ick!

It has been far far too long since I last posted. But what with all the blog hopping for One World One Heart and being forced to watched Scrubs (love it!) and play chess with Matt (lost four times in a row) I seem to have noooo time for actually writing one of my own posts!

So....sorry to all you readers out there - I will hopefully get back to something approaching normal sooner or later!

Wednesday

Heck, I can't believe that it is Wednesday already, I am sure that I posted something just yesterday, but no...Sunday is a good few days behind me!

I have been at university these past three days attempting to make some sense of HRM - human resource management to the uninitiated - all to do with recruitment, performance, absence management, training and lots of other absolutely fascinating stuff!

The previous module about leadership and management was more fascinating as it was about psychology and how people interact with each other, but the basic stuff in HR management is still important too. I just wish that I it was more interesting!!

Still, it explains why I was too pooped to do much blogging when I got home in the evenings!!

Oh, of course, I should point out that I was actually at the ballet last night! Three of us went to see Giselle as performed by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia (they seem to be touring the UK at the moment) and as much as I wanted to snigger when the two male dancers were on the stage at the start, I did enjoy the production and am always amazed at the ability of dancers.
(no, I did not snigger for rude reasons, only because they looked a bit silly flouncing across the stage with their fingers pointed and their cloaks draped around their shoulders, but once I got used to that I was able to ignore it!!)

Guest Bedroom

For Show and Tell today I am showing you what my guest bedroom now looks like.

It's not too bad is it, but it is a great difference from how it used to look. Before Matt arrived it had a double bed, a bookcase, a bedside table...and that's about it. There was hardly any storage in it although I should mention that there was indeed a lot of junk underneath the double bed.

I do actually find it slightly odd to walk up the stairs and catch sight of this room full of Matt's stuff, none of which has anything to do with me. The furniture might be mine, but the contents are all Matt's (except for the pictures on the wall) and it is peculiar to me especially when just a few days ago everything in the house was mine.

However, it looks as though Matt may not be staying as long as previously thought. No, we haven't fallen out or decided that we simply cannot live with each other. What's happened is that the move here has clarified a few things in Matt's mind and he now realises where he would rather live and if it takes him longer to save up for his next goal (going to Australia) then so be it. (because he would have to pay rent in his preferred town)

Of course, it is a bit annoying that having made room for him, he no longer wants it!! But that's not the point, the point is that he needs to be happy wherever he lives and if that is not here then I would rather he went somewhere else than be miserable here. I should, of course, point out that this is not a reflection on me!!! ha ha

Instead, it is the fact that he has a social circle elsewhere, he doesn't know the area around here, and so it would be easier to find a job in a place that he does know and can spend time with his friends whilst doing so.

In the meantime though, I am happy to have his company for now and will enjoy that for as long as it lasts.

P.S. if you look close enough at the second photograph and spot the round mirror to the left of the computer, you will see my pink tartan pajama-ed legs!! ha ha, I hadn't noticed that until just now.

One Lucky Blogger

I have indeed been a very lucky blogger lately.  Firstly I had an email saying that I had been lucky enough to get one of my LibraryThing early reviewer books - these are prepublished (or newly published) books that are offered to members of LibraryThing for free on the proviso that they publish a review somewhere.  Actually this is not a RULE as such, but it could affect your chances of getting another free book.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, a book arrived on my doorstep the other day - Mother Teresa's Secret Fire by Joseph Langford.  I don't remember selecting this one! I do however select the books that I think that I would like rather than going crazy and asking for them all!!   Do look out for the review at some point.

And that's not all.  A few weeks ago one of the blogs that I read was asking for a caption to her photograph in exchange for a book selected from her list of books!!  So, if you head over to Bold Blue Adventure you will see the photograph and the caption that I dreamt up! (not the caption that is actually on the photo I should point out!)  Today I discovered that I won that one and I decided to choose Maid Marian by Elsa Watson cos it sounded interesting! (expect that review too!)

And still, that's not all!!!  A few days ago I gave the answer "peloton" to the question "what's this" on Where's My Damn Answer and I was right!! As were a few other people who got it right we all got a little prize, and mine arrived in my email box today - a gift voucher for amazon!! Yes, that's right! So, I quickly scurried over and bought a couple of books - they should arrive next week, but I don't think that I will be reviewing those as they reflect my current predilection for paranormal romances!

