Oh dear...
John and I were talking about how people always say the same thing over and over when they speak...
Like... Shayne always says 'to be honest' when what he says has nothing to do with being honest or not it is just something that is pushed in whenever he feels like it. Can't blame the boy really it must be a bit unnerving all these endless interviews.
Anyway.. of course we talked about what we say too often and we have discovered that John says 'Fantastic!' all the time and I am guilty of 'Exactly'. We have also now found out we BOTH use these words a lot :-)
Taking a bit of a distance and looking at those words I can see that we are very positive people who agree with eachother an awful lot!
So .. what happens now is that we have become very aware of these words which has made me very self concious, it is so irritating that only after it has escaped my mouth I think 'shit, said it again!'
I know with learning (or unlearning I suppose) there are 4 stages:
unconciously unable
conciously unable
conciously able
unconciously able
Which basically means that first you didn't know you did something, then you realise you do but you still can't do anything about it, then you are able to change it but it costs a lot of effort and then you become so good at it that it becomes so normal you don't have to think about it anymore.
Since I discovered my over enthusiastic use of Exactly! I hear myself say it all the time, but can I change it?? NO! I am definitely stuck in phase 2 and have no idea on how to go to stage 3.
I have tried to think about alternatives for the word in the hope that it would then be easier to alternate it a bit with other words but apart from precisely I can't really think of any other words which means exactly (!) the same :-)
There are of course alternatives like 'Bang on' or 'Spot on' but I think these are even worse than my 'Exactly!'
So when I muttered and mumbled about this to John, that I think the word is used exactly(!) right and that I struggle to find good alternatives for it (Fantastic b.t.w. is also a very difficult word to replace!) to which he said 'Darling, you can use exactly as much as you like'
But that doesn't feel right either, see... these stages as described above, you can never go back, I will now forever be stuck in the consciously unable stage and forever hear myself say 'Exactly!' and think 'BUM'!!
:-)
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
Make Up and Over
Today a nice self obsessed blog, might as well be clear about it :-)
When John was visiting his beloved children I had a bit more time on my hand than usual and I don't know why but I suddenly had this idea to photograph myself through my routine of make up. Not that I use that much mind you but I am always amazed how different it can make me feel. I know that a big part of that is all in my mind.
I mean.. I know that make up most certainly helps to make me look better, I am not one of these women that can get out of bed and look nice and fresh and wonderful. I am more of the type of hair all over the place, shiny fatty face and bland, very bland.
I must say that working from home doesn't help, nobody knows what I look like when I am on the phone on conference calls and putting make up on often feels like a waste of good make up so a bit of moisturiser just has to do, if I scare myself with my blandness too much I might go as far as adding a bit of lipstick or kohl to my face but that is it.
So, 'gettng out of the house to see other people apart from the people walking their dogs in Wemyss Bay' is a bit of an event which requires loads of attention and make up. You can imagine that a visit to Glasgow was a perfect reason to do it properly.
And I don't know why but I suddenly had to think about all the 'make over' things they do in the magazines, you can't open a woman magazine without one of those in it so I thought I would try it myself and prove a point while doing so.
On the left is me, freshly showered (so not so shiny anymore :-)) and me on the right WITH make up - I think myself it is a pity that I didn't take a photograph of my wet fringe down on the left picture because now you can't really properly compare how much difference it makes. What I notice from these pictures is that I have a droopy mouth!! Wonder if that is old age? But why only on one side of my face! My right mouth corner has dropped dramatically I think. I do think I look better with the make up but the difference is not as spectacular as I feel it to be if you know what I mean. I feel I look a lot better than this picture shows me to look. Erhm.. hope you are still with me.. my point being... if you take a before and after photo with a sort of the same look on your face the effect is not dramatic at all. Interesting is that you can see that I almost smile on the after one.. I suppose that is the make up effect, feeling better for it :)
But now.. to part 2 of my experiment... the following picture shows another after picture which is more like the ones you see in those magazines:
And I don't know about you but this looks much more like a dramatic difference, not only by the smile (which takes care of the droopy mouth nicely) but also because of the colorful cardigan I am wearing.
So.. lesson here... don't believe those make over pictures in those magazines, if they would get these people to smile and let them wear the same clothes the effect would not be that dramatic!
Note to self: Smile more but keep mouth closed because of crown
:-)
When John was visiting his beloved children I had a bit more time on my hand than usual and I don't know why but I suddenly had this idea to photograph myself through my routine of make up. Not that I use that much mind you but I am always amazed how different it can make me feel. I know that a big part of that is all in my mind.
I mean.. I know that make up most certainly helps to make me look better, I am not one of these women that can get out of bed and look nice and fresh and wonderful. I am more of the type of hair all over the place, shiny fatty face and bland, very bland.
I must say that working from home doesn't help, nobody knows what I look like when I am on the phone on conference calls and putting make up on often feels like a waste of good make up so a bit of moisturiser just has to do, if I scare myself with my blandness too much I might go as far as adding a bit of lipstick or kohl to my face but that is it.
