Whilst out cycling over the weekend I took this photo of what I described as an interesting house.
It was bought to my attention by a comment on Flickr that this is in fact the home of Vanessa Feltz.
I had no idea, and I'm glad I wasn't spotted taking the photo as she would have thought I was taking it because of her and not the house!
I tried this quiz on the BBC website to see if I could tell the difference between fake and genuine smiles. I was amazed that I got 18 out of 20 correct!
I would post the screenshot but then it would give you all the answers.. lol
To have a go click here
Not designer labels but blog post labels!
Until now I have not really bothered with labelling any of my posts. But now I can see the value of it, if only to help me find previous posts for myself! I also think that a few of my past posts might be (yes - I did say might be) interesting reading for those who haven't seen them first time around. Now they are buried under heaps of pages, clicking a label/category may in fact unearth some of the older posts!
So I am going to slowly, slowly start adding labels to all (hopefully) my posts over the next few weeks. That's if don't get tired and fed up with doing it too soon.
I will then add the labels in one of the sidebars for all too see.
Hmmmm now what do I label this post? LOL
I didn't like to admit it but yesterday I actually fell off my bike. Not when it was moving fast but when I was trying to manoeuvre around a tight turning, so it wasn't a bad fall. However today along with a a grazed elbow, I have a very large, rather impressive purple bruise on my inner thigh!
Today I very gingerly attempted to sit on the bike, but the soreness of my undercarriage was too much to bear. So couldn't go out cycling today, which was shame..
Hopefully tomorrow I may be able to have a little ride. My partner bought me a gel seat cover so I'm hoping this will help!
Went out and bought a bike today!
I had been looking at bikes last weekend but didn't find anything suitable but today I was lucky. Went to a different shop where the staff were really really helpful, they let me have a test ride which felt so good, whizzing along with the wind blowing away all the cobwebs! So after that I just had to buy it :)
My partner also bought one and we cycled home, the long way, following the quietest route possible for fairly central London. We got home, had some lunch and went back out, the weather was too good to waste.
It's been more years than I care to admit since I was on a bike so it was a bit scary at first but I'm sure I'll get more used to it with practice.
Just hope my bum recovers or toughens up a bit because it's rather sore at the moment!
Over the years I have always preferred to donate my old "stuff" to charity.
Old toys, clothes (often in quite perfect condition, just grown out of - lol) ornaments I got sick of the sight of, books, old crockery, in fact a quite endless list. I have struggled down to the charity shop to drop them off. Once when I had a particularly large load I had someone from the shop come and collect which was nice.
Earlier this year when dropping off a load I was asked if I would mind signing a form so the shop can claim back tax on the money raised, Gift Aid, which of course I did. They may as well get the most they can form the goods sold.
I gave it no further thought since apart from showing my donor number each time I take in more stuff. But the other day I had a letter from the charity to inform me that since signing the tax form they had raised £183 from the goods I have donated. The letter gave me the chance of claiming the money back for myself ( I had no idea I would be offered this chance) but of course I wouldn't dream of doing that. I gave the stuff away in good faith that it would help the charity, but I just thought how nice it was to be told how much money they had made. Usually when you donate to a shop you have no idea what happens next, so this information is very motivating for me, to stop me being lazy and just putting my unwanted stuff in the bin! As if I would....
I just came in from work after an extremely busy and full day to find the kitchen sink full of dirty dishes and the place looking like a bit of a tip. Now this is not an isolated occurrence, it's just about every day! I need to do a major cleaning up before I can even begin to the evening meal. (Just have to sit down for 10 mins first and thought I'd write this post)
I live with my 2 daughters who are both also working so would it not seem fair to share the housework? Well I think so, but they apparently do not... When asked to do something I get in reply moans and groans and excuses that you'd never imagine! One excuse was "My time for housework will come when I'm a Mum" and the funniest was "Mum, don't you remember what it was like to be a teenager?" I replied, " Well, do you??" The daughter in question is 24!!!
The sheer laziness of them goes even deeper than that and I don't really understand why, it's not like I always give in and do it for them. For instance I stopped doing the laundry for them about 18 months ago and now we have several months of dirty clothes in 2 very very large bags. The minimum is done very occasionally. Whereas I do a load just about every other day, either before or after work. So why can't they?
I could go on for ever on this topic and I'm not asking for solutions as I don't think there are any left that I haven't already tried!
Just be interesting if anyone cares to comment on what their grown up kids do around the house.
