ooooow

Blessed knee is playing up again.  Think I may have overdone my exercises yesterday.  But there was no avoiding the supermarket,   all out of the basic stuff.  It was civilised today,  busy but not too busy.  Was going to treat the car to a wash but yet again the jet wash was out of action, and there was a huge queue for the other car wash. 

Had depressing meeting on Monday,  that left me feeling really down.  Luckily it was my second drumming class,  and this time I wasn't the only newbie. I felt much more relaxed this time, and sort of knew what I was doing.  Managed to keep up, just!  My intention is just to enjoy myself and I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is making music.  I did music at school, even managed to learn how to read it, though I've now forgotten it all.   Came home feeling very chilled, the djembe drum is called the healing drum, and I can see why.  I'm now determined to get my own drum, tho think drum practice may take place on the beach!   So now got a watch on ebay.....  not seen anything in my price range yet. 

I transformed the pic of Stella into a scrap page,  along with her and her faithful owner.  Got a nutty idea for the eclectic button pattern,  was searching for some buttons, those I liked I set in a row and then just liked it.  So it got stuck down.  I do like that about crafting,  the little accidents that suddenly make a card or a scrap book page.  I've given up trying to plan them,  just have a rough idea of what I want and then see what happens.   Didn't manage any crafting today,  but that's okay as there were some men building a fence, so there was a lot of noise. 

Well all for now,  thanks for stopping by

Is it really Friday?

Made mistake of staying up to see the craft day launch and the TSV.   Of course the TSV just had to be the new Slice... drool.  Then to my delight I discovered that I could convert my Slice machine into handless by getting the collar and magnetic cutting glass!  Brilliant news,  so I can also add the embossing tools to it as well.   One happy bunny!  But staying awake made me bleary eyed this morning,  it was 9.30 a.m. before I scrambled out of bed.   Then of course there was the temptation to just sit and watch more craft shows!   But managed to drag myself off to supermarket,   and of course it was full of the slow coaches, the mums with kids who had toy prams with them (not a good mix in a busy supermarket),  and the daydreamers, ya know the type, the one who abandons the trolley in the aisle, anywhere and then wanders off.  One woman had done this by the magazines,  but she'd also left her handbag in the trolley, what a daft thing to do.  So it was a bit of a battle but remembered to get new cooking sheet,  far cheaper to buy them than the fancy crafting sheets.

Not seen much to tempt me on craft day,  did like the black peel offs, but know I'd not use them.  Once upon a time I would have just bought them...   I'm a bit more selective these days.    The prices also seem a bit steep, a few more easy pays would help, think if the TSV had been on four easy pays they would have sold more of it.   And no sign of Rosemary Merry,  guess she could be ill,  wish they'd give her more slots!

Now they're talking CD roms...  yawn.   They never include cost of the ink, special card...   guess it is cost effective if you are making cards to sell. 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, thanks for stopping by

Going bongos

I forgot to tell you about my drumming workshop on Monday.   The evening started with me nearly jumping out of my skin, the workshop was being held in an old converted barn, in the village, it has no lighting and is a bit spooky...  so you can imagine that when I got out of my car and heard a voice I got one hell of a shock!   As it turned out it was my friend, who was lurking in the shadows.   Then fifteen minutes later I am bashing away at a djembe, (see pic),   after a quick lesson in some basics I join in with the group in playing some African music.    I had a brilliant time,  such a stress buster.    Think I just about kept the rhythm,  well aside from a few mistakes, but then everyone was doing the same so that made me feel less self conscious.   The other good news was that the chapping running the workshop is also going to have a monthly udu workshop.  The Udu is a much gentler sound,  but the djembe is good for making lots of noise. 

Also did some more de-cluttering,  bedroom was a mess, stash everywhere,  magazines laying around.  So it all got blitzed.  Not hanging on to magazines that just gather dust anymore.   Really do need to sort out my stash, it is in such a mess, not sure where everything is or what I've got.    And it is craft day on QVC,  just hoping there will be some scrapbooking stuff. 

