I wish it could be Christmas every day

Firstly, Merry Christmas to all those I didn't speak to these past few days!

I really enjoyed going to mum and dad's this festive period and was a bit sad to come back to Preston, although the weather has been lovely here today. I think the chickens rule the roost (if you'll pardon the pun) as they have spent much of my time there in the front garden eating all the herbs when they were supposed to be in their area. Christmas was lovely, got some lovely gifts including a cook book with some recipes in it by mum, and a chicken plate painted by her own fair hand.

We've had Christmas Day 2 today as His Lordship and I weren't together for the actual day. This is a tradition I might continue as it's meant a few days of opening presents!?! His Lordship bought me some new needles for my decks, a voucher for the hairdressers, a food processor and some new shoes. These ones in fact.... http://www.faith.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?pid=231200&language=en-GB&cid=platform_wedges_court_shoes

Thanks also to Aunty Sonia for her kind gifts, it was nice to speak to Liam and Natasha as well, it sounded like much fun was being had by all there!

Waiting for Godot

So, this morning at around 8:30am the cooker man rang to tell us he would be with us between 12pm and 3pm. This gave us some hours in town to try and buy the Christmas presents we haven't yet. We basically ran around town because we thought, nay hoped that the cooker man would be coming around the 12 mark rather than 3. Well, we got back just before 12, and waited, and waited, then waited. 1 came and went, 2 came and went, then 3 came and went. He eventually turned up around half past after sitting outside in his van for at least 20 minutes. When he eventually decided to come in, his reason for being late was that he was watching a plane circling. Not just any plane mind you, a plane that looked like it was going to crash land and was circling to get rid of it's fuel. Apparently his brother had seen it and called him to say he could see it and that it looked like only one of it's wheels was down. Cue much speculation as to whether it was going to make a crash landing. Now, I'm not overly certain this wasn't an elaborate excuse, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as he's fixed my cooker and it now reaches top temperature.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

This morning, I left my house to go to work, the floor was a bit wet but nothing out of the ordinary. I got half way to work and suddenly, SNOW EVERYWHERE! Seems the East of the county has faired rather badly where the weather is concerned with a couple of my colleagues even snowed in. I hope we've got it out of the way before Christmas otherwise it's going to be a fun cross country trip.

We put our Christmas decorationss up yesterday as well, it's all looking very festive now. AND the best news is that Morrisons are now stocking my FAVOURITE fudge yule log which they only make in December. We've bought one and tried a little piece today, just for testing purposes you understand.

Back safe and sound

I've been in Sheffield again this weekend for the second hen night. We went for a meal to an Italian restaurant which served MASSIVE portions, the ended up in one pub. Our Muneer put me up and it was lovely to see both him and Pauline. I also popped in to see Our Lisa, and cannot believe how grown up her boys are! I've added them all on facebook so we'll all be able to see what's going on with each other by the magic of the Internet. I also popped in to see Aunty Sonia and Michael and managed to stupidly leave my mobile there! I'm not good at remembering it, I often leave it at home and only miss it when I'm supposed to ring His Lordship from work.

In other news, I think Cousin Dearest has misunderstood the new President Elect and I fail to see how helping the poorer off in society can be a bad thing! Has capitalism eaten his soul???! It doesn't matter whether he ran on that policy or not, he's going to be in the top job for four years and will most certainly do things he didn't announce when running. He's also a democrat so I don't know why there is surprise that he might raise taxes!!!!

Mary Sue, Aunty Sonia passed on a recipe from you so I'll test it out and get back to you on how I get on.

Barack Obama

Despite what my miserable cousin may think, I believe Obama winning this election to be one of the most monumental moments in the World's history. Listening to his victory speech brought a tear to my eye as I thought that only forty years ago (in my own parent's lifetimes) black people were denied the right to vote and were denied the right to live equally. It demonstrates how far the World has come, and especially how far America has come. I think it's a beautiful thing that when it came to it, it was the person and not the colour of someones skin that won out in the end. As for what he will achieve, he's already a change from the Bush administration and from the Republican ideal, and that in itself is enough for now. Give the guy a chance to prove himself on everything else, and if he doesn't, well, we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it.

I'll leave you with this....

"The Americans will always do the right thing, once they have exhausted all other possibilities" - Sir Winston Churchill

Hen night and other assorted news...

So, this weekend was the official hen night to London. We kicked it all off with a visit to the West End to see Chicago. This is one of the bride to be's favourites and we surprised her with a matinee performance in the afternoon. I didn't much like it, but it's not for me to! We then went for a curry to a restaurant recommended by one of my friends who is half Indian. It's the only Indian restaurant her dad will go to and I must say it was delicious. No beef and plenty of vegetarian dishes. it was also fairly reasonably priced for London too! On the second day we went to afternoon tea at Browns Hotel. This was very nice for a treat but wickedly expensive for what it was. We did have the champagne tea though as it was a special occasion! Later that day we went a little more down market and went on a disco boat along the Thames. It was hilariously bad, and that made it good. There was another hen party on the boat and they were all in fancy dress. One of them was there as Amy Winehouse, and she lent me her wig so I could pose for a photo....how do you like it?



Hen night part two is this weekend and Muneer has kindly agreed to have me stay as there was no room at the Inn at the bride's house. It's also the final dress fitting, so we'll see how well that goes!!!

I appear to have come late to this censorship issue and am unsure what it relates to, but I will say this, people should be allowed to write what they want in their own blogs. I also think that maybe sometimes it's hard to convey meaning in text. I doubt very much that anyone would be intentionally trying to cause anyone pain either!

And finally, BARACK OBAMA TO WIN!!!

Why voting is so important....(again!)

I know I promised I wouldn't go here again, but today I read this...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/27/1027jones.html

It's a story about a lady who is 109 years old - her father was born into slavery, she and her immediate family have known what it's like to be denied the vote and equality. She was middle-aged when Rosa Parks got on that bus and she cast her vote in the elections this week.

To make a seperate point, but an equally valid one.....

The people who voted for Ralph Nader when Bush was running for his second term were probably the ones responsible for landing us with him for another four years.

Mystery solved

I think it's safe to say that it is R Fuad in the picture. Everyone thinks so, including his own brothers and the person it's supposed to be.

Attention now turns to my friend's wedding. We're going on the first of two hen night next weekend. This one is for close friends and we're off to London, I'm now trying to find something to wear but it's a bit of a struggle given I'm a weird in-between size and nothing fits. The second is going to be in Sheffield, so am not sure what we'll be doing, we also have a dress fitting that day so I hope I fit into the frock!

Fuad or not Fuad, that is the question

It seems I've managed to spark the usual healthy family debate with regards to the picture. I am of the opinion it is Fuad, but I am willing to be proved wrong. I assumed it was taken around the time of the "white kenyan" phase. Maybe he can tell us if he was still in England when Leeds won the league, this could probably shed some light on it.

