Its Here!

A few Weeks ago when I was sat bored cos there was nothing on TV, I was flicking through the shopping channels. I stopped on Thane direct which was advertising this...

THE MAGIC BULLET. Even DS stopped what he was doing on the computer to watch the awesomeness of this glorious machine.
I have always wanted a blender and a smoothie machine but this does both and loads more besides. The best thing is most things only take 10 seconds...10 SECONDS!!!!

So you know what I did? No I didn't get me ole credit card out (prepaid) I got on Ebay to find one a lot cheaper than £70.
I managed to find one at the end of last week for just £28 incl. P&P I was well impressed as I had watched loads and they had mostly been selling for nearly £40 which is the price Woolies are selling for.

I had gotten so excited about the arrival of this almighty machine that when it arrived I unwrapped it and then just sat looking at it. I had so many ideas that I wanted to try that I didn't know where to start.
Unfortunately my first try out wasn't much of a success. I decided to whip myself up a portion of soup. What I shouldn't have done though is put a whole Onion in just for 1 portion. I took a sip and it blew my head off! I was crying for the rest of the afternoon. Not because I was sad but because of the Onions.
So I have decided to freeze this Onion concoction and use it up to put in soups and sauces but only in small doses.

When DS came home he was itching for a go so with my guidance he made himself a Smoothie consisting of Grapes, Orange and Pineapple. He was very impressed and seemed to enjoy it.
DD wasn't so impressed and I think it is going to take a few more experiments before she see the fruits of this labour (Get it??!!)

Now I am off to find some creative Smoothie/Milkshake recipes...gotta get those 5 a day in there some how ;-)

Alistair Griffin...Up the Boro and all that

I couldn't let the occasion pass without noting that Griffin was poppin up in all the newspapers this past weekend.

Genius PR if you know that his new band Albion are releasing the second of their exclusive downloads to Myspace friends only this weekend. However there doesn't seem to be any mention of it anywhere and it seems to me to be an opportunity missed.

The Sun say this "MARK VIDUKA must have thought he was on for a standing ovation when he walked off after this stunning match-winning display.

Instead, when he got in the the dressing room, the Aussie striker, 31, got the mother of all ribbings from his side — and it is going to get worse.

The source of amusement? Step forward Fame Academy runner- up and Boro nut Alistair Griffin, who has written a catchy little number about his favourite player.

Based on the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah, ‘Mark Viduka’ has already become a smash-hit at the Riverside.

And it was belted out by Gareth Southgate’s men after this deserved win. Viduka was not all that happy though." (and more)

So why is Viduka not happy? Alistair Griffin loves him so much he has recorded a song about him. Do not all the best players get songs sung about them in the stands? Is he embarrassed because he voted for Ms Parks in Fame Academy and now wishes he had voted for Mr Griffin instead? Who knows - I for one would be over the moon is the gorgeous singer put pen to paper and composed a song all about me

Its Pancake Sunday!!

So I totally missed posting about Shrove Tuesday this past week. Mainly because it went by without without excitement. It came to my attention though that I don't include DD and DS in the making of the pancakes as they would have liked. So I put a proposal to them that they could do pancakes at the weekend - Totally unaided by me.

I don't know why I still insist on doing all this stuff myself but that has always been the way it is. I am the mum and my job is to be in the kitchen doing all the cooking. I also think it is a bit that I like to have control and can't stand to have others (even though they are my kids) in there messing everything up.

So today I found out a recipe with instructions and left them to it.

I have to applaud them as the pancakes were really rather yummy and they cleared up after themselves and washed up all their pots.
They want to make it a regular weekend thing so Bring it on!!!!

...It's a Small world after all!

I know I omitted to mention that I was featured in the local newspaper last week. The reason mainly because the link to the page on the site is about 100 lines long and I didn't get a copy of the actual paper myself...Until today that is.

Today I made a visit to the old area of Derby where I grew up to meet an old friend of my mum's.
Donna worked in the local Iceland back when I was a girl and she was my mum's only ally when things around her were really crap. She would often nip in for a cuppa when my mum wasn't at work and she also told me that my youngest sister Debz spent a lot of her time in Iceland chatting to her and getting her in trouble. I do remember that when I had DD she had just found out she was pregnant and of course her DD is now 14.

I was a bit nervous on the bus as you would be when going to visit someone you haven't seen for 14 years. It is quite freaky really the way we got back in contact. You see I put a wanted ad on our local freecycle group to see if I could get hold at least 1 copy to send to my Nan. She saw the ad then checked the paper and it clicked who I was. She invited me round for a coffee and a catch up. Of course since we last saw each other she has also had 2 gorgeous twins about the same age as my DNiece.

