Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Women Over 40

I was sent this in an email today, it is apparently what Andy Rooney thinks of women over 40. Now I must admit I have never heard of this guy but it makes for fun reading anyway....

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.

Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress.

Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

OMG!! How Mortifyingly Embarrassing Would This Be!

This little video is so funny in the most awful way...

Monday, October 29, 2007

A Hot Shower For Me

The best part of today was getting my hot water back!

The engineer was here for the best part of the morning tinkering and banging away and for now at least it's lovely - long may it last.

I hate having workmen or deliveries at home as it's so difficult when you work, luckily I only do a half day on a Monday so just about everything has to happen Monday mornings.

Now at least I can get back to having lovely long hot showers!

shower (by LadyBanana)

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Keeping Myself Occupied

Today both my son and daughter went back to their respective parts of the planet... Leaving me feeling once again rather odd, sad but not sad, wanting to cry but not cry.. ohh it's difficult to describe, but if you have kids who don't live at home I'm sure you kind of know what I mean..

Anyway I've been doing something that I like doing, playing with my photos. This time using Picnik which I blogged about a few days ago..

Not All Black And White (by LadyBanana)


Also I have spent some time removing a few of the widgets, in the hope the loading time for this blog will get better. I don't want visitors giving up because it's all so sluggish.

I'd be grateful for any comments letting me know how slow (or fast..lol) this page was for you.. and any suggestions for making it better..

The Trouble With Widgets

I love widgets, I find them quite fascinating, but the trouble is when the parent site of the widget goes down, so can the site displaying the widget.

Which is what has happened to this blog this morning..

I seriously need to think about what is worth having on the blog as it makes it all totally pointless if it causes the rest not to load!!!


Saturday, October 27, 2007

Shopping Saturday And Back To GMT

My daughter E, is home this weekend from Brighton, along with my son who is still here from Dubai, which is nice. Almost have the whole family here apart from my eldest daughter up in Leicester.

I spent the afternoon shopping in Oxford Street with E, it was not a pleasant experience. Anyone would think Christmas is in about 2 weeks not 2 months!

I bought a couple of cute (I think) cardigans at a discount price, as E has a student discount card, just right for the autumn. They are quite thin and that's what I wanted as I get hot very easily these days, hmmmm I wonder why? lol

Tomorrow will be an odd day as they both return back to Brighton and Dubai...Not sure how I will feel as I have no idea when I will see my son again..

Tonight is the end of British Summer Time (BST) and the clocks go back 1 hour to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), so that means an extra hour in bed which is nice!

Kitten On The Computer

I'd be a bit worried about the claws!!



kitten vs. frontrow from mattcoats on Vimeo.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Disgusting Behaviour As Woman Lays Dying

This story caught my eye on the BBC news website. Hard to believe that any one human being could be quite so cruel. It's quite beyond words...

Click the pic for full story....

bbcstory (by You)

Photo Hunt: Pink

This is the T Shirt I wore today on Wear It Pink Day at work.

Wear It Pink (by LadyBanana)




Lacking One Of My Lifes Pleasures

I have no hot water and I'm not at all happy about it.

For the last few weeks we have had smaller and smaller quantities each day before it's gone totally cold and now we have none. I had the engineer round to try and fix it but to no avail.. he will return on Monday to try again.

That however, leaves us to wash in a bowl with a kettle or 2 of hot water, no fun when one of your lifes pleasures is a good shower..

As for washing my hair.. whahhhhhhh that's going to be difficult!

Anyway, if there's any nasty whiffs floating about it's probably me - sorry!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Tonight I'm..

Too to LAZY do a proper post...


Maybe tomorrow...

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I Used To Be A Kitten (thanks to Foto Flexer)

A few posts ago I wrote about the online photo editor Picnik. Well now the premium free week is over you have to pay to use the most exciting things on there, which is a shame for a poor woman like me... lol

In the meantime I remembered FotoFlexer another photo editing site I had joined sometime ago, (I join a lot of things and then forget about them) so I went to refresh my memory. This has many lovely features and as far as I can see is free..

Here's something I made earlier:

I Used To Be A Kitten (by LadyBanana)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

A Light Bright Frosty Morning

Walking to work this morning through the park at 8am the grass was covered with a very light frost. The sun was shining, the leaves a wonderful autumnal colour, the coolness and freshness of the morning almost made it too good to go to work. Well it was too good to go to work, but sadly I had to, but at least I had my camera with me to capture the moment!

