The Wedding

I've decided to join in with the carnival being held by Kara-Noel of Eli's Lids. All she asks is that we Remember When....we got married. I noticed Janmary of Welcome to my World joining in and never being one to miss a boat, thought it would be the perfect way to post my (admittedly small amount) of wedding photos. Its such a fun idea for a carnival and her photographs are beautiful. Go on, join in...

There I go again jumping straight to the honeymoon and completely forgetting about the wedding.

Ok, time for a bit of background.

The husband and I were desperately hunting for a home together. We had managed to sell his house in Belfast. We had a bank account full of money but still didn't seem to be having any luck finding a house we both liked and could agree on.

We were engaged at the time but hadn't quite gotten around to planning a wedding. Or setting a date for that matter.

We finally found this house and immediately fell in love with the place, even though it was literally falling apart.

Because we got such a great price on the house and didn't need to borrow anywhere near the amount of money we had original thought we would, we decided to celebrate with a big holiday before settling down to the grind of getting the house livable.

Cut to the scene of us in Lunn Poly handing over vast quantities of cash for the trip to Egypt. We'd chosen two of the best hotels, upgraded the flights, you name it, we were going all out. This was to be our last trip for a very long time. When the travel assistant noticed my engagement ring and mentioned before processing the payment and booking that if the holiday was a honeymoon we would get all the upgrades we were paying for free, plus some extra upgrades not available for booking.

"Oh, alright then, go on".

I arrived home later that day, phoned the registry office, popped down to fill in the paperwork and pay the £35 fee and hey presto we were to be married six weeks later.

Here we are signing the registry book.



As I've said it was a very simple (slightly rushed) affair. Just some close family and a disposable camera. Neither one of use thought to lift the digital camera on the way out the door that morning. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with registry office weddings but there really are only a few minutes spare for photographs before the next couple are ushered in.

You'll have to excuse my very lacking skills at taking photographs of photographs, but this is my mother. Isn't she beautiful. I hope I look like her when I grow up.




We had time for a quick photo of everyone and it shows just how small the wedding party actually was.

From left to right, my mum's sisters (and two of my best friends), my (very tall) brother, my grandfather (my mum's father and the constant in my life), my mum, yours truly, the husband's brother and father, the husband and last but definitely not least, my dad.

And finally a photograph, I'll always cherish. My Gana Joe in the far left, seemingly minding his own business, quietly assessing this new family his first born granddaughter has married into. It was a very classic pose of his, hand on his chin with a slight smirk on his face. His health started to go about a year after this photo was taken and he passed away two years ago after a long battle.

This is how I'll always remember him.



After the wedding we had a lovely lunch and then went home to get changed and go to collect our currency for the honeymoon.

See nothing fancy, but that's just me I suppose.

The only thing I regret about the honeymoon is not doing it sooner. My Mother-in-Law passed away six months before we were married and I would have loved to have had her there. She was a wonderful woman.

The carnival runs until the end of this week, so go on, quickly, hurry up and join in.

WFMW - Oh yes I did.

It's that time of the week again and you'll be sooo pleased you stopped by.

Oh yes, its also that time of year again.

Yep, I'm planning for Christmas.

Wait, wait, don't be running away just yet. There's a perfectly good reason for planning so far ahead.

Seriously, I don't know about anybody else, but Christmas here just wasn't the same this year. I'm sure its been very difficult for everyone this year and I personally know a lot of people (myself included) starting 2009 unemployed or facing the real prospect of redundancy.

So with that in mind (and in part to take my mind off it) I'm planning really far ahead for the holidays this year. All holidays and birthdays in general but mainly Christmas.

I'm determined this year will be completely a "make your own" year. No presents will be bought ready to give, no ready made bread, biccies or buns. If I can't make it, you won't get it here.

So, the first step is to organise the knitted and hand sewn projects.

I grab the hold of my handy little A5 binder (I've carried this around with me for about 2 years now, couldn't be without it) and add another section.


Next I need to have a look through my ever expanding pattern books. I have three like this with around 80 patterns in each and four lever arch files which I need to get around to sorting into books like these. So much more space efficient. You'll notice straight away they aren't sorted into sections. That's because I like to just ramble through them to pass time.


