Feelin HOT HOT HOT

Today has been so unbelievably hot!!! Of course as usual I have been dressed totally inappropriately for the heat...I bet if I go and search out some t-shirts for tomorrow, then it will be sweater weather. I am not complaining at the weather..It means the kids can get out for the last week of their school holidays but I am never ready for it. Wish I had sorted my garden out though... could have sat outside and caught some rays instead of being sat here in front of this thing!

I learned today how to put a little code in my forums so everyone can see what I am listening to on Last...Would it be too embarrassing to share it with you??? ;-)

There you go...Maybe I will put it somewhere on the page so you can always see what I am listening to........

Feelin good!!

Absolutley NO HANGOVER TODAY!!!!!!
worked out I drank 4 pints, 3 double vodka and diet Cokes and 4 Vodka and Cokes...So I did pretty Damn well!!!
I think I drank about 12 pints of water during the night though so tha obviously helped a lot ;-)

Oh so I am drunk!!!

Well I have been out all day today and already I can feel the hangover.....

Each month my sisters and I have a night out together while my brother-in-law looks after the kids. As it is Bank Holiday, we decided to have an all-dayer today!!!

We met at a local pub at 1PM and started on pints of Lager. After 3 drinks we thought we should eat something otherwise we would be ill. So we opted for baguettes. I opted for hot chicken and Mayo. The baguettes were a bit chewy but nice never the less.

To be honest, I can't really remember much else....We must have drunk quite a bit though as I took out £60 and I have less than £10 left. I think we talked about school and when our parents died...My sister wants us to see a medium to see if we can contact my mum and dad. I don't mind...I will do it for her. She wants us to go together.

I know that in the last pub we were in...The Brick and Tile, they had a little sweet machine so i put 20p in to get some minstrels and i got 4....4 Minstrels for 20p!!!!!!!! that is such a rip-off...AND the dog was begging me for some..but as i pointed out to him there is a poster on the wall which asks punters NOT TO GIVE THE DOG SWEETS!!!! Said dog is called Henry by the way LOL

So we ended up getting food (Kebab and chips for me) and got back to my sister's house at about Midnight!!!

I am so tired now and I have to go to bed...I bet i will read this tomorrow and it will make no sense at all...........................................................................................

Update on the Hair.............................

After all that staying up till 3 in the morning...The bloody dye didn't take!!!!! GRRRRRR!!!!
So I will mostly be going out looking like an old fogey today....................

Burning the candle at both ends....again

I really shouldn't be here. Of course as you are probably working out by now, I like to leave everything till the last minute. So all day I have been meaning to dye my hair but didn't actually get around to it until midnight...So I am sat here waiting for my hair to dry before I go to bed.

There is nowt on the TV...not even a good old movie. So I am going to try out LastFM again.
This is your own little on-line private radio station where you can more or less listen to whatever you want (Of course not Alistair at this moment in time) f you hear anything you really don't like you can skip it and you won't hear it again...They have been having problems lately thought and whenever I get into it, It freezes up on me.

So far so good...listening to Broken Wings by Mr Mister

Shoot the Pickle

I woke up with a huge purple bruise on my arm today...Great it matches the one on my leg from the Dragon ride on Monday.
Yesterday when we got caught in the rain on our way to town, we stopped under a canopy outside a shop, when we realised it wasn't going to keep us dry, I turned round to go in the shop and caught my arm on the metal where the shutters go. OUCH!! It really did hurt too.

Also coming down with a horrible cold. My head hurts, My Asthma is bad and my nose is either blocked or running for England...or both at the same time!! Typical when I am getting ready for my monthly night out with my sisters...I am not missing it though..I missed the last one!!


Watched Tommyknockers on tv tonight...I think DD is becoming a Stephen King fan!!

A Good buy

Sometimes it is wonderful having a sister who works in a Charity shop. It means you can grab all the bargains before anyone else!!!

Said shop is having it's Summer sale and everything is marked down really low. I spent £7.50 in there today and I bought a suitcase, 2 pairs of Jeans for DS, PE top for DS, Bart Simpson top for DS, Pair of Jeans for DD, 3 pairs of shorts for DD and a pair of Adidas trainers for DD....Not bad I think

Quickie

Found this new online printing site that do these really cute Bra and Pants sets...really trying to come up with some good designs to put on them

See Here

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo.........