Guess who?

I was going through some old photograph albums and came across this, see if you can spot anyone familiar!

or what about these lovely ladies?

"Radiance"

So, today in my never ending quest to find a foundation that covers up my facial disfigurement I have bought a new brand (clinique) which I am told is one of the best and is also used by my best friend who was burned on her face as a child. It cost about £2 more than the one I normally get so I don't think it's going to break the bank, but I am yet to try it properly so we shall see. The reason I'm telling you all this is because we went to boots and I asked the advice of one of the women who work on the Clinique counter. She tried a few on my face to test the colour match and then applied the right one. I looked in the mirror and thought "well, it looks like foundation", turned to His Lordship to ask his opinion to which he replied, "it makes you look radiant". Well.....

The finished article

This is the photo of the finished article as promised...



I love the paper even if no one else does, and I'm still really proud of all the work we put in. I'm hoping we can start the next set of rooms, but I'm guessing His Lordship won't be up for it!

It was my birthday yesterday and we had a bit of a party last night which I'm now paying for in spades, I guess this is what getting old does to you!

It's finished!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! I feel an enormous sense of achievement. Last night, at midnight, after hours of arguing and swearing we completed the room. It's now beautifully papered and painted. It's also clean and waiting to have everything put back into it. I think we've done a great job with the papering despite neither of us having done it before and the fact that we picked one with a very busy pattern. There is one part of it that isn't quite right, but you won't be able to see that because it's where the bed will live. The only bit I'm not entirely happy with is the paint finish. It seems I've rather ruined it with my painting over the crackle. It's worked in one sense in that I've covered the crackle, but it's left an impression of being painted over which is obvious.

Anyway, things I have learned about DIY....

1. There is no easy way around a job.
2. Painting is harder than it looks.
3. Papering is easier than everyone says.
4. People who put wallpaper on top of wallpaper shouldn't be allowed to own houses.
5. Get someone else in to do the work.

Snap, crackle, pop

Today has been mainly spent trying to cover up the cracking that seems to have infected the paintwork like a virus, it's all over and has appeared without much reason. A quick "google" reveals we aren't alone in this problem but unfortunately no one gives much in the way of ideas to rid ourselves of it. I've gone over it with MORE paint and a brush but I fear this is just going to result in patches that look weird when it's completely dry, it's already looking like that's exactly what I've tried to do. We've also had the gloss out on the skirting boards so now the house absolutely stinks!

All being well we do the papering tomorrow. I think that we're both a bit nervous about this as we really could end up messing the whole thing up terribly and neither of us really knows what we're doing, so it's gping to be a case of the blind leading the blind. Wish us luck!

Watching paint dry

It took longer than we thought for the plaster to dry so that's put us back a few days with the decorating. When the plaster finally did dry we then had to apply a coat of wallpaper paste to the plaster to seal it. This took us a solid three hours after work because we also had to clean all the plaster off EVERYTHING. It seems Joseph got plaster all over the skirting boards as well as the back of the door!.

Anyway, for those who haven't seen the problem they were covering up...



I have some of the finished wall, but they are on the Macbook so I'll post them when I get them off there.

We're now on our second coat of paint (buttermilk!) but we're getting problems with how the paint is drying, it's cracking in places but we don't know why.

Anyway, this is how it's starting to shape up...



The far wall is going to be papered, which we think will be done tomorrow, fingers crossed!

No more hole

It's gone, Joseph and his partner came yesterday and fixed the hole in the wall. It looks very nice although they couldn't take the radiator off as it (as usual) is as cheap as they come, but they've plastered as far as they could. I did get an electric shock off the light switch yesterday though, His Lordship said "Are you sure it wasn't a rough bit of plaster" in a patronising fashion. Then much to my amusement, he got a similar shock around half an hour later.

Now on to the decorating, we've decided to paint straight onto the wall, and I've decided on pink, there will be no democratic process! When I say pink though, it's more of a pinky brown and very pale, we're also toying with the idea of wallpaper, pink flowers (which sounds vile and isn't), His Lordship objected to it in the shop but once we'd held the sample to the wall he actually agreed would look lovely. Or at least as lovely as our decorating skills can muster. Did you know that it is now the fashion to paper patterns on just one wall and then paint a colour on the other three?! When gathering samples His Lordship took rather too much paper from one of the rolls, so much so that it looked like an entire roll, even he was embarrassed and put some of it back!

I listened to a brilliant programme on radio 4 about Anchovies, it was fascinating to learn how popular they've been for centuries. I love them, but I'm not entirely sure as I hate most other types of fish.

For those in America (he know's who he is) not thinking of voting for someone to be the next President for whatever foolhardy reason....think on this....If you don't vote for Obama, you run the risk of that vile woman Palin being elected and I don't think you should let that be on your conscience!!

The white room

The saga of the room continues, we've decided to have it re-plastered as it's not in good shape in parts of the room. Joseph is coming next weekend to do it so we should have it all decorated and finished for my 30th. I've moved on to the next stage mentally and am now thinking about colour schemes and things. I want some sort of pink for no other reason than I saw it in a magazine and thought it looked nice, I'm going to force His Lordship to come to B and Q with me to get some samples. Once that's done we'll take a break from decorating I think because His Lordship isn't keen on the work!

Dirty stop out

The cat is currently dozing on the sofa, I'm putting this down to the fact that she was out clubbing all night. She finally rolled home at 7am when His Lordship got up to go to work and went downstairs, shook her biscuits and saw her appear from the within the outside toilet. She seems to be getting a taste for the nightlife of the street and has made a friend. By friend I mean another cat that stood and hissed at her whist Poppy just looked a bit confused about the whole business. This is maybe a good sign that she'll take to another one. We are toying with the idea of a little white and ginger kitten who needs a home but I'm not sure I can take all the tearing through the house they do when they are that little.

I'm having a lieu day today and went to the pet shop for some cat litter with Disco Dave (I needed a big strong man to carry the bag, and he's certainly big! It's a good job he doesn't read this eh!?). We spent some time looking at the rabbits and hamsters, I always wanted a rabbit and wasn't allowed one, I'm now thinking of suggesting we get one now.....


STOP THE PRESSES - IT'S NOT RAINING HOORAH!

To me....to you

Sorry for the long absence, I've been working solidly for what feels like months and am currently waiting desperately for Tuesday to hurry up and be here so I can have a day off!

