Blog Fodder #7

Fighting blogger's block one post at a time!

And perhaps the author of this week’s topic is Karen, over at Write from Karen. The weather where she lives is treating her and her family and of course everyone else in her neighbourhood quite badly at the moment. Go and give her a bit of a hug will you please?

Which is more important, intelligence or common sense?

Oh wow! What a doozy of a question! It's taken me days to think about this before I even considered writing :o) And then I wrote a ream and Blogger lost it and I thought BOLLOCKS TO IT!! And I am answering this in one longish sentence, so here goes!

Common sense is more important than intelligence because without common sense you cannot act on your intelligence; but obviously a mixture of the two is best of all :o)

My face, who's face?

Driving to Suzanne's on Saturday morning I listened to Jonathan Ross's show where he talked about a website called My Heritage and their face recognition software! What a hoot!

Go on, have a go & then come back and tell us ... which celebrity do you look like?

Unconscious mutterings #207

I say ... and you think ... ?

Audition :: piece
Urgent :: fax
Lunch :: time
Adult :: grown up
Mug :: of tea
Awful :: terrible
Comics :: The Beano
Damage :: stormy weather ~ our TV aerial (we still have one attached to the chimney even though we hat satellite TV) shuddered all night long in the wind. And there's snow forecast for Wednesday ... joy!
Kicks :: Route 66
Experience :: trying things out

And the survey says ....

Shamlessly stolen ... no shame in that, oh hang on, I just said, oh never mind ... from Laura over at Adventures in Juggling. And very handy it is too on such a newsless day!

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Bleugh, a spot, you need more sleep, roll on summer ... all at the same time.
2. How much cash do you have on you? None, no pockets in my PJs
3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR? Floor
4. Do you label yourself? I try hard not to label myslef or other people ... but it's something that everyone does. Trying hard to be a cup half full kind of girl, if I have to label someone I will go for the +ve label and not the -ve one each time!
5. Bright or Dark Room? Umm, dark to sleep in and darkish to watch TV in. Light if I am cooking, reading or eating.
6. What is your favorite ringtone? I currently have Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind and Fire ~ love it! But before that it was the Self Preservation Society from the movie the Italian Job. That probably remains my favourite.
7. What does your watch look like?




8. What were you doing at midnight last night? Actually I think I was reading as I had woken up and was trying to go back to sleep.
9. Where is your nearest 7-11? No 7-11s in the UK, the nearest equivalent is probably the local corner shop ... open 7am to 9pm ... it's about 250 yards *points* that-a-way.
10. What’s a word that you say a lot? I curse .... oh and there's also these 13 things I say a lot
11. Who told you he/she loved you last? Simon!
12. Last furry thing you touched? Oh er missus! Umm ... Anne & Ian's dog Biggie, New Year's Eve's eve.
13. How many rolls of film do you need developed? None, been digital for a long time now.
14. Favorite age you have been so far? 27 was great ...
15. Your worst enemy? My will power
16. What is your current desktop picture?

17. What was the last thing you said to someone? Go back to sleep it's only 6.15
18. The last song you listened to? It was Sympathy for the Devil one of very few Rolling Stones tracks I actually like. It was playing on Radio 2's Drivetime show last night as I rolled up outside the house.
19. What time of day were you born? 7.20pm making me Leo with Pisces rising
20. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Curse, see #10
21. Do you consider yourself kind? Yes, bit of a sucker for a sob story sometimes
22. What’s your life motto? Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
23. Name three things you have with you at all times. Wedding & engagement rings, diamond earrings.
24. Can you change the oil in a car? Umm, no! Isn't that what the garage is for?
25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? I put a note in one of my Christmas cards to a friend that I haven't spoken to in a while so that would be early December.

Go on, choose a question any question and answer it in the comments ... or just shamelessly steal the whole damn lot!

Thirteen things going around in my brain right now!