I didn't need to be nervous though as I was right at home and found it easy to chat away about all sorts. Her hubby was great too and it seems we have a bit in common where computers are concerned.
In fact we chatted so much that I lost track of time. I had planned to get some shopping done in ASDA before coming home but I didn't have time and ended up running for the bus - Maybe that was a bad idea as it was the school bus and it was full of rowdy teens. There was no room to sit down and I was desperate for my inhaler. I took the first chance to get off that I could and did a bit of shopping at Somerfield instead.

I am definitely going to try and keep in touch. It is nice having people around that knew my mum.

But if we could go back in time...

Monday was the day I have been waiting for. The day that is like a bright light in the distance and makes up for all the crap that my life is going through at the moment.

At 8.30 am I got a bus to Nottingham to meet up with 2 dear friends. When I was running this intro through my head last night it sounded not unlike the introduction to Charlies Angels. I thought that would be funny but can't quite recapture the humor now.


20 years ago -in May 1987- Brian, Tim and I first met as naive young teens starting work for the first time at The American Adventure theme park. I would say personally that it was the best time of my life. I met great people and had a fantastic time and for a while earned a boatload of cash. It was damn hard work I won't deny that but it was all worth it.


In June of 88 Brian and I started to share a little flat together and It was one long party. In 89 after being evicted we moved into a big house and Tim and his cousin Dawn joined us to make up the numbers.

There has been lots of water under that bridge but 20 years later here we are in Bri's gorgeous little flat overlooking the whole of Notts. The purpose? To discuss getting together an American Adventure 20 year re-union. To find and hopefully meet again all the great friends we made back then. Sadly in January this year the park itself closed it's doors for the last time which hinders our plans somewhat!

It was a lovely day. We spent most of it laughing and giggling and reminiscing about the things we did. We looked through hundreds of old photos of us in various situations. working on the park, parties, weird nights in and nights out. It made me a bit melancholy at one point seeing all those pictures of people that I sadly lost touch with and wondering what they are up to now. Where are they? Are they married? Are they doing something exciting? Did they fulfil their potential?

Lunch has to be the best lunch out I have had in a long time (Not that I go out lunching much)
Tim suggested we try the Number 1 oriental buffet. Well you know me, I have never been for a chinese and don't have a clue so I thought it was worth the experience. I wasn't disappointed.
All you can eat for £5.50!
There is a huge choice for starters, main courses and then to desserts.
I thought I would just try a little of everything so I started off going along the line. a little bit of sesame toast, pineapple fritter, crabstick fritter, veggie samosa, prawn crackers and a little bit of Mushroom in Oyster sauce.
As the place wasn't too busy, the staff were very attentive and as soon as we were finished they had our plates away. We were undeterred though and went back for seconds. This time I tried some of the main courses... Chow mein noodles, spicy potatoes, spicy chicken, spare ribs and a bit of chicken curry. The curry nearly blew my head off and I wished that I had saved some drink.
After that the boys went for dessert but frankly I don't think I could fit anything else in if I tried - even if it was a bit of Ice cream.

The day passed way too quickly and before I knew it, it was nearly 4pm and time to go get my bus home again. We did get some work done though and now we have an idea of a venue and an action plan for more publicity and hopefully more responses to come.

I can't wait for the next time we meet up again. I have been feeling rather old just recently and my old mates are just what I need to recover my youth.

6 years already

Friday was my Nephew's 6th birthday party. It isn't his actual birthday until tomorrow but I can't believe that he is 6 already.
The party was the same place as last year's party but it was a lot different. Of course my sister still isn't talking to me so that was very awkward and it seems everyone else has taken her side too as no one apart from her mother-in-law and her husband said a word to me. Also both DD and DS are too old now to join in so there didn't really seem any point to us being there. They couldn't play, they couldn't have any food and they didn't get party bags or cake. Well done to my sister for inviting them but It probably didn't make any difference to my nephew if we were there or not.
My Nan tells me there was an evening party but we weren't invited to that.

Now I was sitting waiting wishing...

...that contracters would arrive when they said they would.

Today an appointment had been made by Gritish Bas for an engineer to come over and change my Meter for a brand new shiny one. They are meant to be changed eery so often and in all the 12 years I have lived here, It has never even been serviced.

