Merry Xmas!

Hope all is well with you and you are having a fine xmas wherever you are!

Crafty

I am making a present for my nephew.

It will be funky... and will be finished shortly.

I will post a photo once done!

What do you call a sheep with a machine gun?

Lambo.

It does say bad jokes.

Lazy days and hazy days

I have had a reeeeeeeeeeeally lazy day. I have done some washing up and wrapped a gift or two and that is LITERALLY all I have done.

It has been great.

Now I plan to turn it a little hazy with some sparkly wine.

XMAS!

Tonight I went shopping again - and I enjoyed it! I went a week or so ago and had a horrible time aimlessly wandering about in very busy shops.

Today I knew who I was shopping for as I had managed to buy gifts for the majority on my last trip.

This meant the shopping was fun!

And I'm on the home stretch now. The craziness of the pre-Christmas concert season is over, and school has finished for the most part. This will leave me with 2 days a week free and several evenings off until I make the long drive home for a fleeting visit to my folks.

Hopefully this Sunday I'll get organised with cards and presents for people who live far away, who I won't see over the holidays.

I realise my blogging has slipped of late, but I find that I think of it more favourably these days which I hope is a sign that the bug is creeping back. We'll see in the New Year!

Jingle Bell Rock Rocks!

My little trumpet kids ROCKED Jingle Bell Rock - they were ace!

(school concert)

Mornings

I used to be a morning person. I would wake up fairly early - and was ready to get on with my day immediately.

For a time at uni I breakfast waitressed, and loved it! I adored being up before most of the city. I loved getting the bus into town almost alone. I liked the crisp air that tasted different - cleaner perhaps.

I feel nostalgia for that love of mornings on days such as this, where I am up at 6am to get into my car, to drive to Edinburgh to work. I want to love these mornings too, but somehow the magic has gone, perhaps because of the mundane details. I am up at 6am to put petrol in the car as it's empty. I have to drive for a couple of hours to work. Work is real work earning money to pay my mortgage.

My boyfriend has caught the bus at 6.10am to get to work as I have the car. I hope he likes it a little.

busy and tired but having fun

It's gone mental here. I've been working my day jobs and night jobs, afternoon jobs, weekend jobs for a month.

Today I work 12 hrs with teaching, rehearsal and 2 gigs...

And I'm loving it (though my ears hurt and I have a sore throat).

So - apologies for my lack of visiting - I am barely in to log on.

stinking!

Last night I played a double gig - one at 5pm, then another at 8.30pm. I knew this would make my lip hurt.

To cool my lip and to relax it after the late gig I went to the pub.

I then (at about 1.30am) went to a chinese that opens til 2.30am where I had salt and pepper squid, soft shell crab and noodles.

This morning all I can taste is garlic and wine. My teeth felt gross but I remember cleaning them til they bled and my make-up is almost intact.

Gross.

It took a while but the laptop is fixed

Apparently it is easier to replace keys from your laptop when you are sober.

catwoman

watching it now - it is on til 2am ish. I am not tired. I want to do something... catwoman watching sounds ok. Incidentally I have just broken my laptop by removing the i and o keys.

ebay

I just bought a trumpet. Wait and see how that turns out!

It was a spot.... Phew!

spots

I have spent the entire evening obsessing about the spot/coldsore I can feel emerging on my bottom lip.

Is it a spot or a coldsore?

Aagh. It better just be a spot or I'm in TROUBLE as the stuff I have to play is too hard to coast along.

so much to do so little time!

Time off this week:

Now.. only I have to use it rearranging my work for next week to fit it all in. So that doesn't really count...

This afternoon I work and this evening I teach.

Tomorrow until 3.30.

This morning we have been out for breakfast with a friend to the supermarket. Sounds a bit sad but it was good fun!

If my boyfriend helps me I can totally do all my usual work PLUS the extra 28hrs work. I know he would rather climb a mountain but I think I'm gonna have to twist his arm otherwise I don't see how I can fit it all in.

incidentally - I am working today... rehearsal doesn't start til 4pm.

work continued

Having told you I like to work... today I have sat for the last 2 hours in my dressin gown not working one bit.

Oh dear.

I would like to make some cookies for work (tomorrow/Weds/Thurs) and I would like to find a knitting project to inspire me.

I would like to make hair for the rag doll I started a week ago.

Not sure which to do first. At the moment I'm googling cookie recipes and knitting patterns. I also need some wool but finances dictate that I use some wool I have already. Not so inspiring.

Cookies: these sound nice

Knitting: I quite like the idea of mittens. I hate double pointed needles and fiddly things I find dull. I like quick results!

work ethic

My parents DEFINITELY brought me up with a good work ethic.

I like to work. I have worked at all sorts of jobs, with my least favourite being work in a mailroom - which really just involved stuffing envelopes for 3 months. However this is still preferable to not working at all.

Since I became self-employed work has a new importance - it's not just something I have to do every day. Each day is different. But I have to make sure that I'm doing what I need to to ensure I HAVE work every day.

Every bit of work I'm offered matters. And when I can't take work because I'm already working it's good... but still I HATE having to say I'm busy. Especially when the work would pay significantly more than the work I'm doing already.

Still, ethically I know it's better to stick with what I had arranged than to mess about swapping and looking for people to cover my work so I can take on someone elses.

I'll just feel good about my morals... they'll soothe the pain.

Xmas tunes

Tomorrow I get to test out an arrangement on my Primary 7 pupils. I gave them the music last week so hopefully this week it will begin to make more sense. It's a xmas tune so by 25 December I will hate it thoroughly!

We went down to see our new nephew this weekend. He's pretty cool, and after meeting him I got to see my folks and hang about with them for the evening. We went to a concert to see Great Horwood Silver Band on Saturday evening - which was very enjoyable.

Otherwise it's just work work work.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

http://onegeeksview.blogspot.com/

Please go and visit this games blog and if you can think of one - leave a comment. As computer-game-geekily as you can!

It would be very useful for the author.

SOBER TC!

sadly.

I was going to meet pals tonight but they didn't text and I couldn't really be bothered to go after last night...

Incidentally - thanks to those who commented on my now un-published posts. Because my parents read this sometimes I've deleted them... don't want them getting their hopes up. But I do appreciate what you said - and it has helped me to decide to forget about it for now.

This weekend we meet our brand new nephew! And get to see the Olds.

yey!

Improvements. The itchiness is still here but the angry red has faded and the big greyish hollow that used to be the bag under my eye is at least back to grey and flat instead of pink and puffed right out.

I'm happy with that.

No way to work out what I'm allergic to by the way. Didn't do anything particularly unual. Didn't put anything deliberately on my face.

frustrating - not fixed yet

I have given in. Today I will phone in sick so I can go to the docs.

I was hoping it would improve but today the puffiness is worse and my face is as itchy and sore as yesterday, so I think I have to give in and go to get it sorted out by a professional.

I have been really tempted to post a picture, but I don't actually want the only picture showing my face on my blog to be a picture of my face all puffed up, red and blotchy!

rashy

I stupidly said to my friends on holiday that I had realised recently that I have never been to my new school (started in Sept) 100% well - as in healthy.

This should be my first week....