My mum will love this bag. A new bag is her first request for every birthday and Christmas, although she wouldn't be too keen on the colour. She prefers bright colours, even in the dead of winter. So...


My mum is #1. I'll pop a little sticker on each pattern for her with a #1 written on it and pop in a list to remind me which yarn I will use.

Then back to the book and make a list detailing each gift for each person along with supplies needed to complete the project. If I have highlighted the item, I already have the supplies in my (huge) stash. Bonus.


And lastly I need an easy shopping list to carry around with me.

I never leave home without my phone and even though its quite old now I can still open a new reminder in my calender and pop in an abbreviated list and set it to recur weekly. This way I can keep a quick track of anything I've still to pick up if I spot a good sale.

So there you go. Is anyone else mad enough to prepare for Christmas in January?

For some, perhaps more sensible, tips, tricks and ideas, head over to WFMW at Rocks in my Dryer.

The Honeymoon - Part 3 - The Valley of the Kings...and Queen

You can't spend any time in Luxor without visiting the Valley of the Kings

The first stop on the tour was at the Colossi of Memnon. They're 18 metres tall, although its difficult to tell that from the photogragh. They are all that is left of the Temple of Amenophis III (Amenhotep). The Temple itself was destroyed by earthquake and the Colossi cracked. We were told that after they cracked they would "sing" as the sun rose in the morning. Unfortunately Emporer Septimius Severus attempted to restore the Colossi to get brownie points with Memnon and now thy are silent.

Not a great job on the restoration either.


After the Colossi we were taken to the entrance of the Valley of the Kings.

That would be our guide pulling faces at some of the stupid questions people were asking about "slaves".


We only visited one tomb while we were in the valley. KV8 the tomb of Merenptah. He was the successor of Ramses II.

I think.


A sarcophagos...

This is a list contained within almost all of the tombs. It details who worked on the project, how long it took, all the consumables used during the time such as food and clothing and it gives details of how far people travelled to help with the build.

Again everything was protected by glass and no flash photography was allowed so it was quite difficult to get anything bar dodgy slightly blurry photos.

I mentioned a Queen didn't I?

Just the one mind you.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir al Bahri or Dejesr Dejesrn meaning Most Splendid of all.

It is a masterpiece to say the least.

Three levels carved into the face of the mountain. It isn't in the Valley of the Kings, its quite close to the Valley of the Nobels though.

She became ruler of Egypt after her husband, Thutmose II died.

There are very few images of Hatshepsut left intact at the temple. Her son, Thutmose III was made to wait 20 years before becoming ruler of Egypt because she refused to marry him (as you would)(bear in mind her husband was her half brother)). When he came to power he destroyed all of her cartouches and images so that she would be forgotten.


One of the intact images is in the Sanctuary of Hathor standing between statues of Hathor and Amun-Ra, although this room is closed to the public she can be seen faintly through the gates.

Unfortunately the top terrace was closed for restoration while we there but the view from the second terrace was hard to beat.

The second terrace was also undergoing a lot of restoration and probably will be for a long time to come.


One of the reliefs in the temple...


And we haven't even got to Cairo yet ;)

Menu Plan Monday

I said I was going to have another go at menu planning this year. Truthfully, it was a New Year's so its probably time I started don't you think.

Monday -
Lunch: I cooked a cured ham I bought at Christmas yesterday, so Toots and I will have some of that along with baguettes and tomatoes. The husband will take some to work in sandwiches.
Dinner: Roast Chicken with steamed potatoes and green beans.

Tuesday -
Lunch: Chicken and pasta bake using some of the leftover chicken.
Dinner: Homemade potato and leek soup, again with any leftover chicken and big croutons made from the remaining baguettes. The husband's on call tonight so if I make this during the day it'll be something quick for him to have if he needs to leave the house in a hurry.

Wednesday -
Lunch: Frittata. I'll use some of the leeks instead of onions with potato (must remember to cook extra on Tuesday night) and bacon.
Dinner: Toots will be at her Nana's for dinner, so I'll make some chilli and rice for me and the husband.

Thursday -
Lunch: I'll chop up any left over frittata and add an extra raw egg along with leftover rice and make a fakey egg fried rice.
Dinner: Barbeque ribs with pickles and crusty bread. The ribs are in the freezer, someone remind me to lift them out on Wednesday.