A Touch Of Frost (by LadyBanana)

A Touch Of Frost.. (by LadyBanana)

13 Things For A Shiny Day

I've been tagged by Diana from 134u.com for this meme to name 13 things or situations that turn your shadow, rainy, ugly day into a shiny day!

Well I think it's quite difficult to think of 13 things, but here goes..

1. A warm sunny day

2. Riding my bike with no place special to go

3. Chocolate :)

4. Listening to rain, when I'm tucked up in bed.

5. Reading a good book

6. Listening to my choice of music (not the kids choice lol)

7. Having a bit of a dance when no one is looking

8. Singing out loud, definitely when no one is listening

9. Waking up thinking it's a work day, then realising it's the weekend!!

10. Someone really appreciating something I have done

11. My neighbours cat, visiting and sleeping beside me as I type

12. Getting positive comments on my blog

13. Last but by no means least - spending quality time with my partner and my (grown up) children.


I know I should now tag others but I'm never sure who to tag, as I don't want to annoy anyone - I know not everyone likes these memes. I myself find them quite difficult sometime so I don't always find the energy or time to do them..

So, if you like this one and would like to give it a go please let me know and I will add a link here to your blog...

Monday, October 22, 2007

Not Liking The Darkness

This evening walking home from work was the first time I'd had to walk in the dark this autumn, and I don't really like it. It makes me feel I need to go home and go straight to bed, like I need to hibernate.

Better get used to it though as the clocks go back this coming weekend so it will be dark shortly after 4:30pm each day - not nice...

I've not ridden my bike for a few weeks now for several reasons and I don't know when I'm going to ride it again as I'm not too keen on the idea of riding in the dark. I ate all my carrots as a child but I still think my eyesight is not as good as it should be at night. Also when I do my early days at work I hardly see any daylight, leaving home at 8am then working all day in a windowless room.. Hope I don't get SAD. I think it is a rather depressing time of year though..

Well, soon be time for bed, so better get reading my fave blogs!!

Looking At Who's Looking

Call me peculiar that's fine, but I love looking at who's looking at my blog - that is page stats.

I use HitTail which shows me how visitors have found my page.

I use Feedburner which gives all kinds of info.

But yesterday I set up to use Google Analytics and I find it quite fun. It gives graphs, pie charts and lists of just about everything from the country of the visitors, the browser they are using right down to the screen resolution they have!

Ok, I'm sure it's all rather useless info unless you have a website which is there purposefully directed at a particular group of people for sales maybe, but so what, it's free and it fascinates me!

So, if you're at all like me (Is there anyone like me out there? I doubt it..lol) then it's easy to set up. You just have to copy and paste a little bit of code into your blog template (be careful to save your template before you do this just in case you mess it up) then wait about 24 hours for the info to start showing!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

He's Hating The Cold

This weekend is almost over. It's gone too quickly.

It's so nice having my son home. I was kind of thinking he'd be different in some way but he's not. He is the same as as he always was, which is wonderful.

He's been out with his mates every night, catching up with all the male gossip (do men gossip??)hehe..

Now he's gone to visit his Dad and he hopes to go visit his sisters at uni during the week, however one is about 2 hours north and the other an hour or so south, so lots of travelling.

He's only been away for 7 months but is noticing a lot of things that are so different in UK from what he has become used to over there. The trees and general leafiness, the streets and the bumpiness (seems Dubai is very flat)

But most of all he is cold!

He has always been a lover of hot hot weather and so easily became accustomed to the heat over there and although it's not all that cold here (daytime temps about 14c, nights about 8c) he's not enjoying it.

Pity I have to work tomorrow, but not much I can do about that..

Chimp Chimp Cherooooo

Found this little one at Beths blog..



Funny - I've always said I'm as changeable as the weather....

Fantastic Photo Editing

If you need a good online photo editor then PICNIK is the best I have ever used.

Some of the best features will be only accessible to premium users, but for now they are all free to try.

You can edit photos from various online places such as Flickr, Picassa or Facebook or upload from your computer.

I am very impressed with the ease of use and the wonderful range of options and felt I just had to share..

Have a go whilst it's all still free!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Beeping Lovely Music

Tonight I was sitting here reading blogs with the TV on in the background when I heard a song on an Audi car advertisement which made my ears prick up right away. The singer has the most beautiful, outstanding voice I have heard in a long time...

