7 'INTERESTING' THINGS ABOUT ME.

I was tagged by Steve from Bloggertropolis to write down 7 interesting things about myself. For the last 24 hours whilst I have been thinking about what to write and my conclusion is that I have led a boring life.
Here follows the most boring list of interesting facts anyone could write about themselves!

1- I would like to cruise up the Nile and see the Pyramids, travel to Antartica, visit Frida Kahlo's house in Mexico, go speed skating in Norway, visit Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and go camping in Iceland.

2 - When I was growing up I wanted to be a nurse or a nun(or both!) after watching The Nun's Story

3 - I used to fancy Dirk Bogarde and I still love to watch his films.

4- When asked what I want for my birthday or for Christmas I consistently reply George Clooney and have done since I first saw him in ROSEANNE.

5- I have a keloid scar on my right leg that really hurts at times(I wonder if it means Voldemort is about?)

6-The first record that I bought was MUD's Tigerfeet.

7- I have seen 2 'ghosts' and have what some might describe as 'psychic ability'. However, as I am terrified of the dark and anything slightly spooky I doubt I will ever explore any 'talents' that I might have in that area.

Now all I have to do is think of 7 people that I can tag.

CUCKOO CLOCKS AND DEAD BACKPACKS

Toilet training time again!
Every time the cuckoo on the cuckoo clock cuckoos Beauty has to use the toilet.
Beauty is fascinated with the clock and many times has been found standing on the kitchen table waiting for him to cuckoo so I decided to use him to help in toilet training. Each time she goes to the toilet I make her read a book (a short book not War and Peace!) and then she can get up, flush the toilet and wash and dry her hands. No luck yet but she is willing to participate so that is a good start.

Think of all those 'DEAD' backpacks that I came across in my children's bedrooms when they were growing up, I should have saved them for a museum!

Museum shows 116-year-old orange

The pips can be heard rattling when the orange is shaken

A dried-up orange from the lunchbox of a miner fatally injured on the day he was due to eat it has gone on display in a Staffordshire museum.

The fruit belonged to Joseph Roberts who was injured in an explosion at a Stoke-on-Trent colliery in 1891.

It had been kept by his family but has been donated to the Potteries Museum.

15 MINUTES OF FAME

I know I have talked about watching Wife Swap before and I am sure many of you do not find it interesting but I have to mention yesterdays episode as I found it quite shocking.
If you take part in wife swap and the new wife works for 16 hours a day cleaning,washing and cooking in your house , do you then become abusive and then start screaming and shouting and swearing at them when it isn't up to your standard?The OCD nature of someone who does housework for 16 hours a day is not really the issue but the behaviour of the person who expects another to do all that for you. If I had someone else in my house and the work they did ,did not meet my 'exacting' standards then I would then finish the work off myself, without screaming and swearing and being abusive. Perhaps he was just doing it for the cameras!
Actually, the thing I found most shocking was the wife of the screaming, swearing, abusive taxi driver Colin, I was shocked by Andrea's appearance the moment I saw her. My mother was 69 when she died of cancer and my mother's skin was ravaged, probably from smoking, and Andrea's skin looked exactly the same. I just wanted to drag Andrea off to see a consultant and tell her to stop smoking.At most Andrea could only have been in her late 40's.
There was also something else which I found very strange about the program.The other wife Karen and her husband shared a house with the wife's mother and step father and Andrea the taxi driver's wife felt that this situation was very wrong and she even said it was 'DISGUSTING' that they lived together like that! And she was just so ANGRY when she said it, she was very vicious and spiteful, it was just odd behaviour. Where did that come from?
I have a friend called Mary who lives on Gozo and I have known her since she was 13, she is an only child and has lived in the same house since she was born. She lives with her parents and her husband and her teenage son and daughter and they all live together in the family home.
I have always been impressed with what Mary and her family have and if that kind of situation can work then I think it is brilliant. What is 'DISGUSTING' about that ? I'm still confused about why she should feel that way.
We live in a strange world.

