It's Always Sunny In Here

Saw this today and loved it. Very retro. Very christmassy.



Love

This Girl

• is my middle child.
• is 12 today.
• is quirky and kooky and creative. i love that.
• works really hard and is conscientious. she always does her homework well before it's due (except today, when she asked if, because it's her birthday, she could leave it).
• sees things differently to most. she has a way of looking at the world that is uniquely her own. i love that about her.
• has a range of emotions. i call that passionate. she gets this from me.
• is a worrier. unfortunately she gets that from me too.
• is an amazing writer. she writes with real depth of emotion and far beyond her years. she gets that from her dad.
• is beautiful. stunningly so. oh, how i would love her cheekbones.
• is honest (sometimes too much so...)
• is growing up right before my eyes, she needs to stop. now.
• used to be afraid of everything but now? not so much, part of growing up i suppose.
• can eat. you can't tell it to look at her but oh, boy...
• is a joy and a pleasure. i love her so much.

Happy 12th birthday my girl.

Noah, Entrepreneur

My son is an entrepreneur. He is always thinking of ways to make money. Sometimes I wonder if I should be worried? I mean, after all, I don't want to raise him to be materialistic or money hungry. I don't want to raise a Gordon Gekko (spot the movie reference). On the other hand I do want him to be sensible with his finances and he's not at all egoistic either, often telling us that he will give all the money to us. (On a side note he is very generous with any money he does have, always wanting to give a tip, from his own wallet, when we go out for a meal)

Today's money making idea? A weapons and model shop, or store (comment added by the man himself!), selling, well, from what I can see, mostly swords. Swords of all shapes and sizes, mostly made with his own fair hands. Swords ranging in price from £5.60 to £12.11. A bargain, I'm told.



There is one item that is clearly not a sword. Upon making enquiries I have been reliably informed that "This is a one of a kind. No, seriously, it's a one of a kind. It's either a bi-plane, bi=2 by the way, or you can use it as a weapon by throwing it and it spins, round and round". Very intriguing and fashioned from an old door handle spindle, some Meccano & the old bathroom locking mechanism!



How much do I love this boy? Let me count the ways...

Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

OK, so I promised people that I would post the recipe for the Oreo cookie cupcakes I made a few weeks ago and I know it's ages later but I am finally getting around to doing it. I can't remember where I got this recipe from originally but I have a feeling that it may well have been from Shimelle... I apologise to whoever it was if it wasn't Shim!

Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

Ingredients:
180g unsalted butter
400g brown sugar
250g dark chocolate
3 large eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla
200g plain flour
100g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
8 Oreo cookies, smashed to bits (I usually use a whole packet though, sometimes more, depending on how biscuit-y I want them!)
1 3/4 cup milk

• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Set aside but don’t chill.


• Heat the oven to 180C and line cupcake tin with papers.


• Beat the butter until it is soft, then add sugar and mix until fluffy.


• Stir up the egg yolks, then add them to the butter and sugar.


• Add the vanilla and the chocolate (just make sure it’s not so hot that it cooks the eggs)


• Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, alternating with the milk.


• Stir in the bashed Oreos until evenly distributed.


• In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until peaks form.


• Fold in the egg whites, until no more whites show.


• Scoop into the cupcake liners straight away, filling them 3/4 full.


• Bake for 20 minutes or until chopstick comes out clean.


• Cool on a wire rack before icing.

Now for the frosting the recipe I had originally used a cookies and cream, more traditional type, frosting but recently I have used a homemade marshmallow topping and, I have to say, it is delicious! I've never even thought you could make marshmallow yourself at home so this was really interesting to try.

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
300g sugar
120ml golden syrup
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mini Oreo cookies (you can buy these in a tub from Sainsbury’s) for decoration

• In a large bowl mix egg whites, sugar, golden syrup & salt until combined.


• Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot. This will take about 3 minutes.