So a quick Google soon led me to the artist and song title.

The artist is Simone White and the song is The Beep Beep Song - below...



I then searched a little more and found Simones MySpace - there is a list of venues where she's appearing in the next few weeks and one of them is just about 5 mins walk from where I work... I am very tempted to get tickets!

The Same, But Different...

The Same, But Different... (by LadyBanana)

My son bought his laptop over from Dubai, surprisingly it's the same as mine but with a few visible differences - can you guess what they may be? :)

Photo Hunt: Practical

Dirt Devil (by LadyBanana)

My flat has new flooring and I want to make sure it stays looking good, but getting the big heavy hoover out everytime is such a hassle, not to mention the strain on my poor back.

So the practical solution was to invest in one of these hand held cleaners - pretty good it is as well!



Thursday, October 18, 2007

Half Woman - Half Cat!

Just went wild at Build Yourself Wild - thanks to Shelly at Cyber Chocolate

A Smooth Flickr Slideshow

Another lovely way of displaying your (or anyones) Flickr photo's..



Slideoo.com

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

NO Blogging Tonight

I am on my break at work typing this via email.
 
I am very tired, and I promise myself NOT to blog tonight.
 
I must go home, eat, relax and sleep..
 
I MUST NOT be tempted!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Good News!!!

Just received the good news that my son is coming home for a visit from Dubai on Friday.

He will be staying for just a week, but it will be wonderful to see him, it's been 7 months now!

Just a pity I'm working all that week :(

Not Just For Kids

Found this list here

It's for children but I think we adults could/should take heed of a good few of them as well!!

# How I look is not as important as how I act.

# I treat others the way I want them to treat me.

# I am a good sport; I follow the rules, take turns and play fair.

# It is okay to laugh at funny things, but not to laugh at others.

# I do not gossip; if I cannot say anything helpful, I do not say anything at all.

# When I am sad, I help myself feel better by thinking of things that are good in my life.

# In order to have friends, I must act in a kind way.

# I believe that I am someone who can do important things.

# What I say and how I say it tells others the kind of person I am.

# I appreciate my family, my teachers, and my school.

# I treat everyone with respect.

# When I listen, I show others that I care about them.

# I am being a good citizen when I volunteer to help others.

# I think for myself and make smart choices that are good for me.

# Each day offers a new start to do my best.

# I try to understand what my friends are feeling.

# Everyone makes mistakes, so instead of getting angry with myself, I try to do better.

# I do not give up; I keep trying until I can do my work.

# Sharing with others makes me feel good and makes them feel good too.

# I work out my problems without hurting myself or others.

# I am being polite when I wait for my turn and say please and thank you.

# When I smile at people, they usually smile back.

# I encourage my friends to do their best.

# My values guide me to do what is right.

# I am honest; I do not cheat or steal.

# When I am angry, I use self-control and do not hurt others.

# I am being creative when I dance, draw, paint or write a poem or story.

# I say, "No!" to things that could hurt my body like tobacco and alcohol.

# When I do what I say I will do, I am being responsible.

# I am grateful for what I have, so I share with others.

# I try to learn something new each day.

# When things do not go my way, I stop and think of what I can do to make them better.

# I do not make fun of other children because I don't know what their life is like.

# I feel successful when I do my best.

# Everyone has good and bad feelings.

# I take care of myself by eating healthy food, exercising and getting enough rest.

# I am being punctual when I am on time and do not keep people waiting.

# When I cooperate with others, I get more done.

# I follow the rules and try to make my school a better place.

# I like to get to know children who are different from me.

# Since I tell the truth, my friends trust me.

# I look for what is good in others and I say what I like about them.

# I buy only what I need and I save my money.

# When I use my time wisely, there is usually enough time to do what I want to do.

# I think before I act; how I act affects how others treat me.

# Using manners helps me keep my friends.

# I have courage to stand up for children who are teased.

# Before I do something, I ask myself, "Is it safe?"

# I am me -- I do not try to be like someone else.

# I care about living things on earth so I recycle and do not litter.

# When I write down what I think and feel, I learn about myself.

# I plan ahead and think about what I want to do when I grow up.

Can I Get FREE GP Services in YOUR Country?

Interesting to know... if I was to visit any other country in the world would I be able to get free GP services? (General Practitioner - Doctor)

I notice my blog is read by a good mix of people from many countries and I wonder if anyone can say yes to my question.