Not been reading as much recently. Books that is, seem to spend huge amounts of time reading through my Google Reader though. But I have recently started reading this book and it's quite good so far...
So off to bed for a little read now... another long week ahead, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Today I got all hyped up and dressed ready to get on a bike. Well to buy a bike actually...
I've not ridden a bike in years but recently I've been seriously thinking about it as a good form of exercise, and it should be fun as long as I stay on the quieter roads.
But alas, despite visiting 3 shops I was unable to find anything suitable. I am not a very tall lady, so need a fairly small framed bike, which they didn't have in stock - anywhere. I tried the smallest they had but I didn't feel comfortable on it so they offered to order a smaller one for me but by then I was rather confused about what type I wanted. Never knew there were so many varieties! I just want something that fits me and is suitable for me.
I wish they had a large enough shop that had more styles and sizes actually out on the shop floor for people to try out.
Hoping I don't loose steam and give up on this one, but I know what I'm like, if I don't get instant gratification I tend to loose the momentum!
I love this film, it's strange, beautiful and completely entrancing. It's all in French with English subtitles which is a little annoying but I have it on DVD and have watched it several times to make sure I hadn't missed anything!
French Trailer:
English Trailer:
Now you can create your own custom You Tube player to embed just about anywhere..
This one contains lots of videos that I have enjoyed on You Tube, to move through them click the arrows left or right on the screen..
OK, so I notice it doesn't exactly fit into my blog, it's too wide and even though I have adjusted it a little it's still not right - oh well nice idea!
EDIT: Today (2 days later) I notice it is in fact OK.. weird
| You Are A Lily |
 You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist. People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you. You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words. Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize. |
Somewhere in the house I have a box with 60 teeth in...
I was the tooth fairy and I kept them all, all my children's baby teeth were quietly collected and left in their place, was a coin. I never had the heart to throw them away and I still have them.
A few days ago on the chest of drawers in my bedroom appeared another tooth. I have no idea how it got there or whose it was, very odd.. This is what reminded me of the 60 teeth I have somewhere, not sure where, in the house.
Am I the only tooth fairy who has kept those cute little teeth, or am I rather odd as my partner says?
Oh and by the way, don't tell my kids it was me! LOL
Today was quite an ordinary day, work then shopping then home. But when I got home I had waiting for me an email containing photos of my sons villa in Dubai. They have been a long time coming, he is rather a slow communicator at times.
It is really stunning and I do look forward even more to staying with him at some point in the not too distant future!
Just a couple of taster pics here to show how wonderfully spacious and lovely it is!
A long way from the little flat we live in here in London, I think he will feel quite claustrophobic when he comes home, not that we have any idea when that will be!
Anyway it's good to know things are going well for him.
You may notice I have just added a Pownce widget in the right hand sidebar.. It's not the most attractive and it certainly doesn't match with the rest of this site but I guess it's early days yet. Hopefully something nicer and better will be made soon, something a lot more customisable!
Anyway it will do for now, and thanks to Loren from r3fresh for giving me the widget link
And by the way, I still have a few invites left, if anyone wants one send me an email address..
I've never blogged about gorgeous men before.. but here goes, this is one I'd definately **** LOL
For anyone not sure who he is it's Josh Holloway recently from Lost..
Here's a link for more pix of Josh... If you still need more just Google for him!
One of my favourite pastimes when I'm not taking photos myself is looking at other peoples photos. I have, what I think, is a beautiful collection of favourite photos, these are photos that amuse me, inspire me, make me happy and just generally are very beautiful and creative.
So I have made, with the help of Mosaic Maker on Big Huge Labs, a few mosaics of some of my faves. Mostly for my pleasure and amusement but I do hope you will also enjoy!
I took the day off work today, the first time this year! All week I have fighting with sore throat, and various aches and pains and today it just got the better of me. So I stayed home, spent some time online and some time sleeping in the hope I'd wake up feeling all better. Well, I don't feel much better yet, but at least I'm no worse.
I had a short but sweet conversation with my son who is in Dubai. We tried both MSN and Skype but didn't have much luck with either of them, about 30 - 40 seconds after connecting with webcams we got disconnected, so had to continue with text only which was a shame. Still it's good to know he's well and happy - I do miss him so much, not a day goes by when I don't think of him!