Several months ago it was decided that we would do something different for my sister's birthday this year so a family trip to Drayton Manor was planned......Of course all those months ago,we had no idea it was going to be torrential rain on 22nd August....

So you're soaking wet,what is the first thing you do when you arrive at a theme park??? Go on the Log Flume of course...Or as Drayton Manor call it, StormForce 10 - The UK's first reverse shute water ride!! As the park had only just opened we didn't have to queue. Myself, DD and my sister walked straight on. Well we were soaked before we went on but boy were we like drowned Rats when we came off!!!
Our next ride was the New G-Force. DD opted not to go on this one a it was a little scary looking so we left our bags with her and went in. It looked like there were no queues but once inside there was an hour wait. The whole time I was wittering about leaving DD outside all on her own, not knowing how long we were going to be...After over an hour waiting the ride itself lasted 25 seconds...I came away relieved but satisfied that I had done it...Needed my inhaler though...That worried me a little, I have been excited by rollercoasters all my life and never affected physically by it...I even went on the Corkscrew at Alton Towers when I was 5 months Pregnant.

After a toilet break we met up with the rest of the family for lunch. It was still raining at this point and we were hoping that it would stop soon so we could a least go round the zoo.

We had a great afternoon despite the weather. There was an attraction called the Pirate Adventure which my little nephew Joe wanted to go on. It was a little boat ride which you could take folded pushchairs on so we thought it would be nothing too exciting...yet because it mentioned a small water chute, DS wouldn't go on. So we left him behind as we all got on the little boat. The water chute right at the start of the ride was a little unexpected...It was quite steep considering my sister had my baby niece in the front of the boat. After that though it was snooze city...a long drawn out ride with animitronix pirates on either side of us.

We did get to go round the zoo, although it was still raining and a lot of the animals seemed to be staying inside.
We did see the Monkeys, they were very active and there was quite a fight breaking out.

We then paid 50p each to go round the Dinosoar exhibition. DS got his picture taken with a Triceratops. My niece seemed to really love the Dinosoars. There was an inside bit that was like a cave and then the bigger animals were outside...I think we al learned some things we didn't know about Dinos.

There weren't many animals to see. We were looking forward to seeing the Black Panther but unfortunately she had died in April.
We did see the Penguins though and the 2 gorgeous Tigers...

I think the kids had a really great day. The favourite ride was the Golden Nugget ride. I was the only family member not to go on but I believe that you go along in car and shoot a targets. I lost count of how many times everyone else went on....

One of my favourite bits of the day was the Excalibur ride. This was a lovely boat ride being pulled by a dragon. O the boat was a running commentary from the Dragon's point of view as we went around the Excalibur castle. It was a shame it was the end of the day as I would have loved to go on it again.

This was my first visit to Drayton Manor and although the weather was bad to start with, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the kids all had a Brilliant time...I think we shall definitely be going back sometime!!!

If you want to see the rest of my pics from Monday you can find there HERE in my Photobucket

Several years ago I had a friend who was more like a member of the family. She was such a big part of our lives really that she was more like an extra sister...I am sure my children must have seen her more as another auntie.
Then something changed and she wasn't in my life aymore...I still wonder if I made a big mistake, 5 years on and a big chunk has gone from our lives and we just seem to be getting to know each other again.

I am asked every so often what happened. Why did i suddenly seem to shut her out of my life? I thought I had the answers..There was a lot going on in my head at the time....She had just come out of a long awful relationship and at the time I was quite relieved that she had got rid of someone that I saw as a limpet. I don't think anyone ever knew what she was doing with him. He was never good enough for her and she could have done so much better. Soon though she had met someone else...Everyone said it was a rebound thing and it wouldn't last but it seemed to be going way too fast. I took an instant dislike to him. Don't ask why, it was one of those things when you just get a feeling about someone. Again i thought he was no good for her. I wasn't the only person that felt this way and I just couldn't seem to feel happy for her.....

