Monday, May 02, 2005

Officially a thirtysomething..

30! Blimey! I guess that I could get philosophical about the 'big' birthday that I have just had. Time to look back over my shoulder at the last 10 years, wave at them one last time and then embrace the thirties

Yeah right, who am I kidding!..... It's just another excuse to get away with being a kid again!

It goes like this: You hit your teens, then your twenties are just an extension of your teens. By the time you are thirty you are no doubt entering you teens again 'cause 15 + 15 = 30!

YAY!

Thursday, February 10, 2005

For anyone that has seen Supersize Me...

http://www.supersizeme-thedebate.co.uk/

After I posted the alleged fact below, I browsed on-line to see what info I could find on McDonalds.

To be honest, as one of the biggest corporations in the world who have kids in America saying Ronald McDonald before Da Da this website doesn't surprise me in the least.

I think that they've missed the point, don't you?

Did you know......?

I have just read online that McDonalds Fries are made with Beef flavouring!!!!!! Not sure whether this is true or not, but I wouldn't put it past them. Probably trying to tempt us to buy a burger to go with the fries.

ICK!

Sunday, February 06, 2005

The Princess and the Pea

........And yet she said that she was a real princess.
'Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses......

I have finally become a princess! Someone put twenty eider-down matresses on my bed! I now have two thousand fairies holding me up at night.

Ok ok, our new bed has arrived and I need a step ladder to get into it just about. Reminds me of the story of the princess and the pea though!

Am gonna sea if someone has put a pea under the mattress tonight. x
Posted by Hello

Friday, February 04, 2005

Not men bashing....

I take Ben to JellyTots on a Friday morning. Invariably the hall is full of mums, very rarely will you see a dad there. (which suggests that they have all been scared off!) I came home and my DH asked if we had been men bashing....!?! The fact that we had all chosen to have babies with men (as oppose to test tubes etc) would indicate that we like our men... so why bash?

On the subject of men bashing I would just like to add that only a man would clean a carpet with bleach.....

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Painting the town all sorts of colours

As it was my DH's birthday this week, he has taken the opportunity to go out in Southampton with all his mates and do some serious binge drinking. This is fine by me, I would go out with him, however I much prefer to curl up on the sofa with a good film and a cup of tea, knowing that the other man in my life (Ben!) is blissfully asleep upstairs.

Tonights Movies - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: 2003 Version - This film is surprisingly scary for a remake and actually made me scream out-loud last time I watched it.

My brother is also coming over to watch crap movies and drink tea and no doubt we will right the wrongs in the world at least twice over.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Chav's - Challenging the problem of prejudice

Prejudice is universal - It is almost inevitable, however is it right? The social identity of a Chav has been the hub of numerous middleclass jokes and titters. Are we only happy when we are pointing the finger and laughing at those perceived to be less fortunate? I say those perceived to be less fortunate because perhaps they aren't, maybe we are.....

Definition of a Chav as outlined in the Urban Dictionary:
More common than flys around shit, often wear burberry and are mistaken for intelligent life. Many of these sub-speiced humaniods gather around sertain locations about the towns and cities of Gloustershire, the most common of all locations is McDonalds. Easily spotted, look for fake gold, the ord Nike on clothing. Listen for the mispronouciation of childs words.e.g isn't it, this is spoken as innit, and Friend becomes mush, or bruv, though many of them say they could "fukin batter ya" most of them couldn't even batter a fish. To spot a chav, be it male or female, (there is very little difference between the two) look for hair that is shorter than freshly cut grass, the inability to grow over 5 ft and the lack of education. If approuched by one of these humaniod Twats, simply reply with a smart comment or use a big word, such as car, or bus, or floor, mostly they will become confused and walk off, in rare occasions the have been known to attempt to harm people to little effect. It is well known that chavs have little or no friends, just a "crew" of mockly idiotic fools with brand name clothes and there trousers tucked into there socks, also see pikey or townie. Do not be fooled by there Humanoid looks, they are of another race, mainly scum