The letter said they could arrive any time between 8am and 8pm so there I was up at 7 and clearing out the junk from the meter cupbord and wondering where to put it all. It was good to have the time to myself to work on my store but you know how it is when you know you can't go out the house, you just get stir crazy.

By 1pm I was starving but I daren't go make myself lunch in case he came while I was just tucking in.
To be honest when 4pm came I kind of thought that was it and I wouldn't be seeing mister Gas Man at all. Then at 5pm I saw the van drive down the street. We are at a dead end so I assumed he was going to turn round then park up outside. Oh no, he drove straight past my house. I ran outside to see if he had parked too far up and he was gone. Not a car or van in sight!!!
How BLOODY FRUSTRATING!!!
Here I have been sat, all day with cabin fever and for nothing. This also means I have to go through it all again. They better not turn up tomorrow as they will be sadly disappointed. I am going to set my alarm in the morning just so as I can ring up and complain. DO you think I can get compo? LOL!!!

By the way, I am still waiting on the contractor to come and finish the garden wall. That will be 3 weeks now!!

Heroes

For weeks now Chris Moyles and his team have been talking about the New blockbuster TV show in the States Heroes, Chris and his team have all seen preview DVDs of the whole first season and are raving about it. Jo Whiley and Edith Bowman have also been going on about it which is perfect for making you also want to see it.

The show doesn't start in this country until Monday 19th but surprisingly such a big show like this hasn't been brought to this country by SkyTV or even Ch4/E4 but is being shown on the SciFi channel. Whether the subsequent seasons will make their way to Sky like 24, Nip/tuck and Lost before them - Only time will tell.

Fortunately for me I found that some kind soul has the whole of season 1 for download and ready converted for the PSP.
Last night I watched episode 1 and you guessed it - I AM HOOKED!
Basically the show is about a group of people from all walks of life and all areas that find they have some kind of special powers. My favourite is a Japanese guy - aptly named Hiro - who has the ability to not only stop time by just concentrating hard but he also manages to transport himself from an underground train in Japan to the streets of New York just by willing himself there. I am looking forward to watching the rest and seeing how the characters develope.

At least now when Moyles goes on about it I will be able to understand what he is talking about.

Derby til I die!

A couple of weeks ago DS told me he had been awarded 2 tickets for a Rams game. Earned by him for Outstanding leadership. That made me proud enough! I didn't hesitate and said that he and DD could go as she has been desperate to see Derby play for so long.
On Friday DD's friend was also awarded 2 tickets for the game against Hull city. As her mum couldn't go they asked me if I wanted to go. Well I practically bit her hand off.

Saturday morning was a bit of a disappointment as DD got up and told me she had been up all night throwing up and spent most of the time over the toilet bowl. As her bed is a high sleeper it is difficult for her to lie in bed with a bowl so I thought the best thing would be for her to bring her duvet downstairs so she could at least still lie down and get some sleep if she needed and still have the bowl close at hand.
So DS and I had to go to the match without DD. She was very disappointed and her friend was too. It is one of those things that can't be helped though and as if the irony wasn't enough, she is fine today (Sunday)

DS went to meet DD's friend (Who I will call E from now on) and we made our walk through the rain to Pride park stadium.

When we got there I realised I hadn't read the tickets right as I had thought we would be in the North stand which is usually where the free tix are but we were actually in the South/West stand which is right next to the away fans. We had to walk up several flights of stairs just to get to the concourse and by the time we got to the top I was gagging for a drink. Forgive me for having a heart attack at the inflated prices of drinks - £1.70 for a bottle of coke! I can get a 2 litre bottle for 99p at my local supermarket. However we were gagging and so I had to pay the £3.40 for 2 bottles. I would have loved a bar of choccie too but at 90p for a KitKat I changed my mind.
Luckily 1 of E's seats was in the row right in front of ours so we could all sit together.
It was wonderful to soak up the atmosphere in the 20 minutes before kick-off. The Hull fans were in good voice and the banter had already started. I sat trying to work out if I could see Ange and DN across the pitch in the East stand but it was impossible really.

Once the PA announced the team onto the pitch and Steve Bloomer started playing I couldn't help but sing along and although I thought I didn't know the words...It seems when the moment came I did actually know all of them without looking at the program once!

I am no good really at this blow by blow match report thing. I was very excited to say the least because Derby started out like a team that meant it. When you listen to the radio commentary, you have to rely on the commentators to relay everything back to you but unless you are there you don't really know what's going on. Now I saw exactly why we are TOP OF THE LEAGUE. Passing and moving, playing to feet, teamwork, thinking ahead. Playing with a purpose and that purpose to win the game.

