The life and times of me!

Salus Per Aquam….

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:09:00 +0000

….apparently stands for Spa, which is where we were on Saturday! (although this acronym may not actually be true)

Mum, my sister-in-law, and almost sister-in-law arrived at my house Friday night, all ready and eager for a spa day on Saturday followed by lunch and a bit of shopping – a real girls weekend.
We had a rather early start on Saturday morning because we knew that if we left it too late, we would have to queue for much longer at the Thermae Bath Spa. (Which, believe it or not, is actually on “Hot Bath Street”!

It was glorious, we had two hours of sitting in the thermal waters or in the steam rooms. The great thing is that one of the thermal pools is actually an open air pool, and even better is that is it is a rooftop open air pool so you can sit in the warm water and look out over Bath!! It was a bit cold though so you really had to make sure that you sat well down in the water and not let your ears get too cold. ;-) The steam room were fabulous – there were four different large glass rooms with stone benches and they each had different aromas – lavender, eucalyptus, mint, and menthol – the menthol was just far too strong for me and my eyes didn’t like it, but it was lovely to sit in the lavender room and just sit and absorb the steam.

After we’d dried off and were feeling quite invigorated and refreshed we went and had a look at the Royal – as seen above! It was a bit difficult to find lunch – we had intended to have lunch at Jamie’s Italian, but the queue put us off and so we just went and found a little place that was rather amusing cos they didn’t quite seem to have their act together, but the food was ok!

We got home that evening feeling quite exhausted and so we had a pajama evening with lots of wine, food and DVDs! We watched Coco Before Chanel which took us by surprise because we weren’t expecting the film to be French with English subtitles, although, on thinking about it, we should probably have realised. ;-)

In any case, we had a fabulous weekend and we would love to try and make this a regular event. Even if we don't, I have another spa weekend to look forward to in a couple of months and the future sister-in-law wants a spa weekend for a hen weekend!!

unfamiliarity!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:14:00 +0000

There is something quite disconcerting about driving an unfamiliar car. You see, I borrowed the courtesy car from the garage today cos they had to service and MOT my car and I didn't want to take a day off in order to leave the car at the garage. (point of fact - the car was meant to be done the Friday before last but the garage agreed to let me have the courtesy car today if I waited for the service/MOT because they had someone off sick back then.)

Anyway....I had a little red Mitsubishi Colt (2007 reg) and it really was very strange driving this car. For a start, my car is probably particularly low to the ground and so driving this red car I felt as though I was about two metres up!! (yes, I know that's an exaggeration, but it jolly well felt like it.)

When I first got in the car I had to rearrange all the mirrors to suit me and then I had to make sure that I knew where the lights, indicators and windscreen wiper controls were!! I only had the car for one day so I didn't worry too much about not finding the rear windscreen wiper control and by the end of the day I STILL couldn't figure out how to put the headlights on full beam instead of just dipped. Fortunately I wasn't going far and so didn't need them...although I must have confused a lorry driver when I flashed to indicate that he could pull in and instead of a flash, he had two full ON beams for a couple of seconds while I scrabbled around to turn them off (and on and off again!!)

I reckon that there must be no stranger experience than that of driving an unfamiliar car - I mean if you're driving it for just one day then you don't have time to get used to the dimensions of the car or how the brakes react and little things like that. Which certainly make parking a challenge - lets just say that I made sure that I parked away from the other cars and let them park around me!! Hey - I wasn't wonky, I just didn't want to ding any other car or even this one!

While it was a weird experience, I did think that it was a nice little car and I did like the fact that it told me how many petrol miles I had left and how cold it was outside (1C - too cold!) - information that I don't get in my present car, so I am looking forward to having something like that when I eventually upgrade the car which is not happening any time soon.

Addendum: it IS possible to take efficiency too far - I got home with newly serviced and MOT'd car only to find a reminder for said MOT on my doormat!!!