So before I knew it 5 years have passed..They seem to be very happy and they have a lovely daughter. I feel sad that her little girl is growing up and doesn't know me. When DS was that age she was a big part of his life and that makes me sad.
I have decided it is time to put the past behind us and try to get along again. What ever I felt in the past about her husband, I am trying my hardest to get along as he seems to be making an effort with me and my kids. He has a big family and parties are a bit mad but everyone has a good time and it beats sitting at home bored and lonely......

Married with children

Been out partying tonight...Well not really hellraising or anything...The daughter of a friend had her 4th birthday party and it is the first party I have been invited to in a long time. So I took along my bottles of Strawberry & Orange Vodka £4.99 from Lidl and got a little tipsy. The kids had a bouncy castle for the afternoon but they were late picking it up so the children had a little extra time on it. DS as the oldest had a great time re-visiting his little child-hood for a while.
As usual, as the night went on my sisters got drunker and louder so I had to battle to make myself heard. As time went on people left so that between 2am and 3am only myself and my kids, my 2 sisters and my baby niece were left. Our cab finally came a little after 3 and I got home and made toast!!
I thought I should write something here but I have a much larger story for you tomorrow...I really have to go now though as DD has to be up for 7.30 for her paper round...If i don't set my alarm she is is danger of ovesleeping...

I called this entry married with children because for the last hourof the party we were listening to Oasis in the kitchen and that happens to be my all time favourite Oasis song :)

Rams new arrival

Think I should get down to Pride Park stadium with me camera....Phil Brown appointed his new assistant manager today....Dean Holdsworth COME ON DOWN!!!!
Sometimes there are times when a girl just has to be shallow...We haven't had any decent eye candy around Pride Park for ages

The Second Coming

Well today was a day to remember in Derby County history for me...(Sorry have to talk about footie today).....
The thing about being a supporter is that every so often a player will come along that you take a fancy to....No not like that.....well sometimes like that......He becomes your favourite player and you live the games through him.....Then things change. Your fave player has a big offer come in for him and then he is gone....You are devastated for a while but your heart is really with the team so you eventually forget about him and eventually you have a new favourite player.

So a few years ago we signed this young lad who was just breaking into the England set-up. I really liked the look of him and he became my favourite player...Seth Johnson...I got his autograph and everything ;) I'd even seen him play for the England U21s at Pride Park and thought he was a great prospect for the future.
Then in 2001 he was sold to Leeds United for a whopping £7Million.....You couldn't really be devastated at that kind of money I guess....

Unfortunately Sethlad as the fans affectionately call him didn't have such a good time at Leeds. He was dogged by injury. He didn't see much action. There was also a clause in the contract that once he played a certain number of games, Leeds would have to pay us... Derby County.... more money...They are as strapped as we are unfortunately.
So, Today he is back...The second coming of Seth Johnson!!!!!! Hopefully he will be in the team against Cardiff for Saturday....Now if only I could get to the match

News on the move including audio and video....for those that are interested ;-)

Thanks to the Legend that is Alan (The Birch) Birchinall for the title of todays entry

Shameless Plugging

So today I have just been sitting here working out what to do with my shops. I have decided to make a little front page for them so you have everything in one place but it doesn't take forever to load.
Just need to get out and get some inspiration for some more great designs for Christmas.....Yes it is only 19 weeks to Christmas


Anybody watching The long way round with Ewan McGregor???
www.longwayround.com
I have missed a couple of episodes but this is a great show...Ewan in bike leathers PHWOAAR!!!!! They are riding around the world from London to New York. At the moment they have just arrived in the US on the repeat that I am watching and only have 20 day s left of the 115 day journey
I hope they are bringing this out on DVD

Typo central

Well my fantastic bargain keyboard and mouse is turning out to be a complete pain it the proverbial!!!
For example, here is a short paragraph.

oday i am gong to tell you all abot my little children ad what the have ben gettin up t in the scool holidas

That is a perfect example of how the keyboard just misses out letters willy nilly and how the shift only works when it wants to.
So it may be that I will get the old kit out and this little lot may just have to go on ebay...

Had a very wierd dream last night about Nik and Corinne ...Something about having to tidy the house up before Corinne's family came home from holiday and Nik saving the day because I couldn't handle the pet gorilla..Please let me know what it all means!!!