The allergic rash to something undiagnosed has emerged and instead of dying down as I had hoped it would have, it has made my left lower eyelid swell up so I can only see out of half my eye.

Therefore I now look really bizarre - one half-closed eye and red spots all over my nose and cheeks. BEAUTIFUL!

yey! Home!! Had fun..

Went to Oktoberfest in Mainz and this was the first thing we saw..


2 giant beers later and I couldn't have cared less which leather-clad German was feeling up which. There was quite a lot of touching amongst the townsfolk of Mainz.






And then onto Koln... images below.





OK OK - so I failed entirely to take holiday snaps and instead only took photos of me and my pals behaving like idiots. This is the closest I can come to normal scenic holiday pics.

It's nice to be home. Just started to watch The Last King of Scotland after Sunday dinner. Mmmm.

Planning and organising

I used to be pretty terrible at organising myself. I AM improving but I need to organise so much more now I think it is necessity that has made the change in me.

I have homework to do these days and I don't like it! At the moment there is a Christmas arrangement hanging over me that I just need to knuckle down and get on with.

And tonight is my first Christmas gig of 2009. On the 8th October... seriously. Santa hats and carols. Ha ha ha ha ha... oh well!

holidays a comin

I am going on holiday soon and am very excited.

My first holiday is a trip to Germany. 2 nights in Mainz then 3 nights in Cologne.

We had a few problems with finding cheap enough accommodation so have ended up with 3 adults in a family room in Mainz then 3 adults in a 4 bed youth hostel dorm in Cologne but I really don't care. I'm going on holiday to have fun and sleeping is NOT in the plan.

The second holiday is a trip to Anstruther, Fife to stay for New Year. Yey! Excited? Moi?

Anyway - tonight we are making our own pizza - we have salami, olives, red onion... yum!

Trumpet playing with a chesty cough

Tomorrow I have my first gig since I got the flu. I can play the fast high stuff no bother but the sustained lyrical lines are a struggle as I still have a little lingering gunk in my lungs.

Delightful, eh?!

Tonight for tea we're having chilli which I should really go and start. Unless I make it spag bol instead. Decisions, decisions.

Maybe I'll leave it to the boyf. Though I know he'd always choose chilli so maybe not.

I really don't want to go to work.

The photos of the girls aren't on the web - but they were great! Here's the article anyway.


http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/features/display.var.2531333.0.guiding_lit_the_way_for_girls.php

Social

I feel as though I haven't been out drinking for a LONG time. My boyfriend pointed out the other day that I hadn't had a drink for 15 days. Since then I've had a bottle of wine over 2 days.

This week - tomorrow pals are coming round. Thurs I have rehearsals. Friday - housewarming... So the social life is picking back up!

Pack Holiday

Well I am alive, the girls are alive.... so it's a success.

We went for a Spongebob theme. They arrived, I did rules and safety, they unpacked then we made this:



The girls slept in the Pineapple and ate in the Krusty Krab. We did a Jelly fishing game, t-shirt painting, bookmarks, made Spongebob models from sponges pipecleaners and paper. They walked to the Loch and around the campsite. They played outdoor games and had a campfire in their PJ's with torches. I'll post a few photos.



I passed my test... so as soon as I find my certificate for first aid and get the bill for the minibus I'll hand it all in and get my pack holiday license.

Brownies in the newspaper

OK from the top: This year our pack is big and we have a large intake of Rainbows plus a couple of independant newbies.

Two weeks ago my assistant booked a last minute hol to Florida handily leaving and returning on Tuesdays... She was adamant that she would be at Brownies on the 2nd Tues though (last night) as she needed to find out and pick up forms for Pack Hol. Actually I had a few things I'd been hoping she'd help with because she's good at craft etc.

As a Guider I'm fairly strict. Usually.

This term I have not really been up to much as I've started a new job which is tiring me out as it's fairly full on and has a hefty commute. I love it - but I'm still working the routine out.

This week particularly I felt soooooooooo tired (still feeling grotty) so I had been hoping my assistant would pick up the slack. Only she had bloody jet lag! Should have known that'd happen!

At the beginning of our meetings last night the Evening Times photographer turned up to take pics of the Guides and Brownies for an article they're doing. The girls loved it and watching them primp and fluff their hair as they lined up in a mottled half uniformed crew was very amusing.

After the photo though it all went downhill! They had a whinge about washing up on Brownie camp so I made them listen to the Brownie Story (loads of new kids - needed doing at some point). They were really good.

Then I let them loose - and they became LOUD. They got to sing, sit in a tent indoors, have marshmallows round a pretend campfire, play games. And their behaviour was appalling. They took ages to do everything because they were all in diff groups talking and chatting and getting NOWHERE. And all I could do was hold my arm up because I can't breathe well after this flu bug.

So next week we will write pack rules and practise the One Arm in the Air Stop Talkin Right Now GirlGuiding move.

Fever

oh fever.. fever all through the night...

I have a temperature. The weekend before I take the Brownies away for my Brownie Pack Holiday test camp. Aagh. I have tons to do and really haven't felt up to it.

Still it makes me feel less bad about not wanting to see people this weekend!

bother

I hate lying.

Got a few cash flow problems in the TC house this weekend, caused by us (and car repairs) but exacerbated by friends visiting and making us pay to go on an outing with their kid tomorrow. I want to see them but don't want to pay.

I suggested a free option (park and animal house) but I think my friend may be scared of snakes though she's blamed her daughter.

We are having to lie to them (hope they don't have this blog address!) and say that boyfriend is working because we can't afford entry for 2 adults.

It is also a pal's birthday this weekend and he has changed from an in town few drinks to an out of town party at his house.

You might think for skint folk this would be better - but in fact:
- we have to drive there so need to pay for petrol £5minimum,
- we need to take something to drink so we will be taking fizzy water
- we feel as though we ought to be bringing something for the birthday boy but we are going to apologise and feel a bit bad that we can't. We do have a card.

Had it been in town we would have walked, bought him a drink, politely chatted for a while then walked home again. Total cost £2.50. Still more than we actually have.

I have been back at school for a few weeks now and have picked up my first kid lurgi. A stinking chesty cough. Bloody children.

This is making me iritable, and I have just fought with my boyfriend because he partially cooked turkey drummers for lunch then when I pointed out they weren't cooked just threw them away - so now we have nothing. Brilliant.

Hope you lot are having a better time of it!!! I think sleep would cheer me up.

soooooo many things

I don't know where to start at the moment.


Exciting things that have happened: none.
Not exciting things that have happened: loads.

I left my mobile at home today. When I retrieved it I had 7 missed calls, 3 texts and 5 voicemails. How popular I feel!


Tonight I have found tickets for a holiday at October half term but my friend who wanted to come with us is not answering his stupid mobile. Twathead.

Grr.

New starts

I have a new job - I have a day or so more teaching. This is great - it makes up for the hours I lost in the credit crunch.

It also means I am learning how to manage another school system. So please excuse my reticence in blogging but there's a fair bit going on in my head at the moment and I am doing my best to keep on top of it all.

Congratulations to Bond on his wedding to Nancy! I hope you are very happy. Otherwise I'm a bit behind with the blogosphere but will catch up this weekend.

piss head

OK OK OK........... I have a glass of wine. It is my fourth. I am happy. I deserve it.