So, 'gettng out of the house to see other people apart from the people walking their dogs in Wemyss Bay' is a bit of an event which requires loads of attention and make up. You can imagine that a visit to Glasgow was a perfect reason to do it properly.
And I don't know why but I suddenly had to think about all the 'make over' things they do in the magazines, you can't open a woman magazine without one of those in it so I thought I would try it myself and prove a point while doing so.
On the left is me, freshly showered (so not so shiny anymore :-)) and me on the right WITH make up - I think myself it is a pity that I didn't take a photograph of my wet fringe down on the left picture because now you can't really properly compare how much difference it makes. What I notice from these pictures is that I have a droopy mouth!! Wonder if that is old age? But why only on one side of my face! My right mouth corner has dropped dramatically I think. I do think I look better with the make up but the difference is not as spectacular as I feel it to be if you know what I mean. I feel I look a lot better than this picture shows me to look. Erhm.. hope you are still with me.. my point being... if you take a before and after photo with a sort of the same look on your face the effect is not dramatic at all. Interesting is that you can see that I almost smile on the after one.. I suppose that is the make up effect, feeling better for it :)
But now.. to part 2 of my experiment... the following picture shows another after picture which is more like the ones you see in those magazines:
And I don't know about you but this looks much more like a dramatic difference, not only by the smile (which takes care of the droopy mouth nicely) but also because of the colorful cardigan I am wearing.
So.. lesson here... don't believe those make over pictures in those magazines, if they would get these people to smile and let them wear the same clothes the effect would not be that dramatic!
Note to self: Smile more but keep mouth closed because of crown
:-)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
House & Son
Ha!
House is brilliant television I must admit... can't choose today which remark was more brilliant 'babies are useless, they have hearts the size of ping pong balls' or 'Does it occur to you if you need that kind of friend you may have made some deeper errors'? :-) Can't even say WHY it is so funny, they just tickle me :)
And totally not interlinked, my son suddenly, out of nowhere sent me a link to a 1 hour 29 minute video of 'The Umbilical Brothers' - Now... I am way too busy and not patient enough to watch anything for that long but I am sure some of the 3 readers of this blog would actually enjoy this.
Isn't he cute? :)
House is brilliant television I must admit... can't choose today which remark was more brilliant 'babies are useless, they have hearts the size of ping pong balls' or 'Does it occur to you if you need that kind of friend you may have made some deeper errors'? :-) Can't even say WHY it is so funny, they just tickle me :)
And totally not interlinked, my son suddenly, out of nowhere sent me a link to a 1 hour 29 minute video of 'The Umbilical Brothers' - Now... I am way too busy and not patient enough to watch anything for that long but I am sure some of the 3 readers of this blog would actually enjoy this.
Isn't he cute? :)
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Poor neighbours 2
Yay!!!
Remember that I said I enjoyed the music (and screaming at the top of my lungs) so much and that our speakers were not that good anymore (very bad actually)
When I was talking to John about how we deserve good music, good speakers and a good life in general (always a good way to pave the path to buying something new) he said he had thought the same thing!
Well... whaddayaknow!
So I went for a hunt on ebuyer, generally THE place to buy any new stuff with a plug and we really liked the Logitech Z-2300 - all the reviews I have seen were very good, maybe not high end stuff but then again we are not like my brother who is one of those high end hifi people and makes his own speakers with special wood and in special shapes to get a certain resonance and all that.
He once owned a car that gave you a back massage as well as ruined your hearing, all at the same time, boom cars they call those. I will NEVER forget hearing the Fugees in that, 'Ready or Not' was... organic!
Anyway, I digress...
The Z-2300... I already added it to my basket and was on the way out when I thought 'hang on, lets check if there is anything bad on google' and no, all good reviews so that was ok.. but I did notice they were a lot cheaper in the US on Amazon and of course from there thought, hmm... lets check Amazon, you never know!
And wahey! They are cheaper in total because Amazon doesn't charge any shipping if you are a patient old thing (which we are) so I just saved us a tenner.. and that feels good!
Can't wait to get the clarity of a tweeter with the richness and fullness of a separate midrange - always wanted one of those. (side note, do you know that site? http://www.iwantoneofthose.com)
So somewhere end of this or beginning next week the neighbours will really get it.
Note to self: 'Do not dry any laundry while testing speaker system'
:-)
Remember that I said I enjoyed the music (and screaming at the top of my lungs) so much and that our speakers were not that good anymore (very bad actually)
When I was talking to John about how we deserve good music, good speakers and a good life in general (always a good way to pave the path to buying something new) he said he had thought the same thing!
Well... whaddayaknow!
So I went for a hunt on ebuyer, generally THE place to buy any new stuff with a plug and we really liked the Logitech Z-2300 - all the reviews I have seen were very good, maybe not high end stuff but then again we are not like my brother who is one of those high end hifi people and makes his own speakers with special wood and in special shapes to get a certain resonance and all that.
