Nice weekend. Work starts now!

This weekend some friends of mine came to stay. They have a daughter who's very little.

I haven't spent much time around very little kids, as I only have 2 friends with babies, and don't really get the whole baby thing. She was very cute, and it was interesting to see what they're like in real life. I do think she'll be more fun in a couple of years or so.

Am I actually allowed to say that out loud? I hope she doesn't know about the blog.

yawn

Post-Halloween Hangover. Working in an hour.

Dilemma

My boyfriend and I rarely have timeoff together. Today we are both off work.

He wants to do something fun today - and I really don't.
He wants to go out for lunch, to head into town... to GO somewhere to do something.
I want to knit my slippers, to practise the cornetto, to teach later, to do some journalling.
He wants me to come out with him.
I want him to do something here - like finish painting, or play his new computer game, or garden. Or to go OUT without dragging me into it too.

I am busy working for the next few weeks almost all the time, so we won't have much time again for a while.

By rights we should be trying to spend this day together - but I am finding him really annoying as he's pottering around the house when I know he wants to go out and do something. I wish he would just go and do what he wants to do and leave me alone!

Happy Halloween!

We had a halloween party at Brownies tonight - it was fun. I dressed as a witch - and quite enjoyed it to be honest. I got to wear more eyeliner than I've worn in my life and it was good practise for a real grown-up halloween party I'm thinking about turning up to next week (or the end of this week... whichever halloween is).

We played some games - like wink murder and musical scary statues.

We sang some songs (the Pink Panther - because one of them turned up dressed like the pink panther).

We ate some party food.

And then I cleaned up a LOT of mess. We ran out of time for apple bobbing, so next week they are making chocolate dipped apples with hundreds and thousands. They'll love that. I'm off - working - so I'll miss it. Good luck assistant - I'll find a parent to help.

yey - apology received

and accepted.

It just came to a head.... I told him he was pathetic. Always a good idea, right? He told me that 'the one thing I was enjoying...' which was going to end "about the party was my music" or something along those lines - as that's what he told me on the night.

However the sentence was not finished because I went nuts. "Seriously? The only thing about YOUR party, full of YOUR friends, that your FAMILY came up for, that I spent a day cooking YOUR choices of buffet for... the ONLY thing that you were enjoying about that was your music?".

He's been quiet since then. As have I.

I am terrible at leaving things that annoy me alone. I can't be annoyed about stuff silently. And I can't talk about you behind your back - so feel very safe in the knowledge that I'll tell you exactly what I think.

Anyway - now it's all out there in the open I'll be able to forget all about it. So the confrontation is entirely selfish, and is possibly something I should stop doing. I don't know.

Hello!

Well that's the visit over. It was good fun - but I don't think I'll ever be comfortable around his mother.

On his actual birthday we took a trip to Callander to go to the Rob Roy exhibition (which was amusingly bad when we visited in the past), but it had closed. So we took a scenic drive home. We then went out to dinner (after I had finished Brownies, of course).

On the next day I spent the morning preparing a buffet for 30 people, played a gig in the afternoon, came home to teach and we then went out to his birthday party in a local pub. He was in his element as he could plug his own MP3 player into the sound system. The other guests (in particular his Mum) seemed less enthralled after a few hours of it, so I asked her if we should put on the 'party mix' (from his sister's boyfriend's ipod). Her reply was 'Yes, might liven it up a bit'. So I plugged it in.... and he chucked a wobbly. I wanted to smack him and am still annoyed about it now actually. There's nothing he can do to change it but from that moment on I did not enjoy his party, and had it been anyone else's I would have left. Rude arsehole. Honestly - thinking about his petulant reaction makes me genuinely angry. I have never wanted to walk out of anywhere as much. But I didn't - I stuck it out and smiled. I tried (and failed) to talk to his mum. I bought drinks, drank drinks, ate buffet, chatted to my friends and to some of his colleagues.

He enjoyed himself - which is the main thing. He was clearly very happy to have his sister, mum dad and sister's boyfriend here. His sis is fantastic and her boyfriend is very funny. I like them a lot.

And now he's officially old. Ha! Lucky for me that I'm not planning to turn 30 ever.

I am having a nice time tonight doing nothing - it's pleasing me greatly. However by writing the above I've wound myself up again so I think it's time for me to go and get a(nother) glass of wine!

Happy Birthday to my Boyfriend!

It's the big 30 today!

(so far so good with the visit too btw)

descent of the in-laws (not technically in-laws but you get the drift)

My boyfriend's parents are coming to visit this week. They are due to arrive this afternoon.

It will mean I either blog lots and lots through the stress of it. Or blog little because of the fun we're having.

Hope all is well with you all. I'll let you know how it goes!

happy birthday to my blog!

It's two years old the day before yesterday, and I'm surprised to discover I've been going for so long!!

Seaside

Did you know that from Broughty Ferry beach you can see a family of dolphins?

We went for a morning visit to the beach. After a quick whizz round the museum we headed for the sand. Then my friend pointed at the sea and claimed to have seen a dolphin.

Ever the sceptic, I dubiously looked over to find that she was right! The dolphins swam back and forth getting closer and closer to us, until from the shore we could see them coming out of the water and diving back in.

It was an amazing end to a fun holiday.

Holiday

Today I'm going to the seaside and I am very excited. At the moment I am sat in my PJ's playing on my friend's computer while she's out getting fags and cheese for cheese and ham toasties. She doesn't put cigarettes in the cheese and ham toasties - they're just for her!

I feel mean

I am thinking bad things about people completely unfairly. I am usually more inclined to think good things. It's making me feel guilty - Maybe a conscious effort to snap out of the grump is required.