Today we had the launch of the GirlGuiding Centenary at HQ in Glasgow. I had a fanfare composed for the occasion and played it from outside in the street. During the 58 second piece a taxi drove by and hooted whilst waving and grinning...

If you smile when you play the trumpet your accuracy is reduced somewhat. I split 1 note... which is pretty good considering the cold, rain and taxi!!

Anyway - I thought I'd share it with you as it made me smile.

Busy busy busy

I have started HUNDREDS of new pupils this week, and have successfully kicked off our Brownie Year... but we're totally over-subscribed. I have taken everyone who turned up because I was expecting around 27 girls but it turned out (when I got home and checked against the record the Rainbow leader had provided) that we will have 30 if they all come together.

That is 2 more than our maximum as the ratio is 1:8. We have 3 leaders now regularly, and we have a parents rota. Our hall is also FAR too small for this many kids.

We have 3 that I was going to put up to Guides at Christmas. I spoke to one and her Mum after Brownies and asked if she would be happy to go up to Guides now.. she said Yes. I have 2 more to speak to. Fingers crossed... I think 1 might say no.

We could always try to get the 2nd pack started back up - we used to be (before my time) 310th A and there was at one time a 310th B pack too. But they'd need new leaders.

Wait and see - half of them might hate it and never come back. Esp since all I got them to do last night was name badges and sticking crepe paper to card for a display before In & Out the Dusty Bluebells because they're showing the Guides how to do it next Tues.

I did hear one say 'It's a bit like school but more fun' which I found amusing.

AND another one.

Making stuff

Tonight I have been a lazy bumface and have sat on said bum (not on my face.. just the bum) all night.

Our telly has been broken as has the FM band on the radio.

I have been online.

I have sewing to do but without audio distraction couldn't be bothered to do it.

I have facebooked. I have emailed (quite a lot - work stuff mostly) and I have blogged.

When it came to blog-time I was so bored that when I visited Bond (first blog I went to) at http://www.bigleathercouch.com/ I was just downright rude. I was kidding and I'm not concerned he'll take it badly... but still I would not have posted had I not been bored.

So WHY WHY WHY have I driven myself nuts in this fashion when I have a house full of things that I love? There are loads of things I can do. I have gigs to prepare for, pupils to prepare stuff for, crafting to do..... but no.

Inertia.

I am definitely a bum-face.

As to crafting:

been at it again. (Not this evening.)

Decided to learn to quilt. This looked easy. Still have to sew all these flaps down......

Spongebob Pack Holiday

We have had our planning meeting and the pack holiday is now sorted! Our theme is Spongebob Squarepants.

On pack holiday the kids will arrive on Friday night. They will unpack, make their beds etc, do a craft, have supper.

We will then have a campfire in pjs(sing song) and they will go to bed where I imagine they will giggle and whisper and talk until one of us goes and tells them to shut it (politely). Repeat the last action ad lib.

Saturday - they will be up at the crack of dawn but I will not break until 7.30am.

In the morning our main activity is a treasure hunt to the Loch. Do you think a hunt with clues for directions or a treasure hunt where they collect items and get prizes for the biggest, smoothest, greenest items is more fun?

In the afternoon we have a craft/game with fishes that my Mum taught me - very cool. We will also have some outdoor games and hopefully some duck bobbing (ducks and hooks etc).

Sunday - Only activity is outdoor games but we have lots of crafts. They will also do a fair bit of tidying and packing.

Craft ideas so far on a Spongebob theme.

Squidward Tentacles windsock. Glue some white nylon or crepe paper depending how much nylon fabric costs into a tube with a pipecleaner ring glued into one end. Draw on eyes and glue on tentacles from ribbon or crepe paper. Tie string to the wire on either side then to a stick. Take it outside when it dries - bingo.

Spongebob Squarepants - using those yellow sponges they have in the supermarket. No idea beyond that and I've left it to someone else to crack this one.

Fish Game - Cut big fishes from thick card with a hole punched in the end. Colour them in with pens with red or blue as the main colour. Tie a length of string to the fish and attach a cardboard spindle to the other end of the string. Mix them all up so girls get a fish at random. Unwind the wool so the fish are on the opposite side of the room then hold heats - the kids wind as fast as they can - first fish wound in wins. Have a semi-final, then a final to establish winner. Other kids have to cheer for one colour (prob the one they had themselves) and you can have a commentator too.

Other Crafts: Fimo modelling, bookmarks, posters.

They also have in the diary I swiped and re-jigged some wordsearches, colouring pages, word scrambles, space for drawing etc.

This will take place at the end of September and it's my test camp. Fingers crossed as I handed the permission form in late and don't actually know whether I can get the tester there that weekend yet.

Eating

I like food. I like cooking and eating food.

This morning after only 4 hrs sleep I got all muddled up and had lunch for breakfast....

I had a beef sandwich with picalilli mustard pickle stuff.

Now it's nearly lunchtime (something I am considering because I'm hungry again) and I think perhaps it's cereal o'clock.

I have had a madly busy morning hiding from Jehovah's Witnesses and watching Saturday Kitchen on tv with the work I should be doing untouched on the sofa beside me. See what I said about this year being a good one??

It's gonna be a good year

If things carry on as they are going just now, we'll have a lovely 2009-10 year. I hope.

Generally I am very happy.

Letter Writing Question - help required

When I am writing to the parents of my Brownies I start the letter:

Dear Parents (as I know all mine are going to the parent rather than a guardian),


My question is - How should I end the letter? Yours faithfully seems too formal.

Mum's Visit`

I've had a surprise (ish - she told me last Thurs) visit from my Mum. She arrived on Sunday and we've had a great time.

We did the quiz on Sunday and came fifth. Rubbish!

We went to Helensburgh and had fish and chips before coming home so I could wait for 6 pupils not to turn up while Ma cooked us dinner. Deeelishus.

We went to a job interview/meeting thing in Edinburgh then took a trip along the coast then back through Peebles to arrive home in time to go out to The Sisters restaurant (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) for dinner.

We got up early to go to the train station where we had time to go for coffee and croissants before she headed home.

As I still have not bought batteries for my camera I have nothing to show YOU from this visit but I do have a pair of new earrings, a necklace (beautiful) from my Dad and a massively expanded waistline.

Edinburgh and the Festival

Edinburgh Fringe Festival or even the full Festival itself: Excellent.

Working in Edinburgh DURING the Festival: NOT excellent. For reasons I shall disclose.

Tourists. They just get right in the way when they stop every 100 yards to point at a bit of architecture, or to look at their festival map. Grrr.

mmmmmmmmm.

I have decided. Playing the trumpet is DEFINITELY the best.

i am late organising myself AGAIN

TC's plan to organise herself today:
Morning:
Finish bingo game.
Plan Brownie Camp properly.
Plan Brownie term.
Plan Centenary Party.
Afternoon:
Practise the trumpet.
Evening:
Play Monopoly bingo game to test it!

what to knit next?

that is the question.

Curry Night

Today my friends came round to tea and we made real proper curry from a curry recipe book.

