Happy New Year ! Can't believe its so long ago!

Well where did that Christmas break go?? It was so good to have Carl back for the holidays, once he was here it was like he had never been away! Sadly the time flew by and before we knew it he was back off to Hong Kong and the holidays were over. 

We had a good Christmas, met up with loads of friends and family and had some chill time off of work. As always we ended up with far me food than we really needed, every year I seem to get sucked into the huge hype that surrounds the festive season, buy stuff just in case you might need it. The here we are weeks later still finding things we should have eaten ! (I found some double cream pushed to the back of the fridge which was three weeks out of date!!) 

New Years Eve was a bitter sweet affair!! We were looking forward to it so much, its always a great evening, but poor Laura wasn't well, so she didn't make it. Carl was heading off the next day, so that was in the back of my mind. We had a great evening , Grace decided on a Chav themed night, we dressed up as Jeremy Kyle and his audience!!

Madeline looked fantastic with her fake Essex tan and big eyebrows!!!, I had my sports top and false eyelashes.

John and Tom!!

Harry, Beth and Grace with her baby bump.

Carl Alias Jeremy Kyle!!

Getting ready, Beth with her polo top and big hair and make up!!

Midnight arrived and we headed for the garden for our neighbour disturbing 100 shot firework display!!!

 

At the end of the night we were several bottles of port down, 40 vodka shots and lots of wine and spirits had been disposed of. We had 12 cans of silly string, we used them all!!

A fantastic new year !!

Before we knew it New Years day arrived and we headed for the airport. Carl's luggage was over  the weight limit, so we had to do a bit of sleight of hand to make sure that they didn't weigh his very over weight hand luggage!! 

He is now back in Hong Kong and we have booked a holiday with him in October, I can't stand the thought of not seeing him for such a long time. It makes me appreciate still having the girls near by!!!

Happy Mid January, despite my best efforts I still have not won the lottery, I will have to keep trying :)

Busier than ever!

This year is flying by, I have no idea where it is going! I like to be busy but its starting to run away with me! A big part of the business is trying to sort out our trip to Hong Kong, which has been both a nice thing to do and a  bit of a chore. I like to research where we are going but that seems to lead you into all sorts of dead ends and decisions to be made! Thank goodness for Booking.com and Trip Advisor. I feel that I am an expert in all hotels in Hong Kong now. I find one I like the look of it seems to have all we are looking for when you read the description, so I am tempted to push the 'book now' button. Luckily checking Trip Advisor reveals the reason one of the hotels has space is its at the top of a steep hill and the taxi drivers refuse to take you up there!! Well if they can't get up there, I am not attempting it with my hip and my luggage!! Finally I think I have had a stroke of luck, a brand new hotel only opened 6 weeks ago in Causeway Bay, 4 stars and a rating of 9.5 PLUS they are doing opening offers. I contacted them and they have agreed to late check out, free airport transfer and buy one get one free in their restaurant, I have decided to go for that. Being new its at least going to have spanking new furnishings and fittings!! So now I have started on the itinerary to make sure that we get to see all we want to see!

My new camera is going well apart from having a pretty naff strap, I really fancied a scarf strap which is gentle on my delicate neck and has the added advantage of protecting my camera in my bag. I had seen them on Etsy and Folksy but they cost a fortune, the cheapest I had seen was £25 ! So that got me thinking that perhaps I could make one for myself. The biggest issue was sourcing the parts, particularly the bits that attached it to the camera. It had to be man enough for the job because I couldn't risk dropping the camera. So after extensive searching I bought a replacement strap off of eBay and used the parts I needed. The actual making was quite easy I used a scarf that I bought at Camden Market last week. It found it easy to stitch it by hand using the machine holes in the leatherette made by the original construction. I am thrilled with it !! 

Best of all it cost considerably less than the versions that I had previously found!!

I started a new project at pottery, I have a plan in my head and I am not sure if it will come out as I envisage it, but I'll have to wait and see!

I am making a little hamlet on a hill , the plan is for light from a tea light to show through the windows and I plan a slight dent to put essential oil on so that the heat activates it! It was a long more involved that I had appreciated, so I will have to finish it off next week. At the moment it looks a bit derelict !! There is a fair bit of refining to be done, failing that it will be 'rustic'!!!

Yesterday morning I went up to Ally Pally for the paper crafting show, it gets smaller each time you visit!! I am still in awe of all the talented people who have their wares on display! Its full of good ideas! In the end I found my favourite 'pound' stall and spent £12!! bargain!!

Last night started with this......

What can I say??? That bottle went, along with a bottle of port and half a bottle of Vodka :( It got messy, very messy!!!!

A very good night was had by all!! The general consensus is that two thirds of the ladies in the above picture  are far too old for shots and the after effects of shots, still nothing ventured nothing gained!!! 

Still some good news, clearly Christmas is just around the corner Morrison's is stacked with these boxes of loveliness!!

Hope you have a great week, I have another week of 'decrepidness' checking, with nurse, Specsavers and dentist all in the same 3 hours!! can't wait!!

My friend has made it back home along with her extended holiday she has a sore leg to remind her of Crete plus another week or two off work!! Welcome home Sue, see you at the Crooked Chicken next weekend!!