Last night I was attempting to read one of my favourite blogs, but it wasn't working. Thinking it was probably a temporary fault I went off to bed.. However this morning I had received a blog comment from the owner of the missing blog, saying she has deleted hers! I am so disappointed... I don't know this lady too well, but over the past few months from reading her intelligent and interesting posts, from her lovely comments on my own blog, I had grown to enjoy her "company"
If she reads this post she will know who she is... and I'd like to let her know I'm hoping she will be back somewhere soon... And that I'm hoping she is OK, it seemed such a sudden and unexpected shutdown of her pages..
Keep in touch Beth :)
Just about run out of steam these last couple of evenings... nothing much happening to blog about. Life is all a bit samey at the moment, but maybe that's a good thing. Don't always need things to be happening, don't always need something new going on. But then a blog post with nothing new will be oh so boring...
But that's life, ups and downs... fast and slow, quiet and noisy. Each time we go through a different phase be it for a few moments or several days, weeks or months I guess we should just try to enjoy it for what it is. But that's not always easy as most of us are never satisfied with what's happening (or not happening) at that time. Or maybe that's just me...
One little thing I came across this evening is a way of posting to Twitter as a Pirate, now that's really useful isn't it! LOL
Today I was a sports widow... My partner was determined to watch as much as he could so he had Tour De France on TV, and on his computer in 2 neat little boxes he had both the tennis and some racing. Yesterday getting out for the bikes was one thing but to have all that going on today was too much for me.. so I went for a long walk. Well I took a short bus and tube ride first, then I walked and (surprise surprise) took some photos.
It was pleasantly warm and rather nice just to wander aimlessly, not having to worry about anyone else getting tired or bored. I've not really done that kind of thing on my own before but it was good, may do it again sometime!
To see more of the photos, click pic below..
At last! A warm sunny day for London, and I spent it in Hyde Park watching the Tour De France prologue. Lots and lots of photo's taken, to see more click the pic!
Didn't do any work at work today.. in fact we closed to the public for staff training.
Every year or so we are required to have an update in CPR, anaphylaxis, choking, and fire safety. Mostly I was thinking, "oh not again!" but due to the wonderful trainer we had today it turned out to be a very interesting and thought provoking afternoon, apart from the fact it has once again renewed my confidence a little should I be faced with one those dreaded situations!
In fact the methods recommended for CPR have changed since October 2005, they have become far less complicated, which is a very good thing, as many people even though they had been shown how to do it were terrified of doing the "wrong" thing. This new way shows that the wrong thing is much less likely to happen as there are far less "rules" to abide by..
Had my iPod on random today and this came on.. it still makes me shiver!
Isn't it weird
Isn't it strange
Even though we're just two strangers on this runaway train
We're both trying to find a place in the sun
We've lived in the shadows, but doesn't everyone
Isn't it strange how we all feel a little bit weird sometimes
Yeah, ooh
Isn't it hard, standing in the rain
Yeah you're on the verge of going crazy and your heart's in pain
No one can hear, but you're screaming so loud
You feel like you're all alone in a faceless crowd
Isn't it strange how we all get a little bit weird sometimes
Whoa, sitting on the side, waiting for a sign, hoping that my luck will change
Reaching for a hand that'll understand, someone who feels the same
When you live in a cookie cutter world, being different is a sin
So you don't stand out, but you don't fit in
Weird
Whoa, sitting on the side, waiting for a sign, hoping that my luck will change
Whoa, reaching for a hand that'll understand, someone who feels the same
When you live in a cookie cutter world, if you're different you can't win
So you don't stand out and you don't fit in
Ooh, isn't it strange
How we all feel a little bit weird
Strange, how we all get a little bit
Strange, how we all feel a little bit weird, sometimes
Oooh, just a little bit weird sometimes....
Today was a busy but humdrum day, nothing very inspiring to blog about apart from this rather odd sighting a a lonely seagull in the park as I was walking to work this morning. Funny, because the nearest seaside to London is about 60 miles away. I wonder if it's the awful summer (if you can call it summer) weather we are having. These cool, windy, persistent rainy days must be confusing some of the wildlife for sure!
Found this little test at Connected Internet where you can see how addicted to blogging you really are!
My results below - to check your own addiction click here
64%
I've joined Pownce, not sure why yet... Probably because I'm a compulsive joiner and very nosey!
But that means I have invites to give to the first 6 that send/leave me an email address!
I just can't resist playing with photos... I found yet another site to do it - FotoFlexer
Here's what I created from a photo of myself in the optician trying on new glasses...