Rugby and music!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:12:00 +0000

Am just watching the opening scenes of the Welsh/English rugby match playing this afternoon and, while I don't know much Welsh, I just loved listening to the players and half the stadium sing the Welsh national anthem - it really stirs the blood.

It stirs it in a way that the English national athem just doesn't - perhaps it's because I don't know the meaning behind the Welsh words, or perhaps the Welsh tune is just a better one - one that makes you want to stand up and sing as well (but I wont cos I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket!).

It's probably the same reason why I love hearing the Welsh male voice choirs - they just sound amazing. When I listen to songs like "Men of Harlech" or "Myfanwy", I just get a tingle up my spine listening to those deep glorious voices - I am sure that there is nothing quite like it elsewhere.

Anyway, it's the start of the Six Nations rugby tournament, it used to be the Five Nations of England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France, and then Italy got involved, so it's now the Six Nations and it gets everybody's blood up and roaring for their home team!! I don't watch a great deal of sport, but I do find that rugby is more interesting than football and you certainly don't get any rugby players pretending to dive ;-)

Good luck to everybody - may the best team win!!

A day of two halves.

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:54:00 +0000

Warning – rather long post!!

Well, today was an interesting day. I had the day off work because Mum arrived last night and we’re having a long weekend together!

As it turned out, it was also the day of one of the repatriation journeys through my little town of Wootton Bassett; and it was also the day chosen for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to pay a little visit to our part of the world!

They did not come to the repatriation itself as that would not have been appropriate, but we went to see the last journey of those soldiers. Despite the fact that there have been many repatriations home (too many I should say), it was actually my first one as I am usually at work when the soldiers arrive home.

The repatriation was very moving indeed, everyone gathers in the High Street and stands around chatting to each other while the press set up their cameras and whatnot.

Then when the first police motorbike comes through, the Church bells start tolling and everyone falls silent – it really is quite an eerie moment. The black cars then come into the town and stop in the middle of the road where the soldiers are paid respect to by local people and other soldiers (both old soldiers and those still serving).

It really was a very moving event – the mourning friends and family were on the other side of the road to us and there were two soldiers in battle fatigues and they were holding a single rose each (to place on the car) and then once they did they hugged each other and saluted the coffin in the car. It was just……..heart breaking.

While I don’t particularly support the war because all war is such a cruel thing, I do think that it is nice that we can pay our respects to our fallen soldiers and offer up a public symbol of that respect through our town of Wootton Bassett.

Anyway, about two hours later we were all stood around in the bitter bitter cold waiting for Prince Charles and Camilla to arrive and dedicate a new flagpole as a permanent reminder of that very support and respect that Wootton Bassett offer to the soldiers.

While we were waiting we were entertained by the activities of everybody organising the event and the local marching band!

Finally….Charles and Camilla arrived and due to people being in the way of my camera I got some very very bad quality photos indeed as the camera was focusing on the wrong person!! But still, have a look at the photos below!!

The flag was duly dedicated and raised and the Last Post was played on a trumpet. But not before it started snowing! Yes, it was so cold it snowed – as you can see from a very cold Mum……

So there you have it – a day of two halves - one rather sad but very moving event, and one very cold but uplifting moment! (no, my Fridays are not usually quite this eventful!!)

Update: Mum (using her lovely Mac) has managed to clean up one of my photos and it looks a bit better!

One World One Heart….

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:14:00 +0000

….is here!!! Go and visit A Whimsical Bohemian to find all those other blogs that are taking part in the annual One World One Heart.

First of all, I wish a warm welcome to all of you that have stopped by my little blog on that OWOH Magic Carpet (I hope no-one’s fallen off yet!!) This little blog of mine has been going for about three years although last year was a bit of a slow year for blogging; hopefully I will do a bit better this year.

Anyway, do feel free to have a rummage around my blog and find out a bit about me and my thoughts; and if you have a bit of time you could always have a peek at my other blog (Yet Another Card Blog) which is where I show the things that I make for my little hobby that I spend far too much money on – ha ha!!