The day before I had made some potato cakes with spinach and spices: turmeric, chilli etc. My friend had made a basic curry sauce from her new book - which we needed to use for both curry recipes we had chosen. Also after the onion chopping mushing stage the book tells you to hold some sauce back so you can cook the meat in it later.

Yesterday my boyfriend picked my friend up from her house on the other side of the city. He drove back and picked me up from work, then headed home. We arrived around quarter to 5 and went straight in to begin cooking.

We cooked for 2.25hrs and managed to make: Potato things *can't remember their name*, naan bread *peshwari and plain*, chilli sauce, egg fried rice (wouldn't have been my choice with curry), Chicken Jhool and Lamb Ghost.... very nice!

This morning I have had Chicken Jhool and rice for breakfast, consoling myself with the idea that they would have cury for breaky in Thailand. Not SO convincing - still think it's greedy really!

Head

Ouch.

I was too drunk and I have no idea how I paid for anything last night. I hope my friends didn't bear the brunt. I do have tipex all over my fingers because one friend spent about 1/2 hr manicuring us with tipex.

Shopping

I am about to go shopping to kill time, as in 2 or 3 hours I can re-paint the living room door.

Fun.

Positive Day (a bit late)

I missed Positive Day! This may not sound like the most positive start to a Positive Day post. I missed Positive Day because my frend called and we went out straight after work. I have great friends - Positive Point 1.

We went to a pub I love, then I texted a friend to ask what she was up to - she replied to say she was working in a pub nearby but was bored. We decided to drop inn. We arrived and she was having a really bad day. So we stayed until she was happy again. Positive Point 2 - Friends can really brighten up a dull day.

A few months ago after I had been very busy with work I made a resolution to put friends a bit higher up my list of priorities. It is easy when you are tired to make excuses and to go home rather than seeing people you like. Fight it! Go out and meet people. Or call them. Keep in touch the best way you can. Friends make life more fun x

If you've happened upon my post PLEASE link over to http://www.dustbunnyhostage.com/ for more Positivity!

Film Marathon

We went to see Public Enemies first - Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. This film was great - thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a gangster flick of fairly significant length (2.5 hrs) and it was moving. Nice. Did I mention before at all that I LOVE JOHNNY DEPP?

Our second film was Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen. This was a complete pile of crap which I will never ever sit through again. It is also TOO LONG at 2.5hrs of out and out lousiness. It has a very basic plot that isn't well planned or developed. There are ridiculous situations throughout. All the women are HOT but have no personalities. Good things about it.... you get to see the yellow autobot again - he's a lovely robot. Otherwise I'm struggling.

Finally we saw THE BLUES BROTHERS! In the cinema. Yey. The cinema was sold out and the air conditioning appears not to work for that number of people. So the smelly guy next to us (who preempted every line of the film) got smellier and smellier as the movie went on. Luckily the film was funny enough that we didn't notice much.

Leaving after Transformers would have been disappointing but three films in one day is one too many - next time I'll stick to a doubler at the most.

cinema

Aiming today for a 3 film cinema marathon... wish me luck!

Bathroom Part 2

We spent this weekend fixing up the bathroom floor. Under the layers (cork tiles, glue and paint) we found nice reddish tiles. They are fine except the one in the doorway corner had a split in and wobbled.

I lifted half the tile and put some glue down to fix it. When I re-laid the tile it didn't sit quite right. I called my boyfriend but didn't wait for him, then stood on the tile... and heard it crack.

Oops.

A small piece of hardened grouting had gone under the tile and was lifting the corner. When I stood on the tile it just cracked in half the other way! So now it has 2 cracks, but is glued firmly.

We're going to leave it as is - after all the work stripping the floor it can stay plain tiled for now.

It was quite a productive weekend. We have also replaced the flush thing in the toilet and it now flushes perfectly.

Bathroom Floor

This weekend we decided to take up the cork tiles we stuck down 6 years ago when we moved into this flat.

When we moved in the first thing we removed was the carpet from the bathroom. Gross. Under the carpet someone had badly painted the tiles in white with green and blue squares. We used cork tiles to cover this, because we didn't have much money and saw them in the DIY shop when we were getting paint.

The cork tiles were pretty badly laid and looked fairly bad fairly fast.

So we lifted them yesterday. My boyfriend did most of this - it was really hard work. I had to hit the scraper thing with a hammer to get it under the tiles because of the glue, then lever them up.

Lifting the tiles left glue and patchy paintwork.

So we have since been scraping paint with paint stripper, white spirits and a lot of elbow grease!

The next job is cladding the bath.

out of the habit

As a lazy blogger these days I am so out of the habit of updating this thing that I have started to forget its even here.

Anyway - I have been away again, this time to visit my friend and her son in York. It was a lovely trip and the wee boy is still great fun. We ate out, went to the park, went shopping, visited the railway museum and chatted into the small hours.

Ooh - and I bought myself the coolest bag of mixed buttons I have found yet. We enjoyed spending time rooting through and organising them into colours.

Now as I know my friend occasionally pops in here I'd like to say "Thank you for inviting me and for putting me up (up with me?)!! You're welcome to a return visit any time."

Organisation

Well my initial excitement that things might have turned around after my holiday seems to have been misplaced.

I had believed that my improved motivation and energy levels would mean that my organisation would have developed too.

Nah.

Even in summer, where there is no teaching so my workload is much lighter, organising where I will be and what I'm doing and who is doing it with me is something I still do last minute.

Anyone have any tips for easy ways to organise your time and life if you're not already an organised person??

Adventures Part 2

OK. So after Mum's party we left with a car loaded with left over booze! My Mum's friend recommended a campsite in the Cotswolds so that's where we went first. It was lovely but familiar so we didn't think to photograph anything other than the moon.


On route we stopped for a walk in the Forest of Dean. We were getting to the halfway point when we heard an almighty grunt from the undergrowth. It scared me! A massive pig! On googling when we reached my sister's house it turns out they have wild boar there.

We headed from there to Cardiff to stay with my Sister and to pick up some stuff I'd left at home that she'd taken for me!

Our next night was in Melverley. This was my favourite campsite of all. In Melverley (tiny village) if you stand on one side of the bridge you're in England but cross it and you are in Wales! Our campsite was in England looking out across Wales. In the next field there was a church built in 1406 which hasn't been changed since. It has also not been out of use. So you can go around (for a donation) the real actual 1406 church. It is AMAZING! I loved it. Here's the pic.


And here is the tent in England... and Wales is just over the river behind the fence there. We walked up the hill in the background in the morning. It was a delightful walk up the hill but a hard walk down as we changed route and inadvertently went down the most difficult route.



After Melverley we went to Morecombe Bay - a place called Silverdale. At sunset it was quite beautiful though the wind made it quite chilly on the cliffs.



In Morecombe I received a text asking if I would play in a conference here on the Friday. This meant we'd need to come home on Thursday so Morecombe was our last night. To make up for the missed night camping we decided to make as much of a day of it as possible so we packed up and were off at 8.30am.

We managed to see a LOT of Britain in a day. We went to:

Windemere - had breakfast in the town and saw the lake,
Keswick where we went to the market and looked for some local ales,
Cumbrian stone circle - very cool

Penrith where we bought some boar sausages (revenge for the fright) and the ale we'd failed to get in Keswick,
Dumfries where we went to a nature reserve and found wild leek and listened for toads,
Castle Douglas where they had public loos and a tourist information,
and finally Kirkcudbright where the fish and chip shop is without doubt the best I have ever experienced before heading back to Glasgow through Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire.

