Only two more pounds….

And then I’ll have earned my first diet reward. To date I’ve lost 10lbs which is good but not enough.

I’ve still got at least a stone/stone and a half to lose before I reach my target weights. I say weights. I would like to get down to seven and a half stone whereas my mam thinks I should stop at eight stone.

I’ve been having a few problems with the hem on my gala dinner dress so have had to seek advice from my mam. I’ve had it in/out four times and even though I’ve measured it on Gertie, it still looks wrong.

I tried it on this afternoon and in her opinion it looks ok so I’m leaving it as it is. She even commented that it could be taken in as I seem to have lost the weight in all the right places for once.

Marie

First time in living memory ...

... that the internet time service hasn't made a mess of daylight saving.

Let me explain.

At work I use an internet time source (like one of those radio controlled clocks radio stations use, but over the internet instead) to keep the time and attendance system synchronised.

So far so good, but every time the Americans change to or from daylight saving the time from the UK sources changes too. Yes - I know it shouldn't do that because the source is only providing UTC (what the rest od the world call GMT), but it does.

Now this year Mr Bush decided that instead of changing clocks on the first of April they would change on the eleventh of March. And those states that didn't participate (such as Arizona and parts of Delaware) would have to join in too. Something about saving energy.

And much to my surprise, everything worked. As a precaution I turned the time service off over the weekend but this morning the times were correct and I was able to turn it back on again. Now all we have to do is hope that it works when we change our clocks.

So there you are, you sat around all week hoping for a decent blog and you got a techie one instead. Actually it's been really quiet here. Just keeping out heads down and working towards conference at the end of the month. Three weeks and it will be all over.

John (and Marie)

Total Eclipse Of The Moon

As I write this it’s raining and it looks set in for the night. I’m very glad it wasn’t like this yesterday.

I spent a part of last night standing out in the street minding a camera on a tripod. It wasn’t as though I was the only one either. All up and down the street there were little knots of people watching. One sad soul even brought out his laptop so he could follow the eclipse on an astronomy website. I stuck to taking photographs.

The picture is part of one of a set of larger images. In the originals you can see the surrounding stars and can follow the moon’s path through the starfield.

John

For the technically minded the image was shot with a 150mm lens (on 4/3 format it’s equivalent to 300mm on a 35mm system). Exposure was 10 seconds at f/8.

Summer is Coming

Really - it must be.

Yesterday was one of those milestones of the calendar. I drove home from work without having to use my lights. Now this may not mean much to our southern readers who have probably had long sunny days since the end of January, but in the North East the days are just a little shorter.

Still it's nice to know it's still light enough to drive at 5:45 pm.

Roll on the proper summer.

John

ps only 4 weeks to Northampton !!!!

Another round up of the news

Sorry folks for the lack of blogs. Google asked us to update our blog and up until Friday night we couldn’t log in…

So what news is there to report.

As expected my man didn’t buy a new television and yes she did have a good moan about them to the poor assistants.

Bought a pattern and some fabric for my gala dinner dress. As always I made a toile* but I’m not happy with style of the dress. It really emphasises my bust (and I don’t need any extra help in that department ! ! !) and it just doesn’t look right. It’s a shame as I really liked the pattern. However I have plenty of patterns from previous gala dinner dresses so all is not lost.

The diet is going pretty well with only a couple of little slip up, mainly on the alcohol side – hey we’re trying our best you know ! ! ! I’ve set myself little target treats so only six more pounds to lose and I will be rewarded with my first treat – the remainder of my Angel DVD’s.

I’ve decided as my bones and joints are telling me I’m no longer 21, I better start taking care of them (and that includes not falling down the stairs again…). So I’ve ordered some supplements to give them a bit of a boost. I’m not normally a good pill taker (I even keep forgetting to take my IBS tablets) but if they do me some good and keep me from having more surgery, which I definitely don’t want, then I’m prepared to give it a go.

I’m pleased to report following my little escapade on Friday, my bum is still a bit sore and I’m a little stiff but I’m not as bad as it was. However it set my pains off which isn’t so good…

Some medicinal wine and cheese (good for the bones as it contains calcium…) for me tonight.

Marie

* A toile is a dressmaking term for test garment.

Thump, thump, thump

That’s the sound I made this morning – falling down the stairs….

I wouldn’t care but I’ve done it before. Funnily enough it hurt last time too.