• Remove from heat and beat, probably using an electric whisk if, like me, you have weak wrists and don't want them to fall off, for 5-7 minutes until frosting is cool and stiff peaks form.


• Beat in vanilla.


• Spread or pipe onto cupcakes and use mini Oreo cookies to decorate.

It's amazing how this gloopy yellow mixture suddenly turns fluffy and white. The frosting is slightly runny to start with but sets to a real marshmallow-y textures in a couple of hours.

I Am Alive!

Just to reassure you all there. I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. I am still here, I have just been very, very busy.

I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say between gearing up for the end of the school year with 3 children and all that entails and work coming out of my ears, I don't feel like I've had a spare minute in the day.

I will bore you, in another post, about my running progress and my Race for Life thoughts and results but I'm going to keep this post short.

I have managed to do some cooking, for which I've promised to post the recipe for a particular Oreo cookie cupcake (watch this space), and have fitted in some digital scrapbooking so I'll leave you with a couple of layouts:

[click image to enlarge]

Supplies:
Merry and Bright - Kate Hadfield & Kaye Winiecki

[click image to enlarge]

Supplies:
Patterned Papers - Bombay Flower - Amy Hutchinson
Krafty Papers - Naturally Krafty - Kate Pertiet
Painted White Paper - Fly Me To The Moon - Gina Miller & Jacque Larson
Flowers - Various Kits - Studio Flergs
Glitter Alpha - 1 Night - Gina Maria
Swirl Brush - SS Foliage Swirls
Digital Glitter - Mine

I intend to do a page to go with the last layout to show the actual photo that I used on our Christmas cards that year so hopefully will get this done soon. I know, they're Christmas layouts. Christmas in August? But I've never been one to scrap seasonally. So there.

And in terms of scrapbooking I do have a plan. Let's hope it all comes together. And the plan? It's a loose one I admit but I'm going to try and hit a year at a time, hence the 2 layouts above of 2002, starting with the photos I've taken since we moved to a digital camera. Those photos will be scrapped digitally. I'm then intending to get them uploaded and printed in a nice bound book via Photobox or something. I'll think about the pre-digital photos some other time!

A List of 5

A random list of random things.

• Loving opening up the calendar for next week and seeing Richard has written in each of our personal columns: Earl R, Duchess J, Maid K, Maid H and Stable Boy N


• Looking forward to Susie and her lovely daughters coming over later, we're going to bake cookies


• Thinking about my brother, it's been 2 years today


• Trying to balance work with the huge pile of laundry that has built up (where does it come from?) and second guessing what Maid K will want to take with her on her Duke of Edinburgh award weekend!


• Smiling every time I remember opening up the fridge one morning and finding this:
  

I Did It!

I completed the Couch To 5k running programme. All 9 weeks.

It's unbelievable. I feel like I should pinch myself to see if I'm really awake and haven't dreamt the whole thing.

This year was my second attempt at it. The first time I tried was summer time last year and I did manage to make it to week 2. Yes, all the way to week 2. Woohoo! LOL. The problem was that we went away for 5 days and even though I took my running shoes with me I just didn't have the courage to go running in a new place and I just never picked back up when we came back home.

But not one to give up easily (well, OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, alright, alright a big exaggeration - I usually give up very easily!) I decided to try again this year. You can read my updates on my progress here, here and here but I thought it was about time that I brought you completely up to date.

So I finished week 9 a couple of weeks. Week 9 consists of 3 runs of 30 minutes duration. And I ran them all. Impressed?

I am. In fact, and I probably shouldn't say this but, I am very proud of myself! It has been hard, there have been ups and downs. Some runs were great, I finished feeling amazing but if I'm honest most were hard. Never impossible but hard. And yet despite this whenever anyone asks I always reply that I love running. However let me clarify that statement. I love the feeling I feel after I've run! I've not ever looked forward to going for a run but then I've not yet thought about not going either. But that feeling after you've completed your run? It's amazing. The sense of accomplishment. The looking back to see how far you've come, from those early days where the thought of 8 x 60 second runs filled me with dread, to that dreaded 3rd run of week 5. All of you who've done this programme will know what I'm talking about - that first run without a walking break, a full 20 minutes of non-stop running! But it's been worth it and each and every run I completed I could see an improvement. My breathing improved, my speed improved, I ached less, it took less time to recover (no longer 2 days to just stop hurting)!