So, as One World One Heart involves giving something away.......what have I made that I am now going to give away??

A note card set that contains three cards…..

A box of four thank you cards……

A birthday organiser “handbag” with a little pocket for stamps in the front….

And should I happen to make anything else between now and the 15th February, I might just offer that up as well.

All you have to do is leave a single comment on this post only by the 15th February and I will draw three (or possibly more if I make more cards and things) names after 5pm British Time – please just make sure that I have some way of getting in touch with you (whether via your blog or an email address).

Don’t forget that there are likely to be hundreds more blogs to have a rummage around, and if you want to offer up something yourself you have until the 7th February to check the OWOH webpage and find out what to do before sending your link to Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian!

Sunday!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:02:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a week and a half and I am quite glad to have a whole day where I have nothing planned and nothing specific to do (aside from the usual house stuff that is!) You see, a few months ago, I decided that I was in danger of digging my rut deeper and deeper and not doing anything to climb out of it; and so I began to find other things to do, not to mention people to meet!

Anyway, the silly thing is that I now feel that I have too much to do during the week!! Where on earth do you draw the line and find that balance of having too much to do or being stuck at home feeling as though you're turning into a hermit!?

Mind you, this week just gone was a little unusual because I had three days at university and I think that if I hadn't had that travel to Bristol, then the whole week might not have been quite so tiring!! So....what did I do in the evenings? Monday night I was at my craft club making a cute little box of thank you cards, Tuesday night I was at a Pampered Chef party hosted by a friend (I bought some stuff!), Wednesday night I went to the ballet with some other friends to see Sleeping Beauty (it was a strange little ballet!), Thursday night I was off to my weekly sign language class - we are currently practising for our first exam which is next Thursday!! Friday was a relief as I wasn't doing anything in the evening, but I still had to work during the day. Saturday was fairly quiet, but I did go round to another friends house to take part in her craft afternoon - we made some lovely birthday reminder folders - you know the ones - where you can store birthday cards. In fact, I am quite likely to offer it up as part of the One World One Heart event which starts tomorrow.

Anyway - I am sure you can see why I felt a bit too busy last week, and for some reason next week is going to be just as busy as I keep accepting invitations and finding other things to do. So, coming up this week is....Monday night is a free craft night as a friend is trying to increase her Stampin Up business; Tuesday night I have been invited to supper with a few friends; Wednesday night is tap dance (it's not on every week due to bookings in the hall), Thursday night is BSL exam night and Mum arrives for the weekend (yaaaay!). Friday - I actually have the day off work so that Mum and I can do stuff together - although I still need to go into work to get a blood test done (don't panic - nothing wrong - just a routine test) and the car is booked in to the garage for a service and MOT.

Really, I have gone from one extreme to the other; from sitting around all evening in front of the goggle box and laptop all week to barely having a moment to sit and snuggle with the cat!!! It's all good fun though and I fully expect that it will all level off eventually and I will have the right balance of work and play. If nothing else, although I am a bit irritated at being quite this busy, I am glad to be climbing out of my deep rut and getting to know people in the area and finding new things to do cos it really was quite depressing to find myself turning into a hermit!! ;-)

Twitchy!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:16:00 +0000

I cannot believe how twitchy I feel - my legs keep bouncing and I just want to get up and walk or run or jump or something!!

I suppose that is what happens when you spend the best of three days sitting solidly on your posterior!! I have just about reached the end of a stint at university doing one of the modules required for the MSc (strategic leadership) and even at work I don't spend quite so much time sitting down!!

It may not feel like it, but I am actually quite often on the move at work - over there to talk to someone, over there to sort out the computer, or just to put some books away!! You just don't realise how much you DO move in the course of the day until you spend three says just sitting there!!

My posterior is numb and I have had enough - it will practically be a pleasure to get back to work tomorrow!!!

- Posted from my iPhone - please 'scuse mistakes!!

