Eye-eye

Today is the day I have dreaded….

I’ve never been one to follow fashions, I’ve never been one to bend to the stereo-type of ‘the perfect woman’. How could I? I can’t apply eye-liner without causing considerable damage to my pupils and the hair straighteners have had my ears more than once.  So why, I ask, am I going to put my self through the pain of having my eye-brows waxed???

Well, I really don’t know but for some reason I started to notice ladies eyebrows.  (Worrying, I know…) They were all really neat, arced, not in the least bit unruly like mine.

So, I made the appointment.

By this time tomorrow my brows will be waxed and plucked to perfection.  (Please do not attemtp the phrase ‘Waxed & Plucked’ whilst drunk or sleepy)

BEFORE? dare eye?

Whoaaaaaa! Scarey eye brow!

I’m ready!

One Week to go….

Holiday shopping is hard work. Like I have said before, I find it easy to shop for others but when it comes to choosing for myself my brain over thinks the price tag and I put back more than I put through the check-out!

My daughter is all ready though, she _will not_ wear dresses and skirts, never has done and so it was easy choosing seasonal calf-length and knee length trousers as well as some nice tops and t-shirts.  We are pretty much the same size (in body, not quite height) so we can share tops which is fun! (for me.)

We both needed bikinis, and so we wandered into a store and scanned the area for the swimwear section.  My husband pointed to an area and said to try over there…

“Where?” I ask…

“Over there… they have all of those scratch & sniff ones…..” he says.

With tears rolling down our faces with laughter, it was soon realised that he did indeed mean, mix & match.

Scratch & Sniff bikini’s do not sound so appealing…..

With only a week to go before we fly I’ve been a little over suscribed on my ‘things to do’ list.  I’ve made sure dad is ok, we’ll shop again on Saturday but I also need to arrange a little tea-time get together for the family on Saturday to celebrate my daughters 13th birthday.

My husband and I bought her a beautiful gold cross and chain which is what she asked for.  I know she will love it.

Whilst I am away I have no intention of blogging… it is my intention to not look at a pc at all whilst I am away…which will help me decide whether or not I want to blog at all… Hopefully the break will help me decide.  I really don’t know if it’s my lack of time at the moment but I seem to have a lack of interest too.  I’m so far behind on my visiting and I am not priortising as I used to.

Time will tell…. I left a comment the other day somewhere, just a bit of fun, I thought, and the response was terse to say the least… I spent all Sunday morning worrying that I had upset someone… Someone miles away from me had the ability to make me feel bad about myself and I did wonder how my comment could have come across as anything but ‘jokey’. 

Like I said, I have time now to reflect and decide what to do….

One last thing beofre I finish here…

The Bucket List… well worth watching.  I loved it.

Stuff

So this is the task:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Page 123.

The border is only 40 miles east of Chisinau.  We have to negotiate three separate roadblocks at each of which Transdniestrian police and army check our papers beneath gantries proudly adorned with the emblem of the hammer and sickle, which, in the rest of Eastern Europe, you now only see in museums or flea markets.

Once across the border all seems to conform to the Lonely Planet’sdescription of Transdniester as ‘one of the last surviving communist bastions’.

And what is the title of this book.. New Europe by Michael Palin

I was tagged by the super-lovely Chrisb and I tag-:

Philip, Laurab, IrishPisky, Hayden & Stopbouncing. :o)

I realise how lucky I am to have one hedgehog but how lucky would I have to be to have two? Very lucky?  Well then I am very lucky.  The funny thing is, they fight like ‘erm, hedgehog and hedgehog. :o) The smaller of the two is constantly running towards the other in a dramatic, confrontational way.  The bigger of the two takes it in his stride but neither of these hogs are built for battle.

Today I had to take my car half way to Manchester.  Why half way? well it’s only fair,  I was meeting a colleague and he was going to take my car back to be repaired after the MacDonalds fiasco a few weeks ago.  I was excited to see what I was going to get in the interim to keep me mobile.  I was not prepared for what I saw before me.

This squished up little motor car is a Peugeot 107.  It’s an automatic.  I know, that between now and when I return this little hairdryer masquerading as a car that I am going to stomp on the brakes whilst looking for the clutch and whack my head of the windscreen.  It’s a knocking bet!

This car couldn’t pull the skin off a custard.  I found myself doing that apologetic wave to my fellow drivers as I had no option but to pull out and overtake a tortoise or two…

On the plus side? No, I’m sorry, in my opinion there is no plus side.  This car is not for speed freaks (who adhere to speed limits) like myself.  I need something that can go from 0-62mph in a little less than 14.2 seconds, which, I don’t agree with.  I think it’s more like 3 minutes!

