Learnt and forgotten

I'm just going to randomly post this as if it hasn't been months since I last posted here. 

I was randomly emptying the dishwasher the other day and realised it would be much quicker if I could still stack five hot glasses on my hand like I used to be able to when I worked as a bar maid. That got me thinking about things I learnt through previous employments but have forgotten or can no longer do.

Lifting hay bales - when I worked as a stable girl I could lift a bale of hay or push a wheel barrow full of manure. I reckon I could probably now do these things again as carrying 1KB has given me upper body strength that I haven't had for years. I was also able to spend the day in the freezing cold without complaining because I loved being around the horses and helping children learn to ride so much.

Carrying glasses - working as a bar maid taught me a great number of skills; how to pour the perfect pint, how to total three pints of smooth without the till, how to carry glasses and how to give back as good as I got in terms of drunken abuse.

That is all I can think of at the moment. What about you?

Shocking bodies

A while back I posted that I'd removed the bar from my belly button piercing. This resulted in some shocked reactions from people who didn't realise I had a piercing.
So I was wondering what bodily secrets do you have that people couldn't guess from looking at you? I'm only really talking about piercings or tattoos those things that some people think of as taboo. If so why did you do it and are you still happy with the decision you made?
My belly button piercing is the only thing I have to reveal and I've removed it. Not too much of a rebel.

Pantone vs panettone

(source)

I always get the pronunciation of these words mixed up. It makes me look like a moron.

If I'd got my act together I might have posted this before Christmas

2011

I thought about doing a round up of the year like I did for 2010. Then I realised that I hadn't actually done enough or blogged enough for the same sort of round up. But I need something to kick start my blogging in 2012 so I'm making a half hearted attempt. I was reassured that Gaynor did her round up this week so I'm not too late.


Highlights of 2011
Zoe and Neil created a sunshiney wedding on a rainy day.
Adizzygirl married IB with a bouncy castle and a hog roast. It was also an opportunity for most of the long suffering other halves of blogging six to meet.
2011 was a year of travelling including trips to Italy, Iceland, the Lake District and Spain. I also increased the number of Scottish Islands I've visited.
We celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

I turned 30, nephew turned 2, neice turned 13! 
I attended Blookclub

Maybe 2011 wasn't completely uneventful after all.

Drinking plenty fluids

I suffer from headaches and no number or combination of drugs will cure them. I just have to ride out the three days it seems to take to shift them. I call them headaches as opposed to migraines as unless they are REALLY bad I don't feel nauseous and I don't have an aversion to light I've also never had any relief from migraine medicines.


Doctors have never established what causes the headaches although there have been several suggestions; posture, allergy to hormones or dehydration. I'm starting to keep a headache diary to try identify a pattern of behaviour that leads to a headache but the easiest diagnosis to challenge is dehydration surely.


I'm bad at drinking enough fluids. So what tips or hints do you have to help me keep up my fluid intake? Not helped by the fact that I don't like water ridiculous as it sounds it tastes funny both from the tap and mineral water. I always have dilute in my water. I also don't drink tea or coffee not sure if that helps or hinders.


I suppose the most obvious is to keep a bottle of juice on my desk and ensuring it is finished by the end of the day. But anything else I could try?

Vehicular rubbish

There once was a time when I quite enjoyed watching Top Gear. I'm not an expert on cars or a petrol head by any stretch of the imagination. But I can identify cars by more than their colour and have an appreciation for the fast and sometimes stupid. Why else would we own a petrol guzzling sledge if not to appreciate its 0-60 speed (on a straight dry road do not appreciate the speed with which it goes sideyways on an icy/snow covered road).
However, either I, or Top Gear, have turned a corner. It makes me grumble and question in an old woman type way.
What on earth are they spending my licence fee on?
Why are they spending my licence fee on sending three presenters plus camera crews to countries, which are at war. Surely if the programme brief includes paying for a protection detail it isn't entertainment?
I don't really care how fast a car can go round your track when it costs well more than my home.
There are a lot more examples of programmes that have made me want to throw things at their smug little faces as they clutter up my tv. I do try to be out when O watches it and I could always leave the room.
Sometimes, just sometimes they have a story that reminds me they are human beings after all. At the end of the most recent series they ran a story about recovery amputee soldiers and their goal to take part in the Dakar rally. Soldiers who'd lost limbs in battle preparing to drive one of the world's hardest rallies. Where sand and sweat could damage their prostetics because the camaraderie is keeping their spirits up. A below the knee "scratch" being an affectionate nickname for a foot amputation.
So the point of this? I wish the soldiers well. I thank the BBC for bringing their goal to my attention. I ask that the BBC make more of these type stories and be more sensible with my licence fee from now on. Please and thank you.
Check out race2recovery for more information

Toothpaste

My Dad came to stay on Tuesday night. I noticed on Wednesday night when I went to brush my teeth that our toothpaste tubes had been squeezed from the bottom to the top.