He once owned a car that gave you a back massage as well as ruined your hearing, all at the same time, boom cars they call those. I will NEVER forget hearing the Fugees in that, 'Ready or Not' was... organic!
Anyway, I digress...
The Z-2300... I already added it to my basket and was on the way out when I thought 'hang on, lets check if there is anything bad on google' and no, all good reviews so that was ok.. but I did notice they were a lot cheaper in the US on Amazon and of course from there thought, hmm... lets check Amazon, you never know!
And wahey! They are cheaper in total because Amazon doesn't charge any shipping if you are a patient old thing (which we are) so I just saved us a tenner.. and that feels good!
Can't wait to get the clarity of a tweeter with the richness and fullness of a separate midrange - always wanted one of those. (side note, do you know that site? http://www.iwantoneofthose.com)
So somewhere end of this or beginning next week the neighbours will really get it.
Note to self: 'Do not dry any laundry while testing speaker system'
:-)
Monday, April 17, 2006
Spring? Autumn? Oh no, spring! Huh, winter?
That is how it went today, gorgeous sunshine followed by masses of rain, cold, drab, murky. Then.. glorious sunshine again! This is when I nipped out and took this picture, I thought I'd better hurry and take one before the winter spell arrived!And of course would you believe, only an hour or so later the hail started coming down... this is definitely one of those '4 seasons in a day' day in Scotland!
Glad to say John is all back in one piece and all is good with the world...
I don't think I aggrevated any neighbours this morning during my Miserables outburst, glad I got that out of my system.
So...tomorrow.. back to HAL again... Oh Joy!
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Poor Neighbours
One thing I do when John is not here is listen to music he absolutely hates!
Doing this made me notice that I have a bit of an eclectic taste :-)
I went from Mathilde Santing (Dutch singer with a gorgeous voice) to Lori Carson (ok, not such a big jump) to the Fugees (bigger jump, sexy music, had to dance silly of course thinking of yesterdays movie pretending I was one of those sexy black girls) via Verdi's requiem (which brought me to tears once more - Libera me - does it every time) to the somewhat lighter Shayne Ward and Rowetta (yeah sorry, I have this xFactor thing going on and I needed something lighter after Verdi) to KT Tunstall with her cherry tree - live - very 'lekker'.
Made me ponder of course why I never do this when I am at home with John, I could always put the headphones on... and I know now why, I am unable to just listen to music. I need to sing and shout and dance and bop and apart from that it is a bit restrictive to do all that with headphones I wouldn't want to do it to John!
And.. oh dear.. I just went into our utility kitchen where we keep the fridge and washing machine and dryer... and of course I forgot that I was drying some clothes for which of course the window needs to be open. Oh dear... that means during my Verdi outburst (which was extremely loud - through bad (died and therefore making horrible noises from what should be serene sound) loudspeakers and me screaming at the top of my lungs that the window has been open. Only 5 meters or so away.
Poor poor neighbours.. I will now as a good girl go to my couch, under the duvet and watch 'a dragon of a movie' (as we call it in Holland) on ITV -
But.. tomorrow... I will check all windows are closed and I will belt out 'Les Miserables' in full.
In Dutch!
I mean... what are double glazed windows for anyway!
Doing this made me notice that I have a bit of an eclectic taste :-)
I went from Mathilde Santing (Dutch singer with a gorgeous voice) to Lori Carson (ok, not such a big jump) to the Fugees (bigger jump, sexy music, had to dance silly of course thinking of yesterdays movie pretending I was one of those sexy black girls) via Verdi's requiem (which brought me to tears once more - Libera me - does it every time) to the somewhat lighter Shayne Ward and Rowetta (yeah sorry, I have this xFactor thing going on and I needed something lighter after Verdi) to KT Tunstall with her cherry tree - live - very 'lekker'.
Made me ponder of course why I never do this when I am at home with John, I could always put the headphones on... and I know now why, I am unable to just listen to music. I need to sing and shout and dance and bop and apart from that it is a bit restrictive to do all that with headphones I wouldn't want to do it to John!
And.. oh dear.. I just went into our utility kitchen where we keep the fridge and washing machine and dryer... and of course I forgot that I was drying some clothes for which of course the window needs to be open. Oh dear... that means during my Verdi outburst (which was extremely loud - through bad (died and therefore making horrible noises from what should be serene sound) loudspeakers and me screaming at the top of my lungs that the window has been open. Only 5 meters or so away.
Poor poor neighbours.. I will now as a good girl go to my couch, under the duvet and watch 'a dragon of a movie' (as we call it in Holland) on ITV -
But.. tomorrow... I will check all windows are closed and I will belt out 'Les Miserables' in full.
In Dutch!
I mean... what are double glazed windows for anyway!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Fantastic!
I had such a good day!
Woke up in time to catch the train I planned to take (which was quite an achievement since I didn't set the alarm and John wasn't there to kick me out of bed!)
