Baby's age counter

Monday 30 April 2007

Old fogie

As time goes on I've come to the realisation I am not young and cool anymore. Sometimes when I listen to the radio I think "what is this monotonous noise?!" just like my mother used to when I was a teenager. That's not to say that is my opinion on all music on the radio today but a lot of it sounds the same. I remember swearing to my Mum that I would never feel like that!

However, I am still keen to listen to new music. Zane Lowe can be a bit much at times but there are some great bands like Razorlight and Fallout Boy and Artic Monkeys bringing out cool stuff. Lil sister has just put me in touch with Band of Horses and their tune 'The Funeral' on YouTube. It's really gorgeous. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Tuesday 24 April 2007

Scrapbook club

After school art/journaling/scrapbooking class has begun! Last week was the kick off. Disappointingly only 2 takers but this week we hope to have recruited more. The 2 girls that turned up were really keen on the project and had a good time looking through examples and discussing ideas. This week we hope to start them off preparing their pages and maybe formulating ideas onto paper of their desired layout.
This has given me a real creative boost and I’ve completed a number of projects. Last night I got really frustrated while I was looking for a box of photos. After an hour I had a brainwave… maybe they were at my parents! Spontaneously I dashed out of the house, scaring the poor cat as I ran off in a whirlwind. Sadly I only found some old photos I’d forgotten about but it was nice to catch up with the oldies.
My brother’s saga continues as it turns out the nurse was really very defensive when asked about the incident. A stroppy letter has been sent off so we’ll have to wait and see what happens there.
Anyway back to the scrapbooking! I found a really old scrapbook that I started literally years ago. This was before I’d found out you could get top-loading pages that allowed you to work on a sheet and then slide it into place. Instead, I worked in a traditional photo album. The kind you were only allowed to look at when you were a child if you promised that you had only just washed your hands. The work is, to put it mildly, poor. Fortunately I seemed to know that at the time so I hadn’t stuck all the photos down. Now I have the fun of creating new pages to put these photos on. It includes stuff about my birthdays (14th, 18th etc) and trips and school bits and bobs. Hopefully all these examples of work and magazines that I’ve got should spark some imagination into the kids at school and we’ll get some magnificent work.

Friday 20 April 2007

Soundtrack to my life

This might get edited over time but this what I'd have

Opening Credits: Real World - Matchbox 20

Waking Up: Local boy in the photograph - Stereophonics

First Day At School: There she goes - the La's

Falling In Love: Nightswimming - REM

Fight Song: I predict a riot - The Kaiser Chiefs

Breaking Up: With or without you - U2

Prom: Let me entertain you - Robbie Williams

Life: Bluetonic - the Bluetones

Making babies: I wanna have your babies - Natasha Bedingfield (!)

Mental Breakdown: Song 2 - Blur

Driving: Living for the weekend - Hard-fi

Flashback: I still remember - Bloc Party

Getting back together: Patience - Take That

Wedding: Wonderwall - Oasis

Birth of Child: When you dream - Barenaked Ladies

Final Battle: Evaporated - Ben Folds Five

Death Scene: Winter - Tori Amos

Funeral Song: In my life - The Beatles

End Credits: Exit Music - Radiohead

Yay it's the weekend


Hurrah it's the weekend already. Today I spent lots of time marking so my eyes hurt. Sadly I only got half way through! This week went fast & it's quite nice to know there is no need to get up at such a ridiculous hour for two mornings. You can see a photo of my fruit bag. It was more exciting to look at than the box but it's like Christmas when it arrives. So much to see.

There was something weird that happened to my bro today. He's going on a trip to Kenya in a few weeks so he went to have some jabs done. He went in with a friend for the talk and then they were jabbed. Unfortunately the nurse jabbed him with an empty needle... that had just been in his friend's arm! More scary than that is that she didn't really do anything more than briefly apologise. You can imagine in the USA how all the lawyers would be loving a case like that. Anyway, my Mum (a nurse) went mad and rang around to ensure they followed the correct procedures and he got some emergency blood test. It's highly unlikely it will be anything bad but you need to check, right? Silly nurse. I was livid when I heard her reaction. She wouldn't have bothered having him tested or even filling in the paperwork!! ARGH. Look out for an update.

