Be brave for 2006!

So here we are Christmas is over and New Year just a couple of days away. I was planning to tell you all what a great Christmas we had, because we really did have a lovely time and rounded the holiday off with a trip to the pantomime on Tuesday which was a splendid affair. But I know some people hate this time of year, so decided not to give a long report! I always feel very brave about this time, hopeful that good things are just around the corner,that somehow things will get sorted out, not just for my family but for all folk. Sometimes I'm right sometimes not, but I still feel BRAVE! Feeing brave seems to make me be brave so I can tackle all those jobs and people out there that I just know are heading my way!! ........... I know one good thing coming, we have a new baby due in the family anytime now who will be a very precious gift, especially as the parents have had IVF treatment ............. I've had some very sad Christmases in my past (although I never let my children know), but I always try to face the New Year with good hope and a brave heart, I think that to try and be positive and to pass this feeling on to others is the best way to start each New Year. So thats my memo to myself, be brave, be positive be honest and give lots of love! Blimey this sounds like a bit of a sermon, it's not meant to be, it's just how it came out, but I'll post it anyway 'cos it's what I'm thinking!

Crackers? OH YES! Barking !!

Some time ago I had this vague idea about making my own Christmas crackers this year, you know with nice little gifts inside and pretty ribbons.Well anyway as I said it was just an idea, then, a couple of weeks back I saw the very thing down at Tescos, A KIT! Yes DIY, make your own, HAND MADE, personalised, it had words like 'JUST' and 'SIMPLY' in the instructions.... I should have known then that those words cannot be put in any set of instructions no matter what the project is! But no, I just put them away to do sometime before Christmas lunch.. Lucky then that I found myself with an unexpected day off today due to the vagueries of letting agents, (an unreliable bunch at the best of times). So aha! I thought CRACKERS it is, just the job .............. I only had to make 5, normally it would have been a dozen, but not this year, -- thank God! So I started with 'simply roll the card into a cylinder and slip the tabs into the pre-cut slots' WHAT?? I rolled it and FORCED the first tab in, then I went for the second one, the first one popped out, how can something so hard to get in come out so easily? After several more attempts and a lot of sellotape I had 1 very battered looking tube of card! Now for the ribbon, 'take a length of ribbon' STUPID CURLY LIFE OF IT'S OWN RIBBON is what it should have said.. By the fourth cracker I felt I was making progress even if they were all held together with tape. Now for the GIFT! Well that was a laugh, it dropped in ok but try getting a stiff folded gold hat and a joke in as well (did I say JOKE)? I poked and prodded with the scissors, a pen, even tweezers... As I said by the fourth one I had devised a cunning method, now to tie the OTHER END. Did I mention that the BANG was glued to both ends of the cracker? Very silly design, as when the first end is tied the BANG twists and gets in the way, so now tying the other end makes it all SQUIFFY and makes the last tab burst out AGAIN!!! TWO HOURS later I finally had 5 crackers finished although not strictly as per instructions, and they'll never pull apart, I reckon we'll have to cut them open. I worked out that the wretched things cost 5 or 6 quid each which is pretty appalling . Next year I'll definately be buying them..

Christmas

Hi everyone, at last I've got time to post! Well we have been so busy since BJ, I've barely managed the odd comment. Last weekend we were up in Norfolk to see some of my family, especially my mum who is 83 and seems to shrink every time I see her.We had a good time and caught up with all the news from my old home, and we did the Christmas lunch bit etc. Also I saw my sister, my niece and my great niece, 4 generations of women, very powerful! This week I've had a great night out with my girlfriends, then on Friday with Marks company, a wonderful riverboat cruise/dinner/disco on the Thames from Tower Bridge to the Thames Barrier. It's so beautiful at night when all the buildings are floodlit, then last night we were out to celebrate a friends birthday at The Latin in the Lanes which is my favourite Italian restaurant in Brighton. Anyway I've done our tree at last and it looks so pretty, I change the colours each year (it's a girl thing). There's only one thing that never changes and thats THE FAIRY. She is 50 years old and actually started life as an ordinary doll when I was 3 years old. I was brought up quite strictly post war time and we were taught to look after our toys,so she has survived, much loved but in good condition. I'm not sure when she was promoted to FAIRY status, probably when I was 9 or 10. She's been making her magic for a long time though and has had the occasional new dress along the way. This year she was looking a little faded so now has not only a new dress but new wings too! Well thats it for now, have a great week!

Oh What A Night!

Well what a night it was! The excitement of getting ready, making sure we got there in good time, hoping it wouldn't rain, making sure we had everything, camera, new batteries, sat nav in case we can't find it. We were only doing an hours drive! ! What about all those intrepid Bloggers from the States and Holand and Italy? So we found it first time, parked easily and for free ........ not too close to the river, we know about high tides! (unlike our poor friends!) .. Into the pub and there they are, Koos, Gary,Steph,Debby and Jim, how fantastic is that? Drinks for everyone, plates of sausage and mash, fish and chips. Then, 'Where's Marietta' says someone and with that in she walks, what a star! Much chatting and questions, more Bloggers arriving, it's time to get down to the gates to be at the front of the queue. It's freezing but no one cares and we stand like excited children, hopping around talking loudly for 45 minutes waiting to be let in..... The light goes on, the gates open, tickets are checked and we're off! Up the path and into the studio. There's a bar and some CD's to buy, but we go straight in to see our venue for the evening. It looks FABULOUS, transformed into an intimate and comfortable place for friends to sit. There are gold chairs with red velvet seats and round tables with red cloths and tea lights in little red glass holders, it looks so cosy and really quite festive now I come to think of it. I'm not going to go on to describe all the artistes as others will do it better and with photos, suffice to say it was a shining evening full of life and love and incredible talent. One of the highlights was when Marietta and Mark and I were invited by Rachel to take a look at the Attic during the second interval. As we walked into the control room there was PETE standing right in front of us ! ! ! He was very kind and we all shook hands then we went into the attic and Rachel said we should sit down, the next thing you know we're on BJ live !! Oh my God!! The rest of the evening went past in a dream, the whole crew on stage for the last number, what a wonderful sound. We left much later and dropped Blogger Debbie and her man back at their hotel before driving home to the sounds of sweet and lovely Mikey and the rugged Simon. THANKS RACHEL AND PETE AND EVERYONE FOR A BRILLIANT NIGHT