Rainy Saturday

Bring It On I say!

Although DS was playing in a Steel band gig in town, Bill and I had planned to go to an event at their old primary school.

It was absolutely throwing it down in the morning when I got up so I said to Bill that if it was going to rain all day then we wouldn't be going. It is bad enough getting wet when you don't have a choice so I wasn't going to choose to go out in that weather. Sadly DS couldn't make that choice as he had to meet up with the rest of the band in town at 12.15pm

The rain did wear off and the sun came out so about 1pm Bill and I walked over to the school. Of course as we were half way there the rain started again but I didn't want to walk home again without something to show for it so we sped up to try and beat the rain.

I was a bit disappointed when we walked through the gates. There was a BBQ tent


(We had been promised free food) a cake stall,


A books/toys stall and a gazebo where a young girl was singing. Only thing there was that she only seemed to know 1 song and that was Take That's "Rule the world" She had a great voice and the song sounds lovely sang by a girl but over and over again was a bit much. She could have learnt some more songs for the occasion - Actually she hadn't even learnt this one as she had to have the lyrics in front of her.



As the rain came down even heavier we ran to the sanctuary of the school hall with everyone else. We stayed there for about 5 minutes and the rain slowed down. The event leader was fed up by this time I guess as he announced all books and toys were now free take what you want!

Once the rain stopped, I bought some cakes and we headed back home.
On the park was a young girl was attempting to get a paraglider in the air but she wasn't having much luck. We watched for a while but she gave up and so we left. We could have watched from the house if she had managed it.

The rest of the day of course consisted of passing the time until the series finale of New Doctor Who series 4...I will write about that in another entry as I want to illustrate with caps and I haven't done them yet!

Big changes to the Benefits system

This morning I had to go to a workshop run by Jobcentre Plus. It was being held in a hired out room in M&S. The start time was 9.45am and they said to go to M&S and head for the cafe.
It turned out though that the actual room they were using was down in the basement of the store so the Jobcentre staff had to hover around the stairs/lifts/escalators so that we could find them.

There were meant to be 20 other lone parents on the workshop but by 10am there were only 5 of us but they couldn't wait any longer. (I have to say it is no wonder some people are still out of work - several people arrived 30 minutes late and more arrived later still with 2 people arriving just as they were finishing!)

The major changes I am about to face are that because DS is over 12, come October I will switch from Income support to Jobseekers. So the main purpose was to let us know about the changes and make it clear that is more important than ever to get into work before October.
Well Yes of course it is but don't they think we have been trying????

There are actually more levels of support than ever before too. There are several back to work benefits and they offer a after care service too so that once you are on work you are still on their books for 6 months so that if things aren't working out you still have someone to talk to. If only they had that when I got the job at PoundPlus all those years ago. If they had been able to help me out I might have stayed there.

A guy from a training centre came to give us a talk too. He does a course called Goals which runs for 2 days. It kind of covers the stuff I did at TBG for getting back into work but I think I will still sign up. Its all expenses paid plus a free lunch lol!

There was also a talk from the HR woman at Marks but I didn't see the point in that. For one she told us the hours aren't really child friendly (Early mornings/late nights) and she also said that they have waiting lists of possible employees so it is hard to get a job there.

The event lasted 2 hours as they said it would and I came away non the wiser really but I have to get my act together before I have to start signing on again.

Jus bakin' bread

It may seem that I have become a little obsessed with this bread baking business even though I still don't have a bread maker yet.
Yeah I know I am cheating by using premade mixes but at least you can't go wrong with them. In fact not even I can get it wrong.

This time it was Cheese and Onion bread. I know this would be good for Bill as she loves anything that is Cheese and Onion.




I bought a proper Bread loaf tin so this time it will come out Bread shaped.


It was really good too. We had it for lunch with loads of butter on and I had some toast later too - It makes good toast :)

What happened before Doctor Who

I should have blogged this stuff before but then I got side tracked and I had to talk about DW straight away so I thought I would take the opportunity now to catch up.



Friday
Recently My sister's best friend from School - Zoe - had her second child. She went 2 weeks over and ended up having to have a C-section but everything ended up fine. The baby is 2 weeks old now and Ange said she would take me round to visit.

Ange picked me up about 12ish and first we took a trip to the DCFC shop at Pride Park to look at the sale goods.

I didn't have any cash so it was just window shopping for me but Ange bought some stuff for my Niece and Nephew.

Next we went to the nearby Sainsbury's so Ange could do some shopping and then it was onto Zoe's.
Unfortunately Zoe had gone shopping too so we were sat outside her house for a while.

There isn't much you can say about seeing new babies. She is gorgeous but you can say that about any new baby as it is instinct. She is the spitting image of her mum. I didn't get to hold her for long as she was a bit grizzly with wind.
We were only there about 20 minutes before Ange drove me home again.