A-wassailing we shall go!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:20:00 +0000

I had great fun tonight down the local pub where they were hosting a Wassail – for those of you that don’t know what a wassail is – it is a gathering that generally involves lots of singing and alcohol!

This particular wassail though was the Apple Wassail (traditionally held on the 17th January, which is the old 12th Night in the old calendar) where you’re supposed to dance in the orchards and offer a blessing to the apple trees. Well, we didn’t actually do that, but a potted apple tree was brought into the pub that we could sing to it! It’s all a bit pagan, but a heck of a lot of fun!

My photos are pretty bad because they were taken using my iPhone and it was dark, but hopefully they’ll give you a flavour of what happened this evening – along with the choruses that we were expected to join in with – I did my bit!!

And drink and drink
and drink the winter away
So get yourself to some cosy inn
and drink the winter away!

Bring us in good ale
and bring us in good ale
for our blessed lady’s sake
bring us in good ale

And finally – the chorus of the Gower Wassail – and I have absolutely no idea what it means!!

Fol the dol, fol the doddy dol
Fol the doddy dol, fol the doddy dee
For the day rol, fol the dee dee
Sing too ral aye oh.

One World One Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:47:00 +0000

The fabulous Lisa over at the Whimsical Bohemian is once again hosting One World One Heart aka OWOH.

It began in 2007 with just under a hundred bloggers getting together to "meet" each other and share some amazing handcrafts; it is now in it's fourth year and we may just beat last years record of just under a thousand bloggers!!

Click on the above picture to go to the OWOH website to find out more about the whole thing - over at the Whimsical Bohemian you can find out the ways in which you can participate in this fantastic event.

It all starts on the 25th January and runs until the 15th February; so do come back on the 25th January when I will have an open house on my blog where I will welcome you all to my little part of One World One Heart and will have something to give away to one (or perhaps more!) of you lovely bloggers!

Testing testing!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:47:00 +0000

Have just downloaded blogpress lite to my phone so I am seeing whether it actually works. It probably does, but I can see that I am unlikely to use it very often unless I practice because it takes ages to type!! In fact it's probably not that slow but as I am a touch typer this typing with thumbs does seem very slow!!!! (not to mention funny like when I typed rhumba instead of thumbs the first time around!!)

I do have one problem already though - I don't seem to be able to add another blogger blog to blogpress lite as it doesn't like it! Has anyone else had any success there if you are using blogpress life for the iPhone?

- Posted from my iPhone - please 'scuse mistakes!!

Edited to say that I have worked out how to add my card blog to my iPhone - it was just me being a bit dim!! ha ha!!

Unexpected Treat

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:38:00 +0000

Yesterday I did something a bit unexpected! I went to London to see the ballet at the Coliseum - The Snow Queen. You see, a friend of mine was supposed to be going with her friend, but said friend got a bit nervous about travelling to London because trains have been delayed or even cancelled this week due to the weather.

Anyway, on Friday Ann asked me if I'd like to go instead; and, having nothing planned I jumped at the chance. So, Saturday morning found me and my car sliding around the station car park trying to find a suitable spot to park in. The journey to London (and back) was utterly uneventful - except that it was very very cold waiting at the station in the morning, so it was a good thing that I had my hands wrapped around a gingerbread flavoured hot chocolate! ;-)

We had some time to spare before the ballet, so we grabbed some lunch at a local pub and then wandered down to the Coliseum and settled down to watch the Show Queen. Unfortunately we were on the end of a curved row of seats, so I had to lean forward a bit to see the whole of the stage - there were some unoccupied seats in the next row down, so we did move at the first interval and I am glad we did cos I was far more comfortable actually leaning back in the chair.

Well, the ballet itself was gorgeous - the costumes were dazzling, the footwork amazing (although there was one exceedingly close near miss with the Snow Queen and one of the other dancers!) and I thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected trip to London. In fact, I really should go more often as it is only an hour away and if I am canny with booking my train tickets early, it really doesn't cost all that much.