When Derby scored on 30 minutes it was from an amazing goal by new signing Gary Teale. Right in front of us and I couldn't have seen it any better. I had forgotten the rush of seeing Derby score for real. I could feel the adrenalin pump through my body instantly. I jumped up screaming and cheering and even found myself doing the dance that goes along with the goal celebration music (The Piranhas - Tom Hark)

Gary Teale is my new favourite player!
I say this not just because he scored or because it was right in front of me but because the way he played showed that when he signed for Derby he meant business. He excited me and I knew that the game wouldn't end there.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, only a few minutes after we scored then Hull city got themselves a free kick and evened up the score.

I really couldn't believe it when on 39 minutes, hoardes of people were heading for the exits. Why would you want to miss7or 8 minutes of the game just for the sake of having to queue for a bit longer? As it is they missed the goal that put Derby back in the lead. A great header at close range from defender Darren Moore. Again I was up out of my seat screaming and cheering and clapping. My voice was already getting hoarse at this time and my hands were red raw from cold and clapping.



The second half, although it started brightly became a bit dull. I became distracted for a little while by the battling among the 2 sets of fans. Not physical battling just vocal. The Sth/East stand attempted a Mexican wave but the rest of the East stand seemed to refuse to carry it on. in the last quarter of the game the 2 teams seem to step it up again. Hull gave as good as they got though and they were awarded with another equaliser. This time injury time could not save us and the game resulted in a draw. Well earned by City I have to say.

As we walked home in the rain from our excited chatter you would have thought that Derby had won the game. I felt for DD as she would have really enjoyed it. She loves watching any game of football and can follow it technically and tactically a lot better than I can.
It's not always about the goals. Being there and seeing the action for myself reminded me that it is also about entertainment and excitement and atmosphere. We didn't win but we are still 6 points ahead of everyone else.

"That's why we're going up.
That's why we're going up
That's why we're going up
That's why we're going up!"

Table updated since Birmingham beat Stoke 1-0 today

SNOW DAY!

At 9pm Wednesday night my neighbour came across the road to tell me that school was closed the next day. Apparently with the severe weather predicted and the lack of teachers at school that day they had taken the precaution to send the message early.
I went in and told DD who was over the moon and proceeded to text all her mates to tell them. Some of them didn't believe her but she told them they could get up the next morning and it would be on the radio but we were going to have a lie in.

So what do you do on a cold snowy day when the kids are stuck at home? What you would always do!
DS went to the park with his mates for sledging and snowball fights. DD and I went shopping then stayed in the warm and watched TV.
Of course DS was soaked through when he returned home but he had had fun and that's what Snow days were all about surely?

The only confusion came in the evening when we didn't know what was happening today. They break up for half term today (Friday) so I wasn't sure whether the school advisors would decided to make it an extended holiday but as there was no message from anywhere I sent them off this morning and they didn't come back so I guess School is on.

Over the Garden wall

Ironic title because at the moment I don't have one. (Garden wall that is)
A couple of weeks ago I came into the kitchen to see a couple of big builder types taking down the wall that separates my garden from my neighbour's I didn't think much of it at the time. I figured maybe it was something that she had reported. Later that day I went back into the kitchen expecting to find a shiny new wall but there was nothing and no sign of any builders.

Now I know I should be a bit more observant but a few days went by before I realised that the wall was still gone and there wasn't any sign of any builders. Not even working anywhere else on the street.

I spoke to my neighbour the other day and she told me that when they came and did it, It was a complete surprise to her. They didn't inform her beforehand or knock on her door before they did it. Or even say goodbye when they finished. They had taken down her gate and just dumped it without even a word. She has been ringing the housing association every day to find out what is going on but as usual the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

Finally today I realised that it is 2 weeks since that wall came down. Our gardens are completely exposed and we have no privacy at all. So pulled together the courage to phone up and ask what is going on.
They didn't even seem to realise that this wall is anything to do with me seeing as it makes up the boundary to my garden. The lady I spoke to was really nice but said that she had been finding it difficult to get hold of the contractor. At last though we got a promise that the builder would come and see us tomorrow to sort it 0ut. I don't want to speak to the builder I just want him to put the wall back!

TV and the internet are my favourite pass-times

...And for the past 24 hours I have been without them.