Browsed around a couple of shops but noticed I enjoyed it a lot more to take in all the goings on of the city - things I forgot about happen in a city, absolutely LOVED it... Saw at least 4 bagpipers (I am such a tourist, I love that), a man covered in gold pretending to be a statue, a fantastic jazz band, a few not so brilliant but still ok singers and a loud juggler.
I stepped into House of Fraser and went to the nice smells and creams department but I must admit that was too intimidating, all these people trying to sell you something, or when I wanted whatever they wanted to give away I seemed to be invisible. Always wonder what that is? Do I not look posh enough? Young enough? Old enough? Do they really not see me? I know the grumpy old women always say that, that over 40 you become invisble, maybe it has happened to me already. Not sure what I think about that but it did make me just want to run out of the place!
Anyway, after that shock I moved onto the main event and bought a cinema ticket. Luckily that process was exactly the same as in Rotterdam so it wasn't too daunting. :-)
Then.. went to TGI Friday... we have one in Holland but I never actually visited it, it took me about 3 years to realise that 'TGI' means 'Thank God its'. Hm... shows you how out of touch I am! Anyway... thought this was the perfect opportunity to have lunch.
I must say.. it was a bit of a culture shock and brought home to me how enormously I have changed since I am living here.. I looked at the menu and it hit me that you could only get masses of food on a plate.. I started to feel full just looking at the menu!
Every dish seemed to have things like 2 chicken breasts AND fries AND onion rings (the thought crossed my mind that they probably thought that those rings would make it a balanced meal (being vegetables and all that ;-)). Anyway.. I dithered about just going but there was this very cute waiter so I thought I'd sit it out and have something I would normally NEVER make myself.. spareribs.. the last time I ate those must have been 6 years ago when I had these sort of outings at least once a week....
That definitely changed! And after enjoying half of my ribs, fries and onion rings I decided it was a good change! I like my own cooking I'm afraid, even though the ribs were very nicely made (ring and fries were awful unfortunately) I now know I will not have the need to visit them again :-)
Oh.. and then he tried to charge me 6 pound more than was on the menu.. being a bit scared of any language difficulties I so hoped this would not happen. But it so infuriated me that I went up to the guy and put him right, saw he got scared, real scared and it was solved in minutes, phew! I really felt something stubborn happening, like they can drag me to the police if they like but I am NOT going to pay for this! It was all very exciting!
I must say... Glasgow has enough shops to keep a woman happy for days and I don't know if it is the protected life in a village with 1 Spar but I felt a bit overwhelmed with all the choice and happy that it was movie time.
I know.. 'Take the lead' is not one of those filmhouse films and will not get an Oscar I am sure, however I loved it, absolutely every minute of it. It was quick filmed, I absolutely love to watch Antonio Banderas and sexy dancing, it was all there.. and of course it was a great feel good movie. I had forgotten how nice it is to see a movie properly, on such a big screen, there is something so intimate about it even when around you are a bunch of strangers.
Note to self.. need to do this more often, it was great!!
Oh.. and when I bought myself a lovely proper Easter Egg because I felt I deserved it (and because it has been tradition in my family since I was small to get one) I bowled over the cashier of Sainsbury who commented on its beauty by telling him I bought it for myself. "Really? But it has a bow and everything" he said, hovering my change in mid air "You're pulling my leg!". "Nope! I said, it is for me!" and he said "people who feel they are worth enough to buy themselves nice things are confident people" and I saw him thinking "need to give myself some of that".
:-)
Enjoy Easter!
Woke up in time to catch the train I planned to take (which was quite an achievement since I didn't set the alarm and John wasn't there to kick me out of bed!)
Browsed around a couple of shops but noticed I enjoyed it a lot more to take in all the goings on of the city - things I forgot about happen in a city, absolutely LOVED it... Saw at least 4 bagpipers (I am such a tourist, I love that), a man covered in gold pretending to be a statue, a fantastic jazz band, a few not so brilliant but still ok singers and a loud juggler.
I stepped into House of Fraser and went to the nice smells and creams department but I must admit that was too intimidating, all these people trying to sell you something, or when I wanted whatever they wanted to give away I seemed to be invisible. Always wonder what that is? Do I not look posh enough? Young enough? Old enough? Do they really not see me? I know the grumpy old women always say that, that over 40 you become invisble, maybe it has happened to me already. Not sure what I think about that but it did make me just want to run out of the place!
Anyway, after that shock I moved onto the main event and bought a cinema ticket. Luckily that process was exactly the same as in Rotterdam so it wasn't too daunting. :-)
Then.. went to TGI Friday... we have one in Holland but I never actually visited it, it took me about 3 years to realise that 'TGI' means 'Thank God its'. Hm... shows you how out of touch I am! Anyway... thought this was the perfect opportunity to have lunch.