I very much doubt it...

So why I ask, is the UK National Health Service so stupidly soft. Anyone from anywhere can walk into a GP practice and obtain totally free care, no questions asked.

No wonder the NHS is constantly in financial crisis!

I don't know too much about this and I have no idea what the answer could be, but it really gets to me, day after day seeing the system, to my mind, misused.

More can be read about this HERE

Me, As A Toddler

Whilst sorting through stuff during the decorating I found this photo of myself - I was 2 and a half.

It was taken in black and white (long before colour was invented lol) and somehow a bit of colour was added to it, I have no idea how, but I like it!


Me - Aged 2 and Half (by LadyBanana)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Not Full Of Beans

I was back at work today and as expected there was loads of it.

I was welcomed back very nicely and I should have felt refreshed, full of beans and raring to go, but I didn't. I wasn't in the mood for it at all, not sure if it's because I'm still feeling rather under the weather or just that I'm no longer enjoying my job (hmmm did I ever enjoy it?)

I seriously contemplate leaving and doing something completely different but I'm scared. Scared of finding something worse, and then what.. I'd be in a bit of a mess.

So I plod on, sticking it out because I know it's the safe option. I'm a rather quiet, shy kinda girl and not too keen on taking risks. So I have no one to blame but myself for where I am.

It's a worrying thought though, thinking I may end up there until I retire - WAHHHHHhhhhh

Double Fabby

Oh to be fabulous twice, 2 days running is very nice.

Jo from A Boatwomans Diary awarded me the Totally Fabulous Award - Thank You Jo :)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

The Last Day

I was determined to enjoy the last day off before returning to work tomorrow. So as I wasn't feeling too bad, my partner and I went out for a lovely meal at Chiquitos.

Then we wandered around a few shops until I began to feel really crappy again. My entire body slowly began to feel sore, bruised and achey and I couldn't wait to get home.

After a nice cuppa tea and a couple of extra strength paracetamol I began to feel a lot better.

I think I might be living on the paracetamols for a few days as I really don't want to have to take time off work.

Almost 10pm now so definately time to sleep.

My Unkymood Punkymood (Unkymoods)

It's Fab To Be Fabulous




It's lovely to get awards, to know you've been thought of. I was awarded this Totally Fabulous Award by Anna from Beth and Cory's Mom

Thank you Anna :)

I would like to pass this on to

Jo at A Boatwomans Diary as I find her accounts of life on the waterways fascinating.

And to Deathsweep at Deathsweeping as his posts are always good food for thought. OK, I know it's really a girly thing, but so what!!! LOL

A Little About Us - Meme

I have been tagged by Anna from Beth and Cory's Mom to do this meme about myself and my partner, A Little About Us.

  1. Who is your man?♥ Robert
  2. How long have you been together?♥ 4 and half years
  3. Dating/Engaged/Married?♥ Co-habiting
  4. How old is your man?♥ 38
  5. What’s his middle name?♥ Terence
You or your man♥
  1. Who eats more?♥ Robert
  2. Who says “I love you” first?♥ Him, mostly.
  3. Who weighs more?♥ Him
  4. Who sings better?♥ Neither of us
  5. Who’s Older?♥ Me
  6. Who’s smarter?♥ We are pretty equal
  7. Who’s temper is worse?♥ Mine, but I blame it on PMS
  8. Who does the laundry?♥ Me mostly
  9. Who does the dishes?♥ The one who didn't cook that day
  10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?♥ Robert
  11. Who’s feet are bigger?♥ Roberts
  12. Who’s hair is longer?♥ Mine
  13. Who’s better with the computer?♥ Robert, but I'm only a tad behind apart from the building and fixing he does.
  14. Who mows the lawn?♥ We don't have one.
  15. Who pays the bills?♥ I do, but we both contribute.
  16. Who cooks dinner?♥ I do more often, but he does his fair share.
  17. Who drives when you are together?♥ We don't have a car.
  18. Who pays when you go out to dinner?♥ Him, he's generous like that :)
  19. Who’s the most stubborn?♥ Me
  20. Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?♥ Depends what the issue is.
  21. Who’s parents do you see more?♥ His parents, as mine have passed away.
  22. Who named your dog?♥ Never had a dog.
  23. Who kisses who first?♥ Mostly Robert.
  24. Who asked who out?♥ He asked me out after chatting online for 1 week!!!
  25. Who’s more sensitive?♥ Me
  26. Who’s taller?♥ Robert.
  27. Who has more friends?♥ Me
  28. Who has more siblings?♥ Robert, he has a sister and brother, I had a sister but she passed away with breast cancer in 2002.
  29. Who wears the pants in the relationship?♥ I let him think he does, but I do..lol