So does this mean at the end of week 9 I was running 5k? No. It doesn't. In 30 minutes I can run around 3.8km so not quite 5k, close but not close enough.

Which brings me to today's run. I had a slight health problem last week and the doctor told me that I had to rest for at least 48 hours. What? 48 hours? That would mean I would miss a run!!! Oh my, that would mean that I would fail! That would mean I'd never get back on track. I'd give up and not carry on...

In fact I ended up missing 2 consecutive runs and today was my first run in a week. I was really nervous, trying not to think about it when I woke this morning. I thought I'd ease in gently and just do a 20 minute run. That would be do-able, wouldn't it? It was. But do you know what? I ended up running for nearly 39 minutes... I ran 4.91km... which in my opinion is pretty much a 5k run (what's 90 metres between friends?).

So my fears were unfounded. I'm back running and plan on keeping it that way. But what's next?

Well, I'll be running the Race for Life this year and if you feel the urge you can sponsor me online by clicking here.

But in the meantime I'm going to participate in a few local Park Runs. If you don't know about these they are 5k runs organised in various local parks all over the UK (and Denmark for some reason). And what's more they're free. All you need to do is sign up online before hand and then just turn up on the day. Simple as that. They log your times for you and keep a track of how you're doing, logging personal bests and all sorts of other information, like age grading. What's age grading? Age grading takes your time and uses the world record time for your sex and age group to produce a score (a percentage). This score allows you to compare your personal performance against other people's performances even though they might be a different age and a different sex to you. And for a statistic/gadget freak like me that's all very interesting! If my scores aren't too dire I may share with you...

Right, enough talk of running now, next post will be a scrapbooking one. It's about time :D

It's All About Me Blog Train

Today is the day. It's all about me. Me. Me. Me.

Hopefully you have found your way over from Amy's blog, so welcome to my part of the blog hop.

This is a project that I've been working on the last few days, and will be working on for the next few I feel! (Procrastination is my middle name after all...). You can find all the details on it here at Mel's blog, along with all the other participants if the train gets derailed somewhere along the way.

I'm pretty much digital all the way now, although I don't seem to be able to get rid of any of my traditional scrapbook supplies. Perhaps I'm a hoarder (shock... horror... not good!). Pretty much most of my supplies are from Songbird Avenue's De-Lovely kit, which you can find here.

As I've already hinted at my project isn't complete. So far I've managed to draft out what I want to include, have produced a few digital pages for a few of the prompts, but I am also missing some photos for which I'm waiting on my camera battery to recharge before I can take them. I plan to get them printed via Photobox into a small stylebook so each page is set up for printing at a size of 7" x 5.5". I will upload all the other pages as I finish the project over the weekend.

Prompt 1
What's your favourite indulgence (treat, dessert, beverage)?

Prompt 2
If you had one free afternoon to do anything you wanted, what would it be?

Prompt 3
What is something you use every single day, something that you could live without - but wouldn't want to?

This one is easy. It would have to be my iPhone. I use it for everything. I use it for my Couch to 5k training running programme. I play games on it. I listen to music. I pretty much use it for everything bar making phonecalls or sending texts! LOL. I'm just not much of a mobile phone person. Don't get me wrong I do use it as a phone, just not as much as I use it for everything else!

Prompt 4
What is something you buy in bulk, just to make sure you don't run out?

Toilet roll. 'Nuff said...

Prompt 5
Where in your home do you love to be?