Friday -
Lunch: Crusty bread pizzas. I'll slice the bread and cover with tomato sauce, cheese and salami, I have in the freezer since buying it at the christmas market.
Dinner: Hamburgers and french fries. Fully loaded with roasted red peppers, dressing and tomatoes for the husband and with cheese and dressing for me and Toots.

Saturday -
Lunch: I've processor puff pastry in the freezer, I'll cook some chicken and add it to some of the potato soup, cover with pastry and call it a pie.
Dinner: Again it'll just be me and the husband tonight. Toots is off to a party at her cousin's with Nana and she'll spend the night there. We'll probably just use up any leftovers still in the fridge or I'll make some pizza dough during the day if pickings are slim.

Sunday -
Sundays here are a bit different from the rest of the week. I usually cook breakfast on Sunday, pancakes, scrambled eggs that kind of thing so when I say lunch it's actually more like a dinner and its about 3pm and dinner is later and lighter.
Lunch: Glazed pork chops. I've been meaning to try to this recipe for a couple of weeks now and I've checked, I have 18 pork chops in the freezer (don't ask me how that happened). We'll have them with mashed potatoes (with a little mustard added for me and Toots and a lot added for the husband), cauliflower and brocolli.
Dinner: I may use some of the leftover mash, add finely chopped scallions and tuna and make mini fishcakes with some sweet chilli dipping sauce.

I'll be checking through the plans and recipes on Organizing Junkie for some inspiration to keep this from getting too samey.

A few days in the life

Its been a busy few days around here.

I'm still managing to keep up with the Project365 and I'm actually having fun. My addictive personality has kicked in big time though. I badly want a new camera along with all the bits and pieces to go along with it, but short of a lottery win that won't be happening any time soon. I'll just have to stick with my "old as dirt" Fuji.

We went to Wacky Whizz Ards on Thursday. I managed to get in touch with the mother of Toots best friend in daycare. We'll call the mum Alison and her lovely son Jimmy. Toots and Jimmy had an absolute blast in Wacky Whizz Ards which is a large indoor soft play area for kids under 7. They spent most of their time scrabbling up the platforms and going down the spiral slide on their tummies. The real bonus is that Alison and I got on like a house on fire too. We have quite a lot in common. Unfortunately, she will be made redundant at the end of next month so meeting up worked out quite well for both of us. We'll be able to get together and occupy the kids once a week or so and I've said that I'll happily take care of him and take both kids to the library or let them play around the house if she needs time to attend interviews or anything like that.

She's a single parent and in her line of work you don't really want to mess potential employers around by changing interview dates and times. Take the first one they offer, even if it's at lunch time, today.

Later we went on to Alison's home because the kids just couldn't bear to be separated again just yet and it was quite late in the afternoon by the time we arrived home.

I threw some food together with Toots and the husband and popped a load of washing into the machine. About 20 minutes later it stomped out into the middle of the room in protest. It's been a bit noisier than usual lately and I've been pushing my luck with it.

The husband had a look because he's pretty good with these things but all the obvious things, brushes, belts, motor seemed to be perfectly fine. So I had to call a repair guy to come and have a look at it. I'm pretty well on top of things around here, but I can't be doing without a washing machine for any length of time.

He came out, popped the top off and fiddled with four large bolts holding the block of concrete in place. I don't know if all machines are the same but ours has a big block of concrete in the top of the machine to stabilise it. He said the bolts were loose and after removing them said that some of the threads were worn and they'd need to be replaced. About fifteen minutes and £35 later I swear that machine is quieter now than when we first bought it. Plus now I have a fair idea of whats wrong the next time it starts to get noisy again.

I'm pretty happy about the charge for fixing the machine though. £35 isn't exactly a lot of money, although I wasn't planning on it a week before the end of the month so its thrown a spanner into a couple of my plans, but at least the machines working and I can keep everyone in clean clothes.

I still have the old bolts so I think at some point over the next week or so I may pick up another set and keep them somewhere safe for a quick fix next time. Obviously buying the bolts and replacing them myself will be a lot cheaper.

Toots had another ballet lesson yesterday. This time was much better. No tears whatsoever, as soon as she spotted the tutor coming down the hall she was off running, pulling other kids along behind her. Still no photos though I'm afraid. It looks like I really will have to wait another 8 weeks.