Two - Nil, Two - Nil, Two - Nil, Two - Nil

Although I haven't mentioned it before now, another passion of mine is football. I support my local Team...Derby County. Known as The Rams, or more affectionately the Sheepshag Army.
Today we have got our first win of the season.....2-0 against Plymouth. That's 3 games unbeaten and 5 points out of 9

http://www.therams.co.uk

The best kind of prize is a *sur*prise!

OK let me ask you this? Who in their right mind takes a toddler to the pictures???
I took my dear daughter and dear son (Henceforth known as dd and ds) to see Charlie and the Chocolate factory tonight. I have been looking forward to this movie for a year and so I was more excited than the kids.

We were a little late getting there and so the lights had gone down, It wasn't very full though so we were able to get good seats and settle down for the start of the film itself....Of course there was about another 15 minutes of ads to sit through first. Then 5 minutes before the movie began a family with about 6 kids came and sat behind us with a little one about 3 years old who didn't stop whining and crying through the whole film. As if that wasn't enough, she kept taking dd's hat and kicking the back of the seats. I can say I just about enjoyed it although it would have been a lot better had we not had to endure that for 2 hours!!!

Anyway, On to the movie itself.....
I really loved Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka. With the added back-story of the strict dentist father you could almost feel Willy's pain. Apparently the young Willy is from my neck of the woods so all credit to him.
Willy's perfect hair, smooth colourless skin and big teeth smile made him a very eerie character although also quite lovable too. I have to say though that sometimes I thought he had taken some kind of influence from Michael Jackson...But in a sort of child-hating way......
I tried hard not to compare the movie to it's predecessor Willy Wonka's chocolate factory but it is always hard in these situations...Not sure I liked the new oompa loompas...although I did love the new groovy songs.
I absolutely loved the ending though and I am hoping against all hope that they do Charlie and the great glass elevator as the sequel!!

The Way I See It!!!: People On Cellphones

Found this today.....

The Way I See It!!!: People On Cellphones

DAMN RIGHT!!! they'll be sorry when they are dead I can tell you!!!

Friendly neighbourhood bank manager

Today I managed to banish the woes of yesterday by visiting my bank and actually speaking to someone instead of just ranting about it to all and sundry.....

I will take you back to when this all started when I tried to buy a card reader from eBay...All went swimmingly until I received an email from the seller after I had paid telling me they can't accept payment in GB£......Oh I forgot to mention I was buying it From Canada...(that'll teach me to read the listings properly)....So with the payment cancelled I waited for the new invoice to come from them. The new invoice didn't come and to my horror the cancelled £10.99 went out of my account on Monday, along with a charge of £35 on account of there being no funds in the account. So that left me Overdrawn with the knowledge that although I had some money going in, I also had my phone bill about to go out too!!!

So today I put my sweetest smile on and went to visit the bank. The young man I saw was wonderful....He understood my plight totally although admitting to not really understanding eBay/Paypal...(I see his point) He refunded my £35 and stopped another payment for me so that I now have enough money to take my children to the pictures and go to KFC afterwards.....SORTED!!!

Update on keyboard situation

YAY!!! I got it working finally...I am now wireless!!!

Afternoon quickies.....

New Simpsons keyboard won't work.....Think it could be duff batteries but I am so frustrated...Talk about an anti-climax!!!!


I wasn't really bothered by the hits I am getting on here from PMs on ag.co.uk. Not quite sure how i feel about the hits I am getting from a private forum belonging to a group of people I was hoping I could call friends...I hope you are being kind to me ladies!!!

Can't tell you what an awful day I am having...One of those days when even going back to bed didn't help...At least the kids are out playing so I have some peace and quiet!!!!

Girl gotta have it!

Now, I am not usually into impulse buys...I am way too tight for that...
I went to a local discount warehouse with my sister today and spent a lot of money on chocolate. Whilst making our way to the tills, my sister noticed a cordless mouse and keyboard set for £2.50, not only that, It was Simpsons branded...Of course she is better at impulse buying than I am so into the trolley went.