It was some BEAUTIFUL scenery and the route from Kikcudbright to Glasgow is definitely one I'd like to visit again with more time.

Adventures... Part 1

Over the last 2 weeks we have toured Britain mostly camping in my new tent (thanks Mum & Dad - great pressie!). The most silly thing about this week was probably the number of ancient buildings we attempted to see only to find they had pay and display car parks or entry fees we didn't want to pay... so I have a whole host of photos of castles, abbeys etc that we have only seen from outside. I'll not share them for this reason.

As one does on holiday, we took a few photos. Now it is a well reported fact that people hate other people's holiday photographs... so I will minise the pain but do want to show you some of them.

On Saturday morning we headed North and camped in Pitlochrie.

Next we went down to Dundee to stay with a friend at her house, then headed down to Musselburgh (just by Edinburgh) via East Wemyss ancient caves. They have real cave paintings in.



Tuesday morning I had to go to work - on my birthday! The only school I teach in that was still running as all the others had finished up for the term. And half the kids were on a trip so couldn't have lessons. Grr.... Got away a bit early though, which was a bonus.

We then moved south via Lindisfarne staying in a beautiful tranquil campsite in West Kyloe. This is where I spent my 30th. We heated up some beef stew with rice, then sat out in the sunshine with birdsong and quiet moo-ing cows the only audible sounds, to read books until sunset. It was so quiet and sooooooo good!

http://www.westkyloe.co.uk/caravan.htm

Our next night was a campsite in the North Yorkshire Moors.
We had a walk through the woods near the campsite. They were a bit stinky because of the fields of foxgloves... growing on rotting woods they really didn't smell too good.


Then we went home for Mum's retirement party (which I'd organised with my Dad, sister and a friend of Ma's). It all went very well and Mum and her guests seemed happy. It was exhausting, however, and I was quite glad to be away to quiet nights in the tent again!

back!

Well it has been some time since my last post.

The main reason for this has been that I have hit the big 30 at last. It feels like it's been a long time coming - I've been dreading this moment for 2-3 years...

It's a huge milestone that I set myself up for when I was a kid, by considering 30 as OLD and deciding that I'd do all the big things - like family etc - when I'm 30. However as I approached 30 I knew I didn't want to do any big things yet.... and I got scared.

So now it has passed and all my dread seems a BIT unnecessary, although I have had several people ask me when I'm getting married and whether I'm planning kids... but the people who asked that also asked it when I was 29. Family friends who seem to think I should. The answers are 'NEVER' and 'No' by the way.

Anyway - explanation over so I'll get on with drafting a proper post shortly.

I need to:

Complete a couple of job applications for Friday.

Complete an application for laptops for Brownies.

Sort out picnic lunches for 10. Stupid - should have just said bring a packed lunch. It's coz I don't have kids that I didn't realise how normal that would be for parents.

practise

teach

do a gig

I felt like there was more than this - but now I write it down it seems very manageable. Time to get cracking.

Organisation

Getting there.

Update

OK - health. I STILL have a cold and at the moment it's affecting my trumpet playing - note production particularly. My range is fine but quiet scary entries are a no go. Would be ok except it's exactly what I have to do at the moment.

Brownies - they had loads of fun. That's it now til September except for a trip a week on Sat.

Fun - avoiding it actually to try to shift this bloody cold.

Summer Olympics

Tomorrow night we're having a Summer Olympics at Brownies. I actually think this would be something fun to do with other units, but we're going solo. It's our last night for Summer.

The plan:

After they all arrive & pay subs we will hold an opening ceremony - all the sixes (teams) will march around the hall and out to the grass with a flag bearer for each six. We will light the ceremonial torch (tea-light in glass) and then the Olympics can begin.

We have 5 events.
Discus (frisbee)
Shotput (beanbags)
Shooting (water pistols into plastic hoops held by leaders... they're gonna love that one)
Relay.

We will allocate points throughout with winners for each event as well. We will then hold our medal-giving and closing ceremony with juice and biscuits before home time with end of term letters.

This is probably the most organised I've been all year. Hopefully I'll remember how nice it feels to know exactly what's meant to be going on and we'll stick to the routine next year!

Man it's HOT!

I wish my garden was a beach with the sea at the bottom to cool off in!

80's night

That was the funniest night I have EVER had sober.

It wasn't intended to be sober. We fully planned to have some drinks at Friend1's house with pizza before getting a train through to the back of beyond town hall in which the show was to be held... only we were late arriving at hers and ended up phoning my boyfriend for a lift as we had also missed the train... then we were late for the show so snuck in at the back.

But we looked AMAZING!

Friend1 wore a neon yellow tshirt, a black skirt, royal blue tights, legwarmers I made and animal print and black leather pointy ankle boots with red beads, plastic bangles and big red and blue heart shaped patterned earrings. Long straight brown hair backcombed and tied up with a gold hairband on top.

Friend2 wore black leggings with a bright orange and pink 'born in the 80's' t-shirt. Pink and black legwarmers and animal print satin and patent stilettos, denim jacket, big red necklace and pink giant bead hoop earrings. Short blond/brown streaked hair volumised and textured with a bright pink bow hairband.

I wore the outfit already described: Black and fucshia bra under white vest top, red tshirt off the shoulder, dark blue jeans rolled up, black glitter plimsoles with yellow long beads, navy shorter big beads, enormous heart pendant, huge white teardrop earrings about 20 skinny bangles. Wavy/curly brown hair blowdried upside down, backcombed and hairsprayed into a massive birdsnest. Black and red striped scarf rolled up and tied round head in big bow.

Makeup - LOTS of blusher in a peachy pink shade. Turquoise and Fucshia eyeshadow out to hairline up to eyebrows. Eyeliner inside, outside and flicked to the extreme. Frosty pink lipgloss.

Dressing up is fun - especially with your friends. The shared cameraderie of looking daft together is uniquely entertaining.

We arrived to find ourselves the only dressed up members of the audience. That was no surprise! The show was funny - and our pupils were great. In the interval we filled up on sugar with sour apple strips and red cola to keep the laughter energy up (very effective).

After the show we headed back into the city (stares abound) and discussed on the train where we could go looking so ridiculous. We established that the 80's bar was probably the best bet (doh!) but when we arrived it was closed. In a quiet unthemed bar we discussed our plans for future costume nights. The suggestions were good but we didn't actually come up with any reasons for them or places we could go.... so we're not ready yet!

I'll keep you posted on any developments.

Blogstrop

I am going to an 80's night... What should I wear?

I will describe myself to you: I am average height, overweight but proportionate - big body matches big feet, big hair, etc!, wear pink funky glasses, have recently dyed very light brown naturally curly long hair.

I own: A red oversized t-shirt off the shoulder thing which I can wear with a white vest top.

I need to know: How to do my hair - could do anything with it as it takes styling well.
What shoes are 80's style?
What makeup and jewellery to wear?
Can I wear black cords or black trousers or dark blue jeans as 80's??