We've started the task of striping the wallpaper (woodchip) in the spare room and it's uncovered some interesting things. The first is that for some reason there is only woodchip on two of the four walls, the walls have about six layers of wallpaper of varying patterns and have at some point been painted blue, thirdly the wall the window sits in had been very nicely plastered at some point, oh and fourth and most terrible is that the wall that connects to our nextdoor neighbour has a hole about an inch big which looks to have been letting water in somehow as the wall has been or still is damp, it doesn't feel wet, but certainly looks like it has been at some point. I'm in the middle of charging the camera so I can put a picture here to show you. So, this is probably going to need work isn't it?! Brilliant. We've decided we'll not bother taking the paper down in our room or the hallway, just paint over what's up as a result. But, I'm glad we've found this problem now so that if it is recent we can stop the rot so to speak.

It's His Lordship's™ parents birthdays this weekend, they'll be 60, so we're all going for a meal on Friday to celebrate. This year is the first year we won't be going to Creamfields, which is a bit disappointing, but I think we're going to need that money to get a builder in! Think it might be time to call in a favour from one of my mates who is in the trade.

Anyway, better get on with taking the rest of the paper down, we've borrowed a steamer from our painter and decorator friend which he needs back next week so we've got about another day with it. This works out well because it means we aren't on Andrew Time™. He is managing to faff over some things though.....

Hancock

We went to the cinema tonight with D and P to see Hancock. His Lordship said he thought it was good, especially as we didn't pay to get in. D won four tickets to see any film so we chose that as P and I haven't seen the batman before the one that's just been released. I thought it was a nice waste of a few hours but I felt that without Will Smith it wouldn't have worked half so well.

How cute is this?!

Nigella, eat your heart out

Well, today I am the domestic goddess. I have become so sick of cooking the same old same old every day so today I decided on something different. I made a mushroom stroganoff from scratch from a James Martin recipe minus one or two ingredients that we didn't have. Actually it was rather delicious. I did it with roast potatoes and peas. I think it might have been nicer with some meat in it though.

I've also baked some fairy cakes, which are currently in the oven. All this AND i've done a full days work all before lunchtime. Basically, Nigella should look to me for inspiration!?

Insurance nightmare

So, once again being a media type has given me untold benefits, oh, wait, no it hasn't. Yep, that's right, it's insurance renewal time and the quotes have been silly. Still, I've managed to get a combined figure of around five hundred of your english pounds for both car and home which is a lot better than some companies were charging. All this talk of recession etc must not apply to Insurance companies...

Credit Crunch

I came across an internet tool which tells me how much I'll save on my weekly food shopping, so I used it and discovered I could save £44,000 a year by switching my grocery shopping to Aldi. His Lordship and I agreed to give it a go and decided to do some shopping there. It turns out that food shopping at Aldi isn't that straight forward, for a start you can't buy everything and they have a limited variety of goods. I've so far tried two shops and neither have had honey! Or vinegar. Or sour cream (His Lordship isn't going to be happy that I promised to make mushroom stroganoff and won't be able to). Or meat substitutes. We did however manage to get plums (I've tasted sweeter lemons), grapes and peppers for 69p each as per the advertising. It strikes me that in order to beat any supermarket pricing structure you have to go to all of them, and only buy certain things in places. This feels a bit wrong because it probably costs the difference in petrol! I think we'll stick to ASDA.

Poppy's fur still isn't growing back and she still has an unsightly patch where the operation was done but she seems to have gotten over it all very well, she was soon back to her running and jumping self, we're going to let her out in a few days so we'll need everyone to cross their fingers that she comes back! I think she will, she came back after three days so she clearly knows where she live. Oh, and the cat biscuits we bought her from good old Aldi smell like vomit, so she won't be getting those again either!

In house news, I decided to strip some of the paper off the spare room wall, and it looks like it's paper on top of paper on top of painted blue walls. I'm going to sort it all out this week as I've been waiting for the summer rain to stop and it looks like we might have a break this weekend. I'm slightly concerned that we might need to plaster, looks like I'm going to have to learn how to do that if we do as it was my choice to decorate in there!

Today, I have made shortbread, as you can see the diet is going swimmingly!

I'm terrible at this...

I keep forgetting to update this place, mainly because I forget but also because I haven't got a great deal to say.

The one thing of note is that Poppy will no longer be able to breed. I'm in two minds about how I feel. She was so listless and groggy when I picked her up from the vet I felt immediately guilty that we had chosen to put her through the operation. Afterall, it's not like it's been her choice to not have babies, and they had to shave her side, so she has a rather undignified patch where they cut into her, and the nurse said it could take some time for that to grow back. It has revealed to us how thin she is too, the fur seems to bulk her out. I'm also a bit sad that she won't have kittens because part of me would have liked to have introduced a new cat to her, and it would have been so much easier had it been one of her own.

BUT, the fact of the matter is this, it is cruel to bring more cats into the world (even if they are loved) when there are so many in animal shelters that need homes and will probably never get one. She didn't need to have babies, and she'll be able to go out and see things other than these four walls. She had just better come back, that's all I can say!!??!

I see the chicken farm is expanding at a rate of knots. Before long they'll have a small holding and be giving Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall a run for his money!

Montana looks like a very picturesque place, not sure what I think to ziplock omelettes though -does the plastic not melt?

Spring has sprung

Well, so far our "growing season" has been terrible. High winds blew the greenhouse over just when my seedlings had started to grow all lovely and healthy and killed them all. D kindly filled it back up with a variety of plants from his giant greenhouse and even gave us some lettuce from P's farm and those plants all died because we went away for the weekend and they didn't get watered. So, I attempted to grow some more lettuce, spring onions and herbs and so far we've got some spring onions and two tiny tiny little seedlings of lettuce appearing. Everything else has FAILED. Oh, and outside, we bought a raspberry tree from Wilkos and that's done NOTHING, I planted some carrots and they are looking healthy and we got a strawberry plant and potted it in a hanging basket. Now this is probably going to be our biggest success as there looks to be a lot of fruit getting ready to ripen, one has started to turn red and His Lordship keeps saying he's got his eye on it. Oh how I will laugh when a bird or a slug eats it just before he gets round to harvesting it!

Today I got up at 7am (this is a lie in for me!) and decided it was time to thoroughly clean the house. I started this at 8:30am and finally finished at 12pm. I'm exhausted, and it wasn't even that dirty! I've bought a brush designed to help comb some of Poppy's winter coat away because she's really moulting at the moment. We didn't have this problem with her last year because this time last year she was still a baby, in fact I think she's probably about a year old now because we got her when she was about 7 weeks.

Look how tiny she was!

Mud bath

We got back from the festival yesterday a little weary and very muddy! We took a coach there which started it's journey in Inverness, it took us about 6 hours to get there but there were people on it who'd been on it since the previous night! It was a bit long but I think the excitement carried us through it. When we arrived it was a bit windy but sunny, we then put the tent up - cue lots of swearing and arguing. Firstly, we put the ground sheet down, then His Lordship and Paddy started to put it up not quite around it, I did point out this probably wasn't right, but Paddy said "it'll be right", well, it wasn't quite, so we had to do a bit of jiggling to get it all into shape. His Lordship then broke the hammer in two by smashing it into the ground after a small strop involving plastic tent pegs. Paddy put a peg in too tight, then tried to take it out using a piece of elastic connected to the tent - I think you can guess what happened next!