It is only 10am and Beauty is pinging off the ceiling, I can see us having a very busy day. She is flitting constantly from one activity to another, at present she is watching CBEEBIES on TV, she is watching Nina and the Neurones!

I have uploaded a party video onto photobucket of Beauty blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, as there were other people at the party I have not put it onto blogger as they might not like that.If you can't remember the password girls then let me know.

BEAUTY, BUNNY AND THE BIRDS

Beauty's school has an in service training day for teachers so Beauty started the half term holidays early. She has spent the day playing in the front garden with Bunny Boy and I thought she would be quite safe......well she was perfectly fine,it was Bunny Boy who got into a little trouble! I blocked all the exits under the fences and left them to play together whilst I cleaned the lounge which is only a couple of feet away. When I came out to check on them it was like a clip from the film The Birds, many, many seagulls and big blackbirds were circling over my garden and it seemed like they were interested in Bunny Boy. Playtime was prematurely cut short and a very put out bunny went unhappily back into his hutch. With Bunny Boy away safely the birds seemed to lose interest and I was quite happy for Beauty to play in the garden again. Very strange.

THE STRANGEST DAY!

I have spent most of the day asleep due to a weird '24' hour bug.
Last night , the second that Heroes finished(no jokes, it was a good episode!), I stood up and nearly fell over due to dizziness and then spent the next 3 hours camped out on the bathroom floor within close proximity to the puke receptacle.And now, apart from a very thick headache, I'm okay.
A question, how can I possibly have a headache when I take copious amounts of painkillers for arthritis,lump pains etc! Beats me.

Look what I found today, http://uk.freecycle.org/
I am going to spend tomorrow photographing and recycling what I can. Spring Clean time(a little late I know).

Beauty's school had an In The Pink day today and everyone went to school dressed in something pink. Beauty wore a very pink dress and her hair in lots of pink ribbons and Fiona made chocolate cup cakes with chocolate icing on top and then pink smarties in the icing to sell at the coffee morning that they were having. They invited parents to attend a Harvest Festival service and then the coffee morning, Beauty took in some Baked Beans, Pease Pudding, Tuna and Sweetcorn to donate. When I picked Beauty up this afternoon they had all the donations in the hall and they really seemed to have a lot of donations. The school was festooned with lots of pink balloons and streamers, a definite PINK PARTY.
The male helper in Beauty's class wore a black shirt with an In The Pink bow pinned on but one of the other male helpers in another class was braver and wore a very pink shirt.

On Monday I took into school £500 (half of the money, the rest to be collected) that Runningman collected from sponsors for running the half marathon, I also gave the school sponsor sheets to send home with the children and from that they managed to collect £180. I think it is great that we have been able to collect so much, they will be spending the money on outdoor play equipment.

DON'T MESS WITH THE PIGGY BOYZ!

I believe that Linny The Guinea(The Super Hero) is a total misrepresentation of all Guinea pigs everywhere?It is a bit like saying Cliff Richard totally represents all UK Pop Singers.....as if!
Our guinea pigs are definitely as mad as snakes, this morning I went to feed the guinea pigs and their cage was a total wreck, play tunnels knocked over, bottle on it's side and 2 guinea pigs looking up at me so innocently as if to say IT WOZ THE RABBIT THAT DUN IT MATE!
and the rabbit looking up at me as if to say DON'T EVER CONSIDER PUTTING ME WITH THEM!



I love the internet for a number of reasons
*BECAUSE BEAUTY LOVES IT(AND IT KEEPS HER HAPPY)
*I CAN KEEP IN TOUCH WITH MY FAMILY
*IT HAS ALMOST UNLIMITED INFORMATION
At present I am sitting with a homemade mask of avocado and mayonnaise on my hair (for the second time) made from a recipe I found on the internet, it works better than any shop bought preparations that cost a lot more.
AND I also found wonderful tips on how to keep my feet nice.
And being an efficient woman I am multi-tasking whilst I am carrying out these beauty routines,
whilst the mask is on my hair I blog and whilst I moisturise my feet I sleep. Now you can't argue with that!