I am now the proud owner of a skinned shin and a bruised bum ! ! !

John was most surprised when I rang him at work this morning. He dashed home to investigate and thankfully I didn’t have to go to the hospital. Regular readers will know what happened the last time I went to A & E.

After some running repairs John went back to work and I went to my mams – be it a little later than planned. As a punishment for being late she dragged me round Sainsbury’s…

Now I really need some medicinal wine ! ! !

Marie

Going, going, gone

I tried putting this blog up yesterday but Blogger was extremely slow so pretend it’s Thursday evening…

I’m pleased to report that the bin men came this morning and they were quite happy to come onto our premises to take the rubbish away. So to the snotty little man at Sunderland Council – nah, nah, nah, nah ! ! !

Had a phone call from my mam asking if I could take her to a couple of electrical stores tomorrow as her television has died on her. To anyone else this should be rather simple but you’re talking my mam here.

She can’t stand the style of the new television so she’s going to hate everyone that is shown to her and no doubt bend the ear of the poor assistance.

She’s not intending to buy one tomorrow. Oh no. She’s only going to look. Why, because she wants a television stand first. Don’t ask ! ! !

Marie

Have you ever…

Heard anything so ridiculous.

Our new bed came on Saturday so the old bed along with some other rubbish, was put in the garage ready for the council to come and dispose of it.

I rang them this morning, told them what we wanted rid of and that yes the items didn’t come to more than eight (we’re not allowed more than that…).

I was informed that items will only be disposed of if they are outside by 7.30am. I explained about the mess the scavengers make to which the snotty little man replied ‘that’s the chance you take leaving things outside’. Bad move ! ! !

I asked if they could ring the doorbell and I’ll open the garage door like I’ve done in the past. I was told in no uncertain terms that they are not allowed to set foot on a persons property (they will not even collect things from a drive way. It must be on the pavement outside your gate).

If I wanted the items removing from the garage then they would have to send a manager out to do a property and risk assessment first. Once he is happy, I then have to sign a disclaimer before they will come and take the stuff away.

They can come on Thursday but I would have to drag the stuff out of the garage myself. I explained that I was unable to do so was told to ask a neighbour to help…

Being the customer from hell I don’t give up that easily so they are coming on Thursday, with instructions to ring the bell, and we’ll see what happens. If they don’t then a letter will be sent to the council as this is bureaucracy gone mad.

Marie

A round up of the news

We’ve been busy, busy, busy – hence no blog since Wednesday.

Went shopping at the Metro Centre with my mam. It wasn’t really a planned visit, she was avoiding her sister-in-law. Long story which I won’t bore you – I’m already fed up with it ! ! !

As we weren’t looking for anything special we just wandered the malls, particularly the places we never usual go. I found a lovely shoe shop that had loads of wonderful baseball boots and shoes.

I thought I’d died and gone to heaven as they did them all in size 3. It was so hard choosing but I found two that I really, really wanted. However instead of being Cinderella, I was one of the ugly sisters as my foot wouldn’t fit in them. It’s back to being swollen again so I left empty handed or should that be footed. However as Arnie would say ‘I’ll be back’ ! ! !

Just opposite the shoe shop is a jewellers – the place where I got my engagement ring and wedding ring to be exact. I’d been wanting a silver Celtic cross necklace for a while but couldn’t find one I like, so thought I’d just have a look on the off chance they had one.

They didn’t have one on display but the little woman said they might have something in their catalogues. They did and it was perfect so off she went to find out the price. I was expecting the Easter Bunny to have to pay for it but it was only £12, and that even included the cost of the chain.

Gillian, my hairdresser came on Thursday and dropped a bomb shell. She’s pregnant again and she’ll be out of action from August for four months. I hate anyone else cutting my hair so it looks like I may becoming a female vicar again.

Friday and Saturday were spent down in Northampton sorting things out for the conference.

Sunday and Monday were spent in Sunderland also sorting things out for the conference. Yes, you can tell it’s getting close…

Here ends the round up of the news.

Marie

Tickling the ivory’s

Yes, I’ve finally got back to learning the piano again.

Sadly I had to start right back at the beginning as it’s been such a long time since I played, that I’ve forgotten most of it.

You can tell it’s serious as I’ve started to make notes ! ! !

Who know this time next year I might accomplish my ambition. I’ve always wanted to play Scott Joplin’s ‘The Entertainer’. The easy version of course….

