Another original made by grandad.Such a simple idea, a huge cardboard tube covered in cotton wool with a removable head, so we could dig our hands in and pull out surprises like a lucky dip.I can still remember the excitement of seeing the snowman by the tree and wondering what was inside but waiting patiently until Christmas morning when we could open our presents.One day I will make a snowman for my children to keep year after year.A present in itself to add to the magic of Christmas, maybe for me as much as for them.
I have got files coming out of my ears. My job at the moment mainly consists of archiving
a monstrous room of never ending files.
To provide some idea of how huge this task is, it has taken us 4 and a
half weeks to reach letter H. ‘Us’ being
myself and 4 colleagues equally enjoying the task, but we are not all there at
the same time either. I am not looking
forward to M or S. It will be epic and
that’s not because they are just files it’s because they are M & S
files. See what I did there.
It’s been ages since I wrote on this blog as I’ve been
concentrating a bit more on my photography blog. But I don’t want to neglect this one as it’s
where I can write all the personal rubbish cluttering my brain. And whilst these files are currently numbing
so called brain I feel I must splurge something on here before I lose all stability.
I have just had a look back at some of my very first blogs and
it’s reminded me why this is such a good idea.
I can look back on my thoughts a year ago and see what’s changed and what
I’ve achieved. I’ve decided next year is
going to bring me some opportunities, I am going to go onwards and upwards,
that is my aim! This year has been
majorly jam packed with craziness and seems to have flown past me without
stopping. December is nearly here and I
am excited about Christmas! I hope it doesn’t whizz past too quickly. My slightly fanatical love of writing lists
has already emerged and various scraps of paper are floating around in my pockets
and around the house covered in indecipherable scribblings of things to do and
things to buy.
A classic book which I had not read before and came across
in a second hand book sale last year, I have only just got around to reading.To start off with I found a good chunk of the
beginning to be very difficult to read and follow, very political which isn’t
really my thing and I very nearly gave up with it! But I am so glad that I persevered
because it turned out to be a fantastic book.Once it got past the political aspect of the war, the characters started
to come alive.I had seen the film a
long time ago although could not remember it very well and I have also been to
Cephalonia where it is based and remember on holiday visiting some of the
places where some of the historic aspects took place.
The characters were so beautifully written, that I
empathised with them when they were sad and laughed out loud on several
occasions particularly when Corelli and Pelagia were flirting.There are also some very dark parts in the
story with some gruesome and graphic descriptions of war which made the story
feel all the more real.The massacre of
the Italian soldiers by the Germans was heartbreaking after some of the
officers had been friends and were ordered to turn against each other.I went from making myself read it, to looking
forward to getting the bus home from work so I could read some more!
There was a lot going on historically in this story based
during World War 2 and on the tiny Greek island of Cephalonia which was
occupied by both the Italians and the Germans.Pelagia is the central character, the doctors daughter and she becomes
part of a love triangle falling in love with an Italian Captain (Corelli) who
entices her with both his charm and passionate love of music, interested more
in playing his Mandolin and singing than he is in acts of war. Meanwhile Pelagia’s fiancée goes off to war
and in the process becomes a very different man, Pelagia discovers on his
return.
I would definitely recommend this book, even for those who
may struggle to start with like me; it turned out to be one of the best books I
have ever read!
August has
passed me by and no blog to be seen.I
honestly cannot understand how time seems to be going so quickly lately.Anyway blogging had fallen absently to the
back of my mind and it was a film that I watched which re-ignited
something somewhere in my brain and made me want to write something.The film is called Julie & Julia.It was strange because it must have been on
my lovefilm list even though I don’t remember putting it on there and neither Jay
or I really knew what it was about other than ‘cooking’.Regardless one day last week it just popped through
our letter box.What a fabulous film! My
explanation of the plot may not be persuasive but it really was a joy to watch.
It’s about a famous chef called Julia Childs. Alongside watching her discover
herself, learn to cook and develop her cookbook back in1950’s Paris, we see a
modern day Julie who decides to challenge herself by cooking every single
recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook in 365 days whilst blogging about the
experience.Sounds unusual I know, but I
loved it, it was just quirky with very entertaining characters and above all
when it finished I lay in bed that night thinking of all the things I’d like to
do and achieve. I loved the fact that Julie was a writer working a job she
didn’t like and that her blogging was an escapism, that she originally thought
no one was reading but soon discovered she had quite a following.Its not jump off your seat stuff, it was just
the right mixture of funny and sad, and a great story about life and its
challenges.
I’ve been
thinking a lot lately about my own challenges, one of those being the aim to
get fit and healthy, which in actual fact is coming along nicely.I haven’t lost a load of weight but I have
lost some and am starting to tone up which is what I really wanted.The main thing is I’ve started to feel
fitter.I can see how people talk about
gym and fitness becoming obsessive, not that I’ve got to that stage (or plan
to) but when I do a fitness class at the moment I feel energised and hyper like
I want to do more.It’s a good feeling
and the more classes I do the fitter I am and so each class feels like I am
achieving more and working harder.Food
wise dieting is hard, I am struggling to get into it completely but even
attempting it is reducing the crap I was eating and making me eat more healthy
which has got to be good!
The biggest
challenge I am facing at the moment is my work. I have always struggled with an
inner negative monster who reminds me that I am not doing what I really want to
do.Up until recently I don’t think I
ever really knew what it was that I wanted to do.My day job is wearing me down, I feel like it
is draining the life out of me, going home tired and lethargic and constantly
dreaming about what might be one day.I
have realised that I’ve got to start making things happen for myself, and have
started looking into how I can expand my photography, make some money and
ultimately end up doing what I love instead of wishing the days away somewhere
else.So watch this space, I am setting
myself some new goals and challenges for the near future!