After successfully putting it up, we met the neighbours then went and met two other friends who were camping in the normal part. We then had a few pimms in the sun and it was all very jolly.

As the Sunday line-up contained more DJs we wanted to see, we had a fairly early night on the Saturday, we watched Goldie who was AWESOME! (For those unable to use Google or are my Dad, he once had a part in Eastenders as a gangster). We retired to the tent, and as we'd taken such a huge one we all had our own room. We settled down for the night, then the wind and rain started. I felt really cold so had to put on an extra jumper with a hood on whilst in my sleeping bag. I was still freezing so I went into His Lordship's room and tried to snuggle up next to him for warmth!

When we woke up the next day it was chucking it down. His Lordship went out and bought us a poncho which was next to useless, so we ended up buying a full set of wet weather gear and wellies for 40 quid. They were the best 40 quid I've ever spent, it meant I had completely dry clothes for the rest of the festival. There were a couple of down sides to the whole thing though, the first night a man died in one of the big tents during the night, the police think it wasn't drug related, I suspect it might have been hypothermia as it was so very cold, and the next day they were handing out space blankets for free. And less important, but still disappointing, The Chemical Brothers didn't play and we'd been looking forward to seeing them.

I'm now suffering with a stinking cold though and it's back to work tomorrow!

Pudding!

If you've ever been to IKEA you'll know what I'm on about now, if not then I suggest a trip to Morrisons forthwith! We've discovered the BEST pudding EVER! It's this... http://www.almondy.com/uk/2.2.2.html And by god is it good, you don't need much and Cousin Dearest will be pleased to know that it's gluten free, SO NO WHITE FLOUR.

I forgot to say that the windows are now in, and it's a lot warmer upstairs, just in time for summer.

Also, five more sleeps till we go!

All apologies

I've been fantastically busy so had no time to update this place.

Last night I went to Sheffield for a reunion of old friends I've not seen for about 13 years. One of whom now lives in Melborne in Australia and sounds all ozzy, he's also promised to get me on Neighbours as an extra if I go and visit him! Also caught up with my landlord from Leeds who now has three children and is going through a divorce, it's a shame really because he is a lovely man - his wife was such a cow too.

I promised I would say what I thought of the book my cousin sent so here goes....

Firstly I found it difficult to read and that's not because I have trouble in that department, but rather that it was a bit like wading through treacle. I also thought it wasn't so relevant to the British diet as the American one. It strikes me that people in the states eat around 10 times the amount of processed food that we do, you certainly don't see the amount of restaurants and fast food joints here that you do there. And i'm certain that people generally aren't stupid. Take me for example, I know that crisps, biscuits and chocolate aren't the best foods to be eating and I also know that I should eat five portions of fruit and veg a day, as well as meat and dairy. In fact, I would say we eat fairly well in this house, I make most things from scratch and buy in things like pasta, bread (i've tried to make my own, but His Lordship complains about the mess), rice and noodles. I am of the opinion that there are a lot of people out there who try and profit from people's obsessions about food by writing books telling people what they already know, and I struggled to see how a journalist suddenly becomes an authority on any subject without devoting their lives to the study of it, it which case they probably haven't got time to write books! As for organic food, well, if someone wants to give me the money to buy it, I'll gladly accept!! All that aside, I'd like to thank my cousin for the book, it's always nice to get a gift, and I do so love books.

In other news, this time next week we'll be putting up our tent at a music festival down south, we've borrowed a six man tent and it's massive. The three of us are either going to be the most popular people on the site, or the most unpopular depending on how much space there is!

It's been a long time

since I updated this, so I figured I better write something.

I got a book from cousin dearest and am currently ploughing my way through it, full book review will be available once I've finished it.

We're counting down the days till the windows are done and I can paint the spare room and make it look nice! Our Joseph rang me the other day about the kitchen floor, it was lovely to hear from him and hopefully he'll be able to come and fix them.

I'm currently dieting so I can fit in a bridesmaid dress, we tried some on on Saturday and both the bride to be and His Lordship thought that out of the three dresses we whittled it down to I looked best in the one I thought was hideous. Still, it's not my wedding so I don't really get a say. Last week I lost 2lbs, which I know isn't much, but my trousers are fitting better so I must be losing inches too. The trouble is, I'm eating salad for lunches and I HATE lettuce.

Anyway, I have nothing else to report.

Cooking

I've not had much to report hence the lack of blogging.

We've ordered new windows, the surveyor came round today to measure and confirm what we want, they'll come and fit them in 3 weeks. This is going to cost us £975 which is not bad really considering my mate says the windows cost £800 before labour. He's had his van and tools nicked from outside his house - losing a cool £3,000. Let's just say he is far from happy. He knows it won't be anyone in the local area where he lives and has been told by the police that it was probably an organised gang from the North West anyway.

So, I have been cooking today, after buying an electric whisk from tesco for £3.45 I figued it needed an outing, and we've had carbonara so there were leftover egg whites. This was the result...

This is my life

So, we're looking for new windows and what a faff and a big confusing mess that is. So far we've had two quotes both in the region of a thousand pounds for three windows. We're going to get another couple next week and a very good friend of mine (who is a builder/DJ - what a combination!) is looking into how much he can get them for us. However, His Lordship is umming and ahhing about said friend being involved because he wants a guarantee and all the stuff that comes from a "company", he's clearly not as bothered about the cost as I am! Anyway, we shall see what comes from it. Said friend has also offered to come and fix anything that needs doing around the house, for free as a moving in present but we've not taken him up on it as yet as he lives quite a way away. However, we're off up to see him in a fortnight so I can quiz him further then over what is needed.

I think the kitchen floor needs completely re-tiling, and having spoken to a mate of ours who is a painter and decorator, he reckons if we want to do the living room (decorate) we'll need to take the paper down that's up because it's a right mess. Basically, I'm beginning to think the people who lived here didn't care about their surroundings much as everything is slapdash and a bit rubbish. They also appear to have neglected to change their address as we are getting more post for them on a daily basis than we get ourselves! They even had a parcel delivered here today, which I sent back with the Fed Ex people saying they didn't live here. He was trying to get me to take it in but I told him no so he had to take it back to the depot.

I've been busy with work all week, and have another two days of earlies before the weekend. Dave and her bloke are coming over on Saturday and then we're all (about 8 of us including Disco) off to Manchustah for the Hacienda night featuring Shaun Ryder.

In other news, we are putting in for an allotment with one of our friends and his boyfriend. The boyfriend is a lettuce farmer so we'll let him do all the digging!