Also I'm going to start menu planning. I tried this once before and it didn't really work out too well, but this time I'm determined. I want to try to plan leftovers for Toots' and my lunch more so than the actually evening meal. I could eat the same thing everyday and it wouldn't bother me but I think the kid's getting a bit sick of reheats.

We'll see how it goes.

The Honeymoon - Part Two - Abydos and Dendera

While we were in Luxor we decided to take one of tours that was a bit more off the beaten track. It was supposed to be a group tour but the other two couples cancelled at the last minute so we were all alone with our tour guide on a lovely air conditioned bus.

All in told we were on the bus for about 12 or so hours that day. Some people actually did this tour in a taxi. The heat must have been unbearable. It was 56C that day.

First we stopped at the Abydos Temple. It was once the Holy City and everyone in Egypt had to make a pilgrimage there. It is one of the oldest cities in history.

Our guide was lovely, but you'll have to excuse me I can't pronounce his name very well, let alone figure out how to spell it. I still have his business card somewhere, he's a bit of a jack of all trades.

This is a view of the entrance to Abydos Temple.

Unfortunately quite a lot of it is still in pieces...

And underwater. There were even fish in the water.


Some of the frescos are still in fantastic condition. This is the Pharoah giving a feather zed to Isis. The feathered zed is representative of the backbone of Osiris.

See what a great tour guide can do for you.


And the engravings were just something else...


Is anyone else getting an idea for a movie, possibly with a follow up series. We could get MacGyvar for the lead and end the series with him and a few others fishing by a lake.

...

There is also a celestial ceiling in the Temple which was just stunning and the head of Bes, protector of women in labour, but they were virtually impossible to photograph.

Back on the bus for another five hours (we left the hotel at 4am) and we then stopped at Dendera. Its the only temple with a roof which you can stand on.

Oh, and its huge...

The roof means that quite a lot of the main building is enclosed and unfortunately, not very well lit. This definitely adds to the atmosphere while there and preserves the interior of the buildiing but it doesn't make for great photos.

I love this one though...

The columns (both above and below) are topped by Hathor capitals, although the faces have been removed.


A photo taken from the roof gives you some idea of the scale of the ruins.

And in the other direction, not very far away at all was the Libyan border. I've no idea who owns the bit of land in between the two fences.

Getting bored yet? Pity, because there's a lot more to come.

Recycleables - Tutorial - Paper Doll House

We were all set this morning, coats, gloves and hats on ready to head out the door until...

Snow...and rain...and icy winds...and...no

So back inside and now I've have a three year old who was desperately looking forward to a walk around the town this morning,

because this morning we were supposed to be going to get her some new ballet pumps.

Ah well, such is life I guess. I'll measure her feet and run down tomorrow while she's with Nana, come hell or high water.

So I needed something to take her mind off, still wanting to go out regardless of the weather.

Hmm, crafts with nothing planned.

A paper dolls house.

All you need to complete this very simple project are 2 pieces of stiff card (or a cardbox box will do).
A glue stick (or PVA or Mod Podge, whatevers within reaching distance)
Some sharp scissors (for you)
And the Ikea catalogue (or home inspiration magazines like Ideal Home)



You need to have a quick flick through the catalogue or magazines and tear our ny pages with a room which pretty much covers the majority of the page (its easier to manage this with the Ikea book trust me). Then with the scissors cut a very narrow slot halfway along the long side of the card and halfway through the card. Slot the two pieces together to look like this.


Then you want to give the three year old a glue stick and swan off into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Now you'll need a damp sponge to quickly sponge the (hopefully) still wet glue off the carpet because you weren't intelligent enough to put a mat or drop cloth down first.

Or if you're that way inclined you can sit and watch to make sure she "stays within the lines"
.

It's much easier if you keep the two pieces of card slotted together and then lie the whoel thing flat on the floor, that way all you have to do is make sure that the magazine pages you stick to the two facing sides are both of a kitchen, or bedroom or whatever.

Like this.

Carry on around all four sides (you'll need eight magazine pages in total) and it shoudl wind up looking something like this.