This little beauty is going into my memory box.  The evening, the atmosphere, the music, the company, the food, the songs, the lyrics, the dancing and the clapping is to be remembered for a long time to come!

Life here at Daffy Towers is all go at the moment, it’s two weeks today before we go on holiday.  My son has been job-hunting (part time to fit in with his full time further education) which involves mam driving him to prospective work places and waiting outside whilst he sells himself to whoever will listen.  I hope it’s fruitful.  My daughter is planning her 13th birthday celebrations.  As she will be in Croatia on her birthday she plans to celebrate on Saturday 18th.  Her and three friends are going to Quaser Laser at the Metro Centre. 

I have a feeling my son will be planning a party or two for himself whilst we are away but it’s not for his birthday!

Right, hedgehog watching time. :o)

*EDIT

Glo has a magnificent creative mind, and so it was only a matter of time before she came up with a picture for my rather mixed up themed blog entry.

I think Puegothogs is perfect!

This little car is now full!! ;o)

Elton John and More…

Review coming soon.

 

There are specific reasons as to why a singer has managed to carry on his trade successfully through four decades.  Sir Elton John is a born performer of the very highest standard, in my opinion.  

This stands out to be one of the best concerts I have ever attended and I’ve seen some really good ones. (Dire Straits, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Rod Stewart..) and I’ve seen some stinkers… (Van Morrison…) Just one stinker then!

I’ll also want to talk about Wimbledon…I hate tennis and yet I couldn’t pull myself away from the match!  Why though,  was the camera constantly panning over to a very enthusiastic looking Gavin Rossdale and a very bored Gwen Stefani… were they playing too? 

Meet Harry…

He is the hedgehog who lives, yes lives in my garden, just behind the shed. :o)

He’s not too shy, he likes to play statues though when you get too close.

He seems to like nuts more than anything but is partial to crispy bacon and toast crusts.

He’s not a lazy hedgehog as he was out looking for food at 6.30 pm

Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!

What do you think of that then?

More of This & That

First of all I must take a moment to thank you all for the kind words you left on  ”Birthday Memorial” which I must say, where really lovely to read. 

I bought some flowers for the living room for her birthday.

George Update

Last week I took my dad to the hospital for a chest x-ray, we should get the results in a few days.  It was as a result of his six monthly medical he has at his local surgery. 

His blood Pressure was sky high and the scales groaned as he discovered he is way too heavy!

“Do you get stressed Dad?” I ask.

Good grief no, what the ‘ell I have got to stress out about?

“Well are you worried about something perhaps?”

No, nowt worries me… just you..

So, we’ve established that there is no stress… His weight is a problem and I think it stems from his stopping smoking, of course the Guinness isn’t exactly Weight Watcher endorsed and we are talking about a man who believes that an entire apple pie counts towards one of his recommended five a day!

I’m usually the first to provide him with his stodge on a Saturday but this Saturday was different….

The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian

I took my daughter and my mum in law to see this film at the cinema last night and it was absolutely brilliant.  For three hours the cinema fell silent, no running up and down the aisles for sweets and toilet visits.  Everyone was riveted.  We arrived in our seats armed with a bucket (one each!) of popcorn, which is standard for the cinema, and a bottle of water and we never moved until the end credits rolled.

I don’t know how good I am on giving recommendations but I say go and see it! Don’t wait until the dvd comes out… don’t be tempted by the dodgy pirate copies.  Go to the cinema and enjoy a really good film in a really good atmosphere.   (I still think Grease is one of the best films ever made…. my credentials for reccomendations may be a little off.)

Hedgehog Visit

About two years ago, our garden was visited on a regular basis by Harry the hedgehog. (Or was it Henry?) Anyway, he came, he ate he left… Sadly I think it was due to a rather overgrown hedge being removed that the hedgehogs stopped visiting altogether.  Last night however, about 8.15pm I was talking to my husband and out the corner of my eye I saw him… munching on the nuts and seeds that where out for the birds. (Not hung in the trees you understand! That would mean Super Hedgehog was back!)

I quickly rustled up a tin of ham, chopped finely and delivered to the hedgehog swiftly and quietly by my husband… Maybe tonight we will get a return visit.

Update of hedgehog second visit… nothing yet… still hopeful…

For CurlyWurlyGurly

THis picture is from here

 

Job Hunting For My Boy.

Me - You have to find a job! I can’t keep giving you money left, right and centre.  Do you see that tree down the bottom of the garden? It’s a cherry tree not a money tree!!