I must say.. it was a bit of a culture shock and brought home to me how enormously I have changed since I am living here.. I looked at the menu and it hit me that you could only get masses of food on a plate.. I started to feel full just looking at the menu!
Every dish seemed to have things like 2 chicken breasts AND fries AND onion rings (the thought crossed my mind that they probably thought that those rings would make it a balanced meal (being vegetables and all that ;-)). Anyway.. I dithered about just going but there was this very cute waiter so I thought I'd sit it out and have something I would normally NEVER make myself.. spareribs.. the last time I ate those must have been 6 years ago when I had these sort of outings at least once a week....
That definitely changed! And after enjoying half of my ribs, fries and onion rings I decided it was a good change! I like my own cooking I'm afraid, even though the ribs were very nicely made (ring and fries were awful unfortunately) I now know I will not have the need to visit them again :-)
Oh.. and then he tried to charge me 6 pound more than was on the menu.. being a bit scared of any language difficulties I so hoped this would not happen. But it so infuriated me that I went up to the guy and put him right, saw he got scared, real scared and it was solved in minutes, phew! I really felt something stubborn happening, like they can drag me to the police if they like but I am NOT going to pay for this! It was all very exciting!
I must say... Glasgow has enough shops to keep a woman happy for days and I don't know if it is the protected life in a village with 1 Spar but I felt a bit overwhelmed with all the choice and happy that it was movie time.
I know.. 'Take the lead' is not one of those filmhouse films and will not get an Oscar I am sure, however I loved it, absolutely every minute of it. It was quick filmed, I absolutely love to watch Antonio Banderas and sexy dancing, it was all there.. and of course it was a great feel good movie. I had forgotten how nice it is to see a movie properly, on such a big screen, there is something so intimate about it even when around you are a bunch of strangers.
Note to self.. need to do this more often, it was great!!
Oh.. and when I bought myself a lovely proper Easter Egg because I felt I deserved it (and because it has been tradition in my family since I was small to get one) I bowled over the cashier of Sainsbury who commented on its beauty by telling him I bought it for myself. "Really? But it has a bow and everything" he said, hovering my change in mid air "You're pulling my leg!". "Nope! I said, it is for me!" and he said "people who feel they are worth enough to buy themselves nice things are confident people" and I saw him thinking "need to give myself some of that".
:-)
Enjoy Easter!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Big City
And.. my prayers have been heard!
Ok.. it hissed down in places today but Eric (ehm.. our version of 'God' or 'The Universe') was being nice, it just happened to only piss down when I was actually in the car!
Good stuff...
Actually felt some sun today and ripped some weeds out of the garden. Nice feeling.
Now all I need to do is pray for it to be like that tomorrow when I plan my yearly trip to Glasgow.
Bad isn't it... I have been living here now for over 5 years but I can still count the times I went to Glasgow on one hand, and I haven't even been once to Edinburgh.
Also, there is this ferry going back and forth in front of our window all day, all the way to Rothesay... and we keep on saying 'we should take that ferry one day'
Yeah right.. chances are we will die without having seen Edinburgh nor Rothesay.
And then I think.. does is it matter?
Why does everybody say 'Oh REALLLLLYYYYYY?' When I say I hardly ever visit Glasgow. Am I missing something and if so, what? Can someone tell me? Because apart from a few shops they don't have in the Oakmall (like Debenhams, Primark and Next) I can't think of anything that I need to visit Glasgow for. Sometimes I wish that someone would invite me on a 'let me show you Glasgow' sort of trip, maybe they can convince me ;-)
For now.. I will visit my favorite shops tomorrow and squeeze in a visit to a big cinema, I miss that part of city life.
Along with a proper sauna :-)
Ok.. it hissed down in places today but Eric (ehm.. our version of 'God' or 'The Universe') was being nice, it just happened to only piss down when I was actually in the car!
Good stuff...
Actually felt some sun today and ripped some weeds out of the garden. Nice feeling.
Now all I need to do is pray for it to be like that tomorrow when I plan my yearly trip to Glasgow.
Bad isn't it... I have been living here now for over 5 years but I can still count the times I went to Glasgow on one hand, and I haven't even been once to Edinburgh.
Also, there is this ferry going back and forth in front of our window all day, all the way to Rothesay... and we keep on saying 'we should take that ferry one day'
Yeah right.. chances are we will die without having seen Edinburgh nor Rothesay.
And then I think.. does is it matter?
Why does everybody say 'Oh REALLLLLYYYYYY?' When I say I hardly ever visit Glasgow. Am I missing something and if so, what? Can someone tell me? Because apart from a few shops they don't have in the Oakmall (like Debenhams, Primark and Next) I can't think of anything that I need to visit Glasgow for. Sometimes I wish that someone would invite me on a 'let me show you Glasgow' sort of trip, maybe they can convince me ;-)
For now.. I will visit my favorite shops tomorrow and squeeze in a visit to a big cinema, I miss that part of city life.
Along with a proper sauna :-)
Thursday, April 13, 2006
I need spring!