Bon appetite

So, after a week of "Garden Blur" by His Lordship which consisted of Monday - shepherds pie made in a home economics style, Tuesday - fajhitas of which my meat fell on the floor, Wednesday - curry from a jar, Thursday - chilli con quornie, and vegetables, mash and steak and kidney puddings (hollands made) yesterday I decided to take back the cooking reigns for fear of never eating well again. So today, we've had lasagne, with bread and salad. I'm far too full though. I was going to make apple crumble, but I spent the day cleaning and then playing on my decks and the time got away from me.

We're off to Manchustah tonight to see some friends. There was talk of going to a fun fair that's set up near their house but I don't go on anything for fear of them breaking, and a deep seated hatred of the Waltzer, thanks to a certain cousin who shall remain nameless (he knows who he is)once paying one of the blokes who run them to spin me, Samia and Dean around for the whole ride.

I'll leave you with a little song that's my current favourite thing in the charts...

We are not amused

Today I went out on a proper waste of time story that resulted in me standing in the sleet for an hour, getting soaked to the bone. On returning to work the ever humourous AC says "ooh is it raining out?". So, I went over and gave him a great big hug and made sure to wipe my wet hair on him.

His Lordship is taking on the cooking role this week because I am doing lates and tonight we have partaken of Quorn shepherds pie, broccoli and peas. Lord only knows what we'll get tomorrow.

I made some more butternut squash soup for lunch tomorrow butit's not turned out right, too much liquid, not enough taste, I wish I could remember how I made it the last time.

Easy like Sunday morning

Well, today certainly has been relaxing, and I've enjoyed it! I don't normally get to see much of the weekend as it disappears in a whirl of parties and clubbing so this one was quite refreshing.

His Lordship went out and bought a puzzle mat so he could finally do a jigsaw he got as a gift last year, I helped him find the straight edges and then as he started to put it together I did a spot of baking. Not to be outdone by all this photography, I've taken a picture of my fairy cakes. I think the term is rustic....



We've also planted a strawberry plant and a raspberry plant in the vain hope that the slugs will leave them alone and let us have at least some fruit! Our yard looks a lot bigger now we've sorted it, but we still need to pressure wash the whole thing before summer.

I've decided that when the weather gets a bit warmer that Poppy will go on her holidays and we will paint the lounge. The feature wall is starting to get on my nerves and one of our friends has offered to help us do it for nothing, so I'm going to take him up on it. I'm going to go for a light browney pink on some of the walls and magnolia on the others.

For dinner tonight, we had polenta and buns.

Middle aged?

So, today we had another crack at the outside toilet and associated yard. His Lordship took some of the wood to the tip whilst I swept the yard and toilet out in preparation for it's jetwash. The toilet absolutely STINKS so I used an entire bottle of bleach in there. His Lordship then hosed it down and accidentally got some of the stink and dirty water on him after pointing the hose into the bowl, oh how I laughed, he wasn't so amused. It was almost as funny as the time I was jetwashing the car and it got out of control in my hands and soaked him through but not quite.

It's looking a lot better now, I've even managed to plant some carrots in a tub, I'm going to grow a raspberry plant too and am considering onions if I can find a large enough container. Seeds are all sown for my herb garden and are currently on the bathroom window, this year as well as basil I will be attempting corriander, mint, parsley and chives. I will NOT be growing peppers after the events of last year and may only have tomatoes if my wonderful Pa gives me a plant again....*nudge nudge wink wink*. Not quite The Goodlife yet though, we're thinking of putting our names down for an allotment, but the waiting lists are high so I won't hold my breath.

Carbonara recipe

I suspect Pa will say this isn't authentic, but it is delicious.

Ingredients

1 pot of half fat creme fraiche
2 egg yolks per person
2 slices of bacon per person
1 onion
grated parmesan
salt and pepper
you can use garlic if you wish, but I think there's enough with the onion

Method

Chop onion into small dice and soften in olive oil, add chopped bacon and fry together.

Whilst this is happening, boil your pasta, the meat and onion will cook in this time, don't let it burn!

Crack your egg yolks into a bowl with the creme fraiche and a handful of parmesan, season.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pan, add the bacon and onion, then stir in the creme fraiche mixture.

You can return this pan to the heat to make sure the eggs are cooked (the hot pasta will cook the mixture but it's a piece of mind thing!), do not let the eggs get scrambled.

Serve with more parmesan if liked!

********

So, in other news, I had a terrible night's sleep thanks to Miss Poppy Paws and her midnight meowing, I was on edge with it because she was almost howling. There's nothing at all wrong with her, I think she just gets lonely when there's no one up to play with. What she needs is to go out I think but we've still not had her "done" (yes, yes, I know!) Plus I felt a bit shivery thanks to this cold that's appeared. I'm putting that down to the bad weather we had over the last few days.

I made butternut squash soup a few days ago and it was delicious, thing is, I can't remember exactly what I put in it, so making it again is going to be an experiment! The Cousin in Question should be interested in this because butternut squash is low GI or some such rubbish and apparently is good for weight loss.

Mr Marwood 2003-2007

A year ago today we lost our beautiful, beautiful boy. He was the best cat ever, he used to sleep next to me every night, sit on my knee as we watched TV, and was the most loving creature (if not a bit feisty at times!). I cannot believe it's been a year and I still miss him terribly. However, I promised myself I wouldn't feel sad today, and would remember all the good times and the joy he brought us.

So here's to Mr Marwood Paws, taken from us far too soon. *raises glass*

Mangiamo

Is the name of the restaurant I went to this evening with my work colleagues. Now, I'm always a bit wary of Italian restaurants and this was no exception, especially since it's run by GREEKS! I sat next to my friend who's husband is Italian and runs a deli where the chef gets his ingredients from, so at least we know they are authentic!

I had, pate to start because it was all a bit garlic mushroomy for starters and I didn't fancy that. Then followed it with carbonara. I have become my dad because I thought to myself "I can make this better". If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know because it is AWESOME.

Had a text from Our Sean today and tried to rope him into coming and doing all my DIY, don't think I was very successful though! He seems well. I on the other hand feel a bit sore throaty, I think I've got a sore throat on the way as it's been quiet scratchy all day today. Before the Cousin in Question starts with all his poison business, I suspect what's happened is my throat's been under a lot of stress with all the reading I did last week, plus all the shouting in a loud club on saturday. I might take it easy on the vocal front tomorrow.

Ouch

I've just hurt my head. I was getting a mug out of the overhead cupboard, it slipped out of my hand and as I bent down another one fell out and hit me on the head before falling to the floor and smashing. His Lordship said with a sad face "that mug came with me to University", not, "ooh are you alright darling?" HARUMPH.


I'm going to take this time to answer some points raised as a result of my last blog entry.