I am going to google search and then turn the computer off as I have tidying and cleaning to do before goin to the supermarket and completing some accounts.

All Better

Around 8pm last night I stopped feeling sick and hot, and today feel great! Still have a cold but my bones don't hurt.

While I was off yesterday I received an email from the Giant Sleepover 2009 confirming my Brownie pack has been given a place to stay at the SnoZone in Braehead in June. So this weekend I will start to get that sorted out!

Next week we are having an animal themed party night.

I haven't handed in my accounts (because I haven't actually finished them... oops) and must have them in by next Weds. Actually it's by a week on Mon but next Weds is better for me.

I have to defer my Student Loan. (did I tell you before how much I hate the Student Loans Company and the Labour Government for forcing me to deal with the Student Loans Company?)

I must email Glasgow council to find out how much it would cost to use the local school pitches (if they're free) for our Olympics, as it's close enough to walk to our usual hall if the weather is awful.

I have to put on hold the horse trip as the sleepover is possible now.....

Mum's 60th

I'm feeling sick today - don't know what's wrong... some kind of bug. Anyway, to distract myself I have decided to show you what I made Ma for her birthday. She collects tortoises!

Brownies Animal Lover

This week we continued our Animal Lover theme. We have covered off a load of sections of the badge so really are now just playing with animal themed fun stuff.

We had a really long pow wow tonight as the girls were each asked to tell us about their pets. Those who didn't have a pet found that they had a story about a dog or cat they knew through someone else so it was pretty inclusive.

After that we made animal masks which turned out looking amazing. I found stencils in Hobbycraft and we coloured them with wax crayons before decorating them with paper confetti and sequins as well as a few feathers.

It wasn't exactly a tidy night but it didn't take too much sweeping up and the girls enjoyed themselves.

Next week we are having a party and the Brownies loved the idea of making it animal themed and wearing their masks for it. We now have to think up party games and activities for this.

The following week we are holding Brownie Olympics at a local green space (as yet unspecified.....). We plan to do discus with frisbees, relay, long jump (just jumping really), shotput with beanbags, hurdles?, running race. We will have prizes, juice and biscuits...

The week after that we are hoping to take the girls on the trip to Pollock Country Park.

So there are quite a few things for me still to do but our end of term should prove to be fun for all the girls.

A bit nuts

My house is a pig-sty and I have dyed my hair a very light brown..... it's a bit gingery blonde.... Ah well.

late

I am tired but have had a cool night. Did a gig which was fun then came home and went out.

Just got home having walked right past the chip shop to find that my boyfriend was expecting me after 1 drink to come home and have a take-away with him so he didn't have dinner but instead ate all the bread.

I got home expecting to have bread.... So all's fair and we were both disappointed! Ha.

Brownies Friend to Animals

This week was my first Brownies back after 2 weeks off... and it was great. My pack are lovely.

We started their Friend to Animals badge with a view to finishing it at Pollock Country Park one Saturday, where the girls can find out about working horses.

I need to:

Work out what sort of times would be good for this
Contact the park
Find out about minibus hire.... which we might not need to do if the mum who works at the uni can borrow one.
Write permission letters

It's been a while since I used this place for my to-do list!

Fostering

I recently came into contact with some kids from a background of parental neglect and drug abuse. They were lovely kids but had nowhere to live after being removed from their parents. My need to fix things meant I wanted to offer them my house, to look after them and to make it all better. I understand that the home won't make it all better, but it would make it a bit better.

In the week we spent with the siblings they thrived on attention and were affectionate and interested, but they needed occupying constantly. They were charming and entertaining and generally well behaved.

The reality is we don't have the space in this flat, or the time in our lives to dedicate to children. I know the kids we met have found a foster family and hope that they're settling in well.

I would like to register my interest in foster caring, to find out more about it to decide whether we could make the changes we'd need to to do it. My boyfriend won't even consider it saying that he wouldn't cope with giving kids back. My sister says she thinks I am unfair even suggesting he foster, as he is notoriously shy. He does not rule out adoption in the same way.

Tonight I saw some Channel4 programmes about fostering and adoption and it was positive although it tugged the heartstrings! Not all the kids would be difficult and angry, right? Surely most are just normal kids who need a home....

What are your thoughts on fostering? Do you have first-hand experience?

The house we stayed in - The Captain's Beach House, Aberdesach.

The beach in different lights.



This one was taken by my sister when we sat drinking mohitos in the freezing cold perched on rocks right by the sea. Heaven.

Whistling Sands

The sand really whistles! (squeaks?) when you walk sliding your feet a little.

Trefor beach

I love the perspective - the fading hills.

Holidays!

Been away again - this time for my Mum's 60th birthday in Wales.

Wales is a stunning country. It is green and lush and from my last few trips - often sunny! (by which I mean more often sunny than Glasgow).

I have photos...

another siesta

I'm off again shortly. There's been so much going on this week - it's all been a bit of a nightmare. Happily everything is now fine and we are both well. However the stress has left me shattered and I have not time to catch up on rest and sleep.

The upshot of this is I'll be absent for a bit longer!

Hyundai Getz - a mixed bag

I have a Hyundai Getz. It's a little car and it's done us proud, having clocked up a huge mileage in it's six years with us.

However I think it's life may be about over. So far it's cost a lot of money over the last few months, with a replacement clutch and new power steering tubes.

Today I was picking my boyfriend up from hospital (cardiac unit - there's another story! He's fine now) and we were driving home when there was an almighty 'BANG' as our rear windscreen exploded. It just shattered as I was driving along. There is no sign of a stone in the car - and I didn't see anyone throw anything at us. I have no idea what went on. Whatever it was it was pretty scary.

So now - after a stressful 24 hours - we are waiting for someone to phone us to make an appointment to have it replaced!

Brownies

This week two of our oldest Brownies moved up to Guides.

For their last week I thought we could do picture frames and put a group photo in. After our opening pow wow we got them into two lines and made them say silly things so they laughed. I managed to get a good shot of them all facing the front.

I had my laptop and printer there, so while I printed copies off for the kids, my assistant got them doing the frames. We used A4 card folded in half - The top bit made the frame - they built up edges with balls of yellow crepe paper glued down, and added some stars and Brownie logos.

We then got them to sign the inside and pass each card to the person on the left - until all of the cards had been signed by all of the Brownies.

They loved it - and they came out looking great. Success.

Time for a quick game of Splat Bang, then we finished with the presentation of our Changing the World badges and one moving up got her Adventure badge with an I love Brownies patch and a little Brownie photo holder thing.

Summer

Puting pressure on oneself is easy to do. This year during the first couple of terms I let pressure build until I was grumpy and stressed far more than I would have liked, with an enormous mountain of unfinished tasks to tackle over Easter.

I didn't do any of them.

I went away and chilled out. I saw friends and family. I now feel great - much more able to cope with my stupid schedule and job-juggling lifestyle!

Who cares that I have no guarantee of a job after Summer as the council has cut budgets so hugely that they are reducing the teaching staff by a third? Who cares that my private teaching has dropped with numbers at the school going down (recession) so it's harder to get kids to sign up for lessons as there aren't many new ones to get!?