Haven't I been a lucky girl?  So, if you come back in a few days you should hopefully seeing my One World One Heart giveaway post where I shall be showing off handmade greeting cards that I will be giving away!!!

Trivial Pursuit

Who knew that Trivial Pursuit could be funny!! We turned the television off tonight and played TP for the first time in years! It was a narrowly won contest with some very strange questions and much laughter.

This particular game was a car boot sale bargain, I found it completely unopened and on sale for about two pounds which was a clear bargain! The only thing is that because it hadn't been used before, there was some definite synchronicity in the questions - Matt would get "what is the southern most capital city" and then a few cards later I'd get "what is the northern most capital city"! Answers in the comments please ;-)

The only thing is that I like to know why the answer is what it is and TP doesn't deign to explain, so I expect that I will be googling a few things over the next couple of days. It just isn't enough to know that an answer is right!

Change

Today heralds a change. Today my youngest brother (a mere ten years younger than me) came to live with me. For how long, I do not know, it could be a few months, it could be a year, it could be....well any length of time!

What I do know is that this means living with someone for more than the usual holiday two weeks. I did the usual renting of spare bedrooms and such when I was younger, but the last time I shared a house with someone was three years ago when I was in between houses and friends of mine kindly let me have their spare bedroom!

This time though, it's different. For two reasons...it's my house, and I'm sharing with family. The last time I shared, I was the interloper and was very careful about what I did when and tried not to impose on my friends. This time, I am quite certain that the dynamics will be different, like I said - this is my house, so the power (if you will) is in my hands, and I wonder how it will work!

Don't get me wrong, I freely offered the space to Matt and will enjoy having his company, but I am also aware that we need time to settle and get used to living together and I am sure that we will have our niggly moments. This will definitely take some getting used to as I am sure that I have become selfish in my living alone with no one else to have to think about.

Nevertheless, I am looking forward to having company in the house and I am sure that it will provide plenty of blog fodder!!

A Christmas present

I just wanted to show you one of my Christmas presents.

B and E gave this to me along with the bottle of wine that it is currently attached to. Did you ever see a cuter corkscrew? If you look closer you can see a face in the head of the corkscrew. I love the fact that there are people in the world that can take something purely functional and make it look attractive.

I was a bit wary about using this hallelujah corkscrew because I never seem to get it right and prefer to use my oh-so-simple lever cork remover - it is so easy as to be silly. But this Alessi corkscrew? It couldn't have been easier, the base is molded in such a way as to make it easy to fit over the bottle and not have to worry about aiming the point of the screw in the right place!

Plus of course, it's a lovely blue colour and it looks cute. That's a win-win in my mind! Thanks B and E!!

Don't forget to pop over to Lollipop's place for more show and tells.

In the post

I had something nice arrive in this morning's post.

Yes, it is a record breaking bag of mini eggs. Record breaking? Definitely - it is the earliest Easter related treat I have ever received, Easter is ages away and there is still frost and a dusting of snow in the garden!

Thanks to Jen who thought that my comment on her blog was worthy of a prize! (her dog really does look as though he is sulking and saying "but I wanted to be Rudolph!", looking at it now, what I should have done in order to be more sulky was said "but muuuuuum, I wanted to be Rudolph!", in any case I won!!

Thanks Jen, that was definitely quick enough for me ;-) and although Easter is still weeks and weeks away, you can be sure that these little treats wont last long!

Mama Kat's Writing Challenge

I've mentioned (and taken part in) Mama Kat's writing challenge before, but it seems to have dropped off my radar recently - blame it on Christmas! Anyway, this week the prompts include "Who was your first bloggy friend? How did you find each other? Do you still correspond?"

This, I thought, was quite open to interpretation and it made me go back and have a serious look at my earlier blog posts all those years (!) ago. Which was actually quite interesting because I noticed that my first few commentators were mostly friends and family, all of whom now very rarely comment (hint!).

Back to the interpretation bit though - the reason I say that is because I have one or two commentators that appear on my blog before the one that I consider my first bloggy friend eventually arrived. So, I would argue that as the other bloggers don't comment on my blog any more as I must have scared them away and so I don't consider them my bloggy friend in quite the way that I do Alice!

Alice first commented on a post about Christmas Trees just over a year ago and much to my surprise she still comments!! Hi Alice! If I remember correctly we first found each other's blog through blogs that focused more on books and reading than anything else, although I am sure that Alice will correct me!