It's lovely to do something unexpected!! I wonder what will happen next!?

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:01:00 +0000

Well, that's it now - Christmas is all over for another year and Easter Eggs are beginning to appear in the shops much to my annoyance!

It's now that time of year where everyone attempts to reflect on what's happened in the last year and comes up with some resolutions that they just know wont be adhered to much beyond January 5th! (which, incidentally is Twelfth Night and you need to have taken your Christmas decorations down by then.)

Since I have yet in my life to stick to a single resolution, I don't think that I will even attempt to make any this year except perhaps a simple wish to lead a healthier, happier life!! Which I think that everybody tries to do in their own way.

So...what's this year going to be like? There is certainly one big event happening this year and that my brother's wedding to Elizabeth this August - a huge family get-together that will be great fun - the hotels are already booked! Other than that, I think that this is a fairly standard year - all the usual events and things that we have to do to keep going!!

In any case.....Happy New Year to you all and may you all succeed in your endeavours!

Christmas Tour!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:15:00 +0000

I am bit late to the mega party that is the Christmas Tour of Homes as hosted by the Nester! I mean, for goodness sake, there are almost a thousand other bloggers before me – all showing off their wonderful Christmassy homes!!

So, here is my seasonal offering…

Of course the tree takes pride of place – I kinda just chuck everything at it and hope that it works well – the trouble is that a Christmas tree in full regalia just never ever seems to photograph very well (as I am sure that you all know already!!) No flash and it’s too dark, use flash and the lights vanish as you can see in the photograph below…

I also have this rather funky Father Christmas – I think that he looks great, although he wobbles a great deal if the table is knocked because he has one of the springie things inside him – and he wobbles a LOT!!

Candles sometimes seem to take over my home, and Christmas time is certainly no exception as I have two tealight holders that, of course, don’t photograph all that brilliantly…

And I thought that I would have some fun with some baubles and a trio of candles – this takes pride of place on my coffee table and I think that it pulls the whole thing together quite nicely!!

So, there you go – that is my tour of Christmas in my home!! I do have a lovely stained glasses (sorta thing) Christmas wreath that I normally hang on the door to the lounge, but I can’t seem to find it – it must be buried in the attic somewhere!!

Anyway, if you would like to see more Christmas decorations and see what other people have hanging in their homes, just click on the banner below! I promise you’ll have fun – perhaps you’ll even join in!?

Oooh

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:16:00 +0000

It looks as though I have been given the honour of “beautiful Blogger” by the lovely Liz over at Liz’s HOH blog.

Apparently what you have to do is nominate seven other bloggers for this and then tell everybody seven things about yourself.

So here goes!

The nominations are….(I hope you don’t think I sound like someone at the Oscars!)

Sunny in Seattle – a fabulous blogger that I have been following for ages now – is pregnant with twins and needs help naming them!!

Northwest Ladybug – I love this blog – there’s a great photo on it of a dog and cat sharing a beanbag in front of the Christmas tree!

Dispensing Happiness – for doing exactly that and organising things like blogging by mail!

The Literary Feline – for having a lovely blog and occasionally popping up on mine!! ;-)

The view from the hill – who loves knitting and needs a bit of cheering up!

Liffey’s Blog – now this one is a bit unusual cos Liffey is a Hearing Dog!!

…and, of course, Alice – one of the bloggers that I have been following since I started blogging!

Well, that’s the seven blogs, now I need to think of seven things to say – I assume that’s seven things that I haven’t already said in two and half years of blogging (!!!)

I am sure you know this by now – but I am quite addicted to my laptop and/or iphone!! I am constantly checking to see what’s going on, who’s emailed me and stuff like that!! (Mum would say that I am just very nosy!)

I hope to begin tap dance classes in January!! I have made a new friend that plans to start her own classes the village hall – so I will give that a go!!

I am back at the dentist next Wednesday! :-( Yes that saga has not finished yet – I was still in pain (on and off) so they took an x-ray last week and then said to come back and they will redo the filling free of charge! (will let you know how that one goes as clearly there is something not quite right with the filling.)