In bed. I love my bed. I love my bedroom. I love the furniture, the colours, the quiet space that's just mine and Richard's. (I want to be there now but I'm typing this up in preparation for it going out at 7am!).

Prompt 6
What in nature most inspires you?

The sea. The smell of the salty air, the sound of the seagulls. It all takes me back to my home town. And I particularly love the beach in the winter when the sea is wild and there is hardly anyone there. It's a great place to just sit and be.

Prompt 7
What store wouldn't you want to live without?

This was a hard one as I'm really not much of a shopper (who knew...?). So I would probably have to say Sainsbury's as without grocery shopping, well, we'd all starve! LOL.

Prompt 8
What is a little thing you do, to spread cheer to those you love?

This has become a bit of 'thing' in our house now. I love to make my family's boring sandwich lunches special. I always cut their sandwiches into little triangles. I usually then make 'mountains' out of them by standing them up vertically, crust sides down on the plates. And then I add 'specials' - Noah particularly likes 'specials'. They really are only little extras, like Babybel cheeses, a couple of cocktails sausages or small egg/bacon bites. Richard just cuts the sandwiches in to 2 rectangles, straight in half, right down the middle and I expect they taste just as good... but I love to present them nicely to them - and I know it does make them happy because when I prepare packed lunches there are always cheers!

Prompt 9
What is your happiest colour?

This varies but for the last while it's been turquoise closely followed by pink (but NOT Barbie pink - yuck).

Prompt 10
What book has given you a new perspective on life?

The bible - obviously. Lots of tips on how to live your life in there.

Prompt 11
What is your favourite season?

Winter. It never used to be, not until we lived in Canada. I love the white crisp look of snow. It's magical. And, particularly in Canada, when you mix that with bright blue, clear skies I'm happy, happy, happy. I also would rather be cold than hot. If you're cold you can always add on more layers. When you're hot, well, there is only so much you can take off!!!

Prompt 12
What symbol, character, motif or design do you love?

Prompt 13
Do you have a collection?

In a word. No. I'm not much of a collector, although I'm still debating whether my traditional paper scrapbooking supplies could be classed as a collection. I collect the stuff, don't use it and won't get rid of it. So what do you think? A collection or not?

Prompt 14
What is something you are really good at?

Now this is where I show my insecurity as I can't really think of anything I'm really good at. I've thought about writing about my work (I'm pretty good at that), or digital scrapbooking (but am I really good or just so-so?), or what about cupcakes? I was never good at cookery in school but in the last couple of years have discovered a love baking. To be exact a love of baking cupcakes. I have some nice photos of some of my cupcakes so I think I'm going to say I'm really good at making cupcakes.

Prompt 15
List three words that describe you?

Mother, wife, runner (had to include running in this project somewhere, didn't I?). I plan on using 3 photos, one of Richard, one of the children and one of my smelly running shoes.

OK, that's all for now, but I promise I will update with the completed project in the next few days.

Time now to pop on over to Cheri's blog to see how she's interpreted the project, I know I will be.

Blog Train & Fun Video

Just a heads up to watch this space as I am taking part in a scrapbooking project blog train this Saturday. It should be fun and interesting so pop on by and take a look.

And I'll leave you with this fun video I saw on Facebook the other morning. It was on my home page to greet me first thing on Sunday morning and made me smile so hopefully it will you:



Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Broken Bones & Running

No, the above are not related but they are what I will be blogging about today.

Broken Bones
A couple of weeks ago Rich came home with a football injury which I found a little odd as he doesn't actually do much - just stand around in the general area of the goal and not catch any balls! (This is the conclusion I've reached when each week when he returns home from playing and I ask how it went he invariably tells me that his team lost and he let in more goals than they did!) Anyway, his little finger did look very black and very frozen so I put some ice on it and went to bed (I'm such a loving wife).
Over the weekend I began to feel that it just wasn't looking quite right and advised him to go to the hospital and get it checked out. He, being a man, decided he didn't. His reply? "But I can move my fingers, see?".
He didn't play football the next week. His finger hurt...
Ten days after the initial injury he is finally convinced that maybe he should get to the hospital and get it check out. And the verdict? Fractured and dislocated. So badly broken & dislocated that A & E can't fix it and is referred to the Fracture clinic. And their verdict? An operation and a screw to pull it all together...
"But I can move my fingers, see?" Yes, darling, I can see...