......................................................................................................
Judging by the spelling mistakes, I could be unsympathetic to the person that wrote this definition taking into account that they are mocking Chav's for not having an education!
My observations are that Chav's are suffering from an inaccurate negative stereotype because more often than not they have a lower socio-economic status than the average Joe Blogs in the UK. We stereotype people or pigeon hole them (for want of a better word) because our minds process the idea of a stereotype far easier than trying to understand the individual makeup of a singular person.
Stereotyping people can be unforgiving. - For example: What stereotype are you?
Scratch the surface and no doubt you will be pleasantly surprised by the person in front of you.
Oh, and another thing.... Look on in envy because most of the people that I know who fit the Chav stereotype are as happy as pigs in shit. - Could you say the same?


Phew..... Yum! I'm sure that I can sneak just one more malteser off of the top and re-arrange them again. Posted by Hello

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Birthday Cake

Am in the process of making my OH a birthday cake..... Picture to follow - Let's hope it's not as crap as the last one.... (see January archive for a laugh!)

Monday, January 24, 2005

Deacon's Birthday Surprise

It's my husbands 30th Birthday this week. 30! Fantastic! He hasn't sweated about it in the slightest, infact, he has positively embraced it as an ideal opportunity to get absolutely hammered. Binge drinking will be seen in its finest form in the pubs of Southampton this weekend.

However, when you have been with your OH for the past 12 years, trying to find something bigger and better than the last birthday to enthrall the senses and raise more than a smile is getting decidedly more difficult.
Deacon has always taken life by the balls and swung it around his head in a way that I can only look on with admiration. He is one of those people that has been there and done a damn sight more than a lot of people have.

Childhood hobbies included, BMX biking (the real deal), caving, marking bird eggs for the RSPB!?, Jet skiing, paintballing, mountain biking, Being a general buff when it came to anything animal, keeping obscure pets and fishing to name but a few. I used to collect blossom when I was young... It used to die...get sludgy and I would get upset.

Since I have known Deacon, he has scuba dived, bungee jumped, parachuted and drag raced at Santa Pod. Try topping that with a budget of £200.

1. A track day was out of the questions as I couldn't afford the cars that were faster than ours.

2. Swimming with sharks - Again costs too much.

3. Whale watching - hmmm.... Not in Southampton.

4. Anything for the car - I'm a girl, I only know where the dipstick and windscreen wiper wash is!

So in my infinite wisdom and expert listening skills, I searched for clues over the past 6 months for something that would fit the bill. The one that I picked up on again and again was that he would like to experience going to the Opera. This was like finding the ball in a rugby scrum, I picked up the ball and ran with it!

By luck I found tickets to see the English National Opera in Pirates of Penzance at the London Coliseum on eBay TING! I found a 5 star Hotel offer on LastMinute.com TING! And I booked the National Express funfare coach tickets online also for a bargain deal TING!

I had found all the ingredients for a corking night out in London and one that Deacon would not have experienced before. I even managed to keep it a secret for 2 whole months.. What could go wrong....

LOTS!

Coach journey from hell - Stuck opposite stinky drunk man, apart from Deacon, with girl listing to exceeding loud pants music for the whole journey.

Tube - We really are sardines!

Hotel - 5 Stars my arse! The room was a shoebox with dirty windows and peeling paint on the ceiling (before you ask, we are English so therefore do not complain, just moan about it afterwards!)

Meal out - Deacon's steak was like leather. Service was good though. Managed to sink 2 bottles of wine in an hour...

Opera - We were pissed, nearly late, ran in and were told off my the staff, Opera is definitely way too cultured for us, even if it was in English and is a familiar story....And... Deacon fell asleep, 5 TIMES.

This was therefore my planning completely out of the window. Having said that we had a fantastic time after all that. We went to the cinema in Leicester Square and paid £23 for 2 tickets to see Bridget Jones - Edge of Reason....funny film! We went sight seeing at 11 o'clock at night, sat in the hotel bar pretending that we were posh (hardly) until we got even more drunk and bounced off of the walls back to our room.

Next day we got up early (still drunk no doubt) had breakfast and went sightseeing again on the way to the London Aquarium.