This makes me smile. A LOT

Random Birthday Thoughts

O spotted and removed 3 grey hairs from my head (that is a photo of them, which you could see much better before I compressed the file. Now it looks like a picture of my hand). Well to be honest he noticed more but I was fed up of having my hair pulled.

I removed the piercing bar from my belly button. It has been there since I was 18. It hasn't been on display for a long, long time. I didn't expect to miss it but I do strangely.

I fully expect that neither of these pieces of information will be of interest to you. Sorry.

What happens when I lose my blogging mojo?

Weeks, no months, go by without writing anything meaningful. Ideas drift through my consciousness but time passes before I can write them down and they lose their relevance. Weekends of inactivity pass leaving me with nothing to report. Weekends of absolute bedlam pass leaving me with so much to report it is too much to capture and translate. Weeks pass when I sit staring aimlessly at the computer reading your blogs but not being able to pull words together to comment let alone write a post myself. I post endless randomness including photos of toothpaste and towels hoping that my readers won’t completely abandon me. Even the cats have stopped providing a source of bizarre inspiration. I promise myself that this evening it will be different. This evening I will write something, I will schedule a post. I won’t share all of my news on Twitter leaving me nothing to blog about. I won’t post random drivel, I will spark a debate/conversation and capture the attention of my readers. I doubt that I will ever find anything interesting to write about, I doubt that I ever had anything to write about at all. Maybe planning my wedding was it, maybe there isn’t anything to continue with.



But no I can’t abandon my little community, my new friendships I must continue.


I will think of something interesting. I will share my innermost thoughts and fears. I will share the random spare thoughts that sparked all this off in the first place.


I will try harder, I will do better.


Come back mojo I want to continue.


Its not just me right? Everyone goes through patches like this right? 

Toothpaste personality

(source)

O and I are compatible in the sense that we both squeeze the tooth paste from wherever our hand grabs the tube. My father can't really cope with this and when he stays at our house you generally go into the bathroom to find all the toothpaste squeezed to the top of the tube.

In his own house he has a machine that slowly rolls the end of the tube for you. (Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture to illustrate).

The eyes have it. (part 2)

See part 1 here

My sister did me a huge favour in 1994 by getting married. I was 13 at the time and was still wearing fairly hideous glasses – they had by this point at least become a tortoiseshell brown colour however they were still big and round. So when #1 announced her engagement and asked #2 and I to be bridesmaids there was a serious discussion to be had about glasses. I’m not the only one in my family who is short-sighted we all are. #1 at this point already had contact lenses. I think #2’s eyesight was still good enough to get her through the day. I on the other hand was going to be stuck with the huge glasses. 

After some moaning and whining on my part I was taken to the opticians to get a trial pair of contact lenses. Owwwwwwww. At first it feels like you are sticking great big stones/twigs/100 eyelashes in your eyes. My advice to anyone who is thinking of getting contact lenses is to do it in winter and go outside a lot. The cold weather stimulates your tear ducts making the lenses a lot more comfortable. We persisted, my prescription was tweaked I guessed which was the darkest the red or the green (I hate this part of the eye examination - I don't know!) and eventually on #1’s big day I made it through without the glasses. I haven’t looked back since and have continued to wear contact lenses a lot.

I’ve had to move onto toric lenses which take into account the funny shape of my eye. I tend to wear my contacts while at work and then give my eyes a break at the weekend. I get monthly disposable lenses. Still I’m no expert, I went three or four days ignoring the fact that my right eye was giving me a lot of discomfort before finally popping into my optician on the off chance someone could have a look for me. The response – no wonder it hurts you’ve got a slit in the middle of the lens was not what I expected. The oh bugger don’t rip it fully, give it back I need to drive home was not the response they were expecting.

As I’ve been getting older (*sob*) I’ve noticed that my eyes are drying out and I can’t keep my lenses in for as long. The large chain optician’s solution was to change my contact lenses to the most expensive pair that they offered – this didn’t help. Then I overheard a colleague talking about a new optician she was trying out who had given her lenses that she could sleep in. I’ve no real requirement to sleep in my lenses (no longer being a party girl staying out until all hours of the morning at strange boys’ houses – yup your right I was never that party girl) but I figured if people can sleep in them then surely I can keep them in for longer than 8 hours.