Doesn;t she looked pleased with herself. I cut two small slots near the corners at each side of the "kitchen" and strung a length of silver cord across, before hanging up a little t-shirt and trousers I cut from some old fabric. I'd picked up those tiny clothes pegs to use for hanging cards at Christmas and I've been trying to think of something else to use them for.

If you're feeling particular inspired and creative you could always colour the pieces of card yourself, then cut out individual pieces of furniture, chairs lamps that kind of thing and have fun designing your very own rooms.

I'd love to know if anyone does this their child.

For more great WFMW tips and ideas, head over to Rocks in my Dryer.

The Honeymoon - Part 1 (there could be a few of these)

So I was clearing some old things off the media player and came across some of our honeymoon photographs. 2002, a very good year. Egypt, I fell in love the second I stepped off the plane.

We spent a week in Luxor at the Old Winter Palace and a week in Cairo in the Mena House at the Foot of the Giza Plateau.

If money were no question I would go back tomorrow. I may not come home again.

The Hotel...

Have you ever been treated like royalty. I never had, until I arrived here. Everyone addressed me by name, remembered exactly which suite I was staying in without me having to remind them. The staff at the hotel literally couldn't do enough to make us feel more welcome, even packing picnics for us if we were to be on a tour over lunch.


The room...


The private roof top terrace... and the husband (back when that word still sounded strange) taking it easy...

Owls would land on the terrace at night. The sound was beautiful...


And the view...

I could watch that sunset forever.

I can't think of a single thing I didn't love about the country. Even the hustle and bustle didn't get me down and it can be hectic. I enjoyed every last second.

Our hotel was only a very short distance from the Luxor Temple and we made a point of walking past it almost every night. It was beautiful by day, but something about it lit up at night just drew me in. We didn't go in to the Temple at night, although twilight tours were available, with a warning to beware of snakes.

Um no thanks, we're just fine and dandy up here on the well lit main road...

The faces of these sphinxes were humanised...

And obviously we couldn't visit Luxor Temple without visiting the other end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

Karnak Temple...

Osiride Pillars...

The other end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes (the temples were once joined by a road lined with these). These are the ram headed sphinxes representing the God Amon.

Part of the Great Hypostyle Hall...

Those pillars are much, much taller in real life....


I don't even come close to doing the place justice. You recall, ME + CAMERA = BAD.

I'll have a few more of these posts at some stage for anyone interested.

Quick Week Review

Apologies, I've not been around as much as I should have. This Project 365 has sucked me and blew me out in bubbles.

Anyway, I'll get a quick recap of the last week or so out of the way (I'll probably elaborate on a few things later) and then I'll maybe manage to post something worth reading....at some stage.

Right then,

Well, my dad went walkabout last Saturday, just for fun. He arrived at my house at 5.30pm absolutely shattered and in a fair bit of pain. He walked from Newtownards to Helen's Bay then on to Crawfordsburn, then Bangor and back to Newtownards taking most of the scenic routes. For anyone counting thats about 18 miles. He'd left the house at 10.30am and took a short video in a few places just to prove he'd actually walked the whole way.

I pointed out that he could easily have driven between each town and still have taken the videos anyway. Not the way to poke fun at a knackered man, let me tell you.

He used to do things like this all the time, so did I come to think of it but lets just say its been a while (for either of us).

*A quick thing, my dad isn't my dad, he's my step dad but he's earned the title so its his. And even though I didn't meet him until I was 9, he taught me how to walk (really far for no reason)*

Still he enjoyed himself.

I've mentioned above that I'm doing the project 365 this year. The weather hasn't exactly been fantastic the last week or so, apart from a day or two so you can head over to the other blog for a look at random close of pictures of Toots toys, if you fancy? No. Oh, alright you can say here with me then.

We've figured out the hard way that Toots and Aspartame go together like oil and water. That stuff does NOT agree with the kid. So much for me trying to be a good mummy buying sugar free treats for her. Ah well.

She had her first ballet lesson, but thats all I can tell you. Top secret and all that. OR so you would think. It seemed that every other mum with her child enrolled in the class knew the score except for yours truly and two others. So all the kids were ushered into the studio, the three of us were promptly kicked back out again and the door was closed...firmly.

There we were left standing out in the hall like a bunch of numpties while the other mums made a beeline for the coffee shop. How were we to know, its not like anyone bother to tell us.