We got on the coach to come home - incidentally the coach driver got lost! Then picked up Little Man (Bless him - he is gorgeous) and Naughty Pixie from my mums then used to force to drive home and fall into bed.

All in all it was certainly a different experience for Deacon's 30th.

Moral to the story: I guess it doesn't matter what you arrange to do, we had a blast just being together. If you can look back on a day and just one moment makes you smile, it was worth it.
Big Ben, as oppose to Little Ben. Posted by Hello
Happy hubby. Posted by Hello
Morning sunrise from our hotel room. Posted by Hello

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Needles the size of...well....big needles

For the past 3 months I have had to subject Ben to the horrors of injections, not just one, but two at a time. Thank goodness that is it for about a year or so. Next he has to have the dreaded MMR! I say 'dreaded' due to its reputation. My opinion on the matter is that Ben will have the MMR jab because I don't want him to catch nasty diseases.

Update.... If you have a baby and take them to have their jabs... Invest in some high quality ear plugs. (oh and some Calpol - The saviour of parents everywhere!)

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Yay for Ben!!! Eat your heart out Irwin....see how well Ben wrestles the evil croc! Posted by Hello

Let them eat chips...

.. Lets be honest, there isn't a hope in hell that you're gonna get any cake on the weight watchers no count plan.

However, if you are following a healthy eating plan and like the odd chip here and there try these!

Amy's fab cajun chips (okay...potato wedges! Let's not be choosy!)

1. Put the oven onto Gas Mark 6 or equivalent
2. Cut a spud into even wedges
3. Spray oven tray with fry light
4. Put wedges on oven tray
5. Spray wedges with fry light
6. Sprinkle with cajun spice...not too much!
7. Put in oven for 10 mins
8. Turn over
9. Cook for another 10 mins.
10. Serve with hot salsa

YUMMY!!!!!

And relax

I am at my best when I am cleaning. I don't know why this is, cleaning is a pointless task, everything just gets dirty again... Life as we know it does not cave in if I haven't hoovered the stairs.

but I enjoy doing it.

Why is it then that I like cleaning but my house is never clean!?! Work that one out! I obviously am not passionate about cleaning.

or

I have 3 cats, a 3 legged dog that tramps over everything when she has been playing in the muddy garden, a baby, a husband and not forgetting me!

How do people do it? Why do people do it?

Why do I even care??????

Monday, January 17, 2005

A mans/womans home is his/her castle - House Rage....

I, like many other people make huge assumptions about a person by the state of their home. I like a home to be a home. .. It should be welcoming and warm (and if at all possible smell of home baked bread at all times!) The way that I act around a person changes depending on the state of their home. This is probably because the home is a persons identity. Take away a home and you take away a persons most valuable possessions, (apart from their car...ha ha!) you also take away the heart of a family.

My home is currently undergoing an identity crisis..It is yearning to be beautiful but is suffering from many syndromes such as:

1. Too many powertools syndrome
and
2. Unable to put its own crap away syndrome.

Currently being on maternity leave, I get to spend wayyy too much time at home and frankly it is getting me down... If I cannot express myself through my home (shallow maybe, but true) I will end up going doolally. - Maybe should try sending OH to DIY'ers anonymous - Repressed - YES...

Oh...and another thing.... homes can bite back - watch yourselves.


Monday, January 10, 2005

Thought about nothing....

I have decided, I am crap at dieting! I must know more about dieting than anyone I know: low carb, high fat, low fat, high fibre, GI index, food combining, no food at all! points, calories, green days, red days, South Beach, Atkins, F-Plan....... So why am I still overweight?

Believe it or not fantastic fact of the day 1: A staggering amount of people embark on diets and don't lose weight. If they do lose the weight then a high percentage put it back on again, and sometimes even more! I can give up cigarettes which fantastic fact of the day 2: are suppose to be more addictive than heroin, but, I cannot lose weight and keep it off.. I am destined to be a blimp forever....

Friday, January 07, 2005

So much for the Domestic Goddess in me.... Posted by Hello

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Meet Ben!  Posted by Hello