Running
I am running. I am running 25 minutes straight with no walking breaks.
Remember this post? Turns out that the 20 minute run wasn't too bad. We managed it. It was a joyous moment. We hugged. We high-fived. We danced. Yes, we danced. In the middle of the park, uninhibited, we danced. It was a beautiful moment.
Since then I've temporarily lost my running partner. For some strange reason she decided that it would be much nicer to go to Venice with her husband to celebrate their wedding anniversary than to stay in England and run... go figure!
I miss her. It's been hard. The first couple of days Rich came with me but it wasn't the same and then he had to go and discover a broken finger...
But I've kept going. I'm amazed at my determination. I think it's become a habit. And who would have thought that 6 weeks ago the woman who struggled to run 4 x 60 second runs would be running for 25 minutes straight? Not me, that's for sure.
Am I finding it easy? Ermmm... no... but then again it's not beyond me... I can do it. Over the next 3 weeks I will be building up to 30 minute runs and then starts the serious 5k training. Currently I run 3.2k in 25 minutes. Based on that it should therefore take me 40 minutes to run 5k. Not too shabby probably but I would like to do it quicker. Watch this space.

Week 4 Down

And I feel like I am today.

I run with a friend. A very good friend. She must be because she let me talk her into running with me. The thing is we found last week, week 3, quite hard and decided that we would run week 3 again this week. Give us time to get just a bit fitter before moving on to the next week.

Unfortunately when we went for our run on Monday I forgot to check which week my C25K iPhone app was set to (it automatically moves forward to the next session once you have finished a session) and it didn't dawn on me to check until literally 5 seconds before the first run started. Which meant we ended up running the first training session of week 4...

And you know what? It wasn't too bad. A 5 minute walking warm up, followed by 3 minutes running, 1.30 minutes walking, 5 minutes running, 2.30 minutes walking, 3 minutes running, 1.30 walking, 5 minutes running and then a 5 minute cool down walk.

However today felt hard. I don't know why that is but we both find that 1 day in 3 is extra hard. Today was that day.

The programme really kicks it up a notch next week. It starts off quite innocuous with three 5 minute runs, separated by 3 minute walks but the 3rd day is 20 minutes - YES, 20 minutes - with NO walking breaks. At. All.

Today that feels like an impossible task. I hurt. My feet hurt, my tummy hurts, my calves hurt, my back hurts. And I'm tired. My eyes are stinging (although that could be hay fever...?).

We're going for it though.

This Girl...

* Is so much fun to be with
* I like her as well as love her
* Has a constant floordrobe which drives me crazy
* Cares about people and is a great friend to her friends
* Can text unbelievably fast!
*Can disappear to her room for days on end which drives me crazy
* Is an excellent student and is bright and intelligent and articulate
* Loves to read which makes me very happy
* Delays her homework as long as she can which drives me crazy
* Loves handbags, just like her Grandma
* Is truly beautiful, inside and out, but doesn't realise how beautiful

This girl turns 14 today.
How did that happen so fast?

Handwritten Fonts

I try, I really do. But somehow it just never looks quite right.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about using my own handwriting on my digital scrapbook layouts.

When traditional scrapbooking I've always been an advocate of using your own handwriting on your layouts - ask anyone who took my classes, they'll tell you... I was a hard taskmaster when it came to journalling. So for me when I switched, and yes I've definitely switched, to digital scrapbooking I wanted, really, really wanted, to use my own handwriting on my layouts. But it just doesn't look right. I don't know why, perhaps it's just me.