My Boy - I will, I’m trying, I’ve rang loads of people but It’s not easy getting exactly what I want…

Me - Tell me what your specific requirements are regarding employment and I will have a look for you…

My Boy - I don’t want to work for minimum wage… they take advantage of 17 year olds… I need something close to home so I don’t have to get you to take me and bring me back… They will have to work around my season ticket.. I can’t work on match day..

No doubt prospective employers will be queuing up to employ my boy!

Elton John in Concert Saturday 5th July.

…and I have tickets!  I have loved Elton John since I was a teenager.  That was me, hopping and bopping doing the crocodile rock…  well I’ll be hopping and bopping on Saturday night. (as opposed to fighting… get it?) I’m going with my favourite cousin in the whole wide world. (She got the tickets!)

All that leaves is a quick countdown.

4 weeks today and it’s Kylie in Concert…

4 weeks tomorrow I will be on my way to Croatia!

 

Birthday Memorial

 

What “Mother” Means 

 

“Mother” is such a simple word,
But to me there’s meaning seldom heard.
For everything I am today,
My mother’s love showed me the way. 

 

I’ll love my mother all my days,
For enriching my life in so many ways.
She set me straight and then set me free,
And that’s what the word “mother” means to me. 

 

By Karl Fuchs

 

Happy Birthday to my Mam on Sunday 29th June.She would have been 68 years old.Words are not enough to express how much I miss her, how much I love her and how much of an influence she has been on my life and her grandchildrens lives.

Remembered and Loved forever. 

29th June 1940 - 08th October 2003.

Early one morning….

Are you all singing now? I think the next line is, Just as the day was dawning… :o)

Well it was daylight, it was around about 6.15am and I was sat on the two seater sofa, in the conservatory with my feet curled under my bottom and my fingers clasped around my first mug of coffee of the day.  The starlings have been spoiling my gentle morning wake up lately… All I want to do is to sit and allow my senses to be set alight by the gentle chirps and calls, the sights of the baby birds hanging on to fatty balls and to be mesmerised by the energentic bunnies. (Batch number four is out, four babies, so sweet you would not believe and so fast!)

I decided that the problem was the half coconut shells filled with birdseed set in fat, that was the glue that kept the troublesome gang of stinky starlings in that little apple tree on a morning.  Having replaced them with the netted smaller fatty balls the starlings found somewhere else to hold their morning gang meetings.

 Gone are the starling magnets.

replaced with these.  

Gentle tweets returned as was my gentle wake up ritual.

Back to this morning, curled up, coffee in hand, eyes slowly widening at the view.  There on the slender trunk of an apple tree not more than three feet away from me was a bird.  This was a wonderful bird, a beautiful bird, one I had never seen before but instinctively I knew what he was. 

I placed my coffee mug down on the coaster and searched the shelf under the glass table for one of our many bird books.  Not that one, I put it back.  Not that one, I had pulled same book out again, Yes! that one.  I went to the back of the book and searched for the ‘w’s’ …

Woodpecker! Page 67… off I went and there he was!

This picture is from here.

I think you will agree that to have the privilege of sitting and watching this absolutely beautiful bird is amazing.  With my bird book in hand, my feet firmly planted on the floor I sat as still as I could.   All I needed was an anorak and a pair of binoculars and I would have been a ready made twitcher!

The two Jays and their babies that followed were little to get excited about in comparison.  The baby bunnies continued to bolt form their burrow to the cherry tree.  Well, I’ve seen it all before haven’t I? But a Woodpecker! Wow!

Made my day.  There are one or two pretty good images here and some information about them but I must admit, the image above is very close to what I saw this morning.

Discovering a new me…

After 38 years and 10 months on this earth I am discovering new things about myself.

The first is my love of Fun ’ Criminals, an alternative rap/rock band from New York with their eclectic musical style. (I might have pinched that bit from Wikpedia)  Formed in 1993 I wonder how I missed them… Of course I may have been knee deep in nappies and engrossed in Pingu at that time.

Sadly the kids are not impressed so I have to go a little way further to impress them with my musical tastes.  Apparently Phil Collins, The Eagles and LeAnn Rimes are not cool.  Of course depends on how you define ‘cool’. 

 Hugh Morgan is a fox! (middle)

My second discovery is not so unique.  I have, in the past, I admit, had a liking for the occasional reality television show.  Thankfully I grew out of most of them but I have a hankering for the occasional episode of X Factor or American Idol. However, I have recently discovered this.  It’s a cooking show! Cooking shows can’t be any fun for someone who can’t (read - won’t) cook… Wrong!