Tomorrow I have a hard gig, then on Monday I am going away on a short holiday break to see my friend. Only to Dundee, but it's out of Glasgow and not work-related so I am excited. It's definitely time to get away for a break. Recharge the batteries and all that.

bloody amateurs

Imagine this:

You are a self-employed musician. You are asked to do a gig 6 months in the future for really bad money.

You take the gig because you have nothing else booked for that week and there is no reason not to.

At the end of the phone call, the amateur booker says 'OK great. So you won't drop out now before the gig will you? I mean we really want to get this sorted out firmly right now.. etc'.

What do you reply?

I reply something like 'oh yeah of course sure...' (bearing in mind I'm a good 1/2 bottle of peach schnapps down by the time of this conversation)...

I am THINKING though: "Who the hell do you think you are? The money for this is sh't so if I'm offered something for a decent fee what do you think I'm gonna do??".

Amateurs.

Normal Life

Brownies: We have some kids making their promise tonight so it's the old Hostess badge while they do it with parents there nightmare evening that I am expecting.

Other stuff: Gig-wise there's a fair bit going on and I am nervous about a gig this weekend but generally all is good. There's a video on youtube if you're interested in seeing me in action... with my trio friends.

Sorry I haven't been a very good blogger this week - I'm just very busy but I do appreciate your comments and will be round properly soon. First I must get this Brownie night over with!!

American Politics

As we have previously established, I really don't understand American politics. Seriously - how is there even still an election race here? Surely that side with nutjob Palin on can't be an option really? SURELY nobody with a brain would actually elect McCain. So based on that logic with the reported closeness in the polls, I'm not getting an particularly rosy view of American intellect from our press.

Or am I missing something?

ho ho ho!

Today was my first Christmas gig of the year. Seriously.

It's the 2nd October!

Sloe Gin Making

OK:


Well according to the many recipes, all of which were similar, take 1lb sloes, 1litre gin, 1 wineglass of sugar.



Prick the skins of the sloes and drop them in the gin (obviously you have to remove some gin first or they won't fit.


I went for putting half in an old vodka bottle).

Add the sugar and shake.






Shake daily for a week then weekly for two months.

In my wisdom I decided to make this sat in the front room watching telly. This was due to the number of berries I would have to prick. It seemed daunting without other entertainment, but I can't remember what was on the box so it must have entertained me more than I expected.



This is the colour it is at the moment.

booze!

I love booze.

This weekend I went for a walk with my boyfriend as we stayed in Cumbria after some concerts in England and Wales.

We stumbled across some sloe bushes so collected as many berries as we could in the hope that we could go home to make us some sloe gin.

Yey!

Anyhow - now I have to Google me a recipe, and get going. I bought the gin last night so am all set. I'll post about it when I know what I'm doing! (I'm quite excited.)

I really really hate blogger

But I just can't work out Wordpress at all.

I might just sack blogging altogether. I can't read anyone on Blogspot's blogs most of the time, and I can't get into my own blog.

It's too random - you have to be able to blog when you have the time. I don't have the time to check back every couple of hours on the offchance that it might be working now.

Assuming this holds for more than 10 minutes, I'll be round to see you shortly.

ill again

I'm gonna start posting with this title when I have a cold, as I feel like I've been ill all year. I suspect that is not true - but with a big gig coming up the last thing I need is a chesty cough. If I do this I'll be able to tell for sure. Or maybe I should tag the posts.

Anyway - back to normal stuff.

At Brownies last night we made chocolate truffles using cream cheese, icing sugar and melted chocolate. It looked disgusting!!!!!!!!!! But tasted surprisingly alright. It didn't set properly so they went home with brown blobs on greaseproof paper, rather than rolled up truffle balls as I'd expected. I tried not to get too involved in this as I'm not well.

They seemed quite happy despite my lecturing them on good behaviour and brownie points (I'm really not feeling good and they weren't watching for the hand in the air thing - for any non-Brownies, when the Guider puts her hand up it means stop where you are right now and shut it). We also had a game of practising what you do when the hand goes up. One of them talked all 4 times we tried it so I made her sit at the side while we did songs. That was actually annoying as she's one of the best singers.

Anyway - it felt very hard work. I think they had fun though. Next week they're preparing for their promise and starting hostess badge as we normally get them through this one as part of their promise ceremony.

Concert in Swansea 25th September - Scottish Trumpet Ensemble

If any of you are round and about in Swansea this Thursday the Scottish Trumpet Ensemble are playing in St Mary's Church at 7.30pm.

It promises to be a varied programme and definitely worth a look if you free.

As to me - I'm snivelling over the sad death of Marco on Neighbours. Think it's time for Brownies!!

Sunday Morning

What do you spend your Sunday morning doing?

Today I have to be at a rehearsal at half 10am. It finishes at half 11, and is taking place in a room above a brewery bar. The bar would open at 12.

Do I...

a) Go for a half hour walk then head into the bar at opening time?
b) Go for a half hour walk then go home and chill out (or finish all the other things I have to do actually)?

I hate Blogger (today at least)

This stupid thing won't let me on at any reasonable time of the day or night.... but apparently at 6am when I HAVE to go back to sleep as I've been up for 2 hours and have a really long scary day ahead it's available to use.

Useless stupid Blogger.

I have started a wordpress blog which I am quite confused by at the moment as you have to do layout stuff yourself. Much more of this and I'm gonna switch though.

aagh

I want more hours in the day. I am not tired much at the moment but you can't practise the trumpet at 9pm in a flat in a city. So I want more daytime hours. Or a house in the middle of nowhere.

If I could do it my way I would practise on and off mixed in with all the other household things that need doing all day and all night.

I have a practise mute which I can use. It muffles me right down to under the level of the TV even but it isn't rewarding to play with. I suppose it will have to do.