OK... I am fed up with this winter!
It has either been ice cold and dry or mild and very wet and even though there are nice juicy green buds on some bushes here, today for a change it was very cold, wet AND windy!
I am dreaming of having a nice cup of coffee in the sun on the back terrace - I don't mind if I have to keep my coat on or anything, just feeling the sun.. I look like a ghost in the mirror unless I use my very very expensive Clinique foundation.
We have had springs here that John had to take his top off because it was too hot in the garden in March! And now it is half April and it is not even pretending to get nice any time soon!
Looking at the forecast it will be another 4 days of mild but wet - mutter mumble.
Ordered a compost bin today - only 6 pound in Inverclyde, not bad eh? If you fancy one, have a look here
I looked at the animation on how to deal with the bin and I did notice that it is for patient people. It takes 1 year!!! for nice earth to compost out of the bottom.
It *is* probably better than the 'just chuck it on the cliff' attitude we have adopted so far :-)
We will miss the 'banana tree creations' though!
It has either been ice cold and dry or mild and very wet and even though there are nice juicy green buds on some bushes here, today for a change it was very cold, wet AND windy!
I am dreaming of having a nice cup of coffee in the sun on the back terrace - I don't mind if I have to keep my coat on or anything, just feeling the sun.. I look like a ghost in the mirror unless I use my very very expensive Clinique foundation.
We have had springs here that John had to take his top off because it was too hot in the garden in March! And now it is half April and it is not even pretending to get nice any time soon!
Looking at the forecast it will be another 4 days of mild but wet - mutter mumble.
Ordered a compost bin today - only 6 pound in Inverclyde, not bad eh? If you fancy one, have a look here
I looked at the animation on how to deal with the bin and I did notice that it is for patient people. It takes 1 year!!! for nice earth to compost out of the bottom.
It *is* probably better than the 'just chuck it on the cliff' attitude we have adopted so far :-)
We will miss the 'banana tree creations' though!
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Why we fit together so well
Conversation on the couch tonight watching someone make a chocolate sandwich and me salivating:
John: "I bet you would fancy that, it is like asking 'Do crocodiles fart in the water' - which - as a matter of fact is the new generation of 'Do bears pooh in the woods'.
Me: "Well, how do you know that crocodiles fart in the water"
John: "Good point, why don't you look it up on Google 'Do Crocodiles fart'
Me: "nope, no results"
John: "What, you? Not find anything? Maybe under 'Crocodiles flatulate'
Me, all Pollyanna "Well, I can't find Crocodile flatulate but apparently Cockroaches flatulate every 15 minutes"
:-)
John: "I bet you would fancy that, it is like asking 'Do crocodiles fart in the water' - which - as a matter of fact is the new generation of 'Do bears pooh in the woods'.
Me: "Well, how do you know that crocodiles fart in the water"
John: "Good point, why don't you look it up on Google 'Do Crocodiles fart'
Me: "nope, no results"
John: "What, you? Not find anything? Maybe under 'Crocodiles flatulate'
Me, all Pollyanna "Well, I can't find Crocodile flatulate but apparently Cockroaches flatulate every 15 minutes"
:-)
Sunday, April 09, 2006
How to make money at a carboot :-)
Wait until you get at least the 3rd offer from one of those catalogues companies. The one where they promise you AND money off AND give you a present. (La Redoute was really good this year). Then buy a few t-shirts you would have bought anyway for the summer and get the money off *and* the free present which in this case was a bag on a trolley with a matching vanity case, then put a tag on saying '£5 brand new' and see it grabbed before you can say 'seen my nice trolley?'
:-)
:-)
Friday, April 07, 2006
Bird Flu in Scotland
Well.. I am not worried :-)
It could be that I am not worried because the one bird that has been proved to have the strain was found on the other coast.
It could also be that I have adopted the same attitude as most Brits - stoical.
What I have noticed since I have lived here is the almost total absence of drama connected to these kind of issues.
It is one of the most surprising discoveries for me living here. When Diana died I was in awe of the amount of people who went to her funeral or who put flowers down and all the display of emotion. I had always been told that Brits are reticent and do not like these displays of emotion at all!
What I have learned is that there is a lot of emotion going around in this country, births of babies of MP's are shown on the national news, deaths of famous people (hero's like George Best) seem to be shown for ever and loads of display of emotion around these subjects.
Compare that to the emotion about the London bombings, I was so impressed with the way that was dealt with, how quick the police got onto the leads of the people who did this. Awful to see all these hurt people but somehow there wasn't that much emotion nor drama attached to it, not by the media and not by the victims. It was all about 'OK, this happened, it is absolutely horrific but we now have to move on and not let it get to us'. 'We are British'.
And now..the bird flu...
Did you know that in other countries the poultry consumption has gone down dramatically? And that France for instance still is 20% under the normal level?