GENUINELY - at the moment I really don't!

sisters

while I'm on the sisters subject - my boyf's sis arrived today for a few days visiting. Wishing I could think of something exciting to do with her tomorrow!

Holiday no2

After Loch Awe I hopped on a plane to Cardiff to see my wee sister.

The sun shone the whole time. We went to the beach and had a barbie. We went out to pubs and she cooked me canneloni which was deeeeeeeelicious.

Fab- thanks lil sis x

So much to say

I have had two holidays.

Last Sunday my boyfriend and I went away to a lodge near Loch Awe, Scotland with some of our friends. It's a very beautiful place and our lodge was a log cabin overlooking the lake.

The lodge slept 8, with a double room, a twin and a room with bunk beds as well as a sofa-bed in the lounge. The kitchen-diner was huge and there was a sauna and exercise room, plus 2 bathrooms.

On the balcony there was a large table with benches and a brick bbq with chimney, so you could sit out late even on a chilly day.

A couple of days before we left, one of the friends phoned in a bit of a state as she had been asked to look after her sister's two children for two weeks due to an emergency. She was worried about our holiday and worried about looking after them and the situation behind their visit.

We all said that she should bring them as we really wanted to see her!

The boy was 8 and the girl 5yrs old. They were lovely - very funny and very sweet. We had a great time, especially as they got up when we woke them up and went to bed when we asked them to go to bed. AMAZING....

We also got to do things we might not have otherwise done, like visit Inveraray Jail (again) and go to Kilchurn castle.



In the evenings we chilled out after shattering days, sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine or cup of tea in front of a lovely fire chatting into the small hours.

It was a brilliant holiday which was relaxing and loads of fun! Leaving was tough but the fact that I was heading straight to Cardiff to visit my sister made it a bit easier.

Good Times

I'm visiting my wee sister just now - hence the lack of blogging.

She does not tend to embrace technologies such as this. More accurately - she doesn't see the point of blogging. So it's not likely that I'll be on again until I get back to Glasgow.

It's sunny in Wales! Yesterday afternoon after a morning of shopping we headed out to the beach with books from the charity shops in Cardiff. We read them sitting in the sun with a drink beside us. That has to be the most relaxing it can get.

I wish you all a Happy Easter in advance and have lots of stories to tell you when I get home.

Black Book

I am watching a film about WW2..... Im thinking it won't end well and I don't want to see the bad man win.

The Boat That Rocked

We have been to see The Boat That Rocked today and we loved it!

You should DEFINITELY go to see it.

Why I love Glasgow.

People are so friendly!

Yesterday (on only a bowl of cereal) I went out to rehearsals then headed out to the pub. Sunday is quiz night in our old local, so I got a bus around 8pm to the West End.

In the bus queue I asked an old(ish) man whether the bus drove along Great Western Road, as the timetable didn't tell me.

He replied that it did.

On the bus I headed to the back as I had 3 trumpets with me and there is usually more room there. The chap from the bus stop sat on the far side of the back seat.

When I looked over he asked how far along the road I needed to go, and remarked that he thought the bus drove all the way to the end. I replied (as I was a tiny bit pissed) that I was going to Hubbards pub. He then replied that he was going there too!

It turned out that the man on the bus was a member of a rival team. Grrr.... In fact, the man was a member of THE rival team. The team who usually win.

Arguing with the man over who was going to win must have helped as we came third! That is the highest we've ever come. Unfortunately the Westerners came second - so they beat us. They didn't win though, which was nice!

Coppers

This week at Brownies we had Colin the policemen in to do some Crime Prevention Badge stuff with the Brownies.

It was cool! The girls had a great time. He brought goody bags for them - though we were thin on the ground this week and had plenty left over. The excess bags I took through to Guides as the contents were: a leaflet, a water bottle, a postcode pen and a ruler.

On to me: I'm fine. I've got a lot on at the moment and haven't felt inclined to chat much lately. This does not mean I'm unhappy - promise.

Tonight I think we're having a take-away (mmm..) and then tomorrow I get to play some brass 10-piece stuff which will be a lovely blast from the past!

Also: My boyfriends sister has just told us she is pregnant, so I have embarked upon a baby blanket for her. It's not the most fun knitting job I've ever done but I'm pleased with how it's going so far. Blue is ok for a girl as well as for a boy, right?

Ranty Angry Grumpy Bitch

That's me today. Sorry!

It started off so well. I went for a nice sunny walk to the dentists, where he told me (again) that there's nothing wrong with me.... Then I got home.

I had a letter from the bank telling me that they were going to charge me unplanned overdraft fees after they removed my planned overdraft without informing me.

Grr.

I have phoned them. I am waiting now for them to call back.

I have a headache now from grumping so much. Have to practise the trumpet now too even though my head and teeth are hurting which means the practise session is going to be rubbish. Ever the optimist x

I have a photo of a threesome to post later on (when the car's back) which will cheer me up.

Day

Overall I've had an amazing day.

It started rockily with confirmation of some bad news about a good friend.

To avoid stewing over this we went for a drive into some of the most BEAUTIFUL scenery once again.

We then went to the supermarket to buy stuff for tea. I'm making garlic & rosemary roast lamb with parsnips, potatoes, carrots etc. On this trip I found GIANT GHERKINS! They're amazing. I am excited by this.

Anyway - hope you are having a good weekend x

TEETH

Fairly regularly, certainly frequently, my gums recede making my teeth sensitive and letting them move more than usual.

I am a trumpet player.

This is not good. Trumpet players should not have dodgy gums because it scares them (me) and makes them think that their teeth might fall out.

Even though they (I) have been to the dentist who has said that it's caused by over-brushing or not flossing properly but that the teeth are firmly fixed in the bone so not to worry.

Update

I have had a great week. Brownies was good, teaching was fun, concerts were good.



I am happy and contented as I just had some scrambled eggs for breakfast and I don't have to work tonight as I had originally thought.



For comic relief (charity fighting poverty/sickness in africa and supporting kids in the UK) I baked some biscuits - raised £42.50 which I think is pretty good considering I had to make them at midnight because I've worked all day and night for a week or so.

Good Times!

I am still a bit busy:

Today I had a school concert - so there was a rehearsal this afternoon (2 o'clock). It is also Brownie night, and we had arranged to go to plant trees locally.

This meant that I had to leave straight from the rehearsal and drive to Drumchapel woods.

In preparation for that I left early today and went to get some first aid stuff as the box needed updating and I couldn't be unprepared on an activity like this. I also bought Penguin biscuits and Capri Sun juice drinks for the kids.

A man called Terry met us and we walked up a hill really fast (because 8 year olds walk uphill as if it's flat ground... weirdos). I thought I was gonna puke at the top but we got a little break while the trees were brought up by the men from the Woodland group.

The girls were given gloves and shown how to dig using a spade properly. Safety was emphasised. They had already been split into pairs, so in their groups they went off with a spade to dig some well spaced out holes and plant some oak trees.

They LOVED it. We were lucky that the weather favoured us with sun.

One of the girls announced that 'This is the best Brownies ever!'. That makes it worthwhile. The others were very happy too, and they went home excited with the plan to visit the woods again for a guided walk soon.

Successful day!

social life

I've not really been socialising much of late as I've been working most nights. This is good because I love playing the trumpet. It doesn't leave me with a lot to tell you though.