Plan for Brownies tomorow: Jewellery making. I saw a craft somewhere where you rip paper into long thin triangles and wrap it round knitting needles to make beads. I'll let you know how it goes!

Best gig ever!

I was absolutely 100% flawless.

I arrived at the park for the wind band gig, waded through the mud, found the marquee... and the band had already finished and packed up.

Ha!

Blogger issues

I have been unable to get onto blogger - even to read your blogs - for a few days.

To make up for it I'll tell you everything in one go:

Tomorrow I have work then am playing with a Wind Band which I haven't done (other than kids ones) for a few years. Should be fun.

I am a tragic geek who stayed up late last night playing My Sims on the Wii. Sad. I am sorry. It was new - won't happen again.

For tea today we had pasta with a delicious sauce made from carrots, peppers, tomatoes and pork. Yum.

As you can see not much has happened!

Juggling

I feel like I have so many balls in the air at the moment one of them has to drop.

I have Brownie stuff, gig stuff, teaching stuff. I always feel like this at the start of the year though - it'll calm down. Think it might be time to make myself a list.

Brownies last night was fun. We did an evening on friendship as I'm still trying to get used to all the new ones. (We had another sign up last night - overfull now). We put their names on each envelope and everyone has to write something nice about each person and put it in the envelope. They get to take the envelopes home full of nice things.

Note to anyone who does this: VET the comments. We didn't. I never imagined that anyone would put anything mean in the envelopes, but we got a couple of 'she is annoying's. We did it in sixes rather than as a whole group because I didn't want it to last all evening.

I printed teddy bear colouring in templates for the girls then gave them instructions for the colouring in like 'For the ears: If you have brothers (only) colour red, sisters only colour blue, both colour yellow, neither colour pink' etc. The idea of this is that at the end they will see how alike they are. We didn't quite finish this so we'll do that bit next week. We'll make a display out of them too.

Other than that we planned this term and played port/starboard. The old Brownies knew about it already and have always enjoyed it, and the new ones thought it was great.

Guess why I like this advert....

go on - it's funny (to me at least)



Oh My God - I looked further and found another ten or so versions people have made in response to this advert. People are nuts!!!

Anndi you're an inspiration!

Raven - I am really really really sorry!

This was so much fun! I know it's shocking - I am sorry to all those of you who can actually write properly but this made me laugh a LOT.

The words: toad stool, liquid lunch, Jurassic Park, counting sheep, manacles,

Nonsense... Clearly, By TC (I'm no poet, thought I'd show it!!!)

The Animals in manacles,
perch on toadstools next to whirlpools,
Drinking liquid lunch made from melon chunks,
Painting modern Art, in Jurassic Park,
Before counting sheep as they try to sleep.

AND THE FUN STOPS

We were planning to spend this weekend with friends down South. However they're ill - so we're in Glasgow still... and I have a mountain of work to do.

The first job is to copy and post some accompaniments for some gigs we have coming up in Wales & England. It's taken me most of the day to get our new scanner sorted out and to get the music scanned in. I can't post originals as I have 3 different organists to post the stuff to and only 1 set of originals (obviously).

I suppose I had better get on with it.

Good Gig

We went to see The Dodos supported by Euros Childs and Beerjacket on Wednesday.

It was very good - You'd have liked it. So I've youtubed it and here you can see a bit of what we saw:

The Dodos

My mouth hurts

I have been drinking too much lately.

It's good - it's been fun.

and

It's bad - my mouth hurts now after I brushed my teeth vigorously a few days ago - it always mucks my gums up.

Brownies is back!

We started today and we had 20 kids. That's LOADS. We had 16 before and I thought that was plenty. 20? Wow. And I only made 1 of them cry.

They are a mixed bunch. One of them is tiny - and very cute! One is a fighter - she broke a guide's hand kicking last year whilst at Rainbows. Tonight she kicked another Brownie (who kicked her back). I told her that it was not acceptable behaviour and that if it happened again I would speak to her parents (hence the tears). The majority of them are VERY confident little girls, which is good.. but very noisy, which could be good or bad.

We had fun. We made name badges (coz I have so many new ones) with stickers and felt tips. We had a pow wow (they sit in a circle and we discuss anything that needs to be said). We appointed sixers and told the girls their sixes. We played some games. Then Brownie Bells and home time. It went quite quickly. It wasn't the smoothest evening ever, but it was ok and I'm sure we'll get the hang of the bigger group soon enough.

First Day At School

In Edinburgh.

I was looking forward to it yesterday. Today, not so much.

Manic Monday - Iron (see below!!)

For the originator, head over to see Mo. For my post, scroll down a wee bit please.

Oops

Can you guess what happened?

Judge Me

How bad is this?

To set the scene: We have one car between us. I have the car on Saturday as I teach in an awkward place for public transport. My boyfriend doesn't work in a great place for public transport either really but he has the car every other day of the week.

TC "Do you really need a lift home from work on Saturday?"
Boy "Um... well I could get the train."
TC "Would that be ok?" *batting eyelashes giving a winning smile*
Boy "Yes, I'll get someone to drop me at the train station. How come?"
TC "Well Jenny is coming round for dinner."

My real reason for asking? I want to watch the final of Last Choir Standing on tv.

Dodgy geezer

Last night I had fish and chips before going out.

At the chippy a man came in asking for a carrier bag because his plastic bag had split outside just up the road. He was not a chip shop customer.

The owner of the shop told him that there was a 5p charge for a plastic bag. The guy thought for a second then left.

The owner then told us dodgy guys come into the chippy quite often asking for a carrier bag that they can use to hide the item they've just stolen from a car up the road.