Marie

Having the right tools for the job

Marie has a laptop computer. It's a Compaq Presario something or other and it hasn't been very well for the past few years. It needed a new keyboard about two years ago and it began misbehaving soon after. About eighteen months ago it packed up and refused to work.

Santa brought me a screwdriver set which included a set of torq bits. The sort you need to dismantle laptop computers. So tonight I decided to give it a go. Nothing ventured and all that.

I took the computer out of it's packaging and got the tools ready. Before I started I plugged in the power supply and pressed the on/off switch.

You can guess what's coming can't you. Yes - it started. And I'm using it to type this blog.

So there you are. All you need to fix a computer is the right tools.

John

Intelligent, Us ?

According to the Intelligent Community Forum at the 29th annual Pacific Telecommunications Council the seven most “Intelligent” communities in the world are :

Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Tallinn, Estonia
Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada
Waterloo, Canada.
Dundee, Scotland

And ...

Sunderland

Yes, really. Sunderland. Nice to know we live somewhere intelligent.

Seriously, the rating is based on how advanced the communities are in deploying broadband, building a knowledge-based workforce, combining government and private-sector 'digital inclusion,' fostering innovation and marketing economic development.

John

I’m not proud

I don’t care who I pinch blog ideas from – sorry Jenny…

A - AVAILABLE: Depends on what you mean by available. For marriage, no. For a Silversea cruise next week, yes ! ! !

B - BIRTHDAY: September 9th.

C - CRUSHING: Haven’t the foggiest what that means…

D - DRINK YOU LAST HAD: Sipping a cup of coffee as I type.

E - EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: My husband.

F - FAVOURITE BANDS: Abba and Runrig.

G - GUMMY BEARS OR GUMMY WORMS: Gummy bears because I’ve never had worms. I’m sure they are very nice though.

H - HOME TOWN: Fulwell in Sunderland.

I - INSTRUMENT(s): Played at one time or another the recorder and the clarinet, plus the piano (badly…).

J - JUGGLE: Nope, keep dropping them.

K - KILLED SOMEONE: No but I’ve come close. Think new neighbours/Bob the builder….

L - LONGEST CAR RIDE: No doubt John will correct me as I’m hopeless at geography, but I think it was Sunderland – Bognor Regis.

M - MILKSHAKE FLAVOUR: Can’t stand them.

N - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: One sister.

O - ONE WISH: That I can have three wishes…

P - PLACES YOU’VE HAD A CAMERA INSERTED: Never internally but have had a MRI scan. Does that count?

Q - QUIET?: Believe it or not, I am quite a quiet and shy person, especially with large groups of people.

R - REASON TO SMILE: It’s Chinese night tomorrow.

S- SONG YOU LAST HEARD: Starship - we built this city. It was just played on Radio 2. Well that’s not entirely true but that’s the last song I recognised. The ones after that were ‘modern stuff…’.

T - TIME YOU WOKE UP: 7.30am.

U- UNDERWEAR YOU’RE WEARING? Knickers and bra, both white (well if you can call them ‘white’). And no they are not matching. I can’t be bothered doing that.

V - VEGETABLE YOU HATE: What’s them…

W - WORST HABIT: Got loads so you’ll have to ask my husband which is my worst. However off the top of my head I’ll say hogging all the duvet.

X - X-RAYS YOU’VE HAD: Zillions.

Y - YOUR NUMBER OF FRIENDS ON MYSPACE: None because I don’t have a ‘myspace’. Is that the internet blog thing? (All geeks gasp in horror ! ! !).

Z- ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo.

Marie

Getting picky

You know that we have scavengers who patrol the back lanes and will take anything not bolted down. If you put out your old granny, they’d take her off your hands….

A few days ago someone put out a picture. It wasn’t a very nice one but that wouldn’t bother the scavengers.

We had a bet as to how long it would remain there. I said two days, John said less than 24 hours. He was right.

However two days later it was back in the same place again.

Looks like the scavengers thought it was horrible too so returned it ! ! !

Marie

The bells, the bells

This morning and part of the afternoon we had a lovely time – visiting A&E at the dental hospital. For once it wasn’t for me ! ! !

John felt a bit under the weather last night and this morning he woke to find he’d became the proud owner of an abscess.

Poor soul. His face is quite swollen and sore, and as Neil, one of his work colleagues asked, yes he does look a bit like Quasimodo.