1. It's very early and I am awake again!
2. It's blowing a hoolie and the Met Office have issued a severe weather warning ~ in Kent severe gales gusting 70 to 80 mph ~ for the whole of the UK except the Orkney and the Shetlands.
3. Which is strange because Orkney and the Shetlands are far enough north to be used to winds at 70 to 80 mph in the winter! Aren't they? *braces email in-box for abusive emails from Orcadians and Shetlanders who'll say I don't know what I am talking about*
4. I really don't know why I am awake at this god-forsaken hour of the morning. I figure that if I could stay awake longer in the evening I'd probably be able to sleep later in the morning. But because I got up so early, I'm knackered by 9pm and then go to sleep too early and yes you've guessed it wake 7 hours later.
5. It does allow me to blog / do school work in the early hours.
6. It is pissing my husband off majorally! It's nice to know I'm missed :o)
7. The good news on the BBC this morning is that our hosepipe ban has been lifted ... it's been in place since last June. I could go and water the garden this morning if I wanted too BUT I think the garden has probably blown away!
8. We're having pasta tonight ... need to buy tomatoes!
9. I don't have anything for lunch and the thought of a haslet sandwich does nothing for me ... the sandwich shop at lunchtime then!
10. Off to Su's on Saturday morning as long as she doesn't have the baby between now and then, there seem to be lots of new borns around at the moment. Feeling more than a little broody!
11. Question of the day has moved ... Indigo has packed boxes and shifted across the Blue Nowhere to a new home. Pop over and answer today's moving question! I am quite pleased actually because now I can answer questions ... Haloscan would never let me play on the old site.
12. Invicta FM have just told me that the A2 is stuffed already ... that means I have been writing this post for 2 hours ... good grief I type slow or else I've been pfaffing!
13. Which means that I am likely to be late, so no chance of me updating any photos this morning and I am behind! Ah well, have a good day :o)

Out!

The text messages flew thick and fast yesterday morning. One after the other ... 1 child asked why my handbag was singing to be thoroughly dissed by another "what's wrong wid you? It's a text ain't it!"* Yes it was going home day! And he couldn't wait! :o) The first text at about 10.50 read

Nearly there, escape tunnel has been digged**, evasion practice completed just waiting for getaway vehicle and insane driver.

Mum'll be glad to be called that! But he wasn't going to get out that early .... there was a visit from the cardiologist and follow-up visits with doctors to arrange and then I believe that they must have released his room mate first because about an hour later I got

All I need is a baseball and a catcher's mitt

... solitary obviously wasn't suiting him at all! But get out he eventually did and I spoke to mum last night. He had been horrified at breakfast time by the antics of his room mate! My dad is a big coffee drinker ... 2 cups of strong (espresso strength) coffee needed in the mornings, more throughout the day. Well in hospital he's been allowed just 1 cup of weak coffee in the mornings. I think this is the bit of going into hospital he hates the most! So yesterday when they came around with breakfast his room mate had turned his nose up at the crackers and coffee ... wait for it ... opened a box at the side of his bed and taken out a baguette, some thick slices of saucisson, some butter *** and made a sandwich. Then the true sacrilege! He took his bowl of coffee to the sink and poured it away. Going back to the box he re-filled the bowl with what dad thought was the last of a bottle of Vimto that he had been drinking from all week ~ turns out it's good Cahors red!

Anyway ... he's home now and by this time of the morning he's probably onto cup number 2! So, "glad you're out Daddy ... don't drive Mum completely mad this week please, she's had a couple of days off and will need to get used to the Irish dancing again!"

* God save me from Estuary English!
** He can talk proper like what I does but he chooses not to.
*** Please remember that they were both in there to have angioplasty to clear clogged arteries!

Friends for dinner

... and unfortunately Jamie's not coming to cook for us and neither is that flirty-girty Raymond either. Nevermind, something simple and not too different for the oh-so fussy but lovely Steve and Ella ~ Toad-in-the-hole** with roasted onion gravy served with mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots. Straight to Aunty Delia for that recipe* ~ yummy for a Sunday!