Had yucky weather here,  boy was it foggy this morning, all morning!   Took ages to lift,  sun made a brief appearance but by the afternoon the fog was returning.  Car is now very dirty :-(     May take her to a car wash,  plenty of them round here.

Will this month ever end?

Why is it that January seems to go on forever?  A friend said it was cos it followed the 'festering' season!   A good way to describe how Christmas has become in this country,  like a festering sore hanging over everyone,  as we are all told to 'you will enjoy yourselves."  Maybe we would if the Xmas stuff wasn't in the shops for so long,  let's limit it to December.   My sister is just over from Spain, she spent Xmas there, and while they celebrate the day, no Xmas stuff appears till December - as it should be.    If that happened just maybe we'd enjoy it all the more, and realise that the present giving is about token gifts, not about buy the most expensive present or running up huge debts.    This gloomy month is half over,  just two more weeks of it left.   I can see that the mornings are slowly getting brighter, and the evenings a bit longer.   I love the bright, crisp and cold days,  but hate the grey gloomy days.  
My new car is already in need of a wash!   We had all that rainy and drizzly stuff for the last week or so,  and she is all covered in splashes and dirt.     Was also very unamused when my mother, as she does, flung open the door and bashed it right into a bench...  luckily no damage was done.  

I have had a hectic 48 hours,  too much happening all at once.   Had to go sort out all the paperwork at the solicitors today regarding my claim,  realised why I'd put it off for so long!   Two hours it took....   and yet more stuff to come.    If all I'd got was a bruised knee I wouldn't be bothering, but when, two years later you have had umpteen surgeries,  and now have a metal knee (ten years way before you needed one) then I have no guilty feelings.  Plus block paving that caused me to fall is still gathering more and more victims!    The paving isn't at fault, it is those who laid it badly in the first place who are at fault.  I watched from my works window a load of pavers, paving outside and it was laughable,   bung a bit of sand down,  level it a bit and then slap on paving stone...   a few months later said paving stones are are now loose and waiting to claim more victims.  

That was after I'd had to negotiate a much changed town centre,  got in wrong lane, but knew I was okay cos I could get back on track at end of road... wrong, cos there were road works stopping me turning right.  So had to carry on till I could turn left and get back to where I was, are you following this?  Then on to confusing car park....    bad signage..   and it wasn't just me who was befuddled.    Even when I found a parking spot then I found you had to figure out how to get out on foot.  Prices were extortionate, last time I use that car park, and probably why it was so empty.  

Now shattered,  didn't get much sleep last night....  so best go make some hot choc and hit the hay. 

thanks all

Cor who left the freezer door open?

Boy was it cold today,   bright and sunny but freeeeezing.   Decided to just stay put,  knee needed a rest, it was really sore yesterday, got this horrible pain in it at one point,   just took my breath away.   

Anyway there was some footie on the TV, and I had two jewellry kits to play with.    Chose to do the bracelet first,  the fiddly bit was cutting the chain into sections as the links were so small.    But got there in the end,  added an angel to it as it is for a friend :-))  But happy with results,  think I am showing signs of improving.  Did begin the necklace,  with is much more complicated and has lots of pieces,  but it should be completed by tomorrow.   Think I'd like to make more of the bracelet,   just need to source the materials I want to use. 

Footie was a damp squib, over before it got going.  Just cannot stand all this cheating,  heard the commentators say that the strikers are looking to fall over in the box,  the lightest touch and they are on the floor - disgusting. 

And Dancing on Ice is back,  as is CSI NY, tho no Stella :-(   just wish they'd get away a bit more from the usual cop stuff. 

