Tuesday 30 August 2011

Shocking again

I cleaned it yesterday! It was sparkling when I left for work this morning, honest! And now it's almost as bad as before. How can 2 teeny dogs generate that much snot in one morning? I'll have to make little shammy-leather muzzles for them.


Monday 29 August 2011

In-Out

These are my current shoe lusting:


But they ain't cheap at £70 and so I've invented a new rule for myself. I can have them. As long as I can raise the money to buy them outright and not put them on my credit card which is the easy option. Sadly I don't think anyone would sponsor me in any way, shape or form to raise the money that way and so I'm selling stuff. So far I've raised £44 towards them which is over halfway (not too shabby with just 2 sales) and I'm putting a few more things up today. With a bit of luck I will soon have those lovelies on my feet, yay!

Just have to decide which colour now as I do like the red, but the green are kinda funky, and the purple are really special. Decisions decisions...

Shocking Windows

This photo is evidence of the reason for my very grubby windows. That is one long band of doggie snot! I wouldn't mind but I just cleaned it last year ;-)


Sunday 28 August 2011

Crafty fun

Just spent a lovely afternoon with JB playing with felting. We drank coffee, ate cake, talked non-stop, oh and we made these pretty beads.


Sunday 21 August 2011

Potter vs potter

Finally starting to feel more human and more like Dizz once again, yippee! This means I can go back to work tomorrow...I want to yippee but I know within 5 minutes I'll be wishing I was back at home again.

Not only did I miss a leaving do for one of my favourite peeps at work, I also missed a camping trip with my one of my bestest friends ever and her little family. Gutted doesn't even cover it really, but no use crying over spilt milk. I couldn't help being poorly, bad timing. And there'll always be more visits from folks. Sadly there won't be any more leaving parties but I do have a wee giftie and will see the leaving presentation and get a chance to say my own goodbye to my work peep.

This weekend then was a kinda take it easy kind of weekend. A few jobs were done and a lot of resting and lying around was done. Wavey calls this kind of weekend a pottering weekend. It was also a Potter-ing weekend for me as I have now finished number 5 in my Harry Potter marathon as of this morning. I only have up to number 5 in my groaning bookshelves so had to text Fizz immediately to say that I needed number 6 and number 7 and could I come around and get them immediately. She was out buying grout (as you do) so I had to sit very patiently and wait for the text. As soon as said text came I was off round there like a shot to pick up my fix :O) I now have number 6 in my grubby paws and have just read the first few pages waiting for Lenny the laptop to load up. Oh! It's so great reading them all again! I've only read the last 3 once as number 5 was so beefy I couldn't bring myself to carry it round in my handbag, and as I don't own 6 and 7 and had to borrow them...suffice to say I am very happy in my HP marathon and will be very sad when it's over. Maybe I'll just have to start all over again! The end of 7 will mean viewing the film again, yay!

In other exciting news, our one grubby potato that we planted in a grow bag and ignored for 3 months has produced a whopping 17 yummy looking potatoes! And I spent a lot of time re-potting (there it is again!) in the greenhouse as all the chilli plants are now getting little flowers on them ready to burst out with cayenne peppers and "patio sizzlers" - yowser! Wavey and I are very happy with progress in year 2 of the growing our own. So far this year we've enjoyed carrots (still ongoing), onions (still in the veggie box being enjoyed), sugar snap peas (all gone now), strawberries (good supply but not as good as last year, probably drowned by all the rain), the potatoes from today, cucumbers, courgettes, tomatoes, hopefully some peppers, we have an aubergine plant too, and lots of chillis...not forgetting the turnips that are nestled in their earth ready to eat later on in the year, leeks, and a pumpkin that is looking promising. Each year we learn more and more. Next year we have plans for amending the patch to have 4 raised beds and more greenhouse activity...is so exciting!

Pottering of any variety - ace!

Thursday 18 August 2011

Grim fascination

First up: I'm ill. Stuck at home with some crappy headachey virus that I've been trying to fight off for a week. Last night I felt even more crappy than usual and my ears were aching which was making me dizzy...time to give in and stay off work.

Second up: I'm bored stiff. It's been less than a day and I'm just soooo bored. Clearly, despite all protestations otherwise, Dizz is meant to be a worker bee.

And so I'm surfing. Looking for something that I fear I may never find. It's T's 30th birthday and for this fancy dancy occasion we're off to the Races. I've been to the races before and absolutely loved it! But this is Ladies Day at the races which means posh dresses and hats. I've found not one but two dresses (I'm inclined towards the purple as the choice for the day so far) and now I need me a hat. Or equivalent. If I go for the purple then I'm thinking red accessories as I like to both colour pop and clash with style, as you well know.