The weather report for today said it would be 11 degrees and when I read that I wanted to say
OH YES,5 IN THE MORNING AND 6 IN THE AFTERNOON.
It is so cold.
One local school is closed because their central heating isn't working.

Beauty's going to bed entourage has increased to include a new birthday fairy, Fiesta Dora The Explorer, Pinky Dinky Doo and Upsy Daisy.....soon there will not be enough room for Beauty in the bed.

IGGLE PIGGLE, RATATOUILLE AND RATATOUILLE TOO!

According to Wikipedia, all the symptoms(apart from the lumps of course) I have had in the last few years point to me being merely sleep deprived and YES I can agree with that. After 7 years of not having a good nights sleep, I feel like my brain is fraying at the edges. The Wikipedia article on Sleep Deprivation talks about lack of sleep being used as a technique of torture, though I personally cannot see it's usefulness as I would SAY ANYTHING to be allowed to have a good night's sleep sometimes.
However, perhaps all the signs and symptoms I exhibit are merely the signs and symptoms of getting old! Oh Well, I shall just have to get used to wearing more purple and get used to watching Last of the Summer wine!

When I Am Old.

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me, And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired, And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells, And run my stick along the public railings, And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick the flowers in other people's gardens, And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat, And eat three pounds of sausages at a go, Or only bread and pickle for a week, And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry, And pay our rent and not swear in the street, And set a good example for the children. We will have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practise a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised, When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple! Jenny Joseph

Beauty now seems to have her own personal entourage!
She just came downstairs complete with Iggle Piggle AND his blanket,Ratatouille and Ratatouille Too!

BIRTHDAY WISHES

Thanks to everyone for the best wishes for Beauty's birthday, she had a wonderful time yesterday and passed out at 10pm which is very early for Beauty. Sorry I haven't written before as I have been rushed off my feet and very tired.
Beauty had lots and lots of presents and she loved them all.

I cooked a special Sunday lunch with chicken and pork and of course a vegetarian option for SnoWhite and myself but Beauty refused to sit and eat with us and sat at the computer and ate her pizza, a repeat of Christmas lunch!
We also had a little tea party later with a Dora the Explorer theme and for tea we had everything that Beauty loves to eat, pizza, ritz and baby cakes and for SnoWhite and Fiona we had battenburg cake and pink wafer biscuits. And no Beauty did not singe her fringe ........but nearly!
I have a short video girls that I will put on my photobucket account, we sang Happy Birthday in Welsh and English.

Beauty may have gone to bed early BUT that meant that she woke up early, at 4am and then she fell back to sleep at 6am, tiring day for her and me as I didn't manage to get back to sleep.

WELL WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT!

Cheney, Obama 'distant cousins'

Mr Obama and Mr Cheney share a French ancestor

They may be polar opposites politically but US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Democratic candidate Barack Obama are related, Mr Cheney's wife says.Lynne Cheney said she had discovered while doing family research for a new book that her husband and the Illinois senator were eighth cousins.She said she traced a common ancestor of the two men to be a 17th century immigrant from France.She described the connection as "amazing"."This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor... could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."According to Mrs Cheney's spokeswoman, Mr Obama is distantly related to Mareen Duvall, whose son Samuel married the granddaughter of Mr Cheney's ancestor, also called Richard Cheney.Mr Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, responded to the news by saying: "Every family has a black sheep."

Well that made me laugh,politics definitely needs to have a more lighthearted side.

Christmas shopping certainly changes as your children get older. On the way back from dropping Fiona off at college I decided to stop by a charity shop on the way home and I managed to buy some videos and vintage pop-up books for Beauty as well as some other vintage items for Fiona and Snowhite that I know they will love.