A teeny weeny bit more about Alice though - she eats out at restaurants a lot with a great bunch of people! This I can tell because she always has great foodie photographs along with photos of happy, smiley, friendly people who I must meet one day! Incidentally Alice has also just started a photographic blog, in fact, it is so new that there are only two photographs on it - the second one is an incredibly beautiful photograph of a water lily - the colours just pop!

All in all, she is definitely a blogger friend and I really should add myself to her list of followers, which I am off to do now! ;-)

Honest Scrap

I got smacked in the face with the Honest Scrap award the other day! There are two rules to this - ONE list ten honest things about yourself even if you have to dig deep, and TWO pass the award to seven bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

(perhaps it's me but I first read this as Honest Crap! hmmmm)

Anyway...

One: I hate housework and so it's going to be fun when my youngest brother comes to live with me for a while - a very good challenge for me as I will have to learn to be more organised and far less lazy! (M arrives next week!)

Two: I made Easter Eggs for my brothers when I was in my early teens. Unfortunately I made them rather too soon and scoffed the lot! Whoops!

Three: I would love to be able to cook and throw a fab meal together, but I just can't do it!! Of course, I could probably learn, but I don't see much point cos I have strange eating quirks! (Baking is a different matter as I will quite happily bake a cake or two!)

Four: I get very very twitchy if I don't know where I am going - as Mum will attest, I can get extremely wrought and anxious when I am giving travel directions in the car and it goes wrong and I don't know where I am. Funnily enough I am better on my own and will sort myself out, but when I am trying to help others and I can't figure myself out....I go crackers!

Five: I don't see what the point is in spending lots of money on 'label' clothes when you can get stuff just as good in the local department store! (I have never been one for fashion)

Six: Neither do I understand how people can have several credit cards and spend right up to the limit and think that that is ok. I am sure that I would go quite mad with the stress of wondering how to pay it all off.

Seven: I can still do cartwheels! (I don't often do one, but I can!)

Eight: I annoy myself by not doing the ironing regularly as I have to iron what I wear first thing in the morning.

Nine: I love being casual - jeans and sweater usually rule the day, but do sometimes wish I could be a bit more put together!

Ten: Occasionally I break a rule, like driving faster than I should every now and then!! or like the one where I have to tag seven other bloggers with this meme!! I am not going to tag anyone with this as I reckon that you are all honest bloggers anyway, so if you fancy telling us more....have at it!

One World One Heart

Some of you may notice a new badge has appeared on my blog's side bar - this relates to One World One Heart - a fabulous way to get connected with hundreds if not thousands of other blogs.

Basically it is a massive giveaway carnival on a truly ginormous scale, and if I remember correctly from last year most of the giveaways are of the handmade kind. However, this year the organiser Lisa Oceandreamer says that it is not just for artists but it is for absolutely everyone and is more a bloggy meeting place than a self-promoting event.

One of the main reasons I like this event is because it is truly international and has bloggers participating from all over the world and this year....it starts on (or after if you like) the 18th January and runs until the 12th February and this year looks like to be a big year with so many particpants that you will need to save a few hours a day for a couple of weeks just to get through them all!!

There is a lot of information about this event that I will not get into as there are several guidelines and things you need to know, so if you fancy taking part then you need to go and see the One World One Heart blog!

All I know is that I will be taking part but I don't yet know what I will be giving away! Last year I had 77 comments which is truly a record for this blog, in fact, it remains the record!! Perhaps this year I can supercede that, but I still need to think of what I would like to giveaway - I have a few weeks to think of something, although I am quite likely to make a bunch of greeting cards again.

Pay it Forward

I came across this lovely little idea today - it was posted by AmyDeanne on 160 Acre Woods and I thought that it was too good to ignore!

What you have to do is.....

Be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment on this post, that simply means that you get a handmade gift from me, quite what it will be I have NO idea at this point in time!

You then need to post this Pay it Forward challenge, so you will also create a handmade gift for the first 3 bloggers that leave a comment on your blog (N.B the third comment on this blog doesn't count because it comes from Amydeanne!!)

The gift can be any price range and you have a long time (365 days) to make and ship your item.

I am quite happy to ship my chosen item internationally, so sign up!!!

Are you ready - get commenting!!

P.S. I hope I have finally fixed this silly blogger thing!!