The dodgy guy came back into the shop and this time I noticed he had a big square/rectangular object hidden underneath his jumper. He asked to see the plastic bag. The shopkeeper showed him but he didn't buy it and left for good this time.

I want to know what you could nick from a car that's about the size of a box of tissues (maybe slightly bigger)?

Wordless Wednesday - My First Fish! (it's in there somewhere)

Dad's fish... it's slightly more impressive.

Routine

I like my routine of the last two weeks....


I sit around getting up slowly, making tea, playing the computer, practising a bit, playing the piano........ then I teach a bit...... then I can go back to the earlier stuff before bed.

However I know it's not good. I am - as of tomorrow - going to make an effort to sort out my room to make myself get back into hard work again. I had a crazy few weeks and reacted by just flopping for a few days. Time to stop that.

Broonies

I am just realising that my Brownie pack starts back next week.

A week or two ago a nice Guider from Ireland gave me a newsletter she uses... which I edited for my pack (deleted the name of her and her unit and replaced it with my unit and my name).

I thought last night that I ought post it. So I printed 20 copies, and took the envelopes, addresses and letters to the pub to put it together somewhere with beer. HOWEVER on the bus there I spotted an error...



Can you spot it? In the first big heading (the layout's gone a bit nuts when I've changed it into a JPEG) - "SEPTMEBER".

As this will be the first thing I send to my new Brownies I decided to print them out again. I ripped up the misspelt copies. I printed page 1, then stuck all the paper in to print page 2.

The stupid ink ran out on the reverse of ALL the copies.

So that's 40 copies ruined. On the up-side, I spotted another mistake (it instead of is) which I can now fix too.

Cool Brass Music

Their website.

I had to do a gig once walking in singing a song in parts. We were.. umm... not as good as this. Nuff said!

Back to teaching

Tomorrow I have the staff meeting child protection training etc etc day for my Saturday teaching.

I can't remember what time it is meant to be at.

Oops.

Update:
My friend texted at half 3 this morning to tel me it's at 9.30. She'll be feeling good for it!!

On the one hand......

I like to watch the sports I enjoy most at Olympic level.

On the OTHER hand it is annoying me that I'm having to watch GMTV (dodgy breakfast tv news and gossip show) if I've been up late as BBC in the morning show the sports I've already seen.

Perhaps blaming the Olympics isn't fair. Perhaps I should pinpoint the real culprit for unwatchable telly:

Big Brother. It is terrible!!!!!!!!

Usually if I don't want to watch BBC Breakfast (good breakfast tv news show) I can always watch some old Frasier re-runs, but when Big Brother is on the channel (Channel 4) seems to show it at all hours and the channel is a no-go. The last two series's of the show have bombed though I think so hopefully they'll give up after this one.

Thursday Thirteen #30

Thursday Thirteen

13 Things I have to do today:

1. Take the first wash from last night out to dry
2. Put on a wash
3. Go to work in my office job
4. Buy shoes
5. Meet a friend
6. Put on a wash
7. Put clothes out to dry
8. Put on a wash
9. Put clothes out to dry
10. Put on a wash
11. Put clothes out to dry
12. PUT ON A WASH!
13. Go to bed.

To explain - we got our new washing machine after a week without one. Bear in mind that I broke the washing machine when it was definitely due a couple of cycles already.

It promises to be a barrel of fun today.

Tea Cozy revisited

I love tea. Particularly real tea in a teapot made with tealeaves.

My friend has just discovered real fresh proper tea too.

I am making him a tea cozy. He's making tea at the moment in a cafetiere so I'll get him a cheap teapot too. I'm halfway through - will post you another picture when I'm finished. *done - see top! Apologies for the mobile phone camera snaps*

The Pattern

Reviving 1980's hair accessories

Why do female gymnasts still wear scrunchies in their hair.

I understand wanting to keep the hair back - that just makes sense. However the sparkles, gel and SCRUNCHIES in particular bemuse me.

Having said this - I am completely in awe of their skills and love watching this sport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/gymnastics/7567004.stm

Mmmmmmmmmm

I have bought a washing machine from Argos coz they can deliver at a more convenient time than John Lewis.

Now I'm thinking of having a catch-up daytime snooze, as I can't put a wash on (shame!).

Finished!

After a really long day - Edinburgh gig then Glasgow gig with a pipe band championship in the middle (selling programmes for Guides) - I'm done. And can now RELAX.

I am so tired!

It's been a busy period. But tomorrow marks the end - and I am excited at the prospect of a whole day off.

Hope you have a fine weekend too.

FUN

We've been to the science centre today. It's a very cool place but it was the busiest I've seen and the queue to get in was enormous. This affected MY enjoyment of it but not the five year old boy's or my boyfriend's.

We then came home and played bubble blowing. FYI - a trumpet is not the most effective method of bubble blowing, but when it works the bubbles are mightily impressive.

AAAAAAAAAAAAGH my stupid washing machine has broken on the day I have guests coming to stay.




When we bought a flat, like many first time buyers, we had no 'stuff'. We moved in with a side table, a black wooden chair and a computer table and computer.

We bought the basics to get going - a bed, some drawers, a sofa (really cheap - really rubbish). Then a friend offered a deal on a washing machine, tumble dryer and fridge freezer which were in her great Aunt's house. Her aunt was going into a home so we bought the items from her at a bargain price, for which we were VERY grateful!

However the fridge freezer and tumble dryer have since been replaced. It was gutting to have to throw them away but we couldn't find anybody to take the tumble dryer (which worked) and the fridge was finished.

Finally this is the washing machine giving up the ghost. It must be pretty old. It's a Hoover Classica Autowasher 1000- can't find a date using the magic of the internet.

RIP washing machine.

More weirdness

Hit play before you read - this takes a minute to get going.