Last night I took Fiona to her art class and the rain was lashing down, in the dark the visibility was poor and the volume of cars was crazy. With all of this we came round the roundabout behind a very nervous, inexperienced learner and he proceeded to go down onto the dual carriageway! The dual carriageway through Cardiff is no different to a motorway and the psychotic driving instructor decided to take the nervous driver onto it in those conditions-mad,totally mad!
If I had a driving job I would have a stress ulcer within a week.

Beauty keeps saying birthday party, whether she realises it is her birthday this Sunday I do not know but she certainly loves blowing out the candles on birthdya cakes. She has got as bit too close on a number of occasions and singed her fringe!
Silly Moo.

JESTER BIT OF FUN!

I read this article and wondered if it could work


Speed limits in many towns and cities should be reduced to 20mph, say the government's road safety advisers.
20mph limit called for in towns

The report argues for more to be done to improve road safety.Their report claims a default speed of 20mph in built-up areas will help halve the number of deaths on Britain's roads within the next few years.The study also called for greater enforcement of 20mph zones through a new generation of speed cameras.The devices measure a driver's speed over a certain distance and should be a priority for the Home Office, it says.The cameras are undergoing trials and still awaiting government approval for use in 20mph zones.

Well, on the way to school this morning I couldn't have done 20 miles an hour even if I had wanted to because there was so much traffic but I did try driving at 20 miles per hour later on and it seemed so slow that it almost felt like I was kerb crawling. Around town I always drive within the speed limit and when I anticipate a problem, children, pedestrian's, parked cars
etc I always slow down as I pass.
I believe that there should be speed restrictions of 20 miles per hour around schools and possibly shops but after my attempt at driving at 20 miles per hour this morning I think a blanket speed limit of 20 miles per hour isn't necessarily the answer. Surely logic would say if you reduce the speed limit then traffic will be on the roads longer and that could possibly be a hazard. No I'm not a traffic expert but surely more hazard awareness around danger spots would help relieve the possibility of accidents.
Anyway, I do not have total confidence in these speed cameras, especially the one at the cathedral on Western Avenue. Traveling East, from stationary at the lights, the camera has flashed me at least 5 times(though I have never been issued a ticket) and the speed limit is 40 mph! I would love to see my car manage that speed in 3 seconds, the car is automatic not supersonic! How accurate are they really?

With the advent of the colder weather, Beauty has started wearing her hats again.Her favourite is a trilby that used to belong to Anastasia but today she went to school wearing a blue surfy type hat. She also has a really wild looking Welsh Jester hat, the sort that people wear to rugby matches.



Fiona is not impressed when Beauty wears the jester hat, she says it is humiliating

BABE

I have so got to get me one of these(just kidding) but they are so sweet.

Mini pigs are big success on farm

A Devon fun farm is reaping the rewards of a nine-year breeding programme for miniature pigs.
The pigs, which are about a fifth of the size of ordinary pigs, have been a hit with visitors at Pennywell Farm.
TV celebrity Jonathan Ross bought two of the pint-sized porkers as pets at £150 each and there have even been offers from as far away as Australia.
The pocket pigs are a variant of the rare kune kune breed, which is native to New Zealand.
Chris Murray, co-owner of the farm near Buckfastleigh, began cross-breeding the pigs nine years ago and believes he has the perfect pet pig.
"These pigs are just at home indoors or outdoors."

I bet Beauty would love these.
Fiona is also in love with them and wants one!

SMASHING TIME!

I have read about these babies in Prague a few times in the last few days and I am totally shocked by the story, from a personal perspective of course.

Czech baby mix-up nurses sacked

By Rob Cameron BBC News, Prague

Jaroslava Trojanova and baby Nikola" Jaroslava took a DNA test which showed she was not Nikola's mother

A Czech hospital where two babies were mixed up at birth has sacked two nurses and disciplined five staff members.

