Happy Christmans

Please click on this link to see your card.

Here is hoping 2009 brings better luck

2008 is finishing on a poor note for us. Bob was made redundant on 19th December. No consultation or negotiation, just an interview to tell him that out of the 3 of 7 people who might be made redundant he had been chosen. Not bad for 30 years of service for the same company. So you will appreciate that he is not a happy bunny and everything I try to suggest is a critism. Unfortunately his current circumstances does not take away the fact that outside of work he is a lazy sod, who would rather play with his computer - chess and emails (or whatever), watch cricket and go birdwatching. Home type things are not for him, so households tasks are something to be done only when we have visitors, and as we do not have them often enough, his efforts housework wise are extremely limited.

Whilst all that was going on his mother became ill and managed to get a serious chest infection, and then the noro virus which closed the hospital for over two weeks.

We are off tomorrow to fetch her here for Christmas, so a journey to Exeter. Of course the house is not fit for guests, too untidy, very dusty and goodness knows only knows when last hoovered. Sympton of the fact that I work long hours and have a partner who would not recognise the place was mess unless he could no longer get through the door.

And yes I am feeling undervalued and sorry for myself at present

2008's First Christmas Joke
Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.'In honor of this holy season' Saint Peter said, 'You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.'The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. 'It represents a candle', he said.'You may pass through the pearly gates' Saint Peter said. The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, 'They're bells.'Saint Peter said 'You may pass through the pearly gates'.The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women's panties.St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow AND asked, 'And just what do those symbolize?'The man replied, 'These are Carols.' And So The Christmas SeasonBegins......

Snow uppdate

Well, after oversleeping due to my late night meeting, I set off for work. It was not too bad when I left home, the snow on my car and our houses had disappeared. As I got nearer my meeting destination for today the snow laying was getting thicker and thicker and the road conditions worse, with slushy snow/ice.

What finally blew my mind away was the clear blue skies and bright sunshine, the gorgeous autumn colours of the trees, all vibrant oranges and reds, the snow laying on the fields amd hedges, and then would you believe a hot air balloon rising up in the distance - a combination of summer, autumn and winter all in one - just wish I had my camera with me.

The temperatures are still very low for this time of year, although according to the weather forcast they will rise again next week. No wonder the main topic of conversation for us Brits is the weather - lol.

Well at least I will have someone to warm my feet on this evening as the SO is back from his training course.

OMG its snowing

I have just come out of a late meeting to be greeted by snow. Falling heavily, albeit onto very wet roads. Running around to the car park I found my car covered and the temperature reading saying it was -5 degrees c. Now how can that be for 28th October, summer is barely over, except that we never really had one, and autumn has just begun.

I have 20 miles to drive to and from work each day, and it was a horrible drive home this evening, especially as it was now 10.00 pm and I was tired, and with sore eyes due to too much time on the computer today. The damn staff always want paying during the last week of the month lol.

Last night was extremely cold and in the absence of my SO who is on some conference or other, I had to find other means of warming my feet up - so went in search of another blanket. Given the temperature this evening I may have to find another blanket and wear bed socks.

They are forecasting snow through the night and extremely icy roads in the morning, which may not bode too well for my journey up the M4

Still for now it is late, so I am going to bed with a magazine read for a few mins, and then hopefully into the land of nod till 7.00 am

Sorting things out

Well it is just like leaving home and losing your telephone directory. I think I have now found everyone and have suscribed to the followers list.

Apart from that life is hectic at present both workwise and homewise. I am ploughing through mountains of paperwork to try and get my life into some sort of paperwork order. I was painted at work and had 13 years worth of paperwork to sort out. Managed to sort all the loose stuff out that had never got filed, and now I need to go through files and filing cabinets to sort them out. I took the drastic decision to open folders on my Outlook email and just drag emails there, rather than print meeting notes out. I have been doing that for a year now, and guess what - I had my computer upgraded last week and they lost all of my sub-folders - still at least I did not need to make a decision of what to keep and what not to keep.

At home, paperwork is pretty much the same - there is so much junk mail that comes through the post and I swear I throw it out as soon as it arrives, but I still managed to half fill the recycling bin this evening. Then of course there are all the half read magazines that I never get chance to read, and the craft magazines I buy with good intent but never start or finish the projects.