1. Robert Smith is the lead singer of The Cure - if you haven't heard of them you are probably one of the following...

a) my dad
b) over fifty
c) under the age of 25
d) unable to "google" something

2. Trains. His Lordship and I know all about train sounds, we lived next to one for long enough. Some of the earthquake rumblings were similar to when the big trains used to go by late at night.

EARTHQUAKE!

So, during a very important conversation with Robert Smith from The Cure I was rudely awaken by the bed moving and the noise of the wardrobe swishing about at about 1:00am. His Lordship was also woken up and I sprung out of bed saying "what's going on??", I looked out of the window to see other bedroom lights being switched on and turned to him and said "I bet it's an earthquake". He dismisses this, saying "It'll be a train". We're not close to a railway line so I knew it wasn't that.

So, fastforward to 8am, we get up and look at some news sites on the internet and it turns out to be the biggest earthquake since 1984 and it's right where Ma and Pa live. I rang them, they are ok, but they too felt the bed moving. HOW EXCITING!? I rang work to see if we're covering it, and it turns out police have had over 200 calls in our area alone!

5.2 it measured and may not sound like much but pretty much all the country has felt it!

Organic

I've just watched quiet an interesting BBC programme about Supermarket claims and in particular I watched with a keen eye the part that featured organic foods.

I've provided a link for those who wish to watch the relevant part...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/supermarket/vote/

Basically, it said that pesticides were not the risk organic producers claim, and that very little actually make it into the food. But, watch and make up your own minds.

In other news, I am eating Peppermint patties and His Lordship managed to drop TWO in the sink, WHAT A WASTE! He's eating Hersey's Kisses, but they taste like vomit so I don't partake. Could someone clear up for me why this is? I'd have thought the American palate would be quick to notice something like that.

Tell me why I don't like Mondays

So, it's back to the grindstone again, got a fairly hard week ahead as we're a two man newsroom. Am really not looking forward to Friday, I can tell you!

For dinner this evening I have had Gnocci and it was DELICIOUS (blah blah, processed crap, blah blah).

Anyway, i've not got a lot to report, so have a cat that thinks it's a dog to make up for it...

Food glorious food

As my cousin seems so interested in what I eat and is under the impression that ALL I eat is processed crap, i'm going to run down all the things I've eaten today...

Breakfast

1 bowl of branflakes with a splash of milk
1 small glass of juice

Midmorning

1 cox apple (small)

Lunch

1 bowl of spicy carrot soup, which I made myself and contained no added preservatives or indeed anything on the processed list.
1 fromage frais (strawberry)

Afternoon snack

1 cox apple (small)

Dinner

Braised lamb shank, with braised carrots, broccoli and mashed potato (all homemade) from a recipe by John Burton Race
1 creme egg ( I know he will appove of this)

So, basically, I think you'll all agree that I have had my five portions of fruit and veg today, I may even have some grapes later for a treat. It's also fairly balanced.

As for my migraine, a lad I work with has also had one this week, in fact he was sick at work. So we're blaming the low pressure and or the air conditioning.

In other news, the Brits is on tonight so I will be doing my best to avoid it, especially as it's a good TV night, we've got Masterchef with good old John and Greg stuffing their faces with as much food as will fit on a spoon. Grand Designs, so I can see how the other half lives and what a multi million pound house looks like! And good old Gordon Ramsey swearing at the Americans. GREAT!

Too good to be true

This afternoon was a waste of a day for me, thanks to getting a migraine after two days of rubbish sleep. I went to Morrisons to get a few bits for when Ma and Pa come. I've had a headache since Sunday and just thought it was a continuation of that, until I got down the pasta isle and started to feel sick. I carried on shopping but at an increased speed, paid and got home. Because I hadn't got flashing lights I thought that maybe it was just a real bad headache and didn't want to take the immigran if it wasn't necessary. I took two paracetamol which did absolutely nothing. Around half three I just had to go and lie down. I woke up at half five and it was gone apart from that dull ache you get. But what a waste! I had planned to do all sorts today in preparation for my friend's bday party in Manchester on Saturday.

I'll be glad to get to work tomorrow, I'm going stir crazy.

Well, hello!

It's been a while hasn't it?! I've not had much to say for myself to be honest so I figured rather than bore people rigid I would say nothing at all.

The cat and I are having a battle of wills, it is becoming apparent that she does not like wet food. Well, she likes the gravy, just not the meat. I've been trying to get her to eat the meat, but she just leaves it so I thought I'd put her bisuits on top of it in the vain hope she would just eat them as one. How wrong I was, she's just eaten all of them and left the meat. It's a case of who will give up first, I fear it will be me.

I've been watching a TV show called Meet The Natives about a tribe who live on an Island in the Pacific Ocean. It's a documentary series about their experiences coming to England. It's fascinating stuff. Not least because this particular tribe think that Prince Philip is the son of their God in human form. I've also been watching Larkrise to Candleford, which is such a lovely bit of Sunday evening fluff.

In other news, I have a wrinkle on my forehead, I guess I'm just getting old!

I'm rich!

Ok, i'm not, but I did win a whopping £7.10. What to spend it on?!

I suppose it shows that you do sometimes win on the lottery, but I'm not sure it's a game I want to play every week.

95 Million

That's the Euromillions jackpot tonight. So, for a pipe dream we've bought two tickets and I'm looking forward to not winning. However, were I to win, the first purchase? Well, a Bugatti Veyron. I figure that's got to be the best supercar bargin as every one sold means the car company loses about 3 million pounds. It is a beautiful looking machine though. I might also go straight away on holiday, to somewhere warm because it's very cold here at the moment.

Tomorrow we're going to tackle the yard with gusto. It's going to be hosed down and the outside toilet bleached to within an inch of it's life. You may remember it's full of dog dirt, well, last weekend when our friends were here, one of the ones from London asked to use the toilet. Someone was in there, so I said "we don't have inside toilets here, only outside". I then forgot about my flippant remark. About ten minutes later I said, "I think the toilet's free". He looked at me, then said, "I went to the one outside". Turns out, he actually did think we had outside toilets in the North!!!!

Super Tuesday

I'm eagerly awaiting the results of the polling taking place in the US today, not least because it could mean that the first woman or black person is one step closer to becoming Commander in Chief, but also because of my love of the West Wing. Of course, I'm basing all of my understanding of what is going on from that source, so I do hope it's accurate! It's also not like the election system here which, quite frankly is, well, dull. Having spent many an election night at various counts, there just isn't the build up, nor the tension or the high profile celebrities.

Today is also pancake day, and that in some respects makes it super! I've prepared the batter and we're waiting till our dinner's have settled before we embark on a million pancakes. I'm an advocate of the sugar and lemon variety, I believe this is the one true topping for this occasion and I will not be swayed. All others seem a little cloying and lack the sharpness the lemon brings. It is of course jif lemon too! I doubt though that I will be giving up anything for lent (maybe blogging?) due to not being religious, or able to give anything up! For the food nazis out there, I don't care that plain flour is bad for you - pancakes are delicious!

Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to....erm.....Blackpool

Yes, that's right, we've been to Blackpool for the day today.

Because we missed His Lordship's actual birthday I promised him we would do anything he wanted today, he chose Blackpool so off we went. We spent some 2ps in the "penny falls", played on some arcade games, ate fish and chips and went for an incredibly bracing walk along the sea front. We were looking for that ferry that recently went aground, but I think it must have been moved by now because it wasn't there.

In other news, we've bought one of those bins you see on picket lines in order to burn the "dog poo wood" and other undesirable items from the shed. Oh, and a step ladder, it's all go y'know.

Welcome guests

It's been a busy weekend for us, we spent saturday day tidying up in preparation for a party that night. A couple of our friends from Brighton and London were up for the weekend, as well as one from Solihul and the usual suspects from round here. It's a rather late 30th birthday celebration for His Lordship and meant that we didn't get to bed till very late (or early depending on your timings.) It was really nice to see them all, we don't get together nearly enough as we probably should, although we've semi-arranged to meet in April in Brighton so we'll see how that works out nearer the time.

I am trying to pursuade His Lordship (not that it will take much) to go to Manchester for a big night out on the Easter Bank Holiday, the line up is fantastic for the Warehouse Projects, 808 State, Peter Hook from New Order doing a DJ set, A Guy Called Gerald, Mike Pickering, Graeme Park and Shaun Ryder (he should be good for a laugh if nothing else!).

Anyway, nothing else to report.

Nocturnal Visitors

Well, two days ago His Lordship discovered a slug trail in the living room, great. So, I instantly went on the internet to see what can be done about this. Firstly, it's apparently very common, secondly, you aren't supposed to put slug pellets down as it encourages them to come in and thirdly, there's not much you can do apart from bleach the area or put salt down. So, naturally we used bleach and thoroughly cleaned the floor, we also shampooed the rug. Then we left it a day and last night came back to a very small trail, so the problem hadn't been solved.

To this morning, I turn the light on in the living room on my way out to work in the wee small hours and there is Monsieur Slug next to the TV bold as brass, so quick as a flash I grabbed the cooking salt, poured it over it and then covered it with a glass. I left His Lordship to clean it up when he got up!?! Let's hope that it was one on it's own!

In other news, it's going to snow tomorrow, it's been sleeting and hailing all morning and as usual the Great British Driver can't cope, so I had a busy morning reporting on the various road accidents. I shall look forward to my early morning drive tomorrow.

This is why cats are ace....

Work

Well, today went off well, was on my own this afternoon so it was a bit hectic but I think I coped alright. Cough is all but gone and the boss said he thought I'd lost weight. My diet of processed foods must be working eh?! Am doing earlies on Thursday and Friday so that should be fun.

Nothing else to report so I'll say goodnight.

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work we go

Well, I'm back in work tomorrow and there's some confusion surrounding my sicknote from the doctor. He's signed me off until the 16th of Feb but I really am able to go to work now. Apparently I have to go back to the doctor and ask him to sign me back in, so yet more faff!

Not done much today, had a bit of a lazy one in preparation for a ten six shift tomorrow.

Every dog has it's day

His Lordship decided to tackle the outside toilet today. Perhaps this requires some explaination because it had been used as a dog shed by the previous owners of this house - filthy devils that they've turned out to be. These dogs never came in the house thankfully and weren't particularly big things but they have managed to make the back yard stink and the outside toilet an adventure we had to have.

We have found out why the smell hasn't been going away, it seems that they fashioned some sort of bed for these dogs out of a sofa cushion and some hay, these have obviously become soaked with urine and poo. His Lordship has spent the afternoon removing lumps of dog mess and dismantling the woodwork that had been installed - needless to say, there's been some whinging, and he went out wearing latex gloves (thanks to Aunty Sonia for those) and a scarf tied around his face for the smell.

There's still some work to do on it, we need to power wash it, bleach it and then paint it with masonary paint, then it'll be semi-usable for garden things as I plan on having some raised beds to grow veg and herbs.

And for anyone who is wondering how Poppy is coping with being back...

That Friday feeling

Heard from the folks today, seems I managed to worry them by trying not to worry them, so I'm sorry ma and pa! Much better today, still got the odd cough but I think I'm going to be well enough to go back to work on Monday (and not before time!). It also seems they've had a sermon from the mormons today, I'm sure we'll hear more from them in due course.

His Lordship is looking at which mac to buy with his birthday money, he was going to go for the mac mini but I think he's now decided upon a laptop (or macbook as they are called). I fear it's going to be a long drawn out process.

We're having another quiet weekend which I'm hoping will see him put the shelves up that should have been in place three weeks ago, he won't let me do them which means we are now on Andrew Time so they could be done whenever.

We might be going to see the new Sweeney Todd film this weekend, not too sure about it, but Tim Burton's films are always interesting.

A week on

Well, today the cough seems to be subsiding, this is a massive step forward and I'm starting to feel somewhat human again. I had a little walk to the shop for some bread (white sliced - filling my body full of crap, blah blah blah - because that's all there was and we're low on groceries). The shop is about a two minute walk away and it took it out of me a bit if I'm honest, so spent a few hours on the sofa this afternoon playing Super Mario Galaxy on the wii. What a beautiful game?! It's absolutely lovely, I'd read reviews but I never really believe them, but honestly it's lovely.

Anyway, back to the shop, they are very nice in there (as are most of the shop owners along the row) and she said "ooh nice coat" and I thought "yes it is". This is significant because it's a few years old now and cost a lot of money (it's Per Una). I was in two minds about buying it but it clearly looks good on so I obviously made the right decision! It's also been freezing today, trust me to go out for the first time in a few days and get crap weather! I like living in this area, it feels like a community which I think we were missing in the flat. We haven't really spoken to the neighbours (apart from when the Popster went missing) and there's no one in nextdoor, they're decorating before they move in. They had a matress delievered from John Lewis so they must be in the money!! I'm turning into my dad aren't I?!

Billy's meatloaf eating made both mine and His Lordship's evening, we had a good old giggle about it.

Still ill,

I've been signed of work now and am to undergo an asthma test. In other words, they have no clue why this cough won't go away. Today is the first day i've not felt like death so maybe this weekend could be the turning point. It wouldn't be so bad if I could actually do anything productive around the house, but really I have little energy for anything other than sleeping, and eating.

The good news is that my blood test came back normal, so apart from this cough i'm in good health. They tested for allergies and I don't seem to have any, so who knows. Still, two different doctors have made two different diagnosis, so it's one word against another. I'm also missing work - I can never be unemployed, this doing nothing is driving me mad!