It wasn't until we were back at her house later that I decided I really wanted one too....so back to the shop I went with my daughter....ended up getting her one too!!
So I haven't actually installed them yet but I am really excited about it

It's you and me tonight

Every so often when the kids have gone to bed I like to indulge myself with some chocolate, some vodka and some Griffin....Middlesbrough Town hall November 2004....One of the landmark gigs he has done in my opinion. As I sat and watched the video of the full gig, I realised that is the Alistair that I miss. He was on top of the world that night...It was his first full gig, He had planned it for weeks. Hired the venue, even got the fans involved by distributing fliers and all his family and friends were involved in putting together the whole night. It was well anticipated and on the night it couldn't have been any better.
As I watched the video, I could see he was like a little boy on Christmas morning. He really owned that stage and you just couldn't fail to see his beaming smile. Even as the set came to an end....He didn't want to leave the stage and persuaded the band to do just one more number.

I remember as we left the hall that night, I was speechless. Dumbfounded because I knew he was good but he just knocked me for six. I was so proud of him and felt so lucky that I could be there to see such a fantastic performance.....Of course I regained the power of speech shortly after and as some will tell you, I couldn't shut up then for the rest of the night.

Since that night, I have been hoping to see that Alistair again, the one that commanded the stage and had confidence and belief in what he is doing...I am hoping that sometime soon I will see him......He has so much in him still to give I am sure of it.

My baby is home

Just a little note to say my son is back from camp now.....10 days...it really flew by.
He got off the bus a bit emotional and in need of a bath but he had a great time!!!

Aaarrgghh!! Its Thursday, I'm so far behind!

If anyone ever says "It is 1 mile up a very steep hill" Take heed as they are telling the truth!!!
Tuesday my daughter and I visited the Tramway Museum in Crich......www.tramway.co.uk The instructions said that we could get the train to Whatstandwell and then walk up a steep hill to the village itself. So I was quite confident that it wouldn't be as bad as it says....How wrong I was. The hill went up forever and ever and I thought I would truly die before I reached the top. Lots of stops for water, Inhaler and leg breaks and I am sure that I lost 2 stone in sweat alone!! When I finally reached the top, I was soaked through and my face was bright red. My legs were also numb.
We reached the entrance and there was a huge 20 minute queue to get in so we had time to recover.

I have been to the museum on several occasions in the past. I can remember my parents taking me when I was 16 and we were entertaining a German exchange student. My most recent visit was 5 years ago with my son's school but my daughter had never been before.

Once inside you are transported (like that...transported??) back in time to an olde worlde village

with the tram running the length of it. We went in the little olde worlde sweet shop and bought and ice cream each..The weather had perked up and it was getting extremely warm. We had a look around the little gift shops and then had a wander around the big exhibition. They had Trams from all over the world and from all eras of history. It was very interesting reading up

about how Trams have evolved through the years from the first horse drawn trams to the current day Supertrams used in Manchester/Sheffield/Nottingham.

We took our first tram ride on the specially refurbished Berlin tram. Our aim was to hopefully ride all 4 trams during the course of the day but the queues were very long. On entry to the museum you are given the tram fare. 1 old penny for me and half a penny for my daughter. The ride takes you up through the village, through the woodland walk, past the quarry and to the top of the hill. Once you get to the end, The conductor stops to give a little talk about the history of the museum and also of the tram that you are riding on. All the drivers/conductors/technicians are volunteers. They work at the museum on their days off from their real jobs.

Throughout the course of the day managed to travel on 3 of the trams. The other 2 were both open top trams. One was from Southampton and the other from Paisley in Scotland. We were most excited about the Paisley Tram as when you get to the end of the line, you stand up and move the backs of the seats to turn round and face the opposite way...Little things and all that....

By 5pm we were knackered and I think I had a little sunstroke so we made our way down the steep hill back to the train station....It is just as hard walking down as it is up...Oh yes believe me!!!

Great views of Derbyshire though

Well only bad point to the day (apart from that dratted hill) is that my stupid camera stopped working...Telling me there is no memory card when there so obviously is!! Hopefully I can get it sorted so that I will be able to post a few of my piccies.
(Most photos on this page were taken by my daughter and I on our mobiles)

The most terrifying scream is always the last.

When I was 13 My mum let me stay up and watch A Nightmare on Elm Street. It was my first horror film and I was hooked from then on. I have since seen all the Freddie films several times over and I am a big Stephen King fan.

Tonight I let my 13 yr old daughter stay up and watch Scream 3 with me....Time will only tell what I have done to her LOL.......