My SO is away on business so at least that gives me a chance for some semi-serious sorting out.

Well enough of my ramblings, time for bed

Nite, nite

Hi

Well here I am - apart from my graphics and pictures I made it over here in around 10 minutes using the Magic Smoke wizard - so lets hope that nothing goes wrong whilst they close down AOL journals.

We are taking a couple of days off work this week. Cannot seem to get a clear run to have a week or two off, so we are going for long week ends to eat up some of our holiday allocation. Here in the UK holiday entitlement has increased starting from last year by a couple of days a week, until next year when most people can expect the equivalent of around 5 weeks per year as a government minimum.

So we are off to visit our daughter on the South Coast, I will take her out for a spot of retail therapy and lunch, whilst the other half tramps the marshes in search of unusual birds (he assures me they are the feathered variety).

Diabetes

I have been looking at various websites and wonder if anyone has any experiences with Glucobetic tablets for diabetes - I am being threatened with insulin, and would rather try some natural herbal remedies first, but as these only appear to be available in America and not in the UK, I would like an opinion first

About our holiday to Canada

Saturday 7th June 2008

 

Well, I was up bright and early on Saturday, even before the alarm went off.  There was final packing to be done, and something had to be done about the hair, far too much grey.  Could hear Mum stirring, but thought I would leave my sister in for as long as possible, because she was likely to wake up in aggravating mode, as is the case when she gets excited.  Poor girl does not get to do exciting things all that often. You guessed it, Mum was up so everyone was up and so the day started.

 

Made a good getaway at the appointed time.  Sara came to get us with Marcus to chaperone her.  We made good time to the airport and we were through check in almost before we could blink.  Passport control was a doddle, so by 11.30 we were wondering what to do with the next two hours before we boarded.  Did the usual stock up of magazines, had a cup of tea and a disgraceful muffin. Finally we made our way to the departure lounge, where there was eventually an announcement that the crew had been delayed getting to the airport so we would be leaving late.  So a 2.00 pm flight became a 3.30 flight.

 

Once into the flight and approx 250 miles out the captain announces that there is trouble with the wing flaps that he is trying to sort, and there is a possibility that we will be turning back when he has been able to shed enough fuel.   Sometime later he announced that he knew what the problem was and that we were going to proceed on to Toronto.  Atthis point, my sister, who is not a seasoned traveller asked what the problem had been, as she had been asleep when the original announcement had been made.  Something we were pleased about as she is a nervous traveller.  We had been anticipating a flight of around 3500 miles, but in fact we had flown around 4000 miles.  Just before we came in to land the captain suggested that we reacquaint ourselves with the whereabouts of the emergency exits, so I had been anticipating the command to brace for an emergency landing.  Fortunately that never came, although we had to travel for virtually all the journey with the seat belt lights on, so we are assuming that the wing flap problem never fully went away and the pilot was ensuring that there was as little fuel as possible left for when we came to land.

 

Our arrival at Toronto was eventful as they could not dock the exit steps for us to leave the plane, so we had to wait sometime until they could achieve a good fit, whatever that meant. Then we came to collect the hire car, only to be told that our booking was in someone else’s address.  That was eventually sorted out and we embarked on our 60 mile drive to Niagara Falls.  Of course, by then it was dark.  We had not got a SatNav and did not have a map, meaning we had to find Kitchener Street in the dark.  Bob for once did not do the man thing, and agreed to stop at a local shop to ask directions.

 

The motel is basic, has seen better days and was probably a Days Inn at some point.  Still it is relatively cheap and within walking distance of the downtown area.  By now it was about 9.30 local time, so around 2.30 am UK time, and off we went in search of food.  The food on the plane had been minimal, although what we did get was tasty.  We found a local pasta place and had chicken with pasta, washed down with a couple of glasses of wine.  This was followed by a quick trip into a couple of shops to see if we could get some mugs and coffee.  After an abortive attempt at this we returned to the motel and fell into bed, and what would by now be around 4.00 am UK time.