The other day I turned the radio on (BBC Radio 2 - thought it might have been Jonathan Ross) and this what was playing.

"Bow, Bow Bow.... Bow, Bow Bow...."

NO WAY - it can't be?

I thought I was going mad for a minute. But it was really there - The Frog Chorus was genuinely coming from my car stereo!

It is much longer than I remembered. Alan Titchmarsh played it on his show. I had to turn over straight after this because the next thing was a Mozart piano piece (yawn). Later I tried again to find it a pop song played on Euphonium. Nope - not for me.

Anyway - Hope you enjoy the video... or enjoy the reminder of 198_ .

WTF!

War

Sh!t - there's a war. Again. Now it's Georgia and Russia. And I was moaning about my stomach. Sh!t.

Cure for a dodgy tum

3 hours trumpet playing
bread
water



Hopefully once cured it'll be fine then to have a drink or two.

Don't worry - I'll have a day off on Monday.

Recipe for continued dodginess

2 cans lager
2 pints cider
4 pints lager
1 bottle of vino verde
1 pizza
1 chinese buffet
1 packet cheese and onion crisps
steak and mushroom dinner (tasty)
16 more hours trumpet playing

Recipe for a dodgy tum

1 Chocolate Brownie
2.5 pints of lager
7 hours trumpet playing.

Mimi's Tag - The 'needs' meme

As I understand it the meme rules are simple: Google 'your first name' and 'needs' as a search.

I have an unusual real name. And a blog name that isn't a name. So my results on this meme weren't great. My real name just brought up articles or websites really about me, so I'm going with Top.

Top needs a bottom for daytime sex. There were two or three like this... Top needs a young boy.... Top needs a slutty bottom... and so on.

Top needs refinishing.

Top needs the time.

Anyway I must go as I have lots of work to do. As the meme says 'Top needs the time'. I have a pupil due this morning any time now and rehearsals after that all day.

See Mimi's for the meme proper.

Teachers. Bah.

OK so I teach quite a lot myself.

Maybe more accurately the title of my post should be: Musicians. Bah.

I don't know.

What I do know is that it annoys me when musicians dump a gig for a better paid one. I understand it. I have done it.... although never without finding a suitable replacement for myself - sometimes paying them more than the gig would have paid me because I'm earning more anyway.

It also irritates me when people who are music teachers as well as performers assume that everyone else is having a huge long restful holiday when in fact some of us have taken work to fill the gaps teaching left.

And I want to do a rehearsal at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning because I have another rehearsal in another city at half past six that night. However a colleague can't be bothered to get there in time for that so is making us have the rehearsal later. Which annoys me because I know that he's not doing anything at 11am. He just has to travel for an hour and a half so would need to leave at half past nine - which is obviously too early in school holidays.

Now that's off my chest I feel a lot better!

Manic Monday - Big

Mo's Manic Monday (- click to link to Mo's blog)

This is my very BIG cat Dixie. He's a real cuddle-monster.

If I continue to eat all the left-over cake I have from this weekend I will be very BIG indeed!

And the final result.

I think she likes it.

The toffee cake left-overs made this:

The baking... including the bun in the oven.

The Topchamp Bakery is now Open

I have just spent a couple of hours baking cakes. I made a vanilla 6oz sponge using golden caster sugar - just tasted a crumb and it is REALLY tasty. I have just wrecked it though by cutting it in half to ice the middle, but not paying proper attention and cutting it wonky. I may well have to start that one again.

I have also begun baking a chocolate sponge. This one's in the oven. It smells nice!

I will let you know how this one turns out.

The last cake I have to make is a toffee sponge - I've nicked a recipe off the web so will paste the link here.

Wordless Wednesday

The American Dream

Do you guys really have FREE internet?

(p.s. I'm disabling comments coz I want an answer to the cake question too - you'll have to reply under that post!)

Cake!

As Mrs S is on a diet I'll tell her now : STOP READING.

Anyone else: I have to make a cake for a friend's birthday next weekend. Does anyone have experience of cake-making? I want to know if you can freeze cake and not spoil it?

I suspect she's really after a chocolate cake - probably with more chocolate. My birthday cake was DELICIOUS though as vanilla with chocolate covering and filling.

She also will expect something impressive - so a novelty or giant cake I think.

I have scratched my head for ideas. So far I'm thinking the classic pile of presents would be quite cool. Or maybe a handbag shape. OR a multi-tiered patterned cake with a crown on top which I saw on a website.

So back to the question - can you freeze cake without spoiling it?

Politics UK

Labour (current ruling party) have just lost a very safe seat in Glasgow.

It was won by the SNP. Maybe it's time for me to find out more about them - I've avoided it because of the name Scottish NATIONAL party. Reminds me of the ultra-evil British National Party.

Pests

This morning I looked out of the back window at the lawn and found myself gazing into Homer Simpson's eyes.

What on earth could a big cuddly Simpson head be doing on the grass out there?

My best guess - foxes. There was also a big black fox poo on the grass next to the head (which had actually turned out to be a slipper), to assist in my identification of the culprit.

This weekend I'm off out the back with a strimmer and spade to clear the undergrowth at the bottom of the garden - hopefully I'll destroy their habitat.

spelling

I REALLY need to read through my posts before I put them up! Spelling error just found - plumbs instead of plums. Dumbo.

p.s. If you find more - let me know!

Food

We have just got back from a couple of weeks wandering.

While my boyfriend was in Italy I went to Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle.

A great time was had by all. I went to the pub, ate out, did a bit of sightseeing and went for walks in the countryside.

I particularly want to tell you about the food – which was outstanding!