Monday 16 April 2007

Summer Term started

Crazily it's already the summer term, so this morning I got up at the crack of dawn. I actually thought it was the middle of the night, as it was still a bit dark and a far cry from the 11.30am starts I've become accustomed to. Still, the weather was warm and sunny so I slipped on a cotton skirt and sandals and leapt out the door. Thank goodness the weather held. I looked far more tropical than the rest of the staff so tomorrow I've sworn myself to being far more restrained and digging out some winter style clothes.

The day was far less hellish than I'd geared myself up for so with the residual energy I concocted my gift for my friend. She's got a baby and wants to know how to make him his first birthday cake so I gathered together all the necessary equipment and ingredients for her to try it out!! Thinking I was being clever I stuffed everything into a large-ish copier paper box, which unfortunately had no lid. Simple, thought I, just wrap paper over the top: problem solved. Oh no... this took 2 people a good 15 minutes to wrap and even then it looked as though a toddler had been let loose with a reel of tape and paper with no scissors. Ah if only...

Sunday 15 April 2007

Life Path Number

Your Life Path Number is 9

Your purpose in life is to make the world better

You are very socially conscious and a total idealist.
You think there are many things wrong with the world, and you want to fix them.
You have a big idea of how to world could be, and you'll sacrifice almost anything to work towards this dream.

In love, you can easily see the beauty in someone else. And you never cling too tightly.

You are capable of great love, but it's hard for you to focus your love on one person or relationship.
You have a lot of outward focus, and you tend to blame the world for your failures.
You are often disappointed by the realities of life - it's hard for you to accept the shortcomings of the world.



Hmmmm.... I wonder if they are the same for everyone. A bit too general for my liking...

Friday 13 April 2007

Look like a junkie!


Well... sort of. This morning i went to the doc for a check up and as i've been under the weather the doc suggested taking some blood. All very well, or so you'd think. I went up to the nurse's office in a freezing attic space, shivering in my flipflops and 3/4 length jeans. The nurse seemed really nice and we had a nice chat about her daughter at uni. Meanwhile my arms were being punctured! It took 3 goes before she hit the jackpot so I am left with a few holes in my elbow crease. Very sexy! Luckily it wasn't painful.
Fortunately I went off to Basginstoke shopping with Mum and sis to take my mind off it, and we had a great time checking out the clothes in the shops for this summer. I got a lovely dress and had a nice lunch at Wagamamma's. If you've not been you have to go there. It's amazing. The menu is so hard to choose from because everything sounds delish. They also have a few cookbooks which I've slowly been working my way through. Gyoza are the food of the Gods!!!!

Tuesday 10 April 2007

If I were famous...

I can't take the credit for this because I read about it here.

These are questions you might ask me if I were famous:

What is your favorite word? puc
What is your least favorite word? android
What turns you on (creatively, spiritually or emotionally)? the spark of an idea
What turns you off? (this is also a question from Playboy interviews) Burps - both types
What is your favorite curse word? poop!
What sound or noise do you love? the squeal my cat makes at me when i come home from work
What sound or noise do you hate? Squeaking doors
What profession, other than your own, would you like to attempt? author
What profession would you not like to attempt? being a pyramid builder
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? oh yeah i remember you!!?!