Of course ours kids weren't a bit happy about this either and promptly started yelling their heads off. Toots even treated me to slo mo crying her eyes out with her arms outstretched in my direction as the door closed. Heart breaking stuff.

Roughly 12 seconds later one of the assistants opened the door to leave in a bag of wings and wands for the class and I could here Toots laughing her head off. Nothing like making mummy worry for nothing kiddo. Thanks.

Still the three of us stood on outside the door "just to be sure" before finally sloping off the the (packed to the rafters) coffee shop.

"So. Who else brought a camera?" I asked.

We burst into fits of laughter.

We were alone.

Turns out I've enrolled Toots in a bona fide theatrical school and I thought it was just a bit of fun.

Again, how was I to know?

All I know is that she appears to have learnt "Ta Da" and something that resembles Jazz Hands but I could be very wrong. I'm assured that I'll be able to take all the photos I want at her RECITAL in nine weeks.

Toots has eaten 12 apples in the last 5 days. I've eaten half a jar of nutella. There goes the New Years resolution.

I'll be meeting up with a bloggy buddy in just over a week, so I'm looking forward to that.

Ikea here we come.

I haven't been in about six weeks and I think I may be getting withdrawal symptoms.

Does the froth at the corners of my mouth give it away or anything?

Oh and I've started to redecorate the entire house, so you might be getting a fair amount of that around here.

Keep 'er lit

She stepped up and looked me square in the eye. The sun was already high in the sky and I could feel the beads of sweat start their journey down the back of my neck.

The glint in her eye told me she meant business, "Go on then, interview me". Frick.

Bugger, now I have to ask MTM of Multi Tasking Mommy and Circle of Life Blog five questions and hopefully at the end of the day she'll still speak to me.

I can be a bit a div at times. The sort of person that will outright ask you what age you are or whether your hair colour is natural when I bump into you and your out on a first date. That lovely girl that will discreetly scream at the top of her lungs over the music in a club to let a friend know her skirt's tucked into her knickers just as the music stops.

Yep, that's me.

Deep breath now...

1. Thinking about holidays and vacations which comes to mind first, your best or worst experience and why?

2. What is your worst habit?

3. If you could be a super hero for a day what would your power be?

4. You have to give away all of your material possessions, not including the roof over your head, but you can keep three things. What are they?

5. Disco or die?

There you go, nice and easy. All you have to do is answer the questions, add the following instructions and come back here to leave a comment so I can come over and read your answers.

Instructions

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will get to ask them five questions.

WFMW - Saving on Art and Craft Supplies

Toots received an easel from Ikea for Christmas. So far its been a big hit, she uses it every day without fail. It has a white board on one side and a chalkboard on the other, which is great because it means no paper.

Well in theory. We all know kids love to paint and Toots is no exception. She can happily pass an entire afternoon splodging paint onto paper.

The problem is that providing a constant and unending supply of paper for her to use can get very expensive. Also if she isn't producing masterpieces each and every time, I hate to say it but its kind of a waste of paper.

The easel is designed to hold a roll of white paper and conveniently enough, Ikea sells the rolls of paper under the same design name as the easel. The rolls are 40 metres long and £3.91 each. Now that actually isn't too expensive, it'll take her a while to get through a 40 metre roll.

Still if I can think of a way of saving money I'll certainly have a go.

The husband picked up two of these at the weekend.

They're rolls of lining paper, normally used for lining walls before painting or decorating. They're 60 metres long, £1.89 each and a hell of a lot thicker than the rolls in Ikea. Also they're recycled paper and can be recycled again. Plus because the paper is so thick she can easily use both sides.

Now the only problem with using these is that they're about 8 inches too wide for the easel. The husband took a saw to ours and cut through them in a couple of seconds, leaving me with two large rolls of paper for the easel and two smaller rolls which I'll eventually cut down into sheets to use when she's forced wants to sit and practice her handwriting.

Now if I can just get her to produce that masterpiece, we'll be set for life.

For more WFMW tips head on over to Rocks in my Dryer.

For all the things you desperately wanted to know but were too afraid to ask

Oh lummy I've been interviewed by Jason of The Jason Show. I asked for it so I'm completely the author of my own misfortune.