Leeds: We ate out at a restaurant called Citrus. The downside was that they brought me a cheese soufflé when I ordered a fig and blue cheese chart. The UPSIDE was that the food was great and my starter was free.

Cardiff: We ate out at the Brasserie. You could choose your meat/fish etc from a cold counter and they cooked it. We chose bbq ribs and roast duckling, and muscles in white wine and lemon sole. It was delicious, but the fish was my absolute favourite. My little sister is moving to Cardiff soon and I am most certainly going to visit her often!

Carlisle: My friend’s mother is an amazing cook – Dinner started with salt & pepper squid which I learnt to do myself. The preparation involved hilarious moments where my friend’s mum commented that the squid when washed looked a bit like a condom, but she didn’t think it would taste like a condom… although she didn’t actually know what a condom tasted like. Meanwhile her son went red at each mention of the word ‘condom’ and squirmed openly at the final comment while I could only crease up laughing at the pair of them! They barbecued a joint of lamb marinated in yoghurt mint and brown sugar and while it cooked we took a trip to the local pub. And then after all that there was even dessert! Plums and cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.



Now my boyfriend tells me that the food in Italy was wonderful. He tried octopus and other seafood which previously he has refused to eat and I am most pleased with this step forward. However I do not believe for a second that his meals could possibly have surpassed the menu which the UK provided that week.

brief quiet period

I'm really not a very quiet person. But I've been away on holiday this week and am playing for a wedding in England this weekend so haven't had a chance to blog or use the internet until today. And now my time is up, but I am looking forward to being back online properly on Monday!

Brownie Camp

We arrived on Friday night, they heard the programme and discovered they'd have chores (groans all round) then had some sandwiches and biscuits with juice. They went outside for a torchlight wordsearch, which wasn't in torchlight because we only had a couple of hours of darkness this weekend, then came in for story and bedtime stuff.

They giggled and chatted and giggled in their dorm until one of the guiders moved in and settled on the lower bunk making them sleep.

On Saturday morning I awoke to more giggles and squeals. I checked my phone: 5am!

The other guiders were seemed able to sleep but I can't do that - I'm a wake up get up person. So I went through.

"Hands up who knows what time it is?" No hands.
"twenty past........... FIVE"

Their faces dropped! They knew they were in trouble... but still giggled when I left the room.

So I got my sleeping bag and told them a couple of stories: one about good brownies who go to sleep and do lots of fun things with their refreshed cheerful guiders... and one about bad brownies who stay up all night and spend the day doing chores and cleaning, becuase their guiders are too crabbit to go out and play.

They all just giggled at me, and a Brownie from another pack responded "you should've brought those other Brownies then". Somehow I don't think they take me very seriously! It worked though, and they dropped off again very quickly.

I went back to sleep and woke up again around half 6, which is fine as they were to be woken at half 7.

On Saturday our Harry Potter theme meant we could fit in a visit from a man with owls. Real live owls. IT WAS COOL!!!!!!!



In the afternoon they had a trip to the loch. A treasure hunt. I may have taken them slightly the wrong way as I had no idea how to get there, and neither did the guider who took a group 2 mins after me. We weren't lost though.



Otherwise, we did some crafts... sang a few songs... had a party where they entertained us with a fashion show and some comedy sketches then we entertained them with a Harry Potter magic show.

On the last day the grown-ups have to clean the house so the Brownies spent a fair bit of time playing outside.

What impressed me most over the weekend was the way the kids from 3 different packs all mucked in together and made new friends quickly. They all behaved really well and made the weekend enjoyable for all of us. They got their Brownie Holiday badge and some goodies and I am pretty sure they all went home very happy.

I am on my own in the flat.

I went away on Friday to Brownie camp. I got home on Sunday but drove straight down to England to stay with my sister before heading to Wales for the night.

We then came back to Leeds. Meanwhile my boyfriend jetted off to Tuscany (grr).

I then went to Carlisle to visit a friend and his family.

Now I am home. Most of my pals are on holiday, and I only arrived here at 7pm so there hasn't been time to organise an outing.

So I'm getting a bit bored. Might need to get a knitting project going. At 10pm it's too late to practise the trumpet!

Jet Setters

My boyfriend is away just now on a work trip to Italy. I think he is here. Wish I was!!

Brownie camp finished today. It went incredibly smoothly and the kids had a great time. I'll tell you about it when I'm back - just heading off again now so no time.

Last night I had planned to go out with a couple of friends.

However when I got home my boyfriend had still not found the passport he began looking for the previous day.

So I started to help. I looked through all of the sensible places. I searched the filing cabinet file by file.

I looked through the less sensible places, such as the kitchen drawers and recipe book shelf.

The previous night I watched him check the passport drawer, so knew it could not be there. In case though I asked 'did you check the drawer again'? The reply: About 4 times.

So we kept searching into the evening.

EVENTUALLY when it was far too late to meet people who'd been out since six o'clock I was on the verge of announcing that he was just going to have to queue for an emergency passport application today when I checked the passport drawer. I had no expectation of finding anything, but guess what?

HIS PASSPORT WAS EXACTLY WHERE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE FIRST PLACE! Idiot x

HOLIDAYS A COMIN!

I'm out an about for the next 2-3 weeks. I'll be home but am not sure how much. Ideally I'd love to float about away from the city for the whole time but finances and pet care will mean that's not possible.

I'm excited though.

The first thing coming up is Brownie camp. Wish us luck.

The morning after

I feel OK!

Today I have a pupil coming round in the morning. She's a really nice kid so it'll be fun. After that the day is my own.

Wimbledon: Anyone watch it? Andy Murray won his match yesterday - it was confusing to me as I really don't understand tennis scoring - but he's a Scot so I'm pleased he won.

I think that was the quarter final.... or the qualifier for the quarter final. Does anyone else know?