So not in the UK, mind you, sales have not been affected at all, there were even more eggs sold than normally (well.. thinks.. it *is* almost Easter I suppose :))
I saw a short interview on the TV asking a woman 'Are you going to still eat chicken?' and she answered 'Of course! I am British'!
Which made me think where that remark came from? What does it matter if she is British? Bird Flu doesn't seem to care a lot which country it lives in! Then I realised.. it is not that, it is the fact that in times of aversity this is how to behave. You DO NOT give in, you defiantly go with the flow and do what you would normally do and at the same time 'combat' whatever it is that is threatening you.
I bet there is huge historical reasons for this :-)
It could be that I am not worried because the one bird that has been proved to have the strain was found on the other coast.
It could also be that I have adopted the same attitude as most Brits - stoical.
What I have noticed since I have lived here is the almost total absence of drama connected to these kind of issues.
It is one of the most surprising discoveries for me living here. When Diana died I was in awe of the amount of people who went to her funeral or who put flowers down and all the display of emotion. I had always been told that Brits are reticent and do not like these displays of emotion at all!
What I have learned is that there is a lot of emotion going around in this country, births of babies of MP's are shown on the national news, deaths of famous people (hero's like George Best) seem to be shown for ever and loads of display of emotion around these subjects.
Compare that to the emotion about the London bombings, I was so impressed with the way that was dealt with, how quick the police got onto the leads of the people who did this. Awful to see all these hurt people but somehow there wasn't that much emotion nor drama attached to it, not by the media and not by the victims. It was all about 'OK, this happened, it is absolutely horrific but we now have to move on and not let it get to us'. 'We are British'.
And now..the bird flu...
Did you know that in other countries the poultry consumption has gone down dramatically? And that France for instance still is 20% under the normal level?
So not in the UK, mind you, sales have not been affected at all, there were even more eggs sold than normally (well.. thinks.. it *is* almost Easter I suppose :))
I saw a short interview on the TV asking a woman 'Are you going to still eat chicken?' and she answered 'Of course! I am British'!
Which made me think where that remark came from? What does it matter if she is British? Bird Flu doesn't seem to care a lot which country it lives in! Then I realised.. it is not that, it is the fact that in times of aversity this is how to behave. You DO NOT give in, you defiantly go with the flow and do what you would normally do and at the same time 'combat' whatever it is that is threatening you.
I bet there is huge historical reasons for this :-)
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Televangelist
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Gosh.... interesting test indeed, stolen from N's blog ;-)
If you want to try it yourself: http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=4741219933576750506
Fun actually ;-)
Bacon & Spinach
When I was with K. last year she introduced me to one of her sisters favorite recipes. It involved pasta, cream AND blue cheese and loads of butter combined with smoked raw ham and lettuce. I loved the combination of the smoked ham and the cheese but if I would eat a meal like that once a week I would gain weight faster than you can say 'Ham & Cheese pasta'.
So, time for an adapted version and it was so good again today that I had to share!
Ingredients:
6 rashers of smoked! bacon cut in bits (with scissors goes best and quickest)
150-250 grams of fresh (baby) leaf Spinach roughly chopped
2 red onions in bits
half a tub of extra low fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs (like philadelphia)
Few spoonfuls of low fat creme fraiche
25 grams of pine nuts (roasted in a dry pan)
Pasta
Cook the pasta with a bit of salt and a drop of oil.
While pasta is bubbling away heat a bit of water in a frying pan and add the bacon bits and let them sizzle for a minute or 3, then add the onions and stir and fry for about 3 minutes until onions soft and bacon pink.
Stir in the soft cheese and creme fraiche until blended (add a little water if too thick)
Put all spinach on top and stir in until just wilted.
Serve immediately on drained pasta and sprinkle with the pine nuts.
Absolutely wonderful I tell you and not tooooo bad for ones body!
So, time for an adapted version and it was so good again today that I had to share!
Ingredients:
6 rashers of smoked! bacon cut in bits (with scissors goes best and quickest)
150-250 grams of fresh (baby) leaf Spinach roughly chopped
2 red onions in bits
half a tub of extra low fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs (like philadelphia)
Few spoonfuls of low fat creme fraiche
25 grams of pine nuts (roasted in a dry pan)
Pasta
Cook the pasta with a bit of salt and a drop of oil.
While pasta is bubbling away heat a bit of water in a frying pan and add the bacon bits and let them sizzle for a minute or 3, then add the onions and stir and fry for about 3 minutes until onions soft and bacon pink.
Stir in the soft cheese and creme fraiche until blended (add a little water if too thick)
Put all spinach on top and stir in until just wilted.
Serve immediately on drained pasta and sprinkle with the pine nuts.
Absolutely wonderful I tell you and not tooooo bad for ones body!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Beetroot day
Well, have you heard that beetroot is SOO good for one?
Also a very easy vegetable if you buy them ready made and vacuum saved in Tesco value plastic! Mostly because you can buy it and then have about 3 months to think about using it up.
So.. today is the day.. I always had a problem with the 500 grams of beetroot in the package, it is a bit too much for 2 people, even when I love beetroot!