Ok the rules are as instructions to play along are as follows;

Want to be part of the interview fun?

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will get to ask them five questions.

Alright then, here goes;

1. How do you feel after an episode of The Jason Show?

That depends on the post. The Jason Show covers all my bases. I've laughed, often to the point of hurting myself. I've cried, more than once. I've sometimes felt angry. Although more often than not, I feel very uplifted after an episode.

2. When making a sandwich, do you butter the bread or not?

Always, even if I'm having mayo. I guess I'm just a bit greedy.

3. When your nose is running, and you don't have any tissues, what are you inclined to do?

I sniff. I'm a sniffer and it bugs the husband, he's a total hanky man. I don't cover one nostril and blow a stream of snot onto the ground like a footballer if thats what you're getting at, because thats just disgusting.

4. Which three blogs do you enjoy the most ? (besides The Jason Show, of course)

Only three? Sure make it difficult why don't you.

I suppose the three I enjoy the most, and by that I mean I'll go nosying before the reader has had a chance to update and I miss reading when they haven't posted that day are:

Welcome to my World JanMary.

Tales from the Dad Side

Circle of Life/Multitasking Mommy. I know technically thats two, but shh.

There are dozens more I love, but these are the three I enjoy the most (and The Jason Show, obviously).

5. Describe the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten.

Easy. Tripe. When we were kids, my mum's best friend loved the stuff and was determined we would all love it to. It never caught on. Everything about it is revolting, the smell (especially when its cooking), the taste, the texture. It's just nasty.

Oh and once I was playing with Toots and she put her fingers in my mouth, straight after picking her nose. The husband told me, through tears since he'd almost wet himself laughing.

She's always doing things like that. The husband has a video of Toots and I sitting watching TV, except the entire time she's picking her nose and wiping it on the leg of my trousers. I good 3 or 4 minutes goes past without me noticing.

That wasn't too bad actually, I was expecting worse. Some people take advantage of these things but it turns out Jason's lovely.

Go on then, play along. If your interested in being interviewed by yours truly leave a comment after the beep.

And if you have any suggestions for questions drop them in there as well.

BEEP

Tu Tu Tutorial

I finally managed to finish the tutu/skirt for Toots preschool ballet classes. She doesn't start the classes until this coming Saturday so for once, I haven't been rushing to get something finished at the last minute.

You'll have to excuse me, but this is my first tutorial of sorts. I'm actually not much of a seamstress. Actually, I'm nothing at all like a seamstress. I just wing it, sometimes things work out, quite often they don't.

For this skirt I started off with a metre of pink mesh like material, two metres of inch wide pink ribbon and some narrow elastic to use for gathering the fabric. To find out the length of elastic I needed, I just wrapped it around Toots waist and cut it to length. I allowed just over an inch of overlap.




I cut the pink fabric in half and laid the two pieces one on top of the other before using the narrow elastic to gather. Basically I sewed each end of the elastic to opposite ends of the fabric. I pinned the fabric out stretching the elastic out to the full length of the fabric before quickly sewing along the length of the elastic. Don't worry about this part being pretty, you'll cover the elastic and any wonky stitching with the ribbon.

Once I'd finished doing that, it looked like this.

I then folded the ribbon and skirt in half along the elastic to find the center of both and folding the ribbon in half pinned it over the elastic, creating the begining of a waistband.

Something like this.

Then carry on pinning the ribbon over the elastic out in both directions until you have completely encased the elastic with pink ribbon.



Toots is only 3, so using two metres of ribbon left plenty at each end to tie the skirt around her waist.



Once the ribbon is pinned in place, backstitch using small (ish) stiches along the length of the ribbon about 1/4 inch from the long edge of the ribbon.

You should wind up with something that looks like this.

I decided that I wanted the skirt to be a wraparound rather than a step through skirt because this set of lessons will last ten weeks> There are another set of lessons a bit later in the year over the summer and then a further set of lessons at the beginning of next year. I'm hoping that this way the skirt will last 18 months or so.

I'll post a photograph of Toots wearing the skirt for Project365, just as soon as she comes home from her Nana's house.

Actually, I forgot to mention that I'm having a go at Project365 this year. Hopefully, I'll learn how to use my camera because I just don't have a clue at the minute.

If I'm honest that thing scares me a bit.