a solid body or surface.

This is a hole in our tall side gates looking out at my friends house.

Had to share this

Last night we sat down to watch a DVD and this is how the conversation between Kyle and I went

Kyle: Where did you get this from?
Me : From one of my friends on the internet
Kyle: Which one?
Me: SuzyB
Kyle: Does she blog
Me: Yes
Kyle: Oh so she is one of your imaginary friends?
Me: No Kyle she is real person, how else could she have sent us something.
Kyle: Well have you met her?
Me: No
Kyle: She must be really ugly then.

At this point I gave up the will to live and just kept quiet.

FREEZE DRIED WASHING

Useless as I am I forgot to collect these awards that SuzyB my imaginary friend awarded me with a while back.

And another one that Mima awarded me with who was an imaginary blogland friend for a short while but now she is a very real friend. **Thanks Mima**

Stamping it up

I have made my own cards for 2o something years now. I made my first ever set for part of my textiles GCSE and even managed to get a grade A. I have made them using all sorts of mediums and techniques but one I have never really tried is stamping but that is about to change. I have just popped over to Willow Designs and bought myself a lovely little stamp and an acrylic block. I have inks anyway they have just never been used for stamping and I have hundreds of pencil crayons, bottles of ink and various watercolour sets so I shouldn't be short of something to colour it in with. I'll let you all have a laugh at my first ever attempt when it is done.

Do you think spellchecker has gone on holiday? I hope she is back soon.

What's normal?

I don't seem to be doing too well with blogging or HS:MS prompts this week as time doesn't seem to be on my side. I have everything crossed that things will be back to normal on Monday when the boys go to school - here's hoping.

Far to busy...

...to blog today. Lots to do today so I am practising diligence instead of photographing it. Hope to be joining in again tomorrow. The boys have gone to Waterworld for the afternoon so I am trying to make a dent on the ironing mountain, layers of dust and neglected garden while I have an arguement free zone.

Happy Valentines Day to you all. I haven't even had a card this year :( I shouldn't really complain as I did say that he wasn't to bother as it was a huge waste of money and we should put the cash in the Canada fund instead. Serves me right.

Our Charity of choice

Charity. Generosity, willingness to give. A nobility of thought or actions.

A very worthwhile cause. I have a real issue with time today, hence the naff photo so I'm off.

This one I can do

It must be the only virtue I do have but I can definitely do Temperance, Practising self control, abstention and moderation, and resisting temptation. I think it comes down to being stubborn and refusing to be beaten (wonder who I get that from Dad?). I used to smoke about 40 a day until I got pregnant with Matt when I tried to give up but it was a horrid pregnancy and what could go wrong did go wrong so I only managed to cut down to 10 a day. After having him the amount I smoked crept back up again, never round him but all the same not good. Then I got pregnant with Kyle and I found it impossible to give up as I was that worried it was going to all go wrong so again I cut back. Kyle was born on 28th March 1996 and Pete and I gave up smoking on 1st April 1996 when he was 3 days old. I found it really easy as I was so busy with a 2 1/2 year old and a new born that I could easily find something to take my mind of it and every time I felt the urge I just picked up my gorgeous new baby.

I would like to add that I don't have empty packets of cigarettes lying about the place I had to send the boys out this morning to try and find me one on the street.

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Anyone want 2 boys - they are going cheap, in fact I'll pay you to take them and I'll throw in free delivery too. Roll on next Monday when they go back to school and I don't have to listen to their petty bickering.

It's going to be a tough week

Not only do I have the boys at home all week, a house that is a complete mess (more of that in a minute) and a ANOTHER bloody cold I also have to be virtuous all week something I haven't been since, well never.

Chastity is the embracing of moral wholesomeness and achieving purity of body and thought and is the first word for this week.

So here you have it me in my passion killer pj's, stinking of vic's and surrounded by ironing no impure thoughts going on here at the moment I can tell you! That is unless you count me thinking about strangling Pete as an impure thought.

Over the weekend Pete decided that having a front door and Living Room disaster wasn't enough for me to deal with so proceeded to completely demolish under the stairs so that nothing remained but an empty space. Pete being male didn't think to shut the doors to all the rooms before he started yanking at the wood and plaster so now my whole house is under a cm of plaster dust.

The door is now fitted and looking a lot better Richard still has to seal it and then plaster the new wall he had to build to replace the ones that fell down!

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Crap day so I can't be arsed!

Green Eyed Monster

First I will do my catch up for yesterday so here is my wrath, couldn't be anything else really could it? The first one is my new front door, obviously and the 2nd one is of one of the holes in my Living Room.
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So today's word is envy now I know I didn't take this picture and I am sorry that it is so small but this is my envy. I would love to a. have a body like hers and b. be able to do what she does with her body.