Saturday
Ange was playing in another Netball tournament so we Skyplussed DW and went to cheer her on.
It was a shorter tourney this time and Ange's team (Pressgang) were on the losing side each time. Their last game was a lot better and they were winning for a while but the other team went ahead just before the whistle went.

As it was an early finish we walked back down to Debz house. We called in at the local Sainsbury's to buy drink but I didn't have enough money to buy booze so I got some POP. 2 2litre bottles for £2 sounded good but when I got to the till it was the mum of Bill's best friend that served me and she gave me her staff discount which meant I got 2 2litre bottles of Coke for £1.80. Maybe I could have bought beers after all

We stayed at Debz until about 1am then walked home. I made Garlic bread and we watched Doctor Who...

Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God!!!

I was looking forward to seeing last night's Doctor who the 2nd part of the big Series finale.
I wasn't prepared though for what was to unfold before my eyes.

First of all I could feel my heart breaking as Rose witnessed the coming together of the companions with none of them aware that she was there too and no one seemed to give her a second thought. Tears were rolling down my actual cheek as she couldn't get them to hear or see her - Even with the will of the Nobles.

I loved that cheesey old scene with Rose and the doctor running towards each other, all we needed was some cheesey music like the theme from Love Story.

This is a muddled ramble I apologise but I want to get all my thoughts down as they come.

It was great to see Ianto and Gwen from Torchwood and we still got the Jack Ianto relationship.

Jack: I met a soldier in a bar, long story.
Ianto: When was this?

Bill was worried about the rating of the show but for kids and peeps that don't watch Torchwood it would have gone right over their heads. For us it was funny.
I also loved it when Doctor/Donna saw the multiscreen and Donna said of Jack "Who's he" in a lustful way and the Doctor replied "He's Captain Jack and don't - Just don't"

Of course the implosion of the Internets has been caused by this




My head has been in a complete whirl since seeing this. I did watch it at 3am and fell asleep with loads of theories whizzing through my head. God knows what I dreamed but I woke up in a sweat.

I have calmed down now though because the BBC have a few images on their site that have made me even more excited about the final episode.

Before I go I just want to quote from the journal of someone who's writing on this someone I really respect.

nick730.livejournal.com

On the other hand something felt a bit off about the regeneration. We didn't get even a glimpse of Eleven, which means if there is a new Doctor the BBC are giving themselves the headache of trying to cover up his identity for a whole week when everyone's been tipped off that there's someone to look out for. There's been rumours about Tennant actually splitting into multiple Doctors, and Dalek Caan calling him "the Threefold Man" could be suggesting this. There was an establishing shot in the teaser of Ten's "old" hand in the jar, and they brought him into the TARDIS for his regeneration where the dark street would have been a much more spectacular setting (this could just be 'cause it's easier to film the morph on a set, or it could be so he'd be close to the hand, which could interfere with the regeneration.) Then there's his last lines - Eccleston got "Before I go I want you to know you were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I." And all Tennant gets is "I'm sorry... it's too late... I'm regenerating." I just don't see RTD missing his chance to give Ten an iconic last line. And of course, we have last year's finale, and RTD's unfortunate liking for pressing the Magical Reset Button of Arse. This all makes me worry we might get Donna travelling back and sacrificing herself to save Ten or something. I don't know. I want for this to be a real regeneration and for the production team to have pulled off this amazing coup. I think it'll turn out to be something else entirely. We'll see.

This is what I want for Christmas

OK I know it's early but I just found what I want for Christmas...

My own personal David Tennant Doctor

Tell me you don't want one too

More kitten pictures

I thought you would like to see how they are doing.
The answer is fine :)

They are becoming cheeky little buggers and feeding time is like a military operation. The kittens want to eat Pica's food and Pica wants to eat the kittens food. Problem is the big cat food is way to rich for their little stomachs at the moment and little Ronno proved that when he sicked up his whole body weight in vomit this morning on the hall carpet.

This is Miney

And this is Ronno

As you can see, they don't like it when Bill gets the laptop out...

How not to get drunk.

Tonight was to be a casual get together at Debz place. We were getting there late as we wanted to watch DW first so I only took with me the last of my Vodka and Pepsi which I just poured all in the Vodka bottle.
The footie was in full swing when we got there and so I sat on the sidelines *AHEM* and read magazines.
After the game finished the darts players disappeared to the front room and the channel was switched to Big Brother.
I had finished my drink already and wasn't ready to go home so I opened up my bottle of Wham bar Vodka. I didn't have any Lemonade with me so I was drinking it neat. It was very hot going down my throat and went straight to my head EEK!

I didn't stop there because when I finished I opened the other bottle that I had found which was Gummy Vodka...Yep you guessed it Neat again and before long I could hardly focus.