Gently browsing through a 'gluten free' cookbook we picked up somewhere for little money I saw this 'Beetroot risotto' recipe. A perfect weekend recipe because it has the luxury things in it like butter and red wine. (things I would normally NEVER have uring the week!)
So.. the recipe means I can divide the beetroot in 2 portions and make beetroot cake for lunch (which I have done, it is unbelievable how nice and light that is without even a taste of beetroot once it is cooked) and will close the day off with the beetroot risotto!
First, the beetroot cake, very simple if you have a kitchen machine!
Ingredients:
75 grams cocoa powder
180 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
250 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs
200 ml corn oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting
heat the overn to 180 c and lightly butter a 20cm round or square cake tin.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder into a bowl and mix in the sugar.
In the food processor puree the beetroot and add the eggs one at a time, add vanilla and oil and whiz until smooth. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the beetroot mixture and mix it all lightly. Poor into prepared cake tin and bake for 50 minutes, cool and sprinke with icing sugar.
Lovely!
Then.. the beetroot risotto, absolutely yammie!
Ingredients (2 people)
50 grams butter
1 red onion
175 grams risotto rice
200 ml red wine
400 ml stock
250 grams beetroot
Melt 2/3 of the butter and soften onion. Add rice and stir for 1 minute. Add red wine, season and simmer 5 minutes, add stock and simmer 1o minutes, add beetroot and simmer 10 minutes, add rest of butter, season and serve.
Having said all that, I got that primevil (?) urge and just had to add some bits of chicken which I quick roasted in my George Foreman grill, absolutely lovely!
Also a very easy vegetable if you buy them ready made and vacuum saved in Tesco value plastic! Mostly because you can buy it and then have about 3 months to think about using it up.
So.. today is the day.. I always had a problem with the 500 grams of beetroot in the package, it is a bit too much for 2 people, even when I love beetroot!
Gently browsing through a 'gluten free' cookbook we picked up somewhere for little money I saw this 'Beetroot risotto' recipe. A perfect weekend recipe because it has the luxury things in it like butter and red wine. (things I would normally NEVER have uring the week!)
So.. the recipe means I can divide the beetroot in 2 portions and make beetroot cake for lunch (which I have done, it is unbelievable how nice and light that is without even a taste of beetroot once it is cooked) and will close the day off with the beetroot risotto!
First, the beetroot cake, very simple if you have a kitchen machine!
Ingredients:
75 grams cocoa powder
180 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
250 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs
200 ml corn oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting
heat the overn to 180 c and lightly butter a 20cm round or square cake tin.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder into a bowl and mix in the sugar.
In the food processor puree the beetroot and add the eggs one at a time, add vanilla and oil and whiz until smooth. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the beetroot mixture and mix it all lightly. Poor into prepared cake tin and bake for 50 minutes, cool and sprinke with icing sugar.
Lovely!
Then.. the beetroot risotto, absolutely yammie!
Ingredients (2 people)
50 grams butter
1 red onion
175 grams risotto rice
200 ml red wine
400 ml stock
250 grams beetroot
Melt 2/3 of the butter and soften onion. Add rice and stir for 1 minute. Add red wine, season and simmer 5 minutes, add stock and simmer 1o minutes, add beetroot and simmer 10 minutes, add rest of butter, season and serve.
Having said all that, I got that primevil (?) urge and just had to add some bits of chicken which I quick roasted in my George Foreman grill, absolutely lovely!
The party is over now
It was fun :-)
Even did a bit of karaoke which was a bit embarrassing since I didn't have a drop of alcohol to drink. However, since almost everybody else had it didn't really matter.
It got a tad cringy when a 'kissogram' arrived, goodness, if I had friends who did that they would be ex-friends instantly. Let me just say there were handcuffs involved and a kissogram delivering person wearing not a lot more than thong and bra. Oh well.. each to their own I say!
John had his first shot of tequila, we will have to wait until the morning to see if that had any negative effects, somehow I was glad that I was the designated driver, the faces everybody made after getting a shot didn't make me want to drink it!
I stayed with the chocolates myself, very nice..now all I have to wait for is the breakout to happen to my face!
My hair is nice though, I think anyway ;-)
Even did a bit of karaoke which was a bit embarrassing since I didn't have a drop of alcohol to drink. However, since almost everybody else had it didn't really matter.
It got a tad cringy when a 'kissogram' arrived, goodness, if I had friends who did that they would be ex-friends instantly. Let me just say there were handcuffs involved and a kissogram delivering person wearing not a lot more than thong and bra. Oh well.. each to their own I say!
John had his first shot of tequila, we will have to wait until the morning to see if that had any negative effects, somehow I was glad that I was the designated driver, the faces everybody made after getting a shot didn't make me want to drink it!
I stayed with the chocolates myself, very nice..now all I have to wait for is the breakout to happen to my face!
My hair is nice though, I think anyway ;-)
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