Friday, February 23, 2007

2nd post today!!!

Guess whose coming home for the weekend!!!!!

Yep! you got it in one!!!! Kathryn!!!

I'm all alone!!!

Well after an exceptionally early start Tori's gone!

She is staying here

As it is an Art trip they are going to some fabulous places. On the Saturday
they are visiting Rijksmuseum, The National Museum for Art & History. Then on to the Van Gogh Museum. Finishing with a boat trip, and dinner at a 'Pancake House'. On Sunday they are off to Rembrandt House, Foam Photograpnic Gallery which is showing Crime Scene Forensic Photography from police archives 1960 - 1986. Then on to the Anne Frank Museum.Monday they leave to come back!

Look what I knitted for her



she was thrilled to bits when I gave them to her this morning!

I am in unknown territory, I cannot remember the last time we had no children at home! Occasionally when they where little they would go and stay with my mum or sister, but this was not often, only because of Tori really, she hated being away from us/home!
So what am I going to do???? Well first of all, go back to bed for a short while. Then probably some housework, I might even have a go at Tori's room. Other than that I really don't know!!! It is a really weird feeling actually. Maybe I need to get a life!!!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Pressies, Feug Shui and packing!!

Look what that 'Crafty' Lady Mrs Nesbit sent me!!



It is gorgeous my own personal ATC and it is now pinned up next to my computer screen!! Now I said 'crafty' because not only is she talented in the craft department, she is crafty in the 'cunning' sense! As you may or maynot know ATC's are swops, which now means I have to make one to send to her and she knows how I've been struggling, I'm not good at coming up with ideas then cutting and glueing. By george you can tell she is/was a teacher!!!!!!!!

Now for something completely different..........

My husband is an astrologer and until I met him I did not really believe, anyway to cut a very long story short, he has proved himself over and over so I am now convinced that any personal chart is well worth a look.
Because he is very open minded, a number of years ago, when Feng Shui was the 'new' thing he went and got all the books and we had to put certain things in certain places around the house etc, etc. One of these was to put an aquarium of goldfish fish in the south east corner of our main room since 'the south east is generally regarded as the money corner in feng shui' placing water here is deemed very lucky. Now the book says you should have nine fish one of which 'must be black to absorb any bad luck meant for you' but if you have only a small tank then 2 gold and 1 black will be fine.


As you can see its nothing special, just a small tank. Now this has been set up for years and we have gone through loads of black fish, they just die for no apparent reason, whilst the gold one's live on quite happily! So are they absorbing the bad luck meant for us?? Well! whenever we are with out a black fish, money flows out of the house, things go wrong that need to be paid for, unexpected bills appear and we can't seem to keep any spare money, the girls need money for whatever, but as soon as another little black fish gets put back the flow stops!! It is totally amazing, I never believed that this tank would be so significant but it happens time and time again!
So why have I told this to you?
About 4 - 6 weeks ago hubby bought a new black fish which bought an infection into the tank and we nearly lost the lot, we weren't allowed to add fish for at least a month to allow for the infection to clear up so what have we had to pay out, the plumber had to come, the washing machine man, the exhaust on the car, 2 new tyres, suitcase, a very large bill to the surgeon for my op which would have been paid by the insurance if he had answered their e-mails (I shall be having words with him on Monday)brake pads, Year 11 theatre trip to name just a few.
So the new black fish has been added today




So save money get a fish tank and the other very important one is always keep the lids of the toilets down when not in use!!!

Tori is ready and packed and it appears Sassy's going too.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Shopping, Gardening and time wasting!

As you know Tori is off to Amsterdam on Friday, anyway yesterday I realised that the suitcase we usually use for these trips is up with Kathryn!! So I had to toddle off to the shops to purchase another one, I threatened to buy a bright pink one, but came back with this...



quite funky I think, anyway Tori seems pleased! To be honest, I didn't buy just a suitcase, I was in 'Wilkinsons' (fatal) and came out with....



I was very restrained, I can assure you I could easily have spent more!! So we now have another £1 blackcurrant bush, 2 packs of 3 strawberry plants £1.50 each and a pack of chilli seeds and some big plant pots!!

So Wednesday being Chicken day, and once I was back from the shopping trip, I set off down the garden and got side tracked at the pond, my goodness what a racket those frogs make and just look at all the frogs spawn now





one of the fifteen+ frogs that I could see



there does seem to be a shortage of female frogs!
I have always had fish in this pond. We haven't added any for years they just breed!! What worries me this year is the 2 Orfe, I reckon tadpole is definately on his menu, just look at the size of him now(I say him, it could be a her!!)



this is a close up



He has got to be close to 12 inches long now, the other one is smaller, but not by much, they can really shift as well! The next pic is a general one of the pond, the thing that looks like a t-towel is the frost protection for the banana reflecting in the pond!