Hats and me? Not so sure. I can rock a trilby, and I can definitely rock an ear warmer thingie and various baker boy caps, but actual posh hats? I've never really tried and I've got me a whole lot of hair going on - often these things don't sit right. And so to the fascinators. Do they have to have dead birds on them? All that feather stuff scares the crap out of me. And all the other ones I like are really expensive, like more expensive than the 2 dresses put together! And so I'm flummoxed people. What do I do? Do I try a posh hat (cos I know a place where I can rent one) but risk feeling uncomfortable and a bit silly all day? Or do I get a bird and sit it on my head feeling even more weird and worrying that the plastic comb holding it all together will surely snap any moment in my, let's be honest here, natural birds nest hair? Tis a tricky one folks. Any thoughts? Words of comfort? Anything...?

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Professor Wavey and the curious puzzles

Wavey and I have been playing Professor Layton on my wee DS, it's a great little game it really is. Puzzles round every corner and hint coins coming out of barrels and things to collect and build, it's lots of fun. But I can't help but chuckle, Wavey's brain is a really logical and maths type brain and so each time we get a puzzle along those lines he goes off into these complicated formulas and equations that involve mucho multiplication and sometimes long division and turning the DS round to see what it looks like from a different angle...I told him yesterday as he started wondering about binary on one puzzle that the game was designed for like 7 year olds so it really can't be that complicated. His reply:

"...there's no way in a whole million years that this game is for 7 year olds"

Me: (in teasing manner) "A whole million years?"

Him: (looking wee bit embarrassed) "Well yeah"

Chuckle. It must be strange having a brain like that. My maths and logic bit of my brain is definitely the worst and so I often sit back in amazement as he launches into this complicated mental arithmetic that totally baffles me. Obviously (she says in totally slushy moment) we are just right for each other as we both have different sides of the brain that are stronger and between us both we have a MIGHTY brain that solves the 60 picarat puzzles first time. Yay! Go team! :D

Sunday 14 August 2011

A bit of a kitchen and garden do

Busy busy day today. Pulled some baby corn:



Dug up some turnips:


Baked some cereal bar trying "island mix" for a change:


Tried out the new jelly mould with some strawberries out of the garden:


And made a big old mess in the kitchen making pear and ginger muffins:


Aren't Sundays brilliant!

Saturday 13 August 2011

Happenings, events, stuff like that...

This week has been a pretty mixed bag really. August is notoriously hideous in our libraryland. I don't know if this is the same for librarylands all over the world but in our's, gawd we struggle. The insanely crappy weather isn't helping with this struggle either. As a result this week it's been very hard to get my ass motivated to get out of bed to get to work where everyone is gloomy and miserable and down in the mouth. What a shiny happy start to this blog post...

In other news this week though, Wavey has been to Paris, the lucky devil! He came back with tales of the offices there and man have they got it right, no wonder our morale is so low! They have 2 Playstation points in their foyer where they're having an office competition to see who can drive round the Nurburgring the fastest. And if they're not doing that they're sitting out in their pretty tree lined courtyard on official breaks sharing a coffee and a cigarette (well it is France) with their colleagues. This my friends is how offices should be. If we had all that going on in libraryland we might be more cheerier folk. I'm thinking of suggesting it to the big boss lady. Just wondering how best to word it to avoid her reply to me including the words "get your coat and pick up your P45 on the way out".

Whilst Wavey was away, Dizz went out to play. Well not really, I went up to see my folks for dinner. Where I had the most delicious dinner of sausages, bacon, beans and new potatoes, followed by my all time favourite, butterscotch flavour Angel Delight. Oh happy smiley day. T'was truly lush.

I also helped to paint a kitchen that wasn't mine.

And went out for several walks. We are so going to be the winning team in the walking challenge!

And enrolled on a Royal Horticultural Society course in yet more attempts to get myself the hell out of libraryland and into a job that actually fills me with joy, makes me smile, and lets me be creative, get my hands mucky and wear wellies everyday for work. It's a winner! I collected the stuff today and am a little scared now that it's actually here. I was really rubbish at science at school. Like really rubbish. What if it's too much for me? What if I turn back to being 15 and get that science blindness all over again? Eeep!

Supported my local village shops by buying not one but two dresses, plus a pair of khakis and a lovely teeshirt that looks like it's never been worn. Oh and I bought some bananaramas from my local greengrocer so all good with the keeping my carbon footprint low there. I now have to decide which of the two dresses I will wear for the races for T's 30th birthday soon. Decisions decisions...

Consumption wise we are super hooked on the US version of The Killing. It's set in Seattle and so far my opinion of Seattle (sorry LG) is that it rains. Like all the effing time! And it's really dark cos they seem to constantly drive around in rainy darky times. One of the characters wears her wellies all the time and I don't think it's a festival chic kind of fashion statement but more a way of avoiding trenchfoot from all the rain. Sheesh, I thought our rain was bad but it would seem we ain't got nothing on Seattle!