Putting up the gazebo minutes before a heavy downpour
Sarah running in to tell me that there was a bee in the garden
Dans green socks
Graham pinging his cake all over the floor
The name the Orang-utan challenge, and the winner is *fanfare* ‘Bonsai’, runners up included: ‘Gorgonzola the Terrible, Petey, Malcom and Big Wally’
Introducing Rachel to all the people she used to collect dinner money from at woodside
Another delicious giant Oreo cookie cake!
Rob trying to get the giant jelly baby out of the mould, then forgetting to get him out of the fridge – it was however one of the only things I remembered to take a photo of that day…
Guided tours of the house, running up and down the stairs
No shoes!!
Donna’s amazing chocolate cupcakes
Not having a bottle opener…
Trying to persuade Sarah that there are definitely fish in the pond!!
Fletcher going deaf in one ear
Dad telling mum all about his latest divorce settlement
The mayhem of cooking the pizzas – with supervision by Lucy and charlotte, unfortunately when handing it out by the time I got to Jamie there wasn’t any left…
Me giving up with the cheese and pineapple due to crumbly cheese-rob taking over whilst tutting and giving me dirty looks
The AMAZING asda sausage rolls which were gone in a flash (50 for 99p!!)
Wendy the chatterbox chewing Kathy and Danny’s ears off
Asking if everyone is ok in the garden- then realizing I couldn’t see anyone because it was pitch black
Fairylights with the added surprise of Christmas music
Not realizing I had to switch the solar lights on…
Children’s faces when they entered the room full of Mr Potato Heads
Jenny trying to suppress giggles whenever ‘Wally’ was mentioned
Offering Lucy Ham and Pineapple pizza as the vegetarian option…
Graham giving me gardening tips at in the morning
Kathy looking through Jays clothes to see if he had ironed anything
Trying to persuade Sandra to climb the huge tree at the bottom of the garden
Reassuring Rachel that the frogs would not jump out of the pond and get her
Several people enquiring about the mysterious disappearance of the bonking pigs
Supergnome taking centre stage by the pond
The neighbours enquiring into a dvd boxset exchange
People coming and going all day, but Charlotte & Lucy stayed for the duration and Jenny came round twice
Claire’s one big bottle of beer
Feeling happy and proud to show our friends our house and what we’ve achieved
Its like 60 Minute Makeover *cough* 6 Month Makeover... Although we are living here and see it everyday I was really excited to actually see pictures of the house before and pictures now next to each other! Its easy to remember those 'during chaos' photos so here are a few piccies to remind us what it used to be like :o)
Front Room-Before
Front Room-After
The only piece of furniture we kept in the whole house was the window seat/cupboard
Dining Room-Before
Dining Room-After
With door in place of the window
Kitchen - Before
It seems weird to remember there was a door in the kitchen
Kitchen-After
In fact it's hard to believe this is even the same room...
Main Bedroom - Before
That lovely purple threadbare carpet...
Main Bedroom-After
Bathroom -Before
Mums face says it all...
Bathroom - After
Garden - Before
This is before the rubble attacked the garden but still looks a bit of a state just a little overgrown and weary
Garden - After alot of weeding, some flowers and a bit of love
The Crazy Pave patio which Rob Pressure washed away the dirt so you can actually see the colours in the stone!
Our little house! There are still things to do, there will always be things to do (Jamie has a list as long as his arm) but to me it is done now and we can & are enjoying living in it! Hoorah!
As this week of flu and feeling sorry for myself comes to an end, I have had the energy today to faff about with the internet connection and low & behold I have managed to connect.All I had to do was cellotape the dongal to a mop and point it towards the window, why didn’t I think of that earlier?So I am back in the land of the living…just.Next week I am going to start my healthy kick. I’m going to get better, start my diet and hopefully if I am well enough start a little exercise! The healthy me will emerge.I think this year has been so completely exhausting that I’ve not really had time to sit down and realize that I am falling apart.Our week off on holiday at home was lovely but perhaps relaxing for a week and doing pretty much nothing gave my body a bit of a shock after the past 7 months of chaos.Well its time for calm now, there’s no panic, there’s no deadline, there’s just plenty of time to live so that’s what I intend to do.
Hopefully we have not seen the last of the summer sun and there is still some to enjoy in the near future, I’ve seen it peeking out today.A recent surprising discovery I have had is that I enjoy gardening! (Although I must point out that I am still terrified of all creepy crawlies and if near by you will be sure to hear me screech and flap my arms about whilst in the garden) I hardly ever used to even step out into our garden at my mums house but since the rubble was cleared from the building work, I have really enjoyed getting stuck in and even planted some flowers (a first for me) Although my second discovery was that Jamie is the most unenthusiastic gardener in the world, which was revealed to me at our trip to the gardening centre a few weeks ago…but he does like looking after the pond and the fish so I’ll let him off!This morning after reluctantly crawling out of bed to face the day, I couldn’t help but smile when I looked out the window and saw that the pink roses in our garden have fully bloomed. The rain has certainly done the garden some favours, it’s looking very healthy and happy!
It feels good to write, I feel like I haven’t written anything for ages, and I haven’t read much either.Annoyingly I left my book at work before I went off sick so I’ve started reading Goodnight Mister Tom again which is my favourite childhood book and makes me want to read everything and anything because it is so beautifully written.I would love to write a book one day, perhaps I will.