So I'm working on it but in the mean time I've stumbled across a great site that offers loads of really great hand written fonts. And what's even better is they are free! Yes, free.

Check out Kevin and Amanda. My particular favourites currently are Firefly Castle, Pea Brooke and Grant's Ghosts.

Warning: clicking on the above links may cause you to lose a couple of hours...

An Amazing Video

It's hard to believe that with all the advertising that has gone on since wearing seat belts became law that there are still people who don't wear one... it beggars belief.

It's Official - I'm A Runner!

Why? Not because I'm up and running, running 5k, running a mile or even running for any real length of time (although I do know that I will get to this point).

No, I know this because on the days I'm not out training I get this weird feeling come over me. I start to feel 'antsy'. I can't settle to anything. I wander around the house feeling like I should be doing something. And I finally realised what that something was - that I was missing my running training session! Weird, eh? So I guess this officially classifies me as a runner. I am someone who runs.

So how am I going to get to the point where I am running 5k? Well, I have restarted the Couch To 5k programme. I did start this last summer but then went away for 5 days and just didn't get back in to it. No excuse I know (more on this below) but that's what happened. Maybe I was looking for an excuse? However I am someone who needs a target. I work best that way. Something to work for, to aim for, really helps to keep me focussed and last year this was an element that was missing. So after around 3 or 4 weeks of work and managing to just build up to doing week 2 of the programme I dropped out and never got back in to it.

This time though I have a goal. I am going to run the Race For Life in July this year. And I do mean run, not walk, not run/walk but run the whole 5k.

And I'm doing better this time too, despite probably being a stone heavier in weight! Last time it took me around 3 weeks to just fully complete the first week of the training programme (five-minute warmup walk, then alternate 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes, finish with five-minute cool down walk). The idea is you do the same session, alternating walking/running, 3 times in a week, making sure to have a rest day in between, and each week the sessions increase the amount of running you do until after 9 weeks you are able to run 5k.

So, yes, last time I finally worked my way to starting week 2, did maybe 1 or 2 sessions and then stopped. Today though I completed week 3! Yay me! It hasn't taken me as long to get to this point either as I only started around a month ago.

To be honest I don't always feel raring to go and this morning knowing that today was the first session of week 3 I didn't feel overly enthusiastic. I actually felt a bit negative, not sure that I was fit enough to do it (five-minute warmup walk, then run 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, run 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes, run 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, run 3 minutes. walk for 3 minutes and then cool down walk for 5 minutes).

But do it I did! And you know what? It wasn't even that bad. I wasn't completely gasping for breath, in fact not gasping at all. Yes, I felt it but also I felt good after it. It's also helping that a couple of weeks ago I picked up a running buddy. It took a little bit of convincing as she really didn't think she could run but this programme is so good I truly believe anyone can do it. And it's good to have someone to run with, to be accountable to, to encourage you when you don't feel like doing it, to enjoy the triumph together when you do!

No excuses. That's what I need to tell myself on the days when I wake up and come up with a million excuses as to why I shouldn't run that day, that perhaps tomorrow will be better... this Nike video sums up those days pretty well:

Stage 1 Complete

And to say I'm tired would be an understatement.

I'm on a mission. A mission to simplify. A mission to de-clutter. A mission to make my home a haven not a hell - or should that be a heaven not a hell...? And today we completed stage 1.

Stage 1:

• Empty out the children's play room. Completely empty it.


• Empty out my office, including the 2 ram-packed cupboards.

Next comes stage 2. This is a relatively simple stage.

Stage 2:

• Go to Ikea and buy new corner desk (with T-legs), chair and panel curtain.

See told you that stage was simple. Enjoyable even.

Stage 3 is the bit where I balk a little because what I failed to mention is that currently the contents of stage 1 have been dumped in the conservatory so this stage looks like this:

Stage 3:

• Sort out the pile of 'stuff I can't believe one family can accumulate in a short space of time'.