I love the song performed by the Salvation Army – Rise up Shepherd – I think that I’ve blasted it out of the speakers in the car at least fifteen times this week!!! (along with the other Christmas music!)

I haven’t finished my Christmas shopping – I clearly need to get a move on!! Three of them arrived in the post this week, so I AM getting there! ;-)

I am just about to watch the latest Harry Potter release after leaving the DVD on my coffee table for a week cos I was too busy to watch it – that NEVER happens round here!

Finally – I will admit to loving Star Trek!! (that is, all but the original series as I am not so keen on that!!) So most weekdays evenings I can be found watching Voyager at 7pm and Sundays I will settle down to watch Deep Space 9! (any more closet Trekkies out there ;-) )

So there you go! Thank you to Liz for thinking that I deserve this badge!

Classic Christmas music!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:24:00 +0000

I absolutely adore the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah and was really tickled quite pink to find this version!! (Found it on the lovely Grannymar’s blog!)

Utterly utterly classic!!!! (just ignore the chap giggling away in the corner!)

BBM

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:24:00 +0000

….or Blogging By Mail! A little while ago I signed to take part in BBM as hosted by Dispensing Happiness – the point was to send a parcel of five things that relax you to someone else that had signed up!!

I sent a parcel off to She Devil Delights and it contained some earl grey tea from Tea Pigs, a novel from my favourite author Nora Roberts, some chocolate, some bubblebath and some greeting card kits that I’d made up myself.

But that’s not what you want to know; you want to know what I got in the post today!! Technically I got it in the post yesterday, but all the postman left was a notice to come and collect it from the depot, which closes round about 3pm so I had to wait until this morning to pick it up on the way to work.

Of course, I couldn’t wait until I got back home to open it, so I opened it at work, had a peep and then resealed it for safe carrying home! So……it came from the wonderful Gabi in Salt Lake City where you can find the blog The Feast Within (where I had actually previously bookmarked a frangipane pear tart that looked rather fabulous!).

And it contained the following….

Three lovely books, including one by my absolute favourite author – Nora of course!! Two bars of chocolate, one of which is all gone now (tee hee!!), several bags of yummy looking tea (including chamomile citrus and organic breakfast), some lovely beauty stuff like a raspberry lipbalm that smells delicious and organic orange bath salts! Not to mention the 2 ounces worth of unsweetened chocolate to be used for chocolate brownies as per the recipe included in the little notecard; which also mentioned that book that you can just about see under that pile of goodies – The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim – is a particular favourite of Gina’s who said “ I’ve enclosed my own much loved copy of The Enchanted April – I read it whenever I need a sunny Italian vacation in a book, ahhh San Salvatore”.

What a lovely thing to say and I feel very privileged to have such a book sent to me – I would find it very hard to part with one of my own favourite books!! I am so pleased I took part in Blogging By Mail and I would definitely do it again!

Thank you to Stephanie for organising this and thank you to Gina for sending me such a lovely parcel!!!

SantaThing!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:58:00 +0000

I have been a LibraryThing member for ages. If you don't know what LibraryThing is, it's a place where you can catalogue your personal book collection and see what other people have (appeals to the nosy in me as well as the librarian!)

Two years ago the fabulous LibraryThing people started SantaThing and I joined in the first time around and got an intriguing book. The second time around I was a bit nervous of what I might get that time because I wasn't all that keen on the book that I had (which was The Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin - a distinctly acquired taste I think!) even though it was quite interesting and I did enjoy it, but I would not choose to read it again if that makes any sense at all. This year, I thought that I would get stuck in even though I am bit late to the party!!

So late in fact that the deadline for SantaThing is today at 4pm EST which actually means 9pm my time, so if you are British you have plenty of time to go and put your name down for SantaThing!! Simply put, you need to be a member of LibraryThing which is free up to a certain point and then you need to plunk down $25 (£15) to put your name in the hat and then once the names have been distributed (no addresses given out) you can have fun choosing the right book for this other person that you are likely to never ever meet!! And of course you get to have fun opening a suprise parcel - only a surprise in that you won't know what the book is!!

