YAY!

A post - YAY!

Internet at home - YAY!

Back from the wilderness - YAY!

Post #1000

Who'd a thunk it?
1000 posts.
I never keep anything going this long ... and yet I've managed to get Chez le Laquet to carry on limping along since February 2005.

I remember the bizareness of my first comment ... about chilled consomme. Managed to write 100 bizarre and unrelated things about myself in a strange list - twice! Panicked about the wedding preparations. Found scarred beauty in the playground. I had a hen night and got married. Started my first meme - that I am actually still doing! And that was just 3 months in 2005!

There are times when I am sick to death of posting and can think of NOTHING to say but then there are also times when I have been able to use the blog to rant my arse off! I have made some really good friends and as of yet I haven't been Dooced ... I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one! All in all I think I'm up for keeping this going for a while - hey maybe I'll even manage a few more posts than last year* ... shouldn't be too hard!

* aka the year of the SLACKER!

It's the March Monthly Mingle over at That's My Answer ~ pop over and mingle for all you're worth why don't you!

Happy Bloggy Birthday

It's my blog's birthday today. I gave it a card but forgot the cake, so I had to go and find one on Flickr ... hope it likes it.

If I am honest I really want to give it a makeover but I am so skint - MOT/car tax due tomorrow and so fussy - can't decide what look/style I like AND can't get one of these freebies to work.

It seems amazing that I've kept going with this - things never keep going for this length of time ... started in February 2005, that makes it 4 years old, that's right isn't it? I don't think I managed to keep a diary going for 1 year as a youngster, never mind 4 years! I think that it kept me sane in 2005 - the stress of planning and catering the wedding and then Simon and "the job"! So, I'm going to keep plodding on with it and see if I can't get it up to it's 5th birthday ~ it'll be able to start school then ;o)

Scrapbooking

So, this weekend has mostly been about re-getting to know Photoshop Elements. Playing around with scraps and layers and making new headers, desk tops and just putting pictures together. VERY THERAPUTIC! I need to go and do something else now before my eyes turn square.

12" x 12" square in fact!

12" x 12" with knobs and bows on.

But hey it's keeping me off the drugs and the alcohol!!

**mingle, mingle, mingle**

That’s My Answer’s Monthly Mingle: February 2009

There's some mingling going on over at That's My Answer ~ come on over and be social!

snip snap

snip snap, originally uploaded by Laquet.

I have a newish blog.
One of those take a photo everyday for a year blogs.
Unfortunately my unorganised arse failed at the first hurdle i.e. I didn't get my act together in time and only started it on January 4th, so I'm going to have to keep going beyond the 31st of December.

So pop on over to ~ Laquet ~ Snipped and Snapped ~ if you get a chance, leave a comment - even if it's only to suggest something I could snap ;o)

So what's the difference?

What constitutes a visit? And what's a pageview? And how do they differ?

Already struggling

It seems that blogging has become much more of a struggle than it was when I began my blog in 2005, so I decided to look back at my first posts - probably to see why I began. I was off work on sick-leave in March 2005 ... I'd had an op and was at home for 6 weeks when I came across an article on the BBC website about blogging and because of that made my way to blogger.com and there I was. I think blogging filled a gap, gave me someone to talk to. So I progressed through March into April and the build up to our wedding.

I didn't particularly want to get married. We'd been living together since 2000, I considered us a couple in every way, we pretty much knew that there'd be no children - so what difference would a wedding ring make? But 'Mr Old Fashioned & Traditional' thought we ought ... so - May 2005 it was, which reminds me, one day he really needs to propose properly instead of saying "I suppose we ought to get married." 'Mr Old Fashioned & Traditional' yes, 'Mr Loving and Supportive' yes, BUT 'Mr Loving and Romantic' hell NO! And in the time leading up to May 14th the blog became my shoulder to cry on because the pressures of planning the wedding were hellish. We were both under strain and knackered.

Which all in all I think, in a round-about way, means I'm glad that I'm struggling with blogging because at the start it was my crutch to escape loneliness and stress and hopefully now I'm doing that in other / better ways. BUT, it has brought me many good friends for which I will be forever grateful ... now if I could just manage to get through November!!

Quick ...

I just made it before the water shed ... poker tonight, so no blogging possible - 30p up ... woo hoo! NOT! Bloody need to make up 3 questions for that's my answer on Thursday morning as well as blogging tomorrow - sheesh, the demands the Internet makes on me. Off to bed! Mwahs ;o)

Day 3

God it's always this hard at the beginning, getting back into the swing of blogging on a daily basis. What have I got going on that's interesting enough to bother writing down? If I spend time blogging will that intrude on my daily SCD/ITT addiction? What can I eat - could bleugh weather making me constantly starving - whilst blogging that won't get crumbs in the keyboard? What hand should I type with ... so I can stir my tea with the other? What is this drivle that I am currently typing? And where is Si with the mug of tea? I should go and eat something and then maybe my head will work properly - I'll come back if it does honest! Here have some of the magic of Austin until then!