Can't believe the difference a week makes.  Did get a bit nervous last night, could hear two youths talking outside, when I looked out they had a motocross bike, no lights on it, and they were trying NOT to attract attention,  and trying to get the bike going, both had dark clothing on.... and no helmets, a  pity they didn't have a brain cell between them.    They must have got the bike going as a few minutes later they'd gone.   Think I'll ask some of the neighbours to see if we can get some alleygates fitted,   think we might all feel a bit safer.   Also worried about a nieghbour,  she's been here same length of time as we have,  she's just had a tumour removed from her stomach, she looks really gaunt.

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend,  stay safe.

Oh now, Snow!

Got a bit of a shock yesterday,  looked out of window and it was snowing,  very big flakes and the world was slowly turning white!  Luckily it didn't settle, nevertheless I had to head for supermarket regardless of snow as we had no milk or bread!  I never usually allow us to run out of essentials, but had thought the milk would last, and it would have done had mum not had her cereal!   So first test of car in rotten weather and she did good,   held the road,  no slipping or sliding (mind you the Corsa also did well in last bout of bad weather).   Not yet used to the electric windows,  keep forgetting engine needs to be on to close window!    And then there is the electronic opening,  keep going to open it with the key, course there is no lock!    Do though like that I can lock it from inside,  that was my one bugbear about central locking, that all the doors were open, so any nutter could open the door if you stopped.  
Supermarket was back to normal,   though did notice how a few prices have now crept up,  the bacon which is usually two for £4 is now 2 for £5.   I worked out that our bill had gone up by a fiver,   I generally buy the same stuff every week.  Probably just as well that Mr Clegg wasn't in my supermarket,  might have been tempted to clobber him with a French stick.   I've also noticed that there are more men being employed by the supermarkets, even on the checkouts,  usually it was regarded as a female job.  That isn't a moan,  I am glad that they have employment,  the area that the new supermarket is in has a high rate of unemployment and they did commit to employing over half the workforce from the long term unemployed. 

Today was just a 'whatever day',   felt like just mooching around, but in the car,  so took Little Mo out for a drive up to the craft shop. Sadly they are still trying to flog off the old Christmas stuff, so nothing really tempted me, got a few half price jewellry kits.  Next was visit to library, have a catch up with old colleagues and a free cuppa.   Then home for lunch, back out to take mum to meet her friends,  and then took me to retail park to see if I could get any bargains at M&S,  well I did, but not in the women's department, found two nice tops in the mens department,  a darn sight cheaper as well.  Think I've cottoned on to what the shops are doing, have you noticed they are all full of cardis etc,   and that means we need something to wear underneath them, so we have to buy 2 items!  Alls I wanted was a couple of jumpers, could I find any - could I heck.    Then headed to Best Buy,  they did have some bargains, but had nothing that I wanted,  so did Comet, was sort of half tempted by a half price Ipod dock,  but resisted,  ended up in Currys and got a new skype headset,  and photo paper!    Then I tootled off home,  I have noticed how more relaxed I am driving Little Mo,  she just purrs along very contentedly,   so the bozos don't annoy me as much as they did. 

There is one thing that annoys me very much, and that is the idiotic parents who allow children to push the trolleys!  I was nearly knocked flying by one, she was far too small to see where she was going, and of course too busy talking to her sister to even notice where she was going or what she was about to crash into,  both parents were oblivious to the chaos she was causing.   Worse are those damn mini trolleys that you find in the likes of Boots,  just who dreamed up that stupid idea?   Shops are not playgrounds,  I do expect parents to keep their children under some sort of control.

All for now, hope you are having a good weekend, thanks for stopping by

Have car will travel

So today was the day - my new car was ready to be picked up.   As daft as it sounds I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve,   all tingly,   and woke up at 3 a.m.!  Unamused,   of course I finally got back to sleep just when I really needed to be getting up.  Typical.   But no worries, car would be ready from 10 a.m.   So I headed off at 10 a.m.,  went to bus stop and waited for a bus to appear,  another lady joined me and asked if a bus was due,  said I had no idea and usually went by car.  So we got talking, another lady joined us,  the mother of one of my neighbours,  so she asked what had happened to my old car.   Had to got thru all that,  and I found out that a lot of people knew, the dog walkers that pass thru our road,  plus others on the way to the corner shop, and all were angry on my behalf.    Bus arrived and I was off to pick up my new car. 