This does look like a fairly simple stage but believe me it won't be. It will take days. Perhaps weeks but let's not hope months. In fact I could quite easily get lost in amongst the piles of stuff in that room. I should probably inform someone before I start to tackle it so that if they don't hear from me in a day or so they know to alert a search and rescue party.

If I'm brave I may even post a photo of this room... maybe... if I'm feeling very brave...

A Layout!

Finally. Finally completed a layout. Finally getting back to what I love doing.

[click image to enlarge]

Supplies:
Yo Ho! Yo Ho! - Emily Merritt
Checkerboard frame - mine

I know it's no great spectacular, but I'm back on the scrapping wagon and I'm pleased with it. And that's all that matters, isn't it?

RIP HD

My iMac hard drive is no more...

And just when I was going to start to get back in to my blogging. Ty-pi-cal! Anyway, this is not going to stop me because I've still got my Macbook which, although frustrating sometimes because it's smallish (I did want the big Macbook but budget couldn't stretch unfortunately), is good enough to let me get done what I need to get done.

OK, I've broken the blog silence, phew! Will post a catch up post later today to bring you all up to speed with what's been going on in our abode.

PS iMac is in for repair and will hopefully be back in my loving arms shortly :D

Teenager Talk

Having a teenager in the home is a little like visiting a foreign country sometimes. An english speaking country that is but one that does have it's own unique words and phrases for some things that leaves you not a little confused sometimes.

We experienced this a little whilst living in Canada. Life would be running along smoothly and then you'd need to get something or have something particular done. You'd ask someone and they would just look at you as if you've just popped down to earth from the planet Zog!

"Minced beef? Minced beef? No, sorry have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know, it's sort of beef but minced up in to tiny little pieces?"
"Errmmmm...?"
"You can make beef burgers with it?"
"Beef burgers?"
"You know, those round things in a bun, like you buy at McDonalds?"
Oh, you mean hamburgers?"
"Yes! Minced beef."
"You mean ground beef!"
"Yes! Where do you keep the ground beef?"
"Sorry, we're out of stock..." (OK, the bit about being out of stock is a complete fabrication but the rest was true).

So, all this is basically just to say that teenagers have a whole other language sometimes. In fact sometimes I have no idea what number 1 daughter is talking about! And words have changed - yes I know it's been a long time since I was a teenager and so I can't expect to know the current 'lingo' but honestly... apparently you are no longer billy-no-mates but you're a larry (larry the loner).

Anyway, the other night Harriet came downstairs highly amused at the sight that she had seen upon entering our bedroom... (no, don't go there, it's not what you think!)... and found Richard reading one of Kat's magazines du jour - Sugar if my memory serves me correctly. It was research, apparently, to find out whether the content of the magazine was suitable for a young teenage girl (I love this about him, that he takes his role as a father seriously enough to subject himself to the vacuous writings of a teen girl magazine just to make sure his daughter is safe and protected). The conclusion he reached was that he supposed it was 'ok' which then led on to a general chat about the magazine contents, one regular feature of which is the 'Blurd of the Month' - 'cause using two words is so last season.

Basically this consists of blurring/mixing two words together to create a new one. The first magazine we picked up to look at had a word, or should I say blurd, that so accurately describes the state of Kat's room that last year instead of putting the plain cream carpet we were laying in all the bedrooms we considered buying her a carpet with a discarded clothing pattern! And the word?

Floordrobe
Derivative: floor + wardrobe.
Definition: to turn one's floor into a wardrobe by dumping clothes on it.

So a new word has entered our home. "Kat can you take your clean laundry upstairs and put it away properly - not in the floordrobe!"

Plugging This

My nearest and dearest know that I am a gadget girl. I love gadgets. I love new and improved technology. I love the allure of something that looks like it will make your life easier, usually it doesn't, but I am drawn to it like a magnet hoping that it might.

And I think about gadgets a lot of the time. Wouldn't it be easier if such and such could work or look that way, or this way, instead of how it currently works or looks?

