Charity begins at.....

A few weeks ago I was helping Mum sort out a few things. She had some bags already to go to the charity shop so I said I would take them for her.

Many weeks on they were still in the boot (trunk for my across the pond readers) of my car. As I have had a couple of days off work this week I actually had time to have a look at what was in there.

Blimey most of the stuff was only fit for the bin, but my Mum the age she is and the era she was born in has the stock expression of 'some one will be glad of them'. Which is fair comment if you want well used stainless steel salad serving bowl and dishes, an old wicker basket to put your dried flowers, some lethal chopping device bought off a shopping channel, a snow globe that has lost half its water etc etc ........

However, in there was also this

a Commodore 776M I popped a battery in it and my god it still works. It belonged(s) to my brother as he has scratched his name and address on the back with a compass I guess.

The other gem that had me laughing my socks off was this

Nurse Myra has Corset Friday .. so I am having a Kaftan Friday (Circa 1980 bought in Thailand)

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I am having a wobble as to where I live... I thought we were at war the other morning when I saw this sign at my local train station (you know how they did this sort of thing in WW2 in case the Germans invaded?? I think my council are expecting aliens ...)... the sign is real not an internet thing!

Blimey.....

... it is 15 days since I last blogged.. oops.

The work load has not given up like I expected since the 2nd February, the huge hamster wheel I am in is hurtling even faster ... tsk I didn't take a career change to be this busy... to add insult to injury I have been made 'work-stream lead'. Don't get me wrong I am pleased that my efforts have been recognised but I think I am going to have to get to the advanced class in plate spinning!!!!

Last month I celebrated another Birthday and the family and I went to a fabby garden centre where they do fabby food too. It is in Cheshire about 7 miles from where I live.

Willowpool is no ordinary garden centre, in fact I didn't spot any plants for sale!! Instead you can buy ex Blackpool illuminations, huge stone Buddas, red telephone boxes.. indeed anything that can be reclaimed is sold there. The prices are well 'pricey' but it is enormous fun.

It may not have escaped your attention but it is Valentines Day today. Bless my Teens cotton socks she bought me a card and a Thorntons chocolate thing with my name on it ... awwww

In return as she and her boyfriend have no money I said I would cook them a 3 course meal and they could pretend they were at a restaurant... there was me thinking it would be a simple case of soup, lasagne and ice cream. No it ended up with home made chicken goujons and dips to start, a full Sunday roast (but with Christmas dinner stuff too like cranberry sauce, cranberry and nut stuffing etc) and 2 types of cheescake... just as well I love cooking.

One thing I have learned today ... 'pigs in blankets' are not just for Christmas (yummeee)

Liverpool wheel and crescent moon

Liverpool wheel and crescent moon
Originally uploaded by diaryof70steen

I am just 'testing, testing' from my Flickr account to 70s Teen ... I am so good at technology :-) *pats self on back*

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing... Just wondering how this darned thing works????

Resolutions out of the window

One of my resolutions to myself this year was to get back to blogging more.... obviously I have failed in these first few weeks of January. My main excuse is the pressure that I find myself under at work just now. It is the first time in all my working life that I feel swamped and this not achieving anything. When I get home I feel brain dead (yes more than normal can you believe!) and I just want to do nothing but play mindless crap on the computer or watch mindless crap on the TV. Normally I work well under pressure but on this occasion I am battling against pressure that I know is not necessary and I feel I am in danger of not delivering a good job due to the nonsense of the unrealistic deadlines... I liken it to the 'Emperors New Clothes' every one (except me and 2 others) are hurtling on without a regard to the consequences, not realising the damage it may cause ... whilst saying how marvellous it all is!!! *sigh!!*

The project is building up to a crescendo and the end game is sort of in sight on the 2nd February...... So not long now I suppose ....

However, I gave myself a jolly good talking to over the weekend [hating how this job has made me feel and react] so I have developed 'PMT' not the usual PMT but 'Positive Mental Thinking'... and have had a great Monday .. thankfully if I felt today as I felt last week it would certainly be a Blue Monday for me

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After my frozen kitchen pipes last Saturday (and burst ones latterly) I again became a Victorian housewife this week (I did all my washing by hand in the bath last Saturday!).