Austin and Erin for the title too after Cherie's bleugh frock!

Am I being read??

I think maybe I am. Privacy beckons for a while - just until I'm sure!

My blogging? Finally on the slippery slope?

I suddenly noticed this week the slide into decline of my blogging habits ... it all started when on Thursday I noticed this -

Good God I was keen in 2005 ... almost a post a day, especially as the whole thing didn't start until the very last day of February. And that included 6 weeks in France with "slower than paint drying" French dial-up* Internet. And then it looks like the rot started. 40 less posts in 2006 and then ... wait, is this a pattern forming ... 40 less post in 2007 and then there's 2008. Christ on a bike! What a total slacker I am. Even if I want to stick to my pattern and post just **rapidly tries to work out the answer to 215-40 without calculator** 175 times this year I have to post 18 times a month from now until New Year's Eve. I don't think there's been a month so far this year when I have managed 18 posts?!?

So I'm going for a NaBloPoMo this coming month. A photo NaBloPoMo. A photo-post a day through the month of July to try and hold off the decline for a little while. Will I manage it?? I seriously doubt it to be honest. **stalks off to look inspiration** Oooh and the NaBloPoMo theme is food - that bit I can do, honest!!

*You'll be pleased to know that in theory this is already fixed for this summer. When I say "in theory" what I mean is that Broadband is installed BUT (and it's a big BUT ... no, not that BUTT, yeh I know that's big too but please pay attention) because of the geographical location of Le Laquet - well suffice to say that there could be improvements to the Broadband service, in fact even the Mairie is now on the case with France Telecom and Neuf.

What? Who? Why?

As you know (actually do you know?) I write some of the questions on Question of the day ... well Q.O.T.D. has a new name name and a new home. so *drum roll* come on over and give us your answer :o) New questions daily.

THAT'S MY ANSWER!
The official question of the day — it’s your daily pitstop for questionable fun!

A bit of a prattle

It'll be June soon and maybe it's the re-turn of warmth and sunny weather but I'm feeling a tad perkier! You ok too?

Saturday was Simon's mini-birthday party - that party which was to have been a huge celebration of friendliness that became instead a smaller yet still lovely celebration of family and friends who are close enough that they are really family-ness. We BBQ'd some pork, laughed and drank lots of beer - well they did. I drank lots of coke with the odd slosh of brandy and therefore was much soberer than people thought I was ;o)

School this week has been really hard (it's only Wednesday morning!) Yesterday I had to tell the current Foundation Stage Leader that actually she is out of a job for September ... and will be moving into another year group and she cried. And it made me feel like shit! But then I suppose with maturity the new job and the bigger pay packet, comes increased reponsibilities and more "feeling like shit-ness!" Hopefully today will be a better day - a sit under a tree and read a strory day, a build the tallest tower you can with LEgo day - that'd be a Jo kind of day.

Busy washing and ironing clothees last night as we're off to France on Saturday morning for a week of sun, sand and pintxos in St Jean-de-Luz - can't wait guys! Of course I shall have to lug the trusty lap-top with me so that I can get on with my school reports that have to be in by June 24th ... 52 of them to write this year which feels horrendous, but that is because I am right at the beginning of them. Right - here I go, have a good day.

Blog Fodder #16

Blog Fodder ~ fighting blogger's block one post at a time!

This week, all the way Chrysalis in Canada!

What are your top 10 reasons to blog?

10 reasons? As I said to Moogie I don't know whether I can come up with 10 reasons!! So you ... no don't walk away from the page I'm talking to you! Yes, you lot out there are going to have to help me! Leave me a comment, giving me a good reason to blog and lets build the list together ... I'll start us off.

1. It gets you friends!

To? Too? Two! 2!

*clears throat to start singing*

Happy Birthday to my blog!
Happy Birthday to my blog!
Happy Birthday Chez le laquet!
Happy Birthday to my blog!

Who'd have thought it? That I could keep anything going that long? *thinks back to all those projects and hobbies that never lasted* Why did I start? Am I done? Not yet. Right, lets get on with year number three then!

Because I have nothing else to blog about ... a joke for you!

Why women should avoid a girls night out after they are married!......... [or cohabiting!!!]

The other night I was invited out for a night with "the girls." I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, "I promise!" Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easy.

Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home. Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hall started up and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times.

I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. (Even when totally smashed...3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos = MIDNIGHT!) The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, and I told him "Midnight". He didn't seem pissed off at all. Whew! Got away with that one!

Then he said, "We need a new cuckoo clock."

When I asked him why he said, "well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said, oh shit cuckooed 4 more times, cleared it's throat, cuckooed another 3 times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted."

One a day

Sounds like vitamins ... but Project 365 is all about a daily photo. One a day everyday until the end of 2007! I've started ... I was a little late but I hope to make up for it by the end :o)