I know I'm supposed to tag others now, but I'm feeling too lazy with this cold... But please, if you would like to do this just let me know and I'll add a link to your post.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

A Cold, Just My Luck

I work in a Dr's surgery, day after day exposed to all kinds of coughs and sneezes, bugs and diseases, but I rarely (thankfully) get unwell.

I've just taken almost 2 weeks off work to get the house nicely decorated, not really mixing with many people at all, and none that I know of with any nasty lergies.

And what's happened? I have a stinking, rotten, snotty, sneezy cold...

When I went to bed last night I thought I could feel it coming on and now almost 24 hrs later I'm quite yucky.

Just hope I fight it off quickly as I'm back to work Monday and don't want to be giving those poor patients anything do I!!!

My Unkymood Punkymood (Unkymoods)

Photo Hunt: Smelly

Smelly Washing

This is one of several loads of smelly washing waiting for the machine....



Friday, October 12, 2007

It Wasn't Me!


...il colpevole!, originally uploaded by KenITALY.

Came across this photo on Flickr, just couldn't resist it!

That guilty little face...

Cable Hell


Cable Hell, originally uploaded by LadyBanana.

Today was the time to re-setup the computers and TV after the decorating.

As you can see the cables had all been placed in a box together.

Luckily it wasn't my job to sort them all out, it was my partner who had this unenviable task..hehehe

But everything is up and working now, which is the main thing!

Private Part Art

This is very clever but a teeny bit rude, so if you are very easily offended then maybe not watch..

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Help For Painful Breasts?

Just about every month for about 10 days before my period I get quite severe cyclical breast pain.

It starts off with a mild tenderness/soreness around the nipples, quite quickly spreading to the entire breasts.

This then makes quite a lot of activities difficult and uncomfortable (not helped by the fact I have fairly large boobies) such as lifting, cuddling, stretching, walking and running.

I have to sleep with a bra on, taking it off to change or shower is very painful.

I have tried all sorts of remedies but nothing helps, the only thing I've not tried and don't fancy is hormonal treatment. I feel sure that would cause more problems than it cures.

Anyone found anything that helps?

Got The Chop At Last

After many weeks thinking about it, I have at last managed to get my hair cut.

I hate going to the hairdressers for so many reasons. I never know what to ask for as I'm not sure if it will suit me.

I've had a fair few bad experiences and had to come home to immediately wash and restyle it to my liking as I don't particularly like the faffed up way the hairdressers do it.

Anyway, today I am happy. I had a no nonsense hairdresser, who got on with it. OK, she just about told me her life story as she snipped away but she was good and quickly got the gist of what I wanted even though my instructions were a little vague!

I know I should add a photo of the outcome but I haven't any yet, but its not all that different, just a bit shorter (than my avatar) and cute, even if I say so myself!!

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

How Germy Is Your Keyboard?

1,707,720How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?


Now pass me that bottle of bleach!!!!!

Tags That Think

Just added yet another widget to my left sidebar, right at the bottom at the moment. Yeah I know I've got too many widgets already but I've got to try them out!

This one is Jiglu, which is, "a super-smart engine that pieces your site together, intelligently tagging and linking your web content"

"Jiglu plugs into your site to automatically create intelligent tags and links for your web content. This means that people can dive straight in and read what they want - your most popular blog entries or even stuff buried deep within your site."

I don't yet have an opinion on this as it's so new to me, just have to wait and see...

Offensive Messages Not Welcome Here

Logging back on to check my mail this afternoon I noticed I had a message waiting from Plugoo.

This is the little widgety thing in the right hand sidebar which allows anyone to leave me an off line messsage.

Now usually these are nice messages from nice people, but today was rather different. It was a totally disgustingly horrible unrepeatable message from someone with a very sick and sad mind.

I do not deserve to receive such awful messages, but then this is the internet, where anyone can be anyone and some weirdos get a kick out of being offensive and rude.

So whoever you are, I feel sorry for you, sorry you can't find anything better to do in your sad little life..