The case - in which two mothers have brought up the wrong baby girls for 10 months - has shocked the country.
The director of Trebic Hospital gave details of the hospital's internal inquiry into the affair at a special televised news conference.
He said two nurses in the maternity ward had been found responsible for the mix-up and had been dismissed.
A further five employees - including doctors and health managers - had been reprimanded and moved to other wards.
Nikola and Veronika were both born on 9 December 2006 in Trebic, 165km (100 miles) south of the Czech capital, Prague.
The mix-up only came to light when a dark-haired, dark-eyed father - suspicious at his baby daughter's blonde hair and blue eyes - underwent a secret DNA test.
The test proved he was not the girl's biological father, but a second test proved his partner was not the girl's biological mother either.
Angry and confused, they approached the hospital, which then discovered the terrible mistake.
The parents now face the agonising prospect of swapping their children.
One mother is said to be suffering extreme emotional trauma

.

I really do not know how the mothers will cope.I know they are being told they will have to swap but how can you possibly be expected to give back a baby you have loved and cared for, for over 10 months. The situation is terrible.

The noise level in the house has increased 200%!
Ariel is home for the weekend(well allegedly), she came home yesterday evening so she could watch her young man play Aussie Rules football in Reading. She comes home to Wales for the weekend so she can go to Reading to watch football all day Saturday!
Would you believe that her young man is doing A levels in Geology, Geography and Biology and will be going on to do an academic degree and yet he is such a good fine artist that he does portraits that are worth between £50 and £350 each! And here am I doing Art A level and struggling to create a passable resemblance to people when I draw them. I am so envious of his talent.
Everyone seems to be better than me at art, Fiona's work is stunning and I wish I was half as talented.

A big thank you to the young shop assistant in The Range store on Newport Road for being so considerate when I knocked an ornament on the floor in the store.According to Fiona the ornament was particularly hideous but I still felt really guilty but the young man was really quite sweet. Well at least it wasn't 2 antique vases!

Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 11:00 GMT

How do you fix a smashed antique vase?

When a visitor to a Cambridge museum tripped over his shoelaces he smashed a set of 17th Century Chinese porcelain vases into pieces. Conservators have now pledged to glue them back together, but how? It sounds like something from a crime scene. Once the body was removed from the staircase, a fingertip search for evidence began. The body in question was Nick Flynn, who had accidentally fallen into three of the Fitzwilliam museum's Qing dynasty vases, breaking one and crunching two into small pieces (Mr Flynn, himself, was unharmed).

If I had smashed that much I wouldn't go out again!

POST CARD FROM THE PARK

DUE TO OUR UNEXPECTED HOLIDAY,
WE VISITED THE GLASS HOUSE IN ROATH PARK

TERRENCE THE TURTLE



WATCHING THE FISHES



FLOWER



MAGNOLIA TREE



SOME OF THE FISHES WERE BIGGER THAN BUNNY BOY!
LOOK CAREFULLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WATER AND YOU WILL
SEE SOME REALLY LARGE BLACK FISHES

THE WILD ONE

Would you believe it?
Yesterday was my print class at college so SnoWhite agreed to pick Beauty up from school and when SnoWhite was pushing Beauty through the school to go home , Beauty was frantically looking around saying MUM, MUM, MUM. What a monkey, at least it means that she knows that my name is MUM, I shall have to wait patiently for her to call me MUM now.
I have to say that her understanding in conversation has taken a big leap in the last few days, when she comes to you and wants something and you say WHAT DO YOU WANT? she answers for example with DRINK, FISH, KEYBOARD etc, that to me is a major advance. Every time she progresses a little I feel a little bit more relieved for her future, compare to the 9 month old who rocked in the cot and banged her head and did not respond we are already doing amazingly well.