 

Sunday 8th June 2008

 

Our intention had been to sleep in until we woke naturally, rather than set alarms, so of course I woke up around 4.00, never went back to sleep properly, and was finally up round 8.30 am.  There was no way I could make tea, as we had not found a shop to buy in anything for breakfast.  We had said that we would not disturb Mum and sister, so we waited till around 10.00 am and decided to load the car, hoping that the noise it makes when you lock and unlock it may give them a clue that we were getting restless.  (Must have been the coffee I found in reception when I went to see what tourist leaflets they had). This worked and we finally got out for breakfast at 11.30, going to Al Macs where they served an eat as much as you like buffet for $6.99 (about £3.50). So we got the works, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes, waffles, pancakes, fruit, yoghurt and I am sure somethings I have missed.

 

We then set of to give them a tantalising glimpse of Niagara Falls. We had agreed that we would do the Falls on Monday and Tuesday in the hope that it would not be so crowded.  We drove up past the falls, and then on up the Niagara River. We followed the Niagara trail ending up in Fort Erie where we were treated to a guided tourby a young man (called Blair if we liked his speel, or Max if we did not) dressed as an English solder at the time of the 1812 battle between America and Canada for the possession of Fort Erie.  He gave us an interesting commentary about the battle and how the English came to lose so many men.  We were given a demonstration of muskets being fired, and shown around the Fort and its living accommodation.  Well worth a visit and Bob now has yet another history book to add to his unread collection (sorry I meant his collection of books ready for his retirement). 

 

After leaving Fort Erie we retraced out steps on the Niagara trail, this time taking us on up to Niagara on the Lakes – a lovely village type place that we had stayed at last time we were in Canada.  I probably forgot to say that this is our third time at Niagara, having been here twice before  when Bob came out on business.  This trip has come about because when Bob was on secondment in New York we asked Mum where else she would like to visit given the chance, and Niagara was the one place her and Dad had always wanted to visit.  So that is why we are here, unfortunately without Dad as he died almost 4 years ago, and hence the reason my sister is with us.

 

We stopped at the Whirlpool and watched the way the water comes down and then circles round changing direction before it flows off at a 90 degree angle.  At this point there is also a cable car that takes you across the river, which Mum had been thinking might be nice to go on.  That was until it came back and sherealised you had to stand, and she thought it might not do her vertigo any good.

 

On the way up to Niagara on the Lakes we spotted the Living Water Wayside Chapel, which we had passed before, so on the way back we stopped. Today the door was open so we called in.  This has got to be the smallest church.  There are two pews inside, which look as if they will seat 4 – 6 at the most.  Lovely little chapel and now well photographed.

 

On our way back we also stopped at the Floral Clock. I am sure that it did not have hands and work as a clock last time we were here, but today the second hand was going round, so of course the hands were moving and it was just chiming 6.45 when we arrived.

 

Back down to Niagara where we had intended to walk out for supper, we had to succumb to the car as the heavens opened accompanied by thunder and lightening.  Once we had supper we had a drive around to see what else Niagara had to offer, found Clifton Hill, which is like a mini Las Vegas.  I am not sure if I like it, but it is full of attractions like wax works, casinos, and so on.  Apparently it was developed around 5 years ago for the tourists.  We are going to wander out sometime tomorrow to check it out whilst walking.  This evening was rounded off by driving up past Niagara to see the light show and then back to the motel, where Bob is now snoring gently as he has already gone to bed with yet another headache.  Guess who will be seeing the GP when we get back to the UK.

Over a year now

Well, thinking about our forthcoming trip to Canada got me thinking about our tour of America last year, which is what prompted the start of this blog.  Now I thought I had started posting enteries when we got back in June, but on checking I actually started posting on May 20th 2007 - which means I have been here just over a year now.

 

Now can someone tell me how I get one of those tags for 1 year blogging.

Why I don't do windows

Sent to me in an email - follow this link to see why I do not do housework

http://www.frontiernet.net/~shelby304/specials/dontdowindows/nowindows.htm

Diet and Nutrition Course

I mentioned some time ago that I was doing a Diet and Nutrition course.  I am glad to report that I have completed it and passed

For all Mum's celebtrating Mothers Day

WHY I LOVE MUM *

Mum and Dad were watching TV when Mum said, 'I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed'

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches.

Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for dinner the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container and put spoons and bowls on the table.