Well the British plug is one of those things that has annoyed me over the years, especially after living in Canada. Our plugs are so bulky. Horrible, chunky, 'take up so much room' bulky! I have a lovely set of hair straighteners, slim, thinline, small, but the plug? How much bigger could it be? North American plugs on the other hand are reasonably small. Kitchen appliances can be tidied away so much easier, so too can hair tools!

Browsing the internet today I came across the following on the James Dyson Award pages, an international design award to celebrate, encourage and inspire the next generation of design engineers. Check out the video below.

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How cool is that? Pity that it doesn't look like it could be retro fitted on to appliances but it's certainly something that I think could change the face of the British plug - for the better!

Simples

OK, so turns out it wasn't too long a job to sort out my blog as I did have a copy of my files on my home computer. Yay. Simples.

Apologies for the blogging tardiness but I'm blaming the snow days, impending major life changes and all that that has entailed. Normal service will be resuming shortly and I have some blog posts already written, well, I say written, they're in my head waiting to be written so watch this space.

Among the many posts to come in the next week or so I will be bringing you some Freebie Friday digital freebies, shoes in fridges, happiness and an update on my 17 Again post, along with telling you my big life changing decision!

Arrrrgggghhhh!

No idea what has happened to my blog. The only thing I can think of is I updated to the new version of Wordpress and it overwrote everything with the default styles... so annoying... and I don't have time to fix it at the moment as I have too many other things to do (more on some of this later).

First off I have to complete my tax return... I may be a while...

A-Ma-Zing

This amazing image was taken by Nasa's Terra satellite on Thursday (7th January 2010). Really brings home how cold the UK is at the moment. Truly awesome.

Freebie Friday #5

Back to normal now after the Christmas break.

This week I have a lovely template for you:

Snow Day Portraits

Like the rest of the country we have experienced our fair amount of snow today. It was forecast yesterday evening and Noah was so desperate he prayed for snow last night at bedtime. It didn't look like it would happen though as by the time I went to bed last night we hadn't really had any.

I admit to feeling a more than a little excited at the thought of snow. It really is one of the main things I miss from our time in Canada. I'll even confess that I got in to bed last night but left the curtains and blinds open. Just so I could keep checking if the snow had started whilst I read for a bit before sleeping. I even admit that I read longer than I should have... but there was still no snow before I turned off the light.

Good news though. We awoke this morning to LOTS of snow. Add to add to the children's joy - a snow day! And to add to my joy Richard found my canadian winter boots in the garage so when we went out my feet were toasty warm.

Even though we built a snowman I do not have any of the obligatory shots of it, I do however have some family portrait shots (I've even been brave enough to post a photo of myself even though it's awful and I hate having my photo taken):

What have you been up to today?

I Am Resolute

Resolute: Firm, unyielding, determined.

Yes, that's what I am. Resolute. Resolute that I am not making any new year's resolutions.

I do however have goals... Oh, surely that's the same thing I hear you cry? No. It's not. Obviously.

Goal: A result that one is attempting to achieve.

See? Not the same thing at all. If I make a resolution and don't keep to it then I will have failed in my endeavours to try and keep it but if I don't happen to achieve my goal then it doesn't mean I've failed, just that I didn't reach my goal. All the work and effort put in to achieving that goal is still valid. Still means something. Takes me that bit closer to achieving my goal.

Weird logic? Maybe but it's mine and I'm sticking to it! So no, I have made no resolutions for 2010 but I do have some goals:

• Lose weight, slowly and steadily


• Get fitter and healthier


• Spend more time outdoors


• Find a job


• Try one new recipe a month


• Learn how to use Illustrator


• Finish my brothers album and get it printed


• Drink more water

I'm sure there will be more but that's the great thing about goals. They can change you can add to them as the year goes on.

Happy New Year to all my family, friends (both old and new, real and virtual) and wishing you all a fabulous 2010.