Normally we would have just gone to the dentist but unfortunately John doesn’t have one. It closed 20 years ago and he hadn’t bother to find himself another one...

He’s feeling a pretty rough at the moment what with swelling, the pain and a hole in his mouth – they had to remove the tooth.

We called off at Sainburys on the way home as all he can have to eat for the rest of the day is very soft food. So it’s yogurts, mashed potatoes and baked beans until breakfast tomorrow.

Yummy ! ! !

Marie

Shopping

We went to Makro today.

Now, I know what you’re thinking and the answer is “No”, they haven’t got the Easter eggs on the shelves yet.

What they did have was a very tempting array of nice edible things all reduced. So we now have plenty of the nice edible things to put in the delegates packs for the HBA Spring Conference. And No, I’m not going to tell you what they are. Come to Northampton if you really want to know.

All we have to do now is resist temptation for two and a half months.

John

Reporting in

Just realised that I haven’t blogged since Sunday so thought I’d better put pen to paper so to speak otherwise Jan will be calling us boring old farts again….

So is there any thing exciting to report - maybe some juicy gossip, some scandal perhaps. I’m afraid not.

What dull boring lives we have ! ! !

Marie

Credit card workout

Yesterday I gave my credit card a bit of a workout.

Firstly we went to Matalan. Unlike some people (won’t mention names just in case they happen to read this and decide to sue….) I don’t have any hang ups with shopping there. Unfortunately they didn’t have what we were looking for. However I did buy John five new work shirts and myself 10 new pairs of socks.

Then it was off to B&Q. No it wasn’t to complain – but to have a look at some power tools for John. Sadly their range was pretty poor so we did leave empty handed. No matter as he’s found what he’s looking for in the Screwfix catalogue and much cheaper than B&Q.

Next it was the turn of PC World. My keyboard needs replacing and as I’m going to be spending more time bashing away at it, I thought I’d treat myself to something decent. Sadly their range was pretty poor as well so decided to stick with what I’ve got for now.

Leaving PC World empty handed is extremely rare. John decided to spend some of his Christmas money on some computer bits (I know what it does but can’t think of it’s name ! ! !) and I bought two SIM games and a family tree CD.

Finally it was the bed shop. We’ve been thinking about getting a new bed for a while but never got round to it, so thought as we were passing the shop we’d just take a look and see what they had. We left with a new bed being delivered in the next two weeks….

Sadly time was getting on so we didn’t have time to check out the carpet places as we’re going to replace the carpets in the main bedroom and my work room, along with the bathroom. Yes I know carpets in bathrooms are unhygienic but me, wet feet and slippery floors do not mix ! ! !

Marie

Paid up

I’m very pleased to report that this morning B&Q reimbursed me for the joinery bill.

Rather than send them the bill as per their instructions, I handed it into them personally. There was no way it was getting ‘lost in the post’, ‘lost in their internal post’ or for the Manager to simply bin it as he didn’t understand what the saga was about.

To make doubly certain I rang the person who I had been dealing with and told her I was on my way to hand it over.

There were no questions, no sharp intake of breath, or quibbles with the bill and ten minutes later I left the building with a wad of cash.

Lets hope this is now the end of the kitchen saga…

In other news. Spent the afternoon giving my mam cookery lessons. She was getting low on some of the meals I make her, and rather than me do them for her, I said I’d teach her how to make them.

We made two lasagne’s, three lots of chilli’s and two cottage pies. I had hoped it would from now on spur her into making them herself but sadly it hasn’t. At least she’s willing to make on a Friday again so I can’t complain about that.

Marie

Want list

This time last year I did a blog saying I wasn’t a resolutions person, but I did have a ‘want’ list.

Well here is my ‘want’ list for 2007

1: I want to win the lottery. It doesn’t matter if it’s the normal lottery or the Euro. As long as it’s the jackpot and is over £1.5m I’m not bothered.

2: I want to lose two stone in weight.

3: I want to finish my novel.

4: I want to continue my piano lessons.

Yes I’m afraid it is a case of deja vu as that’s what I said last year.

Well that’s not entirely true as last year I wanted to win at least £1m on the lottery and to lose a stone and a half. Think if it as inflation….

Marie


PS It’s only day two of 2007 and I’m already on to my second cold sore. I’m not amused ! ! !