This pond is a dreadful time waster! Where we sit is a lovely sun trap at this time of year and is also very sheltered, I was sat here in shirt sleeves today! With a cup of coffee I could sit here for hours!

Onwards, onwards, chickens need doing, I didn't take pics today as I'm always showing them to you!! Word of warning to anyone wanting to take up garden chicken keeping............. they decimate everything, you can't have chickens free ranging and a nice garden!! (Unless you have bantams, click on Lottie's link) As I have found out! My garden used to be lovely now its a quagmire!! So hence they are shut in a run!! It is so soggy in there at the moment, I have seriously got to move them. Hubby and I where sat down by the pond at the weekend and we think we may have come up with a solution! It means losing the lawn, which there isn't alot of it left anyway! But he said those magical words, 'fit in a 2nd greenhouse'! So of course I had to take it further, why not sell our current one and BUY A BIGGER ONE!! Then we wouldn't have to get the electricians in again to do more electrics, he's thinking about it!!!!!

So after chicken cleaning, I popped into the greenhouse to pot up my strawberries and blackcurrent.They are now in pots outside, I hope thats right!



My onions are going balistic, I really don't know how long I can keep them in here



the sweetpeas are doing well,



so I have planted some more today, as my friend up the road wants some. A couple of the black hollyhock seeds I got from a friend have come through, the potatoes don't appear to have done any chitting!!!

My heated propagator disaster



I only planted them on Saturday!!!!!!!!! So I have started them again, they are far too leggy, I shall be watching them like a hawk this time!

Finally, my Christmas present from the girls has come out of the dark and is on the windowsill



Just for fun:-

GREEN

You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!



Mmmmmmm! Interesting, considering I don't like the colour green!!!! Well I wouldn't have it painted in my house or wear green clothes, but its OK in the garden!!!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Tori's Art Work!

I am doing very little 'fun' stuff myself, whilst Tori has all this coursework to do so I wondered what to blog about, then it came to me.......

Now we, or should I say Tori, has got all the boring subjects out of the way she is settled down in the kitchen painting her final piece based on Surrealism...



Just look at that face, happiness is.... Tori painting!!!

Then I pinched her art book to show you what she has done, I think she is a very talented painter, but of course I'm biased I hope these pictures do her work justice...

Morphing...



Magritte..



Tori had to do a study of an object or thing...



then melt it..



For Dali, they had to choose an animal or object and elongate it



I only wish I had her other art books here to show you some of her other work! She is predicted to get an A/B, what lets her down is her course work and this is the reason she will probably not carry it on to AS and A2 level. We shall see though!!

Just to show I have been doing something!!

Monday, February 19, 2007

Task 1 and 2 completed!

Task 1:- Shopping for a coat, jeans, tights and a hat!
Task 2:- Get help and finish Maths coursework!

My goodness hardly time to breathe let alone blog!!!

Up at the crack of dawn, to take Tori shopping, she is off to Amsterdam on an art trip with the school on Friday. Leaving at 04.30 in the morning from the school!!!!!!
We where due to go and visit my mum amd see my Great Niece this last weekend, but with the amount of course work Tori has to get done before Friday, we decided it would be better if we stayed.
Anyway she needed a few bits and pieces for the trip and as she has worked so very, very hard this weekend I thought today was a good day to go! We where successful with our purchases!!
We arrived home about 13.00 had time for a quick bite before we had to pop over to Chippenham, as Tori needed help with some of her maths coursework. We got all the info needed and came back and she eventually finished about 18.00hrs. She is plum exhausted, so I said she can have the evening off! All thats left to do is finish her DT coursework (print off a few pages and stick them in) then its done. Then she has 2 days to finish some of her Art coursework and add some more work to her final piece!!
Phew!! I'd have a G & T if I wasn't on medication!!!!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

5 Minutes With the Chickens!

Oo look Babs here is the tall person, I wonder if she has some corn!!



Well? Where is it then? In your pocket?



Are you going to give us some corn or not? Look Mrs corn lady I haven't got all day to pose for you to take photos, oh alright then I shall show my better side with the new plumage!!



Thats better some corn.....


Are you not eating any then Big Bird? I see your keeping watch!



Babs and Bunty always at the front...



Bree and Big Bird always at the back!



I have been playing around with Mosaics, its all Sheilas fault!! I like this for a first attempt, I think it would be quite nice as my heading, all I have to do now is work out how to get the writing on it!!!!


2nd attempt, my birthday bouquet!