An unexpected day off from school today as it seems Beauty's school has an infestation of flies! There is major building work going on opposite the school and rats have been seen locally, the school is constructed in such away that there are lots of runnels under the school and the school have had problems with rats in there before.Baiting rats is fine and it works well but the only problem is when they begin to die they start to smell and decompose and there is no way of getting them out of the runnels.NICE!
As the crow( no pun intended) flies we are approximately 2 minutes from the school and we have had some nasty blue bottles today so perhaps they are from the same source.
Beauty has been quite happy with her day off, playing with her flash cards and watching Disney video trailers on the Disney site. She really likes THE WILD.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

WHAT THE 6 YEAR WILL NOT BE GETTING FOR CHRISTMAS!

Toys go hi-tech this Christmas

By Katie Hunt Business reporter, BBC News

Perennial favourite Barbie goes hi-tech with this MP3 player

The annual battle for the UK's Christmas pound has begun.

The Toy Retailers Association has unveiled a list of 12 toys that it expects will dominate kids' Christmas lists this year.

Toymakers have largely played safe with old favourites and TV and movie tie-ins, but have given them a technological twist.

The list includes a new version of perennial favourite Barbie that incorporates an MP3 player, a fluffy puppy that grows bigger the more it is petted by its owner, and Optimus Prime, the robot hero of this year's hit summer movie Transformers.

Though I have been considering the IgglePiggle that is on the TOP 12 list, however, the fact that Beauty has hundreds(I kid you not!) of other soft toys, I am still not convinced.

Sometimes we say the stupidest things without thinking.
Last night SnoWhite and I were watching the film Baby Boom and SnoWhite had not seen the start of the film and so she asked where the baby had come from and I said HER COUSIN LEFT IT TO HER IN HER WILL!
Well my only defense is that it made perfect sense to me when I said it!

SUGGESTION OF THE DAY-Alistair Darling , deal with those slugs, ask Gordon Brown who his beautician is!

Everyday this week when I have picked Beauty up from school she has said HELLO, perhaps the next step will be HELLO MAMA. Now that would be nice.

BABY NEWS

BRILLIANT NEWS..........Steve from Bloggertropolis has a new addition to the family. Best wishes on the arrival of Thomas Arthur or maybe Arthur Thomas. Lots of love from us all.



Last night I watched Emmerdale, yes I do occasionally watch soaps but only Emmerdale and Coronation Street maybe once or twice a week.Last night I watched what was meant to be the wedding of Kelly and Jimmy and Songbird was sung at the wedding by All Angels and I the sap got upset and all because Jimmy and Kelly didn't get married and they should have because they love each other.And this from someone who knows she is watching a soap and knows that the soap is not real and doesn't even believe in love. I think that I got all sappy because even though I do not believe in love I am thrilled when I see people who I really think are happy together because so often life gets in the way.Sappiness over.

Don't the strangest things bring back memories?
Today I was clearing my husband's grave and I accidentally cleared some grass that had a tiny piece of stinging nettle in it and boy did it hurt and it reminded me of when I was 11 and in the Grammar School and tripping and getting a hand covered in nettle stings. And I had forgotten how long it takes for nettle sting to wear off, it's now been 2 hours and my hand is still stinging!
And no, dock leaves do not work!

Yesterday when I was buying art materials(YES AGAIN Fiona! I saw a box of trees and decided to buy one for Beauty's school who have a school tree garden. You don't need to donate money to charities to plant trees for you to offset carbon emissions, plant them in your own garden or buy a tree for your child's school.So now Beauty's school has a new cherry tree and I feel a little less guilty about the times I use the tumble dryer(I promise that it isn't that often).

SNAP!

See this comic,
well no child needs 3 comics in a week AND they certainly do not need 3 copies of the same comic..........so no more PLEASE!