She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button

She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.
She watered the plants, emptied a rubbish bin and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for an excursion, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mum then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturiser, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.

Dad called out, 'I thought you were going to bed.'

'I'm on my way,' she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the basket, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualised the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. 'I'm going to bed.'

And he did...without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women   live longer...?

CAUSE WE ARE MADE FOR THE LONG HAUL...... (and we can't die sooner, we still have things to do!!!!)

So sad (:)

Received this in an email

 

women: one engaged, one married, and one a mistress, are chatting about their relationships and decide to amaze their men....that night all three will wear a leather bodice S&M style, stilettos and a mask. 

After a few days they meet again..... 

 

The engaged girlfriend: " The other night, when my boyfriend came back home, he found me with the leather bodice,  3 inch stilettos and mask. He saw me he said: "you are the woman of my life, I love you"...then we made love all night long.

 

The mistress:  " Ah! me too, the other night I met my lover in the office and I was wearing the leather bodice, mega stilettos, mask over my eyes and a raincoat, when I opened the raincoat... he did not say anything.....but we had wild sex all night .  

 

The married one: " The other night I sent the kids to stay at my mothers for the night, I got myself ready: leather bodice, super stilettos and mask over my eyes....my husband comes back from work, opens the door and says , 

 

"Alright Batman? what's for dinner?"

Be warned - the ravaging effects of alcohol

The Ravaging Effects of Alcohol- JUST SAY NO.

Effects of Alcohol   After  6 beers After 2 glasses of wine After 2 bottles of wine - Shared of course After too many margaritas After 3 Kamikazes After 7 rum & cokes After 1 large purple haze After 3 martinis After 1 bottle of tequila   If this gave a chuckle , pass it on to someone ,  you  think  loves animals too.

Next trip

I have just realised that this time last year I was preparing to go to New York to embark on our months tour across America.  Leaving New York on 1st May and finally ending up in California and flying home from Los Angeles.  Is it really a year since we have had a holiday.  So much has happened in that time - heart surgery for my other half, knee surgery for me and now carpel tunnel syndrome for him, which is being dealt with my a pioneering injection on Wednesday.

Now to holiday plans.  Given that it now a year since we have had a recreational break, we are looking forward to two weeks in Canada.  When I was in New York last year in February, with my mother, we asked her if there was anywhere that she would like to visit, given the chance before she is unable to take longs trips (she is 79), and she said Canada.  Now we had assumed she meant Niagra Falls, but thought we had best check just in case she meant somewhere else.  Having toured America, we realised that distances bore not relation to those in the UK, and if we got it wrong we could be many, many miles from where she wanted to be. 

Anyway on checking with her we knew she meant Niagra Falls.  Now having been there twice already, we are now thinking where else is good to visit around there.  We have been to Toronto, up the CN tower.  We have been to Huntsville and the Algonquin area (including seeing a Moose with her calf).  We have done the Thousand Island Tour - so where else is there to go.  We have stayed at Niagra Lakes (in the snow).

If someone has some advice, please let us know.  We will certainly being doing Niagra Falls again (for the 3rd time), we will take Mum up the CN Tower and get her to walk on the glass floor (no mean feat for someone with vertigo) and we will do the Thousand Island Tour because where else would you get such spectacular views of the Islands - but what else? We are there for two weeks starting 7th June (yeh, I know, just in time for the things that bite me with dire consequences)

Mary

 

Mystery solved

The week end before last I told you that we had to drive to Eastleigh to the top of a car park to meet my brother.  Well all was revealed when we arrived, along with my three sisters, their partners and my mother.

My brother and his partner had decided to invite us all to one of those as much as you can eat Indian/Thai buffet meals.

So we all spent a pleasant afternoon eating until we were fit to burst - the occasion - they had been together for 7 years and wanting to celebrate this anniversary with their family.  It was made all the more pleasant by the fact that my brother can be a bit of a loner and keeps his thoughts and feelings to himself, so such a public demonstration is out of character for him.

It was great to be with all my siblings (well one was missing, but that is another story) and to reminisce about the past and to catch up on what we are all doing now.