Came home from work on Thursday and we had a power cut .. it is a sharp reminder about how our lives are now a days... we had no lights, heating, cooking facilities, TV, computer, radio, phone (as it is a cordless it needs electricity).. to add insult to injury my mobile was on its last legs battery wise too.....

I sat in candle light until 23.20 hours ... playing stupid [off line] games on the laptop until the battery died on that too.... I may have to buy a piano if this continues at least we could have a sing song.

It did get me thinking though how did our ancestors cope in the evenings way back then ... maybe they told jokes to one another... taken from a book I have which was published in 1898

'why should the male sex avoid the letter A?'

'cos it makes a men mean'

'why is the letter U a most uncertain letter?'

'because it is always in doubt'

'why is an eclipse like a man whipping his boy?'

'It's a hiding of a sun'

'what herb is most injurious to a lady's beauty?'

'Thyme'

'why does a miller wear a white cap?'

To cover his head'

Please, please, please let me never have a power cut again ...............

snow, snow and more snow

This time last week I had just returned form a fabby day trip to London. The sun was shining with bright blue skies albeit a tad chilly ... my friend had walked the dog for me and said it had snowed.

Yes there had been a dusting of it ...

Tuesday was my first day back to work after 2 and a bit weeks of festivities. I showered, pottered around getting ready for work and opened the curtains..... I couldn't believe it, over night we had had a complete 'white out'. It was one of those 'huh?' moments.

I then had the dilemma 'should I or should I not attempt to get to work?'.. it took about 10 minutes to decided that (I know what took me so long?) .... definitely it was going to be a 'snow day' off.

They tell us on the news that we have not had snow like this since 1981. I don't have a full diary for that year and noted an entry on 28th December...

'Bank Holiday. Thick snow. Took Sascha for walk along the canal. Canal completely frozen'

I wonder if this is when this was taken??

Oh btw ... whilst we are having such a cold snap .. don't forget to feed the birds. My shed roof has become a cool place to hang out if you are a bird and I spent ages watching the activities from my bathroom window as I did my washing.. (yes I had frozen pipes downstairs, so hand washed all my weekly wash in the sink and bath.... finished it all. I was just finishing the final load and the pipes defrosted and one burst. Panic, panic ... water gushing out all over the kitchen floor... managed to drag the very tightly fitted fridge/freezer out so I could get to the stop tap.... (what a stupid place to put it ...) ... Ah water stopped. Now find a plumber!!)

It was fascinating to watch the pecking order.. Seagulls are the bosses, followed by magpies, wood pigeons, black birds, song thrushes, starlings, sparrows and robins, finches and tits.. although there is a black bird that seems to have claimed ownership and even tried to chase the magpie.. not a wise decision....... for more info about feeding birds this winter pop over and see Claire please

4th January in a new decade ...

Already we are 4 days into a new year and a new decade ...

I slept in until 11 am yesterday ...maybe that should be one of my new year resolutions... at the weekend sleep in really late like a teenager.

My Christmas break has been awesome.. I have so enjoyed my time out of the 'coal face'

Actually it has been a blessing that I have been off work as we have had such cold weather.. many times since I have been off my road has been a skating rink.. I thought we had seen the last of it but it is frozen over again today and we have a few snow flurries. mmm it will be fun commuting in the morning!!!

On Saturday Teen and I went on a day trip to London to meet up with my Cuz who is over from Australia. We were up at 5am and back at 9pm (that could explain the long lie the day after).

First stop was the Natural History Museum, just check out that blue sky.. it was snowing back home....

There were 3 things we needed to do whilst here.

The first one was to explore the dinosaurs bit (which was great as we were about number 30 in the queue to first step through the doors... so we had a clear go at it. As you can see by the time we left it was sooo very busy)

The second thing was to find strange things in jars

result!!

Lastely we had to find this chap (yes this is 'wee' Teen & the last time we came to the NHM )

we found him.. he hasn't changed a bit

I think we may have started a tradition for as long as the polar bear is there!!

We met up with my Cuz at the British Library where there is a fabulous 19th Century photo exhibition on .... there were some beautiful pictures ... there is a taster here.

It was a great day and a great end to a lovely two week break.

The Christmas decorations are back in the loft for another 11 1/2 months and reality hits in the morning as it is back to the old 9-5... roll on Easter :-)