This is one of the performers at the circus of horrors and she did got into some amazing positions in fact everyone there did totally amazing things with their bodies from opening beer bottles with eyelids to nailing tongues to tables. It wasn't as gory as I expected and I didn't have to close my eyes once. It was however, a very grown up show and at one point I could have crawled under my seat when Pete said Boobies rather loudly. The little guy in the corner of the picture is the one that uses the Henry on his bits and bobs which I can report are nearly to his knees. Which is not surprising really when he drags a hoover round a stage with it most nights!

Seeing as Suzy asked nicely here is a link to Captain Dan, his hoover and an amusing story.
I wish blogger would hurry up and fix the spell checker.

Not a nice day

In fact I have had a terrible day today. Today was the day we got our new front door installed but with us living in a 102 year old house nothing ever goes to plan. Richard started knocking out the door but soon realised that the door frame was huge, bigger than any he had seen before but the real problems began when he levered off the side frame and 2 bricks went flying through the wall into the Living Room right through my nice wallpaper. Things only got worse as he started to cut through the top beam and 3 rows of bricks started to fall down from above the old frame on top of him. Then the lock on the door didn't work so we had to cut through a metal plate to get it all to work. So all in all I have not got anything done today other than be a gofer and screw holder lets just hope tomorrow is better when he turns up to rebuild walls and replaster.

Ghost Whisperer

*****

Did you know

that a sloth only poohs about once a week! Living with a house full of males I know that, and lots of other facts, about pooh and bottoms too. The reason for that random bit of information is that it tie's in nicely with today's word on HS:MS Sloth. Now this sin I know a lot about as I have my very own teenage sloth living under my roof. He never does anything that he doesn't have to and then when asked to do something he either disappears to the toilet with his Nintendo DS (he learnt that one from Pete) or he goes as slow as slow can be. With everything else he does as little as is humanly possible to keep him from being in trouble. So here is his room which is a result of his slothfulness.

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Tonight is the night that Pete and I are going to the Palace Theatre in Manchester to see the Circus of Horrors so I should have a few tales to tell tomorrow. You don't need to worry I am not taking my camera so I won't be forcing gruesome pictures on you. I'm a bit unsure about it all now and will probably end up sitting with my eyes shut for most of it and Pete is planning to take his shades with him. The bit I will have my eyes wide open for is the naked male dwarf with a Hoover - I'll leave the rest up to you imagination but it should be interesting to say the least.

Before we go there I have one of those wonderful days where you have to wait in for a delivery. Our new front door should be arriving this afternoon ready to be fitted, by a friend, tomorrow. I have been told that I should give the driver a tip so mine is going to be "put your indicator on at the bottom of the road".

Has anyone got any ideas as to why my spellchecker on blogger has stopped working?

Please sir can I have some more?

Greed has had me in a tiz since Monday morning as I had no idea what to take a picture of for HS:MS and Pete was no help what so ever as all of his suggestions were pants - especially the envy one! So this morning I got the camera out looking for something to snap and that's when inspiration stuck.

Pigeon Pie anyone?

Today's sin on HS:MS is gluttony and there is a distinct lack of that going on here at the moment so no gratuitous chocolate shots here I am afraid. It started with one reasonably sized pigeon, who realised he was onto a good thing, who in turn decided to share his good fortune with his friends so now there are 3 humungous pigeons who visit us every day, at least twice, to dine on my veg patch. Between them they have decimated 8 sprouts, 10 cauliflower, 13 swede and are now turning their attention to my cabbages.

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Pete's job in the spring is to make me a net cage that fits over the veg patch.

Seven Deadly Sins

Mmmm so HS:MS has been hijacked by SuzyB and Andrew and we are being encouraged to show body parts to illustrate lust. Well I have body parts, plenty of them but they are very shy and are refusing to let me photograph them. I did try persuassion, but, they were having none of it using pathetic excuses like it's cold and we are scared of razors (before anyone asks no my bum isn't hairy) so in the end I gave up and found this picture of Pete instead.

Uh Oh!

I seem to have taken things a bit too far here and got myself in a bit of a mess. This morning I thought it would be a good idea to clean the craft room which then turned into a bit of a tidy up which has now ended up as a take everything out of the room and do a proper sort out. The door is now blocked with a mountain of bits and pieces BUT my buttons are now colour coded, we can't sit in the playroom for my crap in there BUT my brads are now sorted by colour and size. Not sure the menfolk are going to be as impressed with my days work as I am.

Did I mention how much I LOVE my new lens?

Play Time

I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!!!! ** Thanks Anita for the fantastic advise **. My new love is a Tamron 28-75mm lens that takes the most amazing shots, well it will do when it isn't windy and I'm not balancing because everywhere is soaking wet. My self portraits were taken with it today I've posted two because I couldn't decide which one I prefered. Now I really can't wait for the spring to arrive so I can go out and play properly.

MMmmmm that fooled me, the girls have changed it from Self Portrait Saturday to Someone Elses Portrait Saturday good job I took this one of Pete this afternoon when we took the dogs out for a walk.

String

This is a label from a pair of shorts that I got last year. It's so pretty I couldn't bare to throw it away it was even one of the reasons I bought the shorts in the first place.