This is the first week off school and already I'm wondering what to do with the days off. I think this is the only week I have completely free though so I'm just going to enjoy it.

friends

My Pals cheered me up.

A couple of chaps phoned after 4pm to say 'we are heading to the pub where shall we meet you'?


Cheered me right up............. I love them x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

(yup, I have been in the pub since just after 5pm)

So far this birthday sucks.

We hung around this morning because my boyfriend thought we should wait for the postman. However I have had messages from my brother, sister, boyfriends sister and my mother (who has stuff from an aunt) ALL of whom haven't actually posted anything yet. The postman hasn't been and it's 12.30. I gave up and went to the bank. Wish now that I hadn't.

I went to withdraw camp money from the brownie account, only to discover that the form the bank in the city centre gave me last week is not sufficient unless the signatory is present with ID. Which they won't be as they are now in France on Guide camp. I have signed completed forms to add me as a signatory, but the bank now tell me this takes 2 weeks. Not something they chose to mention two weeks ago when I asked about it!

I leave for Brownie camp on Friday. Without the money?? I need to fix this one fast!

Update: I did get mail from my parents..... to clear up any confusion. It arrived after I posted this - they did not forget.

cake!

I forgot to photograph the cake til this morning. And the super-tasty one I made later has gone. But the very tasty one that my boyfriend made is left and I've photographed that for you instead.

Mine was a vanilla victoria sponge with vanilla creamy icing filling and chocolate fudge icing all round the top and sides, decorated with white chocolate chips and chocolate vermicelli. Mmmmm.

I tried to get my pals to vote on which cake they preferred but they just refused to say that mine was better. I'm taking this verdict from the 'pie chart test'. (approximation of cake quantities eaten half-way through party). Cake 1 is mine.




We had fun. I am feeling really full... and thirsty (can't think why I'd have that symptom this morning!).

Today - Party! (birthday not actually til monday)

I got some cards today - woo hoo! (exciting) Thank you if you are reading.

So far we have:

Tidied
Hoovered
Baked cake
Washed up
Cleaned up
Mowed lawn
Strimmed weedy bit
Been to supermarket
Been to DIY store (for replacement gazebo, as it is very likely we'll get rain although it's holding off just now)
Played some Super Mario Galaxy
Listened to the radio
Decorated cake

It's now 1pm. 2 hours til kick off. I might just clear the washing up if it's dried and then pour myself a glass of wine.

Then I'll decorate the other cake - we burnt the first one so I made a replacement - and post you some pictures x

Tomorrow - Birthday Barbie

Since I first lived in a flat with a garden (3rd year in uni) I have had a bbq party for my birthday. This year the weather has been great until this weekend.

So I'm expecting this: (just got the pic from photobucket. It isn't me!)

Construction!

I have begun construction of Phone Socks.

My boyfriend recently got a new phone. I mentioned previously on my blog that I was planning to make him a cover for it as it has an enormous screen and he'll scratch it all up at work carrying it round.

So I invented (not claiming it's an original idea... just that I didn't steal it from anyone) the Phone Sock.

This is the prototype. As such I have offered to make my boyfriend a new and improved version but he is resisting. He is a bit sentimental.

This is the first commission. Allan (a colleague) requested the colour scheme. The rest of the design, including a home made button added after the photo, are my creation. I am quite proud of this one.


And the third (and the one I resent making a bit as I hate Celtic and Rangers) - a blue, white and red cover. This is a work in progress. I expect to have it finished today providing I stop reading your blogs for a while. (FINISHED!!)

Pupil Progress

Yesterday I spent the morning tidying my house. Seriously - cleaning properly - because I'd invited my private pupils to play a concert for their parents.

There were three who were up for it, so they each prepared a piece. I moved the piano into the frong room and set up chairs.

They performed really well! And the concert lasted about 20 minutes which is impressive if you conisider they're all beginners and each piece was around 1 min max long.

Anyway - they seemed to enjoy themselves and the parents looked very proud so I think it was worth the effort.

To My Little Bro

Road Rage

I had a minor incident this week with road rage. A brush with an angry taxi driver.

I was driving along in the right hand lane (the fast lane) after traffic lights accelerating away.

A taxi in the left lane indicated out, but I was already passing it so I assumed he'd wait til I'd passed and pull in behind me. Instead he tried to force his way out.

As I already have a dent in the passenger side of the car (after a pensioner with one arm and one leg crashed into me) I decided to ignore him, so he had to pull sharply back into his lane to avoid running into the side of my car.

He beeped his horn a lot and flashed his lights at me.

So I stuck my middle finger up in the rear window as I drove away.

However I was stopped soon after at red lights, and he pulled in behind me. He honked his horn angrily over and over and over again. I refused to turn round and he just kept beeping. I kept a keen ear out for the sound of a car door, as I was half expecting him to jump out to have a go. I had my hand on the locks just in case!

As we pulled away at the lights he was turning right and passed me. As he did so he gestured the knob sign through his window. As if I were the w_nker!

Do you think if I'd refrained from swearing at him he'd have been as mad?

SO PRODUCTIVE I'M FINISHED BEFORE LUNCHTIME!

Today I have FINISHED THE ACCOUNTS! I am so happy!

So now onto the next issue.

Student Loans

The year I went to Uni (or music college if you're picky) the government introduced tuition fees, scrapped Grants and sank the entire UK uni population into debt.

They brought in Student Loans. I took 4 (I know - greedy... had a FANTASTIC time at college though, and was there for 5 years). You do not have to pay back the loan until you earn over a certain amount - around £18k. The expectation at the time was that this would be a usual salary for a graduate. What this did not account for was the government push to get all kids into Uni which resulted in degrees here being a pound a penny, and salaries not reflecting the years of study. There are now many people under this threshold.