Can you believe it? I was sat there watching Waking the dead On Demand and suddenly it went off along with the broadband. I tried all the usual unplugging and plugging back in malarkey but to no avail so I had to phone up NTL and the only time they could get a tech out is the next afternoon. ARGH! what do I do for a whole 24 hours without my tele or internet? I was going to miss all my soaps!

It was quite refreshing actually. It's alright for DD she has all the channels on her freeview so she went and watchjed upstairs when she got home from school.

At tea-time I suggested watching some Dr Who. We watched the CIN ep that we never saw before and then DS asked if we could watch the Impossible planet and The Satan pit. I realised that however many times I watch them, I will never tire of them. After that we watched School reunion and then all the outtakes from the DVD extras.

At 10pm when the kids went to bed I had no idea what to do. Usually I would come on here for a while and catch up on my forums with the TV on WinTv. So I decided to go to bed. I found Charlie Brooker on BBC4 followed by Life on Mars so it wasn't too bad after all.

Today I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I had to wait in for the nice NTL man so I did a bit of housework, went out to the shops, then made myself a drink and settled down to finally watch Casanova (The movie starring Heath Ledger, not the TV show starring DT) Guess what, As soon as I was comfy the phone rang - It was the NTL engineer to say that he was on his way. AND he was early so that would give me the rest of the day clear to do what I wanted.

Nice Mr NTL man was done in a few minutes so after he had gone I sat down and finished off watching the movie (Stopping every now and then to go make homemade veggie soup then eat it)

Everyone loves a good wedding

Saturday 3rd February will be a day to remember for 1 very special couple. To most it will have been just another day or 1 more invite but to Lisa and Justin the day will be full of very special memories for the rest of their lives.

To say that by Thursday I had decided I wasn't going to go to the Reception on Saturday evening would probably be unfair to them. My social anxiety problem has been building and building for quite some time. When an event is coming up I can visualize myself at the event but the actual act of leaving the house and making it there is an emotional minefield. So much so that even leaving the house to go to the local shop is sometimes a problem for me these days. It isn't something I have talked about because I know that it is something that most people don't understand. 2 years ago I was going out every other week. Chasing cross country on a train, meeting up with virtual strangers and hanging about in large crowds. Nothing made me happier then. I had conquered my fear and got myself a social life again. I don't know what brought back the fears but now I seem to be back to where I was before.

I got up on saturday morning determined that I was going to this party whatever. Even a big row with DD regarding the wearing of shoes didn't deter me and where I couldn't have just backed down and used it as an excuse not to go, I was stern with her.

Once we arrived in the glorious ballroom that held the reception party I knew I had made it in one piece.

The happy couple themselves looked ravishing. You can tell when 2 people are made for each other. They just glowed. They were so happy and when they were away from each other you could tell that all that mattered to them was where their partner was. I think for them it wouldn't have mattered if no one had arrived.

It was a good evening. DS did his favourite thing and danced the night away. DD played the Nintendo ds with my DNephew and I just enjoyed watching everyone dance. I wasn't quite up to dancing myself but 1 step at a time.

We left around 11ish which seemed to be the time that many were leaving. I was happy that I had stayed for about 3 hours which just flew by. I was also extremely proud of myself and glad that I had been there for there special evening and that I had seen how wonderful they looked and how happy they were. Full of envy of course at their honeymoon in Egypt.

Cookery time again

Friday was DS' cookery day and this week was PIZZA.
The good thing about making Pizza is that they can choose their own toppings. So we had on ours...Cheese, Tomato, Ham, Turkey ham, German sausage, Red pepper, Sweetcorn, Onion, Mushroom and Pineapple.
Also the other good thing is that he could do different sections so that DD could have what she liked and we could have what we liked.

I was really looking forward to Friday night and I wasn't disappointed. It was absolutely gorgeous. Jam packed with toppings so much that it would fall apart when you tried to pick it up. It was so huge that I didn't even have to make anything to accompany it. The Pizza itself was filling enough and I felt well stuffed after 3 slices!

The Chris Moyles show

Again this morning Chris was talking about t-shirts and how there seem to be a lot of unofficial t-shirts out there dedicated to the show.
Most of the ones he mentioned were mine although the Roy Walker Legend one is NOT mine.

Thanks to this morning's show I have had loads of hits and just sold this t-shirt...

I love Aled Dark T-Shirt Admit it - You love Aled; I love Aled...We all Love Aled!! provided by: Jembie Creations $25.0 View Available Products

BLOG ALERT!!!

Go to THIS BLOG now!

I hate posting the same info twice so you can just go read it on the appropriate page. (It's about my autograph collection)