After one failed attempt (bright red bloodshot rings on my eyes - attractive), we finally got the material and prescription of these new lenses correct. I also now take Omega oils to improve the comfort. I never sleep in the lenses but I don't immediately want to rip them from my eyes as soon as I get home.

moo coos

(source)

SPRING!!

This weekend we headed north. There were baby highland coos, baby sheep and baby nephew.

Random Stuff: Size Matters

(1, 2, 3)

Size matters when it comes to towels.

I have to have large towels. I’m an average sized person but I seem to have a requirement for towels which are a step up from those most people (e.g. #2) have and most hotels supply. The size of towel that most people use for their body is the size of towel I use for my hair. I have a lot of hair and the smaller towels always fall off too easily. 

p.s. O can't make a towel turban on his head - is this all boys or just mine?

The eyes have it. (part 1)

(from here)

Or in other words my eyes have had it.

Until recently I had the worst eyesight of anyone I’d ever known. I’m not sure why this seemed to be a sense of achievement but there was always an edge competitiveness when someone would say to me “Oh my eyesight is really bad” – oh you think so do you? Come on then tell me you stats – “-3.25” hahah I laugh at your good eyesight. I have won every single time I’ve played this game to the point where I’ve become a little cocky! Which is why I acted like a total tw*t with the one person who beat me. It isn't an achievement to have bad eyesight and I'm obviously not a nice person.

In my dim and distant past I can vaguely remember the day that changed my eyes and me forever. I was about 8, my family and I were sat in the kitchen having lunch when my Mum got up to get something from another room. As she returned to the kitchen she glanced sharply at me. “Look at me” she said, “I am looking at you” I replied, “look into my eyes”, “I’m looking into your eyes”, “look straight ahead” “ok”, “hmm, think we need to get that looked at”, “get what looked at?”, “its probably nothing”, “WHAT??”.

What my Mum had picked up was a very minor squint in my right eye, following a referral to the hospital I was put through my paces at regular appointments. The culmination of all these tests was an overnight stay in hospital, a general anaesthetic for an operation to tighten the muscle behind my eye. I then had to wear an eye patch (or a big sticking plaster) over my left eye to try to strengthen the right eye and make it work harder.

Some time after the operation I moved seats in the classroom, instead of being right beside the blackboard I was now much further away and things were getting a little fuzzy. In assembly I was responsible for putting the song words on the projector so sat right at the front of the hall. Following a disagreement with the friend who sat on the opposite side of the projector, I gave up my role and went to sit at the back of the class with my other classmates. As we were the oldest class, we were at the back (these were in the days when the whole school came together for assembly every single day). I couldn’t see the words. What with squinting at the blackboard, not being able to see the song words in assembly and the headaches that had started it was back to the optician where I was prescribed my first pair of glasses. Any child who wore glasses in the 80s will know that the choice was hideous, the glasses were huge and you honestly couldn’t get any more colour on to one pair of glasses if there had been an explosion in a paint factory – in fact it looked like there had been a paint explosion in the glasses factory.

I remember the first day in school wearing my new glasses, it happened to be my first day back at school after breaking my wrist. I was sat in the corridor while my Mum spoke to my teacher about how I couldn’t write with my right (broken) arm when a boy from my class came out into the corridor and saw me with new massive glasses and my arm in a sling – his response “what happened to you?!!”. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one in my class with paint explosion wacky glasses there were two other girls, who happened to be my best friends – I don’t think we’d have made it in a bigger school but back in the late 1980s we were there for each other with our hideous glasses.

As I got older and was given a bigger budget and more control over my choice of glasses I came firmly down on the side that my glasses should disappear - that is still my aim when I buy new glasses. Yes ok, they had to be on my face but they had to be as invisible as possible. So I got smaller frames, I got subtle tones that suited me, I eventually after some persuasion graduated onto rimless glasses – which I adored.

My problem is that my eyesight continues to get worse, I fail the test every single time and the number on my prescription keeps getting bigger. This means a lot of different pairs of glasses and a huge amount of money. In the last three years I’ve finally had to come to terms with the fact that I can’t have rimless glasses anymore, they just can’t thin the lenses any further to make them look good in a rimless frame – I cannot afford to pay for them to thin the lenses any further to put them in a rimless frame. I’ve therefore graduated onto a semi-rimless frame. 