I am still, 5/6 years after graduation, eligible to defer repayment of my loan. (I am accumulating interest though). HOWEVER the administration of the system is shoddy at best and each year deferment comes with an inordinate amount of stress.

Last year the company claimed non-receipt of my stuff only to return it addressed to my boyfriend. I resubmitted it and they deferred my loan.

This year I handed the forms in personally. They have claimed non-receipt and I am currently showing as in arrears. So this morning I've kicked up a fuss and hopefully they'll dig out the forms.

In case they don't - I've been in touch with the tax office who are sending me a replacement tax calculation which I need as back-up to prove my income but don't have any more as I handed it in IN PERSON to the offices of the Student Loans Co. Grr.

Anyway back to happy stuff.. the accounts are done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Knitting

I'm still knitting. Currently it's a mobile phone holder but that wont' take long.

One day soon I hope to get going properly on a baby jumper. It'd be easier if I knew someone who was pregnant I could make it for but I'm going to try anyway.

Tomorrow is a day off. I am trying for the moment to take on a bit less work. As school finishes for summer I start to fret that we'll be in trouble financially. In the holidays I don't get paid for teaching - so usually I try to take on as much overtime in my office job as possible. This week I haven't done that - and although I will be back in the office if possible from next week, the prospect of a day off is making me feel good!

Sacked it!

Well on the advice of Mr V Bond (who pointed out taking a break's important) I took a break. The accounts are still not done.. but they're REALLY NEARLY THERE and I'll deliver them tomorrow morning.

Yesterday afternoon as my boyfriend and I had an afternoon followed by a morning off we went away with the tent. It was beautiful - and we relaxed! We spent the night in a pretty mountain area within 10 mins drive of the seaside. There was a restaurant by the sea where I had the days catch of mackerel for tea and boyf had a salmon fishcake salad thing. We just headed back to the tent after that but found there were too many midges to sit outside. Instead we played cards in the tent and had an early night.

So now I feel much more able to face my responsibilities - back on track.

Sodding Accounts

Because I am shit at this... and because I haven't got time to chase everything up.... This year by failing to get the census money in effectively we have spent all the money that was in the bank last year on this year's census.

So we're left with what we made this year....... and that has to go on camp unless I ask the leaders to pay (one's a student and the other's me. Both are skint). I am a little concerned.

Accounts

I think the problem is that I have the Brownie accounts still hanging over me. Today I am meant to go into work - but I really want a day off.... maybe I'll go in and say I have to leave at lunchtime. That way I can get the accounts out of the way and that will be a big weight off my mind.

Blogging

think I'm losing the blogging bug!

Somehow this place is not a priority... or near the top of the list at the moment. It's sunk down the rankings due to a pile of things that need to be done, and the purchase of a Nintendo Wii.

I'll visit.

Update:

Last week at Brownies all bar 2 of the kids forgot their permission slip for the swimming this week. So I wasn't sure how many would come. I guessed a maximum of 9 which was fine as we had two leaders.

As they arrived I took a note of their swimming ability (ie beginner or intermediate).

This meant I could pair them up.

I had the guides set up so one took the swimmers, and the other minded the non-swimmers (beginners).

They got to go in the wave pool. It's brilliant! As soon as I arrived I wished I could go in too. Every half hour the waves go on, at which point a buzzer sounds. The beginners stayed in the really shallow end and the others about half-way down. The waves were pretty big and they loved it.

Actually I think the waves saved me from a lot of whinging as I wasn't letting the kids down the big flume slide thing.

They all seemed pretty happy at the end, and one of the girls had a birthday so brought chocolate cake.

We only had one play up and she arrived late so missed the 'chat' at the start (where I told them that if they misbehaved it'd be the first, and last trip the Brownies do to the swimming pool).

And now I'm thinking 'phew - thank god that went ok!'. Also 'Bollocks - I have to practise and I'm tired!'.

I might have a sneaky blog-read session instead for a bit. It is 20 past 10pm after all (my neighbours are away so I can play the trumpet all I like).

Brownies Swimming Trip

Tonight is our last Brownie meeting of the term.

The girls get to choose an end of year outing - and this year there was no getting out of it: They ALL wanted to go swimming.

As I only have me and an assistant guider as grown-ups in the group, I have enlisted the help of a couple of Guides. The Guides are fab - one used to be a Brownie in my pack. The other was probably a Brownie there before I started, although I'm not sure.

So they've been allocated swimmers to mind and the girls are paired into swimming abilities with a Buddy. I've checked out the manual and the rules are straightforward.

I also plan to give them a ball and to keep them in the wave pool anyway so that'll minimise stress for AG and me! By the time they've got changed and ready for swimming there won't be TOO long in the pool if they want juice and a biscuit afterwards.

The thing that makes me a little nervous is that the pool isn't one I know - and I haven't been able to get to check it out first as I've had a LOAD of work commitments. I didn't do my gig last Wednesday so I could be at the 'Rainbows going up to Brownies' party, so couldn't really afford to miss any more!

I'll get there early tonight. I have phoned them already but will phone them again this morning just to remind them we're coming.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us!!

Blogger

Until this evening I haven't been able to view any blogger blogs unless it's through the google reader thing.

If I clicked on the links it just froze. I couldn't see my dashboard to get comments either but it's really nice to see that you've been to visit anyway!

I'll try to get round to read up properly later on tonight as I am looking forward to hearing what's been going on.

Blogger problems

I've been working a LOT this week (9am-11pm, 7.30am-11pm, 9am-9pm etc) so haven't been up for posting but I have also not been able to get on my blog anyway.

Weird.

Anyone else having Blogger problems?