Scrapbook pages



I've finally finished my 12"x12" scrapbook! I've done about 20 pages showing things like holidays, Christmas and other things that I got good photos of. I've been really pleased with the results and I am now going to start an 8"x8" book. At first the big pages were really tough but the small ones seem challenging now as it's hard to fit more than one photo per page. (Apologies for the poor photos)

Green fingers

I've taken up gardening. Something that I swore I would never do as it conjures up images of wrinkly people pottering about in green wellies wearing special gardening gloves brandishing clippers. Well now that is me! Last year I grew a few things but this year I intend to grow much better stuff. I've planted tomatoes, peppers, coriander and wild flowers all from seed. If I manage to keep watering them hopefully I'll have some nice veggies and flowers at the end of the summer. The photos you can see are my tomato plants. Aren't they pretty?!
Now I know what all these people have been harping on about for all these years. It is so exciting seeing these little plants that I GREW! If I hadn't planted them and watered them they wouldn't exist. Magic. And not a wellie boot in sight!



Beaded beauties!

Here are a few of my creations that I just recently rediscovered. I really like them as they remind me of a time that I was visiting Seattle. The class where I made them was a birthday present. Since then I have made a few others but this class was really great as it was inside a bead shop so it was easy to pick out the perfect bead for each part of the doll.
I'm going to dig out some beads tomorrow and try to make some new ones.

Monday 9 April 2007

What group am I?

I tried this quiz and it turns out... I'm a Rocker, Mosher.

Rocker, Mosher 35%
Goth 30%
Emo 30%
Trendy 10%
Skater 10%
Chav, Townie, Rude Boy, Ned, Kev 0%
Preppy 0%

Turns out I am not particularly anything though! Thought i would be more preppy or Emo-ish but it's the tight drainpipe trousers that let me down. Try this quiz for your self!

Sunday 8 April 2007

Japanorama!


I've recently discovered a new show on BBC3 about modern Japan and their culture. The show is presented by Jonathan Ross and it's a bit tongue in cheek. I never realised how different our cultures are. The funniest thing I saw on the show was Toast Girl which is a performance artist. This is a person who expresses herself through this hat. She also sometimes wears hoovers on her feet and slides about on them to show how women's roles have changed or something. A bit confusing but quite a good show. It's possible to watch clips on the BBC website.

Wedding before Easter

Last week we took a trip to Scotland to go to a friend's wedding. As money is tight we decided to drive there; it was a long trip - about 8 hours each way. We set off early on Wednesday morning and stopped off at Lancaster (after about 4 hours) at 10am for a trip down memory land. Sadly I stupidly did not take my camera so there are no photos but it was great to see so many familiar places. Marco's restaurant is still going strong (the menu does not seem to have changed even though I left 3 years ago!), and we also went to Brophy's Cafe, Half Price or Less and Single Step Co-Op. It was superb. Plus the weather was kind and it was sunny. We also took a quick drive around the uni buildings. Lancaster University has changed a great deal - the number of buildings must have almost doubled!
The first night we went to a pre-dinner meal and tried our first authentic taste of haggis. It was quite nice and reminded me a lot of black pudding. The next day we got up a bit later and went into Crieff town centre to look around. It's a quaint place with lots of pretty shops. Before we knew it, it was time to go to the church for the wedding ceremony itself. The church was not in Crieff but in a tiny hamlet about 25 minutes drive away. We were really glad that we'd driven at that point as we were comfortable in our own car. Anyway the ceremony was very sweet, especially since the bride's Dad is a vicar so he actually married the couple!

We went on to the reception which was very grand and lastly there was a traditional Scottish dancing band with caller and everything. It was so much fun and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Sadly the next day we had to leave and come back home but it was such a great trip. We met some interesting people. The groom is from Malawi and is quite a famous popstar. You can hear some of his music from his page.

I guess that's about all for now... However, I have made a lot of changes to the blog including more photos and pictures so feel free to take a look back at the past posts to see more.

My ceramics!

Here is a couple of pictures of my masterpieces! I am so pleased with them as they have come out even better than I'd expected. I'm taking orders if anyone is interested!!!!

I could paint an entire dinner service but I think it might take quite a long time. Perhaps in the future! I haven't managed to go there again but I will get there in the end.