But, why is it that when you want a recipe for something simple like Golden Syrup sponge pudding ... the one you bake in the oven (like my mum used to make) not the one that Delia tells you that you have to steam for 2 hours ... you can't find one anywhere? So it's Eve's Pudding without the apples but with Golden Syrup instead. But if Stephen wasn't so fussy it could have been Bill's banana butterscotch pudding instead!! That really is a recipe made in Heaven!

* frequently passed off as my own!
** guess what today's photo is going to be?!?

Unconscious mutterings #206

I say ... and you think ... ?

Episode :: series
Source :: Perrier, bottled at source
Jerk :: pull
Introduce :: meet
Ralph :: John Goodman, King Ralph
Stare :: Paddington Bear
Cast :: film
Scenario :: what could happen
Flu :: ill
Mad :: The Mad Hatter

Toys for the blog

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

However ...

You Are only 28% Nerdy

You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd. You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.

How Nerdy Are You?

I'm always glad to see a Friday ....

But this week I don't seem to have achieved much of anything at all! I've chased my tail. Juggled, but not really completed any paperwork. Lost some really important paperwork! *shit bugger bum arse* Filled in an incident form for a lunchtime supervisor who had been assaulted by an eleven year old! Yes, an 11 year old!! Taken complaint after complaint about IT in school. It's been bleugh but it's the weekend so HURRAH!!

My dad has been in hospital since Monday when he had another angioplasty, this time to clear his femoral artery. They had to remove a piece that was diseased but have unblocked the rest of it so DOUBLE HURRAH!! His French cardiologist has told my mother that having had all this work done on his arteries means they will be good for 20 years, so TRIPLE HURRAH!!! It will also apparently leave quite a jaunty little scar; he's decided to tell everyone that it's his war wound!

On Monday I came home from school with a headache that started somewhere around mid-shoulder and carried on all the way up to the top of my head ~ probably worried about my dad, you know subconsciously thinking about him throughout the day. The French medical system has so far been worth it's weight in gold. Far more efficient than the NHS in the UK and not as expensive or as un-navigable as my parents had been warned BUT this was still my 70 year old dad going in for an op and he just doesn't do hospitals! Ok now though as today he has been told to get up and about and move and excercise it, so they are obviously pleased with his progress. And, he can come home on Monday!! Another HURRAH for that I think!

Sorry about the topsy-turvy post, have a great Friday night everyone ... I'll leave you with a song to get you in the mood *dances off to make dinner*

A list of Thirteen Twelve Spanish phrases and an explanation I have learnt / am practicing this week.

1. So for Christmas I received the Michel Thomas Spanish CDs from Simon. I had dropped hints that I wanted them but I also dropped hints about an iPod Nano and diamonds too and he unfortunately didn't pick up on those hints! All of the language CDs (Simon listens to the French ones on his iPod .... yes that's right he has an iPod) work in the same way ... Mr Thomas (who charges £18,000* for private instruction ... I'll stick with the CDs) links Spanish to English and you repeat and repeat the phrases over and over again ... so simple that even I am managing, are you ready for this?
2. Es posible para mí ~ It is possible for me. I'm stressing the ible in posible as instructed by my mate Michel
3. No es posible para mí ~ It is not possible for me
4. ¿Es aceptable para usted? ~ Is it acceptable for you?
5. No es diferente ~ It is not different.
6. No es muy diferente ~ It is not very different
7. Pero es muy impotante para mí ~ But it is very important for me
8. Lo quiero ~ I want it!
9. Lo tengo ~ I have it!
10. No lo tengo ~ I don't have it
11. Lo necesito ahora ~ I need it now
12. Lo quiero pero no lo necesito ahora ~ I want it but I don't need it now
13. Lo necesito ahora es muy urgente ~ I need it now it's very urgent. So I am practicing every morning whilst blogging ... that might help to explain my spelling over the next couple of weeks :o)

*That's NZ$50,551 Lisa!! But only US$30,000 ~ because you don't have to pay for his suite @ the Mayfair Intercontinental. Wait ... it says here that you get to pay for that and his airfare on top of the course fees! Yeh it's the CDs for me :o(

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)