The Computer Swallowed Grandma

I found this in a magazine that comes into my office from Alzheimers Society, it amused me, so I thought it might amuse others

 

The Computer Swallowed

 

The computer swallowed grandma

Yes, honestly it’s true

She pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’

And disappeared from view

 

It devoured her completely

The thought just makes me squirm

She must have caught a virus

Or been eaten by a worm

 

I’ve searched through the recycle bin

And files of every kind

I’ve even use the internet

But nothing did I find

 

In desperation, I asked Jeeves

My searches to refine

The reply from him was negative

Not a thing was found ;online’

 

So, if inside your ‘Inbox’

My grandma you should see

Please ‘copy’, ‘scan’ and ‘paste’ her

And send her back to me

 

Unknown

Its snowing

Well, I did not realise just how long it is since I last made a blog.  I have been reading loads and trying to get down below the 500+ I always seem to have.  AOL has been doing some odd things, so often the blogs will not load, so I have to save them until AOL decides it will let me read them.

Anyway after musing for a few days about what to write about, and having taken some lovely pictures last week end of our walk across the local common, what do we wake up to this morning - snow.  Now snow is something we are not used to this far South, and when it happens is usually causes chaos and people do not turn up for work.  Being Sunday that is not an issue, but I sure hope it does not freeze overnight as getting out of our close in those conditions is not an easy thing to do.

We are going to brave the roads in an hour or so, as we have to meet my brother and his partner at the top of a car park in Eastleigh - why? we have no idea, all that we know is that my three sisters, their partners and my Mum will be there as well.

So around 12 o'clock all will be revealed.

Apart from that there is not much else to report.  My partner seems recovered from his open heart surgery having thrown himself back into work with a vengance.  My knee continues to trouble me, apparently I am not building enough strength in it since the operation, but then I am battling with fibromyalgia, so that does not come as a surprise.

Must go and get ready for our mystery day out. Enjoy the photos.

 

Mary

New Year's Resolution

Just received the following in an email from my friend, and thought I ought to share it for all of those of us who like the occasional glass of wine

 

I just read an article on the dangers of heavy drinking....Scared the cr*p out of me.  
So that's it! - This year, no more reading.
 

 

This year started out with me managing to get a chest infection, which is still refusing to go completely away.  Have still got a nasty cough.

The knee is improving slowly, although it reacted badly to a dose of sister shopping yesterday.  I have three sisters and from time to time we meet up for a day of shopping and chatting.  We hit the shops as they open for coffee, shop, have lunch, shop, have afternoon tea, shop and then generally get thrown out of shops as they are closing.  I have to confess that yesterday we were all done by 2.00 as we had Mum with us as well, and if anything I am slower than her at the moment. We went to Salisbury, which is a lovely place and were lucky that the rain just drizzled so we did not get too wet.  One of the few towns (oops cities) left that does not have an indoor shopping mall - thank goodness, I much prefer getting out into the street away from the heat of the shops and for a breath of fresh air.

http://www.enjoyengland.com/destinations/find/south-west/wiltshire/salisbury.aspx?SE=GGL&CAT=Main&KEY=Salisbury&MED=ST

 

Mary

Don't eat chicken

This came to me in an email from my daughter today

 

Don't eat chicken sandwiches, no matter what.....

A little boy and a little girl attended the same school and became friends.
Every day they would sit together to eat their lunch. They discovered that
they both brought chicken sandwiches every day!
This went on all through the fourth and fifth grades, until one day he
noticed that her sandwich wasn't a chicken sandwich.
He said, "Hey, how come you're not eating chicken, don't you like it anymore?"
She said "I love it but I have to stop eating it."

 "Why?" he asked.
She pointed to her lap and said
"Cause I'm starting to grow little feathers down there!"
"Let me see" he said.
"Okay" and she pulled up her skirt.
He looked and said, "That's right. You are!  
Better not eat any more chicken."
He kept eating his chicken sandwiches until one day he brought peanutbutter.
He said to the little girl, "I have to stop eating chicken sandwiches,
I'm starting to get feathers down there too!"
She asked if she could look, so he pulled down his pants for her.

 

She said "Oh, my God, it's too late for you!
You've already got the neck and the  GIBLETS

 

 

Happy New Year

Follow this link    

 

http://ecards.myfuncards.com/myfuncards/Holidays/NewYear/11956/MFC_top10_NewYears.jhtml