Tomorrow I am going up North for a gig - which I'm quite looking forward to.

From Monday I have school concerts for most of the week, before heading up North again for another gig.

And after THAT - HOLIDAY! Woo hoo!!!! And I go to see my wee sister after that! Woo hoo!!! And I go to visit a friend after that! Woo hoo!!! (the woo hoo-ing's irritating me now so I'll stop).

Hope all is well in the blogosphere. Just about to have a browse whilst swatting up on music for tomorrow.

nothing to tell

so I'm telling nothing.

Fun

I'm such a whinger!

We went to the pub quiz last night and it was brilliant. I had a great time even though we didn't win. We hadn't seen our friends for a few weeks so it was really good to catch up.

I have to write a letter to the parents today to arrange the woodland trip. We are giving them the chance to plant trees in the local award winning (I still think that's great!) woodland but as nights are still drawing in fairly early we need to do this after school.

Tomorrow I have a lunchtime concert and we're doing Welsh night at Brownies afterwards, so I was hoping to make some Welsh cakes but think I may struggle to do so. Otherwise I'll teach them some Welsh and we'll play Build A Dragon/Sheep... haven't decided which. Sheep could be funny if we had fuzzy foam bellies. I am getting more ambitious now - reign it in... unless we did it as a craft first......

Anyway - I must practise the trumpet now so I'll be off.

Shattered

In case there was any doubt in my mind about HOW tired I feel today I have just got all bleary eyed over nice comments on Dancing on Ice after wiping a tear away watching Ghost Whisperer earlier.

And now we have to go out as it's pub quiz night.

Hooray.

THANK YOU VINNY BOND OF THE COUCH

Bond,

Many thanks for the Glasvegas CD. It is VERY cool as it's an American release special one that I couldn't get here AND is much better than I had expected from the singles.... I love it. WE love it (boyfriend too).

TC x x x

Stuff

Gross stuff: I walked into the staff toilet at a gig tonight to find an old lady having a pee with the assistance of her carer. Why oh why could they not lock the door?

Brownie stuff: I missed the meeting tonight - but know they're doing some Thinking Day things and some pancake day things.

I had an email today from the local woodland group - award winners, don't you know? They have said that we can help plant some trees and they'll give us a talk/guided tour of the woods. COOL!

Also - the community policeman is coming in to see the girls.

Work stuff: I have reports to do. Again. I have 3 different teaching jobs, all of which require reports at different times of the term. It's lucky that report-writing is my all time favourite passtime really.

Knitting stuff: Baby blanket getting there. 4 squares and a border to go.

Fun stuff: Our friend has booked us all a holiday in a cabin in the highlands.

We've been to the aquarium near Loch Lomond - it was rubbish.

We've also been for a walk in Lochwinnoch where two very friendly mink came out to say hello. One black, one grey.

Oooo - we also went to the seaside in North Berwick. VERY beautiful but I haven't got round to uploading the pictures yet.

And I'm swamped again

I have lost a pupil's phone number. 2 weeks ago he had a lesson. I forgot that in 2 weeks time I would have a gig so not be able to teach him. 1 week ago he missed his lesson due to school holidays.... Now I don't know how to let him know and I'm not sure how to fix the situation. The current plan is to sweet talk his school into passing on a message but I know it's a bit weird and I'm not sure they'll go for it. I had considered lurking round the school gates but I think that's weirder!!!

Update: I found cover for my show - so I can do my teaching. That solves it and reduces my guilty feelings. I did discover though that I forgot to turn up for Thinking Day today despite inviting my Brownies. Nobody phoned me... A parent texted to apologise for forgetting. At that point I realised what I'd done and since then I've been sweating a bit. I'm SURE that there were enough Guiders there, but I'm sorry I missed it as I've been every year and should not have forgotten.

Old Firm Rivalry

I forgot that my friend (for whom I made the hat) was a Rangers fan. This means it is against the laws of nature for her to wear green. Did you spot the last post? I made her the greenest of green hats.

She was very excited to get a hat and it looked very cute on her but I made her give it back so I could do another one, as I know whilst she'd wear it for a while, she'd stop wearing it because of the colour. I'd rather give it to someone who'd genuinely love it.

This is the new hat - I think it's pretty.

green beret

Valentines Weekend

Well it's Valentines this weekendand my boyfriend is working so I'm on my own again. I don't feel like getting in touch with friends to see what they're up to, as I'm quite happy doing my own thing today.

I have knitted half a beret. I have someone in mind for it and will put up a picture if it turns out nice!

I am still knitting a baby blanket for a friend, though I have made a mistake in it. The idea of fixing it is daunting. I think I might ignore it. I have another few weeks to finish this.

Brownies is off this week as it's half term. The following week I have to miss it for work.

I have reports and invoices to do for school, but it's Valentines Weekend. That's got to be a good reason not to, right?

Yesterday I was bored and started thinking about things that brought me down. It wasn't a good day. Each year on 14th Feb my boyfriend and I take turns making something special for each other. Last year he made me a chinese meal - most impressive!

This year I struggled for inspiration. Due to a variety of things - car problems, cat illness, wedding - it's a lean month in the Champ household and I'm cooking on a budget. Whilst I enjoy cooking and usually relish the challenge of making something from nothing, on Valentines night I'd rather have been able to choose the meal I think he'd like the most from a new recipe. There was nothing for it anyway, so I did my best.

I made:

Chinese style pork starter (chinese style pork was reduced to £1 in the supermarket) - delicious actually. There was going to be salad but that was slimy and smelly when I opened up the bag, despite buying it on the day. Irritatingly, I had a question on the payment machine at the till 'Did our vegetables seem fresh today'... I had ticked YES.

Main Course Ham hock slow-cooked casserole. I used some spices, stock, carrots, onions, leek, swede, new potatoes and a ham hock and slow cooked it over the whole day. At the end I squeezed in a lemon and added some sweetcorn. To accompany the stew I had a couple of sesame seed rolls.

Pudding - not required. I had planned to make crumble but we wouldn't have eaten it after all the food we'd already had so I'm glad I didn't waste the effort.

He gave it a 10/10 and said it was the nicest stew I've made. That's good. I'm pleased he went back for seconds later in the evening, as it must have been true. The sweetcorn was the real winner as it's his favourite vegetable.

My valentines gift (which we don't do usually) was a bar of dark chocolate from his work. His valentines gift was... nothing.

I hope you are having a fine weekend!

Blogging

I started this blog around when I became self employed, so was going through big changes in my life. My brother had a blog and inspired me to try it out for myself. I loved it. I loved the easiness with which I could record what was going on, and I loved the interaction with people from all round the world.

Recently this has been replaced by a desire NOT to tell people things I would like to record. I can't put them here unless I'm happy for everyone to see them - and clearly I'm not. After receiving an email a month or so ago in which things I have put on my blog have been taken out of context and used to form negative opinions of me and my life, I've been toying with the idea of sacking this blog and starting again somewhere else anonymously. The option to stop blogging altogether has occurred to me and is also tempting.

For now, I'll just leave things as they are, as quick catch ups and Brownie records. In time perhaps I'll record some of the things that I find more personal too.