I HATE shopping for glasses, I have to try on every single frame in the shop at least twice. I’ve learnt that I have to have teenager glasses or petite frames because the adult frames are just too wide for my face to cope with – this is quite a revelation because I have a very large head and can often not find hats to fit. I’m not sure how I’ve got such a big head and such a small face (I don’t think I look like an alien?!). I can also not take advantage of all these wonderful offers that opticians like to shove down your throat (yes I’m bitter), “oh you’d get a pair free with that”. No I wouldn’t, “oh but you would, we’ve got this fantastic offer on at the moment” no I can’t, I have to pay a LOT of money to get thin enough lenses for one pair of glasses and you think throwing in a free frame is going to make me want to pay that twice? Erm no I’ll not bother with your “free” pair. I don’t wear my glasses as a fashion accessory I wear them to be able to see.

I’ve married a man who is only just behind me in the short-sightedness race – blind leading the blind is perfect for us.

My husband the robot

*(source)

I think O might be a robot.

He sheds nuts and bolts randomly** all over our home.

Thankfully he isn't broken despite missing all these bits.

*I loved this book as a child

**I think they might come from his pockets but really why are his pockets so full of 'things'

Flying is like drinking

(1, 2, 3)

I have decided that flying with a budget airline is similar to getting drunk. Every time I come off a budget flight, I promise myself I will not do it again. Similar to the way that in the depths of a hangover you usually mutter the tell tale words:


“I’m never drinking again” *groan*.

With alcohol I have learnt from my mistakes and misspent youth and set myself a 2-3 drink maximum and that is only on special occasions usually I just don’t drink. However, I just do not seem to be able to quit my budget airline habit. I remember the days when flying was a rarity and seemed so glamorous and I used to feel jealous of those who travelled a lot. Now it feels more like being cattle herded from one place to another and those who travel a lot have my sympathy – I really hope you fly on better quality airlines and are allowed into the lounge!

When did flying become so mundane?

Urgh

(source)

Today has been one of those days (there have been several recently) where big fat doo-doos hit the proverbial fan.

Both in my work life and my home life (why do my friends insist on acting like 13 year olds?)

Days like this exhaust me and make me want to crawl into bed and not get up again for a very long time.

Once I've watched One Born Every Minute and acted as a UN peace maker I'll be spending the rest of the evening here.

(source)

I'm sorry I had actually intended to write about something interesting today instead of moaning AGAIN.

My Spare Rantings

Putting siren noises into songs that are then played on the radio when I'm driving should be banned. When I hear the siren I immediately start looking for blue lights trying to figure out where they are coming from and whether I need to give way. 

Haven't figured out how to make an edit specifically for the radio when I'm driving so I've decided that sirens should just be banned from all songs - really what does it add?

Have a good weekend! 

2010

What a year it has been.

January

Baby nephew was born

February

Our parent's met for the first time

March

My parents went to South Africa for three weeks. I've still not managed to look through all the photos that they took.

April

Two lovely ladies got married. Gaynor from Our Day by Design and Hockey one of my special women. I met a real life blogger in person and it wasn't that scary!

May

We both had our final single celebrations at our hen do and stag do. Catherine and Richard got married.

June

In June we filed our wedding notice and everything became much more real! I also travelled to London to do the Race4Life with my family.

July

WE GOT MARRIED - well come on it was a pretty big event this year.

August

We celebrated being engaged one year. I kept this blog going for a whole year. Another blog friend got married - Wellies' recaps are amazing.

September

We went on our first husband and wife holiday - I will get round to writing a recap soon.

October

Rebecca and James got married. #2 took a tumble (will do an update shortly - she is doing much better).

November

Anna married her Bean. I met some more lovely blog ladies.

December

The snow arrived. We went North for Christmas.

Who knows what next year might bring.

My pretty

The cat lays claim to another bauble

if only it wasn't so cute to watch

Well my dears the Christmas madness has descended upon us all.

Pretty things are grabbing everyone's attention.

Tonight we bake cupcakes as our contribution to the food madness.

Hopefully the white stuff will stop falling from the sky because tomorrow we will make the long journey northwards to spend Christmas with O's parents. At least we'll have cupcakes to keep us going if the journey is too horrendous.

This will be my first Christmas away from my family. Although I will miss them I know that Christmas will be full of people, food and laughter - what more do you need?

I hope you all have a fantastic time

I'll be back after the madness