I have no idea what time we got home but instead of the walk home clearing my head - by the time we got in I didn't even know what planet I was on. I must have been on auto-pilot though as I cooked Naan bread Pizza for us all and even had coleslaw and Beetroot salad with mine (I think the time may have been around 3am by now) I know I Twittered a bit too and began to feel quite unwell.

I didn't have a good night's sleep and felt really rough Sunday. My mouth was like sandpaper and my head felt like it had been switched with a bowling ball.

Next time the flavoured Vodkas are only to be drunk in small measures and WITH LEMONADE!

Junior football tournament

I was up at the ungodly hour of 7.30 Saturday morning as I was going along to watch my nephew play in his first ever football tournament. They were picking me up just after 9am and I had to be ready. Unfortunately the weather gods didn't smile on my DN and it was horrendous.
He and all the other great under 7 talents soldiered on though.

It was DN's first time playing in a proper tournament and I think he did brilliantly. Ange told me he was good but I didn't realise quite how good.

By the first game the poor little souls were soaked through and frozen they got in their positions on the pitch and kept moving to keep warm but the other team never showed. So they won by default but then had to wait another hour before they could play their first game.

All the other teams were really good I couldn't believe it for such little people. Unfortunately DN's team didn't manage to win a game but they did draw 0-0 in 1 match which was a victory for them.
Of course the children weren't the only ones that were wet and cold us adults were too but we had to keep up the support. I tell you it wasn't hard as I was so proud that most of the time I forgot about the rain.
little Dear Niece was awesome too, although she was shaking with cold she continued to shout and yell for her brother - An example to us all!

What really made me laugh was some of the parents and coaches that were yelling from the sidelines and kicking every ball with their dear offspring. It was as if some of them were living through their child. Some of the coaches were a bit harsh if you ask me. They were trying their best bless 'em and they were wet and freezing. I really like DN's coach as he praised each of his team continually all the way through their game. He gave them instructions and when they made a good pass or a good tackle he would tell them so.

I think we met a former Rams legend while we were there. He was with the mother of the little girl in DS' team although we think he may have been her uncle rather than her Dad (As in the brother of her mother) I was ear-wigging a lot but they were talking about when he used to play for Derby.He also talked about when he left Derby for Leicester and how he doesn't go anymore to watch as he gets frustrated. They also said he will be playing in the masters in a couple of weeks on SKY so I will have to watch it to see him.


Rob said he thinks that it was Phil Gee. I couldn't be sure really and wouldn't like to say but I have looked up some pics online and I think he may be right.

Ange and Rob dropped me off back at home about 3pm and I jumped straight in the bath to warm up. We were meant to be going round to Debz' later too.

Today I made bread

I couldn't wait for delivery of my new breadmaker so I bought a bread mix from Sainsburys and decided to have a go by hand.
The mix I used today was Parmesan and Sun dried tomatoes.

First of all I mix the ingredients with water until it was the right consistency. While I left it to rest I watched Punk'd they were punking Zak Effron off of High School Musical.

The next step was to knead and stretch the dough until it was ready to go into the tin and go in the cupboard to proof.

I watched the rest of Punk'd until it was ready to go in the oven and then I watched Little Miss Sunshine.


The bread only took 30mins to cook and I couldn't wait for it to cool so I cut into it straight away.


The crust was a bit hard but it was absolutely gorgeous. I think it might have been a bit stodgy inside but I cut a couple of slices and made Bacon butties and they were absolutely fabby Yummy drool.


I can imagine that it will be so much better cooked in the breadmaker but at least I know I can do it by hand.
I got the teens' approval too which is always a good thing.

I've another one in the cupboard but that is a multi-grain loaf so I will probably be eating that one myself but I will definitely be buying this one again.

Addiction, Dependancy and obsession...

It's not all about white powder, a glass of strong liquid, or horrid sticks of brown stuff.
My dependancy is my computer and the ole Interweb. So to be without it for more than 24 hours is like being made to go cold Turkey with no view of when I am going to get a fix. Or even like losing a limb.

Just like with the Sky Subscription I have been paying my Virgin media bill minus the £5 fee as I deem that to be an unlawful charge. However they have you over a barrell when they turn off your service until you pay it and when dealing with a internet junkie such as myself then yes I think I would sell my own kids just for another fix (OK you know that I wouldn't actually do that but you get the picture)

I actually managed a whole 24hrs without internet or my landline phone (Which is great going considering I don't have credit on my mobile either) but I had to submit on Thursday and ring them to pay it. To their credit though, after I had a moan about how expensive it had suddenly become and how I may have to loose the service altogether soon (AS IF) they made me a new deal. How about 20mb broadband +my 24/7 free minutes phone for £10 less? Considering that I am only currently on 4mb I think that is a RESULT!!

I am still without Lappy though so I am having to sit at the desk and work on the main PC which isn't easy as the darn thing is so bloody slow. I think I may have to do some major housecleaning perhaps including a complete re-format and clean install of the windoze.