Last night we finally got round to watching Frost/Nixon and what an amazing film it was. Very very interesting. We was mighty impressed. And part of it was set in California where the sun was shining, which made a pleasant change from all the Seattle rain we'd been watching.

I'm on book 4 of my Harry Potter marathon before going back to watch the final film a second time. Love it! People keep staring at me on the bus. Either they're admiring my fabulous hair or they're curious why I'm reading HP - go figure.

Totally listening to the second Kitty, Daisy and Lewis cd for about the 4th time today. It's fabulous-oh. And I've requested a mouth organ from Wavey for Christmas. When I informed the Dizz dad of this he got very excited as he can play (and used to play it in the bath when we were growing up - better acoustics maybe?) and has decided that we'll have a band and go busking. A gal's gotta make a penny somehow...Am also listening to the Vintage Trouble cd but only once today and nowhere near with the same obsessiveness as KDL.

Found a giant mound of dog poo near my fledgling pumpkin today and got very cross with the beast next door who is clearly breaking into our garden to do his bizness! I am outraged by this. My poor garden! We have found where he's getting in and Wavey intends to thoroughly block it. He tried to come in when we were in the garden and I went and proper shouted at him to get back in his own garden. Gawd knows how long he's been coming in though, sheesh! Poo in your own garden matey! He knew he was wrong though, he almost looked shame faced as he skulked back (in other words smashed back) through the fence. He is truly huge, a Newfoundland I think! And he hums. Poo-ee!

So kind of a busy week then really. Hope you've all had good times folks.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Riot cleanup

BBC News - England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up

My hat goes off to the every-day heroes who want to reclaim their city.

Saturday 6 August 2011

70s-tastic

I was going through some old photos and found this. Truly hideous. My mum tortured me for hours with red hot tongs to get my hair to go so un-Fizzy. And the blouse! How could she? Evil, pure evil.


My friend Leonard

Leonard, this is...everyone.

Everyone...meet Leonard.

Introductions over, Wavey and I are happy to report that we now have a shiny new laptop. He's called Leonard. And he restored the itunes library, and he transferred all the internet favourites over. He's a very clever boy indeedy. And very speedy! Poor Larry (may he rest) he must have been soooooo tired and old and near to retirement, but he truly did me proud and will always be remembered fondly. But it's time for the newbie to take over.

First blog from Leonard. Looking good so far. So many firsts to experience now. Happy shiny Leonard, we already heart you muchly. Welcome to the family.

Friday 5 August 2011

Festie weekend take 2!

Except this time it's in our lovely fair town so there's no camping to be done, we can watch all the good bands and come home to our lovely cosy quiet beds, yippeee!

This weekend's extravaganza promises:
Seasick Steve!
Young Rebel Set!
Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis!
Maximo Park!

And all for the bargainous price of £25, woohoo! (I am so going over the top with the exclamation marks and I don't care!)

This weekend also promises a visit to where my dad works for some 1940s nostalgia in the shape of cars, fashion, airplanes and all sorts of other delights. I'd say look out for the photos but Larry is still poorly...

...but the great news is that he stayed alive long enough for me to rescue my itunes, yippeee *happiest jig of jiggiest joy*

Happy weekend one and all. May it be awesome :O)

Wednesday 3 August 2011

19th nervous breakdown...

...well actually more like a 21st century nervous breakdown! I came home from the festie (FAB and definitely more to come but you'll understand once you hear the sorry tale) to find Larry the Laptop is completely foo-barred. Like totes as they would say in Hoxton. He is working uber uber slow and had something called TSSKILLER on him, as well as 3 more Trojan Horses and a few other things that I don't even like to name. Safe to say he's a very poorly boy. This makes me beyond sad. He was my first proper grown up purchase, on a 3 year finance deal as I couldn't afford to pay outright, and it was one of my proudest moments to have fully paid it off and have true ownership. But now he's gone...but hopefully not until I get what I need from him. Just one last job Larry...

...itunes baby! Don't die please don't die until you've taken the 128 minutes (or 79 minutes, or 29 minutes or back up to 78 minutes) that you currently promise to transfer from the library to my external hard drive. It's taking that long as I have 7 days of music on it. Wavey seems to think this is excessive but I reckon it's probably kind of small compared to what some people have. I've always been limited by the size of my ipod and not having one of those hoy-uge 80 gig ones means I've kept my library small. But believe me when I say oh so precious! Presh-ussssssss!

And so I'm sitting waiting. With a fair bit of pacing thrown in. And some hand wringing. And a few tense words with myself, not to Wavey tchah! It has to work. This is fair to say folks, what could only be termed a 21st century technology breakdown. All I can say is thank god for smartphones or how could I tell the world about my current crisis?! What a world we live in. And I'm confident writing this that many of you readers will feel my pain as we're all so reliant on these machines that we lovingly cherish.

So please all join me in the laptop prayer. Come on Larry baby, I know you can do it...