Dealt with all the paperwork first, and they still needed to go get it taxed.   Salesman said he'd go get my car and put some petrol in it, now from where I was sitting I could see the petrol pump, to be honest I expected him to put in say a gallon, maybe two.. but nope,  he filled it right up!  Next bonus was being told that the car had only been MOT'd in September 2010,  and mechanic said it wasn't worth doing it again, so they gave me a free MOT for this  September, which is brilliant, means car tax and MOT don't coincide.  Then he took me thru all the need to know stuff about the car, and then left me to get to know it while I waited for chap to come back with tax disc.   That was nice,  so I could play with everything and get to know where everything was.  The car felt as tho she were mine,  as daft as that sounds, but I just felt very comy with the car,   then had quick fag, and salesman reappeared and asked why I was still in garage as the chap who'd gone for tax disc was back.  So slight delay, and then I was off,  me and my new car, Little Mo, in honour of my old and very wonderful neighbour who died two years ago.   I took her for a little drive,  just so we could get to know one another, but it didn't take long,  we were in tune right from the get go,  found biting point on clutch,  remembered that I now had power steering and off I went.  I thank my army driver training, they were so thorough in teaching how to become acquainted with a strange car.   So we had a nice little tootle round the area,   then off home to introduce her to her new abode, she seemed happy to find another Nissan Micra next to her.   So a spot of lunch and back out again,  wanted to see what she could do on a dual carriageway,  mum came with me so we headed out to a garden centre,  had a mooch round, a coffee and then headed home. 
The really nice thing was that I rediscovered my joy of driving,  for so long it had been just a chore,  never really got along with the corsa,  it was a good car and did all that was asked of her, but it never felt like it 'loved' car.   Little Mo is something different,  I wasn't bothered about being caught in traffic,  she was a joy to drive.   It was also nice to have a fully functioning radio, one that behaved itself, didn't change channels or volume at will...   Oh bliss.   Last time I felt this positive/good about a car was my little fiesta,  a bog standard model, but with oodles of personality and oomph.   She also was a joy to drive,  and had the reg HLV, and my mum decided that stood for Happy Little Vehicle, and she was. 

So I am roadworthy again. And feeling a whole lot better, mostly cos of the kindness shown to be by that car salesman,  he went that extra mile for me,  and that always makes a difference.  

Oh was going to include actual pic of car, but haven't got round to taking one yet,  so just got one from Google,  my Little Mo looks exactly like the pic, same colour etc. 

Thanks for stopping by... 

What a difference a few days make

Well can't deny I felt really low over the weekend, then I got fed up of feeling like that.  Decided to do a proper look for a new car, so looked up all the local garages on line.  Found one that had a couple of cars in my price range,  so went there yesterday - and hour later I walked out having bought a car!   Well spotted a 56 reg, and at a good price, one owner, full history...    Nice salesman knocked another £300 off price cos I was paying cash,  chucked in a warranty and the car tax for a year.  Very happy with that.  So now I have or will have by tomorrow, a  Nissan Micra,  and it has all mod cons!   Got so used to driving cars that are just basic I am not sure I'll know myself tomorrow,  electric windows, power assisted steering,  fully working radio/CD!   Crumbs...   Old car radio was er, temperamental, that was because my nephew ripped out original radio and did a botched job of installing another,  so sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't,  it would increase in volume when it felt like it, cut out when it felt like it and switch channels.    Only fly in ointment yesterday was trying to switch the insurance,  for some reason the computer kept on refusing to change any details!  Was getting fed up, mind you so was the chap at the other end,  he kept apologising to me, then said he'd ring my insurers and then call me back and he did.   So I was able to e-mail certificate of insurance to garage.  Love technology!   But since all these firms are saving a fortune on paper, postage etc, why don't their prices come down? 