As many people think that God's time is not the same as our time, for example, many people think that God's 'DAYS' in the Christian creation story were 7 periods of time, so it is with 16 year olds.
This morning I dropped Beauty off at school and asked Fiona if she wanted a lift to college, she replied that she did and that she would be ready in 'A MINUTE'.
Well in Fiona's 'MINUTE' I was able to sort out the piggies and the bunny, feed them and put them in their day hutches. I was also able to collect all the dishes, fill the dishwasher AND turn the dishwasher on. I was also able to sort out the dirty washing and put it in the machine and turn the washer on. I was also able to sort out the drying from yesterday and put it in the tumble dryer for 5 minutes to finish off. I was also able to sort out the cardboard for the recycling bin and put all the rubbish in a black bag to go out to the rubbish bin. AND I also managed to clean Beauty's shoes.
Standing at the back door in only a top, jeans and a cardigan I asked Fiona if she were ready, she replied YES to which I commented that it was pouring down with rain, to which she replied that she had an umbrella! Brilliant logic........... dry BUT cold!

I sometimes wonder how I managed with five children before Beauty came along. However, I have decided that parenting skills for 5 normally developing children is totally different for 1 learning disabled child. With the others I felt more like a sheep dog, constantly herding them in the direction they needed to go but with Beauty it is more a hands on approach.
In the morning I get up and cook her food and pack her bag complete with nappies, change of clothes and food fo9r the day
Prepare her clothes
Get her a drink
Run the bath
Say GOOD MORNING( She then says GOODNIGHT and hides under the duvet!) and take her to the bath.
A quick bath, dry and dress
Breakfast
AND then off to school.
It sounds nothing really, so why then is it such an exhausting process?

A problem with school. The teacher thought that they heard Beauty say the naughty word for a Negro person but I was able to reassure them that through her hearing and speech problems she actually has difficulty pronouncing words and the word she was actually trying to say was NEIGHBOURS which she actually pronounces as NAY-GERS. We have heard her say NAY-GERS many times as The Neighbours theme song is one of her favourites!

GIVE PEAS A CHANCE

Ig Nobel awards give peace (and animal dung) a chance

Posted by Candace Lombardi

There's nothing like nerd humor to keep the world's problems in perspective.Harvard University once again played host to the Ig Nobel awards given out by the "Annals of Improbable Research," a parody of the Nobel prizes awarding people for scientific inventions that "first make people laugh, and then make them think."This year's Ig Nobel peace prize brought new meaning to the phrase "make love, not war."

It went to the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. The group invented a chemical weapon, nicknamed the "gay bomb," that when dropped causes heterosexual men to become attracted to one another instead of aggressive.
Meanwhile, the Ig Nobel prize for medicine went to Dan Meyer and Brian Witcombe for studying the side effects of sword swallowing.

As for the research into the bomb that would cause heterosexual men to become attracted to one another instead of being aggressive, I really think it sounds a good idea. I have worked as a nurse for many years and so I have come into contact with many gay men(and women) because the gay men that I have met seem attracted to working in the caring professions. I have also lived next door to gay men on three occasions and would choose to live next door to them rather than my fighting neighbours that I live next doo0r to now, ANYTIME. The men that I have known would just not be interested in fighting and that sounds like a good idea to me, if they were involved in politics then they would probably spend the entire defense budget on the NHS and Education. The only complaint that I ever had was that one neighbour loved to play the Spice Girls, VERY LOUDLY! However, the daughter of the previous owner of this house was OBSESSED with Jason Donovan and stuck every picture that was ever printed of him on my large bedroom walls with what must surely have been super glue, now surely the super glue and Jason Donovan was the more heinous crime!

Beauty went out with her new child minder on Sunday and Beauty seems to have had a brilliant time, apart from when they passed the ice cream van and Beauty didn't get an ice cream because the child minder wasn't sure if she was allowed one!Oops.
I however spent the time catching up on my rest time and had a nap, pure bliss.

When Beauty was approximately 3 years old she made 2 bids for freedom in quick succession, through the living room window! Since then the windows have been changed and with her love of the computer and videos, nothing seems to have enticed her to attempt to escape again. However, yesterday she tried twice to leave the house on her own.
The first time I caught her with the front door open and the second time I found her unlocking the back door!
The keys will definitely have to be kept out of the doors in future.
Little moo!