This programme is genius.  Four strangers hold a dinner party each evening at their homes and they are then marked out of 10 on the entire evening.  I love the creativity, I love having a sneaky peak into other folks homes and I do like to see if there are any obvious attractions/dislikes rumbling around.  The thing is that is not the only thing… I love the narrator who up until today was just an incredibly witty man who had me crying with laughter as he sarcastically picked his way through each dinner party.

I salute you Dave Lamb and as from today, he is no longer faceless!

 look! Funny and Handsome… :o)

Discovery number three is that I should not be allowed anywhere near a computer with a screwdriver.  Some of you know that the reason I have been blog silent (ish) of late is due to technical difficulties in the computer department at Chez Daffy.  Well you will be pleased to know that after one entire week of tinkering I have discovered that my modem is NG (techie speak for ‘no good’)  I have to take a little credit for being able to reinstall Windows from scratch and for naming my computer ‘Dave’ but sadly it seems my tinkering has brought me nothing but doom and gloom so I may be blog silent (ish ) for a while longer.

I wonder if a few of my new discoveries are coupled to a possible midlife crisis?

Discovery number four is my love of Spaghetti Bolognese but only if I make it myself… I know, I know, you are wondering why I said I didn’t cook, well ordinarily I don’t but there is the odd occasion I have to and when I do I tend to do Spaghetti Bolognese, apparently, according to my husband, monkeys can make it… Who Knew?

Obviously the kids hate it now.. so does my husband and next doors cat. 

I got the hint when they started asking me what they could have to eat other than spaghetti….

Ungrateful.

 

Superstitious? Updated.

So far so good.  I hope I’m not tempting fate! :o)

I don’t think I am superstitious but it’s just my luck to fall fowl of the curse of Friday the 13th, regardless of my beliefs.  I’m not going to make a fuss… I’m sure it will be ok.

*puts lucky pants on*

 

*avoids walking under ladder*

*crosses fingers*

*smiles at black cat as it crosses path*

It’s been a good week all told I think.  I’ve achieved all my targets at work and had a good Friday clear up.  I don’t like leaving piles of paperwork for a Monday morning, it’s always better to start a fresh week with an empty desk.

I’ve ordered my new car today, I had fun doing that.  The web site is amazing and you can customise your own car. This is the car.  What do you think?  If I’ve got the link in properly you should be able to play on it.  You can choose your car, spray paint it any colour you want! The colour is Silver Leaf.  I was going to have an Audi but it never happened.  having said that I love this one.  I’ll get it September 1st. *makes mental note that this car is probably too big for me to negotiate around a multi-storey car park*

This Sunday is Fathers Day in the UK (everywhere?) To enable us to cater for two super dads we are splitting into two teams.  Team A, My daughter and I are taking my Dad for a slap up Sunday Lunch.  The B Team are taking my dad in law to see an all day Masters Football tournament at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.

* This website is great for printable pictures, poems etc for kids to do a homemade present which I think any dad would love.  My son wanted to do a one but at 17 I thought it was time he put some thought into a gift and put his hand in his my pocket.

The third super dad, my husband, is in for a surprise. What is it? I don’t know, it’s a surprise.  The one person you don’t tell about surprises is me. I blab! Yup! I’m a blabber, can’t stop myself. :o)

In the next week or so I am hoping to get some photographs of some baby wood pigeons but as you can appreciate, I don’t want to go over like a bull in a china shop and frighten the life out of the poor things.  They nested in the tree right outside of my front window.  My husband has been watching them closely as he could see the mother on the nest from the window. (I can’t, I keep saying, “Yes, I can see her, I can see her!” My husband says, “Can you?” and I sob, “No I  #*#$$*’ can’t!” I’m not sure if it’s my eyes or my lack of concentration.  It reminds me of that episode of Friends when Rachel couldn’t see the baby on the Ultrasound picture. :o)

Anyway, we _think_ the babies are there now as mum and dad have been seen out together and my daughter is sure she can hear the babies tweeting from her bedroom.

Fingers crossed I manage something spectacular!

 

Fathers Day

I didn’t just want to take dad straight home after our meal out so I had a little google this morning to try and find something for us to do afterwards.  Durham Regatta was on, but I wasn’t sure if dad would really enjoy that.  I kept on googling and I found the perfect solution!  Ushaw College is not too far from us and I found out it was their Bicentenary Celebrations and to help celebrate they were having a Medieval Festival and Flower show.

We spent over two hours wandering around the exhibits and then we took ourselves around the vast and beautifully colourful grounds.

Here are just a few of the sights….

Yes! Yellow flowers! So many different variations of the ‘Yellow Flower’ :o)

     

And finally….the cream of the crop! My two shining stars.