You know you want to do it!! ;-)

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:40:00 +0000

It would appear that today is Thanksgiving over in the States! (As if I could possibly have failed to realise it after reading all those blogs giving thanks or telling us what they are going to eat!) Anyway it is, of course, an apppropriate time to say thanks.....

for antibiotics!! I went to the dentist the other day and it turns out that the newly filled tooth is fine, but I have developed an infection in the injection site!! (the trouble is that mouths are generally not very clean places) So now I am on two lots of antibiotics and two lots of painkillers - I must surely rattle!! Still, I am thankful to whomever invented antibiotics as I will now be on the mend.
for subtitles as it means that I can watch the television without having to guess what's going on (I really don't like it when a programme doesn't have subtitles as I do feel quite unable to watch it)
for the new friends that I have made on my recent Alpha course!
for my job that allows me to buy my craft things!!
for my family - I love you all so much!!

What are you thankful for?

Lazy Days

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:11:00 +0000

This Sunday has been a particularly lazy one! While the tooth appears to be getting better (she says tentatively), I am still feeling all irritable and so have spent today in my pajamas and dressing gown!! Not the most productive of Sundays although I did manage to clean up the cat's litter tray (it needed it!)

Sometimes though, a day a in pajamas is just what is needed - no obligations, jobs, visitors or anything. Anything of importance can go hang, time is better spent on the sofa in front of the telly with the cat on the lap and the laptop precariously balanced on the knees! I have spent the day rummaging blogs, chatting with Mum on facebook (and beating Mum at scrabble - but only just!); not to mention making endless cups of tea with the ocassional pill to keep the pain away - Nur0fen seems to work best, but I can only take one more today so I am saving that for just before I go to bed.

So, I refuse to feel any guilt for having an idle day as sometimes we all need one!

Toothy update!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Well, it has been a couple of days since I went to the instrument of torture otherwise known as the dental chair!

Naturally it wasn't an entirely pleasant experience, but I had enough anaesthetic to numb the jaw right the way up to the ear - it is quite a weird feeling to have a hearing aid in a numb ear! The dentist did her best to clear out the decay and she said that she would put some medication in the tooth before filling it up.

Unfortunately the pain has not yet gone away - if anything - I would say that it has gotten worse! I suppose I was somewhat naive in thinking that as soon as the anaesthetic had worn off I would be entirely painfree. But on thinking about it, it makes sense that the nerve would be tender and sore after the drilling and poking around!!

In addition to which, the dentist said that the decay was rather close the nerve and so the nerve itself may be damaged and so if the tooth is still ultra sensitive (aka painful!) in about a months time then I may need a root canal. So I am really rather hoping that this pain is just a result of the "surgery" and not anything else. In any case, I am popping paracet@mol and ibupr0fen (safely of course!) and it seems to take the edge off. (I hate those funny symbols in the medical words but I have already had a spammer and I think that this is one way to prevent them from finding us!)

Stupid Tooth!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:46:00 +0000

For about a week now I have had a painful tooth and it is bugging the heck out of me!! Actually, I should be honest and say that it is nothing like a proper toothache as I understand that those are quite utterly unbearable. Nevertheless, this tooth is achey enough to be a real nuisance and for once I am actually looking forward to the visit to the dentist on Wednesday cos then that means the pain will go away!!

I do wonder how on earth people managed without dentists all those years ago!!? Yes someone would have eventually volunteered to extract the troublesome teeth, but the sufferers must have put up with a great deal of pain that just could not be managed effectively. That really does boggle the mind, especially when my pain isn't really that bad - just a constant irritation that doesn't go away unless I manage to successful distract myself (or medicate!!)