Oh the Pain :(

This has not been a particularly good week one way and another.  On the plus side I have won a bet with Beth, I was the first member of the family to avail myself of the new Queen Elizabeth 2 hospital services. I felt sure that it would be Beth, she is usually the one. She has had no need to use the walk in bit, although she has had physio there for a few weeks. Well after a week of hobbling around on my sore foot I caved into pressure from everyone to go and get it checked out.

Beth came with me and it wasn't a whole lot different to the old hospital. It was far more colourful, very bright! It was pouring with rain when we got there and the first thing I noticed was that the floor was a stupid colour showing every foot step. The poor cleaners have a non stop job keeping that clean. I was reassured that the usual receptionist was there. So after catching up with Jen I waited to be called.  Within minutes I was taken through and saw a nurse who pulled my foot around and said 'looks like you have broken something' I was so grateful to have had it pulled around it was already painful before the unexpected assault! My foot is swollen and I can't wear regular shoes, so I was wearing thick soled flip flops. I then had to listen to a lecture about how flip flops are 'known in the medical trade' as 'trauma shoes' Strange thing is that I wasn't wearing them at the time of the injury !! I tried to tell her that but she didn't want that fact to get in the way of a good telling off! She sent me around the corner for an X-Ray.

Off we went around to another colour coded area to wait for the call. A nice man took me for an X-ray and hinted that I had a broken bone or two. So it was back to the first lady who said that she needed to tape my toes together, unfortunately I am a sensitive soul and unable to cope with plaster it has a tendency to make my skin peel off, as soon as I told her she told me to go home and tape my toes up myself!! So that was a great afternoon out!! I suppose I should have gone when I actually injured myself it seems a bit pointless now, I'll just take it easy and allow it to heal on its own wearing my special 'trauma shoes' !!!

Just for good measure on the Wednesday I was at the Dentists. I really can't get used to the new Dentist, I am suspicious that he is trying to rip me off. My old dentist was a bit of a 'used car salesman' type. It was simple I turned up, he treated me I paid and went home. Now its all 'discussing the treatment plan' I get to decide exactly what he should do first (I don't want that responsibility) The surgery is now horrible it feels like I am going to have a full blown operation every time I go there which is somewhat unnerving. The old dentist had photos on the ceiling which you could lose yourself in and ignore what was going on, now you are hard pressed to find a speck of anything to look at. I also feel that every little thing the previous dentist did is being criticised, which actually makes me feel cross. So I submitted to the latest onslaught, I needed two things doing and I had to choose - I foolishly chose to have a root canal treatment . I went in with no pain and came out with a numb mouth. The problem started the next day when I woke up with full blown raging toothache. The pain was awful so I ended up back at the dentist with a course of antibiotics and a face like a chipmunk. The weekend has been a write off as I have been pill popping and trying to get some sleep.

Before all my medical 'incidents' I tried a few more pictures with my new iphone lenses. I am still impressed!!

I am still amazed at what you can see with these lenses!!

I have also been scrapping the photos from Carl's gathering, it was a bit daunting as there were so many, but I eventually decided on cutting the photos into squares and getting 9 on a page!!

A great night out!!

We were able to chat this afternoon with Carl, he seems to be settling in OK, it feels like he has been away forever. I am happy that he seems happy!!

Have a great week, I hope I can stop with the painkillers sometime soon

xxx

Lets Party!!!

Today we had a street party. Its been an age since we have had a street party and it was great to see so many present and past neighbours!! We did have an organising meeting last week, but all we did really was had a few drinks and a spaghetti and meatballs dinner!!! Any how it came together and we had a brilliant day!

So who were the movers and shakers??? This year we had no representatives from number one. The present owners of number 2 were away so they donated a bottle of wine and a happy 30th Birthday Card

 (our road is 30 this year!!)

 We had a visit from the previous residents of number 2, Rachel,Dave, Lauren, Monty and Nathan. They bought their puppy Smudge.

We are at number 3, so Liz, Tom, Laura and Beth.

Number 4, the longest residents, Karen, Graham, Nick,Zoe and Megan.

Number 5 the previous owners Clive, Tracey and Brogan and the present owners Grant, Emily , Phoebe and Olivia.

Number six, the present owners Simon Tannaz and Keanush.

No representatives from number 7 :(

There was plenty of food, a barbecue and cakes along with plenty of drink!!!

Year and years ago, we think at least 10 years ago, Tracey,Karen,Rachel and I sat outside under the tree and made bunting and sipped wine. We used the tried and tested technique of string and staplers. We had quite a production line going, one cutting, one stapling, one spacing the flags and one topping up the drinks. We made yards and yards of the stuff!! Karen kept the huge roll of bunting and we got it out today and decorated the street!! It was in remarkably good condition although it was a bit creased and the spacing was shot, but I could recognise some of the fabric and it bought back the memories!!!

I am amazed that it has lasted so long!!!

Here we have the men putting the world to rights!!!

Topped off with some of Karen's wonderful cup cakes!!

We all enjoyed it so much that we have made a plan for the winter. For the past few years we have had snow at some point we all usually end up out the front making snow men and having snowball fights, well this year we are going to have a team barbecue on that day when we are stuck at home!!!!

Happy Days!!!