Old car went to great garage in the sky, got a few quid for it, but was glad to see it go.  I had forgotten that I hadn't cleared it out!  So reluctantly I got all the stuff out of it,  didn't really want to go anywhere near it.  Have been getting lots of sympathy from neighbours and the dog walkers who come down our street, which is nice.  But it has now gone and I can at last look out of the window without flinching.

Mind you all this has made me do a lot of crafting,  even managed to get the swap card made and the scrap challenge completed!    Posted the pic for that above, I set it for this month but now two others are pitching in, so I will feel like I am being challenged.  I set the theme for snow,  took the photos day after we'd had our 24 snow fall,   didn't think it was ever going to stop.  Never seen so much snow for years.   Had no idea what to do,  just let the page build itself,   picked out some pearlescent silver card,  then mooched thru my stash and came across a kit from a magazine,  nice blues,  cut photos into different shapes,  used some chipboard stuff for lettering,  foam snowflakes which I recoloured a darker blue,  and some silver flowers to lift one of the photos, very happy with the effect.  Not so happy with the photo, these dark days!   Will take a better one on a sunnier day. 
All for now.

More scrapping....

With needing to distract myself from the damage to the car I've managed to defrost the freezer, clean out the fridge,  do a pile of washing and sorted out the recycling. And that was all before brunch!    Just can't bear to look or think about what happened on Friday.  A neighbour kindly offered to clear up all the mess,  his son was mugged in the road just before Christmas and is still shaken up.  
So in the afternoon I decided to do more scrapping,  printed out loads of photos since I got the new printer and kept on meaning to do something with them.  I think the new stash has been inspiring me,  some lovely papers in both.  I would have got two of the storage containers from The Range, only they just had the same papers - doh!  It would have been better if they'd offered a variety, they would have sold more.    But the QVC stash is also proving very welcome,  used a mix of both today for the above page,  plus the leftover from the ribbon I used on another page,  just threaded a ribbon thru to give some effect, then coloured some small white flowers and added them, it all just came together nicely.   Seem to be going thru my tearing ruler phase,  I have several but they either lay unused for ages or they become the flavour of the month with me!     I just edged the cream paper with an orange ink pad,  from a colour wheel that I got years ago from QVC!  One of my first craft buys,  and still going strong.  Not sure that they make them anymore. 
Just wondering what I can blitz tomorrow?   May take the Xmas decs down,  box for them is in the cloakroom so if that goes back into loft then I can sort out the cloakroom....  it has become a dumping ground and badly needs sorting out. 
Oh well, one more day and normality will resume...  only 363 days to Christmas... !

Rubbish start to the new year

Yesterday was such a nice day, had lovely lunch with Mum, then we called in to see the new baby.  All was quiet at home,  wasn't much in the mood to stay up till midnight.  But woke up this morning to find some piece of scum had vandalised my car,  smashed both windscreen and rear window.   Just felt numb,  I have no idea why these numbskulls feel the need destroy things that do not belong to them,   especially a N reg corsa!  But you wonder when stuff will start to go right, so much has gone wrong these last few years.

The weather was as gloomy as I felt, grey, cold and raining.   Half heartedly stuck some plastic over the rear window,  just don't want to go near it.  Hardly worth making a claim,  if it was just the windscreen it wouldn't be so bad, but I'd have to pay the full excess,  then you wonder why we bother with bloody insurance!   I was planning to get a new car,  I'd seen one that was suitable at a local garage,  just looks like I'll be getting it sooner than I thought. 

The other nice thing about yesterday was getting two parcels, a case of wine from a friend, and then my QVC stuff arrived, got a scrap book kit.  So made use of that today, the kit, made use of the wine last night!   Created the above page in just over and hour, would have been sooner,  only I  kept changing my mind on the layout. 

Wonder what rubbish tomorrow will bring?