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.