So, I just sit here and feel very sorry for myself!!! Tonight though, I managed to distract myself by going to the first night of a local craft club - read more about that over at my other blog!

Birthdays!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:05:00 +0000

No matter how old you get, birthdays are always good fun!! I certainly had good fun this weekend as I turned *cough* years old!

It was a weekend of fun and laughter as we walked through the woods, played bananagrams, tickled the kids, ate the cake I made – yes, I had to make my own birthday cake!! But it was very nice even if I say so myself.

If there was one moment that really revealed what year it was it was this one…

…yes that’s four laptops and one iphone you can see there! (even if you can only just about see my laptop!) In fact, it got rather funny at one point when Mum, Matt and I were messaging each other to say go and make a pot of tea!! We eventually all jumped up when one of us agreed to make the tea, the other to clear the coffee table and the other to dig out the bananagrams! A far cry from the old family birthday photos of cheesy grins and dorky jumpers!! ;-)

Life

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Just what is it about life that gets in the way of things!!! I wasn't blogging because I wasn't doing very much and now I am not blogging because I am now doing too much and cannot find the time to sit down and compose a few lines or two!! (of course I am never too busy to do a bit of blog hopping or rummaging around facebook though ;-) )

Anyway, after a busy week I am now at my parents house where I am celebrating another birthday (am 21 again of course!).

Yesterday was great cos I had the day off work and so had coffee with an old school friend that I hadn't seen for years and then in the evening I went to the pub with another friend that I have known since I was about six but we just don't get to see each other very often. It was so nice to catch up on the news and just generally chit chat!!

Will get back to blogging as soon as the weekend is over cos I will be busy talking to family and playing with my nephew and niece!! Have a good weekend everybody!

Crafty Evening!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:15:00 +0000

The end of this busy week saw me visit a new card making friend at her Stampin’ Up Open House. If you have no idea what I am talking about then you need to know that Stampin’ Up is a craft company that works through individual seller (like Avon or Tupperware) to sell stamps, paper, inks and all manner of wonderful things. Anyway I had a great time at Hayley’s place and her blog is over here at All Things Pink and Fluffy.

Hayley is a Stampin’ Up demonstrator that has come back to the fold after a little break and so to get started again she had an open house where you could come along and meet some like-minded crafty people, make some cards, have a cuppa tea and just enjoy a good old natter with friendly people!

I ended up making these three cards…

I think that the first one below is my favourite, it is a z fold card and I just love that wintry looking Church on the front – you probably can’t see, but there are little bits of glitter strategically dotted about the place! (you need to wiggle the card a bit to see that as the glitter catches the light, but you can't exactly do that online can you!!?)

This red wreath was the first one I made tonight and I rather like how it has turned out – a clean and simple sort of card that can be made fairly quickly.

The last one looks a bit flat, but what you really can’t see in the picture is that the two green baubles are popped up on foam stickies, so they stick out from the rest of the card.

What this one probably needs is a bow or two on the tops of some of the baubles – the cards that Hayley showed us did have bows but I didn’t fancy putting a bow on at the time.

Although they are a bit expensive, the more I use the Stampin’ up stuff the more I love them – I just need to play a bit more! Anyway, thanks for a great evening Hayley, I look forward to many more!! (and if you guys want to see more of my hand made cards, you can see them on my card making blog!!)

Another Pub!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Tonight was another evening spent at the pub!! ;-)

I had a great evening with a couple of friends from the sign language class, however, we had hoped that more from the class would join us, but clearly people had things to do or couldn't find babysitters or had come down with a lurgy of some sort!

Still, it was fun with just the three of us - we certainly weren't short of conversation and stayed two hours! I was actually quite surprised at how busy the pub was, but then isn't Thursday the new Friday - when people go out on Thursday cos they want to stay home on Friday because the pubs are all too busy on Fridays? ha ha!

Anyway - I have to say that I am not very used to being out nearly every night of the week - it takes stamina!!! So, I am off to bed now and hope that I can find something rather more interesting to say tomorrow!