YES....... I'M ALIVE AND WELL

I've been fair tuckered out the last few days and so I just don't seem to have got around to blogging. I honestly feel that my love of carbs doesn't help, when I eat lots of carbs I get an energy buzz which really keeps me going but this last week I have been concentrating on my healthy eating(less carbs) and whilst it is good news on the flatter stomach front and I have lost 2 lbs, I find that all I want to do is sleep.
Swings and roundabouts!

I spent an hour this morning in Roath Park sketching trees, it was also a good place to people watch.I was impressed with all the older people who seem to take a morning constitutional around the lake and I was also impressed with the determination of the ducks, swans and geese who would not leave me alone. They just could not seem to accept that I would be in the park to do anything other than feed them and were constantly bothering me, they would come up and make a noise as if they were saying COME ON WOMAN, WHERE'S THE BREAD!

Beauty went to school today looking a bit like Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. Beauty had her hair tied back in plaits and had some fluffy Halloween bobbles in.

Beauty also looked a bit like Abby NCIS


NCIS

GOOD NEWS!

I have received a phone call from Ariel, she's alive!

I started life with a brother and 2 sisters and my mother and my father and no aunts, no uncles, no grandparents and no cousins and the family was not religious to now having a large extended family and a large amount of them being Catholic. My girls always seem to go out with Catholic boys and Belle's husband and family are Catholic and I am even in contact with a nun in a London Convent so when I read this following article I couldn't stop laughing(in a Father Ted kind of way).

Feuding nuns force convent demise

By Christian Fraser BBC News, Rome

The local bishop had to step in to tackle the problem

A convent in Italy is being shut down after a fight between its last three remaining nuns.So badly did relations deteriorate between the sisters of Santa Clara in Bari that the Mother Superior ended up in hospital with scratches to her face.Now the local archbishop has intervened and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent.But Sister Liliana, the only nun still there, says she has no intention of leaving her home of the past 44 years.The Clarissa nuns are regarded as the most austere order of the Roman Catholic Church, devoted to a life of prayer, penance and quiet contemplation.But at the Santa Clara convent in Bari, the vow of silence was shattered by an unholy row.Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista say they were driven to distraction by the nasty habits of their Mother Superior.They became so angry that during the summer, they turned on Sister Liliana scratching her face and throwing her to the ground.The two nuns have now moved into a nearby convent leaving Sister Liliana barricaded inside.

What did the poor old woman do that was so bad? Smack her gums? Tap her foot(that really upsets Fiona)?
Slurp her soup? The possibilities of her crimes are endless.

A SWEET SMELLLING BUNNY BOY

Beauty has discovered the story of the 3 Little Pigs, in a number of different places on the internet, so now she is huffing and puffing CONSTANTLY!No longer content with playing stories on re-wind, she now has the added joy of watching it in many places!

I am now able to say that I have gained a new ability, I now know how to bathe a rabbit! As a child I have no memories of people bathing small animals but now according to the animal care websites and books I am meant to bathe them once a month. The girls were a little taken aback when on Sunday evening I said that I was about to bathe the rabbit and naturally they asked what I would bathe him with, HUGO BOSS OF COURSE I said.And they believed me!
When the rabbit came back they each checked if they could smell the HUGO BOSS, AS IF!
I used Bunny Bubble Bath of course but I do have enough Hugo Boss
bubble bath(deodorant, perfume etc) in my airing cupboard to bathe the entire Welsh Rugby team(A&B Team!), it's a family thing!Of course I'm not complaining, all gifts gratefully received.


Another Ghost Driving incident

M4 death crash victim identified

A motorist who died in the second fatal head-on crash on the M4 in less than two weeks has been named.Jeffery Green, 64, from Dyfatty in Swansea, was travelling on the eastbound carriageway at Aberavon when the crash happened on Saturday.Three people were also injured when a Ford Escort, believed to be going in the wrong direction on the M4, crashed head-on with Mr Green's Volvo.

I shall certainly not be going out onto the motoway unless I really have to.
This poor man's family.