Poppy has returned from her holiday to His Lordship's parents and is currently pulling the sofa, it's good to see some habits die hard, oh wait, now she's in the litter tray, lovely.

I think ma and pa will be putting Billy in their case to bring home at this rate, i've never known such behaviour from two supposed animal haters.

His Lordship "made" dinner last night. We had fajitas but I had to chop my own chicken because he won't touch meat. He's also supposed to be cooking tonight, this will be hilarious because he can't cook and he'll need me to tell him what to cook and I can't be bothered. I suspect he will then go out and get chips from our new local chippy. They are very nice in there and it's cheap.

Y's chosen her flowers for her big day in November, seems we're having a bronze and gold theme, I better get myself a san tropez!

Day Three

I'm off work for the third day running and I must admit I feel absolutely dreadful. Had quite a bad night last night, coughed so much that I've hurt my throat and my chest, I think this is what's making me feel ill rather than the rash, but I don't have any cold or flu symptoms.

I'm also feeling awful because we were meant to go out for His Lordship's 30th with his mum and dad tonight and there's no way I can now. He says he doesn't want to go without me and that we'll all have a takeaway here, but to be honest I just want to be in bed. I'm hoping to feel better by tomorrow for his big party, but if I don't I've said I'll go and sleep at Darren's (he's agreed to this)and let them just get on with it.

Had the blood test yesterday and she took five vials and said "ooh isn't he testing you for a lot of things?!" I'm taking this as a good thing.

Guess who's back?!

So, she turned up last night bounding up the stairs meowing loudly. When she saw us you could tell she was pleased to see us as she ran straight under the futon! Then for the rest of the evening she followed us around, kept jumping on the bed and generally being the pest we missed so much.

It's lovely to have her home, and it looks like we might be able to get her neutered afterall next week.

Now for the weekend, we're having a party here on saturday night as His Lordship™ is 30 on Monday, the Popster is going to stay with his mum and dad so we don't have a repeat of this weekend!

Poppy is missing

On Friday night a guest at our house left the kitchen window wide open. Poppy escaped through it and we've not seen her since. We've done everything we can to try and find her, including walking up and down the alleys, putting posters up and knocking on people's doors.

I'm devastated, I just feel like there's nothing we can do, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack, and she's so little and scared of things. I'm basically trying to tell myself she's coming back and that cats do this kind of thing all the time. The weather is so awful though and I keep thinking of her out there in the wind and rain. I cannot even entertain the idea that she might be dead because losing Marwood was so bad, and I'm not sure I can go through that again.
*************

NEWS JUST IN, SHE'S JUST RETURNED, MEOWING UP THE STAIRS! I've never felt more relieved and cross at the same time!

Chicken

Now, ever since I could buy my own meat and eggs I've opted to go for the free range option. I realise this is probably because I'm soft when it comes to animals, but I can't help but feel that if we are to eat them then they should have a good life.

I have been watching with particular interest the latest TV programme from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and his attempt to get people to eat free range hens, and I watched with horror at the conditions they are kept in when intensively farmed. For an animal to never see daylight, and to eat for 23 hours a day just seems massively wrong to me. The thing I also didn't know was how these birds are culled if they don't make the grade, or aren't as big as they should be within their 39 days of life; and that 45 million birds are killed this way before ever reaching the dinner table - with 97% of them being intensively farmed.

All of this has made me more determined to carry on with my buying practises, I'd rather spend that pound more than contribute to that.

No place like home

We've unpacked more of the junk we own and the place is starting to feel a bit more like ours.

I desperately want to decorate but we need new windows first and need to find the money for them. I'm going to do the little bedroom after that and I'm going to do it how I like because my computer is in here. His Lordship's stuff is all in the main bedroom so it's kinda like my little haven. As such, it's going to be colours that I like and it's going to match. I'm sick of having things that don't match and I'm sick of having everything in brown or neutral. I've not decided on colour yet, but there will be some, and may even be pink.

Nothing to say really

The title is correct, we're doing some pottering around the house today. We've found the digital camera so I'm going to take some snaps of the abode once it's charged, you will then all be able to see the decorating done by Wonder and Blunkett Decorators Ltd.

Because I am devoid of interingness, I'm going to provide you with some humourous videoes instead.

This one made me laugh a lot (I'm a terrible person) Also, I would watch with the sound off because Oasis are terrible.



This one also made me laugh (and makes me an even more terrible person) just look at their reaction!



And this final one is me just calling to say I love you....

Fish, on a Friday?

For dinner today, I have had what can only be described as a "Pensioners Meal". It consisted of boil in the bag pollock in parsley sauce (I'm sure I remember liking it from school dinners), mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. I don't know why I've eaten this, I don't like it much, it didn't taste of anything and I'm left feeling deeply unsatisfied on this Friday evening when all I wanted was something delicious. I am of course making up for this with the last of the Christmas chocolates - although strangely this year someone's eaten all the toffee pennies!?!

We've also been food shopping after surving on Christmas rations, and had a big debate in the supermarket on the origins of "greens". His Lordship wanted to know what exactly they were, and would not be satisfied with the term "greens." I suspect they are from the cabbage family and said as much hoping that would be the end of it. Still, we'll be eating them tomorrow so he'll get the chance to make up his own mind.

Freezing

It's cold today, and I got home to no heating because his Lordship™ has set the timer to hours after we get home. It's ok for him though because he doesn't really feel the cold, but now my feet and hands are aching.

There's soooo much to do around the house, we've still got boxes that need unpacking, I need to put all the Christmas decorations away, and all the cleaning needs doing. Plus I need to make the spare bed. I want to get all the pictures up and everything. His Lordship™ is going away in April so I might decorate it then. This way I can have as many pastel colours as I like because it will be done!

We went up to North Yorkshire for New Year's Eve, it was the usual drunken behaviour except this time I refused to go to the park in the wee small hours. It's a bit of a tradition now, but it ALWAYS rains, people go on the slide then complain of wet backsides for the rest of the night, and I often think the people who live near there must think we are crackers, bunch of people in their late twenties and early thirties going on the rope swing etc! Besides, usually, we go, then realise what a bad idea it is and come back after five minutes. I'm glad I stood firm because they all looked frozen when they got back. It was actually a bit sad because it's the last "do" we'll be having in the Party Flat (so named because there are NO neighbours and we can have the music as high as we like) because R and E are moving to a proper house now they are all grown up and engaged!

Been reading a website about eating raw food, some of it is certainly off the wall, and the woman in question lost me when she said she wanted to become the "DR" Gillian Mckeith of the raw food world. I'm hoping this doesn't mean she wants to poke at people's poo.

As for the word verification, it's staying on because my last blog was spammed to death and it makes it harder for them if it's switched on. And I urge you all to switch yours on.

Poppy is shouting at me, I don't know why as I've been playing with her for the past hour :(